"Go on, cry" or "can i hug you?" From the angst prompt please? (i'm gonna regret this lol)
You won’t regret it! I am incapable of writing sad endings. I can’t do it, you guys. The other angst prompts are on their way, but Happy Saturday! I will edit this in embarrassment tomorrow probably if I’m being totally honest with myself.
TW: off screen, non-character death
Grief- Ignis x Reader
You stared at the phone in your hand. The text had come a few minutes ago—a list of those whose bodies had been found following Insomnia’s fall. You stood in the same spot, dread turning into shock holding you rooted. You felt cold, empty.
It had only been less than two weeks ago that your long term boyfriend, Ignis Scientia had ended your relationship, stressed as he was about his inability to spend time with you as the days towards Noctis’s wedding and the signing of the Treaty had marched closer and closer. You tried to be understanding, but he was so stressed that following weeks of slowly isolating you, he finally ended it.
That first night, you had cried yourself to sleep, wrapping arms around yourself as you sobbed into your arms. The pain stung, blossoming inside until you could do nothing but hide under your covers.
You didn’t think you’d get over for a long time. But then Insomnia fell. You had been watching the signing of the Treaty on the television, trying to sneak a peek at a situation you had been so peripherally involved in when you were with him. You had been halfway through taking a sip of wine when the stream cut off. There had been a moment of static, and a loud boom that startled you. Flashes of light had peaked through from outside your balcony, behind the curtains. You remember time slowing, a voice inside telling you something was very wrong, as you had pulled back the curtains and witnessed the carnage that had begun.
Ignis had made you keep a bag for emergencies—another thought had would have hurt to think about had you not been fleeing for your life—under your bed. You had pulled it out, stuffed on a pair of sneakers, and phone held to your ear calling your family had been out the door trying to find the Glaives that were assisting with getting people out.
You had managed to run into Cor, but you never found your family. You had been trying to give them directions, but they lived in another part of the city. The last text had informed you that they had met up with the Kingsglaive in the sector and that they would meet you at the next Outpost.
You had been waiting for them for the last two days, refusing to leave Monica’s side even with the threat of Niflheim’s armies so close by.
And then you got the updated text. You thought your breakup was painful, but you were barely able to process this loss. Your family. Gone. Thoughts raced through your mind, each too fleeting to pay any attention to, and the place where your heart should have been felt empty.
You were alone. Truly alone.
Finally, your hands shook as your brain processed the information, but you still couldn’t stop staring at your phone that had long gone into sleep mode. Your throat worked at swallowing the lump lodged firmly within in, but nothing worked.
You thought you heard voices behind you.
“Her family…”
Was that Cor’s voice?
“Is she hurt?”
Another, more familiar voice. You wanted to turn, find the person with that deep, cultured accent you had known what seemed like so long ago.
“No, she was safe. But she came by herself. Just got the news now. Monica says she hasn’t moved. Still in shock.”
“Allow us a moment of privacy if you will, Marshall.”
A grunt, and it was silent again, until you heard the soft scuff of boots approaching you.
The sound brought you out of your trance, and you turned towards the sound, eyes widened locking gaze with Ignis.
He stood some feet from you as you had turned, your appearance stopping him in his track. Your eyes were wide, unfocused, lips parted. Your shoulders were slumped, and your hands were shaking.
“I’m sorry—”
He stepped closer to you, until he was only a couple feet apart. Your gaze stared forward at his chest, expression broken.
He felt the hitch of your breath when he cupped your cheek tilting your head to look up at him.
“They’re gone,” you whispered, voice hoarse from emotion.
And then it hit you. The emotion was dizzying. He could see it in the way your eyes teared and your chest heave.
Tears began to fall, and his heart broke.
“C-Can I hug you, p-please?” you squeaked.
You needed something—someone—so you wouldn’t fall. Your legs were shaking under the weight of the information finally processed.
You were pulled into a warm body, the smell of coffee, cologne, and Ignis feeling so hauntingly familiar and so out of place with the depth of your grief.
Ignis secured you against his frame, one arm around your waist, and the other holding your head firmly to his chest. He let you cry, let the tears soak through this shirt as he regretted every mistake he had foolishly made in the last few weeks.
He had broken off the relationship for what he thought would ultimately be for your benefit. Once Noct was married to Lady Lunafreya, Regis seemed to imply that Noct’s duties would intensify, and Ignis’s along with it.
You deserved to be second to nothing. You deserved all-encompassing love. If he couldn’t provide that, then he wanted you to find someone who could. The move had broken his heart. Poor sleep had plagued him, and he had only dreamt of finding you again, tempted to hold you in his arms and take back those words and kiss you and love you and make you his over and over.
He hadn’t expected this reunion.
He held you close until your tears had quieted, and the broken mantra of “they’re gone” had stopped, and you didn’t tremble in his arms quite as much. You tried to stand on your own and bring a hand to hastily wipe your eyes. You were thankful for the support, but you remembered he was no longer yours, and you didn’t want him seeing you like this.
You tried to back away, but he kept a firm arm around your waist, bringing his other hand to cup your cheek and brush away the remnant moisture there.
“I’m sorry for crying like this—I know you have other things to do.”
Ignis tamped down the surprise of your statement. Is that honestly what you thought?
“There is nothing more important to me than being here right now,” he said softly, bending down slowly to kiss your cheek.
You sniffled at the words, emotions you had buried all those weeks ago trying to rise to the surface.
“I am so, so sorry for your loss, but you don’t need to be done crying. Not now. Not with me.”
The permission to be vulnerable broke something in you as fresh tears welled up and fell. You wrapped your arms around him. You were thankful for the privacy the others gave you, even though you knew you probably weren’t the only one who had lost family. Ignis let you grieve for as long as you needed, lending you the strength of his body.
When evening fell later that day, Ignis still held you close against him. Noct, Prompto, and Gladio seemed to understand, leaving a wide area of privacy for the two of you. Your privacy was only encroached upon briefly when Prompto brought the two of you food.
You didn’t feel much like eating, but Ignis insisted, feeding you small bites until you had at least some sustenance in your stomach. He stayed up with you far after every one finally went to bed, holding you when the tears started again.
When the tears stopped for what seemed to be the hundredth time for the day, he held you on his lap, as you lay curled into his chest. He felt like protection from the elements, the Empire, the daemons you could hear outside, and yourself.
Your fingers fiddled with the placket of his shirt. “Are you going to leave?” you asked, voice hoarse from crying.
“Not without you,” he murmured against your hair.
You lifted your head to look at him and meet his gaze. He looked so forlorn and pained, it startled you.
“Ignis?”
“I—I never stopped loving you.” Once he started, the rest of his words tumbled out. “I wanted you to have someone better than I, but I am finding that I want to be so incredibly selfish and never let you leave the confines of my arms. I know nothing will take away the pain of losing your family, but I promise you, you won’t be alone.”
You stared at him in surprise, but when he bent his head towards you, your eyes fluttered shut out of habit, and you exhaled against his lips. The kiss was chaste—just a soft pressure of his lips against yours, but it was enough.
“I will stay here until you need, but I will stay by your side always,” he said bringing you towards his chest again.
As you lay your head on his chest, your eyes finally fluttered close, the beat of his heart comforting. Your heart still ached with grief and you knew it would for a long time, but with Ignis wrapped around you, you didn’t feel alone.
