The Consequences Of Our Decisions (2)

The closer Noctis got to the altar the clearer it became just how much Luna needed needed his help. Shortly after Ifrit had disappeared, black clouds erupted from Luna. Fear gripped his heart when he remembered something very similar happening before – in Ardyn's memory.

Gentiana, who held the weakened Oracle, was swallowed by the darkness. The next time the clouds parted, if only for the fraction of a second, she was gone. All around the altar, the magical barrier was falling apart and letting the remaining waves roll out into the city.
Ignoring the pain in his leg and back, Noctis pushed on even faster.
At the side of the road before him appeared Ardyn, frozen stiff as though he had gotten caught in the coldest snowstorm of history. Just as Noctis was watching, the frost melted off him. Ardyn jerked himself free from the spell and marched, without a moment's hesitation, towards Luna's collapsed form amidst the swirling darkness. He raised a hand as if intending to slap her full-force.

Despite having little to no magic left in him – it was building extremely slowly – Noctis crossed the remaining distance by warping to reappear right in front of Ardyn. He grabbed the taller man's arm and kept him from bringing his hand down upon Luna.
"What are you doing?", Noctis shouted. "You promised you'd never hurt her!"

Unadulterated anger was written all over Ardyn's face.

Noctis remained fearless, knowing that his fury was not directed at him and continued to stare him down.

Just once Ardyn attempted to push Noctis aside, but since the prince did not give way, he tore his arm free from Noctis' grasp instead. With an angry huff, he turned around and walked a few steps away.

Noctis immediately seized the chance to check on Luna. In a hopeless attempt to protect himself, he approached the dark storm with his arms raised in front of him. The clouds exuded a destructive power which was probably rivalled by Ardyn's darkness only. There was no way he could just drag the Oracle out of there.

Luna turned her head towards Noctis, revealing black tears running down her cheeks. Her expression looked strangely unfocused as if a part of her mind was elsewhere. A misplaced smile spread on her face.
"Noctis," she said with a distorted voice, "I am so glad I got to see you … just once more."

Inside of the prince, fear and anger clashed. Utter helplessness overcame him and he abruptly turned back to Ardyn.
"What the hell happened here?" Noctis demanded to know, getting louder by the second.

The chancellor spared him but a glance over his shoulder.
"She took all of the Starscourge from Ifrit into herself."

"But you said she couldn't do that!"

Ardyn whirled around, furious. "Well, guess what! I don't make these gods-forsaken rules!"

Despair added itself to the dreadful mix of emotions inside of Noctis.
"Isn't there anything you can do?"

"I've told you before; I lost the ability to heal ages ago."

"Have you actually tried since?" Noctis questioned him further, and Ardyn narrowed his gaze, directing some of his anger at the prince.

"Why, I never thought of it!" he exclaimed in an overly sarcastic manner and stepped towards Noctis with his hand outstretched and steaming darkness rising from it. "Here, why don't you let me lay my hands on you first?"

"Alright, I get it!"

The sounds of footsteps hurrying towards them interrupted Noctis' and Ardyn's shouting.

From a transport ship nearby, the white-clad High Commander came running straight towards Luna. He spared the prince and the chancellor nary a glance, so fixed was his gaze on the Oracle. His face bore the sternest expression Noctis had ever seen.
"Sister!" Ravus cried out.

Ardyn watched him run past. "Another lamb eager to be slaughtered," he said, sighing.

A sabre appeared in Ravus' hand from what looked to be an armiger of own.
"Out of my way, weakling!"

Noctis stepped aside. Not because he trusted the High Commander, but because he radiated a fiery determination that could only mean one thing: Ravus believed he could save the tainted Oracle. From his time at Festala Manor, Noctis remembered little about Luna's brother, except that he never got along with him, and Ardyn had not painted him in an any more flattering light, either. Still, if there existed just one thing Noctis and Ravus could agree on, it was Luna's well-being.

Ravus stopped abruptly in front of the swirling mass of dark energy, raised his hand, and a glaringly bright light shone from the ring of the Lucii. There was neither hesitation nor uncertainty in his movements. It seemed he had practised this magic before.
"Fear not, sister, I will cleanse you of this darkness! Even if it kills the both of us."

The light extended further until it drove the dark clouds apart. Increasingly more miasma was detaching itself from the Oracle and gathering into a wildly moving mass behind her. Luna winced under the brightness. Powerless as she was, she could only try and fail to shield herself.

Meanwhile, beads of sweat formed on Ravus' forehead. Considering that he had contained a raging sea goddess in a magical goldfish bowl up until a few minutes ago, he was still looking fairly well, however.
At first, Noctis had been astonished to see Ravus use his father's ring with such ease, but the more darkness gathered, the more he was starting to worry whether he was not simply moving the problem instead of solving it. Even so, things appeared to be going to plan, up until the second purple flames erupted from the ring of the Lucii. In a knee-jerk response, the High Commander drew his hand back and the light died almost instantly.

At the same time, Luna fainted.

"Don't you reject me now!" Ravus yelled in between groans of pain. "I was deemed worthy by the Draconian himself!"

With the purifying light gone, the miasma quickly began to reattach itself to the still Oracle.

"What's the matter? Get it back under control!" Noctis shouted.

The High Commander shot him a deadly glare, but was too preoccupied fighting the pain to come back with a snappy reply. Despite the strain, he tried to cast the spell again, but the flames spread onto his arm. Clutching his burning fist with his unscathed hand, Ravus fell onto a knee. "Don't!" he uttered out of grit teeth. "Let me save my sister!"

At this rate, Luna was merely seconds away from becoming fully possessed by the Starscourge. The nightmare Noctis had back at Lestallum was about to become reality, right in front of his eyes. His heart was beating frantically. He could not let her turn into a daemon.

Just then, a few stray miasma particles drifted past him and over to Ardyn. They disappeared, having seemingly merged into his form. The chancellor looked to be just as surprised by the strength of his gravitational pull on the dark matter as was Noctis. Their gazes met, and judging by Ardyn's expression, the same realization dawned on them both. There was no arguing between them, not even a word, just a silent agreement to save the Oracle.

Noctis ran up to Ravus. "Give me the ring!" he ordered him.

Although the magic of the Lucii continued to burn through his flesh, Ravus was still trying to will the light back into existence. "No, I must save her!"

"And I will save her!" Noctis claimed. "The Lucii can't deny me their power, because I am of their bloodline!"

Ravus shifted his glare from Noctis to Ardyn. "You conspire with a traitor. You have defied fate."

"We've got no time to argue, dammit!"

Begrudgingly, Ravus ripped the ring of his finger and tossed it to Noctis' feet. The flames died instantly. He slumped back, relieved of the pain, and Noctis swiftly picked up the accessory.

In the meantime, Ardyn walked past Luna to reposition himself at the other end of the altar's remains. What little leftover miasma still hung in the air disappeared into him in passing.

"I would appreciate it if you managed to direct the light only at her and not at the both of us," he said.

"Anything else?" Noctis mockingly asked in reply as he prepared himself to put on the ring.

A sinister smile spread on Ardyn's face. "Tell my loathsome brother I sent my best regards."

The moment the ring slid into place on Noctis' finger, his body was flooded with a magic not his own. From being around the Crystal in the past, he instantly recognised it as the age old forces of the sacred stone. They were very similar to the Lucis Caelum magic in nature, but stronger, and much more complex. Noctis was grateful he did not need to face the fabled trial of his ancestors in order to be deemed worthy to use it. Every kind of magic within the ring was immediately at his disposal.
Reaching out, Noctis brought back the light stronger and steadier than before. He barely even felt the ring draining his life force. More of that unfamiliar magic flowed through him. He was vaguely away that beyond the glare, and beyond Luna, Ardyn was equally shielding himself from the light and collecting the miasma that rose from the Oracle.
Then came the whispers. Faint voices just at the edge of Noctis' perception. The longer he kept the spell going, the louder and clearer they became. Eventually, one voice stood out above all others.

"I am glad that the ring has finally found its way into your hands."

It sounded oddly familiar, but neither a name nor a face came to his mind.

"You know, Noctis, I did not wish for you to be replaced."

He thought he saw a ghostly reflection of himself out of the corner of his eye. A version of him that was slightly older and taller, donning a cape and robes.
Somnus!
His ancestor's name reverberated through his thoughts as if he had shouted it in surprise. When he turned his head, there was no one there.
"Shut up", Noctis hissed. "I don't want your guidance."

"And yet you have allowed my brother to guide you all the way here." There was an audible sigh nearby, as if Somnus was standing beside him. "I understand that Ardyn wasted no time bad-mouthing me, but all this deep-rooted hatred stems from the Starscourge he collected. If you were to lend me your ear, Noctis, you would find that I am not half the tyrant he made me out to be. Our goals are not so different, even."

"You are an arsonist, a cold-blooded murderer and you founded Lucis upon a lie."

"Is that what Ardyn told you?" Somnus asked.

"It's what he showed me," Noctis replied.

"Did you not know that the scourge has addled his mind and twisted his memories? I assure you, I had good reasons to act like I did, even if it does not appear that way from his point of view."

"So you're not denying your crimes?"

"My crimes lie in the past. My brother is, unfortunately, a problem of the present and you would do well to take it seriously. He keeps telling himself he can take on the Starscourge and remain unaffected, but in the end, he is lying. If you do not believe me, see for yourself."

The ring's light dimmed and Noctis was able to look past it to Luna and Ardyn. The first thing he noted was that the miasma no longer came off of her in great clouds, but in small streams. If they kept this up, they had Luna cured completely in just a few moments.
Yet while her state was rapidly improving, Ardyn's was not. Although the excess miasma was still being absorbed into his form, it left small black splotches that took a few seconds to disappear. With a look of horror on his face, he stared at Luna's unmoving form, then shook his head as if trying to rid his mind of a frightful image. The next time his gaze focused, he was looking Noctis straight in the eye. Hatred was etched across his face. His hand shot forward, and with it, a spectral blade which pierced Noctis' chest.
"You! You just had to interfere, didn't you?"

The red glowing sword struck Noctis' soul rather than his body. It hurt all the same, sending him stumbling back. Due to his concentration having been broken, the ring's light faded.
"What the hell, Ardyn!?" Noctis spat out.

"Why are you stopping?", Ravus shouted from behind. "You were almost done!"

"Did the old dragon forbid you to let this Oracle live, or do you simply enjoy striking them down and placing the blame on me?" Ardyn said, his intense glare not straying from Noctis. The Founder King's sword materialised in his hand and Noctis eventually realized who he was talking to.

"He can see you," he said to Somnus' spirit.

"Unlikely," the voice of his ancestor replied. "If I was to appear, it would take more of your strength than you currently have. But with so much darkness clouding his view, I may assume he is having difficulties discerning you from me. Our likeness is indeed remarkable."

Ardyn lunged for a warp-strike. In the nick of time, Noctis phased out of the way and called the Engine Blade to him just as Ardyn brought the long sword around for a follow-up hit. He blocked the strike, but was forced back by the strength of the blow.
"Snap out of it, man! It's me, Noctis, remember?"

"Don't try to fool me!" Steaming darkness rose from Ardyn. His magic gathered for the next attack.

"Listen," Somnus whispered into Noctis' ear. "I warned the world of the Adagium for a reason. Don't be so foolish to feel sympathy for him. His only hope for salvation lies in the fulfilling of your destiny. Draw upon the ring's power and I will help you put him to rest."

The last of his words barely reached Noctis' mind. He was too preoccupied deflecting another strike from Ardyn. The next time he brought his sword up, a light flashed from the ring on his hand and his opponent burst into a cloud of miasma. It reassembled on the street beyond Ravus.

Without asking for it, the magic from his ancestors flowed into Noctis. Their Royal Arms unleashed themselves from his armiger seemingly on their own.

Grinning madly, Ardyn threw open his arms and brought forth a copy of the exact same arsenal. No surprise there. They had been collecting Royal Arms together, after all. He hurled all of them at Noctis at once as though Ravus was not standing between them.

Two of the weapons were blocked by the High Commander, the rest Noctis stopped using his own arsenal. Ravus moved back until he was at Noctis' side to seemingly create a line of defence in front of the Oracle.
"Would you care to explain what's going on?", he hissed angrily. "I thought you cooperated with the prophesied bringer of the scourge."

"So did I!"

"We need to get him away from Luna."

"Not gonna argue on that."

There was a pull on Noctis' magic – which was not even his own magic to begin with – and all of a sudden, he struggled to keep the Royal Arms around himself. They were practically trying to throw themselves at Ardyn. Only one culprit came to Noctis' mind.
Cut it out, Somnus, he demanded in his thoughts. You're making this worse!

"I only aim to support you. Why do you struggle so much?"

That was it. Noctis had enough of being manipulated left and right and getting caught up in this asinine feud between the brothers.

"Noctis, wait! Listen! You …"

He tore the ring off his finger, silencing Somnus. The deprivation of the ring's magic, however, hit Noctis like a rock to the head. The Royal Arms shattered. He doubled over. Stasis, again. He cursed himself for having forgotten just how little of his own magic he had left.

Ardyn snapped his fingers.

With presence of mind, Ravus grabbed Noctis by his collar and pulled him aside so that the dark whirlwind of magic narrowly missed the two of them.
"Why did you take off the ring, you idiot?"

"Founder King won't shut up," Noctis brought out. "I can't fight Ardyn like this!"
His hold on the ring of the Lucii was too weak to prevent Ravus from taking it back.

"Someone's got to put a stop to him," he stated. "If you are too weak to fight, then take care of my sister at least."

The High Commander put the accessory onto his unscathed hand. To Noctis' surprise, he was not rejected again.

Without hesitation, Ardyn threw an onslaught of spectral blades at him. Ravus defended himself by summoning a shield out of white glowing great swords. These otherworldly arms exuded a sacred aura as though the Draconian himself had bestowed them upon Ravus just for fighting the Accursed.
As soon as Ardyn had run out of either spectral weapons or the magic needed to command them, Ravus retaliated. He sent Bahamut's swords back at him in rapid succession, only waiting long enough for Ardyn to dodge one before forcing him further back with another. In a matter of seconds, he landed a hit. One of the blessed swords pierced Ardyn's leg, sending him stumbling backwards. The blade restricted his movements, but with a bit of effort, he took a step forward again and the sword shattered.

In terms of defence, the chancellor had very little to offer besides making himself difficult to hit. From what Noctis had seen, he mostly relied on his immortality to last him through a fight.

Ravus could not possibly know this much about his fighting style and yet he appeared to be fully aware of Ardyn's tricks and abilities, like that dark tornado he had saved Noctis from. The High Commander marched forwards, continuing his assault on Ardyn, and eventually drove him far enough back to create an escape route for Noctis and Luna behind himself.

Overhead, a newly arrived fleet of Imperial airships moved towards the altar.

Noctis hurried to Luna's side. She was in no worse shape than when she fell unconscious earlier, looking pale and dishevelled. At the very least, there were no more obvious signs of the scourge. Noctis knelt down, lifted her into his arms and, by summoning all of his remaining strength, rose back to his feet. The old back injury flared up again. His knees were shaking from the effort to stay upright. On top of everything, the stasis was still refusing to wear off.
With the Oracle in his arms, Noctis dropped back to his knees.

"Noooct!" "Hey, Noct!"

Familiar voices shouting his name reached his ears.

From the undamaged part of the city, Prompto, Ignis and Gladio came running towards the altar. Upon seeing Ravus and Ardyn fight, Gladio quickly put up his shield and blocked one of their misguided translucent blades to secure the others a way to and from the altar.

Ignis was the first to reach Noctis and Luna.
"We've got to move," he urged him. "This place will be swarming with MTs any minute now."

"Can you carry Luna?" Noctis asked with strained breath.

Ignis took the Oracle from his arms. "Prompto!"

"On it!"
Noct's friend came to a skidding halt next to him. He offered Noctis a hand, while Ignis began to make his way away from the altar as fast as possible. At first, Noctis grabbed Prompto's hand only to get up, determined to walk on his own, but with the pain and the stasis weighing him down, it was getting more difficult to move by the second. Seeing his plight, Prompto simply pulled Noctis' arm around his shoulder and dragged him along. Noctis was not going to complain.

As they escaped, Noctis cast a glance back and saw Ravus land another hit on Ardyn.

Some part of Noctis still hoped that the chancellor would come to his senses, disappear in a cloud of miasma like he had so many times before, and reappear one or two days later, standing in a random doorway with the same old smug expression on his face.

This hope dispersed in an instant when Ravus struck Ardyn with several more blades at the same time. The force of the sudden impact knocked him off his feet and the Blade of the Mystic was flung from his hand. It skidded over the street over to where Gladio stood keeping Noctis and the others safe during their retreat. On the very edge of his magical perception, Noctis noticed Gladio shoving Somnus' sword into his armiger.

Ardyn moved slow and sluggish. It looked to be very unlikely he was going to stand back up. Immaterial blades had pierced his limbs and one shoulder. Around the open wounds, clouds of miasma pooled, obviously trying and failing to close them.

There was a moment of reprieve between the combatants and Gladio took the opportunity to catch up with Noctis and the others. When Prompto dragged the prince around the corner of a building, the altar, the fight, and the Imperial airships all disappeared from his view, and quite frankly, Noctis was getting too exhausted to care about what happened to them.

#-#-#

This day had been full of unexpected turns. First, the news of the chancellor's treason, then Ravus' summoning of the Wall around Leviathan – something he had not wanted to do, but ultimately had because he could not deny Luna her request – then the appearance of Ifrit followed by Luna nearly sacrificing herself to the fire god. And as if that had not been enough, Ravus had only just left his sister in the care of the blasphemous Prince of Lucis and was now fighting the darkness personified, who just so happened to be the aforementioned treacherous chancellor.

Needless to say, after everything that had transpired, it did not surprise Ravus to see Izunia struggling back to his feet with great effort, despite the many sacred blades stuck firmly in his limbs and darkness oozing out of his wounds.
Ravus waited to see what he intended to do. In this state, his only option was to surrender. An open acknowledgement of his defeat would be most welcome by Ravus. He had longed to wipe that smug expression off his face for a long time.
The former chancellor straightened himself again, closed his eyes and with a seemingly content smile held out a hand in the same casual manner Ravus had seen the prince and his retainers call forth their arms many times before.

Defiant until the end. Ravus quickly flung another blade at him and struck him in the chest, dead-centre.

As Izunia fell over backwards, his hat, which had only just appeared in a red glow of magic, dropped down next to him.

An angry huff escaped Ravus.
Not defiant. Deceptive. Even in his defeat, the chancellor had still found a way to fool him.

Minister Besithia's fleet eventually arrived, the backup Ravus had neither requested nor wanted. Accompanied by the latest models of magitek assassins and riflemen, the head of the magiteknological research himself entered the scene of the recently fought battle.
Ravus walked over to where the unmoving soon-to-be-ex-chancellor lay and secretly removed the ring of the Lucii from his hand. The ring's magic could easily devour him whole if the souls of the kings desired it, this much had become clear to him. Blessed though he may be, he was no true replacement for the Chosen King if the Lucii did not allow it. This realisation had given him much to think about.

The old minister walked up to Ravus, greeting him with a sneer. "So it appears you are still of some use to the Empire after all. I will have to thank you for capturing this insurgent fraud."
At his signal, more magitek soldiers moved in to pick up the unconscious man and carry him away.
"I highly suggest that you accompany me back to Gralea, High Commander. Emperor Aldercapt wishes to talk to you in person."

I know this is not a happy ending to this chapter, but just for the record:
Luna is still alive, Ignis still has his vision and Altissia sustained no major structural damages.
Oh, and Pryna made no appearance, but she's still alive, too.

As for me, I am looking forward to chapters with not as many characters to handle at the same time.

2022-12-23: Improved Somnus' dialogue.
2022-12-29: Greatly expanded Ravus' POV and gave Verstael a short appearance.