R4 Viewing Party - no crying til the end (if you can help it)

[serrata]

I'm sure this is fine.

WELCOME TO THE R4 LIVEWATCH: AIRLOCKED REACH EDITION

Comments

[scourgingstars]

If that's the case... [Ardyn trailed off, frowning slightly. Altissia to Zegnautus Keep was such a short timeframe, it almost didn't seem plausible just on that alone. Even far enough past it that he would still look that young sounded like it wouldn't be enough. Then again, forcing someone to remember they weren't what they thought as well as making sure they knew the sun might never rise again? That sounded like something the network would do.]

...How much did he tell you about where he'd been, when all of you reunited in Gralea?

[nightcure]

... He told me enough.

[ He lifts one shoulder in a shrug. ]

Enough for me to be really worried now.

[scourgingstars]

It's a far shorter timeframe than I would expect them to erase, but it-...

[But nothing else quite fit correctly with the limited information they had so far.]

'It's not good' is a tremendous understatement of the situation he's likely to end up remembering.

[nightcure]

[ For a while, he just... falls quiet. Watches the screen.

And then his face turns very, very pale as something falls into place. ]

[scourgingstars]

Noctis? What's-

[How long were you in the dark?]

... [Ardyn cursed under his breath in a language that he would still maintain was not Latin.]

[nightcure]

It's--

[ Tell me. Were you worried about me? ]

Prompto, when we found him--

[ Of course I was. What kind of question is that? ]

... He thought-- I think he thought we didn't want him to be one of us. If-- What if he still thinks that, after all this time?

[scourgingstars]

[Fucking gods damn it.]

That's- [Wherever the simulated consciousness they were watching now had ended up--and damnable gods please let them be somewhere--that was possible enough to send a very real chill through a very human body.]

...We've no way of knowing for certain how far ahead he's likely to remember. [Which was true, but Ardyn had a sinking feeling Noctis was closer to the truth right now.] Judging by his age he could have come from some point while you were in the Crystal, at the latest.

[nightcure]

... This is so screwed up.

[ And he hates it. He hates it so much. He hates that so many viewers out there have seen this--what Luna and Prompto have gone through, and he hates that he can see them and he's unable to do a godsdamned thing to help them. ]

Feeling so helpless, it's-- damnit.

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn didn't answer at first--they'd all felt nearly as helpless last season, but the definite foregone conclusion of the whole thing made it exponentially worse. And he hadn't even been close to Lunafreya or Prompto to begin with--he'd been the farthest thing from it. So he couldn't even comprehend how Noctis was feeling and had no right to even pretend it affected them in nearly the same ways.]

[Frustratingly, that also meant he had no idea how to help or even if he could without overstepping some line he'd set by ruining things in the first place.]

...I know. We're going to make them pay for this even if it should be the last thing all of us ever do.