[Ardyn ran a light hand through Ignis' hair, pressing a kiss to his head with a tired, hollow laugh.]

I'm sorry. I'm going to cause all of you nothing but trouble again. What I am...can't truly be cured or saved. It's always going to be there so long as I'm alive, and I'm never going to be a mortal with functioning morality or sentiment.

I can't...change that. And I won't go to the Storyteller for help, not even should I have no other recourse. I don't even know if it can be balanced out, but I...no matter what I will say off of this island, I want to try. I want-...I want that sense of happiness again, even if it should be a pale shadow of what I felt in that dream.