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

[burninglight]

[she's also a very happy bird, if you keep that up.]

Philomela's the smartest chocobo I've ever met. I practically raised her myself.

[warmgaze]

No wonder she's so attached to you.

[Scratchy scratchy what a good birb.]

[burninglight]

She's ever been a dear friend of mine.

[kweeeeeh]

Are...we ready to go?

[warmgaze]

I'm ready when you are.

[Where's that other birb there he is. Don't get jealous now.]

[burninglight]

[yaaaay let's go on an adventure back home]

[...perhaps in a hell of a lot less of a hurry this time]

[warmgaze]

[Maybe even a little sight seeing. Definitely a more comfortable pace, though.]

How are you feeling?

[burninglight]

I'm quite fine now. It never lasts more than a day or so.

[warmgaze]

I was more concerned about your emotional state.

[burninglight]

I-I'm alright, truly. There's nothing to worry about.

[warmgaze]

I'd be deeply surprised if that was the case.

[He's not exactly okay. And he only had one unexpected realization yesterday.]

[burninglight]

... [He twisted his hand in Philomela's reins, eyes downcast.]

What are we going to...tell my brother? And Gilgamesh, when he comes back?

[warmgaze]

I think the truth of your healing is probably the best starting point. Izunia already suspects something is wrong, I think.

[burninglight]

I-I don't know if I can.

[warmgaze]

Of course you can. Even if it takes you time to find the words.

[burninglight]

[Ardyn shook his head, gripping the leather reins a bit more tightly as he fidgeted with the slackened end of them.]

I don't think I could stand to upset him. And if he knows any of what you've told me...I don't know that he'll believe it.

[warmgaze]

Isn't it better that he hears it from you, before something happens?

[burninglight]

...

Will you-...would you help me?

[warmgaze]

Of course. I didn't plan to be anywhere else.

[burninglight]

A...alright. I think...I might be able to manage it, if you're with me. There's still so much of this I can't quite grasp that you do, so...if we're working together, we can do it.

[warmgaze]

You can ask whatever you need to. I'll answer whatever I can.

[burninglight]

What...exactly is it you know me as? Tell me whatever you're able to. Please.

[warmgaze]

...It's not a fun answer.

[Unpleasant to think about, especially now.]

The Chancellor of Niflheim is largely responsible for... Probably most of the Niflheim army, which uses modified magitek based on daemons. Before you ask, I don't know exact details, but magitek of that sort hasn't been used anywhere else in centuries at least.

[burninglight]

...

[That made an unpleasant amount of sense. If magitek fell out of use as it was already beginning to, then... Ardyn himself knew engines and machinery like he knew breathing. Of course he could do nearly anything with it. But augmenting it with daemons was...unthinkable.]

I'm...still listening.

[warmgaze]

The man himself is... Outwardly merely unsettling to be around. Tends to appear exactly with the right timing to "offer help," very clearly knows more than he's letting on... But in spite of the war, until very recently had made it a point to not be actively antagonistic towards Noctis or the rest of us. In fact, he offered aid both before and after revealing his identity, largely in enabling us to maneuver around the Niflheim military.

[burninglight]

[He reached an unsteady hand to stroke Philomela's feathers; the bird had glanced back with a quiet and almost concerned trill.]

What did I-...he want from you?