Get in time traveller

[warmgaze]

[Altissia. The ring, burning into his finger, burning into his skull, and he knows the price without asking, knows before it's paid. The thing you value most, isn't that always how this works in fairytales?

Ravus. Noctis. Ardyn, and that little revelation barely enters his mind at the time, the familiar glowing signature of a warp in an unfamiliar color. The prophecy, the visions that hang in his mind, a last wish from a woman who spent her life to ensure it, Lunafreya's final message to ensure that Noctis would survive.

The last clear words he can remember clearly, You've a calling to fulfill, and then Prompto and Gladio's voices, concerned, in a blur...

And then nothing. Just the feeling of a ring's power, setting him alight from fingertips to crown -

It's still in him, that power. The ring of the Lucii binds to its wearers for life, knotting strands of light into their souls, be they kings or anyone else.

(He had expected to die. Living is harder.)

And in the depths of his unconsciousness, in the place where he knows the things that he hasn't had time to consider, Noctis and Ardyn and prophecy and all of that terrible weight -

From there, from the connection of the fire in his soul that will never go out, that can only be smothered and locked away in the dark, a voice says, what would you give to change fate?

And, of course, he answers, Anything.

----

In another world, Ignis Scientia wakes in Altissia, his face scarred, his vision burned away, and continues on.

In this one, Prompto Argentum enters the room just in time to see a flare of purple flame lick along his friend's body and leave nothing behind, not even a char mark on the wrinkled sheets.

And Ignis?

Ignis wakes, with a groan and a hand pressed to his face, in the back of a cart that trundles to a stop to pick up another passenger, a young healer with cheeks not yet sunken by pain and eyes not yet yellowed by plague. He wakes bereft, on some fundamental level, of the touch of magic that bound him to Noctis, the hum of energy that bound retainer to prince...

He wakes with the imprint of a ring on his finger, the memory of agreeing, and not the damnedest idea where he is.]

Comments

[warmgaze]

And yet I will still be utterly shocked should you be awake first -

[And then he cuts off, because there's the telltale sound of a daemon manifesting on the road before them.]

- Oh, for fuck's sake.

[burninglight]

Ah, damn.

[Sighing heavily, he hopped off of Philomela who dutifully trotted back out of range.]

Are you good to fight?

[warmgaze]

As I'll ever be.

[Ignis jumps from the back of his chocobo in a single smooth motion, not even paying attention to the bird zipping into the distance after Ardyn's.]

Don't worry too much. I'll have your back.

[The daggers still feel strange and foreign, but nothing he can't handle. He draws and holds ready, single functional eye scanning the darkness for exactly what they're dealing with.]

[burninglight]

As I shall have yours.

[Ardyn summoned the Blade of the Mystic in a flash, one-handed as always.]

Let's be done with this quickly.

[warmgaze]

At least it just seems to be a handful of bombs. Shouldn't take long at all.

[And off they go - three bombs, flickering with flame, and damn if he doesn't wish for a frostbind or a blizzard spell about now. Or Prompto's gunshots over his shoulder, even. With two of them, it's easy to lose one of the bombs even without his impaired vision.

Nothing else to do, though. He doesn't ever do more than glance at Ardyn, just keeping a focused whirlwind of strikes up against the bomb he's focused on...]

[burninglight]

[Oh, that wasn't so bad. Ardyn threw the massive blade as if it were weightless, smashing into one bomb with a devastating warp-strike in a streak of bright magenta. But he was, fortunately, not all power and zero finesse. Ardyn lashed out at it in quick strikes that should have been impossible for a sword that size, keeping an eye on Ignis as best he could all the while.]

[...my, he really was a sight to behold.]

[It was somewhere along the admiration of Ignis' technique that the third bomb drew perhaps a little too close to Ardyn, exploding in a blast of flame he'd only barely managed to phase away from the worst of in a quick pink afterimage.]

Damned things-- [He threw his hand out, and a sudden chill blew across the road as the air around the remaining bomb froze and left it to crumble to dust and miasma.]

[warmgaze]

[A thousand little scratches until the shell of the bomb splits open, leaving ash and miasma briefly spilling over the blades and Ignis' hands before he jumps free and shakes them clean. There's a bit of frost in his hair, just at the edge of Ardyn's ice spell, not close enough to hurt but close enough to feel the cold.]

That could have been much worse. You're not injured, are you?

[burninglight]

Little singed, but I might yet survive. [The sword disappeared, Ardyn wiping ash off his face and clothes.] What of yourself, are you hurt?

[warmgaze]

Nothing but a bit of frost and smeared ash.

[Ignis sheathes the two blades at his sides before dusting off his hands.]

Excellent timing with that spell, by the way.

[burninglight]

I do truly appreciate it, but shall we compliment each other's technique at camp rather than be left standing targets on the road?

[warmgaze]

Agreed. Let's leave before the sound draws anything else in.

[Please no iron giants tonight.]

[burninglight]

[Sure enough, the haven wasn't too far off--the same as it would be in the distant future, all stone and glowing runes. Philomela stretched and curled up as her owner worked on setting up camp, pulling one thing after the other out of the Armiger with hardly a thought to it.]

[warmgaze]

[And while Ardyn unpacks, Ignis sets about organizing what he pulls out. Soon enough, there's a cheery little fire with a bit of meat warming over it - hot sandwiches will do them will enough for dinner.

Once that's set up, Ignis sighs and leans back against his own chocobo, grateful for the plush warmth of feathers.

With only one other person, camp would be entirely too quiet without the birds.]

How long have you been travelling?

[burninglight]

Hm...a while. [Ardyn had stretched out near the fire much like a cat once he was finished, arms folded behind his head.] Long enough that it seems natural, I suppose.

...You're stunningly skilled with those knives, you know. How long have you been fighting like that?

[warmgaze]

Long enough that it seems natural.

[A brief smirk.]

Since I was fifteen, thereabouts, so... around seven years now. Perhaps a bit longer, but no one would let me handle live steel before then.

[burninglight]

[Ardyn turned his head enough to look to Ignis with a smile, laughing softly.]

Well, consider me thoroughly impressed.

[warmgaze]

I did start the gymnastics some years before that, at least so it isn't as though I was entirely inexperienced with my own body.

[burninglight]

[It seemed for a moment Ardyn was very tempted to say something about Ignis' body, but thought better of it.]

I'm glad to know I'm in such capable hands.

[warmgaze]

[He is seeing that look and deftly choosing to ignore it entirely.]

If they weren't capable, I'm sure neither Gilgamesh nor Izunia would have left you in them.

[burninglight]

No, of course not. Astrals forbid the world's savior be without a suitable guard, right?

[warmgaze]

I think it has far less to do with you being any kind of saviour and more to do with you being their best friend and brother, respectively.

[burninglight]

Well...yes, I just-

[Ardyn faltered, looking back to the sky.]

N-never mind.

[warmgaze]

[A small smile. Not the smirk of earlier, not teasing, but something a little softer and warmer.]

You cannot be the saviour to everyone, Ardyn. It's important to have at least a few people around you who see you without the weight of that burden - in total clarity, so to say.

[burninglight]

...It's hard to remember that, sometimes.

[He turned over onto his side, head propped up on one arm.]

I suppose I spend so much time one way that I forget how to be anything else.

[warmgaze]

Taking a break or two from time to time is as important to your health as a good diet and getting enough sleep.

[Which was why he hadn't pushed, when Noctis wanted to go race chocobos with Prompto or agreed to pose for silly photos or...

Honestly, Prompto Argentum was something like the human incarnation of taking a break.]

Even if it's only at camp surrounded by a few friends, you can let the mantle of ealer fall from your shoulders from time to time.