Halesia was training with her brother within one of the courtyards in the Citadel. Nyssa stood looking at them with a smile with Nyx standing behind her looking still as a statue. Gladiolus hit Halesia's sword away from her and sent a kick towards her. Halesia fell on her back and quickly flipped onto her knees with small wisps of electricity dancing along her hands and arms.
"You need to pay more attention sister," Gladiolus said.
"Easy to say," Halesia said looking up at him with a smile, "when you wield a sword that is bigger than one of your sisters."
Gladiolus laugh and help Halesia to stand up as a man dressed in a suit came in.
" The king requests his daughter and Miss Amicitia in the throne room," he said with a bow.
"Let them know I need to change and I will be there, " Halesia replied, "What about you Nys"
"I will go now," Nyssa said, "they are use to seeing me like this."
"Let them know 30 minutes," Halesia said heading to her rooms to become presentable.
"You can't be thinking of doing this to her," Halesia could hear Nyssa yell through the doors to the throne room, "there has to be someone else!"
Halesia nodded at the doorman who opened the door. She walked in wearing her crownsguard uniform and her braids pulled back with red pins. Nyx nodded at her as he left the room and shut the doors behind him. King Regis sat on his throne with Halesia's father Clarus standing behind him. Halesia bowed to them both. Nyssa stood in front of her fuming at her father and the council, lightning crackled around her hands.
"Rise Halesia," Regis said.
Halesia stood up straight with her hands clasped behind her back.
"I have summoned you both hear to discuss news from Tenebrae," Regis said, "They wish to cement an alliance through marriage."
"May I speak freely your majesty," Halesia asked.
"On this matter I would welcome it," Regis answered.
"Don't they already have Prince Noctis and the Princess Lunafreya, " Halesia asked, "What is the Empire wanting now from us?"
"They wanted someone in place of Lunafreya," Regis said.
"But Nyssa is already wed," Halesia said.
"They did ask for her," Regis said, "but as she wed the glaive... an alternative has been decided."
"I'm not going to apologize for following my heart," Nyssa said.
"Majesty," Halesia asked confused, "Who is going to be married to who?"
"You will journey to Tenebrae and marry Prince Ravus Nox Fleuret," her father finally spoke, "They have decided to reinsitute the marriage contract between you and the prince of Tenebrae."
A blond boy bowed to to their party and looked up at her as she curtsied. A smile on his face.
Halesia's shoulders dropped at reality hit her.
It was she that would be sent away. She was to marry Ravus, someone who she had not seen in several years. Not since before Nifelhiem occupied Tenebrae. Not since the attack on
"Why," Halesia said angrily, "Why when you know of my dislike of anything related to Nifelhiem. They have slaughtered thousands, including my own mother, not to mention the king's son in law's family!"
"Enough Halesia," her father exclaimed, "You will do this for the good of Lucis!"
A blond boy sat on his knees clutching his blood-soaked arm."King Regis help us," he pleaded."RAVUS," a girl yelled as she was pulled away by her twin who followed her father and the king fleeing with the small prince.
"I will not," Halesia said angrily, "I am a member of the Crownsguard. I am one of those to be in Prince Noctis' Kingsguard. I am one of the protectors of Princess Nyssa!"
"Not anymore Halesia," Clarus said, "Insomnia and its people need you to do this."
"If you do not," Regis said, " then the responsibility falls to young Iris when she comes of age."
Nyssa's magic fizzled out as she and Halesia stared at their fathers in shock.
"He is almost twice her age," Halesia said on shock.
"She is only a child," Nyssa said equally shocked, "They will destroy Iris."
"The only suitable one after you," Regis said standing up and descending the stairs slowly, "we do not want to resort to it. Peace must be made if we are to survive the coming darkness."
Regis stopped in front of his daughter and her saddened friend.
"Father please do not do this," Nyssa begged, "They already have Noct and Luna. Do not doom Halesia to this loveless sham of a marriage."
"I will do it," Halesia said, "I will do it for the good of my family and Insomnia. I will not let Iris become their pawn."
"Halesia," Nyssa said.
"May i be excused your majesty," Halesia asked, "I need air."
"You are dismissed," Regis said, "be ready in a week's time. Gladious, Cor, Nyssa, and a few members of the glaive will journey with you for the wedding."
Halesia nodded and all but ran from the room.
Halesia sat on the roof outside of one of the rooms that her friends and she met in. She stared out at the city of Insomnia as the breeze blew around her.
"So this is getting air," a voice said from the room behind her.
Halesia didn't turn as Nyx stood in the doorway with a look off worry on his face.The last day she saw either of the sibling of Tenebrae playing over in her head on repeat.
"Am I doing the right thing Nyx," Halesia asked, " is giving up my goals in life and my happiness the right thing to do?"
Nyx stepped out to sit next to her.
"Weren't you and the Prince to be wed at some point," Nyx asked.
"Did you hear," he asked while sitting next to her in one of the many gardens of Tenebrae."What," she asked looking up from her book."They have finished the contract," he said happily, "We will be wed when we are 18."
"We were," Halesia said bitterly.
"What changed," Nyx asked.
"It was my fault we were at Tenebrae while the Prince healed," Halesia answered, "We were there to celebrate the signing of the contract."
"RAVUS," a young Halesia yelled as her twin pulled her away from the slaughter.
"Our mothers were killed that day by General Glauca," Halesia said looking at him, "If we didn't go then they wouldn't have gotten attacked. It is my fault Tenebrae belongs to the Nifs."
Nyx patted her back.
"They would have been attacked sooner or later Sia," Nyx said, "The Nifs have been making their way slowly to their final goal. The engagement just gave them the distraction they needed to slip in unnoticed."
Halesia stared back out at the shield that protected them.
"Did you care for him," Nyx asked.
"It was political," Halesia replied, " there was no place for love. We were also very young at the time. How could we know what love was?"
"Bull," Nyssa said coming out to sit down in between her husband and best friend, "you had a crush on him and it was no secret."
"That was years ago Nyssa," Halesia said laying her head on Nyssa's shoulder, "Things have changed, he won't feel the same now.
They sat in silence for several minutes.
"Even if you did not," Nyx said, " I do not want to be sending a friend into a situation where she could not be happy."
"If the Nifs are a problem," Halesia said, "there will be nothing."
Nyssa sighed before looking back into the Citadel.
"What is it," Nyx asked.
"It's only a matter of time before the boys find us," Nyssa said.
Halesia sat in the air ship that had taken them from the train station to the Tenebrae palace. She was dressed in a formal dress of black and red that fit like a glove and fanned out just below her hips and ended halfway down her calves. The dress was mostly black with some small designs of filigree in red. She wore tight red sleeves that fanned out slightly at her wrists. Her hair was pulled up into a bun with the flowers of her namesake dangling from the hair sticks that held it in place.
"So, this is to be my prison," Halesia said.
"If I could take you from here I would," Gladiolus told his twin.
"It is a guided cage," Halesia said as the ship began to decend, "One where I will not even be allowed my magic."
"That is for your safety," Nyssa said sitting across to her in her royal attire.
"If they knew of your magic then they would experiment on you," Crowe said, "Find a way to harness it for their own gain."
"We are approaching the LZ," Pelna said coming from the cockpit.
Halesia sighed as everyone got up and it ready to disembark. The plan was that Cor, Crowe, Libertus, and Pelna would go first and ensure that it was safe for them and not a trap. Nyssa would go with Nyx after the signal it was safe and then followed closely by Halesia and Gladiolus.
Cor stood in front of Crowe, Libertus and Pelna as they stepped off the airship. As the other three looked around Cor took a few steps towards the awaiting delegation with a row of Magiteck soldiers in between them and the Prince and Princess of Tenebrae. The Chancellor of Nifelhiem stood a few steps away looking bored at the preceedings.
"I am Cor Loenis of Insomnia," Cor said, "I come baring the Lady Halesia Amicitia of Insomnia for her wedding with the Prince Ravus of Tenebrae. We also come baring gifts for the Prince and Princess as a sign of the goodwill between our nations."
Crowe stepped foreward with a boquet of Sylleblossoms for Lunafreya and Libertus stepped forward with a gleaming saber for Ravus.
Ravus nodded as the magiteck soldiers stepped aside and 2 servants took the gifts to their owners. Nyssa stepped off the airship and curtsied as Nyx bowed and Nyssa stood shortly after with her hands neatly folded in front of her.
"The Princess Nyssa Lucis Caelum and her husband Nyx Ulric," Pelna said as the glaives turned and bowed at their Princess before standing.
"You are a welcome sight my old friend," Lunafreya said, "I am gladdened to have you company for this grand occasion."
"It is an honor," Nyssa said bowing her head in acknowledgement, "One we hope to return in the future for your own marriage to my brother."
Lunafreya smiled as the next pair stepped off the airship. Gladiolus let go of his sister and bowed as she walked to the front of their procession and made a low curtsy. She heard someone step closer to her and gave a slight start as a hand came into her line of vision from looking at the floor in from of her. She looked up to see Ravus holding his hand out to her.She took his hand and stood slowly, ger reddish brown eyes not leaving his steely blue ones.
"As apart of our arrangement," Ardyn Izunia said, "the wedding will be in 5 days. Until then feast and be merry."