Work Text:
Forgiveness, After All This Time
By Cat
Death had been like taking a long overdue bath. The longer his soul had been severed from his corrupted body, the more of that corruption finally sloughed off the pure white of his soul.
The first thing Ardyn had remembered was his great nephew in the great beyond. The Prince become King had killed him in life and he banished him again in the astral plane. It had been everything that he had wanted, and still, he floated.
The astral plane was peaceful, something that Ardyn had had little of in life. His time before the crystal had been short and filled with many regrets. He hadn’t helped enough people and still the star sickness had taken his mind and everything that had been precious to him. It had taken his first love away from him in betrayal and it had taken his second love away from him in brutal love. Lastly, it had taken his blood and his mind. It had turned him into filth and despair.
The next thing Ardyn remembered was sitting on the throne, alone and naked. Had it been hours, days, years, or merely minutes?
This seat was something that Ardyn had wanted for so long he wasn’t sure if the desire belonged to his true self, the healer and wanderer, or his corrupt self, the cursed Adagium that his brother had made him. It wasn’t as comfortable as he had remembered it to be, and that thought was upsetting.
“If I am to spend eternity upon this seat, at least make it comfortable.” Ardyn spoke into the white void surrounding him, not expecting for anyone to hear him.
“I was once told that ruling is not comfortable so a comfortable seat of power would bring a false sense over the ones who sat upon it.”
Ardyn’s head snapped from side to side, not being able to focus on anything past the white nothingness that filled his vision. Everything outside of himself and the throne was blind to him. Still, the voice was familiar like something long forgotten.
“Gilgamesh?” Ardyn couldn’t help the sound of anger and betrayal in his voice.
Just like that, the long forgotten Shield materialized at what felt like the far end of the room that wasn’t. He was leaning against a pillar, old and cracked from hundreds of years of weather. The architecture was familiar as if it was something he had glanced at in a different life.
“Ardyn.” The word from the lips of someone he had once loved felt like a stab in the heart. He moved his hand over his chest, as if to pull an invisible arrow from his heart.
“What are you doing here?” Ardyn shifted, leaning back into the uncomfortable chair, realizing then that there was a plush drapery of some kind keeping his naked form from the cool wood. “Why would you think that after everything you put me through I would want to see you here, of all places?”
Gilgamesh didn’t move, his own nakedness on display as he let out a sigh. It was then that Ardyn realized this was not the same man he had remembered. Not entirely.
Before the betrayal Gilgamesh had been Ardyn’s first love. Before the horror of the scourge they had spent many nights tumbling in the open sky under hundreds of stars. They had been happy and carefree boys. Back when Gilgamesh had promised to be his shield, his protection against those who would challenge him. Back when the crystal had called him King.
Because of all of that, Adryn had memorized every bump scrape and bruise on his would-be protector. There had been one difference in those early days. Gilgmesh had two arms.
“When did that happen?” Ardyn couldn’t peel his eyes from the missing limb now that he had noticed it.
“This?” Gilgamesh pushed himself from the pole, which vanished into the whiteness, and a corporeal arm grew in place of what should have been solid flesh. “It was a boy who wanted to prove he was bigger than he was.”
Gilgamesh laughed, flexing the arm as if making sure it still worked. With a sigh, he allowed it to vanish, crystalline structures flaking away in an invisible wind.
“I never thought you would lose a fight to a mere boy.” Ardyn crossed his leg over his lap, letting out a sigh from between long pursed lips.
“You’d understand if you knew the boy.”
An uncomfortable silence stretched before them, Ardyn remembered everything that could have been and a bitterness overtook him. “You never answered my question.”
Gilgamesh took another step forward, letting a sigh escape his lips. “I have spent a long time waiting for the day I would be able to ask you for forgiveness. In truth, I had started to believe that the day would never come and I would be forced to wait in my hell until the end of time.
“The gods take a betrayal like mine seriously. For all the time you stayed chained and corrupt, I have been punished. Yet still, they did not let me rest.” Gilgamesh took another step forward, eyes moving to meet his once King’s eyes.
Ardyn felt his body long for Gilgamesh. He had thought about the man and his brother many times in his insanity. He had wanted to see him suffer and he had wanted to make sure he had paid the price of betrayal. Yet now, with most of the scourge washed from his soul, he wanted to forgive him.
“I am still tethered to Eos. My curse will linger there until I am granted forgiveness for my betrayal.” Gilgamesh’s voice wavered as he took yet another step forward.
He was bare and naked before him, more vulnerable than he had allowed himself to be in almost two centuries. Even still, Ardyn wanted to see him beg for it, truly repent to him for the torment that he had endured.
“You want my forgiveness?” Ardyn straightened in his seat, placing his hands on his naked flesh, holding himself in the most royal placement he could manage. After all, he had not had the time his brother had had upon the Lucian throne.
“I do.” Another barefooted step was taken on the pure white void.
“Beg for it.” Ardyn pointed to the ground, a smile curling his lips ever so slightly. “Get down on your knees and ask your King for his forgiveness.”
Every perfectly toned muscle in the tall Shield tensed. Ardyn watched as old scars flexed under the taught, sun colored flesh, pulled starkly white against the perfect frame. He had gotten stronger since the last time he had seen these muscles and most of the scarring was new, as well.
“Yes, your highness.” Gilgamesh’s body rippled as he got down on hand and knees and looked up at him.
It was an awkward crawl, with the Shield missing his left arm. Yet, there was no complaint as if the limb was still, in some facet, functioning as support regardless of having long been removed. Blue eyes with golden flecks still lingering watched the slow movement until Gilgamesh was just inches from him.
“My King,” Gilgamesh tilted his eyes up, looking at Ardyn, who hadn’t moved, “Forgive me for all the wrong I have committed.”
The words were quiet, but Ardyn could feel the weight of them. The list of Gilgamesh’s sins was long, too long to go into, as were Ardyn’s himself. They had both failed and both been punished accordingly.
“Kiss my foot.” Perhaps it was taking it too far, but Ardyn felt a bit of the sadism remaining from the star sickness. That, too, would pass. He could feel the fire flicker out and curl into embers, hot against his heart. “And you are forgiven.”