A Flash Of Steel

The reception hall had changed little during Noctis' absence. Valyria and Gladio sat on a couch, talking, Luna was still trying to fix up Ravus' arm, Ignis and Prompto had taken to searching the reception desk for anything of use, and Ardyn was speaking to Ravus. It seemed like he was teasing Luna's brother for his own amusement. Again.

"Is this a way to speak to the man who helped to save your dear sister?" Ardyn asked, acting offended.

"I speak to the man from whose fury I had to protect the Chosen King," Ravus replied. He was positively bristling with anger. Fuming, like the Rock of Ravatogh. Only someone with a complete lack of self-preservation instincts like Ardyn would push him any further.

"Ah, was that what had happened afterwards?" The former Chancellor scratched his head. "I'm terribly sorry. Trivialities such as this tend to slip my mind."

In the wink of an eye, Ravus was up on his feet. There was a sickening crack as his fist collided with Ardyn's face. The former Chancellor recoiled, holding his broken nose. At the same time, Ravus howled in pain, for he had used his still-burnt left hand, the one attached to the broken shoulder, to deliver the punch.

"Ravus! I wasn't done yet." Immediately, Luna was beside him and placed both hands on his shoulder again to try and continue the healing.

Prompto gasped in shock. "You alright, Ardyn?"

"He's had it coming," Gladio stated, not surprised in the least.

"I've had enough!" Ravus shouted at the top of his lungs, clutching his left hand. "I'm sick and tired of being ordered around, used and taken advantage of! I'm no one's pawn! No more!"

Ardyn stared at Ravus dumb-founded. There was not a hint of anger in his expression, just plain bafflement. When he removed the hand from his nose, the injury had already healed by itself. Any traces of the black blood that had spilled on his face faded away.

"A notched arrow, he had said," Valyria remarked flatly.

"It appears that the bow string has snapped," Ignis added, and Ardyn finally found his speech again.

"That hurt!" he exclaimed. "Just for a moment, but still. I expected better of you, Ravus!"

That was when Noctis decided to speak up to keep Ravus from reaching for his sword next. Not that he would achieve much by stabbing the former Imperial Chancellor with it, but Noctis was not keen to see how much damage Ardyn would take before he retaliated. "Give him a break. Can't you see he's suffered enough?"

At the sight of Noctis standing in the entrance area, Ardyn's face lightened up. "Ah, Noct! How did it go?"

Looking defeated and close to despair, Ravus slumped back onto the couch.

Noctis was about to tell them of his conversation with Somnus, when the sounds of gunshots fired in rapid succession ripped through the constant patter of rain coming from outside.

"Are we under attack?" Ignis asked. There appeared to be no noticeable impact on the building.

"That's artillery fire from an Imperial aircraft," Ravus said in an annoyed tone, as though it should be obvious.

Gladio was the first to walk over to the entrance and open the middle door, closely followed by Valyria. Ignis and Prompto dared to open another, making Noctis and Ardyn the last of their party to check on whatever was going on outside.

The light rain from earlier had turned into a right thunderstorm. Lightning crackled across the sky, highlighting a red magitek engine that was being chased by something decidedly not mortal. If its silhouette was anything to go by, it had to have at least two heads and six limbs.

There was only one red-painted airship in the entire Imperial military, and it was personally owned by ex-Commodore Aranea Highwind. She must have come to aid them, and had run into trouble on the way.

Lights flared from the muzzles of the machine guns on the airship, but the artillery fire caused no visible impact on the pursuer. In a matter of mere moments, the entity had caught up to the magitek engine and was moving alongside it. There was a cut across the sky, like the very fabric of space itself had been cleaved in two, accompanied by the sharp sound of metal slicing metal. A moment later, the aircraft split into two pieces. It was a single, clean cut.

"Aranea!" Prompto called out in fear.

Noctis held his breath as he watched the aircraft plummet out of the sky and crash into the remains of a half-crumbled skyscraper in the city centre. He could only hope that the loose rubble somehow dampened the impact.

The patter of hooves and rain heralded the entity's approach as it headed for the Citadel. A crash of lightning revealed a warrior clad head to toe in black, shiny armour, complete with a horned helmet and a polished sword in hand. He rode atop a six-legged, unusually large Spiracorn. Underneath of its hooves pooled faint traces of light, seemingly creating a solid ground for it to move on. Black armour plates guarded the creature's neck, leaving only the mane sticking out. Its body also appeared to be covered in white scales rather than light fur, giving it something of a draconic appearance.

"Luna!" Noctis shouted back into the reception hall. Whoever that was, he was no monster or daemon. A divine messenger, most likely, though he could not tell which.

The Spiracorn's hooves touched down on the centre of the Citadel's courtyard and the warrior led his steed around in a circle before facing Noctis and his retinue. Its neighing and snorting echoed off the Citadel's walls, and the warrior raised his sword as if to challenge the Chosen King.

"No rest for the wicked," Ardyn said with a sigh.

Luna pushed past him to join Noctis in the open doorway. "That's Odin with his steed Sleipnir, a messenger in service to Bahamut. But … He was said to have died in the War of the Astrals."

"Doesn't look so dead to me," Prompto uttered, sounding nervous.

"My King."

Noctis turned around to see Gentiana standing in the reception hall behind him. "The Draconian has lost all hope for this world." Her voice was accompanied by the brain-wreaking noise of the gods' tongue in the background, and Noctis assumed that it was either another god, or perhaps even Odin, talking at the same time. "Mankind has failed him, and thus, the Bladekeeper seeks to cleanse this Star of all life, so that he may create a new order from the ashes of the old." The second, unintelligible voice fell silent, leaving Gentiana to speak for herself. "As we speak, the Draconian is drawing power from the Sacred Stone in the beyond, to summon Teraflare, his greatest power of destruction. The Astrals have risen to stop him, yet without the aid of the King of Kings, their efforts will be in vain. Thus, I beseech thee, my King: Make haste to the Crystal."

Neighing loudly, Sleipnir reared up.

"Noct!" Gladio shouted in alarm as Odin forced his steed into a gallop straight towards the Citadel's entrance.

When Noctis turned his head from him back to where Gentiana had stood, the High Messenger had already disappeared.

"Everyone, fall back!" At Ignis' command, they drew back from the entrance doors.

With or without his steed, Odin should be too large to enter the Citadel. That did not stop him from attacking the building, however. A slash rent the air apart and Noctis felt a sudden draught in the reception hall. The Citadel rumbled as a thin, perfectly even tear appeared in the front wall.

"He's gonna slice the Citadel to bits!" Prompto exclaimed.

Noctis needed to make a decision, and fast. "Iggy, can you keep Odin occupied for a while?"

"Of course."

At a gesture of the Royal Advisor, Gladio and Valyria burst through the Citadel's doors to confront Odin. Ignis and Prompto followed shortly after. From what Noctis could see, it seemed like Odin had withdrawn to the courtyard to take another run-up at the building.

"What's the battle plan?" Val shouted, summoning Solferrum. The blade immediately burst into flames.

Prompto readied the Auto-Crossbow. "Keep it simple, please!"

Although Gladio was leading the charge with his greatsword shouldered, Odin ignored him. Sleipnir leapt through the air, past him, onto the top of the staircase, and Odin swung his blade at Ignis, who dodged the blow with a backflip in the nick of time.

"Attack!" he shouted in reply to Valyria, and threw a flaming dagger after Odin. "But watch the sword!"

In the meantime, Gladio had turned back. He summoned his shield, which Valyria then used to jump off of and strike at Sleipnir with Solferrum, forcing the steed to back away from the building.

Just moments later, Prompto fired a Gravisphere in the direction of the messenger in an attempt to slow Odin's movements with the gravitational pull.

"Do you not wish to help your friends?" Ardyn asked as Noctis turned around.

Luna's gaze, too, followed him. "Noctis?"

He left their questions unanswered and continued to walk purposefully up to Ravus, who had sunk back onto the couch after the initial commotion. "Hey, you're still interested in saving this world, right?"

"You want me to fight for you?" Ravus scoffed bitterly. "Don't make me laugh."

"To hear you laughing would be a first," Ardyn commented, smiling.

"Ignore him," Noctis said, not just to Ravus, but also to himself. "If you're well enough to fight, I want you to lead my retinue in my absence."

"Why would you? I have opposed you. I would have killed you if it hadn't been for my sister."

"That was just what Bahamut ordered you to do, right?" Noctis replied. "I'm not asking you to like me, or my family, for that matter. Hate us all you want. But you and I want to protect Luna and this world, and that's more than enough of a common goal for me."

"Tsk." Ravus turned his head away. "Even then, there is nothing I could do for you. Without the Ring, I am powerless. I would be naught but a dead weight."

Why was it that Ravus always insisted on arguing? In annoyance, Noctis rolled his eyes at him. "Then take my magic. I can't grant you the same powers as the Ring, but I saw you use it. You're a natural. And unlike me, you've got experience in leading an army. This isn't just one battle out there. Bahamut could make an appearance at any time, and someone's got to help Aranea." Not to mention that Ravus possessed the ability to relentlessly pursue a goal. Despite of his stuck-up attitude, Noctis could respect him for that.

Ravus looked at him with eyes of suspicion and disbelief. "You want to share your blessing with me?"

"The boy's too generous for his own good," Ardyn chimed in and was, consequently, ignored by all present.

Once granted, revoking someone's access to his armiger was near impossible. But if Noct's father had shared his magic with dozens of Kingsglaive members that he barely knew, just to strengthen his army, then Noctis could very well accept Luna's brother in his ranks.

Another small tremble ran through the building as Odin's sword grazed the Citadel once more. Outside, Gladio was cursing, upset that he had been unable to block the attack.

"I fear we're running out of time," Luna said, looking at the tear in the front wall with worry. "If Odin damages the building further, we might lose access to the Crystal."

Ravus closed his eyes and Noctis could all but see him swallow his pride. "I shall accept your gift with great honour, and raise my sword, once more, for the sake of our Star." He got up only to sink to a knee before Noctis like a knight expecting to receive his lord's blessing, but Noctis grabbed him by the sleeve of his good arm. Seemingly caught by surprise, Ravus did not resist as he pulled him back to his feet, but he swatted Noctis' hand away right after.

"You can skip the act, Ravus," Noctis explained. "You don't have to pledge your allegiance to me. Just give me your sword, so I can anchor your share of the armiger to it."

"Do you ever do something properly?" Ravus said under breath as he drew the sabre from the sheath on his belt and presented it to the Prince.

"Watch me save the world and then decide for yourself." Noctis held out his hand over the sword and focussed on the armiger. Pushing a weapon into it was easy, made even easier by the fact that this particular sword had already been stored in an armiger before and absorbed a tiny bit of magic, but he needed to put it into a specific corner. Into a box of infinite size with Ravus' name on it, within a storage room of infinite size that belonged to Noctis. Figuratively speaking, of course. Noctis had no idea what the armiger looked like from the inside and was not keen to know. Once he had found said, figurative box, he forcefully shoved the sword into it, let the armiger's magic spill over and momentarily latch onto Ravus as if to drag him with it. Due to a spark of elemental magic, lightning danced across the blade before it burst into soul crystals.

Seemingly by instinct, Ravus reached to the side, and the sabre reappeared in his right hand. With determination shining in his eyes, he took a few steps towards the open doors of the Citadel. "See to it that Lunafreya returns alive," Ravus asked of Noctis.

"I will," he promised.

"Take care of yourself as well, brother," Luna added.

The former High Commander hesitated another moment to glare at Ardyn and seemingly bit back on a snarky remark before he headed out to join the fight.

Noctis stayed long enough to see Sleipnir dodge the flames of Valyria's blade and rush at the entrance again. With a focussed blast of lightning from his left hand, Ravus forced Odin and his steed back. Great. That was his first time using Elemancy and he was already able to use it in a way Noctis had never been able to. As if Ravus needed to be better than him in yet another kingly discipline. Was it not enough that his composure, posture and manner of speech met the standards expected of a monarch already? Noctis was just glad Ravus was in line for the throne of Tenebrae, not Lucis.

Luna's brother side-stepped Odin's blade as it cut into the staircase and retaliated with a swift strike to Sleipnir's legs.

"Noctis." The voice of the Oracle brought his attention back to the matter at hand and he joined Luna on her way to the corridor in the back.

"Not bad, my dear nephew! Not bad!"

Noctis did not like the way Ardyn was clapping his hands. "I wasn't using Ravus," he clarified.

"But of course you weren't," he replied, laughing. In a strange gesture, Ardyn summoned his hat from his armiger and threw it onto a couch before he turned to follow Noctis and Luna.

Reduced to a party of three, Luna, Ardyn and Noctis boarded the lift to the throne room. The staircase would have been the safer option during an attack, but this was not the time to climb twenty floors when the lifts were still working. Once the doors had closed and the destination floor had been selected, Noctis was left to look at the numbered buttons set into the brass panel, lighting up one by one. The movement of the lift was accompanied by a soft, barely audible whirring noise.

Luna folded her hands in front of her, looking up at the digital display above the door that showed the number of the current floor.

Not ten seconds later, Ardyn began to hum a relaxed tune that Noctis was certain to have heard at the Mother of Pearl restaurant in Galdin Quay before.

"It would be nice if the elevators had been outfitted with a bit of music," Luna said as if she was merely trying to fill the silence with the sound of her voice.

"I was thinking just the same thing on my first visit to the Citadel," Ardyn replied. "What a wasted opportunity. They could have shown off the musical talent of Insomnia's citizens. Assuming, of course, such talent exists."

"I'll have a sound system installed when we make it back," Noctis promised, if only to end the conversation. "It's not going to be top priority, though."

With a ding, they arrived at the half-way stop between the reception hall and the throne room. A waiting hall connected the set of lifts coming from the lower floors to another set leading further up. As the three of them crossed the room, Noctis could not help but notice the scorched walls and chipped marble pillars. The lift leading up to the council chamber, where the signing of the peace treaty should have taken place, was completely out of commission. Its doors seemed to have been opened by force from the inside, the cables were cut and the lift car was missing.

Luna stopped in the middle of the hall, staring at a dark stain on the black-and-white floor like she had seen a ghost.

While Ardyn called the lift to the throne room, Noctis turned back to her. "What is it, Luna?"

"I'm sorry." Shaking her head, she walked up them. "It was just a bad memory."

He hardly dared to ask. "Did someone die here?"

In response, she simply nodded.

It occurred to Noctis that he had never asked her to explain in detail what had happened at the Citadel on the day of the signing ceremony. He wished he would have done so when they had the time.

The lift doors slid open. "Enough with the dilly-dallying," Ardyn said. "You heard the High Messenger, didn't you? We mustn't be late for our date with divinity."

With a determined nod, Luna joined him and Noctis in the lift. The second ride was thankfully a bit shorter and did not give the infamously awkward silence a room to settle in.

Eventually, they stepped into the throne room with its extraordinarily high ceiling and walls decorated in black marble with gold and brass ornaments. Visually, it was split into three levels: The entrance level, the elevated platform before the throne, to which honoured guests were allowed to ascend to speak to the king, and the throne, which was accessible not by one, but by two curved staircases leading further up from the platform and a few additional steps on top of that. The king's chair sat a bit higher than the chairs of the council members to either side of the room on the same level. In other words: A lot of stairs to climb in the daily life of a king.

There were two prominent changes since Noctis had last stood before his father for a formal address. One being the gaping hole in the side of the room where the council member's chairs to the right of the throne had been, the other being the Crystal, which had been very unceremoniously dropped by the Niff forces in the middle of the platform.

In contrast to how it was displayed in the Cosmogony, the Sacred Stone was not a single, shiny shard, but rather something like a geode taller than any grown man. On the outside, it consisted of solid, black rock, but the opening on the front revealed myriads of blue crystals on the inside that glowed with a magical power so strong that its magic became visible in the air. Prismatic wafts of mist emanated from the crystals. The Sacred Stone's presence felt oppressive, in a way.

The closer Noctis got to it, the thicker the wafts of magic became, and the glow from deep within the geode turned into a light that continued to grow in intensity.

Next to him, Ardyn raised an arm in front of his eyes, wincing.

The Ring on Noctis' finger reacted to the Crystal. There was a connection between both objects that grew noticeably stronger with every step he took. The magic surrounding him surged until he was starting to feel dizzy. His heart began to pound in his chest. A rush of adrenaline flooded his veins. He would have had to lie to say he was not scared to enter the Crystal without knowing what kind of world awaited him in the beyond. Instinctively, Noctis reached out behind himself. To feel Luna link her fingers with his own gave him the strength to carry on.

#-#-#

She did not hesitate to take Noctis' hand when he reached out to her. Already, Luna could tell that something about the Crystal was pulling him towards it, as though the Sacred Stone and the Ring had become lock and key before the Chosen King, destined to be brought together. At the same time, the light of the Crystal had begun to unsettle the remnants of the scourge she carried. Whereas it was merely unpleasant for her, Luna could barely imagine how Ardyn must feel.

He was walking behind her with an arm raised and fighting the Crystal's light with every movement forward. Individual miasma particles detached themselves from his form.

On their way back to Lucis, he had asked Luna whether she knew about the risk of her plan. She had only nodded then, and neither of them had needed to elaborate. The Starscourge was unreliable in nature, and she had experienced herself how violently the darkness reacted when exposed to the powers of the divine. When she had expressed her concern for his well-being in return, he had simply shrugged it off, claiming that he was no stranger to suffering.

As Noctis continued to slowly walk up to the Crystal, Luna held out a hand to Ardyn. She would have spared him the pain if only she could, but they needed him to fill in for the Power of Providence that Noctis lacked. "Take my hand, Ardyn!" she called out.

He lowered his sleeve just enough to glance over to her. His skin had turned ashen. A black liquid was spilling from his eyes, causing his golden irises to stand out like the cold stare of a daemon in the dark. Despite of the state he was in, he held out his hand to her as they had agreed.

When Luna grabbed his wrist, not frightened by the wisps of darkness that rose from him, she could feel the Starscourge raging in him like a storm. The fact that he had not yet lost himself in it spoke a great deal for his strength of will, though there was no telling how long it would last.

Eventually, Noctis had come close enough to the Sacred Stone to reach inside. Its light had grown to such an intensity that even Luna could not no longer look at it. Likewise, the magic had become so overwhelming that it nearly numbed Luna's sixth sense for the divine and the daemonic, were it not for the stark contrast to the dark magic right beside her.

At that moment, when Noctis touched the Crystal, the link was made.

From him, light flooded her body, and the darkness from Ardyn responded in kind. Like a vessel tossed about during a storm, both forces clashed around her, spilling into her, threatening to drown her. The light stung and burned. The darkness numbed and weakened her. At some point, she could no longer tell which magic was hers, or how severely she was infected. In one instant, the Starscourge almost consumed her, and in another, she was cleansed of it. The pain was intense, but never lasted for more than a split second before the tides turned again. By sheer willpower alone, Luna held on.

That was the risk Ardyn had spoken of. Due to her having been cursed with the ability to absorb the scourge and become an embodiment of darkness, and him already being an embodiment of darkness, cursed to spread the scourge, there was a considerable chance that she ended up with a much worse infection than before, even if she did not draw it out willingly.

The light of the Crystal absorbed Noctis completely, and when Luna could no longer feel his fingers between her own, she could no longer feel her hand, either. It frightened her, even though she knew that it was exactly what they had hoped would happen. The Crystal was drawing her in along with Noctis.

On the other end, Ardyn's grasp slipped, leaving Luna to hold the two of them together by herself. It was too bright to see, but his dark presence had turned from that raging storm of darkness into a mere shadow, spread far and thin. She did not know how she could still feel his wrist in her grasp when the Crystal's magic had begun to disintegrate his physical form like his weakened presence suggested. Afraid of losing him, Luna called upon her powers of healing to draw the Starscourge to her, to strengthen the connection between them, but only a fleeting amount of it answered. It carried a single, overwhelming emotion with it, that momentarily replaced her own feelings: mortal fear.

The dark presence dispersed completely as Luna was swallowed whole, mind and body, by the light.

In a surprise twist, it turns out that Ardyn sacrificed himself to the light of the Crystal. Thus, the Bladekeeper is appeased, the world is saved, and Noctis and Luna, newly wedded King and Queen of Lucis, bury his hat (that he so thoughtfully left) to honour his deeds.

Just kidding!