Lead from the Stars

10th August 756 M.E.

Esteemed reader,

I do hope that this invitation finds you in good health.

The end of August is fast approaching, which, in this great Kingdom of Lucis, means the coming of the annual Lucian Summer Sunset Festival. Since the days of the Founder King, Lucis has held a celebration in the final weeks of August to herald the coming change of seasons. Historically, this festival has been to express gratitude to the Astrals for the light of the warmer seasons and pray for the coming of a bountiful harvest in the fall. The festival's scope has expanded in the modern day to be a celebration at large of the final weeks of summer.

Serendipitously, for the past 20 years, this festival has coincided with the birthday of His Royal Highness, Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum, deepening the significance of the festival to all Lucians. This holds especially true for myself — not only as your King, but also, as a father.

Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I extend this invitation to Crown citizens and visitors alike to participate in the festivities here within Insomnia. Throughout the city, there will be food and myriad leisure activities to celebrate the occasion. The main event will be a royal ball held on the day of His Highness' birth, the 30th of August. During this time, the citadel will be open to all in attendance. There will be catering, live music, dancing, and more. Formal dress is required of those attending the ball.

We do hope to see you in attendance.

— King Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII

● – || Alrighty I’m getting sleepy and I have work tomorrow so I’m rolling off. I know I still owe a bunch of things {asks and thread replies} but my carpal tunnel hurts so that’s also why I’m getting off. I’ll be back tomorrow after work, if all goes well and I’m not too tired!  As always , mutuals can ask me for my discord as I write over there too! <3 

If you ever wanna know where I am, I float between these blogs: @ducitestella {my mutli}, @rexelectus​ {noctis}, @darkheartedprince {riku} or @hvggable {baymax} . 

❛ you wouldn't have had to worry about losing me. i only pulled away from you because i was hurt. our master not trusting me was one thing. i needed you to have faith in me , so that ... maybe i could have faith in myself. ❜

shakily , hesitantly , terra's hand settles on aqua's shoulder. this is as close as they've been in years , & terra wanted nothing more than to be close , like he wanted when they were kids .

❛ i hurt you , too. i ... i'm sorry for that. for everything i did. i ... i didn't want to hurt you or anyone else. i just ... felt so alone . ❜

a brief pause.

She can hear the way his voice is breaking in hear ears , and how fragile and vulnerable he sounds . All at once , she 's taken back to when they were children and she was being mean to him for no justifiable reason . His voice sounded so [ [ h u r t ] ] and broken then too . Both times were her fault . . . and both times she didn't know how to properly apologize for everything that she had done . He deserved more than just some [ [ w o r d s ] ] to make up for everything that had happened between them , but words were all that she could offer him .

" I should have had faith in you , and I realized that too late to come back to you . I realized while we were in the Keyblade Graveyard just how much faith I had always had in you . . . I shouldn't have said otherwise to you . I shouldn't have let my selfish thoughts get in the way . . . "

Her bright , blue eyes lifted to his deep brown and gold ones , feeling her heart sink into her shoes . Her own heart was breaking at his words . He was apologizing , but . . . he didn't [ [ h a v e ] ] to . He wanted to , and that alone made her eyes start to water .

" I forgive you , Terra . . . I forgive you for everything that you did . You don't have to forgive me , and I'm not asking you to . I never meant to hurt you . . . I should have stopped when I realized what I had done and I only kept going . I'm so . . . So sorry . . . "

She relaxed her arms by her sides as she continued ,

a part of karen is scared , scared that if he's too forward , this will break , the dream will shatter if he's too rough. he's gentle with fubuki because he doesn't know how else to be with him , doesn't know what else to do about it , doesn't know how else to love him. karen loves him so deeply , so strongly , there's never been a timeline where karen has not loved him. it's terrible , ironically enough , when fubuki loves him back.

karen has never known what to do with fubuki's love , after all.

❛ let's focus on getting out of here for now. ❜

karen's voice is soft , one hand settling over fubuki's against his hip , holding it there. he'll be fine , his priority is keeping fubuki safe . if something happened to him because karen lowered his guard for one second , he'd never forgive himself. he may not have saved alice , but he could save fubuki , he could at least manage that much. alice would want him to save fubuki , karen was sure of that much. his hand settles on the back of fubuki's neck , holding him close for just a moment more , wanting to linger in his space as much as possible.

❛ i'll be alright. ❜

I love you so much !

Fubuki's fingers lingered on Karen , not wanting to let him [ [ g o ] ] at any point . They had to be close . . . it felt like they had only just now found each other . Another moment apart could be what separates them for an eternity . This felt like a dream . . . A [ [ w o n d e r f u l ] ] dream that Fubuki had taken hold of with both hands and held [ [ t i g h t l y ] ] to his heart .

" We may focus on getting out of here but . . . "

We have so much to discuss .

He laced his fingers with Karen's while they rested against Karen's hips . His fingers together with Karen's . . . a perfect picture of their time in harmony together . He closed his eyes for one moment , just so that he could save the image forever then opened his deep , brownish-auburn eyes up to Karen once again .

In typical Karen fashion he shut him out , silenced his worries with his words instead . Fubuki didn't like it , but he wouldn't fight him on it . Not yet , anyway . If they got to shelter and away from everything , Fubuki would be able to actually worry about him . Leave it to Karen to only allow him to take care of someone and not the [ [ o t h e r ] ] way around .

" I know you will be . . . "

he'd meant to say welcome back , but nico supposed a welcome home served the same effect , & zack didn't seem to notice his slip-up . his cheeks flush red with embarrassment , clinging a bit tighter to zack. he worried about people , always had & always would. it was as much a part of him as anything else was , wasn't something he had control over.

❛ no , i ... i tend to overdo it. ❜

nico shakes his head , leaning back slightly. his eyes are red , he had been close to crying , but he's alright now. he sniffles slightly , offering zack a bright smile in return. now that he knows zack is safe , the worry & tension bleed from his shoulders , relaxing against zack.

❛ i'm glad you came back. i ... i missed you. ❜

there's warmth blooming in his chest , heart beating quickly behind his ribs. that always seems to happen when zack's around , though nico won't own up to the reason why . it's much too embarrassing to say out loud , though he's sure zack must know by now , his flower messages have been less than subtle , after all.

Zack's expression softened as he looked at Nico , keeping him close to his chest . He had a lot of GROUND to make up for , especially since he had left him for so long and hurt him in such a way . At least he came back , that was what was important . He couldn't imagine what Nico would have been like if he HADN'T come home . . . if he had passed away during his mission .

Subtly , Zack shook his head to clear the thought . He didn't want to that thought plague his mind . Nico should never have to go through that . . . and if he did then Zack would never , EVER forgive himself for dragging him through it .

" I don't think you tend to over do anything . . . I think you everything just the right amount . "

Bright eyes drifted over Nico's form briefly then looked down as he went to remove something from his pocket .

" I missed you too . I'm still sorry that I was gone for longer than I hoped for . If it happens again I'll make sure to write home . I promise . And to make up for it . . .Here . "

He lifted small journal he had kept in his pocket up to Nico . He opened it to the page he wrote , revealing a small note on one side and a pressed carnation on the other .

Nico ,

I don't think you'll ever see this , but if you do I want you to know that I saved one of your flowers . I didn't know how else to preserve it so I pressed it . I hope you don't mind . I'll come home soon . I owe you more than just a hug when I get home . I'll see you soon .

-Zack .

❛ knowing that you didn't trust me , that our master didn't trust me ... you don't know how much that hurt me. i was ... at my lowest , and it felt like you were kicking me when i was down. ❜

terra hates the way his voice wavers & breaks , eyes watering as his hands stay curled at his sides. his chest aches when aqua's expression shifts into something more sincere .

" And you have every right to blame me for those things . . . I hurt you . I know I hurt you , and at the time I was too selfish to apologize for doing that . You didn't deserve to go through what you did , none of us did . I should have offered you a helping hand when I hurt you , rather than leave you alone to suffer through everything alone . "

I shouldn't have let you drown when you needed a lifeline .

" I didn't trust you because - . . . .Because I was afraid of what you could become -- [ [ w h o ] ] you were going to become . I didn't know what I was going to do without you . I was scared and - . . . "

She looked down at her folded arms as she relaxed some more into the feelings she was experiencing . Apologizing was hard , but they needed to have this happen . If they didn't cross this bridge [ [ n o w ] ] then when she walked away they were bound to never actually talk to each other again .

nico hates how easily he seems to fluster in zack's presence , not that that's difficult anyways. & sure , nico can admit that he finds zack attractive , who wouldn't ?? he was kind , handsome , & friendly , not to mention that charming smile of his. he was sure zack had plenty of boys & girls falling all over themselves because of that smile.

nico seemed to be no exception.

❛ the shop's okay. never busy , but ... what can you do ?? ❜

nico laughs a bit , drumming his fingers against the countertop & leaning on his elbow. he watches zack fix the small bundle of flowers to his uniform with a fond expression , heart skipping slightly. the flowers were always charmed just for him , in the selfish hope that zack might come back to him , that they might meet again.

how childish of him , he thinks , to pine like a hopeless schoolgirl with a crush .

Zack smiled at Nico as he watched him become flustered over nothing . He didn't understand why ? He's not someone anyone should be flustered and shy over . He's just him . Still , he thought it was cute how shy he was . He almost felt [ [ b a d ] ] for making him act this way . To think , all he did was come in every day to see the shop and to pick up some flowers .

He shifted his weight from one hand to the [ [ o t h e r ] ] as leaned against the counter , curling his fingers around the edges of the counter . He just continued to smile at Nico , even when he was given the small amount of flowers . When he was done fixing the flowers to his uniform as he did [ [ d a i l y ] ] , Zack returned to his previous state of leaning against the counter .

" It's brighter when I'm here ? I could say the same thing about you . "

❛ oh , really ?? you were there when i needed you ?? that's awfully rich , given how many fights you started when we were younger. i needed a friend , and you were anything but. i was always just competition to you. ❜

terra's frown is firm , jaw set & hands curled into tight fists now.

She looked up at him then folded her arms across her chest .

" You were more than just competition to me , and if you opened your eyes you would see that . I started fights out of childish reasons , as I grew up I recognized that . You didn't have to [ [ c o n t i n u e ] ] them . You always had the option to walk away and I would have understood that . You had many chances to leave . "

Her expression softened slightly .

" I did love you , and I still love you , Terra . We're family . Even if I didn't trust you because of your darkness , we were still family . I couldn't go against our Master , even when I did think for myself . Even when I was in the darkness myself , I still couldn't go against him . You really are something else , you know ? I always had faith in you . I had faith you would have pulled yourself from the darkness and would have become something great . Since you're standing before me I know I'm not wrong . Look , I- . . ."

Her expression softened a little more , until it shifted into nothing but sincere .