CONTENT WARNING: So much blood, y'all.

Made peace with what I held for true
Have faith in what I now must do

Sweet devotion, a sacred smile
Traded my secrets so you'll never leave my side
-Black Box Messiah, Diablo Swing Orchestra

Elpis stared at Laelia's body, uncomprehending.

Her sister was dead.

A sob tried to work its way past her throat but stuck. She couldn't breathe. Her heartbeat roared in her ears.

Laelia was dead.

With a yell, Noctis threw his sword above Alexus' head, his body glowing blue before it disappeared. He reappeared a second later in the air and swung his sword down on thin air. The surprise made his body overcorrect and he fell on the pile of rubble that was next to the throne.

"None of that," Alexus tutted from behind Elpis.

She twisted around as Ardyn's arm pushed her back. She fumbled for the dagger in her boot, one thought repeating itself in her mind: I'm going to kill Alexus.

"El, no," Ardyn said, grabbing her arm to hold her in place. There was a hint of fear in his expression, and Elpis realized he was afraid of her being killed by the Messenger.

Alexus gave Elpis a long look. "You should know what needs to happen next," they said. "Gods always want blood, don't they? Don't disappoint us, Ellie."

Then they were gone.

Elpis realized she was trembling. Her mouth watered just before her stomach lurched and she vomited up acid. Ardyn's hands were on her shoulders, giving her something to anchor to, but it didn't help.

Laelia was dead.

Gently, Ardyn wiped away the spit from her chin and lips. Noctis stood over the bodies of his friends, bloodied footprints marring the floor.

Elpis blinked through her tears. The floor. The sigil, in plain view of the throne.

"What… what do we do now?" Noctis' voice sounded small, making Elpis thinking of a child.

"El?" Ardyn said softly. He rubbed her back and tried to meet her gaze. "Say something, love."

With a shuddering breath, Elpis put her hands to her eyes and brushed away her tears. Focus. She had to focus. There was a reason Alexus had left them alive. She knew now that Alexus always did things for a reason, even if it seemed random at the time.

That meant there was something they all needed to do.

Gods always wanted blood.

"El," Ardyn said, more firmly, as he gripped her shoulders. His expression was worried, as if he thought she'd finally come untethered.

"I'm okay," she said hoarsely, voice shaking. With another deep breath, she closed her eyes briefly, knowing what she would have to do next would hurt Ardyn. She took his hands in hers. "I think I know what needs to happen. I need you to trust me."

Ardyn studied her face, and whatever he found in her expression, he seemed to dislike. "El, whatever it is you're planning, I don't approve," he said.

"I haven't told you yet."

"You don't need to."

Elpis kissed his palm before turning to Noctis. "Go back to the throne. It's where you're meant to be."

He didn't immediately respond. He could only stare down at his friends.

"Noctis," she said gently, "it has to be your choice."

He shuddered, then nodded once, tight, before turning and managing to make his way up the stairs once more to the throne. He sat heavily, as if his legs couldn't support him anymore. Regis' sword nearly fell to the floor, he had such a loose grip on it.

Mother, Elpis thought, Charis, Laelia. Give me the strength to do what comes next. Let me not be wrong. Let this be the answer.

Elpis turned back to Ardyn who was looking increasingly worried. "Do you trust me?" she asked him.

"You shouldn't even need to ask."

She kissed him gently. "Then trust me now."

Ardyn growled low, ready to argue, but Elpis put a hand to his chest and sent out a burst of power that sent him reeling back. He hit the wall and slid to the floor as Elpis brought her dagger up to her neck.

"I'm sorry," was all she said before she slit her own throat, cutting her jugular.

Blood sprayed in a high arc and splattered against the walls before gushing out of Elpis' wound like a river, drenching her front. Elpis' body fell limp to the floor, the dagger she'd used landing with a loud clatter. Her blood began to pool beneath her and joined with Noctis' friends, Ravus, and Laelia.

A beat passed. Then another. Ardyn was there and not there, seeing this world and one long since past, when he'd been powerless to stop Somnus from killing Elpis. Where he could only watch as she bled out.

It was all happening again and he couldn't stop it.

With effort, Ardyn looked away from Elpis' body and to the Crystal.

"How much is enough?" he rasped, managing to get to his feet, unsteadily. "How many times does she have to die for you?"

"Ardyn," Noctis said.

"No," Ardyn hissed. "Shut up. She was made to die for you, you insufferable, worthless king-"

"Ardyn, look!"

Beneath Elpis' body, lines had begun to glow with golden light. Slowly they all connected to one another until they made up the image Elpis had been staring at before. That of a Sun.

The air chilled, and the golden light became tinged with a cold, unearthly blue. All along the stairs, the Kings of Yore stood. Though their faces weren't visible, their heads were turned downward as they regarded the sacrifices. Because that was what they'd been-that was what they'd forced Elpis to be. Their sacrificial lambs, led to the slaughter.

Ardyn walked over to Elpis, his boots squelching in her blood. Her eyes were closed. If he ignored the neat cut on her throat, if he ignored the blood, he could pretend she was merely sleeping. Gently, he picked her up, cradling her close.

"Are you ready?" One of the Kings asked, and Ardyn dimly recognized it as Regis' voice.

He heard Noctis breathe in, then out, and said, "I'm ready. Trust in me, Dad."

Old runes and sigils flickered in the air as the power in Noctis' ring was summoned for the last time. The weapons favored by the Kings appeared around him, and one by one, each King took up their weapon and slew Noctis with it.

Once, Ardyn would have loved nothing more than to watch him writhe and suffer. Now, he ignored it all. Let Noctis have his grand moment of heroism. Let the world end entirely with Noctis. Ardyn didn't care. Elpis was growing cold in his arms and nothing mattered at all.

"Brother."

Ardyn barely moved. "Somnus."

Beyond them, Noctis' breath came in a tortured wheeze. Somnus appeared beside Elpis in his human form, looking at Ardyn with a sort of tenderness that he despised.

"You said you trusted her," Somnus said. "Trust in her now."

Ardyn brushed some of Elpis' hair away from her face. "And what is there for me, now? What can I do?"

"Come find out," Somnus said. "She's waiting for you."

At that, Ardyn lifted his head. He studied Somnus for a long moment before smiling sardonically. "Back to this again, eh? How very poetic. Must it always end with the two of us? I've tired of looking at your face."

Softly, he kissed Elpis' forehead. He would hold on to her as long as he could.

"Do what you must, then," Ardyn said, and for once, he didn't care if this time he didn't return to the world of the living. Let him stay dead.

He was so tired.

Somnus picked up his sword, his human form shifting into that of his Lucii shape, and ran his sword through Ardyn's still heart. At the same moment, Regis struck Noctis. Ardyn felt himself disintegrate as the ring's blue light exploded throughout the throne room.

"So," Alexus said, "you figured it out."

Elpis punched them in the face. They took a few steps back, hand to their nose, before laughing.

"Touche," Alexus said. "I deserved that. Ah, ah," they said, stepping away as Elpis moved to punch them again, "that's enough of that. You need to save your strength for what comes next."

Elpis bared her teeth. "I can handle you and Bahamut."

"Sure," Alexus said, waving their hand carelessly.

They both stood in a field of wheat which stretched out as far as Elpis could see. The sky was a hazy, sickly looking yellow. Elpis wasn't sure what the Beyond looked like, having refused to let her soul ascend there after her death the first time, but it couldn't have been this.

"Where are the others? Let me go from here," Elpis demanded.

"Hmm," Alexus said, focusing more on moving their nose back into place. "I wonder if I'd look good with a broken nose? Girls dig that, right?"

"Alexus!"

"Fine!" Alexus sighed. "We don't have time for this, anyway, and there's still something I need to explain. Yeah, yeah, I know, why should you believe anything I say? Spare me. I won't ask forgiveness, because everything I've done has been for your benefit. You'll see. But before you rejoin the others, let me just say: It's going to take all of you to do what needs to be done, if you want to survive it. There's a reason the Crystal only kept Noctis for five years."

Her eyes narrowed as she thought back to their time in Gralea. Try as she might, she couldn't figure out what Alexus was talking about.

Alexus tapped their forehead with a claw. "Think about it, Elpis. The Crystal took Noctis so it could infuse him with its power. Something like that should have taken way longer."

Should it have? There was no way Elpis could know if Alexus was telling the truth. For all she knew, it should have taken Noctis a thousand years to absorb the Crystal's energy.

The wheat around them rustled, and Alexus' expression went dark. Fire suddenly spread in a circle around them with a roar.

"I guess time's up," Alexus said. "Fine, I'll give you an answer just this once, but you have to figure the rest out yourself. Your stave hit the Crystal when you tried to attack me, right? And shards broke off?"

Suddenly, she remembered. She stared at Alexus, eyes wide.

Alexus smiled briefly. "Yep. Six shards for six holy beings. One went into you..."

The fire grew to a blaze, and behind Alexus, a figure emerged from the flames. Their body was scarred with Starscourge, half-dead.

"... Three into Gladiolus, Prompto, and Ignis..."

Ifrit let out a wordless yell and hefted a weapon into the air.

"I'll be with you in a minute, Dad," Alexus said, their eyes never leaving Elpis' face. "And two went into Laelia and Ravus. And so now, you all have a sliver of the Crystal's power, but even a sliver is enough. You want to live after this is all done? I've given you half a chance. So, go kick Uncle Baha's ass for me."

With that, Alexus threw something at Elpis, who caught it. Her stave was almost weightless in the strange limbo dimension they were in.

Alexus turned to Ifrit, their claws growing longer. "Hey, Dad. Long time, no see."

A darkness appeared under Elpis' feet, and she had the sensation of falling, though no wind whipped around her. She reached out a hand as Alexus jumped into the air to meet Ifrit's blade.

"Alexus!" she yelled, terror gripping her heart, because as much as she hated Alexus, she knew that the Messenger wouldn't survive a battle with their father.

And they were battling Ifrit for her sake.

She was so tired of death and fighting. This had to be the end of it.

The wheat field melted away into a blue-green cosmos and something caught Elpis before she fell further. She landed softly, with no momentum giving her body any force, and felt familiar hands on her thighs and back.

"El," Ardyn said. "Don't ever do that again."

Elpis stared at him, her thoughts trying to catch up with what was happening, and then she threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry," she repeated against his neck. "I think it was the only way."

"Then next time, let the world burn," Ardyn muttered.

Knowing there was nothing she could say to make it better, Elpis only kissed him. When the kiss ended, Elpis looked around and saw Noctis a few feet away, holding his hand to his chest.

"The ring-it's burning," Noctis said at Elpis' questioning look.

"How dramatic," Ardyn said in a bored tone.

Instead of pointing out the irony in Ardyn accusing something of being dramatic, Elpis put a hand on Noctis' shoulder. "Where are you friends? And Laelia, and Ravus?"

"I don't know," Noctis said. "I was alone when I got here, save for him."

"I think I've been delightful company while we've waited," Ardyn said.

"Please shut him up," Noctis said to Elpis.

A flap of wings interrupted anything Elpis could have said. She saw Ardyn tense out of the corner of her eye just as something dark flew past them, striking him away from her and Noctis.

Blue swords crossed their blades until they formed a circle with Ardyn at their middle. Chains appeared once more on his wrists and ankles, pulling his limbs taut. And above them, observing it all, was Bahamut.

"Noctis," Elpis said urgently, "summon your friends. Quickly. Just-just think of them. Bring them here."

"They will not come," Bahamut said, and his voice was so loud that it hurt Elpis' ears. "They have passed into the Beyond, felled by the Wild Flame."

"Don't listen to him," Elpis said as she turned to make her way to Ardyn, who was pulling at his chains. Something slammed into her and she flew through the air, arms flailing, trying to grab on to something to slow her fall. Elpis' descent finally stopped, but any time she tried to reach Ardyn, she was thrown back by another of Bahamut's swords.

"The True King thought to defy fate," Bahamut said. "As so many have tried, and will try again, and he has come to learn the truth: There can be no escape from fate. The prophecy must be fulfilled. It is ordained."

"By who? You?" Noctis ground out. "Who gets to decide fate? Who gets to decide that I have to die?"

"A King should always be prepared to sacrifice for his people. Did your father not teach you that?"

"Dad taught me a lot of stuff," Noctis said. "But I've learned that even parents can be wrong. He did what he thought he had to; he didn't have a choice. You didn't give him one."

"Enough," Bahamut said. "Attend to your duty, True King, and kill the Accursed as has been foretold. End the darkness."

"Until next time," Noctis said, cringing as his ring glowed. "Until you get bored again, and decide to use us as toys, or the next time there's a darkness."

"You cannot truly banish darkness," Ardyn said, his eyes shining gold. Starscourge began to drip from his mouth once again as his skin paled. "There will always be shadows."

"And then what?" Noctis yelled. "Someone else has to die? No. A King should sacrifice for his people, but he should also make sure that no one has to sacrifice themselves for anyone else. Not their King, their land, anything."

"Such sad creatures you are," Bahamut said. "Unable to accept your place in the cosmos."

"Does he ever shut up?" a familiar voice said.

Elpis' head snapped up, and there, all around Noctis, were Gladio, Prompto, Ignis, Ravus, and-

"Laelia!"

Laelia helped Elpis to her feet before glancing at Ardyn. "I guess we have to get him out, huh?" she said with a sigh.

"Cover me," Elpis said, stave in hand. She dodged another of Bahamut's blades, and another, but the next found its mark. Gritting her teeth, Elpis ran again, hearing Laelia blocking as many of the swords as she could.

Trails of Starscourge ran down Ardyn's cheeks as his body began to shift. He caught Elpis' gaze, his eyes gold and black, before letting out a growl. Darkness pulsed from him like a heartbeat, causing the chains to crack and Bahamut's swords to rust. Elpis ran, aimed her stave, and with a burst of power to match Ardyn's, struck the chains.

They broke into pieces, as did Bahamut's swords, and fell away to nothing. Ardyn landed on his feet easily.

"Well," Ardyn said, "as delightful as I find traversing down memory lane, I'm afraid we'll have to end this now. You made a mistake, you know," he continued as he gave Elpis a thorough once over, as if to make certain she weren't hurt. "Letting the Oracle and the light die has left me at the height of my powers. The scale has been tipped far in my favor."

"You cannot hope to defeat me," Bahamut said. "You are not powerful enough."

"Certainly not," Ardyn agreed cheerfully. He motioned to the group. "But I think all of us have a good chance."

"That's the thing with hope," Laelia said as runes and sigils appeared in the air around them, and energy poured from Noctis' ring.

"We mere mortals tend to never give it up," Ignis added as Prompto blew a raspberry at Bahamut.

Gladio grinned. "We're stubborn like that."

At the same moment, the Ring of the Lucii began to shine blue, and shapes appeared out from Noctis' back. With a pained scream, the royal arms shot out from Noctis' body. Ravus was the first to catch one of the swords, and he didn't wait for a command. He rushed Bahamut and dodged the Astral's blade, his own cutting through Bahamut's side. Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio followed him, their own weapons finding their targets. Bahamut grunted, but still stood, hands on his sword. Ardyn, with his own blade and not one of Noctis', laughed with a feral ferocity as he struck Bahamut in the chest, where the heart laid.

Bahamut lifted a hand, then let out a pained roar as a trident speared the back of his palm. Lunafreya shared a look with Elpis before her spirit dissipated.

Laelia hefted her crossbow and fired, the arrow hitting Bahamut's helmet. It cracked, and Elpis saw her chance. Two thousand years of pain and heartbreak and rage helped her across the space, escaping her in a furious scream, and she collected her Crystal's power in the end of her stave as it connected to Bahamut's helmet.

It broke, falling away, and Elpis caught a glimpse of a face that looked so much like Somnus' and Noctis' that she gasped. She fell back before she could see further. They all stood in a circle around Bahamut, who was bleeding from where Elpis had struck him, as Noctis lifted the Sword of the Father. Each royal arm joined him, striking Bahamut one after the other, until Noctis' sword cut through Bahamut's eye and stuck fast.

Bahamut only stood for a moment longer before he slowly fell to his knees. Gold blood poured from his wounds, and his wings began to decay as his body landed on an invisible ground with an earth-splitting crash. His body began to break apart, like ash, and float away, until nothing remained.

There was a long moment of silence before Prompto said, "Is... that it? Did we win?"

Breathing hard, Noctis fell to his knees, much like Bahamut had. Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis helped him back up. The Ring of the Lucii dropped from his fingers and crumbled away. "I think-" he coughed. "I think it's over. It's finally over."

Elpis caught a glance of Ravus taking hold of Laelia's hand before they both faded away. Fear shot through her. In their places were two blue shards, which fell until Elpis caught them.

"Laelia?" she whispered.

"El," Ardyn said, and the urgent note in his voice made her look towards Noctis and his friends.

They were all fading, just as Laelia and Ravus had, and just like them they left behind shards of the Crystal. Elpis caught all of them, staring at the five shards in her palm, uncomprehending. What was happening? Why had they vanished like that?

"Ardyn, I don't know what-"

A pained hiss interrupted her, and Elpis watched as Ardyn held his head in his hands. His skin paled even further, horns growing from his head, his nails lengthening until they became claws. Darkness pooled around him, alive, reaching out for everything in its path.

The Starscourge was still present in Ardyn. And Noctis was not there to cast it out of him.

Alexus put a hand to the wound in their abdomen, trying to still the blood, propping themselves up against a tree. Pain blazed through their body like a fire. They could feel when Bahamut disappeared from the Beyond. A few feet in front of them, Ifrit lay in the ashes of the wheat, the Starscourge draining from his body as Ardyn's body called it home. All the Starscourge in Eos would be drawn to Ardyn now.

It was sensing its doom. And it would do anything to avoid finally dying.

"You are making a habit of dying."

"Oh, fuck," Alexus groaned. "Not you. Anyone but you."

Rohit knelt down beside Alexus, examining their wounds with a neutral gaze. He looked over to Ifrit. "Our father rests once more," he noted.

"Along with good old Uncle Bahamut, yes, that was the plan," Alexus said.

Rohit tilted his head as he moved Alexus' hand away from the wound. "And what happens next, Azar? The girl isn't powerful enough to stop the Starscourge. She is no longer an Oracle, and only holds a slim fragment of the Crystal's power. Less, now, that she has used it on Bahamut. You have sent her to her death."

As the wound began to knit back together, causing Alexus to hiss through clenched teeth, Rohit stated all of this as if it were no matter. And to him, it wasn't. Humans came and went in the blink of an eye. Alexus pitied their twin for having lived so long and yet never learning any different.

"Remember that time I ate the heart of the Succarpe Queen?" Alexus said, their gaze on the horizon.

Rohit paused before saying, "Yes."

"The first and last time you tricked me," Alexus said. "You told me it would give me her powers. It didn't. But it did give me the ability to love humans," they said. "Still not sure how that works, but eh. I ate her heart and it changed me. I could no longer see humans as toys. And I fell in love with one."

"The Heretic," Rohit said, finishing on the worst of the wounds.

"Doomed love," Alexus said with a dramatic sigh.

"Do you have a point?" Rohit asked blandly.

"Yes," Alexus said. "The point is that I've learned a lot about humans in the thousands of years since I ate that heart. And they may not be gods, but they are damned powerful when they want to be. It's all because of hope."

Their twin didn't immediately answer. He was studying Alexus, a slight furrow to his brow, green eyes showing a hint of curiousity.

"What have you done, Azar?" Rohit said.

Alexus laid their head back against the tree and closed their eyes with a smile. "What needed to be done," they said. "And I can't wait to see your expression when you find out."