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

[scourgingstars]

Some things never change, I suppose.

[Which was half-murmured into the tactician's hair, hands working gentle circles against his back as if to work out tension that was already long gone.]

...how long until the others wonder where you've gone?

[warmgaze]

Mmmm. Less time than I'd like, but probably longer before they actually go looking. We're a bit of a mess at the moment.

[He probably shouldn't tell Ardyn any more than that, but it's hard, when those fingers are working into his back so wonderfully. When he trusts Ardyn with the whole of his body, Starscourge or no.]

[scourgingstars]

...I suppose it really didn't matter after all, did it?

[Because in the end, what exactly had changed between this morning and right now, after the shift in time had settled and memories clicked back into place? The prince's entourage was still a disaster, still walking neatly along the path set for them...and Ardyn was still the thing he'd become.]

[warmgaze]

I don't know, did it?

[Ardyn is the one who has to decide that.]

We're not at the end yet.

[scourgingstars]

I don't see that it did.

[He brought one arm around Ignis' shoulders, stroking gently through his hair with the other hand.]

I'm still like this, which means everything's still liable to fall into place exactly as already planned.

[warmgaze]

[A slow sigh.]

I don't want to be enemies with you.

[scourgingstars]

You don't have a choice.

[warmgaze]

You do.

[scourgingstars]

I have no such thing. I can't stop now, don't you realize that? It's too late, and now there's no other way for this to end. No other way for me to just die and be done with it.

[warmgaze]

Have you even looked?

[scourgingstars]

It's a little late now. With the Oracle dead, night will fall sooner rather than later and from there you'll have no other choice but to let Noctis kill me and sacrifice himself in the process.

[warmgaze]

The Oracle is dead, yes. Her sometimes idiot brother is not, nor are you. Surely with that much we can at least make some effort to stave the Scourge off.

[He reaches out, threads his fingers through Ardyn's.]

Fight with us in this coming dark, not against us.

[scourgingstars]

You know that I can't. Even would the others somehow allow that, I'm more liability than ally. A danger to you and everyone around me.

[warmgaze]

I know no such thing.

[He squeezes that hand.]

What I do know is that you are as much a liability whether you are being our ally or not. Therefore, I see naught but good in convincin you to at least make the effort.

You are better than this, Ardyn. You are not lost yet, and you do not want to be lost. That is what has changed.

[scourgingstars]

You're wrong. I've been lost for longer than I can even remember, regardless of whether I wish to be or not.

I'm sorry. But it didn't change anything.

[warmgaze]

Then let me find you.

[He doesn't even consciously realize that he's switched languages, as he pulls Ardyn closer and finally into another kiss.

He doesn't want to lose this. To lose either of them. He can't.]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn returned the kiss without complaint, bringing his free hand to Ignis' face and gently resting his head against his lover's as they barely pulled apart.]

Please...help me. Stop me from becoming this.

[There was a gentle glow of light from Ardyn's hand, something imperceptible shifting and draining away from Ignis beneath his touch as the warmth of morning sunlight took back what he perhaps hadn't realized was even there just yet.]

If you can find any way back once more...then please save me from myself before things go so far.

[warmgaze]

I still don't know how it happened the first time.

[That healing again... Taking the infection from him before it can even take root. Well, he can admit that he hadn't been as careful as he perhaps should have, when he felt there was a statement that needed to be made.

It's warming. This light he could stay under forever. And then it's over, so much quicker than it was for his eye.]

The Ring is the only thing... But even if I could survive it a second time, Noct doesn't let it out of his sight.

[scourgingstars]

You can't. Don't try that again, there's no way you'll survive twice.

[Ardyn's hand lingered on Ignis' face, stroking gently along his jawline as if in reassurance.]

But I...don't know. It feels far too late and with so little difference made.

[warmgaze]

It's not too late until we're dead, you idiot. Permanently, in your case.

[scourgingstars]

You're wrong.

[The bitter chill was beginning to sneak back into his voice, fueled by ages of spite.]

I'm too far gone to be saved. I don't even want salvation, just to burn this world and die with it.

[warmgaze]

[Ignis leans forward and kisses Ardyn's neck, where a pulse point ought to be but isn't.]

You're nowhere near that far gone. If you were, then whether you remembered that time together or not wouldn't have mattered at all.

[And, Ignis is perfectly well aware, he would probably be dead.]

[scourgingstars]

Stop.

[He put his hands on Ignis' shoulders and disentangled the pair of them, reaching into the Armiger to pull his own clothes back out in a flash of crystal.]

I'm far enough. Enough to be a threat. Enough to be your enemy. I'm not that scared and useless child anymore, and if I have to kill you to convince you of that, I will.

[warmgaze]

You were never useless, and you know it.

[With quick reflexes, he reaches out and catches Ardyn's hand, squeezing it, before the man can start putting it through his shirtsleeves.

He switches languages again, consciously this time, to emphasize his point.]

And I think you're still scared - this time, of who you might be otherwise, without that hatred driving you.

[scourgingstars]

...I don't even know what fear feels like anymore. I know nothing but hatred; if ever he loved you, that's something I've long forgotten.