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Fate has a habit of dealing Hydaelyn’s champions strange and cruel cards. Ardbert was not a gambling man, yet he took a bet on saving his world at the price of another – the mere concept of which he would have found abhorrent if he could afford to hold fast to his principles. And his dividends for making that bet? His thoughts took a dark turn. He forced himself to be back in the present, to reckon with the latest turn of fate presented before him. The sharp, acrid smell of blood filled his nostrils – sharper than anything he’d felt in these last hundred years he spent wandering. He runs over to the scent’s source and finds the Warrior of Light covered in blood next to the corpse of some giant beast. Whether it’s more his own blood or the beast’s, Ardbert can’t say. *More importantly*, the Warrior – Ryusei, he knows now – is clutching his side, poorly staunching a wound through his heavy armor. This doesn’t have to be his business. He could turn around and pretend he didn’t see it; the Warrior of Light would surely be okay. And if he wanted to die being a hero for a world that wasn’t even his own—
Ardbert’s feet move quicker than his mind does. He rushes to Ryusei’s side. Any hopes of maintaining indifference were dashed after he’d spoken to the other man upon his return from the Greatwood. “Wasn’t enough to nearly drown in Il Mheg, was it? You have to damn near bleed out here too?” he says, without really thinking. It comes out less admonishing than he intended, the deep crease of his brow betraying his concern.
Ryusei perks up somewhat upon seeing Ardbert. Ryusei draws his hand away from his side for a moment, wincing when his gauntlet comes away tacky with blood. “Ah, well. I’ve been told red is my color, and dye can get ever so expensive.” More sincerely, he adds, “you needn’t worry, it’s nothing that magic can’t heal.” His voice has a soothing lilt to it, possessed of the kind of warmth that could almost make Ardbert believe him.
Ardbert crosses his arms. “That’d be easier if you stopped getting yourself into these… situations. Shouldn’t you find a healer?”
Ryusei shakes his head. He pulls out a vial from a pouch on his belt, drinking deeply of a potion. “That ought to have stopped the bleeding. And Urianger lives nearby, he’ll patch up whatever else needs fixing. Just need a moment before I go over.” He walks over to a nearby tree and leans back onto its trunk for support. Closing his eyes, he asks, “what do you remember of Voeburt?”
The question catches Ardbert off-guard. But there’s something dark roiling about in the depths of Ryusei’s deep brown eyes, and as is increasingly the case lately, Ardbert finds he can’t deny him his curiosity. “I’ve told you of how I wanted to remember it. A kind and warm people, despite the frigid climes they found themselves in during the winter. Why do you ask?”
“I put down Dikaiosyne a few days ago. Your comrade, Branden. I saw how Voeburt met its end.” He lets out a thin exhale. “And I saw how at the end, he would not forsake his compassion. He was a good man.”
Ardbert doesn’t say anything at first. It’s true, Branden was a good man. Every single one of his friends had been the bravest and kindest people he’d ever known. If he could have given his life for theirs, he would have. Or, at the least, given his life alongside them to stay the Flood. But such a choice was denied to him. “Is he at peace now?”
Ryusei looks over at the beast Ardbert found him next to. “Aye, I’d like to believe so. If not when the Virtue was defeated, then I’d like to believe he is now. He granted his princess mercy, and now her sister has finally gotten the same.”
The tang of blood assaults Ardbert’s senses again, now that he had been reminded of what greeted him here. A strange sensation settles in his stomach. “This is what you risked your life for? To make sure a dead man finds peace?” He feels sick, the smell only half to blame for it. He looks away from Ryusei, staring out into the horizon. That the sky was clear and bright with the sun and not the unforgiving Light was already more than he had hoped for and yet… Though he’s not looking at him, Ardbert can somehow feel the weight of Ryusei’s gaze on him.
“Not just him. I’ll see to it that all your friends do before I leave this place.” Ardbert hears the crease of leather crunching in on itself. He drags his gaze back over to Ryusei, who has clenched his fists tightly at his sides. “A *hundred* years, Ardbert. How am I ever going to give that back to you? I can’t, I know. But avenging your friends is the only way I’ll ever come close.”
“I don’t… know what to say,” Ardbert admits, helplessly. “You’re mad. Maybe just as mad as they were.” They were the finest lot of friends Ardbert would ever know. Courageous, stupidly so. Painfully big hearted. It’s what made him love them all the more. What it says that Ryusei reminds him so much of his former friends is terrifying. “Thank you. For doing what I couldn’t, by bringing them peace.”
Ryusei smiles sadly. “It should’ve been you who did it. This could have been the other way around, you know? It could have been my world who needed saving.”
“You really think *I* would have done the same?” Ardbert scoffs. “I was almost responsible for dooming your world because in a foolhardy gambit to save mine.”
“I saw their memories. I know you would have. Maybe you don’t think you’re a hero anymore, but I know you are.” Ryusei draws his arms around himself. “I’ve thought about what happened to you ever since Minfilia made her sacrifice. I spent so much time wondering if there was a better way. I thought, ‘what good is it being the Warrior of Light if I couldn’t even save one man?’. I wanted to save you so badly, even then, but I didn’t know how to.”
It's that confession that breaks Ardbert. He feels pathetic about it, but he starts crying. Gods *above*. Would things have been different if he had cast his lot with another of Hydaelyn’s chosen instead of an Ascian? Would things have been different if he had worked with Ryusei?
“Sorry. Being this serious isn’t my forte,” Ryusei murmurs. “But if you’ll forgive me for one more thing… I just need to know something.” A pair of arms encircle Ardbert, loosely at first. Upon realizing that they truly were touching, Ryusei holds him tighter. Like he was worried Ardbert would disappear if he let go.
A tempest stirs within Ardbert’s heart. The enormity of his emotions frightens him. How long had it been since he had been held like this? Ryusei’s arms were impossibly warm around him, torrential rain in a desert. He could not contain the swell of emotion raging through him. He sinks into the hug. Everything about this conversation beggared belief, least of all the fact that someone was able to touch him. He should let go. He can’t. This close, he can smell the faint, floral scent of soap clinging to Ryusei’s hair. Again, the biting metallic scent of blood on his armor. The metal of his armor is cold, the leather firm and unyielding. But Ryusei’s arms are warm around Ardbert, and it’s all he can do to choke down on all the words he’s no longer foolish enough to just say out loud. Ardbert wonders why it’s always him. That his senses first got sharp again when he found Ryusei in the Crystarium. That Ryusei can see and talk to him, can hold him like this. A million questions race through his mind, and his heart finally finds some semblance of calm, only one thought remains.
“I’m glad that it’s you, then,” Ardbert says. His own confession. “I can’t say that I believe that you’ll be able to save my dying home, but I want to. I hope you prove me wrong. I don’t know how you survived being this way, but I hope for your own sake that this world will tolerate another hero.” He doesn’t know if he could bear to lose him too. It takes more than he has left, but Ardbert lets go. He clears his throat. Careful distance back in place. “Anyroad, you need a healer first. If Lamitt taught me anything, it’s that potions do a piss poor job of keeping you together compared to a proper healing spell.”
Ryusei steps back, leaving a hand to linger on Ardbert’s shoulder. He wonders if the touch is meant to ground him, or Ryusei himself. “Suppose I *have* seen better days,” he jokes. He squeezes Ardbert’s shoulder and then finally drops his hand. “I’ll seize a better path. I *promise* you, one fool to another. But yes, healer first. I’m overdue for frightening my friends.”
Ryusei takes his leave, leaving Ardbert to think by himself. In another life, he thinks, he would have liked to walk by his side. It feels greedy to want more, to have hope at all, but he can’t help it. He was only ever human. Ardbert can’t help but think… in the next life, then.