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]

...You do more than you know.

[burninglight]

And yet it fails to be enough, if you should be in pain like this. [Ardyn shifted position to curl his other arm around Ignis' shoulders, their other hands still interlaced.]

...I hate to see people suffering. I know it to be inevitable by mere human nature, but to see others in pain and knowing there are some pains even I lack the ability to cure is something I can barely stand.

[warmgaze]

Some pains simply take time to heal, as I'm sure you know.

[Unconsciously, he shifts a bit closer, relaxing some minute amount into the warmth of another friendly body.]

Wounds of the spirit are hardly that different.

[burninglight]

Is there truly nothing more I can do? Anything--name it and it would be yours.

[warmgaze]

You're doing more than enough like this. If that changes, you'll be the first to know, I promise.

[burninglight]

[Ardyn gave a slight nod in response, resisting the urge to push his luck further. Even though the urge to pull Ignis closer and give him some form of comfort and security was there, Ardyn knew his boundaries.]

[(Contrary to popular belief, he did have a sense of personal space.)]

[warmgaze]

[He should mind a little more, that they're pressed against each other like this. That he's starting to think he wouldn't mind getting closer.]

Mmm... Food. Before I fall asleep right here.

[burninglight]

Ah-...right, I'm sorry.

[Reluctantly, Ardyn pulled back as if he'd only just realized how close they had gotten.]

[warmgaze]

Don't - you don't need to go.

[He just needs to get the both of you fed before he falls asleep.

Luckily, sandwiches aren't too hard to manage.]

[burninglight]

...okay.

[He settled back against Ignis' shoulder, a small smile gradually coming across his face.]

[warmgaze]

[Much better. He's comfortable with this. It's nothing truly that new, even if it's just the two of them instead of four.

And here's sandwiches.]

Best get some sort of meal into us before we sleep, after all.

[burninglight]

Right--of course.

[At least this time he had the decency not to inhale the sandwich.]

[warmgaze]

[He inhaled it in his heart and they both know it.]

Much better.

[burninglight]

It was spectacular. Your skills are truly a marvel.

[warmgaze]

Now you're just flattering.

[Said all while settling himself up against Ardyn to sleep, fighting off yawns.]

[burninglight]

...Only a little. I do want to commend your ability.

[Ardyn put his arms right back around Ignis' shoulders, settling in comfortably.]

[warmgaze]

Mmm, well, let it never be said that I don't accept a bit of flattering here and there.

[Sleeping now, yes? Now sounds like a good time for sleeping.]

[burninglight]

[ah yes sleep. one of ardyn's favorite things.]

[spoilers, cuddling is also way up there on the list. which is probably going to be very evident to ignis when he wakes up in the morning.]

[warmgaze]

[Just another in the long series of similarities between Lucis Caelum, honestly. Waking up with a barnacle human on his chest is more strange for only having one of them, instead of being first or second in the pile to rise.

This time, he doesn't have any desire to remove himself. Instead, Ignis finds himself playing with a strand of wavy red hair and thinking about how much softer clothes in Solheim are than his usual shirts.]

[burninglight]

[Ardyn looked almost surreal for how tranquil he was; without lines of deep exhaustion and endless ages worn beneath his eyes, missing the mocking smirk or vicious snarl. He just seemed...normal. Like any other twentysomething kid, with only the barest idea of the fate he had and no clue of what he might become.]

[And he was clinging to Ignis as if he were a particularly comfortable pillow.

[warmgaze]

[Well, he is a very receptive one, snuggled down in a pile of Ardyn and chocobos. It's an incredibly safe feeling completely unrelated to the haven.

His voice is what as he runs a hand over the scars again. Scars the Ardyn in his time for not have.]

What happened to you...?

[burninglight]

[Though it was and would ever be legendarily difficult to wake the line of Lucis in the mornings, Ardyn stirred slightly under the touch with a wordless murmur.]

Mmmn...morning already?

[warmgaze]

I'm afraid so.

[He doesn't make any effort to extract himself though.]

[burninglight]

[Ardyn sighed, rubbing at his good eye and reluctantly untangling himself from the cuddlepile in a very un-Noctis decision. Much as he'd have loved to stay a bit longer...well, there was work to do.]

Mm- [He stretched and stifled a yawn with one hand.] -we should get moving as soon as we can.

[warmgaze]

Get me some coffee and I'll be good to saddle up.

[Just, you know. coffee.]