Night Light {FFXV/OT4}

End Of The Road

Chapter Twenty Two: End Of The Road

-

"My dear Oracle, at least loosen up a little. This is such a monumental day after all."

Ardyn was not surprised as his words were met with silence. It didn't matter to him; the intensity of those fierce blue eyes could speak a thousand words.
Lady Lunafreya was perched on the edge of the chair she'd been provided, lips drawn into a tight line. Two Magitek Troopers flanked her, armed and with orders to subdue the Oracle if she dared to try anything. Ardyn wouldn't put it past her; the woman's sometimes reckless bravery was as commendable as it was foolish.

Ardyn turned to peer out the slitted window of the Airship, a smile twitching at his lips as he gazed over the rolling hills of Lucis. "Ah, it won't be long now. You'll get to see your beloved Insomnia again, isn't that lovely?"

Lunafreya snapped at that, rising to her feet only to be forced back down by cold metal hands. She glared up at Ardyn, not disguising the clear hatred she felt towards the man. "I'd rather never set eyes on Insomnia again than see it burn. What about the citizens?"

Ardyns' gaze hardened as he let out a derisive snort, arms crossing across his chest. "Rats that will simply be exterminated. They will be no loss."

The Oracle looked as though she was about to rant but instead fell into furious silence, knowing her words could do nothing now. Ardyn turned back to the window, watching Insomnia grow closer. It would all be destroyed, soon. He felt a comfortable satisfaction at just the thought. It hadn't been necessary to bring Lady Lunafreya along to watch but Emperor Aldercapt had insisted. Ardyn had seen no harm in it: the more the merrier, after all.

Besides, the Oracle reminded him of a certain blonde.

Ardyn felt a smile drift onto his face as his mind wandered back to that little Magitek Trooper. It had been such an interesting one, but Ardyn didn't regret letting it die. He'd watched it from a screen, using the surveillance set up in the cell: Unit 05953234 had woken up one final time, had something akin to a seizure, and then it's eyes had closed for good.

Ardyn hadn't been able to make sense of all the desperate gasps and mumbles that had lead up to his toy's final breath, but he had picked out one word among the gasps: Noctis. It had surprised him, that the little blonde had managed to keep up hope of rescue until the very end.

No matter. Hope didn't help the dead.

It was all ending quite poetically, he thought. Noctis had had his time playing Prince but Ardyn had cut his playtime short. The boy and his two assistants had all died together, in one very well placed explosion. Ardyn had orchestrated it of course; he'd placed the bomb himself, in fact. Nobody knew. Nobody had to.

He'd captured all the pieces at once: Noctis, Ignis, Gladiolus. Prompto. He'd knocked them all out of play, and now it was time. At long last, victory belonged to him.

How sweet it was.

-

Nyx Ulric had never been one to read the newspaper but he supposed this was as good a time to start as any. Usually he'd prefer to listen to the radio or even watch the news but that wasn't an option right now. Insomnia's power had been out for days and everyone knew that it wasn't coming back.

Nyx shifted on the bench, pulling his jacket a little tighter around himself to keep out the cold night air. Once comfortable he turned his attention back to his paper, trying to blot out the chaos of the city around him and instead focus on the words inked onto crinkled pages.

'King Regis is dead'

It seemed as though the headline was glaring at him from the front page, unforgiving in its bluntness. It was the news that stood out to him most among the many other headlines printed on the page. The others weren't any less important, though: 'Crown Prince and entourage left dead as bomb is planted under car' was similarly tragic but was old news by now.