#I just like the idea of Ardyn slowly learning

[houdinicorbini]

Hiii ! I’m at my aunt’s house but I got enough Wi-fi to send my request 🎉. Could you please write a touch starved and really clingy reader with Ardyn and maybe Ravus or Gladiolus ? I don’t know if you write for the others but I love them sm jdkdbxk ANYWAYS love your writing it’s so pleasing to read ! You’re one of my fav writers on tumblr even tho I just discovered you!! Have a nice day !!

Oh thank you so much! And I’ll write for almost anyone in the game

But this will be my first time writing for Gladiolus specifically

I hope you don’t mind it being headcanons since I am going to do all three!

Trigger warnings: none

🗡️Ardyn 🗡️

✧ Ardyn wouldn’t never shame you for being touch starved, especially if he knows the reasons as to why.

Hell, he’s a bit touch starved too after everything he’s been through as well.

So you’ll both have your moments of needing extra attention, it’s just Ardyn has learned to hide it more and suppress it.

~~~~~~~

✧ If you’re having a day where it is particularly bad, Ardyn will do his best to try and comfort you through it.

Like telling you that everything is going to be alright, cuddling, just making sure that he’s near you until he sees that you’re alright.

I can see Ardyn reading as he has his arm wrapped around you while you’re also doing your own thing.

He’ll make sure you have moments like that with him. No matter the time of day.

~~~~~~~

✧ Now with the clinginess, he really understands, but he tries to slowly get you out of that habit.

He has to travel a lot and he doesn’t want you having a near breakdown when he isn’t there.

Ardyn won’t do anything big at first, just small things to slowly become less clingy.

It’s not that he finds it annoying, he just overly worried and wants to make sure you’re alright.

And Ardyn definitely has his moments where he can be clingy, but again, he hasn’t experienced love in so long so he can sometimes get a tad bit carried away.

But you two are definitely in it together!

~~~~~~~

✧ Even though he’s the villain, Ardyn used to be good guy, and he had a lover of his own. So I can see him being great at comforting when he needs to be.

And like I said before, he has his own issues so there’ll be times where you’ll have to help him out too.

You both can be a clingy mess on bad days.

But I guess it actually works out a bit.

~~~~~~~

✧ Overall, you both help each other through the problems you have, each having a reason as to why you have them.

And he’ll always be there for when you need him, just like you’ll be there for him too!

So you two really balance one another out.

~~~~~~~

🤍 Ravus 🤍

✧ Because of losing his parents at a young age and the empire taking over his kingdom, Ravus is also very touch starved and clingy to those he really cares about.

So the both of you can also be a very clingy mess.

And like Ardyn, he’d hide it. But that is also because he kind of has to do to the empire.

But he’ll do his best to help you. When he has the time of course.

~~~~~~~

✧ He can definitely relate to how you feel so he can get an idea on what to do and how to help, even if it’s just sitting in each other’s company on a couch.

Ravus wouldn’t mind something like that at all

In fact, he’ll even try to set aside time so you two can have moments like these.

But that’s only when you two have known each other for a while and you’re deep in a relationship.

He unfortunately has an image he has to uphold.

~~~~~~~

✧ There are days where the two of you can just spend hours doing nothing but sitting in silence, but you’re both content with it.

Sometimes it’s all about the presence and not the talking.

Ravus understands that a lot and relishes in moments like that.

Unfortunately they just don’t happen often enough.

But he tries to make time for them to happen.

~~~~~~~

✧ Like with Ardyn too, Ravus has days where it’s harder to mask so you’ll have to help him.

Which you never mind, you’ll definitely give him the same love and curtesy that he’s given you all those other times.

Even if he denies that he needs it.

He’ll soften up if he sees cuddling or any form of hugging is going to be involved.

Ravus definitely returns the favor for you as well. Almost immediately too.

~~~~~

🖤Gladiolus🖤

✧ Out of the three, Gladio is not as touch starved, but he does do his damndest to make sure you know you’re loved and all that.

He may not be all too good with words, but his actions are louder!

Much louder.

~~~~~~~

✧ If you have bad days where things are worse, Gladio will offer to go out and do something in each other’s company.

Even if it’s something like working out or going to his favorite ramen shop.

He is also someone who wouldn’t mind just sitting down with a good book while you either read or do whatever you want near him.

Actions are definitely easier for him to handle.

~~~~~~~

✧ You might’ve had to explain a little bit about how you are and why, but he understands.

I feel like he has a harder time with emotional things and tries to tackle the problem head on, which can be good, sometimes.

But he quickly learns that this is not something that can be dealt with so easily.

He means well, but he can be a himbo at times.

~~~~~~~

✧ There are times he has seemed a tad bit insensitive, but it has always been a misunderstanding and he means well.

Again, emotions are not his strong suit so you’ll have to be patient with him.

Gladio will definitely to his best to make you feel content and loved in the best ways he knows how.

Cuddles.

~~~~~~~

I know it took a while and it’s short for as long as it took, but I hope you enjoy!

Do give me feedback if you have any!

[s-talking]

@deciessomnia:

❛ I've definitely got myself into quite the predicament, haven't I? ❜ Ardyn thought maybe, some hours later. Who would have thought, whatever it was that was used, would actually cause him to loose consciousness like that? Definitely not him, oh no, definitely not him. Alas, fate had other ideas in mind or a very good prank. Wait, he didn't believe in such things. Check and mate. ❛ Hmm... begining to feel my consciousness come back around... though, fully waking sound like a more accurate way of describing it. Let's see where it take me... ❜ he thought somehow with his eyes struggling to open. For a ceiling to greet him. ❛ Hmm... decor could be better but I have been kidnapped, so can't complain too much or can I? ❜

Eyes took a quick swep of his surroundings and immediately noticed a not so familiar face. ❝ Well, it been awhile hasn't it? Though, if you looking for a date you could have simply taken me out to dinner first before kidnapping me. It would only be proper ettiquette. ❞ he should be taking to this situation a tad bit more seriously, but he wasn't. Being kidnapped? Not exactly on his bucket list, but he could check it off.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒. the only things visible are parts of the bed & the long row of newspaper-covered windows ── their pages unevenly torn, crumpled, & yellowed by time ── as the first rays of moonlight begin to filter through the gaps in-between. envy steps steps forth, slowly, cutting into their paths of light, the shadows of hangul letters imprinting across his pale face like black tattoos.

normally, he'd just throw any temporary guests down into the basement, but not tonight; mrs. saebom personally requested for this one to be treated with care. as such, envy obliges, approaching the metallic bedframe to which ardyn is tied, only to sit at the edge & cross a leg over the other, clearly nonchalant about the fact the older man is starting to wake up. after all, even if he wishes to struggle, he will quickly learn that he isn't at all restrained by any typical means, such as ropes, handcuffs, or even plasticuffs ── but a complex web of silver wires. they tighten sharply onto different limbs depending on moment, however, what makes this even more strange are the ominous talismans hanging off them, closely resembling those found in old temples or their ancient rituals. it is unclear as to what they actually do.

❝ dates are reserved for those who wish to get to know each other better, ❞ he whispers, ❝ but i... already know so much about ' you ' ... ❞ reaching out with a black nailed hand, the young serial killer caresses his face, taking ardyn firmly by the chin; ❝ tell me... is it a date you really desire.... ? or is it vengeance... on this filthy... redundant world.... ? ❞

[galahdborn]

🎧 - You can telepathically communicate with your soulmate without ever having to meet. [ you have no idea how long i debated whether i should or not because ardyn. enjoy the mess. ]

Soulmate AU || @inimiicus

When Nyx first unlocked the ability to communicate with his soulmate telepathically, he was understandably excited. He was careful at first, unsure, sending messages in hopes of a response. When he didn't get any, he was worried that he was doing something wrong, but decided to continue nonetheless.

In hindsight, he supposes that might've been very annoying and that his soulmate was frustrated enough to finally send a message back. Nyx didn't care at the time, too excited to know more. He slowly learned tidbits about his soulmate, but never enough to figure out who they were. They didn't want to tell him their name, though he had told them his own without hesitation. It didn't matter – he would take what he could get.

Time passed. He chatted with his soulmate often, even if a lot of the conversations were one sided. He liked whenever his soulmate responded, quietly admitted to himself that his voice was lovely. He told his soulmate of his adventures – his hunts and achievements. That once they met, he wanted to introduce them to his family.

Then Niflheim attacked and he fell quiet, part of him numb with the loss of his sister. He told his soulmate he was moving to Insomnia, which got him a response he couldn't decipher, but he left it alone. He eventually started talking more again, comforted by the fact that there was someone out there, supposed just for him.

He really should've known that the fates liked playing games.

He had been on guard duty when the Chancellor of Niflheim came with news of the peace treaty and because he had found it boring, he had decided to send a running commentary of what was happening to his soulmate. The King looks like he just smelled something foul. No, seriously – it reminds me of the time Yamachang had come up with a new recipe and Libertus and I decided to have a taste. Let's just say that our bodies did not agree to whatever the guy had put in the food. Crowe compared to us to skunks and didn't want to be around us for weeks.

It was when the Chancellor had snorted lightly and had to hide a chuckle that Nyx got suspicious. Even more so when he met the guy's gaze and he mentally commented on the guy's attire and he saw his lips twitch.

Holy fuck, it's you, isn't it? You're my soulmate! Is that why you didn't want to tell me your name, because you're the Chancellor of fucking Niflheim?!

[followthestars]

I have had this idea for a while, but am not sure it’s gonna go anywhere.

Noctis as a baby, was kidnapped by a Niflheim spy and brought to the empire.

They planned to use him to make MTs with magic, perhaps even turn him into one later.

Ardyn, curious, goes to see the baby, knows this is the chosen king.

Noctis is a cute baby. A cute baby that’s looking up at him with sleepy eyes and making grabby hands. A baby that is smiling at him.

He’s a bit reminded of when his brother was an innocent baby.

Ardyn is in a daze as he picks up the tiny prince, who happily cuddles into his chest and goes straight to sleep.

Well, he’s lost, the baby has won him over.

Besithia makes a comment of him to please stop messing with his experiments.

We now have a dead scientist.

Ardyn decides, he’ll just get the little one back to Lucis, as he’s tearing apart the entire laboratory and picking up a second baby.

He’s walking right past Cor, armiger circling when he pauses, goes back to the shell shocked man, and hands over the second baby he picked up, then goes back on his merry way.

He’s in Tenebrae when he realizes he just openly defected from the empire. He forgot about Cor, and the second baby.

Regis is informed of Ardyn having magic, so there’s a discreet search being started to find this previously unknown LC that the Niffs had.

Sylva is now sure how to handle the Accursed in her city, with a baby.

Where did he even get a baby?

Ardyn, as a joke, is calling Noctis Somnus for now, just until he finds a way to sneak the child back into the Citadel.

He is very attached to the little one by now though.

Sylva is curious on if she can remove the scourge from Ardyn herself. She has to stop after a short while, he carries too much to remove.

Ardyn did warn her.

He ends up wandering to Accordo before Cor and some glaives arrive looking for Noctis.

Sylva realizes that the baby Ardyn has was Noctis and tells them as such. Sadly he hadn’t told her where he was going.

Ardyn is having a nice train ride though, Noctis seems to like staring out the window or napping when not needing a diaper change or bottle.

Anyone that asks for Noctis’ name is given the name Somnus.

He enjoys his little joke of using his little brother’s name to keep the prince hidden from anyone that might take him back to Niflheim.

He discovers Noctis is oddly obsessed with fish in Altissia. His armiger now has a lot of stuffed animals shaped like different fish to entertain the little one.

He eventually heads to Galdin, and gets an idea.

Screw the Prophecy, he’ll just stop spreading scourge and raise a little prince. It’ll be fun to spit in Bahamut’s face doing this.

Plus Noctis is an adorable baby that isn’t scared of him.

He finds a nice place to live in Galdin and just works as a hunter. He can’t let his skills with weapons get rusty, and he will need to train Noctis in the future.

He needs a new name, Somnus was funny, but he’s not going to raise a baby using his brother’s name.

He doesn’t want to make it obvious he’s got the prince... Sol is a good name. No one will realize a child named Sol was Noctis!

Ardyn isn’t really thinking things through in this, but going with his first impulse. He really needs someone to be his impulse control.

[ertrunkenerwassergeist]

Maybe a small prompt that requires no story, just bullet points of fun with no connection will help? I noticed in the discord the gif of Ardyn Extra Izunia (tm) he is wearing a spotted cloak… like a coeurl skin. It made me imagine Selkie AU where Niflheim get Nyx’s pelt. What changes in that case?

Hello fellow Glaive!

That's... wow. That's an idea.

Hmmm.

My first question here was: How the heck would Niflheim get their hands on Nyx' pelt? Then the story ideas started rolling in right as I went to bed.

So, this would take place at the invasion of Galahd. At least to begin with. Because that's the only time I see a Niff getting their hands on Nyx' pelt. Maybe Nyx was taken prisoner and one of the human Niff officers liked the pelt and took it for himself. Nyx eventually broke out of course, but his pelt was nowhere to be found.

Angst and consequences ensure. Because without his pelt Nyx is slowly falling apart.

When they have to leave Galahd, it breaks another part in Nyx. Especially since his mother and sister don't make it. He barely pieces himself together enough to be eligible for the Kingsglaive. But he needs his pelt back. He knows it's only a question of time before he fully breaks without it.

Crowe and Libertus and the others do what they can. But they know it's not enough. They cannot replace the missing part of Nyx' soul and it grates.

It makes them hate Niflheim even more than they do in canon.

Drautos keeps a careful eye on all of them. Because they're all so reckless it borders on suicidal. He does not really understand waht is going on, but the longer he watches, the more he sees the desperation to his Glaive's actions. The growing despair.

Titus Drautos does not know what's going on, but it makes him think.

And when he sees Nyx one late evening in the Glaive's Headquarters, trying to hide in a shadowy corner, trembling and unresponsive, lightning cracking his skin open, he begins to understand.

And considers.

Meanwhile in Niflheim that officer sold the pelt to an auction house because he needed money. A noble acquired it. White coeurl pelts are exceedingly rare. It gets put on a place of pride in the noble's home.

When that noble holds a ball, Ardyn is there. Ardyn has to be there and is not happy about it. The noble is a self absorbed idiot and none of his 'trophies' he got anywhere else but the auction house.

Ardyn knows this, but he has to play nice, so he smiles as the noble gives his guests a tour through his collection, ending with his most exquisite piece. The white coeurl pelt.

Seeing it steals Ardyn's breath away. He knows what it is. Knows which Clan it belongs to. There is a feel of magic surrounding it that is unmistakeable. And this pelt has been separated long enough from its owner that he can feel the magic breaking and cracking at the edges. It is a true wonder the owner isn't dead yet.

This pelt should not stir soemthing awake deep within Ardyn. A memory. Old and thought forgotten.

But he remembers the group of people he met by the Solheimr ruins in the north of Cleigne. A man and three children.

Ulrics the man had called them, gaze frond and protective.

And when Ardyn had looked again there had not been three children wrapped in furs playing at the shores of the lake, but three white coeurl cubs.

Ardyn remembers this and the stories his mother told him (and his brother) when he had been a child. About a people blessed by magic ancient and alien. About creation and Chaos and the people brave enough (stupid enough) to dabble in it.

Ardyn remembers all this and the world shivers as he tilts his head and smiles.

There is a debt he owes. Old and long forgotten by all but him. And if the line is still alive... well.

(Ardyn is assured in the flighty memory of humanity. But the Galahkari have always defied all expectations, he will come to learn.)

[secret-engima]

*kicks down door* WHO WANTS TO READ ME RAMBLE/RANT ABOUT THE GRALEA LEVEL IN FFXV AND WHY IT ACTUALLY WAS A GOOD LEVEL AND EVERYONE SHOULD PLAY THE NOCTIS ROUTE AT LEAST ONCE RATHER THAN THE GLADIO ROUTE EVEN THOUGH IT’S TERRIFYING AND FRUSTRATING.

No one?

WELL TOO BAD.

(Unless you haven’t played or watched the game yet and don’t want spoilers in which case TURN AWAY NOW).

...Ahem. *deep breath* Okay so I will forever stand by my opinion that chapter 13 of the game (the one that takes place on the train and then in Gralea) is Good™ and does exactly what it's supposed to in the narrative. That is not to say I don't hate it with a passion and didn't cheer when they added the Gladiolus route for those of us (like me) who didn't want to replay the Noctis route again, but I will stubbornly insist to anyone that wants to listen that the chapter's difficulty and wildly different tone and pacing was THE POINT of the darn thing and deserves some respect for it.

See, the game up to that point is, if not always lighthearted (because it's not), has still been something of an Adventure Story™. Yes there's horrible tragic things like Insomnia falling and Regis dying, but for the most part the gameplay is exploration and cool combat mechanics and the relationship between the four brothers. It's ... happy for a good chunk of it. There's this light at the end of the tunnel, this comfy assurance that there can be a happy ending, that this can all be fixed and tied up in a neat little bow somehow.

Then Altissia happens. Luna dies, Ignis is blinded, and the game puts you on literal rails, forcing you to go hurtling toward A Different Tone. Everyone is stressed, everyone is scared or angry. You’d THINK that this is the lowest point of the story and that surely there’s going to be an emotional reconciliation between Noctis and Gladio and then we’ll get back to exploring and saving the world and all that jazz.

Except we don’t.

The train scene with Ardyn and Shiva happens, and the entire heartbreak with Prompto happens, and that’s when things start to seriously crack. You lose all access to your magic while stuck in this narrow train, then you lose the Regalia, your symbol of freedom, your main way to travel through the game (even when you fast travel, the animation of arrival shows you getting out of the Regalia). You are now trapped in Gralea. In dark, hostile territory with one of your party missing, one of them blind, the other angry at you, and still no magic. Then a few minutes later you are forcibly separated from the rest of your party, the characters you’ve spent all game getting attached to, and leaning on, and laughing with. They are your last anchor points to the brother dynamic that has kept the whole game on a lighter note and now they are GONE. You have none of your weapons or skills, you have no idea where the others are (first time playing the game without spoilers anyway), you have NOTHING. No hope. No backup. No distractions from the fact that, oh yeah, this is a story where the Bad. Guys. Win. Are winning, have won, and all Noctis (all you) can do is take out the Ring that slowly killed Regis, that Luna died for, the thing that represents everything going wrong and all NOCTIS must do to fix it even when he is painfully, woefully unprepared ... and finally put it on. 

Noctis (and by extension you, the player) MUST shoulder the responsibility of being the king of a lost kingdom, of acknowledging that he IS the king, his dad was MURDERED, and Luna was killed for the thing you are now wearing and everything it means. It’s your only option until you eventually find the dead Ravus and take back Regis’s sword toward the middle/end of the level, which you can’t use recklessly because every swing drains your very life-force, forcing the Ring to still be your “best” option in many cases.

Most of that level is spent running, and hiding, and praying that the MT Units on the floor don’t leap up and try to murder you, or that the daemons don’t notice you, or that the teleporting daemon doesn’t find you, or that Ardyn will just SHUT UP because his taunts are really unhelpful right now.

The only hope you have left in this level is to grit your teeth and get through it with the Ring until you can reunite with your brothers and get magic back and go get the Crystal, the mcguffin of this whole game, and put the game back on the normal track of brotherly dynamics and fun quests. Just get to the Crystal, and everything will somehow start going back to normal.

And then that turns out to be a trap too.

Welcome to the final act of a tragedy, and your character is the one living through it. There will be no restoration of the norm until you’ve seen this to its final conclusion. There will be no light save for the one Noctis dies for.

Even when I first played that level (vanilla, not even a day one patch version btw because I was an idiot like that) and hated it because it was terrifying, I never thought it didn't belong in the story like ... quite a few comments I saw on the internet later insisted it didn’t. This is Noctis's story. This is Noctis's tragedy. THIS is the level that strips every last distraction and security blanket and shelter away from him and makes him put on the Ring and thus shoulder everything it represents. There is- terror here, there is trauma, there is GRIEF. This is practically Noctis's headspace without his brothers, because let's not forget that while we the players are having fun fishing and catching frogs for a silly scientist lady, Noctis is a refugee from an empire that MURDERED HIS FATHER and the FATHER OF HIS SHIELD-BROTHER, destroyed his HOME and then, right before Gralea, murdered Luna, the girl who he's known and talked to and confided in via letter for twelve years. This is a world falling into literal darkness (and if the player hadn’t noticed how the daytime cycle in the game kept getting shorter and shorter before this point YOU CERTAINLY NOTICE NOW) and it's up to Noctis- JUST Noctis, ONLY NOCTIS thanks to a Prophecy made long before he was ever born, to somehow Fix It™.

One person. Just one.

And he has to fix ... all of this.

How?

He doesn’t know. During the Gralea level he DOESN’T KNOW. All he (all we) know is that the Crystal is the key, but since the Crystal only answers to Lucis Caelums, that means Noctis is the key, and Noctis (and you the player) is painfully aware of how Not Ready he is.

And the weight of that is enough to render you helpless in the face of it. The fear of that is a maze. The terror of it is a monster following you down the halls that you cannot escape from and cannot kill while it laughs at your misery.

All of that is GRALEA. The capital city of the people who overthrew his home, killed his father, killed his fiancé, and isolated him from the last safety nets he had.

The entirety of chapter 13 isn’t meant to be enjoyed. It’s meant to make you scared. It’s meant to frustrate you and make you feel helpless. It’s meant to make you feel sick when you learn what the daemons and MTs you’ve been killing really are. It’s meant to make you RAGE against Ardyn, and the Empire, and this entire situation because you’re one person and you’re not prepared for this and it’s NOT FAIR and you just want things to go BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS AND ALL OF THIS SUCKS.

Yeah. It does.

And who else do you think feels like that?

Noctis.

Chapter 13 isn’t meant to be fun. It’s meant to make you feel like Noctis does.

And what emotions would you expect from someone who has just lost everything and is expected to fix everything for everyone else, and now has no distractions or shields between him and his grief?

I remember reading an article about “why this chapter failed” and it was basically to the order of “this game is about a fun road trip with your bros and reuniting with your fiancé and chapter 13 breaks away from that too hard” and I respectfully have to disagree.

This story isn’t about a “fun road trip” and it isn’t just about “reuniting with your fiancé”. From the very first cutscene we are told that it’s not in Regis’s desperate (and soon revealed as last) words to his son about setting forth on a journey and not being able to go back. We are told it’s not in the first hour or so when Insomnia burns and Noctis cries and Cor tells us that “in his last moments together he didn’t want to be your king, he wanted to be your father”. How is that a “fun story about a road trip?”. Yes the road trip IS fun for us, and it IS about the brother relationship, but in a large, LARGE part-

Final Fantasy XV is about a young man setting out into the world and facing the hardships of it. It’s about loss. It’s about regrets. It’s about how no matter how much you want them to, some things can never go back to the way they were yet you must keep going anyway. It’s about how the darkness of the world will just keep taking-taking-taking until someone is willing to pay the price to make it stop, and that sometimes a happy ending for the people you love most means giving up your own personal happy ending on their behalf.

Final Fantasy XV never really hid the fact that it was a tragic, bittersweet story.

But it’s in chapter 13 that the story refuses to let you mistake it for anything else any longer.

Could the chapter have been structured a little better so that the gameplay itself wasn’t so frustrating? Probably. I know almost nothing about game design so that’s not really my call. But does the chapter, for all its frustration and anger-inducing inversion of pacing and tone, brutally get the point across?

Maybe it’s just my opinion, but I’d say yes. Yes it does. Because this video game was the one that fully 100% convinced me, in a way that no other video game had before, that the platform could tell heart wrenching stories, could give me characters I would care for, cry over, rage on the behalf of.

And a big part of that clicked for me at the ending, but it likely wouldn’t have if I hadn’t first struggled my way through chapter 13 and all the emotions it causes and represents just like Noctis did.

...

There. I’m done. Thanks for reading my long-suppressed rant on the most hated chapter of FFXV.

[nightowlfandom]

Ignis Scientia- Little Black Dress

Hey, lemme just say thanks for adding in the prompt lines so I wouldn’t have to go back and look for them lol.

CHECK OUT MY MASTERLIST HERE!

CHECK OUT MY PROMPT LIST HERE!

Also I took the liberty of making this a bit of an Alternate Universe. Hope that’s okay.

Leggo!

...

“Y/N? Y/N where are you-” Ignis was surprised to find you sitting at the edge of the bed. The crumpled up floor length gown you were supposed to wear tonight was throw onto the floor, leaving you in nothing but your undergarments. “You’re still not ready?”

“I’m not going.” you grumbled in reply. “You’ll just have to go without me.”

“Darling. Lunafreya is expecting me to show up with my fiancée. Wouldn’t want everyone to think I’m holding you captive.” he joked. Usually, you would have laughed at his humor. However you were much to down in the dumps to even muster up even a slight smile. “Is something wrong?”

“...I don’t know if-....I’m-” you tried to think of the words to say. “How do I explain it?” you began talking to yourself more than Ignis. “I don’t wanna be around a bunch of stuck up royals.” you finally said.

“Not this talk again.” he sighed. “Y/N...” he glared at you. Not out of anger, but out of concern. “What’s making you feel this way?”

“Everytime I’m around them they always talk down to me!” you got up, ignoring the fact that you were half naked. “They always find something to nitpick at me about!” you explained. “Ignis those people don’t like me!”

“Noctis likes you, Luna likes you, Prompto and Gladio Likes you. I sure as hell can’t get enough of you.”

“What about that asshole Ardyn and his gaggle of groupies who love to follow that sniveling hobo around and do what he says?”

“People like that are just jealous of you, you know that right?” Ignis sighed, picking up your discarded dress. “They’re jealous that you don’t need material things to be happy, that you’re perfectly content with who you are.”

“I don’t know about that.” you shrugged. “How do I know you’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“When have I ever been one to lie.” he asked, raising an eyebrow at you. “You know me Y/N...I’m not one to lie...ever.”. Seeing your doubt, Ignis got an idea. “You know, I had a dream about you.” he held out your dress to you.

“Hm, what about?” you reluctantly grabbed your clothes and attempted to get re-dressed. 

“Hm, we were under the stars We were bare skinned under the night sky.” he stepped forward and attempted to help you. “Nothing but the clouds as our blankets.”

“Where are you going with this Ignis?” you raised an eyebrow. 

“Let me finish.” he partially whined, kissing your bare shoulder as he zipped the back of your dress. “We probably had done it up to four times at that moment, our bodies were covered in sweat and-” he paused to chuckle deviously “Other fluids...and it all happened while you were wearing this very dress.” he walked you over to the floor length mirror. “My beautiful future wife made me of all people lose control. Do you want to know what we did?”

“Umm y-yes?” To be honest, you were very curious to know. 

“You led me out to our favorite hiding spot, you then let your hair down and turned towards me.” he tightened his arms around you as he spoke. “It was like you read my mind when you slowly undressed yourself to reveal that regal body to me. Hm It was a shame what happened to that dress after I practically tore it off you.”

Hearing him talk like that made you shy. Hella shy! You took it upon yourself to look everywhere but him.

“Stop looking down, you’re much too pretty to be this shy.” his words caused you to look at your reflection in the mirror. “Damn, you look so good in this dress.”

“Ignis, could you keep it in your pants for one night.” you tried to ignore the roaming hands. “If you take this dress off, it’s not going back on.”

“Does that mean you’re up for tonight?” you felt his lips kiss your temple. 

“Yeah, whatever.” you mumbled grumpily, “but that doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy it!”

...

“Y/N! You’re here!” Luna threw her arms around you. “I’m so glad you could make it.” 

“How could I miss this?” you returned her affections. “What else would I be doing tonight?” you mustered a smile at your good friend.

“Well let me be the first to say, Ignis’s words do not do you justice. You’re the most well dressed person here!” she took a step back. 

“Really?...You don’t think I’m underdressed or-”

“Heavens no! Now that Ardyn character. He could learn a few things from you and Ignis. He always shows up in the same old uniform.” her face fell. “Speak of the devil...”

“Well if it isn’t the future queen and her pack mule!” 

Slowly you turned around to meet Ardyn’s glare. “Hello Ardyn,” you felt your heart tighten. Of course he had to be the one to make you feel insecure. “Fancy seeing you here. Then again you stick out like a sore thumb.”you found yourself saying.

Luna stifled a laugh at your jab at the much older man. Ardyn however, wasn’t laughing at all.

“How dare you speak to a man of my status is such a manner!”

“A man of your status, huh? I wouldn’t know, you don’t really change clothes. Kinda like you carry your entire wardrobe on your back.”

“OOOH she got you old man!”A laughing Noctis walked up. “That’ll teach ya.”

“Hm yes, I agree that your attire isn’t up to par as of late.” You felt a familiar arm wrap around your waist. “Y/N if I may interrupt this friendly meeting, I’d like to ask you to meet me on the dancefloor. I wish to show you off to everyone tonight.”

“I’d love to!” you grabbed his hand. “How’d I do?” you asked honestly as he led you away from the small group.

“Absolutely perfect.” he replied, leading you to the sea of dancing couples. “Shall we these simpletons how it’s done?” he pulled you close to his body. 

(I added implied smut because I felt it was a better fit for this vibe, hope that was okay! Also I am adding these to my queue which means if you don’t see yours that just means it wasn’t auto-posted yet.)

[a-world-in-grey]

A Year and a Day

@secret-engima Six curse it all WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME-

(Fusion with the new Mer AU because I ALSO have no self-control, ffs. Also, because I’m going off of the one posted story and a single ramble, I have absolutely NO IDEA how much of this actually fits in your Mer AU so like, yeah? See the end/tags for more.)

.

-It’s been a year since those horrible two weeks after Libertus lost Nyx in a storm (a year since Libertus nearly lost her forever) and a year since the realization that mythical merfolk aren’t quite as extinct as everyone thought.

-At first it was just Nox and his Uncle, but after that it seemed like the floodgates opened, because one particularly rough day - not quite a storm thank Ramuh - on the waves saw another merman with the fins of a Lionfish but in red and liquid silver clawing his way on deck and screeching at Nyx and Tredd and it wasn’t until Libertus’ heart stopping trying to beat out of his chest that he realized the merman was scolding the two idiots-

-Captain was the only merman to stick around near constantly, even more than Ardyn and Nox (to Nyx’s disappointment) but occasionally other mer would pop by to talk with Captain in that strange language the rest of the crew was slowly but surely beginning to pick up. 

-It’s been a year since that fateful storm. No, a year and a day, and Libertus is maybe a bit on edge because if there’s something Libertus has figured out, it’s that Fate loves her Significant Numbers.

-(A year and a day. A decade. A century. A millennia.)

-A year and a day. If anything is going to happen. If anything is going to happen, it’s going to be today.

-And to top it off, it’s storming. Again.

-Nox is with them this time. Libertus isn’t sure he should be relieved by the merman’s presence or worried that a powerful mythical being shares his worries.

-The Flotilla is facing off against another Niflheim Fleet. Not Tummelt this time, though Tummelt had survived the storm that nearly claimed Nyx’s life. No, this time it’s led by the Aureus, captained by Caligo Ulldor and that’s the only reason they’re facing off in such a storm at all.

-(No matter the risk, they cannot let Ulldor reach land. Every Galahdian would give themselves to the Stormsender’s Wrath then allow the atrocities Ulldor would inflict upon their people.)

-But Ulldor isn’t the young and reckless captain Tummelt is, surviving by daring and wits. Ulldor, for all that no Galahdian would ever admit it to his face, is a match of skill for any Furia captain, and a crew equally sea-worthy. The Aureus keeps up with the Stormheart, even with Captain at the helm, even as the rest of the Niflheim fleet falls to Nox and the Flotilla.

-Until a note splits the thunder-struck sky, not so much a Song as a shriek, high and shrill and inhuman and panic-desperation-betrayal-runrunRUN hitting all of them like a rogue wave.

-And the scream cuts off with terrible suddenness and Captain roars, hate and fury blanketing the ship as he shouts for them to brace for impact, just in time for a ship - Tummelt - to somehow appear from nowhere and ram them from the port side.

-Libertus manages to grab Nyx and the rigging, wrapping one arm around her waist because he refuses to lose her a second time-

-It doesn’t matter, as the Stormheart splits, sending them into the waves and the last thing Libertus hears is Nox’s furious scream.

-(A year and a day.)

.

-He wakes.

-Libertus wakes with sunshine on his face, in his soul and lungs, hands helping him turn and vomit up sea water as his own clench in the sand beneath him-

-Heaving for air, reveling in the pain because Shiva’s tits it hurts but pain means he’s alive, how-?

-Nyx’s worried blue eyes, checking him over, helping him sit up before wrapping arms around his neck and sobbing. Libertus returning the hug because his brain still can’t comprehend anything his eyes are seeing.

-The crew of the Stormheart, laid out on the beach. Most of them awake and sitting up, being tended to one of the many red-haired Furia that must be from one of the local villages, given the children and Elders among them, handing out food and water and bandages.

-Nox and Ardyn - and when did the other merman arrive? - seeing to the worst of the wounded, blue and gold magic shimmering through the air. And Captain, beside him and Nyx, grim faced but guarding the-

-Libertus’ heart skips a beat, and he wonders if he’s actually dead.

-Nyx lets out a wet snarl and smacks his shoulder. Did he say that out loud?

-“Y-you were.” Nyx hiccups, hands clenching in his shirt.

-Libertus wants to disbelieve it. Coming back from the dead isn’t possible. Only, he can’t, because the Koi mermaid with red and gold scales in the tones of a summer sunset, trailing up arms and from sea-blue eyes, hair the same red-violet as Ardyn, bends over a horribly pale and still Tredd, pressing lips to his and breathes.

-And in a shimmer of gold, Tredd sputters, coughing up seawater as Luche and Axis help Tredd turn over.

-“Breath of Life.” Captain tells him, eyes dark. “A rare gift. And not one without consequences.”

-Consequences? What consequences-

-Sunshine on his face. But the sky is clouded over and Libertus can still feel a warmth in his soul, like the hearthfire of his childhood home, like the summer sun as he and Nyx played in the Galahd River.

-Breath of Life. Nox and Nyx mated with a kiss, “We didn’t just get married, did we?” He squeaks.

-Libertus might be panicking. The least Nyx could do is not laugh at him, thank you very much.

-The Captain’s chuckles are much more reassuring. Mostly because he wouldn’t laugh if it were serious. “No. Mating requires consent.” Captain shoots a wry look in Nyx’s direction. “If not informed consent. Of either party.”

-Nyx just snorts, a year of teasing on the subject inuring her to any embarrassment. Nox on the other hand still turns as red as Ardyn’s hair whenever someone brings it up.

-Libertus is relieved. Not that he’d necessarily mind being married to the mermaid who - on top of being very pretty - saved his life and the lives of most of the crew it looks like, but Libertus doesn’t fancy suddenly becoming part of a harem no matter how pretty said mermaid is.

-“So what happened, then?” Libertus asks, because if he’s not married, he’d like to know what Captain means when he says consequences.

-“A gift of magic.” Captain says bluntly. “Most merfolk aren’t capable of it, but most merfolk aren’t the Draconian’s either, and dragons have always been possessive of their Claimed.”

-What did dragons have to do with merfolk- wait. Libertus’ head whips around to stare at the fire-haired mermaid. At the Koi mermaid, and suddenly Libertus remembers the tales of koi fish climbing the mountain rivers to reach the Sky and become Dragons. “I thought- those are myths.”

-The Captain raises a wry brow. “So are merfolk.”

-And as Libertus sputters at the fact he’s been Claimed by a Princess, Nyx gives up and cries with laughter.

.

More notes on this so I hopefully don’t go any further down this rabbit hole-

-Sola was captured by Niflheim, and experimented on by Besithia who learned how to harness and shape her magic - and the magic of other mer - essentially turning Sola into a magical battery. She and other magically powerful mer are brought into battle to give them a magical edge against their enemies.

-Sola was most commonly brought aboard Caligo’s ship and used to hide the presence of other ships so Caligo could crush his enemies in flanking and pincer maneuvers. 

-Sola sensed the presence of other mer, sensed Titus’ presence and fought back, if only by screaming a warning because she refused to be the reason another of her people were captured and used. She’d die first.

-She thought she would, when Caligo slit her throat and dumped her overboard. But Ardyn found her and healed her, and then he and Nox destroyed the Niflheim fleet and Sola helped rescue and heal the Galahdians.

-Like Titus, Sola has a lot of scars. The worst is the scar across her throat, the scar over her chest and back from someone running her through - the Kings of Yore, multiple times from when Niflheim pushed her magic too far - and the scar across her back from when they first captured her. The rest are from torture, experimentation, and being forced to heal her captors.

-Sola once had a beautiful singing voice. But now, despite Ardyn’s healing, Sola’s voice is a raspy croak and she can’t speak much before the pain gets too be too much, so typically sticks to sign language anyway. Sola doesn’t mind the loss, but Titus and a lot of the other Galahdians feel guilty because she lost it - and almost her life - because she warned them.

-Everyone Sola saves with the Breath of Life ends up getting the gift of her magic. Similar but lesser in scale to the gift of magic Nyx has from her mating with Nox. It also means that Sola becomes very possessive of the Galahdians she saved, because they are Hers.

-The day Sola decides to start Courting Libertus is the start of many Shenanigans and much hilarity for everyone on the Stormheart II. Because Sola’s picked up just enough of Galahdian Courting to know generally what to do (bring gifts/kills to show Ability to provide, bring dead enemies to show Ability to protect home, etc), but she’s a mer so like, not all of it comes across.

-Though, the day Sola presents Libertus with a beautifully made sash of woven sea-silk (that the Lazarus weep over) dyed in shimmering blue and black is the day Libertus finally gets a clue and everyone gets to see Libertus choke and turn bright red. Sola just laughs and kisses Libertus on the cheek.

-Sola and Libertus are very affectionate with each other, though they carefully never kiss on the lips. But forehead kisses, cheek kisses, hand kisses (the first time Libertus does this to Sola, she turns as red as her scales), and lots of cuddling is very common to see.

-Sola crafts a marriage bead out of a golden pearl that she gifts to Libertus. Libertus waits for Sola to braid it into her hair, then braids the Ostium braids into her hair, before he seals their marriage with a kiss. (And, if it applies in this AU, Sola gives up her mer form and most of her magic for the form of a human, and gets to learn how to walk on human legs.)

-(By the time they marry though, Libertus has met the entirety of the royal family including Regis and Aulea and has decided that Aulea is by far the scariest of his in-laws. Nox and Ardyn included.)

.

Fun Fact: in Japanese (and Chinese?) myth, koi swam up river to try to climb the mountains. If they succeeded in reaching the sky, they transformed into dragons.

[x-avavarts-x]

A final fantasy fanfiction for my oc and her family.

Characters: Cor Leonis, Laura lucis caelum (my oc), Loqi Tummelt، Lunafreya nox fleuret, Crystalcrown Leonis ( @yutauke28 oc)

warning:

 My national language is not English. I apologize for spelling and grammar mistakes.

summary :

When your flesh and blood are mixed with pain and you are nurtured with it, you dedicate your whole being to those who were trying to improve your suffering by touching their love. What's wrong with you? It does hurt to lose these loved ones, even thinking about it bothers you. At that time .. you grab everything to stop the destiny .. like a bird stuck in a cage and trying for freedom, you knock yourself on the door and the wall to find a way ... and if you find it. Nothing can stop you, even if it is a God!

part 12:

She gently pulled her lips together to make her lipstick even! She doesn't like to have a face without makeup. She felt that her colorless lips and a pale face usually made her look weak from the eyes of others, or even made their feel sorry for her. She put the blush in front of the service's mirror and went back out. She looked at her team. Crystal, Cor, and Loqi were the way to go and each did something. Loqi was trying to find nifs uniform in size of Cor and Crystal was tying makes her hair wouldn't come out from under her hat! She smiled briefly, happy that her teammates had no material purpose. Especially Loqi because he had to be with his enemy!

" Being far away is also a problem, Mr. Leonis !!"

It was the voice of Loqi coming out with greed and anger. His mean is about Cor's highest. He was right, he had those MTs under his command, and it was almost impossible to find the soldiers' uniforms in his airship! But it seemed like luck was on the side of this small four-man team that finally found the right hand for Cor!! There was no respect for Cor in Loqi's behavior, so he threw the dress at the 45-year-old man and put his hand on his waist:

" We have to come down to the ground, go and put it!"

Unlike Loqi, Cor did not show any anger. He easily ignored it, and that made Loqi even more greedy! That was Cor's goal! He deliberately ignored him! To enjoy his greed! Because Loqi couldn't see how Cor was laughing at him!

"Hey !! Altissia is much more beautiful of above!"

Loqi and Laura's attention was drawn to the crystal sound. She was standing on a chair so she could see the bottom of the ship's wall through a small hatch. A smile settled on Laura's lips. she stood beside her without climbing! Altissia was a place of good and bad memories at laura's childhood! she turned her head toward the crystal and leaned against the wall of the ship:

"Altissia is always beautiful! And of course, don't forget that is holy! Because Leviathan is here!"

She was standing in front of a wooden model, looking at the white dress she had prepared for her wedding, unlike the girls who are very happy on this day, Luna's blue eyes showed no sign of happiness! Her feelings were filled with tears and the need to cry in her heart. she was alone and never had anyone to talk about her pain, she never said she was suffering! never..!! As a child, she learned to think only of her duty ... but as she grew older, she realized that the world was more beautiful than it was to hide behind her duties.

When she first touched love ...!! She smiled sadly because her newborn love soon became too bitter and painful to imagine! Before she thought about forcing her to marry Noctis ... she lost the person she had imprisoned in her heart ..! Light ... Was the light cruel or dark? Are these two different from each other? Both light and darkness destroyed everything.

She nodded her head and looked at her white dress. Her thoughts were drawn to the darkness, and it was not in her honor to doubt the light and power of her gods! Slowly she took a step towards the window to calm down when he saw the blue sea, but suddenly someone opened the door of her room! She turned her head towards the door. She was shocked to see the face of her beloved! He was alive !!

"Thanks to the Gods, Loqi!!"

Luna's voice of hope and joy was smiling at Loqi's lips! No one knew how Loqi felt about Lunafreya, even that was hidden from Aurora!

He went to Luna without considering the three soldiers with him. He hugged her delicate body and kissed Luna's forehead in missed, the short silence that had fallen between them was broken by Luna's worried and homesick voice:

"You ok? ... I thought I lost you!"

Laura's gaze was fixed on Loqi's hands as he gently stroked Luna's golden hair, laughed softly, and walked over to them. She dropped the gun in his hand and picked it up on the sofa and his hat too:

"I don't know why you want to get married when each of you has a LOVE !!"

LaUra's voice frightened Lunafreya. She turned away from her beloved Loqi and turned to the princess. She didn't know how to react at that moment. Her voice was barely released:

"Princess Laura! what are you doing..here?!"

Laura was well aware that Luna was scared. Contrary to Luna's idea, Laura easily coped with this issue. Just don't do this because of congratulations!

" I really knew that Loqi would fall in love with you, he would also fall in love with Oracle! But I'm glad you have one in your heart too! However, I did not come to see you, and Loqi play loves now. we are in a hurry. Isn't it Loqi?"

Laura's friendly tone calmed Luna's heart. She smiled as much as she could. Unlike Laura, Loqi's tone was not very friendly. Once again, the reason for his hatred of Lucians appeared before his eyes. He put his hand around Luna and wanted to guide her to sit together:

"That's right, but here's our range. I can stay for a while."

"I want to talk to Luna alone, dear lover!

You and the rest stay out !!"

Laura's voice made Loqi stand. He took a short breath and turned to Luna. Without saying a word, he kissed her lips briefly and quietly and then left the room in front of the girl's eyes, which he had been worried about for several days. It closed with silence.

For Luna, it was very wonderful why Laura was here in secret. Laura knew that if Luna didn't ask, it wasn't because she didn't want to know. She stood in front of Luna and motioned for her to sit down. Lunafreya was silent but waited. In a way, she was very happy for Loqi, because he knew he was standing in the right place! And on the one hand, worry about how satisfied he is with the Lucians on one front! However, she waited for the princess's words to understand what was going on!

It didn't take long for Laura to sit on of her knees in front of her. She put out One of her gloves and said in a serious tone:

"Give me the ring of lucci!"

Laura's wonderful request for the ring made no positive sense in Lunafreya. She lowered her head slightly and displayed the ring between her clenched fingers. But before handing it over to Laura, she looked at her:

"This is for Noctis, Laura! What do you want it for?"

And again doubts against Laura's loyalty! She smiled out of habit:

" Do you think I want to get it for myself?"

Laura's words embarrassed Luna! But her embarrassment did not cause her to back down!

"You know that the power of this ring belongs only for the true king, Laura. You harm yourself by taking it. Noctis is now in Altissia. I have to give the ring to him!"

Lunafreya's insistence on not wearing the ring, and seeing Laura's personality like the rest of the power seekers, made the princess somewhat nervous! She got up  and took the metal ring out of Luna's hands, using her mastery of the metal. She looked at Luna as she held the ring in his hand:

"I don't want the power of this ring, because it has no value for me! I want the support of ruler of yore, I want to make sure no one is green in front of me because killing those of my blood is unbearable for me, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret!"

Laura's cold and serious tone silenced Luna alone! She was worried that Noctis would lose her sister too, or that he would not be able to bear that Laura had betrayed him! That's what Luna believed! No one was happy with Laura's heartfelt intentions at first! And they always accused her of treason! Contrary to Luna's imagination, Laura didn't even leave the room! She had no respect for the power of that ring! Wear the ring without any hesitation. Time stopped before Laura's eyes, and suddenly she was surrounded by absolute darkness. When the first blue-colored light shone, she grinned and turned to the 13 King of yore, who appeared one after the other in front of her!

Mystic, as he held his sword in front of his body, shone brighter than before, and spoke:

"In our presence, you have to explain why you wore the ring! Did you covet his power?"

Laura's gaze turned to the blue giants, and then she laughed softly:

"the power? No, I don't want anyone's power! I came to talk to you!"

"Did you just risk your life to wear the ring because of a short conversation?"

It was the father's voice that reached her daughter's ears! She raised his head and turned to her father. Her father's soul was standing in front of her, healthy and well, without a cane in his hand.

" For two thousand years, we have witnessed deaths that were all due to darkness! It's natural to want to attack Noctis to destroy him and his soul! But I have a suggestion for you !!"

"A suggestion?"

It was the voice of the Warrior that caught the attention of Laura and the other kings of yore! Laura's gaze was fixed on him and she continued without hesitation:

" I want to end this killing from the root! I will fight Ardyn without using your power! If I could close it again, I might have invited him to my front! Anyway,That's not all, and my goal is bigger!"

Laura's words made the heart of mystic full of joy and happy! Finally, someone was going to revolt!

"We hear light's daughter!

Mystic's voice invited all the kings to silence and Laura to speak! It was very difficult to please the kings of yore, but Laura could solve this problem with her words! She continued with a short pause:

" I want to kill Bahamut!"

The movement of the spirits means they are be surprised. The first spirit to protest was the Rogue!

"How dare you say this, humble creature!"

Laura's gaze was mixed with anger and hatred, and she looked at Rogue:

"This humiliation must end! How long are you supposed to be a slave to someone who does not calm down except the smell of innocent blood !! Why did you blind to the truth ?? Do you think this is not enough ???"

The first agreeable soul was the Just, the Queen of Peace who tried for years to stop the bleeding. She pushed her shield away from the tension and stepped forward a little:

"You're right, this bleeding must end! But how can you end it? Bahamut is the absolute power of this world!"

" I can handle it. Either I die or he dies, I just asked you for just one thing !!"

"What is it my child!"

Laura's gaze turned to the Mystic. Because she heard his voice:

" I don't want to fight with my ancestors! If you don't support me, don't stand in front of me !! I did not wear this ring to ask for your power !! All my efforts are to keep you, so I don't want to take any of you by surprise!"

At the end of Laura's words, one by one, the blue spirits disappeared. And the only the true king stayed with Laura. The Mystic returned to his human form and walked towards Laura, a smile on his face showing how happy he was that one of his 114 generations had finally been found to find out the truth. He hugged his daughter and whispered:

"thank you..!"

Somnus' body shone through the bright crystals and turned into a spot of light sinking into Laura's heart. As Somnus' soul plunged into the princess's heart, Laura took a step back and punched her hand in the chest. The darkness was gone, and it was Lunafreya who hosted Laura. Happiness smirked at Luna's lips:

"Thank Gods that you are fine!"

A smile also settled on Laura's lips. But it didn't take long for her face to return to normal. She took a deep breath and turned her back on her. She took off her hat as well as her gun. She wanted to go, but she stopped, took the ring, and looked at it:

"Power ... it's a strange thing! Those who don't have it, search to find it. And those who have it ... either try to make everyone understand that they are powerful, or try to increase their power!"

She held the ring between her two fingers and raised her hand, pulled it back slightly so that Luna could receive the ring, and continued:

" This is the power that has been entrusted to you, Luna .. When you give this ring to Noctis, tell him that he is going to be sacrificed for the light ..!"

Luna's eyes shone with surprise as well as a concern! She opened his lips to say something. It was very unusual for her how Laura knew this! But Laura doesn't let her eat her opinions:

"If that woman two thousand years ago .. Aera .. told Ardyn why he was chosen, now light and darkness are in balance .. and our world was not endangered. Your secrecy, Oracles, is a betrayal of all humanity !! So don't hide the fate of Noctis from him .. maybe something better happened .."

Laura's words made Lunafreya sad. She lowered her head a little and answered in a low voice:

"I am not allowed to do this .. God of Gods has forbidden revealing this issue ..! Its power is beyond the powers .. We must listen to the command of our God!"

Laura's frown was drawn, and she hated it so much. She let go of the ring so that Luna could catch it, and if Luna brought her hands later, the ring would fall to the ground. She raised her head and stared at Laura, unable to see her face ... but she could tell by the tone of her voice that she was angry:

"Absolute power, we are Lunafreya .. We are the ones who choose who commands us !! Nothing should stop us from achieving our goals! Tell Noctis ... and wait to see with your own eyes how I will destroy that power beyond the powers that be !!"

Although Laura's tone was angry, she did not have a loud voice, and this increased the influence of her words! She put on her hat and left the room without giving Luna time to ask questions.

Lunafreya's gaze was fixed on the closed door, she couldn't believe what she had heard with her own ears. What did Laura want to do? War with the god of gods ?? This was impossible !!

"Nothing is impossible in this world, Oracle ..!"

It was Gentiana's voice that caught Lunafreya's attention. She looked back and stared at Gentiana. She squeezed the ring in his hand and then stared at the ground .. if that's possible .. what's better? Her frown softened and she shook her head in Gentiana's approval:

"If this is possible .. then I am waiting to see it !!"

Luna's words had taken on a different tone, and that made Gentiana smile and open her green eyes!

"On my honor as Oracle, I will not rest until the darkness is banished from our world and the light is restored.."

Oracle's words thrilled the people, and joy and hope rippled through them all, and peace settled in their hearts. Somewhere far in the Oracle,  Laura was standing right behind a stone wall, looking down at Noctis from behind her hat. Seeing her brother among the people gave her an unusual feeling, the fear of losing him was killing his soul!

It was in these thoughts that someone put his hand on his shoulder! She didn't look away from Noctis, but she raised her hand and put on that hand! She knew her owner, a man who had taken her heart.

"We have to go, my princess!"

" Did you talk to Ignis?"

" I delivered your message to him!"

With a short pause, he looked away from Noctis, knowing that he was safe with Lunafreya and the rest of his friends and that he was ready to die so that Noctis would not be harmed, so finally, she had to leave! She has to go to the crystal! Now that she was a few steps away from her goal, she didn't want to back down or be late. She had not yet boarded Loqi's ship when Crystal stopped her from moving. She raised her head and turned to her strawberry. Laura's silence allowed CrystalCrwon to speak:

"Can I stay with my friends?"

The fact that Crystal wanted to be next to Noctis was a peace of mind for Lara because Crystal was an Oracle and could save Noctis from death. In addition, the presence of two Oracle next to the Noctis made it easier for Laura to focus on her goal. She smiled and gently patted Crystal's shoulder:

"Because your father is your master, I'm not worried about your life. Go and take care of my brother! OK?"

A smile of longing flashed on Crystal's lips. She took off her hat and respected Laura:

"Sure!"

She ran to Noctis, but Laura's voice stopped her. She stood up and turned to see what her princess was up to:

"Luna is like someone you wanted to see her face! I heard this from your uncle !!"

Crystal eyes sparkled. Surprised and perhaps happy ... Did Lady Lunafreya look like her mother? She ran more restlessly than before to see Luna. Once again, she stared at her face for a long time, hugged her, and felt her mother.

Cor was still standing at the foot of the ship. He didn't object to why Laura allowed Crystal to stay here. It's true that she wasn't his own daughter, but he loved her so much that he never thought about it! In addition, he knew that Crystal would not be harmed, but he was worried anyway. He lowered his head slightly and then boarded the ship, trying to focus on Laura. When the ship took off, he could now safely pull the clothes out of tension and put his uniform again. He knelt in front of Laura, who was sitting on a chair. because he felt Laura's mind was engaged in an adventure other than her goal. He took her hands and caressed Laura's fingers, trying to free her mind from the hustle and bustle of empty thoughts.

Laura looked at Cor, that was her only reaction. She smiled and kissed the forehead of her love. She knows what is Cor's opinions, so she tried to save him from worry by kissing his forehead, but she couldn't:

"What's wrong, baby?"

The wave sat softly in Laura's eyes. She rested her head on Cor's shoulder and waited for Cor to embrace her:

"Can you don't come to Gralea?"

[supersweethoneybee]

Mother: Chapter 1 - Test

If you’re under 18, shoo!!!

OwO what's this?

An insert into a near-dead fandom?

I think so.

This chapter contains shit like vibrators in the ass, belly bulges and rubs, spanking, plugs, cum inflation of the stomach (not womb (yet :) ) and lots of dirty talk and foreshadowing.

Comment down below if you have any ideas on what to do to her next ;)

~*~

You sneered at the man before you, drawing your knees close to your naked body. He stood there, staring. He watched you like you were some kind of zoo animal sitting here in this white observation room. Barely anything was in here besides the two of you and one Magi-tek Soldier, the only thing in here was a cart sitting by the sealed door. You had no idea what was in there and you frankly didn't want to know. It was probably some disgusting torture devices that would kill you or tear apart your cells or some stupid shit like that.

You glared at the man before you through the locks of unkempt hair tangled in front of your face, eyebrows twitching as your breathing soon fell out of sync.

Why was he just staring at you? Not saying a word?

Was this some kind of way to fuck up your mind?

Finally, the silence and slight buzzing from the florescent lights above became too much for you.

"What do you want?" you spat.

Ardyn sighed, his shoulders drooped. He scoffed and looked away from you finally.

"An expecting mother should learn to be more patient," he chided, finally turning his sights back to you.

Mother?

An expecting mother?

You reeled back, the back of your skull almost hitting the wall. What the fuck was he talking about?

"Excuse me? I'm not pregnant."

"Not yet, at least." His lips curled up into a crooked smirk, his lids fluttering shut half way over his golden orbs. He could tell by the look you were giving him that you needed more information. The Chancellor tsked and motioned to the single Magi-tek soldier who beelines straight for the cart. "You see, my pet, I am not long for this world. At the end of this little age of darkness, I will no longer exist." The cart rolled up to his right side. Ardyn opened the lid and shooed the Magi-tek soldier's hands away from the cart. "But, I have many plans. Who know how long it will take. One year? Ten years? One hundred years of constant darkness before I am to be killed? I have plans for my children to perform, to keep my legacy fresh in the minds of the people of the world." He motioned the Magi-tek soldier to you with the slight turn of his hand. the soldier marched up next to you, awaiting its next command. "And children, I shall have plenty of, thanks to you."

"You're fucking sick!" you snapped, yanking at the chains bounding you to the lower half of the wall. "You're just gonna fucking rape me and impregnate me for years?"

Ardyn stopped rifling through the cart to look at you. A coy smile tugging on his lips.

"Not yet, at least." The Chancellor proceeded to rifle through the cart that sounded quite full of metal objects. He produced a little remote, about the size of small smart phone with a colorful arrange of numerical order. He proceeded to search through the cart once more, intent on finding something else. "In order to be the mother of my brood, you need to be able to handle it all. It's a heavy load, a long burden, taxing. I need to know that your body can stretch and hold and nurture them." Ardyn cackled suddenly. "I can just picture it now. Your belly all big and swollen, immobile, writhing in pain as they move in you constantly. And each time you give birth, your body will be forced to hold more and more. Astrals, I cannot wait to see you quickly grow soft for them and for me."

Ardyn produced a bottle of lube from the cart.

Your heart dropped to your stomach. You quickly grew nauseous at the thoughts and images that plagued your mind.

"Ardyn, please, no. Anything but this, please," you pleaded, tears suddenly pricking your eyes.

"Relax, my pet, today is just a simple test to see how much you can handle in your behind." Ardyn nodded towards you, eyeing the soldier.

The cold, iron grasp of the soldier's unforgiving hands snatched at your bound wrists and cuffed you to a lock on the ground. One of its hands snatched at your hair and slowly pushed you down until your cheek was pressed against the linoleum. A clasp was forced around your neck, hooking it to the same lock where you were handcuffed. You were forcefully spun around so your bare ass was facing Ardyn. You were trembling, terrified. You couldn't see what he was going to do you.

"Ardyn," you choked, now starting to sob, "please."

"Silence," he spat a sharp crack of his hand across your ass sent you sobbing. "Any more whining I do not ask for will result in much worse punishments."

You whimpered in your closed mouth, you screwed your eyes shut as tears streamed down your cheeks. Your ass was throbbing, red hot probably.

You suddenly gasped at the cold sensation of lubricant quickly being shoved against the pucker of your ass by one of Ardyn's rough fingers, the digit swirling around just a bit in the inner rings of your ass before retreating.

"Relax, pet, I'm simply going to see how far you can stretch before you start your training." You trembled far worse now, awaiting for whatever monstrosity would be plunged into your asshole. You heard Ardyn pick something up from inside of the cart. "Open your eyes. You might as well know what I'm putting inside of you."

Your eyes slowly opened. Before you, held between Ardyn's fingertips, was a metal object about the size and shape of a new beauty blender. A near egg shape. It was bronze colored, shiny, but there was something on the top part of the egg that looked like it could be clicked down. It had a glob of lube smeared around the top as well.

What was it?

The object quickly retreated from your line of sight, and the cold smear of fresh lube now sat on top of your soaked pucker. You suddenly cried out as a tight pressure quickly formed into your ass, your body practically rejecting the egg-shaped object as Ardyn wormed it through the tight rings of your ass. It was painful, agonizing as it practically tore right through you. You cried, squirmed and whimpered, tugging on your handcuffs to try and somehow get away from the painful stretch forming in your ass.

You were starting to sweat.

And just as quickly as it was pressed against your puckered hole, it was now lodged inside of you. You could feel it. It was heavy, very heavy, and cold. You laid there, ass in the air, choking on air and sobbing, soft pleas leaving your swollen lips.

"See? That wasn't so bad. You took it quickly. Perhaps, you won't need as much training as you let on." You heard Ardyn rummaged through the cart once more, no doubt grabbing another egg. "Next size up, here we come."

You seized as Ardyn carelessly wormed and circled the egg against your pucker, this one bigger by maybe a centimeter or two in diameter. The pain was much worse, but Ardyn still managed to push the heavily lubricated egg into your ass with no problem. You shrieked as the second egg collided with the first egg inside of you, rearranging your guts and weighing you down.

Ardyn reached into the cart, pulled out an egg, lubed it up, and placed it up against your ass once more.

You counted in the back of your mind how many eggs he violated you with, how many he plunged into your unwilling ass and joined the rest, each one progressively getting bigger and bigger than the last.

Three...

Four...

Five...

You could feel something leaking down your ass crack. You were sure if it was the excess lube or blood or a mix of both. You couldn't see.

Six...

Seven...

Eight...

Your stomach was throbbing heavy. It felt like it had actual weight to it. You didn't dare test to see if it did nor look.

Nine...

Ten...

Eleven...

At this point, your knees had been split farther apart than before. You could feel your heated stomach brush against the floor.

Twelve...

You could barely hold yourself up anymore. Your legs nearly gave out when the soldier caught you at the last second. Its hard, unforgiving hands dug into the sides of your swollen stomach to keep you up.

Thirteen...

You were starting to feel numb. Your eyelids becoming heavy.

Fourteen...

At this point, he was practically shoving them into you like you were some pinata.

Fifteen.

He stopped.

"Now, I know you can finish off the rest, but I think that is for another day of amusement. But fifteen toys in your tight little ass, I'm impressed." Ardyn's fingers drilled up your naked spine. "I can't wait to see plugged with forty eggs clinking inside of your stomach and womb."

Forty?

You went from a size maybe just smaller than a beauty blender to the size of softballs being forced into your now loose ass.

"Please," you choked.

Astrals, you were so heavy and tired.

"Ah ah ah, pet, we're not done just yet. We have to plug you up now. We don't want your beautiful work being undone when we turn you over." Ardyn dug into the cart and pulled out something, no doubt an anal plug from what he just told you. He slowly brought it right in front of you so you could see it. It was all metal, stainless shiny steel. A metal egg sitting atop a stout base. "Do you like it? I figured it would be fitting if it were in the shape of an egg too." Ardyn carelessly slobbered the egg in the globs of lube and blood mixture now pooled below you and popped it into you. You whined loudly, feeling it suddenly jostle everything inside of you and push at your organs. "Set her up now."

The soldier, not knowing how to handle a human being obviously, snatched off the clasps and handcuffs from the floor and plopped you down on your ass.

You shrieked, your hands flying to the mounded globe that was your stomach. You slowly glanced down, wanting to now vomit from the sight of your lumpy stomach. You could see the eggs pressing against your skin. They were packed together. It was hard to breathe, hard to whimper and whine. You sat there, stomach now forcing your legs apart so it could rest and hang down onto the floor, your breasts sitting uncomfortably on top of your globe. You were just barely able to touch your belly button. Your nerves were on fire.

"I can't, no," you shivered, snot and tears sliding down your heated face. "Please, take them out," you cried.

Ardyn sighed, smile falling to a small frown.

"I would love to, pet, but I can't. You see, you're sitting on the plug and I know your body isn't ready to release them yet. But, I do know of a way that may be able to help it all come out smoother, and possibly settle it just a bit." You looked up at him with pleading eyes. Ardyn simply chuckled once more and pressed a large hand to your mounded tummy, rubbing the lumps slowly before he stood up again. You suddenly cried out once you saw him seize his belt and trouser's button and zippers, slowly allowing his trousers to fall and pool at his ankles along with his underwear. His cock sprung free, erection fully blown. "Suck my cock," he cooed.

"N-no!" you cried.

A sharp smack against your stomach sent you howling, clutching your stomach as the eggs inside of you rattled and tried to go back to where they once more.

"I said suck my cock, you stupid girl."

You slowly peeled away from your belly to look at his cock again. It was big, bigger than anything human, and his balls were hefty too. A bead of something dark pearled at the tip of his cock, dark veins pulsing along the shaft.

Could you even fit that in your mouth?

You had no choice...

Ardyn grabbed at the back of your head and guided your mouth up to his cock. You were hesitant to open your mouth, but Ardyn had jammed his fingers in between your teeth and pried your jaws open perfectly. Your mouth burned violently as he plunged his cock deep into the dark cavern of your throat. He pleased himself with your mouth, pumping his cock as much as pleased at how fast he wanted to go. You felt like you were choking. You placed your haands on his bare hips and squeezed them, pleading with your eyes for him to slow down.

Your pleas were ignored.

After what felt like eternity, Ardyn snatched at your hair and forced you to deep throat as much as you could before he came, practically plugging your throat close so you would swallow every last drop. It was like an explosion in your mouth. It was vile, it wasn't cum. It was thick, slimy, disgusting. It poured down your throat like a geyser. You felt yourself bloat up in your stomach. Your hands flew from Ardyn's waist to your tummy. You choked as you felt the lumps and bumps of the eggs pressing against your stomach quickly vanish by a taut, soft, thick padding as his cum filled you up like a water balloon. Your legs pushed apart a bit more as your tummy surged forward a bit when you felt your sides start to fill out as well.

Ardyn detached from your mouth and was quick to clean his cock off of the black sludge that now sat inside of your stomach and intestines. It was like you actually swallowed the globe your teacher had sitting on his desk in history. You actually looked severely pregnant, but worse. Ardyn, being a little shit, flicked at your tight belly and watched it jiggle and ripple as you swatted his hand away. A dark chuckle left his lips as he tugged up his pants.

The doors to the cell opened just as Ardyn had finished buckling his pants. An old man stood at the doorway with Magi-Tek soldiers on either side of him.

"Chancellor, are you done with your pet for the day?" he chided Ardyn.

"Just finished with her."

The old man only hummed and was quickly gone from the doorway.

Ardyn didn't spare you a single glance until he was already at the doorway, the soldier trailing behind him. Ardyn turned slightly and raised the remote in his hand and pressed a button.

Immediately, something deep inside of you started to vibrate, then something else, and then something else.

They were vibrators! He shoved fifteen vibrators into your ass and now they're shaking up your guts even more, allowing that thick cum to slosh around and pulled at the bile clinging in your throat.

"I suggest not hesitating the next time I tell you to do something, pet," he huffed.

You whined and clutched your swollen belly and taunt sides as it vibrated and jiggled. It didn't feel good at all, but you could now feel it all starting to heat up your core and tighten the coils inside of you.

Ardyn laughed at your sickly figure and closed the door behind him, leaving you to orgasm and vibrate as long as he see fit.

[angelkitty54]

Things that Make and Break Us

Wow, I actually got something else written for this AU. And within a few days of the last one to boot! I’m a roll here!

Anywho... Here’s some of more of Accursed!Noctis feels, inspired by that one scene from Episode Ardyn.

(Previous Post)

.....

“You must loath those Lucians for what they did to you.”

“No.” The word slipped out before Noctis could really register it, but he barely had to stop and think about before realising it was the truth.

He didn’t hate Somnus for his treachery.

He didn’t hate Aera for turning her back on him.

And he certainly didn’t hate the people for his imprisonment.

He loved them -  his homeland, his people, his adorable, arrogant, bull-headed, little shit of a brother, and beautiful, stubborn, selfish Aera. He loved them all far too much for that.

Oh, he was definitely angry though, furious even. For all his love for them, he truly didn’t think he had it in him to forgive them.

Not for this.

He’ll never forgive them for this.

But hate? No, he couldn’t do that. He was far too tired to waste energy stoking the fires of hate. And what would come of it if he had anyway? They were all long dead after all.

Verstael faltered, spluttering and staring at him in a rare display of confusion. “No?” He echoed incredulously.

Noctis couldn’t help but feel a little bit proud of himself for having wiped that smug look from man’s face. He picked up his wine glass and hummed considerably. “Hmm, no.”

It’s good wine. He takes another generous sip and eyes Verstael over the rim of his glass. The man’s face twists and contorts through a serious of expressions before a sneer wins out, settling unkindly across his lips. It’s a familiar expression, and Noctis is not in any particular mood to, once again, be called naive and presented with a long speech on all the reasons why.

He considers reminding Verstael that he is Lucian. Or of their conversation mere moments ago, where the man had detailed all the ways the Starscourge - still boiling and hissing beneath his skin - had transformed him into something that can no longer be considered human.

But then, the argument would likely be lost on him. Verstael Besithia, he has come to learn, is a madman of the highest caliber.

So instead he swirls his wine, and cuts in before the man can finish summoning his words, “You don’t have any siblings, do you?”

Verstael, stops. Frowns. “...No, I do not.” He returns slowly. Suspicious yet laced with curiosity.

Noctis smiles. He did not think so. Ever since they met, Verstael has brought to mind the men that would strut upon the shores of Lucis, calling themselves Kings/Lords/Conquerors, and thought that gave them the right to take that which does not belong to them.

He quite imagines everything Verstael owns had once belonged to someone else. If he had a sibling, well, then he’d have had to have learned to share at some point. A lesson clearly lost on the man.

He took another sip and waved him off, “You would not understand, even if I explained it to you.” And he wouldn’t, Noctis knew. He couldn’t understand even if he tried.

He couldn’t understand what it was like to have little spitfire of a brother; a mouthy little brat, so, so desperate for acknowledgement. He had no idea what it meant to be the big brother who stood still and watched that arrogant, pitiful little brother grow and twist into the ambitious cold-hearted man he became.

Nor could he understand the feelings of that cowardly disappointment of a brother, who’s fear kept him rooted to the spot, daring to be more than what he was and failing all the more for it. Truly, if he’d just stepped aside and let Somnus take the lead... Even if it meant that Aera... that she- that she might not... love him anymore...

He should have just left. Like Stella had. She had warned him too, told him to leave behind this game of Gods and Kings before it swallowed him whole. But his cowardly heart wouldn’t let him leave. For all that Aera and raged and cursed her sister, crying and calling her a coward, Noctis understand the courage it took to leave like she had.

Stella was the bravest of them all.

And Noctis could cry, and curse, and rage, but the past could not be undone. He had stayed and now he was here, more monster than man, everyone he knows and loves long gone, left in the company of a raving lunatic and his machinations.

As expected, Verstael’s frown deepen, displeasure rolling off him in waves. Noctis is not in any particular mood to, once again, fend off a tantrum. So he picks a new subject. “What is this food?”

Verstael snorts, still thoroughly displeased, but accepting the subject change all the same as he snatched up his own glass, “Meat, cloned in this facility.”

“Cloned.” Noctis tastes the word slowly on his tongue.

“We cultivated somatic cells, used them as donors to fuse the nucleus transplant cells to the recipient oocytes, and then we...” Verstael never looks more pleased than when he’s in the middle of one of his mad ravings.

Noctis sits in silence, watching his companion gesticulate wildly and wisely does not point out how most of those words sound made up, or that their meaning is lost on him. He sits, letting the other’s words fly over his head, and holds his near empty wine glass in one hand, the other tightly clutching the ridiculously ornate armrest of his chair.

He sits in a chair that feels like it’s the only real thing left in the world. He tries not to be reduced to a trembling mess, or to break down and cry, or let himself get sucked down into the abyss of his thoughts. He tries not to wish this was all just a terrible nightmare that he’ll wake up from eventually.

He tries not to think of much he just wants to go home.

He definitely doesn’t think of how he no longer has a home to go back to...

[echoes-of-the-clockwork]

Book One: Death (Noctis x Reader) Chapter Eighteen

A/n: As we're coming up to the end of this short book, I want to say that the ending won't match the game at all and I hope it'll be a nice change of pace. Hope you all enjoy this next chapter! Love you all!!! •••••••••••••••••••• On the boarding platform, Noctis glanced at the others. "You guys mind if we stop in Tenebrae?"

"I don't see why not," (Y/n) said, smiling at her boyfriend.

"Might as well hop off," Prompto said.

Gladio still didn't like the idea of stopping, but he couldn't say no. "If it helps him move on."

Noctis addresses Ignis before boarding the train and departing. "We're here for you."

Prompto nodded with a smile. "Yeah, let us help you."

"Don't hesitate to ask if you need a shoulder to lean on," (Y/n) added.

The boarding bell begins to ring, signaling the passengers to return. "And we're off!" Prompto cheered as he entered the train.

(Y/n) gave Ignis a helping hand and hooked their arms together. She helped him up the stairs, onto the train, and to a nearby seat. As the advisor sat down, she felt a chill crawl down her spine. Her head snapped up, staring at the door that led to the train car behind them. Unconsciously, she gripped Ignis' sleeve tightly as she fell into a trance.

"(Y/n), is there a problem?" The bespectacled advisor questioned at feeling her grip on his clothes.

Death jumped slightly as she snapped out of her petrified state. "I... I don't know. Excuse me for a moment." The Horseman releases her hold on the strategist and walks down the aisle to check out the next train car.

"Hey, (Y/n), where're you going?" Noctis asked as he stood from his seat.

"Going to check something out. I'll be right back," she responded before opening the door and entering the adjoining train car.

Stepping through the doorway, the other passengers eyed her as she walked down the aisle. Ignoring their stares, she followed the eerie presence to another train car until she reached one of the many dining cars. People were enjoying drinks at the bar while others ate at the booths. She glanced around at them as she felt the unsettling presence vanish. (Y/n) recognized the aura and who it belonged to, but she didn't spot the man that matched.

Seeing her flustered expression, one woman stood from her seat and approached her. "Are you alright, Miss?"

"Y-Yes. Excuse me." (Y/n) left the dining car and headed back to the others. When she didn't find the boys where she last saw them, the Horseman checked the remaining cars. Death remembered the number of the boys' cabin Prompto had graciously told her and decided to check that next. When the door slid open to the cabin, the train's brakes screeched loudly and (Y/n) lost her balance, causing her to fall. Glancing out the window as she got to her feet, she saw an army of magiteks marching towards the train. "Great..."

Death summoned her scythe, destroyed the window, and jumped out of the train. Further down the way, she spotted Noctis and Prompto fighting side by side. Slicing through a few MTs, (Y/n) saw tanks approaching and aiming at the train. Running as fast as she could, the Horseman concentrated her attacks on a single tank. Once she ruptured the engine, she jumped away and avoided the explosion. As the tank exploded, the large fire took a handful of magiteks with it.

(Y/n) eyed the two boys fighting as Noctis targeted another tank and Prompto shot a few MTs. When she saw the blonde's form, she knew something was off. She also took note of how his usually cheery banter was filled with a strange silence.

"(Y/n), move!" Someone shouted as she was tackled to the ground. Her eyes traveled to where she was previously standing and saw a blade lodged into the cement.

Death sighed, scolding herself mentally for not paying attention. "Thanks for the save, Noct. What's the deal with Prompto?" She asked as the boy helped her up and sliced another MT in half.

"Uh," Noctis looks at his best friend. "He looks normal to me." The girl was unconvinced, but she dropped the subject as she fought alongside Noctis.

<------<<<<<<<

Prompto and (Y/n) returned to the train while Noctis handled the tanks. Once the two were safely aboard, the train slowly started gaining speed. As the train picked up speed, Death stared at the blonde with sharp (e/c) eyes. "Where's the real Prompto?"

The fake Prompto simply offered an eerie and skin-crawling smile in response. (Y/n) went to summon her weapon, but she stopped at the sound of the door in the back of the train car opening. A flustered and frightened Ardyn entered and quickly closed the door behind him. Once his golden eyes landed on (Y/n), she connected the puzzle pieces. She knew the one who was posing as Prompto was, indeed, the chancellor.

Before Death could summon her scythe and pierce the man's flesh, a blade was driven through her back. She gasped at the sudden rush of pain, as she glanced down at the blade that protruded from her gut. Blood trickled down her mouth as she felt the crimson substance pouring from her gaping wound as the real Ardyn yanked the sword from her body.

"No!" The real Prompto shouted as (Y/n) saw he no longer looked like the man that stabbed her. Coughing violently, blood spurted everywhere as her vision wavered and her legs felt heavy underneath her. She took a single step forward and fell to the floor, blood pooling around her. She heard Prompto shout her name and a warm hand against her face before her body went numb and all was consumed by darkness.

<------<<<<<<<

Feeling returned to (Y/n)'s body as she felt something cold against her face. Slowly, she regained feeling in her arms and legs before her eyes fluttered opened. She inhaled deeply and her vision steadied, exhaling heavily as she glanced around to see where she was. Death recognized the bunk beds and knew she was in the boys' cabin aboard the train. A few feet away, Noctis stood with his back to her as he stared out the window. (Y/n) realized the train was stopped and wondered how long she'd been unconscious.

When the Horseman sat up in the bed, the mattress beneath her squeaked. The small noise alerted the boy, causing him to turn around. "You're finally awake," he sighed in relief.

"How long was I out?" (Y/n) inquired as she examined the area she was impaled, running her hand over the healed skin.

"A few hours," he replied as he sat down beside her.

"What... What happened after I was stabbed?"

Noctis was silent for a few seconds before telling Death all that happened after she fell unconscious. The Horseman learned of the incident with Prompto and became worried for his safety. He also told her of the daemon infestation and how Leviathan came to their aid. Now, the train was stopped at the station in Tenebrae due to how dangerous the tracks were for the civilians to be traveling without protection.

(Y/n) leaned back, flopping down on the mattress. Her inky locks sprawled around her head as she stared up at the bottom of the top bunk. "Guess we'll need another way to reach Gralea."

"Really?" Noctis huffed in surprise.

"What?" Death asked.

"You were stabbed, killed, and now back. You're not gonna question any of that?"

"Psh, I've been stabbed and killed plenty of times. You get used to it and stop questioning it."

"Yeah, well," Noctis flopped on his back beside her. "I'm not getting used to it anytime soon. You should also wash your hair."

(Y/n) flew up and off the bed, dashing to the bathroom. Inside, she stared at her inky locks and saw the blood that tainted them. She grabbed a few strands and pressed her fingers against the blood. Rolling her eyes, Death groaned as she leaned against the sink. "It's dry..."

"Need some help?" Noctis offered, standing in the doorway.

"I was just about to shout for you. Get in here!" The Horseman grabbed Noctis' arm and yanked him into the bathroom.

"Why not just take a shower?" The boy advocated.

"Because that would require too much time and I only need to clean my hair. It seems you did a pretty good job at cleaning the rest of my body of blood, pervert."

"I'm not a pervert!" Noctis shouted as he tossed the rag he used to clean (Y/n) in the sink.

Death grinned, deciding to tease him further. "Mm, I know you've been wanting to get some alone time, but there are definitely better ways to try and get it."

Noctis knew she was teasing, but he couldn't help the truth from slipping. "You were dead and I was the only viable option since you're my girlfriend. Not like I could've explained the circumstances to another girl on board as I asked for her help to clean a corpse that would reanimate in a few hours."

The Horseman was stumped. "... Good point." (Y/n) sat down on the toilet lid as she grabbed a spare towel. "Now, will you help me clean my hair?"

"Yeah, just... turn around."

Death did as she was told and turned around on the toilet lid. Noctis grabbed another towel and wetted it before grabbing a handful of (Y/n)'s hair and cleaning the dry blood from them. While the boy tended to what she couldn't see or reach easily, the Horseman wetted the towel she grabbed and pulled a few strands over her shoulder so she could start purging her hair of blood. As she trailed the towel through her tresses, a question popped into mind. "How'd you get my body to the cabin without others seeing or asking questions?"

"Not gonna answer that."

<------<<<<<<<

Noctis and (Y/n) left the train once she was cleaned and spotted Gladio and Ignis resting on a bench. The brute saw them approaching and grinned at Death. "Dead girl walking."

The Horseman crossed her arms with a sigh. "How long have you been waiting to use that one?"

"Quite a while," he responded with a faint chuckle.

"Yeah, well, this dead girl can send ya six feet under in less than a second."

Ignis raised his head, looking in (Y/n)'s general direction. "Glad to hear you are well, (Y/n)."

"Must've been one hell of an injury if it took a few hours to heal. Then again, internal injuries take longer to heal regardless of you're mortal or immortal," Death casually responds.

Suddenly, a woman with silver hair pulled up into a ponytail sauntered over with a hand on her hip. "Well, look who's here."

Confused as to who she was, Death simply eyed her sharply. Noctis patted her on the shoulder, signaling the woman before them wasn't the enemy. "Aranea. Guess we've got you to thank for this mess?"

"More to it than meets the eye. You wanna know who to thank? Come with me," Aranea responded with a sigh.

"Can't wait to hear this."

The group follow Aranea and as they walked, the ex-mercenary had pinpointed who (Y/n) truly was. Death asked how the silver-haired woman knew and she learned about her when Noctis, Prompto, and Ignis were hunting down mythril for the sea vessel. Apparently, the raven-haired boy was moping and Aranea questioned him as to why he was down in the dumps. From there, Noctis had divulged details about who she was on accident due to him being on cloud nine. Ignis has scolded the prince for sharing such information, but Aranea swore she wouldn't tell anyone and tried to cheer Noctis up.

After listening to the story, (Y/n) stared into the distance. Guilt gnawed at her heart as she seemed to fall behind. No matter who comforted her, the feeling wouldn't vanish for a long while. She clasped her hands together, fiddling with her fingers as she was now following behind the three boys.

"Hey." (Y/n)'s gaze was torn from where she was staring and to the owner of the voice. Noctis had stopped as Aranea continued to escort Gladio and Ignis. "I know what you're thinkin' and you need to stop."

"That's a lot to do, especially now that I know how much my absence affected you. Maybe I should've just-"

Noctis grabbed her shoulders and squeezed them. "Don't you dare finish that damn sentence."

"But, Noct-"

"No. Just... shut up."

Leaning forward, Noctis sealed (Y/n)'s lips with a kiss. The sudden kiss caught Death off guard, but she welcomed the blissful sensation with open arms.

[thechocoboos]

last one I promise: ffxv but in space?... OK I'll admit I'm starting to run out of ideas. have a nice day and good luck with school!

holy fuck i went way more crazy with this than I planned. so have fun. Keep in mind, y’all, this is a space au–things are defo different than the actual plot. also: happy ending

FFXV IN SPACE HC

The Regalia is a small prototype ship made for small trips to and from space stations and moons

Noctis’ father is the leader of a massive space colony circling a dimming blue star

Their space colony is running out of resources and energy as a result of a longstanding war with The Empire, a corporation that grew too powerful back when space travel became big and now aims to take control of every colony, resource, and inhabitable planet in the galaxy

so Regis sends Noctis and Co out on an expedition to build alliances and find potential resources that the Empire had overlooked

Noctis is a drifter who doesn’t want to take over his dad’s colony

Gladio is a soldier, a bodyguard in training for the leaders of the space colony. His family has always worked closely with the colony’s founders, so he was raised to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors and to protect Noct

Prompto is a lower level settler of their space colony

He ran into Noctis during their school days and latched himself to Noct like a leach (Noct never minded and even grew to like Prom)

Ignis is still an advisor, albeit a SPACE ADVISOR

He is well versed in most, if not all, of the known alien languages and settlements (he spent so much of his schooling learning languages that he dreams about learning them–granted they’ve become more of nightmares by this point)

He guides Noctis on their mission to find resources and build alliances, giving advice such as “Do not try to navigate that asteroid belt” and “stay far from the Black Hole of Ostenbar–many civilizations were lost there”

Granted that advice is always ignored, but hey, it’s the thought that counts!

One day on their expedition, he mentions rumors of a ship called The Oracle–a ship that opposes the Empire

Supposedly, it started out as a simple rescue ship that grew bigger and bigger and soon became a massive self sustaining ship that travels around the galaxy helping those in need

Noct and Co. realize that it may be their first step towards building alliances and aim to find The Oracle–it’s their first tangible mission

The Oracle, if you hadn’t already guessed, is run by Luna

She and her brother, Ravus, inherited it from their family

The Oracle had many run ins with the Empire as a result of its good deeds, and Ravus grew tired of the pain inflicted on both his people and his inheritance due to those assholes

He knew he could never deal with the Empire directly, especially while handling The Oracle, so he left the ship in the hands of Luna and ran off

He fell in with a group of good-natured space pirates and now raids the Empire’s smaller ships with his small, growing fleet and gives the resources he obtains from them to those who need it–kind of like a robinhood of sorts

(I’m expecting some SpacePirate!Ravus spin offs in the future–i’ll even take the transcript of pirates of the caribbean except with ravus and in space)

anyways

Ardyn is a strange deity who was once worshiped on a more primitive, jungle based planet

His planet is hot, humid, and full of bright, colorful creatures. Some of them are poisonous and deadly, and others are docile and harmless

His people made beautiful buildings of stone with carved designs and everything they made was otherworldly and beautiful, there wasn’t a single item of theirs that wasn’t art in one way or another

They made the most beautiful songs and their language was magnificent and elegant; it was as though their voices were woven from the stars

Keywords? Made. Was.

The Empire found him one day and found his immense power very beneficial

They captured him and his worshippers, turning the worshippers into slaves and science experiments while they used torture and abuse to control Ardyn before turning him into the High Commander or the Empire

They brainwashed him into thinking it was Regis’ colony that had done him wrong, and he has it out for Insomnia Space Colony ever since

It takes a metric fuckton of cycles for Noct and co to finally find The Oracle, who is very willing to join the Insomnia Space Colony cause (my god is that a mouthful or what)

Sidenote: Cor is pretty high up on commanders from Noct’s colony, so he was out conducting business with other settlers at the far end of the galaxy

After the destruction of Insomnia Space Colony, he managed to get hold of Noct on The Oracle and relay the news

It leaves Noctis and the others crushed

They end up lost for a little bit, uncertain what their goal should be from then on

One day, however, The Oracle receives an SOS call from that same dimming star that Noct’s colony had orbited

The Oracle takes them there, and they find many, many survivors

The Oracle takes those survivors on board without a single word, and as Noctis sees the remnants of his people’s suffering at the hands of The Empire, he swears to bring an end to those fuckers as long as he lives (cue his new reason for living)

ANyways

Noct and co.’s favorite pit stop is a small colony on an asteroid called Crash Comet

It’s run by Cid, an old alien friend of Regis’ and his granddaughter

It’s the nicest gas station, diner, and mechanic outside of their solar system

They visit it regularly, especially after Noct learns how to fly the Regalia (he can’t avoid those asteroid belts even when he tries)

Gladio once asked why Prompto was with them on their expedition bc he genuinely had no idea why the kid was there

Gladdy was there for protection, Ignis was their walking, talking adviceman, and Prom? He had no idea

Prom lowkey didn’t know either, but he just held up his old lil camera and said some BS about being their historian

In reality, Noct really just brought him bc he didn’t want to be stuck in a tiny spaceship with Ignis and Gladdy alone, besides, he knew that Prompto always wanted to see the galaxy outside of their colony

They have many run-ins with Ardyn and The Empire–it always ends in a massive chase scene through the stars, a disappearance in a hectic asteroid belt, and another trip to Crash Comet

Noct, Iggs, Gladdy, and Prom have a blast on their space adventures

At least, up until their colony is destroyed

Still, they meet aliens from all walks of life and eat strange alien food at strange alien gas stations on the edge of the galaxy and make friends everywhere

They make alliances as they go, building up their own army of settlers, colonists, space pirates, and aliens alike to rise up against the Empire, with The Oracle heading their fleet

Prompto takes so many pictures that he ends up with a massive database of things ranging from aliens, planets, stars, flora, fauna, selfies, weird poisonous glowing bacteria–you name it, he’s got it (after their adventures he actually finds scientists and alienologists asking him for his pictures for research and references; our boi makes bank on his pics!)

Ignis tries every single different cultured cuisine he can get his grubby lil gloved paws on and he will eat ALL OF IT. he has been poisoned by the clashing chemical makeup on more than one occasion (but he still won’t stop)

Noctis hates trying new culture foods, like he goes for some of it but if Ignis tries to feed him one more Glockinshnid’esiria throat casserole, he’s going to vomit

Gladio towers over a lot of alien species they meet, but he also looks like a penny next to some of them (he lowkey feels insecure about it)

Gladdy likes to trade work out regimens with some aliens

He once tried working out with the very gruff, muscled Kleeverprongs, a species known to eat the muscles of their dead to become stronger and who begin weightlifting at 3 months old (he threw his back out and couldn’t walk for a week)

Prompto tries to steal small alien pets but Ignis threatens to throw him out the back of their cruiser if he so much as looks at one more Puffelzingor.

He once hid a small mouse like rodent in his shirt for three weeks, but it escaped and ate through one of Ignis’ prized pots (it’s one of the more expensive ones that can handle stardust and the harshest of acids)

Ignis hasn’t forgiven him yet. And he probably never will.

Sometimes Noct and Co. cross paths with Ravus

Ravus usually screams about them being the ones who got his sister tied in even further with the bloody empire and being the biggest thorn in his ass

There was one time where Ravus was thought to be dead in the middle of space, and none other than Noct and Co. rescued him (he had lost an arm and been abandoned by accident. Space pirates aren’t very bright sometimes)

He was less aggressive towards them afterwards, especially because he was stuck with them for about 2 and a half cycles (roughly 3.67 months) because the nearest welcoming outpost was at least a good hundred stars away

ANyways plot stuff:

So, throughout their journeys and travels, Noct and Co. slowly learn about some of the Empires more hidden histories and ties with differing colonies

They learn more about Ardyn, how he was essentially a tool used by the empire

THey actually travel back to the planet that Ardyn had been worshiped on and end up learning even more

At first, they thought he had just been a leader of some strange planet, but when discovering he was essentially a god? Oh boi, they were faced with a big moral dilemma

Noctis still wants to bring down the Empire, but now, he also wants to help Ardyn and Ardyn’s people

Gladdy is against it, of course, saying that Ardyn had still done terrible things and was still a terrible person who should pay for his actions

Noct mostly disagrees. He thinks Ardyn needs to pay to a certain degree, but to him, it was more important that they at least try to free his people and attempt to get the truth out there

He argues that it really wasn’t all Ardyn’s fault, that he was nothing more than a pawn who had been manipulated and lied to for nothing but selfish reasons

He doesn’t want to help Ardyn, necessarily, but he does want to make things right

It was truly at this point that his friends began seeing the leader that Noct truly is

Noctis and Co. were never really able to convince Ardyn as much as they tried; he was past the point of simply believing things

Still, he made a deal. A snarky deal with a smirk and teasing tone to his voice, but the look in his eye had been enough to give them hope

He told them, that if they were able to find his people and set them free, he just might be willing to strike up some sort of deal that would work out for both of them

Cue montage

The space bros go through hell and back trying to find out what happened to most of the worshippers

They break through and destroy so many Empire outposts and institutes that they probably single handedly cripple part of the Empire

Even so, with how hard they work to find out where the worshippers were, they had to ask for help

They asked both Ravus and Luna for help, as well as some of the more trusted allies they had made through their journey

In the end, they find that most of the worshippers had been killed. They manage to rescue those who had survived, and bring them to Luna’s ship for safety

They’re beaten and bruised with fearful eyes and they spend most of their time praying–it’s all they can do at this point

It’s heartbreaking, and it truly reminds Noctis and his friends that they weren’t the only ones who had lost their home

Luna and Noct both promise the worshippers that they would be brought back home when it was finally safe, but no one knows when that will be

The next time Noctis crosses paths with Ardyn, there is no snark in Ardyn’s voice–only the serious tone of a man who had lost everything

He demands that Noct bring him to his people, his voice harsh and sharp as he snaps. His eyes are furious and his stance is dangerous but Noct remains calm and tall, his eyes cool as he talks Ardyn down

Ardyn agrees to go with Noctis alone, he agrees to relinquish his weapons and trickery–all he wants is to see that his people are safe

The others aren’t happy, the air is tense in their cruiser as they return to The Oracle. Gladio silently fumes and Ignis is ready to pounce any second.

But Ardyn makes no moves. He waits, his heart still, his eyes sharp–he could be walking into a trap, and he knows it, but he doesn’t care, not if his people are there

Luna is respectful when Ardyn boards her ship. She doesn’t show any ill will despite what he has done–she knows he had been tricked, and she knows that all that really matters to him are his people. She respects that.

She leads him to the worshippers, and the second his eyes fall on them, he smiles–truly smiles

He feels relief, hope–glee

They look just as stunned as he is, their eyes wide and sparkling as they drop to the floor and bow

He only tells them to stand, speaking in an old, dead language that even Ignis doesn’t know

He asks them questions, touches their cheeks, their shoulders, their hands… He’s so gentle and careful, no one else can believe it

As they finish answering, he thanks them with a warm, soft voice, promising he’ll get them home safe–that they will all go home safely and that he’ll join them, that they will rebuild their beautiful civilization once again and no one will ever hurt them again

He turns and looks at Noctis, his eyes full of cold murder as his fury burns. He asks when they’ll launch their full attack–because he wants in. He quietly vows that he will bring down the empire–every last ship, even if it kills him.

It only takes a few more cycles for everything to be ready.

There are at least a thousand ships that come forward to help fight. Their alliances hold true to their words and promises and join The Oracle, bringing their own smaller allied ships and friends with them

Ravus brings at least 200 ships full of space pirates with a new, shiny arm at his shoulder

Noctis contacts older allies that his dad had made, as well as the hundreds of new ones he’s made through his travels–and those allies bring their own, as well

Luna has age old promises that are being fulfilled, her oldest contacts coming forward from the deep recesses of space to help fight the Empire

Even Ardyn pulls some strings, pulling a few of the Empire’s allies over to their side–after all, many of them had been loyal to Ardyn alone, in the end

With the Empire spread over so much of space, it isn’t a clean, straightforward war (then again, most aren’t)

The war lasts 81.7 cycles–nearly ten years. Strategies are stretched, lives are lost, people were worn down, but Noctis never wavers

In the end, the Empire crumbles–losing far too many of its ships and colonies, especially as the civilizations it took over rebel and fight back.

Eventually, there is only the head colony left–and Noctis’ side easily corners it.

Noctis isn’t alone when he approached the leader of the Empire. Ardyn goes with him, his losses just as valid as Noctis’

The leader begs. He cries, yells in desperation, falls to his knees and simply weeps–asking for Noctis to have mercy.

Noctis is cold as he responds, simply staring down the old man. He’s gotten what he wants–the Empire’s downfall. Yes, the leader needs to pay for his crimes, but he doesn’t care much for the logistics of that–so deciding punishment falls to Ardyn.

The details don’t matter too much–the Empire fell, Noctis was able to rebuild his colony around a new star, The Oracle was free to help the civilizations that had been under the Empire’s control, Ravus and his space pirates became the police of sorts–protecting people from unsavory sorts in space, and Ardyn was able to return to his home with the remainder of his people

Space was free again, its planets and civilizations free to return to run their lives as they pleased

Edit: Things I forgot to mention™

Arenaea is space’s local lesbian space pirate whose fleet was actually hired by Ardyn somewhere down the line

She was actually notorious and was a big rival of Ravus (they crossed paths on more than one occasion)

She’s lost a couple digits and a foot, as well as an eye in her pursuits but replaced them all with cybernetic implants (her eye can actually see in infrared, very handy in space)

Her cyborg foot has a built in high heel

She’s one of the most dangerous enemies and one of the best allies to have

No one crosses her and lives to tell the tale (unless she wants them to)

Insanely good strategist and is one of the best allies Noct has in the war

You can hear her loudly walking down the metal bridges of ships when hunting down mercenaries and criminals, her cybernetic foot and high heels clanging loudly (she likes to scare them--she could move quietly with no effort at all)

Anyways so weapons right

LASERS LASERS LASERS LASERSSSS

Ignis’ weapons are duel blades ofc, however, they’re HEAT DUEL BLADESSSS

With a click of his thumbs he's got some lasers shooting down the edge of his daggers and ready to burn the guts of his enemies as he stabs them (it’s pretty good at cauterizing wounds so his slices and jabs are well placed for instant death)

Gladio??? Yes, he still uses those massive as two handed swords. No one can rip that away from him

However

They, too, have laser capabilities

He keeps two laser pistols on either side of his belt for when they’re fighting in smaller quarters  

Y’all haven’t lived until you’ve gotten a mental image of sweaty gladio with burn wounds from laser rifles and holes in his tanktop shootin a couple of laser pistols with his beautiful manbun-ponytail thing and 10-year gap hair chillin out there, mouth turned down into a scowl as his sharp eyes aim

He also has a couple of electric cybernetic gloves that stun enemies with a single punch

Now. Noctis? Listen. He doesn’t use lasers--too much of a hassle

Our boi has a few cybernetic implants, kay?

Y’all ever played mass effect? His magic is basically like the biotics of mass effect

In other words, he still has magic, it’s just sci-fi magic!

His swords are made out of the sharpest metals one can find, and they glow because 1) I say so, and 2) they were forged from radioactive materials and stardust from the heat of a dying star because that’s how we do things in S P A C E

NOW PROMPTO

HOOO BOI MY LORD SO MANY LASERS

S O  M A N Y  L A S E R S

He’s got a laser rifle, he’s got a laser sniper, he’s got bullets that electrocute, bullets that explode, bullets that burn, grenades that stun, grenades that blow up, grenades that disintegrate only organic forms (helpful in space ships tbh)

He has a good trusty ole missile launcher type of weapon that launches concentrated laser ball missiles at shit

Also he’s far sighted.

Anyways; prom is always making modifications to his weapons (and gladio’s pistols) and is always the one to repair or alter the spacebro’s weaponry

He once smacked Noct for trying to fix a sword and somehow damaging its mechanics

Prom actually makes some serious cash fixing weapons at outposts and such, he also buys cheap weapons and bulks them up before selling them for like three times his buying price

He’s actually the most well-off out of them further down the line and he’s the one who brings in the credits throughout their journey because he’s the only one with some sort of income

Also i forgot to mention

Noct loses a leg in the war and gets a cheap prosthetic to tide him over until the end; then he gets a hella cool cyborg leg like Arenaea

Ignis does NOT go blind, however, he loses an eye in a fight with some space pirates who try to raid The Oracle and ends up with an eyepatch for a while

Later on, he gets his own cybernetic implant eye--it’s a lot like Arenaea’s actually

It glows red and the metal covers the area around his eye completely, reaching around towards the side of his head and disappearing beneath part of his hair

Ravus’ right hand pirate is an android

Gentiana is also an android

Cor punches Ardyn in the face the first time they meet during the war--yes, he does know that Ardyn is on their side, now

Cor was the one who found many of Ardyn’s worshippers and brought them to The Oracle

Also Cor is a cyborg

[treya-barton]

“After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?” with Promptis!

Noctis and Prompto were ona road trip, but everything about it felt…off. For one thing, it was too quiet. It was the first time since both the light and Noctis’s miraculousreturn that the two of them had time alone. And Noctis was beginning to learn that his once chatty friend wasn’tquite as talkative as he used to be. Although they were driving at night, there wasn’t the sound of daemonsforming outside anymore, a sound that became more prevalent the longer Noctis wasstuck in the crystal.  The former kingkept glancing at his best friend, wondering how he felt about the quiet dark,but Prompto was staring out the window, and Noctis couldn’t get a good read onhis face.  The car was also quiet withoutIgnis and Gladio’s presence.  They wereboth back in Lestallum, Gladio spending time with Iris while Ignis continuedhis diligent work with Monica on rebuilding the city.  Gladio had actually been the one to suggest aroad trip for the two of them, and Ignis had immediately agreed that gettingout and spending some time together would be an excellent idea.  Noctis had been initially excited…until theyhad gotten into the car and it had been quiet the whole time.  Honestly, the car itself was probably thebiggest change.  Cindy had spruced up oneof the cars recovered from Insomnia, and she had done a great job and ithonestly drove very smooth, but it was no Regalia.  There was no soothing hum, nothing to remindhim of his father or the months on the road with his friends.  

Noctis bit back a sigh,before looking relieved as he suddenly spotted something familiar up ahead.  The gate to Insomnia.  It looked just as it did a few weeks ago whenhe and his friends had walked up, ready to face the horrors Ardyn had roamingthe city, Noctis accepting his fate that had somehow not come to pass.  He felt a wall of memories wash over him, recallingdistinctly how emotional everyone had been even though he had come to termswith what he thought was going to pass. Noctis’s hands gripped the wheel, and he felt Prompto’s gaze on him ashe slowly pulled up to the gate and stopped. He turned to look at him, still not used to Prompto’s more maturephysique and the bit of scruff on his chin. He certainly looked handsome and more comfortable in his skin, althoughhis eyes had a haunted look sometimes that they hadn’t had prior to the roadtrip.  Right now, however, they onlylooked concerned.  “You sure you wanna dothis, Noct?” he asked.  They had decided thefirst stop on their trip would be where their original trip had ended, even ifit had taken 10 years to truly come to an end. When Noctis had asked Prompto where he wanted to start, the blond hadlooked uncomfortable before giving his honest answer, stating he felt if hewalked through the city again he may feel some closure about all the thingsthey had been through.  Noctis hadreadily agreed.

“Yeah.  Just…maybe not tonight,” he admitted.  Although it was quiet, and the hordes ofdaemons were no longer there, it felt too much like the last time they hadvisited.

“So, wanna make camp?”Prompto asked, and Noctis thought back to their last camping trip together as ateam.  He nodded.

“Beats sleeping in thecar,” he said.

“Yeah, our old bones aren’twhat they used to be,” Prompto joked before getting out of the car and walkingback to the trunk.  Noctis pulled thelever to pop it open and Prompto pulled out the bag with the tent and two ofthe chairs.  He was also reaching for thecooler, but Noctis pulled it from his hands before firmly clutching it to hischest.  

“I can get this,” he said,before also grabbing their duffle bag. They had just packed all of their things together to reduce the numberof items they’d have to carry for the trip.

Prompto merely shruggedbefore heading off to the left, and Noctis followed, knowing exactly where hewas heading.  After a bit of a walkthrough a ravine near the gate to the city, they finally arrived at the cliffthat overlooked Insomnia, Noctis clearly remembering the first time they hadcome after hearing the news about the city’s fall.  It still made his skin crawl imagining theNif ships flying around the city and the idea that the MTs had been crawlingthrough it, doing who knows what to the people who weren’t able to escape.  Now, even with the moonlight, the city wasdark and he could barely even tell it was there at all.  There wasn’t any glass left to catch thereflections of the moonlight and it wasn’t like the city had its own poweranymore.  Noctis’s thoughts were brokenby a soft hand on his arm, and he jumped before turning to look atPrompto.  “You ok, bud?” he asked, andNoctis blinked before nodding.  He lookedcarefully at Prompto for any signs of what he was going through, but the blondlooked more concerned for him than anything else.  Noctis supposed that while for him the triponly felt like a few months ago, for Prompto it had been years.  He figured the memory must have faded a bitfor him.

“Sorry, I was just…”Noctis started.

“Thinking back to thefirst time we were here, yeah?” Prompto asked, also staring out at the darkexpanse.  

“Yeah,” Noctisadmitted.  He realized that while he hadbeen staring out at the dark, Prompto had already started setting camp, and he carefullykneeled down to help him.  The Astralsmay have granted him his life back, but they hadn’t been kind enough to healhis bad leg.

“I think about that daysometimes,” Prompto admitted.  “How sickI felt.  How I somehow understood that myparents probably hadn’t made it out.”  Hestared down at the stake he was forcing into the ground, and Noctis noticed howtense the knuckles were on his hands.

“So, you do remember,”Noctis said quietly.

“Clearly.  I don’t think that’s one thing I could everforget.  Just like…” Prompto trailed off,biting his lip.  Noctis turned to look athim.  “Just like when I…”  Prompto was staring down at the stakehard.  “I killed…”  Noctis reached out and placed a hand onPrompto’s arm, and he watched his shoulders slump.

“Do you know what Iremember?” Noctis asked quietly.  Promptoturned to look at him and shook his head. “I remember the moment the man I pushed of the train changed from Ardynto my best friend, and the terrified look on your face as you fell,” Noctissaid.

“Noct, that wasn’t,” Promptostarted to say, but Noctis shook his head.

“I’ll never forget that moment,Prom,” he said, before looking down.  Hefinished working on his stake and they continued to put up the tent insilence.  After Noctis tossed their baginto the tent, Prompto worked on getting a fire started while Noctis sank downgratefully into his chair.  Soon, Promptowent to join him, and they both stared silently at the flickering flames forseveral long moments.  After awhile,Noctis spoke up again.

“I am sorry, Prompto,” hesaid, and the other man tore his gaze away from the fire.

“I told you before, itwasn’t your fault,” he said.

“Well, I am sorry aboutthat, but it wasn’t what I was referring to this time,” Noctis admitted.  “I’m sorry I was gone for so long.  That I hurt you.  That I hurt…us.”

Prompto looked surprisedby his words.  “Noct, when I said ever atyour side, I meant it,” he said.  “Yougetting stuck in that dumb crystal was out of your control.  You can’t blame yourself for that.”

Noctis bit his lip.  “But…look at us,” he said, and Promptosighed.

“I just don’t know how tohandle having you back again,” he admitted. “Like, you’re finally here, for good? That’s really more my own fault than anything you’ve done wrong.”

Noctis shook his head.  “But Prom, even back at Gralea.  After…after what happened to you.  I promised to unite everyone, to do it foryou,” he protested.

“And you did, Noct, justnot in the way either of us expected,” Prompto said.  He reached out and placed a hand on Noctis’sthigh, causing the dark haired man to suck in a breath.  He wasn’t finished though.

“But, how could you justbe ok with it?  With all the pain youwent through because of me?” he finally asked, guilt gnawing away at hisheart.  Prompto had been through a lot, andthe toughest parts had been without him there to help, while Prompto had beenthere for him when he needed it.

“Noctis, I don’t get whatyou’re trying to say.  After everythingwe’ve been through, you still don’t think I love you?”  The moment the words slipped out of hismouth, Prompto’s eyes widened in surprise and he quickly pulled his hand awaybefore staring down at his lap.  Noctis’seyes widened as well, and he stared at Prompto speechlessly for several momentsas he bit his lip and began jiggling his leg. He didn’t take back the words though.

Noctis surprised both ofthem by standing up and walking over to Prompto, placing one hand on his chairso he could lean forward and get a better look at his face.  “Can you…repeat that?” he asked, and Promptofidgeted again for a moment before quietly replying.

“I love you Noct.  I thought you’d figured it out by now. Backwhen you were engaged I couldn’t say it but…” Prompto started, before his wordswere suddenly cut off as Noctis swooped in for a kiss.  He felt the breath catch in Prompto’s throat,and waited for a brief moment for him to breathe before diving in again.  Prompto’s lips were a bit chapped, andfeeling both of their facial hair rub against each other was so different fromhow Noctis had imagined their first kiss going when they were younger and cleanshaven, but somehow even though they had waited so long, it still feltright.  Noctis had spent years studyinghis best friend’s mouth, the brilliant smiles and the subtle tug on the cornerswhen he was upset, and he felt like it was really paying off now as he exploredtheir touch and feel with his own.  AndPrompto was just as willing to let him, allowing Noctis the time to takecontrol, patiently letting him explore to his heart’s content.  It didn’t mean he was passively letting ithappen though, and he met each press of Noctis’s lips with his own, before openinghis mouth and letting Noctis’s tongue slide through.

“Prom,” Noctis finallymoaned, before pulling back, wondering how he had managed to stay standing whenhis legs felt so shaky.  Prompto pulledNoctis onto his lap, giving him some relief.

“Hm?” he hummed.

“I love you too.  Probably always have,” he admitted.  “You’ve always been so special to me,” he sighed.  “And I was starting to feel like maybe wewere never going to return to the way we were before.”

“I sure hope not,” Promptosaid, causing Noctis to stare at him in confusion.  “I would much prefer getting more kisses outof you.”

Noctis punched Prompto onthe shoulder while the blond laughed.  Thedark haired man couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter at the sound, since hehadn’t heard Prompto sound this completely carefree in literally a decade.  He stared at Prompto, eyes soft, as Promptotilted his head and gazed back at him.  “What?”he asked.

“I’m just glad to have youback,” Noctis replied.  

Prompto smiled at him, thesoft, quiet smile that he always saved for his best friend, before pulling himin for another kiss.  “Me too,” he saidsoftly, and Noctis relaxed against his chest as they continued to exchange lazykisses with one another.

[gwiiyeoweo]

Aulea sees the legendary terror for herself, but finds he's not so terrible after all.

Pairing:  Ardyn & Regis, Ardyn & Noctis, Regis/Aulea, Aulea & Ardyn   Rating: G  

Aulea waked first.

It helped that she actually got a decent night of sleep, compared to Regis who rushed in before even the early rays of dawn could peak out. She quietly wrapped her robe around her, tying it in a lazy ribbon as she did her best to keep silent and sneak about the room afforded to her.

She had only started living in the Citadel last year, despite having been betrothed to Regis for the past two, and her room was bare for the most part. Besides the essentials, she kept a few succulents across her desk and a fern in the corner. Her attendants had fussed about livening up her room, even if it was only a temporary thing until she would be officially married to Regis, and the plants were proof of a hard-fought compromise she had drawn with them.

Regis shifted his arm across the empty expanse of the bed, fingers twitching for her missing warmth. But when he turned his head to farther bury his face into the pillow, Aulea decided he could use the extra hour of sleep and went off to toe on her slippers.

The maids would certainly be miffed if they caught her walking down the halls, dressed in nothing but her modest nightgown and her robe, with her hair strewn about everywhere. Aulea understood the need for appearances given certain circumstances, even if it meant with agreeing with the old stuffy council members, but a woman was allowed to walk in her own home in her pyjamas if she damn well wanted to. She might not yet be the official Consort, but everyone already revered her as such. All they needed was a paper with some fancy gold seal and it would be wham, bam, thank you before she could walk through all sixty-something floors in her underwear. Not that she would; she wasn’t as prim and proper as some of Regis’ matchmakers would like her to be, but she nonetheless kept a certain modesty and a standard of propriety she held herself up to.

At least no one caught sight of her, and she slipped between the lights and shadows easily enough as she made her way to Regis’ room.

Aulea entered without so much a knock, cracking the door open and poking her head in. She immediately zero’d in on Clarus, the man vigilantly sitting by the bedside and tapping away on his phone. “You look like hell.”

Clarus, with his grim dark circles, stilled his hand and lifted his head to glance at Aulea. “Been through worse,” he yawned, turning his face into the crook of his elbow.

Aulea rubbed her hands together, summoning some easy magic and igniting a soothing heat across her palms. Flexing her fingers, she ambled her way around the room and stood behind Clarus, lightly poking her fingertips around his neck and spine. “So,” she said, putting both hands on his shoulders and digging her fingers into his worn muscles. “This is Adagium.” Then a wrinkle of her nose. “Unfortunate name, by the way.”

Clarus sighed into her touch, leaning his back against the chair as he felt the heat radiate from her skilled hands. He twitched when she honed in on a knot hidden away between muscle and bone but kept his squirming to a minimum as she worked her literal magic. “That's what the books call him,” he answered, biting back a groan.

Aulea hummed in acknowledgment, but kept silent for the most part as she continued to work her way around the kinks and scars. She rubbed circles with her thumbs, using some elbow grease and pressing them deep into his flesh, just as her mother once taught her. “Go rest. I can watch,” she eventually said.

“Don't think Regis will appreciate me putting you on duty.”

“If he finds an issue, he can take it up with me.” She gave him a light shove on his arm. “Now go on, up and at ‘em.”

Whatever Clarus grumbled she didn't quite catch but it certainly had something to do with protocol and handbooks. He was more concerned with playing by the rules than leaving Aulea with a potential not-quite-a-daemon hazard sleeping in the bed, but they both knew she was a force in her own right. Worst case scenario, the room and the entire wing would be left in rubbles. It may have been a couple years, but Aulea had a few notches in her belt of besting Clarus and putting his rump to the dump — Cor moreso, back in his reckless days of fiery youth. (With Regis, though, there was no concrete record, considering their spars ended up in accidental makeout sessions or cuddle times, when either of them collided into each other with uncanny timing. “Get a room!” and exasperated groans notwithstanding.)

Clarus had no doubt Aulea could fend for herself should something go awry, but he was personally tasked by King Regis to keep an eye over Adagium. As Shield, he desired to carry on his duty; as friend, he only wished to help. Yet it didn’t help that Aulea was prodding incessantly at him, and knowing her stubbornness could only be matched by Regis’, well… He was but a man.

He knew this. Aulea knew this.

She wasn’t a tactician. She would never compare to the bright strategists circling their war talks, but Aulea could be as shrewd as the conmen who made their home in the dark shadows and Insomnian nights. She knew when sweet rewards held more power than bitter words and sharp whips. And she knew how tired Clarus must have been, considering how Regis had tumbled into her bed like a dead rock without so much a goodnight kiss.

Clarus had been given a losing battle from the get go, so the least he could do was bow out gracefully. So when he had finally relented, Aulea showed mercy and didn't even comment on the stumble in his step as he made for the door, to leave her alone by the stranger’s bedside.

Aulea walked along the walls and made sure each heavy curtain was drawn closed, to keep out the morning’s early rays. Whenever the man decided to wake, she was sure he’d appreciate not having the bright sunshine burning through his eyelids. It didn’t help that Regis’ windows happened to face east and took the full brunt of the sunrise, a lesson she learned herself on a morning she had decided to sneak in the night before.

She swiped a charging cable and one of the tablets hidden away in Regis’ drawers, taking them with her as she made her way back to the bedside. She plugged the charger in, settled herself into Clarus’ seat, and powered the tablet on. Tapping and swiping away at the screen, she typed in the four-numbered passcode and pulled up ChocoTube, a daughter platform for all things furry, fluffy, or cute.

Today’s featured playlist was cats.

“Good morning.”

Aulea didn’t even look up from the screen when she greeted the waking man.

She had her eyes glued on a litter of coeurl kittens, a mewling batch of little white furballs recently born in a conservation. According to the description, these particular species were close to extinction, having only a couple hundred left roaming in the wilds. Only when the video ended, with the camera fading to black and some white text with a link to the conservation’s website, did Aulea look up. She turned the tablet over, screen facing the man.

“Want to watch some cat videos?”

Adagium only stared, brows slightly knit together and lips trying to figure out how to make words.

In turn, Aulea silently studied him, watching for any sign or expression in that split moment it took for him to register her words. At a glance, he looked blank and clueless, like the trending video of that newborn chocobo staring at a single corn kernel and having no idea what it was. His dumbfounded look, she thought, would almost be as cute if it didn’t belong to a scraggly-bearded adult man. But she kept her focus on his eyes, the ways they flashed with emotion, and his mouth and jaw, where his lips parted or his teeth clenched. His eyes cycled through confusion and fear, caution and suspicion — and for a fraction of time, anger and contempt. She kept her magic at the edge, just in case .

But he made no motion, no twitch of his fingers, and the fleeting spite that glanced his face fell into confusion once more. Now, he only looked tired. Haggard. Like all he wanted was to go back to sleep and hibernate for the season, despite having two thousands years to do just that. If anything, it probably made his dark circles worse, now that Aulea actually made the effort to really look at him. His eyes were horribly sunken and dark, skin dry and lips chapped; none of them got him cleaned up after dragging him out of Angelgard, so he still had a fine layer of dirt and dust on him. If he felt as much as he looked, he was probably in want of a nice warm bubble bath.

Did Regis still have that jar of lavender bath salts under his sink?

“I… What?” Adagium rasped. Something didn’t agree with him, and he turned his face down to cough into his fist.

Aulea used her best disarming smile she saved especially for the old farts of the council, for the times when was simply not in the mood to argue semantics with them, to appear as an innocent docile woman who knew nothing of ancient rules and Lucian laws.

“Cat videos,” she said, keeping her voice light and sweet. Rising from her seat, she slowly moved to sit on the bed, being particularly careful with her movements as she kept the screen facing Adagium. She tapped on the next video in the playlist, starting up a two-minute clip of a chocobo chick trying to nudge itself under the belly of a large and ridiculously fat cat. “See?”

“…Oh.”

It had been the fourth video when Adagium spoke up, talking to himself more than to her. “This is not what I envisioned the Afterlife to be.”

Aulea, with a soft mirth to her quiet laugh, had pointed out this was far from the Afterlife, that they were both still within the living world. From there, the conversation had flowed easily enough, with brief pauses as Adagium occasionally coughed for that extra breath.

If she had not heard the prologue from Regis himself, she would have thrown Adagium’s story right out the window and deem him as some lunatic wanting to take advantage of her good will.

Because first of all, Adagium was not his name — it was Ardyn Lucis Caelum, older brother to Somnus Lucis Caelum. That wasn’t even the worst of it.

Aulea had left the tablet in Ardyn’s hands, letting him learn to fumble with the thing by himself, while she went to the small adjoining kitchenette to pour herself a glass of cold, very cold water.

She hovered over the sink, one hand clenching at the granite edge and the other dragging itself down her face. She wondered what exactly they got themselves into, why it had to happen during Regis’ reign of all times, and if maybe this was all some intricate lie crafted by a very cunning daemon. (That could shapeshift into human form? Ha! As if.) But as she pulled her hands away to fill a second glass, she thought, for the good of everyone and everything else but her and Regis’ sanity, that things would probably go worse if they had not been the ones to find Ardyn.

As much as they liked to joke about Regis’ soft heart, his gentleness had been one of his darling qualities she fell in love with, while also being responsible for the loyalty of Clarus and Cor. Mors, his father and late King, may have been more strict and utilitarian during his reign, but already Lucis was ready to turn themselves into the tender hands of Regis. The council had thought it a weakness to exploit, only to learn what a fierce lion paced just beneath, its fangs sharp and claws just as deadly.

So perhaps, she and Regis were just the people needed to tend to Ardyn’s scars and trauma, to help heal what should have been cared for so long ago, to keep his open wounds from festering and falling to infection. To keep the Scourge that literally embodied itself into his skin and bones and his very cells.

Aulea could feel the oncoming migraine from just thinking about that. Slaying daemons, products of the Starscourge that addled their lands, and sealing them were one thing; but purging it from a seemingly immortal man who, from what both she and Ardyn understood — even the man himself wasn’t sure of the specific details and implications of it all — was something beyond the Caelum magic. This was Oracle territory. And not even Sylva Nox Fleuret had experience in something so severe.

“Oh dear.”

Aulea turned around to see Ardyn holding the tablet, broken cleanly in half and sparking at its exposed wires, screen shards glittering on the silk bedding. He looked tragically concerned, torn between dropping the entire thing or trying to piece the broken parts together.

“I… Killed it?”

Not to mention Ardyn needed to play a game of major league catch-up. He had at least a couple thousand years’ worth to learn, and a whole curriculum on how phones and tablets work apparently.

Aulea allowed herself one large breath, puffing her chest out as she filled her lungs to the brim, and slowly exhaled through her lips. She lightly smacked her hands on her cheeks, prepping herself up for whatever ordeal that was to come. Alright, put it this way: maybe the gods decided to give her a pre-test. Because if she could help an ancient-Caelum-turned-Scourge-grandpa learn how the modern age worked — and work through all the emotional and mental damage of a two thousand year (wrongful) imprisonment — then helping Regis run the kingdom should be a breeze. Or something.

“Don’t worry about it.” Aulea picked up the two glasses, made her way over to Ardyn’s side, and offered one of the drinks. “I’m sure you’re parched.”

Ardyn didn’t have to say a word. He downed the entire glass in the same time span it took for Aulea to take one sip. Which made her feel rather foolish. For here she was, showing him cat videos when she should’ve addressed the basic needs first: food, warmth, rest, hygiene.

Rest was out of the way, sort of. Water? Check. She could whip up something easy while he showered, so that would check off food and hygiene. After refilling his glass, she went into the bathroom and made a beeline for the cabinets, rummaging through the extra shampoos and soaps as she searched for a certain bottle.

‘Oh.’ She grabbed the little chocobo toy hidden beneath a spare hand towel, giving the rubber toy a squeeze. It squeaked, high pitched and sharp, and she gave it another quick squish. Huh, she didn't know this was still here. Did Regis?

“What was that?” she heard Ardyn say, curiosity quite piqued. Aulea smiled to herself, pocketing the toy in her robes as she pulled out a bottle of “Sal's Hubba Bubba Bubbles.” She placed it at the edge of the porcelain tub as she made her way back to the door. Aulea leaned her head outside the doorway, meeting Ardyn’s inquiring gaze with her own bright one, and pulled out the rubber chocobo. She gave it a squeeze, and Ardyn realized what the noise had come from, judging from the small ‘o’ of his lips.

“Ardyn,�� she said, wiggling the toy around in her hand, “would you like to try a bubble bath?”

Regis walked into his bedroom, somewhat dark with all the curtains still drawn — odd, he thought — and if he did not believe in the love they shared and knew of Aulea’s eccentric quips, he would have doubted all their years together upon seeing her towel dry a half-naked man’s hair, the same man curled up in Regis’ favorite armchair and devouring a plate of scrambled eggs.

There was a rubber chocobo toy resting on one of the arms.

His lips curled into a wry smile, audibly clearing his throat and earning both their gazes. Aulea looked only pleased as punch, though there was something tired around her eyes. Adagium, appearing far better and refreshed than when Regis had first laid eyes on him, still looked worn as the very walls that contained him, old and cracked in the most horrible of places, cold and hard deep within a shell. The bits of yellow egg around his mouth, though, somehow softened the image of a deadly beast that had once been chained within a stone tomb.

“Good morning, Reggie.” Aulea fitted the damp towel around Adagium’s shoulders and walked up to Regis, wrapping her arms around his neck and greeting him with a quick peck along his jaw. “Say hello to Ardyn.”

Regis followed his gaze from Aulea's outstretched hand, a gesture pointed at Adagium, whose fork hovered midair on the way to his mouth. “Hello,” he said, before turning back to whisper close to Aulea. “Ardyn?” He raised his eyebrows, searching for the answer in her face. “His name is —”

“Ardyn. Not Adagium.” Aulea tugged on his arm and led him to a chair across the small table, a short thing made of glass and elder wood that had certainly seen better days. “And you'll want to sit down for what you're about to hear.”

Regis was keenly aware of what should have been a working tablet instead of the broken pile of metal and scraps on his desk, but decided it was best to save that topic for later. Not to mention, Aulea held a glass of water obscuring his line of sight and intentionally blocking his view. He took the drink and sipped at it.

“Ardyn, this is Regis,” Aulea introduced, handing a simple plate of scrambled eggs to him.

Regis pushed the eggs around, not because he feared her cooking, but because he wasn't sure if eating was the best course of action, given her warning from earlier. And if Aulea didn't press him to eat, then, perhaps it was best to wait.

“My hero,” Ardyn drawled, after swallowing his food. “And very distant… Cousin?”

“Nephew,” Aulea chimed in, all right as rain and nodding sagely.

“Nephew then.”

“Pardon?” Regis looked from Ardyn to Aulea, then once more to Ardyn.

“Something like that.” Aulea crossed her arms. Ardyn was too busy eating to give any commentary, but he at least nodded along to her words.

And while the two seemed to be on understanding and oddly friendly terms already, Regis was out of the loop completely.

“Pardon?” he tried once again.

“Well —”

“You see —”

Both Ardyn and Aulea started to speak, but they paused to look at each other, each of their mouths opening and closing with no words shared as they tried to figure who should go first. Eventually, Aulea gestured for Ardyn to say his part, and she filled in the gaps between.

Still, Regis wasn’t sure if hearing it from Aulea lessened the wave of nausea that crept up the back of his throat and behind his eyes, and he wondered if he wasn’t back on the royal vessel, the waves softly rocking the ship; for even as he sat, his entire world was sent swaying, and the soft carpet beneath his feet felt unsteady as sand.

“Oh, he’s taking it better than I thought he would.” Aulea patted him on the shoulder, and Regis considered it as more out of sympathy than anything.

“Aulea,” Regis said, summoning forth all the seriousness he could muster, “it is still morning, and we both know I’m not a man of the drink, but if you would please.”

“Already have.” From seemingly out of nowhere, Aulea pressed a thick short glass into his hand, filled up to three fingers full of liquid dark amber.

“I love you.”

“You better.”

[moralhymn]

I noticed that you seem fond of Ardnis. I was wondering if you could describe how you see them coming together and how Ignis would justify being with someone like Ardyn? I'm intrigued, and would love some headcanons/meta on the subject.

hello anon you’ve activated my trap card.

because, good lord, fond is putting it lightly. fond is putting it very, very lightly in truth. ardnis is my serious major ship for ardyn and ignis both and i! i just. i LOVE it. i love it so much. it’s a grand ship and i wish it was more popular but it’s sadly not but oh man OH MAN i wish more people were into it. 

okay but let’s see here. how do i see them coming together? well not very easily for starters. after all, ardyn is very much noctis’s enemy. he’s not quite an enemy to prompto, ignis, and gladio, but they certainly are within their rights to view him as an antagonist. that being said, knowing that ignis is very prone to wanting to know things? i’m pretty sure the fact that ardyn knows so much would always be a huge draw for ignis. like, ignis is a guy who likes to know things. he wants everything to be clear. he wants to understand them. and ardyn is most definitely an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a mystery. i can see ignis wanting to figure him out as much as he can right from the start. ardyn would probably tease him. he’d probably even indulge him more than once. ardyn’s very much the sort to toss out random bits of information ( that can be positively fact checked and clearly truthful. ) to ignis to keep drawing him in.

the fact that i’m quietly convinced that ardyn is everyone’s type ( more or less. ) probably helps too. 

a lot of in-game interactions between ardyn and ignis also lend me a lot of support for the idea of there being something going on there, a sort of mutual attraction if you will. ardyn goes out of his way to mess with ignis even more than he does with noctis. like, yes, ardyn wants noctis dead. he does torture prompto. but he never really bothers with gladio or prompto or noctis the way he does with ignis. hell, ardyn literally tells ignis he’s envious of noctis for having such loyal people in his life. out of all of them, ardyn reveals more of himself at more points in time to ignis than he does anyone else. now, it’d be easy to see this as ardyn trying to subvert ignis and all that, but that’s not quite how it’s ever read to me. ardyn very literally gives more to ignis than he does anyone else.

add in the fact that talcott is able to tell noctis things when he gets out of angelgard and that you know that neither prompto nor gladio are likely to have gone near insomnia, this leaves one person who would have gone to ardyn to demand answers. it’d be ignis. hell, it was ignis that did that. he plundered the royal tombs to learn about ardyn. he deliberately went out of his way to learn about this man and that was something that none of the others did. it was ignis who took the time to learn ardyn’s secrets and the truth of who he was. that is a major significant thing for someone like ardyn and someone like ignis. i mean, i’m sure ignis learned the truth somehow, but it was to ardyn he went to get it confirmed. and i imagine by that point, ardyn knew what he was doing so he just... told him. he told him and it was probably the first time in so long that he’d ever told anyone the truth of himself. and there’s a big difference between someone learning a secret you have versus telling someone you care about this secret. like, contrast verstael and ignis. verstael learned about it. but ardyn probably told ignis of his own accord and that made it more significant.

so, how did they come together? ( heh heh– okay okay i’ll behave– ) well, honestly, i think it wouldn’t be that hard. ignis is seen as the mother hen of the group. he’s had numerous expectations and responsibilities heaped onto him over the years, since the age of six. people just expect him to have an answer for something or to know what to do in any given situation and very few would ever give him any sort of acknowledgement or praise or anything else for this. so ignis has learned that he has to put the needs of everyone else before his own. he’s learned that others are a priority before himself. hell, i imagine that no one really bothers to ask ignis what it is he wants. what he wants to do. what he believes. and so he’s been dealing with this over and over for so long that he doesn’t expect anyone else to offer a difference in how they treat him.

and yet with ardyn, being ardyn? ardyn would ask him all those things no one else does. it’d definitely shock ignis, i’m sure. hell, he can be his own person without any expectation around ardyn and that’d probably be so liberating for someone like ignis. for someone to see him as himself and his own person? ignis would probably go wild over it and for it. after all, he’s been seen as only a servant for so long, by everyone ( and yes, this includes prompto and gladio, nevermind noctis. ), that i imagine that having the attention of a man as handsome and insufferably charming as ardyn would really get ignis going when all is said and done.

but that’s not all! it’s stated in numerous source materials that ignis is a very caring and maternal person. he’s not the whole soft side of being maternal. he’s very much the fierce protective side of things. for ignis, i don’t think it’d be much of a stretch to find him caring for ardyn very quickly once he realizes that ardyn, for all his behavior, is a very lonely man. add on ardyn telling ignis the truth of himself and it’s very, very easy for me to see them slowly growing into a relationship. and there’s even more! ardyn is a very smart man and he’d definitely push ignis and challenge him. for ardyn, he sees such potential in ignis and gives him a chance to show what he likes to ardyn. for ardyn, ignis is ever going to be amazing and a true force of nature. ardyn would fully recognize ignis’s potential and want to see it bloom in full.

they’re different in personality, yes, but theirs is the sort of difference that somehow clicks between them. they would know how to work against one another and work together at the same time. and the differences would be what truly binds them together. ardyn would challenge ignis but ignis would also challenge ardyn in equal measure. neither of them would be satisfied if the other party backed down and as a result, that wouldn’t work for either of them. besides, i honestly believe that ardyn would appreciate ignis’s bitchier side in all truth. he thinks it’s cute.

as for how ignis would justify it? honestly, i think even with knowing that ardyn is an enemy, he might have half a vague thought of doing it to get close. why not see if he can win ardyn over? but as time goes on, it turns into genuine love and he understands that his own personal feelings and desires won’t change anything. i believe, myself, that ignis would understand by the end of things that this is inevitable. he knows the prophecy, after all, as does ardyn. that’s what makes them a tragically wonderful couple to me. because unless there’s some kind of divine intervention or one branches into a different territory, there’s no happy ending. and i, apparently, am here for this ship being tragic and angsty as hell. that being said, though? i don’t know entirely how ignis would justify it to himself beyond recognizing that ardyn wants him to be himself, that ardyn has no expectations of him, that ardyn merely likes ignis for who he is. and i think that that’s a powerful enough reason to want to be with ardyn all on its own.

like, i love ardnis so much. i feel like ignis is the one person that would get ardyn to reconsider what he’s doing, even a little, but it’d also be a bitter pill for ardyn in its own right. he’s been alone since his mortal life and now, here’s this amazing beautiful young man and it’s at the end of things. ardyn has to cope with the fact that he gets such a short amount of time with ignis. and ignis has to understand that he’s going to be bereft of ardyn by the time it’s all over and that ardyn will end things with noctis one way or another. literally, their story would just be one of sadness. but, man oh man, ardyn allows ignis to get away with so much too. he really truly does.

like i have written before on how ardyn and ignis interact together in the game and it’s just so interesting to me that ardyn goes out of his way to bother ignis the most. it’s also interesting that ignis doesn’t say no when prompto goes “not your type?” to him on their way to altissia. ardyn literally offers ignis things that he doesn’t give to any of the others. ignis in turn shows ardyn that he’s willing to go as far as he does to stop him. and i think that’s just huge for both of them. literally, i believe that ardyn never encountered anyone like ignis before. and i think that had the astrals not been a bunch of complete cockmunchers and had they found some way to save both ardyn and noctis, ardyn and ignis would’ve been that couple that bickers constantly, kicked ass together in fights, and obviously been very, very in love with one another. they also would’ve had five kids and probably three or four cats.

and i just?

i JUS T LOV E THE M S O MUCH–