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]

Mm...wh-...

[Ardyn trailed off dazedly, eyes that were thankfully still hazel fluttering open and blinking a few times as he tried to make sense of the current situation.]

...you came back.

[warmgaze]

Mmm, so I did.

[He squeezes Ardyn's shoulders, just to prove them both solid and real.]

I'm sorry. It was no wish of mine to leave in the first place.

[burninglight]

...not angry.

[Still worn down from however much work he'd thrown himself into, Ardyn brought unsteady bandaged arms around Ignis' waist.]

Missed you.

[warmgaze]

I'm here. And you, I see, have been pushing yourself quite foolishly hard.

[burninglight]

...didn't know what else to do. I...I know I said I'd stop, but...I was afraid.

[warmgaze]

Only a little angry. Mostly worried.

[He nuzzles gently into Ardyn's hair.]

Rest, now. I'm yours no matter what form you take, but you're still feverish and I'm not going to let you push yourself until you've recovered.

[burninglight]

...I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't-...I don't want to keep doing this, but I couldn't just...stand back and let people suffer because I'm a coward.

[warmgaze]

Ardyn.You're not a coward. Rest.

[burninglight]

...

[Ardyn didn't have the energy to make an argument past that, instead curling up against Ignis and gradually falling back to sleep.]

[warmgaze]

[And when he rouses again, Ignis is still there, slight changes in their tangle and a mug of coffee on the table evidence that he's gotten up and returned at some point.

But he's arm and secure and perfectly glad to take the chance to just breathe a little while before Gralea, however long it lasts.]

[burninglight]

[It would take a while, lingering disorientation and presumable blood loss mingling with the exhaustion that ran deep in the Lucis Caelum blood. But eventually he did wake up less overheated by fever but pale, pressing a hand to his eyes and murmuring a vague protest against being awake.]

[warmgaze]

Good morning once more.

[And Ignis is still here, leaning down to kiss his forehead, gently and familiarly. Not a dream.]

[burninglight]

[For a moment or two, Ardyn looked confused again; as though he expected Ignis to have been a fever-based delusion.]

You're...?

[warmgaze]

Here, in the flesh, and very much alive. I missed you.

[burninglight]

[Ardyn threw his arms around Ignis' shoulders despite the wince of pain the motion was followed by, hugging him tightly.]

I thought-...Astrals, I thought I'd never see you again-

[warmgaze]

You knew better than that, surely.

[But two thousand years is near enough to never. Ignis sighs contentedly as he returns the hug, feeling those bits of himself that only relax in Ardyn's arms start to lose their tension.]

I never would have left you willingly. You know that, right?

[burninglight]

[He answered with a slight nod against Ignis' shoulder, not quite trusting his voice to refrain from breaking if he said anything more.]

[warmgaze]

[Ignis just snuggles right up to him, with a little contented sound.]

I can't say that bouncing between time periods is an entirely enjoyable experience, but I am incredibly glad to be back and have you in my arms again.

[burninglight]

You...did anything change? Did any of it...matter at all?

[warmgaze]

...He remembered. It wasn't enough to convince him to turn from the path of destruction, but I haven't given up hope yet.

[burninglight]

...it's my fault. When you disappeared, I just...I didn't know what else to do, Ignis. I had to go back to what I'd been doing, else this world and everyone in it would only suffer more.

[warmgaze]

Ardyn. I understand. It's okay. I still don't know what the right choice is.

[burninglight]

It isn't. It's the furthest from 'okay' something can possibly be, and you damn well know that.

[warmgaze]

...In the time I just left, Niflheim was to the point of getting only a few short hours of weak daylight.

Could that happen in the here and now, were you to stop your work? I don't know, but I don't like the thought, either.

[burninglight]

I-I don't know. I don't think there's any way to tell, I...I'm not sure.