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[shatteredlenses]

 

This is Ignis.  Please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  Storyteller willing, I may actually be able to read messages left for me soon.
...
And, no, your Highness, this doesn't mean I will be too busy to make sure you eat your vegetables. 

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[scourgingstars]

You're wrong.

[Ardyn's voice cracked, and he turned to hug Ignis tightly.]

'The fate bestowed upon a man can not be changed', he said. 'Defy thy destiny if thou dare, but know that it would grant thee a life of darkness unending, devoid of death's reprieve'. I can't-...there is no fighting this.

[A pained-sounding hitched breath, Ardyn's fingers curling tight in Ignis' shirt and face buried against his shoulder. Clinging to him like Ignis was all he had in the world, his last hope in endless centuries of utter hopelessness.]

I don't want him to hurt you the same way, neither can I stand the thought of having you taken from me as well. And I haven't the strength to live like this for yet more endless centuries. Defying fate was...only ever a fantasy, Ignis. A beautiful one that I wanted with whatever heart I possess to believe in. But it--it was never--

[His voice shook with something agonized and hopeless, shoulders trembling with another hitched and half-repressed sob.]

...It was ever...only a dream. I beg of you, do not condemn me to this wretched agony called existence for all time, and do not risk the wrath of the Draconian brought upon yourself. Death is more merciful by a thousandfold than what he would do to all of us if he were faced with defiance.

[shatteredlenses]

[As Ardyn fights to get his words out, Ignis holds him silently, rocking him slightly and eventually letting one of his hands thread its way into the redhead's messy hair. The request and the fears behind it don't surprise him. They are all very human reactions from a hurt man who is unused to being so very human, more human even than he was on Monsun, however as much as he wants to do everything he can to comfort Ardyn, this request is not one he can grant him.]

I'm not wrong.

[His voice is every bit as confident as it is soft. He is steady and unwilling to be moved on this.]

Pryna showed me Noctis' fate for a reason and I choose to believe that reason was because she felt I could change his fate either through my own actions or through influencing another's actions. If I can change one fate, I can change another and now that we stand outside of Bahamut's influence, I feel there is even more chance for success. This is not the time to give up the fight, beloved.

[Ignis leans back only far enough to attempt to find Ardyn's gaze, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead afterward.]

I swore to you before I wouldn't stop until you found your rest and that has not changed. You will not be cursed to live in this darkness forever. I won't allow it.

[scourgingstars]

...

[Ardyn quickly wiped at his eyes with a gloved hand--he hated knowing anyone had seen him upset or in pain, even as a human.]

We may be outside of his influence now, but what happens when we should return? What happens when he finds out that his carefully laid plan is being rebelled against?

...I remain a decade in your future, Ignis. Would we even be able to return together?

[shatteredlenses]

We gather power and we plan for just such eventualities so that we don't go into them blind.

[For once, there is no self-deprecating joke in Ignis' word choice. He is completely serious. Plans change all the time, at the drop of a hat, but they can still give direction even when they change.]

I could give you the answers you want to hear to those questions, but the truth is, I don't know. However, if we can discover and take control of the power that brings us here and sends us away, then I see no reason why we cannot return together. We merely need to choose when we wish to return to.

[scourgingstars]

And then we'll have two of me to deal with. That, and I still have to die to see the darkness banished. Your world can't survive so long as Adagium exists within it.

[shatteredlenses]

That is what he insists. There is nothing that proves that is the only way.

[His voice drops and becomes slightly pleading.]

Please, stop calling yourself that. That's not who you are. Titles are only words and nothing more. The only power they have is that which you give them.

[scourgingstars]

That's all I am when it counts. I'm corrupted, you and I both know this. A threat to the world just by standing upon it, precisely as Bahamut told me to be.

...I can't change what I was made into. All I am is destruction.

[shatteredlenses]

Destruction doesn't have to be a purely negative force, beloved. Forests burn all the time and then spring back to life, healthier and stronger than before. Many myths speak of heroes and countries brought to their knees by destructive forces only to rise again with enough skill to flourish when they could not before. Destruction can be an end, but it is also a beginning. While you lead others to that beginning, do not forget to find it for yourself as well even if that beginning is no more than finally finding a place where you can rest.

[scourgingstars]

That’s a lot of pretty words just to say I ruined everything, my dear. You needn’t dress it up in such metaphor.

[shatteredlenses]

[Ignis sighs.]

It's not metaphor if it's true. I just...don't want you to always think so poorly of yourself.

[scourgingstars]

I fail to see how speaking the truth is thinking poorly.

[shatteredlenses]

You are viewing it from only one angle and not allowing yourself to see the full picture. That is how.