week 1

[airlockedmods]

Week 1

[After the reveal of their handsome and well-dressed but stern-looking Overseer on Sunday, the Champions were left to their own devices in investigating the mall to their hearts' content. At around 10 pm every night the lights in all the shops will go down and the sturdy metal grates over the doors of the restaurants will go down. The stores will remain unlocked, though.

On Monday morning, a buzzing alarm chirps at them again from their PIPs at 7 am on the dot. There's also a pop-up message waiting for them: a notice announcing Xander will be holding office hours

Enjoy your week, Champions.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Comments

[scourgingstars]

Not about this. [Ardyn's hands curled into fists against the fabric of his coat; he could feel that uncertain tremor start again, and it was better to try to hide it now before it got worse.] Just because you don't think them the type doesn't mean-

...do you want to know why I detest your friends so much? You want the truth of what happened two thousand years ago, how I turned into this? Then look at that absurd profile again, Noctis. And I want you to tell me what the first thing is under 'dislikes.'

[nightcure]

[ And still, he fixes him with an even look. Noctis can hear it in his voice, but there's no fear there. Instead... ]

Your brother, right?

[ ... a jealous king, one not yet chosen by the Crystal, ostracized and demonized this healer of the people. Making a true monster of him.

... You'll never guess whose name Izunia was. ]

[burninglight]

[Ardyn was as calm as he had been in front of the Crystal; he wasn't shouting or snarling like the end of the long night in Insomnia. There was fury in his words, of course--but it was quieter, repressed and understated.]

[A very human fury, instead of the constant condescending spite of what seemed like so long ago already.]

You had retainers who would and did risk everything for you. I was sure Ignis would abandon you in Altissia to save himself. That the rest of you would turn on Prompto once you knew what he was. Until I realized where he'd disappeared to, I thought Gladiolus had just left like the worthless shade he went to challenge. That's what people do, self-serving and callous as they are.

All I had was a traitorous brother who murdered me and stole my name, as well as a Shield who abandoned me to let him do it. And what was the result? 'Ardyn Lucis Caelum' is the recorded name of the Founder King, and Gilgamesh the legendary Blademaster who dares hold himself as a standard for the Shields that followed.

...And I'm nothing. Exactly what I always was to the people I trusted more than anything.

[nightcure]

[ And he listens, just as he had when the Crystal had started to pull him in. Noctis listens, watching Ardyn carefully. As far as he's concerned, he has every right to be angry. ]

They were wrong, Ardyn.

[ His voice, too, is quiet, and Noctis leans forward. ]

You didn't deserve any of that. You only wanted to help, and if Izunia had gotten a grip, he wouldn't have screwed you over. You've done a lot of things we both know I'll never be able to forgive or overlook, but what happened to you?

You deserved better. You helped the people Izunia ended up ruling over, and he repaid you by hurting you in the worst damn way.

[burninglight]

...

[Whatever Ardyn had expected...it wasn't that. He opened his mouth as if to snap at Noctis, clearly still furious--and then closed it, suddenly finding nothing to direct that too-human anger towards.]

[That was twice now someone had spoken to that effect. Fukawa he could almost write off as a fluke, someone who didn't know anything of the situation. But Noctis was the only one that did know, even if he'd lacked some of the details until now.]

[No one else had ever acknowledged that. And sympathetic or not, Noctis was the last person Ardyn expected anything of the sort from. So he was stunned into silence at first, then pried one hand from his coat to run through his hair and press against his eyes.]

[...Then he just started laughing, low and pained in the back of his throat. Almost as if he genuinely didn't know how to react, or if his options had come down to laughing instead of something else entirely.]

[nightcure]

[ He just. Watches him. Noctis gives a wry smile, and waits until Ardyn is finished. Yeah. He was expecting Ardyn to be incredulous. Ardyn's the one who killed Luna. Who made Noctis hurt Prompto. Who--

Who was the reason Ignis put on the ring. By all rights, Noctis should be angry. Not sympathetic, in any way. But what else can he do? ]

Still think I'm acting, Ardyn?

[burninglight]

That's enough, Noctis.

[The laughing faded to something quieter--still laughter, but one that managed to sound quite a bit like something else. Ardyn leaned forward with his head in his hands again, struggling to process this. It was funny, right? It was funny and disgustingly ironic that the real Chosen should have been so much more forgiving and selfless than the fake.]

[No wonder they'd called him 'Usurper', Ardyn thought bitterly.]

[It was a long moment before he spoke again, gold eyes staring at the table and struggling to stay focused. it wasn't funny. It wasn't funny at all and that cold pain in his chest was coming back with a vengeance.]

I can't-...exist like this. This humanity is torment beyond description, and I will not start caring about these people knowing that will do naught but worsen it. I could not even trust my own brother, why should I ever be idiotic enough to trust any of them?

I don't want to be Ardyn Lucis Caelum any longer. I don't want to be anyone, I-...just want this to stop.

[nightcure]

.... It's up to you, in the end.

I can't pretend to know what you're going through, and I won't try.

[ He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. ]

What I can do is try to give you some advice. Being human... it sucks. It hurts. It's painful.

[ Noctis's voice catches, and his heart starts to ache. He misses his dad. He misses Luna.

He misses Ignis and Prompto and Gladio. ]

Especially for someone like you, who's been hurt like you have. But it's a little easier when you let other people in. I know it's easy for me to say that, but can you say you haven't connected at least somewhat with some of the people here?

[burninglight]

I don't want to. Not when I know how it ends, how it always ends with people. Call me a coward if you like, I've heard far worse.

[He couldn't quite remember most of it--Ardyn's human life was blurred like a watercolor painting left in the rain. He remembered countless people praising his name and that godsforsaken melody, how Gilgamesh used to cook when they were in the middle of nowhere in what was now some Leiden desert, the way Izunia would lecture when Ardyn slept past noon...]

[Yet all of it was eclipsed by the ending, black blood coating the ground and evaporating like miasma, screaming his Shield's name in a voice that had become daemonic shrieking left unanswered-]

[No. Trust was presenting someone a knife and turning around, stupidity at its most basic.]

I can't. I won't let this happen again. I've been alone this long, and there's no reason to change that.

[nightcure]

I'm not going to call you a coward. Like I said, it's your call.

[ He'd just hoped that Ardyn would've considered it. But... he'd been foolish to wish that, he guesses. And it's understandable that Ardyn would refuse to even consider reaching out to people.

Still.

Who knows how long they'll be here?

Noctis stands and places the cup on one of the counters. He's honestly not sure how to proceed. They'll just go in circles, both getting steadily more frustrated... ]

... I'll let you be. Try to get some sleep.

[ And just like that, he's gone. ]