[And that pretty much struck Ardyn speechless. He'd done--would do, had done--horrendous things to the world at large and Noctis specifically. Yes, he understood that monster wasn't him just yet, but the distinction wasn't always an easy one to make for Ardyn, much less Noctis. Having one's unworthiness almost literally burned into them tended to linger, and even now he thought almost alarmingly little of himself.]
[But despite all that, despite everything he would become and everything he would do, despite how he'd failed utterly and been named a monster for it, despite being worthless in his own eyes...he was still accepted. By distant descendants, by friends he'd otherwise never have known, perhaps even by his brother. By Noctis, destined to kill him and with all the reason in the world to reject him just as violently as the Crystal in his blood.]
[Forget the gods and the Crystal; it wasn't their acceptance he wanted. Not their acknowledgement or anything else. It was worthless next to all of that--neither meant anything at all to Ardyn compared to his family.]
[Completely at a loss, Ardyn chose instead to hug Noctis a little more tightly again and hide whichever of the half-dozen different emotions he felt that was showing on his face.]
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[But despite all that, despite everything he would become and everything he would do, despite how he'd failed utterly and been named a monster for it, despite being worthless in his own eyes...he was still accepted. By distant descendants, by friends he'd otherwise never have known, perhaps even by his brother. By Noctis, destined to kill him and with all the reason in the world to reject him just as violently as the Crystal in his blood.]
[Forget the gods and the Crystal; it wasn't their acceptance he wanted. Not their acknowledgement or anything else. It was worthless next to all of that--neither meant anything at all to Ardyn compared to his family.]
[Completely at a loss, Ardyn chose instead to hug Noctis a little more tightly again and hide whichever of the half-dozen different emotions he felt that was showing on his face.]