Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world was very strange. One moment Cloud had been fighting Sephiroth–and winning–and the next he couldn’t hear or see and everything felt weird. He was tired. So tired, and very hungry. Someone was holding him, but he couldn’t tell who, or how. Maybe he should just sleep.

Umbra gently, gently, adjusted the grip he had around the ball of golden fur that squirmed weakly in his mouth. Carbuncle, unseen, trotted along beside him, as he had done since he’d brought Umbra’s attention to the little thing where he’d found it on the street. As usual, they found the prince when he was alone, divine powers ensuring no one else saw them.

Noctis stared at the messenger as Umbra waved a paw at him, finally realizing the dog wanted him to sit down. The prince was lovely, but sometimes a bit slow on the uptake.

His phone pinged, a message from Carbuncle popping up on the screen. 

*Take good care of the little one! This one’s for you!*

He sat, and Umbra deposited the tiny, tiny kitten in his lap.

It was so small its eyes were still closed and its ears were still folded down on its round little head. Noctis picked it up and it gave a tiny, weak little mew. 

Noctis looked baffled, like he couldn’t understand why the messengers were giving him a kitten. He’d figure it out. Umbra gave a cheerful bark, dropped the notebook off as well, and left. He’d check in again in a week, as he usually did. 

Noctis cradled the tiny kitten and tried to think of what to do with it before deciding on tucking the little thing into his shirt pocket. He needed supplies. Milk, probably, it was way too small to not still need milk. 

He hoped he wasn’t supposed to keep the kitten too much of a secret, as he was definitely going to need Ignis’s help.

Before he could make it to Ignis’s office however, Gladiolus came looking for him. 

“Noctis.”

“Yes?” he answered with false innocence.

“Your pocket is squirming.”

“Oh, yeah.” So much for secrecy. He pulled the pocket open a little so Gladio could see inside.

“Did Carbuncle steal Nyx’s kitten again?”

“No, this is a different kitten. Younger, I think? Looks a lot like Nyx’s kitten though.”

Gladio eyed him suspiciously.

“What? Carbuncle says this one is mine, I swear.” He had to show Gladio the message before he’d let them head over to Ignis’s office. 

Prompto, already on his way to join Noctis for a video game session, joined them. Noctis was in no way interested in even trying to keep his new kitten away from Prompto.

All four of them stood around the tiny kitten as Ignis looked up what supplies they would need.

“Should we take it? Him? Her? To a vet?” asked Prompto. Noctis’s phone chimed.

Him

“Him, apparently.” Carbuncle appeared on the window sill, hopping over to Ignis’s desk to nose at the kitten. 

The kitten sneezed, and two glowing golden wings popped out of his back. They weren’t in great shape, the feathers bent and misaligned, some broken. 

“Um,” said Noctis, “maybe not so much with the vet.”

Ignis sent Gladio out for supplies, while Noctis and Prompto found a box and an old blanket. Noctis pulled up a chocobo care video about wings to see if he could preen them into better shape. Ignis explained they’d need to feed a kitten this small every two hours, and do everything else for him, including using a warm wet cloth to stimulate waste removal. 

“Gross,” said Prompto, making a face, “he can’t do that on his own?”

“Not until they’re a couple weeks old at least,” said Ignis, “his eyes are still closed, so he can’t be more than a week old.”

“Okay, but does that go for magic winged cats too?” asked Noctis.

“Um,” replied Ignis, flummoxed, “I guess we’ll see?”

It didn't take long for Gladio to return with kitten formula and supplies. Ignis mixed up a bottle–little more than a syringe really–and handed it to Noctis.

“Oh? Me?” Noctis gingerly took the bottle and considered the tiny, delicate looking kitten.

“He’s your magic cat, isn’t he? You feed him.” Noctis gave him a helpless look.

“Just pick the kitten up, make sure to keep the belly down, and stick the tip in. He’ll do the rest.”

Noctis very carefully picked up the kitten, who weighed hardly anything, and offered the bottle. The hungry little guy latched on immediately, draining the bottle in just a couple of minutes.

“Huh,” observed Ignis, “that was quick. I suppose another one couldn’t hurt, so long as he doesn’t get sick.”

Five bottles later the kitten finally curled up into a little ball and fell asleep. Noctis went back to carefully, carefully tending to his wings.

Art by TheLexinomicon

Chapter Text

Four days later, Regis decided he wanted a ‘family’ dinner, which really meant Clarus and the king wanted to check up on their sons in a way they couldn’t easily get out of. Their little quartet kept disappearing, and Prompto had practically moved into the prince’s quarters with only the flimsiest of assurances that his parents were fine with it. He’d even turned up to dinner, Noctis just giving his father a pleading look. Regis briefly considered if he ought to have invited Cor to ensure an even number of adults to youths. Guards reported one, two, or all three of the boys seemed to be spending the night in the prince’s quarters, so something was going on. 

“You look tired, my son,” the king casually commented once they’d all tucked into the food. 

“Oh, no more than usual,” Noctis replied with just as much false casualness. 

“Oh? Not staying up too late?”

“Nope, not at all,” he lied. The kitten, who they still hadn’t named, needed feeding every two hours. Even with three of them taking shifts–Ignis protested he needed a clear head and uninterrupted sleep to perform his other duties–it still made for some broken nights. 

“Are you sleeping well, Gladiolus?” Clarus asked, “You seem tired as well.”

“Just fine.” Clarus regarded his son with a wary eye. Gladio smiled back. 

“Is there something wrong with your bed?” Clarus asked Prompto, “You don’t seem to have been in it much this week.”

“Oh,” gulped Prompto, “no, Noctis and I have just gotten caught up in things and it’s been easier to sleep over.”

“What things?” 

“Just. Things?”

“Things keeping all three of you awake and in Prince Noctis’s quarters at all hours?” Clarus asked, pointedly. All three boys started to voice protests. Regis, however, seemed to have mentally wandered away from the conversation. He was staring at his son, but not at his face, a look of concentration on his own face. 

“Noctis. Do you have a kitten in your pocket?”

The trio shared a glance at each other.

Busted.

Noctis pouted and drew a tiny golden ball out of his pocket.

“I told you we should have left him with Iggy,” said Gladio. 

“That,” said Regis, “is not a normal kitten, is it?” 

Noctis put the kitten on the table, the small golden wings spreading out over the tiny body. After four days of careful tending they looked pretty healthy, flapping gently as the kitten squirmed.

“No,” said Clarus, “no it is not.”

“Where,” asked Regis, “did you get a magic winged kitten?”

“Umbra and Carbuncle,” Noctis answered. “I’m supposed to look after him, and no, Carbuncle has not explained and refuses to do so. He just sends grin emojis when I ask.”

The kitten lifted his head and mewed, wiggling and squirming, little wings flapping on his back with more force. Noctis scooped the kitten back up, running a finger gently down his spine. Prompto pulled a bottle from his own pocket and handed it over. The kitten quieted down as soon as the nipple was in reach, sucking greedily. His little ears and little tail wiggled as he sucked. Noctis ignored everyone to coo at the little guy as he fed him.

Regis watched his son with some amusement. 

Perhaps Carbuncle had decided Noctis needed something to look after. The boy had seemed a little melancholy after his recent birthday. He got up and walked around the table.

“May I?” he asked as the baby finished his bottle. Noctis reluctantly handed the kitten over. Regis carefully took him in hand, raising him up to look him over closely. 

“His eyes are still closed,” Clarus observed over his shoulder, “how long have you had him?”

“Just a few days,” the prince answered, “but Ignis thinks he’s aging slower than a normal kitten.”

“Have you named him yet?”

“No”

“Hmm,” Regis thought for a moment, “I think Luminis would be a good name. A bright light, this little one.” He gave the kitten back to his hovering son.

“Lumi,” said Noctis, cuddling the kitten close. He rubbed noses with the kitten, repeating Lumi, Lumi as he did.

It had been so, so cold, and he had been very hungry and very confused.

He still couldn’t hear or see, and some part of his mind thought he should be distressed by that. But now Cloud was pleasantly warm, very full, and every so often a gentle hand stroked over his body and left a feeling of affection and joy in its wake. Everything else was just too much to think about. He didn’t want to bother. No Sephiroth came to disturb him. He could just rest a little longer. Nothing hurt, not even his wings, and the periodic bursts of love he felt just made him want to float even longer.

Chapter Text

Cloud wasn’t sure how much time passed as he floated in a soundless, warm haze. Was he dead? Was this the lifestream, devoid of anyone he knew because Sephiroth had erased them all from existence? Perhaps he would just float here, warm and surrounded by comfort until his mind faded into oblivion. 

Why did it feel like something was licking his forehead?

He finally managed to crack open his eyes, only to be met with a blue fuzzy face. 

“Hello little one! You’re finally awake! Or grown up enough to open your eyes.” The creature’s chittering was muffled still, but Cloud understood him anyway. 

“You’ve been named Luminis by the way. Unless you have another name? I can tell Noctis if you want a different one.”

That is way too much excitement to toss at someone who just woke up Cloud thought grumpily.  

“I know cats are particular about their names. But also secretive about them? Cats are odd that way. Your kind of cat especially. At least the ones I’ve met. Where do you come from anyway? The Astrals are all in a tizzy about it. That cranky old dragon hasn’t been this mad in ages, it’s great. The others say something shifted when you came, and even they don’t know what. They’re so confused” The fox snickered. “They need the new experience, it’s about time.”

Cloud listened to the ramble as well as he could, but he could barely follow the free flowing chatter. 

“Who the fuck are you,” he croaked out.

“Carbuncle,” the fox laughed.

Wait Cloud thought as his mind caught up, did he say cat?

“Why are you talking about cats?”

The fox tilted his head and nosed at his face. He was so big. Since when was Carbuncle a giant fox?

 “You’re a cat? One with wings, and magic, clearly, but still a kitten. Didn’t you know?”

“What.” Cloud tried to take in his surroundings and his body. He tried to put away his wings and found he couldn’t, struggling in panic.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re safe and Noctis will take very good care of you!” The fox licked his forehead as Cloud became aware of his legs and tail. 

“What the fuck?” he said again as the fox curled around him.

As he continued to squeak out a litany of swearing, a teenager rushed into the room. The sight of him finally convinced Cloud he was, in fact, stuck in the body of a cat.

“Hey, Lumi, little guy, what’s wrong?” The teen scooped him up, cradling him close to his face, rubbing over his head and back with gentle fingers. “You hungry again? Let me get a bottle.” Cloud didn’t want the indignity of the nipple offered to him, but he was hungry and it smelled so good. He drank the bottle anyway. Damn it, he wanted real food, but if he looked like a kitten small enough for bottles, no one was likely going to give him any. The formula tasted fine, if bland. He’d find real food on his own. Just as soon as he could move properly. Hearing would probably help too–he realized he couldn’t hear very well because his ears were folded down, and hoped that was something that changed as he grew. 

The teen–Noctis, probably–cooed at him as he drank. Cloud didn’t want to like it. Sephiroth had tried to make him love him by being soft before he remembered his first life. This felt different though. Noctis radiated warmth and care with a sincerity Sephiroth had never managed, no matter how hard he had tried. 

“That better Lumi? Aw you eat so much, it’s so cute. You’re the cutest little dude, we’re going to have so much fun when you get a bit bigger.” 

Cloud tried to bite a finger in protest about being called cute, but since he didn’t have teeth yet he just ended up gumming at it while the teen giggled. 

Noctis did keep him well fed, offering food as soon as Cloud whined at all. He was extremely attentive to Cloud’s every need, even the really embarrassing ones. Cloud hated being helpless, but he couldn’t hate the attention Noctis lavished on him. 

Cloud soon met his closest companions, a friend named Prompto, a guard named Gladiolus who was almost never called by his full name, and an advisor named Ignis who sometimes acted more like a babysitter.

Oh, and the boy was apparently the fucking prince of whatever weird land he’d landed in. With a very regal and dignified looking king-dad who cooed at Cloud as much as his son did. 

Noctis also had a habit of taking naps with Cloud on his chest, or just laying in a sunny window seat, Cloud under his chin. He talked a lot when they sat in the sun, Cloud’s newly open ears taking in stories about his day, the homework Ignis gave him, training with Gladio, and the letters he wrote to someone named Lunafreya. 

He also talked about his fears, the weight on his shoulders, the war looming just outside their borders, and his worry over his father. Cloud wished most he was human in those moments. Noctis treated him more like a friend than a pet. If he were human, he could protect him. It would be a worthy use of the skills Sephiroth had forced on him. 

He thought perhaps being Lumi wouldn’t be so bad. No one demanded anything of him, and he couldn’t let anyone down either. His whole purpose didn’t need to be anything more than being cute and cuddly. Maybe he could make himself get used to it. Noctis was kind, and gentle, and everytime he carefully preened Cloud’s wings Cloud could feel the sweet affection and love coming through. It was so different from the false emotions he’d felt from Sephiroth he finally understood the difference.

It wasn’t until more than a week after his eyes had finally opened and he could see properly that Lumi realized that when Carbuncle sometimes came in the night to curl up by him, he didn’t come alone. There was another kitten he brought with him. Another golden blonde kitten who looked suspiciously familiar. 

“Cloud?”

“Es? Yes. Yes?”

What the fuck thought Lumi, “what the fuck?” He batted at Carbuncle.

“What’s he then?”

“Aelius-Cloud,” Carbuncle answered, which didn’t explain anything. “His person is a glaive. He’s sick, and his brothers object to me trying to bring him to Noctis, but that’s ok! You’re here now, and he gets much better every time he spends time with you, so I just make sure his brothers sleep and don’t know.” The fox sounded very proud of himself.

“U? Me?”

“Yes I’m another you. Different world, obviously. You got mako poisoned.” It wasn’t a question. Even turned into cats Lumi could tell. “Wait. What brothers?”

“‘Ack, Kuns.” 

“Zack? You have a Zack?” 

“Should I take you to visit?” Carbuncle asked.

“NO.” Lumi didn’t want a Zack around. He might get him hurt again. He might get him killed again. He was helpless right now, and Zack didn’t need to see that. Zack had dealt with that enough for several lifetimes. Lumi struggled against his weak, uncoordinated limbs, tail twitching wildly. Carbuncle curled around him and licked his head.

“Fine, fine! Hush, you’ll wake Noctis up.”

He got both Carbuncle and other Cloud to promise not to tell Zack about him. After another week or so though, other Cloud said they’d find out eventually anyway, because Kunsel was sneaky and Noctis was usually a frequent visitor. While Lumi’s eyes and ears were closed he’d been too busy with Lumi to visit, but then Nyx–their Glaive–had uncovered treason on the part of the now former Captain of the Kingsglaive, which got Noctis banned from visiting the barracks at all until the loyalties of the rest were tested and the whole mess was sorted out. 

Aelius only agreed because he did feel much better after being with Lumi. He could move a lot more. A fact which, he thought privately, would certainly send Kunsel looking. Carbuncle brought him by every night for a week, doing something to keep Zack and Kunsel asleep. The fox refused to elaborate, only mentioning that the dream realm was his domain. By the end of the week Aelius could toddle around a bit on his own, if unsteadily. 

Unbeknownst to the two Clouds, Zack and Kunsel were definitely suspicious.

Chapter Text

Far away from Insomnia, Weskham Armaugh swiped a rag down the top of his bar. 

He paused at the sound of quiet meow.

“Back again, are we? About time,” he said to the cat, “I suppose you want dinner.” He went over to the fridge and pulled out a fresh fish, flipping it onto the grill. “You’ll have to wait a bit, wasn’t sure when you’d be by.”

The cat, a bright orange tabby with a streak of black that started at his left shoulder and wound down his leg, chirped at him and leapt up to the bar, settling in.

He’d just started showing up some months ago. Bold as brass about asking for food too, but he’d quickly become the restaurant’s secret good luck charm. People liked to talk when they came to bars or restaurants, but those who talked of daemons or rowdy guards, or imperial forces causing trouble often came back to tell of how all their troubles were solved.

Always on nights when the cat was around, lurking under tables in the far corners of the place.

“One of these days you’ll have to let me know if you’re taking prayers to the Astrals or what,” Weskham said to the cat, who just regarded him coolly. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

The cat blinked his eyes at him slowly and lay down for a nap.

Lumi’s arrival had fortunately coincided with a school break, but breaks end. Noctis reluctantly left the tiny kitten with Ignis as he and Prompto headed to class. 

“You’ll feed him whenever he asks?” Noctis asked as he nuzzled Lumi’s little head.

“I will ensure he is properly cared for in every way, your highness,” answered Ignis, amused by Noctis’s clear reluctance to actually give him the kitten, “You’ll be late to class if you delay any further.”

Noctis handed Lumi over with one last kiss to his forehead. Lumi squeaked at him.

“OMG, go to class you dork, I’m FINE.”

Ignis tucked Luminis into a warming cat bed and pointedly went back to his work. Once Noctis was gone he pulled out a scale and thermometer. 

“Alright little one, let’s check on our progress.”

Lumi started squeaking up a storm.

“Fuck you. I am not something for you to study.” Lumi wished he had teeth, he’d bite this asshole. He was taking measurements and writing them down! Lumi struggled as much as he could when placed on the scale, but Ignis just nudged him back into the middle.

“Fuck you, fuck you!” Lumi protested.

Carbuncle, unseen by Ignis, appeared on the desk.

“What’s wrong?”

“HIM. HE’S ALL…SCIENCY,” yelled Lumi, “I don’t want to be here! I’m not a research subject!”

“Oh,” said Carbuncle, “That’s easy to fix then.” He waited until Ignis turned his back and picked the kitten up by the scruff. With a quick hop and a little messenger magic, he was gone.

Ignis turned back to find the kitten missing.

The ensuing panic disrupted the entire royal wing.

Carbuncle meanwhile bounced cheerfully into the classroom where Noctis and Prompto were trying to learn geometry, waiting until the last possible moment to make himself visible. He plopped the kitten on Noctis’s desk, licked the prince’s cheek, and disappeared again. Half of the class had phones out already, trying to catch pictures of the tiny winged kitten.

Noctis’s phone chimed.

He doesn’t want to stay with Ignis.

“Phones down everyone,” the teacher scolded, “need I remind you that filming his highness can result in disciplinary measures or a visit by the crownsguard?”

Can we not , thought Noctis, they don’t need the reminder I’m special.  

“Sorry,” Noctis said to his teacher as he stood up with his tiny bundle, “but the Astrals have decreed I need to care for this kitten.” He’d barely left the classroom when Ignis arrived, frantic. 

“Oh,” he said, halting abruptly, “that answers that question.”

“Um,” Noctis started awkwardly, “now what? Carbuncle says he doesn't want to stay with you.”

Ignis blinked a bit, at a loss. 

“Alright. Did Carbuncle say why?” Noctis shook his head. Ignis frowned and stuck his head in the classroom.

“My apologies, miss, I’ll need his highness for the rest of today, please send his assignments for today to me.”

The teacher waved him off. Things did happen, though not often, so all of Noctis’s teachers were well used to procedure. Noctis juggled both phone and kitten as they left, finally just tucking Lumi back into a shirt pocket as he texted Carbuncle back.

Why can’t he stay with Ignis?

He doesn’t want to :)

Can he stay with Gladdy?

Ask him

Noctis looked down and rubbed Lumi’s head.

“Is Gladiolus acceptable as a babysitter?” Gladio had a lot of other duties to attend to when Noctis was at school, but surely the kitten could take priority for a little while. 

“Maybe. He’s better than that guy. Can’t I just go to school too?” Gladiolus tended to try and play with Lumi as though he was a real kitten. Lumi wondered if he was supposed to be a secret. He did have wings. How popular was the royal family anyway? Maybe they were worried someone would try and get to the prince through his helpless pet.

He says maybe. Can’t he stay with you?

Not really, not during school. At least not while he still needs feeding every two hours. How about my father?

“What about dad?” Noctis asked as Ignis choked in alarm.

“Your highness, I don’t think the king has the time.” Ignis thought about how much Clarus would want to kill him for that much disruption to his majesty’s carefully managed schedule.

“I can ask, can’t I?”

“I don’t mind that guy,” Lumi squeaked out. The king was just as gentle and nice to Luminis as his son, and talked to him like he understood the same way Noctis did.

King Regis is acceptable.

Regis was the only one delighted by his new position as kitten babysitter. 

Ignis and the PR team managed to keep Lumi’s existence quiet–for now anyway. Though not quite quiet enough that Iris didn’t find out and start a campaign to be allowed to visit and meet the newest member of the royal family. She pestered both brother and father until they relented and Iris followed her brother to the Citadel one Saturday morning. 

“He’s soooo cuuuuteee!” she squealed over the tiny kitten, using one finger to scratch behind a twitching ear. Gladiolus watch indulgently from a corner while Noctis hovered. 

“You’re so loud,” Lumi squeaked, gumming at the finger when he managed to catch it. He missed teeth. 

Iris wrinkled a nose.

“He’s a little stinky though. How often are you bathing him?”

“Um,” was Noctis’s inelegant reply.

“Boys,” Iris muttered before adding louder, “of course you should bathe him! It’s not like he’s got a mommy cat to wash him.” She gathered up the kitten and wandered over to Noctis’s bathroom. “Do you even have anything to wash him with?”

The boys looked at each other.

“I suppose we could ask Ignis..”

Iris rolled her eyes. 

“Don’t the royal mews have chocobo supplies? For chicks? He’s got feathers, that stuff should do.” She tucked Lumi into her pocket. “I know where they are! We’ll be back soon!”

“Wait!” said Noctis as she skipped out of the room ahead of them.

“It won’t take long.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t mean we’re letting you go alone,” Gladio pointed out. They argued all the way to the mews, Iris refusing to give back the kitten. Lumi just squeaked his irritation the whole time. 

Once there Iris talked a groom into handing over feather safe shampoo and she took charge of washing the baby. Lumi stopped squeaking half-way through.

“Okay, so maybe I was a little dirty. This does feel nice. I forgive you.”

Iris gently dried the kitten off before spotting a box of ribbons in a heap of items the grooms kept on hand. “Perfect!” 

She picked out a length of blue ribbon that went well with Lumi’s eyes and tied a neat bow around his neck.

“I changed my mind,” Lumi mewed, “you’re back on the ‘bite when I have teeth’ list.”

“Aw Lumi, you’re so loud too,” Iris cooed. She used a gentle brush to comb out Lumi’s fur, stroking over and over as he calmed down.

He was asleep in less than a minute. 

Chapter Text

The second month ended with another revelation for Lumi, one which made him a great deal more confident in how he could protect Noctis. Aside from the issue of being a very small kitten who couldn’t even walk right yet.

He still had his materia.

He hadn’t given much thought to what had happened to the materia he had had equipped when he fell into this world. He’d mostly assumed they’d been lost to the void. 

Then Noctis had training and practice with Gladio–something he’d called warping, which turned out to be a kind of teleporting. Noctis was warping around the room while Gladio spared with him, Prompto sitting off to the side and watching, with Lumi in his lap. Ignis was taking notes next to them. 

Lumi thought Noctis’s form needed work. He wasn’t using his smaller size to the best effect. Gladio was much larger, he shouldn’t be trying the same moves. He was fine, just not as good as he could be. Lumi was quite certain that even at four, if he was human shaped he’d be able to kick Gladio’s ass. 

Noctis made a mistake, and fell, and his arm made an audible snap. Both Gladio and Ignis were at the prince’s side in an instant. Prompto got up as well, holding Lumi to his chest. As they neared the prince, Lumi could see from the grimace on Noctis’s face and the way he cradled his arm that it hurt a lot. 

Damn it thought Lumi, if I just had my cure

As soon as the thought occurred to him, he felt something shift. 

It felt like his materia. Like he could sense his cure still, just there, waiting for him to be aware of it. Lumi squeaked and struggled, reaching a paw out to Noctis. 

“Hey, it’s okay little dude,” said Prompto, “he’ll be fine, we just gotta go see the doc.”

Lumi just squeaked louder, squirming with all his little might.

“Hey, Lumi, I’m okay,” Noctis said, reaching his good hand over to rub at Lumi’s head.

Lumi focused on feeling the break as he grabbed at Noctis’s hand. Clean snap, no need to be set. Good. 

He cast the spell and Noctis’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Lumi…?” he moved his arm carefully, staring at it in shock before plucking Lumi away from Prompto.

“Huh?” said Ignis, taking his arm to run a hand down it. “Is it not broken? That sounded like a break.”

“It was,” answered Noctis, nuzzling Lumi, “I think Lumi just healed it.”

“Your cat. Just healed a broken arm.” Ignis sighed. “You realize we are going to have to tell your father.”

“Yeah, I know. Good kitty.” Noctis tucked Lumi into his shirt pocket so he could watch where they were going. “Let’s go tell dad the magic cat is a really magic cat.”

Regis used a single fingertip to rub behind Luminis’s little ears.

“There is a great deal of magic packed into this tiny body. Odd. Different from our magic, certainly.” Regis did not say that Lord Bahamut seemed both baffled and displeased by the little creature’s presence. Carbuncle clearly delighted in him–the guardian doted on Luminis almost as much as Noctis did. 

“However,” said Regis to the boys, but really to Clarus, “I can’t imagine Carbuncle would be so determined to keep him close to Noctis if it was a danger to us.”

“Still,” said Clarus, “perhaps a check over from a veterinarian to start? Just to see if there are any other surprises we might be forewarned about. Doesn’t Ulric have a vet for those odd cats of his?”

Lumi hissed at Clarus as they left.

“Fuck you bastard. I don’t need a doctor!”

Maddie looked down at the tiny blond kitten with tiny golden wings.

The kitten looked up at her and voiced his displeasure as loudly as his little lungs would allow. 

“Hands off! Fuck you!”

She looked up at Prince Noctis and his companions. 

“He’s got a healthy set of lungs at least,” Maddie commented, keeping her professional cool. Tilly owed her dinner for this. Weird Glaive cats were one thing. Magic royal cats were another thing entirely. “I don’t know how much more I’ll be able to tell you.”

“We were mostly concerned with growth,” said Ignis Scientia, pulling out a notebook, “I’ve been keeping track of food intake and weight progress, as well as developmental milestones.” Maddie took a look at the notes. 

“Huh. These are all in line with what we’d expect, just drawn out. As if it’s taking four times as long…see, eyes usually open around day six or seven, and his opened at day 27, ears unfolded four days later–those are generally within a day of each other.” Maddie poured over the notebook further. “He’s hitting all of the usual milestones in the usual order. So!” she snapped the notebook shut and handed it back. “You have a healthy little kitten. Would be roughly 2 weeks old if normal. Congratulations.”

Lumi concentrated on the hated notebook. It still made him think too much of scientists. 

Wait, Lumi thought, his materia . He focused on the feeling of fire and warmth that came from his fire materia. Then he focused on the notes in Ignis’s hand.

The notebook caught on fire. 

“Lumi!” scolded Noctis as Ignis hastily put it out, “what do you have against notes?”

Lumi just hissed at Ignis before curling up in Noctis’s hand, radiating sulky displeasure. 

Maddie blinked.

“That part is outside my area of expertise,” she said blandly as she ushered them out, “have a nice day!”

Maddie carefully set Aelius down in the portable scale she’d brought while Vesper growled from the corner. 

“Oh hush you, we’ll be done in just a minute.” Vesper just glared at her. Aelius sat politely on the scale while the vet noted down the reading and then wobbled to his feet, toddling off the edge, only for Nyx to catch him. Vesper hissed until Nyx set the kitten down in front of him.

“Well,” Maddie said to Nyx, “the good news is he is growing. He is definitely moving much better as well. Still a bit uncoordinated for his age–although..” Maddie trailed off in thought. 

“Yeah?” Nyx encouraged.

“Have you considered if he’s related to his Highness’s cat? Luminus isn’t growing at a regular speed either, but he is growing. At what I would say is a normal progression too. Just. Slower. Of course Aelius doesn't have the wings, but they could still be related. They otherwise look very similar.”  

Nyx blinked at her. 

“I’m sorry, I’ve been a bit busy with the recent…situation…the prince has a cat. A cat with wings?”

“Yes. Were you not informed?” Maddie looked worried for a moment, “I was told to keep it to the court and council, but I thought that would include you as Captain now.”

“I’m sure it was meant to,” Nyx reassured her, “things have just been a little messy. My promotion being a bit…sudden.” 

Nyx was so caught up in wondering why Prince Noctis wouldn’t have mentioned a kitten to him–though to be fair he’d hadn’t seen the prince since this whole affair with Drautus had started–that he didn’t notice the looks passing between his cats.

Not that he would have understood the scheming going on even if he had.

Chapter Text

A few days later, Regis found himself thoroughly entertained by the looks on the face of his council when he once again pulled out a kitten and warm bottle and set about feeding the darling little fellow in the middle of a meeting. He let the kitten lay on the table while he ate. 

“Apologies, everyone, my son had a few obligations today that do not lend themselves to having Luminis along, so I am cat sitting again.” He scritched behind a wiggling ear, little wings flapping against his hand. “Little Luminus does need frequent feedings.”

He smiled at the council in a way they all knew meant they’d be wiser to hold their tongues.

“Noctis will be along to pick him up shortly.”

Clarus had that pinched look Regis always found amusing, which he got every single time Regis put aside work for the kitten. 

Before Lumi had even finished his bottle, Cor showed Noctis and Prompto in, with many murmured apologies. 

Noctis did not get to retrieve his kitten. 

A blur of dark fur barreled past him through the newly opened door. Vesper leapt onto the back of the king’s chair, clawing up the upholstery as he did. He hissed in the king’s face, scratching his hand when he brought it up in defense. 

It had the desired effect of getting Regis to let go of Lumi, letting Vesper leap down and scoop him up into a hold by the scruff of his neck.

Lumi squeaked and loudly began to yell. Noctis lunged at the cats as Vesper sprang off of the table and headed for the door. 

“Put me down! Zack, put me down!”

“Not until you’re safe” Zack meowed back through his mouthful.

“I am safe!”

“I can keep you safer”

“Damn it Zack! I wasn’t even done eating.”

“We have food. We can get our idiot to get formula.”

“Put me down!”

Gladio had the great misfortune of being the one in the doorway when Vesper reached him. He attempted to block the large cat, kneeling down to prevent Vesper from running under his legs. Vesper didn’t even slow as he leapt up, leaving a trail of scratches up Gladio’s chest as he scrambled up and over the man. Gladio tried to grab him to no avail as it just added to the places Vesper clawed. 

He ran out into the throne room, Noctis, Prompto, and Cor in pursuit. Clarus stopped to help his son stop the worst of the bleeding as they followed. Vesper dodged around his pursuers, scrambling over the throne to block a tackle attempt by Noctis, leaving deep scratches and a destroyed cushion in his wake. 

A vent opened on the other side of the room, Cato barreling out at a dead run of his own.

“Zack, our Cloud is gone!”

“What! How?”

“I don’t know, I…”

Cato skidded to a stop, as did Vesper, when they spotted it. 

Sitting primly on a table at the edge of the room was one blue fox, a small blond kitten in his mouth. 

“YOU” both cats hissed. They dashed towards the fox as the humans caught up to them. Vesper had almost reached Carbuncle when another heavy body slammed into him from the side.

“Umbra?” Noctis called out, “Umbra what are you doing?”

Umbra ignored the prince to try and pin Vesper, who clawed at him. 

Lumi wiggled out of Vesper’s hold as he let go to snap at the dog’s nose. Lumi complained loudly, crawling away with a little help from his tiny wings. 

“Just stop, all of you!”

Cato jumped over Umbra’s back to tackle Carbuncle, sending Aelius tumbling as Carbuncle let go with a yelp. Cato swiped a claw across Carbuncle’s snout before he turned and lunged for  the nearer Lumi, scooping him up and turning tail to race back to the vents. Carbuncle followed close behind, just missing snapping at Cato’s tail. 

Nyx skidded into the room, already yelling. He narrowly avoided colliding with Prince Noctis, who warped to Umbra’s side to try and grab either kitten. He was a second too slow as Vesper threw Umbra off and managed to snatch up Aelius. 

Vesper dashed out of the room, Umbra and Nyx hot on his heels. 

Noctis glared at the vent and mentally mapped out where Cato could go. The vents were far too small for a human, but Noctis knew every inch of the citadel. 

There was a dumbwaiter in the sideroom behind that wall, meant for sending food up from the kitchens below for events in the throne room. 

Noctis ran into the room, throwing up the shutter on the dumbwaiter, pulling the lift farther up into the shaft to leave the passage open.

“Noct, don’t” he heard Gladio call behind him. He ignored him and jumped. 

A few careful grabs of rope or wall slowed his descent, but Noctis still hit bottom a bit harder than he meant too. He stumbled out of the shaft to the stares of the kitchen staff. 

“Um, sorry,” he got out before sensing the trailing magic to his left, “gotta go.”

He ran through the kitchen and out into the corridor, trying to keep a lock on Lumi. The direction continued down and across.

Towards the barracks.

Noctis decided to take another shortcut down a laundry chute, tumbling out into the laundry room on the lowest floor of the Citadel. It worked, he’d gotten ahead of them. He raced towards a little used storeroom, entering just as Cato emerged from the vents, Carbuncle still at his tail. Noctis dived at the cats, wrapping both arms around Cato. They rolled, knocking over boxes and crates as he cradled his armful of felines close to keep them safe. He kept Cato pinned to his chest as they stopped.

Cato thrashed. 

“Just let go, we’re fine, we’ll take care of Cloud now.”

Carbuncle growled at him and snapped at his tail. 

“Lumi belongs with Noctis.”

Cato’s yelp let Lumi free. Lumi shook out his wings, yelling “NO” in Cato’s face before crawling to Noctis’s shirt pocket. 

Noctis carefully sat up, still pinning the struggling Cato, and used one hand to make sure Lumi was safely tucked into his pocket. 

He then carefully put Cato down. 

“Well, what have we here?” a voice said behind him, “a little princey, all by his lonesome.”

Noctis turned, pasting on his royal facade. He found himself face to face with several Glaives. It was only then he remembered that the Glaives were mostly confined to quarters right now, until cleared. His father didn’t want anyone falsely accused of treason though, so it was a slow process to go through them all and gather and prove evidence of their loyalty or not. These weren’t ones he knew well, if at all. Newer ones mostly. Ones brought in by the prior Captain. Though he did recognize Luche Lazarus, one of Ulric’s friends. He didn’t look friendly right now, or concerned for his well being. 

“Looks like fortune has granted us a final favor. See, we were just thinking it’s only a matter of time before our new “Captain” takes a hard look at us lot. They’ve found out everyone else who favored Drautos,  we’ve no reason to think we’ll be spared.” The man turned to his companions.

“Wasn’t I just saying, if we’re to go out, might as well go out big? What do you say boys, shall we honor our good, true, captain with a little royal blood?”

Noctis shifted into a ready stance and summoned his blade, determined to draw on all the training Gladio put him through. If these men were eager to shed royal blood he would make them work for every drop. They at least didn’t seem armed–Captain Ulric had confiscated all arms until cleared–but Noctis was well aware just how much damage bare fists could do, especially five on one.

Before the first one reached him, however, a wall of magic shimmered into place around them. Two of the men punched at it in vain, doing little more than bloody their own fists.

“What the hell?” Lazarus said, “since when is this kinda magic something you can do? I don’t see no ring.”

“Oh,” said Noctis with a serene smile, “it’s not me.”

“Huh?”

“You might want to leave while you can,” Noctis observed. Cato growled a warning at Lazarus as he got too close, and that seconds worth of warning was all he got before the cat launched himself at him, scoring deep claw marks across the man’s face while he screamed.

“My eyes, fuck!” He screamed even louder and kicked at an invisible assailant, blood running down his leg as he fell over. Cato took the opportunity to cause further damage to the man’s face as he rode him down. 

The scream distracted the others for a moment while Noctis kicked out at the nearer two, slashing across one man’s arm.

One of the others lunged at him, barrier again blocking the blow. Noctis grabbed an over extended arm and swung the man around to shove him into his friends. The group braced each other to charge at him again, but never got the chance.

Bolts of lightning erupted around them, shocking the remaining men. All four of them collapsed to the floor, twitching uncontrollably. 

They stopped after a few seconds, and then the lightning struck again, sending them into a fresh wave of twitching.

“I think they’re down Lumi,” Noctis said, scritching behind the ear of the angry little face peeking over the edge of his shirt pocket, “you can probably stop.”

Gladio skidded into the room not long after, just in time to overhear Noctis say, “stay down or I’ll let them maul you more.” Cor caught up with him just in time to catch it as well, immediately turning around again. 

A Glaive Gladio was barely familiar with lay on the floor near the door, blood streaming down his face from numerous cuts.

Ulric’s demon cat #2 sat primly nearby, cleaning blood from his paws. Noctis stood in the middle of the room, seemingly fine, though Gladio immediately looked him over.

“I’m fine, but I found out a bunch of Glauca’s cronies! So. That should save everyone some work.” He waved a hand at the heap of men.

“Did you…handle them yourself?” Gladio raised an eyebrow at Noctis as the Marshall returned with Guards.

“Lumi helped.” The kitten in question gave an annoyed squeak.

“Helped. I did most of the work.”

“Okay, so maybe Lumi shocked them a bit. A lot.” 

Cato chittered at them from the floor.

“And Cato and Carbuncle helped too.”

Gladio laughed. 

“You mean you got totally saved by a fox and the cats, one of whom can’t even walk yet.”

He was never letting Noctis forget this. 

Noctis sniffed. 

“Just wait until Lumi can walk, I might not need you anymore.”

“HEY!”

Cor was visibly trying not to laugh as he and the Guard rounded up the downed men and marched them off. 

Cato wound himself around and through Noctis’s legs, meowing at him. He stopped to reach a paw up and wave it at Lumi.

“Aw Cato. If I promise to bring Lumi for visits, and talk to Carbuncle about stealing Aelius, will you go back to your room?”

He talked to Lumi all the time, and he was fairly sure Lumi mostly understood him, like Carbuncle and Umbra did. So Noctis figured it couldn’t hurt to talk to Cato the same way. 

“He’s got to stay with me. For one thing, he hasn’t got teeth yet so unless you or Vesper have suddenly become able to make milk, he needs someone who can make a bottle.” 

Cato stared at him for a moment. Lumi squeaked loudly from his pocket.

“Go away Kunsel’

“Are you sure?”

“YES! Go away.”

“Well, we can bide our time until you have teeth.”

Cato decided that Cloud was more important than his pride. He broke out a secret weapon, stretching up Noctis’s leg and widening his eyes in a pleading look as he chirped. Noctis melted.

“Come on,” said Noctis as he pet Cato’s head, “let’s walk you home.” 

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, in another part of the Citadel

“Vesper! Stop!” Nyx called out after the cat as he dashed after him. Vesper did not stop, probably because Umbra was still snapping at his tail. Nyx was more than willing to yell at his own little demons, but he drew the line at yelling at actual divine messengers. Even if he had suspicions about his far too intelligent to be normal cats.

Vesper scrambled across a side table, knocking vases to the ground as he did. They all, of course, shattered. Nyx groaned. He was going to owe the crown half his salary at this point. He threw a kukris carefully ahead of the cats, warping forward. He bent down to try and catch Vesper as the cat barreled at him.

Vesper jumped at the last possible second, using Nyx’s arms and head as a springboard to leap up to the handle of a trash chute tucked into a hallway corner. His body weight was just enough to lever the chute open so he could jump inside, skidding down the sides of the chute as he fell.

Nyx and Umbra both stopped at the chute and stared down it, then at each other. There was no way either of them would fit down it.

Umbra barked once, sniffed the air, and took off in a different direction.

Nyx, at a loss as to what else to do, followed.  

By the time they reached where the chute let out, Vesper was long gone. Umbra sniffed the ground and led the way out and towards the Glaive’s dining hall. Nyx heard a muffled “Hey, isn’t that Ulric’s cat?” from inside as he pushed the door open. 

Vesper caught sight of them from across the room, changing from the quiet slink he had been doing to a dead run. Umbra barked and dashed forward. 

Vesper turned from the far door he’d been headed towards–Nyx and Umbra were closer to it than he was–and bolted towards the kitchen instead. He leapt onto a table as Glaives shouted and tried to catch him, scattering dishes and food as he went. 

Pelna yelped as a full plate landed in his lap. Libertus managed to jump out of the way of his own plate, which also landed on Pelna, who glared at him as he tried not to laugh. Libertus decided to go help Nyx lest some of the food end up thrown at him.

The door to the kitchen swung open as one of the staff appeared with a tray to refill the serving line. Vesper dashed under his feet, the man rearing up in shock, spinning around to try and keep from tripping.

Food flew up in an arc and landed across a nearby table, splattering everyone seated at it. Vesper didn’t stop, running through the door and into the kitchen.

Nyx followed, murmuring apologies as he went. Kitchen staff turned from all over the kitchen and Vesper froze at the sight of too many legs and no clear path out. 

Aelius squeaked. 

“Vesper, hey, calm down, okay? Don’t run. Aelius is nice and safe and you can take him back to your nice cozy bed.” Vesper almost seemed to consider it, even as he growled at the slowly approaching Nyx. 

“No, I don’t trust you.”

Umbra barked.

Vesper reared up, turning to jump up on a nearby counter. What he misjudged was that on said counter was a tray, perched precariously on the edge. A tray of bread bowls, next to a pot of soup. 

As Vesper jumped, he hit the edge of the tray, unbalancing it. It began to fall as he scrambled up, but the tipping point was hit. The tray tipped over, flinging rounds of bread everywhere. Several landed in the soup, sending a large splash of it over both Nyx and Vesper. 

Vesper lost hold of Aelius, who also went flying. 

Bread hit into other trays of food, splashing the staff, causing several fires they scrambled to put out, and one flew far enough to land square on a cake at the far end of the kitchen. Nyx surveyed the destruction and looked down as Vesper. 

Vesper mewed pitifully, shaking off soup. Nyx wiped a hand down his face. 

Umbra huffed and disappeared. 

Which, Nyx thought, just figured.

“Wait, where’s Aelius?” he asked the air.

“Um, right here,” answered Lib, who had followed Nyx into the kitchen. He bent down to pick the kitten up. Aelius had landed inside a bread bowl.

The kitten growled as Lib went to lift him, holding on as hard as he could to the bread.

“Hey, let go little guy.” The kitten just growled louder.

“Let him keep it,” Nyx said. Lib shrugged and picked up both the bread bowl and the kitten, who happily started chewing on the sides of the bowl. “They can add it to my bill.”

“Hey, look at it this way,” Libertus offered, “at least the Captain spot pays better?” 

Nyx ignored him. 

“Are you done?” Nyx asked Vesper, who complained loudly in response. 

“Fuck you, idiot, this wouldn’t happen if you just left us alone.”

One of the staffers handed him a towel as they set about cleaning up the mess.

Nyx turned towards the kitchen door as it opened again, revealing the imposing figure of Clarus Amiticia. 

Because Nyx thought, the universe hates me today

Clarus silently took in the scene and Nyx.

“When you’ve had a chance to clean yourself up a bit, the king would like to speak to you,” he pronounced, before sweeping back out of the room. Nyx murmured even more apologies as he left to the sound of much complaining from the Glaives in the dining hall.

Nyx went back to his apartment, Vesper and Lib at his heels. Vesper paused every so often to shake off bits of soup and complain at Lib, who just kept bread bowl and kitten close.

His door was open. He’d forgotten to shut it in his haste to follow Cato.

Nyx hoped, as he entered, that Cato was okay, only to stop at the sight of Gladiolus Amiticia leaning against the edge of his couch. 

“What the hell happened to you?”

“Vesper decided to take a shortcut through the kitchens, it didn’t go well. Why are you here?”

Gladiolus waved a hand at his living room floor as Nyx rounded the couch. 

Nyx winced at the numerous scratches across the man’s arms and chest. He looked mauled, even though they were all shallow and no longer bleeding. 

Nyx stopped short at the sight he found. The prince was laying on the floor, tiny winged kitten on his chest as he fed the baby a bottle. Cato was pressed up next to the teen’s shoulder, bathing the kitten’s head and face as he drank. 

“Hello,” said Prince Noctis, not moving more than a hand, “Cato seemed really unhappy about saying goodbye to Lumi just yet, so I figured we’d stay a little.”

Cato gave up stretching to reach the kitten and just climbed up on Noctis, settling into a cat loaf on his stomach. Vesper yelled at Libertus until he pried Aelius out of the bread bowl and handed the kitten over. Vesper picked him up and plopped the little guy up on Noctis as well. Aelius crawled over to Lumi, cuddling up next to him. Cato started switching between the two as he continued bathing. Gladio chuckled and gave up leaning on the couch to just sprawl on it instead. 

“I need a shower…so I’m just going to go do that,” said Nyx. The prince just waved a hand at him. 

He had officially completely lost control of his life. 

Vesper trotted after him as he went into the bedroom and then the bathroom, shedding clothing as he kicked the door closed. Vesper slunk through the door and into the shower.

He stared at Vesper and the cat stared back at him, then turned his back on him pointedly.

“Ok, fine, I guess you need a shower too.” Nyx finished undressing and turned on the water, waiting just a few minutes for it to warm.

“Don’t maul me for sharing.” 

Vesper just gave him a look over his shoulder before turning back around and carefully edging just close enough to the water to wet his fur. He began scrubbing at the soup and fixing his coat. Nyx joined him, washing quickly, uncertain how long he should keep the king waiting. Vesper seemed done though, so he turned the water off. Vesper shook out his fur as Nyx took out a towel and dropped it on the cat before taking one for himself and drying off as quickly as possible. He debated for a moment before dropping to one knee and gently helping dry Vesper. 

The cat gave him a perfunctory growl but didn’t claw him, so Nyx took it as a win. 

He dressed quickly, then grabbed the hairdryer. Vesper wouldn’t dry fully from just a toweling, his fur was far too thick. 

“His majesty wants to speak to me,” he said to his guests, “Lib can you try and get Vesper dry?”

“I’ll do it,” Gladiolus offered, “you might want to send him to check in with the rest of the Glaive.”
“What? Why?” 

“Probably one of the things the king wants to talk to you about.”

Nyx narrowed his eyes at Gladiolus. There was something he wasn’t telling him, but he doubted he would if he just asked.

“Ok, fine, here. Try not to need stitches.”

Gladiolus looked at the cat.

“If you maul me for helping you out, I won’t bring the little one back next time.”

“As if I need you to help get him back,” Vesper chirped and pointedly went back to the bathroom, Gladio following. 

The first thing Nyx did when he entered the room with King Regis, Clarus Amiticia, and the Marshal was drop to one knee, bow his head, and start apologizing. The king had a bandage covering his hand completely. 

From his cat. 

Nyx briefly entertained the thought that perhaps he should resign, and started to say as much before the king interrupted him.

“Get up, Captain. It’s fine. Your pair may have been a bit destructive, but Luminis regularly lights things on fire these days. I think it’s clear by Carbuncle’s actions that none of them are normal cats. Though Noctis says Carbuncle refuses to explain further.”

Nyx reluctantly took the seat offered to him, still half expecting a dressing down, or an expense report.

“Your majesty wanted to see me?”

“On a few matters.” He looked to Cor.

“We’ve discovered the true feelings of a few more of the Glaive that were still under suspicion. Luche Lazarus and several others came upon Prince Noctis, alone with just Luminis and Cato, and tried to attack him.”

Nyx nearly jumped to his feet. Another failure on his head. He should have been faster to interrogate the man. Lazarus had been cagey, and always friendly with him, but he was also close to Drautos. He hadn’t wanted to accuse him without more solid evidence–evidence Cato, actually, was proving instrumental in providing.

“What happened?”

“Cato scratched his eyes out. He’ll be blind for the rest of his short life. The rest received several electric shocks from Lumi, enough to incapacitate them. His highness is completely unharmed and didn’t even break a sweat,” Cor answered, clearly amused by the situation. 

That last point, at least, Nyx was well aware of. Since said prince was currently in his apartment impersonating a cat bed. 

Nyx wondered, for a brief moment, if duty and honor demanded he offer the prince the care of his three. He wondered if he was getting in the way of some divine plan, given Carbuncle’s attitude about Aelius. His heart clenched at the thought of giving them up. They might be absolute agents of chaos but he loved all three dearly already. He wanted to be the one to make them feel safe and cared for. It might be selfish, but he didn’t want to bring it up if the prince didn’t first.

If the prince did bring it up, he’d find some excuse to say no. Politely. Noctis was kind, Nyx was fairly sure he wouldn’t press.

“There is one more matter. His highness.”

“What about him?” Nyx asked cautiously. 

“He has become quite attached to your cats,” the king started, and Nyx’s heart dropped and his thoughts raced. This couldn’t be it, could it? Was he going to have to find a way to say no to the king?

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to move to closer quarters?”

“Ah,” Nyx started, thinking fast, “things are still…tense…within the Glaive, your majesty. It’s best I stay near my men.”

“Hmm, very well. You have Gladiolus’s phone number?”

“Huh?” Nyx blinked at the change of topic. “I don’t think so?”

“Clarus will make sure you do. My son has a habit of sometimes ducking those charged with his safety. A note to his shield should he arrive unescorted would be appreciated.”

“I’m sure,” added the Marshall, “our good captain will take all due caution in ensuring his highness’s safety when he visits. I would appreciate, as a personal favor, if he would keep an eye out for his highness’s friend, Prompto, as well.” 

Nyx wasn’t sure if that was an order or a threat, but he got the message. If anything happened to the prince or Prompto when they came to visit his cats, he’d pay for it. 

“I understand,” he said, “was there anything else?”

There wasn’t, so he made his way back to his apartment.

Prince Noctis was asleep on his floor, arms folded behind his head. Vesper had joined the others, curled up on the boy’s stomach, long tail curled protectively around the others. Cato had moved onto the boy’s chest, and they’d tucked the two smaller kittens between them. All of them were also asleep, though Vesper awoke when he entered and glared at him. 

Chapter Text

Earlier…

“You should stay with us”

“NO”

“But you belong with us”

“NO”

“But you’re Cloud”

“I am not staying with you! Besides, the hyperactive fox will just take me back to Noctis.”

“Do you want to stay with him?” Zack grumbled. Lumi told himself it was for the best, even if Zack sounded hurt.

“Yes. I like Noctis.” He still could not deal with Zack being around while he was still mostly helpless. His caretakers still had to help him poop for fuck’s sake. Not that he hadn’t been trying to get that under control, but his body was still that of a two week old kitten. He'd rather die than Zack try and help with that sort of thing again. Besides, Noctis was his now, and he needed looking after. He was way too soft to be royalty. People would take advantage. Lumi might be cursed, but sometimes when they were alone Noctis whispered that he was cursed too. Maybe their curses would cancel each other out. 

Eventually Noctis took Lumi back to his own quarters, completing his usual night time routine of gently cleaning the kitten before another bottle and a chat, then tucking him into the warm sock-like cat bed–with its own heating pad–Noctis kept on his enormous bed. Maddie had said they could start to cut down on the number of feedings, so long as Lumi kept growing, just giving him more at each one. He was very glad about the longer spans of sleep. It was nice to see more of his father though, who loved looking after the kitten just as much as he did. He seemed less weary when the kitten was around.

The next morning Noctis awoke to a face full of fur and a loud meow in his ear.

“Huh?” Noctis rubbed at his eyes and went to sit up. It was much harder than usual, owing to the giant fluff ball on his chest. 

“Hi Vesper. Did you come to see Lumi? How did you even get in here?” Vesper meowed loudly at him again.

“He’s hungry! You should be awake and feeding him!”

Lumi squeaked from his little bed. 

“Calm down Zack, he always feeds me.” Noctis rolled over to peek into the cat bed. Two golden blond kittens greeted him with quiet mews, huddled close together.  

“Aw, did you put Aelius in there with him?” Noctis gave both kittens a scratch behind the ears as he got up, pushing Vesper off. “That’s so cute, I wish Prompto lived closer, the pictures would be adorable.” Noctis yawned as he stretched. 

“Right, bottle time.” Noctis picked up Lumi and padded sleepily into his bathroom, where Ignis had helpfully set up supplies for kitten bottles–a filtered hot water dispenser, turned low, and racks of bottles and nipples which Ignis took to be cleaned each day. Noctis set about mixing up a bottle and attending to Lumi’s other needs. Vesper watched him the entire time, following him into the bathroom.

“You really are protective, you know that? Where’s Cato?” he asked as he tossed baby wipes, washed his hands, and set about feeding Lumi. 

“Recon, but you don’t need to know that.”

“Be nice to Noctis,” Lumi squeaked at Zack, “I like him.”

“I’m going to have to ask Ulric what you’ve been eating if you’re going to keep showing up.” Noctis stopped to give Vesper a head scratch of his own, please when the cat neither growled nor hissed at him. “The least I can do is feed you. Maybe Prompto can stay the weekend and we can get some pictures of all of you.”

“He should stay all the time,” Zack meowed. He didn’t mind Noctis, not really, and his friend was pretty nice too. That this Cloud liked them both so much just settled the issue in his mind. 

“Why?” Lumi asked.

“He’s alone a lot. Kuns and I have followed him home a few times. His parents are never around, I don’t think they look after him at all.”  

“We should do something then!”

“What can we do about it? We can’t exactly just talk to them about it.”

“There has to be something. Even if I have to talk to the annoying fox.”

“Don’t involve him!” The fox was the worst. He kept trying to steal Cloud. 

“He’s annoying, but he can talk to Noctis. Actually talk.” Noctis busied himself around them getting ready for school, when Ignis knocked on his door. Cato slunk in after him, Gladiolus close behind.

“What?” asked Noctis, “what’s that look for?”

“The–ahem–cats out of the bag, I’m afraid. Someone got video of parts of the chase, including of Luminis. It’s gone viral.”
“Yeah,” growsed Cato, “because your security still sucks. How have you idiots not lost your war yet.”

“Oh.” Noctis thought for a moment. “He is a cute kitten, of course it went viral. Does this mean I can take Lumi to school with me?”

“Your highness. Please.” Noctis just picked Lumi up and gave Ignis a pleading look. 

“Well, if we’re not trying to keep him quiet anymore…”

Ignis sighed his most put upon sigh. 

“I’ll clear it with the school. It would be better than constantly interrupting his majesty’s schedule, since someone refuses other caregivers.”

“I still don’t like you,” grumbled Lumi.

“Yes! Thanks Iggy!” Ignis just sighed again and set about packing up kitten supplies. 

Prompto greeted Noctis immediately at school. His other classmates were all clearly holding themselves back from asking.

Noctis pulled Luminis out of the small carrying back Ignis had insisted he use. Prompto made a high pitched noise before taking the kitten to rub their noses together. 

“Hi Lumi, welcome to school!”

Noctis took his kitten back and settled into the classroom, putting Lumi on his desk to look around. He immediately had a crowd around them. 

“Can we pet him?” One of his classmates asked. Lumi hissed. 

“Not right now, he’s shy. And little.” Prompto had his phone out, filming Lumi’s grumpy face as he tucked himself closer to Noctis. “You can take pictures though?”

“During break, your highness,” called their teacher, “class needs to start.”

Class was, well, class, and Lumi tuned most of it out, until they got to the interesting subject of chemistry. Break came and went with lots, and lots, of pictures taken, especially when Noctis fed him. 

After lunch, however, there was a rattle from somewhere in the room.

Noctis sat up in shock when Cato jumped onto his desk. 

“Your highness,” the teacher tersely commented, “I believe the agreement was for the kitten.”

“Cato’s not mine,” he replied, petting the cat as he sniffed over Lumi, “and he kinda does as he pleases.” He tapped Cato’s nose. “How’d you get here anyway?”

Cato just chirped at him.

“Are you ok Cloud? They aren’t poking and prodding you too much? Is this too many people?”

“I’m fine Kunsel. I’m fine, Noctis wouldn’t let them bother me.”

Cato didn’t seem to quite believe him, but he sauntered off anyway. 

“Overprotective.” Lumi muttered to himself, and curled up to nap through literature. Noctis looked envious. 

The photos, of course, went viral. Prompto dubbed him the Prince of Cats, and it took barely an hour for the entire school to adopt the name. 

The next day Noctis had both Cato and Vesper on his chest.

“The Astral blessed cats made me late” did not go over well with his teachers.

Chapter Text

Noctis had always suspected Lumi could understand him perfectly well, just as Carbuncle did. When Lumi started correcting his homework he wondered if the kitten was smarter than he was about some things. At three months Lumi, now at the wobbly potato stage one would expect of a three week old kitten, began to stare at his math coursework, both at home and during class. He still showed up to class with Noctis more often than not, now riding in his backpack as he’d finally outgrown the pocket, though some days he stayed with Regis or in Nyx’s apartment with his trio. Nyx just resigned himself to frequent royal visits. At least it meant Pelna and Lib didn’t drop by to drink all his beer nearly as much. 

It took Noctis a while to realize that when Lumi nipped his finger it meant he was wrong, and the purr and lick were for when he was right. Sometimes Lumi would emphatically stamp a paw on an answer when he just wasn’t getting it. He shortly started doing it to Prompto too, as he freely moved between their desks at school, much to the ongoing annoyance of the teachers. 

Except during literature and history, when he took naps.

Both boys were currently working their way through math problem sets.

“Thanks Lumi, you’re a lifesaver!” Noctis said as they finished the work for the day, Lumi correcting his work. Prompto flopped sideways on the couch with a tiny sigh of “done!”

“You shouldn’t show off so much,” Zack complained from the bed. “Them knowing how human we are will just cause trouble.”

It was a tired argument already.

Zack and Kunsel had tried to convince Lumi not to let Noctis know just how intelligent he was.

“It’s just Noctis and Prompto,” Lumi said as he followed the boy over to a mini fridge, “no one thinks we’re anything more than divine messengers anyway.” He looked mournfully at the food Noctis pulled out, which he knew would be shared with Prompto and the other cats.

Maddie said he couldn’t have solid food until he had proper teeth, as it would indicate he had the digestion ready for it. He wanted real food! Milk was so boring. It tasted better than MREs had, but it was dull. 

At least he could finally go to the bathroom by himself again. Even if it was in a litter pan. 

Noctis set out dishes for the other three cats and filled them with a more diced up version of the cubed chicken he and Prompto were eating.

“Snack time boys!” Lumi just grumbled to himself as Noctis fed him a bottle. Even Aelius could eat properly now, though he still needed Zack’s help to move far as he tipped over his own feet often when he walked. Nyx had found the bigger cat a little harness with a pouch he could tuck Aelius into to make him easier to carry. He’d given up on keeping the trio from going to visit Noctis in the afternoons. 

A fact the cats were going to take advantage of now.

Cato rubbed up against Prompto’s leg, then stretched up to put his head in easy reach.

“We ready for The Plan?” he asked the others. 

“Yup” Zack called as he casually knocked over Prompto’s backpack, and then Noctis’s and several more things as well.

“Vesper!” scolded Prompto, gathering his things up. He didn’t notice the kittens that crawled inside, hiding out of sight while he zipped it up. Cato and Vesper ensured he stayed distracted, chattering at him and batting at things as he tried to gather them up.

He didn’t notice Cato carefully taking his phone and tucking it into the couch, under a cushion.  

Noctis saw Prompto off as the two larger cats disappeared. He assumed, as both trotted away with bundles, that they had the little golden kittens with them.

They didn’t.

Prompto got all the way home and settled into his room, alone, before he noticed anything amiss. His parents were gone again, who knew where. They’d left him money to last a month and a note. 

Not even a text message. 

Prompto opened his bag to unpack a few things, only to find two fluffy kittens staring back at him. 

Lumi gave him a squeaky meow. 

“Lumi! Aelius! How did you get in there? Why didn’t you cry? Oh astrals, Noct and Nyx are going to be frantic. Vesper’s going to be frantic!” Prompto scooped the two kittens out as he panicked. “Okay, phone, phone, where’s my phone?”

Prompto had to put the kittens down to frantically rummage through his bag, setting them on the kitchen counter. The phone was nowhere to be found. He dumped everything out of his bag to search again. It still wasn’t there.

“Great, now what,” Prompto ran his hands down his face as he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. “What would Iggy do? Phone’s not here, cats are here,..” he trailed off for a second. “Oh! Take cats and go back. My phone’s gotta be at Noct’s, right?” 

He turned to retrieve the kittens only to find Lumi missing. Aelius had stalked across the counter to plop himself down into the classic loaf pose near one end, not where Prompto had left him. 

“Lumi? Lumi? Where’d you go buddy?”

The feeling of panic returned as Prompto searched the room, eyes darting back and forth. “Lumi? Lumi? Please don’t do this to me.”

A small squeak sounded from the top of the fridge. Prompto had to climb up on the counter to see the top. Lumi had squished himself all the way back into a corner, just out of reach. 

“Why? Baby, come on?” Prompto pleaded as he stretched to try and reach the kitten. Lumi pressed himself back, sticking his tongue out at Prompto.

“Rude, don’t you want to go home?”

“Nope, we gotta stay here until Zack and Kunsel get the adults so you can stop being sad.”

Prompto let his head thunk against the side of the fridge.

“Great, now you decide to be difficult.” He thunked his head a few times against the fridge. “What am I doing, arguing with a kitten. I mean, I know you can kinda understand me, but you can’t really talk. Please have mercy?”

Lumi just squeaked at him and settled in.

Meanwhile, back at the Citadel a different scene was playing out.

Cor sat behind his desk looking over reports and finishing up the day’s paperwork. He was just getting started on a stack of things to sign when Cato landed in the middle of his desk, right on top of the papers. Cor startled, rearing back before he recovered.

“Don’t scare me like that, you little menace.” 

Cato yowled in his face, batted at his hand and jumped off the desk. He continued to call as he walked to the door–which, Cor noticed, was closed. The cat looked at Cor over his shoulder and chittered at him. When Cor didn’t immediately follow he walked back over.

Then bit him on the ankle.

“Ow! Fine, I’m coming.” Cor sighed as he set his work aside. Knowing Ulric’s little demons he’d be pestered until he did what Cato wanted. 

He followed the cat out into the Citadel and along the halls as Cato led him towards the barracks. 

He was soon joined by Noctis and Gladio. 

“Cato?” Noctis asked, “where are the others then?” 

Noctis’s slightly worried voice instantly had Cor on alert.

“Your highness? Everything alright?”

“I don’t know. I thought Lumi went with the others, but Cato never leaves if Lumi is with them, and Nyx just texted me to ask if they kittens were with me, since it’s time for dinner.”

They swiftly reached Nyx’s apartment, the door to which opened before they even had a chance to knock.

“Your highness?” Nyx scanned him questioningly before kneeling down near Cato. “Cato? Where are the babies?”

“You don’t have them?” Noctis asked as Vesper appeared. Both cats started yowling at them, Vesper headbutting Nyx out the door.

“Um. He’s not clawing you, which is weird for when he doesn’t have Aelius, so this is weird.” Noctis sounded increasingly worried. 

“Perhaps,” said Cor, as Cato pushed him back, “we should just follow the cats.”

Cato led them back to Noctis’s quarters, where he produced Prompto’s phone. Noctis recognized it instantly.

“Prompto? Why is his phone here?” Cato set the phone down and tapped at it, staring at Noctis pointedly.

Noctis narrowed his eyes at Cato.

“You planned this. Somehow, you planned this, and Lumi and Aelius are in on it, which is why you aren’t freaking out.” The prince picked up the phone and waved his hand out in front of him. “Lead on, you little schemer.”

Cor decided he didn’t want to think about how the two little menaces knew which car was his, or even where the underground garage was. Cato led them directly to his car without even considering any others. Cor did give Ulric a sidelong look, which the man pointedly ignored, as they all piled into his vehicle. 

The prince was nervously petting Vesper as they drove, and the cat was letting him without complaint. Cor drove quickly towards Prompto’s home.

“Wait,” asked the prince, “you know where Prompto lives?”

“I’ve looked in on him on occasion. We take your security very seriously, your highness.”

Noctis looked for a moment like he would press further, and didn’t believe him, but seemed to think better of it and settled back against the seat. 

Gladio raised an eyebrow at him in the rearview mirror, which Cor ignored as well. 

They finished the trip in anxious silence. 

The cats were out of the car and meowing at the door before the humans even finished unloading themselves. Vesper stood up on his hind legs and scratched at the door while yowling. They heard a scramble from inside before Prompto threw the door open. He was breathing too quickly and flushed.

“Noctis? You’re here! I’m sorry, I can’t find my phone, and the kittens! I don’t know how they got in but they were just there and then Lumi went and hid and…”

Prompto cut off when Noctis grabbed his flailing hands.

“It’s fine! Slow down. I have your phone, Cato and Vesper brought us here, it’s ok!”

Noctis backed Prompto up through the door, the others following. The cats had already rushed inside. Cato jumped up onto the counter, giving a lick to Aelius’s head, who meowed in greeting. Vesper was already scrambling up onto the fridge to grab the kitten wedged into the back corner. Lumi didn’t fight him as he scruffed the little kitten and pulled him out.

“We’re fine Zack,” Lumi squeaked as Zack jumped over to the counter as well.

Zack put him down and licked his face.

“Just let me make sure.”

Cor and Nyx awkwardly took in the scene–Noctis and Gladio calming down a near panicked Prompto, and Cat and Vesper reclaiming the babies. Nyx tried to approach Vesper and got hissed at for his troubles. Cato meowed at him from the side. 

“Why did I need to come?” Cor asked the air. Cato meowed back even louder.

“He’s your kid, you idiot.”

Aelius got up and tapped his paws on the paper he’d been sitting on, mewing at Nyx.

Nyx took the cue and slid it out from under him, reading quickly.

“Prompto,” Nyx said in concern before handing the note to Cor, “where, exactly, are your parents?”

Prompto froze and stuttered for a bit while Noctis looked at him with growing worry. Finally the Prince frowned and grasped his friend by the shoulders, turning Prompto to face him. 

“Prompto, whatever is going on, we want to help, but don’t hide. Not from me. Where are your parents?”

Prompto took a deep breath and sighed.

“Gone. On a trip.” He chewed on his lip nervously. “They left money though! And I’m fine, I can get myself to school and stuff.”

“For a month?” Cor asked, the note crinkling where he was grasping it tightly. Prompto shrank at the anger in his voice, which made Cor take his own deep breath.

“No one is angry with you. But I would like you to tell us, honestly, how often your parents leave you alone for weeks at a time.”

“Not that often?” The cats all started meowing up a storm at that.

“I don’t think they agree with you,” said Noctis, “try again.”

“More often than not maybe.”
“Prompto,” Nyx asked pointedly, “when was the last time you actually saw your parents?”

“Um,” the boy had to think for far too long, “last year? I think?”

“Prompto!” cried Noctis before throwing his arms around the other boy and hugging him tight. Gladio put a hand on his back and looked at Cor, clearly angry. 

“That ain’t right. I’ll help you pack your bags.”

“Pack?” asked Prompto, bewildered.

“Yeah, you are not staying here alone,” declared Noctis, “I think that’s why the cats brought us here. I knew they’d planned it.”

“Oh,” said Prompto, “I wasn’t sure I should mention it, but Vesper’s followed me home a few times. I, uh, may have vented a little?” He pulled away to step over to the cats, petting Cato’s head gently. Cato allowed it. 

“You just like to meddle, don’t you?”

Cato meowed in response.

“If you all weren’t such idiots I wouldn’t have to.”

They all ended up helping Prompto pack up everything they thought they could fit into the trunk of Cor’s car, with a promise they could come back for anything he needed but forgot. 

Prompto stayed with Noctis for the next week, until Cor–spurred on once again by Cato–asked him if he would allow him to take custody of him. 

Things happened fairly quickly from there, helped by royal involvement. Prompto’s parents were found, served with court documents alleging abandonment, and an agreement was quickly reached.

Prompto tried not to be sad at how easily they’d given him up to avoid more serious repercussions for themselves. Cor was clearly trying to make him comfortable, but that would take time. 

Meanwhile, he plotted a way to thank–and get a little revenge on–the pack of cats who’d upended his life. He was grateful, but also a bit annoyed at the upheaval. He had the perfect idea though, he just needed to text Iris for a little help.

Chapter Text

Maddie was glad to get everyone’s check ups done all together, as Vesper was much less of a hissy, snarling fluffy ball of rage if he could see the smallest kittens the entire time.

Luminis, however, still had a habit of setting things on fire if the exam annoyed him enough.

The prince’s habit of clearly finding it funny when scolding him about it surely didn’t help, but Maddie wasn’t about to bring that up. Captain Ulric was one thing, she was still a bit intimidated by His Royal Highness, as nice as the boy was.

Vesper growled again when she took Aelius to start his exam, then went back to grooming Lumi’s head. Lumi wasn’t objecting.

“You know, Vesper’s in good enough health and weight we can consider standard procedures. Such as neutering. It’s generally healthier for male cats, and can decrease aggression significantly.”

The reaction from the cats was immediate, Lumi hissing loudly, electricity crackling over his little body as his wings beat furiously. The prince and Ulric shifted uncomfortably, the way many men did when that particular topic came up. 

“Um. I’ll think about it?” Ulric said absently, watching Vesper as the cat glared at him. Vesper hissed. “Wait, no, make that no. If they understand enough to be upset at the idea, they understand enough to say no.”

“Fair enough,” Maddie said as she finished the exams.

Early the next morning, Nyx awoke to see Luminis glaring at him from the foot of his bed. A pair of toy balls had been set carefully low on his stomach. Each one had been unstuffed, a perfect, neat cut to the seam, each stitch meticulously sliced without harming the fabric in the slightest. 

“I already said no,” he commented to the room at large. Lumi just meowed at him. 

“We just want to be clear!”

When he got out into the living room Vesper was standing by their shiny new talking buttons. He stared at Nyx while very deliberately stepping on the “Fuck You” button. Twice.

“Don’t swear in front of the baby,” he scolded, picking Lumi up. The kitten was clearly laughing at him. Aelius wobbled over himself to sit on the “Bread” button. It started going off rapidly.

“Why do we even have that button? Bread is not a cat food.” Nyx was saved from further feline harassment by the arrival of the prince and his retinue, plus Iris. 

It was the end of Lumi’s fourth month as a kitten, and he was much more mobile. With a little help from his wings he could get into the vents by himself, which meant he sometimes popped up in odd places, including Nyx’s apartment whenever he pleased. Lumi still mostly hated his wings, but after months of gentle care from Noctis and Regis, not as much as he once did. 

The prince was never far behind Lumi, having developed an unerring radar for kitten antics. Nyx suspected magic was involved, but whatever it was Noctis was now able to always find his kitten and just turn up. 

Nyx handed Lumi off to Noctis and ushered all five visitors into his apartment before going to grab the ‘fuck you’ button before Vesper could swear at His Royal Highness. Just so he could maintain some semblance of propriety. 

Never mind that Vesper had already used it to swear at His Majesty, Lord Amiticia, and Marshall Leonis, and somehow Nyx still hadn’t gotten fired. 

“Might I make use of your kitchen, Captain?” Ignis asked. He was already pulling out several containers from an insulated bag. “Luminis is still on a bottle, and will be for a while yet, but since the good doctor okayed introducing a little solid food yesterday we thought we’d see what he likes best, and the others can have some too.” 

Lumi perked up and meowed loudly.

“Yes, gimme real food!”

Noctis set Lumi on the counter while Ignis slid dishes of freshly cooked fish and meat in front of him. Lumi tasted each one before inhaling the entire dish of chopped beef. 

Lumi forgave Ignis every grudge he’d held against the man once he had his cooking. How he made such simple foods taste so nice, even to his kitten palate, the gods themselves would wonder at. He toddled up to Ignis’s hand and rubbed his head under it, purring loudly.

“Oh, now I’m forgiven am I? I suppose treats are the way to your affection?” Lumi meowed in agreement. 

While Ignis passed out food to the other cats, Aelius stepped on the bread button again. 

“I did remember you like bread Aelius, I promise,” Ignis said as he pulled yet another container out. “We have something special in mind for these though.” 

Prompto pulled out his camera and a tripod.

“We wanted to get some pictures! Now that Lumi’s public, the publicity office has been asking for a photoshoot a lot. We thought Lumi might be more comfortable here than the publicity office though.”

“I don’t like the publicity office, Lumi isn’t going to like it either,” said Noctis, rubbing behind Lumi’s ears. “Dad thought we should give them some official pictures though.”

“We brought props!” Iris chimed in, holding up several bags. “So we can get some cute pics of the others too!”
“Even though only the ones of Luminis will be released,” Ignis quickly reassured Nyx. 

“You owe me cute pictures for giving me a heart attack, you little stowaways,” Prompto said as he scratched under Aelius’s chin. Vesper stepped on a button.

“No”

“Yes!”

“No” He looked around, which Nyx assumed meant he wanted the fuck you button. Luckily it was still in his hand. Vesper glared at him. Lumi squeaked.

“Zack, if I have to sit for pictures, you have to sit for pictures.”
“Lumi.”

“You wouldn’t leave alone would you?” Vesper wilted and stalked over to the boys, tail lashing. 

“Well, alright then,” Ignis said, unpacking small meat buns. 

Iris’s bags turned out to have costumes, including a large array of little hats, and doll furniture. She slipped fancy hats with chin straps onto the heads of the kittens while Ignis positioned two buns on a little plate on a tea table, complete with tablecloth. Lumi and Aelius were plopped onto doll chairs, looking like they were sitting at a fancy cafe. 

“Ok, hold that pose!” Prompto directed as he started snapping pictures. “Just a second…okay, you can eat the buns now.” Both kittens took large bites, Prompto not pausing in shooting as he moved around them. 

Iris pulled out a set of small horns on a headband she slipped over Vesper’s head. The cat grumbled but didn’t fuss. Then she added a saddle on his back that had also clearly come from a toy. Noctis swapped out Lumi’s fancy hat for a cowboy hat and set the kitten on Vesper’s back. Prompto somehow managed to take pictures despite his giggles. Ignis rewarded Vesper with another snack. 

Aelius allowed the chocobo hat to stay on his head for exactly one photo before clawing it off and chewing on it. 

Iris swapped it out for a hat shaped like a loaf of bread.

“Come on, do the cute loaf pose.” Aelius meowed at her. “I’ll give you two more buns if you do?”

Aelius thought this over for only a second before tucking himself into the correct pose and holding still until Prompto moved on. Iris kept her word, snagging two more meat buns from Ignis. Aelius happily chewed his way through them. 

Prompto’s next offering was a sparkly tiara for Lumi. Placed carefully before a light it gave the impression of a halo. With his golden wings spread out behind him, Lumi looked divine and angelic, a proper guardian. 

Cato’s first costume involved a pair of small spectacles and a bow tie, staged on top of an open book. 

Noctis helped wrestle a shark hat onto Vesper’s head, his fluffy mane sticking out oddly around his head where it stuck through the shark’s wide open mouth. Nyx stifled a laugh of his own before Vesper stalked up to him.

Just to promptly bite him on the ankle. Nyx yelped and pulled his leg out of reach, but didn’t drop the button. Much to Vesper’s dismay.  

“Tell me you got a pic of that,” Iris giggled.

“Oh I did,” laughed Prompto, “I did. Maybe we should let you keep the shark hat, huh Vesper? You do like to bite.” Vesper grumbled out a series of growling meows.

“Well, he’s not wrong,” commented Cloud, batting at the shark fin hanging from the side of Zack’s head. Zack responded by pouncing on Cloud and licking his face while he squirmed.

“I may look silly, but you’ll always be cuter!” 

Iris, meanwhile, had added a top hat to Cato’s look, cooing over how dignified he looked. Kunsel just sighed internally. There were so many useful things he could be doing right now. 

Lumi tolerated an entire series of crochet fruit hats, helped along by Ignis, who was dangling strips of very high quality steak in front of the kitten. He slowly fed the strips to Lumi one by one, ensuring the kitten completely ignored the costume changes. 

“I see we have discovered the key to your heart,” said Ignis as he offered yet another strip, “which I supposed shouldn’t be surprising given how much you can eat.”

Prompto finally, through barely controlled giggles, said they should move on to the real photos, which meant Noctis had to change too. Ignis just smiled serenely at Noctis’s sputter when he produced a formal outfit for him. Noct started to protest, only to be loudly drowned out by the kitten chorus. 

“Fine! Dress up for me too I guess,” he said as he stalked off to the bathroom to change.

When he came back Ignis and Iris had finished dressing Lumi in a small matching top and a tiny circlet. Ignis handed Noctis a circlet of his own, which the prince reluctantly put on. Prompto set about getting Noctis to pose with Lumi in various ways.

“My apartment is the best place for this?” Nyx asked.

“They’re gonna take the background out of anything we do anyway. Publicity rules,” Prompto shrugged. Half an hour–and many tiny hats–later and the whole crew finally left, taking Lumi with them. Nyx collapsed on his couch. 

Which let Cato steal back the button. Both of them got his attention before deliberately stepping on it.

“Fuck you”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

It was a sad day for both Noctis and Prompto when Ignis finally figured out Lumi was responsible for their improved math and science scores. 

Ignis picked Lumi up by the scruff to look him in the eye when he caught the kitten showing the boys the correct answers. 

“If you give them the answers, I will buy only the very cheapest meat for the next week.”

The little kitten drooped and gave Ignis the saddest eyes.

“No! No pleading. Don’t do their homework for them!”

“Hey!” protested Noctis, “he’s just helping a little.”

Lumi mewed pitifully at him.

“I will allow you to give him pointers, but that’s it. No answers, got it?”

All three of them grudgingly agreed.

Chapter Text

Lumi was seriously considering setting Gladiolus on fire. He knew the man was doing his best with Noctis, but he was a lot bigger and was absolutely sucking at teaching the smaller boy to use any size disparity to his advantage. Lumi was, he liked to think, quite accomplished at fighting bigger opponents. So he felt comfortable judging the training going on in front of him. 

He grumbled in little kitten squeaks and growls from Prompto’s lap, where he’d been plunked down so Noctis could train. Prompto gave him a consoling pat.

“Aw, Lumi, he’ll be done soon.”

That irritated him too. They knew Lumi had barrier, they knew he had offensive magic. Why not let him stay with Noctis during training? He could protect him, they should train together so Noctis could learn to work around Lumi’s magic. The teleporting magic was neat, Lumi liked watching it, but it would be even better with Lumi’s added magic. 

Lumi was quite sure he’d be better at it than Gladio. 

“Ugh, your footwork,” he grumbled to himself, since Prompto couldn’t understand him. Ignis decided Lumi’s grumbling must mean he was hungry, so he plucked the kitten away from Prompto to settle in his own lap while he hand fed the kitten strips of steak.

Lumi wasn’t actually that hungry, but the steak was very good so he ate it anyway while he complained to the air about Noctis’s failure to press an obvious opening. 

Prompto just laughed at his grumbling and snapped a photo. Lumi was the darling of the city, with every photo released going viral. The public couldn’t get enough. The press office was constantly flooded with requests for photos and videos of the kitten and questions about the kitten.

Well, he was a very cute kitten. Who belonged to the prince. His popularity was probably the least surprising thing about Lumi. Noctis joked that Lumi was by far the most popular member of the royal family, and had raised opinions about both himself and his father. 

Rumors had also started that Lumi was a blessing from the Astrals to protect their prince, and this meant the prince was special. Lumi thought Noctis must not like that kind of attention, as he got uncomfortable any time such rumors were brought up, even snapping at Prompto for it.

Halfway through training Vesper wandered in to check on Lumi, as he often did, Aelius riding on his back. Aelius had continued to improve over the last few months, now able to speak and move almost normally. He still happily let Zack’s much longer legs do the distance walking though. Zack wasn’t going to stop being overprotective, and Ulric had given up on keeping the cats in his apartment since the royals were prone to indulging their wandering. 

Nyx had gone to meetings one too many times lately to find Cato shamelessly sitting on the back of the king’s chair. He could swear the cat was reading over his shoulder too, though Cato feigned ignorance when asked. So, the cats wandered freely now, with most of the citadel familiar with them. They didn’t even bother with the vents most of the time–most Guards would open the door if they meowed at it. Within the Citadel photos of the trio were just as popular as pictures of Lumi

Zack watched the training for a bit while Aelius joined Lumi in eating everything Ignis had on hand.

“They’re so slow.”

“They really are,” Lumi commented around yet another piece of steak. He glanced up as Noctis missed another obvious opening and was tossed onto his back. He didn’t miss the small wince. No one else seemed to notice Noctis’s back was often bothering him.

“He needs more teachers. Different ones.” Lumi considered the issue for a moment as Noctis got up and tried again.

“How’s Ulric’s fighting?”
“Uh,” said Zack absently as he watched the spar, “dunno, haven’t seen it?” Lumi padded over to Zack with a large strip of steak, putting it down in front of him and rubbing up against him purring until he ate it.

“Doesn’t he train?”

“Fuck if I know, I don’t follow him around. I’ll ask Kunsel.” Zack thought for a moment. 

“He does train, some of the other idiots come and bug him about it sometimes. I’m sure Kuns’s checked him out.”

“Maybe he’d be better. Or Prompto’s new dad, is he a good fighter?”

“They call him the Marshall, I dunno if that means he’s a fighter or just the commander.”

“Well we should find that out then.”

“Why? Does it matter how good the kid fights? He’s the prince, they’re not gonna send him to the front lines.” Zack sounded a little bitter about that. Lumi wondered if he was thinking about Rufus. 

“That doesn’t mean he can slack off. Help me get more trainers?” Lumi purred and rubbed up under Zack’s chin. Zack caved immediately, ignoring how Cloud laughed at him.

“Sure, sure, let’s talk to Kuns.”

Kunsel, a little later, allowed that Nyx Ulric was a decently adequate fighter, and definitely better at the teleportation magic the Glaives heavily used than either the prince or Gladiolus. 

He informed them that Cor too was a strong fighter, who’d earned the title Immortal, though Kunsel had yet to catch the story behind it. 

“So we just need to get them to train Noct. How?” Lumi figured being cute and cuddly worked so well on Zack, he might as well try it on Kunsel. He rubbed his head into Kunsel’s chest and then flopped on his back to bat up at his nose. Kunsel washed Lumi’s face before answering.

“We can start with getting him there. We just have to take something he’ll miss right away.”

“You could just ask him,” Cloud offered from his perch on a pressure activated heating pad tucked into a cozy plush sock. It was very warm and felt nice on the lingering aches their injuries had left. 

“We can’t just ask for things,” said Zack, “he’s got no reason to just do what we want.”

Cloud considered the plush bedding, the many toys, and all the other things their guardian had bought them. He spoiled them a lot, but both Kunsel and Zack had some kind of blind spot about it. Cloud was quite sure Nyx would give them anything he had the power to. 

“Sure Zack. Stealing his stuff it is.” 

Noctis didn’t always keep a consistent schedule with training, but that didn’t matter. Lumi had discovered he always knew where Noctis and Regis were, just as they both always knew where he was. It wasn’t at all like the connection he’d had with Sephiroth–no thoughts or emotions–just a slight tugging awareness he could follow if he wanted to. So follow it he did, along with the others, and both of the poor Captain’s kukris. He’d had a late night returning from a mission and was still asleep, weapons carelessly dropped on the coffee table before he’d thrown himself into bed. Cato assured them he was unlikely to wake up before they reached the Crownsguard training halls.

Both Cloud and Lumi thought it was hilarious that the guards were so used to kitten antics by this point no one stopped them, just politely held the door. Despite the obvious weapons Zack had strapped to his back. 

They weren’t being subtle.

Ignis, however, was less prone to allowing feline shenanigans to stand unchallenged.

“Vesper. Are those Captain Ulric’s weapons?”

Vesper just stared at the man, tail swishing behind him. Lumi meowed up at Noctis and stretched up his leg, pawing at his calf. Noctis picked him up, as he always did when Lumi asked. 

Ignis made a move towards the weapons and Vesper growled and backed up.

“Don’t take that tone with me, we all know you are well aware of your actions,” he said, hands on his hips. The two of them continued to stare at each other in a battle of wills. Gladio just snapped a picture and started texting, barely hiding his laughter. The staring contest lasted long enough for a very disheveled Nyx to rush into the room. 

“Sorry, sorry, my apologies, your highness, I don’t know what they’re up to…”

“Do we ever know all of what they’re up to?” Noctis asked, clearly amused, “yes I mean you Cato.”

Cato ignored him to saunter over to a rack of training weapons, looking them over.

“Really, they need better training methods. They’re at war but their training is just lax.”

Nyx just sighed at the sight of his daggers on Vesper’s back. 

“Are you going to give those back?”

Vesper chirped at Nyx and danced out of easy reach. 

“Not until you get with the fucking program.” Cato padded back over to Noctis to nudge him towards the racks.

“What? What do you want?” Noctis asked the fluffy cat headbutting his legs. Cato just got frustrated when Noctis wouldn’t move and yelled at him.

“You’re here, in a training room, get with the program!”

“I suppose they must have a reason,” Ignis mused to the air as Vesper dodged Nyx’s attempts to catch the cat and his weapons. Prompto was trying to help and failing at doing more than getting in the way. Vesper was very fast when he wanted to be. 

“You sure about that?” Gladio asked as he made an attempt at catching Vesper himself, only to yelp as he snatched back his hand. Vesper had scratched down the back of it hard enough to raise a little blood. “Fuck you grumpy pants,” said Gladio. 

Carbuncle padded up to Aelius. Since neither Cato nor the humans reacted, Cloud figured he was in his spirit form.

“Hi!” the fox said before giving Cloud a lick between the ears. Cloud watched the continuing game of keep away and the various discussions going on. They were getting nowhere.

“You can talk to them right?”

“To Noctis? Yes, by message.”

“Can you please just tell them Noctis needs a better variety of trainers? He won’t learn enough just training with Gladiolus all the time.” Carbuncle barked out a laugh, grinning at Cloud.

“Ohhh, is that what’s going on? Well, if it will help Noctis, of course.”

A chime sounded from the prince’s pocket and Noctis put Lumi on his shoulder to pull out his phone.

“Carbuncle?”

Ignis and Gladio both stopped and came over, the others following.

“What does the guardian have to say?”

“You need to train with more than just Gladdy so they’ve picked you new trainers,” Noct read from his phone, “really? That’s what they want?” He turned his head to look at Lumi.

“Am I supposed to train with Captain Ulric?” Lumi nodded as obviously as his little head would let him. 

“Hey!” protested Gladio, “I’m training him just fine! I’m his shield, it’s my job!”

The phone chimed again.

“You’re too big and slow. That guy would be better.” Noctis dutifully read off the text. 

“Is that a short comment?” Nyx muttered under his breath.

“The good Captain is very busy with his own duties,” Ignis added in as the cats conferred with each other. Nyx ran a hand over his head, awkwardly opening and closing his mouth a few times before settling on something to say.

“I’m sure I could find the time, if it’s that important to them.”

“Maybe we should bribe him,” Kunsel said to Zack.

“Let him pet you!” offered up Cloud.

“What really?” 

“Yeah,” offered Lumi, “he always wants to, Carbuncle, tell ‘em he gets to give head pats without bites.”

Carbuncle obediently relayed that Vesper would accept head pats and scratches without violence if Nyx would regularly help train the prince. 

“You don’t have to convince me,” said Nyx. Both larger cats wove around the prince’s legs, rubbing against his shins. 

“Well, if Vesper pets are on the table, ok then,” Noctis looked up at Nyx, “if you can work it into your schedule, I’d appreciate pointers. About warping especially.”

With the agreement in place Vesper finally allowed Nyx to reclaim his kukris. He also accepted one careful head pat. Nyx looked delighted by it anyway.

Cor, it turned out, was all too happy to volunteer himself once Prompto relayed the cats’ concerns. 

Though Lumi was still put out to discover they still wouldn’t let him participate. 

Far away, in a cold and sterile laboratory, a cruel man perused a smuggled newspaper and a handful of reports. He laughed to himself.

“So, the little prince has a kitten! Enjoy your little comforts while they last. They won’t last long.” He considered several photos. 

“I wonder…” He turned to the large cage in the lab with him. “I don’t suppose he’s related to you?” The creature in the cage threw themselves against the bars of the cage, rattling it. The large, sleek, silver cat hissed at the man, banging again and again against the cage walls. He flickered briefly, form shifting as if phasing out of existence, before the bars electrified with the hum of magitek. The cat solidified again, growling. 

“Oh, I think it would be too much of a coincidence to have two special cats and not have them related. I’ll have to make sure our agents keep an eye out. A second specimen would be very useful. Very useful indeed.”

Chapter Text

Noctis handed the notebook over to Umbra, who paused to bark at Vesper before departing. 

Vesper hissed back from his perch on Noctis’s desk.

“Hi grumpy!”

“Fuck you!”

Noctis folded his arms on his desk and lay his head down with a deep sigh. Lumi padded over and bumped the boy’s chin with his head. The prince lifted a hand to scratch at the kitten’s neck. Vesper continued to complain from his spot until Cato appeared with Aelius. 

Noctis regarded the four cats as he idly ran a finger over Lumi’s head.

“Do you want to know a secret?” he asked. Cato immediately meowed back at him. Noctis chuckled just a little. “Of course you do, Cato.” The teen sat up, gathering Lumi and Aelius up and heading to his bed. Nyx was away on a mission until the morning at least, so all four cats would sleep in the prince’s room tonight. Noctis had already done most of his nightly routine, but he finished every evening with brushing and preening Lumi. He also talked to him, finding the time to gather his thoughts and vent his feelings one of the best parts of his day.

He flopped back on his bed, settling the smaller kittens on his stomach as he grabbed Lumi’s brush. Cato and Vesper padded in after him, both jumping onto the bed to curl up at his side. He’d had his precious kitten for almost a year now. He was just about to turn 15. It felt like forever. With his birthday approaching though, his future weighed heavily on his mind. 

“There’s a prophecy. About me,” he told the cats as he carefully brushed Lumi’s soft fur and tended his feathers, “I get to save the world! Lucky me. Only then, I get to die for it.” Noctis nuzzled Lumi’s fuzzy back, not wanting to look even the cats in the eye as he told them a story from long ago, and the revelations Lunafreya had told him about his fate.

He poured out all his complex feelings and fears to the cats, tearing up as he told them his father didn’t know that he knew the end result of his destiny. 

“I hope it’s a ways off,” he said as he ran his fingers through Lumi’s feathers, “I don’t want to lose my dad, but if I’m king he’s gone. I’m afraid it will be way sooner than I want.”

Lumi and Aelius growled in a matching buzz against his chest as Noctis fell asleep, worn out from pouring out his emotions. Lumi never thought he would find someone he wanted to destroy down to their atoms the way he did Sephiroth, but now his ire had a new target. He’d killed one god. Surely he could find a way to kill another.

“What do we do?” he asked the others.

“I…I’ll have to see what I can find,” Kunsel offered, already thinking of where information on such a secret topic might be kept.

“We can’t let him die. I don’t want him to die.” Lumi rubbed his nose on the boy’s chin. 

“We’ll find a way,” Zack assured him, stretching up to give Lumi a comforting lick. 

All four cats cuddled close to Noctis that night, keeping him surrounded and guarded throughout the night.

The thing about magic is, no matter what the ultimate source of power, so much of it depends on belief. On being certain that one can do it. 

The thing about gods is, they work much the same. 

The thing about the entire citadel believing in the divinity of these four cats–the prince and the king said they were messengers of the Astrals, who were any of them to question it–was there is a small kernel of power in such belief. 

Thus it was that when these four cats went to sleep that night, each of them wished for the prince’s safety.

Their wish clung to a little bit of magic and power, and a lot of belief, and more than a little of the synergy that existed between different versions of the same soul on different worlds.

Just enough to float across the space between worlds, where a little godling in the shape of a wolf was chasing rabbits in the woods around his den. 

He stopped, ears twitching to listen. 

“A wish and a prayer?” he said to himself, “hmm, maybe a quick look.”

Chapter Text

Zack pushed another large tome off of a high shelf. It landed with a soft but solid thump on the cushion Kunsel had situated below. Kunsel dragged the book off and started flipping through. Aelius pawed through a chest of scrolls, nosing out ones that looked the oldest with a little help from Lumi.

“Any more from up here?” Zack asked as he deftly balanced along the edge of the shelf.

“I don’t think so. Not yet.”

The king’s library was still deserted this early–dawn wasn’t for a couple of hours yet. The cats wanted to get started on research before anyone awoke to interrupt them.

“What do you think we’re gonna find?” asked Lumi. 

“The whole prophecy for starters,” answered Kunsel, “we need context.”

All four cats paused, ears twitching. Someone was nearby. They could sense it.

They nearly didn’t hear the approach. The footfalls were silent, but they could hear the other sounds of another approaching, a steady heartbeat and quiet breathing.

A shaggy, fuzzy head peeked around a bookcase. It split into a wide lupine grin when it spotted Cloud and Lumi. 

“Here you are other me. Two other mes!” The little wolf giggled.

“who? “ Zack growled before stopping suddenly. “Cloud?”

The little shaggy wolf cub rounded the bookcase and sniffed up at Zack. Zack jumped down from the bookcase, putting himself between the others and this newcomer. 

“A Zack! ‘M a Cloud. Are you lost?” He looked at the last of their group. “Hmmmm. You must be…a Kunsel!” The cub sat down, clearly proud of himself.

“This is a funny world. It feels weird. Are you all lost? My mama can find your home.”

“How did you get here? And why did you get turned into a wolf and not a cat?” Kunsel asked, edging around Zack to sniff at the cub.

“I’ve always been a wolf? Are you not usually cats? Can’t you change? I can change!” With that the little wolf cub shifted into a little boy with long shaggy hair, so shaggy they couldn’t even tell if he was wearing clothing. He waved at them with both hands and a big grin and then changed back. “I heard you.”

“Heard us?”

“Yeah. Calling. Praying, I guess? ‘S weird. I don’t hear prayers much ‘cause folks don’t pray to me.” His head tilted as he considered. “But you’re mes, so okay.”

He sniffed around them and circled the room, sniffing everything he could as the cats stared at each other, trying to think of what they should do. 

“Can you…get home?” Kunsel asked. The little wolf paused and thought. 

“Don’t see why not? ‘Sides, if I’m too long mama will come get me. Mama can always find me.”

He wandered back over to them and nosed at Zack.

“Do ya need a ride? Is that why you were prayin’?”

“No!” said Lumi, “we need a way to save Noctis!”

“Who’s that?”

“The fated King of Light,” said a new voice. The little wolf jumped and spun around, tripping over his own feet.

“Carbuncle,” hissed Zack. Kunsel hushed him. Carbuncle was stiff and posed formally. He wasn’t prancing around them playfully the way he usually did.

“Little God, the Astrals, the Gods of this World, send you the most polite of greetings and bid me ask your purpose and intention on this world.”

The wolf stared at the fox, blinking.

“Huh?” Then the cub giggled. “You talk like GenGen.”

Carbuncle sighed.

“Little God, why are you here?”

“‘Cause they called me. My name is Cloud, not little god,” he scolded. The wolf padded over to Carbuncle to sniff at him. “You’re a funny Carbuncle.”

Carbuncle’s ears flattened back. 

“The Astrals would really like to know what you’re up to.”

“Dunno, other mes, what we doing?” Cloud twisted his head around to look at Lumi.

“We’re going to save Noctis, and if you can help, great, if not, go back where you came from,” Lumi said.

“Saving somebody’s cool. Is he fun?”

“He’s…important to me.” Lumi answered.

“Wait,” said Kunsel, “Why is he calling you a god?”

“Kinda am one? ‘M not very good at it yet. Mama does that stuff.” His ears twitched as he wandered off to the edge of the room. “Is an Astral who’s yelling?”

“Yelling?” asked Kunsel in alarm, “someone is yelling?”

“Yeah! This way.”

“Wait, no!” called Carbuncle, but the wolf was out the door and down the hall before they could stop him. Kunsel and Aelius–it was just easier to think of him by the name their idiot gave him with two other Clouds in the mix–and gave chase immediately. Carbuncle bounced only half a step after them. Zack paused to pick up Lumi, who’s short legs slowed him down. 

The wolf followed the sound down the hallway and up a long staircase. He skidded to a stop in front of a large door, switching instantly to human to open the door handle and then back to wolf to slink inside. The room held a large crystal, suspended from the ceiling by chains. 

“Cloud!” hissed Zack around his mouthful of kitten. They didn’t like to be anywhere near this room. It gave him and Kunsel both terrible headaches and made their fur stand up. Everything about the glowing crystal seemed to say they shouldn’t be there. 

“Wow,” said wolf Cloud, “that’s the biggest materia ever!”

How dare you enter this chamber unasked, said a low and angry voice from the crystal.

“Who’re you?” asked the cub, “and why’re you so grumpy?”

Impudent whelp the voice said, go with your fellow trespassers back from whence you came .

“You talk funny,” little Cloud commented, “I dunno what that means, but you sound mad. Why?”

You don’t belong here

“I know that!” he giggled, “but ‘m here anyway. You don’t gotta be mean.” He frowned at the crystal, sizing it up. He tapped it with a paw while the cats all hissed at him to stop. “You gonna come out?”

Insolent brat! I shall come to teach you your place!

A slit opened on the surface of the crystal, expanding outward slowly. A figure appeared and stepped through, towering and framed by swords. The wolf cub yelped and scrambled back as a large armored hand reached for him and roughly grabbed him by the scruff. He swung from the draconian’s hand as he was lifted to eye level.

You do not belong here, and you shall not interfere. The chosen one shall lay down his life to cleanse this world of the accursed and none shall change his fate.

Regis, awoken by pain in his hand and a sense of foreboding, chose that moment to shoulder his way into the room. He stopped short at the sight of Bahamut himself standing beside the crystal, ringed by Captain Ulric’s cats and Luminis, a wolf cub dangling from his fist.

He heard the cub quite clearly holler.

“That hurt you meanie. MAMA!”

Chapter Text

Regis didn’t get the chance to ask what was going on before the empty air beside the crystal split open and between one moment and the next the chamber felt a great deal smaller. 

A giant golden wolf filled the other side of the room, growling immediately. Her eyes darted around the room, in a quick assessment before she focused in on Bahamut.

“Put him down. Now.”

How dare you intrude here. Bahamut said as he tossed the cub aside to summon a blade. The little wolf cub landed hard, tumbling head over heels to stop in a bit of a daze at the king’s feet. Regis, at a loss as to what to do in a clash between an Astral and this newcomer, scooped up the little cub and gently checked him over. 

“Oh you will pay for that,” said the giant wolf with a snarl.

Unheard by Regis, both Lumi and Aelius yelled “Ma!” at the same moment. The wolf glanced their way and then had to leap back as Bahamut swung at her neck. The door opened again, admitting Clarus, followed closely by Noctis and Carbuncle. 

Clarus immediately grabbed at Regis, pulling him away from the combatants, towards the open door.

The wolf leapt forward twisting under Bahamut’s swing to catch his arm in her teeth. She bit down and braced her legs, swinging to the side. The arm made a sickening crunch as it partially tore at the shoulder and the dragon screamed in pain. He clawed at Claudia’s face and neck with his other arm, scratching down her face but she held on, shaking him fiercely.

Blood splattered the room. Bahamut tried to push forward, or find some leverage to free himself from the wolf’s jaws.

The wolf shoved back, cracking the draconian’s back against the crystal so hard is swung back on its chains. 

Noctis edged around his father. The cats back up to try and stay out of the way in the tight space as wolf and dragon wrestled against the crystal. Carbuncle took in the scene and disappeared again.

Regis shoved the cub into Clarus’s arms so he could pull Noctis back. Noctis had other ideas, breaking away from his father’s hold to lunge for Lumi, dropping to the floor to snatch up the kitten and cradle him close. 

A chill swept the room, frost condensing from the air and then crystalizing in a shower of magic into the shimmering form of Shiva, Carbuncle beside her.

“Peace, Goddess of another world, please!” Shiva called to the giant wolf. 

“Yield,” the wolf growled around her mouthful of Astral.

I will not… he started, but Shiva interrupted.

“Yield or you’ll have no aid from me,” she snapped at him, “I’ve half a mind to let her kill you, if I didn’t fear the strength the darkness would take from it.”

Fine you cursed wretches, I yield.

“You’re a rude one,” she remarked, unlocking her jaw to let the mangled sword arm free. 

The giant wolf backed up, keeping a wary eye on Bahamut as she swung her massive head towards Clarus, deftly plucking the cub from his hold to plop him back on the ground and sniff over him, finally giving him a lick across the face and head. 

“Mamaaaa,” the cub whined, “‘M fiiiinnnnnee.” 

Shiva bound up Bahamut’s mangled arm with a strip of cloth from her own clothing, doing her best to staunch the bleeding. No one else dared approach to help.

Clarus wisely decided not to draw his own sword with a giant wolf so close to his throat, choosing instead to try and edge both Regis and Notis back out of the room. The doorway was too crowded, however, as Cor and Nyx slid into the room, Nyx ignoring everything to check on his cats. 

“Why have you come, goddess of another world?” Shiva asked the mother wolf.

“I followed my cub, who called for me in fright. I am called Claudia, Shiva. We know of you on our world, though differently.” Claudia turned to Noctis, though Regis tried to put himself in front of him. 

“Be well, I will not harm him. The little one he holds I recognize. Another version of my own son. There are many versions of our world, but I know my child whatever world he comes from. Others have come to us before, so I have declared they are all my child when I find them.” She gave Noctis a lupine grin. Lumi squeaked up a storm.

“Ma? Ma! This is Noctis! He’s taken really good care of me but he’s the prince and there’s some awful prophecy that says he’s supposed to die and we were trying to stop it.” Lumi figured if anyone could do an end run around a prophecy, it would be a goddess. Especially a goddess who was also his ma. 

“Be calm little one,” she said to Lumi, “we’ll sort it out.” Claudia sniffed at Noctis and then licked his cheek, much to the alarm of his father and Clarus. 

“This little one is very fond of you,” she added. 

She lowered her nose to the other cats, as Nyx put a protective arm around them. Vesper hissed at him, but Cato allowed him to pull him to his chest.

“We’re fine, we don't need your help.” Aelius scrambled over his arm and toddled right up to the wolf’s nose, rubbing his face against it and purring loudly.

“And you have another of my sons, as these three are from yet a different world. Hello, Cloud.” She licked across his head. “Be well.”

“Now,” said Claudia, “what’s this about a prophecy? And sacrificing this nice young man? Noctis, is it?”

“Did…?” Regis paused, swallowing the lump in his throat. Captain Ulric was staring up at him from where he sat, holding Cato, wide-eyed in shock. He mouthed ‘sacrifice?’ as though he couldn’t believe what he heard. 

“Did Luminis…or Cloud? Is it?...tell you that?” Regis asked.

“Luminis is a lovely name,” said Claudia, “and easier than calling all three Cloud.”

“I don’t hate it,” squeaked Lumi from Noctis’s arms. Claudia regarded them curiously. 

“Can you not hear him?” She looked at the other cats. “Can you not speak to them in this form?” Her eyes glowed as she examined them, sniffing over Aelius and Lumi.

“..Oh! I see, you’re stuck.” She sniffed at Lumi again and licked across his entire little body.

“There! Try it now.”
“Try what?” Lumi squeaked at her.

“Try changing!” She nudged her own cub. “Here, Cloud, show him how.”

The cub sat up on his haunches, shuddered, and shifted before their eyes, changing again into the shaggy-haired blond child. He threw his arms out and spun around twice. On the second turn he smoothly shifted back into a cub. The shaggy mop of a little cub got a curious look in his eye and scuttered off behind his mom. 

“I will remain as I am, I think, for the time being,” she added, with a hard glare in the Draconian’s direction. Lumi concentrated on his body. He’d felt *something* when the other Cloud had changed. Was he supposed to replicate it? He thought hard, focusing on the feeling.

With a small pop and a rush of air, Noctis had to shift quickly to adjust for the sudden difference in weight as instead of a small golden winged kitten, he suddenly had a small golden winged little boy in his arms.

“That felt weird,” Lumi said, “oh, hands! I missed those.”

The little boy looked up at Noctis and threw his arms around his neck, hugging him close.

“You’re not allowed to die,” he said shakily, “I’ll fight for you if I have to.”

“What?! No! You’re like…a baby.”
“Not a baby. You can’t fight him, you still lose to Gladio.” Noctis flushed crimson. 

“I’m working on it! You’re not fighting anyone!” Noctis hugged him close. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”

“Well I won’t let anything happen to you! I fought Sephiroth and won! I can beat up this accursed one!”
“Who needs to be fought anyway?” asked Claudia, “Still waiting for a story there.”

The King of Light must face the accursed one in mortal combat to finally purge this world of the accursed taint and bring about the new age, forever banishing the darkness.

“Alright,” said Claudia, “and this is supposed to kill them both?”

The power needed to cleanse the world and match the accursed’s power is too much for one to handle without mortal wound. And sacrifice must be paid for the sins of the past.

Claudia stared hard at Bahamut, who shuffled under her gaze, mangled arm pinned to his chest. 

“Well that sounds stupid. If this accursed one is too much for one mortal to channel enough power to defeat, then don’t send just one. Duels are stupid.” She turned her gaze to Regis. “If a hunt is too much for a lone wolf, you take a pack.”

The King of Light must face the Accursed One Alone!

“Keep saying that,” Claudia started with an overly sweet tone that turned into a snarl, “and I’ll make the other arm match.”

Bahamut, somewhat wisely, shut up. Shiva just shook her head at him. Claudia sniffed over the other cats, licking across each head. She eyed Nyx carefully as he cradled a now struggling Cato to him. 

“You might want to put him down.”

“Wait, can we change back too? Really?” Aelius squeaked up at her.

“Try it now.”

“Okay,”  

“Wait!” said Kunsel, jumping from Nyx’s arms, “let me go first.”

The fluffy cat squirmed for a moment and then with a pop was gone. In the cat’s place was a handsome young man. 

“Huh,” he said, looking at his hand. “Um, hi?” 

Nyx stared at him, raising a hand to Kunsel’s head before thinking better of it and quickly putting it back down. 

“So. Um, I’m guessing you have a name that’s not Cato?”

“Kunsel. Kunsel Zelda.” Aelius squeaked and poofed away just after him. The blonde in his place swayed on his feet for a second and then stumbled forward to hug the wolf tightly.

“Hello Cloud.”

“Ma,” he cried, bursting into tears that he hid in her fur.  

Vesper turned around a few times before he, too, disappeared with a pop and a black-haired man appeared in his place. 

“Woah,” he said, “that’s a head rush. Fuck.”

“Language, Zackary Fair, there are children here,” scolded Claudia. Nyx raised his hand again, and to his surprise Zack put his head under it. He patted him awkwardly.

“We have a deal,” Zack said quietly. 

Claudia looked around, noticing her own little cub had disappeared.

“Cloud? My Cloud? Where did you go?”

“Here mama! Look what I found!” Cloud was human again, holding a squirming ginger cat. “Look, mama, look, a GenGen!”

Omake: Far away in Altissia

Weskham scrubbed at another stubborn stain on the bar top. It was a quiet day, the evening crowd not yet arrived. The mysterious ginger cat, who now answered to Crimson, was lounging across one end of the bar. Crimson had been the only name he didn’t hiss at from a long list Weskham had tried. 

There continued to be rumors of the cat wandering about before monsters the hunters sought turned up inexplicably dead.

Suddenly, the air shifted, and a little boy, nearly covered by long shaggy hair, was just there, at the end of the bar. The cat bolted upright and scrambled along the bar.

The child gave a cry of “GenGen!” and dashed after him, tackling the cat under a table, knocking it over. Weskham didn’t have time to react; it all happened so fast. The boy hugged the squirming, flailing cat to him with a delighted grin and promptly disappeared.

Chapter Text

“Genesis Rhapsodos,” said Claudia with a laugh, “Well, well, you too? Should we expect Sephiroth and Angeal as well?”

Claudia gave the cat a lick while he yowled and hissed. The mop of hair holding him seemed unbothered by his fussing. 

“Angeal is quite dead, you cur, and if you don’t unhand me I’ll see if you can join him.”

“Ah,” said Claudia, “the unpleasant grown-up variety. Drop him baby.”

“Awww,” whined the kid letting the cat slip from his arms. Zack made a noise of pure rage, flinging himself forward. In a flash he was back in the shape of a cat, pouncing claws out on Genesis. He swiped one large paw across the other’s nose, raising parallel lines of blood. Genesis hissed and rolled under the assault, tail lashing as he scratched back. Both cats yowled at each other biting and scratching until a large paw landed on them.

“That is quite enough of that!” said Claudia, easily holding them both down, “you stop that this instant!”

“Sorry ma’am,” Zack grumbled from under her furry hold. Claudia let him squirm out, but shifted at the last second to keep Genesis under foot. “What do we say young man?”

“...”

“Fine, stay a cat then.”

Kunsel, meanwhile, was fussing over Zack. He ran a careful hand over the cat, barely keeping his distress under wraps. Nyx laid a gentle hand on his arm, which Kunsel twitched off, ignoring the sad look Nyx was giving him. He didn’t want to deal with their minder right now.

“Why is he a cat again? Didn’t you fix us?”

Claudia looked at him deeply, a far away and unfocused look overtaking her for a moment.

“If you had just one form before, whatever force changed you has done so so deeply it is bound up in your soul as if it was always thus. I do not dare try to unravel it, for to do so may harm you deeply. To keep two forms is no harm to you. I and my cub have always found it useful. I have removed the block that kept you from changing from one to another, but you have been on four paws so long that great distress and anger are likely to bring about the change for now. Calm down, Zack, and you should change back easily enough.”

“So, we’ll always be able to switch?” Cloud asked.

“Yes.”

“Huh. I guess it’s not too bad.” He bent down and picked Zack up, cuddling the fluffy cat close. “I like that I can pick you up like this!”

With a pop, Zack changed back, sending both men tumbling to the floor, Zack landing on top of Cloud.

“Ok fine,” said Cloud, “I deserved that.”

“Perhaps,” said Regis, “we can adjourn to a more comfortable location? And discuss what you mean by a pack?”

“Fair enough.” Claudia stared down Bahamut. “Go back to your realm and mend yourself. I doubt your opinions are needed here.”

You know little of the dangers facing this world

“I may know more than you think. We Strifes may get ourselves into the thick of things, but we also get ourselves out. I have friends, if need be. I will not allow anyone who has bonded so close to a Cloud to be a sacrifice.” She gave a gentle nuzzle to Noctis, who hadn’t let Lumi down. Lumi reached over and pet her snout. He looked near tears.

“Thanks Ma.” He thought for a moment. “Ma. Is. There a *Sephiroth*? On your world?”

If there was any chance he could warn her about the danger the man posed he wanted to do so right away. Thinking of Sephiroth, he thought to try and will his wings away. They were much more inconvenient when he was big. A moment of fierce concentration and they disappeared in a shower of golden light.

“There was, though not one like you may be thinking of,” Claudia answered, “He is very young, and I stole him from the battlefield, which is no place for a child. He is on the world of a friend right now, for they have a way to undo what was done and make him as one unenhanced. Brown haired and hazel eyed and all. Which is the path he chose. When they are done the Vincent Valentine of my world will take him for a son and see to his care and happiness.”

Lumi just stared at Ma. He could scarcely believe that any version of Sephiroth had willingly given up his power. Zack and Kunsel were thinking much the same. The world this Claudia came from must be a very different one indeed. 

“Leave dragon.” Claudia snapped one final time at Bahamut, who finally went back to the crystal. Once gone, Claudia gave herself a shake and shrunk, leaving a short blond woman in place of the giant wolf. She wore a very simple cotton shift, mostly hidden by her long hair. She bent down and picked up Genesis, tucking the cat into a baby hold in one arm.

“Now, are you going to behave? We quite like our Genesis, so I know you can.”

Genesis gave a very sulky meow and started washing his paws and face. 

“If I did, I’m pretty sure Zack would punch me, so no thank you.”

Claudia gave him a gentle scratch behind the ears. The King led them all away from the crystal chamber. Gladiolus and Ignis caught up with the group as they emerged, quickly checking over Noctis. 

All the now former cats perked up at the sight of Ignis.

“Ignis, Ignis,” said Lumi in a soft voice, “snacks? meat buns?”

“I…” Ignis started, staring at the little boy, “Luminis?”

Lumi nodded.

“Meat buns, please?” he repeated, giving Ignis a look no less cute and pleading than he had as a kitten.

“Right,” said Ignis, turning on his heel, “meat buns.”

Claudia watched, amused, as Regis and Noctis continued to fuss over their little Cloud. She noticed Nyx fussing just as much, if being a bit more subtle about it. As they settled into Regis’s office, she decided to get a few more important questions out of the way.

“Will you be wanting to keep that little one? There’s a placement service if not, little Clouds need a good parent or two–or four, despite what they’ll claim. He seems rather bonded to your child though.”

Noctis clutched Lumi close, protectively. 

“Lumi’s not going anywhere, he belongs here now.”

“But I’m not from here. And I’m not a kitten.”

“I don’t care, you're my…my Lumi. You can be my little brother if you’re not my kitten, right Dad?” Lumi thought Noctis sounded far more like a demanding Royal Highness than he ever had before.

“We would be honored to adopt this child,” said Regis, running a gentle hand through Lumi’s hair. 

“What,” said Lumi. “What? No? You can’t just adopt me like that? You’re…the king! You can’t just take someone like me in like that?”

“Like you? I don’t know what you mean by that, but I don’t see that you’ll be any less to us as a child than you have been as a kitten.” Regis tapped Lumi on the nose when the child just stared at him in shock. “You are our precious little one, no matter the shape you are in.”

“That’s silly, I can be way more useful than that. Look, I can do a job. I can do Gladio’s job! I’d be a good shield!”

“Hey,” Gladio piped up, “no way. Not a chance kiddo.”

Lumi glared at him and then turned back to Regis.

“I can totally beat him up, I’ve been watching them train for months.”

“Even if you can, the position of Noctis’s shield is quite filled. You’ll just have to be his little brother instead.”

“Good,” said Claudia over Lumi’s further objections, “that’s that one settled, now about you three. Young man, you’ve been looking after these three?” She took Nyx by the arm and waved a hand at Kunsel, Zack, and Cloud. 

“Yes. As best I could. I hope.” Nyx watched the three, uncertain what to say now they were human. Vesper–Zack–had seemed so unhappy most of the time. He wasn’t sure he hadn’t been doing something wrong the whole time and they just hadn’t felt like telling Carbuncle.

“Excellent. Now, these two in particular can be very stubborn I’m told. All the Zack’s I’ve met are very protective, and they both can’t stand not being useful. You’ll have your work cut out for you.” Claudia ignored the glare Kunsel was giving her. 

“I’ll do whatever I need to ma’am, to give them a safe home.”

“Wait, what?” said Kunsel, “we’re not staying? Are we? We need to get back to our world.”

“Heavens no. If someone needs to go and fetch an Aerith or the like, we will, but I can tell by the look of you–and your feelings on this one–” she said, indicating the ginger cat still in her other arm–”that your Gaia needs a cleansing. I won’t hear of you going back to an uncleansed Gaia! Cleansing will take a bit to set up, so if you’ve got a nice home here you should stay in it.”

“Ma’am,” said Kunsel, keeping his tone as neutral as he could, “with all due respect, we can handle our own problems. We just need a ride back to our world and we can take it from there. We can take care of both Clouds too, Cloud belongs with us.”

“Oh Kunsel,” Claudia said, shifting the cat to her shoulders so she could hold his face between her hands. Kunsel froze at the gentle touch, unsure how to react. This wasn’t the Claudia Strife from his world, but she was Claudia. 

“Turks,” she said, and Kunsel barely suppressed a flinch, “Rufus?” 

He twitched. He couldn’t help it.

“Thought so.”

She patted his cheek for a second and then quick as a snakebite her hand moved to his ear, tweaking it.

“Now listen here young man, you’ll do as mama says, and mama says you’re staying here with that nice fellow to look after you, and little Lumi is staying with his nice new big brother, and mama and her friends will see to your world, and don’t you go arguin’ now.”

Kunsel very much looked like he wanted to keep arguing, despite the glare Claudia was giving him and the tugs on his ear. 

Aelius turned back to Nyx. He hesitated for a few seconds and then muttered ‘screw it’ under his breath before darting forward and hugging the man firmly. Zack hissed at him in a way that wouldn’t have been out of place as a cat.

“Thanks. I know you tried really hard to help me, no matter how grumpy those two got about it.”

Nyx, still bewildered at the day’s revelations, just patted his back and returned the hug.

“I meant what I said, I’ll still look after you all, even if you’re not cats anymore.”

“We’ll see,” said Cloud, smiling at him as Zack scowled. 

Ignis chose that moment to return with help and an array of snacks and drinks, including a tray piled high with meat buns. 

All three Clouds lit up at the sight and immediately reached for a bun. Lumi and the little wolf each ended up with one in each hand and identical looks of delight as they stuffed their mouths. Aelius took just one, but his face was no less happy about it.

Noctis just laughed at the look Ignis gave him after Lumi grabbed two buns.

“Guess some things hold true across worlds.”

“Food motivated does seem to be a consistent trait with Clouds,” Claudia offered.

Claudia accepted a cup of tea and a plate of sweets, settling down on a plush chair. She was the only one in the room not shifting awkwardly–aside from Noctis, who was ignoring everyone but Lumi in favor of ensuring the toddler on his lap had everything he could want. 

No one seemed quite sure where to start. 

“Do come in and join us, Shiva,” called Claudia, addressing a corner of the room before anyone even noticed the shimmer of air as Shiva stepped out of nowhere. 

“Ah…Claudia? Is it?”

“Yes, Claudia Strife. Tell me, what exactly is the purpose of this prophecy? And by what power was it proclaimed?” Claudia kept her gaze on Shiva, but addressed the rest of the room as well. 

“It’s a long tale,” said Shiva, “to tell it properly.”

“I think we have time,” Claudia responded sweetly. Shiva considered their little group for a moment, and then made a decision.

So she told the tale, of Ardyn and Somnus, of Aura and the Crystal, of Bahamut and the price he wanted paid for humanity’s continued existence.  It was, to all of them, partly known and partly new, even to Regis. He wasn’t sure what to think of Chancellor Izuna’s true identity, or of how the prophecy came to be needed. By the time she had finished, long hours had passed and it was time for lunch, which Ignis arranged to have served in the office. 

“Shiva called you a goddess, Claudia. A foreign goddess, not of this world” Regis asked.

“Indeed. I am one. What do you know, kind king, of gods and how they come to be?”

“Less than I thought, perhaps.”

“There are several ways one might become a god. Some come into being as such, born of great forces or fundamental ones. Some spring up due to a combination of magic and belief. And still others earn their godhood by the amassing of power and sheer will. On my world I am the goddess of the hunt and of the pack. I have my mountain, with a small number of adherents, my wild wolves, and until recently that was enough for me. Until a group of evil men decided to use children to wage war, I didn’t much care for what was beyond my woods. I could have–hunts happen everywhere–but I didn’t bother. You’ll find gods can be just as petty and prone to whims as any mortal.” Claudia sipped her tea, noticing Shiva doing the same with a pinched look. “I may have come from a primal force–the hunt–but that doesn’t mean having adherents doesn’t make me stronger. I’ve a great many more now.”

Claudia thought for a moment on how to explain what she suspected.

“To heal a world of a great plague is a powerful story. But not as powerful a one as that of a great hero–a great king–who does so with the aid of the gods and tragically lays down his life for it. There is a lot–a massive amount really–of power in such a story. One could trust such a story to be remembered for a very long time. And there is power in that too.”

Claudia narrowed her eyes at Shiva, who squirmed a bit under the disapproving gaze.

“This is a funny world. Hardly any magic, and no lifestream. Magic comes with life, so where’s it all going? Gathered up and hoarded, and not released back out into the world? As though one was trying to suck all the magic up into one place, and then have it all at once. A god could do a lot with such power. Make a whole new world after their own fashion and taste, perhaps?”

Shiva broke eye contact and looked down.

“Hmmm. I see. How very selfish. Was cleansing this world too much work?”

“You don’t know the scourge. It can corrupt even our powers if it gains a foothold.”

“Oh? That sounds familiar. I may know it better than you think. And if so, I know it can be cleansed.”

“It’s not just this world,” Genesis piped up, though most couldn’t understand him, “I don’t know about the world that one came from” he nodded at Lumi, “but our world is tied to this one.”

“Hm,” said Claudia, “I think, Shiva, I would speak with you and your fellows, as the divine do.” 

There should be a planetary goddess. She and Gaia may not always see eye-to-eye, but they did talk. 

Lumi and wolf Cloud chose that moment to give matching giant yawns. “And I think it’s nap time for little ones. If you don’t mind tucking them both in together, I shall speak to the others and see what threads we can unravel.”

“It would be an honor to mind your son, my lady,” Regis swallowed thickly, “any chance–any help–you could lend us to change fate, I…we would be deeply in your debt.”

“Dad…” Noctis trailed off, unsure what to say in front of others. Claudia stood and gathered up her still yawning child, tucking him into Regis’s arms. 

“Be good Cloud,” she said, patting the boy’s head and then Genesis’s, “I’ll take this one with me. He seems to know more than he’s told so far."

Genesis just made himself comfortable on her shoulders as Claudia left with Shiva.

Lumi laid his head against Noctis’s shoulder as the boy carried him out of the room and to his quarters, Regis following them with the little wolf boy. The wolf child had fallen asleep immediately. When the prince tried to put Lumi down on his own bed though, Lumi clung on. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want to let go.

“Perhaps it’s naptime for you too,” Regis chuckled, pushing Noctis into the bed as well. He set the other little boy on his son’s other side and tucked all three in. Noctis protested at first, but after a few moments of his father stroking his hair, he too fell asleep, just as he did when he was little.

Chapter Text

Clarus shot Nyx a look as he followed the king and his son–sons? out of the room. Nyx wasn’t even going to try and guess what it was about, but clearly it made more sense to Marshal Leonis, who came to stand next to Nyx. 

“Perhaps you and our other guests should return to your quarters as well.” Cor was trying to make it sound like a suggestion and not an order, but Nyx bristled a bit nonetheless. Cor wasn’t, after all, technically his commanding officer. Now wasn’t the time. He had his boys to look after.

“Probably a good idea. We have a lot to talk about. Let’s go boys.”

Cato–no, he’d said Kunsel–was staring at him. 

“Why? There’s nothing there we need.” 

Aelius-Cloud–sighed deeply behind him. Kunsel turned to shoot him a look.

“We really going to have this out here? And not in private?” Cloud said pointedly.

“Have what out?” Vesper-Zack-asked, “what’s there to discuss? We’re adults. Are we prisoners now? If not, we go back to our world.”

Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something about stubborn Soldiers. Nyx filed that tidbit away, wondering if they were all military. Kunsel and Zack certainly had the wary stiffness of those used to fighting. 

Cor and Nyx shared a look. Cor tilted his head to Nyx, a small signal that he’d follow his lead on the matter.

“You aren’t prisoners, you are guests. We have a lot of questions, but they can wait until you’ve had a shower and new clothes.” The ones they had on were barely better than rags, torn and dirty. “Also, I believe an actual goddess just told me to take care of you, so that’s what I’m going to do. Divine orders do matter here.”

“They certainly do,” added Cor, “and I owe you three thanks anyway, for interfering for Prompto. You are safe here.” 

Of course, Nyx thought, Cor had noticed as well. Zack was pacing the room, tension coiled in his body. He did a few squats without effort or seeming to notice or think about it at all. He must be very strong. Nyx put a hand to his head again to stop him. He was very pleased when Zack still allowed it. 

“Let’s just go with him,” said Cloud, “Ma said we should. We should listen to ma.” Kunsel and Cloud stared each other down for a moment before Kunsel blew out a breath and silently waved a hand at Nyx. Zack wasn’t really paying attention to them. He kept reaching behind his head as if to grab something, then realizing there was nothing there and looking heartbroken. Kunsel murmured something to him and Zack sadly nodded his head, falling into line with Cloud. Nyx led the way back towards his apartment, Cor following to keep the three men between them. 

They’d barely entered the barracks when they were met with a crowd of Glaives. 

“Captain!” Fred called out, “what the hell was that?”

“What?” Nyx asked. 

“The rumbling? Didn’t you notice it? It shook the whole building! But no one’s raised an alarm, so we weren’t sure if there was an attack or not.”

“But the Crownsguards wouldn’t let us into the rest of the Citadel,” added Rico, almost interrupting Fred, “and they’re being really cagey about it.”

“Also,” Libertus started, his voice overlapping with the others, “I can’t find the boys. They’re not in your apartment.” More Glaives added commentary, demanding to know what was going on. Before Nyx could quiet everyone down, Cloud stepped up next to him.

“Oh,” said Cloud, “I wonder if that was when Ma slammed Bahamut into that big crystal thing.” 

Everyone stopped talking to stare at the newcomer. 

“Hi Lib, hi Pelna, before I forget, thanks for looking after us, sorry for all the times Zack clawed you.” Libertus and Pelna stared at Cloud for a moment, and then at each other. Lib squinted his eyes at Cloud.

“Not sorry,” muttered Zack.

“Aelius?” Lib asked. Cloud shrugged.

“Yeah, so that happened,” said Nyx, “everyone, meet Kunsel, Zack, and Cloud. Also known as Cato, Vesper, and Aelius. Please treat them as honored guests.”

“What?” said Kowalski.

“Yeah,” added Rico, “what. The. fuck? Did he just say his Ma was fighting Bahamut??”

The shouting started up again, the three former cats pressing together as the crowd pressed forward. Zack was growling lowly and trying to put Cloud and Kunsel behind him. Cor’s voice cut through the renewed clamor.

“Let’s let the boys rest before you start interrogating them for answers. As Captain Ulric said, they are guests and must be treated so. Captain, if you’d like to head home with them and perhaps one or two others, I’ll tell the rest what I can.” 

“Yes,” said Nyx, “we’ll pass along whatever information is needed later. Right now they all need showers and a change of clothes. Rico, Pelna, please obtain clothing for them and bring it to me. Lib, you’re with me, everyone else, Marshal Leonis will give you a short run down of what events we’re disclosing right now. Anything else is royal business.” 

Nyx grabbed Cloud’s hand and pushed his way through the crowd, Kunsel and Zack following. They’d passed most of them, Zack still growling, when with a pop he transformed back into a cat. Cloud paused and picked him up.

“Move away everyone, now,” Nyx ordered, and the crowd obeyed. 

“Is he okay?” Fred asked, worried.

“He’s fine, the, ah, Ma? Goddess? Said they’d change if they got too upset.”

Vesper hissed at him from Cloud’s arms. Nyx sighed and reached out to pat his head, Vesper quieting down as he did. “Let’s go.”

Kunsel didn’t even make it past the crowd before popping back to Cato himself. Cloud just easily scooped him up too, looking delighted at the double armful of kitty. Nyx quickly ushered them into his apartment. Cloud reluctantly set both cats down so they could turn back into humans.

“Why don’t you all get cleaned up, you can wear some of my clothes while Pelna and Rico are getting you new ones.”

“A shower sounds good,” Cloud said, pulling his tattered black top away with a grimace. Nyx didn’t even want to guess at what all the various stains were. Kunsel and Zack’s clothing didn’t look much better. Zack took off a leather harness with pauldrons, further confirming Nyx’s suspicions that the boys were some form of military. He pulled his own top off without pausing, revealing a torso covered in scars. Libertus bit back a gasp. Nyx barely kept himself from making a noise of distress. The boys had been pretty injured as cats, but he’d never gotten Vesper to sit still long enough to feel all of the damage that must have hidden under his fur. 

Zack was already moving on to his pants, showing no signs of modesty. Which made Nyx remember his own lack of modesty around the boys. 

“Um. Sorry for the shared shower and all.”

Zack paused to blink at him.

“Why?”

“Because you didn’t need to see that without being asked if it was ok?”

Behind him Kunsel rolled his eyes as he finished stripping down to his underwear. His body too showed many scars, but Nyx was far more distracted by the ones on Cloud that looked like an impalement. Straight through his chest.

“Look,” Kunsel said, “if you haven’t figured it out already”--his tone making it clear they were idiots if that was the case–”we’re soldiers. We’ve been in combat. Communal showers are normal. Don’t make it weird.” 

Cloud, finishing taking his own clothes off, shrugged on his way into the bathroom. “Yeah, troopers sure never got private showers.”

“Third and second class Soldiers don’t either,” Kunsel added, before turning to Zack, “though firsts do, don’t they?”

“Yeah, one of the perks, not like I didn’t spend plenty of time as a second though.” Cloud had already started the shower and was clearly enjoying getting clean. Zack followed, but Kunsel hung back at the door, regarding Nyx cooly. He looked like someone standing guard while the other two washed.

“First class? Second?” Libertus asked, ignoring Kunsels stoney, closed off look.

“Ranks. In Soldier, the Shinra military. Zack was a first class, I’m a, was a second. Cloud was a trooper.”

“Shinra is the world you come from.”

“Gaia is the world we come from. Shinra was. Who ran things.” Nyx found three pairs of sweatpants, handing them over to Kunsel to set inside the bathroom, along with extra towels. Cloud was already out of the shower, so Kunsel went in as he came out. 

“Shinra is who we worked for,” Cloud said quietly, “and who did a lot of other things to us.” He looked very uncomfortable with the conversation, which wasn’t what Nyx wanted. He was charged with caring for the boys, not interrogating them. 

“You don’t have to get your whole life story out this second,” Nyx told them, “we have time.”

Libertus was looking between them with a host of questions on his face, but all he said was, “We do?”

“Yeah,” said Nyx, muting his phone. It had started vibrating rapidly, the various group chats blowing up. “If I understood the…ah…Goddess? correctly, the scourge and the war might not be a problem much longer.”

Lib just stared at him for a moment, as if Nyx had suddenly sprouted wings himself. He shook his head and turned back to Cloud. 

“So, you’re all, what, from another planet?”

“Yeah.” 

“And a Goddess, just, showed up? To collect you? Or start a fight with Bahamut?” 

“She’s not from our world. Or, from our version of it. She’s from a different Gaia. So is Lumi.” Cloud paused. “She’s also my mother. Or my mother on that world. My ma sure wasn’t a goddess. Don’t ask us, we don’t know any more about what’s up with that than you do.”

They were interrupted by a quiet knock on the door–Pelna and Rico arriving with clothes. He took the bags and closed the door in their curious faces. 

“So,” said Kunsel, after a whispered conversation between the three in another language, “if we aren’t prisoners, does that mean we can leave?”

“Where do you want to go?” Nyx challenged, “not prisoners doesn’t mean I’m going to let you run off with no id, phones, or money, to get yourselves hurt.” Kunsel scowled at him, and Zack looked like he might just start hissing again. Cloud laid a gentle hand on their arms. 

“Can we go to the bar? Where we first met? I’d like to thank the people who helped us. I was really out of it then, but Zack told me how they tried to help.”

Nyx thought for a moment. He wanted the boys to feel safe, and like guests. Those were his orders too. The bar was secure, and the Glaive already knew the boys were human now. Adding in Tiffany and Julian wouldn’t be too much more. They knew how to hold their tongues about Glaive business. 

“Sure, if you boys aren’t too tired, we can go right now,” he said with a bright smile, determined to show they had choices.

Back in the royal chambers, Lumi yawned and rubbed his eyes as he woke from the long nap. He looked around the room for the first time as a sort of human again. It didn’t seem nearly as large. The thought occurred to him he could finally explore properly. Going out alone to most of the massive Citadel had seemed too exhausting when he was a tiny kitten. If not impossible for most of his time here. Walking had taken way too long to learn. He knew parts of it well, thanks to Noctis and Regis, but there was surely a lot more to see.

Noctis stirred next to him, blinking up at Lumi. Beside him the wolf cub Cloud also yawned awake. 

“Hi Lumi. Guess that wasn’t a dream, huh?” Noctis sat up and stretched. Cloud bounced up to his feet and jumped off the bed, going to explore Noctis’s room.

“Nope.” 

Noctis pulled Lumi into his lap and hugged him tightly. Lumi squirmed a bit before allowing it. Noctis’s cuddling always felt nice as a kitten. It still felt nice now.

“I’m glad. I love my kitten but I’m going to love my little brother even more. We’re going to have so much fun, I’ll be the best big brother.”

Lumi’s heart clenched at that. It sounded like Noctis really was determined to adopt him. 

“Don’t be silly, I can’t be your little brother.”

“Don’t you want to be my brother?” Noctis asked sadly, turning Lumi to face him. Lumi looked away. He couldn’t deal with Noctis looking sad at him. “Do you not want to stay with me?”

“I…I’m not. I’m not someone…you can’t just make a nobody a member of the like…royal family?” Noctis’s expression changed in an instant from sad to mischievous.

“Sure can. Dad is king after all. Pretty sure he’s going to invoke divine blessing too.”

Lumi frowned at him, unconvinced. He did want to stay with Noctis. He liked him. He wanted to protect him. 

Noctis poked a squishy cheek and Lumi scrunched up his nose and batted the finger away.

“I bet my dessert at dinner tonight Dad has official paperwork ready for the next council meeting making you Prince Luminis Lucis Caelum by the end of the day.”

“You’d take my dessert if he does?” Lumi asked in mock offense. 

“No way, I can’t eat two. Hmmm, oh I have a better bet. If he doesn’t you get my desserts for a week, and if he does…” Noctis grinned at him. “You call him dad by the end of dinner. Deal?”

“Fine.” Noctis wasn’t going to take no for an answer, but that was fine. He just had to convince Regis making him a prince was a big mistake. Somehow. 

“Hey, hey,” the other Cloud interrupted them, “there’s materia nearby, can we go find it?”

“Materia?” Lumi asked. He felt for his own orbs, noticing for the first time they were missing. His bowie knives fitted with materia and a bracer had been on him before he’d been changed into a kitten, he remembered that. He had to have still had the materia, he’d been using it to cast all this time, but now he couldn’t feel any of them. His knives weren’t still with him either though.

Lumi perked up at the thought that if the materia had come through somehow, so had his bowies. 

“Can you tell where the materia is?” he asked the other boy.

Cloud nodded with a big grin and tapped his nose. 

“Always! If I’m close ‘nough.” He popped back into his wolf cub form and scented the air. 

“What’s materia?” Noctis asked as they got out of the bed.

“Magic. They help you cast magic.” Noctis’s eyes widened and he perked up. 

“Tell me everything.” Lumi gave him a rundown of materia theory as they followed the little wolf through the halls, though the cub paused sometimes to correct Lumi’s explanations. 

They stopped at the doors leading to his father’s office. Noctis gave Maurice, the guard on duty, a nod before opening the heavy door for the kids. The cub raced inside to start nosing around. The staff had cleaned up any sign of the earlier meeting. Noctis wondered if they could have missed what were apparently glowing orbs. 

Lumi watched Noctis follow Cloud behind the couch. He was about to follow himself when he noticed the crystal bottle of what was probably very expensive liquor sitting on a small table off to the side. He glanced again at Noctis, who had crouched down behind the couch to look under a cabinet. 

Very quietly and very quickly, Lumi uncapped the bottle. He hadn’t had a nice drink in ages. Not since before the Bastard had turned back time and erased his prior life. He deserved one now.

He carefully poured out a glass, trying to keep as silent as possible. The fine quality of the crystal meant it didn’t drip, and the padded coaster made no sound as he set the bottle down. 

He took the glass in both hand and savored a hearty swallow. It just barely burned in all the right ways. A thick, rich, finely aged cognac smoothly slid down his throat. He closed his eyes to savor a second mouthful. 

“Hey!” he heard far to close. Noctis had crossed the room quickly and plucked the glass out of his hands to set it on the table. “That’s not a drink for kids. I’m not allowed any of that either.”

“Nooo, gimmie,” Lumi said as he tried to get the glass back. Noctis picked him up. “No, no booze for babies.”

“But Noct,” Lumi whined, squirming in Noctis’s hold. It was good, he wanted another sip. While they argued, Cloud turned human again and joined them, sticking a finger in the glass before either could stop him. He licked his finger and grimaced, tongue sticking out. “Blech. Nasty. Why?”

Noctis let go of Lumi, who dropped onto his own feet, as he cracked up.

“Wow,” he said over his giggles, “I guess some things are different.”

Cloud, meanwhile, had noticed something under the nearby desk. He ducked down to reach a hand under and pulled out a bracer.

“Lumi!” he called out, holding it up triumphantly. 

Lumi whooped and dashed over to grab it, slipping it back on. Heal, barrier, and assess were all in  place. His fire and thunder had been in his bowies. He had barrier now though, which gave him an idea. Fast as he could-which was faster than Noctis could really track and much too fast to stop him–Lumi grabbed both glass and bottle and darted to the far side of the room. He raised the barrier just in time before Noctis noticed what he’d done. 

“Lumi!” Noctis shouted at him as he took another mouthful of glorious amber liquid. He stopped just before the barrier, clearly sensing it. Lumi figured he would. Noctis was pretty good at feeling magic. Lumi drained the cup and set it aside, pulling the glass stopper from the bottle. He considered the glass and then shrugged. This was good enough that he wanted to drink it all, so he might as well. He tipped the bottle back to Noctis’s frantic protests.

“Lumi, please, that’s too much.”

Cloud patted his leg while Lumi continued to down the bottle.

“Is ok, he en- in-,” the little boy paused and looked to Lumi.

“Enhanced,” Lumi helpfully provided, “can’t really get alcohol poisoning.”

“Yeah,” said Cloud, “he be fine.” Noctis did not look like he believed them.

“Noctis?” someone called out from the hall. Noctis’s eyes widened and he muttered a quiet “shit”. The door opened, showing both Gladio and Clarus. 

“Um. Hi.” Noctis said, turning his best pleading look at Gladio. “I couldn’t stop him. I’m the worst big brother ever.” 

“No!” protested Lumi. He dropped the now empty bottle on the couch as he seemingly teleported to Noctis. He put his hands up in the classic ‘pick me up’ gesture, so Noctis obliged. Once he had him up, Lumi rubbed his face into Noctis’s neck, much like he did when he was a kitten. “Noct is the best. Gonna keep you safe.”

Clarus eyed the bottle, obviously familiar with what was kept in it.

“Did he just drink an entire bottle of aged Altissian cognac, or did you all share?”

“He’s very fast,” Noctis said defensively, “and I didn’t have any.”

“It was icky,” said Cloud, nose wrinkled up in disgust.

“He only had a drop. Lumi drank the whole bottle.” The child in his arms giggled and cuddled closer, wrapping arms and legs around Noctis to hold him tight.

“Good booze.”

Noctis gave Gladio another helpless look and Gladio finally broke and started laughing.

“It’s not funny!” protested Noctis, “he’s really, really fast! And he really wanted it.”

“Yup!” Lumi offered up. “‘M very fast. Not even drunk. Just a little tipsy.”

They all stared at Lumi for a moment, digesting that statement. Clarus didn’t believe him–the child seemed a bit past tipsy–but he also didn’t seem ill at all. Perhaps divinity changed such things. 

“What were you doing in here anyway? Your father is in the council chambers.”

“Finding materia,” Cloud said.

“Um,” Noctis stepped in, “Lumi had some things on him. Magic stuff, from his world, that seems to have gotten separated from him when he turned back into a kid. We found one of them.” He pulled Lumi’s arm up to wave the bracer at Clarus. “I guess we’re looking for others.” 

Clarus herded the boys out of the room. Monica came running up as they did.

“Crownsguard Elshett?”

“Sir, I’m not sure how else to put this, but there’s a giant sword in the middle of the hallway between the Crystal chamber and the back stairs that definitely wasn’t there this morning.”

Lumi bolted upright at that piece of information, pushing away from Noctis and jumping to the ground. He was off as soon as he touched down.

Earlier, in a quiet bar not far from the Citadel.

It was only mid afternoon still, so Julian and Tiffany were just opening up when Nyx approached with his three charges, Libertus trailing along behind them. A quick glance at his phone showed the various Glaive chats still blowing up. Everyone in the Glaive would soon know where they’d gone. He expected nearly everyone not on a mission would be trying to join them.

“You’re here early, something happen?” Tiffany casually asked, eyeing the casual hoodie Nyx wore as they walked up. 

“You could say that,” Nyx answered as he ushered the others inside. Tiffany followed them in, Julian looking up from the bar with open curiosity.

“Who do we have here? New Glaives?”

“Not exactly,” said Nyx. There was an awkward pause. “Honorary ones. Um.”

Tiffany was frowning, looking closely at the three. In particular the scars on Zack’s hands and face. 

“Hi,” said Cloud, “I think we owe you some thanks.” Zack and Kunsel both huffed next to him. 

“Vesper?” Tiffany asked quietly. Zack’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yeah,” he rubbed his hand through his hair, “name’s actually Zack.”

“This is Kunsel,” Nyx added, “and Cloud. Also known as Cato and Aelius.”

Julian stared at the three and then at Nyx.

“Did. Did your cats get turned into humans, or were they always human and temporarily cats?”

“The later,” Cloud answered, “don’t ask how.”

"Drinks?" Julian asked.

“Yes please,” everyone answered. Julian eyed the newcomers. 

“You three even old enough to drink?”

“Yes,” said Kunsel, immediately falling silent after, staring Julian down. Julian stared back for a tense moment. 

“Old enough to get shot at for pay, old enough to drink, right?” Cloud snarked, taking a seat at the bar. “Do you…on our world they make an alcohol based on honey…” 

“Mead? Yeah we have some. Your world?” Julian asked, reaching for a bottle. Galahad made mead, so given the Glaives frequenting the bar he always had some on hand, even if it was a bit hard to come by sometimes.

“Don’t,” Kunsel said in Nibel, “we don’t know what we should tell or not.”

“It’s a bit strong,” Nyx commented, nodding to Julian to pour him a glass of his own. Both Cloud and Zack rolled their eyes.

“Not really a problem,” Zack said, his tone harsh and aggressive. 

Nyx just shrugged. 

“Your choice. Anyway, Julian, Tiffany, you know how this goes. No further, right? But yeah, apparently these three are from a different world.”

Both Julian and Tiffany nodded. Julian poured out glasses, passing them along to each of them. Cloud smiled as he took a long drink, Kunsel and Zack also apparently finding it passable. 

“Like we’ve ever blabbed Glaive business,” Tiffany said as she sidled up to Cloud. “Astrals above, you three are even cuter as people than you were as cats.”

“We were always people,” snapped Kunsel.

“Hey, no need to take offense,” Libertus chimed in, “it’s not like we knew what was going on.”

“That didn’t need to be said,” Kunsel muttered. Zack snorted. 

“Hey,” asked Nyx, “you wanna tell me why you two were always so hostile? I’m supposed to take care of you, so I’d like to know if I’ve been doing something wrong.”
“Like I said earlier, we’re not kids who need care. We’re adults.” Zack would probably be hissing if he were still a cat, Nyx could almost hear it.

“Needing help doesn’t make you kids,” Nyx answered, sipping his own drink.

Kunsel gave him a look as Zack snorted again. Cloud just looked bewildered.

“Sure does,” Cloud offered after a moment, “and we haven’t been kids since we enlisted.”

“Yeah? How long ago was that?” Julian asked, clearly believing it couldn’t have been that long ago.

“A few years now,” Kunsel unhelpfully offered.

As they spoke many more of the Kingsglaive made their own way into the bar. Nyx spotted Rico and Kowalski taking up a table with Pelna, Fred starting her own with Sonitus and Axis, and even more taking up places farther away. Libertus was shamelessly texting behind him. 

Nyx too was eyeing the trio. 

“A few? You three don’t look much past 20, how low is the enlistment age where you come from?”

“None of your business,” Kunsel said quietly in Nibel, but not before Cloud chimed in.

“14, why, what’s it here?”

The sound in the bar stopped around them. The wide eyes and shocked faces made Zack uncomfortable. He wondered if it was really such a shocking piece of information. 

“14??” said Tiffany, though they were all thinking it, “that’s still a kid, not a soldier.”

A confused look passed between Kunsel and Zack.

“It was the usual age.”

“Did you all enlist at 14?” Nyx asked tightly. Zack didn’t like how sad he looked.

“Yeah,” Cloud answered, thinking for a half a moment before adding, “I think someone told me the enhancements take better if you’re younger.”

“What do you mean by enhancements?” Nyx asked with a frown.

All three of them took a long drink and eyed each other. Kunsel and Zack whispered quietly in Nibel, Cloud answering back harshly.

“He does need to know,” Cloud finished in common, “Ma put him in charge of us.”

Zack made an angry noise not far off of a hiss. Cloud just looked stubborn. 

“Soldiers get enhanced with mako, so they’re stronger and faster. And other stuff, like healing quicker. And that’s why their eyes glow.”

“Your eyes glow too,” Nyx noticed, “but you said you were a trooper, not a Soldier, as if those were different.” 

Cloud’s hand tightened on his glass, so hard the glass creaked. His eyes were unfocused, as though he was somewhere far away.

“Stuff happened.” Tiffany made a sympathetic noise and patted his arm. 

“You three have been through it, huh? And then getting turned into cats! You looked so awful when we first found you, were you straight from the front lines or something? A warzone?”

“Not exactly,” Zack reluctantly offered, “been on the run for a bit though.”

“So what, you were deserters?” One of the other Glaives nearby, Sonitus, chimed in.

Zack snapped, fury on his face. He turned to launch himself off of the bar stool, but Nyx was just barely quick enough to catch him around the waist. With a pop Zack was Vesper again, hissing and growling at the other Glaives. Kunsel had started towards the man as well, only being held back by Libertus before changing himself. 

Cloud made a wounded noise and transformed as well. 

Fred smacked Sonitus on the back of the head.

“Nice going, jerk, don’t go accusing people of something like that.”

Aelius clamored over the stool and climbed up Nyx until he could reach the pocket of his hoodie. He climbed inside, just as he’d done before Nyx knew the truth. There was still a catnip packet inside. That felt better as he curled up. 

“I think that’s our cue to go back,” Nyx said as he wrangled Vesper. Libertus had almost gotten Cato in hand. Vesper quieted down to just growling as Nyx headed out, only to suddenly lash out as they passed Sonitus, scratching long lines down his arms and hands.

Nyx took them away as quickly as he could. 

Lumi raced along the halls, far too fast with his head start for even Gladio’s long legs to catch up with him. He knew most of the layout of the Citadel from exploring, even if it looked very different as a human from how it had as a kitten.

He rounded the corner when he saw it. The Buster Sword, wedged into the floor, standing tall and proud.

Not unlike how it had looked on those cliffs, or next to the Church’s altar, an erased lifetime ago. Lumi teared up, despite how he fought it. 

Behind him the others caught up with him. 

“Lumi?” Noctis asked, little wolf Cloud beside him, “is the sword yours?” 

Lumi nearly sobbed. No, no it wasn’t his. He had no right to any of them, this one least of all, with a still alive Zack. He didn’t deserve the Buster, he’d gotten his Zack erased from existence.

“It can’t be his,” Gladio commented, “it’s way too big, short stuff couldn’t even lift that monster.”

Lumi’s mood shifted instantly as he turned a fierce scowl on Gladiolus. The man wasn’t paying attention to him though, as his father and Monica joined them, Monica texting someone furiously. 

Lumi jumped up, grabbing onto the sword’s handle and pulling down with all of his weight. The sword came free and he swung it up on one easy motion. He turned the blade flat and took aim at Gladio’s big, unprotected back.

The sword made a very satisfyingly loud smack as it cracked across the man’s ass.

Gladio yelped and stumbled forward, only avoiding falling to the floor because his father caught him. Lumi grinned a wicked grin when Noctis doubled over laughing. 

“Guess, guess you shouldn’t insult him, huh?” the prince giggled.

“That wasn’t nice,” Gladio said as he turned to Lumi, “give me the sword.”

“NO,” Lumi responded, whacking Gladio’s side with the flat of the blade again, though with far less force. It was kind of fun, he decided, attempting to circle Gladio to hit his ass again. “Not yours.”

He managed another hit before Noctis wrapped his arms around him. He tried to pick him up, but baby brother and sword proved too heavy for him.

“No more hitting Gladdy, you made your point.” He was still giggling though. Lumi waved the sword when Gladio tried to come near. Noctis couldn’t get it out of his grip, so Clarus stepped forward and grabbed the ample hilt not covered by Lumi’s small hands. He pulled up.

Lumi went with the sword, dangling below it.

“Not yours either,” he sourly commented. Lumi growled at him. Little Cloud, meanwhile, had decided to ignore the goings on in favor of crawling half under a side table.

“Is. Letgo.” Lumi stubbornly protested.

It was to this scene–King’s Shield holding, with great effort, a giant sword and a stubborn small child, prince still laughing, and Gladio nursing several soon to be bruises, that Nyx and Libertus arrived. 

King Regis, Ignis, and several more guards were right behind him. 

Lumi didn’t care about any of them now that he could see Vesper in Nyx’s arms. He abruptly let go of the sword–unbalancing Clarus, who stumbled back into Gladio.
“Zack!” Lumi called out, before turning an accusing look at Nyx. “Why’re they all cats? What’d you do?” 

Nyx protested but Vesper jumped down, seeming to fight with himself for a moment before managing to turn back into Zack. He was in front of Clarus before anyone could react, wrenching the sword from his grasp. He held the sword reverently in front of himself, running his hands over it. Lumi turned away from Nyx to hug Zack’s leg as the man crumbled, clutching the sword as he burst into tears. Lumi kept patting at him, but soon he too was crying. Libertus set Kunsel down so he too could change, going immediately to comfort Zack. Cloud joined them only a moment later. 

Little wolf Cloud regarded the scene with open curiosity, and it took Noctis a minute to realize he was holding a pair of long knives.

“Are those what Lumi was looking for?” 

Lumi turned his head at hearing his name racing over to pick up one of the blades.

“My bowies!” He smiled, even though he was still crying. “And my materia’s still there.”

“Hmph,” Little Cloud commented, “inferior.”

“What? Haven’t been able to level them yet.”

“That one’s artificial,” he said with clear disapproval. “Get you better one.”

Noctis sat on the floor and wrapped his arms around Lumi, pulling him into his lap. 

“That’s not just a sword, is it?” he asked. Lumi shook his head, but it was Kunsel who answered. “It belonged to his…mentor. Angeal.” Kunsel didn’t elaborate further, hiding his face in Zack’s shoulder. 

“We don’t generally allow anyone but the Crownsguard or the Kingsglaive to be armed within the Citadel.” Clarus stated stiffly, with a glance towards Regis. 

“It is a bit large for wandering the halls,” said Regis, holding up a hand when Nyx began to protest. “I’m sure Captain Ulric has a suitable safe place to keep it with his own arms, and if not a proper rack can be obtained.”

“I…I understand,” said Zack, still clutching the sword. 

“As for you,” Regis said, picking Lumi up and setting him on his hip, “Noctis keeps his spare weapons in his training room, your knives can go next to his. He wasn’t allowed to carry a knife in the armiger until he was 10.”

Lumi frowned at him, clutching the bowies tight to his chest.

“They’re mine.”

“Of course they are, but it wouldn’t be fair if you got to keep them on you so much earlier than he did.”

“Why?” Lumi asked, though he was suspicious of the answer.

“As of today’s council meeting, you are officially His Royal Highness, Prince Luminis Lucis Caelum, so though I know your unique circumstances will mean some things cannot be the same, you are my son now.”

Lumi wasn’t sure which was more outrageous, the casual way the king just announced his adoption, or the smug look on Noctis’s face.

Noctis plucked the two short knives from his shocked hands and handed them to Gladio. 

“But…my materia!” Lumi said, reaching for them.

The little wolf Cloud reached up into his impressive floofy mass of hair and pulled out a glowing orb.

“Better fire,” he said, handing it up to Lumi. Lumi took it. It was a mastered natural fire materia. The other child produced a second bracer as well as a mastered lightning and handed both up. 

“Magic items?” Clarus asked pointedly.

“Well,” said Regis, as Lumi turned a pleading face up to him, “It would hardly be fair if Lumi didn’t still have his magic. Noctis and I could both do magic at his age.”

Clarus did not look pleased. 

“Materia is much safer than knives,” Claudia commented from the doorway. No one had noticed her arrival.

“Mama!” cried the little Cloud as he ran up to her. She scooped him up easily to settle on her own hip. Genesis stood behind her, human once again. 

Zack and Kunsel both hissed at him, though they stopped after Nyx put a hand on the back of each neck. 

“Safer, Lady Goddess?”

“Oh just call me Claudia, Regis. Knives are sharp even when you don’t want them to be, but materia takes intent and effort. My Cloud’s been collecting them since he could walk. You aren’t likely going to find others who can use them here either, not even your other Gaians. Although...” She paused and considered the larger Cloud, “Cloud might. There’s no lifestream to draw on. Lumi, however, is special, and is generating enough magic on his own to power them.”

“I wanna knife,” her baby complained.

“Not until you’re older.”

“When’s older?”

“When Fera lets Lora have one.” The little boy pouted at that, clearly unhappy with the answer.

Lumi hiccuped and Regis sniffed the air.

“Why do you smell like alcohol?”

Lumi kept his mouth shut, only for Clarus to rat him out. 

“You’re going to need a lock on the liquor cabinet for this one.”

Regis looked like he didn’t know what to do with that information, nor the tale of the liquor bottle or Gladio and the giant sword. Lumi quietly thought a lock was hardly going to stop him now he had hands again.

“You’re going to be an adventure, aren’t you child?” Lumi just shrugged. 

“Ah,” said Claudia, eyeing all of the Gaians, “there are some things about this sort you should know. Among other things. My visit to your divine realm was most enlightening, and I have another to bring to join us as well. Dinner perhaps?”

“We do have dinner preparations underway, madame,” Ignis stepped in to say, “may I show you to a guest room in the meantime?”

“Oh perhaps, this little one could probably use a bath.” Her child moaned.

“No bath.”

With that they all dispersed again. Zack, Kunsel, and Cloud followed Nyx to secure the Buster Sword in Nyx’s office, Gladio took Lumi’s bowies off to the training room, and Regis took his sons away for a few discussions. Regis couldn’t help but think this was but a calm before a coming storm.

Chapter Text

When Ignis said he’d made dinner preparations, Lumi hadn’t realized that meant a formal dinner. With Formal clothing that Ignis had somehow magiced up in a matter of hours. Lumi strongly suspected they were childhood clothes of Noctis’s kept tucked away. 

He was somewhat mollified by the fact that Noctis and Prompto–who Noctis insisted on including–had also been pushed into formal clothes. Even Gladiolus was in his rarely worn actual Crownsguard uniform. Ignis had even found a small outfit for the little wolf Cloud, who had looked even more displeased at the idea than Lumi, scowling up at his mother in obvious displeasure. 

Claudia found the whole thing amusing and did, in fact, dress him in most of it. She left off the shoes, clearly sensing the impending tantrum from the way he threw them across the room with a loud NO.

She looked even more like a goddess in a simple but elegant dress, her long hair pinned back. Taming little Cloud’s hair was an impossible task, even for Ignis.

Ignis had also provided more formal clothes for Nyx’s trio of Gaians, and Nyx had changed into his own formal uniform. He looked as uncomfortable as Gladio did.

Noctis was very glad he’d insisted on Prompto joining them when he saw the last surprise guest Claudia brought along. 

Lady Lunafreya, Umbra and Pryna beside her, looked even prettier than he remembered.

Lumi, in Noctis’s arms, looked back and forth between the two before smiling a rather wicked smile. Noctis remembered then that he’d told Lumi everything he wrote to Luna, and a lot more besides, as he tended to talk to his kitten about everything during their nightly grooming.

He resolved to avoid the two being alone together.

Genesis was also joining them in a change of clothes, and determinedly keeping the goddess between him and Zack as they filed into the formal dining room. Which made seating awkward, as Ignis had sat them with only Nyx between them. Zack kept growling, but a whispered Nibel conversation between him and Kunsel finally saw everyone seated quietly. Even little Cloud, who gave a very longing look at the guardian dogs and their food bowls before settling into his seat with a pout. He, like Lumi, was also sitting on several thick cushions.

Lunafreya greeted Noctis with a shy hello before taking her seat across from him and Noctis had barely stammered a response through his blush. Lumi resolved to tease him about it later. Who knew if anything would ever come of it–Noctis was only 15 still, and who knew how Lunafreya felt. Lumi remembered very little of being 15 in his first life, but he did remember teen crushes were awkward. He almost asked if he and little Cloud could switch places, so he could sit next to Lunafreya instead of next to Noctis. 

After the first course was served, Regis cleared his throat.

“You had information to tell us, Claudia?”

“Yes. I went in search of Eos, your planetary essence, with Shiva. I found her, but she is very weak and a bit incoherent. Fragile, I would say. I was also able to confirm a few things. First, this scourge you face is the Calamity in another form. Second, your Eos is tied to the Gaia that this Genesis, Zack, Kunsel and that Cloud come from. Tied in a way that is harming both worlds. This is both easier and worse than I feared. On the one hand, I know the Calamity’s darkness can be cleansed and permanently. However, your Eos is so fragile it would be a bad idea for any additional remnants of such energy, even transformed, to enter this world. It may well shatter her. Which means I cannot call upon any of my allies who are more experienced in cleansing than I.”

That last part was annoying. Claudia had hoped she could go fetch the traveling Zack or sweet Tyr for assistance, but it was clear to her that this Eos might not handle either one and come out intact, and that wasn’t a risk to take when there were other options.

“I’ve also caught glimpses of a Sephiroth, though pinpointing him has proven difficult.” 

Lumi froze, his fork clattering to his plate. He couldn’t control the panic that rushed through him. Noctis immediately pulled him into his lap, hugging him tight.

“I do not think it is one such as you know, little one. I have been told those ones are unmistakable in the strength of their darkness, and this one is not.”

“You seem very familiar with different worlds,” said Regis, reaching across to run a comforting hand over Lumi’s head.

“I haven’t traveled often myself, but my Cloud has one of the world travelers as a frequent playmate, and through her I have met others. She too is a powerful mage, but seeing as she is 7 I wouldn’t ask her for help in this either. Not with any other options. There is the matter of the prophecy as well.”

“I don’t suppose we can ignore it?” Regis asked, catching Noctis’s hand in his. He wanted to keep his son–his sons–out of this fight.

“No. Bahamut has woven it too deeply to the fabric of this world. It must be triggered, or this Ardyn will remain. Like all prophecies though, it is open to interpretation. One just has to be creative.”

“We can get the rift between the two worlds all the way open, or open enough for Minerva to enter, we think, using myself and the other Gaians as an anchor,” Genesis offered, “but Sephiroth, and the reactions of either Minerva or Gaia, are unpredictable.”

“I can handle Sephiroth,” offered Lumi.

“Absolutely not,” responded not only Regis and Noctis, but Zack and Kunsel as well.

“I realize that you being here means you’ve already defeated one,” Claudia went on, to great uproar around the table, “but I have a different role in mind for you.”

Claudia quieted the group.

“I think, before we go on to concrete plans, there are a few things about Gaia you will need to know. Especially about the Calamity and the infection it brings.”

They all listened closely, even Lumi, as Claudia and sometimes Genesis told a tale he largely knew, of the being that fell into the Northern Crater and wiped out the Cetra. Of Shinra’s rise and foolishness. Of Sephiroth. Parts were new to him, or perhaps new to this version–he was fairly sure if his Gaia had had a connection to an Eos, his Sephiroth would have found it. Parts had to be corrected by an increasingly agitated Zack or Kunsel.

“I’m going to punch you,” Zack promised Genesis when they got to the part about Zack and Cloud’s escape from the labs. “I owe you a punch, right in the face.”

“I’m sure you think so,” said Genesis, “now is hardly the time.” Zack growled and had to be held back by Nyx. 

A less distressing interruption to the long tale came when Noctis nudged Lumi during dessert with a lowly whispered “you lost a bet.” Lumi glared up at him briefly before looking over at Regis. 

His dessert was in front of him, essentially untouched. Lumi had already eaten his own, and part of Noctis’s. Regis noticed him eyeing it. 

“Would you like mine?” he asked quietly. Lumi nodded and Regis pushed it over.

“Thanks…dad,” he said in hardly more than a whisper. The word almost caught in his throat. Regis though, when he glanced up, looked delighted, smiling broadly at him. He ruffled Lumi’s hair and patted his cheek. He felt Noctis kiss his hair. It was embarrassing, so he was glad when attention went back to Claudia and Genesis. He couldn’t tell if Zack and the others had heard him or not, but he thought not. Zack was too busy being mad at Genesis.  

The little wolf gave up on patience after dessert to shift to a cub again and go chase Umbra and Pryna around. Carbuncle arrived at some point to join in the game of tag. Lumi considered joining them, but decided to stay put. Noctis needed him, hugging him tight every time something horrible came to light, so Lumi stayed in his lap. 

Claudia announced her plans for dealing with the scourge and the breach between worlds.

After that, there was a lot more shouting.

“This cannot be your plan,” Cor complained, “we must go with you. I didn’t journey to the Tempering Grounds of Taelpar Crag and fight the Blademaster himself to be told to sit tight while the most important battle of all takes place.” Lumi perked up at the mention of a Blademaster. He filed the information away to ask about later.

“I cannot agree to this,” Clarus added, “where you go, I go.” Gladiolus stayed silent but his face said clearly he felt the same.

“Your devotion is admirable,” countered Claudia, “that doesn’t change that without innate magic or enhancement, the realm within the crystal is dangerous to you. You’d be a distraction, or a drain on someone’s magic when every bit is needed.”

By the time the yelling was done, everyone was tired.

Noctis stood, Lumi held tight, to say goodnight to everyone, but Lumi wiggled until he put him down. The boy ran up to Lunafreya, tugging on her hand until she leaned over for him to whisper in her ear. Noctis turned around so he didn’t have to see the glances both were sending his way. 

Lumi whispered “Noct thinks you’re pretty” to Luna, causing her to giggle behind her hand, before running back to Noctis, taking his hand and smugly smiling up at him. Let Noctis remember Lumi knew all his secrets next time he bet something embarrassing like calling the king dad. 

Cor and Clarus went with Regis to his office, probably to yell some more in even more pointed ways. 

Claudia took her child back to their room to rest, Lunafreya and the guardians going with her.

Noctis took Lumi back to his own room to get ready for bed. The brush was in his hand before he’d even thought about it. It was just routine.

“Lumi…” Noctis asked and stopped for a while, “can I still brush your wings?”

Lumi’s first instinct was to say no. He still didn’t like his wings, and being able to put them away finally was a relief. He saw the look on Noct’s face though. Grooming his wings was always the last thing they did before sleep every night.

Maybe Noctis needed this.

Maybe they both did.

With a shimmer of gold, his wings spread out behind him. He sat with his back to Noctis as the older boy slowly began to brush through the feathers, carefully preening them. 

“Are you scared?” he asked quietly.

“A little, I think,” Noctis said, “don’t tell anyone that.”
“I won’t.” Lumi turned around, hugging Noctis tight. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I think I’m supposed to say that. You’re, like, a toddler.” 

“Not a toddler.”

“If you say so. Let’s go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

Chapter Text

Breakfast the next day was a tense affair. Ignis brought it to Noctis’s rooms so they could eat in comfort. Gladio stomped around more than ate, and both he and Ignis seemed to be trying to find something to do. Prompto joined them just after, throwing his arms around Noctis the moment he opened the door. 

“Don’t die. Okay? You aren’t allowed to die, or not come back.”

Noctis hugged his friend tightly. 

“I’ll be ok. We’ll all be ok.” He had to believe it. His dad would be fine. He would be fine. They just had to be.

Gladio slammed a door somewhere behind them. Ignis cleaned things that didn’t need cleaning. Noctis expected he’d start stress baking soon. 

“Stay with Ignis, would you?” Noctis asked quietly. Prompto nodded firmly. 

“I’ll be checking on everyone. No one’s taking this well.”

Ignis made a derisive noise. 

“I’m sure Marshal Leonis is no happier this morning than he was last night.”

Prompto laughed awkwardly. “Yeah…he’s in a full snit.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Noctis said, “this is our best option.”

Clarus and Cor wore matching stony looks when they joined the group gathered at the door to the Crystal. 

Little Cloud ran up to Lumi and handed over a glowing red orb.

Lumi felt the summon inside when he took it.

“Phoenix? Why”

“Just in case,” Cloud said, “gotta give back though.” Lumi slipped it into a bracer.

“Got it.”

Claudia picked up her little Cloud and kissed his cheek, then passed him over to Clarus. 

“Be a good boy while mama’s gone.” 

Clarus held the little boy tight, looking like he very much wanted to start arguing again. Little Cloud patted his shoulder.

“Mama’ll fix it. Mama always wins,” he said with a child’s easy confidence.

When Nyx arrived with his boys, Claudia revealed a large sword. It was just as big as the Buster Zack had on his back, but strangely built, like it was made of interlocking blades. Cor itched to have a closer look at it. Claudia handed the sword to Cloud. 

“Um,” he said, “thanks? Not sure I know how to do much with it.”

“It’s a loan, from another Cloud,” Claudia said, “If there’s one thing you should know about other worlds, it’s that on the majority of Gaias, it is you, Cloud Strife, who saves the world. You have it in you. This sword will help you.” It fit perfectly in his hand.

“Kunsel,” Cor called him over, “you’ll need a sword as well.” He held out the sword in his hand, his own katana. Kunsel looked up at him in shock. 

“I can’t take this!”

“You can. I insist. Guard his back, since we can’t.”

“Why trust me?”

“You were the one who saw the traitor in our midst and found him out. I know you’ll see the threats he doesn’t.” Kunsel took the sword with reverence and his heart pounding in his chest. Nyx took Kunsel’s head in his hands and looked Kunsel in the eyes.

“We do trust you. Bring them back safe, clever boy.” Nyx kissed his forehead. He gave Zack a parting pat on the head, and a clap on the shoulder for Cloud.

Nyx joined Cor, Clarus and Gladio at the edge of the room as the others headed closer to the Crystal. Claudia led the way, Regis beside her. Zack and Kunsel took up guard positions behind them, followed by Noctis and Luna, with Lumi in Noctis’s arms. Cloud took the rear guard as they all pressed close to the Crystal. Claudia raised a hand and the room whited out. When the light faded, they were gone.

Noctis opened his eyes to a swirling world of abstract gray. They barely had a moment to orient themselves when a roar broke out around them.

How DARE you bring them here! How dare you interfere with my plan!

In a flash Claudia was a wolf once more. It was easy to forget when she was a short woman that the giant wolf lurked inside her. His father only just came up to her shoulder. Her massive head turned as she searched about. 

“Well? Are you just going to shout, or are you going to do something about it?” She taunted.

Bahamut materialized out of the air around her and swung out with a sword held in both hands. His dominant arm was still showing the damage from their earlier encounter. She leapt back, snapping at him while avoiding his blade. He swung wildly again and Claudia danced away, leading him from the group. She growled and turned to the side at the last minute to catch Bahamut with a swipe from one large paw. It was enough to knock him reeling. 

Noctis didn’t have time to watch. He, Luna and Lumi had their own job to do.

Luna called on her magic. The feeling of healing someone of the scourge, Claudia had told her. She placed her hands on Noctis’s back, bowing her head as she focused on feeding her own power into him. 

Noctis clutched Lumi close and they both focused on their own magic and on the connection between them.

Between them a tiny ball of pure light formed.

Lumi’s wings unfurled behind him in a shower of golden light, and the ball grew brighter and larger. 

Cloud stood guard beside them, waiting for an attack as Bahamut and Claudia traded blows. Regis and the Soldiers stood at the ready, but per Claudia’s plan they didn’t try to engage with Bahamut, who seemed focused on Claudia. 

It took a few minutes, but the attack finally came in the form of a ghostly sword flying at Lunafreya’s back. Cloud brought his borrowed sword up to block it and had to quickly turn it to catch another. Seemingly on instinct his hand found the catch to release a second blade from the first to block two more. 

Shiva had held up her end of the plan. A man in a hat surrounded by a swirling darkness stepped out of the void around them.

Regis pulled his own armiger open, blades swirling around him.

“Defying the gods are we? That rarely goes well. I have to admit, I didn’t expect something so soon. Your precious King of Light seems a bit undercooked for our prophesied battle.”

“He’s not your opponent,” Regis called, throwing a blade at Ardyn’s head, which the man easily deflected, “I am.”

“Oh are you now?” Ardyn gave a dark laugh, “well, I supposed he can’t be the True King unless he is king. Which means you, dear Regis, do have to die first.”

Ardyn launched himself at Regis, swords clashing as the ghostly blades of the armiger swirled around them. They traded blows back and forth before Ardyn stepped sideways into a swirl of darkness and phased to behind Regis. He raised a sword to strike at the king’s back only to be blocked by the long blade of a katana. Kunsel easily caught the full weight of blade and man and tossed him back as Regis turned to the fight again. Ardyn tried to warp again, only to have to fend off the bone rattling blows of the Buster sword. He’d fought many fights in his many years, but even Gilgamesh hadn’t been able to put the strength in his blows these two strangers did. 

“What a fascinating mass of contradictions you are,” Ardyn taunted to catch his breath, “you have traces of scourge in you, woven into your blood, but somehow inert. However did you manage that I wonder?” He warped aside, barely avoiding a strike from Kunsel.

“You remind me of a strange cat dear Verstael has been keeping. He has the same odd weave, though active. He’s been most enlightening to our experiments.”

Zack and Kunsel exchanged a glance but didn’t take the bait, choosing the attack in concert instead, pushing Ardyn back and farther away from Noctis.

Apart from them all, Genesis fed magic into a device of his own, a rip in space slowly opening in front of him.

In the midst of it all, the glowing ball of light between Noctis and Lumi grew.

Ardyn found himself unable to find an opening against any of his three opponents. Zack and Kunsel fought as one, their moves coordinated on a level that spoke of deep familiarity. Regis slotted in with them smoothly as only a seasoned warrior could. The boys focused on defending, letting Regis take the lead in offense. Both Ardyn and Regis warped around the strange field of the spiritual realm within the crystal, but Zack and Kunsel were so fast their lack of warping hardly mattered.

Every so often Ardyn would try to break away to warp towards Noctis, trying to find a way to disrupt what he was doing.  Every time Cloud was there to meet him and force him back, dual blades easily deflecting his attempts no matter how many swords the man threw their way.

The ball of light was now above Noctis’s head and steadily growing. Lumi’s wings were glowing too, a shimmery golden light that swirled up into the sphere hanging about their heads. Noctis and Lumi had their heads pressed together, and Lunafreya had leaned forward to press her forehead to Noctis’s back. 

The light in the sphere was too bright to look at.

Deep in their own minds, Noctis cuddled his precious kitten brother and whispered how much he loved him. Lumi, safe in this place no one else could hear them, whispered it back, and the light between them grew ever larger.

On the edge of their thoughts, Lumi recognized the corruption of the one he knew as Jenova, just as Ma said he would. The corruption fled in the face of their combined light.

In his heart and mind, Noctis called out to his father. He felt his father hear him. 

It was time.

Ardyn grew desperate the more power gathered around Noctis. The spiraling pull of magic around them meant he could no longer attempt to get close. When he did, the corruption that had long overtaken him was revealed, showing rotten flesh blackened by the scourge. He turned his full fury on Regis, throwing multiple blades out at Zack and Kunsel to push them away from the king. He caught Regis with his main sword across the arm, but Regis ignored the wound to grab Ardyn by the wrist. The scourge crackled, black and oozing beneath his hand. Regis felt the infection try and grab at him and his magic, but he held on. Around them, the blades of two armigers swirled. Regis pushed out with his magic as he pushed Ardyn’s sword arm out. He let go of his blades and they plunged, one after another, into Ardyn.

It wasn’t enough to kill the immortal, but it did bring him to his knees. 

Zack and Kunsel rushed in, grabbing the man by each arm. They dragged him towards Noctis and the others before he could warp away. 

Noctis opened his eyes. 

His hands were glowing. 

He was glowing. 

When the Soldiers dragged Ardyn before him, he knew, he felt, deep within his soul, what he needed to do.

His hand outstretched, he pressed his palm to Ardyn’s forehead and pushed.

Ardyn screamed. 

Magic and light flooded out of Noctis and into Ardyn, spreading out around them in a halo. The darkness covering Ardyn’s skin dissipated into the air as he wailed, and then the man himself began to dissipate, fading like a ghost before their eyes. 

The light spread, bouncing across the edge of the rift Genesis had opened, which sprung to life. Before it Minerva in all her glory stepped out. 

The rift now open fully, Genesis left it to join Claudia. He could hear Minerva on the edge of the rift calling out to Eos to wake and join them. Bahamut roared as the goddess came through. His rage made him careless, overextending a strike at Claudia. 

Bahamut turned his head as he tried to correct his stance to meet the wolf head on. Claudia shouldered a glancing blow aside, ignoring the bite of metal into her shoulder as her teeth went for Bahamut’s outstretched–and thus exposed–neck. She caught the edge of his neck in her front teeth and snapped her jaws shut, tearing a chunk away. Blood sprayed out around them as Bahamut staggered. 

He didn’t get a chance to recover. As he staggered back, Genesis took the opportunity to thrust a fiery red sword through his back. 

So badly injured, Bahamut could do nothing but crawl towards Minerva and Eos. Minerva sneered at him in contempt.

“You deserve everything that has happened to you,” she said.

Eos though, weak as she was, received her wayward firstborn with grace. Grace enough to bundle him up into a spirit and return him to herself.

“That is enough from you,” she said as he was turning into a glowing ball of light, “rest and I will deal with you later.”

Claudia didn’t interfere. Eos was the planetary spirit here, it was her right to decide her creation's fate. Minerva though regarded Claudia with open curiosity. 

“You are the child of another Gaia. Interesting. You do not exist on my Gaia.”

“I do not.”

All three goddesses bathed in the warm light emanating from Noctis and Lumi. 

“Will it be enough?” Eos asked, still weak but growing stronger.

“I have faith in them,” Claudia answered. “We just need to make sure they can succeed.”

“It will not be finished so long as the Calamity’s child corrupts the lifestream.”

“You have part of his soul still?” Claudia asked, “can you gather it up? Pass it to me.”

Minerva concentrated on the lifestream through the rift to Gaia and gathered all the bits of Sephiroth’s soul that remained. She bundled them into a little ball of light, and passed it over to Claudia. She would trust this other goddess of a different Gaia. As she did, Noctis’s cleansing light reached through the rift and spread throughout the Gaia beyond. 

Claudia tucked the little ball inside herself, beside her own heart. She would have to find the rest of him. 

Outside the Crystal, a warm, healing light flooded into the room.

And then over the Citadel.

It spread out over insomnia.

It met the Wall and paused, then pushed through. The wall shattered in a shimmer of magic.

The light spread further. It washed over Accordo and the rest of Lucis. It washed over Galahd and spread across the sea. 

In Tenebrae, Gentiana clutched her hands to her chest.

On the edge of Niflheim, the light washed over a busy lab, and the cage of a very large cat. 

The cage shorted out and opened.

Spreading the light out to Niflheim was hard. Noctis felt the strain as he pushed the light against the corruption and darkness concentrated there. So many infected souls. So many demons. It hurt, even with Lunafreya and Lumi’s soothing power flowing into him. It hurt and his soul felt like shards of glass were cutting it into ribbons. 

He needed more power. Doubt clawed at the edges of his concentration. He was too young, too weak, he couldn’t do this.

Beside him, Lumi felt as Noctis’s heart wavered. He reached for his materia and fed a tiny bit of his remaining mana into the summon the little wolf had gifted him. 

Phoenix flared to life around them. With a shriek it disappeared from the realm within the crystal and reappeared in Niflheim, spreading cleansing fire and light in the last push to envelope the world of Eos.

When the light faded, Cloud caught both Noctis and Lumi as Noctis collapsed into unconsciousness. 

Chapter Text

Noctis woke slowly, awareness returning gradually. It took him a moment to realize he was in bed. His own bed, he figured out after just laying there in exhaustion for several long minutes. He was warm, weighed down by many lumps around him. He opened his eyes a little to look around. 

Lumi, in kitten form, was curled up on his chest, his eyes closed tight. He was purring though, so Noctis knew he was actually awake. Aelius, Vesper, and Cato formed a line down his right side. Prompto was pressed against the other side, his head on Noct’s shoulder and arm across his waist. Umbra and Pryna were sleeping on his feet, little wolf cub tucked between them. Above his head, curled up on his pillow, was Carbuncle, one paw resting on Noctis’s hair. 

He was pretty effectively pinned. 

He glanced to the side. Gladio was in a chair beside the bed, reading a leather bound book silently. It said "Loveless" on the cover.

“Lumi?” Noctis asked quietly. Lumi was up instantly, rubbing his head on Noctis’s face and purring up a storm. Noctis tried to shift around the crowd in his bed. Carbuncle woke up and licked his face before hopping away. Aelius also woke, padding up Noctis’s chest to join in on rubbing the prince’s face with his fuzzy head. 

Gladio sent a quick text before coming over to sit on the bed and shake Prompto awake.

“Hey,” said Gladio, “about time you woke up. Don’t ever do that again, got it?”

“How long have I been out?”

“Two, almost three days,” Prompto answered, “I’m with Gladdy, don’t ever do that again.”

“I shouldn’t need too?”

Umbra and Pryna made their way up the bed to lick his face and then leave, the little wolf trotting after them. Prompto helped Noctis sit up, Lumi and Aelius hopping down to cuddle together in his lap. With another hug he announced he was going to help Ignis with food. Vesper and Cato were both awake by now as well, and they moved away to change back into Zack and Kunsel. 

His father entered before they could say anything, but they both hugged him. Regis immediately reached for his son, pulling him into a hug of his own. Noctis hugged him back. His dad seemed unharmed–lighter even, some age and worry gone from his face.

“Is everyone ok?” he asked. 

“More than,” Regis answered. “Niflheim has fallen. The other Gaian, Sephiroth, dispatched many of its leaders before our forces even arrived. Goddess Claudia has taken him to another world. She assures us that now having sensed the Gaia tied to this one, she will be able to find it again. We offered to help defeat this ‘Shinra’ but she said that the parent’s group would take care of it, whatever that means. The cleansing destroyed most of the MTs. The scourge is gone. Both Tenebrae and Accordo have declared independence. Our forces are aiding them in removing any remaining Niflheim elements. Prince Ravus just arrived to collect Lunafreya.” His father kept running his hands over Noctis, touching his face and hair, grasping his hands, like he couldn’t believe Noctis was okay.

“In other words,” said Gladio, “you’re the only one on our side who got hurt.”

Noctis narrowed his eyes and regarded his father. He’d been sure Ardyn had landed at least one blow. Regis just smiled serenely. 

“Indeed, when we returned everyone else was fine, just tired.” He didn’t mention that Claudia had healed him and herself. It meant Clarus hadn’t had a reason to fuss. Not that it had stopped him from fussing anyway. He picked up Lumi and nuzzled the little kitten.

“Can we have human Lumi?” he asked gently. Lumi squeaked at him, but he did change. Regis cradled the toddler in his lap and pulled Noctis to his side. 

“I’d like to speak to my sons alone, for a moment,” he announced. Gladio nodded and herded the other three Gaians out with reluctance. They didn’t go far, he could hear them in the other room.  Ignis too had arrived, announcing that food was ready when they were. Regis pressed a kiss to Lumi’s hair, though the little boy squirmed at it.

“I wasn’t able to be as present in Noctis’s childhood as I wanted. The demands of the crown are many, and the danger was ever present. But now we have a second chance. I am so proud of both of you. And now I want you both to be children still. Don’t rush to grow up, either of you, and let me have this time I always feared I would never get. Will you do this for me, Luminis?”

What could Lumi say to that? When he put it like that, doing anything but agreeing made him feel like a jerk. So he just cuddled closer and hid his face in Regis’s chest. Noctis, however, was overcome with a dizzying wave of relief. He hadn’t let himself consider what happened after the world was saved. He hadn’t expected to live to see it. 

So Noctis just laid his head on his father’s shoulder, and for the first time in many, many years, he burst into tears.

Chapter Text

Weskham was having a very weird week. First a shaggy mop of a child had suddenly appeared and kidnapped his cat–if the ginger tom that hung around could really be considered his. Then, the very next day, a wave of bright light had washed over the entire planet and cured everyone of the scourge. It had also destroyed most of Niflheim’s army. Claustra was now extremely busy dealing with the fallout of the sudden end to a very long war around them. 

He’d tried calling Insomnia but hadn’t been able to reach anyone. Cid hadn’t know anything either, so here he was, scrubbing the bar for the sixth time that day.

Rumor had it the light was the work of the princes-plural–of Lucis and some new goddess. Which, he was going to yell at Reggie if he’d gone and somehow acquired a second son without telling either him or Cid. 

Weskham’s musing was interrupted by an insistent knocking.

He cracked the door slightly. There was a red haired man in an ostentatious red coat standing outside.

“We’re closed, come back when we open.”

“Do I need to still be a cat to come in before opening?”

“What?” responded Weskham before his brain parsed what the man had said. He looked at him closely. His eyes were the same odd glowy green as the cat’s had been.

“Crimson?”

“My name is Genesis, but yes.” Weskham opened the door and let him inside.

It took a large bottle of very strong drink to get even part of the story out of the man, and even that had Weskham calling Regis repeatedly until he finally answered and let Weskham yell a little.

Regis just asked him to look after Genesis, cat and man both. 

It took months before Genesis told him the rest, late one night after he’d been out hunting–the demons may have been gone, but there were still monsters.

Weskham had a large drink of his own after that.

Noctis decided that the war’s ending should be celebrated with his favorite activity. 

Fishing.

Lumi was a bit dubious at how much fun it would be, but Regis decided that a father son bonding trip was just what they deserved. Especially if he could work in meetings with Claustra and a visit to Weskham. While there was no getting around taking Clarus, Gladio, and Cor with them, Regis did put them in a separate car, along with Prompto and Ignis. 

They first, however, stopped by Hammerhead. Cid was his usual gruff self to Lumi up until the kid fixed a troublesome motorbike in the shop in 15 minutes of boredom. 

Cid stared at the perfectly humming machine.

“Huh,” he said to Regis, “got a clever one. Don’t be a stranger, you hear me? Just ‘cause they’re princes don’t mean they can’t learn to be useful.”

Which Regis correctly interpreted as Cid’s way of asking the kids to come visit in his own Cid way.

Lumi found fishing pretty boring, at first.

Then Noctis actually caught a fish. 

It wiggled.

It flapped.

He couldn’t stop staring at it. He didn’t notice his eyes shift from round to slit, or the way he wiggled himself. Noctis noticed, and held the fish aloft, bouncing it gently to make it dangle in front of him.

It smelled…really good actually. 

Lumi pounced, a kitten by the time he reached the fish, ignoring Noctis’s delighted laughter.

It tasted really, really good.

Despite how many they caught, they only managed to save one for Genesis. Lumi ate all the rest.

Chapter Text

Cor didn’t know what he expected when he entered the Tempering Grounds again for the first time since his fight all those years ago. 

It certainly wasn’t to see the kingdom’s newest prince, dressed only in shorts and a t-shirt saying “trouble-maker” that he was fairly sure his own son had bought him, standing on top of Gilgamesh Amiticia. The Blademaster was flat on his back, looking completely shocked at the very smug child standing on his chest and pressing a knife to his throat.

Well, that explained where Lumi’s bowies went. With Lumi of course. Cor felt a wave of sympathy for Lumi’s current guard Monica and Iris Amiticia, who was in training to become Lumi’s shield. Both had complained that Lumi’s ability to both fly and turn into a kitten made him very hard to keep up with. Zack and Kunsel were the only ones who really could, but Nyx had taken his three home to show them the rebuilding in Galahd. Also officially the trio were all Glaives, not Guards, so the Guards suffering would continue.

“You know,” Cor said conversationally, “you aren’t supposed to have your knives outside of training.”

“This is training,” the child responded petulantly. 

“It is not. I would know if Taelpar Crag was on your training rotation. I am in charge of the Crownsguard after all.”

Below him Gilgamesh threw his head back and laughed.

“And here I thought you would be the most feral child I ever met.” He sobered in the next instant. “Does Lucis fare so poorly now that we train toddlers for the guard?”

“Lucis fares very well, with the war over and the scourge eliminated, Lumi is just special.”

“The war is ended? Truly? What of the one forsaken by the gods?”

“If you mean Ardyn, he’s gone to his eternal rest.”

Gilgamesh went quiet for a long moment. “May his rest be complete and with peace at last.”

He shook his head. 

“So who are you, child? You didn’t give me the courtesy of introductions before attacking.”

“Allow me to introduce his highness, Prince Luminis Lucis Caelum.” Lumi gave Cor a grumpy frown at the title.

“I beat him up, and I didn’t even have to fly. So I’m right. Don’t need a shield and I can be Noct’s shield.”

Cor ignored Gilgamesh mouthing “he can fly?” in shock and knelt down next to the little boy.

“Nice try, but this will not change those things. You will have guards, and Gladiolus Amiticia is Prince Noctis’s shield.” 

The grumpy scowl Lumi gave him was far too adorable, and Cor had to work very hard to keep a straight face. Perhaps sensing the fight was truly over, Gilgamesh sat up, picking up the child. Lumi allowed it.

“I owe you a boon child, for being the first to defeat me in centuries of many trying. If this Gladiolus is my descendant, and you are displeased with his skills, send him to me. I will see to it that he is a worthy shield.”

Lumi thought about it for a moment. Noctis would be very upset if anything happened to Gladio, and most of the time he liked the man too. He was just slow compared to the Soldiers.

“You won’t hurt him? Or not more than training hurting?” 

“I will not, you have my word.”

Lumi nodded decisively. 

“Ok. Don’t go easy on him though, he doesn’t listen to me.” Lumi reached over to Cor, who took the child with relief. Regis and Noctis were in a complete state over Lumi’s little disappearing act, with only a short note left behind. Magic flying toddlers who were also small kittens were very hard to punish.

“Let’s get you home child.”

Chapter Text

The inner gardens of the Citadel had always been beautiful, but the past two decades had seen them transformed into truly the most spectacular gardens to behold, a point of pride for the capital city. Not that the residents of Eos had much to do with it. 

No, it was one fiery Gaian who had arrived after their successful defeat of the scourge, lovely young Aerith. The Goddess Claudia had brought her, along with news that the Gaia their Zack, Kunsel, and Cloud came from was, as she put it, ‘taken care of’. Well, the goddess had brought a young woman, but they’d ended up with a very pretty and very, very fluffy white cat with orange color-points. 

Which was how they found out that whatever power turned Gaians into cats on their world was still in effect, it just didn’t apply to the goddess, perhaps because she was already a wolf. 

They never did figure that one out, but in the end it just meant that while growing up, Lumi went for playdates on other worlds rather than host them here.

After many tears and hugs, Aerith had settled happily into life on Eos, and Zack had settled a lot more himself. Aerith smoothed over many of Zack’s (and Kunsel’s) more paranoid tendencies, cheerfully agreeing to a suite of rooms in the royal wing that Regis had offered after seeing how Lumi clung to her. The boys meekly followed. He’d even gotten Nyx into proper Citadel quarters that way.

Aster was born barely a year later, and her sister Zalea just two years after her. They both looked like a perfect blend of their parents.

Both teens were helping their mother tend the gardens today, flitting about in a coordinated dance of pruning, weeding, and mulching. 

They all paused to wave as Regis entered, baby on his hip, toddler by the hand, trailing children behind him. Prompto followed, carrying yet another child, with Clarus bringing up the rear to ensure they didn’t lose any to wandering away. School was on holiday, so he had the entire crew with him. The perfect day for a garden picnic. The three of them did the lion’s share of childcare for the royal and adjacent children, though Prompto, being much younger, did most of the heavy lifting. 

Officially Prompto lived in the royal suites as a full time nanny. Unofficially Regis was well aware he only kept his things in the small room near the children’s rooms, and only slept there when one of them was ill. 

Unofficially, the youngest Prince of Lucis Prompto was carrying looked a lot more like Prompto than like Noctis. Not that Regis would ever bring it up before Noctis did. 

Regis settled into the specially made support cushion staff had arranged on the picnic blanket, a concession to his age. Clarus took to a bench nearby, chatting with Zalea as she pruned roses, while Prompto took photos of everything and anything that caught his eye. 

Regis was grateful planning outings for grandchildren was the only thing he worried about these days, and he had plenty of help with even that thanks to Prompto. They always planned lots of activities when his younger son’s children were visiting Insomnia.

His health had actually improved for the first few years of Noctis’s reign, without the stress of the crown, but now his age was catching up to him. His resignation was his engagement present to Noctis, allowing the wedding to also serve as coronation. Clarus followed him into retirement the moment the wedding was over. 

The cushions he settled into helped him hold up under the weight of his many grandchildren–and bonus honorary grandchildren– arranging themselves so they could all see the book he’d opened to read to them. Well, most of them. Aurelius, at 13, was ‘too old’ for such things. 

He was still close, sketchbook open in front of him as he lay on the blanket, golden head bent over the page as he focused on a delicate drawing. Larkspur, ever his shadow, lay next to him. He was only slightly younger than the crown prince, and already took being his shield far too seriously.

Clarus, over drinks one night early on, had confided to Regis that Gladiolus was torn between his duty to produce the next shield and his love for Ignis Scientia. Regis wasn’t about to let that get between them, not in this new kinder, softer world they were building. Ignis had protested that all they really needed was a surrogate–it was Amiticia blood that had magic ties to the crown they needed to care about, but Regis thought it couldn’t hurt to ask if there was more to be done.

It had taken the entire team of scientists on the world of Professor Strife, but after some difficulty they’d presented the pair with a baby mixed from both of their genetics. The Amiticia blood might have been stronger though–the boy was already almost as tall as Gladiolus. 

Valerian, at ten, hadn’t yet decided he was too old for books, so he was pressed into Regis’s side. He took after Noctis the most, quiet and thoughtful, and the only dark haired one among his siblings. Little four-year old Felix pressed into the other side of Regis when Prompto set him down. 

Aurora, now eight, liked to sit behind him and drape herself over his shoulder. She wouldn’t stay there. She tended to move around a lot, the most active of Noctis and Lunafreya’s four children.

The triplets, Gladiolus and Ignis’ younger children, decided that book time would be most comfortable as kittens, not children, so Amaryllis, Calanthe, and Hyacinth, who were all five, were wiggling their way into gaps between the other children.

It wasn’t their planet that had changed those three. Goddess Claudia had found them that way, three tiny, scraggly silver kittens, abandoned in a lab on a new world. Lumi had clearly recognized them, though getting out exactly how was the usual trial when it came to anything about Lumi’s past, he did admit to what they were and their names. 

Gladio, however, upon claiming the trio, declared they weren’t going to be bound by that and renamed them all. Amaryllis was a much nicer name than Yazoo anyway. Not that the boys went by their full names often, any more than Gladio did. 

Cal climbed up into the former king’s lap to curl up on the baby, Rill and Spike each picking a child to cuddle up with as well. 

He settled the baby and thought that Nifelheim was too far away sometimes, a feeling he never would have imagined he’d have. He also never would have imagined as a young man that someday he’d be visiting Gralea himself as an honored guest of his daughter-in-law, the Empress Solara, to spend time with Lumi and his two children–often with Noctis’s and Gladio’s kids in tow. Claudia, age 3, and Zack, just barely a year old, were the youngest of the children. For now.  

Lumi and Solara had tried to get out of a wedding four years ago–after meeting while both monster hunting and AWOL from their guards–by eloping with only Iris and Cindy for witnesses. Noctis had made them have a wedding gala anyway, sending the kids to sway him with pleading puppy eyes when he protested. Cor had decided that was the sign it was time for his own retirement, naming Zack as his replacement. 

Their patch of the garden smelled faintly of smokey pine, a result of the incense smoldering in front of the large statue of a wolf. The mother wolf goddess was worshiped throughout Lucis, much to Claudia’s amusement. 

He opened the book and started reading aloud, the children tucking into an expansive afternoon tea scattered around them. A few pages in, a large cat wandered in, winding through Aerith’s legs and stopping for a pat from the girls before coming over to nuzzle at baby Zack. He wandered a short way away before arranging himself in a patch of sunlight to bask. Regis raised an eyebrow at the cat before continuing on. Not his problem if Zack should be here or not. They read in peace for a while–he’d picked a longer storybook for today–until a second cat stalked in. 

The fluffy cat spotted Zack and picked up speed as he approached, jumping to land on him. Zack, who’d been most of the way to asleep, yelped and tossed Kunsel off of him. Kunsel batted at him and the two started to wrestle. All three kittens jumped down to trot over and chase and pounce on tails. 

Kunsel, much to Gladio’s chagrin, was the trio’s absolute favorite. They adored him wholeheartedly, always finding ways to go find him and follow him around. Being enhanced as they were, in addition to shifters, meant Kunsel had a hard time escaping them. 

“Grandpa,” little Claudia piped up, disapproving judgment clear in her tone “the kitties are fighting.” Lumi’s oldest child was in the middle of an intensive “Rules are RULES” phase that would challenge a high court judge for dedication to the rule of law. Regis was rather enjoying it, she immediately told him anything her parents did to annoy their court and guards. She was also mostly immune to bribery, much to the dismay of her cousins–except Valerian, who was of a similar temperament.

“If the good Marshal doesn’t want to get jumped on, he should perhaps finish his paperwork before afternoon naps,” Regis said, not looking up from the book. He could hear Aerith laughing nearby. Both cats paused in their fight to turn a glare his way, which let the kittens climb them. Zack would never dare so much as hiss in his direction, lest he scare one of the kids. The two of them silently kept batting at each other. They didn’t get long to continue their play fight before Nyx stalked into the garden, pausing to return the wave the kids sent his way.

He looked at the two cats, shook his head, dislodged kittens, and picked them up, one under each arm. The kittens stalked back to Regis. 

“I’ll just…take these two back to work, ah, Regis,” he said to the former king. There wasn’t an established title for a king of Lucis who stepped down. It hadn’t happened before, as all of his predecessors had died on the throne.

Often rather young. 

Regis had, rather gleefully, insisted on no title at all, except ‘Dad’ and ‘Grandpa’.

Regis just gave Nyx a wave and continued on with his book, the man stalking off while scolding his cats/coworkers. He could hardly blame Zack for wanting to take a break. Baby Zack was much more interesting than paperwork. Big Zack had cried for a long time when Lumi had placed the hours-old baby in his arms and told him the name. 

Regis adjusted the baby, who giggled happily and clapped his hands, reaching out to pat at the kitten who climbed back up onto his stomach. He was a delightfully easy baby, ready with a happy smile to be held by older cousins and uncles alike, honorary or not. 

They passed another hour like that, until Aurelius had dozed off himself. He didn’t notice the man softly padding up to them. His siblings did, but a finger to the lips kept them quiet–aside from a few giggles. Lark opened one eye and rolled away. Regis just watched in amusement as his son crept up on his own oldest child before flopping down half on top of him. Aurelius let out an ‘oof’ and then a protracted whine of ‘Daaaaaaadddd’. Noctis rolled to the side and gathered the boy, who had a tendency to pretend to be much more mature and grown up than he was, into his arms. The other children took this as the cue to attack, leaving Regis to put the book aside as they tackled their father. 

“Daddy!” they laughed as they piled onto him. Noctis laughed himself as he wrestled and tickled his children. Gladiolus was right behind him, scooping up an armful of kittens-turned small children to hoist all three in the air. 

Lunafreya stepped lightly over to Regis, avoiding the fray, and folded herself down next to her father-in-law, claiming little Claudia from his lap. 

“Lumi and Solara’s ship made good time, they’ll land in less than an hour,” she said. 

“Ah, excellent, they’ve made it in time for dinner after all.” They’d have quite the crowd arriving in the next few days, from near and far, including the goddess and her son. Noctis had decided to make a large public celebration out of the coming anniversary, much to his little brother’s annoyance. It was twenty years ago next week that they had defeated the scourge and freed their planet from its darkness.

They herded all of the children out to meet the airship, Ignis, Nyx, Zack, and Kunsel (both back to human form) joining them. The triplets decided to go back to being kittens, so all three were riding on Kunsel. 

The ship lowered its ramp while Claudia vibrated in Lunafreya’s arms. She barely put the girl down before she raced up the ramp to fling herself at Lumi. He caught the little girl up and tossed her up, catching her again amid a delighted shriek. 

“Did we have fun with Grandpa?” he asked. Claudia nodded vigorously. Solara hurried down the ramp to reclaim her baby from Regis, this week having been the first time little Zack had been away from her for any length of time. 

Prince Consort Luminis Lucis Caelum had grown into his young adulthood tall and fair–a full head taller than Cloud, much to the man’s annoyance. The shorter man followed Lumi down the ramp, Iris beside him. Lumi still sometimes complained that he didn’t need guards, but he was grateful for a pair of friends amid the strangeness of Gralea. 

Iris always just laughed at him. 

Zack and Kunsel quickly pulled Cloud into a hug, kittens finally jumping down to turn into little boys and run back to their fathers. Regis left them to their moment–both men missed Cloud terribly, and there had been a huge fight when the man declared he was staying with Lumi, knowing that Zack, as Marshal, and Kunsel, as Senior Advisor and Spymaster, couldn’t follow. He’d even waited until they were in Gralea, on an official trip to welcome Claudia’s birth, before telling them he wasn’t coming back to Insomnia with them. Regis thought the speed with which video call speeds improved between the two nations was halfway down to Zack and Kunsel’s need to call Cloud daily. 

Regis reached out to pull Lumi into a hug, Noctis joining in on his other side to squish the man between them, regal dignity be damned. 

“Hi dad, leggo,” Lumi grumbled. Claudia just giggled from the middle of the hug. Regis laughed and stepped back to give Solara a kiss to the cheek. 

“Come, come,” said Noctis, “you’re just in time for family dinner.” 

“Just family?” Lumi asked pointedly. Noctis laughed and slapped him on the back.

“Yes! Ravus counts as family, he arrived this morning. I promise formal events don’t start for a couple of days yet! And we got the council down to only one royal ball, plus the public commemoration ceremony with the live broadcast, and the laying of tributes to the goddess–but she’ll be the center of attention at that, along with Shiva.” 

Luna linked arms with Solara. The two had become great friends as sisters-in-law. 

“I think Goddess Claudia rather enjoys the attention once in a while.”

“She’s welcome to it,” Lumi said sourly. He’d never quite gotten comfortable in the public eye. “And the Altissian group?” he asked as they herded everyone inside. Regis knew what he was really asking, and it wasn’t about Weskham or Claustra. 

“They’re in town already. Weskham and Claustra will be joining us for other events, but we won’t see Genesis until the ball. Our last Gaian will only be attending the ceremonies.” Genesis did like balls–and as an actual Altissian official belonged at them–but Sephiroth certainly didn’t, and even now, twenty years later, they avoided Lumi and Sephiroth being too close to each other–even though post-treatment and older as he was few who knew the silver-haired demon of Lumi’s nightmares would recognize him in the Altissian National Archive’s senior archivist. Especially with the brown hair and glasses. 

Genesis complained it gave Sephiroth an excuse to never attend anything. Sephiroth countered that a mere archivist didn’t have a reason to have to go to fancy parties, so he wouldn’t. It was Claudia who insisted on bringing him along, being one of the few who knew who had actually killed Aldercapt and Besithia. Officially their deaths were attributed to Cor and Claudia, but as Claudia maintained that there were spiritual implications to a goddess of the hunt stealing credit for an important kill, Sephiroth was quietly honored during anniversaries. He always accepted it with quiet grace and went back to his books as quickly as possible. 

As they settled down to a comfortable meal filled with the children’s stories about every fun thing they’d done over the last week, Regis reflected on that day so long ago that Noctis had pulled a tiny golden kitten from his pocket and set off the chain of events that led to a massive change to the lives of everyone on Eos.

He gazed at Lumi with fondness until the man noticed.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

“Just thinking. How very lucky I am. And how much I love my family, my son.”