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Chapter Text

When Ardyn was rejected by the crystal, there was a moment where he was furious. The black ichor that had replaced his blood long ago roared through him. After everything he had done to keep the world safe, to keep it from descending into darkness and this is the reward he receives? He wanted to raze the crystal to the ground. Grind it and Bahamut into dust.

“Ardyn, are you alright?”

Ardyn looked at his younger brother. His brother, who was looking at him with sympathy and pain in his eyes. His brother, who was kind, but a bit naïve. He would make a good king. A decent king. And so Ardyn let the anger go. Instead, he clasped his brother’s shoulder and grinned, “well, there goes all your dreams of being a hermit, brother dearest.” His brother’s groan amused him, and he decided it couldn’t be that bad.

After about four hundred years, he decided it was, in fact, that bad. After about a hundred years of no aging, his grandnephew and nieces began to look at him suspiciously, as well as the royal court. So, Ardyn took to traveling on his own. He used to think, when he was younger and staring at the horizon from his balconey, that he would never be able to see everything the world had to offer. But after revisiting Galahd for the fourth time, he decided that was decidedly untrue. It would only take about seventy years of traveling to see everything.

The scourge inside of him whispered anger, frustration and resentment into his blood. He could feel it growing every day. He decided that he had to go to the crystal and beg it to cleanse him. Surely, he had finished his duty. The gods must be done with him. But life never was quite so easy for Ardyn Lucis Caelum.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” was what he said after Bahumut told him the prophecy.

“It is the fate of the Accursed, evil courses through your veins. It is the Chosen King who will rid the world of the scourge and bring about a new dawn,” the crystal said.

Ardyn could feel his left eye twitch. The resentment boiled over. How dare they? How dare the gods do this to him, after he had sacrificed so much for Eos and for its people. He didn’t deserve this.

“The Accursed will bring about darkness and madness into the world, that is your destiny,” the dumb rock said. He felt the deep edges of anger and darkness within him, but they were quickly dominated by a feeling of pure, unadulterated, spite.

“What are you going to do?” Ardyn asked, crossing his arms over his chest, “make me?”

The God of Light didn’t answer him.

---

Ardyn spent the rest of that day sulking in a hotel room he paid for and eating a ridiculous amount of sweets that he didn’t even like. The next day, he saved a family from a daemon and bought a little girl an ice cream. He even gave his leftover dinner to a hungry dog.

Bring about darkness and madness, his ass.

---

After that, Ardyn made sure to do at least 5 good deeds a day. It seemed a reasonable number. He went from town to town, curing the sick, defeating troublesome daemons and anonymously donating money.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” The woman said tearfully, cradling her no longer sick child. Ardyn hoped that her snot wouldn’t stain his clothes, he just bought these the other day. Her husband did not seem to share his concerns, as he wrapped her into a hug.

“Of course, I couldn’t possibly allow such a beautiful child to wither away,” he said, inching away slightly from the woman, who had just used her sleeve to wipe her nose.

“If there is anything we can do for you,” the man said, grabbing his hand with his own, “please let us know!”

“Yes, anything!” The woman said, “I know that we don’t have much, but we are in your debt!”

Ardyn supposed asking for his hand back wouldn’t be an appropriate thing to request.

---

It was while Ardyn was in the small town of, well he really couldn’t be bothered to remember, that he heard the rumor. That Niflheim and Lucis were on the edge of war. Which, of course they were. But since he had all the time in the world, Ardyn decided to find out the root cause of this scuffle these two nations were currently engaged in. After all, that’s what a decent person would do.

Sneaking into Nilfheim was pretty easy, their guards were woefully incompetent. Not to mention, it was easy to find the emperor’s room, since it was where the most gold seemed to coalesce. He flung open the door to the emperor’s bedroom.

“Hello there, I hope you don’t mind me stopping in,” he said, as the emperor of Niflheim fell out of bed, “but it’s awfully late, and I was hoping for a place to stay.”

“Guards! Guards!” he shouted. As if Ardyn was so incompetent that he hadn’t disposed of the guards before coming here. Not kill, of course, because that wouldn’t be something a good person would do.

“Well, while we’re waiting for company, perhaps I could ask you a few questions,” Ardyn said, after shutting the door.

“W-what? I am Emperor-“

“Yes, yes, why are you at war with Lucis, currently?” Ardyn asked. He picked up a bottle of something brown, and hopefully alcoholic, and poured himself a glass.

“Are you here to kill me?” The emperor asked, trying to stealthily move toward the door. Ardyn really didn’t have time for this. It was already eleven pm and he had only finished three out of five good deeds for the day. Perhaps he could do eight tomorrow to make up for it.

“My dear friend,” Ardyn said, before twisting, summoning a dagger from his arminger and throwing it at the door, where it sunk in several inches, “I asked first, it would be rude not to answer, don’t you think?”

The emperor’s knees buckled and he fell to the floor in a dead faint. What a waste of time.

---

It took an hour, and multiple veiled threats to get an answer out of the Emperor. It almost wasn’t even worth it.

The reason they were at war, it seemed, was for the dumb, useless god housing rock that Lucis had hidden in the castle somewhere. The extra lands, apparently, were simply an added bonus.

“I am the true king!” The Emperor said. Ardyn resisted the urge to roll his eyes and then swallowed his next words, he counted this as one of his good deeds of the day. He took a breath and let it out slowly. What would a good person do in this situation?

“Well, Emperor-, I’m sorry, what was it again?”

“Relore,” he said, squaring his shoulders and sitting up straighter. As if that would make Ardyn forget that he had fainted an hour earlier.

“Really? Relore?” Ardyn asked. The man glared at him, “right, Emperor Relore, let me tell you a secret,” Ardyn took a sip of the alcohol, and mourned the fact that he couldn’t get drunk anymore, “being the True King really isn’t worth it. Trust me. I mean, unless you like being manipulated and lied to by the gods and then told that after all of your years of service, you have to be killed by one of your descendants. But no, not yet, you have to wait about 2000 years first. I mean, honestly, you want to stay as far away from that rock as possible.”

Relore seemed lost for words. He stared at Ardyn in shock and kept opening and closing his mouth like some deranged fish. Well, hopefully that worked. Ardyn patted his head, “good talk then, your Majesty.”

That was two good deeds, so he completed his five for the day. It was nice to feel accomplished.

---

After that, he decided that it was about time to visit home. After all, he hadn’t been in, perhaps, 700 years or so? Sneaking into Insomnia was almost as easy as Niflheim. He would have to talk to the king about that, surely security couldn’t be so lax. He wandered around the halls, hoping he would magically find a door to someone important. He stopped, he was sure that he heard something.

There was a little mouse following him, he realized. He could hear the soft patter of feet. He quickened his pace and turned a corner before warping up to the ceiling. The little boy peeked down the hall, which was when Ardyn dropped down.

“Well, hello little mouse,” he said, grabbing said little mouse. The boy struggled in his arms and tried to scream out, but Ardyn covered his mouth. “Now, none of that, I’m simply here to talk to the king. I mean no harm to you.” This caused the boy to struggle harder. What a pain. Then he bit him. If Ardyn was a regular man, he would have dropped him, luckily, he wasn’t and the bite merely surprised him enough to remove his hand.

“You’re here to kidnap me!” The boy yelled, “Help! Guards!” The pain in Ardyn’s head increased, would this day cease getting worse.

“I took out the guards, so stop your shouting. I’ve had a long day and you’re making my headache worse,” Ardyn said, “look, if I wanted you dead, you would be dead. So stop complaining.”

The boy looked up at him, “then can you put me down?”

“Will you run and get a guard?”

“Yes.”

“Then no,” Ardyn said, continuing his walk down the hallway, with the little boy who was probably the prince of Lucis. “How old are you?”

“Five, how old are you?” The little prince said.

“Much older and wiser than five years old,” Ardyn said, smiling as the prince glared at him, “But you look very smart for five years old, I bet you could help me.”

“Help you do what?” The boy asked, kicking his feet and hitting Ardyn’s thigh.

Ardyn shifted him so he couldn’t kick him, “I was looking for the King, I have something important to talk to him about, would you happen to know where he is?”

“….no,” the little prince said. Ardyn despaired of his descendant’s poor deception skills. Honestly, what were they teaching him?

“If you tell me where he is, I will put you down. How does that sound?” Ardyn asked. The little boy scrutinized him.

“Why do you want to see him?” He asked. Which, honestly, was a very good question.

“I have something to tell him, about Niflhem. Do you know what that is?” Ardyn asked, “it’s very important.”

The little boy nodded carefully and then looked at Ardyn over his shoulder, “How do I know you won’t hurt my d- I mean the king?”

“Well, what can I do to prove it?” Ardyn asked, impressed by how skeptical his descendant was, “Perhaps make a blood pact? Give you a finger to prove my trustworthiness?”

“Ew!” The little boy said, “no!” He twisted in Ardyn’s arm and stuck out his pinky, waving in his face, “Pinky promise.”

Ardyn went back to despairing of him.

He hooked pinkies with him. “Okay, you have to promise you won’t hurt me, or the king, if I tell you where he is, or you’ll drink a thousand needles!”

“My, how morbid, but yes, I promise.” Ardyn said.

“Pinky promise!”

“Okay, alright, pinky promise.”

---

The King’s bedroom was just as Ardyn imagined it would be. With one exception.

“Where is the king?” He asked. Which was when he felt pain in his left shoulder. He dropped the boy in shock, who immediately ran. He turned and was face to face with several Glaives and in the middle, the King of Lucis.

“Ah, fantastic, I’ve been looking for you. I have some information from Niflheim,” Ardyn said, ignoring the twinge in his shoulder and opening his arms.

“You’re from Niflheim? Is that why you tried to kidnap my son?” The King asked. Oh, fantastic, now there was a whole misunderstanding he had to clear up.

“Ah, I see how this looks, but-“

And that was as far as Ardyn got before he was stabbed a hundred times by the royal arms. Sure, Ardyn thought as black sludge leaked from his body, this might as well happen to him.

Chapter Text

When Ardyn woke up, there was a woman staring at him. She had blond hair, light blue eyes and a warm glow that radiated through her. Her very presence made the blackness inside him recoil. An oracle. She put a gentle hand on his forehead, and his body tried to flinch away.

“The scourge is strong in you,” she said. He tried to grab her hand to stop her from touching him, but he was stopped by something. Metal cuffs. He was strapped down. Of course.

“Yes, well, some people do get the short end of the stick, I suppose,” he said, scanning the room. Good, only seven guards.

“You seem very lucid, for someone with the scourge this advanced,” the oracle said, “how much about yourself are you still aware of?”

“Look,” he said, testing the strength of the metal, definitely breakable, “I just have a message for the king. But since you’re here, how about I just give it to you and we’ll call it a day?”

“Oh, yes, of course. Well, why don’t you just sit still, and I’ll have the king come to you in a little bit?” She said, as if this obviously wasn’t a ruse to keep him from escaping. Ardyn tried not to roll his eyes at her.

“Niflheim wants the crystal, that’s why this whole war thing is happening.,” Ardyn said. There, first good deed of the day. He’d be back on the streets in no time.

“I see, well, thank you for the warning. I will be sure to tell the king,” she said, her eyes sparkling. Six, she thought he was crazy. He considered trying to convince her, but it wasn’t worth it. She probably wouldn’t believe him, no matter what he said.

“I see that you are tired, I will return when you have rested a bit more,” she said, turning to leave. Two guards flanked her.

“Oh, before you go, I feel that since you have me strapped down and all, it would only be fair if I could have your name?” He said, putting on his most charming smile.

“Ah, of course, how rude of me. My name is Sylva,” she said, “and may I ask for your name as well?”

“Well,” Ardyn said, turning so he was staring at the ceiling again, “since you have me strapped to a table and I only have your name. I think that I’ll keep that a secret for now.” He huffed a laugh, “Your majesty.”

There was silence for a moment and then the doors opened.

---

Ardyn spent the next hour or so, coming up with a new plan. Well, he spent the first ten minutes realizing that his original plan was pretty weak at best. Honestly, he wouldn’t even call it a plan. Hindsight, he supposed.

Perhaps he could just escape, go to Niflheim, and convince them to consider peace talks. Yes, the emperor really was much more amenable, he thought. And his alcohol was quite good.

Suddenly, a siren rang out. Three of the guards ran out to see what had happened, while the other two stood by the doors.

“All guards, report to the upper levels immediately. Repeat, all guards, report to the upper levels immediately,” a robotic voice blared, as red lights flashed throughout the room. Well, this did make things much easier for him. As soon as the guards left, Ardyn tore through his restraints. Now, where would one go to leave this place?

The door opened, and a little figure stepped through.

“Oh,” the little prince said, “I brought you a key.” He held it up.

“Was that you?” He asked, nodding toward the commotion outside.

“No, I was just going to peek, but then the alarm went off,” the boy said, “and someone dropped a key, so,” he shrugged. Ardyn went to the door and peeked out, empty.

“I must commend you on your good luck,” he said, “very impressive.” He expected the child to glow with praise, but instead he was squirming uncomfortably. “Is something the matter?” A sudden horrifying thought struck him, “You are toilet trained, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am, I’m five years old!” The boy shouted, “It’s just-“, he looked down and squirmed a bit more.

“Just?” Ardyn asked. He was aware that he should be escaping, but he couldn’t help being interested.

“I didn’t think you’d get out on your own, is all,” he said. It clicked, and Ardyn started to laugh. Of course, what a clever little boy. He really had underestimated him, after all.

“Wanted to wave my freedom under my nose? Make me beg for it, perhaps?” He asked. The boy’s head shot up and he frantically shook his head. “No, maybe trade it for something? A favor?”

“I just wanted to ask you some questions!” He shouted, “Everyone’s saying you’re a bad person, but I don’t think you are! No one will listen to me,” He stomped his foot and pouted, “They never listen.”

Ardyn couldn’t help but be amused by the young prince. He was patting the boy’s head, before he could stop himself. “Now, now, there’s no need for a tantrum,” he said, “but I’m on my way out, would you like to ask me these questions as we walk?”

The boy looked up at him and smiled. He was pretty adorable; it could have been a good tool for him to use one day. But, the boy was too honest for that. It was too bad; it would have been amusing to watch.

“What’s your name?” the boy asked, as they walked down the hallway. Ardyn really wasn’t sure where he was going but decided to turn left at the end of the hallway. He felt a hand grab at his clothes.

“Yes?” He asked the prince.

“You’re going the wrong way,” he said, rolling his eyes, “the exit’s that way.” He pointed toward the right.” Well, that was pretty embarrassing.

“Thank you,” he said, before turning. They walked quietly for a few moments before the prince cleared his throat loudly.

“Name?” He asked again. Ah, that’s right. He’d forgotten the prince was asking questions. He wondered if giving his real name would be a good plan for the moment. Probably not, if he didn’t trust the oracle, he really shouldn’t be trusting a little boy.

“Pass.”

“You can’t pass!”

“Too bad, next question.”

The boy stomped his feet as he walked after him, “that’s not fair. I even told you the way to go!”

“Well, life’s unfair sometimes,” Ardyn said, thinking about crystals and scourges and darkness, “you just have to deal with the hand you’re dealt.”

“That’s dumb,” the boy said, “you’re dumb.”

Ardyn suddenly wished he had left the boy in the room. Children were never really his forte.

“If I’m dumb,” he said, “what does that make you?”

The boy turned pink, “well, you’re stinky!” A fantastic comeback.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes, until they reached an elevator. He examined it, and quickly realized it needed a code of some sort.

“Oh no,” the boy said, “do you need the code? If only there was someone who could give it to you.” He stuck out his tongue at him, “stinky!”

He deeply regretted trying to foil this war. He should have just let it happen. This was definitely not worth the trouble.

“How about I answer one question for the code?” Ardyn said. The boy wrinkled his nose at that.

“Ten questions!” He said.

“Two.”

“Eight.”

“Four.”

“Nine!”

“You’re supposed to be meeting me in the middle, that’s how negotiating works,” Ardyn said. Negotiating with a five-year-old. That’s where his life was now. He hoped the gods were enjoying this.

“Fine, five questions,” he said, holding out his pinky, “pinky promise!”

“Yes, yes, pinky promise,” Ardyn hooked fingers with him.

“Name,” the boy said.

“Ardyn.” It’s not like he asked for his full name, after all.

“Oh, I’m Noct,” the boy said. Noct, how poetic, “Nice to meet you.”

“Yes, a pleasure. Next question,” Ardyn said. He really doubted they had much time before the guards discovered he was missing. He really didn’t want to be near that damned oracle again. The shadows within him bristled at the thought.

“What did you want to tell my Dad?” Noct asked, “And don’t lie!” Honestly, it was like the dear boy didn’t trust him.

“I wanted to let him know that Niflheim wanted the crystal, and that was why they wanted to wage war against Lucis,” Ardyn said, “next question.”

“Oh, that makes sense. The crystal is super powerful. Luna told me,” Noct said, “but we can’t just give it to them, right?”

“Yes, that would be a bad idea, three questions left,” Ardyn said, leaning against a railing.

“I wasn’t asking a question, that one doesn’t count!” Noct shouted, stamping his foot. Ardyn cocked his head and smiled. The young prince was easy to rile up, it seemed.

“I don’t have time, so you either have to ask questions faster, or I will find another way out,” he said.

“Uh,” Noct said, fidgeting with his shirt, “are you really eight hundred years old?”

“I’m not actually sure. I stopped counting the years a long time ago. What year is this?” Ardyn asked. He had realized that after a few hundred years, they all started to blend together. Keeping count was too much effort, and watching the years pass always made the darkness inside him flair. It was better not to think about it.

“It’s M.E. 744,” Noct said. Ah, so he was off by a thousand years or so.

“Then, I suppose I’m around two thousand years old,” he said. It’s been two thousand years already? Then that means that it would almost be time for his future killer to be born. If they haven’t been born already, he glanced down at the prince who was chewing on his lip anxiously.

“You’re not lying? You’re really that old?” He asked.

“Is that another question?”

Noct shook his head, “no, wait, I have another!”

The elevator doors opened suddenly, and a few guards came out. The immediately pointed their guns at him. Fantastic.

“Now, now gentlemen, no need for this hostility,” he said, putting his hands up. Attacking them in front of a child would definitely, not be a good deed. He probably shouldn’t.

“Stop,” Noct shouted, grabbing at one of the guards, “He’s not a bad person, don’t shoot!”

One of the guards picked him up, but they didn’t say a word. No words of comfort for the young prince? Something was off. They piled into the elevator as Noct struggled against them.

He should really stay out of it. Honestly, getting entangled in what was clearly a kidnapping attempt would only increase the problems in his life. He just wanted to go back to wandering around, and doing a few random good deeds a day.

He watched the door shut. Noct was still struggling, though he wasn’t sure if it was because he had begun to suspect that the guards weren’t what they seemed or simply because he wanted to be put down.

Dammit.

He flung a dagger at the one holding Noct, piercing their hand. They dropped him immediately, and screamed.

He walked forward and grabbed the hood off of them, “Ah, Niflheim, I thought there was something suspicious about you.” The man held his hand screaming as blood oozed out.

It took less than a minute to knock them all out. He grabbed Noct and walked into the elevator.

“It seems you are in a bit of a dilemma, dear Noct,” he said. Noct looked up at him.

“You’re really strong,” he said.

“Well, yes, it comes with age.”

“Why didn’t you fight my Dad when he attacked you then?” He asked, as the elevator moved.

“Really now, Noct, how could you ever doubt me,” he said, pulling a sword out of his Arminger, “I made a pinky promise, didn’t I?”

He glanced down, and Noct smiled up at him like he was the sun and moon and stars.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

He had knocked out a dozen or so more soldiers before he made it to the first floor. It seemed that most of the fighting was happening on the upper levels or outside. A full frontal assault, perhaps. After he had gone to the trouble of warning the emperor of the dangers and stupidity of this endeavor, too. He made a mental note to go back to Niflheim and reeducate the emperor, more thoroughly this time.

Ardyn had tried to put Noct down after he had stepped off the elevator and again when he began fighting, but he had clung on to him with all four limbs. He imagined it was a bit like being hugged by an octopus, but less messy. Luckily, Noct also remained mostly silent the entire time, which did wonders for Ardyn’s massive headache. He stepped into the throne room, expecting to see the King, but it was empty save a few passed out or wounded. He had hoped that he would be able to simply drop the prince off in someone else’s hands, but it seemed he was stuck on babysitting duty for a while longer.

“Are they after me?” Noct asked, his face mashed into Ardyn’s neck. He put a hand on the back of Noct’s head, smoothing it down.

“Most likely,” Ardyn said, turning back to go in search of a responsible adult, “are you frightened?”

Noct tightened his arms, “No,” he said, “I’m not scared.”

“My, a brave one, aren’t you?” Ardyn asked, walking up to the next floor, “Should I feel safe in your capable hands?” Noct shrugged, letting go of his neck and tucking himself under Ardyn’s chin.

“Have you saved people, before?” He asked.

Ardyn thought of Red Giants and Nagas and Arachnes attacking families and villages. He remembered slicing through flesh, black ooze dripping off his body. The darkness roiling within him, pushing him to keep killing, keep attacking, until everyone was dead. Until the itch within him could finally find relief.

“I suppose I saved one or two people before,” he said, “if it was convenient.” He peeked through a door, empty. Damn. Was no one looking for their prince? Honestly. He was going to have to have some words with the King of Lucis if this was how they reacted to an ambush-kidnapping attempt.

He felt a sharp sting against his back. He turned to stare at a small boy, holding a knife. The boy crouched, and ran toward Ardyn, knife gripped in his hand.

“Iggy, no!” Noct shouted, struggling against Ardyn.

Ardyn let the boy stab his thigh, it barely sunk an inch, and grabbed him by his shirt. He lifted him up to eye level. “My, my, the prince’s bodyguard? I’m shaking in my boots,” he said. The boy, Iggy, punched him. A lot of spirit, this one.

“Let Noct go,” he shouted, “or else!” He continued to fling his fists, but Ardyn held him at arm’s length.

“Ooh, do tell,” Ardyn said, “what will you do?” The boy glared at him, fists clenched. How adorable, Ardyn thought smirking.

He felt a tug on his shirt, and he looked down. Noct pouted up at him, “don’t bully, Iggy.”

Ardyn stared at him, “excuse me?”

Noct wasn’t listening, though, he had already turned to the aforementioned ‘Iggy’, “Ardyn’s nice, don’t hurt him!”

Iggy had stopped struggling, “are you sure, Your Highness? He certainly doesn’t look trustworthy.”

“Excuse me?” he said again, feeling offended for the first time in gods know how long.

“Yeah, he saved me,” Noct said, ignoring Ardyn, “he’s a good person.” Noct looked up, smiling at him, “right?”

“I-“

“I shall take you at your word, Your Highness,” Iggy said, “though I do beg you to be cautious.”

“I will,” Noct said, “do you know where my dad is?”

“His majesty was looking for you in the east wing,” Iggy said, “where your bedroom is. But when you were not in your room, he ordered a full scale hunt for you.”

“Oh,” Noct said, looking sheepish “well, I-“

“Enough,” Ardyn said, frustrated. Ignored by five year olds, what has his life come to? He turned to the boy, Iggy, “if you could take Noct to the east wing, then we can be done with this unfortunate mess.” He bent to put Noct down.

Noct wouldn’t let go.

“I don’t believe that would be the best course of action,” Iggy said, “since I am only six, so if we are attacked I would be unable to defend the prince.”

Ardyn stopped trying to pull Noct off of him, and sighed. Being lectured by a six-year-old child, this was truly a low point of his existence.

“I would, of course, be walking with you. As if I would allow two young children to wander through a battle by themselves,” he said, “especially since you lost your charge once, already.”

Iggy stood up straighter and glared, as hard as a six-year-old could, “My thanks are with you, for saving His Highness, Prince Noct.” He turned to Noct, and bowed, “Your Highness, I apologize for-“

“Ok, enough of that. We don’t have time for this,” Ardyn said. Gods, how old was this kid? Six going on forty, honestly. “I will escort you to the east wing, and then I’m leaving. I have some business to attend to.”

He felt a tug on his pants, and looked down. Noct was clutching his pants, his eyes big and wet, his lips pouting, “you’re leaving?”

Was the boy trying to make him feel guilty? He was cleverer then Ardyn gave him credit for. Luckily, Ardyn hadn’t felt guilt in many centuries.

“I have some things I have to do,” Ardyn said, pulling him off his pants. Iggy immediately began hovering over Noct, asking him questions and checking his body for injury as they walked. Which kept them both occupied enough that they stopped bothering him.

They walked for a while, climbing up stairs and down hallways. Ardyn only had to take out a few more kidnappers before Iggy stopped right before a staircase. “This is it,” he said, “the east wing.”

Finally, Ardyn could almost taste his freedom.

“Well, as fun as being attacked, imprisoned, and attacked again has been,” Ardyn said, “I must bid you all farewell.” He turned and walked to a window, flinging it open. There was still some fighting happening, but it seemed Niflheim had begun a retreat.

“Wait,” Noct said, grabbing at his pants. Would the boy never stop tugging on his clothes? Is this something that all small children did? Or was it a Noct specific act?

“Yes?” He asked, letting some of his irritation into his tone. He hoped that Noct would be able to hear it.

“You’ll come back, right?” He asked, “So I can see you again?”

“Oh, why, of course I will!” He said, grinning “when I have some time, I’ll be sure to come visit.” He winked at him, before turning back to the window. Another tug. He turned back, his irritation rising. Noct was holding out his pinky.

“Pinky promise,” he said, earnestly.

He sighed. Six.

“Yes, of course,” he said, crouching down to Noct’s level, “pinky promise.” They hooked pinkies.

This had to count for at least five good deeds.

---

Traveling back to Niflheim took a few days because he wound up running into a couple of daemons terrorizing the local people. He took care of them quickly, leaving with little fanfare. He remembered when he used to like the gratitude. When people used to throw themselves down, thanking him profusely, promising him anything for saving their lives. Now, it just made him weary. He’d rather be left in alone.

Niflheim was in a state. News outlets were declaring that they were at war after the attack on Insomnia. The city was on lockdown, everyone was boarded up inside of their houses, but somehow sneaking into the castle was much too easy. In fact, he had to take out less guards than last time. What are the rulers of these kingdoms thinking, honestly.

The emperor’s quarters were in the same place, and after taking out the six or so guards in front of his room, he flung the doors open.

“Hello there! I believe we have some things to discuss,” he said, walking in. He went right to the alcohol and poured himself a glass. At least it still tasted good.

“How-how did you get in here?” The emperor asked, from the table he was sitting at, surrounded by papers.

“Same way as last time, you really ought to strengthen your security,” Ardyn said, taking a sip, “it’s much too easy to get through.”

The emperor pulled out a gun and pointed it at him. Ardyn sighed.

“You think I wasn’t prepared for you?” He asked, “I have extra security forces and-“

Ardyn warped and flung the gun across the room, where it smacked against the wall before falling to the floor. He pulled a knife out of his Arminger and held it to the emperor’s throat.

“Now, I swear I had just warned you of the stupidity of starting a war with Lucis last time we talked. Didn’t I?” He asked. The emperor didn’t say anything, so Ardyn nudged him with the hilt of his knife, “Didn’t I?”

“Yes! Yes, but it wasn’t my idea!” The emperor said, shaking. Absolutely pathetic.

“You’re the emperor, aren’t you? You approved the attack? At the end of the day, it was your decision?” Ardyn asked. What would be the best way to terrify him? Certainly torture could do it, but would it be enough?

Ardyn took the knife from the emperor’s throat and sliced his own forearm from wrist to elbow. It stung a little. Black sludge bubbled out of him, and he held it up for the emperor to see. His mouth dropped open.

“Now, Emperor Relore,” Ardyn said, bring his arm closer to his face, “I’m sure you simply misunderstood what I said earlier, yes?”

The emperor nodded profusely.

“Good,” Ardyn said, moving back. The emperor fell to the ground, still staring at Ardyn’s bubbling arm, “now, take me to this person whose advice you took over mine. I would like to pay my respects.”

Chapter Text

The man who stood in front of him, fidgeting and bowing to the Emperor, was about what he expected for a corrupt official. The mad scientist part was an interesting plus though. He had balding grey hair, wrinkling skin and a hideous beard. He also kept interjecting things like, ‘your majesty’ and ‘your greatness’ and other crap into every other sentence out of his mouth.

“This,” the emperor said, cutting the man mid-‘your holiness’, “is Verstael Besithia.” The emperor turned to him, nodding once, “Verstael, this is Ardyn, a-um, a friend.” He winced as he said it.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Verstael said, holding his hand out.

Ardyn eyed it warily until Verstael put it down, “and what have you got going on here?” he asked. The room had large coils that connected to pods that his assistant was typing some code into before running to the next one. Ardyn walked past Bad Beard to a pod and grabbed the assistant before he could punch in the code.

Inside was what was probably once a human being. Darkness had long swallowed any part of them that had any humanity. It oozed darkness, leaking blackness into the pod and pooling on the bottom. The thing inside was scratching the inside with what was once hands, it’s mouth opening and closing desperately, but no noises came out.

His body shook. Nausea roiled in his stomach. But another part was figuring out how to solidify the darkness, so that it didn’t eat the human but could be integrated instead. How to stabilize it. He could see the flaws, and the scourge coursed through him, wanting to fix, wanting to evolve. He stabbed the thing before he could make any actual plans.

The blackness oozed out of the pod, leaking down into a puddle.

“What the fuck?” The emperor screamed, scrambling away.

“The was one of our most far along specimens! The only one that hadn’t dissolved completely,” Verstael said.

“Besithia, what was that?” The emperor asked, stalking forward, “what the fuck are you doing down here?”

“Your majesty,” he said, “I am simply helping Niflheim become the greatest empire in the world, making you the True King. Like we dreamed of!”

The emperor stared at him, “What are you talking about? You said that I was the chosen king! You said the Lucis stole the crystal from us! You said-“

“He lied to you,” Ardyn said, peeking into another pod, this one was just a puddle of darkness at the bottom.

“You- you lied to me?” The emperor asked, aghast, “but we're friends.”

“Relore,” he said, “you wanted to be the strongest and most powerful emperor, loved by his people? Sometimes, we must do terrible things in order to bring about greatness.” He grabbed onto Relore, pulling him toward a pod.

“Look, isn’t it amazing. We haven’t gotten them to truly integrate but once we do, imagine the armies we’ll have on our side,” he said, “imagine the power within our grasp!”

Relore looked at the pods, “you killed people. Tortured them.”

“I made clones,” Verstael said, staring down at the pod, a crazed smile fixed on his face, “they aren’t people.” He went on about the greater good and furthering science, but Ardyn had stopped listening. He had been right to be wary of Niflheim. He felt the sword heavy in his hand. It would be for the best. The scourge urged him. He took a step forward to the two of them.

Relore put a hand on Verstael’s shoulder, “I have always looked ahead, toward the future of Niflheim. I wanted to be great, be a great leader for my people. But because of that, I didn’t see this happening to you. I’m sorry, my friend.”

He looked up at Ardyn, his face grim and serious, “I know you owe me nothing, but if I could ask for a favor. Would you please put these people out of their misery?”

Ardyn stared at the man who had cowered in front of him, not even a half hour ago. “Of course,” he said, inclining his head, “Your majesty.”

---

Relore had thanked him and promised to formally apologize to Lucis as soon as he could. He had two guards escort Verstael Besithia out, screaming about his experiments, his legacy. He hadn’t watched them take his old friend away. Relore had offered to walk Ardyn out, but he had refused.

“I’m going to look around this area, see what else your friend was up to,” Ardyn said.

“I know what you saw of him was horrible,” Relore said, “but he was a good man. A friend who needed help. But I wasn’t there for him.”

Relore stood straight and strong. He put out his hand, and after a moment Ardyn took it.

“I’ll take your word for it, then,” he said. Relore nodded once, and turned without another word.

Ardyn spent his time going through doors, some locked and some unlocked. Most of them had boxes of random things like machine parts, papers, pens and other stationary. One room was strangely filled with only boxes of jars and pillows. When he was shutting the door, after storing some jars in his arminger because you never know when you might need them, he heard a soft click.

He walked toward another door, ears perked. Now that he was listening, he could hear faint footsteps. He was impressed, this person was much stealthier then the last. Though that had been a five-year-old child. He opened the door and stepped in. He waited a few minutes, biding his time by stuffing the jars he had commandeered with the strange food bars that filled this room.

He took a bite of one and immediately spat it out. It tasted like mud. Or what he imagined mud to taste like, since he had never been one of those children that enjoyed eating dirt. His brother had enjoyed ‘trying everything’ and had eaten a mouthful just to ‘see what it was like’, before spitting it out.

“But now I know I don’t like it, Ardyn!” He said to him, after Ardyn had laughed at him, “You could love the taste but never know, since you never gave it a chance.”

His brother had been full of ideas of giving everything and everyone a chance. He had even extended these ideals to his rule, agreeing to meet with countries and people who have wished Lucis ill will before. Ardyn had tried to warn him but he had always said, “you have to give people a chance, Ardyn. You never know, they may surprise you.” He would give him an annoying smile and an even more annoying pat on the shoulder.

He threw the bar across the room and walked out of the room. The hallway was empty still, “I know you’re there. Just come out and tell me what you want.”

After a few moments, a man walked out. He was tall with short brown hair. He looked like what one would imagine a soldier would look like. Completely non-descript, but solid. Big. Strong. He had a sword on his belt, but other than that he was wearing a black outfit.

“Any reason why you’re following me around this area?” Ardyn asked, he would have thought that Relore had stuck some guard on him, but the man didn’t look like he was from Niflheim.

“I’ve been following you since Lucis,” the man said. Ardyn blinked, since Lucis? He hadn’t heard anyone following him.

“After I escaped out the window?” He asked.

“After you came out of the elevator with Prince Noctis.” That long? How had he not detected the man?

“And you didn’t try to save him? You just left me to my devices?” He asked, “What an impressive soldier.”

“I couldn’t put the Prince in danger, so I waited you out. Also, you didn’t seem to be a threat to the Prince. That became especially clear after you met up with Ignis.” The man had stalked forward so that the two of them were now only a few feet apart, “and then you started to Niflheim and His Majesty wanted to see what you were up to.”

Ardyn couldn’t believe he had missed so much. How could he have let this happen, let this man go undetected? He tried to think about the things he had done for the past few days. Had he watched him save those towns? Threaten the Emperor of Niflheim?

“Well, I’m glad to know that the King’s security detail wasn’t as appalling as I thought it was,” he said, “though how the Prince left his bedroom and tracked me down without any of you catching on is still quite worrisome.”

The man’s eyebrow twitched. Ardyn turned his back and wandered into another room. This one held file cabinets, but they were empty. Someone must have come in and emptied them earlier. The assistant, perhaps. He hated loose ends.

“So long as you’re here, you can help me with something,” Ardyn said.

The man stared back, silent. He hated those types.

“It seems that a little rat got loose, and I think it would be in all of our best interests if we find it before it begins to spawn,” he said.

The man nodded after a moment, “agreed.”

---

The man, Cor Leonis, turned out to be very useful. He tracked the loose end to just outside of Niflheim on a deserted road. Unfortunately, he was speeding down the road. Fortunately, Ardyn could warp.

“Please, please!” the man begged, “I was just doing what I was told!”

Ardyn pulled the man out of the car and stepped on his head. How would he handle this? He pulled out a knife. He had always wondered how many pieces he could cut someone into before they died. How exciting to finally be able to find out.

Cor was already going through the car, pulling boxes out of the back seat.

“You have to understand!” The man screamed. Ardyn dropped the knife and it plunged into the man’s arm. He screamed, trying to twitch away from Ardyn, as if he would really let him go.

“Hey,” Cor yelled at him, staring into the trunk.

“Oh please, don’t say anything like he doesn’t deserve to die. I was just starting to have fun.” He smiled down at the man, who had now begun to cry.

“No, there’s a kid in here!”

“What?” Ardyn asked. He hauled the man up and dragged him to Cor.

Cor had pulled the boy into his arms. He had blond hair and was naked except for the blanket. He sat limply in Cor’s arm.

“What’s your name?” Cor asked him. The boy gazed up at Cor, his blue eyes panicked.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said.

Ardyn kicked the man, hard and he screamed. The boy flinched, trying to pull himself back into the trunk.

“Stop it.” Cor said, he turned back to the boy “It’s okay. Don’t be scared, we won’t hurt you. I just want to know what I should call you.”

The boy looked up at Cor again, his eyes wide like he had never seen a person like him before, “My number is fourteen,” the boy said.

Ardyn resisted the urge to kick the man again.

“What the fuck?” He asked instead.

“He was the last clone we made! Please, Besithia told me if anything happened to him to take fourteen and leave. I was just doing what I was told!” The man cried, as if that would save him.

“Why’s he in the trunk?” Cor asked, “and the boxes in the backseat?”

“Please, please, please,” the man cried. Ardyn dropped him to the floor and held a sword to his throat. The boy whimpered, burrowing himself into Cor's jacket.

“Put the damn sword away, you’re scaring him,” Cor said, tightening his grip around the boy.

“Fine,” Ardyn said, throwing the man over his shoulder, “you deal with that, and I’ll deal with this.” He walked into the forest.

He walked out fifteen minutes later, alone.

Cor had put the boy into a shirt that swallowed him and had wrapped him in a leather jacket. He looked up when Ardyn opened the car door. They stared at each other a moment, and then Cor nodded once. He turned the car on and started driving.

Chapter Text

For the first hour of the drive, the boy was quiet. Cor, on the other hand, spent the entire time glancing back at him, opening his mouth and either closing it again or saying something completely inane.

“Weather’s pretty good today, huh?” He said this time. The last one was, ‘nice breeze today’ and the one before that was, ‘it’s nice to get some fresh air every so often, huh?’. Ardyn resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Yes,” the boy said.

“Nice day for a drive,” Cor said.

“Yes,” the boy said again.

It was the only thing the boy had said after they had started driving.

Cor allowed the silence to stretch for a good minute before he said, “there’s no traffic, huh? That’s pretty nice.”

“Yes,” the boy said.

“Really hate getting stuck in bad traffic, you know.”

“Yes.”

“You know he has no idea what you’re talking about, right?” Ardyn finally snapped.

Cor glared at him, “well, I don’t see you bringing up any conversation topics.”

“Why must we have conversation topics?” Ardyn asked, “what’s wrong with driving in silence, I’m sure we would both appreciate it. Right, fourteen?”

“Don’t call him that,” Cor said, at the same time the boy said, “yes.”

Ardyn looked at Cor smugly.

“It’s a thirteen hour drive, we can’t just not talk to him,” Cor said.

“Sure we can,” Ardyn said, “you can do anything, if you simply believe in yourself.”

“Look, not all of us have such a bleeding heart like you,” Cor said, speeding up the car, “but I can’t just pretend he’s not back there.”

Ardyn pulled out his phone, “here, let’s just give him this, a good form of distraction for children, isn’t it? Win, win.” Ardyn turned around to hand the phone to the boy.

He was passed out cold in the backseat.

“Fuck,” Cor said, slamming on the break. Ardyn flew forward, smacking against the dashboard.

Honestly, he probably deserved that.

---

The woman who checked them into the hotel gave them a long judgmental look, before giving them their key. She eyed the boy, who lay in Cor’s arms awkwardly, pale and unmoving.

“He’s alive, right?” the woman asked.

“What, of course. He’s just, uh, sleeping,” Ardyn said, wincing,” it’s been a long drive.”

“Sure,” the woman said, elongating the word “I’ll send some complimentary soup up to your room.”

Ardyn and Cor exchanged a look of understanding. Right, children needed to be fed.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Ardyn said, tipping his hat. Cor nodded from behind him.

“Men,” she muttered, shaking her head.

Ardyn unlocked the door to their room and immediately grimaced. The entire room was brown. A hideous dirt brown. And it smelled like dirt too. Cor went to tuck the boy into the bed.

“You can’t just put him in that,” Ardyn said aghast, “it’s filthy.”

“I don’t think he’ll care,” Cor said, but he held the boy hovered over the mattress.

Ardyn pulled his coat off, and wrapped it around the boy, making sure any skin was covered before laying him gingerly on top of the covers.

“Are you serious?” Cor asked.

“Clearly, you’re the type to jump into a bed without changing or taking your shoes off, but not all of us are monsters,” Ardyn said, adjusting the jacket around the boy’s shoulders.

“What? Isn’t that how everyone sleeps?” Cor asked, “you take off your shoes before you get into bed?”

Ardyn despaired of his travel companion.

He went into the bathroom and was pleased that it came with free amenities. The soap smelled sickly sweet, but it was better than nothing.

“He’ll have to wash when he wakes up,” Ardyn said, “one of us,” he turned to pointedly stare at Cor, “will have to get him clothes to change into.”

“Right,” Cor said.

“Fantastic, then we’re in agreement,” Ardyn said. He was surprised that Cor was so easy to fool. It would be easy to escape while he was shopping. Freedom had never been so close.

That’s when the crying started.

Cor darted out of the bathroom, knocking over a glass which shattered on the bathroom floor.

“I’ll just clean this up, I suppose,” Ardyn shouted, gingerly avoiding getting glass in his boots.

The boy was sitting up, crying, tears rolling down his cheeks. Cor hovered over him, not touching, but murmuring words of comfort.

Ardyn walked forward and grabbed the boy, hoping that physical comfort would stop the incessant crying. Instead, the boy flailed, kicking his legs and screaming like he was being tortured. He dropped him back onto the bed and the boy turned and darted.

Luckily, Cor was quick, he grabbed the boy before he made it off the bed.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, please, I’ll be good!” The boy cried. The screaming was getting louder and Ardyn’s head felt like it would explode. The scourge whispered inside of him to kill. It would be so easy, kill it and the sounds will stop. Peace and quiet.

Ardyn opened the window and ducked his head out.

“Where the fuck are you going?” Cor asked, he had the boy sitting in his arms, crying into his shoulder. It barely muffled the sound at all.

“You seem to be doing a fabulous job with him, I’ll leave you to it,” Ardyn said, he gave a little wave and tried to jump, but Cor grabbed him before he could.

“You are not leaving me here, to do this alone,” Cor growled, yanking Ardyn back in and slamming the window shut.

“Look, I’m leaving for the kid’s own good. If he keeps crying I’m gonna-” he stopped himself and eyed the boy, who had not stopped his wailing, “you know.”

“If you leave me here, I will track you down wherever you go and I will-” Cor said, jerking his head to the side, “do a lot worse than ‘you know’.”

Ardyn sincerely doubted it.

It must have shown on his face because Cor said, “don’t test me on this, I will track you down and make you work at the Citadel’s daycare, see if I won’t.”

The man was serious. Ardyn stood up and dusted himself off, “fine.”

He thought about what he used to do with crying children that he saved. Usually, he simply handed them to their parents to deal with, but that wasn’t an option here. He didn’t think threatening him into silence would work. So that left one option.

Bribery.

“Hey, four-kid,” he said, avoiding Cor’s glare, “kid, kid, stop crying for a moment.”

He didn’t.

“You want some cake or ice cream or something?” Ardyn asked.

The boy kept crying.

“Cake, seriously?” Cor asked.

“You have a better idea?”

The boy was now crying so hard that he was hyperventilating.

“Okay, geez, what else do kids like?” Ardyn asked.

Cor shrugged, “I don’t know, TV? The Prince likes to play video games.”

“Yes, I’m sure the human lab specimen knows what those things are,” Ardyn said.

“Oh, like he would know what cake was?” Cor asked.

“Look, kid, I’ll give you a million gil if you stop,” Ardyn said, desperately. This, predictably, also didn’t work.

“Are you two completely useless?” Someone said from the doorway. It was the lady who checked them in. She rolled her eyes at them and walked over to Cor. She grabbed the boy out of his arms and walked away.

“Hey,” Cor shouted following her, “where are you taking him?”

“Just leave her be,” Ardyn said, “we should run while we can. This is our chance.”

Cor didn’t even grace his amazing plan with a response, he simply grabbed him and dragged him down the stairs. The woman had walked outside and was pointing to something in the fields.

The boy hiccupped a few times, and then miraculously quieted.

She clearly must be magic.

“How did you do that?” Cor asked, keeping a strong grip on Ardyn’s arm. Damn, the man learned fast.

She waved toward the field where chocobos were running around, pecking at the ground, “all kids love chocobos.”

The kid’s eyes were huge as he stared at them. The woman walked back to Cor and dumped the boy into his arms.

“I’m gonna get that soup and some Chocobo greens,” the woman said, “you can eat out here, if you like.”

“Thank you,” Cor said.

“I’m charging you triple for it,” the woman said, “the two of you really need to get it together. I know that the king legalized adoption for gay couples and all that, but you two need a class or something.”

Cor choked and starting coughing hard. His face turned bright red.

This could be fun.

“Yes, well, we’ve always wanted a child to share our love with,” Ardyn said, putting an arm around Cor, who was now staring at him in horror, “isn’t that right honeybun?” He poked Cor’s nose and kissed his cheek.

Cor turned impossibly redder.

“Well, he is a cute boy, and you two seem like a sweet couple, so I’m sure you’ll be fine,” she said, before walking back into the inn.

Ardyn grabbed the boy and walked back to the Chocobos, “aren’t you a lucky boy? To have such dashing fathers. Well, one dashing father, I suppose.”

“What?” Cor said, finally pulling himself together, “what are you talking about? What-what-why-“

“No fighting in front of our son, now, darling,” Ardyn said, flashing Cor a smile. He jumped over the fence and immediately a chocobo pecked him, hard, before squawking in his face and running away.

The boy’s bottom lip started to quiver again.

Six, he had forgotten chocobos didn’t like him.

He walked back to Cor and smiled at him, “there now darling, you bond with our child, and I’ll go find him some clothes that will fit him.” He kissed his cheek again and sauntered off.

He got about two steps away, before Cor pulled him back, “Don’t even think about abandoning me.”

Gods, the man really was too smart.

“I would never,” he said, “honestly, abandoning my family, what do you take me for?”

Cor opened his mouth to respond, but the kid interrupted him.

“A family is a group of people related to each other, and have loyalty to one another,” the boy said. They both stared at him. That was the first sentence he had said since they pulled him out of the trunk of that car.

“Uh, yeah, something like that, kid,” Cor said.

“Is that what we are?” He asked.

Six, no. This was not happening. Ardyn looked at Cor, who was staring back in panic.

“Well-“ Cor started.

“I saw pictures of families in the magazines that they sometimes left in the trash for me to clean,” the boy said, “I always wanted one.” He looked up at them, his eyes big and shining.

This was not happening.

Cor looked at Ardyn desperately. It looked like he would have to handle this.

“Soup,” the woman said suddenly, walking out with a tray, “I brought you a blanket too, so the three of you can have your first family picnic.”

The boy looked up at him and Cor, and then smiled for the first time.

Ardyn could feel his headache getting worse.

Chapter Text

The boy spent lunch staring at them with sparkling eyes. He would swivel his head back and forth between them anytime they made a noise, desperate to not miss a thing. Cor had taken to simply sipping his soup as slowly as possible while avoiding all eye contact. Ardyn hadn’t eaten food in hundreds of years, but he was also quietly sipping soup.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Cor asked the boy, after ten minutes of awkward sipping. The boy looked up at him in shock.

“I can eat too?” He asked.

Six, help him.

“What? Of course you can! Here,” Cor pushed the bowl into the boy’s hands. He stared at it, and then looked back up at Cor. His eyes started to water.

Ardyn grabbed the spoon and scooped some soup into it, wanting to stop any waterworks. He held it in front of the boy’s mouth and said, “here, say ‘ah’”

The boy obediently opened his mouth and closed it around the spoon. He swallowed and his eyes got bigger, which Ardyn didn’t even think was possible at the time.

“It’s yummy,” he said, looking down into the bowl. He looked up at Ardyn and opened his mouth again.

Cor snorted.

Ardyn didn’t even bother glaring at him. He showed the boy how to scoop himself and then they went back to silently sipping.

This threw a bit of a wrench into things for him. Cor was keeping a watchful eye on him, which made escaping difficult. Now the boy always had his eyes on him too, it made it pretty much impossible to leave. He ignored that uncomfortable feeling he felt in his chest when the boy looked at him.

“What should I call you?” The boy asked, “You can call me Fourteen.”

“We’re not calling you that,” Cor said, “but you can call me ‘Cor’,”. He turned to fully face the boy, and held out his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

The boy gingerly touched the tips of Cor’s fingers before pulling back. Then he turned to Ardyn, his eyes wide and expecting.

“Ardyn,” he said, “a pleasure.” He tipped his hat at him. The boy looked disappointed. He clenched his hands together and squirmed a bit.
Ardyn sighed, these children would be the death of him.

He held out his hand, and the boy brightened immediately. He touched Ardyn’s hand the same way he touched Cor’s.

“So,” Cor said, after a few moments, “what should we call you?”

The boy stared at them confusedly, “what do you want to call me?”

Cor cleared his throat, “well you should pick a name. It’s your name, so whatever you like.”

Ardyn wanted to smack him. Cor was clearly out of his depth, thinking this traumatized child would just magically name himself.

“Can’t you pick one? I don’t really know what you’d prefer,” he said, predictably. He went back to sipping his soup, having said his peace.

Cor was staring at Ardyn, as if he could somehow will the boy into picking a name. Ardyn gave him a look that he hoped could be translated into, ‘not my problem’. He stared into his bowl and they lapsed back into awkward silence.

“Sorry, about this,” Cor said, breaking the silence, “when we get to Lucis, they’ll be people who’ll take care of you and they’ll find you a good f-“

Ardyn kicked him hard enough that he dropped his soup all over himself. Honestly, must he take care of everything? Cor turned to him and Ardyn gave him the least amused look he could. Cor seemed to get the message because he had the decency to look ashamed.

The boy had grabbed some of the napkins that the woman had given them and was dabbing at Cor’s clothes.

“Thanks kid, but I think I’m gonna have to change,” he looked at Ardyn and bent down to whisper something in the kid’s ear.

Ardyn glared.

The boy looked at him, then back at Cor and nodded solemnly.

Cor looked at Ardyn, “I’ll be right back. Don’t leave.” He walked back into the inn.

The boy was sitting very still, staring at him.

“Cor told you to watch me?” He asked.

The boy nodded.

“Of course he did,” Ardyn said. Cor really was a headache. The boy’s unblinking stare was becoming unnerving. “Would you mind if I asked you a question?”

“Okay,” the boy said, still not blinking.

“Look, I’m not going anywhere. So, you can stop staring,” Ardyn said.

“Cor gave me an order, I have to watch you,” he said.

Ardyn sighed. He moved so that they were facing each other and held his hand between them, pinky out. The boy stared at it.

“Pinky promise. It means that I swear that I won’t leave, if I do I have to swallow a thousand needles,” he said.

The boy stared at his pinky suspiciously, “really?”

“Yes, we hook pinkies and if I leave then I broke the promise,” Ardyn said.

“And you have to swallow a thousand needles?” He asked.

Ardyn nodded.

The boy hooked pinkies with him and stared intently at their fingers laced together.

“Okay,” Ardyn said, “so, back to my question. How are you feeling?”

“Great,” the boy said, without pause.

“Really?” Ardyn asked, “Great?”

The boy nodded, turning his head to stare at the chocobos, who were walking through the fenced meadow.

“I mean, you were in a car trunk this morning, and now you’re with two complete strangers. For all you know, we could mean to sell you or kill you,” Ardyn said. He watched the boy to see if he would react to that. He didn’t even stop looking at the chocobos.

“I don’t think you will, you guys seem nice. A lot nicer then the people that had me before,” he said. Which, well, was a good point.

“Still, the people who took care of you before were pretty bad,” more like horrifically terrible, “so how can you possibly know we won’t be the same?”

“Uh, I guess I don’t,” the boy said, his fingers tense on his oversized shirt, “I just hope you are.”

Ardyn looked at the boy, and felt something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He refused to give the feeling a name or allow it to grow, quickly squashing it down. He took a deep breath and stood up. The boy scrambled to his feet too, clearly ready to stop him from leaving, but Ardyn picked him up before he could protest.

“Prompto,” he said. The boy stared at him.

“Prompto?” He asked.

“As your name, what do you think?” Ardyn asked, staring out into the horizon. He thought of things he hadn’t thought about in thousands of years. He thought about the innocence and strength that went with giving second chances and having blind faith.

“I guess it’s fine,” Prompto said.

“I think so as well,” Ardyn said, smiling at the boy. Really smiling for the first time in gods knew how long. After a moment, the boy smiled back.

“What are the two of you doing?” Cor asked. He had changed into an outfit that looked remarkably similar like the one he had on before.

“Ardyn gave me a name,” he said, “Prompto.”

Cor looked at Ardyn for a moment before turning back to him, “that’s a good name.”

“I’ve never had a name before,” Prompto said, happily, “I like it!”

Ardyn walked forward and put him into Cor’s arms, “yes,” he said, turning his back to them and stretching his arms, “I used to have a puppy named Prompto.”

“What?” Cor said angrily.

“Like a baby dog?” Prompto asked, excitedly, “I’ve always wanted to see one of those, too.” He smiled at Cor. Cor smiled back and tucked the boy under his chin.

“We need to get you some clothes and a bath, kid,” he said.

Ardyn pointed to the little souvenir shop, “I believe we can find something in there. But let’s leave the style decisions to me, shall we?”

---

It didn’t take long to pick out clothes. There wasn’t much of a selection and Ardyn vowed to get better clothes as soon as they became available. Cor took Prompto out to pet some of the chocobos, but kept Ardyn at the edge of his vision. Before long, Prompto was yawning, snuggling close to Cor.

Cor insisted that they both bathe him, which meant that they were both soaked by the end. Ardyn got the boy into the t-shirt and sweats that they had bought for him and then wrapped him back into his jacket which was still on the bed.

“Why can’t I sleep under the blankets?” Prompto asked.

“Cause Ardyn’s crazy,” Cor muttered, soft enough that Prompto didn’t hear. Ardyn, on the other hand, had good hearing. It came with the millions of daemons residing inside of him.

“The bed is filthy, I’d rather you stay clean,” he said. The boy looked at the sheets, as if to inspect them, “my dear, don’t look! I wouldn’t want you to have nightmares.”

Prompto giggled a little, and then he relaxed. He was asleep in minutes.

Ardyn enjoyed the few seconds of peace and quiet he knew he had.

“You named him after a dog? Really?” Cor said, the moment Prompto was definitely asleep. It seemed that time had made him angrier.

“What better?” he asked, crossing to lean against the window, “He’s quite good at following commands, wouldn’t you say?”

Cor didn’t so much as twitch, but Ardyn knew he had hit a sore point.

“This isn’t about that, I had to make sure you wouldn’t leave,” Cor said, “you’re the one who named him after some animal.”

Ardyn shrugged, “rename him if it bothers you so much.”

They both knew he wouldn’t. Cor sat in a chair by the window and continued to silently simmer with anger.

Ardyn had bigger things to worry about than an angry soldier. He looked at the boy, Prompto, and thought about second chances.

Chapter Text

“Do you have any sense of the fragile self-esteem of a child, particularly one as traumatized as this particular child? And you named him after a dog? Are you serious? What’s wrong with you? Do you have any idea what this could do to him?” Cor asked, as he paced back and forth, “I mean, you could have named him anything. Anything at all, and you named him after an animal? He’s going to grow up with that name, people are going to call him that! He’s-"

Ardyn tuned him out. Instead, he looked at Prompto, who was sucking his thumb, curled on his side. He twitched a little, his eyelids fluttering. He wondered if the boy was dreaming.

“Are you even listening to me?” Cor asked.

“No,” Ardyn said.

Cor sat down, and groaned, “what are we going to do? We can’t keep him.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t have any time to watch a kid, I have a dangerous job,” Cor said, “Ardyn, what are we doing?”

“Do you think he’s dreaming?” Ardyn asked.

“What?” Cor asked, “Are you listening to me?”

Ardyn turned to him. Cor hadn’t moved, he was sitting straight, hands folded on his knees. He looked like they were strategizing for a war.

“His lashes are fluttering, that’s usually a sign of dreaming,” Ardyn said. He felt a strange curiosity about it, about what he was dreaming about. He wanted to peer into it and know what it was about. He wondered what colors he liked and what foods he preferred.

“Ardyn, you can’t,” Cor said, he put his hand on Ardyn’s shoulder and shook him, “we don’t know the first thing about raising a kid. We’d ruin him.”

“Hmm,” Ardyn mused, “do you think he likes sweets? I suppose most children do.” Perhaps he should get him some cakes or cookies to see which he prefers, “We should get some snacks for the road.”

Cor grabbed his shirt and pulled him in, until they were mere inches apart.

“You regularly fight daemons and just wandered into Lucis and Niflheim’s castles to threaten the royal family,” Cor said, “you are not a suitable guardian for him.”

“Hmmm,” Ardyn said, not looking at Cor. He kept his eyes on Prompto, who had turned over and was now hugging a pillow. He tried not to think about how filthy it probably was.

“You don’t even have a house, or a steady income,” Cor said, “and don’t think I haven’t noticed how you pull those weapons out like you have an arminger and how you can warp.”

“Ah,” Ardyn said. He had underestimated the man, though he supposed it would be difficult for Cor not to notice him warping when he had done it right in front of him.

Cor let him go and sat back.

“Well, it seems an explanation is in order,” Ardyn said. He wondered what would be the best way to word it. Perhaps he should simply be blunt about it. It seemed the simplest method.

Before he could explain, Prompto woke up crying. They both jumped up and sprinted over to him. He was red faced, twisting and turning. Ardyn picked him up, but he continued to cry and flail in his arms.

Cor touched his cheeks and forehead.

“He’s hot,” Cor said, “He must have a fever.”

Ardyn tried to bounce him a little to calm him down, “he was fine less than an hour ago, how could he possibly have a fever?”

Cor shrugged, “some kids get it from stress, Amicitia’s kid used to get them.”

“I don’t know who that is, nor do I care,” Ardyn said, “we should find him a doctor.” Ardyn bundled Prompto back up into the coat, “where should we go to find one? Lestallum must have one, right?”

Cor grabbed Ardyn before he could walk out the door, “calm down.”

“I am the calmest I’ve ever been,” Ardyn said. The scourge was pulsing in his body, ready to attack but there wasn’t anything to fight. He was practically vibrating with the need to cut and slash and kill.

“Yeah, that’s why you’re shaking, right?” Cor said, grabbing Prompto.

Ardyn flinched back, hugging the boy tighter to him. He breathed out. He was being absolutely ridiculous. He needed to get a handle on himself.

Ardyn put Prompto back on the bed and took a step away, “be my guest.”

Cor pulled out his phone and called somebody. Ardyn didn’t bother listening to the conversation, he wrapped Prompto back into his coat and then piled the blankets on top.

“I don’t feel good,” Prompto said between sobs, “It hurts.” He reached out of the blankets toward Ardyn.

He patted to blankets around him, “the blankets will keep you warm, so keep your arms in.” He tucked his hands back into the coat. This made the boy cry harder for some reason.

“Ok,” Cor said, “it’s probably a stress fever, so just keep him hydrated until it passes.” He touched the boy’s forehead again, and the boy grabbed onto his hand. Cor wrapped his arms around him and lifted him into his arms.

“He’s not warm enough like that,” Ardyn said, hovering over them, “he said he was cold.”

“He wanted to be picked up,” Cor said, “he’s fine, go get him some water.” He bounced Prompto, tucking his head into his neck. He whispered some soothing words.

Ardyn grabbed a cup of water and when he came out, Prompto was laying quietly in Cor’s arms, sucking his thumb.

“Great,” Cor said, “give me that.” He grabbed the cup and mumbled to Prompto. He put the cup to Prompto’s mouth and he sipped slowly until it was empty. Cor put the cup down and went back to rocking him, until Prompto fell asleep.

“It’s good that you’re useful for something, at least,” Ardyn said, tucking the blankets around Prompto, after Cor put him back in the bed.

“It’s good to see that you can lose your cool sometimes,” Cor said, smirking at him, “it’s pretty funny too.”

Ardyn frowned at him, and sat on the bed, “I did not lose my cool, I was simply thinking out loud, I suppose you couldn’t recognize that since you rarely think at all.”

Cor laughed, “call it whatever you want, I know panic when I see it. And that? Was definitely panicking.” He picked up the glass and disappeared into the bathroom.

He ignored his irritation at Cor, he had bigger things to worry about. He had somehow miscalculated. He wasn’t thinking straight. He had gotten attached. Naming the boy was a mistake, especially that particular name. No matter. What’s done is done. They’re on their way to Lucis and then the boy would get adopted and that’ll be that. He’ll walk away. He was good at that.

“Ardyn?”

He turned to look the boy, “yes?”

Only his face was visible, the rest of his body was obscured by the blankets. His hair was wet with sweat and his face was still flushed. He eyes were barely open and he kept blinking like he was trying to force himself awake.

“I’m scared,” he whispered.

“Don’t be frightened, you’ll be fine in a little while,” Ardyn said, brushing his bangs off his forehead. He frowned at his fingers for a moment, he hadn’t meant to do that.

“They used to leave me when I was sick,” he said, “promise you won’t. Pinky promise.” He held out his pinky.

He really should never have taught him that.

“Pinky promise, then,” Ardyn said, hooking pinkies, “I’ll stay right here until you’re better.”

Prompto held onto his hand as he drifted off again.

“You know that you can’t keep him, right?” Cor said, leaning of the wall by the bathroom, “you’d be a terrible father.”

“Well, thank you for that stunning vote of confidence,” Ardyn said, “but I was aware that I would be a horrible caregiver. I just thought it was funny how that vein in your forehead kept throbbing.”

“What?” Cor said, going to the mirror, “I don’t have a vein.”

“Sure,” Ardyn said, “I suppose I just imagined it, then.”

Cor turned around to glare at him. He sat on the bed and sighed, “look, we’ll go to Lucis and social services will find a good family to take care of him. He’ll be able to have a nice, normal life.”

Ardyn imagined it, Prompto going to school with a bagged lunch, playing with friends, struggling with homework, eating a home cooked meal with parents who didn’t know how to best torture someone for information and where exactly to strike a daemon to inflict the most damage.

“I really don’t have the time for a child, nor have I ever wanted one. Too loud, and dirty. They’re always sticky, wouldn’t you say?” Ardyn asked, stroking over Prompto’s little fingers.

“They’re always hungry too, and they have really tiny bladders so you’re always looking for a bathroom,” Cor added, wiping some of the sweat off of Prompto’s forehead with a cloth, “even if you just told them to go ten minutes before.”

“They cry so often, over everything. A daemon tries to eat them once and they have to cry about it for hours? It only grabbed them for a second, honestly,” Ardyn said, “it’s annoying.”

“No, I think that’s just your problem,” Cor said, “most people would cry over something like that.”

“Would you?” Ardyn asked. It was getting dark in the room. He flicked on the lamp. Hopefully, Prompto would sleep through the night.

“Please, that happens to me every other week,” Cor said, going to the small fridge in the room. He pulled out two cans and handed one over, “here, it’s on the King.”

It was some cheap beer, and even though Ardyn couldn’t get drunk anymore, he did enjoy the taste of beer every so often. He cracked it open and held it out, “cheers, then.”

Cor tapped his against it and took a big swig, “you know, you’re not so bad, when you get past the whole obnoxious and murder thing.”

Ardyn couldn’t help chuckling a little, “well you’re still just as irritating as you were before. But I do appreciate your childrearing skills, it makes me look like father of the year compared to you.”

“Hm,” Cor said, taking another swig of his can, “you really are a dick.”

“I could always leave,” Ardyn said, quirking an eyebrow.

“Shut up.” Cor stood up and grabbed another can from the fridge, “Let’s talk about you warping.”

He was almost home free with that too. Well, it’s fine. He doubted anyone would believe him, and he was going to be leaving soon anyway.

“Well, I was the brother of the first king, but I’m a bit immortal because of this and that,” Ardyn said, “so warping is really just a family trait.”

Cor looked out the window and took another swig, “I can’t tell if you’re telling the truth or fucking with me.”

“How could you not believe me?” Ardyn asked, tilting his head and pouting his lips, “after all we’ve been through.”

Cor sighed, rubbing his temples, “I suppose we’ll see what the King says when we get back.” He finished the can and crunched it in his hand, “gods, I wish this was stronger.”

“Well,” Ardyn said, pulling a bottle from his Arminger, “let’s fix that, shall we?”

Cor blinked, before grabbing it from Ardyn’s hand. He whistled, “shit, this stuff is serious.”

“I stole if from the Emperor of Niflheim. I doubt he noticed since I was in the midst of threatening him, anyway,” Ardyn said, pulling two glasses out. He tucked Prompto’s hand back into the blanket.

“Of course you did,” Cor mumbled. He filled both cups and handed Ardyn one, “what should we cheers to?”

“Peace, harmony, the King, good alcohol?” Ardyn asked, “whatever you want, don’t be sentimental about this.”

“Fine,” Cor said, “to the end of this damn journey with you.”

“I can cheers to that,” Ardyn said, clinking glasses.

Chapter Text

Cor could hold his liquor. By the time they went through two of the bottles that Ardyn had stolen, he was barely tipsy. His face was a little flushed and he had smiled all of three times. Other than that, there was no change. Ardyn was a little disappointed.

“Disappointed?” Cor asked, taking another sip, “you’re too easy to read.”

Ardyn snorted, “I suppose you would think that.”

“Nope, you really are. You think you’re sly, but you’re an open book,” Cor said.

“Am I?” Ardyn asked, “then what, exactly, am I thinking about right now?”

Cor poured himself another cup from the third bottle that Ardyn had summoned, “you’re thinking about the kid, about what to do with him.”

Perhaps Ardyn was too transparent, right now. He would have to fix that.

“We have to give him up,” Cor said, “no way we can raise him. We’re probably the two worst people to raise a child, ever. I disappear for months at a time and have more people who want to kill me than babysit for me. And you? Gods, you’re a fucking psychopath who’s either a compulsive liar, crazy or actually two thousand years old. Fuck, you’re probably all three.” Cor stood up at the end of his tirade and stared at Ardyn, “seriously, what are you?”

“If I told you, would you believe me?” Ardyn asked, taking a sip from his glass.

“I wouldn’t trust a word out of your mouth,” Cor said. He turned to look at Prompto, “look at him, he’s a fucking angel.”

Ardyn turned to look at him too, he was snuggling a pillow with his thumb halfway in his mouth. He stroked the boy’s cheek, and Prompto smiled a little.

“When we get to Lucis, we’ll take him to social services,” Ardyn said, “don’t worry, I don’t have any aspirations to actually be a parent.” He remembered his niece and nephew, and how they used to run after him, grabbing onto his clothes, laughing. How he felt when they got married. When they had their own children. When they couldn’t run after him, anymore.

“You’re not planning to meet with the king, are you?” Cor asked, snapping him out of his memories.

Ardyn didn’t even bother answering that inane question, “I’ll drop him off with you first.”

“Yeah,” Cor said.

---

Prompto woke up, good as new. They took him down to get breakfast in the morning and let him get anything he wanted. They wound up with six entrees. Prompto took one bite out of each and Cor had to finish the rest of it. Ardyn walked him through the souvenir shop and bought him a chocobo doll and a book called, “The Sleepy Chocobo”. Prompto refused to let go of the doll and Cor had to lift him up so that the cashier could scan it. They let him run around with the chocobos and feed them more greens. Then, he asked Ardyn to read him his new book, so they found a tree to sit under. Cor went to get lunch, while Ardyn read to him. He came back with choco-bites and chickie-fries, which Prompto loved and ate every bite. After he was done, Cor took him to get some ice cream, while Ardyn packed everything up to put in the trunk.

“His name’s Coco,” Prompto said to Ardyn, as he put him in the car, “he likes to eat choco-bites and he likes running around the field! When I was eating lunch, he stole a couple bites when I wasn’t looking! He’s so sneaky!”

“Alright,” Ardyn said, buckling him in. Prompto went quiet, and hugged his doll tighter. Not good with restraints, then. Ardyn unbuckled him, “no need for that, I suppose. We’ll just live a little dangerously today.”

Prompto smiled at him, it was painful to look at.

They got into the car, and Prompto immediately began to babble about Coco, his new book, how much he liked choco-bites and how this was the best day he’d ever had. He talked until he fell asleep, and then the car was quiet.

---

It was raining in Lucis when they arrived.

“Shit, I didn’t bring an umbrella,” Cor said, as he turned into a parking lot.

Ardyn pulled one out of his arminger, “how many do we need? One for each of us?” He pulled out another.

Cor stared at the umbrella, and sighed, “yeah, sure, whatever.”

Cor had called social services in advance and explained the situation. They had recommended a fast separation, before Prompto could get too attached to them.

“Is this your house? People had houses in the magazines,” Prompto said, hugging Coco, “I’m excited, but Coco’s a little scared.”

Ardyn turned to face him in the backseat, “no need to be frightened, Coco, we just have to meet with some people.”

Ardyn could see the moment that Prompto began doubting them. He stared at Ardyn quietly for a few moments, before nodding and hiding his face in the doll. Cor was the one who carried him out of the car.

A smiling woman was waiting for them inside of the lobby, “hello, how are you?” she asked.

“Hello,” Cor said, “this is Prompto.” Prompto hid his face in Cor’s neck.

“It’s nice to meet you, Prompto,” the woman said, “I like that chocobo you have there. Does it have a name?”

Prompto ignored her.

“Why don’t you tell her his name?” Cor asked, bouncing him a little.

“Coco,” Prompto whispered.

“Coco, that’s a great name! And you have a book too?” she asked, “I love books!”

Prompto didn’t answer.

“Prompto,” Cor said, “why don’t you tell her what the book is about?”

“Yes, I’d love to hear it,” she said.

Prompto turned his head and stared at Ardyn. He could only see the top of his face, his doll was blocking the bottom half.

“Ardyn,” Cor whispered.

He cleared his throat, “I think it was about a lizard, isn’t that right?”

Prompto shook his head, “it’s about a chocobo. He’s sleepy, but he can’t sleep.”

“Oh? Why not?” The woman asked. Ardyn tried his best not to hate her.

Prompto was still looking at Ardyn, his bottom lip was sticking out and his eyes were beginning to water.

Ardyn lifted him out of Cor’s arms, “I think he was just too excited to sleep, isn’t that right?” He looked down at Prompto with a smirk, “he just wanted to clean his room, and he couldn’t wait.”

Prompto wrinkled his nose, “no, he couldn’t find a place to sleep. Everywhere was wrong.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Ardyn said, “why don’t you tell-uh,”

“Bella,” the woman said, still smiling. Ardyn did not think about smearing her bloody against the wall.

Ardyn smiled down at him, “go on.”

Prompto curled closer to him, but turned his head so he was looking at her over the top of his doll, “the other places were too hot or too cold, and he wasn’t comfortable.”

“And did he find a good place to sleep?” Bella asked, leaning over a little so that they were eye to eye.

Prompto nodded, “yeah, under his mom’s wing.”

“That’s a nice story, maybe we could read it together?” she asked.

Prompto nodded again.

“Prompto, I have a big room with lots of books and toys. Do you think we could read your book there?” she asked.

Prompto hid his face in his doll, and shook his head.

“Oh, but it’s really fun. It has a lot of other dolls that Coco can meet.” She still had that soft smile fixed in place.

Prompto shook his head again.

“Maybe we should try a different strategy. Wait a little longer,” Cor said.

Bella shook her head, “It’s like ripping off a band-aid, the slower it is, the more it hurts.” She looked at Ardyn, “can you talk to him? He seems to be the most attached to you, at the moment.”

Ardyn sighed, “I’d rather not.”

“Ardyn,” Cor said, “for Prompto.”

Prompto’s face was tucked into his doll, and he was gripping onto Ardyn’s shirt with both hands.

“Prompto,” he whispered, “why don’t you see what’s in this room. It seems fun.”

“Will you come too?” he asked.

“I have to stay out here,” Ardyn said, “no men allowed.”

“Cor can’t come, either?” Prompto asked.

“Sorry, kiddo,” Cor said, petting down his hair.

Prompto finally looked up, his face was full of tears.

Ardyn wiped them off with his fingers, “you’re being so silly, don’t cry now. We’ll be right here, when you’re done.”

“Ardyn,” Cor growled.

“Really?” Prompto asked, his eyes wide and hopeful.

“Yes,” Ardyn lied.

“Pinky promise?” He asked, sticking his pinky out.

“It’s time to go now,” Ardyn said, pulling Prompto away.

“Ardyn, pinky promise,” Prompto said, grabbing onto his shirt.

Ardyn didn’t know why he couldn’t just hook pinkies with him and promise. He knew it would make everything easier. If he did it, Prompto would go without question. He should just do it, it wouldn’t matter. After this, he would never see the boy again. It didn’t matter.

He pried Prompto’s fingers off of his shirt and pushed him into the woman’s arms.

“Ardyn!” Prompto screamed, struggling against her, “Cor!” He was sobbing. His chocobo doll and book were on the floor. He kicked and screamed and bit. Ardyn could hear more footsteps running to where the woman was trying to calm Prompto down.

“Ardyn! Cor! I’m sorry, I’ll be good,” he sobbed, “I promise to be a good boy!” Cor held open the door and Ardyn went through without looking back.

The door shut, and it was quiet.

Chapter Text

Ardyn spent the first night of his freedom wandering through Lucis. It was much different than he remembered, though last he’d been here had been more than a millennium ago. The city was bustling, it was apparently a Saturday afternoon, so people were getting lunch, hanging out with friends, the like. Ardyn found himself in a park, watching people run around with their dogs and their children. He watched one parent throw a flat disc to a small blond child. They were laughing, what a strange and boring game to enjoy. It was nice to finally be away from the monotony of people, able to do whatever he wanted.

He wondered what lie Cor had decided to tell the King about him. They hadn’t talked after. Cor hadn’t turned to look at him, when he had left. There hadn’t been any pleasantries exchanged. Cor had gotten into his car and simply driven away. He hoped that Cor was a good liar though, it wouldn’t do for him to have more spies watching him.

He tried to decide what to do next. Would he go to Tenebrae, perhaps? See what new idiocy the King was doing. What Sylva saw in him was a true mystery. If he wasn’t creating unenforceable new laws, he was misusing state money for useless infrastructure. Ardyn had spent a good portion of his time murmuring into the ears of certain castle staff that always wound up being whispered in the queen’s ear. It was unfortunate that she seemed to have a fondness for loveable oafs.

He stood up, dusted off his pants and headed to the train station. It would be an admirable first good deed of the day.

---

Usually, convincing politicians to do the right thing for corrupt reasons was something that Ardyn enjoyed. He loved playing them like puppets, dangling their greatest wants in front of their eyes. It reminded him of how pathetic and self-centered humans were, and the guilt that bled into their eyes was just icing on the cake. It was slightly less satisfying this time. But still mildly entertaining.

He had returned to Lucis without really thinking about it. Prompto had been on his mind. Whenever his thoughts wandered, he would think about the boy. He wondered what he was up to. If his new parents had taken him to see chocobos yet. If he liked the house he lived in. Whether the house had a backyard. If he was enjoying school. It was annoying.

He decided that the only way to get the boy out of his mind was to see him, just for a moment. Just to make sure he was doing alright.

They woman on the phone for social services was completely useless. She had refused to tell him anything, saying things such as ‘closed adoption’ and ‘privacy’. So Ardyn had been forced to take things into his own hands. He waited until it was close to midnight and warped up to a window in the building. It was laughably easy to get in without tripping any alarms. Finding the records room took some time, but eventually he found Prompto’s file.

It had been a quick adoption. There was a couple that had been waiting for a child for a few years now. Their backgrounds were impeccable. One was a lawyer who specialized in human rights work, he traveled to places most in need, to fight for them. The other was a journalist who broke stories of exploitation, putting herself in dangerous situations in order to get the story out. They both made well above middle class salary, and apparently had even hired a nanny to watch over Prompto. They were very impressive. Ardyn made copies of the documents and flicked them into his arminger, to read over more thoroughly later.

The address was in one of the nicest apartment buildings in Lucis, on a very high floor number. Ardyn wandered around the neighborhood, he’d have to wait for morning to see Prompto on his way to school. He found a bar that was pretty full and the drunk patrons were an interesting show. There was a group in the back, that comprised of mostly men trying, and failing, to impress a woman. She was laughing, throwing her hair over her shoulder, and casually touching whichever man was talking to her. She had also stolen at least three of their watches and two of their wallets.

Ardyn was sipping at his drink when she came over to him. She was quite beautiful close up, silver hair and green eyes. Her outfit showed just the right amount of skin to be sexy, but not enough to sate your curiosity. If Ardyn was interested, it would have been tempting.

She tilted her head to show off her neck and smiled, “hi there, I noticed you noticing me and thought I’d say ‘hi’.”

Ardyn grinned at her, “well, hello there, it’s a bit rude to come over and not introduce yourself, wouldn’t you say?”

She frowned at him for a second, anger crossing her features before smoothing out, “of course, you can call me-“

“Bitch!” One of the drunk men yelled, “you stole my wallet!” The other men started to go through their own belongings, joining with the first man in their anger. The first drunk man grabbed her arm, “if you think I’ll go easy on you because you’re a girl-“

She grabbed his shoulder and kicked his legs out from under him, dropping him to the ground. Before the other men could react, she kicked one so hard in the stomach he puked. The remaining men ran off. She sat down on the bar stool next to Ardyn.

“Ugh, nevermind, just give me a shot of whatever’s strongest,” she said to the bartender.

“That was quite impressive,” Ardyn said, “come here often?”

She threw back her shot and tapped the glass for a refill, “look, I just wanted to steal from you, now that my cover’s blown, I’m not interested.”

What an honest thief, “of course, I can think of no other reason a teenager would come into a bar like this.”

She flinched, but didn’t look at him. The bartender had stopped pouring her glass. She locked eyes with him and sat up higher. He sighed and finished pouring, “last one, I’m not losing my job for this, alright?”

“How’d you know?” She asked.

Ardyn held out her ID between two fingers, “Fifteen years old. From Niflheim. Makes one wonder what you’re doing all the way out here, in Lucis?

She grabbed her ID, “how’d you do that?”

Ardyn laughed, “the same way you did, just better.”

She glared at him, “fine, yeah, I’m here to make some money. Niflheim’s not flowing in cash or jobs right now, not with the emperor so fixated on war and shit, so people gotta move to eat.”

“I hear that that’s changing,” Ardyn said, thinking about Relore’s face as his friend was led away in handcuffs.

“Not fast enough,” Aranea said, nursing her drink. Normally, this would keep him entertained for a few hours. Digging into her backstory, asking just the right questions to get her to open up. Manipulating her into doing what was ultimately the best thing for her, by pushing just the right button. Unfortunately, today he didn’t have the time to do it properly. He’d have to do the quick and easy route.

Ardyn put down a few bills, “here’s some advice for you,” he said.

“Right, because I was just begging for your advice,” she scoffed.

“Making money like this is all well and good,” Ardyn said, ignoring her, “but what you want is stability. You’ll run out of bars to stake out, soon enough.”

He knew she knew it too, from the way she hunched over her drink. The only reason a thief like her would come up to an affluent neighborhood like this, would be because she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t hunt for targets in seedier places, because they all knew her already.

“Go to school and graduate, you’re smart. You’ll find a job and it’ll pay you well, probably.” Ardyn said, getting up. It was getting close to the time that children would be getting up for school.

“I don’t do well taking orders,” she said, still facing away from him, “and I don’t even know you.”

“Well, that’s true enough. I wouldn’t trust me either,” he turned around, and she was looking at him from over her shoulder, “best of luck to you, then. Ms. Highwind.”

She was definitely interesting, but he doubted she’d change her ways. She was too young, and craved the adrenaline rush and independence. Not his business though, he didn’t have time to be concerned over another child.

He waited in front of the building, and watched people coming out for work and children running down the sidewalk for school. He waited for a few hours, but he never saw the Argentum’s or Prompto.

They could have gone on a trip with him, or perhaps he’s sick so they kept him home. Or they moved and this wasn’t their apartment anymore. There were hundreds of reasonsfor why he hadn’t come out, but Ardyn was already in the building by the time he realized he didn’t care. He had come here to see him, and he wasn’t the type to do things halfway.

He smiled at the doorman and walked straight to the elevator without being stopped. Confidence could get a man anywhere, these days. He pushed the button to Prompto’s floor. What horrid building security.

He walked down the hall until he found the right number and knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again, and waited a few moments. It was easy to pick the lock of the door to get in.

The apartment was immaculate, and empty. It was like it came straight out of a magazine, metal chairs, glass tables and fluffy white rugs. He skipped the first floor and went straight to the second.

The first two doors were an empty bedroom and a bathroom. The third was a smaller room. It was painted a soft blue, and pictures of chocobos and other animals adorned the walls. There was a little desk with crayons and paper on it. When Ardyn got a closer look, he could see that Prompto had drawn a picture of a person wearing purple holding hands with a blond boy. Behind them were chocobos. Ardyn disappeared the picture into his arminger. There were more pictures of a man wearing brown and the two men together with the boy.

There was a groan behind him, and when he turned there was a lump on the bed. Ardyn wondered for a moment whether this was a good idea, after all. Whether seeing him would simply cause Prompto more pain. But curiosity won out, in the end. He touched the boy’s shoulder. He didn’t respond, so Ardyn shook him a bit. The boy groaned again but didn’t move other than that.

Ardyn pulled the blanket off. Prompto was breathing hard, his face was flushed. He put his hand on Prompto’s head, the boy had a fever. He was wheezing, like he could just barely get enough air into his lungs.

“Prompto,” Ardyn said, shaking him, “Prompto, wake up.”

The boy finally peeked one eye open, “Ardyn?” he whispered, before he began to cough.

“How long have you been sick? Where are you parents?” Ardyn asked, pulling the boy into his arms.

Prompto kept coughing. Ardyn grabbed a crayon and wrote a note on a piece of paper before walking downstairs. He left the note on the glass table.

“I’m going to take you to the hospital, ok?” Ardyn whispered against Prompto’s head.

“Don’t leave,” Prompto said, clutching weakly onto Ardyn’s shirt.

“No,” Ardyn promised, “I won’t leave.”

Chapter Text

The hospital room they put them in was surprisingly comfortable. There was a chair in the corner that Ardyn moved toward the bed, so he could be in Prompto’s view if he wakes up. He had just fallen back asleep after having a chest x-ray done. Prompto had subsequently plastered himself on Ardyn, until he had passed out.

Pneumonia. That’s what he’d been diagnosed with. How he got pneumonia was anyone’s guess. According to the doctor, he’d had it for at least a few days, based on the severity of his condition. According to his school, Prompto had been absent for three days. And according to his parents, they are currently unavailable but will get back to him as soon as they can. According to their answering machines, anyway.

Prompto looked even paler under the fluorescent lights of the hospital, his skin was almost translucent. His veins were pale blue beneath his skin, and his eyelashes were stark against his lids. Ardyn wondered what he should do now. It seemed that these parents weren’t as fit as social services would have him believe. If he left now, he could probably find them within a day. He could be done dealing with them in about twenty minutes, if he was feeling generous. He thought about Prompto coughing until he was gasping for air. Maybe an hour.

“Ardyn,” Prompto whispered. His eyes were barely open but his hand was reaching out, grasping for him.

He sat on the bed and leaned over Prompto, smoothing his hair down, “I’m here.”

Prompto clutched onto his finger and his eyes filled with tears, “you’re not leaving, right? You promised you’d stay. You have to pinky promise me.”

Ardyn didn’t have any problem hooking pinkies with him, this time.

---

“I understand your concern, Mr. Izunia,” Bella, from social services said, as she organized files on her desk, “we don’t know what happened either. Prompto has been removed from the Argentum household, of course, while we investigate.”

Ardyn frowned at her. In his mind, there wasn’t much to investigate. They were clearly guilty, and death seemed a suitable punishment. But, he supposed it wasn’t something most people would agree with. The truth would take too long for her her to accept. Anyway, he didn't want to be away from Prompto too long, even if he was going to be resting most of the day. At least, according to his doctor.

“Well, I just feel that if you are simply giving him to anyone, regardless of their skill in parenting, I would try my hand in it,” Ardyn said, tilting his head so that it rested on his fist.

Bella pursed her lips, “we did do a very thorough background check on the Argentum’s before the adoption.”

“Yes, and we can see how accurate that check was. How long did it take for them to finally call back to check on their hospitalized child, again?” Ardyn asked, “have they even called yet?”

Bella glared at him before pulling a folder out of one of her many piles and opening it, “I admit that this isn’t the best example of our work, but we have-“

“I’m sure that this was simply a freak accident, certainly the other children left in your care have their adoptive parents vetted more thoroughly,” Ardyn said, dismissively, “I would like to discuss adopting Prompto, how do we make that happen.”

Bella sighed, and rubbed her head, “ok, I may have deserved that one.” She pulled out a few papers from her drawers and clicked opened a pen, “you clearly care about him, and he’s very attached to you, so why not give it a try?”

“Fabulous,” Ardyn said, leaning forward.

“What’s your current occupation?” She asked, scribbling on the paper.

“I suppose, I’m currently unemployed,” Ardyn said. Probably saying that he manipulates entire governments into doing things that ultimately benefit their citizens would raise eyebrows.

“You don’t have a job? How do you get your income?” Bella asked, opening a drawer to grab another stack of papers.

“Let’s just say, I get by,” Ardyn said. He had very few expenses, since he didn’t need to eat or sleep. If he ever needed money, it was easy to take on a hunt or sell one of his many ancient artifacts stored in his arminger.

“You ‘get by’?” Bella asked, staring up at him, “how do you pay for your residence?”

“Oh, I don’t have one,” Ardyn said.

Bella dropped her pen, and folded her hands under her chin, “so, you have no job, no stable income and nowhere to live.”

He was beginning to see the problem, “I suppose when you put it that way, it doesn’t sound good.”

“And how would you put it? To make it sound good?” she asked.

She had him there.

“Look, a child is a big responsibility. They need stability, a place to live, food on the table, clothes, toys, books. I can’t possibly let a man with no job and no home, adopt one. We had the Argentum’s bank account statements, their mortgage on their apartment, their tax forms, basically any form that said something about them, we had. I mean, what’s your social security number?” Bella asked.

“Well, I see this meeting isn’t going anywhere,” Ardyn said, getting up, “thank you for your time.”

Bella stood up, “I know you care about him, and thank you for checking up on him. But he needs someone who can give him a stable life, you understand.”

“Yes,” Ardyn said, thinking of Plan B, “I understand completely.”

---

Tracking down Cor wasn’t hard. He just had to stake out the citadel and then follow him home. By the time Cor left, it was late, almost ten at night. Cor drove out to a building and when he punched in a number to open the door, he said, “well, are you coming in?”

Ardyn really shouldn’t have been surprised.

They walked up to his apartment in silence and Cor poured them both a drink before sitting heavily in a chair. The apartment was nice, but sparse. There was a small table and two chairs by a window. No rugs or sofas to be seen. The pictures that littered the walls were nature scenes that Ardyn would bet anything came with the house. The kitchen had a fridge and a stove and, as far as Ardyn could see, one pan.

“My goodness, you don’t even have a coffeemaker. How do you live?” Ardyn asked, as he inspected the cabinets. All empty, save for a bottle of soy sauce and one case of cup noodles.

“Can you just please get to whatever point you came here to make? I’ve had a long day,” Cor said, taking a gulp of his drink.

Cor did look haggard, he had bags under his eyes and a five-o’clock shadow. Which, honestly, suited him.

“Prompto needs new adoptive parents, his old ones weren’t acceptable,” Ardyn said, cutting to the chase “you need to do it.”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks for the phone call, by the way. I found out after social services called me, freaked out that you had kidnapped him or something.” Cor said, “That was a fun phone call to have at work.”

“Please, I left a note,” Ardyn said, rolling his eyes. Government workers really liked to overexaggerate.

“Oh yeah, they told me. ‘Took Prompto to hospital, be back later.’ Great note, lots of information for people to find you,” Cor said, “they were about to send out a nationwide kidnapping alert before I stopped them.”

“Well, they could have just called the hospital,” Ardyn pointed out.

“There are a hundred hospitals in Lucis,” Cor growled.

“Well, you handled it,” Ardyn pointed out, unbothered.

Cor was rubbing his temples, “just tell me what you want, so you can leave.”

“I just told you, you need to adopt Prompto,” Ardyn said.

“That’s your grand plan, just have me adopt Prompto? Why don’t you do it?” Cor finished his drink and got up to pour himself another.

“I thought you said I would be the worst father ever, that I was incapable of it.” Ardyn followed him into the kitchen, and took the bottle after Cor was done.

“Yeah, and I sincerely believe that,” Cor said, “but if you have such an issue with everything, why don’t you just do it?”

Ardyn sighed, “well, unfortunately, I tried. They wouldn’t give him to me.”

“They wouldn’t? To the man who likes to wander into nations just to threaten governments and has no citizenship in Lucis? Yeah, I checked,” Cor said pointedly, “they wouldn’t let you adopt a child? Shocking.”

Ardyn glared at him. It was annoying how Cor always had something cutting and brutally honest to fling back at him. He missed the days that people simply stared at him terrified and guilt-ridden after one of his tirades, “right, but that brings us back to my original point. You adopt him. You have citizenship, a job, this apartment.”

Cor rested his forehead on his hand, “I can’t.”

Ardyn felt a surge of anger. He had been mistaken to assume Cor was a rare human who wasn’t self-absorbed. No matter, he knew exactly how to deal with humans like this. Give them what they want, to do what they should.

“Oh, well I’m sure you could hire someone to help you. And I would help out with Prompto, of course,” Ardyn said, syrupy sweet, “or is it perhaps, a romantic partner who’s against it?”

Cor was looking at him strangely, “stop doing that. Whatever you’re doing.”

“You can’t adopt Prompto because you’re busy? I can make sure that he’s properly handled so that he’s never in your way,” Ardyn said, putting his glass down, “unless it really is a partner that’s the problem. I can talk to them, I’m very convincing.”

“Okay, you need to stop this weird, being helpful, thing, you’re doing because it’s freaking me out,” Cor said, “and that’s not the problem.”

Ah, so there was an issue. He really was just another pathetic little human. “Alright, what is it? I’m sure I can figure out a solution.”

Cor sighed, “fine, they won’t let me, okay?”

Ardyn blinked, what did that mean? Was the man having a stroke? “Excuse me?” he asked.

“Social services. They said I’m not a suitable guardian because I’m busy all the time, okay? They went on about how they made that mistake with his previous adoptive parents, so they don’t want to risk it, again,” Cor said, “I mean I work until ten at night, and sometimes I’m sent on missions that can take months. I don’t blame them, honestly. I wouldn’t give him to me, either.”

“You,” Ardyn asked, dazed, “you already asked?”

“Of course I did,” he said, “I gave them a call at work. That worked against me, by the way. They said that I couldn’t even find time to make it down in person, how would I find time to take him to school.”

“So,” Ardyn said, with dawning horror, “you can’t adopt him because you have no time. And I can’t adopt him because I have no income or home.”

“I guess so,” Cor said with a chuckle, “some pair we are.”

“But you have a good job and a place to live, and I have all the time in the world,” Ardyn said, in absolute despair.

Cor stared at him, “yeah, I guess. What-no,” Cor covered his eyes with his hand, “no way. No fucking way.”

“Well, I certainly don’t like the idea either. Can you think of an alternative?” Ardyn asked, already changing all the wall colors of the apartment in his mind.

“Shiva, anything else. At all. Just let them find him new parents,” Cor said.

“Yes, because that worked so well, last time.” Perhaps a light turquoise, it would certainly lighten the place up. Who paints a wall beige anyway? Did Cor just have a preference for the color brown?

“It’d be better than us!” Cor shouted.

“Really? You’d risk that?” Ardyn asked, already knowing Cor’s answer.

“I’m not fucking marrying you,” Cor said, grabbing the bottle of liquor and throwing it back, downing a good portion of what was left.

“Well, that’s insulting. I’ll have you know, many people find me quite attractive,” Ardyn said, a little affronted, “if anything I’m marrying down.”

“Fuck you,” he said, wiping his mouth, “I’d have to know more about you to marry you.” Cor put the bottle on the counter and leaned over gripping his head in his hands, “Oh gods, I’m actually considering marrying you.”

“Of course you are,” Ardyn said, “because you’re a good person, who’s going to do the right thing.”

“Don’t fucking patronize me.”

“You will have to do something about that language when we have a child in the house.”

“Ok,” Cor said, grabbing Ardyn’s arm and dragging him to the table. He pushed him into the seat and then sat across from him. “If we’re going to do this, and it’s a big, if.”

“Is it?” Ardyn asked, resting his head on his hand with a smile. It was cute that Cor was still pretending he hadn’t already decided on it. It was odd, but being proven right about Cor didn’t give Ardyn the usual vindication it usually did. Instead, he felt strangely nauseous. But it could also be because of this partnership they were about to enter together. And the child they were about to share custody of.

“Shut up,” Cor said, “If we do this, I’m going to need to know everything about you.”

Ah, this would take some time then, “you may want to pour yourself another drink, this will take a while.”

“No, no more drinks. Just talk,” Cor said.

So Ardyn started talking.

Chapter Text

Light was shining through the window by the time Ardyn was done talking. Cor had asked a few questions throughout the night, but had mostly let Ardyn explain naturally. He found it impressive that Cor was able to keep such a straight poker face, while Ardyn just shattered his whole worldview.

“And, I think that’s it,” Ardyn said, mentally going through everything, “oh, right, and I had to assassinate the emperor of Niflheim a few times. They have some bad luck with those, you know. They should really do something about that.”

Cor stared at him silently, where he was sitting with his arms crossed.

“It can’t be linked back to me, I covered my tracks,” Ardyn said, after a minute of silence. A few more minutes passed, “uh, you okay in there?”

“Just processing,” Cor said.

“Okay, well, let me know. But, we should really get to social services in the morning. I don’t want Prompto alone too long,” Ardyn said.

Cor sat up, “okay, let me just summarize. You’re the brother of the First King of Lucis.”

“Older brother,” Ardyn clarified.

“Fine, whatever. So two thousand years ago, there was the scourge. The legends are true about that?” Cor asked.

Ardyn nodded.

“So you went to the gods and asked them to give you the power to heal people, and then you did, but instead of it going away like with the oracle, it absorbed into you. So then you wound up being immortal?” Cor asked.

“Right,” Ardyn said.

“Okay, and then when you asked the gods to let you die, they said that you were the bringer of darkness or something? And that only the True King would be able to kill you and ‘cleanse the scourge from Eos’?” Cor asked, using his finger to make quotation marks.

“Yes,” Ardyn said, looking at the time. They would need at least a few hours to get the marriage license, they would get to social services by noon at the earliest at this point.

“And you think that king is probably Prince Noctis?” Cor asked.

“Most likely, yes,” Ardyn said, letting just a little aggravation bleed through. It was like Cor hadn’t even been listening.

“Okay, so you basically told the gods to, and I’m quoting here, ‘suck it’ and decided to just do good deeds and you’ve been sneaking into governments all over Eos in order to manipulate them into doing the right thing?” Cor asked, “but you haven’t been back in Lucis for over a thousand years?”

“Yes, like I said, Lucis is surprisingly moral, so there wasn’t much need for me to bother,” Ardyn said.

“And the reason you came to Lucis was because you heard that there was a war brewing between Niflheim and Lucis. So you threatened the emperor and then came here to tell the king about how he wanted the crystal. And you just happened to run into Prince Noctis, were imprisoned, broke out, ran into Prince Noctis again, ran into Ignis, went back to Niflheim, threatened the emperor again, found out about them doing human experimentation, killed the experiments, went looking for other things that this scientist guy was hiding, ran into me, went after the assistant, found Prompto, killed the assistant and now we’re here,” Cor said.

Ardyn really had had a busy week, “oh that’s right, after we dropped Prompto off, I manipulated the council of Tenebrae into increasing funds for military spending. Honestly, they’re almost just asking for someone to come in and kill them all.”

“Okay, fine,” Cor said, slashing the air with his hands, “and that’s everything.”

“Mostly everything,” Ardyn said. Cor glared. “Everything important, anyway.”

“And it’s all true?” Cor asked, squinting at him.

“Yes, it’s all true, as if I would just make that all up.” Ardyn rolled his eyes.

“And you can do everything the king can, warp, have an arminger, all of that?”

“Yes, for gods’ sake, are we done yet?” Ardyn asked, standing up. It was almost nine, “at this rate we won’t be able to get to Prompto until the late afternoon.”

“Just one more thing,” Cor said, holding up a finger

“What?” Ardyn asked, exasperated.

“Did you really name Prompto after a dog?” He asked.

Ardyn stared at him, “why does it matter?”

“I want to be sure of your intentions,” Cor said.

Ardyn sat back down, he tilted his head and then said, “no, I didn’t.” He stood up again, “now let’s go.”

Cor stood up too, “wait, but who did you name him after?”

“You said one question, I answered it. So, we’re done,” Ardyn said, moving toward the door, “get your papers, let’s go. Chop chop.” He clapped his hands together twice, which made Cor glare at him.

“Fine, I’m done. How about you, do you have any questions for me?” Cor asked, as he put on his coat.

“Nope,” Ardyn said, already halfway down the hallway.

“What? Nothing?” Cor asked, as he ran to catch up, “no questions about me?”

“Not really,” he said, getting in the elevator and pressing the button for the ground floor.

“We’re about to get married, and you don’t want to know anything about me?” He asked.

“I already know everything I need to know,” Ardyn said, as the elevator stopped, “I don’t need to know anything else.”

“Really? You know everything you need to know about me. You’re good?” Cor asked, as they walked out together. Cor pulled out his car keys when they got outside.

“Yep,” Ardyn said, “you were the one who needed the explanation, I’m fine with this.”

Cor sighed, “well, you are two thousand years old, I guess you’ve been married tons of times.”

Ardyn opened the door to Cor’s car, “nope, this is my first.” He sat down and shut the door.

Cor got in right after him, “what?”

“Well, my lifestyle isn’t really conductive to finding romantic partners, you understand. Also, I am filled with an actual physical manifestation of evil that talks to me sometimes, so, you know,” Ardyn waved his hand around a little.

Cor stared at him with that closed off look again, “let’s just get married and adopt a kid, before I change my mind.”

“Finally,” Ardyn said, “that’s what I’ve been saying.”

---

Cor called someone in the car and had them get a marriage license ready for them. When they arrived at the courthouse, they were immediately escorted to a backroom and a judge handed them a certificate to sign. No one spoke the entire time, and when Ardyn opened his mouth to ask if this was even legal, Cor elbowed him. When they walked out, someone was waiting by the car. They handed Cor a manila envelope and left.

It took twenty minutes.

“How unromantic,” Ardyn sighed morosely, “I always imagined my wedding day would have more fanfare, or at the very least an audience of some sort.”

Cor ignored him as he drove. To be fair, Ardyn had been complaining for the entirety of the drive. Really though, would a little drama during one’s wedding day really be too much to ask for?

“We didn’t even take a picture,” Ardyn grumbled, “what will we show Prompto if he asks us about our wedding day?”

“Just tell him we’re private people,” Cor said, making a turn.

Ardyn did something he hasn’t done in a long time, he pouted.

---

Bella stared at the marriage certificate and then looked back up at them. She opened her mouth, shut it and looked back down the at certificate. Ardyn was lounging in his chair, watching her silently process everything, while Cor sat straight as a rod, not moving an inch. He was like a statue.

“Okay,” Bella finally said, putting the certificate down, “so, you guys are married now.”

“Yes, it was a bit of an impulse decision, but one can’t stop love,” Ardyn said, putting a hand over his heart.

Cor gave him a look of complete despair, before turning back to Bella, “here’s my paperwork.” He handed over the manila folder.

Bella took it and dropped it on her desk, “I’m going to be honest here guys, I don’t buy this for a second.”

Both Ardyn and Cor leaned forward, ready to argue.

She put her hand up, “but, I can see that you guys both care about Prompto a lot. Clearly enough to do-this,” she waved her hand at the certificate, “and combined you guys do pick up each other’s deficits.”

She pulled out some papers from her desk drawer, “I’m probably going to regret this, but I’m going to let this happen. I mean, you guys are going to have a lot of supervision. At least a visit a week from social services.”

“Ah, so now you’re checking up on children after they leave your care,” Ardyn said.

Cor kicked him, hard.

“Look, you want Prompto or not?” Bella asked, looking up from her paperwork.

“Yes,” Cor said, kicking Ardyn again, “just ignore him. What else do we need to do?”

“Honestly, I’m sure your lawyer will be able to cut through a lot of the red tape, so why don’t you just go to the hospital and see your kid for now?” Bella said, smiling a little.

Ardyn was already out the door, before Cor could even thank her.

---

“Can’t you drive faster, you’re like an old man,” Ardyn said, drumming his fingers.

“Says the old man,” Cor pointed out, “it’s not even eleven yet, relax.” But he did speed up a little.

It only took ten minutes to drive into the hospital, and Ardyn made Cor drop him off before he went to park the car. He walked through the familiar route to Prompto’s room. It was strange that so much had happened, but he had only been gone for about a day.

He was passing the nurse’s station when he heard Prompto’s name.

“We just got a call and came back as fast as we could,” a woman was saying, “Prompto Argentum? Is he here?”

The scourge rippled through his veins.

A man next to her was trying to calm her down, but she pushed him away, “he’s in a hospital, what do you mean calm down?”

“I’m just saying that they’re doing the best they can, and yelling at them probably isn’t helping,” the man said.

“I-“ the woman started.

“Excuse me?” Ardyn asked, smiling, “I’m sorry I heard that you were looking for Prompto?”

“Yes,” the woman said, her eyes were swimming in tears that she kept wiping away with her sleeves, “do you know his room number?”

“I do,” Ardyn said. They both smiled at each other in relief.

“Well, what is it?” The man asked, after a beat.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ardyn said, still smiling, putting a hand over his heart, “Has no one come to talk to you? I’m afraid that you two have been barred from seeing him. Also, he has been removed from your care.”

“Excuse me?” The man asked, at the same time the woman said, “Is this some kind of joke?”

“Not at all, it seems social services has found you both completely unfit to be his parents and so he has been removed from your home,” Ardyn said, the scourge raging to slaughter these pathetic useless pieces of filth, to spread over their bodies, corrupt them, it’s what they would deserve, “and you won’t get him back.”

“Wha-“ the woman said.

“Well, you better hope you don’t, anyway,” Ardyn said, stepping closer and letting the scourge bleed down his face, “because if I ever see the two of you again, I will rip your limbs from your body, and then I’ll rip out your eyes followed by your nose and lips. Oh, but not to worry, I’ll keep you alive. Just barely. So that you can live the rest of your life in complete and utter agony,” he ducked his head down so that he was inches away from the woman’s face, “And you can trust that I know how to make things simply excruciating.”

“Ardyn,” Cor called from behind him. He forced the scourge back and stepped away from them.

“It was a pleasure speaking to you,” he said, smiling at them, “let’s do it again, sometime.” He turned and walked over to Cor.

“What were you doing?” Cor asked.

“Just some harmless conversation,” Ardyn said.

Cor looked behind Ardyn’s shoulder, at the woman who had collapsed on the ground and burst into tears. The man wasn’t doing much better, he was leaning heavily against the nurses’ station, babbling incoherently. Nurses were flocking around them, until they were mostly obscured from view.

“Are we going to see Prompto?” Ardyn asked, taking a few steps toward his room.

Cor scrutinized him, “sure,” he said, “let’s go.”

Prompto’s doctor was looking over his chart when they came in. Prompto was still sleeping, he was curled in a ball tangled around his IV line.

“He keeps sleeping like that, the nurses have to come in and untangle him every so often,” the doctor said, putting the chart back on the bed.

“How is he doing?” Cor asked.

She blinked at him, “and you are?”

“Oh,” Ardyn said with an easy smile, “I’m so sorry, this is my husband, Cor.”

Her eyes widened, “I’m so sorry, I’m Dr. Velna,” she held out her hand, “it’s nice to meet you, Cor? Wait-” her eyes widened, “Cor the Immortal?”

“How’s Prompto doing?” Cor asked, grabbing the chart.

“Oh, oh right,” the doctor said, blushing, “sorry, he’s doing a lot better. Mostly in and out today, because of the drugs. He should be more conscious tomorrow, and if all goes well, he can go home the day after.”

Cor and the doctor were still talking, but he ignored them. Ardyn sat on the edge of the bed and moved Prompto’s limbs so he could untangle the IV, before tucking him back into his blanket. Prompto stirred a little and looked up at him.

“Ardyn,” he mumbled, before smiling, “you didn’t leave.”

“Is he awake?” Cor asked, walking toward the bed.

“I promised I wouldn’t, and look who else is here,” Ardyn said, moving a little to the side.

“Cor,” Prompto said, reaching out for him, “you came back. You’re gonna stay too, right? Pinky promise!” He jabbed his pinky at Cor.

He chuckled and hooked pinkies with Prompto, “okay, I’m not leaving. I swear.”

“Pinky promise,” Prompto murmured, his eyes already fluttering shut, “thousand needles.”

They watched him sleep for a moment.

“You know you have to move, right?” Ardyn asked, breaking the silence, “we can’t possibly live in that grimy apartment you have.”

Cor sighed, “you can’t let me have one moment of peace, can you?”

“Get used to it,” Ardyn grinned, “you married me.”

Chapter Text

Prompto had been holding onto Ardyn’s arm since he woke up. He refused to let go, even after he had pinky promised he’d come back. Even when Prompto had to go to the bathroom, he had forced Ardyn to go with him. He hadn’t gripped onto Cor, but he had made him join them in the bathroom, too. They had faced away while Prompto had done his business.

When Bella arrived with paperwork for them, Prompto cried so hard that the nurses had forced her to leave. He refused to let go of Ardyn, clutching onto his shirt and burrowing himself into his arms. He had flailed his arm, until Cor held his hand.

Cor had called someone, the same woman who had given him the manila envelope, and she took the paperwork and left. She had also brought Coco and the book they had bought at the ranch. Prompto release Ardyn, to hug the doll but still held Ardyn’s coat with one hand.

“Are Gary and Risa coming to see me?” Prompto asked, half his face buried in the doll.

“Who?” Cor asked.

“His previous adopted parents,” Ardyn said to him, honestly the man didn't know anything, before turning to Prompto, “no, you probably won’t be seeing them anymore.”

Prompto stared up at him, his eyes filling with tears, “they don’t want me, anymore?”

Ardyn opened his mouth to say something, when Cor interrupted him with, “they didn’t deserve you.”

“Because I was a bad boy? I didn’t mean to get sick!” Prompto cried, turning to Cor, “I’ll be super good this time, I promise. Can you tell them I’ll be good?”

Ardyn glared at Cor, who was starting to look a little panicked. He turned to Prompto, “they weren’t good parents,” he said, “so we have decided that it would be best if we take you in.”

Prompto stopped crying a little and stared up at them, “really?”

“Yes,” Cor said, putting a hand on Prompto’s head, “you’re going to come home with us. Is that ok?”

Prompto’s eyes filled with even more tears.

“Shit,” Cor said, flinching back, “I mean-“

“What is wrong with you?” Ardyn growled, “just shut up.” Prompto was now sobbing, gasping for air, “Prompto, what’s wrong? Do you not want to come home with us?” He supposed he should have asked before just adopting him. After all, some betrayals were unforgivable.

“Yes,” Prompto sobbed, “I want to go home with you, please.” He let go of Coco, and gripped onto Cor with his other hand, “Can we eat choco-bites, again?”

Cor let out a breath in relief, “sure,” he said, “anything you want.”

Prompto turned to Ardyn, “can you read me, ‘Goodnight Chocobo’ again?” he asked, still hiccupping sobs.

Ardyn grabbed the book and leaned back against the bed. Prompto was still sniffling, but he tucked himself into Ardyn’s side and held onto Cor’s sleeve. Cor huffed a laugh and pulled his chair over to sit in, getting comfortable.

“Once upon a time,” Ardyn read, “there was a sleepy, baby chocobo.”

---

“No,” Ardyn said.

“You can’t just say no to all of them, we haven’t even looked inside,” Cor said, helping Prompto out of the car. He clung onto Cor’s pants leg, which made walking difficult.

“It’s not this one, there’s no sense of individuality,” Ardyn said, bending down to scoop Prompto up. He immediately wrapped his arms around Ardyn’s neck.

“We haven’t even walked into the building,” Cor said. He turned to the real estate agent, “I’m sorry about him.”

She smiled a bright intense smile that she, somehow, hadn’t lost during the four hours of apartment hunting they had done together, “oh my gosh, of course not! This is your home; it has to be perfect! I think it’s great that you’re being so picky. After all, you can’t have a good home unless you get good vibes. It’s gotta be a love at first sight thing.”

Ardyn looked at Prompto, who was staring up at the building, squinting into the sun, “what do you think?” he asked in a whisper.

“I don’t know,” he said, “it’s okay.”

“Prompto’s not sure, so it’s not this. Back in the car,” Ardyn announced, getting back in, ignoring Cor’s protests.

“You three are just so cute,” the agent said, clapping her hands together and smiling brighter.

---

“So that was a complete waste of time,” Cor said, shutting the door behind him, “fifteen apartments, and none of them were good enough for you.”

Ardyn put Prompto down, and he immediately grasped onto his hand. Since leaving the hospital, Prompto had become clingier. For obvious reason. He also, to Cor and Ardyn’s continued annoyance, still refused to pee by himself. It's been an awkward couple of days. Cor had taken a week off work, giving them some excuse about a family emergency that Ardyn was sure no one believed. Although, it was ironically true.

“Prompto didn’t like any of them, don’t you think our child should like where he lives?” Ardyn asked.

Prompto flinched and tugged onto Ardyn’s sleeve, “I really don’t mind where,” Prompto cried, “I promise.”

“Now look what you’ve done,” Ardyn said, shaking his head. Cor dropped onto a chair and sighed.

“Fine, what are you looking for?” Cor asked.

“Somewhere that feels right,” Ardyn said, pulling out takeout menus and dropping them onto the table. He pulled crayons and paper out of his armiger and dropped them on the table, as well.

“That’s a bit difficult for a real estate agent to find,” Cor said, going through the pile.

“Well then, they’re not very good at their job, are they?” He asked, picking Prompto up and putting in the chair opposite of Cor.

“Look,” Cor said, looking up, “you’re clearly looking for something specific. What is it?”

Ardyn shrugged, “as I said, I’ll know it when I see it.”

“Why do we have to move?” Prompto asked, crayon in hand.

“This place doesn’t have room for three people,” Cor said.

“Also, just look at it, we couldn’t live here. Look at these walls,” Ardyn said, waving at them, “are we expected to have to look at them for the rest of our lives?”

“I told you that you can paint if you want,” Cor said, pulling out his phone.

“Do you expect me to also paint over your drab kitchen or that bathroom?” Ardyn shuddered.

Cor rolled his eyes, “Prompto, what do you want to eat?”

“Choco-bites!” He said, as he always did.

“You sure you don’t want to try something different?” Cor asked, “maybe mac and cheese? Or a sandwich?”

Prompto shook his head, before going back to his drawing. He was scribbling with a yellow crayon, no doubt drawing another chocobo picture to join the twenty that Cor had stuck up on his fridge.

Cor called for delivery and ordered two meals. Prompto had been confused the first few times they hadn’t ordered food for Ardyn, and had tried to share his meal with him. He had eventually accepted that Ardyn didn’t eat.

“Okay, fine, “Cor said, hanging up the phone, “but I’m not doing this for two more days, so if you don’t pick something tomorrow I’m going to pick.”

Ardyn rolled his eyes.

---

The real estate agent was smiling when she drove up to their building. Then again, Ardyn had never seen her not smiling.

“I have the perfect place for you today,” she said, herding them all into her car, “I’m sure it will give you just the feeling you’re looking for.”

Ardyn gave Cor a look from the back seat, before turning to her, “fantastic, we look forward to it.”

They drove for almost half an hour, longer than usual, before pulling up in front of a two story house. The outside was a light red brick with black roofing, it had a garage and a short driveway. A small patio sat in front, with a table and a few chairs.

“This lovely home just went on the market, six million gil, but price is negotiable, of course,” the agent said, walking up the stairs and unlocking the door, “beautiful maple wood floors, lots of space and open concept. So you can always see each other.” She led them into the kitchen, which had a marble table in the middle, “a nice island for family meals or you can put in a dining room table, if you prefer,” she stopped in front of the oven, “a beautiful convention stove and oven, four burners and a fan,” she continued walking and opened a door in the back, “and of course, a big backyard.”

The backyard was full of bright green grass and had wood fencing that surrounded the property. There was one big oak tree that stood near the edge, stretching up toward the sky. Prompto had been gaping at the house, but once he saw the backyard he was almost vibrating with excitement. He looked up at Ardyn with a bright smile, “this one’s nice,” he whispered. Ardyn smiled at him and tucked his hair behind his ear.

“There’s a small bathroom on the first floor, for guests, but upstairs there’s a master bedroom with an en suite bathroom, a second bedroom, full bathroom, and a small office. There’s also an attic and basement that-“

“We’ll take it,” Ardyn said. Prompto nodded in his arms.

“What?” Cor asked, one foot on the staircase, “we haven’t even seen upstairs yet.”

“No need, this is it. Just look at Prompto,” Ardyn said, thrusting the boy into Cor’s arms.

Prompto tried to school his expression into a more neutral one, but nothing could stop the excitement from shining in his eyes, “I mean, it’s ok,” he said.

Cor looked down at him with a soft smile that Prompto seemed to always elicit, “you like it?”

Prompto looked nervous, biting his lip, before leaning closer and whispering, “it’s just like in the magazines.”

“We’ll take it,” Cor said.

“Wonderful,” the agent squealed, smiling even brighter than before.

---

Moving in barely took a day. Ardyn dumped all of Cor’s things into his armiger and then they drove to the house and unpacked.

“I have to admit, that thing’s useful,” Cor said, putting a box labelled ‘kitchen stuff’ on the island.

“Yes, well, one would hope that at least one of the gifts the gods bestowed upon me would be,” Ardyn said.

Prompto was running around, exploring every closet and cabinet. He opened every door he could find, peeking in and then letting Coco take a look before darting to the next. Ardyn looked at Prompto’s t-shirt and jeans ensemble before walking into the kitchen.

“We need to go shopping,” Ardyn declared, “Prompto has nothing to wear.”

Cor was putting pots and pans, where had those even come from, in the cabinets, “what are you talking about. He has plenty of clothes. That was the one thing his previous parents had done right, almost three boxes full.”

Ardyn grimaced, “yes, three boxes of jeans and t-shirts.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest, “but what about actual clothes.”

Cor dropped his head into the box for a moment before turning to Ardyn, “he’s a kid, he doesn’t need to be a fashion model.”

“Yes, but we’d like him to not look homeless, wouldn’t we?” Ardyn asked, inclining his head toward Prompto.

“He’s fine,” Cor said.

Ardyn raised an eyebrow.

“Gods, we’re going shopping aren’t we?” Cor asked despairingly.

“I’m glad you see things my way,” Ardyn said, “by the way, I contacted your assistant, Sara was it? She showed me some furniture for this place. They’re going to be delivered tomorrow. I also ordered an outdoor playset for Prompto.”

Cor blinked at him, “what? When did you- Nevermind, what stuff? Didn’t you think you should ask me before you bought furniture?”

“No, I figured you wouldn’t care. Do you?” Ardyn asked, walking up the stairs. He paused on the first step and leaned out, “Prompto, we’re going upstairs," he called.

“Okay,” Prompto said, sticking his head out of a cabinet above the sink. Cor started and reached up to pull him into his arms.

“How did you even get up there?” He asked, following Ardyn up the stairs.

Prompto shrugged, “I climbed.”

Cor shook his head, before putting him down. They found Ardyn standing in the middle of one of the bedrooms, “this one will be Prompto’s.”

“I don’t get a choice in that, either?” Cor asked.

“I figured you’d want the master bedroom,” Ardyn said.

“Well, yeah-“

“So, what’s the problem?” Ardyn asked, brushing past him out of the room.

“I would like to be asked about things, in my own home. Which I’m paying for,” Cor said, turning to face him..

“Okay, fine,” Ardyn said, putting his hands on his hips, “would you like the master bedroom or this one?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Cor said, crossing his arms.

“What did you mean, then?” Ardyn asked, raising an eyebrow, “you want me to ask for your opinion, but when I do, it’s not good enough?”

“Look,” Cor growled, “all I’m saying is, you’re making a lot of decisions without my input. And since I’m paying for everything and I’m the one making sure you get citizenship, it would be nice for you to acknowledge that.”

“Oh,” Ardyn said, smiling brightly, “so I should be on my knees in gratitude?”

Cor shook his head, “stop putting this on me.”

“I’m only repeating what you said,” Ardyn said pointedly.

“Don’t patronize me,” he growled, “I-“

“Stop fighting,” Prompto shouted, holding out Coco, “you’re scaring Coco!”

Shit. Ardyn had forgotten that Prompto was even there.

Cor cleared his throat and walked over to kneel down next to him, “we were just discussing things, we weren’t fighting.”

“Coco thinks it sounded a lot like fighting,” Prompto mumbled, half his face buried in the doll.

“Well, either way, we’re done now. My apologies,” Ardyn said. He cut a glance toward Cor, who inclined his head slightly. A conversation for another time, perhaps.

---

Shopping had taken almost half a day, until Ardyn had bought enough that he was satisfied and Cor was carrying a dozen shopping bags. By the time they got back to the house, Sara had set up all the furniture Ardyn had bought. Cor walked in, dropped the bags, and collapsed onto the purple leather couch.

“I am never shopping with you again,” Cor said, “no one needs four different coats, especially not a kid.”

“Of course they do,” Ardyn said, taking Prompto’s new denim jacket and hanging it in the closet, “there are four seasons in the year, aren’t there?”

Ardyn admired his work. Prompto was wearing a white button down shirt with blue jeans and brown shoes. He had accessorized the outfit with a blue scarf wrapped around his neck, sunglasses and Ardyn had bought a leather cuff that went around his wrist.

“How do you like your new look?” He asked, scooping Prompto into his arms.

Prompto looked down at himself, “I like it!”

Ardyn looked at Cor smugly, “see, he likes it.”

“He says that about everything,” Cor said, exasperatedly.

“Don’t listen to Cor,” Ardyn said, touching their foreheads together, “you look fabulous.”

Prompto blushed and wiggled a little in Ardyn’s arms. He opened his mouth to say something, when a small growl interrupted him.

“Oh shi-shoot,” Cor said, getting up, “dinner. Right. Choco-bites?”

Prompto nodded, wiggling to be put down.

Cor picked up his phone, when someone knocked on the door. Ardyn pulled Prompto closer. He and Cor exchanged a look, before Ardyn pulled a long knife from his armiger. Cor went to the door, and pulled a gun out of an umbrella stand. Ardyn turned and walked to the backdoor, mumbling instructions to Prompto to stay quiet. When he opened it, there was a man standing there. He was wearing all black, with a shaved head and a trim beard. He had a sword in his hand, which Ardyn had clashed his knife against before the man had even fully raised it. He twisted and kicked the man in the stomach, sending him into the backyard.

“Don’t look,” Ardyn whispered, tucking Prompto into his neck. More men leaked out from the darkness, climbing over the fence and into the yard. Ardyn looked for their weakest point. Cor could take care of himself. He needed to protect Prompto. How dare these intruders try to take what was his. He needed to defend his own. He could feel darkness enveloping him, singing in his blood to be let out. It had been too long. Too long since he'd let them take control. He pushed them back, now wasn't the time. He had Prompto in his arms. He gripped his knife, ready to throw and warp. He could be out of sight in thirty seconds.

He felt someone coming up behind him and he twisted, slashing his knife before throwing himself back when he saw who it was. Cor dodged away from the blade, taking a few steps back.

“They’re here for me, calm down,” Cor said, eyeing the knife, before turning around and bowing his head, “Your Majesty.”

The man who had attacked him with his entire armiger not too long ago stood in the living room, “ah,” Ardyn said, “of course, make yourself at home, I suppose. Though, it is polite to call in advance before coming over.” He forced the scourge down, as it screamed to take over, to kill the intruders, to corrupt everything in its path. He pulled Prompto in closer and breathed in his scent. It helped.

“My mistake,” Regis said, looking at Ardyn’s weapon and raising an eyebrow, “if this is the kind of welcome you give unexpected guests, I’ll be sure to do so from now on.”

“I agree with that notion,” the man Ardyn had kicked said, walking through the door, “Cor, what in the six is going on?”

“What do you mean, Clarus?” Cor asked, helping Ardyn up. He leaned down so he was close to his ear, “don’t warp,” he whispered before hauling him up.

“Well,” Regis said, sitting on the purple couch, “we wanted to congratulate you on your recent nuptials, and child.” He nodded at Prompto, who was clutching onto Ardyn, peeking at them with one eye.

“You had to know we’d be notified,” Clarus said, “especially when you take a vacation, voluntarily, for the first time since you were hired.”

“I can explain,” Cor said. Shit. He tried to catch Cor’s eye. He had a feeling they wouldn’t take to his history as well as Cor had.

“I have no doubt,” Regis said, his eyes sparkling.

Chapter Text

Ardyn bought himself a few minutes to think, by announcing that he was going to put Prompto to bed. He smiled brightly, before turning to Cor, “why don’t you get our guests some tea, dear?” he asked, as he walked up the stairs.

“I’m not tired,” Prompto whined, as Ardyn tucked him in. After everything that happened, it wasn’t surprising, but this conversation couldn’t happen with Prompto present.

“Can you try to sleep?” Ardyn wheedled, trying to keep the blanket around his shoulders as he struggled.

“Who are those people? Are they going to take me away?” Prompto asked, managing to free his hands, to clutch onto Ardyn’s.

Ardyn put a hand on Prompto’s cheek, “no, they’re Cor’s bosses, they’re just here to talk to him.”

Prompto’s eyes began to water, “do you pinky promise?” he asked, sticking his finger out.

Ardyn joined their pinkies and put his forehead against Prompto’s, “no one will ever take you away from me again, I swear it.”

Prompto wiped his eyes and nodded, “okay, I’ll go to sleep.”

Ardyn took out a sleep potion and let a little drop onto Prompto’s hair, “here, something to help you.”

Prompto rubbed at his head, "whazzat?" he asked, before dropping off into sleep. Ardyn tucked the blanket around him.

He sat next to the boy wondering how much he should tell these men. Certainly not about who he really was, but could he at least tell them about what he’d been doing? He hadn’t interfered in Lucis government technically, so he couldn’t see how they could possibly punish him for anything. Still, it may be best to keep everything a secret, after all, they might try to stop him from fixing things. That wouldn’t be good.

He started making his way down the stairs with a plan vaguely coming together in his mind.

Cor was handing out mismatched cups. The man had no sense, clearly he hasn’t opened the ‘essential’ kitchen box, yet. Ardyn made sure to huff loudly, so everyone knew he was descending the stairs.

“Is Prompto asleep?” Cor asked, taking a seat on a white armchair that faced the couch. Clarus and Regis had taken over the couch. Clarus was leaning forward silently watching, while Regis examined his cup and took a sip.

“I made sure of it,” Ardyn said, tossing the sleep potion to Cor.

Cor caught it easily and glanced at it, he glared at Ardyn but didn’t say anything. He turned back to the King, “Your Majesty.”

Ardyn sat on the arm of Cor’s seat and inclined his head, “I do hope you’re finding our home comfortable,” he said, wrapping his arms around Cor’s shoulders. He felt him tense, but he didn’t push him away.

“It’s quite comfortable. I’ll be honest, it’s not exactly where I expected Cor to be living,” Regis said, looking at the furniture, “or who I expected him to be living with.” He took another sip from his cup.

“Yes, well, it was a rather spontaneous decision, and we certainly couldn’t live in Cor’s apartment. Social services wouldn’t hear of it,” Ardyn said, “and neither would I.”

“Ardyn,” Cor growled.

He touched Cor’s nose, “now, now, dear, don’t be shy,” he turned to them, “it was a bit of a bachelor pad, he didn’t even have a couch.” Regis smiled at Ardyn as he chuckled a bit, "and the smell." Ardyn waved a hand in front of his nose. Cor sighed.

“So,” Regis said, “can you tell me exactly how this," he motioned between the two, "happened?”

Ardyn had the story of forbidden loves and chance meetings, a whirlwind of secret affairs and fate on his tongue.

“We just needed to adopt Prompto,” Cor interrupted, “so we got married. Social services wouldn’t let us adopt him individually because of my lack of time and Ardyn’s lack of resources. Together, we were an adequate team."

“So it’s simply a marriage of convenience,” Clarus said, steepling his fingers, “just for the boy?”

“Yes,” Cor said, “Prompto’s previous parents-ouch!” He turned and glared at Ardyn.

“Oh my, are you alright, dear?” Ardyn gasped, “do you think we have bugs? I hear the Lucis Stinging Wasp is in abundance this time of year.” He waved his hands a little, fending off invisible bugs.

“Well, nonetheless, we will need to get to know your husband and child,” Clarus said, “for security reasons.”

Cor nodded, “of course.”

“Great, then, we can expect the three of you at the citadel tomorrow morning at, say, nine?” Regis asked, putting his empty cup down, “fantastic tea, by the way, thank you.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Ardyn said, “I have no issue with an interview. Though, I do ask that Prompto and I are interviewed together.”

Clarus glared, “Why’s that?”

“Clarus,” Regis said, the man inclined his head to the King immediately, before turning back to Ardyn, “of course, he is your child, it would be unlawful for him to be interviewed without you.”

“A pleasure to have you, but do please call in advance in the future,” Ardyn said, as they all walked toward the door.

“Yes, of course, I do hope you can forgive our intrusion,” Regis said, his eyes glittering.

“We’ll see you bright and early, tomorrow morning,” Ardyn said, smiling sweetly, “good night.”

“Good night, Your Majesty, Clarus,” Cor said, bowing his head.

“Good night,” Regis said.

Ardyn shut the door.

---

“So, just to review again,” Cor said, “if they ask how we found you, you say?”

“A daemon attacked my house and I couldn’t find my parents so I was wandering around, you found me walking on the side of the road,” Prompto recited.

“Are we sure that your minions or social services won’t rat us out?” Ardyn asked.

“That’s the story I told social services. Stop calling them my minions, but that’s the story they know too,” Cor said, as he got into the car, “we should be good.”

“Good, and I was wandering around the citadel because I heard information from Niflheim that I wanted to bring to the King immediately, and just happened to get involved in the prince’s kidnapping attempt, which I stopped,” Ardyn said, “and then went to Niflheim after, to do some more information digging.”

“Make sure you mention that the first information you heard about Niflheim, it was by accident,” Cor said.

“You think they’ll believe that?” Ardyn scoffed.

“Of course not, but they can’t prove you’re lying,” Cor said, “we’re going for plausible here, not completely believable. The King trusts me, if I’m lying, he knows it's for a reason.”

“I thought lying was bad, that’s what the TV always said,” Prompto said, from the backseat.

“When did you watch TV?” Ardyn asked, thinking back to a time Prompto ever used the TV they had gotten just the other day.

“They used to always make me watch it, when they didn’t need me,” Prompto said, petting Coco. Ardyn could imagine Prompto sitting on the floor, watching families on TV, desperately hoping for one. He shook his head.

“Lying is bad, most of the time. There are just exceptions,” Ardyn said.

“Why?” Prompto asked.

“Because,” Ardyn said, racking his brain, “because we say it is.”

Cor scoffed.

“You have a better idea?” Ardyn muttered.

“Prompto,” Cor said, “lying is bad. Even us lying like this, isn’t very good. But we have to do it, so we can all stay together. Sometimes, people have to do a bad thing.”

“Oh,” Prompto said, thoughtful, “I see. That makes sense.”

Ardyn stared at Cor, “ah, that was a better explanation.”

“It’s the truth, you don’t always have to lie, you know,” Cor said.

Ardyn turned to stare out the window, “well, some people don’t have that luxury.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Cor said.

“My existence has been one lie after another,” Ardyn said, thinking about telling his brother that he was fine with his immortality, telling his grown nieces and nephew that he was just going on a short trip, promising to return soon, telling everyone he ever met that he was simply blessed with magic and strength instead of cursed with it, “I can’t remember the last time I told the truth.”

The car was quiet as Cor drove. Prompto leaned forward and gripped onto Ardyn’s elbow. He patted Prompto’s head, before telling him to sit back.

“I do,” Cor said, after a while.

“What?” Ardyn asked.

“I remember the last time you told the truth, the day before we got married,” Cor said, “you told me everything about you.”

Ardyn had honestly forgotten about that moment, since it had happened so quickly, “that doesn’t count, I had to do that.”

“The truth’s the truth,” Cor said, turning into the citadel, nodding at the security guards.

“Everyone remember their lines,” Ardyn said, refusing to think about how Cor knew more about him than anyone else in the world, and how it made his insides squirm uncomfortably. He wasn’t used to people knowing him, he didn’t think that he liked it.

Cor parked, and Ardyn grabbed Prompto from the backseat. He gripped his arms around Ardyn’s neck, “you told me that no one would ever take me away from you again,” he whispered, “that’s the truth.”

Ardyn kissed the side of Prompto’s head.

---

“That was tedious,” Ardyn said. The questioning took almost four hours, Prompto was practically falling asleep wrapped around Coco during his interview.

“Just be glad that they’re all satisfied,” Cor said, “despite your colorful add-ons.”

“No need to be fussy,” Ardyn said, “I was just being thorough.”

“Can we go home?” Prompto asked, holding Coco in one hand and rubbing his eyes.

Ardyn kneeled down to pick Prompto up, when someone yelled, “there he is! I told you he was real!” Then something slammed into his back.

Noct had his arms wrapped around him, smiling up at him, “I knew you’d come back!”

“Noct, you can’t just run away from me!” Another boy ran after him. His dark hair was cut close to his scalp, and he had a wooden sword in one hand, “we were in the middle of training!”

“This is Ardyn,” Noct said to the new boy, “I told you he was real!”

“I believed he was real, I said that he wasn’t going to come back,” the boy growled, his body tense for an attack.

“Well, he’s here, so you’re still wrong,” Noct said, sticking his tongue out, “what have you been up to?” Noct asked, “are you back for good?”

Cor was looking at Ardyn, his lips tight on suppressing a smile.

“Hello, Your Highness, a new escort, I see,” Ardyn said, nodding toward the new boy.

“Him? That’s Glaudio, he’s my shield,” Noct said. Ah, that made sense. The boy looked a hair away from attacking him. He had inched closer, until he was right next to Noct.

“I see,” Ardyn said.

“He didn’t think you’d come back,” Noct said, rolling his eyes, “but I knew you would, because you pinky promised.”

“I couldn’t break a pinky promise,” Ardyn said, patting Noct’s head.

Then, Prompto shoved Noct over. Glaudio caught him, before he hit the floor.

“Prompto!” Cor shouted.

Half the guards in the hallway tensed, ready to attack, while the other half muttered to each other, confused.

“Hey!” Noct yelled, getting up. He pushed Prompto back, “what was that for?”

Prompto shoved Noct again, but this time Noct braced himself and grabbed Prompto’s arm.

Ardyn pulled the boys apart before the fight could escalate, “enough,” he said, pulling Prompto against his side, “what has gotten into you?” he asked.

Prompto grabbed onto Ardyn, his fingers clutching onto his clothes, “I want to go home,” he said, glaring at Noct.

Ardyn stared at Cor, who had also knelt down, “you have to apologize first,” he said.

Prompto hid his face in Ardyn’s chest, “no,” he mumbled.

“You have to,” Noct said, stamping his foot, “you pushed me for no reason. That’s mean. You’re supposed to apologize when you’re mean! Don’t you know anything?”

“Go away!” Prompto yelled, face still buried in Ardyn’s shirt.

“Say sorry!” Noct shouted, his hands were balled into little fists.

Ardyn had no idea what to do, he had never seen Prompto act this way. The boy had always been shy and sweet. He wondered if he had been hiding his true nature, much like Ardyn did.

“Prompto,” Cor said again, resting a hand on Prompto’s back, “you did something mean, you have to tell Noct you’re sorry for pushing him.”

Prompto clutched harder onto Ardyn, he could hear him crying a little.

Noct apparently heard him too, because he released his fists, “hey, are you ok?”

Prompto pulled himself closer to Ardyn and cried a little louder. Noct looked around awkwardly. Glaudio had positioned himself a little in front of Noct, a very respectable shield for one so young.

“Prompto, what’s wrong?” Ardyn asked, “this is very unlike you.” Although he had only known the boy a few days, so he wasn’t sure how true that was. Still, he reasoned, it was doubtful that the boy was that good an actor.

“I want to go home,” he said again.

“Hey,” Noct said awkwardly, “are you ok?” He held out Prompto’s chocobo doll.

Prompto looked up, and everything happened in slow motion. He pulled back and punched Noct in the face.

After that, everything was a bit of a blur.

Chapter Text

They were in a private room. Ardyn took a seat on the couch and tugged Prompto a little. He refused to release his grip on Ardyn’s clothes. The boy hadn’t talked or moved since the punch and subsequent chaos.

What had happened was basically this.

The guards had rushed forward to grab Prompto.

Gladio had stepped forward to defend his Prince.

Ardyn had grabbed Prompto before the situation got even more out of hand.

Prompto began to sob hysterically.

Ardyn tried his best to calm him down while threatening guards who ventured too close.

And finally, Cor commanded the guards to leave but sent one of them to inform King Regis about what happened.

He had Gladio take Noct to the Citadel doctor to be checked out.

Then, he grabbed Ardyn and walked down the hallway until he found an empty room.

“What is going on?” Cor asked, after shutting the door and walking to a chair.

“You think I know?” Ardyn asked, petting down Prompto’s hair, who was still crying, “I’m just as confused as you.”

“Prompto,” Cor said. Prompto flinched and tucked himself closer into Ardyn’s clothes.

“Yeah,” Ardyn said, pulling the boy closer, “I don’t think he really wants to talk right now.”

“We need to explain this to the King,” Cor said, “it looks bad enough as it is. He attacked the Prince of Lucis. We were already under scrutiny; this just makes our situation worse.”

“It wasn’t his fault,” Ardyn said, feeling a prickling of defensiveness.

Cor stared at Ardyn for a moment, before sitting up, “he shoved Noct for no reason and then punched him when Noct tried to give him back his doll.”

Ardyn felt his shoulders hunch, as he pulled himself forward, almost to wrap himself around Prompto. He was thinking of a response when Prompto finally pulled himself out of Ardyn’s arms in order to turn and peek at Cor with one eye.

“He tried to steal Coco,” Prompto whispered, his voice soft and wobbly. Ardyn brushed his fingers across the boy’s cheeks, wiping away some tears.

“He was trying to give him back,” Cor said, rubbing his forehead.

“No,” Prompto said, his voice stronger, rising with every word, “he tried to steal him. I saw him. He was trying to take everything!”

Cor sighed, “Prompto, he was just picking up Coco for you, he was being nice.”

“No!” Prompto shouted, “he wasn’t nice!”

“Well,” Ardyn said, frowning at this out of character rudeness, “honestly, I think you were the one who wasn’t nice. No matter what, punching people isn’t nice.”

Prompto stared up at him, his eyes big and wide, tear tracks staining his cheeks. He finally let go of Ardyn and pulled himself off of his lap.

“Oh,” he said, softly, “okay.” He wiped his tears and climbed to the other side of the couch.

Ardyn knew immediately that he did something wrong, but he had no idea what it was. He looked to Cor for answers, but the man only shrugged.

“Prompto,” Ardyn said, moving closer, “what’s wrong?”

Prompto hunched his shoulders and turned toward the arm of the couch, “nothing, I’m sorry for being a bad boy. I’ll be a good boy now. I’ll say sorry.”

It was what they wanted, but now Ardyn didn’t want that at all. He wanted Prompto to go back to crying, and screaming at them about how Noct was mean. It was amazing how quickly he missed it.

“Prompto,” he said, reaching over to touch his shoulder, when the door burst open.

“Noctis!” A very recognizable voice said, “you’re injured, please sit down while I tend to your wound.”

“Leave me alone, Ignis!” Noct said, waving him away, “it doesn’t even hurt!” He marched over to the couch, dropped a bag he was holding and looked at Prompto, pointing a finger at him, “hey, you still have to apologize to me!”

Prompto looked down at Noct for a moment before saying, “okay,” and then sliding off the couch. He stood in front of Noct and kept his eyes on the floor “sorry for hitting you and being mean. I won’t do it again.”

Ardyn wanted to be alone with Prompto, who was sniffling and rubbing at his eyes. There was clearly some kind of misunderstanding that they had to clear up, but Ardyn didn’t know what it was or how to start.

“Oh,” Noct said, scratching the back of his head, “uh, it’s okay, I guess.” He kicked his foot back and forth, “why’d you do it anyway?”

Prompto shrugged and sniffled a little more.

“Hey, are you crying again? You’re kind of a crybaby,” Noct said, tilting his head to get a better look.

Ardyn felt that prickling protectiveness buzz through his veins, he got up and knelt by Prompto, “do you want to go home now?” he asked.

Prompto nodded.

“Okay,” he moved to put his arms around him.

Prompto took a step back, “I can walk by myself.”

“Ah,” Ardyn said, a strange ache radiating through his body, “I see.” He stood up and held out his hand, but Prompto didn’t take it.

“You can’t leave,” Ignis said, putting his hands on his hips, “you have to talk to the king. He attacked Noct.”

Ardyn frowned at the small boy. Ignis was entirely too comfortable with how he spoke to him. Ardyn smiled at him, letting the scourge change his eyes to black and gold, “and are you going to stop me?” he asked.

Ignis jumped back, tripping over his feet and falling. Noct ran over to check on him. Ardyn turned and opened the door, letting Prompto walk through first, before following him out. He was trying to think of what to say to him, when he heard footsteps running after him.

“Hey,” A voice growled. It was the Prince’s shield. As if there weren’t enough distractions today. Ardyn felt the scourge bubble at his irritation. Cut? Stab? Kill? Now? End it?

He shut his eyes and took a breath.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Gladio asked, “he can’t just leave, he attacked the Prince!”

“Well, maybe,” Ardyn said, not stopping his stride down the hallway, “you should have protected your Prince better and none of this would have happened.”

He didn’t turn to see the boy’s face, but he let himself have a small feeling of victory. Over an eight-year-old child. He really was out of sorts today.

“It doesn’t matter about what I did,” Gladio said, resuming his running, “he needs to be punished.” He reached out to grab Prompto.

Ardyn fingers twitched, magic swirling at his fingertips, his body tense. The scourged rushed through him, and this time he let it. How dare this flea lay a hand on what was his. He should have his head. He was done playing along with these formalities. Even children should learn their place. They have to learn who they should never cross.

“Gladio,” Noct said, running towards them, “he already said sorry! don’t bother him, anymore!”

Cor and Ignis followed Noct out, talking to each other. The boy was pale, he looked a little shaken. Good.

Gladio took a step back, “you can’t be so soft,” he said, frowning.

Noct rolled his eyes at him, “don’t be dumb.” He walked to Prompto and held out the bag, “here, you dropped this. I’m giving it back to you, okay?”

Prompto pulled Coco out of the bag. He stared at Noct for a second before hugging the doll to his chest, “thanks,” he said softly.

“You’re welcome,” Noct said, a smile lighting up his face, “so we’re good, right?”

“Good?” he asked.

“Yeah, you’re not mad or whatever anymore?” Noct was bouncing on his toes.

“Oh,” Prompto said, burying his face in the doll, “yeah, I’m not mad. You’re nicer than me, so I get it.”

Ardyn turned his head to Prompto, what did that mean?

Cor had caught up to them and he knelt down in front of Noct before Ardyn could address it. Though that may have been for the best, because Ardyn had no idea where he would even begin.

“Your highness, I am going to take Prompto home now," Cor said.

“This would be a good time for us to return to the Citadel doctor,” Ignis said, walking towards them, he glanced at Ardyn before grabbing Noct’s arm, “come along now.” He pulled Noct away.

“Oh, um,” Noct stuttered as he followed after Ignis, “okay, bye!” he yelled over his shoulder, “I like your chocobo!"

Gladio stood there, his arms folded across his chest, glaring at Prompto, who refused to look up from the floor.

“Best be off now,” Ardyn said, letting the words drip from his mouth, the scourge just bubbling under his skin, “wouldn’t want someone else to attack the Prince, though it doesn’t really matter whether you’re there or not, I suppose.”

Gladio blinked at him, and took a step back. He was scared. Good.

“Amicitia,” Cor said, “enough, go look after the Prince.”

Gladio kept his eyes on Ardyn for another second, before nodding to Cor, “yes, sir.” He disappeared down the hall.

“Let’s go home for now,” Cor said.

---

They had ordered Prompto chocobites for dinner, but he, predictably, didn’t touch them. They had eaten, or in Ardyn’s case: sat, quietly during dinner. None of them said anything to each other and no one even bothered to break the tense silence that hovered over the house.

“Ready to talk yet?” Cor asked, spearing a broccoli.

Prompto shook his head, poking his chocobites.

Cor looked at Ardyn and twitched his head at Prompto.

Ardyn shrugged his shoulders.

Cor twitched his head again, a little more forcefully this time.

Ardyn rolled his eyes. As if he had any idea what was going on either.

Cor scrunched his eyebrows.

“Are you going to return me now?” Prompto finally asked, while poking his dinner, disrupting their silent argument.

“What?” Ardyn asked, shocked, “of course not.”

Prompto looked up and relaxed, “oh, okay,” he said.

“Were you worried about that? We would never do that,” Cor said. Ardyn kicked him under the table, “again,” Cor amended, “we would never do that again.”

“Even though you like Noct better?” Prompto asked.

Ardyn thought back to their earlier exchange. He couldn’t believe his own idiocy.

Cor clearly had the same sentiment, because he closed his eyes for and covered them with his hand.

Ardyn came around to Prompto and knelt down, “I don’t like Noct better than you,” he said.

“But he hugged you, and you pinky promised him and you called him nice,” Prompto pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean I like him better than you,” Ardyn said, rolling his eyes, “and anyway I didn’t hug him. He hugged me.”

Prompto’s eyes widened, “oh. Oh!” He smiled, “so you like me better?”

Ardyn gathered Prompto up in his arms and picked him up. He giggled as Ardyn tucked him into his neck. It was the first time he’d smiled since the morning.

“Prompto,” Cor said, getting up and walking over to them, “just because we like Noct, doesn’t mean we don’t care about you anymore.”

“Yes,” Ardyn said, nodding. It was good to clear this up now.

“But you like me best, right?” Prompto said.

“Of course,” Ardyn said, nuzzling his hair, “who wouldn’t?”

Prompto smiled at him, big and bright. That was more like it.

“But we can like more than one person at a time,” Cor said, pulling Prompto out of Ardyn’s arms, “like how you like me and Ardyn, right?”

“Oh,” Prompto said, blinking as he absorbed the idea.

“Maybe you should put Prompto to bed,” Cor said, putting Prompto down, “I’m sure he’s tired.”

“And you can’t do it, because?” Ardyn asked, annoyed to be given orders. Yes, he would have put Prompto to bed regardless, but he would not be ordered to.

“I have to make a phone call,” Cor said.

“About Noct?” Ardyn asked, rolling his eyes, “the boy’s fine.” Noct barely had a bruise on his cheek. Prompto was a special kid, but upper body strength was not his forte.

“That’s not what it's about,” Cor said, “let’s talk after you put him to bed.” He patted Prompto’s head, “have a good night, okay?”

“Okay,” Prompto said, putting his hand on his head, as if to keep the warmth of Cor’s hand from fading away.

“Talk?” Ardyn asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Cor said, pulling out his phone and walking out of the room.

He had a bad feeling about that.

Chapter Text

“Ardyn?” Prompto asked, after they had finished reading ‘The Hungry Chocobo’ together.

“Yes,” he said, pulling the blankets around him to tuck him in. Prompto was looking at him, eyes wide and serious. He sat back on the edge of the bed, and cupped the boy’s cheek, “I’m listening.”

“I like you best, too” he whispered, reaching out to touch Ardyn’s hand.

His heart squeezed, and the pain traveled throughout his body. The boy was pale against his blue sheets. He had a smattering of freckles that had recently appeared on the bridge of his nose. His hair was damp from the bath, where he had played with a truly staggering number of toys that Ardyn had bought for him. He had giggled and laughed, splashing in the tub, holding out boats and babbling stories of sailors and pirates. He had talked about the shows he used to watch in Niflheim, how he hated watching tv, how he preferred the books Ardyn read him. Ardyn had picked him up after and Prompto had cuddled against him. He’d let him pick any book he wanted to read before bed, so of course he’d picked a chocobo book. Prompto had tucked himself right against Ardyn while he read, fingers clutched in his clothes and the scourge had been completely silent, like it didn’t exist at all.

“Ardyn?” Prompto asked, tugging against his sleeve.

He touched their foreheads together, “I won’t tell Cor if you don’t.”

Prompto giggled a little, before letting himself be tucked in and cuddling with Coco. He watched him for a few moments as sleep began to take him, before walking out of his room.

Ardyn stood on the top of the stairs and took a breath. Cor had something to discuss with him, it made his fingers itch.

Cor was sitting on the couch with a cup of something steaming, he had placed a cup out for him as well. A nice sentiment, though ultimately a waste of water and tea. He didn’t look up when Ardyn made his way down the stairs.

“Today was a disaster,” Cor said into his cup.

“Well,” Ardyn said, “now who’s being dramatic? It was fine in the end, wasn’t it?”

“Our kid punched Prince Noct and then had a mental breakdown,” Cor said, “it’s not fine.”

Ardyn sighed, and sat down, “we figured it out, he was a little jealous. But now he understands.”

“So, we’re just not supposed to talk to any other kids, ever again?” Cor asked.

“Oh, and kids are just lining up to see you?” Ardyn asked.

“Look, I think we just have to get to the bottom of the problem,” Cor said, putting his hand up.

“We already did,” Ardyn said, rolling his eyes, “he was jealous because he thought we liked Noct better than him.”

“No,” Cor said, “he thought you liked Noct better than him. He only freaked out when you said Noct was nicer than him.”

Ardyn laughed, “so, you’re jealous now too?”

“That’s not the problem,” Cor said.

“There is no problem, we resolved it. I don’t know why we’re still talking about this,” Ardyn said, crossing his arms.

“He doesn’t know how to deal with other people, specifically, other kids,” Cor said.

“So, how’s that a problem. Children are a menace,” Ardyn said, sitting back, “we’re doing him a favor.”

“He’s going to need to know how to play with kids, especially when he goes to school,” Cor said.

Ardyn scoffed, “oh, okay,” he said, “school.”

Cor looked at him, “you know he has to go to school, right.”

“Cor,” Ardyn said, shaking his head, “I am over two millennia old, I think I can teach a child basic arithmetic and literacy.”

“No,” Cor said, “he’s going to school.”

“No, he’s not,” Ardyn said, “I’ll homeschool him.”

“Are we actually fighting about this?” Cor asked, putting his cup down, “of course he has to go to school.”

“Oh, so he can be in danger of being ostracized and bullied? That seems like the environment I want my child in,” Ardyn said.

“He needs to learn how to be with other kids,” Cor said, “and he needs to not be with us all the time.”

Ardyn forced himself to relax, even though the scourge was riling up like he had been attacked, “you’re sick of him already? I told you I’d be the one to take care of him, so it would be like he’s not even there.”

“Stop,” Cor said, “just stop.”

“Stop what?” Ardyn asked, keeping his anger in check. So, the man wanted Prompto out of his life. Ardyn could make that happen. He had disappeared before; he could do it again. Prompto liked him best after all.

“You’re acting like I don’t want him around, I care about the kid too, ok? But kids have to go to school. Didn’t you go to school two thousand years ago?” Cor asked.

“No,” Ardyn said, “I was a prince, so I was homeschooled.”

He remembered sneaking out of the castle to watch the other children walk to school, screeching at each other. He remembered their atrocious uniforms and how they all had to wear the same thing, he used to scoff at the lack of creativity. His little brother would always follow him so he would sneak out, too. Ardyn turned to ask him how so many people could possibly stand to dress the same every day, but his brother hadn’t been listening. He had stared at the other children, stars in his eyes.

“Do you think we could go, just for a day?” He had asked.

“We are the Princes of this Nation, it would be unseemly for us to do so,” he had said.

His brother’s face had fallen for a second, “oh,” he said. Then he perked up, “well, I’m glad I have you to be with Ardyn. You’re better than any of them, anyways.”

“Well, I would hope so,” he had said, relieved that his brother had perked up so quickly, but that had always been what he was like, easy to please, hard to disappoint, “look at their outfits, no one who wears a tie like that could ever hope to attain my level of perfection.”

His brother had laughed at that, and they had stayed in that alley laughing together until their stomach's cramped.

“Fine, so you didn’t go,” Cor was saying, scratching the back of his head, “but I can tell you-“

“You’re right,” Ardyn said, picking up the cup of tea. It had long gone cold, but he took a sip anyways.

“and it was good for- wait, what?”

“You heard me, I won’t be saying it again. He’ll go to school,” Ardyn said, putting the cup down before he started fiddling with it.

“Oh,” Cor said, “okay, I’m glad you agree.”

“Right, should he go tomorrow?” Ardyn asked, “are there forms we should fill out?”

“It’s summer, so no. He should go in the Fall when school starts,” Cor said, he took a deep breath, “I was thinking he should spend some more time with Noct. To get used to hanging out with other kids.”

“Fine,” Ardyn said.

“Really?” Cor asked, “You’re being very accommodating right now.” He squinted at him suspiciously, which was honestly very rude.

“I am always accommodating, it is a hallmark of the Lucis royal line,” he stated.

“Right,” Cor said, drawing the word out, “well let’s do it tomorrow. I already talked to the King about it. Ignis and Gladio will be there too, as well as some guards,” Cor said, “because of what happened today.”

Ardyn smirked, so Prompto was enough of a threat for guards to be needed. It made him pretty proud, to be honest.

“So, a royal playdate?” Ardyn asked.

“Something like that,” Cor sighed.

---

“Play nice, we’ll be right over there,” Cor said, pointing to a corner of the room. They were in Noct’s playroom, which consisted of a huge room with enough toys to open a multi-level store with. Two guards were stationed by the door, but they were wearing plain clothes, so they were slightly less menacing.

Noct was frowning with his arms crossed. His nanny was whispering to him, stroking his hair down. Noct flinched away, and peeked over at Prompto before whispering to his nanny. Ignis was eyeing Ardyn warily, he whispered something to Gladio, who was yawning. He looked completely unconcerned, but his fingers were tense. They twitched whenever he had them at his side.

Prompto clutched onto Ardyn’s pants, his eyes roamed around the room. Coco sat in the crook of his arm.

“Promise?” He asked Cor, “pinky promise?”

“Of course,” Cor said, sticking his pinky out, “pinky promise.” Prompto looked at his finger, but his shoulders relaxed a little.

“Prompto,” Ardyn said, moving so they faced each other, “you already showed him you’re stronger, so there’s nothing to be scared of.”

“Ardyn,” Cor groaned.

“Okay,” Prompto mumbled, his shoulders tensing again.

Damn, was that the wrong thing to say?

“It’s going to be fine,” Cor said, elbowing Ardyn out of the way, which Ardyn was slightly offended by, “and if you want to leave, we’ll be right there.”

“We can go whenever I want?” Prompto asked.

“Well,” Cor said, “at least play for fifteen minutes, but yeah.”

Prompto smiled up at him, “okay!”

He took a deep breath and walked toward Noct, like a soldier going to war.

The three of them were staring at him. Prompto shifted from foot to foot before mumbling something.

“What?” Noct asked, he leaned in, “I couldn’t hear you.”

He mumbled it again.

Noct frowned, “what?”

“I said, ‘I’m Prompto!’” Prompto shouted, blushing furiously.

“Oh, I’m Noct!” He said, “is Ardyn your dad?”

“Noct, that’s rude,” Ignis said, he turned to Prompto, “you don’t have to answer that.”

“It’s not rude, it’s just a question,” Noct said. Ignis frowned at him, “but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I guess,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay,” Prompto said to Ignis, “Ardyn is my dad.”

“Really?” Noct asked, “come here.” Noct pulled Prompto into a corner of the room and waved off Ignis and Gladio. They whispered to each other, and then they started giggling.

Ardyn had no idea if they were making fun of him, but he found he didn’t really care. He let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“Thank the gods, right?” Cor said.

“Something like that,” he said, though he didn't see what they had to thank the gods for.

“Prompto seems like a sweet kid,” Noct’s nanny said.

“Yes,” Ardyn said, not even turning to look at her.

Prompto and Noct emerged from their corner and went running to them. Ignis was hot on their trail, standing a hair’s breath away from Noct when he stopped. The boys were almost vibrating with excitement, peeking at each other and him.

“Is there something the matter?” Ardyn asked, after a minute of silence.

“You ask, he’s your dad,” Noct whispered.

“You were the one who wanted to know,” Prompto whispered back.

“You wanted to know, too!” Noct said, stomping his foot.

Prompto scrunched up his face, trying to think of a comeback, “fine!” he shouted.

They both turned to him. Noct was bouncing in excitement, while Prompto fidgeted from foot to foot.

“Yes, Prompto?” Ardyn asked, after a few seconds.

Prompto looked at Noct again, who nodded encouragingly, “are you a superhero?” Prompto finally asked.

Ardyn blinked.

“What?” He asked.

“Well,” Noct said, grabbing Ardyn’s pants, “you save people in secret and you have magic powers! Just like a superhero!”

Prompto was furiously nodding his head.

Cor ducked his head, as his body shook with suppressed laughter. Ardyn made a note to maim him later.

“No, I’m not. I don’t have magic powers, and I don’t really save that many people. Saving you was just a fluke,” Ardyn said to Noct.

“You saved me,” Prompto said.

“Well, that was different,” Ardyn said.

“I watched you save that whole town from daemons,” Cor said, smirking. Scratch that, he was going to kill Cor.

“Woah,” Noct and Prompto said, staring up at him with wonder and awe in their eyes. Ignis and Gladio were staring at him, too.

“No, it’s not like that. I just happened to run into those daemons and they happened to be attacking a town,” Ardyn said.

“But that’s what superheros do!” Prompto said, “that’s what they do on TV!”

“Prompto-” Ardyn meant to tell him that superheros weren’t real, and how not everything on TV was true, but Noct tugged on Prompto’s shirt.

“Superheros are supposed to keep a secret identity, remember?” Noct whispered to the other boys.

They all nodded seriously and Noct turned back to Ardyn, “Ok,” he said, “you’re not a superhero.” And then he winked.

He winked! Where did he learn how to wink?

“Wait,” Ardyn said, he had to stop this before it got out of hand. The last thing he wanted was a rumor like this circulating. He didn’t need anyone else learning and questioning him about his magic. It opened a whole avenue of problems.

“Did you really see him save a whole town?” Gladio asked Cor.

Cor leaned forward, “I think I must have remembered it wrong,” he said, “I didn’t see anything like Ardyn taking out five daemons on his own.” And then he winked, too.

All four boys were looking at him with wonder, now.

Ardyn tried to straighten everything out, but the boys kept nodding and giggling and talking about secret identities.

“Don’t worry,” Noct said, “we don’t know anything.” Before pulling Prompto away and conferring with all of them in a separate corner of the room.

Cor was laughing so hard, he could barely catch him breath. The nanny was chuckling too.

But Prompto was almost glowing with excitement as he and Noct bent toward each other, whispering frantically and pulling toys out to play with. Gladio and Ignis eventually wandered away to do something else, but Noct and Prompto played until they fell asleep surrounded by toys.

Ardyn was carrying Prompto back to the car when he stirred in his arms.

“Where are we going?” He asked.

“Home,” Ardyn said, “we’ll have some dinner and then you can go back to sleep.”

“Can we stay a little longer?” Prompto asked, “I wanna play some more.”

He smiled at the side of Prompto’s head, “we’ll come back.”

“Oh,” Prompto said, “okay. Today was fun.” He closed his eyes and dozed off.

He should have been happy that Prompto made a friend, but instead his heart hurt a little. It made sense, he was a monster after all.

Chapter Text

“As you can see, our school is state of the art,” Mrs. Tremmel said, smiling, “and our teachers are more than qualified in their respective fields. Each teacher must pass a litany of tests that measure knowledge and teaching aptitude in order to be considered for a position. Your child’s education is of utmost importance to us.”

Ardyn looked around her office. There were certificates hanging on the wall, as well as several bookcases full of education texts. Her desk was gorgeous mahogany and behind it were several floor length window panes. The carpet was beige and there was a sitting area, which was where they were now. Prompto sat between Cor and Ardyn, looking around the room nervously.

They had explained the concept of school to him and what it would mean, and he had seemed to understand. Apparently, he knew about it from some show he used to watch in Niflheim. He had been reluctant about it, even now he gripped onto Ardyn and refused to let go during the whole tour of the school.

“Right, we just want to make sure that this school will accommodate Prompto’s needs. He’s had a rather rough childhood,” Ardyn said.

Mrs Temmel put a hand over her heart, “yes, I read about it in his file. Of course, we are fully staffed with a counseling department for any and all psychological or emotional needs and are willing to work with you in any way to ensure the psychological well-being of your child.”

Ardyn didn’t like her. She was too saccharine. Too fake. She was laying it on thick because she desperately wanted Cor Leonis’ child in her school. The name alone would give her bragging rights for years to come. Ardyn would normally be against a school with a headmistress as greedy as this one, but the school was the best in the country. Ardyn only wanted the best for Prompto.

Cor was reading over pamphlets, looking at smiling children and big green fields. He had been in favor of the school since the beginning and had only agreed to do a tour with the headmistress because, as he put it ‘if it’ll stop your nagging we’ll go check it out’.

“If we were considering having Prompto attend, what would that entail exactly?” Ardyn asked, smiling gently. It was important not to seem too eager.

“Well, we would be so happy if you could attend our academy. We would, of course, need you to fill out some paperwork for him.” She pulled a folder out of seemingly nowhere and handed it to him.

Ardyn opened it. There was a surprising amount of forms inside. Medical. Allergy. Emergency Contact. A lot of permission forms. He pulled one out, “PTA?”

“We ask that parents help out at least three times a year at the school. We find that it makes a stronger community at the academy,” Mrs. Tremmel said.

“Right,” Ardyn said, “well, we’ll let you know.” He stood up and shook her hand. Cor followed suit.

“Of course, but please let us know soon. We only have one spot available,” she said.

That was surprising. He wondered if she was bluffing with him.

“I see, I’m shocked you have any openings at all, seeing as the school year begins in only a few months,” Ardyn said, eyeing her for a reaction.

“Oh, we normally are completely full. But we are able to make some adjustments when His Majesty King Regis himself calls us to ask about room in our classrooms,” she said, her eyes sparkling at the memory.

Ardyn blinked. Regis had called? When? He turned toward Cor, who was carefully looking at a certificate hanging on the wall. Cor turned his head toward her, “we’ll let you know by the end of the day.”

---

Regis had found out that they were looking for a school for Prompto and had apparently taken in on himself to find one for them. Cor eyed him as he explained, looking to see how Ardyn would react. But if it made things easier for them, and Ardyn had to threaten less people, then it was fine by him.

Ardyn looked at the forms again.

“It says he needs a doctor to fill this out,” Ardyn said, “should we have taken him to see a doctor?”

Cor shrugged, “didn’t social services do that?”

Ardyn looked at Prompto through the rearview mirror. He was dozing in the backseat, “probably better not to ask.”

“We’ll go to the citadel doctor,” Cor said, tapping his finger against the wheel.

---

“No, no, no, no,” Prompto cried, refusing to let go of Ardyn, who had carried him in. Ardyn was trying his best to calm him down, but to no avail. Prompto refused to let go or even turn around to look at the doctor.

The doctor, Dr. Anna, glanced at Cor, “bad experiences with doctors?”

“You have no idea,” Cor said.

“She’s nice, and we’ll be here the whole time,” Ardyn said, stroking Prompto’s back.

“No, no, no, no, I don’t wanna, I’ll be good, please!” He screamed, throwing his arms around Ardyn’s neck.

“Prompto, Dr. Anna is very nice, she’s not going to hurt you,” Cor tried to reason, but Prompto was having none of it. He didn’t even pause in his screaming.

Cor and Ardyn alternated between their consoling and wheedling, but nothing they said worked. Prompto remained stubbornly resistant to being cooperative.

“Okay,” Dr. Anna said, after Ardyn had failed to convince Prompto through a bribe to go visit the chocobo farm, “let’s try doing an exam on Cor for now.”

“Me?” Cor asked.

“Maybe if Prompto sees me do it on you, he’ll be less afraid,” Dr. Anna said, shrugging, “it’s better than what’s happening now, don’t you think?”

Ardyn and Cor looked at each other. Cor sat on the wrinkly paper that covered the examination table. Dr. Anna did some routine tests, checking his heart, reflexes, mouth and eyes. Prompto had stopped his crying at this point to watch the proceedings.

“There,” Dr. Anna said, taking the stethoscope out of her ears, “that should do it.”

“What’s the prognosis?” Ardyn asked.

Cor glared at him, “really?”

“Well, I never said through sickness and health, now did I? Maybe you should consider that next time you get married without a ceremony,” Ardyn scoffed.

“Are you seriously still upset about that?” Cor asked, rubbing his temples.

“Of course not, just a little advice for you, that’s all,” Ardyn said, “since I’m such a generous person.”

“Yeah right,” Cor muttered.

“Though, you’re more generous than me, I suppose. You’ve made that abundantly clear,” Ardyn said, straightening up.

Cor glared at him, his mouth flattening into a line, “look-“

“No fighting!” Prompto shouted, pushing against Ardyn, so he could look at them, “you promised!”

Ardyn blinked back to himself. He hadn’t even realized that they had escalated into a fight. He used to have a better control of himself. This was unacceptable. How had he let himself become vulnerable enough that he could get irritated with Cor. It didn’t matter how Cor viewed him, anyway. As long as he could have Prompto, he could deal with whatever Cor wanted. It didn’t matter what Cor thought about him.

At least, it shouldn’t have mattered.

“We weren’t fighting, just talking. There wasn’t any yelling, right?” Ardyn said.

“You can fight without yelling,” Prompto explained, “they do it on TV sometimes.”

That damn TV.

“Well, we weren’t fighting, right Cor?” Ardyn asked, eyeing him. Cor was staring off into the distance, “Cor?”

Cor jolted out of his daze, “what? Oh, yeah, we’re not fighting Prompto.”

Yeah, that was convincing.

Someone cleared their voice.

Ardyn had completely forgotten about the doctor. She was leaning against the examination table, tapping her finger against her arm.

“If we could finish this up?” She asked.

“Of course, we wouldn’t want to impede on your busy schedule,” Ardyn said. He smiled at her, as she pursed her lips.

“Prompto, would you like to do a little exam, just like I did to Cor?” She asked him.

Prompto looked down at Cor, “did it hurt?”

“Not at all,” he said.

“Ok,” Prompto whispered, letting Ardyn put him down.

---

The doctor gave them an all clear and, after Ardyn showed her his files from Niflheim, declared that he didn’t need any vaccines at the moment. Cor drove them to the castle and Ardyn took him to play with Noct on the castle grounds.

Noct ran over to them when they showed up and the two of them ran off before either of them could say anything.

“They really get along well,” Noct’s nanny chuckled.

The two boys were chasing each other, yelling something about daemons and heroes. Ardyn had no idea what they were doing.

“It’s good that he has friends,” Ardyn said, forcing the ugly black possessive feelings down.

“It’s a bit melancholic, isn’t it?” She asked, “it’s like their growing up.”

Ardyn blinked, “what do you mean?”

She giggled a little, “well, I remember when Noct only wanted to play with me, but now it’s Prompto this and Prompto that. It’s good that he has a friend, but it’s a little sad too.”

He hadn’t realized it was something other people felt too, “I know what you mean.”

“Right? I suppose it’s the price of being a caregiver,” she said, “watching them grow up. I’m sure when Noct’s a teenager he’ll hate me. I’m not looking forward to that.”

“I don’t think Prompto would be like that,” Ardyn said, aghast. Hate? He didn’t think Prompto had the capability.

The nanny laughed at him and patted his cheek, “oh, a first time parent.”

What was that supposed to mean?

“Prompto and I are very close,” he said, “I don’t think anything will change that.”

She smiled at him, before turning back toward the boys, who had found a ball somewhere and were kicking it around, “let’s just enjoy the time we have now. It doesn’t do us any good thinking too much in the future.”

Ardyn wanted to continue their conversation. Why did she think Prompto would hate him? Was it something that he could do something about now? The thought of it made the scourge turn cold within him. Defensive and angry.

“Hey, did I miss anything?” Cor asked, jogging toward them.

“No, nothing, they’re playing soccer, I think,” Noct’s nanny said.

“Okay, good,” Cor said, he turned toward Ardyn, “I have to go back to work, so I’ll see you guys at home after.”

Ardyn’s hand went out to grab him, before he walked away. He didn’t know why that had happened. He didn’t want anything from Cor, so why had he reached for him?

“Something the matter?” Cor asked, looking at him strangely.

“Yes,” Ardyn said, desperately trying to think of something to say, “we’re out of milk.”

“We are? I just got some yesterday,” Cor sighed, “alright, I’ll pick some up.”

“Good, Prompto goes through it like crazy,” he said, making a note to dump the milk down the sink when he gets home.

“You alright, you look,” Cor paused, looking for a word, “weird.”

Ardyn laughed, “how romantic, who said that chivalry was dead?”

Cor frowned, but didn’t blush as Ardyn had hoped, but he had long given up getting the reactions he wanted out of Cor, “whatever, see you later. I’ll bring dinner for Prompto too.” He waved his hand as he left.

Ardyn tried to ignore the coldness that swept through him. He could handle it by himself, like he always did. It was fine. He was fine.

Chapter Text

The school had Prompto come in for small sessions at a time. In order to acclimate him to school hours. The first day he was away from them for fifteen minutes and he had cried the whole time. After a week of this, he was used to leaving them for the school day. He still made them pinky promise to pick him up at the end of the day. The very first day of his actual school year starting, Ardyn was double checking that Prompto had everything for school.

“And you have your lunch?” Ardyn asked, kneeling in front of him and smoothing his uniform.

“Yes,” Prompto said, holding up his new chocobo lunch box.

“And if you need us, you tell the teacher,” Ardyn said, smoothing his hair.

“Yup,” he said.

“And you have your schoolbag?” Ardyn asked, “are we sure about this hat? Maybe we should do the red one. We have a black jacket, right? Maybe it’s better than this one.”

“I like yellow!” Prompto said, clutching onto his yellow coat.

“Okay, but are we sure? Because the black one’s nice too, or maybe-“

“Six, it’s fine. No one will care what he’s wearing,” Cor groaned behind him.

Ardyn glared at him. The school had a uniform for their students, so Ardyn had chosen the outerwear that Prompto had on with meticulous care.

“Ardyn, I’m ready!” Prompto said, bouncing on his toes, “I wanna show Ms. Lily my new book!”

Prompto was smiling bright and excited. He had met his new teacher already, and she had bonded with him over his love of chocobos. They read books about them together and she even brought in another chocobo doll to be friends with his. Ardyn was reluctantly impressed by how quickly and efficiently they had familiarized Prompto with his new school.

“Alright, let’s go,” he said.

---

Prompto showed them all around his new classroom, even though they’d already seen it. He showed them his cubby, his desk and all the toys. The toys they had at home were better, but he supposed the school didn’t have the means that they did.

When it was time for the parents to leave, he hugged them and began sniffling.

“None of that,” Cor said, “Ardyn will be here to pick you up at three o’clock. Remember? He pinky promised.”

“I did,” Ardyn said, hugging him tight. He felt Prompto’s little heart beating against his vacant chest.

“Okay,” Prompto said, his voice wobbly and soft. He squeezed one more time and then let go. He walked to the door and watched them walk away.

Ardyn waved until he turned the corner.

“He’ll be fine,” Cor said, “we’ve been preparing him for weeks.”

“Of course he’ll be fine,” Ardyn said, remembering his little heartbeat against his chest, “I’m not worried.”

“Sure, you’re not,” Cor said, smirking, “I gotta head back to work. You’ll be okay?”

“My, my, worried about me? I’m flattered. I do believe that I’ll just perish without you by side,” Ardyn said, putting a hand over his heart.

Cor rolled his eyes, “I don’t know why I even bother.” He waved a hand and got into his car. When he had driven off, Ardyn turned around and went back to the school.

He spent the day watching Prompto. Just to make sure.

---

Prompto had a tough morning, too shy to talk to the other kids. He spent the day playing on his own. In the afternoon, a little girl talked to him and they played together. Ardyn came to pick him up at three on the dot.

Prompto ran to him, jumping into his arms. He was warm in his arms, like a little ray of sunshine.

“Did you have a good day?” Ardyn asked.

“Yeah, it was really fun!” Prompto said, “I made a friend, her name’s Ruby!”

Ardyn was suddenly freezing cold. He hugged Prompto tighter, trying to warm himself. “Did you?” he asked, “how nice.” He didn’t know if he kept the frost out of his voice.

“Yeah, she’s nice,” Prompto said, “can we go see Noct before we go home?”

“Yes, of course,” Ardyn said, as his world seemed to shatter at his feet.

---

He was overreacting. He had to pull himself together. Worst things have happened. He had once been ripped apart by daemons and then been forced to come back when his body pulled itself back together. He tried to convince himself that the pain he felt then was worse than this.

“Ardyn?” Noct’s nanny asked.

“What?” He turned towards her. She was staring at him, her eyebrows drawn.

“I was asking how Prompto’s first day of school was?” She said.

“Oh,” Ardyn said, “it was good. He had fun. Made a friend.”

She smiled, putting a hand on his arm, “that’s great! I know you guys were worried about him.”

“Yes, it’s great.”

“You don’t sound so happy about it,” she said. She was shrewder then he thought.

“Well, like you said,” Ardyn flicked his wrist, “he’s growing up.”

“It’s hard, right?” She said, “They grow up so fast. You just have to treasure the time you have with them now. I take pictures of me and Noct sometimes. Just so I can have them to look back on.” She pulled out her phone, “here, look!”

It was her and Noct, faces pressed together and smiling. There was one with them at the zoo, eating ice cream, making silly faces and dozens more.

“Why don’t we take one of you and Prompto?” She asked, “It’ll be really cute!”

Ardyn thought about having a picture of him and Prompto smiling together, faces pressed together. He’d wished he had thought of it at the chocobo farm, way back when.

“No,” he said, “it’s alright.”

Her smile fell, “oh, okay, sorry.”

“It was a nice suggestion,” he said, “but for when he’s better dressed.”

She laughed, “you’re really a fashionista, aren’t you?”

He had already stopped listening to her. He was thinking of Prompto sitting alone in school, playing by himself. Wouldn’t he prefer to do things with Ardyn instead? He would be helping him adjust. Besides, it was kindergarten. He wasn’t even in an actual grade, yet. How important was it, really? He thought about it all through the night.

He convinced Cor that he could take Prompto to school the next day. He changed him out of his uniform and into one of his actual outfits. Jeans and suspenders with a button down. He called a car and had the man drive them.

“Aren’t we going to school? I told Ruby that we could play today,” Prompto said, adjusting his hat.

“I thought we could do something more fun today,” Ardyn said, “what do you say about going to Wiz’s?”

Prompto tilted his head, “Wiz’s?”

“The chocobo farm,” Ardyn said.

Prompto gasped, “really?”

“Or we could go to school.” Ardyn shrugged.

“No!” he shouted, “I wanna go see chocobos!”

The drive took about an hour. When they parked, Prompto ran out and started squealing. Ardyn turned to the driver and handed over his phone, “take a photo of us.”

He picked Prompto up and pointed to the phone, “smile, okay?” He pressed their faces together, and he smiled.

He had to treasure the time he had with Prompto now.

---

The second day, they went to the arcade and played every game there. Then they went to an amusement park and then to the aquarium. Prompto had all but forgotten about school, and Cor was so busy catching up at work that he barely even had dinner with the two of them. Just the way Ardyn preferred it.

Ardyn had gone out and bought a camera, after his phone started to run out of room. Prompto was obsessed with it. He used it to take pictures of wherever they went. Then, Ardyn would go and have them printed at a twenty-four seven camera shop. The two of them spent hours looking over them, putting them in albums and writing notes on the back.

It had never occurred to him that he may be caught. But on Friday, Cor was standing outside the house when they walked out to go to the zoo.

“You can take him to school, huh?” He asked.

Prompto ran over and hugged Cor’s leg, “we’re going to the zoo! Do you wanna come?”

“Not today,” Cor said, “go inside and change into your uniform.”

Prompto looked up at Cor, confusedly. Then he looked at Ardyn, who patted his head, “go on.”

He took a few steps toward the house, before turning around, “no fighting,” Prompto said, looking at Cor. He waited for Cor to nod before running inside.

“How’d you figure it out?” Ardyn asked.

“The school called, they asked if Prompto was sick since he’d been out the whole week,” Cor said, “then I checked my credit cards. You guys have been busy.”

“Well, we had so much to learn. Did you know the spiketailed toad excretes poisonous sweat that discourages predators from eating it?” Ardyn said, “we learned that at the aquarium.

“Did you?” Cor said, his mouth a flat line. Not amused at all, then. No matter, Ardyn had no doubt that he could beat Cor in any fight.

“We did,” he said, “but you were so busy at work that Prompto couldn’t tell you about it at dinner. A pity.”

Both of them stood staring at each other. Prompto came running out a few moments later, in his uniform, “I’m ready.”

“Great, let’s get you to school,” Cor said, “I’ll drop you off.”

“I’m coming too,” Ardyn said.

“Sure,” Cor said, “I’d hate for you to forget how to get there.”

They glared at each other, before getting in the car.

They didn’t talk during the car ride, luckily Prompto hadn’t seen Cor in a few days so he talked about all of the fun things they had done that week. Ardyn added a few details every so often. Cor made affirmative noises every once in a while.

Cor went out and explained Prompto’s absences and then walked back into the car.

“Going to work?” Ardyn asked, “or did you take the day off for this fight?”

“Not the whole day,” Cor said, not looking at him, “just the morning.”

Well, at least he had planned for it.

Chapter Text

“We agreed he was going to school,” Cor said, after he shut the door, “so what the fuck?”

“He didn’t like it,” Ardyn said, “he didn’t have anyone to play with!”

“It was his first day with other kids, it takes time!” Cor shouted, “we agreed he’d go to school!”

“He hated it!” Ardyn yelled, He felt the scourge rage within him. It had been sleeping so long now, he had it pushed down for so long. It hadn’t killed for so long, it wanted blood. It wanted death.

“You hated it!” Cor shouted, “you wanted him to be completely reliant on you, but too bad, he doesn’t need you! He’s fine without you!”

His body physically flinched. He couldn’t control it. The scourge roared inside. They’d been attacked? It had to protect itself. This man had hurt it? It hurts now. It needs to destroy everything that hurts it. Ardyn took a breath, and shoved the pain down. He was fine. He had to be fine. The scourge receded a little, but it still licked at the surface, waiting for an opportunity.

“Yes, clearly he would have been fine with only you as a caregiver. When was the last time you even saw him?” Ardyn asked, “two days ago, no, three days.”

“I have to work,” Cor said.

“And that’s so much more important than your child, clearly,” Ardyn said.

“Stop turning this around on me!” Cor pointed at him, “this is about you. You thinking that everything you think is right. And everything’s about you, but it’s not. This is about Prompto, and what he needs!”

“I am constantly concerned about what Prompto needs, don’t you dare act like I don’t care about him!” Arydn shouted, “especially since you don’t even care enough to be here.”

“Just stop with that! You knew I work, you knew that I’d be busy! This isn’t about what I’m doing, it’s about you. This is about you being selfish and not letting Prompto be his own person.” Cor said.

Ardyn rolled his eyes, letting the words bounce off of him.

“So we should just ignore how you’re neglecting him, instead we should blame me for being concerned for his wellbeing and spending more time with him. I’m the bad guy here, definitely,” he said.

Cor’s eyebrow twitched, “You can’t just make decisions for people and just figure it’s the right thing for them. Contrary to what you think, you don’t know everything.”

“Is this about the furniture?” Ardyn asked, rolling his eyes, “how petty.”

“You can’t just do things and not talk to me first,” Cor growled, “I’m part of these decisions too.”

“You clearly don’t care about it, you wouldn’t have an opinion even if I asked,” Ardyn said, inspecting his nails. The scourge had calmed down to the point that it was manageable. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing.

“Stop acting like you’re the boss of everyone,” Cor said, “and that no one else gets a choice.”

“I’m only trying to make things easy for the family, you don’t have time, as you said. I’m doing the things you don’t have time for,” Ardyn said, “I’m doing you a favor.”

Cor clenched his fists, “stop acting like you’re better than me.”

“Why not?” Ardyn asked, “I am.”

“No,” Cor said, releasing his fists and looking straight into his eyes, “you’re just a sad man that can’t stand the thought that the only person who gives a fuck about you, doesn’t actually need you.”

The scourge roared. It was hurt. It had been attacked and now it was bleeding out. It wanted the pain to stop. It needed to protect itself. The man had attacked it. The man had hurt it many times. It needed to kill the man. He must be eliminated. It pulled the axe out of the armiger and swung.

The man ducked.

“Ardyn, what the fuck!” The man shouted. He put his hands up again, catching the handle of the axe before it could swing it again.

The man must be eliminated.

It warped across the hall and picked up the couch. The man was across the room before it could throw it. He hit it across the face. It hurt, but not as bad as the first attack.

It swung the couch and smacked him against the wall.

The man groaned.

It walked towards him. Katana in hand. One slice, and he’d be dead.

“Ardyn, stop,” the man said, pulling himself up, “what’s wrong? Is this the scourge?”

It swung the katana, but the man kicked its legs and it fell. He got on top of him and punched him again. But it didn’t hurt.

“Snap out of it!” He shouted.

It threw him off and stood up. It needed to finish him, so he couldn’t hurt it anymore. It didn’t like to be hurt.

It stepped on his stomach and pulled out the katana again. One slice would do it. Clean across the neck.

“Prompto will hate you, if you kill me,” he said.

Ardyn breathed. He staggered back, vanishing the katana back into his armiger.

“Shit,” Cor groaned.

“What-what did I do?” Ardyn asked, “I tried to kill you. I wanted to kill you.”

Cor was struggling to stand.

He couldn’t stay. He wasn’t in control of himself. Isn’t this why he decided to leave thousands of years ago? He was a danger to those around him. How easily could he kill them? Prompto could never defend himself. He was a fool to think that this would be different. That he could stay unattached enough to keep them safe. He needed to leave. Now. Right away. Before he did something.

He could still feel the blood on his hands. Looking down at his sister-in-law. She was crying. His dagger buried in her shoulder. The guards were yelling, their weapons pointed at the threat. At him. He was the threat. He had hurt her. It was his fault. He needed to leave. He couldn’t stay. He’d kill her. He’d kill them. He’d kill everyone.

He needed to leave.

Ardyn turned toward the door. Prompto would be sad. For a little while. But he was young, yet. He’d forget him. They all did, eventually. It’d be like he was never here. It would be better for him. Safer.

A hand stopped him.

“Hey,” Cor growled, “I told you not to leave me to deal with this kid by myself.”

Ardyn had to explain that he was dangerous. Surely Cor knew now. He saw.

“Shit, you’re actually pretty strong,” Cor was saying, wiping blood off his lip, “I guess I should have figured. With you being a former king or whatever. Still, I’ve never really seen you in action.”

“I have to leave,” Ardyn finally said, when he was able to get his mouth to work.

“Fuck you do,” Cor growled, “what did I just say? You’re not fucking leaving me to raise this kid on my own. He’d be devastated if you left. And he’d definitely blame me.”

“I’m dangerous,” Ardyn said, barely comprehending what Cor was saying. His mind was in mayhem.

“I shouldn’t have pushed you. I didn’t realize you had actual feelings to hurt, but I guess you have to keep them tightly controlled if that’s what happens,” Cor said, rubbing the bruise on his cheek. The bruise he’d caused.

“I could have killed you,” Ardyn said, dazed.

Cor scoffed, “takes a lot more than that to kill me.”

“I could hurt Prompto, I could kill him. I’m too dangerous. I knew that I shouldn’t have done this. It was a mistake,” Ardyn said, his mind still furiously racing, while he pushed down the scourge. It was angry that he had stopped it. That he hadn’t let it kill the man who’d hurt it.

“I could kill Prompto, if I wanted,” Cor said.

The scourge roared.

“Ok,” Cor choked out, gripping Ardyn’s hand that was now wrapped around his throat, “wrong choice of words. I wouldn’t do that, obviously.”

“Then why would you say it?” Ardyn growled, letting go, “unless you meant it.”

Cor massaged his throat, “my point is that anyone can kill anyone else, it’s not something special about you.”

“I don’t have control of myself, at times,” Ardyn said.

“Yeah? Me neither,” Cor said.

“Not like me,” Ardyn said, “it’ll be safer if I leave. Better for Prompto.”

“Not gonna ask him what he thinks about that?” Cor asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You think I should stay? After you witnessed what I did?” Ardyn asked.

Cor sighed. “Look, I shouldn’t have said that stuff about not needing you, it was cruel and I knew it would hurt you,” he said.

“I lost control, I have to make sure the scourge doesn’t take over, or it’ll try to destroy everything,” Ardyn said, “that’s why I don’t settle down anywhere or make connections. I can’t be attached.”

He had made a mistake. He knew that now. He won’t make it again.

“So let me get this straight, you can’t have any friends or people who you care about, because you might accidentally go on a killing spree?” Cor asked.

“I thought that was fairly clear from what just happened,” Ardyn said, annoyed, “that’s why it’s best if I leave. It’s the only option. I apologize that I have to leave you with the responsibility of a child. But you have enough resources available to hire help.”

He tugged his arm, but Cor refused to let go.

“You keep saying you’re a danger, but have you ever actually wanted to hurt Prompto?” Cor asked.

“Of course not,” Ardyn hissed, “I would never.”

“Ever want to hurt me?” Cor raised his eyebrows.

Ardyn cleared his throat awkwardly, but didn’t answer.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured,” Cor said, “honestly you weren’t even that strong. I probably could have defeated you if I’d thought you were an actual threat.”

“I could have killed you,” Ardyn stated.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Cor said, “maybe you could have gotten me to break a sweat, eventually.”

Cor was ignoring the pressing issue by making light of the situation. Ardyn had to get this back on track.

“I am a monster, the things inside me are thousands upon thousands of daemons. I have to be completely in control of myself lest they take over me.” Ardyn took a deep breath, “and as you can see, I cannot be in control like this.”

Cor nodded, “you’re a monster?”

“It’s like you’re hard of hearing, certainly you’re not that old yet,” Ardyn said.

“I’ve killed people,” Cor said, ignoring him, “sometimes with my own hands. Sometimes through other means. I’ve ordered attacks that left hundreds of people dead. I’ve bombed cities. I’ve caused the loss of innocent lives. If you’re a monster, you’re in good company.”

Ardyn looked at Cor. The man was standing straight. There wasn’t a flicker of guilt or self-consciousness in his body. He was a man stating cold facts. Ardyn didn’t believe it for a second.

“You did those things to protect your people, and I have no doubt it haunts you,” Ardyn said, “don’t act like you’re a remorseless monster.”

“And you’re full of daemons because you had to protect your people,” Cor pointed out, “and it clearly haunts you. So stop acting like you’re some kind of mindless evil being.”

“You’d really trust me not to try to kill you again?” Ardyn scoffed. Surely the man wasn’t that stupid.

“No,” Cor said, “but I trust you never to hurt Prompto.”

Ardyn felt strange again. It was the same feeling he had in the car, when Cor had said that he’d known who Ardyn really was. A strange uncomfortable squirming that made goosebumps rise on his skin.

“Now can you stop being fucking dramatic, and help me put this couch back,” Cor said, inspecting it, “I think you actually broke it. We might actually have to buy a new one.”

Cor hadn’t changed at all, but suddenly he wasn’t so unbearable to be around.

“Good.” Ardyn sauntered over, to look at the broken frame that had wood splintering out the back, “you had such a problem with it, you can pick the new couch.”

“You really can’t give me a break at all, can you?” Cor said, ducking his head, “you have to make my life miserable.”

“I was five seconds away from leaving you alone. You’re the one who begged me to stay,” Ardyn teased.

“And how long are you gonna hold that over me?” Cor asked, standing up and stretching his back.

Ardyn looked at him. His clothes were in complete disarray and the sleeve was ripped. He had a bruise on his cheek, his nose was bleeding and he had a long scratch on his arm. But he was smirking at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Til death do we part,” Ardyn said. And Cor laughed.

It was a nice sound.

Chapter Text

“Gods, not that one. It’s hideous,” Ardyn said, swabbing a small cut on Cor’s forehead. He had the first aid kit sitting beside him. He hadn’t patched up wounds in a long time, but he had a pretty good idea on the general method.

“Will you let me do this myself?” Cor grumbled, clicking through a few tabs.

Ardyn started wrapping Cor’s arm, “I would if you had any taste at all.”

Cor sighed, “you told me to pick a couch, so let me pick one.”

“It needs to match the rest of the room, you’re not even thinking about cohesiveness,” Ardyn said, “that one’s brown. It would never match.” He taped the gauze down on Cor’s arm. It was messy, but it was adequate.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” Cor asked, holding up his arm. The gauze fell off into a pile on the floor. Maybe not as adequate as he thought.

Ardyn frowned at it, “I haven’t had to patch anything up for a long time.”

“Just let me do it,” Cor said, holding out his hand.

Ardyn felt a flair of annoyance, “I can do it. Go back to picking out hideous furniture.”

Cor looked at him for a moment, before shaking his head and going back to the computer. He deleted the brown couches from his tabs. It was good that he could listen to reason.

---

Prompto frowned hard at them. He looked at the bandages on Cor’s arm and head, to Ardyn’s smile and back to Cor.

“You ready to go?” Cor asked, holding out his hand.

“Uh-huh,” Prompto said after a second, grabbing Cor’s hand.

“So tell me about your day?” Ardyn asked, getting in the car.

“It was fun, everyone was really nice!” Prompto yelled, already brushing off his suspicions, “they all asked me if I was feeling better.”

“Good,” Cor said, “we want you to have a good time at school.” He looked at Ardyn from the corner of his eye.

“Yes,” Ardyn said, turning to look back at Prompto, “I’m happy you like school.”

“Yeah,” Prompto said, smiling, “it’s fun. But I liked playing with Ardyn better.”

Ardyn smiled and rubbed Prompto’s head, “I’m amazing, I know.”

Prompto giggled, “Can we get choco-bites for dinner?”

“You eat those all the time, you sure you don’t want to try something different?” Cor asked.

“Just let him eat what he likes,” Ardyn said, “you’re such a nagger.”

“Me? I’m the nagger?” Cor asked.

“Absolutely,” Ardyn said, “you’re always going on about how we HAVE to do this and that, it’s annoying.”

“You’re seriously complaining about how I nag you?” Cor scoffed, “how could you possibly-“

“No fighting,” Prompto said from the back, crossing his arms and glaring at them through the rearview mirror.

Cor sighed, “I’m never winning one of these.”

Ardyn put a hand on Cor’s shoulder, “as long as you know.”

---

Prompto was in the middle of telling them about his new friend Ruby and their adventure in building a perfect castle for her dragon doll when Ardyn’s phone rang. He blinked down at it. The thing hadn’t rung in gods knew how long.

“A friend?” Cor asked.

It was an unknown number. Odd.

“I’m not sure,” Ardyn said, getting up and patting Prompto’s head, “you’ll have to put that story on pause.” Though honesty, Ardyn would be hopelessly confused either way. Prompto had just been finishing some story about the dragon losing his pancakes, which had gods knew what to do with the castle the story was supposed to be about. He walked out of the room and hit answer.

“Fucking finally,” someone spat on the other end.

Ardyn pulled the phone from his ear and stared at the screen. “My,” he said, “quite a rude introduction for a mystery caller.” He opened the backdoor and stepped into the yard.

“Look, I don’t have anyone else to call,” the caller said, “I need help.”

Ardyn squinted up at the moon, “it’s good manners to at least introduce yourself on the phone.”

“It’s Aranea,” the caller spat out.

Ardyn wracked in brain for the name, “who?”

“We met at the bar. You told me to stop stealing and go back to school, remember?” Ah, the girl from Niflheim. He had forgotten about her.

“Of course,” Ardyn said, “how could I have forgotten? How can I help you?”

She groaned, “I need you to come to the police station and bail me out.”

“Oh my, in a spot of trouble, are we?” Ardyn asked, “and why should I help you? What do I gain from this?”

“Look,” she growled, “I don’t got nothing right now, but I can pay you when I get out, alright?”

“Hmmm,” Ardyn hummed, inspecting his nails, “not interested. Try something else.”

She groaned, “I don’t know, whatever you want! Just come get me!”

“How unimaginative, it’s almost like you don’t want my help,” Ardyn said, yawning, “and it’s getting late too.”

“Gods, I’ll owe you a favor, alright. Whatever you want!” She said.

Ardyn smiled, “now that’s more like it. I’ll see you soon, love.”

It was only after he hung up that he realized he’d never given her his number. Tricky girl.

---

Cor was not happy to drive to the police station so late at night. He was even less pleased to take Prompto with them.

“Don’t be such a downer, we’re helping a young woman out, what a grand example for Prompto to learn from,” Ardyn said.

“I’d be fine with it, if he could learn it at a respectable time, and not ten at night,” Cor retorted, “I was hoping to sleep early tonight,” he grumbled.

“You did come home awfully early,” Ardyn said. Cor had come back at four, very unusual for him.

“Well,” Cor said, “I thought that we could have a family weekend trip.”

“A trip?” Prompto asked from the backseat, pulling himself up toward the front, “to where?”

“Prompto, sit back,” Ardyn said, frowning at him. He still didn’t wear a seatbelt, the least the boy could do for Ardyn’s heart was sit back. Though, he supposed, he didn’t technically have a working heart.

“Where?” Prompto asked, after sitting back, “where? Cor, where?”

Cor laughed, “it’s a surprise.”

Ardyn frowned, “how will you know we’ll like it. You should tell us, to make sure.”

“Nope,” he said.

Prompto was bouncing in his seat.

“That’s pretty unlike you,” Ardyn said, “taking a trip like this.”

“I have a business trip this weekend, I thought we could go together,” Cor said, he didn’t so much as twitch, but his eyes wavered slightly.

“Feeling guilty?” Ardyn guessed, amused.

“Just shut up,” Cor growled.

---

Aranea glared at him when they brought her out. They were uncuffing her, while Cor signed for her release.

“Who’s that?” She asked, inclining her head toward Cor.

“My husband,” Ardyn said.

Her eyes widened, “you’re married?”

Ardyn chuckled, “I hope you weren’t hoping to pay this favor off through carnal means, I’m taken.”

She smiled at him, jutting out her hip so that he could just barely see her bare waist, “hasn’t stopped me before.”

“I’m also rather uninterested,” Ardyn said, amused when the smile dropped from her face.

Cor put a hand on his shoulder, “alright, I signed for her. Let’s go.”

“Splendid,” Ardyn said, wrapping his arms around Cor’s, “you’re quite the knight in shining armor, darling,” he whispered in Cor’s ear, but loud enough that Aranea could still hear it.

“I’m tired, can we not today?” Cor asked, holding the door open for them.

They walked to the car and got in. Aranea stood outside, staring into the backseat.

“Well, we don’t have all night,” Ardyn said, turning to stare at her, “let’s go.”

“There’s a fucking kid back here,” she said.

“Yes,” Ardyn said, “he’s sleeping. We had to come out quite late to get you. It’s way past his bedtime.”

“And you better not wake him up, he needs his rest,” Cor growled, “now get in.”

She slid in and sat with her entire side pressed against the door.

“He’s not poisonous, you know,” Cor said, as he drove out of the lot.

“You have a kid?” Aranea asked distantly.

“His name’s Prompto,” Ardyn informed her.

“Holy shit, you have a kid and a husband?” She asked, “who the fuck are you?”

“Ardyn Izunia, at your service,” he said, tipping his hat to her.

“Look,” Cor interrupted, “where are we dropping you off? We have an early morning tomorrow, and I would love to sleep at least five hours for once.”

“Oh,” Aranea said, shaking her head, “right, turn left here.”

She gave directions and Cor drove for fifteen minutes, finally stopping in front of a park.

“Thanks for the ride, pops,” she said, unbuckling herself.

“Sure, which building do you live in?” He asked. The place wasn’t the best neighborhood, graffiti decorated the buildings around the area and a few people milled around, glaring suspiciously at their car.

“Nah, I usually crash on someone’s couch or find a guy to take me home, but this park has nice benches. And it’s not too busy,” she said.

Cor locked the doors.

“What?” He asked.

“Hey!” Aranea protested, pulling on the door handle, “what the fuck?”

“You’re going to sleep in the park?” Cor asked.

“I hear sleeping outdoors does wonders for peace of mind,” Ardyn offered.

Cor turned the car on and started driving, “fuck, of course this would happen. Of course you would know some girl who had nowhere to stay and we had to take care of.”

“I can take care of myself,” Aranea snarled, yanking on the door, “let me out!”

“What are you? Twelve?” Cor scoffed, “you can’t even keep yourself out of jail.”

“I’m twenty,” she said.

“She’s fifteen,” Ardyn corrected, “and I did warn you that you’d be caught if you kept going for nicer bars.”

“This is kidnapping!” She yelled.

“If you knew how old she was; why didn’t you get social services involved?” Cor glared at Ardyn

“Please, like we had such a great relationship with them,” Ardyn said, “anyway, I barely knew her. She tried to steal my wallet.”

“Where are you taking me?” Aranea asked.

“So, she’s a pickpocket?” Cor asked.

“Pickpocket, thief, mugger, she’s probably involved in a lot of different illegal activities.” Ardyn shrugged.

“Hey,” Aranea yelled, pulling herself toward the front, she had a knife against Ardyn’s throat, “let me out or I’ll kill him.”

“My, not the favor I was hoping for,” Ardyn said, “well dear heart, you’ll just have to stop and let her out.”

Cor rolled his eyes, “sit back before you regret it, girl.”

She gripped the hilt, “I’m not messing around.”

“I am impressed, where did you pull this out of, exactly?” Ardyn asked, “I was sure they would frisk you for weapons in the jail.”

“I keep knives in the car,” Cor said.

“That’s not very safe,” Ardyn frowned, “we have a child.”

“Well, he can’t reach most of them,” Cor shrugged, “and he knows better anyway.”

“If social services inspected this car, they would not be happy,” he pointed out.

Cor rolled his eyes, “fine, we’ll de-knife the car, and you call me the nagger.”

“Hey,” Aranea said, pushing the knife closer to Ardyn’s throat, “I swear I’ll gonna kill him.”

“By all means,” Cor said, “pain in my ass, anyway.”

“How romantic, darling,” Ardyn said.

“If you don’t let me out, I’ll-“

Prompto groaned.

Cor grabbed her arm and twisted so she was forced to twist her body or dislocate her shoulder. Ardyn grabbed her wrist with one hand and pushed against it until she let go of the knife. Cor released her and Ardyn shoved her to the backseat.

“Did we wake you, darling?” Ardyn asked, reaching back and pulling Prompto into his lap.

“S’loud,” Prompto mumbled, cuddling against Ardyn’s chest.

“Sorry, kid,” Cor whispered.

Prompto mumbled something else, before falling back asleep.

Ardyn tuned a little and pointed the knife at Aranea, “don’t ever do that around my son again, understand?”

She was staring at him, eyes wide and breathing hard. Her fingers shook. “Or else what?”

Ardyn laughed and turned back around, “I’ll leave it to your imagination, but it is amazing how long one can live with all four limbs severed from their body.”

“Ardyn,” Cor warned. Ardyn relaxed and wrapped his jacket around Prompto.

“What the fuck are you?” She asked, staring at them.

“I’m just an over-protective father,” Ardyn said, he turned and looked at Cor, “he’s Cor the Immortal.”

“You’re Cor the Immortal?” Aranea asked, shocked.

“Just Cor is fine,” he said, flicking his eyes to Ardyn.

“Shit. Fuck. Who’s he?” Aranea asked, looking at Prompto.

“Gods, haven’t you been paying attention? This is our son, Prompto,” Ardyn said. He turned to Cor, “not a great listener, is she?”

“Me?” Aranea asked, “I’m not a good listener? You still haven’t answered me, yet!”

“You asked a question? I thought you were just whining back there,” Ardyn said, shrugging, “kind of rude from someone who asked me for a favor.”

“Kids these days have no manners,” Cor huffed, his lips turning up a little.

“Where. Are. You. Taking. Me?” Aranea asked, enunciating each word.

“To our house, of course,” Ardyn said, “I’m surprised it took you so long to ask.

“Excuse me?” Aranea asked.

“And don’t think about running off or stealing anything,” Ardyn said, “I’ll be watching you, and I don’t sleep.”

She stared at him and then turned and stared at Cor, “you people are crazy.”

“Says the girl we bailed out of prison,” Cor said.

“And tried to steal from me,” Ardyn said.

“And we’re letting stay in our house,” Cor said.

“I don’t want to stay in your house,” Aranea said, exasperated.

“You’re welcome,” Ardyn said.

Aranea looked at him for a second in disbelief, before groaning and sitting back in her seat, crossing her arms, “I should have just spent the night in jail,” she mumbled.

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Ardyn said.

“I hate you,” she responded.

Ardyn chuckled. Well, it looked to be an entertaining night, tonight.

Chapter Text

“How lovely!” Ardyn shouted, getting out of the car, “look at that, the beach!” He adjusted his hat. The sun didn’t kill him but he did prefer to be out of it if possible. He knew he should have pushed Cor for more information about where they’re going.

“Yeah, I thought you guys would like Lestallum,” Cor said, he paused and looked in the backseat, “eh, and company.”

Aranea sat in the back, her arms crossed, and next to her was Prompto, who had spent that morning and the entire car ride glancing at her suspiciously. He had glued himself to Ardyn’s side and hadn’t even spoken to her outside of a quiet ‘good morning’.

“Well, come on, now!” Ardyn said, opening the door for Prompto, “we don’t have all day!”

Prompto immediately grabbed onto Ardyn’s pants and squinted into the sun, “it’s bright.”

“It is,” Ardyn agreed. The darkness within him roiled, but he did his best to ignore it. He looked back inside the backseat, Aranea sat with her arms still crossed, “we don’t have all day, let’s go.”

“First you kidnap me, then you watch me while I sleep like a creep, then force me into this car and drive me to gods know where-“

“Lestallum,” Prompto said.

She flicked her eyes at him and he shuffled back behind Ardyn, “and you’re expecting me to-what-have fun family time with you guys?”

“Mostly just want you to get out of the car,” Cor grumbled.

Ardyn picked Prompto up and circled to the trunk of the car.

“What are you doing?” Cor asked, as Aranea slammed the car door and glared at him.

“I’m getting out of the car, like you ordered,” Aranea said, rolling her eyes.

“Not you,” Cor said, turning to Ardyn, “why are you over there?”

Ardyn stared at him, “I’m waiting for you to open the trunk.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t you bring towels? Or sunscreen?” Ardyn asked.

Cor blinked, and then covered his eyes, “Prompto, cover your ears.”

Prompto put his hands over his ears.

“Fuck,” Cor groaned.

“You didn’t think to bring anything? Nothing?” Ardyn asked, incredulously, “are you serious? What are we going to sit on? The sand?”

“They probably sell stuff here, just go get some at the stalls,” Cor said, rubbing his temples, “I’m already running late.”

“Fine,” Ardyn said, “but they’re going to be the most expensive towels you’ve ever had.”

Cor rolled his eyes, “let’s just go,” he turned toward Aranea, “you too, girl.”

“My name is Aranea,” she said, following them up the stairs, “and I can’t believe you forgot sunscreen. Your kid’s paler than a lily, he’s gonna burn.”

“Our poor child is going to become a tomato,” Ardyn said, “because of you.”

“Poor thing, he was cute while he was this color,” Aranea cooed, “too bad he’s gonna be a giant red apple at the end of the day.”

“Why am I turning into food?” Prompto asked.

“Because Cor doesn’t care about your beautiful complexion, so now we’re in a predicament where you will burn like an egg on a sidewalk,” Ardyn said, mournfully.

“Seriously?” Cor asked, rolling his eyes.

Prompto stared up at Ardyn before his eyes filled with tears. Perhaps he had taken the joke too far, “I don’t wanna burn like an egg,” Prompto sobbed.

“Oh,” Ardyn said, awkwardly, “no, it was just a joke, darling.”

“Now look what you did,” Cor growled, “Prompto, it’s okay, you’re not really going to burn.”

“We’ll get you sunscreen, you’ll be fine,” Ardyn said.

Prompto kept crying.

“Why do you always have to joke, can’t you just be serious, once?” Cor asked.

“Can’t you at least remember to bring the bare essentials when we’re going somewhere?” Ardyn shot back, while he rubbed Prompto’s back.

“I forgot towels and sunscreen, stop acting like I just left the kid somewhere,” Cor said.

Prompto’s cries were getting louder, and attracting more attention.

“Do something!” Cor said.

“Oh, that’ll help,” Ardyn said, he turned to Prompto, “you’re not gonna burn, I pinky promise, okay?”

“Really?” He hiccupped.

“Yes,” Ardyn said, he turned to Cor, “do you at least have tissues?”

Cor turned and ran back to the car.

“Wow, you guys are, like, the worst, huh?” Aranea said, grinning at them.

“Well, at least we weren’t arrested and then kidnapped by ‘the worst’ so we’re doing okay,” Ardyn said.

Aranea went back to sulking.

---

They were sitting at the beach with brand new beach towels which were made with organic cotton and had actual gold thread sewn into the fibers.

“You know these things cost more than a week’s worth of groceries,” Aranea said, from where she was lounging under the three umbrellas Ardyn had rented, “for a family of eight.”

“Yes, but if we don’t purchase high quality goods, what’s the point?” Ardyn asked. He was lounging on one of the three towels he had bought, sunglasses over his eyes and a drink in hand. He had walked into the most high end store he could find, and asked for their most expensive merchandise they had.

“Right,” Aranea snorted, “sure.”

“Excuse me?” Ardyn asked, sitting up and pulling his sunglasses down, “and what is that supposed to mean?”

“Ardyn, I made a castle,” Prompto shouted. Ardyn turned to him, he was patting down a large shapeless lump of sand.

“Very nice,” Ardyn smiled, “I love it.”

“It’s a lump,” Aranea said.

“It’s not a lump!” Prompto shouted, “It’s a castle!”

“It’s a lump,” Aranea said, again.

“It’s not!” Prompto yelled.

“Then, where’s the door?” Aranea asked.

“It’s right here!” He shouted, pointing at a leaf.

“That’s just a leaf,” Aranea said, “that you stuck on a lump.”

Prompto’s bottom lip started to quiver.

“Aranea dear, you have something in your hair,” Ardyn said, he leaned close to her ear, “if he says it’s a castle, it’s a castle and if you make him cry, I will skin you alive and feed you to the Voretooths,” he pulled back, holding something between his fingers, “got it.” He turned back to Prompto, “darling, I think it looks like a wonderful castle, and I love your windows.”

Prompto adjusted some of the seashells and then smiled, “thank you,” he glanced at Aranea and then went back to patting it down.

“Whatever,” Aranea said, rolling her eyes, “are you guys gonna feed us, or am I expected to starve to death too?”

“You just ate,” Ardyn pointed out.

“We ate like four hours ago, and it was just cereal,” Aranea said, “your kids probably starving. Right, kid?” She turned to Prompto who was concentrating on his lump, which had almost doubled in size now.

“No,” he mumbled, “I’m okay.”

She rolled her eyes, “whatever, I’m starving.”

“Prompto, darling, are you hungry?” Ardyn asked. He tried to remember to feed him every few hours, but he wasn’t perfect yet.

“Maybe a little,” Prompto said, “but I don’t have to eat now!”

Ardyn sighed and stood, putting his hat back on, “alright, do chocobites and fries sound good to everyone?”

“Yeah!” Prompto shouted.

“Again?” Aranea complained. She put her sunglasses back on and laid back down, “whatever.”

Ardyn patted Prompto’s head but turned his head to look at Aranea, “don’t go off anywhere now,” he said, “because I will find you.”

“Okay, I got it,” Aranea said.

“If I come back and there is even a scratch on Prompto, I will make you pay for it,” Ardyn said, before standing, “and that’s a promise.”

Aranea scoffed and crossed her arms.

---

By the time Ardyn was heading back, he increased his hearing to make sure that Aranea and Prompto were getting along, so he could choose the amount of threatening aura he should be exuding for his return.

“-fine,” Prompto was saying.

“Yeah right,” Aranea said, “I heard you when I went to the bathroom.”

Silence and then, “did Ardyn hear?”

“Don’t know, but he probably didn’t know what it was, but I know what muffled crying sounds like,” Aranea said.

Crying? When was Prompto crying?

“I know it’s dumb, they’re just dreams,” Prompto said, “I don’t want to bother them. They’re already so nice.”

“Do whatever you want, I’m just saying that if you don’t do something about them, they’ll notice eventually,” Aranea said, “nightmares tend to get worse the longer they stick around.”

“They only happen sometimes, now,” Prompto said, “they used to be all the time.”

“Like I said, not my business, just some advice,” Aranea said, “also, that’s really a lump. A castle has towers and shit.”

“Ardyn said he liked it!” Prompto shouted.

Aranea snorted, “you could dig a hole and Ardyn would like it.”

“You’re mean,” Prompto said.

“Ooooh, that really hurt my feelings,” Aranea said, “I think I’m gonna cry.”

“Hello, children!” Ardyn said, from a few feet away.

“Ugh,” Aranea groaned.

“Ardyn!” Prompto shouted, “look at my castle!”

The lump had grown several smaller lumps on top of it, as well as more seashells decorating it.

“Beautiful,” Ardyn said. Well, the boy, clearly, wouldn’t be an artist.

Prompto smiled and shot a smug look at Aranea.

Ardyn sat down, and Prompto ran over and crawled into his lap. He gave him a box of chocobites and he dug in. Aranea picked around her food, wrinkling her nose at it.

Nightmares?

He hadn’t even noticed Prompto was having nightmares, yet Aranea had realized it immediately. How had she known? How had he not noticed? He did hear strange sounds from Prompto’s room, but he always assumed it was snoring. There had to be something he could do.

“Ardyn,” Prompto said, puffing his cheeks up and putting his hands on his hips.

“Oh,” Ardyn said, Prompto had a chocobite held out near his mouth, “I’m alright, thank you, darling.”

“Okay,” Prompto said, stuffing it into his mouth.

He wrapped his arms around the boy and rested his head on Prompto’s.

---

The drive back was quiet, since Aranea and Prompto had fallen asleep in the back.

“What’s wrong?” Cor asked, after half an hour of silence.

“Nothing,” Ardyn said, “I just thought you’d appreciate the quiet.”

“Since when have you ever cared what I would appreciate,” Cor scoffed, “what is it? Are you still mad about the towels?”

“Yes,” Ardyn said, “that’s it.”

Cor sighed, “stop being a shit.”

“How romantic,” Ardyn said, “but I’m fine, like I said.”

Cor turned back to the road, “you’re always quiet when something’s bothering you, so just say it. I don’t wanna deal with you sulking for a week before you eventually just tell me, just skip the sulking bit.”

Ardyn stared out the window at the dark road and the stars in the sky.

“Fine,” Cor said, rolling his eyes, “I’d enjoy a week of silence, anyway.”

They lapsed back into quiet for a few minutes.

“Prompto is having nightmares,” Ardyn said.

“He told you?” Cor asked, flicking his eyes over to him, “I haven’t noticed anything.”

“He told Aranea, apparently they’re quite frequent,” Ardyn said, “he muffles his cries, so I’ve been mistaking them for snores.”

“Pretty different sounds,” Cor said. Ardyn glared at him, “but an easy mistake to make, I’m sure.”

“We have to do something,” Ardyn said.

“Right,” Cor said, “like what?”

“How should I know? I don’t even sleep,” Ardyn said, annoyed, “shouldn’t you have a better idea? You dream. You must get nightmares.”

“I’m probably the worst person to ask about this,” Cor said.

Ardyn groaned, “of course. What do two monsters know about nightmare remedies? Perhaps we could just drug him.”

“No,” Cor said.

“He’d have dreamless sleap,” Ardyn pointed out.

“No.”

“Well, at least I have an idea,” Ardyn grumbled.

Cor tapped the steering wheel, “look, I’ll ask around. I know some parents; they might have a few ideas.”

“Regis doesn’t count,” Ardyn said.

“Why not?” Cor asked, glaring at him, “he’s a father.”

“He’s barely raising his own child, I shudder to think of what advice he’d offer,” Ardyn said, thinking of Noct’s nanny, “perhaps that nanny of his.”

“His majesty is doing the best he can,” Cor said, frowning, “considering the circumstances.”

“Do you deny that if Noct was having nightmares, Regis would be the last person to know?” Ardyn asked.

Cor was quiet for a moment, “I’ll ask his nanny.”

“Excellent,” he said.

He had looked a god in the eye and defied it. Nightmares didn’t stand a chance.

Chapter Text

Cor went to work with a promise to ask Noct’s nanny about nightmares. Aranea and Prompto were in the living room, watching an animated movie. Something about a talking dog. Ardyn was scrolling through articles about nightmares when his phone began ringing. It was an unknown number.

He looked back out to the living room to make sure Aranea was still sitting next to Prompto.

He glanced back at the screen.

After a moment, he picked up.

“Hello,” He said, wracking his mind for who it could be.

“Hello? Is this Mr. Leonis?” A female voice asked.

“Ah, no, you must have called the wrong number,” Ardyn said.

“Oh,” the voice said, “I’m so sorry, this isn’t Prompto Leonis’ father?”

Ardyn’s body froze, “who’s asking?”

“This is Ruby’s mom, from school? I asked the school for your number, I hope you don’t mind!”

Prompto’s friend from school. The little girl who talked to him on the first day.

“Oh, yes, Ruby, I remember now,” Ardyn said, leaning against the kitchen island, “what can I help you with?”

“I was wondering if you guys are planning on coming today?” Ruby’s mother asked.

Was the woman delusional?

“Coming to what, exactly?” Ardyn asked, keeping his voice mild. Just because one is insane doesn’t mean he couldn’t be polite.

“Ruby’s birthday party today! She was so excited for Prompto to come, but I never got an RSVP,” she said, “she gave Prompto an invitation.”

Ardyn blinked, “Prompto,” he called, “did you receive an invitation for Ruby’s birthday party?”

Prompto gasped dramatically, “I forgot!” he yelled. He jumped up and ran upstairs.

Well, a lot had happened recently. He supposed he couldn’t fault Prompto for forgetting.

“It seems that he neglected to inform me,” Ardyn said to Ruby’s mother.

The woman laughed, “kids,” she said.

“I got it,” Prompto shouted, running down the stairs. He held up an envelope.

It was a pink invitation with bows and hearts decorating the border. It was inviting them to Ruby’s birthday party at Insomnia Park, today, in about three hours.

“Well, it’s a bit late notice now, we would hate to be a bother,” Ardyn said, “thank you for the invit-“

“No,” Prompto yelled, pulling at Ardyn’s shirt, “I promised I would go! We have to go!”

“It’s not a bother at all,” Ruby’s mother said, “please, we would love it if you could come!”

“Well,” Ardyn said, ignoring Prompto’s tugging, “we’re watching another child as well, so-“

“I’m not a child!” Aranea shouted from the next room, at the same time Ruby’s mother said, “the more the merrier!”

“Well-“ Ardyn said, wracking his brain for an excuse.

“I won’t hear of it,” Ruby’s mother said, “I will see all three of you at the party!”

Then she hung up.

Prompto looked up at him with big eyes, tears swimming and lips pouting.

“I suppose we have to bring a gift of some sort?” Ardyn sighed.

“Yes!” Prompto yelled, jumping up and down, “you’re the best! We should go now!” He ran toward the door and Ardyn grabbed him by the back of the shirt.

“Absolutely not,” Ardyn wrinkled his nose, “if we are going to a party, we will be properly dressed. Go change.”

Prompto looked down at his clothes, “oh, right, I’ll be right back!”

“He looks fine,” Aranea said from the other room, “none of those kids are gonna be dressed up at that dumb party.”

Before Ardyn could answer, Prompto stopped halfway up the stairs and shouted, “I can’t go to a party looking like this!”

Ardyn had never been prouder.

---

Ardyn had the car drop them off in Insomnia, exactly half an hour late. He refused to seem like he rushed here.

“We’re late!” Prompto shouted, as they walked in.

“Nonsense, we’re fashionably late. Besides, we had to choose the perfect outfit for the party,” Ardyn said.

“We could have been here sooner if you hadn’t looked for that dumb scarf,” Aranea said, rolling her eyes.

Prompto’s hand flew to his zebra striped scarf, “I needed it!”

“Why? You have, like, ten scarves,” Aranea pointed out, “there’s no reason you needed this one.”

“It matches with Ardyn’s,” Prompto said, gripping onto Ardyn’s hand.

Ardyn picked Prompto up and smiled at him, “and we both look fantastic in them.”

Prompto smiled back, and nodded.

“Mr. Leonis! Prompto!” A woman with dark hair ran up to them, “welcome, so happy you could join us!”

“Hello, thank you for the invitation,” Ardyn said, putting Prompto down, “and where should I put this?” He held out a perfectly wrapped package, they had bought not an hour earlier.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have,” she said, taking it from him, “there’s snacks and games over there. Ruby will be so excited to see you, Prompto.” She smiled down at him, she straightened up and shouted, “Ruby, your friend is here!”

A little girl in a pink dress tackled Prompto, causing them both to fall over onto the ground.

“You came, you came!” She shouted, “come on, come see the games that I have!” With that, she pulled Prompto away.

Ardyn moved to follow, but Ruby’s mother quickly blocked his path.

“I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am that you came, Ruby has been talking about Prompto non-stop for days!” She said, “she would have been so disappointed if he hadn’t come.”

“Of course,” Ardyn said, “we were so excited to celebrate Ruby’s birthday with her.” He tried to step around her, but she moved again.

“And this is?” She inclined her head at Aranea.

Right, he’d forgotten about her, “this is Aranea, I’m watching her today.”

Aranea rolled her eyes, “right, sure,” she muttered.

Ruby’s mother smiled, “well, Aranea, you are more than welcome to any of the snacks or games, we’re so happy you could come too.”

Aranea flicked her eyes to Ruby’s mother and then stomped off without a word.

“My apologies,” Ardyn said, touching his hand to his cheek, “she didn’t really want to come.”

“Of course, teenagers,” she said, laughing, “I don’t look forward to that.”

He smiled at her, and then stepped around to see where Prompto was. He was standing next to Ruby and several other children. Ruby had a ball in her hand and was giving instructions to the rest of the children.

Prompto was kicking at the ground, shy. He wondered if he should intervene, call Prompto over to him and get him out of the situation.

“So, what am I supposed to do here?” Aranea asked, almost materializing next to him, “babysit?”

“Now that you mention it,” Ardyn said, smiling at her.

She scoffed, “I’m not playing happy family with you delusional people.”

“Careful now,” Ardyn said, smiling at Prompto, who was running around with the other kids, “you may want to watch yourself in the presence of a monster.”

“You’re not a monster,” Aranea said, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

“Aren’t I?” Ardyn asked. He let his eyes flash inhumanly.

She didn’t scream, but she her shoulders twitched and she crossed her arms tighter so that her shoulders pulled in.. She turned back to face Prompto.

Ardyn was idly listening to the conversation around him. Frightening Aranea had been fun for a brief moment, but it was too short. At least Prompto seemed to be having fun, as he raced around with the other children.

“-and he was crying like crazy. He’d never had a nightmare like that before,” a woman was saying.

Ardyn listened closer. Nightmare?

“I know what you mean,” Ruby’s mother said, “Ruby’s been having a few herself after my husband let her watch some of that new scary movie the other day.”

“Why would he do that? Does he hate sleep?”

“He said that it was to help her build courage. So, now I make him go comfort her, to help him build a few brain cells.”

Ardyn turned to Aranea, “watch Prompto, I’ll be back.”

She snorted, but kept her eyes on the boy, “you off to mingle with the moms?”

“You can’t possibly keep watch over Prompto over here,” Ardyn said, pushng her forward, “go join in the fun.”

“They’re little kids,” Aranea said.

Ardyn raised an eyebrow at her until she scoffed and stomped off.

“Excuse me,” Ardyn said, as he walked up to the group, “I couldn’t help but overhear. Have your children been having nightmares?”

“Yeah, it always breaks your heart a little when they have one,” a red haired woman said, “Fran hasn’t had any in a while though, ever sense I started giving her baths with mango oil. She sleeps like a baby every time.”

The other women were looking at each other, smiles on the edge of their lips.

“Does anyone have advice that doesn’t sound completely idiotic?” Ardyn asked the group.

“Excuse me?” The woman asked.

Ardyn turned his head toward her, “oh, you’re excused. Gods know you weren’t at all useful.”

She stomped away, glaring back at him, no doubt to complain about him to another group of women.

The second she had disappeared from view, the other women burst into laughter.

“Wow,” Ruby’s mother said, “kudos to you, she’s been spewing that bullshit every single time I’ve seen her.”

“Seriously,” a blond woman agreed, “she’s such a liar, she’s always reading those stupid natural remedy books. Remember when her daughter caught the flu and she tried to cure it with some kind of fungus?”

“And it turned out her daughter was allergic?” Ruby’s mom said, “classic.”

“Well, I simply felt her advice would not be suitable for my situation. If it works for her, then by all means,” Ardyn said, sweeping his hand out.

“I always go with some warm milk, myself,” the blonde said, “I’m Valerie, by the way.”

“That’s good, I add some cinnamon, too,” Ruby’s mother said, “oh, and I’m Diane. Sorry, I must have forgotten to introduce myself earlier.”

“It’s no problem, please call me Ardyn,” he said, tipping his hat, “but I’m looking for more on how to prevent the nightmares.”

Diane and Valerie exchanged looks.

“Not sure how much you can prevent nightmares, they just happen,” Valerie said, “best you can do is comfort them when they wake up.”

That wouldn’t do at all.

“Prompto has been trying to hide his nightmares from me,” Ardyn said, “so I’m not sure how possible it would be for me to comfort him.”

Valerie winced, “oh man, that’s tough.”

“Maybe you could talk to him about his nightmares. Figuring out where the nightmares are coming from could help,” Diane suggested.

Discovering the reason behind the nightmares? That could possibly work. After all, the best way to make an effective strategy would be to pinpoint the source of the problem.

“I see, that could be a good plan,” Ardyn mused, “thank you for the advice.”

“Of course, we have to stick together after all, kids are tough,” Valerie said.

“That they are,” Ardyn agreed.

“Did I tell you what my kid did the other day?” Valerie asked. She launched into a story that Ardyn immediately ignored. He looked over at the kids, who were all huddled together. Aranea was standing on the outskirt of the group, playing with her phone. Ardyn pulled out his phone and sent her a quick text.

She turned and glared at him, before putting the phone away. It’s always useful to have pawns be a little afraid of you, makes them easier to control.

He turned back, Diane was now blabbering about some story about Ruby.

Talking to Prompto about the nightmares may be useful, but what could he do to stop them. Surely understanding the root would help, but that was no guarantee that they would stop. Perhaps he could begin self-defense training with Prompto. He would need it eventually, and starting young could only help him.

He wondered if they had any mild in the fridge, or if they had ever bought cinnamon. He made a note to go to the store after the party.

“Oh shoot, is it that late already?” Diane was looking at her watch. She turned to the playground area, “guys come over for cake!”

Children came darting out of the bushes and inside of the playground set, all the while screaming, “Cake! Cake! Cake!” They swarmed to the table, while Diane tried to carry the cake safely to the middle. Parents tried to corral children into some semblance of humanity.

“Okay, alright,” Diane shouted, pushing children away from her, “Ruby, come here!”

Ruby pushed passed the kids, knocking one over, and appeared right underneath her mother. Her eyes were sparkling as she stared at the pink monstrosity.

Ardyn frowned. There were a dozen children clustered together, but he didn’t see Prompto. He turned toward the playground.

“Prompto?” He called. It wasn’t like him to hide. When no one appeared, he shouted louder.

Valerie appeared at his side, “you can’t find Prompto?”

“It’s not like him to hide,” Ardyn said, “Prompto!”

Valerie turned to the kids who were wolfing down their cake, “have any of you seen Prompto?”

A dark haired boy piped up, “he ran into the bushes when we were playing hide and seek.”

“Over there,” said a red haired girl. She pointed to a few bushes that sat by the swing set.

Ardyn jogged over, trying to stay calm. There was nothing there.

The other parents were starting to notice that something was wrong. They muttered amongst themselves and grabbed their own child.

Prompto had to be nearby. Who would take him? Why? Ardyn had been right there, as well as several other parents. Who in their right mind would try to take a child in broad daylight? Impossible. Prompto was simply hiding somewhere.

“Prompto!” Ardyn called again.

“How about the other girl you were watching, maybe she took him to the bathroom or something?” Diane asked, as she scanned the trees.

“Maybe we should call the police,” one of the other men said, but Ardyn ignored him.

Aranea. He had forgotten about her. He had told her to watch Prompto, and he doubted that she’d leave him. She wasn’t the type to abandon a small child.

He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed her number.

He heard it ringing farther in the trees and he sprinted toward the noise.

Surely he’d find the two of them, arguing over something inane, like whether the spot was a good place to hide or Prompto’s outfit choice.

When he reached the ringing, he found Aranea’s phone and Prompto’s zebra print scarf. Nothing else. He yelled Prompto’s name again, but no answer. He heard people shouting behind him, someone had called the police. Diane was saying something to him.

He had to go and find him. Track him down. He moved further through the trees, until he hit the street. Cars were speeding down the road. There was no way for him to catch up now. He didn’t even know which way they would have gone. He had to go find him. Had to come up with a suspect list. But he found he couldn’t do anything.

His body was cold and frozen. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t move. There was no anger, no rage, no scourge. For once in his life, everything was completely and utterly silent.

Chapter Text

Someone was shaking him. It was the only thing that broke through the silence. Ardyn blinked and looked up. Cor was standing above him, his lips were pressed into a line and his eyes were furious.

“Where’s Prompto and Aranea?” He asked, unnervingly calm.

“Gone,” Ardyn heard someone say, “he’s gone.”

Cor’s whole body tensed, “gone where, Ardyn?”

Ardyn looked back to the floor. He had Prompto’s scarf in his hands. How long had he been holding it? He gripped it tighter, and pulled it closer to himself.

“Ardyn,” Cor said, gripping his shoulder, “where are they?”

“I don’t know,” the voice said again, “they took him.”

“Who took them?”

Ardyn wanted Cor to stop talking. With every word he said, the scourge would inch closer and closer to the surface.

“Stop,” the voice shouted. It was his voice, he realized, as he gripped his head, “I don’t know, I don’t know who took him or where he is. So stop asking me.”

“You can infiltrate governments without a plan, gain top secret intelligence without lifting a finger and can blackmail and threaten world leaders, but you somehow don’t know where they are?” Cor growled. He shoved him.

The scourge flared to life. Ardyn stood up, hand clenched around Prompto’s scarf. “you’re the fucking marshal of the crownsguard, isn’t your job to know things and keep people safe?”

“You were here, with him! I wasn’t even here!” Cor shouted.

Ardyn felt the numbness break. He felt the moment the scourge started to rise to the surface. As it whispered that it was his fault. He let the boy get taken. If he had let the scourge take more control, he could have watched the boy. He would have been able to keep an eye on the boy no matter where he was. He felt it wrap itself around his guilt, around his anxieties. He pushed it back, as much as he could.

It barely budged an inch, but it was enough. “Exactly,” Ardyn said, “you’re never here, isn’t that the problem?”

“Don’t you dare turn this around on me, when you were the one who was supposed to watch them. You took them to this stupid party! You didn’t even tell me!” Cor shouted, he grabbed Ardyn’s arm and dug into his skin. If he was a regular human, no doubt he would he be bruised.

“Oh, and if I had called you, you would have picked up,” Ardyn spat, “because you’re always so available.” You didn’t need him, the scourge whispered, just me. You just need me. I could have protected him. Let me find him. I can find him.

Ardyn hugged the scarf to his chest.

Cor stepped forward, so the two of them were barely an inch apart, “you let them get taken, you were the one watching them. Don’t turn this around to me, when we both know this is because of you.”

Ardyn felt some of the scourge ripple through his skin. It shrieked its anger, its frustration. He felt it bleed through him, felt it drop from his skin. He couldn’t control it. He couldn’t push it back any longer.

“Are you Prompto and Aranea’s guardians?” An officer asked.

Ardyn snapped back to himself. The shift startled the scourge enough that he was able to shove it as far away as possible. But it still bubbled near the surface, angry and violent.

“I’m Officer Veltz, I would like to ask a few questions, if I can?” The woman asked, she had dark hair in a ponytail and dark eyes. He took a breath, to calm himself.

“Of course,” Cor said, dropping the aggression and violence from his stance, instantaneously.

Ardyn took a little longer to get the scourge from screaming under his skin.

I’m so sorry, I’m sure this must be-“

“Can we just skip this niceties, what are your questions?” Cor asked.

She blinked at them, and then nodded, “of course,” she said, “do you remember what Prompto and Aranea were wearing today?”

Cor turned toward Ardyn, “you saw them this morning,” he said. Ardyn jolted a little, distracted by the scourge trying to break through him. What was Prompto wearing today?

He pulled out his phone and held it out, “I took a picture,” he said. Prompto was wearing a red button down shirt and dark pants. His scarf was wrapped around his neck. Ardyn gripped his hand around the scarf in his other hand.

“Thank you, this is very helpful.” Officer Veltz said, “how about Aranea?”

What had she worn? She’d only had two outfits, so she tended to switch between the two.

“A red shirt and jeans,” Ardyn said, remembering that Prompto had been excited to match both of them.

Officer Veltz wrote something down, “fantastic, that’s a big help.”

“Do you know anything, right now?” Cor asked.

“Not much, the abduction sight, which you’ve seen, and a possible car identification. Luckily, there are traffic cameras in this area,” she said.

“You have a vehicle?” Ardyn asked.

“Possibly, but they blocked the plates from being seen,” she said, “if there’s anything else I’ll let you guys know.”

“Thank you,” Cor said.

She hesitated and cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Is there something else?” Ardyn asked. He’d give anything to help. Anything to have Prompto back in his arms.

“Is that the scarf Prompto wore today?” She asked.

Ardyn held it against his chest, “yes,” he said.

“Can we have it?” She asked, “I know this is hard for you, but it would be helpful.”

“Helpful for what?” He asked. He could feel his nails digging holes into the cloth.

“For the dogs,” she said, “for scent tracking.”

Ardyn imagined dogs sniffing around a corpse of a child with blonde hair. He took a breath and squeezed his eyes shut to dispel the image. He released the breath and held out the scarf.

“Thank you,” Officer Veltz said, “this will be useful.”

“Tell us anything you find, as soon as you find it,” Ardyn said.

She nodded, “of course.” She took it from him.

He never knew that letting go of something could feel like ripping out one’s own heart.

---

Regis had sent a car for them. He greeted them at the citadel and lead them to a room and told them that he had made this a top priority. He said that anyone who was capable was looking for Prompto and Aranea. Clarus, the King’s shield, explained the strategy. Where each unit was being deployed. Cor was nodding and giving his own suggestions.

He hadn’t looked at Ardyn the entire time.

Ardyn sat on the other side of the couch Regis lead them to, staring at his hands.

He couldn’t seem to get the scourge under control. It knew that he was weak. He had never been so vulnerable, and it was pushing against his weakened defenses with everything it had. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t keep a thought in his head, without the scourge latching on and using it as a weapon.

He couldn’t come up with a plan to find him, where he would most likely be, who took him, how they took him. All he could think about was how small Prompto’s hands were. How he would tuck his head into his neck. How he couldn’t sleep unless you read him a bedtime story.

The door burst open and Noct’s nanny came running in, “I came as soon as I heard,” she said. She wrapped her arms around Ardyn, “how are you?” she asked, “I’m so sorry, obviously you’re terrible. What a stupid question.”

“Relvyn, what are you doing here?” Clarus asked.

She tensed a little, before turning around to face him, “I wanted to check on Ardyn, I just came to see if he’s alright.”

“While I understand the sentiment, bursting into the King’s quarters unannounced is inappropriate,” Clarus said.

She turned to look at Ardyn. He didn’t know what face he made, but she turned back toward Clarus and said, “I apologize, but it’s an emergency.” She sat down next to him and put one hand on his knee.

Clarus kept staring at her, but eventually turned back to Regis, who had begun to talk.

“Cor,” Regis said, “is there anyone who would have wanted to take them?”

“I don’t know much about Aranea, we were just giving her a place to stay for a few days,” Cor said.

“Prompto had an adopted family that he was taken away from, before you adopted him?” Clarus asked, reading through a few folders that were sitting on the table.

“I highly doubt they took him,” Cor said.

“The Argentum’s are in Tenebrae, doing a story on the immigration policy that the council is voting on next month,” Ardyn said, suddenly.

Cor, Clarus and Regis were staring at him, “and you know this?” Regis asked.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on them,” Ardyn said, mechanically, “they didn’t take him. They know better than to come close to him.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me this earlier?” Cor asked.

Ardyn looked up at him, the scourge he had carefully restrained bubbled inside, “excuse me?”

“It would have been good to know earlier,” Cor said.

“Well, then, why don’t you keep an eye on all potential dangers, and then you’ll know earlier,” Ardyn said, glaring at him.

“If you know all of this stuff, how do you not know where they are?” Cor asked. His body was tense, like he was on the verge of attacking.

“If you’re the Marshal of the Crownguard, and have the help of the King of Lucis, why don’t you know where he is?” Ardyn asked.

“They,” Cor said, “Aranea is missing too.”

“I’m well aware,” Ardyn said.

“Are you? Because you don’t seem that concerned over her,” Cor said.

“Prompto is my son,” Ardyn said.

“Aranea is our responsibility,” Cor said, “we took her in, we have a duty-“

“Oh ‘duty’,” Ardyn said, staring at Cor, “like you have a duty to Prompto?”

“I wasn’t the one who lost him,” Cor growled.

Ardyn felt the scourge latch onto his fury and guilt, he turned away from the thought, “I-“

“Excuse me,” Relvyn said, “I know that we’re upset, but I don’t think blaming each other is helpful.”

Cor turned to her, like he had forgotten she was here. Ardyn had almost forgotten as well.

“I know this is really hard, but Ardyn would never let someone take Prompto. I’ve never seen someone love their child as much as Ardyn does,” she said, “and blaming him for this, just isn’t fair.”

Ardyn could feel her hand shake, where it lay on her knee. But she was sitting straight, looking straight at Cor.

“You think they’re together?” Regis asked, holding out a hand before Cor could retort. He glared at the hand but didn’t say anything else.

“Of course, why take them both? Why leave things behind? They could have just as easily killed her and left with him,” Ardyn said, “but they took her. So they’ll keep them together.”

“So, you think they were after Prompto?” Regis asked.

“Of course,” Ardyn said.

“And how do you know that?” Cor asked, “we don’t know anything about Aranea.”

“No one would go through so much trouble, snatching an orphan from a different country in broad daylight,” Ardyn said, “not when she was on the verge of running off anyway.”

“Running off?” Cor asked.

“Yes, she clearly wanted to leave. She hated being with us. I was planning on allowing her to leave tonight, anyway,” Ardyn said.

“Without consulting me?” Cor asked, his voice unwavering, his body strung so tight that he looked on the verge of attacking.

Ardyn looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“That’s enough,” Regis said, pulling himself to his full height, “two children are missing, let’s focus on that.”

Cor immediately pulled back and faced Regis, “of course,” he said. He glanced down at the map on the table, “this area needs a second squadron to comb through.”

“That area is tiny, there’s no point in wasting extra resources there,” Clarus said, “we have to concentrate on this area-“

Ardyn’s body was vibrating. His thoughts were racing, and the scourge was pushing as far as it could. He could feel it at the very edge, pulsing against his eyes. He almost gave in. Cor was useless, strategizing search teams and bolstering wall security. What good did that do? By the time they finally found Prompto he’d be-

The scourge flared. It whispered promises and vengeance. What use were humans in matters such as this. Here they were, the most powerful men in the country, maybe even the world, and they couldn’t do a thing to find one little boy. But the scourge could. It could spread everywhere and kill anyone who even thought to touch a hair on his head.

Ardyn felt it creep along his skin, and for once, he almost didn’t stop it. He almost let it take over. Almost let it spread as far and wide as it could get. As long as he could have Prompto back, he didn’t care what the world looked like at the end of it.

“It’s going to be okay,” Relvyn said, touching his elbow, “they’re using every resource they have to find them. Why don’t you sit? You look pale.”

Ardyn pulled away from her and walked out of the room.

No one stopped him.

Chapter Text

Ardyn didn’t know how long he sat, trying to reign in the scourge as much as possible. Every time he thought he had it under control, he would think of Prompto. Scared and alone. And it would surge up again. He just needed to stop it for a second, so he could think clearly. So he could make a plan. He just needed a moment of silence.

But the scourge knew when he was weak. It knew that it was unlikely that he would ever be this vulnerable again. If it didn’t strike him now, it would lose its chance. So it refused to let go. Striking at every possible opening.

“Ardyn.”

A hand tugged against his shirt.

He looked down. It was Noct.

“Is Prompto really missing?”

The scourge raced up and sizzled underneath his skin.

“Yes,” he said, “Prompto’s gone.”

Noct’s eyes filled with tears, “where is he?”

“I don’t know,” Ardyn said.

“Oh,” Noct said, he blinked up at him. He grabbed at his pants and started pulling himself up.

“What are you doing?” Ardyn asked.

Noct didn’t answer, he pulled himself onto Ardyn’s lap and threw his arms around him, “it’s gonna be okay.”

It wasn’t okay. Not even close. Prompto was missing and he was falling apart, the scourge was seconds away from taking over. But Noct squeezed him as tight as his little arms could, which wasn’t that tight. But somehow, it was comforting. He felt like he was being held together. By a little boy.

How pathetic.

Noct looked up, “You’ll save him, you’re a superhero,” he said.

Ardyn chuckled darkly, “I’m afraid that you have a flawed idea of me. I am not one that is brave and noble, Cor and your father are making a plan to find him.”

Noct frowned, “but you’re so strong! You have special powers and you save people!”

The scourge gripped onto his heart and squeezed. It hurt.

“Stop,” he said.

“Prompto’s waiting for you to save him!” Noct shouted.

“Noct,” Ardyn said, ignoring the scourge howling in his ear.

“He told me that you’d protect him! You promised!” Noct said, gripping his shirt, “you pinky promised!”

He remembered Prompto sitting on his bed, pinky out, making him promise that no one would take him away again. He remembered how he had smiled when Ardyn had hooked fingers with him. How he had stared up at him with his blue eyes full of wonder and awe. He didn’t have time to sit and mope.

He had a promise to keep.

---

“I want to talk to Ruby’s mother,” Ardyn said, barging into the meeting room. Clarus and Cor were standing over the map, pointing at different sections. Regis sat between them, glaring at it, as if it had personally offended him. It was good that Ardyn wasn’t interrupting anything actually useful.

“We’re already questioning her,” Clarus said, frowning at him “she doesn’t seem to know anything.”

“I want to talk to her,” he repeated.

“What’s this about?” Cor asked, “what do you know?”

“Nothing,” Ardyn said, “yet.”

She had pushed hard for him to come to this party, and had tried to pull him away from Prompto before. It was odd. It didn’t sit right.

Cor was watching him, “what are you going to do if we let you see her?”

“I’m going to find our son,” Ardyn said.

---

“Ardyn, I’m so sorry about Prompto, but I told them already that I don’t know anything!” Diane shouted. Her hair was a mess, sticking out from a ponytail. She looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Why did you decide to have the party at the park?” He asked.

“What? Ruby loves the park! She wanted to have it there!” Diane said, “where is she? I want to see her!”

“Who else knew you were having the party there?” Ardyn asked.

Diane wiped her eyes with her hands, “it was a party for a five-year-old, the whole class knew about it.”

“Who else, besides them?” Ardyn asked. He felt the scourge at his throat, bubbling up, pushing its way out. He forced himself to concentrate on Diane. Prompto was his priority. He had to hold it together.

“Ardyn, please, I would never do anything to hurt Prompto or another child. Never, you have to believe me,” Diane begged, tears streaming down her face.

“Who else, Diane.” He commanded.

“I don’t know, my friends, anyone who saw the invite on Moogle-“

This was getting him nowhere. He had to narrow the possibilities. Who had the most to gain from taking Prompto? Who was so desperate that they were willing to do it in broad daylight, surrounded by witnesses. But also, clearly, had the resources to pull it off. Who could possibly-

Of course.

He was so stupid. How could he forget. How could he possibly have forgotten where Prompto was from. Who made him.

“Anyone connected to Niflheim?” Ardyn asked.

Diane blinked up at him, “what?”

“Did anyone associated with Niflheim know about the party?” Ardyn asked. He knew that he was being watched by Regis and company, but if he had to trade this secret for Prompto’s safety, he would gladly do it.

“M-my ex-husband is from Niflheim,” she said, “he was the one who told me to have it at the park, because Ruby loved the park.”

“Was he there?” Ardyn asked.

“No, he said he couldn’t make it last minute. Ardyn, what-“

“Tell me everything about him. Right now,” Ardyn said, pulling his chair back and sitting. He shoved the scourge into the very back of himself. It was easily done, now that he had a clear path to take.

---

“Ardyn, you don’t think-“

“It has to be him, who else has the means and the desperation?” Ardyn said, strolling out of the room.

“Cor, what is this about Niflheim?” Clarus asked.

“Not now,” Cor said to him, before turning back to Ardyn, “where are you going?”

Ardyn was trying to keep from sprinting out of the citadel. He knew what to do now, who to kill. And he wanted it done as soon as possible.

“Hey,” Cor grabbed his arm, “where the fuck are you going?”

Ardyn stopped, and turned towards him, “I’m getting our son back.”

“You’re going to Nifleheim? With what plan?”

“I’m going to kill all of them, and get Prompto. That’s the plan,” Ardyn spat, “better than just sitting on our asses and sending out search parties to look where he isn’t.”

“You going to threaten the emperor again? Just go traipsing around the castle, killing people until you find him?” Cor asked, his grip tightening, the familiar lines of frustration creasing his face.

“I don’t have time for this,” Ardyn said, pulling his arm from Cor’s grip, “I’m leaving, you can come or stay, I don’t care. But don’t even think about trying to stop me.”

“Stop you?” Cor scoffed, “when have I ever stopped you from doing anything that came into your thickheaded skull? I just need to know what the plan is before we go.”

Ardyn felt his chest squeeze again. Cor always did surprise him.

“Let’s get our kid,” Cor said. Ardyn felt a small smile sneak onto his face.

“Absolutely not,” Clarus said, from behind them, “are you trying to cause an international incident?”

Ardyn had honestly forgotten that they were back there. What a hassle to deal with.

“Our relationship with Niflheim is tenuous at best, and you have very little evidence that they took Prompto,” Regis said, his eyes were hard as he looked at the two of them, “especially since all of the reports say that Prompto was found on the outskirts of Lestallum.”

“Right,” Ardyn said, “we lied about that.”

Cor groaned.

“Clearly,” Regis said, lifting one eyebrow.

“I don’t have time to explain all of this to you,” Ardyn said, “he’s from Niflheim, that’s all you need to know for now. We can explain the rest when I have Prompto back with me.”

“And what is this about threatening the emperor?” Regis asked calmly.

“Your Majesty-” Cor said.

“Like I said, I don’t have time for this. My son has been taken and I’m going to get him back,” Ardyn said, “so get the fuck out of my way.”

“I’m afraid that I cannot simply allow you to cause an international incident with Niflheim, we will have to find another way to get Prompto,” Regis said.

Ardyn turned around to fully face Regis. The man was smiling slightly, apology in his eyes. He hated him.

“I’m afraid you misunderstand, I am not asking your permission, Regis,” Ardyn said. Clarus took a step toward him, at the same time Cor moved to put himself between them.

“Clarus,” Cor warned.

“He is your king, you are to treat him with respect,” Clarus growled, “after everything that he has done for you, it’s the least your ungrateful ass can do.”

“Ungrateful?” Ardyn asked, “respect? You mistake me, swine. I am not some peasant who bows to a king on a throne. I have no need for permission from anyone to do what I like. If anything, you should be treating me with more respect, after everything I have done for you. What kind of audacity does a mere mortal with nothing to his bloodline have to be speaking to me in such a way?

Let me be very clear, I am equal if not of higher status then this man you claim as your sovereign. So you best speak to me in a more respectful tone.”

Clarus moved toward him again, when Regis put his hand out to stop him.

“I’m afraid that I cannot allow you to do this, no matter how entitled you feel. I cannot allow you to endanger my people on a foolhardy plan with little to no probability for success,” Regis said.

Ardyn felt a pinprick of warning, to be careful of himself. But he wanted this over with. He wanted to be on his way to Niflheim, on his way to getting his son back.

“As I said,” Ardyn said, moving past Cor so that he stood in front of Regis, who was looking at him with steel in his eyes, “I am not asking for permission.”

With that, he released his entire armiger, all the weapons of old shimmered into existence. Clarus and Cor both reached for their weapons and Regis stood, staring at Ardyn’s armory with an unreadable gaze.

“Now get out of my way, before I make you,” Ardyn said. It was torture to keep his armiger out like this. It made the scourge tremble within him, like they were all being electrified and his body was desperately trying to flinch away from something that it could never escape. But he had to keep it up, he had to save Prompto.

“I see,” Regis said, still staring warily at the weapons floating around Ardyn, “then we will accompany you.”

“Your Majesty, I don’t-“

“Clarus, I believe we may not be in a position to refuse him,” Regis said.

Clarus eyed the armiger, and released his weapon, “of course, Your Majesty.”

Ardyn allowed the armiger to fade, and released a soft breath of relief. The pain slowly ebbed into a manageable sting.

“Fantastic, I’m glad that some of us can see reason,” Ardyn said, smirking at Clarus, who glared back, “now let’s go, we’ve wasted enough time on this nonsense.”

“We’ll take my car,” Regis said, striding forward.

“Your Majesty, you have your responsibilities-“

“No matter, they will be here when I get back. I’m sure you agree, Clarus, that keeping this from spiraling into a war should take precedent over a few meetings,” Regis said, as he continued down the hall.

“Yes, Clarus, you would hate to be the reason for a war, wouldn’t you?” Ardyn asked.

“Ardyn,” Cor warned.

Ardyn rolled his eyes, as if the King’s Shield couldn’t take a little teasing. They took an elevator down to a parking lot, where they walked to a sleek black car. The infamous Regalia that Ardyn had heard so much about during his travels.

Regis started the car, “After we help you retrieve Prompto and Aranea, we will have to discuss things in more detail.”

“As I said, you don’t command me to do anything. Perhaps I will deign to answer some of your questions,” Ardyn said haughtily, “but don’t assume I will be so grateful for your help that I will submit to an interrogation.”

“I would never assume,” Regis replied, speeding out of the citadel, “but I was talking to your husband.”

Ardyn froze for a moment, “and what makes you think that he knows anything. I could have very easily manipulated him into this marriage,” he laughed, “and then you’ll only be wasting your time.”

“Perhaps,” Regis said, his eyes never leaving the road and his smile never even twitching, “let’s concentrate on your son, shall we? Who are we looking for?”

“His name is Verstael Besithial, a former scientist of the Niflheim military,” Cor said, “we believe he is most likely acting as an independent agent.”

“And where would he take Prompto and Aranea?” Clarus asked.

“We’re not sure,” Cor said.

“Though I bet the emperor would have an idea,” Ardyn said, “or even Diane’s ex-husband.”

“He doesn’t know anything,” Clarus said, swiping through his phone, “we already had him arrested and interrogated. It seems he simply had some debt he needed paid and was quite desperate for money. He’s being dealt with as we speak.”

Ardyn couldn’t help but be impressed with how quickly the Kingsglaive obtained that information.

“So the emperor then,” Ardyn said.

“And if he doesn’t want to talk to you?” Regis asked lightly.

“He will,” Ardyn said, grinning, “we’re such good friends after all.”

Chapter Text

Aranea kept telling him to stay calm, but he knew this place. He tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t listen to him. She was looking around, gripping a pen she had picked up off the floor. He wondered if she was planning to write something down.

He recognized the hallway they were being pushed through. He remembered these same tiles. These same lights.

He wanted to go home. He wanted to eat chickie-bites and fries. He wanted Coco. He wanted bedtime stories. He wanted Cor. He wanted Ardyn.

“Stop crying,” one of the men growled, kicking his legs. Prompto lost his footing and fell.

Before he could get up, Aranea grabbed him and glared at the guard.

“Just hold on to me, ok?” She murmured, holding his arm as they walked.

“I wanna go back,” he said, sniffling, “Ardyn’s gonna come, right? He promised.”

She scoffed, “kid, if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that Ardyn is coming to get you.”

Prompto took a deep breath and sighed. Yes, Ardyn had pinky promised. He’d come soon, and then he would take him home. It would be fine.

They were taken to a room, and when the guards opened the door. The Man was there.

Prompto never knew The Man’s name, only that He was the one in charge. He decided what tests would be run and what Prompto would do and where Prompto would go. Prompto did not like The Man. He hated whenever The Man would show up. The Man always meant that things would hurt.

“No,” Prompto shouted, pulling against Aranea, “I don’t want to!”

Before Aranea or the guards could do anything, He stood up. He walked over to where Prompto was and knelt down.

“My, my, you sure think a lot of yourself now, don’t you?” The Man said, “like you’re actually worth something.”

“Ardyn’s gonna come! He’s gonna save us!” Prompto cried.

The Man smiled, “oh, I’m looking forward to it.”

<>

“Do we have some sort of plan?” Clarus asked, as Ardyn wrenched the door open.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Regis said, rolling down is window, “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to join you. It would look bad for me to be here, you understand.”

“Of course, your majesty,” Clarus said, with so much reverence his bow was almost superfluous.

“Right,” Cor said, giving him a nod, “thanks for the ride.” He looked over at Ardyn, who was intentionally not looking at anyone.

“And we’ll continue this conversation later, Cor,” Regis said, one eyebrow raised.

Ardyn spun around, his coat twirling dramatically, “what?!”

Regis looked over, “well-“

“You just questioned him for hours, what more could you possibly need to know?” Ardyn asked.

“About an immortal being with almost limitless powers, who has been manipulating the politics of the world for a millennium? What do I need to know about an entity like that?” He asked.

“Yes,” Ardyn said, rolling his eyes, “the world is still standing, isn’t it? So, clearly I’m on the ‘good’ side, or whatever you want to call it.”

“If you-“

“I wasn’t talking to you, minion-“

“I have to think of my peo-“

“Fuck your people-“

“Could we perhaps do this after we get Prompto back?” Cor asked, tapping a finger against his arm.

Right, Prompto.

Ardyn looked at the facility, and squinted his eyes. Prompto was in there, he had to be. Niflheim better hope so anyway. Because if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t be standing for much longer.

<>

Ardyn was running through the facility, ignoring Cor’s and Clarus’ shouts. He could feel the evil dripping from these walls. The scourge was humming with excitement. He let it.

He saw a guard and grabbed his face, slamming him into the floor. He dropped his head closer and let the scourge drip down his face.

“Well, hello there,” he said, “I’m searching for something, I was hoping you could help me find it.”

The guard reached a hand out and swiped, screaming an inhuman sound. Ardyn regained himself. The thing was still struggling, screaming incoherently.

“Ardyn!” Clarus said from behind him, “what are you do-“
The thing lunged for him, and Ardyn stood, holding it at arms length.

“What is that thing?” Clarus asked, disgusted.

“Dunno,” Ardyn said, “but doesn’t seem to able to answer my questions.”

Ardyn put one hand on the things chest and ripped through it. Black blood splattered across the floor. Ardyn whipped his hand back and the thing flew through the air and skidded down the hallway.

Clarus turned to stare at it, still weakly struggling toward them. He started towards it.

Ardyn turned and started moving forward again, but Cor grabbed his arm.

“I’m not waiting around to stare at that. I’m here for my kid,” Ardyn growled.

“You’re just wandering around, the least we could do is have a strategy. Especially if things like that are guarding this place. We’ll spend hours running in circles.”

It was annoying how Cor made good points sometimes.

“So then, what’s you great strategy? I’d love to hear it.” Ardyn said.

“If we had a blueprint of this place,” Clarus said, joining them, “it’d be a start.”

“Well, we don’t,” Cor said. Clarus glared at him.

“Oh,” Ardyn said. He remembered, suddenly, collecting strange things from Nif facilities before. He began rifling through his Armiger.

Cor and Clarus watched in increased astonishment as Ardyn produced a chainsaw, three machine guns, six weapons of mass destruction designs, fifteen nutrition bars, two dozen empty jars and finally, a truly staggering number of papers.

“One of these might be the blueprint,” Ardyn said, shoving the rest back where he pulled them from.

Clarus turned to Cor, “you realize you married a hoarder, right?”

“Shut up,” Cor said, rifling through the papers.

“Well, next time you want a snack, don’t come crying to me,” Ardyn said, mildly insulted.

“Here,” Cor said, pulling a paper out, “this seems to be it.”

“I can’t believe you actually had it,” Clarus muttered.

Ardyn peeked at the blueprint, as Cor muttered to himself, tracing his fingers around rooms and through hallways.

“Here, probably.” He pointed to a room in the middle of the facility.

“You sure?” Ardyn asked, suspiciously.

Cor gave him a look, “this isn’t the first Nif facility I’ve infiltrated.”

“I thought we were in a hurry,” Clarus said, standing up, “lead the way, Cor.”

Now that they had a destination, it didn’t take long for them to reach the room Cor had indicated. They stood before an impressive steel door.

Cor and Clarus went to the scanner and began fiddling with it, muttering to themselves.

Ardyn rolled his eyes and simply kicked the door once. It dented.

“Ardyn!” Cor growled.

He ignored him and kicked it again. It exploded outward, creating a good sized hole for them.

“You’re welcome,” Ardyn said, walking through.

“Wait-“ Clarus hissed.

The room looked like a opulent office, and in the middle was a huge desk. At the desk was a man.

Verstael Besithia.

He smiled at him, folding his hands in front of him.

“Welcome,” he said.

Ardyn flashed forward and had the man by the throat, “you can either die slowly or quickly, and that decision will be made by how quickly you tell me where my son is.”

“Well,” the man said, unfazed, “I’d be happy to tell you, of course. In fact, let me show you.”

Ardyn stared at the man. He knew he was planning something. But, the faster Ardyn has his son, the better. He put the man down.

“Follow me.”

<>

Cor and Clarus had both found uniforms, and after hiding the bodies, they were able to sneak through the facility. They descended deeper and deeper into the facility until Ardyn disappeared through a heavily secured door.

“Shit,” Cor hissed.
Clarus moved toward the keypad and frowned at it.

There was some footsteps coming toward them. Clarus and Cor immediately hid themselves.

“She was pretty strong,” a scientist was saying, “but I doubt she’ll last long with that thing.” She walked briskly to the keypad and swiped her card.

“Yeah, another body to dispose of, I suppose,” her companion complained, “too bad, would have been interesting to have a new test subject,” he took a sip from his cup, “but I guess the boy is good enough.”

Cor snuck behind them and quickly struck the woman on the back of the head. Clarus grabbed the man and slammed him into a wall. They both crumpled to the floor.

“Ardyn is probably getting Prompto now, he should be fine,” Cor said, “let’s get Aranea.”

Clarus frowned, “how do you know he can get him?”

Cor snorted, “if he doesn’t, we’re all dead when he burns this place to the ground anyway.”

Clarus stared at Cor silently as they ran down the hallway, “you realize you married a literal demon, right?”

<>

The man lead him through hallway after hallway, went through door after door. They passed tubes with wires hooked into globulous masses and rooms where he could hear growls and inhuman screaming. A few people ran through, holding vials and needles, sparing them a brief glance before continuing on their way.

He refused to look, either way, this place would be gone soon.

Finally, they arrived at a door.

The man opened it.

Inside sat a large pod, where a small hand was pressed against the glass.

Ardyn pushed passed and looked into the pod.

Prompto’s little face looked back at him. There were tear tracks running down his face. They locked eyes and Prompto screamed, but no noise came out of the pod.

Ardyn gripped the sides of the pod.

“I wouldn’t,” the man said, “if it’s open without a code, it’s instructed to pump potassium chloride, which will kill him.”

Ardyn relaxed his hold, “then open it.”

“I will,” the man said, “but first, I’d like to strike a deal.”

“A deal?” Ardyn asked.

“Yes,” the man said, “you’re a being of amazing ability, you must be so sick of this disgusting world. These mortals who simply walk about, like cattle. Wouldn’t you want to create a brighter species. A better world? I can help you do that.”

This man was crazy, clearly. He looked at the IVs stuck in Prompto’s skin. Prompto was banging on the glass, screaming. Ardyn knocked on the glass and Prompto stopped to stare at him. Ardyn held up one finger and then smiled. Prompto nodded once and laid back down.

“You seem to have miscalculated,” Ardyn said, turning around.

“Miscalculated?” The man repeated, still smiling.

“Yes,” Ardyn said, “you seem to be under the impression that you are not one of those sick, disgusting mortals.”

“I-“

“You are also under the impression that you’re somehow safe from me torturing you until you chose to open this thing.”

The man pulled out a device, “I simply have to push a button in order to activate the potassium chloride.”

“Ah, so I simply have to rip your arm from your body before you get a chance then?” Ardyn asked.

He warped right in front of him, and before he could even blink, Ardyn gripped his arm and tore it from his shoulder.

He grabbed the device and put it in his armiger.

He stared at the man screaming incoherently.

“Now, let’s make a deal. Shall we?”

<>

Holding Prompto in his arms again was a feeling Ardyn would never forget. He smelled of antiseptic. He felt like the sun.

“Ardyn, you’re bleeding!” Prompto cried. Reaching out to touch the blood that soaked his clothes and drip off his skin.

Ardyn gently held Prompto’s hands, “I’m fine, listen, can you do me a favor?”

Prompto nodded.

“Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them,” Ardyn whispered.

Prompto immediately complied, screwing his eyes closed. Ardyn picked him up and was careful to avoid stepping on anything as he moved through the room.

As Ardyn pushed the door open and slid through, Prompto’s grip tightened, “I knew you’d come for me,” he whispered.

Ardyn held him tighter, “of course, I pinky promised.”