A/n: I know "Ring Around the Rosie" isn't really about the Black Plague, but I found the urban legend to be interesting and decided to incorporate it into my story. Hope you all enjoy! Love you all!!!
~✨Celestial✨~
••••••••••••••••••••

Minutes turned into hours as the royal retinue waited for anything to change. Gladio stood in the back of the cell, leaning against the wall with crossed arms. Noctis sat on the cold floor, legs stretched out in front of him. Ignis stood at the cell door, staring out at the elaborate setup of cameras and computers located across from their cell. A group of men sat in the chairs available as they worked while a few masked ones stood behind them. Prompto paced back and forth in the middle of the cell, running his hands through his blonde locks. "What're we gonna do?"

"There's nothing we can do," Gladio answered with a hint of annoyance.

"How long have we been here?" Noctis asked with a heavy sigh.

"Nearly an entire day," Ignis responded.

The raven-haired boy looked over at his advisor. "How did you figure that out?"

"The camera feeds are dated and time-stamped. Though, that does not include the time we were unconscious."

"We've gotta get outta here!" Prompto shouted, his sanity starting to fracture.

"Didn't you hear what the bastard said earlier? We're not going anywhere unless that door is opened," Gladio responded.

"Yeah, but how long will that be?" Noctis threw another question toward the brute.

Instead, Ignis was the one to answer. "(Y/n) is our only hope of absconding."

"What if she gives herself up to save us?" Prompto inquired. "We can't let this guy have her!"

"Stop yelling, Prompto," Noctis groaned.

"(Y/n) is a crafty individual. I highly doubt she'd give herself to Silas willingly," the advisor stated calmly.

After those final words, silence fell between the boys. Prompto continued to pace inside the cell until he was exhausted. Ignis kept his eyes glued to the camera feeds, searching for any sign of (Y/n). He knew she was formulating a plan that would involve her safety and theirs.

All of a sudden, he felt a warmth in his pocket. He reached down and pulled out the source of the warmth—the summoning orb. He hissed in pain when he felt the temperature of the artifact rise and burn his fingers through his gloves. He was forced to drop it and watched it fall as it clinked against the cement floor of the cell.

The white orb radiated brilliantly with an intense heat as it began wobbling back and forth. The others saw the glow and peered down at the floor beside Ignis' feet. "What's happening to the orb?" Prompto asked.

"Never seen it do that before," Noctis comments. He reaches out a hand toward it, able to feel the heat emitting from the artifact. When his hand hovered a few inches above it, he was startled when it started rolling around the cell in circles.

Once the orb circled them a few times, it suddenly ricocheted to the side and slammed into the cement wall. The force created a small indent in the wall, a few pieces of rubble falling to the floor as cracks spread outward from the center.

"What the hell...?" Gladio muttered as his eyes followed the orb. It slammed into the opposite wall, creating another indent.

"Do you think it's (Y/n)?" Prompto inquired. As that question slipped from his lips, the orb ceased moving and the bright light emanating from it extinguished.

"Looks like it's out of juice," Noctis commented.

Ignis plucked the orb off the floor and examined it. It was still warm to the touch, but it provided him with some comfort. He slid the artifact back into his pocket as Silas walked up to the cell for round two.

Unfortunately for the advisor, the leader of the Saints of the Apocalypse saw the orb before he could conceal it. "Hand over the orb," the highwayman commanded.

"Like hell we will," Gladio snarled, glaring at the man.

"You've no choice in the matter," Silas hissed back. "Hand it over. Now."

Ignis loathes the idea of handing over the orb, but he knew it was for the best. He took the artifact out of his pocket and handed it over.

"Iggy, what're you doing?!" Prompto wailed. "We can't hand it over!"

Before the strategist could answer, the orb leapt out of Silas' hand and through the bars. Once again, the artifact rolled across the floor in random patterns before bumping repeatedly against Ignis' shoe.

"What is the meaning of this?" Silas demanded, glaring at the tactician. The highwayman clicked his tongue as his eyes drifted toward the orb.

"It appears the orb is being controlled by an external force," he simply replied, eyes focused solely on the artifact.

Silas crosses his arms, deciding to hold back the insult he wished to hurl at the bespectacled man. "Regardless of the orb's strange behavior, I will have it in my grasp alongside Pestilence herself." Turning on his heels, the adversary sauntered off.

<—————<<<<<<

Another few hours zoomed by before the boys knew it. They became fidgety from the lack of freedom and grew anxious as time passed them by. They received a few visits from Silas, but all of them were taunts about how (Y/n) abandoned them. None of them were falling for his mockery, their trust in the Horseman unwavering.

When all was silent, the royal retinue and the men surrounding the multitude of screens heard a gentle, eerie humming. One of the men summoned Silas and reported what they were hearing. Noctis, Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis gathered at the front of the cell, curious as to what was going on. They couldn't see the screens, but they could hear the audio the cameras were capturing.

Silas scanned the numerous of screens with his eyes, trying to locate the source of the humming. When he couldn't, he grew frustrated. "Find whoever is making that noise!"

One man sitting at the computer typed away, flipping from camera to camera. When he spotted a petite figure walking down a hallway, he swallowed in fear. "Sh-She's here," he announces in a quivering voice.

"Find her and bring her to me. Do anything necessary to capture her," Silas growled. The men, minus their boss, rush out of the room. He watched his lackeys with the cameras, making sure they would accomplish their task. As he pinpointed Pestilence's location, a group of men engaged. Before any of them could lay a finger on her, they collapsed. He listened to her haunting tone as she sang, stepping over the bodies of his men in the process.

"Ring-a-round the rosie..." She began, her voice filling the cameras' speakers. She walked down the hall, crushing one of the plague doctor masks with her bare foot. "A pocket full of posies..."

On the receiving end of the video feed, Silas gritted his teeth and slammed his hand against the keyboard. "Dammit!" He heard a deep chuckle from the cell and turned toward the boys with a threatening glare. "You think this is a laughing matter?"

"It is," Gladio retorts with another chuckle. "Looks like the tables are turning."

Silas relocates his fiery gaze back to the screens. He searched for (Y/n) and found her in a large room surrounded by a horde of his men. His frown morphed into a wide grin at seeing how outnumbered she was.

In the large room, (Y/n) glanced around at the men surrounding her. She stared into the hollow eyes of their masks before casting them a sickeningly sweet smile. "Ashes...Ashes..." Before they could pull the trigger on their firearms or swing their blades, they slowly began collapsing one by one. "We all...fall..." The last man crumpled to the floor, no more obstacles in her path. "Down."

An angry yell escaped Silas as he grabbed the keyboard, threw it at the screens, and shattered them. With the screens now destroyed, he nor the boys knew where Pestilence was. "It's not easy replacing men..."

"That is an issue you no longer will be facing."

The highwayman spun around and saw (Y/n) leaning against the wall beside the cell. His eyes widen in shock. "How did you...?"

Pestilence snapped her fingers and her summoning orb vanished from Ignis' pocket and appeared between her index finger and thumb. "Finding your headquarters was quite simple. The orb is a manifestation of memories from my previous life. Such a strong, personal bond between it and myself made for a simplistic and facile tracking device." The orb vanished, returning to Ignis' pocket.

Silas growled in annoyance, casting a fiery glare at the Horseman. He reached for his blade and gripped it tightly, his eyes never leaving (Y/n) for even a second. He charged forward, raising his blade in the air.

The girl acted quicker than Silas, summoning her chakrams and diving below the man's blade the second he swung it at her. She targeted his leg, swinging one of her curved blades. It ripped through his pants and sliced deeply into his skin. Due to the location and immense pain from the wound, he crumpled to a single knee and embedded his sword into the floor to support his body. He tried to fight through the pain as blood gushed from the deep gash in the back of his leg. "Damn you!"

(Y/n) gripped her chakrams tightly as she kept her back turned toward Silas. She debated mentally what she'd do with him and came to a gruesome conclusion. Spinning around, she threw one of her blades and watched it sail through the air. It felt as if time slowed down as the curved, sharp blade hit its mark, slicing the man's throat open. Blood spewed from Silas' neck as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding by tightly clutching his throat, gurgling and chocking on the crimson liquid.

With an emotionless expression, (Y/n) caught her chakram and shook the blood off the blade. She heard Silas curse her one last time before his body fell and became lifeless. Dispelling her weapons, she refused to meet the boys' gazes as she freed them from the cell. None of them said a word as she escorted them out of the Saints of the Apocalypse's headquarters.

When the royal retinue came to a halt after emerging from the seemingly abandoned building, they stared at Pestilence as she continued to walk away with her back turned to them.

"(Y/n)," Ignis shattered the silence. The girl stopped, but she refused to face him and the others. Her hands clenched into fists as they rested by her sides, waiting to hear what the tactician had to say. "Such tactics were necessary."

She immediately snapped back. "No. What I did is unforgivable. My judgement was clouded and I made the wrong decision. The proper procedure should've been Silas' capture, not his execution. That is not even the worst part." She grasped the fabric of her outfit, tugging on the material where it hugged her hips. "The worst part was forcing you four to watch such a gruesome sight. You should be furious with me, not seeking to comfort my wrongdoings."

"Your actions are justified," Ignis responds, his tone brimming with honesty and a small hint of determination.

Hearing his honesty made her heart ache. "No, they aren't. Forgive me, Ignis." With those final words, she vanished into thin air.

"(Y/n)..." Prompto muttered her name sorrowfully.

Noctis looked over at Ignis, who was staring at the spot Pestilence once stood. "We're going after her, right?"

"Car's over there," Gladio gestured to the Regalia. "We better get movin'. Who knows where she vanished to."

They headed over to the car and climbed inside. Prompto glanced into the backseat before looking at Ignis. "Where do you think she could've gone?"

"I'm uncertain of her exact whereabouts, but I do have a single destination in mind," the emerald-eyed boy responded as he started the car's engine before departing.

<———————<<<<<<

"Where are we going?" Prompto asked out of curiosity.

"Taelpar Crag," Ignis simply responded, eyes focused on the road. "The bridge where we first encountered (Y/n)."

"What makes you think she'll be there?" Noctis inquired, leaning forward slightly in the seat.

"It is the only location left on Eos with a connection to her previous life."

Gladio glanced out of the window, staring up at the gray sky as it began to drizzle. "You saw how she looked broken after killing Silas in front of us. Think you can keep her from doing something crazy, Iggy?"

The bespectacled man grasped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles and fingers straining under his unyielding grip. "Yes," he answers confidently.

The shield smirked. "Good answer."

The light drizzle morphed into a heavy downpour as the royal retinue reached their destination. Ignis pulled the car over and commanded the others to remain inside the vehicle. They didn't argue, which he was grateful they were able to understand and hopped out of the car. Through the rain, he spotted a familiar figure standing on the stone railing of the bridge. His once styled hair flattened as he felt the cold downpour soak his entire being. Pushing through the chill that overtook his body, he approached the Horseman.

"From here, the fall seems infinite. For me, it felt like seconds before my body and the car smashed against the bottom of the canyon," Ignis heard (Y/n) say through the heavy rainfall. Her back was turned to him, her eyes staring down into the canyon below. "I cherished Raiden will all my heart, but I am the cause of his death. It seems the only thing I can do right is kill people."

"You're speaking irrationally, (Y/n)," Ignis said as he came to a halt a few feet away from her.

"Am I?" She asked with a scoff, not even sparing the advisor a single glance. "You've seen me slaughter men left and right without even blinking. It seems King Aeshema was correct in choosing me as Pestilence. Like a plague, I kill everyone around me. You may be the next name I will reluctantly have to add to the obituary."

"This is nonsense," Ignis sighed in disbelief. He couldn't bear listening to her, especially since he knew what was coming next. This was the same behavior she displayed atop the lighthouse at Cape Caem. He had prayed to the Astrals in hopes his words would've reached her, but killing Silas seemed to trigger something deeper inside her. Taking a few steps closer, he reached out to grab her arm. "Let us return to Caem and place this behind us."

Pestilence stepped out of his reach and closer to the edge of the stone railing. "You may be able to put the past behind you, but I cannot. My past has been haunting me for 80 years. I have made myriads of mistakes and it seems tagging along with you and the others was another one. All I've done is brought bloodshed and nothing else." She lifted her head and finally met his gaze, her (e/c) eyes completely emotionless. "This is farewell, Ignis."