Year ME 744, Two weeks after the accident

She watched as people moved him around in the wheelchair.

After that day, Noctis seemed to change… he was no longer his old up-beat self, he wasn't as playful as before, he just seemed so low spirited…

Selene approached him, cautiously, the king had kept the two children separated for a while, for Noctis to recover and to give the boy some time and space.

When she did the boy looked at her with a frail smile upon his lips. "Hey, I'm glad you didn't get hurt."

She could feel her lower lip tremble as she kneeled before him. Her hands reached for his and she held them, they were cold, they didn't use to be cold… "Noct, I'm sorry…" She breathed as she squeezed his hands. She wouldn't cry! She wouldn't!

The prince blinked. "Why are you apologizing?" He said as he pulled her a bit, he wanted to see her face he needed to know what kind of face Selene was making, because the words she'd just told him made no sense, at all.

She didn't answer him. 'I could have protected you! I could have stopped it… but I didn't!' She bit the words down, how could she say them when she had done nothing. "Your dad said he'll take you to Tenebrae, to recover…" She hopped her voice didn't fail her, she hoped she could hide away the water that loomed in the corner of her eyes.

"Yeah…" Noctis said as he gazed at her. "Selene… look at me."

She shook her head. "No."

"Look at me!" He tried to make her look at him, by pulling her.

"No!" She swatted away his hands and stepped back.

He frowned, angry and annoyed, why wasn't she looking at him? She'd avoided him for the past two weeks! He clenched the wheelchair. Fine, if she didn't want to look at him now, he'd let her. "You're coming with us, right?"

Selene shook her head. "No, I'll stay." It broke her heart to say no, especially after what happened, but she couldn't go...

He felt a cold, spread from inside him. His whole body shook and his breathing quickened. "W-why not? No! you have to come too!" What was she saying? She was staying? Did his father know? Why was she staying, no, she had to come too!

Flashes passed by his eyes, red, warm then cold, and Selene's back shielding him.

"You can't stay! What if… what if something happens!"

"Noct…" She raised her face to meet his gaze and she felt terrible, he looked so scared…

"No! You have to come! I can't lose you! You can't die!"

Her breath hitched in her throat. Die? Lose her? Was Noctis afraid of losing her? Was it… because she'd placed herself between him and the monster?

That night, all she thought about all she had remembered when the Daemon turned its attention to Noctis was her mother… the scene that she had tried to erase from her mind overlapped itself with Noct's. No! Not like that time, she couldn't allow things to go like that time. She had to protect him!

But still she had failed…

Selene threw her arms over his neck and held him in a tight hugged.

Noctis clasped her shirt and hugged her as if life depended on it, the memories flashing by his eyes, but this time it hadn't been the nanny who'd lay on the floor, it was Selene… He couldn't lose her! She was his friend! His BEST friend!

"Did I scare you?" She murmured in his ear.

"Why did you do that? Why did you jump in front of it!?" He complained, his grip on her growing.

The memory coursed through her mind and she closed her eyes and it, shoved it all away! "Because… y-you're the Prince." Damnit! Her voice cracked!

"That's stupid! That doesn't mean you should do that! You're my friend!"

But it did… and she knew Noctis was aware of that himself… he was royalty, and she was… she squeezed him.

For the first time it dawned on her, she'd tried to run from it, but now she knew she couldn't… They had their differences in the past, but now the young prince was someone who'd become irreplaceable for her… and yet, she'd allowed him to get hurt. She couldn't run anymore. "I'm sorry… I didn't want you to get hurt..."

"Don't be stupid!" He pushed her away, gently and gave her a glare. "You sound like all this is your fault!"

Selene stiffed a hiccup and looked at the lights, those golden lights that she'd always had seen, and for a moment she could feel something inside of her shifting, remembering but then… "Please…" And it was gone…

She bit her lower lip, and stepped back, her hands quickly drying the tears that had fallen. "I'll still stay…" She raised a hand to stop him from complaining and smiled. "You need to recover. I don't want to be in the way."

"You won't be in the way." For a moment she caught eye of the former stubborn prince that she'd chased around the citadel, it pained her to know that, that, was only a few weeks ago…

"Prince Noctis, the King is calling for you..."

The two children stared at the retainer who was calling from the door arch, a smile on her lips as she waited patiently.

He looked back at Selene who gave him a smile, Noctis sighed. "You won't do anything stupid while I'm gone?"

"No promises."

That brought a smile to his lips, which seemed to be rare in the last days… "Okay, I'll see you later."

She pushed him to the maid's place and walked by his side until they reached his father.

The man stared at her as she helped place Noctis wheelchair next to the Regalia. "You can still come Selene..."

She shook her head, they'd already had this conversation and she'd already made up her mind. She wouldn't go.

Regis sighed as he grabbed for his son and gently placed him inside the car. When he was done he walked to the little girl, kneeled before her and gave her a hug.

"Let's talk again after we come back..."

Selene held the king closely, her tiny arms could only hold his neck and even so, it was barely. She shook for a moment, and she knew the king had noticed as he tightened his grip on her.

She didn't say anything, she simply remained in his embrace, quietly. He didn't know. None of them knew. That's why they couldn't understand... this wasn't about her being scared, it was about her running away and because she tried to forget, that's why she'd become weak, she couldn't be weak!

He entered the car and looked at Selene who waved goodbye, he could tell that even though she was smiling it was a fake smile. He'd learned how to differentiate them, he knew she always smiled like that when she was hiding something...

The boy clenched his hands, he felt a heavy weight on his heart as he saw her lonely figure. "Dad... Why didn't Selene come?"

The king looked at his son and gave him a smile, as he held his shoulders and pulled him closer. "I think... I think Selene is a bit scared."

She was scared? Yes, maybe she'd been scared, he'd never thought about it, after all... Noctis lowered his head. "She placed herself in front of me…"

Regis watched as he felt his son's shoulders shake slightly at the memory, he griped them, trying to assure the boy he was alright, that he was safe.

"She tried to protect you, Selene didn't want to lose you."

Noctis didn't say a thing. He knew that. He'd known that from the beginning but still... "But... I don't want her to protect me, I want her to be safe!"

The man held his son and glanced towards the outside, where he saw his kingdom flash by. He wasn't sure what to say, he wasn't even certain that whatever he said would make things better... it hadn't with Selene...

On the day he'd decided to part for Tenebrea he'd told Selene about his decision, he said it was for their good, Selene's and Noctis, to recover with the help of the Oracle. But the child had refused him.

He blinked as he stared at her small form, he wasn't sure he had heard correctly but... as he studied her, the way she held herself the way she stood so rigid and with such intense gaze he knew he hadn't misheard.

"Why?" Regis asked, would never leave without the city without Selene, she was in his ward, more than that she was already part of his family. So, of course, he would take her as well!

"Noctis needs to go to Tenebrae, but not me…"

"Selene... I know you are scared to leave after what happened, but I assure you, I'll protect you, just as much as I would protect Noctis."

She flinched, and although she hid it well Regis saw it, the happiness of hearing him say that, the hope towards his words. But just as those had flickered in her eyes so did fear and guilt.

"No, your majesty." Selene shook her head and looked at the king with her resolve made. "I will not join you…"

He frowned, the word of his title had never sounded so wrong to him, especially now, before whenever she'd called him that there was warmth, shyness, gratefulness and sometimes, playfulness. But now, now it was cold and resolute. Like a grown-up.

He eyed her for a moment, there was something else. Something she wasn't telling him, something she tried to hide.

"What is it child?" Again, she flinched at his question, and Regis pushed on. "What is it that is making you choose not to go?"

She bit her lower lip, her hands that remained before her body trembled and her knuckles turned white. The king rose from his seat and kneeled before Selene, his hands holding her's ever so gently. "Selene, you can tell me anything..."

"I..." She raised her eyes and he felt something inside him shift, something he hadn't felt for a long time, an instinct, the same instinct that he had felt when he first took her in. "I wish to become a Guardian, like my father."

The king was shocked, he swallowed and breathed in, trying to make do with those words. "Child... do you... hum" he cleared his voice. "Do you know what that means?"

"Yes. It means I'll be a protector of the royal family, from the shadows."

He shook his head. "No, Selene... that's not..." He tried to find the right words, the right thing to say to her, especially when those molted golden eyes looked at him like that. "Selene... I won't stop you if you want to follow your father's footsteps, it is your right to do so... I'm shocked that you know he was a Guardian, but like I said if that is your wish I won't stand in your way... however." His gaze grew harder, the gaze of a father. "This is the kind of conversation we can have when you're older, not when your barely 9!"

"No! I need to do it now!"

"Selene-"

"Your majesty, I wasn't asking for permission, I was telling you."

He felt a shiver travel down his spine, what was this? What was it about this child that made him feel threatened by her? She was a child, a sweet child, who ran around the citadel with his son, who played, laughed and behaved like a child, except on these moments…

On these moments she didn't look like a child, she didn't behave like a child, she looked like an adult, who was making a decision that would change her entire life.

Regis shook the pressure away and hardened his resolve. "Child… I understand, you were scared, you thought Noctis was going to die, you thought you were going to die too… but everything is alright."

"For how long?" He was taken back by her words. Why would a child think like that? He got his answer a moment after. "This can't go on forever, the nights are growing, and the Empire is getting stronger…"

"How do you know that?"

She said nothing.

Regis sighed and gently combed her hair. "Let's not rush into things, you're scared, and I'm sorry I didn't give you enough attention because of Noctis… but we can talk about this later. If you don't want to come you can stay, okay?"

Regis sighed and looked up front. "Me too, son..."

The prince, was glad his father felt the same way, and as the car ride went along he quickly began feeling sleepy and tired, he didn't want to sleep... but the scent of his father cologne and the soothing ride of the car quickly lulled to sleep...

She remained outside, even when the maid went back inside, she kept looking at the place where the car had disappeared into.

Selene sighed and looked at the sky, the sun had already passed the midpoint, she frowned… it was sooner than she had expected… but she could feel it, they had entered the time of the second hour and although she knew it would happen now, she could already hear the minutes ticking away as the third hour began approaching.

She had to leave...

Year ME 745 Noctis befriends Gladiolus, his Shield, after he helps a lost Iris.

"Say, Prince Noctis how many servants do you have?" A girl asked him with a glint in her eyes.

"Maybe a hundred?" Another one squealed excited and they all giggled together.

"Eh, no way! It has to be more than that."

He sighed and turned around. The other children calling towards him. "Toilet." He responded drily as he walked away from them.

It was his father's idea to have him lead a normal life, among the people. "You will become a better king this way." His father words echoed in his mind as he turned around the corner. Honestly, he didn't dislike the idea, it was fun to be with other children, it was just…

They looked at him and whispered among themselves, eyes following his every movement, he just wished they treated him less like the prince and more like a person.

Noctis frowned, this wouldn't happen if she was with him. He glanced at the window and clenched his hands. "Why did you leave?"

She glared at the man before her. His eyes cold as he held the spear tainted with her blood, he spit towards the floor and retrieved his lance. "Hmph! You're weak."

He turned around without giving her a second glance. She was left alone, wounded, and tired. No one helped her, why should they? She was the new one, the conceited one, who thought she could become one of them at such a young age. She clenched her jaw.

The Guardians, protectors who swore to watch over the royal families of Lucii and Tenebrae…

They were great warriors, some of the best who worked from the shadows for the two families. But now Selene knew that wasn't the correct truth, at least not now…

She rose from the mud and limped towards her room, the blood oozed from her arm and her abdomen… she needed to get those treated.

He looked around, worried. It was raining, and he couldn't find her anywhere, he was certain the child had come that way.

"Hey! Are you there?"

"Ah! Hey!"

He froze and turned towards the other side of the bushes. "Hey!" As he jumped over them, he found her. She was crying and quickly ran towards him.

"Noct! I was scared! I chased the kitty, but it disappeared!"

Noctis smiled and hugged her. "Yeah, it's okay now, what's your name?"

"Iris."

"Iris," He smiled. "Let's go home?"

"You know how?"

"Yeah, I usually use this way to run away from the palace."

The child blinked. "Even though you're the prince?"

"Yeah, even though I'm the prince."

The two smiled and he extended his hand to the child. "Let's go."

She couldn't be certain, but this wasn't normal! Her side was bleeding, her leg was broken, and she had a nasty gash that made her half blind just above her eye.

She glared at the man before her.

"Stand up, novice! Did you think it was just sunshine's and rainbows? This is the Guardian's training ground! This is where you fight, until you wish you were dead! This is where we beat little arrogant shits, like you, to a pulp, and sometimes," A horrible grin appeared in his face. "Sometimes, they are too weak to hold on."

She felt herself grow cold at the words, he hadn't said it, but Selene was certain that this man, had killed many of the new recruits and, judging by the glim in his eyes, she knew she was his next target.

She gritted her teeth, and gripped the sword handle with more strength than before, slowly she rose, well, she tried to... but her body wouldn't move. Her broken leg refused to move, just as much as the rest of her body... Dammit, shit, fuck! She had to move! She refused to let that disgusting man to keep smiling at her, like he was!

'Move!' She screamed in her mind as she ordered her body to comply. Her muscles complained and pain rushed along her spin, she bit down the scream that threatened to come out and with a grunt she was able to raise her torso from the muddy floor. Her lungs were drawing air in, both out of necessity but also out of pain.

She moved her good leg forward, to support her weight, and by Chaos! It hurt, it hurt so bad! Her blood spurt from the wound on her side, and against her own will she vomited. Not certain if she'd vomited blood, her stale lunch or maybe both...

Selene glared at the man as he laughed, with his arms crossed over his chest. Damn bastard! That gave her more reason to keep going, more reason to get up!

She didn't know how, and honestly after vomiting and trying to move her broken leg, she was certain she'd lost consciousness. Nevertheless, when she regained awareness, she was in pain, heaving and panting, trembling and bleeding where she stood, but she STOOD. She stood before him, and she was pleased to see the shock in his eyes as he opened his mouth.

She bowed her head, only slightly, for she was afraid she'd fall back down if she did too much. "Thank... you." Speaking was hard, it felt like her brain was too busy with everything else that it didn't seem to want to speak. "For the training, Guardian Shane."

His face turned red, he gripped his hands and clenched his jaw. He was going to hit her. That's what she thought... but for some unknown reason, Shane left her...

Thank Chaos! Before she knew it, she'd passed out.

She wrapped the bandages around her knuckles, when she finished, she clenched them and sighed. She was getting there… it was painful, and her body didn't want to keep up with her training, but she was getting there.

Her gaze lifted to the night sky and she counted the stars that twinkled differently in her eyes. She didn't take her eyes off the sky as she heard the footsteps approaching her.

"Sulking?"

She frowned at those words. "I don't sulk."

"You're doing it right now, princess."

She threw a glare to the man that sat next to her. The boy, who was six years older than her, laughed. His dark hair swayed in the wind, it was getting too long, he needed a haircut. His light brown eyes gazed at her with amusement as he gave her a goofy, toothy smile.

She looked back at the view before them. "Shut up."

"Haha, you're cute when you pout, princess."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Don't want to, it's funny and it always seems to rile you up."

Selene sighed, there was no use in arguing with this person, she should know that by now…

"You have too much free time, weren't you sent on a mission?"

He smiled again. "Yeah, I was… but what can I say, I'm such a genius that I finished it in a blink of an eye."

She giggled at his words and pulled her legs closer to her body. "I heard them saying you're being sent to the Empire."

"Well, not really, more like Tenebrae. I'm supposed to watch prince Ravus actions…"

"How wonderful."

"What can I say, I guess I won't be bored for a while." He laughed as he too gazed at the stars. His gaze growing more serious as he did. "You don't have to do this Selene… you can go back and live in the palace with the Prince and the King." He looked at her tiny body, with bandages all over it. It had been four years since she joined the training grounds of the Guardians.

It wasn't pretty being a Guardian, especially now… he had a feeling that there were too many secrets, too many things unanswered and too many missions without apparent reason, like they were pretending…

"I choose this path, you don't have to do that, besides… they don't know who you are…"

Selene didn't react to his words, because she had known from the moment she met Sirius, she knew the boy was like her, she knew that he was an Ariadust, they had met before, when she was small, with her father. And even if years had passed, for some reason she knew he was like her. Sirius had told her it was a thing of their clan, they could recognize their own with just one glance.

She shook her head and rested her chin on her knees. "I'm also a part of this, and… I want to be stronger… I need to be stronger."

"But-"

"It's not just about blood, Sirius… I want to protect them! I want them to have a future! Happiness! And more than anything…" She looked into his eyes. "I don't want to run, and I want to follow through with my promise."

He sighed, his gaze returning to the stars. It was in their blood he guessed. He too was there because he had a promise he needed to keep. "Then I guess, we're in this together..."

She looked at him for a moment. "But… you have your own promise to keep."

Sirius smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Hehe, that's true… but it can wait. Besides, how can I leave my cute baby sister in the lions' den, all alone? Not to mention, I like the constant death and destruction vibe, it keeps me up at night, how else will I see the stars?" He wasn't lying but at the same time he was… He needed Selene to do this, it was the only way for him to keep his promise, but… that didn't mean he couldn't feel bad towards the girl.

Selene laughed at his joke, and playfully shoved him with her tiny shoulder. "Then, I hope, for both your sake and mine that we don't screw up. After all," Her smile curved into a smirk. "This will be the biggest change/con this planet has ever seen."

His lips changed into a smirk and Sirius gave her a wink. "Now, you're talking my language, princess."

AN: Part 2 as promised, I apologize for the delay, I got a few personal matters to attend to and totally forgot I still hadn't published the next part, but worry not, here it is, as promised!

The next chapter will be out in two to three weeks, more or less, thank you! I hope you enjoyed it!