The long anticipated day had finally arrived, and Iris was doing her best to stay as busy as humanly possible; she was determined to put on a brave face, and not let her friends worry about how much their absence would affect her. It had been decided that Iris would remain in Insomnia indefinitely; her father had planned on sending her back to the Amicitia home, but Gladio, knowing that she thrived on being around other people and always having a problem to solve, reasoned that it would be unfair to send her home alone to be bored to death with no one to keep her company. Iris didn't object to the decision, even though she missed the comfort of its familiar walls. She was grateful that she didn't have to go back when everyone she cared about were working hard to serve the kingdom and its people. Sometimes she envied her friends back home; all they had to worry about were exams, crushes, and parties. Sure, everyone in Lucis was aware of the threat the Nifleheim posed, but they weren't seeing it up close and personal the way she was. To Iris, this conflict had a face, and threatened the lives of so many she loved, but she also couldn't deny the excitement it stirred in her heart; these were trying times, but she couldn't suppress the feeling that the potential for adventure was endless.
In all honesty, she knew she would have resented being sent away when so much was happening; her deepest desire was that she would be able to serve like they did, but in a way that was all her own. Iris wanted nothing more than to prove to herself and everyone else that she could find her own unique path; one that could give her purpose, and that she could take pride in. As much as she loved Gladio, Iris had always slightly balked at the fact that he and their father always made all her important decisions for her; believing that they knew best, and expecting her to comply enthusiastically. She loved and admired her family's legacy as protectors of the Lucian monarchs, but being a king's shield was a task that Clarus and Gladiolus had each taken on, and Iris knew that, as much as she would have loved staying by Noctis' side in battle and otherwise, there was only room for one such guardian, and she needed to find her own niche. Despite not being sure of where she wanted the trajectory of her life to take her, Iris was aware of her talents and enjoyed doing what she was good at; it was just in the past year or so that she had begun to realize that she truly loved every element of a hand to hand fight.
Even though she'd never been in a life threatening battle before, Iris relished the feeling of her fists crashing into the canvas of a punching bag, the pads of a practice glove, and even Gladio's ribs when she was lucky enough to land a hit on him; she even liked the feeling of getting thrown to the mat every now and then, though it was an acquired taste, seeing as going head to head with her brother guaranteed that one would get a good knocking around. She had even come to see how strategy factored in to winning such fights; where she had long approached with the idea that as long as she hit as hard and fast as possible, and managed to survive, it was a fight well fought. Gladio had tried to drill into her head the importance of searching out an opponent's weaknesses and exploiting them, Iris hadn't really understood what that meant until one day when she disabled Prompto by feinting to one side while he struck at her, and using the momentum of his strike to flip him over her shoulder and follow him in a somersault, bringing a solid elbow down on his stomach and effectively grounding him.
Prompto had made it easy for Iris to stay busy, in fact, he'd made it necessary, with his obsessive need to go through his gear bag again and again, convinced that he had forgotten something vital, and would tear each of his bags apart, and repack it multiple times. Gladio, Ignis, and Noctis had already finished their preparations, and were convening with emissaries of the Empire over the journey's expectations, so it fell to Iris to keep him moving. At first, she had humored him, helping him lay each item out and repack each bag, but she quickly realized, with a rising sense of frustration, that his vigilance was an exercise in futility, and that his erratic behavior stemmed from his anxiety about his first official mission as Noctis' bodyguard. As annoyed as his actions made her, Iris knew how seriously Prompto took his position and how afraid he was to let anyone down. She was one of the few people, very possibly the only person, to whom he had confessed his feelings of not truly belonging. It was important to him that he prove himself as one of the group, even though Iris knew that the rest of them had accepted him unquestionably a long time ago. Knowing that Prompto would never be satisfied with his inventory, Iris had taken to sneaking his bags out one by one when he was distracted with packing his pistols; her strategy being to take his smallest belongings first, and tuck them in to the trunk of the Regalia among the others' in a way that would be the most discouraging to retrieve.
Iris had successfully stowed Prompto's clothing, as well as the case that carried his precious camera and all its accessories, and felt that it was as good a time as any to give him a shake and remind him that actually doing the job he was so stressed about would help him get a handle on his stress and calm down. She dashed back up to his room, prepared to bully him as much as she had to to get her point across. Bursting through his door, she found that his room had been completely vacated; there was no sign of the weapons he had been packing, and the room had already been tidied as if in preparation for its next occupant. Iris stood in the center of the room, her hands on her hips as she surveyed it thoughtfully. Someone must have come in and gotten him going while she was busy with his luggage, and she knew exactly who that someone was. She smirked to herself as she imagined Gladio barging into Prompto's room, demanding to know why he wasn't ready, then proceeding to pack Prompto's remaining affects with the utmost speed and efficiency and without any regard to his sorting preferences, before gathering the remaining bags in one hand and grabbing the younger boy by the back of his collar with the other and marching them out to the Regalia. She felt a sudden pang of sadness in her heart as she realized that those moments would soon be very few and far between, and that it was unlikely that she would be present for them. Banishing those thoughts to the back of her mind, Iris turned on her heel and sprinted off to meet them all at the car where she knew the guys would be waiting to say goodbye to her.
As she bounded down the Citadel steps, Iris saw all four of her guys gathered around the car they'd been given for their journey. As she approached, they all turned to face her, each of them holding his hands behind his back. She came to a stop in front of them, adopting an authoritative stance; crossing her arms and shifting her hip to one side, she leaned forward slightly, "Alright, you guys, what's going on?" she asked as she fixed each of them in turn with a suspicious stare. Prompto hopped forward first, a wide grin spread across his face as he bowed deeply "Lady Iris, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for everything you've done to help us prepare for our mission. And from me especially, thank you for being a great friend." He handed her an oblong package, carelessly wrapped in bright yellow paper. Inside she found a selfie stick decorated with a fat, sparkly chocobo hanging from the handle. "I expect you to send us lots of pictures and keep us updated on how you're doing." Iris jumped on him with a choked laugh, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him as hard as she could. He spun her around a few times, squeezing her just as tightly. "Alright you two" Gladio called out to them gruffly "No need to get all sappy about it." Prompto let her down and it was Ignis' turn to step forward and present her with two packages, one was flat and rectangular, the other a cylinder; both impeccably wrapped. "For being the best sous chef I've ever had, as well as being the one to always bring a smile to my face." Inside was a notebook full of all the recipes they had created together, while the cylinder contained a canister of Ignis' favorite Ebony coffee. "Save it for special occasions, and don't destroy the beautiful flavor notes with too much cream or sugar" He said it jokingly, but Iris knew how seriously Ignis took his coffee experience, and vowed to treat it like a treasure.
After a couple well placed elbows in his ribs from Gladio, Noctis stepped forward and awkwardly handed Iris a small paper box "You always give us your best and go out of your way to help us out. I just wanted to give you something completely from me to let you know that I wish you were going to be with us every step of the way." Iris struggled to choke back the lump that had suddenly popped up in her throat at his words, as she opened the package. Inside was a handmade fishing lure, delicately decorated with colorful feathers. 'Noct, it's beautiful!" She cried "You made this?" His smile was bashful and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other "Uh, yeah I did, do you like it? It's only like the third one I've actually finished." "I love it!" She answered, and threw her arms around him tightly "The next time we see each other, I'm going to be so good at fishing, it'll be like you taught me yourself!"
"Alright alright, that's enough of that!" Gladio called out as his hand descended heavily on Noctis' shoulder, effectively ending their embrace. He turned to Iris, a big grin spread across his face as he handed her his gift "I know you've had some trouble deciding on which weapon to focus your training on, but would still like to take your training out in the field, so I got you something that'll help protect the weapons you were born with." She eagerly tore the paper off the package and popped the latches of the underlying dark grey case open, revealing a pair of black leather gauntlets, minimally trimmed in red, and detailed with flat black metal studs. "Oh Gladdy!" She gasped "They're gorgeous!" He took the case from her and set it on the hood of the Regalia, "Hold out your arms" he told her, and proceeded to show her how to equip them "If you want, you can wear the actual gauntlet pieces all the time, like you wear those boots you love so much," he teased "The glove part attaches easily, so you can be ready to go at any given moment."
Iris was already raising her arms and rotating her wrists to inspect her new gear from every angle. "They fit perfectly" she marveled "What are they made out of?" "Dualhorn hide, with the rivets and knuckles made of Mythril; I actually hunted the thing and skinned it myself, had the leather dyed and the Mythril smoked out to match your whole..." He waved his hands in her direction in a framing motion to indicate her entire person. "...aesthetic." She laughed "Yeah, I guess I am the only one of us who wears actual colors. I love that the metal details match my pendent and belt chain; you really put some thought into this, I'm so impressed!" Gladio stuck out his chest proudly, crossing his arms and leaning against the Regalia "Well I am an excellent older brother, what did you expect?" He said it with his typical level of smugness, and for once, Iris didn't jump to object "You are a great big brother" She smiled, joining him in leaning against the car "I really couldn't ask for a better one." She clasped her hands around his arm and laid her head on his shoulder "Is it time to say goodbye?" Reaching around with his free hand, he tousled her hair "Yeah, I think it's about that time. You guys ready to head out?"
"Not before we take a group photo!" Prompto yelled from where he had been setting up his tripod in front of the Regalia "Everyone gather round, let's make this a good one!" Iris crouched down to one side of the front bumper, leaning an elbow on her more elevated knee; Ignis stood behind her next to the driver's side door, arms crossed in a confident pose, while on the opposite side, Noctis stood with his hands in his pockets. "You gotta do better than that, your highness!" An annoyed Gladio called out. He crossed over to Noctis' side of the car and flung a heavy arm around his shoulders. Turning in the camera's direction, he threw up a peace sign and roguish smile; the prince sighed laughingly and managed an awkward smile and a thumbs up. After a few minutes of fiddling with the timer, Prompto set it to his satisfaction and threw himself down by the fender adjacent to Iris. He bent one knee up, casually draping the corresponding arm over it, before shooting her a wink, accompanied by a finger gun, and then falling into his ever-ready camera smile, just in time for the telltale "click".
They all gathered around Prompto to look at the photo; "Hey we all look really good! Especially me." Iris laughed. Gladio wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her into a playful head lock "Nice try little one, but everyone in this entire kingdom knows I'm the looker in the family! Do your scars have their own fan club? Do girls write poems dedicated to your biceps?" He was rubbing his knuckles into her hair, ratting it up exactly how he knew she hated it, while she choked around her laugher, trying to scream at him to stop. "No! None of the ladies are checking for you, Iris! I'm the prettiest Amicitia!" "Don't you think you've tormented your sister enough, Gladio?" Ignis sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Iris finally wiggled out of her brother's grasp and scooted away, yelling back over her shoulder "You're not even that pretty! You look like a damn thug when you run around with your shirt open. Iggy is way prettier than you, who are you even kidding?!"
Gladio raised a hand, index finger outstretched as if he was going to launch into a full blown lecture about the insolence of his little sister questioning his divinely given beauty, when he stopped and turned to look at Ignis, a mischievous grin spreading across his face "Ol' Iggy is pretty isn't he?" He cuffed Ignis on the chin and vaulted into the backseat of the Regalia "Alright you assholes, get it together and say your goodbyes; we've dawdled long enough". Noctis and Prompto threw their arms around Iris in a group hug; Ignis waited until they were done to get his own goodbye hug, and when he released her, held her at arm's length for a moment "Keep creating new dishes and desserts, will you? I'd love to have new recipes to compare when we see each other again." "I will!" She promised, reaching up to grip one of his hands where it rested on her shoulder "You've taught me so much, Ignis. Thank you."
Iris watched them all climb into the car, and stood on the Citadel steps waving goodbye as they drove away. It wasn't until they were long out of sight that she could bring herself to turn and go back inside the palace. She hated this feeling; that vaguely sad feeling that everyone gets many times in life, though it always feels like the first time; the feeling that nothing would be the same again. Of course, this feeling always goes away; it fades into the background until it becomes the "new normal", and then the cycle continues until the next life changing event. Even though Iris knew she wouldn't feel this way forever, it gave her no comfort. She sighed as she trudged back to her sleeping quarters; she'd have to keep herself extra busy to stave off the loneliness that was already creeping up into her heart, but for now, all she wanted to do was rest.
Notes: I'm going to be changing the timeline up a bit from game canon; partly because I feel like the attack on Lucis came too soon, and then because I need more time to establish genuine ties between Iris and Ravus before everything goes to shit. So basically, there will be significant canon divergence here and there as I see fit to tell a well-rounded, believable romance between these two. I don't really have a plan here, I'm kind of just going with whatever feels right. Thanks for reading! I so appreciate it 3