The usual disclaimers apply. I do not own neither Final Fantasy nor any of the Characters, nor is my name Square Enix. I do not make any money with this. I'm simply using the plot and characters to deal with the mental trauma that was the ending of FF15.
If Lunafreya had to choose, she would say that she liked the mornings in the citadel the best. She liked standing in the throne room, marveling at the fine architecture, paintings and details that surrounded the large seat atop of the stairs. She would sit on these stairs of polished marble, watching as the soft light would filter through the large panes of stained glass where once there had been a gaping hole in the structure. She'd smile at the pictures the light would paint on the floor and walls, little dabs of color in an otherwise pale room. And Noctis would enter the room and focus solely on her as if she was the most important thing in the world to him, making her feel warm and treasured. He'd smile at her and her heart would break because it never looked truly happy. There was always a lingering sadness threatening to spill forward. She knew he would never admit it, for it was his duty to protect his kingdom from another catastrophe like the one had had ultimately demanded both their lives as a sacrifice. But Luna knew that Noctis missed his friends, people who had stood by his side unflinchingly, even when walking straight through hell. These people were his family, just as his father had been, just as Luna was.
Luna also knew that this sadness could not be changed for his friends were in a place far different from their own. Noctis had a duty to fulfill, thus keeping him, from joining his friends and family in the afterlife. Even Ardyn, betrayed and bitter, had found peace there. Luna could have gone into this realm of peace as well, but she chose to remain and wait for her love in a place that could have become their little haven, yet ultimately was nothing more than a golden cage spun out of bittersweet memories.
Luna sat down the crown of Gentians that she was weaving. For whom she didn't know, even though Noctis would humor her and wear it if she so wished. Maybe Shiva would like it. After all, they bore the name of the form she'd held for so long...Luna picked another flower, careful to leave the stem long enough to be able to add it to the piece. Gentiana Verna, Noctis had called them, surprising her with the knowledge. Later he would admit that his Chamberlain had forced him to learn at least a few flower names and their meanings. He'd remembered this once, he told Luna, because he thought it interesting that its meaning could be completely changed, depending on the occasion. On its own it was a wish for a sweet dream, a declaration of true friendship through all. Combined with others, it could become the meaning of anger, declaration of injustice and disappointment. Luna wondered what Noctis saw when he looked at these. Would he see them as something sweet and beautiful or a reflection of his thoughts about this prison he was in for an eternity.
"You ponder too loudly, child. It echoes of these walls and distorts it into horrible things. My Ifrit is complaining about all the noise." Luna smiled at the voice speaking behind her. Instead of turning around, Luna focused on the flower in her hand. With nimble moves, she'd weaved it into the crown, making the one flower into one of many, forming something beautiful.
"How is he?" Luna asked the ice goddess, who gave a tinkling laugh in response, the sound as fragile as the first ice of winter.
"Aside from complaining, bemoaning the loss of his astral form, he is well. He will adapt to this form, this smaller and less powerful form in time, as he's always done before. Now tell me, my dear child, what has you thinking so hard that your thoughts echo not only through our connection but resonate through mine and Ifrit's?"
"I wonder what Noctis would answer if I asked him whether he'd stay with me or join his friends for a last journey."
"But that is not all you wonder." Luna looked up, pale blue filling with fear, a thin pane of glass over her heart waiting to shatter and impale it with its shards. "You wonder if he'd leave you for his own happiness, if he'd be happier had he never chosen you."
Luna bit her lip, looking down in shame. She had to keep her fingers from clenching, gripping into the fragile flowers and crush them mercilessly.
"I do," she whispered, yet it echoed through the otherwise silent halls as if mocking her. "Had he refused to pursue the union after Insomnia fell, he'd never have come to Altissia on that day. Had he only followed his destiny as the chosen king -"
"Nothing would have changed." Luna looked up in surprise as Noctis, her regal and kind Noctis stepped into the throne room, his eyes on her as always. "Even if I'd ignored the fact that everything within me was screaming at me to get a move on and make sure that you're alive and well, I would have had to come to Altissia to wake that ruddy snake up. He may be a temperamental asshole," Lunafreya looked at him in horrified indignation. "but he still would have been one of the Six. And I needed the blessing of all of them to fulfill my duty. But, luckily for you, I adored you - and still do before you even think of asking - with every fiber of my being. Prompto made sure to tell me every time I read our journal to wipe that lovesick grin from my face because it made him weary." Noctis picked up the crown from Luna's hands and plucked another flower. While he knew the basic idea of how Luna was weaving them together, she could watch with amusement as he fumbled around with the flower until it stuck unsteadily on the side of the crown, the head of the blossom drooping sadly. Noctis sighed in defeat and handed it back to Luna who immediately plucked the blossom into the correct position. Noctis shook his head in fond adoration.
"I'll never understand how you make these. No doubt Ignis would have loved to help you. The man was pretty much perfect at everything he set his mind on…" Luna gave him a sad smile.
"You miss them," she said. It wasn't a question. They both knew that he did. "You mention the, more often, lately." Noctis hung his head slightly and it hurt Luna to see him like this.
"I'm sorry. I guess I, too, think more often about what could have been. If there'd been a way to save everyone…"
"Even Ardyn? " Luna challenged. She knew that for a long while, Noctis had resented the fallen Oracle. Luna had tried explaining that Ardyn had been the first victim in all of this, yet it had taken well over a century for it to no longer fall on deaf ears. So it delighted her when Noctis gave a firm nod at her question.
"Especially him. As you said, hadn't he been wronged, all of this never would have happened. But I don't think there would have been a way. At least not one within my realm of possibilities." Luna gave him a sad smile at that. True, they had been here for a long time, but Noctis really had come a long way from the naive boy he'd started out as.
The king and last heir of the line of Lucis sat down next to his wife, occasionally plucking flowers for her to weave into the crown.
"If I could change one thing, I suppose I would have liked to prevent the disaster in Altissia. There were so many dead on that day, so many people without an Oracle that had to watch their lost ones become fiends and deamons that ultimately took the lives of the few that had survived Leviathan's wrath…" Noctis smiled, a wry and tired smile that betrayed his usually so kind features, when Luna sat the finished crown atop of his head.
"What about the attack on your father, before everything slipped out of our hands?" Noctis shook his head.
"No, the attack couldn't have been stopped. I am certain that he knew what was coming. As Cid said, 'he was dealt a losing hand and played it as best as he could'. But I am certain that we could have done some sort of damage control. So maybe even if Nifelheim invaded, my father wouldn't have died. The city wouldn't have fallen and the wall would have remained. But with everything that happened, we all needed the fall to happen."
"Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes?" Luna provided a metaphor. Noctis snorted in an undignified manner.
"More like a chocobo waddling out of its nest for the first time. I remember what a wake-up call it had been, seeing Insomnia fall. Feeling the pull of the crystal solely on me. We all encountered our hardships during our journey, but some I wish I could have protected my friends from, but it had helped us become the people we needed to be to fulfil our task."
"What if your task where to change?" Shiva whispered, icy arms slinging around Noctis' neck in a deadly embrace. Noctis shivered, watching as the fern frost creeped across his equally cold skin and down his royal garments. Their patterns added something otherworldly to the fabric, forming intricate designs.
"Speak clearly, would you? It is hard to understand you, when you're only partly here." Out of the corner of his eyes he saw blue lips pull into a smile that was all teeth and unspoken challenge.
"What if you were to go back, but instead of saving the world from Ardyn, it would be to save the old oracle instead? Save the man and you get rid of the Blight. No Blight would mean -"
"No deamons. Which in return would mean the loss of most of their weapons for Nifelheim," Noctis finished for her. He nodded.
"That would have made everything so much easier. But how would we go on about destroying the Starscourge? The last time I heard of it, an Oracle could take it into herself. I will not have Luna dying for any insane plan you may have concocted." Shiva laughed.
"I would not dare, your highness," Shiva hummed. "I have become quite fond of you both over the time you've spent here."
Noctis was about to retort something when Luna gave him a disapproving look. As sarcastic as Noctis could be at times, he never dared to direct it towards the present gods whenever Luna was near. Her role as Oracle still prevented her from treating the six with anything else but utmost respect.
"So what is all this talk about? All these 'what ifs' and 'would you haves'. One would think that you have something in mind, Queen of Ice."
"Maybe I have," Shiva replied meekly, something Noctis knew for a fact was completely and utterly fake.
"And what would this maybe imply for us?" The toothy smile was back now, a hungry shark having taken sight of its prey.
"Maybe I have found a way to send you back. Call it...a favour for a favour."
Luna looked at the goddess with sharp eyes. Owing a god a favour never was to be taken lightly.
"What would this favour imply?" Luna asked. Shiva rose from her position behind Noctis, drawing herself to her full height.
"We have grown dissatisfied with the fates of the fallen Oracle and the last king of Lucis. Humanity is dying and with their numbers dwindling, so does our strength that we channel out of the belief of man." Luna narrowed her eyes and Noctis braced for impact. An angry Luna still brought a very own sort of fear into his heart.
"And what is the real reason, Glacian?" Shiva lost her smile and the room's temperature plummeted. Everything around them frosted over, from the large throne to the flower crown still atop of Noctis' head. Luna rose to her feet, too.
"The real reason is that the worlds are nearing their time. Soon, the realms will fall into disarray beyond redemption and time will end. Everything will, once more, be reborn and the order will change. Bahamut has decided that he wishes things to remain as they are. He does not wish to lose his place as the strongest of the Six. He's a child that's throwing a tantrum, yet we ultimately have to bow to his will. So we will use what remains of our strength to reverse time. A millennium will be undone and you will live once more, with our blessing and knowledge still within you. We ask of you in return to undo what my Ifrit has caused. Rid the world of the Blight that you call Starscourge, save the Oracle. Once you've completed this task, we will see us as even and you will be allowed to live as you please. You will be allowed to remain with your friends and join them once you decide to follow them into the Afterlife."
"We accept," Luna spoke. Noctis stumbled to his feet, staring at his wife with large eyes filled with both fear and hope alike. Luna threw him a sad smile. He needed this chance, a second chance at the life he'd previously been denied, even if it meant that he may have to leave her behind to do so. She'd be willing to give him this chance, and he'd take it.
"We will both go," Noctis spoke firmly, easily slipping back into his role as King of Insomnia.
Shiva looked at them both for a long while before speaking again.
"We have the power to send one of you back. It was decided that it would be the princeling."
Luna expected Noctis to frown, frustrated at the lack of options, yet she nearly jumped when she saw his eyes, sparkling with mischief and unmistakable joy, directed at her. She saw what he was trying to tell her. After nearly a complete millennium spent in each other's constant company, they no longer needed words to know what the other was thinking. So when Noctis received a warm smile from the Oracle, Noctis grinned and turned back towards the still waiting ice goddess.
"Then, my dear Lady Shiva, I would like to propose a deal."