Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

6.04pm, south west of the Lucian borders

“OH FUCK!!!”

Luche screamed as he almost dodged the upcoming missile shot from the MT to the side. Drautos immediately growled at the carnage upon him as he barked orders to drag the glaive’s ass to the safe zone. This plan should have been fool-proof and it would have worked as it should be.

“If only Nyx were here. Hell, Nyx could make any lousy plan work!’’

Libertus’s curses continued to echo within the coms is starting to give him a headache.

“Shut the fuck up, Lib. Do you wanna make us all deaf!?”

At least Crowe retaliated by barking back at him while she continued to maintain the defence barriers with her magic.

It’s already been two weeks since the Kingsglaive deployed to the Lucian barriers and so far it is stalemate. No progress has been made, only a trade of blows from each side as the days passed and they rested when night-time comes. So far there are no casualties, only critical injuries from both the glaives and the extra backup of the Crownsguard.

A feeling of worry is starting to grow within him, but he could not shake it off. His mind began to drift apart from the war as the thoughts about Nyx’s current condition. Of course he has the right to worry. He has a growing family waiting at home.  

Nyx is currently at the third trimester of his pregnancy, and the baby might pop out any time. He also promised Nyx he would be there for him.

He still remembers everything as if it was yesterday. On the time when they realised that Nyx is carrying, Nyx cried in fear. He was afraid of many things; the fear of dying during childbirth, losing either the child or Drautos to the war and many more. But he was also crying in happiness, because the love they had created life. And that precious life symbolises their hope from two lost souls united after losing their homes to the Empire.

It was tough.

For two outsiders of Lucis and a gay couple who are expecting a child they received some backlash, especially from the Crownsguard. Nyx had it so hard that Drautos had to pull Nyx away from any guard duty and instead made him his temporary secretary. And when the gossips from the female communities began, Nyx immediately received an early maternity leave when Nyx fainted in front of Drautos and all of the Glaives during lunch break.

It made Drautos seethe with rage for making Nyx suffer mentally. He hated to see Nyx cry and worry what the community would say. Drautos had lost count on how many arguments and arranged sparring contests [which he always wins] with the Crownsguard to make them know their place and messing with the Captain of the Kingsglaive is a death sentence to the point that he was forced to be in a desk job for an entire week for breaking protocols and such. But all of it was damn worth it for Nyx and his new family.

Bless the Astrals for Clarus and Cor gave severe punishments to the hypocrites and homophobes, even to the point that the whole Crownsguard and Citadel staff [except the Kingsglaive] had to attend a 10 hour seminar on human rights on sexual preferences and respect, etc. They also made new, harsher and stricter rules and rumours were said that the Crowsguard training had become twice harder if the members are locals.

Bless the Kingsglaive for supporting them from the very beginning of their relationship, congratulating them for becoming soon-to-be parents and such. ALL OF THEM had been making bets upon them since Day 1, from who has the balls to ask the other one out, to who tops in bed.

 And now, who has the balls to ask the other to marry him and the gender of the baby.

Making small changes for the upcoming little one with the glaives is actually endearing but fun. Even Nyx’s mother came to stay with them to take care of Nyx when Drautos is at work.

They were eager to help Nyx with the whole pregnancy ordeal, since the child is the firstborn of the Glaives after the fall of Galahad. Everybody is pretty hyped up; it’s been awhile they get to spoil and smother an infant with love. Crowe even made dibs as godmother.

Anything that is considered heavy is taken away and is given to another Glaive and Nyx was given a demand to sit, even if it is only a few feet. During his maternity leave, they won’t stop calling and visiting him till the point that Nyx made a special group chat cataloguing the stages of his pregnancy. Cor is the only Crownsguard to have the honour of being a member of the group chat.

Nyx knew they mean well, but he sometimes wished that he could be able to do things on his own. Seriously, he’s not sick, dying nor hurt, just pregnant. With his unbalanced hormones and unexpected magic uses, it is a wonder how Drautos has the patience to endure all of this. Drautos has the scars on his face to prove it and let’s not talk about the constant sweaters and backaches.

But sometimes Nyx likes the quiet times when Drautos would talk to his belly and feel the baby’s kicks on his hands, resting together to rest his swollen feet. Drautos couldn’t stop watching in awe as Nyx bonded with his mother when the three of them prepare the nursery.

His mind drifted apart from the memory when he heard a ping from his comm.

From the Citadel.

Drautos growled as he accepted the comm, forgotten to set it in private.

“Not now Cor I’m-“

“TITUS!!!”

Wait a minute, that was Nyx’s voice.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!”

Oh shit.

Chapter Text

6.30pm, south west of the Lucian borders

“Nyx, what happened?”

“Oh you know, sitting at home, having breakfast with my mom at 9 in the morning AND MY WATER BROKE!! I HAD TO SCREAM AND CALL OUT FOR COR WHO IS BUSY HAVING A FUCKING MEETING, SAYS THE BITCHY SECRETARY AND I SAID TO HER GET HIM FUCKING OUT OF THERE AND SEND ME TO THE HOSPITAL IF HE WANTS TO BE THE GODFATHER OF THE BABY!! AND HERE I AM, STUCK IN THE HOSPITAL FOR 19 FUCKING HOURS OF LABOR! 19 HOURS! BECAUSE THEY SAID SHE’S NOT READY YET!! “Nyx screamed, causing everybody who is listening to wince in pain.

“Okay Lib, I take back what I said”.

“What, are you fucking serious!?” Pelna asked.

“I thought it wasn’t in two more weeks?” Libertus continued.

“YOU FUCKING PROMISED YOU WOULD BE HERE FOR ME!? WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME” Nyx sobbed in pain as the sound of lightning cackling and a screaming Cor was heard.

“Drautos help! He’s electrocuting and breaking my hand! Do something!”

Drautos’s mind began to swirl. He’s starting to panic. Of all the days the baby could have been born, why it had to be today!?

“Baby I-“

“Don’t you baby me! You said you would be here, you said you would be back before the baby’s coming? “

“I know that and I am sorry; I promise I would make it up to you once this is all over .I really wanted to be there, both you and the child are everything to me.”

“Please for the loves of Ramuh please don’t you die; I am not ready to be a parent without you…I don’t even know if I can even make it,” Nyx pleaded and cried.

“Nyx, baby boy, don’t even think like that. You know we are made of stronger shit than that. I swear to the Six once everything’s done, I am gonna take as much day offs as possible just to spend my entire time just for you and our little one.”   

“Y-you really mean it?”

“More than you ever know.”

Nyx took a few deep breaths, before chuckling. “That…was the sappiest shit I had ever heard from you, Titus. But I still love you nonetheless.”  

“Okay everybody, smile for the pretty picture,”

Followed by a click of a camera flash.

“Are you taking a fucking selfie!?” Nyx screamed.

“Ooh, send me a copy of it!” said Luche.

“Hey, share it to us we wanna see it!” Crowe whined.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE – AAAAHHHH! How the fuck does Clarus deal with this? And stop laughing already,” said Cor to a laughing Clarus that was heard throughout the comm.

“Hey, I think I should move here ….sorry miss, that’s for a good angle,” excursed Prompto to the midwife.

“Prompto, I don’t think-“

THUD.

“And he’s out cold.”

“Umm, sir….. We lost checkpoint B,” said Axis.

“This is bad…really, really bad! They just sent out a fucking behemoth!” screamed Libertus.

“I can’t hold out much longer, someone do something!” Crowe exclaimed in desperation.

“Captain, what we gonna do? I GOT KIDS!!” Sonitus screamed.

“Then you tell me, what WOULD Nyx do if he were here!?”

Silence.

“Yeah, what would Nyx do if he were here?” Crowe quipped.

“He would throw away the whole damn protocol books out of the window to save my ass for sure,” Libertus replied.

“And be the hero by –“ said Luche.

“-super-warping –“which is continued by Tredd,

“– killing a freaking behemoth or anything bigger than him-“Axis continued,

“-magic his way up like a hurricane-“ Sonitus commented,

“-and do not fucking die!” Pelna finished.

“Hey, I think we just made our plan up!” said Libertus.

“Yeah, this might work from my view here,” Crowe replied with a hum.

“Now wait just a minute-“Drautos objected.

 “If anyone of the Kingsglaive dies, NONE of you will get to see the baby! Not even you Titus!!!”

And a loud CRACK was heard throughout the comm.

“FFFFUUUUCCCKK!!!! NOT MY ARM ULRIC!!!!”

Drautos sighed, rubbed his eyes and commed to Luche.

“Lazarus, you’re in charge of the men. Go on with whatever all of you are planning. If anybody dies it’s all on you.”

“Altius, you and the mages make a thunderstorm and electrocute any far-ranged MT’s. And bring a few of them to the front line as Medics. Ostium, Khara, Furia you take the Crownsguards, distract the daemons from us and do anything to make them turn back. And when I said anything, DO ANYTHING. Arra, Bellum and Lazarus will take the rest of the Glaives will be split to two groups. One will sneak to the Command Ship; destroy it from inside and the other group push on as a distraction.”

“What about you, sir?”

“I have child on the way. And hell if I may not be by Nyx’s side, the only thing I can do is to support him from here.” A loud wailing screech about not doing this again was heard across the comm.”And making sure Nyx doesn’t accidentally kill the Marshall. Report to me if there is any progress and I will do the same. Pray the Six are with us.”

“Roger that.”

……………………………………

To his surprise, the plan actually worked. And they won the war within an hour. On the same time at 7.45 pm, the baby is born.

Chapter Text

8.39pm, infirmary camp at the Lucian borders.

“Move it to the left!”

“We are moving it to the left!”

After the glaives victory, everybody finally earned their well-deserved rest and celebration party. The trucks will pick them up and send them home by tomorrow, but for now it’s time for the grand reveal. The news of the baby’s birth spread like wildfire among the Glaives and Crownsguard, hence what was happening right now?

Both Tredd and Axis having a shouting match against Luche about the satellite position, surprisingly both men are standing on the thin roof of the infirmary tent.

“No wait! Make it a little bit right!”

“Are you fucking kidding me!?”

“Dude, I am at a goddamn place in the middle of the nowhere at 8pm, freezing my ass off moving this piece of metal with Tredd at a very thin roof of the infirmary tent, so tell me exactly is it LEFT OR RIGHT?”

“While the three of you are bitching here do you guys even care about how hard this wiring shit is it!? I don’t wanna die after all that crazy fiasco this afternoon.” Pelna screamed beneath them as he continued to fix the wiring connection.

"Fuck off techie; you are not part of this shit!!"

Drautos turned away from the argument and turned towards another crowd, this time conducted by Libertus and Crowe whom are collecting final bets of the baby’s gender.

“Final bets! Final bets! Final bets for the baby’s gender everybody! Boy or girl, we don’t even know until tonight so place your bets everybody!!”

All Glaives and Crownsguard are screaming, waving their fistful of gils and pushing against each other to place their last minute bets.

“I have 500 gil on the line and another 50 if the baby has the Captain’s frowning face.” Sonitus yelped beside Pelna, joining the fun.

“Which face? The ‘you are so dead’ face or the ’I am so disappointed with your shit’ face? ” Libertus asked, interested.

“The ‘fuck this shit’ face.”

“That sounds like what Nyx would make,” said Crowe.

“Yeah so? The baby’s also part Nyx, think about it, with the Captain face,” Sonitus replied.

“Oh ho ho you’re on Sonitus, loser does the diaper duty for a week.”

“Cash in and spread the word to the Glaives!”

Drautos turned away from the scene and stared to the night sky, still couldn’t believe the crazy things that happened to him today.

They had finally won the battle.

They did not have to suffer any more losses of their brothers and sisters.

He is now a father.

He has a family now.

He wasn’t sure if this is a dream.

“Finally, we’re online.” said Luche.

Until now.

Everybody rushed to the screen, revealing the face of the Marshal himself. He look dishevelled, his clothes is a mess, his eyes are red and his right arm is bandaged and on a sling. Next to him were King Regis and Clarus, the three of them are at the right side of the bed, while his mother-in-law Asteria was at the left side of the bed.

And at the centre of the group sat Nyx himself, lying on top of the fluffy pillows, looking sweaty and tired as hell but still smiling. In his arms lay a small bundle, hiding what was within it from the camera.

“Your Majesty.” everybody immediately straightened up and saluted to the King of Lucis, who was UNEXPECTEDLY there personally.

“Captain Drautos, I must personally congratulate both you and your entire fellow Kingsglaive and Crownsguard for the well-earned victory,” said King Regis, earning a loud applause and cheers. “Especially to you Captain, for the birth of your first-born child. Clarus, would you be so kind to pass the camera to me? I’m certain the Captain would like to speak to Ulric now.”

There was a bit of movement from the recording of the camera, the screen now focusing Nyx and his mother.

And right now, he can really see clearly the exhaustion upon his lover’s appearance. Nyx looked like he came out from the battlefield; his hair tousled and his braids were loose, his skin a bit paler than it was used to due to blood loss but he was smiling, and Nyx was practically glowing in happiness.

 “You’re alright, Nyx? From all that screaming I was worried if anything goes wrong,” asked Drautos to his spouse.

“Tired…so, so tired but I’ve been through worse stuff. But this one’s really worth it,” replied Nyx as he looks upon the bundle with a soft smile. ”But enough drama for one day, are you ready to see your kid?”

“YES PLEASE!!!” Everybody screamed in excitement.

Everybody cheered and cooed loudly as the camera shifted,and finally the face of the new born infant is shown.

“By the Six, the baby’s so cute!”

“It’s so tiny!”

“Oh Ramuh I think I’m gonna die of happiness!”

The infant was asleep soundly on Nyx’s arm, already cleaned from any blood or fluids and wrapped around a hand-knitted blanket that was given by his mother-in-law. Its skin a bit of pinkish and a small tuft of dark hair that shone a bit of chocolate brown if the light are correctly aligned. Drautos could count ten perfect little fingers and toes from the screen and his heart swelled when his child, his child, sneezed adorably, scrunched its face and opened its eyes, revealing a mixture of blues, greens and a hint of purple like the night sky.

A whole lot of awes and coos surround the infirmary tent at the action.

 “The baby’s got Nyx’s eyes!”

“Did you see how the baby sneezed!?”

Drautos could stare at the delicate scene right in front of his eyes for the whole night. He could tell that his child took after Nyx; and Drautos had to chuckle when the infant wiggled around Nyx’s arm trying to find a comfortable way to fall asleep again, rubbing its face against his arm. It looked adorable.

“Apparently the baby’s got the mix of the Captain’s ‘eff off if it’s not important, I’m busy ‘face and Nyx’s ‘leave me in peace, I’m the effing sleeping beauty’ face”, said Crowe, without saying the “f” word.

“I told you so, pay up,” said Libertus proudly.

Grumbles were heard among Kingsglaive members, as gils were given to the proud dealers. “This little piggy is for us,” sang Libertus as he splits the money between them.

“And this little piggy goes to the diapers supply,” Crowe added, shaking a full piggy bank while fist-bumping Libertus.

“How on Eos do all of you have the time to bet on my baby?”Drautos asked with an amused look.

This got both Nyx and Asteria giggle uncontrollably, making the baby whine before getting back to sleep.

“Because that’s what the family do. We did the same thing once when Sonitus had his third child,” Asteria answered with a chuckle. “It doesn’t matter if you are bound by blood or not, ALL of the Glaives, including you and the Marshall are my children, and that makes us family. Even when some of them are making me have my grey hairs too early.”

Some awes are heard among the crowd, and Drautos was touched by those words from his mother-in-law. From losing his entire family and Cavanaugh to the Empire, and now he gained one, albeit a bit bigger and more multicultural.

“So…what we are gonna name our little princess?” asked Nyx.

Silence.

Then….

“IT’S A GIRL!!?” everybody exclaimed in surprise.

Shouts of hurrays and laughter echoed around the infirmary tent, cries of joy were being swept out and teased by others, bets were lost and won, and some were bold enough to pat the back of the shocked but smiling Captain.

Yeah, he might have lost the bet about thinking that the baby might be a boy, but who cares? He’s gonna love his child and his family till he can live no more. He already lost his loved ones once, there is no way Ifrit or any divine being will make him lose another one again.

Drautos stared at his little girl, taking all of her in. He can feel his daughter is like a bit of her mother (if he can call Nyx that), a wildfire that cannot be tamed but could only adore from afar. He’s sure she’s got everybody including himself wrapped around her little fingers.

Both of them discussed about possible names for both genders, and they considered some of them, but none of them seemed to be suitable for her. He doesn’t know why, but one name is constantly ringing in his head, it was as if it was telling him what her name should be.

“Enya.” Drautos said.

“Enya?” Nyx asked.

“It means ‘little fire’,” he explained.

Nyx hummed, in thought. “Not what I had in mind but it does kinda suit her, don’t you Enya?” he asked to the infant and kissed her cheeks, earning an adorable squeal.

“It does, do it? Enya Rhiannon Drautos – Ulric, or we may call her Enya Rhia for short.” He suggested.

“Rhiannon?” Asteria interjected out of curiosity.

  “Back where I came from, it was the name of our moon goddess. A small bit to remember your daughter, if you allowed it ma’am?”Drautos asked.

The shock was written on both of their faces, but that shock slowly became a genuine smile, and tears were threatening to flow down to their cheeks.

“That…thank you, Titus. It really means a lot to us.”

A sniff was heard, and everybody looked at Tredd who was holding back (and failing) the tears that were flowing down to his cheeks, and Luche was consoling his partner by patting his back like how a parent would to a child.

“Already!? I thought you’d said a bit later.”

“Piss off! This is the best day of our life don’t judge me!” Tredd retorted to the teasing crowd.

Well, he was right. This IS the best day for all of their lives and the future about to come.

“Cor, for being a great friend I cannot possibly ask for more will you be the future godfather of my daughter? I promise I treat you a beer for being there for my family,” asked Drautos to the bandaged man.

“You better be…and stop laughing about it! You had no idea how it feels to be electrocuted and letting your arm be broken by a pregnant man! In labour! Especially from a Glaive!” Cor hissed at the King and his Shield (and said man who was holding the camera made the video film to shake).

“If you think that’s bad, I had worse. We had three kids and my spouse IS the King,” said Clarus.

Cor immediately paled about the thought of enduring the same problem, only it was THRICE the effect he had suffered, especially if it came from an overpowered king.

“And dibs on being the godmother!” Crowe exclaimed.

“You are the godmother.” Everybody deadpanned.

Enya gave a cute squeal.

Yep, the future looks good.