via
https://ift.tt/31yfH5Ccharlottedabookworm:
hamelin-born:
charlottedabookworm:
Nyx walks into the room.
He pauses, coming to a stop at attention as he spots the king, his shield, Cor, and a figure he recognises.
A figure he knows.
Staring at a face he’s long hoped to forget (forget like he’s forgotten so much else), that had haunted his nightmares for centuries, Nyx feels his mouth dry and his fists clench.
What the fuc-
“Sir Ulric,” King Regis says, interrupting his thoughts, and Nyx realises that he’s been talking for a while - something about a magical mishap and an ancestor who is suddenly alive again. “Until we determine if this is permanent, would you escort King Somnus to-”
“Nyx?” Says the ghost staring at him like he’s a phantom, interrupting King Regis.
Everyone turns to look at him.
And Nyx-
He turns on his heel.
Nyx walks out of the room.
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charlottedabookworm#in which Somnus is somehow dragged forwards through time because Magic
#and Regis et al have no idea how long this will last
#so they decide to assign Nyx to watch over him
#Nyx nopes out
#nope
#he refuses
#this is not happening
#even if it costs him his job
Oh, I *love* this!
It makes me think, though - you said that Somnus is dragged forward in time? You said ‘King’ Somnus - so for him to be titled as ‘King’, then it’s post-Betrayal/Coup, post Nyx’s Exceptionally Gruesome execution, when literally everyone thinks that Nyx is dead - including his one-time father.
So. Somnus is not expecting Nyx to walk through that door. He had every reason to think that Nyx was very permanently dead. He is probably very, very perturbed.
(This is Somnus’s - not his sins come back to haunt him, because he’s completely convinced that he did the Right Thing. But it is - disturbing, kicking up old memories and dirty secrets in a way that has not perturbed him since he started doctoring the history books and dictating what did and did not happen.)
Nyx is rather fervently hoping that this is not permanent, and comforts himself with the reminder that he literally watched his one-time father die. Snuck into the palace, just. Watched. (Sort of like in Time is Cruel ‘verse, only in this one - Nyx didn’t come as a form of revenge, he came to lay a nightmare to rest.) So, obviously, Somnus will snap back to the past - right? Right.
And then it hits Nyx. Ohfuck dad.
Because if and when Ardyn finds out about this, shit will hit the fan.
Nyx is willing to outright quit his job, because he is done with this. He is done with the Kinslayer, he’s suffered through literally centuries worth of nightmares, he underwent a lot of therapy - he is done letting Somnus rule his fears and his thoughts and his actions. He does not have to put up with this, he does not have to explain anything, and he does not owe anyone anything.
…I had the sudden mental image of the one thing Nyx says to his one-time father is something along the lines of “Legally, genetically, magically, and emotionally, you happen to be my uncle, not my father. Don’t presume on a nonexistent relationship, kinslayer.”
hamelin_bornThanks! I’m glad you like it! :D
Yeah, it’s post-betrayal Somnus (though Regis et al would have probably called him King Somnus upon Somnus giving his name anyway, it’s just only a post-betrayal Somnus that wouldn’t deny it and say his mother/brother is King) and he does think that Nyx is dead
And he is very perturbed
(he watched Nyx bleed out on that cross, after all. Watch as the light faded from his eyes, as his breath slowed to a stop, and then ordered his body removed)
Because, standing before him, is the son he killed
Somnus doesn’t regret it, he can’t because it was the Right Thing to do – he was protecting the world by killing monsters wearing his family’s skin, Ardyn had been corrupted and then he had corrupted Nyx and what Somnus did was necessary
He doesn’t regret it, any of it, not even using Nyx’s death as a way to solidify his rule (because he knows that his son, the boy he raised, would have understand if he was capable of it) but this-
It brings up a lot of memories and secrets that he had done his best to bury
Somnus had never wanted any of that to see to light of day again, it would be bad for morale, and so he buried it all, until all but a few believed Somnus’ words
And now a ghost is standing before him and it’s bringing up so many things that Somnus hasn’t thought about in years
A ghost is standing before him, looking exactly as he had when Somnus had last seen him, and he doesn’t understand how
Nyx, meanwhile, is reminding himself, over and over and over, that this almost certainly isn’t permanent, that it’s highly likely that Somnus will forget it all the moment he goes back, that he’d watched this man but older die (he’d thought it would help, thought it would bring him some sort of satisfaction, thought it would put long-held fears to rest, but mostly, nyx had felt empty at the reminder that Somnus Lucis Caelum was just a man. a man who haunted his nightmares, who he hated and loved and hated that he loved, but a man. and his death didn’t take away the nightmares, didn’t take away the fear, but it was enough of a push for nyx to try) and time isn’t that fragile, Somnus would have to go back
He’d have to
(Nyx couldn’t think of the alternative right now)
Nyx walks out of that room and gets as far from That Man as he can and he doesn’t shake, not really, but he’s a shade paler than normal and he just needs to be away
And then he freezes, in a shadowed corner of an out of the way corridor, as he remembers his dad
Ohfuck dad
Because the moment that Ardyn learned about this, Things would go down. Destruction would happen. Blood would be spilled. Everything would go to hell.
But Nyx isn’t willing to lie to his father, especially not about this
And – yeah. He’s outright willing to quit his job, because it would help with his dad if he’s nowhere near Somnus, because it’s not like he needs the job, because he’s just so done
Nyx Ulric put Somnus Lucis Caelum behind him a long time ago and he wants nothing to do with him now. Somnus is nothing to him now – and that is a point that Nyx has worked hard to reach, a point preceded by centuries of nightmares and constant fear followed by All the Therapy – and Nyx refuses
He doesn’t have to put up with this
He has nothing to say to that man, not anymore
And, he reminds himself, he doesn’t have to explain anything, not to anyone. He owes them nothing and his life is his own, his past is his own.
He doesn’t have to say a word. Everyone who he wants to know already does, and Nyx doesn’t care anymore.
(“You are my son, Nyx, and you owe me enough to at least listen-”
Nyx snarls. “I owe you nothing,” he watches as Somnus flinches away from his vehemence and feels nothing. Nothing at all. “Legally, genetically, magically, and emotionally, you happen to be my uncle, not my father. And that connection is by blood, nothing more. Do not presume on a non-existent relationship, kinslayer.”
Somnus pales but stands his ground, hand reaching to his hip where his sword would normally be sheathed. Nyx raises a sardonic eyebrow. “I did what was right…”
“No, uncle,” he sneers the word, just to watch Somnus flinch because nothing made a person vicious like age did, “you did what you wanted. And what you wanted was the throne; no matter whose bodies you had to climb over to get it.” The smile that spreads across his lips is sharp as a thousand knives. “I do have to congratulate you on your ambition, Somnus Lucis Caelum, so very few are willing to murder their own child on a false charge, for a mere crown.”)
charlottedabookworm
Nyx is refusing to engage with Somnus. Just. No. And that’s - both utterly frustrating and utterly incomprehensible to Somnus. No screams of accusation towards Somnus. No humble admissions that Somnus was right to have him killed (murdered). No, Nyx Ulric avoids both of the reactions that Somnus sees as the only ways he could have responded to the situation.
Nyx simply - removes himself from the situation.
(He’s never looked more like a King.)
And no, Nyx is not sharing the information about how he ‘survived’ all these years. (And it’s obvious that Somnus and Nyx know one another - the reactions were unmistakable). Not with Somnus, not with Regis, not with anyone - Somnus probably shares that that is his son, that he thought his son was dead - but now he is here? Thousands of years later? How? Nyx isn’t sharing that thought, and he’s refusing to come into the Citadel to explain - cashing in pretty much all his accumulated leave as necessary to avoid the fuck out of the place.
…all of the fucking Glaive probably responds - poorly to Somnus’s presence. They know the story of Nyx Ulric, and his one-time father. They are among the very, very few to know the true tale of the Accursed. They do not like the Usurper King. And while they can’t cash in all their accumulated leave - they need these jobs - but they can certainly demonstrate that they do not like Somnus Kinslayer.
I love Nyx’s affirmations about how he’s - come to terms with Somnus, and moved past him. He’s made his peace, which does not have to involve forgiving the man. He owes him - and anyone who might demand explanations - nothing. And it’s - both incomprehensible to his one-time father as well as the single greatest insult he could have possibly dealt the man.
…Regis might have been nominally - not exactly approving of Somnus, but somewhat respectful of the man’s status as the Founder King, his ultimate-great-grandfather, but - yeah. Having the man be outright accused of killing his own child - and Somnus not denying it? That is. Well. Regis is going to start tearing about historical records and family artifacts to try and figure out just what the fuck happened.
And I wonder if it’s even occurred to Somnus. Nyx is claiming that Somnus is his Uncle by blood, nothing more - but. Well. For a complete disinheritance of that level (and, if he paid attention, Somnus could feel the truth of it ringing in Nyx’s magic) - well. It meant that someone would have had to adopt Nyx.
And, given the relationship that Nyx is snarling at the Mystic, there’s only one person who could have done that.
I wonder if Somnus realizes that Ardyn is alive.
(No. Impossible. Somnus’s entire worldview is wrapped around the fact that Ardyn is utterly, totally, and undeniably dead. It’s what gave him his position. It’s what gave him the rationale to do - terrible, horrible things. To kill his own son. To engage in historical revisionism. It is the rationale that underlies everything Somnus did, became, was post- and during-Kinslaying. Somnus cannot, might be simply incapable of coming to the conclusion that Ardyn is alive. (In which case he probably thinks that Nyx has simply disinherited his one-time father and posthumously adopted a Very Dead Ardyn as his sire.))
And to quote - you, I think -
“Brothers kill each other every day for a crown.” Nyx says softly, the venom of centuries in his tone. “But I cannot, for the life of me, recall an instance of a father slaying his own child for a throne - aside from you. You, who did both. Who murdered your own brother, your anointed, recognized King, for his crown - and your own child to legitimize your reign. No, Somnus Usurper, Somnus Kingkiller, Somnus Kinslayer - you are not my father. I am not your son. And I owe you nothing.”
“You have no power over me.”
(Your picture was not posted)
