Stella could see her breath condense through her mask and into the dark. The broken gates to Insomnia towered over her. She could remember the last time she'd passed through these gates, sent off by her beloved father to see her future sister-in-law. If she'd known what would have happened in the following days, she'd never have gone.
Then again, Regis knew his children well. Well enough to predict they wouldn't have gone had they caught wind of empire's true intentions.
Stella really wanted to slap her father over the head for what he did that day.
She pulled her hood up and took another deep breath. After bouncing on the balls of her feet for a few minutes, she crossed into the abandoned city.
It somehow felt worse than Gralea. Cars, intact and wrecked, littered the ravaged streets. Every step down those streets broke the eerie silence by glass being crushed underneath her boots. Even with her five layers, the chill in the air was relentless.
Nearly every abandoned shop and restaurant she passed harboured a scavenging daemon. Five years of missions and lessons from Gladio helped Stella from being detected. She'd grown stronger and was confident in fighting, but she'd rather avoid the hassle.
Every step deeper into the dark abyss broke her heart further. Soon she was walking down the same streets she, her twin, Noct and their best friend, Prompto, walked from school to their apartment and vice versa. She paused outside the arcade they used to stop in and waste their time. Boy, did Ignis lecture them whenever they spent too long, playing games instead of doing homework.
She passed the different takeaways they'd stop in to grab dinner and the corner shop where Noct would grab a fishing magazine and she'd buy gum, stationary and collectable cards for Behemoths & Basilisks. Not a lot of people collected them, she just appreciated the art. It did mean she would have stacks of common cards in her bedroom and no-one to give them to. Noct always complained about tripping over them whenever he went into her room unannounced.
Soon enough, she was at the entrance to the apartment block where she and Noct stayed during their teenage years. Nearly every window she could see was shattered, including the doors that separated her from the lobby.
She carefully slipped through the holes and crossed to the stairs, that were still intact. The carpet was worn but other than that, they looked sturdy enough.
As soon as she placed a foot on the first step, the lift opened its doors with a ding. Rusted metal slid against itself and Stella cringed at the noise. The light in the lift flickered and she summoned her axe.
She waited for something to jump out. After a few minutes, she let her axe disappeared and walked up the stairs.
Like hell she was going to go into a claustrophobic lift, which may or may not have taken her to the floor she wanted. Besides, the apartment was only on the sixth floor. It wasn't a hike like in the Citadel. Stella had a personal best of reaching the eighth floor before running out of breath.
Along the way, she needed to jump a couple of collapsed stairs, butcher a group of hobgoblins on the second floor and wrestle with a mindflayer on the staircase between the fourth and fifth floor.
Finally, she was in front of the splintered door of the apartment. Axe out, she tiptoed in.
It was freezing in here. Not only was the living room window out, most of the wall had gone with it. Half the sofa was missing, leaving stuffing scattered across the floor. And Stella thought she and Noct made a mess of the place when they lived here.
She dismissed her axe after determining there was nothing in the apartment that was going to maul her face off. She went straight to her bedroom.
It wasn't as bad as the living room, all the walls were intact. The bed was split in the middle and only a few cards were left on her wall. The stacks of other cards weren't in stacks anymore. Most of them were torn and sprinkled around like confetti.
Stella pulled one of the rare cards that was still on the wall. She admired the picture of the behemoth fighting against the midgardsormr then put it in her pocket. She crossed to her chest of drawers and rifled through whatever was left. There were some clothes she could take to help others. Maybe she'll have to make another trip.
Stella made her way to the bedside table. She opened the drawer and smiled when she found her journal. She leafed through the pages, covered in scribbles and doodles along with her thoughts, dreams and ambitions. She chuckled when she found the page, dated during one late summer, when she and Prompto went to the arcade whilst Noct was training with Gladio. Prompto won her a plush quetzalcoatl in the claw machine. It was the cutest thing, believe it or not.
Stella turned to her bed with a frown. It should still be around here somewhere.
She threw off the dusty covers and regretted her decision immediately as the dust cloud fell on her. She coughed and sneezed when it seeped into her mask and got into her eyes. She waved it away and spotted the plush quetzalcoatl on the ruined mattress. It was missing a wing but was otherwise still intact. She cuddled it and smiled wider. The memories flicked through her mind like a slideshow and warmth bloomed in her chest.
She wondered if Prompto would be able to remember that day.
Stella lowered her duffel bag and carefully placed the toy inside. Maybe if she showed him, he might remember.
There was nothing else much to scavenge. She grabbed some of her clothes, hoping Iris might be able to remake some of them for the other residents in Lestallum or maybe get some income by selling some of them. She raided through the kitchen, sorting out what could be salvaged. Fortunately, she found Ignis's stash of spices and herbs. He would be pleased if she brought them over for him to use.
Stella salivated at the thought of a nice juicy steak. She shook her head, her cheeks growing warm.
Living with Ignis had its ups and downs. For one, he preferred to spend time in Galdin Quay, waiting for Noct to come so he can welcome him. He refused to be catered to, but Stella would rather spend what time they had together. She left him to his brooding isolation for missions. It was better when they spent time at her apartment in Lestallum. Knowing he was out by the coast right now, all alone and staring blindly at the dark ocean made Stella's heart ache.
She shouldn't hang around much longer. Maybe with the new ingredients, she can convince him to spend the week in Lestallum with her.
As she crossed the living room, she paused to look out at the lifeless city. The Citadel was still standing, like an empty, forgotten flagpole.
Her bag was nearly full.
But maybe she might be able to see if her room was still intact.
Curiosity tugged her heart and she nodded, heading out of the apartment.
The city's carnage got worse the closer she got to the Citadel. The daemons were getting bigger and nastier as she wandered the streets. Some of the streets were completely overrun and she retreated to the subway system.
Before she realised it, she was approaching the school she, Noct and Prompto used to attend. It was swarming with goblins, different coloured bombs and she swear she spotted a necromancer. Or what looked like a necromancer but either way she wasn't eager to approach the site.
As she crept past, she recalled the girls that would flock to talk to her. Most of them wanted to go on a date with Noct but they all wanted to know every detail in her and Noct's life. She didn't answer their questions or make much conversation, but they kept coming to her to talk. The only way to keep them away was to stick with Noct because whilst she attracted them, he was the perfect repellent.
She could remember their eyes lighting up when she got a new phone, the latest model so she could play King's Knight with Noct and Prompto. They fawned over it whenever she brought it out to play or text or fiddle with it to try and drown out their incessant chatter. She couldn't remember any names, not that she cared.
Stella paused in the middle of the street.
What if they were all dead? Did any of them manage to escape the city before it fell? Are any of them still alive? Roughing it out in the ruined world, fighting daemons or working hard at the Lestallum power plant?
Stella took a deep breath, nodded and continued her way.
After at least twenty minutes of dashing down alleyways and avoiding three red giants that were huddled around the dry fountain plaza, not too far from the Citadel, she was at the gates. Surprisingly, they were still intact. It didn't look like any attempt had been made to break into it as of late.
Stella reached out to open them and jumped as they creaked open slowly. She backed away, deciding that her curiosity could be satiated later. Besides, if she was going to go looking for Prompto, she'd best start looking for him as soon as possible. He often travelled, he could never keep still.
However, when Stella turned to navigate her way back out of the city, two nagaranis blocked her path. They stared down at her, hissing with their serpents and slowly advancing towards her.
In all her years of experience and training, Stella hadn't jumped so high and far back in her life. Probably another personal record she'd boast but never measure.
She landed on the road and the gates swung shut, keeping the nagaranis out and hissing angrily. They took turns headbutting the iron bars. Stella scrambled to her feet and legged it down the road, up the stairs and through the sinisterly welcoming, open doors. They swung shut behind her and she took a moment to breath.
After catching her breath, she stood up and looked around the dismal, abandoned lobby. It felt eerie, knowing that five to six years ago this place would have been bustling with visitors and staff. She and Noct rarely used the front entrance to go in and out of the Citadel since they didn't want to be jumped by the royal photographers and journalists.
Stella crossed the broken marble, careful to not slip on discarded pieces of paper. She wondered what went on after she left. How many people managed to escape the madness that happened in the space of one, chaotic night? What was everyone thinking as they ran from the destruction? How many were left behind?
Stella stopped at the lifts. One opened to her and she walked in. She pressed for her floor and summoned her axe when the doors slid shut. She watched the numbered lights illuminate with every passing floor. The bulbs for the seventh and twelfth weren't working. Not that it mattered.
As she approached her floor, she stepped to the side of the lift. She swung her axe a couple of times before pressing her back into the wall behind her. The lift announced its stop and the doors slid open.
Stella poked her head out of the lift and checked for daemons. When none popped out, she crept into the hallway.
The hallway was intact, oddly enough. There was dust and some debris but nothing too serious.
Stella arrived at her room and braced her axe. She slowly pushed her door open and leapt back. A few seconds passed, and she poked her head into her room.
Again, it was surprisingly intact and daemon free. Dusty, abandoned, dark and cold, but everything seemed to be in one piece.
Stella scratched her cheek and dismissed her axe.
She wandered over to her bookcase and ran her finger across the dirty spines. The Knight & the Kingatrice, Insomnia's Crown, Pain of the Pyreburner, each book brought memories of the story they held. Stella's finger hovered over Pain of the Pyreburner and she took it off the shelf.
She leafed through the cool, damp pages. She scanned the words and looked over the illustrations marking the beginning of each chapter.
She didn't much like this story growing up. But now, considering the circumstances, she couldn't help but feel pity.
She snapped the book shut and placed it back on the shelf.
She smiled at the Carbuncle figure on her bedside table. She pulled the drawer out and saw pens roll forward. She brushed them aside to pick up a gold coloured figurine of an adventurer with an axe and shield. It was a main character from Behemoths & Basilisks. Noct gave it to her for a birthday present.
Stella stashed the figurine in her bag and ruffled through the drawer. She frowned. She'd been expecting something else. She swore she'd last seen it in here.
A snicker and scrabble from her wardrobe snatched her attention. She turned and summoned her axe, bracing it above her head. Her heart pounded as she stood still, not enthusiastic to investigate. The seconds ticked by slowly until she took that first step. She inched closer to the wardrobe that had fallen silent. Swallowing, she reached out and placed a hand on the doorknob.
As soon as she had, the door swung open and a goblin leapt out from between her clothes and scratched her face. She fell back with a shout and it ran to the hallway. It paused in the doorway and held up a silver necklace with a heart shaped charm. Stella's eyes widened.
It was the necklace her father gave to her for her sixteenth. The charm was actually a music box but it had broken. She kept it in her drawer of treasures for safekeeping, intended to get it fixed and forgot about it.
The goblin scampered off and she chased it down the hallway. She screeched to a halt when it leapt into the lift, jumped and pressed a button inside and the doors slid shut.
She stared at the floor count and swallowed as it stopped on the throne room. She opened another lift and followed the goblin up.
When she reached the floor, Stella ran down the corridor. She paused by the doors to the throne room and looked around. Did the goblin get off on this floor?
She turned to double check the lift it had used. She froze when the doors to the throne room slowly creaked open.
As soon as the doors fully opened, goose-bumps crawled over her skin.
She didn't want to look in. There was something off about this floor. Her better judgement pleaded with her to forget about the necklace and walk away.
Then again, when was the last time she appealed to her better judgement?
Stella turned towards the throne room and saw the stairs leading up to the throne wrecked. Her heart tugged as she made her way in.
The left side of the throne room was completely wrecked. The left window and the wall with it were gone, leaving a hole that exposed the throne to the elements.
She jumped with a gasp when the throne room doors slammed shut behind her. She placed a hand over her heart and cursed the goblins that were playing tricks on her. Once they cross her sight, they're going to be history.
Stella stopped on the platform where she had stood before addressing her father for her journey to meet Luna. She recalled his smile and his words.
Walk tall.
Tears collected in her eyes and she rubbed them. Her nose dripped as she suppressed her sniffles. She had done enough crying for the past few years. She shouldn't be so emotional now.
Goblin cackles from behind her startled her. She turned and braced her axe above her head. The throne room was still empty so she turned her sights to the door. The cackling and giggling grew louder and her muscles tensed when she heard the goblins scrabble and scratch the doors.
She took a deep breath and moved off the platform.
She only took one step when the goblins fell silent. In fact, an eerie silence fell upon the throne room. She couldn't even hear the wind anymore.
A music box broke the silence after a few moments.
Stella nearly dropped her axe. It was her music box. Did someone fix it for her and she didn't know?
It was coming from behind her. It was coming from the throne.
Then, someone began humming the tune along with the tiny, nostalgic notes.
Stella dropped her axe. It disappeared before it hit the floor.
Her heart lurched and she gripped the front of her jacket. Her legs shook, her eyes watered and she began to show signs of hyperventilating.
She didn't want to turn around. She wasn't ready. She didn't want to see his wicked grin or whatever illusion he was tricking her with.
And yet, her body turned. She looked down at the wrecked stairs before slowly tipping her head to look up at the throne.
Lo and behold.
Ardyn.
He smirked at her from where he lounged on the throne. Her necklace was dangling from his fingers above him. He hummed the last note and snapped the music box shut with his fingers. The force he used made Stella cringe.
"Welcome home."
He dropped his legs from where they hung across the armrest and sat properly in the throne. He fastened the necklace around his neck and tucked it under his collar. Stella clenched her fists and he patted it.
"A sentimental trinket for sure," he drawled. "It's a lovely tune, don't you think? I remember my mother humming the same lullaby." He leaned closer, his sinister grin stretching across his face. "It's rude to cover one's face in the presence of a king, Stells. Especially since we're family."
Stella lowered her mask so he could see her sneer. "Don't worry, uncle. I'll be sure to pay the proper respect to the king when he arrives."
Ardyn chuckled as he rose from his seat. "Little princesses should be seen, not heard. Shall I remove that tongue of yours?"
Stella pulled her mask back up and summoned her axe. Ardyn's armiger circled him as he took a step forward. Blue eyes locked with amber and the Accursed Immortal lunged for Stella.
She blocked the first strike but the second sent her down the platform. She scrambled to her feet and dodged the star that was thrown at her. She dashed to the doors of the throne room and pushed. Nothing, they were shut firmly. She was locked in.
"Oh, Stells!" Stella turned and narrowly missed getting impaled by a glowing red katana. "You should never turn your back to your opponent."
Stella threw her axe at Ardyn's face. It was easily blocked but it gave her time to run around him and call it back. She parried his frenzied attacks as she was pushed back up the stairs. He stopped his attacks when she reached the top. He frowned and tilted his head.
"Stells," he said, sounding disappointed. "You aren't giving your best shot. Aren't you supposed to be a queen?"
Stella narrowed her eyes. Ardyn's frown turned into a smile in a split second.
"Ah, how forgetful of me," he sighed. "Noct is the chosen king, not you." Stella backed away as Ardyn moved closer. "Noct can wield the power of the kings. But you? Poor little Stells? She has to make do by herself."
Stella breathed in and out slowly. "Bait, Ardyn?" she said. "I thought you'd have more refined, new tricks after all these years."
"Oh but, Stells," Ardyn pouted mockingly with a shrug. "You know I've always been on your side." Stella held her axe up to his chin. He smirked. "The crystal has done us both wrong, Stells. It merely passes over us to favour the less deserving." He pulled her mask down. Stella pressed her lips together. "We both know you would have done a better job in being the True King."
Stella wanted nothing more than to drive her axe into his neck.
Of course she wanted to swap with Noct. Just to spare his death. He didn't want to be the True King, he just wanted to go fishing or play video games. All he really wanted was a peaceful life and being born into the Lucis line squandered all hopes of that.
It wasn't fair that he would have to die for the new dawn and she would continue living as a normal woman, free from the shackles of royalty.
It just wasn't fair.
Stella wet her lips. He reeked of perfume.
She took in a deep breath. "What I see before me is a pitiful shell of a man who had nothing better to do than torment his descendants in his dwindling spare time." Ardyn's smirk faded. "That's all you deserve. Pity. Not respect, not admiration and certainly no throne. I am not afraid of you. You're no real threat."
Ardyn stared her down and dismissed his Armiger. He pulled away and an ugly sneer crossed his features.
"Do you know what happened to the last person who showed me pity?" he asked.
Stella swallowed as she berated herself for being snarky. Ardyn grinned as he pulled out a knife.
"I killed her."
Stella dodged his stab and gasped when he grabbed her by her jacket.
"Say hi to her for me."
Stella screamed as he threw her out of the Citadel. She plunged towards the ground, her thoughts flashing through her mind. Time seemed to slow as she watched her inevitable doom grow closer.
So, this is how it's going to end, is it? Not with a bang or a blade to the heart nor a daemon's claw around her neck. By sheer altitude. Who thought it was a good idea to build a tall building anyway?
Stella could feel her tears coming to her eyes. She wasn't going to be able to welcome Noct back. She wasn't going to see what he'd look like, older and hopefully more mature. She wasn't going to see Ignis again nor taste his cooking. She wasn't going to be able to roughhouse with Prompto or show him the quezalcoatl that he won for her all those years ago. She wasn't going to argue with Gladio or chat with Iris again.
Stella hugged herself and sobbed. She wasn't even going to see the new dawn that Noct would bring.