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“Seren?”
Noctis whispered, tired eyes staring back at his daughter’s as she stood by the side of his bed.
He was a little confused as to why she had woken him up instead of Luna. It was no secret that Seren preferred her mum over him. Yet, he could hear his wife’s light snores coming from behind him on the bed they shared.
The King briefly broke eye contact with his daughter’s worried gaze to look at the side cabinet to the alarm clock that sat upon the hard wood and he blinked, unsure if his eyes were deceiving him or not. Unfortunately for him, they weren’t.
“Starlight, it’s three in the morning. What are you doing out of bed?” Noctis asked, letting go a small yawn, not wanting to move his head from the soft pillow.
“Regulus is crying.”
Noctis forced his tired eyes to remain open at her words and tone.
She sounded concerned and that was truly surprising to the King. For Seren had shown nothing but resentment to her baby brother ever since the day she discovered Luna was carrying him. And now, standing in the dark, his daughter looked incredibly worried and… all of it was for her brother?
Noctis gave her a weak smile as he slowly sat up, determined to allow Luna to sleep while he handled this. He stood up, making sure none of the blanket fell off his stunning wife before taking his dressing gown off the nearest chair to wrap up warm. Once his slippers were on, he turned to his beautiful daughter and gave her a warm - yet tired - smile.
“Shall we go and see him together?” He asked, holding out his hand for Seren to take.
The Princess nodded, holding onto his hand without question.
They remained silent as they left his and Luna’s quarters and as they walked the moonlit corridors Noctis was a little confused as to how none of the guards had questioned Seren wandering the hallways at night? Surely one of them would have seen her and escorted her to his and Luna’s chambers.
But then again, he was quite similar at her age.
Sneaking off to his dad's room because his back was playing up as he only wanted a hug from the one person who could take the emotional strain away. He became quite adept at avoiding the guards on patrol because he feared they wouldn’t let him see Regis. Of course, they would have, but maybe that was what was going through his little girl’s mind?
He’d have to ask her about that later.
When he was her age, Noct never realised the danger he had put himself in by finding ways to sneak around the guards and glaives, and it was likely the same hadn’t occurred to his daughter either.
They were still silent as they drew nearer to the nursery, Noctis couldn’t help but wince at the desperate wailing cries coming from his baby boy. No wonder poor Seren had come to get him! Regulus sounded beyond distressed!
Noctis picked up the pace, making sure not to let go of Seren’s hand as he reached the door, grabbing the handle to open it. The heartbreaking sounds from his son flooded his ears and Noctis immediately stalked over to little Regulus’s cot, picked him up as gently as he could before slowly rocking his little prince from side to side in a bid to comfort him.
“It’s okay, Regulus.” Noctis whispered, his heartbreaking further as his little prince was unfazed by his voice. He was screaming to the best of his ability, his face bright red and he felt as stiff as a board in his arms. “Daddy’s here, little prince, you have nothing to fear.”
Again that did very little to calm him down, his shrill cries got worse and it didn’t look like he was letting up any time soon.
Instead of panicking, Noctis quickly went through the list in his head of what could have possibly caused his son so much stress. He just had to remember what Luna had told him. Right, a full nappy was at the top of the list when it came to cries but when Noct went to change him, there was nothing in there. It was clean. The young king then tried to feed him bottled milk, to no avail as little Regulus simply would not take the bottle and continued to cry louder than before. Noctis frowned as his anxiety built up further. What could be wrong with him? He didn’t even want his moogle plush. Regulus hit it out of his hands and it ended up on the floor by the king’s feet.
“Why won’t he stop?!” Seren yelled, covering her ears to try and dull the awful sound.
“Starlight, he’s upset.” Noctis told her in a gentle voice. “Sometimes babies just need assurance that everything is going to be okay.”
Well that was what he had learnt from his many lectures that Ardyn had decided to give him on child care. He was bloody grateful for them now and he really hoped that comfort was all Regulus needed, because Noct could feel himself growing very panicky and anxious. He didn’t really have a clue what he was doing and this was why Seren should have woken up Luna, she was a million times better at parenting than he could ever be.
Noctis held on to Regulus’s scrunched up little hand and sat down on the sofa, bouncing him up and down, speaking in the softest tone he could muster. “It’s okay, Regulus. You are not alone anymore. Daddy and Seren are here to look after you.”
“I don’t want to look after him. That was the reason I got you, because I couldn’t stand the cries anymore.” Seren shrugged, hopping up on the sofa next to her dad, not looking down at her teary-eyed baby brother.
Noctis’s eyes widened, how long had Regulus been crying for before Seren decided that she should alert one of them to him and his cries?!
The king shook his head, deciding it was better not to know the answer. Instead, he continued to bounce his raven-haired little prince up and down, giving his daughter a sympathetic look.
Noctis knew this had been hard on her, adjusting to no longer being an only child. And he could just tell by the sad expression on her face that she was troubled. It wasn’t only trouble by the screams. No… it was something more. Thankfully, bouncing Regulus up and down had lessened his cries and it gave Noctis the opportunity to ask something of Seren he had been wanting to know since the day his son was born.
“Starlight…” Noctis began, choosing his words carefully as he stroked her blonde hair. “...What is bothering you.”
“Him.” She sneered bluntly, barely giving Regulus a glance. “All he does is cry and poop. He’s not special. He is just a baby. Babies are born every second.”
Noctis sighed, still stroking her hair. “You are correct, starlight, but he is a part of this family. That makes him special to me. And he is as special as you are to me and mummy.”
Seren snorted, swinging her legs. “Really?”
Noctis nodded, concerned by his daughter’s words and relieved that Regulus had finally stopped crying. “Of course, you are our daughter. No one is more important than you.”
“He is though.” Seren snapped back.
“Oh no… Seren, we love you equally.”
“Then why are you here to raise him and you weren’t here to raise me?”
Her words felt like a bullet to the chest.
Was this the reason? All this rejection? All this hatred towards Regulus was because of him?
Seren suddenly burst into tears, covering her face with her hands. “It’s not fair! He gets to have you and mummy growing up! I never- I never got you to tuck me in at night. I never got you to hug me when I was scared! I never got piggyback rides and you never taught me to read or write! You were never there for any of my birthdays! I never had my dad when I needed you and he will! He will get all of that and it’s not fair!”
Without wasting a second, Noctis wrapped an arm around his crying daughter and pulled her in for a massive hug. She didn’t pull away from him. She wept harder, pushing her body against his, allowing for Noctis to kiss her on top of the head before resting his chin on her.
For he understood exactly how she was feeling. Yes, he was so excited - and scared - to be a parent to Regulus. To experience all of his firsts; like his first words, his first steps, his first time using the potty, and his first school day, but at the same time he was saddened. He was beyond saddened that he had missed all of that with Seren. It kept him up at night sometimes, like when Regulus lifted his head up, all Noctis could think about was how proud he would have been if he had seen Seren doing that at this age. The thought made his own eyes water but he refused to cry. He was the adult here and he had to make both of his children feel safe and loved. That was his job after all. It didn’t matter if he was the king, his children would and would always be his top priority.
“Oh, starlight, I swear on the heavens, that I love you and Regulus the same.” Noctis said holding her closer. “I know it hurts that we got to miss out on so much. It hurts me too.”
“Really?” Seren whimpered, looking up at her dad.
Noctis nodded. “It really does. I swear to you Seren if I knew you were coming along, I would have never of gotten into that crystal and left you. I would have stayed and helped mummy raise you. You are my starlight and I would be lost without you, sweetheart.”
“I’d be lost without you too, daddy.” Seren admitted, tears still rolling down her face.
Before Noctis could say another word to comfort his little girl Regulus began to make noise again but this time it wasn’t tears. It was a small babble to get his and Seren’s attention and it worked. Both royals stared at him and the little baby smiled, his green-blue eyes locked on to his older sister as he reached out for her.
“What does he want?” Seren asked, staring back, unsure of the situation.
Noctis laughed. “I think he is worried about you, starlight.”
“Worried?”
“Yes, you came and got me when you thought he was worried and now he is returning the favour. I think he wants to give you a hug.” Noctis told her, removing his arm from Seren so he could move Regulus closer to the princess. Well Noctis assumed all of this. Ardyn had told him many times that babies were a lot brighter than people gave them credit for and considering Luna was their son’s mum… Regulus was probably very smart for his age. “Would you like to hold him?”
Seren hadn’t held Regulus yet. She hadn’t really been anywhere near him, so this was a big thing Noctis was asking of her.
To his surprise, she nodded.
She actually nodded!
Instead of making a song and dance about it, Noctis smiled at her. “Right, hold your arms out as if you were to hold one of your dolls.”
Once Seren was ready, Noctis carefully stood up and placed a now laughing Regulus into the arms of his older sister.
And what he saw next… Noctis would remember until the end of his days.
Seren’s face went from slightly confused to one filled with love in a matter of seconds. She looked her brother in the eye and a smile containing nothing but love appeared on her lips. As for Regulus, he looked at his sister with the same affection she was offering him. He even snuggled down into her hold and it made his sweet daughter smile back.
“Hey, Regulus.” Seren said softly. “I am sorry I was mean to you before, but I promise, I will be the bestest sister in the world to you from now on.”
Regulus liked that idea. He made a noise that was filled with joy and refused to take his eyes off his older sister.
And Noctis… his heart simply couldn’t take it.
They loved each other.
His children finally, finally loved each other and tears just came flooding out of his eyes. He was such a proud dad. He was so proud of Seren for stepping up and willingly excepting her role as his sister and he was so proud of Regulus for helping Seren change her mind.
Nothing else on this planet could make him prouder than he was in this moment.
The best part was, this was one of the special moments with his children that he had got to witness.