#Stern Face-II Cyrus

[hirocimacruiser]

Stern Face-II Cyrus wheels being showcased on a Y33 Cedric and a JZS161.

Stern Face-II Cyrus with a delicate silhouette. A different thing runs through the sky called a city.

[a-world-in-grey]

Bring Back Memories au II

Tissue warning! (and coarse language)

Also tagging @agent-jaselin because I blame them for inspiring this au in the first place.

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-The glaives believe Sola to be dead. Tredd and Nyx are broken. It's like the Burning all over again, except the grief feels like someone tore out part of their souls. 

-Tredd never wore a Mourning Braid for his parents and siblings, and Nyx thinks he might one day unbraid his Mourning Braid for Selena. But for Sola? Never. Because the aching wound in their souls feel like they will never heal.

-They return to Insomnia, and Nyx and Tredd are so glad they can leave it to Captain to report to the King. Titus knows his men are grieving, he's not going to push them to face the King, to force them to tell the King that his daughter is dead. 

-Nyx… doesn't know why Abyssus sticks to him like a stubborn burr, but he won't admit that the big cat's presence helps him keep it together when he wants to fly off the handle. 

-The funeral… it goes. Titus secures invitations for the remaining 33 members of Sola's regiment, because they were brothers- and sisters-in-arms and they deserve to be there. The King, the Marshal, and Captain give speeches that Nyx barely remembers. Everyone in the regiment cries by the end. Nyx can see the Crown Prince, seated next to the King, the odd golden fox Nyx remembers Sola once called Cyrus sitting in his lap. Dark head bowed, and thin shoulders hunched and shaking.

-Once all the speeches are done, and everyone is waiting for the pallbearers to lift the empty casket to be delivered to the Royal Mausoleum, Tredd takes a breath and lets his voice rise to the rafters of the cathedral. It's not a Lucian song, but rather a Galahdian one, because for all that Sola had never been braided, she was one of them. One by one, the rest of the regiment joins in, until all 33 of them are singing.

-And despite his knee, the King insists on being one of the pallbearers. An elderly man, thick Leidan accent and clearly close to the King, is at the front with Regis. Another man, dark skinned and closer to the King's age, takes one of the center holds opposite Clarus' son Gladio, who stands for both his father Clarus and for the too short Crown Prince. And at the back, the Marshal and the Captain. Leaving Clarus and the Kingsglaive to form up around the procession because like Pyre they're going to allow assassins to take a shot at Sola's family at her funeral. Nyx and Tredd and Abyssus hover near Sola's little brother, while Libertus and Crowe guard his Hand. 

-The hug Noctis gives Abyssus isn't surprising. What does surprise Nyx are the two hugs he gives to Nyx and Tredd, before allowing Gladio and Ignis to usher him into the waiting Regalia. 

-Safe in Little Galahd, the fourth regiment gathers to mourn and get roaring drunk. Nyx doesn't remember Libertus dragging him back to his apartment, slung over Abyssus' back. His next memory is Abyssus waking him up at some Pyre-cursed hour, raging hangover making his already shitty mood worse. Nyx tries to push Abyssus away, but the damn cat just meows insistently at him, dodging the half-hearted swat Nyx blindly aims his way.

-Nyx's resolve to go back to sleep loses against Abyssus' determination when the cat grabs him by the tangle of his sheets and drags him, bedding and all, onto the floor. Nyx swears, blearily glaring up at Abyssus. Abyssus huffs at him, unimpressed before dropping shirt and sweatpants on his head. Nyx grumbles about making cat-kebabs, but stumbles upright and into the clothes before tossing his bedding back on the bed and then searching for something to help his Six-awful hangover.

-A search he's forced to abandon at the knock on his door. Not by choice, if it were up to Nyx he'd ignore it because fuck everyone else at the moment, but Abyssus lets out another one of his demanding meows and Nyx just wants to go back to sleep. Nyx yanks open his front door, ready to tear whichever unholy daemon of a morning person a new one, only to freeze at the sight of the Crown Prince standing on his doorstep. 

-Nyx really wants to know who he pissed off to deserve this. He's hungover and nowhere near awake for this, he's not even on duty! But he knows Sola would come back from the dead just to kick his ass if he let her little brother get hurt, so Nyx looks around to see if he can spot whichever Crownsguard are shadowing Noctis.

-Only, unless they're sneakier than an Arra - and Nyx knows where he'd put his gil and it's not on the Crownsguard - it doesn't look like the Prince has anyone guarding him. What. The. Pyre. Nyx manages not to swear out loud through Astral-worthy willpower and ushers the kid inside. 

-Once he's leveled a Look at Abyssus and the cat's taken up a position at Nyx's front door and only window, just in case, he levels a stern look at Noctis and tells the kid that he'd better have a good reason for being in the slums at - Nyx checks the clock and wants to glare at Abyssus all over again - seven in the morning without any bodyguards. Does anyone know where Noctis is?

-Noctis blinks wide blue eyes at him - Sola's eyes, fuck - and says that Nyx does. Abyssus huffs from the door, and Nyx swears the cat is laughing at him. Nyx is not amused. Nyx rubs a hand over his face and tells Noctis that he can't do this. They just lost Sola, don't… don't make his father grieve him too. Noctis hunches his shoulders, looking away guiltily. He mumbles an apology, but some of Sola's stubborn defiance pokes through when he adds that it's important.

-Nyx sighs, but ushers Noctis over to his crappy kitchen table, rummaging through his cabinet for two glasses and painkillers. He sets the water down before him and the kid, but pauses at the elixir Noctis holds out to him. Nyx frowns, and tells the kid that he's not injured. Noctis tells him that it's for the hangover. Nyx… doesn't actually want to know how an eleven-year old knows what a hangover is or how to make a magical cure for it. Especially when he knows for a fact that Sola never drank, even after she became legal for it.

-But he's sure as Pyre not turning it down. And Ramuh does it help. Nyx savors the sweet relief for half a second before turning his attention back to Noctis. He asks the kid what's so important to bring him down here without telling anyone. Noctis says that Nyx knows how Sola was his Sword, right? Nyx nods. It was something Sola was fiercely proud of. Noctis asks if Nyx knows why.

-Nyx… actually doesn't know, and he admits it easily enough. It's not like the inner workings of the Royal Retinues was common knowledge. Noctis doesn't look surprised. He frowns in concentration, like he's trying to figure out what to say. He tells Nyx that the Lucis Caelums are Blessed by the Draconian. Nyx nods. That's common enough knowledge, and Galahd has a number of Clans Blessed of the other Astrals, though none so recent as to have magic. Noctis says that because of the Blessing, they bond with people. Like, stronger than normal.

-Nyx frowns, and asks what Noctis means by stronger. Noctis flails a hand, saying that he's not sure how to explain it. It's… it's a feeling. It's instinct. But, when he was a baby, Sola decided that he was hers. And that she was his. And when Noctis was older, he accepted and returned that bond. Sola was his sister.

-Noctis huffs, frustrated, and complains that he's not explaining it right. But Nyx is frozen in his seat, because that… that's familiar. He tells Noctis that Sola Claimed him. And Noctis Claimed her back. Noctis perks up and says that yeah, that's exactly it. Meanwhile, Nyx is thinking back, a year and a half ago, when Sola's enlistment was leaked to the public and Tredd dragged him to calm Sola's Rage. How Tredd had called Nyx one of Sola's Claimed.

-And Nyx asks Noctis if it's only their Retinue that Lucis Caelums Claim. Noctis shakes his head. He says that Sola Claimed the Glaives years ago. All of them. He figured it out when she kept calling them 'her idiots.' Nyx fixes Noctis with a deadpan look and Noctis grins innocently back. Noctis adds somberly that it was why he encouraged Sola to stay with the Kingsglaive, because she was happy with them. They were hers.

-Nyx swallows hard, because damn it, he's not going to cry. He roughly asks what this has to do with Nyx specifically. Noctis tells him seriously that Nyx was Sola's Sword. Nyx chokes on his water, because what. Noctis says he didn't see it before. Sola never wanted a Retinue when he was little, because she was worried the Council would make her stop being Noctis' Sword. But Sola must not have realized it, because Nyx was Sola's Sword and Tredd… her Heart? He wasn't her Shield because Sola refused to have a Shield and he doesn't think Tredd was her Hand-

-Nyx holds up a hand to cut Noctis off, and takes a moment to order his thoughts. He was part of Sola's Retinue, go figure. Tredd too apparently, which, Nyx can see now that he thinks about it. And if Sola Claiming the Glaives wasn't enough to bond with them as her Retinue, but Noctis Claiming Sola back made her his Sword… Nyx thinks of the bead he added to his Mourning braid for Sola, for the woman he'd have adopted as his little sister if only he'd realized it sooner. 

-Fuck, that makes far too much sense.

-Nyx asks if Tredd should hear this too. Noctis nods. He says that he could use Abyssus to find Nyx, but he doesn't know how to find Tredd. Nyx nods, and says that he'll call him, and Noctis can tell them at the same time. Privately, Nyx is feeling just this side of petty because if he has to be up this early to have this conversation, then Tredd can suffer with him.

-It takes three calls before Tredd finally answers his phone, swearing at him. Nyx tells Tredd that he's going to be stopping by in thirty with breakfast, get up and get dressed because the Crown Prince is coming with him to talk with them about stuff no one knew they had to tell Nyx and Tredd about Sola Claiming them. There's a few seconds of silence on the other end, and Nyx asks if Tredd got all that. Tredd swears and says that yeah, he got it, but Nyx better bring the good shit, not Yamachang's pathetic excuse for kebabs. Nyx snorts and says that yeah, yeah, he'll get a proper breakfast for him.

-Nyx tells Noctis that they're gonna pick up breakfast on the way, wait at the table while he changes. Nyx washes his face, scrubs his teeth, and throws on jeans and a shirt, redoes the worst of his braids, and buckles his kukri to his back. Then he's ushering Noctis out his front door with Abyssus and locking up before hoisting Noctis onto Abyssus' back. Because if he's the only guard Noctis has currently, he wants Noctis to have a quick escape route if things do manage to go south. And Abyssus is more competent than half the Crownsguard. Easily.

-Turns out Noctis hasn't breakfast either, so Nyx picks up three of the breakfast burritos from Psamathe Furia, who takes one look at the Crown Prince and tones down the spices on one because Nyx honestly doesn't know if Noctis shares Sola's delicate Lucian palate.

-Tredd is in fact up and presentable by the time Nyx pounds on his door. Nyx gives Tredd a cheerful good morning just to be an asshole, and Tredd tells him to shut the fuck up. Nyx tells Tredd to watch his language, there's a kid present. Tredd swipes one of the burritos from Nyx, retorting that the kid's in public school, there's no way he hasn't heard it all. The two look at Noctis, who's staring at them innocently and Tredd tells Noctis that his innocent face sucks. Noctis pouts and Abyssus laughs at Noctis. Noctis clambers off, accepting the milder burrito from Nyx and finding a place to sit at Tredd's table because Tredd tells both of them that he's not discussing anything until he's had food damn it. Noctis wrinkles his nose at the veggies, but obediently eats them when Tredd gruffly tells him not to waste food.

-Noctis presents Tredd with another hangover cure, which puts Tredd in a marginally better mood but prompts him to ask where the Pyre Noctis learned to make hangover cures. Noctis says that it was Sola. Whenever a mission went bad, he'd spend time with her while she made them, because she always said the other glaives would need them. And Noctis was curious, so she taught him how to make them too. Nyx pinches his nose because fuck, that was Sola all over. She always showed up with her hangover cures after a mission gone bad, because half the glaives usually went out and got drunk. And sure, Sola usually poked fun at them while she handed the cures over because she could be a bitch like that, so no wonder she taught her little brother how to make them. Handing out cures made by a kid would've been hilarious to her. And because she could never really say no to her little brother.

-Nyx listens as Noctis repeats the first part of his explanation to Tredd, who, to his credit, picks up the details almost immediately. Though he asks what the Pyre Noctis means by him being Sola's Heart. Nyx snickers, because Tredd looks so disgruntled. So Noctis explains what he knows about each position in the Retinue. It's a bit rote, but clearly someone's drilled the details into his head, because he explains that the Sword's duty was to wade into danger and destroy threats before they reached their King, therefore protecting him. They attacked. Whereas a Heart protected their King's emotional wellbeing. Protected their King's heart.

-Noctis says that a Retinue is en-tit-led to stuff, even after Sola's death, and Noctis wanted to make sure they could get it if they needed it, because Sola was his and they were Sola's. And it's all he can do for his sister. He's knows it's not much, but he got Iggy to help him print off all the info for them. Nyx tells Noctis that they appreciate it, and they'll look it over. But he needs to get back to the Citadel. Noctis frowns, but Tredd tells Noctis that Sola wouldn't want him taking stupid risks. He's still a kid, but he's smarter than this.

-Before Noctis can reply, there's a knock at Tredd's door, and Nyx opens the door to see a very Unimpressed Cor. Nyx apologizes for the trouble, but Cor says he appreciates Nyx alerting him to the situation before anyone caused a panic. Noctis cringes from the Look Cor gives him, and yeah, kid knows he's in trouble. Nyx tells Noctis that if he really wants to come down to Little Galahd and meet more of Sola's people, let them know first and they'll come get him, okay? That way everyone knows he's safe. Nyx asks Abyssus to go with Noctis. The roads can't be good for his back. Abyssus nods, and Noctis climbs back on.

-When the door closes, Tredd slumps back in his chair and breaks down into grief-tinged laughter. Nyx agrees with the sentiment exactly. Tredd says that of course the fucking short stack went and grew on him, like a Ramuh-damned fungus, and once he was attached she had to up and die on them, and he couldn't even do anything because he was fucking bleeding out like a useless idiot! 

-Nyx tells Tredd, the first person he's told, that he tried to reach Sola. But Sola stopped him. Raised a shield and he, he couldn't break through before Abyssus dragged him away. Tredd says that of course Sola did that, the self-sacrificing dumbass. Nyx whispers that he's not sure he'll ever be able to forgive her for that, for not letting him try to save her. Tredd tells Nyx that he'd be dead if he'd reached her. Nyx admits that he knows, not saying that he'd almost prefer it that way. Tredd hears it anyway. Tredd says that Sola always did care more about them than herself. They were hers. Nyx smiles bitterly and says that no one ever told Sola that she was theirs too.

-Neither of them say that now they'll never get the chance.

[hirocimacruiser]

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