#and then she meets nyx and is like 'i like this one i approve (also would our husband mind if i kiss you too)'

[sparklecryptid]

Reincarnated!AtB!Finwion! Thoughts! Yes, more of them - mainly because I think/hope you might find them amusing.

Here's the thought: In previous iterations of this 'verse, the default has been Thanatos, Ardor, and Ace remembering their past lives. What if they didn't? 

What if the three Royal Bastards were forcibly summoned across time and space and woke up with a bunch of strangers peering down at them?

(Well, Ace for one would not hesitate to curse out Ardyn. Because it is always Ardyn's fault. Always.)

Thanatos would be gleeful at the potential metaphysical implications and  arguments thereof! Ace would be incredulous. ('what the FUCK, universe? Wasn't once enough?!') Ardor would be 'meh'. 

And imagine everyone trying to figure out just which brother was which!

'So - which of you creates things as a life's calling?' Both Ace and Thanatos raise their hands. 'I like to cook, okay?' 'He cooks, and I design spells that violate the natural laws of the universe!'  

'Do any of you like politics?' 'Nope.' 'Never.' 'No.'

'Obsessive tendencies, where you will do anything in pursuit of a goal?' 'Than gets really intense about his research, does that count?' 'And Ardor hates people and is very willing to punch someone if they don't respect his privacy.' 'Ace embarked in a years-long revenge plot to avenge his mother, save his homeland, and save Uncle.'

'Do - which of you is most likely to have a huge number of children?' 'Ace.' 'Ace'.  'Oh, screw you guys.' 'Face it, little brother, you and your husband are the most likely to end up with a huge sprawling brood.'

'Husband? You're married?' 'So is Thanatos!' 'And Ardor is in a committed polyamorous relationship with his large and myriad collection of swords.' 'Little brother - '

' - which of you is more likely to charge in a suicidal assault against an enemy you have no hope of defeating?' The three look at each other. 'None of us?' 'Yeah, that kinda situation seems to call for guerrilla warfare and ambushes'. 'Uncle would not be pleased if any of us did anything that stupid.'

'Which of you would be most likely to tear out an enemy's throat with your teeth?' All three of them raise a hand. 

Of course, there is also the option that all three of them remember perfectly well and are pretending not to in order to fuck with everyone present. 

@hamelin-born

i am CACKLING

i think it would be hilarious if none of them remembered until they were well into their stay in tirion and then they Suddenly Remember something when hanging out with their their Elf Family and the three share a look that just says 'we're gonna play the bit as a long as possible'

like. they could come clean at that point and say they remember who they are and spare everyone confusion and worry.

but they are also ardyn's niblings.

so they chose the most chaotic option.

i bet anything that ardor is the one who breaks first because someone was Talking Shit about Turgon and ardor just '......i like to think i was a patient and wise king in my past life. however. that was my past life. in this one say one more thing about my child and i swear i will stab you'

Turgon: :00

Fingon: :000000

Aredhel: :0

Argon: :0

Thanatos in the background: is the jig up because if so i need to call my husband and tell him about my kids.

Ardor: Ace should do that too.

Ace: Bold of you to assume I know how to phone home.

Ardor: But Thanatos does?

Ace: *gestures helplessly* he's thanatos.

[yzeltia]

Year of the Drake: Halflight

August: Vampire AU Characters: U'rahn Nuhn, @driftward 's Nyx Blackmoon, Alphinaud Leveilleur, Varshan, Ameliance Leveileur, Bahamut (sorta), Tiamat (sorta), G'raha Tia Rating: T for Twilight Notes:

U'rahn wiped his brow as he laid out on his bed, sweat dripping off his aching body. Fulfilling his duties as a Nuhn had left him exhausted. He'd lost track of just how long it'd been since the huntresses had left him alone long enough to leave the village, or his house for that matter. Fumbling for his linkpearl, he pushed it into his ear then reached out to Nyx.

"This is Blackmoon," his partner answered.

"Hey, it's Rahn."

"Your breathing sounds labored. Are you in need of aid?"

"No. I just missed your voice."

"Then this call is not an approved use of Gage Acquisitions' property. I am ending the call."

U'rahn blinked as the line went dead. Immediately after his tomestone rang. Sitting up, he pawed for the device until getting it in his hand.

"Uh. Hello?"

"If you are missing my voice, I can program the Nyx mammet with more phrases to comfort you when we are apart," Nyx answered from the other side. 

"I could just call too…"

"My duties require me to be unavailable at times. Your calls do take precedence though if I know you are in a potentially dangerous situation."

"That's good to know…Ah. Then can you talk now?"

"We are already talking, Rahn."

"Right Right. Well, I dunno what to say really. I miss you and as soon as the huntresses are through with me we'll go on an adventure. Maybe Thavnair for more spicy food."

"That will be enriching."

"Right…"

"..."

"Ah. You know, I can't remember the last time I told you a story -"

"Precisely one month ago."

"One month!? I've been in my house for a whole month!?"

"Correct. The huntresses seem to be using their time with you efficiently to meet their output goals before your next adventure”

"It's been a blur. I can't believe we've not been together for a month…"

"I have visited you."

"Huh? When!?"

"I've watched you sleep many times and have provided fruits and fish rich with vitamins and minerals to keep you healthy since you have been unable to leave the village."

"Oh. I thought the huntresses brought me those. Wow, thanks! I wish you woke me up though."

"It has been a futile effort. I also enjoy the contortions of your face when you are dreaming."

"Ah. Hopefully I don't do something embarrassing."

"I believe many instances you would classify as such; however, they are safe as a source of my personal enrichment and I have committed them to memory."

"Geeze," U'rahn whined, hunkering down into his bed, covering his face with a pillow, "Will you come visit me?"

"I cannot. I am taking time to run maintenance on myself and that has left me immobile."

"Aw. You could have done that here."

"I could not."

"..."

"..."

"Why not?"

"The Forgotten Springs do not have the required power sources for me to use my equipment. It would also be burdensome to relocate my belongings."

"Oh…but I'm lonely without you."

"That will pass. You are without me often."

"I guess. Still, I wish you were here to help stave off boredom."

"Your presence here would also be enriching for me. We; however, are able to speak to one another. A storytale might fulfill your needs for companionship and provide us ample entertainment while we are more or less trapped by our current circumstances.”

“Well, okay…I don’t have a lot of energy, but I think I have something. There once…”

I’m just like any other Elezen. I was never really remarkable. I made good grades, and I was popular, but I always considered myself very plain. My father had remarried to an adventurer and had left on a journey with them and my sister. I decided to move in with my mother in Spoons, a small island between the Northern Empty and Dravania. I didn’t expect to fall in love…and I didn’t expect to die for that person either.

“Now, Bell, if anyone gives you trouble, you let me know,” my mother sighed. Being the local sheriff,  she was rather protective.

I grimaced, not wanting to be doted on. Still, I thanked her and made my way to my new school, reassuring her that I’d be fine on my own. There, a mammet took me to my first class, where I was introduced by the professor there.

“Everyone, this is Bellphinaud Lemur. They’ve transferred here from Ul’dah. Why don’t you tell us about yourself?”

I stiffened, hating this sort of thing despite being rather adept at it, “Hi. I go by Bell. I’m not exactly new to Spoons, but I’ve never been around enough to really make friends here.”

All eyes were on me. Everyone seemed to hang on my every word, though I didn’t really say anything impressive. All except an Auri boy sitting by the window, looking as if he was recoiling from my presence. His red eyes were narrowed. 

“There’s an open seat next to Varsean. Why don't you join him," the Professor suggested.

I did as I was told, moving to the seat beside him, his red eyes piercing me as he recoiled away from me, as if repulsed by my presence. I couldn't help but rub my nose into my jacket, worried I was somehow offensive but smelling naught more than soap.

Class passed quickly and people seemed to flock to me despite being wholly uninteresting. I hoped the novelty of my newness would wear off but I ended up being pulled to a rather populous table. I stuck my head in a book to avoid further interrogation about my life pre-Spoons.

As I read to myself, I looked up briefly, finding myself staring at the most beautiful people I'd ever seen come sauntering in, two couples and Varsean behind them. Leaning over I interrupted one of my new acquaintances, M'raha, before he could bite into his hamburger, "Who are they?"

"The Coolens. They are rather popular, but keep to themselves. Dr. Coolen adopted them and moved them here a few years ago. They're coupled up which is a bit odd given their legal relationship. The hulking one is Bauhemmett and the exceptionally pretty girl hanging off him is Tiamatie. The other girl is Alnyx and her boyfriend is J'rahnsper."

"And then Varsean."

"Yes, the enigma. Everyone fancies him but he keeps to himself."

I nodded, briefly making eye contact with the other. He quickly stood up then removed himself from the room, glancing back at me, focused, before hurrying away.

"You still with me Nyx," U'rahn asked, having not heard the other for a time.

"Yes."

"Okay. Just making sure. This first person thing is kind of hard and I'm usually telling you about a much more expressive protagonist and beautiful love interest."

"Yes, though, there are hints that you've not quite let that archetype go. "

"The main couple is way different though!"

"Yes. That is correct."

"Good, just making sure it was clear and stuff."

I didn't see Varsean again for a week after my first day. Apparently it wasn't unusual for a Coolen to take a few days off here and there. When he came back though, he was like a different man. Reunited in Science, Varsean, sat closer to me, offering his book as we prepared for an aether experiment.

"Apologies for my rudeness the other day."

It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. I'd wanted to ask him what his problem was, but my curiosity shut down as he moved closer, taking one of the crystals to attune to.

"Umbral," he stated.

"May I check," I asked. 

His large hand soon went over mine. I shuddered, feeling a strange electricity from his cold touch. I recoiled slowly, noting something…abnormal about the stoney coolness of his skin.

" It's umbral," I agreed, sensing the aetheric polarity soon after.

A strange heat crept across my cheeks as I felt his eyes on me. He smiled then leaned back as I took the next crystal.

"Astral…," I stated cautiously, "is there a particular reason you're watching me?"

"We are partners. May I," he asked, holding out his hand for crystal, eyes smiling at me.

I placed it in his hand, avoiding his gaze. Being looked at in such a way, it made me nervous. He toyed with the crystal in his palm for a moment before agreeing with my findings. 

"I didn't properly introduce myself before. I'm Varsean Coolen. And you're Bellphinaud, the sheriff's son."

"I prefer Bell."

"Bell it is."

We finished well before the rest of the students. This left Varsean able to integrate me as he pleased. I wasn't used to having someone hanging on my every word. It would be flattering if his gaze wasn't making my heart race.

I left quickly, though politely, as the bell rang.

"Rahn," Nyx interrupted, "Our time will be cut short. Summarize the story for me."

"Okay okay. So uh. Yeah…um…Bellphinaud keeps finding Varsean starin' at him and being aggressive then sweet until one day Bell is almost hit by a chocobo cart and about shatters it. And uh, Bell's childhood friend comes along and is like "don't trust that guy". 

Bell then goes and looks up all this stuff and figures out that Varsean is probably a dragon that feeds on aether and hesitates to say and then they're all like:

`"I know what you are," Bellphinaud breathed out, the Au Ra hovering nearby behind him.

"Say it. Out loud. Say it," he ordered.

"A dragon"

"Are you afraid," Varshan whispered.

"No." 

I knew it. Vytra loved me. The bond forged between us was not one that could be broken by absence, distance, or time. And no matter how much more special or beautiful or brilliant or more perfect than he might be, he was as irreversibly altered as I was. As I would always belong to him, so would he always be mine.

Was that what I'd been trying to tell myself?

"Oh!"

"Bell?"

"Oh. Okay. I see."

"Your epiphany?" he asked, his voice uneven and strained.

"You love me," I marveled. The sense of conviction and rightness washed through me again.

Though his eyes were still anxious, the crooked smile I loved best flashed across his face. "Truly, I do."

"Yeah Yeah. So then they get to know one another and you find out his family are also dragons and some even have super powers. Varsean can read minds, except Bell's and uh…Alnyx can see the future and J'rahnsper has like reverse empathy and they use their powers to save Bellphinaud from other dragons and dragoons, which come up in the next story. And the rest of the family has these really deep backstories Bell learns about as they get closer. Huh…come to think about the family is kinda more interesting than the main protagonists…"

"Agreed," Nyx echoed.

"Ah. Anyroad. Uh. So Bellphinaud worries about his mortality and wants to be turned into a dragon but Varsean doesn't want to curse the other with the need to feed off of aether…Oh! In this story they need people's aether to survive. Forgot to mention that. The Coolens though try to subsist on aether from animals and not people. 

So uh…yeah. Eventually they make a deal. Bellphinaud must marry Varsean and then he can be turned. And that happens and somehow Bell creates an egg and it upsets Nidhogg cause Bell isn't a true dragon and wants Varsean to be apart of his dragon cult thing and Alnyx…I guess ends up saving the day convincing Nidhogg of his doom using her power cause he can see what other dragons have seen…I guess I need to work on it a bit more.”

"Agreed.  I must disconnect now, Rahn."

"Aw. Okay. Well, um…I love you," the Nuhn whispered into tomestone, worried as if someone might overhear."

“Acknowledged. Your affections are reciprocated," Nyx responded before the line went dead.

U'rahn flopped back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about Nyx a moment before rolling over to hang off the edge of his bed, rummaging around his mess of belongings before pulling out a small box. He swallowed, face turning red before a knock sounded at his door, the next huntress's appointment having come. The box fumbled in his hands as he tried to hide it. Giving the ring inside a brief peek, he let out a little scream into the side of his mattress and stuffed it away as his next partner let herself in.

[hellogoodbye14]

Okay I dunno if you take fic requests but I would love to read one from you based on this prompt 💕💕💕💕

Azriel complaining to Rhys about Nyx bullying him because he keeps asking for hugs and kisses and its harmful to his broody bat facade and "Cauldron Rhys I can't babysit him, HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY NO TO HIM!!!??" while Rhys laughs and the distressing effects of an adorable child on his spymaster.

I m just a sucker for fluff and fun and Uncle Az 😁😁😁

Ask and you shall receive fam ❤️ (also might have gone overboard with this but oh well!)

“Unci Assshh!”, yelled the adorable toddler from across the training field.

Nyx was walking - well more like stumbling- between Feyre and Rhys who each held onto one of his tiny hands to help him balance his walk.

His tiny wings ruffled with each excited step and Rhys just laughed at Nyx’s clumsiness and determination to get to the spymaster.

Feyre and Rhys let go as they neared Azriel and Nyx threw himself at Azriels right leg. Azriel chuckled and ruffled his nephews head. Nyx as usual tried to crawl up Azriels long leg and managed to get to his thigh this time. Azriel gently grabbed Nyx by the scruff of his shirt behind Nyx’s head, like one holds up a puppy. Nyx squeeled with laughter and reached out to play with the shadows around him.

“Hey little troublemaker”, said Azriel as he carefully moved Nyx to his shoulders. The toddler was now joyfully yanking at Azriels hair.

Feyre winced, “sorry Az, he’s been yanking at everyones hair these days.”

Azriel just smiled and said it was no problem at all.

His highlord then gave him a list. Yes a list. One he always gave if Nyx was left with anyone who had to babysit. He had the list at each of the houses. One specifically addressed to every.single.person. To say Rhys was a motherhen was an understatement.

Feyre just rolled her eyes at her mate and motioned Azriel to bend down so she could give Nyx a peck goodbye.

“Be good for uncle Az”

“Unciiii Asssshhhhh!” , the toddler yelled in excitement.

Rhys smiled at his son, “we’ll be back from winter court in about two hours at most. Thank you for doing it again. Oh also under any circumstances NO sugar for him.”

Azriel nodded as Rhys reached up and ruffled Nyx’s hair who in return waved at his father and said “byeee daaaaa!”

Azriel was about to turn and take Nyx flying when he bumped into Gwyn.

“Oh hey!” , but the valkyrie was already cooing at Nyx who now reached out his hands to be picked up by Gwyn.

“Look at you, you little munchkin!”, she grabbed his tiny fist and pretended to munch on them, “oh i could just eat you up.”

Nyx squeeled with laughter.

“Umm.. I’m still here you know.”

Gwyn looked up at a frowning Azriel.

“You get my attention at training everyday, this one is too adorable to ignore.”

Azriel shook his head and rolled his eyes. His shadows as always were reaching out to Gwyn, and Nyx was taking full advantage of it and playing with them.

“Guys!”

Emerie came running out, “we need to go to Illyria for a bit, Nesta says they need help with the commanders meeting.”

Azriel frowned, “Cassian needs me to look over the trainees while he deals with the commanders?”

“Yeap”

“I have Nyx. I can’t train them.”

“He said you only have to stay and overlook it. Give some pointers, not engage them in any training yourself. He’s swamped.”

Azriel reached out to Rhys and Rhys offered his approval to take Nyx with.

Gwyn frowned down at the toddler,

“Will it be safe for him to be there?”

“Feyre says Rhys has a shield around Nyx which equates to the shield around Velaris. Besides he’s with us, it’ll be fine.”

“What did Rhys say?”, asked a surprised Emerie.

Azriel smiled, “He wanted to come back and take Nyx but Feyre told him to shut up and stop being so over dramatic.”

Emerie laughed, “sounds like Feyre. Okay lets go.”

Luckily, the weather at Illyria was on the mild side today, Azriel regardless made sure Nyz was covered and warm. The toddler was taken with Gwyn, not that Azriel could blame him. Any time Gwyn tried to leave the ring, the toddlers face would scrunch up, alerting everyone that he will wail like hell if Gwyn leaves.

Azriel had Nyx buckled and wrapped against his torso, and the toddler squeeled, clapped, and offered “wooaows” at the training illyrians. The illyrians were surprised to see the high lords son but still offered smiles at the toddler, they however turned their gaze away from Azriels stare in fear. Well that was until, Nyx called out and demanded attention, “unciii asshh, kiss”.

The blades the illyrians used faltered at that and gwyn straight up laughed at Azriels red cheeks. He nonetheless couldn’t refuse the adorable violet eyes looking up at him and gave Nyx a peck on the cheek.

The request was repeated another two times, until Nyx started getting fussy. It had been over an hour and Azriel had settled Nyx down on the mat and gave him some snacks. Healthy Rhysand approved snacks. But no. The toddler wanted candy.

“Buddy I have no candy, and your dad said no”

“Unci Ashh pleeease?”

Azriel sighed and looked up at the heavens. He could never refuse this child anything. Lord help him. Where the heck would he find candy in illyria? Gwyn ruffled in her pockets and got out five different candies.

Azriel lifted an eyebrow, “really?”

Gwyn just shrugged, “what.. I get hungry after training.”

“Well aren’t you the answer to all my prayers”

Gwyn blushed at that.

Another hour passed and Nyx was fussy again, Az sat down at the bench and tried to rock Nyx to sleep but the toddler was not having it. He turned around to make sure all the trainees were far away taking their break and looked down at Nyx. He then begun singing light notes of a song Nyx always loved. As he sang, his shadows gently caressed Nyx and soon his nephew was asleep in his arms.

Azriel carefully without jolting Nyx stood up and turned towards the ring. A ring packed with trainees who were gawking at him as if he was an alien. Well they obviously heard their stern spymaster sing a lullaby. Gwyn had returned from Emeries shop with Emerie as well and looked at him funny.

“What?”

She shook her head, “nothing. You have a beautiful voice Azriel.”

Azriel nodded his thanks and felt his cheeks burn.

“I’m taking him to the cottage, are you coming with?”

“Emerie is meeting Mor here in a bit. She’ll winnow us back.” Azriel nodded at the pair and turned to take Nyx inside the cottage. As soon as he got in, Rhys and Feyre had winnowed in.

“Is he okay? Didn’t trouble you too much?”, asked Feyre as she carefully took a sleeping Nyx into her arms.

“He’s fine and he was great.”

Feyre nodded and moved towards the kitchen to warm up some milk. Rhys gave a gentle kiss on Nyx’s head before she left the room.

“Why is there a chocolate stain on my sons mouth?”, said Rhys throwing an accusing look his way.

“Rhys, I can’t say no to him okay?! Its fucking impossible! He looks up at you with his puppy dog eyes and says please and I CANT SAY NO.”

Rhys just laughed.

“No I’m serious! And he is taking my rep to shit okay, I have a reputation to uphold. Everyone was scared of me, NOW THEY LOOK AT ME LIKE IM A CUTE LITTLE BEAR WHO SINGS LULLABIES!”

At this point Rhys was doubled over, holding his hand against his stomach. “Stop! lord this is too good. My high, mighty and terrifying spymaster brought down to a little bunny you said? By a toddler.”

Azriel sniffed, crossed his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes, “I said bear not bunny.”

Azriel could hear Feyre’s laughter from the kitchen as well, “not funny!”

“Oh my gods, its hilarious! I cant even right now”, she called out from the kitchen.

[jinx-jade]

Secret Dreams Chapter 10: A court meeting.

Marinette, Penny, and Jagged entered her hotel room, quickly closing and locking everything that could let them be seen from the outside world.

“Are you gonna tell us how you know Bruce’s kid?” Jagged questions as they finished locking up.

“But that would ruin all my fun!” Marinette wines as she handed Kaalki’s miraculous to Penny and Roarr’s miraculous to Jagged.

“I think Plagg has been rubbing off on you too much,” Penny says with amusement, causing Marinette to huff in protest, quickly opening a portal and going through it. Penny did the same thing for herself and Jagged. Not even bothering to transform since she didn’t need to do so, due to the fact she was already an adult.

Penny’s portal had brought Jagged and herself to a large conference room. After a few moments, a portal appeared letting Tomoe, Kagami, and Adrien enter the room. Once that portal shut, a new one opened, Anarka, Alix, Juleka, and Luka stepped through it. The third portal opened with Tom, Sabine, and Chloe stepping out. A fourth portal opened letting Kim, Ondine, Nathaniel, and Marc through. The final portal opened with Max and Marinette exiting it.

All those who exited a portal are members of the 魔盾 Co. (Mó dùn Co.). Some had been members longer than others, although none of the court members kept their miraculi on them anymore. They had come to a unanimous decision that the Grand Guardian, Marinette, was to hold onto all the miraculi. The only reason a court member would hold their miraculi was if they had an important meeting, an emergency, or if their kwami wished to visit. Seeing that each court member had been given their respective miraculous as they were sent through a portal, they could only assume this meeting was very important. 

Each court member took their seats as they started the meet.

“The bat family broke through quite a few of our firewalls,” Marinette informs them.

“Max, Start to rebuild them and upgrade them if possible. Your second chance should help you outrun them if they decide to double back.” Max gives a sharp nod.

“Alix, give Max a hand. Your protection shields should be a big help to Max’s programming.” Alix gave a mock salute as she started manipulating her raw energy into a protection algorithm.

“What do you mean the bat family broke through our firewall!” Kim exclaims.

“About that,” Marinette starts. “I may have gotten caught up in a rogue attack and taken down most of the goons, catching the bat-fam’s attention in the process,” Marinette says as she spins the black cat miraculous on her hand.

Tom let out a resigned sigh, “Of course you did,” he states under his breath.

Sabine simply chuckling in amusement, “Oh, I was already aware of your involvement in the attack. Although I’m more interested in your meeting with the Waynes today.” Sabine lazily informs them with a smirk.

“Stupid time travel mother, always knowing everything.” Marinette huffs under her breath.

“What’s this about the Wayne’s? Oh, and don’t even try to lie. Luka and I will be able to tell based on how your emotions move.” Chloe smirks, causing Marinette to groan.

“You’re all trying to ruin my fun!” Marinette hisses back. Her hiss didn’t have any bite, so the others joined in on the teasing.

“The little rocker knows Wayne’s youngest. They seemed rather chummy too.” Jagged was so ‘kind’ to inform them. The meeting got off-topic as they asked question after question.

Tomoe was the one to get the meeting back on track.“How much information were they able to retrieve?” The dragon wielder inquired.

Marinette cleared her throat as she let a wide grin make its way onto her features. “They didn’t get anything that hadn’t been approved by myself. I also may have got onto a call with them. So..” she trailed off.

“You're joking.” Nathaniel states as a grin of his own appeared. His k-9s are showing just a little bit. Seeming a little too sharp to be normal.

“Nope! I got onto a call with them, so the amount of knowledge they got was controlled by myself,” Marinette replied.

“Nice,” the fox wielder shot back in appreciation.

“And that information was?” Juleka asked with a raised brow

“Let our chaotic cats have their fun. After all, Nathaniel usually only plays with his little mouse.” Kim states teasingly, causing Marc to go red at the implication.

“Exactly, Mari will get there eventually. No need to bee so impatient Queenie.” The goat wielder cackles at his puns. The rest of the court is a mix between chuckle, groans, and glares.

“Adrien, what have we said about the puns!” Chloe groans as she throws her hands into the air.

Not even missing a beat, Adrien replies, “That there not punny.”

“As much fun this chaos is, we should get back on topic,” Anarka interjects.

“Says the chaos monkey herself.” Marinette cheers before a serious look fell in place.

“The information I gave them was from my official 魔盾 Co. (Mó dùn Co.) court file. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Codename شبح (Shabh). Currently staying in Gotham, New Jersey, America. Court member of eight years. Court rank classified. Runs the company MDC, a front for 魔盾 Co. (Mó dùn Co.). The general stuff.” she informs them.

“They will most likely visit my civilian identity at some point. I also want some of you in Gotham. The amount of curses, hexes, and charms littered around the place is insane. On that note, how do all of you feel about going to a charity gala tomorrow night?” Marinette questions.

The meet continued as normal after they decided that anyone who wouldn’t be seen as out of place will attend the gala with Jagged, Penny, and Marinette. All the court members had a general feeling that Marinette was planning something but couldn’t figure out what it was. 

They looked to Sabine only to see that she wasn’t really worried about anything. The calmness of the rabbit wielder helped soothe their nerves. 

It wasn’t until everyone had gone home that they all seemed to collectively remember that Sabine always lets Marinette have her chaotic fun. 

.

.

.

In case you’re confused:

Marinette is the black cat wielder

Alix is the turtle wielder

Juleka is the bee wielder

Chloe is the butterfly wielder

Nathaniel is the fox wielder

Marc is the mouse wielder

Kagami is the Ox wielder

Luka is the peacock wielder

Adrien is the goat wielder

Kim is the rooster wielder

Ondine is the pig wielder

Max is the snake wielder

Tom is the dog wielder

Sabine is the rabbit wielder

Jagged is the tiger wielder

Penny is the horse wielder

Anarka is the monkey wielder

Tomoe is the dragon wielder

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[secret-engima]

So who does Nyxsuke adopt first - Naruto or Tenzo? (and when does Nyxsuke officially meet Tenzo, because I'm dying for actual bonding between the two, and for Nyx to teach Tenzo the Sacred Laws and the Color Code and everything. Also, what's Tsunade and Sasuke's reactions to each other? Actually, how DOES Nyx meet the last of the Sannin, because I'm assuming he's not dumb enough to just charge at Itachi after the asskicking he got from Orochimaru. So he might be there WITH Naruto and Jiraiya.)

a-world-in-grey asked:

Also, I don't know if you mentioned it already, but what braids do the reincarnated Galahdians wear? I imagine all of them probably wear the Chief braids of their Clans, since they're the only ones at first, but especially Nyx and Lib after they start adopting. But do any of them wear a Braid of the Last? Does Tredd wear a Revenge Braid like Nyx (probably) does? Does Lib braid a Hero Braid into Nyx's hair after he learns how Nyx died summoning the Old Wall and killing Titus? Any Mourning Braids?

a-world-in-grey asked:

Aka, Tenzo meets Sola when he and his ANBU squad bring her the offer to defect to Konoha, and I need to know what I've got to work with, because the *potential*... >:3

Me:

Nyxsuke actually adopts Tenzo first! That's gonna happen in like- chapter 8 or 9 I think. Well before canon. That surprised me ngl, because Naruto desperately needs adopting, but for some reason Nyx was like. No. This is my feral mask tree man and Imma adopt him first. So.

Nyxsuke I don't *think* will officially actually "meet" Tenzo (as in, get his name and see him without the mask) until- gosh at least Naruto canon? Possibly in the time between Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden? But that doesn't mean Tenzo isn't family long before then. He teaches Nyxsuke sign language (and anbu hand sign shhhhh) so that they can talk without breaking the anbu silence rule, and Nyxsuke still imprints Sacred Laws and Color Code onto him through a mix of osmosis and talking?

.

Nyxsuke is at first, uh.

Not impressed.

With Tsunade

Tbf he's not impressed with MOST of the adults and he basically had her on his "don't like or trust" list the moment he was informed she was an old teammate and friend of Jiraiya, who Nyxsuke hates almost as much as he hates the Third.

Tsunade at first writes him off as an arrogant, spoiled Last Uchiha, because most adults do and also Tsunade can be an idiot sometimes (who the heck finger flicks a child to the point of sending him skidding several yards. Tsunade flipping Senju that's who), but does realize ... fairly rapidly? That she badly underestimated both him and Naruto. After initial first impressions Nyxsuke is grudgingly respectful, only because she's a better leader than the Third and Naruto likes her for some wild reason. He doesn't see her as a Clan Chief in any sense of the word, but she's better than some Crownsguard officers he's met and she doesn't seem to be on board with the "abandon children in their compounds all alone" thing once she hears about it. So he will treat her cordially and follow her orders so long as they don't conflict with taking care of his Clan.

They meet at the same time Tsunade meets Naruto actually! Nysuke ends up inserting himself on that quest for various reasons that I will not spoil (one of them however is "I do not trust this frog man as far as I can throw Titan himself") and so he's there when Jiraiya is like- we're checking in all the bars for our *future leader*.

Nyxsuke: *Already fully ready to verbally shred this individual and all their life choices*

The Bet thing that goes down is probably gonna include Nyxsuke somehow, but I haven't entirely nailed it down yet and also don't wanna spoil that. So.

You know, I don't think I actually sat down and worked out what braids they all have? Nyx and Lib absolutely have Chief Braids, Crowe probably just has a Clan braid? That she upgrades to Chief once she's adopted someone (Lib has already adopted his mom). Nyx 100% has a braid of the Last and iirc a braid of mourning and another of revenge? Or a combo one for those two. I forget if I ever said in fic. But that would make sense. Lib, since he adopted his mom, doesn't need to wear a Last braid. Crowe probably has one.

Tredd wears a braid of revenge over Kisame yes, and all three have Braids of the Last on top of their Clan braids.

Honestly? Lib probably *does* insist on putting a Hero Braid in there, but that might end up not happening until they've also reunited with Crowe and/or Pelna, since Nyx insists you need more than one person's approval to put one of those in. They hear Lib's story about what followed after the fall of Insomnia, and what Lib learned about how Nyx died, and are just: *Shut up and accept the braid Nyx*

.

*excited noises* I WOULD LOVE TO SEE TENZO MEETING SOLA. REEEEEEE. I hope my answers helped!

[thespianbooks]

A Court of Nightmares and Starlight //Chapter 26//

Masterlist

(tags: @thron3ofbooks, @df3ndyr, @courtofjurdan, @art-e-mis, @herondamnn, @the-third-me, @im-still-trying-here, @emikadreams, @paytin77, @mis-lil-red, @sleeping-and-books, @lucieisabooknerd, @amandaraey-sunshine, @easy-p-lemon, @azymondias05, @dagypsygirl, @makeshift-utopia, @fantasyshadowhunters) *bold tags don’t work ;-;

I hope this chapter finds you all well, please enjoy some fluffy Feysand and baby vibes! ❤️

"He's breathtaking," Rhys said quietly from his place beside me.

After the maelstrom of labor had passed, Sebastian entered the world with a resounding wail—the most heartwarming sound I had ever heard in my life. The minutes after passed in a blur; the midwife placing him on my chest as she and Madja worked on cleaning him off with damp washcloths while Rhys and I stared at our newborn babe. We were both too completely and utterly stunned to speak in those first few minutes but sobbed the second he opened his eyes and were met with remarkable violet-blue.

Every part of him was truly incredible; resembling his father in nearly every feature except for the blue in his eyes and the tiny, perfect, shape of his mouth—even better than my own. I touched the soft, dark tendrils of his black hair as I nodded in agreement with Rhys's sentiment.

"He's amazing," I said, my voice still hoarse from my cries of agony.

But, as our gazes lingered on our son, the overwhelming relief I felt outshined my earlier anguish—any I felt before this moment. All the worry that had grown over the last several months, all the pain I had just endured, now vanished the longer I held my son. As I touched his cheek with a tentative finger, my tattoos a stark contrast against his perfectly unblemished skin, I felt a new bond snap into place.

Rhys must've felt it too, because the kiss he pressed to my temple was tender before he whispered to Sebastian, "Cauldron save you, Mother hold you. I, High Lord of the Night Court, vow to shield you with my body, protect you with my sword," I saw his throat bob as he swallowed before carrying on. "And keep you in my heart. My son."

The tears I had been battling to hold back finally fell as he finished those sacred vows, identical to the words we exchanged when he swore me in as his High Lady. My mate pressed another kiss to my brow but didn't pull back as I met his silver-lined eyes.

"Thank you, Feyre darling," he murmured softly, brushing away my tears with his thumb.

I beamed in return, my throat still thick as I touched his face with my free hand and swept away his own tears. "I couldn't have done it without you, Rhysand," I whispered.

Sebastian mewled quietly from his place on my chest, his wailing having ceased shortly after being placed on my skin, my mate and I returned our attention to him; that all-too familiar gentle and soft glimmer pulsing through the bond that now connected the three of us in the flesh.

XXX

"We call it the Dawn of the North." Rhys began, both of us settled in bed, Sebastian covered in a light blanket and still curled up on my chest for the precious skin-to-skin contact the midwife deemed crucial for the first hour of his life.

In this first hour following the birth, my scent and touch was pivotal in aiding Sebastian's development and especially in triggering his first few instincts—nursing being the most important. It was also a vital part of the new and delicate mother-baby bond between us. So, after the midwife and Madja had cleared away the mess from the delivery and provided me with my own postpartum care; instructing me to rest and recuperate after the undertaking my body had just been through, Rhys joined my side in bed; making sure the warm blankets I had been draped and covered with remained intact. With an arm wrapped securely around my shoulders, he waved a hand, his magic turning the bed in the direction of the window opposite of us. When I met him with a questioning stare, he simply smiled and motioned to the window again; urging me to look for myself.

The sky was painted in delicate, rippling curtains of green and blue light. The stars shimmering as the veils of light transitioned from one color to the next; multiple hues ranging from pale green, to red, to pink, and varying shades of blue shining through as they moved in soft waves across the sky. Set against the mountain, Ramiel, those three stars that only appeared on rare occasions in our court now shone bright while the rest continued glimmering in the patterned light. The look of astonishment on my face caused Rhys to grin as he went on to explain its origin.

"In the ancient texts, it's said that one of the first elements that came into being was night. Nyx, the primordial, and often forgotten, goddess of night was the prelude to the creation of our world-to Prythian itself," Rhys continued, his fingers brushing along my shoulder gently as we stared out at the sky.

"She was rumored to have wings and was powerful enough to be both feared and idolized by the ancient beings of Prythian and the continent. One of the many stories I heard growing up was her love of flying. My mother used to tell me that whenever Nyx would take to the skies, she would rattle the stars just from the mighty flap of her wings as she soared through them. In the early hours of dawn that would follow, the sky would look like this," he went on, his hold around me tightening slightly.

"It could only be seen in the Northern territory of Prythian. When the lords and the courts came to be, the sky would shimmer like this almost every night, but like Starfall, it soon faded over time and became a rare occasion—only appearing the night a new heir to the Night Court was born...as a sign of Nyx's blessing and approval." Rhys finished with a smile, bringing a hand up to wipe at a tear I hadn't realized I shed.

"It's beautiful," I breathed as I turned my head to look at him. "So, it can't be seen in the other courts?" I asked, thinking of the snowfall that had appeared in all of the territories following Eira's birth and how it must have compared to the storm that ravaged the Winter court instead.

Rhys's grin was crooked as he shook his head. "It's exclusive to our court alone, but our allies are being treated to a shower of stars similar to Starfall, minus the spirits" he explained, his eyes returning to Sebastian as the newborn let out a small sigh.

I brushed my fingers along Sebastian's back lightly, afraid that anything more might cause him to disappear, or worse. Through the bond, I could feel Rhys's equal level of apprehensiveness.

"He almost doesn't seem real, does he?" I asked as I continued my feather-light touch along my son's spine.

Rhys shook his head. "I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not dreaming," he said. "That I have a son, here in the flesh, and it's not some cruel trick of illusion crafted by the Cauldron as punishment for my sins…"

My fingers halted before reaching over to grasp my mate's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "He's real, Rhysand," I said softly. "Do you remember what I told you all those months ago? How our son, our little Bash, is the culmination of all the best parts of you; of all the good you've done and are?"

The silver lining his eyes returned as he brought his lips down to meet mine with gentle ease in a chaste kiss. "All because of you, Feyre darling," he responded, his voice barely above a whisper before he kissed me again.

I smiled as we pulled apart and turned startled eyes to our son as he let out a tiny grunt. "Do you disapprove of my affection towards your mother, Bash?" Rhys asked softly.

I saw his hand twitch as if he might reach out and touch him, but changed his mind at the last second. You can touch your son, Rhysand, I promise I won't bite.

My mate's chuckle was quiet, but I felt his lingering trepidation. "It's okay," I encouraged.

His throat bobbed as he reached a shaky hand out and placed it gently on the back of Sebastian's head—so tiny and frail in my mate's large hand. Sebastian remained unfazed, eyes still closed and breathing even, as Rhys brushed a thumb along the light wisps of his blue-black hair.

"He is so small," Rhys murmured, voice still thick with unshed tears as he admired our son up close. "His nose, his lips, his eyes...they are the tiniest I have ever seen in my entire existence."

"He's perfect," I echoed before leaning in to press a breath of a kiss to my son's brow.

Sebastian let out another soft sigh at the contact and twisted his head back slightly, prying his eyes open to meet mine and my heart nearly stopped as I stared back at him. Tears immediately sprang back into my eyes as I smiled.

"Hello Sebastian. It's me...it's mommy," I said, near sobbing. "I love you so much…"

Sebastian's eyes slipped back closed, head cradled in Rhys's hand, already spent from our short interaction. Rhys let out a shuddering breath as I turned to look at him, tears of joy still falling.

"I don't know how I'll ever thank you for this, Feyre," he said, shedding a few tears of his own. "For this gift, this life."

You don't ever have to, Rhysand. He is our son, our gift. I said through the bond.

He pulled me closer as he kissed me again, his brow lingering against mine as we relished in this new familial tie between us.

XXX

Once our uninterrupted hour had passed, Madja and the midwife knocked on the bedroom door, causing both of us to tense as I held onto Sebastian more securely and as Rhys sat up in the bed; wings appearing a second later and curling protectively around Sebastian and me. I laughed when I realized just how soon those feral instincts had kicked in for us and touched Rhys's arm gently.

"They aren't a threat, they're just our caregivers," I reminded him.

He nodded, tucking his wings back in as he called the healer and midwife in, but kept a hand on my back as they entered. The two females came to my side, Madja pulling back the blankets I had been covered with in order to survey my recovery—mostly making sure no post-delivery complications were arising as the midwife began instructing me on how to nurse Sebastian. Both Rhysand and I paid close attention to the midwife's direction, taking extra care to the details on how I should position him on my breast and where Rhys could help should the need arise.

It took a bit of maneuvering, including Sebastian's adorably furrowed brow that resembled my mate's own look of frustration and confusion, but he latched on and was suckling in a matter of minutes. The sensation was strange and foreign, but something deep inside of me warmed as I cradled him to my breast, running a finger along his cheek lightly as he nursed. That warmth turned to a deeper understanding of the love I had for my son, and pride in the fact that I was able to nourish him. I was enough—had been enough in order to grow him safely inside of me, and now had the ability to provide him the sustenance he needed to survive outside of my womb.

I was enough.

You have always been more than enough, Feyre darling

I gave my mate an amorous smile, realizing he had been watching me with a level of devotion I hadn't seen before sparkling in his violet eyes. His hand rubbed loving circles into my back as we turned our concentration back to the midwife, who gave us further instruction on the nursing protocol. I briefly recalled seeing Viviane nurse and thought of how easy she made the process look, but as the midwife explained that I needed to switch Sebastian between breasts every so often and make sure he burped in between the feedings that would take place every few hours; all the while taking care of myself during my own convalescence, I couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed.

As if she could read my thoughts, Madja placed a comforting hand over mine. "It may seem like an impossible task now, my lady, but we will help you get accustomed and make sure all of your health needs are met," she said.

The midwife nodded in agreement, and so did Rhysand as he stroked the length of my shoulder. "You know you have plenty of support, my love," he said, and I knew he didn't just mean himself or the midwives.

We had our friends, a whole family, waiting for us back in Velaris once Sebastian and I were strong enough to go back. I stared at my newborn babe, wondering how they might react when they first laid eyes on him—only to be surprised when just the thought alone made me recoil, a sense of panic rising in me. Rhys chuckled at my plight, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Welcome to my world, Feyre darling," he teased. "Having that irrational, primal urge to keep him away, protected from everyone else, is akin to what I felt when our bond snapped into place."

I blinked; my instincts much further along than I earlier realized. "It's so odd," I mused. "I couldn't wait to introduce him to our family before, but now?"

I looked at Sebastian again as he suckled sleepily and rubbed his cheek gently in order to coax him awake. "I don't think I can let them anywhere near him yet," I admitted.

The midwife offered an empathetic smile while Madja laughed. "That is normal, my Lady, and will go away, to a degree, with time," she reassured.

"We should tell them though," I said to Rhys. "Let them know that he's here, and that we're both safe and healthy."

Rhys gestured to the window, the sky still painted with sparkling veils of pale blues and greens. "They know," he said. "I sent them a message via Az shortly after this appeared in the sky."

I sighed contentedly as I stared at the beauty of it, imagining what color paints I would need to mix in order to achieve those specific hues and what size canvas I would need. Nyx's flight I would call it, in honor of the ancient night goddess and my son's birth.

The midwife and Madja left after Sebastian completed his first successful session of nursing, wherein I reluctantly handed him over to their care for his first wellness examination. The midwife weighed and measured him, tested his reflexes and checked his overall wellbeing, all without much complaint from him as Rhys remained close to his side and talked him through the duration of the exam in soft murmurs. I watched from my place on the bed, propped up against a mountain of pillows after Madja performed her own examination of me and wiped my sweaty body clean with a warm damp towel. The magic of the Cabin presented a new shift at the foot of the bed, and the healer helped me change into that as well before helping me settle back into my semi-sitting position.

My eyes stung as I watched the midwife instruct Rhysand on how to properly place and secure a nappy on our son, before offering to show him how to properly swaddle a newborn babe. I saw my mate's enthusiastic nod, realizing he'd get to hold our son for the first time during the demonstration, and glanced in my direction for approval.

I can't do all the work, now can I? I teased through the bond.

His answering smile was just as warm as mine before he set about his task, the midwife only correcting his technique once before Rhys lifted and cradled the babe in his arms. The bundle that was now Sebastian looked impossibly tiny in my mates muscled arms; the Illyrian warrior, the High Lord of the Night Court, now enveloping his newborn son—the son he never thought he'd have, or deserved. I wiped the tears that spilled over as the older females dismissed themselves, and Rhys crossed back over to my bedside, eyes never leaving Sebastian's face as he stood. My heart squeezed as Rhys brought a hand to touch Sebastian's cheek hesitantly, his eyes growing silver lined as he marveled at our son.

"I don't think I'll ever grow tired of this feeling," Rhys murmured, gaze returning to mine.

"No, I don't think we will," I agreed, resting my head back against a pillow as I watched him.

Rhys paused, realizing. "Do you want him back?" he asked, knowing full-well that my maternal instincts were in full effect.

I shook my head. "I love seeing him in your arms Rhysand," I said. "I don't want you to leave my sight while you have him, but after months of imagining what it might look like to see you hold him...I can't picture anything better."

My mate softened at the sentiment before returning his gaze to Sebastian. "We better enjoy this time together while we still have it Bash, before your mother keeps you all to herself," he joked with a wink at me.

"I hope you warned the others," I quipped, a sleepy smile on my face as I watched Rhys make a small lap around the room, staying in close proximity to the bed.

"Mor and Cassian are already begging to come up here first thing in the morning, but Azriel, Amren and Nesta are keeping them leashed."

My laugh was quiet as I thought of their eagerness, but in reality, they all knew that it would be a while before they could be properly introduced to the newest addition of the inner circle. The midwife explained that the newborn bond was the most intense during the first week, and though I wouldn't be completely healed for another five following, we would at least be able to invite our family to meet Sebastian without the overwhelming need to safeguard him threatening to consume us and bare our teeth at our loved ones.

"They are going to love him," I said as I continued watching him move around the room, eyes growing heavier and heavier with the need to sleep.

Rhys heard the exhaustion in my voice and offered a sympathetic smirk as those adoring violet eyes turned to me. "You should sleep, my love, you've more than earned it after your efforts," he said.

I turned weary eyes to the bundle in his arms and he chuckled. "You can trust I won't leave your side, or even this room."

"I know," I said with a long yawn as he crossed back over to my side, taking a seat on the small space provided on the edge of the bed.

"I'll stay right here while you sleep," Rhys promised. "I think I can placate him until his next feeding."

I grinned languidly. "It can't be too hard if he continues to sleep like this," I said, glancing at Sebastian, who had fallen asleep almost immediately after being secured in his swaddle.

"My thoughts exactly, Feyre darling," he purred.

I was too exhausted to laugh, and instead brushed my fingers along Sebastian's cheek as he remained at peace in his father's arms. My heart squeezing as the full weight of realization hit, that our son was being held by Rhysand—his father.

To the stars who listen,

I brought my hand to his and squeezed it as his words echoed through our bond, both of us sharing a tender smile before admiring the sleeping bundle in his arms once again.

And the dreams that are answered.

[mardereads19]

Elriel Month 🌸🦇

Day 22:

“Hello,” Elain said as she opened the door. She reined in the urge to avert her gaze and furrow her brows, but she did not make her voice sound as friendly as she should have.

Lucien cleared his throat. “Hello.” His eyes had widened when she had been the one to open the door instead of her sister or a servant, but he had recovered quickly. Now he looked as unruffled as if he had always known it’d be Elain he’d been meeting here.

“Every person has give aways of emotions. Tells that reveal what they are feeling —if they’re lying, what their weakness is, and if they are about to attack,” Azriel had said to her during training a few days ago. “Your assignment for tomorrow is that you find give aways in the people you encounter today.”

“Do all of the tells mean the same thing in everyone? Does biting the lower lip, for instance, mean nervousness in everyone or is it an individual thing?” Elain had asked.

Azriel had smiled at her with approval shinning in his eyes. “That’s a very good question. Tells are individual. What might represent nervousness in you, might represent anger in someone else.”

“How will I know what the give away to the people I see mean for them individually?”

“You get better at that with practice. But for tomorrow you only need to note the tells, not what they may mean. Look out for tapping fingers, for roaming eyes, for biting a lip —anything that might reveal emotions.”

And Elain had gotten so good at it that she noticed Lucien’s quick twitch of his fingers. She was willing to bet he felt nervous, perhaps self-conscious, underneath the calm, collected air he was trying to pull-off.

Good, she could almost hear Azriel’s voice whisper in her ear. She held back a smile and opened the door wider, the heat of the mid-day sun hitting her with the warm breeze. Today was a hot day. “Come in.”

Lucien hesitated —another tell— before stepping inside the river house’s foyer. Once she had closed the door behind him, she let herself study him.

Even though Elain was not fond of being in the same room as him, or that this male was her cauldron-given mate, she could not deny he always looked pristine. Even with the heat, Lucien wore a white dress shirt with a pine-green vest and pants. The color brought out the red of his hair —which was elegantly tied at the nape of his neck— and the gold of his eye. She also thought that the scar across his other —metal— eye that others found gruesome and grotesque, made him even more handsome. Nothing like an imperfection to highlight the beauty.

He shifted on his feet and Elain almost asked him what made him so uncomfortable, except she already knew. She felt it, too. “Where are Feyre and Rhysand?”

Elain tilted her head. “Desperate to get away from my presence?”

Lucien whirled towards her, her tone that had been full of disdain, his eyes widening once more. “No, that’s not what I—” He frowned with worry before adding, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

She focused on his real eye, the one that would reveal his emotions, and found sincerity in his gaze. She nodded once. “Feyre and Rhys are gone on Court business, but they asked me to receive you.”

Feyre knew damn well what she had been doing when she left Elain at the river house with the task of receiving Lucien. She and Rhys had both urgently needed to visit the Hewn City to present Nyx and remind the Court of Nightmares who held the reins of their small kingdom. Apparently, the job could not wait one more day.

Lucien inclined his head in a nod. “How is the baby?”

Elain let her lips twist up in a genuine smile, the image of her small nephew coming up into her mind. “He’s healthy, thank the Cauldron.”

Lucien nodded, again. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Nyx had been a blessing. Having him here took her mind off of distracting thoughts. Taking care of him focused her —that is, until she studied his wings and her mind drifted off to another male with wings like that.

Elain shook her head to dispel the image of Azriel. She had to focus on the task at hand, of listening to her mate.

But as Lucien began to update Elain on the Spring Court’s and Tamlin’s current state, she couldn’t stop her mind from drifting off, again.

Mate. This male before her was her mate. What did that mean? Why did that matter? Elain knew the answers to those questions according to the Fae, but the answers were not the same to her. Now you are Fae, too, you know? she reminded herself. Yet as much as she tried to assimilate to their culture, their lifestyle, it was seemingly impossible.

“Reaching complete silence is imposible. It’s even harder here, in Prythian, to achieve stealth. The sharp hearing is an obstacle you must learn to overcome.” Azriel’s voice from one of their initial training sessions rang in her head.

“If it’s impossible, how do you do it? How do the Wraiths do it?”

Azriel had smiled. “The Wraiths are more silent than me —impressive, I know— but they are half shadows themselves.”

Elain had chuckled and raised her brows. “I hadn’t noticed any difference between your levels of stealth.”

Azriel had dipped his chin. “Well, I did train them regardless. Just how I am training you.” And the look he’d given her had made her shift on her feet. Azriel noted the tell and she’d gone still again.

“As I said, complete silence is imposible, but if the sound could be reduced enough to almost imperceivable, it will seem completely quiet. Let’s begin with your footwork.”

Elain slammed back to reality when Lucien mentioned Koschei. And she blinked a few times to remember she was in the river house foyer and not in the ceiling or garden training with—

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

Lucien frowned slightly before saying, “Vassa doesn’t have much time here, before Koschei pulls on her reins. What is Feyre and Rhysand’s plan to find his location?” His eye held a shine and Elain could have sworn she saw fire dancing in his golden iris. His voice had also taken on a fierceness that Elain couldn’t help but admire.

“I don’t know the specifics of it, but Rhysand and Feyre have been trying to find a safe way to visit his lake.” Elain hesitated for a second, not knowing if this information was clear to share or not, but Lucien was their ally, and he was friends with Vassa, who might be the best source of intel they had at the moment. “Azriel and Cassian had an encounter with the death god at his lake already and it did not end well.”

“Bryallin had the crown, that’s how she had controlled Cassian,” Rhys had said in one of their meetings with the Inner Circle. Elain had been walking past the door in the hallway, but she had stopped and listened.

Azriel had spoken next, the sound of his voice making her heart skip. “My shadows warned me to run from there, Rhys. Even if Koschei had no controlling powers, those he does have are dangerous. I’m still not sure how Elain’s —and Feyre and Nesta’s— father could strike a deal with him.”

“Koschei also said he had been preparing for us or some other shit like that,” Cassian added. “I’m not sure if it’s wise to return there without learning more, finding a weakness or something.”

“We know he wants Vassa back,” Amren suggested.

Feyre spoke up, “We are not going to use Vassa as a bargaining ship, Amren.”

“I also don’t think Vassa could guarantee our safety.” Rhys’s comment was followed by a short silence.

A shadow had flowed out through the open door and glanced —or what Elain would interpret as a glance from a shadow— at her before quietly making its way back to Azriel. Elain had taken a step closer to the gap and looked inside the study to see it lift to his ear. The shadowsinger did not glance towards the door, but she saw him smile. Her heart ached with the sudden need to touch those slightly twisted lips.

“We’d be fools to try to taunt Koschei with Vassa, who is still enslaved to him. We need something else, something he wouldn’t venture to hurt us for. Something he wants or, as Cassian said, something that’s his weakness.”

Elain looked up at Lucien now. “Do you think Queen Vassa would agree to meet with Rhysand and Feyre? Now that Azriel and Cassian saw Koschei and his lake themselves, they might understand better any instruction Vassa gives. We need all the help we can get.”

Lucien began nodding even before she had finished her question, his eye filling with hope —for the human queen, Elain noted. “Anything you need, Vassa will be happy to provide as long as she knows about it or if she’s not enchanted against speaking of.”

“Enchanted?”

Lucien’s brow furrowed. “Sometimes Vassa finds it difficult to speak of certain things. She’d be speaking one moment and the next second she’d forget what she was about to say. She never understands it, but my eye,” he gestured to his metal eye, “picks spells up.” His gold eye darkened. “Koschei won’t let her speak of some things, I’m guessing they are vital to learning how to defeat him.”

Elain dipped her chin and tucked away the information for later, when she got to tell her sister and her mate what Lucien told Elain.

The male before her said a few things more regarding the human territory —Elain placing on her face the most neutral mask she could muster, Azriel’s impassive face as her guideline— before bidding her goodbye.

Elain was accompanying him to the door when she realized she should have had invited him into a parlor and offered tea or anything. He was outside before she could apologize, but he turned to her abruptly, like he had been fighting an impulse that won out in the end. Elain just blinked at him, waiting.

“I—” His face flushed. “It was nice seeing you.”

Elain bowed her head and told herself being polite was not the same thing as accepting their fated bond. “As was seeing you.”

Lucien opened his mouth like he might say more, but then he closed it and bowed. He turned swiftly and walked away from the estate.

Elain watched him go, wondering if she would have felt something for him if she had met him differently. He was noble, that much was true for her. But there was no spark of joy in her heart when she saw him. Instead, she couldn’t help but feeling disdain at being around him. It had more to do with the stupid mating bond than it did him. More to do with how everyone expected them to get together at one point or another. More to do with the fact that it was not up to her to decide. The mating bond with Lucien felt like she had no choice.

But if she had met him differently?

Hazel eyes flashed in her mind. A scarred hand extending towards her before guiding her to the garden. Wings sunning as she drank tea and plotted out in her head the next section of the terrain.

Elain shut the door, a sad smile appearing on her face. It would not have mattered if Lucien and Elain had met differently. She had met Azriel first, and it had been born out of him being with the good side. Him wanting to help the humans who had no way of defending themselves.

He had been the one to listen to her when her visions had her speaking in code. It had been him who had assured everyone she was not crazy, but special. That she was not lacking anything, but had gained something.

Elain had tried to ignore it, but this meeting with her mate, where she had not been able to push away memories of moments spent with Azriel from her mind... She could not deny it any longer.

Her feelings for Azriel were like weeds in her heart. The more she tried to cut them, the more they grew and spread. She was so far gone that not even a conversation with Lucien could stop her from thinking about her shadowsinger.

She was buried underneath it. The ivy of her emotions for him. The ivy of him.

It kept on growing.

[kimberly-spirits13]

Magic (October  8) Jason x reader (Child of Hecate) HC

You were the child of Hecate and inherited her magical abilities 

Since she had you formed out of death, magic, and by her own, you had the power and the divinity of a Greek god/ goddess 

You also probably inherited some of the Nyx power considering how much time you with here

Very Underworld inherited powers 

Jason probably saw you in death 

At least glimpses of you 

It was strange since he would just be in this state of near delusion and you would just float by, smiling or giving him a nod before disappearing 

When he was resurrected, he had dreams about you since you could control them

Eventually, he met you on a mission once with Artemis and he saw you 

He immediately recognized you as the person he had seen in death and in his sleep every night 

“Y/N.” Artemis bowed to you as this magical presence swept over the area.

“Artemis please, there’s no need for such formalities.” You said smiling at her giving out your hand for her to take before you pulled her into a hug, “I’ve missed you greatly. How are you?” 

“I’m doing as best I can for post battle.” She laughed hitting your back jokingly, “Oh, this is Jason. He is my teammate.” 

“We’ve met before.” You said, “Jason, correct?”

“Uh- uh yeah.” “I’m not familiar with your name.”

“Y/N.” 

“Jason be more eloquent, they’re the child of the goddess, Hecate.” Artemis said.

“Please Artemis, I really don’t care.” 

“You're the kid of - Hecate?” “Is that why I saw you in-”

“Yes, I am.”

So from there you guys started hanging out and talking 

“I had a feeling that you wouldn’t be there for long.” You said one day sitting on a rooftop of Gotham.

“Why is that?” Jason asked.

“I’ve been around for a while, sometimes you just know who will find a way past the “eternal”,” You threw your hands up as air quotes,”curtain of death.” 

Eventually you were dating after a few months to a year

Jason felt like he had known you for his entire life 

It was just something that he didn’t understand that pulled you two together 

He also didn’t have to worry about you dying 

You didn’t really either since he was in favor of your family 

That was an extremely difficult thing to do 

Especially when Aphrodite or someone caught feelings 

*Cough* Dionysus *Cough* *Cough* Apollo *Cough Cough*

Anyways...

That was typically solved quickly with either help from your mother’s close friend, Nyx or by yourself 

Jason thinks that you’re just a badass all around 

Tim almost faints when he meets you 

Dick is just impressed and asks tons of questions 

Damian takes an instant liking 

In hindsight, it made sense what with your aesthetic and relations 

Damian was always wanting you to come over and either explain things about mythology, show your powers, or train him in more stealth strategies 

Jason sometimes got jealous but it was cool cause his family approves even if he won’t admit it 

You don’t tell him since you’re sure that he knows, but you have a charm over him to keep him from having terrible nightmares

There’s always this sense of calmness but also this dark presence when you’re around that some find extremely intimidating but Jason finds comfort in it since it’s so familiar to what he’s comfortable with 

It’s something that keeps him grounded even if it’s terrifying for some 

Bruce will have to admit that he was unnerved for a second by it 

He’s just happy that Jason’s happy and that he has someone looking out for him with at least some level of wisdom 

Jason is so happy that he found someone that gets him and was literally there with him through the worst 

Someone that understands so deeply what pain and sorrow is like 

Someone like you that understands in deeper meaning and sees in darker more vibrant colors 

He’s also glad that you’re a night owl 

Kind of just a trait from your mother and other relatives 

You understand family drama all too well and get what he’s going through but on a more extreme level if you know what I mean 

Those gods/ goddesses go batshit crazy sometimes 

If you have an apartment it’s either just massively luxurious since Greek gods somehow have this inherent, endless abundance of wealth 

The other alternative is this lovely, comfortable, cozy, large but not overbearing 

Just somewhere where it’s easy to get lost but never feel that way 

Somewhere familiar but an adventure every single time 

To Jason, you’re his holy ground and he wouldn’t have it any other way 

[smallraindrops-blog]

In " borrow time " I think of something sad that I want your opinion about it

What if Zagreus ends up pregnant and what fears just eats her up from the inside that she ranaway from home and somehow hide in the underworld, making it a place where she feels safe and give birth to twins one is very weak that she used her blood and that brings the child back with that if they ever go to the surface they can only go at night, ( basing a story where mostly farmers, poets and crafters go where that is not elysium )

Meaning the twins are minor gods liked herself and in a history repeats itself they trying to find out about their linage even if their father is a shade now they still wanted to know about their mother past

Zagreus is a very protective mother and a caring one at that

Oooh since you only want my opinion, I’m gonna respond in under a readmore ( which I'm glad about I wanted to left it up to the reader if it a happy ending or sad ending) also if you know the name of that story I would love to know the name of it becasue i haven’t heard that one before with Greek stories before.

Birth would hard and long and painful but I would like to think her mother ( and Nyx) would be there to help during it even with all of their issues.

Soon with her mom’s help, since Zagreus wouldn’t be fighting shape for a while. Her mortal will meet their children in the dark of night and will love them so much. (His biggest regret in life and death would be missing their birth and not being there to help their mother. And not being able to break their mother’s and their curse.)

He will try to find a way to break to curse and bring his family to the surface world but failed. However once he pass, he will spent as much time as he could with Zagreus and their children. ( I like to think he will meet Achilles - who Zagreus thinks of her actual father-and earn his approval eventually.)

Zagreus would be such a good mother and tbh I like to think their father would still be involved in childhood even as an shade and would do his best to give Zagreus whatever she needs.

Even if he was a shade, he will support Zagreus and be her consort. He would do anything to make sure his wife and children are happy, and often tell them tale of the surfaces. He will learn what the underworld has to offer and still try to help people.

Zagreus would be so protective, not wanting her kids to deal with the same things she had to.

Like If Hades thought she was a trouble maker before, she would rebuilt the underworld if that what it took. So far, it haven’t come to that. Yet.

[princekirijo]

if i were to ask you for a yukamitsu infodump would you do it?

Speaking of which, can we have a yukamitsu infodump?

Anon I am vibrating at the speed of light that's how happy you've just made me. I will infodump about them no problem no questions asked. This got ridiculously long so I have to put a read more in. Enjoy me incomprehensibly screaming about my favorite ship of all time 💀

Ok so yukamitsu. It's honestly my favorite ship/pairing out of any media ever because I think it's so well done and there's a LOT of material for it in canon. So ok to start off the beginning. It's very obvious from the start that Yukari dislikes/distrusts Mitsuru because she blames her for what happened to her father (she's basically the closest she can get to the Kirijo Group so I can understand why she directs most of her anger at her). Now Mitsuru I think can tell that Yukari doesn't like her but doesn't let it show that it bothers her. I think it does upset Mitsuru a little because we see her getting sad at Yakushima when Yukari lashes out at her and also after the love hotel mission. Speaking of the love hotel mission in the female route as far as I know they can literally end up in a room together under the influence of the shadow (like femc and Akihiko and it's very heavily implied that the same thing happened because Mitsuru gets very flustered and says "oh nothing happened") which is like mega gay. So there is tension between the two at the start for good reason to be honest.

But after the Yakushima stuff Yukari starts to shift the blame towards the Kirijo Group itself as opposed to Mitsuru so the tension between them alleviates a bit. Now the drama CD that I listened to yesterday was set during the summer school stuff. And in that the tension between the two was present BUT it was now because Yukari was annoyed with Mitsuru over something that she couldn't quite understand. Until she realizes that it wasn't Mitsuru that was upsetting her exactly but herself. Because she could see that Mitsuru was taking on too much work AND YUKARI COULDN'T FIND A WAY TO HELP HER. She was upset with her own helplessness to help Mitsuru if that makes sense. Mitsuru realizes that Yukari was upset with her taking on too much responsibility and the cd ends with Mitsuru asking Yukari specifically to help her with student council work because she wanted to spend time with her DEAR FRIEND and COMPANION. Now look that's pretty gay if you ask me ok. I don't go out of my way to hang out with friends and call them my companions unless I'm crushing/interested in them in that way. Also to make amends Mitsuru offers Yukari the use of her private shower which you know, that's a pretty big deal.

Then fast forward a few months (big P3 spoilers here) and we get to Mitsuru's dad dying and Yukari recovering the true recording of her dad. The recording is important because it basically removes any of the blame Yukari had towards Mitsuru over her dad dying by showing that her dad sacrificed himself to stop the crazy experiments and also showed that Yukari's dad loved her. So Yukari knows what it's like to lose a parent you're close to. And she can see that Mitsuru is in so much pain from losing her own father. She goes looking for her just before the Kyoto trip because she heard she wasn't going and convinces her to come because she knew it would do her good. Then god the Kyoto scene. THE KYOTO SCENE MAN KILLS ME. Mitsuru breaking down and admitting that her whole reason for fighting was to protect her father (which nobody else knew) and now he was gone she didn't have a reason to live. Then Yukari literally slapping some sense into her and reminding her that she had other reasons to live and that she had to uphold her father's legacy and get rid of the dark hour for both their fathers' sakes. And then Mitsuru turning around and thanking Yukari and asking her to stand by her side until the end. Ok aside from that sounding weirdly like a marriage vow (til death do us part pretty fucking gay Mitsuru) it's also a sign that Mitsuru is starting to trust others. The only other time she ever made a vow/promise similar to this is to herself to protect her father and relieve him of his burden no matter what. AND YET HERE SHE IS MAKING A SIMILAR VOW TO YUKARI. A VOW THAT CAUSES HER TO AWAKEN TO HER ULTIMATE PERSONA AND STRENGTH HER RESOLVE TO LIVE AND DEFEAT THE DARK HOUR NO MATTER WHAT. Don't touch me I am CRYING. Also in the middle of all that Yukari is like "oh let's take a bath together" and Mitsuru BLUSHES. Mitsuru only blushes twice in the main story (not including her Social Link). And both of those times as because of Yukari. Also I'm sorry who asks if you want to take a bath together I don't know about you but I'm not gonna turn around to my "best friend" and be like ahaha wanna take a bath and get naked together :] like who does that Yukari unless you're pretty gay for said person.

Then ok I could sit here and scream about the drama CDs New Moon and Full Moon (which fun reminder that they are canon :]) but this is super long already and I still have more to talk about. But they happen after the Kyoto trip and are incredibly gay. The whole thing can be summed up by Yukari shooting down a helicopter to save Mitsuru and "aiming with the power of her heart". She says that word for word by the way. Oh and Mitsuru's mother literally approves of their relationship and wants to meet Yukari.

Then after that there's just little scenes between them. For example in December when all of SEES are deciding what to do about Ryoji. Mitsuru goes into Yukari's room to talk to her about the whole thing and the first thing Yukari says is "aww are you feeling lonely ;)" in a really teasing (borderline flirty imo) voice and Mitsuru giggles and is like "are you teasing me". Like that little exchange is so playful and it's so nice to see them just bonding casually given everything that's happened between them before. And then they both resolve not to give up and to fight Nyx together no matter what. Which is super cute and gay. There's also a scene around this stage in the fourth movie where Yukari seems to be almost suicidal and Mitsuru getting really concerned about her. This even leads to Io (because the ultimate personas don't show up until the very end in the movies which was weird but anyway) trying to attack Yukari and Mitsuru and the others freaking out. I'm not doing that scene justice because it's been a while since I saw the last movie but it's very gay.

Then there's the Answer. After Yukari breaks down at the thought of not being able to rescue the Protagonist who comforts her?? Mitsuru. Mitsuru tells her that she didn't actually agree with what she was doing but she didn't want Yukari to fight alone and wanted to repay her for helping her deal with the loss of her father. And then she says she considers Yukari standing by her side during the main story was one of the most cherished moments of her life. Because remember up until this point Mitsuru had massive difficulty opening up to anyone and Yukari was the first person she truly opened up to. This scene makes me cry every time because like to see Mitsuru be so supportive of Yukari and gently reminder that she has friends to lean on and their hug just makes me so soft and tender.

That's all the canon stuff. As for my own feelings well I really started shipping them because of everything that happens in canon but like the idea of them ending up together makes me so happy and soft. Both of them had pretty rough childhoods and they both lost their fathers whom they were close to so like they understand each other on a fundamental level. Yukari was the first person that Mitsuru ever properly opened up to and Yukari also really cares for Mitsuru even when she was apprehensive of her and blamed her for the death of her father. I just think they're perfect for each other and the idea of them being happily married makes me so soft. Which is pretty much why I have a whole au about my fankids for them.

Ultimately I just think that their relationship in canon is really powerful and really well done. The ship is a beautiful example of enemies to friends to lovers and I just love them with all my little gay heart.

[a-world-in-grey]

1) adfjskal HOW DARE. 2) Sola/Nox verse- any specifics for Sola's reaction to Nox/Ardyn near the Crystal? And Ardyn/Regis/Co reactions to Sola's later death via KoL? (Am I reading right? She dies?) - Nani

*snrk* Okay, I’m assuming you’re referring to that Shadow snippet I posted earlier, which, yeah, that’s fair. XD (If it’s a different post, well, that’s probably still fair.)

Yes, Sola dies when she reaches too deep and meets the KoL. Hence Nox flipping his shit. However, Ardyn is a good and paranoid Uncle who ensured the Glaives have a supply of phoenix downs because he refuses to lose either of his niblings.

Sola’s reaction to Nox and Ardyn nearing the Crystal-

-Short version: Not. Happy.

-Long version: Also Not. Happy. and wanting to STAB someone for it. (Preferably Mors, but there’s the slight complication of him already being dead.)

-Slight twist to @secret-engima‘s original post on this, but this takes place before Ardyn is revealed as an LC, before Nox and Sola’s Coming of Age but after Nox and Sola join the Kingsglaive, so anywhere from 16-17.

-Sola’s honestly not keen on introducing Uncle Ardyn or her twin to the Crystal. Not for any logical reason, but she can feel how much Ardyn and Nox do not want to go near the thing. Tradition states that all LCs have to be introduced to the Crystal - usually around 5 years old, Sola remembers Noctis’ introduction - and Uncle Ardyn is allowed to watch as family. 

-(How Papa hasn’t figured out Uncle Ardyn is his brother Sola doesn’t know, she figured it out in two seconds, but it’s Uncle’s secret to tell.)

-But yeah, Tradition requires an introduction. Sola feels Ardyn and Nox’s unease and thinks Tradition can go jump on Ifrit’s Pyre.

-Ardyn glows first from where he stands by Titus, and Sola has to take deep breaths and suppress her magic to a spark to keep her sheer rage from exploding like a Bomb. She’s seen Uncle’s medical file. She knows what Mors (not Grandfather, never Grandfather) did to him.

-But knowing is different from seeing, and Sola wishes she could resurrect Mors so she could inflict each and every one of Uncle’s scars on him before burning him alive.

-Then she realizes that Nox hasn’t stopped. That her little brother is also glowing, but not from any of his scars. Instead, it’s the odd patches of unblemished skin on his chest and back - over his heart - that glow a brighter blue than any of Uncle’s, brighter even than the brand stamped in pure magic.

-Sola goes dead white.

-She’s been a medic for months now, and trained with the glaive for almost a year before that. Sola knows intimately how potions, hi-elixirs, and phoenix downs work, she’s used them countless times. She makes the connection almost immediately.

-Her Little Brother. Died. 

-Someone. Killed. Her Brother. 

-Sola can’t breathe. Can’t think as words vanish in the hiss of fiery fury burning through her blood.

-Ghostly blades appear through Nox’s chest, and Sola doesn’t remember lunging forward alongside Uncle Ardyn. Doesn’t remember Uncle Ardyn scooping Nox into his arms and dragging Nox away from the Crystal until both their scars stop glowing.

-Sola doesn’t remember planting herself between them and the Crystal, magic flaring hot and bright and furious, curling her magic about Ardyn and Nox in a protective embrace. A snarl tearing from her throat, low and inhuman, reverberating throughout the horrified silence and dipping far below what anyone with purely human senses can hear, but can feel vibrating in their bones. 

-(It sends shivers down their spines. It’s one thing to hear of the Draconian’s Rage. It’s an entirely different beast to see it. To feel the protective fury in Sola’s magic, turning the air golden as she tries to shield them from the Crystal’s magic with her own.)

-She remembers Nox’s explanation. Remembers the grief-betrayal-pain from Nox and the anger-hate-mineminemine from Uncle Ardyn.

-Neither of them will ever go near the Crystal again. Even if she has to smash it first.

As for people’s reactions to Sola’s death-

-Regis’s first reaction is Utter Fury. First his eldest son, and now his eldest child. Two of his children have died at the hands of their ancestors. It is only his waning health that keeps him from summoning the Kings of Yore and demanding answers.

-How. Dare. They.

-It’s later, after Sola recovers (after the magic depletion and the new not-scar so similar to Nox’s) that Regis sees the sheer power now at Sola’s fingertips. Sola was once the weakest in the family. Now only Nox outstrips her (and Ardyn, but Regis won’t know that for years yet).

-He has to sit down, pale and shaking and feeling like he wants to throw up, because he saw the recordings from that fight. Saw Sola’s magical explosion, saw Nox’s own explosion when Sola’s magic died.

-Sola blazed with the force of the sun. Nox easily outstripped her, a supernova made real on the battlefield.

-If his daughter died once to have the power she now wields, how many times has Nox died, to outclass her ten times over?

-Regis thinks of ghostly blades, and fears he knows the answer.

-Ardyn does not leave Sola’s beside the entire time she’s unconscious in the hospital. (Nox is in the same room, admitted for magical exhaustion but he’s at least awake.) One hand gripping her wrist to feel her pulse despite the medical equipment because he doesn’t quite dare stop suppressing his magic even if it would let him feel Fiercest Niece that much clearer-

-He’s furious. As much as Regis is but alongside his rage towards the Lucii - towards the Mystic, because Nox didn’t see the ghostly figure that struck Sola down but Nyx did - is anger towards himself.

-Once, people called him The Healer. (The Healer King, they’d whispered, even if Ardyn was only a Prince, even if Father and the Astrals had not yet decided who would take the throne.)

-Oh, what a healer he is now.

-Even so, Ardyn cannot be angry at Sola. He wants to be, when Sola knew the cost of reaching so far yet did so regardless, knowingly discarding her own life. But his niece is so much like him. A healer. An elder sibling. Ardyn remembers what it was like being both.

-He finds he cannot be angry at her when he would have done the same once upon a time.

-Cor/Clarus/Cid’s reactions are fairly similar. Pissed. Off.

-Cor destroys three training rooms before he calms down enough to function. That’s his godsdaughter. The little girl born four months premature, who everyone but Cor worried would die before she got the chance to live-

-He remembers the first time he held her, small enough to fit in one hand. Cor remembers his fierce whisper as he promised to protect her.

-Cor failed.

-Clarus has three children of his own. Is godsfather to Noctis. Is Sola’s uncle. He has no trouble imagining the pain Regis and Cor are feeling right now.

-Beyond that, he is Sola’s highest commanding officer, being in charge of all Lucian military branches. And Sola sacrificed her life to save hundreds of her fellow glaives.

-The soldier, the general, in Clarus approves. The father/godsfather/uncle waits until Sola’s awake and recovering to give Sola the fiercest dressing down he’s given to a soldier in over fifteen years.

-Cid hears about everything from Regis. He and Cindy drop everything to come to Insomnia to support Regis/Nox respectively, and Cid sees the footage of Sola and Nox’s Magical Explosions.

-The only reason Cid isn’t first in line to yell at Sola for her Dumb Stunt is because Noctis is there when Sola wakes and beats him to it. Not that it stops him from waiting until Sola’s recovered enough to leave the hospital and whacking her upside the head.

-Nox is bad enough, he doesn’t need Sola giving him heart attacks too!

[legend-waitforit-harry]

The Only One part 16

Hi, guys! This is to distract us from the dystopian reality that we are in right now. I hope this helps you distract a bit. Also sorry for taking forever to post this. Drop by to scold me.

Here’s the masterlist. Happy reading!

You didn’t even know how big the palace was until you decided to avoid a certain someone. And frankly, you didn’t need to work to hard either. Making new acquaintances, doing chores, mending your garden and slipping every now and then out to take a tour around the Underworld with Chiron telling you stories of everyone’s past, perks of living forever, was keeping you busy enough. And rarely you had the time to think about your mother and what she said, or Harry and what he said or anything of those things that you’d be thinking about. Or at least that’s what you convinced yourself on.

With all your running around, you know the Underworld like the back of your hand by now. Every nook and corner being investigated by you with the wise guidance of Nyx and the anecdotes related to those places by Chiron. And out of everything, that one spot in Elysium has become your favourite. So much so that it is now known as Kore’s groves, something that you secretly like though you express it to be a bit exaggerated. By now you have slept under the Tree of False Dreams, which is kind of a trending dare currently, and take on classes from Hekarte on her famous potion making, though you still can’t bring yourself to completely trust her. And just like that, your schedules are fully packed.

But Fates couldn’t let you be in peace for long as one evening after returning from your potions class you stumbled upon Rhea. Not that you’ve been ignoring her. Since you came back you’ve come across her a number of times and have greeted her like any other time. But this time it was different. She wanted to have a talk. And you know that has never turned out to be good for you.

You felt uncomfortable in her chamber. It’s not your territory. But her motherly presence beside you kept you from bolting out any moment now.

You knew what she’d say. That what everyone has told you in their first encounter with you after you came back. It’s good to have you back. Harry has been sad without you. The place is not the same without you.

It has been a series of awkward conversation of these statements and by now you’ve learned to dodge your way out. Though with Rhea it’s hard to do that. As she towers over you with her overpowering aura, you bend over yourself to crouch away from her investigating eyes.

“Look” she commands you, jumping straight to the point. “It might not be my position to tell you this but you need to talk to Harry.”

Your face betrays you as you stare up at her questioningly. Bloody right that she is not in a position to tell you that! Not only is it your personal affair but also Harry doesn’t even accept her as his mother!

She sighs shaking her head. “I know what you’re thinking” your head drops with a bit of guilt spreading up your cheeks. “But think of it this way, you came here to fulfill your duty to the Realm and you haven’t even talked to him yet! What’s the point of your sacrifice if you don’t even own up your role?”

You don’t have an answer. She’s right. As much as you’d like to deny, she is right.

You feel a pat on your shoulder, “Do your duty, m'child. And the Fates will be kind on you.”

“Okay” you murmur with defeat.

You feel her wanting to say something more and you wait for it.

But nothing comes.

She shuffles to her feet and you follow her suit.

You look up to meet her smiling face. “I’ve tried to correct my errors. Alas it is not my will to change the course of destiny. Maybe it is my repeated sins that stained my intents even when it is but pure.”

“What?”

You surprise the both of you with that question. But she smiles at your eagerness.

“You didn’t ever wonder why Nyx betrayed you the day you found your way to Harry’s chamber?”

You frown trying to recall a day that seems eons ago. A day you were guided by the voice of angels that came from Harry’s throat to stumble upon his private chambers. But you did wonder about that. And you scolded Nyx and she apologized…. Or so you thought.

And it struck you then.

It was Rhea who told you about the meeting. It was Rhea who guided you to the chamber. It was Rhea who wanted you to stumble upon Harry. It was Rhea who wanted you to be with him all along.

Her relationship with her son was barely holding on and she hoped that you’d be the ointment to heal it. But it’s not what the fates had approved and here you are.

You find yourself in your chamber staring at the ceiling as you lie awake. Is it really necessary to talk to him? Not that you wanted to ignore him forever. But you are a bit disappointed that he is not the one who came to you first. You kind of hoped that. But anyway, it doesn’t matter either way. Though, since you’ve waited for so long anyway, what’s another day to it.

And so you waited another day. Trying to push it as much as possible.

With the first thing in the morning being your garden. Tending to your garden has always been your first job of the day, seeing how the fungus is still giving you trouble. And then concerting a little tea party with Nyx and Thanatos in that said garden. You’ve come to learn that Thanatos is indeed very funny, with his dry humor. And you thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Then you order Chiron to row you to your potions class to Hekarte followed by being told off by Hekarte the whole day for being a klutz.

As the day closed in you grew more and more nervous. Packing up your things you stumbled your way into Chiron’s boat.

In these few days that you’ve take the liberty to learn Underworld, Chiron has become of the closest people you have here, only second to Nyx. Thus he can see right through you as you fidget around.

“What has got you? Did you sneak up another one those secret potions of Hekarte?”

“No, and I didn’t sneak up anything the last time either!” You whine. “I just confused it for her herbal tea. She conjures up a new recipe for those everyday anyway”

“I just don’t want you to grow any fangs or anything” he has a laugh at your silliness as you huff and puff.

“What is it?”

“What’s what?” You act indifferent.

“What is it that got into your teeny brain making you jitter around in my teeny boat?”

“There’s nothing” you shrug.

“Oh C'mon. Let the old man some peace and spill the beans.”

“Yeah, you’re old.” You say rolling your eyes. “And I’m a wee baby”

“You are, to me”

“Shut up!” His laughs echos making you resonate as well.

There is a pause after your laughter dies down. Only for for the sound of the water against the oars.

“Tell me what is it. You’ll feel better”

You will. You know. You stare at your clammy hands as the playfulness drains your cheeks.

“I have to talk to him”

“Hm you sound determined”

“I have to be”

“Do you want me to join?”

“No, I’ll have to do it alone.”

“You sure about that? Don’t want me to show him the guns? It has been long since I’ve seen him. About time he meets the boys.”

Chiron says kissing his barely existing biceps and you have to laugh your head off at the sight.

“Hey, don’t stress yourself out.” He smiles the way that gets wrinkles by his eyes making him look much older. “He is a bit thick in here” he taps his temple earning a chuckle from you. But then you realize you’ve stopped. You’ve reached your destination.

He helps you out of the boat as usual. But today he smiles at you as he whispers a “All the best”. You nod with gratitude.

~

Your steps fall heavily echoing through the halls. You don’t feel ready but this is it. Your feet carry you to his chamber. Something in you tells you he’s there. And you hope against hope that he is, because if he isn’t then you don’t have the courage to find him or talk to him again on another occasion.  And your prayers are answered as you find the door closed but not bolted.

You knock.

No answer.

You knock again.

Silence.

You take upon yourself to push the door open, or maybe it was the frustration of not being approached first, but either way you step inside with a bang that jolt Harry up from his slumber.

“Who’s that?”

You stare at the puffy eyed Harry with his messy hair staring back at you.

“Oh, it’s you.”

“You don’t sound very glad.”

“Hm I just didn’t expect you.”

Did you ever?

“Are you busy?”

“Just catching a wink. Tell me.”

He gets up pouring himself some water.

“I wanted to join you in duty”

“What?”

“The duty I came to do?”

His face drops at the reminder, it’s the duty you came back for. He nods.

“You’ll need training.”

“Excuse me?”

All these days of just lying around in captivity and it’s now that he remembers about training?

“What? It’s not a child’s play to govern the real of the most notorious. You have to have training first.”

“What do I have to do?”

He think a bit. “Just sit there looking calm and authoritative, mostly”

Your jaw drops. “I need training for that?!” You seethe at him.

“Try being all calm when there are millions of souls at your feet begging for mercy.”

You stay silent.

“Nice save.”

“Thanks” he says plopping himself down beside you.

There’s a pause. You can’t help your mind going back to the last encounter you had with him. Staring at the door you start thinking of excuses to runaway right now. Do you even need excuses now?

“I didn’t know if you want me to meet you”

Another pause.

“I did.”

He nodded, though you didn’t face him you felt it.

“I knew…. Heard about Kore’s groves”

“Do you mind?” You turn to him suddenly remembering his hesitations to let you out in the realm.

“No, I think it sounds nice. You made your mark in your new home”

Your heart warmed up at his words against your will.

“It’d be nice if we could be like before as well”

“Before as in when I was in your captive?”

He froze. “I have only one explanation lil’ one, if you’ll allow me” You don’t say a word. You don’t move an inch. “I chose you. You, in particular, were never gifted to me. Yes, we had a deal. And according to that deal I could have taken anyone of his daughters. But it was you I chose. And I don’t even say that you need to reciprocate. You can choose whoever you want as your consort. But I have chosen to serve you as my Queen forever.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit unfair?” You look at him from the corner of your eyes, the first time your eyes meeting since you walked in. “It’s pressurising me into choosing you as you’ve already chosen for yourself. It’s like having to choose the last morsel because that’s all that’s left!”

He chuckles, “Never have I ever been compared to the last morsel before. But no. It is not! Fates knows there are so many God’s who take partners for themselves other than their consorts. And being the Queen you’re free to your will. It is just me declaring that I am not to take anyone other than you, even if you don’t take me.”

“That is still not fair.”

“I will never do what’s not fair to you, lil’ one”

“How would I know that after all you’ve done?” You feel anger bubbling inside you.

“I know, it seems far fetched but it was all for you! I’ll never do anything against you is what I mean!”

“You are unbelievable”

“No, you’re not getting it”

“Not getting what?!”

“Leave it.”

“No.” You sit facing him now. Glaring at him with pouting your lips. You’d have thought you must look like a kid right now if you weren’t already this furious. “Tell me. Right now.”

Harry takes a deep breathe. He slowly turns to face you. And when your eyes meet, the spring green of his eyes rimmed by the redness of sleep, it knocks the breathe out of your lungs. But you don’t say anything.

He opens his mouth but only to swipe his tongue over his bottom lip. He doesn’t know how to proceed. And you think if you listen close, you can feel his heartbeat as well. And that makes you nervous.

“What I’m trying to say is… ”

And at last he takes a deep breath in as if he is going to dive into the deep ocean and throw out what he has kept buried in the depth of the abyss of his heart.And then it comes.

“I love you”

[amethysttail]

Glaiveweek 2020- Day 2. This Never Happened

Day 2 of Glaiveweek 2020! @glaiveweek

Prompt: Fun and Games- Prank Wars, Tickle Fights, Hide and Seek Warp Tag

Summary: A glitter bomb in Titus Drautos’s personal office starts a series of shenanigans never before seen in the Citadel. Eyebrows, laundry, and dignity are lost. For a moment, all hell breaks loose. Then the King walks in to check on his glaives. What he sees will never be forgotten.

Titus Drautos stretched, watching heavy raindrops spatter his window. Monday meant training with the glaives, supply forms, meeting with the king, and preparing his budget proposal for the council to approve... He rubbed his eyes tiredly. Getting the money needed to keep the glaive running was like pulling teeth out of those stingy bastards. 

A boom startled the Captain into glancing down below. Lightning flashed as a bunch of newer glaives ran from the safety of the parking garage into their headquarters. The greenhorns whooped at the cold, splashing each other as they ran. The more experienced glaives warped the distance, laughing. Titus smiled, and gathered himself together. Time to address the troops. 

Midmorning combat drills in the arena began with Titus circulating with critique. Nyx was quick, but needed endurance. Libertus had him panting after the first few rounds. Good team- balanced eachother out... Tredd lost his patience and was subsequently thrown by Luche into a wall. Crowe had to be repeatedly reminded that fire did not solve everything, and Pelna lost an eyebrow in her resulting demonstration that fire did indeed solve everything. The only senior members not giving Titus a headache were Axis and Sonitus- just smoothly sparring like everyone was supposed to be. 

The Captain massaged his temples as a resounding boom, flash, and cut off screech filled the arena. Crowe had not only broken through Pelna’s shield, but also managed to dash him against the ground hard enough to knock him unconscious. She was at his side, checking him over apologetically. Nothing broken, aside from some pride, and a probable concussion. 

“I’ll take him to the hospital. Crowe, no more magic in combat sparring! Tredd, if you don’t like the taste of dirt, change your approach! Luche, you are in charge while I’m gone. After drills, run through the warp course- focus on precision. And when we get back, meet in the briefing hall. Crownsguard wants to run security simulations in the castle- joint exercise might be good for us all.” Titus called out, after hefting the noodly Pelna in his arms.

Various murmurs of assent rose behind them as they left. Pelna came to a few minutes later, groggily settling into a seat in a crown fleet vehicle. The trip to and from the hospital was uneventful- Pelna would be fine if he took it easy, it was a mild concussion. The glaive was more embarrassed to have been carried off by his boss after passing out. The paperwork was minimal, and they were out of the hospital in no time. The glaive seemed more steady as time went on, but there was a slight wobble to his movements as they got back in the vehicle.

“I’m sorry for being a bother, thank you for the ride.” Pelna stated, eyes down as he buckled in.

 “I take care of my glaives. Be thankful it is only a mild concussion” Titus stated fondly.

By lunch they were back, and Titus explained the proposed joint field exercises with the crownsguard. The glaives seemed open to the idea. The captain delegated requisition forms work to Pelna for the afternoon, and asked that Crowe check in on him every so often. With peace seemingly achieved, Titus left them to afternoon resistance training and cardio. 

Crowe descended on Pelna the second the captain was out the door. 

“I was out of line, I am so sorry- are you ok?” 

“Mild concussion, just a bit tired. I’m ok, just don’t hit so hard, ok?”

“Yeah...I’ll check on you, no napping while concussed.” Crowe hugged him softly, smoothing his hair where it stuck up and running a finger where his left eyebrow no longer was. Pelna smiled softly, and hugged back. 

“Take it easy, Khara. I’ll be up after the first rotation.” She smiled, lightly tickling him under his arms. He flinched, squeaking, and fled when her smile turned predatory. She chuckled at his swift retreat, and turned to the weight room, where the other glaives had started. 

One rotation later, Crowe trotted up the stairs with a mug of tea to and down the hall to the offices, to find Pelna semi-asleep over a stack of forms and files. She smiled and slid the mug over the desk. 

“Pels? Peeellls? Wake uppp…” A murmur in response.  

“I brought tea, just the way you like ittt.” A grunt. 

“Please? I know it's hard, and my fault, so here is my support. Wake up!” A grumbled five more minutes mom had Crowe tickling his neck. He squirmed and hiked his shoulders up, slapping lightly at her hands. She slipped a hand under his arm and dug into his pit. Pelna squealed and burst into giggles. Crowe grinned as his arms crashed down, trapping her hand there. She kept it up for just a squidge more and then stopped enough for her to get her hand back. “Awake now?” She grinned at his tired nod. 

“Sorry. The lights kind of hurt my eyes, so I closed them for just a sec…” He rubbed the heels of his palms over his eyes, groaning. 

“Drink the tea, and there are some energy bars left in the snack drawer. I suggest breaks. It helped me when Libertus knocked me into that rock formation a few months back...I still haven’t repaid him for that…” 

“No more injuries today, Miss Altuis. Please?”

“Very well, Mister Khara. Drink, and eat. I promise no blood will be spilled by me today. But you gave me a lovely idea.” Pelna nodded tiredly and lightly sipped at the tea, letting the caffeinated warmth soak into his bones. Crowe skipped lightly back down the hall. Second rotation was about to begin, she had to hurry. Down the stairs she saw the door ajar and heard voices on the other side. Impatiently she yanked the door open and squawked as ice water drenched her, bucket settling over her head with a solid clunk. Laughter echoed throughout the weight room but stopped when they saw just who they had drenched.

Time stopped as she lifted the bucket, fire coursing through her veins. She scanned the room, looking for the guilty party. There. Libertus and Nyx, trying to look innocent for the amount of time it took for her to cross the room and lob the bucket at them. 

“We weren’t trying to drench you! Tredd was being a dick, and ran to get something...We were supposed to get Tredd!” Libertus said as Tredd burst back in the room, pausing at the puddle in the doorway, and then at the sight of Crowe sopping wet, holding a giggling Nyx by the throat. 

“So unprofessional. Such children. Much wow.”  Tredd grinned and turned back to the machines, continuing his reps. 

Crowe snarled, shaking Nyx, and released her grip on his shirt only to grab at his waist. Nyx yelped and curled in on himself laughing, just as she knew he would. She clawed into the meat under his floating ribs, earning a squeal, and followed as he sank to his knees. Crowe smirked- Nyx never could take side tickles, especially if you got your nails in there just right. Nyx squished himself forward into a tight ball, howling. She plopped down onto his back, searching for just the right angle. He thrashed weakly under her, and cried out to Libertus for help.  

“C’mon, we still need him. Release.” Libertus grunted as he attempted to slip an arm around her, only to be bitten on said arm in response. Libertus jerked back hissing. Crowe found the spot she was looking for, and Nyx broke into what the internet would call ugly laughter. He screeched and pleaded for mercy between desperate guffaws.

All in the weight room were now watching the kerfuffle as Libertus struggled to pry Crowe off Nyx. Libertus was easily the strongest glaive save the captain, but she was fighting dirty- biting, kicking. Calls of encouragement to Crowe, snickers, and fond sighs echoed around the room, training forgotten. Nyx was screeching in tears when Libertus finally hauled Crowe up, only for her to twist in his grip and jab into his ribs. He cursed and folded inward for just a sec, long enough for Crowe to clamber on his back and begin blowing vicious raspberries on the back of his neck where the braids left him exposed.  

“Release! Release!” Libertus roared, violently twisting to shake her off, getting desperate. Crowe never waivered, and continued as his strength waned. 

“How long do you think he will last?” Tredd snickered to Luche from his perch on the rowing machine. Luche leaned against the wall, smiling as Libertus started to snort between his growls at Crowe. 

“Dunno. He’s held on pretty good for a while now. Compared to some, anyway.” Luche gestured to Nyx, still panting in a ball on the floor mats. 

Tredd nodded, chuckling as Libertus broke, still thrashing, into a giggling fit punctuated by snorts of random intensity. Luche stretched, glancing out the one window- the storm still raging, even stronger now, since the rain appeared to be going sideways. Tredd snorted at the scuffle, drawing Luche’s attention back to the present. Libertus tapped out and Crowe relented with a smirk, sliding off his back and landing with a laugh. 

“Cardio in ten, then cooldown and then home.” Luche murmured. Tredd nodded absently, collecting his things, writing down their current weight and reps. The other glaives did the same, slowly collecting themselves and ambling toward the arena for laps and sprints. 

Pelna groaned, stretching his shoulders. So much damn paperwork for such stupid things. Every little thing from weapons to office supplies to toilet paper had to be requisitioned, signed, and returned for financial approval. This fucking sucked. He rubbed his eyes, and glowered at the stack of forms, slightly smaller, but still there. The captain stomped in then, looking worse for wear. 

“How was the meeting?” Pelna tried to appear chipper. 

“Slow. The council wants to challenge every little bit of our budget, and the king had little to offer…” The captain said, the anger in his eyes cooling into exhaustion.

“We're in this together, we appreciate you taking care of us.” Pelna glanced up, re shuffling the stack of papers. Drautos nodded, and walked back to his private office in the back of the cubicles, lightly shutting the door. Pelna shook his head. That. That was worse than doing boring forms all day. He couldn't imagine having to argue for toilet paper and keep a straight face. He turned back to his work, but startled when a loud pop and a shout exploded from Drautos’s office. Pelna shot up in concern, hearing vicious cursing, a second pop, and what sounded like furniture being tossed around. He was halfway across the office floor when the door to the captains office flung open, revealing Drautos, disheveled, wild eyed...and covered in fine, bright pink glitter. 

 “Are you ok Sir?” Pelna’s jaw dropped, then closed as he took in the fury building in the captain’s eyes and frame. The captain wordlessly held up the empty glitterbomb, and pointed to his office. Pelna slowly leaned around to peer into the sparkle blasted space. From the spray, it was rigged to blow when someone opened the main desk drawer, pointed right where one would sit at a desk, chest height. The second charge coated everything else. It was everywhere.The walls, part of the ceiling,the desk, cabinets, couch...the entirety of the floor...it would never come out of the cheap industrial carpet entirely…

The captain shook himself like a dog, shedding a fair amount of pink sparkles, but as with any fine glitter, it stuck to his skin and clothes. Pelna watched in silence as the captain strode over to glare into the mirror by the small kitchenette in the corner. He snarled, and rounded on the backpedaling glaive. 

“You're not the type for this kind of stupidity, Khara. Did anyone come to visit my office?” Pelna shook his head, glancing worriedly at the door. Drautos was not one for outbursts- his control was normally too strong, but the ridiculousness of the situation had worn that away.

“I don’t know who did this, but when I find out who..” Drautos grinned, all teeth. 

Pelna nodded, slowly backing towards the door. It might have been the light. It might have been Pelna’s concussion messing with his sight, but with a boom of thunder the power flickered out and Drautos’s eyes glowed blood red in the dark. Pelna’s heart skipped a beat as the captain laughed, talking to himself about what he was going to do to the prankster. It was too much, the glaive backed slowly out of the offices, turning to warn the others.

The group prepared in the arena, lightly warming up. The usual three laps around the arena for a main workout, and then one lap interval sprints for max overload. Lightning flashed overhead, the carbon dome of the arena showing the storm’s fury on full display. The glaives looked up into the gale. Some sleepy, some calm, some excited, and some indifferent. But they all looked. And the power flicked out. Murmurs of surprise flicked around the group, then of concern when Pelna warped into the arena. He staggered with the landing- stupid to warp while concussed- but he looked like a man on a mission. 

“Drautos is coming! Whoever in the mother of fuck did it needs to run for their lives- stat!”

“Who did what?” Luche steadied the teetering glaive, putting an arm around him for stability. 

“Who did what indeed, my glaives…” Drautos rumbled from the hallway entrance. There was a collective intake of breath at the sight of the captain of the kingsglaive plastered in pink glitter prowling along the edge of the arena. The newer glaives choked back grins, and the more experienced glaives barely held back dropped jaws. Pranking each other was one thing- a common occurrence even!- but glittering the captain? Unthinkable. Until now.  

“Since nothing is sacred, the afternoon cardio session will be different from the usual. I want the prankster. Until I get a name, we are going to play a little game.” The glaives dared not to move as their captain circled, grinning with no mirth. No one said a word as Drautos spun, shedding sparkles like a murderous Tinkerbell, typing in a long string of numbers into a security keypad. The building shuddered slightly, and red emergency lights flicked on every so often. Enough to see by, but not enough to see well. Lockdown. 

“Sir?...” Libertus began in concern, but was cut off by a laugh. 

“Lockdown, as you know, means that the doors to the outside are shuttered and barred, as are the windows, and passageways to the rest of the citadel. We are locked in. There is just the domed arena, and the facilities in the corners- the offices to the north, barracks in the east, armory in the south, and holding cells in the west... I want a name.” 

The glaives glanced at each other nervously. Pelna looked at the most rambunctious glaives- Nyx, Tredd, Libertus, Crowe, Luche...all had the wild eyes of kids being blamed for something they didn't do. The others peered into the darkness, innocence on their sleeves. Pelna’s brow furrowed. Who the fuck did it? 

“Until I get a name, we will be playing unfair hide and seek. For the next two hours, I will seek- and drag those I catch into the holding cells. Those who are caught will run laps and polish the armory for the next week.” A communal gulp spread through the soldiers. 

“Those of you who manage to remain free will have no punishment. If I get a name, all get off free and we forget this happened.” The group inhaled and steeled themselves. Nobody had a name to give, or had the balls to speak up. 

“Very well...you have two hours.” Drautos slid his phone out, set an alarm, slid it back in, and growled at his glaives. 

“One, two, three…” He slapped a palm over his eyes and snarled.

 Reality shimmered in the arena as all glaives present warped away at once, in a wave of effervescent fire, with an incredulous captain angrily counting to one hundred in the epicenter. The fleeing soldiers fanned out once out of hearing range. Pairs or trios of friends slipped into the gloom together, hoping to hide out, or have the option to sell eachother out. Nervous energy crackled in the dark between the red emergency lights. Where to hide? Who would get caught first? Excitement tinged the anxiety, and grins flashed in the maroon glow.

Pelna staggered down the southeast hallway- warping while concussed was awful, but doable. He glanced left- a pair of glaives scampering into the armory- Nyx and Libertus. The armory had crates of gear, weapon racks, a cargo bay, supplies....stacks of things to hide in or behind...not a bad idea. Three glaives slipped him on his right, headed towards the barracks. The barracks was the obvious choice for any seeker to start- rows of lockers, cots spread in small groups, little clusters of couches and tables. Not many glaives used the barracks often, it was just a spot to crash and heal between deployments, or for new recruits who hadn't any outside lodging arranged yet. Rent was fucking cheap, and so was the food brought in from the keep’s kitchens. Pelna stayed a month once, when he first started. It worked. 

An arm wrapped around his waist, and Pelna jolted back to reality, barely managing to restrain the punch to Crowe’s now grinning mouth. She pulled him into the shadows as a panicked shape skittered past. She held a finger against her lips, and pointed upwards. Pipes and vents ran the length of the hallway ceiling, supplying heat, air and water to the facilities. He raised his surviving eyebrow. There wasn't enough room for her to squeeze up there, let alone him, or that the air vents probably would not take their weight. She tugged him along, to the doorway to the armory, and pointed up again. He grinned- the main vent widened and dropped lower as it snaked into the armory. There was enough room for someone to curl up there in the darkness against the ceiling, definitely Crowe, probably Pelna. But both? Not without some severe cuddling. She dropped her stance, hooking her fingers together, gesturing to boost him up. His eyes widened, and he started to shake his head, but approaching footsteps quashed his thoughts. He stepped up, and jumped, boosted by Crowe. Pelna hauled himself up quickly, and slid into the shallow, low space. He spun, listening intently. He heard a grunt, and then grunted himself as Crowe popped up and tucked herself into his chest cavity. He held back a noise of surprise as she pressed her face into his neck, making herself comfortable. Or as comfortable as anyone was going to get wedged between a vent and drywall. The skittish steps passed as a lone glaive darted into the armory. They relaxed. 

“How did you know about this spot?” Pelna whispered.

“Growing up with Nyx and Libs taught me to find little nooks to hide in. Perfect spot to snipe paintballs from.” Crowe breathed, and Pelna felt her feral grin against his throat. 

“Still. How did you know we would both fit?”

“Promise not to tell?” He promised.

“Perfect napping spot. If you go to the office doorway, the hot air return is above the door. I've got a bit of canvas so my skin doesn’t stick to the metal, and some blankets up there. It's heaven.” She smiled. 

“That sounds like heaven. Can I steal a nap or two up there?” Pelna breathed. 

“Sure, as long as you leave snacks as tribute, and keep the secret..” He nodded.

The door below them to the armory crashed open. His arms slipped around her in shock, holding her close, both holding their breath, listening hard. They couldn’t see, but they could imagine.

“Here I am, glaives! Come out, come out, wherever you are…” Drautos called out into the dark armory. Silence greeted the captain, but he knew better. He grinned, settling into the game. He wanted to play with his glaives, a little mind game could give him a name faster as their nerves failed. He growled into the gloom, stalking around the edges, looking for disturbed gear and boxes. Nyx watched from his perch laying flat on the roof of a transport van. The captain was sticking to the upper armory, tapping on storage crates, Nyx was safe for the moment. As long as the captain didn’t come and check the spare vehicles by the loading dock…

The captain's snarl forced his attention back to the present, and Nyx trembled minutely. Drautos was almost to Lib’s crate- he had stuffed himself in an empty weapons crate, the only kind big enough for him to squeeze into. The captain continued along the row, tapping some, opening others….Nyx gripped the van’s roof rails tight. He was almost there. Two crates away. One crate. Libs! 

A choked sneeze echoed through the armory as Drauto’s hand descended towards the crate. The new recruit that slipped in at the last minute. He had dove behind a stack of crates by the door just as Nyx clambered up the van. Drautos grinned madly, teeth shining in the red light. The internal screaming was palpable from all parties but the captain, who personally favored evil glee. Nyx winced at the short scuffle. The captain had the new recruit in cuffs and out the door in under a minute. 

Hearing the two sets of steps pass, one steady, the other not so, Nyx peeped over the van roof. He hopped down, and ran as quietly as he could to Libertus. He tapped the lid, just like they used to do in their treefort back in Galahad before it all burned. Libertus cracked the lid slowly, then opened it fully at the sight of Nyx grinning like a madman. 

“He almost had you! He was right here! If that newbie hadn’t sneezed!” Nyx whisper-gushed. 

“What if he comes back? Get back up there!” Came the whisper-shouted reply. 

“It’s fine! It’ll take at least five minutes to lock up the newb and get back here. We have to stretch when we can. How comfy is that box anyway?” Nyx looked at Libertus, all crammed down in that cube crate. 

“My neck is killing me, but I’m good. Now hide! If we get caught cuz of you…!” 

Twin shadows darted into the armory, and Nyx jumped into the crate with Libertus without a second thought. It didn't quite work though- Nyx was now straddling a kneeling Libertus, their legs stuck solid against the sides of the crate, arms steadying each other. Nyx felt Libertus vibrate in silent fury, and he struggled not to laugh at the entire situation. 

The shadows paused, and stepped closer to the struggling pair. As they passed an e-light, their identity was revealed.  

Tredd snapped a pic with his phone, and did his best not to make any noise while laughing his ass off. Luche wheezed into a fist, trying desperately not to collapse at the sight. They gestured wildly at each other- Nyx waving happily, Tredd curling his hands into a heart in response, Luche pointing at the space under a nearby weapons rack, Nyx giving a thumbs up, and Libertus flipping everyone off. Luche slid under the rack and Tredd hid under a coat rack packed with old cloaks behind the doorway- after helping get the lid over the now officially stuck pair of galahdians in a box. 

Crowe and Pelna could partially see and hear all of the shitshow that happened next. The fact that their screams and laughing fits escaped notice was a miracle. It was fast, maybe two minutes, but the Citadel would never forget the moment when all dignity was lost. Time slowed, yet sped up at the same time. Like a demonic Rube-Goldberg machine on crack with yakety- sax playing in the background. 

Drautos returned to the armory with a sense that others were still hiding there. He threw the door open and bounded in. The door flew wide open and hit a pile of cloaks- something supposedly soft- with a painful clonk and a groan. Something on the far side choked on a giggle, and something close by it thumped in place. Drautos grinned, and advanced into the room uncaring of the poor glaive behind the door. He listened hard, and a large crate in the middle thumped again. The captain braced himself and popped the lid. Then all hell broke loose. 

Libertus shrieked and flailed, tipping the crate over on its side with Nyx cackling wildly plastered up against him. Drautos roared in surprise, then roared in laughter as he realized two of his finest were hopelessly stuck. Tredd launched out of his hiding spot with all the grace and glory of a boosted turkey, sprinting out the door and taking the coat rack with him. Luche gave up on life and howled with laughter, clutching his ribs. And Drautos? He showed why he was captain. 

In a mad dash that would be immortalized in glaive mythos forever, Drautos hauled his crate of glaives over one shoulder, snatched Luche and slung him over the other, sprinting after the sentient panicking coat rack. The captain dropped Luche, gathered every ounce of his strength and yeeted Libertus and Nyx, screaming, at the running pile of cloth. Tredd made it to the edge of the arena before he was blasted with the box-shaped force of several hundred pounds worth of galahdian hysteria. The cloth and soft training floor absorbed the worst of the blow, the glaives landing in a tangled mess of limbs and cloaks. 

Drautos, dragging Luche by the leg, jogged over to admire his work, Luche now sobbing with helpless laughter. The captain gently plopped Luche down with the others and planted a boot on the crate, looking down at his soldiers. Nyx was in much the same state as Luche. Libertus hissed and spat like a cat, frantically trying to claw his way out of the crate. Tredd laid there like a slug, seemingly done with the world- probably examining the life choices that brought him here. Drautos stretched and loosed a puff of glitter on the pile of squirming glaives. 

“Anything to say for yourselves?” The captain growled playfully. 

They opened their mouths to reply, but were cut off by the lights flickering back on and the lockdown features sliding back into normal position. The main door clanged open- the king, flanked by his shield and the marshal strode in. Regis froze at the sight, seemingly unable to believe what his eyes were seeing. Clarus’s mouth worked silently, at the same processing error of his liege. Nobody moved until Cor Leonis coughed pointedly into his fist. Sonitus and Axis strode out uncertainly from behind a column. Pelna and Crowe staggered out from the hall, leaning on each other and still giggling wildly. 

“I take it you found my gift?” The Marshall called. The glaives inhaled deeply before breaking into a cacophony of rage, amusement, and confusion. 

“I have a name…” Drautos pulled himself up to his full height and fixed his eyes on the marshal. He tossed his cell keys to Axis. 

“Release the prisoners. No punishments. This never happened.”

[secret-engima]

How do Serah and Snow end up reuniting? Maybe when a Tenebrae delegation visits Insomnia when Nyx is already a Glaive? (I'm thinking about Ravus' reaction to these two and I'm pretty sure I just heard Snow groan in exasperation. Lightning finally approved their relationship! Now he needs to get another sibling's approval? What does he need to do, save the world again?)

Hmmmmm tricky. I’m not sure if the invasion is gonna happen (probably? Probably is? Idk yet) but I’m thinking that yea, if they aren’t invaded and Zagreus smuggles his entire family out to safety using magic (and probably sticking Alexander on the Nifs which OOH boy did they not come prepped for that) to Insomnia, then it would be a delegation visit.

Either way I’d say they don’t run into each other until Luna is like ..... 14? 15? Teenager. Young teenager. Too young, and Snow knows that, but that’s okay, he is content to wait after that initial teary/hugging reunion. It’s all very heartwarming to the reincarnates and surprising to the adults who know about the reincarnation thing (which is kept a secret from most people, it’s just like- Regis and Co, Sylva, and Fang’s mom who know). Whether they live in the Citadel now after their country fell or if they’re just visiting, Nyx is on guard duty when he first sees her, and at first no one envies him getting picked to bodyguard the Tenebraen royal family.

Nyx on the other hand is Over The Moon™. Alarmingly so to his fellow Glaives and Lib. This is because Nyx ran into Lightning pretty fast after coming and joining the Glaive and so he knows about the reincarnation and when Lightning learned who Serah was she OF COURSE told Snow. Who is now quietly vibrating in place, hoping to see her.

He does.

Their eyes meet.

She doesn’t recognize him. Which ... yea that hurts but it’s understandable, he looks nothing like Snow.

So Nyx quietly makes his way over in a moment when everyone else is distracted and shyly offers, “Her Highness” a gift. It’s a necklace he made himself, the same as from their last life, though this time the little Cocoon charm is one he carved out of the ivory of an animal fang he felled in the jungle. Luna freezes at the sight of the gift, looks up into Nyx’s face and sees Snow looking back, hopeful and adoring and oddly shy.

She forgets for a minute that she’s 15 and Nyx has to be at least 18 and over to be in the military and snatches the charm with reverent hands before pulling him down by his uniform for a kiss. Snow, who does not know how old she is, appreciates the gesture but pulls away quickly to help her put on the necklace and also to sort of hide the fact he’s crying his eyes out.

Lightning comes over, having witnessed from across the room, fully prepared to gently remind Serah that, adult she might be in her mind, she is currently only BARELY legal and should not be seen kissing someone 7 years older than her please don’t give Snow reason to commit seppuku for “shaming your honor” or some such nonsense sis.

Ravus gets there first and it’s only Nyx’s training that saves him from being skewered. Snow/Nyx looks into FURIOUS, hateful blue and purple eyes and feels a headache coming on. Lightning stops any murder from happening and Luna tries to talk her brother down because SHE surprised Nyx with the kiss not the other way around, but Ravus had seen the gift giving and is firmly set in assuming the Worst™. He throws a fit that attracts attention and Regis and Sylva are gearing up for Discipline of poor Nyx until Lightning rolls her eyes and says like- the safe word they’ve come up with for when a incident is happening because of Reincarnations.

Nyx, Luna, Lightning, Regis and Co, and Sylva excuse themselves somewhere private (without Ravus, much to his fuming) for an explanation and learn that Snow and Serah were married in their past life and kinda ... forgot themselves for a sec. Nyx looks so genuinely horrified when he learns Serah is only 15 in this verse (which is like- the year of or a year above the age of consent in Lucis BUT STILL) and just about falls on his face apologizing and looking miserable while Luna keeps trying to make him feel better by insisting SHE was the one who kissed Nyx not the other way around, Nyx hadn’t even TOUCHED her, he was just trying to reintroduce himself and reveal himself as her Snow.

Sylva feels a headache coming on, but can’t find it in herself to dislike the glaive who looks torn between being utterly smitten with his wife-of-a-past-lifetime (who is also her daughter) and utterly horrified that he accepted a kiss from someone physically 15 (yes he loves his wife, yes he knows she’s mentally an adult, yes he knows that’s over the age of consent but EVEN SO if he’d known he would have resisted the kiss, he wouldn’t have TOUCHED her because Snow is a honorable romantic Sap and Galahd had very strict rules on romance anyway).

In the end, Nyx gets to keep his head and his job, and Sylva agrees to let them keep seeing each other (mostly because she’s not an IDIOT and knows her daughter will straight up run away if denied her husband) but lays down some ground rules for their interactions until Luna is 18. Nyx agrees readily, thrilled that the ground rules allow for platonic dates as long as there is a chaperone always present and they don’t go past hand holding and the occasional hug (Nyx loudly agrees to this rule, Luna rolls her eyes a little but also agrees). Lightning verbally gives her blessing for their relationship, which is when they learn Lightning and Serah were sisters once (now REGIS has a headache from how fast his MINE™ instinct screamed to the forefront) and Luna proudly wears the Cocoon charm Nyx made her.

They step out of Regis’s study and Nyx comes face to face with a vibrating-hate Ravus. Oh yeah. Him. The middle sib who is NOT in the know about reincarnation.

Nyx edges away because He Likes Life and Sylva tries to explain to her son in private what’s going on but like-

Ravus is stubborn and kinda stupid about his stubbornness when it comes to his sister.

He DOESN’T BELIEVE THE REINCARNATION thing. He thinks it’s a sham that this filthy 22 yr old Galahdian has somehow sold to Luna and Sylva and everyone else and when he hears the Princess of Lucis is agreeing with it he promptly hates her too (then he remembers his big bro Zagreus is betrothed to Lightning and hates her even MORE).

Snow sighs quietly at the ceiling. He JUST got through with this didn’t he? Winning the approval of a frosty, stab-happy sibling? What’s he gotta do this time? Save the world AGAIN?

“Drop dead.”

“Can’t, then I’d miss my wedding in 5 years.”

*garbled angry screeching from Ravus*.

Also then rumors slowly get around the glaive about Nyx seeing the PRINCESS OF TENEBRAE and Lib firmly, FIRMLY refuses to believe it because the Princess is one, royalty, and two, only 15 and Nyx has HONOR thank you.

Then he sees them when he’s off duty one day, the day Nyx made up a poor excuse to go off on his own and now Libertus is watching in dawning HORROR from across the street as Nyx and Luna take a leisurely walk in the park, not even holding hands since Luna is using her hands to gesture as she tells a story, while Nyx beams like an openly love-sick idiot.

Ignoring the fact that Cor the Immortal is RIGHT THERE as a Chaperone (not that he needs to be, Luna has to be sneaky just to get Nyx to HOLD HANDS with her because he’s so freaking skittish of breaking any rules or doing anything dishonorable), Libertus storms over ready to Throw Hands with his best friend on the Princess’s behalf. Luna is touched but exasperated, Nyx looks like a kicked puppy.

Ravus, brooding furiously from afar, decides that THIS Galahdian he grudgingly approves of, if only because Libertus punched Nyx in the face before Cor broke it up.

Libertus ends up dragged before Regis and Sylva for a explanation and then needs to sit down. Because on one hand reincarnation, a twice-born, makes SO MUCH SENSE. On the other... his best friend’s past wife is the current PRINCESS OF TENEBRAE. WHAT IN THE NAME OF IFRIT.

[nyxthecolonialmewtwo]

[Hannah@Nyx] The tiny mewtwo approaches, being honestly really curious. "Hey! Uhm- s-sorry to interrupt...watcha doing over there? It looks interesting!"

Nyx looks up. “Drawing from my memories of one particularily disastrous vacation on the Moon. Dad needed to uncover, where did the shipments of technical gold go, Ash the Earthsider was searching for a missing Diancie and got sponsored to go to the Moon and I was just with the family. Our routes got kinda intertwined on the later stages and, well… let me just say, that it was for a multitude of reasons - one of them being that gold is a great gain material for the explosion-pumped X-ray laser and one of the others being that diamonds make great reflectors for the X-ray lasers.” She chuckles sadly. “Even though I am a pretty powerful Psychic, I still have a big weakness - none of my normal defense moves cover certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, which are where combat lasers usually work. I have to bypass this with solid-matter barriers I form with telekinesis.” Nyx looks back at the PDA. “So, what’s happened is that in our investigation we’ve found where did both Diancie and gold go. We’ve barely survived the meeting with it. On my previous drawing is what we’ve met in our searches -  a laser mech with diamond optics and explosion-pumped laser. Let me just quote one of the technical notes we’ve found back then.” She opens a text file on the PDA, which reads: “Wow. Holy smokes, peeps. I've got a thought about a mech. Gigantic mech With a laser. Humongous laser.Step-by-step: Take inertial-contained fusion drive, or mini-mag pulser, pulsed fission-fusion etc. Throw away the magnetic nozzle and most of the radiators. Ignition system (laser, particle accelerators, plasma, antimatter - whatever) is put together like a ring. For example, for the fuel pellet with 10t TNT equivalent, we're going to have ring roughly 100m in diameter (or maybe much smaller, nozzle of the mini-mag pulser’s 20m in diameter with energy yield three times greater, but we don't have to intercept energy - quite the opposite, in fact). Fuel pellet's loaded with a golden rod. Do you feel it? Right, it's a gain material for the X-ray laser, which emits the beam along the axis of the ignition ring. Without bomb-jiggle and all those misguiding factors, just like in the drugstore.Then, we place multi-layered diamond X-ray reflectors a few hundred meters apart. Now we have an X-ray laser with an actually good aperture, which's not limited by the gain material proportions. With 10m reflectors and a ton of TNT on the nanometer beam, this thing’s going to keep the power at lethal levels (around 10 kJ/cm2) on the distance up to 200 light seconds, more than a third of an AU. Holy Arceus. And the funniest thing is that mass of this thing’s going to easily fit in a few dozens of tons. Don't wanna calculate RN, but looking at the engine designs we, approximately, have: required systems of the mini-mag pulser are less than 30 tons, and we're having even smaller of a "caliber". Of course, this thing’s wonderful by itself. Or on the spaceship. Especially since it can easily be a part of an engine, it just needs a nozzle. But it's not stylish enough for us, so we're going to place it on a small celestial body without atmosphere (Moon, where we already have some assets). And put it on the legs. Since the machine's low on mass, the gravity is weak and the size is enormous, we're going to get a gigantic Surskit-alike on long, thin legs. It can easily crawl around, not being limited in remass (it always has an unlimited supply of it right beneath its legs). Considering range of those lasers, ability to constantly and chaotically move around, even in standby mode is a gigantic advantage. And just to hammer things in, we can install MHD recuperation system on the either side of ignition ring, using the energy from otherwise-wasted plasma to recharge capacitors of the ignition system. With that thing in place, our only firing rate limitation would be how how fast we can chug the pellets in place and how fast can we dissipate the heat." She selects the second note, which is much shorter and reads: “Approval for your project is given. Resources will be transferred to the Moon shortly. Begin the R&D ASAP.” Nyx closes the app, switching back to drawing, and resumes: “With that in mind, when we first met the laser mech, we, to say frankly, were at a gigantic disadvantage. Even if we ignore the mobile nuclear powerplants, converted into escort laser tanks and Psy-jammers, this thing could still depress enough to take aim at the things at the ground level. Thanks to the Psy-jammers, I couldn’t attack it directly via normal means and looking down the optics of a gigantic laser with enough power and range to be able to damage the colony without even leaving the Moon was… disturbing, to say the least. Thanks Victini dad managed to ‘procure’ an old, but still working portable tactical subkiloton nuclear launcher from the times Soris Empire was sorta-expected to attack the Von Braun city and vice versa and use it to cripple the leg of a laser mech, forcing it to fire beam to the side…” She sighs, remembering this hectic day further. “The problem was, we were still at disadvantage and the mech was still working. We’ve had to run towards the ‘Drapion’ and take off from the Moon ASAP... but, unfortunately, they’ve managed to swap out the leg and bring the mech into action again. I’ve had to lift around 20,000 tons of regolith and form it into a chaotically-swirling cloud in order to cover us against laser fire, while also helping to lift the ship faster. Here’s the still from one of the ship’s rear view cameras.” She opens a picture and shows it to Hannah:

“The cloud-like things at the sides are exhaust cones of the nuclear thermal-arcjet engines. The grey cloud in the middle is the regolith shield I’ve formed. It was taken when I was almost entirely spent, hence mech managing to nearly-penetrate the shield by firing at one point and forming a Matryoshka cavity. Thankfully, it got overheated soon and, as soon as it stopped firing, I’ve fired most of the cloud at it as a dispersed attack. It didn’t destroy it completely, but it did destroy the optics, which were the most expensive parts of the mech, and force it back into repair cave. Even so, from having to keep the cloud formed and swirling chaotically enough non-stop, then launching it… long story short, I’ve fallen into a hypoglycemic coma from using Psychic so much without taking care to keep the blood sugar at an optimal level. It wasn’t a problem, but it did bring me out of action for a shortwhile.”

[amarabliss]

Galahdian Dreams - 9 ( Nyx Ulric/Reader)

Synopsis: Your father was the king of Insomnia. He was good and just. You never thought you’d meet anyone like him after he was taken from the world. Your Uncle Regis, has taken the throne and followed through on your father’s plans. It was good to see the city in capable hands.

Enter Nyx Ulric, refugee, Glaive, fighter…how is it he can see all your secrets? He knows how to set you off and he’s promised to not let you go…(AU for sure, Regis wasn’t supposed to take the throne, and our lovely Nyx has more of a past then we thought…)

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight

“I want to take her out with us.” Nyx watched as Drautos’ shoulders slowly deflated when he sat down in the chair across from him, “Hear me out…”

“You do realize that the last time you took Y/N out…” He looked at Nyx finally.

“It will different…” Nyx talked over him.

“…was only two months ago and…” Drautos began shaking his head

“And I’m asking this time…” Nyx smiled at him.

“…you got the shit kicked out of you, Nyx!” Drautos stood up leaning on his desk his brow coming together with worry, “Does that mean nothing to you?”

Nyx stared at him for a moment before leaning back shaking his head, “It’s was…one time…”

“One of many that are happening to our people. Your people, Nyx.” Drautos stood up letting out a heavy sigh, “People are beginning to fear leaving their homes…and you want to take Y/N out…not even just out in the city, you want to go out beyond the wall with her.”

Nyx shook his head chewing on his thumb, “Regis cannot keep her locked in here forever.”

“This isn’t about their politics Nyx, this is about the fact that we are not welcome here and you’d be putting both yourselves in the line of fire.” Drautos shook his head, “When are you going to do something?”

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” Nyx raised his voice, “You think that I’m just guarding her because I think it’s fun? I’m doing this because when we came here, we came to see King Malcolm…instead we were met with King Regis…you’re the one who told me to stay under the radar…”

“Well you never showed much interest in your duties until recently.” Drautos sniped back.

Nyx stared at him for a long silent moment before he looked away, “You’re right…I haven’t done anything to help the situation, and I wasn’t very good right after the fall…”

“Nyx…” Drautos sighed hanging his head a little, “I didn’t mean…we understand why it took you so long to get back up. Everyone was beaten down into the dirt right next to you. But we also wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you…we’d be back home, more than likely six feet under.”

Nyx took in a deep breath letting it out slowly as he looked out the window watching a recruit warp up the main pillar before skidding down not connecting his dagger in deep enough, that was gonna hurt. Finally, he came back to Drautos, “I know it’s unconventional…but I’m trying to make Y/N see us…she is our biggest supporter here and she’s willing, no, eager to learn our ways. From what I’ve seen being around her these past few months…she is definitely King Malcolm’s daughter.”

Drautos sat back down looking at him as a small smile of admiration crept onto his face, “You have your mother’s instincts…and your father’s charisma…”

Nyx smiled a little before he spoke, “And was my mother ever wrong?”

“One occasion…” Drautos smirked a little as Nyx’s eyes widened surprised by the admission, “She decided one day it would be a wonderful idea to assign me to the most obnoxious child in all of Galahd…told me to try to whip him into something more than a snot nose brat.”

Nyx rolled his eyes smiling at him, “Just remember…I’m stubborn because you told me not to ever give up.”

Drautos smiled at him before letting out a sigh, “I can get you the paperwork you need to fill out…but I’m not the one who can approve it.”

“Who is?” Nyx watched his mentor take in, if it were possible, a heavier breath.

Several hours later he was standing outside the throne room doors waiting to be summoned before the king. His thumbs kept running over the tips of his fingers in a rhythmic motion as he tried to stay calm. He practiced everything he needed to say over and over in his head ignoring the subtle glares he kept getting from the throne room guards.

Jokes on them, they’re stuck guarding a door that no one would ever get to if the castle was breached. There were enough Glaives surrounding the Citadel that no one would even consider it an option. He didn’t think poorly of the normal guard…it’s just they were dicks…

“Ulric…” He turned to the guard taking in a deep breath, “You’re up.”

He walked into the throne room swiftly to his mark where he kneeled before the king keeping his head low and eyes averted, “Thank you for seeing me, your majesty.”

“I haven’t much time…so we can cease with the formalities.” Regis told him as he stood and began walking down the steps.

“Uh of course.” Nyx was thrown off momentarily by the dismissal as he stood up watching Regis walk down toward him, “I only came to request allowing Y/N to accompany myself and several other Glaives on an outing, outside the wall.”

Regis eyed him as he walked by only giving him a nod to follow, “And what would you be taking my niece out to do?”

“Sailing.” Nyx put his arms behind is back as he walked aside him.

“Sailing? You think it’s an appropriate outing to take? Y/N has never been sailing…” Regis took a folder from an attendant that approached him.

“Her ladyship is very quick to learn; I have no doubt she’ll be fine.” Nyx glanced at him as he sifted through the folder brow creasing, whether it was from the information in his hand or the conversation he would never know, “I believe the outing will do her some good. She’s been feeling trapped…”

“You presume to know how she is feeling?” Regis stopped looking at him sternly, “You are her guard…your job is to protect her, yet you are here asking to see if she can go on a field trip with you…Tell me do you know where my niece is right now?”

Nyx stood there for a moment before he pulled out his phone. Regis scoffed shaking his head as he spoke, “If you don’t know-”

Nyx raised up a finger as he clicked away at his phone. He smiled before he looked up, “She is in the east wing currently. She’s attending practice with your son, Prince Noctis. She wasn’t sure if she was going, she’s been feeling a bit distant from people since you closed off the greenhouse.”

He watched Regis eyes cloud up a little as he went on to explain, “When I’m not with her…I have people around her that I trust. People that I have vetted to ensure she is safe and well looked after. Thankfully, it’s only once in a great, great while that I’m not with her, but rest assured I have her safety in mind always.”

Regis tapped the file against his hand before taking in a slow breath, “You seem to take your job seriously.”

“As I should, I’m protecting a member of the royal family. She may not be in line for the throne anymore,” Nyx watched the older man take in a deep breath, “but it doesn’t mean she’s completely safe.”

“You’re smart to think that…” Regis looked at him with a distant thought in his eye, “You think this…outing…will improve her mood?”

Nyx tensed momentarily. Things had been extremely tense between you and the King. Family mealtimes were required now…and extremely awkward…Regis also had closed the greenhouse the following week after your incident with him.

You had been crushed and nearly lost it…

“Y/N…” He looked at you as your fist balled up looking at the chain on the door with a huge padlock, “Y/N, take a breath…”

“He can’t…” You turned and began marching down the hall as if you were going to war, “He can’t do this! This is the one place…the only place…”

“Wait…” He warped in front of you cutting you off as he put his hands on your arms, “just…”

“This is too far!” Your voice rose as you face began to redden, “He can’t…this is…”

“I know…” Nyx frowned giving your arms a gentle squeeze, “but you, going in wherever he’s at… and exploding…it isn’t going to help. You know this…”

You looked up at him tears just beginning to show in the corners of your eyes, “He…he’s trying to erase them…everything good that my parents did…He’s trying to erase it all…”

Nyx couldn’t say anything…he would have liked to agree with you to make you feel better, but he couldn’t. Ever since that day you had been…sad… He got worried for you. Afraid you might do something to hurt yourself, but you didn’t.

Nyx finally let out the breath held for a moment and spoke quietly, “I think…it would be a step in the right direction.”

Regis let out a sigh as he began walking again, “I am only restricting her of the things that are distractions. She may not become queen, but she still plays a vital role in the arena of politics. It is important that she finishes her studies and begin her duties.”

“Duties, your Majesty?”  Nyx questioned him a look of confusion coming to his face, “Forgive me, no one has informed me of the future yet…”

“It doesn’t surprise me that she hasn’t told you. It’s hard to have trained for one role your whole life and be thrusted into another so jarringly.” Regis smiled a little, “She essentially will be filling my position that I held when my brother was king, may he rest in peace…”

“You were in charge of overseeing relations with the territories, right?” Nyx smirked a little as surprised overtook the King’s face.

“Yes…as well as relations with other countries. Specifically, Accordo and Tenebrae.” Regis kept walking further down a hall toward the council chambers, “I need her to take her place before we lose those relationships.”

“Your majesty…” Nyx stopped gaining the full attention of the king, “Do you understand that she is terrified of being in large crowds?”

A flicker of surprise came over Regis’ face, “I…I was unaware.”

Nyx sighed looking down to the ground, “Sir…she suffers from PTSD…at least a little bit…That night destroyed her trust in people, and then when she was finally better…her entire world was torn down in a single moment. I have been working these past few months with her. Trying to at least get her comfortable with the people she sees everyday…”

Nyx looked back up at him putting his hands on his hips, “That’s why I took her out that night…I know it was wrong. I should have followed protocol, but you didn’t see what that party did to her. She puts on such a brave face, and she fakes the perfect smile, all the while she is panicking. Even the whole way to the Hearth, she tried to be brave asking questions to hide her fear…and she was brave finally…her curiosity of the ward overtook her when we arrived. It felt like I was finally seeing her in her element for the first time.”

“Why do you think that is?” Regis was watching him carefully. Nyx looked at him and he could see how genuine he was trying to be, “Be honest…”

“It’s because she trusts me, your majesty. We’ve built a bond by sharing conversations…I believe she lets her walls down enough around me to feel safe…and normal.” Nyx let his arms drop standing up tall like his mother always told him to do when he delivered something important, “If you want her to step into your old role…you have to get her to trust you again. You have to let her be free.”

Regis let out a long sigh before he nodded slowly, “You know your charge well. I trust you will take care of her while sailing.”

Nyx felt his excitement rise inside of him as he bowed, “Thank you, your majesty. I will do just that.”

“As I said when you first took over your position…” Regis spoke over him placing a hand on Nyx’s head, “Keep her safe…”

Nyx watched as his feet disappeared out of his view. He stood up straight watching the king walk through a set of doors leading to the council room. There was a strange feeling that stirred inside of his chest as he began to compare things.

What you told him about your uncle, that day he reprimanded you, and the cold breakfasts the weeks following…they didn’t add up to the man who seemed genuinely concerned for your wellbeing. He could tell each time he spoke those last few words to him…there was father’s love in them…Regis didn’t wish any harm to come to you and he was truly sorry for everything.

His strange feeling didn’t stop him long as he raced to the training grounds. He stepped inside cautiously and just in time to see Gladio throw Noctis halfway across the field. The prince landed hard on the ground with a groan.

“Whoa…hey…” Nyx rushed over to him kneeling down, “You alright there?”

“Don’t you feel bad for him! He deserves all he’s getting right now!” Gladio shouted toward them.

Noctis groaned sitting up with Nyx’s help, “I said I was sorry.”

“What happened?” Nyx chuckled a little further helping Noctis to his feet.

“I…maybe…sorta…” Noctis scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Maybe sorta nothing!” Gladio walked over, “Little twerp embarrassed the hell outta me…”

“She likes you…every girl likes you!” Noctis rolled his eyes, “Anita even said yes!”

“Whoa…you’re into Anita?” Nyx smirked a little as Gladio scowled looking away from them both. He really liked that the prince’s guards did not take shit from him because he was royal. It reminded him of home.

“He does and I happened to say something about it to her, mentioning how neat it would be for them to go out on a date…” Noctis glanced at Gladio who was still fuming.

“You two would make a cute couple.” Nyx patted Gladio on the back, “Go easy on our prince…he’s young…”

Gladio rolled his eyes nodding a little, “If you’re looking for Y/N, she and Ignis stepped into the other arena for a tutorial on javelins.”

“Right, thanks…” Nyx looked to Noctis giving him a sympathetic look, “Good luck…”

“Thanks…” He murmured as Nyx walked back out.

He walked across the hall again opening the door cautiously. He never knew what to expect when entering a training area here. Back home training rooms didn’t have doors and as soon as you entered you were part of the session. Insomnia however, it depended on the individual. There were rules…and they always changed…

“Good, but…” He looked over seeing you lunge out with a Javelin and Ignis instructing you. He felt his jaw clench as Ignis moved up behind you placing his hand on your hips adjusting you, “square off your hips…move this leg back and let your whole body be the force behind it. Otherwise you’ll fatigue your shoulders…try again.”

You followed the recommendations and sure enough there was a lot more power behind the thrust. You smiled back at Ignis, “That felt much better.”

Ignis smiled at you, “Keep coming and soon you’ll out master us all.”

You let out a laugh, “I doubt it…I’m sure if my uncle hears about me attempting to train, he’ll put his foot down somehow.”

“I have it on good authority…” Nyx took the opportunity to step in. You smiled at him as he approached making his heart flutter, “That will not happen. As I am your guard, it is my job to protect you, and in order to do my job well you also need to know some self-defense.”

“That’s a practical statement.” Ignis smiled at him, “I don’t believe we ever been formally introduced, Ignis Scientia.”

“Nyx Ulric.” Nyx took his outstretched hand his grasping it firmly, “Thank you for taking over for me for a bit. I had a meeting to attend to.”

“Happy to help. Y/N, has always been an easy student.” Ignis nodded toward you, “Always listens and performs well.”

“Well…fighting isn’t a speech…” You shook your head as you leaned on the javelin, “…words never killed anyone…”

“No but they can sometimes cut deeper than any weapon.” Ignis told you. Nyx could feel himself rolling his eyes slightly. What was this guy…perfect? “And with that, I will hand you back to the very capable hands of Nyx.”

“Thank you, Ignis.” You told him as he bowed slightly before excusing himself. You turned your attention to Nyx as soon as Ignis left, “So what meeting did you have? Captain Drautos giving your more recruit drills again?”

“Ah, no…I don’t have another set of those for two weeks.” He smiled at you as he placed his hands behind his back.

“Alright…who did you speak to and why are you so happy?” You moved to put the javelin away on the rack.

He followed you slowly, “Oh…just the king…”

That got your attention quickly, “What?”

“I had to…he’s the only one who can approve taking a member of the royal family out of the city…” Nyx watch as confusion filled your eyes, “which he granted.”

“…I don’t understand…you’re taking me someplace?” You tilted your head eyes narrowing on him as he nodded, “And my uncle approved it? This isn’t some trip he’s devising?”

“No, it is not a trip from him, and yes he did. It’s in a few days…we’re going sailing.” He grinned when your eyes lit up excited, “We’re supposed to have great winds that day…everyone wanted you to come.”

“Everyone…like everyone from the Hearth?” You suddenly became a little nervous when he nodded, “I don’t know…I don’t know how to sail…won’t I get in the way?”

“Well…it’s the Galahd version of sailing…so there’s a lot less rigging to deal with. I have a feeling you’re going to be just fine.” He smirked a little as he opened the door for you.

“That sounds like a trap.” You stopped in front of him putting your hands on your hips, “You wouldn’t be trying to trick me, would you?”

“You? Never…” He smirked at you, eyes twinkling at the thought, “What happened to all that trust you had in me?”