A/N: Timely for Iggy’s name day! So. Slightly departing from the usual structure in which I write my stories, so this may seem a bit... weird? Fragmented? So I kind of not recommend reading this via Tumblr mobile bc that app murders the formatting lmao
(Links in AO3) Alternate Universes in Which You and I Belong Together: Noctis | Gladio | Prompto | Ignis | Nyx | Cor | Ravus | Ardyn
Ignis breezes through the freeway, his Aston Martin almost flying through the rainy night. He is never one to drive like a madman, but this is a desperate time that certainly calls for this very desperate measure. He spares a glance at the rearview mirror. A shabby white Mitsubishi and a gaudy yellow Volvo still remain in close pursuit. Looks like the flock of paparazzi back from Maagho’s really is a persistent lot. In the passenger seat, you sit in an unsettling silence.
Fuck these bastards, he mutters under his breath.
Speed limits be damned. His fingers tighten around the steering wheel. Ignis revs the engine and zips past the steady traffic.
“Let’s get you back to your flat, alright?” he offers kindly.
You say nothing.
Suddenly, Ignis finds himself missing your chatty, teasing antics. That silly smile of yours. By this time, you should have been pleading him to let you go someplace else—anywhere but your place—while annoying him to death with your usual smartass quips. You never do.
Months before, Ignis had been perfectly convinced you were the most insufferable human he has ever come across. Funny how he now thinks otherwise. Even funnier that he now cares. Because it’s not his business to care. His job was never to look nor to listen.
But at this point, you have made him break every single rule in his book.
The first thing Ignis notices when he meets you is your eyes.
Something about your strong and striking gaze makes him wonder why someone like him is even employed at your service. One look from you, he is pretty certain you are completely capable on your own in terms of sending anyone who dares cross your path—may it be troublesome paparazzi, or overzealous fans and haters alike—to run with their tails between their legs. Your composure and confidence says just as much. Seems to him that you’re the type of person who does not need anyone’s protection, let alone a bodyguard.
Which is a sentiment you made very clear that morning in the luxurious luster of Hotel St. Regis’s lobby.
“I’m afraid Aranea here has wasted your time—” you tell Ignis as you set your cup of coffee back on the table, sharply turning your attention to the silver-haired woman who is sitting across from you— “but like I said, I can take care of myself just fine—”
“Really?” Aranea scoffs, casting you a challenging glare. “And by taking care of yourself, do you mean going around punching paparazzi square in the face and breaking their camera as you please?”
You shrug. “Well, that fella fucking deserved it—”
“Whether they deserved it or not isn’t the fucking point, you idiot. Do you have any idea how Cor had to shell out his own money to keep that incident from going out to the press?” Aranea sighs in resignation. “Look, this is more than just taking care of yourself. This is about—”
“—my career, my image, and my reputation, blah blah blah. Yes, you don’t need to do all of Cor’s spiel—I get it.”
Aranea raises an eyebrow. “Do you really? ‘Cause if you really did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and Ignis wouldn’t be the fourth replacement in the span of six fucking months.”
You fall silent. Though Ignis is compelled to say something, he knows very well not to provide his thoughts, unsolicited or otherwise. That’s never in his job description. He had been trained to keep his mouth shut, and he is going to do just that. Besides, what would he know? Such is the world of glitz and glamour that is show business, and Ignis has never been tasked with handling celebrity clientele before. If anything, among his peers, it was either Gladio or Nyx who gets paired with the high profile A-listers. Clarus’s directive for him came as a strange surprise, the initial briefing of his task even stranger. All throughout his fifteen years of service in the Lucian Security Bureau, people frequently assigned to Ignis were government big shots, business moguls, and upper echelons of society who have been targets of terror and violence.
However, in your case… Ignis could see that you fit in neither the former nor the latter. At least for now, that’s what he thinks.
You spread your elbows over the table, eyeing Aranea with a wicked smile all over your face. “You know what would be better, Ari?”
“Don’t call me that—”
“You could pass as both my handler and bodyguard, don’t you think?
Aranea looks at Ignis, then back at you. “Does that come with a raise?”
You lean back against your seat. “Nope.”
“Didn’t think so.” Aranea exhales a derisive laugh. “Then I suppose we leave Ignis to do that job for all our sakes. Anyway, we better get going—” from her satchel, she pulls out a sleek-looking tablet— “you have to be ready for your four p.m. table read and a seven p.m. interview Dino of Meteor Publishing.” To Ignis, she says, “I assume you’ve already been briefed by your superior about all your responsibilities?”
Ignis sits up straighter and nods. “Yes.”
“Good. It’s pretty simple actually, but the past bodyguards can’t seem to do it.” Aranea smiles, clapping Ignis by the shoulder as she narrows her eyes on you. “Just don’t let this moron out of your sight, and we’ll all be fine.”
The first thing you notice about Ignis is his eyes.
Never mind the scar that cruised the left side of his face, that tiny slash over his right eyebrow, or even the one on the bridge of his nose. He didn’t even need to look at you directly for you to marvel at how fiercely green his eyes are, like the colour of a bright summer’s day. However, back in the lobby with Aranea, there is no warmth in his silences nor in his clinical concentration; there is only a crippling coldness. One look at him and you could already surmise that he’s had his fair share of danger in his profession. Though he is lean and lithe unlike your past bodyguards who all seem to be built out of heavier materials, you cannot shake the feeling that Ignis might have killed a man with his bare hands.
Still, you don’t really need someone like Ignis. You never needed someone like him. A bodyguard should have been the least of your concerns. Besides, you have enough people monitoring your every move that getting a fucking bodyguard is as insane as it’s going to get. Cor often reminds you that this is all for your safety, and that as your manager, he only wants to keep you safe. Aranea chastises you that you’re overreacting, and that you’re still free as a bird. Except you’re as free as any bird locked in a cage that they might as well just lock you up in prison.
And in the first few hours that Ignis has started following you around, the fact that he hardly spares you a moment for a decent conversation—except for his courteously clipped responses like “Let me know if you need anything else,” or “I’ll be right outside your door”—prison seems like a more amiable place to be.
By his second week, Ignis finally understands how unpredictable you can be.
Okay, maybe he does not understand it quite fully. He has to admit, though: he admires the elaborate effort you put into your juvenile pranks. It comes in the strangest of ways and in the oddest of days: from your attempts to lock him up inside your trailer, down to that crafty disguise to sneak out of the film set, all of which he had seen you fail miserably time and again. Out of all your many crimes, petty they may be, hopping in the backseat of someone else’s car to escape him from an after party still takes the cake. He had to forcefully “borrow” a stranger’s motorcycle just to chase you down, which he managed to do in less than an hour. Not an impressive feat for someone his calibre, but at least he got you home in one piece—and without Cor or Aranea even knowing.
What fuels your sheer determination to drive him off his wits, Ignis does not know. The only thing he knows for sure is that you’re one bloody piece of work.
“Can’t say I didn’t warn ya, Specs,” Gladio reminds Ignis one sordid afternoon back in the Lucian Security Bureau HQ. In the saintly cleanliness that is his cubicle, he finds Gladio lounging on his seat together with Nyx, as if they had been expecting his unlikely visit. The air-conditioned hustle remains the same, the glass panels and all the white walls still as stark bright as Ignis remembers it to be. He really has been away for far too long that he finds himself missing that familiar scent of ink and paper, and even the faces of these two troublemakers.
“So how’s your new post treatin’ you?” Nyx breezily asks. His tone is not of concern, but a knowing amusement that Ignis can easily recognize. “The look on your face says you’re either in need of a stiff drink or to get laid.”
“Or could be both,” Gladio adds.
Actively ignoring the smug looks on his friends’ faces, Ignis does not answer them, but instead, he asks: “Aren’t the both of you supposed to be somewhere else?”
“Could ask you the same thing,” Gladio snaps back. He picks up Ignis’s tin of mints on his table and pops one on his mouth.
Nyx loops an arm around Ignis. “Y’know, celebrities can be a pain, so if you’re here to request Clarus for a reassignment, we promise not to judge.”
Ignis looks at Nyx for a brief moment. A reassignment. How come he never thought of that? Sure, you can be annoying and a menace to his daily routine, but Ignis suddenly finds it strange that he has never considered the prospect of requesting for a change in client. Maybe he has his brand of patience to thank for, or his unworldly forbearance in the years that he has spent in this profession.
But then—as if by seeing Nyx and Gladio after such a long time of being away—he realizes that maybe, you’re not that bad. Even in your reckless and determined attempts of making his life a living hell, you also make an effort to make conversation. Not that it’s anything special. He has been wired to being strictly on someone’s beck and call that most of his past clients do not even bother to look at him in the eye. Most of them see him as a weapon, a blade to be wielded against their enemies. Small wonder Ignis himself often forgets that he is a living and breathing person. He can barely remember having a life outside this job. He can barely remember the last time someone apart from Gladio and Nyx asking him anything about his hobbies or other interests or even about his family.
But you do. You try. Even on the first few days when Ignis didn’t know how to respond. It’s just that he doesn’t know how to. He fears that you might have interpreted that as indifference, and he regrets to have responded to you as such. He thought you would have given up by now, seeing how he had acted so callously, but you have the persistence of a honey badger that you use on him to get him to talk, or to even to smile a little.
Nyx looks at Ignis, this time with a genuine hint of concern. Ignis has not realized that he had been quiet for some time.
But he has realized that you have grown so much on him, which is such an disturbing thought to entertain.
“I think a reassignment is highly unnecessary,” Ignis says finally—almost to himself and not to Nyx and Gladio—as he takes his leave.
By his second week, you finally understand how Ignis can be so predictable.
There’s the matter of his morning routine. He follows it too religiously that you start to notice the little things. He wakes up as early as six a.m.—on the dot, not even a minute late—to work out at the back of your trailer. Three sets of push ups, squats, crunches, all in that order. Seven-thirty a.m., he wraps up, takes a shower, grabs a nice cup of coffee with some of the film crew. He likes his coffee strong and black, no sugar. How you know all of this like the same way you know all of your lines is beyond you.
But maybe he’s not too predictable. Not entirely.
You still have not seen him smile, despite the significant progress in the conversation department. And by significant, you mean that his answers have finally upgraded from one-word responses to lengthy sentences. Considering all the stupid shit you pulled on him, it’s almost a wonder that he even indulges you from time to time by answering any of your random questions.
Though in the process, you have learned a handful of tidbits about his life. For one, you find out that he happens to be an excellent cook. Once, he has shared with you how he wanted to build a restaurant of his own, and that it is only a matter of time before he could pursue that dream. Hearing him confide something that personal throws you off guard, but somehow, you feel quite relieved. You also learn that he has never seen any of your films, nor is he even aware of your awards and accolades—which, frankly, is the most gratifying thing you have ever heard in your life. You have also learned that he has not forgiven you for making him chase you all throughout the city. Which is fair. If that had happened with any of your previous bodyguards, they would not even bother sparing you another word even if you are the last person on this planet, and they would most certainly quit their job the next day.
But Ignis is different. A good kind of different.
Nevertheless, what you now find unfair is that you have never seen him smile. Unfair because he has seen yours a countless times at this point—fake ones on set included. He even gets a bonus because he has also seen you laugh at the most ridiculous things. Ignis, however, seems to be programmed with a limited range of emotions. You have not seen his face look anything but blank or bored, too surly or too serious.
It is only when you suddenly fall sick in the middle of filming that you find a new expression on his face.
Right after the director screams “Cut!” you wobble outside the set, past the cameramen, past the make up artists, past Aranea who’s probably busy handling your next schedule. When Ignis hurries by your side, you could barely focus your eyes. Your mouth tastes like acid. The world is spinning out of control.
Ignis presses the back of his hand to your forehead. “You’re burning up. I’m calling a doctor—”
“No, don’t.” You weakly wave a hand. “I’ll be fine by morning. Don’t tell Aranea. I just need to sleep, that’s all.”
Ignis walks you back to your trailer, looping your arm around his neck, and his around your waist. Your cheek momentarily rests against his chest, and you can feel his warm breath fanning over your head. You try your best not to retch on his shirt. Perhaps it’s the fever talking, but all you could think about is how this shirt looks perfect on him and you do not want to ruin it with your vomit.
Which is why out of your delirious haze, you say out of the blue: “Have I ever told you that you look so good in black?”
Ignis tilts his head. He hesitates for a moment, and then says, “I’m afraid not.”
“Well, now you know. I like your black dress shirt. You look so dapper in it.” And there goes your filter straight out the window.
“Thank you. It’s… nothing special.” He sounds unsure. Or is that embarrassment? Either way, you’re too sick to even look at his face to see his reaction.
Ignis guides you straight to your bed. You toss yourself so gracelessly against the mattress, and you gather the sheets to bundle up for warmth. A wave of nausea threatens to lurch out of your mouth. As far as you’re concerned, the inside of your trailer should not be this freezing cold.
“I’ll get you something to eat,” Ignis says, and as he prepares to drift to the kitchen, you grab for his hand.
“Please stay for a minute. Tell me a story.” You sound like a five-year-old.
He sits on the edge of the bed. “What kind of story?” His voice is gentler than usual. It is jarring, to say the least.
You pull yourself up, your arm brushing against his. “Like, is it possible that you’re a gremlin? ‘Cause how come it’s so hard to—” you thumb the corners of his mouth to make him smile— “see you do this?”
You can feel his face tremble a little in your touch. He looks at you strangely. You know he’s about to say something, but you are ill-prepared to what happens next.
Ignis starts to laugh.
You can’t believe this is what you have been missing for the last couple of days. What you have been missing your entire life. You have only known him for two weeks, but now, it’s like looking at a completely different person. He’s all lit up, his laughter radiating like the sun, bright and warm and blinding. His eyes disappear behind his smile lines, and his mouth curves to exhibit his perfect teeth and that illegally gorgeous smile. Your heart is pounding and you are certain that this is not your fever doing the talking anymore.
“I can assure you, I’m not a gremlin,” he says, wiping his eye with his hand.
“Good to know,” you say, sinking back to your pillows. “But I swear—I will make you laugh like that again when I get better,” you say confidently. And as you drift to deep sleep, the sound of his laughter is the last thing you hear.
The third month arrives and Ignis sees you a little differently.
Different in a way that your smile is now a bullet to his heart. Your laughter, a drug. Your kiss, a secret he would forever keep. Not only have you grown on him, but you have made a home inside his body. His mind, your temple. You have seduced his empty heart, and now it is beating only for you.
But if there’s anything Ignis knows by now, it’s that good things always come to an end. They always do. And he knows better. He knows you aren’t for him, and he isn’t for you.
The third month sweeps you off your feet as Aranea enters your trailer with a new man in tow. At first, you think he is one of the new actors with the way he carries himself with an air of confidence, but you immediately recognize the logo on his jacket.
The first thing that leaves your mouth is: “Where’s Ignis?”
Aranea’s mouth twists. She hesitates, then says, “Ignis quit. Told me he found a new job. Nyx here would be his replacement.”
Your heart plummets. The expression on your face might have been so fucking obvious because Aranea casts you a worried glance, and so does this Nyx. He looks slightly uncomfortable with the way you skate your narrowed eyes at him, as if he has no right to be in your breathing space. As if he has no right at all to ever replace Ignis.
“I can see that you’re upset with this change,” Nyx begins to say, quickly regaining his charming composure, “but by 'quit,' it means he has left to pursue a different career path. Doesn’t mean he left you—I mean, for another client, that is.”
A simmering silence. Aranea and Nyx are watching you with growing alarm. You don’t know why, but something in you breaks.
You force yourself to smile, but it’s not very convincing. Some actor you are. And in the most modulated voice you could muster, you say, “Good for him then.” To Nyx, you say, “Do send him my regards when you see him around.”
As soon as Ignis pulls over your apartment building, you climb out of his car, weaving past another throng of paparazzi. Someone yells “Congrats on another blockbuster! Is this your new boyfriend?” and a couple of other things that only grates your ears. Ignis is quick to follow, and he shields you with his body as he leads you inside the lobby. Probably his force of habit, but it only unearths a memory of a good time that has already hollowed you out.
When the two of you reach the front door of your apartment, he finally breaks the silence. “I’m assuming you have Nyx trapped in some dark alley?”
“No, not really,” you say flatly. “He actually let me go on my own. Cooler than my previous bodyguard, if you ask me.”
“How convenient.”
“So, sous chef to the illustrious Weskham Armaugh, huh.”
“Indeed.”
“Now, care to explain to me why you really left without even saying a word? Especially to me?” There is a tremor that breaks your voice, and his smile slowly creases to a frown. “Is that it? Was that your grand plan? Make me fall in love with you and then just go up and leave—”
“I beg your pardon?” Ignis looks mystified, as if you have said something completely ludicrous. He stares at you for a long, scalding moment. “What did you just say?”
You scoff. “Are you kidding me right now? I said…”
The realization dawns on you in a slow unravel. Before you can even formulate an explanation, Ignis steals your breath away with a kiss. You have done this before in the confines of your trailer, but this time is different. This time, the feeling is no longer secret.
“You have absolutely no idea how I’ve wanted to do that this time around,” he says with a smile. And when he tells you I love you, he does not mean I love you regardless of or I love you despite, but rather I love you just because I do.
Hello Beautiful, I saw your most recent update about your depression, so might I ask you to write a short story/skit about your beloved Ignis doing something out of the ordinary that would bring a smile to your face?
A/N: Know that Igreatly appreciate you, sweetheart. You’re an absolute doll to help me forgetmy pains, and I cannot thank you enough for your continued support. <3 I couldn’t think of anything truly outof the ordinary but there was a concept that came to mind not too long ago Idecided to try in regards to him being a restaurant owner in Altissia (becauseI love the place lol). <3 Thank you again~.
And I was able to fix this ask thanks majorly in part to @martascully who dug into the code and found the problem. Apparently Tumblr doesn’t believe Ignis’ eyes are beautiful, so I had to restructure a sentence.. lol
Pairing: Hinted Older,Blind!Ignis x Reader
Rated: SFW
Words: 2,546
–
A place of beauty and a city that often aided you inforgetting your worries when it dealt with the world that had slowly beenrevived after the sombering, selfless sacrifice of the King of Lucis some yearsago, Altissia was a great retreat for many once it had managed to find its feetagain and was rebuilt after those many years of daemons destroying the beautyit once held. Honestly, you didn’t live there but you often enjoyed takingvacations there either alone or bunking with a friend of yours that offeredtheir home to you if it was possible.
There were many things to take in and enjoy but yourfavorite thing to do was eat near the glorious beauty of the seaside at arestaurant called The King’s Valor. The interior always felt misplaced for anarea like Altissia—as though it belonged somewhere else entirely in comparisonto anything in Accordo, really, but you were told the owner was mostly raisedin Insomnia and anybody from that city would tell you the architecture werepretty much similar to that given the dark colors. You were also told he onceworked for the former King as his advisor and that he was offered the positionnext on the throne but declined it for some reason or another.
How much of that was true, you couldn’t say. You never sawit as polite to ask given the circumstances that be.
All and all, you were surprised to be told he was actuallyblind and still able to attend to things without many problems. The way headdressed people and even seemed to look in their direction, you never wouldhave guessed that part was true and sometimes you even had difficulty believingit.
He was a kind and charming man. You ventured there so oftenthat he was beginning to recognize you (or your voice, who knew really withthose dark glasses he wore always in place) and often urged you to the bar sotalking to you would be easier than you being anywhere else in the restaurant.
The lights were brighter than ever that evening and withdinner hours nearly over, you decided to head to The King’s Valor to grabsomething and go as you didn’t want to inconvenience anybody when you were wellaware that the closing hours were near. Rushing to the front door and allowingyourself in you saw a few stragglers that were eating out the hours and stayingfrom home, watching a show or two on the televisions about the center bar areabut most had already left knowing that closing would happen in twenty or sominutes. Hurrying up to the bar counter you playfully flinched, hating to orderso late but you tried to inwardly reassure yourself you had time left.
“Good evening,” greeted the man behind the counter. “Whatcan I get you?”
You returned the greeting in haste. “Hey, can I get theseafood risotto to go?”
“In a hurry, are we Y/N?” came Ignis’ voice elsewhere in therestaurant, catching your attention. Turning around from where you sat, younoticed the restaurant owner was sitting down enjoying his own small meal at abooth but ventured in your direction upon hearing your voice.
It had been several months since you were able to trulyventure out to Altissia let alone see him. “Ignis,” you breathed in greeting,moving from the stool you were sitting on for a moment to embrace him if he soallowed to which he did and even encouraged as he brought you in closer toexpress in his own way he was happy to know you were there. “It is good to seeyou.” You pulled back from the hug for a moment to laugh sarcastically at hiswording prior. “As for being in a rush, I got here late, and I didn’t want tohave you keep the doors open longer for me.”
He had been known to do it before. If he hadn’t taken theregister down to be counted, he would still allow you to order something towhich he would make himself.
Ignis’ brow wrinkled curiously at the matter. “So you havenowhere to be at current, Y/N?”
“No, not really,” you answered honestly. “I was just notkeeping track of the time since I just got here early in the morning hours. Iwas enjoying the shops and stuff as usual.”
The man moved forward knocking his knuckles on the blackmarble granite countertop to catch the server’s attention. “If you could,Jundeer, keep this for here.”
“No! Ignis!” you scolded playfully, trying to get the servercook to ignore his superior as you shook your head. A nervous laugh escaped youin the moment. “Ignore him.”
Ignis grinned and remained professional in return at yourattempt to try and silence him. “And if you please, add a chiffon cake to thatfor free.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Again, you tried to move himaway from the counter so he’d stop being so kind in the matter of just yourarrival but he was quite strong for a mere chef and restaurant owner. “You arejust impossible,” you insisted with a teasing shake of your head.
“Relentless really, my dear. Besides, this will have to dotill I can be the one to cook for you next time,” Ignis said with a tendersmile. “If you’ve nowhere to be then you can give me the pleasure of yourcompany as I work on tidying up a few ends here before closing down for theevening.” He fixed his glasses upon the slope of his nose. “I’d adore hearingwhere you’ve been as of late.”
“You know me, Ignis,” you reminded him, fidgeting slightlyupon the granite marble. “I just don’t live out here so when I can find thetime to come out to your place, I do.”
He pulled from the counter for a mere moment, groping theair for a broom and dustpan he kept nearby to begin working on cleaning therestaurant as needed as he had put up his apron for the day (you assumed). Hewas usually the chef more than a server or someone who cleaned the tables. “ThatI do,” Ignis responded as he tended to the floor as though he knew where theproblems would be in relation to where everything was. “I suppose I’ve justgrown spoiled in hearing your voice and enjoying in your lovely compliments inregards to my cooking about here when you were in town for a month nearestChristmas season.”
“A present to myself,” you reminded him, watching hismovements and still finding it odd that he could be blind. “And what? You don’thave anybody around here to flatter your ego and tell you what you shouldalready know?”
Ignis laughed vocally at your gentle jab at him. “I haveseveral but it is most enduring from those I care for, Y/N.”
A blush warmed your cheeks as you fondled with your hair inan idle moment. Honestly, there wasn’t much you could even say back to thelovely words and as the night grew colder you found the door soon shutting andlocking behind the co-workers while you enjoyed your food there at one of thebooths that gave a lovely view of the shops and the sea with Ignis on theopposite side of where you sat, the two of you trying to catch up with oneanother.
“I promise to cook it myself for you next time,” Ignisswore, taking a drink of his Ebony he had taken from home. “I honestly didn’tknow you were in town. Even your friend failed to mention it when I encounteredher a day or so ago.” He shook his head slightly, fingers to the side of hisface where the massive scar had laid to rest on him. “One tends to lose trackof time when you rely on sounds and such to understand what time or day it is.My text to speech app helps now and again in relaying me that information, butstill…”
“The food is good, but I will confess—not as good as whenyou make it,” you flattered, carefully plucking away at the cake he had been sogracious to give you for free. “As for my friend, she didn’t know, really. I amnot even staying with her.” You paused, finishing off another bite of the treatbefore bothering to think of having another as the cake was always far morefilling than it appeared. “As random as this question is, Ignis…are you reallyblind?”
Ignis smiled a sort of melancholy smile that made you almostregret asking. His hands were folded under his chin for a mere moment only tocarefully unfurl shortly after your question to grab the dark visor he wore toremove it and let you see for yourself.
Watching closely, you noticed the eyes indeed had turned anotherworldly color from the damages done to them. A halo of misty blue staredback at you intently though the orbs shifted side to side as if trying to catcha sight of you in the dark. “It’s so hard to believe,” you confessedbreathlessly, stalling in your eating. “You move around like everyone else Inever would have guessed at all unless told.”
Moving a stray hair back into place, Ignis took his glassesonce more and put them back where they were upon the slope of his nose. “Tookme quite some time to get adjusted but your other senses amplify.”
“I would have just given up on life after something shockinglike that,” you confessed, letting the fork rest on the plate for a spell.
Ignis gestured to the action. “You haven’t finished itentirely, Y/N. Not to your liking or are you full?”
“Full,” you corrected with a playful scoff. “The food isdelicious.”
“As for not giving up,” Ignis began with a heavy sigh,folding his hands before him on the table once more. “I had a King to protectand honor. I could not and would not fail him no matter the cost.”
Your head lifted just a bit at that piece of informationcoming from him. “So you did work for the King of Lucis?”
“Years ago, yes,” answered Ignis as he departed from thebooth for the moment. “It is to which this place is named after so I’ll alwayskeep his memory close and on my lips.” Ignis pointed to where you were sitting.“I’ll fetch you something to put the cake in, Y/N.”
You thanked him, watching again as he seemed to (with ease)venture to behind the bar area to grab a to-go box before coming right back to placethe cake within it. With how somber the man sounded, you figured a change oftopic was in order. “Still seems like you can see to me.”
Ignis jabbed his heel into the boards. “Do I not sound likeI stomp to you?” he questioned curiously, appreciating the change in discussionas he smiled briefly at the remark. “I am intentionally pushing down on myheels a bit to find where things are in reference to me if there is silence. Itsends out a vibration in the floor to let me know when something is weighingthe surface down or not and how big it could be.” He motioned to the plate youhad been eating on. “When the fork hit the serving dish, I heard a partiallyheavy sound—the silverware being discarded so means you were obviously done andthe fact the sound was muffled ever slightly told me there was more there thatyou hadn’t finished.” His index and middle fingers jabbed at the side of hisforehead. “I am constantly paying attention, my dear. Far more frequent as oflate given the circumstances.”
“That must truly hurt your feet after awhile,” you hissed withdispleasure at the thought of how bruised and tired he must feel.
“It did in the beginning but I’ve learned to adapt andcontrol the pressure of which I use,” explained Ignis as he offered his handfor you to take, signaling it was time to leave for the night. “I will confessthat when I retire home and feel them, they are cracked and worn with fatigue,so I am sure they are not fetching to look at without socks on at least.”
Accepting his kind gesture, you left the booth with yourleftovers at your side. “You just need someone to massage them then when youget home,” you chuckled. “You deserve to be spoiled with all the spoiling youdo everyone else with your cooking.”
It was faint, but you heard the laugh rumble in his throat.“The world can wait on my needs and wants, Y/N,” Ignis insisted as he venturedto the door to unlock it and allow you out first before following after settingthe alarm and re-locking the entrance with his keys. “For now I am…pleased withhow things are for the most part.”
It sounded forced, really. Was he truly happy? He seemed toput on a brave front about his feelings but he was a chef, so that could bepart of the reason why. “Are you…?” you reluctantly asked, walking side-by-sidewith Ignis back to your place.
His mouth opened as if to speak in haste but he quicklyretracted the temptation, reforming the words again in his head. “Admittedly,it gets quite lonely at times, my dear. While the customers are a delight toserve and keep me company, it is not the companionship I so aspire for.” Thelast few words seemed to breathe out in a sort of yearning want that was hardto place.
“If…If you’d like, Ignis,” you began, unsure if this wouldbe uncalled for or not, “I can come by as often as I can to The King’s Valor oreven just…” The words stalled, making you rub the back of your neck nervously.“…Well, we could swap phone numbers or something, and I could text you or talkto you?”
Ignis tilted his head in the direction of your words,perhaps making sure he was hearing them right. “If you are not afraid to giveme your number, Y/N, I would be delighted to exchange in pleasant conversationwith you over the phone.”
You smiled, nudging against his upper arm in a gentlemanner. “Sounds good,” you whispered to him, enjoying the lights of Altissathat late evening. “I’ll give it to you when I get home then.”
The Truth is Sometimes Equivalent to Love—Always Blind - Chapter 16
A/N: A 10+ chapter commission for @martascully! Epilogue will be later. I wasn’t expecting this one to end up so long… x-x; Oops. The Queen, son, and wife belonging to Gladio are mainly made by Marta with me fashioning up the Queen and her look at my own design.
Desc: The Assassins are said to work under the mighty King of Lucis while the Templars throw their lot in with Niflheim. Sent to find out information about King Noctis, his army, and kingdom to reveal his weakness, the Reader encounters an interesting foe in her way. {AU}
By Oreana Galena (blindgeishateahouse.tumblr.com)
Words: 9,306
| Commission Information |
——
Moving onward with the group was hardly an option the moment Noctis and the others were freed from Gralea. Given how weak everybody was, Y/N managed to find a very off the beaten path motel that she knew the Empire wouldn’t come looking for them so everybody could recover from their ordeal before finding the energy to move forward to the docks to head back to Lucis. While Ignis insisted Y/N take it easy as well, she felt the pity the gods bestowed upon her was enough of a justified reason not to be so and aided Ignis with the others till at least Prompto got back on his feet to assist with Gladiolus and Noctis.
The King was fast asleep most of the time, obviously having the worst of it when it dealt with the aftermath of being forced to dawn the Crown of Madness. While it was a bit hard to be around him considering all that she assisted in with the Empire, Y/N struggled with the thought of helping the King; but, especially as he lay resting, he appeared a normal man as any who was doing his best to stay alive just to get back home to his wife and son.
Y/N smiled to herself in that fact after tending to the bandages that were in place about his head where the crown had pierced his skin, causing horrible marks and injuries to him. Taking to her feet, she took the bowl of blooded water and used bandages and headed to the washroom to refresh the bowl and discard the gauze. As she did so, the door opened shortly after to reveal Prompto who appeared to be merely following her inside.
“You know a knock would be nice,” Y/N teased as she began to clean her hands. “Seeing as we all have to share a bathroom and bedroom right now.”
“I saw you come in here,” Prompto whispered with a shake of his head. “I knew you were just going to be emptying the bowl.”
Still, the Templar shrugged with a quick raise of her brow. “You never know.”
Prompto playfully scoffed at her teasing words only to have the look fade away into a worried frown. “How do you feel?”
Y/N gazed up from the cleaning she was doing. “Mm?”
“You know…” Prompto paused and looked about nervously, taking an extra step away from the door to be certain his words didn’t carry. “The baby and all of that.” Sorrow pained him as he remembered that horrible fight days ago. “You looked like you…died.”
“I did die,” Y/N whispered in return although a bit hesitantly. “Or at least…I think I did.” She struggled to remember that encounter with the woman named Lunafreya and the raven haired messenger beside her. “The things I can vaguely remember were standing in an open field with a baby in my arms, feeling nothing but pain as I felt I lost everything.” Y/N turned the water off, letting her hands reside there on the counter even if wet. “There was a blond woman there who I think was an Oracle at one point—.”
“—Lady Lunafreya?” Prompto interrupted with a curious widening of his eyes, remembering the spirit of her had approached Ignis and Y/N from what he witnessed.
“Yeah,” Y/N responded, a small smile forming upon her lips. “That’s what she called herself. The name sounds familiar and she looks like someone I recall, but I couldn’t place her.”
“How would you not know Lady Lunafreya?” Prompto asked with a small laugh in his words. “She was the youngest Oracle of Tenebrae before her passing ten years ago.”
“Oh.” Y/N paused and glanced back at the mirror before her as if to conjure more of the visions of that encounter. “All of that was before my time in the ranks of the Empire, if I am to be honest, so I never really interacted with her at all or had a reason to. I heard her voice now and again on the radio channels.”
“Well, uh, what did she say?” Prompto probed, finding it weird that the Oracle would indeed bring someone back to life without a reason.
“She was with some woman—long, black hair who always seemed to speak with her eyes closed as if in concentration, and it was she who offered me a second chance at life at Lunafreya’s asking as long as…” Y/N lost the want to continue. Even with Ignis she never spoke to him of her vision and what had happened. If she did, it would mean she’d have to tell him the truth—that she died holding his baby. The last thing she needed or wanted right now was to add more guilt upon everyone. She rested her hand upon her stomach that she could feel was growing from the size of the child. “…I’ll, mmm, I’ll talk about that with Ignis in time, really.”
“Gentiana and the Oracle let you live?” Prompto gazed off to the side, hard in thought. “Gods rarely do such things unless at a price…” His blue eyes found her swiftly. “You, uh…You didn’t offer up anything, did you?”
Y/N shook her head quickly. Even if she struck a deal, she felt the deal wasn’t a heavy one. It would be for her child, but the Templar felt she had all the time in the world to figure that out. “No,” she whispered in secret though her soft tone implied she was merely a bit exhausted from aiding everyone as they needed in the last few days, drying her words of any excitement in the matter. “What I did may aid Eos once more, but…I don’t know.”
Seeing the weary concern on her face, Prompto placed his hand to rest upon her shoulder in a means to comfort her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you as I promised. If I hadn’t gotten caught, I could have helped you.”
She smiled at Prompto’s words, shaking her head at his wish to place blame upon himself. “You saved us all in the end, Prompto,” Y/N reminded him. Her hand upon his freckled cheek, she kissed the other as thanks before embracing him tightly.
Prompto’s arms raised in a hesitant means to hug her back, letting the feeling sink in. His embrace comforting her in time, the Crownsguard assassin buried his nose within her hair where she felt him sigh nasally in relief that everything was indeed for the most part over and everyone was on the mend. “You should tell him,” he insisted once more in regards to the baby.
Y/N pulled from the hug, looking up at Prompto with a shake of her head. “Not right now. I still have to face my crimes against King Noctis and Lucis, and I do not want a baby to tilt the scale in what I deserve. Also, I would prefer nobody feel guilt or worry that the child may very well be dead inside of me with all that happened.”
He scoffed playfully with a lopsided grin. “Noct isn’t going to prosecute you after all you did, Y/N. I don’t really see him doing that.”
“Maybe, but whatever he so chooses, I will accept it regardless,” confessed Y/N, hands to her chest in hopes for mercy.
With everyone tended to for the day, Y/N found rest upon her bed at the motel with great relief. As she was merely lying on the mattress with her eyes closed, Y/N did hear the door open and close quietly as Ignis reentered the room from his time fetching the bottled water that she had requested moments ago. The bed shifted upon him sitting on the edge of it, urging her awake with a gentle rub to her shoulder.
“Y/N,” he called out tenderly, not wanting to disturb the others. Ignis felt her move and turn onto her side all the more at his words. “Here’s the water you asked for.”
Sitting upright in the bed, she shifted over just a bit to allow room for Ignis to get situated under the covers next if he so chose to. “Thank you,” she breathed in relief as she was feeling a mixture of dehydration and hunger. Y/N knew the hunger was from the child stealing a good part of the food she was ingesting but she dared not to tell Ignis of it right away even if she knew she had to in time. Maybe after her punishment would be good? Sadly, it would be awhile till she got to Insomnia and by that time, there was no telling how big she would appear. By then it might be too obvious to those traveling with her; especially Ignis if he managed to touch her there.
Ignis’ fingers casually moved along Y/N’s hairline, shepherding away stray strands he could feel from her face. “How do you feel, my dear?”
Y/N sighed through her nostrils, screwing the top of the water back on after having her fill of it. “Far better, really and a bit…different in many ways.”
“Oh?” Ignis probed as he began to unfasten the buckles on his boots to remove them there at the bedside, getting comfortable to where he could move under the covers with Y/N. His arms embraced her, chin resting upon the top of her head as they soon lied together.
“Niflheim has always been my home, and I’ve never felt such a stranger to it before,” Y/N confessed quietly, getting comfortable in his embrace. Just the scent of him made her heart relax as she nuzzled against his chest in content. “And yet, I never thought I would be relieved to escape from here.”
Ignis hummed in thought, palm stroking the back of her head tenderly. “In time you will leave behind your troubles you faced with the Empire who mistreated you,” he reminded Y/N in kind. “Soon it will all be over, and we can focus on the two of us with aims for a family when in Insomnia.”
Hearing that last part, Y/N smiled nervously—relieved Ignis couldn’t see it. “Yeah,” she merely breathed out, nuzzling against his chest. “…A family.”
--------------------------------------
When Noctis and Gladiolus were able to find their feet in time, the group boarded the boat and headed to Lucis. While Noctis was informed of Y/N and who she truly was at the hands of Ignis in secret to the Templar woman, it appeared the King was fine to let her roam about under Ignis’ and Prompto’s watch as she so chose.
“…Besides, if you trust her,” Y/N remembered hearing Noctis say just beyond the door of the hotel room, “then I trust you in the matter, Iggy.”
It gave her relief but also worried her as it sounded like the King was unsure of what to say in all of this. But Y/N had to confess, she didn’t know him all that well so a lot of how he expressed himself was very vague to her and left her guessing. A part of her wanted to ask Ignis how Noctis felt about her position in this war at current, but she held her tongue on the matter and merely used what time she had to enjoy being in the embraces of the man she loved—uncertain if she would be pulled from him in the end or not.
It was a bit easier to sneak in food on occasion underneath his nose, leaving Y/N with little worry in regards to him gaining an understanding in her increased appetite. However, she did begin to find problems in her clothing not fitting much as of late. “I’m going to need to buy new clothes since I left practically everything back in Niflheim,” she commented aloud, knowing that would be fine to say to a man who couldn’t see her standing in front of the body length mirror to notice the size difference she was obtaining.
“Would be ideal with all things considered,” said Ignis vaguely from where he sat on the bed.
Hearing him say such a thing, Y/N felt herself beginning to sweat as she thought he may already know. “Wh-Why do you say that?”
Ignis found the stuttered response odd, tilting his head in her direction. “Merely commenting that you’ve worn the same attire for months now, and I know it is not a uniform. I would find it hardly enjoyable to be in the same outfit for too long.”
“Says the man always in the Glaive outfit day in and day out,” Y/N reminded him cheekily though quietly breathed out her anxiety.
“I did preface this by saying ‘none uniform’, love,” Ignis reminded her with a crooked yet brief grin. “We can find you new attire when we arrive at Galdin Quay as there are scarcely many shops here on the boat.”
“Yeah, not really a luxury cruiser,” Y/N scoffed playfully, venturing closer to the bed to embrace Ignis tightly and bury her head against his chest.
The blind assassin complied, moving his arm closest to Y/N to embrace her in return. “You had me worried back there,” Ignis confessed in regards to the fight against Noctis and the Ring of the Lucii.
Y/N’s stomach knotted, not sure what to say in regards to the matter as she didn’t feel now was the right time to be truthful. “I’m alright,” she whispered in hopes to calm his uncertainties. Her fingers slipped through the divide of his, bringing his hand to her lips to kiss his knuckles as though he were royalty. “See? I live and breathe as you do.”
Ignis’ frown deepened regardless. “But I felt your heart,” he reminded her, his fingertips outstretching to caress her chin and about the corner of her mouth. “It rested silently within your chest, and I feared the absolute worst…”
“But I did not die—see?” Y/N kissed his fingertips before letting his palm find rest upon her heart once more where his touch relaxed to something so melodic and welcoming.
“I know what I felt, my dear,” the advisor whispered in earnest. “What truly happened back there? Noct and the others claimed they saw Lady Lunafreya kneeling beside us and then she disappeared.”
Y/N’s heart began to beat wildly at the thought of what to say. “She saved me, I guess,” the Templar whispered in a partial truth. “The vision felt like a dream but…she and I were standing in an open field, and she gave me a second chance at life.”
Ignis’ expression was hard to decipher. It felt to Y/N as though he could hear the cracking of truth in her foundation and was trying to pinpoint the cause. “And that was all? She said nothing of importance to you?”
She sighed softly, hands to Ignis’ cheeks to try and settle his concerns. “What does it matter? We are together, are we not?” Her lips kissed upon his own, hoping to dodge the topic at hand. “I thank her for allowing me to spend what time I have with you, and I’d rather not waste it discussing such upsetting times.”
He had to admit he was curious but at the same time, Ignis knew he should count his blessings the gods took pity on him and Y/N. The taste of her breath made his heart race and fuel his wishes for other things even if he so desired answers regarding that day. His arms took her closer to him once more as Ignis tilted his head to enjoy of her kisses better with his tongue rolling across her lower lip to plead silently for more to which the oral barrier parted, giving him the room he so eagerly yearned for.
Y/N straddled him on the bed upon Ignis moving to his back on the covers, allowing his touch to fondle with her clothing as he saw fit. The sweet taste of his saliva made her forget the world around her in that dangerous minute as she rested upon his figure to enjoy in his warmth and the loving caress of his touch, which soon halted as if startled by something. “What’s wrong?” Y/N asked, not sure what made his fingers curl ever slightly upon the back of her bare skin when he had managed to remove her upper clothing. Unaware of what had caught his attention, Ignis’ hands drifted to her stomach that was a bit larger than before given the circumstances. Y/N inhaled sharply in distress, hoping the advisor didn’t catch the sound as her grasp was quick to take to his and shepherd him away from where his baby was growing in secret.
“Y/N…?” Ignis probed, finding her reaction odd. “Gaining a bit of weight, are we…?”
The comment sounded more like an open to the truth—as if he knew somehow. Did Prompto tell him? No…Y/N knew Prompto would never do such a thing. He just never had that ability in him. “I was starving in those past few weeks no thanks to imprisonment,” she halfheartedly lied. ‘When we get to the Crown City, I am sure I will find a moment or two to shave off the weight if it is a bother.”
“Not a bother, my dear,” commented Ignis in haste, not wishing for her to think otherwise but his eyes opened and even if they gazed right through her, Y/N could tell with that single raise of his brow he was wondering if that was indeed the whole truth of her weight gain. “Merely curious if you’re eating well.”
Y/N passed it off with a nervous yet brief laugh. “I’m fine, Ignis,” she whispered, cradling his cheeks in her hands. “Concern yourself with it later, yeah?” Her hands grabbed onto the collar of his jacket to pull Ignis closer to her. “Right now, I just really need you.”
Hardly a lie in any stretch of the sense as Y/N was aware her hormones were becoming difficult to ignore; especially now that the true troubles were put behind them. Aiding Ignis in removing his clothing, she discarded them upon the floor for the time being allowing the two lovers to take pleasure in an emotional and loving embrace with merely their skin to blanket the other. Y/N’s leg moved over the back of the advisor’s thigh as she relished in the sensation of being with one another.
(EDITED. Find the Unedited version on AO3 under my name Oreana! It’ll be under the same file name!)
His name, held firm in a gasp, quivered forth as she embraced his naked form, which was wet with sweat from the excitement and the loving reminder of what still remained in his grasp. He nearly collapsed upon her and for a mere moment Y/N did feel his weight but that uncomfortable second was quickly forgotten as he pulled from her and moved to the side of the bed where he cradled her head close to his chest to let the woman feel of the alluring expand of it whenever he breathed.
“I love you, Y/N,” he murmured wearily, planting a kiss upon her head.
“And I love you,” Y/N spoke softly in return, her arm draped over his side as she curled her fingers inward to keep Ignis close—worrying if she did let go, she’d lose him again.
-------Weeks Later-------
Hammerhead was to be their last true stop till they finally made it to the Crown City. Even as the road curved just down the way leading to their final destination, Y/N had to admit her heart was in the pit of her stomach. During their journey onward, she began to feel a bit more at ease around King Noctis and Gladiolus the Shield to the King. She didn’t speak near as much to them in comparison to Prompto or Ignis, but the comfort of being in their presence was starting to arise all the same.
Regardless, she still couldn’t help but wonder what Noctis would truly do upon their arrival in Insomnia. He did acknowledge she was part of the Empire’s plan to capture him and bring him to his knees, but he would not forget all she had done to free him and Gladiolus as well. It made it sound like her sentence would be lessened, but Y/N was not freed from it completely.
When Prompto found out from Y/N that she had indeed gotten Sal to steal some of the plans and information regarding their cloning process back in Niflheim when she was trying to get the prison defenses down, he insisted that Cindy at Hammerhead might be the one to talk to in regards to finding some parts she needed as the mechanic seemed to know the area well enough in where most mechanical things were hidden.
While the others ate at the nearby diner, Y/N located this curly blond mechanic—noticing such a woman tending to one of the cars just within the garage. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun with pieces of her curly locks falling about her dirty cheeks. The yellow, partially zipped up jacket resembling Hammerhead was accompanied by some dark, torn jeans and gray shoes that had seen better days if Y/N had to be honest.
“Umm, uh…Cindy?” Y/N asked nervously.
She turned at the mere sound of her name, a smile giving further life to herself and the rather grungy garage as well. “Well howdy,” she greeted in return. “What can I do for ya?” She removed the gloves on her hands as they were covered in grease before turning her attention completely to the conversation at hand.
“My-My name is Y/N and I came with King Noctis and his friends.” It felt weird saying that all things considered. “I was, uh, told by Prompto you could maybe help with something that’s not really cars related but mechanical in nature.”
“Well that man can certainly sing my praises to the moon like any ol’ howler,” Cindy spoke with an added, charming laugh at the thought. “If it is cars you’re talking about, I’m your gal, but anything else…” She paused, a finger moving to her lips in thought. “While I can’t say I am a miracle worker, Y/N, I will be more than happy to help in any way that I can. Watcha need?”
Y/N nodded, pulling out Sal to boot up the schematics she was able to retrieve back from the palace. “All I really need is help getting this sort of thing put together.” Cindy moved closer to get a look, her olive green eyes shifting about to intake everything the screen displayed with a bit of wonderment to her expression, having never seen a device like Sal before. “And by that I mean just help in getting the parts, really. I can do the rest.”
“I will tell ya right now that a load of these parts ya need are easy to find here in the shop,” Cindy insisted cheerfully. “Glass, cylinder tubing—most of that is just plum needed here. While I am aware that tubing may need to be a bit bigger for what I see ya got planned, I can fix that up for ya real nice, Y/N, before heading it out your way in the Crown City if ya just give me the place.”
Y/N’s eyes widened in excitement, bringing Sal close to her chest once more. “R-Really?”
“Anythin’ I can’t find here well—I know a guy for one, but I also know a few places left to look for it,” Cindy offered, hand upon her hip as her heel crossed over her other foot in an idle stance.
“Thank you so much!” Y/N praised with relief, glad to know she could finally find a way to bring her friend back to life in some manner. She knew it wouldn’t be Sulista but a true clone and her own person in time. However, it would give Sal freedom and perhaps the chance at love she kept hoping for when it came to her closeness to Prompto. “If I owe you anything just let me know, and I’ll uh—get Ignis to help with that.” Y/N had to remind herself she was low on funds and Ignis had been taking care of much of that as of late when it came to the gil he needed for hotel arrangements and chocobo rentals as well as the new clothes she was wearing.
“No sweat,” Cindy insisted. “Besides, those boys been a right help around this shop for years, and I owe them, so I’ll be happy to do what I can for free.” A worried frown could be seen upon her lips given the heavy lighting of the garage given the late hour. “Just curious if ya plan on making this one yourself though.”
“Well, umm, yeah,” Y/N answered, scratching the back of her head. “I was kind of the data nerd and machines expert where I’m from. I don’t think the guys would know how to help me if they tried.”
Cindy’s arms crossed upon her chest, the frown of concern remaining. “Y’all don’t plan on doing this right away now, right? It would be crazier than a moogle in a chocobo race with the condition you’re in.”
“P-Pardon?” Y/N hesitated, not sure what this mechanic was getting at.
She smiled, tilting her head to the side to give Y/N a knowing look. “I meant the baby.” Cindy gestured towards Y/N’s stomach, which had grown a bit more in the past few weeks though the clothing did its best to hide most of it. “How far along are ya?”
Y/N pulled on the jacket she had buttoned up in hopes to hide it further, not realizing it was still that obvious. “Umm…I don’t know, really,” she confessed, powering down Sal for the evening to conserve her battery power. “I kind of got pregnant on my journey with them…”
“Oh, wow—really!” Cindy gasped in excitement with a smile all the same. “Caught up in that there scuffle with Niflheim trying to save His Majesty, were ya? Y’all seemed to make it out alright, so I won’t bring up the bad.” Her grin widened. “So, who is the father?”
Her fingers drummed nervously upon her device. “I-Ignis is.”
“And judging by your voice ya ain’t told him, hu?”
Y/N raised her head slightly. “That obvious?”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Y/N,” she teased. “I guess it’s easy to keep something like that from a blind man. While that’s honestly none of my business I still feel ya ought to tell him,” urged Cindy gently as she turned away from the conversation then, remembering she had work to do. “Write down what ya need me to find before ya go leaving tomorrow, and I’ll fetch it for ya when I can. Now, I best get back to work, but if ya need anything else just give a holler.”
Y/N nodded, waving goodbye to Cindy for the evening as she knew the guys would either still be in the diner or waiting at the caravan. Thinking about the plans and items she needed in regards to making a cloning chamber, a voice beckoned to her not far away.
“Not eating well, were you?”
Hearing Ignis’ voice made Y/N cringe as the tone insinuated he heard enough when she was talking to Cindy. “Wh…What do you mean?” Y/N stuttered horribly, noticing Ignis there in the dark with his arms crossed and his brand new visor in place.
Ignis pushed from where he was resting against the wall, heading over towards Y/N with a disapproving sigh appearing as crystalline vapor on the chill in the air. “Y/N, how long were you planning on keeping that a secret from me?”
“I-I wasn’t forever! Just until the trial was over!” Y/N insisted, backing away from his advances even if she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. It was a kneejerk reaction to someone being obviously cross with her.
“Y/N, you’ve not eaten properly for weeks now!” Ignis reminded her, his voice raised in concern. “You’ve been practically starving yourself just for the sake of this secret?” He sighed once more. “How long have you known…?” There was a sort of dread in his tone as if not wanting to know the whole story.
“Since back in Niflheim,” Y/N answered, giving him the partial truth of it. “And I’ve not been starving myself! That I swear!” She grabbed at his gloved hand, squeezing it tightly. “Prompto…knew, and he was giving me some of his food too or other things he bought at the stores.”
Ignis removed the visor, squeezing the bridge of his nose as if to combat a headache. “Y/N, you are going to a nutritionist once this is over,” the advisor warned as he moved his hand to her stomach to try and glean how far along she may very well be. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Y/N held his wrist, keeping his hand in place if he so wished to enjoy the connection with his child. “Because I…I didn’t want the King to know, and I didn’t want that to sway his decision or anything.”
“You would have intentionally let a baby suffer a punishment with you?” Ignis scolded more than asked it felt.
She didn’t have an answer to what Ignis now deemed stupidity. “I don’t know what you want me to say…” Her forehead found rest against his chest in time. “I thought this is what you always wanted.”
His arms moved to embrace her, cradling the back of her head as his cheek found rest upon her tresses. “It is and always has been but don’t be so inattentive with our child growing inside of you,” Ignis pleaded quietly.
Y/N moved her mouth to one side, a pang of guilt stiffening her body as she reflected on her reckless behavior back in Niflheim just trying to keep Ignis alive.
---
While she was hardly revered a criminal upon setting foot in Insomnia Y/N still felt the ever stared upon outsider the moment she exited the Regalia and made her way to the castle of Insomnia.
A woman with a decorative, golden crown that lay flat upon her forehead yet woven intricately about black jewels on either side of her forehead stood in wait near the front entrance. Her gown, which reached her feet, was black in color too. A flared sleeve was on her right arm while the other was absent and cut nearer to the shoulder, Y/N admired the fair colored jewelry upon the exposed arm and the golden fastening that hung upon her hips and flowed in a decorative pattern down before her legs that almost looked identical to the decorative design that hung from the back of King Noctis’ clothing. Her hair was brown in color, decorative in a braided bun like pattern so it was hard to say how long or short it truly was. Her eyes were the same color, the Templar noticed, the closer they got to one another.
There was a small boy in her arms—had to be the young Prince Helios Lucis Caelum she heard about but never truly saw. His hair was black like his fathers but the eyes carried the innocents of his mother. The child had to have been at least two years of age.
“Noctis…!” Queen Maeve gasped as she closed the distance between them, her free arm outstretched to catch her beloved as the two embraced tearfully. “By the gods, I feared the worst…! The papers proclaimed you dead while others said you had joined the Empire! I only had Ignis’ and Prompto’s messages to give me any sense of closure in the matter.” Her body shook uncontrollably as she released the anguish she had been feeling in those long, few months.
“I am here, Maeve,” Noctis whispered for her to hear though his words carried strength. He did his best to kiss away her tears as he furrowed his brow in concern for her and the pain she went through with so many thoughts and no answers to his disappearance. “I am so sorry for having you all worried.”
Helios grabbed onto his father’s cheeks to order his attention before kissing his face in greeting. While he was aware his mother was worried and he knew his father had been gone for awhile, Helios was dismissed with the idea it could mean anything bad; though too young to truly understand completely what was going on, the Lucian Prince was just happy to have his dad home after going some nights crying for him. “Daddy!” the young boy cheered, pulled from his mother’s embrace in time and moved into his father’s.
Holding his son tightly in his arms, Noctis breathed in relief at having that chance again. “Hey, kiddo, it is so good to see you again! Daddy is happy to be home,” he chuckled, gently cradling the back of Helios’ head as the King let the fear of any harm befalling his son slip away from his chest.
Seeing the scene before her, Y/N swallowed back her nauseous guilt. “Guess war never is easy when you see it from both sides,” she whispered to Ignis in regards to the thought Noctis could have died at any point during such a thing, losing his wife and child. “I was always told the King of Lucis was a tyrant, keeping magic in the hands of only a select few—also being horribly cruel to Niffs…”
“The ability to summon weapons usually falls to the royals and those that serve him,” Ignis reminded Y/N, his left arm bound across his chest while the other remained at his side in a form of respect to the King and Queen of Lucis. “When His Majesty found out the origins of Prompto, he worked beside Prompto to try and unify the two kingdoms, and while his pleas have obviously fallen on deaf ears, the King still tries valiantly to bring down the walls regarding Lucis and Niflheim for a chance at peace and unity.”
Y/N sighed, turning to look at the King once more and see him as more a peaceful and loving man than that of her own. Would peace even be possible…?
With the Queen and the Prince sated with the knowledge Noctis had returned, they allowed him the peace he required in heading to the throne room with Ignis and the others as they kept Y/N contained in the center of their walk, still regarding her as the prisoner who had attempted to plot against Noctis.
Gladiolus’ harsh grasp took to Y/N’s upper arm, making her freeze in her steps there at the bottom of where the staircases on either side of the throne room led up to the throne itself. Prompto remained opposite where Gladiolus stood beside the female Niff as Ignis and Noctis ascended the staircase with the King upon the throne and Ignis to his left side. Y/N witnessed as Ignis seemed to lean in towards Noctis, whispering something of importance in his ear (perhaps) only to have the King of Lucis raise his hand as if to dismiss the words.
“Y/N, Templar of Niflheim,” Noctis began, making her knees nearly buckle at the tone, “you are brought before the crown today for your crimes against the royal family of Lucis—namely, her King.” His voice was stern, as though he had forgotten everything she had truly done to save him. “Charged with theft of a royal vehicle and confidential information, illegal data mining, and plotting against the King of Lucis, how do you plea?”
Y/N sighed to herself even as she felt Prompto’s eyes upon her as well as Gladiolus’. “Guilty,” she answered, not sure how this could turn in her favor as it were.
The entire room was silent as Noctis leaned back against the royal throne, his hands clasped together before him. “That being said,” he began yet again, his voice a bit softer this time, “you aided my friends in finding and rescuing myself and Gladio, risked your life to save Ignis, deleted the data you stole from his phone of your own accord and returned the Regalia.”
She laughed nervously about that last part. “Well, umm…technically, the Regalia ran out of gas—.”
Prompto harshly nudged her upper arm with his elbow to make her stop talking in his own way.
Noctis laughed to himself. “I assume you want your punishment now, right?” He gazed down upon her so lightheartedly that it made Y/N wonder if he was merely putting on the harsher tone and listing off her crimes only for her sake and not in care of his own.
Y/N nodded.
“Very well,” said the Lucian royal with a shrug of his brow. “I enlist you under the care of the Hand of the King—Ignis Scientia.”
Y/N blinked and gazed up at the two, unsure of where this was going even as Gladiolus removed his grasp from her arm at that moment.
“I would say…” Noctis pause and thought on the matter. “…for as long as you wish to remain under his care. Y/N, I will have those nearby keeping a close watch on you for the next year at least as an act of probation of where your loyalties lie.” He gestured towards her. “You will be accompanied by Ignis, Gladiolus, or Prompto at all times; especially outside of Citadel grounds and do as they ask of you. As far as your Templar title is concerned, it holds no weight here, so I would ask that after that year’s time in probation you consider another position here. Admittedly, we do not have a royal technician, so that offer is on the table, Y/N.”
“I thank you with all of my heart, Your Grace,” Y/N spoke in relief as she bowed before the King of Lucis. “I will certainly consider the possibilities.”
Noctis merely nodded. “As I was just informed by Ignis, you have a doctor’s appointment to attend to. I hope it goes well. This private session is over—dismissed.”
Gladiolus’ phone seemed to go off shortly after as if on cue, causing the Shield to tend to it as Ignis descended the staircase to join Y/N and the others. “Gloria is going to kill me the moment she manages to get her hands around my neck,” he murmured as if Y/N should know that name. “Been blowing up my phone ever since she knew I was alright and now furious I am not home yet.”
“In the doghouse for you again, big guy?” Prompto teased with a lopsided grin.
Y/N gazed between everyone in confusion. “Who is—?”
“Gladio’s wife and mother of his two, soon to be three, daughters as she is expecting another soon,” Ignis clarified upon overhearing the conversation.
The Shield sighed with a roll of his amber eyes at something he came across on his cell. “She’s a short one with a lot of strength.”
“Yeah, whenever she’s mad at him she grabs a chair and just yells at him,” Prompto said with a laugh.
Y/N blinked in concern at those statements combined. “She hits you with a chair?” she asked with a worried frown.
“Gladio is six foot six inches and his wife is…well…vertically challenged in comparison to him, one might say,” Ignis answered with his own hidden smile.
“She’s five foot two inches,” Gladiolus answered, his attention primarily on his phone as he was texting back his wife. “Whenever she’s mad at me she grabs a chair, stands on it, and yells in my face—or tries to. When she does, I forget what we were even talking about, because I cannot stop laughing.”
“It is too funny not to witness!” Prompto admitted, still laughing at the thought when he got to see it.
“Afraid we must miss it,” spoke Ignis as he took Y/N’s hand within his own upon trailing his touch from her shoulder to her palm. “We have a doctor’s appointment to attend in regards to our own young one.”
Gladiolus pocketed his phone once more with a smile to them. “Congrats, you two,” his low voice hummed.
“Hope it goes well!” Prompto chimed in quickly with a wave ‘goodbye’ as they left the throne room.
As Y/N stepped out into the corridor she was met with the Queen of Lucis once more and her son, Helios in her arms. The former Templar froze in her tracks as the woman appeared as though she were on the verge of tears. “Mind if I stop you both for just a moment, Ignis?” Queen Maeve asked kindly.
Ignis bowed at the sound of her voice. “Of course not, my Lady, but I am loathed to inform you that we have an appointment to attend soon.”
“It will be brief,” Maeve insisted with a gentle touch upon his shoulder to relax the advisor. The little boy leaned against his mother, finding rest near the nook of her neck as his fingers curled near his mouth in a shy hum at the new face and apparently being a bit intimidated by Ignis. The Queen’s brown eyes turned to Y/N then, making the pregnant woman’s stomach knot up and feel even heavier. Maeve’s lower lip quivered as she grabbed Y/N’s hand to hold it like she was the Lady of Lucis’ equal. “Thank you for saving him,” she whispered, Maeve’s words quivering as they crumbled under the foundation of fear that she could have lost her husband. “You could have left him to die, and I appreciate you for returning him to us.”
Y/N’s lower lip trembled, uncertain of what to say at first as she wasn’t expecting that response from the Queen of Lucis. “I-You-I was sorry I was sent to do so in the first place, My Lady, but I honestly didn’t do much in regards to saving him.”
“You did more than enough,” Maeve spoke honestly, removing her hand from Y/N with a smile. “I shouldn’t keep you both any longer than I have. I merely wished to express my gratitude.”
Noticing that Ignis and Y/N were about to leave, Helios opened and closed his hand with it outstretched towards them, whispering a ‘bye, bye’ to them before his mother turned and headed to the throne room to see her husband once more.
“Not been around royalty much?” Ignis asked at a low voice as he escorted Y/N through the halls of the Citadel as he knew them quite well in his years living there.
Y/N scoffed playfully. “What gave you that idea?” The elevator opening for them to continue down to the main lobby once more, she shook her head at the mere thought of her being about royalty while entering with him. “I never really had to have an audience with anybody other than Ivayle or some other general that was about me in regards to my station. I left the communing with the royals to my superiors.”
“Explains the nervous tenor,” chuckled the advisor as the elevator descended. “Since His Majesty has left you primarily in my care, I will show you where we’ll be living here in the Citadel upon our return.”
Y/N smiled to herself, fidgeting with her jacket she had in place upon her. “Being under your care is probably the best punishment I could hope for.”
The doctor visit went well enough though; as she expected, she was needed to gain more weight and have a better balanced diet in terms of calcium at the very least to which Ignis took note of. Returning to the Citadel felt like she was visiting on peace treaty business and hardly sunk in that she was there to stay even with all the signs staring her in the face.
Guiding to a western part of the palace, Y/N was escorted into Ignis’ own personal apartment he was allowed on the premises. It was an apartment like any other with a small hallway leading into the living room and kitchen space, a radio on the coffee table and a large, black leather sofa that was turned from the wall length windows behind it. The sofa seemed to face nothing except the wall but given the hardly decorated credenza opposite it and the coffee table, Y/N assumed it was meant to house a TV, but what would a blind man need with that anyways? Just beyond the kitchen was another small hallway, leading to his bedroom and bathroom she assumed.
“It looks nice,” Y/N commented, her hand admiring the feel of the leather sofa. “No TV, hu? The credenza looks empty without one.”
Ignis could tell she was teasing, and he smiled. “I never required a television with all things considered,” he reminded her, casually touching his visor. “The radio tells me more than enough as of late.” As he placed his keys off to the side in a nearby basket he had at the end of the small corridor, Ignis joined Y/N and rested his palm worryingly upon her stomach. “How do you feel?”
Y/N held onto his wrist, leaning upward to kiss his lips to calm him. “I’m fine. I promise. Just a little tired is all.”
It was the middle of the day making Ignis motion to where he knew the hallway was in relation to his sofa. “First room on the left is my bedroom. Get comfortable, my dear, and I will bring you a glass of milk to drink before you settle down for a rest.”
“Will you come and join me?” Y/N questioned, still new to this city and being in the Crown City’s Citadel. “I-I know you probably have things to do, but—.”
“—I will be there shortly,” Ignis said gently, urging her onward. “Go on.”
Y/N nodded, heading for the bedroom with her fingers fidgeting along the way. She kept debating on when would be a good time to tell Ignis the entire truth. Right now, everything just felt calm and relaxing. The last thing she wanted to hear was him stressing out again or getting upset she made such a bargain with the gods.
The doorknob of his bedroom door was soon in sight. I’ll tell him in time, Y/N assured herself as she allowed herself into Ignis’ room.
It was a small room with a large enough bed for two near the curtained windows. A desk full of books stretched along the wall facing the end of the bed with a closet and vanity to the right part of the space. Again, not much to look at but she had to remind herself who owned the space. Honestly, a bed was fine enough in terms of admiring what was there and after she removed her jacket and shoes, Y/N got herself comfortable under the covers as she knew shopping for a new wardrobe would have to come later.
Since he was merely fetching milk, Ignis was able to join her the moment she was about to lie down on her side. “Here you are, Y/N. Drink this before you rest.”
“Thank you,” she praised, accepting the glass and drinking it rather quickly given how thirsty she was.
Ignis sat on the bedside, removing his boots and jacket at least for the idea of resting momentarily under the covers beside Y/N. As he got himself comfortable for doing so, the advisor gently found rest near her stomach, his cheek upon the upper curve of the swelling with his palm tenderly rubbing the area in which his baby grew.
Y/N smiled down at him, running her fingers through his dirty blond hair to help him relax as she reclined against the headboard of his bed.
“We’ll go shopping for your clothing and fetch some things for the baby sometime tomorrow after I attend the Council’s meeting with Noct in the morning hours,” Ignis murmured softly, the words humming against her stomach ever so.
“Can we buy a TV?” Y/N teased with a raise of her brow. “One of us is blind but the other isn’t.”
He chuckled softly. “If you promise to put off this bold endeavor to clone Sulista with the condition you’re in, I will put it into consideration,” Ignis said.
“I promise I won’t try anything,” Y/N groaned, rolling her eyes at having to wait but at least relieved she had Cindy to help her fetch the parts and Prompto to assist her in trying to put it all together and getting it working. “Besides, you are—yet again—my jailor. I am at your mercy.” Hearing about the council meeting, Y/N looked about with a worried frown. “Is the meeting anything important…?”
“Let’s not discuss such matters as of yet,” insisted Ignis as he pulled from where he was resting to let Y/N get further comfortable under the covers at her leisure. “I’d rather enjoy the peaceful hours we have together at his moment.” His fingers finding Y/N’s face with great ease, he turned her towards him, urging her into a loving kiss.
Falling into the tender moment, Y/N rested upon her side in time as Ignis embraced her from behind. His fingers hooking within hers, she kept his touch close to her heart as her eyes closed to try and find peace in relaxation in a city that would hopefully come to accept her as well as friends that treated her with love and respect and a man who loved and adored her, regardless their differences.
A/N: Continued commission for @martascully. Ugh, meant to do this sooner as a birthday gift to her earlier in the month but shitty weather and emotional/physical health has been less than kind. Thanks for your continued support and everything you do, hon. It is always appreciated. <3
Desc: The Assassins are said to work under the mighty King of Lucis while the Templars throw their lot in with Niflheim. Sent to find out information about King Noctis, his army, and kingdom to reveal his weakness, the Reader encounters an interesting foe in her way. {AU}
Pairing(s): Blind Assassin!Ignis Scientia x Reader
By Oreana Galena (blindgeishateahouse.tumblr.com)
Words: 5,314
Rated: Semi-NSFW (playful sexual banter and hinted fun times.)
| Commission Information |
——
Y/N’s fingers curled ever so slightly in the dark room on the ship she had taken passage on, bringing herself back from the realm of sleep. The firm mattress that the boat had to offer reminded the Templar that she was very much on her way back home as the uncomfortable sensation was hardly new given how recently she had been upon such a bed before just traveling to Lucis; however, what was new was how her simple movement caused another behind her to stir and make her body realize the weighted sensation upon her side was the at rest arm of Ignis, the hunter assassin and advisor to the King of Lucis who had felt her movements and acted in his peaceful slumber as his arm moved more inward against her as if to absentmindedly embrace Y/N closer to his chest.
She turned, looking over her shoulder to see that the blind man was very much still asleep or at least she was left to assume given how often he kept his eyes closed to keep the pain of the air away from his damaged sight. Y/N watched him closely and noticed he did appear to still be slumbering as his breathing was heavy—fixated, perhaps—with pleasant dreams or memories. She wanted to move a bit further to face him but Y/N struggled with the tempting thought as she was reminded the man was a light sleeper and seemed to be aware of everything even if he played dead in a sense. For the time being, Y/N merely rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked at the nearby clock to notice the hour.
Nearly nine in the morning—six minutes till to be exact. No wonder Y/N felt so exhausted as it was still early to her. Knowing that they would soon come to port at Niflheim’s docks given the day, she sighed heavily to herself. Seven days hardly felt like enough as it were just to enjoy in the peace and quiet on the ship. It was the sixth day (as she had been reluctantly counting down after the third) and Y/N knew tomorrow morning would be when they would depart from the vessel and lead her to escort Ignis and Prompto into enemy territory without getting anybody in trouble.
One more day… Y/N thought to herself, turning around finally to get a better look at Ignis who remained asleep much to her surprise with how much she was moving.
His arm remained lazily upon her side, the muscles seeming to twitch against Y/N’s bare skin as if to threaten in the single movement to wake but he did not. Perhaps he just realized where he was and what was around him so Ignis didn’t feel threatened. Either way, Y/N wasn’t sure how to feel about it...if she should feel relief he felt so relaxed about her or worried that she had numbed his senses during such a time.
Being able to look at him as this, she couldn’t help but smile really. His dirty blond hair had fallen about his features, nearly making it impossible to see his eyes a bit. She never truly realized at times how long his hair really was since he kept it slicked back when he was awake. In the past several days, Y/N got a good look at his morning routines as Ignis appeared to feel more comfortable about her, so she got the rare chance to see him unkempt from time to time.
Cautiously, Y/N moved her fingers about the messy strands to try and get a better view of his eyes and the damage done upon them. The scar on the left was massive and while she cringed at the sight, she merely did so in wonder of how painful it truly was to endure such a heavy consequence just to save someone you loved. You really are a reckless idiot, she thought to herself with a fretful frown. I know I can make you promise not to be so again on my behalf, but…I know you’ll break that promise if it means any of us may die.
Given how Ignis spoke highly and compassionate of his companions, Y/N was no fool. They were his friends…his family—Prompto, this Gladiolus character who had gone missing with King Noctis—and according to Ignis, after the attack on Insomnia years ago, they were the only family he had at current as he lost his uncle and parents in that dreadful and merciless attack. While she would be intent to believe her life would be of little value on the scale, Y/N had to remind herself that Ignis did nearly die on her behalf just to protect her as he saw her as a minimal threat—someone he pitied given the fear that seemed to weigh her every step and confessed in later days that he saw good in her regardless of her actions.
Finding relaxation back upon the stiff mattress of the bed, Y/N moved closer to the sleeping advisor. As her bare body moved toward his own, her eyes widened in a brief moment realizing he was asleep but very much awake in other areas. Sighing to herself in fake frustration, she tried to not disturb Ignis and cautiously moved her legs elsewhere so as not to encourage the idea even if it was literally jabbing her right near her stomach. You’d think I’d be used to that by now with how often I wake up to it lately… Y/N thought in another means to be annoyed yet playful.
Ignis’ excuse for the act in which he couldn’t control when sleeping was that he wasn’t used to sleeping beside a woman—clothed or otherwise—so it provoked the response unknowingly to even him. It was an obvious embarrassment to the advisor so Y/N tried not to comment on it often unless aiming to please him to where he could relax and find comfort.
She remained on her side, admiring the hunter as he slept. Not able to resist the temptation however, Y/N did inch a bit closer to kiss upon his lower lip that had been scarred in his past actions. The simple act was enough to make Ignis swallow audibly in the still quiet of the room, his lower lip moving from the tender kiss that he had adjusted to receiving at random.
“Y/N…?” Ignis questioned groggily, the heavily scarred eye opened for the first time in awhile in the lightless room that her own had adjusted to. Y/N could just see it through the thick tresses that nearly blanketed it.
“Yes, I am here,” she spoke to settle him as her fingers continued to toy with his messy hair with tender care. “Did I wake you just now?”
He moved, retracting his embrace for the time being as he stretched to pop a few weary muscles into place with a heavy sigh expelling through his nostrils. “Indeed, but it is just fine, my dear.” Ignis brushed his hand across his forehead, sweeping the long strands from his face as they were beginning to tickle the slope of his nose and near his cheeks. “I am sure the hour is late.”
Y/N sputtered humorously at his comment. “Just a little after nine in the morning, really. Early, if you ask me.” Her exposed chest found comfort upon his own, fingers continuing to journey through his unkempt style.
“And you are awake?” Ignis asked with an equally mischievous grin and tone to his words. “Mm, consider me quite surprised, darling.”
“You are losing your touch, Ignis,” Y/N scoffed as she stole another kiss from him. Her cheek found rest upon his chest, listening to the pleasant beating sound of his heart. “I even moved and you didn’t seem to notice.”
Ignis’ brow rose and fell, shrugging at her playful remark as he took care in rubbing another spot just under his eye that was bothering him. “Can you blame me, Y/N? I was not expecting the many hours of…exploration to happen as it did last night.”
Y/N lost count of how long they had truly been at it as well. While the days and nights had been full of conversation and a bit of planning in regards to what they would do upon their arrival in Niflheim, Ignis was trying to make use of the hours the two of them had alone. While Y/N had been used to the simplicity of their sensual times together, it seemed as the nights went onward Ignis was willing to try and drag them out a bit longer and try a few new things in order to know what worked best and what excited her the least. To Y/N it was delightful even if making her feel like his personal science project. She had found the week to be eye opening in a few ways but also aided her body in adjusting to the man who had taken and claimed her heart. What used to be horribly painful in terms of adjusting to his entire size being inside of her became an easy and welcome fit and like magic, the blind man appeared to become aware of what Y/N needed in terms of pleasure.
“I wasn’t watching the time,” Y/N whispered as she kissed his jaw line. “All I know was that was quite a bit you unleashed last night.” She paused, eyes shifting upward to count once more. “Four if I remember right.” Ignis quietly allowed a small laugh to pass his lips, his eye searching the darkness for where Y/N’s voice came from. “Wasn’t too painful for you any, was it?”
“Not at all,” he murmured as if to express his exhaustion still in that single reply. “Started to feel a bit tender near the end there, so that’s why I stopped, but I also didn’t wish to run you ragged.”
“The maid is going to complain when she has to clean our room,” Y/N joked, smiling shortly after as Ignis’ chest shuttered from a laugh he expelled a bit more vocally than the last.
“I’ll clean up a majority of the mess before we depart the room for breakfast.” His palm rubbed Y/N’s exposed back as if to mutely encourage the idea of the two of them waking further for the day. “We best get ready for such an event as it closes down at eleven.”
“I’d rather sleep than eat, really,” Y/N murmured with a recognizable whine on her words, chin remaining firm on Ignis’ chest.
Playfully, Ignis slapped Y/N’s backside before gesturing to where he knew the bedroom’s washroom was. “If I have to drag you in there myself, love, I will.” A groan passed Y/N’s lips as she reluctantly moved out from under the covers. “You are going to eat, and I will not have the maid seeing you as this.” When he felt the weight on him and the bed lessen, Ignis moved his feet to the floor as well though doing his best to allow the covers to at least preserve his dignity as he remained sitting on the bedside before fondling for his underwear he knew he tossed on the floor at some point. “Besides, we best meet with Prompto and Sal and see if anything new has been uncovered in regards to his Majesty and Gladio.”
“If anything were found, Sal would have told Prompto I am sure,” reminded Y/N as she cared little for clothing herself since her partner was indeed blind. “She may appear to be sidetracked with weird feelings for him, but she would do anything at this point to keep him happy, and I am sure she knows how much this King of yours means to him.”
Ignis hummed in thought as he fixed his boxers into place upon his lower hips. “Jealous, are we?”
While the question was merely curious in nature, Y/N couldn’t help but grumble a bit irritably at the very idea she would be jealous something she made with her best friend in mind was growing attached to someone else. She knew it seemed petty, but trying to deny that was the truth would get her nowhere as Ignis always caught onto even her minor fibs. “Sulista was never really interested in much of anybody, and I think because of her stature, nobody really returned the interest much either, so I was kind of used to having her all to myself when she was alive,” Y/N explained, rubbing her upper arms with a soft sigh at the confession. “She was a muscular woman, stood quite tall—five feet, eleven inches or something, I think—and the fact she carried around this enormous shield and battle axe at times that only she had the strength to handle, everyone was kind of intimidated by her even if she was a gentle giant.” Y/N’s hands went to her neck, resting her palms lazily at the sides as her fingertips drummed idly in thought on the back. “I guess when she went to becoming a machine, I just assumed nobody would really catch her interest, but this Prompto guy found a way.”
“Relationships are surprising in that way,” commented Ignis from obvious knowledge of the subject with all things considered. He moved across the room, outstretching his hand to find her in the darkness where his hand came to rest upon Y/N’s shoulder in a comforting hold. “You tend to find light in someone when you least expect it and within the most unlikely of people.”
Y/N’s smile twitched to one side, her hand resting upon his own to which provoked him to hold her grasp tightly. “While I am jealous, I do want her happy but…she’s a machine. She can love Prompto as much as she wants to, but a computer cannot truly express the right emotions back to someone; especially not in a physical sense.”
“Prompto didn’t tell you fully of his story from being in Niflheim, did he?” Ignis asked after a pregnant pause.
The words made it sound like they held some weight of sorts that Y/N wasn’t used to. She turned, gazing up at the glossy look of Ignis. “No…you interrupted that part, and he never continued with it.”
Ignis nodded, recalling that moment days ago much to his dismay. “It is not my station to speak of my companion’s secrets unless it is urgent, so I will say…ask him again in private, and he may tell you.”
Y/N waited for more to be said. What was so important about Prompto’s origin story that could help her computer? Before she could hope to ask further, Ignis nudged her gently towards the bathroom door ahead.
“The maid will be here soon, so we best hurry now,” he insisted, letting Y/N go to wash up first so he could tend to the mess in the room in the meantime.
As expected, Sal hadn’t encountered any incoming messages or news articles in regards to Niflheim having the King of Lucis. Y/N frowned, feeling a bit frustrated and oddly misplaced in terms of being fed any information whatsoever when it came to her superiors who were supposed to care. Did they truly not…? Did they honestly just leave her for dead? The least they could have done was at least contact her by now even if they thought she was. They treated her worse than they did their MTs.
“Something wrong, Y/N?” Ignis asked, provoking her to look over at the advisor at her name being called. “You’ve been so focused on Sal that I’ve not heard you eat much or even speak a word.”
She sighed, turning off her device and putting her away into her jean jacket pocket. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Ignis could sense there was more to it than that but given the fact the population was about them in the dining hall, he knew better than to pry and merely cut the last few pieces of his eggs before chewing them.
Y/N looked over the circular table at the other blond she was traveling with, noticing he was toying with something on his phone. “Sal hasn’t said anything important in the past few days…has she, Prompto?”
He shook his head, mouth too full to really respond properly. “Neh, we’ve just been chatting here and there,” Prompto finally answered (though took the time to cover his mouth as he didn’t want the small remnants of food to be seen when he spoke). “Trust me, if there was any information on Noct and Gladio she had given me, I would be banging on your door regardless of the hour.”
Ignis departed from the table in that moment, not saying exactly where he’d be going but Y/N assumed it could be to get more food or to go to the bathroom. She didn’t think it was important to ask. Regardless, she found herself alone at the table with Prompto and the words Ignis spoke of earlier began to toy with her a bit. Her curiosity ushered her words from her throat. “Umm…back at the camp when we last spoke to each other…” Prompto looked over at Y/N, brow wrinkled in wonder of where this was going to go. “You said that you sometimes don’t feel real but your friends give you some sort of validation in that.” His blue eyes darted away as if ashamed he let those words get that far from him. “Wh…Was that some sort of philosophical bullshit you were feeding me or something else?” Y/N asked with a small tenor of a laugh to coax the gunman into talking.
Again, Prompto looked about the room as if worried if he spoke the truth someone would have him arrested. “I am…” His fingers tapped idly upon his glass, an exasperated sigh following shortly after as he lowered his head in surrender. “…a clone…An MT that was made in a facility in Niflheim.”
Y/N’s eyes darted back and forth as if expecting this to be some sort of joke. “What…?” she asked with another quiet laugh harboring the word. “An…An MT? But…I’ve never known MTs to really be sentient.”
Prompto moved his right hand onto the table and pulled back the black glove and sleeve to expose a barcode Y/N recognized as a factory imprint on most MTs. He only let it show for a moment before concealing it quickly once more.
“But…how?” Y/N asked in disbelief. “I’ve never known any to be cloned and installed with any personality as it made them more deadly, not able to feel compassion for the enemy and the like.” She witnessed that her words were doing more harm than good for Prompto in terms of allowing him to open up as this. “I-I’m sorry,” Y/N quickly apologized, looking away in shame. “I guess there was a reason you were created in that facility, and I won’t ask why as I can…kind of guess…” She paused, tapping her fork on the napkin before her. “Hu…guess Niflheim kind of fucked up with us both then, yeah? Sent you to ruin them from the inside only to have you befriend them and they sent me to do the same only to have me fall in love with the King’s advisor.”
“Send someone else to do your dirty work, and I guess you get mixed results,” Prompto responded with a forced laugh, trying to find light in the situation.
Y/N turned to him, smiling best she was able as well. “You chose humanity, love, and friendship over the alternative, and I can easily see why they view you as human—because you are.”
His blue eyes darted over to catch her sight, a weary smile of thanks showing upon his features. “Why did you want to know?”
“Iggy said something to me in private about asking you again when I was talking about…!” Y/N’s eyes widened as she realized what he was trying to imply. “That’s what he meant! So there—by the Astrals, I am so blind and stupid!”
Prompto gave her a funny look from across the table, shrugging to himself as he wasn’t sure where any of this was going. “Glad that got clarified,” he spoke jokingly.
Y/N dug into her pocket to pull out Sal again. “No, all along I had the ability to bring her back to life, and I never even thought to try and use the facility to clone Sulista! I merely made my own without thinking!” She breathed out in relief, wanting to nearly kiss Prompto for being a genius in his own roundabout way even if it was Ignis who suggested it indirectly.
“Yeah but…you’re missing one key thing here, Y/N—the facility is owned by your now sworn enemy,” Prompto reluctantly spoke, hating to halt her excitement in the matter. “You can go in and try to make her with them totally clueless as to what’s going on, but there’s no guarantee that’s going to work out well for us as clones take months to make. We cannot wait months to free Noct and Gladio.”
Realizing the hiccup in her plans, Y/N’s shoulders faltered and she sighed to herself. “True…” Again, however, her ideas came back to fruition. “But I can get Sal to download the basic plans for making one of my own!”
“An entire facility?” Prompto asked, jerking his head back at the irrational thought. “And here I thought I was the spontaneous one.”
The Templar rolled her eyes. “Not an entire facility, you goof! I just need the basics, and that’s just a general tube for the clone to grow and be fed the personality and data that it needs—which I have—!” Y/N gestured again to Sal. “—and a machine that can download and feed basic protocols and ensure the proper cellular growth as time progresses…yeah, yeah! I think I can do this!” Her hands gripped onto the machine, looking at the flawless silver cover not even thinking about the true reasons for doing it. “I can finally bring her back!”
“Well, as long as you got this covered and you think it’s something that’s doable…” Prompto smiled once more, gesturing to her with his fork. “…we’ve got your back.”
Y/N returned the grin, nodding at the gunman. “Thanks. I appreciate that.” However, upon looking down at the device, she was reminded of her own inner plan that she needed to do in order to actually get to Gralea before them if possible. “Tell Ignis I am heading back to the room when he returns,” spoke Y/N as she took to her feet. “I’m uh…I’m going to look over some reports and see if I cannot find anything.”
“Sure,” spoke Prompto as he slipped another bite of the pancakes in his mouth though his tone implied he was still a bit skeptical of Y/N and her being alone with that device.
Y/N dismissed it and quickly retreated to the bedroom she shared with Ignis.
Upon arriving, she shut the door in haste behind her and booted up Sal with a hesitant desire to speak; however, she knew if she sat on this, it would look all the more incriminating if she didn’t confess her position to a degree and that she was alive. “Sal…contact the Grand Master, Ivayle…”
“Processing,” Sal spoke but with a curious mannerism as she wasn’t sure what even Y/N was up to.
Sitting down on the bedside, Y/N waited nervously for Ivayle to pick up—a part of her hoping she wouldn’t at all.
“Color me surprised,” spoke the all too familiar tone that held a hint of condescension in it. “Y/N…and here I thought the Lucian dogs left you for dead after our attack on Lestallum.”
She tried to smile and find comfort in her officer’s words even if it tasted of insipid ash. It was odd, a woman she had grown to respect regardless of her harsh ways she had suddenly become paranoid with and untrusting of. Should Y/N speak the truth that the Lucians spared her and she was traveling with them? “H-Hi, Grand Master,” Y/N stuttered, moving a stray hair from her features. “I’m sorry I was unable to contact you but I was—.”
“—Spare me the pointless dribble, Y/N,” the raven haired woman demanded as her sky-blue eyes pierced through the screen in a way that felt like she wished her looks could kill and make Y/N’s heart stop dead in her chest. “While your presence is astounding and appreciated as you caused quite the distraction in allowing us a chance at grabbing the King, you better have a good explanation as to why you draw breath and have the nerve to contact us now.”
Y/N inhaled sharply, hoping it went unnoticed. “You have King Noctis then?” she probed, hoping to learn what she could at moment.
Ivayle grinned in a twisted sort of satisfaction. “Under our control at presence, yes…as is the Ring of the Lucii.” She looked away, still revealing in the glow of victory it seemed. “It is surprising what little devices one can create in order to bind one to our will.”
She stilled her tongue realizing she almost demanded her commanding office to tell her what they had done to the King. “I…I’m relieved then,” Y/N spoke halfheartedly. “The war seems to tip in our favor again.”
The woman’s grin weakened and she turned back into the ever unappreciative mother figure that Y/N had come to recognize her as from time to time. “So your information you’ve gathered is pretty much useless unless you can tell me you’ve gained more knowledge than you intended when draining their phones’ data.”
“Y-Yes!” Y/N spoke in haste as she had mulled over it in private from time to time when alone. “I know more about the Glaives, the Assassins and their whereabouts, and I know the weaknesses within the City of Insomnia.” She hesitated, biting at her lower lip in wonder of what else to add. “Also, I…I’m on my way back to Niflheim with two of King Noctis’ companions—both work as assassins and are part of his guard…one even being the Hand of the King.” She felt ill confessing that. The very idea she was willing to pretend that Ignis was her foe was more than she could manage after the several days the two spent together.
“Really?” Ivayle questioned, head tilted back just a bit as if to try and get a better read on the situation. “More of that idiot’s lapdogs are on the way here?” Her hand to her mouth, she stood in idle thought. “I suppose if we capture them the fool will stop trying to break free of our control. How are you doing this? Are you their prisoner—were you indeed foolish enough to get caught, Y/N?”
Y/N released a shaky breath as she gripped onto Sal tightly. “One of them thinks I love him, so they’re coming willingly with me…thinking I am going to let them into Gralea to search for their friends they believe you have at current.”
Ivayle grinned a demented sort of grin once more that made Y/N’s stomach knot up. “So you are actually more capable than you look,” the Grand Master muttered to herself but it was loud enough for the Templar woman to hear the spiteful words. “Fine then—let them come, and when you feel the moment is right to strike, Y/N…contact us again, and we will find you to bring you all into custody.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Y/N responded with a nod before ending the transmission.
The room was quiet until Sal’s voice module blipped to life. “Was that truly wise?”
“Don’t ask me that, Sal—you’re starting to sound like Ignis,” Y/N chastised, easily hearing that phrase in his tongue more than Sal’s.
“As I cannot stand the man, I will still point out that he would be right to ask the same thing,” continued the device. “They have verified they have King Noctis; where this Gladio fellow is, I do not know as he wasn’t mentioned. Will you let Prompto or Ignis in on this plan of yours?”
“No,” Y/N spoke firmly with a nasally sigh. “N-Not right away, no.”
“Why not?” Sal questioned eagerly as if fearing for everyone’s safety now.
“Because I have to see how this pans out first since I just spoke out of my ass to keep my commanding officer from suspecting anything,” Y/N answered with a slightly risen voice. “I don’t want them killed; especially if what I have just done may put them in danger…”
“Then tell them, Y/N!” Sal seemed to demand. “If they know what you’re up to they will know what to prepare for.”
Y/N’s frustrations began to rise at her computer not willing to listen. “Let me just plan it all in my head right now, Sal! When I have an answer, I’ll fill them in…” She sighed, lowering her head with regret. “Besides, if they are told and they are prepared for the attack and the betrayal, Ivayle will know and sense their eagerness to be caught if they are indeed bad actors and none of us will be allowed to walk the city to find out the truth of the others or to set them free. If they think I betrayed them…maybe it will be more realistic and we’ll all be safe in the end?”
Sal’s vocals attempted an annoyed growl. “You do not know that, Y/N. You are gambling too much and quite recklessly, I might add.”
“What did I just tell you about letting me think this over first?” the Templar woman hissed, her lips thinning in frustration.
“Fine, but I still think you’re making a mistake,” spoke Sal honestly. “What about King Noctis? Will you tell them of that at least?”
“I will, even if I want Ignis to not panic nor Prompto,” Y/N confessed between the two of them.
“They panic every day whether you see it or not,” reminded the handheld. “Their voices harbor a secret of pain and concern for their friend and King. I hear it nearly every day. At the very least, do not hide that from them.”
Y/N sighed, lowering her head from the heaviness on her body that was soon being weighed upon her. She wanted to play the sides to see what would be wisest. Ivayle cornered her in that conversation and Y/N had no idea what to even say without incriminating herself. If she said she was their prisoner, they would be attacked on site. If she expressed she wasn’t, more than just a fake love game would probably have to come into play that would make it all come crumbling down around them and they would all be imprisoned or worse.
Penalty for betrayal was death…Y/N knew she would die either way as the truth would have to come to the surface at some point in the eyes of the Empire and her superiors.
The Truth is Sometimes Equivalent to Love—Always Blind - Chapter 13
A/N: A 10 chapter commission for @martascully! And yeah, I am too lazy to link chapters right now. You can find this better comprised on AO3 under my name Oreana.
Desc: The Assassins are said to work under the mighty King of Lucis while the Templars throw their lot in with Niflheim. Sent to find out information about King Noctis, his army, and kingdom to reveal his weakness, the Reader encounters an interesting foe in her way. {AU}
By Oreana Galena (blindgeishateahouse.tumblr.com)
Words: 5,467
Rated: SFW
| Commission Information |
——
“Get the soldiers to lower their guns, and I’ll lower mine,” Prompto exchanged heatedly at the Grand Master.
Ivayle couldn’t tell if he was being serious or stupid or a bit of both. Her brow wrinkled unimpressed, the corner of her lip tugging to one side as if to figure him out. “You honestly expect to kill everything with that revolver, sweetheart?” she questioned in a condescending tone.
“You don’t know the tricks up my sleeve,” Prompto reminded her not wishing to divulge that part. “Get them to lower their weapons, and I will recall mine!” He was doing his best to put up a brave front and pretend he was more deadly than she assumed he was. Even Y/N was a bit confused as to what he had planned—if he had anything planned at all.
The butt of Ivayle’s spear dug into the snow as she sighed in agitation at Prompto’s persistent behavior. “Lower your guns,” she ordered to the Magitek soldiers, causing the robotic guards to do so at her command. “Now, where is the other one?”
Prompto went rigid, arm remaining outstretched to protect Y/N who was behind him still. “What other one?” He dismissed his weapon as he so promised he would.
“The other man who was traveling with you.” The Grand Master gestured to Y/N who was remaining behind Prompto still. “She said that there were two of you, and we’ve seen him through our network whenever you three would use the shops around here—another blond who keeps his eyes closed all the time for some reason with the same getup you’re wearing.”
As the two continued to converse, Y/N knew there would be no way out of this one way or the other and they both would either be shot dead or taken into custody. Either way, she had to slip Sal into the saddle bag belonging to her chocobo in hopes it would be allowed free and back to Ignis if he wasn’t found or caught. Maybe he would figure out a plan with her computer’s help? Y/N could only hope.
“There is no other one,” Prompto reflected firmly, hoping to have Ivayle believe him. “He died protecting us from a daemon attack a few days ago!”
Ivayle grew quiet, tapping her fingers against the spear she held curiously as she tried to decide if Prompto was telling the truth or not. She gestured to one half of the soldiers standing beside her. “Take them into custody,” the Grand Templar demanded, her words harsh and visible on the chill in the air. “The rest of you can split up and try to find this other royal retainer of the King of Lucis and see if he’s very much alive or dead. I don’t want you to stop till you have some proof he’s merely a corpse.”
As the soldiers converged onto Prompto and Y/N, the gunman kept his arm outstretched to try and protect the Templar behind him regardless. He wasn’t sure if they were meant to make it to Gralea alive or not, but he couldn’t help but fear for them all now as he was outnumbered and even with his bazooka he would only be able to take some of them down by himself (perhaps). Y/N was grabbed, pulled away harshly by two machines to which Prompto nearly reacted till two other soldiers restrained him in time.
“Don’t you hurt her!” Prompto demanded angrily as he attempted to pull from his restraints.
Ivayle’s lip twisted into an unimpressed sneer at Prompto being pushed back to the aircraft used to arrive on the scene sometime ago. Not sparing a word to the Lucian she grabbed at Y/N’s chin harshly to force her attention to her superior. “We have a lot to discuss when we arrive in Gralea, my dear.”
The sound of such a harsh and unforgiving tinge on that word made Y/N flinch before she was ushered away to the aircraft up ahead right behind Prompto. Head lowered in defeat and concern for everyone she had now endangered she looked back over her shoulder at her commanding officer but also slightly past her to notice the chocobo remained unharmed and left in peace as the black haired woman trailed behind them.
Ignis stirred in his sleep back at the campsite, moving his arms a bit to realize that the sleeping space beside him was empty much to his surprise. “Mm…?” It was unlike Y/N to be an early riser unless he actually slept in late or something was the matter. “Y/N?” he called, pushing himself upright as the darkness yielded nothing in terms of an answer by sound or touch.
Groping for his clothing, Ignis quickly put on the essentials, leaving his coat off of his body for the time being and hurrying to the opening of the tent where he could only smell the faint embers of the fire from the night before. It wasn’t stronger but weaker, showing none of them awoke before him. He dug his heel into the ground, trying to send out a signal as to what was around him but the snow made it a bit difficult.
“Prompto?” Ignis called in a bit of a risen panic, hurrying towards the tent he knew wasn’t far from his and Y/N’s. Pulling back the flap of the tent he felt was already loose and opened, he beckoned to him again. “Prompto, are you here?” He tried to stay calm but the idea that two of them had suddenly gone missing was alarming. Falling to his knees with his hand outstretched, Ignis searched desperately in the dark only to find the sleeping bag was empty.
In haste, Ignis hurried back outside to try and find the chocobos. Hands extended like a child searching desperately for the walls in the darkness of one’s home, he managed to find the reins of one and tugged on it gently to bring closer to him. With fear embracing him, the advisor hadn’t realized or recognized how cold he was without his coat on at least. When he heard the bird kweh at him, Ignis shushed it tenderly with a stroke upon the curve of the beak before guiding his hand down towards the saddlebag to search through it for what he needed to find.
“That’s…that’s mine,” he murmured to himself when his fingers came across the cooking utensils he put within his as well as a few cooking books he recognized the spines and covers of.
Hearing another chocobo nearby Ignis moved towards the slight crunching of the snow as the bird casually walked upon it to try and pluck through the cover of winter to get to something to eat. Again, Ignis was careful with at least finding the neck of the creature to pet it reassuringly and make his way down to the saddlebag to search through the contents to figure out who it belonged to. His touch only had to come across the camera buried within the bag to know who it belonged to, making his heart race in doubt and heartache thinking he had been betrayed as he could only sense the two birds at the camp…the other, belonging to Y/N, was obviously missing as was Prompto.
Digging into his pant’s pocket, he pulled out the bird whistle and blew it long and hard regardless of what consequences it could unearth for him being in enemy territory. At the end of the sound, Ignis waited patiently in hopes of hearing the bird approaching. “Come on now…” he pleaded, head lowered as he kept a firm grip on the ride belonging to Prompto as it was comforting to have something close even if it couldn’t speak to him. The silence was deafening making Ignis’ lower lip quiver in horror and regret. “Y/N…where did you go?” His words cracked, fearing the worst and wanting his sorrow to merely stay so until he had proof to turn it to anger at her betraying him.
Soon the air pierced with the sound of a chocobo frantically heading in his direction prompting Ignis’ head to shoot upward and turn towards the sound of bird talons crunching the snow in a feverish pace. Opening his hand for the chocobo to come to a stop, Ignis grabbed the reins and hurried to the saddle to find that it was without a rider.
“Y/N?” Even if he knew she wasn’t there, he was hoping her voice would arise from somewhere. Again, the advisor fondled in the dark for the saddlebag, locating it with ease to try and find what could possibly be there. Was she captured? Did she leave with Prompto as her prisoner to Gralea? Was she trying to rat them all out but Prompto stopped her? His thoughts came to a quick end when he felt the all too familiar metal of the handheld Y/N was rarely seen without. “Sal?” Ignis breathed in some small relief pulling the computer from the saddlebag to turn her on.
The screen blipped on, a breath of life coming from the machine. “Prompto?” she seemed to ask for right away though it made most sense as Prompto was the one holding onto her a lot lately.
“No, it’s me,” Ignis responded finding small comfort in having some voice around to talk to in the darkness of his mind.
“Oh,” Sal responded unenthusiastically and sounding a bit bitter. “What do you want? Come to interrogate me in private again?”
“Sal, this is important,” Ignis insisted as he kept a hold of the chocobo’s reins. “Y/N and Prompto were vacant from the tents this morning, and I haven’t the slightest of where they’ve gone. Do you have any idea of where they may have went in the early hours?”
“I don’t exactly have eyes like you humans do,” Sal reminded him. “Well, most you humans.” She paused, searching her databanks for a few things. “Seems it’s…nearly eight in the morning…And Prompto and Y/N were already up and about?”
“So you see my fear.” Ignis sighed, teeth chattering finally to remind him that he had been ignoring the cold about him with the panic that had fogged his logic. “Out of anyone, Y/N is never up this early unless for a reason.” His grip upon the machine tightened. “Unless she had a plan of sorts as I refuse to believe the Empire would sack our camp and merely take two of the three of us.”
“Stop your constant teeth chattering and put more clothes on if you’re so cold,” Sal groaned with a heated spike in her voice module. “I can barely understand you when you’re acting this way. Also, calm down, for gods sake—Y/N may have acted brash, but if she had the intention of turning you in, it would have been all a façade. You know that very well, so don’t be stupid.”
Turning in the snow and heading back to his tent, Ignis did as Sal suggested knowing he had to think of his own health first and foremost before worrying of others. “We have to find out what happened to them as I fear the worst. Did Y/N say anything to you in private that I should be aware of?”
Sal went quiet as Ignis managed to place on the remainder of his winter clothing that aided him in the harsh cold of Niflheim. “Well…a thing or two, but I believe that’s not for your ears—.”
“—Sal, enough with the games!” Ignis snapped angrily as he buttoned up the warm winter’s coat he had with him. “Y/N and Prompto are in trouble, and if you don’t stop toying around who knows what will happen to them!”
“In order for me to tell you anything in regards to Y/N’s personal comings and goings you would need her password to enter my databanks,” Sal reminded Ignis firmly in the matter as the advisor exited the tent, outstretching his hand for one of the chocobos to grab the reins of yet again. “Just because I can talk and I am sentient doesn’t mean I will willfully depart with information on my hard drive regardless of the situation that be as…that’s sadly my limitations in terms of being as human as I can be.”
It was oddly a somber sounding comment that Sal departed with, showing she somewhere deep down hated she was indeed trapped in this machine and couldn’t act against her programming at times. “What is the password then?”
“Really…?” Sal asked with a sarcastic tune. “Do you ask everybody’s personal computer that in hopes it’ll open up to you magically?” She sighed best she was able with her limitations. “What do you think the password is?”
Sal asked that as if to hint Ignis probably already knew it. His head lowered as he sighed through his nostrils. “The password is…Sulista.” A confirmation sound seemed to go off that Ignis could recognize as pleasant, feeling pleased he figured it out but also uncertain of what he should truly do now.
“You’re in,” Sal verified. “What do you want me to do?”
“First and foremost, I want you to remove my King’s information you have stored on your hard drive somewhere,” Ignis ordered as his Majesty always came first.
“I cannot,” said Sal simply.
His grip upon the device tightened. “And why is that?” Ignis tried not to show disdain in the act but his patience was wearing a bit thin.
“I cannot do what has already been done.”
Ignis’ eyes opened at the words Sal departed with, breath hastily passing through his lips. “What…did you say?” He was in absolute disbelief.
“Y/N deleted the data of her own accord a few days ago,” Sal informed him. “I proceeded to tell her what a fool she was being if she wanted to walk into Gralea with the pretense of saying she had King Noctis’ information at her fingertips only to delete it, but after something came to light in the recent days, she decided it was better this way.”
“And she wasn’t going to tell anybody she deleted it?” Ignis questioned, finding that odd.
“Sadly, you’ve warped her mind and heart and Y/N feels she deserves to be punished for her crimes against your King. She doesn’t want leniency but the extent of what any criminal in her shoes you didn’t fuck in private would get,” Sal expressed without restraint. She heard Ignis clear his throat as if to say the last remark was improper but she refused to retract it knowing the truth. “Anyways, our little secret.”
“And the other thing she told you that you’re keeping secret from me? Is it imperative to the situation at hand?” Ignis questioned as he was worrying still where the two could be.
Sal seemed to pause for a moment, her voice unit blipping a bit as if struggling to think of what to say or do. “Welllllll…”
“Sal, this is important!” Ignis scolded again, hoping to get the machine to cooperate with him.
Sal’s attempt at an exasperated and defeated sigh rang in Ignis’ ears. “Listen, if you value her and her privacy you will not force me to recite the last message she left me. It isn’t for your ears—at least not yet. As for what I can tell you in regards to Prompto and Y/N’s whereabouts, I can tell you that I haven’t an idea of where they are but I am certain Ivayle has them.” She paused, huffing a sort of angered sound. “I know that woman is vindictive and never had Y/N’s interest at heart even if she fills the girl’s head with lies that she loves her. The day Y/N contacted her, I am sure Ivayle was watching closely the second we landed and probably was waiting for the time to strike. If Y/N pulled from camp, Prompto probably followed her as I know he doesn’t trust her that well yet, and it got the two caught if I am nowhere near either of them.”
“Bloody hell,” Ignis swore in a tone that nearly denoted his surrender as he felt powerless without at least Prompto at his side.
“I can try and hack into the radio signals I recognize from the Empire and fill you in on their comings and goings. Since I am made with Niflheim technology, they won’t be the wiser nor think me a problem in the system,” Sal soothed best she was able. “Now, since we were heading to Gralea anyway…stop moping on your ass and get there!”
“And how is a blind man supposed to make it into a city alone?” Ignis questioned, hating to outwardly admit his hindrances. “Snow makes it a bit more difficult for me to sense my surroundings as the terrain doesn’t carry a vibration nearly as well in some regards. It will be harder for me to find my way around without aid.”
“You will be better off in the city walls then,” insisted Sal. “As far as I am aware, metal and steel will be your better guide there. Don’t you have a cane or something like most blind people?”
“I have my spear, and that alone will have to do for now in this terrain. I am not wonderful with echolocation by my voice and clicks, but I can get by well enough on that I suppose till something more suitable comes about,” answered Ignis. “I got rid of my cane six or so years ago. Lucis doesn’t get snow nearly as much as Niflheim so I never had to concern myself with this problem.”
“Lovely, be sure not to slaughter anybody with that accidentally,” Sal joked in a neutral tone. “Honestly, just get on the chocobo for now, and I can guide you vocally. I have a built in map and can track where I am in relation to everything on it. I shall be the not-so-blind leading the mostly blind.”
“It would be wise not to travel on the road,” Ignis insisted as he took to the reins of Y/N’s bird to mount up and get situated as the Templar had carried light, making her mount the faster of the other two. “If you can find a means around such a thought, I would be grateful.” A warning blip caught Ignis’ attention as it rang distressingly in his ears. “What is wrong? I don’t like that sound you’re making…”
“Imperial soldiers are nearby,” Sal said with her vocals lowered as if to whisper. “I don’t know what you did to attract their attention, but you better hurry!”
Ignis was quiet for a moment, tuning out everything around him to try and focus on the gears and the grinding sounds they made within the machines now and again. Even the armor was ever faint but he could tell they were gaining speed in his direction and it was there he took notice of where the sound was coming from and departed in the opposite direction.
Prompto and Y/N were locked in the back of the aircraft, guarded by two soldiers in the airship Ivayle had used to track them down with. It was more a cage for large daemons to important what they needed in terms of making their military. It reeked to Y/N and no doubt Prompto as well, smelling of blood and other things she dared not focus on as her stomach was already a mess.
“Did you really have to contact them to your location?” Prompto asked quietly to Y/N as he sat opposite to her in their confinement.
Y/N embraced her stomach, hoping it would settle in time as she didn’t want to lose her dinner from the night before. “I didn’t. Ivayle must have been tracking us somehow…I am sure she was tracking Sal to figure out where I was as soon as we landed.”
Prompto’s head lowered, a whispered swear escaping him. “So she was just waiting to get us all.”
“This is better for us right now,” Y/N admitted quietly in return so her words wouldn’t carry. “Ignis is still free and maybe…with Sal’s help…they can get us and King Noctis to freedom as well as this other friend of yours you’ve mentioned.”
Prompto looked through the bars, making sure nothing was truly around that could catch their conversation beyond the two Magitek soldiers who rarely recorded information. “So you don’t have Sal on you? Is…that going to hurt or help us?”
Y/N shrugged, moving to her side to try and find some comfort but the stench of the cage become too overbearing and she quickly pushed herself back upright with an exasperated sigh. “I put Sal in my chocobo’s saddlebag when you were antagonizing Ivayle, and maybe if Ignis calls the birds back he’ll find her and use her.” Y/N brought her knees to her chest. “Without her it…will be difficult for us to escape on our own, but I don’t want her in the hands of the Empire, and Ignis can say he’s fine as he is, but I don’t want a blind man wandering around in places he’s not familiar with without help.” She glanced away at nothing in particular, thinking back on Ignis and what he was probably doing now with a shake of her head. “He’s probably worried to death of us or thinking I betrayed him, maybe…”
“If he has Sal, I am sure she’ll make him think otherwise even if things are a bit damning,” Prompto commented with a lighthearted chuckle.
Head to her scrunched up knees, Y/N sighed as she wished he was there beside her right now. She felt far safer with him around and as though everything was going to be alright. “Why did you lie to her?” Y/N asked when she lifted her head to speak to Prompto. “Why did you tell her you’re the father?”
“Well…racism is pretty heavy in Insomnia too depending on where you look,” Prompto confessed with a roll of his eyes. “If Ivayle wants a Lucian to be responsible for it, I’ll take the blame so she can unleash her fury onto me, and Ignis will be spared when it comes to that sin in her eyes.” He still couldn’t help but expel a nasally laugh to himself. “From ‘I’m going to make her pay’ to ‘father of your baby’ in over nearly two months is…something else. Was that some plan of yours that backfired or did you really fall in love with him?”
Y/N tried to find humor in the statement and did for a brief time as a smile flickered across her lips as she rocked idly in place to sooth herself. “No, I didn’t lie to him,” she confessed with a heavy heart. “I can never pretend to love anybody. Besides, I am a shitty liar; especially around him. Ignis is so perceptive he would have seen through that had I tried, I am sure.” Again, Y/N glanced away for a moment. “He had several opportunities to let me die and to destroy Sal, but he never once did it or threatened to—only if I dared to send his King’s information to my own people to which is justified. And when he took that behemoth attack for me, I just…” She paused, bringing her fingers to her mouth as if to nervously bite upon the nails. “He’s another in only a list of two people I can count that has ever loved me, and I will do whatever it takes to make sure I don’t lose him too.”
Prompto’s brow furrowed as if understanding that pain of not really having a lot of friends or people who cared till later on in his teen life. He too began to fidget with his fingers in an idle pause, his spine uncomfortably against the bars near the back of the cage. “How long ago did you know that you were pregnant?”
“A few days ago. As soon as we landed I stole a pregnancy test at one of the shops we quickly stopped at to rent chocobos. I had to steal it as I knew Ignis would be curious what I was buying, and I didn’t need you seeing it either,” Y/N confessed. “Been in this wicked stage of denial ever since and hoping that it was wrong but…” She moved her hand across her stomach that had felt different when she pressed about it cautiously. “…the gods want to laugh in my face, I guess in regards to the timing.”
There was something in her dreary tone that upset Prompto and panicked his heart. “Are you even going to tell him?”
“No,” Y/N whispered firmly.
“Why not?” Prompto shook his head, finding that cruel.
Y/N tried to smile though it broke and became weighed down by the tears that threatened to overpower her. “Because there’s no guarantee I will make it out of here alive, and I don’t want him to know what else he’ll lose.”
“Y/N, I plan on protecting you both with my life,” Prompto insisted through his teeth, gesturing to himself firmly. “We’re all going to get out of here alive!”
“But you know him,” Y/N insisted with a somber sigh. “You know he’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure everyone is alive even if it means his life, and Prompto, I can’t…I just can’t…” She paused, closing her eyes to recline back on the bars she was finding reprieve against now as a quivering inhale hurt her lips, which were cracked a bit from the cold. “I can’t go through life again knowing I lost someone else who actually loves me…” Y/N paused, looking over at Prompto once more with pain upon her expression. “I would rather die than I have to try and go through life without someone I care for again, and if that’s the case…I’d rather he not know what else he loses in this…”
“Y/N—!”
“—If he is too riddled with sorrow as I was at Sulista’s passing, then you can tell him the truth,” Y/N insisted, running her fingers through her hair to try and believe none of this would come to pass. “You can get him to search Sal’s databanks for the truth if he won’t believe you. Let him come to hate me and my dirty secret so he can move on as I don’t want him to suffer as I have, but please…don’t tell him this anytime soon.”
The aircraft lurched aggressively, making Y/N hit her head on the bars as Prompto fell forward from the surprised descend. His lips moved inward with determination, shaking his head at Y/N’s final thought in all of this. “We are going to get out of here—alive,” he stressed as Y/N rubbed the back of her head from the harsh impact of the metal behind her. “You’re going to have your baby and you will get to see Ignis holding it when we all get out of here and back to Insomnia in one piece—nobody’s dying!”
Y/N forced a smile, trying to find that thought to be pleasant. “Thank you.” The words shook violently from her mouth before moving her palm to her lips as if to silence herself, tears trailing down her cheeks and marring the already soiled cage as they were both lowered into Gralea.
It was agonizing, waiting for the aircraft to finally land and be directed into the loading bay. Prompto kept Y/N close to himself, his grip only tightening when Ivayle opened the cargo doors to step inside with three soldiers at her side. Her look to Prompto was cold and unfeeling as it was to Y/N as well though the woman refused to look at her commanding officer right away given the trouble she knew she was already in.
“Open the doors,” she ordered to the guards, her icy cold stare bearing down on them both. “Take the Lucian down to the prison.” Ivayle gestured to Y/N with an angry twist of her mouth. “And bring that one to my office.”
Prompto tried to attack even if he knew it would be pointless to. Just as he attempted to lunge at the back of Ivayle who dared to turn away from him, the Magitek soldiers restrained him in haste by grabbing his wrists and punching him so hard in the stomach he lost his breath and will to stand.
“Stop it!” Y/N begged, trying to end the fight from continuing only to be grabbed violently by one of the creations of the Empire and pulled to her feet to be escorted with Prompto through the palace.
As the two were escorted side-by-side for awhile, Y/N took note of the cameras and other devices they had put into place in her absence since they had the King. In passing some of the visual maps on the wall, Y/N glanced quickly and closely at them to notice there was a block on the usage of weapons as soon as you entered the lower floor where the prison was. It would hurt Prompto and his friends more than it would the Niffs and the soldiers.
“There’s a weapon restriction field activated in the prison sector,” she whispered to the gunman. “You won’t be able to use your guns in that part of the palace so don’t try.”
“Lovely,” he sighed with a shake of his head. “Got any plans for that?”
“Depends on what Ivayle has planned for me,” Y/N answered, trying to find courage in the situation at present. “If she is willing to give me a second chance, which I doubt she will, I will have all the time in the world to hack into the security measures she’s put into place and remove it.” She sighed with a shrug of her brow. “As things are…I am sure in time I will be thrown down there with you after a beating or something, so don’t expect miracles. Sadly, without Sal…this won’t be near as easy…” Thinking quickly, she thought back on the threat Prompto gave her when they met a second time. “Do you still have your assassin blade?”
“Yes, always on me,” he answered.
“Find a way to make sure they don’t take it if they try to remove your clothes. We might can use that for later,” Y/N insisted.
“Just find out what happened to Noct at the very least and you and the baby be safe…please!” Prompto begged at a whisper to Y/N.
The guards stopped, the two holding Prompto kept a firm grip as they activated the door that would lead to the prison sector while the others keeping a hold onto Y/N continued onward to separate the two. The Templar woman noticed as a last ditch effort that Prompto attempted to wiggle free but the guards were far stronger than him given their model and were used to restraining men half his size. Falling in defeat within the grasp of the soldiers that had her, Y/N was soon pushed into the office room belonging to Ivayle, finding it empty and quiet.
One of the machines urged her down into the empty chair opposite the Grand Master’s desk while the other guarded the door like clockwork. Her wrists were bound before the departure from the airship, leaving Y/N with little options in terms of escape. Staring at her situation, she sighed dejectedly at the matter though tried to find light in the miserable situation as she thought back on the moments she shared with Ignis.
The doors opened behind her once again, making Y/N sick to her stomach as Ivayle ordered the guards outside. “Leave us,” she demanded, the sound of her shoes striking the cold ground cruelly upon each, agonizingly slow step was nearly more than Y/N could handle. The Grand Master didn’t even take to her chair but sat on the edge of her desk where Y/N was sitting. “At least have the courage to look at me, Y/N, if you’re going to stab me in the back as this,” she hissed angrily. Grabbing her chin, the raven haired woman forced the matter. “You better start talking, and the story better be good for my patience has worn thin in this matter.”
Can I request a love letter from older!Ignis (alternate verse therefore not blind) to female!reader? NSFW, of course! Flowers: CAMELLIA (PINK) - Longing, DILL - Lust, GERANIUM (IVY) - Your Hand for Next Dance, GUELDER ROSE - Winter, HEATHER (WHITE) - Protection, JASMINE (SPANISH) - Sensuality, NASTURTIUM - Conquest, Victory in Battle, WOLFBANE - Chivalry, Knight. Looking forward to see where you'll take this! Thank you so much, lovely! <3
A/N: Of course,my dear~. Thanks for waiting and your request~. ♥ (And this is the longestletter I’ve written soooo…thumbs up. XD)
Rating: NSFW
Y/N, my dearest flower,
The days, which so ungraciously turned to everlasting darkin these past ten years without our King, have been but a distant memory ofsorts. Honestly, I care to commemorate only the moments I’ve spent in yourenthralling embrace while awaiting his return. Like the corporeal vision thatyou are, I’ve remembered it all and taken each part of you to heart to where ifI merely close my eyes I can recall you to perfection at my weakest, frozen inunforgiving solitariness, and crippled at my worst with my side and breast coldwithout you twined in my embrace.
Those nights will soon come to a close as I set off on mynext adventure, waiting for our King of Light to bring back the breath of beingthat was sealed in a wretched hell of twilight for all these years; but, can Itruly say it was absolute? I cannot with you at my side, for each new passingof the hours that I drew breath you gave me a reason to wake again and standupon the foundation of hope that I once saw faulty and cracked as the everwinter’s thrall…
…I drew breath with your name on my lips…
Y/N…Even as I write it, my hands quiver in submission, mythroat dry as I form the very sensual name with my lips in this darkness thatis ebbed away only by your presence close by, and my legs tense in a need tofeel your form clothing and cradling mine in great care.
In all these years as I’ve aged and time has lain to restits mantel upon my form, I feel only younger and far more ambitious (one maysay) in the ever glowing and invigorating warmth of your smile, your amiable laughter,and the way your curious vision catches upon mine during our times together. Buta serving knight to his Lady of my narrative court, I wish to perform this lasttask with great respect not just to my brother King in my world, but to my Ladyas well. I bow to you in loving servitude—always—Y/N, and ask for the honor ofhaving you at my side.
You think my words of mere saccharine honey and that I wouldnever be so bold, but speak of it again in my person, and you will bear witnessto me upon one knee and bringing your hand to my lips to kiss as though you areof a higher authority than I in this realm I vividly make within my mind. Mytouch quivering in submission of yours, I would grasp your outstretched handwith both my own just to offer the strength I can in keeping my devotion honestand true, my forehead resting upon your perfection to let you witness that Iwill do anything should you name it.
Allow me but a moment to speak of my narrative fantasy with youas my Queen, Y/N:
My darling, dancing is hardly an oddity to me, and as you’vegraced me and taught me in the realms of the sensual dance I was foreign to, Iwish to be more outright and ask for another loving, erotic dance as such whenthe sun finally gives wake and halos upon your beauty and grace once more.
My own, personal adventure rests after the task at hand thatI soon depart for. A noble knight wishing to serve his Queen, I would risk itno matter the cost in having your lips of nobility upon mine that have beentaught to serve you—to speak only when spoken to or of matters of importance,to whisper hushed urgencies yet quieter beatings of the heart that no oneshould hear, and the warmth of my tongue that desperately wants more than toflick with the occasional departing of royal orders but to taste upon yourbreath, to drink in the sweet saliva that beckons me in my restless slumbers,and to make its mark upon parts of you a serving knight should be damned ofseeing.
Let my hands blooded by your wars I’ve fought graciously inyour name tend to more precious matters in removing your barrier of clothingthat even now scoffs at the idea of letting me know my place. Let yourbejeweled and elegant attire lay to waste as I behold something far moreexquisite in its dejection upon the floor at having you no longer and mockingme no more. Your bed is but a throne that you know best how to use, Lady Y/N.As experienced as I am, I can only claim so at your teachings, and I wish toshow you more…express what a divine piece of art you are as I inhale audibly atthe sight of you lying in wait for me, for no vision can surpass such beauty inmy mind.
Y/N…my Lady, my all, my light in the everlasting twilight…
Give me but a mere moment of selfishness to let my warmth seizeyou in ever loving wonderment as yours does my own, melting away the neglectand erasing the intrusive images that pound violently in my mind in regards tobattles I’ve won or nearly lost. Let my breath give rise to your rapidlybeating heart that I can feel upon my lips when they travel boldly from yoursto your neck, downward to your breast to encompass the sensitive skin with mylips that speak of your name in great regaling when not on such personal dutiesas this.
My arms will embrace you in a lustful yet loving manner…I,my Lady, must confess that I hardly feel the worth of being allowed to warm youas such let alone touch upon such a forbidden goddess the world gave thanks tobless me with. Should my hold feel near a vision, it is because of suchthoughts, but I will overcome what obstacles lay in my wake to let you know youare worth my absolute best in terms of this performance.
Let the sweet whispers of my words rouse you onward as Idrift from your breasts to the journey set before me in readying your preciousflower for my own loving want. My lips upon your inner thigh, the air from mylungs teasing and caressing the very spot as though drunk with the intoxicationyour blossom emanates in obvious want for my attention; I would drink in thesweet nectar that it produces at your vocal encouragement. The flat of mytongue teasing the dewed petals with mounting satisfaction, I would love forthy orders to be of a want for more and for me to dig deeper within the verytemple of nobility you would urge me towards.
Not just with my tongue alone, but with the very partof me that notes my ever throbbing want for our forbidden union. Your armsentangled upon my back as I urge myself deeper within you, letting the size ofmy love urge your own flower into a budding blossom of sweetly escortedconclusion, my mouth speaking your name again and again, forgetting the verytitle that separates us in rank as that all melts away in the rising heat ofour lustful dance. My thighs caressing and cradling yours upon each tender pushto where I feel myself completely sheathed within you—a part of you no man hasbeen allowed to give worship beyond me—before the very essence of me seeds yourtemple depths at your command.
Y/N, how I want more than just the loving fantasy to bedribbled down on paper for you to privately read at your assessment. I want itto take fruition as I take to my knees before you and beg for you to allow thisknight to tend to your womanhood in an ever loving manner yet again ascelebration…as thanks…for all the times we’ve shared together from twilight tosunrise.
A/N: The Assassins are said to work under the mighty King of Lucis while the Templars throw their lot in with Niflheim. Sent to find out information about King Noctis, his army, and kingdom to reveal his weakness, the Reader encounters an interesting foe in her way. {AU} {Rating Undetermined. SFW so far.}
Commission for @martascully
The drive was a long one, and it would be with how far (Y/N) had to go to bring the data back to the King of Niflheim as requested. She was running on very little rest, very little food as well and the combination brought her to suddenly slumber there in the car as her device she created took to the controls and guided her out of harm’s way.
Her dreams were hardly pleasant and the stressful realization she was out on the road at night didn’t exactly make things much better. Painful reminders of the past collided with horrific imagery of the very idea of being surrounded by daemons, being torn apart by them or just tortured at the mere thought that her loved ones were coming after her having befallen into such a fate, no thanks in kind to the Starscourage. When the sounds of the daemons she recognized from beyond her window from time to time started to resonate more clearly in her mind, (Y/N) shot awake within the car, a horrified and panicked gasp escaping her.
Her eyes closed tightly as she beat her palm against her forehead as if to demand the foul visions to leave her, but upon realizing that the car wasn’t moving any longer, she focused and saw that it had stalled out in the road, several miles from Lestallum and in the middle of the night no less. Where? She couldn’t say, and it seemed that even Sal would be of little help as the computer was completely offline.
“S-Sal…?” (Y/N) questioned, grabbing at the handheld to try and turn it back on only to find her being unresponsive. “Oh no…No, no, no! Don’t die on me!” She panicked, figuring the battery might have run dry sometime ago.
The car—if it could still run, (Y/N) could plug in Sal to recharge her as they idled, but it was there she realized that the car might have run out of gas to begin with to cause Sal to lose power and also…as she fumbled about for the keys and finding none, (Y/N) remembered she hijacked the vehicle. The keys weren’t exactly around or on her person to find a means to start it back up.
She was now stuck.
“Dammit!” (Y/N) swore angrily, smacking her palms on the stirring wheel before resting her head upon it with a heavy sigh. “By the Astrals…not here…not now…”
The sound of what seemed like an Iron Giant was terribly close and in the distance of where she was locked within the car, (Y/N) could make out the distant threatening glow of a few ice bombs. Making sure all of the doors were locked, (Y/N) started to scoot into the back of the vehicle frantically, taking the device with her while feeling even lonelier than before.
“I wish you were here right now, Sal,” she breathed somberly. Even if the computer was merely just that, it was a voice…a voice that she connected with on many personal levels, and not having that voice anymore was like losing a friend all over again. “By the Gods, it’s my stupid fault for not making sure you were properly charged.”
(Y/N) wanted to cry as she hid in the backseat, cradling the computer like it was a wounded friend she planned to either die with or try to endure the night through together. Being on the road asked to do this task was bad enough, but having to sit in a car in the middle of nowhere with nobody to accompany her was even worse. How long was she asleep for? Did it just turn night? She had no means of which to judge the time of day, and if she sat in the car for too long, it would eventually be overrun with daemons if they caught onto her location.
A quivering inhale quaked from her lips as she thought of what to do. (Y/N) could either sit there and just wait to die, or hope that the daemons not far away wouldn’t notice her, or she could try to be brave and take her leave into the night to find a gas station or a rest stop or something with lights that could protect her.
“Man up, (Y/N),” she tried to encourage herself as her legs felt of rubber at the very idea of stepping outside into the night. “You’re a damn Templar for heaven’s sake…Not a good one, really…One that gathers information and is a bit clueless with fighting but…” Remembering her station in the ranks of the Templar Knights, (Y/N) moved cautiously over to the nearby window where she saw the ice bombs and heard the Iron Giant earlier. As she double checked to be sure of their placement, she couldn’t help but feel a bit panicked that the ice bombs might at least be getting closer. The Iron Giant she could only hear with it being too dark to make out where it truly was located in the nearby woods, and that sound alone made her cringe as the dreadful grinding of metal when it moved was often something that pervaded her nightmares late at night.
(Y/N) continued to watch, and as she did, it was there her heart began to race into a blinding speed of panic. The ice bomb daemons were getting closer, and it was then and there she knew she had to escape or be met with the horrible consequences of them overrunning her.
Out the other side…As far as she knew, nothing was on that side, and (Y/N) was still on the road. Perhaps if she followed it closely, she could find a rest stop somewhere. It would still be dangerous to be so out in the open as it were as daemons could spawn anywhere, but she had to try. Die sooner or die later—there wasn’t really a wonderful choice in the matter.
Tucking Sal away into her inner coat pocket, (Y/N) pulled out her dagger to feel some sort of safety as she took to the road ahead and leaving the car behind.
It was horribly cold, but (Y/N) could hardly focus on such a frivolous matter when all she could hear were the groans and threatening hisses of daemons from all around her. The light was scarce, making it near impossible to see down the road at all. Seemed wherever she was by this point, the lights that usually remained on the road to light the path ahead were either flickering or gone completely. (Y/N) resorted to outstretching her hand to make sure that the area in front of her wasn’t wood, stone, or anything else blocking her path but merely the open road.
However, the reminder of lack of food settled upon her and (Y/N) rested against the nearby metal railing with a hand upon her stomach. “I should have packed something instead of thinking this would be such a clean cut job,” she grumbled, the pain making her feel queasy and lightheaded. “Maybe water somewhere might do…?”
While it would prove further dangerous to go off of the road by this point, if the light ever returned, (Y/N) would be able to find her way back to it. She had to abide by her body’s needs at this point, and it was there she began to wander into the nearby woodlands, hoping to locate a stream or any water that could suffice.
Again, without light, it was a maze of threatening darkness and a fight of the mind, which screamed at her to turn back and run to the car and just wait there till light returned, as every imaginable thing which hung from trees brushed against her face and body to tease the idea something was after her. (Y/N) brushed it all away feverishly, hoping to continue her journey to the sound of water she could soon just hear in the distance. “Almost there,” she whispered to herself, remaining low and using her knife to cut away any ivy or foliage that dared to try and halt her from the destination.
After moving her way cautiously through the terrain, it was there (Y/N) finally saw it—water. It was a vast river, and after taking a quick look about to be sure no daemons were around, (Y/N) hurried to the riverside to kneel down and drink.
Indulging in the cool liquid, (Y/N) felt life return to her for a bit as it soothed her drying throat, harshly raked with every breath of cold air she inhaled. Even if food would be a delight by this point as well, she did her best to shake off that petty desire in hopes that she was closer to a rest stop by this point. Frowning at her careless actions, (Y/N) dug back into her coat to fish out her computer to try once more to turn her on, just hoping that what happened back at the car was her not thinking clearly or waiting long enough.
No results were yielded that she desired. The buttons would press but the screen remained black.
A sigh of disappointment escaped (Y/N), and she pocketed Sal once more before bringing her hands to her face to try and remove the exhaustion and sadness from it. “My only friend to talk to, and I have to hope to the Gods that I make it to a place with a power outlet to charge her.” Her palm rested on her forehead as she let the tranquil movement of the river’s water calm her prior anxiousness. “(Y/N), you’re a big idiot for not thinking clearly!”
The sounds of tranquility soon became polluted with the noise of movement…something moving about unnaturally in the nearby surrounding woodlands that brought (Y/N) to a defensive stance with her dagger out and at the ready (even if horrible at using it). From the way the body seemed to move upon the ground, she knew what it could be but prayed she was merely wrong until the creature sprung into action with its fangs bared.
A naga…face of a human with the body of a snake and venom that could either turn you into a frog or cause a worse, painful poison to leech the life from your veins. They were so rare to see late at night, or so she was told, and now (Y/N) had to try and face off against one.
“I am so fucked,” (Y/N) muttered to herself, watching in paralyzing fear as the naga stood as far upright as it could on his scaly body to loom over its victim. (Y/N)’s legs felt of iron, impossible to move. Breathing quivering with fright, she realized it would be impractical to fight this thing as she was, and it was there she turned to try and run.
Big mistake.
Seeing its meal dart off and away, the naga attacked quickly and without mercy. The large serpent half of the daemon landed before (Y/N), blocking her path and coiling about her without a second thought in the matter in hopes to squeeze the life from her.
It all happened far too quickly for (Y/N) to properly get away, but while she was in the clutches of the beast’s slimy scales, she reacted with the fear of her life on the line and stabbed into the snake body of the naga, only to witness as it spat angrily at her with the blade hardly harming it. With the fangs so close and in her face, (Y/N) closed her eyes tightly and just waited for the worst of it.
“I guess I’ll be joining you soon then…” (Y/N) muttered cryptically to herself, and as those words left her, she felt the horrible, piercing sting of the creature’s fangs biting into her left arm.
A scream of agonizing pain ruptured forth from (Y/N)’s lips. The fangs sunk deep within her flesh, blood bubbling forth and the horrible contamination of the daemon’s poison was only worsening things. This would be a slow and painful way to die, but (Y/N) accepted earlier that it might and could happen depending the daemon that might get a hold of her.
Her sight was beginning to blur, the blood she was losing alone was massive by this point, and the stinging sensation of the poison was almost a mere numbing memory on her arm given how hard it was to even try and remain conscious. Head rolling back onto the moving scales of the beast, (Y/N) accepted the idea of death by that point as it would be far better than suffering as this, but just as her eyes were about to close to embrace the very idea, she saw fire erupt from the back of the head of the naga, making the fangs retract violently and her coiling hold loosen to where (Y/N) fell to the ground.
Everything was still a haze. (Y/N) could hear someone fighting the beast, but it was hard to even pick her head up at this point to watch the battle. From where she had fallen and with how dull her senses were getting, (Y/N) hadn’t realized that Sal had fallen a few feet from her out of her coat pocket till she saw the machine just to the right of her when her sights focused for a mere moment. Eyes widening at the sight of the device and the value it had in her life, she outstretched her hand for it pitifully as her body felt weighed down by some invisible force.
Sight going in and out of focus, sounds dulling around her, she hadn’t even realized the fight was over until the person responsible for killing the daemon moved casually towards her, old leaves and twigs cracking under his simple movements, he bent down to scoop up the machine. Eyes widening, (Y/N) used what strength she had to look upward at the one responsible for arriving as they had…and her heart sunk into the pit of her empty stomach.
It was one of the assassins from earlier at the hotel in Lestallum. If she didn’t die soon, this man would surely end her. “Quite the dilemma you’ve given us,” his accented voice commented, trying to turn the device on only to receive the same response (Y/N) had earlier, to which he pocketed it. “First you steal my phone’s data and any imperative information in regards to my King, and then you thieve our car, forcing us to separate in locating you.”
Worrying what would become of Sal over herself, she frantically grabbed at the man’s leather shoe that was wet from the muck on the ground as well as the blood of the deceased daemon. It was a pitiful hold, one that was of desperation. “Please…please, don’t kill her…!” she begged, remembering how adamant this assassin named Ignis was in destroying Sal back in Lestallum.
Her voice was so quiet and sounded as though she were choking on something as the words struggled to form properly. Squatting down before (Y/N), the hooded man brought his finger to his lips to silence her words. “Be quiet, my dear. It’ll all be over soon enough.”
(Y/N) didn’t know what he meant, but her body grew heavier by the moment to where she could hardly stay awake much longer and passed out.
--
The pain should have subsided for the dead, and yet, (Y/N) was still feeling the resonating, sharp throbbing sensation in her arm even as she lie comfortably still. Realizing that none of the comfort and discomfort she was feeling made much sense given who she encountered last night, (Y/N)’s eyes opened quickly, inhaling a sharp gasp to just feel relief that she could even draw breath. But at the sudden movement she imposed upon herself, it caused the pain in her arm to act up, and (Y/N) flinched with her body recoiling.
“I would advise you take it easy,” spoke that same voice from last night somewhere in the room (Y/N) now found herself within.
Her eyes focused, pinning down the man in the hotel room who was just exiting the bathroom it seemed with a bowl in his hand and a cloth draped over the side. His hood was down this time, and she noted he had dusty blond hair, slicked back in a short cut with glasses that were so dark it was hard to even see his eyes. From what (Y/N) could take note of was the fact that he had some burn like marks on his face, but he was using the glasses (and perhaps hood earlier) to hide the imperfections.
“That daemon nearly drained you of your blood in the process of poisoning you as well,” the assassin continued, walking over towards the bedside to sit back down upon the chair that was vacant there beside her. “You’ve been out cold for nearly a week now.”
(Y/N)’s inhale quivered once more as she kept her eyes on the man beside her now. “You…You didn’t kill me…?”
The man called Ignis fixed the glasses upon the slope of his nose before tending to the cloth he had in the bowl of water. “I would have killed you if you did far worse than what you have already, my dear, but to strike a target that is suffering and could very well be saved is not how I envision myself to be.”
“I’ve never known an assassin to spare a Templar…” (Y/N) muttered, flinching as she felt Ignis beginning to unwrap the wound the naga had given her days ago. She wished he wouldn’t touch it at all. It felt a lot less painful bound as it was and now he was loosening the bandages and about to expose it to air.
“Do not come to the realization you are free of your crimes,” Ignis scolded as his tone hardened at the trouble he had to go through to find her and fetch the information she stole. “I saved you, yes, but his Majesty of Lucis will see to your actual punishment when I am reunited with him.”
Her heart thumped in anxiety, eyes darting about in desperate thought for an exit strategy only to come up with none so far. “Then…why bother?”
Ignis sighed as if to ignore her question or perhaps not having a right answer for her as he finally unwrapped the blooded wound completely. “You are not a fighter, and I couldn’t help but pity you, if I am to be honest.” His head shifted to look at her, and in that moment she tried to see through the dark shades to peer into his eyes, but it was so difficult to see past the lenses to see how bad his own scars were. “Niflheim sent you practically to an early grave with a fool’s errand like that. Quite the poor planning on their part, or quite the heartless monster you have for a commander to order this of you knowing what you lack in fighting skills.”
“It was because I am the only one who has—! Sal!” It was then she began to panic, looking about for her computer only to have Ignis grab at her opposite shoulder to try and keep her firm.
“Be still,” he ordered as his fingertips continued to grace the stitching that had been done on her arm to be sure everything was in order as it was the hours earlier when he last redressed the injury. “Your device is just fine and charging in the outlet just over there.” He nodded to the space near the TV in the room where there was an extra socket for Sal.
(Y/N) sighed her relief, falling back against the wooden headrest of the bed she was resting within. “Thank the Astrals…”
“You have quite the connection to that computer,” pointed out the tactician, the damp cloth clearing away bits of stray and dried blood he was finding with his fingertips.
(Y/N)’s body tensed and her lips moved inward not sure if she should confirm or deny that with the position she was in now.
“I suppose the feeling is mutual to it as well, seeing as when it finally powered up completely, I tried to access its databanks only to have it call me a few foul things, but asking of you in the process.” Ignis shook his head at the memory of it, finally feeling that the blood was cleaned off of the wounded Templar. He removed the cloth he had used, now practically reddened by (Y/N)’s blood before his fingers fondled about the nightstand for an intricate bottle nearby that (Y/N) recognized as a hi-potion. “You’ll need to drink this to keep healthy and not succumb to the effects of the poison. I would have used an antidote days ago, but given our current location, none of the vendors seem to sell any here, so I was forced to get you to sustain on this only in your comatose state.”
She hesitated, wondering if it was a trap with all things considered. Her other arm moved to the best of its ability to take it from Ignis’ grasp and finding him more than willing to depart with it. “Th…Thank you…?” It did accidentally come out a question, but (Y/N) was still baffled in how to feel about the man she just stole from helping her.
“My pleasure,” Ignis responded back simply as if merely saying such a thing just because the act provoked the response. “There is a diner just outside to where we can eat, but given your current situation, I would advise you stay in bed a bit more. I can bring the food up here.”
“You would trust me alone up here?” (Y/N) tried not to laugh at the thought, but a small sarcastic huff departed from her lips. “I…I don’t…”
Ignis rose from the chair, outstretching his hand as if to silence her. “You are my prisoner as far as I am concerned, my dear—a prisoner I aim to keep healthy till King Noctis decides your fate.” He pointed to her as a warning. “You can see to it to run, but in your current position, not only would that be suicidal, but idiotic, as I would track you with ease and catch you just as well.” Ignis sighed through his nostrils, his fingers toying through his dusty blond hair as thoughts continued to feed upon him and make the situation difficult with how he vaguely felt already. He was about to depart with further words but decided not to, moving to the outlet where Sal was charging to unplug her.
(Y/N) panicked and thought for sure this Ignis was going to take off with her. Her sharp inhale and desire to move towards the device caused her pain, but it numbed at the very thought of losing Sal.
However, Ignis merely moved to her bedside, offering the computer over to (Y/N). “We have a long way to go till we’re back in Insomnia where I hope to reconvene with my group.” (Y/N) quickly snatched Sal, bringing her close to her chest like a mother welcoming back her child that Ignis heartlessly had kept from her. “If you want to walk freely back to your King and people, then I suggest you think wisely on what you wish to do with that information you’re harboring in there.”
“I cannot betray them,” (Y/N) said firmly, trying to show her courage (or lack there of). “If I do that, then—!”
“Risk severe punishment or death by their hands, or perhaps be shown mercy by King Noctis,” interrupted Ignis in hopes to discourage the former. He turned on his heels, heading for the door to retrieve the food he promised earlier. “These are, reluctantly, the only options in which I can give you.”
(Y/N) had no answer, lowering her head somberly as the door moaned on its hinges to indicate Ignis’ leave of the room. Flipping open the computer screen, (Y/N) tapped on the power button to see that Sal did indeed blip to life. “Sal! Thank goodness!”
“(Y/N)? I am relieved as well to hear you are alright,” responded the female robotic voice with what sigh it could muster with her limitations.
“What happened! You were offline when I woke up back there!” (Y/N) exclaimed in high yet hushed whispers.
Sal’s visual voice module flat lined for a time till it started to wave with her speech patterns. “You were asleep, or so I could assume with how quiet you were. I did not wish to wake you when you were already stressed prior from the King’s orders, and it would have been ill advised on my part to interrupt your rest.” She paused, changing her screen to a map of the area to locate the rest stop in which they were currently. “We weren’t far from here, so I was hoping to get the car to the parking lot by then, but fuel and my battery life depleted in unison.”
(Y/N) couldn’t say she recognized the area, but that was why she always relied on others to get her around Eos. If she could just stay locked in her home and do in city tasks, she would be much happier with that. Now she was forced out on the road in Lucis—a part of the world she was hardly familiar with minus a few outings with her past friends—and with this warrior who would see her in chains. “It’s not your fault,” she sighed, the poison still making her feel sick to her stomach.
“Judging by the stress in your voice now, however, seems you are in physical or emotional pain of some sort? What happened when I went offline? That Ignis Scientia was the last thing I recall beyond now, and he was not pleased with the idea I have his information on my hard drive.”
(Y/N) removed her hand from her head, which was warm to the touch, giving Sal a funny look. “He told you his full name?”
“Yes, and said it was his phone we hacked, and he wanted that information back, but a ‘please’ is hardly substantial enough of an offer for me to discharge such data willingly or even wipe it.” Sal changed her screen again to start running a profile on Ignis, bringing up his photograph of him looking much different and with glasses that had actual translucent lenses. “Here’s his general information I found when doing a deeper search in private.”
(Y/N) shifted forward, moving her hair from her face to read it hurriedly. “Ignis…male… 32 years of age… blah, blah, blah…” she muttered, eyes skimming quickly as she didn’t know when he’d be back. “What the fuck…” (Y/N) breathed as she saw his professions, struggling to even swallow as disbelief took hold. “…An assassin, advisor to the King Noctis who uses duel daggers and spears, and he’s a daemon slayer!” Her stress levels were about to rise further as she put her fingers through her hair acting as though she were going to tear a few strands, halting the desire to scream. “If he was just on the debate team this would be easier…!”
“Calm yourself, (Y/N),” Sal insisted, removing the information screen in haste as she too wasn’t sure when Ignis might reappear. “Just play along for now, and when the time is right, you can find a means to escape him like last time.”
(Y/N) didn’t voice her doubt in that thought, lips moving inward as she gazed out at the nearby window where precious light had filtered in. “Maybe.” It was all she could think to say at the moment as her mind became a polluted mess with doubts, fears, and other unpleasant ideas on how to escape.
Older!Noctis (Hinted Older!Ignis) x Female Reader: The Sylleblossom of Insomnia
A/N: With Eos in need of a new Oracle and the King ascending the throne, the Astrals birth a new Oracle to guide and be beside King Noctis. Though the years seem fruitful, the Oracle’s power and strength begin to wane for unknown reasons, leaving the King of Lucis to hunt for a cure as history threatens to repeat itself…
{AKA: we don’t accept FF15’s ending, so let’s rewrite it, and here—have some angst. This will be chapter based when I find the time through commissions and the like.}
Rated: SFW (so far)
Pairings: Older!Noctis x Reader / hinted Older!Ignis x Reader
Warnings: None
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Prologue
I was told it was dark once—an endless, choking darkness that cloaked the world in fear and peril. Daemons were everywhere and to live in a place that didn’t have a comforting form of light was madness.
Then, for what felt like eternity, the righteous and true King of Lucis ascended the throne to take back what was his. He fought hard with his companions, whom he saw as his brothers, and the valiant warriors were victorious.
But light…had yet to return for a time and the people suffered still under the grip of the daemons that killed thousands of innocents. Until, at least, one day the horizon glowed a brilliant hue that had been long since forgotten by the people of Eos. It was as though the mountains were on fire as the radiant daylight spilled over the world and brought peace and calmness back into the lives of those who felt they would be forever in eternal dark.
As odd as it sounds, I must confess that I don’t remember any of it. Not a single thing.
The first memory I can recall in my life was waking up in a field of sylleblossom flowers in Tenebrae. Lying as I was, covered in the precious flower to conserve my dignity, I was found by an elderly couple and brought quickly into their home where I lived my life in the coming year as any woman would have under the close watch of their parents.
It was as though I was struck with amnesia. Everything in my life was just gone. It were as though I was just born into this world but rushed into adulthood to carry out some unforeseen plan the gods had for me.
How close I was in my past ponderings…
My dreams were ever prevalent with the sensation of touching and talking with the King of Lucis within the boundaries of, what I can assume to be, Insomnia as his spirit refused to venture to my precious sylleblossom field in Tenebrae to commune with me there. I questioned it not but once as asking such a thing to what, I assumed was a dream, caused his face to falter to anguish. I needed only to see that once to know not to ask again.
His hand upon my own…it was as though he were truly there. It was warm, inviting and the way his fingers curled upon my hand was of a child needing comfort, and like a flower yearning for the sun’s warmth, I held him close to my body wishing to bask in the fill of his brilliance that gave me life.
How odd…a man I never truly met giving me a sensation to be strong by mere stories I was told each and every night by either my family or those in Tenebrae.
But, as fate and the Gods would see to it, my destiny to be this new Oracle in the world of Eos became known when I fretfully fought for a young child to be spared this awful curse wrought by the damned Ifrit…the Starscourage.
My simple life in Tenebrae became more than that after such a moment was revealed to the prying eyes nearby. I was soon the status of the King of Lucis if not considered higher, and I found myself caged in a glittering castle with only the dreams of the King to keep me company in such a prison when the elected graciously bowed down from the throne.
I was constantly told where to go, how to dress, and what to do when it came to my new position in power. As caged as I felt, I was more than gracious to the people of Eos and would do anything—everything—in my power to protect them and give them the light they so rightly deserved and needed. Not even the most beautiful of flowers could hold their strength in a realm of eternal night though would fight to find a way just as these many survivors had.
They deserved their well earned peace and tranquility under their gracious King’s reign.
However, as selfish as it is to admit in these pages, nothing gave me as much pleasure as those moments with King Noctis of Lucis when I closed my eyes even if for a mere nap there in the sunlight at my writing desk. He knew, and I knew that they were more than dreams (if his arrival of letters to me months later after my announcement of being the new Oracle arrived at his doorstep was any indication). We were meeting one another frequently in the Astral Plane where spirits tend to wander ever close when at peace in restful slumber.
One dream caused me to awake in awash of tears as I lie there on the desk and felt his hand caress my cheek and cascade the needed warmth upon my skin once more in my astral journey. My fingers tensed and I felt as though I were slowly rising to attend my duties that my officials would ask of me…
But it was him…smiling down on me there in my Kingdom of Tenebrae with the light from the balcony granting a luminous and holy halo upon his figure.
“My Lord,” I whispered in befuddlement, my palm to my chest as I felt my heart about to burst with joy, “you are…you are with me here in Tenebrae?”
His hand extended to ask for mine. “Only in your dream for now, (Y/N),” King Noctis responded, his smile remaining long after I accepted his gesture to stand. “I selfishly stayed away from your homeland for fear of my heart breaking apart once more at what I lost and what I failed to protect years ago.”
His other palm moved to my cheek to grant that inviting warmth that made me relax to the otherworldly sensation. Eyes closed, I quickly kept his touch there against my features as if worrying I’d wilt without such a welcoming caress that sent a fire through my heart and through every muscle and vein in my body. Tears, even then, cascaded down my skin and ushered the King’s gentle touch to aid me in removing the dampness from making a mess of me.
“But I cannot be whole again if I keep from the very person who grants me life,” King Noctis’ voice echoed within my mind as he dried my tears.
To hear such a phrase escape his lips and grace my ears, I thought my tears would never cease, but it mattered not. His hands taking to mine, Noctis hurried backward into the light, which became ever brighter until it engulfed us both. The white brightness soon receded, leaving us in an ever vast field of sylleblossoms, the area raining in their petals as the King playfully guided me through them and, finally in that moment, I saw him genuinely happy.
The aura of him prior was filled with doubt, pain, and suffering and now there was a light blossoming within him, granting a feverish delight in my space.
The King of Lucis had turned me towards him when his playful run through the field had ended. In the downpour of sylleblossom petals, we took to a loving embrace with the rhythm of his heart bringing a weakness to my knees as I placed all of me into his arms. “Can my nights and days be filled as this?” I asked, regardless of he and myself aware at this point these dreams were hardly such by now. “Can I soak in the otherworldly love and light that you grant me here in this bed of sylleblossom flowers? May I continue to see your delight and happiness, hear your voice and listen to your laughter echo in the reaches of my mind till it vibrates to my core, sending me into a state of euphoria?”
I felt him stifle a laugh as his chest tensed and his hand found the back of my head to caress and cradle me so. “Perhaps you will get all of that and more when I come for you soon, (Y/N).”
My heart felt as though it would halt dead in my chest at those words—not from fear but from delight. But just as I hoped to ask him further, the dream melted away in a form of thick, frigid fog, blotting out my connection to the King and rousing me from my slumber to the cold chill in the air and the very feel of my tears becoming mere crystals on my cheek.
“Y-Your Majesty…?” I questioned, but as I picked my head up to the world around me, I found my bedroom nearly frozen as the Astral being, Shiva, stood there in the center of my bedchambers. My breath obvious in its take upon the air, I grabbed quickly for my shawl to warm myself and not appeared bothered by her appearance, worried to show disrespect. “I know you…From my dreams…Lady Shiva…!”
The woman of ice smiled a gentle and most welcoming smile. If my body didn’t feel frail underneath her presence, I would have most certainly seen it as motherly. However, I found myself soon upon my knees, the one hand grasping my decorative shawl ever tightly. Her smiled remained as she pitied me.
“Oh, gracious Oracle,” she spoke in a soothing, motherly tone, “you are still so frail as you are, it seems.” The Divine Shiva glided towards me to where her aura was even more potent and nearly brought me to beg the unthinkable in asking her away. “You keep your dreams filled with merely the brightness of the King of Lucis and stray from the words and beckoning of the Gods to where you are nearly deaf to us and weak by our presence.”
With such a damning thing told to me, I looked at her in fright and my eyes stung with pain as tears glossed over my sight, blurring her perfection and bringing a horrid agony at just gazing upon her. I didn’t wish to speak out of turn, but my lips trembled with a pathetic ‘please’ as if to urge her not to depart me from the very man who allowed me breath and company in such harsh and lonely times.
The Lady knelt before me, her frigid hand threatening to touch upon my features but receding back from the thought as though she were worried she would freeze me in place, a frown chasing away her once prevailing smile. “Perhaps we made you with the King of Lucis too much in mind,” she whispered to me cryptically. Her gentle grin returned, spreading upon her regal features. “But, your King comes for you in the coming days, dear child. Perhaps with his love in focus, you will blossom into the Oracle—and the Queen—you were meant to be.”
She vanished as quickly as she had appeared and soon the heat returned to my trembling form, tears unlocked from their prison and freely flowing down my cheeks, and my very room, leaving no signs that the Lady Shiva were there as her angelic dust evaporated.
Perhaps it would have been wise to focus on her warning further and heed her advice, but my King needed me—the people of Eos needed me—and it was soon I found myself in his actual presence and the balmy touch of his embrace when he found himself within Tenebrae and upon her soil once more to come for me as he swore he would.
The light he emitted was as inviting as I imagined it’d be—the dreams did not fabricate such warmth. The sound of his voice was as soothing and gentle as I often heard when I had not interrupted him upon some vile nightmare he was enduring. The power I felt him emit granted me such protection that I felt the need to stand would be pointless. In the grace of his presence, I fell to my knees no matter how pathetic it would seem for an Oracle to do so and brought the back of his hand upon my forehead.
“Lady (Y/N)—!” His Lordship tried to speak, but I muttered urgently in a desire to deny him of his wishes to continue forward.
“My Lord, I offer my services to you willingly; however, I piteously ask of a selfish request in return.”
I could hear the world grow cold and silent. Merely the hums of whispers echoed about me as worry filled the air.
My eyes rose to greet the King of Lucis, hand gripping his in need. “Pray that things never change between us. I ask that your light be the one to keep my own strong and to give me the energy I need to continue to give daylight to this world when there was once encroaching darkness. I ask that your love be firm and undying in the most dreadful of storms as I will do my best for you in turn.”
The King granted me a look that was hard for me to read. It was perhaps of worry and yet curiousness lay heavy upon him as well. His hand urged me to stand, bringing me back to my feet as I stood to face him. “Since when did the Lady (Y/N) ever kneel to me in our dreams?” he asked, a smile flickering upon his lips. “I believe we always saw one another as equals.”
Knowing I would be taken away from my solitude in Tenebrae and married to the King of Noctis brought me a joy that wouldn’t be feasible to describe on paper alone. I took to my new life and my new journey with acceptance, feeling this is what I was meant to do…this was why I was here…
Again…How close I was to those very ponderings as I write this very diary entry…
