Chapter Text
There was someone new in Noctis’s life who Ignis just wasn’t sure about. Prompto Argentum had appeared one day, seemingly out of nowhere. Noctis had said they had attended the same primary school, but Ignis couldn’t think of a single time this boy had been mentioned. When Ignis kept pushing for more information, Noctis became more and more annoyed.
“Am I not allowed friends?” he asked, tone angry.
“Of course you are! You’ve just never shown much interest before,” Ignis replied.
“Whatever,” was the answer he got as Noctis turned and walked away.
Ignis watched him go, frowning. He hadn’t meant to upset the prince, the sudden new friendship just seemed out of character for him. Noctis didn’t make friends.
A chill ran through Ignis, one his mother would say meant a rabbit was running over his grave. He shook it off and headed toward the Citadel, determined to find absolutely everything he could on this Prompto to be sure he meant no harm to the prince.
~*~*~*~*~
There was nothing about Prompto to cause concern. Adopted as an infant. Parents often away, but had neighbors who would check in on him. Grades were average, and he seemed to have a liking for photography. He was an absolutely average teenager, but Ignis’s feelings of jealousy toward him inexplicably became more and more intense.
Why did Ignis feel so uneasy about him? He read the report over and over, looking for that thing that was bothering him, but he couldn’t pinpoint it.
He’d have to puzzle over it later. For now, there were classes, meetings, and reports that needed his attention more. He glanced at the file one more time as he dropped it to his desk and felt another chill.
He hoped he wasn’t coming down with something.
~*~*~*~*~
“Where have you been?” Ignis asked when Noctis finally deemed it time to return home.
“At the arcade with Prompto.”
“For three hours?! Highness!”
“What?” Noctis asked, annoyed and deeper into the surly teenage mood he had started falling into lately. “No homework and no training. What am I supposed to do? Come home and stare at the wall? No thanks.”
Ignis pursed his lips, almost biting them to keep from saying something he might regret.
“Excuse me for wanting to hang out with my friend. You know, the one who isn’t paid to be.”
That was a low blow, and Ignis just stared. He waited for Noctis to apologize for saying such a thing, but all he did was flop on the couch and bring out his phone. Within seconds, Ignis could hear the sounds of King’s Knight starting.
“I’m sorry for worrying,” was all Ignis managed to get out before leaving. He didn’t even know if Noctis heard him, he just needed to leave.
He muttered and griped to himself the entire way home. He went through useless conversations that would never happen. He stared at himself in the mirror, wondering what had gone wrong. Why had their relationship fallen so far and how did they manage it? And who the hell was this Prompto, who was so great that Noctis couldn’t even care about his oldest friend anymore?
His annoyance followed him up to his apartment, but he was at least mindful enough not to slam any doors. He knew he needed to calm himself. Logic told him that there was no need to be so upset and that being so would only cause more strife. He went to his en suite and washed his face, hoping that this action would rid himself of these feelings. After drying his face and returning his glasses, Ignis stared at his reflection. He was better than this.
Something shifted in the mirror, or Ignis thought something had. He blinked and nothing changed. He looked back toward the chair in the corner of his bedroom where he was certain he’d seen something, but everything was as it should be. He looked back at himself and sighed. This whole Prompto situation was getting to him, and maybe he should just admit that he was jealous. He needed to get a hold of himself and this feeling before he said or did something he would hate himself for later.
When he realized he was thinking of Noctis’s friendship with Prompto as a “situation,” he knew he needed to make the effort to change and accept.
~*~*~*~*~
By the time Noctis graduated high school and was putting more time in at the Citadel, Ignis had mostly gotten a grasp on his jealousy of Prompto. His relationship with the prince had taken quite a hit as Noctis had neared graduation, but they’d managed to work through it. That had helped Ignis a lot, knowing that their friendship could survive anything.
Still, he hated hearing about outings with Prompto. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt upset about not being asked to join them, even though he’d never before expressed interest in going to the arcade.
It was a little embarrassing how much time Ignis spoke with this therapist about his dependency on Noctis. His therapist was at least professional about it, explaining that all they had were each other for a very long time. Then Noctis was allowed to go to public school, while Ignis was mostly tutored as an only student. Ignis had never gotten a chance to make friends, and his education had made him feel like he had to grow up more quickly than he should have. With enough mindfulness, Ignis eventually worked out his jealousy (mostly) and even grew to like the bouncy blonde. The strange compulsions and feelings of rage seemed to calm down too, at least when it came to Prompto.
But he couldn’t understand the jealousy he experienced over just about everyone else Noctis talked to. Every handsome man or lovely lady suddenly became competition for Ignis, even if he didn’t know what they were competing for. Noctis’s attention? Ignis knew that he had no right to that attention and, even if he did, he had a lifetime of memories that these people would never have. Not to mention it felt like every time there was a pang of jealousy, he felt a sharp chill surge through him. When a young man’s gaze lingered for a second too long or a young woman kept touching Noctis’s arm, Ignis would feel an intense urge to hurt the offending person. Shame always flooded him seconds later, but he could not deny the want was there.
Thankfully, Noctis hadn’t seemed to notice Ignis’s odd behavior, and Ignis hoped he never would.
Everything fell apart when the chancellor from Niflheim came to Insomnia to seek an audience with King Regis. He came with a treaty, one heavily in favor of Lucis’s enemy. But a chance to end the war, to live in peace…
It would be a hard decision to make, no matter who you were. Peace, as appealing as it was, would come at the cost of much of Lucis. Sure, most of the citizens lived within the walls of Insomnia, but it would be nothing short of abandonment to everyone else. That was not something to take lightly.
No one knew the exact negotiation points of the treaty except for the king and the high council. The details would not be shared until a decision was made; all anyone knew was that those outside the walls had the most to lose.
Ignis thought the same, until the treaty was agreed upon and the document started trickling down to the lower rungs of the council. As Ignis read it, he felt concern for the people of Lucis and wished there were another way. But then he read the last stipulation:
His Royal Highness Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV shall wed Princess of Tenebrae and Oracle Lunafreya Nox Fleuret.
He would swear his blood ran cold upon seeing those words. How could this be happening? Marriages weren’t arranged anymore; they hadn’t been in generations. Why Noctis? What did the Niffs have to gain from this union?
The copy of the treaty was crumpled in his hands and tossed toward the bin. Ignis didn’t even look to see if it went in or not. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. The Niffs had won and it was all Ignis could do to not punch a wall. Instead, he let out a cry of frustration and when he did he heard glass breaking. He whipped around to look towards the source of the sound and saw several mugs had fallen off their hooks onto the counter. He stared at them for a while before deciding he’d deal with it in the morning.
~*~*~*~*~
Finally, the haint thought as it took hold of the jealousy and rage building within its host. It fed on those feelings, gaining strength it hadn’t felt in years. It had latched on to this human out of desperation many years ago. It had needed food and this human’s jealousy had been the closest spike it had felt. There hadn’t been any intention to hang around, most haints bounce from host to host as human emotions changed frequently. But this human… The love and devotion this human held for the dark-haired one was so strong that even the slightest spike of jealousy was enough to sustain it for weeks. But since the light-haired one was around often and its host hated that one, it rarely sat on the brink of starvation.
Whatever had just happened, though, enabled the haint to gorge. With enough time, the haint knew it would be able to truly feast and obtain a strength it had never known before.