"Am I to be condemned to the dark again?" Ardyn asked with his last breath.
"No. This time you will rest in peace," Noctis said.
"I will await you in the Beyond," Ardyn said. His body turned to black mist and the rain fell freely.
"Noct!" He turned to see Sidus had caught up to him alone.
"Is Diana alright?" Noctis asked.
"She'll be fine. The guys are tending to her. You…don't have to do this alone," Sidus said, "I….Let them take me instead."
"What? No!" Noctis said.
"It only calls for a life to be freely given. Let the Lucii take me. Lucis needs you. The real you not some… cheap copy," Sidus said.
"You're not a copy!"
"Yes, I am!"
"Not in the ways that count!" Noctis placed a hand on Sidus's shoulder, "You're your own person. You have always been your own person."
"I don't want you to die, not when we just found you again," Sidus said. Noctis pulled Sidus into an embrace.
"I will always be with you no matter what," Noctis said, "You'll never really lose me."
"That's the sort of things people say when they don't want people upset that they're going to die," Sidus said letting go.
"If I don't, everyone else will die," Noctis said.
"I know," Sidus said, "I just….was feeling selfish."
"You're not wrong for wanting me to stay, it's just not in the cards," Noctis said.
Noctis was only half surprised Sidus had followed him.
"You don't want to watch this," Noctis said, "It's…not going to be pretty."
"You….shouldn't be alone in the end," Sidus said. Noctis shook his head before he quickly jabbed Sidus in the back of his neck, knocking him out.
"I'm sorry. I can't let you watch me die," Noctis said. He dragged Sidus down the hallway locking him in the elevator.
Sidus opened his eyes as white light impacted against the doors.
"No!" Time seemed to freeze. He pried the doors had frozen. Weird.
"Walk with me." The voice was kind and mellifluous. The speaker was a woman in golden robes with a strange spiny-nearly skeletal head-dress. Sidus scrambled to follow her. He could feel that she wasn't human.
"The Prophecy of the Six is done, and in their wake, chaos is rampant. What price would you pay to fix that and save your world?" she asked.
"Anything."
"You would too," she said, "I've been rude. My name is Etro. I was once known as the Goddess of Death. In time, my existence was forgotten. Mankind simply doesn't like acknowledging my domain."
"Should I bow or pray?" Sidus asked. Etro laughed a little.
"It's alright, child," Etro said, "The dawn will return with the detonation of that crystal, erasing Ifrit's ill advised scourge off the face of Eos, but Ifrit was merely humbled. He shall return, for as long as the others persist, Ifrit shall not truly perish. It is a system of balance."
"So, it means nothing? Noct will die for nothing?"
"Not for nothing. Ifrit's scourge as it currently is can never be used again. Eos need never fear daemons, but Ifrit will figure out something new to unleash upon this world," Etro said, "Would you vow to fight him for the new Dawn?"
"Of course," Sidus said.
"Even if it meant that someday a descent of yours would pay for it like Noctis has?"
"Never! My service is mine . I cannot promise it for anyone else!" Sidus looked down. He'd just yelled at the Goddess of Death.
"I like your passion. It's honest in ways most mortals aren't whenever they bargain with me," Etro said.
"I have nothing to offer you," Sidus said.
"But you do. Your pledge to fight the chaos in this life and the next," Etro said, "To be reincarnated constantly, to never know the rest of the afterlife. In exchange, I can right some of the wrongs of the world. Wouldn't you like that?"
"I can't enslave my next lives to a promise I made in this one," Sidus said. Etro studied him; a smile played on the edge of her mouth.
"I like you. Eos was right in creating your kind," Etro said.
"Perhaps you should stop toying with him, Eldest Sister." Sidus looked up. It was Bahamut, but as he'd appeared on the Cosmogony. Sidus bowed at the waist to Bahamut. Shiva, a human sized Titan (well closer to human size), a human sized Ramuh, and a half sea-serpent/half woman Leviathan also appeared before him with man sized Ifrit sulking in next to Shiva.
"Who woke her up?" Ifrit snarked.
"His earnest desire for saving Noctis, whose life had to be sacrificed to clean up your mess," Etro said.
"You should be mad at these five too, you know," Ifrit grumbled. Etro shot him a look and he stood up and acted more like an Astral and less like a sulky child whose favorite toy had been taken away.
"You all owed me a favor for denying the Immortal Accursed Death's Embrace. You all swore it before my twin sister, Eos. You swore it before our mother, Nox. I am calling in those favors from each of you. Except you, Ifrit. Instead, you owe me compensation for the excess chaos energy your little stunt caused," Etro said.
"Why is the little mortal here?" Leviathan asked.
"His heart called out and enabled me to breach the mortal plane; he is my anchor," Etro said, "Did you think I would cross over into this realm and cause even more chaos without one?" The Six exchanged a few looks that seemed to say that they did .
"You have always been the one who loved mankind the most, regardless of the cost. Name your favors, sister," Shiva said.
Sidus blinked. He was still in the elevator. What a crazy dream. Death goddesses? You've finally lost it, Sidus. The light cleared. He forced the doors open preparing for a horrible scene. There were door fragments in the wall opposite the throne room doors. Suddenly, he understood why Noctis had shoved him in that elevator. Noctis….He peered into the throne room and his jaw dropped. Noctis, though slumped forwards unconscious looked very much still alive.
"Noct!" He rushed through the even more rubble filled room to where Noctis was slumped over. There was some evidence of blood but no corresponding wound. His breathing was even and steady. He lived. The Ring and the stone were gone, but Noctis still lived. Sidus hugged him close as tears ran down his cheeks. Noctis lived! A groan had Sidus jump and turn before his jaw dropped.
"L-Lady Lunafreya?" Sidus asked. She was dressed in a slightly tattered gown, but she looked radiant still.
"You must be Sidus. Please, call me Luna," she said.
"How?"
"By the grace of the Astrals," Luna explained.
When the others who'd flopped down on the steps of the Citadel finally decided to go inside to see what had become of Sidus and Noctis, they didn't expect to see three forms exiting the Elevator. Make that two forms supporting a third. Diana dropped her mutilated lance and had her hands over her mouth. Gladio and Prompto rushed the trio and had Noctis in their arms in no time flat. He had roused a little and dragged them into a group hug, before dragging Sidus into the pile too.
"What is happening?" Ignis asked.
"Noctis is alive!" Diana yelled. Ignis needed no more than that to join the other men in their embrace. She awkwardly looked up at the woman she had nearly come to despise.
"I don't blame you for your efforts, I never did," Luna said.
"You knew?"
"Of course. It's hard to be in someone else's shadow," Luna said, "You've become a fine young warrior, and a fine little sister."
"People think I'm your niece," Diana said rubbing the back of her neck.
"Let's let people keep thinking so. It'll drive Ravus nuts," Luna said. Diana let out a giggle before she lost it laughing. Luna joined her and the men broke apart and had no idea what either was laughing at. It proved to be contagious. Laughter echoed in the courtyard rapidly filling with weak dawn light. The first light of a decade. For a moment, all seemed...calm.
MP: I promised you all a happier ending. Here it is :D
Keep in mind, this now splits this AU into two branching paths.
So, when I post another fic in this sequence I'll now have to refer to it as Ending 1 continuation and Ending 2.
About Luna being alive and me pulling a Deus Ex Machina with Etro: Well...truth is it was the only way I could think to give Noctis and Luna a happy ending. I mean death is a pretty final thing; who better to circumnavigate that fate than the former Patron Goddess of Lucis herself, Etro.
I mean, yeah she was dropped after this stopped being Versus XIII but there is still a painting of her in Kingsglaive so she's still in this universe for me.