You sat in a chair outside the kings throne room, waiting to be brought before him. Carefully, you inhale and exhale in controlled counts. In…1…2…3… Out…1…2..3… But it does nothing to get the icy feeling of fear to leave you. Rather, it makes it worse. The second you stop counting, you know you’ll panic. Maybe even try to run. Heavens know you’ve thought about it ever since the king’s shield PERSONALLY brought you to this chair and sat you down. And your mind had been forming an escape plan ever since because of it.

You’re fast. Faster than most. Plus, you know the citadel almost as well as the royal family since you’ve been a servant here since you were a child. You know the ins and outs of the place, and could make a bee line for that one window with the lose hinges. Far up from the ground for a regular servant but, as you’ve discovered, not for you. No one could catch you, you think, especially if you…

You cast the though from your head as soon as it enters. Warping is what got you here in the first place. You’d fallen from that very same window and, in a moment of panic, reached for something deep inside you that you’d never noticed before. And it was just by chance your pocket knife fell from your pocket when it did, reaching the ground before you did and giving you a focus point…

You’d felt like your whole body blinked, and found yourself laying on the ground. Of course, you’d felt sick immediately after. Something that was very common after warping you’d heard. However, you didn’t get a chance to recover. The palace staff converged on you, scraping you off the ground and rushing you inside. There, you were sat on the floor as one of the Kingsglaive rushed off to alert the adviser, shield, and king of what had just occurred. 

A servant had just warped. With no connection to the glaive, and no clear connection to the king. It hadn’t even been 10 minutes before you’d gotten to see the Shield’s intimidating form stalking toward you, and ordering you to follow. 

Like you were going to argue with him.

From there, he explained that you were about to go before the king and his inner circle for a line of questioning. You had no idea what about, but your heart was in your throat none the less. You shuttered in your seat and clenched your eyes closed in an effort to steady yourself. 

“It’s time. Rise and go into the chamber.”

You gasp in surprise, looking up into the face of one of your fellow servants. You didn’t even hear his approach. His face was grim and he would not meet your eyes. You couldn’t find it in yourself to speak, and only nodded, rising from your chair. He finally turned from the door he was meant to open for you, and looked you over. 

“Square your shoulders, and hold your head up.” he said quietly, “Only the guilty won’t meet the gaze of the king.”

“The guilty? But I didn’t…” 

He raised his hand for you to be quiet, and shook his head. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but they’re set up for a trial it looks like. I don’t know what happened, but I’m telling you. Look the king in the eye when you tell your side. The guilty won’t met his eyes.”

“…why?” you whispered as he went to the door to pull it open.

He shrugged helplessly, and pushed open the door, holding himself prim and proper as it swung open, going back to ignoring you.

“The one in question will now speak.” The adviser said, and you took a deep breath, trusting yourself to truth. You did as the other servant advised, and stood a bit straighter, compared to the shrunken appearance of before.

“Please, explain from your point of view what occurred this afternoon.” The adviser began, speaking for the king.

You nodded and directed your answers at the king. You gave as much detail as you could, and then described the sudden blinking feeling. After which they asked where you were from. You said Galahd, as that was where your mother had said she originated. When they asked your name, and then hers, a murmur of surprise and shock went through the crowd, and they then asked if you’d known your grandmother’s name. 

And once you gave it, concern rippled through the room. 

You only caught whispers, but there was something about a missing maid? (Or was it mistress…You’re certain you;d misheard that.) You’d known that your grandmother was a servant here once. And your mother sent you back here because of it after…after she passed in Galahd. Eventually, someone said that you’d have to stay here until something could be investigated, and you were taken to one of the guest rooms on the royal floor. 

This…was worrying.

~

Time passed slowly in the room. And though everything you’d ever want was there, you felt as if you couldn’t touch it. It wasn’t for you, you were a servant. So you sat on the floor near the door of the room. Once this whole misunderstanding was cleared up, you’d like to keep your job. Which meant sitting on the floor so you didn’t mess anything up. 

And you swear, you definitely were not crying. Why would you need to? There was nothing wrong. But tears fell down your cheeks anyways. You were afraid. Just what had you done wrong? Perhaps the crystal had taken pity on you and saved you, and there was no other explanation. You were not a glaive, and certainly not royal, but…

You knew that the moment you warped, you became a person of interest to the crown. And persons of interest often never got their normal life back.

You were crying in earnest at this point, and didn’t notice the door to the room open. 

“Hello?” A soft voice called, and you curled into yourself, hoping that if you just stayed behind the door, they wouldn’t notice you.

The door swung open further and you watched over your knees to see who it was. His back was to you, but you felt despair rise up in your chest and buried your face in your knees again. That black hair was unmistakable. The prince was about to see your face after you’d just gotten done crying. Great.

“Noct? I don’t think anyone’s in here.” Called another voice from the doorway, who you mentally cursed twice in your head. Because you could hear the prince turn around to address the speaker. 

“I swear, I heard someone cry…Uh…” You could only guess that he gestured to you, and that the other guy must have taken a look behind the door. Because there was a yelp of surprise and on the other side of the door you swear you heard him fall over. Which surprised you enough to look up and meet the prince’s concerned and slightly panicked face.

Well shit. This was awkward. 

You rubbed at your eyes hurriedly, even though you knew it was no good trying to hide your tears. 

“Apologies, your highness,” you began, “I didn’t mean to disturb you and your friend’s day.”

“N-no. It’s fine. I’m just…” He turned away and as practically pleading with his eyes for the blond haired one to help him. 

“Are you alright?” the blond flat out asked, after peeking at you from the other side of the door. He still hadn’t gotten off the floor.

“I’m fine.” You said, and flashed a half-hearted smile. “But you shouldn’t be here.” 

The blond one glanced at Noctis, who was still just as confused as before. You continued, hoping to scare him away and leave you alone. “I’m being investigated by your father for something. You really shouldn’t be here” 

At that, a panicked look flashed across both their faces and you buried your own back into your knees. But to your surprise, when you heard the door close, instead of being alone the two boys sat beside you.

“Weelll…You’re in the royal guest wing, so that means you’re not considered dangerous.” Noctis began. 

The one beside him continued. “Besides! If you WERE dangerous, you’d have guards around. There’s no guards near here!”

“And your point?” You asked quietly, wanting to be left to your misery. 

“Point being, what’s wrong.” Noctis asked, nudging you with his shoulder. 

You sniffled and then muttered the cursed words into your knees. “I fell out a window, which should have killed me.” 

“That’s…geez, okay, so you’re crying tears of relief? I’d be if that happened to me.” The blond said, trying to draw a bit more out of you.

You shook your head. “No.”

“So….what are they investigating something like that for.” Noctis asked.

In annoyance, you looked over at him and looked him in the eye. “I only lived because I warped.”

Then you burrowed your head back into your knees, and hoped to stay curled up. What you were not expecting was the sudden burst of energy from the two beside you.

“What?!” The blond jumped to his feet and pulled you up as well after grabbing your wrists. “Are you part of the Kingsglaive? But you’re our age!”

Noctis had stood up in just pure surprise. You had to pry your wrists from the blond and drew them back to yourself. 

“N-no. I’m not Kingsglaive.” You looked between the two of them, just talking to them as if you were all normal teens. “It just…happened. I’m just a servant you see.”

They looked at each other, and you could tell were about to ask a million and a half questions, but then there was a knock at the door. They both paled, and you ended up shoving them behind the door where you had been sitting. After gesturing for them to be quiet, you walked over and answered the door, slipping into your professional demeanor….or, as best you could with tears stains running down your face.

“Yes?” 

“If you could follow me back to the council room, we have a few things we need to explain. Excuse our harsh behavior from earlier.” 

“W-what?” You dared a glance behind the door at the two standing there as still as possible, before leaving the room. “Explain what…?”

You followed behind and shut the door behind you, keeping the prince’s and his friend’s presence secret.

~

You were returned to the room that night, and had actually been forced to climb into the bed and lay down. Or rather…your body had forced you to, due to passing out at the unexpected news. And now you were just laying in bed staring at the ceiling. Your mind still would not let you believe what the king had told you.

Your grandmother had been King Regis’ father’s mistress. And apparently, she went missing one night. And they had dug up the reason why. You mother had been the half sister of king Regis. A secret your grandmother wanted concealed from everyone. Which made you…

You were suddenly startled by the thud that came from the balcony.

You sat up and looked over with a frown.There was the prince and his friend, looking like they were climbing down from the balcony above yours. From the way the blond was kicking his legs, he was losing his grip on the stone above him. The prince was below him recovering from his own fall. You could see what was about to happen, and winced when the blond fell on top of the prince. 

“Gracious Astrals…” You muttered as you got out of bed, noticing you were still dressed thankfully. You hurried over to them and helped them to their feet.

“Couldn’t you have come the normal way?” You asked in a whisper, as if you were afraid that you might be overheard.

The blond shrugged. “Noctis has a bed time.”

“Shut up Prompto.” The prince hissed, lightly smacking his arm. 

You let yourself laugh. The prince really was just another teenager…

“Noctis?” A voice called out from the balcony above yours. 

You turned and looked at the two with a raise eyebrow, as if asking why you shouldn’t give them away. They glanced at each other and grabbed you and darted into the hallway. You didn’t question it. You were just told that you were part royal, so going on the run with the prince might as well be a thing too.

“Honestly, Ignis has the six sense of a mother hen.” Noctis muttered as you all hurried down the hall.

“Just where are we going? And who’s Ignis?” you asked, willingly going along.

Prompto smiled, “He’s going to be Noct’s adviser…er….maybe both of yours?”

“So you’ve heard?” You asked, looking between them.

“Yeah, dad-I mean the king actually had me sit down with him and explained the situation. What a better way to introduce you to everyone than by sneaking around the palace right?” 

“Uh…I don’t know.”

“Noctis, Prompto, you stay right there!” you heard the voice from earlier call, and both their eyes got wide when they saw who you assumed was Ignis at the end of the hall. 

“Run for it!” Prompto yelped, and you all darted back the way you came. 

“Prompto, you’re taking one for the team.” Noctis said suddenly.

“What?!” 

“You have anything throwable on you?” he turned to ask as you both ran.

“Uh…a pen?” You reached into your front pocket and pulled one out. He in turn pulled out a small pocket knife. 

“That’ll work. Throw it on the count of three. One…two…”

“Noct! no fair!” 

“Three!”

You tossed it in the same direction as he threw the pocket knife and felt him latch onto your arm. Suddenly, the blinking feeling from before overwhelmed you and you found yourself pulled along with him to where your pen was. You got dizzy, but then he laughed upon hearing a shriek of fear from Prompto being caught by Ignis. 

You had to admit, this was kind of entertaining.

Noctis pulled you along, and you quickened your steps. You were really surprised to see a rather large smile on his face. 

“Prince Noctis?” 

“You don’t have to call me that.” He looked at you and was practically bouncing up and down in excitement. “We’re family. The fact I was able to warp with you proves it.’ 

“Huh?”

“When you warp, you can’t take anyone with you, unless they already have the ability to warp…But you’ll learn that.”

“Learn?”

“You’re related to royalty. Did you think that doesn’t mean anything?”

You stopped where you were and frowned. “I…I just assumed that I might go back to my old job honestly….”

He shook his head, also stopping. “According to dad, you’re going to start lessons along side me.”

“Lessons? Like…” You could hear Ignis, who was currently dragging a struggling Prompto along. 

“Like warping on your own. Go!” 

This time you followed Noctis with a laugh, and let him pull you into another warp to get away again.

~

As it turned out, Ignis was a lot nicer than Noctis had you believe. He was in charge of you both for now, until your own retainer could be found. There wasn’t a place for you at the court yet, but Regis had made sure that you felt welcome in the family. (Noctis made doubly sure.)

You both were in the same year of school, and at Noctis’ request you got to go to the same high school. Where he discovered that you were two years younger than him. 

“This nerd skipped two grades.” He’d tease when offically introducing you to Ignis and Gladiolus. 

It became obvious that after a few years, Noctis had begun to see you as a younger sibling instead of distant cousin. 

In your lessons with Gladio, he always made sure he didn’t harm you. In your tutoring session with Ignis, he tried to make you less overwhelmed. And surprisingly, Iris was chosen to be your bodyguard, something that she enjoyed. It meant she got to be near her older brother and Noctis on a daily basis. You’d yet to find a retainer. Ignis was in charge of you both still, much to his horror.

All in all, it was a good life. 

Noctis seemed to be thrilled with you around, and you didn’t ever voice it out loud, but you thought maybe it was because he didn’t have to worry about the future alone. Not anymore. 

And you weren’t so worried either.