[Everyone had liked Nishitani. Even Ardyn at his worst had liked Nishitani, so why was any of this happening? Hadn't they all been trying to convince him they wouldn't turn on each other? He'd let himself believe that, let himself trust people when he couldn't trust his own family, his own kingdom his brother his shield--]
[They said this wouldn't happen. That all of them would stay together, and the fact that they didn't was a strain on Ardyn's already fracturing sanity, like a dissonant song where the needle skipped between an elegy and a cry of hope--et nocte perpetua in desperatione no I won't shed a tear-]
[Just a little longer. He'd gone two thousand years with the shrieking and malice of daemons clawing at his mind, eroding anything that was ever compassionate or kind. He could last a bit more without losing it again.]
...I'm...alright. [He finally looked to Junpei, tired and hesitant but present for the most part.]
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[They said this wouldn't happen. That all of them would stay together, and the fact that they didn't was a strain on Ardyn's already fracturing sanity, like a dissonant song where the needle skipped between an elegy and a cry of hope--et nocte perpetua in desperatione no I won't shed a tear-]
[Just a little longer. He'd gone two thousand years with the shrieking and malice of daemons clawing at his mind, eroding anything that was ever compassionate or kind. He could last a bit more without losing it again.]
...I'm...alright. [He finally looked to Junpei, tired and hesitant but present for the most part.]
[Just so long as you stand by me.]