Ardyn was furious much more often with Somnus. His defiance caused the Accursed to rage more than Noctis's ever had.
"Mother and father always told me how I needed to take care of you. How you were my brother. How I should love you."
"Don't speak of them to me." Somnus sounded so tired. So done. It had been a long time now. The Founder King had maintained his resistance far longer than his descendant. It was taking a toll on him however. Noctis could hear it in his voice.
"They were right. You are mine." The Accursed hissed, ignoring the interruption. "You always were. You always will be."
There was a sound of a struggle, chains rattling, and then a kiss.
"Stop." Somnus begged. Noctis had begged too.
"Our parents were hardly present, always busy with other matters. It was just you and I for most of our younger years. You loved me then. You looked up to me. I remember how your eyes would light up in adoration whenever you caught sight of me."
"No! " Somnus cried out at something being done to him.
"Ah, how I yearn for that. For you to look at me like that once more. Can it not be like that again, Somnus?" Ardyn asked.
In response there was just more struggling.
"Stop it!" Somnus sounded horrified at what was happening to him. Noctis could guess what that was.
"I should have been King… With you by my side. Almost like this. One difference being that you would be willing. You would desire this as much as I do."
"Enough!" Somnus sounded so desperate to have what was going on end.
"Even though you abandoned me to the dark. Even though I wish to hurt you for your continued resistance. Even though you refuse to see that I am still the Ardyn you once loved. I still love you , Somnus. So much. " The desire in the Accursed's voice was clear.
Somnus didn't respond, though there was a muffled sound of protest.
"You will submit to me. Just as the Chosen has done. Both of you belong to me now. Both of you are mine. "
"Never, you monster!" Somnus gasped, short of breath.
"Never is a long time." Ardyn snarled. "You'll realize that your defiance is pointless soon enough. Nothing can save you. Nothing can defeat the darkness."
"We will… We will find a way!" The Founder's voice sounded unsure, at least to Noctis.
"I think not." Ardyn laughed, maybe hearing the same thing the Chosen did. He left soon after that, not resorting to physical violence for a change.
Noctis begged Ardyn to stop. To stop forcing him listen. To his shame, it was not the first time he had begged this from the older man. He could not do anything to the device in his room, lest he face Ardyn's wrath. The Accursed would make sure Noctis would come to regret trying to defy him. He would no doubt go after his friends too.
The failed King knew he was a coward. Here he was, allowing a man to be tortured and harassed. And instead of helping the victim, he trying to ease his own pain and guilt.
Noctis believed he should have to listen to it. He deserved to be reminded of his time with Ardyn. He deserved to relive the pain when he heard the Founder's cries. It was right that he felt such crushing despair and guilt.
But even so, he tried to escape it.
The Chosen knew he could not do anything to Ardyn. The man owned him, body and soul. The Starscourge coursing through both of them made sure of that. The Accursed would also never stop what he was doing to Somnus until he got what exactly he wanted. He had waited for this brother for a very long time. Noctis had once asked for him to show some mercy for Somnus and had been met with a night back in his own former prison room and everything that entailed. The Chosen shuddered at the memory.
But maybe Ardyn would offer some mercy in this for a change?
… But it was not to be once again. Ardyn just laughed and told the Chosen that he would do no such thing. He was sent on his way like an errant child. And Noctis sure felt like one.
That night the voices kept the Chosen up again.
"This does not have to continue." Ardyn reminded his brother. "Just give in. I promise you no more pain after that."
"I won't… Give in." Somnus rasped, his voice weak.
"Why must you do this to yourself?" Ardyn sighed. "You have the means to end this."
"Quiet, daemon!" The Founder King's voice did not sound as strong as it once did. He was exhausted. "I tire of your wretched voice."
"You really do know how to ignite my ire, brother." The Accused's voice became cold.
Somnus's pained cries echoed in Noctis's room for quite some time.
Another night. Another series of painful cries and screams. It was becoming more frequent as Ardyn's impatience began to show itself. He was visiting Somnus far more regularly in the recent month.
Noctis constantly carried marks on his skin from where his nails had dug into his own palms. Even when the wounds healed, they would just be opened again when he overheard the brothers.
He hated it. He hated this so much. The former King just wanted it all to stop.
"Stop... Just stop... Please." Somnus was begging for the same. In pain and exhausted, he sounded to Noctis. He sounded like that every time he spoke.
The younger brother had begged other times too, but Ardyn had not listened. But this time, the Accursed did.
"You can't take much more of this pain, can you?" Ardyn murmured, his anger seemingly gone for the moment. "Can I take this to mean that you will-"
"No!" Somnus, and even Noctis, already knew what he would ask. The Founder wanted the pain to stop but he would not agree to whatever Ardyn would suggest.
"I cannot have you refuse both. One or the other, my dear Somnus. Accept me or face the consequences…" Ardyn paused then. "But I cannot bear seeing you like this anymore. You've been hurting for so long. Have you even slept these past days? You look like you will faint at any moment."
Somnus made a small sound, maybe a scoff? But despite that Noctis recognized the sounds of Ardyn beginning to treat Somnus's wounds.
"Don't..." The Founder weakly protested after some time.
"Do not worry, I will not touch you in the way I truly wish. I merely wish to lay beside you like we once did." Ardyn assured his brother. Somnus must have been in very bad shape as he did not refuse that.
Somnus's chains clinked for a time and after all had gone silent for several minutes did the Accursed speak again. "Doesn't this bring back memories? We would lay together like this. You would enjoy having me stroke my fingers through your hair until you fell asleep, don't you remember?... Just like this."
Somnus again didn't refuse whatever Ardyn was doing. There was another long stretch of silence, where Noctis almost lost himself to blissful slumber. It would have meant an end to this night.
"I am allowing you respite this time, Somnus." The older brother broke the silence once more, jerking Noctis out of his almost-sleep. "But in return you will answer some questions."
"Fine." Somnus took some time to respond, his voice thick with exhaustion and sleep.
"When did you stop loving me?" Ardyn asked suddenly.
"...What?" Somnus was startled.
"When did you stop loving me? When did you decide your duty to the people was worth more than my well-being? When was your brother worth less than the throne you sought?" Ardyn asked several questions at once. Noctis was surprised to hear a faint hint of vulnerability from the man's voice.
It did not seem right.
"I don't… I never.." Somnus didn't seem to expect these questions. He sounded quite out of it. He had been under so much strain. It was catching up to him.
"When did you begin to abhor me?" The Accursed continued.
"I… Never hated you." Somnus spoke softly. It was the first time he had addressed Ardyn as his brother, even indirectly.
Noctis felt his heart drop.
No, he thought to himself. Don't think of him as human!
"Truly?" Ardyn responded softly and Noctis could not miss the way his voice changed. He had noticed it too. There was a hint of veiled delight in that voice. "Then why did you allow this? Why did you allow them to seal me in that wretched prison?"
"It… Was the only way... The only path left to us... You couldn't be saved." Somnus sighed, sounding so defeated. His words were faltering as he if he could barely manage the strength to speak. "I did what I thought... Was right. Do you even remember what you did? I tried to save you... Make you come to your senses. But... It did not work... Nothing I tried could get a hold of you… We fought… It could not have been you. Ardyn was gone… And he could only be returned when the Starscourge was defeated."
"Well, you were wrong, dear brother. That was me. And what you see before you is also me. Your brother, your Ardyn." Ardyn insisted. "... If you tried harder, you could have saved me. Saved me from years of agonizing emptiness."
The Founder King did not say anything in response to that. Noctis wondered if he had believed that already. Was that one of his regrets in life?
"Somnus… You failed in all you have done. You've failed to save me then. If you loved me enough, you would have found away…" Ardyn voice was low. The vulnerability was still there. "But instead, you left me to rot in the darkness. All alone... With only my memories as my company."
Noctis wondered how much of that emotion was real, or even if any of it was.
"Do you understand how long two thousand years are? I wished to hear your voice in the darkness. So many times I wished for you, called for you. You never came. You forgot about me. You forgot about your own brother."
"I'm... Sorry." Somnus's faint voice was barely audible. It sounded as if he was barely awake.
"And even now you've failed. Your choice in savior has failed. It's far too late to save me." Ardyn whispered softly. "But you can make it up to me… Won't you make it up to me?"
Noctis wanted to shout at Somnus, scream at him not to listen. But he kept quiet. He kept quiet even as he heard the sound of a kiss. One that, for the first time, did not have the Founder react with any audible struggle to stop it.