-Our story begins with Aranea sleep-deprived and eating a bag of popcorn she found in a destroyed and partially flooded store, which tastes bad but she doesn’t want to throw out. She’s in the cockpit of her airship returning to Niflheim after a 35 hour no-breaks shift working on recovery and cleanup in Altissia, along with Biggs and Wedge, and the 86th Airborne Unit, which she commands.
-Musing over her bag of gross popcorn, she thinks of how there are no facilities such as amusement parks or movie theaters in Niflheim, there were in her childhood, but as the Empire expanded its war effort and territory, the lives of the citizens became more and more bleak as funds and real estate were devoted to the military.
-She’s also frustrated by the poor treatment of human troops as opposed to Magitek infantry or daemonic weapons, as half her unit was lost in Altissia.
-They’re about to land in Gralea when her ship is fired upon by Diamond Weapon (the giant daemonic weapon used to attack Insomnia in Kingsglaive), which is loose in the city and being fought by the army.
-A lot of Aranea’s story is essentially about pursuing and taking down Diamond Weapon (while also contending with flying daemons and rogue Magitek troopers), which probably would have been an awesome multi-part boss battle to actually play but is a little meh to just read.
-She calls the Weapon デカブツくん (slang term for something large which I can’t think of an English equivalent for as my brain keeps providing “chonk” or “absolute unit”). She also tells it, “Now, it’s punishment time,” if anyone would like to imagine her saying that.
-The Weapon heads for Zegnautus Keep, and Aranea enters and fights her way up toward the roof. Meanwhile, Biggs and Wedge help some kids evacuate.
-Ardyn begins speaking over the city PA, “Ladies and gentlemen of Niflheim, thank you for your presence. The Empire ends today.” He then mentions that the Emperor has no successor. Aranea recalls that the Empress died soon after giving birth, the Emperor never remarried, and their son died in battle several years prior. The public believes that the Empress’ death is the reason for the Emperor’s personality change, but Aranea thinks it was due to Ardyn’s arrival.
-Ardyn explains that the Emperor pursued “magic” as a path to immortality, intending to remain emperor forever, and look where that brought them to. He then allows a dying Iedolas to speak, “Sol… heim… The sun of Solheim… will rise again…”
-Aranea finds Zegnautus empty of people and Iedolas dead of Starscourge on the throne. When she gets to the roof, she sees an airship carrying away Diamond Weapon. Ardyn is there eating an apple and watching the Empire burn, repeating his もったいない line (“Oh, what a shame…”) from when he was watching the destruction of Insomnia in Kingsglaive. She realizes he is the one who set the Weapon loose and made the Magitek troopers go out of control.
-She tries to attack Ardyn, but her spear hits empty air and he counters, sending her flying and leaving her on the ground wracked with pain and coughing violently. She recovers enough to ask what he’s doing with the Weapon, and he says he plans to let it rampage in Tenebrae.
-”You want to destroy it?”
-”All of it. Everything.”
-After this Aranea’s internal narration switches from calling Ardyn “the Chancellor” or “that man” to, essentially, “goddamn idiot lunatic” (イカレてる大バカ野郎)
-Biggs radios Aranea to let her know he’s just put the refugees on a train to Tenebrae. Ardyn is amused.
-”It’d be really nice if I could stop the daemons by kicking your ass.”
-Ardyn offers her his half-eaten apple if she can beat him.
-Instead, Aranea tells him that she’s quitting her job, giving “I hate you” as the reason when requested, then jumping off the roof with her spear.
-At this point, she runs into “the most annoying man out of anyone she knew”- Loqi Tummelt, in his Magitek Cuirass. After a fight, he opens the cockpit to reveal he is transporting an eight-year-old girl on special request from the Emperor. The girl says that she wants to fight too- Aranea tells her she’s ten years too early, then reflects on her own childhood.
-When Aranea was around the same age her village was attacked by daemons and she was ordered to take the younger children to the basement of the church and hide while the adults fought. She had the same “ten years too early to fight” exchange with her father before both her parents were killed.
-Loqi entrusts the child to her and quietly says thank you as a swarm of daemons approach. As Aranea heads for the train and Tenebrae, she watches him fight in his Magitek armor, and hears him announce “Glory to the Niflheim Empire!” Aranea tells her Airborne Unit that their final mission is to protect Tenebrae.
-They run out of bullets trying to shoot down the airship carrying Diamond Weapon, succeeding in damaging the airship enough that it crashes, but the Weapon is still active. Aranea takes her spear to fight the Weapon alone.
-[insert boss battle sequence of her destroying Magitek cores on the giant daemon accompanied by Biggs and Wedge in Magitek armor that sounds like it might have been fun to play]
-The Weapon is destroyed, the refugees get to Tenebrae safely, everyone is alive, etc, etc.
-except then a bunch of flying daemons arrive and they have to take those out too.
-Aranea finally talks to the girl, who turns out to be Sol Antiquum, the secret child of the Emperor’s deceased son. She comforts the girl and hugs her, again remembering herself as a child.
-Ten years later, during the World of Ruin, Sol has grown up and learned to fight, raised by Aranea, and is now a rebellious teenager. Aranea tries to send Biggs and Wedge with her on missions, but Sol insists she doesn’t need to be treated like a child. Biggs and Wedge are apparently even more overprotective. Meanwhile, Aranea cooks a meal with canned food while waiting for her to return.
