Disclaimer: Not mine

Warning: off page character death

Chapter 3

He huddled under his blankets, knees to his chest, wings and arms wrapped around himself as he whimpered. There had been happiness radiating for everywhere earlier but now…it was too much! He couldn't absorb so much negative emotion; it'd take a whole clan! He hurt!

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Cor leant against the wall, eyes red. The Queen was dead, Aulea was dead. Callaia was tending to the newborn Prince Noctis while Clarus had dragged Regis off to his rooms to get drunk, it'd let him sleep tonight at least. Cor…didn't know what to do. Should he join them, guard them in their vulnerable state. Should he guard the little Prince instead? Though there were already twenty of the Guard around the nursery. The news had spread through the Citadel, everyone mourning when only hours before they had been happily celebrating the birth of the heir.

The whole building was bleak, consumed by grief…Ignis! He jolted and then began heading for the boys room, if he truly was empathic….he opened the door and looked around until he saw the shaking lump under the cover. He walked over to the bed and sat down, reaching out to gently place his hand on the quivering lump.

"Ignis?' he called softly. He felt the boy freeze and then he was scrambling out from the covers and into his arms, Cor carefully lifting his arms to hold him as he whimpered and cried. "It's alright, I've got you," he murmured, rocking the child, even as he focused on feeling anything but grief. He refused to think of his Queen, focusing on the baby instead, the baby with dark blue eyes and black hair who had felt so tiny and precious when he'd held him. it was after nightfall before Ignis showed any signs of actually being aware of him, teary green eyes blinking dazedly at him.

"C…C…or?"

"I'm here," he promised. He would have to talk to Monica about ensuring someone stayed with Ignis until the worst of the grief shrouding the Citadel was passed.

"Wh…at…ha…app…end?" the boy stuttered out passed chattering teeth and Cor pulled a blanket up around him, even though he knew it wasn't a physical coldness causing it.

He took a deep breath. "Aulea had the baby today, his name is Noctis. He has black hair like Regis but Aulea's dark blue eyes and pale skin."

"But….you're sad….ever…one….sad...baby?"

"Noctis is healthy," He assured him, running calming fingers through messy dark blond hair.

Glowing green eyes went wide. "Aulea?" he whimpered and Cor hugged him tighter. Ignis keened, curling into him, crying.

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Ignis pressed his face to the window, staring down, able to see passed the gates to the Citadel, too see all the people putting things by the walls and gates…flowers? He got his tablet and hesitantly brought up one of the news services, ignoring the headlines that kept saying she was dead. So people were leaving flowers to show they were sad too but also to celebrate Prince Noctis' birth.

He missed Aulea, she was always so warm and kind. He'd barely seen anyone since Cor had told him what happened. It was hard, not letting all the emotions overwhelm him, there was too much to try and feed on without being swamped. He…he had seen the literature, had known she could die but they had all promised that was very rare, especially somewhere like a city where there was lots of help. Why had she died?

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Regis cradled Noctis in his arms, gently tracing a finger over a baby smooth cheek. He was so small, tiny, but so full of life. Only a few weeks old and he already favoured Aulea in appearance. He was such a happy baby, with no idea of the sadness surrounding his birth, that he would never know his wonderful mother. He looked up as the door opened and Cor bowed. "What is it Cor?"

"You need to go see Ignis, Regis. He's…not handling all of this very well. He can definitely feel emotions and he's being overwhelmed; I hope it is only the emotions of the Citadel and not the greater city," Cor answered and Regis nodded.

It had been remiss of him not to see the boy. He had taken responsibility for Ignis, had become close to him, he should have been to see him before now. He stood up, tenderly adjusting his hold on Noctis, he could introduce the two of them at the same time. Cor nodded and led the way to the secure suite where they found a wide-eyed Ignis waiting, the boy trembling, wings flickering. Regis handed Noctis to Cor and then opened his arm, rocking back as the boy threw himself into his arms.

"It's alright Ignis," he murmured, stroking his hair. "I've got you," he picked the boy up and carried him to the bed, Cor following. Once settled, Regis took his son and cradled the baby so that Ignis could see him. "This is Noctis, Ignis."

He watched green eyes widen and then Ignis slowly reach out to touch Noctis' face, using the back of his fingers to keep his claws well away from delicate skin. "So small," he whispered in awe.

"He'll grow," Regis promised. "He's already bigger than he was at birth. Would you like to hold him?"

Ignis looked up at him. "I can?"

"Of course," he glanced at Cor who showed Ignis how to support a baby and then carefully placed the baby in Ignis' arms, seeing Ignis' lips part in a silent gasp, Noctis shifting, blue eyes opening at the unfamiliar hold. Their eyes locked and Regis felt…something. Ignis made a kind of crooning noise, rubbing his cheek to Noctis'.

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Clarus smiled as he saw Ignis holding Noctis in his arms, the two watching a cartoon on Chocobos, Noctis sucking his thumb sleepily. The bond between them was impossible to deny. Ignis was devoted to Noctis, fiercely protective, and parting them always ended in tears. There had to be some way to hide what Ignis was. Could they file his claws and teeth down to appear within human ranges? That would leave only his wings? Sunglasses could hide his eyes with the excuse of a vision impairment of some kind.

It had taken six months for the grief in the Citadel to begin to fade some and they wondered if Ignis had played any role in it. He believed the boy had helped Regis but the rest of them? Surely it was too much for him, which would explain the state he'd been in back then.

The war was picking up, more and more of the strange new troops being fielded by the Empire. As much as they didn't like it, they were talking of sending Cor with a small team to see what they could find about them. He didn't like the idea of sending Cor but the team may need the extra fire power. Ignis responded best to Cor after Regis, not that he thought the boy would cause trouble. If he was going to turn on them, he'd had plenty of opportunities over the years, but with emotions still unsettled in the Citadel, Cor's steady nature could be a big help.

He glanced over and smiled at the sight of Noctis sleeping soundly in Ignis' arms, the cartoon no longer playing, instead Ignis was watching…a cooking show?

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Cor crept down the corridor, eyes and ears peeled. The place was creepy with endless white corridors, so many that they'd split up to cover more ground. He had come to the decision that he loathed Niflheim, the weather was horrendous though that was obviously due to the Glacian's corpse, she had definitely made her displeasure with the Empire known. He used his stolen keycard to enter a locked room and stared in horrified shock as his mind made sense of what he was seeing.

Row after row of liquid filled tanks and in them…if he had a weaker stomach he'd be throwing up at the sight of the bald, pale skinned, males floating within. They all looked to be in their late teens, maybe early twenties, though it was hard to tell. Thankfully they were all unconscious, hooked up to various tubes and leads, but the most sickening part was the black that floated from their bodies…like daemons. What the hell was the Empire doing? He spotted another door and forced himself to walk through the rows towards it.

The next room had more tanks, the bodies within even younger and showing a lot less of the black…miasma. They had taken some MT's apart, had seen others dissolve in the field like daemons…these bodies had to be connected to that, somehow. A closer look at the young teens showed a scary amount of similarity in their looks…they appeared practically identical actually. There were far too many of them to be related, surely. Had the Empire come up with a way to create babies en masse? Cloning was meant to be the plot of a bad sci-fi book, not real and yet…he seemed to be staring at the evidence for it being real.

He kept going, using the small camera he had to record what he was seeing, the bodies within the tanks getting ever younger until he came into a room without tanks but instead that horrified him even more, incubators. He took photos and then walked towards one, unable to help himself. He looked down through the clear box to see a baby within, hooked up to leads and tubes. As he watched the baby stirred, opening bright blue eyes tinged with purple, blinking sleepily up at him. It gurgled at him, too thin arms lifting towards him weakly before dropping, the baby whining softly. It…it looked about the same age as Noct but Noctis was healthy, this child…

He took a deep breath and began looked the incubator over, finding where it opened and no sign of an alarm that he could find. He opened it and cautiously traced a cool cheek with a finger, the baby whimpering and trying to reach for him. he pressed his finger to its hand and tiny fingers curled around his reflexively. He…he couldn't leave it, not now….he couldn't save them all, but he could save this baby. Ever so carefully he began unhooking everything from the child, praying no silent alarms were going off or something.

He got the baby unhooked and then pulled out a spare baby outfit from the Armiger, glad he'd accidentally left it stored away after his last turn babysitting Noctis, especially the spare nappies that were with it. once he had the kid free he found it was a baby boy before he quickly fixed the nappy in place and then dressed the limp body, being watched by wide eyes the whole time and yet the baby didn't cry out once.

"There you go, nice and warm," he murmured as he got the right arm into the sleeve, seeing the black lines marring the tiny wrist. How could someone do that to a baby? He tucked the baby into his jacket for extra warmth and so he could fight if necessary. He was happy to find there was no door this time but a wall of computers and files, files that were numbered. He checked the kids wrist again and found the right one, photographing the contents before grabbing a few more at random to do the same. Without passwords, it was too risky to try the computers.

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Cor resettled little Prompto, smiling slightly as the baby clapped, giggling. The two other remaining members of his team bowed theatrically, the daemons vanishing into black sludge, leaving them clear to get up onto the Haven. They were back in Lucis finally, but not out of danger yet. The Empire's hold on Lucis got stronger ever year, they had added almost a week onto their return having to skirt a base under construction.

They had named the baby Prompto after Prompto Matthews since the man had died saving the baby during a fight. None of them could stomach trying to use the number on his wrist. He'd gone over the file on the boy and everything he understood said the kid was human. There had been some manipulation but nothing that would make him a threat. One thing was for sure, they would be careful as to what doctors or scientists were given the file, unlike the ones who even now kept asking to 'study' Ignis.

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Ignis stared at his reflection in the mirror, smiling at the sight. It was strange to him…but he looked human! His wings were gone, as were his claws and fangs. His eyes, while a slightly odd shade compared to those he had seen in the pictures he'd scoured, no longer glowed. He had also studied the biology texts and diagrams to ensure he was anatomically correct for his gender which was a very odd sensation since he could feel everything as if he was human, even if it didn't actually function like a human, thankfully. The shift was very hard to get right and it would take time to learn to hold it for long periods of time, but for his first successful attempt it looked and felt correct. He felt a familiar presence approaching and left the bathroom to wait.

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Regis opened the door with a smile for Ignis only to freeze, eyes going wide as he took in the human boy before him. "Ignis?"

The boy smiled and then slumped, wings spreading out as the image shimmered and vanished, leaving the form he was familiar with. "I did it," he whispered proudly before stumbling and Regis moved swiftly to catch him.

"Easy Ignis," he got him onto the couch, letting him lean against him, curling into his side almost like a cat. If it wasn't for the wings, he'd think he was related to felines actually. "That was amazing," he praised.

"I wanted to surprise you," he admitted softly. "I've been practising but I only just got the eyes sort of right and I can't hold it very long. I should be able to do better the more I practice. If…if I get it right, would it be possible…" he looked away at the floor and Regis pulled him into a hug.

"Once you can hold it for two hours, how does a tour of one of the gardens sound?" he offered and watch green eyes light up in excitement. He only ever left his rooms to fly and that was usually done at night when there was the least amount of staff on duty to be extra safe. If Ignis could one day hold it all day though, then he could be moved out of the suite. Personally, he thought Ignis would make an excellent Adviser for Noctis.

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Regis stood from his desk, utterly relieved to see Cor walking in the door, thinner than normal and with longer hair but then he blinked in surprise as he opened his jacket to reveal a blond haired toddler clinging to him. He hadn't been gone that long!

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"Cor," Ignis smiled at seeing the man after so long and Cor nodded back. He could feel his exhaustion and quickly moved over on the bed, getting a small smile before Cor sat on it beside him. "You were gone a long time."

"I know, but we found something important and that slowed the tip home down a lot."

"What?" he asked curiously and Cor sighed.

"A kid, a little younger than Noctis. His name is Prompto and he's with the doctors now. The people who had him were doing terrible things so they need to make sure he's okay. Then they'll find a family for him."

Ignis frowned, he could feel the emotions Cor felt for the baby. "Why? Why can't he stay with you?"

"My job isn't exactly suited for raising a child and considering whee we found him…he deserves a nice, happy family far away from any military."

"But you love him," Ignis frowned, that was what was important. He thought that was the same for human 'families' like it was for clan, had he gotten that wrong?

"Sometimes, that's not enough," Cor answered.

"Can I meet him?" if he did then he'd be able to keep watch over him, if he stayed in his range, which he might not. But his range would grow with time and then he could make sure Cor got his baby back one day.

Cor looked at him but then nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

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Ignis held Noctis' hands as he stumbled around the room, little legs not always quite going where the Prince wanted them too. Human babies had so much to learn! He had just known how to move, how to fly, to communicate, as had his nestmates. It was knowledge passed down to them from the older generations before they hatched.

He was practising holding human form while helping Noctis with his walking. The first time Noctis had seen it he'd been unsure, obviously finding him familiar but also different, now he was happy to throw himself at him, whichever form he was using. He looked up as he sensed Cor coming with…he smiled and picked Noct up, startling the toddler as he was put on the bed. The door opened and Cor walked in, a blond toddler on his hip. When the boy say them he hid his face, shy.

Cor ran his hand over fine hair and then shifted his grip so he could sit on the edge of the big bed, the boy now in his lap. "Don't be shy Prompto," he urged.

Ignis reached out to the boy, finding something lingering about him that almost made him hiss in alarm…he knew that feeling, daemons! Sometimes the smell was around animals and it meant they were sick with the black illness that made them into daemons. It wasn't very strong though and it was fading? So he'd been somewhere with lots of sick animals or people maybe? He wasn't sick himself though. He ignored it to reach deeper, memorising everything that made Prompto, Prompto. Scent, emotions, everything.

He reached out slowly with his hand and touched a baby soft cheek, Prompto lifting his head to stare with wide blue/purple eyes and Ignis blinked, maybe he wasn't as human as Cor thought? He smiled at the little boy who hesitantly smiled back and then Noctis crawled over and hugged him, startling him but making Cor chuckle.

He wished Cor would keep Prompto, he'd be happier and so would Noctis with another baby to play with.

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Ignis stared at the door before letting Regis tug him forward. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, feeling the wind and sun on his face. He wanted to drop the human look and take to the sky, but he couldn't. It would upset Regis if he did that and scare people and then they might try to hurt him.

For the first time since the Hunters had taken him, since the Crownsguard had come and brought him to Insomnia, he was finally outside again.

TBC…

Pity Noctis and Prompto are too young to ever remember this meeting. And yes, Ignis hatched from an egg, couldn't think of another method to use.