Ig-Noct- 47. You have your soulmate's name on one wrist and your enemy's on the other, and have no idea which one is which.
Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum was born with two soul marks, like so many people were. Unlike so many people, it was abundantly clear from birth which name was his soulmate and which was his mortal enemy. Not many people were born with the name of the Accursed on their wrist. Ardyn Lucis Caelum, by nature of what he was, could only be the mortal enemy of someone of the Lucis Caelum line.
Ignis Scientia, on the other hand, proved to be a nephew to the current Scientia retainer. From the prince's birth, both names were noted and the owner—in Ignis's case—tracked down and monitored for security reasons. Royalty didn't get the luxury of discovering their soul marks' owners in their own time. When a soul mark could point out the greatest threat or boon to a monarch's life, it was best to keep an eye from the start.
In Noctis's case, it meant that by the time he was four, Ignis was installed in his life as a playmate, caretaker, and friend. It meant they'd both receive rigorous training for the future their entire lives, and when Noctis was older, he looked back and wondered if their relationship could have been less complicated if they'd gotten to meet naturally. But they hadn't, and there had always been too much awareness of Noctis being a prince and Ignis being a retainer-in-training for them to be on equal footing.
Still, Ignis was someone who'd been by Noctis's side from the start. Someone he couldn't imagine his life without.
"Ignis, show me your marks," a young Noctis said one winter's day. There had been a lesson on soul marks that day, about the historical conflicts and treaties they'd brought about and how they functioned. Noctis really just wanted to see his name on Ignis's skin.
Ignis, already so serious, pulled off his wrist cuffs to share the marks like he was performing a ritual of some sort.
Noctis pulled his own off without a care for where they ended up, thrusting his wrists out to appraise them side by side. He'd never seen Ignis's marks before. Like Noctis, Ignis had been taught to hide them so no one could take advantage of them.
"Oh," Noctis said, seeing his name in his own handwriting. Such a strange thing that his handwriting could exist on someone long before he could even write. Before he was even born. And Ignis's other wrist… "We have the same enemy."
Ardyn's name was written there in the same slanted scrawl as on Noctis's arm. He touched it and Ignis let him, holding still as Noctis moved his wrists around as he pleased.
"That's a good thing, right?" Noctis said. "That means we'll face everything together, even the bad things. The bad people." He still didn't know who exactly Ardyn was, but with how everyone got so unhappy with the name, he knew the man couldn't be anything good. And a mortal enemy meant something when you were a prince. There was weight behind it that the mortal enemy of a shopkeeper didn't hold.
Ignis knew a bit more though, and Ignis wasn't going to be sharing that knowledge anytime soon. Part of being Noctis's friend and retainer meant knowing all the heavy, scary things so Noctis could have a lighter burden not knowing them. Ignis would tell him when he had to, but he liked Noctis smiling. Liked being a comfort to him. Liked that Noctis could look at the world without seeing all the dangers in it that Ignis was being taught to see. Sometimes the world was a heavy place, but it felt lighter with Noctis.
Noctis smiled as Ignis traced the letters of his own name on Noctis's wrist saying, "Yes, it's a good thing. Neither of us will be alone."
That was before the marilith, before Noctis witnessed the horrors of the world firsthand. Before Luna, before Gladiolus or Prompto or the fall of Lucis, when they were still so young and could still take comfort in the thought that adults would be strong enough to protect them.
Later, in the middle of it all, Noctis looked at his group of friends. Friends who all had Ardyn's name on their wrists even if only Ignis had Noctis on his wrist as well, and felt something heavy and conflicting. All his remaining important people would fight Ardyn with him, but he knew better now than to believe that it meant that this guaranteed a win or that they'd all survive.
The only thing he could cling to was that Ignis would be by his side if no one else was. That was what they'd promised. What they'd chosen to interpret their soulmate mark as. The world could burn, Gladio could run off and return, Prompto could go missing, Ignis could go blind, but Ignis wouldn't leave his side and Noctis wouldn't leave him if he could help it.
As nights got longer, as the monsters multiplied and everything seemed to go wrong, Noctis clung to Ignis's hand in the dark, a shred of hope and better times, an anchor in a turbulent sea. And Ignis held just as tight.