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Wa-ka-sa-saaaaaaaan!
[Yurika spins into the room with a smile.]
How are you settling in? It's part of my job to make sure you're all comfortable, after all!
[Yurika's job is just to pilot the ship and has nothing to do with this. Don't tell her that.]
[Yurika spins into the room with a smile.]
How are you settling in? It's part of my job to make sure you're all comfortable, after all!
[Yurika's job is just to pilot the ship and has nothing to do with this. Don't tell her that.]
[ Aaaand Yuuri starts badly enough that she nearly drops all her clean laundry. It'd taken her long enough to get it all done Yurika, how could you. ]
Oh-- Yurika-san! I'm-- yes, yes, I'm doing fine!
[ Whether you take that at face value or not is entirely up to you, Yurika. ]
Oh-- Yurika-san! I'm-- yes, yes, I'm doing fine!
[ Whether you take that at face value or not is entirely up to you, Yurika. ]
That's me! I hope you're all doing fine. The ship was already a little cramped, so it must be hard to get used to since you had all that space before!
Well... it's not the Fantasy Sweet but after being stuck in that limo for five days, anything is an improvement.
[ It occurs to her that her words might sting just as she's done saying them so she gives Yurika a smile to soften the landing a bit. She really doesn't mean to sound ungrateful -- she couldn't be more thankful they'd all found each other. ]
[ It occurs to her that her words might sting just as she's done saying them so she gives Yurika a smile to soften the landing a bit. She really doesn't mean to sound ungrateful -- she couldn't be more thankful they'd all found each other. ]
I was the captain of a ship twenty times this size. Ohh, if we had that back, InterGal 7 wouldn't stand a chance! But at least the Temerity is easier to hide in.
We'd definitely be a bit conspicuous at that size. I thought the limo was bad enough but at least that's compact. It'd certainly solve some problems, though...
Do you have any idea just how much a new ship would actually cost? Especially one comfortable enough for so many of us. I know most of us will be sharing anyway, but if everyone bunks together we can probably have half as many rooms as we do people... but that's still a lot of space.
Do you have any idea just how much a new ship would actually cost? Especially one comfortable enough for so many of us. I know most of us will be sharing anyway, but if everyone bunks together we can probably have half as many rooms as we do people... but that's still a lot of space.
I know... and Togami-san's being such a miser even about the little things. But I'm sure we'll think of something! There isn't anything our crew can't get out of!
[After things...relatively quieted down, that left Yuuri to work on her notes and Ardyn to...'help', ostensibly, but mostly just get distracted while trying to list off what he could think of.]
Queenie's skillset is too varied to even summarize, you'd have to ask her for details. Overall I think the only weapon most of us have is tactical experience and intelligence.
[He paused, idly twisting the ring on his hand like he'd forgotten where this line of thought was going.]
...This shouldn't come to a fight, ideally. But it's still good to have a list of what we're capable of.
Queenie's skillset is too varied to even summarize, you'd have to ask her for details. Overall I think the only weapon most of us have is tactical experience and intelligence.
[He paused, idly twisting the ring on his hand like he'd forgotten where this line of thought was going.]
...This shouldn't come to a fight, ideally. But it's still good to have a list of what we're capable of.
[ She's noticed. Of course she's noticed. You don't spend eight weeks with someone in a murdercan and not learn to pick up on their tells. And it's even more obvious now, compared to even a month ago, now that he's flesh and blood and beating heart again. And she doesn't think it takes a genius to work out what might have him so... this.
She's quiet as she writes, for the most part. She's only concentrating on this little list on the surface, really. She's far too busy thinking about those snatches of conversation from before. The Chosen King. The fallen son. Bahamut.
She wants to ask. She wants so badly to ask, so she can understand. So she can help. But she doesn't know if forcing him to talk about something he might not be ready to talk about will do any good. ]
Mmn. I think I should've made a list like this as soon as we all knew we were travelling together. It's important to know what sort of skill pool we have between us in case... in case of this sort of thing, I suppose.
[ She watches that ring twist, twist, twist around his finger for a moment in silence before speaking up again. ]
Dad. What's wrong?
[ Her voice is soft but with a firm undertone and though it's a simple question she chose her words carefully. "What's wrong?" is "I want to help" and "Dad" is "Because we're family". ]
She's quiet as she writes, for the most part. She's only concentrating on this little list on the surface, really. She's far too busy thinking about those snatches of conversation from before. The Chosen King. The fallen son. Bahamut.
She wants to ask. She wants so badly to ask, so she can understand. So she can help. But she doesn't know if forcing him to talk about something he might not be ready to talk about will do any good. ]
Mmn. I think I should've made a list like this as soon as we all knew we were travelling together. It's important to know what sort of skill pool we have between us in case... in case of this sort of thing, I suppose.
[ She watches that ring twist, twist, twist around his finger for a moment in silence before speaking up again. ]
Dad. What's wrong?
[ Her voice is soft but with a firm undertone and though it's a simple question she chose her words carefully. "What's wrong?" is "I want to help" and "Dad" is "Because we're family". ]
We've had enough to contend with, it's only reasonable we'd falter in a few regards. As long as we're seeing to compiling a proper list now, that'll be fine. We just have to be sure it stays with us and doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
[He avoided the question entirely at first, halting in his fidgeting with the ring he wore. He looked to his right hand much like he had when Siegfried disappeared, as though it still didn't make sense. A pair of bloodlines blessed by dragons. Ancestral weaponry held only by those deemed worthy. Xander who so formally carried himself as Izunia once had, yet held none of the cold edge that had frozen over his little brother over the years.]
[The absolute picture of the other end of the scale, Ardyn slouched in a chair like he owned it, one leg crossed over the other and draping his left arm over the back. Not a king, not a chancellor--a man of no consequence, now and forevermore.]
...I thought that sword might reject the whole idea. Not that I expected it to explode, but at the very least I presumed it would reject me specifically. Another line blessed by dragons...? Of all the things to cooperate with me.
[He avoided the question entirely at first, halting in his fidgeting with the ring he wore. He looked to his right hand much like he had when Siegfried disappeared, as though it still didn't make sense. A pair of bloodlines blessed by dragons. Ancestral weaponry held only by those deemed worthy. Xander who so formally carried himself as Izunia once had, yet held none of the cold edge that had frozen over his little brother over the years.]
[The absolute picture of the other end of the scale, Ardyn slouched in a chair like he owned it, one leg crossed over the other and draping his left arm over the back. Not a king, not a chancellor--a man of no consequence, now and forevermore.]
...I thought that sword might reject the whole idea. Not that I expected it to explode, but at the very least I presumed it would reject me specifically. Another line blessed by dragons...? Of all the things to cooperate with me.
[ Yuuri doesn't press him. Sometimes all it takes is a little push and then giving someone the space and the silence to fill with whatever they need to say. If Ardyn doesn't want to talk then she won't make him talk. But it's... gratifying almost, that he does. It's as she'd said to Junpei once -- she isn't special. She isn't powerful. She's limited in what she can do to help but if sitting quietly and listening is on that list then by god, she'll do it. ]
... But... what reason would it have for doing that? You're just as human as any one of us now.
[ She knows why. It's not as simple as there being no Starscourge in his heart. But she'd like it to be. ]
... But... what reason would it have for doing that? You're just as human as any one of us now.
[ She knows why. It's not as simple as there being no Starscourge in his heart. But she'd like it to be. ]
[He laughed at that, a low chuckle in the back of his throat. A pen appeared in his right hand with a brief flash of crystals, twirled around idly for lack of anything else to do.]
Divine forces see humans as nothing more than their pawns, to move and sacrifice as they please. I see no reason that should change in any universe.
Divine forces see humans as nothing more than their pawns, to move and sacrifice as they please. I see no reason that should change in any universe.
[ She purses her lips tight and for a moment her mouth works like she's biting the inside of it. Is this going to be overstepping a line? Maybe. But she needs to ask it anyway. ]
Is that what you meant before when you were talking to Xander-san? About the sword. And the chosen king.
[ Bahamut and the fallen son of Lucis. ]
That's what they did to you.
Is that what you meant before when you were talking to Xander-san? About the sword. And the chosen king.
[ Bahamut and the fallen son of Lucis. ]
That's what they did to you.
...Do you remember the week I told all of you what I was? About the healer and the Accursed, about my brother?
[He almost laughed again, but stopped himself. That sound wasn't him--it was cold, and bitter, belonging to the hatred of ages wearing a human face. When he spoke, it was a distant recitation; something he had memorized long, long ago.]
'O'er rotted soil, under blighted sky, A dread Plague the Wicked hath wrought. In the Light of the Gods, Sword-Sworn at his Side, 'gainst the Dark the King's battle is fought.'
The prophecy dictates the king should fight the darkness with trusted allies at his side. I didn't know how to eradicate the Starscourge when I was younger. I'd convinced myself that all I had to do was stall it; act as shield against the coming endless night until I understood how to properly wield the Crystal's power and banish it completely alongside my Shield. So I stalled for time, healing the afflicted no matter what it did to me.
...Church had been saying for weeks that the Astrals might have had more of a hand in it. When our abilities were switched around, he and Junpei confronted me with an idea that...I'm forced to admit I may have overlooked for two millennia.
The Chosen King is fated to fight the darkness, Yuuri. And I think what they assumed was something I never wanted to truly consider: that Bahamut needed a darkness for his king to fight.
'O'er rotted soil, under blighted sky, A dread Plague the Wicked hath wrought. In the Light of the Gods, Sword-Sworn at his Side, 'gainst the Dark the King's battle is fought.'
The prophecy dictates the king should fight the darkness with trusted allies at his side. I didn't know how to eradicate the Starscourge when I was younger. I'd convinced myself that all I had to do was stall it; act as shield against the coming endless night until I understood how to properly wield the Crystal's power and banish it completely alongside my Shield. So I stalled for time, healing the afflicted no matter what it did to me.
...Church had been saying for weeks that the Astrals might have had more of a hand in it. When our abilities were switched around, he and Junpei confronted me with an idea that...I'm forced to admit I may have overlooked for two millennia.
The Chosen King is fated to fight the darkness, Yuuri. And I think what they assumed was something I never wanted to truly consider: that Bahamut needed a darkness for his king to fight.
Edited (i'm redundant) 2017-07-18 21:41 (UTC)
[ Yuuri's not sure what she expects to hear. Everything about Ardyn's time is so different from hers that they don't need the separation of universes for it to feel alien to her. But as he talks, a creeping sense of realization -- of horror starts to fill her chest. What young man -- what young king -- would sit idly by while people suffered, while his subjects cried out for help when he knew he could save them?
And they'd just let him.
She opens her mouth to say something. Then she finds she can't, not for a long moment. She has to take in a hard breath and swallow before she can. ]
So you... are you telling me that all along, while you thought you were pushing back the dark-- they knew what was going to happen? They let you go out and destroy yourself. Just so he could have the monster he'd decided he needed?
[ She's so taken aback that she can't even muster anger. Not yet, anyway. That'll come soon enough. ]
And they'd just let him.
She opens her mouth to say something. Then she finds she can't, not for a long moment. She has to take in a hard breath and swallow before she can. ]
So you... are you telling me that all along, while you thought you were pushing back the dark-- they knew what was going to happen? They let you go out and destroy yourself. Just so he could have the monster he'd decided he needed?
[ She's so taken aback that she can't even muster anger. Not yet, anyway. That'll come soon enough. ]
...I didn't want to believe it either, when Church suggested the idea.
[The pen vanished, Ardyn leaning his head on his hand. Calm as he looked and sounded, the distant stare in yellow eyes said otherwise.]
But it does make sense, doesn't it? Instead of a nebulous disease, they had a willing vessel. Let him think himself chosen, become container to the plague, then refuse to let him die until the true child of prophecy is born to sacrifice himself and destroy the Starscourge.
And my brother--my Shield-- [His voice cracked, the sentence ending in a sound that was halfway to an unhinged laugh.] ...I don't know if Bahamut had a hand in what they did to me. It might be easier to bear if he did, but it's long since ceased to matter.
...'Chosen' just means 'chosen to die' for both myself and Noctis. It always did.
[The pen vanished, Ardyn leaning his head on his hand. Calm as he looked and sounded, the distant stare in yellow eyes said otherwise.]
But it does make sense, doesn't it? Instead of a nebulous disease, they had a willing vessel. Let him think himself chosen, become container to the plague, then refuse to let him die until the true child of prophecy is born to sacrifice himself and destroy the Starscourge.
And my brother--my Shield-- [His voice cracked, the sentence ending in a sound that was halfway to an unhinged laugh.] ...I don't know if Bahamut had a hand in what they did to me. It might be easier to bear if he did, but it's long since ceased to matter.
...'Chosen' just means 'chosen to die' for both myself and Noctis. It always did.
I-- That's--
[ She can't even speak.
She'd never seen Ardyn before the Scourge. The man they'd all known had been coloured, blacked by it in some way shape or form even before he'd begun remembering it. But she'd seen Junpei, the day-and-night difference that week between the young man who laughed, joked, spluttered and raised his voice in anger just as quick as any human to the dead-eyed, cool-toned one who always seemed to have to work backwards from how he knew people acted to remind himself of why he should be acting some way or feeling something in any given situation.
And that had happened to Ardyn. Not all at once, either. Slowly, gradually in the way a low-hanging cloud gradually blots out the sun. Had he been afraid? Had he known what the Starscourge was doing to him or had he wondered in quiet, private moments if he was simply losing his mind? And then he hadn't even been allowed the dignity of a peaceful rest. He'd been made to drag himself on to the end. Until he wasn't even Ardyn anymore -- he was a thing made of hate and spite and anger that happened to wear his face and use his name.
Two lives destroyed. No, not even two -- how many countless people had been collateral damage in this little game? How many people had died and suffered so Bahamut could pit king against king?
Yuuri's face is white as a sheet and she's shaking. ]
I don't-- I don't know what to say.
[ Her voice sounds like it might shake herself to pieces and she has to hold her head in her hands just for something to do with them. ]
Even... even a god. How could it look down on you both and... and decide you were both worth so little?!
[ She can't even speak.
She'd never seen Ardyn before the Scourge. The man they'd all known had been coloured, blacked by it in some way shape or form even before he'd begun remembering it. But she'd seen Junpei, the day-and-night difference that week between the young man who laughed, joked, spluttered and raised his voice in anger just as quick as any human to the dead-eyed, cool-toned one who always seemed to have to work backwards from how he knew people acted to remind himself of why he should be acting some way or feeling something in any given situation.
And that had happened to Ardyn. Not all at once, either. Slowly, gradually in the way a low-hanging cloud gradually blots out the sun. Had he been afraid? Had he known what the Starscourge was doing to him or had he wondered in quiet, private moments if he was simply losing his mind? And then he hadn't even been allowed the dignity of a peaceful rest. He'd been made to drag himself on to the end. Until he wasn't even Ardyn anymore -- he was a thing made of hate and spite and anger that happened to wear his face and use his name.
Two lives destroyed. No, not even two -- how many countless people had been collateral damage in this little game? How many people had died and suffered so Bahamut could pit king against king?
Yuuri's face is white as a sheet and she's shaking. ]
I don't-- I don't know what to say.
[ Her voice sounds like it might shake herself to pieces and she has to hold her head in her hands just for something to do with them. ]
Even... even a god. How could it look down on you both and... and decide you were both worth so little?!
[Part of him had known. Not all along, not from the start. But the more sunlight began to irritate him, the more things lost their taste and a kind healer became quicker and quicker to anger--he'd known something was wrong.]
[But he didn't stop. He couldn't. As long as Ardyn Lucis Caelum had the power to save even one person out of millions, he would have sacrificed everything. He did sacrifice everything. If he'd been afraid, he couldn't remember. If the savior had ever hesitated, ever faltered--...no, that wasn't possible. To question if what he was doing was 'right' would have rendered it all meaningless and invalidated every single life saved at his hand.]
[Even if it had all been planned and orchestrated--hadn't he still saved people? Didn't that still mean something?]
I can not claim to understand the workings of the Six by any means, apart from Ifrit himself.
[Burn it, he'd thought. Burn it all to ash, that's what they get. Ungrateful humans, the descendants of people that would never have lived if not for the man they condemned and forgot, the line descended from his brother to end in a child who never asked to be a piece of this game...he'd wanted it all destroyed.]
...Yuuri.
[And now here he was, neither savior nor Accursed, willing to sacrifice himself for this group and this group alone. He moved and knelt down in front of Yuuri, gently pulling her hands away from her head.]
I never...thanked you, for everything. For all you've done these past months.
[But he didn't stop. He couldn't. As long as Ardyn Lucis Caelum had the power to save even one person out of millions, he would have sacrificed everything. He did sacrifice everything. If he'd been afraid, he couldn't remember. If the savior had ever hesitated, ever faltered--...no, that wasn't possible. To question if what he was doing was 'right' would have rendered it all meaningless and invalidated every single life saved at his hand.]
[Even if it had all been planned and orchestrated--hadn't he still saved people? Didn't that still mean something?]
I can not claim to understand the workings of the Six by any means, apart from Ifrit himself.
[Burn it, he'd thought. Burn it all to ash, that's what they get. Ungrateful humans, the descendants of people that would never have lived if not for the man they condemned and forgot, the line descended from his brother to end in a child who never asked to be a piece of this game...he'd wanted it all destroyed.]
...Yuuri.
[And now here he was, neither savior nor Accursed, willing to sacrifice himself for this group and this group alone. He moved and knelt down in front of Yuuri, gently pulling her hands away from her head.]
I never...thanked you, for everything. For all you've done these past months.
Edited 2017-07-18 22:47 (UTC)
[ It's not fair; none of it is. Ardyn hardly needs Yuuri to tell him just how tragic and terrible his own life is but she feels like she might just explode if she keeps it in her chest. For whatever the man calling himself Ardyn Izunia did for those two thousand years he spent waiting for Bahamut to let him die, that didn't mean Ardyn Lucis Caelum had been worth throwing away like he had been. And that can't have been the only way to do it. Two thousand years of pain and darkness can't have been the only way to wipe the world clean of a plague.
She starts when he touches her. She hadn't been expecting it but really, he was hardly going to sit there idly while she wound herself up. She forces herself to try and calm down -- she can't be the one being comforted here when Ardyn is the one needing to be supported. But still, she finds herself balking. ]
I-- everything I've...? I mean-- I've-- I've tried to help but it... I'm sure it hasn't been enough. There's not enough I can do for you all.
She starts when he touches her. She hadn't been expecting it but really, he was hardly going to sit there idly while she wound herself up. She forces herself to try and calm down -- she can't be the one being comforted here when Ardyn is the one needing to be supported. But still, she finds herself balking. ]
I-- everything I've...? I mean-- I've-- I've tried to help but it... I'm sure it hasn't been enough. There's not enough I can do for you all.
[He'd said the worst of it already, struggled through venting agonizing memories to Church while trying desperately to anchor himself in the present. This was driving him insane, in the literal sense. For as short as a human life was to him Ardyn had doubts he'd be able to hold out for whatever remained of one. And yet it was a little easier now to admit to more of the story, to speak of the Accursed's fate without suffocating beneath the weight of the unknowable, terrible dark. Just a little easier, knowing the family he didn't deserve was there carrying it with him.]
That's not true at all.
[The hands that held Yuuri's now had killed an innocent Oracle, brought ruin upon a planet, and dismantled so many lives for the crime of existing, yet now they were nothing but the warm, living touch of someone who had once used them to bring salvation. Beneath fingerless gloves was skin calloused by the hilt of a sword and by countless scars taken from others long before he'd ceased to be human.]
[And even now, the shard of crystal and image of Bahamut himself was worn openly on his right hand.]
You've spent all this time struggling to keep us together even as you've carried more than anyone should. I'm sure you think most of us haven't noticed, but I certainly have. You were one of the first I confided in a month ago when I was fearing what I would turn into, and you didn't even flinch.
If it wasn't for every single one of you fighting to salvage whatever there was to salvage in that monster, then I wouldn't be here right now. If you and all the others hadn't so stubbornly insisted you would never turn on me, I would never have cracked enough to think I should have demanded my humanity returned to me.
One doesn't have to be a chosen savior to be able to save others. You, Junpei, Leonard, everyone--all of you saved the life of whoever's speaking to you now. Brought something human out of two thousand years of hatred and darkness. How could you ever truly claim that to not be enough?
That's not true at all.
[The hands that held Yuuri's now had killed an innocent Oracle, brought ruin upon a planet, and dismantled so many lives for the crime of existing, yet now they were nothing but the warm, living touch of someone who had once used them to bring salvation. Beneath fingerless gloves was skin calloused by the hilt of a sword and by countless scars taken from others long before he'd ceased to be human.]
[And even now, the shard of crystal and image of Bahamut himself was worn openly on his right hand.]
You've spent all this time struggling to keep us together even as you've carried more than anyone should. I'm sure you think most of us haven't noticed, but I certainly have. You were one of the first I confided in a month ago when I was fearing what I would turn into, and you didn't even flinch.
If it wasn't for every single one of you fighting to salvage whatever there was to salvage in that monster, then I wouldn't be here right now. If you and all the others hadn't so stubbornly insisted you would never turn on me, I would never have cracked enough to think I should have demanded my humanity returned to me.
One doesn't have to be a chosen savior to be able to save others. You, Junpei, Leonard, everyone--all of you saved the life of whoever's speaking to you now. Brought something human out of two thousand years of hatred and darkness. How could you ever truly claim that to not be enough?
[ It's never enough. It's nothing that anyone has ever said or even implied they felt but something Yuuri carries in her heart anyway. These people -- her family -- have all done so much for her just by being with her. She can never repay them for what they've all done without even trying. She has to give them everything just to even the scales.
She opens her mouth to say as much or something like it but finds that she can't make the words come out. Because... something about that suddenly rings wrong after the talk they'd just had. After she'd been so furious on his behalf about him being expected to give, give, give and get nothing but pain in return. If she's so angry about that burden being placed on a king then why should she expect something like that from herself? They certainly don't expect it from her.
Her hands tighten a little on Ardyn's. ]
We pulled you out of all that dark but we could only do it because you were reaching back. I don't know if you wanted to be saved, back when this all started. But I know one thing. I know you wanted to help us.
[ It's not a matter of give or take. It's not a matter of equal shares or working yourself til you're sick to convince yourself that maybe that's enough. Because that's not how it works. And because if you feel like you're falling behind, one of us will pull you. And if you feel like you can't go on then one of us will push you.
It's as simple as that, isn't it? Because that's just what family does. ]
... We saved each other. All of us.
She opens her mouth to say as much or something like it but finds that she can't make the words come out. Because... something about that suddenly rings wrong after the talk they'd just had. After she'd been so furious on his behalf about him being expected to give, give, give and get nothing but pain in return. If she's so angry about that burden being placed on a king then why should she expect something like that from herself? They certainly don't expect it from her.
Her hands tighten a little on Ardyn's. ]
We pulled you out of all that dark but we could only do it because you were reaching back. I don't know if you wanted to be saved, back when this all started. But I know one thing. I know you wanted to help us.
[ It's not a matter of give or take. It's not a matter of equal shares or working yourself til you're sick to convince yourself that maybe that's enough. Because that's not how it works. And because if you feel like you're falling behind, one of us will pull you. And if you feel like you can't go on then one of us will push you.
It's as simple as that, isn't it? Because that's just what family does. ]
... We saved each other. All of us.
Back home, no--I was a long-dead lost cause. Anything that was ever human within Ardyn Izunia had been crushed out and replaced with something twisted and wrong; a cataclysm fueled by the spiteful memories of a dead healer. He didn't want to be saved--at least, not 'saved' in the way you're talking about.
[All that he'd done, all he'd manipulated and influenced behind the scenes--from Insomnia's invasion to Altissia's fall to leading Noctis straight to the Crystal--it had all been leading to one purpose.]
['Only once the Crystal and King are no more...can I know redemption.']
[Salvation and redemption to Ardyn Izunia meant forcing a child of twenty--no, thirty--to be left with no option but to cut down one to save many. To die alongside him, the last two remnants of the Lucian bloodline.]
...I can not say if I wanted to be saved or not in these past months. I think I must have, at one point or another--but I knew I didn't deserve it. I still don't. It should be Noctis here in my place; if either of the last remnants of the Lucis Caelum dynasty should be saved, then it should have been him that lived.
[Ardyn went distantly quiet, stare lowered to their hands for a moment--briefly he was back in Insomnia, rain falling from a blighted sky. 'This time, you can-']
[He shook his head, pulling himself out of his own memories and looking back up to Yuuri.]
...But I didn't have a choice. It seems I never do, when it comes to matters like this. I had no option but to act as pawn to the Astrals because I once wished only to protect others, and the rest of you simply refused to allow me to again crush out that resurrected memory of that human and his blind selflessness. None of you let someone who only knew betrayal simply forget how to trust again.
This family is so much more than I should have. But it's mine regardless.
[All that he'd done, all he'd manipulated and influenced behind the scenes--from Insomnia's invasion to Altissia's fall to leading Noctis straight to the Crystal--it had all been leading to one purpose.]
['Only once the Crystal and King are no more...can I know redemption.']
[Salvation and redemption to Ardyn Izunia meant forcing a child of twenty--no, thirty--to be left with no option but to cut down one to save many. To die alongside him, the last two remnants of the Lucian bloodline.]
...I can not say if I wanted to be saved or not in these past months. I think I must have, at one point or another--but I knew I didn't deserve it. I still don't. It should be Noctis here in my place; if either of the last remnants of the Lucis Caelum dynasty should be saved, then it should have been him that lived.
[Ardyn went distantly quiet, stare lowered to their hands for a moment--briefly he was back in Insomnia, rain falling from a blighted sky. 'This time, you can-']
[He shook his head, pulling himself out of his own memories and looking back up to Yuuri.]
...But I didn't have a choice. It seems I never do, when it comes to matters like this. I had no option but to act as pawn to the Astrals because I once wished only to protect others, and the rest of you simply refused to allow me to again crush out that resurrected memory of that human and his blind selflessness. None of you let someone who only knew betrayal simply forget how to trust again.
This family is so much more than I should have. But it's mine regardless.
Edited 2017-07-19 22:50 (UTC)
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