@massadamnata continued from here
“What-” No sooner had he uttered the first word of his question than it died on his lips, stolen away by the sudden need for air-starved lungs to breathe. His footsteps faltered. With an expression of absolute disbelief, he froze in place, confusion breaking every single thought into shards. Within his breast, a heart beat once. Twice. Three times, and each beat was stronger than the last as it struggled to find the proper rhythm required to pump blood through his body. And as the heart began to beat, he could feel it in his veins: the writhing, crawling, twisting mass that so long ago had replaced blood no longer burned. Weakness filled his body. He crumpled to his knees, a hand against his heart; by the gods, it hurt so terribly to live again. “What-What have you done?!”
Noctis panted, spots slowly fading from his eyes, body shaking as the magic finally faded, a determined smirk on his face as he felt the rush of using magic die down almost completely. Which, which he would think about later.
He’d told himself, as he prepared, that he’d take whatever consequences this magic would wreak on him. He’d shoulder it. The young king had had ten years to plan, to think, growing into the light of the Crystal.
And growing bitter at the Astrals. What they’d allowed. What they’d planned.
“To eliminate you completely, I’d have to die. I’m supposed to die, apparently. But you and the scourge aren’t the same thing, Ardyn. I can handle that, I think. And I’ll get rid of you in my own time. When I’m old and grey. When I have heirs. When the world’s rebuilt. I am not abandoning Lucis. Ten years, ten years waiting for me in the dark,” his voice shook as he glared at the other man. “I owe my people my service. My life. Not the Astrals.”
He felt something along the connections he’d formed to the gods, a tingling. And he ignored it. Focused on Ardyn instead. And smiled.
It wasn’t a kind smile.
“So I gave you a gift. How does it feel? Being human again?”
