I glance over at the cohort, they look more then a little terrified. N's looks more annoyed at something sunny said. He said something stupid didn't he? I walk over to the edge of the ship and I hop off onto the island below. The iron hand island, well not yet the iron hand island. Weird isn't it? To know I'm going to help make a landmark I've passed countless times. I look around making a casual sketch of what the island looks like.
Everyone stands around me looking up at the giant iron moving statue. If I get my way more then hand will be cut off.
"...I feel like an ant."
I snap on a set of headphones. A being so massive will be loud and I don't like sudden loud things much.
"You are not an ant, Sunny. You are a cockroach. Remember?"
I notice sunny smile.
"Or a opossum"
Then making the world shake the iron giant speaks
"...NOCTIS… YOU HAVE… THE KNIVES."
I scowl, loud, very loud isn't it. Everyone covers their ears, I'm fine but its still too loud. I reach into my bag handing out headphones. N takes one
"Huh… he still remembers how to speak…"
He puts it on just as it speaks again
"...SURRENDER… THE KNIVES."
I look up at the statue, from what I've heard it needs the inside to be melted for it to move, so if I was to freeze it sol-
"What are you talking about? I don't have any knives! It's this guy over here, he has them. So… if you want them, come and take them from him! Leave this poor sorcerer out of this, by the Moon…"
My head slowly turns to N. I notice his eyes flick to mine. I hope he knows if this was a betrayal I can and will murder him. I don't care if I'm only a awakened. The gods and deamons could try to stop me but I would in fact stab that man.
"...SHADOW."
I hear it move. I turn my head to it lowering to the ground, its trying to get sunny. Like hell I'd let that happen.
"Oh, but do be careful! You know how tricky shadows are, my friend. This one in particular is full of treachery, vileness, and unspeakable malice… the beast even slaughtered a temple full of innocent maidens! He also tried to poison me... oh, the villainy! So, be careful when you grab him! Or you just might lose your hand..."
Or life. I don't care if its metal ill maul that big bastard. Maybe N too if this isn't some plot. As the sky is darkened by a massive palm, suddenly its bright. I collapse with my hands over my eyes. God damnation, bitch, mother fucker, like a damn flash bang!
"Tsk, have I not warned him to be careful? I did, didn't I? By the Moon, why does no one listen to me... I am the wisest man in all of Kingdom of Hope, after all…"
He couldn't have warned us!?!
"My eyes hurt"
I summon flame and I climb up flopping down on top. It huffs looking at the, likely handless, sun prince. It starts growling, a real scary sound, I hear talking but with my face on a growling flame I can't really hear it.
I look up at the feeling of shaking. I look up to see the sun prince leaving.
"Not to complain… but why let him go? Wouldn't it be easier to kill him right here and now? We won't get another chance to catch him alone, most likely. And judging by how easily you took his arm off…"
I notice N looking pretty pale and sickly. He looks like hes about to throw up
"Easily? Are you insane? I am at my weakest during the day, remember! And that strike… gods… I spent several centuries infusing this shrine with moonlight. Do you think there's another one just laying around nearby?! Just… just be happy he believed my bluff. Otherwise… things might have turned really ugly really fast for us…"
Sunny sighs
"Lunatic... you damned lunatic… by the Moon, I take it back! You are a fool..."
I lean over
"you look sick. Want to ride on flame? I'll put on the saddle"
N glances over, he contemplates for a bit
"....Sure, I do hope it isn't a bumpy ride"
I roll off
"ow"
As i pull out the saddle I made, I groan but no sound is made. Cassie walks over, patting me on the shoulder and easily putting it on the saddle. I climb up laying there wiped the hell out. I didn't know a sudden bright light could do so much damage. It seems the body I'm in is more sensitive to sudden changes in light. I was somewhat aware of this but damnation....
"Sun you've infected me."
He glances over then looks at me
"What?"
I raise my arms
"I keep thinking damnation. Your fault"
He scowls
"I'm not in control of your thoughts"
"you keep saying it and you know I repeat things I hear"
Effie laughs as she climbs onto flame. N scoots away from her
"Yeah sunny why do you keep saying damnation anyways?"
Sunny scoffs
"Its just something I heard a lot when I was younger"
As flame walks to the ship I notice N keeps glancing at Kai. Is he trying to grapple with what used to look like and what he looks like now?
"Hold on"
Effie grabs onto flames saddle and flame jumps onto the ship.
"Oh that was a.... ride for sure...definitely effective. I can see why a perchta would have such a mount"
He quickly gets off. Perchta? Is that the name of what i am? Well isn't that dandy, i have a name to a.... body?
Doesn't matter because effie is doing the givey hands at me. I dig in my satchel handing her some jerky. She takes it, hops off flame, and runs off. I hop off of flame walking over to kai as the ship starts moving. He's looking at the iron hand island.
"You okay?"
He glances over
"Yeah.... its just weird"
I nod. For me its weird to see the creation of a landmark I've been on countless times but i know its very different for him, how could it not be?
The next morning I get up putting on a outfit N had given me, that conversation was definitely.... interesting, with the whole evil textures thing. Not my fault some textures are just uncomfortable. Sunny agrees so I'm not crazy. I notice everyone leaving.
Makes sense, it seems everyone but sunny is going to help the people staying here leave. I walk over to him, hes training with saint. I flop down on a stone by the water, reading of course. After a while he walks over to take a break. I notice him stop moving completely.
"Ah, Sunless… how nice it is to meet you again, after all this time. Just look at you… goodness! I almost failed to recognize you behind that fearsome face… oh and ■■■■ as well, it is so nice to see you. I didn't know you to be the type to wear such clothes, did noctis give them to you?"
This bitch again.
"Die"
He grins, I am going to kneecap that man so fucking hard
"Oh how cruel"
Sunny grips that weird talking rock he's been using to speak
"...Oh. It's you. What are doing inside the lake? Don't be a stranger, Mordret… come, enter my Soul Sea, and let's talk face to face."
Prince stops, seeming to get a little confused
"How strange… I can hear you speak, but I don't see your lips moving. Have you been learning new tricks, Sunless? Ah, good for you. I've been doing some of that myself…"
I scoff
"We know"
Sunny scowls
"I have… I've heard. A whole region of the kingdom, Mordret? Really? I thought you did not enjoy killing innocent people. Or did you tell yourself that it was alright because they were not real?"
Prince just keeps that annoying smile on his face
"What would have been the point of killing them if they were not real?"
I'm going to smash his kneecaps into a dust. Maybe I'll remove his jaw too, to get rid of that smile. Or I could rip his fingers off. Oh hell why not all of them.
"They were real enough to serve a purpose... don't get me wrong, however. I would not have done the same in the waking world. Those I killed were all already dead, Sunless. All of them were doomed, and uselessly so. I simply gave their deaths a different meaning."
He didn't even care. Not even a little.
"So, that little orac-"
I lean over
"you think this is a game? Do you think I won't rip you to pieces slowly and as painfully as possible, just to see the look of pain on your face. You won't even have the vain comfort of knowing I enjoyed it."
He turns to me more annoyed that I cut him off then that I threatened to kill him.
"Are you still mad about that scout dying? She would ha-"
I dip my hand in the water moving it around trying to get him to leave. He does not in fact leave. Sunny puts a hand on my shoulder
"What do you want, Mordret?"
He goes back to that damn grin.
"Why, what else? To conquer the Nightmare, of course. Don't you?"
Sunny pulls me away as i am so close to going mental.
"I do. Stop playing games and just tell me what it is that you want from me"
Prince sighs, as dramatically as ever
"Well, if you insist. What I want is rather simple… which is not to say easy. I want you to keep Noctis alive, at all costs."
"Die"
Sunny thinks for a few seconds before speaking
"Is that all?"
He just keeps smiling why won't he stop
"Yes, that is all. If you can accomplish this simple task, I can guarantee that we will conquer the Nightmare and escape it alive."
Sunny snorts
"You can guarantee it, can you? How? What are you planning? What about Hope, will you try to free her, or have you found a way to restore her prison to its original state?"
A strong wind interrupts the reflection
"Ah, how inconvenient. It seems that I have run out of essence… until we meet again, Sunless..."
Sunnys grip tightens
"This again? Disappearing just when you have to answer a question… bastard, you do understand that we are on the same side right now? We can kill each other after we Ascend… but first, we need to survive the Nightmare!"
Just as prince goes to say something I finally get out of sunny's clutches and I eave my hand in the water
"Go away."
I'm left standing over a clear prince-less pond. I soundlessly curse prince out.
"You uh... got a little feral there...."
my head turns sharply to sunny.
"I understand why its just uh.... well you've always been quite the calm person"
That stops me in my tracks
"Calm?"
He nods slowly
"You don't get that mad often. Mostly at worst annoyed"
I stare at him in disbelief
"No, I'm not a calm person. I'm more like the version of myself that hadn't hired healer yet and did not have a cohort back on the shores."
He raises a eyebrow
"Is that why you had that reputation?"
I shrug
"Maybe but I only hurt people.... a few times...."
"A few times?"
I do finger guns and I leave. That ended up embarrassing.
After a while for doing some work perfecting a new trick of mine. I swear I hear a human scream. As I rush to leave i walk into the door. Its too dark in here, I had gained some night vision with the drop of shadow gods blood it seemingly isn't the main part. I recover and leave my room. I move to N's room to see him and sunny leaving it
"Oh ■■■■ just the person I wanted to see"
I join them, N is looking incredibly sick. Its deeply worrying. Something is in fact wrong, his heat signature is off, but not in a prince way. I'm not sure in what way but its not a prince way. He drops a small Anvil into my hand
"It isn't quite like the one you showed me but it can slow down anyone trying to enter the soul"
I nod this will go to Effie.
"Thank you"
We walk together
"I thought a lot about what you have told me, Sunless. About wanting to return home."
I glance at him, it seems he thought it over
"I used to have a home too, you know? A long time ago. There was a beautiful temple where my siblings and I grew up, being taught by priests and priestesses. It was surrounded by a vast forest where we played and hunted. There was a lake where we caught fish and swam to escape the summer's heat, without a care in the world."
His face changes, something like melancholy. Like someone thinking about a past he can never go back to, and one he can't even properly remember
"...I returned to that place some time ago. Ah, but it was not... it changed. The temple lay in ruins, the forest had been chopped down. The lake had dried up. Everything felt unfamiliar and strange, like a distant dream. And for a moment, I felt as if my whole life was just a dream that I have dreamt... and maybe was dreaming still."
He looks over at sunny a smile playing on his face
"But hey, by then, I already had this. This sanctuary that I have built with my own two hands, the people that I saved, the land that I tried to protect, the duty I made mine to uphold… this was my home."
It feels odd. Like someone who knows they're going to die, and still wants to impart wisdom. He's planning something, and I don't think he thinks he's going to survive it.
"What I am trying to say, Sunless, is that you don't need to belong somewhere, or to something. You just need to make something belong to you. That is how you can find home…"
He hesitates then smiles clearly proud of himself
"...I mean it as a metaphor, of course."
Sunny stays silent looking at his face then he smiles
"That was a great metaphor."
N grins very happy at the praise
"It was, wasn't it? Well, why wouldn't it be? I am the most learned man in all of the Kingdom of Hope, after all!"
I walk behind them, i glance at the sanctuary, then at the gargoyle like statues. Sunny looks them over, his voice comes out of the rock quite unsure
"These are… statues of you?"
N grabs my tools, I had let him use, as he speaks
"Oh… well… I might have lied a little. These were never meant to look like me."
I wonder why kai didn't say anything then. He hands me my tools back and i put them away. One of the freaky sailor dolls walks over with a massive box. It has a real bad vibe to it i have to say. Although it seems to recoil a little when I look at it, maybe that's just me as those two did not notice.
"What… the hell… is in that thing?"
Oh, I get it now
"...Souls. A few especially vile souls that I have collected across the centuries."
Sunny had stepped back while I wasn't looking
"And what, exactly, are you planning to do with these souls?"
N smiles. Its pretty damn clear but as always sunny misses it, or he doesn't want to believe it
"What else? I am going to create a few little helpers for you and your strange friends. What, were you really going to take on the armies of the Ivory City and the Red Colosseum all by yourself? By the Moon, Sunless… I do trust in your abilities, but what would people say if I turned out to be the only Chain Lord without an army? How would that look? Ah, no, such an embarrassment would simply not do…"
He opens the box and the 15 statues move.
I stand on the railings of the ship, I stretch preparing for the battle soon to come. Sunny had finally completed the preemptive trade i started with him, I had gotten a halberd and a sword, both of the ascended rank too. He had gotten my old memories, that i didn't need anymore. I swing the mutant halberd a few times. It's almost time to fight in a war once again. 2 wars in one lifetime? Isn't that a little too much?