Archive of Our Own

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Prologue - Gladiolus

-<Gladio.>He almost doesn’t respond to the text. He’s just finishing up polishing his uniform, his new Crownsguard boots being particularly unpleasant to clean up, and he desperately wants to go home and eat everything in the fridge.<Yea?> He’s grateful that texts do not indicate irritation and he can feign ignorance, because he does not want to deal with Ignis right now, especially not as he sounds like he’s going to be angry about something Noctis did.<I made a mistake.>He freezes. Where was Ignis, anyway? He hadn’t come to Crownsguard practice; Cor made mention of Ignis having some kind of cram school exam, but it wasn’t like Ignis to double-book anything. His thumb hovers over the text field, unsure of how to reply. He doesn’t have a chance to though, because he can see Ignis writing again.<Tell Noctis I’m sorry.>                If he’s just bitching about possibly answering a question on an exam wrong, I’m going to kill him. He half smirks at the thought as he responds. <Whatd u do?>But the smirk dies on his lips when he sees Ignis’ next words.<I don’t think he’ll let me leave.>The smirk dies and Gladio understands.Because last week Ignis had mentioned something casually at lunch, so casually that Gladio had decided it was best to ignore it. Ignis had met someone, someone a bit older. He thought he might like him. But in seventh grade, that sort of comment means nothing, and so he had ignored it. For one thing, he didn’t know how to wrap his mind around Ignis liking boys and he was afraid Ignis would ask him about sex if he pursued the topic. He did not want to talk about sex with Ignis. Gladio was big for his age, and he’d hit puberty at eleven. He was an alpha at that and could easily pass for sixteen or even eighteen; he’d had sex enough, which more or less everyone in the school knew. Gladio would happily give sex advice to nearly anyone who asked, but he’d always been mildly worried that Ignis would eventually ask him. Refusing him would be awkward, but that was one conversation he’d like to die without having.In part because Ignis was far too serious and would probably want to study diagrams with him and ask awkward anatomical questions, and in part because Ignis was cute.But maybe Gladio should have pursued the subject, should have talked to him about it. Because there is no other he in Ignis’ life beyond their classmates, the men in the Crownsguard.<watu talking about? where are u?? whos he ??>He frantically flicks open the app telling him where his friends are, looks around for Ignis’ GPS dot. Gone, of course. Ignis regularly turned it off because he felt it was intrusive. But he’s okay, he’s okay. He has his phone. He’s texting in complete sentences. Gladio bites his thumb and sucks air in around it. And he calls him.He calls him once, twice, three times, frantically hitting the call button over and over every time it automatically goes to voicemail as he runs out of the locker room and looks desperately down the hall, this way and that. Someone must be around. Someone who can help. Gladio had never been conscious of his age before, had never felt like he wasn’t adult enough, but now. Now. And that’s when Ignis picks up, on the seventh call.He doesn’t give Gladio a chance to speak, doesn’t offer a greeting. “I want to go home,” he inhales sharply at the end of the word home, and he’s sobbing then.“Ignis, Ignis,” Gladio says over and over, pressing the phone against his mouth so hard that his teeth scrape the plastic. I’ve never heard you cry before, never heard you scared. It terrifies him. “I’ll come get you. Where are you?” He can’t drive, at least not legally, but it hardly matters. He’d bring the whole Crownsguard with him if he had to.“Gladio, I’m not a…" There is sheer terror in his voice now.And then nothing, the rustle of fabric, a soft clicking and Ignis gasping. A low murmur of sound that Gladio only belatedly places as another voice. He. He. “My friend. Gladio?” He sounds startled, his voice hiccupping, and Gladio closes his eyes in horror. Ignis never sounds this unhinged, never sounds this afraid. And Ignis would never so freely give information that could be dangerous.He doesn’t recognize the voice, the very adult voice, doesn’t recognize the faint accent that screams foreigner, synonymous with danger these days, that murmurs low in his ear now. “I’ll bring him home.”A thousand threats scream through his vocal cords but all Gladio says is, “Is he okay?”“Yes, yes.” The voice is languid, liquid fire, and for a moment Gladio can understand why Ignis fell for him, whoever he is. “Self-discovery can be a bitch though, hm?”“What do—”“I’ll drop him at the palace in, oh, twenty minutes? We aren’t far. And yes, I have permission to pass through the gates.”And then there’s a click as he hangs up.-
Prologue - Regis
-He’s in his school uniform. And it isn’t torn or bloodied; it looks immaculate as ever, and Regis clings desperately to this fact as he skips half of the stairs, forgets his bad leg, and lunges for Ignis. He’s as neat and tidy as he ever is, even if a little wild-eyed as he stands there at the foot of the steps in the throne room, and therefore that means he’s okay. He’s safe.Regis is grabbing him then, sweeping him up and clutching him to his chest. Ignis clings to him, arms wrapped tightly around his neck and one leg drawn in tightly against himself, the other hooked around the king’s waist. He’s never been very affectionate, and Regis has never known the strength of his hugs before now. And Ignis sobs. He sobs and he sobs and Regis cradles him, gently presses the back of his head as Ignis buries his face in his throat and howls.Regis does not know what to say, what to do. He’s only ever seen Ignis cry twice before, when Noctis has been hurt, when the Scientia child who was at once his son and not his son had first seen his brother in a wheelchair. He’d burst into tears then, sobbing that he’d been unable to protect him. And again only last year, at the tenth anniversary of Aulea’s death. Regis had gone down to the tombs to be alone, but Ignis had doggedly followed him, had stood beside the crypt and held his hand and wept silently because that was what his King was doing.His neck is damp, skin wet and the collar of his jacket sticky from Ignis’ tears. Ignis Scientia does not cry for himself; he only cries for others, and something about his tears now sends a vine of dread unfurling through his veins and taking root in his spine. Something is very wrong here.It’s a long moment before he is able to release him, before he is able to pass Ignis off into Clarus’ arms. Clarus, who had been accosted by his own son only fifteen minutes before, who had had to pass on the news to the King that his adopted son was being held by an unknown man and was supposedly about to be dropped off at the palace steps. Take him to Acanthus, please. She’ll know what to do. And it might help him to see Gladio. Or it might not. One can never know with teenage boys. Boys. He knows without asking what has happened to Ignis, and it is a thing he’d never expected to have to deal with as the father of two sons.It’s only when Clarus is gone, when he is certain that Ignis is out of sight and out of sound, that he turns towards the doors and steps out into the sunlight.He strides purposefully towards the car waiting, inwardly impressed that this man has made no effort to leave but loathing him all the same. How could anyone do this to a child?It takes him a moment to understand who he is seeing as he slams a hand down on the roof and leans in as the tinted window slides down.Ardyn Izunia, Chancellor of Niflheim and public mastermind of their war machine. His gut twists in fear and that sense of dread returns, because Ardyn looks exactly as he had twenty years ago, while Regis has gone grey and old. So he truly is the monster he’d claimed to be all those years ago. But before he can say a word, Ardyn is cocking his head and waving at him lazily from the backseat.“I’m here on official duty as an envoy. Lay a finger on me and you commit an act of war,” the man purrs, rolling his head over the back of the seat and grinning up at him.There’s nothing he can say to this, so he only snaps, “He’s thirteen.”“Legal. In both Lucis and Niflheim.”Regis turns on his heel for a moment and looks away, so furious he cannot even look at this man. But he’s right. He’s right. The Scourge had wrecked such havoc over Eos that many countries were forced to lower their ages of consent, to alter their marriage laws in a desperate bid to keep the human race going. Many people out in the countryside married at fifteen now, even fourteen or thirteen. But here in Insomnia, those new laws went ignored. And rightfully so. Thirteen. Ignis had always been a serious boy, but he was still clearly a child. Five feet tall and less than a hundred pounds, soft and smooth-cheeked and wide-eyed. He likes hiding under the covers with a flashlight and reading all night. He gets excited over holidays and festivals. He still plays pretend with Noctis when the prince asks. He’d never admit it, but he needs help with his homework sometimes.Regis wants to tell him these things, these things and more, because this must be a mistake. Ignis must have fooled him, must have worn his Crownsguard uniform and spoken low and managed to pass himself off as older, as he has been trying to do during Council meetings as of late. Stupid, stupid child. I should have warned him about this. But it had never occurred to him, because Ignis was a son and a beta at that. It’s a long time before he can breathe, before he can drag his hand from his face and turn to look at the man sitting in the back seat of a car so expensive its annual taxes must cost more than the Regalia itself. No, there is no point in telling this man that Ignis is only a little boy.“What do you want?” He says tightly, his voice low and dangerous. “Act of war or not, he is my son as much as the Prince is.”“Want? I don’t want anything. I have what I want already. I bonded with him.”He isn’t sure he’s following this any longer. Bonded? Ignis isn’t…“Remember that I have parental visitation rights.”What? Ignis’ parents are dead. They died in the war six years ago. He’d been turned over to his uncle, and subsequently the king, to be raised. Regis starts to say this just as the implications of what Ardyn said hit him, and the words die on his lips as Ardyn leers at him, vicious and predatory and triumphant.“Oh, you didn’t know, did you?” he says softly, his voice almost a purr. “He does have a hormonal imbalance that makes it a little messy, I suppose. He’s an omega. Now my omega.”

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Chapter 1 – Ardyn

-Chancellor Ardyn Izunia expects nothing when he enters Insomnia for the seventh time since Noctis Lucis Caelum was born. He expects it to be like the other six times. He will go in, make sure the boy is still alive and well, lurk in the Citadel’s libraries for a little while, indulge himself in one of their classy hotels – far fancier than anything Gralea has to offer – and make his way back to Niflheim after sending the king an uncomfortable letter from some random Nif dignitary, postmarked from within the city’s walls that nobody is supposed to be able to infiltrate, complimenting him on his son’s growth. It’s a ritual he performs every year or two now, one he’d likely carry out much more often had he not stopped caring about the human passage of time.But this time, he is surprised.He notices it immediately when he lays eyes on the prince, surrounded by a handful of boys his age in the school’s courtyard. Not just any omega. He’s long since learned to block out that scent; one gets tired of knowing everyone else’s sex lives after a few centuries. And not just an omega in heat or close to manifestation. This is different, something far more suited to his tastes.Darling prince Noctis. Oh wouldn't that be sweet, in the way only the cruelest twist of irony can be. But Noctis is only ten or eleven, far too young to be manifesting. And nearly all male Lucis Caelums, even quite a few females, have been Alphas. But it might be fitting that the last one, and he will be the last one, is an omega. I should remember to come back in two years, see what he has shaped up to be, see if he'd be worth playing with a bit before carrying on down the path to the end of the world.  There's a boy beside him, perhaps the same age, but Ardyn's eyes skate over him due to the distraction to the left of him.The Amiticia. It must be. He's the only one old enough. Massive for his age, perhaps fifteen if Ardyn remembers correctly. A little late to manifest, but plenty of Amiticias, plenty of shields, have been oetas and omegas. Ardyn frowns. It would be fun, he supposes, but the boy doesn't seem particularly fun when it comes down to it. Ardyn has seen and heard enough around the Citadel to know by now that the boy is insecure about his position, that he doubts whether or not his father is a true Shield because he’d bypassed the Trials. Insecurity gets boring very quickly. So easy to exploit, and then there is nothing left. So perhaps it’s his bias that causes him to turn back to the boy between them, the mousy-brown-haired kid with glasses. Him. He understands it then. He’s young, perhaps twelve, maybe thirteen if he’s unfortunate, but if he’s an omega, his lot in life is misfortune. Apparently not on suppressants, perhaps young enough that his parents misjudged, didn’t get him on any in time, because it is rare to manifest at twelve or thirteen. Ardyn inhales again. Four or five days, perhaps a week at the most. I'll know better if I can touch him, smell him up close. But for now he only watches.He's pretty, in a haughty sort of way. Insolent and difficult; Ardyn can see that immediately in his eyes, in his subtle pout, the way he carries himself. He’s confident, standoffish in a way that is alarmingly attractive, even at his age. Ardyn has only very rarely been interested in children younger than fifteen or sixteen before now, a fact that Verstael Besithia exhibited unexpected moral disgust towards. But Ardyn has been alive a long time and when one is alive so long, they are compelled towards expanding their sexual appetite out of sheer boredom. And this child will not be a child in a week.Vibrant green eyes behind glasses that Ardyn immediately suspects aren’t entirely necessary. Pale pink lips, slightly bowed. He wonders about the color of his little cock and his fingers curl slightly. And beneath his cock, beneath his little testicles, there will be a short expanse of skin, soft and smooth, and then a hole. He will smell divine down there. And he will be wet for him. The more Ardyn watches him, the more he wants. Wants and wants. Less than a week. I have less than a week to claim him as I want to. He hasn’t cared about the human passage of time in over a thousand years, but suddenly he feels the crushing weight of the urgency of mortality. He needs to know who he is immediately.- Titus Drautos, scornful traitor to the Lucian Empire, fountain of knowledge about everything to do with Insomnia, and an absolute delight to blackmail. He is very sensitive about too many things, and he hasn’t learned to guard himself as much as he ought to if he really does plan on leading an army against his own king. Far in the future. I might have other plans, and everyone in the Empire will by necessity bow to my will.Because Ardyn is rapidly realizing that there are other options. Even if Titus Drautos might be expendable in the near future, right now he has his uses. You’d think he have learned to not answer the phone when he sees my name by now. He knows that Drautos has silly names for anyone related to Niflheim on his phone. It’s less suspicious than a second cell phone, if that were to be discovered. And he knows that his pseudonym is Dry Cleaner. Because I always feel the need to visit one after we talk, the mortal had quipped one day.“I was in Insomnia today, checking up on our darling little prince.” Nothing like living up to expectations.“You really shouldn’t keep doing that,” he growls, immediately followed by a loud sigh. “What do you want?”“You’re always to the point, aren’t you? Tell me about the kid with glasses who is always with him.”“Ignis Stupeo Scientia. Retainer to the King, though he’s treated more like a family member.”“Scientia. They were a scribe family, no?” The middle name surprises him. It suggests royalty, and the Scientias aren’t what anyone should consider royalty.“Something like that, yea. His uncle was the retainer before him. I know a couple of others were but that family…” he trails off, and Ardyn can read between the lines easily enough.“He’s a bastard, isn’t he?”“There are rumors.” Noncommittal, as usual. The asshole. He never likes getting involved in anything interesting. “Don’t try to start anything over it, though.”But rumors are enough. Possible bastard son to the King, retainer and half-brother to the Chosen One. And an omega. A young, impressionable, unbonded omega. The Lucian laws for going after underage omegas are particularly brutal, but the Crown apparently cares little for them once they reach a certain age. “Wouldn’t dream of causing the dear king any trouble. How old is he?”“Thirteen.”Of age. And therefore not a boon but a political asset. “Convenient. Lovely.”“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”“What’s he like?”“Kind of haughty, though it’s warranted. He’s a little clumsy and uncoordinated in the Crownsguard, but he shows promise.”Already in the Crownsguard then. He must have joined the minute he turned thirteen. Cute. And naïve. Stubborn, probably very stubborn, refusing to acknowledge that he might be clumsy. Ardyn can almost taste the boy’s sweat as he imagines him being uncoordinated in training, and he holds the phone too close to his mouth as he purrs, “How so?”“He’s got spirit and a willpower that’s pretty offputting to everyone else. He’s a little creepy. Too forceful,” Drautos sighs again, and he sounds almost proud as he goes on, “Highly intelligent, too, especially regarding strategy. Big fan of chess and shogi. Loves going to Council meetings. Pity he’s growing up under a king who doesn’t care about his own people. It’s a waste.”“A waste, yes of course, but if he were to grow up under the great and holy Empire of Niflheim?”“I’m really going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” And he hangs up before Ardyn has the chance to say another word.Insubordination. But Ardyn only taps the phone receiver against his chin and smirks. So his initial perspectives on the boy had been correct. Which means he’d be very easy to lure in, even easier because if he’s this close, his hormones must be pushing him to make a lot of mistakes, to act without thinking. Ardyn would feel bad if he remembered what it was like, but it’s been a long time since he has been thirteen. A very long time.-

Chapter one - Noctis

-Noctis hates going to the library on the best of days, but the best of days doesn't involve strange men who make his hair stand on end lounging in the history section with a chess board on the table in front of him."That's a very rare chess set," Ignis mutters absently beside him.Noctis makes a vague, noncommittal sound to acknowledge that he heard him, but he's more interested in getting the book he needs for his class report immediately so he can go home and play video games. Not that Ignis cares, because he's already veering off to get a closer look. An action that the stranger notices immediately because he visibly perks up. As of he'd been waiting. Noctis wants to warn Ignis, grab his hand and pull him back, but Ignis is older, smarter. He knows better. If he isn’t alarmed, Noctis shouldn’t be either. Not even when the man speaks to him. "Care for a game?"There is a clear challenge in his voice, unnatural when considering the fact that he is speaking to children. It bothers Noctis in a way he can't describe, and he turns his full attention to him. Even sitting, he is large, tall and impeccably dressed in what must be what some call high fashion. His hair is an unnatural reddish purple, though why a middle-aged man would dye his hair is beyond his comprehension, and his eyes a deep amber. His clothes are expensive, but he looks a little messy. Noct can't imagine escaping the palace looking the way this man does without Ignis dragging him back to straighten him up. Must be nice to not be a royal. He almost smirks, until he realizes that this man might be royalty. Because he is clearly an Alpha. Noctis can tell this even at his age, even being an Alpha himself. No royal family that Noctis recognizes, and he has been forced to sit through a lot of council meetings, forced to be wheeled around in a lot of family gatherings when he was incapacitated. He might not even be Lucian. Was that an accent I heard? And he looks at Ignis, who is unexpectedly pale, limbs locked and rigid as he stares at the strange man. He's afraid, Noctis realizes suddenly. He knows something about this man I don't and he's afraid of him. He glances back at the stranger, sees the way he's staring at Ignis, devouring him with his eyes. It pushes him to act in a way he rarely acts. Assertive, protective, dominant. The way the Crown Prince ought to act. He wonders if his father would be proud as he steps forward, "Not him. You'll play me."Ignis glances at him, startled, clearly vaguely irritated, but after a moment he bows his head and steps back.Noctis doesn't like it when he does that, when he acts as if there is a wall between them, and it only makes him want to protect him more. He's just my brother and this is what brothers do for each other. "I'll need your help sometimes." All the time. "Two against one, is it?" the man purrs softly, his hooded eyes narrow and unreadable. Yet Noctis can't help but feel he is irritated as he murmurs, "I suppose your combined age is still less than mine, so it's only fair."Ignis bristles beside him, but he doesn't rise to the bait.  He only pulls up a second chair and waits until Noctis sits, flatly and abruptly, across from the strange man before sitting himself. Noctis feels sick, dizzy and anxious; there is something horribly wrong with this man and this situation but he can't place what. Plenty of people hang around the library and its neighboring cafe with chess sets, shogi and go boards. He knows that Ignis has been distracted more than once by this sort of setup, knows that there’s nothing untoward or unusual about the situation. But this man. He feels out of his depth, and he is more aware of his age than he has ever been.He makes the first move, though Ignis makes such a loud groan of frustration that for the next several, he lets the older boy direct where to put each piece. At least until the man murmurs something about how they ought to play equally, and that Noctis shouldn't make Ignis do everything all the time. He can tell that this man, Izunia, as he called himself, is only playing with them. He doesn't know how or why, but the older man isn't even trying to hide it. It's in the way he lazily flicks the pieces around, the way he sometimes spends five minutes mulling over a move only to do something that makes Ignis scoff or roll his eyes."Stop giving it to him. It's disrespectful," Ignis finally snaps. He’s being rude, even for Ignis, and his cheeks are slightly flushed."Do you really want me to play properly?""Yes," Ignis says so firmly that Noctis flinches.And Izunia wipes the floor with them within the next four moves as Ignis stares on in horror, as if he hadn't been expecting it. Because even at thirteen, Ignis was one of the best players in Insomnia. Noctis would normally be delighted to see him lose, but this makes him feel sick."Play again sometime?" he yawns after asking, his movements lazy and leonine as he rearranges the pieces to their original positions.No, no, no, you dirty old creep. Noctis opens his mouth to tell him off, but Ignis beats him to it. "Maybe sometime," he snaps out, and Noctis can sense his tension. He reaches up and grabs his hand, squeezes it and pulls back."We gotta go."Ignis nods, bows his head slightly in that way of his whenever Noctis asks or demands something of him, and he waves half-heartedly at the strange man that Noct wants nothing to do with ever again.He notices too late that Ignis is shaking his hand free as he glances back towards the library. "Hold on, I forgot something." And before Noct can even digest his words, before he can react, the older boy had darted off. He could be remarkably fast when he wanted to be.So Noctis waits with bated breath, unsure of how long he should stand there before getting concerned. Ignis never forgets anything, so there is clearly something else here that he doesn't understand. At least not then, not until Ignis finally comes trotting back what feels like an eternity, but must only have been a couple of minutes, later."Nothing. Just a question about his technique." He says it breathlessly, quickly, and he will not meet Noctis's eyes.Noct says nothing. He's too busy noticing how Ignis shoves something into his pocket and curls his fingers around it, forming a bulge on his thigh. Ignis has always been secretive, private, and Noctis knows that the older boy would never tell him even if he pressed. But he doesn't have to ask. He'd caught a glimpse, and he knows that what Ignis had just retrieved from the man in the library was a set of keys.

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Chapter 2 – Ignis

-His finger slips on the door buzzer – strange, that a hotel would have one on every room – and it takes him a moment to realize it’s because his hands are sweaty. Nervous. He’s felt a little uneasy the last week, a little tired, a little warm. Which doesn’t make very much sense, because he’s never been worried about final exams before. Maybe it’s because they’re his last set of easy tests before he must take the high school entrance exams. He wipes his hands off on his pants just as the door creaks open a couple of inches.“It’s you.”The redheaded stranger sounds vaguely irritated, and he makes no effort to open the door further or move out of the way. Ignis freezes. He’d been thinking about this all day, scarcely paid attention to a word said in class and had even cut out of cram school half an hour early because he’d been unable to bear it any longer. And he’d all but run from the train station to the hotel. Only to have Izunia be irritated with him. Ignis wonders if perhaps he has someone over. A woman, probably. That could be uncomfortable. He doesn’t know why that thought irritates him, so he asks, “Should I go?”Izunia cocks his head, eyes askance for a moment. “If you wish to,” and then he sighs as he pulls the door open further. Green pants as before, with a black shirt this time, a far plainer outfit than he’d been wearing when they’d first met. “Or come in. Whatever you’d like to do.”Ignis doesn’t step in immediately. The man’s behavior is offputting, as if he regrets his offer that he come over whenever he pleases to play chess. Because after this man had utterly destroyed him in a chess match, Ignis had dragged Noctis out of the library only to return moments later to accost the man. I’d never seen a couple of those moves before. Can you teach me? Izunia had stared blankly at him for a long moment before nodding once and Ignis had been unexpectedly thrilled over that nod. Now he isn’t so certain. “Are you busy?”“Never for charming young individuals like you.” He opens the door fully now and gestures for him to come in.Ignis’ eyes momentarily widen at the sight of the room. He’d known this was an expensive hotel when Izunia had handed him the key. I always request two because I am remarkably adept at losing things. I’m normally in the library until four or five but feel free to come by after that. I’ll be in town through the nineteenth. The name etched on the keys was for one of the finest hotels in Insomnia. Ignis had looked it up last night, had stared at the guest room photos online. This looks exactly like the photos.“I admit I didn’t think you’d come.”“Why wouldn’t I?” He sidles in through the door and looks around. The room is messier than it ought to be, but the door to the bathroom is open and no one else is there. He’s definitely alone, and Ignis is unexpectedly relieved at this.“Because your parents probably taught you not to talk to strangers, much less meet them at hotels.”Ignis narrows his eyes at parents. His parents died ages ago. His uncle barely acknowledges his existence. The king is…the king. Busy. But he isn’t about to tell Izunia any of that, so he merely shrugs. “You’re the best at chess I’ve ever seen.”Izunia seems to accept this, just as he accepts a thirteen-year-old showing up without warning. He only makes his way to the massive desk in the corner and opens drawers aimlessly, as if he isn’t sure where he put something. Probably not, as he seems a bit of a slob. His hair is even messier than it was at the library, so messy that Ignis feels the urge to comb it, run his hands through those thick waves. It makes his fingers twitch in impatience as the man finally sighs. “I’m staying here because it’s so close to the palace libraries. And it’s quiet enough that I can conduct research in peace. A lot of the other hotels in the area…” he waves a hand. “Let’s just say that this hotel has two floors designated for people traveling with children and I am six floors above that.”He isn’t sure if there’s a hint in there, a dig at his age, so he stays silent as the stranger pulls out a chess board and a wooden box. Ones he promptly shoves into Ignis’ hands.“Set it up.”Ignis is so startled that he obeys.-“I didn’t introduce myself before, did I?” he says it lazily after nearly half an hour of pushing pieces around. They’d made barely any progress, as Ignis had spent ten minutes asking questions about the origin of the set only to receive vague answers. The man clearly isn’t used to inquisition, or perhaps he’s so used to it that he’s learned omission is better than lying. “My proper name is Ardyn Izunia. You can call me whatever you like.”“Okay,” Ignis darts a glance up at him as he finally puts his piece down. He can’t tell what language that is, neither first nor last name. “I’m Ignis.”Ardyn only nods, and Ignis feels at once relieved and irritated that he doesn’t seem more interested. He wants this man interested in him, instead of merely looking upon him as a mild nuisance.“Ignis Scientia,” he says bluntly, inhaling deeply the moment he says it as if to drag the words back between his lips. I shouldn’t have said that. He might recognize the name.“I didn’t ask.”Or not. Now he feels distinctly irritated, but he keeps quiet for another round or two, afraid he will say something else that will compromise him. The thought makes him realize that his hands are sweating again, that he feels uncharacteristically warm, and as soon as it’s Ardyn’s turn again he wipes them on his pants, holds them in his lap. He wonders if he could ask him to put the air conditioner on, but when he opens his mouth, he only blurts out, “I like your cologne.”And he flinches. So much for not embarrassing myself. But it’s true, he’s realizing now. He does like it quite a bit, far better than whatever everyone in the Crownsguard training locker room sprays all over themselves.Ardyn’s hand stops moving, chess piece hovering over the board, as he stares at him. His eyes are such a strange color that Ignis can’t stop looking at them. “Little young to be worrying about that, aren’t you?”Ignis ignores this. He must not know anything about teenagers, because half of his class wears cologne and perfume already. But if that’s all he finds strange about the comment, he’ll run with it. “What is it?”He puts the rook down. “Nothing you can afford. I bought it when traveling through Niflheim.”He scowls. He’s grateful that Ardyn hadn’t commented on the strangeness of his behavior, but the incessant jibes at his adolescence are irritating. “Are you from Niflheim?”“I’ve lived in Gralea the last few decades, if that’s what you’re asking.”“That’s not what I was asking, actually,” he grumbles as he moves a pawn in turn. Decades. He doesn’t like the more aggressive reminder that this man is at least three times his age.Ardyn only grunts in response at that. “Stupid move. I’ll let you redo it.”Ignis immediately picks it up again, moves it back to where it had been. He also doesn’t like that Ardyn is letting him cheat, but he doesn’t want to act too childish either and so he stays silent.Not that he knows what Ardyn expects of him either.He doesn’t know what to do and he stares numbly at the board. He’d thought Ardyn had boxed him into a corner, but now he has the uncomfortable suspicion that the man had purposefully given him an out. One that he can’t find. He’s making it easy for me and I still can’t manage. The thought makes him sick and with a jolt he realizes that he not only feels feverish, but actually a little ill.Ardyn gives him a few minutes, then five, a few more before he sighs softly. “Would you like something to drink?”“Mm,” Ignis mumbles as Ardyn stands, embarrassed that the man might have noticed that he looks sick. He himself isn’t sure if that’s a yes or a no, but he will accept whatever Ardyn does. He doesn’t dare look up as Ardyn stands, doesn’t move as the man brushes past him.Instead he freezes. The hand against his shoulder for the barest of moments unsettles him somehow. It was an accident, surely. And what difference would it make? I’m used to being jostled and pushed around by men. That’s half of what being in the Crownsguard is. But nobody in the Crownsguard is this man.Though he doesn’t have time to work through that, as Ardyn is now placing a glass on the table in front of him before sitting down. Ignis finds himself fixating on how the cloth of his pants stretch over his thighs when he moves. The drink had arrived too quickly and he doesn’t like how he seems to have lost a minute in there somewhere, so he once again drops his piece down in a random spot and takes a sip.Apple juice, whereas Ardyn is drinking something similar in color but likely alcoholic. He seems the type. Also the type to give a child apple juice, assuming he likes it because he’s a child. But it’s sweet and cold and it gives Ignis a rush of contentment as he sips it, allows him to focus on something other than the feverishness and anxiety.But they don’t finish the game. Ardyn admonishes him on his next move, offers a few suggestions, warns him of common pitfalls, and after another few exchanges of a similar note he yawns loudly and cocks his head towards the door. Rude.“You can just say you want me to leave.”“You’ve been here two hours,” he shrugs as he stands, the gesture leonine and lazy as everything else he does, and he takes a step towards the bathroom. “Come on. I have things to do tonight.”Ignis blushes at that. Two hours. He hadn’t realized he’d been intruding for so long. He half-turns in his chair to apologize, and that’s when he sees the orange scarf that Ardyn had worn in the library hanging on a hook behind the front door.He forgets to apologize. Instead, Ignis waits until the man closes the bathroom door before moving. He jumps up, sidles across the room to finger the scarf. And he raises it to his face, presses the fabric against his cheeks and smells it. That scent. It makes him dizzy, warm and comfortable in a way he doesn’t understand.He jumps at a sound behind him and half turns, guiltily. Ardyn’s leaning against the doorway to the bathroom, his hip jutting out in a way that Ignis finds distracting. “The cologne?”He hadn’t realized he was holding his breath until he exhales in relief. Because Ardyn had given him an out, an excuse for why he was standing there huffing the man’s clothing instead of sitting where he’d left him or packing to leave. “It’s nice.”“I don’t like spraying it on myself, only the clothing,” he yawns and Ignis stares hard at his mouth, his teeth, the way his tongue curls. “It probably reeks. Keep it if you want.”“Really?” His voice cracks when he says it and he blushes furiously. I sound too eager. I sound like a child.Ardyn smirks lazily, mouth crooked. “I have a few. I hardly need one in this climate anyway.”Yes, because you’re not from here. You’re from Gralea. And you’re going to go home in a week or two and I’ll never see you again. “Thanks.” He pauses then, surprised at how assertive he feels. “Same time tomorrow?”“No.”He can’t hide how crestfallen he feels in time, only to have Ardyn’s smirk turn into a grin.“Don’t skip cram school again. Come after.”Ignis feels his blush only deepen at the rush of gratitude he feels. “Yea, yea.” He grabs his bag and he goes, winding the orange scarf around his neck as he does, uncaring of how desperate he probably looks. It’s so warm.-He pulls his blankets tightly around him as he always does before sleeping. But it’s not enough, not the feeling he’s looking for. He rearranges them, turns and twists the sheets before sighing and sitting up for a moment. He can’t justify more blankets in such early fall weather, but he wants comfort and weight to press against more than he does heat, so he slips off to the linen closet to collect a couple of towels. Now his bed is better. Blankets and towels not on him but around him, all but for one. And the scarf. He keeps that with him, because it smells nice.He inhales. He inhales as he curls around the scarf and absently pushes a hand between his legs. He doesn’t do anything with it, merely presses the inside of his wrist against his groin as if to still the pressure, the heat.He wakes up with a jolt hours later, and the first thought that crosses his mind is that he hadn’t told Ardyn he’d skipped class.-

Chapter 2 – Prompto

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He should be minding his own business. Should be jogging home to burn a hundred calories, should be doing his math homework and finishing the poster he’s supposed to make for the school fair next week, should be cleaning up his mess from breakfast, should be calling his mother to let his parents know that he made it home safely from another day at school and all is well.But he isn’t, because he is instead watching Ignis Scientia.There are three reasons why Ignis Scientia has always been of particular interest to him.
He is Noctis’…something. Prompto isn’t very clear on this. Royal advisor or something of the sort, though at his age he can’t be all that useful. So instead he circles the prince as his older brother, maybe even a little like his mother. They don’t act quite like friends, because Ignis seems like a bit of a nag, but he’s always around the prince and that’s something.
He is in the Crownsguard, and he’s only thirteen. Thirteen! He must have been allowed to join immediately. Thirteen is the youngest anyone in Lucis can join the Crownsguard, though they can’t see active combat until sixteen with rare exception. It’s like the marriage law. One can technically marry at thirteen, but they have limited autonomy until sixteen, and nobody actually does

He’s a beta, and he’s still considered kin to the Royal family. That is unfathomable to Prompto. He knows, knows that plenty of people in the Council are betas, but the palace is inhabited predominantly by Alphas. The Lucis Caelums always are with rare exception. It’s a requirement that the Shield and some of the other high-ranking positions are as well. So it’s surprising that Ignis, a mere beta like Prompto, would be future adviser to the king. It will cause a stir later, Prompto suspects, but right now Ignis isn’t officially anything, and only his classmates currently know (or care enough) to pay attention to what anyone is at their age. Not that Ignis isn’t older than Prompto. Two years, he thinks, though he acts like it’s five or six.
So naturally, he tends to follow Ignis around just as he does Noctis. They are rarely apart, anyway, and when they are apart, Prompto gets curious.Like right now.He spends too much time aimlessly wandering the city, taking photos that his mother has gently said were a little creepy.His mother is an omega, a barren one at that. She’d told Prompto often enough that he was more or less a gift from the Astrals. A barren omega. Did such a thing even really exist before his mother? She didn’t seem to think so, and he’d brought her back from the brink of despair. So dad said, anyway. It’s not like he seems much of either of them these days.Maybe if his mother was around more, maybe if she wasn’t working at the hospital so late every night, he’d listen when she told him he shouldn’t wander off on his own so much, shouldn’t take photos of people without their permission. But she isn’t around, so Prompto does what he pleases. The photos aren’t harming anyone, after all.This is the third day in a row that Ignis skipped off immediately after school, leaving Noctis with the older boy, Gladiolus. Prompto has heard jokes in school about how Ignis is joined at the hip with the prince, how he never does anything without him, so he knows that this is strange. He’s caught Ignis alone often enough, though he is usually at the library, at cafes ordering ebony, which he should not be drinking at his age.  Prompto suspects that isn’t what’s happening this week, so on the third day, he decides to actively pursue him until he finds out exactly where he goes, even if it means he has to use some of his allowance on a taxi and ask the driver to follow that car like they do in the movies.He’s almost disappointed when Ignis takes the train.-He waits outside the hotel for an hour, then two. Three. He has trouble imagining Ignis abandoning the prince for so long, but he must be doing it. At least the hotel has both a café and a burger joint across the street, despite being in the expensive part of the city. He can eat at one, then scurry off to the other when the staff start eyeing him. Obnoxious how many adults think it’s okay to gently reprimand him for eating three hamburgers in an hour.He’s relieved when Ignis finally steps through the front door of the hotel, stands on the portico.Less relieved when he realizes the redheaded man who came out with him is actually with him, and it wasn’t just a coincidence that they went through the doors together. Because it hits him then that he doesn’t even know who Ignis’ parents are, if they are alive at all, where they were from, what they look like. He doesn’t know, but he doesn’t think this man is his father.Because as he keeps watching, unsure of what he is seeing, the red-haired man places a hand on Ignis’ shoulder in a way that makes Prompto flinch. Especially when he flicks a finger up to stroke the boy’s cheek, a gesture uncomfortably intimate. Especially when instead of jerking away from him, Ignis leans into his touch and smiles up at him, catches his arm and holds it.Definitely not his father. They’re acting the way high schoolers act when dating. Except Ignis is thirteen and this man looks like he’s in his forties. It makes Prompto’s gut twist. Ignis is mature for his age, but this is wrong. Ignis is a smart kid. He must realize this. Yet why...Prompto has never gotten very good grades, but he’s always had a knack for knowing how others are feeling. And his parents are doctors. And he’s overheard enough conversations, read enough books lying around the house, to know some things. Ignis is not acting like himself, not even acting like a typical stupid teenager. Which likely means one thing. One thing that apparently, nobody else realized. One thing that the royal family really should know about immediately.Except Prompto has no one to tell.

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Chapter 3 – Gladiolus

Sometimes Gladio wishes that Ignis didn't skip classes. He hadn't skipped an entire grade, thankfully. The junior high school they attended frowned on that, lest it lead to socialization issues. Gladio doesn't think that should factor into letting Ignis Scientia skip, as the boy has some questionable social behavior as it is. Nonetheless, he's thankful that Ignis has only skipped a few classes. Gladio can escape him for about half of the day.He likes him, likes being around him. But he gets a little tired of him sometimes, especially as he's getting older and discovering that Ignis is attractive. He doesn't like boys, not normally, but the Scientia is an exception. It's just because we spend so much time together, because we're both in the employ of the king and we have more or less grown up together. We both share far more responsibility than anyone our age should and we've therefore bonded over it. And his eyes are bright and green and the way he parts his lips a little when he’s thinking is...That's why it's such a problem when Ignis begins talking about it one lunch period. It. Dating."I think I like men."Gladio all but chokes. He squeezes his eyes closed a moment as he ducks his head. Men. Ignis Scientia is into men. The cutest boy in the school apparently doesn't like girls. Or he might like girls, but he also likes boys. Why, why must the Astrals be so cruel? Gladio glances up nervously now, looks at his watch and wonders if he can just skip through the next six minutes of lunch. Ignis isn't in his next class, thankfully, though that has more to do with Gladio being in average math while Ignis is, as usual, in the highest level that the school offers.   But if Ignis notices that he's acting strange, he doesn't react. "Not boys, I don't think. Older men.""How do you know?" He finally asks.Ignis doesn't answer immediately. He eats his cake slowly, the way he always does. He'd never admit it to Noctis, but Ignis likes his sweets. Gladio has caught him buying two desserts at lunch more than once, particularly when it's cake. He will wolf down everything else simply to enjoy his dessert. "I met someone, actually. I like spending time with him. Not quite dating but...""You spend time with him then?" Oh Astrals. Probably someone in the Crownsguard. The thought makes him uncomfortable. He wonders if it’s Nyx Ulric, who’s managed to charm his way through every woman in the Guard already. He doesn’t strike him as Ignis’ type, but who knows. At least Nyx is a good guy, for the most part. No fears of him taking advantage of Ignis. Not that I’m worried about anyone doing that."He's helping improve my chess technique."Gladio sighs then, rolls his eyes to hide his relief. As expected. The poor guy probably has no idea that Ignis is crushing on him. He can just imagine it, some older man, somewhere between middle age and seniority, teaching a kid in the library chess out of the good of his heart. Or, what he suspects is more likely, teaching a kid in the library chess because said kid was so pushy that he had no choice in the matter. He smirks at the thought. So it’s nothing, nothing. Ignis just acting his age, after all. "Poor guy."Ignis ignores this. "I find him very attractive."The smirk fades. "How old is he?""Old enough," he snaps this out now, as it embarrassed. "I don't need your advice. I was just telling you."Thank the gods for that. He can imagine the kind of advice Ignis might have asked him. He glances at him now, sees the faint flush in his cheeks and wonders. Ignis turned thirteen recently. Old enough to be interested in sex, not that it really means anything at their age. Gladio knows that he’s one of the few people experienced in such matters at their school. But Ignis? Any crush of his likely means nothing. Nothing.He decides to change the subject, make it about something that Ignis likes, that Ignis can be proud of. "You finish the history report yet?""No, actually.""No?""I'm busy after cram school this week so I'm a little behind. I'll get it done," he finishes his cake and pushes his tray aside. “What?” Ignis not finishing everything a week before it’s due is downright bizarre. It’s because he’s playing chess with this guy. He’s neglecting his work to hang out with him. The behavior is so unlike Ignis he doesn’t know how to digest this information.“I’ve been busy,” he says again, this time with an edge to his voice that Gladio knows is a precursor to violence, an edge that only tends to emerge when someone is bother Noctis. Strange. Gladio only shakes his head.

Chapter 3 – Ardyn
 Ignis shows up again, like clockwork, so soon after Ardyn knows that cram school ends that he knows the boy is skipping out early. But at least he’s keeping up appearances. It’s conceivable that he could arrive here only 23 minutes after class, assuming that he runs to the train, makes the first one, and runs to the hotel from the station.Ardyn opens the door immediately when he hears the clinking of keys. And the boy is there, grinning up at him with an expression that he himself would be ashamed of if he knew. Ignis is wearing the scarf he gave him, the scarf he’s worn every day since.He doesn’t invite him in anymore, just swings the door wide and turns, walks back into the room, a bottle of wine still in his hand. He needs a drink now to get through this, to manage to survive the next two hours without losing his mind, without throwing Ignis down on the floor and ripping his clothing off, fucking him blind before he’s properly manifested, which would only damage and traumatize him. No attachment, no possibility of bonding, no possibility of marriage. Everything would be over before it began.Because last night. Last night, only on the third night, Ignis had touched him, and Ardyn is finding that he’s having trouble concentrating when he thinks about this.
He’d managed to spill water on his own chair, an act that Ardyn suspects was on purpose. But he’d played along, let the boy sit beside him on the couch instead, his little thigh warm against his own.

“Move either a rook or a knight now. I won’t say which.”

Ignis leans in, grabs the rook with his right hand just as he lays his left hand on Ardyn's thigh.

Ardyn stares for a moment, studying that thin little hand, the tapered fingers, so petite and slim. He almost leaves it, almost grabs that hand and pushes it up his thigh and into his groin, but he doesn't. He behaves. Instead he pulls the little hand up and off of him.

But Ignis resists him, continues to clutch his hand and squeezes, tries to twine his fingers through his. Ardyn deliberates for a moment; it would be so easy to rip away from him, to shove him down, violate him, do whatever he wishes. Because while Ignis is being firm, he can't hold a candle to Ardyn's strength. And there is something endearing about it, his weakness. So Ardyn relents. He gives in, lets Ignis' damp fingers weave through his. The boy is satisfied then as he leans against Ardyn and sighs softly. "This is the move you wanted me to do, hm?"

"Yes," Ardyn murmurs, glancing down at him. But he's not talking about the board, not at all.
-But this time, Ignis throws himself down on the couch, stretches out, stretches so much that his shirt half-untucks from his pants and Ardyn’s gaze is dragged to his waistline. He wants to pull his shirt up completely, see his pale little belly. He wonders what his belly button looks like, if he’s developing a little naval line of pubic hair yet. But Ignis speaks then, and Ardyn’s gaze is dragged back to his face. "Mm, I've been tired lately.""It's because you're coming here,” he taps his foot, unwilling to get any closer. “After regular class and then cram school. Or Crownsguard practice."He half-shrugs and readjusts himself on the couch, curls up now. "This kinda schedule is normal for me. Just haven’t been sleeping that well at night for some reason."Ardyn arches an eyebrow but doesn't respond. He can imagine a few reasons."Do you care if I sleep here?"Not at all, not at all. Eventually, you will stay whether you want to or not. I will take you to that bed in the next room and I will make you mine. You will sweat and writhe and climax on those sheets one day within the next week and even if you cry and beg, even if your mind doesn't want it, your body will betray you. The thought makes his dick twitch and he is thankful that Ignis can't see him from this angle. "A little."Ignis scowls. "I don't snore or anything.""I modify my schedule so that you can come visit. To play chess. I'm not interested in babysitting." True. He isn't. He doesn't particularly like children. Ignis is an exception, because he appears to be the most genetically compatible omega that Ardyn has ever crossed paths with in his long years on Eos."Just an hour or so," he murmurs, and Ardyn catches a note in his voice that makes his gut drop, a faintly sultry tone, something soft and throaty. His voice hasn't changed yet, but for a moment Ardyn catches a hint of what he might sound like in a couple of years. I will know him then. If he is still alive, I will own him. If he is no longer alive, it will be because I killed him. Nobody can have him but me."Set your alarm then. I'm not waking you."Ignis lasts all of three minutes after he puts his phone back down on the arm of the couch. He passes out soundly and quickly, his lips slightly parted.Ardyn watches him a few minutes, fixates on his belly, how close his shirt is to being untucked. I could touch it, just a little bit, pull it up and see what his stomach looks like. He groans softly at the thought and realizes he must cover him, because he can’t resist. He quickly drapes his coat over the boy, tucks the collar around his shoulders. Ignis stirs as he does this, stretches a leg out and then curls up beneath the coat. He's smiling in his sleep now, his face flushed.Ardyn is rapidly realizing that Ignis is, indeed, very cute. It had been a knee-jerk reaction previously, intense lust driving him to target him, but now that he has spent some time alone with him, seen him relax in a habitat that he, somehow, felt comfortable in, he's seeing that the boy is startlingly attractive.And he smells. He smells very nice. Ardyn wants to open him up, to spread his legs and push a couple of fingers inside of that wet warmth and work him open. He wants Ignis to squirm and shudder on his fingers, to leak around him and make soft noises and arch his back, reveal his pale neck for Ardyn to mark. He wonders absently if Ignis would be receptive to being touched yet. Not fucked. He must wait until the boy goes fully into heat before doing that, wait until Ignis can't resist him and it would be consensual, at least as consensual as an omega can have. He doesn't want to scare him away.He sits down in the chair across from the couch then. He steeples his fingers in front of his face and inhales slowly through his hands before he finally sits back, crosses his legs and stares at the boy. He watches him sleep, absorbs every breath, every toss and turn or stretch of a limb. He's a restless sleeper, and he clutches the coat, nuzzles his face against it, as if he likes the smell. The same sort of action he did with the scarf. Cute.But Ardyn doesn’t like how quickly he himself is losing control. I’m two thousand years old. I have been through this a hundred times. I have seen empires rise and fall. I have watched how omegas went from revered to scorned to hunted to grudgedly accepted and now, again, slowly becoming valued in a time of gradual apocalypse. He’s fucked thousands of people by now, probably at least a thousand omegas by now, but he’s never bonded with a single one. He’s never wanted to. Not even Ignis. He just wants to fuck him, own him, destroy him.
That’s all. That’s all.
-Ignis awakes with a snort when his alarm goes off."You do snore a little.""Don't tell anyone," he scowls as he pulls the coat off of him, pushes it to the side.Ardyn laughs at that, cuts it off and sighs as he finishes setting up the chess pieces. He’d begun a minute ago, when he knew that the boy’s alarm would be going off any second. He’d finished off the bottle of wine in the last hour, begun another. "Who would I tell?"He surprises him then by shrugging his vest off, commenting on feeling hot, and could Ardyn turn on the AC? Ardyn doesn't comment that it's on already, but he does turn it up. Not only because he needs to keep up appearances, but because he needs to turn his back on Ignis for a moment to compose himself.Because the boy's nipples are pushing up against his shirt and Ardyn wonders if he notices, if he finds that strange. He wants to taste them, flick his tongue across them and suck and nip until Ignis is moaning. If he's already this sensitive, this close to heat, he'd probably be doing that in a heartbeat. He wonders if Ignis has ever masturbated, ever jerked off or fingered himself. Probably not. He seems the uptight sort, embarrassed by his body. he might have noticed something off otherwise. Because omegas have two sweet spots, too far apart for fingers to reach simultaneously, not that he couldn't discover them individually. Only a cock can hit both. It's known that omegas can have the most divine sex, the most exquisite orgasms, but the tradeoff is that they are all but owned by their heats, that they can be impregnated. It would be so much easier to keep him if he were pregnant. He’d belong to me, legally. If only I…Ardyn is jerked back to Eos when Ignis clears his throat behind him. A quiet sound, but indignant, pushy. The boy is demanding.  He glances over at him. Ignis is sitting upright a little too stiffly on the couch, hands clasped between his knees. He’d unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt and Ardyn can see that the flush of his cheeks goes all the way down his neck. His lips are pink and damp and his eyes are too bright. His hair is a mess. Ardyn suspects that he never looks this disheveled normally, that he’d be angry if he knew how messy he looked. He’s losing control.“Only one hour to play chess today then.” Ardyn says softly, turning to gaze out the window. One hour and then you must leave, because I can not stand to be around you any longer, because I will take you before you are ready and ruin everything. And he adds, before it’s too late. “I don’t know if I’ll be here tomorrow.”He can just imagine the fury on Ignis’ face, but right now he’s more concerned with the heat in his gut. I am losing control, he thinks numbly.

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Chapter 4 – Ignis

He opens his textbook to a random page but makes no effort to turn to what the teacher is talking about.This class. Sexual education. He'd tried to get out of this class, but the king had refused to sign the waiver that had been handed out. Had commented that he needs to behave like the rest of the students regardless of how smart he is, that he can't act like he's superior to other kids his age just because of his IQ. Ignis had been taken aback by that, had been a little insulted by it, but he'd backed down. Now the class just makes him uncomfortable because he thinks about him. He’d rather learn about sex from him, not a book.He glances down at the page his book is open to.Betas take up 92.2% of the population, Alphas 5.1%, omegas 2.7%. Approximately 10% of all Alphas were female, 10% of all omegas male. The unfortunate ones, the ones the students snickered about, except the handful who never did. A girl in his class had asked about the textbook only the other day. Why is Alpha the only one ever capitalized? It irritated Ignis, too, though more for the sake of consistency than anything else. He grew up in a royal household, even if he wasn’t royal himself. Recognition that certain individuals were superior was engrained in him, and even when he questioned it, he couldn’t do much about it. For that matter, it bothered him that there were so many more Alphas than omegas. Shouldn't it be equal? But no. Alphas were more likely to be immune to the Scourge, whereas omegas succumbed to it faster than average. The balance upset over time, as the book explains, and is expected to only get worse as time goes on. But that isn't what the teacher is talking about right now. Something much more physical.The teacher's words are going in one ear and out the other, rattling through his brain as they pass through. He rubs his brow, pushes his glasses up and presses his fingers tight against his eyelids. A headache coming on. He's had them off and on recently, had aches and pains all over recently. Nothing to worry about. He feels feverish, but he's checked his own temperature a few times and nothing ever came of it.Growing pains, the king would say if Ignis asked him. Boys his age get them, boys who unexpectedly, suddenly, viciously start growing. His uncle is tall. He knows that both of his parents were, as well, knows that he very likely will also be on the taller side. Not that he is now. Barely five feet tall, one of the shortest boys in his grade, nearly a whole foot shorter than Gladio now. The thought makes him stretch his legs out beneath his desk, first one, then the other. One of his knees cracks and he winces at the sound.  It doesn't help that he's in a foul mood. Because Ardyn had all but kicked him out last night, told him he might not be around today. Not that it will stop Ignis; he's still going to go. He has to.And as he thinks of this, as he remembers Ardyn's dismissal of him, he sticks his hand in his pocket and rubs his thumb over the ivory piece in his pocket. The Queen. A silly choice, but he had acted on impulse when Ardyn had all but pushed him out the door last night, had swept it into his backpack so that it would appear to be an accident if the man caught him at it.He must return it. It's clearly an expensive chess set. He isn't sure if he's supposed to return the scarf, not that he wants to do so. Because it smells like him.Ardyn.Gladio had scoffed at him when he'd tried to tell him. Yes, yes we just play chess, but he also touches me. He gives me things. He lets me sleep on the couch and gives me his coat to curl up in. He likes him, likes him quite a bit, and he doesn't care that Ardyn is a man, a man significantly older than him. He remembers how Ardyn had held his hand the other night, had then walked him out onto the front steps of the hotel and touched his face. The thought makes him rub his face, two fingers over his cheek. His skin is warm, so warm, and sensitive. I should check my temperature again tonight. Buy a new thermometer and try it again. “Scientia.” The teacher sounds irritated.“What?” he asks, half in a daze. He doesn’t remember her saying anything.“What are the pregnancy rates for omegas during their cycles?”Pregnancy rates. The thought makes his stomach lurch in disgust. I don’t have to think about that. I like men. And I’m a beta, so it’s not like I’m going to get swayed by anyone.He knows the answer. Alarmingly low numbers. Something about the genes carrying extreme fertility for omegas were what made them particularly susceptible to the Scourge. 37% for female omegas. 22% for male omegas. Even in heat, the rates are that low. So he opens his mouth to spit the answers out, to recite the explanation he knows the teacher wants to hear, but nothing comes out. He feels sick, horribly sick, and he realizes with horror that he's about to throw up.He stands up from his desk abruptly and all but runs from the room.He locks himself in the stall furthest from the door, the one with the cool cement wall on one side. I can't be sick. I can't be sick. I have to go see him, I have to- He vomits once, twice, then collapses against the wall. He curls up slowly, horrified to find that he is shaking, that he still feels warm, that his insides feel strange in a way that is not quite sick any longer, but something nonetheless.He's never had such a bad case of nerves before.-Ardyn doesn't answer the knock. He doesn't answer the private doorbell the suites in this hotel have. And Ignis stands there in the hallway, trembling faintly - he still feels horribly ill and at this point suspects he has the flu, which he certainly should not be passing on to a middle-aged man - unsure of what to do next. He has the keys. Ardyn had given him keys. But he'd never had to use them before now. He wouldn't have given them to me if he hadn't wanted me to use them.He deliberates a moment before he finally pulls them from his pocket and unlocks the door. The suite is somehow sad without the older man there, but he pokes into every corner. Ardyn brought a lot of clothing with him, though much of it is the same in varying shades. But Ignis still touches all of it, rubs his face against the shirts and inhales. Yes, he likes men. So what? He helps himself to the fridge, picks through Ardyn's leftovers, most of which seems to be from room service and a Galahdian take-out place. He even samples a bottle of gin, but a single sip makes him grimace for a few seconds.He's there nearly two hours before he hears a key in the lock, and he can't hide his eagerness as he leans forward on the couch, presses his hands between his thighs. I just want to play chess, I just want to play chess. I don't want him to smile at me or touch me or kiss me. Ardyn looks at him for a long moment before sighing and dropping the bag on the table. Bottles clinking. Alcohol then. "I had hoped against hope you'd leave after two hours, like you usually do.""I only leave after two hours when you tell me to. Besides, it’s Friday," he shrugs, but he knows that he's blushing. “And I needed to return this.” He pulls out the Queen with a flourish, though now he’s embarrassed about having stolen it.Ardyn strides over to him, throws his coat over the back of the couch behind him and touches Ignis' shoulder. Ignis flinches and immediately grabs his hand instead of jerking away. Which surprises him, confuses him. It goes against all of the Crownsguard training he's had thus far. Someone grabs you like that when you're sitting, you twist, break away. You shouldn't grab unless you can get the leverage to flip them over your shoulder, which he can't do when sitting. Especially when Ardyn is twice his size."You can stay for another hour. Then get out.""You've been rude lately." He doesn't let go of his hand and Ardyn doesn't pull away."When I invited you, I knew you'd come by, but I didn't expect you to be this pushy over chess.""It's not just chess," he blurts out before he can stop himself. And then the truth hangs there in the air before him, his shame for all the world to see.But Ardyn doesn’t laugh. He pulls his hand away, drops it to Ignis' head and musses his hair as he softly murmurs. "I know. But you're thirteen."Thirteen-year-olds can have sex, he wants to say, but he instead says, “A thirteen-year-old tasked with being an adult since he was six.” Because he’s talked to Ardyn these last few days, far more than he should have.“Being deprived of a childhood doesn’t make you more of an adult.”“I beg to differ.”“I beg to differ. You’re insolent. Set up the board. If you don’t want to play tonight, get out.” And only then does he let his hand slide off of his head, tap against his shoulder a moment before he turns away to bring his bags to the kitchenette.-He doesn’t realize he’s shivering until Ardyn comments on it. “You were so hot yesterday and yet now you’re shivering.”“I’m not cold.” But he is. He wasn’t, but the moment he says it he realizes that he is. His skin feels hot and his stomach is in turmoil but it is freezing in the room. He is fairly certain now that he is sick, that he has something unpleasant and contagious and he should definitely leave before he gets Ardyn sick, but he doesn’t move.“Would your response change if I told you that I am most likely immune to whatever ails you? I haven’t caught it yet. Niflheim has superior vaccines.”He exhales then, a little offended but oddly relieved, too. “I am a little cold.”“Uh huh,” he breathes, plays with the piece in his hand. He doesn’t have to guide Ignis as much anymore. “You know where the thermostat is, seeing as you fiddled with it earlier. Go adjust it as you see fit.”He doesn’t remember playing with it, but he remembers where it is, so he stands up, taken aback by the sense of vertigo as he grabs the arm of the couch and steadies himself. The room is already set at 68 degrees. Warm. Still, he cranks it up to 72.And then, stupidly, in an act he could never quite explain when he looked back on it, he does not go back to his own seat on the couch. Instead, approaches Ardyn. And he sits in his lap. He sits in his lap and Ardyn grunts in response but he makes no attempt to shove him off."You're playing with fire, boy."He could make a joke in response, comment on his name, shoot back a snide remark about how he knows what he’s doing. But he does none of that; for once he keeps his mouth shut, because Ignis Scientia is more or less at a loss for words about what he had just done. Something breaks inside of him around this man. He's warm, dizzy, lightheaded. His groin feels tight and his stomach warm. He's getting hard, which has only happened to him a couple of times before, all recently. Embarrassing. He pushes his hands between his thighs and squeezes his legs together to prevent Ardyn from noticing. Not that it matters, because he probably only drew attention to it."Watch yourself," he snaps, but Ignis still pushes back, squirms against him until he feels a hand at the back of his neck and he gets jerked around. He can see the fury in those golden eyes and he expects to be thrown out, yelled at.But Ardyn kisses him.It's barely more than a brush of lips but Ignis gasps, heart fluttering in his chest as he grabs for Ardyn's arms, his shirt, his vest, anything at all. He grabs for him and presses his body flush against his and he has never felt so warm before in his life, so desperate and needy, hungry and somehow empty, as if he is incomplete until whatever it is between them comes to pass. There is fire in the pit of his belly and his groin feels hot, hard."Please, please, please..." please touch me, please respond to my hands on your body, please open your mouth and kiss me proper and run your tongue down my throat, graze your teeth against my neck, push a hand between my legs and. He’s never needed anything so badly as he does now, and he doesn’t care, doesn’t care that all of his being is suddenly concentrated in his groin. He's gasping over and over as he presses his lips to Ardyn's again and again, licks the man's face in desperation to get him to open up. But he won't, and finally Ignis nips at his lower lip, whines as he rubs his body against him. Ignis is opening his mouth to kiss him again when Ardyn finally reacts and the word comes."Leave."He must have misheard. Obviously. "What?""Leave. Now. You've been here too long." His voice sounds tight, angry, and he pushes Ignis off of his lap, abruptly stands."You can't-" Ignis catches himself before falling, stumbles upright and glowers up at Ardyn.Only for the man to grabs Ignis' shoulders then, jerks him towards him and leans over him and Ignis catches his breath, holds it and stares at the wall over Ardyn's shoulder, wide-eyed at the claws digging into him, as the man whispers in his ear. "Come back tomorrow when you have more time."

Chapter 4 – Luna

The letter is from that boy, the one in Insomnia who aided Pyrna when she was hurt. He hadn’t sent her a single letter since she had replied, thanking him. That was years ago now, so the fact that he is now contacting her gives her pause. Something is wrong.Because he wouldn’t contact her otherwise. But he is not anyone significant in Insomnia, at least not that she is aware of, and so she hesitates a moment before opening the letter, wonders if she should be sitting down for this, wonders if she should read it in Maria’s presence. She carries it back to her quarters and studies the envelope carefully. Postmarked only yesterday. He must have spent a lot of money on postage.She almost doesn’t hear the footsteps behind her, so quiet is Ravus. He leans behind her and snatches it out of her hands. “An Insomnia postmark? Who would write you?” He sounds snide, mocking, but Luna knows better. He’s curious more than anything else.“I think it’s the boy who helped Pyrna,” she replies calmly, making no effort to grab it from him. There’s no point. At nineteen, Ravus is alarmingly tall, and she has remained frustratingly short for her age of fifteen.“He’s a kid, right?“I think he’s about Prince Noctis’ age.”“Okay, so a kid.” He clears his throat and begins reading, his voice high-pitched and dramatic. “Dear Princess Lunafreya… Is that the right way for him to address you? I do hope you are well. Do you know Ignis Scientia?”Luna tries not to laugh, snorts in the process. Seeing Ravus joke is so rare these days, and the expression on his face brings her unexpected relief, as anxious as she is about the letter. “Noctis’ adopted brother.”“Mm, yes. Adopted.” Because Ravus believes the rumors; Luna knows this. “I think he is in trouble. There is something you should know about him. Oh no, sounds serious.”And then he simply stops, his eyes skimming the rest of the page.“Well?” Luna finally asks, aware that even Pyrna and Umbra are watching him now.“This…Prompto Argentum… Why is he telling you that? Why do Lucians care so much about that? It’s disgusting. As if you need-““Telling me what?” But she suspects, because one of Ravus’ favorite things to complain about when it comes to the Lucians is their fixation on sexual roles. They don’t matter in Tenebrae. Not that that doesn’t cause issues of its own, especially with the Niflheim occupation.Ravus doesn’t answer. Instead he looks in the envelop again, pulls out a photo. And then he freezes. “Why…?” He trails off, mouth hanging open a moment before he pushes the photo in Luna’s face. “Do you understand this?”She stares at the photo for one long, paralyzing moment, her brain unable to process what she’s seeing. She recognizes him but seeing him there is so unsettling that she can’t grapple with it.Ardyn Izunia. In Insomnia. Standing in the foyer of what is clearly one of the more expensive hotels of the city, Lucian banners framing the massive doors. And with him is Ignis.She grabs the letter from Ravus now, and she sees the lines that he had spoken of. I don’t think that he is a beta, even though he is working for the Royal family. I think there was some kind of mistake.The Chancellor had always been unhealthily interested in Insomnia, even more so than the Emperor, as if there was any significant difference between the two at this point. A Puppet Empire, Ravus often sneered, not that he didn’t bow down to them. He pretended it was merely because they had the Crystal, and Ardyn Izunia has always been obsessed with magic, but there was something more. He despised the royal family with a dedication that Luna had always found hard to believe wasn’t personal.The Chancellor has also always been unabashedly, violently Alpha. One who flaunts it regularly and takes as he pleases. Ravus had whispered to Luna at one point that rumor had it, betas in the higher circles of Niflheim’s government sometimes resorted to taking medication to appear as if they were Alpha, if only to keep Ardyn from talking down at them too much. As if anything could stop him from talking down to everyone. But that didn’t stop Verstael Besithia from designing a new drug, available only to those in of a certain social circle in the Empire. I’m surprised he doesn’t take something to be present as an omega, given his obsession with Izunia, Ravus had scoffed.“It means he’s going to take Ignis. Probably as leverage against King Regis.” She surprises herself with how calm she sounds, even as she feels that all of her insides are trembling.For once, Ravus doesn’t snap at how she calls him King Regis, familiar and affectionate. “Impatient son of a bitch. He’d compromise everything to wet his…” And he stops, remembering that he is in the presence of his sister. “The kid’s only twelve, right? He’d be committing a felony in Lucis in a time of truce, the fool.”“I think he’s thirteen.”Ravus forgets that he doesn’t like swearing around Luna.

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Chapter 5 – Noctis

Prince Noctis has nightmares. It’s to be expected, given what he’d survived by the time he was eleven, but he doesn’t like to admit it to anyone. Anyone but Ignis, who he has no choice but to tell because half the time, he ends up curled up in the older boy’s bed. He doesn’t tell his father though. Never his father. He has enough to worry about. You must not worry your father over childish things. You must be a grown-up. You will be king yourself one day.His father never says these things to him, but other people do, Gladio being one of them. So he doesn’t tell Gladio anything, either. Just Ignis, because Ignis is – well – his brother, perhaps even a bit of his mother. He doesn’t remember her, but he knows that Ignis does a lot of the things that mothers are supposed to do for their kids, even if he’s only thirteen and a kid himself.So Noctis is surprised when that Friday night, he crawls into Ignis’ bed only to have the older boy push him away.But Noctis is persistent. It’d been a particular bad nightmare. One not about the demon that mauled him or the massacre in Tenebrae that he’d witnessed, but about Ignis.“Had a nightmare,” he mumbles, as if anything needs an explanation, and he presses against Ignis, seeking his warmth.“Get off,” Ignis snaps then, finally rolling over and putting his back to Noctis.Noctis realizes then that the back of Ignis’ pajama top is damp, even the sheets are a little damp, as if he’s feverish.“Iggy.” Ignis hates being called that, though sometimes he lets it slide when it’s Gladio speaking. It had only been acceptable when Noctis couldn’t pronounce his full name. He only calls him Iggy now when he’s desperate to get his attention, when he knows that Ignis will zero in on him in frustration. “You’re…all hot.”“I know,” the older boy hisses, furious, but for once not correcting his name. “I’m sick. Go away or you’ll get sick, too.”Ignis has never told Noctis to go away, never.“Iggy, there’s something wrong with you.”“I’m fine. Just sick.”“No,” he hesitates, uncertain of how to proceed. He isn’t used to telling Ignis things that he doesn’t already know, but apparently Ignis is confused. There’s something he doesn’t know about himself, and why Noctis doesn’t quite understand it, he has a suspicion. I had a nightmare, he wants to say. I had a nightmare that you were taken away, that something happened to you and you fell into darkness. But you were smiling about it. There was something comforting about it and that scared me more than losing you. “Not just sick.”“Just a cold. Shut up and go to sleep,” he snarls, and Noctis is taken aback at the rudeness, the coldness of his behavior. But there’s no point in arguing with him, so Noct sighs loudly and turns away himself, pushes his back against Ignis to jostle him, to express his upset, and closes his eyes. I don’t need him, not like this anyway. I’m eleven. It’s nearly twenty minutes later before Noctis feels Ignis moving against him as the older boy now rolls towards him. And finally Ignis puts his arms around him, pulls him close and buries his face in his hair the way he normally does whenever Noctis has a nightmare. It’s a relief, not that Noct needs that kind of comfort anymore, but because it means Ignis is acting normally again.Until he speaks, his voice small in the dark of the room.“I’m scared.”Noctis feels as if something in his world has suddenly become unhinged, as if something has just been irrevocably broken. Ignis is never afraid.

Chapter 5 – Ardyn

At around 3:48, Ardyn accepts the possibility that Ignis is not going to show up. Because he should have come over by now. Over the week, he’d shown up around 5 every day, and today, Ardyn had told him that they needed more time. Ignis had wanted more time.And if Ignis isn’t showing up, that means that he probably panicked at the last minute. Or it means that he manifested last night, after Ardyn had sent him home reeking of a burgeoning first heat. It means that Ignis had woken up in the morning with slick running down his thighs. It means that he realized all of his irrational behavior was because he was going into his first heat prematurely, that he won’t come to Ardyn now. The thought makes Ardyn gnash his teeth, curl his fingers into the arms of the chair and leave marks where his nails dig in.He’s been alive a long time. He’s fucked a lot of omegas, has learned to recognize the scents, had learned how to gauge a heat down to within an hour. I wouldn’t have misjudged so badly with him. He couldn’t have manifested yet. He will tonight. He didn’t yesterday night. But why isn’t he here?He pulls out his phone and deliberates, wondering what Ignis would do if he called him. The boy had imposed his number upon him a few nights ago, had actually snatched Ardyn’s phone from his hands and put his own number in. A bold move, one that left Ardyn holding his breath lest he open the gallery and notice that there were quite a few photos of himself in there. Ignis sleeping. Ignis poking through the fridge. Ignis stretching and yawning in the hallway. Ardyn had snapped a number of him, all unawares, over the last week. He looks at these now, flicking through them one after another, his boredom and frustration growing. It’d have been a terrible waste of the week if he’d misjudged. He could go get him, impersonate a member of the Crownsguard and walk into the palace as if he owned the place, hunt down Ignis and say he’s needed for something. Then knock him out, drag him back to the hotel and rape him. But he wants him to come to him. And then at 5:14, the doorbell rings. He all but lunges towards the door, opening it with far more violence than he intends but he can smell him, smell him out in the hallway.“You’re rather late.”“I can stay the night.”This is unexpected. “What?”“You implied that we’d need more time today and I… I made up a good story. So I can stay here until tomorrow.” He doesn’t sound proud of himself, not exactly, but he sounds confident enough to make Ardyn’s lips curl.“Presumptuous,” but he’s grinning as he says it.But Ignis surprises him, because then he’s shrugging, half-turning back towards the elevators. “Should I go then?”No. No, no, don’t you dare leave. Ardyn almost grabs him. Almost, hand flicking forward before he can catch himself, and then he is grabbing the doorframe, leaning heavily on it.Ignis stares at his hand, eyes wide, and for a moment Ardyn is afraid he was too forceful. But then Ignis looks at him and grins, and Ardyn is almost weak. The boy is attractive, unbearably so, and he feels sick. He’s never been this attracted to anyone before and it makes him furious. Because Ignis is a haughty thirteen-year-old boy in the employ of the Lucis Caelum line. By right he should be mine. And he will be, he thinks numbly as Ignis now grabs Ardyn’s hand on the doorframe, takes a step forward into the room and curls his fingers around Ardyn’s.“Do you want to play chess tonight? Order room service?” He’s never been this nervous before, not in two thousand years. Because of this little brat before him. He’s thirteen. And he smells utterly divine, probably only hours away from his first heat.“Mm. Whatever you want.” He absently presses against Ardyn’s body as he speaks, his body burning up.Ardyn feels something inside of him crack in that moment and he flicks his wrist, twists free from the boy’s grip and now drops his hand to his shoulder, traces his thumb over the side of Ignis’ neck. Just over one of his glands. His skin is on fire. “Do you really want to stay the night? You don’t have to.” Not true. If the boy tries to leave now, Ardyn will drag him back, throw him down onto the floor and fuck him senseless.“I want to,” he smiles.And Ardyn grins, touches his face now, dares to touch his mouth, his lower lip. “Good,” he says softly.-They do play chess. One full game. Ignis, unexpectedly, suggests another, holding a couch pillow in his lap and pressing it hard into his groin, legs tightly together and face flushed.“You’re being shy,” he smirks as he rearranges the board, but his gaze keeps flicking over to Ignis. He’ll have to snatch that pillow when Ignis gets up because it’s bound to smell like him, like the heat he’s starting to slip into. Ardyn is surprised at how much he’s resisting it, and for a moment he wonders if this will be as easy as he’d expected it to be. Drautos had warned him that the boy was difficult, stubborn. He wonders for a moment what’s going through his mind, because thus far he’d avoided asking him too much, seeming too interested.“Mm,” he shrugs, but doesn’t say anything further.“Come here,” he finally gestures.Ignis looks at him for a long moment before he smiles, stands up slowly and continues to hold the cushion against his middle. It crosses Ardyn’s mind that he has an erection and doesn’t know how to handle it, despite clearly wanting sex. They hadn’t talked about it, neither of them having broached the subject even though it’s the obvious direction, what with Ignis spending the night. So when Ardyn speaks next, he isn’t certain if it’s the right idea.“Do you want another kiss?”Apparently it was the right idea, and it’s all the encouragement he needs. Because Ignis is on him then, surprisingly forceful for his size as he pushes his way into Ardyn’s lap, straddles his hips and lunges for him, his little groin momentarily pressed against Ardyn’s own. Definitely has a bit of a hardon, and he must notice that Ardyn is rock-hard in his pants, but he says nothing about it.Ardyn kisses him slowly, first on his forehead, his nose, his cheeks, as he caresses his face and gently tugs at his hair. Ignis laughs a little at that, breathless as he tries to turn his head, align his mouth with Ardyn’s for a proper kiss, but the older man takes his time with it, at one point burying his face in the boy’s neck and inhaling deeply. Mine, mine. His fingers suddenly spasm and he pulls his hair much harder than he intended, leaving Ignis to unexpectedly moan. Interesting. Very interesting. So he kisses him proper. He’s a poor kisser, which is all Ardyn can expect with his inexperience, but he’s enthusiastic and he smells good, dangerously good.Ignis arches his back and leans into him, his entire body trembling and hot beneath his hands. Good. Good, good you little whore. He spreads his fingers over the small of his back, his hand covering much of his backside, and pulls him closer. It's so easy to push him around, to mold him to do as he wishes.He leans back after a moment, takes a moment to study his face. His pupils are dilated, eyes far too bright, his cheeks flushed and his kiss-swollen lips parted, saliva dripping down his chin. His mouth in particular had caught Ardyn’s eye earlier, his mouth and his cute habit of sticking his tongue out slightly when he’s thinking. He's attractive, even if he weren't what Ardyn knows him to be. What will he look like in three years, five, ten? Will he lose the baby fat on his face? Will his legs grow long, his shoulders fill in? There is already a hint of musculature to him and Ardyn suspects that he will be strong, solid if lithe, when he gets older. Unusual for an omega, but then something is clearly wrong with his hormones if he’s manifesting this early."You're rather promiscuous for your age.""Am I?” He’s all but purring as he speaks and Ardyn wonders if he’s aware of how alluring he is, how seductive even though he doesn’t know the first thing about sex. Surely he is unaware, just as he doesn’t know how attractive he is. “I know plenty of betas my age who are doing this."Betas. Ardyn's eyes widen in surprise for a moment before he can contain it, before he can lock away his glee. He’d suspected that something was wrong, that Ignis hadn’t realized how close he was to his first heat, maybe that he was told he was a beta but suspected he wasn’t, but this is far more than what he expected. So he doesn't know. He knows nothing at all, doesn’t even seem to wonder. He does have a hormonal balance after all. Perhaps he showed up as a beta on blood tests. Perhaps the king refused to have his adopted son tested, assuming he'd be a beta if not an alpha, as if being adopted into the royal family ensured it. Oh, this will be fun. He licks his lips and leers at Ignis. “This?”And he touches him between his legs.Ignis tenses up then, unexpectedly, and something like fear flashes through his eyes. He's realizing that perhaps this shouldn't be happening, that he's too young for this, that this is wrong, that he doesn't want it.So Ardyn draws his hand back, sighs softly and places his palms on Ignis’ thighs, his slim hips, his tiny waist, circles his ribcage and rests his thumbs on the boy’s nipples, hard and erect beneath his shirt. Ignis likes a challenge, and he has already proven that he can’t say no to them. “Do you want me to stop? If you’re uncomfortable I can stop. We can finish the game and you can go home and I won’t speak a word of it,” and he flicks one of his thumbs, drawing a ragged gasp from him.“No,” Ignis hisses finally, and then he draws in a slow breath, heart fluttering beneath Ardyn’s hands. “Take me to bed.”And Ardyn does. He scoops him up, one arm around his shoulders and the other beneath his little knees. The boy is tiny; feeling that weight in his arms, all ninety-seven pounds as he will discover, makes him nauseous with need. He’d never felt the urge to protect an omega before, not in the least, but Ignis. So small, so fragile, so feverish and beautiful in his arms as he looks up at him, eyes half-closed and heavy beneath his glasses, his lashes alarmingly long. He can barely control himself as he half-stumbles into the bedroom, lays Ignis on the bed and immediately crawls up beside him.He touches Ignis between his legs again, and this time the boy doesn’t flinch. Instead he thrusts up into his hand, panting and whimpering. Ardyn squeezes then, leans in and kisses him, kneads the small erection he can feel. And Ignis squirms beneath him, bites him, sinks his little teeth into his lower lip and tugs at him. Ardyn can see it. Ignis is gone, though he’d clearly fought it as long as he could. He can see it in the glaze of his eyes, the sheen of sweat on his skin. He's going into his first heat, perhaps triggered a little early by his presence, and Ardyn can’t wait any longer.He can smell Ignis long before he strips him, and he can no longer hide his need as he roughly unbuttons the boy’s shirt and Ignis writhes beneath him, grabs for him and brings him down for another kiss. His desperation is endearing, his youth and size making his behavior seem an act, practice. Ardyn will remember it later, and while he won’t feel bad, he will dwell on it. He never had a chance. Hands running down the boy’s torso, thumbing over his belly, his little naval. He kisses him there, presses his lips to his stomach and kisses down his naval trail, lips brushing against the soft fuzz of his skin. Such a beautiful little stomach. He wonders what it would look like swollen and full of his seed. And he pulls the boy’s pants down, drags his underwear down with his teeth while Ignis pants and moans and trembles beneath him, fisting the sheets.The boy only comes to his senses for a moment, a hesitance Ardyn can sense in the way he suddenly grabs his hair and makes a sound that is more fear than arousal, but Ardyn ignores it, rips his pants down and throws them aside. Because all he can do is smell him, smell him, and he smells divine. Unbearably good, his pheromones now finally fully released, his little cock erect and damp with sweat, balls drawn up and tight. He wants to devour him whole. So young. He buries his face between his legs and moans, drinks in his scent and feels himself leaking precome, even without stimulation.I am the first to touch him. I am the first to show him who he really is. I will bond him to me, make him mine forever. I will own him for the rest of his life. He suddenly imagines taking him back to Niflheim, forcing him to live with him. He imagines being able to fuck him whenever he wants, molding him to want him, need him. At thirteen he can legally marry him, and as a bonded omega he'd have to consent to it. And the King of Lucis would have to acquiesce, lest there be a political scandal. For the first time in his life he almost wishes he weren't sterile, wishes he could impregnate him. He lays a hand on that small belly, spreads his fingers slowly and presses down. Ignis squirms and groans, and that's when he begins leaking.Looking back on it, Ardyn can’t remember what he noticed first, the scent of his slick or the wetness on his chin as he nuzzles the boy’s cock. Because from that moment on, he ceases to think. He sticks his tongue out, licks down his perineum and pushes his tongue into Ignis’ hole, wet as it is. He doesn't know, doesn't know he's an omega. Ardyn doesn't want him realizing it just yet, doesn't want him knowing that he's getting wet between the legs because betas shouldn't.Gods, he tastes good, and for a moment Ardyn forgets how small he is, how young he is, because he's dragging him in, lifting him off the bed and pulling him hard against him, the boy's ass against his chest to give himself better access. And he sticks his tongue as deep as he can into him, rubs his perineum with his nose and moans. Tastes and smells divine. And Ignis howls, all but shrieks, every cry bringing a fresh spurt of fluid into his mouth. He’s messy, either because it’s his first heat or merely because he’s genetically inclined towards it, Ardyn doesn’t know or care. It’s cute, endearing. Ardyn has always liked to undo people, to force them to fall apart in his arms until they don’t know themselves, until they know nothing but what he makes them feel. And Ignis. Ignis.It's been a long time since Ardyn had witnessed an omega's awakening, and he's never been in the process of eating one out when it happened. How cruel it is, that less than three percent of the population exists to be breeders, and yet there is something so very holy about them, divine, awe-inspiring. Worthy of worship. Ardyn would crawl between those pale, thin thighs and take up residence in his gut if he could. He finally draws back for air and groans while Ignis sobs beneath him, thighs convulsing under his hands. If Ignis were any larger, he'd have to work to hold him still, but at his size it's easy enough to keep him from moving too much. He’s already close, the approach of orgasm strong in his pheromones.So he pushes him down, half drops him, presses him onto his back even as he arches up to meet him, desperate and needy, and he unbuckles his own belt, all but rips the zipper off of his pants in his own need. And then Ignis surprises him, because the boy’s willpower surfaces for a moment and he reaches up, eyes snapping open as he hisses, “suck me.”
Difficult. He’s going to be a difficult little bitch, isn’t he?
But Ardyn humors him, gives him what he wants because he knows that Ignis will never again have what he wants. Because soon he will be fucked, and then he shall know he’s an omega. And everything he wants in life will forever be beyond his reach. So he slides back, ducks his head down and takes Ignis in his mouth. Easy to deep-throat him, all four-odd inches of his thirteen-year-old cock. He takes his balls next, drops his tongue out and pulls them into his mouth. Ignis howls, and after a moment Ardyn pushes a finger in, sinks into his slick hole with startling ease. Another. Scissors them inside of that heat and pulls slowly downwards just as he swallows.His orgasm is long, hitting him in waves, and Ardyn watches, fascinated, as the boy bucks and screams until his voice cracks and he breaks off, gasping and keening. The sheer abandon with which he climaxes is somehow cute. He keeps the fingers inside of him, reveling in how flexible his muscles are, how loose and warm he is between contractions, how much slick is still spurting out of him, soaking the sheets. And eventually he prods one of his sweet spots, closes his eyes and moans softly at the gasp Ignis makes, the trembling in his body. He wonders if he’s orgasming multiple times, as some omegas can. He will do this around me. In moments I will rut in him, force his body to take me deep, deep up beneath his ribcage. I will come in him, fill him with everything that I am, and even if I may not be able to impregnate him, I can still destroy him so that he may never enjoy sex again. He will always wish for what I could give to him. I, the most ancient and powerful being in all of Eos, one so genetically compatible that he will never be satisfied with anyone, anything but the memory of this night even as he screams for mercy.Ardyn doesn’t notice when it finally passes, because he’s too busy concentrating all of his efforts on not fucking him immediately. He wants him aware.Ignis coughs then, once, and laughs breathlessly for a moment before he struggles up, props himself up on his trembling elbows and looks at Ardyn, eyes glazed and bright. That’s when Ardyn sees the dawning recognition on Ignis’ face, the surprise and confusion giving way to horror as he comes to understand what just happened, what he is.He tries to run, scramble back and roll off the bed, but Ardyn is faster. Ardyn is always faster.

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Chapter 6 - Ignis

-Ignis feels as if he had gone away somewhere for a year, a decade, an eternity, and when he finally finds air to drag into his lungs, he feels as if he is a new person. Unrecognizable. Ardyn has made him be born anew, and he hasn’t even fucked me yet. He’d never orgasmed before, only ever touched himself a few times and grew anxious before it could amount to anything. And he’d never known that fingers inside of him could have done anything, never considered the possibility that men could push tongues inside of other men. He’d gone here this evening with the intention of staying the night, with the intention of trying to coax Ardyn into possibly fucking him. He’d hoped that sex would happen, not that he knew much about it. He hadn’t expected Ardyn to drive him as crazy as he has, hadn’t expected sex to be this good. And we haven’t even fucked yet. He’d laugh if he could. The man had swallowed down his orgasm, drunk the come he’d released for the first time in his life, but for a drop or two that fell on his stomach. Ignis can feel it.But he also feels very wet between his legs, and for a moment he is afraid that he'd pissed himself. He finds his hands beneath him and half sits up, limbs trembling, and looks down at himself. He stares, uncomprehending at first, at the wet slick running down his inner thighs, at his small erection that hasn't flagged despite already climaxing. And then he understands.He understands.He feels a sense of whiplash, but he doesn’t allow himself to consider it. He finds his speed, his strength, scrambles back on the bed, rolls onto his hip and lunges for the edge of the bed, the floor, the rest of the room, the door.But Ardyn is faster, stronger. And he laughs as he grabs Ignis’ ankle, jerks him back towards him. Ignis shrieks, kicks him, lashes out with everything he has, but Ardyn knocks him flat onto his back with a slap as he scoots up between his legs and leers at him."You finally figured it out, hm?" he purrs, and Ignis finds himself fixating on the glistening of his own slick on Ardyn’s chin. Because that’s what it is. Slick. "I thought you'd be faster. Tell me, didn't you find your own behavior strange? Or do you have a history of going to hotels with strange men at least three times your age?"Men like me, the words go unsaid. Alphas. Crouched on the bed between his legs and staring at him with a hunger that makes Ignis want to wail in fear. This man is going to rape me, and he acts on impulse, opens his hands wide on the sheets and summons his weapons.His shortswords don’t come to him.He tries again, now seeking his polearm. Nothing. A knife. Anything. Nothing. He no longer has access to the king’s magic. Because I. I am nothing. We have no place in the Guard nor in the family. We are unworthy to fight, good for nothing but breeding and being protected. Weak and helpless. Unable to… He glances up at Ardyn, utterly lost and inconceivably looking towards the only adult around, even as he sought to kill him seconds ago.Ardyn’s watching him with a now-unreadable expression on his face, and somehow that is what makes Ignis break. An omega. I’m an omega. One of the 2.7%. One of the .27% of the population that are male omegas. One in nearly four hundred. I’m a breeder, weak and sensitive. Sick and worthless for nearly a quarter of the year. Shunned and quarantined by the rest of society, deemed a slut and an inconvenience, some strange leftover from a previous civilization when fertility was worshipped… He bursts into tears. He can’t believe less than two minutes ago he was happier than he’d ever been in his life, and now he has been plunged into the abyss. All because of this man."Ardyn. Please, please, please. Don't do this. Ardyn." He doesn’t care that he’s begging. He no longer has any dignity to protect, any position in the world that ought to be respected. Soon I will do nothing but beg."Your body will get used to it. Your body wants this," he murmurs as he runs a hand up his thighs, slips a few fingers between his legs. "You're so wet. It won't hurt as much as it might otherwise."He sobs harder because he knows it's true, because there is a heat in his belly that is unfamiliar, a slick between his legs that he'd never known he was capable of, because Ardyn sounds and smells and looks and feels so good. His powerful arms and his wide chest, dusted with just enough red hair that Ignis feels compelled to rub his face against him. His heavy jaw and browline, his sharp eyes, his sharper teeth. It explains so much, explains so very much. He'd never have gone to the hotel of a strange man. He'd never have spent time behind a locked door with an older man whose name he didn't even know, without telling anyone where he was. He’d never have accepted gifts from him, never have cuddled up with those gifts in his bed, never have fallen asleep in front of him, never have rubbed himself all over the man’s clothing. It hits him then that Ardyn knew all along, that he was being strung along for this. Luring him in. Praising him. Giving him his scarf. Laying his coat over him. Touching him. And now raping him.Because he's going to rape me. He's going to shove his cock inside of me and – “You knew.”“Of course I knew. You’re cute, and I admit you’re a lot smarter and a bit more fun than I anticipated, but did you really think I was interested in you?”You. Because there is Ignis the human being and Ignis the omega. “I’m thirteen,” he pleads, desperately, even as he knows what Ardyn will say. Thirteen is far too young to manifest. There must be something wrong, something to explain why nobody else ever noticed, why nobody helped me. He wonders if Ardyn’s presence pushed him to manifest early, as he is clearly a superior Alpha.“You were pretty interested yourself until this happened,” he touches his inner thighs again, runs fingers through the mess that Ignis is still secreting. “Still interested.”He flinches, even as he arches his back and leans into the touch, his body betraying him. And with a peculiar clarity he remembers parts of the textbook he’d looked at with little interest earlier that week. Many omegas unconsciously exhibit mating displays, standing and behaving in particular ways around Alphas they find particularly attractive or compatible. Such behaviors might include, but are not limited to: making oneself smaller so to appear submissive, exaggerated hip motion when walking, throat displays, lordosis, sweating, preening… He has never hated himself more than he does in this moment."Just enjoy it. Because I'm not going to stop,” he grins as he pushes him flat again and grabs his thighs, pulls them wide open. His eyes are too bright, vibrant gold and betraying his hunger.And he sticks two fingers in, so easily. Ignis freezes, forgets to breathe as Ardyn whispers, “Have you felt sick the last week? Your stomach?”He’s trying to keep me calm, keep me distracted. He wants to resist it, wants to tell him off and run for it, but his voice is making him sweat. Impossible to ignore, because he’s an Alpha and I’m in my heat and my body is screaming for him. He squirms on his fingers, fights the urge, the need, to push down on them, and he nods.“Your body cleaning itself out,” he groans as he shoves his fingers in as far as he can and Ignis jerks back in a desperate bid to maintain control over his body. “Your other canal is open now.”Three fingers sunk deep inside of him now. Three hurts, hurts quite a bit. No, no, he whimpers, but Ardyn isn’t even looking at him. He’s staring at his ceiling, as if he can’t bear to look at him lest he lose his mind.“And have you been nesting?” He rolls his head on his shoulders then, still averting his eyes.Nesting. He remembers rearranging his blankets a thousand times, curling up beneath them with the scarf and touching himself. Of course that’s what it was. In hindsight it’s all so clear. And Ardyn’s voice, his scent, compel him to be obedient. He nods. “A little.”“Fuck,” Ardyn hisses suddenly and he pulls his hand back,Ignis moans, his back arching still further. Because while the fingers hurt, the emptiness is even worse. His body feels empty, open, needy. “Ardyn,” he gasps, unable to stop himself. I want him in there. I need him back. I need his cock. And he reaches for him, thighs trembling and dick painfully erect even as he’s terrified, even as he wants to be far far away from here, away from the man who is going to rape him, away from his apparent new role in the world. But he and I. He and I are so compatible, so perfect.Ardyn doesn’t undress, not entirely. He only pulls his shirt off, unbuckles his belt and rips his pants open with an aggression that makes Ignis at once excited and terrified. The man is exactly as he’d always dreamed he would be, broad-chested and solid, muscular in that tired way that military men of a certain age tend to be, a trail of red hair running from his naval down to his groin. And he’s massive, his erection easily as long as Ignis’ forearm and even thicker around, a bulge of muscle at the base. His….“I won’t knot in you,” he says then, his voice unexpectedly gentle, and the warmth in his voice makes something inside Ignis lurch and burn.Ignis is relieved but also disgusted, terrified, because his body reacted to the word. Knot. He wonders what it would feel like, having Ardyn swell inside of him, having him lock their bodies together for another half hour, hour past sex. He squirms, unconsciously pushes hands between his thighs and squeezes. Sex. It’s not sex; it’s rape. I don’t want this. He knew, knew I was about to enter my first heat. Another spurt of fluid leaks between his fingers and he moans, disgusted by how much his body is responding, by how hard his cock is and how light-headed he feels.And Ardyn notices. “Looks like your body wants me to.”Ignis bursts into tears all over again.-He turns his face away and stares hard at the wall, blinking away the tears.“You’re mine,” Ardyn hisses in his ear. “I’m not letting you go. I’m going to keep you here and fuck you until it takes. I will breed in you. And keep you close by my side until you give birth, and I will impregnate you again immediately. Again and again.”The words are having an effect on him, the effect that Ardyn probably knows will happen. His body is heating up still further, even as Ardyn now twists fingers in his hair, lifts him up a few inches only to slam him down again, push the side of his face hard into the mattress and snarls “I will mark you, bond you. You will spend the rest of your life carrying my young.”He can feel Ardyn’s cock pressing against him now and he moans, somewhere between fear and need as he fights to close his legs. But he can’t because he needs him. He’s wailing inside, despairing at his fate, terrified that everything Ardyn says is true. Because we are so compatible. Because we belong together. Because we were drawn to one another to the point where neither of us can control it. Because my body is desperate for him. He moans and whimpers as his dick twitches, as he leaks more fluid around Ardyn. It will be easier. It will hurt less if I accept this, let my body prepare itself. But I don’t want I don’t want I don’t want…And Ardyn loses his composure, grabs his hips and slams into him so much so that Ignis lifts off the bed until only his shoulders touch the mattress.He screams. He screams and he screams until he tastes blood in his mouth, his throat raw. Ardyn lets him. He's too busy ramming Ignis again and again, forcing his way into a body far too small to accommodate him. Ignis is in heat, his body loose and willing, eager even, secreting copious amounts of slick, but he’s still only thirteen, still small for his age, still five foot one and ninety seven pounds. Omegas don’t normally manifest until they are fifteen or sixteen, old enough to handle rough sex with Alphas, old enough to bear children.Gods, I'm dying. I'm dying. You're killing me. He wants to tell him, wants to ask him to stop even as he feels his body suck him in further, feels his own cock bounce and strain between them, but he can’t speak. There isn’t enough of him left to speak, swallowed up by the fear, the pain, and the arousal. He's never known pain like this. He feels as if he’s being gutted with every thrust, as if Ardyn’s cock is a knife tearing through his body, severing the muscles and sinew that hold his organs together, ensuring that if Ardyn withdraws, his body will fall apart. Ensuring that he cannot live without Ardyn. He finds it in him to grab Ardyn’s shoulders, try to push him away, pound his chest with the heels of his hands until he can’t muster the energy anymore and his hands fall to his own belly.He can feel him through his stomach, his belly swollen and hard, something moving beneath the surface, and he sobs even as he violently arches his back. Stay there, stay there. Take up residence inside of me. We belong. He screams then, howls to drown out the part of him that is enjoying this. I am in control. I am more than my body, more than just an omega. I can survive this and in order to survive this I must…And something happens then. Something deep inside of him catches fire and floods his veins with electricity, so much so that it explodes in his fingertips and makes him positively shriek. It’s so much more, much more than what he’d experienced earlier. Because the source is inside of him, nestled so deep that it’s beneath his ribs that it’s a part of him now. A part of him his body has now accepted. It doesn’t hurt anymore and all that matters is his want."Oh, now you're feeling it," a low purr in his ear as Ardyn yanks him still closer, presses the boy’s face to his throat. And Ignis inhales his scent, gasps and half-chokes as he struggles to drink down as much of him as he can, his body on fire while Ardyn keeps murmuring. "This is what it feels like when omegas have sex with alphas. This could be your life with me. We could do this. Every day.” He punctuates every couple of words with another thrust. “Every night. Forever.”He sobs at how cruel fate is, because while the pleasure is so mind-numbingly good that he could forget everything, drift away and pretend this isn’t happening, Ardyn’s voice grounds him. It grounds him and drives him into a frenzy. And his scent is intoxicating. Ignis can’t stop rubbing his face against his throat, licking and nipping at him as he groans. He scratches Ardyn’s back bloody, scratches until skin gathers under his nails and Ardyn hisses his name, repeats it over and over in a mantra that to Ignis’ ears has become a prayer. He wraps his legs tightly around his waist and writhes.Ardyn grabs his hips, jerks him still closer, pushes his knees up to his shoulders and forced Ignis’ back to curl. And he growls, moans in Ignis’ ear as he fucks him harder still without abandon, as if he’s forgotten how small Ignis is. And Ignis suddenly doesn’t care as he points one foot towards the ceiling and curls his toes as he screams, contracts around the cock deep inside of him. The first orgasm takes him hard.Ardyn snarls in his ear, moans his name and fists his hair as he reaches his own climax.He feels Ardyn coming in him, feels a sudden extra push, a liquid heat even deeper inside of him, and it keeps going. The man’s orgasm is long, nearly a minute as Ignis will discover in time, not unusual for an Alpha but jarring for Ignis’ virginity. The violence and strength with which he holds him makes Ignis feel as if he is suffocating and he likes it, likes the helplessness, the sacrifice of control. And he likes holding Ardyn in his thrall, likes having this man all but worship his body and come undone before him. Ignis is dimly aware of his own body clamping around Ardyn, silently begging him to knot inside of him even as his slick is bloody and his passage is torn. Please, please please. Stay. Lodge inside of me. I am only half a person without you. You are mine, mine.He can't even scream when the second orgasm hits him, nor the third. Not that he feels the third, because his brain shuts down from the overstimulation long before that.He's barely conscious when Ardyn finally pulls out of him, but he’s conscious of the man immediately pulling him close, curling around him and murmuring something he can’t understand in his ear. It hurts, it hurts, the emptiness between his legs hurts.And he slips under.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Chapter 7 – Ardyn

He unexpectedly sleeps.Ardyn Izunia is not normally one to sleep after sex, and yet when he rolls onto his back and cracks his eyes open, it’s dawn. He’d slept nearly a full eight hours, as if Ignis had sapped his strength. He sits on the edge of the bed and groans, rubs his eyes.And then he looks at who is still lying in the bed. Ignis sleeps deeply, his body struggling to accept what just happened. Common for omegas to sleep long hours when in heat, their bodies exerting so much energy to breed and fuck that when they finally get laid they conk out. He’ll likely be unconscious for another few hours. He’s fairly certain that Ignis had three orgasms in a row when he’d ravaged him. Three, leaking a little come the first time and dry the second and third. He wonders suddenly if Ignis is capable of fathering children. Some male omegas can, some can’t. Because some only exist to be carriers.He can't imagine what the boy has been through.He’d blocked Ignis’ magic every time the boy had visited him; there wasn’t a need to until last night. He’d felt the faint tug, knew Ignis was trying to summon a weapon. He probably thinks he lost access to his powers because he manifested as an omega. Feels severed from the royal family and Lucis as a whole. Should make him more complacent. I could so easily bring him back to Gralea. I could… The thought makes his lips curl, so he cuts it off before it can go further and instead he only stares at the boy.He's beautiful, devastatingly attractive despite his age. Face tear-streaked with blood on his lips from biting them, eyelashes stuck together and cheeks pink. He's still oozing pheromones, a scent now mingled with Ardyn's scent. Satisfying. He hasn't marked him. He can't. Because marking is only possible after a second fuck, after a pregnancy takes hold. The Oracle had decided such a thing centuries and centuries ago. Claimed it was the Astrals who had done so, though there were whispers that she herself, an omega, had abused her powers and passed her own wishes as those of the gods. Nobody could prove it.
Omegas are dying out due to the Scourge.
Bonding could no longer happen after a rape, after a one-night stand, after a brief fling, not even when the omega wished it to be so. They could not risk being bond to someone they might never see again, could not risk further reducing their pregnancy rates. The word was passed into law in Lucis, and some time ago in a desperate a bid to appeal to Lucis’ lofty humanitarian goals, Niflheim made it a law. One not upheld by magic, but a law nonetheless. Accordo and Tenebrae, disinterested in gender dynamics, accepted it as their own law but otherwise ignored it.As expected, the decree reduced rape, which was somehow less appealing if it wouldn’t result in a bonding. It also reduced pregnancy rates, but nothing could be done for it. The Oracle and her heirs could not pretend the Astrals had never said it.Being unable to bond had never bothered him before. It was more of a convenience than a disadvantage. He liked fucking and he liked freedom. He likes destroying omegas, seducing them so that they could never appreciate sex with anyone else again, not even their mates. He likes fucking Alphas, too, forcing them to acknowledge that they are not so superior after all. He likes not having to worry about accidental bonds, about stray bites turning into something permanent – he can certainly kill any mate he has, but that’s such an inconvenience. Better to avoid it entirely. The thought of murder makes him remember how much Ignis had screamed last night and his dick twitches even as he looks more carefully at the dark bedsheets.There’s a lot of blood on the sheets. It doesn’t matter how willing the body is if it’s too small to handle sex. If Ignis hadn’t been an omega, if his body hadn’t self lubricated, his muscles loosened and stretched to accommodate him, he might have hurt him beyond recovery given how vicious he’d been. I need to heal him, he thinks absently, should have healed him right away.But he doesn’t move to touch him. He watches him sleep for another ten minutes, fifteen, twenty, before he finally sighs and gently turns him, grabs his hip and rolls him onto his back. Ignis whimpers, twitches his fingers but is otherwise still.He hesitates again with his hand hovering just over the boy's groin, over his limp cock and the dried bloody slick all over him. He knows, knows if he pushes a hand between those legs to heal him, he might not be able to resist the urge to rut again. Because he’s been controlling it well now; he’d never lost control before. But Ignis. Ignis does things to him.He heals him quickly, pushes a single finger into that wet heat and heals the tears, the bruising. His insides are so swollen that Ardyn couldn’t fit a second finger in if he’d tried. His uterine canal had already closed up again, as they do after sex to retain semen, to increase the likelihood of pregnancy. Not as good as knotting, but apparently his body had done it quickly enough that he'd kept most of Ardyn's come inside. His belly looks perfectly normal; the 30 milliliters of semen an Alpha capable of not enough to be visible, but he feels that he can see it. And he pulls his finger out quickly because he's already hard again, already desperate and needing the boy. He only risks one glance at his ass afterwards. He's still gaping, his muscles lax and loose post-orgasm.He wipes him down without looking at him, averting his eyes and instead staring at the wet spot on the sheets, slick and semen and blood and sweat. He buttons the boy's shirt up, maneuvers his legs and pulls his briefs on and up. The pants can wait until he's awake, but Ardyn can't bear to have his naked ass visible any longer.And then he pours himself a glass of whiskey and sits in the other room to wait, as far away from his temptation as he dares go.-Ignis whimpers when he starts to wake, the noise drawing Ardyn to the doorway as he watches the boy slowly come awake. He takes one look at him and begins crying again. Ardyn groans, suddenly irritated with the boy's youth, with his sensitivity, his fear.“I healed you. It shouldn’t hurt anymore so stop crying.”“That’s not… They won't want me now. I'm useless.""Don't be stupid.""I can't..." he flexes his fingers, his chin trembling. Of course he wouldn't know that Ardyn can block his power, can interrupt the power of the gods when he sees fit.He wonders if he can get the boy to say it. “You can’t what?”And then Ignis jumps up, slips off the bed and half stumbles, half dives, for his coat, still lying on the floor beside the bed. He grabs his phone and bolts towards the bathroom before Ardyn can grab him. Little bitch. Lulled him into relaxing his guard.He lunges after him, presses his ear to the door and listens a moment. Only texting. Surprising. Perhaps he’s embarrassed, unsure of who to call. So he waits a moment, wondering if Ignis' fingers are shaking, if he’s crying again. He waits a moment and it’s the best he can do before he’s turning the knob, opening the door that he’d disabled the lock on the night before, and pausing when he hears a voice. Someone must have called him, because now he’s sobbing, murmuring that he wants to go home, that he’s not a. A. And then he stops. Ardyn pushes the door open then, sees Ignis crouched down in the bathtub, as if he could hide himself. The boy doesn’t startle, doesn’t even look at him; he only gasps faintly when Ardyn leans over him and gently takes the phone from his hand. “Who is it?”“My friend, Gladio?” He’s trembling, his voice cracking on the final word to turn a statement into a question.Gladio. Ardyn wonders if he’s more than a friend, or could have been had last night not happened. He brings the phone to his ear and grins as he says, “I’ll bring him home.”The Amiticia boy’s voice is too old for his age, just as his body is, as he snarls out an, “Is he okay?”“Yes, yes. Self-discovery can be a bitch though, hm?” He’s fighting the urge to laugh as he glances down at Ignis, still curled up in the bathtub, still avoiding eye contact.“What do—” Righteous, indignant, wrathful. Ardyn suddenly, unexpectedly hopes that there is something between the two boys. It would bring them both such anguish.“I’ll drop him at the palace in, oh, twenty minutes? We aren’t far. And yes, I have permission to pass through the gates,” he purrs before the kid can say anything about it. He hangs up then.“Little friend is worried about you,” he sighs, nudges Ignis’ shoulder with the phone until the boy finally reaches up to take it from him. His fingers are cold.He doesn’t respond to that comment, but instead something Ardyn had said on the phone. "How do you have permission..." he murmurs softly, his voice strangely calm.There's no point in feigning innocence. He's taken what he wanted already. He’d happily take him again and again, but the spell has been broken. Ignis knows he is not a nice person now. "I'm the Chancellor of Niflheim.""Oh."His reaction is scarcely a reaction, and Ardyn looks at him for a long time. He's clearly lost inside of himself, despite his occasional moments of clarity. Ardyn might have healed his physical wounds, but nothing more. He knows, knows that the sex was nothing but brutal rape, as much as Ignis begged in the end."I was a real find then. Advisor to the future king of an enemy state.”"Mm, you were quite a find. It’s hard to believe we are so compatible. Almost seems like…fate."He doesn’t respond, but he’s blinking rapidly as if holding back tears.Ardyn sighs. “I’ll take you home. Get your things.” Your little backpack with schoolbooks and a change of clothes. He wonders absently what Ignis had thought when he’d shown up at the hotel last night. So naïve. So eager and innocent. He wonders what exactly Ignis knew of sex before last night, if anything. But he doesn’t respond to that so Ardyn tries a different tack. "You need to take suppressants. It's too late to do anything about this heat but you can control the rest."Ignis blinks, but he still won't look at him as he finally moves around him, steps into the living area and picks his bag up, as if operating one statement behind. There's something cute, tragic about his pain. Ardyn wants him again, even as he wants to smack him."You're a little messy."That gets a little bit of a reaction. "What?""You leak. A lot." Quite a lot. Not the most that he's seen in a male omega, but close."I...what am I supposed to do?"He rolls his eyes. Hopeless. He's hopeless. "Keep your briefs padded for the next few days. I put some tissues in there already when you were asleep but you'll need to get some real pads.""Like women wear.""You're an omega. You can get pregnant and lactate. Get used to it." The thought of Ignis' stomach swelling, his nipples puffy and sensitive, makes Ardyn's cock twitches.  The want makes him ache. He's never felt such need before."I won't get used to it. I won't do this again.""Uh huh,” he breathes. He wonders if suppressants would even be enough for Ignis, as unstable as his hormones are. Manifesting at thirteen despite exhibiting barely any signs beforehand. He didn’t even have the chance. “You really were enjoyable. And enthusiastic once you accepted it.”“I won’t,” he snarls now, sounding surprisingly assertive.“You were begging me to suck your cock last night. Good luck controlling yourself.""I think I was demanding you do that."Ardyn looks at him strangely then as he feels his own cock twitch. Ignis’ spitfire is cute. He’s no match for Ardyn; he can’t possibly be at thirteen, up against a man with two thousand years of solitude and bitterness pumping through his veins. He’s no match, but he tries, and strangely, he is more of a match than most anyone Ardyn has fucked. It’s charming, and he wonders who Ignis will grow up to be, wonders if he will be around to see it."Come on," he pushes him towards the door, perhaps with more force than he intends.-Ignis has to be shoved into the back of the car, has to have Ardyn buckle his seat belt because he’s withdrawn into himself again. Irritating. He’s so irritating. He wants the bitchy Ignis back, not this sorrowful, catatonic child. He wonders if he should insult him again, drag out the coeurl kitten who’d snapped at him a few minutes ago. But when he slides into the backseat beside him, he watches Ignis immediately press against the passenger side door, make himself as small as he can, and he changes his mind. He taps the driver’s shoulder and commands him to drive. Wedge has driven Ardyn around for the last decade; he’s seen a lot, heard a lot, and always he stays mum. Very useful.Ardyn waits until the car pulls out before speaking. "Omegas were worshipped in Solheim. The males, too. Perhaps especially. Not only a merge of both male and female in some regards, but also capable of bearing young. Alpha women weren’t revered as much, even though they were arguably capable of the same thing. A lot has been said on that over the years but…" He shrugs, suspecting that Ignis will not be interested in that discussion. “There are few remnants left of Solheim civilization, but we have recovered what we could and secured it within the Gralea libraries and laboratories. I can take you there, if you’re interested one day.”Ignis still won't look at him, stays pressed against the door as if he’s terrified that he can’t control himself."Do you know how many male omegas are alive right now, that we're aware of?"Ignis responds to that. Because Ignis likes trivia. Ignis likes showing off how smart he is, how good his memory is. "Textbooks suggest .27% of the population, but they cite a survey that's six years old.""Do you know how few have manifested in the last six years?""Shut up."Ardyn laughs softly before falling silent. There isn’t much traffic as there is in Gralea, but many people in Insomnia use the hundreds of trains criss-crossing the city. Cars are for parents and people who feel that they have to prove something. On any other day, he suspects Ignis would have a lot to say about the subject.It’s only when the Citadel district is in sight that he looks at Ignis again. He has that look to him, that freshly fucked looked omegas sometimes get when they have sex during estrus. Everyone who sees him today will know immediately that he'd lost his virginity. And that smell. He reeks of Ardyn.  He’s impressed that he lasted as long as he has as he leans over, the backseat too narrow for Ignis to stay out of his reach. Ignis resists at first, grabs at the back of the seat in front of him and makes a startled whimpering sound, but as Ardyn kisses his cheek, he gives up. And Ardyn kisses him once more, grabs the back of his neck and drags him in, crushes his lips to his and pushes his tongue into his mouth. Ignis moans then, fingers scrabbling against Ardyn's chest as he arches his back. And Ardyn's hand snakes down his spine to grab his ass.He forgets, forgets for a moment, as he pulls him into his lap, squeezes his ass with both hands and thrusts up into his groin. He's hard again. They're both hard. I could fuck him again, take him fast and rough here and be done within a few minutes. I could give him back with slick and come running down his thighs. I could tell Wedge to pull over right now and we could fuck right on the side of the road. And I’d – Then Ignis bites him.

Chapter 7 – Clarus

Gladio has always been a little touchy, a little sensitive, quick to anger and panic. Traits he was struggling to overcome, ones he sometimes succeeded in overcoming. But not now, because the boy is in a blind panic now as he slams the door to their living quarters open so fast, so violently, that it bounces against the wall.“Ignis!” He gasps out, breathless, his eyes wide and panicked, and for a moment Clarus’ heart stops. He’s dead. Ignis is dead, and if Ignis is dead, so is the prince.“What…”“He called me. He’s…He’s in trouble.”And he feels the fear start to leak out of him then. Because if Ignis called him, if Gladio is using the present tense, then he is alive. He places his hands on his son’s shoulders and gently guides him towards an armchair, waits until his son sits with a confused look on his face. “Start at the beginning,” he says softly.Gladio groans, buries his face in his hands. “He told me earlier this week. I just ignored it ‘cause… He said he was into older men and he had a crush on someone.”He blinks. It doesn’t surprise him that Ignis likes boys. He’d overheard more than one conversation his son had had with the other boy about girls, about dating, but what had been obvious to him was apparently less obvious to his fourteen-year-old son. “How is he in trouble?”“He…went to his house, or hotel. I don’t know. He called me this morning.” And then he suddenly sits bolt upright, as if he’d only remembered something. “This guy. He said he has permission to enter the Citadel and he’s going to drop Ignis off. Like right now. I ran here as fast as I could. But he should be here soon.”Clarus sighs softly, suddenly wondering if the emergency was that his son just discovered that his best friend was gay. Ignis going off with an older man was highly inappropriate, something that Regis would have to confront him about, but if he called Gladio in the morning and was getting a ride back, the situation probably stopped at inappropriate. “What’s the problem, then?”He regrets asking, regrets thinking for even one second that it was only inappropriate, that it wasn’t a big deal, that certain things didn’t happen to boys, to betas.“I think he…hurt Ignis. Like…” There is a pleading in his eyes, as if begging Clarus to understand what he means without asking him to explain.And he understands. Rape. Ignis was raped.-
Emergency. Report to the throne room immediately.
Regis strides in, cape thrown over his shoulder. “What is it? Why have you called me here?” He sounds angry, cold, irritated that anyone, even the Shield, would dare call the king to his own quarters, would dare text him on his private phone, would send the code to over-ride any silent settings he might have had on. “Is Noctis all right?”“Your Majesty,” he says softly, warily. There is no easy way to put this, no easy way to tell the full story he had had to coax out of Gladio only minutes earlier. “My son just came to me with alarming news. Ignis called him.”“Ignis?” There is a sigh then, an exclamation half in relief, and then he immediately frowns.Because in that sigh were the unspoken words, it’s not Noctis. Noctis is fine. Ignis isn’t as important. And Regis regrets that sigh, so Clarus will not speak of it. Not now, not when he has to tell the king what he must now tell him.“A man is coming to drop Ignis off in a few minutes. He’s someone with permission to enter the Citadel.”“A man? Who? Why is Ignis with him?”“There’s…” he sighs. “Apparently, Ignis developed an interest in an older man. That’s where he was last night.”“Last night he was at some cram school sleepover,” he says it firmly, as if he needs to make himself believe it. “Last night he went off with someone,” he repeats. “He called Gladio this morning, saying that he’d made a mistake. My son said he sounded very scared, and whoever he was with took the phone from him afterwards. Said he’d bring Ignis back and that he had permission to enter.”“Who…? He didn’t tell Gladio anything? Not a name? How they met?”“Only that they met playing chess in the library.”The King frowns at this.“Are any foreign dignitaries on record for being here?”“Not officially.”“Which means it might….”“Might be a Lucian,” Clarus finishes for him. The thought had crossed his mind as well. “Might be in the Crownsguard, the Kingsglaive. Someone we trust.”Regis groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, no.”Just then a voice crackles over Clarus’ radio. <Admitted vehicle VX247N. Cleared for explosives.>Clarus speaks before the King can. “Do you recognize that number?”He shakes his head, but he looks sick as he does so. “Let’s go.”-Ignis can stand on his own. It’s the first thing he notices. He runs up the steps, looking clean and healthy, looking only frightened, and throws himself into the King’s arms. He’s crying, which Clarus has never seen him do, and he finds himself looking away as Regis hugs him. Several years ago, Iris has vanished, hadn’t been found until late that night. She’d been a tiny child at the time, and a girl, which made it all the more terrifying. Things happened to little girls more often than they happened to little boys. Except for Ignis, the unlucky one.He doesn’t have time to reflect on this before Regis is pushing the boy into his arm and, startled, Clarus takes him. Ignis Scientia, only a year younger than his own son yet half his size. He feels more as if he’s carrying his daughter in his arms, and yet he knows, intuitively, that he’s carrying the weight of the known world.He immediately carries him away, brings him to the Council room off to the side where his wife and son await. Son. He shouldn’t be here, but snapping at him now would only increase Ignis’ anguish. Acanthus immediately steps forward just as Ignis squirms out of his arms. He lets him drop, both feet on the ground as he turns towards her.“Thank you,” Ignis murmurs softly, though to whom Clarus can’t be sure.He then watches his son grab for Ignis’ arm, squeeze his shoulder, and he watches Ignis flinch away from him. And he knows that just because Ignis could walk, just because his clothing was clean and he didn’t have black eyes, what Gladio feared wasn’t untrue. It’s enough, enough for him to turn on his heel and stride back into the throne room.And he waits for his king.

- End Part 1 -

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 2, Chapter 1 - Ignis

The first thing he does, when Acanthus brings him to the Amiticia household where he can spend time with a mother and recover from the embarrassment of the king seeing him crying, is take a shower.Ardyn must have healed him, because his body doesn’t hurt as much as he knows it should. His memories of the pain are strangely sharp, vivid and persistent, intrusive. He can feel those hands on him, that dick inside of him, those teeth on his throat. He scrubs his skin red and raw all over, especially the places that Ardyn had focused on. His throat, his nipples, his hips and ass and thighs and belly and genitals. Everything that the older man had ripped away from him, not only by raping him but by awakening him. And then he sits down on the floor of the shower, curls up around himself and sobs. He’d liked Ardyn. Maybe he had wanted to have sex with him. But he didn’t know it would be like that, didn’t know the truth about his own body, and when he’d told him to stop, he hadn’t. He hadn’t. He kept going, and the shower hides the tears falling from his eyes.He stumbles out of the shower after twenty minutes and crumples to the floor, shaking violently. He spends a lot of time throwing up, trembling and crying on the floor of the bathroom as he leans over the toilet. It’s trauma. He’s read about it, knows what it is, but it doesn’t make it any easier. His body trying to deal with what happened. His mind grappling with it. It could be something worse though, could be something else, could be something wrong with my body that he did when he when he when he…He stays locked in the bathroom for another hour or two until Acanthus asks after him three times, and only then does he scrub the tears from his face, wipe his mouth, and come out.-The King speaks with him next. It can’t be avoided, and Ignis wants nothing more than to get what will probably be the worst conversation in his life over with.“Did he…” Regis trails off.He knows what he wants to ask. Why can’t nobody say the word? As if they’re ashamed to say it, to acknowledge that such a thing exists. And so it won’t have happened. “No. He didn’t rape me, not the way you’re asking.”He says it tiredly, distantly. He isn’t certain why he’s lying, but he doesn’t need Regis knowing, doesn’t need anyone knowing. He can’t hide being an omega, not anymore, but he doesn’t want to have to be examined internally, doesn’t want anyone asking him to do a pregnancy test, doesn’t want anyone treating him like he’s made of glass, doesn’t want everyone in the Citadel whispering about his sex life. And maybe. Maybe he can’t quite admit it.“He made me perform oral sex on him and vice versa. And he put his fingers in me. It. Hurt. And he kept doing that until I…” He chews his lower lip for a moment, just as embarrassed to be lying as he is to be saying this sort of thing to the king. “When I realized what I was, I just kept crying and he got sick of me, I guess. Or maybe he just wanted me to manifest, like it would upset the royal family if I...” The king says nothing, not for a long moment, and Ignis wonders if he knows something Ignis doesn’t, if Ardyn had said something to him when he’d stormed down to meet the man who had ruined him. Because Ardyn had idled in the car, Ignis knows this. The car where he touched him again, kissed him and excited his body.The king says nothing, so Ignis goes on, his voice calm and disconnected from his emotions. The words hurt to speak, tear his throat apart as they crawl forth from him with poisoned claws, but his voice is composed and that’s all that matters anymore. As an omega, my inner life no longer matters. It’s all about how others see me, whether or not I bother others, how well I can keep my hormones in check. I’ll be expected to take drugs for the rest of my life so I don’t distract others. I can’t possibly work in politics, work in the military. “I understand if you don’t want me to be the Prince’s adviser any longer. As an omega I can’t…”“No,” King Regis snaps, waving a hand, moving it towards Ignis’ shoulder only to freeze an inch away. “It changes nothing. You can still carry out your duties. Take suppressants when you need to and if you decide not to, we will work around it.”Unexpected. Ignis knows he should be relieved, grateful, that he should feel pleasure, excitement, but he can’t feel much of anything but those hands on his body and a tongue down his throat and a bulge in his belly that doesn’t belong to him. He feels the degradation, the shame, the fear. You say it changes nothing too quickly. You don’t know what happened and I can never tell you. I can’t work around my heats. They control me. They ruined me. So the words that spill from his mouth aren’t in keeping with gratitude. “I’m a liability now.”“Ignis,” he says softly. “You’re the same person.”He remembers the way he flirted with Ardyn, the way he accepted his keys and went to his hotel by himself and invented a story so that he could stay the night. The way he kissed him, touched him, rubbed himself against the man’s clothing and begged for his affection. He’d left Noctis to his own devices multiple times, lied to everyone around him, put his friends in difficult positions, and thought of nothing but himself. Irresponsible, reckless. “No, I’m not,” he says softly. Regis withdraws his hand then, and he studies him silently. But he doesn’t refute him. He doesn’t refute him. -One day, two days pass. He spends a lot of time sleeping, a lot of time bathing, a lot of time staring into nothing.He curls up inside the pile of blankets and squeezes his eyes closed as tightly as he can. It’s a nest. He knows that now. Warm and comforting around him, a place he can one day share with his mate. Mate. He can’t imagine ever having one, not after what just happened. Ardyn hadn’t bonded him, hadn’t been able to and probably wasn’t interested in doing so, but Ignis suspects that this is end for him. He’d never cared about a partner, not the way his classmates did, but now. Now it’s unfathomable. Even the thought makes him clutch his stomach and squeeze his eyes closed. Someone else touching him like that, shoving into his body and taking control of it, making him forget who he is, making him want them even as he’s screaming, begging them to stop. It had hurt, hurt so badly that the thought of willingly doing it again makes him sick.No. My nest is my own, mine and mine and mine only. Unless. Unless what he fears is true. He’s worried, because his heat has diminished. The headaches, the fever, the nausea, all diminished. His pheromones have mellowed. It was written off. Because of his hormonal imbalance, his heats don’t last as long. Anyway, the first heat is usually only a day or two, especially when kids manifest at thirteen or fourteen.He begged off about seeing a doctor, said he didn’t want to be poked and prodded for a little while longer, that it was too late to get on suppressants for this heat so as long as he went within the next three or four months, it’d be fine. And for good measure, he wept when he said all of this, and the king had relented. He clearly didn’t know how to handle the situation.But there are other reasons why a heat may recede. But he wasn’t raped. Ardyn didn’t shove his dick into him, at least as far as anyone else knows, so there’s no reason to be concerned.No reason at all. He pulls the covers over his head as he slips the phone from underneath his pillow. And he begins researching pregnancy tests. -

Part 2, Chapter 1 - Iris

Ignis stays with the Amiticia for a long time. So long that Iris thinks he might be her new brother. Not that she minds, exactly, though he clearly doesn’t know how to handle kids her age, or girls.Her mother keeps apologizing, saying he just needs to spend a little time with them because he needs a mother right now, because his own parents are dead and the Queen is also dead. Gone away, as she said, but everyone knows what that means. Ignis has no mum, no woman in his life that he can go to for help, and apparently he needs help right now.Iris doesn’t understand much about omegas, betas, Alphas, except that her father and brother are both Alphas and traditionally, Amiticia men are because it’s tied to royalty and her family is upper-class. She said this in her first grade class once and her teacher said she was wrong, that it had nothing to do with social class or money, but she probably didn’t know what she was talking about. Or maybe she does, and it’s Iris who is confused. She never bothered to ask anyone else though, because it doesn’t matter to her very much. She had a blood test when younger and she is a beta, and betas don’t really have anything to worry about. So it comes to a surprise to hear that Ignis is an omega. Lower class, poor, far from royal, though her teacher would say that is wrong to think that way.She knows male omegas are rare, rarer even than Alphas, so that makes Ignis a little exciting. She wants to spend more time with him now because he’s interesting. He also isn’t rough like her brother and sometimes she wants a break from that, not that she’d ever admit it.“What are you doing?” The perennial question, one she asks him every hour.“Homework,” he grunts.“But you haven’t been to class in three days.”Ignis grimaces at that, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips closed tightly. “I’m a little sick now. Will be for a few more days. But next time this happens, I’ll be on medication so it will be fine.”“Can’t you go on medication now?”“I don’t want to go to a doctor now. It isn’t a big deal,” he says it calmly, but his hand drops to his lap and his fingers clench.She likes the way he smells right now and she doesn’t want him to be sad, so she touches his arm. He smells differently than he used to, and now he is comforting and warm and a little bit like her mother, who she has to share with a third kid now.She had told Gladio this last night, and her brother had looked grossed out. It’s because he’s an omega. He can be a mom now, so he’ll smell like that sometimes unless he takes his medicine.
It’s a nice smell, so he shouldn’t have to take it.

You don’t get it. Anyway you’re a kid. Usually kids can smell omegas all the time ‘til you’re seven or eight. 
She remembers this now. “Do you feel sick though?”He cocks his head and looks at her finally. “Mm. A little bit, but I’m not feverish anymore.”“Did it hurt? The heat?”“Not that kind of hurt.” And then, carefully, his eyes narrowed slightly, he whispers, “I did throw up though.”Iris lets out a shriek and lets go of him, pushes her chair back and stares at him. Gross, gross, gross. And Ignis laughs softly. It’s the first time she’s seen him laugh since he came here, and she knows that he said it on purpose, that he knew she would be grossed out. Ignis is like that. He can be a little mean sometimes, but he’s cute and clever about it so her mom and dad never notice. Gladio doesn’t usually notice either. Ignis disses him all the time and her brother seems clueless.But she’s pretty sure that her brother likes Ignis so maybe he ignores it. He ignores a lot of things, just like their father does, like the King does, like Prince Noctis does. Men are good at ignoring things, her mother said, and that’s why Ignis is in trouble now.He didn’t get a blood test, she said. Because the King had just assumed he would be an Alpha or a beta. Never an omega, because omegas aren’t royalty.Her mother had said it like it was a secret.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Chapter 2 – Titus Drautos

- He blinks the sleep from his eyes as he bows, tries to keep himself from looking too irritated about this turn of events. Being summoned by the king to discuss highly personal matters. He’s not interested in anything personal about the king, but he must pretend. Oh, how he looks forward to a day when he doesn’t have to pretend anymore.“Your highness?”“Ignis Scientia was hurt three days ago.”He isn’t sure what this has to do with him, why he should care if little Ignis Scientia lost a finger in Crownsguard practice or crashed a car when he tried to drive two years before he was legally able to, so he just waits.“I haven’t summoned you before now because I wanted him to have a few days to recover before I tried to talk to him about reparations.”“Reparations?” And what does this have to do with me? I’m not your damn dog, sicced after anyone who upsets another one of your little adopted children, adopted so that you can feel good about all of the things you’ve done. He’s, unfortunately, always felt a bit of an affinity towards the Scientia boy.“It’s…a complicated situation. I didn’t end up speaking to him about it, not yet. Perhaps not ever. He’s still rather shaken up over what that monster did to him.”It clicks then. Of course someone hurt him, and he doesn’t have to even think about who it might have been. He feels his stomach drop. Ardyn Izunia. He remembers that silver, sultry voice in his ear, asking about the boy, asking how old he was. He opens and closes his mouth once before he can find saliva as he pretends. “Do we know who?”“The Chancellor of Niflheim. Ardyn Izunia. He dropped him off and spoke to me afterwards. Threatened, more like.”“Astrals,” Drautos breathes, but not for the reason the king likely thinks. He’s shocked, disgusted that Ardyn actually had the nerve to speak to the king afterwards. Risking a diplomatic disaster.But Regis raises a hand to stop whatever he might be about to say. “There’s more.” And he pauses. “I had his bloodwork done when he was younger, but apparently we missed something, some kind of imbalance or…. He’s an omega.”Drautos arches an eyebrow but says nothing. He doesn’t believe Regis, doesn’t buy that he actually checked Ignis out. He probably just assumed he would be a beta at the worst. And it all but confirms his suspicions that the boy is a bastard prince.No point in mentioning it though. Not his problem. Just as none of this is his problem. “So what?”The king is clearly not expecting such a response and he only stares, stunned.“Is he pregnant?”“No. no. He wasn’t raped.”Too fast, too fast. “Only roughed up a little?”“Yes,” the king doesn’t sigh in relief, but it’s there in his words, and Drautos’ disgust only grows. "I must speak with the entire Council about this but I seek your advice in such matters.”He doesn’t answer immediately, and when he does, he chooses his words carefully. He can’t risk this war happening too soon, can’t risk everything going to waste because Ardyn’s dick is more active than his brain. But he’s angry, because he despises each and every person involved in this travesty and he wants to silence the king, wants a few minutes to himself so he can clear his head and figure out what happened enough that he can extricate himself from the situation. “I think…Chancellor Izunia is too much of an unknown factor to say reparations, even behind closed doors.”-It isn’t a phone call he wants to make, but the blood in his veins is feverish with disgust and rage and he needs to hear what happened from Ardyn, needs to find out what role he had to play in this, unbeknownst to him. He doesn’t wait for the asshole to say anything before he cuts in as soon as the ringing stops. “What did you do to the Scientia kid?”Ardyn answers so quickly, so smoothly, it’s almost as if he were waiting for the call. Not that Drautos is one for small talk though. If he had any brains at all, the Chancellor should expect this kind of bluntness whenever he sees Glauca on the screen. “What do you think?’“The king told me Ignis wasn’t raped, just roughed up.”Ardyn is silent a moment. “Is that what the boy’s telling people? I suppose it’s less embarrassing.”Shit. But it’s what he expected. He couldn’t imagine that this man would sink his claws into a politically valuable, vulnerable young omega and not rape him. “Suspected as much,” he sighs. Sometimes he hates his life, hates being a double-agent, hates having to deal with men such as this.“Oh, the way he screamed,” Ardyn whispers in his ear, voice throaty and low.“You’re sick.”“You don’t get aroused easily, do you?” he asks gloatingly, though he full well knows the answer, seeing as they’ve fucked a few times over the years. Titus had learned some time ago that the only way to shut the man up was to bend him over a table, so he’d put up with it from time to time. “It’s a pity. I think he could turn even you on. He slicks up so easily and his muscles just clench over and over. He’s just so receptive, so responsive. The noises he made, so much crying and yelling. He fought hard, too. You’d be proud of him, little Crownsguard boy.”“I’m not Crownsguard,” he says, his voice clipped. Of course Ardyn knows this, but he needs to say something, anything. He needs to distract himself and shut this man up. He doesn’t want to think of Ignis in this way. The kid is cute, pretty. But a kid. Hints of baby fat in his cheeks, face and arms soft and hairless.  “I don’t think he will be either, anymore. Omegas… Did the king speak with you about what would happen with him now?”There’s a certain keening in his voice, something that gives him away. Ardyn is interested, wants to know. Probably wants to isolate him, coerce him into going back to Niflheim with him willingly. His suspicion is confirmed when Ardyn presses further.“He going to be thrown away now? He doesn’t have any family besides his uncle, does he?” Drautos hadn’t mentioned that, so either Ignis had told him – stupid, stupid boy – or the Chancellor had done research. “Nothing. He’s still the prince’s adviser. I imagine he will simply take suppressants and that will be the end of it.”Ardyn snorts. “Pity. He smells so delightful when in heat. And he blushes easily, chews his lower lip. He has such a nice figure too, and he’s still got a lot of growing to do…”Because suppressants often stunt growth. Ignis is already small for his age; he might balk at the thought of taking something that might keep him that way. He doesn’t touch that though, and instead changes the subject. The same question he’d asked Regis, though now he knows he can expect an honest answer.“Is there any chance he’s pregnant?”He laughs at that. “I certainly didn’t use a condom, if that’s what you’re asking. But no. I’d have a few thousand kids by now were I not sterile.” He isn’t sure how much the man is exaggerating, isn’t sure how many other Ignis’ there are out there. “What do you want with him? You can’t come in here and kidnap him again.”“I had my fun with him already,” he breathes. “If I see him again, I’ll fuck him again, but I only wanted to awaken him. Scare your beloved king a little. Say. You’re not interested because you’re worried you delivered him to me, are you? Never fear. You made things a bit easier but I would have--” Drautos hangs up then, and when his phone lights up half a second later, he ignores it. Asshole will probably spit out some synonym of insubordination onto his voice mail and hang up, anyway. He doesn’t know how much of anything he’s heard tonight he should believe, but he doesn’t care either. Not his problem. Definitely not his problem.

Chapter 2 - Gladio

- He pretends it’s not different. Pretends everything is the same.He doesn’t like thinking about his friend that way, doesn’t want to, but he can’t help it. Because if he isn’t an Alpha or a beta, then he’s hardly a good candidate for the adviser to the prince, for the Crownsguard.  In fact he isn’t a good candidate for much of anything beyond bearing young. But no. No he’s no different. He can still be carry on the same life. He’s the same. He used to admire Ignis, appreciate how vicious he could be in training, how relentless and unforgiving he could be, how quick and agile he was. But all of that will come to a grinding halt now, because omegas are meant to be protected. They are meant to be shielded.
I could be his shield, as well. I could.
Because perhaps worse of all, it makes Ignis an option. He always was, really, as there was nothing stopping an Alpha to fall for someone who couldn’t procreate with them. Omegas were rare, a dying specie, but nobody cared if Alphas passed on their genes. Yes, he was always a choice, but now he’s more of one. Except.Except for the fact that someone seduced him, kidnapped him and did things to him. He might not be bonded to anyone, but it still leaves an invisible mark on him. Omegas don’t need to be pure for someone to bond with them, but it’s preferred. Someone else touched him, hurt him, and Gladio doesn’t like to think about it.And except for the fact that Ignis is a mess now. He adamantly swears that nothing significant happened, but nobody seems to believe that but the king himself. Willful ignorance, Gladio’s mother had hissed. Though Ignis denies it and denies it. He refuses to go to a doctor, and as his legal guardian the king is too lenient. Because Ignis isn’t stupid. He’s intelligent, honest, responsible. If anything really happened, if anything was genuinely wrong, he would go to the doctor, right?It’s the topic of conversation today. Eight days later. Ignis went back to his own apartment with Noctis in the royal quarters after five days, which was a relief to the entire Amiticia family except perhaps Iris. It gets tiring, acting like everything is normal when one of the royal retinue is unexpectedly an omega, when one of the royal retinue was kidnapped, assaulted. Gladio hasn’t talked to him much, and this is only their second conversation alone since that phone call.“Because I don’t need to.”“But…nobody knew you were one. You didn’t act like one, smell like one, so you must have some kind of imbalance.” And you smell different now, a little odd, something I can’t place, so your body is obviously still not handling this right. Ignis only shrugs. “Everything’s apparently working properly now.”“That’s not the point. You might be sick. Like you should get it checked out. Maybe your…” he hesitates, remembering something from class. “Thyroid or something.”Ignis shoots him one of those venomous glares that he mastered at the age of six. “I’m not sick. There are no other symptoms and my growth is perfectly normal for my age.”You’re a little small. But he won’t say it, knows better than to bring that up. The thing is, Ignis’ legs are long for his size, so omega or not, he will probably grow quite a bit eventually. Gladio doesn’t like paying attention to his legs, but they are pretty hard to ignore. “Don’t you want suppressants though?”Another glower. “Eventually, probably. I haven’t decided yet, though heats are every three or four months. I have a while to think about it. I’ll go to the doctor when I’m ready.” The way he says it is so aggressive that the older boy sighs and drops it. Ignis is getting into a mood.He always had moods, even when he was six. They’re only going to get worse now that he’s entered puberty. Not because he’s an omega. That’s irrelevant. He’s no different than he ever was.But he’s not. Because there’s something. Something unrelated to whether he’s an omega or a beta. Something else he can’t quite place, and so he raises a hand tentatively, hovers it over the younger boy’s shoulder without touching him.“Are you okay?”And in that moment he understands. For the first time that Gladio can remember, Ignis looks afraid, fragile and lonely, as he looks away, drops his gaze and hangs his head. “No.”

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Part 2, Chapter 3 - Ignis

Ardyn’s heavy on top of him, bearing him down hard onto the floor as he stifles his cries, covers his entire face with one hand as he crushes him, half chokes him before flipping him onto his belly and ripping his pants down. He’s between his knees, stopping him from even struggling. He hears the words so deep in his veins that they barely make a sound.
You didn’t tell anyone, did you? Didn’t tell anyone I fucked you? They don’t know I can bond you. They should have had you under guard, should have been protecting you. But no, you lied. You’re stupid and stubborn and now you’re mine. 
And he sinks two fingers into him, two, three as Ignis screams at the pain, the intrusion, the sheer helplessness. Ardyn hits the back of his head, grabs his neck and squeezes. Ignis can see beneath his own bed, immaculate but for the history textbook he’d been reading the night before. He always hides his current book under the bed, an old habit. It’s strangely embarrassing, being raped on the floor in his own bedroom.He focuses on this, focuses hard as Ardyn’s cock brushes against his entrance, wet with slick. And then he focuses on nothing as the man behind him shoves into him again, focuses on nothing because nothing is easier than the pain, the degradation, the reeling fear not only because Ardyn found him again, but because now he has to tell someone, now he has to admit he was raped, that he’s weak and helpless and he must be protected, that he can’t control his hormones, his urges, that he’s not fit….Ardyn’s grabbing his hair now, jerking his head to the side as he screams and screams, and burying his face in his neck. Ignis feels the teeth with vivid clarity before he bites down and he sobs in desperation. No, no, no I don’t want to be bound to you. He wakes up screaming.Hands between his legs, nails digging into his inner thighs, up and up and he finally spreads his legs, claws frantically at himself, scraping at himself until he presses fingers against the hole between his legs. He’s slippery down there, leaking a little slick that makes him whimper. But I’m not aroused, I’m not aroused, I’m not…The thought of being excited at the notion of Ardyn forcibly bonding him makes him want to vomit, and he unconsciously jerks a hand up to touch his neck, first the right side, then the left. He leaves smears of blood on his skin, but he is unmarked.For now. He can’t push the voice away.
He can’t do it, he can’t do it. He can’t. Even if he finds me again, even if he kidnaps me, rapes me again, he can’t… It’s impossible to bond with an omega unless they’re pregnant, pregnant with their child. The Crystal simply won’t allow any other sort of bond within the bounds of the walls, within Insomnia.

And male omegas rarely get pregnant, especially not after only one fuck, especially not when it’s their first heat, which is often short and may or may not suggest fertility. This is because a male omega’s first heat is preparing his body for future heats, and it is rarely a full estrus cycle.
Remembering his textbook half calms him as he recites lines in his head, stills his breathing. Until that voice returns, at least. Except you’d been sick a week before. Ardyn even commented on it. Your uterine canal was fully open. Don’t fool yourself. It was a full estrus, only cut short because…He ignores the bloody lines on his thighs as he swings his legs over the side of the bed and finds his slippers. He dresses quickly, quietly, and only then does he open up the map on his phone. There is a 24-hour pharmacy nearby, but he doesn’t want to go somewhere that he often visits. Better to go to another, across the city. Take a taxi. Nobody could possibly see and recognize him at this time of night. The time doesn’t bother him. Insomnia is safe, for the most part.Anyway, the worst has already happened to him. -He buys three different ones, because one can be wrong. Tests for male omegas are thankfully the same as those for women. No need to buy something specialized and expensive, something more likely to draw attention to him. He’s almost satisfied with his rationale as he pays in cash and leaves the store, purposefully avoids looking down the baby aisle before stepping out onto the curb and hailing a cab again.He doesn’t remember going home, doesn’t remember taking his shoes off when he enters the apartment and locking himself in the bathroom, as if anyone might walk in. He doesn’t remember choosing one of the tests, doesn’t remember unwrapping it or pissing on it. It’s as if his life goes on pause for a few minutes, his heartbeat and his breath stilled, lodged deep in his marrow, until the result emerges on the little screen.Two lines. He’d known. He’d known all along, intuitively, the moment he’d woken up in that hotel room, even before he remembered what happened, who he was with. I’m pregnant arose in his mind long, confused seconds before I’m an omega I was raped Ardyn Izunia raped me and said he would keep me and it’s all my fault and I’m….So this is not new information, only a confirmation. He doesn’t bother trying the other two brands. -He’s sick the next morning, violently ill, and as he’s curled over the toilet he desperately wishes that he could vomit up whatever is inside of him, that he could miraculously be rid of it with nobody else ever knowing. He’d surprised himself last night with his calmness, with how he’d merely wrapped up the test and hidden it in the trash, got back into his pajamas and gone to bed, to sleep, as if his brain simply refused to process what had happened.But now he’s awake and terrified.Part of him wants to wait. Wait and pray to the Astrals every day that he will miscarriage. He’s so young, after all, his body ill-prepared for this. Miscarriages are common in teenagers, common in male omegas. There is an excellent chance this will be a nonissue soon enough. And if in ten weeks nothing has happened, he will face it. He will tell the king. He will go to the doctor. He will get an abortion and get his uterine canal tied so that no one else may ever hurt him this way again. He doesn’t care that he’s an omega, that the human population is dwindling and he ought to make use of what the Astrals had given him. He never wants to have sex again, never wants to be hurt again, never wants to run the risk of his body being hijacked again.But another part of him wants it. It’s the hormones. It’s because I’m an omega, maternal, protective. My hormones want me to bear young, want me to stay in a nest all day with a baby or two or three. It isn’t me, not my brain, not the Ignis who is adviser to the prince, who is meant to be the general of the Crownsguard one day. But even as he thinks this, a hand lies unbidden on his belly, as if to protect it from himself.And a third part of him, the worst of them all, wants Ardyn. He wants Ardyn to hold him, comfort him, tell him it will be okay, that he will get through this, that whether he keeps it or not is entirely up to him, that there is no pressure to do one thing or the other, that he doesn’t have to hide it or be ashamed, that this will not affect the rest of his life, that he will stay by him if that’s what Ignis wants, that he won’t hurt him again, will in fact protect him and the child, support him and teach him all that he knows and ensure that he can be both an omega and a great military adviser.It’s that third part that makes him reach for his cell phone, left on the side of the bathtub where he’d left it moments ago, still playing the action movie he’d been trying to watch to distract himself in between vomiting.He texts him. And he regrets.And he immediately turns his phone’s connection off, slips it into non-interference mode in the hopes that the message won’t be sent. And he weeps, curling in around himself, both arms wrapped around his middle.  Part 2, Chapter 3 - Noctis It’s now been a little over two weeks since Ignis got hurt by that guy. Noctis thinks about that day in the library a lot, when they first met him. He’d known something was wrong, known that the guy wasn’t looking at Ignis right, that Ignis was acting funny. And now Ignis is an omega. Noctis doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal. They’re not related, but they’ve been raised together so it doesn’t change much. He’s no more a possible partner than he ever was so maybe he doesn’t get why Gladio’s so uncomfortable. Ignis is like his brother, a little like his mother when he worries about him. Which makes sense now if he’s an omega. Noctis thinks he actually kind of likes it. He’s smelled so good now, ever since he’s awakened. Smells comforting and protective and warm.They’re both in Ignis’ bed, propped up against the pillows and watching a PG13 movie which normally the older boy wouldn’t let him watch. Some drama about a bank heist. He glances at him. His hair is still damp from the shower, hanging a little in his face the way it does when it’s wet, his cheeks a little pink. He’s taken a lot of showers recently. At least he’s started going back to school. He was going to only stay out a few days, then a week, and he ended up missing seven days of classes. He didn’t end up missing any work, of course, did it all at home, but it was a lot of school to miss and nobody got mad at him. Noctis was a little jealous. He also skipped Crownsguard sessions, not that Noctis has to worry about that yet, but Gladio had told him. Ignis had only shrugged, said he wasn’t feeling good enough for it yet, but he’d flexed his hands as he’d said it. The way he used to do right before he accessed the Arniger, and Noctis had quietly wondered if perhaps he couldn’t any longer.He doesn’t want to ask though. It scares him and it makes him sad, because he wants Ignis with him, wants Ignis protecting him as he gets older, but that’s selfish and he shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. He also shouldn’t be thinking what he is thinking about right now, but it’s less painful.He thinks they probably did it. Ignis has always acted like an adult, always acted older than he was. Noctis always figured that he’d start doing it soon, like he’s pretty sure Gladio already has with some of the girls in high school. But doing it with an adult, a man at that… It’s a little strange. That guy was creepy too, handsome but creepy. So he bluntly asks, “You guys have sex?”Ignis doesn’t answer immediately. “Not exactly,” he finally sighs, dragging the word out. Like it’s not a big deal, like they’re sharing a joke. He seems calmer now. “I sucked his dick and he did mine.” He grimaces. Nasty. He knew girls did that, had heard some older kids talking at school. “I was curious. Didn’t want details.”Ignis smiles at that, makes a huffing sound through his nose and grins for half a second. It’s real, and it’s the first real smile Ignis has shown since it happened. “I’ll tell you more next time you get on my nerves.”“You want to see him again?”His smile fades then. “Don’t tell your father.”“So you’re gonna?” He isn’t sure if he’s disappointed or worried. Because even if Ignis seemed to like him at first, that guy ended up hurting him. Not that it matters, he knows. He’s heard and seen enough drama with the older kids at school, though he suspects most of the time the betrayal is something stupid, not what this man did to Ignis. “I don’t know, but don’t worry about it. You’re my first priority.”A weird thing to say, especially as he now knows that Ignis likes boys. Noctis wrinkles his nose and leans away from him. He hopes he just means the whole bros before hos thing.And Ignis laughs, but he seems distracted, seems too serious to be laughing. “That isn’t what I mean. You’ll understand someday.” He flicks a glance at Ignis, at the way he’s sitting, at the blankets pulled up to his chest even though it isn’t particularly cold. I don’t know if I want to.

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Part 2, Chapter 4 - Ardyn

Ardyn smirks when he hears his phone buzz. Buzz the special sound he'd set in place for Ignis. Ignis. The little fool who thinks he’s so smart. He knew he'd contact him eventually, desperate for more of his cock. If only this atrocious meeting would finish up quickly. He taps his fingers against the table and leans back in his chair, making it clear that he’s disgusted, bored.Two minutes. Eight. Thirteen. Sixteen. And twenty-one minutes before it ends, and he only checks his watch five times while making a divine effort to remain interested. Another town on the outskirts of Insomnia about to fall to ruin. He might have made some decisions too hastily, might inadvertently cost thousands of lives, but he doesn’t care. The meeting couldn’t end soon enough and he pulls his phone out immediately, even as the emperor still sits before him. He blinks, frowns at the word pregnant. And then he smirks. The boy must be trying to get his attention, coax him into visiting him without explicitly saying that he wants him. The boy had often been blunt to him, but the rare moments when he hadn’t been, he’d been clever, coy, strategic. This is something he would do, if a little misguided. Because it won’t work for him.
<Clever, but I’d prefer you simply telling me you want to see me.> 
The read receipt blinks, indicating that the boy read it immediately, and Ardyn bares his teeth in a wolfish grin. Ignis must be desperate. Ardyn wonders if he’s touched himself in the last two weeks, if he’s doing it right now, if he’s sitting on his bed with his legs spread, his fingers between his thighs, tugging his cock, rubbing the skin beneath his balls until he works up enough slick to slip them inside. He can imagine his head tilted back, his eyes closed and his mouth open, tongue pushing against his lower teeth as he pants and gasps. He feels his trousers tightening as he waits, but Ignis takes a good few minutes to reply. When he does, it isn’t what Ardyn expects. 
<I don’t want to see you.> 
He can almost sense the confusion in those words, but anger spurs him to reply quickly. <Then why would you say that?>
<Never mind.>
Playing hard to get. For some reason this irritates Ardyn, makes him uneasy. It isn’t like Ignis, to do this. The Ignis he knows would keep pushing, perpetuate the lie and intrigue him, try to play with him. Which means… he can’t consider it.-He ignores it for three days, four. But by halfway through the fifth day, he can’t. He demands an airship, boards with a pilot and a crew of only three and retreats immediately to his cabin.Only once he’s seated does he text the boy. He’s been to this hotel before, knows that it’s about three and a half hours from here to the front desk of the hotel, all travel covered. <I booked a room at the Astoria hotel. Check in under my name. It’s taken care of.>The last thing Ignis had said to him was never mind. He can imagine Ignis’ uncertainty, imagine the frown on his face, the furrow in his brow as he realizes that he has to meet Ardyn in a hotel again. But he’ll obey. Because he’s reasonable and there isn’t much else he can do.And twenty days after he raped the royal adviser-in-training, Ardyn arrives back in Insomnia. - His stomach lurches when he sees him, when he steps into the hotel room and catches his scent.Ignis is waiting for him, sitting in an armchair on the side of the fireplace, staring hard at him with those vibrant green eyes of his. His legs crossed, elbow on the armrest and fingers curled near his chin. He looks older than his thirteen years, solemn and intense in that way of his that got him in trouble in the first place. He thinks he’s older than he is, acts it, tried to be it. He thinks he can handle things. And so does not run away when men who already raped him once demand that he meet him in a hotel room.It’s this, the reminder, the glimpse of Ignis as the adult in a child’s body, that cements his suspicion.He let someone else fuck him. He spread his legs for another man, probably immediately after I fucked him, and so he has become a whore and seeks to blame it on me. He doesn’t like sharing. So his throat is tight, his voice thick as he hisses. "If you aren’t lying, it's not mine." "Of course it is." He says it petulantly, a hint of a pout on his lips, and Ardyn thinks about that little pout wrapping around his dick. Why hadn’t he made him do that? He should today, before he leaves. Teach the boy how to put his mouth to a better use than sassing off on him. To a better use than bending over for someone else."It's. Not. Mine." He bites each word off."You raped me. Do you really think I'd go have sex with someone else so soon after?" He holds his composure, names the act calmly, but Ardyn watches as he flicks his hand up a few inches, starts to put it over his belly as if to protect whatever is there.Something in that gesture, as subtle as it is, makes Ardyn hesitate. "I'm sterile. I can't have children.""It’s yours!” Ignis snarls then as he stands, eyes narrowed and teeth bared and little fists clenched. He’s beautiful, and from the flush on his cheeks, he’s growing aroused at merely being in the same room as Ardyn. Perfect.Ardyn steps forward, closes the gap and grabs him in the same moment the boy reaches for him, but Ignis is faster this time, jumping up, standing on his tiptoes and jerking his down with hands in the collars of his coats. He kisses him roughly, the boy’s jaw dropping to accept his tongue immediately. He’s hungry, desperate, and as he grabs Ignis’ shoulders and slips fingers up to his neck, he can feel his heat.Ignis squirms against him, little hands running down his chest, his waist, grabbing for his belt. Little whore. “You’re not going to rape me again,” he hisses.He laughs at that. Can’t rape the willing, and Ignis was willing from the beginning, after all. Stupid boy. He buries his face in his neck and inhales, and he understands then. The boy wasn’t lying. He is with child, with Ardyn’s child. Impossible.For a moment he leans back, studies Ignis. He knows he should think about this more, should leave Ignis and contemplate what this means, perhaps consult with Verstael Besithia the scientist. He should not be able to do this. But he can’t think, can’t process what is happening, what the ramifications might be, what the Astrals are doing, because Ignis is in his arms and he’s so pretty.He smells him again, detects now that Ignis’ excitement isn’t a true estrus, is something else, the sort of secondary heat that omegas only get around their mates when pregnant. He can also smell his fear. He’s pretending to be brave, pretending to want this because that’s what his hormones are driving him to do, but his mind clearly wants out. Because Ardyn can see the wild look in his eyes, the desperation and confusion as he stares up at him. And he holds the teenager’s gaze as he touches him again. He slips a hand down his chest, his waist, and cups his groin. There’s a little hardness there that he squeezes gently. A shiver goes through him, eyes fluttering closed and mouth opening as he lets out a soft noise. Cute. He’s attractive, even at this age. And Ardyn pushes him down, unzips his fly and pulls his pants down while Ignis tries to shove his hands back, fingers shaking. But he can’t be certain if the boy is trying to help him or stop him as his little erection bobs free. Ardyn grins in satisfaction when he sees the damp on his thighs. He smells different now, smells like he’s his. He slips hands beneath him, kneads his ass and massages the muscles he finds there. The boy is hardly developed yet, and Ardyn wonders again what he will look like in a few years, what he will look like in ten, wonders at what sort of man he will become. If he lives long enough. He leers now as he spreads his legs wide and pushes a finger inside of him, his muscles tight but not resistant as more slick spurts out of him. Depraved boy, with his cheeks flushed and his hair a mess as he looks away from Ardyn; he’s not fighting, only trembling. Ardyn will remember this later.When he uses a second finger, he sinks them in as far as they’ll go and finds what he seeks. Ignis jerks against him, cries out and lifts one foot off the bed as his toes curl.  Ardyn lets him enjoy it for a moment, caressing his sweet spot as Ignis writhes and moans. He knows, knows somewhere in the back of his mind that the boy could be a divine sex partner, sensitive and adventurous and eager to learn, if only he could control himself around him and introduce him to sex more slowly. If only he could not feel an overwhelming urge to rape him every time he saw his pretty face, smelled his scent.But another time, perhaps, because he’s had enough and he’s withdrawing his fingers, grabbing Ignis’ shoulder and roughly flipping him onto his belly, dragging him up onto his knees even as the boy cries out, clearly reeling in confusion. He manages to tell him to stop, to gasp out a please, no no no even though moments ago he was trying to be brave, but all Ardyn can understand is how good he smells. He’s as tight inside as he was the first time, burning hot and wondrously wet, his body producing so much slick, even though his uterine canal is now closed for the foreseeable future, that Ardyn is able to push in up to the hilt with relative ease.It doesn’t mean that it isn’t hurting Ignis, as the boy is screaming in pain again, shuddering and sobbing. Easy to ignore when he feels this good but it’s another thing, another thing he will remember later. How much Ignis endures beneath him, how brave he tries to be, how terrified he really is.He’s careful not to crush him, careful not to throw his full weight on him, but he fucks him hard. Ignis’ knees give out at one point and he collapses to the bed, letting out a startled whimper at the sudden stimulation against his cock, but Ardyn drags him back up. He wraps hands around his ribcage, digs his fingers into his nipples before sliding them back and circling his waist. Ardyn groans, thrusts into him at a different angle until Ignis squeals, howls, his little cock jerking against Ardyn’s fingers and leaving a smear of precome. He thrusts back against him then, once, twice, and he can feel more slick leaking out of him, now running down his own thighs as much as it does Ignis’. So much. So much.He stares at his back, at the way his shoulder blades are nearly touching in tension, the sweat running in rivulets down his skin, the vertebrae of his neck and the way his hair sticks to his nape, the soft expanse of skin between his neck and his shoulder. He leans in as he thrusts into him again and smells him, studies the space on his neck over his pheromone gland, slightly swollen as they often get during sex.And he sinks his teeth into him. Ignis bucks, writhes under him, snarls and spits and then he suddenly drags a ragged gasp and stills. The marking of an omega by an Alpha, especially a compatible one, sends such a rush of hormones through the omega that they are often left paralyzed for a moment. Ignis orgasms then, his little body clenching and spasming around him in a way that could be divine as Ardyn gnashes his teeth in his neck again before leaning back, feeling nothing but possessiveness and adoration for the boy below him.And Ardyn half lifts him, grabs one of his arms and jerks him up, runs a hand up his belly and holds him above the mattress as he rams into him again, again. Ignis is silent but for his panting, his mind elsewhere. Ardyn’s orgasm builds in his fingertips and behind his eyes and crawls through his veins, burns his body as the streams of fire finally reach his groin. It’s a violent one, better than most he has had, perhaps ever. Because he is yours. He is your mate. You are bound to him forever now, both bound by the life growing inside of him. He hisses, leans over him as his hips stutter through the rest of the climax, filling the boy just as he had three weeks ago. And Ignis gulps, whimpers and squirms in his arms, the action making his own dick twitch again in a half orgasm, weak and dry.He resists knotting in him, though the urge to is even stronger than it had been the first time. But Ardyn needs to think and he can’t think when he’s lodged inside of him, he reflects as he slides out of him, strings of come and slick between them. He’s never marked someone before, never had the chance to, and his mind is reeling. It won’t affect his own life, but it will certainly ruin Ignis’. More than it has already been ruined. But he’s pregnant, and this will affect Ardyn’s life. This is not something I can run away from. I can not abandon my bastards the way so many others have. Not when I…Ignis is trying to sit up, trying to crawl away, but his limbs won’t work as the post-coital exhaustion is rapidly overtaking him. There is not only pain and despair but anger in his eyes, frustration that even now his body is betraying him. It makes Ardyn smile, the fight in him.“Shh, shhh,” he croons, gently brushing Ignis’ sweat-soaked hair from his face, cupping his cheek. He rubs his thumb over those lips, pushes it into the boy’s mouth to heal the bites on his tongue, and Ignis shudders and weeps. “You can sleep. I won’t fuck you again right now.” He wants to, oh how he wants to, but this is a promise he will keep. He keeps his hand there, keeps gently stroking the boy’s face until he calms, until his breathing slows and he slips under. Ardyn still doesn’t dare watch him sleep, doesn’t trust himself not to immediately ravage him again the moment the boy stirs or sighs or snores.He also doesn’t trust himself to really consider what is happening, the ramifications of this pregnancy. No, he isn’t ready to do that yet. And Ardyn has had a long time, centuries and centuries, to learn how to compartmentalize his mind and push things away for later.Instead he settles for going through his school bag. One textbook, a few notebooks, a mystery novel he must be reading for fun, some spy thriller. A pencil bag. Cell phone, locked of course. Ardyn could break into it, but he doesn’t care to. He knows that Ignis hasn’t told anyone anything, that there will be nothing on there except inane messages to his friends. He opens his wallet. Two thousand yen. Library card. Health insurance card. School ID card. Crownsguard ID. He examines each one carefully. The library card is well-used, the insurance card nondescript. He studies his school ID for a long moment. He’s smiling in it, in an awkward way as if he doesn’t know how to, his hair slicked back and his uniform impeccable. Seventh grade. The number makes the corner of his mouth twitch, but it’s the Crownsguard ID that gives him pause. Because his enlistment date was barely two months ago. And his birthdate. Thirteen years to the day before he enlisted. He’d joined the second he legally could. Which means that Ignis was barely thirteen when Ardyn first laid eyes on him. He sighs softly, taps the card against his other hand and glances over at the bed. He’d known he was a kid, hadn’t been particularly concerned about it, but knowing that he was twelve two months ago, that he will give birth at thirteen, bothers him a little. But any sympathy he had is driven away when the boy awakens.He can’t help but perk up when he hears Ignis whimper softly and he immediately stands, heads back to the bed and sits on the edge as he watches Ignis wake up. He hadn’t slept long, only half an hour at best; he’ll likely faint again in a little while but for now, Ardyn wants to watch him come slowly into consciousness. He wipes his face, but not before Ardyn catches a glimpse of saliva running from the corner of his mouth. Cute. He wonders if he often drools in his sleep. And Ignis groans, sighs and darts his eyes around in a room that suggests he is far more aware than he pretends. Ardyn catches it too late though, and Ignis is lunging for him, a flash of metal in his right hand and a sudden warmth on his neck, a heat and a wetness followed by a dull throb that might once have been pain two thousand years ago. Ardyn had blocked his magic, just as he has done every time he meets the boy, but he hadn’t expected Ignis to bring a weapon with him to the meeting. Of course he knew that the Armiger didn’t work for him so well any longer, so he’d kept a blade in his clothing somewhere, a switchblade that Ardyn hadn’t noticed. He remembers suddenly how grown Ignis looked when he’d arrived at the hotel, how serious he was sitting in that chair. He must have been planning this all along. Waiting, hoping all the last week that I would come to see him. The metal had cut deep, went from beneath one ear diagonally downwards across his neck, slicing through his jugular. He’d put an impressive amount of force into it given his size, given what he’d just been through.A killing blow, were he alive. He heals it, almost without thinking. A hand on his neck, finger running across the dark slash.Or most of it. There’s one part he can’t heal. He tries again absently, assuming he’s distracted by the boy, then a third, a fourth time, rising panic in his veins. He can close the wound, but a scar remains. A scar over his pheromone gland. No, no.“Did you mean to kill me or mark me?” he whispers softly.But Ignis is only staring at him, the knife forgotten in his hand. He clearly saw where the blade went in, how he’d landed what should have been a killing blow, how Ardyn hadn’t even flinched, had healed it with a finger. He’s trembling, mouth hanging open and blood and slick sticking up his thighs. His shock would be cute were Ardyn not struggling with his own. “Kill,” he finally whispers.“Well. You didn’t. You marked me. And now we’re…” bonded. Two thousand years and I have never been bonded with anyone. And now, somehow. This. A half-feral child in the employ of the line and the crown I hate more than anything. A pregnant thirteen-year-old who just tried to kill me. The longer we live, the more bonded we will grow, and I won’t be able to control it. His loathing of humanity can’t triumph over a bond controlled by pheromones. He’d threatened it, used the idea to terrorize the child and the king, but he’d never meant any of it. He likes his freedom. He likes having no one else to worry about. And as much as he enjoys fucking Ignis, he does not want him making things complicated.He lunges forward, grabs the boy by the throat and pushes him down again. “There is only one way to break a bond. I’m sure you know what I speak of.” But Ignis surprises him with the calmness in his voice. Probably in shock. “If you kill me now you’ll kill the baby.”“I don’t want the baby,” he snarls. But he’s curious. Would it be a normal child? Would it have the Scourge? Would it be cursed? What sort of vicious little creature would come out of Ignis Scientia? What would it do to him?“Let me…” he gasps out, “Let me have it. Then do…do what you want to me.”A sound deal. How brave he is, his gaze steady as he offers to trade his life for the unborn child within him that he can’t possibly care for. And I will have him as often as I please now. “You have 8 months to live, boy.”And he fucks him again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 3, Chapter 1 - Ignis

-

Ignis stares at the ceiling. It’s an elaborate stucco pattern, probably one of the things the hotel gloats about on its website, a reason to inflate the price of a night’s stay. He wonders how much Ardyn paid, wonders if he rented out the rooms on either side as well, because if anyone heard him screaming, they certainly didn’t do anything to help. Maybe screaming during sex is normal here, but he’d been begging, asking him to stop – he’s sure of this – and still nobody came. He’s never felt so alone. He had needed time to think. That’s what he had said. And then he had pulled, unexpectedly, a pair of handcuffs from his pocket, snapped one side open and stared at the boy. Ignis had been too exhausted to resist, to even show a flicker of fear, and so he’d been locked to the headboard. Only one hand, as if Ardyn knows how weak he is. Ardyn had healed him again, the way he had the first time, but he had done it lazily, failed to take care of everything, and so Ignis’ back still hurts from being curled into position, his thighs burn from the strain, his jaw aches from clenching and screaming, and even though Ignis is no longer bleeding from the ass, no longer in exquisite pain, he’s too worn out to fight, too worn out to even try to get under the blankets or hide his nakedness. He will take what he wants anyway.It had been a calculated risk. It. All of this.He’d regretted that initial text he’d send to Ardyn last week, grown only more horrified during the ensuing conversation. But when he had put his phone down, he spent the next few days coming up with a plan were Ardyn to ever contact him again. He’d suspected he would. The decision had come easily. Kill him. Lure him in, lull him into a sense of security, then strike him down. He’d have to have sex with him again. There was even a risk of Ardyn marking him. But it wouldn’t matter in the end, because the Chancellor of Niflheim would be dead.It had come easily, and it had brought him some solace. He’d even been able to smile and laugh again for a day or two with Noctis. Because I thought that it would be over. I thought that he would die, that I would have my life back. And if I chose to bear the child, I could do it in peace and safety. And I could go back to my duty, back to being Noct’s adviser, his brother and mother. The Crownsguard. The Council one day. Maybe even college.He almost wants to laugh. Not in a single one of the worst case scenarios that he had drafted out did he accidentally mark Ardyn, bond himself to him, instead of killing him. Why hadn’t he considered that, especially as he was slitting his throat? Why hadn’t he stabbed him? Shot him? Poison him? Why this? Because stabbing someone hard enough to kill them takes a lot more force than people realize, and they take a while to die. Because Ignis didn’t have access to firearms and even if he did, he didn’t know how to use them. Because poisons had antidotes and people had immunities, and dosages were never exact, and he could always be forced to drink it himself.Ignis thinks about all of this, thinks hard on how things could have gone. Because he can’t think about what just happened, can’t think about how he was just raped again – twice – and all he did was accidentally bind himself to Ardyn forever. Ardyn who is apparently very difficult to kill. Ardyn who now despises him, wants him dead, and can easily make his life a pure hell until he finally kills him. He can’t think about being kidnapped, being taken to Gralea to be a sex slave. He can’t think about what had been whispered to him the first time he was raped, about being kidnapped and bred upon again and again. He can’t think about how this bond, this pregnancy, will tear him away from everyone he loves. He thinks so hard about what he can’t dwell on that he doesn’t realize Ardyn is moving until he’s bedside him.He pulls up a dining room chair up, pulls with such strength that he lifts it off the floor before dropping it. Ignis flinches, jerked out of his daze, half sits and draws back as far as he can and pushes against the headboard, but Ardyn makes no move to touch him, or do anything at all for a good long moment.“I’ve never been in this position before,” he finally sighs.“Amazing. Me neither,” Ignis quips. He sounds haughty, brave, bored. He’s none of these, but for some reason he has to put on a show for the man who has seen him when he was most broken. Ardyn ignores that. “You planned to kill me, no? When did you decide to do that?” He could sneer at him, refuse to answer, be brave and haughty again, but Ardyn might just ignore that, too, might just steamroll over him. He should just answer. Maybe you want him to appreciate your foresight. He grits his teeth at the thought. “A few days after I texted you. I didn’t know if you’d ever reply but…I needed to be ready.”He laughs softly. “Is that why you came on to me?”He flinches at the phrase used. He hadn’t known how to act, had been afraid it was too obvious that he had been planning something. But apparently not, apparently Ardyn had been so distracted by lust that he’d missed it. Or maybe he expected you to act that way. Maybe he just saw what he’d assumed he would see.“And here I thought it was merely because we were so compatible,” he sighs. “And you knew I might mark you, I presume?”“Calculated risk,” he murmurs.“Big risk.”“I expected you to die.” His voice shakes.“It would have been quite the scandal, the thirteen-year-old adviser-in-training of the Lucian King murdering the chancellor of Niflheim in bed. You’d probably have been disowned, lost your job and your standing.”“If anyone even knew what happened.” Shaking a little less now as he clenches his fists and pushes his feet hard into the mattress. Because Ardyn is right. He’d be shamed, outcast, just as he will be if anyone finds out about this.“You had plans to dispose the body?” He’s grinning now, leaning forward and steepling his fingers.And Ignis finds a corner of his mouth twitching upwards. Ardyn seems pleased with him, impressed, and it delights Ignis more than he wants it to. “Yes,” he bites his lip then and looks away. He hadn’t really, though he’d considered options. He knew more than one Galahadian who would jump at the chance to help him hide the body, cover the crime up. And he suddenly wants to tell Ardyn this, wants the older man to praise him, call him brilliant and clever, touch his face and kiss him and see him as his equal and- “Though I didn’t know what hotel you’d want me at, so I had to come up with a few alternatives.”But he’s trying too hard and Ardyn catches the hole, tears it open with a grin. “Why did you assume a hotel? Perhaps I’d just have come and kidnapped you. Wouldn’t that have been more likely?”“I’d have fought then, would have slit your throat right away. It just would have been messier and I wouldn’t have been able to get rid of your body.”“Enough of that,” and he suddenly leans over. Ignis shrinks back, his mouth suddenly dry and fear roiling through his veins. He’s still naked from the waist down. Ardyn won’t even have to work to take him again and his breath catches in his throat. He hadn’t even had time to be scared the second time it happened today but it’s rushing back now, retroactive fear mixed with the terror of what’s about to happen again. “Please,” he gasps, voice coming out as a squeak.But Ardyn doesn’t. He only unlocks the handcuffs, squeezes his wrists until Ignis squirms, and whispers, “Who have you told?”“No one. No one.” Who could I tell? Nobody even knows I was…“Keep it that way.”“I…” I can’t imagine telling anyone. I can’t admit that I was raped, that you assaulted me and I’m pregnant. Because I went to you, I made that mistake, and now I made another we’re bonded and it’s bad enough that I’m an omega but… But if Ardyn notices the way his breathing is picking up, the nervousness, he doesn’t comment. “If you tell anyone, let anyone know, I will kill Noctis. If you get an abortion, I will kill Noctis. If you miscarry…you get the picture. I need time to make some arrangements.”Arrangements. He wonders if he means marriage and the thought makes him want to vomit, makes bile rise in the back of his throat but he swallows hard, forces it back down because Ardyn is still leaning over him and he’s terrified of what the man would do to him if he.... But then the man is finally leaning back, sitting in the chair again and sighing loudly. “Now. You can ask me now, whatever you want. It’s only fair. You’re my mate now.”The whiplash again. Ardyn is all over the place and the unpredictability scares him. The worst part is that he doesn’t think it’s on purpose. He’s genuinely unhinged, enraged at being marked, at the pregnancy, at me. He wets his lips before speaking, struggling to find the saliva as the word rings in his ears. Mate. They are mated now, bound forever. “Why didn’t you die?”“I’m immortal.”“Right.”He groans, rubs his forehead and kneads the bridge of his nose with his thumb, and suddenly Ignis sees how worn out he looks, how confused and stressed he is beneath the anger, and he wants to touch him, comfort him. No. No. It’s your hormones. He chews his lip again as Ardyn continues. “Believe what you will. I’m not telling you the truth right now. Someday, perhaps. Ask something else.”Are you going to leave me alone now? Are you going to make me marry you? Are you going to hurt me again? But he can’t ask those things. He has to be brave, not for himself but for the king. He’d forgotten about the king for a few minutes there, about his promise, until Ardyn reminded him. He’d never forgotten him before. “Why were you really in Insomnia? Last time.”A shrug. “I check in every now and then, see what’s happening in the citadel. You can learn quite a bit, just listening.” “And you get the correct diplomacy paperwork? Who signs them?” He doesn’t actually know how that worked and he should have known, should have researched it back then, immediately after. His brain hasn’t worked properly recently.“These are not the sort of questions I expected.” A faint twitch of a smile again. He’s amused and Ignis is relieved. “Though maybe I should have, from a chess player.”He glances down to hide the smile he knows is idiotic, the relief and pleasure he is ashamed of feeling because Ardyn is impressed with him. He glances down and sees blood on his thighs. “Can I take a shower?”He touches his shoulder then, softly. “Of course. Do you need anything right now?”His mouth is dry and raw and he has to lick his lips twice to find the strength to ask him for help, to plead to the man who did this to him, because he is also the only one who can help him now.“I need drugs to hide…” He gestures towards his neck, his belly. There are drugs out there that mask pregnancies. Common, easy to access, especially as most people like to keep their pregnancies private until they are past the likelihood of a miscarriage. The ones that can mask a bond are more complicated. Certainly not illegal, but difficult to get; there aren’t many situations where such a drug is necessary, at least not ones that the authorities smile upon.Ardyn groans softly,. “I’ll get them. You’ll have to wait here an hour or two while I make some calls.” Ignis nods once.He’ll wait. He’ll stay here. And he’ll look at the stucco pattern on the ceiling, because Ardyn is the only one who can help him now. He’s already learned tonight that nobody else will come, that nobody else cares.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 3, Chapter 2 - Crowe

“Titus wants us to help with a new recruit.” Nyx says it the way he always says it when the captain isn’t around. Tit-us, because apparently titty jokes are still funny for 23-year-old men.Crowe hopes one day Drautos will overhear it and punch Nyx into the wall. She sighs. “New recruit? From where?”“Get this, Crownsguard. He’s an Insomnian, born and bred,” Luche cuts in then.“Why would he want to join the Glaives then?” because while she loves the Glaives, would rather die than be anywhere else, she knows well that the Crownsguard is superior in both military rank and social prestige. It’s not filled with immigrants and refugees, which helps.“He just found out he’s an omega. Apparently figures he’ll be more accepted here.” Nyx again.“So he’s a kid?” At sixteen, she’s one of the youngest in the Glaives. Hard to believe anyone much younger than her could join.“Thirteen. Apparently pretty good with polearms and blades though, and excellent with magic, according to the Marshal.”The Crownsguard might not have much respect for the Glaives and vice versa, but everyone adores Cor. It’s difficult not to. The man is so viciously honest that everyone in Insomnia equally hates and loves him, and he’s too clueless to notice.“Thirteen is too young. For both an omega awakening and for us,” she snaps it out faster than she probably should, knowing full well it’s not true. The recruitment age is technically the same as Crownsguard. Thirteen. Far too young, but in Insomnia, one can join the military and get married before they can drive or see a dirty movie. Makes sense, of course. Everything in Insomnia makes perfect sense.“Kid got bad luck, being a boy omega and then getting hit like that when he’s barely thirteen,” Luche again. There’s something a little aggressive in his voice that Crowe doesn’t like, as if he’s mocking him or something.The catch is, she agrees. Ignis does have bad luck, and she pities him, but that doesn’t mean she needs to get involved. Their captain might take in strays, but it’s hard enough taking care of herself. “I’m not watching him,” she says then.-But she ends up being the one to offer him the initial interview. You’re one of the best magic users we have. It was hard to argue with that point.And so she is the one to interview Ignis Scientia, to show him around the training center. He won’t stay in the barracks that many new recruits live in, not at his age. And not at his social class, not when he apparently has an apartment already. One connected to the Citadel for himself and the young prince.  He’s small for his age, and that brings out a momentary snap of pity in her. Because if he’s an omega and he already manifested, there is a chance that he might not grow much more. Male omegas are usually petite, after all, though there is something in the awkward length of his legs that suggests he might get lucky. He’s cute, too, which might be a good thing, might be a bad thing, for an omega. Bright green eyes and a pretty mouth, still trying to outrun the baby fat of his cheeks.“We heard you’re good with polearms and shortswords, right?”A nod. Only a nod. She’d heard that Ignis was a little arrogant, and his calmness is offputting.“And magic?”“I can’t use magic anymore,” he says bluntly, arrogance clearly far from his mind. “Not allowed.”Can’t use magic… The thought is alarming, but perhaps he only means he was told not to. “Who told you that?”He doesn’t answer, only fidgets a moment. “I’ve tried many times since I…manifested. I can’t.”Impossible. She knows other omegas who can still use magic. Granted, they are women, but that shouldn’t matter. “Show me,” she says softly. “Try to summon your favorite weapon right now.”He hesitates a moment, clenches his fist and flexes his fingers before sighing. “My shortswords. They always used to come the fastest,” he murmurs, his voice soft and low, and for a moment she can hear the man he will one day become.She snaps her hands out, grabs his wrists as he flexes his fingers again, and her mouth drops open at what she sense.Because his access to the armiger is clearly being blocked, his magic suppressed by an outside force. That in itself would be enough to startle her – only a member of the royal family could grant or suppress one’s magic, as far as anyone knew – but there is something else, something even stranger, about Ignis Scientia. She releases him then, studies his face. Whatever is happening there, that isn’t what he needs help with right now.“Ignis,” she sighs. This started when he manifested, so he claimed. “Can you tell me how you discovered you were an omega?”He steps back and she sees the fear in his eyes, and even if he says nothing, she knows what happened, and she knows that being cute most definitely was not a good thing for Ignis Scientia. Someone hurt him, forced him to manifest at a young age. And somehow managed to block his magic at the same time. “Nobody told you guys? I… I thought it was. Citadel gossip or something.”People gossip about anything and everything but the abuse of children, the one thing everyone is careful to stay silent on. She doesn’t say that though, and in a rush says whatever comes to mind. “It’s no big deal,” she regrets it before the words are even out of her mouth. “Not. I mean you don’t have to tell me. We’ll work with this.”“You’ll work with the fact that I can’t access the armiger.” There is suspicion in his voice.“I’m not convinced that you can’t.”“You just saw that I can’t.”She waves a hand, dismissing it. He obviously doesn’t realize that his magic is being blocked, probably by the same person who hurt him, and though she wants him to relax, she isn’t sure if she should tell him just yet. Better to speak to Titus about it. He’d know how to approach the issue, because if someone in Insomnia has the ability to prevent others from using the king’s magic… It’s possible a matter of national security. Who did this to you? She wants to ask, but she remembers the flash of fear in Ignis’ eyes and knows he would never say.

-

Part 3, Chapter 2 - Ignis

He feels just as much as he sees the car out of the corner of his eyes, big and sleek and black with tinted windows. He’d stayed after school an extra thirty minutes, spoken to one of his teachers about finals and ducked into the school library to pick up a few things, and so he hadn’t left at the regular time. Which means the car can’t be who he thinks it is, because he would have left before now.He keeps walking, tries to ignore it. It’s not him, it’s not him. Just a coincidence. It’s nothing to do with me. There are plenty of reasons why what’s clearly a government rental car would be idling outside of the school the prince attends. But the car keeps rolling softly alongside him and he feels the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He can smell him.He still doesn’t look at the car, but he stops walking, ducks his head and fights back tears. He knows he’s going to go to him. Ardyn is his mate now, bound to him forever in ways he can’t control. As much as he despises and fears him, his body longs for him. And if he disobeys, this man might kill Noctis, might kill him, might raise hell in Insomnia.He hears the buzz of a car window being let down.“Get in.”He obeys.He obeys and he hates himself for obeying but he doesn’t know what else to do because he’s so afraid and Ardyn is the only one who knows why. It makes sense somehow, in a horrible way. He opens the door a little too hard and slides into the backseat beside Ardyn. The driver, the same one as before as if Ardyn drags him all over Eos with him, ignores him, as he always does, as if he’s used to this sort of thing. Ignis wonders if he really doesn’t care, or if Ardyn threatens him to keep quiet.He wants to look at him, wants to meet his eyes and demand to know what he wants from him, ask if there isn’t anything more important he should be doing in Gralea, but he’s finding that he can’t even make eye contact with him. He pulls his seatbelt on instead, the strap momentarily brushing against the swollen gland on the side of his neck. The medication Ardyn had found had worked well this last week. Nobody seemed to notice he was pregnant, that he was bonded, though whatever illusion had been cast over the skin of his neck had certainly helped. The words had gone unspoken then, but Ignis had felt them seep into his veins just as surely as if they had. See? You need me. I alone can do this for you. I alone can help you.The thought makes him remember that he’d only been given ten days of medication. How foolish you were, to think he’d really leave you alone. Just as you were foolish to ever go to him. You deserve everything he does to you. He must have made a sound, because the man beside him speaks then.“Either I fuck you right here, right now, and let you go back to whatever you were doing reeking of sex, or I take you back to a hotel for an hour.” He says it calmly, bluntly, with no fanfare, no pretense.He opens his mouth to reply, then snaps it shut without saying a word, worrying his lower lip as he feels his cheeks burn in shame. He knows Ardyn isn’t bluffing, knows he’d do it, fuck him right here in the back seat of the car while they’re still on school grounds, then kick him out the door and leave him to invent excuses. But an hour. An hour with him. A lot of pain can happen in one hour. The other times Ardyn touched him, it felt an eternity, but he knows, knows that each time it was only ever ten minutes or so, and he knows that Ardyn can go multiple times in a row. He feels his heart in his throat, feels his breathing start to quicken at the thought of that happening three or four times in a row. Two was bad enough. No. One was bad enough.And there’s a hand on his thigh and he’s suddenly drawing in a ragged gasp of terror, jerking back hard against his seat, against the car door, because Ardyn is going to hurt him again and he’s going to rape him again and he’s…He can’t do this now. Put it off, put it off, let my body be my own for another fifteen minutes please – “Hotel,” he gasps out, only to slap a hand over his mouth and bite his tongue bloody.And Ardyn lets go. “Hotel it is then.”No, no no that’s not what I wanted. I can’t survive a whole hour. But he can’t speak. He’s discovering that Ardyn renders him mute, so he shrinks back against the car door and stares numbly out the window. He has a lot of homework. There’s a history presentation tomorrow, never mind finals coming up next week... He’s been more tired this last month, and he isn’t sure if it’s because the nightmares prevent him from sleeping or if it’s because of that thing inside of him, but whatever the reason, school has suddenly become a lot harder. And it’s only going to get harder now if Ardyn is going to start grabbing him at random moments.And then, as if Ardyn can read his mind, he asks, “How was school?”“What do you care?” A vicious snap, unexpected even for him given that he could barely speak a moment ago. How dare you ask about school when you’re taking away from my time with it?“Astrals,” Ardyn breathes, but there is no anger in his voice. Amusement, if anything. “You start eighth grade soon, right?”He doesn’t remember ever telling Ardyn what grade he was in. Three weeks. One week of finals, two weeks of spring vacation, then he can try to pretend everything is normal in eighth grade. Even though assuming all goes well, he’ll be having a baby in January. Having a baby. He says nothing.It’s strangely satisfying, vindicating, to be mute of his own choosing. -

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 3, Chapter 3 - Noctis

“Where are you going?”Noctis winces when he hears the words behind him. He should have known Ignis would catch him. He always does, even when it seems like he’s too busy to pay attention.“Arcade,” and he pauses, cocks his head and stares at the boy who might as well be his mother. “Wanna come?”“We’re in the middle of finals,” he snaps.“I’m in elementary school. We don’t have finals. And you studied all weekend.” Because he was up all night all weekend, sitting amidst stacks of books and papers. Noctis is afraid that junior high school will really be that bad, but he figures it’s probably just Ignis working too hard, as always. He doesn’t even have to take the high school entrance exam until 9th grade, but he wants to take it in 8th. Maybe to skip a grade, maybe to just allow himself two chances to get into his school of choice. Noct’s always been unclear on it and he doesn’t want to ask because he doesn’t want a lecture.Ignis hesitates, taps his pen against the table and looks at the corner of the room, the way he’s been doing lately, like the corner of the room is infinitely more interesting than anything else. He even stares at it when watching TV.“Come on. You always win that UFO catcher.”True. He never needs more than ten tries to get the most expensive, most difficult-to-win toys. It can be a little infuriating, seeing him win so easily, seeing the other kids gather round to watch. But mostly, Noctis is just amused by it. Seeing Ignis get excited about something besides school is so rare, especially now. He doesn’t even get excited about school now. He’s been a mess lately. Decidedly less fun, more mellow, distant. Which pisses Gladio off and just puts everyone on edge.And so it’s a surprise when Ignis suddenly nods, absently. “Let me get ready.”Getting ready involves going to the bathroom, where he spends a lot of time, as he’s been doing recently. Probably getting sick, stressed about finals. He’s like that. And packing a bag, because bringing books to the arcade is a good idea. At least he’d already changed out of his school uniform. He’s always been weird about that, refusing to ever wear it outside of school. Might give the school a bad image or something, as if the smartest and most perfect student could ever have a bad image. Even if he is an omega now.Which reminds Noctis. He isn’t sure if Ignis was registered with the school as an omega yet. All omegas are supposed to, or their parents are supposed to. Known fact. For their safety or something. Noctis never paid much attention, figuring it would never affect him.But Ignis spending fifteen minutes getting ready will affect him. “Hurry up though!”A flicker of a smile. Another absent perk of the corner of his mouth which is so rare these days. “Two minutes. Promise.”-He was only two minutes, a fact that shocks and pleases Noctis the whole way to the arcade.What pleases him even more is Ignis’ behavior at the arcade.UFO catchers first, as Noctis had begged. He’s always so precise, creeping around the machine to study it at all angles, aiming not to grab the items with the claw but instead push them into the position he wants them in. And within ten minutes of arriving, Noctis has a new phone case.“The prizes in these are always lower quality; be careful with it,” Ignis warns, but there is a gleam in his eye and Noct knows that he’s pleased with himself.“Don’t mom me,” he smirks, already ripping the package open. It’s decorated with characters from his favorite video game. Of course Ignis would get the best one.And Ignis freezes at that.Oh yea. He can be a mom now. The recognition is alarming, confusing, but at the same time, fitting. He’s always acted like one, after all. “Sorry,” he says quickly.“It’s okay. Not used to you apologizing,” Ignis replies, just as quickly, and then he’s walking towards the change machine as if nothing had happened.Ignis has a lot of money with him, cramming three 1000-yen bills into the change machine and generously offering half to Noctis. The younger boy can’t remember a time when Ignis has spent so much. He’s being irresponsible, not like a mother at all. Like he was when he snuck off with an older man to sort-of-have-sex, and Noctis wonders if he did it again, if that’s why he’s acting like this.It clicks. “Did that guy give you money?”Ignis doesn’t look at him, only pushes three coins into a machine for some racing game – he loves racing games, driving games – presses fingers to the controls. “Uh huh…” and then, “You won’t tell your father, will you?”Noctis doesn’t think it will matter if the king knows or not, because lately Ignis has been able to do all kinds of strange things and everyone lets it slide. “I don’t talk to him anyway.”Now he glances at him, eyes cold and narrow beneath his glasses. It wasn’t the answer that Ignis wanted, obviously. “I mean it.”“I won’t!”There’s no question between them. The king isn’t there for him. Ignis is. Usually, anyway.Like he’s only usually in school now, only usually where he’s supposed to be.      Ignis hasn’t just skipped a lot of Crownsguard meetings. He’s quit entirely. Gone. Jumped off to the Kingsglaives, even though everyone told him they’re inferior. Noctis doesn’t really get how it’s inferior – they fight just as good as the Crownsguard, but they’re mostly immigrants and betas, a few omegas too. Like Ignis now. It’s hard to think of him as an omega, as something different than him. He’d figured he was a beta, and betas are different, but not as much as omegas. Regardless, that’s probably why he joined the Glaives. Noct’s father hadn’t seemed very pleased about the development, but he didn’t order Ignis not to.It seems like being an omega means being able to do whatever someone wants, sometimes.And this frustrates him, because not only is he an alpha but he’s the prince, and he can never escape his life or his duties. It makes him jealous, and so he pushes the older boy out of the way, elbows him in the stomach then and suddenly Ignis is jerking back, shoving him, jostling his shoulder as he slips away, pretends it’s nothing, and for one split second Noctis wonders. Then he’s distracted by the noises, the lights of the game, and he forgets what had startled him.

Part 3, Chapter 3 - Ignis

“Car this time,” he says immediately, swallowing hard and trying to keep the trembling from his voice. He’d expected the car every day since that day when he’d shown up outside the school, certain that Ardyn can’t spend all his time in Insomnia when he has such an important position in Gralea, but uncertain enough to fear that he might show up every couple of days.He’s almost relieved that he’s here now, on the last day of finals, the last day before vacation, because now he doesn’t have to keep expecting him.Almost.“And here I thought we had such a lovely time at the hotel,” the man all but leers at him.Lovely. He remembers standing by the front desk as if on display while Ardyn casually rented the room, slipping into the elevator with him and pressing against the wall, aware that so many people saw them together but didn’t care. It should be obvious, shouldn’t it? What’s happening? But apparently not. Ardyn had been on him the moment the door to the hotel room had closed, flinging him onto the bed and pouncing on him, sinking teeth into his neck and claws into his body, dragging his tongue down his torso as he all but ripped his clothing off of him, roughly sucking his dick and shoving fingers deep inside of him while he howled in pain and shock and his body leaked slick, his nipples hardened, his balls tightened. Ardyn had fucked him three times that hour, slapped him and pinched him every time he started to black out, and calmly threatened him whenever Ignis managed to muster the least bit of resistance. A hand on his belly, pressing down just enough, reminding him that he was his and the baby was the only thing keeping Ignis alive.Or the prospect of a baby. Ignis had researched it. He knows that the chances of carrying it to term, of the baby being alive, much less healthy, are very unlikely at his age. Funny, how only a couple of weeks ago he’d silently prayed for a miscarriage. He reflexively touches his stomach now, which causes Ardyn to flick a glance in his direction.“We’re going to a hotel today though.”What? He can’t process this. He’s too busy trying to ignore how attractive Ardyn smells to find words.“I have something for you and it’s…. Hm. I want to see it on you properly and I can’t do that in a car.”His stomach turns, intestines twisting up and heart stuttering. See it on you. It’s some sick sexual thing, some kind of sex slave outfit. Ignis has never watched porn, never looked at dirty mags or even hentai manga the way other boys his age have, but he’s seen enough by accident to have an idea of what Ardyn might be talking about.I’m thirteen, he wants to tell him again. But he’s not anymore, not really. He’s had sex six times now and he’s pregnant. He’s not a kid anymore, not a victim, just a stupid person who made too many mistakes. So he turns away from him, presses his forehead against the window and closes his eyes, willing the tears in his eyes away for a little longer.-“You seemed upset last time about wearing padding. I don’t believe these can be found in Insomnia, for whatever reason. I bought a few pairs of these for you.” He holds a pile of folded cloth towards Ignis. Black and white but also purple, as if he knew Ignis’ favorite color.He doesn’t move to take them, unsure of what exactly they are, of what he’d find if he unfolded them. “They’re for male omegas,” he sighs then, shaking a purple cloth out.And Ignis breathes out. Underwear. They just look like normal underwear. Nothing sexy, nothing dirty. But he still doesn’t move. The thought of Ardyn buying him things like this makes him nervous. He doesn’t want clothing that Ardyn touched rubbing against him all the time, even if the man does smell good, a gentle but relentless tug on his insides.“Take off your pants. I want to see if they fit.”“I..” I don’t want them. I don’t want them. I want to go home. But it’s hard to resist that voice. It’s just because you’re bonded to him. You can fight it. You can refuse him. But it’s too difficult and he’s scared, scared, scared. So he stares at the floor as he unbuckles his school-uniform-issue belt, unzips his fly and pulls his pants down. And his briefs, hurriedly, nervously, wanting to get them off before Ardyn can demand it. Kick his shoes off and then the pants. He’s grateful that his shirt is long enough that it just covers his genitals, the curve of his ass.Until Ardyn crouches down before him, face level with his groin as he lazily flicks a hand out, lifts the shirt with one finger. Because he feels his body reacting to the closeness of his mate, his dick stiffening ever so slightly even as his mind is screaming. And Ardyn notices, glances up at his face and smiles lazily. “Lift a foot,” he murmurs, not breaking his gaze as he holds the briefs out, leg hole open.Ignis obeys. He obeys and he obeys and he doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath until the waistband snaps into place and he suddenly lets it out in a sigh. The words that come out are composed, unexpected, so random he is startled. “They’re girls underwear.”“Omega underwear. You can still piss.”Ardyn tugs at the front of the briefs then, slips his fingers through the vertical fly and pulls his not-quite-flaccid cock out. Ignis flinches, digs his nails into the palms of his hands and stares hard at the wall. His eyes are watering and he doesn’t want to cry, not yet. He knows he will have to soon enough.This is somehow more degrading even than the rape he knows is coming, having even the most basic bodily functions taken from him. And it will only get worse because of the thing growing inside of him. It will change the way he thinks, the way he walks, the way he relieves himself, even the way he breathes. This thing that is half of Ardyn.Except. They are comfortable. Soft and padded and well-fitted, subtle enough that nobody else would notice they are for omegas, for secreting slick. And as Ardyn smirks again and gently pushes his dick back inside, he knows that he will keep them and wear them. Store them in his nest with the scarf he hasn’t been able to throw out. But he won’t thank him.As if Ardyn knows, he sighs and stands then. “You’re a hard one to please. Oh yes, you might want these as well.” He pulls a folded paper bag out of his pocket, spills the foil packets into his hand and hands two to Ignis.He accepts them, again without thanking him. One packet for the pregnancy scent suppressant, one to mask the bond. He knows now that each packet holds ten days of medication. Nothing more. So when he points to the third packet and asks, “What are those?” he knows already.“Same thing but for Alphas.”Of course, of course he’d mask it himself. Can’t let anyone know he assaulted a thirteen-year-old Lucian. “Huh,” he breathes out.“I’m sorry,” Ardyn snaps, his voice sarcastic as he made it clear that if he was sorry for anyone, it was for himself. “Did you expect anything else?”Ardyn seems irritated with him all of a sudden, bored and exasperated and this makes Ignis’ gut twist in fear.Don’t. Don’t be angry with me. He knows it’s irrational, stupid to want Ardyn to like him, be happy with him, but this man is the only person who knows what he’s going through. This man raped him, got him into this mess, but he’s helping him now and that’s more than anyone else can do. He should thank him, grovel before him, but he can’t bring himself to do it. For once, the part of him that is Ignis is stronger than the part of him that is omega and for once, he wishes that weren’t so because he’s so afraid. “I’m trying,” the words are a half whisper, his voice cracking, shaking.And Ardyn hesitates at that before he sighs, drops a hand to his head and strokes his hair. “I know. Now get on the bed.”

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Part 3, Chapter 4 - Luna

She doesn’t want to talk to him, but she must. She’s suspected it for weeks now, that the Chancellor Izunia was interfering with her mail. Because it was unlike Noctis to ignore her, and as the last three letters she had sent were urgent, pertaining to the safety of Ignis Scientia… Something was clearly amiss.Instead of sending a fourth letter to Noctis, she sent one to the Niflheim Chancellor, requesting an audience next time he happened to be in Tenebrae. Next time happened almost immediately, as she expected it to. The man tries to pretend that he goes wherever his whims may take him, but he’s always been quick to come running if he anticipates a disaster. Not necessarily a disaster for him; he merely likes to witness.So when he responds, saying he will be at the manor in a day’s time, at two in the afternoon, she is waiting for him.“You look lovely today,” he purrs, voice low and dangerous, eyes lazy and half-closed. “Becoming in white, as usual. Do you ever wear anything else?”There’s something in the way he looks at her that suggests he’s really asking a very different question, like perhaps what she’s wearing beneath her dress, so she ignores him. He can’t seem to meet her without flirting, a fact she might have enjoyed had she not the relationship she had with the Empire, had she not known how cruel and vicious he could be. Because he is attractive, a powerful Alpha fortunate enough to have looks as well as political clout, a rare combination.His magic was subtle but persistent, relentless. He lazily tugged on everyone, Alpha, beta, and omega alike, putting everyone either ill at ease or too at ease depending on his mood. Those who spent more time with him barely noticed anymore, which only made them easier for him to control. But Luna will never fall for it, never allow herself to be lulled into a sense of security around him.“You’ve been blocking my letters to the prince.”“Of course. I don’t care to have you spreading gossip about yours truly.”“You read everything I send out then, even on Umbra and Pyrna?”“Evidently,” and then he pauses, cocks his head. “But how did you know that the Scientia boy was an omega, as you tried to tell darling Noctis last month?”She purses her lips. Telling him wouldn’t bring harm to Prompto; she knows he has better things to do and if anything, he might find it amusing, but she doesn’t want the boy on the Chancellor’s radar. She had written back to him, of course, only to receive another letter from him almost immediately. Ravus didn’t know that she saved them, kept his address in the hopes that next time she visits Insomnia, she can finally meet this boy, perhaps persuade him to approach and befriend Noctis. So she only shrugs.“You even mentioned in the letter that he was with me, which suggests…that a photo exists.”“You might read everything I send out, but you’re apparently too stupid to read everything coming in,” she smiles at him now, knowing full well that he can’t stand being called an idiot. For someone who puts on airs of caring about nothing, he gets disgruntled easily. “I received word that Ignis was in trouble.”“Delectable, that one.” He licks his lips, cocks his head and grins lazily in that obscene way of his.She feels as if her skin is crawling; this man is beyond vile, unsettling in every way, and  to think little Ignis Scientia, always acting so mature despite being so young, might have fallen into his claws. She doesn’t have to ask if he touched him, ravaged him; she can see the answer clear in his eyes, so instead she pushes further. “Did you bond with him?”“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Another grin showing too many teeth. “But alas, I can not father children. I’m only courting him. We are so compatible, and it’s been a long time since I have enjoyed such a compatibility.”Courting. She’s fairly certain that word suggests a consensual relationship, a proper relationship.  He’d calmly threatened her once, leaned over and whispered in her ear that a matrimony between them would be most advantageous for the integrity of Tenebrae, and could pave the way for peace resolutions that would allow the territory to properly regain statehood, and she ought to think long and hard about that. He’d said it all without touching her, but it had been enough to leave her shuddering in revulsion. She suspects that little Ignis was not granted that luxury.“Oh, don’t give me that look,” he says softly, leaning in now, moving too fast for her to catch as he crooks a finger and hovers just beneath her chin, daring to touch her. “He came to me, and he’s agreed to all of this. He even asks for things, even begs sometimes.”She pales because she knows it’s possible, likely even, if he is an omega, and if he really is as compatible with Ardyn’s genetic markings as is being suggested. At thirteen he won’t have much resistance. And he surely uses that against the boy, guilts him, terrorizes him and makes him loathe himself. Ignis had always seemed rather high-strung, perhaps even more so than her brother, liable to snap at some point. This isn’t a good combination. And she decides then that she doesn’t want to say another word about Ignis. She doesn’t want to encourage him, so she raises a hand, bats his hand away slowly but firmly.“You have no jurisdiction over my correspondence.”He raises an eyebrow. “I don’t? Silly me. I must have forgotten.”“I’ll report this to the Emperor if I must. I imagine he might have second thoughts about giving you such free reign if he knew you spent your time raping children in Insomnia.” She forgets sometimes, that sense of power that unfurls through her veins whenever she stands up to this man, when she speaks like the princess that people believe her to be.And Ardyn listens. He drops his hand then, steps back and narrows his eyes a moment before shrugging. “Write what you wish. You have a fair point, except, legally, I can stop you if you were to spread slander about myself and my bonded mate.”Bonded mate. When he had just said that he couldn’t do such a thing. “You…” Another shrug, and he touches his hat as he bows mockingly.

Part 3, Chapter 4 - Ignis

It’s the fourth day of eighth grade; nothing is so very different at school. Gladio, at only a year above him, is still at the junior high school with him, while Noct is still in elementary. Everyone is still where they were, but Ignis is not the same person any longer. Not only because he is an omega, as everyone now knows and seems to be adjusting to, but because of what he knows, what he knows and can never speak of.He’s pushing his school lunch around aimlessly on the tray, only half-listening to the kids around him. Food has been difficult to keep down lately, and certain smells utterly nauseate him. Things he used to love no longer appeal to him, though strangely, he can still eat cake. Because of the pregnancy. It does strange things. He’s read about it, browsed forums filled with women in their thirties lamenting their stretch marks.But nobody notices. Gladio had only lazily mentioned the other day that Ignis didn’t like the school food because he cooked himself to another kid. A reasonable explanation, though Ignis couldn’t help but hold it against him. You noticed, but you couldn’t be bothered to ask me why? The thought makes him scowl and he jabs his spork into the tinfoil-wrapped baked potato.He can hear Gladio now, chatting with the kid beside Ignis about their holidays. Ignis is surrounded by boys his age, all of whom he now is pretty certain are betas except for his friend. If he can tell this now, why didn’t any other omega warn him that he was one of them? It seems unfair. Hormonal imbalances or not, he can’t understand how he got so far without knowing, and he feels nothing but a vague hostility towards everyone around him right now for having simpler lives.“You went to the new theme park over on the coast, yea?”Ignis blinks, remembers. “Yes, I took Prince Noctis. The mukade ride was especially fun.” Of course it was; it was the only ride he was able to go on, nausea and anxiety overtaking him before he could attempt another. Ardyn had ignored him all vacation, which should have been a relief, but it left him terrified, disoriented, afraid that he’d pop up every second, and perhaps even more afraid that the man had decided he was sick of him and would instead appear to kill Noctis. Not that it matters now. He’d come to him twice in the last three days.Gladio groans aloud at that. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t take me.” “You were busy with the Crownsguard,” he shrugs, decides to go ahead and eat the cake now that others are staring at him.“Or busy with Stella…” the first boy snorts now.Ignis ignores this, continues eating. It’s sweet potato flavor, a strange choice for the spring, and he wonders how long it sat in the school freezer. Gladio’s new girlfriend doesn’t bother him, not really. He’d seen the older boy go through a dozen last year alone, and while it hurt him a little, in a way he didn’t quite and still doesn’t really understand, he hadn’t been bothered. This time, it’s the way the other kid said it, like Gladio was somehow superior for dating, for probably getting laid even though he was too young to be doing so and really, nobody at the table knew shit about anything, they were just stupid boys barely into their teens who liked to brag about how many times they jerked off to titty mags. He stabs at the now empty cake tray so violently that Gladio leans back in his seat, startled, before pushing his own over to Ignis.“I dare you tomorrow to just tell them at the register that you only want cake.”“The cake comes frozen. They can’t screw it up the way they can everything else.” He’s being a bitch but he knows nobody will comment on it. He’s always been a little uptight, and now apparently as an omega he’s entitled to the same amount of hostility that teenage girls are allowed. Convenient. It’d be more convenient if Gladio started… No. Things are bad enough without dwelling on that.As if the boys around him knew what he was thinking, they’re all talking about it now. Sex.He wishes they would stop talking about it. They know nothing. Sex is nothing good, nothing fun. Nothing but pain. A fury of sweaty limbs and snarls in his ear and agony tearing up his spine and his body betraying him. It didn’t get easier. It didn’t hurt less. Orgasms are no good either. He knows a lot about sex now, more than any thirteen-year-old should ever know. Ardyn had made him suck his cock last night, forced him to his knees in front of him as he sat, naked, and spread his legs. He’d sobbed around him, gagged, choked, but he had held his head there, had pushed into his mouth again and again. And it had aroused him, excited him, the smell of his mate’s sweat, his sex, the roughness with which Ardyn touched him, ever reminding him of his power over him.But what had come later had been worse, far worse. Because Ardyn had lifted him off the floor then, dragged him upright even as he considered going limp and gently pulled him towards the bathroom. And there he had offered him a toothbrush, told him he could clean up if he wanted to. He’d been afraid to at first, unsure of what was happening, what was wanted of him. But in the end, he had brushed his teeth, done what he was told, and then Ardyn had led him into the other room and offered to play chess with him or watch a movie, and somehow Ignis had found himself sitting in the man’s lap in a distinctly non-sexual setting.He holds his hands in his, rubs thumbs along the swollen glands on the insides of his wrists until they hurt and Ignis feels feverish, trembling and unsettled.Fingers now on his throat, gentle at first, brushing against skin until his hair is standing on end, and then roughly, firmly massaging his glands, rubbing over the scar that Ardyn alone knows exists beneath the illusion he’d cast. And he rubs them, keeps doing so as the discomfort intensifies, bubbles through his veins until it suddenly breaks and he audibly gasps in relief, a new sensation now uncurling inside of him. One of comfort, the way one feels curling up beneath blankets on the first winter night, but so extreme it’s nearly sexual and he sighs. You like that, hm? You are my mate now, after all. You have glands here, too, no? Hands now on his thighs, fingers sliding inwards to rub where his thighs meet his groin, lower and lower as he presses gently to feel out the swollen glands through his pants. They’re low, lower than Ignis had realized when he’d looked at anatomy drawings in his textbook, low enough that if Ardyn slides his fingers too much…You should have worn your new underwear. I can feel how wet you’re getting even through your pants, he murmurs. And Ignis arches against him, squirms and gasps in his arms. He feels it rising again, that discomfort, the feverish bubble inside of him that he now knows Ardyn alone can break so that he can breathe again. He arches again, harder now so that he can lean back and press his face to Ardyn’s throat and smell him. And then the hands are gone, gone and Ignis is left groaning, whimpering at the agitation in his veins, so violent that it hurts and Tell me what you want, Ignis. He doesn’t want to remember this. He stands up suddenly, chair scraping behind him. He doesn’t care how it looks as he grabs his backpack, zips it up roughly and swings it over his shoulder so hard the corner of his science textbook hits his spine and makes him wince.They’ll just think he’s stuck up, is all. Nobody seems to notice anything is wrong.-It’s a surprise when the school principal shows up during study hall, enough of a disruption in the schedule of the day that all of the students get distracted, forget what they are doing and lean in to see what they can overhear as he speaks to the teacher; Ignis tries not to, but even he can be caught up in the excitement and curiosity. And it’s even more of a surprise when the teacher bows slightly and the principal is moving away, into the classroom, leaning over his desk.“Ignis. May we speak a moment?”He understands then, and he sighs, nods. Something about the high school entrance exams, most likely. The school thinks it’s silly, unwise, for him to take them a year early; they were on his case about it for much of last year, and only yesterday he officially submitted his application. Despite that, he is forced to agree with them now, but not for the same reasons. It’s silly and unwise because at the time of the exams, he will be nearly eight months pregnant, and he believes that Ardyn will kill him at the end of this. There isn’t really any point in trying, in even thinking about high school, but he must pretend.It’s all he has left. After all, if he didn’t, people would wonder.He follows him down the hall in silence, down the stairs and through the main office. When the principal invites him to sit down, and sits down slowly himself while sighing heavily, Ignis’ gut twists. This isn’t about the exams, is it? This is something else. “I understand that you’re an omega now. Even if you didn’t register yourself, we received a letter from the Royal Council.”There’s something accusatory in his tone and Ignis feels every muscle in his body start to tighten as he sits on his hands. He knows he should have registered himself right away, but he’d been too ashamed, too distressed. Wasn’t it obvious enough when he missed over a week of classes? Did he really have to go announce it as well? So he nods once. “I apologize for not doing it sooner.”He waves his hand. “That isn’t the issue here.”“If it’s about the exams, I can still-““Not those either. I know you have…urges, but you must control yourself when you are still in uniform. You represent the school.”“Oh.” What? He can’t process this. That’s been happening a lot lately, his brain slowing down, foggy and strained. Omega hormones, pregnancy hormones, trauma, fear. He can’t pull those strings apart.“Other students have seen you getting in a…certain vehicle. Repeatedly. Always in uniform and sometimes even on school grounds.”Once on school grounds. Three times in uniform. But of course people will exaggerate. He’s raping me. He’s blackmailing me, forcing me to obey him. I’m scared all the time now. I’m carrying his child. He opens and closes his mouth, opens it again as he realizes that now, perhaps finally, he has a chance to get help.But then the principal goes on. “It doesn’t look good for the school, acting so unruly. It looks as if we can not control or discipline our students. We don’t need the reputation of our students engaging in unsavory activities, even if they are omegas.”Ignis feels himself sinking, drowning, even as he continues to sit upright and smile vaguely like a good student. He should have known, should have guessed that nobody would help him. That’s the way it is, now that he’s an omega.-That night, when Ardyn texts him, he doesn’t immediately turn his phone off. He tosses and turns in bed, but he doesn’t look at the phone and he doesn’t turn it off, throw it across the room as he often does when he realizes he’s testing. Instead he curls up in his bed, his nest, and after a long moment he reaches for the phone, flicks the messaging app open and stares.It isn’t what he expects, and as he reads and rereads the message he chews his lower lip. How was the first week of school? A normal message, a casual question. Interested in his life. He knows it’s probably a trap, but nobody else seems to care about anything beyond ignoring him or chastising him. He’s barely ever replied to the man’s texts before, but now, now… He remembers the passive disgust on the principal’s face this afternoon, the way he said omega as if he were saying whore. Nobody seems to understand what he’s dealing with except.He replies.

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Part 3, Chapter 5 – Glauca/Drautos

“The Emperor commented on your visits to Insomnia.” Like I’m your keeper, like it’s my fault. Everything was his fault. That seemed to be the pattern, no matter what country he was in, no matter what face he wore. Figures. The man who does everything is the one who gets shit.“I kept some a secret, but you know how nosy people get. He’d never notice, but tabloids always need something to chat about.” The Chancellor’s acting unconcerned, but there is something in his eyes that suggests otherwise. Avoidant. It never bodes well when he’s like that.“I think your little situation in Insomnia is something the tabloids would just love to hear about,” he growls softly, “Why are you still going? Haven’t you done enough damage?”He ignores the question. “It’s just us. You can take off the armor.” “I asked,”  he starts to say, but he begins dismantling the armor. “You’re going to get caught sooner or later. Tensions are high enough without it being made known that you’re…”“I know, I know.” He knows and doesn’t answer, as usual, only steps up and pulls his visor off, begins vanishing away the magic sinew holding the crystalian material together. He’d made the armor initially, years ago when Drautos was young and foolish while Ardyn looked the exact same as he does now. This man who was perhaps half of the reason why he’d decided to betray the king of Insomnia and take up the name of Glauca as a double agent. Which probably explains why they’re having this conversation in Ardyn’s private quarters. “I mask my appearance most of the time, if you must know. I’m only myself when in the car or hotel.” He wants to push him away. There had always been something about the Chancellor that disgusted him, unnerved him in ways he couldn’t quite explain, but he was attractive and seductive in all the right ways, and for whatever reason, Drautos always felt that he himself held something over Ardyn, something that made the tactician strangely eager to please him. But now that he knows he fucked a child, and now regularly goes to Insomnia to visit him.“I don’t really want him any longer, but I…” he sighs, cards fingers through his hair and scratches his head in that irritating way of his. “We bonded accidentally.”“Accidentally.”“I marked him on purpose. He turned around and tried to kill me, but didn’t know how to properly slit a throat,” he rubs his neck as he says it, and vanishes whatever illusion he was playing with. The mark is long, a deep gash of scar tissue right over his scent gland, most definitely a weapon. Probably a magical weapon, at that.Impressive. The kid has more guts than people give him credit for, if what Ardyn speaks is the truth. He strongly suspects that Ignis does know how to properly slit a throat. Just another one of those fatal incidents the Chancellor survived, the sort of fatal incidents nobody wants to really talk about but people in the emperor’s inner circle are increasingly aware of. Poor stupid little Ignis. And perhaps poor stupid Titus, because something about seeing the mark on Ardyn’s neck makes him angry. “If you’re bonded then that means…” “The little bitch is pregnant.”Unexpected, probably for everyone involved. He groans, closes his eyes and sits down without removing the rest of his armor. “You got the prince’s adviser pregnant. And then bonded with him. He’s obviously been hiding it but he can’t do that forever, you idiot. If this gets out we have a diplomatic crisis. It could compromise everything. Make him get an abortion.”“He can’t. Bonded omegas can’t get abortions without written permission from their mates. I’d have to provide proof of bond which…” he tilts his head and sighs. “Means putting my name out there.”Because bonded omegas have no rights. He wonders how much of this the Scientia boy knows, wonders if he knows that Ardyn essentially owns him, and that nothing in the law in either country can protect him now. “You’ve ruined his life.”“I don’t want this, either.”“Will you kill him then?”It’s there for a moment, the barest of moments, the fury, eyes flashing, the heat and tension in the air rising a fraction as the magic in the Chancellor’s veins unfurls, snaps and reacts. And then he wrings his hands a moment, groans and covers his face and lifts them off to reveal a perfectly calm expression, and Drautos is reminded of something. Of an image glimpsed a few times over the years, Ardyn’s pale back covered in scars, a nightmare deep in his past that Drautos never wanted to ask about, believed he never quite cared enough to ask about.“It’s complicated,” he says calmly, as if nothing had happened. And Drautos had acted as if nothing had, because he’s seen all of this before. “A lot of things about you are complicated.” -“Scientia has now completed his first 4 weeks of initial training.” Crowe Altius, standing to attention before him with her arms folded behind her back. At sixteen she is still tiny. Too young, too small, but thus is the Lucian military. They’re talking about a boy even younger than her, after all.“And?”“He’s excelled.”Drautos grunts, only mildly interested. Ignis Scientia is a weird kid, was always weird and only got weirder after Ardyn hurt him. Of course he’d be good at whatever he tried to do.“Can he access the Armiger yet though? He can be as proficient as he pleases in weaponry, but if he can’t use magic he’s unfortunately only a detriment. We can’t let him play soldier forever.” It’s frustrating enough to be expected to take on a thirteen-year-old, one who is favored and spoiled by the king and therefore one who makes everyone a little nervous. Poor kid threw himself into the Kingsglaive with the hope that he’d be more accepted as an omega there, but his status as the prince’s adviser brought with it a different sort of ostracizing. If he’s not useful though, if they have to protect him… But Altius is unperturbed. “That’s the funny thing, sir. He has two reservoirs of magic.”“What? He’s pregnant?” Nyx pipes up then, and for a moment Drautos feels his gut tighten. If that’s what she’s referring to, mentioning it so casually in front of others… if his relationship with Ardyn becomes obvious, this could become a diplomatic nightmare that I am unprepared to handle. But she wouldn’t.And she proves this by shooting Nyx one of her withering looks. “He doesn’t need access to magic the way we do, if you catch my drift. I implore you, Captain. Talk to the King about this.”So that. Then Ignis’ secret is safe for now. Ardyn’s secret is safe for now. Which means that Glauca is safe for now. He already knows what he’s going to say though. That the rumors are true. That Ignis Scientia, Ignis Stupeo Scientia behind closed doors, is indeed the king’s bastard son. The elder Lucis Caelum, and therefore the rightful heir to the throne.The rightful heir to the Lucian throne, bonded to the chancellor of an enemy nation and pregnant with his child.“I’ll speak to him,” he says softly, though what about he doesn’t clearly know. Part 3, Chapter 5 - Ignis He’s worried about it showing. Eight weeks now. He can feel, see, a slight swelling in his lower belly, not enough for anyone else to notice, but enough for him to feel anxious about how to handle it. He presses his hand gently down on his stomach, feels the softness of his own body. Just fat right now. It’s only the size of a grape right now. Not reassuring.He hadn’t planned on telling anyone anyway, has just silently prayed to the Astrals that it would go away on its own, that he’d come up with a solution, that nobody would ever notice, anything. He’d been too ashamed, and everyone around him all too eager to pretend that he wasn’t raped, that he wasn’t even an omega. It was just easier to say nothing. And then Ardyn had ordered him not to, which had seemed redundant, stupid, at the time.But now it’s starting to be visible. Only slightly, so slightly that no one else could ever notice, even if they were to see him naked. Especially not as he’s a thirteen-year-old boy, liable to put on weight, eat twice as much as he was eating yesterday, act ornery and hormonal, buy new clothing because he keeps outgrowing everything. Nobody’s going to bat an eye at a boy his age gaining perhaps a kilogram in two months. That will change soon enough though. He pulls his shirt back down, feeling his heartbeat behind his eyes, loud and intrusive. He’s thrown up nearly every day this last week, suffered a peculiar sense of vertigo and a ringing in his ears off and on. All normal, normal, for a pregnancy. But not for someone who shouldn’t be pregnant, and perhaps not quite normal for someone who is. He feels like he’s a little too sick, a little too tired.And there’s something tugging at his gut now. Tell someone, tell someone. But he can’t. Even if he could, there’s no one to tell. That much has been made obvious to him in recent weeks. Everyone around him is either quick to dismiss the fact that he’s an omega, or they assume he’s a whore. And they all did such a good job at forgetting he’d been assaulted. Even if he hadn’t ever told anyone exactly what happened, they should have known, shouldn’t they have? Even if he could get help, even if he could tell someone, they’d just assume he went and screwed off recently, that it has nothing to do with that incident everyone else wants to forget happened.He hasn’t even seen the king in a couple of weeks now. They’d spoken briefly a few weeks back, when Ignis had requested to move from the Crownsguard to the Kingsglaive. The king hadn’t been happy about it but, as he’d said, he trusted Captain Titus Drautos would take good care of him, and there would always be a place in the guard for him should he change his mind again. A conversation that was over faster than it should have been, as if the king didn’t know what to do with Ignis.The thought makes Ignis groan, tug nervously at his hair and pull his feet up, curl around himself. Ardyn had, unexpectedly, not picked him up since Ignis had responded to his text last week. He’d texted him a few other times, but that was all. Behavior too erratic and unpredictable to get a grasp on. And perhaps that thought is what makes him do it, what makes him suddenly pull his phone from his pocket and open his address book and not text, but call.He calls him, and Ardyn answers. “Little early for you, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for class?”He ignores it. He doesn’t know how to talk to Ardyn, how to have a normal conversation with someone who hurt him so badly, and suddenly hearing his voice, knowing this is an interaction he himself initiated, scares him. “I’m worried about….” he trails off, unsure of how much he should say. “I’m sick,” he says finally. “And my stomach’s showing already.”A long silence. Ignis finds that he is holding his breath until suddenly Ardyn speaks up. “I’m unfortunately tied up today. I can pick you up after school tomorrow.”He almost says thank you, but he instead bites his lip, closes his eyes and ends the call.-Ardyn is there, as he knew he would be. True to his word. He hands him another brown bag first, another ten days of medication. And then another bag, a larger one with the name of a store Ignis had never heard of on it. “It’s not a gift. I think you’d find this store dreadfully boring,” he says dismissively. “Another scarf of mine, for your nest. If you’d like a shirt or something you can actually wear…”Ignis fidgets. It’s an effort to keep himself from smelling the scarf immediately. His nest. He’d been wanting something more from Ardyn but hadn’t wanted to ask. The old scarf he had wasn’t enough, not when the only Alpha he ever shared his nest with was Noctis, who made it smell like him. Ardyn jerks him out of his reverie by pushing an envelop on him next. More money. “For the baby.”He doesn’t want this much help. “I spent it all at the arcade last time.”He sighs.“I can’t buy clothing or anything for it. How can I explain that?”“Use it however you want then.”Ignis shrugs, puts it in the bag. He doesn’t know how he feels about the money. The king gives him a paltry allowance, so the additional funds are useful. But it makes him feel like a whore. So he says nothing while Ardyn taps the driver, who now pulls into traffic.“Hotel?” he says glumly, trying to push the fear back down, back into his marrow where it can’t bother him. He should have known, should have known that’s all Ardyn would want.But then there is something tapping his shoulder and he flinches, half turns to find a brochure being pressed against his chest now.The Royal Lucian Museum of Art. Artefacts of Solheim. “I suspect it’s up your alley, no? The special exhibit just opened, so they are closing at 8 instead of 6 for the next two days. Plenty of time to see that, at the very least.”Ignis can’t speak, but the prickling of tears in his eyes is for once, not in fear.-They still go to a hotel.But Ignis finds himself more relaxed, less fearful of what he knows must be inevitable. Because the museum was fun, and Ardyn was…entertaining. Leaning over him to murmur in his ear at nearly every artifact. Quite certain that’s actually an implement to clean glass bottles, not an offering to Ramuh. No wonder the civilization fell if they thought that’s what female anatomy looked like. Date’s incorrect, but what should I expect from a Lucian archeologist? It’s from the 9th century. He knew a lot, and he was ready and willing to impart this knowledge onto Ignis. And he was sarcastic, clever and mocking at every turn, so much so that he goaded Ignis into joking with him a few times.The hotel is inevitable, but he at least enjoyed himself beforehand, and Ardyn, Ardyn. He’d touched him once, a hand on his lower back, slipping down for a moment to stroke his ass, and Ignis has squirmed and sweat. That was all though. And he wills himself to think of the rest of the evening as they check in, ride the elevator up to the usual floor – he knows now that Ardyn permanently has the same room rented out – hear the click of a lock as the door shuts behind him.“When you talked to me on the phone,” he says then, finally, “you mentioned your stomach showing already. May I see?”Inevitable. He’d known, known all along, known as soon as he’d called Ardyn, that whatever they did, they would end up back in the hotel and the man would find an excuse for getting Ignis undressed so he could fuck him. He unbuttons his shirt frantically, pulls it off before Ardyn can say a word, and then the man stops him. He lays his hand on him. Ignis resists for only a moment before he relents, and he lets his partner, his mate, press gently around his stomach. He has to fight the urge to slap his hand away, to demand that he be more gentle."As big as a grape," he mumbles. "The rest is just me. I didn't think it's show so much already."“It isn’t showing. You only even notice because you’re looking for it and you’re half naked right now,” he says it softly, almost lovingly, and the gentleness in his voice makes Ignis waver. “But you don’t have the pelvic structure as women do. Most male omegas don’t, so the uterus doesn’t sit the way it normally does.”“Nice to know that my body wasn’t built properly for this.” Bold words. Because he didn’t just take me to a hotel and fuck me. Because he’s helping me. He gives me advice and buys my medication and today he took me to a museum and and and he dares let himself smile. And Ardyn sighs then, hand still on his belly. “I’d very much like to fuck you.” Ignis freezes. Of course, of course. He averts his eyes, bites his lower lip and tries to breathe slowly. He’s survived this often enough now. At least today he got to enjoy the museum first. “No?”He blinks, still not daring to look at him. He can’t tell if Ardyn is asking him, giving him a choice, and he doesn’t know how to respond. It seems like a sick joke, and so he twitches his head once, more of a shudder than a proper shake of his head.“Pity. What if I just used my fingers on you?” He leans in, breathing in his ear. “I want to hear the little noises you make right before you orgasm.”He’s frozen, unable to even breathe, even as his insides catch fire and he can feel his skin getting damp, heat building in his groin and a dampness on his underwear. Ardyn inhales then, and he must be able to smell him, must take that scent as an answer to his question.“I’ll go slow.”Slow. He’s never gone slow. Every time Ardyn had brought him to a hotel since the marking, Ignis had had a dick shoved into him within a few minutes. Ardyn had rarely bothered to even try to arouse him before fucking him. Slow. Ignis doesn’t believe it, but he finds himself nodding weakly. “And I’ll stop, if you wish. Just say the word.”If being slow was difficult to believe, Ardyn stopping is impossible, and Ignis jerks his head towards him at this, eyes wide in confusion. It’s a trap, a trap. It must be. Every vein in his body is burning, screaming at him to run, to fight, because he’s about to be raped again. But he doesn’t run, and when he opens his mouth, throat raw and tongue dry in fear, he only says, “okay.”Okay, like he believes him.So he obediently steps out of his pants when Ardyn unzips them, tugs them down, and he pulls his own underwear down with shaking hands, trying desperately to avoid looking at the man who is hungrily devouring him with his eyes. And he steps back a few paces and climbs onto the bed, willfully ignoring how Ardyn all but pounces on it beside him, how he curls once around as if searching, as if longing for Ignis to make a nest in the bed for him, as if why are you thinking that? There’s a hand on his belly almost immediately, a hum of contentment as Ardyn brushes against his cock, far from hard but not as soft as Ignis feels it should be, and Ignis holds his breath as that hand drifts further down, ghosts over the glands in his groin before pressing a finger against his entrance. A little damp, and then there is a push, that initial intrusion and Ignis is grasping tightly at the sheets, staring hard at the wall and trying to ground himself, to survive what’s coming.But the pain doesn’t come. He doesn’t push further, and after another moment of confusion Ignis shakily lets out the air he was holding.“Just up to the first knuckle. I want you wetter first,” he murmurs, and then he’s moving his finger, sliding it, twisting his wrist as he does so that his fingerpad presses against the inside of Ignis’ muscle. “You generate slick all along the sides of both uterine and anal canals during sex but most of it comes from right…here…”Ignis squirms against him, heart pounding behind his eyes as he feels himself getting wetter, his entrance getting wet and slippery under Ardyn’s administrations. He’d known that, known that – most slick is secreted within a centimeter of his entrance, meant to serve as a lubricant – but having Ardyn say it makes him realize it in a way he’d never realized. It’s almost pleasurable.“Do you know much about your body?”A quick shake. He’d tried to learn more but looking at anatomical drawings made him sick in a way they never had before. This is my body. This attracted the monster. This is not my body. This is his body. The best he could do was read, and he focused his energy there on reading about pregnancy, not sexual organs.  A sigh in response. “Unsurprising. Inside, you have a prostate as all men do, but you have a second gland that also causes orgasm when stimulated. Two different kinds of climax from the inside possible, as well as what happens if I play with your dick. And of course there are a further four combinations there. Male omegas are able to have a most unique sexual experience, supposedly superior to that which anyone else can experience.”“It,” he swallows hard. He is having difficulty comprehending what Ardyn is saying. This suggestion that sex feels good and it feels even better for omegas, when all he knows is screaming agony and a longing for death. “Just hurt.”He clicks his tongue, makes a soft sighing sound that for a moment, Ignis wonders will turn into an apology.It doesn’t. And instead of apologizing, Ardyn just pushes his finger in as far as he can.The now-familiar pain, though dulled to a twinge, makes him yelp, close his eyes against the tears he feels burning. He’s going to fuck me now. He’s just messing with me. He’s going to take his hand back and shove his dick in and it’s going to hurt, hurt, hurt while I get torn apart and I won’t be able to breathe and he’ll take my body away from me again and I…“Ignis,” a harsh snap in his ear. “Calm down. Half the reason it hurts is because you seize up and all your muscles contract. You do it every time I touch you.”He can only whimper.“The other half is because I’m very rough with you and you’re too small. But I might be able to be more gentle if you could relax.”He doesn’t like how it’s his fault. He knows it is, has learned this over the last couple of months, but it doesn’t make it easier to hear. He didn’t have his guard up. He was stupid. He didn’t question his own behavior. He willingly approached Ardyn. He was the one who initiated physical contact. He tried to seduce the older man. Then he changed his mind. He tried to fight. He blamed Ardyn. But then he never told anyone. He never tried to get help. He kept it a secret because he knew if he told anyone, he couldn’t see him anymore, right? In his mind, he kept calling it rape when he is really just an omega with urges he can’t accept.And as if Ardyn knows what’s going through his mind, he rubs his chin on the top of Ignis’ head, groans in his ear that he’s beautiful, that he smells divine, buries his face in his neck and nips at his mark, and with a flick of his thumb he begins massaging one of the scent glands in Ignis’ groin.“Now you’re properly wet, and this is swelling now.” He does something with his fingers that makes Ignis yelp, fire exploding in his fingers and toes as he arches his back and pants. “If you’re properly aroused, it can get quite large, and it’s the most sensitive part of your body,” he rasps in his ear now, his voice low and needy. “And did you know? Once an omega is bonded, this gland only gets like this when they’re with their mate. This is a sensation I alone can give you.”He’s rougher now, drawing his finger out and shoving it in rapidly, snaps of pain unable to keep up with the mounting pleasure though, and the words, the suggestion that he possesses him, owns him…“Ah ah ah, don’t touch yourself.”“But…” He doesn’t like the whine in his voice but right now, he scarcely cares. He hadn’t even realized he’d moved, had tried to touch his own cock until Ardyn had snapped at him.“I want you to experience all the different ways I can bring you pleasure. If you touch yourself, it won’t be the same as a climax from this alone.”He doesn’t like the pedantic nature of the words, the way Ardyn emphasizes that he brings Ignis pleasure, something that Ignis alone can’t do. “Just relax and behave,” he smiles as he says it, but there is an edge to his voice now and Ignis feels something inside of himself shrink up, wither and curl up in fear. Do as he says. You should be grateful he isn’t fucking you. Your body is responding so just shut up and try to enjoy this. Your life will be so much easier if you let yourself enjoy it.And with that comes a second finger, both roughly padding against that spot inside of him, not only thrusting into it but rubbing it, caressing it, and now as he pulls his fingers out he spreads them, dragging his nails down Ignis’ insides and tugging him further open. Like he’s preparing to fuck him, which Ignis should care about but he can’t. The pleasure is coming in rises and swells now, ebbing away less and less every time only to flood his veins more strongly than before. He’s making soft noises with every exhale, little sighs and whimpers. He turns his upper body, buries his face in Ardyn’s neck and inhales deeply at the same time the man growls low in his throat and maybe fucking isn’t so bad. He wants Ardyn, wants to kiss and mouth his cock and taste him, smell him, stroke the bulb at the base of him that could one day knot in him, wants to sit on him, slide down him inch by inch…His climax is vicious, all-consuming, such violence tearing through his veins and short-circuiting on either end of his spine that he can’t even scream. He sees nothing, hears nothing, his entire world reduced to that sensation Ardyn has brought upon him and the man’s scent, all around him, inside of him, becoming him, and he doesn’t even need to breathe any longer.-There is so much sticky wetness between his thighs now while nothing on his belly that he knows he came from below as opposed to with his testicles, his dick still hard and needy. He remembers how a few times now, Ardyn devoured him, pulled his legs apart and sucked him, tongued him, drank down his slick and his come and laughed at his shame. He doesn’t think he’d be ashamed now. How he’d love that face between his thighs now…“The upper part has more nerves.” A comment punctuated by a jab that makes Ignis cry out again, his body oversensitive and loose. “If you’re aroused enough, it’s so swollen that the head of a cock actually catches on it during sex, so even when pulling out between thrusts, you’d be getting maximum pleasure.”He can hear the words, vaguely process them, but they make little sense and he can only aimlessly jerk his hips up and down a few more times, desperate for more contact.“Do you want to try it today?” He hasn’t taken his fingers out.It’s the second time Ardyn is asking him if he wants sex tonight. He clearly wants him, is desperate for him, but he’s asking, giving him the option. He wants me this badly but he’s still being kind. Ignis arches his back slightly, looks up at him and smiles weakly. He smells dizzyingly good, and his entire body is warm and loose and aching to be filled by him. He opens his mouth to acquiesce and then he remembers, remembers who he is, and he immediately tears his gaze away. “No.” 
I’m not just your mate. I’m not just an omega. I’m Ignis. Ignis Scientia. 
But as his eyes settle on the wall, he catches sight of the clock and realizes that it’s been nearly seven hours since Ardyn had picked him up. It’s approaching eleven PM and not once had Ignis considered his duties, his other life.And he isn’t so sure anymore.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 3, Chapter 6 – Regis

It’s been too long since he’s had dinner with his son, and as he sits across from the boy at a table far too large for the two of them, he regrets not doing it sooner.Because Noctis is angry with him, seething in such fury he is squirming in his seat as he pushes vegetables around on it. “Ignis cooks better than this and he’s only thirteen.”No point in replying to that. He needs to get over his picky eating. “How’s Ignis doing?”“Ask him yourself!” he snaps. “Why don’t you see him anymore?”So that’s why he’s been so angry, and he has a right to be. Ignis has been difficult to face recently, and not only because the boy has grown elusive. Regis has let down many a loved one in his life, but they rarely survive for him to have to look them in the eye afterwards. The simple truth is that he doesn’t know how to face Ignis. He let him live the last thirteen years of his life assuming he was a beta, never had his blood tested, never confirmed it, because he too had assumed. Genetics dictated him being an omega extremely unlikely, nearly impossible, and so he hadn’t worried about it. But he should have. He should see Ignis, summon him, but it’s difficult now. He’s been dealing with envoys from the Empire recently, envoys that often involve the Chancellor. He despises seeing the Chancellor, seeing his hands, knowing that he hurt Ignis with them; it’s difficult to see the boy after those meetings. And he’s ashamed of himself for avoiding him. “I’ve been busy. I’ve heard he’s been doing well in the Kingsglaive though.” Almost too well. Captain Drautos had grudgedly praised him many a time by now.“He misses you. He’s stressed, thinks you’re avoiding him because he’s an omega. You won’t fire him, will you?”This stops him in his tracks, and for one terrible moment he almost tells his son the truth. He can’t fire Ignis Scientia because he… “Never. He is always welcome here.”“As my adviser.” It isn’t a question. A demand. The kind he used to make when he’d ball his fists and stomp his feet. Was it really only a few years ago, when he was that child?“As your adviser. And there’s something else. Gladiolus told me that Ignis has been disappearing a lot lately.”“Yea, his stupid exams,” he sighs dramatically without skipping a beat.Regis narrows his eyes. He can believe that Ignis has been studying too much recently, but Noctis rarely answers any question quickly; it’s as if he rehearsed this. “Where does he go?”“Dunno,” he shrugs and hesitates now. “Library I think. He’s always on me when he’s studying so I try to avoid him.”He doesn’t want to have to ask this, doesn’t want to make his son pick sides, but something is off. He doesn’t know where else Ignis could be going, but he’s been strange ever since he manifested, ever since that man… “You’re not keeping secrets for him, are you?”“Like what?” He snaps it out, his eyebrows screwed up and expression hostile, the way it always gets when he asks too many questions. And then he backs up, as if he realizes he got too emotional. “He keeps nesting now. Like keeps wanting new weird stuff for it so he goes shopping. Like blankets and then he goes to the arcade a lot, gets plushies from the claw machine. Says he doesn’t want people making fun about it.”Kids. Would they really make fun of another kid because of that? But he knows it’s true. He can only imagine how difficult Ignis’ life has gotten at school, especially at that age. He wonders if he should increase the boy’s allowance so that he can buy what he needs to feel comfortable. Spoil him a little.“He’s gotten real cuddly. It’s okay with me if he’s at the library all the time now. Less time in the ‘nest’ with him.” He makes quotation marks with his fingers at the word.He can’t help but smile at that. Even before Ignis manifested as an omega, the two boys spent half their nights curled around one another, the older boy being at once a brother and a mother to the prince. I should have suspected, should have realized that he was exhibiting omega tendencies all along. But he hadn’t suspected, had only been grateful that Noctis had someone to care for him. Still, he keeps smiling. “Laying it on a little thick, huh?”“Eh!?”“You can admit enjoying it. I’m sure he spoils you even more now.”Noctis blushes at that. “Maybe ‘cause he has to be both mom and dad to me now.”There’s nothing he can say to that.

Part 3, Chapter 6 – Ignis

“My dad’s not happy about that field trip, says it’s too long to be away from training,” Gladio grumbles.“It’s only three nights.” It’s difficult to think about the field trip though, an extended trip for upper secondary students a month from now. The idea had come up suddenly, as if the school had recently realized they had some funds put aside they needed to use by a certain date, to go on a trip to Lestallum for politics, civics, and history classes. Ignis has never been; he should be excited, but right now he’s busy. He’s busy staring at the size of his biceps when he rolls his sleeves up. The arms of the school uniform shirts had never fit him very well. Those arms that Ignis knows have been around a dozen girls at least by now. Have you ever thought about having sex with an omega? A boy? But there’s no point in asking. Not only because he doesn’t dare draw attention to himself, but because he already knows the answer. No, nope, not interested. “I can ask the king to put pressure on him for you.”Gladio laughs at that. “So casual. It must be nice, basically not having adults up in your face all the time and then getting the king to do whatever you ask.”He could be offended by that, but he barely remembers his parents. He hadn’t really minded the solitude, the benevolent neglect of the king, until recently. And now, after all, he has a different adult in his face. An adult that the last couple of weeks he has enjoyed being around, so much so that the thought of a field trip is no longer very appealing.That spark of attraction, the magnetism he had felt a couple of months ago when this man had first challenged him to a game of chess in the library, when he’d given him a key and invited him to his hotel room, has returned. Because Ardyn is not only attractive, but he’s intelligent, clever and sarcastic and rude in just the right way that makes Ignis laugh, smirk, feel like he has a companion. Ignis had always been a little awkward around people his own age, even kids a few years older, just as those same kids didn’t know how to handle him.And they know how to handle him even less now, now that he’s an omega. The other boys can’t relate him to any longer, the last tenuous thread that allowed Ignis to connect to kids his own age has been lost. Now that Ignis is registered with the school as an omega, he has the option to avoid certain activities, such as using the boy’s locker room before PE or sports clubs. Not that he’s done that, not yet, hence him sitting across from Gladio as he nonchalantly tries to pull his school issue blazer over his shoulders now. It had crossed his mind that the school field trip might include a hot springs visit, which would leave Ignis in another uncomfortable situation.He was told in no uncertain terms that he ought to take suppressants while in school so that he wouldn’t upset the other students. He wonders what will happen if it gets out, if he hits seven or eight months and he can’t hide it any longer. He wonders how ostracized he could be then. Just another reason to hide it, even if Ardyn didn’t care.“Lemme think about the offer. Catch you later,” a sudden wave in his face, jerking him out of his reverie, and he flinches. A few months ago Gladio would have just slapped him on the back, but not anymore. Not anymore.At least Ardyn doesn’t treat him like glass.-Ardyn spends a lot of time in Insomnia over the next few weeks, enough that Ignis gets a little suspicious. That night of bodily education had given Ignis enough courage around him to dare ask. “Shouldn’t you be back in Gralea?”“Do you want me to leave?”Yes, yes yes. It’s suddenly a complicated question, a complicated answer. “I mean…”“I haven’t taken a proper vacation in a couple of decades, so I had a bit of time coming to me.”
“How long have you been Chancellor?” He doesn’t exactly believe him, but he’s willing to play along.He laughs at that. “Twenty years perhaps. Ten years military service before that and onto here from there. We don’t start at age thirteen in Niflheim, though.”Thirteen. For the first time, he wonders what Ardyn was like at his age, what he was like as a kid, a teenager, a young man. He’s asked him by now, gotten his age. Forty-seven. Thirty-four years older than him. Three point six times his age. “So how long will you be here?”Ardyn had let him go home that day, that first time he’d actually asked him things, had fingered him until he climaxed, had brought him right to his apartment in the Citadel at nearly midnight. Unfucked. And two days later he’d come again, given him another orgasm with his fingers alone, only to let him go again. Six times in three weeks.But there had been two other times. Twice Ardyn had picked him up without taking him to a hotel at all. Once to another museum, once to dinner and a bookstore.He’s still scared, scared of what’s growing inside of him, of what will happen when he can’t hide it anymore. He doesn’t trust Ardyn not to hurt him, not to kill Noctis if he doesn’t keep his word, and he’s still suspicious that he himself won’t survive the year, but he’s finding that he is relaxing a little. And he’s learning how to enjoy what happens to him behind closed doors. He remembers the brutalities this man has forced on him, still wakes up soaked in sweat from nightmares nearly every night, still flinches and trembles whenever Ardyn initially touches him, but he’s learning now that it can feel good, that if he behaves, Ardyn can be kind to him, he can have choices.Not that they are really choices. He knows this, somewhere, but he is so desperate for any scrap of kindness, of agency, that he’ll pretend. After all, what has been happening to him recently feels good.So now when Ardyn brings him to a hotel, to the room he is by now used to, he is trembling just as much in excitement as he is in fear. He speaks the moment the door closes behind him, the telltale sound of the lock clicking into place. It half bothers him, how Ardyn still does that, keeps the key in his pocket.“Seventh one tonight?”Ardyn smirks at him. “So you remember?”No need to grace that one with an answer, so Ignis smiles at him, shrugs with his hands in the air. He’s learned by now that sometimes Ardyn finds him cute, so he might as well act cute.And it works, because Ardyn positively grins then, leans against the wall and shows him too many teeth. “It’s easier to hit all three of your spots at once during intercourse.”“That’s fine.” The words burn his throat as he speaks; he feels as if he’s betraying himself.“No, it isn’t. Not with the way it has been.” He does that sometimes, just casually suggests that everything they had before was just sex, no big deal, something adults often do together.Ignis is almost relieved at the comment. He can almost believe that Ardyn genuinely cares about him, that he actually feels bad for what he did, and that makes Ignis even more determined to show him that he can do this now. And so he asks, “Do… I mean. I want to…” He has to rub his tongue against the roof of his mouth, his teeth for a moment to find the moisture. “Can we have sex?”Ardyn arches an eyebrow and stares at him. “Are you sure?”“I said, it’s fine.” It’s not fine, and he isn’t sure, but he wants Ardyn to like him, respect him, wants him to keep being nice.“I probably won’t be able to stop once I’m inside you, so if you change your mind…”You never stop when I beg anyway. Because almost every time, he ends up begging, even though by now he knows it’s pointless. It’s just always hurt that badly, scared him that badly. So he looks him in the eye, struggles to keep the waiver from his voice. “I won’t.”It’s enough, and Ignis can see from the hunger in his eyes that Ardyn has been waiting for this, has been sitting back, biding his time until Ignis came to him. He hadn’t wanted to take it slow, had wanted to do nothing but fuck him senseless every time they met, and still he waited because he wanted this. I’m walking right into this, playing his game even as he lets me think otherwise. But he can’t make himself care. I’m only an omega, after all. Ten weeks pregnant and alone but for the monster before me.No, he can’t make himself care, can’t keep fighting this when lately Ardyn has made him feel good, has been kind, has let him at least feel as if he were in charge. So when the man leans forward, brushes lips against his mouth and murmurs something low and throaty and indecipherable, Ignis moans, he climbs half in his lap, drops his jaw and deepens the kiss. This has happened often enough now that he knows how to do it, and even if he’s young, small, he can almost keep up with Ardyn. Almost, because the older man grabs him then, squeezes his waist, his hips, his ass, pulls him close before jerking a hand up to touch his neck, stroke his mark, his swollen gland.It’s tender, and he flinches a little. “Shouldn’t be so swollen all the time now,” he grunts, licks his lips and tastes Ardyn’s saliva. “If I’m doing this…” Because he’d read that if he engaged in sexual activities with his mate regularly, his glands wouldn’t get so swollen and he wouldn’t be so irritable, uncomfortable.Ardyn grabs the edge of his shirt, pulls it up a few inches and strokes his belly. “This means you’re always…very hormonal. Usually omegas need sex a few times a week when pregnant to stay comfortable.”It didn’t make me comfortable before. But he doesn’t say it. They don’t talk about it, those months of fear and rape. Just like they don’t talk about the pregnancy unless Ignis brings it up, a rule that Ardyn has just violated. So he glances at him nervously, uncertain, and in response Ardyn arches his eyebrows and pushes gently against his stomach. Until he’s suddenly swinging his body around, pressing his back to his chest as he unzips his fly, tugs his pants down and off in a way that makes it clear he’s done this many times by now. He pushes his body around with ease, reminds him again of who is in control.“Do you want to come first? Relax a little before we begin? It will loosen your muscles.” He holds his face still with one hand, presses fingers into his mouth and strokes his tongue while he sinks two fingers of his other hand into him and Ignis arches, moans. He’s used to his fingers now, and he doesn’t wait long before pushing down on them, angling his hips so that Ardyn can touch him where it feels good faster. The fingers in his mouth aren’t new, but the sensation still sends shudders down his spine. So possessive. He sucks on them and feels Ardyn laugh in his ear, a harsh breath that makes the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, his heartbeat pulse in his fingertips as he squirms and pants. He doesn’t want to orgasm first, just wants to hurry up with the sex before he has the chance to change his mind, but his mind is already fogging over and he’s having trouble finding words. The fingers in him are deeper now, spreading, and then Ardyn moves from his face, now has two hands around his ass, lifting his thighs as he sinks both index fingers in and pulls him wide. Ignis flinches at that, the stretch hurting. He can’t remember him ever having done that before, but there were times these last few weeks where he was…lost, elsewhere. It’s possible it happened.“You get wet and loose so quickly now,” Ardyn murmurs hot against his throat. “Already dripping with slick and smelling so good,” a groan now, and Ignis is turning in his lap, franticly clinging to him, rubbing his cock against the man’s belly, against his erection, strings of slick following him.Ardyn lifts him easily, hands almost entirely circling around his waist were it not for the slight bulge, which he has been careful with these last few weeks. He positions him above his cock, presses the head gently against his entrance, loose and slick as it is.Ignis flicks a gaze at him for only half a second before immediately looking away. He’s excited, his cock hard and leaking, his heart pounding violently beneath his ribs, but he’s also terrified out of his mind. Because he knows he hasn’t prepared him enough. Because this man has hurt him at least two dozen times by now, has fucked and threatened him into cooperating, into asking for him.Which he just did. But I want it. I genuinely want it. It doesn’t matter if he encouraged me, I… and then he feels that now-familiar pressure. He squirms nervously, holds his breath as the pressure increases, the heat of Ardyn’s dick now breaching him.Ignis freezes up, every muscle in his body suddenly constricting as he gasps. And then he tries to jerk back, pushing hard against the mattress with his toes only to be ignored. Because Ardyn gives him a look and keeps pressing him down. Down. It’s the slowest he’s ever penetrated him and Ignis is dimly aware at how much Ardyn is trembling, at how he’s clearly fighting himself to not shove Ignis down, and he is grateful for that. Grateful for the lack of violence even as Ardyn keeps pushing into him, keeps forcing his insides to rearrange themselves to accommodate his bulk. I don’t…. This was a bad idea. He doesn’t want this any longer.“Breathe,” he whispers in his ear, a hand on his back, gently stroking him. “Deep breaths. Slow. Relax.”He’s never tried to comfort him before, and the slight gesture of concern makes Ignis whimper, and then he’s clinging to Ardyn, burying his face in his neck, rubbing against his mark. He craves the affection, the gentleness, and now he wants approval. He whines again, a low keening sound.“I’ll move when you’re ready,” he murmurs then.He’s letting him control things, giving him agency, and Ignis is desperate for this to continue. “I’m ready,” he whispers, voice choked with tears.Ardyn doesn’t respond with words, only shifts his hips as he holds him to his chest.He hits him immediately, hits the heavily swollen gland at the base of his uterine canal, pushed outward as it is by what’s growing inside of him.He can’t make a sound, can’t breathe enough to emit even the faintest of gasps, and so he only stares at nothing, jaw hanging open as if seeking air. Ardyn takes over then, sweeps arms around him and crushes him to his chest as he curls down and devours his mouth.Ignis dimly feels hands on his ass, fingers curling around him and pulling him up and closer; he feels the drag inside of him, the head of Ardyn’s cock bumping against him as he shifts, and somehow he remembers what he’d said two weeks ago – the upper part has more nerves. If you’re aroused enough, it’s so swollen that the head of a cock actually catches on it during sex, so even when pulling out between thrusts, you’d be getting maximum pleasure – something only one’s mate can offer. Because Ignis can only ever be this aroused, his glands this swollen, for Ardyn.And as he shifts again, drags further downward, he rubs against his prostate so soon after hitting him up above, and this, this makes him scream. Ardyn is deep inside of his guts, deep down his throat, gripping his hips so tightly there will be bruises, and then he’s biting him, sinking teeth into his neck and marking him again.The sex is slow, slow and intense, unforgiving, all-consuming. At some point Ignis pushes against him, hands flat on his chest, fingers curling in the hair there, and he begins moving himself. His movements are jerky, erratic, unskilled, but being in charge makes him laugh breathlessly, lean down and purr against Ardyn’s lips as the heat curls and tightens around his veins and he feels more slick leaking out. He feels arms wrapping around him again. Ardyn sighs, murmurs in his ear that he’s too fast, that he needs to learn patience, that he needs stamina, as he grabs his cock and tugs hard as he thrusts up, stays, a slow grind inside of him. It’s all Ignis needs.The orgasm is vicious, blinding, relentless, waves crashing against the insides of his skull. He doesn’t scream; he can’t as it takes him from both sides, front and back, from all three parts of him that Ardyn alone can touch.There are words in his ear, an endless echo of mine, mine, mine, and even as he claws back from the fog of his climax after what seems like a lifetime of being separated from his body, his mind, his self, Ardyn is still thrusting up hard into him. Too sharp, too sensitive, his upper gland so swollen that every push is painful, jarring, a knife splitting him into two, skin from voice. He pushes against him, hands to his chest as he tries to find the words for him to stop, but then Ardyn’s hands are hard on his hips, shoving him down as he grinds up and comes inside of him, so much and so heavily that Ignis’ insides shudder and twitch, convulse again.And then Ardyn relaxes, the strength going out of his limbs, and just as suddenly Ignis feels the need to comfort him, cuddle him and nuzzle his throat, rub his chin over his face and scent him, thank him for the fuck. And he does; he purrs and writhes against him until he feels the low rumble of half a laugh in Ardyn’s chest. He suddenly feels himself moving then, forcibly lifted up, feels the drag on his insides, so sensitive, still spasming in the aftermath. He shifts, half-sobs, starts to protest as he clings to his neck because he isn’t ready to leave him yet.“I’ll knot if I keep you there,” he murmurs, hand on the back of his neck now with just enough pressure to still Ignis.And he lets go. He wants that, doesn’t want that, doesn’t know what he wants and bursts into tears.-He half-stirs once, wakes up to stretch a kink in his leg and reposition himself. He can tell that Ardyn healed him at some point, the ache inside of him gone. Ardyn’s curled around him, holding him in a way he never had before. Because he’d always backed off as soon as he’d fucked him, as if disgusted by him. He’s warm and heavy, and he smells divine. We had sex. We had proper sex and it didn’t hurt that badly and he was slow and patient and loving. The knowledge makes him dizzy, suddenly more aware of the loneliness he’d experienced the last ten weeks than he’d ever been. And suddenly nauseas, ashamed of what he’d just done, ashamed of how he’d cuddled and marked Ardyn afterwards, curled up in bed with him.“Hafta go,” he mumbles.“What if I want to keep you here tonight?” Ardyn whispers, voice low and dangerous in how it makes Ignis’ blood run hot.He squirms against him, half dares to elbow him, kick him, but even now he hesitates to anger him, hesitates to somehow undo the kindness he’d just been treated with. He wants this to work. This has to work, because as disgusted as he is with himself, he doesn’t want the pain any longer. And so he stills, “People’ll ask questions.”It works. Ardyn groans at that, mutters an expletive and sits up slowly. “Unfortunately.” A tap on his backside.And as Ignis gets up, he glances down at the belly he must hide from the rest of the world and back at Ardyn, still lying in bed with his eyes closed, he realizes that confusion and shame are a bottomless pit, that every time he believes he has fallen as low as he can, the ground opens up beneath him.But Ardyn is always there to catch him.

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Part 3, Chapter 7 – Prompto

He was spying. He knows he was spying, knows he might get caught. But it still catches him off guard to end up face to face with Ignis Scientia.Lady Lunafreya had replied to one of his letters recently, but only one, and her letter only mentioned Ignis under a false name. Like her letters were being read or something, screened. So he’d taken it upon himself to try and keep an eye on Ignis. Which has been really hard because Ignis stays out late, and he’s always jumping in cars and disappearing. Prompto got lucky today because he’d seen the boy by chance entering the Museum of Lucian Natural History with that creepy guy. Current exhibit was on photography of the elusive malboros. The admission fee nearly made him faint, but then he’d seen the sign about the affiliation with the Aurora Children’s Hospital. He only had to show his student ID, tell the woman at the desk who his mother was, and after a little wheedling and a phone call, he could get in. A big accomplishment, one he couldn’t normally do. But he had the prince to worry about; his adviser’s safety was off the rails.So running into him only moments later as he entered the boy’s bathroom was a bit much. He wasn’t expecting it, and so it takes him a moment to stammer out a “Hello.”Ignis, a good head taller than Prompto and half his width, shoots an irritated glance at him. He’d always come across as a little aloof. He then bows slightly, starts to slip past him.But Prompto doesn’t want to let him go, and so he tries to play dumb. “Oh, you’re the prince’s fr… I mean. Adviser. Retainer?” He doesn’t have to even try to play dumb, apparently, and he blushes furiously.He stops then. “Friend, adviser, retainer, all of the above.”“Where is he?”“Babysitter isn’t in the equation.”He keeps waiting for him to smile. “I’m here for fun, too. I like photography.” Thank you,, Astrals, for having the exhibit be something I’m into. I have an excuse. He gestures awkwardly towards the camera around his neck. “I know there’s no photos allowed in here but I mean. I just carry it.”And that makes him smile, corners of his mouth curling up and his eyebrows raising. He has a cute smile. “I would pretend I hadn’t seen.”This is not like the Ignis he knows, the Ignis he has watched behave as if he were twice his age, taking charge of the other kids. Maybe unsurprising, given how different his appearance is. He’d never say it, of course, but Ignis looks like shit. His face looks gaunt, his eyes sunken and sticky like he’s exhausted, beyond exhausted. He’s wearing a lot of layers even in July, a loose jacket over his uniform and a scarf hanging over his shoulders. And it flickers across Prompto’s mind that something is wrong. He’s sick. Or something.“Are you all right?”Ignis’ smile doesn’t fade, but he manages to look suspicious.“I… do you need help?”“Help with what?” He says it so fast, so viciously, that Prompto is taken aback.“I don’t know. You just look tired…to be out.” It’s not that late, only 6:30 pm, but it is a school night and he knows that Ignis is preparing for the high school entrance exams.And then that man is there, the one Prompto had photographed. He seems even taller, larger in person, black coat nearly sweeping to the floor and layers of scarves and a hood making him even more intimidating. “Friend from school?” he says quietly, and his voice is soft, like a liquid. It makes Prompto nervous.“Yea he’s a grade below. Our classes did joint art projects sometimes.” Doesn’t skip a beat. Ignis is definitely as smart as the rumors say, smart and fast. Prompto hopes this guy won’t ask Ignis what his name is, because then it could get awkward.He doesn’t though. Instead he directs the question to Prompto himself. “Ah, you look a bit familiar. Do I know your parents, perhaps?”Prompto can only stare. He’s got an accent that he can’t quite place. The man is attractive. He can recognize that as a fact, and he understands a bit why Ignis was, is, attracted to him. But he also knows that it’s power. He’s manipulating everyone around him all the time. “Dunno.”“You’re from Niflheim, no?” he says calmly.“No, I’m not,” he snaps too fast, offended. “I’m Insomnian!”“Uh huh,” he breathes out, still smiling in that empty way, and then he loses interest. “Come,” he murmurs then, leans low over Ignis. He doesn’t touch him, but the closeness makes Prompto’s skin crawl, as if he were the one being spoken to. It’s like he owns him.And he watches Ignis shrink, ever so slightly, and turn to follow him. He shoots Prompto one last look, confused, angry, curious, desperate. He can’t place it, and as he’s still trying to figure it out he watches the red-headed man raise a hand and brush it against Ignis’ backside.Maybe writing to Lady Lunafreya again isn’t enough this time. Maybe he should speak to the Prince.

Part 3, Chapter 7 - Ignis

He falls fast and he falls hard after that.Ardyn all but lives in Insomnia. He picks Ignis up nearly every day, takes him out to dinner and events, answers his every question about anything and everything Ignis can think to ask, and then takes him back to the hotel for sex that Ignis sometimes thinks might be lovemaking. The sex continues to be good, gentle. For the most part, anyway.He skips class. He stays out all night. He can’t control himself, can’t fight the dizzying intoxication he has unexpectedly found beneath Ardyn. They fuck so often Ignis loses count, their naked bodies entangled every moment they are behind closed doors. He’d even followed the man into the restaurant bathroom once, smirking mischievously at him as he’d locked the door, and Ardyn had lifted him onto the sink, ordered him to stay quiet, and promptly sucked his dick. And he fondles him in the car sometimes, making Ignis squirm and pant while the driver pointedly ignores the fact that a grown man is pushing a thirteen-year-old to orgasm in the backseat. There were other times, less comfortable, like when Ardyn had come on his face, rubbed against him until he couldn’t breathe and made him feel somehow more degraded than he’d ever felt. Or when he followed him into the shower and took him against the wall, bruises on his shoulderblades and a bump on the back of his head from the hardness of the tiles. Or when he’d produced a toy and ordered him to push it into himself, to leave it there while they went out for dinner to stretch him out before sex. Or the time he got too rough and fucked him without preparing him, like he used to do. But otherwise, he’s nice. And even then, he’s nice. Apologetic, gentle afterwards, suggesting that the pain and discomfort were never intentional.Ignis doesn’t quite believe him, but he wants to believe it. He has nothing else to believe, no one else to trust.The man threatens to take him back to Gralea more than once. Ignis never knows how to react to that. But he’s lonely. He’s terrified and anxious and Ardyn is the only person he can speak to about it, the only person who can understand. He might as well live up to the stereotype that’s been forced upon him. Whore. Slut. Controlled by his hormones, his urges, his needs. A useless hindrance to society. Only good for sex and breeding.It’s almost easier to just accept that.-Ignis is still sitting in his lap, off his cock but sitting in the slick and cum pooled between the man’s thighs. It would disgust him in another life, but he was so violently and abruptly introduced to the world of sex that he’s nearly immune to it now. He was never given the opportunity to be shy or squeamish. Except for whenever he thinks about how much slick he produces, even in the middle of class when he’s only thinking about Ardyn. He has seven pairs of specialized undergarments now, as he needs them every day. A byproduct of this. Just as the ongoing nausea, the exhaustion, the low-grade fever he’s beginning to think he’s imagining, the aches and pains and momentary bursts of blurred vision. All normal.Ardyn’s stroking his belly. He’s been doing that a lot recently, more and more, brushing against him even in public to flick a finger out, press against the layers Ignis wears to hide it from everyone else. It’s still easily hideable, probably not noticeable to others, but the swell is enough for the two of them. Ardyn can’t stop staring these days. “Think it’s a boy or a girl?”The question startles him and he half-turns, squirms in his lap until he’s facing him. “Dunno. Everything I can find about how to tell without a doctor isn’t for…people like me.” Because it’s assumed omegas will be going to doctors regularly. Ignis has never asked him about going to a doctor; he’s too nervous to.“I want a girl,” Ardyn pats his stomach, fingers his naval which is no longer so much an indent these days. He doesn’t ask what Ignis wants, perhaps because he doesn’t matter. The boy hasn’t dared ask if he still plans to kill him at the end of the pregnancy, even now that things seemed to have calmed down, seemed to almost be going well.He could ask, but he doesn’t. “Why?”“When we were at the natural history museum last week, and you were studying the photography exhibit while I was resting? A man saw me watching you, made the wrong assumption. He said he, too, had a son who was an omega, and he spoke of how difficult it was, of how he was always worried, even more so than he worried about his daughter.”It’s the longest thing he’s ever said that wasn’t about sex or politics or history. There’s too much happening there. He’s learned these last few months to simply pretend he hasn’t heard many things Ardyn says, but he can’t resist, “Did you correct him?”“No.”Unusual for Ardyn, who clearly enjoys unsettling others, making outrageous claims and leaving the room with everyone startled and on edge. The fact that he didn’t suggests that Ardyn was put off by the situation. Rare. “Are you ashamed of me?”The hand slides up his belly, his chest, neck, a gently threatening grip on his chin as Ardyn tilts his face up and brushes against his lips. “Are you of me?”Answer the damn question. It bothers him that he doesn’t, but he likes the way Ardyn’s looking at him, the way that he seems to care what Ignis thinks. Ignis has gotten used to his feelings being irrelevant.“No.” He’s more than ashamed; he’s terrified.-“You swear a lot, mention the Astrals. It’s kind of irreverent.” He’s curled against Ardyn, belly resting on his hip, cheek on his chest, the blankets a heap on top of him. It’s far too hot for so many blankets, but the air conditioner is on too high and Ignis is soaked in sweat from the sex and shivering. He likes the comfort of the blankets, even if Ardyn is still right next to him.“Am I supposed to revere them?”“Don’t you believe in them?” It’s brave of him, to ask such a bold question, but Ardyn has been more chatty with him recently and Ignis is desperate for the contact, the affection, the closeness he feels when the older man opens up to him.“Whether I believe in them or not, they won’t go away. Only a fool refuses to believe in something that has a physical presence.”This irritates him, somehow. The idiot knows perfectly well what he’s asking, and while even now, he can’t find the strength to even meet his eyes, to tell him off, to threaten him with all the armies in Insomnia if Ardyn does something sexual to him that he dislikes, he can find words on his tongue when they are just talking about nothing. “Don’t dodge the question. Do you have faith in them?”“Faith, no. What about you?”“If they had any power, this wouldn’t have happened. They would have protected me from you.” He says it smiling, says it to be funny even if he means what he says. His faith in the gods dwindled dramatically in the months that followed his first violation, and while things are better now, he’s still leery of deities that would allow such a thing to happen.This makes him laugh, and Ignis flinches despite himself, despite having wanted to make him laugh. “It is puzzling, isn’t it?”Ignis only grunts, shrugs in response.“Let’s not talk about them any longer. In fact, I forbid you to talk about them in my presence.”He nods quickly. He knows what it means to disobey him. Nothing that bad has happened recently, but it’s always in the back of his mind. Things can only go well for so long, after all this is his fault, and he doesn’t miss the flash of anger in Ardyn’s voice.“Though I appreciate you no longer believing they can help you. They won’t. No one can help you but me.” Fingers curling around the back of his neck now, stroking his glands. It feels good and Ignis squirms, ducks and kisses those fingers, feels them slide into his mouth and then he’s sliding down, down into the sheets and there is a weight rolling on top of him and the only name he prays to is Ardyn Ardyn Ardyn.-“You’ll be away from Insomnia for three nights, no?”He nods, unsure where Ardyn is going with this but feeling the unease rising in him. He focuses harder on his math homework, something Ardyn had glanced at only to snort and roll his eyes. I can assure that that will not be useful even if you live a thousand years unless you make a point to become a mathematician, an engineer, an utter waste of that pretty clever brain of yours. A tap on the back of his head turning into a caress. He likes being praised by him.“So nobody here would expect you to be around. It doesn’t appear as if anyone is making an effort to check in on you very often. You could make some sort of excuse to the school, and then they wouldn’t expect you either.”“Why would I do that?”Ardyn gently presses a hand to his mouth, pinches his jaw and shushes him. “You know why. So I can take you for a few nights. Perhaps to Gralea? Or anywhere else you are interested? I have a particular fondness for Galdin myself but…”He gently pushes his hand away, knowing better than to be too assertive. “Maybe I want to be with my friends.” He regrets the words the moment he speaks them and purses his lips. He wonders if he should drop his left hand below the table, touch Ardyn’s groin as he’d learned to do when he snaps too fast, says the wrong thing. I’m sorry. Let’s have sex. I’ll suck your dick.He barely has any friends. He’d never gotten on very well with kids his own age, but he was friendly enough and had boys he could joke with and relax with from time to time, but now the rift has grown to something that is no longer bridgeable. Gladio, who is bound to him out of duty more than anything these days, their orbits drifting ever since Ignis manifested as a beta. Noctis, who is more a brother than a friend, and so little besides. He likes Crowe quite a bit, and Nyx and Libertus when they aren’t being idiots, but they’re much too old for him to spend that much time with, and they aren’t his classmates. Immigrants, outcasts, the only sorts who will associate with an omega, and the sorts who don’t go to expensive, elite private junior high schools.And Ardyn knows all of this; the look on his face makes it clear that he recalls all that Ignis had admitted to him over the months. He sighs, takes his face in his hands and leans in, kisses him softly. “I’m sorry.”Ignis doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for.-Ardyn had all but thrown him onto the hotel room’s desk when they’d gotten into the room, pressed him down onto his back and leaned over him and kissed him again and again, nuzzled and bit at his marking until Ignis had positively howled for him.And then he’d carried him to bed.The sex was good, as it had been these last three weeks. Minimal pain and no mention of the threats hanging over Ignis’ head. He feels drunk afterwards, braver than usual, and so he dares to ask Ardyn a question he’s been dwelling on.“How do you heal me? I know you don’t use potions.”Ardyn smirks at that, rolls onto his back and readjusts as he closes his eyes, sated and satisfied. “I have my own well of magic, though you’ve guessed that already, no?”Magic. Ignis still hasn’t used his, not since that first night with Ardyn. It’s starting to complicate the Kingsglaive training, but he’s been to terrified to even try, as he fears it’s gone for good. But as far as he knew, only the king had any magic to offer out. “From who?”Ardyn shrugs as best he can. “The Empire has its own sources. Not quite the same, but we have something. You know that though, the magitech and so on?”“I didn’t think healing was possible…” Because it seemed too good, too pure.“It is, though I have many other skills, too. I like illusions, myself.”Ignis glances at him sharply. Illusions, so similar to the Lucis Caelum line. “Prove it.”Only then does Ardyn crack an eye open. “I’m wearing one now. I always do, when I take my clothing off.”“Faking the size of your dick?” The crude words spill out before he can stop them. He’s too relaxed, treating Ardyn almost like the way he treats Gladio. A friend. Wrong, so wrong. He feels sick for a moment, an overwhelming sense of vertigo as if he were leaving his own body.But if Ardyn notices him pale, he doesn’t mention it. He only rolls over again, back onto his stomach, and suddenly he is different.A web of lines cover his back, some thick, some thin, all raised and discolored. Clearly no simple illusion, not only visual but tangible, because Ignis has clawed that back bloody many a time now and never has he felt a thing. He traces the scars, for that is what they are, slowly, feels their edges, the bumps and ridges all over his back. It makes him shudder, knowing that the man who has hurt him so badly is so unexpectedly damaged himself. His Alpha. His bonded mate. He’d kept this secret from him.“What are they from? What happened?” He asks, but he can guess.“A whipping.”“I deduced as much. But why?” and then, “I’m your omega,” he says indignantly. He doesn’t have to explain it. Omegas exist to care, to nurture. He should know all of Ardyn’s weaknesses and care for them.“Then I’ll tell you someday,” he flicks a finger out, brushes against his chin.For the first time, he can suddenly imagine a someday with him, a future not filled with pain and terror, and he laughs. He spreads his hands flat over that back and runs his hands up, squeezes Ardyn’s shoulders and slowly lays himself over that broad body, curls up against his warmth and kisses his neck. I’m your omega.-As these three weeks pass, Ignis lets himself believe that the world is holding still for him.

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Part 3, Chapter 8 – Noctis

It’s getting harder and harder to keep secrets, especially with the way Ignis keeps skipping off all the time. Not even showing up to school sometimes, crawling back to the apartment after midnight, if at all. So he’s getting a little pissed at this point. Ignis barely spends any time with him now, which he would have loved six months ago. He’s not so sure now though, especially because of who he’s with.As Ignis opens the front door, Noctis shoots him a dirty look. “You smell like that guy,” he grumbles.Ignis freezes a moment, hands poised to take his scarf off, and for a moment Noctis thinks he looks scared. “What do you mean?”“Like man’s cologne. Probably ‘cause you’re wearing his clothing.”He relaxes then, and he’s obvious about it, like he was afraid Noctis was thinking of something else, which makes him think… “Are you doing more stuff with him?”“I’m sharing his bed, if that’s what you’re asking.”“Ugh,” he wrinkles his nose and turns away. Gross. He’d figured that was going on, but to hear it was somehow….dirty. He didn’t like that guy, not at all. He hurt Ignis pretty bad earlier, even if Ignis seems okay about it now. He doesn’t want to think about Ignis like that either. It’s almost as gross as thinking about his parents being like that, not that he remembers his mother that well anymore. Anyway, he hasn’t had the sex class in school yet, but he’s heard enough in class hallways and online chatrooms to know that omegas sometimes have trouble controlling themselves, that sometimes they make mistakes about boyfriends and aren’t so good about getting out of it. So he’s a little embarrassed to ask, “Is everything okay?”“I’m fine. He’s… spoiling me, and I’m happy right now.” Hands pulling the scarf up to his face as he hides the blush rising in his cheeks. It’s gross, seeing him like that, and a little sad, seeing him so happy over someone who made him cry. But Ignis has been happy recently, overwhelmingly so, which makes him smell nice. Comforting and safe and…“Can’t you get pregnant though?”“Uhn.…”Ignis acts instinctively, moving fast for once in his short life with a lazy leg. He jumps forward, pushes against Ignis’ shoulders and presses him back to the door before tugging his coat up and poking at his belly. Ignis is startled, slow to respond, and by then Noctis has his shirt untucked and even that pulled up.He stares, unable to process it a moment. With that monster?“You are. You are. You’re already pr-“Ignis slaps a hand over his mouth so fast that Noctis is stunned into silence. He hadn’t even realized he was yelling. “Shhh, shhh… Yes, I am. Be quiet please, okay? We can talk about it but be quiet.”He looks, sounds so scared that Noctis immediately obeys, and when Ignis drops his hand, he says the first thing that comes to his mind in a hoarse whisper. “Your belly button is flat. Can I touch it?”Ignis looks pale but there is sweat beading on his forehead, like he’s really scared. And he’d been so happy only a few seconds ago. He nods once, then takes Noctis’ hand and gently presses it to him. His skin is warm, like he has a fever, and Noctis narrows his eyes. It feels funny, soft and firm at the same time. “It’s a little bump.” He’d always thought pregnant people got big fast.“Yea it only really grows fast the last couple of months.” Then he’s tugging at Noctis again, pulling him away from the front door and down the hall to his bedroom.A minute later they’ll settled on his bed, Ignis dropping his jacket to the floor and folding his legs beneath him as he scoots back towards the pillows. He puts his hands on Noctis’ shoulders and squeezes. “You can’t tell anyone. Please, please. I can’t let anybody know yet.”Can’t, can’t, can’t. He still can’t understand this. Ignis being an omega has been kind of nice because of all the attention he’s been getting now, but being pregnant? That’s too much. And he’s thirteen. Acts older but he’s still a kid, right? “Don’t you hafta go to a doctor?”“I went. I didn’t need anyone’s permission because I’m thirteen. Everything’s fine, I promise. Just… I don’t want to get in trouble.”“You won’t. Dad never gets mad at me so I’ll tell him he can’t get mad at you either.” He’s pretty certain he’d be successful. He can protect Ignis for once, not like... And then “You gonna quit then? You can still live here.” Because it suddenly occurs to him that Ignis might stop being his adviser, might not have time anymore.“No, no. I’m… I might put the baby up for adoption. He thinks he wants to keep it though, so we’re looking at our options. I didn’t want an abortion, but I won’t be trying to raise it; he understands my situation and age.”Surprising. He narrows his eyes and wonders if Ignis is lying. He doesn’t lie a lot, only when he thinks he’s protecting Noctis. Which this sounds like. Way too much. “Why not? You’d be a good mom. Annoying though.”“Because you’re my priority. And I want to finish school. I want…”Too many surprising things are happening, and Noctis has to blink a few times, process what’s happening, to realize that suddenly Ignis is crying. Even weirder than him being pregnant. And very very scary, because Ignis always knows what to do. Ignis is always brave. Ignis always acts so much older than he really is. Which might be why he thought he could do this.He awkwardly rubs his back, wonders if he should hug him.“Keep it a secret. You have to, you have to, you have to...”He worries it’s too big to keep a secret, but he’s never done anything on his own, never had to really step up and help anyone else. So he can do this. Though he also just wants him to stop crying because it’s really freaking him out. He knows this is bad, knows there’s something happening here that’s too big for him, too big for Ignis, but he wants to be brave and he wants Ignis to stop. “I’ll never tell anyone. I’ll be quiet.”“Thank you.” Words half choked out because he’s hiding his face in his hands now, shaking he’s crying so hard. It hits Noct then that Ignis’ fear here is irrational, and he wonders if it’s really just the king that he’s afraid of.Noctis really doesn’t know what to do now, so he keeps touching his back and awkwardly blurts out, “If that kid has red hair and glasses…. Poor thing.”

Part 3, Chapter 8 - Ignis

The world can only hold still for so long.He thinks he can handle it, thinks he can adjust to this new life, this double life that can forever remain a double life, the two parts never crossing, never interrupting one another. A part of him nagged, sunk claws into his brain and tore at him whenever he slept. In the back of his mind is the memory of when he’d first been raped. He knows now that everything leading up to that moment had been wrong, inappropriate and dangerous, and Ardyn had even warned him.It won’t work, it won’t work. He’s a demon who destroyed your life and now he’s controlling you. Because in sleep, he has nightmares, even right beside Ardyn in that hotel bed he has ceased to see as a place of torment. Something will go wrong eventually. It’s unavoidable. It’s only the way life is. Your fate as an omega who couldn’t control his urges.Because even if Ardyn was genuinely kind to him, even if everything had been consensual all along, he is the Chancellor of Niflheim, a fact that he has had to try very hard to ignore. He’s the enemy, the mastermind behind a war machine intent on crushing Insomnia in the near future, as pleasant as he seems. Politics are politics. Ignis well understands nationalism, even if Ardyn’s comments seem to betray a certain affection for Lucis. Posturing for Ignis, perhaps, or maybe he can be swayed. Maybe being father to a child who is a Lucian citizen will change his attitudes. Maybe something good can come out of this after all. Maybe he can present his child to the King without shame.This is what he clings to.-Last week, Ardyn had admitted to renting out the hotel room by the month, so even on nights he wasn’t in Insomnia, Ignis was welcome to stay. Ignis had never taken him up on that, though he had stopped by, once. Once. Had stopped by after school and let himself in and rubbed up against whatever he could, snapped selfies of himself in various filthy situations and texted them to Ardyn – come back to Insomnia – without a second thought. Ardyn made him forget himself and it was exhilarating.It’s time to go back now, to spend the entire day there alone and do what he’s felt the urge to do ever since they had good sex. Ignis had already told his teachers he wouldn’t be in school, had forged a doctor’s note and mentioned that it was an omega appointment. That was all he needed to say; they didn’t ask omegas questions. Expectations for him had suddenly dropped, and his teachers never said a word to him about all of the missed classes recently. An alarming percentage of omegas, especially boys, dropped out of high school. Ignis had once hoped to the King’s General, but now he would be exceeding societal expectations by getting a high school diploma, or even getting into high school at all.Which makes him feel less bad about skipping school. He’s ahead in all of his classes as it is, and he’s learning more from Ardyn than he is at school. Not just about sex, not just about history or politics or chess, but about himself. Recently he’s made Ignis feel good about being an omega. He’s skipping now because Ardyn’s coming back to Insomnia tonight and Ignis wants the hotel suite to be ready for him. He wants to surprise him.With a nest.He’s left things here. Clothing, especially fresh underwear, school books he didn’t want to drag home, homework. He collects what clothing he’s left there, what he still has in his backpack, towels in the bathroom from last night that hadn’t been washed yet, extra bedsheets from the closet, Ardyn’s clothes that he leaves in the closet now. Room service hasn’t been cleaning every single day at the older man’s request, which means everything smells nice. Very nice. And even though it’s the summer, Ardyn wears just as many layers as does Ignis, so he has a lot to work with. He collects everything, arranges it on the bed, rearranges and shapes everything until it’s to his liking, and then he curls up in it.He does this four times before he feels that he has it right, and then he curls up to wait.-“I knew you’d be here eventually,” Ardyn only calls from the front door, the clink of keys falling to the table. “Waiting when I got here.”Ignis isn’t sure if he’s disappointed or not. Predictable. He uncurls, realizing only then he’d been clutching his belly, and gets out of bed, steps into the living area. His mate is still standing at the front door, gently nudging Ignis’ 23-centimeter shoes with his own foot.For a half a moment, because then he is in front of him and Ignis is half-stumbling back. Nobody moves that fast but for the King himself, not even Noctis. But he must have lost a few seconds somewhere, a momentary gap in his awareness just like all the others he’s had recently. So he smiles up at Ardyn and says nothing.Ardyn gently catches his arm, pulls him in and inhales. “You smell even better than usual. A little different. Did you…?”He blushes. He knows he has a distinct scent, releases certain pheromones now. It’s normal, something all omegas and all Alphas experience, but he still can’t help but be a little embarrassed when someone mentions it. Even if it’s a nice smell, calming and comforting for most, sometimes arousing for Ardyn. It hadn’t occurred to him that making a nest would make him smell different.“I made a nest. I had one at home, like a little one in my bed that I’d rest in sometimes. I wanted to have one here that I could share with you.” What he’d had in his head sounded better, more formal, but he’d gotten excited and forgotten everything. He waves his free hand aimlessly in the general direction of the bed, only to have both of his arms grabbed and sharply wrenched forward. Ardyn has him by the biceps, pulled in close as he leans over him.“You nested for me?”“Yes…” He glances down nervously. The hands on his upper arms hurt. It’s been a long time since Ardyn hurt him. Not quite true. The sex always hurts. But he’s careful now. He apologizes. This seems different, and it makes him squirm.“I imagine it’s rather cute, a beginner’s nest,” but he says it gently, so unlike the way he is holding him, and then he is pushing Ignis back through the doorway and towards the bed.He winces, and for a moment he feels a flash of panic because there is a hunger in Ardyn’s eyes that reminds him of that first time, when he... He shuts the memory down, and when he feels the bed against the back of his legs he sits, relieved at the momentary release of his arms as he rolls back onto the bed and curls into his nest. It smells good and suddenly his fear is pushed aside just as his memories were. Ardyn follows, pulls his legs up onto the bed and lays back before curling around him. Now he’s clearly making an effort to behave, to not move too quickly, to not grab Ignis, which leaves the boy purring and reaching for him, forgetting everything. He’s gotten very good at forgetting. It’s the easiest way to survive.He wriggles against him, does what he can to be as close as possible and contentedly rubs his belly against Ardyn’s. Sixteen weeks, still small enough to hide, but large enough to be obvious when he’s naked. He likes this, likes it a lot, and he presses his face to the scar on Ardyn’s neck and sighs. Three of us, there’s three of us. For the first time, he thinks he might not be afraid of the thing inside of him. Hands rubbing up and down his back now, fingers slipping down the crack of his ass and coming away wet, slicked up. “Not yet,” he growls softly, digging his nails gently into Ardyn’s chest. “I want to enjoy this a little longer.”Ardyn laughs, the growl low in his chest that Ignis can feel in his bones.-And he does enjoy it for another fifteen, twenty minutes until neither of them can stand it any longer, until they’re tearing into one another’s clothing and Ignis is laughing, nuzzling against him and nipping at his mark until the man sinks fingers into him.The sex is exquisite, different than all the other times before because he fucked him in the nest, which somehow drove Ignis into an even greater frenzy. Strange, how the same act, the same base, animalistic act, can be so unique every time it happens. Only one thing doesn’t change, the way Ardyn growls softly when he pushes or pulls Ignis off of him, an act he never does quickly, as if unwilling to leave his warmth.So Ignis waits for it, wriggles his hips and sighs and meets his gaze expectantly.But it doesn’t happen. It doesn’t feel good anymore. It hurts, hurts badly, and it takes him a moment to understand. He’s knotting. Ardyn’s cock is bigger than his forearm as it is. He’s never seen his knot before, never dared to ask how big he could get. But he knows that he’s too small, that even his dick is too big, that no matter how prepared he is, even regular sex hurts a lot and he needs to be healed afterwards, so a knot might… It must be an accident. He might not have realized yet. It takes a minute to fully swell, maybe longer. He has time. “Stop,” he plants the heels of his hands against Ardyn’s chest and pushes. “Let me off.”“Too late,” a snarl in his ear and hands suddenly pressing down on his hips, forcing him still as he keeps going. It doesn’t sound like he’s surprised, like he hadn’t realized it.He’s doing this on purpose. He’s going to fully knot. He tries to breathe, tries to contain the rising panic, the growing pain. It won’t be so bad. My body is made for this. We are compatible. I am carrying his child. I’ve learned to cope with the sex, my body adjusting, muscles loosening… but it’s impossible and his breathing picks up the pace, the shallowness. He feels agonizingly tight now, swollen, as if his guts were being forced out of him and for a moment the baby crosses his mind. He can’t handle this, and his voice cracks as he struggles to find words. “Why? Why? What’d I do?”“Nest,” he hisses. “Can’t control…it.”Nest. You did this, you excited him, reminded him in such an intimate way that you are his mate and you want to be with him, it’s your fault, you made him lose control just as you have every other time, just as you seduced him and made him want you again and again and…. And more pain, a sharper pain now, exquisite, things breaking free inside of him, and he’s terrified for the baby. He screams then, screams loudly, lashes out at Ardyn and tries to tear himself off.Ardyn can’t even lean away from him. He accepts the claws, the frantic shoves, and only snaps out, “Knots last anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. You just have to wait it out. If you keep struggling you’re going to rupture something or hurt the baby.”He doesn’t want to hurt the baby, doesn’t want to rupture anything, but the pain, the pain is worse than anything he’d ever felt before, worse than any of the sex they’d had, worse even than that first rape. His reaction is impulsive, reactionary, mindless, and he keeps struggling, forcing Ardyn to grab his wrists in one hand and a hip in the other, forcibly stilling him even as Ignis fights him.It hurts, it hurts, as if his insides were being pushed out of him, crushed against his spine, up into his ribcage, against the skin of his belly until it bursts. The bodily abuse of a full-term pregnancy and birth occurring in a minute. He can’t stop screaming, reduced to the most base, animalistic reactions. Terror, one he knows won’t end for over half an hour. No rape he’s survived had ever lasted even half as long.The air around him eventually fails him, and he thinks it might be better to not survive this.-He’s drifting in and out of consciousness by the time Ardyn softens, deflates, and shoves him off of him. It’s not affectionate, not binding. Ardyn doesn’t kiss him, nuzzle his mark, stroke him, tell him he did good, speak to him – even his signature growl is missing – and Ignis can feel nothing through the pain but discarded.He hears Ardyn swearing, hissing, and a part of him knows it’s because of him and feels bad for inconveniencing him. He failed him again, and it’s his duty as his mate to comfort him, isn’t it? But he can feel his heartbeat in his fingers, hear it, and something in his mind is protesting. You’re bleeding. You’re bleeding badly.“You struggled too much,” the voice breaks through his consciousness, “and you’re too damn weak and small. If the baby is hurt because of this….”Help me, help me. He rasps out another sob when he suddenly feels a hand on him again, between his legs, and for one blind moment he fears it will happen again. Again. Another time will kill him. Ardyn really hurt him this time, ripped something inside of him. He knows this happened, knows something really bad happened and the only way he can get through it is if the one who did this heals him. He wants to ask, wants to beg, but he doesn’t have to, because there is suddenly a warmth, a familiar relief spreading through his veins, stinging and sparking throughout his body. He knows it for what it is now, magic, and he doesn’t care where it came from, only that it’s working. And he’s grateful. He wants to thank Ardyn, wants to be held by him because he knotted him, fully completed the bond between them, and then he healed him even though he hurt him.And then the hand is on his belly, stroking and squeezing, and Ignis can only cover his face and whimper because he’d forgotten. Useless, unworthy to even be an omega just as you are unworthy to even be an adviser. You cared only for yourself and forgot, even as he warned you. The baby. “Is it…is it….”“It’s alive. Fine.”He would ask how he knows, but he can’t find the words. He’s only relieved, relieved. And guilty, because he brought this upon himself, upon his young. Somehow this makes him burst into tears again.The pain across his face is so sharp, so sudden that it takes him a moment to understand that he’d just been slapped. Hit viciously. It’s been a long time since Ardyn had hit him, and never like this.So now it ends, what fragile consensus they’d found these last few weeks. And something even worse than before can begin instead. He should have expected it, should have known that this would happen.“Stop crying,” Ardyn snarls. “You think I want this? To be bonded to a bitchy little entitled teenager? I can’t fuck anyone else now. I can’t get it up. I can’t sleep around anymore. And now, now the only person I can fuck is an inexperienced child who can barely reciprocate-”The anger terrifies him. He can’t even speak. You raped me, you raped me, this is your fault, you started this, he wants to scream, but he can’t breathe. Other words are choking him. But I seduced you. I called you. I marked you. I asked for sex. I nested. And still. I’ve been trying to reciprocate. I’m learning. You’ve been happy. We’ve had fun the last couple of weeks. I started to feel like…like I… What did I do?Ardyn grabs his chin, jerks him back towards him. “You’re useless. Do you think this has been an enjoyable experience for me? I admit you’re a little fun sometimes, but I have better things to do than babysit a little slut who forced my body to depend on him. It’s been nothing but frustrating since you marked me. You might briefly sate my most base appetite but you aren’t satisfying. I’ve had to be so careful with you recently, and if I’m not, you not only break but you cry, you go limp, you scream. Just. Like. Now.”He shoves him back so viciously that Ignis nearly falls off of the bed, Ignis who can only stare speechlessly at him.“I thought omegas were supposed to be resilient, sturdy. You can’t even survive a fuck without me pampering you afterwards, much less a knot. I need engaging sex, creative sex. I wanted so much to enjoy you that first night, but I didn’t want to be stuck with you. Now I can’t get it up with anyone else and I desire you every second. I should kill you. And if you don’t learn how to stop being such a baby, I will, infant or no infant.”He’s frozen. He works his jaw once. So it was all a lie? So you didn’t actually enjoy these last few weeks? He can’t believe it. The happiness he’d felt with him. He’d thought it was genuine. You don’t mean this. You’re just angry right now. You’re just… but Ardyn should love him right now, hold him and take care of him because they just knotted and that’s supposed to be a sign of affection, isn’t it?He’d trusted him, just as he’d done it before, and this is what happened. Ardyn is talking again, snarling and railing at him until a few words break through the haze. “Do you understand?”He nods. He doesn’t even know what Ardyn is saying to him, doesn’t know what he’s agreeing to, but still he nods, keeps his head down to hide the trembling of his lip, the tears in his eyes, the painful beginnings of a bruise on his cheek.He understands.

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Part 3, Chapter 9 - Verstael

They’ve scarcely talked in recent weeks. The Chancellor’s been missing in action, prompting increasingly uncomfortable questions from the Emperor. Do you know where he’s been? Why isn’t he answering his phone? You two are…close, are you not? He’s been remarkably calm about the situation, as if he’d known that eventually Ardyn would flake out and pull a vanishing act – in which case he’s much more intelligent than Verstael had ever expected – but he’s still clearly irritated.Which makes Verstael irritated. He doesn’t like being disrupted, harassed, especially when it has to do with Ardyn. Who he knows has been in and out of Insomnia recently with his mate. Verstael had felt a strange dull twinge in his chest when he had first heard the news, when the redhead had calmly told him that he was marked by, supposedly even bonded with a male omega living in Insomnia. Men. Ardyn was so inclined, and yet he had never turned to Verstael for all of his clear posturing. Then again, from what he’d seen, the object of Ardyn’s affections, or obsessions, or whatever they might be, was a thirteen-year-old boy named Ignis Scientia, a boy who was very probably raped, so perhaps that’s how Ardyn was. Verstael doubted they were actually bonded, as that required a mutual relationship, and Ardyn only lied about it to make the whole affair seem more civilized. Disgusting. He didn’t want to be with him, didn’t want the hassle and inconvenience that came with a relationship, but he’d have liked some attention.Not the kind of attention he is getting right now, which is the asshole intruding in his lab without a warning, flopping himself onto Verstael’s desk after knocking a few books off of it.“How far into a pregnancy does one have to be for the baby to be viable outside of the womb?”Peculiar question, but Verstael is used to that by now; much of what falls out of Ardyn’s mouth is peculiar, disturbing, inappropriate, or sarcastic, though he still manages to be offended or disgusted by half of what Verstael himself says. He shrugs, making a concentrated effort not to howl about the reports underneath Ardyn’s ass. “Normally, six or seven months perhaps. In my lab, I could probably save one at five months.”“Because you grow babies in test tubes.”He scowls, uncertain about the judgment in Ardyn’s comment. “Why do you need to know?” But he can suspect. Perhaps he is really bonded.“My stupid little mate is sick, but I don’t want him going to a doctor.”I knew it. He can’t stop the questions falling from him, can’t stop the tangible heat of excitement he feels burning through him. Something new. Something different. “So he really is bonded with you then? Pregnant? Low sperm count not a problem these days? And what sort of supplement have you been on that can combat the Scourge?”“Silence,” he smiles pleasantly.He’ll deal with that aspect later; he knows Ardyn enough to know he doesn’t want to discuss it right now. There’s too much to take in right now after all. “Taking him to the doctor would get messy. He’s very, very young, and I suspect the baby is…abnormal.”“Exactly. Just as you’d like, I expect.”“So you’re asking how long you need to keep him alive.”“More or less. I don’t care if he dies.”He’s known Ardyn a long time, and the fact that Ardyn even mentioned it makes him suspicious. “What’s wrong with him, exactly? And how far along?”A shrug. “He’s weak and feverish all the time now. Fatigued. When I pushed him about it he admitted that his joints are sore and loose, his grip weaker, his vision blurring out sometimes. Aches and pains everywhere. He’s been vomiting for months but it’s gotten much worse recently, and he has a deep cough now. About halfway along, little over four months. He had mild symptoms all along but for a time I thought it was…normal. He’s very good at pretending he’s okay.”“Some of that sounds a little odd, but I admit I haven’t personally studied pregnancies in male omegas before.” Though he’d love to, especially if this was the mate of Ardyn Izunia. “He’s probably just stressed and not taking care of himself.”“I’ve been a healer for 2000 years. I know when someone is dying, and I know when someone has the Scourge. Ignis…” he trails off. He seems vaguely distressed. “My healing skills these days are limited as it is.”This again. He claimed time and again he could no longer cure the Scourge, only everything else, something Verstael was suspicious of. Though if his mate was sick and he wasn’t doing anything about it, perhaps he had been being truthful after all. He still pushes. “Do you want him to die then?”“Lately he’s made me rather angry, and I nearly told him…things he doesn’t need to know. He made me slip. I find the whole situation rather inconvenient, and even if we are compatible, the size and attitude that come with his age are problems. Being unable to have sex with anyone else while he’s alive is more than inconvenient.”“Is there a but there?”Ardyn shoots him a look as if he were a cockroach found in the kitchen sink. “There might be.”It’s clear he isn’t going to say anything else, clear he won’t admit to perhaps caring a little about the boy. He’d always been very careful when talking about him, even as he flashed photos of his mate, always avoided explaining how he met him, how he courted him, what he did with him when he went to Insomnia. Verstael can’t imagine a boy that age would willingly agree to any of this. He sighs and shakes his head. He can’t keep the judgment out of his own voice. “You’re placing a very cruel burden on a child, not letting him go to the doctor, and it’s doubtful he can carry to full term and bear a healthy baby. Male omegas rarely can in this day and age, especially at thirteen.” Though if he does…. What an unusual specimen it would be, and how unusual little Ignis Scientia must be.Ardyn ignores this. “The baby is alive. I felt it last night. And you will ensure that it survives even if Ignis doesn’t.”“Will you bring him to me then?”That disgusted look again. But he doesn’t say no.

Part 3, Chapter 9 – Ignis

Two months ago, he hadn’t thought it could be worse.But now it’s been twice, twice that he’s trusted this man only to be betrayed by him. If he hadn’t deserved the suffering before, he certainly deserves it now; nobody else would be so stupid as to fall for it a second time.When he’d agreed to whatever Ardyn had said that last night, he hadn’t even heard him. But now he knows that he’d nodded in acquiescence to Ardyn saying he wasn’t going to heal him any longer. He hadn’t heard it them, but he hears it now in his nightmares. You’re so ungrateful, I don’t know why I do this at all. Maybe if you aren’t healed every time, you’ll build scar tissue and it will be easier for you to take me. He’d agreed to it, hadn’t he? Ardyn had reminded him of it the first time he locked that hotel door again after that night. It had been a good two hours after sex before Ignis could walk without whimpering, and he’d endured the throbbing pain in his backside, the stabbing jolts whenever he walked or sat, for two days until he was fucked again and it could begin all over.And it still keeps getting worse. Because Ardyn has been growing more and more volatile, more violent and unstable, unpredictable. It’s clear that he is purposefully hurting him sometimes, being more rough than usual, fucking him in strange places in painful positions, leaving heavy bruises on his hips and upper arms and thighs that he doesn’t heal, slapping him if he makes any noise. He’s stopped massaging his glands, leaving them swollen and painful even after sex, and he no longer cuddles or holds him. It’s brutal, relentless, dizzying.His only reprieve is when Ardyn lets him shower afterwards, limp to the bathroom as fast as he can, so that he can curl up in the shower and sob, the sound of the water drowning it out. He knows his mate knows that’s what he’s doing, but thankfully he allows him this one indulgence. And Ignis is grateful for it.Just as he is grateful for the rare instances where Ardyn does what he wants him to, which he’s silently praying will happen right now. Not that he genuinely prays anymore. The Astrals are all but dead to him by now.He almost doesn’t ask him, but he’s more afraid of going home like this than he is of what Ardyn might say. “My summer school uniform has short sleeves.”“And?” One of those bored looks tinged with disgust that Ignis is so used to now.“I…” he nervously fingers the bruises on his lower arms and glances up at Ardyn for half a moment. The ones on his thighs, his ass, his hips, his chest, he can hide, but not these ones. He wishes Ardyn would just do it, not force him to ask. “Please heal these.”Ardyn sighs and grabs his arms, healing magic snapping through his veins until Ignis feels no soreness in his wrists, sees no markings.“Thank you,” Ignis sighs, pulling away from him, and he means it. He did all of this to himself, and these tiny gestures of humanity from the person he forced to be his mate are all he can ask for anymore.-“You really gotta see a doctor,” Noctis murmurs, rubbing his back as Ignis leans against the wall beside the toilet, gasping for air. The first few times he’d thrown up in front of the younger boy, Noctis had balked. He still makes a show of holding his nose, but he’s adjusted to it quickly enough, and his concern for Ignis makes the older boy anxious. But at the same time it’s a relief, having this little bit of comfort.“I really can’t,” he whispers finally.“It’s not because you’re scared of my dad, is it? You’re scared of that guy.”He doesn’t answer. There’d been a scene a couple of weeks ago, after the knotting incident when Ignis had come home a terrified mess, a scene Ignis has tried very hard to forget because he had scared Noctis, the worst thing an adviser can possibly be doing.“We can protect you. I don’t think one asshole matters against the entire Crownsguard.”“Don’t swear,” he mumbles, relieved that Noctis allowed him to lapse into his old self for a moment. The sentiment is cute, but naïve. Noctis can never know that this asshole is the Chancellor of the one nation powerful enough to obliterate Insomnia, a nation very eager to do that very thing. Ignis fears the king trying to protect him just as much as he fears the king disowning him. “And it’s not that. He wouldn’t hurt me.”“That why don’t you ever go to the bath with me anymore? You always used to say it’s important to go to the hot tub in the summer. Good for your health.”Ignis groans. He hadn’t thought that Noctis, oblivious Noctis, would notice such things. “Even when we use the private tub, I can’t do hot baths with the baby.”True enough, thankfully, and he’s grateful that Noctis asked a question he had a reasonable answer to. The younger boy is suspicious enough as it is of how sick he is. Because he’s also half-fainting often now, his legs giving out beneath him. It crosses his mind more than once that when Ardyn healed him after sex, he also healed the worst of the symptoms of the pregnancy. Because that’s all this can be. A difficult pregnancy. Even though on all of the forums and medical websites he browses late at night, nobody else seems to be having this many problems unless they have a severe chronic illness to begin with. He tries to tell himself that’s all it is. After all, lately he hasn’t been throwing up only because he feels sick. He’s been doing it on purpose because without being healed any longer, this is the least painful way to expel food waste. Idiotic. He knows it’s dangerous, unhealthy, liable to cause permanent damage, but it’s not like he has long to live anyway.Noctis only sighs, then passes him a glass of water. “Hurry up and brush your teeth. I’m tired.”He wants to sleep with Ignis nearly every night now, nest or no nest, fuss over him more than he’s ever seemed to fuss over anything in his life, rub and poke at his belly and incessantly ask if he needs anything. The older boy has a sneaking suspicion it’s not because he wants to, but because he’s worried about him. Somehow, Noctis has become the caretaker to his caretaker.Just another way Ignis has failed him.-Seventeen days after the knotting, Ardyn changes the game again. Because as soon as he pushes Ignis into the hotel bedroom he now sees every time he closes his eyes, Ardyn leans in towards his ear and whispers, “You bore me now.”Ignis feels the inside of his stomach drop.“Maybe I don’t want to touch you anymore. Maybe I don’t particularly need you anymore.”“What?” He finally chokes out the word, instinctively touching his stomach.“That thing should be able to survive without you soon enough. And…” And then he’s not Ardyn. He’s Ignis, and Ignis is staring at himself, a form of himself now speaking Ardyn’s words with his voice. He’s hallucinating. He must be. Because Ardyn must be able to use illusions. And he suddenly remembers the way Ardyn moved so fast the day he’d knotted him. There’s something wrong here. Very very wrong, but he doesn’t have the time to decipher it.Ignis, Ardyn, whoever he is, touches his face now, and Ignis flinches away from the softness of the hand. Is he really so small, so soft and young? He feels old, adult, scarred and calloused and falling to pieces, and he wonders if Ardyn’s image of him is even accurate even as the man keeps talking. “Because we are fully bonded, because you made a mistake when you tried to kill me, I can do this now with the same magic I used to heal you with. I can simply replace you, get close to the royal family. I can kill everyone you love. I can bring Insomnia to its knees thanks to your selfish little mistake.”No. No, no, no. I brought this upon myself, upon Noctis, upon Insomnia. I stupidly thought someone else could save me from what I did, and now I’ve brought an even worse nightmare… There’s only one thing he can do. “Please. I'll do anything. I'll go with you to Gralea right now. I'll be your whore. I'll give you as many children as you wish. Just don't...” Don’t use that illusion ever again. Don’t harm Noctis. Don’t hurt the king. Don’t destroy my world more than you already have.“I can do all of that anyway. You're in no position to bargain, boy.”He doesn’t know how he finds the fire, the courage, to spit the next words. “Then why aren't you doing it anyway? Why should I obey you when you'll probably...kill everyone anyway?”His mouth – or is it Ignis’ mouth? – twitches in a smile then, feral and dangerous but hardly angry, and Ignis remembers that sometimes, sometimes, Ardyn likes when he’s like this. “You don't know that I will. You only know that I will do so if you disobey.”He can’t answer that, can only stare numbly at himself. He’d heard of illusory magic before, had seen more basic versions cast by some of the Glaives, but this is something else, something unfathomable, reprehensible, blasphemous. Only the Astrals should have this kind of power. Or people the Astrals have blessed. He wishes he’d pushed Ardyn more about his identity when they were on better terms.“And you're cute. If you please me, I might forgive what you just said, as well as...this.” A finger to the mark on his neck. “I might let you live.”If you please me. He doesn’t know what that means, and he knows that Ardyn won’t tell him until Ignis accidentally violates one of the unspoken rules, and then he will be punished, beaten and threatened.He strokes his face gently then. “If I let you live though, I will take you up on that little offer you just so kindly extended.” And then his hands are wandering down his body, over his groin as fingers that Ignis had always recognized as his own are unzipping his fly, tugging his pants down and fondling him. He’s never felt so violated, and he is reminded again, and again, and again, that Ardyn can always make it worse.

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Part 3, Chapter 10 – Gladio

He can’t deal with Ignis any longer. Ignis, who is never around anymore, never with the prince, never with the Crownsguard, barely even with the Glaives anymore from what he’s heard, and no longer even always at school. Stress, omega puberty, high school entrance exams. The younger boy has plenty of excuses to slack off and he’s been taking full advantage of them. Hardly the Ignis he once knew.“This is the third time this week you’ve asked me to walk Noctis home and make sure he gets dinner. I can cover for you sometimes but I have a life.”“I have to go study for the entrance exams,” he sighs, sounding bored, condescending. “You know that.”“You don’t need to take them yet. You don’t even need to take them at all. Any high school would accept you if the King told them to.”“That’s not how things should work.”He groans. Ignis could occasionally be cut-throat, breaking whatever rules he deemed irrelevant, but he’s being a stickler about this. “Why do you need to do everything your own way?”“I have to earn this position. It can be taken from me at any time. It’s not like I was just born with the right daddy so I was guaranteed a role in life!”“What?” The right daddy. He knows where this is going and still he can’t process it, still he asks questions.“You heard me. Or did you forget that the Trial is a joke? That if the name of the Shield had to be earned, then Cor would have gotten the title. Your father just got it because…”“You’re out of line, Scientia, way out of line,” he snaps out, the accusation all the more vicious for his usage of Ignis’ family name. No longer affectionate but effectively attempting to distance himself. He’s never been so pissed at his friend before, never been so pissed at anyone, he doesn’t think, except maybe his little sister when she ran away. But that’s different, that’s family, and anyway she was a dumb little kid. Ignis knows better. Omega or no, he knows better than to bring this up.“Why? Because I know how to accept reality?”There is so much he could say to that, so much. The reality is that Ignis probably won’t be adviser to the king, not now or ever. The reality is that omegas have no place in the royal circle. The reality is that Ignis will probably be married off in a few years, that he will likely have a child by the time Gladio graduates high school. The reality is that an attractive, intelligent young omega is a very convenient political bargaining chip. No – Ignis definitely doesn’t know how to accept reality. But Gladio isn’t going to say anything.Ignis takes his silence as agreement though. “Thought so,” he huffs, turns on his heel and half marches down the hall.The reason Gladio didn’t speak is because saying those things will only hurt him, too. Gladio doesn’t need the reminder that Ignis will very likely be forced out of his life soon. He’d always thought he was cute. More than cute now, now that they’re teenagers. He’s hot, attractive in a way that makes Gladio want to undress him and touch him everywhere. Alpha boys hooking up with beta boys is weird. But with an omega boy…less so. Still weird but not a social taboo anymore. Omega boys were so rare they were kind of exciting, the sort of thing people online obsess over. He could date him, have sex with him, even marry him and have a family with him, and it would be socially accepted. As halfway to royalty as he is, there are familial expectations, and some of those expectations involve proper courting and eventual heirs. So Ignis being an omega… But that most certainly is not accepting reality.Reality is that Ignis being an omega has created a rift between them. Since manifesting, Ignis has been distant, aloof, irritable and skittish. They never talk about what happened to Ignis a few months ago when he got kidnapped by some older guy. Supposedly he hadn’t actually raped him, but whatever he did obviously messed Ignis up. Made him nervous around men, around Alphas. Gladio doesn’t know how to act around him anymore. It’s not just because he’s an omega. It’s because he got hurt. There’s no training manual for what to do when your friend gets assaulted. He feels bad about it, feels like a bad friend for not knowing what to do, a bad person for feeling a little jealous and frustrated over it. Because now Ignis is shy around him in a way he never used to be, and Gladio feels like he’s losing him, bit by bit.He also feels bad because he thinks about it a lot, to the point where he’s probably a little obsessed. He doesn’t even know what that guy looks like and it doesn’t matter, because he only thinks about Ignis, thinks about what happened to him and what he did. In every way he imagines it, Ignis orgasms at least once. When he was younger he used to fantasize about masturbating with Ignis, touching him, exploring his body with him, maybe kissing him. He’d watched porn with him once last year, hoping it would lead to that, but Ignis had only gotten squeamish and demanded it be turned off, while Gladio was left with a hard on he had to awkwardly hide. He’d gone to sleep that night thinking about Ignis’ mouth.He chases him down the hall then and when he reaches him, he acts without thinking.He grabs his wrist to turn him around, only to feel a lump under the heavy sweater he’s wearing even in the summer, and he completely forgets their argument. You’re not supposed to touch an omega’s scent glands. It’s not like just shoving or grabbing a friend. They’re more sensitive; many omegas even wear special bracelets. Ignis’ are painfully swollen in a way that Gladio immediately recognizes as not normal. He squeezes his wrist a moment, a second time, rubs his thumb over the swollen gland until he feels the tension go out of Ignis’ arm muscles.Until Ignis shudders, twitches his hand around and jerks it back. “Don’t.”“Why not? We always used to push each other around.”“You’re an Alpha and I’m an omega,” he says calmly, looks down at his hands and curls his fingers into fists. “I’m a little shy now, I guess.”He finds this weird, considering Ignis just yelled at him. “I’m not going to do anything to you. I can’t even smell you. Doesn’t that mean, like, I see you as a family member?” An unfortunate truth.“Because I’m on medicine.”“Suppressants?” He’s taken aback by this. He feels like he should have known, like Ignis would have told him. But this also means that he doesn’t seem Ignis as a family member no matter how much he tries to. Even his hormones might see him as a potential mate. “I thought you didn’t really want to.”He’s silent a moment. “I don’t want to attract anyone else. I don’t want to get…” He stops himself.But the suggestion is there. The suggestion that everyone, Gladio included, denied for so long. “You didn’t tell the truth about what happened that night, huh?”“I don’t want to talk about it.”“You don’t have to,” he immediately replies, embarrassed he’d even said anything, and then for a moment he waits, the air between them thick and tense. He needs to change the subject. “Your glands are really irritated. Is that from the suppressants?”Ignis looks at him like he’s an idiot for a moment, then pulls a sleeve up an inch or two and absently rubs at his left wrist. “Yea. Uncommon side effect but it’s a bad one.”“Can I…?” he holds his hands out, silently begging Ignis. He wants to see him relax, wants to see him smile and maybe blush and thank him. The reality is that Ignis is forever out of his reach, probably even more so because of what happened to him, but he can still flirt with him, can’t he?“I can’t.”“Why? Doesn’t mean anything. I just want you to feel better.”Ignis looks at him for a moment, clearly at the verge of speaking, only to abruptly look away and continue down the hall.

Part 3, Chapter 10 – Ignis

Ignis has learned to keep his head down. He’s learned to immediately do everything Ardyn demands of him, be it with words or a nod of his head or a twitch of his finger. He’s learned how to react to the most subtle of the Alpha’s movements, the slight changes in his scent. He knows what he wants, when he wants it, and he’s quick to give it to him. He’s learned to undress quickly, learned how to give a proper blowjob, trained his body to produce at least a little slick when he knows he’s about to be assaulted, assuming he has time to do it. He’s learned how to stop crying, stop screaming, stop letting on that he hates what’s happening to him, letting on that it hurts.He’s learned to lie about his whereabouts. He’s learned to close his face and his emotions. He’s learned to hide the bruises, the belly, and he’s become very good at coming up with reasons to avoid getting undressed in front of others. He’s learned how to stop looking up helplines, abuse survival techniques, PTSD coping mechanisms, and omega pregnancies online, because he’s learned that no one and nothing can save him.He’s also learning how to disassociate, to go somewhere else when Ardyn rapes him. The problem is that the horror is only displaced, and it bubbles up inside of him at random moments. He might feel those hands on him in the middle of math class, might for a moment think Nyx or Drautos is him during training. But he doesn’t let Ardyn catch on, because he’s learned how to keep it together around him.The perfect little omega mate. Obedient, submissive, quiet. Ready to be fucked anytime, anywhere, and in any way. Eager to please and eager to keep a secret.-“What if I let you live, after the baby?”A shrug. He doesn’t believe Ardyn will let him live, though the fact that the man has brought it up multiple times recently has him terrified. If he does, he’ll just be his slave. He no longer really fears being killed, because at this point it sounds more appealing than the alternative. He behaves because he’s afraid for Noctis, and increasingly afraid for the thing inside of him he is, against all odds, coming to love.Ardyn touches his neck now, drops to his chest and absently fingers a nipple. They’re swollen now, puffy and irritable and so biteable, according to the man who has left teethmarks all over him these last couple of weeks. “Do you know what happens to omegas when they go into a heat but they don’t have sex?”Of course he knows, but he says nothing. Accidentally saying the wrong thing is usually worse than staying silent.“It’s worse for bonded omegas,” he whispers, tracing a finger up his bare thigh now. “You’ll go mad with the pain. You’ll be sick. There are even stories of bonded omegas dying if their alpha abandons them, because their heats grow so painful and nothing can sate them.”He doesn’t dare speak, only numbly watches Ardyn’s fingers now wrap around his thigh, run through the half-dried slick on the inside of his leg. He knows he’s going to finger him again. Can’t have you drying up on me. Probably fuck him again, or at the very least force him down and use his mouth on him. He only hopes he can get hard, because lately sometimes he hasn’t been able to, which enrages Ardyn, makes him hit him. Omegas are supposed to always be happy to have sex with their mates, their bodies supposed to react immediately. And it usually does, but twice this last week he hasn’t been able to, the fear of Ardyn using those illusions again absolutely crippling him. If his body can’t survive without this sex, he would be better off dead.He looks away at the last second, unable to watch himself be violated. He’d only watched once, when Ardyn had ordered him to, and he’d nearly choked in disgust. So he stares hard at the wall as he feels that push, the dull throb deep inside of him as a finger is pushed in. He doesn’t have to look to know it’s only one. He can tell by how it feels by now, how one finger feels differently after sex as before sex. Right now his muscles are still lax, tired from orgasm and loose from sex. Easy for Ardyn to enter him again, easy for him to find what he wants.But he doesn’t. Instead he pulls his finger out, then shoves three into him at once, curling his fingers inside of him and pulling up until Ignis shrieks, only to frantically slap a hand over his mouth and bite until he tastes blood. Don’t scream, don’t cry, don’t make a sound. He’s going to be hit now, isn’t he? He wants to vomit.“The pain you feel with me inside is nothing compared to what you’ll eventually feel if I abandon you,” he hisses in his ear, mouth so close his lips brush against him. He jerks up a second time, digs his nails into his inner walls until Ignis is writhing.And then he releases him. Ignis instinctively, immediately curls in around himself, hands between his legs as he clenches his muscles. He’s bleeding again, badly enough to make his fingers slip, to coat them. He’s used to this sort of injury now, but that doesn’t make them easier to bear.He can almost feel Ardyn’s gaze burning into his back, the man merely watching him squirm in pain, trying desperately not to whimper.“I’m taking you to Gralea. Permanently.”He stops moving, stops breathing.“I need about a month to arrange things. Even I can’t make citizenship papers move quickly.”“Citi...” His mouth is dry and he can’t find air.“Through marriage. You’ll revoke your Lucian status to do so. Fortunately we can bypass the visa because you’re my omega.”Marriage. It’s final then. His comprehension of what Ardyn had said stops at the second word. He wonders how long he’ll survive before Ardyn takes it too far again or a pregnancy goes bad, wonders how many children he can bear before his body gives up, how long he has to live in constant fear and pain. “How will I explain it?”“I’ll deal with the political side of things. Keep quiet another month or you know what I’ll do.” He grabs his shoulder then, rolls him onto his back and touches his stomach. “We can make more.”And his hand is wandering again, pushing Ignis’ thighs open and dragging him towards him. This is easier than talking about that. He can handle this, he can handle this, and Ignis fixates on a section of the wallpaper to the left of the bed and goes somewhere else.-That night, for the first time, as he half crawls into the shower and stands beneath the hard pellets raining down on him, he doesn’t weep. Not even when he’s alone, not even with fresh blood still running down his thighs, not even with the threat of marriage and being taken away from everything he knows and loves, the sentence of a lifetime of rape and terror hanging over him. He’s so exhausted, so defeated, that he doesn’t even have tears left.Ardyn has taken everything from him. And now he has even taken his ability to grieve.

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Part 3, Chapter 11 – Biggs

The kid is visibly traumatized. Crazy that anyone could look at him and think nothing was wrong, even crazier that people in Insomnia were apparently doing that for months. Sunken eyes, deep shadows beneath them, constantly darting this way and that, everywhere but at whoever is speaking to him. He’s rail thin, cheeks hollow and body far too slender beneath that baggy sweater he is wearing even in summer. It doesn’t take a genius to realize why. Bruises visible on his throat when the seatbelt tugs at the neckline of his sweater and a bulge in his belly that’s going to get harder and harder to hide.And as Biggs Callux Junior sits there, the car he was asked to drive for the Chancellor idling on the curb in front of a junior high school in the heart of the Crown City, where kids should be safe, he suddenly hates everyone.Everyone in Insomnia. Everyone in Lucis. Everyone in all of Eos.And most of all, perhaps even more than the Chancellor now fondling the boy in the backseat, his own father. He saw this. He saw this happen again and again and again as he drove the Chancellor around, his personal chauffer, and did nothing.As he starts driving towards the hotel requested, he knows it’s unfair. There’s been an uncomfortable pattern when it comes to Graleans crossing Izunia’s path. They tend to die. The elder Biggs would consider himself blessed by the gods to only be fired, would be baffled by his good fortune if he were only imprisoned, if he dared speak up about it. And that’s to say nothing of what might have happened to his family, as the Chancellor has not been above disappearing spouses and children for no good reason.But Biggs Junior is young. He doesn’t have a wife and kids to worry about. He just has a couple of friends who are crazy enough that they’d just delight in what he’s thinking of doing. Anyway this isn’t even his job, not really. He’s just stepping in for a bit for some extra cash because his father was called up for a brief war council stint and he didn’t have time to be the Chancellor’s servant this week. Biggs had jumped at the chance to cover for his dad. He’d always wanted to see Insomnia, and even if he hated Izunia, he could at least travel a bit. It’s not Biggs’ job, so he doesn’t have to behave if he doesn’t want to.Not now. He can’t now, with that little Insomnia kid whimpering behind him.“Leave him alone,” he snaps.If this surprises Izunia, he remains composed. “He’s my mate.”The nonchalant reply only emboldens Biggs. He glances in the rear-view mirror and sees the kid staring at him, even paler than before. Has anyone ever told him to back off of you? Probably not. “He’s just a little kid. Find someone your own age, you sick fuck.”“Ah,” and he’s silent a moment before continuing, his voice honey slow and dangerous and Biggs knows he’s screwed. “I’ve seen you around. You’re friends with the omega girl, aren’t you? Sensitive about omegas then?”He knows he’s fucked, but he also knows Aranea wouldn’t be intimidated by him. From what he’s heard, Ardyn seems intimidated by her anyway. So he swallows his fear and snaps out, “I’m gonna pull over now.”“I didn’t give you permission.”But Biggs ignores the less-than-subtle threat in that voice now as he swings to the curb, unsnaps his seatbelt and jerks up the emergency brake hard, not waiting for the car to come to a complete stop before he’s opening the door.“Get a taxi next time,” he shouts as he jumps out of the car and slams the door with such force the car rocks.And for good measure, he turns and starts running down the street before he can be blasted by some nefarious black magic.-“I’m calling to report a crime.” He’s half-surprised at himself to be doing this, calling the police in an enemy country to report against one of his own people, but the haunted look in that boy’s eyes eats at him.“Please hold while you’re being transferred.”He always wonders how messed up the emergency operators have to be to be so chill all the time. Maybe they’re on drugs.“Insomnia Royal Police Force. Lieutenant Trucio.”“I just witnessed a kidnapping. Happened in front of the Crown Junior High. Maybe twelve, light brown hair and glasses…” He hesitates. He thinks he’s heard his name before, but he can’t remember.“I can’t understand you.”He’s probably talking too fast. He slows down. “Kidnapping at Crown Junior High. Smelled like an omega boy so it’s probably a sex thing. He needs help immediately. He got pulled into a…”“I mean your accent. You even Lucian?”“Uh, no. I’m a citizen of Niflheim here on a temporary military permit.”“How temporary?” The drawl sounds so smug Biggs would probably punch him if they were face to face.“The fuck does it matter?”“It matters because the longer you’re here, the more likely you are to commit crimes, lowering your credibility as a witness.”He grits his teeth and debates arguing, but he knows it will go nowhere. Insomnia has always been disgustingly xenophobic, daring to call Niflheim racist and depraved for warring against states where people look a little different while taking every chance to shit on anyone who isn’t Lucian and make their lives as difficult as possible. Better to ignore it.“…Standard black government vehicle. License number VX247N.” He hadn’t wanted to implicate himself, but fuck it. They’ll see the paperwork for entry anyway and realize he was driving. He’ll say his name. “Borrowed by…”“Oh of course, going to pretend the king’s diddling kids now, huh?”“What?” he sputters. “Idiot. Borrowed by Chancellor Ardyn Izunia…”He hears some muttering in the background then, some dirty epithet, laughter, and then the click of a phone being hung up.He stares at his cell phone for a long moment, half wondering how much he just racked up in roaming charges. He shouldn’t be surprised at what just happened, and he guesses that he isn’t. He could try calling again, and probably again and again, and repeat ad infinitum, but he suspects it will always be the same. They must have recorded the call, right? At least it’s on record that the Chancellor comes into Insomnia and takes kids. Someone will have to do something.And then it occurs to him that he has no way to get home. He’d left his entry permit in the car so he can’t exit the country easily. Astrals be damned, it’s been a bad day.

Part 3, Chapter 11 – Noctis

Ignis never mentions his little breakdown nearly two months ago, when he had destroyed the nest in his room and collapsed on the stripped bed, weeping. Noctis had come running, panicked at seeing Ignis in such a state.
“Did you guys have a fight?” he asks, immediately figuring it’s that man. It’s always that man.

“A bad one,” he sniffs, then rubs his face and sighs. He seems to be thinking. “I don’t know if he wants to see me anymore. I’m probably going to be upset for a while.”

“Can I do anything?” and then “What about the baby?”

“What about it?”

“If you break up… we’ll need help taking care of it.” He surprises himself with the we, but he won’t take it back. Ignis definitely can’t do it alone.

Ignis doesn’t answer immediately, only shoves the last blankets off of his bed and sniffs, wipes his nose. “I don’t know.”
Noctis had tried to remake his nest the next day, knowing Ignis liked to relax in it after school. But Ignis had come home and destroyed it, snapped at him that he never wanted to see another nest after what just happened. But he never explained what.That was ages ago now, and Ignis has been in a steady decline ever since. He’s still not around very often, but Noctis doesn’t know if it’s because of exams, sadness, or that man taking up his time again. He can’t ask, because Ignis is forever avoidant and unwilling to say very much about it.Noctis sleeps with him every night. There’s no more nest, but Ignis still likes to cuddle, scent him and soothe him as if in practice for the baby. He whimpers in his sleep almost every night, sometimes even screams. Noct doesn’t know how to tell him, so he says nothing. He only holds him until he stops. In the morning he always pretends he’s fine, even if his eyes are puffy from crying in his sleep, even if he immediately has to run to the bathroom to puke, even if he’s covered in sweat and feverish. Everything’s always fine, fine fine, what do you want for breakfast, Noctis?-He’s sitting on his bed, his open laptop in front of him as he stares blankly at the wall just above it.“What are you doing sitting in the dark?”Ignis doesn’t answer immediately. “Just tired,” he finally sighs, and then he stands up, and yawns. It looks fake. “I need to take a shower,” the older boy goes on as he steps past Noctis towards the bathroom.Noctis doesn’t respond, only watches him until he closes the door.He’s been snooping a lot lately, which he feels a little bad about. Last week he’d peeked in Ignis’ wallet because abruptly one school night Ignis said he wanted pizza and ordered it, even though it was unhealthy and expensive. He’d had over 10,000 yen. Which made Noctis snoop through Ignis’ closet to check where he always kept his savings. The amount had scared him. And he’d checked his phone once, too. Ignis had changed his password and hadn’t told Noct, which he’d never done before. And he’d peeked into his room a few times when he was changing, defending it with wanting to see his tummy if he got caught. He’s seen a lot of bruises recently, red marks and scratches; Ignis had snapped when he’d asked.So he doesn’t think twice about stepping over to the bed and pulling the laptop towards him. He wiggles the cursor. It isn’t even on, as if Ignis was staring at a blank screen.He turns the computer on again to find a popup about the computer being shut down improperly. He hesitates before opening the browser, restoring the last viewed pages.One tab open to a search engine – would you date a knotted male omega? – one to a forum post about the subject, dated sometime the year before. Noctis skipped over the lengthy story in the opening post and only read the replies.
Male omegas are nasty anyway. DNW.

Wouldn’t touch an untrustworthy slut.

Once a he-bitch gets knotted, he’s too loose. Tried it.

I would. He’d be good in the sack at least.

No no no.

Lol really? Male omegas are the most statistically likely to have STDs.

Only if he didn’t want it. Nothing beats a male omega screaming.
He’s seen enough. He quickly turns the computer off, just as Ignis had, and pushes it back to where it had been. So Ignis wasn’t only pregnant and bonded, but he’d been knotted. Disgusting. He really hates thinking about them having sex. It’s not just gross but it’s scary that some guy who’s at least his dad’s age would do that to a kid. But the fact that Ignis had even searched this… He wonders if they really did break up then. Or maybe Ignis likes someone at school, but he’s stuck because of the baby. Or maybe he just wants a normal life.When Ignis gets out of the bathroom, Noctis nearly pounces on him, drops a towel on his head and furiously rubs his hair dry until the older boy bats at him. Last month he’s stopped wearing his pajama tops and turned to oversized t-shirts. Noctis thinks the stomach is starting to get obvious even when Ignis is dressed, but he figures nobody looks at what they don’t notice.“Let’s sleep in my room tonight.”He has that glazed look in his eyes that he has a lot now, and like before, he’s slow to answer. “I think…you need to learn…” He clears his throat. “Okay.”But he doesn’t move, and Noctis has to take his hand to tug him down the hall.-Ignis had more or less stopped talking four days ago. He answers questions so slowly and shortly that Noctis gave up trying. He knows he shouldn’t be annoyed, knows Ignis is going through a lot, but he’s kind of pissed at him. He’s no fun anymore. He never appreciates anything Noctis does for him. So he’s going to make him be fun. He walks halfway home with him in silence, a silence that used to be comfortable but now creeps him out, before he jumps on him.“Ow,” Ignis grunts, pushing him off. He sounds irritated, and not in the good way.“Ignis,” he draws his name out. “Don’t go study or whatever. Come to the arcade.”“I don’t have a…” Suddenly he freezes, staring straight ahead and mouthing wordlessly. It’s freaking Noct out.“Hey!” he snaps, jerking Ignis’ arm. What had he been going to say? He doesn’t like that, and the thought makes him tug his arm again. “What are you doing?”But there’s no response, Ignis twitches violently, sags against him, a dead weight until Noctis is forced to crumple to the ground beside him, and his body begins moving but it’s not him.He knows what this is. One of his classmates in fourth grade, a girl who’d always been nice to him, had suddenly fallen out of her chair one day, twitching in a way that just looked gross. The teacher had called an ambulance, sat beside her on the floor until it arrived. A seizure.“Ignis, Ignis…” he keeps repeating his name frantically, trying to remember what the teacher had done, and then he’s dialing the emergency number the way he’d always been taught. He frantically strokes the older boy’s hair as he holds his head in his lap. He's not supposed to tell anyone, especially not an adult, a doctor, but what can he do?“Are you reporting a fire or a medical emergency?” the woman at the end of the line sighs. She sounds so calm.“Medical. My…” What? Adviser? Doesn’t sound important. “Friend fell down. He’s having a seizure.” And then, because he can, “I’m Prince Noctis. Prioritize this call above any others.”Ignis had always taught him not to abuse his power, not to act like he’s different from anyone else, but Noctis hopes he’ll forgive him this instance.Ignis seems to have calmed down a little, but he’s still twitching and shuddering in a weird way. Noctis wonders if he can breathe and loosens his tie, unbuttons his shirt collar. His neck is bruised, badly so, and suddenly he understands what Ignis had been about to say. A choice. He doesn’t have a choice. He’s never been studying.He hopes he’ll be alive to forgive him.

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Part 3, Chapter 12 – Prompto’s mother

“Young male omega…”“Omega boy,” she corrects him.He doesn’t hear her immediately, only flicks over a sheet on the clipboard and continues reading. “Fever, hypertension, co… what?”“He’s not a young male omega. He’s an omega boy, a young boy who happens to be an omega. There’s a difference.”“Uh yea, okay. That’s why we’re coming to you,” he coughs and looks at the chart, clearly unsure of how to handle the interjection. You, one of the leading experts on the unique medical needs of omega children, also a leading expert in child abuse, as the two usually go hand in hand. “Thirteen. Approximately 24 weeks pregnant, though the fetus is small so we can’t be certain. He’s unconscious, collapsed and seized.”Thirteen. Old enough to legally marry or join the military but considered a child in all other regards. Pregnant. She feels a sense of vertigo. “Eclampsia? That could easily have been avoided unless…” Unless he’s never been to a doctor. “What aren’t you telling me?”“Not all symptoms are present, but we’re testing for eclampsia. He has no medical records since getting a flu shot and an annual checkup last October though.” He takes a deep breath and taps his pen before continuing. “The friend who brought him in Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum. This kid’s Ignis Stupeo Scientia, the next royal adviser in line, which means we will have not only the police breathing down our necks but the Crownsguard, too. I don’t know if the same laws about protecting minors from investigations apply if it’s a member of the royal entourage. And, erm… of a marriageable age or not...I don’t believe this pregnancy was uh…wanted. Otherwise he’d have been to a doctor by now.”“Of course it wasn’t. He can’t consent at this age.” But she’s distracted. She recognizes the name, has seen the boy around. You’d think if he were an omega, the king would have ensured that he had the best care possible, in which case she would have known about it. The circle of omega-specific doctors is pretty small, even in Insomnia. Which means he was never even tested. Everyone just assumed he wasn’t one, which makes her wonder about his parental lineage. Which in turn leads her to something else, because Ignis was not raised alone. “The Prince. Was he kept here for observation as well? If Ignis wasn’t tested, as I suspect, perhaps he wasn’t either.” And when one child in a household is abused, often others are. She doesn’t want to consider the ramifications if this is the most obvious suspect.“Ahead of you there. He wanted to stay here anyway, so he is currently in the family room with a counselor, but I checked his records. Alpha.”“No test for Ignis.”“None. Based on the development, we know he was thirteen during conception, which means he could legally consent, even if we both disagree. He exhibits all signs of this having been an ongoing situation, clearly had sex as recently as last night given the tearing, the bruises, and the, ah, teethmarks.”Disgusting. But an alarmingly common injury on omegas. “So he’s been being regularly raped for at least five months. We should talk to him and try to find out when and how things started before this gets too messy.”He arches an eyebrow but clearly decides to pretend he didn’t hear what might have been considered intended compromising of a likely investigation. Dr. Argentum hasn’t worked with this doctor very often, but she appreciates him even if he clearly finds her a little overbearing. A feeling she is well used to by now. Anyone who leaves the basement more than once a month knows that the personality stereotypes of genders are nonsense, but no man ever likes dealing with an omega woman who has more authority and talks more firmly than he does.She goes on, “I am going to hazard a guess and say that a rape kit wasn’t used.” Because it never is. It seems that most of the time, omegas don’t get them unless the victim is in a position to actually request it. Strange how it’s standard practice with Alphas and betas, yet people conveniently forget when it comes to omegas.“Your guess is correct. I don’t think it crossed their mind, as he came in considering the seizure and obvious cardiac distress.”She waves his intake files. “Oh? I think it’s pretty clear from the symptoms he came in with that he was raped. Interior scarring? Anal tearing and swollen glands? Contusions on his throat and hips that look like hands, thighs heavily bruised? Deep bitemarks all over? They even wrote that he recently had intercourse. Or did they just assume that it was consensual because he’s an omega?”He groans for what seems like the hundredth time and runs a hand through his hair. “We’ll just have to hope he talks to you. Before this gets in the newspapers. That said, there’s another big ah… hiccup. We ran ultrasounds, and of course we are running lab work on amniotic fluid and blood. Everything is preliminary but it looks like the fetus has that illness. The Scourge.”The baby, not the fetus. When does it cease becoming one and start becoming the other? She doesn’t know. She miscarried in her first trimester every time until she was finally deemed infertile, a failed omega. But the Scourge. Wouldn’t that cause a miscarriage? “And Ignis?”“Nope. He’s clean, though it looks like part of his illness right now is his immune system’s reaction. He’s possibly rejecting his own baby’s blood. Now some complications such as immune hydrops are common when blood types don’t match, but this is rather much worse on top of the probable eclampsia.”“And also never heard of, as Scourge infection generally renders one infertile, so we have never seen a child carrying it in the womb.”“Everything else looks okay though. None of the normal symptoms.”“How…?” she breathes out, though she doesn’t expect an answer. There is no answer to this, but there is no point in trying to figure it out right now without the labwork, without talking to him. “How is he right now?”“He’s under, but no need for a medically induced coma right now. He’s dangerously ill, but many of his symptoms are treatable. Autoimmune complications aside, though we will have to treat those based on what we know works in more conventional situations.”“Or we send for Lady Lunafreya. He’s more or less the adopted child of the king, is he not?”“We…don’t know if that’s wise. We don’t…”Because we don’t know who did this to him yet, and in cases like this, trusted adults or family members are usually the perpetrators. And Ignis would have all the more reason to try to keep this a secret of it was someone related to royalty. Or royalty itself. The thought makes her gut drop. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take advantage of his connections to get him the medical help he needs. Lady Luna could heal both him and the baby.”“It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve requested her assistance,” he says carefully. And true it is, for she has visited hospitals around Insomnia in the past. “One last thing you ought to know. We ran MRIs to ensure he suffered no damage from the seizure, which was a long one. His brain is more or less okay. The odd thing was, hard to say without an x-ray, but it looks as if his jaw might have a stress fracture. We were backed up and the tech who helped with the scans was in his residency. He got a little nervous and scanned too wide, so we could see more than necessary. Looks like nearly all of his molars are cracked, too. Unusual injuries for…”“It means whoever did this to him told him to be quiet. He had to clench his teeth to obey.”“I was afraid of that. I just mean, he might not talk much, either because he can’t or, I fear, he won’t.”-The nurse had alerted her that he was awake, that he’d stirred and moaned, been given a drink until he settled again. You can see him now, though he will probably fall asleep again within half an hour. She’d gone immediately, but now she hesitates a few feet from the bed.He looks so small. He has IVs in both arms and an oxygen mask, his hands bundles in wires and sensors to monitor his vital signs. The tests had come back. Eclampsia, as expected. Malnourishment and dehydration, as expected. Most of his counts were through the roof, platelets, white blood cells, lymphocytes, erythrocyte sedimentation… Some of it could be explained with the familiar, while the rest could only be because he was carrying what must be the first Scourge baby known. The Scourge could be sexually transmitted, but it nearly always resulted in infertility before death. Although data on this was limited, and last night she had confirmed that no omegas were included in the studies. Even though omegas tended to be more susceptible. It’s a mystery, through and through.And she fears he will end up being a scientific study, a marvel, thrust into the spotlight even more so than he already is.Granted, she has never seen Ignis Scientia outside of royal ceremonies aired on the television, but he looks nothing like the boy she’s seen in the past. His eyes deeply sunken, the shadows blue against his pale face. His face is gaunt, as if he lost too much weight too quickly, making him look older than the thirteen and a half that he is even as the bed around him swallows him.She sits slowly on the chair beside the bed then; she can see the slight swell in the blankets over his belly. At this stage it might not be obvious if he knew how to dress to hide it. She wonders if anyone knows about it, if anyone even knows he’s had sex. Probably not. Unless. She needs to talk to the prince.And as this thought hits her, the boy on the bed stirs, cracks his eyes open and sighs loudly. It’s a moment or two before his eyes widen, and the fear takes over. He looks panicked, eyes glistening as a shudder runs through him and he tries to push himself back and up in the bed. But he’s clearly too exhausted, too disoriented, to move more than a centimeter or two.She waits a moment before speaking, keeping her voice low and soft. “I am Dr. Pieta Argentum. I will be taking over as your primary physician and consultant during your stay here. I’m an omega myself,” she smiles at that, hoping it will calm him down. She has never used suppressants, and she suspects that were he in better shape, he’d immediately realize that. “May I take your hand?”He can’t speak, but he doesn’t flinch away when she gestures, holds her hand above his for a moment. She gives him another moment to express refusal, and when he doesn’t, she gently takes his hand. “It’s hard to speak on oxygen, so let’s do one squeeze for no, two for yes.”He squeezes twice immediately.“Do you understand what’s happening to your body?”One squeeze, and then half a squeeze before he’s suddenly jerking away, trying to lift his heavily needled and tubed arms, eyes rolling as he’s trying to change his angle and get a view of himself.She stops him, taps his hands gently. “The baby’s okay. We ran plenty of tests and he’s still kicking,” she smiles gently, squeezes his hand now. He’ll be told about the scourge later; right now, against all odds, the baby seems perfectly healthy and that’s the most he needs to know at the moment. “Do you want to see the ultrasound?”His eyes water and he nods so hard his oxygen tube clacks against the metal handles around the bed.She fumbles with his file with her free hand a moment before pulling out the printout. Two pictures from the ultrasound done when Ignis had been unconscious yesterday. She’d examined them closely and seen nothing unusual about the baby. Small, which can only be expected given the situation, but nothing more. She glances at it again before turning it over to him, holding it so he can see.He only narrows his eyes, and she suddenly remembers he wears glasses; she brings it closer, watching his face closely for any reaction. She doesn’t know what to expect, though panic is always possible. For all she knows, he’s been back and forth about denying what’s happening.“Little boy. All little girls, even Alpha girls, look the same at this stage. So this…” with her thumb she gestures at the baby’s middle. “This means boy.”She can’t be certain with the oxygen mask, but she suspects from the crinkles near his eyes that he is smiling at that, and her heart breaks to see it. He clearly loves the child, despite it almost certainly being the product of violent rape. She’s seen it before, seen it scores of times by now, but it hurts just as much every time, the magnitude of love children can have, even for what hurts them.“When you’re feeling a little better, we can do another ultrasound and you can see him yourself. How’s that sound?”He nods, again so hard that the tubes chatter and she can’t help but smile at him. At least he’s looking forward to it; he has a lot of ultrasounds, a lot of tests, in his future.“You’re going to be here for some time. You’re very, very sick and you have a lot of healing to do and… it’s safe here.” He’s not in any state to know details right now.He’s still staring at the picture, his eyes unreadable, though he’s narrowed them again.“We’re going to be giving you a lot of different treatments to get your body working again, and you’re going to be asked a lot of questions over the next few days. You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to, regardless of who asks, okay? Please just squeeze my hand so you don’t knock anything loose.”Two squeezes.“I’m going to start with a few today, but anytime you want me to stop, just stop responding. Do you remember how this happened?” Of course he must, but she knows she has to ask.There’s a dreadfully long pause before two weak squeezes.“The baby is about twenty-four weeks old, from mid-March. Did these activities go back to before you turned thirteen?”One squeeze.On the one hand, she is relieved, but she knows that if Ignis was thirteen all along, his rights will be even more compromised. So clearly a child, and yet not properly protected by the law. “Was this baby planned?” She knows better than to ask if he wanted it, because he clearly wants the baby now. Too often rape victims are dismissed because they grow to love about their child.One more.“Do you know the person who did this?” Person, not man. The thought of an alpha woman doing this to him makes her shudder, but unlikely as it is, it can’t be ruled out.Two. He’s looking agitated again, scared.“Did you consent to intercourse?”Certainly not, given the abuse he’s clearly suffered, but he was thirteen, not twelve, when the incident happened, and therefore he must make it clear that he did not consent. Which is why his sudden silence surprises her.“Ignis,” she says softly, knowing she is going off the script now, “this is not your fault. Do you understand that?”He jerks his hand away then, so roughly that she is taken aback by his sudden strength.There’s a certain way that he stares at the wall then, a determination and a desperation that suggests this is a mechanism he’s used time and again. His survival instincts have kicked in, and she knows that this soon, she has no hope of penetrating it. She nods once.“I’ll let the nurse know you’re awake and might want a snack, okay? Please know that you can call for me at any time; just let someone know. And… I’ll leave this here.” She smiles, tapping the ultrasound photos on the tray beside the bed before placing them down.She doesn’t expect a response, so she simply leaves. He was let down, horribly let down, by all of the adults in his life.Just as… she realizes with a jolt and glances at the clock on the wall in the hallway. Just as her son has been let down, again, left to fend for himself for three meals a day because his mother pulls twenty-hour workdays to care for other children and his father is never around.A moment later, she is checking out of her shift two hours early, because suddenly, there is nothing more important than being with little Prompto right now.

Part 3, Chapter 12 – Ignis

The door opens for what seems like the thousandth time that day, and this time Ignis barely reacts. Someone here to ask how he is, check his signs, change his catheter bag – which no one has done yet while he has been conscious but he dreads – bring him a meal, ask him another question he doesn’t want to answer. It could be anything. So when the nurse gently touches the end of his bed and tells him there’s someone there to see him, he doesn’t know how to react.Someone. Someone could be anyone. A machine next to him suddenly beeps as it picks up his accelerated heart rate, but the nurse seems to have expected it because she only glances at the screen a moment before nodding and turning to leave. Don’t leave me, Ignis wants to scream, but he can’t open his mouth, even though the oxygen mask has been removed and a thin tube placed into his nose instead for a few hours. For now. Your body needs a little extra oxygen when you sleep, so we will put the mask back on after your supper.But the man standing in the doorway is not who he expects.“Ignis,” King Regis breathes.And Ignis feels the familiar burn in his eyes he’d thought he’d lost forever. Except he’s not crying in pain or fear now, but something else as he reaches weakly for the king, now hurrying towards the bed with his arms wide to embrace him.Because it’s over. It’s over. Someone knows, everyone knows, and he can breathe again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 4, Chapter 1 – Ardyn

The first unread message was a little irritating. He rarely read the texts without replying, only when he was interrupted, and he never simply never read them. He apparently checked his phone at least every hour when awake, and often during the night. Unread after three hours was unheard of. Even in the middle of the night, Ignis always seemed to be awake, at his beck and call, ready to jump and respond to whatever filthy demand or salacious inquiry he saw.But after the third, after over seventeen hours of unread messages, Ardyn was suspicious. Possible he’d broken his phone and left it somewhere. He can check though, easily enough. Ardyn’d taken his phone from him months ago now, changed his password and told him never to change it again, turned on his GPS so that he could always track him unless the boy takes the battery out, turned on read receipts. Ignis had sat beside him nervously, hands in his lap and eyes wide but downcast.He checks now. The dot is stationary, though not at his apartment. And not at his school.The hospital. He knows Ignis wouldn’t have gone willingly. The boy is far too scared.And he knows he wouldn’t have told anyone who might have taken him. The adults in his life were clearly all too stupid to catch on, either, so this can only mean one thing. Ignis collapsed somewhere in public and someone else called it in. Or he died.So this is it.He leans back in the chair and closes his eyes. Ignis. He fights the urge to unlock one of the hidden folders on his phone, flick through the by-now hundreds of photographs, audio recordings, and videos he has of the boy. He’d threatened blackmail a few times but would probably never have followed through. He doesn’t want anyone else seeing what he sees. Ignis is his. Now he rubs the scar on his neck absently. Wouldn’t I know if he were dead? The bond would be broken. He knows surprisingly little about bonds, never having suspected they would affect his life. But if they are tied to the Crystal, surely he’d know? He digs his nails in now, remembers the ferocity in which Ignis had attacked him, slit his throat, and he realizes suddenly that having Ignis dead would be a little unfortunate.He checks the history. The phone hasn’t moved since over a day ago, moved directly from the school to the hospital, and then there to stay. Unlikely that they’d leave his belongings there if he were dead; surely they’d pass them onto the family for safekeeping? Which means he’s alive. He must have gone into labor, gone into labor without me there to ensure that it goes smoothly, that I get the child, that it isn’t taken... And at only five and a half months… He remembers what Verstael, that deranged little freak, had said, and grimaces. It would probably die, or at least be in a hospital in Insomnia for months. How he despises not being in control, and so he opens the call application.He doesn’t even give the Emperor a chance to speak. He’d long ago passed the point of no return regarding insubordination. The idiot bows down to him anyway so pretending to remain in rank has long ago ceased to serve any purpose.“All meetings tomorrow cancelled. I have business in Insomnia.” And he hangs up before there can be a protest.-The airship ride is not terribly long, a few hours, but he’s impatient. Even at the height of his human powers, warping across the continent was impossible. The daemonic powers he’d become host to two thousand years ago apparently weren’t capable of amplifying that particular power they way they could with his mastery over time. Irritating, but something that had never bothered him before now. Until now, he’d enjoyed the airship rides, felt a strange satisfaction from filing the regular border-crossing paperwork and getting permission as a foreign dignitary. He’d rarely warped in, crossing Niflheim and Lucis with a series of jumps that ended up exhausting him, but now, now it’s the fastest way. After all, it’s not as if he has anything physically demanding to do when he arrives there, for the first time in nearly six months. The thought makes him grit his teeth. He’s always had a strong drive and having a bonded mate has pushed it still further. A mate he mostly hates having.He remembers the first time he saw him, insolent and haughty as he stood outside with his friends, his eyebrows quietly judging everyone around him. The first time Ignis had laid those eyes on him, vibrant and cunning. I’ve watched that light in him die. The first time he’d let him into his hotel room, and all the times after when Ardyn had been relieved that he’d shown up. If Ignis had spooked, if he hadn’t responded to those texts or returned to the hotel, Ardyn would have hunted him down. Inconvenient. And of course that first game in the hotel. He’d fixated on his hands, his little hands as he’d moved the pieces around the board, once grabbed Ardyn’s leg. Ignis hadn’t known, hadn’t known that he would be taken, and had flirted with abandon, even once telling him that he might be thirteen, but he was an adult because of his past. He remembers undressing him, roughly peeling his clothing back to grab that soft pale skin, run his calloused hands over a body no one else had ever touched before and probably wouldn’t have touched for another five or ten years.He remembers how small he was the first time he’d touched him. He’s grown since that night, just as any thirteen-year-old boy would in half a year, though he was likely under too much duress to notice himself, his legs even more gangly than before, his dick a little bigger, soft fuzz growing in new areas, his shoulders broadening ever so slightly. Still tiny under Ardyn, but a good inch taller than he had been when they’d first met. Would probably be more so were his body not dedicating most of its energy to the baby. Not that it matters.Nothing much matters if Ignis is no longer within his grasp.-He can mask his Alpha scent. The young night shift nursing assistant whose identity he’d borrowed was a beta, easy to mimic. He hadn’t killed him, hadn’t wanted to draw that much attention, but his entry card was enough to gain access to the patient locale listing. Not important enough to view records, but enough to find Ignis.The Omega Critical Care Ward. Alphas not permitted entry without the proper paperwork, not even mates or family members. Because half the time an omega is in critical care, it’s due to an Alpha.The King probably doesn’t require paperwork, and he wonders if Regis had been to see the boy yet. The thought makes Ardyn’s lips curl back in a sneer as he checks a map of the hospital and steps into the elevator for the fourth floor. Only when the doors close does he cover his face with his hands and groans, momentarily lets the Scourge flicker through. Ignis.He’d known he was declining. Ignis had only asked to go to a doctor once, mentioning both symptoms of Scourge and others Ardyn didn’t recognize. But at that point he was so frustrated, so disgusted with Ignis for being weak, that he’d snapped at him and the boy had shrunk back inside of himself and never mentioned it again. Not even when he fainted, or the time Ardyn had gotten him into bed only to find his heartbeat frantic and erratic as Ignis gasped for air he couldn’t find. It was different from the fear and anxiety he often experienced, something far more physiological and dangerous. He hadn’t fucked him that day, suspecting the exertion would kill him. That was the first and only time he’d ever properly scented him, held him and nuzzled him, rubbed his glands over him to keep him calm lest he panic and make his heart worse. It was the best he could do. He couldn’t heal Scourge any longer. He could have let him go, but he was greedy; he wanted to touch him, smell him, own him. Ignis had only whispered a thank you when he left that day, when the boy of six months ago would have smacked him and demanded he back off. He’d been impressed with how long Ignis had fought him that first couple of months, and while this meek, submissive boy is easier to handle and breaking him had been satisfying, he half-misses the fire. This is the Ignis he remembers as he opens the door to his room.The oxygen mask is alarming, as is the excessive amount of needles in his arms and hands. He looks tiny in the hospital bed, swamped by pillows and soft blankets, and Ardyn wonders absently if omegas are provided with extra bedding to mimic a nest. His eyes look bruised, so sunken and dark are the circles beneath them, and Ardyn can see his eyes twitching beneath the lids in his sleep. It probably isn’t particularly restful.   And the more he looks at him, the angrier he feels. Someone else touched him. He knows without looking that Ignis must have a catheter, that someone else touched his genitals and worked something inside of him. And he knows from the notes that doctors had examined him inside and out, had cleaned him up and made notes of the scarring, the state of his glands. It’s medical, distinctly nonsexual, impersonal, but he doesn’t like sharing and the thought makes his fingers twitch.He picks up the charts hanging on the hook at the end of his bed now. A seizure is what did him in. He didn’t just faint. He seized. The list of symptoms is endless, everything in his body shutting down because of the Scourge he was carrying in his belly, the stress, something called eclampsia that he had never heard of, and the injuries Ardyn himself had inflicted upon him. He may have been a healer once, long ago, but he didn’t know a thing about pregnancy-related illnesses, and healing things he was unfamiliar with was always unpleasant. Injuries though, those are easy. Except if Ignis woke up without the bruises, the bitemarks and contusions, he’d face uncomfortable questions he wouldn’t be able to answer. He glances at the printouts of the MRI scans attached to his file, the teeth and part of his jaw circled. Cracks. Scribbled along the margins, Stress fractures? X-Rays mid-December. Presumably after the child is born. There are also ultrasound scans, not of his womb, but close-ups of his hips and pelvis. Again, possible stress fractures. C-section recommended. The last few weeks, Ignis had picked up the habit of absently rubbing his left hip and thigh, as if they were hurting him. He wonders if he fractured his pelvis or a hip by fucking him as hard and as often as he has. The better Ignis had gotten at not screaming, the harder Ardyn had pushed him, the rougher he’d gotten, just to see if he’d break.The strange thing is that despite all the scribbled comments about sexual assault, there’d been no rape kit. They hadn’t swabbed him for DNA when they’d seen how torn up he was. Not even recent and clearly violent intercourse necessitated the suspicion of rape for an omega apparently. Which made things a little easier. Although they don’t have my DNA on record. They instead have that of my distant nephew, the King’s. Wouldn’t that be ironic, if that name had popped up in the system? Isn’t most rape done by someone close, after all? He probably could pin all of this on Regis if he wanted to, and what a delight that would be, but then he would lose custody of the child, and he’d lose Ignis.He does not want to lose Ignis. He is realizing that more than ever now, as he stands before the frail and silent figure in bed.He keeps turning the pages until he finds the patient response recordings at the back of the file. Comments jotted down every time a doctor or a nurse speaks to him about his demeanor. In Ignis’ case, likely in preparation for therapy.Patient uncommunicative.Patient unresponsive.Ultrasound request.Uncommunicative.The pattern is consistent. The boy almost never speaks except to ask for more ultrasounds. Ardyn remembers the perpetually glazed look in his eyes during this last month, how he almost never spoke and always kept his head down as he immediately stripped and dropped to his knees without being told to every time the hotel door closed. Even if he lets him go, the boy will be severely traumatized, possibly for the rest of his life. If. If if if.And then it registers. Ultrasounds. He steps back and glances around the room, and only then does he notice the second little table on a moveable arm beside the bed, pushed out of the way now. A few magazines for new mothers, male omegas, even one for teen parents. A book of baby names with a few slips of paper poking out of the side. And a manila folder with Ignis’ name on it. Ardyn leans forward and flicks it open with one finger. The ultrasounds.He stares for a long moment, at first uncomprehending. It looks normal. Healthy. Well-formed.He knows already what it is before going through the rest of the folder.He picks the sheet up slowly and flips it over to see the doctor’s scrawl. It’s a boy! Due date December 8th.A boy. A new heir to the throne that the Astrals could never have anticipated. There are more ultrasounds dated only a day later, the ones Ignis had requested, presumably. He wonders how often Ignis can have them done.Ignis suddenly makes a whimpering sound, shifts position and half turns in his sleep, and only then does Ardyn catch a glimpse of green hidden beneath his arm and the sheets. He leans forward. A cactuar plushie. He still sleeps with stuffed animals. He’d never known that about him, had never asked.He wants to touch him, stroke his face and touch the now-visible mark on his neck. He wants to gently kiss him until he awakens. He can count on one hand the number of times Ignis had sparked such feelings within him, so rare to feel anything but a need to fuck him. Like all omegas and Alphas, he has ancillary glands in his armpits. Ardyn had rarely touched them, only during those few weeks when he’d been gentle, when Ignis had been complicit. He would always squeal and howl and laugh, clearly ticklish. Strangely, it’s touching those that Ardyn is thinking of right now.He isn’t particularly concerned about waking him as he pulls his phone out. He’d seen the prescriptions. Heavy painkillers and sleep aids; Ignis won’t wake up easily as he yet again performs a fantastic act of insubordination.“Send the Oracle to Insomnia. The King will tell her what to do.”“Why, exactly?” the Emperor sighs.He looks at Ignis again for a long moment, at the screens monitoring his vital signs. “Correcting a misstep.”

Part 4, Chapter 1 – Regis

He pushes his way through the doors into the pediatric ward, where he’d been directed to go, and can’t keep himself from crying out to the first person in medical garb that he sees, a middle-aged woman with reddish-blonde hair messily pulled up and an air of authority. “Ignis, Ignis! Is he all right?”When the phone call had come, he’d again thought it was Noctis, again, even after what had just happened…. He hasn’t learned his lesson. Ignis can be in trouble, too. Ignis can also get hurt. Ignis can also die. The phone call had been far too vague, the emergency operator at the hospital only reporting that Ignis Scientia was undergoing care in the emergency room, probably not even noticing who the emergency contact number on the boy’s school identification card belonged to. Regis had hesitated to put his own private cell phone on it, but now he is grateful he did.“He’s in the critical care unit and we expect to keep him for some time, but he’s alive with no permanent neurological damage.”“Then why…?” Why are you going to keep him? Why did he have a seizure?“He has eclampsia...” and the doctor hesitates then, looking askance as if she were unsure what to say.But it hardly matters; he’s never heard of such a thing. “What is that? Is it deadly?”“It’s related to his condition. Your Majesty….” And she hesitates, presses the file she is holding to her chest and sighs. “He’s twenty-four weeks pregnant.”Pregnant.He sinks, suddenly trembling as he leans heavily on his cane, and without a word the doctor takes his arms and guides him towards the armchairs along the wall of the entry longue. The word reverberates in his skull, every echo aging him another year. Pregnant. Ignis is pregnant.“He hasn’t seen a doctor since before this began, and therefore his blood pressure problems went unnoticed until now. He has a lot of things going on and it will be some time before we can get a proper diagnosis, but we’re doing everything we can.”There are no words for this, and so he only sits, grateful for the chair now. He only hears an echo of every word said to him.There is something guarded, even judgmental, in the woman’s tone as she goes on, “He came in here with signs of ongoing physical and sexual abuse. He’s severely traumatized and he’s bonded to whoever did this to him.”Whoever did this to him. Bonded. Twenty-four weeks. He knows who that is. No, no no. He buries his face in his hands and holds his breath, wonders if he can stop time, wind it back six months, a year, years and years. Why hadn’t he had his blood type tested? Why hadn’t he protected him? Why had he so willingly believed him when Ignis had said Ardyn hadn’t raped him? Oh, little Ignis. So brave, so unwilling to be a burden to anyone else. This is all my fault. I never should have placed so much responsibility on him. I should have…“I’m not sure how to tell you this, but regardless of your position, we are not comfortable letting you see him alone. It’s not the hospital’s decision, but that of my colleagues and I. We can’t stop you, but I hope you understand why we’re concerned.”Because usually the first suspect in line when a child is assaulted is their father figure. “I understand,” he says softly. “Thank you for putting his safety above your position.”“He’s still unconscious. Would you like to peek in on him when you’re ready? We don’t expect him to be awake until tomorrow.”Unconscious. Several years ago, Noctis spent over a month in a hospital only to leave in a wheelchair. Regis is no stranger to critically injured children in the hospital, but seeing them doesn’t get easier. “How does he look?”She must be able to read his mind, or perhaps she’s used to this sort of thing after years of working in a childrens’ hospital. “Small, tired. He’s on oxygen and several IVs, but there was no surgery. It’s not the same as when the Prince was here,” and she sighs. “I was here when he was brought in, though as I specialize in omega children, I wasn’t involved. We were all very concerned.”“Thank you,” he nods once. “I’ll be ready to stand in a moment or two.”-The next day, the nightmare hasn’t ended. He’d looked in on him for only a moment or two the previous night, unable to bear seeing him silent and suffering in a bed too big for him, and then he’d left. Gone back to the impossibly dark Citadel, his sanctuary now torn apart by that monster of a Chancellor in Niflheim. Raping and impregnating the royal adviser in training, someone as close and as dear as a son to him.He calls immediately in the morning, again six hours later, again in the evening, only to be repeatedly told by the frosty receptionist that he’s unconscious, or that he’s only been in and out, regardless, he isn’t prepared for a visitor yet.Approximately 49 hours after he’d first been called, he was invited to return to the hospital, Ignis’ consciousness stable for the time being. He is in the middle of a meeting, one that he found hopelessly petty, irrelevant, about Niflheim levying new import taxes, when he gets the phone call. He’s awake and stable right now. You may come during visiting hours for a bit.The King cuts the meeting short immediately. It’s not as if he were there to begin with.-He freezes in the doorway for a moment when he sees Ignis awake, half-sitting up amidst a pile of pillows. The swivel table attached to the bed is half in front of him, an empty jello cup and a magazine on it. As the nurse bustles towards the door to stand guard, monitor their encounter, she whispers, “He’s been very nervous.”Of course he would be. But that makes him step forward, “Ignis!”Ignis is already reaching towards him, his movements restricted by the amount of tubes and needles keeping him where he is, but he still tries. And Regis can see that he’s crying, tearing up just as he was that dreaded morning when he had run up the steps to meet him after being dropped off by…. No need to think about that right now.He sits on the edge of the bed and hugs the boy as carefully as he can. Now, now he can smell him, the comforting scent of an omega, the brooding maternal scent of pregnancy… and the territorial mark, the vicious scent of Ardyn Izunia, only recognizable for all the times the man had scent out a flare of pheromones in the war council room to intimidate. To everyone else in the hospital, he simply smells…owned. He must have been on medication to mask not only the pregnancy but the bond… Poor child.“I’m so glad you’re safe,” he finally sighs as he strokes his hair gently. “I’m so sorry for not being…”“Please,” the boy squirms against him and pulls back. “Please don’t. I am the sorry one, Your Majesty. I was irresponsible, and I lied to everyone for so long.”“Nothing to apologize for, Ignis. You’re a child. What happened…”Ignis narrows his eyes at that. “It’s not that simple.”Regis sighs. The boy has almost never argued with him, unsettlingly loyal even at the age of six, though the few arguments they have had over the last seven years always ended with Ignis winning. This one is one Ignis must never be allowed to win, but he’ll let it rest today. “Are you getting some good rest and care here?”He nods, clearly relieved that the subject has changed. “They’re nice, and medications help.”He’s on a lot of medications, but Regis suspects he means the sleeping pills, the painkillers. His eyes drift to the boy’s neck at the thought. The scar over the gland on his neck is large, difficult to hide without magic, and Regis can see deep bruising lower on his throat. He remembers the doctor’s warning not to hug him too tightly, that his entire torso, upper arms, and thighs were covered in bruises, scratches, and bitemarks. The monster had hidden the bond scar but hadn’t bothered to heal him. He wonders absently if this is tantamount to an act of war.But before he can get further, Ignis changes the subject again. He points towards the folder on the table. “Did you see?”“No,” he smiles. “Dr. Argentum said I ought to wait for you.” Not entirely true; he was still Ignis’ legal guardian and entitled to most of his medical records, but because Ignis was not a minor when it came to sex and marriage, he wasn’t when it came to pregnancy either. The ultrasounds were his. Absurd. Regis bitterly wishes he’d thought to properly navigate omega law and parentage, regardless of what Noctis and Ignis were. To think so many other parents have had to suffer through this and I as their king was unaware.“He’s little but he’s okay,” he’s smiling now, the tears slowed as he opens the manila folder. “December 8th.”He holds his breath as he looks at the ultrasounds now in his hands. Tiny, not much larger than a kiwi, and still he can see so clearly how human he is. Perfectly formed. And he lets his breath out. He hadn’t known what he’d expected, a demon perhaps. Nothing good could ever have come out of Ardyn Izunia. “You have a few months to figure out a name then!”“Probably not enough time,” he says calmly, “and I can never decide how much influence a name has over a person.”He sounds just like Ignis again. He smiles, and perhaps in his relief, he oversteps his boundaries. “May I…?” he asks softly, hesitant, his hand above Ignis’ belly, eager to feel the soft kicks, the gentle firmness of a pregnant stomach again. His wife had talked about having many children, no less than three, before she had died too young. Even if this is Ignis, his ward, a child and an omega boy, it’s still a baby.The boy freezes a moment, eyes wild, and Regis is again reminded of what the doctor had warned him about. Trauma, erratic behavior, emotions that don’t seem appropriate for the situation.“I’m sorry. That was an inconsiderate…” You’ve been assaulted and abused by a man my age for the last six months and I could think of was myself.Ignis shakes his head, an arm around his middle now. “He isn’t very active. The doctors said it’s just because he’s little.”“He’ll be okay,” he smiles, though he isn’t sure of that. If Ardyn had continued to beat and rape the boy throughout the pregnancy, as seems to be the case… But he can’t say anything further on it, because there are doctors whispering at the doorway.“Your Majesty? Please come out into the hall a moment?”Ignis looks up at him, alarmed, and Regis can only gently squeeze his hand. “It looks like I’ll have to go for now. Try not to sleep through visiting hours tomorrow, hm?”“Can you bring Noctis? And all my schoolbooks?”“Of course.” Why hadn’t I thought of that today, either of them? The thought hadn’t crossed his mind. “Now get some rest. Let the nurses know if you need anything else; they can pass on the message.”He hesitates before standing, wondering if he should say the words on the tip of his tongue. But he’s never said them to Ignis before, only to Noctis, and he’s afraid that they will only startle him. Did Ardyn say it to him when he touched him? He doesn’t know what he’s been through, doesn’t know what will scare him, doesn’t know what words and actions were tainted. So he doesn’t say it, only pats his hand, his head, before grabbing his cane and heaving himself up.When he reaches the doorway, he waves again before the nurse walks him into the hall. “We would like to speak with you a moment, if possible.”Dr. Argentum is there, waiting outside with the same tired and mildly frazzled look. “We ran amniotic fluid tests on the baby or fetus, primarily medical, though we did run it against other blood samples in the system in preparation for the likely police investigation and paternity test.”The words startle him, and only then does he realize that Ignis has told no one about who did this to him. He himself had only known because he recognized his scent, something Ignis himself probably doesn’t know. “He hasn’t mentioned the father?”“Not in name, no. He won’t.”There is something about the way she says it that should bother Regis, but he is distracted. What would the ramifications be if this got out? He wants to press charges – no – wants the Chancellor executed, but in the current political climate this could so easily go a thousand different ways. He wonders if Ignis has thought of this, or if he’s been threatened into silence. He is still thinking about this as the doctor goes on.“As you can probably imagine, testing is stressful for both Ignis and the baby, so the fewer times we have to draw, the better. And you understand that as royalty, you’re in the database.” She doesn’t explain it further, only stares at him expectantly.And then he understands, the tone catching up to him.The blood test results. That which he never wanted to be made known. All of my past mistakes are coming to consume me now. Because there was a match, not with the father of the child, as the doctors had initially suspected, but with Ignis himself. His voice is barely a whisper when he finally replies. “I must speak to the Prince, and then to Ignis, before we go any further with this. I must explain some things I don’t want them to first hear on the news.”The doctor bows at this, “I understand, Your Majesty.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 4, Chapter 2 – Noctis
He’s been a mess. He hadn’t realized how much he relied on Ignis for everything until suddenly the older boy wasn’t there. Not just to help him with homework and make sure he ate well and got ready for school on time and behaved properly, no. But also how he was there for Noctis to talk to, always there to be supportive and sometimes willing to play games or watch movies with him. Now that he’s staying with his father again, he doesn’t have any of that.He’s only been able to see Ignis twice, each time for only maybe fifteen minutes. Weird how Ignis had managed to keep going before the hospital, but once he ended up there he was always tired. It’s because I didn’t let myself be weak before. I had to keep it together but now I can rest, he’d said when Noct had complained. He isn’t sure if he believes it though. He still seems really scared all the time, jumpy and twitchy, uncomfortable with anyone touching him, flinching from the doctors, always checking his phone which Noctis had smuggled in for him. Maybe he’s getting some rest, but not much.Noctis is supposed to go again tomorrow, but first he has to deal with his father. They’d managed to avoid this talk until now.The talk where his father asks, “When did you find out?”“Uhm… don’t remember exactly. Months though.” He remembers, remembers the exact moment, but he isn’t about to say. Not because he’s afraid of getting yelled at, but because he’s afraid for Ignis."Months? You knew for months? You weren't going to tell anyone?”"No. I hated keeping it a secret, but I did it for him. I did what he asked and what he wanted. I didn’t wanna betray him.”His voice is somewhere between a roar and a snarl, a sound Noctis has never heard him make. "That important a decision wasn't yours to make."This makes him snap. The accusatory tone his father is taking with him. The way he’s acting like this is somehow Noctis’ fault, maybe Ignis’ fault too. "It's not your decision either. It was Ignis'. He's not a baby. He knew what he was doing. He wanted to keep it a secret and I honored his wishes."He doesn’t answer immediately to that, so Noctis takes advantage of it. He doesn’t usually talk to his father, and when he does talk, they rarely discuss anything serious. He doesn’t know when his father will suddenly be busy again, so he better get it all out.“Maybe it wasn’t up to him to tell someone? Maybe it was yours to notice. You didn't even notice anything. He was sick. He was always sad and scared. He was always gone. He quit Crownsguard and stopped going to Kingsglaive training. His last report card had a B+ on it, which he never gets. He looked awful. You didn't even see him most of the time. You didn't care, so don't pretend you do now!"His father looks like he’s aging, getting thirty years older in thirty seconds as he slumps over the back of the chair now, runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “I’d…believed it was only because he knew he was an omega. Adjusting to the hormones, maybe acting out a little. And he’s thirteen, so I thought…”“It was normal? Maybe if you learned about omegas you’d have known it wasn’t! I read a lot about omegas online when he found out. He’s just a normal kid. Dunno why everyone acts like he’s not anymore.”“Noctis…” and then he shakes his head. “It’s easier for children to not see difference. You’ll understand someday.”He doesn’t know what he means by this and is quiet a moment, unsure if he should be insulted or nervous. Does he mean when Ignis goes into a real heat?But then his father is changing the subject. “Why didn’t he want you to tell anyone?” he asks softly, gripping the back of the chair so hard his hands look white.“He’s scared.” Not was scared. He still is. Noctis could see that in the hospital. And the way he talked to the doctor, the nurses. Polite but hostile, defensive, like he’s hiding something, like he’s afraid.“Of who? Please tell me he was not afraid of me.”His father begging is just gross, but he feels bad for his outburst now, just a little bit. “I think a little, but mostly the other guy. The Chancellor.”“Did he threaten him?”He shrugs, now frustrated that Ignis had told him so little. Not that he’d necessarily tell his father if he knew. “I think so. But…” and he stops himself. “Ignis didn’t want you knowing. That’s his business.”“Ignis is seriously ill in the hospital right now. He nearly died. He’s covered in wounds and very sick and very traumatized. His business is no longer just his business. You know there might be a police inquiry, don’t you? The city police are not the same as my police; they operate outside of my jurisdiction and if I interfere, which I might have to, it will be a nightmare.”Noctis kicks at the ground, shifting his weight because suddenly his knee hurts. Whenever he gets really mad this happens. Ignis once said it was because of blood pressure, and then he’d laughed so he might have been making stuff up. He misses that Ignis. He hadn’t really thought about police, somehow, so he changes the subject. “Why’s he sick? Does he have an STD?”“Who told you about that?” Voice sharp again.“I…searched it. I read something about omegas that Ignis had been looking at and it…it said omega boys get a lot of those. So does he?”“No, I don’t think so. He’s suffering from a pregnancy complication and general distress. He should have gone to the doctor a long time ago.” And then, softer now, “Noctis. Do you understand what happened to him?”“I think so.” He feels sick, suddenly remembering what he’d seen online. Rape. Forced sexual intercourse. When a man holds someone down and pushes his dick into them and has sex with them when they don’t want to. He remembers the disgusting forums where people talked about doing it to omega boys, talked about how gross omega boys were and how they deserved to be dominated. He knows it happened to Ignis, probably a lot, and he knows that sometimes Ignis enjoyed it, maybe even started it. Not his dad’s business though. Doesn’t matter if Ignis had fun sometimes because he cried just as much. “Ardyn made him have sex.”His father breathes out slowly. “Yes. Sometimes adults… They want to hurt children like that. They’re attracted to them, or they like feeling powerful.”“Yea it’s called pedophilia. Or hebephilia. But some say it doesn’t count with omegas.”“Astrals, Noctis. What have you been looking up?” He buries his face in his hands again and Noctis has the creeping sense that he actually did something wrong.But he’s been doing the right thing; he knows this. Holding Ignis at night, distracting him when he’s upset, taking on more tasks at home so the other boy can go do what he needs to do, helping him in the bathroom when he’s sick even if it’s gross, keeping his secrets… He’s doing what he has to do for someone who has been a friend, a brother, and even a mother to him all these years. “I was trying to help him! I have to take care of him!”“It isn’t your job. I feel like…you both grew up so fast. It should have been my job.”“But you didn’t do your job! And just so you know, I don’t think Ardyn just wanted to hurt Ignis though, at least not always. I think…” he trails off, but he can tell his dad what he’s worried about without telling him Ignis sometimes laughed about it, sometimes mentioned how his mate was attractive and smart and fun. So then he voices his fears all in a rush. “I think he was nice to Ignis sometimes, like he really wanted him. He might come for him. They’re bonded.”“I know. And we will protect him.”“Will you?” It comes out meaner than he intends, but he realizes it’s how he feels.“I will do everything I can. I know I have no excuses for what happened, just I have no excuse for this.” He takes a deep breath, rubs his hands together. “Noctis, there is another thing I need to talk to you about. Something came up when they were doing some tests on the baby.”No no no. If anything’s wrong with it, Ignis will be devastated. He likes the baby. He talked to it sometimes at night. He rubbed his belly often, let Noctis push gently to feel the little kicks, rare as they were. Sometimes it made him laugh. And now, at the hospital, he can’t stop looking at the ultrasounds, keeps showing them to Noctis, asking him about names. It’s the only thing he will talk about. He acts like Ardyn doesn’t exist. “Is it okay?”“Yes yes, it’s…about Ignis’ parents.”“Aren’t they dead? He never talks about them. Says he doesn’t remember.”“His… His mother and stepfather were the ones who died. His father is alive.”“Why isn’t he taking care of him? Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if.... What is wrong with all of you? Why can’t you adults do what you’re supposed to do and-““Stop, stop, please, Noctis. Just listen, this is very important.”“Oh?”“Before I knew your mother, I was with a different woman.”Noctis can’t breathe for a moment. He thinks he knows where this is going already. It’s obvious, isn’t it? He wants to scream at him to stop talking.“I thought I might marry her, but she was from Tenebrae, and there is an expectation that the king marry a Lucian for obvious reasons, especially as Tenebrae is a territory of Niflheim. We… got a bit carried away. She ended up with child, though she didn’t tell me until much later. We ended things when she was still early on and she eventually married someone else. I had no idea until I visited Tenebrae some nine years ago. He was four then.”No, no. But at the same time, everything suddenly makes so much more sense. The world clicks into place despite being so disrupted so recently. But why wasn’t he treated that way? “I can do math. Ignis is my brother. Half.”“Yes,” he sighs. “His uncle who had been here is his stepfather’s brother.”“Why didn’t you tell me?” he explodes, “why didn’t you raise him? Instead of acting like he’s a servant!” and then, because too much is happening in his head all at once, “So he’s the real prince then! The older brother. And then the baby!”He almost smiles at that. “That baby is going to cause some trouble, huh?”“He can be prince, it’s okay. He’d be better.”“No, Noctis.”“’Cause he’s an omega? Stupid.” Although something else about him being an omega comes to his mind then. If they’re related, he doesn’t have to worry about when he manifests. He doesn’t have to be careful around Ignis, won’t make him nervous as an Alpha. Because we’re family, family. “I don’t care if he’s an omega. He should be prince if he wants.”“Noctis,” and his voice is tight. “The Crystal chooses the prince. It chose you. And his mother... she was from Tenebrae. The prince must be Lucian.”“So the baby can’t then. Only…one quarter Lucian. Does he know?”“Not yet.”You should have told him first. But instead he says, “I wanna tell him tomorrow. He’s my brother now, for real. And I’m the one who took care of him more than you.”He makes sure to keep himself from trembling, from limping, as he turns and walks from the room.
Part 4, Chapter 2 – Aranea
“King’s got a bastard, what a surprise! Aldercapt’s probably got a couple too,” Biggs is flicking through the news on his phone.“If he has the balls,” Aranea snorts, pretending to do the same at her desktop while she instead reads comics on her social media feed. Biggs has been crashing at her apartment for two weeks now, which means Wedge comes too. The weirdos are like Siamese twins or something, but she likes the company. They’ve all been friends long enough for them not to care at all that she doesn’t take suppressants and they never treat her any different because of it.“Oh…” Biggs suddenly freezes, drags his leg off the back of the chair as he sits up properly. “It’s that kid. The omega I told you about. The one with the Chancellor.”“He’s got an omega son? Probably why he claimed he was a bastard,” she snaps out then, clicking out of her social account and opening up the search engine. “What’s his name?”“Ignis Scientia.”She only mistypes once, those weird Lucian names. The stuff that comes up takes her aback, just as many tabloids as legitimate news sources, as well as a few imageboards, social media accounts, and forums. Legitimate first then.She skims a few; everything is more or less the same. Thirteen-year-old Ignis Scientia, eighth grader, arrived at the hospital in a seizure a few days ago. Twenty-four weeks pregnant, though he hadn’t gone to a doctor about it before. Came in bonded, mate unknown. Several days later, the King of Lucis announced that he was his illegitimate son, that he was a Lucis Caelum, a member of the royal family. Then a comment from the King in half the reports, a request to respect the family’s privacy.The tabloids told a similar story, though more salacious. They mentioned eclampsia, bitemarks and bruises, trauma, as if someone working at the hospital had leaked the kid’s medical records to some journalists without scruples. And plenty of speculation about the father of the child, commenting on how attractive Ignis was, how fresh he was, how the pregnancy made him shine. Aranea somehow doubts that. She’d always thought pregnancy was pretty nasty, like a parasite or something, and she figures the kid is in a hospital and probably looks like shit, but people are gross about omegas.All the pictures in the papers are of him from a year ago, probably when he was still twelve. And as if reading her mind…Biggs again from the other side of the room, “Why’s his name here? Isn’t he a minor?”“Thirteen, so technically no when it comes to mating and marriage. You know they take that literally with omegas,” she scowls. She’d been in the news once, getting into a pretty nasty fight at school ending in a kid in the hospital and a suspension. The boy she punched out, a beta, had his name withheld, but hers went out there even though she was barely thirteen. “Adult in every sense of the word the second he turns thirteen whereas betas and Alphas get a few more years regardless of the law. And a fucking slave to his mate. You know they can’t even refuse a marriage? And there’s no such thing as mate rape, like their mate can do whatever they want and the omega can’t do anything. I mean, if that Chancellor creep touched him after he bonded with him, nothing he did can be considered a crime. All just acceptable because he’s an omega.” She’s getting heated up now, staring at the photo of the little dirty blonde kid on the screen. She knows that rape is no exception. Beatings are also acceptable. Even murder, while technically illegal, is something judges and juries are very good at pretending was justified. The Chancellor could kill this boy tomorrow and have people apologize to him for having an out-of-control omega mate who needed to be put down.She regrets moving to social media and imageboards next, but she is angry now and clicks without thinking#Nextheir is the tag. Hundreds, thousands of posts, all about wanting to impregnate him next, make the next heir. The comments are absolutely filthy, abhorrent, disgusting, especially as the person they’re talking about is a 13-year-old rape victim. Clearly there is no shortage of Alphas happy to rape a child if he happens to be an omega, which makes her wonder about humanity. There are photos too, candid photos of Ignis at school, in a sports club, in cram school, walking through the park with the Prince, stuffing his face in a café, anything and everything. Some photos are probably old, paparazzi shots because he’s the royal adviser in training, but others are clearly photos snapped by classmates for various reasons, probably posted now for the first time or even sold to the highest bidder. The idea that other children are complicit makes her sick.“People are deranged,” she says aloud then.“You looked him up, didn’t you?” Wedge, slowly putting his book down. “I don’t even have to know the whole story to know searching for it was a bad idea. Every Alpha and every person who’s ever been mad at the king will target him just because he’s easy.”“Ugh, yea. He’s probably always had to deal with paparazzi but this is…” She clicks out and goes to an image board against her better judgment.Some bad photoshops and, alarmingly, a few drawings of him. Granted, looked like regular pseudo-realistic girly porn with the tits erased and the face changed. She’s pretty sure omega boys don’t have hips like that, certainly not when they’re thirteen. Still.“I wonder if he knows.”“Probably not. He looked really bad when I saw him, really sick and scared. Major PTSD poster child. If he’s in the hospital now he’s probably a hot mess,” Biggs grimaces.Aranea nods once. She remembers getting that phone call from her friend, him railing in her ear about their Chancellor being a pedophile, about a little omega boy being assaulted, about racist dickhead police officers, and oh yea could she wire some money to his account so he could buy a train ticket home? “Do you think he’ll come forward as the father?”“It’d be a political disaster if he does.”Wedge cuts in. “It will probably boost his ratings domestically, though. I suspect nearly all Alphas and most betas would support him.”“Yea people like seeing omegas get treated like slaves,” Aranea growls, sucking absently on the straw to her iced coffee now. She’d almost forgotten about it and it’s melted more than she likes it. “And it’s a big power move.”“He’s territorial anyway. I’m sure he’s gonna get sick of the hype around Ignis and step up to claim him,” Biggs adds.“And he can legally force Ignis to marry him,” Aranea sighs. Omegas have barely any rights anywhere, and once they’re bonded, they’re screwed. Little better than slaves. It was the tradeoff when the law passed to ensure that bonding could not happen after a single coupling, a law that enraged Alphas and betas alike. Betas always side with the Alphas unless they got an omega family member or something.“Maybe we should embarrass him before he has the chance. It will look worse if he isn’t the one to say it,” Wedge murmurs thoughtfully. “Might be too shameful to try and marry him.”“They blew me off when I called though.”“Well, now there’s more of a story. Maybe the copper will remember.”“Dick’s on the news,” Biggs suddenly groans, and Aranea swivels in the computer chair.He’s right. A brief clip of him speaking into a microphone, though a news reporter is speaking over whatever he might be saying. The scrawling text below it tells her everything. On the suggestion of the Chancellor, Niflheim will be hiking up import taxes on satellite technology to Lucian towns outside of Insomnia. Dramatically.“Looks like even if he doesn’t come forward, he will make Insomnia suffer,” Wedge sighs.“Shit,” Aranea mutters, crunching down on the straw again. “We should do something.”

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Part 4, Chapter 3 – Iedolas

“All of your business in Insomnia recently.” This conversation is not worthy of niceties. He wants to get to the point and be done with it immediatelyHe tilts his head back a notch and arches an eyebrow, but he doesn’t take his eyes off of the TV. “Hello to you, too.”The next words come out clipped; he can’t hide his disgust towards the Chancellor, a man he had been taking advice from for decades now. He’d been suspicious of Ardyn’s endless visits to Insomnia recently, of the way he began masking his scent. He’d suspected he was in a relationship with someone, which was bizarre in itself, and then Ardyn’s behavior had changed. The relentless rumors of his amorous expeditions all over Gralea dried up. He became increasingly hostile, irritable. Not only in a relationship then, but bonded. The man had always been shameless though, had never tried to hide his affairs and even openly flaunted them, and it became clear to Iedolas that he was bonded to someone he didn’t want others to know about. Seeing the news about the Insomnian bastard, the pregnant thirteen-year-old with a mate he refused to speak of… Things had come together in an unpleasant manner. “You were going to Insomnia several times a week to have sex with the king’s bastard.”“I didn’t know he was the king’s bastard until yesterday.”He says it too nonchalantly for Iedolas to believe him for even half a second and so he doesn’t withhold the sarcasm when he replies. “I’m sure.”“Perhaps I suspected, but nothing certain.”“Did you mean to get him pregnant?”Only now does he turn and properly look at him, his unnerving golden eyes narrowed and vicious, and Iedolas feels them like a jolt in his skull. He’s uncomfortably reminded, yet again, that this man is dangerous, a bad idea, as Ardyn goes on, “No. That was horribly unexpected.”“But you bonded with him.”“Again, unexpected. I’ll spare you the lurid details but he’s a bit of a wildcat.”“He’s thirteen.”“Which makes his immaturity a little more tolerable. He’s small enough I can handle him.”“He’s thirteen.”“You are my Chancellor. I have been following your guidance, giving you far more reign than I should have, for more than twenty years. And you. You had sex with a thirteen-year-old boy. You are essentially second-in-command in this country, and you mated and bonded to a child, the son of the king of our most hated enemy on top of it.”“Only second-command?” he smiles, showing too much teeth in that horrible way. “And we both know thirteen is legal.”“Doesn’t make it any less controversial. I read the tabloids,” he pauses. He can still read the words behind his eyelids. He always reads the tabloids, aware that occasionally, they are the only source of truth. “His medical records were leaked. You beat him. You raped him. You tortured him. You have to come clean. This will come out, and if it doesn’t come out from you, it will be an even bigger disgrace.”He doesn’t respond to that immediately, only sits back in his chair and crosses his legs. And then, slowly, “And what of the inevitable resulting PR nightmare, to say nothing of the political ramifications? I more or less legally have ownership of him now.”“At least he isn’t the heir, or we would really have a war on our hands. Nonetheless, I expect you to properly negotiate this mess you have created. As for domestically, just pray that the general public hates omegas and Insomnia enough to back you up. Otherwise I may be forced to be rid of you.”“If the Imperial Assembly approves,” he purrs. “You may recall, I was elected, even if I was the favored choice.”Iedolas doesn’t react. He’s used to Ardyn’s passive threats now, but that doesn’t make them any less unbearable for their truth. He can admit, one of the many reasons Ardyn was the perfect candidate for Chancellor was because he was attractive. It was an easy win for him, a landslide vote not only because he was brilliant for the position, but because he could get anyone and everyone to adore him.Perhaps he should remind him of this. “I don’t understand. You’re the most powerful Alpha in the entire nation, probably the entire continent. You could have had anyone, anyone for a mate, and you chose that little thing. Not only a citizen of our enemy country, but a child. The King’s damn child.”He shrugs, looks away again. He’s almost pouting. “I had a reason to be there, that first time. And I saw him. I could smell that we were compatible; apparently nobody knew he was an omega at the time because he wasn’t on any kind of suppressants. He was cute. I wanted to mess with him a bit and he was quite willing initially. But then a few weeks later he contacted me to say that he was pregnant. I went because I was curious, which I see now as regrettable, and the little brat tricked me into bonding him. Nothing more. I saw a cute omega and I fucked him, just as I’ve done a thousand times before. It simply didn’t go as planned.”The only reason Iedolas suspects that is an exaggeration is the sheer lack of omegas in the general population. Add betas to the equation though, and he wouldn’t doubt that number for a moment. The Chancellor was a horrific flirt, knowing full well his power. But a child. Quite willing initially. He somehow doubts that. Initially probably lasted about thirty seconds, maybe the first time the stupid boy smiled at a stranger before he was snatched up and violated.“How long has it been since you’ve been with him?”“A week tonight.”Alphas hardly need to sleep with their mates every night, but their bonds with omegas tend to be rather intense, their pheromones mingled to the degree that they physically ache for one another if they can’t at least smell their mate. It’s perhaps the tradeoff for having an eternal soul-mate who is perfectly compatible, exquisite in bed, and unable to leave you. As pitiable as the boy might be, the Emperor doesn’t care to have an aggressive, sex-starved, and increasingly volatile Alpha trying to advise him in the coming months.“A week is a long time to be apart.”“It is,” he says softly, but there is a deadliness in his voice, and he is now gripping the arms of his chair so hard his knuckles are white, his shoulders tense and his biceps clearly outlined through his shirt.“You need him, don’t you?” He doesn’t need to explain need. And he doesn’t want to think about what that entails for little Ignis Scientia, who has clearly already suffered enough. But that’s his walk in life as an omega. Unfortunate, though it’s unfortunate for more than one person if Ardyn Izunia gets out of control, and so the kid is a sacrifice. Lucis likes its sacrifices, after all.“Yes.”“Then make a statement. Tonight. Press conference. This has to come from you before some wretched paparazzi journalist digs it up, as they are already swarming around him. Then you can do what you must.”Hurry off to Insomnia and rape that poor thing again.

Part 4, Chapter 3 – Gladio

“Brought you this,” he hands him his handheld game console, “and this.” A paper bag with a couple of gifts. A book by an author he knows Ignis likes and a sweet potato cake roll. Ignis can be picky about eating food others baked or cooked, but he is a little weak for cake. Gladio had even asked the doctor if it was okay to give it to him and she had only laughed. One of the only times he’ll speak is to criticize the food here. He’s glad that’s all she said.It’s the second time he’s seen him. The first time was only for a few minutes, just to say hi and try not to stare. And the first time, a male doctor and a Royal Police officer cornered him. He won’t say a word to us; if he opens up to you about what happened, please let us know. We are trying to protect him. It had made him nervous. Ignis will tell him nothing; he knows this. Ignis would never want to burden anyone else with what he might have survived.“Oh thank Shiva,” Ignis groans and leans for it. “The wifi is deplorable here though.”They’re meeting in a special area outside the omega ward where he’s been staying. As a manifested Alpha, Gladio wasn’t allowed entrance, which meant he couldn’t see Ignis until the other boy was well enough to leave his bed. In a wheelchair, but out of bed at least. And for a brief time, without any needles sticking out of him, though there’s still a tube in his nose that makes Gladio nervous.He looks at it now while Ignis peeks in the bag, a smile flickering across his face for half a moment. He looks so tired, so sad.“How are you feeling?”“Still very tired. I don’t think the painkillers are helping with that,” he answers calmly, but it’s in that irritating Ignis way of his, avoiding answering the question. He’s always been good at it, but he seems even better now. Guess being with an older man and keeping a pregnancy a secret for nearly six months makes you better at lying.“I mean… Everything else?”Ignis looks at him then, that nasty look like Gladio bombed a test or dissed Noctis or something. “I’m tired.” But then he deflates and relaxes, smiles as if he’d realized he was being weird. “It’s a little fun though, missing school. I never thought I’d do it but I have no choice now, and it’s kind of nice, not having to do the work. All the teachers are giving me passes.”“But you’re still doing it, as I hear.” Noctis had told him.“Of course I am.” He seems a little offended at the suggestion that he could just not do it.He just rolls his eyes in response at that. “You’re such a weirdo.”“The history assignments at the very least are useful. I need a name.”He talks about the baby sometimes, always so matter-of-fact. He never talks about the general idea, like if he’s going to keep it, if he’s going to go back to school afterwards, how a baby would change his life, just like he never talks about the father. But he does talk about the name and the baby’s health and he frets a little about how small it is. He doesn’t talk about giving birth, like if he’s scared or anything, and he definitely doesn’t bring up feeding it even though he has tiny little tits now, which Gladio can see. Bumps under the hospital gown. A little cute, a little gross, but they’ll go down soon. He looked it up. Usually within a month unless they get used, and then it’s like six to twelve months after birth.He wants to tell him he doesn’t care. Like he doesn’t care about the fact that he’s pregnant or bonded with some older man. He’s still Ignis to him.
And a part of him wants to tell him that he’s still cute, that he’s attractive to him regardless of what’s happened, but he knows that’s horribly inappropriate right now. The last thing Ignis needs to hear, he’s sure. He also just doesn’t know enough about how omega bonds work. He’d read about it online, that night when he’d grabbed Ignis’ hand a month or so ago. Omegas could usually still date and even have sex with people other than their bonded mate, though Alphas often had difficulty mustering the attraction. But it was usually kind of unsatisfying, incomplete somehow. Which, as he’d read, sucks for omegas who get divorces. They can still have other relationships, but they’re a lot more work.Yea, totally inappropriate to bring up right now.His mother had sat him down when Clarus came home from the hospital that night almost a week ago now, talked to him about rape and child abuse and how omegas are often assaulted as if he didn’t know all of that already. And she told him that Ignis had been raped that night five-odd months ago, that he was pregnant now, that whoever did it to him seemed to continue to rape and beat him right up until then, that he had had a seizure and was in the hospital, that he was very sick and would be in there for a couple of weeks and probably couldn’t have visitors for a few days, but dad could take him in to see him when Ignis was ready.It’s inappropriate to say any of that stuff, but maybe he can bring up what else was on his mind. “Am I your shield now, too?” Because Ignis is the king’s son, a bastard. Gladio’s whole world has been turned upside down this last week.“Mm, I don’t think so. I’m still Noct’s adviser. Though now, supposedly, I can also decide if he’s fit to be king and if he’s not, I take his place,” he smirks at that as he opens the cake package.Good, a safe topic. Ignis is even amused by it. “Did you read that or did the King tell you?”“Read it. Noctis doesn’t have to know that though. I’ll bring it up next time he’s insolent.”“I think he’d rather you be king though. Less work for him.”And then Ignis is suddenly pale, eyes wide as he stares up at the TV playing news in the corner of the room. The volume is on so low Gladio had forgotten all about.“Turn it up,” Ignis whispers hoarsely.He doesn’t think that’s a good idea because of how scared Ignis looks, but he doesn’t know what he can even say to argue so he obeys, grabbing the remote and turning it up.“The Chancellor of Niflheim, Ardyn Izunia, has come forward as the bonded mate to Ignis Scientia, the illegitimate son of King of Lucis, Regis Lucis Caelum. The young omega has recently made the news when King Regis announced that he was his father, after the boy was rushed to the ________ hospital with complications from a pregnancy by an unknown bonded mate. He is just thirteen years old. It is unclear if Chancellor Izunia is correct in his claim, though his announcement does come shortly after an anonymous tip sent to the Royal Police in Insomnia suggesting that he might be right. He has stated he is willing to submit to a paternity test.”“Oh,” he says dully. That man. Chancellor of Niflheim. “Is he…?” He stops himself from asking Ignis is the man is lying or not. Not the time to ask.“Telling the truth? Yes,” Ignis finishes for him though, his voice strained.Yes. He stares up at the screen again. The Chancellor is on the screen, talking into a microphone at what looks like a press conference, though the news reporter is talking over him about some import tax thing he apparently brought up at the same meeting. Raped a kid, import taxes, no big deal. That man… Gladio suddenly remembers hearing his voice over the phone so long ago.“A paternity test. That means he’s…”“Coming here,” Gladio finishes. And then, because Ignis looks terrified and he can’t touch him, knows he can’t touch him, he pushes on. “They won’t let him in to see you. Just stay in the omega ward. Only the king has access and they won’t change that just because he’s a big shot.”But Ignis is shaking his head. “You don’t know him. He can go wherever he wants.”When Gladio sees the fear in his eyes, the way his fingers twitch, white-knuckled, in the blankets, he knows that what he speaks is true.

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Part 4, Chapter 4 – Prompto’s mother

He hasn’t relaxed as she had hoped. While he has been talking more, been conversational at times, he remains obstinately silent when it comes to certain matters, as well as standoffish when it comes to any assistance. He is resisting aid, clearly still feeling as if he does not deserve it, and the therapist who has been in to see him had made no headway.Disappointing, but Pieta supposes it is unsurprising. The very resilience that allowed the boy to survive so long is likely now what it making him keep to himself. After all, he is probably smart to be wary given the political turmoil that has exploded all around him.His health is slowly improving,Superficially, he looks much better. The shadows around his eyes had diminished, his lips no longer cracked and bleeding, his cheeks less hollow now that he’s gotten food and rest for a little over a week. The bruises faded, the scratches closed up, but that was as far as it went. The bitemarks that had required stitches lingered – one on his right buttocks and one on his left breast – and he still had stitches around his anus and inside of him. He had yet to see a dentist, and there were still the troubling fractures in his jaw and hip. And he had scars, injuries the doctors had gotten to too late, especially on his nipples and inside of him.The eclampsia was under control now, though his body hadn’t taken to the medicine as well as she had hoped. But it had allowed them to see what else was happening.They learned that his thymus gland, normally naturally shrunk after puberty, was prematurely atrophied, indicating of extreme stress and trauma. That his collarbone also had a hairline fracture. That his blood pressure spikes were not only a result of eclampsia, but severe, crippling anxiety. That the enlarged placenta was not a result of hypertension, but a result of the baby receiving increased immunological protection against Ignis’ own autoimmune system. An outrageous concept never before recorded, but there was little about this pregnancy that was seen before. It was all that made sense, as Ignis’ body was continually attacking the baby, trying to dispel the foreign antigens, but all it was doing was making him sick. Because of the baby. Because his baby has the Scourge. His own baby is killing him. An emergency c-section might well be in his future.Besides that, the civilian police had come in, requesting to photograph his injuries and have copies of his medical charts the day he’d woken up. Ignis had refused, and of course they could not legally force him. They’d also asked him if he wanted to press charges, which was met with a terrified look and a jerk of his head.Finding out the truth about the supposed father had been horrific. Niflheim Chancellor Ardyn Izunia. She hadn’t been able to believe the announcement on the news, that a man in such a position of power would do such a thing and admit it as if it were nothing. Like most Insomnians, she distrusted and even feared the Niflheim Empire, and the Chancellor more so than the Emperor himself was the one that anyone who followed politics disliked the most. Elusive and camera-shy for the most part, it would be easy to see how Ignis might not have recognized him. But for such a thing to have happened, for him to have just waltzed into Insomnia and violently abused the prince’s adviser for months on end….But her own son had confirmed it, approaching her that evening to mumble that he’d seen the two of them together, that he’d even taken a photo. She’d been about to scold him, open his mouth and tell him to stop being so nosy, but she’d stopped when Prompto had gone on to say that he’d mailed the photo to the Oracle Lunafreya, asking her for help. Help that never came.She’d asked him when, but he said he couldn’t remember exactly. How long had the Chancellor been targeting him? How long had he known Ignis was an omega? She has so many questions, but she knows Ignis will not speak a word, not for a long time, if he ever does.But whether he does or not, she isn’t sure if it matters anymore. The Chancellor’s political power, and status as a citizen of Niflheim, might render any investigation null and void. Any jury would be unwilling to convict, if it even got as far as a trial.-He shoves his phone under his pillow the moment she walk in, shoots me a vaguely hostile and guilty look before smiling in that guarded way of his. He hasn’t softened as much as she’d hoped. He’s a different person around the Prince, around the other boy who visits him, but to any adult he remains guarded, wary and standoffish. With one exception, a stout omega woman nurse by the name of Chiara, well into her sixties.

The hospital has ten nurses and two doctors, all betas or omegas and mostly women, specially trained in glandular massage and therapeutic scenting, meant to assist omegas. The hospital ensures that there are always at least two on duty at any given time. There are drugs to control swollen glands, but Pieta Argentum and other leading specialists in omegas have long argued that touch and kindness go much further, that giving them drugs is the equivalent of prescribing an anti-depressant for loneliness.But people like to keep omegas drugged. That’s just the way it is.Chiara is one of the nurses trained, and she has long been a favorite in the ward. The younger kids, too young to have active glands but still desiring comfort and scenting, adore her atrociously strong accent from Galahd; Chiara was not even her given name, but as so many children could not pronounce a foreign name, she’d cheerfully altered it for work. Ignis’ contentment around her made Dr. Argentum wonder who his mother had been, where she was from, if somewhere deep in Ignis’ mind, the part of him that felt small and vulnerable and helpless, recognized the accent as something maternal and loving. She’s been with Ignis twice now, rubbing his throat and wrists to calm him, gently scenting his head and hands. He’d resisted anyone touching his thighs. But Chiara had reported that he won’t speak, not even to her.Dr. Argentum had hoped that Ignis would be in a better state when she finally spoke to him about the baby, but it’s looking more and more unlikely as time goes on. She will have no choice but to discuss it with him as things are. She clears her throat, “How are you feeling this morning?”“The same,” he shrugs. The expected answer.She sighs as she sits down beside his bed. “I would like to talk to you a bit about the baby’s test results.”His head jerks up, eyes betraying his alarm. Sometimes, the only way to get a reaction from him is to mention the child. “You said he was okay.”“He is, more or less,” she hesitates then and looks down at the folder in her lap. She is tempted to give him the entire folder, allow him some agency. He’s smart, brilliant really, and he would likely understand everything in it. “He is healthy and well-formed, but there are some abnormalities in his blood that might be affecting your health.”A single nod. “What abnormalities.”“I won’t mince words. He has the Scourge,” and before he can scream, she quickly goes on, “But it isn’t affecting him. He seems to only be a carrier.”He takes it remarkably well, but he’s clearly learned how to bury his emotions beneath a mask by now. “There are no babies with the Scourge. The Scourge means infer…” he stops, his breath hitching as if he remembers something.“Did the father have the Scourge that you knew of?” she asks softly. It’s invariably sexually transmitted if one partner has it, though Ignis doesn’t have it. Perhaps there is another exception here, or he too was an asymptomatic carrier. “There haven’t been any cases of asymptomatic carriers, just people who succumb far more solely than others.”But the boy ignores the question, as he ignores everything about the father.It’s only the baby he focuses on now. “Will he be okay?”“We think so, but we will keep an eye on him of course. As we’ve discussed, he is very small and might need some assistance here when he is first born, but he’s developing well and everything looks great.” There’s more though, so much more. The fact that the royal bloodline showed up on both sides, not only Ignis’. A question she cannot drop on him now so soon after this bomb.“So do I have it then? Or will I get it?”“You don’t, somehow. Your body is rejecting the Scourge within the baby though, which is one of the reasons this has been such a difficult pregnancy. Besides eclampsia, exhaustion, and malnutrition, you’re showing some symptoms of the Scourge, but it isn’t in your blood. It’s uncommon for betas to feel their child’s potential health conditions when carrying, but not so uncommon for omegas. It’s complicated, but…”“I’d like to read about it, if you have a book.”“Only medical texts.”“I’ll be here a while,” he snaps. “And I’d… I want a copy of the Cosmogony, as well as the Apocryphal texts. And The Records of the Devastation. Any more contemporary medical texts on the Scourge would also be helpful.”“You have some cheek.”“I’m royalty,” but a smile flickers at the corner of his mouth.It’s the closest he’s come to making a joke since he’s arrived, and because of that, Pieta lets herself get her hopes up.-It’s two days later, after another 48 hours of him refusing to answer questions, of staring blankly at the wall when the psychiatrist and psychologists come to speak with him, of pretending he doesn’t understand when the police visit him again, of not responding to any comments about the Chancellor’s upcoming visit, of having her hopes dashed time and again, when she acts unprofessional, acts more like a mother than a doctor.“I looked at my records, at the clipboard there,” he nods towards the end of his bed one evening as she turns to leave. “Some things are wrong.”“Oh? Perhaps someone borrowed the updated sheets…” She steps back towards the bed to pick up the board. Sometimes doctors borrow things to photocopy and fail to return them; a nuisance that can result in disaster at times.“No. It’s the wording. I wasn’t raped. I wasn’t assaulted. I seduced him.”“You need help.” She snaps it out, too bluntly, the most frustration she has ever dared exhibit towards him.“I don’t need help.” Eyes narrowed as he glares at the wall.“There’s a support group.”“I don’t want a support group.” He still won’t make eye contact.“I think it might be good for you to…”“Noone helped me the first five months. I don’t need it now.”She sighs and turns to leave. He is getting agitated, and she does not wish to upset him further or cause possible harm to the baby by sending him into a fit. He has already had two while here, once when someone tried to remove his catheter and once when a nurse had erroneously told him that he needed to testify against the Chancellor. Ignis’ fits were impressive.But it’s as she is leaving that he unexpectedly speaks.“No one came.” His voice is abrupt, sharp and vicious.“Excuse me?”“No one came. When he took me to the hotel. I screamed, I begged. I was so loud. Nobody came.”“Ignis…”He still won’t look at her as he keeps going, a little louder than before. “And he’d take me out sometimes. To restaurants and museums. Sometimes he’d touch me in public and nobody did anything. He’d follow me into the bathroom. And he’d get me at school sometimes… on the campus. So many people saw, but nobody in Insomnia ever helped. Only an eleven-year-old did, and one Niflheim citizen who told him to back off. A Niflheim guy. And here? I just embarrassed everyone. Made the school look bad because I was getting picked up in front of it. Made the hotel staff look away and pretend not to see.”She stands still, unable to say a word. She has cared for hundreds of omega children over the years, many of whom had been abused. Acting out is not unusual, but there is a viciousness, an authority in this boy’s voice that takes her aback. She does not want to try to placate him the way she does others; he will only take it badly. And so she stands still and lets him go on, yelling by now.“So don’t pretend you care now, now that you’re forced to, now that it’s everybody’s job to take care of me, now that paychecks and reputation depends on it. None of you care. Therefore no. I won’t join your support groups. I won’t talk to someone. I won’t tell you the lies you want to hear. I won’t cooperate. You all had your chance months ago. I have no reason to trust any of you.”He’s looking at her now, and there is something in the jut of his chin that reminds her of his brother, his father. Royalty.

Part 4, Chapter 4 – Drautos

Ardyn harassing him was inevitable. After all, Drautos’ telling him who Ignis was, how old he was, was possibly what led to this disaster, not that he wants to think about that.So when he picks up the phone to hear that familiar purr in his voice, he is unsurprised. “I need a favor.”“You could ask.”Ardyn snorts, one of those little laughs of his that are more threat than anything else. “Keep an eye on the boy for me for me. I won’t be in Insomnia for another day or two and…I’m uncertain if I will see him when I come.”This takes him aback. He wonders if the unexpected political attention unraveled him, though what did the idiot expect, assaulting a child so close to the king? The fact that Ignis is a bastard is hardly a surprise. He’d long suspected, though Crowe’s recent comment about him having a second source of magic more or less confirmed it. The boy has his own magic reservoir, though he hasn’t figured that out for himself yet. Hopefully he’ll keep it to himself even when he finds it. He’ll need it if he ever wants revenge. The thought of the kid setting Ardyn alight is strangely fascinating, and he settles back in his chair and dwells on this a moment before responding. “I think he is well-protected enough in the hospital. It doesn’t sound like he’ll be going anywhere for another week at least.”“I worry about the king doing something stupid. I didn’t want this to go public because I didn’t want that fool to know I was going to be in Insomnia, but the emperor forced my hand.” Ardyn had announced his relationship with the king’s little illegitimate son at a press conference yesterday. An outrageously daring move, but one that the general public in Niflheim didn’t seem to overtly object to.The thought of anyone forcing his hand is oddly satisfying. “Finally a little ashamed of what you’ve done?”“Hardly. Idiot Emperor isn’t happy about the situation though, and he’s threatening my position. Not that he’d dare get rid of me but it’s….inconvenient.”That seems to be one of Ardyn’s favorite words lately. “So will you leave him alone then?”The silence on the other end of the line drags on until Drautos begins to regret asking. Ardyn usually responds like a pit viper, snapping back witty comments regardless of how much he is caught off guard. And then, when the Chancellor does speak, it’s not to answer the question.“He texts me a lot,” he says suddenly. “Apologizing mostly, but also saying he misses me. He seems a bit hysterical.”“I think most people in his situation would be hysterical.”“Fair point.”And he falls silent again while Drautos is left to think on that. He suspects Ignis was groomed, pushed into this neediness, this desperation for the man who hurt him, but it makes him uneasy. Even if Ardyn backs off now, it might not be the end of it, and every second this drags on is another second Glauca and the entire war might be compromised.“The reason for the delay is that I am waiting for Lady Lunafreya to return from a trip she is on at the moment. She will be coming with me to heal the… Them. I don’t trust her to go on her own and I needn’t go back and forth twice in 48 hours.”“Though you’ve done that to fuck him, I imagine?” He’s heard the complaints from the Emperor about how useless he’d been recently, always off somewhere.“When he was being cute and behaving, yes. That’s beside the point though, I believe. I called to merely tell you to keep an eye on him.”“For how long?” he sighs. He doesn’t want to babysit the kid and he doesn’t know how he can do it without seeming suspicious. The King has plenty of others who would be better suited to being a hospital guard.“I don’t know. Perhaps I want to see how…desperate he gets.”-“I have a significant request, a burden I must place on you.”He bows, nodding once. The king demanding favors of him is a little different than the Niflheim Chancellor, who isn’t even technically his boss. These, he must accept. These, he can not talk back about. No matter how outrageous.But this. This is something else. Because he’s hardly there a minute before the king gives him his demand without pretense.“Take Ignis’ hand in marriage.”He blinks, unsure if he heard correctly. “You wish me to…?”“Protect him. I don’t know what else there is to be done, short of assassinate the Chancellor.” A clearly rehearsed line.Drautos winces, hisses. And I have thought the same, though for very different reasons. He ought to die, jeopardizing an entire nation for the sake of forcing himself on a child he happened to take a fancy to. And then to torture him for so long… And now I have to deal with it. I have to pick up the pieces that Ardyn left behind again. “You know that won’t work. An Alpha-omega bond is considered a permanent legal bond. Even if I marry him, the Chancellor can over-ride that. He owns Ignis.”“Not for 120 days after marriage. He can’t be married twice, and divorces are not recognized until 120 days have passed. Not even ones that are forced due to a previous Alpha-omega bond.”The 120-day law, a law that caused much public outrage when it passed, supposedly to protect the people from those who tried to gain Lucian citizenship and Insomnian residency by shotgun marriages. And though no one would admit it, also likely an attempt to lower the divorce rates and increase the population. If people can’t get divorced for 4 months, they might get bored and fuck. “Is there precedent for this?”“It’s happened a few times in the past, never with anyone as….politically relevant though.”“Internationally?”“Yes. The other instances found in case law were usually pertaining to situations where a Lucian married once here, then began a new family in Niflheim. Or vice versa.”It’s unfortunately sound enough. If Ardyn pushes, it will take him longer than the 120 days to build a case, and by then it won’t matter. The King well knows this, so Drautos sees no point in questioning it further. The more pressing question is, “Why me?”“Because you are the most capable of protecting him. And…” he hesitates. “The only Alpha that I trust to not touch him. I will personally put to death anyone who puts him through that again. This is a paper marriage only to keep the Chancellor at arms’ length until we have time to figure something else out. You will protect him, but otherwise the two of you will live your own lives.”The only Alpha. He’s saying it without saying it, that Drautos seems to have little sex drive, that he’s never seen with anyone, that there have never been any rumors about him, that he’s always quick to protect women and omegas. Harmless. Unlikely to go into rut and ravage the poor kid. “What does Ignis have to say about this?”“He…doesn’t know yet.”And yet you sell him off, marry him away like so much chattle. You’re ashamed of what you let happen and so you wish to hide him away now, continuing to deny him a voice in what’s happening to his life. He mulls this over carefully. “My answer to you is yes, but if he refuses, I do not wish to force his hand. I’m sure he will be frightened enough of me as it is.”-He logs into the Royal Staff database, an overarching personnel file collection that covers the Crownsguard, the Royal Police, the Kingsglaive, Council members, Citadel staff members litter better than servants… anyone and everyone who is on the king’s paycheck. And even those that aren’t yet by virtue of being too young to get paid. Like Ignis Scientia, unable to have a paycheck but able to be married. The world is depraved.Drautos has the second-highest possible clearance, only one rank below Regis himself, and so he can access most everything.Ignis’ school certification. His Crownsguard application. And then his Kingsglaive application. His birth certificate and unique identification number were kept elsewhere, kept by the king somewhere secretive.He stares at the photos on his applications for a moment. Some scientists have argued that omegas have a distinct look to them even pre-puberty, a concept that Drautos has always found idiotic. Ignis is pretty, yes, his face still soft with baby fat, his eyes wider than they will surely be in a decade, lashes long. But he looks like any other child, at least any other boy child, the faint outline of a jaw already visible.Impossible to believe that this haughty little boy will very likely be wed to him in the immediate future. Spouse, not mate. Mate suggests a sexual relationship. Drautos feels nothing but revulsion when he thinks of this. Ignis is a child, a child who is severely damaged and needs help, not a husband.He had no interest in marriage, no interest in a mate, in sex at all. Except sometimes… No. He can’t have anything to do with him any longer. Not if he’s going to marry Ignis, not if he is being ordered to protect the very person Ardyn has hurt so badly. No. He and Ardyn must be over, regardless of what bizarre arrangement they’ve had over the years. The man is a monster, more so than he’d ever anticipated, and so it will be easier to end this, won’t it?He isn’t sure if that’s a relief or not.But he has more pressing matters to think about right now. Dealing with Ardyn, especially telling him what has happened, that he is to be wed to Ardyn’s mate, will come later. Right now, he needs to start researching marriage law in both Lucis and Niflheim.And he needs to look up male omega pregnancy, something he’d never had a reason to research before. He might know a lot about omega boys due to his circumstances in Niflheim – a fact he is certain the king doesn’t know – but he’d never had to know about their pregnancies. What makes it different from female pregnancy, what his special needs will be, what to expect. Which means he will also have to research child pregnancy, what to watch out for with Ignis’ health, possible complications. Which will definitely include trauma, depression, anxiety, anger… So he will have to begin researching how to treat survivors of sexual assault, particularly kids who survive brutal abuse. And about the babies of those survivors.He groans, buries his face in his hands and silently curses Ardyn.He has a long night ahead of him.

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Part 4, Chapter 5 – Luna
Ardyn had, shockingly, behaved on the airship flight and chauffeured ride to the hospital. He hadn’t said a word about Ignis or the current situation, nor had he hassled Luna very much beyond a couple of comments about her healing ability. He’d instead spent his time alternating between looking out the window and staring at his phone. Probably at something obscene, exploitative photos of Ignis perhaps, but at least he wasn’t talking about it.He behaved until they got to the hospital and were met with a blonde woman at the reception desk.“Chancellor Ardyn Izunia? Here for a paternity test?” She speaks coldly, and Luna knows immediately that this is not a hospital as friendly towards Alphas as most. Good.When Ardyn grins, he shows all of his teeth. “A formality. I fucked him over a hundred times. It was bound to take eventually.”She isn’t quick enough to hide the look of disgust as she flicks her face to Luna, who can only mirror her expression. Over a hundred times. She hadn’t known it was that bad.“You’re the doctor in charge?” He’s looking her up and down as if she were something to buy, not a human being, but she ignores it.“Yes, Dr. Pieta Argentum. I’m the head doctor of the Omega Ward. Which you are unable to visit.”A statement Ardyn also politely ignores. “How is he doing?”“I have no reason to tell you, given that we have no confirmation of your relationship to him,” she says it firmly, angrily, her eyes narrowed beneath her glasses.He arches an eyebrow. “You must recognize by now that we share a scent.”She shrugs. “It’s allergy season. I haven’t smelled anything in weeks.”And then he moves, suddenly leaning forward, looming over her with his full height.“Ah, an omega,” he purrs low in his throat. “One who has never been pregnant. Not very fertile, hm?” He doesn’t touch her, not exactly, but his hand hovers dangerously close to her face as if he were caressing her cheek. “Is that why you work here then? To be a mother to all of these children instead?”Dr. Argentum hadn’t moved during the entire thing, had been frozen in place, and Luna can see that she is about to start trembling. Without thinking, she darts a hand out, grabs Ardyn’s wrist and jerks him away. She’s never willingly touched him before.But the Chancellor doesn’t even look at her, only grins at the doctor as he drops his arm. “Be aware that Ignis is hardly a child. He’s a cunning one, much more precocious and deceptive than you can imagine.”Only then does the woman step back from him, her expression livid. “Down the hall and second door on your left. Dr. Melitus will carry out your test and after that you will be escorted from the premises.”“Escorted,” Ardyn leers, but he backs off, waving lazily before turning to saunter down the hall.-It’s only after Ardyn is gone, met a few paces down the hall by a male doctor, another Alpha at that, that Luna feels she can relax, and it’s only when they begin heading towards the omega ward that she properly registers the woman’s name.“Argentum?”“My married name. I know it doesn’t go well with my given name,” she smiles absently. “My parents wanted me to keep my own.”“Do you have a son? Prompto?”“I thought that might come up. You wrote letters to one another, no? He often talks about you. He mentioned that…” And then she stops and purses her lips, as if remembering that she isn’t supposed to speak of something.Luna wonders if she’d been about to mention that letter, that photo, if she knew. But there’d be a million reasons why a mother might not want to think about that, might not want that fact getting out, especially not now with the Chancellor’s announcement, involvement. So she only nods, and her suspicions are confirmed a moment later when the woman speaks again, all business now.“Would you like to see the medical records first or do you… I know you don’t normally, but this is an unusual situation.”“I’d like them. Most hospitals I visit never ask, assuming I can’t read them,” she can’t keep the bite from her voice, the frustration that has come from years of being considered holy, pure, a vessel for the gods’ power and nothing more. She had to be trained as a healer just as her mother before her had, and she has had basic medical education. She might have the power of the gods at her side, but knowing when and how to use it matters just as much as having it.“Some of the handwriting is admittedly horrible,” and she hands over the folder, an alarmingly thick file for someone who has only been in the hospital for a week.Because it’s complicated, she sees as she begins flipping through it.The baby is not infected with the Scourge. The baby is the Scourge, the disease in his very DNA, an integral part of his being. He will grow to be the plague incarnate. And it confirms all of her suspicions about Ardyn. He is not human, and is instead something vastly, horrifically, wrong. To think that he’d forced himself on Ignis, that he’d bonded with him, impregnated him.“Will you be able to help him? We’ve done all we can but…” She is clearly concerned, her eyes wide and the circles beneath them dark. Ignis has clearly kept her up nights.It is a relief, knowing this woman is in charge of Ignis. She is kind. Luna nods once. “I can heal him.”“And the baby?”“I…I am not so sure. I can try, but I think it will be unsuccessful.” She hates to say it, but this is well beyond her control. “I don’t think the baby is infected; it’s more complicated than that.”“Which means Ignis will get sick again, eventually,” she breathes out, sorrow clear in her expression. “Is there any hope for him?”“I can return to heal him every few weeks for the duration of the pregnancy. I suspect once it’s over, he can properly recover.” And then, because she is curious. “Has he said anything about after the baby is born?”“No. He hasn’t been in a position to talk about it. It’s his decision, after all but…I think he wants to keep it. By all accounts it seems healthy.”Luna nods again. She can’t say it surprises her. Ignis has been a mother to Noctis since he was only six; he’s strong, responsible, aggressively protective and caring. The question remains, as she holds his records and stares at the damage that has already been done, if either one can survive the rest of the pregnancy.-Ignis looks bad, but not as bad as she’d feared. Ardyn had been, ironically, the first person to tell her to come and his report at the time, without a hint of expression in his voice, hadn’t sounded good. She’d been traveling, helping others who had no hope of ever seeing a hospital, and wasn’t able to get back as quickly as she’d hoped. By then the king had also summoned her, again with grave reports.But Ignis is sitting up when she enters the room. Still on IVs, but no longer on oxygen, and clearly absorbed enough in the handheld video game he was playing to look up immediately.“Lady Lunafreya,” he breathes out when he sees her, finally putting it down and smiling in a way that indicates he doesn’t know how to react. He must know that she came with Ardyn.She steps towards the bed, hugging him gently as he reaches his arms out, very aware of the bump, and sits in the chair beside him. “I’m sorry it took so long for me to get here. I…”He holds a hand up. “You have a job to do, and I have been in good hands here.”Trying to act like an adult, the way he always does around her. “Ignis,” she catches his hand and presses it down again. “What have you been playing?”“Oh. The new Spriggon Mystery Dungeon… Gladio brought it in for me. Well. Bought it too, though he says his father did. I owe him one.”“I have a small gift for you, too, and a letter from my brother.” She pulls her purse out and extracts the box she’d hidden from Ardyn earlier this morning. The letter was unexpected, something her brother had foisted upon her when she was heading out the door, but ultimately, Ravus is kind at heart for all his bluffing. He’d been concerned about Ignis from the beginning, despite barely knowing him.Ignis is silent as he takes both, smirks at the box. Chocolates from a shop in Tenebrae that he has commented on in the past.And then he asks what she had been waiting for. “He’s here, isn’t he?”“Yes,” she replies, pursing her lips.“When is he going to see me?”“He…” she realizes then that what she had assumed was good news might not be good news. That despite what Ignis has been through, he might…. “He said he wasn’t planning on seeing you.”“What? Take the test and just leave?”“That’s his intention.”He’s picking at the hospital blanket, a nervous tick she’s never known him to have. He probably has a few now, probably has nightmares and jumps and flinches at things he never used to jump and flinch at before. She wonders how much psychiatric help he is getting here. “I don’t trust him,” he whispers then. “He’s doing something strange. Won’t see me but still wants to prove he…”“Is the father?”He ignores it. “Owns me. Once that test comes back positive, he not only owns the baby but me, too. I’ve done some research in the laws, not that anyone wants to talk to me about it.”Not exactly arguable. “Do you want to talk about it now?”“No.”
She almost laughs at his assertiveness there, but instead, “Are you excited about the baby?” she asks gently, unsure of how he will react to the subtle change in subject.But Ignis nods. He nods hard, jutting his chin out as he does so. “He’s… he’s been with me the entire time.”It’s a painful thought, a sharp and vicious image. Ignis cradling his stomach through it all, whispering to it at night, confiding. The only person he dared share his secrets with a tiny unformed child in his belly.A hand on that same belly now. “I read that if the carrier is really stressed out, it impacts the baby. Usually they have anxiety or physical problems. I am concerned he’s messed up somehow.”Carrier. Not mother, the word commonly used even for omega men who get pregnant. She wonders if he’s self-conscious about it as a boy, or if he is instead trying to distance himself. Carrier sounds impersonal. “No, Ignis. Even if he has health issues, it’s not yo-““Don’t say it isn’t my fault.”“Okay,” she sighs. “Maybe the relationship was mutual, but being stressed isn’t your fault.” She doesn’t believe it was mutual, consensual, doesn’t believe it’s Ignis’ fault at all, but she wants to speak to him. She suspects he will shut her out immediately if she doesn’t agree with him about this, grow hostile and defensive.“I don’t know if I’ll be able to take care of him,” he blurts out then.She’s never known Ignis to display any kind of insecurity before. “I don’t think anyone expects you to; you’re thirteen.”His gaze flickers towards her now, angry and defensive. “I don’t want anyone taking him away either.”It hits her then. He’s afraid that Ardyn’s distance lately is because he has lost interest in him, but still wants the child for himself. He has every legal right to deny Ignis any rights to parenting, as there is nothing in place to protect omegas once they are bonded. He’d rather be with Ardyn if it means keeping the child. “We will do everything in our power to protect you and the child. You do have a support system with more political power than most omegas have, unfair as that might be.”“A support system that ignored me until I ended up nearly dying. They had to stitch up my insides but couldn’t be bothered to perform any tests for assault.”It’s difficult, to know what he wants. Agreement or contradiction. She has to admit to herself that her only experience with trauma is that of herself and her brother. Ravus is never a good example of anything. “Would it help you at all to know that someone saw you? Someone tried to help.”Ignis shoots her a look of barely concealed rage. “Oh, really?”“I received a letter some time ago from a boy here in Insomnia, an old pen pal, you might say. He saw you and the Chancellor together; he even took a photo and sent it to me with a letter. I tried to get to you earlier but…” she sighs. “It’s difficult to travel without him knowing.”She won’t tell him who the boy was; she will respect a mother’s desire to protect her son, but Ignis must know that someone noticed, someone cared.“Oh,” he breathes out slowly. “A kid?”“I think he is eleven, yes. A very kind boy who admires both you and Noctis from afar, as he is quite shy. I hope you can get to know him one day.”He’s silent for a long time, and Luna is again reminded of how young he is. His hair is not fashionably styled now, and instead soft and messy around his face, and he is wearing different glasses than usual, round frames instead of rectangular. Perhaps he broke his or they were lost in the scramble to get him to the hospital.Then it falls out, a steady stream as he stares hard at the blankets he is now clutching white-knuckled and trembling.“He did it to me so many times in that hotel room. I see it when I close my eyes. I can’t visit that district anymore. The laundry detergent they use, the fabric of the sheets, the shampoo in the bathroom, everything makes me sick. I screamed and fought for nearly three months and no one came, no one cared. And then I gave up. It was easier, easier to…” he lets out a strangled sob, “try to enjoy it. And I did enjoy it. I wanted it, I begged for it, I seduced him just like I did the first day I started everything. But after a few weeks I made him angry. I messed up. It started hurting again, really bad, and he wouldn’t let me cry anymore. Didn’t matter anyway, because nobody would ever help. I let him do whatever he wanted. I just let him. He’s my mate and even when it hurts I…” He stops abruptly then, takes a deep breath. “You came here to heal, not listen. I’m sorry. Please go ahead and…”She doesn’t know what else to do, and so she holds his hand. 
Part 4, Chapter 5 – Ignis
He tells Luna some things, but there’s a lot he doesn’t tell anyone at all.He doesn’t tell anyone who touched him, though they all know by now. Nor does he tell them how often he touched him, how they first met, how eager he himself was when Ardyn first invited him over. Doesn’t tell them how he was the one to tell him about the pregnancy, how he beckoned him back in his life and marked him in return. Doesn’t tell them how badly Ardyn hurt him, how cruel he was when he fucked him and how he purposefully tried to make him scream, how he threatened him and hit him if he disobeyed or wasn’t fast enough. Doesn’t tell them how he was sometimes nice, how Ignis sometimes flirted with him and asked for it and enjoyed it. Doesn’t tell them how every now and then Ardyn would take him out and not just touch him, but have fun with him, treat him like an equal and make him laugh.And most of all, he doesn’t tell them how his body aches, longs for Ardyn.He’d touched himself once, in desperation, but he’d forgotten about the catheter. Feeling the alien plastic made him yelp, jerk his hand back and inadvertently spike his heart rate.He desperately wants privacy, needs fifteen minutes to himself with no nurses and no tubes. You’d think they would grant it. I’m a thirteen-year-old boy, an omega who’s been apart from his bonded mate for a week now. Nurses had massaged his glands to calm him, but of course they couldn’t do anything about his uterine gland, the one pheromone gland that only omegas have inside of them, rendering it impossible for a bonded omega to ever properly relax without their mate.The Astrals are cruel.He is only a little ashamed; his lust and loneliness have over-ridden it. The number of texts and voice recordings and photos that have gone ignored by Ardyn leaves him sick with fear and worry. What if he’s angry? What if he kills me? What if he takes this out on Noctis? As well as What if he doesn’t want me anymore? What if he leaves me?The texts he’d sent had grown increasingly desperate. Are you angry? I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I did the best I could. I won’t say a thing to anyone. I don’t speak here. I’m really okay, I haven’t betrayed you. I’m sorry. I miss you. And then depraved. I need you inside me. My body aches for you. My glands hurt. Please come take me, please. Fuck me. He’d deleted those ones immediately after, disgusted with himself. Just as he deleted the voice recordings he’d sent, the whimpers and moans as he imagined Ardyn’s hands on him, unable to touch himself. There was one experience in particular that he dwells on the most, during those weeks when it was good. When Ardyn had grabbed his hand and dragged it down to his groin, made him feel the way he slid into him inch by inch as he writhed and moaned beneath him. He’d held it there another minute or two, until Ignis understood that he was to keep it there during the duration of sex as he felt the man’s cock grow harder and hotter still, felt the slick accumulate and the way his skin tugged with every thrust. It was somehow even more intimate than anything they’d done before, and both had ended up biting one another’s marks again, an act rarely reciprocated by Ignis. That was good sex, even though it hurt. He deserved a little of that pain.That’s what he remembers during the daylight hours. He is thankful that the sleeping medication keeps him from remembering what he recalls at night.Sometimes he hates himself, and then that doctor has the nerve, the nerve to come in here and say it isn’t his fault, that he is not to blame, that he did not want this.Maybe he didn’t know he wanted it, but he did, and he does, and he always will. They are bonded now, and a part of him is pleased that Ardyn came forward. Nobody else can touch him now. He’s mine. The thought crosses his mind and he feels dizzy with shame. No, he wasn’t raped. He did this to himself. He deserved this. He enjoyed it.And he can’t tell anyone this, just as he can never repeat his breakdown with the Oracle.-The day after Luna leaves, after Ignis begins to feel extraordinarily better but still fearful – fearful for so many things – everything changes again.One of the nurses comes in around eleven in the morning, a young woman Ignis hasn’t seen very often. “You have a visitor; an Alpha. Would you like to head over to the meeting room you see your friend in?”“Gladio?” He’d been in just the day before yesterday.She shakes her head. “An older man. I didn’t recognize him.”They are supposed to sign the guest log. You’re supposed to confirm IDs. That’s the whole point of the omega ward. He wants to snap at her for her idiocy, but she is new and he can’t fight the leap in his stomach. An older man, someone the nurses don’t recognize. Ardyn, Ardyn, it’s Ardyn. He doesn’t know how he is supposed to feel. “Okay,” is all he says, afraid his voice will crack if he tries to speak further.He slips out of bed and reaches for his robe. He will still be in the hospital for a few more days, the IV cannulas remaining in his hands and arms, closed off for the time being in case he needed the drip again, but it’s much easier to get up and around now, and he can properly piss on his own finally. His heart is skipping violently in his chest as he finds his slippers, steps around the nurse and doesn’t wait for her to head over to the meeting room. He’s come, he’s come for me. Perhaps he wanted to come alone, shake Lunafreya off and come at a time when no one is expecting him so he can…. Can what? Take me away somewhere? To fuck or kill me? Tell me he is done with me? He doesn’t know, but a part of him doesn’t care. He is simply desperate to see him, smell him, feel him again.But it isn’t Ardyn.It is Titus Drautos. With the most tired expression Ignis had ever seen on his face.“Sit,” he sighs, gesturing towards the chair across from him. “Sorry you had to get out of bed for this. Your father considered telling you himself and you could have stayed in your room then but…”“Tell me what? What?” What’s happened? That emotional whiplash again. Before he can even process that it isn’t Ardyn, understand the turmoil in his stomach, there is this. What if someone died? What if Noctis died? Luna? Even Ardyn? Did…“The Prince is fine. Nobody died,” Drautos says softly then, before he even has the chance to ask. “This is about you. And…me.”“I’m being kicked out of the Kingsglaive,” he sighs. No surprise there. He’d expected it for some time now, is surprised it has taken this long to happen.“No, no. It’s,,, a measure put into place to protect you. The King is concerned that Chancellor Izunia will try to marry you and take you to Gralea. He can legally do that regardless of your wishes, and there’s only one way to buy us some time to negotiate something else.” Drautos is uncomfortable, that much is clear as he shifts his weight and sighs. “I don’t know how to kindly tell you this, so I will just say it. We are to be married. Tomorrow.”Married. Married. My life is not my own. My sexuality is not my own. I have just been given momentary reprieve from the hands of one Alpha and am now being given to another. He opens and closes his mouth once, twice, unable to find air. He can’t be sure that his lungs and heart are still working. What if he wants one, too? What if as soon as this one comes out he will fuck me until it happens all over again? What if… He looks at him askance, unable to look him in the face. And then, Maybe I want to marry Ardyn. Maybe I… Drautos is so much larger than Ardyn. Not much taller, only perhaps an inch, but he’s wider, more muscular. Solid. He’s kept his military career up while Ardyn moved into politics, and their bodies reflect it. With a lurch of his stomach he wonders how big his cock is.And much to his shame, that’s what falls from his mouth. “Ardyn is too much. You look even bigger.” It’s all he can say.“I have no interest in ever touching you.”“Uh huh,” he breathes. A part of him knows this is true; Drautos has never touched him in that way despite having plenty of opportunity to during Kingsglaive training and meetings. He’s also never heard any rumors about him, never seen him with anyone. But the larger part of him is terrified, terrified that this life he has been given a break from is going to start all over again with a new assailant. And eventually Ardyn will come back. I will be passed between the two of them. Maybe they will share me. Maybe they are in on it together. Maybe…“Ignis,” he groans, sighs. And then he’s silent a moment before continuing, “I want nothing to do with you, in all honesty. If you are okay with this, I will sign the paperwork and that will be the end of it. I will keep an eye out for you, and if the Chancellor is in Insomnia, I can be your guard if you like. That’s it.”He jumps at the word Chancellor despite himself. He wants to believe everything he is saying, but he can’t help the fear coursing through his veins. He has been betrayed enough. “You can’t guard me unless you’re with me 24/7. You can’t know when he is here. And I don’t want you to follow me.”“Unfortunately that is not up to us, but to the king. I am in his employ.”“There’s no need. He doesn’t want me anymore. And he certainly won’t now that I will be…” Dirty. I will be dirty. This is further proof that I am nothing but a whore and Ardyn will see that. He will be disgusted and despise me more than he already does. Perhaps he will even kill me. He might…Drautos doesn’t move.“He won’t see me anymore. He’s done with me.”“Isn’t that a good thing?” he finally says softly.Yes, yes yes it is good, it is the best thing I could ever hope for. But he can’t say it. He only thinks of his scent, the strength of his arms around him, the feeling of fullness beneath him, the words whispered in his ear when he’s being nice, the way he treats him, teaches him, praises him on good days. He’d been nothing short of terrified when he’d first heard Ardyn was coming to Insomnia, scared out of his mind that he would demand marriage, that he would rape him again, that he would hurt him or Noctis. And he’s still scared. He still despises him, fears him like he has never feared anything before. But he remembers the feeling in his gut, the excitement and relief when he thought Ardyn had come to see him. He let me down. For once I wanted to see him, and for once he isn’t here. He shakes his head and grimaces. “Yes. It is. I just mean that there’s no real need for this anymore.”“I don’t think the king will agree,” he sighs. “It’s a formality. On paper. I will not interfere with your personal life at all and as soon as all of this is…past, we can file a divorce and forget about it.”“Okay.” A word. It’s all he can say. Okay. Just like all the times he gave Ardyn one- or two-word answers, his own voice betraying him as he acquiesced to things that terrified him. After all, he’s an omega. He has no agency.He gets up slowly then, still unable to fully meet Drautos in the eye, and he turns and starts walking back to the omega ward where he can be alone, back to the safety of the nest in his bed where it will only be him and the thing inside of him that may be controlling him, but is not doing so intentionally. The conversation isn’t over, but he is done with it.He is done with a lot of things now.And the moment he finds his bed again, fumbles under his pillow for his phone, he texts that number again, sends the seventy-third message since he’d arrived in the hospital.He’s done with lying to himself.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 5, Chapter 1 – Noctis
The last two weeks have been the weirdest in his life, even weirder than when he got hurt. First, Ignis ended up in the hospital. Then his dad found out, and they had a really bad fight. Then he was told that Ignis was his brother – well, half-brother – and then Ardyn went on TV to say he was the father, Luna showed up in Insomnia to help, and then of course the tests proved Ardyn was the dad, so then Ignis got married to Captain Titus Drautos. It happened really fast. Ignis found out about it and the next day they signed the paperwork. No ceremony or anything, obviously, because it was all political according to his dad. Nothing bad. He wasn’t selling Ignis off. He was trying to protect him. And then he found out this, that Ignis was going to leave him. So Noctis had his second big fight with his dad in just a couple of weeks.He didn’t want to be left behind. He didn’t want to lose Ignis. He doesn’t know how to live without him, when it comes down to it, and he really isn’t interested in the other options. Cor taking over for Ignis or going to live with Gladio’s family for protection. Cor’s too distant and Gladio’s family is too busy. He doesn’t think he can deal with Iris all the time.Right now they are packing. Ignis got home from the hospital last night. He has a lot of medication, including stuff for the mental issues, the nightmares, the screaming. Luna healed him pretty well, even helped the baby out. Ignis was home for one night and now he’s packing up to go live with basically a stranger.“Am I going to be able to visit?” he tries not to whine.“Of course. I’ll come see you and the king often. And I’ll be back in school pretty soon too, once I get settled and we… figure out how to handle the unexpected publicity.”That publicity. He’s used to the paparazzi, being the prince, but the journalists and tabloid authors that have been hounding the family ever since all this started have been insane. And unlike Noctis, Ignis is thirteen. He is an adult by law and so they can say whatever they want about him, even dirty stuff. And it will only get worse at school, because obviously the school had to know what happened, why he was out so long, how he needs support and stuff. He’s going to go and have everyone staring at him and whispering about him all the time and he doesn’t seem to care.“This is temporary, too. And it will give me time to study for those exams without having to worry about you.” He smiles then, a little weirdly like he doesn’t mean it.He’s still gonna do the exams, which Noctis think is crazy. He’s still trying so hard to act like everything is normal when he should be being taken care of.And then he suddenly makes a sound half a laugh and half a gasp as he drops a hand to his stomach. “He’s moving more now, since Lady Lunafreya helped.”“Oh?” Noctis rushes over, tugs at his arm. He’s only felt the baby move once in all this time; he never moved much. He. A little nephew. Noctis hopes he’ll be allowed to name him or something.“Uh huh,” Ignis breathes low, lifting his shirt up.He touches his belly, presses his hand flat against him. It’s a moment before he feels it, a little push against the palm of his hand. It’s so little. “So he’s feeling better?” He’d heard that the baby was sick, really sick just like Ignis was.“I think so. We both have to get checkups twice a week and the Oracle might need to come out here again, but…”“Can I come, every time?”“The ones that don’t interfere with school,” but he looks distracted now. “I have a lot of other stuff to do at the hospital so maybe it’s better if you don’t come.”Other stuff, like therapy. Which he probably needs, because he’s yelled at the doctors and nurses at the hospital a few times and he’s acted out like he never used to before. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he’d read on the paperwork. Hard to believe that something like that would happen to Ignis. Always so calm and on top of everything, so adult.And everyone forgets. He’s not an adult.“I can’t believe my father…” he pauses, remembers. “Our father thought this was a good idea. To marry you off…”“It’s the safest option. I’m not happy but it’s all I have right now.” He sounds so calm, like he’s really okay with this, even though Noctis saw him crying earlier this morning.“It’s crazy! You’re a kid. Can’t get married.”“I can though. And it’s not like it’s a real marriage. It’s a political arrangement that probably won’t last very long.”“Doesn’t change how it’s gross.”Ignis groans. “Well, a lot of things are gross, okay? This is probably the least gross thing that’s happened to me in six months.”Noctis rubs his eyes at that, unwilling to admit how hurt and scared he is over this. It all happened too fast, and he was doing his best to protect Ignis. It wasn’t enough. He always knew it wasn’t enough, but to have it get out of control like this, for Ignis to get taken away from him like this… He’d read about it, about child abuse, pedophilia, freaky things like that. Normally the kid gets taken away from whoever it hurting him and there’s a court case involved, but that won’t happen here. Too political, maybe. Or Ignis didn’t want it. The older boy won’t say. And this time, Ignis is getting taken away from him and from their father, even though neither of them were doing anything wrong. It isn’t fair.You should stay here. And that nasty guy should go to jail. He wants to say these things, but Ignis might get mad. He doesn’t like people saying bad things about Ardyn, makes him nervous. He just had to talk about other stuff. “And then to make you live with him. In the immigrant quarters, too. I doubt his apartment is that nice, probably like a one-bedroom or something. It’s so weird, and now-““I suggested it,” he snaps then.“Huh!?” he focuses his attention on him then, stops messing around on the shelves.“I said I wanted to live with him.”Impossible. We live together. We have fun. I helped you with all this. You help me every day with stuff. We need each other. What will I do… “Why would you do that?”“Why do you think?” he shouts, the loudest he’s ever been around Noctis, “If I keep living with you, he might…”He. Ardyn. Noctis understands then.And it’s too much.“Was…” the words are sticky in his throat and he wonders if he will need to scream to free them. Not that he needs to ask. He knows the answer. He swallows and tries again. “Was everything for me?”Ignis is silent, staring down at his suitcase. And then slowly, too slowly. “It isn’t your fault.”“That means yes.”“It’s my job to protect you.”“That doesn’t mean you just let someone hurt you and…” and he stops, realizing the mistake too late.“Let him hurt me? I didn’t expect that from you.”The words are calmer than he’d expect; that is what makes Noctis aware that he has done something truly awful. He’s broken his trust. Because Ignis had been blaming himself for all of this, but a part of him must have hoped that it wasn’t true. Whatever doctors said didn’t matter though. The word of Noctis did.And Noctis just affirmed his fears. He blamed him.But before he can fix it, Ignis bows. “Please, Your Highness, I would like to pass.”It’s a formality Noctis has never known from Ignis before. And not now, especially not now that we are brothers, that I know his secrets, that I… He steps aside though, struck dumb and unsure of how to act.Ignis walks by him then, out the door without a backwards glance. 
Part 5, Chapter 1 – Drautos
He’s alert, attentive and sitting upright, back rigid as he leans against the door and stares out the window. Ignis had only brought one bag with him, commenting that they were only a short ride from his main apartment and he could go get whatever he needed, but as close as it is he is acting as if he is seeing a different country.“Have you ever been out this way?”“Not really, just been driven through it. Wanted to visit but…” He shifts to face him and smiles in a way that doesn’t reach his eyes. “I think the Prince should personally visit every district and neighborhood in the city but the King wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea.”Interesting. “Before or after you joined the Kingsglaives?”“You have a low opinion of me if you suspect it was only after that I felt that.” But he’s relaxing now, less stiff.
A laugh. He’d forgotten how Ignis could be when he wasn’t under extreme duress. He was clever, cocky, the kind of child you might want to smack now and then when he got a little pretentious, but overall a decent kid. At least he has reason to be cocky, unlike some kids that Drautos has dealt with. “Most of us Glaives prefer to live out here, the ones from Galahd anyway. It’s more like home to us…” – a ping on his cell phone that he ignores – “and it’s not far from the Citadel.”“But you still stay in the barracks a lot. So does Crowe and everyone.”He shrugs. “You know what it’s like, working for the royals. The idea of home gets a little fuzzy sometimes.”The kid jerks another glance at him. “You sound a little angry about that.”Shit. He’d forgotten himself for a second, let a side of himself slip that he will have to learn to hide from Ignis. And suddenly it hits him, how hard it will be to keep his secrets from the boy if they are living together. “Do I really?”A shrug and a flicker of a smile on his face, genuine this time. “My idea’s getting fuzzy now, too.”-Everything had happened fast, too fast. They’d signed the marriage paperwork the very day after he’d spoken to Ignis about it. The papers had been explicitly clear about the arrangements, that it was a political, protective measure only. They weren’t to the point of crude and did not dictate rules of sexual propriety, but the threat was clear. He was not to touch the boy, not that he had any interest in doing so. Ignis had gone along with everything, downcast and silent. He hadn’t even asked a single question and had only made one request.And after another day in the hospital while Drautos was briefed of all of Ignis’ medications, his upcoming appointments, basic guidance on how to assist a pregnant spouse, and the like. The doctors had been suspicious, hostile towards him, as if they all felt that he were just going to hurt the kid all over again.
“One more thing I need to ask…”

“Yes?” A curt reply; Dr. Argentum greatly dislikes him.

“There are nurses trained in therapeutic scenting and massaging here. I saw the advertisement in the lobby about the training course.”

“Well…yes. We do outpatient services though; Ignis can receive treatment when he comes in for his regular testing. There’s one woman in particular he likes.”

“I’d like to join the class.”

She looks aghast, unable to hide the disbelief on her face. “It’s generally just for workers here, and we’ve never had an Alpha sign up. I’m not sure if...”

“I have a family member who is an omega male. This would of be great help to not only Ignis but him as well.” He hates talking about these things, hates giving away any sort of personal information that could compromise his double-agent status, but he feels it is the only way to make her budge. And then, because he has already revealed too much. “I have never been through a rut. I’m an Alpha incapable of doing what’s expected of an Alpha. I hold no attraction to omegas whatsoever.”

It was slow, a gradual softening of her expression before she nods once. “I think I might understand that a little, but I still don’t agree with the king’s decision. You can sign up at the reception desk in front of the omega ward though.”
And he’d signed up. He realizes that it is likely more out of guilt than anything else. Guilt that he gave Ignis to Ardyn, that he watched this happen, knew what was going on, and never told anyone lest it jeopardize his position. It’s just the cost of war, isn’t it?-That’s what he’d felt anyway, until he opened his apartment door and ushered Ignis in, Ignis who immediately froze for a second and clutched the handle of the suitcase he wanted to carry on his own so tight his knuckles were white. No. This is a big task, a very big task, much larger than something a massage class can solve. And his phone pings again, now for the fifth time.He can tell that Ignis is nervous, a lot more nervous than either one of them expected.The kid had tried to play it off, had even suggested that he live with him for a while. Probably more to get Ardyn away from Noctis than to actually protect himself, but Drautos wasn’t about to argue with the kid when he was still in hospital johnnies. It’s safer this way. You don’t know that guy, don’t know what he can do. He can disguise himself, be anyone. He has magic somehow. The only way he won’t touch me is if I’m hidden away. He won’t know where to look for me. He’d been ranting, yet he had kept his voice firm and authoritative.But stuff is different when he’s in a junky old apartment far away from everyone else, when he’s alone with an Alpha male he doesn’t know that well. Drautos can see that in the way Ignis’ nose flares, the way his eyes dart nervously around as if looking for an escape route. Just like stuff is different for him, seeing a scared little omega that belongs to Chancellor Ardyn Izunia in his apartment and realizing he is suddenly in charge of protecting him, taking care of him. It’s not that he is attracted to Ignis. It’s that he can see what a momentous task he has just taken on and how he is very out of his league.He moves a step forward then and gestures around them. “Living room. I have plenty of books around if you ever want to read history and tactics, bunch of mysteries too. TV. I can get a gaming console for you if you tell me which one you usually use…” Awkward. How do you describe a bachelor pad?“The bedroom’s yours. I usually sleep on the couch anyway.” True. He likes being able to see the front door; the bedroom makes him feel cornered. “Tried to set it up a bit for you, fresh sheets and everything.” Also true. There are enough sheets, blankets of all different fabrics and textures, and pillows on the bed for three nests. There’s also a lock on the inside, though he’d hesitated to put one there in case the boy had an emergency. “You can bring anything you want in there if you prefer, even the TV.”There’s no reaction to anything yet, but he flicks a glance at him when his phone goes off again. “Kitchen’s small but stocked okay. I usually buy from the Galahdian markets but I got some… of the usual flavorless Insomnian fare for you, too.”“I want to try that food though; it’s okay.” He finally sighs softly. “And your phone, what if it’s the king?”“It’s not.” It’s not his regular phone, not his Insomnia phone damnit. Ignore it.“Mm. He hasn’t contacted me today either.”Because he is a negligent father. “Not surprised. Bathroom’s across from your bedroom. Pretty self-explanatory.” He’s going to have to remember to close the bathroom door when in there, something he doesn’t think he’s done since he’s moved in.“I should hope so,” a crack of a smile finally.“I’ll show you your room now, hm?”“Is it really okay for me to take the room?”“Yea, like I said I barely use it.”He nods once, clearly not believing me. He’ll know when he tries to lie on the bed and the mattress isn’t broken in even slightly.Another ping. Fucking hell. He has to deal with this. He gestures absently towards the door, giving Ignis space to leave his bag. “If you want anything at all changed, let me know.”The boy stares a moment. “Everything here is new.”“Maybe.” Besides all new sheets and blankets, he’d bought a massive beanbag chair that seemed like it could be good nesting material and a desktop in the study corner. Refurbished, but it looked new. A lot of money, but it’s not like he didn’t have a dual income that nobody but Ardyn knew about. Three more pings. “There’s a little fund for you, too, if you want… clothing for your stomach.”“That’d be good.”“Feel free to unpack and get settled, I need to check this out.” He waves absently at him and is about to close the door behind him, but stops. Let him decide his own things.-There are 28 texts from Ardyn and 7 phone calls. He doesn’t bother reading all of them. He can get the gist from a handful.
I heard about your invalid marriage. You signed the paperwork and didn’t think to tell me that you were marrying my bonded mate? Enjoy your 120 days of unholy matrimony, as I have already filed the paperwork. Don’t think I don’t know where your Insomnia residence is just as I know where you live in Gralea with your…little ward of nearly thirteen years. Answer your fucking phone.
He should know better, but he still opens up his voicemail and listens to the most recent. There is no preamble. “You took my omega mate so perhaps I need a new one, hm? Now that I’ve had a taste of young male omegas I think that is all I want. You can only be with one of them at a time. Or is that the point? You sold me one to protect the other, hm? Then you can’t take that gift back.”Untouchable. He is untouchable. He never thinks about his two lives together. They don’t mix. They have nothing to do with one another. Two different halves of his mind. And so Ardyn’s words had never even crossed his mind and how it hurts, how it stings.“Fucking cunt,” he roars, throwing his phone across the room and kicking a chair over in the kitchen before he can contain himself. Before he remembers who he is living with now.And he is forcibly reminded a moment later when he hears a noise behind him, a soft voice clearing his throat. Drautos flips around far too fast, making the boy flinch.He’s naked.It’s so unexpected it takes him a moment to react, and he sputters, “What are you-““You’re angry.”Astrals, what the fuck is wrong with this boy? He wants to grab him, shake him, yell at him to stop, but when he lunges for him he forces himself to stop, hands hovering over the boy’s shoulders. The boy who flinched away from him. He knows what’s wrong with him, he knows. He saw an Alpha angry. That was enough to trigger him, throw him back into that hotel with Ardyn, and his reaction was to strip, to offer himself. It must have been what he always did when the Chancellor was mad at him.He takes a breath and pulls his hands back. “I’m not mad. The drain just backed up. It does that a lot. Not a big deal. And I’m not…” What? Not mad at you? A stupid thing to say, so he sighs and steps back a few paces. “Please put your clothes back on.”Ignis doesn’t move. He won’t make eye contact either, but the look on his face is one of pure desperation.“I’m not going to touch you.”He’s silent, though a hand moves up to rub at the mark on his neck. Ardyn’s illusionary magic had long since worn off; the scar is particularly large, the ugliest marking that Drautos had ever seen. He takes a moment then to sweep his eyes quickly over the boy’s body, over the thin arms, the scars on his nipples, the swell of his stomach too small for a 26-week pregnancy. He can’t see his backside but can imagine the scars he must have, and that’s what makes him try again, try a different way of talking to him.“I know what it’s like to have that switch. The one that puts you in survival mode,” he says quietly. But not like this, Astrals, not like this. He’s dealt with plenty of traumatized youth in his time, had been one himself, but Ignis is on a different level. And he’s so good at acting normal in public, at pretending everything is perfectly fine to everyone else, but when behind closed doors with an Alpha… Ardyn created him this way intentionally. A perfectly behaved little omega, meek and obedient and eager to please, but well-behaved and functional in public so that nobody knows any better. He wonders how long Ignis has been like this, how much of the last 6 months he’s been this submissive. Seeing Ignis submissive disturbs him.Silence, but his posture is clear. Take me, fuck me, I’m yours.He can’t look at him any longer. “But right now you don’t need it, not around me, okay? Not around most people. We’re here to help.”Ignis ignores him, his voice suddenly frantic. “I’m really good. He made sure I was good. He liked…”“Stop it.”“Please,” he whimpers, grabs at his belt.He growls, resists the urge to smack his hand away, and steps back, holds his hands up in desperation. He’s half scared of the boy. “Ignis. Ignis, put your clothes back on. I don’t want anything from you, okay?”“But I can get…” He stops then, raises a hand to his face and bites on his index finger as he suddenly withdraws inside of himself.“It’s okay. It’s okay.”“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m…” He’s shaking badly now but he doesn’t cry. He probably doesn’t know how to cry anymore, was probably beaten and raped out of him. The kid lived like a prisoner of war for six months.“It’s fine.” He holds the blanket out, drapes it gently over him.He doesn’t pick up the edges immediately, and it’s a good fifteen seconds before Drautos can release it.“Get on the couch,” He says it before he realizes how bad it sounds. “Not for that reason. Just to lie down.”Ignis obeys a step behind. Seems like the only order he can’t obey is to get dressed again. He probably never heard it before, didn’t know how to process a demand that wasn’t sexual. The thought makes him sick and he suddenly feels a violent surge of protectiveness towards him as he watches Ignis climb on the couch, pull the blanket around himself.“What kind of tea do you like?”Only a startled twitch.He hates to do it, but it’s apparently what the boy needs right now. A command. “Answer.”“Little milk. Honey if you have it.” Mechanical, but it’s a reply.“Not what I asked,” he mutters so low under his breath he knows the boy can’t hear. But maybe the kid doesn’t know anything about teas. Seems the coffee type.He is torn; on the one hand he is frantic to get away from this situation, but he is reluctant to leave the boy alone for even a minute. At least he can see him from the kitchen, not that Ignis can see him at this angle. He probably can’t see anything at all, given the blank stare.So he leaves him a moment, lifts the kettle he always has on and pours it over his a tea bag. The boring kind, the Insomnian kind. “Shit,” he sighs and stares up at the ceiling. He has so much regret, so much regret built up over this child. I made him this way just as much as Ardyn did. I fed him to that monster. And I just told him I am here to help him when I am…He waits a couple of minutes before returning to the room, silently praying to the Astrals that Ignis will have snapped out of it.But he hasn’t. Ignis doesn’t take it, only stares at the cup wide-eyed as if it were a punishment until Drautos finally sighs and puts it down on the low table in front of the couch. He wonders if Ardyn had ever taunted him, offered him things only to snatch them away, if he’s learned to be wary of anything and everything. Or drugs. Maybe that’s what he’s afraid of.“It’s yours. Nothing weird in it either, though I think what you call tea here is weird. I bought a box of black tea for you but you’ll have to try out some spices soon enough.” He’s rambling, unsure of what will calm the kid down as he carefully sits down on the opposite side of the couch and puts his own mug down.He stares down at the hand on his thigh a moment, disbelieving, but he is able to react in time to prevent Ignis, who had crossed the couch to be beside him remarkably fast, from getting any further. Apparently even a 300-yen box of tea was something that warranted an offer of sex. He gently brushes the boy’s hand away, only to have Ignis shrug off his blanket, ready to present himself again.“Put it back on.”Ignis is slow to move, but after a long moment he pulls the blanket back over himself. And then he sits there, head down, so close to Drautos he is practically leaning on him. He wants to tell the kid to back off, but he doesn’t know how he would react.So he sits there, half afraid to even breathe until after another confused touch and a murmured what would you like? to rebuff, Ignis begins to calm down. He settles back into the couch, not as far away as Drautos would like but at least no longer leaning on him, and glances at the tea a few times as if unsure if he’s allowed to actually touch it. I’ll be damned if I’m going to actually feed it to him. “It’s yours,” he sighs.Meanwhile he wishes he’d poured himself something a little stronger.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 5, Chapter 2- Ignis
It isn’t pleasant, waking up naked, wrapped only in a blanket, on the couch in a strange place. Though there is no panic. He’s beyond panic. Conscious panic left his life a long time ago. It’s not the hotel though. It’s not the hotel. Which means someone else might have… Titus Drautos.But his body doesn’t hurt, and he knows that Drautos doesn’t have healing abilities the way that Ardyn does. Which means he didn’t touch him. Or at least didn’t hurt him. Maybe touched him, felt him up or even tongued him. Though he doesn’t have dried slick on his thighs…. He squeezes his eyes closed and bites back the scream of frustration he feels rising in him. He can’t remember anything. There’s a gap in his memory, like there have been so many recently, and that scares him almost more than what he suspects happened.He’d panicked, that horrible kind of unconscious panic, stripped and probably tried to offer himself. And whatever happened in between, Drautos had bundled him in a blanket. He knows this, but he doesn’t know what set him off. Had the Alpha touched him, said something to him? I need to remember, I must remember so I can avoid it again I must avoid it I can’t let him see me like that again I can’t…He groans. Less than twenty-four hours and this man has already seen the worst of him, the most depraved omega side of him.He sighs then, throws himself against the back of the couch and finally glances over at the table in front of him. A slip of blue paper.
Breakfast in the fridge – microwave for 90 seconds. Coffee on. Back late so get settled.
He flips the paper over. Nothing on the back. No comments about what had transpired last night. His fingers are trembling and the realization makes him crumple it and throw it across the room. And he stands, goes to the room that isn’t really his and finds a set of clothing before locking himself up in the bathroom. And in the shower he examines every inch of himself. Nothing, nothing. He didn’t touch me. I haven’t been touched in weeks now.-It’s oatmeal, a congealed mess in a bowl with a bag of dried fruit beside it. He raises the bowl to his nose and sniffs, leery of the man’s ability to do anything in the kitchen. Smells like cinnamon. The coffee maker is full, as if he himself hadn’t had any. Besides it is a bottle of prenatal vitamins. And a little pillbox. Fourteen tiny compartments, morning and evening. He went through my things, it hits him. He doesn’t like the idea of that, of the Alpha – it’s hard to think of him as anything else – digging through his backpack, his suitcases, to find his medication and get a week’s worth ready for him. Probably trying to be helpful. He wonders how intrusive he’s going to be in his life.Medication for his blood pressure, for stress, something for deal with the blood type discrepancy, assistance for his immune system. He’d asked for sleeping meds, which they’d been hesitant to give to him. But ultimately they’d given him five pills and he couldn’t get more for a week. Like they expected him to sleep just five times in a week, apparently. Those five had been placed randomly. He looks at them for a long time, wonders what would happen if he took one in the morning.He eats the breakfast half-heartedly, absently organizing the dried fruits into different piles before dumping all of them in. I’m acting like Noctis. The thought makes him smile, and then stop. Noctis.The boy had messaged him a few times when he’d been in the car on the way over here last night, trying to apologize, which Ignis had ignored. Just like Ardyn is ignoring me, even after that text. I’m no better than him. But he can’t reply to him, not now, not yet. It still hurts too much, having the one person he trusted more than anyone tell him what he’d always known himself. This is your fault, your own fault. You did this to yourself. He’s never fought with Noctis before, never done anything more than briefly bicker with him over cleaning up a mess or doing his homework. This is something deeper, the kind of anger no one his age should have, the kind of fight two brothers eleven and thirteen should never have to think about. And now we’re apart. Now I live here, with a total stranger in a run-down apartment in a district I’ve never even really visited.He suspects that this is less for him as it is for the baby.One hundred and twenty days of guaranteed protection. Long enough for the baby to be born so that the king would have a grandson, one who is almost certain to be an Alpha. It isn’t for me. He’s barely ever noticed me before, and all of this time he knew who I was. He’s never been angry with the king before, never been angry with Noctis before either. But now beyond the anger, there is something he never thought he’d feel. Jealousy. Why were their lives so different despite having the same father? Why was only one of them acknowledged? Ardyn had done far more than ruin his body, his mental state; he’d disrupted the very fabric of his being, caused him to doubt every aspect of his life.The oatmeal isn’t bad, and the coffee is unexpectedly good, but Ignis can barely taste anything. Other than his time in the hospital, this is the first time in his memory that anyone has ever cooked for him.-He spends the day fixing up his room. There is an embarrassing amount of blankets and pillows, like the Captain thinks that all omegas do is curl up in a pile of blankets all day. But overall it’s a decent little room. Cozy. Everything is clean, monastic, and Ignis can believe that the room has rarely been used.He thinks he can confront Drautos, thinks he can sit in the living room and wait for him and jump the moment he walks in the door. But it doesn’t work out that way, because the moment he hears the sound of a key in the door he’s fleeing to his room, slamming the door shut behind him and sinking down against it. In a small enclosed space with a powerful Alpha male. He can’t do it, can’t do it. He can feel hands on his wrist, his throat, his waist, fingers sinking into him and a growl in his ear and he’s in his new bed, his pile of blankets that don’t smell like anyone or anything yet and then he isn’t thinking of much of anything.It’s only the knock on his door an hour later that brings him back to Eos.“I made dinner. Leaving some out for you.”He doesn’t respond.“You gotta eat, for the baby.”This makes him snap, “He’s not your baby.”“Thank the Astrals. And if you expect to come back to the Kingsglaive you need your muscles back.”If he wasn’t angry before, this infuriates him. Acting like the Glaives still matter, trying to pretend he’s not an omega and not severely traumatized. You don’t get to be in the elite military if you have PTSD. He isn’t stupid. He rips open the door harder than he intends and stands in the hallway facing Drautos. “You will not speak of this to anyone.”“Speak of what?”He blinks, wary of what he’s playing at. “Last night. When I….”“Had an episode, you mean? I’m supposed to report to your father regarding your recovery and comfort.”He bristles. An episode. He makes it sound like I’m crazy. “He doesn’t need to know this.”Drautos leans back against the doorframe then, arms crossed over his chest. He’s big even for an Alpha, and the show of defensiveness makes Ignis anxious. Unintentional though. He really has seemed harmless so far, hasn’t he?“The fact that you just flinched suggests that you aren’t comfortable here,” the man finally sighs.Ignis makes fists to keep from trembling. “Doesn’t mean you have to tell anyone.”He runs a hand through his hair now. “I don’t think you should be living with an Alpha. What you did last night… I get it, get why you did it, and you don’t need an Alpha around to set you off again.”“Isn’t the whole point for you, another Alpha, to protect me? You’re the most likely to be able to do that and…” You’re not a normal Alpha. You didn’t fuck me last night the way almost anyone else would have. He looks at his hands and wonders if he’s ever grabbed an omega, twisted their arms behind their back and shoved down onto a bed with their ass in the air so he could fuck them, hurt them. I don’t think so. It’s just a feeling. He barely even smells like an Alpha, like he’s defective just like Ignis is. “It’s fine. I’ll get over it.”“Am I really here to protect you, or are you here to protect the Prince?”“You know the answer.”“You are way too assertive, young man. I don’t like being talked back to by a kid under my roof.” He sounds calm, his tone neutral and laid back just as it often is.Like he’s trying to show me that Alphas can be harmless, even though Ardyn was always perfectly capable of being civilized and friendly, teasing. He has no clue what I am afraid of. Somehow that makes him angry. “I’m not a kid.”“Yes, you are.” He taps against the doorframe once and turns back towards the kitchen. “And I’ll keep your secrets if you keep mine.”-They don’t talk about it again, don’t talk about much of anything for another three days. Ignis spends most of the time that Drautos is there in his room, not that the Alpha is around often. A strange sort of protection, but he’d set up a magic parameter around the apartment and left Ignis with a variety of weapons. Wouldn’t make a difference, but Ignis liked being alone those long days while Drautos worked. Alone with the baby, the only way he understands alone anymore. He keeps a hand on his belly much of the time, gently poking sometimes now that he knows where his feet are, his head and bottom are. There have been no more episodes, though possibly only because Ignis has barely even seen his new housemate.So it makes him jump when on the fifth day Drautos knocks on his bedroom door and asks to come in. “I picked up some stuff for you from your old place.”“Thanks.” He’s on the edge of his desk chair, unsure if he should go over and take the pile of papers from him or not.“You gonna ask about Noctis?” Not the first time he asked.“Mind your own business.” They still haven’t talked. He’s replied to a few of Noct’s texts, curt and polite, but they haven’t talked. Don’t remind me that I am failing in my duty, that I am incapable of the most basic of functions, that I have… His eyes are watering.“Sweet Shiva,” Drautos groans and steps over to drop the pile on his desk. “Stop that. Letter from your school there.”He half lunges, rips the envelop open in desperate to hide the pain he is feeling. He hasn’t cried in ages and isn’t about to now, even if he misses him terribly. His hands tremble as he unfolds the pages.

To Ignis Stupeo Scientia,

We at ____ welcome you back to classes as soon as you are ready.

Though the junior high school does not have an omega support group, the accompanying high school does. You have permission to join their group, if you wish to. We also offer in-school counseling and strongly suggest that you attend as much as you can. As you know, it is rare for omegas to manifest at such a young age, and so we have little experience with omega students here at ________. The student body has been spoken to regarding your situations, and letters have been sent home to the parents explaining the importance of acceptance and understanding.

Please understand that in the case of future heats, you will be expected to either take suppressants or stay home until it has receded. We also request that you are not seen with your mate on campus, and that you do not speak to other students of your extracurricular behavior. In the event…
 He calmly folds the letter back up and pushes it back into the envelop without finishing. Only then does he realize that Drautos is still staring at him. “Still calls me a whore, just a lot more polite now.”“People always sing a different tune when they find out you’re royalty.”“I’m scum because I’m an omega, but someone to suck up to because I’m a royal now.”“Yea.”It comes out unexpectedly, his ill-concealed rage. “They told everyone. Sent letters to everybody’s house about me, like an apology. Sorry your kid has to go to class with a pregnant male omega. Violating my privacy and treating me like I’m some sort of spectacle or a bomb that could go off any minute.”He sighs. “Ignis.”“And of course don’t come to school during your heats. Make everyone uncomfortable and of course nobody wants that.”“Ignis. I’m your bodyguard, not your friend.”Not talking to you like a friend. Talking to you like a husband. He doesn’t want a husband, but if he’s going to have one forced upon him he wants him to be nice, understanding. The letter has embarrassed him, pushed him to frustration and now the Alpha’s indifference makes him want to scream. “Why’d you do it? Agree to the marriage?”“Because the King asked me.”“That’s not good enough You don’t even like me.” Because it’s true, isn’t it? He has a different reason to do this. “Money? Promotion to General?”He suddenly stills then, like the air isn’t moving around him all of a sudden. “You’re the third omega boy I know. Life didn’t go well for one. The other…I guess you could say it’s not going so well.”“Do they have to do with those secrets of yours I have to keep?”He still hasn’t moved, and his expression is no longer tired, vaguely irritated, but now unreadable. “Good night, Ignis.” 
Part 5, Chapter 2 – Regis
It’s the first time he’s seen the Chancellor since that day, so long ago. They’d had conversations over the phone, written to one another, but the man had always been elusive and preferred to keep himself out of the public eye. At least until now. A week after Ignis left the hospital, he’s back in Insomnia for a meeting with the king to discuss the marriage situation in the most diplomatic way possible, a dozen armed guards and agents for each of them just outside the chamber.Seeing him is very different from hearing his voice on the phone. He can't stop looking at his hands, can't stop thinking about what they've done. Taken his son from him, stripped him and touched him and made him cry. He'd never wanted to have to have to think about the sex lives of his sons, and he'd wrongly assumed it wouldn't be necessary. Two boys. One an Alpha like himself, one a Beta. nothing to worry about. But no. Ignis is an omega after all, and Regis himself never even knew it. Ardyn Izunia did, and he…Ardyn Izunia, apparently uncaring of the King’s obvious distress, because he doesn’t bother with the niceties and cuts straight into it, his voice snapping out, “In my understanding he will not be pressing charges.”“He’s unwilling to press charges. That doesn’t mean that I’m unwilling.”“Don’t inflate your power. He’s legally an adult, which means you’re helpless. Must be difficult to be helpless as the king.” He’s all but preening, his voice lilting and his eyes mocking. He’d been waiting for this, it seems. “Maybe if you’d told him of your relationship years ago, you could have had a better relationship with him and all of this could have been avoided.”“Don’t,” he snarls, half-standing as he leans on the table and glares at him furiously. Don’t you dare suggest that…that I could have... “You’d have gone after him sooner if you’d known who he was.”But Ardyn is unphased, only leans back and smiles lazily, crossing his legs now and folding his hands over his knees. “Ah, my mistake. You were protecting him by ignoring him, failing to tell him who he is. Tell me, would you ever have said a word about this if I hadn’t done what I’d done? Would he have lived the rest of his life unaware of his heritage had I not knocked him up?”He’s silent. There is truth in what he says.“I don’t think you would have. Perhaps I did him a favor, bringing him into the royal family.” And then he says what he’s been dreading, eyes bright. “Both royal families.”No. He opens his mouth to speak but the Chancellor waves his hand.“But enough of that. Let’s discuss this little development with your rabid guard dog. You married off my mate.”“You raped him. It’s an invalid bond.”“Doesn’t work that way. That Captain of your mangy barbarian squad better be castrated, because if he touches little Ignis…”Hearing the Chancellor say his name makes his stomach twist with rage and sorrow. “Titus Drautos is a good man, unlike you. He isn’t interested in hurting a child.”“A good man, you say.” Tapping the table gently now, his expression suddenly serious.Regis doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like any of this. He knows the captain, had all but raised him from a teenager when he himself wasn’t much older.“What do you want?”“I want him. Do you not realize that I like him? This isn’t merely a power play, though it has produced…interesting results. I want him at my side.”“How can you say you like him when you raped him? You beat him and tortured him for months. You didn’t stay in the hospital long enough to see him, but you know full well what he looked like, what he had gone through. You have no-““I want Ignis and I want my son. That baby will not replace your dear little Noctis. The Astrals won’t accept a substitute for the miserable fate you think your son must face.”“Don’t. Don’t.” He stands, hands slamming down on the table and magic crackling around him, roaring from the ring to form around him. How? How does he know? What does…? I’ve long suspected he was a monster, inhuman, unaging, but to know of… “What do you know about that?”“Rumors.”“What do you know about that?”He ignores the question this time. “You can’t have the child. He’s mine. By blood and by law, just as Ignis is now. I will take you to court. I will raze Insomnia to the ground if I must. You know the Emperor is more than eager for an excuse to destroy this city and bring you to your knees. I can give him the incentive. It will not take much convincing.”He feels as if he’s been slapped, so distracted by the fact that Ardyn Izunia knew about the fate, knew about the prophecy that Noctis… So distracted that he’d let the Chancellor pull the hood over his eyes. He will take both of my sons and he will take my city if I… "I."Ardyn leans in slowly, leering and triumphant. He knows. He must know what Regis is going to say. That which he told no one, that which he thought he would never resort to.The words burn him like venom, suffocating the air from his lungs. "I abdicate the throne. A treaty, I’ll grant you…"But it’s as far as he gets. What was so monumental an effort for him was nothing for Ardyn to destroy as he snarls, “Do you think I care about that? All I want is Ignis.”He doesn’t want to grovel, doesn’t want to do any of this. “Please, Chancellor Izunia.”“All. I. Want. Is. Ignis.” A tap on the table for every word.“I’m offering you a trade. The throne for the child. He's a child.”“Not anymore. He's with child now. My child. And why should I trust you anyway? I know how your dealings are. Everyone knows that your throne means nothing without the ring. The ringbearer rules the city regardless of whose ass is warming the seat. You’d take me out and neuter the Empire in doing so.” And then he calms. “Impressive though. Does your Council know what you just offered? What do you think your people would think if they knew?“He is my son,” he whispers hoarsely, aware that he sounds weak, desperate, but he has fallen as low as a king can. He’s relieved it’d come to nothing, his sudden eruption of horrific irresponsibility, but the rapidity in which it was brushed off alarms him. Something is wrong here.“Yes, well, the kingdom for my son does seem to be your reigning attitude.” And as always, he moves on before Regis can even react to claims that are uncomfortably real. “No need to make up for lost time though. You don’t even know the kid. You don’t know what he likes, how he feels, what he worries about.”“And you do?”“I do better than you do. You realize much of our time together was… enjoyable for him?”“Enjoyable? You.” He can’t speak. You tortured and raped him for months. You deeply traumatized him, left him for dead in the hospital.Ardyn pulls a phone from his pocket then, likely one of a dozen the man owns, and he sighs as he begins flicking his thumb across the screen. “We went to museums and libraries together, went out to dinner, played chess. I helped him with his homework and gave him friend advice. He talked to me. I dare say I know him better than you ever did.”“How dare you suggest that anything was consensual. He’s an omega.”He raises a hand to silence him and Regis obeys, if only because he is too angry for words as Ardyn goes on. “Did you know he wants to be the King’s General when he grows up? Well, did, not sure about now. He doesn’t really have any close friends at school, doesn’t know how he feels about calling the Shield’s kid and the prince his friends. He’s actually worried about getting a perfect score on the math part of the high school entrance exams. He likes esoterica and secret orders and relics, but he gets frustrated easily when he has to interpret fine art. He gets growing pains in his legs. I can go on.”“An omega and a child.”“Doesn’t mean he wasn’t happy, much of the time. I…made mistakes, as did he, but he understood. It’s a hazard of being in an Alpha-omega bond. He’s more mature than his years suggest. You don’t understand. Can’t, which is why I will be so gracious as to show this to you.” He offers his phone with a flourish.It takes a second or two for him to register what he’s seeing, what the photo in the text conversation is of, and then his mind is reeling, his stomach lurching as he starts to turn away. Sick, sick, this man is sick. That’s my son, my poor little Ignis. But he can’t look away.Because right below what was clearly a photo taken by Ignis himself, I miss you and want you with me again. I love you.“How do you know he wouldn’t come to me anyway?” Ardyn whispers softly, voice triumphant. "Now hear my demands."He listens, but he can not hear.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 5, Chapter 3 – Prompto
He’s not spying, not really.He’s only curious, after all. Ignis Scientia hasn’t come back to school yet and Prompto’s mother refuses to talk about him. All he has to go on is the news, which won’t leave the boy alone. The prince has been back at school, though now joined at the hip by a member of the Crownsguard, which he clearly doesn’t enjoy.So he’s not spying when he sees an official car pulled up in front of the school and watches as nobody gets out. And he’s not spying when he strolls closer to the car, studying his phone so he looks oblivious, and he’s not spying when he listens to the heated argument in the car.Ignis and his new caretaker, the Kingsglaive captain.“I said, I changed my mind.”
“That’s great. And I said I’m not driving you around anymore. Get out.”“I’m not going to school.”“If it weren’t for your belly, I’d shove you out.”“I…” and Ignis suddenly stops.Prompto freezes; he hadn’t realized how close he’d gotten to the car until the Kingsglaive Captain is rolling down the window to glare at him from only a meter away. “Get lost, kid, He’s not a spectacle.”“I’m sorry but…” he stammers, unsure of what to say. The guy is scary.But Ignis cuts in before he can come up with a good excuse. “No, he’s a friend. It’s fine.” And while Prompto stands there gaping, Ignis opens the car door and slips out, giving the younger boy a scathing look as if to say, don’t say a word.“Really? You never mentioned having any friends here,” the man says suspiciously, but he sighs and shrugs. “Ok. I’ll see you at 3:30 then?”Ignis says nothing for a minute or two as he waves absently at the car while Prompto tries not to look at his belly. Then Ignis tugs his backpack straps across his chest for a moment and looks expectantly at him.“He’s a little scary, isn’t he? He’s a military trainer so I guess…”“Guess what? I was in the military, too. Before this.”“Seems a lot for a kid.”Ignis glances at him, eyes up and down. “Might not be so bad for you.” It’s not mean, not exactly.Prompto stays silent, unsure of what to say. He’s used to being called fat.But the older boy shrugs then. “You were at the museum.”He gulps, fiddles with his camera strap. “Yea, I go there sometimes.”“You follow me sometimes.” He doesn’t say it like he’s accusing him, just mentioning it.“I’m…” what can he even say? I want to be friends with the Oracle and the Prince? I guess I’m interested in the royal family? Too weird. “I’m not good at making friends, I guess.” He says finally. Lame. Lame, lame, lame. He feels himself blushing furiously.But Ignis only nods. “Not many people are good at that.”“You seem pretty good,” he can’t help himself, eagerly blurting out another embarrassing thing. He winces.“Good at befriending the wrong people,” he shrugs. “Are you even a student at this school?”“Uh. Yea.”“Where’s your fall uniform then? Dirty? You’ll get in trouble.”He looks down at himself; he hadn’t even noticed he’d put his summer uniform on today. It’s been a few days since he’s gone to school now, so he might have missed the announcement. “It’s home. I don’t always go to class. Nobody misses me,” he’s never said this before, not even to himself.“You just come to campus but not class? Weird.”“I was going to the park,” he says, feeling a little defensive now. “But I saw you in the car and was wondering if you need help.”“Like at the museum. Come on. I have an extra uniform in my locker. I ordered a bigger size for my… situation. I think at least the coat will fit you if you don’t try to button it.”Prompto is struck dumb. He doesn’t know what to expect, doesn’t know if Ignis is genuinely being nice or just polite.But whatever it is, it’s enough. Because Prompto isn’t used to other kids even being polite to him. “Thanks! That’d be awesome.’ He doesn’t have to mention that he doesn’t have any of his homework with him and that going to classes will be embarrassing and futile.-But he gets through his first three classes. It’s easier than normal, because after giving him a jacket that sort of fits, Ignis offered to meet up with him next to the vending machines and have lunch with him. Prompto had never had lunch with anyone before.Having lunch with Ignis was exciting enough, but he wasn’t expecting someone else to be there.Within two minutes of he and Ignis sitting down at a table far away from anyone else, the Prince storms up to them.“You’re finally back.”“I am, Your Highness.”“Stop doing that crap. I tried to apologize like ten times.”Ignis keeps not looking at him. His face looks blank. “I can forgive you if you so command it.”The Prince groans loudly. “You suck, you know?” and then he plops his lunch box down on the table right across from him and right next to Prompto. “I’ve seen you around, yea? You’re in C class.”He nods dumbly, too confused about what had just happened to say anything.“Thanks for hanging out with Ignis. I was afraid he’d be sulking all alone.”“I.” Then nothing. Prompto wants to slap himself. How can he be so stupid, so unable to find any words?But if the prince notices, he doesn’t say anything. “I haven’t seen him in like a week. Do you like Mrs. Celeste? I heard she’s way strict.”His homeroom teacher, but he’s too surprised at the idea of Ignis and the Prince being apart for a week to really figure out a good answer. “Erm… I’m not a good student, really. So any teacher is too strict for me.”Noctis gapes. “I want to not be a good student but Ignis here is usually on my butt about everything.”Ignis makes a grunting sound across the table but doesn’t actually say anything.“Do you play Queen's Fate?” the prince goes on then, not waiting for Prompto to say anything.Good. Something he can answer! “Yea I have the newest expansion but haven’t started it yet.”“Eh I don’t have it yet. Now I got some guy with me all the time who doesn’t like me buying games.”Prompto had forgotten about that. He looks quickly around the room and sees the Crownsguard eating his own lunch in the corner. “Looks annoying. Nobody ever watches me though…also kind of annoying.”“I almost never see my dad but always got babysitters,” the prince groans.Ignis across the table is jabbing at his food unnecessarily hard with his fork. They both have the same dad, Prompto suddenly realized. He knew it, but it was hard to imagine. Maybe it’s better to change the subject.“I can bring my Gameboy in tomorrow? We can play during lunch?” Questions. He wishes he could stop the lilt in his voice. It’s so embarrassing.But Noctis doesn’t seem to notice, and instead he looks excited. He nods eagerly, then smirks, and it occurs to Prompto then that the prince had never even asked him his name, like it didn’t even matter that he was a commoner. “It’s not allowed on campus though.”“I won’t tell anyone,” Ignis cuts in, continuing to not look at them and looking irritated. Prompto wonders if he was always this grouchy or if it’s a new thing, wonders if the two of them had a fight or something and that’s why they are both acting so weird. He doesn’t really like the tension. He’s always made a point to avoid conflict of any kind, and now his dream has come true only to be stuck in the middle.“You could play, too? It looks really good, like you can finally play as ______ which is awesome because he…” He stops, blushing as he realizes he’s gone off again. Too eager, too fat, too awkward.But Ignis doesn’t seem to notice. “Hm. I already played it. There’s a two-player mode I’ve been wanting to try though. I tried to play Gladio at the hospital but he sucks so…” a shrug. "You're probably better."Prompto feels his cheeks burning yet again. His face will probably be red forever after today. He's making friends.   
Part 5, Chapter 3 – Ignis
 School had been just as bad as he feared. Apparently, every eighth grader in Insomnia had kept up with the gossip. They all knew he was an omega, knew he was pregnant and bonded to the Chancellor of Niflheim under questionable circumstances, knew he was the bastard son of the king, and knew that he was now married to the captain of the Kingsglaive. It was a lot of information for Ignis to wrap his mind around so quickly, but nobody else seemed to have any trouble.Everyone stared. Some openly gossiped, while some tried to be polite, and he wasn’t sure which was worse.He doesn’t expect the omega support group to be any better.There are eleven other students, ten girls and one other boy. Irritating statistically accurate. None of them smell like omegas, and he wonders absently if some of them might even be betas merely curious about what omegas talk about. Or everyone is on suppressants, which is more likely.The woman in charge is an omega, the eleventh grade physics teacher at the high school. Also clearly on suppressants. “We have a new member visiting from our junior high school. Would you like to introduce yourself, Ignis?”The pointedness of the question is rude. Isn’t the point of a support group to make people feel comfortable instead of putting them in the spotlight? He’s already on the defensive. “I think everyone knows who I am.”                                                                                         She keeps smiling blankly. “It’s up to you!”“It would be,” he snaps back before he can stop himself.“Ok, moving on then. Does anyone have good news this week?”Yea I didn’t have to have sex with someone who hurts me this week. I only threw up three times and didn’t pass out. But he says nothing; he only quietly listens to the other omegas talk about mundane things, good grades and dating success and things that are now a distant memory for him. He sinks lower into his chair and stares at the wall behind the girl across from him. Most of the girls there have blonde hair and he can’t decide if there is a genetic element to this or if they all dyed their hair. He feels like a lot of high school girls look identical as it is, all with the same hairstyles and the same makeup, like they’re all trying to make their school uniforms unique by doing the same thing. But he’s also had no experience with girls, so maybe that’s the problem. His social circles have always been predominantly male, predominantly Alpha male at that. He wonders absently if he could actually befriend some of these girls. The thought is nice, but he doesn’t think it likely. His world is too different.And if that wasn’t obvious enough.“Someone called me a slur today,” the other boy said suddenly.One of the older girls shot her hand up and began speaking without waiting to be called on, “Speaking of! My friend made a comment about how I’d steal her boyfriend, like how I’m more of a slut because I’m an omega.”And another, “I also had a friend say I was upholding stereotypes by taking all art electives…” She seems eager, desperate to out-tragedy the rest.Ignis stares, disbelieving. Imagine having such a good life that that’s the sort of thing you dwell on all week to complain about during a support group meeting. He doesn’t belong here.“What’s the point of this group?” he asks abruptly. “Do you guys spend all week looking for things to complain about when you get here or something?” He’s being mean. He’s not normally mean, but a few days back at school have driven him to viciousness.That stupid blank smile again from the woman in charge. “Would you like to talk about it?”“Talk about it,” he repeats, deadpan. “You’ve all heard about it on the news.”“I think it might be a good idea for us to speak one-on-one after the session.”“No thank you,” he smiles back coldly and stands, still holding his bag over his stomach, before turning and walking out the door.-“You need to stop being angry because other people didn’t experience the same stuff as you.” He’s doing something on his laptop, work probably.The older man’s behavior is rapidly starting to infuriate Ignis, and he regrets telling him about the experience at the omega group. “You make acceptable dinners. You don’t give good advice.”The Alpha sighs loudly and doesn’t say anything. He’s not very talkative, which is both a relief and a source of frustration. He’s also clearly not thrilled with the situation, which makes Ignis’ anger towards him all the more unfair. He knows this, but he can’t stop.And then there is a kick inside of him. Another, a squirm as if he’s trying to roll over inside of him. The baby is only as big as his hand, tiny, the kicks weak and helpless. But it’s the most he’s ever moved at once. He presses his hand against his belly to try to calm him down and glances over at the older man, panicked.Only to find Drautos laughing or trying not to.“It’s probably the spicy food you ate earlier.”He pushes down again, wanting him to be still. “Is it hurting him?”“Naw. He can taste some of what you eat though. So he’s probably surprised or excited, maybe.”“Excited,” he breathes out slowly. He’s probably never been excited before. Always just been scared like him. Or maybe he doesn’t like it. Maybe he’s mad. The thought makes him bite back a laugh even though he was angry with Drautos only a moment ago. “I read they can hear music, too.”“Yup. He hears everything.”This makes him nervous. It had never occurred to him that all those months, the thing inside of him might have been able to hear him scream and beg. But what makes him more nervous, suspicious even, is that this Alpha knows what he knows. “Why do you know so much about pregnancy?”He shrugs without looking up from his computer. “I read up on it a little before you moved in.”“Why?”Another shrug.“You’re not going to be the father.” More assertive than he feels, but nobody is going to take this from him. He trusts the Captain to some degree not to hurt him, but nothing more.“Don’t worry,” he draws the first word out, like it’s a joke. “I don’t want to be.”
-If the Omega Support Group was bad, one-on-one therapy about sex and trauma with a real psychologist is downright torture. He can’t just walk out if he wants to. Well, perhaps he could, but it would raise more difficulties than he wants to deal with. More people telling him what he should and shouldn’t do if he acts out.He doesn’t say a word for the first five sessions, just as he’d barely said a word during the multiple evaluations he underwent at the hospital. He’d had the first three formal sessions while still there, then twice a week as an outpatient. He’s on his third of those now, at the hospital that seems almost like a second home by now. Dr. Argentum still sees him regularly and takes care of all of his physical tests, but he’s since been passed onto a beta woman for therapy, a psychologist who specialized in sexual trauma and who works with another doctor for medication. Embarrassing. What can he even say to her? She’s probably never been through anything like this. These last five meetings Ignis hadn’t said a word, and much of the time she didn’t speak either. Occasionally she’d say something here and there, play music for him which he liked more than he wanted to admit, but she seemed to believe that sitting in silence would encourage Ignis to speak up. Idiot. I grew up in Royal circles where children are seen and not heard; I’m used to being a silent observer.This time she asks about school again. Nothing different than the established routine. In fact, what she says is so repetitive Ignis wonders if she has it memorized, if she sometimes says it to an empty room. "It's alright to take this time to just ground yourself, I would like if you would talk. But I know we will have to work up to the trust you need to talk. I don't want to force you to talk, and everything we talk about will be confidential. Do you think we could talk about school? It’s been a full week now, hasn’t it?"He nods once, and then it crawls out of him. Just the way it did when he’d exploded at Dr. Argentum. “Why is everyone telling me how I should be acting?”She cocks her head but doesn’t respond, as if she knows what’s coming.It should annoy him, but it doesn’t. “Everyone’s always you should do this or that. It’s okay to be angry but don’t hurt anyone else’s feelings. It’s okay to be sad as long as you don’t get in the way. Remember that others are suffering too because being called a slut is so tragic and everyone handles pain differently. All pain is valid unless it makes someone uncomfortable, hm? That why nobody bothered to help until they had to? Everyone just fucking ignored what was happening because the idea of adults fucking kids made them nervous? Infringed upon their little safety circle where the world is perfect and the biggest problem is being stereotyped. I bet everyone in that shitty little pity-me group hates me because I remind them that they actually have it good.”She still doesn’t say anything, and her silence now irritates him. Just silent, just watching, observing, not intervening. Nobody intervenes. Nobody ever intervenes.There’s a few stress balls on the table beside the patient chair, a rubix cube and a couple of those metal ring puzzles. He picks up one of balls then; he’d never touched them before, always found it gross that everyone touched the same things with sweaty palms while they talked about being raped. But he does it now, picks up the green one and turns it over in his hands a couple of times before throwing it as hard as he can at the bookcase against the back wall of the office. It hits one of the framed photos and knocks it the floor with a resounding shatter. Satisfying. He picks up another, an orange one. “Nobody cared at all until they had to and now they all think they can tell me how I should feel about it. I should be grateful, huh?” Orange ball thrown next. “Everyone scrambling to help the poor little pregnant royal omega but only as long as we don’t step on any toes.” He picks up the last one, a blue one, and throws that, too. “You’re all the same. I hate you. I hate all of you.”And then he’s crying uncontrollably. Again, again. Another meltdown. He feels like he’s had a lot lately, like every time he explodes and thinks it’s out and it’s over, then it starts all over and it’s just as exhausting and scary every single time and. He throws the rubicks cube next, then two of the little steel puzzles. The last one he picks up, but doesn’t throw. Instead he clutches it tightly, as tight as he can, and he draws in a couple of ragged breaths before he stops feeling like he’s drowning.She must have moved to the corner of the room with the water tank to fill a small cup of water, because all of a sudden she is settling down in the chair beside him and placing the cup of water on the table where the stress balls once had been and gestures towards the box of tissues."No one has the right to tell you how you should wear what happened to you, Ignis. Trauma is different for everyone, and you have been through so much. It is normal to resent people who haven't suffered as you have, who still live in the innocent place where life is safe and fair."“I hate them,” he whispers, unconsciously rolling the steel puzzle between his hands. He’s done all of them a dozen times since he started coming. This is the expert level one, now easy as he unlocks and relocks it again.“It’s okay to.”“And you, too.”“That’s also okay.”He snorts, unsure if he’s irritated that she takes it so calmly or if it’s just sad. He wonders how many others have said this to her, how many meltdowns she’s witnessed and if the satisfaction of the job is worth it. “These are too easy. You need to buy some of the impossible level ones.”She smiles. “I can have some for next time.”“There won’t be a next time.”She tilts her head again like a dog.“I don’t want to come anymore. I’m quitting.”-He wakes to knocking, rapping on his door, and he jerks awake with a visceral panic and horror he hasn’t felt in a couple of weeks. He’s here.But he’s not. The voice speaking to him is someone else’s. Titus Drautos, muffled through the door. “Ignis, you okay?”It’s a minute before his heart calms down and he can breathe enough to say anything, to sound composed when he groans a yes, go away.“You were screaming.”“I know.” He didn’t know.“Anything I can do?” He sounds tired, like he just got woken up, and Ignis wonders what time it is but doesn’t dare move and make a sound.“No. I’m fine.” He’s not.A sigh. “I’ll be on the couch then.”And Ignis continues to lie frozen until he hears the footsteps, hears the man throw himself onto the couch in the other room and sigh. Only then does he roll over, curl up tightly in his nest and press his face against the softest mochi pillow he has. He’s covered in sweat but also shivering, cold. Another night terror; he doesn’t remember what it was about but he doesn’t need to. It’s obvious.It’s been nearly a month now since he’s had sex, since he’s even talked to or heard from Ardyn despite all of his texts, but he still can’t relax. Probably because of the trauma, because of how messed up he is, not that he wants to think about it. Horrible how something that can happen to him can affect him so much, how one person can mess up another person this badly. It makes him sick, and still he somehow misses him.
But there are other reasons why he’s anxious. It’s been nine days now since he moved in with the Alpha and he still doesn’t really know him. He trusts him – sort of – and likes him – sort of – but he doesn’t know him and doesn’t trust him as much as he needs to in order to relax. Because he’s still an Alpha, and they can’t be trusted. He feels as if he’s been living on edge these last eleven days, waiting for something to happen, waiting for his suspicions to be justified.He dwells on this for ten minutes, twenty, rolls over again and tries to sleep. But an hour later he has not fallen asleep, so he kicks off his sweaty blankets and warily sits up. He knows what he needs.“Hey,” he whispers hoarsely, peering around the hallway corner into the living area.The Alpha cracks one eye open, like he’d already been awake. A grunt in acknowledgement.“I can’t sleep.”He shifts onto his back now and rubs his eyes. “Do you want to watch something? I can sleep through it.”“No, I…” he gives up, unsure of how to say what he doesn’t understand. “I don’t want to be alone. The nightmares are bad tonight.”“Want to sit?”Ignis shifts his weight back and forth nervously as the man sits up on the couch now, but he can’t bring himself to step forward. He’s harmless, he’s harmless. But it’s hard to believe.And Drautos – always Drautos because that’s who he is to the Kingsglaive, not Titus – can see it. “I don’t want anything. Just asked because I’ve been taking classes in therapeutic scenting.”“Like the ones at the hospital?”He nods, yawning. “Yea, figured they might be useful.”Ignis frowns. He doesn’t know how to handle this; he’d thought that Drautos didn’t want him around, was inconvenienced and irritated by all of this. “Not tonight.”“Kay, then can I sleep again?”His gut clenches in immediate panic at the thought of losing his attention, of being alone. He misses having someone close, misses having Noctis always crawling into his bed to cuddle. “I don’t want to sleep alone.”“I can sleep on the floor if you want the couch,” he’s already closing his eyes again as he mutters.“Can you come to my room? Just don’t go in the nest.” The bed is big, and he only sleeps in half of it filled with pillows and cozy blankets. And I have to know, I have to know if he’s safe. He wants this over with, if it’s going to happen.The Alpha is sitting upright, looking at him carefully now. “I don’t know about that.”“I’m fine. I’ve been good here, right?” He says desperately, even as he knows it’s absurd. He’d taken his clothes off again a few days ago. “I’m not used to being by myself like this. It’s difficult.”“You can have Noctis sleep over whenever you want, you know? Didn’t you say you made up?”He nods. “But not now he can’t.”Another sigh. “Ok. I’ll be there in a minute,” he grumbles as he stands up and begins rooting through the set of shelves he’d modified into a dresser for himself. Ignis realizes only then that the man sleeps in his boxers and is probably wanting to change.So he retreats.He quickly returns to his room, rearranges his nest a bit so that Drautos would have more space and there is more bulk between them. Then he lies down to wait, fighting the shaking, the anxiety. This might be a repeat. He might end up being just like Ardyn. But then he’d know. And it might not be. It might be safe.His heart leaps when he hears him enter the room, feels the bed shift as a sudden weight rests down on the other side.He can feel his warmth through the wall of blankets between them, and even though he’s an Alpha, his scent is not intimidating or arousing but somehow protective, relaxing. Perhaps his lack of interest in anyone meant the more overpowering aspects of his pheromones never properly manifested, but Ignis isn’t going to question it. He’s simply going to try and enjoy it. He’s not alone now. Maybe the nightmares won’t come. And maybe, just maybe, he will be able to trust an adult come morning. If not, then he will know the truth about Drautos and at least not live on the edge of terror any longer.It's something to cling to as he lies there awake for over an hour before he can't keep his eyes open any longer.-“Hey, hey.”Ignis shifts and groans. It’s not Noctis talking to him. Not Ardyn because he doesn’t hurt. He’s pressed against a warm and solid form that smells like safety.“S’ry to wake. I got a meeting.”He begins waking up fully then. Drautos. Too close. He starts to jerk back.“You crawled over the blankets,” he sighs, elbows him gently and throws his legs over the side of the bed.He doesn’t answer, only slowly presses back against the wall of blankets that he is somehow on the other side of. He’d been squished against the Alpha’s back, relaxed and asleep, and the man hadn’t even turned to face him. He hadn’t hurt him, hadn’t attacked him or probably even touched him. It’s impossible to believe.But before he can process it, the man stands and turns back to glance at him, “You know that you snore? Think you drool, too. Not doing this again if you keep that up.”Safe, but an asshole all the same.

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Part 5, Chapter 4 – Ignis
 Being on an airship should be a lot more exciting than it is; it’s his first ride on one. All his life, he’d dreamed of a ride on one, but he’d never expected it to be in this kind of situation. Going to his doom, betrayed by everyone for what feels like the millionth time in just six months.Drautos is beside him, looking somewhere between guilty and bored. He’d been ordered to come along, something he’d seemed strangely resistant to. Which is probably why he’s trying to be nice right now.“Do you want a scenting?” he whispers, his voice rough and gravelly that low.He’s only done it once before. The fourth night he’d slept in the bed with Ignis, he’d awoken earlier as usual but leaned over and gently nuzzled him, rubbed his chin over the top of his head before he got up and left for work. It had been unexpected, enough to startle him awake and cause his heart to skip a beat, but a moment later he felt so good, so comfortable and safe that he’d stayed in bed the rest of the day, rubbing his face against the softest pillow in his nest and squirming contentedly. Such a minor thing, the sort of thing that any parent or mate should do on a daily basis, something even friends do. A quick chin scenting to an omega is the same as a hug to a beta.A quick nod, almost just a duck of his chin. He’s pissed at him right now, but he likes that he asked. He sort of wished Drautos had asked the first time, but maybe he wasn’t really thinking. Being asked if he wants to be touched is nice.He feels gentle pressure on the top of his head then, a rubbing, the scratch of the man’s beard on his scalp and then he smells, feels, a release of pheromones from the Alpha’s scent glands. He feels his muscles loosen, relax, and he sinks against the man’s side. But still he says it. “I’m scared. Because I….” I want him. I miss him. It’s been over a month now and it’s hard to be apart. And I’m ashamed. But Drautos seems to know what he’s about to say, and he gently touches his chin, the side of his face, and then he’s carefully covering his eyes. “It’s normal. Just rest for now while you can,” he mutters.Normal. Nothing in his life is normal and nothing can ever be again.-
“You must go to Gralea for a short time. This is the exchange.”

“Exchange for what?”

The King doesn’t answer immediately. Instead he tightens his mouth and folds his hands over the table. “I can not tell you that. I don’t want you to feel responsible if anything happens.”

“How can I make a decision if I don’t know what’s at stake?”

“There’s no decision, Ignis,” he says tiredly, looking old now, like he aged a decade during the conversation. “You don’t have a choice.”

“Because you made that choice for me.”

“Because this is the conclusion the Chancellor and I came to after significant negotiation.”

“I’m a bargaining chip.”

“You might be bargaining for yourself.” It’s almost pleading, like he wants Ignis to believe it. Which means it’s a lie, most likely, and Ignis suddenly understands. “Where was my mother from?”

A startled look before a smile, one of those smiles that only adults can make because it masks decades of lies. “That’s a change of subject.”

“Not really. This baby. The…” Father. It’s hard to call Ardyn that. It’s too kind a word. “Ardyn is Nifl. I’m half Insomnian Royalty. What else is the baby? Is my mother also Nifl? Because that means he’s…”

“I think this is a conversation for another time. Just worry about the next few weeks. Once you return home, I can tell you all about your mother. I…have photos of her, and I will tell you everything.”

Which means she’s not Insomnia, possibly not even Lucian. So the baby wouldn’t rightfully be an heir to the throne, as half Lucian blood is required. And if he can’t be an heir, he’s disposable. As is Ignis.
-“Another thirty minutes or so. Don’t you want to see Niflheim from above?”He wants to. He wants to so badly. His first airship ride. But he can’t give anyone the satisfaction, not when two Nifl soldiers are milling around in the cabin. “Why didn’t you want to come with me?”“Where did you get that idea?” The Captain is only half-heartedly paying attention, distracted by texting on his phone.“Because you seemed hesitant, like you were trapped, when the king asked. And you’re not staying the whole time.”He abruptly stills at this, and his response is slow, like it has to be dragged out of him. “I… have very unpleasant relations with Niflheim, as you can imagine, and the Emperor is directly responsible for the deaths of my family.”“You’re the Captain of the Kingsglaive. You aren’t supposed to let your emotions get in the way of anything. And you’re supposed to be protecting me. You didn’t even try to tell my father this was a bad idea.”“Forgive me for not allowing you to be present for every single conversation I have.” He’s being a jerk now, the way he sometimes gets.“You really can’t stay the whole time?”“Two weeks is a very long time to be away from my duties here. But you will have people watching out for you there. It’s part of the tradeoff.”Two weeks. Hearing the time span makes his gut lurch again. So soon after he’d started school again, too. He blinks furiously, unwilling to cry. “I… I don’t want to be traded.”Drautos snorts at that. “Tell me about it.” And he half smiles then, not really trying. “I don’t consider you as someone to be traded. I’m not happy with this either.”“You didn’t do enough.”The Captain won’t look at him. “I know.”-It’s beautiful. Essentially a modern-day castle in the center of Gralea, hundreds of trains and airships all headed to it as if along arteries to the heart of the city. Just as he’d always wanted to fly, he’d always wanted to visit the city. And yet, just as before, the experience is ruined because of him.He’s disappointed Ardyn isn’t waiting for him.Disappointed. The thought immediately makes him cringe. He shouldn’t feel that way. He should be relieved he’s still being ignored. He glances up at Drautos, but there’s no reaction to be had. His face is cold, a mask; he’s never looked that way before.Two members of the Gralean Consulate are waiting for him, as well as three men who can’t be anything other than guards. Their uniforms are impeccable, crisp and vibrant and flashy, with red cloaks and more color than Ignis is used to seeing in such circles. But what surprises him the most is that all five of them bow to him, ever so slightly.They bow to him, but they don’t talk to him. “The Emperor would like to meet with you, Captain. The young sir will be shown to his quarters. You can be assured of his utmost safety while here.”Drautos breathes out slowly. “Right. At least when he’s not with his mate. Wouldn’t the Emperor like to meet the boy, too?”The woman Consul looks embarrassed at that. “Not yet. He would like to discuss the arrangements with you. I believe he has a formal reception planned with the young sir later.”“That sounds intimidating,” he snorts now, and then he looks down at Ignis. “I suppose I’ll see him soon then?”“Yes, of course. Once he is settled.”Settled. He wonders what that means. Probably fucked. He can’t imagine that Ardyn would put it off for much longer. He shifts uncomfortably, unsure of why he feels excited at the idea of that. Disgusting. I’m disgusting. So he clears his throat. “I’m okay, Captain Drautos. Text me once the meeting is over.”The Alpha growls softly but nods, which leaves the Consul members and guards relieved. The youngest man in uniform then turns to him.“Come along then, sir. I’ll show you to where you will be staying.”Sir. I wish they’d stop saying it. Ridiculous. But he can’t really be considered a highness, certainly not a majesty, not when he’s a bastard. Still above the average now, even if he is an omega. He waves absently at Drautos and then turns away, ignoring the guard eagerly picking up his suitcase and gesturing down the hall.“Forgive me if I speak out of line… I know this is a strange situation, but I hope you enjoy your stay here in the capital. I moved here when I was fifteen myself, as soon as I joined the military, and I would be happy to show you around, I mean…”Ignis wants him to shut up. “Is that your job?”He has the dignity to look embarrassed at least. “Apologies, Sir. It’s just not often…”“You have the chance to take selfies with the Chancellor’s slut?” he says nastily. This person’s being nice, but he has no reason to trust anyone here, or to trust anyone at all, perhaps ever again. Every time. Every time.“Right, well…” he falls silent then, and a few minutes later they turn down one last hall and stop before a lavish door. “These will be your quarters.”He’s taken aback by this. “I’m not staying with the Chancellor?”The guard looks startled. “He’s made no mention of you coming, Sir.”Stunning, baffling. He immediately puts his hand in his pocket and feels for his phone. No texts, no messages. Nothing from him in all this time. He doesn’t understand the game anymore. “He hasn’t?”He shakes his head, clearly even more uncomfortable than before. “Maybe… Maybe it’s for the best, huh? I mean you just said…”“What would you know?” He rounds on him, fast and hard.“I’m just referring to when you called yourself….”“You know nothing,” he snaps. “Nobody knows anything but the two of us. Understand?”“Okay, okay,” he puts his hands up and rolls his eyes.“Now give me the key and go away,” he holds out his hand expectantly, petulant and frustrated now.The guard stares a moment. “I can wait down the hall, but I can’t leave you.”“Fine. Just move on and don’t talk anymore. I’m not a spectacle.”“Here’s your keycard. You need both the card and a passcode that you can set now. If you’d rather have fingerprint identification that can be arranged.”“Of course,” he breathes, tapping the card against the screen, follows the prompts to set a passcode. Four digits. He taps in a series with only half a thought.He’d hoped maybe the passcode would be some sort of spell. Foolish, immature, pathetic. Because he’d set the code to be the number of the hotel room they used to use. And he’d hoped Ardyn was there. He’d hoped. But the door yawns open into an empty suite. 
Part 5, Chapter 4 – Ardyn
 Ignis looks good. How a couple of weeks in the hospital and a few more in a safe environment had changed him so much.Ardyn hadn’t responded to any of his texts of course, hadn’t warned Ignis that he was coming. It’s now Ignis’ second day in Gralea, the afternoon, and Ardyn had just shown up in the boy’s suite. The passcode was irrelevant; he’d opened the door without it, magicking it open to remind Ignis that it made no difference to him, even if everyone else in the city believed it did. No. Ardyn had merely appeared, materialized in the foyer and left Ignis stunned. He likes him off-kilter, likes keeping him on edge. Because the boy is smart, clever and crafty, and while Ardyn is never concerned about Ignis getting the better hand, he likes reminding him of his place.He’d put on weight, and not just because of his belly, of the baby Ardyn had no intention of acknowledging anytime soon. That ultrasound. The things revealed in the DNA test. His heir. No, Ignis looks like he’s put on several kilos, the new weight showing in his face. He even looks taller, though that’s unlikely. His hair had been trimmed at some point since the hospital, not as short as it’d been when they’d met, but better than the mess he’d had. His cheeks are flushed, his skin no longer translucent with visible veins. New glasses. He’s wearing a thick sweater, probably not used to how cold the autumns can be in Gralea, and brown corduroy pants. Soft clothes, the sort omegas are always weak for. How he wants to touch him.But before he has the chance to, Ignis rushes towards him, falls to his knees before him“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please, I swear I didn’t…” he keeps going, clasping his hands together, eyes wide with terror.There’s something. Something. About seeing a pregnant omega, his mate, on his knees before him, imploring, desperate, begging. Omegas were worshipped once, so long ago now in my past. Male omegas were seen as the supreme beings, and how they have fallen. The heir to Insomnia begging to the Accursed. He keeps his face blank, steady, as Ignis crawls forward a few paces now, reaches for the hem of Ardyn’s coat, then his knees, his belt. Unbuckling it the way he used to. He almost lets him do it. Almost.“No, no,” he murmurs, rubbing the boy’s head none too gently, twisting fingers in his hair to keep him still. “Not now.”“I want to,” his voice cracks, desperate. “I haven’t seen you in…”“Over a month now. You must be in a lot of pain, hm?”He can’t nod because of the grip in his hair, but Ardyn can feel him trying.“But is that why? Or is it because you are scared I am angry with you? Because we need to talk about a few things.”He’s shaking badly, reeking of fear and arousal and confusion, so characteristic of him by now. “Like?”“Like.” He leans in, takes a deep, slow inhale. “You smell like another Alpha.”“Titus Drautos. The Kingsglaive Captain.” His voice is distant, mechanical, like he’d gone into that other place he sometimes goes when he gets frightened.Ardyn sighs, straightening up again and releasing his grip on the boy’s head. “Yes, your husband. But you smell as if he scented you.”“I don’t ask for it.”It makes him angry, so very angry, to think that another man, another Alpha, has been touching him, scenting him, more than likely holding him. But at the same time, it excites him. Ignis and Titus. Two people he owns. “We will talk about this, but your turn for a question.”Ignis finally meets his eyes again, as if doubting the words. He’s so beautiful, so attractive. Those ravishing eyes. He resists the urge to lean in and smell him again, to nuzzle at his neck and nip at the swollen gland beneath his mark. His skin looks soft, a healthy glow to his face that he’d lost months ago. And Ardyn feels momentarily magnanimous.“Ask anything.”“Why didn’t you reply to any of my messages? Or visit me in the hospital. Or come to Insomnia afterwards?” His voice picks up volume then, speed as he steps forward. “Or even tell your guards I was coming? Why weren’t you waiting for me?”“I said one question,” but he’s smiling now. Ignis is behaving erratic, frantic, clearly so overwrought that he’s all over the place. It’s cute. They’d been apart so long that Ardyn had forgotten how he could be. “Unfortunately since this went public my life has gotten rather…busy. It’s been an unexpected hassle, seeing where I stand…legally, as your mate, in an international arena.”“That sort of work is your job. It can’t have taken so long you couldn’t reply to a simple text. I only sent a couple hundred.” Definitely all over the place.“You’ve gotten very bold since we’ve been apart,” he says airily, arching his eyebrows as he looks down at him. I regret not taking that blowjob now. He wants those lips around his cock. Probably the easiest way to shut him up next time he gets pushy. “You sent some adorable texts though. That little video of your tits in particular had me jerking off.” A good one, apparently taken in the hospital bathroom the first time he was able to get out of bed, the little slut. He still had toothmarks and bruises decorating his chest, his nipples still swollen. And Ignis had held the phone in one hand while he pinched and tugged at them with the other. Utterly shocking. He was clearly terrified, desperate, likely believing that Ardyn was angry with him and would now kill the Prince in revenge. “In fact, I think we ought to make some videos together during these next two weeks. For our viewing pleasure during our time apart.”This gets him. “Like of us having…?”“Yes. Of me fucking your tight little omega hole.” He can’t help himself. He’d been following the tabloids, the lurid threads on social media and anonymous forums. It’s remarkable how many people across Eos are fascinated by him and Ignis. How much they fantasize about the Niflheim Alpha ravaging the little thirteen-year-old. The epitome of the Alpha-omega power dynamic. The Alpha old, large, powerful, the head of the armed forces of the most powerful Empire ever to grace the lands. The omega young, petite, disgraced, a member of a nation about to be crushed in the name of the Empire. The King’s bastard, at that. Ardyn is reveling in the attention, the filthy stories and art being written and drawn of them, the way news reporters look at him with a mix of disgust and lust now. He wonders how much Ignis knows.He’s a teenager. He couldn’t stay away from the internet if he were in a coma. And he’s been in school again. He must know. He will have to ask him eventually.“I was a little disappointed I never got any videos of you touching yourself.” He prods at him.Wrong thing to say. Because Ignis is suddenly gone again. “Mm. Okay.”That little okay. He can’t decide if he loves it or hates it. Perhaps depends on his mood. Just as he can’t decide if he adores or despises the boy.“Yes, okay,” he touches Ignis’ hair, brushes his bangs behind his ear. “Perhaps you ought to get on the bed then.”“What?” That wild look in his eyes again, green and glassy with fear. He’s so beautiful. He’d seemed shocked, as if he wasn’t expecting it somehow, as if he’d believed that was all behind them just because Ardyn didn’t accept the blowjob that Ignis had tried to give him only a few minutes ago.He can’t hold the triumph in his voice back. “Come now. You’ve been a month without your mate. You must be miserable.” He knows he is. He can smell the desperate, suppressed undertone in his pheromones.He ducks his head and turns towards the bed, reaching beneath his sweater to unbuckle his belt. The rote behavior is coming back to him after all. He won’t even have to ask him to take his pants off. So he merely waits until the boy gets on the mattress, rolls onto his back and kicks his way out of his pants, his omega underwear. He waits, mesmerized by the vision of his mate stripping for him again. This last month has felt an eternity.“Open your legs.”A whimper.“I won’t fuck you. I want to see you.” Make sure you are still untouched. Foolish. He knows Titus might as well be a eunuch 364 days of the year. “You did receive stitches at the hospital, no?”“They’re long gone now,” Ignis snaps unexpectedly, somehow finding himself again. “They were the dissolving kind. I got them both inside and outside.” But he must realize he’s spoken out of turn, so he spreads his thighs, grabbing his knees for a moment, probably to keep himself from trembling too badly.Ardyn holds his breath. “Lean back now, on the pillows.”He nods in that jerky way of his, like he’s trying too hard to be assertive and trusting, settling back into the half-nest Ardyn had started for him in the room he’d specially designed. And then, then he can see him.The soft ridges around his entrance are finally developing. He’d been wondering when that would happen, if they would given his obvious hormonal imbalance. They were attractive, and while he wouldn’t have minded if Ignis had never developed the common genital appearance of male omegas, he’s glad for this.He runs his skin slowly up his perineum and touches his balls, smirking as they immediately tighten up. Small ridges, budding growths of extra folds of skin there now, full of nerves that only omegas have, that fill with slick and swell ever so slightly during heats, become just thick enough to be bitable, to run his tongue between them. Much of an omega’s scent in heats comes from these.“These are cute, hm?”“I…haven’t looked.”He arches an eyebrow. Possibly an excuse, as his belly is big enough now to make it difficult to examine himself too carefully, but… “Felt?”Ignis shakes his head quickly, still not looking at him. “I mean, I clean myself. But I don’t like to…”“You haven’t masturbated? No sexual activity at all since I last saw you?” It’s hard to believe, especially given how powerfully desperate he smells.“No. I wanted to but.”He takes his hand and pulls it towards him, ignoring the way the boy tries to jerk back for half a second before he remembers himself. A month away apparently gave him some of his fire back. Easily broken over the course of two weeks. “We ought to resolve that.”“N…” but he doesn’t finish the word.“Nothing to be ashamed of. Many male omegas have these ridges and folds removed in modern times, claiming that they are unhygienic or unattractive. Yet there ss nothing dirty about them; omega slick is sterile with anti-bacterial properties, as you must know. Arguably even has healing properties and it’s the primary reason none of your injuries have ever gotten infected regardless of whether I healed you. These folds merely keep your scent, make you more attractive. Though some Alphas do not like them.” He looks hard at him now. He knows this isn’t why Ignis is nervous, knows it has nothing to do with him being shy about his body. “I wonder if Titus Drautos likes them?”“He never looks at me, would never dare,” he says quickly, anxiously. “I wouldn’t let him. I know I’m yours.”I’m yours. The boy’s hand is shaking in his own, sweaty and hot. He pulls it closer and then pushes down, pressing those thin fingers against the boy’s groin. “You’ve never done this to yourself then? Ever? It’s really only mine?”“Only yours.” A whisper, that familiar crack in his voice clearly coming. Ardyn likes that crack, though it won’t be there in a year, most assuredly.“Well, you’ll still only be mine if you do this now. You can touch yourself in my presence; I allow it.”He glances at him now, some of that fury in his eyes despite everything. Ardyn can imagine what he is thinking perfectly. That isn’t why I don’t touch myself. But he will not acknowledge a word the omega doesn’t actually say, so he merely presses down a little harder.“Start rubbing. You’ll be spilling out within a few seconds.” He’s slightly irritated, slightly, that Ignis isn’t already wet. He should be in the mere presence of his mate, especially after a month. “Slide your fingers through the folds so you can gently squeeze them as you move up and down. I know they are tiny right now, but they will swell.”He’s shaking violently now, but he obeys. He begins rubbing in jerky motions, the slick coming almost immediately.Ardyn closes his eyes for a second, inhaling deeply. It’s been so long, so long since he smelled him. The last month has been brutal, horrific. He’d turned to taking Alpha suppressants, unable to bear the relentless need he’d felt for the boy. These last few weeks he’d regretted not fucking him in the hospital, not entering Insomnia under an illusion and cornering the boy somewhere. He can never go through this again, can never be apart from him for as long as a month again. He looks down at him again, watches the slick leak out, the budding folds and ridges now red and swollen just as his cock is,“Now with your other hand, mm-hmm. Two fingers. Put them in. But keep rubbing.”A low gasp, a whine that can only be fear, but he obeys.He can’t help but lick his lips as he watches Ignis slowly finger himself, sees the digits penetrate him, enter the hole that has consumed his mind for six months now. “You can make noise this time. As much as you’d like.”It’s as if something breaks in him, as if the paralysis finally cracked, and a month of buildup, of desperate need, came spilling out all at once. And as he watches Ignis’ back arch, his mouth drop open and eyes shutter close as he begins groaning, gasping. Maybe I should never have silenced him for so long. His voice is so very alluring.“Try pinching yourself, mm?” Because Ignis has only ever associated sex with pain, and it is inevitable that he will end up liking a little.This, this he disobeys. Perhaps he didn’t hear him. Ardyn shouldn’t; he should make him do all of this himself, but he can’t resist. He flicks his hand out, places it over Ignis’ and then pinches his central fold, the largest, and he does it hard. Ignis cries out loudly, kicks and groans, and he starts to withdraw his fingers.“No, no. You’d be wise to do as I say this time.” He wipes the sweaty hair from the boy’s face and strokes his face, thumb sliding over his lower lip as he gasps for air. “Go as deep as you can now.” I don’t think you can quite reach your upper gland but try to. There are more nerves leading up to it so you should get something. But there’s no point in speaking further when the boy can’t hear him so he releases his face, sits back on his heels between his legs and leans in to study him.He watches the fingers sink in, up to the third knuckle this time, watches the way his skin tugs, the slick spurting out and messing up the sheets, the way his little dick jerks and twitches.“Good, good, my little mate,” he whispers softly as he leans forward, his face so close to his crotch the boy must be able to feel his breath. Why hadn’t he done this sooner?And that must be enough for him. Ardyn can smell his orgasm moments before it hits him, all but taste it in the air as Ignis jerks once more, so hard that he pulls both of his hands back, flinging slick into Ardyn’s face as he comes. He watches hungrily, drinks down the scream the boy lets out, and only after his voice runs out does he finally touch him, lay a hand on each thigh and gently run his palms up to his hips. He leans over him then, studies his flushed face intently as Ignis slowly comes down from the climax, perhaps five minutes of barely daring to breathe because this omega is his, his.He waits another five minutes, perhaps even another ten, before crouching down, pressing his lips to the boy’s ear. “What do you need?”There’s terror in his voice, desperation and guilt. “You,” he whispers. “Please.”Yes, good. You are mine. I do own you just as you admit. And I will not be letting you go. He leans back and steps off the bed, glancing at the boy’s stomach only once, the swell that is his heir. “I don’t think just yet. But I’d like you to get dressed and pack up again. You’ll be staying in my chambers for the remainder of your stay here. You can go in and out, of course,” he says airily, grinning, “But you will be sharing a bed with me.”It had been a waste of time and expense to set up quarters for the boy for only one night, but it’s worth the look of horror on Ignis’ face.

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Part 5, Chapter 5 – Aranea
She considers running away. General Glauca rarely speaks, and the few times he does it’s to reprimand someone. Generally best to avoid him, but she’s trapped in the corner at the dessert table and there’s no easy escape route, so when the crowds part to let the massive suit of armor through, she sighs and stuffs the rest of the brownie in her mouth to keep from saying something rude.The General doesn’t notice. He only gestures towards her, then a couple of meters away to Biggs and Wedge, more interested in alcohol than chocolate. “I have a favor I must ask the three of you.”She swallows. “Oh? And what’s that?“I need you to keep an eye on Ignis Scientia.”Weird request. She glances quickly around the room but doesn’t see the kid, even though the dinner party is more or less for him. For the Chancellor to show off his little mate, his prize from Insomnia. Supposedly for the passing of some new legislation nobody cares about, but of course everyone had to pay their way into this dinner to see the kid. “Why me?”“Because you’re another omega. I know you’ll protect him the way you look after Loqi whenever I ask.”I knew he was gonna bring him up. She’s weak for the little tow-headed brat. “Loqi’s a baby, not the mate of the most powerful man in Niflheim. What do you want me to do? Smack him if he gets near the kid?”Glauca shifts, his armor shimmering in that creepy way. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Do what you must.”“So permission to smack the Chancellor. Got it.” It sounds nice; she can’t help it.“I am not getting involved in that. But I’d like you to do everything you can to stay in his vicinity, especially when he is with the Chancellor. Not all three of you all of the time, of course; you can take turns. I’ll pay you just as I pay you to watch the other little one.”She would have done it without pay, but with it, there is no doubt. “Why do you care so much about him though?”He tilts his head a little, like a dog. “Because of Loqi. He reminds me of him.”She rolls her eyes. Not even really related, the General dotes on the orphaned boy something horrible. Glauca just acted like he was the kid’s dad even though he wasn’t even around half the time. Probably because he’s hella deformed under the armor and can’t get laid, so he has to borrow kids, Biggs had joked once. A joke none of them ever got over. The two of them and Wedge had tried to coax Loqi into telling them what his face looked like but the boy always refused. “Okay, fine. So what’s the job, exactly?”“Just keep an eye on him. If Izunia touches him in public or he seems nervous, try to interfere. And the… press will be everywhere. I hear it was bad in Insomnia so I expect the same here. It’s already front page. Don’t let them hassle him.”“Tall order, given the shit going around. But we’ll give it a shot, the three of us.”The General nods once at this, and before Aranea can say another word, he turns from her and somehow manages to vanish despite his size. Whatever.She waits another moment to see if he’ll appear again before pushing her way over to her friends to update them on the situation, and the fat check inevitably awaiting them. Glauca always pays well despite supposedly only having military earnings. Another weird thing about him.-He’s wearing formal Gralean attire, something clearly designed to accommodate his belly. A white cape with black trim and a crimson mantle clasped over it with a gold brooch. Cream robes, a black vestment over it, slit up the center for his stomach. He’s wearing a lot of jewelry, more than most women wear, and he’s clearly not used to it given the way he keeps fiddling with the bangles, the chains and rings around his fingers. Probably too scared to touch what’s undeniably a collar around his neck.He’s glassy-eyed, has a look of shell-shock on his face like his brain is somewhere else.
But he doesn’t flinch when the Chancellor squeezes his shoulder, rubs the back of his neck. Instead he leans into him ever so slightly, even glances at him with a flicker of a smile before that blank look washes over him again.She wishes she could tell him to stop. She gets it, knows that he’s doing it partly because he’s drawn to his mate against his will, partly out of fear. But it looks bad and people are going to jump on that, say he’s complicit, that he wants this, deserves this. “Is that touching him enough? Nervous enough? I mean it is for me but this mission is too vague,” she huffs. “We can’t do a thing in this formal a setting.”“Poor kid,” Biggs sighs. “I figured he wouldn’t ever totally get away but this is bad.”“He’s a prisoner of war,” Wedge says then, “like when cities of old were plundered, and the maidens dragged away to be prizes.”“Points for history fact. But not very poetic.”“Eighth.” Wedge lifts his glass and shrugs.Shiva. She sometimes thinks the guy is actually a robot or something, one of those Magitek whatevers that Chief Besithia plays with. Whatever the case, his stomach and liver are clearly not human.“Can’t do anything tonight, can we?” Biggs again.“Naw, let’s go see what’s going on in the news. The Kingsglaive guy who was with him already left which is weird,” Downright disturbing. How could he abandon the poor thing so quickly? Leave it up to the General of an enemy army to help out his husband? What a dick. “We can probably corner him tomorrow. Chancellor has a big meeting and I doubt they’ll let him bring the kid.”-He doesn’t bring him. He leaves him in the antechamber before the primary meeting room, the High Table that Aranea herself has only been to once, when she was made captain last year. An omega, a woman, and only twenty at the time. Say what you want about Niflheim, but at least women and omegas can actually hold titles. Unlike some places.She looks over at Ignis, curled up in a chair now, and wonders if the real reason he was abandoned was not because he was a bastard, but because he was an omega. Did the king really not have a blood test done? Maybe he hadn’t known about Ignis until years later.“Impressive how much he trusts you,” she says it loud to grab his attention.He jerks his head up, looking dazed for a moment.“Not to run for it?”He narrows his eyes, obviously suspicious, and Aranea curses herself for not first introducing herself as he goes on, “Why would I run? He’s my bondmate.”“He’s a huge creep.”He shrugs, clearly unwilling to say anything. Well-trained. Then it hits her. The man on the other side of the room, appearing asleep, is a guard and most assuredly not asleep.“I’m Captain Aranea of the 18th platoon. Wanna see some ID?”“I don’t care,” he flicks his gaze over to the guard and opens his book again.“I’m an omega.”“Join the club,” he sniffs, and she has the urge to grab his cheeks and pull on them, the way she does with Loqi. Who, she realizes with a jolt, is only two years younger than Ignis. This kid acts like a snob, but he’s really that, just a kid, barely even a teenager. And six or seven months pregnant. And very scared.She turns away from him and half-stomps over to the man slumped in a lounger beside a long, low table. She taps his shoulder, even though by his breathing he’s clearly awake. She recognizes him immediately, an older lieutenant who managed to get on Ardyn’s good side somehow, probably because he’d been penalized for needless cruelty in war several times by now. The only reason he hasn’t been stripped of badges is because of the Chancellor intervening, which of course means the man owes him favors. Also a beta, so no risk of him taking too much interest in the kid. “Mate. I’m covering for him. The Chancellor decided he wanted someone higher up the ladder for his little charge.”He doesn’t seem surprised or suspicious at this, only rolls his eyes and mutters something involving the word bitch which she will be gracious enough not to ask him to repeat.
“Know you won’t touch him so what do I care? Chancellor will still pay me.”The Chancellor also disappears anyone who disobeys him. An unpleasant fact that’s been harder and harder to ignore the longer he’s around. But no matter. This guy’s always had about twelve brain cells to light up. So she says nothing, just steps back as he gets up and strolls off, out of the antechamber and inevitably off to find a drink.When she turns back to Ignis, he’s still looking down at his book, but she can tell he’s watching from the corner of his eye. She heads back over him and crouches down on the floor in front of his chair. He smells like fear and pregnancy and he was clearly scented by Ardyn recently; he reeks of the Chancellor. He’s so small, a fair bit shorter than her with the shoulders and hands and jawline of a kid. There is no chance that Ardyn could ever have mistaken him for someone older, which makes her all the more angry. He saw someone vulnerable in a position to cripple the Insomnian government and took his chances.“What are you reading?”“Dunno.”“Figured. Just staring at the pages?”“Something like that,” he murmurs, slowly closing the book and finally properly looking at her.“Then let’s go do something. I took over for that idiot, and the Chancellor won’t mess with me.” Hopefully. He does seem to be weirdly avoidant of her, which now works to her advantage.“You don’t take suppressants. I can smell those when omegas take them. They smell kind of… manufactured. You smell normal.” He says it almost accusingly.“Off-topic,” she shrugs as she stands. “I don’t take ‘em.” Not going to change myself just to make others more comfortable with my existence. She almost says it, but looking down at Ignis, she realizes that maybe if he had taken them, he wouldn’t be in this situation. No need to guilt him for possibly wanting to take them in the future. “Did you get to explore the palace grounds outside? Pretty different from Insomnia with all the snow.”He shakes his head as he slips off the chair. “Not yet. I’d need a coat though.”“You can borrow one of my friends’. He won’t care, and he’s a beta so won’t smell. There’s two other military guys I usually hang out with. Want to meet them?” Better to ask before suddenly jumping a crowd on him. “You know one, I believe.”“Not the idiot who showed me to my room the first night, I hope. Haven’t met too many other soldiers…”“Nope. He’s… well.” She isn’t sure if he’d be set off by seeing Biggs. Can’t tell how unstable he is and sure as hell can’t ask him that. “They’re waiting in the hall.”Ignis nods once, then pushes past her towards the hallway without waiting. Curious kid, which is probably half of what screwed him over. Ardyn chose his target well, and it pisses her off. She trots along after him, managing to grab the door before he can open it himself.“He wants to see the grounds, though he’ll need to borrow a coat,” she points now. “Biggs. Wedge. I don’t remember if they have first names.”Ignis smiles faintly at this and nods to them, but otherwise doesn’t react. Biggs flicks a glance her way and shrugs.He doesn’t fucking recognize him. Unbelievable. Was he really that traumatized? She doesn’t like thinking he was that messed up.“You can have my coat if you want? It’ll be huge but…” Biggs finally says warily, shrugging it off and holding it out towards the boy.Then he figures it out. Maybe it was just the face he didn’t remember. His eyes widen a moment and he flinches, though whether that’s memory or just a reflex if a man moves too suddenly around him is hard to tell. Ignis doesn’t say it, but when he accepts the coat he smiles at Biggs and nods in a way that makes it clear he recognizes him. And then he goes ahead and starts talking, more than Aranea had ever heard him say, and it’s all said while maintaining eye contact with the now-coatless idiot. “I want to see the trains. I hear Niflheim still uses diesel despite having such technological advances? In Insomnia, they are all electric.”Biggs grins. “That can be arranged.”-Looking at the news is a mistake. It always is. Seems like the whole world’s gone nuts since little Ignis Scientia arrived in Gralea, stepping off the airship with the Captain of the Kingsglaive, his husband. Hard to believe that little kid had not only a mate but a husband, too. He’d thrown snowballs, tasted the flakes and frantically took a dozen photos of an icicle, marveled at a frozen pond. A kid. At one point he’d slipped and she’d caught him. He’d ended up with his face squished against her tits and he’d blushed and stammered so hard she thought he’d pass out. But she’d just wanted to grab him and hug him to her again, keep him safe. She wasn’t a good omega, wasn’t interested in being a mother and pregnancy seemed disgusting, but she still wanted to protect him.It was all over everything, barely any difference between the tabloids and the mainstream news. The sickos loved having Ignis in Gralea, loved seeing him at Ardyn’s side in public. It fueled their deranged Alpha fantasies, and those fantasies were no longer on filthy forums but now on the covers of news magazines.But of course one is always worse than the rest. The most popular weekly news magazine in all of Niflheim had a new special issue out the next day, preview now available.The Rape of Insomnia. She’s taken aback that they’d even title it that.The boy standing there in royal Lucian attire, eyes glazed as he stares outward, lips slightly parted in a way that is uncomfortably sexual. One hand on his swollen belly, one held up limply by his shoulder. Only a shadow behind him, a pair of hands, one holding his raised hand and one stroking his face in a threatening manner. It’s obvious who it is. Despite the Lucian clothing, Ignis has the collar, the rings and decorations on his hands that Ardyn had given him. The worst thing about it was how good it is, how detailed and convincingly real it looks.No. The worst thing was that this artist, an anonymous creep from the internet, had other art of him. Violent porn, and yet he’d somehow managed to get a magazine cover. The art she’d seen was seared behind her eyeballs. It was too realistic, too lifelike, as if whoever it was knew exactly what the kid looked like when screaming in pain. And it’s possible that the artist has, as the Chancellor seems the sort to pass Ignis around in exchange for political favors. No Alpha would do that to a mate, would they? She can’t shake the feeling though.

Part 5, Chapter 5 – Verstael
He doesn’t smell as much like Ardyn as Verstael would expect.Which means either the Chancellor is masking the scent or they haven’t fucked yet. Both seem utterly unfathomable. He wants to ask, but that would be far too rude and it might get back to Ardyn, who would actually point out that it was rude. He doesn’t want that.So he doesn’t ask. Instead he folds his arms behind his back and smiles down at him, even though this boy is Ardyn’s mate which is infuriating. “How are you enjoying Gralea?”“Cold.” He says it viciously, as if it were an insult, an affront. His voice is lower than Verstael expects, but he still sounds like a child.“Do you need something warmer?” The clothing looks good on him. It should. Verstael designed it himself, not only the outer garments but a set of ten outfits for the duration of the visit. Pattern design, something he’d learned more or less by accident when fastidiously studying uniforms, but a skill that had proven most useful ever since he’d met Ardyn. The man always wanted purely unique outfits, every item one of a kind that nobody else could ever buy. Perfectly outrageous. But he’d never tried to design anything for a pregnant person before, especially one he had never met. Ardyn had given him measurements, ones that proved to be a month off which could have been disastrous, but Verstael had taken it into consideration.“It’s okay,” and then a little pause. Not even his teenaged belligerence could fully counter his court manners. “Everything’s comfortable. I heard you made the patterns. Thank you.”I heard you… So Ardyn had told him. He beams, and he opens his mouth to ask what else the Alpha said about him, but he catches himself in time and quickly changes his question. “How’s school?”“Hell.”“Eloquent! Though perhaps for the best.”“Yea, you were pretty embarrassing at that dinner when you just went off for ten minutes.”Verstael winces. He’s well-aware by now of his social shortcomings, though he’d only really learned of them when he was already in his thirties because Ardyn had been so forward about it. In fact, he’s not really embarrassed about it, and it’s not as if he cares what anyone thinks of him but Ardyn. But that might extend to his mate, too. Perhaps. He has to think about that one a little more. “I hear you’ve been worried about high school entrance exams.”Ignis nods.“It’s different here. In Niflheim, high school is grades 9-12, not 10-12.”“Then I’ve already missed the deadlines if he’s going to try and make me stay.”He has a feeling Ardyn won’t try just yet, but he will eventually. “We don’t have entrance exams. Everyone goes to the same schools, and students can join any time of the year.”“What? What’s the point then? How can colleges even decide which kids are worth accepting?”“Because we have entrance exams for college. But if you’re good in high school, you can take college courses then, which will make it easier to get into any university you want. You could graduate faster, too.”This makes him look askance, the expression on his face clear that he is thinking this over before sighing. “Omegas never do good in school. We miss too much.”“All universities and most high schools accommodate that. There are online courses.”He seems stunned at this.“It should only be expected that a government aims for equal opportunities for all citizens, no? What has the Chancellor told you about life in Gralea?”He doesn’t answer immediately, only redirects his gaze. Like he’s afraid to speak badly of Ardyn. “Nothing.”He doesn’t understand what game Ardyn is playing at. He isn’t even trying to be kind, trying to win the kid over. I suppose he doesn’t have to. Ignis is utterly powerless. “Come to me with any questions you have.”“What? In exchange for medical samples?” he snaps back unexpectedly.“Ah…. So that’s what he told you about me.”A curt nod. “Research chief. He said that if I misbehave too much he’d hand me over for dissection.”“Really now?”A flicker of a smile now. “He said you have to run some tests. Ultrasound and blood tests and stuff.”“Huh,” he breathes out slowly. “That’s all he mentioned? Unfortunate, because it isn’t quite true.” He’s almost angry at the man. Almost. He’s more curious about examining Ignis, but this isn’t quite what he had expected. He’d never examined a live male omega pregnancy before. Unfortunately, the only one he had ever met had cancer, which meant he had become a corpse pretty quickly, allowing a proper dissection of both the carrier and the fetus. But one who is alive, especially one as unique as Ignis, carrying a child with the Scourge…. Too exciting an opportunity to resist no matter how nonconsensual it will apparently be. That’s sometimes the way scientific inquiry must go. It’s possible that the child carries antibodies, leading the way to a possible cure. And I could save humanity.“What do you mean?”“I mean the list of exams is quite a bit longer. And some will be a little invasive, I’m afraid, but I have drugs. It’s no trouble to put you under if it will make things easier for you.” He wants to say he is trustworthy, that Ardyn wouldn’t let anyone else touch his mate, but he’s learned that nothing makes a human more nervous than a scientist saying he is trustworthy.-Ignis Scientia refuses the drugs. He’s silent, obedient during the blood drawing, not even commenting on the 8 vials Verstael takes. More than he’d mentioned to Ardyn, but the Chancellor doesn’t need to know everything.He gets the ultrasound out of the way second. He is most curious about it, but he’s even more curious to physically examine Ignis and get a sample of amniotic fluid to study. Of course the hospital in Insomnia would have done all of these things, but not for research. He can’t conduct tests on an image, so while being able to see the fetus is fascinating, and it actually makes the boy smile to see it, it’s hardly thrilling. It makes him think of all those babies in test tubes he has dealt with over the years, all those babies he raised to men to Magitek, and somehow it makes him uncomfortable. It looks perfectly normal, like a fetus at twenty-eight and a half weeks should look, if a bit small.“Do you recall having an amniocentesis done before? I will guide the needle in and collect some fluid, but you can keep watching on the ultrasound. I’ll be careful not to prick him.”Ignis nods once, still staring at the screen, and Verstael is strangely relieved when it’s finished, when he can turn off the machine.It’s only when he’s snapping a fresh pair of gloves on that he tries to talk to him again. “Are you certain you want to be conscious?”“No drugs,” Ignis says firmly, pulling the medical gown tightly around himself, the jelly from the ultrasound dampening the front.Verstael sighs. If I am kicked…. In truth, he doesn’t need them. He spends most of the time staring at the ceiling or at the wall, barely blinking, his jaw clenched so hard he assuredly had many cracked teeth by now.Verstael is no stranger to trauma. In fact, occasionally he was accused of having it himself, journalists insinuating that he was mad as a result of seeing so many fellow soldiers killed on the battlefield. An absurd notion; the realization of how short and fragile human life is was what drove him to create a deathless army. All of those deaths he witnessed were not in vain after all.His genitals appear normal, if still a little under-developed which at thirteen is hardly unusual. No growths, no abnormal fluids when pressed, nothing indicating any sort of Scourge infection. The internal exam also proves to be infuriatingly normal.He’d had to use a lot of lubricant before sticking fingers into him for the pelvic exam. It was strangely exhilarating, doing that to Ardyn’s mate, knowing the Chancellor had done this same thing hundreds of time. Ignis was unexpectedly dry for an omega, tight and resistant, and Verstael realized that he’d likely been tightened up when he’d been stitched in the hospital. Which confirms his suspicions: they haven’t had intercourse. He pulls his fingers out.“I need an ultrasound done inside now. It will be even more uncomfortable than fingers, I’m afraid, as it’s a fair bit larger.”This makes Ignis finally squeeze his eyes shut, and when he presses the instrument against him, Verstael hears what might be a whimper. Irritating. He hates when the humans he studies act like this; it’s why knocking them out is always better.His glands are swollen. More proof that Ardyn hasn’t touched him recently, though that’s not all that Verstael is curious about. Knotting invariably leaves a permanent mark in male omegas, a slight striation of the muscles about two centimeters in, indicating extreme duress. Yes, knotted at some point.Otherwise, all normal. So very normal. He sighs as he withdraws the instrument a bit faster than he should, causing Ignis to gasp.“He healed you up well, it seems,” he says carefully, fishing.Slow to respond, but he does as he closes his legs carefully. “Hasn’t healed me in months.”He must feign surprise as he hands him a sterilized wipe and gestures towards his clothing on the seat beside the examination bed. “Oh? But there are no signs of recent intercourse here. I’d assumed…. As your mate….”Ignis says nothing, his face burning now as if he were ashamed. Ashamed of not being violated. He must think he is no longer attractive, must be afraid he’s no longer wanted and will be discarded soon. Which when it comes to the Chancellor, means killed.No matter. That’s none of Verstael’s business, after all. He has his samples; it doesn’t matter if the boy is never able to go to high school, doesn’t matter that Ardyn might kill someone and not for revenge or for science, not for anything that might aid the fatherland. It’s not his business. Right?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 5, Chapter 6 – Glauca
He’d known it would be bad. Horrific even. But this is far worse than anything he’d imagined. Because he sees another side of both of them, not just Ardyn but Ignis as well.
It’s because he’s been raised in the Royal Courts, It’s because he has been trained since the age of six to be proper and diplomatic and cunning. He knows how to be a chameleon even at this age, knows how to blend in, change himself, be whoever he’s supposed to be in that moment. That’s how he survived with Ardyn for so long.
Yet it’s uncomfortable to see.Because he’s grown into his role quickly. He’s the perfect little omega mate. He preens, fawns over Ardyn. Leans into him, purrs at him, smirks and surveys the room with shuttered eyes as if casually, mockingly seducing everyone around him. He wears everything Ardyn gives him well, no longer fidgeting with the jewelry or the cape.He still doesn’t smell like him, which means they haven’t fucked yet. Which probably explains Ignis’ behavior. Fear. Ardyn’s rage can be a terrible thing, and given the hospital records Drautos had looked at, the boy has been on the brunt end of it more than a few times by now. The Scourge infection might even have been intentional, now that Glauca – a Glauca he continually reminds himself that he is right now – thinks of it. Yes. Ignis is afraid he is no longer wanted, that he angered Ardyn, and he’s doing everything he can to be the perfect mate in public so as not to embarrass him further. It’s obvious, but it’s still unsettling.He hadn’t been able to do it the first couple of days, but by now, on day five, he’s a different person. Someone Drautos doesn’t recognize, even though they’d only formally parted ways three days before.-
Ignis clings to him at first, much in the way he does after his nightmares, wrapped tightly around one of his arms, body pressed against his as they sit together. Drautos had already scented him once and he can smell their hormones mingling. Getting the boy to relax is nearly impossible, especially when he has been away from his mate for a month and his glands are painfully swollen in a way only a bondmate can fix.

“You really won’t stay the whole time?”

“I’ll be back at the end of two weeks.” He gently touches the top of his head, strokes his hair. He can touch his head, his hair, even his face a little, but that’s all. Even a hug makes the boy flinch and squirm away from him, or even worse, grow limp. It’s progress, a fair bit to be made in the short time he’s been out of the hospital, but progress that will surely all be undone soon enough. And omegas normally crave touch.

“Big deal.” A painful reminder that he is only a child. “You didn’t speak up about this and now you’re not even staying. What’s the point of you even being here?”
Because I am a double agent, because I have another identity here, because I am not really leaving you, because while the king thinks I am going to be spending some time watching you and some time scouting and gathering intel, which is easier to do as Glauca, and I… But none of that is mentionable, and none of it matters. Not to Ignis, anyway. “The king has his reasons for doing this that are more complicated than…either of us can understand.”“It’s not complicated.”
“What isn’t?”

Ignis pushes him away now, slides a few inches over on the couch. “What’s happening here. Everyone just says that so they don’t have to think about it.”
And for a moment Glauca is furious with him. To act like nothing here is complicated, that it’s all just a simple story of a child who was abused by an older man, that there isn’t an impending war with a centuries-long history, that he isn’t the unexpected bastard son of the king speaking to a double agent who has been risking his life for nearly twenty years for two countries at once, that everyone involved is a normal human being and the gods have nothing to do with what is happening… Of course he’d think it was so straightforward. Because he’s thirteen. And suddenly Glauca feels a wave of guilt for feeling that, for even a moment, that Ignis was being selfish. But all he can say for now is, “Relations between Lucis and Niflheim are very fragile right now, and the with the recent media storm…”
“Don’t,” Ignis holds his hand up. “You’re a coward. That’s all.”
“I have my orders and I am obeying them.” Just as I obeyed them in marrying you at all. How quickly you forget.Someday I will tell him. Someday he will know the truth, and then he can properly hate me.-He realizes something is wrong when he is still approaching Ardyn’s quarters. The Chancellor’s demand that he visit him there is nothing unusual; they meet in privacy quite often, usually even for legitimate business. The Emperor and his cronies don’t need to know everything, and while Iedolas Aldercapt has been useful in giving him this role and granting him the right to raise the abandoned Loqi, he wasn’t exactly wanted. He had destroyed Glauca’s homeland, after all. And then King Regis had dragged him from the burning ruins back to Insomnia, a war prize masqueraded as a rescued orphan, and had destroyed his last times to his culture, cut his hair and silenced his native tongue.General Glauca thinks the latter is the greater crime. A homeland can be rebuilt, but…Regardless, neither are to be trusted, and so plotting with Ardyn behind closed doors is preferable, especially when Iedolas has spies everywhere. The Chancellor is a monster, but he has proven unexpectedly trustworthy. And a good partner occasionally. At least before he raped and impregnated a child that I accidentally gave to him.That’s the thought that nags at him as he slows down and stops just outside the doorway. Like the Emperor, Glauca himself, and a number of councilors in the Imperial Court, he lives within the palace itself, but at the farthest end from everything. A wing that had been closed off and abandoned until he’d shown up twenty years ago and demanded it be redesigned for him. A wing that is now the temporary home of Ignis, too.
But the boy is off with Verstael today, isn’t he? Teaching him something about magic?
The boy had no interest in Glauca, unexpectedly. Drautos had even ensured that Ignis had seen both of them at the same time, Ardyn having slipped into the armor for an hour or two as he sometimes does. But he simply wasn’t interested, which is somewhat of a relief, somewhat of a disappointment. No, he seems to like the research chief. And he almost smiles as he realizes he might be a little bit jealous.He hears noises just as he raises his hand to knock, and he knows, he knows. Even before he opens the door and steps in, sees the door to the bedroom wide open and the bed visible from the front door, something Ardyn had always found amusing.Sees the Chancellor ravaging him, hears the groans and the slapping of flesh and everything he has always found vile about sex. He’d know it was Ignis even if he hadn’t known their relationship; he’s so used to the boy’s nightmare-induced screams and sobs by now he can nearly sleep through them.Ardyn tilts back, glances over his shoulder and gives him that vile, lazy smirk of his. “Ah, General Glauca, you’re early. Never mind, just let me finish this up.”This.This. As if Ignis were an object. He can see the whites of the boy’s eyes behind, beneath Ardyn, as they momentarily meet his own. But Ignis can’t tell I’m looking at him, not with this helmet on. Still, there’s something in that gaze, the terror in it.“Come in, take a seat.”A nod towards something out of Glauca’s view, a chair that he knows well exists in the corner of his bedroom.He doesn’t know why he obeys, why he moves mechanically into the suite, into the bedroom, to the chair where he and Ardyn have had sex on more than a few times in the past. Maybe because I am so used to obeying him, to going along with him in a way I go along with no one else because he is the most reasonable option between the paths. He sits stiffly in the chair and looks somewhere above the headboard of the bed. No need to look lower. He can understand everything from the noises, from the whimpering and moaning and Ardyn’s grunting, growling. Ignis isn’t crying though, isn’t screaming. He must know better by now.“Why did you summon me here?”“I do have to talk to you,” he sighs, glancing behind his shoulder again and giving Ignis a momentarily reprieve. “Just got a bit distracted. Living with an omega is so,” a groan as he thrusts into him again, a squeal from the boy, “difficult. He just beckons me constantly.” Another thrust. “I can’t imagine living with one long-term.”A taunt, and the thought flickers through his mind. He thinks I fucked him. He thinks I want him. He’s jealous, and this is why he is doing this. It makes him sick. Ignis is a child. A terrified child. He’s only an omega in that he is similar to Loqi, to the dead brother he doesn’t like to think about.“I can come back another time,” he growls. He doesn’t want to think about being at fault here.A slow response. “I’d rather you stay. I’ll only be a moment.”And suddenly, in that explicable way of Ardyn’s to make a terrible situation worse, he makes it worse. He flips over, pulls out of Ignis for half a second so he can sit up, lean back against the headboard while facing Glauca. So he can grab the boy, lift him with ease and impale him again on his cock. Ignis screams at this, cuts it off sharply by slapping a hand over his mouth. He’s too distracted now to realize that he is now fully visible, that he’s facing the Niflheim General while being fucked.He can’t look at his face, but his gaze traces over the rest of his body. His swollen stomach, still too small for twenty-seven weeks. His little swollen tits, unexpectedly attractive in a way Glauca doesn’t like. Then he gravitates towards where the two are joined. He’s familiar with Ardyn’s dick after all these years, but he’s never seen him actually screw anyone. And he realizes with a jolt that he’s never watched anyone have sex in person like this. Never even seen Alpha/omega porn, though it was often suggested to him in casual conversation. I’m just not interested in that kind of thing.This part is not attractive. Ignis is far too small for him; even with his belly, there is a bulge occasionally visible inside of his torso. Through the blood and the copious slick, he can see where Ignis’ skin had torn open a couple of times. He will probably need stitches again. Ardyn clearly didn’t prepare him in the slightest. And he’s aroused, dripping not only slick but precome from his cock. He’d be ashamed if he knew I could see. But he doesn’t know who Glauca is. This was a terrible idea. Allowing Ignis to come to Niflheim was throwing him to the wolves. You knew this would happen. The King knew this would happen. Everyone knew this would happen, yet everyone agreed to it. A small sacrifice in the name of the Kingdom; after all he’s a bastard, an omega, a throwaway, so of course he can be used as a pawn to keep our peace a little longer. And Ardyn, as ever, tips the scales further. He grabs the boy’s face, jerks Ignis’ head back against his shoulder and covers his mouth and nose tightly. “Do you want to try? I might be willing to share with you.” He’s using that voice, the one he often uses when they’re alone together, the one he began using years before they ever had sex. It should be mine. But he can’t think about that now. Because this makes Ignis focus momentarily on what’s happening around him. His eyes suddenly snap open and after a half second that seems like an eternity, he lets out a muffled scream, arches his back and tries to pull away from Ardyn.“More fight that he’s shown in months. Interesting,” the Alpha behind him grins, tugs harder at his face and forces him to turn away from Glauca. He’s still on his dick, legs spread on either side of Ardyn’s hips with one of the man’s thighs between his, preventing him from closing them. Ardyn leans over then, nips at the boy’s mark and mutters something just loud enough for Glauca to hear. “His dick is armored too, but I’m sure you can take it. You’ve taken my knot.”This breaks him. Finally a muffled sob, the first he’s given, and that is enough to make Glauca tear his eyes away. He’s seen a lot in his time, has done a lot.He stares at the wall, just as Ignis surely is, and curls his fingers over his knees as he tries not to listen. Because he doesn’t stop him. He lets him keep going, and Ardyn finishes what he’s doing soon after Ignis lets out a startled yelp, clearly orgasming himself.He doesn’t stop him, and he only looks back when he hears a thumping sound as Ardyn shoves Ignis off of him.“Go clean up,” Ardyn smirks as he nudges Ignis towards the edge of the bed. He probably normally throws him off but doesn’t want to risk hurting the baby now.Ignis obeys, stumbling off the bed, nearly collapsing as his feet touch the floor only for his legs to momentarily crumple. The blood has run nearly down to his ankles.He wants to grab him, lift him up and cradle him as he brings him back to his safe little nest. He wants to protect him from the monster that is Ardyn, the monster he more or less handed him over to. But Glauca can’t. Drautos can, and Drautos is back in Insomnia, or out beyond Gralea, depending on who you ask. General Glauca has no reason to care about this situation, beyond perhaps a mild concern because his own son is an omega. Which makes his gut lurch. This could have been Loqi. And it still could be. Enraging him might not only jeopardize the war, but it might also put others at risk. He can’t.And he’s thinking about this, pitying himself, when Ignis suddenly speaks up loud and clear before him. “I see the General of the great Niflheim army is a coward.”Coward. That word again, the very same. He’s standing in front of him, perhaps a meter before the chair, upright with his chin jutting forward in that way he does when he gets angry. There are tears in his eyes, streaking down his face, but the loathing. Glauca wants to grab him, shake him, tell him he’s wrong, continue the argument he’d left unfinished a few days ago, and apologize, beg for forgiveness. But the risk is too great.And Ignis turns on him then, steps towards the bathroom with the careful deliberate steps of someone in extreme pain and slams the door behind him.Glauca barely waits for the sound of the water starting, the possibility of the words being masked, before lunging. “What is wrong with you?” he snarls.“I know that you must want him,” he laughs, triumphant, eyes crazed in that horrible way of his. “You must. How can you not, living with him for weeks? Even a eunuch like you must realize how attractive he is, how good he smells. I was trying to do you a favor.” And then his voice hardens. “You shouldn’t have refused.”He grabs his throat, squeezes harder than he knows he should.But he’s immortal. He’s seen Ardyn survive things he shouldn’t, has even inflicted those wounds upon him in the past when the man had dared him to. Back when he was younger, foolish, back when the Chancellor was able to sway him. And look where I am now.“Do what you like. You know I can take it.” His voice is taunting, mocking, lilting.“I wish you couldn’t. I wish you’d suffer the way that boy did,” and as he says it, he almost means it.He’d believed it for a moment, believed that Ignis was not who he’d thought he was, believed that the nightmares, the screaming, the desperate acts, were all a face. He’d believed that Ignis, clever spawn of the Insomnian court and son to the man he hated more than anyone in the world, had tricked him. I’m a traitor even to the child I swore to protect. The child that suddenly, so very much of his loyalty is wrapped up in. Because we have different scars, but he is the same as me. And he is braver than I. Titus Drautos or the enigma Glauca, I cannot escape my cowardice. 
Part 5, Chapter 6 – Loqi
He thinks he won’t like him. After all, he’s the reason that he basically lost his father half the time. Glauca always in Insomnia now pretending to be that other guy. Because the king made him marry this other omega boy to protect him, so he got stuck caring for him. “You don’t need to be protected the way this little one does right now. He’s in a lot of trouble. You have Aranea, remember?” He doesn’t mind her. She’s a lot of fun, actually, but staying up late and eating cookies every night gets kind of old after a week, and after two weeks it just gets annoying. It’d been almost three before he heard that his father would be back for a week or two.And he’d have Ignis with him.Not what Loqi had planned on. So much for being able to spend time with his dad again.So he figures he’ll hate him, hate him and his blonde hair so similar to Loqi’s own, but with pretty green eyes instead. He’s taller, too. Which is why it’s no surprise that Ignis hates him, too. At least, he looks like he hates him as he marches up to him one afternoon almost a week after he’d arrived. It took that long for a meeting between them to be arranged.Ignis looks angry, spots of red on his cheeks and his eyes narrowed as he spits, “Stay away from that man.”“Huh!?”“The General, the guy in armor. I saw you with him yesterday, saw how he picked you up and played with you. He’s not as good a person as you seem to think he is, especially not to omegas.”He almost laughs. But Ignis doesn’t know, doesn’t know that Glauca and Drautos are the same. And he can’t know. Dad made that very clear. Loqi himself shouldn’t even really know, but it’s kind of impossible when they sort of live together. Anyway, Glauca isn’t just him. Sometimes the Chancellor wears the armor. “Oh yea?”“He…” but that’s all he says.And Loqi remembers what his father had said last night. Ignis was hurt very badly by the Chancellor today. Be kind to him, okay? And then they’d had a talk, a long and boring one, about something called trauma and how he had to be careful and not be mad if Ignis ever acted weird. Whatever. He was more likely to be jealous than mad, but he wasn’t going to tell anyone that. And Loqi can tell him something, anyway. “He’s my dad. Sort of. Adopted.”Ignis looks like he stops breathing for a moment, eyes wide and confused now. “Your father?”“Yea, basically. My father died when I was a baby and my mother said I was an omega so… not really something she wanted/ She’s like, sort of royalty. So General Glauca tpook me in, said I could still be raised in a royal military family. But I don’t have a mom really sand honestly he isn’t the best parent sometimes. Like he is not around as much as he should be.” He realizes he’s talking too much and shuts up.“Well… He seems like he has a very difficult job. I didn’t even know I had a father until a month ago.”“.Yea, parents can suck when you’re an omega My original dad probably didn’t want me either.”“King Regis didn’t know I was one,” he says fast, too fast.“Then why didn’t he say anything? Mom not from Lucis, maybe?” That sounds sort of exciting. Maybe she’s from Niflheim. But this only gets a shrug. “I have no idea. So this guy adopted you?”“Yep. He’s really isn’t that bad, and he is a human under there.”“What else could he be?”Did he not know about Magitek soldiers? What the heck? Definitely not getting into that right now. He shrugs. “A demon, maybe. He does look scary.”“Demons aren’t scary,” he sniffs, and for a second Loqi thinks he’s being what’s called arrogant. Something he gets yelled at for sometimes.He thinks he’s better because he’s older, just like pretty much teenager that he’s ever met. But otherwise, he’s not that bad.-Loqi regrets offering to let Ignis come over, because it turns out he can’t. He’d forgotten about that. It might give things away. Glauca’s armor masks his scent, but Ignis might catch on if actually in his apartment. Loqi can keep a secret even though he is younger, but Ignis is an Insomnian and so they can never really be trusted. Because their king is not a good person and he only actually cares about the people in the city, not anyone else, and he just lets everyone else in the country suffer and die. Demons, plague, hunger, and then Niflheim. It must suck being from there, so everyone from there is a little weird.Which is fine. Ignis seems okay, after all. He’s kind of fun, and Loqi likes having an older brother.He’s also very useful. Because right now he is helping Loqi with his math homework. His worst subject.Ignis pokes at the paper again, encouraging him to keep working out the problem. “I help the Prince a lot with his homework, too. Helped.”“Why not anymore?”“Well… I stopped living with him. And we had a fight. So we talk a little now but it’s still uncomfortable.”So even Ignis and the Prince get into fights? “Yea, I had a big fight with my friend ____. He told the teacher I cheated on the spelling test and I got mad.”He smiles, but it’s a weak smile, like he doesn’t really mean it. “Did you cheat?”“Yup,” he shrugs. “Dad knows. My principal told him and he didn’t really care. Said it meant I’d be a good spy when I get older. Said I’m so unconviccing that nobody would believe it.”“It’s unconvincing. And he’s probably right. But it is a weird thing for a general to say,” he snorts. “Now carry the four over.”“What’s the prince like?”He squeezes his lips together. Doesn’t like talking about him, I guess. “Normal kid. He hates vegetables and homework, complains about school. Loves video games, wants a pet cat. I don’t think he really wants to be king.”“But personality?” Talking about him like he has a list is weird.“It’s hard to say. I really miss him.” The answer is so sudden, and he’s sitting up straight like he’s nervous now. “Then make it up. Easy.”“I want to but it’s difficult.”“Huh,” he sighs. Loqi doesn’t want to know, really. Difficult sounds boring. “Anyway, the Emperor has no kids. Chancellor doesn’t either. So nobody in line for the throne. The General has me though, so maybe I’m a prince.”“I don’t think it works that way.”“Well you still have a sort-of prince to talk to.”“That also doesn’t work that way,” but he smiles a little now. “I will try to spend time with him when I get home.”“Good,” Loqi nods. He doesn’t want Ignis depressed anymore.-He manages to wait until nearly dinnertime before he asks.“Can I touch it?” he blurts out. He can’t help it. He’s been staring all day.Ignis looks away and pulls his coat around him. Sometimes he’s going to act weird. Just be nice, okay? If he doesn’t want to do something just change the subject.”Or I can show you my room. You like video games, yea? We have different ones.” He almost says Glauca brings him games from Lucis all the time but catches himself. He’s not supposed to bring him home though, so that was a bad change of subject.“No, you can touch. It’s a boy, but he doesn’t move very much. So I don’t think you’ll feel anything.”“That’s okay” He really wants to see if the belly is soft or hard.It’s not soft, but not hard either. Just a little squishy, the skin tight but if he pokes he can leave a mark for a second. “Where’s his head?”“Uhm… here, I think.” Ignis points towards one side. “And butt here.”“What’s he do in there? Must be boring.”“Just sleeps. I think he has dreams.”“But he doesn’t have anything to dream about.” Because Loqi always dreams about things, stuff, and people speak in his dreams. Babies have none of that.Ignis shrugs. “Maybe he knows stuff we don’t, and he forgets everything when he comes out. Like oxygen is some form of poison.” His face is serious, but the words are stupid.Loqi can’t tell if it’s a joke though. His dad had said something about Ignis being smart, sarcastic. That sometimes he lied. And he could be pushy and stubborn. But it sounds funny, so it’s okay. He’ll tell Aranea later. Maybe get her to believe it. Or Ravus. That guy always freaks out about everything so he’d probably be a spaz about it. He’s a lot of fun.He pokes the belly a couple more times, then pulls his hand back and sits on it. It’s sort of creepy. “I’m good now.” He doesn’t like thinking about the baby having magic knowledge and powers.Ignis smiles and pulls his shirt back down. “Yea, I feel the same sometimes. Kind of gross.”“Is it scary? I mean how he’s going to come out?”“Male omegas usually have to have c-sections.”“I’m an omega boy, not a male omega. Dad says the other one is object..tifying, whatever that means.”“I’m used to it.”“That’s sad.”“I wasn’t adopted by someone who does bad things to protect me. So I never really had any options.”Bad things. Glauca does kill a lot of people. There are even rumors that he killed his real father on orders of the emperor, but he doesn’t want to look into it. He’s nice to him. Plus Ignis was basically adopted by Glauca, anyway. Married to. But he’s only two years older than Loqi, which makes it all a little weird. “You should still call yourself better stuff.”Ignis smiles that empty smile of his, and he starts talking about something else.

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Part 5, Chapter 7 – Luna
It isn’t exactly difficult to heal Ignis, but it’s time-consuming. The amount of power she normally uses to heal Scourge patients might hurt the little one, as his relationship to the disease is unclear. She must act slowly, drawing out each tendril and healing it bit by bit. It’s something she’s never had to do before.She presses gently against his belly, feeling the little thing inside, winding her magic in and around him to get a sense of his health. “Does he kick very much?”“No. He doesn’t do anything.” He almost sounds angry about it. He’s sounded angry all morning, likely has ever since he’d arrived in Gralea. Understandable.“He’s just tired, maybe a little lazy like his uncle” she smiles gently. “He’s healthy other than the Scourge, but it’s… not a normal infection. I’ve never felt it before, but I don’t think he will have any symptoms.”Ignis looks at her warily as he sits up. They’re in Luna’s quarters; she’d initially tried to go to Ardyn’s quarters to treat him, but the boy had begged her not to. He said he couldn’t relax in there, not where he lived with him, and anyway it was none of her business what went on in there. His behavior is unsurprising, so familiar to her by now having grown up with a traumatized brother, and so she is largely unphased at his erratic comments. “If you’ve never experienced this, don’t make assumptions.”“I know more about healing and the Scourge than you do,” she taps his stomach. It’s almost normal, Ignis trying to catch her logical fallacies despite her speaking of magic and experience, things he couldn’t so easily critique at his age. But he should have his own magic soon enough. It’s strange it hasn’t manifested yet.He scowls at that. “So everything’s taken care of for now? The healing is ticklish.”She’d heard that before. “You’re good to go for another two or three weeks. Next time I should be able to come to Insomnia.” She realizes she’s said too much.“Next time?”“I couldn’t this time around.” If she doesn’t tell him, he’ll find out some other way. He must have suspected it by now anyway, as no other explanation exists for why the King allowed him to come here. “The Chancellor wouldn’t let me go to Insomnia to heal you and the baby like you need every two weeks. I am a captive here in Gralea now; he said you must come to me for this healing. It was that or abort the baby, and so King Regis was found with no choice. He never wanted to send you; this was not some political negotiation or anything of the sort." She’s defending him, she knows. Hard not to, when he has been more of a father to her than he has been to his own son.He jerks his head up. “That wasn’t anyone’s decision to make but my own."“Would you have done it?” The question comes out too blunt for a friend, uncharacteristic, more like how she would talk to General Glauca or Ardyn himself. She’d felt him, felt the little life inside of him twice now. He’s too far along. Aborting now would be…“I…” a look of guilt now. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know. Why couldn’t I be asked what I wanted though?”“Because unfortunately you are the son of the king, and that baby is the grandson of him. Royalty, even unacknowledged royalty, don’t often have choices.” She hesitates. “I don’t have many of them, either.”He doesn’t say anything to this, but there’s a hard look in his eyes at that. Perhaps it’s better that he changes the subject when he speaks again. “What if he says I have to return to Gralea again when you have to heal me next time?”She’d wondered that herself, had even asked Ardyn about it, but he had only shrugged, smirked in that sick vacant way of his. “I don’t think he will. He doesn’t ever play the same card twice.”“No, that would be too boring. He’ll find another way to hurt me. And I’ll have to obey him.”There’s no need to respond to that. He’s a bonded omega, and while he is strong enough to fight that with time, he is still under the control of all the other Alphas in his life.“You can’t heal everything,” he says suddenly, his tone vicious, accusatory.“What do you mean?”“You can only heal my body, but there are three of me. The me who is me, the omega, and the me who is…his. And every day that last one grows and grows."She lowers her gaze. Something she is well aware of, her inability to heal emotional wounds. She can’t even heal her own brother, who weathered their childhood trauma far worse than she herself did. “Even in Insomnia?"He cocks his head, pondering, before nodding once. “He’s in my head. I act like someone else sometimes around Alphas now."Titus Drautos, most likely. Sending him off to live with an Alpha seemed a bad idea, but Luna was not consulted and so she had no say in it. Though he seems like a decent person, quiet and withdrawn himself, there’s something about him that troubles her. There’s something strangely familiar about him that she can’t put her finger on, but it makes her uneasy.“I don’t want to talk about it anymore."“Mm, don’t worry about it. My brother doesn’t bother you, does he?” Because Ravus is nosy, ever so nosy.“Not at all. I rarely see him."”He’s very worried about you, so don’t mind him if he says anything odd. You know he’s not good with politeness.”A flicker of a smile now. "Noted, but he hasn’t spoken a word to me."She pulls her phone from her pocket. “Would you like to hang out with him? I was planning on going out to a late lunch with him later.” It might be better that they hadn’t spoken, given that Ravus and Ignis do nothing but bicker when together, but it would give them both some normalcy.It’s the best she can offer him. 
Part 5, Chapter 7 - Vyv

You’ve all seen it. The gossip rag last week with art on the cover of Chancellor Ardyn Izunia and the bastard prince Ignis Scientia, as well as their unborn child. You’ve all seen it, and you’re all fascinated. You’re all reading about it, watching the news, searching for gossip online, all the while pretending it’s a healthy curiosity, that there’s nothing wrong with reading what’s readily available, that it’s the reporters fault’ for writing and photographing, and not your fault for partaking in it. You all feel a little voyeuristic, a little guilty, but you can’t stop looking. Maybe you think that perhaps it’s unfair, that it’s horrible, but you do nothing.

In Lucis, a thirteen-year-old is legally, politically, socially, and biologically a child in all but one sense of the word.

He cannot work. He cannot make his own medical decisions without parental approval. He cannot decide to skip school without repercussions. He cannot drive. He cannot ride the trains past 22:00 without a chaperone. He cannot go to adult movies. He can buy neither alcohol nor cigarettes, and indeed cannot even buy soda in some parts of Insomnia. He cannot rent or own housing, not to say that many children aren’t latchkey kids. He also cannot vote, and therefore has no say in his rights. But he does have the right to marry. Or maybe it’s better to say that someone has the right to marry him, as it’s hard to believe that any child that age would willingly, knowingly enter into a state of matrimony.

In fact, the reason children are allowed to do so little is because we do not trust them to make reasonable decisions. Similarly, we as a society do not trust omegas to make reasonable decisions.

When omegas come of age, they have two choices. They can take suppressants for the rest of their child-bearing lives, drugs that can have harmful effects and even lead to infertility. Or they can simply stay at home, missing work or school, unable to leave the house, whenever they have their heats. If they do venture out, any Alpha who assaults them is not responsible for their actions, and the sole responsibility falls upon the omega if matters make it to court (they rarely do, as omegas are often unwilling to report assault for obvious reasons). Being out in public during a heat without suppressants is considered such a stupid decision that anyone who commits it deserves to be punished for the actions of others.

We also simply don’t trust or believe omegas. We see them as unstable, flighty, erratic, untrustworthy, and flippant. We don’t ever elect them into offices because they are seen as even more emotional than women. Omegas almost never have managerial positions because they are rarely promoted; in fact, they rarely have good positions at all. Last year, 73% of all single omegas in Insomnia lived in poverty, as compared to the 22% of single individuals in the general population. When wage gaps are discussed, they are usually talking about men and women, or perhaps Alphas and betas, but studies on wage gaps regarding omegas are notably sparse.

Six weeks ago, a horrific incident came to light. A thirteen-year-old boy collapsed outside of his junior high school; he was the Prince’s Royal Adviser-in-Training.

Upon being rushed to the hospital, two things came to light. He was an omega, and he was twenty-four weeks pregnant. There is no clear answer as to why he was not tested when younger. Perhaps the King merely assumed that he would be an Alpha given his royal blood, or perhaps he didn’t care enough to check, as he was only a bastard. Perhaps it is as the Royal Court claims, that he has a hormonal imbalance and the test simply missed it, though that is hard to believe. With the tests available thirteen years ago, it was possible to identify over two hundred different hormonal and genetic imbalances.

The rights violations, or what ought to be considered rights violations if proper laws existed, came fast and hard thereafter.

Despite being old enough to marry, Ignis could not make any medical decisions himself. Multiple adults were informed without his consent. His medical records were leaked to the public and although a nurse was dismissed shortly thereafter, no charges were pressed as there out to have been. He had little say in any of his treatment, and was kept for several weeks against his will.

The King soon revealed that he was the boy’s father, that Ignis was a bastard he had treated as a servant most of his life simply because his mother was not his wife, not of Insomnia.

The reason for his pregnancy was one Ardyn Izunia, Chancellor of Niflheim and head of their war machine. At 47, he repeatedly raped and tortured a thirteen-year-old over the course of six months before anyone noticed. He kept a hotel room during that time, and hundreds and hundreds of people saw him walk in and out, bringing in a teenager for a couple of hours at a time. Nobody said anything. One hotel staff member of The Astoria commented, “Our manager told us not to ask questions about those guests.”

These same people heard him crying out for help, begging, and they ignored him. His school principal saw him repeatedly getting into the car of an older man, and only condemned him for being shameless. “I believed it to be consensual,” Principal Recalcitro argued in self-defense; he has since been dismissed from his post, but more to save face than anything just.

Apparently, noticed his stomach. Nobody noticed the bruises or the exhaustion or the sickness. Nobody noticed how he began behaving strangely, secretively. Numerous teachers refused to comment, though two claimed they had noticed nothing out of the ordinary: “He was busy studying; we all knew it, so we assumed he was just staying up too late all the time.” It’s unsurprising that 48% of all omegas in Insomnia drop out of high school while another 39% do not make it to college.

Is there a need to go on? Should I talk about the Royal Family’s reaction? The King’s first action as his father was to marry him off to Titus Drautos, Captain of the Kingsglaive. Without consent.

Drautos hails from the territory of Galahd, destroyed some years ago when the wall was withdrawn and Nifl forces ravaged much of Lucis. The then-Prince Regis met him when visiting the area to offer condolences, and ultimately “adopted” the teenager. Like Ignis, he was more or less ignored after this, brought to a strange land and left with no choice but to join the military and rapidly rise to the top. Not of nepotism, however, not like Clarus Amicitia’s questionable anointing as Shield. Captain Drautos earned his title, and has been one of the most respectable and trustworthy members of the Court ever since. But at the end of the day, he is an Alpha. Not a good choice for the husband of a traumatized omega child.

The marriage was apparently to protect him, as although it has done nothing of the sort. Ignis Scientia ne Drautos has spent the last ten days in Gralea, capital of Niflheim, with the man who forcibly bonded him. He must spend two weeks with his mate

Which raises the question: How long will this marriage to Titus Drautos last? How long before Ignis is handed over to the Chancellor of Niflheim in the name of peace, an attempt to appease the war machine by sacrificing an omega child? Why did the king allow him to take his son all the way to Gralea for two weeks given what he knew? Is the boy being thrown to the wolves for politics?

Sadly, the case of Ignis Scientia is not unique. It’s only the most well-known, as it involves two political figures.

In all of Lucis last year, only 121 marriages involving children below the age of sixteen were carried out. Of those, 97 were to a partner aged 21 or older, while the rest were high school shotgun marriages. Of those 97, a disturbing 84 involved an omega aged 13-15, 81 of which were to an Alpha. Over two thirds of all child marriages involve an omega child, and the partners are almost exclusively Alphas. All omega children who married last year were pregnant and bonded to their mates prior to marriage. This indicates that this law significantly disadvantages omegas while favoring Alphas. The law is less about harming children as it is about harming omega children, about giving Alphas license to rape.

The majority of these marriages are not in Insomnia, but instead in small villages and towns scattered throughout the Lucian landscape. That does not, however, mean that Insomnia is no less guilty of such inhumane, unsophisticated practices.

There is a belief that omegas are protected by the Oracle’s Law. Bonds are tied to the Crystal and therefore rare. An Alpha can not bond to an omega without consummation after a pregnancy has already occurred. Which means that Alphas have an incentive to continually pursue and assault omegas until they can be properly bonded. If the Oracle of old had enough power to protect omegas for a short time, why did she not prevent Alpha-omega bonds entirely? Bonding is increasingly obsolete, outdated, as we move into an era were divorce is commonplace and married couples are rarely bonded. So why does it still exist? We all know this story. It is because of the pushback from Alphas. When this decree was passed in 641, there were protests, riots in the streets, so that Alphas could retain the right to bond with omegas. And, ultimately, marry them to secure access.
Once omegas marry, they lose legal protection. They lose the right to report rape or sexual assault. Their Alpha mate may do whatever they wish to them and be protected by the law. Nobody can help raping an omega, let alone one’s mate.
Ignis was old enough to “consent” to sex. His rape was deemed consensual by virtue of him being an omega who was not on suppressants. At thirteen, he was legally old enough to marry, but not old enough to get an abortion without a parental signature and not old enough to keep his medical records to himself (even if they weren’t leaked, numerous members of the Royal Court were granted access to them, including his father and husband).

He was old enough to be legally raped, but not old enough in the eyes of the law to take care of things himself.

Now that the severe lack of human rights offered to omegas has been thrust into the forefront of our politics, plastered on the front page of every newspaper and airing on every news station, we are undeniably aware. And once we are aware, we have no choice but to act.
-Nobody knows Meteor Publishing. They’ve only ever managed to run small printings, 500 copies maximum, of books in various non-fiction genres. The monthly magazine, full of news commentary and short stories, was launched a year ago this month. Not exactly unsuccessful, but nondescript. Vyv had always had to ask stores to sell it, was only ever able to provide each store with 10 copies or so because it simply didn’t sell enough. He generally sold more than he threw away at the end of each month, but not by a significant number.This article had been an immense risk. The travel involved, the hours on the road, the nights spent in campers and motels, the number of people he spoke to who wanted money before opening their mouths. It had wiped out a good chunk of his savings, but it had been worth it. He’d started this story only days after Ignis Scientia had landed in the hospital, when a simple blurb about a teenage pregnancy became something else entirely once he’d looked into the laws. He’s a beta; none of his friends are omegas, or Alphas for that matter, so he’d never thought much of it.Vyv loved writing about two things in particular: conspiracy theories and the plights of neglected populations. Having grown up outside of Insomnia, on a farm in the middle of the Lucian highlands in abject poverty, he’d always wanted to make certain stories available in Insomnian supermarkets. But somehow, he’d never considered omega children. Not until now.Nobody knows Meteor Publishing, but as Vyv sees his article in print, print times five thousand – a number he’d never dared print before – in boxes all over the publishing office, he has a feeling that that’s about to change.

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Part 5, Chapter 8 – Cor
 “Get up. You have school.”The mound under the blankets that is the Prince of Insomnia shifts. “Don’t hafta leave for seven more minutes.”“You’re going to eat, correct your homework, and get dressed in less than seven minutes then. Right,” and he closes the bedroom door. He could drag the kid out kicking and screaming, but that isn’t becoming of a Prince. Let him be late, and he will eventually learn his lesson.Cor hadn’t wanted this role, but somehow both the head of the Crownsguard and the head of the Kingsglaive ended up being babysitters over the last month. Noctis had been sent to Clarus’ for a short time, but apparently living with Iris had given the boy too much anxiety, so he’d been passed on to Cor. Bullshit. Iris was just irritating him, so Noctis said the first thing he thought would get him out of the situation.He pours his third cup of coffee and glances briefly at the math homework on the table, skimming over it. It seems too easy for sixth grade, but then what does he know? He had gone to military school, but King Regis wanted his son to be raised as normally as possible, go to school with regular kids, and so he had easy homework. Made even easier because Ignis usually did it for him; that much is clear based on how much the Prince struggles without the older boy. He scratches out a few answers in the red pen Noctis had left out, not that he’ll have time to make any corrections before school at this rate, and glances down the hall again.He could yell for him again. Or he could just let him miss school. Might serve him right, but then it wouldn’t be what Ignis wants.He sighs, swears softly, then heads back down the hall to bang on the boy’s door again.-He doesn’t try to contact Titus Drautos. It’s only nine days after the man left with Ignis Scientia that Cor gets a phone call from him.They don’t exchange pleasantries; they never do, neither one of them particularly talkative.“I was expecting contact earlier,” is all Cor says. Nine days. It’s frustrating how business-like the man can be sometimes.“It’s been more hectic here than I’d anticipated.” He doesn’t sound apologetic though.“What exactly are you doing there?”“Garbage. Trying to figure out if there’s any truth to that generator bullshit the Chancellor spouted and gathering some intel on what the Research Chief has been up to here. Unfortunately, everyone knows I was just here and that I’ll be back in a week to pick up the kid, so it’s difficult to be discreet.”Titus could be soft-spoken and unassuming, but his height and the scars on his face made him stand out too much for him to ever truly be discreet. Even before anyone had known who he was, he’d never been much use in that field.“It’s a nightmare,” he says unexpectedly.Captain Drautos rarely complains, rarely shows any emotion at all, so it takes Cor a moment to understand what he’s getting at. “What?”A slow, ragged sigh. “Knowing he’s here. That the king actually wanted him to come, told me to do reconnaissance while he stayed in the capital. Difficult to believe he’d do that to his own son.”“You sound like you want to go against orders,” he doesn’t mince words. They’d always been open with one another.Silence on the other end, so Cor goes on.“What’s happening here is… But you know if you break orders that the King will only send the boy to someone else, someone who will listen.” And you will possibly be executed, or at the very least dishonorably discharged. He doesn’t need to add that though.“I’m well aware. I have no intention of doing a thing. I merely dislike what’s happening.”He hates to say it, especially when he knows Titus’ history, when he knows he had an omega brother who died, when he knows that the Captain had been more or less adopted by the king and was in a strange way Ignis’ older brother. Another omega lost. “Don’t get attached.” The kid is doomed and there’s nothing you can do about it.Another sigh. “How’s the Prince?”Cor gives one of those flickers of a grin. “He’s okay, a brat. Doesn’t like to listen to a word anyone says. It’s a wonder Ignis could keep him under control.”“I suspect in part it’s because they are the same age. You’re an adult and no kid likes adults.”“That mean Ignis doesn’t like you?”“Pretty much,” he sighs again. “Especially now. He’ll probably never talk to me again.”He sounds wistful, sad, the attachment he should know better about undeniable in his voice. Cor considers warning him again, being firmer with him, but there is no point in criticizing the man over something he himself has no business knowing. “He’s a tough kid. He must understand the situation.”Titus grunts at that, like he wants to say something else, but he only hangs up.Cor looks at the phone for another moment or two after the Captain hangs up; he considers calling back or texting him but thinks better of it.-Maybe he should have called back though, because a few days later he is summoned to the Council room, where the King and his Shield sit alone at one end of the table, the only thing before them a copy of that damn magazine.Clarus gestures towards it as soon as Cor sits down. “I assume you’ve seen the article.”Cor nods. He’s seen it. He’s read it a dozen times. And he’s tried to keep Noctis from reading it. They are things he should know, especially as Prince, but the fact that it’s about Ignis would hit too close to home; he’s upset enough about the boy’s absence. It’s clear he has some sort of secondhand trauma from knowing what happened and trying to protect Ignis for Shiva knows how long, but too young to really understand the magnitude of sexual assault. Maybe it’s the wrong thing to do, but he suspects it’s what Ignis himself would have wished.“It’s caused quite a furor on social media. No petitions or anything of the sort yet but it’s only been twenty-four hours,” Clarus sighs.The King hasn’t said a word. He only sits there, hands folded tightly before him and looking down at the table.“A statement will be expected,” Cor finally says softly, directed towards Regis.“I’ve spoken with the Council already, and something is being drafted,” he draws in a breath and looks up then. “But the Chancellor is denying me an audience. He will not speak to me about it.”“He has to,” Clarus quips. “Does he really think that this will be limited to Lucis? The same sentiment will spread like wildfire through Niflheim, to be sure. In my understanding, the laws regarding omegas are more or less identical. They merely pretend to be more egalitarian, but the way their Chancellor treats…”Regis raises a hand, silencing him. “Changing the law now wouldn’t protect Ignis. Any attempt to do so would be met badly by Gralea if we were to attempt to help Ignis with it. That damn Chancellor always seems to be eagerly awaiting the chance to cry act of war. We would also need the Oracle on our side for that matter, if we were to change anything, and she is currently being held hostage, as this current situation has made clear.”“Which is arguably an act of war in itself, preventing the Oracle from visiting Insomnia to heal someone,” Cor says evenly.Regis is silent for a moment. “I am aware,” he finally murmurs. “Just as you are aware that we are not currently fit for war.”He nods once. It’s been three years since the attack on Fenestala Manor, but Insomnia is still reeling from the shock of what had transpired. Niflheim’s military might, and its unexpected control over magic from a source then unknown, had reached great heights in recent years. Impossibly fast and far-reaching. We can’t keep up with them. Their General alone, man or machine irrelevant, could wipe out the entire Crownsguard with ease, not that anyone will openly admit it. They know now that Ardyn Izunia was behind the vast leaps and bounds in advancements in technology, which was even more reason to be cautious. No, they are not fit for war right now.“You could have prevented all of this,” his voice is tired, flat, the honest voice that perhaps the King had hoped to hear by requesting his presence, or perhaps not. Cor can only think of the exhaustion in Titus’ voice the other day, the exhaustion of the person who seems to be most wounded by this after Ignis, somehow. He wonders if Regis has even thought about the strain this has put the Captain under, if he thought about how Titus had already lost his entire family once. And then he thinks of Noctis, confused and lonely, his closest companion torn away from him for reasons he can’t understand. Noctis, who was already suffering from his own trauma, disabled and anxious long before he tried to bear Ignis’ burden as well as his own. Has the king even thought of him?"Cor." Clarus' voice is sharp.But Regis raises his hand again. "It’s true, I know." Regis acknowledgment is heavy. "That doesn't change the present situation though."Cor folds his hands in his lap, off the table so that he can crack his knuckles. The king spoke too easily, too smoothly, and somehow the acceptance of the accusation is even worse than a denial. Because such acceptance means he is unwilling to discuss matters. The choices have already been made for everyone.Clarus is trying to burn through him with a glare, to silence him, to protect his king from the consequences of his poor actions. It’s no wonder Cid left, Cor thinks absently. Because it was always like this. He himself would never have made a good Shield; he can only deflect physical damage. He can not and will not lie for his king as a true Shield must be able to do. And suddenly, Cor feels a flash of anger, deep and raw.“You know you could have prevented it. And the Council is off preparing a draft of some statement that won’t anger Alpha interest groups.”"What more would you have me do?" Regis returns, his voice still calm, flat and distant.He thinks again of Noctis, of the Spriggan-shaped bank tucked away in his closet full of money for the baby, the book of baby names he’d found under the couch when he was cleaning up, the browser history when he’d looked on the boy’s computer. And again of Titus Drautos, thrown into an arranged marriage with a child and never once complaining. And Ignis himself. Cor is younger than the King by a decade, but they have still grown up together. He has seen so many of his mistakes, forgiven them all, but this one… This one is difficult.He loves him, just as he loves Clarus, but right now he can’t stand to be with either of them. “You could have kept him here, negotiated other terms. You didn’t have to hand him back to his rapist.”“Cor, enough,” Clarus warns again, his voice tight, and Cor suddenly wonders if the real reason Noctis is now in his care is because the Shield couldn’t bear to look at him every day."Is it enough? Can I say enough? He's a kid and he's your son, and you're just handing him off to… to a monster. And your Council is writing up a statement to defend your actions." The rage catches him in the chest, magic burning through his veins. "Did you ask what he wanted before you handed him back to the Chancellor? Did you think about what this might do to the baby?"A look passes between the King and Clarus, and the anger settles in Cor’s chest like a chunk of ice as he understands what it means. They have thought about the baby. That’s what matters here. And something falls into place in his mind, something about the Crystal and the Prince. He feels as if the air around him is breaking.He stands then and turns to go, because if he doesn't he is going to say more that he shouldn't, and they will end up saying more that they shouldn’t. They let him go without a word, without a protest, and he feels that as another blow.They know he is right.And he might have to call Titus back after all. 
Part 5, Chapter 8 – Ignis
 He isn’t supposed to wear clothing in the room. He knows this well by now. It’s why he hadn’t wanted Lady Lunafreya to heal him in Ardyn’s quarters, where he’s been living for the last nine days. The Chancellor likes him naked, ready and willing at all times. Ignis had been horrified at first, somehow more ashamed of that than he was of being violated, but he’d grown used to it quickly. Ardyn bringing that creepy General into his room mid-sex helped him get over the embarrassment. He’s just an omega. Omegas exist for this sort of thing and nobody expects anything different.There might have been others who have seen him, but he doesn’t remember, or maybe he never knew anything to remember.It had been so easy, to fall back into his shell. At least he has that. At least he still knows how to immediately withdraw, think about nothing and be no one while things are happening to his body. The problem is that it is getting harder and harder to come back. Easier to stay inside because this is just going to happen to him again, again and again until he finally dies. Nobody can protect him. That much is clear to him now. Things had been okay for a couple of weeks, a month even. The hospital, living with Titus Drautos. Both took time to adjust to, but in the end they were both acceptable. At least he’d just begun to feel safe before this.But now he knows better than to ever think that. He’s alone, possibly with the baby, but even then, perhaps not. The King, his own father, values the baby’s life over Ignis’. Ardyn, his mate, is no better. And everyone else always seems so interested, so curious about him, like a pregnancy is somehow some miracle unique to him. And then, of course, what his mate had whispered to him more than once. That Kingsglaive Captain just wants it for himself. He thinks your mother is from Galahd, his burned homeland, that the baby is his kin. Absurd. There’s no way Ardyn could know this, but things whispered in his ear when he’s being hurt stick with him.The third night was when everything had starred, spiraling down so quickly that Ignis never had time to consider what was happening.Nothing had happened the first two nights. He’d been allowed clothing then, expensive silk pajamas that had been more comfortable than he’d cared to admit. And Ardyn laid beside him in bed and ignored him, didn’t touch him. For two nights. He’d thought that Ardyn was angry with him for some time, thought that perhaps he still wasn’t forgiven, and he’d been frantic with fear. Clinging to him, desperate to please him. Fuck me, take me, please please don’t be angry with me. He’d climbed on him in desperation one night, whispering that he’d marry him, that he’d do anything so long as Ardyn wasn’t angry, and his mate had only shoved him off, told him to go to sleep.But the third night, Ignis had awoken to an arm around him, a pressure against his backside that he knew all too well and a whisper in his ear that burns, burns.-No, no, no. It’s over, it’s over. They all said it was over.He remembers being at the hospital. At the psychiatrist’s. At the other, and the other. At the omega support group. The social worker. The counselor. Back to the hospital for checkups. And everyone told him, everyone, that he was safe, that he was being taken care of, that they would protect and help him. He remembers being married off to an older man – to protect you – and taken from the only person he’d ever felt was family. His whole future cut off to protect. None of it matters now. It was all a farce. Everyone who said he was a safe was a liar. They knew he wasn’t, knew there was nothing anyone would do to protect him against the Niflheim Chancellor. And he knows now that he will likely be married to him within a few months, that the two nations will fight over the infant but only one will fight for him.When it’s over, he wipes his tears, suddenly infuriated that he cried again. He’d learned how to avoid doing that, but how quickly he forgot, how quickly his body tried to return to normal. Never again. He can’t let his guard down ever again. -He spends his mornings with little Loqi, a boy who painfully reminds him of Noctis, and afternoons with Aranea. The older woman does a good job at sheltering him from the stares, the camera shutters, but Loqi doesn’t seem to notice.Ignis can’t determine what the boy’s status is in the Empire. He’s allowed to run amok in the Imperial Palace and do as he pleases; his father is rarely around, but is apparently intimidating enough that nobody bothers Loqi. There are no expectations for him. He’s not a prince. He’s not an adviser in training. He’s clearly destined for the military, but in a nation where conscription is mandatory, that doesn’t mean very much. His biological family was likely high-ranking, but nobody talks about them.It irks him; how can a child in the circles of the Emperor have no responsibilities? But he doesn’t question it. Loqi is arrogant, carefree and irritating at times, but Ignis can’t help but like him. He’s unexpectedly clever, though he is usually more interested in being vapid.Like right now, as they’d just spotted General Glauca coming out of a meeting room down the hall and Loqi is already bounding towards him, ignoring the inappropriateness of running in an imperial palace.“What do you want?” the voice in the armor is a low growl, but Loqi is unfazed.“Scent!” He’s nearly bouncing on his heels, clinging to his wrist as Ignis warily approaches. “This meeting started before I was awake.”Ignis steps back a pace, unsure of how to react to the boy’s enthusiasm. In some regards, he’s so much like Noctis. He himself was never like this, was he? He barely remembers anything before the last five or six months now.“I scold him if he doesn’t do it every day,” the younger boy grins at Ignis then, misreading his uncertainty. “Omega kids need that.”“You don’t need it. You want it,” the General sighs. He twitches his hand, and suddenly the armor covering it is gone, leaving only a black glove.Ignis jumps at that. Not only because he finds it hard to imagine there is really a human under there, but it’s also impossible. It’s almost like he has an Armiger that he can summon from and store in. Is this the power of the Empire? He’s disturbed that a Nif would show this so openly in front of him. Probably because what they have is even more powerful, and this is nothing to the General. “Is that…magitek?”The armor turns towards him, but the lack of clear eyeholes leaves Ignis uncertain as to if he’s really looking at him. “More or less. The Chancellor’s powers are vast.” The voice echoing in his helmet, the word Chancellor pounding behind Ignis’ eyes. He can’t even hear the word without feeling sick. And his powers. He can not only heal people when he feels like it. He can not only alter his appearance to match anyone, or perhaps cast illusions or twist perceptions. Maybe that’s all the armor is. An illusion of liquid metal. It does look too alive to be anything but that, after all.Ignis bites his lower lip and worries it a moment. “And he can share his magic with other people? Like my father?”He doesn’t really expect a response, but General Glauca nods once. “Yes. When he feels like it, which isn’t often.” And then, before Ignis can push, “And your father knows this.”“He never told me.” Too fast, too rude.“I’m sure there is plenty he doesn’t tell you,” but he sounds bored as he reaches for Loqi and ruffles his hair, touches his face and slides his hand down to his throat. He rubs his wrist against the boy’s neck absently, an action he’s clearly done hundreds of times.Loqi purrs happily, leans against his arm and closes his eyes for a moment. And for a moment, Ignis feels a flash of violent jealousy. He wants that. He wants affection that’s kind, gentle. He’s only been scented twice, both times by Titus Drautos. His father had never done it to him, had never even acknowledged him as his own child. And Ardyn… Ignis scowls.But he can’t hide the longing in his eyes, apparently, because the General turns his masked gaze towards him, and this time he has the distinct feeling he’s being looked at. “You, too?”Ignis can feel himself blush as he bites his lip again and turns away. To be envious of such affection when the man before him saw… He knows now that the Alpha had done nothing, had stayed silent, to protect his own son, but it still shames and enrages him. Why couldn’t their lives have been switched?His thoughts stop there, because the monster touches his face, fingers sliding through his hair and fingers brushing against the back of his head.Ignis freezes, not daring to breathe. He wants that affection, wants it badly, but Ardyn. Ardyn would smell it on him, would know, would hurt him. He feels dizzy, but he can’t find the words to tell him to stop.But he doesn’t scent him. Instead, Ignis feels his thumb move across his lips, press gently against his lower lip, and something inside of him shuts down. Ah, this, so Ardyn was right after all. In another world, he might wonder if he’d keep the armor on, but now he doesn’t care. He just doesn’t want Loqi to witness this.But this doesn’t happen.“Don’t keep biting yourself,” is all he says, and then he drops his hand.“Bad habit,” Ignis doesn’t like the smug look on Loqi’s face as the younger boy purrs. But he apparently noticed nothing strange. Maybe General Glauca is touchy like that. Maybe it’s normal. Maybe Loqi just doesn’t understand what might have been sexual interest.The General makes a snorting sound. “You sucked your thumb until last year.” And then he flicks his hand, activating the armor around himself again with an echoing metallic sound while Ignis tries not to stare.It’s only when the General is out of sight when he realizes what had seemed off to him. The man has no scent. He only smells of metal and magic. Ignis leans towards Loqi for half a moment, inhales deeply, trying to catch the scent of an Alpha on him, but there’s nothing. Strange.-Aranea starts to give him a hug, then abruptly stops when she’s realizing he’s leaning away from her. “Your face is tit-height when I wear heels, huh?”Ignis blushes. She’s too blunt. “A bit.”She ducks around him, arm around his shoulders from behind, and he immediately relaxes, the scent of an older omega washing over him. He wonders if he should ask her to scent him, after that close call with the General. He feels more lonely than ever now, having come so close to that affection only to be denied.But then her two friends are at her side and the moment is gone. He doesn’t want to do anything embarrassing around them. Biggs is a big gamer, a loudmouth who acts too young for his age, but Ignis likes him quite a bit. He helped. He’s the only person who ever tried to help. Wedge doesn’t talk very much, which is sort of a relief after the other two. He builds models in his spare time, a brilliant engineer who likes talking mechanics if Ignis can get him going. He doesn’t want to look like a kid in front of them, a needy little omega. He doesn’t want them to think about how he’s an omega, how he’s different.Wedge nods at him once. “Loqi off to school?”“Mm, yes, he only has afternoon classes two days a week.”“Yea, here in Niflheim compulsory education isn’t 6 days a week like in your crazy city,” Biggs crows.“Five days,” Ignis snaps. “Saturday school is optional, and so are evening classes.”“Still crazy to even offer it!” Aranea flicks her hair over her shoulder and pulls her phone out of her pocket. Ignis had always believed that very few cell phones existed in Gralea, but he’d learned quickly enough that that wasn’t true. He wonders if it’s merely a rumor started to make Niflheim look bad, or if the Nif government purposefully spreads these ideas abroad to make themselves appear less advanced. “Chief Besithia’s working on a new prototype for a jet-propelled lance. Want to see pictures?”Ignis resists the urge to grab her phone. She works with the same weapons he favors; she’d offered to help train him, if only it weren’t for that tum. You’re kind of ungainly right now. “Why jet-propelled? Wouldn’t that just mean you lose it?”“Not if you hold onto it,” she shrugs. “And why not? Verstie seems to be a big fan of that.”He remembers suddenly that Loqi had mentioned General Glauca had the same technology in his armor. He can almost fly with it. Hover and stuff.The Crownsguard, the Kingsglaive, and the Royal Guard. They have magic, but they are all heavily reliant on the King, on the Crystal. We lack power beyond that, while every day Niflheim technology advances. Technology that isn’t wholly dependent on a single person, no matter how much Ardyn might be fueling their army.“Can he make me a weapon?” he asks, careful to make it seem like a joke.But Aranea doesn’t notice the coyness as she snaps her gum and grins. “You can ask. Lances make great baby shower gifts, I hear.”Ignis flicks through the photos, trying not to smile, and he wonders what it’s like to be a double agent. Thinking about it like that is easier than the truth, that he’s a slave, a hostage, a pawn with no power of his own.-That’s how he spends his days. Pretending. And then he returns to his quarters, to the Chancellor’s quarters, and strips in the doorway. Ardyn doesn’t return at the same time every night, but he’s consistent enough to not be back before nine, which means as long as Ignis gets back by nine, he’ll have time to get ready.He likes him on the bed, waiting. He likes him ready. He taught him well how to ensure that. So Ignis spreads his legs, presses fingers up beneath his balls and into the folds. His body disgusts him, horrifies him, and it’s only going to get worse. He doesn’t like thinking about childbirth; he doesn’t like thinking about the future at all. Two more days. He’s supposed to be back in Insomnia in two more days, but he can’t believe that anymore. Better to not think about the future at all anymore. Especially not when Ardyn mentioned something special for his last night. He doesn’t need the future.He’s wet and ready by the time the Chancellor walks into the room.He opens his mouth and says the two words that were commanded of him last week. When we are alone, this is what you must call me. He whispers them as he raises his hands and pulls Ardyn down onto him. “Your Majesty”

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Part 5, Chapter 9 - Drautos
 He’s somewhere else, his eyes glazed and unseeing, wandering the room but taking nothing in. Drautos knows well what this is. It’s what he himself was like all those years ago, twenty-one years ago now. His family dead, his homeland burning, ashes in his mouth and the sound of machine guns ringing in his ears. Only a little older than Ignis is now. The living dead. He hadn’t come back for weeks, and perhaps a part of him had never come back.“Ignis,” he says softly, but there is nothing else to say.He raises a hand, holds it over and behind him, ushering him into the airship without touching him. He can feel the tension simmering the air around him, and he regrets. Why did I agree to this?The boy doesn’t look at him even once during the entire ride. He doesn’t seem to be looking at anything, but he’s quiet.He calls the King as soon as the ship lands and he has a moment to himself when Ignis goes to the landing’s small bathroom.“He needs to go straight to bed. Don’t wait for him. I can’t take him anywhere but the apartment.”“I’ll need to speak with him. To…apologize. I realize now that I made a mistake.”He’s taken aback by this, but it’s not the time for that conversation. “Understood. But he’s hurting now. He needs to rest.”“Stay with him tonight. I’ll send a guard over to relieve you in the morning,” the King sounds exhausted, worn, and for a moment Drautos can actually believe he regrets this.The car ride from the airship landing all the way to his apartment is no different. Silence, staring down at his hands in his lap, or perhaps at the bulge of his stomach. At least that little thing’s been healed while over there, though at the expense of his mother. Titus sighs as they climb the steps to the apartment. There are no elevators in the building, and the fourth floor is clearly getting difficult for Ignis. The captain could have a more luxurious apartment in the Citadel, but he preferred to live in the immigrant quarter, where the apartments were small and run-down, the alleys narrow and noisy, but Ignis never complained and indeed seemed comfortable there. So far from the world he knew, the world that betrayed him. Petty crime was common in the neighborhood, but felonies were rare, and the Galahdians protected their own.But today Ignis doesn’t even seem to know where he is.He’s catatonic.Which means something truly horrible must have happened, something worse than anything else before.He showed him his other face. He showed him… Drautos closes his eyes. He’d seen it once, so many years ago now. The origins of Glauca. And for a moment it crosses his mind. He told him, told him who I am. No, impossible, he wouldn’t risk it. But… Ardyn is Ardyn. He’d know Ignis would keep it a secret if he ordered him to, bringing fresh torment to everyone involved. But it’s unlikely. Something else happened, and he doesn’t dare ask the boy.-It takes Ignis three days to say a single word.Until then he stays in his room, slipping out to use the toilet only when Drautos isn’t home or is asleep, so he assumes, as he never sees him otherwise. He leaves food outside the boy’s door, sometimes tries talking to him from the other side, but he’s locked everyone out.The first time he talks, it actually startles Titus. A clearing of a throat behind him when he’s in the kitchen one morning.“If you’re going to do it, just do it already. Stop pretending,” his voice is raised, his fists clenching and unclenching. His voice is scratchy, hoarse, as if no longer used to being used.Ardyn poisoned his mind. He’s good at that, so good he can even turn adults against one another, people like…. “Pretending what?” he asks softly.“You aren’t like the rest.” There’s a pitch in his voice that he recognizes after so many years of being in the military. Panic.He raises his hands slowly, aware of what’s coming. He needs to calm him immediately, show him that he’s harmless.“You want to do it to me, too. You want to do what he did. What all Alphas want to do. So just hurry up and do it, get it over with. I can handle it,” and he’s tugging at his neckline, his pants, starting to pull things off.He told him. He told him who I am. Ignis knows I watched, knows Ardyn offered him to me, knows I’m working for Niflheim, knows I— His thoughts get no further, because Ignis starts screaming then, somewhere between terror and rage.Shit. He freezes, unable to speak for a moment. He wants to grab him, pull his shirt back down and shake him, but he knows it will only get worse if he touches him. There is no speaking reason to Ignis right now; the best he can do is distract him. “Shh, shh. Be careful. The baby.” He doesn’t touch his stomach, but he holds a hand over it for a moment.“You want him, too!”Not a good distraction. “I do?” he asks calmly.“Ardyn said you wanted him! You’ll take him and then kill me.”“Why would I want a baby?” I don’t even want you. But he doesn’t provoke him. He isn’t so sure if it’s true anymore, either. He remembers the jut of Ignis’ chin as he’d looked down on General Glauca, the disgust in his eyes.He just shrieks again, hyperventilating now as his voice continues to rise and he ceases to speak in intelligible words, and then he throws himself on the ground, writhing and thrashing and screaming again and again. He’s lashing out, hitting at Titus blindly.He grabs his hips, pushes him gently down. Then up to his shoulders, another slow yet firm squeeze. Not his wrists. He knows Ignis doesn’t like being grabbed by the wrists, that that alone is enough to set him off. Not even Noctis can grab him there. So he holds his biceps, squeezes them off and on until Ignis gives up thrashing.He’s still, shuddering and sobbing, but he isn’t fighting any longer.Not because he isn’t still terrified, but because he’s exhausted himself. The pregnancy is still taking a lot out of him; he isn’t as strong as he was six months ago. Even when he first joined the Glaives, he’d been tough, strong and relentless for his age and size. And he will be again, if he survives this. Titus gently strokes his back, feels his shoulder blades, the knobs of his spine. He wants to scent him, wants to rub his chin all over him and calm him, but he won’t without the boy’s consent. It’s too intimate a thing to do without him agreeing, and now is not the time to ask.“I’m going to pick you up now. Carry you to your room. And then I will leave immediately and close the door.”Ignis doesn’t fight him as he lifts him, does nothing but go limp as he carries him down to the hall to the bedroom. He feels too light, even though Drautos had seen him eat often, and much, the last two weeks.He lays him down carefully on the bed, grateful now that he’d asked a Glaive to come by and launder all the sheets and blankets in Ignis’ nest. He’d suspected he wouldn’t want to be near an Alpha scent, and it seems that he was right. He shouldn’t be here. He glances down once at him and sees that he’s crying silently now, bringing his hands up to his face and rubbing at his eyes with his fists. The way a child does. He reeks of fear, and there is something painful, something that dredges up old memories, about the scent of a frightened omega. He needs to make him safe somehow. Don’t pretend you care about that now, not after you watched Ardyn rape him and did nothing. Not after you sat there and listened even as you tried not to look, not after you saw how much pain he was in, how scared he was, and you didn’t move. You’re glad that Ignis met Loqi, that he knows about Loqi and Glauca, because he’s a smart boy and he will blame your inaction on me wanting to protect him. But that isn’t the truth, is it? The truth is that we mustn’t upset the plan, which means we want Ardyn to cooperate, which means we have to let him do whatever he wants with the boy. You did nothing because you care more about vengeance against the crown than anything else.His mind reels. He hates it, hates it when the two worlds collide, the two halves of himself, when he argues with himself. He doesn’t want to know what Glauca knows. He’s lived that scene over and over a thousand times already. And it’s all true. It wasn’t just because of Loqi. It was because of…  “I’ll be outside, okay? I won’t enter your room unless you need me.”Ignis doesn’t react, so Drautos slowly backs up before turning to close the door behind him. Gods, he doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into.-He makes it another three days before he calls someone. Three more days of Ignis being silent, blank-stared, and Titus suspects that the boy doesn’t even remember his outburst the other day. He moves through the household in a trance. He’s in no shape to go to school, but he doesn’t even try to go, doesn’t even seem to remember it exists. The Alpha hates to leave him alone, and he stays home as much as he can, but he isn’t in the kind of position that allows for that. It’s too much. He should be back in the hospital.Which is what he expects to say when he calls the private line for Dr. Pieta Argentum, but instead he says something completely different, unexpected.“He needs his mother.”“She’s dead, as I understand.”“Yes, but…” he hesitates then. Dead, such an interesting word. So callous for a doctor. Perhaps suggesting that she is a mother figure would be insulting, especially after such a show of bluntness. The woman does seem to have a chip in her shoulder regarding her profession and gender. “He likes you, and he doesn’t have any other women to talk to.”She sighs. “Does he want to come in? He should have come in immediately upon coming home but nobody made any appointments.”Accusing, like it should have been up to him. “He’s catatonic. I don’t know anything about him anymore.”“Ask him.”“He’s not going to answer. He doesn’t answer anything.”“Then either accept it or make the decision to call an ambulance for him. You, an Alpha, can’t shove him in the car and take him here yourself. Think about what he’s been through.”There’s that hostility in her voice that he’d gotten used to by now from her and the other omega nurses and doctors at the hospital.He changes the subject then, unwilling to acknowledge the anger. “He’s gone through four therapists already.”“I know,” she sighs. “We have a few more he can try, but at his age he can legally choose, so he is free to reject them, as well.”He still can’t follow what medical rights Ignis does and doesn’t have at thirteen. The system makes little sense to him. He can’t choose his physical doctors, but he can choose his therapists, as if the system considers the latter to be of little value.She goes on, “There is…the option of sending him to an adult omega support group. They would be more aware of what he’s going through, and he would be met with more understanding there.”He knows what had happened at the school one, had been called about it as if Ignis were his child. That call had annoyed him then. An unnecessary burden; so much for this being a paper marriage. He’d immediately felt uncomfortable afterwards, but it had been thought. “I can ask, but I don’t expect a response.”-But there is, unexpectedly, a response. A soft-spoken yes when Titus asks him, though it takes him asking the question four times before Ignis fully reacts.“Would you like a taxi, or should I drive you?” Because being in a car with an Alpha might not be a good idea right now.“Either,” he whispers. And then he raises his head slowly and looks him in the eyes, gaze suddenly focusing, for the first time in a week.Drautos waits, wondering if he’ll say anything else, but he doesn’t. He only slowly turns back to the television, and he recedes behind that blank gaze again.“That’s not an answer,” he sighs. “So you don’t care?”Nothing. Ignis doesn’t even blink. The television is set to the history channel, but the sound is muted and the subtitles aren’t on. And he thinks again that this boy should be in a hospital, that this shouldn’t be in his hands anymore. I failed him once already, and I don’t know that I won’t again.   
Part 5, Chapter 9 – Noctis
 He doesn’t feel like his friend and sort-of-brother anymore, but then he does at the same time. Being his real brother makes things weird. And then everything else… Noctis anxiously checks his phone again, waiting for Ignis to respond to him. He can see that he’s read it. It’s been read for over ten minutes.He doesn’t think they’ve gotten over the fight. Over a month now, about five weeks since things were… not normal, but more normal. He’d enjoyed being able to help Ignis, in a weird way. It was nice to be useful sometimes, though he didn’t want to be useful in those circumstances. Helping him when he was sick, when he woke up screaming from nightmares, when he was scared or dizzy. When he came back from those visits. And then he’d collapsed, and after that they barely spoke anymore.Two weeks with Captain Drautos after the hospital, after their fight that wasn’t really a fight, was more of Noctis being a jerk and Ignis running off before he could apologize. After that, they’d spoken sometimes, texts and a few phone calls, and Noctis had even come over once or twice, but it wasn’t the same. The Captain kept his space, but he wouldn’t let them explore the neighborhood themselves. He’s not bossy, exactly, but he actually acts the way Noctis is now realizing a father should act. He’s not like the King. He’s around, so around that he can be pushy. Ignis doesn’t seem to notice. Maybe he likes an adult watching over him, being protective, but Noctis finds it frustrating.And then he’d gone to Gralea.Cor had warned him, told him that Ignis might not be the same when he comes back. The same as what, Noctis had wanted to ask. I’ve known about this longer than anyone. But he hadn’t responded, only nodded once. Ignis’ secrets were his; nobody needs to know what they went through early on. They, because Noctis feels as if he has been experiencing something similar, just watching him go through it.Secondhand trauma, the doctor had said. He has to see a therapist now, too. But he isn’t sharing Ignis’ secrets, so he sits there quietly and talks about anything but whatever he’s being asked about. It’s not so different than what he did after his own incident, after all.-So he doesn’t expect anything to be the same when Ignis comes back from Gralea. Things have been in constant motion, a slide into a nightmare that seems to have no end. But how different he will be more of the same that he’s getting used to. Ignis changing, the world no longer being safe.He’s seen the magazines. He even read the article about how omegas are mistreated in Insomnia, how something needs to be done about it. And he looked up Ignis all the time online, even though everyone said don’t. Cor, his father, his new therapist. Don’t look, don’t look. It will only upset you.And not looking won’t? Like it will make a difference? He doesn’t get them. They seem to think that covering one’s eyes and pretending nothing is happening is the solution. Like they don’t realize that is exactly what caused all of this. If they’d paid attention, Ignis could have gotten help months and months ago, and maybe he wouldn’t even be pregnant. Maybe nothing would ever have happened.But Cor is right. Things aren’t the same, and in a way Noctis hadn’t expected.Because when Ignis comes back from Gralea, he doesn’t talk. He’s not even there anymore.-Punching him feels good. He’s never hit anyone before, but he’s seen both Ignis and Gladio get into fights. He knows where to hit, how to move, even if he doesn’t have much strength behind it.He doesn’t expect to get hit back though, so when the other boy’s fist connects with his nose, he doesn’t even think to move. Nobody hits the Prince. He only charges forward, throwing himself at the kid and howling, punching him again as he lands on his chest. And he wails on him then, swearing and yelling as he does. The eight grader is much bigger than him, bigger than Ignis, but that doesn’t matter once he’s flat on his back.Noctis has never fought before, and it’s satisfying. Especially because with every punch he thinks about everything Ignis has been through, about all the people who knew something was wrong and ignored it, about everyone who didn’t help, about all the adults who let it happen.Very satisfying.At least, until he hears his name being roared behind him.“What are you doing?” Gladiolus, grabbing his shoulders, dragging him off. “Why?”“He insulted Ignis,” he snaps back. “Called him a…” Whore, slut, omega boycunt, and more. Does it even matter what particular word he used? He’s heard more in the last week in the school corridors than he ever has before about omegas. Is that what it’s like for them every day? Is this how they always live? And I just never paid attention before?But Ignis has been thrown into the center of attention for the entire continent, maybe the entire world, because of the news. Every kid at the school knows what’s going in, even if they don’t understand the details. They get the idea. Ignis is an omega. He had sex with an older man. He’s pregnant. He went to Niflheim because he’s that guy’s whore. Probably the Captain’s whore, too. Worthless. Used. Good for nothing but… He doesn’t know he’s crying until he tries to sniff and there is a sharp, stabbing pain in his face. “My nose.”“It’s probably broken,” Gladio sounds tired as he pulls a pack of tissues from his pocket and shoves them in his face.Noctis touches his cheek, then his nose once before yelping again.The kid he’d been fighting, some asshole in Ignis’ class, has gotten to his feet and he’s staring at him in horror. Like he just realized he got in a fistfight with the Prince.“If you say that again, I’ll have you executed,” he sniffs, holding the tissues to his nose now to slow the bleeding. You should never threaten to have anyone executed. Your father wouldn’t do it anyway, and it makes you look like a tyrant. But Ignis isn’t here to advise him right now, and Gladio doesn’t seem to have a problem with threats.“Fuck off,” Gladio says then, waving his hand at Ignis’ classmate. Noctis notes with satisfaction that his nose is also bleeding and his school uniform is probably ruined. Then he turns on Noctis, eyes cold and angry. “You can’t pick fights like that. I know you’re angry but if this gets back to the King, you’ll be in big trouble.”“Do I have to go to the hospital?” his voice sounds funny when he pinches his nose. It hurts, but not as much as he thinks a broken bone should. Nothing like his shattered leg.“If it doesn’t stop bleeding soon. Should anyway because you’re you but…”“I’ll get in trouble.”“Yea. Big time. Come on,” Gladio’s gentler then as he takes his arm and guides him down the hall to the bathroom. “I’ve broken mine twice and both times it was fine. Give it a bit and we’ll go together if it’s no better at the end of lunch period, or if you can’t breathe.”“I can breathe,” he pouts, wincing.Gladio sighs again, leans back against the wall. “It’s gonna keep happening. We can’t fight everyone who says something about him.”“We?”“I hit someone, too. A few someones, maybe.”That makes Noctis feel better, knowing he’s not the only one who messed up. “I should make my father do something, about the way omegas are treated.’“You can’t change the way people think with a law.”Noctis scowls. He sounds almost like Ignis there. “Well don’t tell me what to do if you can’t follow it yourself.”“He hasn’t messaged me at all in weeks. Only once when he first got to Gralea and nothing since. Even when he’s home now,” Gladio blurts out suddenly.He glances up at him, changing the tissues under his nose as he does. “Yea he doesn’t talk now. I mean, he will respond to a text but he’s really weird now. He hasn’t even wanted to see me.” Which is probably why I just hit that kid.“He’s supposed to be seeing doctors and stuff, right?”“It doesn’t seem to work very well.” They usually don’t. He’d seen a lot of therapists back when he’d been hurt, when he spent a year in a wheelchair and everyone asked him a lot of questions in sweet voices like he was made of glass or something. They didn’t make a big difference to him, and he doubts they can really help Ignis. You can’t understand stuff like that just by being a doctor. Or by being an adult. “I’m not going back to class today. I’m going home, and I can take care of myself.”Gladio swears. “Wait until your nose stops bleeding, then you can do what you want, but I can’t let you out of my sight for now.”Noctis repeats the word that Ignis would get mad at him for and slumps back against the wall. “Fine.”-It stops bleeding after another ten minutes or so, which makes Noctis think maybe it isn’t really broken. Broken bones should be a lot messier, right? But he doesn’t want to have a conversation about it.He doesn’t go home though.He goes to Captain Titus Drautos’ apartment. The man will be at the Citadel; he has some big meeting with the King. Noctis had been eavesdropping and caught everything. He also knows that Ignis isn’t at school, and he certainly wouldn’t be anywhere else, so he’s there. He can’t avoid me now. And maybe we can finally check out the neighborhood now that nobody’s around to boss us around. It’s a nice thought. There’s a lot of weird restaurants around here, including sweets shops that smell like honey. And there’s arcades here too, really cheap ones with old games that Noctis can’t find anywhere else. At least, that’s what he’s read about online. He’s not quite smiling, because smiling hurts, but he’s content as he rings the doorbell.Nothing.He didn’t really expect anything though, because for all Ignis knows, he’s the mailman or someone with fliers. So he pulls out the extra key to the apartment the Captain had given to him some time ago.When he opens the door, he doesn’t hear anything, see anyone. And it takes him a moment to register the blood on the hallway floor, visible even from the front door.“Why are you in…” the bathtub. But Ignis still has some clothing on, at least his shirt, and there’s no water running. He’s just sitting in there, clinging to the edge, a blood-stained towel beside him. His pants are mostly off, just tangled around one foot, but his legs are bloody and everything looks wet even without water.Ignis glances at him, his eyes wide with surprise and something else, something else Noctis doesn’t immediately recognize.“Noct! Go away!” His voice is high-pitched, like he can’t breathe.He can only stare. “I…” He knows what’s happening, but he can’t register how. He quickly does the math in his head. Thirty-one weeks or something like that. “It’s too early.”“I know,” he moans.“Can’t you stop it?” Stupid question, but what else can he say? He tentatively takes a step closer to the bathtub and stops.“Stop it?” Ignis snarls. “Idiot.”He’s never sounded so angry, and he remembers what Cor said. He won’t be the same. Stupid. He’s just scared, but he’s still Ignis. Just like he’s still Noctis even though he just beat someone up and didn’t even feel bad about it. Not again, not again. Something horrible is happening and I’m the only one here and I don’t know what to do and I don’t- He pulls out his phone and starts to dial emergency, just like he did last time.“Don’t call!”“Why not?” He’s crying now, too, and it makes his nose really hurt and he wishes he could tell Ignis about it and get some comfort, but that Ignis isn’t here anymore, and now he has to be the strong one.“They’ll…” he groans, doubles over like he’d just been punched. “Take him.”“Who?”“Anyone!” A yell like a howl, like he’s really angry.I can’t, I can’t. He’s gripping the phone so tightly his fingers hurt. He wants to call, needs to. And he wants to reach out, touch Ignis, hug him, but he can’t do that either. He can’t do anything. He’s frozen, just like Ignis has been this last week.He sobs, snot running down his face and making him feel dirty on top of it hurting really badly. He should wipe his face before Ignis notices or he’ll get mad about it like he always does. Unbecoming of a Prince.But Ignis hasn’t told him what to do in months. He hasn’t acted like his adviser in months, not that it matters.“What can I do then?” he asks softly. He’d read some things about omega childbirth, even though it was gross and embarrassing to look at, and he’d always wiped his browser history afterwards. Male omegas usually have a c-section, but it doesn’t look like that’s an option now. Or maybe it still is. If only he could call someone. Natural childbirth is almost impossible for male omegas. It might even kill him. But no, the baby is still tiny, it will be fine, Ignis will be fine.“Just…” he breathes deeply, his face pale and sweaty. “Hold my hand. And talk.”Noctis obeys, grabbing the boy’s hand, but Ignis doesn’t immediately let go of the side of the tub and Noctis realizes it’s because he probably can’t. So he waits, squeezes until Ignis can uncurl his fingers and grab him.And talk. It should make him happy. They haven’t talked properly since the hospital, but he never imagined it would be like this. It might be the last time we ever talk, and the thought makes him want to scream.“Say something,” Ignis gasps again, and he’s almost whining. “Please.”Noctis panics. “I punched someone today.”“I…” and he makes a strange noise.The younger boy jumps up, still clinging to his hand, until he realizes that Ignis is laughing in a hiccupping way, the way people laugh when they are also crying. “Geez, not that funny.”“Not what I expected. When I said. Say something.” He’s smiling, but it’s obvious that he’s trying too hard. His whole body contorts for a moment, spasms, and he gasps again.“It was very satisfying.”“That why your nose is red and your eye black?”It’s the longest statement he’s ever made in one breath in a month. Noctis grins, squeezes his hand harder. “Yea. I might do it again sometime if you let me. I can’t let you and Gladio do everything.”And he talks. He goes for another ten minutes, fifteen, twenty, trying desperately to make Ignis smile again, but it’s obvious that he’s having trouble focusing on his words, and sometimes Noctis has to repeat himself a few times. But it’s finally him and Ignis again, so there is that.Until it’s not. Until Ignis suddenly shrieks, doubling up and clutching Noctis’ hand so hard that he, too, yelps. He hadn’t wanted to look into the bathtub directly but he does now, and he can see that there’s a lot more blood than there just had been. So even if the baby’s tiny, it’s still… This is something far greater than he can handle. He turns wildly, looking for the phone he’d dropped what feels like a year ago now.And he sees Captain Drautos standing in the doorway to the bathroom, still in uniform. How long have I been here? He wants to ask, like there’s nothing else happening, because there’s too much happening and such a simple question seems like a good thing to focus on. He opens his mouth to speak, but Ignis gets there first.“Don’t, don’t let him!” Ignis screams, wailing. He grabs at Noctis, kicks and tries to push himself backwards, tries to get up.“Call an ambulance!” Noctis cries at the Captain. Maybe he will take the baby away, but right now Ignis matters a lot more to him.“It’ll take too long.” He’s remarkably calm, but not in a comforting way, in a mechanical way, like he’s on the battlefield or something. Then he’s stepping forward, leaning down and throwing his cape over Ignis. “Faster if I drive. Go start the car and get in the back. Keys on the table.”“Don’t-“ Ignis starts to say again, grabbing for Noctis even as the Captain begins wrapping him up. Probably to keep him from kicking or fighting too hard.Drautos doesn’t look at him again, but he speaks in that way again. “Go!”Noctis stumbles backwards before turning and fleeing for the front door. He’s grateful that one day last year he’d stolen the keys to his father’s car; he at least knows how to start it.-A moment later he’s in the car as Captain Drautos places Ignis gently in the backseat, head in Noctis’ lap. “Hold his hand,” is all he says before leaning back and closing the back door. As he opens the front and gets behind the wheel, he unbuckles his sword belt and throws the weapon onto the floor at Noctis’ feet, everything in one motion like he’s done it a hundred thousand times. And as he pulls into traffic, lights flashing and horn blaring, like people won’t notice a royal vehicle and get out of the way anyway, Noctis can only stare down at sword’s hilt as Ignis shudders against him. He doesn’t think he’s ever been so afraid.

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Part 6, Chapter 1 – Prompto’s mother
 “Baby coming.” It’s all he says. It’s all he needs to say.Pieta Argentum just happens to be in the emergency room when Captain Titus Drautos barges in through the sliding doors, holding Ignis, wrapped tightly in a blanket – or perhaps his cape – in his arms. The Crown Prince trails anxiously behind him.A couple of nurses are already rushing over with a stretcher, and Pieta immediately pages over to surgery. Prepare for an omega male c-section. Team B as possible.“Where’s the King?” another doctor asks the Captain.“Tenebrae,” he grunts as he lays Ignis down on a stretcher. He’d had to be asked three times to do so, as if he didn’t trust anyone. “Seeking the advice of the Oracle on his health.”Of course. He takes interest in his health now and is gone just when he is needed. There’s nothing to say to that though, not anything that matters right now. She doesn’t like how pale Ignis is, how much he’s gasping for air. “Get him to Surgery immediately. Room 4. I already called for a team.”“Why not maternity?” Drautos sounds distracted out as he steps forward to follow the nurses already rolling him towards the surgery elevator.“Stay where you are,” she snaps, reaching out. She doesn’t touch him, but she can feel the heat just inches from her fingers. She doesn’t like being near Alphas, can smell and feel them too strongly. “Surgery is likely necessary.”He doesn’t stay where he is and follows them down the hall, into the large elevator meant for stretchers, and nobody cares enough to yell at him again. The focus is the patient; they’ll deal with the pain in the ass later.“How long has this been going on?” she asks Ignis softly, unsure if he can hear.His eyelids flicker. “Before noon.”It’s nearly five. Probably six hours then. The contractions are strong, so he’s at least progressing, but that timeframe doesn’t sound good, especially given how vulnerable he already is with his health. Bringing him straight to surgery was the right decision, she thinks as they roll him into Room 4 and immediately begin hooking him up.She steps over to the bed, snapping her mask and goggles on as she leans over the boy. “We’re getting a heartrate on the little one,” she says softly to Ignis. She’s found it’s always better to keep patients updated on what’s happening, especially when they are young. It’s too easy to panic and interpret every single action of the medical team as indication that the baby is dead. Not to say he isn’t, but…He doesn’t make eye contact, but he jerks his head once in what might be a nod.Even as they check the baby’s vitals, they’re already preparing him for surgery. Dr. Felix is on duty with her, a relief. He’s level-headed, has brought thousands of babies into the world, at least a hundred from male omegas. She herself is an OB-GYN and has been Ignis’ primary doctor, but she more often demurs to his expertise in surgery. Her focus is the mental as well as physical welfare of abused omega children, which overlaps with pregnancy enough for her to gain her licenses as an OB-GYN and surgeon. She will serve as a surgical assistant here, the boy’s social status demanding a larger team than normal.The surgeon, herself, another surgical assistant, an anesthesiologist and her assistant, a nurse for the baby, the therapist Ignis has tolerated the most for when he awakens. Ignis has personally met everyone there, all of them focusing their practices on omegas. A small relief, as the boy has probably not paid attention to anybody in the room.She hears a nurse speaking to Captain Drautos, but she isn’t paying attention, a soft drone in the background. Something about his father and Tenebrae again. She knows what the readings will be before she sees them.The baby’s vitals are poor, the pulse weak. Ignis is exhausted, his own blood pressure through the roof from the eclampsia. There’s no time for a spinal block.She breathes out slowly before looking down at the boy. “Ignis, we’re going to do a c-section, all right? We need to use general anesthesia.”He knows what a c-section; he’d asked about them last month when he was in the hospital the first time, as most omega males need them. And during his appointments thereafter, they’d gone over what might happen if he needed one. Whether or not he remembers this now is questionable, but she isn’t about to tell him it’s dangerous, that he and the baby both might not make it.It’s only when the anesthesiologist begins her work while the surgical assistant disinfects his belly and arranges the screen, when she has a moment to turn towards the hovering man in the way.“You shouldn’t be here,” she shoots the Alpha a look, trying to give him the hint that he ought to leave, that he’s only causing more distress by being in the room.Captain Drautos ignores her. Instead he leans down, speaks close to Ignis’ ear. “Do you want me here?”“He’s in no position to answer,” she snaps. Unnecessary, but she doesn’t want him there.But the gas hasn’t taken hold yet and Ignis opens his eyes, looks straight at the Captain, and whines out a low “stay”, muffled by the mask. “He needs a C-section,” she repeats. “We can’t have unauthorized people in here during a surgery.”He looks like he wants to say something, but he doesn’t. He lingers another moment before sighing and obeying. He says it then, at the door. “If you call for the baby’s father, you will regret it.” His voice is low, harsh and threatening, not the kind of Alpha tone she wants in a hospital, but in that moment, she feels a twinge of gratitude towards him.“I’d never.” It’s against protocol. Legally, they have to tell the father regardless of the situation; it’s one of the rights of an Alpha that others don’t get, but she doesn’t care.She has a newfound affection for the boy. Prompto had come home one day recently, beaming about his new friends despite being reluctant to interact with others for so many years. Apparently Ignis had offered him kindness, and the two became unexpectedly fast friends; he’d even introduced her son to the Prince. She’d wept that night, so relieved that finally, finally, her son had found playmates. Later, Prompto told her that Ignis was more awkward than expected, that he liked video games and sometimes snorted when he laughed, that he didn’t actually have any other friends besides Noctis and Gladio, who he had to spend time with anyway. Surprising, considering how cool and collected, how handsome Ignis was; she’d assumed he was the type to be popular. But no.The boy was alone from the beginning, everything about his life so wrapped up in being a servant to the throne that he missed out on his childhood even before he was assaulted. It hurt and, violating her rule to not give any form of physical affection to those on the operating table, she touched his hair briefly, brushing the sweaty bangs out of his eyes. She covers the action by lifting his glasses off, folding them and placing them in the tray where they leave personal items of the patient.The gas has fully taken hold now, and only then does the assistant place the catheter in him. The protocol is to avoid inserting them into conscious assault victims whenever possible. It will be a vertical incision to speed up the process, and the baby will hopefully be out within the next twenty minutes.She’s done this often enough that her hands take over as she assists in moving his stomach muscles while Dr. Felix cuts and his assistant suctions out the amniotic fluid. Like every other c-section. Almost. He’s bleeding more than she’d like, but at this point the baby, looking to be perhaps three pounds at best and decidedly in distress, must come out first.As she gently lifts the baby’s head, readying him to have his face wiped and suctioned, it’s clear that the heavy scarring along Ignis’ uterine canal has complicated matters, scarring that may only get worse as a result of the surgery. We must take extra care when sewing him back up.When the infant’s face is cleared of fluids, he doesn’t scream, doesn’t even breathe, and he’s pulled out quickly and passed onto the nurse. She knows where to take him, what to do once she gets him in the incubator on the transport rig beside the surgical table. Dr. Argentum prays silently to Shiva that he won’t die, but her priority is again focusing on the young boy on the table. Now, they can work on stopping the breathing and addressing Ignis’ plummeting heart rate. 
Part 6, Chapter 1 – Cor
 “Will he be okay?” Noctis, somehow managing to hover despite sitting in the plastic seat beside him. There is a couch, some soft chairs, but for some reason Noctis went for the uncomfortable ones.“Hopefully,” he sighs. He isn’t good at lying, and he’s never been one for false kindness, for simply pretending everything will be fine when nobody can possibly know. Ignis is small, young and unhealthy, and he’s giving birth nearly two months early; he has a lot working against him, but Noctis can probably put that together himself.“It’s so early he doesn’t have a name or anything yet.”“Uhn.”“He has some baby clothes and stuff though, like from months ago. But maybe they’ll be too big now.”“Probably.” Something about Ignis buying baby clothing at only two or three months pregnant, stashing them away somewhere, makes him sad. It’s so typical of Ignis, to be that organized, that forward-thinking, but a part of it was also a purely emotional move. Some part of him had been excited for this.“How big will the baby be?”“Hmm.” He doesn’t know, has never thought about babies. “Let’s take a look.” Maybe looking at his phone together will calm Noctis down a little.He doesn’t dare look up anything to do with preemie babies, doesn’t want Noctis to catch a glimpse of all the complications. Pregnancy week by week size chart. That should work, but he still tilts his elbow, tries to prevent Noctis from looking too closely until he’s sure of what will pop up.An image full of fruits, perfect. “He’s about 31? 32? Weeks in?”“Yea, I think so.”“He’s as big as a coconut. Or on this chart, a cucumber. Or a pineapple on this one.”A corner of Noctis’ mouth twitches, like he’s trying not to smile. “Those aren’t all the same size.”Good. Smile. He’s not good with kids. He can always make his friend’s daughter, Iris, happy, but Iris is a baby and a very cheerful one at that. Girls are easier, he suspects. “I’ve never even heard of some of these fruits. What’s a durian?”“They’re in Tenebrae! Smelly. Luna’s brother likes them.” “Okay, okay, this chart says about three pounds. Ignis’ might be a little smaller though.”“I was only five, even at nine months, so three is okay.”He’s surprised Noctis knows this, surprised the King knew enough to tell him. Perhaps they had a heart-to-heart about this?“Five pounds? As big as a…wintermelon.”“I don’t like those. Vegetable pretending to be a fruit.”Kids are easy to distract, thank the gods.-The peace doesn’t last long though, because after another two minutes of talking about fruits and vegetables, and what baby food is made out of, the door opens and Titus is there.“Kicked me out,” he shrugs. “C-section.”Cor sighs. Noctis yelps. “Is that bad?”But Titus ignores the question. "They normally let the partner stay during a c-section.""Mm," Cor has nothing to say to this. The fact that Titus knows means he did research before today, which he finds strange. The attachment is bizarre, unexpected and seemingly sudden, though now he is realizing it isn't so sudden. This has been going on a long time, just below the surface, and for a brief moment Cor wonders if he is attracted to the boy. But Titus had a brother, an omega who died under circumstances he is unwilling to discuss. So he says nothing to him, only turns to Noctis. “Male omegas usually need one.”“He said he could do it himself,” the boy says doubtfully. He’s still shaking slightly, twitchy and wide-eyed, now all thoughts of comparing babies to vegetables forgotten. They don’t know exactly how long Ignis was in labor before he’d gotten to the hospital, but he was with Noctis for nearly an hour before Titus had found them.“Most people can’t do it themselves.” But he glances at Drautos. The question of why Ignis hadn’t called him hangs heavy on his mind. The boy had to know how dangerous it was, how easily he could have, and could still, die. The secret of his pregnancy is out, so why not take the help offered?Because something happened in Gralea. Something somehow worse than anything else before, and Titus himself might be involved. He can’t imagine how, unless the Niflheim Chancellor said something. Cor doesn’t like it. The whole situation is off somehow.“If the baby’s as big as a cucumber, he could do it himself, I bet.”The air is tense, the situation horrible, but Cor can’t help but snort at the look of bewilderment on the Captain’s face.-Having to deal with an anxious Noctis is bad enough. Titus unexpectedly does nothing to help the situation; he’s nearly as bad. It’s both unexpected and expected; his attachment during their conversation when he was in Gralea was undeniable, but it’s unnerving to see him showing emotion. He so rarely does.  “It’s my fault,” he abruptly says, stopping his pacing for half a moment.“What is?”Titus doesn’t answer for a moment, and it’s almost as if he said something he hadn’t intended to say. And then, carefully, slowly, “He mentioned cramps yesterday. I asked him if he needed anything and he just said no, wasn’t a big deal. But I read up enough on pregnancy to know that wasn’t a good sign. I didn’t take him to the hospital.”Noctis unexpectedly speaks up then. “But he always has cramps. He tells me about them sometimes. Not unusual so how would you know?”The Captain looks at him, raises an eyebrow. “You’re not his caretaker.”You’re not either. But Cor doesn’t say it, of course. The entire situation has been nothing short of surreal these last two months or so. The King hadn’t handled it well, had more or less passed the boy off to Titus and let him take over. And now he’s undeniably attached, like the fool that he is.Drautos goes on then. “He hasn’t spoken much at all since he got back, either. Mentioning not feeling well was significant, and I missed it.”Ignis’ catatonic state upon coming home was well known in the Citadel, and the primary reason for King Regis being in Tenebrae consulting with the Oracle was this very thing. Ardyn had, as expected, forbidden her from coming to Insomnia, saying that it was unnecessary, as Ignis had just been healed, and so the King had gone to her. As if the Oracle could heal a broken mind.-Some time passes, time filled with Titus pacing and sighing and being irritable, until a dark-haired nurse opens the door to the surgery and leans her head out. “Captain? I suppose you’re…the closest to next-of-kin here?”He doesn’t answer, but he moves fast, jumping forward to catch the door.“Come with me for scrubs, please. You need them before entering the room.”Titus nods once, still not speaking.“That’s me though,” Noctis pipes up, jumping to his feet.Cor catches his shoulder, gently presses him back down into the chair. “Adult next-of-kin for medical things.” He doesn’t feel as calm as he sounds; it doesn’t sound good.The text Cor gets a couple of minutes after a scrubbed Titus, strange in bright blue, entered the room.
He might not make it.
He doesn’t have to ask who the he is.He looks up slowly, slow to meet Noctis’s eyes, Noctis, waiting anxiously for him to say something that he doesn’t want to say.“What is it?” the boy asks.And Cor wonders if it’s time to pretend that everything is fine.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 6, Chapter 2 – Ardyn
He found out from the news.The news. Those worthless hyenas who abandoned any sort of journalism and resorted to getting garbage off of social media. People had posted photos of the Royal entourage outside the hospital, and it was easily put together from that. Ignis was back in the hospital, which could only mean one thing.But Ardyn had initially assumed that the baby would be dead. The birth was too early, Ignis too weak. Dead. The concept had sent him into an unexpected turmoil, an unease, even an anger, as well as something that could only be described as relief. Because until Ignis came along, Ardyn had known where his life was going, what his ultimate fate was. He’d accepted it and was willing to go meet it, provided he be able to drag the rest of the world down with him. But Ignis. He didn’t know how a child would play into it, especially not one who was heir to the throne. He could hardly say he was excited for the thing, that he wanted a family, but he hadn’t been thrilled at the notion of it dying either. Or of Ignis dying, not yet at least.-“He’s in the NICU.”He’s unclear of what that means. He doesn’t know very much about babies, much less about premature ones, but he isn’t to ask if he isn’t offering. He hasn’t been willing to say anything, this bitch of a nurse. “And Ignis?”“In intensive care.”“Why?”The nurse on the other line hesitates.“Do remember that he is my mate.” It isn’t a question, nor is it a threat. Simply a statement spoken in a discomforting manner.“I’ll transfer you to someone on his team,” he finally sighs. “I’m only the front desk. I don’t know much past where anyone is.”Ardyn hums softly to the elevator music as he’s transferred, and he’s prepared as soon as he hears the click. He won’t give whoever is picking up a moment.“I’d like to know why my mate is in intensive care.” And why I wasn’t informed.“He flatlined momentarily. Hemorrhaging related to his eclampsia and…the scourge elements. The amniotic fluid was infected somehow; it caused complications when we cut him open.”It’s the nasty doctor, the flustered blonde omega woman. Attractive, perhaps, but definitely preoccupied with her status as an oppressed omega. He can’t resist prodding her. “So your error.”“Sure.”“Flatlined. Can you elaborate?”“He was asystolic for nearly four minutes. Given his pre-existing blood pressure conditions thanks to a traumatic pregnancy, his survival rate was close to 5%. We administered CPR and epinephrine immediately and his heart somehow picked up, probably due to his age.”Interesting. His healer days are long behind him, and even if they weren’t, he never learned any medical jargon. Nonsense. Just heal them and move on; the magic and the Crystal know what to do. Amusing, how fragile the body is outside of a hospital, and even within. But. Does this mean he died for four minutes? Did he enter the afterlife? Did he come face to face with the gods? Does he now know the secrets of the world, who I am, perchance? He so desperately wants to ask, but the proper behavior right now is to be sympathetic, groveling. He is, after all, a little sorry that Ignis almost died; the boy has his uses. “So he’ll be all right, then?”“Hard to say. He’ll be in the ICU for some time.”“Tell me more about the baby.”“One pound, fourteen ounces. Came with all the usual problems a preemie that age and size has, as well as the Scourge in his blood. He’ll be in the neonatal intensive care unit for quite a while. Off-limits to anyone but doctors for some time; not even Ignis can touch him yet, though he can see him when he’s ready. He recently underwent a complete transfusion with irradiated blood to clean the Scourge from his system.”“And did it work?” He tries not to sound too interested. Verstael was obsessed with using strange technology to cure, alleviate, or even enhance the Scourge, but he has little medical know-how; it’d be amusing if a commonplace hospital practice could actually alleviate some of the symptoms.“It doesn’t with symptomatic patients; as you know, there is no treatment for them. But we’ve never experienced anything like this before, so we’ll have to see. His body hasn’t rejected the transfusion, which is a good sign.”It’s odd how nobody has directly asked him for bloodwork, not that he’d allow for it. Perhaps they assume it’s something to do with him being a royal bastard; they’re probably so wrapped up in their Astral-worship that they’d believe a bastard would be poisoned like that. Religion answers everything, and it’s easier to not be curious. An odd stance for a doctor, but Ardyn well knows the average Insomnian is an idiot.“You haven’t mentioned a name.”“Ignis hasn’t given him one yet. He’s barely been conscious enough to do so.”“The child does have two parents, you realize.” But he doesn’t know what he would name him. He realizes now that he never really believed the baby would survive. He wanted him to, but he didn’t expect it, and now that it’s happened he doesn’t know what to do.He wonders if the gods even know what to do. Likely not, as useless as they are.-He’d seen the baby first, something he wished he hadn’t done.Ignis is second. He’s not in the regular omega ward, but instead in the high security ICU. Ardyn is surprised at this, but perhaps it’s because they are expecting him to be there for some time and he needs visitors. He will have them, even if his list of people who properly care about him is rather short. Likely one name, the little prince. He’d taken the boy’s phone a number of times while in Gralea, input the password he’d told Ignis to use, and flicked through his texts while he’d sat there, eyes averted and hands squeezed into little fists in his lap. Remarkably little from people back in Insomnia. He really was fairly alone.“Ignis,” he says softly, just once, and waits. He’ll wake up; mates can sense one another, smell one another, even when deeply unconscious, and it doesn’t take long for Ardyn to see him stirring, a whining sound coming from him before he awakens.It takes a moment for his eyes to focus, and when they do, Ardyn can see the creeping recognition flood his brain.“I heard about the baby.”Nothing. Ardyn sighs and leans forward, gently pulling the oxygen mask away from his face. He will manage for a few minutes without it.“From the news initially. Breaking news, the bastard son of the king rushed to the hospital. Journalists always have an eye out for the Kingsglaive fool’s car, apparently. I called the hospital and a receptionist confirmed you were there. He believes mates ought to know these things, unlike your doctors.”“Sorry,” he says weakly.The apology is satisfying, but even Ardyn realizes it’s absurd. The boy was in no condition to make a phone call, and he hadn’t been for the last two days. He can’t be angry with him over that. But over other things…The boy continues. “I…” he stops, takes a slow breath. Maybe he needs the mask, after all. “I haven’t seen him yet.”This surprises him.“I slipped in to see him. He’s very weak.”It’s a couple of seconds before he finds air again. “Fuck you. I should see him first.”He’s bolder than Ardyn expects. Probably because he thinks he’s safe here. He doesn’t know I can stop time, that I can take him wherever and whenever I want and nobody else will know. He’s still kept this from Ignis, saving it for a time when the boy is truly out of control. There’s no need now. Despite an insipid journal article and a handful of angry doctors, nobody has actively tried to prevent him from seeing his mate. He can still do whatever he wishes with the boy. He pulls the oxygen mask further away from him, places it out of reach, and strokes the mark on his neck. “How quickly you forget who owns you.”“I’m.” And nothing. He realizes how much he’d overstepped, and he immediately averts his eyes, a little whimper escaping him.Ardyn says nothing, lets a few minutes go by as he strokes his hair. He can hear him struggling to breathe and it reminds him of the baby, which must also be on Ignis’ mind.“Is he okay?” Ignis finally whispers.“He’s alive.” He doesn’t know if what he saw was “okay” by Ignis’ definition. Unlikely.Ignis makes a hollow sighing sound, and Ardyn withdraws his hand. He isn’t sure what else to say to him. There was a lot he had planned on saying, is a lot on his mind, but he doesn’t want to any longer. He feels something that might be guilt, remorse, even more so than he’d felt the first time he saw Ignis in the hospital. And it makes him angry. It would be better, perhaps, if he’d died. And he still can. He’d rarely thought of killing him. It would be so easy now. Crush his throat, unplug the machines, give him an overdose. And Ignis must know this, just as he must know that Ardyn can easily take him back to Gralea and keep him there.No, he has nothing more to say or do here. He nods once, snaps the mask back around the boy’s face, and leaves. He ignores the soft rasp of a voice coming from the bed; what he has to say doesn’t matter.-Drautos had been there all along, hovering out in the hallway with his arms crossed and circles under his eyes. The other Alpha looks halfway to being a slob, wearing a hoodie and jeans, an outfit that makes him look almost vulnerable. Since the emergence of Glauca, Ardyn rarely sees the real man anymore unless they’re about to fuck.“You’re taking the husband act a little too far, aren’t you?” Ardyn purrs, unable to resist.He doesn’t answer. That’s the most aggravating this about this man; he is difficult to get a rise out of. He doesn’t like arguing, which is both annoying and thrilling. Because he’s actually a challenge, unlike most people Ardyn meets.“You feel guilty, don’t you? That’s why you cling to him now.”Still no frustration in his voice as he scowls, “Trying to assuage your own guilt by foisting it upon me?”He smirks lazily. “You know me well enough by now, General. I don’t feel guilt.” Perhaps not entirely true, but he doesn’t need to know that.He flinches at that, darts his eyes to the side as if worried someone else heard. Idiotic. Even if someone did hear it, they’d never make the connection. They’d just assume I don’t even know his proper position. Ardyn wants to lean in, touch the other Alpha’s face; an unexpected need coils around his spine, but he suppresses it. He can still feel faint arousal for Glauca, even for Drautos, but he can’t take it further than that. Ignis has compromised him.“I wonder what the king would think. If you knew he was pregnant months before anyone else,” he half whispers, just loudly enough to make Drautos nervous that someone will overhear.“You wouldn’t risk jeopardizing everything.”“Perhaps not,” he sighs, flicking a hand up, as if to touch his chest. “But I could tell Ignis.”This brings a delightful reaction, as Drautos suddenly lunges, grabbing the collar of Ardyn’s coat. He can smell his anger, rare for the other Alpha, as he had accepted the most outrageous, disturbing assignments without batting an eye. He hadn’t even reacted to the command to kill the Oracle.He can’t help but laugh at the sheer idiocy of the man. “What difference would it make? You know he can keep a secret; he wouldn’t tell the king if I told him not to.” The difference is that you don’t want Ignis mad at you. But he wants him to say that, to admit it. Ardyn can’t fully understand the other man’s logic, but it seems as if he’s trying to adopt another omega. Like it would somehow make up for failing to protect his brother so many years ago. Someday he’ll have to get him intoxicated and see what he can get out of him; he knows well that he is the only person Titus Drautos will drink with, as he is the only person who knows all of his secrets. We need to catch up soon.He doesn’t admit anything, of course. Drautos doesn’t usually do what he wants, though Glauca often does. “Ignis doesn’t need more shit from you. Let him recover in peace.”“Careful,” and he does touch him now, a slap on his shoulder. “Fucking an omega isn’t like being with an Alpha. You can’t be as rough as I know you like to be..”He can’t see them together, can’t see this man being that improper or acting like a real Alpha, but he can’t help it. He loves seeing him furious.

Part 6, Chapter 2 – Gladio
 It’s weird to talk to him at first, to see him in the hospital again. Gladio hadn’t seen him at his worst last time though; he hadn’t seen him hooked up to machines, gaunt and exhausted. Right now, Ignis is still in the ICU, though the King had told Gladio that he’ll hopefully be moving to a more comfortable ward soon. And the baby’s gone. There’s no bump anymore.Gladio hasn’t seen the baby. Nobody can. Only the doctors right now, and Ignis, though Ignis is too sick and weak to get up even though it’s been four days now. There’s a list, or there should be a list. People Ignis allows to go see the baby, but he hasn’t made it yet. Gladio hope he’ll be on, as does Iris; she is weirdly excited about being able to see a baby and their mother was unable to explain that the baby’s sick, that you can’t pick him up and poke him and burp him or anything. At least, she couldn’t explain it so that Iris cared.The story is parents told him is that Ignis had died for a moment, and he’ll be in the hospital for a while longer.And because of that, he needs entertainment.The other boy is still unable to do much of anything, but he’s awake and has been responsive, smiling weakly at Gladio. Glad you came, was what he had whispered hoarsely when Gladio had first shown up. It hurt, somehow. There’s no point in asking how he’s feeling, so he jums right into it.“You know how your character name in _____ got leaked online, somehow?” He asks, citing a complex MMORPG that Ignis has been obsessed with for years.Ignis’s eyes widen for a moment, surprised, before he nods once. “I couldn’t get into my account anymore.”Ah, so he’d tried. Which means that that will make this gift even better.“Well we remade. I knew what your main class was, and what level you were on in all your secondaries. Noct helped a bit when it came to tracking down a lot of the items you had.”His eyes are very wide now as he struggles to sit up before giving up, sinking back down into the bed. It’s the kind of thing he’d normally be embarrassed about, but not now. “I had event-limited items from years ago. No way could you have gotten enough in-game money to buy those off people.”Gladio shrugs. In-game money, that was key. Plenty of players were all too happy to part with high-level, rare items if the price was right. They’d kept the technically-illegal activity off of Ignis’ new accounts, did it with dupe accounts and transferred the items afterwards. He doesn’t dare bring it up, because he knows how Ignis feels about any kind of cheating in a game.  “Prompto and I spent ages getting this character leveled up to where you were. One of us would take over for the other when we slept.”“And school?”He shrugs again. Ignis can be such a stuckup prick sometimes; it almost makes him laugh. “You know Prompto skips a lot. I could skip now and then. It was only like a few days.”“Mm, that’s why the playtime says 8 days.” He sounds condescending, scolding, but Gladio can tell that he’s happy. “There’s no way you could have gotten to my level in that amount of time.”“Better not ask any more questions,” he grins. You can buy quite a bit online.A flicker of a smile. “When I upgrade to the new room, I’ll have a TV. I’ll…get the console brought in. Can play again.” The statement takes a lot out of him because after that he falls silent.Gladio fidgets, unsure if he should leave or if he should try to start another conversation. Ignis’ eyes are closed, but he knows he’s awake. He’d been warned; his parents had told him that the younger boy wouldn’t be very alert. But the nurse in the room isn’t asking him to leave, and so he waits. He pulls out his phone and absently flicks through his social media accounts. He’d had to block every keyword pertaining to Ignis, which covered a lot of ground given what nicknames the tabloids had given him over time, but it still leaks in. He stops looking, turns instead to a game, something safer.And he’s been playing for perhaps five minutes when the door to the room opens.“I brought you some stuff.” A rough voice, decidedly not the nurse.He flinches as he looks up, though then he’s embarrassed when he looks quickly at Ignis. I should be the strong one, not the guy who’s jumping at everything. But being in the hospital makes him uneasy. His whole life has been uncharted territory recently.“Mm,” Ignis finally sighs and stirs, trying to sit up a little straighter before even opening his eyes.“Couple more fun books, the schoolbooks you asked for, and some clothes. Pajamas and stuff.” The Captain’s voice is gruff, tired. Like he hasn’t slept in a while. Gladio glances over at him; he looks like shit, unexpectedly, in civilian clothing and looking exhausted. It’s weird to see him without his uniform; Gladio had sometimes wondered if he even had normal clothing. He nods once as Captain Drautos steps towards the bed and holds the bag out, within easy reach of Ignis so that he won’t have to move much.“Did you see my closet?” Ignis jerks his hand back, eyes suddenly wide; he looks alarmed.“Yea,” Captain Drautos grunts.The nurse is looking at them now, and Gladio sees the Captain’s eyes dart sideways for half a moment before he smiles.“Don’t think anyone expects you to do your laundry right now. I’ll run a load tomorrow.”Ignis exhales. The relief on his face is weird, too much for laundry, though it is Ignis. He’s probably deeply ashamed of the dirty laundry hamper hiding in his closet.But then Ignis acts even odder. He leans forward, reaches past the bag and grabs the man’s hand. He looks up at him with something on his face Gladio can’t determine. The Captain doesn’t move immediately, and when he does, he pulls his hand back and ruffles Ignis’ hair. “Don’t worry about it.”Gladio sees little things like that now.They all notice this stuff now. After Ignis went into the hospital the first time and made the news, there were millions of “workshops” and talks at schools all over Insomnia about how to spot danger. What to watch out for in adults. Internet chat room safety. What to look for in your friends. How to pay attention. Blah blah blah. Gladio doubts it will help anyone else. Even if other kids notice a problem, adults won’t necessarily care.He feels guilty enough for not noticing himself, so he sees this now. It’s not the Captain acting weird; it’s Ignis, looking so grateful for laundry.They’re keeping secrets.The Captain would be good at keeping secrets, which is why his behavior here isn’t weird. He rarely spoke. It’s hard to know why. Gladio had heard rumors that the man didn’t know the continental Lucian language until he’d arrived in Insomnia at the age of fifteen or sixteen. While he was clearly fluent, he didn’t seem to like talking very much. Maybe he never got used to it or he didn’t like the way it sounded. But whatever. He’s just quiet, which Ignis probably appreciates. He’s also very predictable, very proper, very obedient, even a little boring. There were never any rumors about him. He never showed significant emotions. He stood apart from his soldiers and didn’t seem to have close friends. He did everything the King asked without questioning, as far as Gladio knew.And unfortunately, Ignis is very good at keeping secrets, too.-Visiting hour in the ICU is actually two hours, though people are only allowed in for an hour of it. Thirty minutes in, thirty to sixty out, and if the patient is up for another visit, they get another thirty in that range. A stupid system. Then again, Gladio has never known anyone in the ICU before; he remembers Iris being born, remembers his mother being in the maternity ward, but nothing bad had happened. Nobody got hurt.He’s in the waiting room, now reading the junky novel he’d brought with him and hoping nobody will ask him what it is. There’s nothing wrong with boys his age reading smutty romance novels, but he doesn’t want anyone asking, especially not the redhead nurse who is a little cute. And he’s at a good part when he suddenly hears screaming.
“Let me see him.”
Gladio can’t quite hear what the nurse is saying, as she speaks softly, but he can look through the window in the door and see her patting the bed; it must have been a negative answer because Ignis starts howling.“I need him. I.” His voice cuts off as he abruptly rips the needles out of his arms, pulls the sensors off of his fingers. And he very pointedly knocks the IV stand over, lunges off the side of the bed.
A swipe across the table beside his bed, knocking everything off of it as he screams now, an unintelligible howling.Off the bed, jumping for the door before the doctor can grab him and press him down into the bed again. She’s stocky, heavyset and surehanded, and Ignis is still weak and exhausted. Even as she grabs his upper arm, he stumbles, half falls before she catches him. As she turns, Gladio catches a glimpse of her face.Calm, almost bored, like she always has to deal with the nutjobs just because she’s big. He can almost sympathize with her.“He’s something else,” the red-haired nurse beside him sighs. She’s not getting involved, probably figures one fat nurse is enough for a kid.He can’t help but grin. “That’s Ignis.”“He’s done this before?” she turns to him, exasperated.“Not often, but yea. I’ve seen it this bad twice. I think it’s ‘cause he’s so well-behaved normally. Sometimes he just loses his shit.”Captain Drautos starts at this and unexpectedly speaks. “Before this year?”“Yep. Once was just because someone who borrowed his textbook wrote in it a while ago.” It occurs to him then that Ignis has flipped out at the Captain before, and while he’s curious, something in him holds back from asking.The older man nods once, clearly surprised.“He’s fine afterwards though,” he goes on, unsure of the silence. “Always feels better when he calms down.”“Nothing about Ignis is fine.”This annoys Gladio a little, but he doesn’t push it. The man seems to think he knows so much about Ignis after living with him for a few weeks.The truth is, Ignis has exploded a lot recently, and that is new.Ignis had been rough at school, those couple of weeks he was there before he left for Gralea. Hostile. He’d snap at anyone who tried to talk to them, more than once telling Gladio that they all just wanted to be nice to him now so they could know someone famous, so they could leech off of him, so they could run off and brag about how they got him to say something. He would unexpectedly mock others, mimicking what they said in a high voice whenever they talked about their own problems, always pathetic compared to him.He’d turned into a jerk, nothing more, nothing less. Most kids were surprisingly well-behaved, trying to treat him well, but Ignis reacted to everyone the same way. They’re nice because of my father. If I were any other omega, they’d do nothing but harass me.One day there had been a note in his locker. Gladio had seen it before him when the younger boy opened the door to rummage through his textbooks, and he’d snatched it up.Turned out to be a letter from a girl in his own class, admitting that she, too, had been assaulted by an older man and if Ignis ever wanted to talk, she would listen, even if she was a beta. Gladio had kept it, unsure of how Ignis would handle it. Maybe he shouldn’t have, but it’s impossible to know what’s right anymore. After all, she was an ex-girlfriend of his.And then, suddenly, something hits him, something he immediately wishes he hadn’t thought of. “He didn’t mention the baby to me. At all.”“I know.”So he might not be screaming about the baby now. He might be crying for his mate. He opens his mouth, about to ask, when the door to the room opens and the fat nurse leans out.“I think he’s done with visitors for today.”

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Part 6, Chapter 3 – Regis  The fear on Ignis’ face stops him for a moment, leaves him paralyzed in the doorway for half a second before he braces himself, steps forward and smiles. “You’re awake.”Ignis reaches for him with one hand, then stops, pulls his hand close again, as if unsure if he’s deserving. And then he’s apologizing, again and again, sobbing, so scared over nothing. I ruined everything, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.Regis settles into the chair beside his bed and touches his arm gently, silently relieved that he’s warm, safe, even if still hooked up to machines and exhausted. He looks better than he had when Regis had first come immediately after the birth, when his heart had only been jump-started only a few moments beforehand. The King had visited every day since until now; the boy is finally conscious. And alive. “There is nothing to apologize for.”“But I let it happen. And now…” he’s murmuring, barely audible, and all the King can do is gently tell him no, no, you did nothing wrong, please remember that, you’re very brave. The doctors and therapists had warned him. He blames himself. Nothing you say or do can resolve that. He must find his own answers. Noctis had blamed himself as well. First for his mother dying of illness when he was only two years old, as if he could possibly have changed the course of her fate, and again when he was attacked by the Marilith. The King is unsure if his son is truly over feeling that blame for either incident, if he ever will be, and so he can’t expect Ignis to change overnight.Should he mention the baby? He isn’t sure if it’s wise, as the boy himself hasn’t. but how long can they avoid it? “Someone else can care for him, if you wish. You don’t have to take that upon yourself alone.”It’s genuine, but it sounds hollow in in his mind, heavy on his tongue. I am not saying this because I wish to whisk him away and sacrifice him, as much as it might sound. I am saying this because it is too great a burden for a child to bear alone, and he has had to bear enough alone. Ignis flicks his gaze sideways, then lowers his eyes.Silence.So he will not speak of it. Perhaps he is more like his mother than I’d realized. She had been strange about him at first; her culture was more conservative, traditional. Children out of wedlock was shameful. I’d marry you if I could. He’d said it over and over, and it was true, perhaps even is still true, which is why he had distanced himself from the boy. It is too painful, seeing him. He looks so much like her, sharp-faced with clever eyes and soft, blonde hair. Ignis re-entering his life was only half an accident.He should make him his son, formally, officially, when all of this is over, when he has recovered enough to stand on his own.“You decide what you want when you are ready. Everyone will be here to support you.”Ignis doesn’t say anything, but after a long moment he nods once. And then, “I’m sorry.” As if defiant, trying to get the last word in.There’s no point in telling him there’s no need again. “And I’m sorry. I should never have neglected you the way I have. I.” I owe it to your mother to make you legitimate, after what I did, after I… But there’s nothing else to say right now, so he reaches out and holds the boy’s hand.
-
It’s only when he is sure that Ignis will live without complications, will recover, that he breaches the subject with his closest circle. An inevitable discussion.“I will need to make a statement about the line of succession.”Clarus’ eyes widen, then narrow. “Surely you will not acknowledge this?”“I must. The Council is scheduling a press conference right now.” The Council. He’d seen them first, told them little other than the fact that Ignis will live, that the baby is still not out of the danger zone but is surviving, and that he will tell the press that he will acknowledge Ignis formally as his son, the baby as his grandson. But nothing about heirs.“But is this infant in line? Ignis’ mother isn’t even Lucian.”He’s silent for a moment, too long a moment. Clarus alone knows the secret of Ignis’ mother, of who she is, how they met, and how he came to have Ignis here in Insomnia. “Perhaps having a successor in place of Noctis wouldn’t be so bad,” he finally sighs. “He’s hardly healthy.” A ridiculous statement, given how unlikely it is that the baby will even survive, and if he does, he will surely have a myriad of health problems.But Clarus can see through him, as he always can. He’d told him little of the Prophecy that he can put the pieces together. “Noctis can’t be replaced. I doubt the Astrals can be fooled so easily.”“I feel the same, but the option…” he trails off. The truth is that he isn’t sure he could even attempt it. Ignis has yet to show him any interest in the little thing, but it’s doubtful he would be willing to sacrifice him. But…it’s still so small, struggling to live. Maybe I could tell him the baby died.His Shield thinks of it at the same moment. “Tell him he died. Ignis doesn’t ever have to know. He might even be relieved.”“And the infant’s father?”“He doesn’t seem particularly interested.”This is true. There’s been radio silence from the Empire ever since the child was born. No one has seen or heard a thing from him, while the tabloids and social media go wild with increasingly disturbing theories as to why. Regis hasn’t tried to contact him, either, but he can’t well ignore him indefinitely. He also can’t well assume that this silence means a lack of interest; for all he knows, the man is readying for war, but with so little information to work with he can only brace for it and continue with his own immediate family crisis. “It’s unwise to jump to conclusions with him.”The Shield sighs, rubs his chin. “Pity he didn’t ask to adopt the child, take it away to Gralea and let us all forget about it. It must be what all of us wish for here.”“He doesn’t exactly seem the type to want to raise a child.” He knows Clarus has personal interest, would like to see his own son wed to an omega with royal blood, not that Gladio knows. The baggage with the Chancellor, the unwanted child, that makes it all difficult. Captain Drautos is a stand-in, easily divorced. He never wanted this anyway, and would surely be grateful for the option to go back to his normal life in a couple of years, no? Though he’s not so sure now. The Captain is too interested in the baby, hovering around the NICU, unable to see the infant yet but relentlessly asking the nurses when he can. Perhaps because of his own brother.-
He wasn’t much younger than the Prince, fifteen to his twenty-five. Far too old for a man not even thirty to adopt, but it was the best solution at the time. His father did not allow refugees into the city at the time, leaving the desperate to enter a lottery outside the wall and pray in temporary camps. It was no way to live.

Titus Drautos, not yet so named, was the sole survivor of an attack on a small fishing village on the outskirts of. The victims of a test run as Gralea prepared to attack the capital. There had been another survivor, his omega brother, but he had died within an hour of rescue in Titus’ arms. Older than him at nineteen, but looking far younger, smaller than his brother. He’d been pregnant, Titus had told him later, due in seven months, only three months after his planned marriage. His fiancé, an Alpha in the next town, was already dead.

As would be one in every three Galahdians by the end of the war.

Both of Titus’ parents had been killed in the bombing, himself only surviving because he had been out at the time. Regis would not easily forget the sight of the shelled-out city.

As Prince, he couldn’t save Galahd, but he could save this one boy. And he’d sworn to him, with the smoke still curling over the remains of his house, that he’d one day free his people from the monster that was the Empire. A promise he has yet to keep.

Because Galahd is not only a prime location rich with natural resources, but it is believed, rumors, that it has a Crystal of its own, deep beneath the earth. Or perhaps shattered, remnants of it ground into sand. Nobody knows, but it is spoken of in the indigenous religion, and the citizens are receptive to magic. The region is far too valuable to Insomnia for the Empire to give it up so easily. One of the first things Regis did upon becoming king was restructure the immigration system, allow significantly more refugees in. There had been protests, riots from the citizens, angry over the sudden influx, concerned over their jobs and their resources. The best way to remedy the situation was propose a new military, a Kingsglaive, the ranks filled with Galahdians who were capable of wielding the King’s magic. Most were willing to enter the service, grateful for the chance to repay him, and Regis allowed up to eight refugees for every one person who joined, eight being a number of significance in their culture. That, too, had sparked outrage, but if his people raged, so be it.
Titus had been unhappy with the idea. It’s our land we want, our hearth and home, not a new place where we will never feel that we belong. But there was nothing to be done for it, and so Titus Drautos had become Captain, leaving the Crownsguard he’d joined at sixteen to become the most formidable warrior the city had ever seen since its founding.-“No,” Regis says suddenly. Because that man lost his brother, what could have been his niece or nephew. “I don’t think that’s what everyone wants.”“Not Ignis,” Clarus quips, and the King wonders for a moment if he had spoken while he was reflecting on his past.“Not Ignis. But Titus might be a problem, after all.” 
Part 6, Chapter 3 – Ignis
He had supposedly died. He doesn’t remember this, because he remembers nothing. About the birth and the several days immediately after. In fact, the last nearly eight months of his life exist in a fog, somehow at once only a dream and the only part of his life that was ever real. It makes him feel as if he never quite existed, or perhaps two of him had. Maybe only one woke up again.  They’d had to jumpstart his heart with drugs and compressions. He’d be interested under any other circumstance, but now he doesn’t even want to know. He wishes he hadn’t known, because now he can only think about which one of him survived.That aside, being out of the ICU is nice. He has a large bedroom now, a bathroom with plenty of handrails so that he can take care of himself, alarm buzzers dotting the walls, even in the bath itself. He’s not supposed to take a bath yet, and he’s still supposed to have a nurse help him cover the stitches before he takes a shower, but he can go in there himself now. He has a little fridge, a microwave, a water kettle, a few potted plants, and a very comfortable nesting bed.He’s in the maternity ward now, which he doesn’t like to think about, but he can acknowledge that the beds here are perfect, and there is no shortage of blankets. There’s even a fold-out couch against the wall that Noctis can sleep on when he visits. Ignis still has his IVs though, and getting out of bed is too uncomfortable to attempt more than necessary. Not quite a hotel, which is actually a comfort; he has no interest in ever going to a hotel again.He still has a bump, more of a saggy bump covered in stitches, a vertical cut down his belly. He’ll have a scar, but his stomach will go back to normal in a couple of months, his skin firming up. What gets him, though, is how much it unexpectedly hurts. Everything’s over. It shouldn’t hurt anymore, but he can’t stop pushing the button for more morphine, inwardly furious whenever he reaches his limit. They had to cut the muscles in his abdominal wall, but that shouldn’t hurt more than what he’s been through. It’s almost as if everything else he suffered was insignificant, outdone by a simple surgery that thousands of people undergo in this city every year.The thought makes him so angry, and it makes him want to cry at the same time. His mood has been all over the place this last week, unstable, erratic. Just your hormones evening themselves out, love. You’ll be back to normal in no time. The nice nurse had said that, but she’d been lying, and he’s had enough of that. There’s no normal for him, not ever again.-He throws the sweater onto the floor.“I don’t want this. Any of this.” Another sweater, a pair of pants, a soft button-down shirt that he used to love. Nearly everything that Captain Drautos had brought. Ignis had even thrown one of his schoolbooks out earlier, torn it into pieces and tossed everything into the bathtub without really thinking about why. The assistant nurse who’d cleaned it up hadn’t said a word about it, only rolled her eyes.“What’s wrong with it?” Drautos picks up the button-down.He’s such an idiot. And for half a moment, Ignis vehemently hates him. He doesn’t want to have to spell this out for anyone, much less an Alpha. “It’s. I was wearing it.” When he did it to me. I can’t wear any of my clothing ever again. I need it all gone.He sighs. “Okay. It’s probably all kind of stretched out anyway.”Ignis startles at this, and for a moment he thinks that Titus is still just being stupid. But then they remembered that he’d already covered for Ignis once regarding the closet. Quick to pick up on things and roll with them. His rage suddenly dissipates and he’s relieved, knowing Drautos won’t ask anything now, and nor will anyone else because he has an excuse now. “Yea, this will go down quickly, they said, and then I can buy new clothes that fit.” He hovers his hand just over his belly but doesn’t touch the blankets.The Captain notices. “Still hurts a lot, hm?”Ignis nods once, guilty now that he’d been angry a moment ago. This man has done a lot for him recently, and he’s been lying for him.He’d been sleeping in the closet since he’d gotten back from Gralea. Sometimes in the bed, but usually he’d end up in the closet, so he’d ultimately filled it with blankets, pillows, another nest that was only his. He’d locked it, too, nailed locks to the inside so he could feel safer there. A lot of them. Five or six, perhaps. He never counted.And Drautos hadn’t said a word of it, even though it must have insulted him when he found out the other day when collecting his clothing. Because it looked like Ignis didn’t trust him, and it wasn’t exactly that. He did trust him, sort of, but he was an Alpha, so he could never be trusted with any certainty.He abruptly changes the subject then, suddenly not wanting him there anymore. I’m just going to go off again, snap at him or hate him over something ridiculous. “Can you go get the nice nurse? The one with the accent?” He almost says the fat one, a thought that would never normally cross his mind, but catches himself. He’s never gotten angry with her, unless he counted his breakdown a few days ago, which he doesn’t even remember.“It’d be easier if you just pressed your call button and asked for her.”“Yea but this might be faster.”He sighs, crouches down a moment to sweep all the clothing Ignis had just thrown into his arms, and steps back. “The accent she has is the same one I used to have.”Don’t pretend that matters, not when you spend so much of your life pretending you’re Insomnian. He doesn’t catch himself before speaking this time. “Accents only go away when you want them to.”Something flickers in his eyes, a hardness set in his mouth that Ignis had never seen directed at him. Something he’s sensitive about, he thinks as he watches Titus leave. Here’s one Alpha I might know how to control now. But the thought that was so satisfying half a second ago is now only depressing. Ignis settles back into the bed, sighing.-Noctis had been coming to see him every day, but because he still had school, he could never come before four in the afternoon. Ignis’ consciousness hours were usually long over by then, and so he’d only actually seen him twice so far, seen Gladio only once. So Ignis is excited that it’s Saturday and he’s awake, he’s aware, and he’s feeling well enough in his new, less intimidating hospital room, to actually properly have a guest. Noctis has had no one to help him with his homework in some time now, so he’s sure to be falling hopelessly behind. The younger boy had grumbled when Ignis had texted him about bringing his work, but that didn’t bother him; it was even satisfying. Some semblance of normality again.Ignis is thinking about this just as Noctis bursts into the room, swinging his both his schoolbag and a bakery bag, a cup of coffee from Ignis’ favorite café in his right hand. “Whoah. This room is huge, like an apartment.”Too much energy. Ignis bites his lip. Maybe he’s not ready for this, after all. “There’s even a place for you to sleep over if you want.”He glances over at the couch, looks back at Ignis. There’s something wrong with the way he smiles, and the realization hits Ignis like a wave. He’s scared of hospitals because of his own history, the injuries he’d endured so long ago that left him in a wheelchair. It’s been such a big deal for him to visit me all these times in the last six weeks or so; staying overnight is too much to bear. I’d forgotten. I’d completely forgotten, been too absorbed in my own needs. I can’t be his adviser. I can never go back to normal. I was right all along. I’m an idiot, I’m an idiot, I’m…But Noctis must have noticed his rising panic because he is suddenly patting his shoulder gently, holding the coffee up. “Chestnut toffee flavor. Your fall favorite, right?”“Mmm,” he recovers quickly, running his fingers through his hair, brushing it behind his ear. It’s getting long. He wants to cut it, has wanted to for some time, but the Chancellor liked it long. Liked to stroke it, curl his fingers in it and tug, gently at first, and then with more and more pressure until it hurts. He doesn’t dare cut it, and he’s long been quietly afraid that someone would suggest he cut it. “I haven’t had decent coffee in ages, thank you.”Noctis sighs loudly then, throws himself onto the bed and rustles through the bakery bag. “I got two donuts, two muffins, and one of those bear claw things. I didn’t know what you wanted.”He sips at the coffee. It’s too sweet, but it’s still somehow perfect. “What are the donuts?”“Maple frosting or chocolate cake. Muffins are chocolate chip pumpkin and cranberry orange. Then cinnamon bear claw.”“Good variety,” he nods. “Let’s eat as much as we can.”The look on the younger boy’s face is sheer incredulousness before he breaks into a slow, immense smile. At least this can be one good thing coming out of the demise of normal.-He knows what she’s here for, and he considers ignoring her, but the doctor sits down beside his bed and expectantly raises the clipboard.“Ignis, it’s been nine days now,” she says softly. “His health has stabilized; he can receive visitors now.”He shakes his head once.“Would you like to fill out the visitor list? Other people can see him. If you put their names down.”He accepts the pen and clipboard but doesn’t immediately write anything. He’s waiting, waiting for her to reprimand him, ask why he hasn’t seen the baby yet. He’d researched it online. Usually doctors and nurses get pushy when a parent won’t see the child, but they haven’t done it with him, which makes him think that something is really wrong. “Can they touch him?”“Case by case,” she smiles. “He still has a long way to go but he isn’t so fragile anymore.”Noctis. Titus. Regis. He can’t think of anyone else. Maybe Gladio, but the older boy wouldn’t want to see him without him. It crosses his mind for half a moment to include Prompto’s name, just to make the doctor happy that he remembers her son, but it’d be a meaningless gesture and he doesn’t feel like being nice. He jots their names down, then drops the pen. “The…. Chancellor can see him whatever I say, right?”She sighs. “Unfortunately, yes. Now these three. Are they able to visit without you? Or would you like them to wait?”There is it, the question he’s been waiting for, buried within another. “Is the Captain still always waiting outside the NICU?”“Yes, he’s been worried.”“I’ll go see him when Drautos does.” He doesn’t want to go alone. He’d rather go with Noctis, Noctis who is warm and safe and decidedly harmless, but he doesn’t dare. He doesn’t want the other boy to see his inevitable reaction. He doesn’t want to see the baby at all, keeps numbly wishing that if he never sees him, he won’t actually exist, but he can’t avoid it any longer.“I think he’s there right now,” the doctor smiles then, clearly relieved.“Of course he would be,” he mutters, absently reaching up to pop the IV out of the catheter hub. He’s done it often enough himself by now, even if he really shouldn’t be.And then he pauses, stares hard at the doctor. “I have to get dressed.”She arches an eyebrow at this, clearly thinking that she’d seen him naked a hundred times by now, but she stands up and leaves the room.Ignis debates walking out the door after her and never returning. Leave the hospital, get in a taxi, get to the train station, leave Insomnia, disappear. If only the entire world didn’t know his name and his face.-He’s tiny. Not yet two pounds. Ignis can barely even see him among the blankets and equipment. His head is squished, wrapped with tubes stuffed up his nose and mouth and covered with a hat far too big for him. The skin Ignis can see is red, inhuman. One little hand is peeking out from the blanket, a tube bandaged to it with a softly emitting light, some sort of monitor. He might be out of the initial danger zone, but babies this premature and sickly can be touch and go for months. Ignis knows this; he’d been warned, read about it, researched it.Titus leans down, crouches with his hands on his thighs as he looks into the glass incubator. “He’s cute, hm?”Cute is not what Ignis thinks, and he blurts out what’s on his mind. “It’d be better if he’d died. Or aborted.”Titus startles at this, the slightest twitch of his left hand on his thigh, a movement Ignis fixates on for some inexplicable reason. “What do you mean? He isn’t in any significant pain. Plenty of babies are born premature.”“That’s not it.”“What is it then?”He doesn’t like the way the Alpha is looking at him, the intensity in his eyes, so he looks away, stares at the little creature stuck full of wires and tubes. “You don’t know?”“Know what?” But there’s something in the way he says it that suggests he is well aware where this is going.His fingers burn when he opens his mouth, licks his lips once. He doesn’t want to say it. Saying it will make it real, even though he knows, he knows. “He’s an omega.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 6, Chapter 4 – Drautos
“He’s an omega.” There is something so final, so hopeless about the way he says it.So what? But that would only make the boy explode. “How do you know?” It isn’t surprising. Alpha-omega couplings often bring about omega or Alpha babies.“He released pheromones when he was...” he hesitates. “In distress. Before the c-section.”Ah. It isn’t unheard of, for omega or Alpha babies to give off a particular scent when they are being born, but it’s so subtle that usually only an omega mother can catch it. He only nods, wondering if this was before or after he’d been screaming in fear over someone taking the baby from him.“They knew. They just didn’t tell me. When they tested his amniotic fluids a while ago, it must have come up. But they don’t like testing for it or telling carriers.”“Because omegas are usually aborted.”“So? That would have been my choice. They took it from me.” He’s pointedly ignoring the NICU nurse in there with them.He nearly points out that Ignis was too far along to have a legal abortion by the time he went to the hospital, but the boy must know this. He only sighs, suppressing the flicker of rage he feels at the thought of Ignis wishing to have killed this little thing merely for being an omega. He doesn’t like the idea of abortion at all. Galahd is a matriarchical society, and despite abortion being seen as a womans’ and omegas’ right in Insomnia, it isn’t viewed as such in Galahd. A tragedy, a rare occurrence only done out of extreme medical necessity. But that’s because women and omegas are cared for in Galahd, and so the reasons that lead to abortion here in Insomnia are by and large a non-issue where he is from. Ignis doesn’t get to live in that world, and so Titus will say nothing about what he thinks of it. Except.“Why is it so horrible that he’s here now?”Ignis is silent a long moment, and Titus can see him gnawing on his lower lip again. And then he takes a deep breath. “He’s just going to have a bad life. I can’t protect him.”He understands then. Not hatred. Fear out of love. “I will protect him.”“You couldn’t even protect me,” Ignis snaps, flicking his gaze towards him and narrowing his eyes. “If anyone says the baby must go to Gralea, you’ll just hang your head like a kicked dog and agree.”Something inside of him flinches. He’s learned long ago to express nothing in these moments, but it still hurts inside, when someone acknowledges his helplessness. “It will be different now.” He knows it’s true as he says it.“Why? Because you think Ardyn doesn’t want him? Easy to protect something no one wants, you think that, huh?”He’s seen the way Ignis acts around Alphas he fears; his hostility here is indicative of some level of trust, but still it irritates him. “It isn’t that no one wants him. I will care for him.”“So you only bother to actually protect things you care about. Good to know.” He’s nearly spitting the words now, and for a moment Titus wonders if another tantrum is imminent.The nurse, a young woman around Aranea’s age with braids in her thick hair, finally steps in and places a hand on the baby’s incubator. “You oughtn’t raise your voices around him. He can’t understand the words, but he can sense the emotions. Little ones notice a lot.”Ignis’ eyes flash, and Titus can see that he’s about to blow. He raises a hand just behind the boy’s back, as if to steady him, though he doesn’t touch him. But something goes out of Ignis and his shoulders relax. He turns to leave, perhaps a little too sharply.Drautos sees it then. The front of his shirt is damp. Seeing the baby stirred him, caused him to naturally produce milk.The nurse notices it at the same moment. “We better get you pumped, hon.” He’d been pumping ever since giving birth, a process that he clearly despises.Ignis curses. “He’s not going to drink it anyway.”She sighs, and Titus wonders how often she’s heard this when she asks, “Do you want to stop? You can let it dry up, and he can have formula if you’d prefer it.”“I…” A waver. He glances back at the baby for a moment too long.“It’s entirely up to you. He’ll be happy either way.”He might be, but there will be whispers. Not all omega males can lactate, and when one does, they are expected to nurse. Drautos remembers his brother talking about this very thing so many years ago.Perhaps Ignis knows that as well, or perhaps there’s another reason for his response, but he’s nearly spitting as he replies, “No, it’s fine. Let’s get it over with.” Then a glance at Titus. “You can leave now.”-Ardyn doesn’t respond to his calls or his texts.He doesn’t respond to anything sent to him by the hospital either, because as much as everyone at the institute seems to want to keep him away, he is the father. He needs to be kept up to date. But he never has anything to say. As far as Titus is aware, Ardyn hasn’t spoken to Ignis either; at least, Ignis says he hasn’t. Questionable, though he knows better than to push the boy.It pains him to think of it, but Ardyn is probably the closest person to him, the only semblance of a friend that he has. Noone in Insomnia, not even some of the Glaives he likes best, know much of anything about his past, and of course they would never know about his double-life in Gralea. Meanwhile in Niflheim, only four people know of his dual identity. The Chief of Research, who was possibly the most deranged individual Titus had ever met. The Emperor, who has never had the slightest interest in spending any time with anyone in the military. His son, who is hardly a friend. And Ardyn.It’s the King’s fault that he knows Ardyn at all. The Chancellor had visited the city nineteen years ago, when Drautos was nearly eighteen. King Regis had suggested that he attend some of the Council meetings to get an idea of how things work in the Citadel, and so Titus had found himself face to face with the Chancellor of Niflheim. They somehow managed to strike up a conversation about history, and so eventually Regis passed the tedious duties of entertaining Niflheim visitors to his adopted son. Titus acted far older than his years, and he seemed to take no issue in being a tour guide and a polite conversationalist. Nobody enjoyed being around Ardyn, and so it was left to Drautos.Which is probably why he became a double-agent. The option would likely never have arisen otherwise. There, too, the King had been negligent of his ward. He never seemed to notice that Titus seemed to actually get along with the Chancellor.Their relationship had only been that for a couple of years, polite, cordial. Titus sure isn’t when or how it morphed into something else, but eventually he’d found himself fucking the Chancellor, something exhilarating about screwing another Alpha, the very Alpha who had likely ordered the military to bomb his hometown. The strangest thing, how I never blamed him for the murder of my family, but instead the King, who rescued me. Objectively, he realizes it’s nonsense. Both the King and the Chancellor had promised him the freedom of Galahd, but he trusts Ardyn more, if only because Niflheim currently owns Galahd, whereas Regis Insomnia would have to wage a war to win back a scrappy island region that the Empire was hellbent on protecting.Whatever semblance of a relationship – for Titus is unwilling to call it a friendship – evaporated once Ardyn laid eyes on Ignis and lost all reason. He’d always been a horrible person, but the brazen molestation and marking of an omega child was more jarring than the Chancellor calming giving the order to drop bombs on civilians or even killing them with his own hands.And now the bastard is avoiding him, leaving Titus with nobody he can talk to about the complications this child is raising in regards to his identity. As if he’s too busy sulking to care how easily everything can fall apart.-He’d gotten permission to take a video of the baby, saying it was for Ignis if he ever decided he wanted to watch it. He himself has watched it quite a few times at this point, at least a dozen, and now he has the chance to show Loqi.His adopted son is still in Gralea, and they’ve been apart for more than a month now, not that that’s unusual. He’s called him regularly, at least once or twice a week, but now he can share his phone screen and share the video with him. Loqi had been asking for quite some time how the baby was, what he looked like, what his name was, and so on and so forth.Titus can’t help but hold his breath as the boy leans close into the screen.“He’s very squishy,” Loqi wrinkles his nose.“He will be for a bit. I imagine you were once.” He’d adopted Loqi when he was a few months old already, round and cheerfully fat as most babies born at full term are at that age. Titus has no experience with newborns, not that he hasn’t read about it quite a bit recently. Because it’s becoming more and more clear that he might end up in charge.Titus realizes with a pang of sorrow that Loqi is more interested in the baby than Ignis is. Everyone is more interested than Ignis, who continues to act as if he doesn’t exist. Noctis has been to see him a couple of times now, as had Regis, unexpectedly. Ignis hadn’t gone back, hadn’t ever asked about him.“How big is he?”“A little over two pounds now, but he’s still tiny.”“Do they make clothes that big?”He almost laughs. “I don’t know. He just wears a diaper and a hat now because he always has blankets and is in an incubator.”“So nobody holds him?”“The doctors and nurses do. Ignis gave the King and I permission to hold him when he’s healthy enough.” Babies need affection, and as they already know he is an omega, everyone knows that it would be best for him to have even more than normal.“Huh. When can he leave that box?”“Not sure. It depends on when he starts feeling better.”“And then you take him home?” He sounds anxious, likely wondering what that means for him.Titus sighs, turning off the screen share and letting the boy see his face again. “I don’t know what will happen. I can’t exactly take care of a baby with my job.”My job. Loqi knows what this means, that he’s referring to both jobs. Telling the boy the truth some years ago might have been a risk, but Titus had decided it was the best option. Even if he started talking, nobody would believe him. It was such an absurd claim; Ardyn regularly posed as Glauca in Gralea when Captain Drautos was present in Insomnia, and the Chancellor had a wide array of connections, and distractions in place to ensure that nobody could ever consider the possibility. And Loqi wouldn’t talk anyway; he’s flakey, proud and more than a little vapid at times, but he’s also more clever than he lets on, and he can keep a secret.“Yea,” is all Loqi says, but he looks worried.Titus doesn’t know what to say.-He feels that Ignis should be the first one outside of the medical staff to hold him, but the boy still shows no interest, and so this task falls to Titus. Two weeks after the birth, he sits in the plush two-seater, trying not to feel much of anything. He doesn’t feel particularly nervous, excited, or anything in particular, but he’s uneasy. The baby is so tiny.“Now unfortunately because he’s still hooked up, you need a respiratory specialist and an assistant standing by. In the future you can get some alone time with him.”He only nods.“Ideally, babies can be held by one of their parents at least every day. Even beta babies have a strong sense of smell and are sensitive to pheromones, so he will recognize you.”I’m not his parent. But he doesn’t say anything. The medical staff is still leery of him, an Alpha male married to a child, but they seem to have grudgingly accepted that he is the only person who seems to care about the baby.“Just unbutton the top half of your shirt, should be fine that far. It’s good for newborns to be against skin.”He obeys, grateful he’d bothered to wear a civilized shirt today instead of the t0shirt and hoodie he’d been wearing around the hospital recently. He can see her eyebrows arch when she sees the tattoos. “Are you Galahdian?”He nods once, knowing where this is going and preferring to cut it off. He doesn’t like when Insomnians pretend to know things about his culture. “I didn’t do my face because of my position.”“Ah…” she shrugs, and she folds a blanket in his lap, places a specially-shaped pillow on top of it, clearly having done this a thousand times. And with the respiratory therapist holding all of his tubes and wires aloft, the nurse places the baby gently on his chest before taking Titus’ hands, arranging them to best hold him.Titus finds himself forgetting everything but the baby on him, holding his breath without really knowing why. He sees the hospital workers out of the corner of his eye as they rearrange his tubes. “Don’t rock him too much. We’ll be right here if he needs help.”The little thing squirms, making a little grunting sound, clearly confused about the sudden difference, pressed up against a hairy chest for the first time. It’s a tiny noise,He can feel the baby’s tiny heartbeat.He presses his face against him, inhales deeply. He smells like softness and vulnerability, and Titus almost unconsciously rubs his chin over the top of his head, scenting him. The hospital staff had clearly done some of their own therapeutic scenting, but he knows this is the first time an Alpha has ever scented him. He might cry.But he doesn’t. Instead he sighs softly and settles.Drautos realizes then that he’s not giving this little creature up. “How often can he be held?” 
Part 6, Chapter 4 – Luna
She’s not afraid of him, never has been, not even when he killed her mother. He’s just always…existed in the peripherals of her vision.“You can go.” Just three words, so like him to be cryptic, vague. He always acts like speaking is a chore, but she knows what he means. To Insomnia, for the healing. No need to ask for who, but she’s taken aback by the allowance.“It’d be a problem if either died. The Emperor doesn’t want bad press.”Of course. Bad press. That’s all anyone cares about. “Does the Chancellor know?”“The Emperor is above him.” He sounds bored, clearly done with this conversation.Which means no. Or that Ardyn knows, but doesn’t approve. She isn’t concerned about herself, but for Ignis, who could easily take the blame for this.The General unexpectedly goes on. “You may bring your brother as an escort. And Besithia wants a blood sample of the infant.”This causes her to raise an eyebrow, for it’s an unsettling request. “I think the hospital has to order that.”“It’s been ordered. Just pick it up.” A pause. “You will depart tomorrow at 0800 hours.” And he’s gone, his cape swishing softly. It’s the only sound he ever makes at times. Other days, his armor creaks and stomps. She’d always found it peculiar.An hour later, she receives a summons from the Chancellor.-“I hear you’re going to Insomnia.” He’s leaning back in his chair, feet on the desk and a glass of whiskey in his hand. She’s never been able to tell if he’s a drunkard or not. He drinks endlessly, but acts so strange on a normal day, that she can’t ever determine if he’s actually intoxicated.She bows slightly, a nod of her head half an inch, the most she will give him. “Yes. I’m leaving tomorrow morning with my brother.”“You’ll go with a few guards.”“If you so wish.” She narrows her eyes, unsure of where this is going, so she decides to test the waters, push him a little. “I’ll be healing the both of them.”He sniffs once, clearly trying to indicate boredom despite clearly being angry. “What of it? If the baby dies, I’ll be angry. Don’t care much for the mother though.”Someday, she will slap him, and it will be most satisfying. “You haven’t even been to see either of them, have you?”A shrug. “Why should I? The hospital is a good one, designed for the weak. The little whelp is useless until I know for certain he will live.”Nothing about Ignis, of course. She knows it’s a farce, knows the Chancellor is obsessed. Otherwise why drag him to Gralea? It clearly was no publicity stunt, for he shunned the press those two weeks, a rare occurrence.“Shall I deliver any messages?” She sounds cordial, but seethes inwardly.He slides his legs off the table then, slams his feet down with unnecessary drama. “Get well soon,” he snaps sarcastically.She can’t follow the abrupt change in mood, but she hardly cares. “I shall pass it on.” She performs another slight bow before turning on her heel. She has no interest in engaging with him further.He doesn’t try to stop her, and as she leaves his office, she has to wonder why he had summoned her at all.-Ignis doesn’t thank her. He barely even reacts. His pain from the C-section should be dramatically lessened, his blood pressure improved, and yet he doesn’t seem to notice. Because I can’t heal the wounds that matter, she thinks numbly. And Ignis can’t begin to heal from those until he’s free from his mate’s clutches, an unlikely event given the politics around him. It’s worse now. Post-partum Depression. Common for mothers after premature births. Common for rape survivors. Common for those who already have imbalances. He’d never had a chance.“I will go heal the baby next,” she says gently, unsure if he wants her there at all. “If you like, you can come. Or I can return here afterwards?”This gets a reaction, a vehement one as he suddenly spits, “Why should I go see it? It’s weak and pathetic, better off dead.”It, not even he. “All babies are like that?”“But not all are omegas. All it’s doing is preparing for a life of weakness, groveling, and subservience. Why bother? That fact that it’s clinging to life indicates how stupid it is.”The tirade sounds rehearsed, as if he’d been obsessively reciting it to himself for days.“You’re insane,” Ravus snaps out before she can lay a warning hand on his arm. She shoots him a glance. How many times has she told him to shut up over the years?But he ignores her. “You know your mother cared for you, right? She probably knew what you were and didn’t care. You do her a disservice.”Mothers. Ravus will never recover from seeing theirs struck down.Ignis doesn’t react though, only stares ahead as before, glassy-eyed. I’ll have to remind the nurses to remove the morphine drop now that he’s healed. She wonders if it will be a problem. Now that the baby is free, he can start on proper anti-depressants and other medication for trauma, if he so chooses. He doesn’t need to want morphine on top of it. She can’t heal addictions, just as she can’t heal trauma. She also can’t magically age premature babies up, which means all she can do is help the infant with any Scourge infection; all other problems are developmental from being born so early to such a traumatized mother. She suspects Ignis blames himself for that, for everything.“I will be back soon, then.”“Titus will be there. He likes the stupid thing.”This takes her aback. The man always struck her as kind but distant, too practical to bother being friendly or interested in anyone. But she knows well that everyone has a soft spot, and babies are a common culprit. Though for an Alpha…unusual.Ravus suddenly interrupts her thoughts. “We brought you a few gifts from Tenebrae. Want them now?” He sounds abrupt as ever, but awkward as well. Must have realized he was being an asshole; the thought makes her smile.Ignis cocks his head at this, trying to keep the interest from his face, and says nothing.“Ravus, how about you stay here? Ignis, just kick him out if he gets annoying.”Outrage on her brother’s face, a flicker of a smile on Ignis’. Finally.-The Captain, surprisingly, isn’t there.“We don’t need extra bodies in here while you’re healing him,” Dr. Argentum shrugs, clearly knowing what she was thinking of. “He’s usually here a few hours a day, just started holding him, too.”Her heart jumps at this. So he can be held now. As the Oracle, her romantic life will be put on hold, possibly forever, but at seventeen, she can’t help but think of a future family. She nearly asks if she can hold him, but resists the urge. Maybe later. She should ask Ignis’ permission, and who knows when he will acknowledge this still-unnamed baby.She leans over the incubator, looks down at the little creature. He’s sleeping, as he probably always is. She reaches her hand through the hole meant for doctor’s hands and gently places it on his belly. So tiny, so red and wrinkled. She almost laughs until she realizes what she can sense in him.The blood transfusion failed, as expected. She jerks her hand back for a moment. “He has the Scourge, but it can’t be healed.” She hesitates. “That’s not what’s surprising though. It’s a remnant… It’s not doing him any harm though. It’s a natural part of him, somehow. I can’t explain it.” The pregnancy was strange enough, but for the baby to be like this…The doctors are silent before Dr. Argentum finally speaks. “His father refuses to be tested.”Luna waves her hand. Ardyn is worthless; there’s no point in even bringing him up anymore. “It hardly matters now. We will simply keep a close eye on him.”“Unfortunately there’s no easy way to figure out if he is contagious.”“I suspect if he were, Ignis would have it, but his blood is pure now.”They’re silent for a few minutes then as Luna smooths her hand over the baby several times. She can’t do much for him. He’s a fairly typical premature baby, though smaller for his age than most. His little body is still developing and she can’t rush it. If he develops an infection or pulmonary complications, she has to hope that the King would summon her.And then, suddenly. “You’re having a press conference soon, no? Don’t mention this. The poor things have suffered enough at the hands of the press,” the doctor sighs.She hadn’t asked permission to have a press conference, simply told the King and announced it less than an hour later through a series of phone calls still on the airship. She is already recognized as the Oracle; the King respects her position, unlike those in Gralea, and so will not challenge her. The tabloids, even the mainstream news, have turned harsh while Ignis was in the hospital. It had begun when he was in Gralea, but it had since grown intolerable.The media had come to a verdict. Ignis was guilty. The assaults were fabricated and everything was consensual. Why else would he never ask for help? Or shun the press? Or never demand justice? And why keep the baby? No abortion, no adoption? In a city where the solution to rape was abortion, Ignis’ behavior was incomprehensible. And therefore clearly a lie. Ignis likely didn’t know it, but it couldn’t go on. This condemnation jeopardized all omegs and women who had ever been assaulted. She believed no one should ever be ordered to speak up.“I’d never,” Luna nods her head as she looks down at the baby. His hat had slipped off when she had examined him., and she can see the bit of soft hair that he has. Dark red. She silently prays it will change as he grows older, as it often does for babies; Ignis wouldn’t like the reminder.-She decides that she can’t trust the King to alert her if there is a problem; it’d be best to give the doctors her number directly. It never occurred to her to do it earlier, as simple as it is. And so she jots down her contact information, as well as Ravus’ after he grudgingly agrees, and places the hospital stationary into an envelope while down in the café.She eats her curry rice slowly, watching the news on the public television. She might as well prepare herself; the press conference will be tonight, and all she has planned is a lot of rage. But first, she will drop these numbers off.She goes straight to the NICU, knowing there will be a couple of doctors there at all times.Captain Drautos is there now, sitting in the two-seater beside the incubator. Ignis’ baby is in a partially-private room like the rest of the infants in the NICU, a three-walled cubicle in a larger room, all of them with large windows.He nods at her once, but he’s clearly distracted by the baby. Weak for the little thing, as if the infant were his own. The baby is covered in layers of blankets, still hooked up to the respirator; she can barely see him, but she can smell that both of them are very content. It’s a comforting smell, so different from the mild stress she is used to in hospitals.But she can also smell stress, anxiety, because beside Captain Drautos is Ignis, curled up on the double-seat. He isn’t close, isn’t touching the baby, but he’s looking at him now. He doesn’t seem to even notice Luna there, and so she slips past him and gives the envelope to one of the assisting nurses.She is about to leave when she seems the nurse looking over her shoulder, smiling now, and Luna turns in time to see Ignis slowly scooting over now, leaning on the Captain’s arm and looking more closely at the baby. He raises his hand hesitantly, and then the blankets around the baby block her view. She can suddenly smell the baby’s pheromones. Excitement, and she knows that Ignis touched him, possibly even scented him with his wrist. Ignis leans in further, presses his face into the blankets for half a moment before leaning back against the Captain’s arm and sighing.The medical staff present can’t leave, not when the baby is still on a respirator, but Luna turns away, knowing that Ignis would want his privacy.And as she leaves the NICU, preparing to head to the hotel she and Ravus booked next door to make some notes for the press conference, she can’t help but smile.

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Part 6, Chapter 5 – Ignis
He doesn't want to go back to the apartment, but he doesn't want to stay in the hospital any longer either, and he certainly doesn't want to go anywhere else. He just wants to be alone somewhere. Alone. He feels like he has both been alone and surrounded by others nonstop for the last eight months, his life no longer his but for the pain and fear and confusion that’s been a constant presence.The Oracle Luna healed him. There’s no real reason to stay in the hospital any longer, especially not when he barely ever goes to see the baby. He’ll have to stay in the NICU for another month at least, the doctors say. He’s been hanging in there, but he’s still very small and they are concerned about his Scourge. Ignis can’t bring himself to care. What difference does it make if the baby is a carrier, as long as it isn’t causing him harm and he can’t infect anyone else? But he doesn’t want the baby to go back to the apartment with him either, because he doesn’t know what to do with it. Him. Whatever.He packs slowly. He doesn’t really know why he’s going back to the Captain’s apartment instead of back to live with Noctis, but he can’t be bothered to question it. He misses Noctis, but this is safer for both of them. If Ardyn comes for him, he won’t be in the vicinity of the prince. And Ignis likes the immigrant quarter, likes the cozy apartment that smells of spicy he has grown to like, likes not having to do anything.The Royal Police van is waiting for him when he brings his suitcase down to the lobby. He has three, somehow, but an officer had brought down the larger two for him already. She smiles at him, her teeth very white and her hair in tight braids against her head. Can’t be more than twenty-five. “Ready, hon?”Ignis sits in the back beside her.“We’ll keep at least two guards here at all times for the baby, and a cruiser in the neighborhood of the Captain’s apartment. We hear you want some freedom when he goes out, but we can’t leave you totally alone,” she’s still smiling as she hands him a thin watch. “So you don’t even have to call. Just keep it on all the time. It flips open and there’s a button there to call us.”“Thank you,” he sighs. He means it, but it’s ludicrous at the same time. Why wasn’t all of this set up before? Why was he still sent to Gralea? Why all this perfomative security now? But this woman doesn’t know how messed up it is. She’s just doing her job, so he’ll be polite and make conversation. “How long have you been on the force? I don’t think I’ve met you before.”She laughs. “Three years. I was basically a guard at the Royal Crypts for a few months, then worked cybersecurity. I’m still there, but the King suggested I come pick you up because I’m,” and she raises her fingers in quotation marks, “’friendly’. You know, a beta and a woman.”“You probably joined the Royal force in hopes of avoiding domestic violence calls and babysitting kid witnesses, right?” Because that’s usually what women cops in the main force get stuck doing. The Royal forces are only a thousand strong or so, essentially the non-militarized arm of the Kingsglaive who merely patrol the actual Citadel and push a lot of paperwork. The Insomnia Police run closer to forty thousand, but they deal with the general public real crime, and so the women always have to deal with traumatized kids, omegas, and other women. “Sorry about that.”The look she gives him makes him laugh.-Titus smells good. Or not. It’s the baby that smells nice, and because Titus is holding him, he also smells nice, but Ignis doesn’t like thinking about how much the little thing clings to him."He likes you better than me." He’s been back at the apartment for four days now and this is the first time he’s come in to see the baby."Babies always like the mother best. I just hold him a lot.""Guess he likes the hairy chest," Ignis sighs, leans back on the couch and glances at him. He'd tried not to pay attention, but it's hard not to. Better to hold premies against bare skin to make them feel safe. Drautos had taken that seriously. Ignis had never seen much of his skin before. The Alpha had been careful around him, or perhaps he has never been the type to lounge around in his boxers. But he's seen a lot of his chest recently, hairier and more solid than Ardyn, the dark lines betraying the edges of a tattoo on one side. He's curious, though he'd never say it. He'll think I'm a slut, think I want him if I ask to see the tattoos. Everyone thinks I'm a whore now anyway.Titus smirks at that, but says nothing, and Ignis feels embarrassed. He reaches out and pokes at the baby once, feels the soft skin of his little hand before pulling back. He still hasn't held him, hasn't tried to feed him even though he despises the pumping machine. It's somehow better than having that little thing bite him, or worse, having it reject him, having it turn away from his scarred nipples with disgust."You can scent him again. He likes that.""Mm hmm." He doesn't make a move to, only sits up straight. Scenting the baby is marking it as his. He marked it enough. Seven months in the womb, this thing ate away at him. He can’t believe he used to feel something for it. Unreasonable. You can’t even make up your mind about the most basic of omega matters. What kind of omega doesn’t want his own baby? A failure in every way. Born the lowest of the low and still unable to do that right. "I'm going back to the apartment. I have a lot of homework."Homework he won't do. He hasn't touched anything since he'd gotten back from Gralea. There's no point. He has a baby now. School is done for him. Just another omega dropout, though a bit worse than most because he didn't even make it to high school. Eighth grade dropout. He hasn't told anyone because nobody has asked.Funny how the teachers just keep sending him stuff even though he always returns blank papers. They don't ask him what's going on, don't call his father or now, his husband, or even ask Gladio or Noctis what's going on. It's like nobody cares, or maybe nobody wants to admit there's a problem with the King's messed-up son. Just ignore it like they've ignored everything else. He hates all of them sometimes, everyone.Titus looks at him a long moment before nodding. "I'll give you a ride in another ten or so. He's sleeping now.""He's always sleeping," Ignis can't help but scoff. "All he does. I'll take the bus.""No you won't.""Yes, I will.""Ignis." The Captain looks at him now, as if he's not even holding the child. "The King doesn't want you taking public transportation any longer.""Nobody's going to take me," he bares his teeth. "I'm owned by someone else, and now disgusting besides, all..." he just waves his hand, gesturing towards his belly.Titus looks at him another long moment, raises his eyebrows, but he doesn't push it. "Ten minutes. I expect you in the lobby."He opens his mouth to fight, but his husband has already focused his attention back on the baby, bouncing him slightly as he murmurs something in his native language. Ignis suddenly hates him with an explosiveness he doesn't know how to handle, and he stands up, stomping his feet. He wants to disobey him, wants to get on the soonest bus that stops by the hospital, but he won't. Because he can't handle the stares, the looks of disgust, the leers, the comments, the whispers. Maybe he imagines it all. Maybe nobody actually recognizes him or cares, but he can't help but be all too aware of it.-That night, he wavers for some time before slipping out of bed and padding to the door. He grabs the sign on the inner doorknob and flips it to the outer, quickly closing the door again. It was some bullshit idea he’d found the one time he tried browsing for help on the internet since he’d moved in. Make a sign to tell your partner when you’re comfortable with them sharing your bed. How messed up would someone have to be to do that to their legitimate partner, and how forgiving would that partner have to be to not mind? At least Drautos isn’t his partner, more like his bodyguard with some paperwork attached. He gets paid to sleep on the couch. But Ignis had been nasty to him earlier today, and he can’t help but feel guilty.-He is slow to roll over, reach for his phone shoved to the side of his pillow when he hears the buzz. He used to lecture Noctis about the dangers of sleeping with a phone close to his head, but since his life has become so full of secrets, Ignis likes keeping it as close as possible. There’s a single text. Only one person would ever text him between midnight and five in the morning.Ardyn.
Meet me at the hotel, the usual room, tomorrow. I’ll be there the full day. Don’t make me come to find you. I can’t stand that slum you live in these days.
He stares at it for a long time before flipping his phone case closed and climbing back into bed. He sidles up against Titus’ back, presses into him. “Captain,” he whispers against his neck. The Alpha is a light sleeper and this stirs him. “Roll over.”Drautos rolls half over, cracks an eye open and looks at him. “Thought you always wanted me to face away from you.”It’s true; he doesn’t like anyone facing him when he sleeps, doesn’t like the idea of anyone rubbing their groin on him, pushing his face into the mattress and hurting him. He knows this man won’t do that, but he’s still an Alpha. Ignis likes him in bed so that he feels safe from the nightmares, but he doesn’t like acknowledging his existence. Normally. “It’s okay.”He sighs, and for a moment Ignis wonders if he’ll ignore his request, but he rolls over fully and settles himself. Ignis presses his face to his chest and inhales. Yes. Sometimes it annoys him that this man showers in the mornings, but right now he’s relieved. He can smell the baby from last night, and as he curls his fingers into Titus’ T-shirt, he realizes that’s all he wanted. Part 6, Chapter 5 – ArdynHe has to resist the urge to grab him the moment he opens the door to the hotel suite and sees him standing in the hall. It's barely past noon, which means he skipped school today. Worth asking about eventually, but right now all that matters is the heady scent of his mate before him again.Except.He feels a spark of rage, but something more. The smell is attractive somehow, the scents of both of his partners mingling. "You smell like that Captain."Ignis' eyes widen before he flinches. "He just scents my head and wrists. The...baby. Likes it when he can smell both of us at the same time.""Captain Drautos is not his parent." Should he feel jealousy here over the baby? He doesn't. Territorial over his mate, but he can't bring himself to care if the baby associates someone else's smell with father.Ignis hangs his head, silent. Ardyn knows he would reproach him for not visiting if Ignis dared, but he already looks defeated. Ardyn misses the fire in him sometimes, even if he's the one who extinguished it."Whose name is on the birth certificate as the father?""No certificate. I didn't name him yet, so just my name is on it."It's largely insignificant. Everyone knows that he is the father. Alpha-omega babies in particular will always smell like their biological parents, though the smell fades over the years. Nobody would ever contest his legitimacy. But it annoys him that he hasn’t filled it out yet. “We shall have to think of a name for him then soon, hm?”“Yes.” Just a single word. He probably never even considered what he might name the little thing, just as Ardyn hasn’t.“But before that…” He touches his face, slides his fingers down the boy's jawline and lifts his chin, rubs his thumb over his lips. They aren't chewed up any longer. Ardyn hasn't fucked him in over a month now. Two weeks after Gralea. Nearly three weeks since the baby. He needs to be put in his place, reminded of who he belongs to. Ardyn slips his fingers down, tugs at the collar of his shirt once.Ignis remembers what it means. He undresses quickly, just as he used to, and Ardyn is relieved. He could have reminded him, could have undressed him himself, but he's glad that the boy doesn't have to be. Pale skin and a thin torso that he knows so well is revealed as Ignis slips out of the shirt and pulls his pants down."Are you feeding him?""Not directly. I use a machine to..." he gestures helplessly towards the small breasts he has always been ashamed of. Ardyn wonders absently what it would be like to suck his tits, if Ignis would produce for him. He's not particularly interested, but he's curious. Perhaps later. He has other things to examine right now.The surgical wound on his stomach, for instance. It's ugly, an angry incision straight down the center of his belly that will surely leave a permanent scar, from his naval to his genitals, stopping maybe an inch above his penis. He's flaccid, his balls pulled up tight."Are you cold?" He'd forgotten how easily he gets cold."A little," Ignis shrugs."I'll turn it up in a moment then." He pinches the folds on his belly, tugs gently at them. The saggy skin is strangely attractive, surely driven by pheromones. The sign of a fertile omega."It'll go away soon," Ignis says quickly, sounding like he's reciting whatever some doctor told him. "I usually wear a... like a body former, but it can't be tight because I'm still healing and the cut needs to breathe. I can firm everything up quickly after that. I know you don't...""Don't what?"He fidgets. "I haven't exercised in a long time now. My butt is soft now.""And that bothers you?" It takes him aback, knowing Ignis actually examines his body, fearful it isn't up to what Ardyn likes. A well-trained little omega mate, one smart enough to take off any excess layers before coming to see him, too. "It's a result of pregnancy. Not a problem."Ignis visibly relaxes at this. "I'll have stretch marks though."He shrugs. "Is this what you've been worried about? That I won't find you attractive anymore?"The response is unexpected. He clenches his fists against his sides, body trembling. "You're going to kill me, aren't you? That's why you don't care about anything now."Ardyn leans back, arches an eyebrow. "Is that why you think I called you here?""You always said you would. And I gave you an omega baby. I can't have any more, probably.""Oh?" Shit. But he should have expected it. Ignis was too young to bear a child, and the lack of proper medical treatment throughout likely wrecked heavy damage on his body. Combined with the traumatic childbirth and the emergency operation... Though an Alpha baby wouldn’t be of much more use than an omega one. It would simply be preferable."The doctors said it's probably only a 25% chance or so. I can't give you the Alpha you want." He can't hide the relief in his voice though."Unfortunate. You still have your uses though." Fucking. He leans in, inhales the boy's scent. Gods, how he wants him.Ignis whimpers as he nods and turns to the bed. Good little omega.-He fucks him hard, harder than he should less than a month after childbirth, but Ignis takes it. He always does, shuddering and whimpering and bleeding. Ardyn had read the medical records. Strained muscles and some tearing further up his uterine canal, but no stitches at his entrance, as the birth was not a natural one. And that canal is closed now, anyhow, while his body heals. No reason not to do this. Male omegas rarely have a heat within a few months of a birth, sometimes as long as six months, though with Ignis' imbalance it's impossible to guess.He wrings three orgasms out of him before he lets him go. It's those, his own bodily reactions, his need for his mate, that shame Ignis more than the sex itself. A reminder that he needs Ardyn to be complete.When it’s over, he nips at his mark once before whispering in his ear. “I’ll let you sleep for a few hours. Then we must talk.”Ignis cracks an eye open and makes a small sound as if to acknowledge he heard, but nothing more. He shudders once before slowly curling in on himself. Ardyn knows that if Ignis had the energy, he’d rather stay awake, watch him warily, but not once in the time he’s known him was the boy able to keep from at least dozing immediately after. The Chancellor had often wondered if this was something hardwired into omegas, another form of submission to lay vulnerable to whoever took them. He touches Ignis’ face, slowly brushes the hair from his eyes before settling back against the pillows to watch him sleep.-A hesitant cough, the rustle of blankets beside him as Ignis mumbles a soft, “I’m up.”Ardyn knows he'd been awake for some time, at least ten minutes now, but he still only says, “Good, we need to talk.”And he waits expectantly, waiting for him to say something, but Ignis only shifts, pulling himself up against the pillows and rubbing his eyes."Do you remember when you marked me, when you tried to slit my throat?"One nod. Ardyn had ended up healing him, unable to tolerate the whimpers when Ignis slept, but the boy is remarkably ungrateful and hasn’t even mentioned it."You should have killed me, you know.""But you healed yourself.""I've been healing myself for two thousand years." There. He’s said it.He's silent."I'm immortal, you fool. Have you not figured that out yet?"He licks his lips, little pink tongue darting out for half a moment. "That's impossible.""Many things are impossible, and yet they still happen."  He touches Ignis, runs fingers through his hair. "Two thousand years and I never had a mate. A few spouses, plenty of partners and one-night stands, but never a mate. Never a child, either. Most unfortunate."That gets him. Suggesting he’s at fault, insinuating that Ignis owes him an apology. It seems to be the only way to elicit a proper reaction from him sometimes, because the boy immediately flinches. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."He waves a hand lazily, immediately silencing Ignis. "Unfortunate I haven't had one until now. I would like to take him once he is out of the hospital. Perhaps you'd like to spend some time with him first though? A year? Six months?""He's mine."Ardyn can't help but smirk at this. He knows Ignis didn't visit the baby even once for two weeks, has since only gone to touch him four or five times, has yet to hold him. Having a noose around his husband's neck that he can tug at any time is most convenient. "You don't spend much time with him.""I don't like seeing him in the hospital," he says quickly. A bald-faced lie, but Ardyn won’t press him on it. Everybody knows he’s demented over the baby, post-partum depression or some nonsense label that mortals always like to slap on whatever personality defects they have so they can pretend it isn’t their fault."He will be a fair bit of work, when he gets out of the hospital.""Ti... The Captain can take care of him. He seems good with babies."Of course he does. Drautos likes babies, fussed over Loqi and spoiled that brat rotten. But Titus. He'd nearly called him Titus. The correction somehow made it even more damning. "Have you ever wondered why?"A shrug.He purrs softly, "He's probably keeping secrets. I'd never heard of him having a child somewhere, but it seems like he might have a bastard that he visited a few times. Perhaps he has a baby out there that he abandoned just like you were abandoned."Ignis furrows his brow at this. He'd never considered such a thing, apparently."You don't know very much about him, do you?""I don't need to. He's basically a babysitter."A babysitter. He'd love to see Titus' reaction to hearing that. "And your husband who apparently scents you every night." He runs a hand around the back of his neck, rubbing the scar of his mark with his thumb. "You know nothing about your husband, but it's time you learn about your mate. Do you have any questions for me?”He’s quick to change the subject. Apparently immortal mates are safer than babies. "I don't believe that you can't die.""But you believe the immortality. And that wasn’t a question.""No. I think you get lucky sometimes, you heal fast and you can react quickly, so you can stop yourself from bleeding out.""Then try to kill me."He looks away. "I'm naked and unarmed." What a stupid comment. Ardyn suddenly remembers the morning after the first time he'd taken him, when Ignis was in shock, wavering between being struck dumb with fear and making weird, blunt comments the way a child does."Then put some clothing on. You could always use magic, you know; that way it won't just be me stopping the bloodflow. I blocked your magic before." True. He didn't trust the little brat to burn or stab him at an inconvenient moment. Not that it would matter if he did, but it would be annoying. He didn't like giving Ignis even half a second of an advantage. The kid was powerful, more open to magic than the average Lucian. Of course it made sense now, knowing who his father was; his mother was almost certainly from Galahd; their magic patterns were unique.Something flickers in Ignis' eyes, but he doesn't move, doesn't show any expression.Ardyn prods him a little further as he leans over, drapes Ignis' shirt over his thin shoulders. If he's going to ever hope to carry another child, he needs to gain more weight. Too thin. He doesn't like him this thin. There's nothing to grab, all elbows and bony ankles. "I also ensured nobody could hear you scream in this hotel room." Not true; he'd stopped time to do it a couple of times, but once he realized nobody would call the police either way he stopped wasting his energy.Still nothing. He turns himself off so quickly, like a switch that just gets flicked. Gods, he could be irritating when he entered these catatonic states. It was nice sometimes, but only sometimes. You'd think after months of this he would learn to figure out when Ardyn wanted him to react and when he didn't."Do you not understand? So much of it was a ruse to manipulate you, make you behave because you'd feel helpless and alone."He pulls the shirt on then, left arm first as he always does. He only manages two buttons before he stops, hands dropping into his lap as he squeezes his legs closed."You're so easy to control, just a stupid little child. Placed in charge of another stupid little child."That finally pushes him. He moves fast. Ardyn falls back as Ignis lands on his shoulders, digging knees into his belly and lunging for his neck. He can push him off easily if he wishes, but he likes feeling Ignis' rage, sight months of pent-up rage and horror. A puff of fire, flares in his palms that he can't control, can't aim or sustain.Barely anything, but it's a start. Ardyn laughs out loud, "Try summoning your shortswords at the same time." Daggers, really, but he knows Ignis aspires to using shortswords when he is older and for now long daggers serve as his practice. The boy has told him much over these last eight months, though he likely doesn’t even realize it.Ignis is too startled to resist him, sitting back and staring at his hands in stunned silence."So you really are a Lucis Caelum. The Crystal recognized you as an heir."“I’m a bastard,” he says dumbly. That confused stupidity of a child again. Does he even know that only proper heirs can wield their own magic? Is that common knowledge for the average Insomnian? "Do you really believe Regis was the first one to have dalliances? Most kings have had bastards. Not many became heirs recognized by the Crystal though. I'd say, oh, maybe 5 to 7% or so. Three bastards even became kings, so you might have a chance. But all of this means that the baby might also be one. We won't know for some time though.""If I'm an heir. What about Noctis?""You both are. Not that complicated. The Royal family often ends up with multiple heirs through a legitimate marriage. The King can choose, or the family will come to a mutual agreement. Or..." he drops it, smirking now."Or one gets married off in a political agreement," Ignis snaps."I was going to say or one dies, but yes, that too."He doesn't take the bait. "You have magic. Does that mean you're another bastard? Or one of the Oracle line because you can heal?""Healing was once a Caelum power. The powers were divided because it was too much for one family. I can tell you the whole story someday but I assure you that aspect gets a little tedious. Though probably no more so than whatever garbage was in your history books.""So you're two thousand years old, as you claimed earlier, and a Lucis Caelum," he holds his hands up, wiggles his fingers as if counting. "That makes you...contemporary with the founding of Insomnia." He sounds bored, his face a mixture of confusion and disgust.Unsurprising, though. Ignis has always been calculating, clever and suspicious; he only deviated from that when entering his first heat. Ardyn knew he wouldn't believe him, knew it would take time and persuasion. “Yes. I was the true founder of Insomnia before my insipid fool of a little brother took the throne, just as yours likely will.”“I never heard of King Somnus having a brother.”“You wouldn’t,” he snorts. “History books tell a different tale.”“Is that why you’re such a horrible person?”Ardyn sighs. “You can go now. You’ve had a busy day.” It was all too much to push on him all at once. The magic, the confirmation of heritage, and the truth of his mate’s identity. Ignis is taking it remarkably well now, so well it’s clear he hasn’t absorbed anything whatsoever. There’s no point in talking to him any further this evening.Ignis scrambles off the bed, clearly desperate to get away from him, probably expecting to be hit for his comment. He’s halfway to the door of the hotel room before Ardyn half raises himself up on his elbows and asks, "Don't you want pants?"Because he’s still wearing only his shirt. He’d been cleaned up when asleep, his thighs now smooth and free of slick and blood, but he’s still half naked. Ignis wavers, glances around the room. He must decide that his clothing is too far from the door to go for it, because he opens the door instead and slips out into the hallway.Ardyn can hear his scream a moment later, a high-pitched howl of no distinct emotion. He can’t help but laugh, wondering how the poor hotel staff will handle the situation.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 6, Chapter 6 – Officer Yeagre
Little Ignis Scientia is behind the reception desk, sitting in the small locker room where staff keep their coats and bags. Towels are wrapped around him, but he isn’t holding them. It’s like he doesn’t even know where he is.“He said his clothing is still up in the room,” the concierge whispered, hushed. It’s the same guy who called, based on his nametag. “Figured it was better if the police got it.”“Mm, great.” She sighs. She never wanted to deal with domestic violence, but it’s apparently not possible when you have to keep watch over an omega. “Did he mention him being armed?”The concierge has no idea, but Ignis pipes up behind him. “No weapons, but he does magic. He won’t hurt you.”She stares at him, surprised he talked at all.“He likes this hotel. He wouldn’t dare do anything to get him kicked out.”“Okay,” she turns to Lydus, her partner. “You stay with him, I’ll go on up.”Lydus sputters. “You’re the woman though, you’re better with kids!”Not this again. She can’t deal with it. “Room number?”The concierge looks relieved at an easier question. “4201, the corner suite on the top floor.”“Thanks,” she turns on her heel, steps back into the hall before her partner can follow her.It’s one of those super-fast elevators that seems to skip most of the floors and gives you a sense of vertigo; good thing, too. She can’t imagine how it would be to go up 42 floors on an elevator like the one at her apartment. She barely has time to get her gun out before the elevator dings and she finds herself on the right floor. At least nobody else was waiting to get in; she didn’t want to deal with civilians screaming about police waving guns at them. They always exaggerate.“Chancellor Izunia? This is the police. We’re coming in for the boy’s things.”She doesn’t respect a response, and anyway she doesn’t wait for one. Her gun is up as she cases the room quickly before sliding in. No risks, not that she really expected any. She believes Ignis, even if he’s only a little kid.He’s dressed, at least. Small favors, as the bathrobe is barely closed around his waist, but she doesn’t have to see anything. He’s drinking in bed, a glass of wine in his hand and an empty bottle beside him along with what looks like whiskey. Is he mixing them? She almost asks, but she catches herself. Disgusting. Her wannabe-scientist sister did weird stuff like that, throwing whatever she could find into a glass and deeming it her most brilliant concoction. Anyway, she wonders what the kid could possibly have seen in him to talk to him in the first place. Why didn’t he know this guy was bad news immediately? She shakes her head slightly. The life of an omega is cruel. Poor thing should have been better protected from day one.“Here for his things?” His voice is cocky, and he has a little bit of an accent. It’s weird, hearing him in person and not just on the television. He sounds different somehow, just like he’s way more intimidating in person. Or maybe it’s just because she knows what he just did.“Yes,” she keeps her gun on him another moment before slowly lowering it. The room reeks of sex, of Alpha male, and it makes her uncomfortable in a way she’s never felt before. This is somehow way worse than dealing with most crimes she’s witnessed the aftermath of.“Wise choice. I am the Niflheim Chancellor, after all. Would be trouble if you shot me by accident.” He takes another sip of wine, smacking his lips. “I put everything over there. His pants and everything are in the bag.She grabs it up as quickly as she can, hoping it isn’t actually filled with towels or something.“Don’t forget his glasses,” he points lazily to the table beside the bed.She can’t help herself. “Why didn’t you put them in the bag?” she bursts out, stomping forward to snatch the glasses up. She can’t get out of there fast enough. 
Part 6, Chapter 6 – Drautos
He’d driven too fast to the hotel, but nobody was going to pull him over. The call had come only a few minutes before – the police, saying Ignis was at the ---- hotel and needed help. The hotel staff hadn’t known any better and called them first, leaving the cops to call him and the King. Ignis had gone to meet with Ardyn again, been hurt again, and had wandered downstairs wearing nothing but a shirt.  He’s dressed now, at least partly. Shirt and underpants. Titus drops to a knee, pulling his hoodie around the boy, urging him gently to put his arms in the sleeves so he can zip it up. It’s long, falling halfway down his thighs, but Ignis still pulls at the hem, trying to pull it down further.The lady cop who’d been keeping an eye on them recently watches. “It’s cold out. Try to put the pants on, hm?” she holds them up. She’s not exactly gentle, not comforting, but there’s something about her bluntness that Ignis reacts well to. He takes the pants slowly from her and finds a way to worm his way into them  while still holding the sweatshirt down over his ass. He’s barefoot, but his shoes are in his backpack.Titus thinks about going up to the room, ripping into Ardyn, possibly even attacking him, but one look at Ignis and he changes his mind. It’d be better to simply get him out of here.“Come on, let’s go home and get you cleaned up.” He nods at the two cops, at the hotel; staff still hovering. “Thank you. I’ll take care of it from here.”He’d left the car pulled up in front of the hotel doors, half on the curb. Ignis would normally make some passive-aggressive comment about his parking skills, but he says nothing as he gets in the car.“Do you need anything before we go home?”Ignis stares straight ahead. “Hospital. For the baby.”Something about the urgency makes him uneasy. “Did he threaten him?”“No. I just want to see him.” He doesn’t sound convincing though, more petulant than anything.“Okay,” he sighs. “Don’t you want to get cleaned up? So the baby doesn’t smell him?”“Baby won’t like his smell. He knows it always means I’m stressed.”Titus doesn’t know enough about babies in the womb to say anything. It’s likely, perhaps, that they can recognize pheromones in the womb, especially when related to their mother. He realizes he doesn’t want the baby to know what Ardyn smells like for his own reasons. He’s been holding the little thing hours every day, talking to him and scenting him. “So you want to go home and take a shower?”“No, I want to see him.”Not a rational train of thought, but he nods once. He pulls out of the parking lot, pressing the gas harder than he should; it’s the car Regis had given him last year. He’s always been too aggressive with it, only ever outwardly showing irritation in driving. And he’s irritated now; he can smell Ardyn on the boy, and the scent of both of his…partners mingling is making him uneasy. And to think Ardyn had come after the boy again, after all this time, that he’d still hurt him, tortured him.“Did he heal you?” he finally asks softly.“Yes,” Ignis doesn’t seem keen on saying anything further.-Dr. Argentum is there that night, fortunately. A relief, as Ignis had only seemed comfortable with her and the Galahdian nurse; Titus himself didn’t know what to do with him. She’s leaning over the reception desk in front of the omega ward, speaking to the woman at the computer. They’re laughing at something.Ignis strides right up to her as she turns towards him. He speaks cordially but firmly, “I need to name him now. Can I please have his birth certificate and paperwork?”She looks startled and shoots Titus a quizzical glance. “Of course. We can process it for you right now. Why don’t you take a seat for a moment?”“I’ll wait right here.” He smiles at this, a wicked smile, a hint of the sarcastic boy flitting around the Citadel he’d used to be.When the paperwork is ready, Ignis grabs it up, holds his hand out for a pen. Then he flicks his gaze towards Titus as he moves towards the counter, clearly intending to fill everything out right there.“Do you want to be the father?”It’s so abrupt he doesn’t even hear it. “Hm?”“On the paper. Do you want to be the father?” He’s irritated he has to ask again.Titus takes too long to answer. The father, the father.“You are now,” Ignis says calmly, scribbling his name in.“Thank you,” he murmurs. He wants to dwell on it, to turn the idea over in his head, but Ignis is writing something else now. The child’s name.“Somnus Lucis Scientia,” Ignis recites, slamming the pen down.“Somnus.” He rolls the word in his mouth, tasting it. It will enrage Ardyn, knowing that his half-Nifl son is named after the first Lucian king. Might even drive him to do something to Ignis or the child. And there’s the rest of it… because he has his suspicions of Ardyn, of how old he is, who he is. Being a master of illusions and exceptionally intelligent cannot explain everything. I should say something now, before this gets certified. But as he sees the determination in Ignis’ eyes as he signs off on the paperwork, he holds his tongue. Not my problem. Not my son regardless of what the papers say. He already can’t convince himself of this.“I want to hold him,” Ignis then says abruptly.Dr. Argentum nods an affirmative to this, gesturing towards the unit doors for the NICU. Titus wavers, unsure if he should follow or wait there, but Ignis flicks his gaze over to him and cocks his head. “Are you coming? He’ll probably be more comfortable if you’re in the room.”It’s enough, and he goes, all the while knowing he shouldn’t. He doesn’t need to see Ignis with the baby, doesn’t need to feel that growing attachment to the baby possibly go outside the bounds he’d set for himself.Ignis tugs at the front of the hoodie. It’s so large three of him could fit in it, but he speaks as if he thinks the doctor is an idiot. “This is his shirt. The baby likes him. It will be fine.”“That’s not quite what I meant. It’s best if he’s against bare skin, if you’re comfortable opening your shirt,” she murmurs, positioning the holding pillow and some blankets in Ignis’ lap.He almost looks like he will back out, change his mind, but he finally moves to unzip the jacket, unbutton the top of his shirt. The boy then murmurs something too softly for Titus to hear, but whatever it was, it makes the doctor laugh.His face is unreadable as she carefully lifts the baby from the incubator, the nurse beside her lifting up his breathing tubes. Ignis looks somewhere between anxious and excited, and he’s shaking as he lifts his hands a few inches, drops them again. He doesn’t seem to know what to do, but he immediately relaxes when Dr. Argentum places the baby in his arms.Ignis is holding him too tight, his trembling arms squeezing the bundle against his chest as he curls his feet up onto the couch, ignoring all protocol. But the baby - Somnus - doesn't seem stressed. In fact, his reaction is powerful, immediate. He smells extremely happy, overjoyed and excited, so much so that Titus is a little concerned about his heart. The little thing had never shown much emotion, soft contentment when held or scented by Titus, but little else. But the scent of a child being held by its omega mother is infinitely different than that of a merely contented baby.He sees a little hand slowly reach up, press against Ignis' chest. As a response, Ignis eagerly scents him, rubbing his chin against the baby's head and his wrists over his body. He's being too rough, and Titus' hands twitch, desperate to stop him, but Dr. Argentum gives him a look and he resists.She crosses the room and gently takes his arm, tugging him back a few meters and turning him against the wall. "Give him some time alone. Little Somnus is sturdy. This is what he's needed for weeks. We have plenty of alarms if any of his tubes come loose or his vitals show any sign of distress."Titus looks back on him. He can hear Ignis making a soft noise, crooning as he continues to rub his chin and face against the bundle of blankets in his arms. Both the mother and baby are releasing pheromones of joy and comfort, and it's making Titus dizzy. It reminds him of Loqi, of how he had smelled as a child, but something more at the same time. He’d never seen Loqi interact with an omega, never seen how much babies seem to bond so quickly with omega mothers. He leans back against the wall and watches him silently.Ignis holds him for nearly an hour before he shifts and looks around, clearly getting uncomfortable in that position but unwilling to upset the baby.The doctor was clearly waiting for him to do that. “Would you like me to take him?”He nods once, looking uncertain.Titus moves towards him too, only half aware. Seeing someone hold the baby over the floor always makes him uneasy, even though he knows nothing will happen as Dr. Argentum carefully takes the little thing from him.Ignis is anxious, rolling forward onto the balls of his feet before rocking back as he watches she gently place Somnus back into his incubator. “He’s fussing.”“He’s all right,” she murmurs, rearranging his blankets. He isn’t fussing, at least not that Titus can hear, but Ignis is clearly overwhelmed."When can I take him with me?"She smiles. "He still needs at least another month here, but you can visit him daily of course."Ignis glances over at Titus, expectedly looking near tears.“I’ll bring you whenever you want,” he says quickly, eager to make him calm down.The boy doesn’t respond, but he smiles absently, reaches over and presses his hand against the side of the incubator for a moment. For the first time since Titus began spending any amount of time, since he’d joined the Kingsglaive months ago, he looked and smelled genuinely happy.-He’s on his computer catching up on his emails, an unnecessary amount of briefings, when Ignis approaches him. He’s freshly bathed, hair still damp and in his flannel pajamas. He says nothing, only waves absently at him before climbing onto the couch and immediately curling up beside him.“Hi,” Titus immediately closes his computer. Hardly anything high-security, or he wouldn’t be using his home internet, but he still doesn’t want Ignis to read his emails.“Mm,” is all he says, closing his eyes. He’s warm and he smells like shampoo and comfort. Titus sits still, not daring to move for a few minutes. He’d been about to go to bed, and he’s slightly irritated that he can’t now; he doesn’t sleep much, and certainly doesn’t sleep well. Losing the time always frustrates him no matter how used to it he is from his time in the military.He doesn’t quite know what makes him move, hardly even notices he’s doing it, but he slowly lifts his arm, places it on the couch behind him. He doesn’t touch him, but he grants Ignis access if he wishes to be closer. The boy all but melts against him, that soft purring sound omegas sometimes make emanating from his throat. He smells extremely content despite everything he has been through in the last few hours, and Titus knows it’s because of the baby.It won’t stay that way. Trauma is volatile; it doesn’t play by the rules, and there’s no straight path to recovery. He himself can go months without being haunted by his dead parents and brother, by his burned homeland, and then it comes crashing down on him again when he hears a single word that jars a memory. In two days, Ignis might hate the child again, want nothing to do with him or being an omega, but for right now, that hardly matters. He seems truly happy for the first time in months.“Do you want to be scenting me, or are you just moving?” he murmurs after perhaps ten minutes, when he suddenly feels Ignis pressing his wrist against his own.“I want to.” Indignant again.Ignis turns towards him a bit more, lifts his hand and rubs his wrist against the side of Titus’ neck, pressing against his gland. A much more intimate form of scenting, the neck gland larger than the wrists. Titus sighs, feeling the sudden release of pheromones, the sense of relaxation. He hasn’t been scented in a long time; only Loqi ever did it to him, and he hasn’t seen his son in over a month now.He turns his head, leans on Ignis’ thin arm and scenting him in return. He can’t recall ever using his neck glands, Loqi unlikely to touch his neck except to cling to him when demanding attention. Mutual scenting. He is light against him, now wrapping his other arm around Titus’ back, worming between him and the couch. It’s uncomfortable, but he keeps still and lets Ignis decide where to be and what to do. It seems safest.Another ten minutes pass before Ignis is asleep.-Ignis pushes something into his hand, still tousle-haired from a night alone in the bedroom after he’d gotten off the couch, but dressed in day clothes.“What’s this?” A pointless question. He knows it’s a thumb drive; he doesn’t close his fingers around it and takes another sip of his tea. He still doesn’t touch the coffee he’s been making for Ignis every morning, can’t stand the bitterness no matter what he adds to it.“Don’t look at it unless anything happens to me.”“What does that mean?”“Ardyn told me things. I put my phone on record before I went into the room,” he lifts his chin slightly, cocky. “Audio record. I texted him last night, told him you had a copy and if anything happened to me or Noct, or if he tried to take the baby, you’d release it to every major news outlet in both Lucis and Niflheim.”He takes it slowly and with dread. This boy is dangerous. He’s always known this, but the Ignis he has been living with these last couple of months was not the same cunning child he used to be. It was safe to live with him when he was so distracted, but now… “What things?” Nothing about himself, surely, or Ignis wouldn’t be acting this way, but they’re both so damn unpredictable.“Doesn’t matter. Maybe I’ll tell you someday, maybe not.”He’s silent, mulling this over. He might know, he might know. And even if he doesn’t, he realizes that Ignis could just as easily do the same thing to him if he ever found anything out. He should end this, tell the King he can’t keep living with him anymore. “I’ll put it in my safebox,” he finally sighs.“Leave a note with the King then with the combination. If it’s locked up, he could just kill you, too, and then nobody can access it.”He’d be damned if he gave the King access to that safebox. There’s nothing incriminating, but it’s private. The only remainders of his life before Insomnia, the life Regis had ripped him away from. But he doesn’t need to tell Ignis that, so he pockets it and changes the subject. “Fine. Are you actually going to go to school?”Ignis snorts. “No. Take me to the hospital.”“You have an attitude problem sometimes, you know that?” 
Part 6, Chapter 6 - Regis
“Somnus, hm? The first king of Lucis!”Ignis is smiling. So rare to see that these days. “I hope it’s okay. I know my birth is a bit controversial, his even more so, but…” He doesn’t look particularly sorry though, and Regis doesn’t expect him to. Ignis has never been one to apologize if he doesn’t mean it.“Of course it’s okay. You may name him whatever you like.” The name does unexpectedly delight him. He can no longer ignore Ignis’ heritage, and perhaps now this will serve as a reminder for him.The boy bows, another thing he hasn’t done in some time. He almost seems normal again, and Regis is relieved. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed him, even if he hadn’t spent so much time with him to begin with. “I kept Scientia for him because… that name is important for him, even if it might mean nothing.”Now that he knows he is a bastard, he knows Scientia is not the name of his father. As far as he knows, it’s his mother’s name. He’s fishing, trying to get me to confirm or deny it. He’s not ready to dredge those memories up yet though, so he only smiles and turns towards the incubator to look down at the little thing. He’s awake, his eyes half open as he tries to turn his head towards the sound of Ignis’ voice, tubes and blankets in the way.Thriving, is what the doctor had said, ever since Ignis first held him a few days ago. Happier and more alert, though for a premature baby his age, that hardly means much.He sees a copy of the birth certificate then, tucked into the baby’s medical file, and slips it out, his back to Ignis and Noctis now, who are talking about something irrelevant now.Captain Titus Drautos is listed as the father.It makes him uneasy, somehow. I asked him to marry Ignis to protect him. There’s nothing to indicate that isn’t the case, but it crosses his mind then for the first time that Drautos might, too, be taking advantage of him. Why else would Ignis put his name down? Ignis wouldn’t be so easily swayed, surely? But the same boy had been seduced by Ardyn. He’s only a child.-Titus looks at him for a long time before finally folding his hands on the table before him and glancing down. King Regis had summoned him to the Council Room to talk about a recent report from Altissia. They were requesting a joint military exercise, uneasy about Niflheim intruding in their waters recently. Such a show of power was a risky maneuver, and he wished for the Captain’s input.It’s only after that discussion is out of the way when he asks him what’s been pressing on his mind even more so. “I have to speak with you about something more…personal, I supposed. What do you know of Ignis’ mother?”
He’s slow to raise his head, but when he does, he speaks calmly. “She’s one of my people, and Galahdian heritage is passed through the mother He is a prince of Galahd. Both Ignis and the child.”As he’d expected. It was hardly a state secret, but he hadn’t been certain that Titus knew, that he’d made the connection. There is that feeling again, that sense that Titus Drautos is taking advantage of the situation somehow, that he had made a mistake in giving his son to this man in marriage. Regis closes his eyes. He knows where this is going before the next words are said; he’d started this conversation, but Titus had taken control of it within a few seconds.“Call for Galahd to be released from Niflheim.”“You know I can’t do that,” he exhales sadly. If anyone else had suggested this, he would be angry. Titus is being far too assertive, too demanding, and the request is outrageous. But he knows his history, and he can’t help but pity him. After all, this man has done so much to protect Ignis. Perhaps accommodating his wish should genuinely be considered in exchange for so readily agreeing to the marriage. Assuming he hasn’t been hurting him just as Ardyn had. No. Even if he weren’t, this can’t be a political marriage. He can’t use Ignis as a chess piece like that, and he’s angry that Titus would even consider it.“You can. Galahd has a prince now, and an heir on top of that. His mate is the Chancellor of the nation currently occupying the land. It should be possible to negotiate this, especially now with the child.”“Even if that were feasible, both Ignis and Somnus are omegas.”“Omegas are considered royalty in Galahdian culture. You know that.”He sighs. “Why would Niflheim even entertain this idea? They’ve refused every offer I’ve made.” And he has made offers, a great number of them.“Ignis has things on the Chancellor. He can force his hand.”Regis looks sharply at him now. This man knows too much. I knew he had something up his sleeve, that he has been using Ignis. “What things could be so grievous as to make that monster change his mind about anything?”“I don’t know. I merely trust Ignis enough to believe him, that whatever information he holds is dangerous enough to cause great upheaval if he releases those recordings.” There’s a silence then as the King waits for him to continue. “He gave me a recording. I promised him I would not listen to it unless something happened to him, the Prince, or the baby.”“He trusts you.”“He likes how I take care of Somnus. Nothing more, nothing less.” He says this as if he believes it, and it’s very possibly true, though he has difficulty believing it.“If you ever wish to end the marriage, you of course have my permission. I never realized how badly you wanted a family until now.” It would be easier, after all. Do it now before Ignis gets any closer to him, before his attachment to the child gets any worse, before he gets any more ideas about Galahd and an unknown recording that can’t possibly be worth a kingdom.This unexpectedly makes him smile, a twitch of the corner of his mouth. “No need. I’m not cut out for a mate.”“Don’t you want a child of your own?”“Biological parents are irrelevant. One of the few benefits of not being royalty.” He could be smug about it, but his voice is as devoid of emotion as ever. The only time Regis has ever seen him react to much of anything is when he holds the baby. He hadn’t even cried when they’d left Galahd all those years ago.“I understand.” He doesn’t, not really. “Thank you for taking care of Somnus and Ignis so diligently.”The Captain knows well enough when he is dismissed. He stands, bows, murmurs a thank you, and leaves the room, taking with him the subtle scent of Ignis.Regis stays seated for some time after, looking down at his hands. Ignis is a prince of Galahd. I knew this, but I acted too quickly when I heard what happened to him. I knew he’d be safe with Titus, and so I put them together without thinking about it. And now I… He groans, rubbing his brow. He mustn’t consider the possibility of taking the child, of seeing if he might trade him for Noctis’ life. He mustn’t, not when Titus is this attached. I owe this man. I adopted him, promised him his homeland but have yet to deliver on it. He remembers Ignis’ face at the hospital that morning, the joy on his face when he talked about the child.And he remembers Noctis grinning beside him.

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Part 6, Chapter 7 – Gladio
Prompto looks uncomfortable, though Gladio can’t tell if that’s because he’s scared of babies or because his mother is in the room and he’s embarrassed. Gladio knows he himself would be, especially if his mother was that pretty. Looks nothing like Prompto. Hard to believe they’re from the same family. He wonders absently what his father looks like; even after being to the boy’s house a few times, he never saw him in any family photos.It’s the first time he and Prompto could actually see the baby out of the incubator. Noctis has seen him already because Ignis has been holding him pretty often lately, like nothing ever happened. It’s a big relief. Gladio doesn’t exactly like babies; the only one he’d ever really known was a massive disruption to his life and a hassle nearly 24/7, as cute as she was. He’s leery of any others, fat little noisy things that can’t do anything on their own. It’s hard to believe he himself used to be one.Still, he’s curious about this one, as he’s half Ignis. “Can I hold him?”Ignis shoots him an unexpectedly dirty look, like he’s pissed anyone would even ask. “I don’t think so.”I held Iris plenty and I was a baby myself. But that probably wasn’t a good idea because he could only ever do it when they were with their father, not their mum. He shrugs then, leaning over and touching the baby’s tiny hand. Ignis moves away from him slightly before relaxing, like he noticed what he was doing.“Bet he’d pee on you anyway,” Prompto suddenly pipes up, making Noctis burst out laughing. Gladio wishes they’d go away. He wants to talk to Ignis alone.“He doesn’t pee really. Not yet,” Ignis acts so normal talking about it, like he’s just talking about eating. Gladio suddenly remembers a time a few years ago when Ignis had calmly told him that Noctis kept wetting his bed due to nightmares from the demon attack. Ignis had been ten or eleven and already dealing with that, being a parent, so maybe this wasn’t so unusual.Despite always having that more adult streak, Ignis looks older these days. Not anything most people would notice, but Gladio has always paid a lot of attention to him. His face is a little sharper now, less childish.He sometimes thinks about calling him cute to his face, but he’d never do it, not now when he’s bonded with someone else.Then again, he's not even really the Chancellor's anymore.He always smells like his husband now. Gladio wants to ask about it, but he's also afraid to. He doesn't think they're having sex, but he can't be sure. He never thought Ignis would go to a hotel with a middle-aged man either. Captain Drautos doesn't seem his type, but they are living together and.... No point in thinking about it.Ignis jostles the baby slightly then, moving to scent him, and Prompto and Noctis immediately jump up, clearly afraid the baby’s going to cry or pee or something.“There’s a vending machine down the hall. Out the unit and to the right,” Ignis glances at them. “Take some money from my bag if you need it.”It’s enough. The two younger kids immediately bolt, chattering about what the machines have, as Noctis is clearly an expert on it.Ignis looks at Gladio then, narrows his eyes. “You obviously wanted to talk to me alone, so what is it?”He’s taken aback by this, a little uncomfortable with how Ignis had caught on so quickly. "Will you be coming back to school anytime soon?" he asks instead, uncertain of the answer. It's weird, not seeing Ignis in school, and even weirder not knowing why he isn't there. He's fully healed by now, or at least enough so to go back to school. The old Ignis he knew, the Ignis...before... Would have been trying to go to school from his hospital bed."Not really your business, but no." He says it with such finality that Gladio is momentarily struck dumb.And when he can speak, it's just to say something he must already know. "You're too young to drop out. You have to go until you're 16.""Not for omegas. In fact, it's expected we will drop out.”Ignis is so stubborn, so smart. It’s hard to believe that if someone told him omegas usually drop out, that they’re useless, he’d just lower his head and agree with them. It’s like he’s just being the omega everyone expects him to be, which is weird. Gladio knows it’s trauma, knows all the right words that adults say to describe the situation, but it still makes no sense to him. “That’s bullshit – why should you be expected to drop out?”“There are hardly job options for us.""But you're Noct's....""Advisor in training? He needs someone who will actually be useful."His father had told him that Ignis' position was perfectly stable, omega status regardless, so Gladio has nothing to say to this. Ignis was always the practical one, and unfortunately what he's saying makes some sense. The discrimination is so significant that it will be difficult for Ignis to do much of anything or be taken seriously in such a powerful position. But shouldn't that be changing? The Oracle had made a statement recently, pushing for new laws, but nothing had happened yet. Not so easy to just do that. Lots of people have been pretending to be outraged because that’s the fun thing to do, but nobody seemed to actually want to change anything. Gladio had never been more aware of how helpless he was until now.-He waits for her at her locker, just like he used to when they were dating.“Hey, quick question?”She nods. She has lipstick on, which is a little distracting. She didn’t wear much when they’d dated, but they’d been younger then. Her name is Viola, one of his many exes, and one who had written to Ignis after his situation went public. Even if girls are betas, seems that they don’t have much better luck than a lot of male omegas do.“I want to try to do something at the school for omegas, like a campaign to help them stay in school. It seems like most omegas drop out…”She’s not paying too much attention to him as she pulls the next class’ book out of her locker. “Oh yea? Why ask me?”They hadn’t left on bad terms, not exactly, but they weren’t great either. The two hadn’t talked since they’d broken up, so this is a little weird, after all. Gladio doesn’t dare tell her he didn’t even give Ignis the note, much less that he read it, but he wants to bring it up somehow. “Ignis wanted me to say thank you, for that letter you sent him. He appreciated it.”She twirls her hair around her index finger, not meeting his eyes for a moment before sighing. “Uh huh. I don’t think he had thanks for any other person who wrote him cards. I’ll try to assume that you yourself didn’t look at it.”He swallows a little too loudly. He’s usually better at talking to girls, fooling them, not that he ever really needed to. He just did it. He’d even lied to Viola a lot in the past, but guess that she got smarter about talking to boys. “Yea.” No reason to say it. “But I know you’re in Student Council and stuff, and you’re always on social media about issues.”“So are plenty of other girls.” She smirks. “Anyway, with who your dad is, wouldn’t it be easy for you to propose stuff to the Council yourself? Why do you need some school activist movement?”“His own father is the king and that doesn’t seem to make a big difference, does it? He still has to run most things through the Council and everyone there’s got different attitudes. Maybe it’s better to get more attention in other ways. The Oracle already made a statement, and there was that article a while ago.” It’s probably the most he’s ever said to her, he realizes suddenly. Usually their conversations composed of flirting, foreplay, and jokes about school, drama about her friends.“The one that blew up until a lot of Alphas buried it by pointing out that sometimes get sexually harassed, too?”“Yea, that was a good article though.”Eye roll. She’s guarded. Definitely knows he read the letter himself, probably knows Ignis never saw it. “You care a lot about omegas now that Ignis manifested.”“How can I not?”She flicks her hair. “Just should have paid attention to them beforehand. It’s sad that people only care about things when it directly affects them.”“Sorry?”She laughs then, suddenly leaning forward and gently touching his shoulder. “It’s fine. You’re just dense sometimes, part of why all the girls like you. Do you have any plans, or do you want me to take the wheel?”“Schools should make more accommodations for omega students, I guess. With the sons of the king in this school system, I think it’d set an example other schools would want to follow. And companies should…”“That’s good for now,” she cuts him off. “We’ll think of something. Come to the Student Council meeting tomorrow.”Skip training to go sit in a classroom for even longer? That might be going a little too far. “Maybe next week?”She rolls her eyes. 
Part 6, Chapter 7 – Verstael
Ardyn’s calling him on his computer. He rarely does that unless he has something urgent, much prefers to come up to the laboratory in person. This could be bad news, or it could be something Ardyn alone perceives as bad news, or it could be some fort of exceptional boredom. Hard to say.But whatever he has to say can’t be as important as what Verstael has been mulling over the last few days. The moment the video connects, he all but jumps at his screen, clasping his hands together. “I’d like to see the baby myself as soon as I can. When he’s out of the intensive care unit, you must bring him here. I need to run tests on him, find out if he’s naturally immune to the Scourge, at last to symptoms. He might even be carrying a genetic strain that offers immunity, a natural vaccine. The blood sample I have is quite promising and…”He pauses. Not that that would necessarily be a good thing to have a vaccine when the disease offers the Empire so much power, but he’s curious. He must know. He doesn’t particularly like experimenting on babies, but what’s a little more bloodwork and a few injections? After all, maybe this one isn’t even actually a human. He doesn’t quite but that, but…“Yes, of course,” Ardyn sighs, but he’s not listening. He has something else he wants to talk about. “I tried to tell Ignis who I really am, what I am. He didn’t take it very well, even tried to kill me again. Overall pretty entertaining in some regards, but he really must get used to this,” he’s airy about it, like he doesn’t care about it at all, as if this wasn’t an urgent call.Verstael can’t register what he’s saying. "You what?""I told him who I was," he shrugs dramatically, but he looks guilty now. “The whole Lucis Caelum bit, the immortality. Didn’t quite get to the Scourge, but that will have to be next time.”Verstael is having difficulty grappling with this. Ignis is a throwaway, an inconvenience, someone Ardyn doesn't care about in the least. "Why? And to do it again?""Because he's my mate.""That isn't enough, not based on what you've complained about regarding him" he leans against the table behind him and sighs. “Do you trust him not to tell anyone?”“Not particularly, but who would believe him? It’s too ludicrous a story, and he’s clearly mentally unstable right now.” Like he has nothing to do with it.“Still too great a risk. If the King believes him, it can’t possible go well for Niflheim. He might try to extradite you to try you as a traitor or something.A shrug.There can only be one explanation. Ardyn likes doing things solely to cause trouble, but this is different; this is more personal, something rare for the Chancellor. "Are you jealous of Glauca?"He expects a scoff, a snort, a roll of the eyes, but Ardyn answers it honestly. "They often scent each other. I'm fairly certain they share a bed, too. Not intimately, but they are closer than I'd like them to be.""Do you know who his mother is?"Ardyn shrugs. “Quite the subject change. I have an inkling, but never been interested enough to pursue it. Can you tell where she's from based on the baby's bloodwork?""Of course," Verstael looks disgusted at the question. "It's a popular thing these days. People submit a blood sample to a commercial lab to find out exactly where their ancestors are from. The genotypes are readily available.""Spare me the details. What did you learn?”He scowls. Sometimes details are necessary. "She's from Galahd, like his surrogate…father, I supposed.” Awkward situation, at best.Ardyn appears to be mulling this over, his eyes flickering to the side in that way they do when he’s uncomfortable.“I hate to say it, but you ought to have suspected it, given the King’s weird behavior with that territory.” Granted, he’d adopted Titus Drautos long before Ignis had been conceived, but who knew how long any relationship between him and the woman lasted.“Well, I didn’t,” he snaps petulantly. He blows a kiss at him before disconnecting, laughing when Verstael can’t help but blush. He still gets to him after all these years. Infuriating. He wishes he had had the chance to hang up before anyone else could.It’s only later that night when it properly registers. Ardyn had called him because he wanted someone to talk to, as if he were looking for a friend. Third time in over twenty-five years he’d done such a thing.-He deliberates on what to do next. Calling Glauca is the most practical thing to do, but he’s already had one conversation today and talking to Ardyn always unrustles him for the day, as it is. Glauca and Ardyn couldn’t be more difference; perhaps talking to him would calm him down again, but he’s a bit boring. Something creepy about him. Verstael had met a lot of people like that in the military, seen a lot of people like that die because they just did their duty without looking for innovative ways to carry it out. All those deaths might be why he went in the direction that he did. Might be.He doesn’t know if he’d care if Glauca died. Maybe.But he still doesn’t call him. He dwells on it for another hour or so before getting distracted by checking on his pitch drop experiment. The most normal, mundane experiment he’d ever performed, largely only because it infuriated Ardyn, and setting him off was difficult to do. A glass pitcher turned upside down, filled with pitch that has been slowly, slowly oozing down for years. There’d been a drop, finally, and he had missed it.So it isn’t until the evening when he remembers he needs to call the Captain.Another video call. He usually doesn’t like these, but he needs to see Glauca. It’s been too long, and he doesn’t trust Ardyn enough to know for certain that everything is fine with one of his finest experiments.He gets the message he expects, an immediate text. “Half an hour.”Which means he’s free, just not where he should be to take such a call, even on his Niflheim cell phone. Verstael leans back at his desk and waits for approximately six minutes before beginning to fidget.Fortunately, it isn’t a full half hour, but was instead twenty-six minutes. Drautos must have been out, driving around and fortunately in the general area. He’d have to ditch the car somewhere, probably at a mall or train station nearby. Far too conspicuous; Verstael had tried to tell him that a number of times before, but the fool apparently feels insecure enough about his masculinity, somehow, that he likes having the fancy car.Verstael leans forward as Drautos nee Glauca flicks on the camera. He’s not in uniform, looks bored and tired.“I was grocery shopping,” he sighs. “There better be a good reason for this.”"Ah, buying baby formula or something? If I were there in person, you'd reek of Ignis, wouldn't you?"Drautos gives him that deadfaced look he's so good at. He doesn't deny it. "It’s easier than the alternative of seeing him sulk. What a way to start a conversation.""You haven't told him about this place, have you?"A second apartment, far from his first, in a dingy quarter on the outskirts of the city. Glauca was always paranoid, suspicious of his apartment being bugged, and so he kept another that nobody would even look twice at, unless they were in disbelief that anyone would live in such a vile place. Paid in cash to a paper landlord at a paper company; most apartments in that building were owned by pimps or drug dealers. The whole thing was a wise idea, even if Ardyn had laughed at him over it. He had no need to discretion."Why would I? The other one is plenty big for two of us, and even if it weren’t, I’d hardly ever bring him here."Verstael holds up three fingers. "You should get a new one.""Why do you talk about such inane things? Why did you call?"He doesn't lower his hand, only keeps smiling. Not good at conversation, that's what all the women he'd tried to date so many years ago said. Among other things, anyway. No matter. It isn't necessary for his job. "You never have anything personal to say, so I can't help but be curious about the great General. You are one of my experiments, after all."He looks bored, as if wearing a mask for so long had stripped him of the ability to react to anything. "At this point, they are my concern. If Ignis learns of anything he shouldn't, I'll take care of him.""You'd kill him?" Impressive. Ardyn would be enraged, but the whole affair would be entertaining. "The Chancellor thinks you are attached.""That, too, is none of your concern. If he becomes a problem, he dies.""That's a bit heartless.""Unless you have something important to tell me, I'm disconnecting."He heaves a sigh. So much for practicing his conversation skills "Summon the armor. You haven't in over a month now, and I'm concerned about the connection you still have with it.""Does that matter? ""It’s never been this long. You really should come back here soon, too. Ardyn can easily cover both roles, but sooner or later he's going to act out of character and eyebrows will be raised." The fact that Ardyn has managed to keep his mouth shut as Glauca for as long as he has is impressive, and every day Verstael gets more and more nervous about it.It takes nothing for Drautos to become the General. The armor melds to him quickly, far more so than it does for Ardyn, who failed to properly bond with it. The irony is that he uses the Chancellor's armiger for it, further fueled by the King's and therefore improving his speed still further. The King will feel a faint pull, but only insomuch as he feels every Kingsglaive member drawing a weapon. He must tune it out by now, having an entire army using his power. Verstael always found it comical, how the King was fueling the very weapon that would eventually kill him. Part of the deal with Glauca was that he wanted to be the one to kill the king, a demand he had made over a decade ago by now."The sword?"Glauca raises his hand, pulls it from the air immediately. Even the sword he uses as a Glaive is massive, and with a suit of armor he can easily wield one nearly twenty pounds. An unnecessary show, but that's Alphas for you."Does it feel strange?"There is a moment's pause. "A little. It's been some time.""I mean, did you sense any resistance? Discomfort?""More than I'd like."He lets out a sigh in a low hiss. Terrible. Of course this man would ruin one of his greatest experiments; he was a clever man, but hardly inquisitive or scientifically-minded. He had no idea how much effort was put into that suit. "You need to come back here."The sword dissipates and he lowers his land. "I'll come sometimes, a day here and there, or I can meet Ardyn somewhere.""That won't be enough. You need a steady connection, because so much time apart weakens the link significantly. Even if you come back, it will take some time to rebuild. You ought to know this, seeing as you must have felt your connection to Regis weakening when you spend too much time here.""I can't pull on the King much further than this. He'll notice if the surge is too strong, and he must realize this is a foreign magic. It isn't a weapon of Insomnia, but something he doesn't understand."And suddenly it occurs to him. He has another source of magic, likely probably two depending on the baby. "There is one other way..." No, it will infuriate Ardyn. Not that it matters, because this will solve a problem and be an interesting experiment, besides. "Your little husband. He should have his own magic, no?"He's careful, guarded. "I haven't seen it.""Well, he does. Ardyn's seen it."If he's put off by this, he doesn't show it. "Are you suggesting that I ask Ignis to bond his magic to me?""Essentially, yes. If you are always pulling on him when he knows you're in Niflheim or away on duty, he won't think it's strange. He can't possibly know what various weapons feel like, how the suit feels different. I sincerely doubt that he would have anyone...""I get the picture," he cuts him off. "I can't do that to him. He doesn't even seem to know he has magic and certainly has no control over it.""He doesn't need to control it; only you do. You've bonded twice now in this regard. Surely you know how it works." Glauca does, as he was the one who had first suggested it to Ardyn and Verstael so many years ago. He's normally a smart one, viciously practical, merciless. He ought to be all over this idea."Then you abandon your role as Titus Drautos and come to Gralea permanently. Or abandon Glauca, though you know well you would die for it.""I'll consider speaking to the king about it," he finally sighs.He doesn't quite know how speaking to the king would work to their advantage here, but politics frustrate him. Too much emotional awareness involved, too much knowledge about how people behave is required, and Verstael has better things to do than try to learn such things that can only be so useful. “Don’t consider it. You only have three options. Give up one half of your life or make Ignis bond his magic to you.”“I can’t make him do anything. I’m not Ardyn.”It’s the first time he has ever shown any hint of anger at the Chancellor over the situation. Intriguing. Verstael wonders if it’s because of the baby that he seems to like so much. “I’ll repeat. That’s the only option you have. Maybe you ought to try to sweet-talk him into it? Pretend it’s in order to protect the baby.”“Besithia,” he sighs. “Don’t.”“Don’t what?”“Just don’t.” And he disconnects.How he hates being hung up on.

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Part 6, Chapter 8 – Noctis
The baby is finally leaving the hospital. He almost didn’t. There were a couple of times in the last month when he almost died, even though he was already born and doing okay. Infections and other things that didn’t make much sense, because Noctis is pretty sure that infections only come from cuts and the baby didn’t have any.Noctis had thought that somehow, maybe, just maybe, Ignis and the baby would move in with him again. They can manage to take care of little Somnus together, can’t they? But his father said no, and Captain Drautos said no even more loudly. There was talk about moving Ignis and the baby to the Citadel, which Noctis thinks makes the most sense, but for some reason, it isn’t going to happen yet. The Captain doesn’t want to move, and Ignis seems fine staying with him. He likes the baby. He knows how to take care of him. Noctis doesn’t know if that’s really the situation, but he can’t think of anything else, and so he just goes along with whatever Ignis says. A baby can’t be that hard to take care of. It seems like the older one gets, the less likely they are to die from something random. So it annoys him a little that they can’t just handle it themselves. Trusting adults with him makes no sense when they failed Ignis so badly.“Crib in your room?” The only bedroom. The Captain sleeps on the couch in the living room. “Won’t he wake you up?”“He will anyway,” Ignis shrugs.So one of those days. A “I don’t care about this thing” day. The older boy goes back and forth. Some days he even denies Somnus exists, but that doesn’t mean Noctis can’t handle it. Noctis jumps into the bed, settling into the nest there as he watches his brother scent and rearrange the blankets in the crib. It’s a relief, seeing him act responsible even when he’s irritated about the situation. As much as Noctis likes it when Ignis screws around, he only likes it when he’s happy. If he’s doing it for other reasons, it’s no good.Which is why he’s glad that Ignis has gone to school a few times. Never to class, but he’s gone in for paperwork and meetings, which means he might eventually go back. And he’s finally started helping Noctis with his homework again, a massive relief. His own grades have been suffering, and while everyone just assumed it was stress, it was also because Ignis wasn’t helping him any longer.“Is he going to be the prince now?”Ignis looks up at the wall for a long time, absently folding and refolding the same blanket. “I don’t know. The King hasn’t really talked to me about it.”“He can be. I don’t really want to be anyway.”“I don’t know about…”“His other parent?” He doesn’t want to say his name.“No,” Ignis says quickly. “That’s not the problem. He’s an omega, and I don’t think omegas can rule.”There’s never been one, at least not that is recorded. But there are a few kings lost to time, a blank number here and there. Maybe those four were omegas. Noctis has wondered about them before and that makes more sense than everyone just actually forgetting the name of a king. It’s not like there was anything bad happening in the history books those years. “What about the unnamed kings?”“If that’s why they are unnamed, then I don’t think anybody wants another.”Noctis knows he’s probably sounding too eager. Being king just sounds stressful and boring, and his dad never seems very happy being king. It might be mean to make the baby be king instead, but he doesn’t know any better. “Maybe I can pass it onto him, make a royal law or something. Nobody has any right to complain about an omega ruler.” We aren’t Niflheim, he almost says, but he catches himself in time.He’s learning that his own country isn’t quite as perfect as he was always led to believe. 
Part 6, Chapter 8 - Titus
The baby is home. Somehow, that means to his apartment. He doesn’t quite know how that’s happened, but it was simply everyone’s assumption that Titus would be the one caring for the baby. The king had offered better living quarters in the Citadel if he still wanted to live with Ignis, who seemed utterly disinterested in any significant decisions regarding his future. Titus likes his apartment though, likes being apart from the King, having his own space in a neighborhood where people speak his language. Nobody had ever suggested taking the baby away from him, putting him in the care of someone else. He doesn’t know how he feels about that.Seven nights now. Somnus still sleeps like a newborn, quiet and sluggish for a good twenty hours a day. He’s rarely fussy at night, though when he goes off, there never seems to be any reason for it. It’s those times when Titus usually takes him, walks in circles around the neighborhood with him strapped to his chest at odd hours of the night. He cares more than he should.Ignis is fussing as much as the baby, anxiously pacing the bedroom, continually going over to the crib and rearranging everything. Somnus is affected by his mother’s anxiety, and Titus has to fight the urge to go over and tell him to calm down, sit down. He will need to work it out himself. Just as Titus himself has much he needs to work out.He hasn’t forgotten his conversation with Verstael. He’s just put it on the back burner, unsure of what to do about it just yet. But he’s been pushing his luck, as it’s been a month now.Loqi is safe. Aranea has still been watching him, sending him regular updates. Somehow, she seems to be the only person Ardyn is scared of, and so Titus knows he has little to worry about when his son is with her. But that can only last for so long. She has a job and things to attend to, and the longer he’s away, the less protection everyone has. Ardyn might be able to wear the armor and pretend to be him, but he can’t be him.It should be easy to just bond with Ignis, take his magic and once again have the power of Glauca without relying on the King. Or Ardyn. The thought is tempting.But he can’t just take his magic, can’t force him to share with him.He’s been bonded to someone else’s magic against his will once already, back when he was fifteen and the then-prince had shared his power. It had been meant to be a gift, surely, but it didn’t seem that way, and even now, after so many years… Using the King’s magic feels like an intrusion. It’s why he prefers to avoid magic whenever possible when fighting with the Glaives. He’s not like his prodigies, Nyx and Crowe, who use the King’s magic as if it were an extension of themselves. It always feels dirty to him.Ardyn’s magic is different. No less vile, but it was something he chose, and so it’s easier to bear.And so he must be honest with him. There’s no way around it. Titus has never had issues using others, killing them, lying to them, taking what he needs irregardless of others, but this is somehow different. Magic bonding is uncomfortably intimate. It wouldn’t be so different from what Ardyn did to him. Titus has to ask him, and he doesn’t know how he can explain why he needs it without involving the King.If I am to be his guardian and the caretaker of his son, I ought to be bound to his magic. It should be a simple request, but only heirs are permitted to share their magic. Logic and circumstance won’t change the rules of royalty; this entire fiasco has more than proved that.-Somnus is making the little mewling sounds he makes when he’s hungry; he’s an unexpectedly polite baby at times. Titus instinctively takes a step towards the kitchen, ready to grab a bottle, but Ignis stops him with a touch on his elbow.“I’ll feed him.”He glances down at him, nearly questioning him before giving up.Ignis feeds him inconsistently, sometimes using the bottle, sometimes nursing, and more than once trying to nurse before getting frustrated and stuffing a bottle in the baby’s mouth when he’s slow to latch. He’s taken a few breastfeeding classes in the hospital, but the concept of going to a class clearly makes him uncomfortable. For all of his maturity, he’s a thirteen-year-old boy, and he probably doesn’t like hanging around women twice his age all the time.Titus watches as Ignis opens his shirt, presses the baby to him. He isn’t shy about it, just as he is usually shy about nothing with his body in a way that is less to do with comfort and confidence as it does to do with lack thereof. Thank Shiva he hasn’t stripped and offered himself recently. Somnus waves a little hand, dwarfed in the onesie meant for newborns. He’s still tiny, small enough that he looks like he’s drowning in his preemie clothing.“Is he latching?” he asks mildly, not quite staring at the scars, his swollen nipples. It’s hard to predict what Ignis will do if he’s being stared at.Ignis shrugs, jostling the baby slightly. “Not yet. I’ll try the other side if he doesn’t in a minute.”“Try scenting him. He’s waving.”A flicker of a smile, “Is that what that means?”“I think so. He wants more contact.”“He already had about as much contact as he can get.” But he shifts slightly, rubs a wrist against Somnus, who immediately relaxes.He inhales slightly, aware that Ignis, too, smells calmer. “Babies don’t have common sense. Is he feeding now?”“Mm,” Ignis murmurs, now slowly curling around the baby in the way so many omega parents do when nursing. He smells comfortable, relaxed, faintly territorial. The smells of the apartment have rapidly changed since the baby moved in a week ago, in such a way that is at once welcoming and unnerving. It shouldn’t smell like a home when all of this is supposed to be temporary.It’s not a good time to bring this up, but he’s at least calm. Titus speaks carefully, focusing on how Somnus is being held as he speaks. “I need to talk to you about something.”Ignis cocks his head slightly. “Should I clear my schedule?”Of course, today he would be feeling good enough to be sarcastic. Titus sighs, unsure if he should even go on. But he remembers what Verstael had told him, that if he doesn’t gain access to Ignis’ magic, then one of his lives will be sacrificed. And he’d almost certainly be killed for it, as would Loqi.“You might have to. It might take some time.”“Tomorrow then? Do you have to do anything?”That seems too soon. “Let’s wait until the weekend.” Give me time to arrange things. To figure out what to say. And to decide how best to discreetly get rid of you if you pose a problem. The boy clearly doesn’t like this, and Titus can only imagine what’s running through his mind. He likely suspects that he’s about to be kicked out, or that it has to do with the baby, or that this has to do with Ardyn. But there’s nothing he can say to comfort Ignis, because what he has to tell him is almost certainly much, much worse than what he’s imagining.

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Part 6, Chapter 9 - Ignis
The baby is cooing, burbling in that way of his when he’s happy. Not the distressed noise he’d made a couple of weeks ago when he suddenly couldn’t breathe, when they’d rushed him to the hospital and left him there overnight. He’s content now, as healthy as he can be in the moment. The sound, the scent; both relax Ignis. The three of them are on the couch, Somnus lying against Titus’ chest while Ignis leans against them, touching the baby’s hand.“What does he think about?” Because it bothers him quite a bit, not knowing what he’s thinking. “He doesn’t have language to reflect on things.”“Probably just pictures. Food, us, sleep, not too much.”It’s too simple an answer. “Don’t you think about it?”“Not really. He’s just a little thing.” Titus suddenly grunts low in his chest. “We better put him down. He’s passed out.”He sleeps twenty hours a day. What difference does it make? But he doesn’t protest, merely leans over and rubs his chin against the baby. He doesn’t kiss him. He never kisses him; it’s something he makes a point not to do, just as he doesn’t really play with him. He will scent him, hold him, nurse him, but these are things that the baby needs to get by. The baby doesn’t need kisses or play, and Ignis only wants to make sure Somnus doesn’t die or suffer. He doesn’t know if he wants him. Titus can take care of everything else, because he seems to want him. It’s not as if he…Drautos stands slowly, pressing the baby to his chest and murmuring something Ignis can’t quite hear as he heads into the bedroom. The Alpha’s phone on the floor buzzes, indicating that the baby monitor has been turned on, and he reappears in the living room."There is no easy way to address this, but I need to talk to you about something."He's uncomfortable is what he notices immediately, even before he remembers that this had come up earlier. Ignis has never seen him uncomfortable despite everything they've gone through. Overall, he never seems particularly fazed by anything.So he nods just once, startled at how quickly the man’s mood had changed."I think I need to finally tell you who I am, but I have to go a long way back." It sounds rehearsed, stilted and awkward.Ignis shifts nervously at this. This isn't what I was expecting. He's either going to tell me something horrible about himself or properly propose. They might be married, but it's not as if it's a relationship. Last night, Titus had trimmed his hair, rested his hands on his shoulders and rubbed his glands against his neck. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, only basked in the affection. But maybe he was preparing for this. He pulls his feet up onto the couch and makes himself smaller as Titus steps into the kitchen and back out, holding a box.Ignis had seen the box before when poking around the apartment. It hadn’t been locked, but it looked private, and some strange part of Ignis had resisted opening it. Perhaps living in and around royalty for much of his life forced him to keep some sort of propriety, even if he missed out on that when it mattered. When an Alpha was around, and he wanted to be an adult. He knows now what it is, even before Titus opens it and pulls out a photograph. An old one, developed on film some time ago."This is my brother and I when I was ten. He was thirteen, your age.”Ignis leans in, feeling like he’s breaking some unspoken rule, like he’s doing something wrong by learning about such a secretive, formal person. The photo is two kids, arms around one another’s shoulders. He isn't even sure he can tell who is who; they're both about the same size, same messy hair and grin. "He's an omega, right?""He was, yes. He'd just passed through his first heat in this picture. My mother drew the tattoo marks on his face. Hard to see here but he has small ones beneath his eyes and on his neck.”“Galahdians get the tattoos when they start presenting?” Why is it anything to show off?“Omegas do. Alphas and betas have to earn them.”“Why don't you have any?" and then, because it hits him that if presenting as an omega is worth celebrating, then it probably isn’t rewarded with drugs and shame. "No suppressants?"He shakes his head. “No in Galahd. They exist, and people can use them if they wish, but one had to be an adult. Kids didn’t go on them.”“So nobody hurts them?”“There is nowhere in the world without horrible people, but it’s much rarer than it is here. Omegas were respected, as were women and children. Touching a child, and omegas were still considered children until they were eighteen, was grounds for expulsion from the country. Orphans were invariably adopted, so nobody was left without at least one parent watching them.”Ignis doesn’t like hearing Insomnia being so insulted, even if he knows Titus is correct. Especially because he sounds angry, like he’s angry for me. “And the tattoos?”“As for the tattoos, I didn’t have time. I became an adult in Insomnia, but I wasn’t a child anymore when I left my home… I was something in between.”Something about the way he says it, Ignis suspects he means something other than his age. “How old were you when you came?” He’d thought fifteen, when Titus would probably already have presented as an Alpha.“Fifteen. Everyone knew I was an Alpha by then, if that’s you’re wondering. This picture is from shortly before the bombing.”Another photo. He looks a good foot and a half taller than he’d been at ten, now overshadowing the man next to him who can only be his brother. There’s another man with them, another Alpha.“My brother’s fiancé. He was already a little pregnant when they were engaged.”“So he was pregnant at seventeen or eighteen?”“His choice. He wanted a family, and he was popular in town. He had many people trying to court him. Our mother was a little annoyed, but she approved of who and what he chose.”Court. It sounds too proper. “Didn’t people date normally? Like kids here?”“Yes but omega/Alpha relationships tended to be more traditional. Gifts and wooing. His mate was a weaver, so his gifts were more useful than some others.”He finds himself pressed up against Titus now as he examines another picture held up. It's too much to take in. A nation where omegas are treated well, where they choose their mates, where Alphas court them and bring them gifts, where people hunted and fished but still had modern luxuries. "The weaver cheated though. Any omega would fall for blankets."“He sure did.” There’s a flicker of a smile on his face now, like he’s trying not to laugh. “But our mother liked him, too. Our father wasn’t around, but it’s the mothers you have to impress there.”"Mm." He doesn't remember his own mother, and Noctis’ died before he ever knew her. It’s weird to think about people having mothers, sometimes. Things could have gone so differently. "What about you? Did you have anyone you liked?"“No. I never had any interest in that even as a teenager.”Ignis finds this hard to believe. Titus is attractive. He was an attractive teen. “So never in thirty-six years?”“I didn’t say that, but it’s largely true. That’s part of why the King asked me to be your paper spouse and not someone else.”Ignis had never considered that an Alpha’s sex life was also out in the open, though perhaps to a lesser degree. He doesn’t want to think about it any longer. “What was courting like there?”“Many gifts, formal house visits, meetings with parents. There were certainly pregnancies outside of marriage, like my brother’s, but overall it seemed a little more…” he shrugs. “There was less touching.”Unpleasant territory again. “If you could have stayed there, what would you would have done with your life? Still military?” Because it’s hard to imagine the kid in these photos going into the military.“No.” It’s all he says.“Then…?”Titus shakes his head. He only lifts up another photo, but he holds it upside down. “This is when things get complicated, what I needed to talk to you about.”It’s a baby. He freezes. So he already has a family, just like Ardyn had suggested. The baby looks nothing like Somnus. He's fat, round and pouty and clearly healthy with a tossle of blonde hair and big eyes. "You have a kid already."“Not genetically but adopted. His parents had abandoned him, and soon died, so there was no chance of reconciliation. He would have been killed.”He doesn’t think about it until later, but babies were not killed in Insomnia. “That’s what… Ardyn told me you had a family already.”“It’s true, in a way. I did not want to raise him in Insomnia, with the way omegas are treated here. He’s somewhere safe, with someone I trust caring for him when I can’t be there.”“He’s an omega?”“Yes, like Somnus. That’s why nobody wanted him.”“And when did you last see him? If he’s not in Insomnia? You’ve been with me all this….” But they were in Gralea a few months ago. The baby is blonde and blue-eyed like so many Nif people. Maybe he’s…Titus confirms his suspicions. “When we were in Gralea.”“You have a secret son who is a citizen of an enemy country.”He sighs. “Many Galahd people live in Gralea now, so I know some there who have no loyalty to the Emperor.”As if that’s enough. “And he’s with them?”He dodges the question. “I would like you to see him, for him to meet his new brother. They are the family I chose, unlike the King who made me his ward without his consent.”He holds his breath and leans away from him now. A lot of what Titus is saying suddenly sounds treasonous. But at the same time... He’d always found the relationship between him and the King a little strange, stilted and far too formal for people who were supposedly adopted family. "Are you still angry with him over that?"“Not particularly. Sometimes I think of it, and I wish I could have stayed in Galahd.”“Just go back.” Go back and take your other son who you never bothered to tell me about. He doesn’t know why it upsets him; Titus owes him nothing, but the thought makes him sick. This man knows everything about him. And yet he doesn’t want to go back to the other baby, doesn’t want to ask too many questions about the other son.“I realize now it isn’t the same, which is why I have not. The land needs to be its own again. I don’t want to visit a Niflheim colony.”But your child is in Gralea. He’s having trouble grasping the concept of Titus having a child though. It would explain why he adored Somnus so much, why he knew so much about how to care for a child, why he was so relentlessly affectionate towards something that gave nothing back but painful reminders. He leans into Titus again, reaches into the box and touches something soft.The Captain moves his hand as if to grab him, but he catches himself in time. “Braids. My brother’s. They are supposed to be cut off only before burial. My mother’s body was too burned.”Hair. “Did you have them?”“Clarus cut them off when I arrived in Insomnia.”The little braids in the box make him shudder. Nyx has them, as do many of the Galahdian men in the Kingsglaive. "Why?""They were foreign, I suppose. I didn’t object, so he probably thought he was doing me a favor. Just as your father thought he was doing me a favor by introducing me to the court, to the inner workings of the Crown and to politicians. He never treated me merely as a member of the military, but as someone who might eventually have a say in the government. When I was twenty, the Niflheim Chancellor arrived in Insomnia. I was meant to entertain him before the Council meeting, show him around the Citadel.”Ignis stiffens. Ardyn. He knew Ardyn that long ago. I should have known, I should have known. Because Titus had never talked so much, never said much of anything. Suddenly being so vocal…. As if he’s covering for something, apologizing. Because he’s the same as…And the Alpha confirms his fears by pushing on, speaking too much.“I was young and angry at the time. The other refugees didn’t consider me one of them, but the Insomnians didn’t either. The King and his close circle seemed oblivious to the situation I’d been put in. Only Cid noticed, but he didn’t stick around. I was lonely, angry, ready to pick a fight with anyone I could.”The sense of dread that’s settled in his stomach now threatens to rise into his throat. He doesn’t understand why Titus would say this, as if he were preparing a defense, but he has an idea. I should run. I should take the baby and leave right now.“This might seem peculiar, but I need to tell you. There’s much I need to tell you about who I am and what I’ve done.”“Why now?” It comes out violently, an exhale that hurts to let go. “You’ve never told me anything about yourself before.”He groans and rubs his forehead. “I will explain afterwards. It is not to do with our relationship as…husbands though. If that is what you are fearing?”Hearing it spoken puts a name to what had been making him uncomfortable. A fear that Titus wanted something, that that was why he was suddenly telling him about his life. This is who I am. I’m giving you my past, and so now you must give yourself to me. “A little, like…”“No.”He relaxes. He can't imagine what Titus possibly could have done that could be worse than what Ardyn did to him, but the thought of it happening again with someone else? Ignis has been fooled once before, but he somehow doesn’t believe that of Titus.“Back to what I’d been saying. I’d been assigned to show Ardyn around, and that man can spot a weakness anywhere.”He doesn't know where this is going. But he's another Alpha. Ardyn couldn't have done anything."I think I actually annoyed him. At first. I was oblivious, so far withdrawn into myself that I didn't realize what he wanted with the hints of what he could give me." He sighs. "My homeland? I would give anything for that to be returned." His voice is a soft murmur, "and all he wanted at first was my silence."Ignis is truly listening now. He can smell Titus' uncertainty, a sudden loss of the sense of solid safety he normally smells like. "He offered you Galahd? For what, exactly?" Because I gave him my silence. I told no one. And in being silent, I let him keep doing that to me.He grimaces, hesitates.“Were you in a relationship with him?” Alphas do sometimes get together.He stands then, closing his eyes. “It’s easier just to show you.”Ignis reflexively shrinks back, presses against the back and arm of the couch. He's better, he's better, but seeing an Alpha suddenly stand up in front of him when he's already disgusted with him. He opens his mouth, closes it, almost tells him not to touch him, but Titus makes no effort to touch him.He instead looks down at him, sees the fear, and sinks down to one knee, as if bowing to him. “I’m sorry.”The apology catches him, and for half a moment he thinks it's for scaring him, until there's suddenly the scent of magic in the air and something shifts. He's no longer in Titus' apartment, in Insomnia. He's in Gralea again, and before him is General Glauca, inexplicably kneeling. He can't breathe, can't make a sound, can't move. The General, kneeling down before him in a place he can’t possibly be, and so I must be back there, in Gralea. Ardyn has been casting illusions on me all this time. For how long?  He doesn’t want to look at the suit of armor in front of him but the muscles in his neck are paralyzed. He can’t even close his eyes.And then, just as suddenly, Glauca is gone, Gralea is gone, he's back in this safe apartment that smells faintly of tea and incense. Titus is there. An illusion. He's an illusion. He has the same magic Ardyn has, which means... "Are you Ardyn?" he whispers hoarsely.His face is unreadable, almost unrecognizable. "No. Ardyn’s magic is similar to that of the king. He has the same....ability, somewhat, to share that with those he chooses.""He gave you his magic." He can’t believe that it’s not him. This is Ardyn messing with him again. He wonders how long he’s been Ardyn. He thinks of how Titus had cut his hair last night, had massaged his shoulders and rubbed his glands until he’d relaxed and nearly collapsed against him. Was that him? "You can look like whoever you want because you're a spy.""No." Another shake of his head. "I can look like myself, or I can summon the armor. I am not able to look like whoever I want." His voice is soft and he remains kneeling.He doesn't understand. "Why would you pretend to look like the Niflheim General? Why him specifically?"He smiles now, but it’s off. “You misunderstand. I am not pretending to look like anyone. I am him, an identity I picked up over a decade ago, years after I first met the Chancellor. I won’t say I didn’t know I was getting into, but at that time I didn’t realize the extent to which things would go.”No. No. Ignis is silent.“I’m his eyes behind the wall, so to speak.” And then, as if to make it better. “It has nothing to do with you. My role in your life these last several months was in no way planned, nor is he a part of it. I have kept these halves of my life separ…”“Don’t.” Ignis snarls, suddenly regaining some semblance of control over his body. “Stop.” He can’t absorb this. Agent. Eyes behind the wall. A spy. Titus is a spy. He’s General Glauca, the leader of the… "Tell me what you do. Everything."“I’m not about to tell you that much, but you must know that I am still me.”"Who is me? I don't know you," he still can't bring himself to move, even though every part of his body is screaming at him to run. Take Somnus and run.“I am the boy in the photos I showed you,” he sighs. “I am a man offered my homeland by the enemy and a man willing to go there to have that back. And I am this…”He moves, just a hand, slowly, reaching for the box of photos again.Ignis almost kicks it out of the way, throws it, but he lets him take it.He’s younger than he is now in this photo, though an adult, maybe thirty. A boy is riding on his back, arms around his neck and laughing. Loqi. And Titus is laughing, holding the camera away from himself to take a picture of them together. “I am this man, too. My first son is in Gralea. My second is here in Insomnia. And my heart is back at my home.”Something breaks. It’s impossible. Everything he’s saying is a lie. "Loqi is annoying." Ignis says simply. He can't say anything else. This is impossible. Titus can't be both people. Both of his jobs are too massive. No one person can do that. Titus has more or less been in his presence at all times for months now. This must be some elaborate joke, though for the life of him he can't imagine why."He's young, and he's a bit jealous of you, to be perfectly honest. I've done what I could to guard his innocence.""Did Ardyn threaten him? Is that why…?" He latches onto that desperately. It's the only thing that makes senseHis face darkens. "He did, but Glauca existed before Loqi was even born. I was the one who killed his father, a nobleman and a traitor."Another betrayal. Does Loqi know? But he can’t bring himself to ask, can’t properly care about the plight of anyone else when his whole world is falling apart again and again and again. He can't comprehend this. That's when it dawns on him. Glauca. He saw me. He saw Ardyn raping me. He did nothing. "You..." He stops, his lower lip trembling for the first time since Titus began talking.He seems to know what he’s referring to. “I make no defense, but I will say that General Glauca saw what happened, and Glauca has a son that Ardyn knows about and has threatened in the past.” He says it calmly, like he’s not referring to witnessing…He doesn't say anything to this. He doesn't know what's worse, Titus committing treason or Titus watching him get raped and not doing anything to stop it. And the fact that he's even thinking that means he is selfish, unworthy of being an heir, unworthy of being an Insomnian.“Ardyn was trying to provoke me. He knew that I had some affection for you, and he wanted to see if I would move to defend you as I would my son.”“Which you didn’t do. You let him. You watched.”“I didn’t…” He seems to catch himself, like he realizes he’s trying to defend something indefensible. “I’m sorry. For that I am sorry.”There’s too much he can say, too much and nothing. He feels his mind shutting down, the walls going up that so often go up around Ardyn, in the hospital, when he sees or hears or smells something that catches him off guard. No. I need to be alert now. He shakes his head once and blurts out the first thing on his mind. "I put you down as his father. I didn't know.""I know. I should have told you then. "“And you mean all of this?” He barely even hears what he’s saying, his brain jumping again. If this is true, and it can't possibly be, then Titus works with him. His husband joined the Gralean forces that destroyed his own homeland because Ardyn convinced him. If this is true, and it can't be, then they were both played by the same man, now both owned by him. "Why shouldn't I tell the King right now? You'd be executed immediately.""I would.""And Somnus and Loqi wouldn't have a father because you're an idiot. You put yourself in a position where you are in danger every second, even though you have people to care for." He still sounds calm, feels somewhat calm.“When I put myself in this position, I was no one. I had nothing.”Another excuse, but he doesn't say it like it is. "Why are you telling me?""I need to ask you to share your magic with me, to bond with yours as I have your father's. I have his, as I have the Chancellor’s, but being so far from Niflheim has been putting a strain on my reservoirs. My…abilities are too strong for the King to fuel. I need something more."His stomach lurches at the thought. A magic bond, to him, to the General of Niflheim. He must be the biggest idiot in the world. "And you expect me to do that after you tell me this? To support your treason?""My only other option was to force you. I didn't want to do that. I decided to tell you the truth of who I am.""Did you think that by telling me this, by asking, I wouldn't tell anyone else?" He can’t understand how this is an answer, why Titus would tell him this at all instead of simply asking for his magic. I’d have given it. I’d have willingly shared it with you, if you could tell me how to do it. I’d be happy to be bonded to you in that way, happy to have one of my bonds a decision of my own….It’s as if he can read his mind. "I want you to make an informed decision.""It's obvious you're trying to manipulate me," he snaps. Because what else can it be? I'm nice. I'm giving you an option. Now you'll have to do what I say. "Making yourself look so different from Ardyn. You think I'll be nice to you because you're giving me a choice."He looks tired, suddenly far older than his years.  "It's up to you. My life is in your hands now."Impossible. "Why would you do that? If you care so much about Loqi, you wouldn't risk everything by telling me.”Titus. Drautos. Glauca. He says nothing.Ignis almost hits him, attacks him, but he can’t bring himself to. Because nothing he said just now is actually true. This must be some kind of illusion, a nightmare, something Ardyn has created somehow. "I'm taking the baby and leaving. Don't try to contact me."“I understand.” So calm, mechanical, detached. Like this is easy for him.“I don’t think you do.” To play such a cruel trick, to say such things…. He can’t understand why anyone would do this, even Ardyn.His eyes are watering as he stands, half runs to the bedroom and looks down at Somnus. He’s swaddled up tightly, smelling of Titus and snoring ever so slightly. He buckles the baby wrap around himself before carefully lifting him. It occurs to him that he hadn’t packed a bag, had been in such a rush to take Somnus, but it hardly matters. He’ll take his schoolbag, simply buy more clothes later. All he wants to do is leave as he suddenly keels over, one arm around the baby as he grips the edge of the crib and bites back a sob.He hadn’t realized how attached he had grown to Titus. How safe he felt with him, even sharing a bed with him, curled against him at night. How much he liked knowing that the Alpha was caring for the baby. And he’d caught a glimpse of something else in the box before he’d stood and walked away.Another photo in that box of secrets things that are so important to him.One of him and Somnus.

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Part 7, Chapter 1 - Aranea
It’s an unfamiliar voice, a name she can’t register over the phone. “Who?”“Ignis Scientia. Insomnia.”Fuck. She immediately puts her drink down and sits up more fully in her seat. “What’s going on?” Yea, she likes the kid, but they aren’t exactly friends and there’s no reason for him to call her unless something’s going down.“I need help. Can you get me into Gralea?”She sputters, incredulous. “Why the hell would you want to come here?”“I need to get into Tenebrae. As a non-citizen I have to pass through Gralea to get the visitor permit.”She isn’t sure why he thinks he can easily get into Gralea without paperwork, but then again, he has called her. So he must know more about her than she wants him to. She sighs as she leans back against the counter. “What happened?”“You don’t need to know.”“Was it that Captain guy? Did he hurt you?” He hadn’t seemed the type – seemed kind of hot, actually, stoic and standoffish and maybe a little bulkier than she liked, but not bad in any way. She can’t imagine him going after Ignis, but who knows?He’s too slow to respond.“Seriously?”“No, nothing like that. But I have the baby.”The baby. She’s never seen him, but she has seen the tabloids, heard the news that Ignis wasn’t too keen on the infant. She doesn’t want to get stuck with him if Ignis ditches him. She might be an omega and she might like kids, but she sure as hell doesn’t want one. “You want to take him with you?”“No, I’m just going to leave him in the street.” Savage.She takes a breath to heave a deep sigh. Her hair is a bit in her face.“Please.”She’s never heard him sound so desperate, not even after having seen him with that filthy Chancellor. She groans. “Fine, fine. I’ll talk to my team.” Biggs and Wedge. Maybe just one of them, as one needs to keep an eye on Loqi already. God, when did they become a nanny service? “I’ll pick you up but I’m not going to take care of the baby, so you can’t just leave him and wander off, okay?”“I wouldn’t do that,” he’s practically snarling.“Yea yea. You’ll have to find a place to stay for the night though. We can get you…” she quickly calculates the time difference. “Uh maybe around six tomorrow evening. Biggs still has paperwork as a driver, so we can fly him to the wall and he can enter the city.”“So get two nights at a hotel. Otherwise they might kick me out at ten or eleven. What part of Insomnia?”“I don’t know the layout of the city. Never even been there. Can you get someplace…” she almost asks him to just go to wherever he stayed last time he met Biggs, but that was with the damn Chancellor. “Cheap and comfy. Just whatever you like, and then text me the address. Okay?”There’s silence, and for a moment Aranea thinks he’s hung up on her. Until finally, softly, she hears a whispered “Thank you” before he hangs up.“That sounded like an awkward conversation,” Wedge says absently from across the room. “The Scientia kid from Insomnia?”“Yeeeep, we have to pick him up in Insomnia and bring him here, help him get to Tenebrae.”Wedge only smirks at that. “Biggs will have fun with that one.”He’s out now, picking up some groceries that probably won’t be enough food now. Aranea doesn’t feel bad about volunteering him without asking; she knows he’ll be happy to do it, and anyway anything that’s a break from routine is appreciated. She just doesn’t really want to deal with a baby in the apartment. She’s never dealt with a baby before, never wanted to in part because she feared it might make her feel like an omega. She doesn’t want to accidentally awaken some maternal instinct or something.The boys can deal with the baby. She groans as she kicks her feet up unto the coffee table and takes another drink.-“How was the bed and breakfast?”She can admit it was a cute place. She’d looked up the hotel when Ignis has texted the address to her, a little eight-room thing that came with food. Nobody would think to look for him in a place like that, and nobody was going to complain about a fussy baby there. Kid’s clever.“I didn’t sleep very well. Somnus was… I appreciate such a prompt pick-up.”Was what? Probably lonely. If the tabloids were anything to go by, it was his husband, that big quiet guy, who spent most of his time with the baby. “He’ll get over it. I’m pretty sure babies forget everything every twenty-four hours.”Ignis only nods, not questioning her comment. Probably because she responded to the unsaid words. Kids were weird, but sort of easy at the same time.“You can stay with us tonight, but if he cries too much you’ll have a problem. Tomorrow we’ll get the paperwork.” She doesn’t say that they’ll have to talk to the Chancellor about it. Ignis has to know that already. He seems to have an idea about how hard it is to get into Tenebrae, so he has to realize that his status as the Chancellor’s mate is his best bet. Sucks though.She leans over, trying to peer at the baby, but he’s so bundled up, Ignis’ arms so tight around him, that she can only see maybe a third of his face. He looks soft.“Does he cry a lot?”“Not usually. Just now.’She sighs, “Joy.”Biggs speaks up then, “You know, Loqi’s place is way bigger than ours. Just send the kids over there for the night and one of us can watch ‘em.”“I can sleep through crying,” Wedge says good-naturedly.It’s true. Wedge could sleep through a bomb. It’s also true that the apartment Loqi shares with the General, if it could even be called an apartment at that size, is much larger than her own. She often watches the boy there, after all. “Hmm, let’s stop at my place first, then we can go there. Sound good to you?”Ignis looks startled at the suggestion. “Doesn’t Loqi live with the General?”“Yea but he’s in Tenebrae right now, so we got the baby. The eleven-year-old baby,” Aranea can’t stop watching his face. He looks more than uncomfortable.“Still frozen pizza from last week.” Biggs throws in.“Okay. It just seems weird to stay at someone’s place when I don’t even know everyone who lives there,” Ignis finally explains himself.Just being polite, after all. Absurd. Who even thinks about that? “The General’s one of those boring guys who doesn’t keep anything secret or dirty lying around. I’ve snooped through the place often enough.” She can’t help it, nudging Ignis with her elbow to see how he’ll react.But the action only makes him curl defensively around the baby and shoot her a dirty look, like she just slapped the infant.She shrugs and settles back in her seat. The traffic in Gralea is rarely bad at this time of night, but it will still be a good forty minutes before they get back to her place. No point in bugging Ignis the whole time, though she’s very curious about what happened.  Weird that he called her, but she figures he doesn’t really have anyone else when basically everyone in Insomnia failed him.It better be that anyway, and not just because she’s another omega. She has no interest in babies and no interest in kids.-When they finally make it to her place, Biggs and Wedge bring Ignis and the baby in, Biggs chatting as ever.Aranea ducks into her bedroom and pulls out her phone. She hates calling Ravus. He’s always so grouchy, but he’s her best option right now. After all, she more or less promised Ignis something she doesn’t exactly know how to do; she just couldn’t turn him down.Ravus answers after exactly four rings. He always does it after four rings, like he purposefully waits just to look busy, regardless of the time of the day.“Highwind,” he sighs. “What do you want?”She catches him up as quickly as she can, explaining to him that Ignis Scientia is there, that he wants to get to Tenebrae, that he wants to see Luna, and that she has no idea what to do. He tries to interrupt her a few times with indignant sounds, but she keeps going until she gets to the question that matters.  “How can we get him to Tenebrae without the Chancellor knowing?”Ravus sounds more disgruntled than usual at the question; the dude is always pissed about something. “Not possible. You know he knows everything and is everywhere. He’s sure to find out Ignis is here by the morning.”Sadly probably true, and there’s no way to shift Ignis out that soon. “Think your sister can intervene and help somehow?”“Not sure how she could. They are bonded, you realize. The Chancellor owns him.” He says it like, she, an omega, doesn’t know how the laws work. She wants to slap him.“I’m not asking about legal options. Sneaking him in? He seems to think he can just register paperwork and walk over there without anyone knowing, so I’m looking for something like that.”“You’re a fool. I can’t even go in and out without paperwork, and I’m a citizen of Tenebrae. I-“Aranea quickly cuts him off, not about to listen to another rant. “Fine, fine, I’ll figure out something by myself, seeing as you’re helpless.”“I’m not helpless,” he snaps, indignant. She can just imagine him sputtering.“Then think of something.”He growls a few swears before hanging up, and Aranea can’t help but grin. He’s just so easy to push around. 
Part 7, Chapter 1 - Regis

Ignis left last night.
He’d said it so simply, so calmly, though there was an expression in his eyes that the King hadn’t seen before. Fear? Worry? He couldn’t place it. “What do you mean?”“We had a disagreement. He left, and I don’t know where he went. He took Somnus.”He looks at him for a long moment, studies the lines in his brow and at the corners of his eyes. He’s too young to look so worn out, and perhaps trying to care for the baby this much has only made it worse. Months of sleepless nights in the hospital and then at the apartment… Titus had unexpectedly shown Ignis more loyalty and affection than any other adult in his life, though perhaps Regis shouldn’t be surprised. Titus always did what he was asked, diligent and vigilant, unwavering and without question. It made him wonder sometimes, what the other man was really thinking. “You lost him?”“He left of his own accord. He’s had barely any adult supervision his entire life.” He says nothing past that, only stares hard at Regis, that expression still all too clear in his eyes. The accusation is implicit.“You agreed to watch over him.” It might have begun as a paper marriage, but Titus had willingly chosen to be the baby’s father. He’d made the decision to be a part of Ignis’ life, to care for him and Somnus. And to wait until the next morning… Something is clearly not adding up, but he can’t imagine Titus ever harming him.“And I have been. I didn’t dare go after him though. He’s shown me his magic, and I am well aware of how unstable he is. I was afraid that he would hurt the baby by accident.”Regis is unsure if he believes this, but then again, Titus knows Ignis perhaps better than he does. “When exactly did he leave?”“Just before ten last night, a little over 9 hours ago. I thought he might return, so I stayed in the apartment and made some calls to the hospital and a few other people in the city he might go to. His most recent therapist, the head of the omega support group. He doesn’t like very many people though, so I didn’t expect much.”He wants to attack him for not saying anything for so long, but what he’s saying is sound. Ignis has done so much by myself; it would be safe to expect him to not do something stupid like sleep on the street with a baby or get in a car with a stranger. He was also prone to indignation, and any tantrum was likely to blow over within a few hours.“What exactly did you have a disagreement about?”“The baby,” he taps his index finger against the table.“Would you care to elaborate?”“Not really.”Regis nods. Titus’ affection for Somnus is undeniable, if a little unusual. Bonded Alphas would, ideally, be excellent fathers, but Alpha males were also well known for being standoffish with any children not their own… Unless he wants… He doesn’t expect Titus could ever possibly harm him, but he can’t pretend he’s never considered this. Titus may have little interest in sex and omegas, but he’s still an Alpha.The King hadn’t expected him to spend much of any time with Ignis, much less live with him. And the child changed things further. Titus was very attached, had taken over the care of the baby as if it were his own, proving himself to be one of those rare Alphas who operates well within an unexpected, unbonded family. Which means he might want his own child, his own spouse, and who better than Ignis, who he is already technically married to and inhabiting with?No, this wouldn’t blindside him, but he doesn’t want this for Ignis, at least not now. He wants Ignis to return to school, have some semblance of a normal life, explore relationships with people his own age if he so wishes.He asks softly, seeing what conclusions Titus would jump to. It might tell him something. “You didn’t ask him anything about your marriage, did you?”“What. Do you mean?” Already suspicious.It’s uncomfortable to talk about. He already knows far more than he ever wanted to know about any of his childrens’ sex lives. “Mating him. Having a family with him.”  He expects Titus to be angry, or at the very least embarrassed and indignant, but the response takes him aback. “I…didn’t say such so directly, but he might have recognized this.”The King sighs. “I expect you to find him, but if he wants nothing to do with you afterwards, then so be it.”“And Somnus?”Expected. His affection for the baby was overwhelmingly clear. He would obey if told to never see Ignis again, but the baby might cause problems. Nothing but problems. “You ought to be doing everything you can to find them. I want to hear what Ignis has to say.”Titus says nothing, but he lowers his head and his clasped hands tighten. He’s not telling me something. It’s glaringly obvious, though he can’t imagine what might have happened. He can not believe for a moment that this man tried to touch Ignis, but an uncomfortable conversation can’t quite explain Ignis’ behavior though. Had something else triggered him, something unrelated?“I fear he will go to Gralea,” he murmurs finally. “He doesn’t have many other options.”No other options. There is nowhere else he could go. If he knew Cid, there was a possibility of Hammerhead, but Ignis knew him only in name and stories. He couldn’t enter Tenebrae without the assistance of someone in the Niflheim government, so he could hardly run to Luna without going through Ardyn. He knew no one else. It hurts to say that, to know that Ignis would never go to him, but he won’t pretend that he has done right by the boy, that he has ever been there for him or helped him when he needed it most. He’d tried these last few months, but it was too little too late. “With any luck, he’s simply at a hotel ordering room service.”“We can hope, but I came to you because I fear that is not the case. He hasn’t contacted me, and he is not responding to calls or messages.”His mind is wandering, distracted. He rubs his forehead. “I’ll alert the Chancellor, so he’ll be expecting him. I don’t want to, but I don’t want Ignis wandering outside of the city without protection. It’s most likely he’s gone to him, as it is, so I don’t think this will put him in danger.Titus doesn’t look happy about this.“The Royal Police and Crownsguard will be mobilized immediately in case he’s still in the city. They will also be checking registered diplomatic cars from Niflheim that have come and gone within the last 24 hours.”“What shall I do?”“Nothing.” He needs to compose himself, keep the anger from being visible. He’s not angry, not exactly, more like grieving. He fears that Ignis is already lost for what feels like the second time now.-“Have you heard anything from Ignis recently?”Noctis shrugs. He looks distracted and more than a little annoyed, clearly not expecting his father to show up that day. Saturdays, Cor left him on his own for most of the day, and the boy clearly savored that time to himself. He didn’t want an adult there during the only time when he was neither in school nor being watched by a Crownsguard officer. “Not today. Why?”“Captain Drautos said he left last night. We’re trying to find him right now.”Noctis doesn’t seem as surprised as he should be. He doesn’t seem surprised at all. He’s never been very good at lying.“Are you okay?” he asks softly.“Oh,” he leans back, eyes going wide. “Where is he?”“He talked to you, didn’t he?”Noctis ducks his head now. “Yea, but I’m not going to tell you what he said. He told me to delete the message after and not say anything to you or Titus.”Regis groans. Of course. Why were kids this age somehow more difficult than teenagers? “I understand, but is he all right? Is he safe? Did he tell you where he is going?”His son cocks his head, his dark eyes looking aside at the corner of the room. “He’s okay, didn’t say where he was going.”He isn’t sure if he should believe it, but he doesn’t push him. He’s never yelled at Noctis, never really gotten angry with him or ordered him to do anything. Maybe he should have, maybe that’s what real fathers are supposed to do, but he could never bring himself to. Noctis had too little, even less now that Ignis was missing. “Noctis, in the past, Ignis has gone off on his own and asked you not to tell anyone, and we know what happened. He took little Somnus with him this time, so now we are worried about both of them.”“He tells me not to tell anyone because he knows nobody’s gonna do anything anyway,” Noctis kicks the table. “Everybody makes the wrong decisions for him, like you put him with the Captain.”“Is this about Captain Drautos?”“I just know Ignis is mad at him, that’s all. You shouldn’t have made him marry him.”“Were there problems between them before now?”Noctis huffs and folds his arms now. “No, but he’s just always around. He’s annoying, and I don’t see Ignis as much now. You let the Captain do too much work from home.”Perhaps true; he has let Titus off the leash more than he’d planned since Somnus was born, but much of what he did could be done online. Paperwork, meetings, briefings, analysis… He was still involved in training several times a week, but for the most part he was off-duty. The King hadn’t sent him on any missions or to diplomacy conferences in months. He had a baby, didn’t he? “Is Ignis unhappy with him spending so much time with Somnus?”“Not saying anything else. It’s his fault though, which makes it your fault, ‘cause Ignis never would have married him otherwise. He hates him, and he’s…” Noctis suddenly stops, like he knows he’s said too much.

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Part 7, Chapter 2 - Ignis
Nothing. Not a scrap of the man Ignis knows.Aranea was right. The apartment, if such a large place can even be called that, is devoid of any personality, any character, anything that might give Titus away. The clothes are the same, typical bland clothing that so many military men wear. The aftershave, the toothpaste, the shampoo, everything in the bathroom was of a different brand than what Titus used, but they were in a different country after all. The kitchen was the same, and anyhow it was impossible to know what was Glauca’s and what was Loqi’s, what Aranea and her friends bought and left when they were watching him. There were barely any other personal belongings.But he can’t hide his smell that well, can he?He remembers how General Glauca had touched him once, back then. How he’d flicked the armor from a hand and touched his face, told him to stop biting his lip. He’d smelled like nothing and nobody then. He can disguise his scent, somehow. Some magic of Ardyn’s, no doubt. But he shouldn’t be able to hide it so completely in his home. Not normally, but it’s been months since he’s been here.
Months since I took him from his real son.
And yet he’d readily adopted Somnus without a second thought.He traces his hand over the bed in the master bedroom one last time, smoothing over the wrinkles in the sheets. None of that familiar, comforting scent. He already misses him, despite knowing what he now knows. Misses his smell, the way he left such a dent in the mattress that Ignis could always roll to him, nestle against his back or even his chest. He hadn’t realized how much he’d depended on him to serve as the pole in which his life circulated. These last few months, he’d trusted him to protect him, care for the baby, ensure they both had everything they needed. Ignis had never been cared for before. He didn’t need it.And then he steps back into the living area, where Loqi is hovering over the baby, placed in a box filled with blankets. Wedge and Aranea are in the kitchen, heating up pizza Ignis knows he won’t actually be able to eat. He still feels sick, dizzy, the world around him turned upside down for the hundredth time.“What’s Glauca like?” he suddenly asks.Loqi shrugs. “Dunno, like any dad. He doesn’t talk a lot, and he’s easy to push around. I always get anything I want from him.”Like Titus. He already spoils Somnus something horrible. But that doesn’t mean anything. Like any dad, any but the King. It doesn’t make any sense that Titus would tell Loqi, that he’d let a child have such a great secret, one that kingdoms rest upon. And yet, it’s like him somehow. `“Is he from Gralea?”“No, but he lived here most of his life, I think. I don’t have any grandparents or anything from him. It’s just us. And Aranea.”Ignis doesn’t know what makes him ask the question, but he pushes on. “If she’s already basically your mom, why doesn’t he just marry her?”“Ew!” Loqi looks genuinely disgusted at that, shooting a look at the kitchen as he does so, like he’s afraid that she heard. “She’s like my sister, and Dad doesn’t do romance.”Finally, something like Titus. He doesn’t like asking a kid the same age as Noctis about this, but for the first time this sounds familiar. “Just sex? He’s an Alpha… Does he bring people home?”He looks even more disgusted, sticks his tongue out now. “No way. He doesn’t do anything but work. I never smell anybody on him.”So there is that. Ignis can’t imagine there being more than one Alpha of the same age being that disinterested in sex. They’re all the same normally, all obsessed with fucking and dominance and assuming everyone else will do whatever they say. And Ignis knows how things work, how the more people an Alpha dominates, the more respect he has in society. Someone as high in the ranks as Titus there, Glauca here, would normally be a very powerful Alpha, one with a long and established history. Hard to believe that even if there were two Alphas who didn’t care for sex, that they’d both be respected enough in their societies to end up in such positions.What he said must be true, then. A strange way to come to that conclusion.“Huh, so he’s scarred and ugly then.”Loqi rolls his eyes again, but he looks a little relieved somehow.“How often do you get left alone?”“Ehhh…” Loqi groans and throws himself back onto the couch. “Not as often as Aranea complains about. Maybe half the time? He only leaves for a week or two at a time usually.”“When did you last see him? It seems like he hasn’t been here in a while.”“Just last week.”It wasn’t him. He realizes that the suit of armor, or whatever it is, is the perfect alibi. Ardyn can wear it whenever Glauca is being Titus for long periods, and nobody would know. Perhaps not even Loqi, if Ardyn knew how to keep up the act. He could even use an illusion to appear as him outside the armor. The idea makes him shudder.-He picks up the questions when they’re alone, after the adults vanished off to a store for unknown reasons. Unnecessarily buying more food when Ignis wasn’t even eating, or maybe buying something useless like baby food or alcohol.  Ignis corners Ignis almost immediately.“Do you have any pictures of him without the armor?”Loqi finally looks suspicious. “You gonna show Aranea?”“No, never.” He says it just sarcastically enough to suggest he was going to.“No pics. He has some, and I might have one somewhere, but they are secret.”“So he’s disfigured.”The younger boy bristles at this. “Stop saying that crap. He’s good-looking. He’s just really shy.”Ignis scowls at that. Good-looking. He is, after all, which makes the idea of him being shy even more ludicrous. Ignis knows the way women look at him, the way even some men look at him. He’s heard the gossip, people angry that Drautos was now taken by an omega teenager. If he was shy, he wouldn’t agree to such a prominent position, foisted into the public eye. “Don’t you ever wonder?”“He says I’m cheeky and arrogant and I can’t understand.”“Loqi,” he finally sighs. Something horrible inside of him wants to crush the smile off of this boy’s face, this happy-go-lucky omega who never had to live in fear of Alphas. He’s not like this, not normally so angry, but… “I know who he is.”“Huh?”“I know General Glauca is my husband.”He doesn’t bat an eyelash at that, only smirks. “Do you really think the Chancellor and the General are the same person?”The unexpected cleverness irks him. Loqi is smart, quick on his feet, possibly smarter than Noctis, and somehow that infuriates Ignis. “Husband, not mate. General Glauca and Captain Titus Drautos. The same.”He snorts, tossing his hair as he does. He’s very arrogant about his hair, always soothing and styling it. “That’s way too weird. How would nobody notice?”“No idea, but he’s obviously managed somehow. I can tell he’s him from what you said, that he never has a partner and never smells like anyone. Two Alphas in such high-powered positions not raping everyone they walk by?” He snorts, forgetting for half a moment that Loqi is only eleven and fairly innocent. He shouldn’t be speaking like this to him. Hard to think that way sometimes when he isn’t much older and has been through what he’s been through.But if Loqi is disturbed by this, he doesn’t show it. “Maybe they’re both just good people.”“Impossible with Alphas.”The younger boy just rolls his eyes yet again. “Okay, then you’re my stepdad. I’m not gonna obey you because nobody ever obeys stepdads on TV.”He lets it go, unwilling as he is. He needs to talk to Titus again, needs to understand why, but he never wants to see him again. 
Part 7, Chapter 2 - Loqi
“I told him.”“You what? He’s going to tell everyone. He’s not like me.” Because he can keep secrets. Because General Glauca told him this when he was very young, impressed upon him that he could keep quiet about it, that he himself had to tell him as his son. It was his duty to tell him, just as it was Loqi’s duty to be quiet. He’s never slipped, even once, no matter how excited or comfortable he gets.“Loqi, Loqi,” his father stops him. Loqi can just imagine him waving his hand, though he isn’t using a video call as he usually does. He must still be in his secret apartment, but Loqi hates not being able to see his face as the man continues. “I want you to get away from him.”“Why?”“There’s no reason for him to be in Gralea but to find you. He’s very, very angry about what I told him, and I don’t know what he is capable of.”He’s crazy. “You think he’d hurt me? No way.”“Don’t argue. Get away from him.” He sounds pissed off. He never sounds like this.“He’s here to go to Tenebrae.”His dad doesn’t say anything to that.“Just Tenebrae. Got nothing to do with me. He called Aranea for help.”“Aranea,” he says slowly. “Didn’t know they were close. I don’t want you near him anyway. He might act out.”It’s one of the dumbest things he’s ever said. “He’s just my friend.”“Loqi,” he says again. “Please. He’s very angry with me, and he’s more cunning than you think. Don’t underestimate him.”He hangs up on him then, frustrated with his father’s stupidity. Why would he tell Ignis and then get mad that Ignis was mad? He has a feeling that his father likes Ignis a lot. A lot, a lot. He’s not exactly worried about being replaced by Ignis and the baby, but he’s a little worried. Something about Ignis makes him make really bad choices. His double identity is the most important and dangerous thing for anyone to find out. Only the Emperor, the Chancellor, and that wacko researcher knew about it. And himself, of course. Four. Now Ignis, too, and there’s no reason for Ignis to actually not tell someone.It’s all just about how much he likes Loqi. He won’t take away my dad, he reasons. And Somnus’ dad, really. They’re brothers now, in a way.-“My dad called me. He said you know everything, and he said you might hurt me now. Like you want revenge.”Ignis only snorts. “Why would I take an Alpha’s horribleness out on another omega?”“He said you’re cunning.”“I am,” but as he says it, his cheeks are red. Loqi didn’t really know if that word was good or bad, but it looks like Ignis is happy about being called that. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to hurt anyone.”Loqi shrugs. It’s enough for him. There’s something else he needs to know. Now that his father confirmed what Ignis had said, he can actually talk about it. “So how come he told you?”“I… He wanted my magic. He wanted me to know who he was first, like I’d give him access to my magic if I knew he was a traitor. I don’t really know why he needed it, something to do with Glauca. Like I was going to support the Empire.”“Sharing magic is closer than being married. It’s like… like a slave bond.” That’s what his father had called it once, when he’d had one of those rare days when he showed how he felt. Loqi knows that Titus feels trapped by those magic bonds. Why would he want another unless he really needed it badly?“I know,” Ignis snaps at him.“I mean, it’s like he’d be your slave, the way he’s basically a slave to the Chancellor and the King at the same time,” he frowns. He doesn’t like this. He’d once said that being bond to someone by magic meant you were on their leash.Ignis doesn’t answer for a long time. He sounds sad when he does. “No Alpha would be the slave to an omega.”“Yea,” Loqi agrees quickly. He doesn’t want his father that controlled. He’s not jealous, not exactly, but Ignis already takes a lot of his time. He doesn’t want to talk about this anymore, doesn’t want to think about Ignis being in a position to boss his father around. Talking about his dad so much makes him miss him, and anyway it makes Ignis mad, too. “Let’s see what the baby’s doing.” He stands up.“He’s just sleeping.”“Whatever,” he shrugs. He likes the baby. Four months old, but still tiny. Because he’s basically only a month old, three months early. Still practically a newborn, as Aranea calls him. Blue-green eyes and a little red hair that’s mostly on one side of his head. All babies are weird like that, Aranea had said. Lumpy messes for the first year. It’s cute. He’s also very cute because he doesn’t make much noise.Ignis looks like he wants to talk more, but he gives up and follows after Loqi.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part 7, Chapter 3 – Ardyn
 He knows Ignis is there, there in Gralea, so very close to him – he can almost smell him. And he knows he brought the child. Somnus. The name makes him grit his teeth. He can only imagine what might have caused this: Glauca made him angry somehow, either frightened or enraged him so much that he believed all he could do was flee to Gralea. He will try to go to the Oracle. He has no one else. But first he will flit around the city here, aware that getting through immigration into the colony is difficult. He will naively believe that anyone can go there, relying on what history books and outdated websites tell him about the way colonies work. He will pretend to be knowledgeable and mature, believe he is knowledgeable and mature, and he will make the same mistake he always makes that leads him right back to Ardyn’s arms. He should know better by now.Ardyn waits until the end of the second day before contacting him, and even then it is only a single text message.
“You’re not taking the child to Tenebrae without my permission.”
Ignis reads it immediately, replies just as fast, as if he’d been waiting for Ardyn to send him a message. “I know.”
“Where are you?”

“I left the GPS on.”
Ardyn smirks. The boy has adjusted remarkably well to the leash of the GPS. He’s at Glauca’s, likely staying with Loqi and that terrible omega woman who watches them sometimes. He can’t stand Aranea Highwind; how sick must the gods be to make one of the greatest polearmists and engineers of the military a girl and an omega? He’d never harm Loqi, not only because of Glauca but because he has no interest, had never had any interest in the young until he’d met Ignis. But even if he had, he probably wouldn’t bother, if only to avoid dealing with that woman. She’d harass him forever after, and she was too valuable to kill.He didn’t like admitting that women sometimes made him uneasy.
“I’ll collect you in an hour. Pack whatever things you have.”
He doesn’t wait to see if Ignis reads it. He knows he will, and he knows he will obey. The mark on his neck throbs at the thought. How he despises being attached to someone.-He’s pale and anxious in the doorway of Glauca’s apartment, but the gland on his neck is swollen. Lonely, wanting.“Do you really want to take the baby to Tenebrae, or did you come all this way for me?” he touches his neck.He doesn’t flinch, nor does he lean into the touch. “I want us both in Tenebrae. I need your help. I knew it would probably be impossible without your help, so I might have been expecting this. You coming here.”“You seem to always expect correctly. Know when I’m going to show up.” Not that it isn’t obvious enough when he does. The boy would have to have been a total idiot not to expect this. “And are you going to tell me why this sudden development?”“If you agree to get us there.”As if you are in any position to be making demands. The baby in his arms makes him brave, petulant and bratty, but he’ll tolerate it for a time. Somewhere deep inside of him, there is a visceral need to kill him, kill the baby too, pretend all of this never happened. It can only be some sick game of the Astrals, and he’d rather be in control of the situation. Still, he runs his hand through Ignis hair, down around his jaw. Not yet. He can do it anytime. He looks down, finally properly looking at the baby.The baby, a little bundle of squirming fuss, waving arms and mittens on his fists, red hair hidden beneath his cap. He’s far too wrapped up; it might be cold outside, but hardly so inside. Spoiled. He’ll always be weak if he’s treated this way. Ardyn itches to unwrap him; he doesn’t ask, only holds his arms out.Ignis blanches. “Can you…hold him later? Over a couch or a bed?”“You think I’d drop him.”“Have you ever held a baby before?”The question jolts him. Two thousand years and I… “I don’t believe I have,” he says softly, lifting a hand to touch Ignis’ arm, forgetting himself for a moment. “Never had a reason to. I was believed dead when my nephew was born, and all of my family after. I’m not exactly the type to befriend people in such a way as to be near their children.”He only nods, as if Ardyn isn’t talking about being thousands of years old. Perhaps whatever it was that drove him to Gralea outweighs the knowledge that his mate is an immortal monster. It’s a wonder Ignis hasn’t cracked by now.“We’ll go to my quarters then?”Another nod.-“He’s really unhappy,” he bounces him in his arms, but the baby continues making little yowls. He isn’t loud, is in fact quiet enough one could probably sleep through his squeals, but he’s irritating. “He doesn’t like how everything’s different.”The problem is that the baby misses Titus. Neither say it, but it’s obvious. From what Ardyn understands, Titus carried him around for at least six hours a day and never let him be. Of course such a change will upset him. “He’ll get used to it.”“I think he doesn’t like you, either.”“Aren’t you rebellious today? He will. I’m his father.”Ignis’ facial expression is enough, and Ardyn barks out a laugh as he keeps going. “He probably knows I am, you realize? Babies have stronger senses of smell. He can smell me, smell our scents together.” He doesn’t add what he’d read about babies being able to get a sense of pheromones even in the womb; the little brat might even have a sense of how he treated Ignis during his pregnancy, might have smelled his mother’s fear.The boy wisely changes his tune then, turning and glancing around the room. He reacts well, given what happened last time he was there. “Could you…. Set a place for him somewhere? I know you have no crib but if we’re going to stay here, I need to be able to put him down.”“I’ll arrange it, but make him stop crying.”“I’ll try feeding him.” Not a hint of submission yet.Seeing the little thing nuzzling against Ignis, his misshapen mouth – the upper lip peaked the way all infant mouths are - pressing into his breasts, too dimwitted to find the nipple. It takes him a moment, but when he finally latches the two of them visibly relax. He can smell it.“Cover that up,” he snarls, grabbing a blanket and throwing it over them.“You’ll suffocate him!” he rips the blanket off, pulls the baby closer to him. Ignis gets aggressive around the baby, just as having Noctis to protect also makes him braver.“I don’t like seeing you feed him. It’s disgusting.”He thought he would like it. He had, had for a brief time when they’d met recently. He’d liked the soft stomach, the saggy skin around his waist and ass, the little tits, the scent of the baby on him. Alphas are supposed to like those signs of fertility, though most don’t these days. Omega males are supposed to be slender and frail and just androgynous enough to be pretty, but breasts and c-section scars are too much. Omega Rights groups have decried this, claiming it’s because of porn corrupting expectations, because of the loss of respect for fertility. The truth is that it’s simply too indicative of omegas having a purpose outside of being fucked, something that Ardyn does not appreciate nearly as much as he thought he would. Some part of him still can’t accept that he now has an heir. It’s impossible.He knows Ignis knows; the boy can tell exactly what’s wrong in that infuriating way of his. “So you do hate my body now, just as I’d feared. You lied to me last time.”“It’s different seeing you feed him,” he says simply, unable to tear his eyes away. Those tits are – were – his, and now they belong to a helpless creature; he’d rather they not exist at all. “If you start bottle-feeding him, will your chest flatten more quickly?”His eyes are wide now, fear starting to take root. “I suppose… Yes, but he will be healthier if I feed him. Do you want me to stop?”He actually would. He’d stop feeding his own child if I demanded it. The defensive rage has already diminished; he’s unable to keep up the courage for too long. “Just hurry up and finish.”The flush reaches the tops of his cheeks now. “I can’t hurry him.”“It must have been something horrible to make you run to me like this.”The sudden change of subject jolts him, his eyes darting to the side nervously as he tightens his hold and the baby makes a little grunting sound. “I didn’t run to you.”“But you knew I would find you if you came to Gralea. Did your Captain husband finally fuck you?”“Why would I run from that?” he snaps out.Unexpected. “Mm, you really are the little whore most omegas are, then.”He glances down at the baby and sticks a finger between his mouth and his nipple now. Telling him to stop before he’s ready, as if he doesn’t want him around to hear this. “I doubt he’d hurt me as much as you do. If I was going to be used like that, I might as well be used by someone who is more gentle.”The thought of Titus being gentle almost makes him laugh, but Ignis has a point. Sex might not be enough to make him run, regardless of how consensual it was. Which means Titus really did tell him who he was; nothing else would explain this fear, this panic. “You know who he is.”A small nod as his eyes start watering. “He told me.”“Did he tell you we fucked?”Ignis jerks the baby away from now and the little thing wails, but his mother ignores him. He moves towards the makeshift crib and puts him down before turning away. “I know, and I don’t want to hear about it.”It crosses Ardyn’s mind that he’s jealous, but of who? “He dominates. He always does – the only one I’ll ever let top me. I don’t think he would submit to anyone. He’s more Alpha than anyone; truly a pity he’s so hard to rile up.”He glances at him now, eyes narrow and furious, as if torn between disgust and jealousy.He grins at this, tracing a finger up the boy’s arm, circling around his shoulder. “To think, he watched us and didn’t try you out, something probably no other Alpha could resist. He really had no interest in you. Then again, he didn’t try to help you either...” He’s still disappointed. A little. He hadn’t expected Glauca to go for it, but he’d have liked to see more discomfort. The Galahdian was a lot less interested in Ignis than he’d expected at that point, though perhaps by now things would be different. “Do you want to know about his dick? He’s even bigger than I am.”“No,” Ignis finally responds to that, his whole body vibrating with rage. “I hardly care what goes on between you two. He will no longer be a part of my life, just as he will not be of Somnus’.”“Touché, I see,” he laughs, gently pushing his shoulder now. “Come, get your clothes off. On the bed.”He quickly undresses, dropping the already-open shirt and kicking off his pants, but he doesn’t move towards the bed quickly enough. And Ardyn has to be sure, has to be certain that nothing has changed, that Titus hadn’t touched him. He overtakes Ignis before he can get to the bed, throws him down, grabs his ankles and jerks his legs open. He’s wet, his ridges swollen and his hole glistening with slick, betraying his need.But he smells only like himself.“How many times have you bathed since you left your husband?”“Twice. Showers.”Twice. The scent of an Alpha would linger on him through more than a few showers if they’d truly fucked. But there’s nothing.“Maybe I should take you from behind the first time, let you pretend I’m your husband. Or perhaps,” he grabs his ass, jerks his whole body towards him and grinds his crotch into him. “I could look like him, if you’d prefer?”“No,” he wails, his voice cracking. And the baby starts screaming then, wailing louder than Ardyn would think possible for such a small thing.“Mm, then you’d have bad associations with him? Or because you might be more turned on and you worry I’d notice?”He’s silent at that, settling back into the sheets and glowering at him expectantly. How Ardyn hates how much Ignis won’t talk about Titus very much.No matter. He absently touches the gland in his own neck; it’s swollen, burning up, just as he knows that Ignis’ must be. Too long. He wonders if Ignis misses him in between fucks any longer, if it’s gotten worse. He nearly asks, but he can later. Now he simply must grab the boy’s ankles and push his legs back, grab his thighs and use his thumbs to pull him open.He’s in him in a second, so abruptly that he can’t be sure if Ignis’ scream is more in pain or surprise.“You’re tight,” he hisses in his ear, hunching over him as he gasps. “I should make you stretch your own cunt next time, keep something inside all day.”Only a whimper at that, his teeth already drawing blood as he gnaws his lower lip.“Yes, that might be fun. Shove something big into you, leave it there a full twenty-four hours. Something with a remote control so I can make you scream whenever I wish.” He’d done it once, though only for a few hours. Back when Ignis was cooperating, when he desperately did anything asked of him with a confused smile and wide eyes. He hadn’t liked it; that much was obvious, but he’d put up with it without protest, so desperate to please. Even a few hours left him gaping, able to accept his cock easily. Ardyn likes the tightness, but this is almost too much, the stitches from the attempted natural birth closing him up more than anyone ever should be. He hadn’t noticed that last time, so desperate for him had he been. “It will hurt less, after all. The best option for both of us, perhaps.”Ignis nods frantically at that, chin jerking to the side. Back to agreeing to anything, the defiance he’d shown only moments ago long gone.Ardyn thrusts into him again, grinding his hips to force himself further in. The release of the tension in his shoulders, his throat, is almost immediate as the scent of sex fills the air. It’s almost as if waiting so long between meetings makes it that much more enjoyable.At least until he starts doing that damn thing then. Where he stares at the wall and his gaze grows distant. Ardyn’s never been able to disassociate from his life, never been able to separate himself the way Ignis can, and it infuriates him. So he turns him, shoves his knees up to his shoulders and flips him without pulling out. Something that always made the boy shriek in pain, but something that would invariably get his attention back on him. “Don’t go away like that. We haven’t properly spent time together in months, and I want to enjoy you.”Ignis howls, clawing at the sheets as if to pull himself away, helpless as he is. Ardyn grabs his chin, jerking his head back far enough so that he can see his face; his eyes are clear now, shiny with tears and focused on the present again, if a little crazed. Perfect.He pushes fingers into his mouth, forcing his jaws open as he massages his tongue. “You’re in trouble if you bite me.”Fighting the urge to clench his teeth will force him to stay in the present, and Ardyn can see in the way his mate’s eyes roll that they both know this. Good.He’s obedient after that.-The sheets are soaked beneath them, and while Ardyn knows full well that some of that wet is blood, Ignis’ once-tight cunt now stretched and torn, most is slick. He’d climaxed four times to Ardyn’s three, less than usual. The Alpha isn’t sure if he should take it personally or if it’s merely part of the post-pregnancy hormonal cycle. He suddenly wonders when his next heat will be.Ignis lets out a groan before he can reflect further. “Please. I need…” He can’t finish.“A break, hm? Too sensitive right now after only four?” He purrs, nuzzling the boy’s throat, working up his jaw to nip at his mouth.“Please,” he begs, his insides convulsing. Ardyn can feel how swollen he is around him, how hot his body is and how frantically his heart is beating. He should let him rest. He’s too excited, his body overwrought.“Give me a fifth, and I’ll consider it.”Another one of his pretty little sobs is enough to make Ardyn stiffen even further inside of him.“Come now. It will only take a moment with the way you are.” He twists a nipple as he rocks into him again, causing him to flinch and whine. He’d screamed and cried himself out by now.He traces fingers down his spine then, pressing down against each of his vertebrae and feeling him tremble as he does. Centuries ago, over a thousand years now, in the land that eventually became Insomnia, bonded omegas were tattooed with their clan’s crest when they first manifested. They were valuable once marked so, sold for peace and for trade contracts, married off as slaves in those in-between years, long after they stopped being worshipped as they had in the days when he was alive.“I want to knot you again,” he murmurs in his ear.Ignis doesn’t outwardly react, but the muscles inside of him seize up so much that Ardyn has to stifle a groan. Fear? Or excitement?“So I can feel myself in you proper, with no child in the way when I press my hand to your belly.”He liked the swell of his stomach at times, and some small part of him wants it again, but he likes Ignis being slim and frail, his skin soft and tight, and he’s ready to see his chest flat again. He thought he would enjoy it, even initially did, seeing those signs of recent childbirth on Ignis, but seeing him feed the baby had somehow destroyed that. Those small tits, once so attractive, once his, were suddenly hideous when used for the baby. He wants Ignis the way he had been when they’d met. But then…. He glances over at the baby across the room, still fussing weakly. He needs an Alpha heir. Wants. One that he can raise properly, one that hasn’t been poisoned against him.-He uses Ignis’ phone to call him, but not before flicking through the boy’s texts and recent calls. Nothing of note. He hadn’t contacted Titus since he’d fled Insomnia, nor had he contacted anyone but the little prince, and only to say that he was fine. Despite befriending a couple of other omegas here in Gralea, he remains as isolated as before. He had limited options for friends even before he had a child. He’d asked Ignis once, would you be friends with the Prince Noctis if you weren’t forced to be? And the Shield’s boy? Are these who you would have chosen to befriend? Ignis had raged at that, shown a spark of a fight, as if Ardyn had struck a chord there, as if Ignis knew his life had been taken from him.He opens the gallery next, if only to see if there are baby photos. But only a few, with Titus in nearly all of them, as if the baby is an organic part of his arms. Titus, Glauca, who he now calls.There’s an audible sigh when the other man picks up the phone. “I was wrong to hope this was Ignis calling me.”“He’s asleep,” he can’t keep the crow out of his voice as he touches Ignis beside him, curls a stray lock of hair around his ear. “In my bed. It looks like you’d driven him right to me.”“Yes, well, he doesn’t seem to take very well to being told the truth, as you yourself learned.” He’s not surprised, only resigned. “Is Somnus there?”“My son? Yes.”Nothing. Almost aggravating. He wants him angry. “Put the video on.”There’s a long moment before he does, but he eventually obeys. Ardyn is taken aback by how tired he looks. In that abhorrent empty apartment he keeps for such calls, wearing a turtleneck that is unnecessarily form-fitting. For a man with such a low sex drive, he knew how to show himself off. Did you put this on for me? Is that why you took so long to turn the video on? “That’s better,” he smirks, showing his teeth in the way he knows Titus likes.“Are you going to return the favor so I can see that they’re okay?”He ignores the request, keeping the camera off. “Now please tell me that you told him, that he did not somehow find this out through you fucking up so grievously it’d be better to kill you now and be done with it.”He ignores the threat. “I need his magic. I was advised to bond with him in that regard, and so I told him who I was before asking. It went about as well as one might expect.”This is not…. Ardyn cannot remember being at such a loss for words in recent years, not even when he learned that Ignis was carrying his child. It wasn’t even that Titus had told him, which he more than half expected. It was the circumstances under which he told him. He asked permission to bond with his magic, and he told him that he was a traitor before doing so. This fool threatened everything solely because he wanted to be polite, because he didn’t want to take something from an omega who was born to have things taken from him. Then what does he mean to you? What does this stupid slut of a boy mean to you?“You didn’t need to tell him anything. You know how to forcibly take it from someone, or did I teach you such a thing for nothing?” Long ago, in case he ever needed it from the then-infant Noctis.“I want him to trust me. He’ll be easier to control if I tell him who I am as opposed to him finding out.”“And why would he find out?”He is clearly mulling, choosing his words carefully. “You. I trust him to keep his mouth shut more than I trust you to, and I know you dislike how I’m married to him.”“Hm,” he blows his hair out of his eyes. “I don’t quite buy that explanation. Though I suppose it worked; he’s in Gralea now with the baby, alive. Though I don’t know for how long that might be, as we can hardly trust him not to talk.”“I’ll take care of it if he’s deemed to be too much of a threat. I can kill him quickly without fucking him to death. Which I assume you just nearly did to him?”As much as Ardyn would like to kill Ignis, making Glauca do it might be more comical. Torture the General a bit for spilling his guts like a lovesick fool. “You mean did I have sex with my rightful bonded mate? Of course. He took it quite well, too. I think he might have missed me. You know omegas need to have sex with their mates regularly if they are bonded. Otherwise they are in such pain, but I suppose you wouldn’t notice that about him.”“We don’t talk about such things.” He inclines his head, showing the side of his neck. His own unmarked gland bulges above the neckline, and Ardyn can’t help but lean forward; Alphas can’t bond with one another. Not that it matters, as the magic bond is more than enough to keep Titus under control. At least when there isn’t a slutty little omega around.“Uh huh. And Glauca?”A grunt, his eyes narrow now. “I don’t appreciate the lies.”He leans back, looks towards the ceiling. “I’ll be in Gralea tomorrow. The King’s sending me to fetch him. He wants him home before he gets to Tenebrae. I think he’s afraid he’ll vanish with the heir. And if Ignis or Somnus are hurt, we will have a problem.”“Mm. It’s been quite some time since we’ve had sex. I look forward to it.” Just once in the last six months, when Ignis had visited Gralea when pregnant, when Glauca had watched them fuck. Titus had ripped him apart while the boy was in the bath taking one of his hour-long sob sessions, something that barely even lasted five minutes. Ardyn needs more.The disgust is all too apparent, but Ardyn knows he’ll do it. He’s known him long enough to recognize his pent-up sexual frustration by now. They do this rarely enough, but nearly five months is far too long even for Glauca; even if a year goes by without sex, they still see each other, touch one another.“I’ll make you regret that statement,” he finally growls.“Don’t take too long now, or I might let my aggression out on one of them here.”Something crashes to the floor off screen as Glauca lunges for the camera, slamming the laptop shut and cutting the connection. The tinkling of glass. He’s been drinking something heavy, the way he used to; it’s enough to make Ardyn laugh.He uses his own phone for the second call, this one to a woman he tries to avoid even more so than Highwind. The Lady Gentiana.

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Part 7, Chapter 4 - Ignis

Ardyn let him go, returned him to Glauca’s quarters with a laugh and a lingering hand. Go clean up. The Lady Gentiana won’t want to see you reeking of subservience. She likes to pretend omegas have worth beyond closed doors.He doesn’t stay long. He showers quickly, desperate to clean himself off before Loqi has the chance to notice how worn down and exhausted he looks. He doesn’t need to know what happens to omegas once they manifest. He’s drying his hair when the younger boy rounds the corner, leans into the bathroom and absently watches him.“You’re going out again?”“Mm,” he nods. “The Lady Gentiana. I want to talk to her about the baby. We both know Aranea isn’t exactly the best person to ask when it comes to that kind of thing.”Loqi laughs, but he sees through him. “Does she have kids?”“Anyone’s better than Aranea,” he has to suppress his frustration. He sometimes wishes Loqi were as stupid as he looks and usually acts.“Yea, her mom skills involve too much frozen pizza and video games at two in the morning.”This makes Ignis jump, suddenly realizing he should have asked this a long time ago, the moment he’d arrived. "What's he like, as a father? Glauca?""Him again? You've seen it," Loqi shrugs. "He spoils me. He buys me anything, and he's annoyingly affectionate. I think it's a little like how he treats you though, the way he talks about you."Ignis doesn't find it annoying, but he's never felt it until now. Thirteen years of no memories, no parents, nobody to ever tell him he didn't need to manage everything on his own. Titus gave him something, only to take it away by not being Titus. And that is… "I need to know who he is as Glauca."Loqi rolls his eyes dramatically. "You're so serious. He's probably the same as he is over there, you know. He's quiet, just does his job and doesn't really get involved in life here. Like here in Gralea he can speak continental Lucian but when he has to speak Nifl, he's actually really messy. Cause he has no friends," he laughs at this.  "Not even Aranea?""No. He treats everybody like kids. I think he's lonely. It's why he told you who he was." There’s a bite to his words.Ignis understands then. Marrying him, raising his child, those were forgivable, even ignorable, because that was his Insomnia life. But telling Ignis who he was here in Niflheim...bringing the two words together… "Are you jealous?"Another laugh. "No, but I mean, he always said it was only us who knew his secret. And now you know. It was a stupid thing to do."So childish. He reminds him of Noctis, and Ignis feels a flicker of regret and sorrow. I left him there. I barely even though of him when I ran, I was so shaken by the situation. "I'm sure there's plenty he does just with you.""That's not it. It's that you might tell someone, and then I'll lose my dad. And he's way better than any other dad an omega can have, you know." He says it arrogantly, defensively.“You don’t care? That he’s a double-agent like that?”“My original parents wanted me dead. At least Glauca doesn’t want that.”“Just everyone else.”Loqi rolls his eyes, clearly losing interest in the conversation, but not before saying one last thing, his words as sharp as a slap across the face, “And? Your dad is the King. You know what he’s done, yet you’re still so loyal to him”

Part 7, Chapter 4 - Nyx

The barracks have been a nightmare the last 48 hours, uncomfortable as all hell. Most everyone had been sent out to find Ignis at first, but once it was learned he was in Gralea, they'd been sent back to await further orders. Not that there was anything to do either way; there'd be no further orders. Ignis was with his mate, leaving this a purely diplomatic matter. No need for foot soldiers combing the streets for a lost child and a baby.Everyone figures it's the Captain, that Drautos did something horrible, which makes it weird that he'd be the one sent to Gralea to go get him. It's because he'd demanded it, pushed and pushed, wanting that baby back like it's his own, most likely.  And the King has always been a pushover for Drautos, at least for most things. Guilt over not being able to rescue Galahd, guilt over not protecting it in the first place. Even Nyx can put that together, and he's barely even an adult yet. But the tabloids already smearing the Captain as yet another depraved foreigner who'd raped a child didn't help raise social opinion of the Kingsglaive. Pelna had complained of being spat at by a guest when he'd been asking around at hotels, and he wasn't the only one.A few of them, the usual crowd, are sitting around one of the break rooms right now."You know what they said about him," Libertas shrugs."He didn't do it!" Crowe  reacts so strongly that Libertas flinches. She's always had a thing for him, thought the Captain was hot.To be fair, he is. Nyx himself wouldn't say no, if only Drautos would actually be into that kind of thing. What kind of Captain doesn't take advantage of his troops if they're willing? It's why this rumor is so stupid, like he'd actually hurt a child just because they were an omega. Both Crowe and Nyx had tried to flirt with him at times, and Luche had all but thrown himself at him. Repeatedly, to the point where the Captain actively tried to avoid him. It was actually pretty funny. So it was stupid to believe he'd hurt Ignis. Everyone who knew him at all, and granted nobody knew that much about him, but everyone knew he had no interest in sex. His entire life was defending the Crown and now his adopted son and whatever Ignis was to him. Nyx can't see him ever betraying anyone, ever hurting anyone like that."I'm just sayin', you read the papers, heard all the rumors. Not saying they're true, but..." he shrugs again helplessly, like he always does when he incurs Crowe's wrath but can't stop talking."But you might believe them. You think he's a rapist!" she looks like she's going to hit him."He's not necessarily the most pure man in the world just 'cause you like him, either."He's pushing too far, not just for Crowe but maybe even for him, too. He'd never do such a thing. Nyx leans over, taps his friend's shoulder. "Drop it, man.""She's gotta know. One thing obeying orders from him, another thing to dig him."Crowe snorts, her brow furrowed in the way it does right before she snaps.He finally gets the hint and backs off, not that his next subject is much better. "You think we'll be sent to invade?" Libertus sounds a little too excited about this."You crazy?" She still looks annoyed, but less angry now. "There won't be a war. There hasn't been one yet. The King knows better than to start a war over one person.""True..." he draws the word out. "He couldn't start a war to save an entire nation under his protection, so guess his son doesn't matter.""The Captain would smack you for saying that," Nyx says calmly, but he doesn't feel it. Libertus shoots his mouth off too often, and his friends live in mild fear much of the time that he'll get himself arrested. Fortunately he's a buffoon and nobody takes him seriously, but he still needs to chill. Even if he has a point."Bet you wouldn't mind that," he rolls his eyes.Nyx throws his hands up and almost laughs, but he's also irritated. He doesn't like thinking about the Captain like this, but he can't help but wonder. Why else would he run? He hadn't even run from the Chancellor. Something's really wrong about the whole thing, and Drautos... He's been so different since the baby was born. Like he didn't even care about his job anymore. Not true, of course, but he was too caught up in the child. It was cute, and he saw how women and omegas would see it as something appealing, but he didn't really get it. "Think we all need a drink.""I second that," Crowe slams her feet down on the floor a little too hard and stands abruptly. "Let's go, eh?"-Seven drinks later, Nyx finds himself alone in his apartment despite having not been there for nearly a week now. He doesn't like being there. It's nearly empty, with little furniture and the only decorations photos of his family, tattered newspaper clippings. Stop living in a tomb, Crowe had told him once. Your family's gone. You can remember them without slapping yourself in the face every night when you turn on the kitchen light.She lost people back then, too, as had half of the Glaives, but the only person Nyx had ever met who gets his grieving is the Captain, and so he is taking this especially difficult. He doesn't know what the Captain is to him, not exactly. A mentor, an older brother... certainly not a friend, as the man is nearly twice his age and distant, but Nyx doesn't like not knowing what's going on. He flicks his phone on and glances at the half dozen texts he'd sent earlier today, all read but ignored.He doesn't want to consider the possibility that the rumors are true, that Drautos isn't who he thinks he is. He isn't the kind to betray anyone.

Part 7, Chapter 4 - Gentiana

She knew things about Ignis long before he himself did, before anyone did. She knew the King had a child before Noctis, a boy left in in the womb in Galahd; she knew of his existence years before Regis himself knew, knew he would eventually end up in Insomnia and become the caretaker and adviser to his little brother, unbeknownst to everyone but the king. She knew he was an omega then, too, but what happened with the Chancellor had caught her by surprise. Foresight, she's always known what would happen, what fate had in store for the humans around her from generation to generation. Yet the existence of Somnus had caught her off guard, and she was the only one who really seemed to be aware of this disruption. Ramuh, Titan, and Leviathan do not care; they stay out of the realm of humans. Ifrit...he is gone, gone where she can not find him, and so she does not know if he knew. Bahamut remains an unknown, someone she has not spoken to in centuries at this point. Did he know? Perhaps, as that could be the only reason why he wouldn't have spoken to her about such an anomaly. Unless he, too, was dormant, so ignored by the people that his powers diminished... The thought causes the corners of her mouth to turn upwards. Impossible; he likely simply doesn't care.And so she can not begin to guess what will happen now. In all likelihood, the existence of Somnus will go ignored by the Crystal, by the rest of them, unless Ardyn and the humans do something they will be forced to acknowledge. If that's possible. The future splinters, fractures into a thousand paths when it comes to Ignis and Somnus.Not that she can say any of this to him now. He thinks her a mere human, the caretaker and adviser of the Lady Lunafreya.“My lady,” he bows, giving her one of those slightly crooked smiles. “Aren’t you cold?”She should have dressed more carefully. She shakes her head. “I’m used to the cold here. Winters in both Niflheim and Tenebrae can be harsher than the rest of the continent.” True enough, even before she…“Is Lunafreya well?” He walks slowly beside her now as she begins strolling through the gardens of the fortress.“She is, but she has been very busy as of late. She only just returned from the outskirts this morning, and I would like her to rest for time before seeing anyone.”He nods. “I’m sure her presence in the outskirts was greatly appreciated.”“So tell me, what is it you wish to speak of?”“What did Ardyn tell you?”“Only that you wish to come to Tenebrae.”He’s silent for a long moment, and she takes that time to study his face. She's never seen Ignis' mother, but she knows her look through the boy, the subtle slant of his eyes and the cut of his nose. He can see her smile in his wristbones, in his unruly hair that he can never properly tame no matter how furious it makes him. He's always been an attractive boy, but there's always been barely anything of his father in him. It's no wonder the King was able to go thirteen years without anyone recognizing the connection. And she also knows that Ignis' mother is still alive, still in Galahd, another five children to her name now. Ignis, her firstborn, her beloved, the boy taken from her so many years ago now, only a distant memory. She believes him dead, just as he believes her to be. She still loves him.It’s only after a full minute that she continues, "Do you really wish to reside in Tenebrae, so near the man who did this to you?""No, but it's my only option, isn't it?""You could tell the King what made you come here; he would have other options that you have not thought of.""How do you know he's not why I came here?" he snaps."Because I know the king. He has been a father to Luna for many years," she smiles gently. She knows why he has come, knows the truth that drove him here, but it is not her job to intervene. If Ignis tells Regis, so be it. He won't. He doesn't want to see Somnus and Loqi lose their father, doesn't want to see Insomnia thrown into chaos. Even if Titus Drautos escapes to Gralea, if the Emperor allows him to live, the repercussions will extend well beyond him. The Kingsglaive will be dismantled. The treatment of Galahdians in Insomnia will further decline; they will be persecuted, driven from the city and from safety. Attitudes towards immigrants and refugees, already harsh, will be exacerbated. And somehow, inevitably, omegas will also be blamed for it.His voice trembles when he replies, “But he’s in Insomnia, and…” And nothing. He doesn’t finish."You've never felt at home in Insomnia, have you?"He looks away, eyes narrowing. "I have Noctis there. And my duty is there if only I were able to return. If I…" another lost thought."It isn't the best of cities for outsiders. Insomnia has long been a fairly intolerant place for many," she says gently, subtly shifting the topic so he has enough time to recollect himself. "It didn't begin that way, but the more luxury a people have, the more they forget.""I know. I've read the histories, and I've been teaching them to Noctis." This is easy for him to speak of, solid ground beneath him again.She smiles. "So much in those histories." So many lies, but enough truths to carry over the centuries. They can only hide so much."Yes, and Noctis will change things when he becomes king."He won't. Because he will only be king for a single night. "And I’m sure he is worried about you. Duty does not make a home, but do not leave Insomnia just for the sake of running away.""I have no choice." He sounds more irritated than sorrowful.Ignis is the unknown thread, the one out in the wind. There was never anything about him. All kings have bastards; they are rarely important. This could go anywhere, a thousand threads yet undetermined."You do. Speak to him, if you must.""Who if not the King?""The Kingsglaive Captain. He's who you are running from, is he not? He made you angry, but he didn't hurt you.""How would you know that?"She smiles gently; his mind is moving through possibilities so quickly, it’s as if he can’t even remember what he’d just said. "You aren’t here because of the King or because of Noctis, so who else could have made you act like this? Surely not a fight with a classmate. He angered you, yes, but I trust the King wouldn't hand you over to someone who would hurt you." It isn't quite the truth. She trusts him, loves him as the fatherly figure he's been to Lady Lunafreya, but she knows he makes poor decisions. Ignis' mother was a poor decision; stealing the child an even greater one. Only to ignore him. Not notice he is an omega, just as he failed to notice who Titus Drautos really is, what a fool he can be. He passed Ignis into the hands of a monster, but at least one who would not harm an omega.Only one who would kill the Oracle and plot the downfall of an entire nation on an empty promise. And he will do it; he will kill the King and bring the deaths of millions of citizens when he brings the wall down. Insomnia will fall. She has seen it, but Ignis was never in the calculations. Unintended or insignificant, she can't be certain, just as she can't be certain that things will still happen as the Crystal claimed.Chaos might still ensue. Not because of the choices freely made by the people of Insomnia, no - the Crystal and the gods already know such things, have already factored free will into the calculations - but because sometimes things slip through.Just as Ignis’ own feelings about this have slipped him by; he is unaware or what is so obvious in his eyes. Because beyond all of that, Ignis loves Titus in his own way. Somewhere, unconsciously, Ignis knows this, and so he will keep silent. He has already made this decision deep in his heart, though he doesn't know it yet. He hadn't made it when he first arrived in Gralea, but things changed.She sees all, at least all in the past. The future has betrayed her when it comes to Ignis and this child. She sees how he spoke to Loqi about his father, how he tore the man’s apartment to pieces trying to find any evidence for his fears, how he can’t properly look upon Somnus because he feels he betrayed the baby. And she knows that Ignis is also jealous, furious that he has to share Titus with Ardyn and perhaps even vice versa. He's defensive of his husband, protective even; it's a feeling he wouldn't have if he were that angry about his identity, if he were that unable to forgive him.“He is a part of it, yes. He hasn’t hurt me in that way, which is the problem” he worries his lower lip and glances up at her, then quickly away, as if ashamed. “We had an incident... I offered. He refused. It hurt, to have my own husband say what he did. He just treats me like a child when I’m mature enough to make such a decision." The words fall from him so easily she could almost believe it, and she suspects others would believe it right before changing the subject. The best lies are the ones too uncomfortable, too unnerving, for anyone to even question.She nods. He would rather embarrass himself than say anything that might suggest Titus isn't who he seems. He will defend his secret. Of anyone he could tell, she would be the best, the safest, the most likely to take him seriously while not running her mouth to the wrong people about it, and he won't tell her."So what exactly is it you wish to do?""I can leave Somnus here. Maria can care for him.""You'd leave your own child here?"He cocks his head. "I can, if I have to. The Chancellor said that the baby will be permitted to come here. He hasn't decided about me yet. Either Tenebrae or remain here in Gralea. He said I...might have to trade myself in that regard. Stay as his mate and he'll leave the baby alone." He says it like he"s somewhere else, like his body is present but his mind is back in Insomnia somewhere, back where he's safe, like he's not thinking about what he's saying. He'd rather die than stay here with this man, and she sees it then, sees another line of fate, a possibility. He will pass the baby on. He will stay here, stay with the Chancellor until suddenly he's not there anymore. Dead.She opens her eyes again. But it's only a possibility."That aside, Somnus doesn't need me. He only loves Titus. Being without either of us is no different than being without Titus, for him.""Babies are fickle." She could comfort him, tell him that Somnus loves him too, but she knows it wouldn't help Ignis. What he says might well be the truth this week, but it won't be next week. "They always want who and what they don't have at the moment.""Will he forget Titus then, after a while?" He sounds too eager, desperate. He’s gone from refusing to say the man’s name to saying it as much as possible."Perhaps," she cocks her head. She has seen enough generations of Oracles and Kings to know that the mortal mind is not as simple as merely bringing to mind whatever once happened to you. "But the memories of children lie elsewhere. Somewhere, you remember things from thirteen years ago, though you don't know where those memories went."He doesn't respond to this. After all, he supposedly remembers nothing of those first six years, but he does. He remembers the language, the songs, the scent of his mother. It's part of why he is so drawn to Titus Drautos, that pull of a homeland he can't quite recall.She sees then. Clarity, the mist withdrawing from several of those crystalline shards. Ignis, after all, is from the land that the Astrals abandoned moreso than any other. A catastrophe more of immortal negligence than mortal war.She stops walking and turns to face him."We will not care for Somnus in Tenebrae."He startles, catching himself quickly enough. "Then I can come.""No. Neither of you must come. You must either return to Insomnia or remain here in Gralea, but the former is wiser."He opens his mouth once only to close it again before clearing his throat and speaking. He sounds confused, taken aback, even insulted, but he's maintaining his composure the way he was taught to around those in power. "Why?"Lying comes easily for her; she's been doing it for thousands of years now. "If you or the baby stay, you put the relative peace of --- in jeopardy. Lady Lunafreya does not yet know your wishes, as she will demand that you come stay with her, but I know it is simply not safe. The Oracle Sylva was slain by Nifl forces not so long ago, and her transgressions were far less than spiriting away the child of the Chancellor. We care for you, but you are in a diplomatically precarious position, and as an occupied colony with no military of our own we are....limited in our ability to intervene on an individual humanitarian basis. I am sorry that the Captain made you feel worthless, but that is hardly a reason for another nation to intervene." He hadn’t planned his lie very well; it was inconsequential, nothing solid, and therefore easy to dismiss on this level. Ignis must have thought it through that well. He’s like Ravus in that regard.But if he is stunned, he recovers quickly. "You actually don't have the political power to make that decision. Only Lunafreya does.""And Lunafreya will make the wrong decision. She is just as headstrong as you are; she would risk anything to protect those she loves, and so I must say this to you now. You may speak to her, but I will advise her to say exactly what I have just told you. Spare her the stress of being trapped in the middle."“Then what would you have me do?”“Somnus would be happiest in Insomnia. As would you be, if you can forgive the Captain for what he did.”“Impossible.”“But you’d forgive the Chancellor? If you stay, he will order a divorce from Captain Drautos; you will be forced to marry him.”“I know.”“The very fact that you are being so irrational about this betrays your hurt,” she sighs. She gently says what has been long on her mind since the moment Ignis Scientia arrived in Gralea. “You feel more angry about his refusal, if that is even what really happened, than what the Chancellor has done to you. And if it isn’t what happened, then you are lying for him, making yourself look like a fool. All suggests you care for him.”He shrugs helplessly at this, but she can see in his eyes that he’s already given up, closed himself off, as if he knew from the beginning that she wouldn’t help him, as if he knew what even the Astrals did not.

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Part 7, Chapter 5 - Titus

“Where are they?” he can’t keep the rage out of his voice, and he’s thankful that the helmet tempers him, alters his voice and suppresses emotion. He’d gone to Ardyn the moment he’d gotten off the airship. The Emperor had, surprisingly, sent one halfway across Lucis to pick him and a few guards up; he was clearly uneasy about Ignis in the city, leery of the King starting a war, and he’d been quick to offer assistance. Drautos had arrived in the city earlier than he’d anticipated, but even then, he felt that it was too late.Ardyn only laughs, presses his fingertips together. “That Highwind freak picked up Somnus. You can’t well go get him from her, as Glauca has no reason to be interested, and she is such a loudmouth she would protest too much,” he grins.Of course he would consider that, as opposed to giving him to a servant to care for who wouldn’t ask any questions or tell anyone if the General picked him up. But he also knows how much Ardyn can’t stand her; he’s going above and beyond to piss him off. “And Ignis?”“With the lovely Lady Gentiana from Tenebrae. Negotiating a way to get him into the territory to get away from you.” His heart sinks. To be expected. Ignis wouldn’t run to Ardyn without an escape plan, after all. “You’ll have to give him permission to do so, no?”“Yes, which I haven’t decided if I will do yet. He’ll be closer, and taking him from Tenebrae is hardly as difficult as taking him back from his Insomnian husband.”Take. Like he’s an object. “And Somnus?”“I will be straight with you, Titus. I don’t like the baby. If I am to have an heir, I want an Alpha, and I want one raised by someone else for a time so that Ignis’ body goes back to normal quickly. The current situation…disgusts me. I won’t take him from you now, won’t marry him, won’t get rid of the omega child, but if you disobey again.” He stops there, dropping his hand, the threat clear. If I lose Glauca, if I lose Captain Drautos, I will take them from you. I will marry Ignis and make him my whore. I will kill your son.Titus bristles at this. He’s tired of the threats. They have controlled half of his life now, but now that they compromise the safety of others, he has lost his patience. Ardyn rarely threatened Loqi up until recently, somehow, and this is a fairly new concept to him, having loved ones in danger.“You got him into this situation, and now you can’t stand what it did to him?”“All of it was unintentional,” he raises his hands in a half shrug.He loses his temper then, lunges forward and grabs Ardyn by the lapels of his coat. “I need to see Ignis and Somnus. I’m not done with you, though.”He only laughs, as he always does whenever threatened, and Titus drops him. He despises him, viciously hates him in a way he hates no one else, just as he feels affection towards him that is unlike anything else he can explain. That affection is worse than the hatred.-He waits the rest of the day for Ignis to return. Strangely enough, Ardyn did not demand he go to his quarters right away; he allows Ignis to return to Loqi’s apartment with only a phone call to him. The Chancellor contacts Titus to relay the information in a few non-chalant way.“I’ll see him later. I don’t need your drama interfering.”“Bold comment given that you invited me last time.”He can just see Ardyn’s smirk, his half-shrug, even through the phone. “Go take care of it. I’m curious to see if he tells me something different tomorrow.”The insinuation that he’ll keep Ignis tonight, that he won’t let him leave just yet. And the suggestion that Titus will dutifully tell him whatever Ignis tells him. He hangs up, and only then does he realize that Ignis has once again invaded his home, that he’s in his flat, fully aware that he will be showing up eventually. The boy had almost certainly gone through everything he owned, invaded his privacy as Glauca, had probably bothered Loqi about him.-“I live here. You can’t kick me out.”Ignis glares at him, his eyes narrow and furious, and he doesn't look away. He’s still dressed in what he had worn to visit Gentiana, looking like the royalty that he is despite the lock of hair that had escaped the hair spray by now.  General Glauca ignores the anger, the cocked chin, the hostility pent up in such a small body. "Will you come home?""Where's your home? Do you really live here?"The question throws him off kilter, unhinges him, especially coming from Ignis' mouth at this moment, when so many other things must be addressed. It’s almost an insolent response, the kind of nonsense Loqi would spit out when asked to do something he didn’t want to do. Your home. Gralea, with Loqi. Insomnia, with Somnus. Galahd, with the ghosts. And none of them are yours. He is grateful that Ignis can't see his face beneath the helmet. He isn't sure what his eyes might betray.It's as if Ignis knows what he's thinking. "Let me see your face."No. He doesn't want this boy seeing him vulnerable. The realization seen a jolt through him; he's never felt this before, never felt vulnerable, never cared what others thought. Perhaps not true, perhaps as a child, a teenager, before he lost everything."How do I even know you're him and not Ardyn?"He sighs at that, withdrawing the armor from a single hand, a forearm. "I could be Ardyn looking like the man you know. What difference does the armor make?""Please." And then, softer, "I'll know it's you.""How?""I'll know. Same as Somnus."A ludicrous idea, but something in it nags at him. Is it possible that the armor doesn’t mask his scent as well as he believed? Simply Ignis’ arrogance. He strips the armor from his face, his hands."Sit." He even points at him as he speaks, his hand trembling in anger, but he seems less anxious now that the helmet is off..Titus obeys, if only to avoid the boy throwing a tantrum. He’s at least talking to me right now, which is more than I can expect. He drops to the sofa, stripping away the last of his armor as he does. It’s far lighter than it looks, but still tiring.Ignis darts forward, raises his hands and grazes his fingers against his hair without touching him. He rarely comes so close, and Titus inadvertently leans back a little. But Ignis stops there, studying him with narrowed eyes before nodding once, as if confirming his existence.Titus could ask what he’s thinking at the moment, but he decides he ought to just focus on the issue at hand. "You must know about the rumors, the assumptions being made about us... They won't be easy to go back to, but we need to agree on what to say."“You’re assuming I’ll come back. They all think you raped me, don't they? It's what everyone here thinks.""Better to let them think that," the words are raw on his tongue, vile.Ignis visibly pales. "Why?""Because it's the easiest explanation; it’s believable for most. Nobody will question it, and they will accept it as a logical reason for you to run. No argument would justify you fleeing to the Chancellor to most people; you must realize that."Unless I tell the truth. He could say it so easily, but he doesn’t. He’s almost acting as if it isn’t even an option."I have to tell Noctis it wasn't that. And the King...what..." he sounds panicked now, as if he'd suddenly realized that maybe the King thinks he was raped yet again and still doesn’t care as much as he should. "I told him we had an argument about the baby. He believes me, as he trusts me. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, though tell Noctis what you deem necessary." It would probably only raise his status further in the public eye, at least for those who wouldn't jump on the chance to use him as a shining example of how immigrants are all rapists."So I'm supposed to go back and live with you. So everyone can think that once again, I willingly went back to someone who did that to me.""Irrelevant.""But it is relevant!” He sounds half hysterical. “You don't know what it's like, being an omega, having everyone thinking you're a whore all the time, having everyone..."He closes his eyes. Such things matter to children. He’s still only thirteen, nearly fourteen. “I’m sorry, but it’s the most reasonable option. Now what did you tell the Lady Gentiana?” That woman makes him uneasy.“You’re not asking what I told Ardyn.”“We spoke. He loves gloating to me. And Gentiana?”“Irrelevant,” he snaps, tilting his face up and twitching his arms, as if he’s resisting the urge to fold them across his chest. He can be so immature sometimes, a child and  an adult wrestling in his body. “We need to talk about what you just told me before I even consider letting you see my son again.”He’d expected this, not that he knows what to say. He’s spent the last few days struggling to determine if what he’d done was a mistake, if it would just be better to kill the boy and be done with it. You’ve killed so many before. You currently plan to kill your own King and comrades. You killed the parents of your other son, and you never thought twice about it. “Ask what you must.”"Why?" He’d been waiting to ask this for days."I told you why." We’re going to have the same conversation again and again, aren’t we? “There’s no need for greater detail.”"Not why you do what you do. Why tell me?""I told you that as well." He’s trying to keep himself from being frustrated. It’s his fault after all; he’s the one who told Ignis such a monumental thing."Not in a way that made sense."He raises his own hand slowly, gently strokes one of Ignis' wrists. His skin is hot, his pulse too fast, but within a few seconds of rubbing his gland, he can feel the boy relax a little. "Then that is your problem, now."The boy doesn't flinch away from him. If anything, he grows bolder, raising his hands again to touch his hair, fingers hovering around his temples. He wants more contact, more comfort, though Titus can’t imagine why. "How do you expect me to let you near Somnus again? And not tell anyone? Just go back to the apartment and live with you as if I know nothing?""I don't. Make your own decision.”"Then why would you burden me with this?""Ignis." “Do you want me to decide because you can’t? Because you’re tired of this double life and you want someone else to end it for you or confirm that it’s acceptable? Do you expect to be forgiven?”He groans softly. He doesn’t know if the boy is hitting on something; he’s closed that part of him off that could even comprehend such a concept so long ago. And yet, he does want this to end. He’s tired, and the end goal is still nearly a decade off. “I told you because I need your magic. I don’t care what conclusion you come to.”Ignis steps back from him, dropping his hands and flicking his fingers at his sides, clearly uneasy. He says nothing, only continues to slip backwards before turning on his heel and entering Loqi’s bedroom. He closes the door behind him, leaving Titus to wonder at what he’d just said.And if he truly meant it.-He doesn’t know how long he stands outside the bedroom door. Somnus is there, inside of Loqi’s room with Ignis. His older son is out with a couple of friends; as much as he likes Ignis, he thankfully has his own life, his own relationships here. That left Titus with the time to confront his husband without having to kick Loqi out of his own home. Ignis seems to not even be aware of the strangeness of the situation, having entrenched himself in his home.“Can I see him?” He hesitates. “Please, Ignis. I need to see him.” He hears one of those familiar sounds, the cooing Somnus makes whenever he hears his voice. At least the baby isn’t angry with him.Ignis slowly opens the door and steps aside. “You can hold him. He’ll start crying if I don’t let you anyway.” He sounds accusatory, as if it’s Titus’ fault that the child likes him.Titus leans in quickly, raises the infant who is now waving his arms. He presses his face against the baby’s, rubs his chin all over him as Somnus squeals and purrs in clear delight. Mine, mine, mine, my child. He kisses the boy’s forehead, brushing his soft hair to the side, and presses him to his chest. He can still hear the soft cooing as he cradles the back of his head.He can not lose Somnus again; it is that simple. The love he feels for him is so similar to that he felt towards Loqi when he was a baby. Pheromones, hormones, of course. Babies, especially omega infants, will all but lure adults in to care for them; it’s a survival tactic, but that doesn’t make it any less real. Titus suspects that even if Somnus weren’t an omega, he would still love him. He nuzzles him again, scents the top of his head and wonders at how much this little creature has survived in such a short time already.“He’s been very unhappy since we left the apartment.”He’d forgotten that Ignis was there. “He probably didn’t like the change of routine.”“Don’t be an idiot. It’s because he missed you. He likes you better than anyone else. It’s obvious enough from the way he’s acting.” He sounds offended at this.Titus almost laughs before gently laying the baby down on his belly. “Have you been doing this for him?” he doesn’t want to suggest Ignis hasn’t been taking care of him properly, but he can’t help but wonder. If you take Somnus away, do you know how to raise him? Ignis would do his best. Clever and resourceful, he raised Noctis from the age of six despite only being a few years older, but an infant is different.“Yes, every day.” a pause. “Only a minute or two though. He gets upset.”“He needs to build his muscles up. You can ignore the fussing for a bit.” It’s easy for him to say; he’d already raised a child, had grown up in a culture where everyone cared for the village children.When he looks at Ignis again, he is surprised to see tears in the corners of his eyes. Even if he asks what’s wrong, he knows the boy won’t respond. Because he’s realizing that he can’t raise the baby alone, that Somnus needs me.After another few minutes, he lifts the infant up and moves to place him in the makeshift crib. Strange to have another baby in the room I raised Loqi. He turns to Ignis and raises a hand, palm up.“Can I touch you? Your face?”He stiffens before relaxing again, but the confusion is clear in his eyes. “He rarely hit my face.”He waits. He hates how calmly Ignis sometimes speaks of what happened to him, how he got so used to being raped and beaten that he can say such things as if he were speaking of the weather. The panic and fear are easier to deal with; they don’t remind him of himself, of how he can speak of witnessing the genocide of his people without batting an eye.He darts his gaze towards Somnus, who is still making that contented cooing sound. “It’s okay. Not my neck or anything else.”It’s what he’d been waiting for. Titus touches him, one hand to each side of the face as he slowly leans in, forehead to forehead, just as he’d done with his son."I would never bring any harm to Noctis or Somnus.""And me?"He tilts his head slightly, rubs his nose against Ignis'. He doesn’t smell like a terrified omega anymore, only one on guard, angry. "Do I have a reason to not trust you?"“Yes.” Brave and stubborn as ever.“Then I suppose we’ll just have to see.” He will kill him if he has to. He must. And it will undoubtably be the most unpleasant kill he’s ever had to do. He usually only ever has to kill strangers, those he barely knows; while the king is doomed to die at his hand in the coming years, even that doesn’t bother him. The country that betrays you is far worse than the one that condemns you, after all. He can understand Ignis’ rage.But the boy only nods before pulling away from him. “I ought to thank you for being honest there, but I have difficulty feeling any gratitude towards you.”“I’m sorry.” And if he didn’t know if he meant what he’d said earlier, he believes he means this.-He must speak to the King, explain that he has found Ignis and Somnus, confirmed they were both as safe as they could be in Gralea. But he hardly knows if Ignis will be returning home with him; he suspects it is likely, and yet Ignis is ever unpredictable. He doesn’t know what will happen from there.Under normal circumstances, Ignis would almost certainly inform the King and ensure his execution. Somnus complicates matters, because the child has made it unable for Ignis to ignore his hormones, his omega nature. He is driven to protect the child at all costs, keep him safe and happy; that can only be done with Titus. And Ignis is also driven by the need to have a partner, have someone to raise the child with him. His proper mate can hardly do that. Titus wonders absently if Ignis would behave differently if he went on suppressants, something he’s only refusing right now so he can continue to lactate.It’s cruel to rely on the fact that he’s an omega, and perhaps he’s even taking advantage of this. It’s all too clear that Ignis is fighting himself, that he’s aware of these complications. Yet I, too, am compromised. There is that nagging doubt in my mind, the suspicion that he only told Ignis what he did because of his scent, because of the baby that latches onto him.Her shakes his head once to rid himself of the unease. He’s on a job. This is not an intimate conversation, but a duty he was asked to carry out. No emotion is needed here, and he doesn’t need to second-guess anything being said about the current situation. He puts his Kingsglaive uniform back on before making the video call, just another skin of his. “Captain Drautos reporting from Gralea, Your Majesty.”“Thank you, Captain. Ignis spoke to me earlier.”A cold fear seeps into his veins. Ignis had said nothing of this, and while he had no real reason to, it makes him uneasy. Nonetheless, he smiles faintly, the way he always does; years of lying have made it almost a reflex. “That’s good to hear. I was concerned he was too embarrassed to contact you.”“He is quite embarrassed, but he agreed to come home.”He sighs, groans and rubs a hand on his forehead in unfeigned relief.“He’s still very angry with you, though he is not afraid of you or anything of the sort. It was, after all, only an argument.” There is something in the way he says it that makes it sound as if not even he completely believes it “He wants to continue to live with you, as it would be best for Somnus. Are you okay with this?”Relief. He’d suspected that Ignis would return, but for him to have agreed so readily without a fight is unexpected. “I wish to raise Somnus as my own, yes. I can deal with a temperamental teenager.”Easier to keep him quiet if I live with him. Though he’s aware of how strange the situation is, of how baffling it might be for others to understand, and of how it puts the Prince in a difficult situation. “I’d like him to spend two nights a week with Noctis though. I think he feels trapped by the baby, but I can care for him on my own a few days a week while he spends time with his friend. It’d be healthier for everyone involved.”The King nods, smiling at this. “Noctis would be thrilled, and I’d be far more comfortable with them together at least part of the time. I still wish for Ignis to be his advisor, after all; they need to maintain that closeness.”A rather odd approach to brotherhood, but Titus ignores it. “On that note, I can care for Somnus during those times. He’s old enough for me to take him to work, at least when I’m simply in meetings or working at a desk. Ignis can work around my schedule.” Ignis has hardly agreed to this, and would likely protest, but he has clearly realized by now how much he needs Titus to help care for Somnus.“You’ve spoken with the Chancellor, I assume? He declined to speak to me.”This takes Titus aback. He can’t imagine Ardyn refusing the chance to gloat, to mock the King. It makes him wonder, yet again, if the monster is somehow feeling regret, at least as much as he is even capable of. “He won’t be a problem for a time,” he says smoothly. It isn’t quite a lie. He will be sure of it. “He’s uncomfortable around his son, but he realizes Ignis can’t be separated from him right now. If only for the public image, he won’t pull them apart when he’s still feeding.”He can see the King half-grimace as he says the last part, as if he finds the very idea of it disgusting. Just like Ardyn. Both Lucis and Niflheim are no different in the way they treat breastfeeding of any kind, even among women. Incomprehensible to someone from Galahd; even the most immature of the Galahdian Kingsglaives don’t bat an eye at someone feeding their child.“Do you believe him?”“We have no choice but to. I will take care though. I suspect any moves on his part will be through official channels, though. He’s not in a position to engage in covert kidnapping.”The King nods, but he doesn’t look convinced. “Just bring him home.”