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“Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen! I am very honoured to welcome you all to this years, Guard and Glaive Games!” The entire crowd cheered as His Grace, Ardyn Lucis Caelum, took to the centre of the arena.The annual Guard and Glaive Games would take place every year and this year was no exception. It was a highly anticipated tournament that was televised all across Lucis and many people within Insomnia brought tickets so that they would be able to experience the games first-hand. The tournament had an entire arena built for it and the building could house up to 20,000 people. Each year, without fail, all the seats were fully booked within the first day of purchase. This day was loved by all and it was a golden opportunity for the Guard and Glaive to get along. That was what it was intended for anyway, but that idea completely backfired as it only made the two groups more competitive and aggressive towards each other. King Regis would have put an end to the games years ago, however his immortal Great-Grandfather and Great-Granduncle were very against that idea and somehow convinced the King to keep the games going, despite the problems that they brought. This was why Ardyn was hosting this year. Regis had had enough of being a part of an event that was clearly dividing his two main sources of protection. What didn’t help the old King further was that the public, the Guard and the Glaive all loved it. He had little option but to keep it going. And Ardyn was equally delighted that this year Regis had entrusted him with the task of hosting the games.Like always he went over the top with it.As soon as the crowd died down Ardyn spoke again smiling as brightly as he possibly could.“Just before we start I would like to draw your attention to his Royal Majesty, and my darling nephew, King Regis for coming up with these amazing games that we all love so much.”At that point Regis, with Clarus’s help, stood up as the camera focused on him in the royal family’s box. He gave a weak smile and wave as the crowd began to cheer and applaud him. In that moment he knew for certain that he was never going to be able to get rid of these games. The camera soon panned back on to Ardyn, who had taken off his hat and was bowing in respect to his nephew. “Thank you so much your Majesty. Now as per usual the games shall last until later on this evening and we have many wonderful and terrific matches to showcase to you all. However, things are going to be a little different this year. For the first time in these games history you are going to be witnessing three events that have never been showcased before! The first event will be performed by the Prince of Lucis himself! His Royal Highness Prince Noctis, will be opening the games fighting alongside his Shield, facing off against one of the members of both the guard and glaive!”Again, the crowd cheered and this time the camera found its way to Noctis. Like his father, he waved and smiled brightly at his subjects. Noctis had always loved these games but because of his age he was never allowed to take part in them. Now, being the age of 18, it was expected of him to at least make an effort in supporting the games. Gladiolus had suggested to the King and the Shield that the Prince opened the show. Now it was becoming a reality.“Quite exciting I know. The second event will be taking place at 3 o’clock. Which will be a match between myself and his Former Majesty, Somnus Lucis Caelum!”That really did get the crowds roaring. However, the camera did not pan on to the Founder King of Lucis, for he wasn’t there. It remained on Ardyn until the audience had calmed down enough for him to speak over them.Ardyn began to snigger. “I wouldn’t get too excited though. Our Founder King does love his sleep and not even I am willing to disturb that.” Laughter soon engulfed the arena. It only increased when Ardyn shook his head and spoke again. “And you lot think I am joking.”Once the laughter had calmed down Ardyn allowed his voice to be known to the excited audience as he revealed what the final event would be. “Finally, probably the most anticipated event of the day, will be as followed. For the first time ever, the Marshal of the Crownsguard and the Captain of the Kingsglaive will face off against one another, bringing this day to a close. I can safely say that is a match no one is going to want to miss.”The audience continued to clap and cheer as Ardyn bowed and took his leave, removing himself from the centre of the arena.In no time at all Prince Noctis, Gladiolus, Anthony and Sofia where standing in the middle of the arena waiting for the order, so they could open the games. Even though Regis wasn’t hosting this year he still had to be the one to give the order. He arose from his chair again calmly stating:“Begin.”The crowd continue to scream with excitement as Noctis, Gladio, Anthony and Sofia started to spar, officially opening the games.Excitement fill the air and no one could take their eyes off of the sparring match that was going on down below. Noctis and Gladio were particularly eager to please the audience. Because this was the first time the public would be seeing the future King of Lucis handle himself in a ‘battle’. And the Prince needed to show off all that he had learnt, not only to the citizens of Lucis, but also to his dad and Lord Amicitia.Mainly because Regis and Clarus had only agreed to them opening the games as it gave the King and the Shield an opportunity to see how far the pair had progressed. Their boys were determined not to let them down. They hadn’t. The pair of them were kicking both the guard’s and glaive’s arse’s into the dirt and Regis and Clarus could not be prouder of their effort and team work. It reminded them of their younger selves and when they used to fight alongside each other.That was such a long time ago now…Regis was about to relax into his seat and watch his son’s sparring match when Ardyn’s voice came up from behind him.“And you said no one would be excited to see that.”Ardyn wasn’t referring to the opening ceremony and his words only caused the King to grow more frustrated with his immortal uncle. They’d had this conversation far too many times now and Regis was getting sick of it.“Uncle, this is about bringing the Guard and Glaive together. Not making the two people in charge of them fight.”“The crowd are already in love with the idea and Clarus said it was fine.” Ardyn proclaimed, purposely dropping the Shield in it.“Clarus!”“Thanks, Ardyn.” Clarus gave the man a sideways look before peering back down into the arena below, purposely diverting his gaze from the extremely pissed off King.“Always here to get you into trouble Lord Amicitia.” Ardyn winked at him whilst smiling in delight. Deciding it was in his best interest to keep away from Regis until Noctis had finished the opening sparring match, Ardyn sat down in Noct’s empty seat, so he could sit next to Prompto. As Prompto was a son to a member of the Royal family it meant he could sit in the royal box with the rest of the royals and the King’s Shield. Apart from birth and lack of title, Prompto was in every sense a royal. The guard, the glaive, the servants and the rest of the citizens of Lucis treated him as they would any other member of the royal family. Because to them he was a Caelum who just happened to bare the surname of Leonis.When Cor and Ardyn got married, Ardyn decided to finally get rid of his surname and take on Cor’s instead. For formal events like this though he was forced to be addressed as ‘Lucis Caelum’ even though he hated it. He was still a little bitter about the events that had taken place 2000 years ago, and he was comfortable knowing that his son did not share the same surname as his younger brother. Cor preferred it too. He did not want to be consider a member of the royal family, even though he had married the Founder King’s older brother, he was happy with just being called Marshal and living a semi normal existence. This meant that Prompto could be a normal kid without all the restrictions that the title of Prince held. There was little hope for the cheerful blonde to be that though. With one of his father’s being one of Eos greatest warriors and the other being the living embodiment of the starscourge, it was always going to be hard for Prompto to meet the criteria of a ‘normal’ kid. But he didn’t mind. He was just glad that he had his dads, his uncles and his friends that all loved him.Not long after Ardyn sat down, Noctis and Gladio ended the opening sparring match and it was time for Ardyn to take centre stage again. Before he left the royal box, he placed his hat on Prompto’s head for safe keeping.The rest of the morning and early afternoon was just as thrilling. Members of the guard and the glaive fought against each other to gain as many wins for their team as they possibly could. The guard were determined to win this year. They had lost last year thanks to Nyx Ulric and Drautos pushing the glaives as far as they would possibly go to ensure their victory. Cor wouldn’t admit it, but he definitely had a competitive streak and because of the humiliating defeat last year he had been ‘secretly’ giving the guard extra training sessions, so they could shove the glaives faces into the dirt. It appeared to be working… for the time being. The guard had won a fair amount more matches than the glaives had, but if last year was anything to go by, the tables could easily turn on them.Like Cor, Drautos was not willing to admit his eagerness to win. He didn’t care for the games he just wanted to silently rub the glaives superiority over the guard in both Clarus’s and Cor’s faces. It was no secret that Regis favoured the guard over the glaive and Drautos would do anything to cause the man, that allowed his home to burn, pain. Even if it was as petty as winning these stupid and meaningless games. Drautos would take every opportunity he could to make the King suffer.The matches between the guard and glaive continued until 3 o’clock and for the time being, the guard were in the lead, if only by 5 wins. In both the Captain’s and Marshal’s opinion that was not good enough. But they didn’t have time to push their troops further, as it was finally time for The Founder King of Lucis and The Immortal Accused to have their ‘sparring’ match.However, Somnus wasn’t there. Ardyn was already standing in the arena waiting impatiently for his brother to show, as were the audience. Cor had made his way to the royal box and approached Regis to get to the bottom of this. If they wanted to end these games by 9 o’clock tonight Somnus needed to hurry up.“Where’s Somnus?” Cor asked rolling his eyes at his brother-in-law’s absence. “More then likely asleep.” Regis sighed knowing all too well that Ardyn and Somnus were going to have a ‘sparring’ match whether his Grandfather showed up or not. He just wished the pair would get on.“I did tell Ardyn he wouldn’t do it.”“Where has our wonderful Founder King got too?!” Ardyn questioned to himself out loud, saying exactly what everyone was thinking. Ardyn had promised Lucis a match and that was what they were going to get. So, he decided to taunt his brother out instead. “If he doesn’t hurry up soon I will win by default.”“In your dreams brother.”The audience started to cheer again as the Founder King of Lucis made his way into the arena smirking as he approached Ardyn. Knowing that the two would just start fighting without any warning, Regis literally sprang to his feet and grabbed a nearby microphone. If this fight was going to take place there had to be rules implemented.Regis cleared his throat to get everyones attention, including his immortal ancestors who just wanted to clobber each other. “Gentleman, rules first: No killing each other, remember this is for sport not an actual fight. Each of you may choose one weapon to spar with and stick with it. No use of daemon magic either. I will remind you both again, NO killing each other. Begin.”A flash of red and blue light lit up the arena as the pair had completely ignored Regis and started throwing their entire armiger at one another and the crowd loved it! They were egging the pair on and poor Regis could do nothing but sit down and order Cor to tell Ardyn off later. The Shield and the Marshal only laughed as they watched the ‘battle’ unfold. Somnus always won in a fight against Ardyn and this time would be no different. However, Ardyn was putting up a good fight. Blocking all of his brother’s attacks and even managing to strike Somnus on the odd occasion. This fight could have gone on forever if the pair willed it too. However, Somnus was tired and he wanted this to end as soon as it began. He threw a dagger in-between Ardyn’s legs and performed a warped strike. As he did so, he tripped Ardyn up with his feet, forcing Ardyn to face plant the ground. Just for added measure Somnus placed a foot on Ardyn’s back and yawned acting as if the fight meant nothing to him.Regis was given no choice but to proclaim Somnus the winner and after the announcement Somnus quickly scarpered off back to one of the individual changing rooms in the building, for a nap. Seeing the anger on Ardyn’s face, as the man got back on his feet, Regis temporarily took over the role as host and kicked started the games again.“Better luck next time dad!”Ardyn was greeted by Prompto’s bright and optimistic voice as he stepped back into the royal box. Prompto waved brightly at him and Noctis just gave him a small smile as he approached the two teenagers. Ardyn took his hat off of his son’s head and returned to its rightful place. “There is always tomorrow isn’t there.”“Not if Granddad sleeps the day away there won’t be.” Noctis sighed leaning back in his seat watching whatever fight was occurring in the arena down below.“You’re one to talk Noct. You are just as bad as Somnus if not worse.” Prompto pushed his arm teasing his best friend.“Rub it in why don’t you? Sorry Ardyn, in a fair fight, you can’t kick Granddad’s arse.”“I know but worth the try. May I ask the pair of you, what is in this?” Ardyn asked picking up a bottle that was next to Prompto’s seat.The bottle contained some form of liquid that definitely was not water. They may have been over the legal drinking age now, but Ardyn did not like the idea that his son and his nephew were drinking as it was 3 in the afternoon on a Sunday. If either Cor or Regis caught them doing that they would be in an enormous amount of trouble.“Nothing.” Noctis said shrugging his shoulders.“Noct. There is clearly some form of liquid in this bottle. I may be old, but I’m not blind.” “What do you think it is?”Prompto who had remained quiet up to this point could no longer handle the suspense. He blurted it out trying his hardest to keep his voice down so Regis and Clarus, who were only meters away from the trio, didn’t hear what they were on about. “Fine. Gladio got us some.”“Prom!” Noctis said in a hushed but harsh tone, as he was also aware of how close his dad and Clarus were.“I can’t lie to my dad, sorry Noct.”Ardyn ruffled Prom’s hair as he allowed a moment of pride to wash over him. His son was far too pure to be his. “Just don’t let either of your father’s know you have it, or guard dog Amicitia.” The trio’s conversation was interrupted by a series of loud cries and applause as Nyx Ulric had just gained another win for the glaive. “Oh, the fight is over already? Looks like I am wanted.”After that the glaive just seemed to keep winning. They had begun to pull ahead of the guard and everyone was expecting a repeat of last year. But Cor and the rest of the guard were not having any of it. It was only 4 o’clock after all and they had 4 hours to catch up and those 4 hours were going to be brutalist hours that these games had ever seen.The guard did catch up at around 6 o’clock and by that time the tournament really started to intensify. The crowd had divided itself into two sections, one supporting the guard and the other supporting the glaive which only forced both groups to push themselves further. They were neck and neck on the score board as neither side allowed the other to pull away by any more then 2 wins. This of course started to frustrate Cor and Drautos as they were determined to win, and they ordered their troops to change tactics to see if they could pull away from the competition. It didn’t work. And because the score was so close Ardyn decided to get rid of the score board and leave everyone waiting in anticipation until the end. This vastly annoyed everyone who took part and who was watching. With only two more matches to go, Nyx was waiting in the glaive section talking to Drautos about the Captain’s upcoming match with the Marshal. But it wasn’t like it mattered, the Marshal’s and the Captain’s match wouldn’t affect the scores in any way. He was just curious. “Captain, you ready to go?”“These games are pointless Ulric.” Drautos grumbled, failing to hide the built up anger that this day had caused him.“Nah, come on, it’s the one time of the year where we have some ‘friendly’ competition.” Nyx smiled trying to lighten the Captain’s mood. He failed. “Anyway, it’s not like it’s your first time fighting the Marshal. You’ll be fine.”“Humph.”Drautos gritted his teeth at the young glaive. For he did not need to be reminded of how many times the Marshal had beaten him in a swordfight. Even when he took on his secret identity as General Glauca, the so called Immortal managed to best him. He was not looking forward to this. “Well…. Good luck you’re going to need it.” On the other side of the arena, in the guard section, Cor had just finished telling his husband off for breaking the rules during his match with his brother. However, Ardyn didn’t take in whatever Cor was saying because he was more aware that it was nearly the final match of the day. It wouldn’t be long before it was Cor’s turn to participate in the games. He swiftly changed the conversation and flung his arm around Cor’s shoulder pulling the Marshal close to him.“Good luck out there darling.” Ardyn smiled as he quickly kissed Cor on the cheek.“I don’t need luck.” Cor said rolling his eyes at Ardyn. He was not one for public affection and Ardyn was well aware of that. Still he ignored this factor and did it anyways, like he had just ignored the conversation they had just had.“I know. Just don’t make it look too easy. Regis is getting antsey about this fight.”“Well you shouldn’t have gone behind his back and arranged it.” Cor said taking Ardyn’s arm off of him.“Clarus and Somnus were onboard with the idea.”Before Cor could tell Ardyn that wasn’t the point, the crowd’s cheers got louder. Which meant it was time for the winner of the games to be announced. Cor shook his head and decided that he would deal with Ardyn’s inability to listen later. He acted like a child sometimes.“Just get out there and present will you.”With that Ardyn teleported himself to the royal box and quickly picked up the microphone to get everyone’s attention. “Good evening everyone! It is finally time to reveal the winner of this year’s games. Lord Amicitia, if you would be so kind as to hand me the scores.” Instead of receiving it from Clarus, Somnus handed it to him. For the Founder King had decided to actually be present for the result and the final match. Ardyn was right, no one wanted to miss this fight. Ardyn scowled at his brother for a moment and then opened the envelope, trying his best to ignore Somnus.The entire arena remained silent as Ardyn read the scores in his head. A huge smile covered his face and he began to speak rather loudly into the microphone. “Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears we have a tie. At this point we would usually call for a rematch however, this year is going to be different. What better way to decide a winner and conclude these games with a bang! Now, for the event you have all been waiting for! The match between the Marshal of the Crownsguard: Cor Leonis. And the Captain of the Kingsglaive: Titus Drautos!”Regis faced-planted himself. Ardyn had not told him he was going to do that. Even Clarus and Somnus looked stunned by Ardyn’s words. But the Accursed simply paid them no mind. And even if they wanted to tell him off or put an end to that announcement, no one would have heard them. As the entire audience was already roaring with pure excitement and the Marshal and the Captain had stepped foot into the centre of the arena.“Good luck gentleman. May the best man win!” Ardyn shouted allowing the fight to begin.Just like that the fight began. Both men held nothing back and because Ardyn had decided to be a prick, it was a fight neither the Marshal or the Captain could afford to lose. With every blow, strike and attack that the men performed the crowd would go into a frenzy. With every duck, roll and successful block, the crowd with roar with excitement. The fight seemed to intensify when both the guard and glaive started to shout and root for their bosses. The entire arena were at the edge of their seats dying to know who would come out on top.With one very miscalculated warp strike from Drautos the pair collided into each other forcing them to hit the ground hard. Cor quickly recovered by rolling into the fall, whereas Drautos halted and remained on the ground for a few seconds as something hit him. He glanced towards the Marshal who looked determined as ever to finish this fight and claim the win for the guard, but for some reason that icy stare that Cor was giving him, made the Captain feel a hint of desire.When their bodies collided, the Marshal’s elbow went into the Captain’s stomach, dangerously close to his groin. It left the Captain stunned, even though it was painful, oddly enough it caused him a considerable amount of pleasure. Drautos quickly warped out of the way as Cor made a strike at him again. Once he was back on his feet the battle continued.Drautos didn’t understand how he had not looked at Cor like this before. The strength behind his strikes was enough to make anyone marvel at his might. His frame was strong and muscular, and as Drautos defend the blows coming his way he couldn’t help but dart his gaze down to Cor’s crotch. The Captain barely dodged a strike that would have sent him flying and when he found himself positioned behind Cor, he roughly pressed a hand to his back and pushed him away. The touch sent shivers down Drautos spine and his mind formed images of him touching the man again. However, Cor quickly recovered and went straight back on the offensive. He swung his katana again, only for it to be blocked by Drautos’ sword. The two men were now directly facing each other and Drautos couldn’t help but notice the sweat dripping from Cor’s face… wondering if he could make him sweat like that but not in the comfort of the training room. Those eyes. For some reason it made the Captain drunk on lust and desire. How much he wanted to stare into them as he took the Marshal mercilessly-As Drautos was distracted by indecent thoughts, it allowed Cor to put more force into his attack and disarm the Captain. Just because he wanted to win he kicked the man in the chest forcing him to sit on the ground with a thud. Just how every sparring match ended the Marshal rested the tip of his sword on Drautos chest, claiming his victory. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a Winner! Marshal Cor Leonis of the Crownsguard!”Knowing the result, the entire arena was filled with applauds. The audience screamed and loudly appealed the victors of this year’s games. The guard also joined in with the celebrations hugging and high fiving each other as their Marshal had just won them the games. Some of the glaives clapped, hiding the fact that they were salty with the outcome. However, most didn’t, and they began to grumble and complain that it wasn’t fair that the Marshal had won. However, their voices were drowned out by the cries and cheers of the audience and this continued for a good few minutes.When the crowd finally calmed down Ardyn spoke again looking directly at Drautos. He didn’t mean a word of what he was saying, for he loathed the man. But being the good host that he was, he smiled brightly at him. “Very well-done Captain Drautos, better luck next time I am afraid. With that Ladies and Gentlemen, I will pass you on to His Royal Majesty, King Regis.”Ardyn moved out of the way and Regis rose from his seat. Everyone looked in his direction as the cameras focused on him. “Thank you, your Grace. It has been a very eventful day and I am sad to see it come to an end. I must congratulate the Guard on winning the games this year. Glaives, very well done as well. It was a very close call and the final match did decide who won. Very well done to everyone who took part and many thanks to everyone who was able to help organise and attend today. Of course, thank you your Grace, for hosting. For now, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and I cannot wait for next year’s games. Good night.”The camera then shut off as the King had finally put an end to the games.“Good show Drautos.” Cor said as he approached him.It wasn’t really a fair way to end the games and he knew he would have been salty if this was the other way around. Cor swallowed his pride and decided to be the better person for once. Drautos quickly looked the Marshal up and down, hoping Cor didn’t notice. “Thank you Leonis. Well done.” He extended a hand for Cor to take. The Marshal took it and they firmly shook hands showing the respect that they had for each other. But as they touched that lust suddenly surged though Drautos again and he refused to let go of Cor’s hand. Drautos cleared his throat and looked directly into the eyes that had distracted him during the match. “Re-match tomorrow?”“Why not.” Cor agreed loosening his grip on Drautos’ hand. The Captain immediately let go, allowing Cor to walk away.The Marshal needed to locate both Ardyn and Prompto, so he could finally go home and get some rest. “Dad, you should ask Regis if you can host next year’s games. You’re awesome at it!”Prompto chirped with delight as the three of them walked into their house. But before Ardyn could thank his son for his kind words, Cor spoke.“That’s because he likes the sound of his own voice.” He grumbled, placing his keys on the side before making his way into the living room.Prompto laughed at his other dad’s statement and followed him. “Oh yeah forgot that.”Cor then sat down on the sofa and raised an eye brow at Prom. “How could you forget that? You have lived with him practically all your life.”The pair of them looked towards the entrance of the living room so they could see what reaction the wine-haired man was having. They did love to wind him up and his reaction was priceless. Ardyn was standing in the doorway with his arms careless placed at his sides, his mouth was opened in disbelief and he narrowed his eyes at the family that ‘claimed’ to love him so very much.“Right, getting ganged up by my child and my husband was not what I was expecting to happen today. I knew the Gods hated me more then they cared to admit.”“We love you really.” Prom rushed over to him and gave him a hug.“I should hope so too, my little sunbeam.” Ardyn quickly grabbed him and started to tickle his stomach. Prompto immediately started to laugh and tried to pull away from his dad, but he wasn’t going to let him go that easily. He just continued to tickle him making Prompto laugh louder then before. “Dad! Don’t tickle me!” Prompto tried his hardest to speak through his laughter and looked towards, his not so immortal, dad for help.Cor laughed at the pair of them and smiled as he spoke. “Ardyn leave him alone. Actually kid, bed time. You got school tomorrow and I hate to think how much ‘pop’ you and Noctis consumed today.” Cor used the word ‘pop’ very loosely.“Surely he can stay up a little bit longer.” Ardyn said finally letting Prom go, ruffling his sons hair as he did so.“Sometimes I’m not sure if I raised one kid or two. Up you go Prom.”“Okay, love you both see you in the morning.” Prompto then dashed out of the room upon realising that his dad was aware that he and Noct were drinking earlier. And if he didn’t get up in the morning, his dad would not be giving him any sympathy.Once Prom’s footsteps could no longer be heard going up the stairs Ardyn turned to his husband and let out a light sigh. “Well done my dear, you did so well today. I am ever so proud of you.”“Thanks. You did good too.”Ardyn sat on the arm of the sofa that Cor was sitting on, completely invading his personal space like always, and then proceeded to scratch his husbands head. The Marshal lent back into Ardyn’s touch and closed his eyes and allowed himself to finally relax after such a long day. He had always hated the stress that this day brought. And because Ardyn had pulled a few strings it meant he had to actually participate in them for once. On top of all of that he had to keep the guards in line, so they wouldn’t start fights with the glaives. All of this had left the Marshal completely shattered. And now, he could feel one of his migraines coming on. He very much appreciated Ardyn scratching his head as it always seemed to relax him.Ardyn gave Cor a soft smile as he continued to run his fingers on the top of his scalp. “I will admit though I thought Drautos was going to beat you for a second.” “Shut up.” Cor grumbled with his eyes shut, moving his head closer to Ardyn so he would continue to scratch his head. He was so grateful that he had married a once glorified healer. “I really don’t want to go to work tomorrow.”“That is not like you at all. Did, my poor dear Cor Leonis, get too tired today? Does he need to spend the whole day in bed tomorrow? Because I wouldn’t object to that what’s so ever.”“I know you wouldn’t.” Cor finally opened his eyes, giving Ardyn a mischievous smile.Still scratching Cor’s head, Ardyn lent down to kiss the top of his husband’s head. He then nuzzled his face into the short brown hair and took in his scent. “I love you, my Marshal.”“Same here, Ass Hat.”
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“Sorry about the games Captain. Everyone in the glaive knew how much you wanted to win.” Nyx said with sympathy as he sat across from Drautos in the man’s office.“Ulric they are stupid games. They mean nothing.” Drautos responded pretending he wasn’t bothered by the glaive’s words.How much he would have loved to rub his victory in Regis’s face yet again. But no, someone had to change the bloody rules, didn’t they? Drautos glanced down at his paper work. He wasn’t really concentrating on it, for he kept getting himself distracted by thoughts of the Marshal. He hadn’t been able to get the man out of his head since their match. How much he wanted to ruin that man. Drautos could imagine the look of pure betrayal on the King of Lucis face when he discovered that one of his most loyal companions had had sex with the enemy. But he was getting a head of himself, he hadn’t slept with Cor yet. He hadn’t even spoken to him since yesterday. That didn’t stop him from forming an unnoticeable smirk on his face as he thought how much pain it would cause both Regis and Ardyn.He hated the pair of them so much. “Then, why are you sparring with the Marshal later?”Upon hearing Nyx’s words, Drautos immediately looked up from his papers and gave a Nyx a death glare. Before Drautos could make a comment, Nyx tried his best to explain where he had gotten his information from so that the Captain wouldn’t skin him alive. “Just that I heard His Grace and the Marshal talking about it earlier.”Drautos lent back in his seat and continued to glare at the young glaive. At the words of ‘His Grace’ he wanted to throw Nyx out of his office. Drautos hated Ardyn. He despised every single member of the royal family, especially the current King. And with his recent infatuation with the Marshal it only caused Drautos to hate the Daemon Lord more. He could never hate that daemon as much as he loathed Regis. Although, with Ardyn’s childish and unpredictable behaviour the level of hate he had for him was starting to move dangerously close towards the same level Regis was on.The Captain exhaled sharply before speaking harshly towards Ulric. “How many times do I have to tell you not to get involved in the royal family’s affairs? Especially with His Grace and the Prince. You need to remember that we only work for them. They do not consider us their equals, they never will. Get your head out of your arse and stop pretending that they do.”“Sorry, sir.”“Out!” Drautos snapped having enough of Nyx’s impertinence. “Yes, sir.” Nyx nodded. He quickly left the Captain’s office quietly closing the door behind him. He proceeded to make his way down the hall to the glaives communal area.Once the Captain was left alone he violently kicked the leg of his desk.Why couldn’t he get the Marshal out of his head! Thoughts of the man had plagued him all night and he didn’t know if he would be able to control himself when they had their re-match later. He knew he had to though. If he didn’t it wouldn’t only be Cor who would be trying to butcher him for indecent behaviour. Just for thinking of the Marshal in that way, Ardyn would hold nothing back and would definitely attempt to cave his skull in. If that daemon could read minds that would have happened to Drautos as soon as the games had ended last night. That Daemon. He didn’t understand how Cor could be happy with such a monster? The Founder King even hated his own brother. And because of that Drautos couldn’t fathom how anyone could care for such a disgusting monster.A crooked smile spread across his face. Maybe that was the key to getting what he wanted? If he got close enough to Cor, he could make him see what a monster his husband truly was. And if- No, when he did get what he wanted, Regis’s trust in Cor would be shattered leaving the King open for an attack. It would definitely be shattered after the King learnt of Drautos’s true alias. When the Captain got what he wanted he would be killing two birds with one stone. He always got what he wanted.And what he wanted was Cor Leonis. When Nyx got to the communal area he went straight over to Crowe and Libertus who were sitting in the corner of the room. As he approached them he quickly rubbed the back of his neck and confirmed to them what everyone else thought. “Yep he’s pissed we lost.”“You mean he lost.” Libertus stated bluntly.He was just as annoyed at the Captain, like all the other glaives were. Fucking hell that would have been their fifth win in a row and he managed to cock it up. Libertus then yelped and looked over towards Crowe who had just kicked him straight in the shin.“Lib, keep your mouth shut. Otherwise the Captain is going to hear you.” Crowe ordered.Libertus rubbed his shin and groaned like an infant as he responded. “I was only stating a fact.”Nyx took a seat by Libertus and sighed lightly. He understood why everyone was upset. The games were highly valued amongst the glaives and guard because they saw it as an opportunity to prove to the King who could protect him better. Not to mention the Captain had just lost them a five-year streak. Nyx didn’t care about that though, he just wanted to do his job so that one day he could return home and help the people who were currently being enslaved by the Niffs. When he took that into consideration, Drautos was right. The games didn’t mean anything. Thinking back to the Captain’s reaction though, Nyx suddenly realised why the Captain acted snappy towards him when he mentioned His Grace. Of course, Ardyn was going to be biased on who won that fight. His Grace would always pick his husband over the Captain. That was why everyone was annoyed with the result because Ardyn was the one hosting this year.Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk. What was done, was done.“Yeah, well he is planning on making up for it by sparring with the Marshal later. I can’t see that ending well.” Nyx said. If the Captain lost again he was really going to make training hell for all of them.Libertus realised this as well. “Neither can I.” The time was 18:25 and Cor was running late.He was meant to meet Drautos in the guard’s and glaive’s joint training area around 10 minutes ago. However, a certain someone decided it was in his best interest to distract Cor by ranting about Somnus for the past hour and a half. Ardyn did this regularly and Cor had trained himself to zone out whenever this happened. He was so desensitised to his husband’s mindless ramblings that it had caused him to completely lose track of time. He walked through the doors expecting to have to apologise but Drautos wasn’t there either.Cor nodded to himself and turned to go and sit on the benches. When he did this, he saw both Prompto and Noctis sitting there, chatting about something. Right. Cor took in a deep breath and walked over to them clearing his throat to get the teenagers attention. “Your Highness, Prompto. May I ask why you are both here?”Both the boys turned to face him. Before Prompto could happily greet his dad, Noctis spoke. “We’re here to watch you and Drautos fight again.”“And before you say we have homework to do, Dad already said we could watch. What did he say again Noct?”Noctis cleared his throat and did his best impression of Ardyn’s voice. “ ‘Well then Prince Noct, Prince Prom, as you both asked me so nicely I do not mind taking the backlash from both of your fathers.’ Or something along those lines.”“Seeee. Please let us stay dad?” Prompto turned back to Cor and gave him the puppy dog eyes.Cor fort the urge to bury his face in his hands. Prompto shouldn’t still possess the power to manipulate him like that. He couldn’t really kick Noctis out, but he could with Prompto. But those eyes prevented him from doing so. Wait a second. When did it become common knowledge that he and Drautos were having a rematch today? Rumours spread like wild fire around here. And Cor knew exactly who the culprit was.His lovely annoying husband.“I will be having words with him later.” Cor exhaled slowly. They were supposed to be encouraging Prompto to study, so he could pass his exams at the end of the year.They had both told Prompto a while ago that he was to finish his time in education before thinking about joining either the guard or glaive. Yes, they trained him individually but that was in their own time as school took priority. Sometimes, Ardyn just didn’t think. Cor was about to interrogate Prompto further but he was interrupted by the doors of the training room opening. “Hey Drautos.” Noctis said confirming who had just walked in.“Your Highness, Marshal, Mr Leonis.” Drautos greeted them as he walked over to the group.“They’re here to watch us spar. Hope you don’t mind.” Cor said as he saw a hint of confusion on Drautos’s face when he greeted the teenagers.Cor doubted that Drautos would want them in there. He didn’t even want the pair sitting there when they could be doing a lot more constructive activities like their homework or studying. He was definitely going to be having a word with Ardyn later, and possibly Regis, if Ardyn decided he wasn’t going to listen to him. Talking to Regis would be in vain. Ardyn never listened to him either. The only person Ardyn seemed to listen too was Prompto and it wasn’t like their son was going to tell him off. Especially when the matter involved him. “Not at all, Marshal.” Drautos nodded before walking towards the training mats.Cor returned the gesture and moved himself to the same location as the Captain. Cor got his katana out of his armiger and moved into his fighting stance. Upon seeing this Drautos copied his actions and was ready to win this time. However, he couldn’t help but notice Cor’s eyes again, nor the sharpness of the man’s jaw. He lightly shook his head remembering that the Prince and the Marshal’s son was present.Both the men looked ready to strike and before either of them could begin their match Prompto shouted very loudly into the room getting both of their attention.“HOLD ON! Can Noct and I be the referees?”Cor rolled his eyes but the joy on his sons face made it impossible for him to deny him his wish. “Yes.”“Awesome!” Prompto said fist bumping Noctis.Both Cor and Drautos got back into their fighting stances and waited for either of the two boys to give the order. Cor half expected Prompto to be the main ‘referee’ for this match. However, it was the Prince who gave the order. Which infuriated Drautos beyond his control.“Start.” It took a while for the match to be over and it ended with the Captain on his arse again.“Sorry Drautos.” Cor said not bothering to offer a hand to help the Captain up.If this was the other way around Cor would have felt insulted if he offered to help him. He had a feeling it would do more damage to the Captains pride than it would have on his own. Cor didn’t not like Drautos. They just didn’t interact with each other often. With the war still raging on and Regis’s constant badgering about getting along, Cor didn’t want to make an enemy with a friend. Thus far, the Captain of the Kingsglaive hadn’t given him a reason to dislike him.It would appear that Drautos much appreciated Cor’s decision. He stood up and straightened his uniform. The Captain didn’t mind losing to the Marshal yet again. At least this time it wasn’t in front of millions of people and he had managed to not get too distracted by his opponent’s physically appealing structure. “It’s fine.” He simply stated, nodding in respect to the man who had yet again best him.“Hey, it’s okay Captain maybe you could have a rematch tomorrow.” Prompto called from where he was sitting with a huge smile on his face.Noctis stood up, which forced both Cor and Drautos to act upon protocol and stand to attention. Drautos loathed this so much but he wouldn’t have to put up with this for much longer if his plan worked, and if he could get rid of both Regis and the bratty Prince of Lucis, his life would be so much simpler. Oh, how he longed for that day. The Prince stretched and turned to his best friend. “Well I am going for my nap. And didn’t Ardyn say he wanted you home, as soon as this was over?”“Oh yeah. Bye Captain, bye Dad see you later.”“Bye Cor, bye Drautos.”Prompto didn’t ever treat Noctis as if he was the Heir apparent to the Lucian throne. Technically they were both Princes but Prompto didn’t like it when people attempted to treat him any differently to anyone else. Therefore, he never treated Noctis like he was anything special, he just treated him as his best friend. A factor that Noctis was more than grateful for, as it was a refreshing feeling and the raven-hair prince could not ask for a better friend.The two older men bowed as the boys quickly gathered up their things and walked out of the training hall, leaving Cor and Drautos to their own devices.Drautos shrugged his shoulders at Cor. “Re-match. No time like the present.”“Fine might as well. Best out of three.” “I can see why they call you Immortal now.” Drautos said dusting himself off and putting his weapon away, as Cor had now bested him two times in a row.He highly respected the man in front of him, he always had, and sparring with him only reinforced that respect. However, it also caused Drautos to become more captivated by the man’s skill and appearance. During their second sparring match Drautos had ‘accidently’ touched Cor’s back and shoulder and the action sent shockwaves throughout his body. He was craving to feel that again. And because Cor and Drautos only interacted with one another during meetings it would be nearly impossible for Drautos to do that again. Likewise, Ardyn would have his head if he found out he had done that. That daemon guarded the Marshal like he was the fucking King of all of Eos. There was no chance Drautos would ever be able to get away-Although…. An idea suddenly came to mind. “We should do this more often.”“At least you present some challenge.” Cor smirked putting his weapon away.“I’ll take that as a compliment.”“Only one you’re going to get.”That wasn’t a bad idea.Cor had recently come back from a mission and Clarus had already informed him he was needed in Insomnia until further notice. Meaning it would be a while before he was going to be sent out in the field again. Other than Ardyn and Prompto the military and the protection of Lucis was his life. Ever since he was 13 years old training, fighting and protecting had been the force that drove him onwards and to just drop either one of those things left the Marshal feeling empty. He would need some form of distraction until it was his time to be sent out again. He could always spar with Ardyn or Somnus and he would be training the guard, Gladio and Prompto anyway. However, none of that ever gave him the same fulfilment that an actual fight did. When training the guard and the boys it felt more of a duty than anything else. And whenever Ardyn and he sparred together Ardyn would always go easy on him, no matter how many times he told him not too. Because of what had happened to Aera, Ardyn constantly threatens Somnus whenever the topic of sparring with Cor came up. Or Ardyn would simply refused to allow Somnus to enter the training hall so the pair couldn’t spar together. Cor got why he was being so protective, but the Marshal needed a challenge. No, he craved it. No one else was willing to give him one accept the Captain. It wasn’t like he could refuse, was it?“Same time tomorrow?” Cor questioned hoping that Drautos would accept the offer.“Certainly.”The Marshal made his excuses and left without another word. When the door closed Drautos let out a small victory laugh. This way it was going to be easier to get what he wanted and not even Ardyn would be able to intervene in this. Prompto had been standing over the dining table all day arranging and rearranging hundreds of photos that he had taken of the outside, the inside and the gardens of the Citadel. He had placed them on a cardboard cut-out of the huge superstructure and was constantly changing his mind where each picture should go.He was desperate to try and get this perfect. Because this work was for his photography and arts class in school, his favourite class, and he was determined to get it finished by tomorrow evening. The teacher had informed the class if everyone handed it in early enough the teacher would select the top five works and send them off to be entered into a competition. The blonde didn’t really want his to be entered but the rest of his class were eager to be a part of it. He couldn’t let them down, he just couldn’t.The 18-year-old was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t even notice his immortal father was peering over his shoulder and watching in awe of his son’s artistic skills. Not wanting to make his son jump he moved over to the opposite side of the dinning table and smiled brightly at him.“Well done my darling. That is absolutely marvellous.”“Dad it’s not that good, and you always say that.” Prompto said with his cheeks inflamed. He never did like getting praised or being the centre of attention.“I say it because it is true. I am not going to lie to the most precious thing in the world to me, am I?” Ardyn smiled again, this time reaching over the table to ruffle his son’s hair. This caused Prompto to let go a small smile but he didn’t divert his eyes from his work. Ardyn’s eye twitched a little. He could sense something wasn’t right with Prom and he quickly looked over to where Cor was sitting in the living room. He was sitting on the sofa in front of the TV and was finishing off what was left of his dinner. He wasn’t watching the TV though, because Ardyn had put on some boring documentary and he couldn’t be asked to change the channel. “Cor darling, would you kindly come over here and tell Prom how good his work is.”Wasting no time Cor placed his plate down on the coffee table and walked over to the far end of the living room to join his family. When he got there, he stood next to Prompto, who had gone a slight shade of red, and looked down at the work. Whenever Cor looked at his sons work a wave of pride hit him. This time was no exception.“Prom I don’t understand why you don’t apply for college. With work like this, you could do it professionally.” Cor smiled lightly patting him on the back.“See if both your dashing fathers are telling you the same thing it must be true.” Ardyn said in rejoice, trying to get eye contact with Prompto. But Prompto wasn’t having any of it and his eyes remained glued to the work spread out on the table.“We wouldn’t lie to you.” Cor continued this time realising what Ardyn was sensing. “Prom, is something up?”“Well, I don’t think I should do that.” Prompto admitted nervously.The boy never liked drawing attention to himself. And if something was troubling him the last thing he wanted was for either of his dads to be fussing over him. He didn’t like it when they worried. They were so important to him, that he didn’t want to see them upset or sadden because of him.“Why?” Cor asked.“I. I just think that I- well…”“Sweetheart, you can tell us absolutely anything and we are not going to judge you. You should know this by now.” Ardyn said comfortingly, slightly leaning on the table, trying his hardest not to knock any of the photos as he did so.That time Prompto looked up and stumbled over his words, trying to reassure his dads that was not the case. He did trust them he just didn’t know how to explain his feelings on this particular subject.“I do. It’s just- I don’t know how… How is it going to look on the pair of you if I join an Art School? A joke is what it will be.”“A joke?”“Where did you get that idea from?”At that point, Cor and Ardyn gave each other a worried glance from across the table. Mainly to silently remind each other not to get a head of themselves and find the little shit that planted that idea into their son’s head. Prompto was everything to them and the thought that some one could be so cruel to him, made them feel incredibly angry. No one would want to have either of them on their backs. Their names only had to be mentioned to strike fear into people’s hearts and when they discovered who was chatting shit… they were going to have to ask Regis and Clarus to restrain them.Prompto continued to speak this time having more control over his words as he had finally expressed his worry to his dads.“I mean how is it going to look if the son of the Immortal Accused and the Marshal of the Crownsguard goes to college when he should be fighting for the royal family and Lucis. I mean you joined the guard at 13. I am 18 now. I should have joined 2 years ago.”“Yes but joining when I did was illegal. Not to mention stupid and reckless. School is far more important than fighting in a fucked-up war.” Cor said a little frustrated. He didn’t want Prompto to be thinking like that.“Language, my love.” Ardyn commented before turning his attention back on Prom. “Prompto, we don’t care what you do. Honestly, you could join the guard, go to college, join the circus, or simply sit there and keep Noct out of trouble for the rest of your life. We don’t care. We just want you to be happy. That is all we want for you.”“We love you kid, and we couldn’t be prouder of you.” Cor nodded in agreement.Prompto looked down at his work again.He honestly didn’t know what he wanted to do. If he went to college, he felt like he would turn the Leonis name into a laughing stock. Some of the kids at school were already doubting his ability to protect the royal family. Saying he was too scrawny and that he needed to prove that he was worthy enough of his surname. Noct told him to ignore them and ordered him to come and get him next time they made a comment like that. Because if Noctis was there when shit like that was being said, they wouldn’t be saying it for much longer, especially if he got Gladio involved. If he said he was going to college that would only give them more ammunition to use against him.Likewise, his therapy sessions had only just been cut down to once a week and he didn’t really want anyone else finding out about his eating disorder. If he applied for college, he would have to inform them of it and he felt like he would be labelled with it from the word go.Equally, if he joined the guard, people would think he had an advantage because his dad was the Marshal of the Crownsguard. As much as he loved both of his fathers he wanted to break away from their influence and become more independent. But he didn’t know how to say those words without causing them any upset. In reality, he knew he wouldn’t but there was always that lingering fear that he would let them down. To Prompto there was only one way he could break free and become more independent, but he wasn’t sure if Cor was going to like it.Prompto gulped a little and turned to face Cor. “What if I decided I wanted to join the glaive?”“That doesn’t matter. Why do you think we both trained you?” Cor said not breaking eye contact with his son.“So you... you don’t mind?” Prompto sounded a little shocked. He was not expecting that reaction.“No.”It was no secret Cor held a very strong dislike for the glaive. He didn’t dislike the people, he just thought the entire concept of the group was a little ridiculous. The Crownsguard had always protected the King like they had always done for hundreds of years. And they didn’t need the glaive there, cocking everything up. Not to mention the power they used was killing Regis faster. He bit his lip at that thought and focused back on Prompto. Because if it made Prompto happy, Cor had to swallow his pride.Even Ardyn had to shake his head at Cor’s reaction. He wasn’t expecting that either. But he would deal with that in private because for the time being, putting a smile on his son’s face was more important. “No matter what you do we are always going to love you. Just do whatever your heart desires my sunbeam.”“I love you both too.”Once Prompto had eaten and finally decided how he wanted his project to look, he went to bed. Leaving Ardyn and Cor sitting on the sofa together watching an equally ‘boring’ documentary as to what they had on before.Ardyn laid across Cor’s lap with his head resting on the arm of the sofa. He looked up at the ceiling, humming a merry tune, whilst Cor was playing with his thick red mane. Ardyn had also latched on to Cor’s free hand with his own, pulling it across his middle in a semi-sort of hug. Cor was never one for affection, but in the comfort of his own home and in private he allowed himself to relax. But only ever with and in front of Ardyn. Cor even rubbed his thumb along the top of Ardyn’s cold hand, in an attempt to warm it up. It never worked. Because Ardyn was a daemon it meant he was always cold. It mattered not how many layers he put on or how hot or cold the temperature was, it never affected his internal body temperature. It never bothered the pair either and they allowed themselves to enjoy each other’s company.“The glaive? What made you swallow your pride my dear?” Ardyn asked still looking towards the ceiling, knowing he had to repaint it.“Whatever makes him happy.” Cor replied still running his fingers through his husband’s hair.Ardyn shifted his head to actually look at Cor and upon feeling the movement Cor looked down at him. Ardyn smiled as his golden eyes locked onto those beautiful sky-blue ones. He would stare into them all day if Cor would let him. Ardyn smiled as he spoke. “I am proud of you none the less. After losing four years in a row to the competition I thought you would have been salty about him wanting to join.”“You dislike the glaive as much as I do.”“No, my Marshal. No one dislikes the glaive as much as you do. Well, maybe Clarus but he isn’t here to confirm or deny that statement.”“Shut up.”“Make me.” Ardyn laughed.Cor took that as a challenge. He lent down and pressed his lips firmly against Ardyn’s. He let go of Ardyn’s hand and placed it to the back of his neck pushing him upwards. With the hand that was tangled in the red mop of hair, he forced it underneath his head to make the kiss deeper.Ardyn continued to smile as he placed a hand on Cor’s elbow. He allowed the kiss to become more passionate as he ran his tongue along the bottom of Cor’s lip. Cor happily oblige to Ardyn’s proposal and allowed his tongue access into his mouth. The battle for dominance began and neither of them wanted to give in. Their teeth began to bash together, and their tongues swirled around each other’s. Ardyn was half tempted to grab Cor’s shoulder and fling them both onto the floor. But he fought that urge and came up with a better idea. With his free hand he managed to get it underneath himself and place it in between Cor’s legs. Their heated kiss continued and the only warning that Cor had was Ardyn softly chuckling into his mouth.The sudden grip on his cock made him gasp and the pleasure forced him to stop fighting his partner. Ardyn took full control over the kiss as he continued to slowly pet and squeeze Cor’s cock that was slowly beginning to harden from his touch. However, this was not good enough for the Marshal. He pulled his lips away from Ardyn’s and rested his forehead against his husbands, silently pleading for something more than his strokes.“Ah I see you have managed to shut yourself up in the process.” Ardyn smirked, squeezing him a little tighter then before.“Do you think he is asleep?” Cor asked riding through the pleasure he was currently receiving.“I certainly hope so. Let’s go upstairs.” Drautos had just finished his meeting with Regis and he really wanted to smash that man’s head against a brick wall. With every word the so-called King spoke it caused him to grow angrier. His death could not come soon enough. He turned the corner and to see both Cor and Ardyn were walking in the same direction as him. He halted for a moment to get as much space between him and that self-absorbed daemon as he possibly could. For he had already had to suffer a meeting with both the Current and Founder King of Lucis today and he was not dealing with another Caelum so soon.A wave a jealously hit Drautos as he saw Ardyn carelessly wrapping one of his arms around Cor’s waist. He continued to watch as the Marshal, reluctantly, removed himself from the man’s grip as the pair turned a corner.Drautos shook his head and spoke out loud into the empty corridor.“You are wasted on that daemon.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It had been a couple of weeks since Cor and Drautos began sparring with each other and as time went on their sparring matches became more frequent. The Marshal didn’t mind at all. He loved the thrill that fighting gave him and he discovered he enjoyed Drautos’s company. Despite the fact that Drautos was yet to best him in a sword fight he still proved to be enough of a challenge that Cor wasn’t bored. Maybe one day Drautos might be able to beat him. During this time, Cor discovered that they had a fair amount in common. They both devoted their lives to winning this war, they valued the safety of their homes and they both found it hard to express their emotions. The Marshal was a little surprised that they hadn’t really spoken to each other before the Games. Cor liked him and even if the Captain’s methods on training the glaive were a little brutal, Drautos always ensured they got the job done. Which was a vast improvement from the last Captain of the Kingsglaive.As far as Drautos was concerned, he was a little surprise that Cor had not picked up on the fact he always managed to ask him to spar at the right moment. For the Captain had been studying the guard’s rota to see when the Marshal was on duty and when his shifts ended. But instead of arranging these matches in advance Drautos would seek Cor out when the man was free and offer to spar with him then. That way it looked less suspicious on his part. And whenever Drautos asked him, the Marshal never refused. Sometimes, Cor would go out of his way to ask the Captain instead, which delighted Titus beyond Cor’s recognitionHowever, there was one person who was starting to greatly dislike how much time Cor was spending with Drautos and he was growing incredibly jealous because of it.Ardyn was happy that Cor had friends. Never in 2000 years would he dream of ever dictating what Cor did or who he saw. That was plain wrong, and Cor would simply tell him to fuck off if he even attempted to do that. However, Ardyn had never liked Drautos and now that he was spending a fair amount of time with his husband it caused his hatred towards the man to grow at an alarming rate.Ardyn glanced up at the clock in Cor’s office, it read 15:08. He looked back down at the desk, he was currently sitting at, and continued to play with a stapler as he waited for Cor to return. Ardyn was a fidgeter and he enjoyed the noise the object was making. He would probably end up breaking it if he carried on, but he would always buy Cor a new one if he vented at him. He started to put more pressure on the stapler to release some frustration that he had been feeling. He was so engrossed in what he was doing he didn’t even notice the door opening and closing. That was until a plastic bottle hit him on top of the head.Ardyn instantly jumped when it hit him, and he looked up startled to see Cor standing there. As soon as he saw Cor his stunned expression turned to joy, and he smiled brightly at him.Cor wasn’t fool by that smile. Because of Ardyn’s affliction it meant he was constantly on high alert. It was always cause for concern when Ardyn didn’t notice things, like him coming through the door. There was something wrong.“You alright, Ass Hat?” Cor asked as he approached him.“Yes of course dear why wouldn’t I be?” Ardyn smiled pretending that he had not just been smacked in the head and quickly went back to playing with the stapler.Something wasn’t right. When Cor got to his desk he took the stapler off of Ardyn and looked into his eyes to see if he could read what was going on in his head. Cor had learnt when he was 18 that Ardyn always needed someone keeping an eye on his emotions, just in case he lost control of himself. They weren’t together at that time, but somehow Somnus had passed that role onto him because Ardyn and Cor got on so well. Now being his husband, he always ensured that Ardyn was alright. “You seem a bit off.”“I love it you care so much.” Ardyn replied, leaning up to steal a quick kiss from Cor. When he sat back down in Cor’s chair he began to spin a pen that was on the desk. “Good. But honestly come on its me.”“I just don’t like Titus that’s all.” Ardyn admitted staring at the pen he was spinning around.That was another thing he didn’t like.Cor and Drautos were now on first name basis and every time Cor referred to the man as Titus, it made Ardyn’s skin crawl. He loathed it. Sometimes it felt like that Cor was prioritising his new-found friendship over him. It was childish and petty. Not to mention it allowed the daemons to put awful thoughts into his head. Ardyn was aware he had to ignore them, but the Captain was making it very hard not to.“Titus? You have known him for years.”“We have just decided we hate him.” Ardyn said tapping his temple.Cor simply shook his head. He didn’t like seeing Ardyn like this. Especially when he started to refer to himself and the daemons as a collective whole. He couldn’t see why he hated Titus. Yes, he was a difficult man to get along with but so was Ardyn. Instead of allowing Ardyn to think about the evil beings in his head he went straight to the point. “Is it because I am now friends with him?”“No of course it isn’t. I just… the daemons aren’t big fans any longer that’s all.”Cor wasn’t buying it. However, realising he had to be in the training hall within half an hour to train the new recruits he had to lay the matter to rest for the time being. The Captain watched from up high as Cor was training the guard. The same desire that he had surging through him earlier was creeping it’s way back into his system. Just watching the man swing his weapon and the way he carried himself captivated him. Like earlier today when he managed to brush his hand against Cor’s arse in combat sent chills down his body. The Marshal didn’t acknowledge that it had happened which made the sensation even more thrilling. What he wouldn’t give to have the Marshal underneath him. To soil him in front of Regis, with the King knowing who he truly was. The pleasure that it was giving Titus just thinking about that scenario. He could picture the look of pain and betrayal on the old King’s face.“Drautos.”Titus prevented himself from grunting with anger. Speak of the fucking devil.He turned around and forced himself to bow down to the disgrace of a man in front of him. “Your Majesty.” He lifted his head up and noticed that the meat shield wasn’t with him. Interesting….“No need to stand to attention.” Regis smiled brightly before looking down at the guard training.How easy would it be to just push the man over the edge? Very and he was incredibly tempted to do so. Titus refused his body to act upon his temptation. That was too easy he wanted to end this man’s life with pain and put him through the same amount of suffering that his home had been allowed to go through. Regis continued to speak looking in the Captain’s direction. “I would like to thank you personally for finding the time and getting along with the Marshal. From first-hand experience, I understand he is not the easiest person to get along with but your friendship is helping the guard and glaive get on better.”“Of course, sir.” Titus nodded holding his tongue. Thinking it was not Regis’s business what he did outside of work. He clenched his fist and allowed the King to continue speaking.“Just to pre-warn you. My uncle does not like to share. And if he does end up threatening you, please pass it on to either myself or Clarus. I am not tolerating him being… well to put it bluntly an utter prick.”Titus had to hold back a snort. At least he could agree with the King on one thing. “Not to worry sir. I am certain I can hold my own against His Grace.” “Good. Just bare that thought in mind.” “If you exclude my situation, jealously doesn’t get you anywhere.” Somnus stated as he smacked Ardyn on the back of the head.Ardyn hissed back at him and tried to punch Somnus in the face. However, the Founder King was no longer behind him as he had kept on walking to avoid the retaliation that his brother was sure to give him. He knew his words would force Ardyn to follow him and Somnus wanted to get this chat over and done with quickly. He really wanted a nap. “I am not jealous.” Ardyn hissed again, doing exactly what his younger brother had expected him to do, and followed him.“Yes, you are. Cor is spending time with someone that isn’t you, and you don’t like it.” Somnus concluded.Still after 2000 years the pair of them did not get on. Ardyn would happily see Somnus in pain and not feel a thing. Not only had Bahamut cursed them with life eternal, but they also had to spend this life together. That resentment and hate was not going away any time not after what Somnus had done to him. But just because they didn’t get on, it didn’t affect the relationship that Somnus shared with both Cor and Prompto. They valued each other as family and both Cor and Prompto felt comfortable enough to express any worries they had concerning Ardyn to Somnus. That was what Cor had just done, he just didn’t think Somnus would do anything about it this time.Because of what Cor had told him, Somnus decided to knock some sense into his older brother. “Wrong.” Ardyn huffed, rolling his eyes at himself. Why was he following Somnus again? “I have been with you since the day I was born Ardyn. You hate the fact you have to share your husband with anyone, unless they are Prom, Regis or Clarus.”“No idea what you are talking about.” Ardyn said having enough of Somnus’s words and walked away from him.However, Somnus decided that he wanted to be a dick today and toddled after Ardyn only stating some more facts at him. Ardyn took in a deep breath, knowing that they were going to fight if Somnus didn’t leave him alone soon. And when they fought one of them was going to die. Again. Cor yawned after an excruciating long meeting with Regis, Clarus and the rest of the guard. He would have never taken up the position of Marshal if he knew this is what it would have entailed. He would much rather be at home pretending to watch whatever documentary Ardyn had put on the TV, or helping Prompto frame his many, many photos and hanging them up around the house. At least it was over now, and he could finally relax.Therefore, he decided to stay in the meeting hall as Regis and Clarus still remained seated whilst everyone else had left. It was becoming a rarity where the three of them could simply sit and have a chat now. Cor was not going to miss any opportunity to do so. Even if it meant Regis was going to get in his personal life again. He loved the man like a brother, but fucking hell was he annoying when he wanted to be.For about 20 minutes Regis had not attempted to get in his business which was his personal best. Until he began to mention Cor’s friendship with Titus. Which Cor found slightly odd, but he shrugged it off and just took it as Regis being nosey.“I am glad to see that the Games have done what they were intended to do.” Regis smiled at Cor as he stretched out his bad leg. Out of respect, Clarus and Cor chose to ignore that.“Titus isn’t all that bad.” Cor shrugged.“Did Cor Leonis just compliment someone from the Glaive!” Clarus laughed.“You will be entering a dance competition next.” Regis said happily, joining in with the teasing. “Tell us, how does it feel finally swallowing your pride? Bet it feels strange.”Cor rolled his eyes and calmly stated looking directly at the Shield. “When you finally do it, let me know.”Regis burst into laughter. That was a nice sound to hear. Cor had not heard him laugh like that in such a long time. It was no secret that Regis’s health was rapidly declining and it was refreshing to know, despite the pain, his friend was still able to enjoy what little life he had left. It made Clarus smile too. At least there teasing still had the same affect on the King like it had done for the past 30 years now. Somethings never changed. Cor honestly didn’t know what he was going to do when he lost either Regis or Clarus. He didn’t want to think about that. Lucky for him Regis’s voice pulled him from that negative mind set.“In all seriousness, thank you for getting along with Titus. It is important that both the guard and glaive have some form of mutual respect. Especially with the war advancing the way it is. We all need to learn to help and respect each other despite are differences.”That was too close to home and Cor let out a very deep sigh. “I know.”“What’s wrong?” Clarus asked.“The usual. Your Grandfather and Granduncle are arguing again.”“That is inevitable I am afraid Cor. If you didn’t want to deal with it, you shouldn’t have married one of them.” Regis chuckled. As weird as the concept seemed when Regis was first made aware of Cor’s and Ardyn’s relationship he was so grateful that Cor had taken that burden off of his shoulders. He was the only King that didn’t have to deal with their endless bickering and arguing.“You can’t really complain. You knew what you were getting yourself into.” Clarus said, remembering a time where he actually had to try and prevent one of those fights from occurring. That ended in him having a trip to the medical wing.“They’ll calm down and make up sooner or later, they always do.”“All depends. If one of them kills the other before they do. If that happens, I am not getting involved.”“Thanks for being supportive.” Cor grumbled rubbing his temple. Why did he put up with these two again?“You’re welcome.” The pair said in unison. “Dad, I’m going to Noct’s to help Iggy cook for him. I think he is making a curry. Is that okay?” Prompto called clinging on to the front door’s handle waiting for one of his dads to respond to him.“Fine by me. Just text us when you are coming back.” Cor responded from the living room, whilst sorting out the guard’s rota on his laptop. Why did Monica have to be sick and give it to Dustin? Instinct took over him and he shouted into the room again, just to be certain Prompto had heard him. “Are you eating with them?”Cor always felt like an arse asking him that. But he only did it because he cared and Prompto had promised to stop lying when it came to that subject.“No. I am coming back for dinner.” Prompto called back in the same jolly voice.Cor silently let out a sigh of relief and chose to ignore Ardyn who was giving him a look of empathy.“Good. Keep your phone on you or else your dad is going to lose it.” Again, Cor chose to ignore Ardyn who’s face had turned into a scowl upon hearing those words. “Will do. Bye. love you both.”“We love you too darling.” Ardyn called out finally giving Prompto permission to vacate the premises.After the two men heard the door slam the house fell silent. Cor was too engrossed in his work and Ardyn was flicking through a book about different sorts of wine. This happened sometimes. Sometimes they both preferred the silence and just knowing that the other was in the same room as them. Somnus, of course, had made comments in the past that this was not normal behaviour for a couple. To that both Cor and Ardyn told him where he could shove his comment and that they would ask his opinion when they required it. Regis and Clarus never commented on their relationship, therefore Somnus shouldn’t be either.They remained like this for a good 10 minutes before Ardyn finally concluded that Prom had not forgotten something and wouldn’t come rushing into the house at any given moment. Ardyn placed the book on the sofa and looked over to Cor, who still had his eyes glued to the computer screen. Ardyn cleared his throat making Cor glance up for a second to inform him he was in fact listening.“He is spending a lot of time with Noct recently.”“I don’t think it’s Noctis who he wants to spend more time with.”“Oh really?”Cor looked up from his laptop and stared Ardyn dead in the eye. “Don’t get involved.”“I wasn’t going too!” Ardyn said trying to stage his innocence.It didn’t work. Cor knew Ardyn far too well for him to be able to get away with that. After clicking the save button on his work he stated very sarcastically into the air. “Of course, you weren’t.” Suddenly the laptop died, and Cor was half tempted to throw it across the room. He had at least another 5 weeks of patrol and guard duty to finalise and he could not be bothered to get up from his chair and find the bloody charger. He swore that a daemon had chewed through the charger the other day, when Ardyn was showing both Prompto and Noctis how ‘friendly’ the little shits could be. Well the daemons were not kind at all to the Marshal of the Crownsguard. Instead of giving into temptation he held the bridge of his nosed tightly and tried his hardest to supress the stress that was building up.Ardyn quickly stood up and pulled a spare charger from his armiger before Cor exploded. He also took the liberty of plugging it in and turning the laptop back on so Cor wouldn’t have too. From that action alone Cor’s stress eased.Before Cor could thank Ardyn his phone went off.Bing.Cor quickly got out his personal phone and read the message.“Who’s it from, my dear?”“Titus. He wants to know if I am free to spar.”Ardyn’s skin crawled again. Not only were they calling each other by their first names but Drautos had his husband’s personal phone number! And it was Cor’s first weekend off in weeks! Couldn’t he wait until Monday!No. Ardyn was not getting jealous. He had to prove to Somnus he wasn’t jealous. And more then likely to Regis as well, as his little shit of a brother always seemed to rat him out to his nephew. Cor could have friends and it was fine. Not to mention that Cor looked like he was about to explode due to stress and Ardyn knew how much better Cor felt after a fight. “Are you going to take him up on his offer?” Ardyn smiled, masking his envy with encouragement.“We’re supposed to be spending the afternoon together.” Cor argued in a surprised tone. It threw him off a little that Ardyn had just said that.What surprised Cor further was that Ardyn had placed his hand on the lid of the laptop and shut it just to prove how serious he was being.“Darling, you clearly have work on your mind. I think some healthy sparring may relieve you from your current stress.”“Are you sure?”“Positive. I will have dinner waiting for you when you return.” Ardyn smiled.Cor honestly wanted to spend the rest of the day with Ardyn, however there was no way he was going to be able to relax with all the work he had to do. And if he didn’t have a break he was going to lose his shit. He didn’t want to take his stress out on Ardyn and fighting did sound like a good idea. He let out a heavy sigh and stood up before giving Ardyn a small kiss.“Thanks Ass Hat.” Cor left not long after that, leaving Ardyn alone. He managed to fight the urge for the maximum of 5 minutes before he retrieved his phone out of his armiger and scrolled through his contacts until he found Somnus’s name. Wasting no time, he began to text his younger brother.
Ardyn: Somnus, do me a favour and go to the Citadel. (Sent: 14:32)
Somnus: I’m asleep. (Received: 14:35)
Ardyn: Really? Tell me dear brother, if that is the case, how could you possibly reply to me? (Sent: 14:35)
Somnus: No! (Received: 14:36)
Ardyn: Please? (Sent: 14:36)
You owe me anyway. (Sent: 14:36)
Somnus: No, I don’t. (Received: 14:41)
Ardyn: Oh really? (Sent: 14:41)
How about, the last time I covered a meeting for you? Or how about last week when Regis asked where you were and who didn’t give away your location. Your lovely big brother. (Sent: 14:42)
Somnus: Fine. (Received: 14:43)
What do you want? (Received: 14:43)
Actually, if it involves pranking Clarus forget it. Not doing that again no matter how much you blackmail me. (Received: 14:44)
Ardyn: No, no, nothing like that… All you need to do is go to the Citadel and see what Cor is doing? See completely innocent
😊 (Sent:14:45)
Somnus: Really…. (Received: 14:49)
You want me to spy on Marshal Cor Leonis? How in the name of the Six am I meant to do that?! (Received: 14:50)
Wait a second. This is Drautos again isn’t it? For fuck sake Ardyn I told you there is no need to be jealous. (Received: 14:50)
Ardyn????? (Received: 14:52)
Ardyn: I’ll tell Regis. (Sent: 14:52)
Somnus: Fine! If Cor twigs what I am doing, I am putting all the blame on you. (Received: 14:52)
Oh and now you owe me for forcing me out of bed! ON A SATURDAY! You prick. (Received: 14:52)
Ardyn: Just do it. (Sent: 14:53)
Cor walked into the training hall and saw the last person he would have expected to see leaning against the wall. What in the hell was Somnus doing here? It was the weekend. Cor wasn’t even sure if Somnus knew what a weekend was as he slept through most of it. It didn’t take long for Somnus to notice his presents either.“And you are here because?” Somnus asked plainly.“Nice to see you too Somnus.” Cor shook his head. “What are you doing here? I thought Regis gave you, your own house for a reason.”“I am booby trapping Ardyn’s office.” Somnus shrugged his shoulders.“He is going to kill you for that.” Cor stared into his brother-in-law’s eyes as he warned him.Sometimes Cor wished he could pound some sense into both Ardyn and Somnus. Whenever the pair pranked each other it never ended well and Cor was going to be the one dealing with the fall out. On many occasion Cor thought about bringing Prompto into their arguments. The pair would definitely stop if they thought they had upset the blonde in anyway. Cor never did though. For he only had to mention his sons name and both Ardyn and Somnus would immediately back down. However, there was only so many times that hat trick would work and he really hoped that Somnus wasn’t planning on something too extreme this time. The Founder King only smirked. “Not when I have something over him he wouldn’t dare. You haven’t answered my question yet.”“Drautos and I are sparring. You want to join?” Cor said before laughing at the Former King’s reaction.Somnus choked on his breath and went wide eyed at him. Cor liked Somnus but sometimes he needed a taste of his own medicine. “Ardyn will definitely slaughter me if I agree to that without his permission. There’s Drautos now. Hello Captain.”“Good afternoon, Your Former Majesty.” Titus said hiding the bitterness behind his words. Somnus was nearly as bad as Regis and that daemon. However, unlike Regis or Ardyn the Founder King never tried to talk to him unless it was absolutely necessary. He favoured him in that respect. “I will leave you two too it.” Somnus waved his hand walking away to actually turn Ardyn’s office into a trap as revenge for waking him up. Serves him right for forcing him out of bed. Something dawned on him. He quickly span around and clicked his fingers to get the pairs attention. “And Cor don’t tell Ardyn what I am doing. Thank you.”Not bothering to wait for a reply Somnus left.Now Titus was in a bad mood. He thought he would miss bumping into a member of the Royal Family today. Sooner then later Insomnia would fall to the Empire, Titus just had to keep reminding himself of that. Then all of them, save the Daemon and the Founder King would be gone. Only if he could figure out a way to get rid of the pair his problems would be over.Cor let out a sigh when Somnus exited the room and was half tempted to just throw something against the wall. He would talk to Somnus, after he and Titus fought, about being kind to his older brother. He really needed to clear his head before speaking with his brother-in-law again. That’s when Cor realised Titus maybe confused about what Somnus had said before he left.Cor grumbled as he spoke. “For your sanity, don’t ask. You ready?”“Certainly.”
Somnus: Done. Happy now? (Received: 16:01)
Ardyn: Well… his he alright? (Sent: 16:01)
Somnus: Yes. You really need to learn to control that jealously of yours. (Received: 16:01)
Ardyn: Says the person who murdered his own brother to get the throne! (Sent: 16:03)
SOMNUS!!! (Sent: 16:04)
Somnus: You just admitted that you are jealous. (Received: 16:06)
Ardyn: I don’t care anymore I am telling Regis where you were last week. (Sent: 16:06)
Cor was furious as he burst through the front door of his house. He stormed into the kitchen to find Ardyn humming a happy tune to himself as he took the food out of the oven.“Why the fuck was Somnus at the Citadel? And think before you respond to that.” Cor demanded not giving Ardyn a chance to greet him.“Hello darling. Was he? Oh, my word on a Saturday as well. What is this world coming too?” Ardyn commented in a semi-surprised tone. If he had turned around he would have seen how cross Cor actually was. He placed the food on too the plates and threw the hot tray on top of the oven.“Don’t lie to me.” “I don’t know why he was there. We may be brothers, but I do not keep a record of all his out goings. I wouldn’t want to anyway.”“I think stupidity runs in the family. I saw your messages to him you twit.” Ardyn turned around and went to open his mouth to defend himself. He quickly shut it again when he finally saw how angry Cor was at him. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked sideways not wanting to look in Cor’s eyes. “Well… this is awkward.”Cor leant against the side and shook his head in utter disappointment at Ardyn. Sometimes he did not understand Ardyn one bit. He always encouraged him to be more sociable but the second, he did Ardyn would behave like this. He would pretend that everything was fine and allow himself to grow upset and jealous because Cor wasn’t there. That only ever resulted in Cor feeling guilty and the pair would just get into spats like this one. It was frustrating. He loved Ardyn but the man was bloody suffocating sometimes. Cor wasn’t allowing this to happen again. He wanted to nib this in the bud before it caused them more issues down the line.However, as he was already having a rather stressful day Cor couldn’t help but snap. “You said you were fine with it! There is no need for you to be jealous! Why are you jealous anyway?”“I’m not.”“Your lying to me again! You clearly are if you have Somnus, of all people, spying on me!” Cor felt his head begin to pound as he continued to talk even loudly towards his husband.“It wasn’t spying… I just wanted to know if you were alright.” Ardyn said innocently. Trying to justify what he had done. He knew he shouldn’t have done that but he was stubborn and he was not backing down from his view point.Which only angered Cor more because he knew exactly what Ardyn was doing. “Then ask me that not your brother! What have you got to be jealous of anyway? You don’t even like sparring with me.”This wasn’t about sparring but Cor honestly didn’t care by this point. This had happened too many times in the past and quite frankly the 2000 year-old man standing before him had to grow the fuck up.“Darling I am not jealous, and I do like sparring with you. It’s like I told you before I don’t trust or like Drautos.”“You clearly weren’t okay with me leaving earlier so why didn’t you just say instead of getting yourself upset!”Cor hadn’t even noticed that his voice had turned into shouting until Ardyn turned his innocent tone of voice into one of comfort. “Cor you need to calm down, I understand I have annoyed you but you are getting yourself too worked up. You’re cross-”“NO SHIT!”“Dads! Why are you shouting? Is something the matter?” Prompto asked rushing into the room.Fuck. Cor didn’t know he was back yet. He hated arguing with Ardyn in front of Prom and now he had done exactly that. Cor gave Ardyn an icy glare knowing that he could come up with a better lie then him. Ardyn raised his eye brows slightly, to acknowledge the plead. Ardyn put on a huge smile and handed Prompto a plate of food. “Nothing darling. We are just having a slight disagreement over something that you don’t need to worry yourself with.”“It’s nothing Prom. I’m going for a shower.” Cor rubbed his eyes in frustration before exiting the kitchen to go upstairs.He felt so tense and a little hurt that Ardyn was jealous. He still didn’t understand why. Was he sparring with Titus too much, maybe. But Cor and Ardyn lived together, they worked together, and if Ardyn had it his way they would spend the rest of Cor’s existence together. As much as he loved the man he just needed a break. A breath of fresh air and at the moment Titus was the only person who was providing it to him.A cold shower would clear his head and he would talk it out calmly with Ardyn later.Prompto put the plate of food on the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “Dad, what did you do to piss him off this time?”“Language young man. I asked your Uncle Somnus something and he’s a little offended by it. That’s all.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Prompto and Noctis were sitting on the floor in Noct’s apartment with many lose pieces of paper out in front of them. The Prince of Lucis yawned and was tempted to lay on the floor to have a quick power nap. However, Ignis was busy in the kitchen cooking for the pair and he would surely scold him if he caught him slacking. Like Noct, Prompto was not focusing on the work in front of him. He was too busy worrying about the future to focus on the here and now and because of it he couldn’t focus on studying or finishing off his homework.When he got to a very difficult math question he placed both of his hands on his head and spoke loudly into the room.“What do you think I should do Noct?”“Dad said I am not allowed to have any input on this. As did Granddad.” Noctis shrugged his shoulders throwing a pen across the room, being done with the bull crap in front of him. Noctis knew Prom was on about the guard and glaive debate. For Prompto hadn’t shut up about it for weeks.“Dude pleassseee I am so stuck.”“You know what I am going to say.”“Just say it then cause I think my head is about to explode.”“Is that because of the decision or the pile of shit in front of us?”“Both!”“Prompto, I wouldn’t worry. I am certain you will make the correct decision.” Ignis said from over the counter that divided the living room and kitchen apart from one another.Upon hearing Ignis’s voice Prompto’s face turned a light shade of pink. He felt his palms go sweaty and he prayed that Noct didn’t notice his reaction. Noctis was fully aware of Prom’s crush on his advisor and he had purposely not told the blonde that Ignis was going to be at his tonight when he invited Prompto to come over to study.When Ignis came into view with two plates of food for the pair, Noctis couldn’t wipe the smirk off of his face as he also knew that Ignis had, in his Uncle Ardyn words, ‘grown fond’ of Prompto as well. The Prince was just waiting for one of them to finally admit it to the other however it didn’t look like that was going to happen tonight. Ignis placed the food on the floor near the boys and lightly shook his head at their lack of motivation. “I wouldn’t worry yourself with that decision yet. For your math revision is far more important.”“But Specs we have been doing this for hours.” Noctis complained rolling his eyes at his advisor.“Actually, it has been 55 minutes. Stop exaggerating.” Ignis corrected as he retrieved his food from the counter and sat down to join the pair sitting on the floor. He sat next to Prompto, but not too close to him. “I thought His Majesty and His Grace said that neither of you should be talking about Prompto enlisting until after all your exams have finished.”“When do we ever listen to what Ardyn says.” Noctis said before shoving some rice into his mouth.“I do. He’s my Dad.” Prompto laughed. He felt his face heat up again as he turned to face Ignis. He loved talking to Ignis. Sometimes, Prompto grew nervous when he asked for his opinion as he didn’t want to look like a fool in front of his crush. Gods he was such a dork sometimes. “But Iggy please give me your honest opinion. What one should I pick, Guard or Glaive?”“Which ever one you think will suit you better.” Ignis replied as soon as he finished swallowing his food.“That doesn’t help at all.” Prompto explained tapping his cutlery against the plate.“You know what I am going to say.”“Yes, and your father has told you not to blackmail Prompto. Now, both of you have a lot of studying to do, so eat please.” “Enough weapon training. How about hand to hand combat?” Titus suggested as he threw his weapon into his armiger after failing yet again to beat the Marshal.Upon hearing this idea, Cor was a little weary. It wasn’t like he was terrible at hand to hand combat, but it definitely wasn’t his strongest point. Yes, he was a fairly strong person but he much preferred weapon training and somehow, he always managed to get Monica and Dustin to train the guard in this style of combat, so he didn’t have to. The Captain was well known for being very skilled in hand to hand combat. This was going to be embarrassing.“No magic then.” Cor stated. Magic was not an area that he was particularly strong at, either. If the Captain used magic, he be well and truly fucked. “I don’t cheat.”“Never said you did.”Just like Cor had predicted, Titus kicked his arse.Within a few minutes Titus had managed to force Cor onto the ground with one hand firmly placed on the back of his neck and with the other he held Cor’s arm behind his back so he couldn’t move. And when Titus looked down at the man’s helpless form he couldn’t prevent perverted thoughts from rushing into his head. He had the Marshal underneath him and he wasn’t able to move, because of this that lust and desire was starting to cloud his logical train of thought as he allowed his eyes to roam up and down Cor’s body. The fact that he had forced Cor into this position, all too easily, was turning him on.Cor struggled as he attempted to break free from his grasp, but the Captain was strong. Incredibly strong. Cor wasn’t expecting that at all. Granted Cor had neglected the amount of hand to hand combat training over the years and he wished he hadn’t now. It had always been his weakest point and this bout with Titus just confirmed he needed to focus more on that area.“Give up.” Titus asked purposely breathing down Cor’s neck to see how he would react.The man did not disappoint the Captain. He felt Cor tense up, which caused Titus to place more pressure onto his neck and arm. Cor was at his mercy and he wanted him to beg to be released. He wanted to have Cor the Immortal plead, he wanted him on his hands and knees as he buried himself into him. There was so much he wanted from the Marshal and he could get it if he acted on desire now.But before he could, he saw Cor nod.Titus swallowed a breath of disappointment and finally got off of him. He watched the Marshal like a shark as Cor got to his feet and Titus smiled as he spoke to him. “First time I have bested you.”“Whatever.” Cor mumbled dusting himself off. There was bitterness behind his words. He didn’t like the fact Titus had managed to beat him so easily.“Best out of three.”Cor quickly agree to see if he could beat Titus this time. But that didn’t happen.After 5 minutes of throwing punches and blocking attacks, Titus got hold of Cor’s shoulders, and with his strong grip he forced Cor to bend over. Titus proceeded to knee him in the stomach forcing Cor to let out a sharp grunt of pain. The attack left Cor stunned, but because of this it allowed Titus to wrap one of his arms around Cor’s neck and put him in a head lock. With his body weight and strength, he forced the pair of them on to the ground and he felt Cor struggle underneath him as Titus lay fully on top of him this time.Feeling the Marshal’s entire body squirming underneath his, gave him nothing but pleasure. He had to shuffle his lower half because an uncomfortable bulge was starting to form in his trousers. Titus was so grateful he had decided to keep his armour on during this fight otherwise Cor might catch on to what he really wanted. Cor had to say he gave up this time and when he did Titus let him go. He stood up again and couldn’t help but notice the way Cor was breathing as he stood up. Titus had been a little rough that time, but he didn’t care. He knew the Marshal was not one to complain about a ‘fair’ fight.“Seems you’re a little rusty Cor. I have put you on you’re arse twice now.” Titus laughed seeing Cor’s face turn sour.“And.” Cor said getting into his fighting stance.“You don’t give up, do you. Alright then Marshal.” Titus did the same and the pair continued to fight each other.This time Cor was a lot quicker at defending blows and throwing punches in Titus’s direction. Cor kicked him in the stomach forcing Titus on the ground but because this wasn’t a sword fight Cor couldn’t end it there and then. Because he paused for a mere second, Titus grabbed Cor’s leg and pulled him on to the floor. Cor fought back and kicked at him but as he did so Titus wrapped one of his arms around the top part of his leg and flipped him over so that he was on his front. Titus forced a foot on the top of his back and placed a lot of pressure on the lower part of his back with his other hand. Just like before Cor was stuck in a helpless position with the Captain of the Kingsglaive on top of him.Cor was getting pissed off now as it was the third time that Titus had kicked his arse. However, Cor didn’t mind as much as he should have, because it finally felt like he had a challenge. If it was hand to hand combat in the games Titus would have easily won and Cor would never be able to live it down. At least no one was here to witness this.“I think I have found your weakness.” Titus breathed out as he continued to hold Cor in this position on the mats.Like the two previous times, lust began to cloud Titus’s mind but this time he knew he couldn’t fight his urges. He had his arm wrapped around Cor’s thigh and Titus allowed his hand to drift dangerously close to Cor’s crotch. Instead of touching it though, he purposely squeezed Cor’s inner thigh and to Titus’s surprise Cor didn’t say anything. The Captain raised an eye brow at him and continued to tightly grip his thigh and again Cor said nothing.Cor blinked when he felt Titus squeeze his thigh. At first, he thought it was to make him give up, but he did it again and his grip remained tightly locked there. The Marshal didn’t say anything, he probably should have but Titus’s hand felt warm. And… Cor liked it. Whenever Ardyn did that to him his hand was always cold. When Cor tensed up from the sensation it was always a mixture of pleasure and the sting of the temperature of Ardyn’s hand. However, the warmth of Titus’s hand was… new. Cor couldn’t explain why but he liked it. He definitely should not be enjoying it, but he was. Titus’s hand remained there as he spoke to the Marshal again. “Give up yet.”“Get off.” Cor shifted having enough of feeling humiliated. When he moved his leg, Titus didn’t want to let go of Cor’s thigh. However, that soon changed when a third voice made itself known to the pair.“Having fun?”Titus immediately let go and got off of the Marshal, as that was Ardyn’s voice. Titus had to stop himself from growling at the daemon as he had ruined everything!This allowed Cor to finally push himself off the floor and look at the wine haired man who was smiling brightly at him. Cor was still cross at Ardyn for what he had done on the weekend and that issue had not been resolved yet, because Ardyn thought it was a good idea to veto the conversation. Now, him being here more then likely to ‘check-up’ on him only angered Cor further. He allowed the annoyance to be heard in his voice and he honestly didn’t care if Titus heard it. “Ardyn, what are you doing here?”“It is the end of the day and I thought it would be nice if we went home together for a change.” Ardyn continued to smile and he kept his gaze on Cor.He was finding it difficult to not get jealous as he had just walked into the room to see Drautos on top of his husband. No… they were only training, Ardyn knew that. However, that didn’t stop the monsters in his head from telling him otherwise. He took in a deep breath and rationalised it in his head. He didn’t look in Drautos’s direction though.Cor glanced up at the clock and realised it was 8pm. Cor nodded “I’ll get my stuff. See you tomorrow Titus.”“Goodbye, Cor.”The Marshal only went over to the benches but when he was out of Ardyn’s view, His Grace stared daggers at the Captain of the Kingsglaive. Ardyn was incredibly jealous that the man in front of him was taking up his husband’s time and walking into that… was not something that would sooth his paranoia. He had to be civil though. Drautos was Cor’s friend and he had to be supportive no matter how much he loathed him.“Drautos.” Ardyn greeted ‘not’ wanting to be inhospitable at all.“Your Grace.” Titus responded.It was a very awkward interaction and the pair just wanted Cor to hurry up so one of them could leave. However, Titus wanted to leave for a completely different reason then the daemon in front of him. Touching Cor’s thigh had done wonders to his growing erection and the Captain wasn’t sure how long he could keep up his stone-faced expression. He really needed to relieve himself but with Ardyn turning up he was denied his wishes.Lucky for the pair of them Cor was walking towards the door and Ardyn was quick to follow leaving the Captain alone in the room. As soon as he was assured that they were gone he rushed to the closest toilet to pleasure himself. And the entire time he thought of nothing but the Marshal. The two princes weren’t bunking off as such.They just decided that attending their last lesson of the day was a waste of time and they would much rather sit at home and play video games. When they walked into the Citadel neither the guards nor glaives questioned their presents. The people who they had to avoid were: their fathers, the two Shields, Ignis and the Founder King. They could easily do that. Right?They did a good job at avoiding these certain people until they got to the floor that contained Noctis’s quarters. They were just getting out of the elevator and walking along the corridor when a familiar, yet very sleepy voice, made the pair jump out of their skins. “When were you going to tell me?”The boys slowly turned around to see Somnus, who looked as if he had just woken up, yawning in front of them. Prompto gulped a little because he was looking directly at him. However, he began to panic because he had no idea what his uncle was on about and they had just been caught sneaking into the Citadel 2 hours before they were meant to be back.Prompto smiled at him and tried to hide how nervous he was. “Oh hey, Uncle Som! And uhh… tell you what?”“That your art project got entered in the competition. Your fathers told me.” Somnus said through a yawn.“It did! Prom that’s awesome well done!” Noctis said feeling a tad offended that Prom had not mentioned it before now.“It’s not a big deal.”“Yes, it is.”“I know for certain both your fathers are very proud of you, as I am. Well done, buddy.” Somnus smiled at him with pride.Prompto and Somnus had always been close. In fact, Prompto had a closer relationship with Somnus then he had with Clarus and Regis. The blonde would never say it out loud, but the Founder King was definitely his favourite uncle. Likewise, Somnus would only ever say it in front of Ardyn that he preferred the blonde over his own grandson. This was mainly because Prom was the only nephew that Somnus had ever had and he enjoyed being uncle Somnus.After Prompto came out of hospital, just under two years ago, their bond only seemed to strengthen as Somnus was there to support his nephew and his brother through that difficult part of their lives. Likewise, Somnus was the first person to find out about his crush on Ignis and the pair agreed to not allow Ardyn to discover that. There would be blood if he did. “Thank you.” Prompto smiled as his face started to redden.Noctis shoved him and rolled his eyes at his best friend. “Why didn’t you say something?”“I told Iggy…”Prompto’s face went bright red. Both Noctis and Somnus did their best not to laugh at his reaction. Somnus thought his nephew’s crush on Noct’s advisor was really sweet. It was always funny when Prom went red with embarrassment. He was definitely nothing like Ardyn or Cor, in Somnus’s eyes that was a good thing. However, Noctis was too proud of Prom’s achievement to tease him today. He smiled at the blonde and told him what they were going to do with the rest of the day. “You, me, Gladio and Specs are going out to celebrate. Granddad can you tell dad that please?”“As you wish Noctis. Take a member of the glaive with you though. I am not getting into trouble at your expense.” Somnus nodded.“You’re my Granddad! You should want too.” Noctis semi-shouted feeling offended by his Grandfather’s words. Whilst Prom had to bite his lip that time to prevent himself from laughing at his best friend.“So.” Somnus shrugged walking away.Both Prompto and Noctis sighed with relief. They were so lucky that Somnus wasn’t awake enough to even realise what the time was. They did not want to be there if he realised. They began to carry on walking towards Noct’s rooms at some speed in case-“Boys! What the hell are you doing here!!”“Run!!!” Noctis said pulling Prompto along with him. The Marshal and the Captain had decided to help each other instead of sparring for fun. They both came to the realisation that their weakest points, seemed to be the other’s strength. Whenever they had a free moment and the training room wasn’t being occupied they would train together and tell the individual where they needed to improve. It was a perfect way for both the men to release the stress that their jobs brought them and in turn it allowed their friendship to grow.Cor liked it. He liked having a friend that was outside of the royal family. It was refreshing, and Titus didn’t constantly try to baby him like Clarus, Regis, Wesk and Cid did. Nor did he try to protect him like Ardyn and Somnus did. It just felt normal… The Marshal always looked forward to training with Titus. As far as Titus was concerned, this development was allowing him to get closer to what he wanted. He knew he was slowly gaining Cor’s trust and for some reason Cor never questioned the fact that he would ‘accidently’ touch him during training. However, it was going too slow for Titus’s liking. He wanted to get the ball rolling and there was only so much he could do in the comfort of the training hall.At the end of a morning session of training Titus got Cor’s attention before he left.“Cor, do you want to go out for a drink later?”“All depends, you buying?” Cor asked looking at the Captain with no expression on his face.“Really? Yes, why not.”“I was joking.” Cor laughed.That wasn’t a bad idea. However, with the little stunt that Ardyn pulled on the weekend Cor really didn’t want to do anything to make Ardyn anymore jealous. Thinking about that made Cor angry. They still hadn’t resolved that issue and thinking about it now was making his blood boil.Cor looked at Titus and realised that he hadn’t given him an answer yet. “Don’t know I’ll have to think about it.”“Fine by me.” Titus shrugged his shoulder’s pretending like he didn’t care.He did care. He really did. But if he was going to get what he wanted he knew he had to play a game of cat and mouse. He breathed through his frustration and covered up his disappointment by showing no emotion. “If I change my mind I’ll drop by your office later.” Cor said feeling guilty that a spat with Ardyn was preventing him from accepting. Titus left without another word leaving Cor in the training hall. The Marshal knew he should go back to his own office and sort out paperwork before he had a meeting with Regis and Clarus but upon practically refusing the Captain’s offer because he knew Ardyn was going to sulk annoyed him. He wanted to hit something so bad to get rid of all the stress that had been piling up over the past couple of weeks.The doors of the training room opened and Cor was not fazed by who it was.“Hey, Leonis. You finished in here yet?” Somnus asked wanting to use the room to do his own training. He didn’t have anyone to train with but the dummies were always good to practice on.“Yes. Sorry Somnus. Actually… do you want to spar with me?” Cor asked.“Umm… Ardyn will kill me.”“No he won’t. He’s got that meeting with the foreign secretary today. He should be awhile.” Cor reassured him. The pair had not sparred in a while, and Cor always found it funny when he put Somnus on his arse. Somnus nodded and the pair started their match.They fought for a good 10 minutes before Ardyn came in looking for the Marshal. When he saw his brother fighting with his husband all he saw was red. He straight up attacked Somnus without any warning and it was a miracle that he didn’t tear him to shreds. Somnus did what he could to defend himself, trying not to provoke Ardyn anymore then he already had and the Founder King knew if Cor wasn’t there to get in the way and calm his brother down Somnus would have a broken neck.When Cor finally calmed Ardyn down, he grabbed his arm and marched him to Regis and he shouted at Somnus to follow. He had had enough of this shit and he wanted Regis to sort this out.But it was in vain because Regis did nothing as the pair began to argue in front of the King, the Shield and the Marshal. “Do you two ever stop arguing.” Regis sighed sinking into his chair.“Apparently not.” Clarus shook his head and rested his elbows on top of the table as the pair continued to watch the brothers argue for the ninth time this week. And it was only Thursday. That was only the spats that the King, the Shield and the Marshal were aware about. Whereas Cor had his arms crossed over his chest wearing a face of stone as he glanced over at the pair. He was growing tired of this constant bickering. It was just another thing he had to deal with. Regis and Clarus had decided that Ardyn’s and Somnus’s arguments were no longer their problem and it was always down to Cor to sort out. Not to mention Cor’s head was beginning to pound. Great another one of this headaches were coming on and seeing how angry Ardyn was at Somnus there was no chance Cor was going to be able to get rid of it. “Don’t get angry at me!” Somnus shouted up towards Ardyn who was purposely towering over him to intimidate him.“I am not angry at you little brother, I am furious with you! How many times do I have to express the issue of your impulsive and miscalculated behaviour?!”“MY IMPULSIVE BEHAVIOUR?! Take a look in the mirror, Daemon!”“Stop this at once!” Regis shouted raising from his chair before things got too ugly.Instead of carrying on shouting, like he had planned to do, he had to hold back a grunt of pain. Standing up so suddenly really hurt his knee. However, both his ancestor’s had failed to see the King in pain and carried on staring daggers at each other. Clarus and Cor noticed and the Shield quickly helped Regis to sit back down. Whereas Cor, upon seeing Regis hurt because of Ardyn and Somnus… he was not happy.“OI!” Cor snapped sharply getting both of the brother’s attention. “Stop it now! It is getting boring to listen too.”“I am sorry darling if I feel a little over protective of you.” Ardyn growled. He didn’t mean to growl at Cor but Somnus had really upset him and he couldn’t control his anger.Which only caused Cor to get even more frustrated with Ardyn then he was earlier, and he snapped back. “You don’t need to be! I asked Somnus to spar with me and it really isn’t any of your business.”“Then you should have said no.” Ardyn quickly turned back to Somnus who had to take a step away from his brother as he saw his eyes begin to glow. Seeing Somnus’s reaction Cor lost it. He didn’t care if they had an argument in front of Regis, Clarus and Somnus. Cor was beyond fed up with Ardyn’s behaviour. He stood up and shook his head, attempting to show him how disappointed and angry he was at him.“What’s the problem?! I am not hurt! He’s not hurt you are overreacting, as per usual.”“I don’t care if he gets hurt.”“Thanks brother.”“Keep your mouth shut.” Ardyn said trying to kick Somnus.Seeing that... Cor screamed at his husband this time.“No Ardyn, you keep your mouth shut! If you are going to be rude just leave! I have a fucking headache and I am not dealing with your childish behaviour today!”“Fine!”Ardyn slammed the door on his way out making everyone in the room flinch. Cor sat down and held the bridge of his nose. He shouldn’t have said that. Ardyn was going to sulk for a while now. The two Kings and the Shield felt awkward witnessing that argument. For the pair never argued and if they did it was always in private and they usually found out there had been an argument after the pair had resolved the issue. Regis and Clarus wanted to say something to comfort Cor but knowing him as well as they did it was for the best to let him deal with his own emotions for an hour or so. Otherwise he was going to literally bite their heads off.Instead Regis turned to Somnus and placed the blame on him. “Well done, Grandfather.”“It’s not my fault.”“No, it’s Ardyn’s fault he has to learn to grow the fuck up.” Cor commented not bothering to hide the aggression behind his words.Somnus raised an eyebrow at his brother-in-law and then he realised what must have happened. Somnus knew he shouldn’t have given into Ardyn’s request the other weekend. But the Founder King was not about to jump to any wild conclusions. And spoke in a weary voice. “I take it you are still a little annoyed at-”“Yes, Somnus. I am!”Regis and Clarus glanced at each other for a brief moment. They hated it when Cor kept secrets from them and apparently something else had happened, and the Marshal had neglected to inform them. Because Cor had willingly argued with Ardyn in front of them they realised something was not right between the pair at the moment.“Annoyed at what?” Regis asked with confusion.“What’s happened now?” Clarus added.“Doesn’t matter.” Cor snapped. Shit. He hated getting like this. Not wanting either Regis or Clarus to interfere in his private affairs he got up and left without being excused.“Okay…” Regis said not attempting to prevent Cor from leaving. Cor hated fighting with Ardyn. it always made him feel like shit afterwards and when Cor had a moment to think about it he shouldn’t have shouted at Ardyn like that. He completely understood why Ardyn was over protective of him when Somnus came into the picture but… he was taking it a little too far now. If he was honest he did not want to go home and start another argument with Ardyn. He just wanted to relax. That’s when Cor remembered Titus’s invitation. He already made up his mind and walked straight to the Captain’s office.When Cor made it to the Captain’s office, he lightly knocked on the door and just hoped the man wasn’t busy. He waited outside until he heard Titus’s voice.“Enter.”Cor pushed the door open and saw Drautos looking down at his desk. Cor could hardly see the top of the desk as it was covered in piles of paper work. Damn. He thought to himself. Titus looked busy. Before he could apologise and take his leave the Captain looked up and placed his pen on the desk. He lent back in his seat before greeting him.“Cor. How can I help you?”“Just wondering if you still wanted to go out for that drink.” Cor asked praying that he would agree.He really needed to just forget about everything at the moment. If he was to stay with Regis and Clarus they would just bring up his argument with Ardyn. He didn’t want to think about it right now. If he was honest, Titus was his only option. He didn’t really have many friends and Cor was certain that Titus wouldn’t ask about Ardyn. “Yes, I would.” Titus nodded as the corners of his lips turned into a smirk. “What made you change your mind?” Titus question after half an hour of sitting with the Marshal at a local bar that was next to his apartment.“In laws.” Cor rumbled looking into his half empty pint, trying to forget about what happened.That peeked Titus’s interest. Had something happened? Oh, how he would love it if Cor and that daemon were having problems. Was it because of him? Titus had to prevent himself from smirking. Titus wasn’t even trying to actively come between the pair and if training with Cor was causing a rift to grow between them, he could swing this in his favour.However, Titus didn’t try to push for any information. That may cause Cor to pack up and leave. Instead he took a drink of his pint and made light of the situation.“That is why I am not married.”“It would make things a hell of a lot easier if I wasn’t.” Cor gritted his teeth before downing what was left of his drink.He didn’t mean that at all, he was just stressed and angry. He knew he had to have a serious talk with Ardyn and apologise for his behaviour. Not to mention he had to scold Prompto for skipping school the other afternoon. As well as signing application papers, promotions papers, holiday requests and other pieces of pointless crap that he just seemed to be drowning in. The only thing that Cor seemed to enjoy of his day at the moment was spending time with Prom and training with Titus.“I think you need another drink.” Titus said clicking his fingers to get the bar keeps attention.“Only if you’re still buying.”Cor enjoyed his drink with Titus. It turned into three drinks and by the end of his third pint he was relaxed and happy enough to have a calm chat with Ardyn. Of course, as soon as he got home he apologised for snapping at him in front of his brother and his nephew and Ardyn said sorry for being over protective and for what happened on the weekend. They decided to just put it behind them and tell Prompto off for skipping school and that he was to never do it again.After that they decided to go to bed and within minutes Ardyn was asleep. He had his face buried into Cor’s neck and he had wrapped his arm across Cor’s chest and wrapped his leg around Cor’s. Cor stroked Ardyn’s head and lightly laughed at him.Sleeping like the dead. Typical Caelum.The man didn’t even need to sleep because of his affliction but it never stopped him.Cor continued to stroke Ardyn’s hair and he couldn’t help but think about Titus. Making friends with him was a good move however Cor couldn’t stop thinking about their training sessions. In particular the time where Titus had grabbed his thigh. Having Ardyn laying across his chest now it felt normal. His husbands cold touch was the norm and he wouldn’t change a single thing about Ardyn even if he could.But the warmth of Titus’s hand was impossible for him to forget. He shook his head and kissed Ardyn on the forehead. He shouldn’t be thinking about that. He lent his head against Ardyn’s and closed his eyes.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Cor burst into Clarus’s office enraged as he had just had to break up, yet another, fight between Ardyn and Somnus.He swore to the Six the he was going to murder the pair of them the next time they went for each other. Cor was exhausted, and he had been having such a crazy week so far. First off, he was training new recruits, all of which acted like 5 year-olds. And when he wasn’t dealing with them he was on patrol. He hadn’t had any time to spar to release any stress and Ardyn was not helping him as he seemed to be set on bickering with his brother. Also, he was upset because Regis’s health had taken a turn for the worst at the beginning of the week and he wasn’t allowing anyone to help him. Neither Noctis or Clarus were allowed to give the King comfort. Ardyn wasn’t allowed to use his healing powers to sooth the pain either. It wasn’t fair. When the Marshal got upset it turned into frustration and he took it out on other people.The Shield was getting the brunt of it. “I am going to fucking kill Somnus!”“Shall I pretend I didn’t hear that.” Clarus said leaning back in his chair as he watched Cor pace up and down his office.“Why can’t he be nice to his brother! He is the source of their endless bickering, and I have fucking had enough.”“Not a lot you can do I’m afraid.” Clarus rose from his chair and walked over to the coffee machine that was in the corner of the room. He got out two cups from the cupboard and rested them on the side as he waited for the coffee to be made. The Shield turned back to the Marshal and sighed with empathy. He could tell he was upset about Regis. They all were. But he knew Cor didn’t want to talk about it and he was trying to find anything to be angry about. Clarus decided to humour him, he didn’t want to be thinking about Regis’s declining health either. “What has our Founder King said anyway?”“He keeps telling Ardyn he’s jealous of mine and Titus’s friendship, and Ardyn is getting pissy at him.”“But he is.”“He doesn’t need to be reminded.” Cor finally stopped pacing and sat down on a chair.He couldn’t understand why Somnus and Ardyn were so set on arguing when a member of their family was in pain. It frustrated him so much. He knew they were probably both upset but Noctis’s feelings were more important. For fuck sake Prompto even understood this. He had been staying with Noctis in the Citadel to make sure he was okay. And Cor just couldn’t understand how Ardyn and Somnus were dealing with their feelings. Prompto was acting more grown up then they were. They were over 2000 years old, for the love of Shiva. Clarus shook his head and filled the cups with black coffee before walking over to Cor and handing him a cup. “Just tell Prompto, I am certain he will put a stop to it. They only ever seem to listen to him.”“No! My son is not dealing with them. You are never any help.” Cor huffed taking a sip of the coffee, not caring about the temperature.Clarus took a seat beside Cor and tapped his fingers on the cup of boiling coffee. He was in no position to stop the bickering unless Regis asked him too. Because of how ill he was at the beginning of the week both the Shield and the Marshal thought it best to keep it from him. He didn’t need the stress. No one did. It was just something that they had to put up with.“Cor, I am not a member of the Royal Family. I am not allowed to get involved.” Clarus said admitting he was helpless in this situation.“Neither am I.”“You married Ardyn.”“So.” Cor took another gulp of his coffee, ignoring the fact it had just burnt his mouth. He hated it when people pointed out his status.“Listen. I would help, and Regis does confide in me in a lot of things involving the family, but when it comes to you and Ardyn we try are best to stay out of it. You are both very private and territorial in nature and we don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.” Clarus said as he looked at his friend. Sometimes he wished Cor would take a break or give himself a holiday. He looked like he bloody well needed it. Clarus would happily write him off work for 2 weeks as soon as Regis was feeling better. It was a little annoying he couldn’t give it to him now.“Fine.”“If I got in your business you would be biting my head off. So, tell me Leonis in which way am I going to win here.” Clarus asked and Cor’s reaction said it all.He placed his coffee on the floor and crossed his arms over his chest like a grumpy teenager. Clarus couldn’t help but smile. He missed doing this with Cor. Just having chats and being brothers. Clarus ruffled Cor’s hair to mock him and the Marshal stared daggers at him.Clarus snorted. “See.”Their chat did not help the Marshal one bit. In fact, it only put more pressure on Cor. He felt that he had too ensure the brothers stopped fighting for Noctis’s and the rest of the Citadel’s benefit.Cor breathed through the anger and tried to calmly explain what they were doing. The Marshal knew both of them understood what they were doing. However, they were both stubborn fuckers and neither of them wanted to be the first to apologise. That’s when Cor gave up. He ordered them to grow the fuck up and he was not talking to either of them until they did. That made Ardyn swallow his pride and he said sorry to Somnus, but Cor had had enough for that day and went to the one person who had not caused him any stress in the pass month.Titus Drautos.When Cor had a moment at the end of the day they sparred together, and it allowed the Marshal to calm down. Seeing how stressed Cor was, Titus offered to take him out for a drink. They had been doing this a lot more recently. For the past two weeks they would go out for a drink and just forget about their job for an hour or two. Cor really appreciated the company and it became his distraction. It allowed him to forget about work, training, Somnus’s and Ardyn’s bickering and Regis’s health. The Captain was becoming his escape. Cor just prayed that Titus didn’t mind him badgering to spar with him or going out for a drink.Unbeknown to the Marshal, Titus was more than happy that this advancement. For it was allowing him to get closer to Cor and now Titus knew their relationship was starting to impact Cor’s and Ardyn’s… it was just perfect. It was all falling into place and Titus was hardly doing anything now. Cor was coming to him and he loved it. What made this extra enjoyable was that Titus was getting away with touching Cor in the training hall. Just like the time Titus squeezed his thigh, Cor was not saying anything. The Captain knew he was playing a dangerous game but because the Marshal was not doing anything to stop him, so was Cor. A couple of days had passed since Cor had a chat with Clarus and Regis was starting to brighten up. But the situation with his husband and brother-in-law had not changed and Cor decided as a way to teach Ardyn a lesson he wasn’t telling him that he was going out tonight. He was going to make him worry and see if that would get him to listen.Like, so many evenings before, Cor sat at the bar with Titus and began drinking a pint of lager. He wasn’t wearing his Crownsguard uniform. Instead, he wore a pair of black trousers, a black shirt and a grey jacket. He didn’t like to stray too far from the traditional black colours in case he had to be called into work. But Titus had talked him into relaxing and apparently wearing causal clothes would help him. He was right. He felt a lot calmer and for once his head was not in work mode. It didn’t stop him from downing half his pint before Titus even had a chance to pay for his. “In law trouble again?” Titus asked, slyly getting the man to remember what had been taking place. Like Cor, Titus was not wearing his uniform. Instead he was wearing blue jeans, a plain black shirt and jacket. Maybe if he got the Marshal drunk enough he may get what he actually wanted tonight. “Like you wouldn’t fucking believe.” Cor said downing the rest of his pint and quickly ordered another one.“Slow down. I am not carrying you home.” Titus laughed as he began to start his.“Try having the Founder King of Lucis as your brother-in-law.” Cor said paying for his drink and began to consume the yellow pale ale. “No thank you.” Titus said hiding his smirk as he watched the Marshal drink.He was going to pace himself and just watch to see how many it would take to get the man tipsy. Even if he didn’t get what he wanted tonight… he finally realised he had found the solution to his problem. However, this test failed as Titus soon discovered that Cor hadn’t eaten anything and he was drinking the stuff like it was water.Cor was tipsy, verging on semi-drunk, within the next hour and a half and that was when Titus decided they had to leave. For the Marshal’s dignity more than anything else and people were beginning to stare. The Captain helped the Marshal out of the bar and instead of calling a cab to take him home he led him towards his apartment. It was right next door to the bar and Cor seemed more then happy to allow him to lead. When they got into the apartment Titus sat down on the sofa and watched as Cor stumbled towards him. His mind began to wonder to indecent thoughts again. Cor was getting better at hand to hand combat but the state that he was in there was no way he would be able to fight him off. He stared at him like a predator as Cor looked around the front room. “Handy your place is right next to a bar.” Cor commented on the place, not wanting to seem rude or anything.“Has it’s perks.” Titus smiled. Cor was now in arms reach and the Captain was fed up of waiting for the man to take a seat. He grabbed his arm and pulled him down on the sofa. “Cor you need to sit down. Better?”When Cor landed on the sofa he grunted as he was not expecting that. But he appreciated the sit down. The room was starting to spin. Maybe he shouldn’t have downed a couple of pints. He turned to face Titus and nodded. “Ummm.”Titus placed a foot on his knee and watched as Cor lent his head back against the sofa. The Marshal sat with his legs spread and he couldn’t help but look at his crotch. Cor was a hazy enough that he wouldn’t notice but he wasn’t going to risk it.He cleared his throat to make sure Cor was listening to him. “Same time next week?”“Sorry Titus, Ardyn and I are attending an event for Prom.”“How about Saturday?”Cor turned his head to look at the man once more. He was still amazed that Titus wanted to spend time with him. Not many people did. Clarus and Regis did because they had proclaimed themselves as his brothers and as for Ardyn, they were in love with each other. When it came to Somnus he was stuck with him. He didn’t talk to Cid and Wesk as much as he liked and now he had an actual friend who was his age and was still interested in spending time with him. It just confused him.“Why do you want to spend so much time with me?” Cor asked in a tired voice.“Who wouldn’t.”Before Cor could register what was happening Titus had moved his face closer to his and forced their lips to connect. The Marshal’s face immediately heated up and he went wide eyed.But for some reason, in his intoxicated state, Cor didn’t want this to stop. When he felt Titus’s hand fall on the back of his neck and push him closer towards him, Cor did nothing to stop him. Cor was aware the pair had had a few to drink but… what was going on?Titus pulled away for a second and Cor couldn’t help himself. He pulled at Titus’s jacket desperate to make the kiss continue as he was drunk on a mixture of alcohol and a sudden rush of lust. It was wrong to do this. It was stupid and reckless but that was everything Cor was, and he felt he had been suppressing that side of his personality for so long. Acting on nothing but impulse he pulled Titus closer to him and he felt the Captain wrap his arms around him. From there Cor seemed to only get more aggressive as he continued the kiss and allow Titus to kiss him back. The Marshal’s logical part of his brain was dulled by alcohol and lust as he continued to participate in this stupid activity. He lowered himself on to the sofa, still holding on to Titus’s jacket and forced the man on top of him.Again, Cor did nothing when Titus started to unbutton his shirt. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the man’s neck to further deepen the foreign kiss. Cor did nothing when he felt Titus’s warm hands begin to smear themselves over his chest. He did nothing but accept the vicious tongue that Titus forced down his throat. When Titus had unbuttoned his own shirt, he felt the man’s heated chest brush against his. At the touch Cor felt his entire body heat up again and it was a strange feeling. Because neither his face, chest or mouth was coming into contact with anything cold. It was strange yet inviting. When Titus firmly gripped his hips and pulled him in a more comfortable position underneath him Cor didn’t pull away. He helped him and guided his body in the same direction to whatever way Titus was pulling him.But the warmth of Titus’s chest was not enough and Cor desired more. He ripped Titus’s shirt from out of his trousers and placed both of his hands up his shirt and rested them on his bare back, making the gap between them lessen. His body was so warm. Cor had never experienced this type of warmth before. He craved more, and he couldn’t help but run his hands all over Titus’s hot back as he touched the Captain’s rough and scarred skin. Cor felt Titus smirk into their kiss as he removed one of his heated hands from Cor’s hip. Cor was expecting it to go to his chest but that didn’t happen. Instead he felt the hand force its way passed his belt and directly into his underwear until it was locked firmly on his dick.That’s when Cor’s lust and desire stopped.Instead of his eyes going wide due to shock they were wide because of guilt. He pulled away from Titus, whilst removing his hands from the man’s back and violently shaking his head, realising exactly what he was doing.“Titus Stop! We can’t!” Cor said pushing the man off of him. He stood up as fast as he could and quickly did up his shirt.As he did so he noticed how fast his chest was moving. How could he fucking do that? How could he fucking do such a thing to Ardyn… a wave of pure guilt washed over him, and his mouth dropped a little. This was unforgiveable. Ardyn was never going to forgive him for this!The worst part of all of this was that Cor wanted it. When he and Titus were kissing he had the desire to have sex with him. He craved for the man to touch him and now he had just cheated on his husband. After he did up his shirt Cor bit his lip just thinking how Ardyn would react to this. He was going to lose it. He was going to tear Titus apart. It didn’t help that Cor was tipsy either. Cor couldn’t turn back time and he had never felt so much regret in his life.This would destroy Ardyn. He couldn’t hurt him like that. Cor never thought he was capable of hurting someone who he cared so much for like this. But he just had…“Cor?” Titus’s ruff and slightly breathless voice pulled Cor from his thoughts of regret. When he turned to face the man, he nearly had sex with, disgrace casted it’s shadow over him.Cor went directly on the defensive, but he knew it was the guilt talking. “I am married Titus! That shouldn’t have happened! That can never happen again.”“Calm down. We have both had a bit to drink and we got carried away.” Titus stated raising from the chair and walked towards where Cor was standing.The Marshal immediately took a step away from him to warn him not to come any closer. He couldn’t think straight, and he began shouting. “I love Ardyn. That should have never of happened. I can’t believe I’ve just done this to him.”“It was a mistake. It will never happen again. It’s my fault I kissed you and I am sorry.” Cor heard sympathy in Titus’s words but how could he even justify this! This was wrong!“You don’t want to tell Ardyn that.” Cor shook his head just imagining what Ardyn would do if he found out.When he found out.He had to tell him. He couldn’t keep a secret like this from him. Before he could get to the unthinkable things that Ardyn was capable of, Titus spoke again. If Cor wasn’t so caught up in his own thoughts he would have heard the hint of annoyance in the Captain’s voice.“If you feel you need to tell him. Tell him. I won’t say a thing.”“I need to tell him.” Cor nodded his head. But… “I won’t say that it was you. I don’t want anyone getting severely hurt in this.”“Thank you, Cor. Let’s pretend this never happened. Shake on it and move on.” Titus placed his hand out in front of him for Cor to take. Cor was reluctant at first, but he didn’t have another option. It was for the best that they forgot that this ever happened. It was for the best for Ardyn, Cor, Titus and Prompto…Shit Prom.This was going to break his heart as well. That was the deciding factor that forced Cor to take Titus’s hand. He never wanted to hurt Ardyn or Prompto. They were everything to the Marshal. It was for the best that this was forgotten about. It had to be. “Yeah. Okay.” The ride home seemed like forever. Cor was rehearsing it in his head how he was going to tell Ardyn what had happened. Did he just tell him there was a kiss and leave it at that? Did he tell him he joined in? Or did he tell him the full truth and openly admit he wanted to have sex with someone else? Any one of those options was bound to break Ardyn’s heart and… he just didn’t know what to do. Cor paid the cab fair and walked to his front door. He reached for the handle and stopped.He heard laughter. It was Ardyn and Prompto, playing on whatever game console Prom had brought down from his room. Shit. He had missed games night with his son as well. Cor decided then that he had to tell Ardyn the full truth including that it had happened with Titus. He missed the one night where all three of them spend it together, laughing and being a family. He missed it to get drunk and nearly have sex with another man. He felt so shameful and wrong because of it.Deciding not to delay the inevitable, he opened the door and closed it behind him as quick as he could. Before he could make another move he heard his family greeting him. Like they always did. “Hello, my love!”“Hey dad!”Fuck.Cor wanted to slam his fist into the wall at the sound of those jolly voices. But the guilt riddling inside of him prevented him from doing so. This was not fair on either of them. He walked into the living room to see Prompto sitting on the floor next to the sofa that Ardyn was sitting on, playing a racing game of some description. Neither of them looked in his direction as they were too engrossed in the game. Which Cor was extremely grateful for because they would have been able to see the look of utter disgrace on his face.“Where have you been? We had to start games night without you.” Prompto said ending his sentence with a cheer as he had just won yet another race against Ardyn and the other computer programmed characters in the game. “And Prompto is kicking my arse.” Ardyn added finishing the race in sixth place. Video Games were really not his thing.“Only cause you suck at this.”“Don’t be cheeky you.” Ardyn laughed turning to face Cor and when he saw him, Ardyn’s face drop with concern. Cor took in a deep breath and waited for the inevitable question to occur. When Ardyn did ask him, his voice held nothing but worry. “Darling, are you alright?”“No.” Cor said shaking his head.Prompto immediately turned around and the look of worry on his son’s face just made the guilt Cor was feeling worse. Why did both of these amazing, wonderful people care for him so much. After what he did tonight he did not deserve it.“Dad what’s wrong?”“I need a word with your dad Prom. Can you go upstairs please?” Cor was not doing this in front of Prompto. Yes, he knew they were going to fight but the initial part of Cor confessing his unfaithfulness was not going to be witness by his son. “But Dad?”“Please Prom.”“Prompto go upstairs. We will be up in a second. Go on.” Ardyn gave him a weak smile and encouraged the 18-year-old to do as he was told.After a couple of seconds Prompto finally removed himself from the room and went directly to his bedroom. After the pair heard his door shut Cor refused to look Ardyn in the eye. This guilt was all too much and he didn’t know where to start. His head was pounding, as another one of his headaches was coming on, and it made it incredibly difficult to form a clear sentence in his head.Ardyn cocked his head as he saw Cor restlessly begin to move. He sat on the same sofa as him and he began to nervously tap his foot against the floor. This was not normal behaviour at all.“Cor darling. What’s the matter?”“I’m sorry.”“What are you sorry about. What has happened? Are you drunk?” Ardyn could smell lager on him. He didn’t know he was going out tonight? Now Ardyn was really concerned.Cor didn’t answer any of Ardyn’s questions. He felt a lump form in his throat and he whispered staring down at the floor. “I have let you down.”“No, you could never let me down. Never in 2 thousand years could you possibly do that.” “But I have.”“What have you done then?”“Someone kissed me.”Cor knew he should have carried on talking and fully explained to Ardyn what had happened between himself and Titus. He should have told him the full truth but seeing how happy and content both Prompto and Ardyn were just a few moments ago… he couldn’t bring himself to ruin that. He couldn’t hurt Ardyn not like that. His husband had been through too much in his long life and he couldn’t destroy the happiness that Ardyn had finally allowed himself to have. So, he lied.“I pushed them away, but it still shouldn’t have happened. I am really sorry.”Both men fell silent. Cor was waiting on Ardyn’s reaction. He finally turned to look at him and all he saw was confusion on his face. He didn’t look angry, but he was probably trying his hardest to contain himself.Cor wasn’t wrong. Ardyn felt is stomach begin to knot and his mind was racing with unkind and nasty thoughts. Someone had kissed Cor? His Cor. He clicked his tongue and took in a deep breath. No one did that and got away with it. He wanted to track whoever it was down and rip their throats out- calm down. He took in another deep breath and went over what Cor had just said in his head. Someone had kissed him. Ardyn counted to three and realised that was in the past and there was nothing he could do about it. But he said he pushed the person away.Ardyn nodded. Cor had never lied to him about something as serious as this before. Granted it had never happened before but if a serious issue was to arise Cor always informed him of all the facts. They tried to be as honest as they could with each other, meaning that Ardyn had no reason to distrust his husband or call him a liar.“Cor darling that’s not your fault.” Ardyn calmly said placing a hand on Cor’s back to relax him. Knowing that Cor was a little tipsy Ardyn began to comfort him. The Marshal tended to get emotional when he was like this. Ardyn did the best he could to reassure him that he wasn’t cross. “When did it happen?”“Literally 30 minutes ago. I had to tell you straight away. I love you so much and I don’t want you to ever think for one moment I would ever do that to you.”“I believe you and I would never doubt that for one moment. Thank you for telling me. You don’t need to be upset. I love you too. I am not angry I could never be angry at you.” Ardyn said continuing to rub his back.“Why?”“Because I trust you, you silly billy. I love you. That’s not changing. You said yourself you didn’t kiss them back. So, there is no issue here.”Cor felt himself tense up again. No, he couldn’t tell him the truth. There was no telling how he would react. Cor only nodded his head and spoke softly.“Okay. Okay.”“Out of curiosity who was it?” Ardyn asked masking his anger with curiosity.He allowed his head to tell him who it was. And if it was Drautos he was going to cause him serious pain. He wouldn’t kill him… he would just hurt him enough to get him to back off. Cor was his husband and knowing that someone had kissed him was making him lose control of himself.“.. I don’t know, I don’t know just some randomer in a bar.” Cor lied. And because Ardyn thought Cor wouldn’t lie about something as serious as this, he believed him.“Let me go and get Prom.” Ardyn smiled and walked out of the room and called up to his son. “Prompto! You can come down stairs now!”Ardyn came back into the room and took his seat by Cor again. Not caring if his behaviour seemed odd to Ardyn Cor rested his head against his shoulder and closed his eyes. His head was spinning due to alcohol and guilt. He never thought he was capable of doing such a thing and now he had lied to cover it up. What was he turning into.Ardyn placed a hand on Cor’s knee and began to rub it. He hated seeing Cor so emotional and he didn’t blame him for what happened. He blamed whoever thought they could go near him and get away with it. When he found out who it was… that person was not going to be walking anymore. To Ardyn’s surprise Cor didn’t move his head when they heard Prompto rush down the stairs. He just turned his head and smiled at his ray of sunshine as he walked into the room.“Hey dad. You okay?” Prom asked innocently fearing the worse when he saw how physically affectionate his dad was being. He was never like that.“Yeah kid. Just being stupid.” That’s when Cor moved his head and gestured for him to come over.Prompto did and stood in front of Cor before asking: “Why what happened?”“He got himself worked up because someone kissed him. But it doesn’t matter. That is not affecting anything son before you jump to any wild conclusions.” Ardyn said before Cor could answer. He still had his hand resting on Cor’s knee and the Marshal didn’t care.“Good.” Prompto smiled before giving Cor a hug.Cor happily hugged him back but in doing this simple act, it only made his guilt grow.And because of his guilt Cor didn’t sleep. He lay there and watched Ardyn as he lightly snored. When he knew his husband was not going to wake up he held on to his hand and smiled as he felt his husbands icy touch. He didn’t want it to be warm. He wanted this. He wanted all that Ardyn was including his freezing cold skin. Cor had fell in love with this man when he was 20 years old and he did not want to ruin it. He did not want to be without him. Tomorrow he had to set the record straight with Titus. He couldn’t spend so much time with him anymore, in case something like that happened again. No, Cor wouldn’t allow it to ever happen again. Spending less time with the Captain was going to minimise the chances of that happening.As soon as the sun rose, Ardyn woke up as the sunlight harmed the creatures that were resting within him. However, instead of hissing, he felt Cor kissing his neck and he smiled at the sudden burst of affection. He shouldn’t be happy why this had come about but all the same, his husband was acting more affectionate towards him and Ardyn was not about to complain.“Good morning My Marshal.”“Morning Ass Hat. Are you making Prom breakfast, or am I?” Cor said through his gentle kisses finally appreciating what he had. He no longer cared that the daemon drove him around the bend he was just happy that he had him at all.“Oh, I think that can wait a couple of minutes, don’t you?” Ardyn smirked moving to catch Cor’s lips with his own. He was really liking this new side to his husband.They continued to kiss for a few more minutes before they heard the toilet flush. Cor rested his head against Ardyn’s and smiled as he spoke. “Later I promise. Right now, we really need to get him to school and us to work.”“As you command my dear.” It was half way through the day before Cor made his way to Titus’s office. He knocked on the door and didn’t wait to be let in. Instead of beating around the bush he went straight into conversation about what had happened the previous night.“Titus, I know we said we weren’t going to talk about yesterday, but we need to.” “Alright.” Titus responded.Because the Captain didn’t say anything else Cor continued. “Last night shouldn’t have happened and I am sorry. I told Ardyn and he doesn’t know it was you. I honestly think in light of what happened, we should limit the amount of time we are spending together.”That caused Titus to grow angry. He was so close last night. He was not allowing this to be ruined. Then he remembered what his and Cor’s relationship was doing to Cor’s and his Grace’s and something popped into his head.“I understand how you must be feeling but it meant nothing Cor. And if we suddenly stop being friends, I think his Grace may catch on. He’s not a stupid man. As you said it was an accident and it will never happen again.”Shit.Cor hadn’t thought of that. Maybe he could gradually limit the amount of time he was spending with the man instead. That way Ardyn would be none the wiser and no one would get hurt in this. The guilt was going to tear him apart but that didn’t need to affect Ardyn. He liked and respected Titus enough to not want to see his husband rip him to shreds. Because that would happen if he found out the whole truth. Cor agreed, and agreed to a training session with Titus tomorrow. However, before he left Titus invited Cor out for the following weekend and that he was to bring Ardyn along too. That was a good idea on both their parts.For Cor it may change Ardyn’s mind on Titus and there would be no way that Ardyn would catch on to the fact that he kissed Titus.For Drautos… he could gain Cor’s trust again and maybe his Graces.As soon as Cor left his office Titus got his private phone and called someone to meet him at one of the glaives bar later that night. Drautos knew he should have just had his way with Cor there and then. Now, he was running out of time. Cor clearly wanted to back away from there friendship and Titus had to go back to Niflheim soon. There was a limited time frame for him to have sex with the Marshal and he knew the best way to get it. “A bit shady for the Captain of the Kingsglaive wanting some GHB.” The man grumbled counting the money that the Captain had just handed to him.“I am not paying you to question me.”“True.” The man was holding the drug in his hand and Titus went to grab it. But the man recoiled his hand and shook his head. “Nah, ah. What’s it for first?”“A mission of some sort.” Titus narrowed his eyes wanting things to hurry up. He had paid him a lot more then he needed too. The majority of the payment went towards the man keeping his mouth shut. But the Captain felt like he was going to have to silence him instead.“That involves the date rape drug?”The man looked at him with suspicion however that look was quickly replaced with pain. As Drautos had got a sword out and ran it straight through his stomach. Drautos took the drug out of the man’s hand, along with the cash, and put his weapon away. He smirked when he saw how much pain the man was in. For added measure Drautos placed a hand on his chest and pushed him over.“I did tell you not to question me.”The Captain walked away and left the man to bleed out. Not many glaives came to this bar anymore and he was certain it would be a few hours before someone found him. The man would be dead by then.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Dadddsss!!!!!!”Prompto called as he ran up the stairs, knowing that his parents had probably gone to bed by now.He was meant to be staying with Noctis tonight, but he asked Ignis to give him a lift home and the entire drive back they didn’t stop talking and laughing with each other. The Princes advisor made the young man’s heart flutter whenever he saw him. He was pretty certain that his face was red the entire car journey. And now, he had finally decided he was going to do something about how he felt. However, he was concerned. He had been friends with Ignis since he became Noct’s advisor and he didn’t want to mess up their friendship. Prompto would much rather supress his feelings then lose his friendship with Ignis. When he got in the house he realised he already knew a couple who started their relationship on a very strong friendship and that they were still happily together.His Dads. As Prompto reached his dad’s room he heard Ardyn call from the other side of the door.“Yes, my sunbeam?”Taking that as permission to enter, Prompto opened the door and walked in. When he entered his Dad’s room he saw Ardyn laying on the bed with his head buried in some history book, and his feet resting in Cor’s lap. Cor was sitting at the end of the bed, ignoring Ardyn’s feet, polishing his katana. Prompto gave them both a warm smile and pulled up a chair from the desk. “I thought you were staying at Noctis’s tonight.” Cor said looking up from his weapon.“Oh, yeah well he’s got training at 5am tomorrow and if I stay we would only end up playing on video games all night. Anyway, I need to ask you something. Well, actually I needed your advice.”“At least it’s not a new game console.” Ardyn laughed marking his page and putting the book on the bed to give his son his full and undivided attention.“What can we help you with mate?”Prom rubbed the back of his neck and tried his best not to sound too nervous. He really didn’t want either of his dads finding out about his massive crush. Ardyn would surely scare the crap out of Ignis if he found out and Cor wasn’t going to be any better. They would only do it because they loved him but… sometimes he wished both of them would just chill. “Ummm… you see Noct and I were talking to Gladio earlier and we found out that he’s got a girlfriend.”“Clarus is going to have field trip when he finds that out.” Cor smirked, leaning his sword against the bed and folding his arms across his chest to get comfy. “Anyway, I don’t know, it got me thinking… how did you two get together?” “How is knowing that giving you any advice?” Cor asked.“Darling, he’ll get to that.” Ardyn said finally sitting up. He flung an arm around Cor’s shoulders, causing the Marshal to roll his eyes. Ardyn giggled a little before answering his son’s question. “I asked him if he wanted to have dinner with me.”“He ended up cooking dinner instead.”“That’s because I know how much you distaste public affection. See my dear, who is the more romantic out of us?”Cor turned his head to Ardyn and just shook his head in annoyance. He bloody well knew how much he hated it and yet he still had his arm draped over his shoulders. This wasn’t exactly public, but Cor never felt comfortable with anyone witnessing it even if it was his son. Cor knew he was being stupid and Prompto didn’t care, but he still hated it. Cor remembered Regis being shocked when he first found out that he and Ardyn were together. Saying that they were at the complete opposite end of the spectrum in terms of affection and he was a little amazed that Cor had even wanted to get into a relationship in the first place. Although, after the incident with Drautos, Cor’s guilt forced himself to be more affectionate towards Ardyn. Cor sighed to himself and looked back at Prom who continued the conversation. “Okay… but how long did you know that you liked each other before that. Like, liked, each other?”“That is something we haven’t discuss before.” Cor admitted feeling guiltier then he had a moment ago. “Oh well better late than never, My Marshal. When you were 19 I think. Yes, about a year before we got together. I did fight my feelings for you, for a while before I asked you out.” Ardyn simply smiled and waited on Cor’s answer. “I guess, if I am being honest… When I was 17.”“Awww, aren’t you just adorable!” Ardyn’s voice went high pitched and with the arm that he had around Cor’s shoulders, he pulled him closer to him and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.The Marshal was taken off guard and he had to stop himself from instinctively punching Ardyn in the face. He hated it when he did that. And he had done it in front of Prom. Cor felt his cheeks turn a slight shade of pink and he tried to get out of his husbands grasp.“Dad tone it down.” Prom commented looking up at the ceiling.“Listen to our kid and get off.” Cor huffed finally pushing Ardyn in the chest until he did as he was told.That only caused Ardyn to laugh. He finally let go of Cor and laughed further when he saw that Cor’s cheeks had gone a little rosy. He loved winding him up. He loved winding everyone up, but next to Somnus, Cor always had the best reactions. Unlike his brother though, Cor never attempted to kill him afterwards. The Marshal wiped his face with his sleeve and began to pout. That even made Prom laugh.Hearing his son’s laughter, Ardyn remembered what Prom actually wanted. “Anyway, what advice can we offer you my sunbeam?”“Cause Gladio and his girlfriend have been friends for a while, I was just wondering if it would affect their friendship in anyway. Cause she is mine and Noct’s friend too. You know, I don’t want things to be awkward in anyway. But I could be over reacting.” Prom looked down at the floor when he said that. He wasn’t lying about Gladio, but he didn’t want to make Noct or anyone else feel awkward if he decided to tell Ignis how he felt. Well, if he found the courage to do so anyway. Ardyn lent forward and gave him a soft smile. Both Cor and Ardyn knew exactly who and what he was on about, and the Immortal Accused couldn’t believe how fast his son was growing up and he was so proud of him. “It didn’t affect our relationship what so ever. Nor did it affect his relationship with Regis and Clarus.”“Speak for yourself. You have managed to annoy me a lot more over the years.”“When aren’t you annoyed?” Ardyn asked playfully hitting Cor’s leg as he did so.Prompto rose from the chair finally getting the answer he needed. He nervously laughed and spoke walking backwards towards the door. “Okay. Well, thanks. Love you both, night, night!”He opened the door and ran out of it to go to his room. When the door closed shut Ardyn began to giggle with delight at his son’s reaction. Whereas Cor gave him a stern look. He knew what that laughter was, and he was not about to allow Ardyn to poke his nose into something that was none of his business. Well it wasn’t their business yet.“No, we are not getting involved.”“I didn’t say anything!” Ardyn said opening his arms, pretending to be all innocent.“You didn’t have too.”Ardyn sighed and ran his fingers through Cor’s hair whilst speaking with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “Alright than I won’t. But that isn’t the pressing issue here, my lovely. You have had a crush on me since you were 17. That is lovely to hear my darling.”“Shut up.”Ardyn did has he was told and lent over the bed to pick up his hat from off the floor. When he a rose he placed it on top of Cor’s head. Ardyn gave him a devilish smirk as he only ever allowed Cor to wear his hat when sex was on the table. The Marshal gave him an equally sharp smirk back.This was going to be fun. Over the past two weeks Cor had managed to find multiple excuses to not hang out with Titus that much. Every excuse that he gave both Ardyn and Titus were genuine. Firstly, both Cor and Ardyn attended a conference that showcase the art competition that Prom’s work was entered in. Not surprisingly to the Marshal and the Founder King’s brother, Prom came first place. Secondly, Cor and Prompto had organized a few evenings where the pair of them, along with Ardyn and Somnus, spend time together and just talked. Cor and Prom realised that the brothers refused to argue in front of Prompto and actually tried to get along. Thirdly, Cor had put aside some evenings to relax with Regis and Clarus. Finally, because of the guilt Cor wanted to spend more time with Ardyn. Which his husband did not object to at all.However, Saturday came along, and Cor couldn’t avoid Titus any longer. He asked Ardyn if he wanted to come with him and Ardyn’s first reaction was laughing directly in Cor’s face. But when he realised that he was being serious with him the wine haired man clammed up and very reluctantly went along.He loath Drautos. He could not stand the man. He always had done and he had told Cor on many occasions that he despised him. But the jealously was starting to weigh out the want to be as far away from the Captain. Plus, since Cor told him someone had kissed him…. He really did not want Drautos anywhere near Cor. He believed Cor fully when he told him it was a stranger, he had no reason at all to distrust him. But the same did not go for Drautos.During the night, Drautos was polite and as friendly as he possibly could be to a Caelum. If it meant that he could gain Cor’s trust back, and equally gain Ardyn’s, he was willing to do anything. His time in Insomnia was coming to a close and within a week he was assigned a month in the field. Of course, in that time he would report back to Niflheim, telling them everything he had learnt. And he did not want to leave without finally giving in to his desires. Since the Marshal had been conveniently busy, he had been craving him more and more. He kept the GHB in his pocket at all times and was just waiting for an opportunity to slip it into the Marshal’s drink.That wouldn’t happen tonight, and the Captain would just have to wait a little longer.After the night had ended Cor and Ardyn went home and had a little row. Ardyn had been purposely rude the entire night, and Cor hated it. Yes, he didn’t want to spend a lot of time with Titus anymore but he still didn’t want Ardyn being rude for no reason. Ardyn had a reason, he just wasn’t aware of what it was yet. “I probably won’t be back until quite late tonight Ardyn.” Cor said picking up his motorbike helmet from the table.“Oh why?” Ardyn asked in a sad voice.“Tons of paper work to do. Clarus thought it would be funny to hide a load from me.”“I could always get Som to tell him off.” Ardyn wrapped his arms around Cor’s middle and nuzzled his face into Cor’s back.This made the Marshal smile. Ardyn was being particularly needy today. And because of it, it meant that Cor was running late to work. For, Ardyn had simply refused to let him out of bed this morning. And the only reason why he did let him go was because Prom knocked on their door to tell them he was going out with Noctis, Gladiolus and Ignis this evening and probably wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Cor smirked and with his free hand he held on to one of Ardyn’s arms and sunk into his touch.He really needed to get a move on now, but it was a nice feeling standing there with his husband’s arms wrapped around him. Ardyn wasn’t going to be at work today because both Regis and Somnus had kicked him out of the Citadel for being, rightfully, rude to a few of the council members. Even though it was only going to be for that day, Cor found it hilarious and was surprised that Regis had never done it to him before. The Marshal turned around in Ardyn’s arms and gave him a small kiss. “When has Clarus ever listened to a word that Somnus has said? He hardly listens to Regis. I will try and get back as early as I can. Can’t make any promises though.”“I love you.” Ardyn said before kissing Cor again.Cor smiled before pulling away, now alarmed at the fact how late he was. “Same here. Prom said he might be staying with Noctis tonight. So, when I get back do you want to have some fun?”“My darling Leonis. I couldn’t love you any more if I tried.”“See you later.” When Cor got into work he thought he was going to be scolded. Clarus had texted him this morning informing him that he needed to get to work as quick as he could because they needed him to attend an important meeting, that would involve: himself, Regis, Clarus and Titus. And that it would take place the moment Cor arrived. But when Cor went to explain to his friends why he was late, he was showered with praise before he even got the chance to open his mouth. Regis and Clarus weren’t angry in the slightest, they were actually excited that the Marshal was late for once in his life. For he was never late for anything.Regis and Clarus were fucking weird. The Shield, the Marshal and the Captain sat at the table and listen to the King. “…I want you both in the conference room at 8 am tomorrow morning. It is important that you both turn up because Drautos, you, will be leaving after the meeting and I need to discuss with both of you his assignment.”“Tomorrow? I thought I was leaving in three days’ time, your Majesty.” Titus asked, masking his aggression with confusion.He couldn’t leave tomorrow. That bloody King always messed around with his plans. He wanted to hit the table with his fist and demand that he be allowed to stay for another few days. But the Captain knew he had more self-control then he was giving himself credit for. “So, did I Titus. But our almighty Founder King, who is conveniently asleep at the moment, decided to change it yesterday and only thought to inform me this morning. I am sorry if this has caused any inconvenience, there’s not anything I can do about it now.”“Perfectly alright, your Majesty.” Titus nodded and breathed through his anger. Now, Somnus was on par with that daemon with his simmering hatred.Regis gave him a weak smile and turned to the Marshal. “Cor, because of Lord Amicitia’s incompetence, you have a lot of work to do today. I am sure he will make it up to you, won’t you?” “Sorry.” Clarus said sheepishly, knowing it wasn’t Cor who was going to shout at him. It was going to be Ardyn when he was allowed back in the Citadel.“Now that is out the way, I will see you both tomorrow.”Regis didn’t stand up but allowed both the Marshal and the Captain to leave. The two men bowed before exiting the room together and Cor was eager to get off and sort through the paper work that Clarus had left him. However, his wishes were foiled by the Captain of the Kingsglaive’s voice and he was forced, out of politeness, to slow down and walk with the man.“Cor? You’ve been avoiding me.”“No, I haven’t.” Cor lied. He’s been doing that a lot lately. “I’ve just been busy.”“I know. Anyway, I have to go tomorrow, and I was wondering if you wanted to have a drink before I go.”“Sorry Titus. I’m going to be here late as it is, and I already have plans with Ardyn.”“It’s only one drink and I am certain his Grace won’t mind.”‘He would if he knew what we did.’ Cor thought to himself. But they promised to forget about that. With Titus leaving tomorrow it meant that they wouldn’t see each other for a month. Maybe Cor would feel less guilty? He hoped anyway. And when Cor really thought about it, one drink wouldn’t hurt. They promised to move on and continue being friends and it wasn’t Titus’s fault that Cor couldn’t shake off this guilt. It was his own for not telling Ardyn the full truth.The Marshal nodded. “Fine. One drink.”Titus watched as Cor walked away and he smirked knowing tonight he was finally going to get what he wanted. Because his Grace had managed to get himself banned from the Citadel there would be no one to stop him. No one was going to check on the Marshal and no one knew of their plans. Cor spent the rest of the day sorting through paperwork and he kept praying to the Six that this endless pile of crap would just disappear. Now he finally understood why Prompto and Noctis were so reluctant to study and do their homework. He was definitely going to be more lenient with Prom when it came to studying. Because he was too engrossed in his work he didn’t eat anything. He didn’t drink anything. The only time he stopped work was to go to the toilet and reply to whatever text he received from Ardyn and Prompto.He felt so tired. He hadn’t stop working all day. Not until he heard a knock at the door. He quickly glanced at his phone and the time read 23:45. Shit. He really needed to get home now. “Come in.” Cor called.The door opened, and Titus walked in. At first Cor was confused. Why was he still here? Everyone else had gone home, or gone to bed. Regis would certainly be asleep and Clarus would have gone at least 15 minutes ago… Oh yeah. He said he would have a drink with him, didn’t he?The Captain closed the door behind him and if the Marshal wasn’t so tired he would have heard the lock on the door turn. “Cor. Looks like you haven’t moved all day.”“I haven’t.”“Maybe you should have a break.” Titus sat in the chair across from Cor at his desk and gave the Marshal a little smirk. At that point Cor finally put his pen down and placed the paperwork to one side. He definitely deserved a break and he was going to kill Clarus for forcing all of this on him.“I think I need to sleep. We have to be here for 8 tomorrow, you should have gone home.”“Should do a lot of things. But we had an arrangement and when I make a promise I intend on keeping it.”Titus stood up and asked Cor where he kept the glasses, so they could have their drink. After locating the glasses, that where in a cabinet to the left of the Marshal’s desk, he poured them both some lager that he had brought with him. However, as he poured the drinks, he had his back turned to Cor so that he didn’t see him put something in his glass.When Titus handed him the drink, Cor gladly excepted it and enjoyed the taste of the gassy liquid. Because he needed to relax, Cor moved from his desk and sat down on the floor and lent against the sofa that was in his office. He knew if he sat on it he would have fallen asleep. He couldn’t do that for he needed to finish his drink and get back to Ardyn as quick as he could. Drautos sat down beside him and sipped at his own drink and just watched as the Marshal consume his.Cor didn’t just have one drink. For Titus kept pouring more lager into his glass and the pair continued to chat. Cor didn’t seem to notice what he was doing, he was exhausted but glad to have the Captain as company. It had been a long day and Cor was finally beginning to feel the affects of such a hard days work.His eyes started to drop as he began to relax, and his limbs started to go numb. He put it down to exhaustion as he felt his entire body start to sink into the floor. He lent his head on the sofa’s seat and looked up to the ceiling. Something wasn’t right. He had never felt this disorientated before. He barely felt a hand clasp his shoulder to shake him awake. He fluttered his eyelids open and turned his head back to face Titus.“Cor. Cor are you alright?”“Umm… Yeah.” Cor nodded. His head was spinning, and he could barely concentrate on the Captain’s face. The light began to hurt his eyes and he thought he had another migraine coming on. Ardyn always made them- “Shit. I need to go.”Cor sat up with great difficultly and attempted to get on his feet. However, he was stopped as Titus put a strong hand on his shoulder again and pushed him back up against the sofa. “You are in no state to leave. I think you need to lie down.”“No- I’m fine.” Cor slurred his speech. What was going on? He tried to get up again, and again he was stopped by Titus.“I am only trying to help Cor. Lay down. Just for a moment.” By this point Cor barely had the strength to argue and allowed Titus to pull him to the ground. The moment his head hit the floor he closed his eyes again. He fought to keep them open as he couldn’t fall asleep. However, the floor was surprisingly comfy, and it wouldn’t hurt to shut his eyes for a moment.“There we go.” Titus whispered running his hand through Cor’s short hair.The Marshal didn’t react. He was practically asleep and after such a long day he appreciated the lie down. Cor wouldn’t admit it but he loved it when people stroked his hair and just made him relax further. However, he was denied the opportunity to sleep as he heard Titus’s voice again.“I really have enjoyed tonight Cor.”“Ummm.” Cor hummed trying to move his head to look at him. But every part of him had become numb and he had to put a lot of effort into this one action.“You really can’t respond, can you? Cor, you are really wasted on that daemon. I bet the entire world would line up to have you if you ever came to your senses and called it off.”“W-w-hat?” Cor stuttered. What was he on about?“Ardyn. I’ll give him that he is hansom, and his name is older than Lucis itself. But he is also dangerous. That’s probably why you like him. You probably like it rough.”Cor’s brain sparked then. He may have been drowsy but there was something in Titus’s voice and he didn’t like it. It made his blood run cold. That’s when Cor made up his mind to get up off the floor and call Ardyn. He didn’t know why but he suddenly felt very on edge.“Ardyn- I need too-”“I don’t think so Marshal.” Cor didn’t even have time to react. Drautos rolled him on to his front and was quick to straddle himself on to Cor’s back. Cor’s eyes went wide and with every bit of strength he had, desperately tried to get Drautos off of him. However, Drautos had placed one of his strong hands on the back of his neck and with the other hand, Cor felt it lock on to his hip and he was stuck. Utterly helpless in his weakened state.When Drautos spoke again, Cor couldn’t help but tense up, for the man was breathing hot air down his neck. “I don’t think it is fair of a man of your structure is taken. No fun for anyone else.”“Titus. Get off me.” Cor gritted his teeth and spoke as loud as he could. But his words turned into nothing but a series of sounds, and he tried his best to escape the Captain’s grasp. But it was all in vain.“Why? Don’t you want this. When I kissed you the other night you didn’t push me away. Not until things got interesting. You are bored, and I can make you less bored.”Cor’s eyes went wider then before, and his brain had finally caught up with what was going on. Panic started to nest into his chest and he knew exactly what Drautos meant. Even though his body was heavy, and he could no longer think straight Cor fought with everything he had to try and escape Drautos grip. Cor had been in many life-threatening situations and all of them, even if he never admitted it, scared him half to death. But this… felt like he was experiencing all of them at the same time, and he knew had to fight the man he called his friend to survive.“No! Get the fuck off of me!” Cor shouted with all his might. However, no one was going to hear him. He was all alone and he didn’t stop moving in an attempt to get away.As he did this he felt the grip on his neck get tighter and his body was pushed further into the floor.“Sorry Leonis. I am having this, and you are going to endure it.”“No. Titus get off! I said no!”“Begging? That’s not going to get you anywhere.”Cor felt Titus’s entire body weight fall on top of him and instead of his hand locking his neck to the floor it was the man’s entire forearm. Cor couldn’t prevent his breathing from increasing and he wriggled the top half of his body as much as he could. He had to prevent this. He wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what Drautos wanted and he had to get away. But no matter how much he wriggled and how much he fought, the amount of effort he was putting in was not expressed in his movement. His body was failing him and couldn’t help but whimper when he felt the fabric of his trousers and underwear fall down his body. No, no. no. no. He began to panic and desperately tried to move his numb arms up to smack Drautos in the face. He failed.He knew he had failed when he felt a cool liquid and rough fingers poke at his entrance. A dark pit started to form in his stomach and the only things he could hear was the sound of his own breathing and his heart pounding in his ears. Cor tensed up as soon as he felt the fingers enter him.His entire body began to shake and he knew if he moved in that moment it would only cause the man he once called a friend to carry on. How dare he do this! How dare he do this to him! Cor didn’t want it. He never wanted it! All he wanted was for Drautos to stop.When he felt the fingers moving and something hard dig into his hip he could do nothing but gulp. His heart beats got faster and faster and Cor tried his hardest to tell him to stop. To beg him to stop but all that came out was a whimper of desperation. It hurt so much. It was rough, and it burnt. It burnt so much. This had to stop. All he wanted was for it to be over. But the worst was yet to come.Cor felt Drautos remove his fingers and that’s when he tried to move away from him again. He clawed at the carpet with his nails in an attempt to pull himself to safety. He barely moved a centimetre. He felt two hands rest on his hips and roughly pull him backwards.That’s when Cor completely froze.His body began to tremble with fear and he couldn’t do anything but stare down at the carpet below him. All he could focus on was something hard digging into his backside. On instinct alone, his nails dug into the carpet for he knew he was not going to escape this…. His entire body tensed up and he fought back tears as he felt Drautos thrust into him and he couldn’t hold down a cry of fear and pain. That’s when he heard Drautos laugh. “Just relax and I promise I won’t hurt you.”He lied.Cor felt the Captain wrap one of his arms around his waist and put his other arm on the back of his neck again. Cor couldn’t help but grunt in agony as Drautos thrust into him and pulled him closer into every painful thrust with his arm. The burning sensation was nearly unbearable, and Cor dug his nails into the carpet so hard that he knew he had torn through it. His body was too weak to fight him off and he knew if he tried, it would only give the Captain more satisfaction.Cor could do nothing as Drautos began to rapidly force himself into him. He could do nothing as his body jerked forward. He do could nothing but fight the tears of pain and defeat threaten to pour from his eyes as he heard Drautos groan in pleasure as he was doing this to him. Cor didn’t even want to think about what was happening. He was completely powerless to do anything but lay there and just take what was being handed to him. Drautos grip and ruthless thrusts only got more intense and Cor had never felt so much fear and shame in all of his life.He felt like this was his fault and he let it happen.Cor didn’t know if it was the pain or his drowsy state but at some point, he completely blacked out. Everything went dark and he couldn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to either. He didn’t want to look at the Captain at all.And when he finally came back around he didn’t know how much time had passed. It could have been hours or minutes, he didn’t have a clue.He felt his body begin to shake and he prayed all of that was a dream.He was wrong. When he heard Drautos’s vile voice again he stiffened up and dared not move a muscle. “See not so bad was it?” Drautos chuckled darkly in his ear. “We should do this again some time. When you’re a bit more responsive.”That’s when the Captain got off of him.Even with the man off of him, Cor didn’t move. He stared straight a head of him into the empty corners of his office and held his breath. A sound threaten to escape his lips when he heard a zip being done up. His stomach tightened even more when he heard footsteps walking away from him. His heart began to pound faster when he heard the sound of the lock door being undone. His brain screamed at him to lay still when he heard the door opening.Only when he heard the sound of the door closing and that long awaited click did Cor finally breathe.His breathing was ragged, and he refused to look at himself. He couldn’t look at his hands. He couldn’t bare to look down at himself. All he could do was tell himself none of that was real. That was all a horrible and twisted nightmare. But he knew it had happened. The pain confirmed it, the warm substance running down his thighs confirmed it, the cold air hitting his exposed skin, all of it told him exactly what happened.How could he let this happen?Cor lay there for a while. His was body shaking in shock, and his breathing was the heaviest it had ever been in his life. All that was running through his mind was how could he allow that to happen? He fought the Founder King’s Shield and survived. He was the only person in history to do that, and yet he had failed to protect himself against one man.Cor decided to push himself up then. It was so bloody painful and he still felt drowsy and numb. However, he had a goal in mind. That was to lock the fucking door. He couldn’t allow Drautos back in here again. His chest began to tighten, and he finally found the strength he needed to push himself up and rush to the door and lock it.The sound of the lock was his saving grace. He let out a sigh of relief and slowly pulled his underwear and trousers up to try and cover up the damage that Drautos had left behind.How was he so stupid?! How did he ever trust him?! How could he ever let him touch him during training?! How did he not see that kiss as a big red flag!? Why didn’t he listen to Ardyn when he said he didn’t trust him?!Ardyn…The thought of Ardyn made Cor break. He slid down the door and began to cry. Ardyn was going to kill Drautos when he found out what had happened. Why didn’t Cor just tell Ardyn about the kiss?! None of this would have happened! Cor couldn’t find anyone else to blame but himself. If Ardyn found out he would murder Drautos and end up in prison. No one would be able to stop Ardyn either. He was too powerful for that. Not to mention Prom would lose his dad…Prom…More tears fell from Cor’s face and he wrapped his arms around himself tightly in shame. For he had let Prompto down. How could he do that?! The Marshal couldn’t prevent his body from shaking as he thought about every possible outcome if anyone was to find out about this.If he told Regis and Clarus it would go back to Ardyn. If he told Somnus it would go back to Ardyn. If he told the police and when to the hospital it would end up in his records and make it’s way to Ardyn. Whoever he told or whatever he did it would go back to Ardyn and the outcome would be the same. He would tear the Captain to shreds and Prompto would lose his dad. And it would all be because Cor was stupid enough to trust Drautos. He was stupid enough to let his guard down and become vulnerable and Drautos took that as an opportunity to… hurt him. He couldn’t even think the words.Not wanting to move because of the pain, and not wanting to look at his phone in case he saw Ardyn’s name pop up, Cor remained sitting up against the locked door of his office and he just stared over at his desk. He didn’t sleep. He felt he would never be able to sleep again. “Cor? Cor?”Cor jumped out of his skin upon hearing a loud bang and a voice. However, he calmed himself down after realising that the voice belonged to Regis.Cor nodded to himself and thought if he just ignored the King he might think he wasn’t in there and leave him be. He couldn’t afford for anyone to see him like this. Regis and Clarus had known him for far too long and they would know something wasn’t right. He held his breath and hoped Regis would just leave.He thought he might get away with it until he heard Clarus’s voice.“If he doesn’t open up soon I am breaking the door down.”“Cor my dear are you in there? It’s only Clarus and I.”Hearing the King knock again, Cor realised that he couldn’t hide for much longer. He took in a deep breath and tried his best to ignore the throbbing pain as he stood up. He knew he looked like shit, probably smelt like shit too but like the true warrior he was he fought through the pain and carefully placed his hand on the lock of the door. Shit. Why didn’t he think to use a potion? They were bound to realise that something wasn’t right. No. He could do this. Cor was not about to put Ardyn’s freedom on the line, when he felt like all of this was his fault.The Marshal hovered his hand over the lock for a second. He really hoped he could pull this off. Without another thought he unlocked the door and opened it. When he saw Regis and Clarus he greeted them politely so that he didn’t cause any suspicions. But he couldn’t bring himself to look into their eyes. Cor was so ashamed of himself and he didn’t want his two best friends to know he had failed. That he had failed them.“Hey, sorry.”“My dear are you alright?” Regis said in a concerned voice as Cor let them in.Shit, Cor thought. He must look a lot rougher then he thought.“You look like shit.” Clarus commented as Cor closed the door behind them.He took in a deep breath and turned to face them. He could do this. He could pretend everything was alright. That was what he was trained to do. He could do it. Cor nodded and finally looked at them properly. He needed to act as normal as he could.“I’m fine. I just fell asleep.” “We were concerned. When you didn’t turn up to the meeting this morning we thought something bad must have happened.” Regis said with a bit of relief. However, Cor knew from the way Regis was looking at him he wasn’t convinced by Cor’s lie. And he wasn’t wrong either.Something bad had happened.“Fuck! The meeting. I am sorry I missed it.”He wasn’t. If he had gone he would have had to sit opposite the Captain. The thought alone terrified him.“Not to worry about that.” Regis reassured him. But Cor felt himself begin to panic. For both Regis and Clarus were giving him a very concerned look and because he panicked he didn’t know if he could pull this off. “Have you been drinking?”“Had a few.” Cor admitted and then stopped thinking too much into it. He didn’t want to think about what had taken place a few hours ago.“That’s not like you drinking alone.” Regis said narrowing his eyes at him.Clarus was giving him the same look. When he spoke, his voice held a hint of suspicion. “Cor, do you need to sit down you look like you’re in pa-”“I’m fine.” Cor snapped standing to attention and suffered through the pain as his body tensed up.“Are you sure you are alright?”Cor nodded and gave Regis a weak smile. Cor knew they wouldn’t be able to guess what had transpired. He knew neither of them would ever think twice that something as vile as that would have happened to him. The Marshal knew for the time being he was in the clear. However, he didn’t know how long he could keep this facade up. Even thinking about the Captain made him feel sick and shameful. He just wanted to hide.Lucky for him Regis gave him permission to do so.“Go home Cor. You aren’t any help to man or beast in your state.”“Sorry, sir.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Cor walked out of his office as fast as he could without causing himself anymore pain or raising anymore suspicion. He was fully aware that Regis and Clarus knew something wasn’t right with him. But they couldn’t find out. No one was knowing what had happened last night.No one.It was early in the morning so there wasn’t a lot of people walking around the Citadel which Cor was very grateful for. It meant that he could keep as far away from people as he possibly could. He didn’t make eye contact with anyone who walked passed him, and without meaning too, he blocked everyone who tried to speak to him. He just wanted to go home. He wanted to have a shower and see Ardyn and Prompto. That’s all he wanted. He wanted to tell them how much he loved them, but he still didn’t want them to find out. Absolute chaos would break out if Ardyn discovered what the Captain had done.That couldn’t happen. Cor couldn’t let that happen. Because Ardyn would end up in prison for murdering the Captain of the Kingsglaive and Cor couldn’t do that to him. He couldn’t do it to himself or Prom either. Because Cor didn’t need Ardyn in 50 years time, he needed him now. He just needed Ardyn to be himself so that Cor could try and feel normal. He didn’t feel normal. He felt dirty and shameful. He thought all of this was his fault and he was not going to be the cause of anyone’s death. Even if that man deserved it, he was not having his blood on his hands.Cor quickly marched over to the Citadel’s lift. If he got in there he could relax and not have to worry about anyone asking him if he was okay.When the doors slid open Cor had to prevent himself from wincing. As Somnus was standing in the lift, looking like he had just woken up.
Fuck.
Not wanting to cause any suspicion, as he knew Somnus would go straight to Ardyn if he had any reason to be concerned, Cor walked into the lift and nodded at his brother-in-law when the door shut.“Morning Cor.” Somnus yawned leaning up against the wall.Cor bloody wished he could do that. He pressed the button on the lift and breathed silently through the pain. It had not soothed and now he really regretted not using a potion. At least Somnus was completely oblivious to everything when he was half asleep. “Morning Somnus. You’re up early.”“Not by choice. Regis called me in to take your place in the meeting this morning. I can’t see why Dustin or Monica couldn’t do it.”“Sorry.”“Doesn’t matter. I just want to go back to bed.”Cor forced out a laugh. He would usually find that funny. It always gave him and Ardyn joy when Somnus looked, and acted, like he was at death’s door. However, Cor was too preoccupied with Somnus not discovering what had happened. No, he was being stupid, how could he find out? It’s not like he had given anything away and the Founder King more than likely slept through that meeting anyway. And it wasn’t like Drau- he, was going to announce what had taken place to the King, the Founder King and the Shield. Not if he wanted to keep his head that was. Still Cor couldn’t keep the anxiety at bay and prayed that the lift would hurry up.“Why weren’t you there anyway?” Somnus asked.Cor glanced at him from the side and his brain began to race. He had to think of a lie quick. “I fell asleep doing work. Bloody Clarus had hidden too much.”The Founder King merely nodded and mumbled something about wishing he was asleep. That lie should not have convinced Somnus. It was a terrible lie, but it was the same one that he had told Regis and Clarus. He wished that the lie would work on Ardyn. He was a lot harder to fool than anyone else he knew. Not to mention that Regis and Clarus already didn’t believe him.He felt a tear of frustration threaten to escape him. Not wanting to cry, Cor violently shook his head and before Somnus could ask what was wrong the door to the lift opened and Cor walked out of it. It wasn’t the floor he was meant to get off at, but he couldn’t be in that lift with Somnus any longer. The Founder King couldn’t follow him either, as a few of the council members flooded the lift and started to talk to him.The Marshal went straight for the stairs and walked at a relatively fast pace down them. He prayed that he didn’t bump into anyone else. Above all else, he prayed to everyone of the Six, who he still despised, that he wouldn’t run into Ardyn. He was allowed back in the Citadel today, so there was a high risk that they would bump into each other. But if he could get home without being spotted, he might just be able to clear his head enough to confront his husband.Because Cor was wrapped up in his own thoughts, he only got halfway down the stairs before he walked straight into someone.“Hey watc-. Marshal. Sorry didn’t see you there.” Nyx said taking the blame.Cor didn’t respond, he felt himself begin to shake and he knew his eyes had gone completely wide with fear. He didn’t want to be touched by anyone. Even if it was an accident. It brought back all the memories from last night. A lump formed in his throat and he retreated as far away from the glaive as he could. “Marshal, are you okay?”Ignoring Nyx, Cor left but that time he ran down the stairs. He ran all the way outside and regretted doing it. The entire lower half of his body increased with pain and he had no choice but to breathe and suffer through it. What made this situation even worse was that he couldn’t ride his bike home because of the drinking and the pain. Damn, he forgot to get his wallet when he left his office, so getting a cab home was out of the question too. Cor nodded his head and realised he was going to have to walk and just suffer through the pain. The Marshal unlocked the door, using the spare key hidden under a rock, and slammed it shut behind him. He felt his chest begin to race and his legs began to wobble. He was being stupid. He was safe now. Dra- the Captain wasn’t here he was away, and no one could get into the house. But that didn’t stop his brain from forcing him to keep a safe amount of distance from himself and other citizen walking the streets of Insomnia on his way back. Cor had never felt like this before and it scared him. It terrified him. He knew how much of a mess he looked and he hoped that he could get a hold of himself before Ardyn got back later.Wait, he didn’t know if Ardyn had even left yet. It was 10:30 and to wind Somnus up, Ardyn might not have gotten out of bed yet.Cor gulped and called out into the house: “Ardyn! Prompto! Is anyone home?!”There was no reply. There was only silence.A wave of relief hit him. He allowed himself to lean up against the door. He stayed there for a little while, staring into his house and just wishing that Ardyn was there. He didn’t want him knowing, but Ardyn and Prompto always made things better.His head began to hurt and that’s when he realised he had to use a potion or something to get rid of the pain.Cor reluctantly pushed himself away from the door and walked into the kitchen. He when straight to the medical cabinet and down two potions to make the pain bearable again. With the waste, he buried it in the bin so neither Ardyn or Prompto would know he used a potion. Because if they found it, they would both be concerned. Cor was always stubborn and refused to use potions or anything of the sort unless he really needed it, or Ardyn snuck it into his coffee. There would be too many questions that Cor wouldn’t be able to answer, and it wouldn’t take too long for Ardyn to get the truth out of him. He couldn’t allow that.The Marshal then got himself a drink of water and noticed something on the side. It was a note. He didn’t pick it up. He knew it was from Ardyn and he held his breath as he began to run his eyes over the neatly handwritten note.
Hello my Marshal,
I know it is incredibly late and I would have stayed up to wait for you, but I am unbelievably exhausted. I am going to tell Amicitia off tomorrow for taking you away from me. He really doesn’t have respect for anyone does he? Only joking. I don’t mean it. I love the man really.
Anyway, my lovely I will see you in the morning. Unless you want to wake me up and that is fine by me. Oh, and Prompto called, he is staying with Noct and Ignis tonight. Don’t worry I am not getting involved. See what a good boy I am
😊 Can’t wait to see you later my darling.
Love you so, so, much xxx
Tears began to fall again, and Cor couldn’t stop himself from letting go a heavy whimper. He was always good at controlling his emotions but that note broke him…He should never have agreed to that drink. He kicked the cabinet as hard as he could and cried as loud as he could. No one was going to hear him, and he simply could not afford to do this when he saw Ardyn later. Getting it out now was better for everyone. However, Cor couldn’t ignore the fact that his heartbeat had gotten faster, and his stomach began to knot.He was going to be sick.He quickly ran out of the kitchen to get to the bathroom, but he failed, and threw up on the staircase. He hated the taste of vomit and it only made him retch further.Shit. Ardyn was going to be able to smell that when he got in. Damn him and his fucking daemonic abilities.He had to clean it up quick. Not to mention, that he didn’t have a clue what time Prompto would be back. He had left the Citadel so quickly that he had forgotten everything. His wallet, his keys and his phone. In a way, Cor thought that was a good thing. At least, no one could contact him, and he could get a hold of himself before he spoke to another person.He cleaned up the mess and then went straight to his room. When he got in there his heart dropped.Because sitting on the side was his favourite film and his favourite bottle of whisky. Ardyn did all of that for him… and he wasn’t here. He was-
No. Stop thinking about that. Please stop thinking about that.
Tears threaten to escape him again. All these emotions were becoming too much and it all came out in a loud aggressive grunt. Cor forced himself to get some clothes and a towel before exiting his bedroom. He did not want to go in there again he didn’t want to see what Ardyn had done for him.From there he went into the bathroom, locked the door and turned on the shower. He watched the water run for a bit and saw the steam drift into the air. He knew he should just jump in, but he didn’t want to take his clothes off. He didn’t want to feel exposed.“Stop being stupid.” He said out loud and found the strength to rip his clothes off.He didn’t care if they got torn. He was never wearing them again. If Ardyn or Prompto wouldn’t ask questions he would bloody burn them. He was going to have to bury them in the bin like he had done with the potion waste. Cor stepped in the shower and let go a loud and long sigh as the hot water splashed against his skin. The water was very hot. Hotter then he would usually have it. But he didn’t care. He just wanted to feel clean. He stood there for a couple of minutes, not looking at his bare skin, fearing what he might see. It hurt being forced on the ground. He knew he had a bruise on the top half of his back, and probably a few on his waist and stomach. He didn’t want to see it. Because if he did all of this would become real. He breathed in as he felt the urge to cry again. He didn’t want to cry. He hated it more then he hated admitting when he had failed. And he knew he had done that last night. He failed to defend himself. He failed to protect himself when it really mattered. What good was he now? If he couldn’t protect himself how could he protect Regis and Noctis? How could he protect Insomnia and Lucis from Niflheim? How could he protect his son? How could he possibly lead the Crownsguard? He was weak and no longer worthy of his title.Thinking of Prompto caused a surge of raw emotion to hit him.He slammed his fist against the tiles of the shower as hard as he could and repeated the action until his hand started to bleed. Cor looked at the tile and saw blood run down it. He then looked at his hand and felt… nothing. It didn’t hurt. He was numb. Completely numb.Accepting that factor, he decided he had to wash himself, but he couldn’t bring his hands to touch his body. He never wanted anyone to touch him again.“Gods damn it!”Cor shut his eyes in defeat and sunk to the shower floor. He allowed the raw emotions to take over him and he began to silently cry. He hated himself. He hated himself for leading the Captain on like that. Because if he hadn’t this would have never of happened. Because if he hadn’t… he would still be clean. He remained in the shower until the water was running cold. Cor sat in the living room for the rest of the day. Just staring at the blank television screen and rehearsed in his head how he should act around Prompto and Ardyn. He just needed to act normal and hopefully the two, most important people in the entire world to him, would leave him alone. However, he had already hindered himself by running into Somnus earlier. The Founder King would surely tell his brother about his odd behaviour and if Regis and Clarus were worried, which he knew they were, they would have also informed Ardyn what had taken place this morning. Cor rubbed his eyes and he felt himself begin to panic again.No, he had to calm down. Ardyn couldn’t know. Prompto couldn’t know. No one was finding out. No one. This would have to be a secret he would take to the grave. Too many people would be affected by this and he just couldn’t have it on his conscience. Cor soon snapped out of his worried state and was forced to pull himself together as he heard the front door opening. The sound of his sons light and bubbly voice followed afterwards“Dad! Dad! I am back!”“In the living room, Prom.”
Right come on Cor. You can do this.
He looked to the side and saw Prompto smiling brightly at him. He was holding a big white bag in one hand, and in the other he had Cor’s phone, wallet and keys. “Hey Dad.”“Hey mate, how was your day?”“Good, you’ll be pleased to know I got Noct out of bed before 10 today! Quick question though, why weren’t you at work? I asked Iggy to take me in to surprise you and Dad. Oh, and here are your things, Clarus said you left them there this morning.” Prompto said, still smiling with delight, as he passed Cor his belongings.Cor carefully took the items out of Prom’s hands, ensuring that their hands didn’t make contact, and placed them on the arm of the sofa. “Thanks Kid. I had to come home. I stayed and worked through the night. Regis sent me home this morning.”“Oh, okay. Why didn’t Dad come home then? I thought if you had the day off dad would have begged Regis for it off as well.”“I don’t know. Maybe he isn’t allowed to leave until he has apologised for what he said to the council.” Cor nodded to himself. This was going good so far. Prompto seemed happy and hadn’t asked him any tricky questions or asked about the state of his hand either. Cor might just be able to pull this off.Prompto laughed. “That’s never gunna happen. What did he say anyway?”“It’s unrepeatable but well deserved.”Prompto laughed and got out a pizza that he had in the large white bag. Cor and Prompto sat down in front of the TV and began to eat. Cor wasn’t hungry. He hadn’t eaten all day and after being sick earlier, he really didn’t want too. However, Cor knew he had too. He always had Prom’s illness in the back of his mind and if the Kid was willing to eat pizza without being prompted too, that was an amazing step the teenager had made. Cor didn’t comment on it and he forced the food down his throat.The pair sat and watch TV for a bit and chatted. But Cor wasn’t really there. His mind kept drifting back to last night, then he started to panic in case Prom noticed that he wasn’t acting like himself. Then he had to go back to calming himself down. It was hard. So hard and he knew he couldn’t say a single word to his son. Not if he wanted to keep his family together. That was all he wanted. He just wanted his family, happy and healthy. And because he failed to defend himself last night it no longer was.Out of the blue Prompto changed the conversation and asked Cor the thing that he had been dreading to hear all day:“You alright, dad?”“Yeah. Why?”“You just seem a bit, you know, off today.”“I am alright Prom. Honest.”
Buzzz, Buzzz, Buzzz.
Cor silently thanked whoever was calling his phone and he turned to look at it. It was Clarus. But the Marshal couldn’t bring himself to pick it up. All he could do was stare at it until it turned off. He didn’t want to talk to Clarus. He was only going to ask him about this morning… right now, he wouldn’t have been able to cope.“Dad, that was Clarus.”“I know.”“Why didn’t you answer it?”“I am going to clean this up.”Cor stood up and took the rubbish from their meal to the kitchen. He couldn’t answer Prom’s question. It was a lot easier to just leave. He threw the rubbish in the bin and ensured that his clothes and the potion waste was buried underneath it all. After that he went over to the sink and washed his hands. His hand started to sting thanks to the soap. Again, Cor wasn’t really there. His mind drifted back to last night… he wished he could just forget about it. “Dad are you sure everything is okay?”Cor turned his head to see Prom, standing right behind him, looking at him with concern. Cor nodded, and he felt himself begin to grow frustrated. To prevent any other emotion from coming out, Cor allowed his frustration to get the better of him. “Prom listen to me. I am fine. Stop going on about it.”“But Dad…”Cor felt his entire body tense up and he automatically flinched when he felt Prompto’s hand brush against his arm. He suddenly turned around and stared at him and gulped when he saw the worry grow on the teenager’s face. Prompto had his hand out in front of him, he had intended to touch him, and Cor couldn’t… he just couldn’t…“Dad….” Prom asked in a wary voice.“It’s okay Prom you just took me off guard. I haven’t slept in a while. Sorry. Come here.” Cor mentally kicked himself and forced himself to wrap his arms around his son and rest his face against his hair. It was easier then he first thought, and he was willing to do anything to get Prompto off his trail. He breathed in and just allowed himself to hug his son. Prompto was the purest most beautiful thing in his entire life. He would not destroy his smile. He would not allow Prompto to know what had happened. Therefore… Ardyn was not going to know. Neither was Somnus, Regis, Clarus, Wesk or Cid. Especially not Ardyn though. “Sorry Prom. I didn’t mean to snap.”The Marshal had to fight the urge to tense up when Prompto wrapped his arms around his waist.
Breathe… it’s only Prom…. Stop being stupid.
“Hey Dad, it’s okay. Maybe you just need to sleep.”“Yeah I think you are right.”Cor’s heart stopped for a second when he heard the front door open.
Ardyn…
“Hello my darlings! Where has my lovely, lovely family gone?”Cor knew he had gone a shade of white at that point… He nearly lost it with Prom he didn’t know if he would be able to convince Ardyn that he was alright.“In here Dad.”Cor let go of Prompto and he watched as his son walked towards the door of the kitchen. Because Prom had his back turned to him, Cor shook his head, desperate to get some colour back in his face. He rested both of his hands on the counter behind him and gripped on to it as tight as he could. He didn’t know if he could do this…Ardyn came into view and he looked so happy. So unbelievably happy and Cor watched as Ardyn immediately wrapped his arms around Prompto and ruffled his hair when he let go of him.“Prompto my sunbeam! Where did you scarper off too earlier?” “Oh, I was getting a little bored, so I came home. Sorry, I did tell Somnus to tell you I left.”“Is anyone surprised he didn’t?”Ardyn’s laugh made Cor produce a small smile.He was not willing to destroy how happy his husband was, and he had to make this believable as he could. Cor’s hands were still clasped on the counter as he answered Ardyn’s question: “Not really.”Cor continued to fake smile when Ardyn looked at him. Despite Cor not coming home yesterday, Ardyn looked at him with nothing but love. Cor’s grip got tighter. He loved looking at Ardyn’s golden eyes so much… but if Ardyn found out, those eyes were going to turn into yellow balls of molten lava. Cor didn’t want to see that. He hated seeing that. Lucky for Cor, before Ardyn could directly address him, Prom’s equally happy voice filled the room again.“Sorry Dad we had dinner without you.”“I know I can smell it. And something tells me you didn’t eat at the table. I didn’t buy it for show you know? I dread to think what you two do when I am not in the house.”“Not a lot.” Prompto said giving his dad yet another hug. “We don’t want to leave you out.”“You are a darling as always.” Ardyn squeezed him back and when they let go of each other, Ardyn placed all of his attention on to Cor. “How are you, My Marshal? Regis said you weren’t feeling well this morning.”Before Cor could answer, Prompto spoke. His voice was no longer happy, it was dripping with concern. “Hey, you lied to me. You said you were fine.”
Shit, shit, shit. Come on Cor. Don’t let them know. You can’t afford to let them know.
“I am fine, don’t worry. I just wasn’t this morning. Anyway, how’s your day been, Ass Hat?” Cor breathed lightly, trying his best to ignore the change in expression on his husband’s face.“Awfully boring. Tell me why I still talk to Regis and Somnus? Those council members deserved whatever I said, and the pair of hypocrites agreed with me. Yet, I still had to apologise.”“What did you say?”“Don’t tell him.”“Umm… something that I will never say in front of you.” Ardyn said poking Prompto on the nose.Prompto laughed. “Then that’s probably why Dad. Oh shi-oot. I need to revise if I am gunna pass my final exam. I better go upstairs.”“Who are you and what have you done to my baby boy?” Cor smiled, loosening his grip on the counter, as he had finally begun to relax with both Ardyn and Prom presents in the room.“Well it’s dad’s fault.” Prompto whined pointing at Ardyn.Ardyn ruffled Prom’s hair and he smiled with pride. “I will gladly take the blame for you taking your education seriously my lad.”“Night, Night Dads. Love you both.”“Love you too Prom.”“Love you as well my dear. See you in the morning.”As soon as Prompto left the room, Cor felt dread start to worm it’s way back into his stomach. Regis, Clarus, Somnus and Prompto weren’t so difficult to fool. But now he was up against his husband. Who was hyper sensitive to everything and had a knack for knowing when something wasn’t right. He could be oblivious sometimes, but that was when it involved people he didn’t care about. Cor knew how much Ardyn loved him…. This was going to be so hard, but he had to try. No, he had to succeed. Ardyn was not going back to Angelguard because of him. He wouldn’t watch that. No. Not ever. And it didn’t help that Ardyn was looking at him like he was dying. Whenever Cor or Prompto were ill, Ardyn was there. Trying his hardest to make everything better. He couldn’t make this better….“My lovely, are you sure you are alright? Somnus, Regis and Clarus said you were a little worse for wear this morning and you didn’t come home last night.”“Yeah don’t worry Ardyn and I’m sorry about that.” Cor stopped talking for a second as Ardyn started to walk towards him. Because he began to panic he started to lie again “My phone died, and I just ended up working through the night. Regis sent me home this morning.”“That was kind of him. Sweetheart, you look very agitated.” Ardyn tilted his head, as he stood beside Cor.The Marshal knew what he would do next. He would reach out for him and touch his face. No. He wasn’t doing that. Cor couldn’t let Ardyn do that. The Marshal gulped and stepped an inch away from Ardyn and nodded before explaining himself.“I haven’t slept in over 24 hours. I am just shattered.”“Would you like a sleeping potion then?”“No. I’m just going to bed I think. Again, sorry for last night.” Cor smiled, finally moving away from the side and he made his way towards the exit of the room. Cor was glad he acted like a daemon when he was tired. Ardyn tended to leave him alone when he felt like that because Cor would snap at him. Lucky for Cor, Ardyn took the hint. Ardyn just smiled and watched as he left. “It’s alright.”Something came over the Marshal. His body stopped in it’s tracks, and Cor couldn’t stop himself from speaking.“Ardyn?”“Umm?”“I-I… I love you.”Cor never said those words enough. They were three simple words, and it just made Cor feel even more shameful and guilty that he had to endure what had happened to finally say those words first. Because he did love Ardyn. He really did.That earnt Cor a loving smile. “I love you too.”Again, the words came out of his mouth without the want to express them. Cor knew what it was. His heart was trying to force him to explain to Ardyn what had happened. But his head was preventing him from doing so.“Ardyn I-”“Yes.”“Nothing. Good night.”
Nothing?
It’s not nothing is it? Your husband, who would do anything for you, is standing there not knowing what you went through. You, selfish bastard! Tell him what Drautos did. Tell him exactly what happened. Ardyn must feel like crap because you have denied him the opportunity to show you affection. Just because you let Drautos attack you doesn’t mean he will do the same. You know he won’t, just let him touch you.
No. you even can’t do that….
Cor’s stomach started to churn again.He quickly turned and ran up the stairs and ignored Ardyn when he called after him. His footsteps probably alarmed Prompto as well. But at that point in time he wasn’t worried about that. He was more concerned with making it too the toilet this time. He flung the bathroom door open and just managed to get to the toilet before he started throwing up his dinner.This wasn’t Ardyn’s fault. But the thought of anyone touching him repulsed him. Cor continued being sick and he had to force his eyes to look down at his vomit when he heard Ardyn walking, very quickly, towards the bathroom door.He couldn’t look at him. Cor just couldn’t do it.“My Marshal. Darling are you alright?” Ardyn asked not stepping foot in the bathroom. But he didn’t take his gaze off of his husband and showed nothing but concern as he spoke.Seeing his vomit, hearing the concern in Ardyn’s voice, and refusing to allow Ardyn to go anywhere near him suddenly became too much. All of his emotions were turning into frustration again. He knew he was going to snap. And that was what happened.“Fuck off Ardyn.” Cor gritted his teeth and stared at the sick for a moment. That was exactly how he felt. Disgusting.Ardyn ignored the warning, as he was too worried for his husband's health and finally stepped into the bathroom. “Would you like me to get you some water or something to help ease your stomach?”“No, I want you to leave me alone.” Cor snapped standing up, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and flushed the toilet. He had become hyper aware that Ardyn was very close to him.“But I can help if you let me.”If Ardyn stayed with him any longer it was all going to come out. his frustration would turn to tears and what Cor was trying so hard to prevent would just come spilling out. Because of that Cor knew the only way to get out of this was to start an argument. Cor knew exactly what he needed to say to start it. When he said it, he instantly regretted it:“I would rather ask Somnus for help.”“No need to be rude. I was only trying to help.” Ardyn frowned. That was all Cor needed to start this and get him away from him.“Well can you not.”“What has gotten into you?” Ardyn asked leaning up against the sink. Cor could tell that Ardyn was trying to figure out where this outburst had come from, but the Marshal was not letting him find out. No one was.“Nothing.”“It has got to be something. We have been together for 23 years, married for nearly 19, and had a child for 17 years. I should know by now when something is wrong.”
Fuck, he’s not budging.
Cor gulped and said yet another thing, he knew would cause Ardyn great offence. He didn’t want to do this. But he had to protect Ardyn from himself. He had to protect Prompto. So it just came out. “Or maybe you are confusing me for someone else cause I am alright.”“What do you mean by that?”“I mean you have been around for 2000 years. I am sure at some point you will get me confused for someone else you have been with.”Ardyn blinked at him for a moment. He honestly had no idea where this was coming from and it was beginning to worry him. But Cor wasn’t wrong either. That did cause Ardyn great offence and in turn he started to snap back at Cor. “What is wrong with you? Can you hear yourself?” “Yeah I can.”“Cor. Other than Aera you are the only other person I have considered marrying. You are the only person I have had a child with, within a 2000 year lifespan. Trust me, I am not going to get you confused with anyone. And the only thing I have done today is ask if you are okay and now you are verbally attacking me for no reason. What is the problem?” Ardyn said as calmly as he could. He was beginning to get upset by Cor’s words. He just didn’t understand where all of this was coming from.Cor knew he should have stopped then. But he started to feel himself well up and he couldn’t afford to cry in front of Ardyn. It would be too risky. He ended up being even harsher to him.“You, asking me what the matter is constantly, is the problem.”“I can’t ask my own husband what is wrong with him? Are you being serious?”“Yes I am. Because I have had it today. Can’t I just be tired? Can’t I just be having a bad day? Nothing is wrong why is everyone banging on about it.” Cor shouted then. He mentally kicked himself because he knew Prom would have heard that.
What are you doing? What the fuck are you doing? Just stop and tell him.
“Because I love you. Because Prompto loves you.”“I love you both as well. But I am fed up.” Cor spat, and he forced himself to not cover his face. But because of the hesitation he noticed that Ardyn had seen his hand. It was purple and his knuckles were all cut from where he had hit the wall. Yet, he didn’t allow Ardyn to make a comment on his hand. He stormed out of the bathroom. “I am sleeping on the sofa tonight.”“What? Have I upset you? Have I upset you that much you can’t even sleep in the same bed as me!” Ardyn shouted that time.The words stung like a knife. Cor didn’t want to do any of that. But he couldn’t… he couldn’t let him know. He couldn’t let him.“No, of course, you haven’t. You haven’t done anything. I just don’t want to be around anyone at the moment.”With that Cor went downstairs and Ardyn did not follow him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“How’s your back?” Ardyn asked from the doorway. “I assume the sofa wasn’t very comfortable.”Cor groaned as he sat up. “It’s fine.”“Did you sleep at all?”Cor shook his head.He hadn’t slept a wink. Every time he closed his eyes all he could see was him. The thought of that man now made his skin crawl. Stop thinking about him!Ardyn was right. The sofa had not done wonders to the bruises on his back. All night, Cor was fighting the urge to cry, he was fighting with his body so that he wasn’t sick. He just laid there all night, hearing Ardyn pace up and down their room, probably expecting him to return. But Cor couldn’t. And he felt so guilty for saying all that bullshit to Ardyn last night but he just needed to be away from people. He just wanted to deal with this on his own and try to fully understand what had happened. It hadn’t fully sunk in yet and as stupid as it sounded, he didn’t think he could have shared a bed with Ardyn last night. He didn’t think he could allow Ardyn to touch him… he just felt so dirty and unworthy of his own husband. And all night he laid on the sofa blaming himself for what had happened. All he knew was that he had to keep his mouth shut. Ardyn couldn’t find out. There would be nothing but blood, chaos and heartache if he did.Ardyn lent against the doorway folding his arms across his chest. Cor could tell that he was very annoyed with what had taken place the last night and probably the night before as well... “Why didn’t you come back upstairs then? Yes, I am a little hurt by what was said but I would much rather you get a decent night’s sleep.”Cor didn’t look at Ardyn. He didn’t understand why Ardyn was still trying to look after him. Cor didn’t deserve it not when he behaved in that manner. Why couldn’t Ardyn just be mad at him? It wouldn’t make Cor feel any better but… he did not deserve the love that Ardyn was expressing to him.“Ardyn… I am sorry for what I said. I shouldn’t have said a word of that.” Cor admitted, still not look in Ardyn’s direction.“At least you are aware of it.” Ardyn grumbled walking into the room and sat down beside Cor on the sofa. Cor couldn’t prevent himself from shuffling away an inch. Ardyn was going to notice he had done that. But Ardyn didn’t mention it. Again, he was too concerned with how Cor was feeling. “It’s alright, you’re just tired.”“That’s no excuse though is it? Do you forgive me?” Cor finally looked at him. It was beyond painful.All Cor wanted to do was fall into his arms and cry on him. He wanted to tell him everything that Drautos had done. He wanted to explain how he was feeling but Cor was never going to allow those emotions to surface. He couldn’t afford too. He needed to keep Ardyn and Prompto close to him and if he said a word, his family would be torn apart.“Of course, I do, you idiot.” Ardyn smiled before looking at Cor’s hand and gestured to it. “Are you going to tell me what happened there?”Cor bit his lip and wriggled his fingers. Cor couldn’t really feel the pain in his hand. His brain was more focused on the pain that was still lingering in the lower half of his body. His hand was nothing compared to that pain. Nothing was worse compared to that. “I punched a wall.” “Because that is going to solve everything, isn’t it?” Ardyn sounded concerned then. And Cor couldn’t let him be concerned. He couldn’t know. So he lied. “I was starting to get one of my migraines and I just did it.”“That wasn’t very clever, you should have taken a potion or some painkillers. Well, since you didn’t sleep maybe you should call in sick.”Cor jumped out of his seat as he saw Ardyn’s hand move towards his back. He knew it was all in his head, he knew Ardyn would never hurt him but he couldn’t let him do it. He just couldn’t, not now at least. Not to mention the bruises that surely coated the bottom and top half of his back, if Ardyn touched them it was going to kill. This was all getting too much for him. He had to leave and he had to leave quickly.“No. I need to go to work.” Cor walked away from Ardyn to collect his shoes.“What about breakfast? You were sick last night, you don’t have anything in your stomach.” Ardyn sounded more concerned than before but knowing how antsy Cor got when he was tired, he didn’t stand up in case they got into a fight similar to the one they had last night.“I’ll get some at work.”“Cor, you need to eat.”“Is Prom here?”“No, he left about 10 minutes ago.”“Then I’ll get some at work.”Cor left and realised that he left his motorbike at the Citadel yesterday. Looked like he was walking. When Cor got into work he was greeted by Clarus and Regis who had decided to take it upon themselves to check up on him. Cor knew exactly why they were doing this. There was no doubt Ardyn had called Regis to ensure he ate something. Leading the King to invite Cor, to have breakfast with him and Clarus. Cor didn’t care as much as he thought he was going to, that Ardyn was checking up on him, because it meant he was as far away from his office as he possibly could be without raising any concern as to why he simply didn’t want to be in there. He couldn’t go back in there…. Not right now.The entire time that Cor was sitting with his best friends in the King’s private quarters he felt on edge. He felt like he was being watched and that somehow Clarus and Regis were going to find out any second. It was all irrational and Cor had to keep reminding himself that. They wouldn’t know unless he told them, and that wasn’t going to happen.Yet, despite feeling like this, Cor was the calmest he had been since it had happened.This was because he knew exactly what Regis and Clarus were doing. They used to use this tactic on him, on their trip to Accordo. They would pretend that nothing was wrong until Cor would crack and demand their attention. They had used this method a few times since then and each time Cor fell victim to their little honey trap. But it wasn’t going to work anymore. Cor was going to use this to his advantage and not explode.Cor didn’t want Regis and Clarus to know. He didn’t want anyone knowing.Not only because Ardyn would bring the world to its knees if it meant he got his hands on the Captain, but he didn’t want anyone to think him a failure. Regis and Clarus had known him since he was 13 and for 30 years Cor had never let them down. And if they found out he couldn’t defend himself, that he was weak and helpless, then what would they say? What would they think? The only experience of a near disappointment he had from them, was the pair telling him off after his fight with the Blademaster. However, neither of them could hide the tiniest amount of pride in their voices. And they respected him for achieving what no other man had done before. But with this… there was no pride. There would only be shame and hurt. They weren’t knowing. He couldn’t have them look at him any differently to how they saw him now.After their breakfast, Cor made his way down to the Crownsguard barracks and purposely avoided going into his office. He spoke with both Monica and Dustin about the guard rota’s and ensured that their talks lasted as long as possible. Just looking at his office door made his chest tighten and distressing images began to flash in front of his eyes. Lucky for Cor though, he didn’t have to stay there long. As he, Monica and Dustin went down to the training rooms to evaluate the recruits progress. This gave the Marshal a little break from it all because he was now in work mood. He wasn’t going to allow his mind to drift off when he was working. That was until Monica suggested that he spar with some of the recruits and Cor felt like the ground was about to swallow him up. He began to panic and simply refused to do it. No one, but Clarus, was allowed to question him when he gave an order, so it didn’t happen. But now Cor was on edge again. Monica and Dustin were going to catch on that something was wrong. But again, luck seemed to be on his side. A member of the guard approached him and asked if they could speak in private. Cor jumped at the chance to get away from Monica and Dustin and took the guard to Ardyn’s office instead of his own. The guard didn’t question the change in scenery and Cor knew Ardyn never used his office in the morning. Ardyn wouldn’t care anyway, he had offered Cor to use it many times in the past, and now it would look like he was simply taking him up on his offer.Ardyn’s office wasn’t too far from the guard’s training halls. After his chat with the guard, Cor ordered for them to get him all the documents, that were in his own office and bring them to Ardyn’s. This way he could do work without being distracted by the constant reminder of what had taken place two nights ago. Even if Ardyn wasn’t there Cor felt safe being in his office. No one was going to enter it unannounced. Somnus might, but he only did it when he knew Ardyn was in there. Prompto might as well, but he was at school. Cor was completely isolated from the rest of the Citadel for a couple of hours and that was what he wanted and it would give him time to think on how he should make this up to Ardyn. Cor knew he needed to get Ardyn to stop fussing over him and somehow convince him he was alright. The way Cor thought he could achieve that was by allowing Ardyn to… show affection towards him.
You can’t even think the word to*** now? You really are pathetic.
No! Cor had to stop thinking that. He had too.However, Cor’s hopes for an isolated morning was foiled by a simple tap at the door. The Marshal rolled his eyes, the guard had probably told Monica where he had retreated too. Fucking great. Having no other option Cor allowed the person in and it wasn’t a member of the guard. It was a member of the glaive.Nyx Ulric.Cor liked Ulric. In many ways, the glaive reminded him of himself and he usually got a long list of complains from members of the guard saying that he was too cocky and tried to show them up. Cor had a feeling it was the other way around half of the time. And not to mention how many times Drautos had sa…Cor shook his head.
Not now. Not now. Do not think about that person right now!
“Marshal. Could I have a word please?” Nyx asked while standing to attention, a few meters away from Ardyn’s desk.Cor gestured for him to take a seat. “Certainly. How can I help you, Ulric?”“I know it’s none of my business, but I needed to ask. Yesterday, you seemed… Well…”“Spit it out.” Cor snapped. He didn’t mean to snap he was just very irritated that even a glaive, could make Cor think of that person and what he did, without mentioning his name.“To put it bluntly, Marshal. When I saw you on the stairs yesterday, you looked scared. I am not saying you were.”
Shit!
He forgot about that. Ulric wasn’t wrong either. Bashing into the glaive yesterday brought all those horrific images into his head. And thinking about it now, it caused him even more distress. And if Ardyn spoke to Ulric, he didn’t know why he would, and he told him that…. Cor would have to tell him. Ardyn wouldn’t stop pestering him until he told him the truth. Cor had to lay this to rest and he had to get Ulric to keep his mouth shut. Cor breathed out and controlled his voice the best he could. “Thank you for your concern, Ulric. There is nothing to worry about. I wasn’t feeling very well and if I stayed I would have probably thrown up on you.”“Oh, thanks for not doing that then.” Nyx laughed. Ulric seemed convinced. Thank the Six above. But the next question that came out of the glaives mouth, made Cor’s body twitch…. “And did the Captain get a chance to speak with you, the other day?”Cor gripped his hand into a fist upon hearing the mention of that man.“What?” Cor asked carefully, not fully understanding what Nyx meant.“The day before he left, he said he needed to get something from you. Did he get it?”Cor gulped and nodded, forcing all of his emotions down until he felt nothing. “Yes. I’m sorry Ulric, I am quite busy.”“Yeah, yeah cause. Bye Marshal.”Cor sat in silence once the door was closed. He glared at the door and thought over what Ulric had just said: ‘He needed to get something from you. Did he get it?’… The words rung through his head like a bell. He planned it… he planned on doing that to him! Pent up emotions started to override the Marshal and he screamed out into the room. He stood up and hit everything off Ardyn’s desk. He flipped over the chair he was sitting at, and then the desk.How could he have been so stupid not to realise that before! How could he allow the Captain anywhere near him after they kissed! Why didn’t he just tell him to fuck off? Why didn’t he just… just stop him from hurting him.Cor allowed a few tears to escape before realising what a mess he had made. He picked the desk back up and the chair. Then he started to sort out all the paperwork and fidget toys that Ardyn had on his desk. Sometimes, Cor found comfort in organising shit. And thankfully the paperwork hadn’t gotten too jumbled up. From memory, Cor was able to place everything in its rightful spot, including Ardyn’s favorite fidget spinner. That man was such a child sometimes, but Cor wouldn’t change Ardyn, not for the world.Cor then noticed there was something missing. A photo frame. He looked on the floor and saw it facing downwards with shards of glass surrounding it. Ardyn was not going to be happy about that. He picked it up and the picture was of Prompto, Ardyn, and Cor. Half the glass was now missing from the frame and the pieces that remained were cracked and fragmented. And seeing the photo made Cor lose control of his tears. He sat on the floor, and not caring for the broken glass, he held the frame close to his chest and cradled it like a baby.This was so fucked up.All of this was because he couldn’t defend himself. He was worthless. “Wake up.”Ardyn sighed looking down at his sleeping brother. He had been asking him, loudly yet politely, to get out of bed for the last minute or so and Somnus hadn’t moved a muscle. He decided to use a new tactic. He held on to the headrest and shook it violently. Yet, Somnus did not move. “Somnus wake up.” Ardyn rolled his eyes and this time smacked Somnus on the leg. The only thing Somnus did was groan and kicked at him in his sleep. Getting annoyed at his brother Ardyn raised his voice, in hopes of getting the Former King out of bed. “Somnus Lucis Caelum if you don’t get up in the next three seconds I am going to pour something over you.”1…. 2…. 3…. Of course, Somnus didn’t hear his brother’s warning and Ardyn didn’t care. He got a bottle from out of his armiger and undid the cap. Ardyn shook his head and poured the substance all over his brother’s face. Somnus immediately jolted upright, gasping for air and looked frantically around the room. When he locked eyes with his older brother he screamed at him. “WHAT THE FUCK ARDYN!”“It’s morning.” Ardyn simply stated placing the bottle on Somnus’s bedside table.“What the hell did you pour on me!”“Orange juice.”“YOU TWAT! GET OUT NOW!” Somnus pointed to the door as he shouted. He hated Ardyn so much sometimes, why couldn’t he just bloody leave him to sleep.“I need to ask you something.” Ardyn continued, ignoring his brother.“Forget it! I am not talking to you for the rest of the day!”“Please?”Please? That took Somnus off guard. Ardyn never said please to him. Something was definitely wrong if Ardyn was coming to him for help. Somnus wiped his face with his cover and grumbled a series of curse words before turning his attention to Ardyn.“What’s happened now?”“It’s about Cor. You told me yesterday he wasn’t feeling very well, and I was just wondering if he seemed upset at all.”“He was frustrated. Why?”“He was just a little spiky last night.” “Probably because his head was hurting.”“Hmm… He did say he had a migraine.” Ardyn nodded. It would explain why he was finding it difficult to sleep and why he snapped at him. It was just very uncalled for and he was hoping Somnus could give him a better explanation than that. It just seemed very odd… Oh well once Cor had a rest they could talk thi-“Migraine? I don’t think it was a migraine that did it.” Somnus’s words pulled Ardyn from his train of thought. Ardyn raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. “What do you mean?” “Regis didn’t tell you why he was sent home? Cor was experiencing a hangover.”Ardyn glared at Somnus. Cor lied to him…This didn’t make any sense. They were meant to be spending the evening together and he used work as an excuse to get plastered… No, Cor wouldn’t do that. Somnus had to be lying to him. But when he looked at Somnus’s face, he could tell he wasn’t lying. There was no hidden smirk, just confusion. For Somnus was concerned as Ardyn was. But why would Cor lie? If Cor had just told him, that he would have preferred to have a few drinks rather than spend the evening together, he wouldn’t have minded. Ardyn would have been pissed off but not anywhere near to how pissed off he was now. He had to calm down before Somnus started to get uneasy.But the lying… There was no need for it.Ardyn did not hide the discomfort in his voice. “A hangover.”“You seem angry.” Somnus said narrowing his eyes.“No. I am not. Go back to bed.” Ardyn shook his head before vanishing into thin air.“I can’t there is orange juice all over my sheets!” Somnus screamed knowing that Ardyn probably heard him and probably didn’t care. Somnus was up now, he might as well have a shower. After talking to Regis about Cor, Ardyn went to the Marshal’s office to find him to get to the bottom to what was going on. However, when he got there the door was locked. Monica soon came by and informed him that Cor was in his office for some reason and no one had seen him since this morning drills and sparring matches. Not caring for rules and regulation about using his powers in the Citadel he poofed himself to his office and found Cor doing work at his desk. Ardyn was angry that Cor had lied to him, but he didn’t understand why. Ardyn cleared his throat to get Cor’s attention and when the Marshal looked up he seemed happy enough to see him.That only made matters more confusing. “Cor, what are you doing in here?” Ardyn asked approaching his desk.“I thought I would come and spend the day with you, to make up for last night. And… I accidentally broke your photo frame. I’ll replace it.” Cor picked up the frame and showed Ardyn the newly distorted image. However, Ardyn didn’t care about that.He placed both of his hands on the desk in front of him before breathing sharply through his nose. “At the moment I am not bothered about that. Cor, I know you lied to me. What happened to working through the night?”“Sorry?” Cor said, sounding like he was confused. But that was just a ruse to hide his discomfort and Ardyn did not take a liking to his reaction.“Somnus just told me Regis sent you home because you were hungover. I didn’t know drinking had suddenly become a requirement for being the Marshal of the Crownsguard.”“I had a few to relax myself.” Cor half admitted. Yet, it was still a lie. But he had to lie. Ardyn couldn’t know and he was very close to finding out the truth already.“Alone? Darling, you do realise that is the route to alcoholism. I highly doubt you drank alone.”“Why does this matter? We already talked about this.”“Why does it matter? It matters for two reasons. One you lied and two we were supposed to spend the evening together. I don’t care if you wanted to do something else I would have just liked, to be kept in the loop.” Ardyn could hear his voice growing more aggressive. He could also sense that Cor was beginning to go on the defensive and he honestly hadn’t a clue as to what was going on.Why couldn’t Cor just be fucking honest with him!“It wasn’t planned.” Cor gulped looking down at the desk.“So, who were you with?” Ardyn asked with a little venom. Ardyn thought he already knew the answer and he wanted to be wrong. He really hoped that he was wrong because his envy was starting to creep up on him again. And because Cor didn’t answer him he shot back more words of aggression. “Cor, it’s a simple question who were you with?”“Drautos.”Cor saw Ardyn’s face change from mildly pissed off to extremely pissed off in a second. He felt his heart begin to race and the look of rage forced Cor to keep his mouth shut. If he was angry just by hearing that, there was no telling what he would do if he told him the truth. Ardyn couldn’t find out.Ardyn closed his eyes and bowed his head in an attempt to calm himself down. “You bailed on me for Drautos. Right.”“No. No, I didn’t.” Cor said that a little too fast.The thought alone made the Marshal’s stomach churn again, but thankfully Ardyn was too pissed off to even notice the change in his voice. Ardyn turned around and headed for his office door. He shouldn’t have been the one to leave but he didn’t want a fight. Not after what was said last night and before Cor could say another word, Ardyn stated very bluntly. “I can’t talk about this with you at the moment.”And left. Leaving Cor in a state of fear, worry and hurt. Ardyn was so angry and this was all his fault.Why didn’t he listen to Ardyn when he said he didn’t like him…. When they both returned home the atmosphere was a little tense. Cor apologised for lying and tried his hardest to make it up to Ardyn. Cor felt he didn’t deserve his forgiveness and that Ardyn had every right to be as mad at him for as long as he wanted. But it hurt Cor all the same. It hurt him, knowing that he could hurt Ardyn like that. So for a change Cor cooked dinner for the three of them. He ran Ardyn a bath and even let him put on whatever crappy show he wanted without any protest. Much to Prompto’s dismay. So after dinner the teenager took himself upstairs and revised some more. He couldn’t stand the show that Ardyn was watching.And in about an hour into the show Ardyn calmed down and accepted the peace offering. But he made Cor promise to never lie to him again and asked him if there was something troubling him. He had known him long enough to know when something wasn’t right but Ardyn couldn’t figure out what it was.Cor broke his promise within the first minute and said that he was just stressed and exhausted. Which prompted the pair to go to bed. This is where Cor started to panic again. He still didn’t want Ardyn to touch him and he couldn’t let him see the bruises on his back. But because Ardyn was enjoying his bath, it allowed Cor to get changed in private and put on a t-shirt instead of sleeping without his top on. He then jumped into bed and pretended to be asleep so when Ardyn came in he wouldn’t try to be affectionate towards him.Once their bedroom door had closed Cor felt the covers move and the bed dip. Cor forced himself not to flinch when Ardyn kissed him on the back of the head, before turning off the lamp and closing his eyes. Ardyn fell asleep in seconds and Cor remained awake for a little while longer, staring into his room and silently calming himself down. If he didn’t want Ardyn to grow suspicious he needed to stay in that bed. But every time Ardyn moved, Cor wanted to roll out and move downstairs back on the sofa.It got to about 2 o’clock before Cor finally slept and he didn’t sleep for long. He started tossing and turning due to nightmares of the Captain and what he had done to him. And he was woken up by Ardyn around 3:30, who was shaking him awake to check if he was alright. “Darling, it is only a nightmare, are you okay?Ardyn’s voice was calming and Cor wanted nothing more to snuggle up to Ardyn and allow him to make it all better. But the guilt, shame, and fear crept up on him and he refused to allow himself to do that. And he refused the same proposal from Ardyn as well.“I’m fine. Don’t hug me. I am too hot.” Cor said through short breaths. He was shaking with fear and he was scared that Ardyn was going to ignore his demand.“I can cool you down.” Ardyn offered trying to place an arm around him.“Ardyn seriously don’t smother me.” Cor grumbled moving as far away from Ardyn as he could and kept his eyes locked on to the wall. He couldn’t sleep, not after reliving what had happened.He heard Ardyn sigh and roll over to go back to sleep. Over the next couple of days, Cor was slowly starting to come to terms with what had happened. Ardyn was still asking him what was wrong and if there was anything he could do to help him, as his nightmares hadn’t gone away. But he told him he was fine and that his nightmares were just of old battles and past experiences that had for some reason started to bleed through into his dreams. He could tell Ardyn wasn’t entirely convinced but there wasn’t a lot he could do about it.Over these days Cor made a couple of steps forward and each one was incredibly painful and damaging for him. Cor knew to stop everyone from badgering him he had to go in his office. He had to stay in there the whole day and try to remain calm. That instantly failed. The moment he stepped in there he was sick. He could smell whatever aftershave the Captain had worn. It was disgusting. Cor opened the window, cleaned up the mess and avoided the sofa area of the room. He sat at his desk and attempted to do work but every so often he would catch himself looking in that direction. He got angry at himself and began hitting things and throwing items across the room to distract himself from the torment that was his office. He didn’t want to be in there and that sofa made him twitch every time he saw it. By the end of the day, Cor couldn’t take it anymore. He summoned his Katana and ripped it to shreds pretending it was the Captain. It was Prompto who found him roaring at it as he destroyed it.He told Prom not to worry and under no circumstances was he to mention what he had seen to his dad. Of course, Prom didn’t listen to him and that night Ardyn and Cor got into another row. Ardyn was getting more concerned and Cor refused to give him anything substantial to work with. It ended with Ardyn sitting up against their bedroom door while Cor sat on their bed, both staring at each other with hurt. They both hated arguing with each other and Ardyn didn’t understand why they were doing it. All he wanted to know was why Cor was behaving like this. In the end, they decided to deal with the issue tomorrow and go to bed. Again, Cor refused to allow Ardyn to hug him claiming he didn’t want to be smothered. Work was no better for the Marshal. New recruits were in and someone had to teach them hand to hand combat. Cor was not about to do that. One night, after Ardyn was asleep he went downstairs and changed all the rotas so that he was on paperwork duty for the rest of the month and Monica and Dustin were to train the guard.Of course, Clarus noticed this and flagged it up with Regis. Knowing full well that something had been troubling Cor for a while they summoned him to Regis’s quarters for a chat.“Cor is everything alright?” Regis asked, voice littered with concern.“Yes.” Cor lied.“Are you certain? You just seem very on edge at the moment.”“And we are aware that you have cut your training hours down. Not like you one bit. You are doing paperwork? You told us once that was the bane of your existence.” Clarus added. He tried not to sound as concerned as Regis had done because he knew Cor didn’t respond well to it.“We are just worried that’s all. Has it got something to do with Ardyn?”“No. Ardyn hasn’t done anything, we’re fine and I am fine.” Cor went on the defensive at that. This was his fault, not Ardyn’s. He couldn’t have Regis and Clarus hate on his husband because Cor was stupid and weak, he wasn’t about to let that happen.Clarus got cross then. “Don’t give us that bullshit. There is something wrong we can tell.”“We just want to help you with whatever it is.” Regis continued, balancing out the frustration Clarus had just expressed.“You know we are always here for you.”“Please, just tell us. We only want to help.”Cor gripped on to the chair and forced down his words. It would be so easy to tell Regis and Clarus. He had time over these past couple of days to think about what would happen if anyone found out. And even if Regis and Clarus told Ardyn, he knew the pair would never judge him. He was stupid to think that they would see him as weak and unable to do his job. But at the same time, other’s wouldn’t. He didn’t think anyone outside the royal family would believe him if he said anything. Because The Marshal had always beaten the Captain in every sword fight. So, what was the difference in hand to hand combat? Cor knew that they would never call him a liar they would believe him no matter what. But he also knew they would tell Ardyn. As much as Cor wanted to take this burden off of his shoulders, it was far too risky.He shook his head and lied again. “There is nothing to tell.” After his talk with Regis and Clarus Cor realised that he had to allow Ardyn to touch him. He had to try and make everything go back to normal. No matter how much distress it caused him, no matter how painful it would be, he had to push on. And if he treated this like a mission then he couldn’t fail. He hardly ever failed missions and this was the biggest one he would ever take part in. The progression started off slow, well slow for what Ardyn was used too. After the talk he went to Ardyn’s office and hugged him. He didn’t have a panic attack in fact he felt safe in Ardyn’s arms. He had always felt safe in Ardyn’s hold and he didn’t understand why he hadn’t done it before now. Later on that night, after Prom had gone to bed, he cuddled up with Ardyn on the sofa and let him kiss his head. Cor still refused to hug him in bed, but it was a step in the right direction and he and Ardyn stopped biting each other’s heads off.Two days after that Cor accepted the fact Ardyn was still going to worry until he let him touch him in bed. But Cor had to be in control of it. Cor still had his t-shirt on so Ardyn wouldn’t see the damage Drautos left behind and wrapped his arms around Ardyn’s middle and rested his head on his chest. This way Ardyn couldn’t touch him in any manner he didn’t want him too and maybe, just maybe Ardyn would stop pestering him. And this tactic worked until two days later. Cor was sat at the end of the bed removing his socks when he felt two arms snake around his waist from behind him.Cor’s breathing began to hitch, his eyes went wide and he spun his head around to see Ardyn smiling at him.“What are you doing!”“What does it look like I am doing, darling.” Ardyn smiled as he began to kiss his neck and place his hands on Cor’s hips, pulling him closer towards him.“Stop!”Cor nearly shouted pulling away from Ardyn and standing up so Ardyn couldn’t hold him like that again. He had really done it this time. Cor didn’t hide his panicked tone and he didn’t remove the worried look off his face. Cor gulped knowing that was going to be hard to explain. Ardyn just stared up at him with worry plastered on his face. Cor knew he had to come up with something and fast.Cor shook his head and brushed himself off. “Can we not please?”“Cor are you okay?” Ardyn sounded very worried then. And Cor thought that this was it. That reacting like that Ardyn would be able to figure out exactly what had happened. And Cor couldn’t allow it. In a matter of seconds, he composed himself and sat back down beside Ardyn and very reluctantly stroked his husband’s arm.“Yes, I just don’t want to have sex.”“That’s fine we don’t have too.” Ardyn shrugged it off and stroked Cor’s leg instead. Cor felt himself tense up and the look on Ardyn’s face only strengthened. “Are you sure nothing is the matter?”“Positive. Can we just- can you just hold me. Really not in the mood for anything else right now.”“You never have to ask me to do that.” Ardyn smiled. He moved up to the top of the bed and got under the covers, before gesturing for Cor to follow him. “Come here, my Marshal.”Cor gave himself a slight nod and wrapped his arms around Ardyn’s chest and laid down and tried not to cry. He asked Ardyn to stop and he did. He told him no and he listened. Drautos didn’t do any of that. If the tears fell Cor knew everything would come pouring out. Everything, including the fact he had cheated on Ardyn with Drautos before the man attacked him. Cor couldn’t say a thing, not if he wanted Prom to be happy and he wanted Ardyn to be kept out of prison.They stayed in silence for a while. Ardyn ran his fingers through Cor’s hair and Cor hugged Ardyn as tight as he could without making it look like he was upset. When Cor was certain he could control his voice and block any tears from escaping he lifted his head and looked into Ardyn’s golden eyes. “Ardyn?”“Yes, my lovely.”“I love you. I love you so much.”That was another thing Cor had been doing. Every day he ensured that he told Ardyn that he loved him at least three times. He never did before all this stuff with Drautos started. And he deeply regretted it.Ardyn smiled and kissed him on the forehead, while still running his fingers through his hair. “I love you too.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Disgusting.That was all Cor was now.He had been staring at the bathroom mirror for 20 minutes and that is all he could see. A weak individual, who failed to protect himself. He felt constantly dirty and disgusting and he just wanted it all to stop. He wanted the nightmares to go away. He wanted the fear of anyone finding out to go away. Cor just wanted to be able to hug his husband and son without nearly having a panic attack. He wanted to be able to sit in his office without having flashbacks of that night. He wanted to be able to look everyone he loved in the eye, and when they asked him if he was okay, he could say yes without lying. He didn’t want to lie anymore. But if Ardyn found out it would destroy his family. Prompto would lose Ardyn and Ardyn would be shipped off to Angelguard for murder. Cor couldn’t have that on his conscious, not when he felt that he was to blame for the Captains actions.It had been 12 days since he was… since he lost that fight. Not a day had gone by when he didn’t blame himself. The guilt, the fear, the torment, none of it was going away.Cor knew he was no longer acting like himself. He was pushing everyone away, even Prom. It was hurting Regis and Clarus. It was destroying Ardyn. But what was the alternative? To him there wasn’t one. Living with this and dealing with it in his own time was his way of coping. It had always been his way of coping until he and Ardyn first got together. From there, he opened up to him. Now, he was going back into his shell and he didn’t want anyone to help him.BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!Cor jumped and gripped on to the sink at the noise. The buzzing continued, and it took him about 3 seconds to realise it was only his phone. Cor nodded to himself and picked it up. It was Cid.Thank the Gods it wasn’t Clarus or Regis. One of them had summoned him or phoned him every day this week to ask him how he was. Cid wasn’t here, so he couldn’t see the change in him. It would be nice to speak to someone who wasn’t involved. He answered the phone and like always with Cid, he wasn’t the first to speak. “Kid, you finally answer your fuckin’ phone.”“Hey, Cid.” Cor laughed, ignoring the man’s never-ending teasing.“I won’t beat around the bush. Does the daemon need his car serviced? I’ve got a lot of bookin’s at the moment and as Reggie is getting his done I thought I would check the thing’s over at the same time.”“That’s generous of you considering how much you hate Ardyn.” Cor smirked.“Does he want it or not?”“I don’t know, when I see him, I’ll ask and text you his answer.”
“Kid. Is somethin’ the matter?”
Cor felt his heart rate increase. Cid wasn’t supposed to be asking him that. This was supposed to be a normal conversation… he had to calm down. He could lie very easily down the phone. He had lied to Ardyn, Prom, Regis, Clarus, and Somnus for 12 days now. He could keep it up.“No.”There was a slight pause before Cid responded. And he didn’t sound at all convinced by Cor’s lie. “I won’t pester ya. Just look after yourself.”“Got it.” Cor nodded and hung up dropping his phone on the floor.He looked into the mirror again and shame and disgust washed over him. Just by the tone of his voice, Cid knew something was wrong. How was Cor going to cope when he came back? By that thought alone, it made Cor feel as powerless and defenseless as the night it happened. This secret was slowly breaking him. But he couldn’t give in. He just couldn’t. Prompto carefully opened the door and halted when he heard his dad’s and his uncle’s voice.“Forget it Somnus.”“Please…. Can’t you be a nice big brother for a change and do this one thing for me?”“No. You are old enough to look after yourself. Which means you can get yourself out of bed on time.”“But if I don’t get up on time, I’ll miss it.”The blonde teenager froze.They were supposed to be at work not here. What was Somnus doing here anyway? He allowed himself to relax and very slowly and quietly he closed the door behind him. He stopped and listen to see if either his dad or his uncle had heard him. He wasn’t supposed to be at home yet. Maybe he could sneak passed and make it upstairs without them realising. Sometimes he wished he could still teleport. The living room door was closed. And if they were bickering they wouldn’t bother with him.“You do know they have made this amazing thing called a phone? You can set an alarm on it. Or the next best thing get an alarm clock.”“I hate you.”“I hate you more.”Prompto tipped toed passed the door and made it to the stairs. Just before he could place a foot on a single step he heard his dad’s voice and it was a lot louder than before.“That better be an intruder coming into my house and not my son.”Prompto rolled his eyes and placed his bag heavily by the stairs. He was a little stupid to think that he could pull a fast one over his immortal father. He had eyes like a hawk and eyes like a… well, a daemon. It was frustrating because it meant he couldn’t get away with anything. The house was silent, and he knew that both his dad and uncle were waiting for him to make an appearance and explain himself. Sometimes he hated the fact that he was still in school. He only had a week left now.The blonde walked over to the living room door and nervously opened it. When he saw the look of disappointment on his dad’s face he felt guilty.Instead of allowing Ardyn to tell him off, he nervously laughed to make light of the situation. “Hey Dad, hi uncle Somnus. I didn’t know you were here.”“Clearly. Why aren’t you in school, young man?” Ardyn said in a cross voice.Prompto rubbed the back of his neck and quickly handed him a note that was in his back pocket. “Umm… here. There was a gas leak and they sent everyone home early. I did text dad.”“Can’t argue with a note.” Somnus said. He didn’t really care that Prompto was home early. He always loved seeing him, and he hadn’t planned to see his ‘sunbeam’ of a nephew today. “Anyway, how have you been I haven’t seen my favourite nephew in a while.”“He is your only nephew.” Ardyn grumbled re-reading the note.“Exactly.”“Been good thanks. Noct and I actually have been trying this semester. Thanks to Iggy and Dad.”“I know Regis said.” Somnus smiled back. Cor was not at all happy. Regis, Clarus, Monica, and Dustin had not gotten off his back all today and the stress of everything was definitely getting to him now. When he got into his house he ensured that his presence was well known. Cor semi-shouted into the house, to ensure he didn’t have to go on a wild goose chase in search of his husband. “Ardyn?! Are you in?!”“In the living room darling!”Cor let out a sigh, that was one mystery solved. He shut the front door and made his way to the living room. As he approached he heard Somnus and Prompto. He felt himself start to panic again. For some reason whenever he was in a room with more than two people that he cared about he started to panic. He had a horrible feeling that they would ask him questions about how he had been acting. There was only so much lying he could do, and there was only so much people would believe. He was not in the right frame of mind to lie to three people all at the same time today.He was being stupid again.Ardyn sounded happy, and both Ardyn and Somnus would never ask him personal questions in front of Prom. Everything was going to be fine. As he opened the door he witness Somnus telling Prompto another tale about his and Ardyn’s childhood. Ardyn didn’t really like to talk about that part of their life, but Prompto was very curious and wanted to know all about his dad’s life. There wasn’t much of an issue though, because Somnus always seemed to be more than happy to do it for his brother.“…he just pushes me off the Chocobo. Like a git of an older brother he is.”“Not like you didn’t deserve it.” Ardyn shook his head, whilst playing with one of his many fidget spinners.“I could have died.”“Ummm…. Yes… shame you didn’t.”“Dad don’t be mean to Somnus.” Prompto laughed sticking up for his uncle.“Yes, brother, don’t be mean to me.”“Fuck off you little shit.” Ardyn said pushing Somnus in the head.Seeing this just broke Cor’s heart. For he couldn’t bring himself to be this happy, with the family that loved him. The guilt of cheating on Ardyn crept up on him again and the shame of losing that fight hit him like a brick. He silently stood in the doorway, wondering what would happen if he started to cry. That was what he wanted to do. He wanted to sob his heart out and tell Ardyn everything. He had a right to know and so did Prom. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Because he was scared of his emotions at the moment, and how unpredictable they were becoming, he just stood there until the sound of Ardyn’s voice broke him out of his trance.“Are you alright my love?”Cor pulled himself back to reality and suddenly remembered that there was another reason why he was cross earlier. But he did not want to talk about it in front of his brother-in-law. “Yeah. Sorry, Somnus can I have a word with these two for a second?”“Of course, I need to be going anyway I have something important I need to oversee.” Somnus agreed rising from his chair. Cor couldn’t prevent himself from moving as far away from the doorway so that Somnus didn’t accidentally brush his arm against him.“Like your daily nap.” Ardyn teased.“You’re so funny.” Somnus made a face at him, before turning to Prom and ruffling his hair. “Bye, buddy. See you later Cor.”Prompto gulped. His dad did not look at all happy and he knew the reason why. The blonde hair teenager sunk into the sofa and did not look towards the door at all. Prompto hated it when Cor told him off. His dad always had a reason for it, but recently it would be over little things that Cor would usually let slide. It wasn’t like him at all. Ardyn had noticed that he had been doing it as well and the pair had an argument over it. Quite frankly, Prom was fed up with them arguing. Yet, Somnus, Regis and Clarus hadn’t notice the tension that was building up between his dads. Noctis had noticed and told Prom that he should just mention it to Regis. But Prompto had a feeling it would just make things worse. Especially with how blunt and snappy both his parents could get with people who annoyed them.Ardyn noticed Prom’s reaction to Cor’s entry and was about to ask what the matter was. But Cor’s slightly pissed off voice prevented him from doing so.“You two are in a lot of trouble.”“Why?” Ardyn asked curiously, glancing between his husband and his son. Cor turned to face Prom and crossed his arms and looked at him with disappointment. “Because Regis got a phone call from the school. They were attempting to locate Noctis as he didn’t turn up for his afternoon lessons. The moment he put the phone down, I got the same phone call concerning you, young man.”“Prompto Leonis.” Ardyn said, joining in with the scolding.Ardyn was also very disappointed in his son. For he had promised them that he would never bunk off school again. Ardyn didn’t really understand why he would want to anyway. It was his last official week of high school. Why would he want to bunk off? Unless of course, the Prince had something to do with it, which was very likely.“Alright, there was no gas leak. Noct and I went to the arcade to play video games. Gladio was with us.” Prompto sighed and attempted to make his dads feel a little better. Oh shit. He had also gotten Gladio into trouble by saying that….Cor simply did not care if Gladio was with them. He was angry because Prom had lied to him.“You’re grounded.”“But I’m 18!”“And you live under our roof, so our rules. As well as being grounded you can give me your phone.” Ardyn held his hand out for Prompto to give the device to him.“But-”“Give your phone to your dad. Now.” Cor stared at Prompto until he did as he was told. Cor had enough on his plate at the moment without Prompto lying to him. It hurt the Marshal a lot to know his son could do that. Rather, was doing that again. He simply wasn’t going to stand for it anymore. Once Prom had given the phone to Ardyn, Cor continued to inform his son of the rest of his punishment. “Also, he will be walking you to and from school for all of next week and I don’t care how old you are, or if it is your final week of school.”“Sunbeam, you shouldn’t lie to us.”“I know. I’m sorry.” Prompto bowed his head in shame.“Good. Do not do it again. Upstairs, so I can have a word with your dad.” Cor said holding the bridge of his nose. Today had been so long, so stressful and he wanted it to be over.Prompto nodded and took himself upstairs. Unbeknown to both Ardyn and Cor though, Noctis had given Prom a spare phone in case they ever found themselves in a situation like this. He got his spare phone out, complained to Noctis and started up his game console, at least they hadn’t taken that away from him. And if he plugged his headphones in he wouldn’t be able to hear the very loud argument that was sure to come. Prom just wished he knew why they kept doing this. They loved each other, so why were they constantly arguing?When Cor was certain Prom wouldn’t hear him, his patience snapped with Ardyn. “As for you. You should know by now when he is lying. Why didn’t you send him back?”“How was I meant to know? He has never lied to us about school and he had a note. I trust him not to lie to us anymore.” Ardyn said defending himself calmly, remaining in his seat.“No, you didn’t notice because you couldn’t be bothered.”Ardyn let his mouth hang open a bit. What did he just say? There was no reason for that at all. “Excuse me?! Where did that assumption come from? Of course, I am bothered he is my son too.”“Then you should know when he is lying.” Cor felt the guilt rise again. He didn’t mean a single thing he was saying, but he was getting worried. So worried about everything and he just ended up taking it out on Ardyn. He wished he could stop or just tell Ardyn what had happened…“Well I am sorry if my brother came around to spend some quality time with both me and his nephew and it just so happened I didn’t pick up on the fact that our son was telling a porky. Sorry, I’m not perfect.”“I am not asking you to be perfect am I.” Cor shook his head and looked down at the floor.Silence fell between them and neither looked at the other for a few moments.Along with their arguments, this was happening a lot. Before, the silence between them was fine. It was a comforting silence but now it was filled with tension that was ready to break like a twig. Cor felt so guilty and tired because he felt like this was his fault. Poor Ardyn, he didn’t know why he was acting like this, therefore there was nothing he could to help Cor. Cor wanted him too. In a way, he wanted Ardyn to just be able to guess what had happened and tell him he was safe. That he and Prom were safe. But instead, Cor was clamming up and isolating himself from his marriage. From everyone. This wasn’t fair on anyone.Ardyn rose from his chair and said something that scared the hell out of Cor. “I know what this is about.”Cor held his breath and he knew that fear had completely plastered his face. He suddenly changed his mind, he hoped for the sake of everyone on this planet that Ardyn hadn’t been able to guess. Cor stood still when Ardyn walked over to him and gave him a comforting smile. The Marshal fought the urge to tense up when Ardyn placed a hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes. Thankfully, this comfort was not for the reason Cor was thinking of. “Cor, Prompto is fine. I understand why you snapped at me, but this isn’t like before. He is 18. 18-year-old’s lie. If he didn’t, I think I would be more worried.”“If he is lying about this, then he is going to go back to lying about his food.” Cor said in frustration, masking his relief.Now Cor was acting as disgusting as he felt. He definitely should not be using his son's illness as an excuse for behaving like this. Never in a million years did Cor think he was capable of doing that. Prompto nearly died for fuck sake. Here he was using it to get Ardyn to stop asking questions. Well he wasn’t using it directly, but he hadn’t told Ardyn he was wrong. What the hell was he becoming? Cor felt sick and more ashamed of himself then he had felt since the night he was attacked.Ardyn left his hand on Cor’s cheek and continued to reassure him. “He’s alright. He even asked me what we were having for dinner when he came through the door. He’s perfectly fine. That’s not happening again.”“Okay. Sorry for snapping.” Cor nodded and gently kissed Ardyn to further show his apology. (And the fact he had just lied.) “I love you.”“I love you too. Not that I am complaining in the slightest but why do you keep telling me that? You hardly ever tell me that, it is a welcomed change just not like you.”“Just… I want to tell you that’s all.”After their conversation they got Prompto downstairs and had a proper talk about lying and why he shouldn’t do it. Ardyn texted Regis to ensure he was doing the same to Noctis. From there, they had the first normal evening the three had had in two weeks. There was no snapping, no tension. Prom wanted to play on his game console and the trio played that for the rest of the night. They laughed, had fun and Cor was able to forget what had happened to him for a few hours. They had such a lovely time that they continued this activity until the early hours of the morning, and because it was Ardyn and Cor’s fault for losing track of time, they decided to let Prom have tomorrow off from school.But as soon as Cor went to bed the nightmares came back. And tomorrow was just going to be yet another day of dealing with this madness himself, and hoping with everything he had, no one would find out. Ardyn opened his eyes and rolled over expecting to see Cor fast asleep next to him. But he wasn’t there. Ardyn rubbed his tired eyes and looked at the clock. It was 3:27 am. He sat up, let out a very big yawn and waited to hear the toilet flush. He waited a couple of minutes and there was not a peep. He couldn’t even hear any movement from the next room. Getting concerned at his husband’s sudden disappearance, Ardyn got out of bed, put on a dressing gown and made his way downstairs quietly so that he didn’t wake up Prom.Cor had been acting a little strange for the past couple of weeks and any behaviour that he did not usually display was starting to worry Ardyn further. Waking up in the early hours of the morning wasn’t that out of the ordinary. However, Cor waking up this early when it was his day off was. Ardyn continued down the stairs and noticed that the light was on in the living room. He went straight for the door and found Cor sitting on the sofa staring at the blank TV screen.“Cor? Cor, what are you doing down here at this time of night?”“Couldn’t sleep. Didn’t want to disturb you.” Cor said not diverting his gaze from the TV.“I wouldn’t have minded. You should have woken me up.”“You are just as grouchy as Regis, Noctis, and Somnus when you don’t have enough sleep.”“Only sometimes.” Ardyn chuckled quietly, perching himself on the armrest next to Cor. When he did so, he noticed that Cor had shuffled away from him about a cm. Ardyn didn’t want to start an argument now. He hated arguing with Cor, but he was so worried about him. Because Cor hadn’t given him anything to work with, he asked Regis and Clarus if he had confided in them. They told him no, and expressed their own worries. What made Ardyn’s concern grow was that Somnus had asked him if Cor was alright. Ardyn didn’t stroke his hair like he would normally do, instead, he let out a sigh and rested his hands comfortably in his lap as he made another attempt to help his husband. “Darling, what’s troubling you? I know something is and I only want to help.”“It’s nothing.” Cor replied, in an exhausted voice.“It doesn’t seem like nothing to me.”“I think I am just overstressed is all. My migraines have been getting worse and my nightmares haven’t stopped. Other than that, everything is good.”Ardyn’s face hardened. He believed Cor about the nightmares and migraines because he was there to, try, and support him when both of them occurred. But Cor kept pushing him away. He refused to go to the doctors and get help and he was refusing help from him, Regis and Clarus. However, it was too late to discover the true extent of his husband's worries. When Cor was tired a spat was bound to happen.In defeat, Ardyn raised from the sofa and extended his hand for Cor to take. “Alright. Do you want to come back to bed?”“Yeah.” Cor nodded and took Ardyn’s hand.Once in bed Cor snuggled up next to Ardyn and closed his eyes, hoping that he wouldn’t have a nightmare tonight. He had realised that hugging Ardyn when he went to sleep lessened the trauma the nightmare brought. And it also helped that the bruising had disappeared, and he no longer had to wear a t-shirt to bed now.“Goodnight my love.” Ardyn smiled kissing him on top of the head before closing his eyes to drift off.“Night Ardyn.”Ardyn opened his eyes after Cor said that. He felt Cor’s body tense up and his grip get tighter. Cor seemed troubled. Ardyn began to rub his back to reassure him that he was awake and that he was going to listen to whatever Cor had to say or tell him. But there was one thing Ardyn was not going to do. That was pushing Cor into telling him what was wrong with him. He had gotten a few ideas as to what it could be over the past two weeks. After their almost argument with Prom missing school, he thought it was just Prompto. However, Ardyn had also noticed that Cor had been distant, he hadn’t been training the guard and he had been avoiding Regis and Clarus at any chance he got. And if Cor had finally decided to tell him what was happening, this should help everyone.And when Cor whispered his name, Ardyn’s hopes of discovering the truth rose. “Ardyn….”“Yes, My Marshal?”“I love you.”“I love you too.”Maybe today wasn’t going to be the day he found out. But Ardyn was going to. He didn’t like seeing Cor like this, he had no idea what was going on but Ardyn was certain on one thing. If it turned out that anyone had hurt Cor in any way, they were going to pay…Dearly. Noctis looked up from his phone and laughed after Gladio had finished his little rant. He caught Prom glaring at him in shock, as he was basically taunting the Amicitia, and it only made him laugh harder. Prompto always made the funniest faces when he was anxious or nervous, and with the heated rant that Gladio had just displayed there was no wonder Prom looked as he did. When Noct looked at Ignis he stopped laughing and tried to defuse Gladio instead.“Good luck with that Gladio.”“The Marshal has made himself unavailable to train with anyone for the time being.” Ignis pointed out, giving Noctis a nod of approval at his poor effort.“Blondie why is that?” Gladio asked Prom, and if he was a cartoon character steam would be radiating from him by now.Gladio had complained about this to Clarus and his dad was unable to give him an answer. All he knew was that Cor was no longer training people, for some reason, and that Clarus was starting to get concerned. Also, the council were starting to get pissed off, but they never voiced their opinion on the matter. That was probably Ardyn’s doing. The point still stood. It was and had always been along with the current Shield of the King job, to train the Prince’s Shield and Cor wasn’t doing it. It was getting a little ridiculous now.“Leave him alone Gladio.” Ignis said from behind the Shield.Prom held up his hand and smiled. “No sweat it’s cool. Umm… I actually don’t know. He’s not been acting like himself recently.”“He’s not doing his job right if he isn’t training anyone.” Gladio continued to express his annoyance.“I know. Both your parents, my dad, and Somnus have all said the same thing. It may have something to do with his migraines. I think my dad said something about that. Don’t take my word for it.”“You could always ask Ardyn to train with you.” Noctis commented, still staring at his phone screen. Yes, he was concerned about Cor, but it couldn’t be that serious if Ardyn didn’t have a clue what was going on. Cor told him everything.“As Somnus has loosened up over the years, you could ask him too.” Prom offered.Since Gladio was the chosen’s Shield, Ardyn and Somnus had offered to help train him from a young age. They were even training Noct when he wasn’t being a ratbag. Gladio liked training with them, but he just felt it wasn’t very fair on the rest of the guard if he was getting special treatment. No one else got to train with them unless they were the Marshal, the Shield or the Captain. And Cor when he was younger but that was because of his fight with Gilgamesh.Gladio was about to refuse Prom’s offer when he heard the Founder King express his unwillingness to take part in sparring today. “Not today I am afraid. I am going off for a nap. Good luck with that brother.”“Why, you little shit.” Ardyn gritted his teeth grabbing onto the back of Somnus’s shirt as he tried to walk away.“Ardyn let go of me.” Somnus growled, and Ardyn refused to let go. Somnus wasn’t about to fight his brother to the death in front of his grandson, nephew and their friends. Meaning he was stuck there until Ardyn decided to stop being a bastard. Which wasn’t going to happen.“Hey, Dad!” Prom smiled waving at him.“Hello, Sunbeam. Yes, Gladiolus I will be more than happy to spar with you and so is Somnus, aren’t you baby brother.” Ardyn beamed pulling Somnus back, forcing him to remain in the training hall.Somnus crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled something incredibly rude under his breath. Ardyn heard what he said, and he wasn’t going to repeat it. Ardyn smacked him on the back of the head and told him that he was fighting Gladio first for that rude comment and he didn’t care if he was too tired. Their interaction made the boys laugh and once Somnus had stopped feeling humiliated the Former King and the future Shield sparred together.Ardyn was the referee and kept shouting at Somnus when he was being too aggressive, reminding him that Clarus would commit treason if Gladio ended up in the hospital. (He had to do that more than once) And Noctis, Prompto, and Ignis sat on one of the benches and watched the fight take place.Prompto began to fidget. His legs kept twitching and he couldn’t keep his hands still. Noctis noticed his friends discomfort and whispered as quietly as he could to Prom so that Ardyn’s daemon ears didn’t hear what he was saying. “Prom don’t worry. As long as you keep your cool, he isn’t going to know.”“I know.” Prompto nodded, speaking at the same volume as Noct, and looked at his dad who was still shouting at his uncle.“Then stop looking like your about to wet yourself.”“Not to worry Prompto, we can tell him when you’re ready.” Ignis smiled, placing a hand on Prom’s knee.Ignis seemed calm and collected like he always did, but inside he was just as nervous as Prom. The pair had started dating a week ago and they wanted to keep it quiet from Ardyn, Cor and Ignis’s uncle for a while. Prom really didn’t want Ardyn to threaten Ignis. He was certain that that was going to happen. It was Ardyn after all. Being in the same room as his boyfriend and his dad was just stressful. If it was only Somnus Prom would be fine, because he knew about his crush on Noct’s advisor. But for the time being, it was for the best Ardyn didn’t know.Noctis let out a yawn and stood up. “Well, I think Grandad had the right idea earlier. I am going for a nap.”Noct happily walked over to the exit and as he opened the door, a flash of pink appeared beside him and closed the door. Noctis pouted and turned to see his uncle giving him a look of disapproval.“What?” Noctis asked, not really caring what Ardyn had to say.“If you go and have a nap you will lose our bet.”Noctis and Ardyn had made many bets over the years. The first bet being, that Noctis wouldn’t be able to steal something from his dad’s room while the King was in there. Noctis won that one and got a cookie for it. The Prince had no idea why he had agreed to stop napping for a week…. That’s right. Ardyn was going to convince his dad to let him drive the Regalia if he did. Well, screw that bet he was tired.“Good.” Noctis replied and opened the door, he was too tired to deal with his uncle today. The week was finally over and Prompto and Noctis were free from school. No more homework. No more boring classes that meant nothing to them. No more annoying teachers. No more exams. They had the summer to play video games, mess around and have fun.So, they thought.Regis had organised for Noctis, Prompto, Somnus, Ardyn, Cor and himself to all have a meal together to celebrate. Neither of the boys wanted to take part, as they would much rather celebrate with Gladio and Ignis than there family today, but as the King had commanded it they didn’t really have a choice. What they didn’t find fair though, was that Cor would not be attending. When Noctis went to complain, he got an evil glare from his uncle and he knew it was in his best interest to shut up. And other then Ardyn and Prom, he was the only one who knew that his uncles were having problems. Bringing that up in front of his dad and grandfather would not do the Prince any favours either.And mid-way during the meal, Regis told Noct and Prom that they had to start focusing on their future. Noctis’s was already planned out for him and he knew what was going to be heading his way in the next couple of months. More lectures from his dad, grandfather, uncle, and Ignis, along with more council meetings he was going to have to attend as the Heir Apparent to the throne. His life was going to get soooo interesting from here. But Prom didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t restricted like Noct, and there were so many things he wanted to do. But there was one thing he knew for certain though. He wanted to be there to protect Noctis no matter what. Noctis had always looked after him, been there when he felt he couldn’t talk to anyone else, and after he came out of the hospital, Noctis didn’t mention to anyone he was going to see Prom and turned up at his house to make him feel better. Regis nearly had a heart attack when they couldn’t locate the Prince, and because Ardyn found it hilarious he kept Noct’s location to himself until a red alert was nearly issued.Thinking about all the times Noct had been there for him, Prom was certain he wanted to be either a member of the guard or the glaive. When Ardyn and Prom returned home, they found Cor asleep on the sofa and left him there as he appeared to not be having a nightmare for the first time in a couple of weeks. Prompto spoke to his dad about his choice and Ardyn told him it didn’t matter to either Cor or himself, as long as he was happy.Two days later Prom had made his mind up and went to Cor’s office to locate his dad. He never knocked on either Cor’s or Ardyn’s office door and let himself in. “Hey, dad- Oh Regis, Clarus, I didn’t know you were in here.” Prompto trailed off sheepishly thinking he had interrupted something important. Regis and Clarus were never in his dad’s office, it was usually the other way around. “Don’t worry Prompto, my dear.” Regis smiled brightly at him, gesturing for him to continue in whatever he was doing.“We aren’t discussing anything important.” Clarus commented, lying. The King and Shield were trying to get Cor to tell them what was bothering him, but like the stubborn bastard the Marshal was, he refused to answer them and changed the subject.Prompto smiled and lifted up the papers he had in his hand. “I was just wondering if dad would come with me to the Kingsglaive barracks. I wanted to hand in my papers.”“I am very proud of you Prompto. The Glaive would be lucky to have you.”“Thank you. So, Dad are you coming?”“Where?” Cor shook his head coming out of his daydream. He stopped paying attention to what was going on about half an hour ago and he hadn’t noticed that Prompto had come in.“To the Glaives barracks. To hand in my papers. Weren’t you listening?” Prompto laughed.Cor did not return the smile. Those words stung his ears and fear covered every inch of his body. That was not happening.“The Glaive. You are joking right?”“Umm… no.”“You’re not joining the Glaive.” Cor stated, staring directly at his son.He ignored the confused looks he was getting from Regis and Clarus. That was going to be the end of the conversation. This wasn’t happening. Over his dead body was Prompto entering the glaive. Not while Drautos was at the head of it anyway. That man was not getting anywhere near his son. Cor didn’t care if he sounded selfish or like a hypocrite, it wasn’t happening. “But you said it was okay before.” Prom said a little shocked at his dad’s reaction.“And now I have changed my mind.”“Alright Cor.” Clarus said, narrowing his eyes at the Marshal. He could tell that Cor was getting very defensive over this subject.Before, Cor bit Clarus’s head off for butting in, Regis held his hand up and spoke in a serious tone at Cor. “Hold on a second there is nothing wrong with the Glaive, Marshal. Prompto has had training with Ardyn, he is more than capable of joining if he wants too. In fact, he is probably over experienced to join the beginner’s sector. He would benefit from going straight into training with Drautos.”“NO!”Cor practically screamed at hearing that, causing the other three people in the room to give him weird and very concerned looks. Prompto was not going anywhere near that man! He honestly didn’t care how stupid he looked or if what happened came out. All Cor wanted to do was protect Prom, and in order to do that, he was not joining the Glaive. “I said no. You are not joining the Glaive and that is final.”“But-”“PROMPTO I SAID NO!”“MARSHAL LEONIS!” Regis shouted at the same volume Cor had used on Prompto, forcing Cor to shut up. Cor looked at his desk and Regis turned to look at his nephew, who looked as though he was about to burst into tears. Regis spoke again, and he appeared a lot calmer than before. “Clarus would you kindly take Prompto outside for a moment.”“Yes, your Majesty.”Clarus rose from his chair and escorted Prompto out of the room. He didn’t stop there though. He took him directly to Ardyn.When the door closed Regis turned his attention back to Cor and as he spoke, he was no longer using a calm tone. He sounded very concerned and very angry that Cor had just screamed for literally no reason at his son.“Now, what in the name of Bahamut was that?”“He’s not joining.”“Why? He is 18-years-old. It is up to him.”“I don’t even want him joining the Guard. Over my dead body is he joining the Glaive.” Cor could hear his voice getting more defensive. He wasn’t having it. Cor hated the thought that Drautos was going to come back and be in charge of the Kingsglaive, and look after both Regis and Noctis, but he couldn’t afford to kick up a fuss. He couldn’t afford to let anyone find out. The only thing he could do without raising too much suspicion was to protect Prompto. That was what he was doing.“Stop being dramatic. I don’t understand what is going on right now, but Leonis you need to get your act together and you need to do it quickly. You are lucky enough to have time with Prom. Clarus and I would give the world to spend more time with our own children. Do not throw it away because of your pride.”“It’s not pride, I am trying to protect him.”“From what?” Regis huffed and then he realised what Cor had just said. That was a very odd thing to say, and to understand what Cor meant Regis repeated the question. “Cor, from what?”Cor’s eyes widen. He heard the change in Regis’s voice and he started to panic. No, he had kept this secret for more then two weeks now, Regis was not finding out. The nightmares had started to lessen, and Cor thought if he spoke of it, or thought about it they would come back. His brain started to race to come up with a good lie, and what came out of his mouth was complete and utter bullshit.“I don’t want him fighting in this war, Reggie. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to him. That is why he is safer in the guard. At least this way Ardyn is always here to keep an eye on him.”“He’s an adult you can’t wrap him up in cotton wool forever.”“Watch me.” Cor got home first.He hadn’t seen Prompto for the rest of the day and he was determined to make it up to him somehow. Screaming at him like that was unacceptable. But he couldn’t control his body when he heard Regis say that Prom should go straight into training with that man. If anything like that ever happened to Prom, Cor would never forgive himself. Prompto had been through too much shit in his life to have to deal with the guilt, shame and dirty feelings that came along with the burden he forced himself to carry. Because Prompto was already not mentally well… this would kill him.All Cor had to do was keep Prompto away from Drautos. He could do that. And he would do that.It wasn’t long before he heard the front door crash open and Ardyn’s heavy footsteps storming into the house. Cor also heard Prom’s desperate attempts to calm Ardyn down, but it was all in vain. Ardyn walked into the living room and spat venom at Cor.“Now would you kindly inform me as to why our son was escorted to me in tears by Clarus this afternoon.” When Cor didn’t reply, Ardyn’s voice got louder and more aggressive. “Don’t give me that blank expression you upset Prom.”“Dad leave it.” Prom asked stepping in between his dads, to prevent a screaming match from occurring.“No, I am not leaving this. Tell him why he can’t join the Glaive.”“He’s just not.” Cor said shaking his head, not raising his voice so that he didn’t encourage Ardyn to continue shouting.“That is not an answer.”“Dads it’s okay. Can we not argue today, please?”Hearing Prom’s voice start to break, Cor knew he had to answer. He didn’t want to make his son cry, but equally, he couldn’t let him know the real reason behind his outburst. But if he did, Prompto would understand. Ardyn would understand and find and murder the Captain. Everyone would understand. Cor wasn’t ready for that yet, and because he valued the safety of both Ardyn’s and Prom’s mental state, he lied again. “Fine. The Glaive is more dangerous than the Guard. For that reason, you are not joining.”“I think that is his decision to make not ours.” Ardyn breathed through his words. Cor’s behaviour was now starting to make him angry. Ardyn honestly didn’t think Cor could ever make him this angry. He didn’t like it.That’s when Cor started to shout, and the pair started to have a full-on screaming match in front of Prom. “You want him to go out there and fight in a war do you!”“You do it all the time!”“I nearly don’t come back! Do you want the constant fear of losing us both! Because I don’t want to lose my son to this stupid fucked up pointless war! Prompto as long as you live under my roof you are not joining the Glaive. understood!”“I’m going to Noct’s.” Prompto said quietly before running out of the room and the house.“Prompto! Prompto?!” Ardyn shouted after him, running just outside the living door to find the front door wide open. Unable to calm himself down by breathing alone, Ardyn smashed his fist into the door frame, breaking the wood. He would never take his anger or frustration out on either Cor or Prom. But there have been sometimes where he took that frustration out on objects in the house, and he always apologised for it afterwards. However, he wasn’t going to this time. Cor had just made their son run out of the house crying and Ardyn was not standing for it. He turned back to Cor and sneered at him “Well done. You have upset him twice in one day.”“At least he is safe.” Cor said plainly. Ardyn didn’t scare him. He had sat with him many times when he had lost control, and his husband was far from doing that at the moment.“What do you mean by that? He is safe! He lives in Insomnia! The safest place in Eos! It’s just training he doesn’t even have to go out on campaigns if he decides it’s not for him. That has always been the point of both of us training him. So, he could choose. Now you have taken that away from him!” Ardyn continued to shout, not caring if the neighbours heard him. He just couldn’t understand why Cor was acting so selfish.Cor didn’t respond. He walked passed him and went upstairs.“Cor? Cor! Do not walk away from me!”“SHUT THE FUCK UP ARDYN! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“How long have you and Ardyn been having problems for?”“We’re not.”Clarus was starting to get cross now. He knew for certain that Cor was lying to him. Because when Clarus took Prompto to see Ardyn after yesterday’s incident, Prompto practically begged Ardyn not to start an argument with Cor. Claiming that he had had enough of listening to it and he didn’t understand why it kept happening. When the Shield heard that, he asked Ardyn straight away what was happening between the pair, but Ardyn refused to respond and said that Prom was far more important in that moment. Which was true so Clarus didn’t pester him anymore and left Prom in his care. But he was going to pester Cor for answers. The Marshal had been acting weird for weeks and no one had a clue as to what it was. Now, he was aware that he and Ardyn were clearly going through a rough patch, it had to be something to do with that, surely? But that still didn’t make sense. Cor was usually very good at keeping work life and home life separate from each other. Whatever was troubling his honorary little brother must be serious and all Clarus wanted to do was help. “Do I look stupid? This has been going on since you have been acting weird, hasn’t it? Has something happened between the two of you?”“No.” Cor said in a very low voice, refusing to look Clarus in the eye as he said that.“Then what is it Cor? Yesterday was completely out of order. I have never seen you that angry in my life. Now I am aware that you and Ardyn have been having problems. This isn’t normal behaviour from you.”“Couples have problems.” Cor said, pretending that this was normal. Who was he fooling? He wasn’t acting normally. And he didn’t know how long he would be able to keep this façade up.“But you and Ardyn don’t. He worships the ground you walk on. Do you really expect me, or anyone else, to believe that everything is perfect? I can’t Cor and I can’t ignore this. I want to help you.”“I don’t want your help, and I don’t want Regis’s help either.” Cor snapped. Clarus was putting him under too much pressure and making him feel even more guilty than before. He knew what he was doing to Ardyn was wrong. He knew what he said to Prom was wrong. He knew all of this, he didn’t need reminding of any of that.Clarus shook his head. Cor was going to fight him every step of the way at this rate. “Regis doesn’t know. He may do just from observation, but this hasn’t been confirmed to him.”“Nor will it.”“Fine that’s your choice. I won’t mention it to him, but I will not lie either if he asks me I will tell him. All Regis and I want to do is help you. Ardyn may be Regis’s uncle but he will always take your side no matter what is happening and so will I. We are always here for you Cor no matter what.”Hearing that made Cor want to burst into hysterical tears. All it would take would be for Cor to say three simple words and everything would be out in the open and Clarus would comfort him. All he needed to say was: ‘I was….’ But he couldn’t. Cor still couldn’t think the word in his head. If he said it he would just completely fall apart. Like he had been doing for weeks to get himself to stop crying, he turned it into frustration and lashed out at Clarus. “Nothing is happening! Nothing has happened! What goes on between me and my husband is private and could everyone stop banging on about it and stop trying to help me! I don’t need or want it so just leave me the fuck alone.”“As you wish.” Clarus sighed giving up for the day.Clarus kept his promise. He didn’t actively tell Regis about Ardyn and Cor’s problems, but when Regis asked him if he had found anything out, Clarus didn’t lie. He told Regis what had happened yesterday when he took Prom to see Ardyn and Cor’s reaction to Clarus bringing it up. The King’s concern for the Marshal only increased and he debated whether approaching Cor himself. Maybe they could calmly discuss things, and Regis was considering giving Cor time off to relax and patch things up with his husband. Clarus didn’t think that was the best solution because Cor was only going to snap and tell him to stop getting into his business. And if Regis spoke to his uncle, he was going to get a similar reaction. They were both just as stubborn as each other and Regis had learnt from past experiences it was best to allow the pair to sort it out themselves or wait until one of them came to him for advice.But Cor’s behaviour was still troubling him…What on Eos had happened to make the Marshal act like this? Screaming at Prompto was one of the worst things Cor had ever done in his life and Cor was determined to make it up to him. Cor got up, showered and left before either his son or husband had woken up. He never brought his way into his son’s forgiveness as materialistic items were nowhere near important as the trust and love they had for each other. All Cor wanted to do was to make his son happy but he wasn’t joining the Glaive and to make up for his out of order behaviour Cor went to the camera shop and brought the camera Prom and had been eyeing up for months. Prompto had never asked Ardyn or Cor for it. Instead, he went out and got himself a weekend job and had been saving for a while. Cor was so proud of him for wanting to do it all himself but to make up for the lack of reasoning behind his outburst the Marshal decided to buy it. This gesture was not going to fix things entirely but it would bridge the gap that had grown between them over the last couple of days. However, Prompto wasn’t the only person that Cor needed to make a mends with. Telling Ardyn to essentially fuck off was also very wrong. They didn’t let the argument continue or simmer, they did work things out before they went to bed but Cor still felt guilty and he knew Ardyn was still pissed off at him for not allowing Prompto to do what he wanted. Cor was getting exhausted now. He knew he was the cause of the bickering between the two and both Clarus and Regis were right he had to get his shit together. He had to stop pushing people away. Cor just didn’t know if he was brave enough to let them in again. It was going to be hard, but he had to do something.When Ardyn woke up, not long after Cor had left, he quickly got dressed and started preparation for tonight. He knew Cor was not going to be back until early evening, thanks to Regis, which gave him plenty of time to decorate the living room, the bedroom and cook the pair of them a glorious dinner. He started on the food first and when he got a little bored he put that to a halt and went into the living room and started to tidy the room before placing a range of candles everywhere. Ardyn was happy to admit he was a hopeless romantic and considering today was his and Cor’s 19th wedding anniversary he wanted to go all out and make tonight as perfect and as relaxing as possible. Ardyn just hoped tonight would make things settle between them and there would no longer be this growing tension. And instead of buying Cor a card this year, he made him one. It was more of a book then a card and it had nineteen photo’s and memories of each year that they had been married for. He was going to give that to Cor when they went to bed. But the food and a few other little bits and bobs that Ardyn had collected would be done as soon as Cor got home.Ardyn returned to the kitchen and hummed a happy tune to himself as he put the main course into the oven and started preparation on dessert: sticky toffee pudding, the Marshal’s favourite. Ardyn continued to hum and smiled at his son when he entered the room. Instead of getting a: ‘Good morning my wonderful father, I hope you are feeling well today. Oh, and happy wedding anniversary!’ he got a very tired looking Prompto yawning out his words.“What are you and Dad doing tonight?”“Good morning to you too, Sunbeam.” Ardyn shook his head mixing the batter. “That is a very blunt and nosey question coming from you.”Prompto laughed. “I am YOUR son.”“Point taken.”“I am just asking because you always do something really cheesy and you tend to go over the top.”“What, me loving your father is cheesy is it?” Ardyn stopped mixing and went into the fridge and handed Prompto the milk. He then got a box of cereal out of his armiger and put it on the side whilst Prompto was getting himself a spoon and bowl. “One day Prom you will meet someone very special to you, and you won’t be calling it cheesy then.”“Not happening for a while.” Prompto responded pouring the milk into the bowl, as he watched his dad go back to mixing, whatever it was he was cooking.“Oh really? So why do you keep calling Mr Scientia and going over Noct’s when he is there?”Prompto spilt the milk over the counter at hearing his dad saying that. “We are only friends!”“Just because you are friends doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings for him. For example, your father and I had been friends for many years before we got together and now we are married and have you.”Prom gave him a nervous smile as he began clearing up the mess he had made. This was very awkward on his part. It was like his dad was reading his mind but at least he didn’t know they were actually in a relationship. Ardyn would just get involved and make Ignis feel uncomfortable, by threatening him. Prompto didn’t want that and he did not want to have this conversation today.“Dad, can we talk about something else please?” Ardyn stopped what he was doing and lent over the side and gave his son a wide smile. “Oh, so it is true! Are you going to tell him?”“No Dad- I just said I don’t want to talk about it.”“Why not? I think he is a delightful lad and so does your father.”“Dad knows too?” Prompto whined, trying his hardest not to show his dad how nervous he was.Ardyn nodded.“My life is over.” Prompto muffled his words as he buried his head in his hands.Ardyn laughed and continued to tease his son. “Oh, Sunbeam stop being dramatic. When are you bringing him over?”“I am not. Focus on your own relationship and stop getting into mine.”
Shit, wrong choice of words.
Ardyn slammed his hands on the counter and squealed with excitement. “You are in a relationship with him!”
Definitely wrong choice of words.
Prompto now wanted to go into the living room and eat his breakfast in peace. Because Ardyn Leonis was his father he wasn’t going to get any until he gave him a few answers. Why was his dad so nosey? The blonde scratched his head and sighed. “Oh damn.”“Darling why didn’t you say something?! That is wonderful news!” Ardyn continued to smile brightly at him. Ardyn did not have a problem with Ignis what so ever. He highly respected the loyalty he had for both Prompto and Noctis and was rather grateful to him for getting the pair to take their education seriously over the last couple of months. And if Prompto was going to be in a relationship with anyone he was so glad it was Mr Scientia.“Please don’t get involved.” Cor’s start to the day did not go well. Regis told him he was going to train the guard and to ensure he did, Clarus was also going to be there to train the recruits as well. And because Cor didn’t want either of them to grow more suspicious of him he just had to do it. To his surprise he didn’t have a panic attack. There was an odd few moments during training where he thought that was going to happen, but he managed to compose himself and he was able to rationally tell himself what an idiot he was being. Clarus didn’t comment if he had seen him flitch or recoil away a little too quickly from the person he was training. Maybe he could do this. Training was actually helping him and as the day went on he didn’t think about what had happened to him. He wished he had the courage to do this before now as it would have made things a hell of a lot easier.Cor finished a little earlier today, he couldn’t remember why he had written that down. And when he passed Somnus on his way out, his brother-in-law told him to enjoy his night and say hi to Ardyn for him.
Ardyn hadn’t been at work today?
Cor hoped he hadn’t gotten himself into trouble again, that was the last thing he needed right now. What he wanted to do today was finally make a mends with Prom. Ardyn was going to have to wait. When he walked into the house, everything was darkened save from the living room and the kitchen. Very odd. He called out into the house to see if Prom was about.“Prom? Prompto?”“He’s not here, My Marshal.” Ardyn smiled stepping out of the living room without his hat, scarves or coat on. Okay, what was going on? Ardyn was never this relaxed when Prom was out of the house…“Huh? Where is he then?”“He’s spending the evening with Mr Scientia. Apparently, the two of them have been in a relationship for a couple of weeks.”“Really?”“Yes, and I didn’t get involved once. Aren’t you proud of me?”“Sure.” Cor rolled his eyes and walked directly passed Ardyn into the living room and what he saw next made his heart sink. The entire room had been lightened with candles, the sofas were moved into a corner along with the TV and in the middle of the room was a neatly arrange pile of gifts, sitting on top of some brand new green cushions (Green being Cor’s favourite colour) and banner over the top of the pile saying: happy anniversary. FUCK! Cor thought to himself. Of course, it was his wedding anniversary. That would explain why he wrote the note to himself and why Somnus told him to enjoy his night. And he had forgotten, completely forgotten. How… how could he have possibly of done that? Cor never forgot. Not wanting to look at the pile anymore he turned his head towards the table and saw that it had been laid up for him and Ardyn to eat at. Feeling very overwhelmed by guilt Cor dropped his stuff on the floor and turned to face his husband. When Cor spoke, he used the most serious and apologetic voice ever and for the first time in weeks, Cor decided not to lie. “Ardyn… I completely forgot. I am really sorry.”Cor felt even worse when he saw Ardyn’s happy face drop. He had really messed up this time. And Ardyn’s words made it so much more painful. Cor knew for a fact Ardyn was lying, probably because he didn’t want to be the cause of yet another argument. But none of this was Ardyn’s fault. It was all his…“Don’t worry darling. It’s fine.”“No, it’s not. How the fuck could I forget this?” Cor held the bridge of his nose and did not let any tears fall. How could he be so selfish? Cor had to stop himself from jumping when he felt Ardyn rest a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t get upset. It’s just a day.”Cor took his hand away from his face and kicked his stuff, that he had dropped on the floor. “That’s not the point is it? It’s our anniversary and I am that shit of a husband I didn’t even get you a card and you do all of this for me.”“I know you love me. I don’t need anything like that to prove it.” Ardyn said softly taking hold of both Cor’s upper arms and he began to rub them gently.But the kindness, and the strength that Ardyn must be holding on to so that he didn’t blow his lid made Cor cry. It was only a few tears, because he didn’t want to worry or upset Ardyn any further. “I have been so stressed lately and I have been taking it out on you. You could have done without it especially today. You must be furious at me. I would be if this was the other way around.”“I understand things haven’t been exactly perfect between us lately. I don’t pretend to understand why. We have each other and as long as we spend the evening together that is enough for me my love. Look at me, there is no need to be upset. You and Prom are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Just for one night, can we pretend that everything is normal? That would be the greatest gift you can offer me.”Cor nodded and wrapped his arms around Ardyn’s neck, pulling him in for a hug. Cor could feel the tension surging through Ardyn’s body. The man was livid with him, and Cor didn’t understand why he wasn’t screaming. Why he wasn’t demanding what the matter was, that Cor had upset him too many times now for him to simply ignore it. If Ardyn did that, Cor might just tell him what the matter was. But doing it off his own back was scary and all he wanted to do was make things better. Despite how cross Ardyn may have been, he still hugged Cor back and returned his kisses when Cor asked for them.“I love you. I love you so much, Ardyn. You don’t have any idea how much.” Cor whispered through a series of small kisses he planted on his husbands’ lips.“I love you too.”They drew a line under it then. They ate their meal, and Ardyn told Cor he was opening his presents and he didn’t care if he had to wait for his own. After that, they went to bed. Cor was expecting, because it was their anniversary, Ardyn would probably want to have sex with him. Cor didn’t feel ready for that yet but Ardyn never asked. He got into bed and turned away from him and went to sleep. Cor lay there for a while, wallowing in guilt and he debated waking up Ardyn to see if he wanted to have sex just to make him happy. Cor had a feeling that would not go down too well if he went through with that plan. Ardyn wandered through the Citadel with a plain expression plastered on his face. What happened with Cor last night hurt him. He was so upset that Cor forgot- how could he forget? It wasn’t like their anniversary changed every year and his excuse was a poor one, to say the least. It just made Ardyn so angry because Cor still wasn’t telling him what the matter was. He was fighting with him every day and it was becoming apparent that Cor didn’t want help. It was like Cor didn’t want to sort anything out and he was happy to push him away. Why what had Ardyn done to deserve that?“Ardyn, are you okay?”Ardyn jumped when he heard someone come up from behind him. This was why he didn’t let himself get emotional. He became on edge and got verbally aggressive. He took in a deep breath and turned around to see his nephew raising an eyebrow at him.“Ah, Noct. Of course, I am.” Ardyn put a smile on his face and lied through his teeth.Noctis wasn’t stupid and he did not by his uncle’s lie. Just from what Prom had told him about Cor’s and Ardyn’s spats, the young Prince came to the conclusion that something had happened last night. Noctis didn’t want them fighting anymore. He loved them both, but if Prompto got ill again because they weren’t growing up and sorting things out he was not going to forgive either of them. Because Noctis was 18 he knew he wasn’t the best person to help them. But he thought of someone who might be able too. “I think you should speak to dad.” Noctis said putting his phone in his pocket, to show Ardyn that he was being serious.“Honestly, my darling nephew, it is nothing.”“Come on, fate buddy. It might make you feel better.”“ ‘Fate buddy?’ ” Ardyn repeated the words a little confused as to what Noct was going on about. Both him and Prompto always came up with strange phrases and words, it was hard to keep up with what they meant sometimes.“Yeah, we’ve got dealt the same shitty hand so yeah you’re my fate buddy.” Noctis elbowed him in the side and gave him a wide grin. The pair didn’t really talk about what fate had in store for them but Noctis just wanted to get Ardyn to laugh.“The youth these days.” Ardyn rolled his eyes.“Fine, you stubborn old daemon, go and see dad for Prom and I. We are really worried about you.”Ardyn let out a groan of defeat. Noctis was not going to let this drop and Ardyn did want to sort this out. He did want to keep as less people involved as possible but he knew he could trust Regis with almost anything. Plus, Ardyn was getting upset and bad things tended to happen when he felt like that.Ardyn shook his head and looked down at Noct.“ Why do you and my son possess the power to do that.”“Do what?”“The power to change my mind.”“Cause we’re awesome.”Ardyn laughed and ruffled Noctis’s hair. Maybe he would convince Regis to let Noct drive his car after all. “Very awesome indeed. Alright then, ‘fate buddy’ I will go and speak to your father if you promise not to pester me.”“I am related to you, I am always going to pester you no matter what.”“I know, you and Somnus both excel in that field.”Just to ensure that Ardyn would do as Noct had asked, he made him pinkie swear. The pair had not done that since Noctis was twelve, but it did put a smile on Ardyn’s face and that was all Noctis wanted.Ardyn wasn’t allowed to do it but he teleported himself to Regis’s study and walked in without knocking. Whatever the King was dealing with right now could be put on hold for an hour or two. Ardyn wasn’t one to seek advice and he knew Regis would gladly help him.“Regis, can I… Oh what are you doing in here?” Ardyn grumbled spotting Somnus on the sofa opposite the King.“I am so charmed by your words brother.” Somnus made a face at him and then went back to playing solitaire on his phone.Regis shook his head and told Somnus off for retaliating before gesturing for Ardyn to come and sit down. “Yes, Ardyn what can I help you with?”“Get him out and I will tell you.”There was bitterness in his brother’s voice but that wasn’t the thing that made Somnus put his phone away and draw his attention to Ardyn. No, it was the unmistakable sound of genuine hurt. Just by the look on Regis’s face, Somnus knew the King had noticed it too. “You’re upset.”“No, I am not.”“Don’t lie to me.”Regis scooted up and patted the free space on the sofa next to him. “Come and sit down.” He knew this was a bad idea.Ardyn slowly walked over to them and did as he was told. He loved Regis and Somnus and because of that he didn’t want to make them worry. But Ardyn was starting to fear for his own mental state and at the moment Cor was making it worse. He had to talk to someone to help him rationally work out what was going on so he didn’t end up losing his shit and causing harm to others.“I am only here because Noct forced me. But as long as you are in here I am not saying a word.” Ardyn said staring at Somnus. He didn’t particularly want his brother to know that he and Cor were having difficulties, Somnus always seemed to make things worse even when he was trying to help.“Cut the crap Ardyn. I don’t care about our petty squabbling at the moment. You’re my brother and I want to help you.”Ardyn just remained silent, but by the looks of it, Somnus was not budging from his seat. He was ready to stand up and walk out but Regis’s concerned voice prevented him from doing so.“What’s happened, Ardyn? Please tell us.”For the love of those six arse holes above, you might as well. “…Cor. He’s what’s happened.” Ardyn looked at the floor then. He didn’t want to see the pity looks from his brother or his nephew. He just wanted it sorted. “Oh dear. I am aware you two have been having some difficulties over the past couple of weeks. I thought yesterday may have sorted it out.” Regis rubbed his chin, feeling more worried and confused then cross, for the time being. What the hell did Cor do for Ardyn to come and talk to him?“That was what I was hoping for too.”“Did you have another argument?”“No.” Ardyn shook his head. “He forgot our wedding anniversary.”“He forgot?” Somnus asked in a mixed laugh of shock and anger.“Ardyn I am really sorry. This is probably my fault I have given him so much work to do recently that it has probably burnt him out. Would you like me to have a word with him?” Regis offered quickly so that Ardyn would not lash out at Somnus’s reaction to the news.“It’s not your fault. You shouldn’t have to deal with this.”“No, but he is still my brother and he has clearly upset you. Of course, I want to help. I love you both and want you to be happy.”“So do I, Ardyn. Despite what I say I don’t want to see you upset.” Somnus said in a comforting manner. But his voice soon changed to one he used to command the guard and glaive as he noticed the black goo seeping out of his brother’s eye sockets. “Ardyn. Scourge.”“Sorry.” Ardyn whispered wiping it away with his sleeve. Now he was crying, today was shaping up to be just brilliant.“Don’t be sorry. I will go and have a word with him now. Somnus look after him.” Seeing his uncle cry was the final straw for the King. Cor had to sort himself out and he was doing it today. Regis marched through the Citadel without Clarus for a change. Many of the guard and glaive approached him and asked if he needed assistance for protection purposes, and his busted leg, but he declined their offers. To ensure they didn’t go running to Clarus he told them he was off to find the Marshal. When he reached the guard training hall, everyone fell silent and everyone bowed in respect. This was the life Regis had been born into, but for once he wished that didn’t happen. Because Cor was on duty even he bowed.Regis had a stern voice and turned to Monica. “Monica, I need a word with Marshal Leonis. Could you please lead this training group for the rest of the day?” Monica agreed which allowed Regis to turn his attention to Cor. “Come with me.”Regis hobbled out of the room and walked to Ardyn’s office, he knew they would get some privacy there. And once the pair of them were in the safety of the four walls Regis allowed his temper to boil over.“Tell me, what is going on?”“Nothing.”“I have Ardyn in my study crying tears of the scourge because you forgot your own wedding anniversary. And you are trying to convince me that nothing is going on?”Cor rubbed his eyes and said in a very strained voice. “I didn’t mean too.”“He is really upset. I have never seen him so sadden in my life. You need to do something to make this up to him. Even Somnus is concerned and he is comforting your husband as we speak!” Regis was feeling conflicted. He could tell that Ardyn had nothing to do with what was going on with Cor, which made the King feel protective over his uncle and crosser with Cor. But, he was also very concerned for the Marshal. This wasn’t him and he refused to let anyone help.“I know.” Cor replied in the same sad and strained tone.Regis let out a sigh and sat down on one of the sofa’s because his leg was starting to throb like crazy. He should have gotten Clarus to come with him. “We know something is wrong, but this is affecting Ardyn and your son. Please tell me what it is or tell someone. I don’t want you and Ardyn to break up over this.”“Why would we break up? I love Ardyn.” Cor was shocked Regis would even suggest a thing like that. Cor needed Ardyn more now than ever before.“You’re not acting like it. Sort it out Cor. Only you can do it.” The word sorry was used a lot that evening. Cor was so ashamed he had made Ardyn cry. it was horrible and nasty, there was no excuse for it. He knew he should have pushed for them to talk it over yesterday. Now, they were sat on their bed with Cor rubbing Ardyn’s leg and he was begging for Ardyn’s forgiveness.“I’m so sorry.”“I know you don’t have to tell me that again.” Ardyn breathed out. The word sorry was getting on his nerves now.“Ardyn, please listen to me. I don’t have an excuse because there is no way I could ever justify hurting you last night. I am so sorry. Please let me make it up to you. Please…” Cor pleaded placing a hand to Ardyn’s cheek so he would look at him.Cor didn’t know what was killing him most. Lying to Ardyn or Ardyn’s refusal to look at him. And when their eyes met Ardyn finally let go of all the frustration he had been feeling over the past few weeks.“It wasn’t just last night though was it? It has been weeks of you giving me the cold shoulder and starting arguments with me when I haven’t done anything. At the moment I don’t know what to say, or if I should say anything. You are becoming unpredictable, and that is coming from a daemon.” “I know. None of it is your fault, it’s all mine. Please forgive me, I will do anything to make this up to you.”“Anything?”“Yes, anything. Please…”“Kiss me. But not like how you have been doing it for the past couple of weeks. Kiss me like you really mean it.”“Ardyn…” Cor trailed off not being able to finish his sentence.They had kissed, they had hugged but nothing that was full of passion. Cor knew for certain Ardyn would never hurt him like that. The Marshal knew this was all in his head. But there was just a little voice in the back of his mind telling him: ‘But what if you are wrong?’“We haven’t had sex in weeks! You haven’t let me anywhere near you in weeks. The only bits of affection I get from you is when we hug in bed, or after we have a fight and you feel guilty about starting it. This is strange even by your standards. The only thing I want from you right now is for you to kiss me.”Ardyn was getting upset again and Cor was getting panicky. It felt like his heart was beating out of his chest and he had gone into flight or fight mode. He knew he needed to ignore the flight. He held his breath and kissed Ardyn with all his might and prayed it was enough. Prayed that Ardyn didn’t want anything more than that, because this kiss was all he was getting. Cor couldn’t be intimate with Ardyn and he deserved to know the reason behind it. Cor’s panic rose again when Ardyn kissed him back and ran his hands through his hair. That’s when Cor knew he could no longer do it.Cor pulled away and lightly pushed Ardyn away from him.Ardyn’s words were littered with pain. “What’s wrong? Cor, what have I done?”“You haven’t done anything.” This wasn’t fair Ardyn had to know. He just had to say it. They would stop fighting and Cor would stop hurting Ardyn if he did. Without thinking, words just came out of his mouth. “Ardyn I need to tell you something…” “Yes.”“I… I was-”“DADS!” Cor stopped talking at their son calling for them. He was so close, but Prom was more important than himself. Prompto always had to come first. “This can wait. Prom! Are you alright?”In the end, Cor didn’t tell Ardyn. He came up with yet another lie and went to bed without anything being resolved. They tried not to do that. But the shame, guilt, dirt, hurt was acting like a brick wall. It was stopping anyone who wasn’t Cor from getting through and that was how it had to remain. Instead of telling Ardyn the truth and moving on, Cor was going to take all the blame and said that they had to forget everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks and focus on a fresh start. Ardyn wasn’t on board to start with but then he realised Cor wasn’t going to tell him anything. So he agreed and when he did things started to get better. Cor gave his husband late wedding anniversary gifts and started to allow Ardyn to touch him more. Sex was not going to happen for a while but this was the best that they could do. That was how it was going to be… Cor had made a promise to himself today.He wasn’t going to think about the Captain. He wasn’t going to think about what had happened. He was going to train the guard, he was going to have a laugh with Regis and Clarus, he was going to help Ardyn piss off Somnus, then he was going to go home and have a relaxing night with his husband and son. No one was going to prevent any of that happening today. Regis was right, he needed to sort himself out. There was no point thinking about the past he needed to focus on the present and mend his fracturing relationship. He wasn’t losing Ardyn over this. The only way he was going to accept that he had to be without the immortal royal was when it was time for Noctis to full fill his duty as the Chosen King.Cor parked his motorbike and walked into the Citadel, nodding at the people who greeted him. Today was going to be a good…“Good Morning, Marshal.”Cor’s feet stuck to the ground. His entire body tensed up and fear immediately made its way to the front of his brain. The unwashable feeling of dirt and sickness crept up on him and he forced himself to hold his breath.
No, no, no. Not now, please not now!
Cor turned around and gulped when he laid eyes on the Captain of the Kingsglaive.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Cor immediately took a step away from Drautos.He should not have done that… He had just proven to his attacker and to himself that he was terrified of him. It took everything Cor had to not run to Ardyn begging for his help. It took every muscle in his body to not shake with fear. Cor’s skin started to crawl, and he could feel cold sweat begin to trickle down his back. When the man came up in conversation it made the Marshal feel sick. Now, standing in front of him he thought that his breakfast was just going to rush up and cover the floor below him. Why was he back?! Cor promised himself that he was going to have a normal day where he didn’t think about him and just like always, Drautos managed to ruin it. The worst part in all of this was that Cor couldn’t divert his gaze from the man. This was because he was scared, but mainly because he had no idea what this scumbag was capable of.Drautos took a few steps closer towards him, so Cor took as many back away from him.“Cor? Are you quite well?” His attacker asked.
NO I AM FUCKING NOT YOU TWAT!
Cor screamed in his head. How dare he pretend to be concerned for his welfare. Drautos knew exactly why he was behaving like this. He knew exactly what he had done to him. But Drautos didn’t seem to care. He was very calm and confident in himself. He was just acting normal… Lucky for Cor, Drautos didn’t get another chance to address him.“Morning Captain. Morning Cor.” Somnus muttered walking in between them, not sensing the tension in the air.“Good Morning, Your Former Majesty.” Drautos bowed.
Thank the Six for you Somnus Lucis Caelum!
His brother-in-law had unknowingly given him a way out of this harrowing situation. Somnus continued to walk pass and Cor was quick to follow him completely ignoring Drautos, and he walked rather close to Somnus in case the man tried anything. “Morning. Somnus I need to have a word with you about the Guard.”“You will have to walk with me. I have a hundred and one things to do at the moment.”Cor dared not look back as he walked through the halls with Somnus. He could not bear to lay his eyes on that filth of a man again. But there was a part of him that wanted to, just to make sure that Drautos wasn’t following him. For fuck sake! Cor was being paranoid, why in seven hells would he? He wasn’t that stupid to go anywhere near him with Somnus close by. And whatever Somnus was saying to him went straight over his head. Fear was causing through the Marshal, anxiety was clouding his senses and all he wanted to do was hide. He wanted to run and hide to Ardyn.Ardyn….He had to find him right now!Cor quickly turned around to find no one behind him and that made him relax a little. Cor stopped walking with Somnus and talked over whatever the hell he was saying. “….Somnus, do you know where Ardyn is?”“In his office talking to Prom.”“Thanks.”Cor nodded and left Somnus on his own. He needed to feel safe, and he was no longer safe with Drautos back. Just thinking that man’s name made his hands start to shake. No. He needed to calm down. Cor needed to breathe and see Ardyn right now.“I thought you wanted to talk about the guard.” Somnus called after him in a slightly annoyed voice.“I will bother Clarus with it later.”“Thanks for wasting my time!” Somnus spat back. But before Cor got too far away from him, the Founder King carried on talking to him. “Cor, remind Ardyn about the meeting we have in half an hour.”“Meeting?”“Yes. You, me, Ardyn, Regis, Clarus and Drautos all have a meeting in half an hour. To discuss how the Captain’s mission went.”
FUCK!
Cor nodded and left the hallway quickly. Things had just gotten so much worse. Not only was he back, Cor now had to sit in the same room as him and pretend that nothing was wrong. He had to talk to him in front of Regis and Clarus and try not to be sick. He had to suffer through an hour-long meeting listening to him talk with Somnus and Ardyn lapping up whatever he said. Cor took in a sharp breath. He had to sit in the same room with Drautos and Ardyn. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t lie anymore.The Marshal had lost all of his senses and didn’t knock when he entered his husband’s office, and just like Somnus had said Prom and Ardyn were laughing with each other.Now Cor felt safe. He felt happy and secure. Okay… he was fine. He was going to be fine. Ardyn wouldn’t let anything happened to him, even if he didn’t know what he had to protect him from. He was fine. Prom left within the first 10 minutes of Cor arriving. He had a date with Ignis and he did not want to be late. Ardyn gave him some friendly advice before he left and Cor told Ardyn to pack it in and let their poor son go. The rest of the time, Ardyn and Cor just spoke about Prom and how fast he had grown up and how well he had recovered over the past two years. The pair could not be prouder of their son. “Looks like we better get going.” Ardyn smiled looking at the time. They were only going to be a little bit late.Ardyn didn’t really care if he kept any of them waiting. For Regis, Somnus and Clarus always insisted on doing the same to him and well Drautos… he couldn’t wait until he left for his next mission. The royal rose from his chair and went to leave, but Cor’s lack of movement seemed odd to him. Cor was always so particular when it came to work. When he went to ask what was wrong, Cor had stood up rather quickly and rushed to the bathroom. The door was slammed shut and Ardyn soon heard the unmistakable sound of retching coming from the other side. Ardyn started to get worried, he tapped on the door to reassure Cor he was there.“Cor, is everything alright in there? Do you need anything?”His words of comfort were met with more retching and the sound of sick hitting the toilet water. Oh dear, he really must be unwell. Ardyn didn’t leave and waited until Cor opened the door, and when he saw his husband he was as white as a sheet. “Oh, my darling… let me get you some water.” Ardyn snapped his fingers and handed Cor a bottle of water.Cor took it and sipped at it before making up an excuse as to why he had just emptied his stomach out. “Probably something, I ate.”Ardyn ran his hand through Cor’s hair and for once the Marshal didn’t feel like flinching. He wanted Ardyn to continue and keep him safe and keep Drautos away from him. Well, if Cor was honest, he should be the one keeping Ardyn away from Drautos. All it would take was one shred of doubt to be planted into his husbands’ brain and all of this would fall apart. He had to keep Ardyn out of prison and he had to keep his family together. He loved Ardyn and Prom too much to let them go.“You clearly aren’t very well but unfortunately we have to get going. You can go home after the meeting.”“I’ll be okay. Ardyn, can I sit next to you in the meeting?”“Of course, you can. You always do anyway.” Ardyn let go a small laugh. Cor really must be unwell if he was asking that of him. Because they were late, Ardyn teleported them both outside of the meeting room. But Ardyn didn’t go in. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Cor, there was a clear glisten of sweat plastered across his forehead. Ardyn rested the back of his hand on Cor’s forehead and he was burning up. “Are you sure you feel well enough? Darling, you’re sweating, I think you might have a fever.”“I think you are right, I might go home afterwards.” Cor gulped, hoping that him being sick and now sweating was a good enough cover-up from the anxiety and the fear that had taken hold of him.Ardyn disagreed. “I think you should go home now. Don’t worry, I will tell Regis what’s happening.”“Thank you, I love you Ass Hat.”“I love you too.”“Before I go, are you busy today?”“No, I only came in for this. Why, may I ask?”Phew. That was a relief. At least it meant Ardyn wouldn’t be anywhere near Drautos today. But it was not enough for Cor’s nerves to be settled.“I… I just really don’t feel very good. Can you come home as soon as possible please?”“I was planning on it. Cor, your burning up. I’ll take you home and I will deal with the vultures and be back home as soon as I can.”Ardyn took them home in a blink of an eye and put Cor to bed, Ardyn put a cold flannel on his head and a glass of water on the side before kissing the top of his head sweetly. He was still sweating buckets, but Cor told him to just leave and hurry back soon. Ardyn agreed the faster the meeting started the faster he could get back home so he could look after Cor. Not caring if he got told off, he appeared in his chair in the meeting room and smiled at his nephew like he had done nothing wrong.“Where’s Cor?” Regis asked curiously, choosing to ignore his uncle’s defiance for the rules.“Not coming.”“Is he alright?” Clarus asked.“No. He’s sick. Can we carry on and get this over and done with please?” Ardyn slumped in his chair wanting to get home quickly.“Sorry, your Grace. Of course.” Titus replied and proceeded to tell them what had happened out in the field. After the meeting was over, Drautos ordered Nyx to follow him into his office. The Captain had not missed being here at all.All of those Caelum’s knew exactly how to get under his skin. The Founder King looked as though he was about to fall asleep, the daemon was too preoccupied with the Marshal to care what he had to say, and the old fool of the King listened to every one of his lies and was now making plans on the advancements in this on-going war. It was funny to watch all of them set themselves up to fail. Give it a few more years and Insomnia would fall to the hands of the Empire and he would finally get his home back. Finally, he could be rid of these pesky Caelum’s and if Niflheim got their way, both the immortal brothers would become subjects to Besithia’s experiments and the King and Prince would be laying dead on the throne room floor. But those fantasies had to be put to rest for now. Right now, he was more interested on what had been going on in the Citadel while he had been away. “Ulric. Report.”“Everything with the Glaive has been running smoothly, sir.” Nyx nodded, still standing to attention.“Good. No problems with the family? Or attempts on their lives that they failed to mention during the meeting?”“No, sir. Everything you need to be aware of with the Glaive is in this file.”“Good.” Drautos said taking the file off the glaive before sitting down at his desk. For some reason or other it was filthy. Clearly, the glaives had been in here. Right, training was going to be brutal for the next couple of weeks for this. Drautos glanced up and saw that Nyx hadn’t left. Drautos merely rolled his eyes: “Anything else?”Nyx rubbed the back of his neck, not really wanting to disclose the information but if he didn’t someone was going to make the situation sound worse than it was. “You’re going to find out anyway, it’s all anyone is talking about at the moment. The Marshal has been acting weird.”“Why is that important?” Drautos asked sounding uninterested, but he was very interested indeed.“Because he wasn’t training with the guard or anyone for a while. And he and His Grace have been having a few problems.”“Problems? What sort of issues?” This was just getting better by the second.“I have been keeping out of it. It is only rumours. I am sure it’s nothing and the guard and glaive have made mountains out of molehills.”Drautos tapped his foot on the floor. Considering that His Grace didn’t gut him the moment he saw him, it had become clear to him that Cor hadn’t said a word. And his silence on the matter must have caused a rift between the daemon and himself. This amused Drautos and he wanted to laugh at the news. But Ulric was still standing in front of him and if he wished to keep his head, he must keep quiet for the time being. The way Cor looked at him this morning made the Captain feel beyond powerful. Single handily he had made the strongest warrior that Lucis had ever known crumble before him. Well… he did have him on his front, basically passed out as he ruined the man. Cor was clearly terrified just being in his presence, no wonder he didn’t turn up to the meeting earlier. Him being sick was probably a lie just to get out of it. Drautos wondered how many lies he had told to keep their little ‘union’ a secret. Maybe it was time to pay the Marshal a visit again…“I’ll have a word with the Marshal tomorrow. The protection of the family is the most important thing after all. If there is nothing else, leave and ensure that everyone is in formation at 17:00 hours.”“Yes, sir.” “Hey, are you feeling any better?” Ardyn asked as he knelt on the floor beside Cor. He gave Cor a smile as he touched the back of his neck. “Your temperature has come down. You haven’t been sick since have you?”“No.” Cor shook his head, feeling so relieved that Ardyn was back at home.“Okay.”Ardyn kissed his forehead and went to leave the room but Cor didn’t want him to leave. He sat up and raised his voice after him.“Where are you going?”“Downstairs to give you some space.”“I don’t want any space. Can you stay with me?”Ardyn paused for a moment. In the space of literally a few hours, their roles had been reversed. Cor was acting uncharacteristically clingy. Ardyn, being someone who was constantly hyper-aware of everything, was growing more concerned. Cor had been taking chunks out of him with words for weeks and all of a sudden he didn’t want him to leave his side. Maybe it was the sickness that had come out of nowhere and forced him into bed. That was another thing, Cor was gladly excepting the fuss, he was actually asking for it. Something wasn’t right. Not knowing what it was, Ardyn nodded and walked back over to their bed.“Move over then.”Cor did as he was told and wrapped his arms around Ardyn’s chest after the royal had taken off his shoes and got under the covers. Ardyn ran his hand through Cor’s sweaty hair and gently rubbed the arm that was wrapped around his middle. Cor closed his eyes and just hoped that no one disturbed them for the rest of the day. He didn’t have to worry about Prom being anywhere Drautos today, because he was out with Ignis, then he was going to Noct’s for dinner and would be back before 10 pm. Prom was safe. And Cor was safe because he had Ardyn laying next to him.They remained like this in silence for an hour. Ardyn thought because Cor was ill, he would have drifted off to sleep, but Cor couldn’t sleep. Not with the knowledge that that man was back. When Ardyn was at that meeting, Cor was restless. He had his phone in front of him and any sound that came from outside made him jump. He had gone back to being as scatty as he had been the day after it had happened.Still, Cor couldn’t say the word. He still hadn’t fully accepted what had happened to him yet. With Drautos back… he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t afford to break down in front of anyone. He had to be calm and act like nothing was wrong still. But Cor knew he could no longer treat Ardyn as he had been. He could no longer push him away. He needed him close, in order to feel safe and to ensure that the Captain went nowhere near their son. Therefore it was time for a proper apology and a semi-real explanation for his bad and unforgiving behaviour.Cor kissed Ardyn’s chest through his clothes and looked up towards his husband’s face. “I am going to make it up to you.”“I thought we already discussed this and have decided to put it all behind us.” Ardyn sighed, really not wanting to start yet another argument today.“I know. But Regis said something to me the other day. And the fact is Ardyn, I am not ready to let you go. I don’t think I will ever be.”“Nor am I ready to think about leaving you and Prom behind.” Ardyn gave him a weak smile and hugged him tighter. Realistically as soon as Noct ascended to the throne they had about 10 years together before he would be considered clean enough to purge the scourge from this world. It was not enough time. And they had been shouting, screaming and saying untruthful and unforgivable things at each other.No, they had to change topic, Ardyn was getting upset. Lucky for him Cor did that. And it was not a subject he thought they would be having so soon after they promised to put their problems to rest. “I want to tell you what’s been bothering me.”“Umm.” Ardyn shifted a little to get a better look at Cor’s face. Prompto had interrupted this before and by the six he wished their son didn’t decide to make a sudden appearance now.“It’s a mixture of things. I have been worried about Prom.” That wasn’t a lie. He was always worried about Prom, but if Cor could get Ardyn a little paranoid on their son’s activities, it meant Ardyn would keep a closer eye on him and Drautos would not get within a room space near him.“He is perfectly well enough Cor, I have told you before there is no need to worry.”Now the next part was trickier. He wasn’t telling Ardyn what had taken place, but he was hinting that he was not comfortable. “And I… I… am still feeling guilty about what happened when that randomer kissed me.”“I told you not to be, that wasn’t your fault.” Ardyn said, sternly.“But it has been playing around in my head for so long. I just can’t shake the guilt. That’s why I have been pushing you away because I feel I don’t deserve you anymore.” Cor sniffed. His eyes started to get hotter and he buried his face further into Ardyn’s chest. None of that was a lie. He felt unclean, dirty and unworthy of Ardyn’s love. All because he couldn’t defend himself when it mattered. All because he led that man on and he took it as an opportunity to do something ungodly to him.“Oh, My Marshal…” Ardyn said softly placing his hand to Cor’s chin so he would look up at him again. All of their fights and arguments were because of that? Ardyn wiped the small tears away that fell from Cor’s eyes and spoke lovingly at him. “It is I who doesn’t deserve you. All this time, why couldn’t you have told me sooner.”“Because it is a stupid thing to get worked up about.” Cor continued to let the tears fall. He needed to cry, he had stopped himself from doing it a while back to try and minimise any suspicion. Now, that he had expressed to Ardyn how he was truly feeling, the tears that came along with the un-washable stain came pouring out too.“If it upsets you, it isn’t stupid to me. I love you and I am never going to stop. Just know that you don’t need my forgiveness because you are not in the wrong. Please, try not to feel guilty my love.” Ardyn kissed him on the lips and Cor didn’t reject him. He needed him. He needed Ardyn. “Is there anything else?”“No. Nothing else. Thank you Ardyn Leonis. I am never going to stop loving you either.” Cor’s office had been a place of fear for him for a couple of weeks, but now he was seeing it as a hide away. As soon as he got into work the following morning he went to his office and locked the door to keep everyone out. He still felt sick being in here, but it was the only place where no one could ask him questions. He could keep out of sight from everyone and no one could come in unless he gave them permission. Throughout the morning this method of keeping everyone out worked. That was until Noctis came by. The Prince gave him a rant about Regis mollycoddling him, and because he couldn’t find Ardyn to tell his dad off he asked Cor to do it instead. And once the Prince left, Cor forgot to lock the door again and he deeply regretted it when he walked through the door.“Cor.”Cor snapped his head up from his desk and dug his nails into the arms of his chair when he locked eyes with Drautos. The Marshal held his breath and thought of every possible exit in this room. And unless he wanted to jump out a 20-story window, the only exit was the one that Drautos was standing in front of.Having no other option but to remain in his seat, Cor gritted his teeth together and growled at the Captain. “Get. Out. Now.”Cor’s nails dug deeper into the wood when he heard Drautos let out a small laugh. “I am only here to give you this.”Drautos walked closer to his desk and threw something on the top of it. As Drautos continued to come closer, Cor shifted his chair back a bit. He did not want him anywhere near him. To ensure Cor wasn’t any closer to him, he did not reach for the file. He just continued to stay on the defensive and tried his best to get rid of him.“Now, you can piss off.”“Why, what have I done?”“You know exactly what you have done.”Drautos laughed again. Only this time it sounded cruel. It sounded disgusting. Almost like the laugh that he chuckled in his ear after he… No, he was not being sick today. “You mean the whole sleeping together incident. I am sorry Marshal, but we were both drunk and from what I remember you wanted it.”“NO. I. DIDN’T.” Cor raised his voice in an offended tone. What the fuck was he on. He begged him to stop. He pleaded with him to stop. He didn’t want that!“You are accusing me of rape?” Drautos huffed, acting like he wasn’t too bothered by that accusation.That word stung his ears. But somehow it gave him more strength to fight Drautos back with words and words alone. “I am not accusing you of it.”“If you don’t like me you could at least find a way to get rid of me that won’t ruin my reputation. Have you told His Grace yet?”“And risk him going to prison for a scum bag like you. No chance.” Hearing that filth of a man to have the cheek to mention his husband after what he had done, it gave the Marshal a little more confidence to defend himself. He loosened his nails from the chair and put his hands in his lap.“Then it never happened. Because any normal person would have told their partner by now.”“My partner isn’t exactly normal is he. He could destroy the world with the snap of his fingers if he wanted too.”Drautos gave him a vile smirk. “So, you are protecting me.”“Don’t you dare think for a second I am being silent to protect you.” Cor felt himself get more aggressive. He banged his hand against the table, to warn Drautos that he was now walking on some dangerous ground. Drautos may have beaten him when he was drunk but Cor wasn’t drunk now. All it would take would be for him to summon his weapon and he would surely have the Captain beat. He just had to remind his attacker of that. But Cor’s eyes were still coated with fear and all his attempts to act aggressive, were just shattered by the look in his eyes. Drautos stood a meter away from the desk and looked down at the Marshal, with a look of pity. “We had sex Cor. Nothing more.”“You’re wrong. I never wanted that!”“I don’t know what fantasy you have built up in your head, we had sex and I never forced myself on you.”“Stop twisting it.” Cor shuddered upon hearing Drautos call it a ‘fantasy’. What sick vile individual would ever want that to happen to them. The Captain was gross, why did he ever let him near him?“I am not. You’re the one who’s doing that.” Drautos smirked as he placed his hands on the desk. Cor instantly removed his hand and pushed his chair back further so that Drautos couldn’t touch him. He was never letting that man touch him again. “Flinching as well? You are really messed up in the head. That never happened. I never raped you.”“Yes, you did.”“Where’s your proof Cor?” Drautos asked pushing his hands off the desk and taking a few steps back. Cor didn’t reply, the Marshal looked away from him in defeat and the Captain realised he had him exactly where he wanted him. “That’s right, you haven’t got any.”Cor wanted to argue back, wanted to use every threat that Eos had to offer. But he couldn’t speak back because Drautos wasn’t wrong. It was far too late to do anything about it now. All the evidence was washed away when he had his shower. The bruises the man left behind were long gone. The lingering pain he felt was only psychological and at the end of the day, it was now only an accusation. And unless the Captain admitted it, it wasn’t real in the eyes of the law. Why didn’t he just tell Ardyn? Why didn’t he just open his mouth when he had the chance to.Before anything else could be said between the pair the voice of the deadliest being living flooded the room.“Cor darling, I was wondering- Oh hello Captain I didn’t know you were in here.” Ardyn didn’t bother hiding the irritation in his voice. Titus was only back for two days and already Ardyn felt like he had to fight the man for his husband’s attention. “Sorry your Grace, I was just handing a file to the Marshal.” Drautos bowed his head as he spoke.Ardyn looked at Cor and he could sense how tense and uncomfortable he was, and Cor was not looking at him either. “Are you alright, Cor?”“Yes. Drautos was just leaving.” Cor replied sternly forcing the panic down of Drautos and Ardyn being so close together.“Right. Marshal. Your Grace.”Drautos left the room smirking to himself and ignored the stare of confusion that His Grace was giving him. The Captain was confident enough that Ardyn would not come looking for him later. With that conversation with Cor, he was certain that the big bad Adagium was never going to find out. Getting away with being Niflheim’s spy always brought him joy. But now he was getting away with ruining and violating Cor Leonis. And not a soul was ever going to find out because the Marshal was terrified of him. Being Captain of the Kingsglaive had now become bearable.Once the door was closed, Ardyn mentioned his husband’s clear distress and he had a feeling it had something to do with the man that just left. “Is he giving you trouble?”“No Ardyn. He is just handing me reports that I don’t want to go through.” Cor lied smiling. This was so much harder then he thought it was going to be. But he had to push on. He had to keep this up.“Are you sure you looked like you wanted to gut him a moment ago?”“Look we aren’t friends anymore.”“Really? Why what happened?” Ardyn asked in a surprised tone, pulling up a chair to sit next to Cor.All these lies were killing him. It was just one after another and eventually, he was going to slip up. But he was not slipping up today. Cor grabbed Ardyn’s hand and the coldness of his fingertips comforted the distressed and scared Marshal. “He said something nasty about you. I don’t want anyone talking about you in that way.”“Darling I am touched by that, but I honestly don’t care what people think of me. As long as you and Prompto love me, I couldn’t give a toss.” Ardyn lightly pressed his lips to Cor’s hand with joy. At least he no longer had to compete for Cor’s attention. But still, something did not sit right with him. The immortal being could not think of what it could be.“Well, we do. So, there is no problem there.”“Anyway, the reason for my visit. Do you want to get some lunch with Prompto and myself?”“Prom’s in the Citadel?” Cor felt his throat tightened. No, Prompto had to leave he was not being in this building anymore. Not with the Captain stalking around every corner.“Yes, he was spending time with Mr Scientia, Gladio, and Noct this morning. Now, he wants to have lunch with us and has asked to come with me when I take the car to get her serviced. Mainly so he can take a few more pictures of that beautiful deserted landscape. And of course, he wants to see Cindy and… Cid.”That calmed his nerves down a bit. Of course, Cor was more than happy with that and he wanted to see Prom as quick as he could now. He stood up and forced out a laugh at how Ardyn had said Cid’s name.“I can’t believe you are still scared of him.”“No, I am not.”“Course you’re not.” “You need to tell someone then or see a doctor.” Prom suggested from across the room.That came out of nowhere. They had been talking about Prom’s future not about how Cor had been acting. When Cor looked into his son’s eyes there was no resentment, despite the fact he had just told him no again about entering the Kingsglaive, there was only worry. “Prom, I don’t need to see a doctor. I am stressed, my job is stressful no one can change that.” It was pointless blaming it on the job. Prom was cleverer than a lot of people gave him credit for. “But you’re not acting like you. Dad, me, Somnus, Regis, Noct, everyone are really worried. All we want to do is help. But we can’t do that unless you help yourself.”“When did you become so wise?” Cor laughed walking over to Prom to give him a hug. Prompto wasn’t allowed to worry about him, it should be the other way around.“You taught me that after I came out of hospital. That is why I want you to talk to someone. I don’t want you to get ill.”“I know.”“Then please tell Dad what’s wrong. Or me or anyone. I hate seeing you like this.”“I promise you I will.” Cor said holding Prompto a little closer to him. Why was he so sweet? Why was he so kind and caring even after what an utter prick he had been? “Your Dad picked the best nickname for you. You are truly a Sunbeam, Prom.” “I take it you and Cor are sorting things out?” Somnus asked packing up the game of chess that he and his brother had just finished playing. Ardyn nodded. Somnus had been quite interested in his and Cor’s relationship since Ardyn had cried in front of him. It was strange. Why couldn’t Somnus be a dick about it rather than be nice to him? It would make things seem normal. “I wish I knew what there was to sort out. But yes, we are getting there.”“I know I am a fucking prick, but you can talk to me if you need too.” Somnus said sincerely. “Do you honestly think I would come to you for relationship advice?” Ardyn let out a hollow laugh.“I am only trying to help. You don’t have to accept it but the offer is there.”Ardyn fought back a smile. His brother was so weird. But he was rather touched by the offer. Somnus wasn’t all bad. “You are annoying.”“Good. So are you.” “FUCK OFF GLADIO!”Ardyn and Somnus gave each other a weird look. That was Noctis shouting at the top of his lungs at his Shield. Wait a second, weren’t they meant to be training, why where they anywhere near Somnus’s quarters? “Astrals what has happened now?” Ardyn grumbled raising from his chair.“I would leave them to it personally.”“This is why I don’t come to you for advice. Let’s leave the Chosen King and his Shield to kill each other. Great idea.” Ardyn left and clicked his fingers at his brother for him to follow. He heard Somnus groan and the sound of footsteps following close behind him. Just to ensure that his nephew and Shield heard him, he called out into the hall. “Noctis! Gladiolus! Please do not kill each other I would actually like to be put out of my misery at some point this century!”When the brother’s turned a corner they saw Noctis holding his back, struggling to walk, with Gladio close behind him making sure he didn’t do any more damage.“This is your fault!” Noctis shouted close to tears as he tried to walk away from Gladio.“Calm down Princess. It wasn’t me who warped into a wall was it?”“You aren’t exactly being helpful! Just FUCK OFF!”“Noct, is your back alright?” Ardyn rushed over to him extremely worried.“No!”Ardyn got him to stand still and threw a potion over him to lessen the pain. Noctis gave him a small nod to say thank you and if he was honest, he was more frustrated than anything else. He wished he had concentrated on that strike, he wouldn’t have been in any pain if that was the case.“Som, go tell Regis that Noct has hurt his back again. Don’t worry Gladiolus, he’ll be alright. You can run along I’ll look after him from here.” Ardyn shooed the younger Amicitia away. Poor boy, he was very worried about the Prince. But he would be alright with a good nights rest, some painkillers and a potion.“You’ve hurt your back, again?” Somnus shook his head. Sometimes he found it hard to believe that Noctis was meant to save this world. That was not a thought he had ever shared with anyone and he was not about to say it now.“Piss off Somnus!”“Don’t be rude to your Grandfather. Actually, what am I saying? Carry on with the rudeness, my dear Noctis.” Cor had to tell someone. He had to. Someone had to know everything he was feeling, the internal torment, he could no longer carry on the weight of all these lies and secrets. It was making him unwell. He was worrying everyone around him, but he didn’t know who to turn to. He needed to tell someone who he trusted, who wasn’t anywhere near Lucis to inform Ardyn or anyone else as to what had happened, and someone who wouldn’t be able to drop everything just to come and see him.There weren’t very many people who suited that role. Cor actually struggled to think of one person. That was until he got a text from Wesk.Wesk…Keeping his promise to Prompto, Cor tapped the name on his phone, sat on the bed and listened to the ringing noise. Cor knew he was going to answer. They hardly called each other and if they did, they always ended up talking about something serious. And when he heard Wesk pick up Cor spoke. “Wesk.”
“Hello, Cor. What I am owed the pleasure of this call?”
“I need to talk to you.” Cor said steadily. Right he had to do this.
“What can I help you with?”
“I need to tell you something…” His voice was less steady, that time. He was starting to get anxious and by the way, Wesk responded, Cor knew that Wesk was worried.
“Cor… what’s happened? Is everything okay?”
“No, Wesk. Nothing’s okay.” Cor said bursting into tears and whimpered down the phone. He covered his mouth to muffle the sounds and tried his hardest to blink the tears away as he asked for Wesk’s forgiveness for the sudden burst of emotion. “Sorry.”“It’s alright, there is no need to be sorry. What’s wrong?” Wesk sounded on edge, uneased and worried.“I… I don’t know what to do anymore…”
“With what?”
Cor sniffed and controlled his crying. But his voice could not be helped. He started to slip over his words. “With me and Ardyn. I have done something really stupid Wesk. I just don’t know what to do.”
“Okay. Calmly tell me what’s happened between the two of you.”
“We keep fighting, and it’s all my fault.”“In what way is it your fault?” Wesk asked but Cor didn’t reply and it made the bartender worries escalate. “Cor…” Cor shook his head again and tried to explain. But he, along with his words were just turning into a complete mess. “I… I lied to him. I keep lying to him and I can’t stop. I don’t know what he is going to do when he finds out.”
“Finds out what?”
“That I wa…” Cor stopped.He had made a mistake. He couldn’t do this over the phone. Wesk would be heartbroken. Even if he made him promise, Regis would surely get a phone call, and everything would blow up. His failure would be exposed and it would be out of his control. Anyway, Drautos was right… he had no proof. He had nothing. And now he had made Wesk worry…“Cor? Are you still there? Hello?” He knew he had to say something. What he said wasn’t a lie, but in the long run, this only made his situation worse. “Yeah. Sorry, that I was… I was… unfaithful to him. I cheated on him Wesk. I have fucked everything up.”Cor held his breath when Wesk said nothing. He had definitely made things worse. But with Drautos showing up and all the lying, it just came out. This was the first thing he had lied about it, and it just came blurting out. He prayed that he didn’t say the other thing.He heard Wesk clear his throat and Cor could no longer tell how he was feeling. “Tell me exactly what happened, and I will try my hardest to help.” “I went out, got a little tipsy and someone kissed me. I told Ardyn I didn’t know who it was and that I pulled away the moment it happened. But I did know who it was. And I didn’t pull away. I wanted to have sex with them Wesk and when it got intense, I stopped it and then… Now, everything is falling apart, I keep lying to him, we fight all the time, and everything bad that could possibly happen has. I feel so shit and disgusting I don’t know what to do.”
“You need to tell Ardyn.”
“I can’t.” Cor began to fight the tears again and his breathing started to go ragged. “Can you imagine what he would do to that person if he found out?”
“Yes, but it is clearly tearing you apart. Cor, I know how much you love Ardyn, and how much Ardyn loves you back. Telling him will be difficult but it will be worth it. Tell me, who was it?”
“I’m not telling you that.” Cor clamed up again. This was definitely the wrong decision.
“I can’t fully help you unless you tell me everything. Look I swear I won’t say a word to this to anyone. Please, Cor tell me who it was?”
“No.”“My Marshal! You will never guess who is coming over for dinner tonight!”Shit Ardyn, Cor thought to himself as he wiped the tears from his face. For once he was grateful that he suffered from migraines, he could blame the glassy look in his eyes on that.“Wesk, that’s Ardyn I have to go.”“For your own sake Cor… please tell him.” Wesk pleaded.“Bye.” Cor hung up on a whisper and threw his phone back on the bed. The Marshal took in some deep and well-needed breaths before leaving his room to see Ardyn at the bottom of the stairs, smiling with glee. “Sorry, Ardyn I was just on the phone to Wesk.”“Oh, did you have a nice catch-up?”“… Yeah. Sorry, who’s coming over?” Ardyn’s smile got brighter as he drummed his hands on the banister for dramatic affect. “Mr Scientia.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Somnus hummed while walking through the Citadel hallways at around midnight. He should have been in his own house and asleep by now, but he had had a nap a few hours ago and he had only just woken up. What he did not expect to see on his stroll was his brother in the Citadel. He should have been at home with Prom and Cor. Somnus walked closer to his brother who was staring out of the window and Ardyn looked troubled.“Are you alright?” Somnus asked politely. “No.”Somnus frowned. Ardyn’s voice sounded bitter. Very bitter. Okay… so either Cor and he had another fight or it was something Somnus had done. And curiosity got the better of the Founder King. (Secretly, Somnus did want to know if Ardyn was alright because he was worried about him)“What’s wrong? Ardyn tell me.”Ardyn let out a deep sigh and decided to give into his brother’s demands. Otherwise, Somnus was only going to get on his nerves and they would fight it out. “Something is seriously up with Cor and I think Drautos is the reason.”“Ardyn this is jealousy creeping through again. I told you this before let Cor have friends.”Ardyn turned to face his brother and he felt nothing but torment hearing those words. Because this wasn’t jealousy anymore, Ardyn had an awful feeling in his gut and somehow it involved his husband and Drautos. It wasn’t computing in Ardyn’s brain as to what it could be. All he knew was that something was wrong.“Somnus. They’re not friends anymore. You may say I am being paranoid but ever since Cor has been acting strange, they have fallen out. I just want to know what is going on in my husbands’ head.”“If Cor won’t tell you, ask Drautos but it is probably nothing and you are overreacting.”“Umm.”Ardyn didn’t think he was.Cor was starting to act normal again. He was slowly letting him hug him again, he was starting to open up and talk to him again. That was until the Captain came back. On the first day of his arrival, Cor was sick. He got very clingy, told him he was feeling guilty about something that Ardyn had forgiven him for and forgotten about, and now Cor had gone back to keeping him at a distance. He was keeping everyone at a distance. He was isolating himself more than before and Cor would push Ardyn away whenever he asked what the matter was. There had to be a link between Cor and Drautos. Something was very wrong and because Ardyn couldn’t figure out what it was, it was making him very angry. Ardyn didn’t know how to approach the situation without losing his temper. And he didn’t want to do that. Drautos had found it rather amusing, sitting in the background, watching Cor’s and Ardyn’s relationship strain, knowing that he was to blame for it all. He found himself getting distracted by images of the Marshal’s feeble body underneath his, squirming and begging him to stop. He let out a chuckle to himself and wondered what would happen if His Grace found out, but not the whole picture? Otherwise, he would be dead. But what would happen if he discovered that Cor had been ‘unfaithful’ to him? The royal family would tear itself apart and their lame King and crippled Prince wouldn’t have their daemonic uncle to watch over them as he would be too busy trying to control his emotions. Which meant the Captain may get what he wanted sooner than he thought…Now all he had to do was try an arrange a meeting with the Daemon Lord. He really didn’t want to talk to anyone in that family if he didn’t have to. He despised them all.“Titus.”Drautos bowed at hearing the Shield’s voice. “Your Majesty. Lord Amicitia.”When he looked up, he saw that the pathetic King and his lapdog of a Shield had sour looks on their faces. Drautos fought back a growl of venom, what the bloody hell did they fucking want? He was busy, watching the glaive and plotting the pair's demise.Regis gave him a weak smile. “We need to ask something of you. I understand that you probably have no idea what is going on as you haven’t been here for the past month, but have you spoken to Cor recently?”
Oh… maybe this conversation wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
Drautos had to watch himself, laughing in front of the King who was the Marshal’s nephew-in-law and best friend would not go in his favour. In fact, if they had noticed something was wrong with the Marshal, he had to try his hardest to make them see he had nothing to do with it… for the time being anyway.“Not since the other day, sir.” Drautos replied.“I did tell you.” Clarus said huffing, clearly annoyed.“Oh well, thank you all the same. We will let you get back to work. Sorry to have disturbed you.” Regis nodded and turned around with Clarus copying his actions.Maybe it was a stupid idea but Drautos was enjoying seeing both Regis and Clarus slightly upset and annoyed by Cor’s behaviour. The Captain couldn’t resist it, he added more fuel to the fire and asked what the matter was, knowing full well he was the one and only reason for all of this heartache. “Sorry, Your Majesty, but may I ask why?”Regis turned back and gave Clarus a glance to see if he approved. When Clarus gave him a small nod, the King turned back to Drautos and told him, not revealing too much, otherwise, Ardyn would have his head. But… it did make the King wonder. Cor had been down since the Captain left. The King respected the Captain and had too much trust in him to ever expect that he had anything to do with it, but all the same he was very worried about Cor and it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “Certainly. He’s just not been himself recently and I, we, just thought considering that you and he have gotten close over the last few months if you knew anything that may have contributed to this.”“No. All I know is that he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore.”“Why?” Clarus asked not expressing any emotion in his voice. The Shield did trust Drautos, just not to the same level that Regis did and he was troubled by that response.“I have no idea.” Drautos shrugged his shoulders and tried to ignore the look of uncertainty that he was now getting from Clarus. The Captain had pushed for far too much turmoil today. But thankfully, Regis prevented Clarus from asking anything else. “Don’t feel put out, he isn’t talking to anyone. Never mind, we have taken too much of your time. Come on Clarus.”Drautos bowed and watched the pair leave, but he noticed that Clarus left his eyes on him a little longer than he usually would. Fuck. Drautos needed to be careful now. He had been purposely bumping into Cor and finding excuses to talk to him just so he could watch the man tremble under his gaze. And now because Clarus had given him that look the Captain had to put his torment on hold for a while.Clarus felt very uneasy by how Drautos had responded to their questions. The Marshal and the Captain were as thick as thieves before he left and the very same day he left, Cor had suddenly shut everyone out? Including Prom. Cor would never do that to his son and he outright didn’t want his son to join the glaive. That… that was odd. This whole situation was odd and Clarus decided to relay his worries on to Regis. He waited until they were away from the Glaive barracks and nowhere where Ardyn, Somnus or Cor would just randomly appear. He pulled Regis to one side and told him what he had noticed.“Clarus, don’t say things like that.” Regis warned as he continued to walk as he was trying to locate Noct.“You can’t ignore these factors though. I am just saying it is a bit of a coincidence that’s all.”“We may not know Titus as well as we know Cor, but do you really think that Cor’s behaviour is down to one person? It has to be something more serious than that. Anyway, Cor would have told us.”“But he hasn’t, has he. He is acting anything but normal.” Clarus said, getting mildly frustrated by Regis’s faith in all his high-ranking officers. Regis didn’t trust the council but when it came to the army, he was blinded and both Ardyn and himself had told the King this many times. Regis always shrugged it off and to make matters worse Somnus sided with Regis.“What do you want me to do? Go up to Titus and demand he tells me something that he clearly knows nothing about?” Regis said accidentally losing his temper. He had enough of Cor’s behaviour, but he was not about to point the finger and blame anyone neither should Clarus. “We don’t know what is going on but if anyone had something to do with it, Cor would have told us.”“Really? Because I can think of one reason why he wouldn’t say a thing, and that reason is: Ardyn. It’s no secret Ardyn hates Drautos. And if Drautos has something to do with what is going on with Cor, Ardyn would not hesitate to hurt him.”“And you think Cor can’t look after himself? He has more skills than Drautos, you or I. Stop being ridiculous Clarus. Now I am going to see Noctis, go home and spend time with Gladio and Iris and get that idea out of your head.”Clarus rolled his eyes and thought it best to not argue with Regis any longer. He did as he was told, only after he was certain that Regis got to the lift okay and ordered a few of the guard to escort him to the Prince.Unbeknown to the pair of them though, Ardyn had heard that entire conversation. If Regis wasn’t going to find anything out, Ardyn was going to. And Clarus was right. If Ardyn found out that Drautos had anything to do with Cor’s behaviour, he was going to hurt him.Depending on what it was… he was going to kill him. For the rest of the day, Ardyn could not get out of his head what Clarus had said. Ardyn already had thoughts that Drautos had something to do with it, but with the combined worries of Amicitia, this was not something Ardyn could simply ignore like Regis had decided to do. So Ardyn decided when they went to bed, or whenever Prom went upstairs, Ardyn would confront Cor about it. And if Cor said no that Drautos had nothing to do with anything, then Ardyn would ask the Captain himself.However, Ardyn’s chance of getting Cor alone tonight was looking slim. For some reason, Cor was practically suffocating Prompto with all the attention he was giving him. His husband was asking Prom all sorts of questions like: How Noctis was if things with Ignis were going well if he had thought any further on what he wanted to do and how Prom was feeling in himself. Of course, being the darling that Prom was, he answered every single one of Cor’s questions, but at some point, during the night he looked to Ardyn as if to say ‘what the hell is going on?’. To which Ardyn shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, as he was just as confused by the attack of questions that Cor was forcing upon their son. Cor was always this interested in Prompto but he never would suffocate him like this. When they were on the topic of Ignis, Cor straight up ask Prom if he had had sex with Ignis yet. Which made Prom feel very embarrassed and he really wanted to get out of this conversation quickly. He looked to Ardyn for help, but his immortal dad ended up backing his other dad instead of him. This was because this topic was something that Ardyn had also been trying to talk to Prom about since he found out they were dating. No unplanned consequences would come out of Prom and Ignis being together but Ardyn and Cor just wanted to make sure that Prom felt ready for it and that he wasn’t rushing into things so he didn’t end up regretting anything. Both of them never thought for one second Ignis would ever make Prom do what he didn’t want, but Cor enforced the notion that it was okay to say no, it was his right to say no if Prom wasn’t comfortable in any way. (As he didn’t want the same thing that happened to him, happen to his son) Prom told them both that nothing like that had happened yet and said he was going upstairs before he died of embarrassment. Ardyn finally had Cor alone but before he could ask Cor about Drautos, Cor went upstairs, claiming he was tired and that he had promised Cid he would call him tonight. Ardyn sighed, did the washing up and then went upstairs to talk to Prompto before he and Cor went to bed.When he heard Cor stop talking on the phone Ardyn left Prom’s room to go to his own, but as he approached his room, he saw the bathroom door slam shut and he heard Cor gagging. Of course, Ardyn feared the worse and thought that Cor was choking, he barged through the bathroom door to see if there was anything he could do to help his ill and distressed Marshal. But what he saw shocked and angered him. He saw Cor sticking his fingers down his throat and forcing what they had eaten for dinner to come back up.Ardyn threw the door closed and it took all he had not to scream at Cor so that Prom didn’t hear what they were arguing about. “What the fuck are you doing!?”“Nothing.” Cor coughed, he looked alert and ashamed as he locked eyes with his husband, but Ardyn no longer cared what Cor was feeling at this point.“Nothing! This is nothing is it?!”“Keep your voice down do you want him to hear us arguing.” Cor hushed Ardyn as he flushed the toilet.Ardyn let out an evil and disgusted laugh hearing that. He couldn’t believe that Cor would fucking do that with Prom in the house. He didn’t even lock the door, Prompto could have walked in there and saw his dad making himself sick! Their son was still in therapy! Was Cor really that stupid and selfish! That is where Ardyn drew the line. He was going to scream at Cor for this, and he didn’t care if he caused the Marshal any upset at all. This was nearly an unforgivable offence! And if Prom had witnessed it Ardyn didn’t know if he would be able to forgive him!“I am taking him to Clarus’s and when I get back, we are having a serious conversation Leonis!” Ardyn roared, no longer having control of his rage. He broke the bathroom door on his way out and aggressively knocked on his son’s door before allowing himself entry. And when he saw Prom, he looked worried and a little scared at his rage.Ardyn was quick to take in a deep breath to compose himself until he came back to talk to Cor. Because Ardyn was too angry he did not smile when he spoke to his son. “Prompto are you alright?”“Are you and dad fighting again?” Prom said in a low voice, not sure if he should be asking that or not. He had never seen his dad so angry before in his life, without the scourge seeping through that is. Ardyn always tried his best to control his temper around him. “Yes, I am afraid. But this time there is a reason behind it.”“Why are you always fighting? It was never like this before.”“I know Prom. I don’t want to fight with your father anymore then you want me to fight with him.” Ardyn could feel his voice getting bitter with every word he spoke to Prom. What made matters worse was that he knew he had to keep an ear out in case Cor decided he didn’t want to talk about what he had just done. If the Marshal tried to get out of this…. Cor was going to finally realise what a true monster he was married too.“Then stop.” Prom pleaded.“Unfortunately, this time I need to… I am taking you to Clarus’s.”“Why, what’s the reason?” Prompto was getting worried. What the hell had happened now?“I will tell you but not right now. Just get what you need for the night please.”Prom nodded and when Ardyn wasn’t looking, he quickly sent a text to Somnus to tell his uncle what was going on and that he should probably get himself over to his house before his dad’s killed each other. Once he was ready Ardyn teleported both of them to Clarus’s manor. Ardyn told Prom to let Jared know he was staying before finding Clarus, who was sitting in his study doing work. From there, Ardyn informed Clarus exactly what Cor had done and that he didn’t want Prom hearing them arguing about it. Clarus completely agreed with him and reminded Ardyn that it would be better if he got a hold of himself before he went in with all guns blazing. The Shield was just as enraged as Ardyn but he knew Ardyn would not get the answers he was looking for if he screamed the house down.Ardyn thanked him for letting Prom stay and the advice he had given him before leaving, however, the internal rage got the better of him and as soon as he saw Cor, who was still standing in the bathroom he screamed at his husband and demanded he explain himself for his disrespectful and awful behaviour.“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!!! Our son has Anorexia and you are making yourself sick! What in the name of the Six possessed you to do such a thing?!!!!”“I felt sick.” Cor stumbled over his words refusing to look at Ardyn.Ardyn laughed and used the most passive-aggressive tone he could. “Oh… I am sorry for getting the wrong end of the stick darling! That’s fine then, isn’t it? Let’s show Prom that it is okay to do that. So, he can end up in the hospital again!”“I wasn’t thinking,” Cor shouted back, as he finally realised what he had just done.Cor would never cause Prompto pain like that but the Marshal only acted as he had because Drautos sent him a text. It read: ‘Have you told your husband yet?’ but it brought back a lot of unwanted memories. He just did it, and Cor would never do that if he wasn’t so upset and scared. But he couldn’t tell Ardyn that, not with how angry he was at the moment. He couldn’t fault Ardyn either… Cor felt disgusted with himself. “I can see that!” Ardyn growled having quite enough of all of this. “What the fuck is wrong with you! I know longer believe this is all down to guilt, so you lied to me again! And whatever this is, it is now affecting our son. You are upsetting him, and I have no idea what is going on in that head of yours.”“Nothing is wrong with me!” Cor screamed back, trying to get passed Ardyn. But Ardyn slammed his hand against the doorframe, blocking Cor and preventing him from leaving.“STOP LYING TO YOURSELF AND STOP LYING TO ME! I know longer care if we agreed to put this all behind us, whatever is truly going on, you either need to tell me or fucking sort it out by yourself! Because if Prom gets ill again because you are acting like this, it is all on you!”“Leave me alone Ardyn.” Cor said in deep frustration. Fearing if Prom was okay, and fearing what Ardyn was going to do if Cor let slip as to what really happened.“That’s all I have been doing for a month now. How come in the space of one fucking night you no longer want to speak to me, be near me, hold me, have sex with me. You don’t want anything to do with me! I just want to understand what is going on!”“Can I just have one day where no one bothers me!”“BOTHERS YOU!”The front door opened and Somnus’s voice filled the space were either Ardyn’s or Cor’s shouts were meant to be. “ARDYN! COR!”The pair stared at each other with for a second, before Ardyn went right up in Cor’s face and pointed at him with aggression. “Don’t you dare think for one second I am letting this drop.” Ardyn turned around and went downstairs to find his brother at the bottom of them giving him a look of concern. “Somnus what are you doing here?”“Prom text me. I heard both of you halfway down the street. What is going on?” Somnus demanded to know not moving up the stairs.Ardyn closed his eyes and cursed the technology that was a mobile phone. He could really do without Somnus butting in right now. He understood that Prompto was more than concerned but Ardyn wouldn’t be able to get anything out of Cor if Somnus was here.“A dispute, nothing to concern yourself with.”“I am concerned.”“Can you not be and get out of my house!” Ardyn demanded. He whipped his head around when he heard Cor walking out of the bathroom and trying to retreat into their bedroom. “DO NOT even think about it.”The venom behind his brother’s voice shocked Somnus as that was clearly directed at Cor. He had never heard Ardyn speak to Cor like that before. Ardyn claimed Cor was the love of his life, and there was no love in the words he just used.“I am not arguing with you, with your brother here.” He heard Cor from upstairs and the Marshal sounded very distressed.“Good because Somnus is leaving.”“No, I am not! Not until you two get your arses downstairs, have a drink of some description and talk about what the hell is going on!” Somnus stated, going to the kitchen to boil the water.The Founder King was true to his word. He did not leave their house until they calmly talked about what had taken place that night. When Somnus found out what Cor had done, he was completely on Ardyn side. However, he did not wish to give his brother any more reason to be angry, he kept his mouth shut and texted Prom to check if he was okay. From there Somnus just sat in the background and only spoke when either of them were getting too upset and started saying things neither of them meant. It took a few hours for both of them to calm down and Somnus felt comfortable leaving Ardyn alone. And once they had said sorry to each other and made up Somnus had a few of his own words to say.“I don’t understand what is going on here, but can the two of you just pack it in?”“Somnus this is none of your business.” Ardyn gritted his teeth, feeling more than exhausted.“It is upsetting my nephew it is my business! You two love each other. That is more important than ripping into each other every day of the fucking week! We have just put to rest what has happened tonight, so I won’t mention it but you two need to stop doing this. For Prompto if not for anyone else. He loves you as much as you two love him and each other, and I am not letting either of you hurt him. So get your act together and do it quickly.”With that Somnus took his leave and called Prompto, not caring if it had gone past midnight. His nephew wasn’t asleep as he was too worried about his parents to fall asleep and Somnus did what he could to soften his worries and told him to meet him in the morning so they could have a proper discussion as to what was going on. “Are my Dads okay?” Prompto asked as he hurried into Somnus’s office.“I don’t know Prom.” Somnus shook his head, tapping his fingers against the desk.The Founder King had called Ardyn earlier to check if he and Cor were alright, but all he got was an over-enthusiastic ‘Yes’ and a quick thank you for last night. Somnus could clearly tell that Ardyn was faking it. Ardyn than put Cor on the phone to Somnus and he got the same reply but Cor was better at faking it than his brother was. There was nothing Somnus could do to help them. Maybe after he had left, they continued to talk things over, or… they just ended up fighting again. For Prom’s sake, he hoped it was the first out of the two options.“But you did stop them from arguing, did they tell you what it was about?”“They did. However, I am not going to tell you why they were arguing last night.”That made Prom go silent. Somnus watched as his nephew’s eyes started to fill with tears and glance down at the floor in an effort to conceal them. Oh no, Somnus wanted to avoid this.Prompto didn’t sleep last night. He was confused as to why his parents wanted him out of the house and why Ardyn didn’t stop when he asked him too. After Prom had settled in for the night Clarus came to find him and asked if he was okay. He put on a brave face for the Shield, but he could never do it when it was just him and Somnus. Prompto wiped his face and asked in a teary voice. “It was because of me wasn’t it?” “No, no, no.” Somnus stood up and got Prompto to look at him before comforting him. “Don’t you ever think that for one moment. They love you very much and you are not the fault in this.”“I just want things to go back to normal.” Prompto whimpered wrapping his arms around Somnus and burying his face in his chest.“It will. Everything will sort it’s self out, I promise.” Somnus, in turn, wrapped his arms around his nephew and let him cry.Now Somnus was angry. Ardyn and Cor should be more than ashamed of themselves for this. No one upset his sunbeam of a nephew, he wouldn’t even stand for Noctis doing it. And Somnus was going to tell Ardyn about this and he was going to tell Cor and Ardyn what utter twats they were. But Somnus did not let that be known to Prom. Right now, it was more important to make Prompto feel safe and calm. He didn’t need any more stress and Somnus did not want to see his nephew slip back to where he had been 2 years ago.Prompto calmed down after a while and thanked Somnus for looking after him. “Uncle Somnus… I don’t care what anyone else thinks of you, or what you think of yourself, you are a good man.”“Nowhere near as good as you are.” Cor called Clarus and asked for the day off work and Clarus gladly gave it to him. If it meant he would sort himself out, Clarus did not mind the extra paperwork.Cor spent the rest of the day making promises to Ardyn, that he would never do that again and begged for his forgiveness. And the only reason why Ardyn forgave him this time was because of Prompto and Somnus. And Ardyn didn’t mention Drautos. He didn’t want to fight anymore. He was sick of it. It was turning him into something he didn’t want to be. They agreed that they needed to start getting back on track for themselves and for Prom’s peace of mind. And when Prompto came home, at around 1pm they apologised to him and told him that none of this was his fault. That they loved him and they promised this time it was the end. They weren’t going to fight anymore.Prom accepted their apology and suggested they go out for dinner tonight to forget about it. And they did have a lovely time, even if the atmosphere was still tense, Cor and Ardyn did what they had to do to make Prompto happy.The tension lingered for a few more days. But by the end of the week, it was cleared as Cor and Ardyn had taken in what Somnus had said. The love they had for each other was so much more important than fighting and arguing. As a way to mend their relationship, Cor found the courage to finally be passionate and affectionate towards Ardyn again. He didn’t let Ardyn touch him anywhere below his waistline, but he did let him kiss him. It was Cor who made that move. Prom was spending the night at Ignis’s and after dinner, Cor caught Ardyn by surprise and passionately locked their mouths together. To make up for everything, the arguing, the tears, the lack of affection and sex, Cor gave him a blow job. It definitely put Ardyn in a good mood. The pair went to bed happy. And to Cor’s surprise, he wasn’t scared about doing that and because Ardyn didn’t ask for anything else Cor was more than happy to snuggle up to him while they slept.Just because they were patching things up, it didn’t mean Ardyn was willing to let Cor’s behaviour go, nor was he willing to get what Clarus had said to leave his mind. Drautos, he must have something to do with it. He had to. The problem was Ardyn couldn’t find any reason to talk to the Captain. He couldn’t think of an excuse to start a conversation or be alone with him.And Ardyn was getting distracted with these thoughts as he sat quietly with Noctis, playing a game of chess. And the Prince was not happy about being forced into this game.“This is sooo boring.” Noctis whined at his uncle.“Somnus doesn’t want to play with me.”“And you think I do?”“Just take your turn Noct,” Ardyn grumbled, slumping in his chair, continuing to think about how to get Drautos alone for 10 minutes, without anyone knowing. As Cor would just tell him to leave it like they had promised to do, whereas Somnus and Regis would tell him he was being paranoid. The only person who would support him in this would be Clarus, but after what happened a few days ago they hadn’t really spoken much.Noctis took his go and let out a sigh before addressing his uncle. “Ardyn, Prom told me that you and Cor had another argument. Do you want to talk about it?”“No.” Ardyn sigh, having his go without really thinking about it.“Can you at least tell me what happened?”“You’re only a child Noct, you should not be getting involved, or feel you have to.”Sometimes Ardyn thought that both Noctis and Prompto had grown up too quickly. Especially with the task that was a head of his nephew, he would have liked the pair to just be teenagers and be happy with their lives. But instead, the pair spent the majority of their time looking after and caring for their parents. It was a little disheartening to watch but it was very sweet all the same.“And my best friend is getting upset because you two don’t stop shouting at each other.”Upset? Prom shouldn’t have been, they had patched things up and talked things through. “What has Prom said?”“The usual. He’s fed up with it. That it is Cor who starts it and he feels trapped in the house because he is waiting for another argument to kick start.”“I feel much the same. But there is no need to worry Noct. We have sorted things out.”Noctis took his turn, before going back to dig into his uncle’s private life. “What if you start arguing again and Prom gets ill because of it?”“I won’t let that happen.” Ardyn said in a slightly uneased manner. How could Noct possibly think he would let that happen again?“No offence Ardyn, but if you keep arguing with Cor he will get sick again. Please, don’t do it anymore or do something to sort it out. Please?” Ardyn nodded and stood up, accidentally knocking over their game of chess.“You’re right Noct. I am going to do something about it.”“Does this mean I can leave?” Noctis asked as he watched his uncle leave him and he didn’t get a reply. Noctis started to shout out after him. “Ardyn? Uncle Ardyn? Have you gone? He’s gone.” Ardyn marched through the Citadel with one thought in mind, he was going to speak to Drautos and he was doing it now. Noctis was right, he should be doing something about this. He should be putting Prom above anything else at the moment and in order to do that he had to protect his marriage. He had to get to the bottom of Cor’s behaviour. And the only person who he thought that could tell him what was wrong, was Drautos. And just as he was about to get to the Kingsglaive training hall, where he knew Drautos was going to be, his phone started to ring.He cursed whoever it was and then looked at his phone.Weskham? Why was he ringing him? That was odd. And because Ardyn wanted it to stop ringing he answered his phone.“Mr Armaugh, I am sorry but I am quite busy at the moment.”
“Busy enough, that you can’t talk about Cor?”
Ardyn nodded and put his hunt on hold. “I am listening.”
“He called me the other week and… Ardyn you need to talk to him about it. He was very upset, and he needs to tell you something.”
“Tell me what? Wesk if you know something please tell me.” Ardyn asked, trying to control his voice, hoping to get a solid answer.When Wesk responded he sounded troubled. “I promised I wouldn’t but it’s not fair if you don’t know. I know what has been going on between the pair of you and I am not having a go. Just ask him to tell you what he talked about with me. I am not doing this to cause you or him any heartache. But he needs to tell you.” “Has he told anyone else, do you know?”
“From what I understand, no he hasn’t.”
“I will talk to him about it.”
“Text me what he tells you, please. If he doesn’t tell you the truth… then I think I might have too.”
That was an odd request. He remembered that day. That was the day Ignis came over for dinner and Cor looked like he had been crying… Cor told him it was just another headache and not to worry… Shit. Now Ardyn was starting to panic, what would Cor tell Wesk that he couldn’t possibly tell him?“Is it serious?” Ardyn’s voice was a little shaky when he asked that question and he heard Wesk’s voice turn more sympathetic than it had been before.
“From a relationship standpoint yes. Just know that he loves you very much.”
“Thank you, Wesk. I really mean that.”Ardyn hung up and stared at the door to the hall. Ardyn did think about waiting and asking Drautos politely if he would come and talk to him after he had finished work for the day. But that phone call with Wesk troubled him, it made his paranoia spike and he could no longer contain himself. He didn’t care if Regis was going to have a fit at him, he was getting to the bottom of this, once and for all.Ardyn literally kicked the door to get it open and everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him. Ardyn didn’t care he locked his eyes with Drautos and shouted at him.“Drautos. Your Office. NOW!”Ardyn didn’t even check to see if he was following him, and walked over to one of the side doors that led to the Captain’s office. As he went down the small corridor he heard footsteps following him and whispers from the glaive. He couldn’t make out what they were saying but it was probably about how angry he looked. When he reached the office, he left the door open and sat in Drautos’s chair. Not caring if this offended the man at all.It only took 20 seconds for Drautos to emerge and when he did, he shut the door behind him before ‘giving’ Ardyn a respectful greeting. “Your Grace.”“Oh do me a favour and shut up with the formality crap.” Ardyn ordered slamming his hands against the desk.Drautos didn’t jump. He simply cleared his throat and acted as if that hadn’t happened. “I didn’t mean to offend. May I ask, why you have summoned me?”“Yes. You see Captain, that I need to talk to you about my husband. I have noticed he had been quite chummy with you over the past couple of months and then you take off and you are no longer friends. On top of that, he doesn’t want to talk to anyone, not even his own son. So, therefore, I think you have something to do with his odd behaviour.”Ardyn made sure to make Drautos feel as uncomfortable as he could, by staring into his eyes. To his surprise, Drautos didn’t look away.He simply let out a sigh and said plainly. “He hasn’t told you then.”That definitely caught Ardyn’s attention. He knew for a fact Drautos had something to do with it! Cor had lied again! Ardyn felt the scourge try to force itself out of his mouth as the rage and frustration took hold of him. Ardyn wanted to tear Drautos apart, but giving him the benefit of the doubt, as he didn’t know what it was yet, he allowed the man to explain himself. “Hasn’t told me what?”“Don’t blame him, your Grace. It’s not entirely his fault. Like it’s not entirely mine. You see the night before I left, the Marshal and I got drunk.”“I am aware of this.”“There is something you don’t know. We both had a bit to drink and one thing led to another. I regret to inform you that we had sex.”The scourge went silent.Ardyn continued to glare at Drautos and tried to process what he had just said. All Ardyn could hear was white noise and he didn’t know what to say. His first thought was that Drautos was lying. Because he knew Cor would never do something like that to him. He would never hurt him like that. He would never tear their family apart like that, and Cor kept telling him he loved him…He kept telling him he loved him.Ardyn knew that was strange from the moment he started to do it. He was constantly doing it and Cor kept lying to him and Wesk’s sudden phone call and his refusal to tell him anything started to add up to what the Captain had said…. No.No, no, no, no.Ardyn thought the wind had been knocked out of him. He looked at Drautos and he looked guilty. “You. Did. What.” Ardyn asked in a harsh whisper.“We were both drunk, Your Grace. It was a stupid mistake. When I came back the other week I asked him if he had told you. He said no, and that it never happened and told me we weren’t having that conversation again. That was the conversation you walked in on in his office. I am sorry that I did that to you. It shouldn’t have ever happened.”“No, it shouldn’t have!” Ardyn screamed as he felt his heartbreak in two.After all this time… it was guilt. They were fighting and Cor wasn’t letting him near him because he felt guilty for sleeping with Drautos. Now it all made sense why he wasn’t talking to Drautos anymore. It made sense why he was keeping to himself, Cor wasn’t coping with the guilt and he told Wesk…“It is clearly eating away at the Marshal, that is the real reason why he has been avoiding me. I am very sorry.”Ardyn moved away from the desk and walked passed Drautos, and he could no longer look at him. Ardyn didn’t know what he was feeling. He was conflicted. He wanted to tear Drautos apart for going anywhere near his husband in the first place. But some very small part of him felt grateful that he told him. Because Ardyn now finally knew what this was all about. Cor being sick on the day of the Captain’s return also made sense. He was sick because the guilt got all too much and he was probably scared that Drautos was going to tell him what had taken place… The daemonic being could sense that the Captain felt on edge. Ardyn stopped when he got to the door and said in a very blunt and cold voice.“Thank you… Titus.”“I am sorry Your Grace. I know mine and the Marshal actions are unforgivable. I am just sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”Not as much as Cor was going to be. Ardyn thought to himself before opening the door.He couldn’t leave it at that. He allowed the daemons to creep up and threaten the man who had finally told him the truth. He didn’t care that he had done him a slight kindness, it would never make up for the betrayal that Cor had done.“I am beyond infuriated with the pair of you. I want to rip you to shreds and then turn those shreds into daemons and then make other daemons eat them. But I can’t because Somnus and Regis will put me in prison. So, I will say thank you for your honesty instead.”Ardyn walked out the door and all he wanted to do was cry.How could Cor do something like this to him….
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“No, it shouldn’t have!”All of the glaives stopped talking when they heard Ardyn scream.They all knew for certain that they would have shut the door to have their private conversation but that scream… it worried and scared every single one of them. His Grace sounded heartbroken. None of them could fathom what would have caused him to deliver such a mortifying cry. What the hell had the Captain said? What had he done that would have caused the most care free royal to sound like that? If they were honest, they didn’t want to know. And some of the glaives didn’t know if they were even going to have a Captain after hearing that cry. Right now, they didn’t know what to do. Should they get someone to talk to His Grace or should they leave them to it? Should they carry on training and pretend this never happened or should they wait until the Captain came back? As much as they were worried the glaive were also incredibly nosy and they wanted to see if they could hear what on Eos their chat was about.That plan was foiled when they heard the voice of their Founder King filling the room.“Glaives. Why aren’t you training?” Instantly, all of them turned around and bow but none of them replied to Somnus’s question. Which annoyed the Former King. “It’s a simple question. One of you answer me.”“It’s His Grace.” Nyx said stepping forward.Not many of the glaive interacted with Somnus. However, Nyx and Somnus over the last four years had gotten to know each other from a mutual party and the hero of the glaive was the only one brave enough to speak. Somnus liked and respected Ulric well enough for him not to find the bluntness of that statement a little offensive. If anyone else had phrased it so bluntly he may have used venom back at them and put them in their place.Somnus rolled his eyes, what was wrong with Ardyn now? At least he knew where he had gotten too. Ardyn was the very reason why Somnus had come down here in the first place. “Ulric. What has His Grace done, exactly?”“He is currently talking to the Captain.”“That doesn’t explain why you aren’t training.”“His Grace interrupted us training, Sire.” A female glaive stepped forward. Somnus knew her name… Nyx hung around with her… Crowe. That was it. The mage.Nyx took over from there. “His Grace shouted at the Captain to go to his office. A couple of moments ago we heard more shouting coming from there.”“Is the Captain getting fired, sire?”That voice came from the very back of the group and Somnus couldn’t figure out who that was.“No. Of course, he isn’t getting fired.” Somnus grumbled.This was his own fault he did tell Ardyn to speak to Drautos, but this was out of order demanding that they talk about Cor now. Ardyn was well in his rights to demand that anyone speak to him but couldn’t he do this more privately? Before Somnus could ask any more questions, the door that led to the Captain’s office opened and Ardyn walked out of it. He looked like he was on a warpath.
Fucking hell what have you done?
Ardyn had to pass the group and Somnus to leave and when Ardyn was at arm’s length to his brother, Somnus put an arm out to stop him from leaving. Somnus now wanted a word with both Ardyn and Drautos. By the looks of Ardyn… The Captain’s and his brother’s conversation had not ended well.“Ardyn, what’s going on?”Ardyn grabbed Somnus’s arm tightly and stared directly at him with fire burning in his eyes. “Do. Not. Talk. To me.”Ardyn let go and pushed his brother out of the way, ignoring all the gasps from the glaives. They could not believe he had just done that to the Founder King in front of them. But instead of getting angry, Somnus was incredibly worried. Ardyn would never do that in front of the glaive or guard unless he was very upset or incredibly angry. And right now, Somnus could not figure out which emotion had taken a hold of his brother.Somnus ran after Ardyn and tried to get Ardyn to talk to him as they walked through the corridor of the Citadel. “Wait a second. What’s the matter?”“Nothing!”“Why do you look like you are about to butcher someone?”“Somnus! Just… please leave it. Please…”Somnus didn’t want to leave it. He stood in front of Ardyn and made him stop. “Tell me why you were having a go at Drautos? This better not have anything to do with your paranoia.”Ardyn wanted to laugh.Paranoia? Well it wasn’t paranoia anymore…That was the thing Ardyn did not want to believe Drautos. He did not want to think that Cor could take is heart and throw it away like that. That wasn’t Cor. His Marshal would never do this to him. But what the Captain had said made sense with how Cor had been acting. Ardyn was so upset, angry and confused. He wanted to cry on Somnus and tell him what Drautos had said. He wanted to tear Drautos apart. He wanted to speak to Cor and beg him to tell him that none of this was true. And that Drautos was being a bastard and making up these lies to annoy him. But Ardyn had doubts about Drautos’s reasoning behind his friendship with his husband since the beginning. And now this information had come to light….No, he shouldn’t and wasn’t going to do anything until he had heard it from Cor. Cor was his husband after all and he should believe him over Drautos. Ardyn wanted to have faith in Cor’s loyalty to him, he really did. But a small part of him, a very small part of him, was starting to believe Drautos. Ardyn needed to get to the bottom of this.Ardyn finally made eye contact with Somnus and he noticed that his brother was worried. Well he should be. If this turned out to be true… May the Gods have mercy on Titus Drautos and Cor Leonis. “It’s not… It’s nothing to do with that. I am okay, we just had a disagreement, but it is all cleared up now. And I am currently calming myself down. Anyhow, I was thinking, that you and Prom haven’t really seen much of each other lately, perhaps you could suggest to him that he spends the night at yours.”“What’s brought this on?” Somnus asked with caution. Ardyn must have a hidden agenda behind this.“Cor and I have sorted things out and we just want to spend some private time together.” Ardyn put on a fake smile, pushing down the conflict brewing in his head.Somnus’s faced changed from concern to joy upon hearing that. Maybe Drautos had actually just put Ardyn’s paranoia to rest and Ardyn was just mad at himself because he had finally seen reason. “That’s good news. I’ll ring him.” Ardyn went home and let what Drautos said consume him. Not once did he cry though. To Ardyn it all made sense but in other ways it didn’t. Because he kept thinking about it the daemons fed on his rage and doubt and started to force him to believe that it was true. The only way to find out was to test Cor. Ardyn shouldn’t give in to those monsters but he was far too upset to reason with himself right now. And when he got a text on his work phone from Drautos apologising again for what had happened, Ardyn snapped the thing in two and gave in to what the daemons wanted.When he heard the front door, Ardyn smiled and called out in a jolly voice pretending nothing was wrong. “Hello, Marshal! Did you have a nice day?”Ardyn wanted to say my, but he no longer knew if Cor was really his…“Yeah, thanks.” Cor responded stepping into the room. And it would never usually bother Ardyn, but Cor’s first question wasn’t about him. “Where’s Prompto?”“Somnus wanted to spoil him. I couldn’t refuse that could I?”“Guess not. How was your day, Ass Hat?”Ardyn lied through his teeth and said that everything had been fine. What really stung was that Cor couldn’t tell that he was lying. When they sat down together and started talking, Ardyn’s mind was picking up on little things that meant nothing. Like how Cor refused to sit next to him. And how he had been refusing to sit next to him on the sofa since that night. Or how Cor didn’t come over and give him a kiss as soon as he walked through the door like he used too. If Ardyn hadn’t been so angry he would have cried because now it was starting to become clearer in his head, however much he didn’t want to believe it.Once a moment of silence came between the two Ardyn put his plan in motion and said what he could to see if Cor would tell him what had happened on his own volition. Or find out if it had even happened at all. “I love you.”“I love you too.” Cor smiled, before drinking his coffee.“Because you love me you would tell me anything right?”“What’s brought this on?” Cor replied with a laugh, turning to face Ardyn.
That’s right. Laugh about it.
Ardyn shrugged his shoulders and smiled softly. “Just wondering. Well, you would, wouldn’t you?”“Yes, Ass Hat.”“Just checking.”Ardyn’s response could nearly be described as hollow. Because right now he didn’t feel anything. For he had just given Cor an opportunity to say it. To tell him if anything had happened and he completely let it slide. Just like Drautos claimed, Cor was denying that it ever took place.Ardyn stood up and told Cor he was going to finish making dinner. Which gave Ardyn at least 20 minutes to calm himself down and think of another way he could get Cor to confess without actually saying it. The monsters in his head kept telling him that Cor no longer loved him because the Marshal couldn’t tell what Ardyn currently was doing, that he couldn’t tell that Ardyn was beyond heartbroken and he was starting to believe them. He laid the table up and sat the opposite end to Cor. Ardyn decided to take a more direct approach. By dropping the topic of infidelity into conversation.“Never guess what Somnus and I discovered the other day?” Ardyn said watching Cor, to see if he could pick up on his body language.“What?”“That Lord Dolor is having an affair with a member of the guard. She is younger than you my dear.”Ardyn watched Cor carefully but all his husband did was continued to eat his food. And said in a very annoyed tone. “He is such an idiot.”“You would have thought if he was unhappy, he would have at least told his wife.”“Some people are bastards.”
You are being one right now!
Ardyn placed one of his hands under the table and clenched it into a fist to push down his rage. Why wasn’t Cor taking the fucking hint that he knew! Cor was clever. Too god damned clever for his own good sometimes, and he always knew when Ardyn was up to something. So why couldn’t he just realise that something was wrong! Ardyn had to compose himself, getting angry was not going to solve anything and he knew it would only make Cor clam up.Ardyn nodded and spoke in a smooth and serious tone. “If you were unhappy, you would tell me, right?”Cor finally gave him a reaction. Ardyn watched as his husband looked up from his food and held a nearly sadden expression on his face. Ardyn couldn’t figure out if it was because of the guilt of what him and Drautos had done, or if they had been fighting. Either way Ardyn chose to be silent until Cor responded. “I know I have been distance and snappy lately, but you make me very happy Ardyn. You always have.”“You make me happy too. And if for whatever reason, if I was unhappy, I would tell you straight away. Because I love you very much, Marshal.” Ardyn said, holding back his upset and rage.“I love you too Ass Hat.”Still, nothing and during the evening Cor continued to fail to pick up on every hint that he was giving him. They only thing that Ardyn hadn’t said was that ‘I know you slept with Drautos.’ Because of the lack of acknowledgment, Ardyn’s hands started to shake with rage. He didn’t know how long he could contain all of this hurt that was bubbling away in his chest and all he wanted was for Cor to admit it without him having to say it. Cor owed him that much. Ardyn stood up and walked closer to the dining table to look as though he was cleaning it up but really he was facing away from Cor so he couldn’t see the anger and hurt on his face.Once Ardyn had calmed himself down a little he turned back around, to see that Cor had risen from the chair and was about to walk out of the room.“Well, I’m going to bed.”“I spoke to Titus earlier.” Ardyn said preventing Cor from leaving. Because Ardyn could not allow his husband to get away with this. “And?” Cor replied, seemingly not interested in what he had to say.But that just ignited the raging fires in Ardyn’s stomach, and he was about to combust. In a deadly calm voice, Ardyn continued to explain what he meant. “He told me what happened. He told me what happened the night that you and he got drunk at work.”Ardyn and Cor stared at each other and Ardyn decided to keep it zipped so that Cor had a chance to say he was wrong or say something, even if it was the defend his actions. But Cor didn’t. All Cor did was stare back at him in fear. Ardyn counted in his head and he put his husbands fear down to being caught out. So… this meant Drautos was right… Cor and he had slept together… and Cor was never going to tell him. Ardyn felt his eyes begin to burn and a lump of pain grow in his throat. Ardyn never wanted to believe Drautos. He wanted to have faith in his husband. But it was becoming clear that Cor no longer had any faith in the life that they had built together.After a few moments of this tension heavy silence, Ardyn broke it. But his voice did not show any pain, yet. “Gone quiet. So, it is true. Why would you do that to me.”“Ardyn…”“Don’t you dare Ardyn me. You sleep with him when drunk and then you completely deny it has even happened. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out!” Ardyn spat with aggression cutting through his words.“No Ardyn. That’s not what it’s like.” Cor sounded upset when he said that.
FUCK HIM!
To Ardyn, Cor had no right to be upset. That, along with the lack of explanation, made the royal angrier and something in his eyes snapped. Ardyn knew he could not be able to control himself for much longer.“Makes sense though, doesn’t it? You sleep with him, he goes off, you give me the cold shoulder when I have done Nothing wrong. Why did you do that! Please just tell me!”“I can’t”“You can’t? You can’t explain this to me? NOT EVEN THAT IT WAS AN ACCIDENT AND THAT IT MEANT NOTHING TO YOU!!!” Ardyn screamed with all the rage and hurt that had been locked away in his heart since Drautos told him. And in a fit of raw emotion, Ardyn flipped the coffee table over and threw the chairs across the room. And now the royal couldn’t stop shaking. The anger had taken a hold of him and his entire body was reacting to try and keep himself as stable as possible. But Ardyn didn’t want to be stable. He wanted Cor to see how upset and hurt he was over his fucking betrayal. And it was with Drautos of all people. Cor knew how much Ardyn loathed that man… and he had sex with him anyway. “You are my husband! I have been here for you since you were 13 years old! You can’t even look at me or tell me the reason why you would do that! I love you. I love you and Prom so much! You do this, and you can’t even tell me why! I have put 23 years into our relationship for you to just throw it all away!”In a last bid to prevent tears from leaking out of his eyes, Ardyn picked up the closest object to him and threw it in the opposite direction to where Cor was standing. No matter how much pain Cor had caused him, Ardyn loved him too much to ever cause him any physical pain.“Ardyn don’t say that.” Cor said with hurt taking a step closer to his husband.“Then give me SOMETHING!” Ardyn screamed, spit spraying across the room. Ardyn knew his eyes had gone glassy and puffy. He was on the verge of tears and this was all Cor’s fault! “TELL ME WHY! WE HAVE A SON!”“I know.” Cor said quietly with guilt lingering on his every word.Ardyn didn’t stop shaking as he took in a series of deep breaths, trying to push all the images out of his head of Cor and Drautos laying together. Laughing at him and taking him for the fool that he clearly was. All the times Cor had ‘gone out’ with Drautos, did they sleep together than? How many times had Cor done this to him? Actually he didn’t want to know. He did not want to know that at all. Ardyn’s eyes were burning as the tears threaten to leak out and all Ardyn wanted to do was calm down. He didn’t want to hurt Cor, he didn’t want to be the monster that everyone saw him as. Yet, the only person who never saw him as a monster… was turning him into one. Because Cor said nothing it allowed Ardyn to get a hold of his anger and he allowed himself to become vulnerable one last time in front of Cor. Just so his husband would explain why the fuck he would do that to him.The sound of betrayal seeped into Ardyn’s words, but no anger was present. “What is it then? I just want to understand Cor. Is it that, Titus is new, and you wanted something different? Did you want someone who isn’t a disgusting monster?”“No! I don’t want anyone else but you.”Cor stepped forward and grabbed onto Ardyn’s hand and placed his other hand to Ardyn’s cheek. And having Cor touch him like this made Ardyn topple. The Accursed felt the tears roll down his face, completely heartbroken as Cor forced him to look into his blue eyes. No scourge was present as he cried and the fact that Cor was crying too shattered his heart further. Ardyn’s heart felt so heavy, beaten and shattered and there was nothing that anyone could possibly say to him to make him feel better. “Then why did you sleep with him?” Ardyn asked in sorrow, finding the last bit of respect he had for Cor to let him explain his reasons.But Cor gave him nothing again and Ardyn had had enough.Ardyn shook his head, letting go of Cor’s hand and walked towards the exit of the living room. He couldn’t look at Cor anymore. Not without seeing Drautos touching him, kissing him, holding him, fucking him… It got all too much.“Ardyn, where are you going?” Cor asked after Ardyn in a panicked voice.Ardyn didn’t care if Cor was panicked. He didn’t care if he was hurt. “I am going to see our son and my brother.”“I love you.”
No. No, you don’t…
Ardyn thought as he rushed out of the living room and out of his front door. From there he teleported to Somnus’s house, but not before he heard a heartbroken Cor Leonis calling his name. Ardyn teleported into Somnus’s hallway and he had to steady himself with the wall so that he didn’t collapse to the ground. Somehow, this hurt way more than seeing Somnus cut Aera down. This hurt so much more than finding out Noctis was the Chosen King and Ardyn had to be the one to destroy him. This hurt more than nearly losing Cor to that daemon when Prom was three. This nearly hurt as much as seeing Prom in the hospital two years ago.Because his Cor had had an affair with Titus Drautos.HE WASN’T HIS COR ANYMORE!!!In a burst of utter despair and torment, Ardyn full-on punched the brick wall as hard as he could breaking the plaster and solid brick.He heard footsteps coming towards him, but he didn’t look away from the mangled wall or his hand that was now cut and dripping with the scourge. “Ardyn? What the hell? That’s my wall what did it ever do to you? Ardyn?” Somnus asked, sounding pissed off.But Ardyn couldn’t care less about how Somnus felt or what he said anymore. He removed his hand from the wall and forced the scourge back into his body. He looked at his brother, thankfully he was no longer crying, and walked towards the kitchen where he thought Prom was.“I want to see Prom.”Somnus stuck a hand out in front of Ardyn, as he knew something was very wrong. “I don’t think so. What the hell has happened?”“I need to see Prompto, so move.” Ardyn gritted his teeth pushing passed Somnus and painting a smile on his face so that Prom wouldn’t be able to see the hurt and damage that Cor had inflicted on him. When he saw his son, Ardyn sung a (fake) happy tune at him. “Hello, my sunbeam!”“Dad! I didn’t you know were coming over.” Prompto beamed, running over to Ardyn to give him a hug.That was what he needed. He needed a hug from his son. This pain was not going away but his baby boy always seemed to make things bearable and Ardyn really needed things to be bearable right now. Ardyn felt his world crumbling around him but Prom… he was his saving grace. “I wasn’t until now. Somnus, is it okay if I also stay the night?”“Huh? Why? Is something wrong? Is dad okay?” Prom asked in a worried voice as he pulled away from Ardyn’s embrace.“Your father is perfectly fine. Prom, honestly do not worry everything is okay. I just thought we could spend some time with Somnus, that’s all.” “Not a problem. I’ll go and get your room ready.” Somnus said, leaving Prom and Ardyn to themselves. Somnus knew something had happened because Ardyn told him that he and Cor had patched things up… Somnus had a feeling that was no longer the case.“Dad, what’s happened?” Prom asked again, sounding more worried than before.Ardyn blinked away the possible tears that might fall and smiled. “Nothing you need to worry about. Well, I may have flooded the kitchen.”“Again?!” Prompto exclaimed rolling his eyes.“Sorry. I will fix it tomorrow. Your father has decided to stay at the Citadel.” “Night Dad. Night Uncle Som.” Prom said going upstairs after enjoying a hot chocolate with his dad and uncle.“Night Sunbeam.” Ardyn smiled after him as he watched Prompto leave.“Night Buddy.” Somnus said and waited until he heard Prom’s door close. Somnus than looked at his brother who had been fairly quiet since he had arrived. Ardyn looked… so broken as he stared into his practically full mug of hot chocolate. Ardyn would have normally guzzled that down by now. Somnus lent forward and got straight to the point. “Right, what really happened?”“Cor and I had an argument… Actually, I shouted at him and he said nothing.”“Which ended in you destroying a part of your house. You either overreacted or one of you has really upset the other. Which one was it?” Somnus asked but he didn’t get a reply. He watched as Ardyn bowed his head. It looked as if Ardyn was trying to hide from something and keeping silent was protecting him. But Somnus knew that only ever made Ardyn ill. Him doing that allowed the daemons to become in control so Somnus had to get the information out of his brother. Somnus asked in a softer voice that time. “Ardyn… look at me. What happened? You are starting to worry me.”For once Ardyn did as his brother asked, he looked up and Somnus noticed the betrayal and hurt clouding his eyes. Ardyn looked as though he was about to burst into tears.“Cor… he slept with Drautos.”“What?”“About a month ago. Now, are you going to call me paranoid.”Somnus didn’t know how to process that information. Because it was Cor who always stood up for Ardyn if anyone, including Somnus, said a bad word against his brother. No, Cor would never do that to Ardyn. He loved him. Anyway, Cor wasn’t stupid enough to do that to Ardyn no one was. In 2000 years, no one had ever cheated on his brother because they were scared of the consequences of what might have happened if they had. The Founder King simply didn’t want to believe Cor would do that. “Cor told you this?” Somnus asked carefully trying to get the full picture. “No. Drautos did. He couldn’t even tell me himself. When I asked him about it he just told me he couldn’t tell me. He didn’t even apologise for it.” Ardyn put his mug in between his thighs and covered his face with his hands as tears started to fall. Somnus let his brother cry and waited until he was ready to speak again. After a few moments, Ardyn wiped his face accepting defeat and that he couldn’t stop these retched real tears anymore and found it hard to breathe as he expressed his feelings to his little brother. “I don’t know what to do Somnus. I really don’t.”Somnus started to get angry. No one made his brother cry but him. Right now, Ardyn didn’t need someone telling him to be angry he needed comfort. Somnus placed a hand on Ardyn’s arm and tried to help him the best he could. “I am not trying to defend him in anyway. But he has stopped talking to Drautos. He clearly feels guilty about it. There is no denying that Cor loves you. You know he would never hurt you on purpose.”“But he has. When I asked him, I gave him every opportunity to explain to me what happened. He hasn’t. He didn’t even say it was an accident and that it meant nothing to him. He just allowed me to scream at him and he- he couldn’t even look at me. Is it my fault? Have I done something wrong for him to do that? Do I bore him? Does he hate me? He didn’t tell me anything, so I don’t even know if I am the fault in any of this.”“Ardyn how are you the fault? No offense to Cor but you didn’t tell him to go off and have sex with someone else! Both he and Drautos made that decision and that is not a reflection on you, and you should not feel guilty here.”Ardyn nodded and put his hand over his brother’s as he continued to weep. Ardyn knew Somnus was right but he didn’t want to lose Cor… but he felt like he already had. To the Captain of the Kingsglaive of all people!“I don’t understand why he would do this to me.” Ardyn breathed in a voice that even made Somnus’s heart shatter.“Neither do I.”
Cor sat on the floor of his bedroom and cried.The Marshal wailed at the pain he had now inflicted upon Ardyn, the love of his life. But what other choice did he have? None. Cor thought he was doing the right thing not telling Ardyn the truth. Otherwise, he would only end up on Angelguard for disembowelling Drautos and Prom would lose his dad. Prom needed both of them, he was still ill for Bahamut’s sake and this news would destroy him. All of this was his fault! Cor let that man touch him! He let that man attack him! He let that man violate and abuse him in ways Cor thought would never happen to him. Cor felt weak, dirty, heartbroken and he thought he deserved all of this pain. Because if Cor had of just told Drautos to leave and not have that drink none of this would have happened. Ardyn wouldn’t be crying, he wouldn’t be crying, Cor wouldn’t be loathing himself. Now, Ardyn thought that he had gone out of his way to sleep with that disgusting and vile rapist…Cor wrapped his arms around his stomach, laying on the floor and allowed all the pain to consume him.That was the second time he had said that word in his head.Drautos had raped him and now Ardyn was paying for it.Cor didn’t sleep. He was too worried about Ardyn to sleep. He continued to cry until he had no tears left. He kept his phone by his head at all times to see if Ardyn would reply to the many texts he had sent.Nothing.He didn’t reply to a single one.Cor somehow found the courage to text Somnus to just let him know if Ardyn was with him and that he hadn’t lost control of himself and that he was sorry for hurting Ardyn like this. Because he was. Cor was sorry that he had to lie but the lie was going to keep his family together more than admitting the truth. Because they could go to therapy to sort this out. They could go to a marriage councilor, Cor was willing to try anything to keep Ardyn, Prom and himself together. Just… he wasn’t ready to admit the truth and he knew he shouldn’t either. Somnus replied to him. And the text wasn’t malicious. It simply read:
Ardyn is with me. Get some sleep. You will need it.
At least Ardyn was safe.But Cor didn’t sleep. He got up, got on his motorbike and went to work.The guard and glaive on duty didn’t question him turning up to work 3 hours earlier than expected, nor did they say a word when they noticed his red raw bloodshot eyes. Cor was exhausted but he wanted to be here when Ardyn turned up. The Marshal waited in the privacy of Ardyn’s office until his husband appeared.He waited there for 7 hours.When Cor saw Ardyn, his heart stopped. Ardyn looked a state. His hair looked more untidy than usual and his eyes were as bloodshot as his own. There were still signs of tear trails down his cheeks and Cor bit his lip knowing that he had caused that. He was the one to make the first person he had ever truly loved into nothing but a trembling, saddened and heartbroken mess. “Can we talk?” Cor asked, trying to steady his voice. Knowing full well Ardyn didn’t want him here.Ardyn sniffed before throwing his keys, with force, on his desk refusing to look at his husband. “All depends. Are you going to tell me the full truth, the half-truth, or just keep more secrets from me? I will tell you that two out of those three will just end with me walking out of that door.”Cor breathed out, at least Ardyn was willing to listen to what he had to say. Cor felt like he didn’t deserve it. Cor stayed were he was so that there was a good distance between them. Ardyn looked like he really needed the space right now. “I’m sorry. Ardyn, I really am. I never meant to hurt you I didn’t.”“No matter what your intentions were Leonis it did hurt me.” Ardyn grumbled, still refusing to look in his direction. Because it just hurt too much… “I spoke to Somnus about it. You are so lucky he likes you. He said it was a mistake and that you would never hurt me on purpose. I know all that. However, why couldn’t you say that last night?”“I wasn’t thinking. Of course, it was a mistake. It meant nothing to me I swear on Prompto it meant nothing to me.” Cor begged, hoping Ardyn would believe his words.“Doesn’t explain why you did that though.” Ardyn said quietly with his back to Cor. “If you want me to understand and even attempt to forgive you, you need to tell me everything. I mean everything.”“We just got drunk and it happened. It wasn’t planned or anything and it only happened once.”Hearing those words took a weight off Ardyn’s shoulders. All night he had been thinking about the number of times that Cor could have possibly had sex with Drautos. How many times that the pair had kissed each other, touched each other, and because he was getting so worked up Somnus refused to leave his side until they came into work. But despite knowing that, Ardyn was in no position to trust the words of his husband.Anger latched onto his voice as he finally turned around, but he didn’t make eye contact with Cor. “Why were you drinking? Because Cor if I remember rightly, you told me that you would be home as soon as you could. From where I am standing it looks like you got a better offer and took it.”“No! I wanted to come home.”“Then why didn’t you?!”
Because he raped me!!
Was what Cor wanted to say. He wanted to scream it out but seeing Ardyn in all this pain now… Cor couldn’t add to it.Cor gulped down his scream and told Ardyn the truth, without revealing to him what had actually taken place. “It was only meant to be one drink. One drink to relax myself and then I was going to come straight home. Ardyn I swear to you.”“One drink? How come when Regis and Clarus found you, you looked like shit.” Ardyn’s voice was becoming more vicious as the pair interacted and Cor knew that that was his cue to take a step back.But he chose his next set of words very poorly. “Because I got carried away.”“Oh, I know. So, carried away that you had sex with someone who wasn’t your husband!”“I am so sorry. Please, Ardyn I don’t know what else I can do or say to change this. I can’t change it but please, tell me what to do, so I can try and make this better.”Ardyn laughed for a second. But he thought about what Cor had said and nodded. “Tell me this. The person you said kissed you. Was it Titus?”“No.”“You better not be lying to me.”“I am not! It wasn’t.”“If I asked him the same question, I will get the same answer, will I?” Ardyn gritted his teeth. He didn’t know why else Cor would feel guilty about a randomer kissing him if, in fact, it wasn’t someone they both knew. From this devastating revelation, Ardyn thought that Cor had lied to him about that as well.“Yes. He doesn’t even know that happened! Honestly Ardyn trust me.” Cor said controlling his voice, trying to make the lie as convincing as possible.“Why should I do that? After all, you kept this form me for more than a month and someone else had to tell me. The reason why I am asking all of this Cor is because I love you. I just want to be certain you feel the same because if this was the other way around I would have told you straight away.”“I know you would.” Cor said sadly bowing his head.“Then why didn’t you tell me when it happened?!” Ardyn raised his voice, his eyes were starting to grow hot and watery again. If he saw Drautos… he was going to kill him. Flat out kill him.Cor bit his lip again, finding it hard to come up with a reasonable lie. He stumbled over his words and he just prayed that Ardyn took it as him being too upset to talk normally. “Because- it meant nothing to me. I didn’t want to cause you any unnecessary hurt.”Those were the wrong words to say. The scourge leaked out of Ardyn’s glowing yellow eyes, and he roared at his husband with disgust and rage. “Unnecessary? UNNECESSARY! If you didn’t want to do that. THEN YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!”A flash of blue came in-between the pair and Somnus held on to Ardyn’s wrists before he did something he was going to regret. “Woah! Ardyn calm down! Look at me and calm. Are we good? Oi, look at me not him. Are we good?”“Get off me.” Ardyn growled, pushing Somnus off of him. He couldn’t do this now. He couldn’t talk to Cor anymore. “I’m going for a walk. You, little brother, do not follow me.”“Ardyn-” Cor started to say, but he was rudely cut off by Ardyn’s voice of rage.“Dear husband. Do me a favour and shut up.”Once Ardyn had left Somnus turned to face Cor.“Are you alright?”Somnus asking him that just made matters so much worse. Somnus should not be showing him any form of kindness for doing this. For taking Ardyn’s heart and destroying it. Cor thought he was doing it for the right reason, but Somnus didn’t know his reasoning, and if he did, his brother-in-law may even agree with him.“Why are you asking me that? I am the one that hurt your brother not the other way around.” Cor said, in a low voice. Allowing himself to express his shame.“Cor, you and Ardyn have been married for 19 years. You are my brother too. To be honest it’s none of my business. Unless Prompto is affected I am not getting involved.” Somnus said plainly. He was beyond angry at Cor but no good would come out of him getting involved. For now, he would sit back and only speak when they required him too, so he could do what he could to keep Cor and Ardyn together.“I really fucked up.”“Yes, you did. It’s no longer about that though. It’s about how you deal with it. If you tell him the truth he will calm down. He loves you so much. Just be honest with him and eventually you can get back to normal.”“Thanks, Som.”“Not a problem.” Regis stumbled towards his chambers without Clarus.The King had lost Clarus as a few members of the guard came up to him earlier as they wanted to discuss something that they found troubling. It concerned Cor and that he had come into work, eyes as red as raw and the Shield had gone out to look for said Marshal to get to the bottom of this. Regis wanted to go too, but Clarus ordered him to just relax for the morning as they didn’t have anything on and Cor was more than likely going to talk to him about his feelings over Regis. Regis couldn’t deny that.The King opened the door to his quarters only to find the entire front room wrecked with Ardyn standing in the middle of the mess, breathing heavily. “What in the name of the Six has happened in here?!” Regis demanded, staring at his distressed uncle.“Leave.” Ardyn breathed out staring at Regis with tears pouring out of his eyes.Regis didn’t listen to that. He closed the door and hobbled closer to Ardyn to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. His uncle was definitely crying, and concern took over the King. “What has happened!”“COR LEONIS IS WHAT’S HAPPENED, DEAR NEPHEW!”Ardyn screamed violently kicking the sofa he had broken into two. The object hit the wall and the sound made Regis flinch. Ardyn than started picking up the fruit bowl and other various objects and launching them across the room with such power and aggression.“You need to calm down this instant!” Regis said sternly inching closer towards his uncle, despite the clear danger he was putting himself in.“Would you calm down if you found out your husband has been lying to you for weeks just so he could cover up his dirty affair with the Captain of the Kingsglaive!”Regis stopped moving and was mortified by what Ardyn had just screamed at him. Regis was so in shock by that he could hardly speak. “What?”“That’s why he has been acting strange for ages because he felt fucking guilty but he didn’t have the balls to tell me himself!” Ardyn shouted, picking up another poor object and throwing it at the window. The glass smashed and that was where Regis had to put his foot down. If Ardyn didn’t calm down quickly, he was going to become a real danger to everyone.“Ardyn stop throwing things.”“NO!”Ardyn didn’t listen and destroyed another pain of glass. Ardyn lost track of his breathing, he placed his hand to his mouth and screamed sinking to his knees as he let the tears fall. He covered his face so that his nephew wouldn’t see his tears and he lent up against the broken sofa, heartbroken and destroyed. “WHY WOULD HE DO THIS TO ME! WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE?!” Ardyn cried, wiping his nose.Regis was angry now.He had asked Cor for weeks to tell him what the matter was and lied straight to his face. He even asked Titus if he had anything to do with Cor’s behaviour and he also lied to him. Now, he had his uncle crying in the middle of his chambers and this was all their fault. But he couldn’t believe Cor would do something so stupid and heartless towards Ardyn. It didn’t fit… but Ardyn’s tears proved that it had happened and there was nothing Regis could do but try and comfort his immortal uncle.The King slowly knelt down on the floor, ignoring the pain in his knee as his pain was nothing compared to what Ardyn was experiencing right now, and sat next to him. “Ardyn, this isn’t your fault.”“You don’t know that! I don’t know that! He is refusing to talk to me about it…. I don’t know what to do, Reggie. I feel so worthless.”Regis placed a hand on Ardyn’s shoulder and rubbed it. “You’re not worthless. Listen to me this is on Cor, not you.”Ardyn shook his head and whispered words of heartache. “All this time and I didn’t even realise. I mean… how simple does that make me look? Not to mention how this is going to affect Prompto.”“If you look simple then so do I. I never thought he could possibly hurt you like this.”“I don’t know why I am upset, this always happens.”“Pardon?” Regis asked, shuffling closer to Ardyn so he could give him a hug, just in case Ardyn became hysterical again. Which looked likely.“I get something good. Something amazing, and something I am willing to protect with everything I am. In the blink of an eye, it’s gone. There is no happy ending for this monster.” Ardyn whimpered, finally accepting that was what he was.Regis wrapped his arms around Ardyn and hugged him, even after he felt Ardyn tense up. “You’re not a monster. You’re my Uncle.”It took a moment but Ardyn did hug Regis back. He cried into his shoulder while Regis rocked him from side to side and rubbed his back. This took the King back to when he was a child and he would cry because his father had said something nasty towards him and Ardyn would give him a hug to comfort him. Right now, Regis knew Ardyn didn’t need anyone reminding him of what had happened, he needed someone to just be there and let him cry.“Gods knows how you turned out alright. You only had Mors to look after you and you are just… unbelievably kind and caring. Your father did not deserve to have you as his son.” Ardyn whimpered into his nephew's shoulder and held on to him tightly.“No, he didn’t. The only useful thing he taught me was what we must sacrifice for the good of our children. He’s dead and gone now and I don’t miss him. I know how I turned out okay because I had you and Grandfather.”“Still doesn’t explain anything. We are both pricks at the best of times.” Ardyn let out a light laugh through his tears.“You’re not that terrible.” Regis replied, finally pulling away from Ardyn to give him some space.Regis was going to be having a full-on screaming match with Cor when he next saw him. How dare he do this to Ardyn. The Marshal had literally taken one of the best things that had ever happened to him and crushed it. This was nearly unforgivable, and Regis would not blame his uncle in the slightest if Ardyn wanted nothing to do with Cor. Because it was one thing having an affair but attempting to cover it up and lie about it… it was outright disgusting.When Ardyn had stopped crying, Regis spoke again in a soft tone. “Are you feeling a little calmer?”“No.” Ardyn shook his head, still unable to get rid of the hurt, the blame, the shame and rage to leave his shattered heart.“Neither am I.”“Don’t take my side on this.” Ardyn asked.That plead nearly shocked Regis. They needed to get something straight here. Regis cleared his throat and forced Ardyn to look at him. “Ardyn, when I was younger both you and Somnus told me something and it has stuck with me for the rest of my life. The King is the Law of the land. Because of that I need to be able to be unbiased. That is what I am being. There is no side taking, there is only a right and wrong. Cor did wrong. Not you. I am angry. I am angry because he has upset you, tried to cover it up, and couldn’t do the decency of telling you himself.”“…Cid will think this is what I deserve.” Ardyn said still putting the blame on himself.“Cid doesn’t hate you. But he will give Cor a massive hining when he finds out.” “No, Regis. I don’t want anyone else finding out. You, me, Cor, Somnus, and Clarus. That’s it. And maybe Wesk.”“Wesk?”“Cor told him. And he rang me so I would talk to Cor about it. But his call forced me to confront Drautos.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Ardyn asked Regis to carry on with his lie to Prompto and Noctis about flooding the kitchen, and because of that it wasn’t safe for Prom to return home yet, Noctis happily suggested that Prom stayed with him until it was fixed. Giving Cor and Ardyn some time to talk things through.Ardyn went home when Cor came looking for him and Regis told Cor he couldn’t stand to be in the same room as him and that he was very disappointed in the Marshal’s behaviour and treatment of his uncle. Cor only agreed with Regis and apologised to the King, but Regis didn’t want to hear it. He sent Cor on his way and that was when Clarus finally found Cor. Cor had a breakdown on Clarus and told him everything that had transpired between himself and Ardyn (but not a word as to what had really happened with Drautos) and that he didn’t know how to fix this. Or even if Ardyn was willing to let him try to make this better and from the way Regis treated him, it didn’t look likely. The Shield could not deny that he was disappointed in Cor, but Clarus promised him that he would be there as a form of support for the Marshal if he required it. Cor felt like he did not deserve that. He did not deserve either Clarus’s or Somnus’s generosity at the moment, everyone should be focusing on Ardyn and a way to help him. Not Cor.
Why didn’t I just listen to Ardyn about Drautos, to begin with?
When Cor got home, he found Ardyn sitting at the end of the bed, his eyes were filling up with the blacken tears of the scourge and he could not look at Cor at all. That stung so much. To know that someone you loved so deeply felt so betrayed and hurt because of your actions and that they couldn’t even bring themselves to look at you. But if Cor had told Ardyn the truth, how would he be looking at him? Would his husband look at him with pity and sorrow? With protectiveness and rage as to what Drautos had done? Pity? Cor had never been pitied before and that would be the way that everyone looked at him for the rest of his life if he opened his mouth. The shame would follow him forever and his husband wouldn’t be there to shield him from it because he would be stranded in Angelguard. Than Prom would hate him for allowing all of this to happen.
No. We have to keep lying for their safety, no matter how much pain it will cause me.
Cor knelt down near the end of the bed, directly in front of Ardyn, but didn’t touch his husband in case he flipped out. “Ardyn please… please look at me.”“You don’t deserve it.” Ardyn whispered, failing to fight the scourge from falling out of his eyes.“No. You’re right. I don’t deserve you.” Cor gulped.Because that was how Cor felt after what Drautos had done to him. He felt like he wasn’t worthy of Ardyn’s love. Because in Cor’s head he had led the Captain on. And now it had resulted in Ardyn thinking that Cor had willingly slept with that vile man. Cor shook his head, not wanting to cry again and tried to lessen the damage that he had caused.“Please, I want to fix this. I want to make things right.”Ardyn let out a small chuckle and spoke in a tone filled with hurt and venom. “How can you do that? Because this is what has happened Cor. You started hanging out with Drautos and YOU used to tell me that I was being stupid for being jealous, that I was being paranoid. But I was right to be. Because YOU slept with him and tried to cover it up.”Cor was internally mortified Ardyn had said that. Because of that, his mouth worked quicker than his brain to tell Ardyn he was wrong. However, Cor was just able to stop himself from revealing the truth. “No, I didn’t…”“You didn’t what? You didn’t want to cover it up? Or you didn’t want to be found out!”“No, that I didn’t want to hurt you. I love you.” Cor whimpered placing his hands on Ardyn’s knees, begging for his forgiveness. Even if Cor thought he did not deserve it, the Marshal couldn’t bear the thought that Ardyn would never look at him again.“Really? This is love? Jumping into bed with another man is love is it?” Ardyn growled, pushing Cor’s hands off him.“It wasn’t like that.”Ardyn stood up laughing to himself cruelly, not caring if Cor nearly fell to the floor at his sudden movement. “Oh yes! Sorry I got it wrong. You prefer to keep it at work in the middle of the night so no one would find out! That’s why you destroyed your sofa! It was to remove any evidence of your infidelity. We have had sex multiple times on that sofa Cor! Have you really no shame!”“What happened was wrong. It shouldn’t have happened, and I have felt nothing but guilt ever since. I do feel ashamed and disgusted. I can’t believe that I let that happen.”“You should! Because I would never do that to you!”“I know you wouldn’t…” Cor whispered letting go a single tear.Ardyn would never lie like this to him. Ardyn would never do what Drautos had done to him. Ardyn was one of the best things in this world and Cor had destroyed it. The tears spiked Ardyn’s rage again and he started to scream at Cor, eyes filling and leaking with the scourge as he poured his broken heart out to his husband.“Do not cry!! You are not allowed to be upset here! This whole time I thought it was me! I thought I had done something to upset you. That I had taken your heart and crushed it somehow and that was why you didn’t want me near you. I felt guilty, confused, lost and angry because I didn’t know how to make it better and I was scared that you weren’t going to forgive me. In reality, it was you all along. You cheated on me. You had sex with another man, and you tried to hide it from me. You tried to hide it from everyone, this is all on you! You have no one else to blame but yourself!”That tore Cor’s heart apart. Because even if Ardyn was referring to Cor being a cheat, the Marshal’s brain wasn’t thinking that was what his distraught husband had meant. To Cor, Ardyn had accidentally confirmed to him that it was all his fault that Drautos had raped him. And that Cor didn’t have anyone else to blame but himself for what happened. And because it was coming out of Ardyn’s mouth, Cor accepted it as fact and he felt he deserved this. He deserved Ardyn screaming at him because how could he have failed and been so weak to allow another person to get the upper hand on him like that? Cor would never have allowed that to happen in the battlefield. He didn’t even allow Clarus or Regis to sneak up on him and get away with it? Maybe… he had let Drautos do it…Fully accepting that, Cor slowly nodded and got off the ground. “You’re right. I caused all of this and I allowed that to happen. I am sorry.”“Sorry, isn’t going to do much.” Ardyn sniffed wiping the scourge from his face. “No. But I don’t want to lose you Ardyn. I want to be with you, and I want us to stay together because we love each other and for Prom-”“Don’t you dare bring Prompto into this!” Ardyn roared finally looking in Cor’s eyes. Their son had nothing to do with this and he was not about to let Cor drag their precious child into something that had the potential to tear their little family apart and pull Prom’s mental state down the drain.“Fine. Ardyn… I need you. I love you. Please… please let me try to fix this…” Cor begged, taking a step closer towards Ardyn. All Cor wanted was for Ardyn to hold him but the Marshal thought Ardyn would never want to do that again…“I love you too. That is what I don’t understand. We love each other so much, so why did you do that to me?”
I am lying to protect you Ardyn… I am sorry I am doing this but… I can’t think of another way…
“Because… Because… I… let it happen. Because I went along with it, it meant nothing to me. I promise. Ardyn listen I want to make this better, I want us to find a way to get past this.”Ardyn let out a tiny laugh and shook his head. “Cor, you are the love of my life. No matter what has happened that factor is never going to change. But if you think that I am getting past this… then you do not know me at all.”A silence as sharp as a knife fell between them.Ardyn was trying his hardest not to lose control of his emotions and actually destroy a part of his house. All he wanted was for Cor to tell him this whole thing was a lie. He wouldn’t care if this was some kind of sick joke and if Cor turned around to him and told him that was the case Ardyn would be more relieved than upset. He just couldn’t and didn’t want to picture Cor being with anyone else that wasn’t him. The thought made him want to throw up. Whereas Cor stood there regretting everything that had happened over the last couple of months. Wishing he could change everything, wishing that he could have just opened his mouth when Regis and Clarus found him. This could have all been sorted out. Everything would be in the open and Drautos would have been so far away from Lucis that he wouldn’t have been worth Ardyn’s time. Ardyn would have stayed and comforted him… Why hadn’t he just listened to Regis when he warned him about not hurting Ardyn. The Marshal did bitterly regret what he was doing, but there was no going back on his lies. Especially when there was no evidence to suggest that Drautos had, in fact, attacked him and he was powerless to stop it.Cor broke the silence and his voice sounded as shattered as he now saw himself. “… how about this? I will book an appointment with a marriage councilor? To help us get through it. I promise on our marriage and the love of our son that I will never go out of my way to speak to Drautos again. I promise that if I have to, because of my job, I will only speak to him if someone else is in the room with me.”“You shouldn’t have to do that… I would never make you restrict yourself to please me. But you shouldn’t feel you have to do that either because Cor you sleeping with Drautos should never have happened.”Cor was getting upset and unfortunately, in an attempt to protect himself he got snappy and frustrated at the situation he had found himself in and it looked as if he was getting angry. “I know! But I am trying to make it better! And I know how hurt you are, and if it makes things easier, I will only talk to him if you are around.”“HA! You think that will make things easier! All I see now when I look at him is you and him fucking! I don’t want anything to do with him besides sitting on the opposite side of the room to him in meetings!”“I feel the same way!” Cor shouted back. He would rather never speak to that fucking rapist again. But he didn’t have a choice and unfortunately because of their jobs neither did Ardyn. “I am willing to try whatever it takes to make this up to you. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make things work. I mean we have no idea how long we have left togethe-”“Ooooh… That’s cold Marshal.” Ardyn narrowed his eyes at Cor, very offended by that near-full statement.“What?”“Using mine and Noctis’s death as a catalyst to make me forgive you!”“No! That’s- that’s not what I was doing!”“I can hardly believe a word you say anymore… and because of that I really do think we need help. I will be the one to sort it out. Not you.” Ardyn said, having enough of this fight for one night.Tomorrow Ardyn would have to go into work and see the Captain of the Kingsglaive and try his hardest not to slaughter him. Ardyn needed all the strength and control over himself he had to ensure he wouldn’t do that. Ardyn was not going back to Angelguard because he lost control for a home-wrecking sleaze bag that was Captain Drautos.“Okay.” Cor said accepting what Ardyn had said. Ardyn was going to get an appointment with a councilor quicker than he could anyway, it only seemed fit that he was the one to do it. “Would you like me to sleep on the sofa tonight?”“No…, of course, I don’t… If we are going to try to sort this out, we need to start as we mean to go on.” “Mind your own business.” Drautos ordered as Nyx followed him down the hall.It was just the pair of them left in the Glaive training barracks as Nyx had decided to try and get to the bottom of His Grace’s outburst yesterday and his now sudden disappearance. Not to mention that some of the Glaives were talking about The Marshal coming in really early this morning, according to them he was crying his eyes out. And since Marshal Leonis hadn’t been acting like himself recently and with His Graces argument with the Captain yesterday, Nyx was putting two and two together and trying to figure out what could have possibly happened.“Come on…” Nyx begged, trying to appeal to the Captain’s better nature.Drautos stopped and glared at Nyx. How much he would have loved to openly admit he had caused the Marshal to cry and probably the Adagium as well. But Drautos had to keep acting professionally and put his bragging on hold. “Ulric. This matter does not concern you and if you keep pestering me you will get into trouble.”“I’m always in trouble.”“Humph.”Drautos couldn’t argue with him there.“Captain Drautos.”Drautos and Nyx stood to attention at hearing the King’s voice and both of them were a little confused as to why he was down here. It was way passed hours for anyone to be here and yet the King had chosen to make an appearance. And his presence completely ruined Drautos’s day. Could he go one fucking day without seeing this twat of a sovereign?Drautos forced himself to bow on command. “Your Majesty. Ulric you are excused.”“No, he isn’t. Glaive Ulric you will stay.” Regis ordered bluntly leaning on his cane for support. But with the amount of anger and hurt going through him at the moment, Regis felt that he didn’t need it today. Regis even managed to come down here without Clarus or anyone else to help him. “Drautos, you lied to me. You told me to my face that you knew nothing about what was going on with the Marshal, and you lied. Did you not?”“I did, Your Majesty.” Drautos responded staring directly at the man he loathed whilst trying his hardest not to show how angry and humiliated he was for getting told off in front of one of his glaives.“If you would like to keep your current occupation Drautos you will never lie to me again. If I can’t trust you, I cannot have you protecting my family or Lucis. Do you understand me.”“Yes, Sire.”“Good. You are lucky that it is I and not His Former Majesty, His Grace or Lord Amicitia that has come down here to remind you of that. And another word of advice, do not go anywhere near His Grace for the time being nor the Marshal. That goes for the entire Glaive as well.” Regis ordered with controlled rage before turning his attention to Nyx. “Ulric. Take note of this and please remind the Captain of this conversation if he ever thinks of lying to me or any member of my family again. Good evening gentleman.” Drautos kept his eyes locked onto the lame King as he limped away from him. How dare that pathetic weak individual talk to him that way? All it would take would be a simple shot at the back of the head and he would no longer have to deal with that insufferable Lucian monarch. And maybe kill Nyx so it would give him an opportunity to get away. But he wasn’t allowed to do that. Drautos wasn’t allowed to strike yet, no matter how tempting it was or how much pleasure it would give him. Funny. Maybe he should have just gone directly for Regis instead of giving into his desires and pleasuring himself with the Marshal.But Drautos did not like being humiliated, especially not in front of one of his Glaives. That King was going to pay dearly for doing that… and Drautos knew of a way to achieve that. Drautos grunted loudly. “Nyx. Never speak a word of this to anyone.”“Got it.” Nyx nodded, also feeling a little embarrassed he had to witness that. Ardyn meant what he said. Remaining in the same bed as each other would help to lessen the pain even if it was killing him to begin with. It also meant that Prompto wouldn’t suspect anything for the time being. Ardyn really did not want Prom getting involved. His son was too pure and he would try his hardest to make things better even if it took a turn on his own mental health and Ardyn was not letting that happen again. Ardyn would prefer to end things with Cor if it meant he could prevent Prom from going down that dark pit again.And that thought alone terrified him.Laying there next to his sleeping husband, Ardyn openly admitted to himself that divorce was an option. It shouldn’t have been. None of this should have happened. It was breaking him from the inside out and Ardyn had to leave. He couldn’t be in the same bed as Cor for much longer. He got up, got dressed and teleported himself outside of Insomnia.The dawn was just beginning to rise.Ardyn hated seeing this natural phenomenon occur. Because slowly the days were getting shorter, time was ticking away and taunting him as he and Noct marched blindly towards their death. An age covered in darkness, only to be filled with light when he and Noct destroyed one another. A world he would never get to see and the family he would be forced to leave behind. Why did everything with Cor have to happen now? When they were so close to the end of their time together? The Gods were pissing on him right now. They were laughing at him and ensuring that he was truly and utterly miserable before he had to be the sacrificial lamb to a destiny he wanted no part of…Why couldn’t he escape it? Why couldn’t he just escape all of this…“What do you want daemon?”Ardyn heard a gruff voice from behind him and he didn’t jump at it, as Cid was the very person that he wanted to see.“Advice.” Ardyn replied, turning around trying not to look broken.“You come to me. Why?”“Because of Cor. I don’t know what to do.”Cid’s face hardened. “You better come inside.”Ardyn didn’t care if Cid wanted to kill him, all he wanted was to be listened to.At first, Ardyn didn’t want anyone else involved. He didn’t want Cor’s shame and Ardyn’s heartbreak to be posted everywhere, but he did want to be listened to. And because Cid was not directly involved with either his or Cor’s life Ardyn felt inclined to seek him out. No matter how scared the mechanic made him… Ardyn couldn’t carry on like this. And getting advice from the grease monkey, who loved Cor with all his heart and who hated Ardyn, was the best solution that the daemon royal came up with.To Ardyn’s surprise, Cid did not interrupt him. Cid allowed him to tell him everything that Ardyn knew about Cor’s betrayal and how Ardyn felt about it. “That boy needs a kick up the ass.” Cid muttered closing his eyes.“I… I don’t know what I did.” Ardyn stuttered, a little shocked that Cid hadn’t said he blamed him yet. In fact, Cid felt the exact opposite of what Ardyn had expected.“Daemon, this ain’t ya fault.”“Who’s else is it than!? I am his husband. I promised to make him happy and I clearly haven’t done that.”“You have. He’s been stupid an’ reckless. He shouldn’t of done it.”Ardyn put a fist to his mouth and bit down hard on one of his knuckles. He didn’t want to cry anymore, all he wanted was to sort this out… but how could he do that? Ardyn spoke softly into his hand and bowed his head in shame. “Is it that though? He has calmed down over the years and that is because of me.”“Stop blaming yourself.” Cid ordered sitting forward in his chair. “This is on him. What have you two decided ya gunna do?”“See a marriage councilor. I want to make it work with him, Cid. But… every time Somnus has come to me pouring his heart out, saying a girl has cheated on him, I told him to be shot of her. If I can’t even take my own advice than I shouldn’t be giving Regis any.”No matter the differences between the two, Cid could not condone Cor’s behaviour. This must have been the stupidest thing that kid had ever done in his life. Cid may not like it that Cor and Ardyn were together, but he liked it far less than Cor had destroyed the Adagium with one simple act. He had destroyed his own family in the space of one night… When Cid saw that kid he was not going to let him explain himself. Cid was going to tell Cor exactly what he thought and how disgusted he was by his actions. Cid shook his head. “I hate your brother. If I were ya, I would give Cor one more chance. If he blows it, there’s no goin’ back.”“But I really love him.” Ardyn stated, fearing that could be a possibility…“Daemon, if he does it again then he don’t love you. I know you would never do this to him. So, why should you put up with that?”Cid was right… Ardyn shouldn’t. The next day Prompto was allowed back in the house and the tense and heavy atmosphere set his anxiety on edge. Both of his dads looked as if they were both ready to explode and Prom didn’t understand why. At dinner, Prompto asked and they told him nothing was wrong. He didn’t believe them. Prompto said that they all promised to never lie to each other after Prom came out of hospital because lies only made others ill. When the Marshal heard that he got up from his seat and left the house to clear his head. Prom was right, Cor was getting very ill and exhausted over this but there not much else he could do. When he came back two hours later Ardyn didn’t ask where he had been. But he had waited in the living room to make sure he came home safe and then went to bed.When Ardyn and Cor got into bed, they didn’t touch each other. They both shuffled to the edge of their king's size bed and looked in the opposite direction of one another. Neither of them slept which was not good as they had their first counseling session tomorrow morning. They remained like this until the sun rose and they were forced to get up to wash and get dressed for the long day ahead.Ardyn was actually listening to the rules his nephew had told him and didn’t teleport them to the therapist. He drove his car with Cor in the passenger seat in silence. They didn’t even have the radio on.The entire car journey they were dreading going to see Doctor Freyr. Ardyn was dreading it because he did not want anyone to think badly of Cor, even if to Ardyn, Cor deserved it, and letting one more person know was just an inch closer to the press finding out. And Cor was dreading it because this person was a professional and had dealt with crumbling marriages for their entire life. They might be able to see through his lies and discover what had really taken place. To Cor, that being in the papers was far worse than people thinking him a cheat. Because of who Ardyn and Cor were, they were taken directly to Dr. Freyr’s office. Where she was already waiting for them. She told them both to have a seat and got right down to business. Right from the get-go, she asked them to call her Stella not Doctor Freyr as this environment was meant to be relaxed and opened one. One of trust so that she could help them, help themselves through this difficult time. One of her requirements for treatment was that Stella said she would like to address them by their first names and not by titles. Because in this room titles didn’t matter, all that mattered was that Cor and Ardyn find a level of understanding in their relationship and come to grips as to what had happened so that they could pull through this trying time.Stella shuffled in her chair and smiled at the pair. “Ardyn. Cor. First off, I am very impressed that the pair of you have decided to come see me together. That only proves that you are both willing to try and mend things. To start with I am just going to ask you a question that I always ask on the first session with couples that I have helped. This way I can understand you and your relationship status better. Now let’s begin. Tell me, why exactly are you here?”“You know why we're here.” Ardyn grumbled trying not to bare his teeth at her. He was not comfortable with this at all… but he wanted to be with Cor and he wanted to make this work.Cor didn’t tell Ardyn off for being rude. Right now, he didn’t think he deserved to be asking things of his husband.Because of Cor’s lack of response and Ardyn’s bitterness to the situation, Stella put down her note pad and let out a sigh.“If this is going to work, all of us need to be open and truthful. People don’t come to me unless they require help. You two do and if you would like my help you need to answer my questions. I am not here to take sides. I am here to listen to you both and help you learn how the other is feeling so you can talk things through in a safe and calm environment. So, shall we start again?” Both men nodded as a response. “Good. Now, why are you here?”Cor looked down at the floor and quietly said, not wanting to admit it, because it wasn’t the truth. “Because I cheated on him.”“And tried to cover it up.” Ardyn added. He was not letting Cor get away with hiding that detail.“Okay. There is no judgment here. But I need the pair of you to explain how you are feeling about the situation. This way you can understand how the other is feeling. Who would like to go first?”For the next hour, Ardyn explained exactly to Cor what this news was doing to him. How humiliated and upset it made him feel. How fearful and paranoid he was for Cor doing this. How hurt and betrayed he felt. When Ardyn had finished Stella ensured that Cor understood what Ardyn was saying before giving him a chance to express his emotions and give him a chance to explain why it had happened. But Stella did not need to explain anything to Cor. He knew exactly how Ardyn was feeling… When Cor said he felt disgusted and shamed for doing this, that Ardyn was not to blame for anything and this was all his fault, and Cor felt sick at how much pain he had caused. But Cor didn’t fill up his hour. He didn’t want to reveal too much in case Stella caught on to his lies and caught him out. That would be awful if she did. Lucky for Cor, she didn’t and she said that they would meet once a week and gave them both things to work on at home. Which consisted of, learning to communicate effectively without getting upset and focus on what they wanted out of these sessions. Otherwise, this simply was not going to work. “How are things going?” Clarus asked from the doorway of Cor’s office.“Horribly.” Cor said flatly, accepting the fact that he wasn’t going to get out of this conversation with Clarus.Everything was just falling apart. Cid had called him this morning to tell him what a fucking idiot he had been and that he better make this up to Ardyn sooner rather than later, or Cid was going to come to Insomnia and sort this out himself. He had had Wesk on the phone merely two hours later, irritated and upset that Cor had lied to him and not told him the full truth. But unlike Cid, Wesk was still willing to help Cor if he wanted it. The Marshal turned down his offer and got back to work. And to top it all off Regis wasn’t talking to him. Cor had never seen such disappointment on Regis’s face before and that was hard to swallow. Even if Cor was putting himself and Ardyn through this he wanted Regis to tell him it was going to be okay and that he still loved him. The King was still actively talking to Drautos and that scared Cor. He wasn’t scared that Regis would find out the truth, he was more concerned that Drautos may do the same to Regis… or Noctis. If that happened Cor would never forgive himself, but the fear of Ardyn finding out unfortunately outweighed the fear of Regis’s and Noctis’s safety. Because if it hadn’t everything would be out in the open by now.Clarus closed the door and asked. “Does Prompto know what happened?”Cor shook his head. “No. All he knows is that we have fallen out, we haven’t told him why. He keeps asking us what’s wrong.”“You should tell him.”“Stop it Clarus.” Cor warned, before pretending to do something on his computer to give off the illusion he was busy so Clarus would leave him alone.But the Shield hadn’t really left him alone since he had found out what had taken place. Unlike Regis or Cid and to some extent Wesk and Somnus, Clarus was there trying to talk to Cor about it and being fully on his side. Which upset the Marshal, because Ardyn needed the support more than anyone else and Clarus wasn’t giving it to him. Clarus shouldn’t even be here. He should be with Iris and Gladio as it was his afternoon off. Making Cor feel even more guilty and pissed off because his lies were limiting his best friend’s time with his family. And telling the truth would 100% cut Clarus’s time short with his children because Clarus would want to be here looking after Cor. Cor was not about to let that happen. “I am trying to help you.” Clarus said in a sympathetic voice.The sympathy, and lack of for Ardyn, made Cor angry. “Why!? I was the one that broke Ardyn’s heart not the other way around. Regis is keeping his distance from me so why can’t you?!”“Because I don’t believe you.”Cor looked at Clarus and those words shook the Marshal to his core. Cor’s rational train of thought started to collapse and he held his breath as Clarus continued to talk. No! Clarus wasn’t allowed to know! He wasn’t allowed to guess!“I don’t believe for one second you would do this to Ardyn.”“Well, I did. I am not proud of it, but I did it. You can ask Drautos yourself what went on. It happened and I have caused too much pain to the man I love!” Cor screamed not wasting a second to allow Clarus to put food into this thought. He felt himself start to panic because if Clarus discovered the truth… he would never look at Cor the same way again…Clarus shook his head and continued to talk to Cor calmly. “You can sit there and scream that bull crap at me if you like, but none of this makes sense. This isn’t you. You would never do this. That is why I don’t believe you. There has to be more to it than what you are telling everyone.”“What Clarus?! There is nothing else to this! I told you what happened!”“But I know you, Cor Leonis, you would never do this. Has Drautos got something over you and is making you lie? Because I will knock his teeth out if that is the case.”This was what Clarus had been trying to tell Regis since they found out about Cor’s supposed affair but Regis wouldn’t listen. The King was far too upset to listen to Cor’s side of things but Clarus wasn’t. He originally wanted to tell Ardyn this, but Ardyn hadn’t been anywhere public in a while and he might react badly to Clarus’s thoughts. That’s when the Shield decided to go to Cor. To the Shield, all of this just seemed… wrong. Cor just wasn’t the type of person to cheat and whenever Clarus asked Cor about his behaviour before he got aggressive. Like he was scared. Clarus had known Cor long enough to know when Cor wasn’t telling him the full story. The Marshal was definitely not doing that right now.Cor raised his hand to dismiss Clarus’s claims. “No. Drautos hasn’t got anything over me.” “Than why are you putting Ardyn through this, when it isn’t true.”“But it is true Clarus. I had an affair with Drautos, and I covered it up.”Those words made Cor sick to his stomach. But he could not afford to let it slip not when there was no evidence against Drautos’s actions and now it would look like Cor was lying to keep Ardyn by his side.Still, Clarus was not buying the lies that came pouring out of Cor’s mouth. “I know you are lying to me.”“I am not! I had sex with Drautos! That is what happened!” Cor had to prevent himself from choking on the sick that nearly filled his mouth when he shouted that. To make sure Clarus wouldn’t see it or smell it he down the cold coffee that was on his desk to hide his shame and disgust.“No. No, I don’t believe you, I won’t ever believe any of the words you just said. Have you done something else and have asked Drautos to cover it up for you, and you two have come up with this story to hide what is truly going on? Did you… I don’t know… accidentally killed a man of innocence and feel guilty about it? Like I said before, has Drautos got something over you? Or is this all a sick joke? Please, tell me the truth. Whatever is happening I am here to help you all the way. Nothing you can say will ever alter that and I will not judge you. Just tell me.”“I am telling you the truth.” Clarus rubbed the back of his head and stayed in Cor’s office until Cor left. Whilst the Shield remained with the Marshal he kept asking him questions and expressing his doubts. But that only caused Cor to go on the offensive and lash out before leaving because he could feel the trauma of that harrowing night. Cor started to get flashbacks of Drautos forcing him to the ground and if he stayed with Clarus it would come out.That wasn’t happening yet.The truth was not coming out. Noctis was getting annoyed now.He had Prom on the phone to him for most of this week getting upset because of the tension between his dads. The Prince was determined to find out what the fuck was going on. Noct knew that if Cor and Ardyn were upset his dad would have the answers. On the only evening, Friday evening, were the King and Prince could be father and son, Noctis used his precious time to help Prompto with his parents.“Dad, what’s going on with Ardyn and Cor? Prom is really worried, and Ardyn and Somnus are getting along, I am kind of fearing for all of Eos because of that. Can you tell me?”“No Noct, I am afraid I can’t.” Regis sighed, pushing his food away. He wasn’t hungry anyway but talking about this made the King lose his appetite completely.“Why?! This is my family too.” Noct complained like a brat, hoping that would get Regis to tell him.“Yes, but Ardyn doesn’t want anyone knowing who doesn’t already.”Damn! That should have worked… it normally did. Noctis wasn’t going to give up yet. He needed to find out for Prom’s sake. Noctis refused to let Prom go back where he was two years ago. If Ardyn was the cause of that in any way, well… bring on the fucking end of the world already!“I know that Ardyn and Cor are seeing a councillor. Whatever has happened must be serious and I don’t want it to affect Prom’s mental health. You aren’t talking to Cor, so what had Cor done?”“I am sorry Noct. I can’t tell you.” Regis rubbed his temple, not wanting to see Noctis upset or be partly the fault of Prompto getting upset.“I am gunna be King one day. And I will need to be told about this eventually you might as well tell me now and save grandad or Ardyn telling me later, only for the pain to be brought back up again.”“Noctis Lucis Caelum you will not ask me that again. I can not tell you because Ardyn has made me promise not to and don’t even think about asking your grandad because he will not say a word on the matter either. Now would you kindly drop the subject.”Regis barked having enough of being emotionally blackmailed. Thankfully, Noct kept his thoughts to himself after that otherwise they would have had an argument. That argument would have been unnecessary and neither of them would forgive themselves for starting it. If Cor thought things were bad now, they got a whole lot worse when he returned home.He found Prompto crying at the bottom of the stairs because he had heard Ardyn and Somnus talking about how bad things had gotten between Cor and Ardyn and that the term ‘divorce’ came up in conversation. That felt like a massive stab in the heart. Their first counselling session went as well as expected and Cor and Ardyn had been talking more… but they had never spoken about divorce before… Cor needed Ardyn. He needed him to keep him and Prom safe from Drautos… no. However, Cor didn’t let his own emotions get the better of him and he told Prom that that hadn’t been discussed between them yet and Prom shouldn’t worry. (Cor’s heart was racing at a hundred miles per hour at the thought) That did little to stop Prompto from getting upset and his son remained upset until Ardyn came back. When he saw the pair of them sitting on the stairs with tears forming in both their eyes, Ardyn became very concerned and confused at the sight before him. (Even Cor. Ardyn didn’t want to care but he still loved his husband and not even Cor affair could stop the love he had for the Marshal) Prompto grabbed on to Ardyn and begged him not to go. Begged him to stay and that him and Cor had to make things work. They had too. Given Prom still had no idea what they were fighting about but they had to fix it. Ardyn quickly reassured Prom he wasn’t leaving, and he didn’t know where he had gotten that idea from, that was until Prom told him what he had heard.Ardyn shook his head and explained he and Somnus only briefly talked about what had been going on, but their main topic of conversation was about a divorce bill that Somnus needed Ardyn’s help with and that they weren’t breaking up, much to Cor’s relief. Still, Cor was now scared to death that Ardyn might decide he had enough and go. Cor wouldn’t blame him but… he didn’t want to face that reality.When Prom left to go on a date with Ignis to cheer himself up, leaving Cor and Ardyn in the house alone, Cor asked Ardyn if he had actually been telling Prom the truth or not about the ‘divorce bill’.“I wasn’t lying. Is that you being paranoid?” Ardyn chuckled at his own misery.“I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t blame you if you were lying.”Ardyn let out a deep sigh. “Cor… I am putting myself through therapy, the one thing I have said since the beginning of my immortality, I would never take part in, for us and Prom. If I didn’t think that we worth the trouble I wouldn’t be living in the same house as you now.”“Okay.” Cor nodded, trying not to cry as the fear left him. At least that was something. “Do you want me to get you anything to drink at all?”“A glass of wine would be lovely. Thank you.”Cor stood up and went to the kitchen not showing how happy Ardyn’s acceptance to that offer made him. Ardyn had been nothing but cold towards him since he found out and would reject any kind offer Cor would make. This seemed to be a step in the right direction for the pair but as Cor poured his husband’s wine, he became angry.Looking and smelling alcohol made him angry now. Because all of this started on seemingly innocent drinks, seemingly innocent training sessions, seemingly innocent chatter. It was never meant to be anything more. But the alcohol clouded Cor’s mind and he cheated on his husband because of it. The alcohol (and some sort of drug) made Cor go numb and Drautos destroyed him. Because of this burning anger, Cor made up his mind. He didn’t want to be scared of Drautos any longer. He didn’t want to be constantly looking over his shoulder waiting for Drautos to get the jump on him and do it again. It may be a stupid idea, but Cor wanted to know that Drautos didn’t have any power over him, so tomorrow morning he would go to the Captain’s office and tell him what was what. Even if he had promised Ardyn that he wouldn’t go near Drautos, Cor needed to do this for his own sanity. “Why the fuck did you tell my husband?!” Cor roared as he stormed into Drautos’s office and the man didn’t so much as flinch.Instead, he lent back in his chair and purposely ran his eyes up and down Cor’s body to make the Marshal feel uncomfortable. After all, Drautos did want to get back at the King for humiliating him. What better way than to mentally scar his ‘honorary little baby helpless brother’? “I thought it only right he was made aware of your lack of faithfulness towards him.”“I never wanted that! I never wanted you anywhere near me! You filthy disgusting lying bastard!” Cor continued to roar and stopped himself from flinching when he noticed how Drautos was looking at him.“That is a lie in itself. I take it you still haven’t said a word about our kiss. You might as well inform him of that, as he already knows we slept together.”“WE DIDN’T SLEEP TOGETHER!” Cor screamed the words out.Again, Drautos did not look fazed by the outburst. In fact, he looked more amused than anything else. When Drautos stood up and walked around his desk Cor dug his heels into the carpet. He did not want to look like a scared mouse. He was a lion. He should not be afraid of this disgusting filth in front of him. But those thoughts didn’t stop the sweat from dripping down his back, or his heart thump around in his chest like a bullet. It didn’t prevent Cor’s eyes going dark in fear at how close he was to his attacker and it did not stop the want to flee. Cor was petrified. And he could tell that Drautos could sense that as the Captain slowly walked towards him.“What happened Leonis? Look me in the eye and tell me what happened? Tell me what I did to you. Tell me that you didn’t want it and that I raped you? Say it. Say that I raped you!”Cor couldn’t. He couldn’t say it. All the Marshal did was divert his gaze from Drautos perverted one and tremor at the Captain’s twisted words. Cor’s fearful reaction made Drautos laugh. “You can’t do it. Therefore, what you are trying to accuse me off, never happened. Do yourself a favour and stop obsessing over this. Or Ardyn may think it meant something to you.”“Don’t you dare call him that. He is His Grace, to you.” Cor gritted his teeth, backing away slightly. He could practically feel Drautos’s breath on him. The man was far too close for comfort.“His Grace then. If you were truly that bothered by it, you would have said something by now. Or at least something to his Majesty. Considering you are here, and he is not, I take it that your vulgar claims haven’t found their way into conversation yet.”“You think you can scare me? I have dealt with things a lot worse than you!” Cor growled, desperately trying to get control of himself and prove to Drautos that he wasn't scared. Cor was failing miserably.“Think I can? I know I have.” Drautos continued to laugh as he started to walk back over to his desk in triumph, knowing he had the complete upper hand in this pointless interaction. “Imagine the headlines. Cor the Immortal married to an actual monster and he can’t even hold his own against the Captain of the Kingsglaive. Tabloids would have a field trip with that story.”“He’s not a monster!”“No, what is he? He is meant to murder his own flesh and blood and coat this world in darkness. If that’s not monstrous then I don’t know what it. I did tell you that you are wasted on him.”“No, I am not. Don’t you dare pretend you know who Ardyn is because he is 1000 times the person you will ever be. Because he actually cares about the people he loves. I don’t even know how you can live with yourself.”Drautos scowled for a second.He did not like the new-found strength that Cor was building up as they continued to talk. But he could easily stamp that fire out. The Captain hit everything off his desk to make Cor jump and when he knew he had gotten Cor’s attention, he let go a smirk and leant up against it. Just as he had done before, Drautos looked up and down Cor’s body like a predator and licked his lips when he stared at Cor’s crotch. Drautos didn’t even bother hiding his amusement when he saw Cor take more than a few steps back. As he continued to taunt the Marshal, he gestured to his now bare desk.“Quite easily. Now if you don’t have anything else to say get out. Unless you want to stay and go for another round. I am certain His Grace would love to hear that.”“You make me sick.” Cor said with the last bit of strength he had and left.Cor was shaking and was ready to burst into tears. The way that man looked at him… no… Cor never wanted anyone to look at him that way again. He felt his bottom lip quiver and he was about to fall to the floor in fear and pain, but a voice stopped him from doing so.“What are you doing?”Cor looked to see Somnus and Clarus staring at him.And he had just stepped out of Drautos’s office.FUCK!
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“I said: What the fuck are you doing?”Somnus repeated his question staring at Cor with disbelief and rage.Cor’s head went into a frenzy as he stared at the angry look his brother-in-law was giving him and the worry that Clarus had on his face. He couldn’t tell them the reason why he was in there, but he knew how bad this looked. Especially since Cor had promised he would never go anywhere near Drautos again unless it was something to do with work and someone else was with him. Cor stepped away from Drautos’s door and looked at Somnus shaking his head. He did not want Somnus to think he had it in him to ‘do that again’ to Ardyn. Cor didn’t even have it in him to do it properly the first time. And the Marshal could not say the truth and he knew for a fact Drautos was more than likely standing the other side of the door listening to their every word.“This isn’t what it looks like Somnus I swear.” Cor said trying to defend himself.That did nothing to lessen the rage in Somnus’s voice. “You promised my brother you wouldn’t go anywhere near him!”“Somnus calm down. Don’t jump to any conclusions.” Clarus said putting a hand in front of Somnus. Clarus was just as shocked and hurt to see Cor here as the Founder King was but he still had doubts in his mind as to why Cor was here. The only reason why he and Somnus had come down here was to see Drautos to corner him and get him to spill what had happened between himself and Cor. Somehow Clarus had got Somnus to come around to his way of thinking that all of this was a farce that the Marshal and The Captain were playing. And even after seeing this, the Shield seriously doubted Cor was here for the reason that Somnus was thinking. He looked at Cor and asked softly. “Cor, what are you doing?”Cor begin to panic, and he knew he couldn’t hide that sound from his voice. “I was just… I know what I promised. This is not what either of you think it is. I swear on Prompto it isn’t.”“I am not the one you need to convince.” Somnus growled with venom dripping from his lips.If Cor thought for one second, this was not going straight to Ardyn he was delusional. Cor had lied to his brother yet again and Somnus couldn’t take seeing his older brother cry anymore. Somnus may not show how much he loved Ardyn, but it tore his fucking heart apart when he cried on him about Cor and Drautos. It hurt Somnus so much to see Ardyn so… hopeless and lost and keeping this from Ardyn would make Somnus just as bad as Cor and Drautos. The Founder King felt that Ardyn didn’t need anymore betrayal in his life. He didn’t deserve this.“Somnus don’t you fucking dare!” Clarus raised his voice, realising exactly what Somnus meant.“Please, Somnus. I was only… I was… I was telling him how angry I was at him and myself for what I did to Ardyn. I promise this is completely innocent.” Cor said in a ragged breath.Knowing this would put Ardyn and Cor right back to square one. And after Cor’s chat with Drautos, Cor realised how much he needed Ardyn by his side. Cor was so frightened and terrified to be around the Captain at he… just needed Ardyn to make him feel safe and secure again. But there was no doubt to Cor that his husband would not want to be near him after he learnt of this…. Somnus let out a laugh of mockery. “Innocent?! What do you expect me to think?! You made a promise and you fucking broke it! Again!”“I know and I am sorry.” Cor bowed his head in shame.And Somnus did not give a fuck. He pushed passed Clarus and marched towards Cor. No longer keeping to his promise about keeping out of his brother’s relationships Somnus nudged Cor out of the way and went for the handle on the Captain’s office door.“Somnus what are you doing?!” Cor said panicking even more than before.“Somnus come away from there!” Clarus ordered, knowing that if he was right and Drautos did have something over Cor, the Founder King would only make things a thousand times worse for his little brother.Their pleads did nothing to prevent Somnus from forcing his way into the office. And when he stepped in there he found Drautos picking up stuff from around his bare desk. Somnus exhaled nothing but pure rage from his nose once Drautos caught a glimpse of the foundering sovereign. The Captain stood up and bowed like he normally would whenever he was in the presence of a member of the royal family. But his action only put more fire in Somnus’s belly. It infuriated him that Drautos didn’t even seem to be bothered why he was in here. He must have heard Somnus shouting at Cor. Drautos was now playing with fire and if Somnus was involved, you were the one that always got burnt.Because of that Somnus held nothing back. “What the fuck were you discussing with my brother-in-law?!”“Your Former Majesty. I-” Drautos tried to say in a respectful tone but was immediately cut off by Somnus.“My patience is wearing thin! I don’t care about fucking protocol I want you to answer the bloody question! Why is your desk a state?!”From that alone was nearly enough proof Somnus needed to know that Cor had lied to him again. The Captain of the Kingsglaive was a very organised person so why would his desk and office be a tip unless something had happened between Cor and Drautos?And that was exactly what Drautos wanted Somnus to believe. That was another reason why he messed it up while Cor was in here because Somnus had contacted him earlier to ask if they could have a chat. It was working perfectly. Drautos glanced up to see Clarus behind Somnus looking confused and concerned. Drautos knew Clarus did not believe Cor’s and his lies. Maybe this might make him think otherwise. Drautos for half a second looked at Cor and had to hide his smirk when he saw Cor’s face dropped as he had also realised why he had done that earlier. Now to Drautos, he still had full control over Cor and he could very easily lie and say that they did have sex again. Cor wouldn’t say a word against him, he was far too scared to do that. But he may be pushing his luck a little with that.Instead, he told the truth.“The Marshal got angry with me about the situation involving His Grace and myself. Nothing more.”Somnus was still not prepared to believe that. He turned his head to look at Clarus and said in a very angry voice. “Amicitia! Do you really expect me to support whatever theory you have relating to this now! Leonis go home immediately I do not want to see you around Drautos ever again, and if I do, you are both fired! Amicitia go and see my brother at once and tell him exactly what has just happened!”Cor looked at Clarus and shook his head, begging for Clarus not to listen to Somnus. Cor’s heart simply could not take any more of Ardyn looking at him like a stranger and the most disgusting person that had ever walked this planet.Clarus didn’t have time to say sorry to Cor, as he could not disobey an order from Somnus, even if he wanted to.Somnus lost his temper at the lack of movement behind him. “LEONIS GO HOME!”“Somnus calm down.” Clarus said, shooing Cor away so he could try and persuade Somnus that this was a misunderstanding. “Go. And. See. My. Brother.” Somnus ordered one more time in a voice coated with hate.That was when the Shield and the Marshal left. Clarus tried to tell Cor that he would do everything he could to convince Ardyn that Cor going to see Drautos was innocent. And that Cor did it out of love for Ardyn and that Cor was just angry. Cor told him not to bother. Ardyn wouldn’t listen anyway….Somnus slammed the door shut, giving him a chance to privately talk with the Captain. He was angry at Drautos for what had happened between himself and Cor and for lying about it, Somnus didn’t know if he could continue to be professional with the man. He was starting to hate him as much as Ardyn had before all of this kicked off. “Do you think this is funny!” Somnus asked darkly.“No, Sire. Nothing happened.” Drautos stated trying to be respectful.“Did you want it to?”“No.”“Did he?”“No.”“I warn you Drautos. You are walking on very thin ice at the moment.” Somnus warned. He shouldn’t have too because Regis had already done it and asked him not to stick his nose in. But right now Somnus felt like he had too. Drautos had enough of King’s getting in his business. Didn’t they realise that they were only pushing him to fuck their precious Marshal’s brain up further? And because of how Somnus was addressing him and belittling him Drautos was going to do just that. But right now, his issue was not the Marshal. His issue was getting Somnus to leave him the fuck alone. He knew exactly what to say to achieve that goal: “Excuse me if I sound out of order Your Former Majesty, but are you threatening me because of glaive Pretium?”Somnus’s face hardened. He did not just go there…. However, Somnus was not allowed to hold that against Drautos. Regis had told him so beforehand and he was already in trouble for talking to Drautos in the first place. So Somnus had to let it go.“… I am not as forgiving as Regis or Ardyn, so I am going to forget you said that. This is the one and only warning I am going to give you: Stay away from Cor.” Somnus gritted his teeth with fire in his eyes.“Of course, Sire. If I may say, he was the one that sort me out.” Drautos purposely said knowing how angry the truth was making the Founder King.“If he does it again, send him on his way.”When Somnus left, Drautos let out a mighty growl.As both of those King’s had made things a hundred times worse for the Marshal now… and Cor’s and Ardyn’s relationship. Prompto, Noctis and Ignis were walking through the Citadel gardens to get a bit of peace and quiet. Ignis and Noctis both agreed that Prom needed a bit of space to take his mind off everything as he was still really upset and confused why his dads were having counselling sessions. They weren’t telling him anything and somehow Prompto was thinking that it was all his fault. Noct and Ignis told him no, of course, it wasn’t but it didn’t stop Prom from thinking that way.Somehow the boys got on to the topic of the ‘glaive’ issue and Noctis was trying to give Prom a healthy push to do whatever he wanted to do and not what Cor wanted.“I don’t know dude.” Prompto muttered rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, as his other hand was currently being held by his boyfriend.“Prom, your 18! You can do what you want now.” Noctis said, for the third time in the last 20 minutes.“I know but I don’t like going behind their backs...”“You’re an adult. And they told you not to think about it until we finished school. Which we have done.”“Noct do not pressure him.” Ignis shook his head, rubbing his thumb along Prom’s hand to comfort him. “I’m not.” Noctis shrieked defending himself. Since Ignis and Prom started dating, Noctis felt he had to keep defending himself against Ignis. Oh well… it didn’t matter. Not yet anyway… “I just want him to realise this is up to him and no one else.”“I know… It’s just dad got really mad… and I don’t want to upset him Noct.” Prom said sadly.He had never seen Cor so upset and mad, and it be directed at him, before. But he couldn’t understand it. It was a simple request that was never an issue until a couple of weeks ago. That was one of the reasons why Prom thought his dads marriage falling apart was his fault…Ignis could tell that Prom was getting anxious so he gripped Prom’s hand tighter and smiled at him. “It’s lovely that you are considering your dads feelings Prompto. But Noctis is right.”“See. Anyway, Ardyn’s got your back.” Noctis assured Prom.Ardyn would always take Prom’s side no matter the circumstances. So if Prom did decide to ‘go behind their backs’ as he put it, Ardyn wouldn’t care. He may be slightly upset but… he wouldn’t mind. He would just want his son to be happy, just like what Noctis and Ignis wanted Prom to be. “That’s the thing. If I do this, it may cause more problems between them and I don’t want that.”“Fine. Prompto what do you want to do. Don’t think about me, about Iggy, your dads or anyone else. Do you want to join the guard or glaive?” Noctis asked getting to the point. He just wanted to put a smile on his face and maybe if Prom took charge of himself he might start smiling again.Prompto paused for a moment before saying boldly. “The glaive.”“Let’s go and see Drautos then.” This was the annoying thing, Drautos could not get within a room of the Marshal without getting Ardyn, Regis, Clarus or Somnus on his case. Making it extremely difficult to emotionally abuse the man further. Drautos loved seeing Cor cower under his gaze. He loved looking at how terrified he was. It took the Captain back to the night when he finally got what he wanted and forced the Marshal underneath him and ruined him. It made Drautos feel so powerful that he was the one to break the Marshal. And when he arrived in Niflheim he did not waste a second in telling Verstael what he had done. The scientist laughed and said Cor deserved what he had gotten and Ardyn deserved to feel powerless that he had allowed that to take place. But now, as Regis and Somnus had both intervened Drautos wasn’t going to be able to feel that pleasure anymore.A knock at the door broke him from his lust ridden trance and he ordered whoever it was to come in. He was a little surprised to see both Noctis and Prompto. Why were they coming to see him? Didn’t they know what had taken…. Oh… maybe they didn’t?“Drautos.” Noctis said, shaking his head so Drautos didn’t have to stand up in front of him.“Good afternoon Your Highness. Mr Leonis. What can I do for you?” Drautos said cautiously, half expecting Ardyn to come rushing in and screaming at him for talking to his delicate and pathetic son and nephew.“Prom?” Noctis said, pushing Prompto forward encouraging him to talk.Prompto stumbled forward and went a shade of red. He didn’t feel comfortable asking this without Cor’s or Ardyn’s permission but Noct and Iggy were right… this was his life now. Eventually, he was going to have to manage without his dads, so he better make a start now.Prompto gulped and asked nervously. “I was wondering like it doesn’t matter if not, but would it be possible if I could join the Kingsglaive?”Drautos had to stop himself from showing amusement on his face at the luck that had just fallen into his lap. He knew for a fact he couldn’t get close to the Marshal anymore, but his son… that was a completely different story. Drautos speaking to Prompto would set the Marshal on edge and Cor would definitely come and sort him out again. Drautos could and was going to use this to his advantage.So that it didn’t make it look like he was up to something, Drautos put on a face of stone and raised an eyebrow. “What does His Grace and the Marshal say to this?”“They haven’t.” Prom admitted, knowing that this was a bad idea.“They don’t know we’re here.” Noctis confirmed.“Right.” Drautos cleared his throat, thinking he could not have asked for anything better right now.Noctis took Drautos clearing his throat as a sign he was about to dismiss Prom’s proposal. And the Prince couldn’t have that. Not if joining the Kingsglaive was going to make his best friend so happy. “But come on Drautos, Prom has had training from both Ardyn and Cor. He is more than capable. Plus, when the guard and glaive games come around next year, you would have Nyx and Prom on your side.”Yet another reason to get the son of Cor the Immortal and the Adagium joining the Glaive….“I don’t mean to be rude your Highness, however, I know Mr Leonis can speak for himself.” Drautos said, leaning forward looking directly at Prompto.Prom nodded knowing he had to say something, otherwise he was never going to get what he wanted. “I just want to do my bit for Lucis and no offence to my dads but I would like to do it on my own terms. If I join the guard people may think I am only there because my dad’s the Marshal. But joining the glaive would be like putting my own stamp on things. I understand if you don’t want me too.”Drautos was silent and Prom thought that meant no. The blonde prince bowed his head in defeat and was about to be asked to be excused but he heard the sound of a drawer opening. Prompto looked up and saw that Drautos had retrieved a piece of paper from the drawer and slapped it down on the desk facing towards the princes.The Captain pushed a pen on the paper and pointed to a dotted line: “Sign here.”“This is…?” Prompto asked, unable to get the rest of his words out. He was shocked that Drautos actually accepted his request. “Do you want to join or not?”“Yes! I mean yes sir! Thank you!”Prompto quickly picked up the pen and signed everything he needed to. It felt so surreal…. And a bit wrong. But he couldn’t back out now. Prom really wanted to make everyone proud and do what he could to protect the people that loved him. He needed to do this.“It will take a couple of weeks to be processed. And I have to run it by His Majesty.” Drautos grumbled, taking the paper away from Prompto and putting it on the top of the application pile.“That’s fine. Thank you, Captain.” Prompto smiled bowing to Drautos as thanks and a sign of respect.“Thanks, Drautos. Come on Prom, let’s go and find Iggy and tell him the news.” Noctis smiled, pulling Prom away.“Coming.”Once the Prince’s left his office Drautos laughed. This was all too perfect. Cor the Immortal was going to once again crumble at the fear, but this time it would be out of fear of his only child being so near him. Drautos knew that Cor was still going to be too frightened to put a stop to it meaning Drautos would still have complete control over him.“No, your Highness’s. Thank you.” Cor got himself worked up all day. He went home like he was told too and later on got a text from Clarus saying:
I have spoken to Ardyn. I tried my best to tell him why you went there and said that Drautos had the same story but he is not in the mood to listen Cor. Be honest with him, that is the only thing you can do here. Just call me if you need anything.
Cor’s eyes grew darker. He looked into the mirror and he could barely see the blue in his eyes anymore. He was so terrified of what Ardyn was going to say to him and do to Drautos. He was so scared that all his lies were going to come out and other than fear, Cor was just numb. Numb, lost and hopeless. He had gone beyond the point of crying now. Gone beyond the point of sadness. And he thought he had no one to turn to. No one, who would respect his wishes and keep their mouth shut. He had to go through this alone and that Ardyn would never be able to learn the truth.Why? Why was he doing this to himself? Why was he doing this to his family?He just wanted… Ardyn and Prom to hold him and protect him.That’s all Cor wanted.He heard Ardyn and Prompto come through the front door and Cor was too scared to go downstairs to start off with. He heard Prompto laughing and Ardyn agreeing with whatever their son was saying but Cor knew what would happen if he went downstairs. Ardyn and Cor would fight and make Prompto cry. But if they spoke about it later, Prompto would be stuck in his room crying silently to himself as Ardyn screamed at him. Cor had to get a hold of himself and just accept what was about to take place. Cor silently walked down the stairs and saw Ardyn and Prompto huddled around the table with lots and lots of photos spread across it. Looking at how natural Ardyn and Prom were acting it made Cor feel like an outsider. An outsider in his own fucking family. His heart started to race and Cor bit his lip before asking:“What are you two doing?”“Dad is helping me with putting my photos into albums.” Prompto smiled, very happy to see Cor. But Ardyn did not turn to face him or acknowledge Cor was even present.“Right.” Cor nodded, knowing how upset and hurt Ardyn must be feeling. “Would either of you like a drink?”“Yes, please dad. Can I have a hot chocolate, please?”“Sure. Ardyn, do you want anything?” Cor asked, not expecting to get a response.“No.” Ardyn said in a razor cutting voice.That’s when Cor knew to stop talking and leave the room. He nodded and whispered okay before retreating out of the room. However, he didn’t go into the kitchen. Cor stood in the hallway regretting everything. Regretting letting his anger and false self-confidence get the better of him. There was so much hate in Ardyn’s voice and so much pain… and this was all Cor’s fault. Cor would have broken down then but his son’s concerned voice from in the living room stopped him.“Dad, what’s going on? You two have barely spoken to each other.”“I can’t tell you.” Ardyn replied in pain.“Why?”“Because I still have too much love and respect for your father.”Cor put his hand to his mouth to stop himself from crying out at that. How could Ardyn possibly love him after this? After he allowed that man to touch him and then force him to lie about it. Cor did not deserve Ardyn…. he never has done…“Then why are you treating him like this?” Prom asked, still blissfully unaware as to what was happening.“Can we not do this please Prom? It hurts to talk about… How about you just tell me how things are with Ignis?”“No, you can’t ask me about my relationship unless you tell me what is going on.”That made Cor stop.Prompto was right. This wasn’t fair anymore. They couldn’t keep this from Prom. It was hurting their son. But Cor knew the truth would hurt so much more. It would hurt everyone so much more. And it was only a matter of time before the press got hold of his story so it was better if Prom heard it from is lips first.Cor walked back into the room and said in a voice dripping with shame. “Ardyn I should tell him.”“Oh, so you will tell him but you won’t tell me?” Ardyn laughed, finally recognising Cor’s existence.“Guys.” Prompto said very worried, as he knew a fight was about to breakout.But Ardyn ignored his son and looked directly in Cor’s eyes. “You are pathetic. Completely pathetic.”“I am trying to make things better!” Cor responded not wanting to cry at how cutting Ardyn’s words were.“I am sorry to tell you, darling! It’s not working!!!!”Prompto quickly ran in between his dads to get a better look at both of their faces. Both of them looked like they were on the verge of tears and Prompto didn’t know what to do. And all the poor boy wanted was some answers.“Dads, please tell me what’s going on?!” Prompto pleaded.Having nothing left to lose Cor closed his eyes and admitted what never happened. “I cheated on your dad, Prom.”Cor looked at his son’s face and it hurt the Marshal so much. Prompto’s worried face turned to shock, disgust and then anger. Cor thought he couldn’t handle Ardyn looking at him like that but his son…. The person who hung on to him for dear life when they first met… now saw him as a monster. Cor tried his hardest not to cry.“Do you have a death wish?! With who?!” Prompto practically shouted standing up for Ardyn, clearly taking his side.“You were the one that wanted to tell him. So, you can tell him who you did that with!” Ardyn growled, very angry that Prompto was upset.“Drautos.”“Drautos! Is that why I can’t join the Glaive!? Are you being fucking serious?! That’s not fair!” Prom shouted even more shocked and appalled by this revelation.“No! Prom, that’s not the reason!”“I can’t think of another one.” Ardyn added, coming to the same conclusion his son had.“We discuss this before!” Cor said, hoping that they didn’t find it odd that he still didn’t want Prom in the glaive. He was protecting him. He was protecting the two people that matter to him the most.“Yeah, and I didn’t know you cheated on Dad before!” Prompto screamed eyes filling up with hot tears. “This isn’t fair on me and this isn’t fair on dad. Why would you do that?!”“Right now, that doesn’t matter.” Cor stuttered and then mentally kicked himself as he knew he had chosen the wrong words.“Yes, it does! I can’t believe you. You are just selfish! You can’t be faithful to Dad and you prevent me from doing what I want all because you can’t control yourself. This isn’t fair!” Prompto cried.He didn’t want to look at Cor anymore. He was heartbroken for Ardyn and he would never consider himself as a bratty teenager but how dare Cor stop him from doing something because he couldn’t control himself?! Prompto ran passed Cor and ran all the way up the stairs in floods of tears. He slammed the door behind him and hung on to his Chocobo doll and cried into it.Cor started to shake with disgust in himself and when he locked eyes with Ardyn, his husband simply didn’t care what a mess he looked.Ardyn shrugged his shoulders. “If you won’t go after him, looks like I will.”Ardyn walked past Cor and when he heard Ardyn start to walk up the stairs the Marshal fell to the floor mouth wide opened as if he was screaming but nothing came out.That numbness he felt was now being expressed into his words. Nothing. He felt like nothing and he now saw himself as nothing. Because if Ardyn and Prom hated him… it wasn’t worth it anymore. “Sunbeam? Can I come in?” Ardyn asked softly as he tapped the door.Ardyn heard a faint yes. Having permission, Ardyn walked in and it tore him apart to see his child so distressed. Prompto’s face was red, his eyes were watery and puffy and he was hanging on to Charlie the Chocobo like his life depended on it. Just like the first time Ardyn saw Prom in Cor’s arms…. Prompto wiped his face and sobbed. “Why did he do that to you? To us? I can’t believe it.”“I understand you are upset. I am very upset about it too.” Ardyn sighed, sitting on the bed next to his son.“Yeah, I would have thought you would be. All this time he was snapping at you, was because he felt guilty. He should have told you.”“I know. Prom, we are trying our hardest to sort this out. I don’t know, maybe if I go away for a bit, things may calm down.” Ardyn said with sorrow.He didn’t want to go away but when Clarus told him what had happened this morning, Ardyn wanted to put himself on Angelguard so he didn’t hurt a soul. But if he did that it would give Drautos an opportunity to get closer to his husband again… he didn’t want that. Neither did Clarus. Clarus did suggest that if Ardyn really felt he needed to do that, he would keep an eye on Cor but there was no reason for the immortal daemon to be concerned. Prom grabbed on to Ardyn’s arm and frantically shook his head. “No! You shouldn’t have to go! Don’t leave me!”“I know. I can’t change what has happened, we just have to deal with this. And sunbeam, I promise we are trying but your father is very reluctant to talk about it. Please Prom, don’t worry. We both want to stay together. We both love each other, and we want to make you happy. Everything is going to be alright.” Ardyn smiled, wrapping an arm around Prompto to give him a hug.Father and son continued to hug for a while both silently crying and trying their best to comfort each other. That was until they heard the front door shut and Cor’s motorbike engine fade into the distance. As much as they were hurting and disgusted with Cor’s actions, they were worried. But right now, they had to focus on themselves.Prompto still hugging Ardyn tightly squeaked out. “…. I saw Drautos today.”“Why?” Ardyn asked, holding Prompto a little closer to him.“I wanted to join the glaive. So… I signed everything but I don’t want to anymore. Not after finding this out.”Ardyn shook his head. Yes, it would be awkward for Prompto if he joined the glaive now. But Cor’s actions and wishes should never prevent Prom from doing what he wants. Ardyn wasn’t about to stand in his son’s way. “Prompto. Look, if you want to join the glaive do it. Please, don’t allow whatever is going on to get in the way of that.”“But it will upset you and dad.” Prompto whimpered, so conflicted and bogged down with everything.“I would rather you be happy than either of us. I will not lie and say your father is very against the idea. So, do what you want but do not change your mind until you have a place in the glaive as you may feel differently in the future. However, if you don’t want to cause conflict with your father, don’t say a word on the matter.”“Okay.” Prompto nodded.He didn’t like keeping secrets, but Cor had, and if Prom told Cor there would be no chance he would be able to join the glaive. Maybe it was for the best that Cor was kept in the dark for the time being. Cor went to Clarus. He cried on Clarus and the Shield did his best to comfort him. He did his absolute best to make things better even if there was nothing that could be done. All he could do was say that both Ardyn and Prom were hurting and that they didn’t hate Cor, they just hated what he had done. Which made Cor’s heart shatter further, because he hadn’t done anything but lie and ‘allow’ someone to rape him. He didn’t want to be hated for that reason… The next day, was Cor’s and Ardyn’s next counselling session and all the pain that Ardyn had been feeling since yesterday came out. He went on a rant for a while and did what he could not to blow up. But Ardyn wasn’t really angry that Cor had gone to see Drautos. Yes, he was upset and incredibly hurt by it but he was no longer cross. No, he was angry that Prompto cried and Cor was the cause of it. Why did any of this have to happen?“… I just don’t understand after you promised me you still did it. It’s just more lies. Yes, I know I am getting paranoid.” Ardyn finished looking in Cor’s direction as the Marshal stared down at the floor.“I was going to tell you.” Cor muttered helplessly.“Really?” Ardyn questioned, doubting it. And before he could go on another rant Stella’s voice filled the empty void.“Ardyn, I don’t mean to interrupt. But you will not be able to understand what Cor is trying to tell you unless you relax and listen.”“Sorry.” Ardyn nodded taking in a deep breath. “Please, would you explain why you did this to me?”Cor let tears fall. His hands were shaking, and he could tell that Stella no longer believed what he was claiming. Ardyn was just too angry and upset not to realise what Stella and Clarus were coming to understand. Cor used his husband’s emotional state to keep his lies up and it was wrong. All of this was so, so, wrong.Cor caught his breath and continued to cry. “I was angry at myself and him for hurting you. I just wanted to take my anger out on him and not you. I swear that was all it was.”“Than why couldn’t you have told me you were angry? This is hard, this is really hard, and I am trying my best to understand it. But I can’t and I won’t be able to if you lie to me.” Ardyn said, with his heartbreaking at the sad and crumbling sight of his husband. Ardyn wanted to run his hand through Cor’s hair to comfort him.But best not…And why should he anyway? Cor was the one that did this to him. But Ardyn loved Cor too much to continue being angry at him. It was exhausting.“Do you understand that Cor?” Stella asked.“Yes. I am sorry.” Cor nodded, wiping tears away.Ardyn gulped and gently grabbed hold of Cor’s hand. That made Cor finally look at Ardyn and they both looked at each other with pain. And Ardyn was sick of this emotion. He just wanted to mend things.Ardyn gave him a painful smile. “I am sorry too.” “Right, this is good progress. Believe me. All of these emotions you are feeling are completely normal.” Stella smiled at the sight before her, before going back to her clipboard. “To overview, we have identified the main issues. However, I would like to go a bit deeper into that. Please tell me what the relationship was like before this.”Ardyn rubbed Cor’s hand and spoke first to let Cor calm down. “From my point of you, it was good. We had the odd tiff here and there, but we told each other everything. So, I can not fathom why this has happened?”Stella nodded and then turned to Cor. “Cor, how did you feel your relationship was before this?”“Good. Really good. And I cocked it up. I am so sorry Ardyn.”Cor let go of Ardyn’s hand and raced out of that room. Everything was becoming too much. It was all happening at once and he felt like he was suffocating. He had to leave. He had to be on his own for a while to sort his head out.“Cor?! Cor come back please?!” Ardyn called out after him but Cor didn’t listen.Ardyn wanted to go after Cor, but Stella reminded him that they still had an hour left and Ardyn could talk to her. Ardyn agreed to it. He needed to get a lot of things off his chest. Days went by and things between Prom and Cor were no better. Prompto didn’t want to speak to him. Cor didn’t blame him but he couldn’t stand to see his baby boy suffering. Surprisingly, Ardyn did not hold Cor running out their session over him. They had a chat about it and Ardyn still enforced the notion he wanted things to work. That he didn’t and could never hate Cor. The love they shared wasn’t about to fade. Cor thanked Ardyn and admitted he didn’t deserve the kindness but at least they were on talking grounds and trying to mend things.And the other person Cor wanted to mend things with was Regis.Regis had hardly spoken to him since finding out and Cor needed his big brother. So after a meeting that they both had to attend, Clarus left Cor with Regis so they could talk things through.“Talk to me please.” Cor pleaded, standing a few feet away from Regis.“I am.” The King replied, seemingly not bothered at how broken Cor’s voice sounded.“Cut the crap, Regis. Don’t talk to me as your subject but as your brother.”Regis gripped his cane as he took a few steps closer to Cor. It upset him, ignoring Cor. It upset him seeing Ardyn so close to breaking point. What upset him the most that he couldn’t do a thing about this. However, because Regis had finally taken the time to step back and think about how Cor was feeling and how he was behaving, Clarus’s words started to make sense. Because the man before him did not look like one who was riddle with guilt. (Regis knew better than anyone else how terrible that feeling was) No. Cor was broken. Closed off and hiding something. Something dark. Regis could tell that by the darkness in Cor’s eyes and the way he carried himself around. He no longer looked like the legendary Cor the Immortal. He was an empty husk of his former self. Regis cleared his throat and trend carefully as he tried to get his point across. “I already told you my view but for whatever reason Clarus doesn’t believe that you would do this. And I didn’t either.” “I don’t know what he is on about with that?” Cor lied in a hollow voice.And because Cor did not look at Regis when he said that, the King knew he was lying. Regis’s voice turned to concern. “Yes, you do. He told me he had confronted you about this. That he believes there is something you aren’t telling anyone and what both you and Drautos are claiming… that there is something more to it.”“There isn’t.”“…You’re lying to me.”“I am not!” Cor grunted getting on the offensive.“Yes, you are.” Regis nodded fearing the worse as to why Cor was keeping this lie up. “You’re not looking me in the eye. You want me to talk to you and you want me to listen. I am listening now and whatever you say will be in confidence like it has always been. Cor you are my little brother and I love you, please tell me?”Cor bit his lip and looked Regis in the eye. There had been a few times in the past where he had gone to Regis and it didn’t go anywhere else and whatever was troubling him, the King sorted it. And that was because Regis loved Cor and wanted to protect him…Could Cor tell Regis what had really taken place? Did he have the strength to do it? And Cor was finally starting to see that Regis was in so much danger with that vile rapist being around him? Granted Drautos had been keeping his distance because of Somnus and Clarus, but what would happen if for some reason Drautos was the only one available to look after the King. Regis wouldn’t be safe. Cor couldn’t let that happen to his best friend, to his brother, to his King, and to his nephew by law.Cor slowly opened his mouth and halted at every word. “Regis… I… I…”“What is it, my dear? You know you can tell me anything. I am sorry I have been a dick, but I am angry. However, I am still here for you. I will always be here for you. Please, tell me what happened so I can help you and Ardyn.”“Regis… I…” Cor tried again but it felt like something was stuck in his throat.“Yes?” Regis said, getting restless and his concern was skyrocketing out of control.Cor tried one more time. “I… I… I was…”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I.. I… I was…”“Your Majesty.”Cor was cut off by Drautos, who had just come into the room completely unannounced and it made Cor’s anxiety spike. How long had he been there for? And Cor didn’t even notice the man coming into the room. Panic started to rise from his stomach and Cor knew if he laid eyes on the man now he would freak out. So, the Marshal kept his gaze locked on to the King and Regis looked pissed. As they had both failed to notice Drautos’s presence.Regis shifted his eyes to Drautos and screamed at him. “What Captain?! I am having a private conversation here!”“Forgive me your Majesty, but His Former Majesty requires your presences. Unfortunately, Lady Odium has resigned.” Drautos said like he always did with respect, but Cor knew that voice now. It was one of calculation and wariness as to what Cor and Regis were talking about. To ensure his hands didn’t start shaking in fear Cor clenched his fist together and hoped Regis didn’t notice.Thankfully he hadn’t. Regis held the bridge of his nose and let out a very deep sigh. “This is all I need. Please tell His Former Majesty, I will be there after I have spoken to the Marshal.”“No Regis, this isn’t important.” Cor blurted out knowing he wasn’t brave enough to tell Regis. He wasn’t brave enough to tell anyone… Especially not with that man in the same room as him.Regis nodded, knowing he couldn’t stay now. He had to sort whatever issue the council was having. But his heart and brain was nagging him to stay, to stay with Cor because he clearly needed him. Instead of fighting with Cor, the King placed a hand on Cor’s shoulder and smiled. “We will talk more later.”Cor turned as he watched Regis leave. There were guards standing outside the room to take the King away and now Cor was left in the room with his attacker and quite frankly Cor had had enough of being bullied and emotionally tortured by this man. He wanted to leave the room too, there was just one problem with achieving that goal. Drautos was standing right next to the exit and the door was closed. When Cor looked at Drautos, the Captain had a smirk on his face. “He won’t believe you.”“Leave me alone, we both have work to do.” Cor shook his head, hoping that the reminder of their job may make Drautos leave.But he didn’t. He stood where he was and stared at Cor again. The Marshal forced himself to stare back. Last time they spoke, Drautos made him leave out of fear. Cor wanted to stand his ground this time, and if anyone caught them talking this wouldn’t be his fault. At least he could relax about that. However, Cor could no longer relax with the words of poison that came out of Drautos’s vile, sick and twisted mouth. “Marshal, you’ve lied too much. Like I said before, you have nothing over me. But you have lied too many times, no one is going to believe the word of a lying cheat.”“But they will believe a word of a rapist.” Cor growled, unable to hold that in any longer.After all, Drautos was the one that wanted him to admit it and Cor had said it directly to him. That felt like a fucking weight off Cor’s shoulder’s.That was the first time he had said it to anyone.Cor would have smiled with relief as to what he had just said if the Captain’s vile laughter didn’t fill the room. “You can say that now, can you? And yes. Your husband believes me.”“Don’t talk about my husband.” Cor warned, getting on the defensive over Ardyn. It hurt hearing Drautos say that because it was true. Ardyn was believing this monster over him at the moment… but that was Cor’s fault.As Cor started to wallow into that dark pit, Drautos walked over to the Marshal. He did not like the fact that Cor had suddenly found courage again. He wasn’t allowed. Drautos wanted this man broken because if he was it would be so much easier to get to Regis and Noctis. It would be so much easier for Ardyn to be consumed in grief over his broken marriage that no one would be able to sense the danger that Regis was in. Drautos stopped when he was a few feet away from the Marshal and started to speak more twisted words of manipulation at him.When the Captain spoke, Cor jumped out of his skin at how close Drautos had gotten and again, he hadn’t noticed him moving.“I can do what I want. You don’t have the power to stop me. You are weak and pathetic. You were so easy to over power, that’s probably why His Grace went for you in the first place. Because next to him you are nothing.”“I said don’t talk about him.” Cor gritted his teeth unsure of how his body was going to react if Drautos took one more step closer. Fight, flight or freeze.“Stop me than.” Drautos took one step closer and the answer was freeze. Cor’s body tensed up and all the Captain did was laugh and as he could beat up Cor’s fighting spirit with words alone. “You can’t.”Cor gulped and looked down at the Captain’s hands in case he did anything. Cor wouldn’t be able to stop him. He felt like he was trapped in a case of stone, unable to move or breathe and Drautos could do whatever he liked to him in this moment. Cor felt powerless again and Drautos had not done a thing. Why was he acting like this? Why couldn’t he just scream at him to tell him to leave?! That’s what he wanted. Cor simply could not go through what Drautos put him through last time.Thankfully Drautos didn’t because the voice of Nyx Ulric prevented anything from happening. “Captain. Lord Amicitia needs you in the glaive training hall.”“Thank you, Ulric. Marshal.” Drautos nodded, walking away from Cor and exiting the room completely ignoring the looked Ulric was giving him.Just like the morning that Cor saw Nyx on the stairs, he fled. He could tell by the way Nyx was looking at him that the glaive knew he was scared. And Cor couldn’t have that.He knew for certain he was not brave enough to confess this yet. He was not brave enough to tell anyone. He was not brave enough to protect the people he loved. Which became a problem when Regis came to find him a few hours later so they could discuss what Cor was about to tell him. Cor lied again. He told Regis that everything was his fault and that he was a complete fool to ruin his marriage. That Cor had made his son hate him and made Ardyn so paranoid over everything that was around him, in turn making both the people he loved, more than anything else, ill. Cor simply could not take it anymore. That he wanted it all to stop and he didn’t know how to fix it. Regis’s reply to that was: ‘Tell me what really happened between you and Drautos.’ And Cor couldn’t do it. He could no longer do it. It ended with Cor sitting in silence and Regis telling him that he was going to find out, one way or another even if he had to get it out of Drautos. Cor was too numb and far gone to take in that extremely dangerous threat. He was too caught up in the shadow of himself to do anything. When Cor got home that evening Prompto was the only one in the house. Ardyn had left him a note saying he was taking Noctis fishing. To start with Cor was a little surprise that Prompto hadn’t gone with them but it soon clicked as to what his husband was doing. Ardyn had done this so Prom and Cor could talk things through privately. In all honesty, Cor would have preferred to have Ardyn with him because if Prompto cried he would have someone he trusted to comfort him. Cor didn’t think that Prompto trusted him anymore… he shouldn’t really. Not after all the lies he had told. Drautos words from earlier started to sink in. Cor had told too many lies, more than Drautos had. All of this was a fucked-up mess and Cor did not know how to get himself out. Well, he did. He just wasn’t ready or brave enough to do that yet. Cor stood in the doorway of the kitchen as Prompto made himself a drink and asked sheepishly, because Cor knew he did not deserve his son’s precious time or patience. “Prom… can we talk things over? Please?”Prompto turned around with a glass of water in hand and he slowly nodded. “Yeah.”“Look, Prom I am sorry. I am sorry for hurting your dad and you. But Drautos has nothing to do with me not wanting you to join the glaive.”Another lie. One of the biggest lies of the lot. Cor could not have him anywhere near his baby and Cor was determined to keep this lie up. To keep pushing this one on because Clarus and Regis were already on to him and if they put the issue with Prom and Drautos together…. Ardyn would be on a boat headed towards Angelguard for the final time and he would never get off that rock.Unbeknown to the Marshal, Prom had already seen Drautos and was keeping it all hush, and the Captain had put his application at the top of the pile. He wasn’t meant to do that, it should have gone at the bottom. So in a few weeks’ time there would be nothing anyone could do about it. His son smiled and nodded keeping that secret to himself. “I know. I was mad that’s all. I didn’t mean that. I just don’t understand why you slept with him.”“Neither do I. I was drunk and it shouldn’t have happened. But your dad and I are trying to sort this out.”“I know. Just… don’t mess up.” Prompto begged.A couple of nights ago Prompto honestly thought that was going to be the end of his dads marriage. The way they looked at each other, the way they held themselves, and the way they refused to look at him scared Prom. He couldn’t survive without them. They promised him they would look after him no matter what. They wouldn’t be able to do that if Cor cocked up again or if Ardyn lost it. He needed them to be strong and get through this hell. They all needed to be strong for each other. At least Prom had Iggy to go and cry too but all Cor and Ardyn had was each other when they were upset.Cor nodded walking over to Prompto. “I won’t mess up. I promise you. I will never mess up again.”“Love you dad.” Prompto said as he wrapped his arms around Cor’s waist and buried his head into his chest. Prom couldn’t be mad at Cor for much longer. It was in the past and like Ardyn had said, they needed to focus on the future and move on.“Love you more.” Cor smiled gripping his son tightly as this was the first hug Prompto had allowed him to have in days. When Ardyn came home, he saw Cor and Prompto asleep on the sofa together. The sight made Ardyn smile because that was what he used to come home too on the odd night he was away. Looking at his husband and son sleeping, it made all the worries and fears melt away for a moment. Ardyn got a blanket out of his armiger, wrapped it around his family and turned off the TV. This was what Ardyn was scared of losing. The chance to do this. But he and Cor were slowly working things out. Their counselling sessions were really helping them to communicate and it was making Ardyn see some light at the end of this darkened tunnel he had found himself in.He was about to leave the room when he heard a faint whisper calling his name.Ardyn turned around and gave Cor a soft smile. “I take it you and he have sorted things out.”Cor nodded and used the same whisper Ardyn had done so they didn’t wake Prom up. “I think so. Did you and Noctis have a good time.”“We did. But Noct doesn’t like it when I fish with him.”“Why?”“The scourge scares the poor innocent fish away.” Ardyn let out a soft laugh as he crouched down beside where Cor was half laying half sitting on the sofa.“Ardyn… I spoke with Drautos today.” Cor admitted, not knowing how Ardyn was going to take it after last time but Nyx saw and he did not want Ardyn finding out from anyone else.“Alright.” Ardyn said, wanting to roll his eyes in hate but he decided to let Cor explain himself. There was no point doing these therapy sessions if they didn’t trust each other and Cor was telling him without being prompted too. So he had to give him some credit there.Cor didn’t want to remember how scared and little Drautos made him feel, and because he was trying to supress the memory panic seeped through his voice. “I was talking to Regis and Drautos came in because someone from the council had quit. Once Regis had left, I just told him to leave me alone and that was it.”“Don’t get upset. I believe you.” Ardyn smiled, running his hand through Cor’s hair. And Cor didn’t flinch at the sudden advancement because he was over the moon with the affection. “Get some sleep my darling. I love you.”“Love you too. Goodnight.” “Do you see what I mean now?” Clarus asked as he and Regis sat in the privacy of Regis’s office, with the door locked and guards standing outside so they were not disturbed.“I do.” Regis nodded, thinking how much of a fool he had been not to see how Cor was acting about his affair. Not to mention the Marshal’s eyes. Everyday they just seemed to get darker and darker with no sign of brightening. It was heart breaking to watch as Cor was clearly ruining his own marriage. It was so upsetting to watch Ardyn standing there unable to do anything because Cor wasn’t letting him in. He wasn’t letting anyone in. The other thing that was weird was that: “But why would Drautos have the exact same story. It doesn’t make sense.”“None of it makes sense.” Clarus grumbled.The other annoying thing was that Cor had had not only Regis and Clarus asking him what was really happening, but the King and Shield had asked Cid to try help. The mechanic got nowhere and told the pair he didn’t believe Cor anymore. However, he was not getting involved because of Ardyn. Neither should they.That wasn’t going to stop the worried King. “Do you want to corner Cor together?”“He’ll only get more defensive. Why is he so stubborn?!”“We can’t change that about him.” Regis cracked a smile.Cor had always been so stubborn, reckless and to the point. Now he was broken, hurting and lost. Having an affair should not break someone that much. Cor had been tortured before and he was still himself. So, what had really happened? Regis was pulled from his thoughts when his Shield asked:“What does Somnus say on the matter?”“That he is only prepared to listen to Ardyn’s side of things. I don’t think he has spoken to Cor since he screamed at him.”“This is why we have to help him. He need us Regis. He needs us to help him and talk otherwise this will eat him up alive.” Clarus said voice littered with worry. The Shield thought that Gladiolus and Iris were the ones who were meant to give him this much stress and worry not his little brother. All of these negative emotions were destroying everyone and it was only about time before the press got a hold of Cor’s, Ardyn’s and Drautos’s story.“How do we do that? Cor isn’t saying anything. Drautos lied to us so I don’t know whether to trust him or not, and Ardyn will go off the rails if he thinks Cor is lying again.”“This is fucked up.”“You can say that again.” Regis muttered under his breath and remembered that he had forgotten to inform Clarus of his and Cor’s conversation. “Clarus… Cor tried to tell me something.”“Oh yeah. What was it?” Clarus asked, leaning forward in his chair. Any little bit of information was better than none by this point. And if Cor wouldn’t open his mouth, maybe the pair of them could work this out together.“I don’t know. Drautos came in to tell me about the stupid unhelpful council situation and Cor bottled himself back up again.” Regis shook his head.He found it very odd that Drautos had forced his way in unannounced. The council situation was important but… why did Somnus send him? Somnus hates Drautos. It was all very surreal… “Have you talked to him since?” Clarus asked, thinking along the same lines as Regis. He was not liking this at all now.“Yes and he said all of this was his fault. I wish he would just be honest with us.”From there the King and Shield came up with a plan. They decided to keep an eye on both Cor and Drautos and watch how they acted when the other was present in the room. They would also ask a selection of the guard and glaive, that they knew they could definitely trust, to keep an eye on the Marshal and the Captain. Because whatever was going on was not as black and white as Ardyn and Somnus believed it to be. There was something else going on and Regis and Clarus were going to find out what had taken place and why their little brother was acting like this. At first Ardyn was only slightly annoyed that Prompto had told Noctis, Ignis and Gladiolus what had taken place between him and Cor, but the immortal royal decided it was for the best if he let it go. Of course, Prompto was upset and there was no way that Ardyn would ever limit the people who Prom could confide in. This was affecting him as much as it was affecting Cor and Ardyn. What he wasn’t happy about was that Wesk, Clarus, Regis and Somnus had taken it upon themselves to check in on how he and Cor were doing. He appreciated the love. He appreciated the thought that had gone into it but seriously? Cor and Ardyn had to be the ones to sort this out between themselves, not anyone else. The immortal royal did not know how to bring this subject up with Cor. Which was stupid because Cor was clearly feeling the same way, so instead they took this to Stella. All she suggested was that they tell them to not get involved. Which was easier said than done but they gave it a go and the backlash Ardyn and Cor got from it was unbelievable.Clarus and Regis told Cor that they weren’t staying out of it because they were worried and they still did not believe what he was saying. Making Cor madder and wanting to rip their fucking heads off. And with Ardyn, Somnus said he wasn’t about to keep out of it in case he went off the rails and Ardyn needed to be stopped for whatever reason. Ardyn couldn’t argue with that but he would love it if Somnus was interested in him when everything was rosy instead of when his entire world was collapsing around him. Somnus could be the worst sometimes. And because Prompto, Noctis, Ignis and Gladiolus weren’t acting like the others, Ardyn decided to treat them and thanked them for how sensitive and mature they were behaving.Ardyn pulled a few strings and got them exclusive access to the entire arcade and bowling ally for the night. Of course, because of Noctis (and Prom), guards and glaives went with them so they were all safe and that they were to contact him if anything did happen. Because Prompto was out it left Cor and Ardyn in their house alone together. The atmosphere was no longer tense but Ardyn needed to talk to Cor about something and it was better if Prom was not there.Ardyn had his arm draped across the sofa as Cor sat next to him. He poked Cor on the head to get his attention and spoke quietly. “Do you think we can do this? I mean get passed everything and be as we once were?”“Yeah.” Cor nodded, that was all he wanted. Didn’t Ardyn?“Is that a want or a certainty?”“Certainty. Are you having doubts?”“Some.” Ardyn admitted. But it wasn’t the reason Cor thought. Ardyn feared that he wouldn’t be able to behave the way he once had around Cor. Even after the therapy sessions and talking with his husband, Ardyn couldn’t bring himself to touch Cor. Because in the back of his mind there was someone else out there that could make Cor feel better than he could. “I will admit, it’s nothing on your end. My doubts are of myself.”Cor moved and placed a hand on Ardyn’s cheek. Ardyn moved his face into Cor’s hand. It felt nice. It felt nearly normal again. “Look at me Ardyn. I promise I will never hurt you ever again.”“Please darling, I know you mean well. But don’t make a promise you may fail to uphold. My heart and brain can’t take it.” Ardyn sniffed, looking into those wonderful blue… Ardyn blinked. Cor’s eyes were practically black. He could hardly see that crystal blue he fell in love with all those years ago… was he okay?Cor didn’t let Ardyn focus on that. He locked his eyes with his husband golden ones and proclaimed. “I swear on our marriage I will never hurt you again. Because I love you with all my heart. I promised you on our wedding day, that I would never allow you to feel alone again. Let me put that vow into practice. Let me help you, help us.”“… okay.” Ardyn said lightly, trusting in what Cor said.The Marshal gulped. He wanted something from Ardyn that they hadn’t done since Ardyn found out about Drautos. Cor wasn’t sure if he was going to get it.“Can I… can I kiss you?”“Yes.”Cor placed his hand to the back of Ardyn’s neck and lightly pressed his lips to his husband’s. It wasn’t scary. It didn’t feel wrong. Cor felt safe. He felt wanted by the man who’s heart he had broken and Ardyn felt much the same. He missed Cor so much, he missed just sitting on the sofa and cuddling. He missed being his and only his. Kissing him now… it felt nearly perfect. Ardyn pulled away and ran his hand through Cor’s hair. “I love you, Cor Leonis.”“I love you too, Ardyn Leonis.” Cor smiled, taking an even bigger gamble and laid in Ardyn’s lap. This was what he wanted. He wanted this and Cor would fight with everything he had to keep it.“We can get through this.” Ardyn smiled, still stroking Cor’s hair like it was the most precious thing on this planet.“I know we can.” Drautos didn’t like it.He knew damn well that the King and Shield had people watching his and the Marshal’s every move. He knew damn well that they were on to something. The only thing that was sparing the Captain was the scared little lion that refused to open his mouth. However, Drautos did not know how long Cor was going to keep this act up for. How long it would be before he openly admitted what had happened. That was something that Drautos was not about to let happen. He needed Cor scared of him. He needed Ardyn to distrust the Marshal. He needed Regis and Clarus to be too caught up in everything so that Drautos could finally get a chance to end that pathetic weaken King’s life. If Drautos achieved what he wanted, it would be a bit sooner that the Niffs wanted but the Chancellor of Niflheim was hopeless. He kept trying to convince the Emperor that this war was pointless, and they could not compete with the Crystal and two, maybe three if the Founder King called his Shield for help, immortal beings defending Lucis no matter how much weaponry they had. And the weak empty Emperor was slowly coming around. He could be manipulated like a sheep. No wonder Besithia got to the top so quickly, he basically had that man eating out of the palm of his hand. But if Niflheim had someone like… Ardyn running the show the Empire might have won already.Which meant that Drautos had to think fast and do something to kick the fire out of the Marshal once and for all. He had idea in mind.The Captain had a meeting with the King, the Shield, the Founder King and the Marshal to discuss the roster for the guard and glaive soon. But he decided to pay Cor a visit first. He didn’t even bother knocking he went into the man’s office and left the door wide open for the world to see.“Leonis.”“What do you want?” Cor growled, taking a few paces back. he thought he had locked that fucking door.“Jumpy. I just thought you would like to know what your son has been up too.” Drautos laughed, and of course what he had said was a lie. The Captain had not seen Prompto since he had asked and sign the application forms for the glaive.Something took over Cor than. He managed to pushed all his fear down surrounding this man for a brief second and grabbed on to Drautos’s shirt and roughly pulled his closer to him. Cor didn’t care how close they were. This man was not getting anywhere near his baby boy. Cor would willingly go through what Drautos had done to him again if it meant Prom was safe. Cor stared at the Captain with fire and hatred and snarled words of venom at him. “You stay the fuck away from my son! Do you hear me!”Drautos just laughed in Cor’s face and acted like Cor was doing nothing. “He was the one to sort me out. He asked me why we had sex.”“We didn’t have sex!” Cor spat harshly, grip getting tighter on the man’s shirt.“Alright. Anyway, I told him he should ask you that, as I have no control over what you say or do.”Cor violently shook Drautos and screamed at him and was cut off when Drautos shouted at him back. “You fucking-”“What? Are you going to deliver more empty threats? We both know you are terrified of me. I don’t know why.”“I’m not scared of you.” Cor snapped, shaking Drautos again. If Prom was involved Cor couldn’t afford to be scared.“Prove it.”Cor’s body froze when Drautos grabbed his shirt and violently pushed him up against the wall. All the fear and shock came flooding back like a river and there was nothing Cor could do as Drautos collided their mouths together. Cor’s eyes went wide, and he couldn’t shut them. Cor’s hands were locked between his and Drautos’s body and he froze. Completely froze and tense as Drautos’s disgusting lips and tongue touched him again. Cor wanted to push him away, but he couldn’t. All he could think about was: ‘He is going to do it again. He is going to rape me and there is nothing I can do about it.’ And ‘Please don’t. Please don’t touch me again.’ Sickness and fear was rising from his stomach and it took all he had not to cry from the pain of being crushed and the ghost pain of the memories of that dreaded night.Drautos may only have had him up against the wall for five seconds… but it was the longest five seconds Cor had had to endure since Drautos raped him. When Drautos pulled away he smirked and laughed. Cor was scared… No, he was terrified. He knew Drautos was aware of it.“I told you.”“Dad?!”Cor snapped his head in the direction of his opened office door and all he could see was the face of hurt and shock on his son’s face.FUCK!“Prom? Shit, mate wait! This isn’t what it looks like!”Cor called out as he pushed Drautos off of him but by that time Prompto had made a run for it. Cor made a feeble attempt to run to the door and when he got there, he couldn’t see Prom anywhere. There was no doubt in his mind, Prom was running to find his dada. Cor completely forgot Drautos existed. He had to explain to Prom it wasn’t at all what he was thinking and as he ran down the hall way after his son he called out for him in an attempt to get him to slow down. Thank the Gods that Prompto lacked the ability to teleport now. “Prompto wait!”Cor aimlessly ran through the corridor’s asking anyone he came across if they had seen his son. The guards pointed him in the direction that they had seen the blonde prince sprint off too but they kept stopping Cor to ask what was wrong and if Prom was in any danger. Cor shook his head and ignored their efforts of help. He needed to find Prompto now! He wasn’t even focusing on what Ardyn would say. He was more mortified that his child had witness that. That his son had to witness his own father being forced to do something he really did not want to do.That look on his face….Cor would never be able to get it out of his head.Prompto looked at him with such, disgust, hurt and distrust… that was never going to heal. Cor was never going to heal from that. But he had to find him! He had too!Cor kept running until he saw Somnus and Noctis bickering about something. And without thinking he ran up to them and asked them about Prompto in a near frantic tone. “Somnus, Noctis, have either of you seen Prompto?”“No.” Somnus said, not looking at Cor. He honestly did not want to give Cor the time of day anymore.Noctis however looked extremely worried. “Last I saw him, he said he was going off to find you.”“Why, is he okay?”“Yes, we just had a disagreement that’s all.” Cor cleared his throat wiping the panic from his face. His brother-in-law might not have seen how on edge he was but Noctis had. And Cor knew this was also going back to Ardyn and Regis.This was not good. Cor managed to get himself looking ‘normal’ when Somnus finally made eye contact with him. And when Somnus spoke he was bitter and didn’t really seemed that bothered about Prom and Cor’s alleged scrap.“As much as I love my nephew I am afraid he is going to have to wait, we have a meeting to attend. Goodbye, you little scruff bucket.”Noctis gave his grandfather a glare at his new nick name. Noctis wasn’t a scruff bucket. Once Somnus had started to walk away Noctis looked to Cor and asked in a worried tone. “Cor, are you sure you and Prom are okay?”“Yes, your Highness.” Cor lied.This was not okay. Not okay at all. And now Cor had to sit in a room with Regis, Clarus, Somnus and the Captain after that vile man had touched him again. Cor felt sick and dizzy. Not to mention he had no idea where Prom was or what was going through his son’s mind. Because he had bumped into Somnus he had to follow his brother-in-law to the meeting room. “DAD!!!! DAD!!!!”Prompto screamed as he rushed into Ardyn’s quarters tears flooding down his face. He was red with embarrassment and confusion. Prompto was out of breath with how fast he had ran to get here. He wasn’t even sure if Ardyn was in here but Prompto didn’t care. He just didn’t know what to do.Upon hearing the mortifying cries of his son, Ardyn poofed to the screams location in his quarters and held on to Prom’s upper arms to support his very distressed child. Ardyn had to bend down to look into his child’s eyes and Ardyn tried to calm Prom down with his words but it didn’t work. “Prompto? Prompto darling are you alright? What on Eos is the matter?”“Dad lied! He said… he wasn’t…. Drautos anymore…. He…. I saw him….” Prom continued to cry hyperventilating and stumbling over his disjointed words. “Calm down. Breathe for a second.” Ardyn said rubbing Prom’s arms, trying to contain his anger with Cor, Drautos and the word lie all being melded into one sentence by his son.Prompto nodded, taking in slow deep breaths as he slowly came out of anxiety attack. He didn’t want to do this but someone had too. This was going to break Ardyn’s heart all over again. When Ardyn thought Prom was calm enough Ardyn got him to try and repeat what he was saying without any hysteria.“Right, you saw him doing what?”“Dad… I saw him kissing Drautos.”Ardyn’s grip loosened on his son’s arms and he has to took a few steps away from Prom.The immortal royal slowly brought his hands to his head and held down a cry of heartbreak. Not again… not after everything Cor and Ardyn had been trying to do to make this better, to make this work. Ardyn wanted to scream into the room until nothing else mattered.WHY DID THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!!!Ardyn wanted to break everything in this room in attempt to contain his anger. He wanted to find Drautos and rip his to shreds for going near Cor again. He wanted to… he wanted to watch Cor suffer for this! He wanted him to know the pain he had forced upon Prompto again! How could he do this again! Only the other night Cor promised him that he could never make him feel alone again and now he had done the complete opposite. He just stood there staring passed Prom’s head completely still.“Dad I am really sorry I had to come and tell you straight away.” Prompto cried as he walked closer to Ardyn but he didn’t get a response. That scared Prompto to his core. He grabbed his dad’s arm and shook him. “Dad? Dad please speak to me?!”“Where is your father now?” Ardyn asked in a flat voice.Prompto blinked not sure if he should answer or not but the teenager did. “He’s in a meeting with Regis, Clarus, Somnus and umm Drautos.”“Go to Noctis’s apartment.”“Dad-”“Go. To. Noct’s. Now.” Ardyn sneered at his son, eyes glowing yellow with rage.Ardyn did not want Prom to see what was going to happen next. Cor was not listening to whatever was going on around him. He was sat next to Clarus festering with worry as to where Prompto had gone and trying not to look at Drautos. And it didn’t help that Regis and Clarus kept looking at him longer than they should be. It was like they knew something had happened. It just made Cor feel like he had failed again, because to him he had. Drautos touched him again… he wanted to cry as the un-washable dirt covered his being again. But he couldn’t do that here. Not with Drautos in the same room as him…“Then myself or Gladiolus can step in and help either of you two with extra training sessions.” Clarus was talking now. At least when he was speaking he wasn’t looking at Cor anymore. “Who will defend his Majesty?” Drautos asked dryly, it was dry to Cor anyway.“I can do it. It’s not a problem. It’s not like I can die anyway.”“We put the Founder King in danger. His Grace, is not going to like that.” Cor said, speaking up for the first time since this meeting had began. Regis had been staring at him for a while now so maybe if he spoke it would put Regis’s mind at rest. What was Cor even doing here? He should be out there looking for Prompto.“When did you start caring about his feelings?” Somnus asked sarcastically and Cor said nothing.Because he cared about Ardyn’s feelings so much he was hiding the fact he was raped by the person who Regis and Somnus had commanding the fucking Kingsglaive! Cor looked down and pretended Somnus hadn’t said those words of hate. “Somnus.” Regis warned, neglecting to call him Grandfather.“What?”“Not here.”Before Regis could say another word the doors of the room crashed opened and pieces of wood and metal flew everywhere. Thankfully, Regis was on this toes today and shielded himself before anything hit him and everyone else rose from their chairs not knowing what had caused the door to explode until they heard Ardyn roar.“TITUS GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!”Cor’s heart dropped as his husband’s rage confirmed that Prompto had told Ardyn what he had seen. The Marshal looked at Ardyn… his eyes were glowing yellow; his hair was on edge and he looked like he was about to turn at any second. In fear, Cor looked to Drautos who was standing still stunned like everyone else who had heard and seen Ardyn’s cries of uncontrollable rage. Cor looked back at Ardyn he was not looking at Drautos. He was staring directly at him.“DRAUTOS! If don’t get out now I will rip your fucking head off!”“Ardyn what on Eos is going on!” Regis shouted, not having a clue as to what to do.“Get him out! Or I am going to kill him!”“Drautos remove yourself!”“Yes, your Majesty.”Drautos did not need to be told twice and Cor gulped as Ardyn continued to stare at him with hate. Cor felt his heart race at a hundred miles an hour and what made matters worse was that the door was broken. There was no privacy for what was about to be unleashed on the Marshal. “What is the matter?!”Ardyn growled, pointing towards Cor as he stalked himself over to him. “YOU! You fucking lied to me! Don’t even try to fucking deny it because I know! Prompto told me!”“Can we not do this here?” Cor asked desperately, unable to stop himself from shaking. Cor was never scared of Ardyn. But right in this moment, he was terrified of him. For Cor had no idea what his husband was going to do.“WE ARE DOING THIS HERE AND WE ARE DOING THIS RIGHT NOW LEONIS!!!!”“Ardyn calm down!” Cor heard Somnus scream, also clearly very scared as to what was happening to Ardyn.Cor continued his heart breaking stare off with his husband as Ardyn raised his hand at Somnus and shouted over his shoulder. “You say one more word and I am going to take all of this out on you instead.”“Somnus keep your mouth shut!” Regis barked trying his hardest to defuse his uncle’s shouts because that door was gone now. Meaning everyone in the Citadel could probably hear what was being said.“Ardyn please can you calm down and could one of you please tell us what is going on.” Clarus demanded, but again he did not prevail as he didn’t get any information from either Ardyn or Cor.“Take in a deep breath and calmly tell us what the matter is.”“Are you going to tell them?! Or shall I?! Because I honestly don’t think you have the decency or the gut to say what our son saw you doing!!”“What Prom saw wasn’t-”“DON’T YOU DARE!!!!” Ardyn wailed with rage, and all Cor could do was watch as his yellow eyes started to fill up with the scourge. “Don’t you dare try to tell me that he is lying! Right now, I would believe fucking Drautos over you!!! Go on, tell your big brothers what you did! DO IT LEONIS!”Hearing those words were like a knife wound to the heart over and over again. Ardyn didn’t mean that. Ardyn couldn’t mean that. Cor let tears rush down his face as he tried to look anywhere that wasn’t Regis, Clarus and Somnus. Because Ardyn was inadvertently forcing him to tell everyone what shame and disgust Cor felt less than half an hour ago. But he didn’t have another option and Cor screamed it back at Ardyn.“FINE!!! Drautos kissed me alright! Nothing more. I didn’t even kiss him back, I told him to do one! Is that what you want to hear Ardyn! Is it!”“No… I don’t want to hear that… I really don’t.” Cor continued to keep his eyes on Ardyn, as his husbands eyes changed from yellow back to gold. Ardyn shook his head waving his hands in defeat. “I’m done. I am not putting myself through this anymore.”“What do you mean?” Cor asked in panic, dreading what Ardyn meant.“I mean you two are FUCKING WELCOME TO EACH OTHER!!!!”Ardyn took off his wedding ring and throw it on the ground so hard that it bounced up to Cor’s head. The noise of the ring hitting the floor echoed through Cor’s skull like a bell and hot fresh tears of shock filled the Marshal darkened eyes.No, no, no, no, no, no… NO!Cor took a step forwards shaking his head at Ardyn’s words. “Ardyn, you don’t mean that! Ardyn!”“I DO MEAN THAT! I am fed up with the constant lying! I am fed up with all the secrets you have been keeping from me! YOU CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT ME OR TALK TO ME ANYMORE! I am not putting myself through this any longer. I’m not. I am done! Somnus, I am staying at yours.”With that Ardyn turned around and walked out of the hole in the wall. Cor was about to run after Ardyn to get him to stop, Cor couldn’t lose Ardyn he needed him, but Somnus had purposely put a blue wall up so the Marshal could not follow them.Forcing Cor to watch as Ardyn and Somnus left.The Marshal’s heart falling into his stomach as Cor held onto himself and fell to the floor in shock. The only thing Cor could hear was a white noise as he stared at the wedding ring that belonged to his husband… he couldn’t believe what had just happened. Ardyn had left him. When all Cor had tried to do was keep him safe and stop him from going to prison. Stop Prompto from getting ill again and now he had lost the only person that could make him feel safe and protect him…. Cor reached down and touched the gold ring and took in a sharp breath of agony… how could he let this happened?“Cor…”Cor flinched when he felt Regis touch his shoulder. Tears were streaming down his face as he looked up at the King who was also crying. Cor started to shake and breathe frantically in a puddle of his own tears and only spoke when Regis knelt down beside him. “I’ve lost him… haven’t I?”“It does look that way.” Clarus said with sorrow, kneeling down the other side of Cor.In a voice of torture Cor coughed out through his tears. “Clarus. Regis. Can I have a hug?”“Of course, you can my dear.” Regis nodded wrapping his arms around Cor without hesitation.“Come here little bro.” Clarus did the same and the three of them held onto each other tightly as Cor wept at the loss of is marriage. Regis rubbed Cor’s back as Clarus rocked the pair, and the Shield whispered. “It’s going to be alright.”“No. No it’s not.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was in the news. In every newspaper, on every channel on TV, on the internet. It was everywhere and no one could escape the hunger of the media. The Crown did try and shut it down but Lucis had always enforced the right of freedom of speech so there was nothing they could do. The word was out there, and the entire world knew what was going on.His Royal Highness Ardyn Lucis Caelum and Marshal Cor Leonis were getting a divorce. Poor Prompto was so distraught and overwhelmed with the news and the fact Ardyn had moved out, he decided to stay with Noctis for a few days. The Prince did his best to support his best friend through this hard time and he made sure that Ignis fed the pair well. Because if Prompto started to slip back down Noctis was going to have Regis fire Cor and Drautos for inflicting this emotional torture on his best friend. To make sure Noctis didn’t have to do that, because he loved his uncle Cor, he tried to get Prompto to talk about his emotions. He still had a therapist to go to but all the same… Prom needed support. “Prom? Do you want to talk about what’s happened?” Noctis asked turning off the TV so Prompto didn’t have to watch his parent’s marriage crumble in front of him.Prom nodded. “No. I want my dad to move back in my house.”Noctis sat down by Prom and begged him to talk. He needed too. But it just kept coming back to Prom’s want to have Ardyn back with him. Prompto knew he could go to Somnus’s house and see Ardyn there, but it wasn’t the same. It was never going to be the same without both his parents in that house. Prompto just feared that Cor would quit his job or Ardyn would leave Insomnia all together because of all the tension that would be brewing between them. Prom and Noct were a little surprised Ardyn hadn’t gone feral yet and killed Drautos but they were glad he hadn’t. Noctis promised Prompto it would get better. Things always did. The Sunbeam of a person nodded. He believed and trusted Noctis even if right now everything seemed a little foggy. It would get better. Everyone just had to hurt first. Eventually Prompto had to go home.It took a few days for him to find the courage to go back and face his dad. Prompto was so upset and angry at Cor for doing this to them and he felt incredibly guilty that he had caused their marriage to break up. Well, Cor had done it. The Marshal was the fuel and Prompto was the spark that set alight Ardyn’s rage to burn their marriage to the ground. Because of that Prompto didn’t think either Cor or Ardyn wanted to speak to him. That all these texts and calls of sorry and love were just a way of not making it look like he was to blame. When Prompto cried on Cor and explained how he was feeling the Marshal told his son he had done the right thing in telling Ardyn. That Ardyn would have only gotten more upset if Prom kept it to himself and Ardyn did not blame Prom. This was Cor’s and Ardyn’s problem and under no circumstances was Prompto to ever feel like it was his. It didn’t stop Prom thinking that way though. And it didn’t stop Prompto looking at Cor with heartbreak and distrust whenever they saw each other. And the Marshal couldn’t stand the way Prom kept looking at him. It broke his heart and Cor still didn’t say a word. Instead, he came up with an idea because Cor honestly didn’t think he could look after Prom and support him, or if he even wanted him too. One night while Prom was sorting through his pictures in his art room, Cor came in and asked bluntly not looking at his son. “Do you want to live with your Dad?”“Why?” Prompto asked, unsure of what Cor meant.“Because I think it would be better if I moved in with Clarus for a while and your dad came back here. Until I can get things sorted.” Cor admitted, because in his eyes it wasn’t fair that Ardyn felt he had to leave his own house when he did nothing wrong. Cor on the other hand, lied and nearly slept with another man and it had broken his son’s and husba… and Ardyn’s heart.“I don’t want either of you to leave.” Prom said putting the photo of Ardyn, Cor and himself down.“I know. I am sorry for putting you through this. Would you prefer that though?”“No. I want my dads to be together again.”“So, do I…”“Then talk to dad! Tell him you are sorry! Tell him anything you have to too get him back! Please!” Prompto begged banging his hand against the table. Prompto didn’t get angry and all this upset of seeing it on the news, people making up stories as to why his dads had split up was tearing him apart. He wanted all of this to end. He wanted his family back in his house. Why couldn’t he have that?Cor bowed his head in shame at his son’s outburst. “I can’t…”“Or you won’t!” Prompto shouted back in tears.“Prompto I never said that!” Cor raised his voice, offended that Prom thought so little of him to think he hadn’t already tried to pour his heart out to Ardyn. But the daemon royal wouldn’t listen, and it was in his right not to either.“I don’t care!” Prompto walked out pushing passed Cor to go to his room. He wanted to talk to Ignis or Noctis or anyone that wasn’t his parents right now.Just before Prom could slam the door to his bedroom Cor asked: “Have you eaten something?”That was the final straw! Prompto turned around and screamed at Cor. “I HAVE! STOP GOING ON ABOUT IT! DO WHAT YOU WANT! MOVE OUT! I DON’T CARE! LIKE YOU DIDN’T CARE WHEN YOU SLEPT WITH DRAUTOS!”Prompto slammed his bedroom door and Cor nodded at his son’s reaction. The tears had all but stopped now. Yes, it hurt to hear Prompto say that especially about Drautos but at the same time… Cor was numb. Too numb to help his son through this and too numb to fight harder for Ardyn. Like Prompto, Cor wanted all of this to stop. But if he told someone now it would only look like he was lying to get Ardyn back. The news already had branded him as a liar and a cheat, he did not want a victim of rape to be added to the list.Cor let out a deep sigh as he had two phone calls to make.One to Clarus and the other to Ardyn. Like Prompto, Ardyn had not been anywhere near the Citadel in a few days. He had sat in his brother’s living room constantly on his phone answering whatever texts he was getting from his sunbeam of a son and his beloved nephews. To his surprise, Somnus hadn’t yet told him to get a hold of himself. His brother had been patient, calm, understanding, let Ardyn cry on him and did everything he could to make Ardyn feel better. Like, suggesting they watched a film together, drink together, play chess together, talk about Cor or not, talk about anything that made Ardyn happy and Ardyn greatly appreciated Somnus for that. If he didn’t have Somnus in his hour of need, Ardyn would have collapsed into the darkness. That was something Ardyn didn’t think he would openly admit, and he had done that to both Somnus and Regis. (the King being over text) On the bright side of this awful and heart-breaking situation, Ardyn and Somnus were becoming closer again.“How are you feeling today?” Somnus asked, as he looked at his brother with pity who was currently hanging upside down on the sofa.“Like mine and Noct’s clash could not come any sooner.” Ardyn muttered, looking at his phone hoping his son would reply to him. He missed seeing Prompto so frigging much, but he knew why his son had kept away. He didn’t want to go outside in case he got bombarded by the mob. “You don’t mean that.”“Of course, I don’t.” Ardyn let out a soft smile, rolling off the sofa and onto the floor in a heap.“It will get better.” Somnus assured his brother.“Will it?”“We have been alive a long time. You know it will.”Of course, Somnus was right. It would in time get better. But how much time did he really have now? Should he spend his last 12 years festering about his broken life or should he spend it with Prompto, Noctis, Regis and Somnus and make bearable memories with them. Because a few months ago Ardyn thought he would be spending it with the love of his life. Now, he was sitting in his brother’s living room without his husband and without his son. Is this what Bahamut had planned all those years ago? To break him until he no longer cared about the lives he would ruin? Well it hadn’t worked because Ardyn still loved his family and he still loved Cor…Ardyn lifted his head up and asked his brother reluctantly, as Ardyn knew how much Somnus hated Cor for doing this to him. “Do you know how Cor is doing?”“Clarus and Regis said that he is heartbroken, but he doesn’t fault your decision.” Somnus said, hiding his hatred for his (nearly former) brother-in-law. Ardyn needed support he didn’t need Cor’s name being dragged in the mud. The media had already seen to that anyway.“I do. I regret what I did.”“And I think you always will.”“I just… I couldn’t take it anymore…” Ardyn sniffed unable to get the words out.Because he really did not want to do that. But how much could he take before he cracked? How much longer would it have been before the daemons decided they wanted to inflict the end of the world and use Cor’s betrayal as a catalyst? Not long in Ardyn’s mind and he didn’t want Prompto to see him like that. That’s why he left Cor. That’s why he put his own mental state before his marriage because Prompto deserved so much better than them. The mere thought of his son made Ardyn’s eyes form with tears. He shouldn’t have been caught up in this mess. Prompto was too pure and sweet to have to go through this shit. “Do you want to cry?” Somnus asked, sitting on the floor and started to rub Ardyn’s back to comfort him.“I’ve done enough of that.” Ardyn laughed.Somnus shook his head and got a fidget spinner out of his armiger for Ardyn to play with. Ardyn smiled at the gesture and gladly took it. He liked it when Somnus looked after him. The younger of the two continued to comfort his brother and said in a calm voice. “Ardyn, you are very emotional right now and if you keep it bottled up the daemons are-”The Founder King’s voice was cut off by Ardyn’s phone ringing, and both the brothers held their breath when they saw Cor’s name appear. Somnus didn’t want Ardyn to answer it in case it was another feeble attempt to get his brother back, and Ardyn didn’t want to answer it because it had now become very awkward talking to Cor. All the same Ardyn had to in case it was about Prompto. For Somnus, Ardyn put it on speaker phone in case his brother decided to snatch the phone out of his hand and go to town on Cor like he had done the last time Cor had rang him.“Hello.” Ardyn breathed out very anxious to hear what Cor had to say. Thankfully, Somnus had decided to keep rubbing his back to calm him down.
“Hey…. I am going to get straight to the point. Prom needs you more than me and Clarus has offered for me to stay at his. Do you want to move back in?”
Ardyn and Somnus gave each other a strange look. And then the panic set in. “Why? What’s wrong with Prompto? Is he not eating again?”
“No. Nothing like that. He is really missing you and… it will make things easier for everyone.”
“I do not want to put on Clarus when he already has enough on his plate.” Ardyn said, feeling extremely uncomfortable. He really wanted to live back in his house with his son and Cor again. But living with Cor would not be good for anyone. It wasn’t fair to drag anyone into this who wasn’t the pair of them. (Somnus didn’t care. He told Ardyn he was getting involved and there was nothing he could do about it)
“I said the same thing but Clarus wants to help. So, do you want to move back in with Prom? I will have my stuff out by the afternoon if you want too.”
Ardyn didn’t want that at all. But the thought of seeing and living with Prom again, he couldn’t reject that offer. But wait if Cor did this… “Why are you asking this? I don’t want to come between you and Prom.”
“Let’s face it I did that all on my own. He wants to live with you. I don’t want to upset him anymore than I already have.”
Ardyn couldn’t say Cor was wrong there. “As long as you are certain you want this as well.”
“I don’t want any of this, but it is the right thing to do.”
Ardyn shook his head at Somnus to make him keep his mouth shut. Yes, Cor had brought it up again and it had pissed Somnus off, but Cor was trying to do right by their son, and no one could be mad at Cor for that. “Thank you. I would like that very much.”
“Right. I’ll tell him in the morning and be gone by two. I’ll give my keys to Prom... Bye.”
Ardyn didn’t get a chance to say goodbye back as Cor had hung up.Was this really it? Was that them over completely now? (save the divorce papers) Ardyn looked up and Somnus and burst into tears as it felt like he was taking Prom away from Cor. Somnus quickly hugged his brother and rocked him gently telling him that no matter how awkward that talk was Ardyn and Cor were doing the right thing by putting Prompto first. Ardyn shouldn’t be worrying about Cor’s feelings he should be working with him to make Prom happy. Ardyn couldn’t argue with him there. It was just so fucked up! A few more days had passed since Cor moved out and things in the media were quieting down. Cor wasn’t sure if they got bored or if Somnus had threaten the press to retrieve his Shield from the caves and set him on them if they didn’t shut up. Either way the Marshal couldn’t really complain. And living with Clarus wasn’t bad… Iris and Gladio obviously knew about the situation and tried their best to help him where they could. Cor was lucky to have the Amicitia family loyalty as well as Regis’s. It still hurt though when he went into work and got looks from everyone at what he had done. All the time he was thinking ‘if only you knew what really happened, you would be giving me looks of pity and confusion. Because how could Cor the Immortal allow himself to get raped?!’ Again, the fear of that shame forced him into silence and the fear that no one would no longer believe him, beat him into submission too. At least he had Regis and Clarus to look after him. That was something…The three old friends were quietly drinking tea/coffee in the quietness of Clarus’s office, so Ardyn or Somnus would not come walking in, and simply chatted to Cor about how things were. The King and the Shield knew for a fact things were not going well. Clarus had caught Cor on some nights pacing through the mansion and Iris had also seen it too. It wasn’t healthy for the man to keep all his hurt locked up, so Regis and Clarus decided to get it out of him. He was only going to get ill if he didn’t.But Cor didn’t want to talk about himself. He held on to his mug tightly, not caring for the temperature, and asked: “How is Ardyn anyway?”Regis gulped away his tea and sigh. “Honestly, not good.”“Okay.” Cor nodded but he wanted more information and the King wasn’t going to give him any.“Let’s not talk about him. We want to know how you are?”“Cor… enough with the secrets. We are here to help you. Just look at you. Your eyes are as dark as anything.” Clarus commented.Cor had noticed that… only this morning he looked in the mirror and there was no blue tint to his eyes anymore. They were just dark and numb, and they mirrored perfectly how he was feeling on the inside. It scared him because Prompto had the same look in his eyes when Cor saw him on that hospital bed. Prompto had scars crafted by his own hand covering his legs, his face was as white as a sheet and he was as thin as a twig. Cor knew Regis and Clarus were worried Cor might end up getting as depressed as his son had… still, Clarus’s worried voice didn’t make him speak. “Don’t worry about Ardyn. Somnus is looking after him.” Regis smiled hoping that might help Cor’s worries.Cor looked down at his mug and muttered in a painful voice. “…I want him back.”“My dear, I don’t think that is possible.” Regis said softly, placing an arm on Cor’s forearm to comfort him.“I know… I love him so much and I destroyed that. This is all on me.”“Drautos is also to blame here.” Clarus said, trying to help Cor further but that had the opposite affect and the mere mention of that disgusting homewrecking rapist’s name made Cor’s words become hostile.“No, he’s not! I was the one who lied! I was the one that led him on! This is my fault!”Cor breathed out in fear as his head spun back to both of those nights. The first, where he had willingly allowed Drautos to touch him. That thought made him sick to his stomach now. And the second, where he did not want that. If he hadn’t led him on… the second night might have never of happened. Still no tears fell. Cor just didn’t have it in him anymore. But Cor’s fear didn’t go away because he had just shot himself in the foot and Clarus had picked up on his phrasing.“Led him on?”“What do you mean by that?” Regis asked, his grip tightening on Cor’s arm to get him to look at him.“Cor?”Cor looked Regis in the eye and gulped. The ordeal was not going to be mentioned but he had already lost Ardyn. There was no point covering up the ‘first’ time something had happened between him and the Captain. “A couple of weeks before Drautos left, he kissed me, and I nearly slept with him. I should have stopped speaking to him and told Ardyn what happened. Why didn’t I? I would have my husband and son if I had.”“I can’t answer that for you.” Clarus huffed putting down his coffee. He knew Drautos had something over him… but still that alone did not warrant an excuse for his little brother’s behaviour. There had to be something else.“It’s not worth telling Ardyn that. Not anymore.” Regis said, shuffling his chair closer to Cor.“No… it will only cause him more pain.”“You are suffering too though, and Regis and I don’t want to see you like this.”“Ardyn is suffer because of what I did. Ardyn has helped me through everything and this is how I repay him by lying and cheating and being unworthy of him. I deserve this. But I didn’t deserve him, and I don’t deserve my son and I don’t deserve you two.”“Yes, you do.” Clarus stated, rising from his chair to consolidate Cor. He knew he felt guilty, but this level was beyond unhealthy.“No. I don’t.”Regis held on to both of Cor’s hands, clearing his throat. “Look at me. You do deserve us. We are here for you my dear no matter what. We love you very much no matter the circumstances.”“Nothing will ever change that. We are always here to help you, and if you want to talk about what has happened, you can in confidence.” Clarus backed up Regis while placing a hand on Cor’s shoulder, knowing that he didn’t want a hug.“There will be no judgement either. That is our job as your brothers to look after you.”Cor looked between his brother’s and let go a small smile… He should have told them right at the beginning. Yes, Regis was a little rocky when he first found out but he never stopped loving him. Clarus… not once did Clarus believe a single one of this lies. The only reason why they weren’t pressuring him to talk was because they didn’t want to see him cry. Yeah, Cor had landed himself with the best brother’s he could ever have hoped for. He loved them so goddamned much and he really needed them as Prom was no longer talking to him, neither was Ardyn. Regis and Clarus… were just the best. It was a shame, that Cor still felt like he couldn’t open his mouth and tell them the truth… as much as he wanted to. Cor took both of his hands out of Regis’s and voluntarily gave them a hug. He wrapped one arm around Regis’s neck and the other around Clarus’s middle and pulled them closer to him. What the fuck would he do without their support he didn’t know. The pair happily gave him a hug back but were confused. Two hugs in the space of two weeks? That wasn’t Cor. However, none of this was Cor.“Thank you, Regis, Clarus. I needed to hear that. I love you both too.”Cor didn’t stay long after that he went to work and left the King and Shield to discuss his behaviour and the matter further. They still didn’t believe Cor, but he wasn’t speaking so they couldn’t help him. At least he knew he could come to them. They really hoped that the Marshal took their advise onboard for a change.“Maybe I should send him on a mission for a while?” Clarus suggested, unsure of what to do.“That might be a good idea. Maybe Altissa so he can talk things through with Wesk?”“Yeah. I’ll call Wesk when I get a free moment. After knocking and being allowed entry, Cor let himself into Ardyn’s office. This was going to be a fucking hard conversation. He hadn’t seen or spoken to Ardyn since Cor had moved out. To calm himself, Cor held onto Ardyn’s ring in his fist. Cor loved Ardyn too much to throw it away… He still couldn’t let go of Ardyn, but he wasn’t here to get his marriage back. No, he was here for their son.“Ard- Your Grace. I don’t mean to bother you.” Cor said, closing the door keeping at a distance.“You can call me Ardyn… Cor.” Ardyn replied, not looking up from his work, hat tilted slightly so Cor did not see his face.The air was thick with tension and nerves. Both of them really didn’t know how to speak to each other anymore. After 23 years of being together for it to all just end in one day was heart breaking for both parties and neither of them wanted that to happen. Neither of them wanted to grieve over their marriage in front of the other and both were tense with emotional baggage unbeknown to the other. Cor was hiding what had really happened and Ardyn was hiding how he felt about Cor leaving. Because of that both of them wanted out of that room. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to see each other, because they clearly still loved one another, but… it hurt.It just hurt so much.Both of them were suffering. Cor cleared his throat and treated Ardyn like he should have since the very beginning. With respect and no lies. “His Former Majesty has ordered me to address him by his title.”“Well you don’t have a child with my brother. What can I help you with?” Ardyn questioned, finally looking up.“I was wondering if Prom’s okay.”Ardyn shook his head. Ardyn had tried to get Prompto to talk to Cor, but he didn’t want to. That was what Ardyn feared would happen if he moved back in. But the damage was done, and Cor was well within his rights to ask this of Ardyn. Prompto was his son too. “He’s not okay. However, he is eating so we can’t complain.”“That’s something. Can I do anything to help at all?” Cor asked, making sure he never once made eye contact with Ardyn. For he didn’t want to see the pain that surely plastered his eyes.“He wants us to get back together.”“I know. He said.”An awkward silence fell than. Ardyn didn’t know how to respond to that and Cor didn’t want him too. They still didn’t look at each other and did their best not to both melt into a puddle of their own sorrow. Why did things have to be this way? They were so happy before and so was Prom. This was too horrible of a situation to be in, let alone talk about.So Ardyn changed the conversation. He may still be furious with Cor, but he didn’t want there to be hate between them… he still loved him after all. “Thank you for letting me stay with him, you didn’t have to do that, especially at your own expense.”“He needs you more than he needs me.” Cor admitted.“That’s not true.”Ardyn looked at Cor directly than. No. No matter what Ardyn would never let Cor believe that. Because he knew if this was the other way around Cor wouldn’t let him believe that. However, Ardyn failed to catch eye contact with the Marshal as Cor couldn’t bring himself to look at Ardyn. He wasn’t brave enough to see the broken and shattered form of his soon to be ex-husband. He couldn’t do it.“Keep me updated.” Cor asked, wanting to leave.“Of course.” Ardyn nodded back and allowed the Marshal his wishes. Drautos was finding all of this amusing. He would have allowed the glaive to keep talking about His Graces and the Marshal’s break up during training sessions if that goddamn bloody Shield and his son didn’t come down here to check up on him. But the Captain wasn’t really bothered with them. No, he was more interested in the fact that neither His Majesty, His Grace or the Marshal had decided not to come to him and tear up Prompto’s application form. It had been a few weeks now and all Prompto needed was for it to be signed by the Captain. Just to make the Marshal’s skin crawl he was going to sign it. But first off… he wanted to speak to His Grace.It was a stupid idea on his part, but Drautos had now become so confident he wasn’t going to get caught and no one would stop him, he did it anyway. And Ardyn did not appreciate the man coming to talk to him. Especially when it was in the middle of a fucking corridor. “Your Grace?”“Do you want to die? Because if you carry on talking that is what will happen to you.” Ardyn growled, not holding back his burning and undying hatred for the man that had torn his family apart.Drautos didn’t flinch. Because he knew Ardyn was not allowed to cause him any harm. “I wanted to say that I am sorry for causing yours and the Marshal’s divorce.”Ardyn burst into laughter instead of ripping the man’s head off. “Ha! Really?! Do you think I am that stupid?! I saw the way you looked at my husband right from the beginning. You wanted him ever since your ‘friendship’ with him started!”“Your Grace-”“Oh, shut it! You telling me about yours and his disgusting union was an attempt to make me leave him. I AM NOT STUPID! Now, you have come here to tell me who kissed who? I don’t care. I don’t care if you kissed him, I don’t care if he kissed you. I am a very sick and very tired old man. I do not have the patience to deal with the likes of you anymore. I hate you so much… I hate you more than I hate the fucking six! And if I am ever lucky enough to end your life there will not be a soul on this cursed rock that won’t hear what I did to you.”Ardyn breathed heavily through his nose knowing how loud he had shouted that. They were on the same floor where Somnus’s meeting was taking place, in a couple of minutes his brother would surely come running to check if he was alright. He wasn’t. But he wanted Drautos to leave him alone. Ardyn knew the Captain was going too because he could sense fear within the man.Good.He should be fucking scared. “Very well, Your Grace.” Drautos bowed and left with his pride not in tacked. That daemon was going to pay for that...Ardyn lent up against the wall wishing he could have done fucking more to that man! A trip to Angelguard wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t have his son to think about. Speaking of Prompto… “You still want to join the glaive?”“Yeah I am not letting anyone get in the way of that.” Prompto responded stepping out of the room Ardyn was standing outside of.“Good lad. That’s what I want to hear. I am very proud of you.” Ardyn smiled, hugging Prompto.Prompto was now the centre of everything for Ardyn. Cor and Drautos did not matter. As long as his sunbeam of a child was smiling and happy. Prompto was all Ardyn needed….“I am proud of you too.” Prom nodded, hugging his dad back. He was frigging amazed that Ardyn had not ripped off Drautos’s head. That was definitely something he should praise his dad for. The Captain knew exactly how he was going to make that daemon pay.By getting close to Cor. He could easily go after Prompto… but that would be pushing it. The kid hadn’t been beaten into submission by fear and he knew Cor wouldn’t speak up. Because he hadn’t to date. He had to be quick though. Himself, Cor, Regis, Clarus, Ardyn and Somnus had to be in a meeting later on. The purpose of that meeting was to think up new strategies to end this war, and everything said in that room was going back to Niflheim. Not to mention he had to sort out all the new recruits today. Including Mr Prompto Leonis.Or he could scrap this idea all together and just kill that bloody King…No… terrorising the Marshal had become a guilty pleasure of the Captains’, and he wanted to keep playing this game for a long time.When Cor saw Drautos push his way into his office, Cor’s first response was to scream at him. “FUCK OFF!”“I heard your divorce is all but finalised.” Drautos said cruelly, shutting the door and locking it.“What is it to you?!” Cor bit back pushing himself up against his desk, very unsure and scared as to what the man in front of him was going to do next.“A great deal Leonis. Because that means you’re single.”“If you think I would ever let you near me again, you are sicker and more deranged than I first thought!”Drautos laughed walking towards Cor who had frozen with fear on the spot. “I said that if you weren’t with him, everyone would be lining up to have you.”“Get out!” Cor shouted again. But Drautos wasn’t listening and he kept walking towards him. Cor had to keep his eyes locked on the Captain as well. Why wouldn’t he just fucking listen to him?! “I am informing you I want to be the first in line.”“FUCK OFF!!!”“I heard what His Grace said. He said: I am welcomed to you.”Fear ran across Cor’s eyes upon hearing his husband’s words spoken in the Captain’s voice. That’s when Cor knew he had to run. He did try. Cor tried to throw himself to the left but Drautos was quicker. Cor held his breath when Drautos grabbed his neck and pushed him flat on the desk and forced their faces closer to each other.No this was not happening again!Cor kicked at Drautos but the man had purposely trapped one of Cor’s leg’s in-between his own and made sure that Cor was crushing his own arm by laying on it. Cor tried to punch Drautos with his free arm and wriggle like his life depended on it to break free but he was so scared that he missed his target. Drautos caught his wrist in an iron grip and just laughed at him. Cor froze up again and there was nothing anyone could do to help him. Suddenly the tears came back, and he begged Drautos to let him go. Shame, dignity, fear, numbness, hatred, everything had left his being. The only thing he could do was plead with this monster of a man. “Don’t touch me! Please…. Don’t. Please…. Please don’t do it again…”“You go straight to begging. Pathetic.” Drautos spat in his face, putting more pressure on Cor’s throat and with the hand that was wrapped around Cor’s wrist he lowered it down in-between them.“Please… Enough. Just stop. I said no! Please…” Cor begged again while gasping for air, trying with all his might to prevent Drautos from doing this. He clearly didn’t want it. Cor was fucking crying!The Captain didn’t care. Drautos harshly put Cor’s hand in-between them and forced Cor to touch his erection. “Enough? I’ll tell you when I have had enough of you.”Cor continued to cry as Drautos attacked Cor’s lips with his own. Cor shut his eyes, getting flash backs from that traumatic night, hating the fact he was powerless to stop this again, being shadowed in filth again and whimpering as Drautos bit him. Kissed him and forced him to touch him. Cor didn’t want to think about what Drautos was making him do. All Cor thought in this moment was: ‘Let me go. Please let me go. I don’t want this please stop!’ He was petrified that the man on top of him was going to carry on and destroy the last piece of life that Cor had left in him. But he didn’t.Drautos pulled away and gripped onto his throat tighter, accidently bruising Cor’s skin. He sneered at Cor as he spoke evil words. “You truly are unworthy of any title, you weak pathetic man. Why would Ardyn want you anyway after you let me touch you? He’s better off without you. Everyone is. Have a nice day Marshal.”Drautos kissed him one more time before removing himself from Cor and leaving. He could have had his way with Cor again. But not today… to the Captain he had plenty of time for that. Cor started to have a panic attack and whimpered completely terrified.His entire body shook. Cor went cold and he couldn’t get those eyes out of his head. Those disgusting eyes that were going to haunt him until the day he died. Cor had to leave. He could no longer be in his office. It wasn’t safe. Nowhere was safe with that man around. Cor ran out of his office and to the nearest toilet so he could throw up. Because once again he had failed to protect himself. Meaning he had failed Regis, Noctis and Lucis…Cor hated himself and he knew this was going to be the end of him. Regis rubbed his temple to whatever Clarus was saying at him. The King was far to distracted with Cor to think about this bloody war. Clarus was too but they were currently walking with Somnus and Ardyn meaning that the subject of Cor was not to be touched with a 10-foot pole. It hurt Regis so much. He could tell that Ardyn was beyond saddened and Somnus was just angry. Why did it have to be like this? Why wouldn’t Cor just… the King didn’t even know but it hurt none the less. When the four of them got to their chosen meeting room, glaive Ulric was standing outside. Regis thought it was because he wanted to talk to Somnus as the pair of them got on relatively well, but no. It would seem not.“Your Majesty.” Nyx bowed.“Glaive Ulric.” Regis smiled back.“Sire, I was wondering if I could have a word with you.”“But of course.”Regis told Clarus to leave him out here and get his ancestor’s settled and ready for when Cor and Drautos arrived later on. This meeting was going to be so awkward, Regis had honestly thought about cancelling it. Once the door was closed, the glaive slightly drop his composed posture and his voice became nearly panicked? Was he okay?“I know I shouldn’t have an opinion. But everyone knows what has happened between His Grace, The Marshal and The Captain, and I have some information on it.”“What do you mean by that?” Regis cocked his head to the side in confusion.“The day the Captain left on his mission I saw the Marshal on the stairs, and he looked troubled sir.”Troubled? Regis remembered that day. Cor looked like shit. That was the apposed night that him and the Captain had… never mind that. But that was a very strange detail for the glaive to remember. Regis lent on his cane and gave Nyx a chance to elaborate on this information further. “Go on.”“We bumped into each other and he looked terrified. He jumped backwards when we collided and then ran a mile to get away from me. When I confronted him about it he told me he was sick. I think it was a lie now because…” “Why do you think that was a lie?”Unbeknown to both Cor and Drautos, Nyx had been dared to go into Cor’s office by Libertus and steal something. However, the Marshal came in forcing Nyx to hide in the walk-in cupboard so he wasn’t caught. He had been held up in the Marshal’s cupboard through their entire ‘conversation’ that Drautos and Cor had had. Nyx heard and saw exactly what the Captain had done to the Marshal. At the time Nyx was too shocked to do anything. He was shocked that the Captain was capable of doing that and to Cor the Immortal of all people. He waited until Cor ran out in tears before he took his leave and Nyx knew he couldn’t keep what he had seen to himself. Not when Drautos was in-charge of the Glaive and keeping their King and Prince safe.Nyx held his breath and gave the King what he needed to hear. “Because I saw the Captain threatening the Marshal earlier today. The Marshal looked terrified. He asked… No, begged the Captain not to touch him and he did it anyway.”“He touched him?”Regis’s stomach dropped.A wave of protectiveness and uncertainty whacked the feared King in the head. No… that… Regis closed his eyes very disgusted and shocked by what he was being told. He gripped his cane and tried to process the information. Regis knew that Cor would never cheat on Ardyn and if Nyx’s words were true, that meant Drautos had… Regis shook his head and asked with a stern tone. “Nyx, I need you to tell me the truth. Did the Marshal look exactly the same as he did when you saw him on the stairs that morning?”“Yes, sir. And the Marshal begged him word for word sir, ‘Please don’t do it again.’”“Oh, my gods…” Regis brought his hand to his mouth to stop himself from retching at what Nyx had practically told him.Why didn’t he see it? Why didn’t Regis notice? It all made sense now… Why Cor didn’t want to talk about it with Ardyn, why he was so closed off, why he was isolating himself, why he refused to train with the guard, why he wasn’t having sex with Ardyn, why he wasn’t speaking to Drautos anymore, and why he didn’t want Prompto joining the Kingsglaive…FUCK!Regis was so consumed with panic and worry he lost the support on his cane and Nyx had to catch him to stop him from falling to the floor. Nyx led the King to another room and made him sit down. All the while Regis was shaking. He was appalled at himself for realising this sooner, but he was mostly angry that he hadn’t seen it. No one had. Cor… he had let them all believe this… he had let them believe he was this nasty person who had cheated on Ardyn and he didn’t, Drautos had forced him too… The King couldn’t hold the vomit in any longer. He ordered Nyx to get him a bin and he threw up. But he didn’t let tears fall. His baby brother… had been subject to that abuse and he hadn’t noticed!!!!No one had!!!That was why Cor was keeping his mouth shut because Ardyn would tear that man apart!“Do you need me to do anything sir?” Nyx asked, very worried and anxious to know what action they should take next. For they could not have Drautos running the glaive anymore. Too many people were in danger if they let him carry on being Captain.Regis shook his head. “No, there is nothing you can do. Right, it’s best that we keep this between ourselves for the time being. I must speak with the Marshal before I can do anything to take this further.”Because right in this moment there was nothing that could be done. Nyx may have seen something vile take place but that would be useless information without Cor’s word. It would never stand up in a court of law and Regis could not ask Cor to tell him anything with Ardyn, Somnus, Clarus and… that man in that room with him. It was going to take all the strength Regis had not to murder the Captain on the spot. But if Drautos had done that, if he had threatened his baby brother, Cor was in danger. Regis, as much as he hated it, needed to act like he knew nothing until he could get the appropriate measures in place. For that man was never going near his family or his glaives again.“Of course, sir.” Nyx bowed.“Good man.” Regis rose from his chair, ready to go into that room and keep his mouth shut. This was going to be so hard but for the safety of Cor, and everyone else when Ardyn found out, the King needed to be silent. Regis stopped and turned to Nyx with a weak and saddened smile. “And Ulric. I am so grateful for you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for telling me.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The King held his breath before opening the door.As Regis now had to sit in this room, keep his mouth shut, and try not to kill Drautos. The last part was going to be the hardest part to achieve. Before Regis had returned, he asked Nyx to go into detail as to what he saw. It made Regis feel physically sick, knowing that Drautos had broken his baby brother so much that Cor had frozen on the spot and was being emotionally, physically and sexually abused by someone Regis thought he could trust. The old King knew he was not going to be able to get rid of the burning hate that had formed in his gut. Nor the pain that was weighing on his heavy heart. Regis couldn’t even say that he was sorry to Cor, for not noticing what his poor brother had been through when he next saw him. No. No tears. He had to be strong right now. He had to put on a brave face for Cor and the safety of Eos. Ardyn… poor Ardyn. He was going to implode with rage and self-hatred when he discovered the truth. Well, the truth when Cor confirmed it to him. The thought of that conversation was tearing his heart in two.Poor Cor…Regis walked into the room, cane tapping against the floor loudly, as he tried to get rid of some of his rage. He didn’t look at his ancestor’s or his Shield as he took his seat. The King was still in shock and the emotions were still raw. He thought if he looked at them, all the people who’s Drautos’s actions had affected...
No. Not yet. No tears. We can cry once we know Cor is okay.
“Regis? Are you alright?” Somnus asked, sensing that something was wrong with his grandson.“Of course, I am.” Regis nodded, still not looking at his Grandfather.“Darling nephew you shouldn’t lie to us.” Ardyn’s voice made Regis shiver.His Uncle sounded heartbroken. He shouldn’t be heartbroken over his marriage because he and Cor didn’t have to end things! Regis’s emotions were getting harder and harder to contain as the seconds in this room dragged on. Why did he have such a bleeding heart?“Is Nyx alright?” Somnus questioned.“Yes, he is fine. It is just something to do with the glaive that I will have to deal with after this meeting. Please don’t ask any further questions on the matter.” Regis said, sounding a little irritated. Regis wasn’t surprised he had used that tone. Hurt and anger were bubbling away in him, that tone was certainly not a surprising reaction. “Okay…” Clarus finally spoke, narrowing his eyes at his friend’s words. “Regis… you look troubled.”“And a little pale.” Ardyn muttered in a worried voice.No. This was too hard. Regis needed everyone to be quiet so he could mentally prepare himself for seeing Cor and Drautos in the same room together. In a burst of frustration Regis grunted. “Fine. I had a fall when I was talking to glaive Ulric.”“Shit. Are you okay? Do you need anything?” Clarus asked.“Just some peace and quiet from everyone. I promise I am alright.” Regis assured them before anyone else could say a word. He wasn’t technically lying either so Ardyn couldn’t catch him out on it. Wait… Nyx just told him Cor had been assaulted and he had to sit next to Drautos… like fuck was that happening!! Regis looked up to his Shield and said plainly. “Clarus? Move up one please, I want Cor to sit next to me.”“Why?” Somnus asked with a bit of venom as Clarus did as he was ordered to.That annoyed Regis. His Grandfather didn’t have a fucking clue what he was on about! In his mist of protectiveness, he snapped. “So he doesn’t get death glares from you. Now, silence would be much appreciated.” Cor sat in the toilet cubical and tried to control his breathing. He had been in this cubical for a good three hours now and he had gotten various messages from Monica and Dustin who were trying to locate him. What had happened in his office… it brought everything back and all he wanted to do was have Ardyn here. Have Ardyn holding him and telling him that it wasn’t his fault. That he didn’t deserve the abuse that Drautos was putting him through. But after that encounter…. Cor felt like he did deserve it. Drautos was right. He was pathetic, he was weak, he was all of those things. Didn’t him just throwing up in the toilet confirm it? Cor held on to his head as he let the tears dry on his face. He was crumbling from the inside out and he felt so alone. Like no one cared. No one could see what was happening and that he was going to have to live like this until he either died or quit as being Marshal.Quitting sounded like the best option right now…It would make things easier at work for Ardyn. It would make Somnus feel comfier in the ancient home that he built. It would stop this divide that Regis and Noctis had found themselves in. And Prompto hated him anyway… There was nothing here for Cor anymore. Nothing and no one. He knew he couldn’t go through another encounter like that. Because next time he knew Drautos was going to… to… he was going to…Cor hit the toilet seat hard.He couldn’t say the word again. That man had beaten him back to where he was when all of this began and this time, he didn’t fully destroy him. This is what the Marshal of the Crownsguard had resulted too. A puddle of tears, regret and fear. He was not worthy of protecting this family anymore or Lucis. He wasn’t worthy of anything… Taking a deep sigh, Cor struggled to stand to his feet. He had to go to this meeting otherwise Regis and Clarus would worry. If they asked him why he didn’t attend, he would break down. But there was a problem doing this meeting. One, Drautos was going to be there. But if he didn’t look at him, didn’t think about what had just happened and kept his focus on what Regis and Clarus were saying Cor may pull through. Two, the black and blue bruises on his neck and wrist were very visible. Cor took his jacket off and replaced it with a high neck coat that he always had in his armiger. It may be summer but that was okay. Cor couldn’t feel anything anyway. He couldn’t even feel the burn in his throat or the throbbing pain on his wrist. He gulped and zipped his coat up, hiding the damage and finally unlocked the bathroom stall door.Cor’s eyes were drained of colour as he stumbled in defeat to where he next needed to be. As he wandered through the Citadel, a place he used to see as one of security and acceptance, he thought about what his uncle had said to him before he died. ‘You’ve lived up to the family name.’ No… no Cor hadn’t. What was the point in being alive and cheating death if nothing was worth living anymore? If constant fear, torment and abuse awaited him every day for the rest of his life? Cor was no longer a lion. He was a broken bird who was never going to fly again.His thoughts led him to where he needed to be. Not even thinking he walked into the room and muttered not looking up.“Sorry I am late.”“You’re not my dear. Don’t worry.” Regis’s voice sounded comforting. That must have been salt in the wounds for Ardyn.Cor walked over to the chair Clarus was sitting on and was confused as to why he was sitting there. His place was by the King. Clarus shrugged and pointed to his assigned chair. Phew… at least Cor didn’t have to sit by Drautos. That was something.“Are you cold Cor?” Clarus asked, as Cor took his seat.“Yeah.” Cor nodded, looking down at the table instead of directly in front of him. Because Ardyn was opposite him. So what if he was wearing a coat. He could be ill. Not like Ardyn or Somnus would care if he was. They shouldn’t either. Not after all the lies and pain he had caused them. Caused everyone.“Have you got a temperature?” Clarus asked, this time trying to place a hand to Cor’s head.“Don’t.” Cor shook, trying his best not to flinch. Cor had definitely been thrown back to where he was when all of this had started. No one was allowed to touch him. Cor knew full well that Clarus was only doing it because he cared but he couldn’t… he just couldn’t.“Okay, sorry.”As all of that was going on, Regis’s anger and heartache grew. It was all so clear now that he knew. Regis let go a sigh so he didn’t cry for the pain his little brother was clearly in. That fucking twisted man was going to pay for this! Right now, Regis didn’t care, he was going to tell Ardyn himself and allow his uncle to do whatever he saw fit to Drautos! Ardyn was not going to prison for it! Damn the fucking council and anyone else who said otherwise! They could join fucking Bahamut in hell if they tried to argue against him. “What time is it?” Somnus asked, visibly annoyed. Cor didn’t care.He just sat there and listened to his fami… his bosses endless squabbling, as he looked down in shame at himself. Cor had his arms folded and his wrist tucked under his arm so no one saw. To make sure no one saw any mark on his neck, Cor buried his neck further into his coat. “The meeting is only three minutes late.” Clarus replied.“I would like to have a nap.”“You always want a nap.” Ardyn sounded exhausted when he spoke.That nearly brought a tear to Cor’s eye. Nearly… because Cor had caused all of that. He dared not look up at his nearly ex-husband. It would be too painful too.“You’re not funny.”“We need to wait for the Captain before we can start.” Clarus’s words made Cor’s skin crawl and he dug his toes into his shoes to prevent himself from having another visible reaction to that man’s name. What made matter’s worse was Ardyn’s cold and unforgiving response. “Unfortunately.”“Please do not bring that up here.” Regis sounded like he was begging. But the weird thing was, Cor felt his friend’s eyes on him. Cor ignored it. After this meeting he was planning on talking to Regis to hand in his notice, which was going to be effective immediately. “Fine.”“Thank you, Uncle. Grandfather, one word and you won’t be a part of this meeting.” Regis warned, again Cor felt the King’s eyes fall on him after he spoke to Somnus. Cor didn’t like it. So he continued force his own eyes down.“He is late though.” Somnus replied bluntly.“I don’t care.”“You should.”“Do not tell me how I should feel.” Regis sounded angry than. This was yet another thing Cor had caused. A rift between Grandfather and Grandson. Yeah… he had to leave. He was going to leave today.“Please don’t fight.” Ardyn asked, getting support from Clarus.“Emotions are running high right now, but Ardyn has a point. Stop fighting.”Cor chose not to get involved. Somnus would only take his anger out on him and Cor couldn’t deal with that right now. He shifted his abused wrist further into his arm and held his breath as Regis’s and Somnus’s argument continued. At least, Regis’s eyes were no longer on him.“I am not in the mood to deal with you Grandfather I am not.”“You were fine before you spoke to glaive Ulric.”“The matter we spoke of is private and confidential. Do not ask about it again.”“If it has something to do with the glaive then why didn’t he take it to Drautos!”Cor had to catch his breath so he didn’t let out a painful gasp. He could feel fear and sick start to rise and his leg started to shake. Thankfully, Ardyn and Clarus were too involved in Somnus’s and Regis’s argument to notice his twitching and fear. But Regis wasn’t. It was only for a second. But Cor felt those soft green eyes fall on him again, like Regis was trying to comfort him somehow. However, with in that second, they turned into venom and Cor tried not to flinch when Regis slammed his hand against the table in a fit of rage. However, the King’s angry shouts and the sound of the table made Clarus jump as well. So at least it wasn’t noticeable.“Somnus! Shut the fuck up!”“No! Why should I?!” Somnus argued back, eyes of blue ice turning into deadly shards.“Because I am the King and I said so! Do as you are told and shut the hell up!”“You just don’t want me to bring up what happened.”“Somnus shut it now!”Ardyn was the one who roared that. There was clear pain in his voice too. Before Somnus could argue back, like Cor knew for a fact he wanted too, another voice filled the room. This one was sweet but troubled. “Dad? Why are you fighting?”Prom…Cor didn’t turn around. He knew Prompto didn’t want to speak to him. He kept his shattered gaze in his lap and wondered why his son had interrupted a meeting. A meeting that Ardyn had probably told him was very important. It wasn’t his job to throw his son out. That was Regis’s. Regis wasn’t looking at him again. He had his gaze fixated on something else. Wasn’t really Cor’s problem. He was only the Marshal after all. In a few hours’ time, he wouldn’t even be that. He would go back to being Cor Leonis. Maybe when he left he could be a hunter. He could do that.“Sunbeam! We’re not.” Ardyn replied, masking his voice with joy. This is why Cor knew Ardyn was the better one out of the two of them to look after Prom. He always put Prompto and his feelings above everyone else.“Hello Prompto. I take it you finally decided to join.” Clarus spoke, but the words went right over the numbed man’s head.“Yep.”“I am very proud of you Prompto.” Somnus said.“What division is he in?” Ardyn asked, with a little caution but not enough to cause concern.“With me if that’s alright, Your Grace.”Cor’s eyes snapped open at the voice that had now made itself known to him. That was when Cor turned around and he found himself drenched in fear. Prom was standing there with a smile on his face and Drautos was standing directly behind him. The conversation around the Marshal started to fade out into nothing and all his muscles seized up as he kept his eyes glued on his son. The thing was Prompto wasn’t looking at him. No one was looking at him. They were all looking at Prom with the man who had just fucking attacked him less than 4 hours ago! That vile twisted rapist was near his baby!“As long as he can handle it, I don’t care.” Ardyn replied, clearly trying to hide his dislike of the situation.“Good, thank you uncle.” Regis commented, keeping his eyes locked on Drautos. Because if that man laid one finger on his nephew… “I am sorry for being late.” Drautos apologised respectfully. “My fault.” Prom laughed.Regis cleared his throat. He knew for a fact Cor was probably petrified by the sight before him and too scared to do anything about it. He had to get Prompto to leave. Why didn’t Regis just tell Ardyn as soon as he came in about Cor? “No matter. Now, I am sorry Prompto, but we are about to start a--”“Prompto. Come here.”Cor didn’t care if he had just interrupted the King. He didn’t care if he had just fucking silenced the room. He didn’t care if everyone was giving him weird looks. He didn’t care if he had practically jumped out of his seat. All he knew was he had to get Prom away from that monster and he had to do it now!“What?” Prom asked, being the first word, he had said to dad since Cor had moved out.“Seriously! Come here! Now!” Cor shouted with clear worry plastering his voice.Prom did as he was told and asked what everyone was thinking. “What the hell is wrong with you?”“You’re okay, right?” Cor asked in a panic, grabbing Prom’s shoulder’s looking for any sign that would suggest Drautos had… done something to his son. Because if he had Cor was going to tear Drautos apart. “Dad! Yes, I am fine!” Prom batted Cor’s hands away, concerned yet annoyed as to how his dad was acting. “Cor…” Regis said in a wary voice and Cor completely ignored it.Cor basically threw Prompto behind him and stared directly at his attacker who was acting as confused as the rest of his family. No! Not anymore! Cor could take Drautos torturing him. But his son… No. It gave Cor the courage he needed to finally stand up to that Captain. He was not getting anywhere near Prom! Over his dead body!“Keep the fuck away from my son!” Cor shouted.“What is your problem?” Drautos asked raising his hands in the air, acting innocent and as dumb as the rest of them.“YOU! NOW STAY AWAY FROM MY SON!”“Dad calm down!” Prom said pulling at Cor’s arm while looking at Ardyn for help.Ardyn by this point had risen to his feet to step in to calm Cor down. He was completely taken back by Cor’s reaction to Drautos. Clarus and Somnus looked as concerned as Ardyn was feeling. What on Eos had caused this reaction?However, Regis’s voice prevented him from intervening. The King sounded scared, yet it was controlled. And Cor ignored his King’s demands. “Cor, you need to calm down this instant!”“NO! If you ever go near my son again, I will fucking kill you!”Prompto stepped in front of Cor and grabbed both his arms to get Cor to look at him. “Dad! Stop it! What is wrong with you?!”“I don’t want you anywhere near him!” Cor shouted, finally breaking eye contact with Drautos to look at his distressed son. He placed his hands on Prom’s shoulder’s and moved Prom back behind him in order to keep him close and safe. Cor didn’t give a fuck if he had his back turned to Drautos. Prompto’s safety was far more important than his.Panic, terror, worry, hurt and protectiveness had consumed Cor. Right now, the protectiveness he had towards his son was overriding every cell in his body. Telling him to do whatever it took to keep Prompto away from Drautos. Cor felt like a pressure cooker. Everything that had built up over the last few months had been so suppressed that that protective feeling was allowing them to spew out. But Cor had to stay focused and protect his baby boy at all costs. No one else in the room mattered, no one but Prom and his safety. And the piercing, untruthful and unforgiving words that would come out of his son’s mouth caused Cor to explode.“Why, YOU were happy being near him!?”“NO I WASN’T! HE RAPED ME!”Cor’s words rang through his ears and when he realised what he had screamed directly in his son’s face, Cor let go of Prom. He staggered back completely in shock and his ragged breathing was the only noise he could hear in the sudden silence.Cor started to shake when he saw his son’s face changed from anger to confused dismay. He dare not take his eyes off his son, and shifted uncomfortably as he could feel all eyes in the room lock on to him. “What….” Prompto stated in a hoarse whisper, but before he could continue, a cold voice cut in.“More lies, Marshal? When are you going to admit it, you were the one who wanted to sleep with me? We had that one kiss and you couldn’t resist asking for more, could you?” Drautos spoke calmly, and Cor could feel doubt beginning to seep into his conviction.“That’s- that’s not… no… I… didn’t…” Cor trailed off, flustered.Cor tried to collect his thoughts, get them in order so he could explain himself. Surely he could do that. Get his head straight, get his breathing right. This wasn’t supposed to happen. No one was meant to know that he failed. No one was meant to know how broken he was. He continued to visibly shake in his shamed and scared state, staring at the look of utter shock on his baby boy’s face.All Cor wanted to do was keep Prompto safe and now this…Before Cor could form a sentence together, Drautos’s web of lies filled the air, forcing Cor to back down. “How is anyone supposed to be able to overpower Cor the Immortal? I certainly wouldn’t be able to.”“Enough Captain!”Cor choked when he heard Somnus’s stern voice. He had almost forgotten everyone else was in the room. All of them. All of them had heard what had happened to him. Including Ardyn… This was what he wanted to avoid right from the beginning. Now the one person who he never wanted to find out just had. Cor thought he was going to be sick.“This is a very serious allegation, Marshal. Can you prove it?” Somnus continued to speak to him and Cor couldn’t look at his brother-in-law. He finally looked away from his son and down at the floor in disgrace. He could feel his being shake more and small tears fall from his eyes. In a shattered and disordered voice, he let out a broken.“…..no.”“Dad? It’s okay.” Prompto whispered in a bid to try and comfort him, not sure whether he should grab on to his dad or not. “Like I said. It never happened.” Drautos said with confidence and all that did was make more tears fall.Because Cor couldn’t prove it. Even if he could, who would believe him? After everything that had happened who would? Cor didn’t know what to say. He just stood there crumbling under everyone’s gaze unsure whether to just take it back, unsure if he should-“I beg to differ Drautos. A witness came forward today with an allegation against you, claiming you physically and sexually assaulted the Marshal.” That was Regis’s voice… He what? Cor raised his head and looked at his best friend who looked heartbroken and angry. But… he believed him? Regis believed him… Cor gulped when Regis’s eyes met with his, and Cor started to panic when the King spoke again. “Cor take off your coat.”“Regis.” Clarus said carefully, by this point he had moved to stand next to Regis to protect him. Clarus didn’t want to do that. He wanted to protect Cor, but duty had forced him by the King’s side. He was burning with rage at the mere thought that that had happened to his baby brother!!! Regis was the only thing stopping him from running his sword through Drautos’s gut. He knew there was more to it right from the start! How could he have been so fucking blind!“By order of the King, I am telling to take off your coat.”“I… Regis don….”“JUST TAKE OFF THE FUCKING COAT COR!!” Ardyn screamed forcing Cor to look in his direction.Ardyn looked beyond angry and hurt. Cor couldn’t take the lying anymore. He could no longer do this… Breathing through his unstoppable tears of shame and numbness, Cor slowly unzipped his coat and peeled it from his body. The entire time he looked directly at Ardyn as his husband’s eyes locked to his blackened bruises on his neck. Cor heard a growl from both Regis and Clarus, a gasp from Prom but nothing from either Somnus or Ardyn. Cor gulped when he saw Ardyn’s face slowly turn from anger and hurt, to pain and disgust and then to nothing but an undying and inextinguishable rage. Cor froze as he witnessed Ardyn turn his gaze to Drautos and fear overcame Cor when Ardyn started into his attacker’s eyes. He could see Ardyn’s eyes turn yellow glowing with rage, and once Drautos was staring right back at his enraged husband, Ardyn gave the Captain one final dark cold icy command:“Run.” “ARDYN DON’T!!!!” Cor screamed but it was too late for that.In an explosive display of pink, black and purple, Ardyn had lost it.The scourge completely overpowered him as he roared, throwing himself over the table directly to where Drautos had been standing. The scourge followed the Adagium, allowing his rage and protectiveness to outright consume him as he hunted Drautos down. The Captain had warped out of the way just in time and fled through the now opened door and that did not stop Ardyn. Using all of his daemonic powers he chased the Captain out of that door, and he was not going to stop until he had butchered that monster. Not wasting a second, Somnus summoned his blade and chased after his brother leaving Cor, Prompto, Regis and Clarus alone in the room.Cor hadn’t stopped shaking as he grabbed on to the table for support and continued to weep, this time only crying with fear. Ardyn was going to kill Drautos and Cor was going to lose him properly this time… Too heartbroken to care or feel Cor fell over and cried louder. All of his lying, all his heartbreak, all his devotion to his husband and son to keep them safe was for nothing.Nothing!Cor blinked through his glassy teary eyes as Prompto sat down in front of him. He was also crying and shaking. Cor didn’t flinch when Prompto took hold of his hand. He only continued to weep when Prom’s weak voice filled his ears.“I am so sorry Dad.” “I AM GOING TO FUCKING TEAR YOU APART!”Ardyn’s daemonic shriek echoed through the Citadel as he crawled at the ground underneath him. Every ounce of his body was being powered by the scourge, which allowed him to lock on to Drautos’s scent and hunt him down all the way through this cursed building. Ardyn knew Drautos would go to go into stasis eventually and then there would be nowhere for him to hide. And no one was going to save that man from his untimely, justifiable and much-needed death.All this time… ALL THIS FUCKING TIME!!Ardyn should have known. Ardyn should have been able to look at his husband and know exactly what had happened. Even if it hadn’t clicked than it should have when Drautos came back! It should have clicked when Cor couldn’t confirm that he had cheated on him! BECAUSE HE HADN’T! DRAUTOS HAD RAPED COR!!! THAN WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO GO NEAR HIS SON!!! THAT VILE MONSTER WAS GOING TO FUCKING DIE FOR THIS!! Allowing his roars of uncontrollable rage to escalate, Ardyn finally caught up with a seemingly unpanicked Drautos. Ardyn growled as blackened tears of hatred coated his face, as the purple poisonous deadly scourge buzzed around the room. Ardyn was not going to give this vile twisted rapist a chance to get away. Like a shark, Ardyn slowly walked towards the Captain with clear venom pouring out of his mouth, it fell to the floor to join the rest of the incurable substance that trailed behind him.Seeing the physical embodiment of death approaching him, Drautos knew that it was pointless trying to run. Unfortunately, his only chance of escape was his concealed identity. Drautos took that shot and encased himself in his armour and stared at the daemon through it. The sight made Ardyn’s feral state pause… Ardyn knew there was a reason why he never liked or trusted Drautos right from the moment he became Captain. Not only had he raped his husband, but he was betraying Lucis and tried to kill Regis and Noctis in Tenebrae all those years ago!!!Ardyn cocked his head to the side and spat words of hatred at his husband’s attacker. “You have just given me a legal reason to destroy you.”Ardyn launched himself at General Glauca and held nothing back. Both men summoned their weapons and the clash began. The sound of metal filled the room along with Ardyn’s cries and growls of hatred. Glauca tried to defend himself but Ardyn was far too aggressive, far too quick for him and far too powerful for Glauca to ever succeed. However, the General managed to hold out for a few seconds until Ardyn had accidently left him an opening. Not missing his chance, Glauca ran his sword straight through Ardyn’s chest, making the enraged powerful daemon scream in pain and stagger back also dropping his weapon. That did nothing to stop the daemon though. Ardyn’s pain of losing Cor, for realising what Cor had been through and his hatred for Drautos gave him the strength he needed to fight back. He pried the blade from out of his chest and smirked evilly at Glauca. And the General did not stand a chance.At the speed of light, Ardyn grabbed onto Glauca’s arm and tore it from his body. He wasn’t done there. The man screamed in agony so Ardyn decided to take Glauca’s sword and run it through the man’s thigh. The smell of iron and sweat filled the air as Glauca roared out. Ardyn than picked the man up, threw him violently across the room, only to warped over to where he had thrown him to catch him and launch him again. As Ardyn did this, he used fire to burn away the liquid armour and claw at his skin to infect this monster with the starscourge. All the while Ardyn was laughing hysterically at the pain and trauma Glauca was going through. Because how dare this weak, little, treasonous vile thing attack his husband and terrorise him for months! The thought caused Ardyn to grow angrier and he launched Glauca across the room for the final time.The man hit the wall and fell to the ground in a painful and bloody heap.Ardyn landed on the ground a few feet away from Glauca and let out an evil laugh. Ardyn could have mistaken the once glorified Captain for dead but he knew he wasn’t. Ardyn could sense he was alive as the scourge slowly seeped back into his body. Ardyn walked towards the pile of shattered bones and bloodied flesh, staring at with all the hate this world had to offer. Glauca’s mask was burnt off, revealing his mangled face, his right arm had been completely torn off, discarded somewhere, and he was bleeding heavily from his left thigh. The man’s exposed skin was deep red littered with black spots from Ardyn’s little gift. The royal continued to smirk as he knew full well the man’s legs and remaining arm was broken.Drautos was not going to escape Ardyn’s wrath.
Perfect.
Ardyn glared darkly at him, as he bent down and forced the man who destroyed his family to look directly at him. In a dark voice Ardyn asked: “Now tell me, who is the one that feels powerless?”Ardyn saw fear dance across Drautos’s eyes as the man grunted. Ardyn didn’t care. Ardyn purposely let go of Drautos and summoned a sword from his armiger. He wanted to torture the man more. He wanted to watch him suffer so he could know the fear and the trauma he had inflicted upon the love of his life. But that would mean Drautos would still be around. Still be alive, giving him a very slight chance to escape and hurt his husband. Hurt his son. Hurt his nephews. And Ardyn was not risking that, he was not putting his family in harms way. Killing Drautos now was the best option. Ardyn drew back his sword and was about to plunged it into the helpless man’s stomach to give him a very slow and painful death, but the Blade of the Mystic got in the way as did Somnus.“Stop!” Somnus ordered, smacking Ardyn’s weapon out of his hands so he couldn’t claim Drautos’s life.That caused the scourge to leak out of Ardyn’s mouth as he screamed in his brother’s face. “Why should I?!”“Because we can’t prove anything if he is dead! I know this is hard, but you have to listen to me!” Somnus shouted back hating the fact he was defending the man who had betrayed his country and attacked a member of his family.Somnus would have gladly let Ardyn kill him. But when Somnus caught up to them he too saw who the Captain really was. They couldn’t afford to kill him. Not when they had the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Niflheim Army in their grasp. Killing Drautos would be stupid no matter how much Somnus wanted to see him suffer for attacking his brother-in-law and for making everyone believe that Cor cheated on his brother. Somnus felt so much guilt that he had fed into those lies and treated Cor like garbage when now he could see Cor only lied to prevent Ardyn from losing control. Because Cor loved Ardyn so much, he put himself through endless trauma to keep Ardyn safe! Somnus should have never of doubted Cor! None of them should have! The Founder King’s guilt continued to pile up as he refused to move so Ardyn couldn’t achieve what he wanted. “No.” Ardyn snarled shaking his head, trying to get past Somnus.“Ardyn think about it! You will not help Cor by killing him! You will only make things worse!” Somnus shouted, placing his hand in front of Ardyn’s chest not touching him because the scourge was coating his brother’s form.This time Ardyn did stop and think.He was no longer thinking about Drautos, all Ardyn could think about was Cor. What was he doing? He shouldn’t be here trying to kill Drautos he should be with Cor comforting him and apologising for everything that had happened. Ardyn took a step back and took in a few heavy breaths regaining control over himself, which allowed Somnus to relax and turn his attention to the filth that had stained his floor with his blood. Somnus ordered Ardyn to keep back, before throwing a Phoenix Down over Drautos. He was not dying. Somnus wasn’t letting this disgrace get off so easily.The Founder King had plans for this traitorous rapist. He had no doubt so did his grandson and the shield of the King. Clarus didn’t cry.When Ardyn and Somnus left, he had to be the one to remain strong for Cor, Regis and Prompto. Because of that his first action could not be to comfort his baby brother, that was Regis’s and Prom’s job. Firstly, he had to contact the guard and glaive, ordering them not to interact with either the Captain, His Grace or His Former Majesty and relieve the Captain from duty. He also commanded the guard to locate the Prince and secure his safety. Ardyn was so unhinged that Noctis was now endanger from Ardyn subconsciously wanting to get the prophecy over and done with. That was a risk that Clarus was not willing to take. Once that was out of the way, Clarus knew they had to get Cor medical attention. His baby brother was so physically and mentally broken. Clarus told Cor for his own safety that he and Regis were going to take him to the medical wing to get his neck looked at. That only caused Cor to break down more and in turn it shattered Clarus’s heart. Still Clarus could not cry and he could not think about what trauma Cor had gone through and was currently suffering. They needed to go now. Luckily, Prom was there to comfort his dad and encourage him to do this.Eventually Cor gave in.When they reached the medical part of the Citadel, Clarus had guards posted outside the rooms in case anyone tried to push their way through. He told Prompto that a few of the guards were taking him to see Noctis as there was nothing Prom could do for his dad for the time being. Prom was reluctant to go but he knew Clarus was right. When Cor went with Regis to see a doctor, was when Clarus’s emotions got the better of him. He punched the wall with all his might and groaned in helpless frustration for not realising sooner. Because he was the only one that called bullshit on Cor’s affair right from the beginning. He was the only one that knew something was troubling his brother from the day they found Cor in his office…. One broken tear fell from his left eye and rolled down his cheek, completely blaming himself for not getting Cor to talk sooner. Because Clarus could have done that. Should have done that. He should have protected Cor better. He should have forced Ardyn and Regis to listen to him when all of this started. If he had, Cor wouldn’t have been attacked again… so many ifs, so many buts, however, Clarus had to pull himself together. He had to remain strong and be a shoulder for both Cor and Regis to cry on as they tried to get past this shit.Not too long later Clarus’s phone rang.Seeing it was Somnus he immediately picked up. “Somnus, where is Ardyn and Drautos?”“Ardyn is with me he is too unstable to be on his own right now and as for Drautos, he is in the dungeons.” Somnus sounded incredibly pissed off with every right too.Clarus asked in a very aggressive and unimpressed tone: “Why the fuck didn’t Ardyn tear him to pieces?!”
“Because Drautos has been working with the Niffs as General Glauca.”
“Fuck.” Cor stared at the wall as a the doctor was talking to him. All of it was white noise. It had been white noise for the long four hours he had been here. All the way through those examinations and questions, just white noise. He didn’t care if they were trying to help him. He didn’t care if anyone believed him. All he cared about was Ardyn and Prom. Prompto must have been so heartbroken and scare to learn what had happened to him like that. Cor should have had better control of himself. He should have known when to stop shouting. But Prom was in danger and Cor couldn’t have that. Regis told him that Prompto was safe. That he was with Noctis, the guard and a professional psychologist was going to talk to him about what had taken place. Cor nodded but Ardyn kept playing on the Marshal’s mind. What had happened to Ardyn? The memory of how angry Ardyn was terrified Cor. Cor could take not being with Ardyn, but having to watch him go to prison for slaughtering Drautos… Cor started to cry again. This was all his fault. Ardyn had lost his freedom all because of him. Because he let Drautos touch him!Cor continued to cry as a gloved finger poked him on the knee.Cor sniffed. That’s right. No one was meant to be touching him. Good. He didn’t want to be touched.“My dear, it’s okay. You are safe.” Regis’s calm voice seeped into his ears.Cor didn’t believe him. The Marshal shook his head and asked weakly: “Where’s Ardyn?”“With Somnus.”“He’s… has he gone?”“Gone?” Regis asked in a confused voice.“Ardyn? Have you sent him away? Have you sent him to…” Cor closed his eyes unable to say the name of that awful place. He didn’t want Regis to say the words. He didn’t want that to be his fault too.“Cor. Ardyn is not going anywhere.”Cor snapped his head up and looked at Regis in shock. Cor didn’t blink as he stared glassy eyed at the King. No, he must have missed heard that. Surely, he must have. Ardyn was going to kill Drautos… He would have… he must have...“Ardyn is staying right here with us.”“But- but- what about…”“That man is being taken care of. Do not worry. Ardyn has done nothing wrong and he is remaining in Insomnia with you. You are both safe, I promise you that.”Cor burst into tears with relief and fell into Regis’s chest and sobbed his heart out. Thank everything that Eos had for that! Ardyn was safe and so was Prompto! Cor didn’t reject it or flinch when Regis wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in for a hug. (Thankfully, the King was wearing a suit the doctors gave him so he could hug Cor if needed. Cor had been through all the medical examinations anyway. It was just extra precaution.) Cor slowly, wrapped his arms around his brother and continued to cry.Was this it?Was this over? Regis had to leave not long after that. Clarus came rushing in and told him Somnus needed to talk to him immediately. Cor knew it was to do with Drautos, Clarus just didn’t want to say that man’s name in front of him. However, Cor was not left alone. After Regis left Ardyn came in. Cor was so happy to see him but than he saw the blood. Ardyn’s hands were covered in the stuff and he knew for a fact it was Drautos’s. Cor gulped and sniffed not really knowing what to say.What could he say?It would seem Ardyn had the same problem. He said nothing. He sat next to Cor and sighed looking down at the floor.After a few moments Cor cleared his swollen exposed throat. “Is Prom okay?”“He’s with Noct.” Ardyn simply said.“Good.” Cor nodded.Ardyn blinked and his heart started to hurt. The royal was so unbelievably confused as to why Cor was thinking and worrying about Prompto! He should be thinking about himself! Yes, their baby might have had a shock and seen Ardyn turn into a blood thirsty monster, but he wasn’t the one who was on the verge of breaking. That was Cor.Ardyn turned in his chair to face Cor and said softly. “Cor- I- why didn’t you tell me?”“I couldn’t. I didn’t even want to accept what had happen to me let alone tell you.” Cor responded numbly, not looking at Ardyn.“I could have helped you. I could have supported you and I would have. I would have done whatever I could to help, you know that.”Through shattered and watery eyes Cor finally faced Ardyn. His husband looked… so concerned. “You would have killed him. You would have ended up in prison and Prom would be left without you. I couldn’t do that to either of you. Not when I could have prevented it from happening.”“This is not your fault. Do not blame yourself for what he did. He has made you believe that, and I promise you none of this is your fault. Its his, all of it. It’s all his fault.” Ardyn demanded in a soft voice, not sure whether he should rub Cor’s back. Cor shook his head as a tear fell. “I shouldn’t have had that drink with him. I should have come back to you like I was meant too.”“Did that give him any right to hurt you like that? No. You did nothing wrong, none of this is your fault.” Ardyn said again, this time kneeling on the floor in front of Cor so Cor would keep his eyes on him.“It is. I lied to you. The person who kissed me it was Drautos and I didn’t pull away either. I led him on and that drove him too… I am sorry. I am so sorry.”Silence fell and Cor thought Ardyn was going to explode.Was going to start ranting and raving and change his mind. Because to Cor all of this had started because of that. All of this had started because he had let Drautos touch him in the training halls. Ardyn was never going to want him after this. Cor took in a deep breath fresh tears rolling down his cheeks as he allowed his shame to consume him.All of a sudden, Cor’s face came into contact with Ardyn’s freezing cold hands. Cor didn’t flinch because he was confused and too numb to do so. He looked at Ardyn’s soft honey eyes and melted when he saw a comforting smile on the man’s face. However, Ardyn’s voice was breaking as he spoke:“I don’t care about that. After everything you have been through, that’s not important. No one blames you. He… He raped you. Believe me I want to tear him from limb from limb, I want to make him suffer for putting you through that. I honestly don’t care if you kissed him, I don’t. I love you and the idea of someone hurting you, in whatever form, makes me want to be sick. I promise you Cor he is never coming near you again. You nor Prompto.”“Can you hold me?”Ardyn nodded and gently held Cor close to him and stroked his hair as Cor crushed Ardyn’s body with his arms. Cor buried his head into Ardyn’s shoulder, weeping as Ardyn continued to speak words of comfort at him. “I am not allowing you to go through this on your own. Not anymore. I am here for you and I always will be.” Nothing but pure honest love came out of Ardyn’s mouth and Cor screamed at his kindness. The tears of joy and relief weren’t going away as Ardyn continued to rock him and play with his hair. “Let it out, my darling. Let it out, I’ve got you, you are safe now I promise.”They stayed like this for a while, just until Cor had stopped crying. Even than Cor didn’t want to leave the safe secure embrace of Ardyn. He hung on to Ardyn’s chest as he joined Ardyn on the floor. Ardyn continued to play with Cor’s hair as Cor nested his face in Ardyn’s chest. This felt so right. So natural. So much so Cor felt brave enough to look up at Ardyn and tell him.“Ardyn… I love you. Please, can we put this behind us and be together again. I can’t do this without you.”Ardyn smiled and nodded. “I love you too. You and Prom are the most precious things on this planet to me. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have remained by your side and stayed. I should have known something was wrong when you refused to talk about it. Do you forgive me?”“Don’t blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault.”“Nor is it yours. Of course, we can be together again. I love you too and I am not leaving you again not ever.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Can’t you sleep?” Ardyn asked laying next to Cor on their bed, with both their wedding rings returned to the rightful place on their fingers.
Three days ago Ardyn discovered the truth. Three days ago Cor and Ardyn got back together. Three days ago Cor moved back into the house and Cor wasn’t doing so well. He hadn’t slept for three days because he was so scared that he was going to wake up in the morning and not have Ardyn by his side. He didn’t want to lose him ever again. That’s why he was laying in their bed awake, staring up at the ceiling as he allowed Ardyn to stroke his hair. But he didn’t let Ardyn do anything more than that. Cor didn’t want anything more. He didn’t want to be kissed. He didn’t want to be hugged. He didn’t really want to be touched but Ardyn stroking his hair gave him security. Cor still felt so dirty after everything Drautos had put him through. Despite Cor feeling like that, Ardyn was so understanding and so patient with him. Cor loved the fact Ardyn wouldn’t bring it up unless Cor did and Ardyn had offered to talk to Prompto if he had any questions or fears about anything. It just felt so surreal... because Cor didn’t have to hide it anymore... he no longer felt suffocated by his endless secrets and lies but he still felt trapped. Trapped that he wouldn’t ever be able to recover from this. The thought of that made Cor want to burst into tears.
“No.” Cor responded lightly, keeping his gaze to the ceiling.
“Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?”
“...Don’t leave me.” Cor replied holding back tears.
Cor hated this. He really did... he hated this so much. He didn’t know if he hated that he was being vulnerable and actively expressing his emotions or if Ardyn knew what had happened to him? Maybe the latter because it made everything seem so much more real. But Ardyn was with him. He was staying in Insomnia with him and protecting him. That was what Cor needed to focus on. Not the hate he harbored towards this situation.
“Oh my darling, I already promised I would never leave you again.” Ardyn whispered, stroking Cor’s hair slightly quicker than before.
“I know... I know.”
“It’s okay, my love. You’re okay.”
Watching Cor this broken and distressed was crushing Ardyn’s heart. How was this fair? How was any of this fair? The immortal daemon still had a burning rage for the vile twisted individual that had done this and that was the only emotion Ardyn was letting himself feel right now. Ardyn knew if he felt sorrow, or pain, or anything that wasn’t anger he would simply breakdown over everything that had happened over the last few months. Ardyn couldn’t afford to do that. Cor no longer had to be strong anymore, that was Ardyn’s job. He had to be strong for Cor and Prompto, like they were strong for him when the daemons got the better of him. He couldn’t let that happen ever again Not ever. Not when his husband and son needed him. Ardyn knew he could deal with this endless turmoil of bitter venomous burning rage if it would ensure the safety of Cor and Prom.
And he will.
“I am sorry, Ardyn.” Cor muttered, choking on his words as more tears fell.
“Don’t be. Would you like hug?”
Cor bit his lip for a moment. That was another thing Ardyn was doing, asking him first. Again, Cor couldn’t fault Ardyn for that but the Marshal wanted to try and feel normal. However, emotions were still very raw and he knew feeling ‘normal’ was not going to be achieved over night. Cor nodded and moved over and hung onto Ardyn’s chest as his husband carefully wrapped his arms around him.
“We are going to get through this, my love. I promise I am going to help you and simply be here if you ever need me.” Ardyn assured Cor, only slightly holding him close so that Cor didn’t feel trapped at all.
“I... I... can’t believe that you still want me.”
“Of course, I still want you. I never stopped.”
“Even after what he did...” Cor buried his face into Ardyn’s chest then. He didn’t want Ardyn to see him cry.
“Cor. He is not getting near you ever again. What he did will never change my love or opinion of you. I swear it on everything we have and everything we are. I love you for you.”
Cor let out a ragged breath, holding Ardyn tighter. “Why didn’t I tell you before? I am so sorry I didn’t. Please forgive me.”
Ardyn could feel the tears soaking into his shirt and Ardyn felt his anger spike. Not at Cor. Never at Cor. At himself for not realizing sooner and for Drautos... Ardyn shook his head refusing to lose it as he continued to comfort his husband. “There is no use thinking about the past. You don’t need to be sorry nor do you need my forgiveness. What matters now, is that we are together. You are safe. Prom is safe. Regis and Noctis are safe. Nothing else matters. And you are so brave. So, so, so, brave and strong. I adore everything about you. I always have done and I will continue to do so until my last breath.”
“But I... I lied. I upset you.” Cor whimpered getting a little more hysterical. “I tore our family apart.”
Ardyn looked down at Cor and blinked at his husband’s guilt. No. He wasn’t allowing Cor to think that. “No, you didn’t.”
“I did.”
“No. Listen to me Cor Leonis. You did what you thought you had to do to protect our family. Yes, it may have led to unfortunate consequences, but we have to try and look past that. I respect what you did. I hate what I did, but again all of that is in the past. We can get through this together. You didn’t tear anyone apart. I promise.”
“I love you. I love you so fucking much. You really don’t... You will never understand how much I love you. How much I missed you.” Cor cried, shuffling closer to Ardyn for protection.
And Ardyn gladly gave it to him. “I think I do. Because I treasure and love you with every single day I have ever been on this cursed ground. I missed you too my darling. But you don’t have to miss me anymore, I am here. And I am not going anywhere.”
“Now, you are being mussy.” Cor let out a small laugh through his tears.
Hearing a laugh, even if it was a small one, made Ardyn smile. “Only for you, My Marshal.”
“Can you hold me until I fall asleep?”
“Always.”
Regis walked into the darkened cell with an expression as hard as stone on his face as he laid eyes on the man he once trusted. The man who had tried to kill him and his son 10 years prior, the man who had violated his baby brother and the man who had betrayed his country.
As soon as Regis learnt of Drautos true intention the King thought he should be furious. Oddly enough he wasn’t. He was disgusted with Drautos and distraught at what Cor had been through, but mad at who the ex-Captain really was? No. Regis felt betrayed. So betrayed he couldn’t feel rage. All he could feel was disgust, disappointment, and betrayal. Regis never thought he would ever hold any of these emotions towards the man who was sitting on the floor, not looking at him. Drautos was sitting up against the wall completely ignoring Regis’s existence. Regis simply nodded, not really expecting much else from the man who was bound by his ankle’s and singular wrist. Regis was only a little angry that Ardyn didn’t do much more to this traitor. And why Somnus took it upon himself to be fucking sensible for a change, Regis would never know. But the old King was not going to demand any respect from this sick individual. He didn’t want it. All Regis wanted to do was talk.
Regis, who had been left on his own with Drautos by his order, hobbled over to a chair that sat opposite the ex-Captain of the Kingsglaive and looked at him with nothing but pure hate and disgust.
“How long?” Regis demanded, knowing that Drautos knew he was referring to his work in Niflheim.
A cold laughter ran through Regis’s being as the man sat there laughing to himself. But Regis didn’t comment. He waited patiently until Drautos gave him a reply. “Since the beginning.”
“Why?”
“Because of your goddamned bloody wall. My home burnt because of you!” Drautos spat, flicking his head up so he was now looking directly into the eyes of the man who he hated the most.
Drautos was infuriated it had taken three days for this old fool to come and see him. It was probably to ensure he was stable enough to answer questions and to ensure that the King was calm enough not to kill him on sight. Drautos had nothing to lose by this point. He knew he was on severely borrowed time. Once he answered all questions that Regis and Somnus needed they were going to throw him to the daemon. The captive General decided there and then he was only going to answer what he deemed necessary. Because not only would it ensure his life was spared but it would destroy the King that he still loathed.
Regis let out a calm sigh and spoke delicately. “My father was the one who scaled back the wall. Not I.”
“You didn’t put it back! I watched my family burn to ashes because of you! You are nothing but a fucking coward! You are no King!”
“I do not disagree with you there. What King would allow his country to burn, while only the city he lived in stood strong and protected? A poor one. If I am even a King at all.” Again, Regis refused to show any emotion that wasn’t serenity. But not once did he show sympathy for the man who had attacked his brother and thought he could get away with it. Because he did not deserve anything but a slow and painful death for everything he had done.
“SHUT UP!!” Drautos roared. This was fucking punishment enough listening to this idiot talk at him. “I DON’T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU’RE A KING OR NOT! I WANT YOU TO SUFFER JUST LIKE I DID! YOU FUCKING SELFISH BASTARD! YOU SACRIFICED MY FAMILY FOR YOUR OWN!”
Regis narrowed his eyes as a few members of the guard came bursting into the room. To stop them from getting in-between him and the very enraged man, Regis lifted a hand up. The guards did as they were told immediately. Not only because their sovereign had given them an order, but they could also sense the power of the Kings filling the air. Regis breathed through his nose and shook his head. As the King spoke this time, rage began to seep through his voice: “I can understand your hatred for me. I can understand your hatred for my grandfather and my uncle. We... have served this country poorly. I openly admit that. Innocence have died because of us, therefore if you went for me, I would have tried to understand what is going through your head. But you went for one of my best friends. You went for my brother. He did nothing to you. Absolutely nothing. Tell me, why did you do that?”
“It upset you, didn’t it? Perfect attack on you.” Drautos said with a smirk, knowing that would make Regis go into further turmoil.
“Perfect attack? You raped someone! Someone who had a lot of respect and time for you. Someone who once considered you a friend. It’s sick. You are sick. I should let Ardyn come in here and tear you apart.”
“Do it then.”
Regis grunted at the challenge. Because he couldn’t get Ardyn. Drautos knew too much about Niflheim to let him die. Who knew much information Drautos had given up? There was no way of knowing, the only way Regis would ever find out was if Drautos told him. There was no chance of that ever happening. The King was stuck in stalemate. He had to keep this traitorous scum bag alive and he had to keep him in Insomnia. In the same city as Cor. Regis’s skin crawled at that thought. Cor had to carry on living in the same city as his attacker until Drautos coughed up what he knew and what he gave up and there was nothing Regis could do about it. Poor Cor... He was still so broken... There was only one option Regis had. That was to keep this man locked up, allow Somnus to do whatever he deemed necessary to get the information out of the Captain and then let Ardyn destroy him.
Regis rose from his chair, realising he wasn’t going to get anything else out of this man: “You do not tell me what to do. You are going to remain here for a very long time. People say I have a bleeding heart and I do. But for you... I am going to get the information I need then you are going to die. I am going to enjoy it when that day comes to pass.”
Drautos huffed before spitting at the King’s shoes. Drautos was not giving him anything. Never. He didn’t care if he had destroyed Cor from the inside out. His actions had made the royal family crumble. What better revenge? The only thing that he was disappointed in was not getting a chance to murder the man in front of him. However, Drautos was patient. They weren’t going to kill him, which meant given time he might be able to escape and wrap his hands around this fool’s throat and squeeze the life out of him.
The two men stared at each other with hatred for a moment but Regis knew it was pointless. Drautos didn’t deserve the light of day. He let out a sigh and left. He could not be in a room with that disgrace anymore.
Prompto didn’t know what to say to his dad.
A mixture of emotions were going through him. He was scared, shock, confused, heartbroken, he felt sick, sad, he felt grief even for what his dad had been through. Prom felt terrible because he was the one that shouted directly in Cor’s face that he was ‘happy’ being near Drautos. After discovering the truth... how could his dad forgive him for saying that? Prompto didn’t know if he could ever forgive himself for saying that. Prom had a good long cry about it to Ignis. Ignis comforted him, but suggested that he should tell his parents how he felt. What had happened was a traumatic experience, they needed to talk things through as a family to get past this. But Prom didn’t think he could talk to Cor. His dad had been very closed off for weeks. Yes, he was going to work because he wanted to keep his mind off things, but he didn’t want to talk about Drautos with anyone that wasn’t Ardyn or Regis.
Leading Prompto to talk to Ardyn about how he was feeling.
Prompto was very glad he did. As soon as Prompto explained what was going on through his head, Ardyn gave him a massive hug and told him what he had told Cor earlier that day. That there was no way that any of this could be pinned down to either of them. It was all Drautos’s doing and no one else’s. That, yes, there may have been some things said and done, in hindsight, that were clearly very insensitive but Ardyn had done something much worse than Prompto. He ended things with Cor without even taking a moment to consider that his husband was lying to him this whole time. Ardyn didn’t let Cor explain what Prom had seen, and if he had Cor might not have suffered more at the hands of that vile disgusting.. Right. Calm. Ardyn had to tell himself before carrying on with this serious conversation with his little Sunbeam. Prompto told his dad not to feel guilty about that because it wasn’t his fault. Leading to the pair to come up with a pact. That neither of them were allowed to feel guilty about any of this and if they did, they had to tell each other straight away. That way, they weren’t putting any pressure that they personally felt was unnecessary to put on Cor. However, Ardyn did suggest if Prom felt comfortable enough to talk to Cor about some of his feelings he should. Because Cor wanted to try and get back to normal and that he wanted to be Prom’s dad. Which consisted of talking and loving each other.
That was what Prompto decided to do next.
Cor came back from work and Prom smiled at his dad: “Hey dad.”
“Hey mate.” Cor responded, trying to smile. But Prom knew it was a forced one. Cor went into the living room and sat down trying to block out all the stares he had gotten today. They were stares of confusion. No one knew about that but they did know who Drautos was now. Everyone was now under the impression that Cor had slept with the enemy and knew about it.
Today had been shit.
Prompto twiddled his thumbs and stood nervously in the doorway. He really wished Ardyn was here. Ardyn had gone to see Doctor Freyr so that he and Cor could get more counseling sessions. Prom thought it would be good for them. It would help Cor deal with what he had been through and help Ardyn understand and learn of ways to help Cor if and when he needed it. But Prompto was left conflicted. He wanted to talk to Cor about what had happened, but he didn’t want to see his dad cry. Prompto was only 18 after all. He simply didn’t fully understand what had taken place. He didn’t understand why Cor had lied and not spoken out sooner. He didn’t understand why he allowed both Prom and Ardyn to leave him when he clearly needed them.
He just wanted to know...
“Dad? Are you okay? Can I get you anything?” Prompto asked sweetly, trying to hide his nerves.
Cor closed his eyes. This was another thing he hated. Everyone. Regis, Clarus, Ardyn, Somnus, Noctis, Prompto, everyone that knew was treating him differently. Like he was a cracked mirror seconds away from shattering. Cor did feel like that but he didn’t need reminding of it. He didn’t need to be reminded of the pain he had suffered every time someone he loved opened their mouths. But... the lying had to stop or he was never going to get over what had happened to him.
“No, Prom. I am not okay. And I don’t need anything thank you.” Cor muttered, eyes still closed so he didn’t cry. He didn’t want to cry in front of Prompto ever again.
“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Prom asked stepping closer into the room.
“No... Prom, you shouldn’t have to try and make me feel better. I am your parent. It should be the other way around.”
Prompto shook his head at his dad’s train of thought. No. Cor had spent all his spare time with Prom when the young Prince went into hospital. Not once did he fail to turn up or give him a hug if needed. Prompto, even if he couldn’t quite grasp the situation, was not about to deny his dad the comfort he clearly needed at the moment. Prompto sat down next to Cor and gave him a soft comforting smile.
“You have done more than enough for me. You saved me from Niflheim and Verstael. You gave me a loveing home and a family I am proud to be apart of. Not once have you ever judged me and now it’s time for me to do the same for you. Please, dad, let me help you.” Prom semi begged placing a gentle hand on Cor’s arm.
Cor placed his hand on top of Prom’s and sadly smiled at him. “You shouldn’t have to.”
“But I want to. Dad and I... we just want to be here for you.”
“What did I... what did I do to deserve you, mate?” Cor asked himself, eyes watering up. Prompto was just too pure and sweet and lovely. He was the opposite to how Cor was feeling. His little Sunbeam... his and Ardyn’s little sunbeam was the best thing that had ever happened to the depressed Marshal.
“You are my dad. That’s all you did.”
Cor gave Prompto a hug at those wonderful, amazing pure words. Being in his dads arms Prompto decided that maybe right now was not the best time to talk to Cor about why he had lied. There would be plenty of time for Prom to learn the full ins and outs but right now Prompto wanted to make Cor happy. Prompto knew he would never be able to forget the pain he had gone through but maybe he could make him forget for a few minutes.
Prompto pulled away and smiled at Cor as bright as the sun: “How about we play on a video game together! We can play on that fighting one you like, and this time I won’t let you win!”
Cor chuckled. “You let me win, huh?”
“Yeah! But not this time!”
“We’ll see about that. Go and get it than.”
With that Prompto ran upstairs retrieved both game console and game, before returning downstairs to set it all up. Cor made them both hot drinks and within 10 minutes they started playing. And Prompto lost. He lost in, Ardyn’s words, spectacularly! Cor was damn good at this game. Prompto didn’t care. Because he saw a genuine smile paint it’s way on his dads face. At least he was doing something to make Cor forget and smile. Prompto vowed to himself he would continue to do so for as long as he could to make his dad feel loved and safe again.
“Everyone.”
“No my dear, not everyone. The Glaive had to be told that there was an incident involving their Captain. It is only precaution, in case he has done this to anyone else. Your name was not mentioned once and they have been told not to talk about it outside of the Citadel, so we can investigate further.” Regis explained to Cor who stood before him and Clarus.
Regis didn’t want to inform the glaive. But if Drautos had taken it upon himself to do that to Cor, how many others had suffered in silence because they were too frightened to speak out? Regis and Clarus had a duty of care to everyone who worked for them. Clearly, they had failed to achieve that. They wanted to change things. They wanted people to feel safe again and unfortunately, that meant that the nature of Cor’s ordeal had to come out. The King and Shield knew what the consequences of this action would be. The media would get a hold of it. Thankfully, no one had been stupid enough to reveal that Drautos was General Glauca to the media yet meaning they wouldn’t have Niflheim knocking on their door demanding him back, which would ruin the entire investigation. That was something at least. But that knowledge did little to consolidate the distressed and shaken Marshal.
Cor looked down at the floor in shame. No longer would it be looks of confusion coming his way it would be looks of pity. Cor clenched his fists together and gritted his teeth in defeat as he dare not look at Regis or Clarus. “It’s fucking obvious it was me though.”
“I understand this is hard, Cor. But what happened is nothing to be ashamed of.” Clarus said in a comforting tone.
“Maybe not to you.” Cor replied, tears once again threatening to seep out.
“I can’t tell you how to feel. But from the outside looking in, I can safely say there is no shame in this.”
“My dear, he is locked up. We understand this is scary. But we will support you theough this.” Regis’s assured, backing up his Shield.
“All of us will. It is our turn to help and protect you.”
“It may not seem like it but it is over. And given time things will become better.”
“Over?” Cor questioned Regis’s words finally looking up at the King. His heart was pounding. His chest was seizing up, sweat was seeping through his clothes. Cor didn’t want this. He didn’t want his shame everywhere for the world to see. He didn’t want people to think that he failed. He didn’t want everyone knowing! He just wanted everything to stop. And as tears leaked out of his eyes as he breathlessly said. “This isn’t over. Not in my head. It will never be over.”
“It may not feel like that now, but it will be one day.” Regis continued to say standing up, with Clarus’s help, so he could walk over to his very upset brother.
“Not when the world knows! Nor when the whole world knows I failed you.”
“You did not fail me.” Regis demanded standing in front of Cor.
“I did! I did fail you! I failed you when I let him touch me! I failed when I let him rape me!” Cor screamed covering his eyes as tears gushed out of them.
Regis and Clarus’s voices were drowned out by Cor’s cries as his breathing became erratic. Cor started to hyperventilate and began to choke on his exploding anxiety. He was losing control again. He was losing any control that he had over his emotions, his body and his thoughts. The only thing going around his faint and fearful mind was: what would happen when the press got a hold of this story? The tales that would come out, the world knowing his shame and how dirty he was! Cor was petrified he wouldn’t be able to keep it together when that happened.. Cor felt his entire body shake as he continued to bury his crumbling face into his hands, he couldn’t focus on where Regis and Clarus were. All Cor knew was that he was frightened, gasping for air as his heart pounded in his chest, and it left him feeling sick and dizzy. Cor couldn’t focus on anything apart from himself and the fear that he currently experiencing. He could hear his heart beating and his breathing increase and he felt trapped in his own body.
It felt like the night Drautos had raped him.
Why did this have to happen? Why?
“Cor?”
Cor could do nothing but shake as a faint voice made itself known to him. He tried to remove his hands from his stinging eyes but the fear told him not to. The sickness told him no.
“Cor? Cor? Can you hear me?”
Ardyn....
That was Ardyn’s voice. It was gentle but more importantly... it was safe.
“Cor darling, I need you to breathe. Can you do that for me?”
Cor took in a deep breath at his husband’s request. And then another. And then another.
“Good. Well done you are doing so well. Keep breathing.”
Cor did as he was told and quietly removed his hands from his face as his heart rate slowly began to pace its self. Cor found himself sitting on the floor with his back up against the wall in Regis’s office. Ardyn was sitting in front of him, rubbing his knees and breathing at the same rate Cor was. Cor than noticed that a blanket had been wrapped around him and that both Regis and Clarus were nowhere to be seen.
“It’s okay. Just keep breathing. You’re safe.” Ardyn smiled at him, still continuing to gently rub his knees.
Cor brought one of his hands to Ardyn’s arm and held on to it tightly as he continued to take in slow deep breaths. Cor’s fears started to slowly melt away being in the presence of Ardyn and his sweat began to cool. Cor was still trembling but he knew he was going to be okay because Ardyn was here. His other arm, Cor wrapped it around his stomach and kept his focus on Ardyn.
After a moment or two, Ardyn spoke again still in that calm gentle voice and explained what was happening to him. “My Marshal you’re okay. You are having a panic attack. But I promise you are safe. Okay, my darling. You are completely safe.”
Cor gulped as his grip on Ardyn’s sleeve got tighter. “I... I... I am scared.”
“I know. Don’t worry. I am going to protect you. I will always protect you.”
Cor nodded and rode out the rest of his panic attack with Ardyn in front of him comforting him and telling him how much he loved him. Cor was so grateful he had Ardyn here. So unbelievably grateful. Ardyn made him feel safe. He made him feel protected. That was all Cor wanted right now.
Protection.
“Thank you Ardyn.” Cor whispered lovingly through salty tears.
Ardyn smiled back and once he was certain Cor was okay, he took them home. Cor needed to be in a safe environment and have a long sleep. Thank whoever was the genius behind the mobile phone. Ardyn was halfway across the Citadel when Clarus called him to tell him Cor was having a panic attack. It would have taken the Shield a while to find him without it. And even if Cor or anyone else thought that Ardyn was calm and in control while he was comforting his husband, they were very wrong. Drautos had pushed Cor that far so he was now a trembling terrified shadow of his former self. Ardyn was done. He was not having it. But he had to reserve his rage. He knew he could do it. He had waited 2000 years for Noctis to come along, he could wait a week or two before he got his hands on that vile creature.
“Cor I am really sorry.” Somnus apologised.
It had been a week since everything came out and Somnus had not spoken to Cor once. The Founder King understood that Regis, Clarus, and Ardyn were too concerned for Cor to concentrate on anything that wasn’t the Marshal or their children. Leaving Somnus to deal with the council and explain why Drautos had been arrested which was a fucking mess to deal with. He was also the one to inform the glaive as to what had happened and took on more of Regis’s duties so the King could look after Noctis and explain to him what had happened and be a shoulder to cry on if Cor needed it. Granted, Cor really only wanted Ardyn but the gesture was a thoughtful one none the less. However, there was some things Regis could not avoid but again, Somnus was there moving things along as quickly and effectually as he could so Regis, Clarus, and Ardyn could go back to focusing on what was clearly more important right now. Because of that Somnus had not had a moment to talk to Cor yet. He was sorry. He was truly very sorry for treating his brother-in-law like shit. Cor didn’t deserve it. He hadn’t deserved anything that had transpired over the last couple of months.
“There is no need.” Cor said plainly. He didn’t want people to apologise for what had happened to him. Monica and Dustin had done that enough and tried to take over for him while he recovered. Cor didn’t want that either. He just wanted to work so he could distract himself from this shitty situation and try to move on.
But Somnus wasn’t apologising for what Cor went through. “I need to. I was wrong to say all of that at you. It’s not your fault. I should have never thought you would do that to my brother.”
“But I did Somnus. I did cheat on him. No matter what has happened. I did cheat on Ardyn.”
“You told him straight away.”
“Yes, but I lied. I didn’t tell him who kissed me. And I said I didn’t take and want part of it. That was a lie.”
Somnus couldn’t deny any of Cor’s words. But Somnus had spoken to Ardyn about that. From what Somnus took away from that conversation, Ardyn didn’t care. His brother was far too hurt and angry at what Drautos had put Cor through to care. Somnus felt much the same. “That doesn’t matter, Cor. What matters is how you are feeling. What everyone can do to help.”
“Stop asking me that. That will be a good start.” Cor said, not meaning to sound ungrateful but he was too overwhelmed by constantly being asked that. Since having counselling sessions again, Ardyn had stopped. That made Cor feel more inclined to open up. It was painful to do so, but talking to Ardyn and Dr. Stella was slowly becoming more manageable.
“Okay. I can do that. But I can say one final thing to you on the matter?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you for loving my brother. You always put him and Prom first, and I am so grateful to you for doing that. I really am. But you don’t have to do put them first anymore. Put yourself first and let them, Regis, Clarus, Monica, Dustin and me even, help you. Because we want to. I know, our relationship isn’t exactly amazing but you can always come to my office and just sit. You don’t even have to talk. If you want to get away from everything it is there for you. It will always be.”
Cor smiled and held his hand out for Somnus to take. The Founder King gladly took it and as the pair shook hands Cor said: “Thank you Somnus.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cor had had many apology’s from everyone. All of them telling him that they were sorry they didn’t notice. That they were sorry he had to go through with that. Regis and Clarus told him that their door was always opened for him to go to. But the King and Shield, for Cor anyway, were too involved in this madness. There was nowhere for Cor to hide away. Somnus however, he hadn’t seen him in a week. It was nice and much appreciated to know Cor had somewhere to relax and be in a new safe environment. Ardyn’s office and quarter’s where the place that held that security. But for the time being Cor was using Ardyn’s office as his own because Cor was not using his own anymore. This was mainly because it had been closed off to get evidence against Drautos, but also because that place held too many painful memories. He was getting a new one soon. Things might feel better when Cor did. But for now, knowing that he had a place to run too if needed, gave Cor a bit more security and hope.
Hopefully, as time went on Cor could experience these feelings more often. But for the time being, it was going to be hard and cold. However, Cor had his family to support him. That was the only thing making this mess bearable.
Nyx was heading towards the exit of the Citadel as he had finished work for the day when Somnus caught him. Nyx was told to follow Somnus and they walked back towards the glaive training barracks. Nyx was confused at first. He knew how busy and hectic everything had been since the truth about the Captain had come out, which led to Pelna Khara acting Captain as for the glaive. An investigation for treachery and if there had been any other incidence of sexual assault was currently in motion and Nyx was happy Pelna was in charge during this trying time. Unfortunately, Luche Lazarus and a few others within the glaive had been arrested for treasonous activity but were more than compliant about who was also involved so that they would get a lesser sentence. Allowing that investigation to be done a lot smoother than everyone thought. Like the treason within the glaive, a few of the members had also stepped forward and claimed that Drautos had also attacked them. Like the Marshal, they were too scared to speak out. Nyx blamed himself in a way. He thought he would have realised that all of this was going on. But he hadn’t noticed. He blamed himself because he had failed to protect the people he worked with, much like how he failed to protect his mother and sister.
Somnus took Nyx to the room that was currently, serving as Pelna’s office as the Captain of the Kingsglaive office had also been quarantined for further investigation.
Somnus cleared his throat and spoke with nothing but respect for the glaive in front of him. “Nyx, I want to thank you for what you have done. Not only from myself but on the behalf of my brother, my grandson and Lord Amicitia. We are so thankful and we admire the courage it took for you to do that.”
“Only doing my job, Your Former Majesty.” Nyx said because at the end of the day it was his job to protect the royal family. If Cor liked it or not, he was a member of it.
“Nyx. How many times have I got to tell you to call me Somnus?”
“How many years have you been alive for?”
Somnus laughed. These last four years Somnus had really gotten to like and respect Nyx. Even if their friendship was formed because they had lost someone they both deeply cared for, it didn’t matter. Somnus was just glad they had a friendship at all.
“I gathered. Be that as it may, you only doing you’re job, His Majesty feels that all of your achievements and dedication to the protection of our family and Lucis has been overlooked. He would like to grant you the position of the Captain of the Kingsglaive. If you’ll take it. Don’t worry, I have spoken Mr Khara he agrees that you are the only person we should have leading the Glaive.”
Nyx didn’t know what to say.
Nyx never wanted any of this. He only wanted the protection of Galahd and to return there someday to protect the people there. At the same time, there was a great honour in this and with everything that had happened, Nyx did not want to put any stress on either the King or Somnus. If they were handing the position to him it meant they trusted him. He felt he had no choice but to accept. Once the war was over he could retire and go back home.
“It would be an honour... Somnus.”
“Good.”
“I wonder what Amelia would say, about this?” Nyx laughed, hoping that the mention of his deceased friends name, did not cause Somnus too much pain. Nyx knew how much the Founder King loved Amelia after all, and the love that she returned to him.
Somnus smiled at the thought of Amelia. He missed her so much. “Probably: ‘Don’t let it go to your head Hero.’”
“I miss her too.”
“One day, we won’t have to miss her anymore. Anyway, tomorrow I expect you in bright and early. We have an announcement to make, Captain Ulric.”
“Of course, Your Former Majesty.”
How could he let this happen to Cor...
How could Ardyn have let any of this take place? His rage was slowly being replaced with sorrow and grief for his husband and Ardyn tried to fight it off. He went to Somnus when his brother was free and vented it at him. But it wasn’t enough. No amount of venting or talking was going to get rid of Ardyn’s hatred. Nor get rid of his sorrow or grief. All Ardyn could think about was how scared Cor must have been. How alone and depressed he must have felt. How terrifying it must have been for Cor to come into work every day knowing that Drautos was going to be there. And all the other members of the glaive that had suffered under Drautos abuse. So far 3 people had come forward. All with similar stories. Drautos befriended them, got them drunk, raped them, and then silenced the with more emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The other year, a member of the glaive had taken their own life. Was it because of Drautos? There was a very high possibility that was the case.
It made Ardyn angry.
So angry that as he was pulling at the chain that was hanging from the ceiling he was shaking. So angry that he wasn’t really there. He stared blankly into the darkened cell, ignoring the shouts and protest of Drautos as the man was being lifted in the air by his feet by the chain that Ardyn was currently pulling at. Drautos was wasting his breath. Ardyn wasn’t going to stop what he was doing as he clung onto the rage, disgust, and heartbreak that Cor had been through. And anyone else that had suffered under this man’s hand. Ardyn felt so angry he was no longer aware he was pulling at the chain or the fact Drautos had smacked him in the face to try and get him to stop what he was doing. All Ardyn could think about was the bravery of his husband for standing up to the man he was about to torture. However, that caused Ardyn’s rage to reach its limits without him losing control. Because Cor should not have had to go through that or been brave. No one ever should have to any of that.
Ardyn was going to make sure that Drautos could never do this again. He didn’t care if they needed him alive because he had inside information on Niflheim. Ardyn was never going to be able to help and comfort Cor if Drautos was still breathing. He needed to end Drautos’s life. He craved it. And if he didn’t do it Ardyn was going to go insane.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” Drautos screamed, as Ardyn finally stopped pulling at the chain, and this time Ardyn heard what he had said.
“Killing you.”
Ardyn said emotionlessly. Was this man that stupid? Drautos was dangling from the ceiling upside down by his feet and his head was level with that of Ardyn’s. Ardyn secured the chain to the wall and stared into Drautos’s eyes as the man started to burst into a fit of rage.
“You can’t! I have information on Niflheim! You can’t do this!” Drautos roared, knowing full well Ardyn had not been given permission to do this. He was also aware that Ardyn knew the consequences if he killed a prisoner without permission. He would be sent back to prison. But it would appear that Ardyn...
“I do not care.”
Ardyn clicked his fingers and summoned a small dagger out of his armiger. With the flick of his wrist, Ardyn nicked Drautos’s neck. The cut was deep enough for blood to rush out of it, but not deep enough to kill him within a few seconds. Ardyn stared into Drautos’s eyes and with the same tone he used before, he calmly explained exactly what was going to happen to the being he loathed more than he could ever loath Bahamut.
“You are going to die. The blood is going to slowly pour out of your body. It will be nothing but agony for you. A slow painful death and I am going to watch it. I am going to watch the light fade from your eyes as you hang here contemplating every single life decision that has led to your end. I’ll tell you something. I am going to take so much pleasure in this kill. Wait a second, you never answered my question. I’ll repeat it for you: ‘Who is the one that feels powerless?’”
Drautos started to scream then. Probably to alert the guards or glaive that were manning the entrance to his cell. But no one came in as the former Captain slowly and painfully started to bleed to death. Ardyn had already seen to that. The people who were ‘guarding’ the cell, were the people who trusted and respected Ardyn out of all the guards and glaives in the Citadel. They didn’t come in and they did not try to help him. Come tomorrow, when the Captain’s body would be found, they would not say a word as to who had claimed this man’s life. From there, Ardyn mindlessly watched as Drautos’s life slipped away from him. No emotion was present on Ardyn’s face and he never said a word. He didn’t move as he heard the blood of his prey dripping on the cold floor. Every second that went by Ardyn enjoyed it. He didn’t take his eyes of Drautos’s as they started to fade nor when the man finally passed out after a few long painful hours. Ardyn waited a further hour or so smelling the cold blood just to make sure the man was dead.
Once it was over, Ardyn walked out of the prison cell leaving Drautos’s lifeless form to hang from the ceiling. The guards and glaives acted as if Ardyn wasn’t even there and locked the door.
Ardyn numbly walked through the Citadel. The man was dead. He should be over the moon. But he wasn’t. The immortal royal walked and walked until his legs gave out. In the middle of some abandoned corridor, Ardyn fell to his hands and knees and started to sob. For he had finally allowed other painful and hurtful emotions to come forward. He hadn’t cried about what Cor had gone through yet and he knew he wouldn’t have until Drautos was dead. Ardyn had to remove the threat. That was all he could think about for weeks. Now that it was finally done, tears fell. His heart broke and feeling of uselessness overcame him. Because Ardyn felt like Cor’s trauma was his fault. That he should have protected his husband better. He should have known something was wrong. He should have... he should have lived up to his title of the Adagium and slaughter that man like a pig when he had the chance. Tears continued to fall as self-hatred and pain consumed him. The only thing that was going to bring Ardyn back to reality was Cor and Prompto. The knowledge that they were both safe and finally protected from that vile twisted man.
Allowing one more tear to fall Ardyn stood up. He wiped his face and nodded. No more tears. That was over. Now, he could put all his effort into protecting and safeguarding his family. That was what Ardyn was going to do.
When Ardyn got home, he turned off his phone and pretended that he hadn’t just gotten revenge for his husband. Cor didn’t need to know what had taken place tonight, nor did Prompto. No, tonight all three of them were going to relax. Be together and try to be happy. Be a family again. That was what Ardyn wanted anyway.
However, poor Prompto had other ideas. It had been a few weeks since everything had come out and Prompto needed his questions answered. It would be painful for Cor to talk about but Prompto wanted to know. He was still confused and there was only so much Ardyn could answer on behalf of Cor.
After dinner, Prompto mustered up the courage to talk to Cor. “Dad? Why did you lie?”
“Prompto, can we not tonight please?” Ardyn asked in a careful tone. Cor had another panic attack today and bringing Drautos up might set him off again.
“I just want to know. I don’t fully understand any of this and I want to so I can help you. Please dad, can you tell me?”
“Darling?”
“It’s okay.” Cor nodded, trying to mentally prepare himself for this. None of this was fair. Having this conversation with Prompto was the last thing he wanted to be doing right now, but it was all apart of the healing process and if he really couldn’t do it he could stop. He could go upstairs and not talk about it anymore tonight. Cor took in a deep breath and looked at his son before admitting his reasonings. “Okay. I lied because I was scared. Sorry, ummm. Prom I lied because I was scared that your dad would kill him and you would get ill again.”
“But dad didn’t, and I am okay. I am only worried about you.” Prom said trying to get Cor to realise that he was the most important person right now.
“I know that now. But I didn’t then.”
“It’s okay sweetheart.” Ardyn smiled, rubbing Cor’s back to comfort him. Ardyn knew all of this. Hearing Cor saying it again... Ardyn knew he had made the right choice in killing that bastard!
Prompto played with the band on his wrist before talking again. He really didn’t know how Cor was going to react to this next question. “But why else? Why did you continue to lie when you two broke up?”
“Prom I think we should put this conversation to rest for now.” Ardyn said sternly, looking at Cor who’s face had soured a little.
“I want to know. I want to understand.”
Cor rested his hand on Ardyn’s knee. Prompto was right. His son needed to understand. Maybe saying it out loud again would help Cor come to terms with his decision. But it didn’t stop his voice from going raspy or his legs from shaking as he spoke. “Ardyn. It’s okay. I am not proud of lying. But I continued with the lie because he made me think, no one would believe me.”
“Of course we would have. And we do!” Prom said softly, seeing his dad visibly shake.
Ardyn continued to rub Cor’s back as he shook. Both Prom and Ardyn allowed Cor to take in a few deep breaths before he continued to talk. Cor could feel his hands begin to get sweaty and the hand he had on Ardyn’s knee tensed up. But he was safe. He was with Ardyn and Prompto. Everything was okay.
Once he had told himself that, Cor took hold of Prom’s hand and quietly said. “I know. But... he made me think that no one would believe me. And if they didn’t, I thought he would hurt you. I couldn’t do that to you.”
“It’s okay. Dad, you don’t have to protect me anymore. It’s okay.” Prompto held on to his dad’s hand tighter. Prompto didn’t get cross but hearing that, he wanted to find and hurt Drautos himself. What his dad was going through and what he was thinking... wasn’t right...
“One day My Marshal, I promise you will be able to cope with this. Until you do, Prom and I will help you get there.” Ardyn gave Cor a soft smile, pressing his head to Cor’s shoulder.
“Yeah. Because we are a family. Who love and help each other.” Prompto beamed, trying to get negative thoughts out of his head.
“I love you both so much. Thank you for being so understanding.” Cor blurted out, trying not to cry.
“Group hug?” Prompto asked, letting go of his dad’s hand and opening his arms out to him.
“Yeah mate.”
Prompto threw his arms around Cor’s middle while Cor wrapped himself around Prom. Cor held his baby boy closer and kissed the top of his head, silently thanking Prom for being himself. For always trying to make everyone happy. Prom’s existence made the Marshal happy. Having a hug from him... today it would seem to make things that little bit better. Ardyn than wrapped his arms around both his son and husband and took in a deep breath. This was his family and he was so glad that he had been able to do his duty towards them and protect them.
Was it a stupid idea killing Drautos with a high chance he could go to prison for hindering a national investigation? Yes. And Ardyn would like to see them fucking try to make him leave his family in their time of need. But he was not going to dwell on that. Instead, he rocked his loved one from side to side, kissed them both on the head and treasured them. In a whisper he calmly said.
“It’s over my darlings. I promise you both that.”
With Drautos out the way, it was now.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Sit down.”
At his brother’s order, Ardyn sat.
Ardyn lent into the back of his chair and looked at his brother and nephew emotionlessly. He knew exactly why Somnus had called him ten minutes ago in an angry voice telling him to get to the Citadel immediately. He knew they had found Drautos bloodied body hanging from the ceiling by his feet. Ardyn knew that Somnus and Regis knew he was the one that had done this. Did Ardyn care that he was being questioned? Did he care that there was a strong possibility he could be on is way to prison in the next 5 minutes? Did he care that he had fucked an entire investigation that could have pulled the tide over on this war in Lucis’s favour?
No.
Ardyn didn’t care at all.
Cor was safe and that was all that mattered to him and that monster was no longer breathing.
There was a cold tension in the air as the three royals sat in silence.
Somnus and Regis didn’t know what to say. Nor did they want to say anything. And as soon as they had gotten the news that Drautos had been found dead in his cell... it was blatantly obvious who had done it. There was no question that Ardyn had done it. Ardyn had the motive. Ardyn had the hatred for the ex-Captain. Ardyn was the only one who had the ability to get into that cell and murder him without getting caught. To top it all off, Ardyn didn’t look bothered in the slightest that he was here. The Kings didn’t know whether to praise Ardyn or be enraged at him for single handily ruining a national investigation and not caring that he had done so. The murder was done for the love of his husband but... they didn’t know what to say. Because of that Ardyn was the one to break the silence.
“So... are either of you going to tell me why I am here at... oh my... 6 o’clock in the morning! Somnus this is a new personal best for you!” Ardyn smiled as he praised his brother.
Somnus’s face soured. “You know exactly why you are here.”
“No, I don’t. You haven’t told me yet. I am not a mind reader. Has something happened?”
“Drautos is dead.” Regis replied with a sigh. In a way he was glad Ardyn was playing dumb. For if his uncle admitted to the crime, he would be on the next boat to Angelguard.
“Oh, my word!” Ardyn gasped in the most patronising sarcastic voice that he had ever produce. “What an oddly justified well-timed tragedy that has occurred! That really puts a pickle into your investigation.”
“Cut the crap! I know you did it! We aren’t stupid!” Somnus grumbled.
Like Regis, Somnus didn’t want Ardyn to admit he had done this for the same reason. But Somnus had purposely removed everyone that wasn’t Regis from the room, and wasn’t recording anything (like he should have been). This was his brother’s one and only chance to openly gloat about this and he wasn’t saying anything. Because even if Ardyn had all the motive there was no viable evidence linking him to the murder. There was no weapon found. No DNA on the body. All the guards and glaive that were manning the cell claimed that no one had been in or out of there all day. So why wasn’t Ardyn boasting about this?! Was it in case Cor found out? That couldn’t be the reason, because Cor was going to find out and he would come to the same conclusion that they had. Why wasn’t Ardyn acting like himself?!
Ardyn opened his mouth pretending to be shocked. “I would never intentionally get in the way of a national dispute between the nations of Lucis and Niflheim! What do you take me for brother dear!?”
“Someone who was that angry and upset that a sick individual had attacked their husband and killed the bastard to get revenge for the man he loves. That is the type of person I am taking you for.”
“I am sorry to disappoint you. I had nothing to do with this.”
Regis rubbed his temple. He really hated this disgusting situation that had been forced upon them. It was annoying that they couldn’t get any information out of Drautos now. If he was honest, Regis knew he wasn’t going to get anything out of that man anyway. Drautos wanted Regis to suffer and as a result, Cor got hurt. It was a good thing he was dead and gone. Drautos could no longer hurt anyone directly. And the old King didn’t care that his uncle had gotten revenge for Cor. Regis and Clarus had discussed in depth what they were going to do to that vile man who had abused their brother in unspeakable ways. Than Regis knew why he was annoyed by Ardyn’s actions. Because Regis didn’t get a chance to end that man’s life himself. For that reason, Regis kept silent while Somnus tried to get them an off the record confession from his brother.
“You are bloody annoying. We know you did it. You know you did it. The moment this gets out, the entire world is going to know that you did it. If you tell us, maybe we can come up with something to get you off the hook. But unless you tell me I can’t do that.”
Ardyn put his feet on the table in front of him, crossed his legs and put his hands behind his head as he continued to lean back in his chair. “Prove it. Prove that I did it.”
“You know full well we can’t.” Somnus gritted his teeth at his brother’s failure to confess.
“Than I didn’t do it.”
Regis shook his head and locked eyes with his very laid back uncle. “Did he suffer?”
Regis could have been asking anything to that. But he wanted and need to know. Death was an easy escape. The King wouldn’t be happy if Drautos had been let off so easy. But this was his uncle. The Adagium and King of the Daemons. There was no way he would have had an easy death. Regis just wanted to be certain that’s all.
Ardyn let go an evil smirk: “Undoubtedly.”
“Good. That’s all I need to know.”
Ardyn was free to go and he went straight back home.
Yes, Cor and Prom might be safe from Drautos, but it was only a matter of time before the media got a hold of everything. Which would include: Drautos’s allegiance with Niflheim, Drautos’s death and more importantly to Ardyn, the trauma he had forced upon Cor and other members within the glaive. Ardyn wanted to be with his family when the news destroyed the internet and blew up on the news. Cor was having panic attacks and Ardyn didn’t want him to be alone if he had another one. There was no doubt in Ardyn’s mind if Cor found out about Drautos’s death from any news outlet he would have another one. When he stepped into his living room, he was met with the sight of Cor covering his eyes with one hand as he sat on the sofa.
Ardyn’s protectiveness kicked in and he tried to run over to Cor to check if he was okay but Cor’s blunt and cold voice prevented him from getting any closer.
“Don’t... Do not say a single word.”
Cor had literally just gotten off the phone from Clarus and he had been told exactly what had taken place. Cor was livid with Ardyn. Absolutely livid with him.
“Okay.” Ardyn said standing still.
Ardyn knew that Cor was about to explode. He could tell that because Cor was refusing to look at him. His husband’s body was tense and he was violently tapping his foot against the floor whilst covering his face. These were all the telltale signs that you were about to have a very angry Marshal on your hands. It wouldn’t take long for Cor to blow up either. He was going to do so in....
Three...
Two...
One...
“WHAT THE FUCKING HELL WERE YOU THINKING!!!” Cor roared rising from his seat, unsure whether he should kill Ardyn for being so goddamned bloody stupid or kiss him for protecting their family. “YOU COULD HAVE BEEN SENT TO PRISON YOU IDIOT! I CAN NOT COPE WITHOUT YOU HERE! WHY WOULD YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT?! WHY WOULD YOU RISK ME LOSING YOU AGAIN?! WHY?!”
“I did what I had to do in order to protect you and Prom.” Ardyn calmly explained. He knew Cor was only screaming at him because he was scared. But his Marshal didn’t need to be scared. Not anymore. He never had to be scared again.
“You being here is protecting us! If you go to prison I will never see you again! I can’t... I can’t do that! I can’t... please don’t make me suffer through this without you again!” Cor shouted with hot fresh tears of fear filling up his eyes.
“My Marshal, I didn’t mean to upset you. Please calm down.” Ardyn replied softly feeling incredibly guilty for causing his husband to have this reaction.
Ardyn knew Cor was not going to react well to the news but this badly... Ardyn was seriously beginning to worry about his mental state. Ardyn was glad that he had rebooked those counselling sessions with Dr. Stella but maybe Cor needed more support than that? That was nothing to be ashamed of either. All Ardyn wanted to do was help Cor and make him feel loved again.
More tears streamed down Cor’s face as he hung on to Ardyn’s coat and pulled him closer to him. “How am I meant to calm down? When I got that phone call from Clarus I honestly thought that was it! I thought I would never see you again! I was terrified you were going to leave me! After you promised me I didn’t have to go through this alone! Please tell me understand how scared I am!”
“My Marshal, I am sorry I wasn’t thinking... I know... I am sorry. It’s okay. Somnus and Regis know it was me anyway and I am here. I am not leaving you.” Ardyn said calmly, placing a gentle hand on Cor’s back. Cor felt so tense. Ardyn did not mean for this to happen at all.
Cor took in a series of deep and long breaths and just continued to hold Ardyn close to him. The Marshal was shaking and he was not letting Ardyn go. What helped was that Ardyn was rubbing his back and trying his best to soothe his worries, so Cor lent his head on Ardyn’s shoulder and was so grateful that his husband hadn’t been taken away from him... Cor wouldn’t last long if that had happened. Cor moved his hands so they were placed around Ardyn’s neck, and Ardyn very carefully wrapped his arms around Cor’s waist so they were properly hugging and giving comfort to each other. This was what Cor needed. He didn’t need or want Ardyn being an idiot on his behalf. He needed his Ass Hat by his side for however long he could have him for.
Ardyn allowed Cor to breathe for a few minutes before explaining to him in a voice full of comfort Ardyn whispered: It’s okay. Like I said last night. It’s all over now. He’s dead. He’s not coming back. You and Prom are safe. I am staying with you. Everything will be okay.”
“Okay... okay...” Cor replied nodding and burying his head further into Ardyn’s shoulder before repeating what his husband had said to him. “He’s... he’s dead.”
“Yes.”
Cor cried with relief and held Ardyn closer to him. He was gone. That disgusting man was gone! It felt like a ton of bricks had lifted from Cor’s chest and he was finally able to breathe again. With that being confirmed to him, Cor no longer had to look behind his shoulder every day. He no longer had to worry about Ardyn going to prison for Drautos’s murder because Ardyn had already done it and was staying with him. Ardyn was holding him and comforting him. It was going to be okay. Knowing this, it made the numbness in Cor’s head fade a tiny bit. He was so bloody thankful to Regis and Somnus for turning a blind eye.
So bloody grateful.
Cor pulled away from Ardyn’s shoulder, eyes raw from tears and kissed him on the lips for the first time in a while. He loved this daemon so fucking much. “You’re such an idiot. You’re such a bloody idiot.”
“I won’t disagree with you there.” Ardyn smiled softly happily accepting the light kisses Cor kept placing on his lips.
“At least you know.”
“I think maybe I am only just realising that.” Ardyn laughed.
The pair did nothing for the rest of the day, except sit quietly on the sofa together and talk.
They knew they couldn’t put the TV on. Every channel would be covering Drautos’s death and that vile man did not deserve the attention he was about to receive. However, there was not a lot Ardyn or Cor could do about it. They much preferred sitting and chatting anyway. Ardyn turned the WiFi off as well and unplugged the landline in case anyone was stupid enough to call them. Cor turned off his phone and Ardyn blocked all numbers on his phone that weren’t Prom, Regis, Somnus, and Noctis. No one else outside immediate family mattered today. Cor lay on Ardyn while he played with his Marshal’s hair. It was perfection for the two. After a while of chatting, Cor asked if Ardyn could find their wedding video and the pair decided to watch it. Cor only wanted to remember happier times at the moment. That man may be dead and it was such a welcomed relief, but the trauma was still there. It wouldn’t be leaving him, probably not ever, but he could at least try and be happy. At least try and forget. With Ardyn by his side, Cor was going to try.
A few hours later, Cor and Ardyn were watching recordings of one of Prom’s birthday, when they heard the front door opening. Knowing it was Prompto and that he had probably been told or seen what had occurred they paused the tape.
“Dads! Dads! Did you hear?” Prompto shouted with glee and amazement as he ran into his living room.
Cor decided to stay resting against Ardyn and nodded when he saw his son. “We did. Some more than others.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Ardyn shrugged, acting dumb again, still stroking Cor’s hair.
Prompto gave his dads a weird look for two reasons. One he had no clue what they meant and secondly, they were being openly affection in front of him. It made Prompto smile. When they broke up it nearly broke Prom again. But seeing them like this now... it gave the blonde teenager hope that everything was going to be okay. And that Drautos’s death was definitely a good thing. Because it meant that man was no longer getting in the way of his dads love.
Wait a second!
The penny finally dropped as to what Cor meant and Prom face palmed himself.
“Dad... are you fucking stupid?!”
“Language!”
Ardyn and Cor shouted in unison. No matter how truer statement that was, Prom was not swearing under their roof. It didn’t matter how old he was they had raised him better than that.
Prompto shook his head. “Sorry. But I mean, that was still a really stupid thing to do dad!”
Ardyn let out a soft sigh. “Sunbeam, I would probably agree with you if I had a single clue what you were on about. But alas I do not.”
“Sure, you don’t.” Prompto laughed back. At least his dads lying was keeping him out of prison, Prompto really could not complain on that front. Prompto shuffled over to the sofa his dads were sitting on and spoke carefully at Cor. “How are you feeling dad? With the news I mean.”
“Strange.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know. It’s a welcomed shock Prom. That’s all I know.” Cor smiled lightly.
Because Cor didn’t really want to think about it. All he wanted to do was think about Prom and Ardyn. They were his main concern not Drautos. And thanks to his husband’s blindly stupid protectiveness, Cor never had to be concerned over that evil man again.
“Do you think maybe we can move on now? Now that he’s dead.” Prom asked sheepishly, twiddling his thumbs. All he wanted was his family back and he thought this was what would finally give it back to him.
“I’ll try to mate. I promise.”
“Darling, it’s okay if you can’t.” Ardyn assured Cor kissing him on the forehead.
“I know.”
“I wish I was the one that killed him.” Prompto pouted.
“Prompto Leonis!”
Cor shouted in surprise and disbelief with what had just surfaced out of his baby boy’s mouth. How could his Sunbeam of a child even say that! No! That was not Prom! Cor and Ardyn had just watch his fourth birthday party on the TV and now his 18 year old son was talking about murder!
“What?!” Prompto argued back.
Ardyn burst out laughing and rubbed Cor’s back to relax him as Cor had jolted up at the psychotic words that had come from Prom. “Oh My Marshal it appears we have raised a maniac.”
“I get that from you.” Prom huffed, sitting down on the floor by his dads.
“Oh, do you now?”
“Yeah.”
“And I am very proud of it, My Sunbeam!”
Cor shook his head and unpaused the tape they were watching, trying to forget that Prompto had only slightly scared him. “You are both maniacs.”
“But you love us.” Ardyn sang as he kissed Cor’s head.
“Yes. Yes, I do. Very much.”
“Darling! Darling! Wake up!”
Cor screamed himself out of his horrific nightmare as he heard Ardyn’s voice shower him in comfort. Cor couldn’t keep his heart rate down as he desperately tried to reach out for Ardyn. Cor was caked in sweat and tears as he shook in Ardyn’s tight and protective embrace.
It had been a few days since Drautos was found dead. Cor thought maybe the nightmares would go away once he was dead and gone. But they didn’t. They kept coming and this one was the worst of the lot. Cor took in some deep and heavy breaths as he tried to erase that man’s face from his mind. Cor held on to Ardyn tighter as he tried to forget the images of Drautos hurting his son. No good. The panic had come back and Cor began hyperventilating at the thought and tried desperately to get off the bed to see if Prom was safe. If he was okay! Cor needed to know that Prom was okay and he wasn’t going to calm down or stop panicking until he was sure of it.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.”
Cor heard Ardyn say but Cor refused to believe it. Cor violently shook his head and took in fast and deep breaths as he tried to tell Ardyn what was wrong. But because he was in such a state, Cor could barely form a sentence together.
“I was... Drautos... He...”
Ardyn grabbed Cor’s face and took in slow deep breaths so Cor would copy him. “He’s dead. Look at me. Look at me. He’s dead. You’re safe. It’s okay. Everything is okay.”
“No! Ardyn! He went for Prom... He hurt Prompto...”
“No, no, no, he didn’t. I promise everything is alright. Prompto is with Mr Scientia tonight. He is safe and so are you. I promise”
Cor collapsed into Ardyn’s hold hearing that. Cor hadn’t felt so scared since Ardyn chased Drautos out of that meeting.
Prom was okay and safe. Ardyn was okay and safe. He was okay and safe
. Cor slowly relaxed as he told himself those three sentences over and over again. This was now the only way he could get himself to sleep and get his breathing back on track after his panic attacks. For the time being it was the only way he knew how to cope. Well that and having Ardyn hug him and stroke his hair. But why? Why should he have to have these two things to feel stable? He shouldn’t. Cor should never have been put through so much trauma that he had to resort to that. It was shit and Cor hated it. Loathed it. He loathed it more than the looks of pity he now got at work. The looks of pity he now got from Regis and Clarus. Why did everyone have to find out... This... it was fucked up. Well and truly fucked up. It was fitting really. Because that was how Cor continued to see himself. Fucked in the head and he didn’t know if anyone could pull him out of this. Dr. Stella was helping and so was Ardyn but... it was hard. It was still really hard.
After 20 minutes, Ardyn kissed Cor on top of the head and asked softly. “Any better?”
“Maybe... I don’t know.”
“Shall we go downstairs and get a coffee to calm you down?”
“Yeah.”
A coffee sounded like a great idea because with that nightmare there was no way Cor was going to sleep tonight. By the look on Ardyn’s face, it would seem he wasn’t going to either.
Cor got out of bed and slowly walked down the stairs with Ardyn not too far behind him. As they went along Ardyn turned on the lights but made sure that they were dim. Cor thought it was so that his eyes weren’t strained by the light. But no. The reasoning was a lot more heartwarming than that. Cor stepped into the kitchen and he saw something moving in the dark. His first reaction was to get his weapon out to defend himself, but Ardyn phased in front of him and turned on the lights so Cor could see what it was.
Or rather who it was.
Cor held his breath and fell to his knees with delight when he saw the three-headed daemon dog running up to him.
“Cerberus? Cerbie! I have missed you so much my boy! Have you missed me?!” Cor couldn’t help but smile with love as their long lost dog covered his face with saliva. Cerbie happily wagged his tail and barked as he hugged Cor. Cor laughed and made sure to stroked all three heads. “I will take that as a yes.”
“I told Regis and Somnus that we are keeping him.” Ardyn stated as he joined his husband and dog on the floor.
Cor looked away from Cerbie briefly and raised an eyebrow. “The council won’t like it.”
“I don’t give a fuck what they think. He’s a part of the family and he should have never of left. We need him.”
Cor blinked before being nudged in the chest by Cerbie as Cor clearly was not giving the dog enough attention. Cor couldn’t deny that it warmed his heart seeing Cerbie again. The last time Cor saw Cerbie he was about to be sent away because he bit a snotty kid that was bullying Prom and Noctis. That was four years ago and there had not been a day since where Cor had not missed this loveable dog. This wonderful protective dangerous deadly daemon dog that would always sit on his feet. But Cor had him back now. They all had him back. Cor never wanted him out of his sight again.
But no matter how happy Cor was in this moment. He couldn’t help but think why Ardyn had done this. When Cor figured out the reason why... his face soured as he continued to give Cerbie love and attention.
“You mean... I need him.”
“I didn’t say that.” Ardyn replied, scratching Cerbie’s back.
“I know what you think.”
“Sorry my love?”
“You, like everyone else. You all think I am about to break at any given moment.” Cor’s voice broke as he finished his sentence. No tears fell. For Cor did not want Cerbie getting upset, not when they had just been reunited after four long years. Prom was going to be so happy to see their doggy again.
“No, I do not think that.” Ardyn responded in a stern voice, trying to stroke Cor’s hair.
Cor recoiled away and shook his head staring coldly into Ardyn eyes. Voice still breaking and the on verge of tears. “Yes, you do. That’s why Cerbie is here. To make me feel better. Not because he’s family. You would have brought him back when Prom was in hospital if that was the case. All of you, you all think I am broken.”
“You’re not broken.” Ardyn stated again, this time not touching his husband as he clearly didn’t want it.
Cor stood up, and in his frustration and upset he snapped. “Oh just admit it! It’s what everyone at work thinks! It’s what everyone on the street thinks! What everyone in Eos thinks! I am nothing. I am nothing anymore. Nothing but broken.”
Small tears fell then and Cor felt Cerbie sit on his feet rubbing his head against his legs as Cor watched Ardyn raise from the floor. Cor couldn’t hold back the feeling of hurt any longer or the fact he felt unworthy. It was there. And it had been there since Drautos had raped him! Cor sobbed through his heartbreak and allowed Ardyn to gently rest his hands on his shoulders.
Ardyn spoke calmly as he rubbed Cor’s shoulders. “No. I won’t admit it because it’s not true. What happened was that you were raped. That doesn’t make you any less of a person. You are still you. That’s not broken, that’s living. I understand this is hard but I am with you every step of the way. To help you when you feel like this.”
Cor continued to sob as he locked eyes with Ardyn. “But you’re not going to be here. 12 years from now, I am going to lose you. I am not ready for that. I am not.”
Ardyn’s face dropped.
He had completely forgotten about that... Everything that had been going on, Drautos, his death, going to see Stella, making sure Cor and Prom were okay, keeping Regis and Clarus updated on everything, Ardyn had completely forgotten about that fucking prophecy.
He was going to have to leave Cor...
Ardyn bit his lip and dare not cry. Cor needed him right now. “Neither I am darling. That’s a long way off my love. Don’t worry about that now.”
“It’s not fair.” Cor whimpered, hugging Ardyn. The Marshal had allowed the prophecy shit to brew in his head for a while now and he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“I know.”
They held each other while Cerbie’s heads rubbing their legs and try their best to comfort each other. They had known that day would come since Noctis’s birth but they couldn’t leave each other now. Cor needed to have Ardyn with him. It didn’t matter if he had 12 years with him it wasn’t enough. It simply would never be enough. In a weird way, Ardyn had been right all those years ago. That Cor did need someone to grow old with and die with. But Cor wanted that person to be Ardyn. He needed his husband and it wasn’t fair that the Gods were taking Ardyn away. Ardyn felt exactly the same. He rubbed Cor’s back and tried to let his anger for the Six go. Because not only would Cor be losing him, he would lose Noctis and Regis and probably Clarus in the space of 12 years. That wasn’t fair. Unfortunately, Ardyn couldn’t see a way around it. He didn’t know what to say to make Cor forget about it. All he could do was try to hug the pain away. He hoped it worked. Because what else could he do to help Cor right now?
Nothing.
Cor held Ardyn closer to him and sniffed. “I am not letting this beat us.”
“That’s the spitfire Cor Leonis we all know.” Ardyn laughed, thinking he was talking about Drautos because Cor wasn’t stupid. There was no point getting their hopes us over something that they couldn’t change. But Ardyn was wrong. Very wrong.
“No. I don’t mean about what Drautos did. I am not letting Bahamut take you and Noctis away from me.”
“Sweetheart, there are some things that can’t be changed. I am afraid that this is one of them.” Ardyn said sadly, rubbing Cor’s back.
“No. I am not letting you go. We’re going to find a way to stop this. I promise you that. I am not losing you or Noctis to this.”
Work had been shit again.
Regis and Clarus had been hovering over him to make sure that he was okay but they had to suddenly leave. Apparently, Niflheim had been in touch and demanded to be told who had murdered their General. Which put a massive spanner in the works. Regis, Clarus, Somnus, Ardyn, Nyx and the rest of the council had to stop whatever they were doing to receive a video call from Emperor Aldercapt. Cor was not permitted to attend for obvious reasons. From the messages Cor was getting from Ardyn, Lucis’s strategy was to play dumb and pretended to be shocked by Aldercapt’s clearly very illegal strategy of war. Meaning Ardyn may not be home for a while yet. That upset Cor but he had to get on with it.
When he opened the door, Cerbie ran up to him begging to be stroked just like he used to do. Cor happily gave Cerbie attention but what he really wanted to do was sleep. If Cor slept it would feel like less time had passed and Ardyn would be home quicker. But he was prevented from going up the stairs by Prom calling out to him.
“Which one of my dads is home first today!”
“Not the immortal daemon.” Cor called back, fighting back a yawn. Also, Cor hadn’t been sleeping much as he wanted the nightmares to stop. But he was too exhausted to worry about that at the moment.
Prom rushed into the hallway with a smile on his face. “Dad! Hey, dad we have some-”
“Sorry, Prom can it wait. I am really tired.” Cor asked, rudely cutting Prom off.
“Really? You want to sleep?”
“Yes, I do.”
Prompto nodded still smiling. “That’s good. But umm we...”
“Hello, Kid.”
Cor looked towards the living room at the voice. That was Cid.
Fuck!
Cor hadn’t spoken to Cid or Wesk at all since everything had come out. Regis and Clarus had kindly offered to talk to them for him but they were here and Cor could no longer avoid having a conversation with them. Or... getting looks of pitying from them. Biting the bullet, Cor walked passed Prompto and into the living room. He really didn’t want to talk to anyone. All Cor wanted to do was sleep.
“I tried to tell you.” Prom said nervously.
“Cid. Wesk. What are you doing here?” Cor asked bluntly. He loved his brothers but he could really do without this today.
“We came to see you.” Wesk said warmly, not moving from his spot in the living room
“How ya fairing Kid?” Cid asked also refusing to move.
There’s the pity.
Cor thought to himself. Wesk would have tried to hug him by now and Cid would have smacked him on the back. Cor knew than he couldn’t cope he had to either leave or they had to go. However, Cor decided that he was no longer going to lie to anyone. So he didn’t.
“I am exhausted. It’s good to see you both though.”
Cid’s face hardened. “Kid... I am sorry...”
“If either of you are going to apologise to me, I don’t want to hear it. It’s not that I don’t want to forgive you. There is nothing to forgive. To be honest with you, I just want to go to bed.” Cor said cutting Cid off this time.
“Cor, we need to talk.” Wesk said softly looking at Cor with hurt.
“Can we do it when Ardyn gets back. Please. I just want to sleep.”
“Okay.”
“I can keep you both company until dad wakes up or until dad gets back.” Prom suggested before anyone said anything else. For he didn’t want to see his dad or uncles get upset.
“Thanks mate.” Cor smiled, ruffling Prom’s hair before leaving the room.
Cor went to bed and Cerbie followed him instead of staying with Prompto. Cor smiled and let Cerbie on his bed as he lay there listening to what was going on downstairs. He couldn’t sleep knowing that both Cid and Wesk were here. He lay in his bed listening to Prom, Wesk and Cid laughing until Ardyn got back from work. After that Prom left and the voices downstairs became more serious and emotional. Cor knew Ardyn was explaining to them what had happened and Cor didn’t want to face them after they knew everything. Because he was starting to tense up, Cerbie snuggled up to his daddy to give him comfort. Cor was grateful he had Cerbie back. What did they ever do without this perfectly dangerous loyal daemon dog in their lives? After an hour, Cor heard footsteps coming up the stairs and towards his room. Because there was no knock at the door, he knew it was Ardyn. Cerbie immediately moved to Cor’s feet so Ardyn could lay down next to Cor. From there, Ardyn explained that Wesk and Cid were going to be staying with Clarus for a few weeks to just be here if Cor needed them and that today, at least, they weren’t going to talk about Drautos. Cid and Wesk just wanted to spend time with their brother. Cor nodded at the deal, finally going back downstairs to spend time with them. As long as Drautos or his shame was not brought up, Cor could do this.
Cor looked around his new office and the many boxes that were placed around the room. Sorting stuff out like this really stressed him out. But at least he no longer had to stay in his old office. Being in that room would... he didn’t even want to think about it.
Cor opened up a box and started to sort through it when there was a knock at the opened door. Cor turned around and saw none other than Nyx standing in the doorway.
“Hey Marshal.” Nyx smiled, refusing to go any further into the room.
“Nyx- I mean Captain. Congratulations on your new position.” Cor nodded so that Nyx would actually step into the room. That was going to take some getting used to. Calling him that... the word Captain still had many negative feelings towards it. However, the position had to go to someone and Cor was glad it when to someone he trusted.
Nyx stepped in and smiled. “Thanks. I was wondering if you need any help setting up your new office?”
Cor nodded and went back to sorting out his stuff.
Cor and Nyx hadn’t spoken at all since Nyx had told Regis about Drautos. Simply because Cor had no idea what to say to him. It was awkward and Monica and Dustin and been doing a lot of Cor’s work for a few weeks. All Cor knew was that he had to thank the glaive who had saved his family. Being made Captain was not enough for all that Nyx had done for him. And whatever Ardyn had said or done for Nyx also wasn’t good enough. All the man did was report something that Cor was too scared to do himself but it saved Cor. It saved his and Ardyn’s marriage. Cor knew there no amount of gratitude he could express that could cover how he truly felt.
It would appear that Nyx didn’t know what to say either. After 5 minutes of silently unpacking things, Nyx cleared his throat. “Marshal, would you mind just calling me Nyx? Not used to the title yet.”
“You never will get used to it.” Cor smiled over his shoulder. He still wasn’t used to being called Marshal.
“Somnus didn’t warn me about that when I took the job.” Nyx moaned.
“Somnus is a dick.”
“I know. He’s good at heart though.”
Cor sniggered and turned to face the younger man. “You know my brother-in-law better than I do, then.”
“Not sure about that.” Nyx smiled back rubbing the back of his neck.
Cor’s eyes soften and he let out a sigh. Cor had to do this. He had to thank Nyx personally and he had to do it now. “Nyx? I want to thank you for telling Regis.”
“There is no need. I did what anyone else would have done.” Nyx said in a lighter tone than before.
“No... I want to. I would never have taken what went on further if you hadn’t said anything. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“It’s alright. But I think you are discrediting yourself, Marshal. You are stronger than you think. You just need reminding of it.”
“I am not. I am broken.” Cor looked down at the floor.
No matter what room he was in. No matter how many times he washed or how many times Ardyn told him he loved him, Cor still felt dirty. Dirty and broken. Now he had admitted his shame to Nyx... that annoyed and upset Cor even more. Because the old him would never admit to that. He would never look weak. But Drautos had made him weak. He still felt it.
“You’re the only one that thinks that.” Nyx said with confidence, forcing Cor to look up again.
Cor shook his head. “He did. He thought I was broken.”
“His opinion doesn’t count. You know what I think? He knew he couldn’t break you. That’s why he kept doing it and saying those things. You’re Cor the Immortal. No one can take that from you. Not even Drautos could.”
Cor the Immortal?
That nickname of mockery.
That nickname held pain for Cor growing up. He survived the trial of Gilgamesh and had nothing to show for it. He outlived his King and was more than likely going to outlive another two... that name held nothing but pain for him. But... Immortal? Cor hadn’t really thought about the meaning of that word when it was directed at him. Because in reality that was a good thing to be called. For Ardyn is immortal. That meant he was connected to his husband in more ways than one. Being immortal meant you lived. Meant you survived no matter what... That was what Cor was doing right?
Drautos had put him through hell and back but that man was dead and Cor wasn’t...
He survived.
He was still surviving. He was Cor the Immortal. And it may have taken 28 years to accept the title but Nyx words made him change his opinion on the title.
He liked it.
That was who he was.
Cor the Immortal.
Cor smiled. “Thanks. Hero.”
12 years?
Was that really all Ardyn had left with Cor and Prom?
That wasn’t enough. That was nowhere near enough time. He needed more. He desperately needed more. Cor needed him. Prom needed him. This wasn’t fair! None of it fair! Why were the Six doing this to him! Why were they ruining everything and making his life shit! Why did they put Cor through this! Why were they making Noctis and him do this! He didn’t want to. Ardyn never had and the time was racing forward. No one could stop it.
Ardyn turned a corner and saw Noctis staring out of the window. In his emotional state, Ardyn didn’t want to be near his nephew. He thought about walking backwards and pretending he had never been there. Before he got the chance to flee Noctis turned around and gave him a sad look.
“Uncle Ardyn are you and Cor okay?” Noctis asked sweetly not moving from the window.
“Cor’s getting there.” Ardyn said, putting on a fake smile deciding to approach Noctis. He probably shouldn’t but he hadn’t spoke to Noct in a while. He missed talking to him.
“What about you?” Noctis asked knowing that something was bothering him. Noct could always tell when Ardyn was hurting. They were destined to destroy each other after all. Maybe that was how he knew. When Ardyn failed to answer him Noctis sighed. “Ardyn you are hurting too. Do I have to remind my fate buddy who he is talking to?!”
“That’s the thing I don’t want to be your fate buddy. I can’t do this Noct. I don’t want to fight you.” Ardyn admitted leaning up against the wall and staring at Noctis with pain-ridden eyes.
Noct bowed his head with sorrow. “I don’t want to kill my uncle.”
“What do you suggest? We stick our middle finger’s up at the crystal and tell the twat to fuck off?”
“Couldn’t hurt to try.”
Ardyn sunk down to the floor and Noctis soon joined him. This was so painful for both of them. Not to mention how Regis and Somnus must feel. To know that their family had to tear one another apart because it was destiny. Who knows what would happen to Somnus when all of this was done? He’d get his mortality back like Bahamut had promised but what then? Carry on the line of Lucis and start from scratch? That wasn’t fair to make him do that. As for Prom... the scourge would disappear and so would the DNA inside him. Would he get ill? Ardyn and Noctis hope nothing bad would happen to him but they couldn’t be certain. No one could be.
Ardyn looked to the ceiling and spoke in a flat tone. “It’s weird. For 2000 years all I wanted was to have peace and get off this rock. But now... I want more time. I need more time to be with Cor and Prom. They need me.”
“This King thing has never appealed to me. I know what I have to do to protect everyone. But if I can’t save you, my own family, there is no point in this role.” Noctis said in the same tone Ardyn had used. This seemed like a hopeless situation.
“This is so fucked up.”
“We have to do this don’t we?” Noctis asked with false hope, already knowing the answer.
Ardyn nodded. “Yes. Only the blood of the Chosen can save Eos.”
“At a cost of his life, his own life.” Noctis mumbled finishing off the prophecy. “It’s not fair.”
“I am sorry we can’t do anything to stop this.”
“So am I.”
Somnus narrowed his eyes at the sight of his brother and grandson and stormed off.
He raged walked all the way back to his old living quarters. He moved out four years and he didn’t tend to use these rooms often. He didn’t like being here not since Amelia had passed. But he had to be in here. Because no one ever came in here. That was what he needed. Some peace to get his thoughts straight. But deep down he knew he had already made up his mind. The Founder King marched with fiery rage to his old study room and got out a piece of paper and a pen. He took in a deep breath and wrote a reminder for himself.
Somnus didn’t need a reminder as he knew he what he had to do. Never the less he wrote it down:
Reminder for 12 years’ time,
Sacrifice yourself for Ardyn and Noctis.
If you want a life you fucked up Dragon, you’re taking mine. Not theirs. They will not die for the sins I created. But you will.
Somnus Lucis Caelum the Foun- the Usurper King of Lucis.
“Come on Iggy!” Prom laughed as he held on to Ignis’s hand as they chased after Cerbie.
Prom had missed these late-night walks with his dads and Cerbie. But this time Ignis was coming along too and Prompto couldn’t be more excited. All the people he loved with him. (minus Noct of course)
Ignis let out a well up together nervous laugh as Cerbie came running back to them. Ignis didn’t meet the dog when he was before and it was fair to say he was little cautions. “Are you sure he is safe?”
“Of course he is, aren’t you boy? Show Iggy how much you love him.” Prom smiled as Cerbie ran up to Ignis and sniffed him again. His temperament than changed to that of excitement and he licked Ignis instead and started to act like a puppy again. Making Prom coo over the little daemon dog. “See, he is harmless really aren’t you? Yes, you are.”
“I suppose you are.” Ignis smiled patting Cerbie on the head.
“We love Iggy okay Cerbie.”
Cerbie barked happily and bolted forward. Because Prompto didn’t want to lose his dog again, he took his boyfriend by the hand and followed Cerbie into the darkness. Ignis happily followed and the pair ran into the night.
Not too far behind was Ardyn and Cor walking together holding hands as they watch their precious boy and dog fall in love with Ignis Scientia. They were happy that Prom was happy and they both liked Ignis. He was going to make a good addition to their little family.
“Are you alright My Marshal?” Ardyn asked, rubbing his thumb over Cor’s hand.
Cor shook his head. “No, not really. But I promise you, I will be.”
“I know you will.” Ardyn smiled stopping to kiss Cor sweetly. He pulled away from the kiss and took hold of one of Cor’s hands with both of his. “And umm... as Prom and Mr. Scientia have gone on ahead....”
Cor rolled his eyes at how Ardyn was still addressing Ignis. “You have to call him Ignis at... Ardyn what are you doing?”
Cor took a step back as Ardyn knelt down on one knee in the dirt still holding onto Cor’s hand. Cor’s eyes went wide with confusion as Ardyn placed his lips to his hand before speaking words of pure love at him.
“My Marshal, this has been an awful couple of months. I am so proud of you for being you and trying to protect the people you love. You don’t have to do that anymore. I am going to do everything in my power to do that for you. And in light of that vow, I was wondering if you would like to renew our wedding vows? Cor Leonis will you marry me again?”
Cor’s mouth dropped open at the question and his heart filled nothing but joy. Tears formed in his eyes and even though Ardyn said it all the time, Cor couldn’t believe he still wanted him. It was... Cor couldn’t even...
“Yes. Of course, I will.” Cor nodded frantically, helping Ardyn to his feet so he could kiss his over affection mussy amazing husband.
“I love you, My Marshal.” Ardyn smiled resting his forehead against Cor’s.
“I love you Ass Hat.”
Because he did. He really did.
No matter what he had been through. Cor was certain on one thing and that was how much he loved Ardyn and Prompto. It didn’t matter how broken Cor felt. No one was taking Ardyn or Prom away from him. Not even the fucked up Gods.
Not if Cor the Immortal had anything to say about it.