[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?
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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?