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charlottedabookworm:
Okay, so. Fair warning, but this is sad. This is part of an AU where Fractured Lightning!Nyx did not escape with Prompto because they moved him before Nyx could escape, and then Nyx spent the next decade and a bit thinking that his son was dead - or worse. There are mentions of dehumanisation, human experimentation, branding, medical procedures, and family being separated from each other.
Anyway, tell me what you think?
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Fractured Lightning medical imagery mention dehumanisation human experimentation Nyx is not in a good place and he did not hear Prom say dad but the chocobros did and tehy are totally gonna chase this shit up like - blood tests Nyx’s blood is probably on file and Noct is the crown prince so they do blood tests which is prob how they find out tht Nyx is not only Prom’s dad but also Regis’ son meanwhile - Nyx has gone home to cry Ramuh probably appears
@charlottedabookworm
This is bittersweet and sad and beautiful and tragic in all the best/worst ways imaginable. I want to cuddle it close and sob over it for a few hours - oh Nyx. Nyx hates himself, and mourns and grieves and cannot let go. Nyx, who punishes himself far more harshly and ruthlessly then anyone else would - it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his fault; there was nothing he could have done, but Nyx - Nyx refuses, utterly, to believe that. And I rather seriously doubt that he would ever, ever have told anyone else about Prompto, about exactly what took place in the labs - not Libertus, not Crowe, not Pelna. So they can’t cuff him around the ear and scream at him that it wasn’t his fault.
Perhaps only Ramuh knows. Yet he is wise enough to know that telling Nyx it was not his fault would only break the man.
And - wait. Does this mean that Nyx is responsible for Prompto’s infatuation with chocobos?
Thank goodness for your tags. They give me some hope that things get better - would blood tests reveal a genetic connection between Prompto and Nyx? I mean - there are obviously some physical similarities, due to what you once described as an ‘accidental magical adoption’; would that be reflected in their genetics?
And oh, oh. Wouldn’t that set the cat among the pigeons - with the rest of the chocobros hearing Prompto calling Nyx ‘dad’, with Prompto tremulously sharing his only memories of his real - a father who loved him, who tried to keep him safe even in the middle of so much pain, his dad who he was stolen from. And - can this be his dad? Really his dad? Noctis et al are probably really to fight to the death to help Prompto find out the truth - if nothing else, their friend needs closure.
Of course, when they start running DNA comparisons between Nyx and anyone else - well. I’d like to think that the equipment is set up such that if a particular set of genetics - namely, the Royal Family’s - shows up? It triggers automatic alerts. Nyx’s info was in the system, it just hadn’t been analyzed by the system - not until now.
…there’s probably going to be a squad of Crownsguard led to the apartment Nyx has on file to escort the man back to the Citadel for more thorough testing - then again, when they batter the door down? They might just find the man in question weeping into the arms of the fucking Fulgarian. Which. What?
@hamelin-born
Nobody hates Nyx more than he hates himself in this au. Nyx cannot bring himself to believe that it wasn’t his fault, that there was nothing that he could do, that he couldn’t have saved Prompto. None of that matters, in his mind, all that matters is that he had failed and his son had paid the price and he will never, ever forgive himself for it.
But you’re right, he doesn’t speak of the labs except in vague terms – most of what Lib and Crowe and Pelna and Selena peace together is based on Nyx’s scars, but they don’t actually ask him because Nyx won’t tell them. The only one of them to have any real idea of Nyx’s time in the labs is Ramuh - Ramuh who was the one to catch Nyx in his arms as he fell onto Galahd’s shores, who held him as he screamed for his lost son, as he raged for what had been done to them, who pieced him back together as he broke. Ramuh and Nyx were alone for two weeks before Lib et al arrived, and Ramuh is the only one who knows.
And yet, telling Nyx that it wasn’t his fault would break him. Back in the beginning, Nyx was too raw for Ramuh to bring it up, too unwilling to listen, and unready to hear otherwise, and then later – as Nyx healed – he built his entire identity around the fact that it was his fault.
For Ramuh to tell him otherwise would shatter him, completely.
He can’t do that to his chosen.
(And yes, the chocobo obsession can be lain solely on Nyx’s shoulders, the same with the love of photography. Nyx spent hour after hour telling Prom (and I can’t decide if that would have been his name already, or if Nyx had named him something else originally only for Prom to forget because no one called him it after Nyx left) about the outside world, story after story, and he tried to make it sound as beautiful as he could – because his son deserved some happiness that couldn’t be found in the labs.
So, baby!Prom spends two years listening to tale after tale of the beauty of the world in a single moment and the adorableness that is chocobos, and he doesn’t remember any of it – not really, nothing but impressions – but they make him feel safe and happy.
Even if he doesn’t remember why)
(Somedays, Prom will look up at the sky and his heart will ache, even as he glories in the beauty of it)
But yeah, the bros would totally try to figure out if Prom’s sudden memories – because those few memories of his father were intrinsically tied to his magic and he didn’t really remember anything until Nyx called him little bird, which means that Prom’s magic is about to make a pretty serious reappearance after being pushed down for over a decade, which prob won’t end well honestly – are real via blood tests, because prom deserves that much. He deserves a family that loves him, and Noct et al know Nyx and he’s a good guy (they also noticed the way that Nyx looked at Prom like he was everything, and the tears at the end, so they’re pretty sure that Nyx is actually Prom’s dad and that is not the look of a man who had abandoned his child by choice) and Prom needs a good family who cared for him.
(Imagine how guilty Nyx will feel, once he learns that his son had grown up in what is, at the very least, a neglectful household. Imagine how much he’ll blame himself)
As for a genetic connection, I’m thinking yes.
See, Prom was a part of an experiment – not long after they caught Nyx – to see if they could have MT’s with magic, you know, standard stuff. Anyway, experiments with older clones didn’t work, so they picked up batch of younger clones instead of just growing a new batch from Nyx (no, bad brain, ignore au idea, let’s not torture Nyx with them doing that, Prom doesn’t need a half-dozen younger brothers – the only ones who survived the experiments – and I don’t the need the mental image of Nyx standing over the graves of his children who he wasn’t fast enough to save, no) and, essentially, through much handwavy science, tried to graft the part of Nyx’s DNA that his magic was connected to onto these clones. It didn’t work. Or, well, it did.
Because Prom was the only survivor.
Anyway, Prom got magic, yay. But he only survived through regular transfusions of Nyx’s blood in the beginning, and, as his magic settled into his soul, it recognised Nyx’s blood in Prom’s veins and the connection between them and the magical adoption triggered a, I dunno, metamorphosis? Basically, Prom’s body tried to adapt to Nyx’s blood – because MT’s are made to adapt to the scourge – which is how Prom physically actually looks a fair bit like an Ulric – like Nyx.
I don’t know whether, blood wise, Prom could be considered Nyx’s son, but he would definitely come up as a relation.
But then Nyx’s blood being analysed triggers all sorts of alarms because, er fuck, that is a rather alarming amount of Lucis Caelum DNA there, and they need a fresh sample to run more tests on because oops, possible royal bastard.
So, some Crownsguard are dispatched to collect Nyx. He’s not in the dorms, or in any of the ‘Glaives training areas, and eventually, they track his phone to his flat. Nobody answers the door when they knock, so they batter the door down, because hey, possible Lucis Caelum and this is important, only to freeze when irritated red eyes lock onto them.
Because Ramuh hadn’t bothered with a human form, not in the safety of his Chosen’s flat, and instead had just shrunk to human size. So, you’ve got Ramuh with his long white hair, red eyes, and the small hornlike protrusions on his forehead, dressed in his usual flowing robes – which Nyx is currently sobbing into.
Multiple brains just, stall. Because, what the fuck?
Meanwhile, Nyx can’t stop saying “He alive, but he doesn’t remember” over and over again between sobs into his grandfather’s chest, taking comfort in the only father figure he’s ever known and the only one who knows of his son.
And Ramuh just has his arms wrapped around his Chosen as he sobs, glaring at the mainlanders who would dare interrupt his grandson’s mourning.
Eventually, one of the ‘guard will muster up enough courage to clear his throat and say that Ulric was requested by medical immediately, (and this poor guard deserves a promotion or a commendation or something, angry Astral’s, even human-sized ones, are terrifying), because it’s important, while Ramuh glares at them.
Ramuh will probably just huff, but – since he knows how much Nyx needs to heal and he can just barely sense Nyx’s son in the Citadel, also Nyx is breaking to fucking pieces right not and probably won’t be stopping any time soon – teleports them both to medical.
Which is how Nyx ends up weeping in the arms of the Fulgarian in front of everyone in medical – which may or may not end up including the Crown Prince of Insomnia, Prompto, and possible the King himself.
It is also probably about the point that Nyx passes out from exhaustion, because why not
@charlottedabookworm
sudden mental image of Prom’s magic eventually just - bursting out of him and Nyx is the only one who can get close because Prom’s magic remembers Nyx’s - remembers that feeling of /safety/ and /family/ and /love/ Nyx is Prom’s safe space - the one who protected him from the monsters just realised - how do you think Lib et al feel when they find out that Nyx has been dealing with the loss of his son on his /own/ for a decade? they’re gonna punch him. They are going to punch him and then go destroy Niflheim fuck the empire anyway
I’d like to imagine that Nyx remains awake just long enough for the assembled individuals in medical - which definitely include Prompto, Noctis, and Regis (the latter because this is a possible Lucis Caelum and they’re going to need a fresh sample to run a comparison against - plus, Regis is also sort of the head of the family. It’s a - nebulous area, and Regis finds himself - oddly anticipatory about meeting this relative he never knew he had.) He remains awake just long enough for all of them to hear the latest rendition of the refrain he’s been sobbing into his Grandfather’s robes - “He’s safe he’s alive he doesn’t remember me he doesn’t remember me but he’s alive and that should be enough right he’s alive he’s happy he doesn’t know me he’s alive he’s alive my son is alive he doesn’t know me he’s alive - “
Which. Well. Both provides some much-needed answers while raising even more questions. Because that - is probably pretty conclusive evidence that Nyx is Prompto’s father, but that raises the question what the ever loving fuck happened. It sounds like Nyx thought Prompto was dead, and this - what. Just what.
And, um, why is the Fulgarian here?
Ramuh probably remains just long enough to gently place Nyx on a nearby medical bed, fold his arms, and glower at one and all before discorporating. He does not want to answers questions - besides. It’s Nyx’s story to tell.
And meanwhile Prompto is getting more and more stressed and they’re running the tests and here is proof positive that Nyx is Prompto’s dad. Here is also evidence that Regis is Nyx’s dad. Oh holy Astrals the King is my grandfather, and my best friend is my Uncle? What the hell, what the hell, what the hell dude?!
…at which point in time the combination of stress and being in close proximity to not only his dad but a whole host of other potent magic users reignites Promto’s own inherent magic, and it basically explodes out of him in a maelstorm of color and light and force that he has not idea how to control.
Prompto is panicking, and no one can reach him, and -
And then Nyx.
Nyx, who is still deeply disoriented both from being shocked out of unconciousness, emotional shock, and sobbing himself to sleep. Nyx, who doesn’t quite know where or when he is. Nyx, who only registers that his son - oh, his son - is in distress - because Prompto would do this before, when he was a very small child. Throw a temper tantrum or just plain lose control and Nyx had to talk him down, had to soothe him and sing him to sleep and -
Nyx is acting on automatic when he walks into the heart of Prompto’s magical tornado.
It doesn’t touch him. There’s not a hair out of place; Nyx shambles forward, looking very much like a man with a dire need for ten cups of coffee and a good breakfast and ten hours more sleep, and Prompto’s magic does not touch him. He’s completely unaffected.
And then Nyx is there. Nyx is there, standing in front of his son, and he takes Prompto in his arms, shushing him and crooning a soft, wordless melody to him. “It’s okay, little bird. I’m here. I’m here. You’re safe; no one will hurt you now…”
The maelstrom dies, and all that is left is a sobbing Prompto curling into a barely-coherent Nyx’s arms.
@hamelin-born
Okay, I’ll admit that I was originally just going to have him pass out straight away, but your idea is so much better.
Just, Nyx doesn’t realise that he’s been moved – his face buried in his grandfather’s shoulder as he sobs, too out of it to notice the familiar sensation of teleportation – so he just continues babbling in between sobs and deep, heaving breathes. And everyone has to strain to hear the words that Nyx is repeating over and over.
“He’s safe he’s alive he doesn’t remember me he doesn’t remember me but he’s alive and that should be enough right he’s alive he’s happy he doesn’t know me but he’s alive my son is alive he doesn’t know me he’s alive” on and on he goes, only stopped when he can no longer breath, and his tone of voice, the sobs that wrack his body – the sight of this strong man breaking down completely – is enough to break everyone’s hearts.
It feels like they’re intruding on something, but Nyx’s words provide answers – ones that they need. Even if they also give them even more questions.
Because seriously. That’s Ramuh. Wtaf man?
And I feel like the whole scene would just hit Regis the hardest, tbh, because Regis is a father. And that’s what Nyx is, at the minute – Nyx is a father who thought that his son was dead (and they really need to know how that came about, they don’t really know anything about the labs yet and I’m debating whether it’ll be Prom or Nyx that is the one to first mention it to them) and now he’s found him alive but he doesn’t know him, and Nyx is trying to come to terms with that. But that thought process, Nyx saying that Prom is alive and happy and that should be enough for him no matter how much it breaks his heart, is something that Regis gets. Because if he was in the same position, he’d be the same.
He knows that.
(Regis really wasn’t expecting this today. He’d come down to medical once he’d gotten the notification of someone of possible Lucis Caelum blood – his presence needed both as King and as head of the family, also Noct is still underage and can’t give a blood sample without parental consent so they need Regis for that blood sample as a comparison to make sure that everything is accurate.
He has two possible relatives in the room with him – however distant, he has no idea yet – and he wants to know, because family is so important to this man that was titled Father)
Also, I just love Ramuh being obviously grandfatherly – he holds Nyx as he cries himself to sleep (passes out from exhaustion) and places him gently on the bed and brushes a hand across his forehead, maybe he even fusses with the blankets a little – and then turning around and glaring at them all because they better not fucking disturb his grandson/chosen and then disappearing because his job is done and he isn’t answering questions.
Everyone probably just blinks at the space that he was in for a long moment, before going about with the blood tests.
(And why do I feel like getting blood from Nyx in this state is going to be difficult.
He’s mostly unconscious and this isn’t a good day and he probably doesn’t fee
l particularly safe – surrounded by these people who don’t really know him. The first time someone tries to draw his blood he probably flinches back, or goes to attack them, even while still out of it.
In the end, they’ll probably have to call one the of Glaives in or ask Prom to do it. Nobody else can get near him)
Then blood tests happen and look, Prom has been on the verge of a panic attack ever since he’d spoken to Nyx and gotten a whole bunch of mostly forgotten memories dumped into his head (memories of his dad, of magic, of the labs) and he isn’t in the best of places right now. He’s been clinging to clarity because he needs to know – because this is his dad – but now he has the results and his dad is his dad and he was right.
But the King is also his grandfather and his best friend is his uncle and nothing makes sense anymore.
It all just gets too much and something inside of Prom – something that had been growing stronger, surrounded by the magic of his family – shatters.
Before he can even blink, before he can even realise what is happening, his magic is surging from inside of him – a tidal wave rising inside of his chest and Prom doesn’t know what this is, only has half-remembered sensations of it, and it terrifies him – and lashing out around him, visible and violent and uncontrolled.
It hurts, and Prom lets out a whimper before he even realises it.
Any then there’s Nyx.
Nyx wakes up at the sound of his son’s whimper – a sound that he knew so well, because the labs were not a nice place, especially when they didn’t view you as human – and he launches himself off of the bed without a thought, passing straight through the raging storm of magic (magic the same colour of the sky, deep blues that he hadn’t seen in so long) that was holding everyone else back, even the magic users.
(Because Nyx was used to this once – artificial transference of magic wasn’t stable, it was easy enough for someone to lose control of their magic at a young age and it was even worse for someone whose body was still adapting to magic, that was how so many of the earlier subjects had died. Fuck, it was why he’d met Prom in the first place – the scientists had tossed him to him in the hopes that Nyx could control his raging magic.
He had, mostly by the use of the bond that had formed the moment that their magic had made contact)
Anyway, Nyx registers without thought that his son is in distress and moves automatically – blanketing himself in his magic and passing through without another thought, even as his eyes glowed green – and it doesn’t hurt him, doesn’t even touch him. Nyx passes through Prom’s raging magic as though it isn’t even there, and all everyone else can do is stare in shock.
He looks like a stiff breeze could knock him over, but he’s fine.
And then, for the first time in years, Nyx pulls his son into his arms – ignoring the maelstrom of magic that surrounded them, tearing into the floors. He pulls his son into his arms, one hand moving automatically to brush over his hair and back much like he had used to so long ago, hushing him and crooning softly. “It’s okay, little bird. I’m here, I’m here. You’re safe; no one will hurt you now…” Prom relaxes slightly at the words, almost automatically finding comfort in them, and Nyx finds himself singing softly for the first time since he had escaped the labs.
“Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I’ll be safe and sound…” Slowly, ever so slowly, the storm of magic dies down as Nyx croons a familiar lullaby in his sons’ ear – one that he had sung to the boy, over and over again, years ago. The storm dies, leaving Prompto sobbing into his father’s chest, and Nyx stumbles slightly – exhaustion catching up on him now that the danger to his son has passed.
He walks them backwards until he can brace against a bed, arms still wrapped tightly around the boy sobbing into his neck, and continues humming the tune of the lullaby.
It’s only when Prom stops crying long enough to look up at him – eyes red-rimmed and face splotchy and biting his lip in something like embarrassment – that Nyx stops and looks down at his son with a small smile.
(one that lights up his face, even as it highlights just how wrecked Nyx is at the minute)
With one hand, he reaches up and gently brushes a tear from Prompto’s cheek.
“Hey little bird,” he says slowly, in a voice that is hoarse from crying and singing and pure exhaustion. At this point, he’s awake only because he is leaning on the magic of the land – and he’s going to regret that later, when he pulls back from it – but this is far more important. “I’ve got you. It’s okay, I’ve got you.”
“Dad.”
A tear slips down his face. “I’ve got you.” He promises.
everyone is just watching in shock I don’t think that it’s quite sunk in for everyone that this glaive - who looks like death but is rocking his son as he sobs - is Regis’ son Prom’s magic going out of control distracted everyone from it and Nyx is totally going to pass out soon (sudden mental image of them passing out together on the same bed - Prom curling into his dad for comfort like he used to) also the labs are not going to be a nice conversation whenever that revelation happens which will probably be after baby math when they realise that Nyx would have been really fucking young when Prom was born
@charlottedabookworm
With regards to your earlier mention about how they actually get the blood sample - well, Prompto, quite frankly, probably doesn’t know how to take one, meaning that they need someone else that Nyx knows and trusts on a subconcious level. Which - will probably be Libertus, most likely. Meaning that Lib is in the room when all this is going down. And - well. He’s probably starting to put together at least a few things, based off of what he’s observed over the past few years and what Nyx has carefully not talked about.
And yes. Just yes, for Prompto’s magic to just - explode over everything. And if there were any doubts that Prompto is related to the Lucis Caelums, that display probably put an end to them. Prompto’s not Crownsguard, not yet, he shouldn’t have access to any form of magic whatsoever, and yet - yet he’s somehow conjured a storm of light and raw, elemental power that swirls around him in a miniature hurricane. And it’s - telling, in a fashion. Because, to the expert eyes of mages who understand what they’re doing vs those who simply use magic - it says a fair deal about Prompto. For one, it indicates that he’s entirely untrained, when, at his age, he should have at least had some kind of rudimentary control over his power, even if he had to make it up himself. Which means he hasn’t been using it. And given how Prompto himself didn’t know that he was related to the Royal Family, means that it never manifested, and - for someone to just lock down on their magic like that implies that there was some kind of event - either physical or psychological - that made Prompto subconciously just. Try and tamp it down, shut it all away. Which implies bad things.
And just. The sight of Nyx blindly throwing himself through Prompto’s magic to hug him and talk him down and sing to him is just. Heartbreaking and heartwarming in one, for all the onlookers - and the sheer, careful desperation with which a fairly out of it Nyx handles Prompto probably kindles EMOTIONS in everyone watching. Regis, for one, looks at his son - his son - and feels his heart break. As you’ve mentioned before - Regis himself is a parent, and he knows exactly how far he would go for Noctis, what the loss of a child might do to you.
And I just. For all that Nyx is plainly exhausted, I think that Prompto is going to drift off first. It’s been a stressful day for both of them, but of the two, Nyx is the one who is currently doing the magical equivalent of injecting caffeine straight into his veins - meaning that he’s cradling a sleeping Prompto when Libertus crouched next to him.
“You have a son?”
And Nyx is. Nyx is just too out of it to really muster up anything but the exact truth. “Yeah.”
“How do you have a son?”
If Libertus expected a glib remark, he’s very mistaken. “The Nifs.”
(Everyone else is listening very very closely right now, doing their best not to interrupt for fear of breaking Nyx’s ramblings.)
“You got captured on a mission almost - “ Lib’s eyes widen slightly. “…almost sixteen years ago.” He says slowly, eyes flickering to Prompto as the shorter man visibly runs through a set of calculations in his head - the timing. Fits. Prompto looks to be about the right age, looks to be exactly the right age.
And then Nyx’s actual age hits him, and Lib spasms. “You were fifteen!” There’s a visible stir in the room, people’s heads snapping up as they do their best to stare at Nyx.
Nyx, for his part, looks entirely unconcerned. And also like he might not know where he is at the current moment, or care, for that matter, but that’s probably the fatigue. “They wanted kids with magic. Knew I had magic. Used me to make kids. He’s the only one that lived.”
(Also, I headcanon that Nyx originally named Prompto something else, probably something night and/or star related in homage to clan Ulric - except Prompto forgot and his adoptive parents had him going by ‘Prompto’ in relatively short order.)
@hamelin-born
Yes. Okay, yes. Just them having to bring Lib in, as the Glaive that Nyx is closest too and Nyx’s best friend who he trusts absolutely, to do the blood tests and Lib slowly piecing everything together because right now he has the most information of the lot of them.
Because they’d noticed Nyx dancing around the subject, noticed how he rarely told them anything that had happened in the labs, but they’d never pushed – both because they aren’t idiots, but also because Ramuh had asked them not to.
(They knew it was something major though, beyond torture and the experimentation scars that they’d seen, watching Nyx with kids was enough proof of that.
Lib’s best friend had always been good with kids, had liked to spend time with them and had often done so as a way to de-stress. It was the older sibling in him, Nyx used to joke. But after he escaped the labs, Nyx spent years flinching back from every child that he was near. He would stare at them as though they were ghosts and get this heartbreaking look on his face.
So, they knew that something bad had happened and that it involved kids.
They just didn’t expect Nyx to have had his own)
And, when Prom’s magic bursts out of him in this completely uncontrolled storm, it tells the mages a lot about how serious and bad whatever had separated Nyx and Prompto had been. Because Prom obviously hadn’t trained his magic, it had obviously been suppressed – and it takes a lot to suppress a Lucis Caelum’s magic, because their magic is their soul, but Prom’s own magic had suppressed itself and that does not speak well of their situation – but it still recognised Nyx and his magic, which means there was a time before the suppression.
(everyone very carefully doesn’t mention that that suppression likely saved Prompto’s life.
Because out of control magic kills, and with no one to train him Prom would have been relying on his own instincts to gain enough control to survive past puberty if his magic had been open to him. They probably do mention it to Nyx at one point, because as far as they know Nyx had had no one to train him but was also obviously in control, and Nyx doesn’t know how to say that it probably wouldn’t have mattered.
If his son’s magic hadn’t hidden itself, Prom would have died before puberty – probably on a table, cut open to see what made him tick. Or he might have been forced into some sort of breeding program, to create more like him. Or any host of other very bad things. But since it had? Prom would have been deemed a failed experiment and slated to either be disposed of or shuffled back into the MT program.
There was a very good reason that Nyx thought his son dead, he tells them quietly – well away from Prompto – and the looks on their faces speak volumes because they didn’t know how bad the labs where)
There are so many emotions when Nyx just throws himself into the maelstrom of magic without hesitation, when he comforts his son and sings to him and hugs him – and there’s always this air of fragile disbelief to Nyx, as though he can’t believe this is real even as he treats Prompto as though he’s the most important thing in the world, to go with the raw heartbreaking desperation that lined his entire body – and if there is anyone who is hit the hardest then its Regis. Because Regis gets it – he knows what he would do for his son, knows how much his death would break him – and he hates to see that look on his son, his son.
Yes for Prom dropping off first, so that Nyx can have this discussion while clutching his sleeping son to him, because Nyx wants to sleep – is really fucking exhausted – but he can’t until the boost that he got from the land runs out. (and he’s really not looking forward to that, it gives him the biggest hangover on Eos, but it was worth it). And it being Lib who is the one to ask questions, Lib who knows Nyx best and wants to know why he has a nephew that he’d never heard of. Lib who knows the most, who is the only one in the room to know that Nyx had spent time in Niflheim’s care.
Lib who really wasn’t expecting the answer that he got, though he should have expected how flippant Nyx would be.
“They wanted kids with magic. Knew I had magic. Used me to make kids. He’s the only one that lived.”
“Fuck, you were fifteen, Nyx!”
His best friend tries to smile at him, but it just makes Libertus’ heart break. “They didn’t care.”
“Wait- kids? How many were there?”
“Dunno. A dozen. Maybe. They all died except him.” He shrugged slightly, careful not to jolt the sleeping teenager curled up in his arms. And that was a lie, Nyx had just lied to him. They’d all died, that was the truth but. If he had to bet, he’d say that his brother knew exactly how many others there had been – and that he knew exactly how many of his children had died and how. The shadows in his eyes told him that he might have even seen it happen.
He changed the subject. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked gently, not pressuring but inquisitive. Libertus should probably feel sorry for taking advantage of his friend’s exhausted state like this, but Nyx would tell him anyway eventually and at least it was him and no one else.
“Was my fault Lib. I left him there. They moved him ‘n I couldn’t find him. And nobody would tell me where. I killed ‘em all but they wouldn’ tell me. Then I thought he was dead. Or worse. ‘N it hurt too much.”
“It wasn’t your fault Nyx.”
“Was! I should have escaped earlier! Wasn’t fast enough and he- he paid for it.” Nyx slurs out, finally succumbing to exhaustion as the last of the lands magic drains away.
(Yeah, I honestly can’t see Nyx naming his kid Prompto purely because it doesn’t fit with the Ulric naming pattern. Also, angst :)
Maybe Prom’s name was originally something like Astraeus – for the god of dusk, the darkest part of twilight before the night, but I think it also translates to ‘starry’ or something similar so it fits with Nyx being named for the night – or maybe Morpheus – for the god of dreams, because dreams are the only thing that you have in the labs.
So, yeah. Nyx named Prom but then Prom went a couple of years without anyone calling him that and forgot it completely, then his adoptive parents named him something different and Nyx didn’t expect that to hurt so much but it did)
regis watching this entire thing is just going to be so heart broken because Nyx apparently had multiple kids and tehy died because of Niflheim because his son was /captured/ by Niflheim he wants to rage and he doesn’t even know the full extent of what was done to Nyx in the labs yet meanwhile Lib is just - quietly heart broken - while refusing to leave his brother’s side because he’d known it was bad but not this bad never this bad and this is his brother and his nephew and fuck everything else
@charlottedabookworm
I like the idea of Prompto’s original name being ‘Morpheus’ - partly because The Sandman is one of my all-time favorite graphic art series - and also because it is nicely evocative. Perhaps Prompto adopts it as - sort of a middle name, down the line? He now has so many names to choose from - Prompto, Morpheus, Argumentum, Ulric - and Nyx would never begrudge him the chance to choose who he wants to be, what name he wishes to bear.
Libertus is probably going to get politely whisper-interrogated as soon as Nyx drops off to sleep. Whisper-interrogated, because no one wants to wake up Glaive Ulric and Prompto Argumentum - who have just been revealed as, respectively, the son and grandson of the King - and Libertus refuses to be separated from his brother and nibling. It’s Libertus who probably fills them in - that Nyx was captured by Niflheim when he was young, that he broke out and never, never told them the details. There are scars that Libertus does not know the story behind, there are nightmares that Nyx refuses to share, there are shadows in Ulric-bright eyes that he does not know how to name - except now. Now he does. Now he has an inkling, and it almost shatters him.
It probably all but shatters Regis. His son, his son, captured, taken, tortured, probably raped, forced to watch his infant children die in front of him, and the only one left, the only one he had a chance to name was taken from him. It’s an outright wonder that the man is functional; Regis probably demands Nyx’s full and complete file ASAP. It’s - Nyx+Prompto’s hospital room probably becomes very full very quickly - Libertus refuses to leave. Regis isn’t going anywhere, and neither is Noctis - that’s his best friend and his newfound brother there. A number of people start rotating in and out, and - there are plans being made, there is grief being shared, there is a quiet understanding growing between the King and the Prince and the Glaives - we take care of our own.
…Nyx’s shitty apartment and the relative wages of all the Glaives might also come to light, and Regis takes great pleasure in tracking down just who was grafting from the Glaive paycheck.
Drautos just. Well. He didn’t know. He never knew that that Hero of the Glaive had been in the labs - it’s uncomfortably close to his own experiences. It’s - in some ways, Ulric got off easier - he escaped, didn’t he? But in some ways, he suffered more - he lost his child, he lost his children, and Drautos knows how that can shatter a man.
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