Chapter Summary: Revelations found at the altar.
The visions ended as abruptly as they'd come, leaving Ignis gasping on his knees in a cold sweat. "What did I just see?"
"But a glimpse of the sacrifice to come, I'm afraid."
Ignis snapped to attention, bracing for whatever horror he may encounter next. But all he found was tall grass that swayed in a phantom breeze he could not feel and a nebulous fog pressing in close to blot out the details of his new surroundings as an unspoken dread settled at the pit of his stomach. The voice had sounded close by but here he could hardly make out three feet in front of his own face.
"This shall be a heavy burden for you to bear. And yet, selfishly, I am glad of Pryna's choice."
"Lady Lunafreya," Ignis realized as the fog began to lift, rolling back to reveal the oracle herself standing before him, features composed into a smile that might have been warm were it not edged in so much pain. The two of them stood in a lonely field dotted with sylleblossoms. Briefly, he wondered if it might have mirrored the one Noct had once described to him outside Fenstala Manor before the Empire invaded and the world as they knew it began to crumble.
Lunafreya dipped her head in greeting. "It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Ignis. Though we've never been properly introduced, I'd hoped we might not stand on ceremony here. After all, Noctis speaks quite fondly of you."
At any other time Ignis would have been flustered at such familiarity from the oracle. As it was, there were much more worrisome matters to address. "Tell me, please, this burden you speak of, is it one solely of knowledge? Or can this sacrifice yet be averted?"
Against his every hope, Ignis received his answer before Lunafreya even spoke a word. Though he bore no bond to the oracle the magic all around them swelled with such sorrow he could not help but taste it for himself as sylleblossoms wilted at their feet and the sky above resounded with thunder on the horizon.
"To challenge what has been ordained is to bring about a worse fate – one our star may well not endure." There was regret and a finality to her words, so profound it hurt to hear it. But not so much as having Noct's condemnation confirmed. His brother was to be a sacrifice, lain to slaughter by his very own forebears. And now he'd been told not to try and stop it. Every inch of his being rallied against the mere suggestion. The heart of a dragon's calling was to safeguard their king, to empower them to survive whatever trials may lay ahead. And Ignis was going to fail – such was the will of the Six.
The leather of his gloves creaked as his fists shook. He wanted to rage against this, to cry out at the sheer injustice of it all. After all they'd been through – how far they'd come – was it truly all for naught? Was Noct reclaiming his throne solely to die? What point was there in continuing on?
Please, take care of my son.
Like an apparition dredged up from the depths of his own memory, the late kings' words were an almost physical presence weighted upon his shoulders, and Ignis thought only now was he beginning to understand what they truly entailed. It was not to guide or to save, but to stand by Noct that Regis had last asked of Gladio, Prompto and himself the day they left Insomnia behind. Ignis could only guess at whether the man had known what laid in store for his son as his final farewell took on new meaning. Perhaps this fate was not for Ignis to change but he would be damned before leaving Noct to face it alone.
"What I've seen, it will take years." He might not know how long they would have, but Noct had clearly aged in his vision. Gladio and Prompto as well, in the brief instance in which they'd appeared to him. Even his own disguise had been altered to match the passage of time.
"Yes," Lunafreya agreed readily enough, "the fate of the Chosen is not yet upon us."
It wasn't much, not in the face of all he'd just learned, but hearing that ever so slightly loosened the noose constricting his heart. "Whatever time there is, I wish not to waste it."
She gave him a strange look then, almost appraising. "Then perhaps we might ease each other's burdens."
Lightning flashed bright in the distance. When next the oracle spoke thunder underscored her words. "Take heed, the road ahead will be perilous beyond measure. You must prepare for every obstacle, even my own brother would see you astray from the course. Whatever happens you mustn't do as he asks."
Another bolt of lightning split the sky. Mesmeric and violent it tore the heavens asunder, its afterimage burned into his retinas. A great rumble of thunder followed at its heels and with it the world began to unravel. Ribbons of lush green and sylleblossom blue floated up, spilling into the dark fog like a prismatic oil slick. The magic in this place was slipping, collapsing in on itself.
Lunafreya took hold of his hand. She held firm even in the epicenter of the storm, reality tearing itself apart at the seams. "Hold true to your calling," she insisted, "that you may find hope even amidst a lightless place. And know, henceforth, our paths are intertwined."
She released him and though he tried to hang on, he was powerless to fight it as she slipped through his fingers. "God's speed, Ignis."
"Wait!"
Jarringly, reality snapped back into place. Then and there he nearly lost the battle in keeping the contents of his stomach put. Head swimming in the aftermath, he tried to piece together the meaning of it all even as he staggered back to his feet.
It was, regrettably, something he'd have to sort out at a later date. Ravus' distress up ahead was practically palpable. His muttered cursing along with the coppery tang of recent bloodshed lead Ignis stumbling further onto the altar where he found the man on his knees, Lady Lunafreya cradled in his arms. Despite having spoken to her in whatever strange vision Ignis had just woken from, it was clear she didn't have long for this world.
Noct was crumpled on the ground nearby, unresponsive but – to Ignis' immense relief – largely unharmed if severely exhausted and suffering from stasis. Satisfied at least one of their charges wasn't about to perish on the spot, Ignis quickly turned his attention to the armiger. Only a single phoenix down remained within the ethereal space but he offered it up without hesitation. The vial was promptly crushed over Lunafreya's supine form but had worrisomely little effect.
Ignis frowned. He could sense it as her magic waned, flickering like a candle left out in the wind. "We haven't bought her much time."
"It will have to be enough." With reverent care, Ravus moved to prop Lunafreya against one of the altar's broken columns. He lingered only to brush the hair from her face, delicately tucking the errant strands behind her ear. "My sister has been dying a slow death for some time," he confessed as he straightened and faced Ignis once more. "And now I suspect you are the only one who can save her."
"What?" Ignis breathed out, unable to help feeling blindsided at such a claim.
"Your kind are the answer – the key to how the Lucian Kings have endured for millennium beneath the weight of the Crystal's blessing – are they not? It's not merely the strength of a sword or shield that passes between your precious bonds. You pour out your very life for them." There was something almost manic surfacing within the man's eyes as he approached him now, and Ignis found himself falling back a step on autopilot. "The weight borne by the oracle is much the same, yet my sister has no more to give. Without intervention it will kill her."
And at that it was obvious what Ravus wanted, possibly all along. But it was hardly so simple. Ignis didn't even know if he was capable of forging a connection outside the royal Lucian line, not to mention the sheer taboo of what was being asked of him.
But before he could begin to explain any of this Ravus did something truly unexpected, he bowed. Bent deeply at the waist, back straight and fist clutched at his side, his sincerity was irrefutable. "Please, help her."
Ignis stood speechless. How could he possibly make Ravus understand? Forging a bond demanded so much more than a simple exchange of power or vitality. It was to know one another completely – to share in each other's every success and failing – to bear their pain as your own. Severing such a connection through any means other than death was considered a betrayal of the highest order and not something that could be readily revoked.
Not only that but this surely must have been what Lady Lunafreya had warned him against. Regardless of what was possible, there was little chance she would even accept a connection in Noct's place.
Somehow, Ignis didn't imagine Ravus would be willing to believe that his sister had spent her final moments discussing such matters with him – a complete stranger – over her own flesh and blood, let alone with the aim of obstructing his machinations to save her life. But even had she not done so, he would never have been able to consent to Ravus' request, no matter how heartfelt.
Many years ago now, Noct himself had once asked of him the very same, after he'd first seen for himself his father forced to rely on a cane over a news broadcast. At some point he'd been made aware that something more than royal blood protected him from the harsher side effects that came hand in hand with wielding the Crystal's might. Calling on its power did not tire him as it did the glaive. Even his own father was not granted such ease of access. Instead, the Crystal took and took from Regis, like a siphon it drained him of his years right before their very eyes. And Noct was not prepared to say goodbye.
He'd known too that the connection between them was the reason for this disparity, so he'd made a proposal before the king with Ignis as his sole witness. It hadn't gone as planned.
Regis had always kept his distance for as long as Ignis had dwelled within the Citadel. Considering how little he saw of his own son this was not to be unexpected. However, this also meant Ignis hadn't much experience being subject to the king's fury, but that day he'd felt its scalding heat as Regis had firmly rebuked them over the mere suggestion.
Outwardly, Noct had appeared unaffected by the scolding, masterfully burying the hurt beneath indignation and a staunch stubbornness he'd crafted over the years. He tried to reason that his father was who the people needed now, not him. The Wall was important but so too was Regis, and he was slowly killing himself as though there were no alternative. "If it would keep you alive for one more day wouldn't it be worth it?" he'd argued.
Yet Regis wouldn't hear of it. He forbade them from even entertaining the idea of unmaking their bond, of granting him Noct's place in any such arrangement. "You know not what you ask, nor do you comprehend the consequences. Souls are not meant to be tethered so intrinsically, only to be made undone on a childish whim. To do so would corrode your very being." He'd reached out, cupping the side of Noct's face in a rare moment of tenderness. "So this you will not do – neither of you – not for an old man and not to delay the inevitable."
"Dad…" Noct had wavered, eyes shining with unshed tears, but his father would not relent.
"Promise me."
"… as His Majesty commands." The both of them acquiesced to his demand, bowed low before the throne.
Needless to say, they hadn't attempted to persuade him since. And afterwards, made painstakingly aware of the danger, Ignis had readily reaffirmed his pledge to remain by Noct's side no matter the cost. For all that he wished he could have done more, Regis was right, putting Noct at risk in such a way wasn't acceptable.
Now another life hung in the balance. And Ignis – despite knowing full well the gaping chasm Lunafreya's passing would leave behind, not only in Noct but the world as a whole – could not break this vow. "You know not what you ask…"
"I see," Ravus said, stilted but far from surprised. "So long as your will is chained to his you will never see reason. Then you leave me little choice."
Quick as lightning, Ravus struck and Ignis only caught a glimpse of that same awful gleaming red before a dagger was buried to the hilt in his side. Gripped in the shock of it, some miserable cross between roar and scream ripped its way out between his clenched teeth as a virulent flame ignited in his veins, branching out with the blade as its nexus and he needed it gone. With unsteady hands he yanked the dagger free in one sharp movement, tossing it aside before rounding on Ravus. But the man had taken full advantage of his moment of weakness, not to finish the job, but instead to advance on Noct – prone and vulnerable and utterly defenseless.
Rapier bared and sparking, Ravus' intent was clear and left Ignis no room for error. Digging into the dregs of his reserves he imbued his being with his own lightning, and in as close an approximation to warping as he could achieve without Noct's aide, he shot forward. He tackled Ravus to the ground just as he'd raised his sword for the killing blow.
Incensed, Ravus twisted in his grip and punched him over the fresh wound at his side. "Stay out of my way!"
Ignis flinched hard as the metal fist connected, jarring his injury along with his not quite healed wing in the process and his world hazed white. He shook the stars from his eyes just in time to witness Ravus make another lunge for Noct and promptly decided it was past time he stopped holding back.
His disguise barely hanging on by a thread as it was, was easy to strip away. In the flare of dispelled magic he snatched up the tail of Ravus' coat by his teeth and flung the man clear across the altar.
The High Commander was back on his feet mere moments later but Ignis was more than ready for him now. He loomed tall between Ravus and his fallen charge with wings spread wide as he could manage – never mind that one still hung limp and practicality useless. The pain lancing down his back and blooming from his side was becoming easier and easier to ignore, numbed by a boiling rage fierce enough to blot out even the leaden tiredness clinging to his bones. After everything that they had endured he'd no plans to let it end this way, not for Noct who had such a grander destiny in store.
"What are you doing?" He demanded when Ravus made no move to stand down, words barely more than a warning rumble. "Noct isn't the one to blame. Killing him will not save her, you'll only be killing her hopes for the future."
But Ravus wouldn't be reasoned with. "What hope is there in a future that my sister will never see? I'll not stand aside and allow her to become yet another sacrifice for the Lucians – not for a farce of a king, heedless of the blood spilt all in his name!"
"You truly don't see…" Ignis knew Noct's intentions were not always so transparent from an outsider's perspective, but one would have to be truly blind to believe him indifferent to the lives laid down in his stead. Each and every life lost was another scar etched deep in his marrow. And even had he not lived with a window into the True King's very heart Ignis would know one thing with absolute certainly. "All he wanted to do was save her!"
"Don't try to feed such lies to me!" Ravus spat as lightning surged to life, running the length of his prosthetic to coalesce at his fist in a sequence Ignis remembered from the shock wave he'd employed against the coeurls, only this was clearly building into something much more potent. Shadows flitted about the altar, standing out in stark relief against the pulsating glow. The air around them hummed, ratcheting up to a fever pitch – and still some part of Ignis knew the man was not in his right mind, lost in his grief and desperation to save his only remaining family. Had Ignis held a cooler head himself he may have appealed to the man's compassion, drawing attention to the similarities between his and Noct's own tragic plight. For all they seemingly reviled one another the two princes held much in common and the agony of terrible loss was undoubtedly one they both shared.
As it was – strung out both physically and emotionally, with Noct's life on the line and no backup in sight – he couldn't quite muster his usual grace here. Nor could he allow this to continue.
In one smooth flourish, Ravus transferred the lightning down the length of his blade, channeling the collected energy into a single decisive strike. Ignis imagined the result would be not unlike the sweeping seismic waves that Gladio was capable of launching from his greatswords, and doubted this would be anything less than devastating if allowed to connect. But rather than wait and see for himself Ignis was already moving. At his full size the altar felt small and preternatural speed took him across its span in practically an instant. He pounced just as Ravus unleashed his attack.
Eye searing white overtook his sight as the blast of bright lighting flew wide overhead. It was deafeningly loud and Ignis felt more than heard the rapier drop to the soaked stones at their feet, skittering out of reach. Below him Ravus lay pinned, splayed between his claws. And poised above him was a light, golden and resplendent.
"Sister!" Ravus cried out before Ignis could fully focus on the source but he quickly found the man was correct – accompanied by a shower of shimmering sylleblossom petals that swirled in on the breath of the wind, the oracle had stepped in to put an end to their quarrel. With one hand hovering over her brother's shoulder and the other held palm out facing Ignis her unspoken command was clear. Carefully, Ignis obeyed, lowering himself down to the altar before releasing Ravus.
Once free, the man immediately pushed himself up to reach for Lunafreya. "Wait, please don't go. Please don't leave me…"
It was difficult to make out her expression as she turned to her brother but Ignis thought he caught a hint of a smile on her lips. It looked just as pained and regretful as the one she had worn in his vision. Not allowing Ravus' hand to pass through the motes of brilliant light that made up her gilded form, she stepped back until she and Ignis were practically touching. Before he could make room her light flared bright. Blinding but fleeting, it faded just as suddenly, leaving behind an unexpected warmth in its absence.
Glancing down at the empty space between Ravus and himself, Ignis froze. Lunafreya's light had not truly vanished but simply gone elsewhere. For a fledgling glow had settled at the base of his sternum that shown through his feathers and seemed to wink in and out of being in tandem with his own heartbeat.
He looked up and met Ravus' wide-eyed stare with one of his own, uncomprehending of what had just occurred. Even as the lingering light grew so faint it was barely visible he felt no connection, at least not in the sense Ravus had wanted. There wasn't so much as a whisper in the way Noct's presence was anchored to his mind, nor in the more distant ties he shared with the Astrals through their mutual covenant with the Chosen King. He was left only with that sensation of impossible warmth, so transient he couldn't help but wonder if he'd imagined it.
Before he could attempt to make sense of it the pressure in the air shifted and the sky above opened up, almost as though in mourning, shedding tears that pelted the altar and left behind countless ripples in the sea. And that was when he realized it had gone away. The oracle's magic had fled this world, and yet he couldn't shake the odd sense that it had not truly been lain to rest.
He risked glancing over to where Ravus had left Lunafreya bare moments before confronting him, but there was no sign of her, living or otherwise. And returning his attention to regard the man before him once more provided little in way of answers. Ravus had not moved, seemly at just as much at a loss for what was to be done now, and Ignis wondered if he could trust him not to do anything rash long enough to see to appraising Gladio and Prompto of the situation.
"Iggy!"
Then he heard Gladio calling out for him from the far end of the altar, taking the decision out of his hands. But Ignis felt none of the expected relief, only an unsettling chill that trailed goosebumps beneath his feathers and soured the air. Hackles raised, he responded with a deadly stream of flames that engulfed encroaching footfalls.
That voice may have belonged to his friend but he'd know that horrid, rotting stench anywhere. And with Noct still frighteningly unresponsive and Ravus' true allegiance as uncertain as ever, Ignis didn't hesitate to cut off the imposer from intruding one step further.
Ravus flinched back at the fiery onslaught, loosing the glazed look of shock that had clung to him since Lunafreya's mystifying departure. He frowned at the scorched black stones and lingering odor of singed flesh. "That seemed a touch excessive."
"No." Risky perhaps, drained as Ignis was, but then fire had always been the most eager of the elements to respond to his call and the blazing embers were the quickest defense he had to offer. And still, he couldn't help the feeling that it was all so infuriatingly inadequate – not when it came to this man. Not that Ignis was so sure anymore he was a man.
"Oh dear." Appearing from behind them and perfectly unscathed, Ardyn only lent these suspicions further weight as he brushed the ash from the shoulder of his coat – affecting as if being doused in dragonfire was a but a trifling inconvenience. "Was my performance not up to snuff?"
Feigning ignorance to the sharp thrum of unease with which he'd so effortlessly snared his audience, Ardyn tipped forward into a bow, sweeping off his hat as he went and the same motion whatever strange veil had slipped over reality was rudely ripped aside. Before Ignis knew what was happening the altar was overrun. Soldiers were everywhere, clambering in close and underfoot – flooding the space between him and Noct. And unease took a steep nosedive toward tangible fear.
It was on instinct and resurging adrenaline rather than rational thought that he pushed back against the horde, too focused on getting to Noct for anything more than brute forcing his way through. He stumbled when the newly arrived airships made themselves known. Hovering just out of easy reach, three dropships open fired. A line of bullets cut across his path, pinging off his armor. One round caught on the seam of his vambrace. Another grazed along the unprotected expanse between his scuffed shoulder pauldron and the interlocked plating that ran down the back of his neck.
"Ah, ah, ah! The game's up, my boy."
His panic was like a living thing, rearing up inside him as he watched Ardyn kneel over Noct, twirling a familiar dagger in his palm. Ignis instantly recognized it as the very one Ravus had used to stab him, his blood still staining the blade.
"I see my gift was put to some use after all," Ardyn said as he examined the blade before gesturing with it to where Ravus struggled against the imperials holding him down. "I did try to warn him. Negotiating a dragon's separation from their bonded can hardly be expected to go so swimmingly. But then perhaps I can offer a more enticing proposal."
Forgoing any illusion of harmlessness, he deftly levered Noct off the floor of the altar, and Ignis' panic grew teeth. "What are you doing," he snapped before he could help himself, "unhand him!"
Outwardly delighted at his reaction, Ardyn flipped the bloodied dagger on last time before brandishing it against Noct's throat. "How about a trade, hmm? Why not stop all this resisting and come with me? In exchange, I'll let your liege keep on living. What do you say?"
Ignis swallowed. Noct's consciousness was still buried deep, steeped within the void carved out by the glaives of the Lucii and the rite with Leviathan. He wouldn't be waking anytime soon and with his life held at knife point Ignis had little choice but to play Ardyn's game. "Noct remains here, unharmed," he stressed.
"But of course," Ardyn agreed amicably, as though conceding a point on something so mundane as the weather forecast rather than the well-being of the last heir of Lucis. "Come along quietly and we leave your Noct where he lies, not a hair out of place."
"… then so be it." The words were pushed out past gritted teeth, but none the less Ignis made the effort to no longer seem a hair's breadth away from incinerating everything within sight.
Only this didn't seem to satisfy Ardyn. "Oh, come now, surely the high life at the Citadel trained you better than that. Why not be civilized about this and shake on it like a man?"
Ignis was hard pressed to master his contempt at the very suggestion, as though Ardyn by any means qualified as polite company deserving of such pleasantries. He knew what he was doing, of course, in demanding such a show of weakness, but one look at the dagger the man had pointedly yet to lower away from Noct was more than enough to keep Ignis from denying him. So – leeching away at the sad remains of his magic – he wrestled the veil of his human appearance in place once more. The transformation took even longer than last time, and judging from Ardyn's dubious once over, bore all the same cracks as before.
Not allowing himself to be distracted over it, Ignis matched the self-satisfied smile that stretched across the man's face with what he hoped was an impressive glower. "Now let Noct go."
"Very well." Ardyn hardly paid any care as he let Noct drop and only Ignis caught the dull glint of metal as the Ring slipped from his charge's slack hand to settle on the stones of the altar. For one horrible moment Ignis wanted nothing more than to snatch the wretched thing up – get it as far from Noct as possible. But to what end? Would he only be condemning Noct, and all of Eos, to a slow death in a world bereft of light or hope? And would it truly be any different than Ravus' own murderous attempt to draw out Lunafreya's life? Ignis wanted so badly to be selfish in this, but the oracle's final warning rung in his ears and he knew in the end it would only prove oh so devastatingly futile.
"Now, I do believe it's time we were shoving off. So be a good lad," Ardyn prompted him forward expectantly, like an errant dog, and Ignis very nearly growled like one.
Perhaps mercifully, they never did shake hands. Instead Ignis felt the first pinprick along his back before he breached the distance between them by even two steps. Seven more darts followed suit before the sedative turned his knees to jelly and he lost track of such things. The all-consuming exhaustion he had tried to smother beneath his awareness rose up like Leviathan's tidal wall, and he was pulled under its unending depths.
On instinct he sought out Noct one last time, finding him slumbering on peaceful and whole – the tiny conduit of his birthright laying hidden in his shadow. Soon he would have everything he needed to fulfill his destiny and banish the darkness once and for all. Ignis needed only to buy him time. And now, as he sunk further and further into the darkness, this was all he could do.
Finally managed another update! I can't even describe how happy I am to get this chapter out. I feel like so many parts fought me tooth and nail and I intensely hope it doesn't show. Ignis is very much not having a good time right now and I will say writing these last chapters has made me long for a bit of fluff, so that might be incoming soon-ish.
Also, I have a very important question to ask you guys. If Noct were to have a favorite childhood stuffed toy for this story would you rather it be a coeurl with a matching pattern to Dragon!Iggy's or a tonberry with a little felt blade perfect for poking stuff? I'll also accept arguments for alternatives.
Thanks for reading and please have a happy rest of the weekend, everyone!