The Understudy

The night of the signing ceremony – Insomnia, Lucis

Chaos reigned in the hall where the signing of the armistice should have taken place. The battle that had broken out all of a sudden between the council members and the Imperial units had left nothing but dead bodies, blood and devastation. Only King Regis and General Glauca were left and still fighting.

Ravus stepped over a dead council member as he approached them.

It would not be long before Regis met his end. The King defended himself with a magical shield, but Glauca was smashing it with his greatsword faster than it regenerated. "You already have the Crystal. What more could you want?" Regis demanded to know.

He was pathetic. Still as much of a coward as he had been the day Ravus' mother had died. The King's stay at the manor had prompted the Empire to attack, but instead of defending the Oracle's family, Regis had taken his miserable son and fled. No other could have stopped the invasion, and he had chosen to flee. Luna often claimed that Ravus' hatred was misplaced, but the past twelve years had proven him right. Regis had continued to sacrifice entire nations while he, himself, had remained safe behind the Crown City's Wall.

As predicted, the General broke through Regis' shield. His blade severed the Ring of the Lucii from the King's hand, the trinket fell and rolled across the blood-stained floor towards Ravus. He picked it up and lifted it in front of his eyes. This small, unassuming jewel had been beyond his reach for too long. The divine magic it held was going to change everything. It would be the key to becoming the saviour of their Star.

"The Ring of the Lucii," Ravus said and turned to Regis with a smirk. "How long have I waited for this moment."

Ravus' determination was stronger than ever. With the power of the old Kings stored in the Ring and its ability to channel the Crystal's magic, he would assume the role of the True King, dispel the darkness and save his sister. His birthright, his home and his parents had been lost to the war, but by the Six, Ravus would make sure that his sister lived. Even if he had to sacrifice his own, ill-fated existence for it. He slipped the ring onto a finger of his left hand and, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one of the King's Glaives rush into the room and hurl a weapon at the General. The weapon – a kukri knife – spun past Ravus, slower and slower until it came to a halt in mid-air. Looking around, Ravus saw that time itself had stopped. Those had to be the powers of the gods. All of Eos held its breath to listen to none other than him.

"Hear me, Lucian kings of Yore," he announced. "I am Ravus Nox Fleuret, and none is more worthy than I!"

The space in front of him ripped open and Ravus found himself in another, otherworldly dimension of stars and nebulae. A gigantic, heavily armoured figure appeared in the distant light, blades fanning out like giant wings behind it.

In awe, Ravus held his breath. He had expected to summon the Kings of Yore and their council, but this being was not mortal and had never been. Coming face to face with the Bladekeeper Bahamut surpassed all his aspirations. Even among the Astrals, there was no greater power than him.

Ravus suppressed his awe and quickly regained his composure. The fact that the god had answered in person proved that he was about to receive a new calling. There was no reason for him to be hesitant or wary. With his head held high, Ravus stepped forward.

"Thy call hast been answered, Ravus Nox Fleuret." The thundering voice of the god echoed through the void. "Prove to me that thee hast earned the title of the True King, and thee shalt obtain the power to banish the darkness from this star forever."

After every hardship Ravus had been through, just to obtain the ring, the god actually demanded more of him? "I have the ring in my possession. I am here," Ravus argued. "What more must I do?"

"Destroyeth the first Chosen King and the darkness that draws him from his path," Bahamut replied. "Through me, thee shalt be granted access to the power of the Crystal and the Kings of Yore, which thee shalt need to vanquish the defiers of fate. Know, however, that all will be in vain shouldst the first Chosen King ascend the throne and fulfil his destiny."

A fiery determination burned in Ravus' heart. He was ready to do anything. Only a fool would turn back at this point. The Ring of the Lucii burned on his finger. Ravus felt its power bite into his flesh, not painfully, but it was a frightful sensation all the same. He reached out into the nothingness and, in a burst of tiny, immaterial crystals, his trusted Alba Leonis sabre appeared in his hand.

The light of the stars that surrounded him in the otherworldly realm flared and swallowed everything in a blinding light. When it faded away, Ravus found himself back at the Citadel. "I am Ravus Nox Fleuret," he repeated to himself, lost in thought. "Commander of the Imperial Army and True King of Lucis."

Time moved on from one moment to the next. The kukri struck Glauca, and the Glaive warped after it, before following-up with a series of swift strikes from different angles. He landed no noteworthy hit, but kept the General occupied.

At the same time, a blonde woman in a white dress helped the wounded King Regis to flee from the council room.

"Luna?" Ravus just stood and watched, feeling disconnected from the events around him as though a part of him was still in the other realm and needed to catch up.

With a kick following a warp-strike, the Glaive knocked over Glauca and hurried past Ravus, into the elevator, where the King and Luna had been waiting.

Just then, Ravus snapped out of his trance. "Wait, Luna!"

#-#-#

The morning following Insomnia's invasion – Longwythe Rest, Leide

When Luna arrived at Longwythe Rest, the events of the previous night still governed her emotions. Even though she knew exactly where to go and what to do next, the invasion of Insomnia was not easily processed and forgotten. Regis was dead and Noctis' beautiful home lay in ruins. The citizens who had escaped with their lives had been forced to leave their homes behind, and often been separated from their families. Luna had travelled from the city limits to Leide along with the streams of refugees, and had so far remained blissfully undetected. Even in secret, she gave comfort wherever she could to ease the people's pain. Her compassion knew no bounds, for war knew no winners.

Hope drove her on, for there was always reason to hope. Noctis had been spared from the invasion thanks to the efforts of Regis and Ardyn – even though the two had never spoken on the matter – and would be under protection for a while longer due to the news of his death. The fact that the Ring of the Lucii had accepted Ravus as its new bearer was an unexpected twist of fate, but Ardyn had warned her to be prepared for anything to become possible once his rebellion against Bahamut took effect, and chances were Ravus might still return the Ring if she got a proper chance to talk to him.

In the end, however, it was all up to Noctis. Luna's task was merely to pave the way for him. Ultimately, only he had the possibility to gather the Hexatheon around him, and it was his decision against whom he used it.

Ever since she had spoken to the Chancellor for the first time, she had thought much and often about his words. Her own life and Noctis' appeared to be a small sacrifice in order to rid the world of the Starscourge once and for all. People would no longer have to live in fear of the night or the disease that gave rise to the daemons. But on the other hand, she wanted to see Noctis live, and the thought of people knowing true independence and peace for the first time without Bahamut's influence was equally enticing. But could mankind manage on its own to find a cure for the Starscourge before the darkness eclipsed the sun?

Regardless of Noctis' decision, Luna was ready to support him. She opened the red notebook Umbra had brought her a little while ago.

We left Insomnia a while ago. Can't wait to see you again. The Chancellor is a royal pain in the neck.

Noctis' remark amused her a little in these difficult times. "And I'm looking forward to seeing you too," she said softly as she closed the book and slid it back under the strap around Umbra's chest.

One of the doors to the motel rooms at Longwythe Rest opened and a middle-aged woman approached her. "Lady Lunafreya, is it really you? I prayed that you might escape the city alive."

She looked so distraught. Luna held the woman's pleading hands. "I thank you very much, but I am currently travelling in secret. The Imperial military is still searching for me."

"I am so sorry, Lady Lunafreya, I really do not wish to impose myself on you, but ..."

"What troubles you?"

"It is my husband. I fear for him, and I had hoped you might ask the gods to take mercy on him."

Luna suppressed the urge to sigh as best she could. She urgently needed to travel on to the Archaean, but she had never been able to ignore a plea for help, and there were so many in need of help since Insomnia's fall. "Please do not worry. I will help however I can."

The woman guided her into the room she was staying at, where a man of about the same age lay on the bed. He was unconscious, but moving restlessly in his sleep. Luna would have expected to find someone who needed a doctor more urgently than divine assistance, as many had been wounded in the battle for Insomnia. This man, however, showed obvious symptoms of the scourge. Judging by her experience, he had to be in the middle to late stages, and while the healing would not wear her out completely, she would probably need a bit of rest afterwards.

Luna knelt by his bedside and took one of the man's hands between hers. His fingers tightened around her palm as though he was unconsciously seeking out his last hope. She closed her eyes and turned her thoughts to the gods in prayer. A familiar warmth entered her hands.

„Blessed stars of life and light, deliver us from …"

The warmth faded, but not out of her own will. Something was not right. An unpleasant cold seeped into her fingertips. When she opened her eyes, she saw, with horror, the darkness flow from the man's body and sink into her hands. It gathered under her skin, in her veins, turning them black and the back of her hand ashen. Something like this had never happened before. The sensation alone, while not painful, was immensely frightening.

"It's a miracle," the woman next to Luna uttered in a breath. The man's firm grip loosened and his breathing grew calm.

Luna, on the other hand, suddenly felt uncomfortable, though she could not tell if it was because of the fear that had sunk deep into the pit of her stomach, or the disease she had absorbed, or both. As she stood up, she rubbed her hands, trying to drive out the numbness and cold, but she also did not want the woman to see that something was wrong.

"Thank you so much, Lady Lunafreya," the woman said and bowed before her. "We are forever in your debt."

"I have merely fulfilled my duty as the Oracle. I would stay to see him wake, but I must urgently continue on my way."

"Please travel safely," the woman said as Luna left the motel room.

In the parking lot outside, Gentiana was already waiting for her. Luna was about to ask her about what had just happened, but when she glanced at her hands again, the darkness had disappeared and colour returned to her skin.

Gentiana offered to take her fingers between her own.

"In fulfilling her duty, the Lady has become tainted with the scourge," she said. "Her powers, originally granted by the Bladekeeper, become a heavier burden to bear. Another vessel for the darkness has been chosen."

Upon hearing those words, and sensing Gentiana's sympathy, Luna swallowed hard.

Luna becoming Ardyn's replacement is already part of the "Dawn of the Future" novel, and I find that Ravus, given his obsession with the prophecy, makes perfect sense as a replacement for Noctis. He also seems like the kind of person who might be easily manipulated, which serves Bahamut well.
(By the way, Bahamut speaks a weird kind of half-hearted Shakespearean English ... Let me know if you prefer normal English instead and I'll replace it.)

Please bear in mind that I have seen only clips of the Kingsglaive movie, but not all of it.
As for canon divergence, (or non-divergence), I would not put it beyond Nyx to have found a way to defeat Glauca even without the ring.

Update 2023-05-11: I've finally watched Kingsglaive and changed Ravus' part in this, not to match the movie, but to portray his character in a more consistent way throughout this AU. Nyx got a slightly bigger part, now, too.