Ardyn let those insidious, poisonous thoughts roll around within Prompto’s skull for a few long moments, like relentless waves buffeting up against the shoreline. In the grand scheme of things, he knew that most of the hollowing deprecation would come from none other than the young man himself. That all of his concerns — especially in the wake of having just visited an MT production facility — already existed, stacked up high within his mind. Ardyn only needed to apply pressure in just the right places, causing those hairline cracks to fissure. Then it was only a matter of watching it all crumble into naught.

“Oh, I don’t think I am. After the revelation of just what you are, why would they have any reason to trust you? A soulless soldier to be placed within an army of machines — and you couldn’t even manage that much. You’re little more than something to be labelled as defective, Prompto.”

Stolen away from the facilities before he could be fully transformed into an MT. Ardyn stepped forward again, his footsteps still ringing hollow.

“Not that it would bring your friends here any faster, but we could try to fix that, you know. It would give me something to do while I have to wait.”