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Chapter Text

Ten long years, Ardyn had been waiting. 

Ten long years, sitting on the throne that was his by right, waiting for the so-called Chosen King to awaken from his slumber and emerge from the Crystal. 

Ten long years, he had been waiting for their clash to finally commence; The Battle of Kings, history would surely remember it by. 

And as the rubble and debris of the pink wall he had erected around the Citadel shattered and fell from the dark sky above, Ardyn smirked from the shadows, his golden gaze watching on with glee as the ghost of his long-dead and hated little brother finally opened the gates of the Citadel. 

“That’s it… just a little closer…” 

Leisurely descending the famous Citadel stone steps, Ardyn grinned upon hearing the little pitter patter of the Chosen King’s and his entourage's feet, as they came running down the straight towards him. The sound of leather thacking against the cold-hard tarmac was music to his ears… as that glorious sound signified the end. 

The end of Eos’ eternal darkness. The end of the daemons that had plagued this planet for far too long. The end of Ardyn’s immortal prison on this gods forsaken rock. But more importantly to Ardyn, it marked the beginning of the end of the greatest treachery and cover-up this world had ever seen. And tonight, before the dawn rose and the heavenly light returned to this once thriving world, Somnus’ last living descendant’s blood would spill, staining the throne that had been built on fire, lies, deceit and blood over two thousand years ago.  

Their eyes met when the boy King came to an abrupt halt a good few feet away from the bottom of the Citadel steps. Daemonic yellow and midnight blue were locked in a battle of hate and resolve, and Ardyn could barely contain his excitement over the spectacle he was about to unleash upon the last King of Lucis!  

Oooh… This is going to be fun!

Clearing his throat, Ardyn stepped forth, boring his pearly white teeth down at his fated enemy. 

“Ifrit, the Inferian. He doesn’t share the Glaican’s fondness for mankind.” 

Pausing for dramatic effect, Ardyn bit his bottom lip in a fruitless bid to suppress the giggle of anticipation that threatened to creep out of his throat. 

The confusion that etched itself onto Noctis’ brow was simply delicious! The uncertain fear in Verstael’s little clone violet eyes set fire in his belly. The anger and determination on the Last Shield of the King’s features sent a shiver down his spine. And the calculated ‘stare’ that slowly morphed into horrific realisation that took over Ignis’ entire body, made this fanfare all the more exhilarating!

With a thoughtful hum and a smug grin, Ardyn chuckled to himself as the group's confusion became more apparent with every word he spoke. 

I promise you all that the confusion won’t for last long…

“But you can expect a… warm welcome.” 

Pivoting on his heel, Ardyn waved his hand dismissively above his head, summoning the God of Fire. 

“I shall await you above…” 

As Ardyn began his ascent back up the stone steps, the desolate and blackened world around the Citadel turned a shade darker. The once cool and dreary air instantly thickened and became almost unbearably hot. The intense heat smothered everything in its wake, choking his enemy and disorienting them before the fight had even begun. The thought of how helpless the King and his men had suddenly become made the dark grin cracked across the Adagium’s face grow just that little bit wider. 

Oh, how he couldn’t wait to watch from up high, as the Inferain scorched the Chosen’s once beloved city, his home. He’d marvel at the sight of the fires of hell as they danced and exploded into existence, lighting up this ruined world in a molten red and orange hot glow. He’d watch in pure delight as the Astal of Fire turned one or two of Noctis’ closet friends and confidants to nothing but ash and bone. And as the Last King of Lucis cried out in pain and anguish, Ardyn would relish in the knowledge that Somnus’ ghost had gotten a taste of its own medicine after two long millennia, and finally he would understand what it felt like to be burnt- 

THUD! 

Bringing himself to an abrupt halt, Ardyn raised an eyebrow in confusion. 

What on Eos was that sound? 

That wasn’t meant to happen…

Turning his attention to the tall skyscraper in front of him, Ardyn was left feeling more perplexed when he could not see the ravenous red and orange glow of the Inferian’s might plastered against the concrete and windows. He couldn’t smell the undisguised scent of smoke and fear in the scorched, infested air. He couldn’t even hear the roars of a million flames or the screams of his enemies as they were burnt to a crisp!

He couldn’t hear anything!  

It was completely silent. 

What the hell is going on?! 

Whirling back around, Ardyn’s confusion quickly morphed into anger when he was met with the same bleak darkness this world had known for the past ten years.

And Ifrit, he was nowhere to be seen. 

What the hell! 

Flaring his nostrils and clenching his hands into tight fists, Ardyn’s anger rose and got the better of him, as his plan that had been ten years in the making had been completely ruined!

“This is the second time you have upstaged me, you pitiful excuse of a deity!” 

Stomping his way back towards the edge of the steps, Ardyn was fully prepared to summon a ball of fire himself and launch it at Noctis' head, despite how much physical pain it would put him through! He had waited far too long and worked too hard, ensuring that all of his plans fell perfectly in line! He was not about to allow another one of those so called Gods, the beings who were responsible for destroying his life and the world he was currently standing on, to ruin everything he had built at the last fucking possible hurdle-

“H-hey, sir, are you okay?” Prompto’s voice said worryingly, breaking the deafening silence. 

“Stand back, Prompto!” Gladiolus ordered, reaching out to grab his friend's arm. “It could be another one of his games.” 

Lowering the arm he had raised, Ardyn leant over the edge only to find that the group were not preparing for battle like he had intended; instead, they were staring down at the concrete beneath their feet, in a state of pure bewilderment and hesitation. 

“He could be hurt! He just fell out of the sky!” Prompto protested, moving out of his Shield’s reach as he looked towards his King for guidance. 

“What is going on, Noct?” Ignis questioned, sounding uneasy as he got into his battle stance. 

Instead of immediately replying, Noctis broke his gaze with the floor and purposely caught Ardyn’s golden line of sight. Just as the boy had done on his entire journey around Eos ten years prior, he looked lost, confused and apprehensive, but this time something about his stare felt off… Ardyn couldn’t put his finger on it, but Noctis’ gaze felt almost wrong?

“I don’t know.” Noctis responded loudly, refusing to break his stare for Ardyn as he pointed down at the floor. “Do you wanna explain this?!”

Although he wanted his plan to continue as intended, Ardyn’s curiosity got the better of him. Silently, he looked down to where Noctis was pointing, and the sight before him nearly made his eyes pop out of his skull in surprise! 

Lying face down on the cold, hard floor was a man!

A dark-haired man, sprawled out on his front, wearing something that looked to be from the medieval period, with a large silver sword strapped to his back! 

Arching his eyebrow just as confused as the King and his men, Ardyn rocked back on his heels, blew through his teeth and sighed. “Well… that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Chapter Text

“Well… that wasn’t supposed to happen.” 

“Supposed to happen?!” Noctis yelled up at him with accusatory fury, as the blonde one and the blind one of their pathetic little group got onto their knees to assist this mysterious fallen man. “What the hell does that even mean?!”   

“Easy, Noct.” Gladiolus told him calmly, doing his ‘divine-duty’ as the token meat shield by inserting himself in front of his King.

“No! Quit playing these games! I know you did this!” Somnus’ body-double sneered hotly, pointing aggressively in Ardyn’s direction, being unsuccessfully in pushing his shield away from him. “Even at the end, after everything you have put this world through, my friends through! You are insistent on hurting innocent lives! That’s sick! You’re sick!”    

Those words, the same two words Noctis had yelled at him upon his belated return to this ruined City, caused a sharp and sudden pain to surge through his scourge-infested heart. Ardyn could feel the hatred and betrayal brewing away inside of him, making his eyes glow a haunting yellow in the green-grey night. He wanted Somnus’ mirror image dead for uttering that ancient phrase alone, but like before, he couldn’t afford to lash out. He couldn’t end Noctis here… not yet, for that would ruin his already crumbling plan. 

Not until we are in the throne room… this will end where it all began. 

Instead of allowing his undying hatred to get the better of him, Ardyn let a throaty growl escape past his tight lips and breathed out, whilst gesturing towards their unexpected and unwanted guest. “I had nothing to do with this.”  

Noctis scoffed in disbelief as his Shield wore the same unconvinced expression. “He literally fell out of the sky after your nonsensical speech! How was this not you?! You are literally the cause of everything wrong with this world!” 

Ardyn rolled his eyes so far back, he swore he could see the back of his head! 

Firstly, rude! 

Secondly, Astrals! This boy is so dense! 

Impatiently tapping his heavy boot against the stone step, Ardyn rubbed his temple in exasperation; begrudgingly accepting that his perfectly articulated plan had been well and truly blown out of the water. 

I am really going to have to spell this out for you, aren’t I? 

“The Astral of Fire was supposed to appear and burn you all to a crisp, but alas, it appears he has gone on strike… and, whoever this is, has delayed your demise.” Ardyn groaned, venom practically dripping out of his mouth. 

When I get my hands on that insufferable and inconsiderate, plan destroying deity, I swear, I am going-

“Noct! You'd better come over here!” 

The second panicked, high-pitched shrill from Noctis’ blonde friend this eternal night grated against Ardyn’s eardrums. He really hated that annoying broken chocobo chick’s voice! Honestly he thought their little ‘chit-chat’ in Zegnautus Keep ten years prior would have been enough to silence it forever! But apparently not! 

Nothing seems to be going my way today! 

Simultaneously, both the unworthy King and his Shield sprung into action and placed their full attention onto the listless body still lying helplessly on the floor, much to Ardyn’s frustration and annoyance! 

They were here to bring back the dawn and fight to the death! Not cater to the pitiful needs of a nobody who had fallen out of the sky, and who more importantly to Ardyn, had had a hand in ruining his plans! But regardless of that fact, the boy King and his band of merry-disfunctional-men didn’t care, nor were they paying any attention to Ardyn and his eternally growing rage and frustration! 

“Is he breathing?” Noctis asked, concern riddled through his steady words. 

“Laboured, but who knows for how much longer.” Ignis replied calmly, summoning a precious Phoenix Down from the armiger before smashing it over the unconscious man’s head.  

Ardyn grumbled, narrowing his eyes at the group with blind hatred as Gladiolus knelt on the ground to, what Ardyn could only assume, to check the man’s pulse and breaths per minute after removing the long silver sword off the stranger's back. 

This is really getting tedious now!  

His impatience and need for all of this to be over was giving a headache. In an attempt to get the attention back onto himself, Ardyn cleared his throat and raised his voice, just to be certain the four chocobo turds could hear him. 

“Gentleman, I am certain, mister, whoever he is, is perfectly-” 

“Pulse is high.” Gladiolus rudely interrupted him as he addressed his so-called ‘friends’. “Breathing is starting to stabilise, but we gotta get him to safety.” 

“Agreed.” Noctis nodded emphatically, not even bothering to spare Ardyn a glance.

Chuckling in an attempt to suppress his growing anger over being so disrespectfully ignored, Ardyn tried yet again to get things back on track. “This stranger should not be your main concern at the-” 

“I’ll call the glaive!” Prompto announced loudly, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his mobile device. 

“Make sure they are aware of the increasing number of daemons. The Marshal may have gotten back to the base and already shared that information, but we can not be too careful.” Ignis said, and with Gladiolus’ help, they assisted the individual on the floor into the recovery position.  

“EXCUSE ME!!” 

Ardyn yelled, losing his composure for a split second, feeling the scourge threatened to leak out of his eye sockets and run down his face; hoping his little outburst would get him the attention he rightly deserved and craved! 

“What?!” Noctis finally shouted back, throwing his arms out to his sides and snapping his head back in the direction of his greatest adversary. “What do you want?!” 

Ardyn was a little taken aback by how short and blunt the Chosen King was with him, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, furrowed his brow and placed his hands impatiently on his hips as he bared his pearly, sharp teeth down at the man he needed to clash with so the Final Battle for the Dawn could commence. 

“Oh, I don’t know, how about you carrying out your pre-ordained and divine duty as the King of Light?! Mmm?” 

Noctis rolled his eyes in sheer annoyance, muttering a curse under his breath. “I am a little busy, trying to fix the mess you caused, if you hadn’t noticed.”   

“That is not my mess!” Ardyn growled, sounding more offended then he intended to. 

“Whatever, I don’t really care.” Noctis dismissed him with a careless wave of his hand, turning back towards the stranger. “Once he’s safe and not at risk of getting caught up in the crossfire, then we’ll do whatever you want. Sounds good?”

No! This is not how it was supposed to go at all! 

Having enough of this insolent display, Ardyn let out a small daemonic growl as the starscourge rapidly materialised around him, covering his entire body, in less than a second, in a sea of pitch black miasma. Swiftly, he shadowstepped down the iconic Citadel steps, purposely landing directly next to the man wearing red and black, before giving him a sharp and hard kick directly to the abdomen. 

“FUCK!” Noctis gasped in surprised horror, his body forcing him to jump backwards in a bid to protect himself. 

Quickly scrabbling to his feet, instinctively grabbing onto Prompto’s Kingsglaive uniform collar to pull him back, Gladio’s blazing orange eyes widened in shock at what he had just witnessed. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” 

“Oh, shut up, the lot of you.” Ardyn ordered darkly, leaning over the seemingly lifeless man slightly, as the starscourge immediately seeped back into the pores of his skin, listening intently for their guest to make a noise. 

Any noise at all.

Just as Ardyn expected, he heard nothing coming from the raven-haired man. Not even a pitiful cry or a pain-filled groan, he heard absolutely nothing at all.  

Good. 

Thoughtlessly placing his hands behind his back, Ardyn pivoted on his heels, giving the horrified faces of his foes a smug grin. “There we have it! He's more than likely dead. So… shall we get back to more important matters?” 

“He’s not dead!” Ignis bit back, still kneeling on the other side of the stranger’s body, his face tightening with disgust at the Chancellor’s outrageous behaviour. “Prompto and I checked!” 

“I’m literally in the middle of a call to get him help!” Prompto exclaimed, looking down at the illuminating light of the phone he had dropped when Gladio pulled him away from Ardyn. 

“Oh?” Ardyn pouted, keeping his predatory gaze on the men lying down at his feet as he took a small step back before landing yet another brutal and forceful kick to his stomach.

“DUDE!” 

“STOP DOING THAT!” 

“Get away from him, you psychopath!”  

Ardyn lightly shook his head at Ignis’ pitiful attempt at reviving the man by summoning another healing item and pouring the liquid over the man’s unresponsive form. He found it rather sad that after everything he had thrown at these four individuals over the last ten years, that they still clung to the light and the hope that they could save everyone on this godsforsaken rock. 

It’s rather pathetic, actually. 

“Well… considering I don’t know my own strength, he’s more than likely dead now.” Ardyn shrugged, leisurely walking away from the body and back over towards the steps. “Which is a real shame… another innocent life snuffed out before Eos knows what it feels like to bask in the sun’s warm light once more… how devastating that must make you feel, Noct.”   

A dark and twisted grin broke the lower half of Ardyn’s jaw as he turned to see the rage engulf Noctis’ features. 

Perfect. 

Oh, how I love to antagonise you so…

Phasing backwards and up the stairs in a sea of pink light, Ardyn snapped his fingers and laughed triumphantly, especially now that little distraction was well and truly out of the way. 

“Let’s try this again, shall we?! Oh, Ifrit!” 

However, Ardyn’s arrogant feeling of impending success was very short-lived as a low, pain-filled and wounded groan filled the air, instead of the intense burning heat that he had been expecting. 

“OH! What now?!” Ardyn screamed, eyes glowing fiercely as he stomped his foot on the step like a petulant child who hadn’t gotten their way. 

Just to add fuel to this non-existent raging fire, he was given no verbal response. Like before, the King and his men were completely ignoring him in favour of crowding around the man lying on the concrete floor, and it made Ardyn want to tear them all, and this entire world, apart with his bare hands! 

With his violet hair standing on edge and his mouth twisting into a snarl, Ardyn screamed. “HOW DARE YOU IGNORE-” 

“I think he is waking up!” Prompto gasped hopefully, materialising a bottle of water out of thin air.

“Yeah! Sir, can you hear us?” Noctis asked, nervously bending over slightly to get a better look at the, unfortunately for Ardyn, very much alive man. “Are you alright?”

“Don’t crowd him!” Gladiolus snapped, pulling the younger two of their group back a few paces. “Let Iggy take it from here.” 

The painful groan let itself be known again, although Ardyn was beside himself with rage at the neglect he was currently experiencing; the sound made him pause. The noise itself was definitely foreign to him; he had never seen or heard this strange individual, whom he really hoped had died, before but… oddly enough, there was some familiarity to it… 

Like he had always known who this voice belonged to… but he had never had a face to connect it with before now…

What?

“Sir?” 

Ignis’ soft voice knocked Ardyn from his thoughts and forced him to stand on his tiptoes to get a better look at the man, whose eyes he could clearly see, thanks to his enhanced eyesight from the daemons, began to flutter. 

“Sir, hello? Can you hear me?” 

Knowing it was pointless grabbing for their attention, Ardyn watched intently as a pair of striking blue eyes opened wide, making the Adagium release a small, stunned gasp of dread.

Those eyes… 

Ardyn thought to himself. He recognised them, although, like the noise this stranger had produced, he’d never seen them before. He’d never seen eyes like those anywhere on Eos before. 

Who are you..? 

The man was clearly dazed, his bright blue eyes sluggishly taking in his surroundings while his gloved hands mindlessly felt the floor beneath him. Ardyn could practically see the confusion take over his body and smell fear wafting from him. 

“Sir, my name is Ignis. Try not to move, you’ve had a nasty fall.” 

“Fall…” The man questioned, his face immediately contorting into nothing but pain, as his mind started to piece itself back together, enabling him to feel once again. 

Perhaps I shouldn’t have kicked him so hard…. whoops.

“Here’s a potion!” Noctis said quickly, falling to his knees, handing Ignis the healing item. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you patched up.” 

Before the potion could even be delivered, the man suddenly shot up from his less-than-desirable position on the floor, letting out a gasp full of terror and heartbreak as he recoiled away from the King like he had seen a ghost. 

Interesting…. Ardyn cocked his head to the side in fascination… I’ve never seen a soul react that way towards Noct before.  

“I’m sorry.” Noctis stuttered, holding up his hands to assure the man he wasn’t a threat. “Iggy, I didn’t-” 

“It’s alright.” Ignis told him quietly, placing his attention towards the frightened and confused stranger. “Sir, everything is alright. We are not here to hurt you. We simply want to help you.” 

Ignis’ words seemed to have little to no effect on the man as he continued to stare uncomfortably at Noctis, his bright blue eyes scanning every inch of the monarch’s equally confused face. Even at this distance, Ardyn could see that the man was breathing rapidly as sweat beaded down his face and nose. Something had definitely spooked him. 

Ardyn nodded, finding himself empathising with the stranger as each silent second ticked by. “I’d have the same reaction if I had to be that close to Somnus’ face, too.”  

“Fa-Father?” The man whispered, his breathing escalating as his eyes grew wider.   

What?!

Ardyn wildly shook his head, leaning closer over the edge, eyes rapidly darting between their strange guest and Noctis as his brain dared to attempt to process what had been said. 

“Is that really you?” 

No, I heard that right! 

What the fuck is day turning into?!