Archive of Our Own ^beta

IMPORTANT
NOTE:
English is not my mother tongue and I use a translation program to
write in English.
Close one eye on some grammatical errors: p

31 years earlier ...

Cavaugh.

The house of the small coastal village was invaded by the screams of a
woman in pain. The night had swept away the few threatening clouds and,
in the morning, the sun made its entrance on the timid end of winter. A
young man came in and out of the house, walking nervously back and
forth, passing his big hands through his brown hair from time to time.
It was unusual to see the man caught by feelings; loyal to work and
willing to help, on that morning he looked like a caged animal. The
screams kept coming out of the house always making the man's heart stop.
- Let me go to her.-
A growl rather than a request addressed to women who seemed to block
his way to the room.
- Patience is virtue. Stay calm young man, everything will be fine,
we're almost there.
No, it wasn't good, and those answers did nothing but increase his
anxiety.
Screams louder, then silence.
The man stopped, the panic of the unknown clawing at his chest.
He would come in, fuck those old hags, but as he advanced to impose his
will, the midwife left the room and, smiling at him, motioned for him
to enter.
The crying of the newborn filled his ears making him disconnect his
brain.
He advanced, the man uncertain and vulnerable closing the door behind
him.
His young wife was lying in bed, her hair soaked with sweat, her face
upset but with a happy smile, a child who fed blessedly on her breast.
The man thought he had never seen anything more divine in his life.
-Titus you can get close ...-
-Cos ...? -
He didn't remember how to walk, petrified by the feeling that filled
his heart.
He took a few uncertain steps, looking for a hand in a chair that he
knew was in the room but, fuck, where did it go ?!
His wife's gentle laughter brought him back to reality; the woman
reached out her free hand to meet her husband's to bring him closer to
the bed where the latter sat.
-Titus Drautos ... A man almost two meters tall and as big as a rock in
a daze ... Was it really a birth to reduce you in these conditions? -
His wife was so, he could make him smile. Even after spending ten hours
of labor. She.
"Get your daughter in your arms." He said a little later, carefully
putting the bundle in his big arms.
-Child?-
Titus welcomed the bundle in his arms, holding it unconsciously as each
father held his own child: as the greatest treasure.
He watched his little hands stretch and close his fingers, his mouth to
his heart making funny faces and finally a yawn. He watched his head
almost without hair and his eyes still half closed for the light of
life.
-Hello my child ...-
He drew small circles on the little girl's shoulders left uncovered by
the embroidered cover. How small she was, he thought, compared to her
fingers.
He swore to protect her, on the six gods and on all the gods of the sea.
He walked over to his wife and kissed her head. He looked at her, with
the eyes of a man in love, gently cradling his daughter.
His family.
-This little girl needs a name, we never chose it in nine months.-
His wife smiled in exhaustion but as he was about to open his mouth
again a silly sounded from the sky.
It was a dull and intense noise that lasted only a moment. Then the
sound of shattered glass.
The roof of their house picked up the dust of their dismay.
Titus got up from the bed, with the little girl in his arms,
approaching the window.
His eyes opened wide, his mouth dry.
- The King has withdrawn the Barrier -
There was no emotion in his voice so much was the disbelief from the
situation.
How could the King have withdrawn the Barrier with Niflheim trying to
move forward ?!
He looked at his daughter, born less than an hour and already exposed
to war. He hugged her to his chest, bending to kiss her little head,
waking her from sleep in a hungry cry.
Titus returned to his wife passing her the child, his still visible
dismay.
He watched his daughter fall asleep in silence on her mother's breast,
swearing to himself to protect them both from whatever the future held.
-Hope-
His wife's voice brought him back to reality.
He looked at her proudly, though tired from giving birth, his hazel
eyes full of determination.
-Our daughter will be named Hope-
Titus Drautos caressed his wife's hair, observing her Hope with the
eyes of a father.

27
years earlier ...

-DAD!-
A little girl with brown hair and big blue eyes like the sea ran over
the gravel of the main village road towards the imposing figure that
was approaching.
He leapt into a jump knowing that he would not fall, his father would
always take her.
- Dad you came back! Let me touch the sky! -
Titus Drautos raised his daughter to her face, kissing her on the cheek
before she stood on her shoulders.
The man was drowning in the happy screams of his daughter, looking up
to see his arms facing the sky.
- Watch dad also the seagulls greet you! -
-I missed you too my wren-
He took the bag he had previously dropped to the ground and walked
towards his house.
His wife found herself leaning against the door frame, her brown eyes
glowing with happiness as she adjusted her blond hair behind her ears.
Coming home always filled his heart with that powerful joy that makes
you take one step after another. That joy that makes you believe in the
future.
The smell of salt that pinched his nostrils, making him breathe deeply.
The cry of the seagulls in search of food. The waves in the distance
that broke on the rocks, when furious when timid.
He kissed his wife, passing a hand behind her neck, while their
daughter laughed amused.
-Daddy let me down, don't go through the door you're too tall! -
-I thought I was your giant, wren ...-
He laughed at his father as he rested her on the ground.
Wren, he called it that.
His daughter was tall for her age but kept a dry body that allowed her
to run as fast as the wind.
Titus filled his eyes with the sight of his family.
-No dad, you are my dragon! -
Titus ruffled his daughter's hair as they entered the house and a smell
of roasted fish made his mouth water.

arrived in the afternoon, at the seaside with his
daughter, while she was telling him about the fish she had discovered
and asking her father to make her some strange knot with a rope.
Evening came, the stories whispered softly to her daughter while the
latter gradually fell into a peaceful sleep.
Night came, love with his wife with open windows and the sound of the
sea in the background.
- How are things in the capital Titus? -
The woman broke the silence as she caressed his chest.
The man hugged the soft figure next to him tightly, kissing her hair
and the skin that still knew about sex.
He would love her again before sunrise.
-The Royal Guard demands strong and properly trained soldiers. The fact
that he has always fished with his hands has influenced my strength and
this is an advantage. In a month there will be other selections of
soldiers and most likely I will run for foreign shows to defend
Cavaugh; although I don't think they will allow such a fast transfer
without imminent threats. The workouts are not that heavy, not like
your lack.
He had no intention of talking about Insomnia, not with his wife still
warm beside him.
He forced his arms gently over his wife before kissing her on the lips.
He loved kissing his wife, his lips knew of the sea.
He savored them, I asked with my tongue for permission to do something
deeper that did not fail to arrive.
Titus lost himself in his wife's soft hair; he kissed her neck with
every thrust, filled her ears with every delicate moan.
He bit his skin because the kisses were no longer enough. He touched
the warm skin beaded with sweat as if he could carry it with him in the
weeks to come.
He took his time to venerate his wife, biting his lips to prolong that
long-awaited pleasure.
Their soft moans filled the small room as their daughter slept
blissfully and innocently in the next room.

26 years earlier ...

- How did you get that scar on your lips? -
Titus had two weeks' leave to finally be with his family.
It had been six months since he last returned home.
And every time he returned to those cliffs he saw his grown daughter,
the eyes of his own color but with the vitality of his wife.
He threw the hook into the water, sitting on a rock next to his
daughter.
- See Hope, when I was little more than your age I fell right on this
rock. Your grandfather and other fishermen pulled me to safety and took
me by the ankles. I managed with bruises and this beautiful scar that
reminded me every day that you don't run on the rocks.-
His daughter ran her fingers over his lips, watching their shape
carefully.
-must have hurt.-
-Oh sure wren because ...-
But he didn't finish the sentence. In the distance the roar of the
Niflheim shuttles roared the sky.
Titus jumped up, bringing his daughter protective behind him.
-Take home Hope. Warn the villagers of being ready to escape -
-Because dad ...-
- I TOLD YOU! -
His daughter snapped, as fast as the wind, as the spaceships swerved
from afar to change course.

-
my king, I ask for the permission of a team to defend the territories
of Cavaugh as less than a week ago enemy spacecrafts were sighted
approaching, most likely in reconnaissance.
Titus Drautos was kneeling at the foot of the stairs in the throne room.
His neck was in danger of breaking from the solemnity of the position.
He had left a few days after the sighting of the enemy fleet to warn
the King.
He had to do something, he would surely defend his citizens.
- Did the ships change course as far as the soldier coast?
It was the general of the Crown who spoke as well as the Shield of the
King.
- About fifty nautical miles, general -
Titus was sure it was a reconnaissance by the enemy, he felt the
suspicion crawling under his skin.
- The coasts of Cavaugh do not constitute a strategic location for the
enemy, are you sure that they simply have not turned for Galahad? -
This was the voice of the new King, who had been in charge since Titus
entered the military. He was young but with a certain determination.
"I'm not sure, my king, but they have never come so close to the
coasts."
-What did you come to ask Drautos? -
-General I ask permission to lead a group of soldiers for preventive
purposes on the coasts of the region in order to avoid enemy attacks.-
-We are not sure of future attacks and in addition many soldiers are
little more than mess tins while the Royal Guard is confined to the
defense of Insomnia.- Claurus Amiticia had a firm voice while she spat
her sentence. - The King will assess the situation in the coming weeks.
You are dismissed soldier.-

25 years earlier ....

Titus Drautos ran like he never ran in his life, not even that time
when he accidentally cut his father's fishing nets with a small knife.
He ran among the pines, his feet safe and quick to avoid roots. He ran
leaving the other soldiers left with him behind. He was running fast
regardless of the calls of men now too far away to follow him. He ran
so much that his lungs went on for mere despair.
He ran until he heard the screams coming from the village. He ran as he
felt despair rise with the smoke he could see before his eyes.
He ran until the waves of the stormy sea welcomed him to what was left
of his house.
-HOPE !!! LILY !!!! -
He ran and screamed, jumping corpses of people he knew.
He ran as the smell of blood pinched his nostrils.
He ran while what was left of his house awaited him before his eyes.
He moved stones and wooden beams, called his wife and daughter. His
fingers bled as he continued desperate to dig.
He was crying as he discovered the lifeless bodies of those he had
sworn to protect.
He dug like a desperate man, cradling lifeless bodies when he managed
to free them.
He screamed even though his ears couldn't hear him. He cursed the Six,
cursed himself. He screamed like the sea that broke on the rocks of
what he had called home.
Because it was on that day that his Hope died.

24 years before ....

-Titus Drautos. 26 years. Head trauma, multiple aggravated lesions,
found in confusional status.
40-day reserved prognosis.-

Titus tried to open his eyes to the new day. He knew where he was and
why. The King himself had presented himself at his bedside to thank him
for his service to the country and for his condolences on the
misfortune of his people.
A real drama, a real massacre.
Titus Drautos listened apathetically to the words of that man who,
little by little, turned into a buffoon to his eyes.
He said that Niflheim had taken a large piece of heart from Insomnia
but that the sacrifice would not be in vain.
Titus Drautos knew who to blame beyond himself.
Left alone in his hospital room the man closed his eyes. There was not
so much anger for those who had taken his house, but the contempt for
the one who had allowed this to happen was unquantifiable.

Two months had passed since that day.
Titus Drautos stood upright and motionless in front of the King's
Shield as he pinned a medal to his chest.
Some applauded the man who, alone, had killed half enemy squadron in
the retreat from Cavaugh.
Some observed the red and still inflamed scar that plowed his cheek and
nose.
But no one could see the hatred the man harbored inside.

Another three months of rest in order to recover
from the trauma.
But where could he go? His house was burned, his family dead, his
future now black.
One night he decided to leave. He left his evenings in the company of
alcohol to travel to the coasts.
He didn't know what he would do once the arrived; if the Nif
settlements would block his way, if he would kill them all, if he
simply threw himself off a cliff.
He didn't care. His mind clouded with alcohol and desperate loneliness,
suggested that this was the right choice to make: to leave and live the
moment.
He traveled by car and then on foot. He slept in shelters in
nothingness and, when he was hungry, he stopped where he could.
Cavaugh was a war scenario. Where the villages had managed to remain
unharmed the population lived in terror; some migrated to Insomnia
poisoning themselves with the war refugee sheet, others were either too
old or too stubborn to give up what they had built.
His village was a heap of stones and wood. Only a lighthouse nearby had
escaped the devastating destruction.
Titus thought it was a sign: his house would never die. the day would
come when he would come back and rebuild everything.
In his madness he saw the fishermen's nets again and smelled the
freshly cooked fish. He closed his eyes, fighting the memories of
coming to the surface. But they were there with him, around him. He
could hear the happy voices of his former countrymen, the songs of the
equinox and the solstice.
-DAD! -
Titus's eyes snapped open as he turned to where his daughter's voice
was coming from.
-Hope! -
His rational side screamed that it was lost now, but that voice ... His
conscience clung desperately to that illusion. He ran to the top of the
cliffs looking at the calm sea. The gulls feasted on heedless of his
torment.
Titus missed his breath.
His daughter was dead. His wife was dead. He himself had poured their
ashes into the sea as a custom of his people. He fell to his knees,
clawing at his chest, looking for the air that didn't seem to reach his
lungs. His head caught fire and his hands clawed at his hair.
They were dead.
And it was all the fault of that cowardly bastard holed up behind that
fucking barrier.
- my friend, are you okay? -
Titus raised his eyes to his voice, his breathing short, his hands
still buried in his hair.
He watched the strange fellow approach him nonchalantly and crouch down
slowly.
He looked at her eyes and they looked frighteningly too yellow.
He observed, recovering his lucidity, that I look too hungry for his
tastes.
-Who the fuck are you? -
-Oh what rude ...-
The stranger stood up slowly, adjusting his hat and giving a half bow.
-Ardyn Izunia, at your service.-
He looked up, what Titus thought to be too disturbing to belong to a
human being.
-The Empire would have a proposal for you.-

23 years earlier ...

He was tied with thick ropes to a hospital
bed that he could barely contain his size.
Verstael Besithia circled around him like a
cat watching his favorite mouse now trapped.
"What a fucking name," thought Titus as the
doctor came out giggling from a mirrored door.
He had been informed of the program, the
Chancellor had explained to him what they would have done if he had
accepted his proposal.

  - what are you
willing to do to see Insomnia and his King fall? -
The chancellor laughed as
he asked the question.
-Everything-
It was the answer growl.

The needles pierced his
skin, sticking in the bones to fire that liquid with the
unpronounceable name.
  Titus didn't care;
he had nothing to lose and,
above all, his determination to see the King collapse would have kept
him alive.
He gritted his teeth to
that thought while the black liquindo burned his soul and body.

Power.
Recalling the armor was painful the first time but, with the right
training, the pain turned into a slight annoyance.
He felt the liquid crawling out of him like a snake, from the pores of
his skin, to compact itself all around in a solid gray / magenta armor.
He felt the power of Niflheim's devices give him even more strength and
power as he handled the long and thick sword they had created just for
him.
He looked at his arms, the solid metal shaped like tendons on him, he
tested the power of his legs wrapped in that light fiber.
He would kill the King. In his head, as he swung the big broadsword
easily in one hand, that phrase had become a mantra.
-General! I was hoping to find her! Oh I hope I haven't disturbed! -
Titus hated that mahogany-haired bastard but he also knew that
something more insidious was hiding behind that fake cocky arrogance.
-What does Niflheim want from me? -
Direct, fierce, calm before the storm.
In the two months he spent in the Imperial territories he had met the
frightened looks of his new subordinates every time he appeared before
them.
His figure and his ruthlessness were now famous in the neighboring
lands.
- Oh nothing, general! Just a question ... We certainly can't call you
General Drautos while you play Insomnia twice ... I mean, it would be
really embarrassing ... So I was wondering, how can we call you? -
The chancellor waited with that fake smirk on his lips. Titus would
have liked to cut off his head with his sword. But he was not his
target, he was not the blood that should stain his sword with joy.
He turned to a mirror, looking at his new and majestic figure.
-Glauca. I will be called by the name of General Glauca-
His voice, from the helmet, turned out to be distorted and scratchy.
- The name of a dragon! Right decision given the helmet he is wearing.
The chancellor left the door, leaving the new general with his boulder
on his heart.

22 years earlier ...

Applause ... Medals on his chest and on his
neck.
The bastard standing before him smiled
proudly and satisfied.
He wanted to kill them there, in front of
the photographers and the cameras.
Pull out the sword and stick it.
It would not even have served to call
General Glauca.
It would have been a clean and fast job.
But he had to wait. The time had not yet come.
Patience is the virtue of a man.
The last time he heard him say from the one
who had given birth to his daughter.
he lowered his head and closed his eyes;
the time would come.
- We welcome the new
Insomnia regiment! The
Kingsglaive with Captain Titus Drautos! -

Today...

He felt life flow away from his body. He had to have a cut on his
forehead because he could see it blurry out of one eye. The missing
piece of his helmet allowed him to feel the wind and the dust raised
from the battle.
He had killed the King. He had screamed when he did. He had screamed
all the hatred he had in his body and finally let it out after 31 long
years.
he had saved Ulric in the battle but, in the end, the battle was taking
both.
Lying on the low ground he could see the young man sitting up to watch
the rising of the new day.
Titus felt the blood dripping from the wound under his heart.
-... There is still hope for our homes.-
He heard those last words from his angon and the memories came from his
heart.
-Hope ...-
He was 31 years old.
Titus closed his eyes and, as death slowly took what was his, he saw
his daughter on a cliff top.
The long hair that touched her shoulders and then rose in the wind
carried by the sea.
He saw her turn to him giving her that joyful smile.
- Welcome home dad! -

-It's not the worst way
to leave ...-

**************************************************
******************
Note:

In my mind I tried to give Captain Drautos
a past. I looked for a reason
to that immense hatred.
It really hurt me to write
certain things ...
At the beginning of this story Titus is 19
years old to die then at 51 in the fall of Insomnia.
I hope I have done a good
job.