#background ardyn x aera

[itsgeecheebitch]

TITLE: Until Darkness Descends

SERIES: The Fall Part 1 of 4

FANDOM: Final Fantasy XV

PAIRING: Ardyn x reader, Ardyn x Aera (you are Aera)

RATING: Mature(for language)

CHAPTER: 3

         “I can’t fucking believe you.” Your mother snarled while she scrubbed furiously at her soiled heels. After your accident, the priestess escorted you and your parents to a sitting room upstairs. Your mother wore a smile the entire time, one meant to charm and bewitch those who did not know her very well. But you could see it, the fissures in her friendly facade, the anger she tried to hide behind a facsimile of warmth. You wondered if the priestess could see it too, how frozen and fake your mother's all too friendly smile was, the way it twitched at the corners and didn't meet her too frigid eyes. 

       The elderly woman only gave your mother a smile of her own. Not a moment of pause,  not a wary look, just a smile too warm and unguarded to be given to a woman as undeserving as your mother. You sat on a couch that was the closest to the window and begged the priestess  with your eyes to stay. Either she didn't notice your silent plea or she simply did not care because she left moments after. The unnerving click of the door closing into place sealed your fate. 

         Immediately, your mother's smile was gone and she shedded the genial veneer like old skin. She reminded you a lot of a serpent, cruel and cunning, willing to squeeze the life out of you and swallow you whole. A sudden loud thud jolted you back into the moment. The shoe she hurled at the wall dropped onto the empty space beside you.

           “I asked you to do just one simple thing and you blew it!” She shouted, on the verge of hysteria. Her voice was shrill and hard and made you wince. During times like this, when her face was dark with unbridled anger, it was best to keep your gaze low lest you stoked her ire further. You learned from experience what would happen if you met her eyes while she was angry. Even now your cheek still throbbed with the phantom pain of the slap you received the last time you broke the unspoken rule.

           Your shoulders curled in on their own volition, and you shrunk in on yourself with your head bowed. Maybe if you made yourself as small as possible, she would forget you were there and yell at someone else, but you were never so fortunate. Her angry words continued to drone on and on in the background like nails on a chalkboard. You said the one thing you hoped would bring an end to her incandescent screaming. 

"I'm sorry."

        “It’s not your fault,” Your father said from his side of the room. His toned arms were folded in front of his chest and his lips were pressed into a hard line that only made the lines on his face that much more pronounced. “It's obvious I’ve been too lenient on your training. Starting tomorrow it’ll be a nonstop test of your endurance. And don’t try to get out of it either. I don’t care if you vomit or turn blue in the face, we’re going to keep going until your physical limitations are non-existent. Hopefully after that we won't have a repeat of today.” 

        Dread carved a sharp burning path down your chest and into the pit of your stomach. Your trembling fingers seemed to vibrate with that fear. Your training regimen was already unforgiving and would leave you gagging and retching by the end of it. Would your father really make it that much more intense? Would he force you to keep healing and keep reviving  small dead creatures even after your eyes lose focus and vomit festers on your tongue? The very thought of it forced a violent shiver to rattle your bones. 

       You heard your mother scoff. “Maybe if you stop coddling her she would be able to do more than just revive one person before puking her guts out.” 

      “Coddling? I’m the only one who actually keeps up with her training. What do you do besides sit on your ass all day and spend all our money?”

      “I market our business operation, asshole.” She hissed in response, jumping out of her chair to glare daggers at your father. The rickety old thing teetered as a result, clattering onto the floor behind her. “I find the people. The venues. I maintain her social media following and her website. I do the real fucking work. All you gotta do is make sure she doesn't puke herself.” 

     You slid down the couch, wishing the wooden floors would open up and swallow you whole. Anything was better than this. You knew any second now their angry words could explode into violence and you would be trapped in the crossfire. The last time your parents fought, your entire body was covered in bruises from all the objects they threw at each other and missed.

      Sometimes you wondered if they were truly aiming at you. One time  your parents fought in an elevator. Your father shoved your mother into you so hard your head slammed against the metal wall and you saw stars. Other times your parents fights would start with violence before devolving into debauchery. You would always flee the room at the first sign of a kiss. In every violent occurrence you seemed to always be the catalyst behind their collision. 

       They never fought this much back at the circus, at least not while you were around. Your mother would always be on her phone whenever you saw her. She rarely spoke to you but at least she never looked angry, unlike now where her brows were forever pinched and her lips were always pulled into a scowl. Your father was the same way. Back at the circus he was always busy but happy. A smile would light up his face and he rarely had a mean word to say, even to you, a person he hardly engaged with outside of making sure you were provided for. You looked down at your hands that were painted gold with the sun's evening light. 

       These two hands were to blame for everything. They were cursed. If you never resurrected the butterfly that night, if your parents never spotted you reviving a dead mouse, you wouldn't be here. They wouldn't be here. You would all be with the circus, happy and content. You would still be with auntie Maggie baking cookies in her tiny trailer. Uncle Renji would still beguile you with his coin magic trick, and you would still rouse to the dulcet tone of grandpa Louis' banjo in the early morning. But, it was all gone now. All you had to look forward to these days were your mother's spitfire words and the silent brewing storm that was your father's rage. 

     “Without me, Aera would still be a nameless nobody living in the Oracle’s shadow. I put her name on the fucking map. I put money in our fucking pockets. But what would you know? You’re just a half-ass circus freak who knows next to nothing about running a business.” Your mother finished.

     The room was plunged into an uneasy silence after that. Not even the creaking of the temple, nor the chatter of your followers a floor below, could fill the void that devoured everything but the tension in the air. It was as though the entire world held its breath, waiting with uneasy anticipation for the next shoe to drop. 

      You swallowed. "P-please don't fight," left your mouth in a whisper, but your plea fell on deaf ears. Your father took a step toward your mother. She visibly flinched but schooled her features soon after.

      “You watch your fucking whore mouth. If it weren’t for this ‘circus freak’ you would still be on the street selling your flat ass for change.” Your father seethed.“‘Knowing how to run a business’? Don’t make me laugh. You’re nothing but a cheap whore who’s only merit is knowing how to take a fat cock down her throat.”

      There was a loud smack, like the crack of a whip splitting the air in two. You watched in wide eyed horror as your father’s head whipped to the side from your mother's assault. You didn't even think before you acted, wedging yourself in between them and pushing your parents apart. 

“No! Stop fighting!” You cried. 

       Your mother clenched her jaw. “Just shut up and go outside.”

        “But-”.

        “Just GO OUTSIDE!” She screamed. You whimpered and ran towards the door, slamming it shut. The moment you did a loud bang tore through the silence and you heard your mother scream. You stood there with tears in your eyes, hand reaching for the door in silent contemplation. Other people entered the hallway one by one. At the sudden loud thud against the door you ran into the hallway bathroom and locked the door.

         Someone was knocking on the door but you couldn't hear them past the yelling and screaming in the air. You backed away and jolted when your back hit the cool tile walls. The knocking never stopped, neither did the yelling and banging, and the whispered voices of your followers grew and grew until they exploded into a fiery pitch. Clamping your hands over your ears didn't drown them out. Huddling in the corner and thinking of a happy place did you no good either. You couldn't stay here. You didn't want to be here. There was a window over the toilet. You rose to your feet and wrestled it open. Despite being on the second floor the climb down wasn't long at all.

         Once your feet touched the ground, you took off, not caring where you went so long as it wasn't here. You ran in the direction of the sun, where its dying light bled over the horizon and painted the aging sky red. Was it possible to jump into the horizon? To allow it to swallow you whole as it did to the sun? Being in the belly of the earth didn't sound too bad. It almost sounded peaceful. Quiet. Safe.

       You walked by a family of three just then. There was a little girl who looked to be a few years younger than you, flanked by both parents on either side. They held her hand and their smiles didn't look forced. Their eyes were filled with light and their faces weren't marred by hard angry lines. As for the little girl, she was quite jubilant. Laughing and talking circles around her parents.

        You were like that at one point. Stars filled your eyes, tiny bells were in your giggles, and there was never a frown on your face. You had all you needed and all you could ever want. Auntie Maggie would braid your hair and buy you dolls, uncle Renji would teach you magic tricks and read you bedtime stories. How could you not smile and laugh when they gave you a reason to everyday? So why, why did they let you go? Why didn't auntie Maggie and uncle Renji fight to keep you? Did they get tired of you? Is that why they didn't put up a fight when your parents stole you away from the circus? Something warm and wet trickled down your cheek. It took you a moment to realize they were tears and you use the back of your sleeve to wipe them away. 

     By the time you stopped walking a park came into view. It was mostly empty save for a few families still meandering about. Nobody bothered you as you took a seat on the park bench, which was good since you couldn't stop the tears from falling down your face. It would be a bad public relations move for the people  to witness the infamous child of light shed tears at a park. So you wore the approaching evening like a cloak and buried your wet face in your knees. Here you could be Aera. Not the child of light. Not the healer of the sick. Or the reviver of the dead. You were just you, a blissfully insignificant you. 

           There was movement coming from behind you. A muffled crunch of grass and the soft rustling of clothes in the breeze, whoever it was sat next to you on the bench but you didn't lift your head up to see who. You just wanted to be left alone in peace until you were inevitably found and dragged back to the temple. However, reality wasn't in the business of giving you what you wanted, but in this situation you weren't sure if you minded at all the moment you heard a warm honeyed voice say, "why the long face, my dear?"

[secret-engima]

Snippet of Deleantur (pt2)

(continuation from later on in this one-shot that continues to spiral out of control. Friendly summary is that Deleantur is a time-traveling Noctis who went back way further than he intended, but that’s okay since it just meant he saved the world in time to save Ardyn too. Of course, he’s the only one who knows about that time-travel bit, so other people are Very Confused at times)

     Somnus was genuinely overjoyed when Deleantur finally expressed interest in fishing at a large pool they stumbled across. Because as boring as it was to wait around while Deleantur tirelessly hunted down fish with his rod and line, it was a sign of the young man he, Ardyn, and Aera had been coming to know —a sign of the brother Somnus and Ardyn were coming to love as fiercely as they ever had each other—.

     Somnus even made an effort to demonstrate as much by sitting next to Deleantur on his chosen rock, watching the ripples in the water as Deleantur patiently reeled in his line again and recast in hopes of a bite, “You have a lot of patience for this.”

     Deleantur hummed, “I like it.”

     Somnus huffed, “Yes, but-. You aren’t this patient with other activities. It’s …” unusual, strange, interesting, “different.”

     “That’s because it doesn’t hurt.”

     Somnus stilled and behind him, Ardyn and Aera did too, “…Hurt?”

     Deleantur gave a low noise as he adjusted his grip on his fishing pole, “Yeah.” Deleantur paused, like he was considering something, then continued, “When I was a kid, about … eight years old. I … couldn’t do a lot of stuff. It hurt too much and I was already constantly tired from the medication and the physical therapy. I didn’t want to go outside, even though they said sunshine and fresh air would help me. I didn’t want to … play or run or jump, but books were boring and heavy. So Dad took me out one day and … taught me to fish. He showed me his fishing rod and his line and his lures, taught me how to hold the rod and throw a line, then we sat there together and waited for a fish.”

     Deleantur’s tone was nostalgic and Somnus didn’t dare speak, because this was the first time Deleantur had ever truly talked about his father or his childhood. Deleantur fidgeted with his reel, “I think if I’d been any other kid, it would have been boring. But it was outdoors, and I had a perfect excuse to sit still in the sunshine for hours, and … and Dad was there. Dad was teaching me. So I practiced, and I begged to go fishing whenever I could because I knew he’d come with me to show me how it was done and eventually I … loved it. It reminds me of those days. Before…” Deleantur’s voice trailed off, and breath hitched with sadness.

     Ardyn, who had settled silently on Deleantur’s other side at some point in the story, asked, “Why was it so painful for you to move? Did your father not know the recipes for your powerful healing draughts?” Because potions and elixirs did not require the magic of the Crystal they’d learned, just careful selection of ingredients and even more careful preparation.

     Deleantur did that gesture with his shoulders that he used so often, “Potions and elixirs only work so well. Especially when it’s … serious. If I’d gotten one as soon as it happened, maybe it would have worked, but I didn’t, so I had to recover the slow way.”

     “Recover from what?”

     Deleantur looked up from his fishing, considered the two of them, then reached back with one hand to tug his tunic hem up just enough to show the small of his back and a bit of his spine. Ardyn sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of the old scars stretching along the small of Noctis’s back, each at least as wide as two of Somnus’s fingers. The scars disappeared under his clothes in both directions, hinting at a size and damage larger than they could see and Somnus winced, because even he could tell that whatever had left those was … bad. They also looked distinctly like blade scars. Or possibly claws.

     Ardyn reached out with a shaking hand and it was a testament to how far they’d come in earning his trust that Deleantur didn’t flinch away from the gentle touch, just went back to his fishing with a quiet, “A daemon attack. Ripped open the car. Killed the bodyguards, then took out the woman trying to get me to safety. I’m not sure if it was aiming for me that time, or if my getting caught in it was just an … accident. It was going to finish me off when my dad and his guards showed up and drove it off, but by that point the damage was done.”

     Ardyn was still tracing the scars with a reverent touch, “It’s a miracle you survived this. It’s a miracle you can walk. I can only imagine-.” Ardyn stopped and went very quiet. So quiet Deleantur lowered his rod and twisted around to look at Ardyn in concern. Ardyn looked over his shoulder at Aera who was watching from a polite distance with a vaguely horrified expression, then looked back, “You are in pain, aren’t you? All the time. That’s why you limp, why you sleep so often and yet you-. All of this travel, and battle, and hard labor. Why?” Why would you do that to yourself?

     Deleantur sighed and slipped his fishing rod back into armiger with a flick of his wrist, shifted to face them, “It’s my duty.”

     Aera finally joined the conversation, settling down on the grass just behind their rock as she whispered, “You’ve mentioned duty before. What duty drives you to such lengths? No one knew you were of royal blood until a few months ago. Have you not already done enough?”

     Deleantur shook his head, “No. No it’s-. It’s not over,” his expression folded briefly, weary and old again before it smoothed out, “it’s never going to be over. I made a promise. I’m going to fulfill it.” He shook his head again, like a man trying to clear away an inner fog, “Besides, it’s not so bad. I’m … used to it. And it’s better now,” blue eyes glanced at them through thick lashes, “I’m not alone anymore.”

     Aera didn’t smile like she usually would have, just reached out her hands like Ardyn was already doing, “Can we-? May we try? To ease your pain?”

     Deleantur waved their hands away, “Don’t waste your time. The scars are … old, and I’m used to them.” He blinked at their expressions and insisted, “Seriously, I’m fine. I’m used to it, and if Sy- if the healers couldn’t fix it when it was fresh, you aren’t going to be able to fix it now.”

     Somnus watched the two healers of the group fuss and pout, Ardyn going so far as to wax on in a poetic way that was supposed to make Deleantur guilty enough to let him have his way, and tried to fit the newest puzzle pieces of Deleantur into place. Deleantur’s … father —not sire, because that would be Ardyn’s and Somnus’s father— must have been nobility. Deleantur had mentioned servants and guards and what must be one of his strange words for a carriage —Car? Car sounded like it was short for carriage, and Deleantur had a lot of strange words and even stranger ways of using existing words to mean things Somnus would never have associated with them—. Probably the noble of another kingdom, one of the neutral or far away ones, which would explain why Somnus’s father had never caught wind of Deleantur before now.

     But that didn’t explain some of the other things he’d said previously. Or how Deleantur’s mother had met Somnus’s father if her native kingdom did not interact much with Somnus’s. That wouldn’t explain why Deleantur was traveling around here instead of his home country —and Somnus would have heard if an entire kingdom fell in the months leading up to the Wave wouldn’t he?— or who Noctis was, the mysterious King of the Crystal Deleantur had only ever mentioned once. Ardyn had brought up the possibility of Noctis being Deleantur’s elder twin brother, which might explain that part, but that still didn’t explain how they’d learned to purify the starscourge or why Deleantur hadn’t returned to his home kingdom to help out the peasants there rather than the ones here.

     Not that Somnus wanted Deleantur to leave. He’d gotten attached to his mad, unexpected sibling.

     Somnus’s thoughts were interrupted by a startled yelp from Ardyn and a sudden splash of water rippling up onto the rock. Somnus looked up in mild alarm. Ardyn was missing from the rock, Aera was smothering laughter into her hands and Deleantur was grinning, honest to Astrals grinning, like a child who had successfully stolen something from under the cooks’ noses, and Ardyn was-.

     Resurfacing from the pond water, sputtering and sulking, violet red hair hanging in front of his face like a soaking curtain and his precious embroidered white tunic —the only royal garb Ardyn had refused to part with— already turning see-through from all the liquid it was absorbing. Somnus took several long seconds to process that Deleantur, mad, broken, usually too-serious Deleantur had just pushed Ardyn into the pond just to make him be quiet.

     If it had been Somnus that had suffered such a fate, Ardyn would have immediately moved to help him out like a dutiful older brother should, checking for injuries and fussing about possible illnesses brought about by the cold water and the diseases of the pond weeds or some such nonsense. Ardyn would have smiled like a lunatic, but politely refrained from outright laughter until after Somnus was safely ensconced on dry land and dressed in fresh, dry clothes with a possibly a cup of comforting wine in hand.

     Somnus, being the shamelessly cruel little brother that he was, sat there for a good two minutes pointing at Ardyn’s misery and laughing until his sides hurt.

     Ardyn, who could have swum to the sloping, pebbled section of the bank and climbed out on his own at any time, chose instead to tread water and pout at them the entire time, whining melodramatically about cruel siblings and horrible fates and all the things he could fall ill of here in the water —the silly grin on his face gave it all away for the show it was—.

     Ardyn eventually splashed water at the rock and Deleantur scooted to his feet to escape the assault. Somnus just snickered and leaned away from the stray droplets before finally crouching at the edge of the rock and holding out a hand for his brother, “Come on then, Brother, can’t have you suffering a watery demise just yet.” Ardyn reached out a hand and took Somnus’s and then-.

     Water.

     Somnus resurfaced with a spluttering squawk, flailing against Ardyn’s chest as his brother tried not to be shoved under by Somnus’s sudden submersion, “De- Deleantur!” Somnus had done nothing —much— to deserve being pushed in like that-.

     There was a watery, coughing laugh just to his side and Somnus blinked past the wet hair in his eyes at … Deleantur. Treading water next to them and looking just as surprised as they were.

     All three Lucis Caelums looked up to the rock … at Aera, who stood on the rock with a serene smile worthy of temple statues on her face as she fluttered her eyelashes and asked if the three of them were alright. A picture of holy innocence and decorum and kindness the filthy little liar. As if her shoulders weren’t shaking with suppressed laughter and her hands weren’t still outstretched from pushing Deleantur into Somnus in such a way as to make them both topple into the pond at the same time.

     Deleantur broke the brothers’ stunned silence  first, laughing so hard Ardyn and Somnus had to hold him up for fear he’d stop treading water and sink right to the bottom. They dragged each other out of the water, Deleantur still giggling helplessly like a child, and though Somnus scowled and swore revenge against Aera for her treachery, they all knew there was no real bite to his words, not when Deleantur was laughing louder and freer than they’d thought possible.

[tarotdeckshuffle]

Masterlist

The majority of what I write is based off of requests, so it’s not always obvious what a post is about or how to find it. Have no fear, the Masterlist is here!

This list is organized chronologically (oldest to newest).

Last Updated July 11, 2019. 

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Note that on my web page, you must hover over the image for it to display in full color.

Silhouettes on Night Sky

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(The majority of my HCs include: Ravus, Luna, Ardyn, Cor, and Nyx. A few even include Aranea and Crowe. The HCs that are character exclusive are marked)

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FFXV Characters & D&D Dice

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(Both of these only include Ignis and Prompto)

Eyelash in Eye

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Finding out About Engagement

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Once Upon A December

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Tender Moments with Prompto

Introducing Baby to World

Prompto Introducing his New Baby

Imagine Prompto as a Father

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Honey on Your Lips

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Pregnancy

Blackbird

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Love Letter

Where Love Blooms Easily

Lavender Tea (Pregnancy)

Ardyn x Reader

Reader w/ Depression Getting Comforted

As If Breathing Was Easy

Shadows on Your Skin

Just His Shirt (NSFW)

Comparing Yourself to Aera

A Present for Two (NSFW)

Beside You

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Cor x Reader

Falling Late

Nyx x Reader

Love on the Battlefield

Noctis x Nyx

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Of Love and Clouds

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Table for Three

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Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

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Come Home, Cinderella

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Detroit Become Human

System Reboot

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An Echo of Eternity

Harry Potter

Why Dementors Hate Pets

Hustle Cat

HCs