{May the Gods forgive me.}
What was thought unimaginable folded into reality itself, the Old Wall shattered as the Crystal was stolen from its rightful place in Lucis and Niflheim ships raining metal hell from the skies. Pedestrians fled for their lives or met their distorted fate by machine guns and flamethrowers; with almost all the Kingsglaive rushing back to the Citadel, that left only one to do their best to protect the king. Averissa Leonis. Of course, getting rid of the MTs that interrupted the signing in the registry was a simple task but fending off General Glauca, a grand manipulator in this theatrical play, wasn't as easy. Using the king's magic rather than her own was daunting, especially as her own was calling her, beckoning her destruction, but with the Ring of the Lucii humming louder than her own abilities it made her an easy target. If she didn't act fast enough, she might have suffered a fate similar to Clarus, poor man, but a couple of cracked ribs were enough to kick her out of the fight. Then Ravus, a witness to the entire spectacle, fell victim to the royal's consequence, for those who were not deemed worthy were set alight and left to burn.
If it wasn't for Nyx running in with Lunafreya, Averissa didn't think she'd escape. Not this particular her, anyway. With Regis blasting lightning at Glauca, Hero warped into the elevator and staggered at the over-balance, the princess tapping the last button on the panel that closed the doors. Nothing but heavy panting for a moment.
The four of them stand there in somewhat uncomfortable silence, Nyx's body sizzling at the overexertion of Lucian magic, Averissa keeping an arm wrapped protectively under her breasts while she kept her weight on the elevator wall but then Lunafreya moved, tucking Regis' cane under her arm and reached down to tear a piece of her dress. Averissa frowned, such a nice dress. While she tended to the king's injury, he decided to break the silence. "This leads to a hidden passageway. Follow it. Once you are away, make for Altissia. Noctis awaits you there."
Lunafreya faltered as she looked at Regis, handing the embellished cane back to its owner, "Your Majesty…"
"You knew this was coming―" Nyx suddenly spoke up, the Glaive beside him flinching at his little explosion. Whoa, she knew Nyx had a rebellious streak but to get mad, at the king no less. But he had every right to be mad, because she knew too.
"Yes," Regis cut in. "But it was the only way to draw their wrath from Noctis."
"Is that the way of our king? Sacrifice Lucian sons to save his own?"
Averissa had to involve herself and peered at her fellow comrade, "Nyx, calm down―"
"To save the world," Lunafreya spoke, her crystal eyes gazing on Nyx.
"See Luna safely to Altissia," Regis countered softly. "This is not an order from a king to his Glaive. This is a plea from one man to another. Please, Nyx Ulric, keep her safe. For the future of all."
"The future?" Just as Nyx questioned His Majesty's choice of words, the elevator quaked momentarily and that meant only one thing: Glauca had managed to break through the door held shut by Lucian arcana. Averissa glanced up at the ceiling, hoping the sigils she put there would slow him down even if it was just a little.
"Here." She blinked back to reality and watched as Regis handed the Ring of the Lucii to Lunafreya, who accepted the ring in both hands, one cupped underneath the other. "Take this. It is time is passed to another's keeping." She inspected the piece of jewelry, the ring that could change the tide of history as they knew it, and gently closed her palms. The words she'd conjured were dismissed as the elevator doors opened before them and Rissa pulled herself off the wall before limping out first, with Lunafreya following behind and Nyx and Regis the last to leave.
The elevator had led them to an underground tomb with gorgeous mosaic spotting the linoleum flooring in black and white, engraved columns of the previous royals and detailed paintings of yore. Nyx took it upon himself to aid Averissa as he caught her in mid-stumble, a low 'thanks' putting a smirk on his face and the princess held tight onto Regis' hand, hoping to rush him through the passage and out of the city. It was an unspoken plan that all three members of the party knew. Then he let go, stopping in the centre of the tomb. Lunafreya, out of realisation, halted in her heeled tracks and turned to face Regis, catching the attention of the Glaives who also stopped moving.
Nothing is said; Luna searched the king's eyes for something, anything to answer why he stopped moving. And he did. He outstretched his unscathed hand and a pearlescent light pierced from his palm, the sound of glass shattering to be reformed bringing to light exactly what he was doing. Luna was the first to rush towards the building barricade, pressing against the glassy surface but to no avail. "No, please. Stop!"
"Regis!" Averissa hobbled after her, collapsing onto her knees out of fatigue and placed her palm on the barricade.
Nyx dashed after the princess, holding one of her arms and pulling her back but not without feeling her continue to press forward, "Get back."
"Please," she begged. "Don't leave us."
"I know your mother would wish the same as me," Regis started. "That you and Noctis live happily. All those years captive because I failed you. Not again. Locked doors will seal your fate no longer."
"King Regis…" Rumbling echoed throughout the tomb that seemed to get louder and louder, the elevator quaking at the beastly presence that descended with fervor.
"Our hope goes with you now, Nyx Ulric. Godspeed." Nyx nodded once before having to drag Luna away from what was about to happen but Averissa stayed where she was, breathing heavily as the pain washed through her entire chest. The Void listened closely and her breathing stabilised, and she clambered onto her feet before beating hard against the glassy wall.
"Please," Averissa pleaded. "I'm begging you! This wasn't my mission! You didn't entrust me to―"
Regis held out a hand, a warm expression on his face, "Fear not, child. Even under your circumstances you've grown exceptionally. Your father would've been proud of you." After a moment of serene silence the metal knight finally smashed his way through and sunk into the room again, Regis turning around to meet his presence. Bowing forward with a hand fisted against his chest and drawing a line across the floor with his blade, Glauca tilted his metallic gaze as the king tossed his dark cane aside. "But this is no longer your fight."
The clattering was enough for Luna to spin on her heels, widening her eyes at the sight of Glauca and Regis engaging in another battle, an unbalanced battle, a battle already decided. The knight brought his greatsword up so that it was parallel to his chest and charged, Regis bringing up his bandaged hand and striking him with a lightning spell. The lightning cracked and burned but Glauca continued to charge forward and Regis continued to assault him with his spells, burning metal and flesh filling the room the longer they pressed on. But with the pressure of the Old Wall still rotting his core Regis weakened ever so slightly but it was enough for Glauca to cower above him, nothing but lightning separating the two of them.
"Behold the King of Lucis," Glauca began his taunting, "Who hoarded tranquility within his precious walls. Where is your tranquility now, king? Here is your peace―"
"No!"
"By steel's swift descent." Glauca wadded off Regis's attacking hand with a heavy swipe, the force causing both the king and the knight to stumble around so their backs were facing each other, and Luna ran up to the barricade, her breath caught in her throat. A moment was all it took for the greatsword to lunge into Regis' chest, crimson spraying onto the barricade and the intense rush of agony causing him to lean over the blade.
Luna leaned into Nyx, hiding her face away from the bloody spectacle before her and he tightened his fist, nothing but rage causing it to tremble. Glauca let out a victory call and pushed the blade in further, Regis choking on the blood that dribbled past his lips and his hands find purchase on the weapon that has been speared through him. Using it as leverage, his muscles quiver as he looked up into Luna's terrified eyes.
"Go..." he croaked out, reaching out his hand in aid, in dismissal, they weren't sure but Glauca was as swift as his blade being yanked from the king's chest cavity and then being as brutal by shoving the body onto the floor. There was a moment of silence with all three pairs of eyes having the memory etching painfully into their minds; Luna glanced back at Nyx and reached down to hold his wielding hand, shaking with rage. What they weren't aware of was the lonely figure who stood eerily still, bloody hand still pressed against the slowly dissipating barrier still warm underneath her touch, her eyes blank as they fell from the metal knight to Regis's corpse a gaping hole where his loving heart should be. Averissa stepped back only once and the world fell still.
The Void was now completely silent for she was the reason behind the noise.
A violent scream tore through the air and a blur replaced Averissa's space, Glauca grunting as it slammed into him and threw him back into the destroyed elevator, and Nyx widened his eyes. Heaved over, violet smoke accumulated off her healing, leather frame, her occupied hand crushing what looked like a tiny crystal into dust between her fingertips and the colour of her hair blended into another like a wave. She straightened gradually, her eyes sharp and boring a hole into Glauca's chest as her other hand reached behind her and stabilised the barricade, a cool sigh slipping from her lips.
"Rissa?" Nyx calmly called for his comrade and she smirked, summoning a protective sigil that burned white under Regis's body. The knight groaned and struggled to move from his crater, straining his metal head to look at the person who did it and she felt him ebb ever so slightly. The signature mark on her left cheekbone, the crimson hair and golden eyes said it all.
"My name is not Averissa Leonis but Reveria Vaeiz Inkheart, the Voidwalker―"
"Wait, the Voidwalk―?!"
"But right now Reveria isn't here. Her body harbours nothing but absolute rage, enough to tear the universe apart." She looked off her shoulder briefly, "You two go, I'll hold him off as long as I can."
"Reveria…"
"Promise me, Luna. Promise me you'll find Noctis. Please."
The princess bowed her head, "...I promise." Reveria softened her smirk as he heard Nyx and Luna scuttle out of the tomb and tilted her head at the hovering chunk of useless metal, his greatsword as leverage to finally drag himself out of the crater and she didn't give him the chance to even twirl his wrist as a flurry of gold-rimmed blades kept him wedged firmly into his crater. The mark by her cheekbone pulsed once; the Bladekeeper's Sigil.
"Whether you're an inside man or not, you made a promise to this man you killed. Or am I mistaken, Drautos?"
"So you're aware of who I am?" his modified reply came out cold and she shrugged.
"I was wondering when you'd turn against the king, against the Kingsglaive. Didn't think it'd take you over a decade."
"So he went and called you, a Vaezian?"
"He called me, a distant child of Lucis. I may be a half-breed but I'm pretty sure the Ring of the Lucii would accept me more than they'd accept those flesh and bones you'd call a person. They'll always accept me, in the Void. I don't have their magic, but Bahamut thinks of me in a different regard."
"What are you even talking about?"
"It's called a decoy. Those blades are light as feathers but wedged into your body are heavy as the sins you and Niflheim carry on your shoulders. You can't continue to play as two different people, for they will always be one: a man of every consequence." She turned to peer sadly at her uncle's body, the protective sigil fading as she flooded strength into her arms to reach down and gently pluck him off the mosaic flooring. She knew the moment that sword plunged into him she couldn't save him, for that sword was imbued with dark magic capable of snuffing out even the brightest frames. In the Void, she could barely hear Regis but knowing his arrival put her at ease. She let her eyes dance across his features, softened, relaxed, void of worry, suffering. Void of life. "The future has changed, Noctis will save the world and you…" She scoffed. "You have already met your fate."
"Vaezian dog―"
"Call me what you want. It's the most you'll be saying." A light flashed on her frame and just like that she was standing in the middle of the lobby, hundreds of people either jumping out of the way or halting in their tracks at her sudden arrival, and the final realisation of the events that occured reduced her to her knees. Not even a second passed as orders were thrown around, two people having to pry Reveria's hands from Regis and three others attending to the king. With the stress of astral magic and her own draining her strength she forced herself to press on, pulling herself away from those arms and shuddering into another area: the parking lot. At least 10 minutes before Glauca had to fight his way out, enough time for a phonecall. Steadying her hands, she reached into her pocket for her phone, almost dropping it once it slipped out her pocket, and hit speed dial. Her lips trembled as her legs moved her to a dark motorbike, muttering silent pleads for the receiver to please pick up your phone, please, I'm begging you―
"Rev, what's wrong?" Are you okay―"
She slapped the seat out of remorseful frustration, "Cor, I couldn't―I couldn't save the king! I-I failed the mission, Cor! I don't know―what to do I don't know what to do, I played right into Niflheim's stupid hands, why didn't I see this happening, why didn't I see this happening! I could've stopped this, I couldn't save my uncle, Cor, I don't know, I―"
"Rev, I need you to calm down. Calm down, okay?" His words reached her core and she exhaled, although shaky but calming nonetheless. Her tears were blinked away and she rubbed the nape of her neck. "Don't panic."
"Okay...okay, I'm trying."
"You did all you could to protect King Regis, okay? Nobody saw his death coming. You tried all you could to be Averissa and I'm proud of you. Understand your mission hasn't changed; you still have your older cousin to look after. He's never seen the real you, hell he doesn't even know this you exist."
She breathed, "Noctis…"
"Get out of the city while you still can. I'll contact you when you reach Lestallum."
"What about Regis?"
"As it is saddening, a royal's passing is something the Citadel can handle...I have to go. Be safe, alright? Until then, you're on your own, kid. Discard your phone, I'll get you another one."
Touching the ignition inlet the motorbike roared to life, growling to a low hum just as she swung her leg over and moved her phone from her ear. "Lestallum." The phone slid from her grasp and a helmet materialised around her head, metal and plastic shrouding her identity in darkness but she didn't move without slightly shaking her head.
"May the Gods forgive me."
King Regis was a knowing man, a cunning man, a loving man. As a king, he ruled with an iron fist and a golden heart. As an uncle, he taught me things I never knew about. About my beginnings; my father, my city, my magic. Why the astrals accept me so easily, why the Crystal is soothed by the rhythm of my sound. I trusted King Regis. But not enough to get him killed.
It will always be a sin that I carry. Saving Regis would mean Noctis' downfall. I knew that Regis wouldn't be able to forgive himself if I saved him. His son is the Chosen One, the astrals await his ascension. My mission: ensure that he reaches the Crystal.
Whatever it takes.