#Is it obvious I sort of sympathize with him after watching his DLC?

[scarletknightreterns]

Serious Conversations

“Ardyn, can I ask a question? It might be one that’s... stepping over the line, really...” not that she could care, really. This was a rather strange... evening, really. Enjoying the mall scoop of vanilla ice cream while looking over the gentle, blazing waters from a balcony over the streets of Altissia. Sunsets where the perfect time for serious conversations.

The self-dressed, red haired, man hummed patiently, golden eyes burrowing down upon her skull with a venom most potent. “I cannot judge it to be ‘crossing the like’ unless you say it, dear.”

Of course. She sighed, tentatively popping the cherry into her mouth, caring less for the melted remains of the ice cream. His eyes where venom, and yet his voice was angelic- a very strange dynamic. What was this world coming to... She cut to the chase, grey hair pulled back into her usual ponytail. “What’s your story?” Not the original question she had wished to ask...

His grin, she couldn’t see; she could feel it, tho. Evil and amused. Not one she hadn’t seen before from the man. It was the one warning anyone could receive before the worst happened, only most where fools and looked past his psychosis altogether... not considering him to be a perfect mastermind.

“Oh my, what have we here? Are you falling for what you wish I could be? Sorry, dear, you are a little too young for me.”

“Oh shut the hell up, idiot.” A warning growl before she drank the melted ice cream and tossed the cup into the nearest trash can. “Gods forbid I say this... You are not all that bad, Izunia. Not when you’re actually in a good mood. Makes me wonder how someone like you could become so... twisted.” A strong hand on her shoulder should have been warning enough for her to end there, but stubborn like she was, she didn’t. “But I’m twisted too. Which makes me question what happened to you...- Well, actually, I already know. What I WOULD like to know... is why someone so pure had to die.”

The grip tightened even more to the point of being near painful, until it slackened and pulled away. She knew she had struck a nerve, and she turned around. His aged face was still fairly decent looking, and when not twisted into a maniacal grin and mischievous eyes, he could be considered one blessed by the Gods- but she knew that was far from the case now. He looked shocked that he had been so easily found out. Of course there where documents- evidence- explaining his appearance and state of power in the Empire... how did she get her hands on them. “What are you talking about?!” His demand did not go unheard.

“Ardyn Lucis Caelum.... That is your real name, I know...” she frowned, almost in a mourning for what this man had been through.... “Don’t mistake my words for ‘trust’. I don’t. I still have very little tolerance for you... but you can be ‘nice’, at times... and it’s a shame that that’s only a facade.” She raised her eyebrows, nibbling the stem of the cherry like a blade of grass before removing it and dropping it, where it slipped through a crack and fell down into the waiters below.

“I might be twisted, but I have chosen to let go of my pain and anguish thanks to you,” Riju had no idea what she was doing. Luna would FREAK if she found out she was having this conversation with the Usurper himself. “Granted, I would still kill my mother if given the opportunity, and you being a ‘friend’ of her gives me little reason at all to trust you. But even if ‘I’ where locked away for 2,000 years, I wouldn’t seek revenge after her descendants.”

His eye twitched, and she almost felt like smirking, but held her face neutral. “So why is it, then? Why do you have a hate for Noctis when he didn’t even do you any harm? It was Somnus- your brother- who hurt you... Yet you take things one step forward and assume the distraction of all of Eos.”

He stumbled backwards, his breathing becoming erratic, like he had been shocked to the system and struggled to breathe. She knew better. He was angry. It was clear by the grimace of his face and clenching of his teeth. “How dare you claim to understand me... The pain you went through is HARDLY the ample amount of time to understand how ‘I’ feel! You wish you can gain favour by tormenting me?! Bringing up these godforsaken memories...?”

“I don’t understand you. Not one bit. I don’t understand how you LET yourself die. Spiritually. Mentally. You cured people of the Starscourge, only to give yourself it over time... I’m sure your only or wish is to make everyone suffer like how you did, so you’re feelings are heard; understood... So that how rotten you feel inside can be validated by the deeds you would do. I have a wish, too... but I doubt it can come true.”

Ardyn, ignoring her for the most part, staggered forward until his hands braced against the rails, golden eyes glaring out into the... accursed beauty of the world. A world he had been banished from. He motioned towards her indirectly, most of his anger shoved back, but not quelled “And what is your wish...? Now that you know mine... might it be best to share yours; after all, if it cannot come true...”

“I wish I could save you from the scourge rotting away at your mind and heart-“ his breathing hitched. “...But I fear that’s impossible... Your hatred runs too deeply.”

Well, it was getting late, and she had every intention to disappear and find Luna and her brother again, before all enemies resumed bitting at each others necks.

Leaving Ardyn here was hardly an issue for her. “Aera loved you... died for you... but she did not wish this for you.”

“How?!” He spun around, screaming at her with fury and anguish mixed together from the mere sound of his old beloved’s name spoken once again by someone... who knew when all others had forgotten. “How do you know about me?! About Aera?! About Somnus?! TELL ME!!”

She calmly pivoted around, pale eyes staring deep into golden pools of pure wrath. “Visions; dreams; divine intervention. Damn the gods, truly, some things I needn’t have seen.”