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Veni Vidi Vici	By : Saber007 Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy XV Views: 1503 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XV, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
The chapter some of you have been waiting for, a sleepy prince and his retinue finally makes their appearance! I know it's not the usual cup of tea for FFXV with its perspective, so I commend the readers that give it a chance. Thanks everybody for the comments and kudos, I'm very appreciative of the time you take write out feedback.
Latin

Igne natura renovatur integra- Through fire, nature is reborn whole.

Astra inclinant, sed non obligant- The stars incline us, they do not bind us.

Faber est suae quisque fortunae- Every man is the artisan of his own fortune.
XV
"Why do you have to do that? It drives me insane!" Ardyn objected with a dark glower at the pacing princess.
Watching her go in circles made him dizzy and the loud clicks from every footstep of hers grated on his ears. The second complaint was a shame since he loved heels on Imperatrix, but when mixed with routine worry it wrecked the illusion of a beautiful woman strutting about in her element.
Oh...he'd had many a fantasy of her strutting in heels in a lovely, fluttering dress, lodging a sword into the ground with her hands resting on the handle and imperiously looking like a ruler. His queen...
How she'd become so fierce and beautiful over the years. A little more pushing and the princess would become that glorious fantasy.
Imperatrix paused, giving him an equally withering look. "I am nervous, alright?"
The two were waiting in the command room for Ravus. They'd already dismissed the other soldiers attending them. With the room to themselves, the princess was more inclined to roam around, surveying the charts, boards, and notes distributed about from the brigadier general's meetings.
"Be nervous, but be still." Ardyn waved his hand towards the chair next to him, tilting his head in a pleading expression. "I really cannot take a minute more of this."
Relenting, the princess took a seat. She checked her phone for notifications to occupy herself. Neither Tempesta or Nebula had bombarded her phone with messages. Whatever the chancellor told them must've satisfied their worry. Or they were too drained from the night before to care, taking a free day to cool off.
Her retainers were more loyal than she probably deserved, but they could be uninterested in the princess's struggles on occasion. They'd given her no assistance against the tonberry, which was fine since Imperatrix was more than happy to tangle with it, but dutiful attendants would've supported their liege.
Not toss jokes for her fascination.
"Much quieter…" He exhaled, theatrically sinking in his chair.
Now if only the thousands of other sounds would cease. A minute more of listening to clicking along with the racket in his head would've pushed him to go on a rampage.
The prince couldn't be far judging by how obnoxious the burdensome leeches were behaving. Ardyn was seconds away from bashing his head in or tearing off his ears just for some peace of mind.
Quiet…sweet silence.
All he wanted was silence for one damn moment!
"I did not mean to bother you. I apologize." Imperatrix said after noticing the pained grimace cross the chancellor's face and him clenching the arm of the chair.
Ardyn released the armrest from his grip, transferring the hand to the contrite woman's knee, squeezing gently once all traces of irritation were gone from his face. "A sudden headache is the cause of my shortness, not you, my dear."
She nodded in understanding. Her own head was still working at half-capacity from the hangover.
It became eerily hushed then, an occurrence that while welcome, perturbed Imperatrix. When the red-head didn't make any moves toward furthering conversation, merely clenching his eyes closed with a sigh and hitting his head against the chair, she clutched the hand still on her knee.
Talking was a constant with the chancellor. He typically went on and on regardless of whether others cared to listen or respond. A habit that made those unaccustomed to him assert that the man was self-absorbed, fond of his own grandiloquent voice, but she understood that Ardyn talked so much because he enjoyed the connection with people, even if he was cementing a negative one.
He was someone abating loneliness with childish grabs for attention through conversations and pranks. Yet, when given that consideration he drew back, keeping the person at the surface of the facade, afraid to let go of the malicious trickster everyone saw him as and let them see him for what he was. A lonely man carrying immense pain and self-loathing from tragedies, when in fact, he had the greatest capacity for kindness and sacrifice.
Equal measures of light and darkness, but he chose to present one aspect to the world.
Why? Why did Ardyn cling to that persona?
He didn't need to hide from her.
But who was she to talk?
A subdued, obedient princess was the guise Imperatrix wore when next to the emperor in councils, speaking up only when necessary or asked to and with no glimpse into how disgusted she could be with the power-seeking men around her. They had the right aspirations, but the methods corrupted the pure ideals.
Sad how good intentions were ruined...
If not the mask of a princess, then Imperatrix was the stern, unbeatable, commander that her soldiers could look to for inspiration. She wasn't nearly as grueling of a teacher as Glauca had been, but those under her employ did grumble that she could be unrelenting in training.
A consequence of her life being a constant trial of worthiness that fueled her ambition to be the best. She expected no less from her soldiers.
The two aspects of her life that dominated and drowned her…
She wanted some of the old her back. The woman that smiled and lived, breathing in life as the gift it was, not the burden it'd become.
To be happy again...
"You really must calm down. If I didn't believe you could do this, I wouldn't have bothered you, Impera." Ardyn uttered, wriggling his hand that she was close to breaking with her grip.
She released his hand.
"Now, now. Don't be so obvious." He reminded, glancing up to the camera when she was about to reach over for him. "Keep your hands to yourself, pretty little minx."
Imperatrix coughed, scooting the chair closer to the table and sitting properly with her legs crossed and hands clasped in her lap. "Do not speak to me like that then."
The chancellor chuckled. "Now you are trying too hard."
He slunk his hand under the table, stealing her hand back to twine their fingers. What they couldn't see on those cameras he could get away with.
"Where does this faith come from? You are under the impression I can do anything." Imperatrix traced shapes over the glove with her free hand.
A simple touch could soothe a person. The prevailing sense of dread and urgency dimmed within her.
She'd faced much worse than a grudge-bearing man in charge of the entire imperial land force in the last months. There wasn't any reason for her to be nervous, but the probability of failure always did that to a person.
"I thought you were unbreakable? Doesn't that imply accomplishment?"
A tiny smile cut across the somberness of the princess. The door opening to admit the high commander made the two secret lovers relinquish their hold, snapping into their roles.
"Her Imperial Highness and the Lord Chancellor. To what do I owe this unexpected arrival?" Ravus announced himself, striding across the room to the table.
Imperatrix was so shocked by the new appearance of the elder Fleuret that she stood mute and frozen before him.
Gone was the fair hair he shared with Lunafreya, rendered a startling white that could make him pass as an Aldercapt alongside her and Euphemia. His eyes were no longer a matching pair of blue, but a heterochromatic mix of blue and violet. Weight had been lost for his cheeks were far more hollow and there was a gauntness to him that wasn't present before.
The most significant change was the mechanical limb attachment where she last saw a charred stump. A purple and silver display of the latest magitek equipment was now the high commander's arm.
"Can you…truly be Ravus?" Imperatrix questioned, hesitantly squeezing the man's mortal arm.
"Are you daft? Who else would I be?" He snipped, jerking away from the breach in personal space.
"Ah, well…that response certainly aligns with the man I know." Convinced, the princess crossed her arms to prevent anymore contact and hid how stung she was by his rejection.
She knew how much Ravus disliked physical contact, especially with others present, but they hadn't seen one another since Insomnia. He could've swallowed his pride to accept a familiar greeting from her.
They were friends, and at the very least in-laws, not strangers to stand on stiff ceremony. Geez...
"What games are you playing now, Chancellor Izunia? Why have you brought Imperatrix here?" The high commander turned his vexation on the innocently grinning red-head.
"Game? Me?!" He laid a hand on his chest in disbelief, an elaborate show of mockery.
"You know who is coming to this base and how dangerous this place will become." The now bleached-blonde's expression darkened more. "So I ask again, what game is this?!"
Ardyn chuckled, fingers tapping on the table as he circled around to his seat. "Unfortunately, I don't agree with your plan. The emperor hasn't explicitly called for Prince Noctis's death. Your actions here are hasty."
At Ravus's scoff, Imperatrix gestured for him to join them at the table instead of standing. He curtly placed himself at the head spot after the princess seated herself next to the the red-headed devil.
"You are the chancellor, you have no say in military matters." The high commander argued impatiently.
"That's probably for the best because I'd make a mess of it. Still doesn't stop me from intervening though." He sighed exaggeratedly. "My lord, you're going out of your way to prove that rank wasn't handed out of favoritism from the emperor."
"I was handed nothing! I earned my power."
Titles were murky, complicated, clouds hanging over people's heads.
Ravus worked hard to get where he was, High Commander of the Imperial Landforce. He spent years listening to the jeers of the people who attacked his home while he enlisted in the army, rather than stay home as a weak figure-head. Evey day was miserable and stoked his temper, resulting in numerous reprimands and setbacks when he beat the shit out of the offenders.
He wouldn't have even been a powerful figure-head with the title of prince stripped from him and reduced to a mere lord by courtesy. On top of that, males weren't valued the same in Tenebrae as they were in other countries.
If he stayed…his life would've been a shadow to his sister's blinding radiance.
No.
Instead he chose to be ridiculed by everyone, his own people and sister included, all for the chance of being in control. They disowned him for climbing the ranks of the imperials.
They all were blind to his true motives.
Caught in two worlds and finding acceptance in neither… None of them understood. Nobody would ever understand him.
Everything he did was for his country and house. Now that Ravus had more authority than Imperatrix, he would put an end to things.
"Before we go any further, I wish to know one thing." The princess started up the discussion after a period of watching the elder Fleuret glare intensely at Ardyn, who smiled indifferently and texted on his phone. "Why do you wish to kill Noctis?"
"Need I answer the most banal question?"
She twitched at the continuing disrespectful tantrum unreasonably aimed at her. A restraining hand on her thigh cooled a possible flare of irritation. The princess sloped in her posture, the toe of her boot clicking gently against Ardyn's to show she'd reigned herself in.
"My father has given no express order to kill the prince. As it stands, if subjugated, he is to be taken into custody. No different from any other royal of a conquest." Imperatrix stated less warmly since Ravus was in the mood for snubbing. "Do not confuse your desires for that of the emperor's."
"And you know them? You, who was exiled for speaking out? For rejecting the emperor's ambitions?" The high commander curled his lip, mechanical arm glinting in the light as he leaned forward on the table. "It is I who can say 'do not impose your wishes on higher powers'."
His words cut deeply, tearing at the princess's resolve.
A call on the intercom halted more potshots between an Aldercapt and a Fleuret. Ravus stood to leave.
"You are a commander, I shall allow you to review the operation and join, should you choose." He retrieved a folder from the stack of files on the cabinet and tossed it onto the table. "Or feel free to stay here, out of my way."
Imperatrix barely acknowledged him depart without her say so.
Why bother mentioning how rude and dismissive the elder Fleuret had been towards her? It wasn't anything she didn't deal with from others. What bothered her most was the cold strike that she was nothing to her father, not dear or treasured, but a cog in the machine.
Had his voicemail been a lie? He still hadn't spoken to her, nor had she drawn the courage to speak to him. She wanted to talk to him, wanted to go home...
Pathetic.
"That went terribly!" Ardyn quipped and frowned when the princess didn't respond with exasperation or annoyance. "My dear, it's not the end of the world. You've still got time to convince him. I would've been shocked if you managed it on the first attempt."
"Where did I go wrong?" She uttered without thought.
"With Ravus? I think the hangover is affecting your charisma. You're a little cranky too. Don't get worked up up over every bit of goading."
"With my father?!" Imperatrix blurted out from him not understanding.
Thrown, the imp stared and his response didn't come fast enough. She ducked her head into the cover of her arms, hidden from the world.
Apparently, the princess was never too old or too mature to have meltdown.
He concluded the playfulness in recognition of this being a vulnerable spell. The chancellor left her for a moment to order one of the soldiers outside to retrieve refreshments and the other to allow no entry. Then Ardyn returned to the distraught woman, sitting as close as he could without it appearing improper.
Holding and comforting Imperatrix wasn't possible like the last circumstance. The cameras were functioning and the base was fully manned. Much as he wanted, the red-head couldn't touch her, only speak sweetly.
Secretive courtship at its best.
"My Musa, are you crying?"
She shrugged, to which he hummed mournfully.
"If I tell you a secret, will you perk up?" The chancellor suggested something he knew would interest the listener. "I do dislike seeing you upset."
At the offer, Imperatrix lifted her head to look at him, revealing that she hadn't been crying, but looking no less downtrodden. Slowly, an encouraging grin of his got her to fully look up.
"Go ahead."
"Do you recall the notebook you gave me for my birthday?" He chortled at how the Aldercapts got him into celebrating something so trifling and easily forgettable in his condition.
Oh, birthdays.
The addition of each candle on a cake presented to him by the royal princesses outwardly earned his amusement, but internally he raged over the reminders, wanting to stab the candles into certain celestial beings for them screwing him over. However, that would be a waste of a perfectly good cake and he'd come to adore pastries.
Those egotistical liars wouldn't ruin chocolate cake for him. No, no, no.
The funniest parts of those birthdays were when he went into the palace chapel and lit a few effigies on fire in honor of the Astrals. He almost wished a bolt of lightning would strike him down, a sword impale him, ice freeze him, the earth swallow him, or the water drown him. Death by fire wasn't bound to happen, not with the contract.
Any kind of response from them would've been hilarious.
He'd become decidedly macabre in his old age, imaging bloody deaths on the day of his birth. Boredom did strange things to a person.
"The black hardback with your initials on the front and filled with pages I have never seen." Imperatrix found it humorous that his initials spelled out love in the language of Yasu.
His birth in September that categorized him as a Virgo also cracked the princess up.
There was hardly anything pure and innocent about the man. Ardyn's appetite put hers to shame and challenged it. Furia's conjectures about him might not have been complete lunacy. He spoke so suggestively and openly about adding Nyx to her collection...
"Most the pages are filled with my ramblings, but some…" The chancellor paused for dramatic effect, eyes glinting at the princess breathing deeply in the way she did when indecent thoughts were stirring up her mind. "Some of the those pages feature life drawings…of you."
Not where he was originally going, but seeing as her mind was already on track for this, he could keep personal cards in holding for a rainy day.
"You have sketched me? Why would that be a secret?" The interest faded from her countenance.
Ardyn randomly drawing her was nothing new. He did that often when she lived in the palace and the imp was playing hooky from work. The man didn't even try to hide the behavior from her or the servants, boldly interrupting her relaxations in the gardens to sketch the princess among nature.
"These aren't the regular portraits." The red-head lowered his voice, honeyed words striking a note in Imperatrix. "These were done in the afterglow of love."
Her breath hitched as comprehension sunk in, frantically whispering. "Y-You have n-nude pictures of me?!"
He made a noise of agreement, waving around the mentioned notebook. "The most classical art! Exultation of the human physique."
"I should be angry with this, but your archaic method makes me laugh." The princess giggled.
A regular man would've used his phone to take a picture. Her unorthodox paramour chose to commit the memory to paper.
"Let me see." She demanded, reaching for the flying book.
"Should I? Should I not?" Ardyn swatted her hand with the book and then covered the bottom half of his face with it, closing his eyes in thought.
"Why would you even do that?"
"I was inspired to follow an old friend's habit of immortalizing his lovers. He was a much better artist than I…" He opened his eyes, the heat in them tickling Imperatrix's insides. "I think I should deny you...just the thought of these portraits is provoking me. The intelligence officers are sure to have a field day if I display them."
"That's right…" She peeked at the camera above.
In her distraction, Ardyn pocketed the treasure. He'd let her see on another occasion and find merriment in her bewitching blush.
"Always teasing me…" Imperatrix grumbled, puffing air out her nose as she found something else to browse through, namely the folder left behind by Ravus. "You could have told me something deeper. I could tell you were going to…"
Ardyn studied her, drawn by how the white-haired woman didn't concern herself with hiding her feelings from the right people. She possessed a sense of honesty in her emotions that most didn't, especially for a woman of Nephilim lineage. Imperial women could be some of the most deceitful masterminds at court.
"Your concerns about your father can be discussed when we aren't likely to be interrupted. Our personal conversations should stay between us."
"Do you mean that…"
A knock on the door with the announcement of a soldier confirmed the chancellor's statement and he called for them to enter. The man deposited two cups of coffee, bowed, and returned to his post.
"Tell me, what's the high commander's plan of attack?" Ardyn inquired, idly drinking the beverage.
"Cornering Prince Noctis once he infiltrates the base. He will be boxed in by the soldiers inside and if he manages to escape, the arriving legion will attack." Imperatrix flipped through the pages. "A considerable force to subdue four men, even if they have magic."
"Don't underestimate them, my dear. They did put down the Archaean."
"You still owe me an explanation for his involvement in Operation Godslayer."
He coughed, choking on liquid as he laughed and patted her on the hand. "T-That's what you're calling it? You're so precious."
"Tempesta suggested it! It is a fine, explanatory name!" Imperatrix drank her coffee in effort to ignore the man smiling tolerantly as she reddened the more he sniggered.
Too quickly, the liquid was spat into the cup, not from the bitter brand typical of military bases that took years to get used to, but from the scalding heat capable of burning off taste buds. The princess mewled in pain, rolling her tongue around and scowling at the person still obtaining mirth from her actions.
"How are you drinking that when it's piping hot?!" She'd incorrectly assumed the beverage was fine at seeing Ardyn consume it without issue.
Big mistake!
"Oh…it is, isn't it?" His eyebrows rose as he quieted and peered into the dark depths of coffee.
He'd hardly paid attention to the pain.
"My apologies, Dearest Musa. I forgot to warn you."
"It is like you do not register pain!" Imperatrix groused, setting the offending cup down.
"Not really. I'm numb to it on most days..." There was a note of tension to his words, but Ardyn moved on before it could be commented on. "In your opinion, when do you think Noctis will be here, Commander Aldercapt?"
Her response was delayed, dismayed by the nonchalance to which he treated himself. "At…night. We outnumber him, therefore a sneak attack is in his best interest, which Ravus has predicted."
"Then you have until then to complete your task. Best you approach the high commander without me." The chancellor stood. "I don't get along with children of the light."
"Where are you going?" She almost grabbed ahold of his hand to stop him from leaving.
That air of rancor controlling him bothered her to no end. What did she need to do in order to rid him of it?
"I'd love to follow you around, we get so little time together. But alas, touring princesses, prodigious engineers, and secretaries require my attention." Ardyn winked, texting rapidly on his phone.
That explained why the motormouth had been preoccupied with the device since he disturbed her in the twilight hours of the day.
"Fine, you troll. Leave me with the decidedly harder assignment."
"I know you won't disappoint. That's why I count on you without reserve." He doffed his hat in a respectful bow and in the rise she wanted to chuck something at him for the insolent enjoyment he got out of messing with her.
She still smiled anyway as he departed in a flutter of his billowing coat, nearly hopping to a tune of his own making.
Why did Ardyn have such faith in her? He was possibly…the only person in her life who never doubted in her abilities. If Imperatrix proclaimed she'd reach the sky, he'd laugh a bit, but believed her outrageous statements, encouraging to the end.
It was a little daunting and largely comforting to have someone so ready to tell her to be true and mean it.
Be true…
Humans could be such hypocrites, and yet, beautiful things were never perfect.
"Ravus?" The princess called.
He dismissed his lieutenant commander, replying placidly. "Imperatrix."
She stepped beside him, overlooking the courtyard below.
The soldiers were in the middle of drills. Magitek armors were setting up barricades and moving cargo. In the background of all this activity was a large generator giving off mists of red energy.
"What is that?"
"An improvement on the lighthouse mechanism. It creates a barrier to keep out the daemons. Proficient, smaller, and less costly than three or four actual towers." The platinum-blonde moved closer to the railing, shouting a reprimand aimed at a group sparing in faulty forms. "I do not need more nuisances to deal with."
"I read your plan. It is efficient." She held out the folder.
"And will you be participating?"
"What do you expect of me? Clearly, Prince Noctis is reserved for you."
"He does not travel alone. You could incapacitate the bodyguards." The high commander faced her, mechanical limb retrieving the papers.
Looking at Ravus without surprise for the new changes would take a spell and he angled his body so only the human side was visible. Imperatrix chastised herself for making the man uncomfortable enough to draw away from her.
Subconscious of his differences, the high commander had been on edge all day, glaring at anybody gaping too long at his arm. The idiots were acting like they'd never seen a prosthetic limb before, when plenty of people had them, civilians and soldiers alike.
The princess and chancellor dropping in on him definitively didn't improve his mood, plunging it into turbulent denouncing of everyone and everything in his sight.
"If you wanted to take on the prince in single combat, you should not have arranged this grand force." The princess moved to the other side of the ramp, spotting the prized car being transported to another section. "Four against hundreds? Even with magic, the odds are against them. My assistance is unnecessary."
"Have you forgotten what Lucian magic is capable of? Resurrecting the dead. Raising barriers to cover continents. Decimating armies with the elements." The high commander's metal hand malformed the railing, causing an ugly screech over the noise of training. "All of this is not nearly enough to overcome the Chosen King."
Where had she heard that title from?
"Perhaps I am underestimating him. I did see what he did to the Norduscaen Base." Imperatrix felt a bit of relief when the drills ended, and with it, the disturbances adding to her headache.
The coffee cleared her mind to a degree, but she still was in the mindset of wanting the day to be over as quickly as possible.
"I am also biased from the bits Lunafreya shared about the prince. He is the picture of gentility in her eyes. My mind cannot reconcile that with the reports of a mindless berserker destroying everything in his path." She chose not to add how Regis's great sacrifice of his life and city for his son weighed in on her opinion.
For a father to give so much, the son had to be a special boy.
"Ugh, Luna…always singing praises of that wretch!" The elder Fleuret spat. "Stupid girl! That boy will be her death."
"I know it seems like the end of the world when our younger siblings have a crush, but it truly is not." Imperatrix spun to gaze at Ravus's taunt back. "My friend, are you not exaggerating?"
"You know nothing. Otherwise you would not trivialize."
"Then explain it to me. I grow weary of all these plots and standing fool at the reveal!"
He snorted bitterly. "How strange. You are full of ironies today."
Ravus could never forget the horror of seeing airships descend on Fenestala Manor. The behemoth that cracked the ground from the weight of his armor and tore through flesh with the swing of his blade. No one could oppose that monster.
The closet to revenge he could get on Glauca now was claiming his position in the army. The bastard went and died in Insomnia. With so much mystery surrounding the creature, the elder Fleuret took what was left of his enemy's legacy.
Had the Ring of the Lucii not rejected him and burnt off his arm, Ravus would've turned its power on his mother's killer. In one fell swoop, revenge and ascension, poetic justice for the wrongs this life heaped on him.
A tragic accident, a casualty. The same words applied to the late Queen of Tenebrae should've been applied to General Glauca.
Blasted Lucians ruining everything, again and again!
They should've never came to Tenebrae and his mother should've never allowed them into their land. Bull-headed just like her daughter, Sylva heard only her own will and not those of the people counseling caution.
She'd been forewarned to deny the Lucians entry into Niflheim. The emperor at the time was still enraged over the death of his wife and crippling of his daughter, having no sympathy for Regis's distress over Noctis's Starscourge infected wounds. He didn't want his greatest enemy so close and neither did he want Tenebrae blatantly allying with them.
Queen Sylva found the whole feuding between the monarchs distasteful.
A man lost his wife and almost lost his daughter, inflicting the same loss on the offender, leaving two men with disabled children. Thinking she could repair the broken relations by healing the sick child and then bringing the monarchs together, his mother snuck the Lucians into Fenestala Manor.
They all paid dearly for her hubris. If only he could go back in time and tell her not to do it...
A part of him held so much anger towards his mother for her mistake and for her dying, leaving him with mountains of responsibilities long before he was ready.
"I have a debriefing to attend, join me and I shall enlighten you of certain events. Then you will change your mind about the prince." Ravus indifferently took in the misshapen metal, flexing his mechanical fingers.
Not the power he'd set out for, but power nonetheless.
With his own two hands he was damned sure going to change everything.
XV
"Has Luna behaved oddly?" The high commander closed his eyes, sinking into the office chair.
After sitting through two hours of debriefing with the brigadier general, the first lieutenant, his lieutenant commander, and the princess, Ravus was wiped. A very late lunch and three shots of coffee gave the man energy to contend with the temptation of nodding off.
The big downfall of his promotion was the increased workload. Managing one legion as a commander was pitifully easy compared to managing twelve. Not to mention the many bases he now had to monitor.
Being the admiral of the airforce would've been an easier job, then he'd only have to deal with the commodores. Too bad the branches were completely different and transfers were rare.
He didn't think he could miss doing paperwork while on recovery so much, even when it proved difficult due to missing an arm. Furia had to help him with most of it and was hardly any help with her distracting flirtations.
He'd take those tedious routines over listening to prickly fossils any day.
"I take it you are referring to the blackouts, the obsessive musical episodes, and the frequent comas?" Imperatrix didn't mince words, worried for the girl in question and wanting to get straight to the point.
"Yes." The high commander growled. "The repercussions of our lineage. Particularly in the female line."
Watching his mother convulse after healing one too many Starscourge victims or from visions had all but terrified a younger Ravus. Seeing his sister go through the same was too much.
"Is magic only in the females? You have had your own moments."
In battle, the elder Fleuret could have instances of a sixth-sense, foreseeing an attack before it happened and countering it. He also just seemed to know things without realizing it.
He'd confessed to her of knowing that an Aldercapt would be tied to him in marriage and that was why there wasn't any resistance from him when the emperor suggested it. His foreknowledge of the event could've been a vision, just like the abstract ones Lunafreya rambled on about.
"Song magic and healing is exclusive to the oracles. Visions, however, curse us all."
When did they first begin?
The multitude of bleak sceneries, each causing him to awaken in a fit of hysteria. Unable to sleep, Ravus would stalk the hallways and collaspe in the kitchen for something to settle his nerves.
He'd seen his sister die so many times!
"She has begun preforming magic by singing. Vastly different from how the Kingsglaive members utilized magic." Imperatrix explained, cutting her apple into slices and nibbling on one. "Potent curative and defensive magic are her strengths."
"Yes…she has her gifts. Her powers will continue to grow, just as the gods wish."
"The Astrals? What is the meaning of all this?" Imperatrix threw out her arms in indication of the entire base. "Why are those destructive deities being roused?"
For a good minute, Ravus peered at her with his mismatched eyes and she expected to get brushed off. The same question was put to Ardyn and he avoided answering.
What didn't she know?!
"Do you know of the Prophecy of The True King?" Ravus at last spoke, anguished beyond his years and broiling for the unfair lot of his family, for Lunafreya.
"The King of Light, the King of Kings, the Chosen King to banish darkness from the world." Imperatrix recited the tale from Cosmology books, realizing why the oracle referring to Noctis as chosen stood out. "It is a fairytale."
He gave her a dry eyeroll, disdain dripping from every pore of his being. "Most in the empire do not follow The Six, but the Cosmology is not just religious text. It is history!"
"Highly debatable…"
She herself went on the decline of Astral worship after Shiva attacked the empire without cause. Not that it incited a big stir when the Glacian wasn't the patron of Gralea, that title belonged to Ifrit, the ancient king of Solheim. The king humans betrayed in their lust and greed for power, eliciting the Infernian's damnation and starting a series of catastrophes.
The Lucians, and Tenebraens to a degree, viewed Gralean tributes to the fallen god as blasphemous, but the offerings were a show of penitence to one they wronged and acknowledgement of the great deeds bestowed on them by him.
Many forgot it was Ifrit that bequeathed fire unto man and took an interest when the other gods were indifferent to the plights of fragile, ephemeral mortals.
Yet, the God of Fire would only be known as the Betrayer for turning on humanity and being thrown down by the other Astrals. The bad overshadowed the good…when it should be a balance.
A life couldn't be defined so simply.
"Impera are you listening?" The high commander grunted, annoyed that the princess essentially tuned out his explanation on the Cosmology.
"Yes, of course, my lord!" She nodded quickly.
"Perjurer."
"We are not in court."
"I am the high commander, I can have you court-martialed."
"On what grounds? Theological differences?" Imperatrix huffed good-naturedly. "Leave all that to your cardinals and priests."
"They'd burn you heathens at the stake, but you all love fire so much that it would not be a punishment." Ravus raised an eyebrow patronizingly. "Remind me of that Gralean Eulogy again."
"Igne natura renovatur integra."
The elder Fleuret shook his head. Infidels the lot of them, but what did he care? If Ravus weren't closely associated to the church, he would become a heathen right alongside his wife.
Although, after his work was done, the church would probably excommunicate him for slaying revered gods.
Pah!
The Astrals didn't care about him. Never answering his pleas or even acknowledging him during his pilgrimage. He was nothing to them, so they were nothing to him.
"You and Lunafreya believe Prince Noctis to be the king mentioned in lore?" The princess remained skeptical, picturing the boy.
The last photo seen of Noctis by her was from a celebration party in honor of him graduating high school. A handsome young man with the bored streak of a camera-shy teenager completely out of place in his suit, surrounded by falsely smiling adults.
She found it astonishing that a prince even attended a regular school not catered to nobility.
The duties of royalty and the military prevented Imperatrix from receiving a classical education like her sisters. She'd been tutored most her life and then attended military academy at the age of fourteen with her going straight into deployment afterwards.
Five years went by before she returned home...
That apathetic wallflower was supposed to a Warrior of Light? More like a teen guitarist out of one of Euphemia's magazines.
The princess sat upright in her seat, pushing aside the tray of food she was taking forever to eat. "What next then? There is no darkness to banish. Eos is balanced."
"For now. As the nights get longer, the daemons grow stronger. I am sure you have noticed both."
"I have…"
The daemons were getting smarter too…operating less like mindless beast and more like cohesive units.
"I do not know when, but soon…darkness will cover everything. There will be no sun, no light." Ravus stared past his audience, mind mirky with nightmares no sane person could handle. "Beasts howling, a red moon, Starscourge devouring…"
"Ravus!" Imperatrix shook his hand, jolting the man out of his terror.
He gasped for breath, bolting out of the seat to walk around till his mind cleared.
"If...if what you say is true, that is all the more reason to not kill Noctis." She lingered nearby, pausing before comforting the platinum-blonde. "I know you are hurting, but killing that boy will not bring you peace. Quite the opposite."
With the high commander bunched over the chair it was easier for the princess to lay a palm on the man's head, gentling her tone to pacify.
"Vengeance taints and leaves you hollow."
"And which experience are referencing?" He began tumultuously.
"I do not under—"
"Your mother's killers that gunned you both down? The rioters that shoved Pompeia out a window? The kidnappers of Zeno and Alexius? Or the dozens of other offenders?" Ravus twisted to glare at her with his blue eye. "You Aldercapts can write the bloody book on revenge!"
Imperatrix dislodged herself from him, heart tearing from the worded plunges of mutilation.
"Why do you all attack me so?! All I try to do is help!" She muttered through clenched teeth, physically restraining herself from lashing out.
Ardyn warned her to not rise to taunts.
The princess returned to her seat and the glacial indifference she expressed at his observing keenly reminded Ravus of Lunafreya, but unlike his sister, Imperatrix wouldn't verbally lash out.
Sometimes her composure got on his nerves. He knew for a fact she possessed the same temper as Furia, the same explosive anger that resulted in broken objects. It was in that rage truths could come out.
As much as he and his wife argued, those disputes brought forth things neither would admit under normal circumstances and once they cooled down, eventually led to an understanding. Those retainers of Furia had told Ravus often that his tantrums were an unhealthy communication method.
But again, what did he care? Results were results.
Imperatrix, however, refused to be baited into revealing herself to him.
The thick silence with neither occupant acknowledging the other concluded when Ravus's phone lit up on the desk, showcasing a photo of a winking second princess. His facial expression dared the woman across from him to make a joke about the caller id.
"Excuse me while I take this." The high commander decreed, answering the call in French so no passerby would be able to eavesdrop as he stepped into the hallway.
Alone, Imperatrix looked towards the window. "The puer regem is the Chosen King. Is that why he interests you as well, Ardyn?"
The chancellor seemed to always know everything, steps ahead of everyone else. She'd be more surprised if he knew nothing of the Cosmology lore.
Fairytales from the Faith of the Six…
Did Regis believe the same of his son? Was that what he and Lunafreya were on about in Insomnia?
Too much! Why did Lucians have to be so complicated?
"May I ask what my sister wanted?" The princess posed once Ravus returned.
"My wife wants me to come home at the earliest chance. She would not tell me why, only that it was important." He gazed at the phone in contemplation. "It is unlike her to interfere with my work…"
With his head down, the elder Fleuret couldn't see the smirk on Imperatrix's face.
He could rant and complain all he wanted, kicking and tossing sand like a child. His infatuation was obvious in the sturdy denials, faint blushes, and secret photos. Ravus was smitten with his wife.
"Do you believe in fate, Impera?"
The sudden subject change bewildered the princess and without hesitation she answered. "Astra inclinant, sed non obligant. Faber est suae quisque fortunae."
"Well said."
Ravus hadn't like her, maybe even hated her after his mother was killed. Gone were the scant good memories of meeting a young girl of sweet temperament and boundless dreams, buried deep under replaying footage of Fenestala burning and the queen sacrificing herself for him.
Repetitive, forced time around her from their tenure in the academy and then in the legions left Imperatrix somewhere in the middle of two images of a film on a projector, torn between the pure, hopeful girl and the empire itself. It was difficult to distinguish the two at times.
But…
He needed her on his side. Imperatrix was the future of Niflheim.
"It is as you say, my future is my own and I choose to go against what is written." Ravus proclaimed, balling up his metal fist, the embodiment of what he was willing to do for his goals.
No more could be expressed on the subject as the lieutenant commander entered, informing them of the late hour and the commencement of the operation.
"Ally or foe, Commander Aldercapt?" The high commander questioned, waiting at the door as if it didn't matter, but the expectant gleam underneath the facade betrayed him.
When she joined him the scowl lifted marginally with relief and Ravus led Imperatrix out.
The darkness of the night almost caused the princess to miss the chancellor leaning nonchalantly on a crate. Disappointment in herself kept Imperatrix from immediately approaching him. She hadn't convinced the elder Fleuret at all, distracted by stories.
"Doing this will not endear Lunafreya to you." She pointed out from her place at the bottom of the stairs.
The base became encircled by red waves from the generator, protecting them all from daemons as the sky darkened. Magitek armors loudly patrolled the district. The soldiers were heavily armed and on alert for anything in their positions both on the ground and on the upper ramparts.
Would this end like Loqi's base?
"I do not care." The high commander crossed his arms, periodically flinching as he sensed trickles of magic, but couldn't pinpoint it.
"You care so much that it smothers. That is not the way…" The princess drew on the ground using the tip of her sheath. "Love never claims, it ever gives. Love never suffers, never resents, never revenges itself. Where there is love, there is life. Hatred leads to destruction."
As many times as she saw the faces of the dead, the faces of lost loves, Imperatrix steadfastly rejected the festering of a blackened soul. To lose herself to hatred would be a disservice to them.
Bearing the pain, feeling it in every morsel of her soul and keeping each of those faces in her memory to strengthen her resolve…that was how she chose to live. To honor the way they all touched her life.
"You are disgustingly romantic in an age of industrial modernism! How can you spew such nonsense with no shame?!" Ravus frowned, flushing from second-hand embarrassment for the woman at her dribble.
The princess muffled a giggle as he stomped up the stairway to reach another section of the base.
He abruptly stopped, whirling to hiss out. "I do not care what happens to me or Eos as long as Luna lives!"
The spotlights shining on him fashioned Ravus into an avenging angel and Imperatrix was momentarily captivated. Once the light moved on so did its recipient and she lowered onto the step.
Mission failed...
Ardyn shouldn't have brought her. The princess used her foot to erase the drawing of an ouroboros she'd done.
The atmosphere was subdued and normal. Too quiet when they were expecting an ambush of some sort.
"What are you doing?!" Imperatrix nudged a certain fedora off her eyes and sucked in her breath at the feel of leather brushing on her gloved arm.
Familiar cologne carried on the breeze unconsciously compelled her to lean closer to the man.
"This is boring. I'd much rather see the prince come in magic blazing." Ardyn whined, chin held up by his palm. "The least he can do is entertain me for all the trouble."
Outward chaos would help him ignore the canopy of chaos inside. Light magic always put the creatures in a foul mood, which was exceedingly ironic, considering what he was before falling off the garden-rose path.
"Ardyn…I could not sway him…" Imperatrix wrapped her arm around her sword, clutching it close.
"Fret not, Musa. Things have a way of working themselves out." He patted her head, lodging the hat over her eyes again. "And I won't disqualify you yet."
Clicking her tongue, the princess chucked the hat onto the owner's lap. She jostled her head, fixing the messy bun.
"Did you know of Noctis's fate?"
The chancellor blinked, amusement shrinking for the air of a trickster robbed of their punchline. "I can't believe Ravus told you! The boy's so sullen and seclusive that I didn't think he had it in him."
"You believe it then?" She ran her fingers through her bangs to get to her forehead, mentally exhausted from disrupted sleep, unending migraines, and sore muscles. "I expected you to snidely reject the Cosmology and tell me how silly I am for believing it."
Ardyn toyed with his hat.
"Is this why you are interested in the prince? Why you go out of your way to assist him?"
"More than you can fathom… Permit me to share a real secret." He ground his fingers into the black, fabric, keepsake of a naive fool bending to receive his crown from a child unwilling to see him go. "I have put so much time and effort into this blasted prophecy that if it turns out to be false, I will finally strike down those useless gods."
The princess was stunned, blinking rapidly for the split capture she caught of ink bleeding out Ardyn's eyes and mouth. Holding her breath, she stroked underneath the man's eye, exhaling at the feel of smooth skin.
"Dearest?" He questioned, shifting slightly to catch the tips of her fingers with a kiss as she pulled away. "Did I frighten you?"
"I thought I saw…" Imperatrix trailed off, rubbing her fingers together.
The princess didn't know what she saw or how to explain it without sounding mad.
Ardyn slid to the end of the bench.
Face hidden from her view, he traced over the obvious places affected by the malady. It couldn't have slipped through without his knowledge. The pain from the corrosive acid would've alerted him right away.
"Quiet down…" He mumbled hatefully.
The parasites were getting extremely agitated, nearly screaming from the prince's magic filtering through the air. Now the liquid would begin spilling if they kept this up.
How it hurt to have them clawing and shrieking every time the light came near.
"Ardyn what is wrong?!" Imperatrix tugged on his arm, trying to move his shirt out of the way for her to examine his chest, the place he was digging into with his fingers.
"Best stop. Undressing me where everyone can see is unwise." He jested while weakly pushing her off.
"You are hurting, stop trying to distract me." She insisted, not caring if the patrolling soldiers saw her. "Let me see!"
"Mu—"
Alarms went off as did explosions.
"Never fails. The Caelums always make an entrance." The chancellor stood, groaning as he forcibly shoved the nuisances into a box for him to go about business without distraction.
He could feel his skin tingling from the abundance of magic gathering a few blocks over from them.
Imperatrix shuffled in place, stuck between leaving and staying. It was clear which worry took precedence and it killed her, but she had a duty to uphold. At the princess moving to join the other soldiers that had left, Ardyn seized her hand, spinning her into in his arms.
"This is no time for games! I must aid them!" She protested, struggling with the superior strength of the chancellor.
"Believe me, you're no help to them now." He remarked without humor to gaze upward.
Clouds gathered, rumbling with magical currents that lit the sky and penetrated the red barrier. Imperatrix screamed as thunder rained indiscriminately from above. When she opened her eyes again, Ramuh emerged from nothing.
The God of Lightning unfurled his cape, reaching down to claim something. Satisfied, he raised his staff, enough energy to power a city bouncing off the weapon.
"For goodness sake! Summoning a god is overkill!" Ardyn shouted scornfully, one hand holding down his hat against the rising winds and the other pulling a princess after him as he broke into a run.
Everything brightened till vision became a singular color of violet and then a resounding crack split the land as Ramuh's staff hit the ground. A vortex of wind and magic demolished more than half the base, leaving scorched earth and flames behind.
Imperatrix coughed and choked from the thick, acrid smoke. She couldn't control the massive trembles overtaking her body, the fear piercing her gut. Her ears rung and she could feel blood tricking from them.
The world spun.
Snow, blood, and screams. Shiva's wrath!
Rocks, blood, and screams. Titan's wrath!
And now…
Storms, blood, and screams. Ramuh's wrath!
She could hear them! The dead were crying out for help! Crying for her help!
"Impera, my dearest! My sweetest Musa, you are safe!" Ardyn hugged the princess from behind, stopping her from the possessed searching she was doing for victims that weren't there.
The lightning obliterated everything, leaving no bodies, no bones, only ashes. It was a startling difference between the materials of the base and a few feet over, nothing where once was something.
The princess jerked away. The chancellor recovered her, tightening the hold and whispering soothingly in her ear even though she couldn't hear him.
Eventually, they sank to the ground.
"I have you, Impera. You're safe here in my arms, I swear it."
The shaking lessened as did the gasping, but his hold didn't loosen. The red-head swallowed the fragile soul in his grasp. He may not be the one experiencing an episode, but Ardyn was hurting all the same at seeing the one person he cared for stuck in agony.
No one understood suffering as well as he did.
"Veni, vidi, vici." Imperatrix chanted repeatedly until she could once again hear properly.
"Impera?" The chancellor tried once more since she appeared to have calmed.
She turned, curling into him with a sob and pressing as closely as she could to the man.
"Oh, oh…it's alright, my dearest. I will never you let die." He promised, cradling and nuzzling her with a possessive tenderness. "Not you."
Not ever again…
When he confessed his fear of losing her, Ardyn hadn't been lying. To lose his love in a second lifetime would hurt too much. He'd die from it, an empty shell for the monsters to take over.
Then the world would truly have a reason to fear him and not the daemons.
The smoke cleared a bit by the time Imperatrix ceased trembling and could bear to separate from Ardyn. She peered into worried ambers.
"Back to your senses, sweet Musa?" He wiped the lasts of her tears and then withdrew a handkerchief to rub at her face dirtied with ash.
"Yes, I…apologize for that…" Imperatrix shied from his touch, shamed to have snapped.
What was wrong with her?!
She had to stop. A grown woman didn't break down like a frightened child.
It was so humiliating!
"You have nothing to apologize for or be ashamed of. It is human nature to fear the powerful. The gods love reminding us of that lesson." The chancellor angled her chin, having the princess look him in the eye. "Rise up, Imperatrix Mundi, for you are unbreakable."
"Ardyn..."
She felt that powerful jump in her chest and leaned forward, hands drawing him into a deep kiss. He was unprepared for it and the tickle it brought forth from the depths. Something warm and small pierced through the noise. The creatures quieted, fearful and curious of the sensation.
All too soon it was over with Imperatrix pressing their foreheads together.
"Thank you, Darling Caesar." She smiled softly and rose off him.
The chancellor sat frozen, feeling bereft as the warmth receded and the voices diminished. He wanted to laugh outrageously.
She really did have a profound effect on him, bringing back the light, even if it was nothing more than a tiny fragment from all the years of the darkness eating away at it.
His lost blessing...
Inspecting their location, Imperatrix immediately got to removing the debris. The devastation had thrown them into a wired-off supply section. The fence got knocked over from them flying into it.
Their landing…
Ardyn must've took the brute of crashing into a steel crate, because she didn't feel too bad. The size of the dent though…
He had to have hit his back extremely hard.
When the chancellor joined her outside of their crash site, Imperatrix quickly went for his coat.
"My dear, you are very eager to disrobe me, but this isn't the place or time for it!" He objected playfully as she prodded at his back.
"How are you uninjured?" The princess couldn't feel any wounds on Ardyn's back and his vest wasn't stained red.
He was walking fine as well…
She would've cracked her spine from hitting the steel as he did.
"Did you want me to be?"
"N-No…but…"
It didn't make sense!
"As flattered as I am by your concern, we must move along. I can hear the mischief still going on." Ardyn put his coat on properly and sauntered forward.
Imperatrix sighed, the flaming ground to her side a visible memento of the danger.
The two trudged through what remained of the base. Debris, broken magitek armor, and fallen soldiers were all a trail to the prince.
"All this for a damned car! I am of a mind to smash the thing." The princess had to jog to keep up with the longer strides of the chancellor.
"I like the enthusiasm, but a man's car is sacred."
"So if the Regalia is unscathed and Vixen is not, you would leave it alone?"
"If my car is damaged, those boys will be walking everywhere and I will be sure to make it a positively miserable experience."
"I almost died and you do nothing. But Vixen being potentially broken begs action?" Imperatrix huffed. "How you love me."
The sound of battle got louder the closer they got to the square.
"If it makes you feel better, I did mess around with some things in the car."
"What did you do?" The princess shouldn't have been grinning, but a bit of vindictiveness was warranted.
She blamed her mischievous streak on Ardyn. A lot of his bad qualities rubbed off on her.
"Oh, just reprogrammed all their stations and rearranged their CD's. That last one's really going to drive the control freak crazy." The chancellor chuckled and then got back to his original trail of thought. "Oh, plus I adjusted the seats and mirrors all wrong, and hid the keys in the trunk with all that camping gear."
"You did all that?"
"I was very bored without you."
Imperatrix laughed at how petty he could be. Others wouldn't waste that kind of time on a prank, but the red-headed imp would.
She recalled how he managed to change all the clocks in the palace and everything was thrown off, from servant to emperor, no work got done that day, nor the next as everybody fixed the clocks.
"You are terrible." The princess remarked, coming to a stop at the new challenge before her. "Wait here."
She manuvered up a cluster of cargo crates, jumping across a few once on top. Below, she spotted Ravus approaching a group of boys.
"I have to hurry—" Imperatrix shrieked from finding Ardyn behind her and would've fallen were it not for him catching her by the arm.
How the hell?! She didn't hear him arrive!
"You'd better get down there before somebody dies." The chancellor pointed to the high commander choking out the prince. "I'll be down shortly."
She nodded, leaping down and tucking into a roll. With the generator destroyed, the princess could pass straight through the quarantined areas that were blocked by the red barrier, enabling her to reach her destination faster.
Hopefully, no daemons would spring into being nearby. Some of the search lights were still functioning and they might deter any that did.
Most unnerving was how the trail of bodies sharply declined the further she'd gotten from the blast area. There weren't even that many to stumble on which meant a majority of the men were killed in the blast.
How awful…
Nothing was left of them…it was like pure absence.
"You wanna go?! Lets do it!"
Imperatrix moved faster than she thought possible, sword wrenched out of its sheath and swinging furiously to block a series of weapon from impaling Ravus. He deflected the ones she missed.
Crisis averted, the high commander adjusted his stance to support the princess. Allies then.
Ravus sneered. "Should the Chosen fall, that too is fate. The fate I write!"
"W-What?! Who's she?!" The boy of dark hair and eyes, weapons circling his body in a halo of magic, cried out.
She didn't even need to guess. This was Prince Noctis.
Never before had Imperatrix felt this much pressure from a person. Magic poured off him intensely enough that a non-user like her could feel it.
Her nerves bubbled with anticipation.
"Well met, Your Highness." She curtsied properly for the boy of royal blood, mindful of the magical artifacts posed to fire on them. "I am the Imperial Princess, Imperatrix Tellus Aldercapt."
Noctis wavered, shocked by the news.
"We were under the impression you perished in Insomnia." The spectacled brunette said, edging protectively in front of the prince.
His accent and looks threw Imperatrix. They were distinctively Accordian and in opposition to his companion's darker, Lucian features.
Hold on…
The princess's eyes widened upon noticing the blonde boy propping the larger male on the Regalia.
"N-Nebula?" She choked out too low for anyone to hear.
The sky blue eyes, the flying golden locks, the sprinkling freckles. Those all belonged to her retainer!
"Was all of it a lie?! One big joke for you bastards to destroy my home?!" Noctis's yelling drew her attention back to the brewing fight. "Lets see how you like it!"
A sword materialized in his hands and flew in between Ravus and Imperatrix. The prince disappeared, instantly reappearing within striking range of the two imperials.
The high commander and princess lunged away in the nick of time from the surprise attack.
"He warped?!" Imperatrix didn't know what to expect for Noctis's abilities, but now she had to assume he was on par with Nyx when he held magic.
"Impera, we must split them. Noctis and the shield are mine!" Ravus told her in Latin to confuse the enemy, dashing towards his targets.
"And diplomacy fails. Why do I even bother?" Without a choice left to her, Imperatrix cut off the brunette from joining the fray, announcing in English. "I am your opponent!"
"So be it, Your Highness. I will not hold back." He warned, green orbs assessing her critically.
And so it would come to a battle between imperials and Lucians. The wheel spun continuously on, an ouroboros of smoldering enmity among mortals.
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Veni Vidi Vici