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]

Even if they thought you to be a daemon, or worse?

[He doesn't like it. But the pieces fit, and he can see it. Ardyn, hiding his condition until the very end, until his eyes changed color and that - that thing he saw in that brief vision on Pryna's dying breaths. And Izunia and Gilgamesh, left with what they believed was no choice but to put him down - ]

[burninglight]

You're talking about my brother, Ignis!

[The objection came out sharply, desperation making Ardyn's voice crack like a pane of glass under pressure.]

If...if something was wrong with me he'd look for a way to fix it. They'd try to help, they'd...they'd save me if I was in trouble.

[warmgaze]

I know.

[And his voice is sharp, for a moment, before his expression falls, and he presses his face into one hand.

Is it just his imagination, or do the worst of the scars - his finger and his eye - ache?]

...I know. I like it no more than you do - it sits in my stomach the same way the idea that I might turn on Noct might.

[ - Why not come with me?]

And yet it is the only piece that fits.

[burninglight]

Stop. Please. He wouldn't--they would never-...

[Ardyn's voice trailed off in a shaking breath, the healer curling up as if he wanted to just disappear on the spot.]

...you have to be wrong.

[warmgaze]

[It is as terrible as the news of Insomnia's fall, in its own way. But where the grief and denial made Noctis frantic, almost berserk, Ardyn just curls inward on himself.

Once more, Ignis can't help but be the bearer of the worst news imaginable.

He leans back onto the bed, pulling Ardyn's shaking shoulders as close as he can, and says nothing.]

[burninglight]

[At his core, in perhaps a painful show of irony...Ardyn Lucis Caelum was not an angry person. If he had a temper at all, it was kept beneath lock and key of patience and understanding. He seemed to hide most any emotion in much the same way, behind calm smiles and gentle words.]

[So it was near unprecedented for the world's savior to be in this state, fragile and cracking and muffling a broken sob against Ignis' shoulder.]

[warmgaze]

Shhh, shh, I'm here.

[He doesn't say 'it's alright.' That would be a lie.]

I'm here.

[burninglight]

...don't. Don't lie to me. You can't-...if you're right, then even the other halves of my heart and soul would really just abandon me. How can-...how can I trust anyone, knowing there's a chance that much could be true?

[warmgaze]

If I was going to lie to you, I would tell you that it was just a passing thought. You aren't the only one who knows how to use empty words to create comfort where there is none.

[What good is a world that only ever lets you down?

He keeps his arms around Ardyn's shoulders.]

[burninglight]

I don't-...I don't know what to do, Ignis--I've just returned to the same problem. No matter what I decide, the world's effectively over. Is it...isn't it right I should let it last just a while longer? Even if...even if it means everyone I love might turn on me?

[warmgaze]

For right now, just breathe.

[His hands shift, stroking down Ardyn's back in a slow, steady rhythm.]

The world shall not end tomorrow regardless of what you decide. If we assume that 'Ardyn Izunia' stopped aging at whatever point tipped him from human to daemon, you've got at least another ten years. Breathe.

[burninglight]

[Ardyn did, to his credit, try to do just that. But his breath came shaky and uneven, the start of half-formed sobs he forced back and refused to let properly catch.]

[warmgaze]

...Why stop yourself like that?

[burninglight]

Wh...what?

[warmgaze]

If you need to cry, then cry. There's no weakness in it. No one else around to see, and I certainly won't think any less of you.

[burninglight]

...

[He brought a hand up to rub at his eyes, shaking his head.]

Saviors don't cry. I can't...let anyone see me like this. If the people knew their healer was fallible, was anything but confident and compassionate...the very idea would foster doubt and fear. And if they should doubt the only person with even a chance of helping them...then what?

[warmgaze]

You're not letting anyone see you like this. You're letting a friend see you - someone who already knows that you're quite fallible and human, and who doesn't place any doubt on you for that.

[burninglight]

[Ardyn didn't seem to have any argument for that, going back to clinging to Ignis as if the adviser were his only lifeline.]

[...And perhaps after a moment or two, very quietly, crying in quiet sounds and hitching breath against his shoulder.]

[warmgaze]

[And he just continues to rub Ardyn's back and hums gently, wondering how long it has been since this young man let himself shed a tear.

Too long, probably.]

[burninglight]

[It was a short while before Ardyn quieted down, the shaking in his shoulders gradually lessening to an unsteady tremble.]

...m'sorry. Not strong enough for this.

[warmgaze]

That's not something to apologize for.

[burninglight]

O-of course it is. If I were more able to bear all of this, maybe it wouldn't be a problem in the first place.

[warmgaze]

I'm inclined to think the exact opposite is true.

[He squeezes Ardyn close.]

After all, if I wasn't here, you would have just kept going on the same way, wouldn't you? And we know how that ends.

[burninglight]

[There was a long silence before Ardyn spoke again, possibly letting himself make a selfish request for the first time in gods only knew how long.]

...stay with me. Please?

[warmgaze]

Of course. You don't even need to ask.