Chapter Text
Life was, for better or worse, back to normal. Sure, the Crown City had been invaded, and the Crystal stolen. Their situation, Lucis' situation was by all standards shitty. But that was nothing new, right? They managed to push back in the end, and the city still stood. All things considered, it could have been worse. They lost their primary defense, and they lost their King, and the Glaives, privately, lost their little sister and any sense of security they might've managed to get. Their Captain, their brothers in arms were revealed as traitors, after all. But in a way, it didn't sink in. Not entirely. Perhaps new trauma is less of a problem when one is already woken up by nightmares full of memories of destruction and death on the regular. Perhaps it's just another horror to add to the list. Or perhaps it would hit them, just not immediately.
For now there was so much to do. The Prince had returned the next day, distraught and livid over all of this having gone down without him. Yet in the end he did not shy from his duty and took up leadership. He wasn't King yet, that he adamantly refused on grounds of wanting to secure his betrothed's safety first. Then he would wed, and lead Lucis, he'd said. It would go down in history as probably the least coherent and put together address that any ruler of Lucis ever delivered, but it was hearfelt and honest and frankly, reassuring. The kid they'd watched fumble and shy away from demands of royal life for years... kid they were all fond of, but could never imagine seeing on the throne was now all grown up, it seemed.
Not all of the Glaive were traitors, thankfully. Most of those were still in recovery, though, and with how many people the other forces - Crownsguard, Citadel Guard, police - lost in the invasion everyone who could walk was assigned to keeping the peace and helping survivors. The main thing to actually do at this point was coordinating and guarding supplies, ensuring they were distributed peacefully. And that's how Nyx saw Petra Fortis for the first time since that fateful night: assigned to keeping watch over a convoy delivering relief supplies to further parts of Insomnia.
He noticed the man while getting on the transport at dawn, near the back entrance to the Citadel. They weren't the only ones assigned here, since there were two policemen on the job as well. Being the highest ranking there Petra had apparently assumed leadership before Nyx arrived and decreed the more battle-ready of the two, meaning himself and the Glaive, would take the first and last van, respectively, while the police guys took the middle ones. As such they barely exchanged curt nods and gruff mumbles of "morning" before Petra pointed the last vehicle out to Nyx who got on it before the Guard could say anything else. It fit the mood of their first interaction quite well, so he was pretty sure Fortis would just assume he was being sore after the taunting at the Gate. In reality though he just had no idea how to act. After all the Guard had saved his and the Princess' lives that night, in what looked very much like a suicide move. Until five minutes ago Nyx was certain it was a suicide and Petra was long dead. Well, about a week dead, but still. Seeing him there was shocking, more so for someone as haunted as Nyx was. Felt a lot like his mind was slipping to the point where he now saw the dead in broad daylight (again, dawn, but let's not focus on technicalities).
The convoy was well on its way, carefully passing through streets hastily cleared from rubble and still full of unpatched holes, when it dawned on him. The Guard was clearly interacting with others, right? He'd issued orders, the car up front waited for him while he opened the door and climbed inside and only then it drove off. Ghost couldn't do that, as far as he knew. So, alive after all.
He belatedly realized the driver was speaking to him some two minutes later. "Hey, Glaive! Are you alright?" the lady raised her voice, and it really looked like she'd been trying to get his attention for a while now.
"Huh? Y-yeah. All good." Nyx assured hastily "What were you saying?"
"I was asking what's got you grinning like that."
"...Oh." He'd been grinning? Right, yeah, he might've been. "Just... saw a friend." he covered.
"Friend, huh?" the woman grinned back "Always good to see people who survived this hot mess, right?"
He nodded "Yeah. Really good."
The rest of the trip passed mostly in silence and soon enough they stopped and the drivers and the few helpers they'd brought along began distributing the supplies to the sizeable crowd that had gathered waiting for them. Nyx decided to fix the bad impression he must've made earlier and glanced around to locate Fortis. The man was standing near the door of the first van which was also the first one to be emptied, looking like a godsdamned statue. Funny, considering that during their first meeting it was Nyx who played deaf and blind. He casually took up post right next to the Guard. "Looking good for a dead man, Fortis." he stated, looking straight ahead at the people before them. In his peripheral vision he saw the man scowl, heard him huff.
"Funny, I thought you were the one who wouldn't survive, Glaive." Ah, there it was, the sarcastic way he used that word, almost like an insult.
Nyx chuckled "I'm not the one who went up against an airship full of trained soldiers."
"No, you're the one who went flying off the road less than a minute later."
The Glaive pouted "Aw, you saw?"
"Told you. It's my city you're messing with."
"Yeah, sure. Remind me next time I'm saving it, I'll step right back~"
Petra scoffed but before he could answer one of the drivers waved them over. "Um. Could you help us with this?" they asked timidly. The Guard rolled his eyes and sent Nyx off to deal with it. Carrying heavy ass crates. Just what he wanted to do today.
After that he didn't get another chance to talk to Fortis until they were packing up. At that point everyone was exhausted from hours in the sun and Nyx had pretty much forgotten that he'd been trying to get a hold of the Guard for the better part of the day. All that occupied his thoughts now was the thought of a shower and crawling into bed for a nap, and a much less bright prospect of duty in the evening. Desperate times, as they said, and his schedule these days was murderous. He was climbing back into the van when someone tapped his shoulder.
"This once you're forgiven for the war hero act, Glaive." Petra said and before Nyx had a chance to react he was already marching away to his van. Ulric stared dumbly for a couple of seconds, then shook his head and got into the car. Fucking guards, right?