theairlock | sixth investigation

Haha. That's a start.

[He swallows and holds onto Ardyn's other arm as well, since his grip on the first doesn't seem to have been unwelcome. One robot hand that he's gotten so much better at using. One bare and still sore-looking human wrist with rabbits chasing one another endlessly.]

Ardyn. Look at me. You're here with me, with Junpei. That's what's happening right now. Okay? You can just focus on that.

[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.]

[Just so long as you stand by me.]

Edited (punctuation) 2017-07-01 01:50 (UTC)

You are not, you're such a crap liar.

[But that's eye contact. Junpei holds it a moment longer--for whose sake?--before swallowing again and nodding, eyes closed.]

If--if you think you can handle tea, it should help. Uh, tactile things, and... taking care of yourself. In the little ways. [Abrupt sigh.] I don't know, I'm not usually in the position of helping people through this. Just...

[No. Don't go too fast. He breathes out and shakes his head.]

Take it easy, okay? We've all got part of this. It won't just be you.

...I know that.

['That's such bullshit! Why are the odds stacked so impossibly high against you?']

[He understood now, nearly two months after that conversation. He had never been meant to win out over those odds at all. And it hadn't been fair. It hadn't been right, it should never have come down to one person to save an entire world--not Ardyn and not Noctis.]

[He accepted that now more than ever, they needed the leader and not the Accursed. And he accepted that resurrecting that person in full would come at a cost higher than PAL had made it sound.]

['I suppose you could say 'I have no choice', but even if I were to be given an option, this path is the one I would walk all the same.']

[But this time, the king would not be alone.]

We're together in this. In everything. Whatever happens, we're going to carry it together.

[He stares, even though it's been said before--by Ardyn, by Church, by Choromatsu--nearly everyone left alive has had as much, even Junpei himself. Especially Junpei himself.

This is it. He knows that, suddenly, this is the end. Twice before now he's come to this point; two points is a line, three is a pattern, a plane, solid ground to stand on, and Junpei knows this land he's found beneath his feet: the end stretch. The time when everything comes together. The time when all puzzles can--must--will be solved.

Ardyn is so tired. Church is worn so thin Junpei can see right through him, the ghost he's claimed to be all this time. Choromatsu almost gave in. Angel and Rhys did. Queenie is more holes than thread, a painful parody of the lace she makes by hand.

But Clarith no longer stutters and flinches. Choromatsu came back with fire in his beady eyes. Yuuri is strong, and Junpei?

Junpei's hands fall loosely away from Ardyn's arms, and then he more collides with than pulls him in. Junpei's hugs, like Junpei's everything, are impulsive and fierce and stronger than he looks, and he holds Ardyn tightly, as if he can press strength, press reality into this tired two-thousand-year-old memory of a king.]

I'm not powerful on my own, but after--after everything you all have done for me?

[His voice is quiet but earnest, promise and a little reckless challenge all at once. Everyone here has been part of Junpei coming back to life. And now?]

I can handle anything you give me. No matter how far out of reach the end seems... just envision yourself following the path I take.

[He squeezes Ardyn even tighter.]

I believe you can do it.

[Ardyn froze at the sudden shift and unexpected contact--but only for a moment, bringing his own arms to Junpei's shoulders. He trusted his Kingsglaive. He trusted everyone here, even knowing one of them might well have been a murderer...so was he. Ardyn could trust that no hand that reached for him now would be waiting with a knife to drive into his back. When people told him they believed, he could know that wouldn't be revoked in an instant and the savior discarded as though he were nothing.]

[So he just laughed--not the low chuckle of Ardyn Izunia or the hollow forced laugh of the remnants of Ardyn Lucis Caelum. Quietly, with only a little strength behind it but defiant in the face of all they stood against, it was the laugh of someone who had once dreamed of saving the world and not cared one bit for the cost to himself.]

...Could I ask you for one thing more than that, Junpei?

You could.

[It's clear he meant that to approximate his usual sassy difficulty, but somehow, attached to Ardyn like a limpet, it mostly just comes out sincere.]

I'm going to ask whether you like it or not, so you've but a few moments to get used to the idea.

[There was the more usual tone, or some semblance of it. Ardyn took a breath and spoke clearly, focusing himself as much as he was able.]

[This...was the right thing to ask. That, he was sure of.]

...You already know that when I was no longer able to be 'Ardyn Lucis Caelum', I took my brother's name. Not merely out of spite, but of the necessity to remember what had happened. So that no matter how long I was refused ascension, I would carry those events through the ages and centuries.

'Ardyn Izunia' is--not quite gone, but neither is 'Ardyn Lucis Caelum'. I am perhaps both while also being neither of them, after so many lost and regained memories. For some time now-...no, perhaps right now more than ever I can not truly grasp who I am or entirely keep myself in one frame of mind.

But I ask you--will you allow me one small thing so that once again I might not lose sight of all that which has transpired?

I think...'Ardyn Tenmyouji' might be suitable, for the human before you now.

[Silence a moment. When Junpei lets Ardyn go so he can look at him, his eyes are wide, eyebrows lifted, in the most open expression of sheer surprise he's ever worn around anyone in this mansion.

He opens his mouth. Nothing comes out. He closes it again. He hasn't blinked yet.]

[And then, of all things, he starts laughing. Full-voiced, full-bodied laughter, and even as he covers his mouth with his robot hand, he doesn't fold an arm over his chest or turn away as he once would have.

When he finishes, he's still grinning widely, and he sweeps his hair up from his face.

Yes, says that face. Of course you can, you dumb bastard.]

Of all--of all the names you could've picked here, you picked the only one as goddamned ridiculous as the one you already had! Do you even know what you're asking for?

As though I actually care about that. Junpei, I worked for someone named Iedolas Aldercapt, how much more ridiculous does a name have to sound?

[He rolled his eyes overdramatically, that confident laugh coming a little more certain this time.]

I know what I asked.

I can't even pronounce that.

[But he takes a piece of paper out of his pocket, dips his finger into Ardyn's tea (it's gone cold anyway) and writes large:]

天明寺アーデン

[He points to each character in turn.]

"Ten"--that's heaven, or sky. "Myou" has the characters for both sun and moon in it. And "Ji," that's temple, but it can also be pronounced "Terra." So, earth. ...You know what, it sounds better in Eastern order. Tenmyouji Ardyn.

[Smiling like he just won the lottery--like he rolled three dice and they all came up with life-saving ones--he regards Ardyn a moment, then hands the tea-stain calligraphy over.]

It's yours. Dad.

...

[That was what broke the hesitance, Ardyn breaking out laughing with genuine, real, human emotion.]

I-I can't believe--

[His right hand was brought up to his face, the other holding the paper like it was a protective charm.]

'Lucis Caelum'--it's 'of the light' and 'sky'. Are you actually telling me I'm exchanging that for heavens and earth alike?

[Sky, sun, moon, earth, and all of them burning. It might have been darkly symbolic, if it didn't also feel like something else entirely. From the ashes of an Eos that saw its first dawn in ten years and the immolation of a monster, rose something entirely different--a life that may have ended up as short as a fizzling spark, but one that would burn brighter than ever before.]

Because I must admit, I find that a quite appealing meaning.

Edited 2017-07-01 04:19 (UTC)

It's much more impressive than just 'Ardyn Church,' sure.

That sounds idiotic--much too short, as well. How can I ever announce myself dramatically with a three-syllable name?

[He shook his head, looking like this was a matter of utmost importance.]

The easier it is to draw out one's name, the more everyone looks like they want to get rid of you the second you walk into a room and introduce yourself. It's quite funny, actually.

[no ardyn, that was just you being an insufferable prick]

sixth investigation

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