DINNER that night was one of the best meals that you and your family had had in a long time. Everyone was laughing and talking about how well that the training had been going. Monica and you had been going rounds on various moves and were currently tied with takedowns. Your parents were surprised by how far you had gotten with some of it. Since they hadn't been to the practices, they weren't quite sure how it had been going.

Soon the conversations shifted and you found yourself talking with just Ignis and Noctis while your parents found themselves talking with King Regis and Ignis' uncle, Korn. Korn was telling them about the various drills that you had been going through since you started working with him. He even mentioned to your parents about starting the classroom studies once the swim season was over. Your parents seemed very interested in that part.

"Your parents seem to be getting along well with my dad." Noctis pointed out as he watched his dad laughing and smiling while they all talked.

"Yeah." You replied as you smiled at them.

"They usually get along well with everyone that they meet. They told me once that that was why they work where they do. You see both of my parents work for the city. My mom works at the Human Resources Office and my dad is one of the Private Investigators that works for the City Police Department.

"They both work very close to the Citadel building and have had to even come in for various meetings and conventions. But most of the time they are at their buildings that are just outside for the walls. That is how we found out about the park." You said as you smiled back at your two friends.

"That make sense now." Noctis commented as he looked from them back to you. "I was wondering how you found out about that park. Usually only those who live near it, know about it. But I suppose working near it counts as well."

"But only if your paying attention." Ignis added. "Most people would just drive by it and not even think to stop by or visit it."

"Very true. They first took me there because I wanted to fly a kite. The park near my house isn't big enough to have a field large enough to get the air lift you need for a kite." You thought as you looked down. "Plus the park by my house only has a small playground and it is full of trees. It's pretty, don't get me wrong. But even all the neighborhood kids know not to go there at night."

"And why is that?" Noctis asked.

"The park is a known hangout for a neighborhood gang. They take it over at night and will threaten anyone who goes near it after sunset." You sadly replied. "During the day they don't care. But that's probably because they are sleeping off their liquor and drugs from the night before."

"Gangs?" Noctis said out of shock. "I had no idea that we even had any gangs or drugs around the city."

You slowly looked up at him. "There are a lot of things that go on in the city that you have no idea about." You sadly replied.

Then you looked away again. "Sometimes I wish that I didn't know about them."

"So who's interested in desert?" King Regis announced loud enough for everyone to hear.

You looked up to see two trays of desserts coming out from the kitchen. You looked at the trays and smiled as your heart did a slight flutter at the sight of a certain dish. You glanced over at Ignis as he smiled back as the servers started placing the desserts on the table in front of you. Ignis just simply smiled back and swallowed as he nervously thanked the girl who put his plate down. She slightly giggled then walked away.

You were slightly taken back after watching the server blush as she walked away from Ignis.

Did he just flirt with her? Or did she flirt with him? You thought as you watched him grab his fork and started to eat as he kept his head down.

Then you glanced back at her. She had very short brown hair and very large brown doe type eyes. She was tiny in comparison to even you. You looked down at your body and realized that compared to her, you were on the stocky side. She looked like a small porcelain doll in her short black pleated skirt and white button up shirt with a black neck tie. Even her hair band with the black bow just added to her perfect image of a royal servant. You watched how she carefully replaced the dirty dinner plates with the dessert plate and a clean fork. Her smile was even cute as she smiled at each person before moving on to the next one. You glanced over at Ignis and saw that he was watching her as well.

Well I suppose that he isn't exactly my boyfriend or anything. You thought as you dropped your gaze as you absently grabbed your fork as you started to eat your dessert.

So I suppose, he can look at anyone that he wants to. Besides, you thought as you looked back up at her, he has probable known her a lot longer. And they both do spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Then your mind started to wonder as to what they did in the kitchen. But then you quickly shook your head.

"(Y/n)? Are you ok?" Ignis asked from across the table.

"Oh, yeah yeah yeah. I'm fine." You nervously said back. Then you quickly took another bite.

"Mmmm. This is really good." You said with a full mouth.

Then you looked back at the girl as she smiled towards Ignis before walking back into the kitchen. You watched her and slowly chewed your food before swallowing.

Once your dessert was finished, you asked to be excused so that you could go to the bathroom and clean up before heading home. This took a bit since you had to convince them all that you were fine. But it made sense, since the last time you asked to be excused, you had to be carried back out by your dad. Tonight was different though. You weren't really upset with anyone but yourself for being naive.

There was no way that you could possible be the only one interested in Ignis. Not with how handsome he is and the fact that he spends so much time around Noctis and at the Citadel. There had to be tons of girls that were interested in him. So it made you wonder, how many of them had he returned that interest.

You dropped your head as you stood in front of the bathroom mirror. You pictured him smiling at the girl server while they prepared the plates. Their hands slightly touching and causing her to blush. Only to have him reach over and grab her chin and passionately kiss her.

You violently shook your head as you tried to get rid of the image. But even that wasn't enough to take the knife out of your heart. You kept your head down as you could feel the tears starting to burn in your eyes at the thought of him being with someone else. But who were you to tell him that he couldn't see other people.

You tightly clutched your fists as you branced yourself against the sink. You could feel your shoulders starting to shake as you felt the pain of not being able to be with him start to wash over you. But why would he want you when he could have anyone he wanted. You weren't anyone special. You were just.............you.

What do I really have to offer to him? You thought as you looked at yourself in the mirror.

You didn't look as pretty as her. She was smaller and cute all around. Your now puffy cheeks and red eyes would make anyone run for the hills at this point. You turned on the water and let it warm up as you looked down and tried to calm down.

Perhaps he would be happier with someone else. You thought as you tested the water temperature.

Then you kept your gaze down as you put both hands under the water and leaned over so that you could wash your face. The warm water felt good on your face as you tried to wash away any evidence that you had been crying, yet again. The last thing you wanted was for him to see you like that. Or for Noctis to see that you were upset, yet again. But it did look like it was time to start stepping back a bit from them, as you have everyone else. It was better then being hurt again.

"Are you almost done honey?" Your mom asked through the door. "We should really get going. It's getting late."

"I'm coming right out mom." You said as you turned off the water and grabbed the towel that was hanging on the wall.

"Alright." She returned. "But don't take too long." 

Then you heard her walk away.

You placed the towel to your face and stood back up as you dried off your face. You patted your face to make sure that it was dry. Then you lowered the towel while looking at yourself in the mirror again.

"Looks like it's going to be just you and me again." You said to yourself in a serious tone.

Then you sighed and hung the towel back up and walked out of the bathroom. Your parents were waiting outside the door when you emerged.

"Ready?" Your dad asked.

"Yeah." You plainly replied.

Then you followed them back down the hallway and towards the main entrance. As you entered the foyer, you saw that Ignis was standing by his Uncle and Noctis was by his dad. They both were smiling back at you. You just slightly grinned at them then dropped your gaze. Right now you really didn't want to see either of them, it hurt to much.

"Thank you both again for stopping in for dinner, on such short notice." King Regis was saying to your dad.

"No. Thank you for having us. It was a great pleasure." Your dad returned as both men shook hands.

"My lady." The King slightly bowed to your mom who shyly bowed back. "A pleasure as always."

"And you as well your Majesty." You mother bowed back with a smile.

"And as for you young lady." King Regis said as he walked up to you and placed his hands on your upper arms. "Thank you again."

"It was a pleasure to be of service, your Majesty." You plainly said as you bowed down to him and avoided his eyes.

King Regis then stood back and removed his hands as he gave you a curious look as you straightened back up. You avoided his gaze and started heading for the door without making eye contact with anyone. You didn't turn around. Instead you kept going on out the door as Jared held it open for you. Ignis and Noctis looked at each other and shook their heads in confusion.

"Have a good evening Miss (y/n)." Jared said as you walked out.

"You too Mr. Jared." You returned as you walked out without looking up.

Your parents followed behind you as they exited the building. They continued to follow you as you descended the stairs as you walked down to the car. Right as you got to the first landing you heard someone approaching you from behind. But you didn't turn around nor did you stop. You just kept up your pace as you started going down the second flight of stairs.

"(Y/n)?" You heard someone calling from behind you.

"Nothing's wrong." You said to whoever was behind you.

"You can head back now and I'll just see you tomorrow." You said in a plain voice as you continued without looking back.

You heard the footsteps pause for a moment. But then they continued to follow you.

"Now that I'm not buying." Came Noctis' voice as he caught up with you and grabbed your hand.

"You were quick to answer and you didn't look at me." He said as he pulled you back towards him.

You stopped in your tracks and just looked down. You swallowed hard as you tried to keep from blurting out something that you were going to regret. You didn't want to upset Noctis. But at the same time you couldn't tell him. You knew that he would tell Ignis.

"We're not doing this again (y/n)." Noctis said as he put his hand on your chin and made you look at him. "You're going to tell me what's wrong this time."

You swallowed as you looked away from his eyes. Those sapphire eyes of his could take anyone hostage if they stared at them to long. You placed your hand on his and brought his hand down in front of you. Then you looked down.

"I saw how that young server was looking at Ignis." You quietly said.

"So." Noctis replied. "She has always done that." You dropped your head more and squeezed your eyes shut to prevent the waterworks from starting. "Wait. Are you saying that your jealous?" Noctis said with a slight smile.

You tried to look away. But he turned your face back towards him with his hand again. You looked back up at his eyes as they danced back at you with a smile. He shook his head and dropped his hand.

"You have nothing to worry about." Noctis said. "There is no way that Ignis would ever go for her."

"But she's..." You started.

"She's nine." Noctis finished with a smile.

"There's no way in hell." You returned in shock.

Noctis smiled and nodded. 

"Why do you think she's so tiny and short?" He asked.

"Well she has a thing for him that's for sure." You replied.

Noctis laughed and looked back towards the door. "That she does."

You followed his gaze and saw Ignis coming down the stairs. Ignis looked at you and smiled. You half smiled back at him then turned towards Noctis.

"Trust me." Noctis stated as he looked right at you. 

"If he would go after anyone. It would be you." He said then turned back towards Ignis.

"I know I would, if I could." He quietly said under his breath.

You stared at Noctis for a minute while he watched Ignis. Then he turned towards you and smiled before he cleared his throat and looked back towards Ignis. You tightened your grip on his hand. He looked back at you in surprise, but then smiled back.

"Is everything ok?" Ignis asked as he approached. "You walked off without saying a word."

"Yeah, sorry about that." You replied as you dropped your head and reached your loose hand up to the back of your head. 

Then you ran your fingers through your hair as you brought your loose ponytail hair in front. "I didn't mean to be rude."

Ignis stopped in his tracks about three steps from you and looked at Noctis with a questioning look. Noctis smiled back. Then he leaned towards you and kissed you on the cheek.

"I'll talk to you later tonight." Noctis said as he released your hand and started walking back up towards the front door.

"Night Iggy." Noctis called back. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night Noct." Ignis called back. 

You slightly giggled as to how it sounded coming from Ignis.

"What?" Ignis asked as he turned back to you.

You smiled back and dropped your gaze as you slightly shook your head. Ignis stepped forward and placed his hand on your chin as he brought your gaze back up to his. You gazed into his deep emerald eyes and became transfixed in how they seemed to shine even in the glow of the yellow street lights. You saw his smile fade as his breathing seemed to increase as he continued to gaze into your eyes. You could almost feel the heat from him as he longingly looked at you.

He slowly brushed his thumb across your lips as he slightly separated his lips. Your lips tingled under his touch as your body started to want his lips to touch yours again. You slowly started leaning in as you closed your eyes and titled your head up towards him. Your heart rate increased as you could feel him moving closer to you as well.

"Come on honey." You mom called as she was getting in the car.

"You too Ignis. We must be going." Ignis' Uncle, Korn, said as he approached his car.

Both of you stopped in your tracks as you were yanked out of the trance that you had each other in. You both dropped your arms and moved away from each other as the moment started to become awkward. You both dropped your heads and started walking towards the cars. Then Ignis reach over a grabbed your hand as you walked. You slightly squeezed it as you smiled back at him. He looked at you and smiled back.

"You know the school dance that everyone has been talking about?" Ignis asked once you had stepped off the stairs and were on the sidewalk by the cars.

"The sweetheart dance that's at the end of the month?" You asked back.

"That's the one." He returned. "You wouldn't happen to want to attend that would you?" Ignis asked with a nervous tone.

You smiled back at him as your heart started to race. 

"Are you asking me to go with you, like, as your date?" You asked as your heart started to flutter.

"Well, you would be the only reason that I would even consider going." Ignis said as he smiled back at you as he felt his heart beating out of chest. You blushed as you dropped your gaze.

"Well?" He asked again as he slightly squeezed your hand as he turned you towards him as he stood by his uncles' car. "Will you be my date for the Sweetheart Dance?"

Your heart soared at the words and everything else in the world seemed to fade away. You looked back up at him with tears in your eyes. Then you reached up and gave him a quick kiss on his lips. This surprised Ignis, but he was delighted with the delicate touch as his heart now raced in his chest.

"I would love to go with you Ignis Scientia." You said once you released him.

He smiled back at you, as you gave him the biggest smile that he had ever seen. "It's a date then." He said.

You nodded back to him as you smiled. "But until then, we will still see each other with practice and school." You returned.

"We will." He returned. 

"So, until tomorrow." He said with a slight bow.

"Tomorrow." You returned with a bow. 

"Good night Iggy." You said as you turned around and walked over to your parents car.

"Night (Y/n)." Ignis replied as he opened the front door of his uncle's car.

"So?" Korn asked his nephew as he slide into the front seat. "I take it she said yes?"

Ignis sat down and strapped on his seat belt before he gave his uncle a big grin. "She did."

"Huh." Korn smiled back at his nephew. "I'm glad. You both have earned some time to enjoy yourselves. Just don't get too carried away."

Ignis smiled back at his uncle. "Of course not. But that doesn't mean that I won't make it a memorable night."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you." Korn smiled back to Ignis as he put the car in drive. 

"Well let's get home so that we can start to get ready for next week." And with that, they pulled away from curb and headed home.

"What was that about?" You dad asked as you got into the backseat. 

He could see your red cheeks in his rearview mirror.

"Ignis just asked me out to the Sweetheart Dance." You excitedly said as you leaned your head forward and right beside him.

"Oh." Your mom replied. "That's wonderful dear."

"What did you say?" Your dad asked, as if he didn't know based on the kiss that he saw you give Ignis .

"I told him I would think about it." You joked back. 

Your dad raised an eyebrow.

"You did not, stop joking." Your mom said as she turned to face you.

You shyly looked down as you blushed. 

"I told him yes." You quietly said.

Your mom leaned over and gave you hug and your dad rubbed your head. 

"I'm so happy for you.  I'm sure you'll have a great time." Your mom said.

"So I suppose that means we'll have to get you a nice dress now." Your dad stated as he acted like he was upset.

"Well of course." You returned with a smile.

"I think that I can handle a nice dress for my little girl." He said as he gave you a kiss on your head. "But first things first. Let's get home. I don't know about you, but I'm beat."

"Alright dad." You said as you sat back and put your seatbelt on as he put the car into gear and started to head home.

That night after you finished getting into bed, you picked up your phone to make your nightly phone call to Noctis. You had been calling him so long now that it was a part of your daily routine. Sometimes you would talk about your day, while other times you would talk about things that had happened in the past. You had even shared with him some of your dreams and even nightmares.

But the one thing that you had not shared was your true feelings for him. He knew you as a friend, but nothing more. You were afraid to share anymore since he was already destined to be with Lady Lunafreya. The last thing that he needed was someone trying to come in between them, and that included you. Besides, you were really starting to fall for Ignis.

RIIIIIIINGGGGG RIIIIIIIINGGGGG

"Well hello." You heard Noctis' sweet voice come over the phone.

"Hey." You said as you got more comfortable in bed. "Sorry it took me a bit. My parents went head over heels about what Ignis asked me tonight."

"Oh yeah." Noctis replied. "And what was that?"

"Well he asked me to be his date to the Sweetheart dance that's going to be happening at the end of the month." You excited answered.

"Well that sound like fun." Noctis said in a deep voice. "And here you were thinking that he was interested in Gina. Now aren't you glad that I stopped you this evening?"

You smirked at the phone. "I had a feeling that you knew about it."

"And why would you say that?" He asked in a joking voice.

"You kept looking at Ignis as he came down to join us." You returned. "You would have never stopped me like that otherwise."

"Alright fine." He gave in. "I may have known a bit about what he wanted to ask you this evening. He is my retainer after all, and has been for years now. I can always tell when something is bothering him. And I can say this. He was nervous about asking you."

"And why would he be nervous about asking me?" You asked. "Was he afraid that I might say no?"

"Yeah." Noctis answered. "Iggy doesn't take rejection very well. So whenever he has to ask someone for something, he's always worried that they will say no."

"Really?" You replied. "I wouldn't think that Ignis would have an issue like that."

"I think what it really gets down to, is that if someone says no, it messes up his plans." Noctis added. "See he has to plan out everything down to the tee. But when something or someone messes up those plans, he gets upset. Which in some cases I can understand. Some of his plans may have taken days to get together. So for them to fall apart, it can really upset him."

"Well I would be upset about something like that too." You said. "But then again, I always have a backup to every plan. And in some cases, I have a backup to the backup."

"Now your starting to sound like Iggy." Noctis laughed. "I can see why he's fallen so hard for you."

"He's what?" You asked as you felt your heart jump up into throat.

"Oh nothing." Noctis tried to recover.

"No, you said something." You returned.

"Just forget it." Noctis said. "I never said anything."

"Noct." You pressured.

"Look. I'm not going to say anything more about it." Noctis replied. "That will be for Ignis to say to you. Not me. If I say it, it will be from me, not him."

Your heart skipped a beat at his last statement. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nevermind." Noctis flatley stated. "Look, I'll see you tomorrow. I'm really tired tonight."

"Ok." You said with a sad tone. You could tell that Noctis was a bit upset. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

"It's ok princess." Noctis answered in a quiet voice. "Get some sleep. And don't forget, I'll see you tomorrow, for training. They have something special lined up for all of us."

"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow prince." You said. "You know that you really are a sweet prince."

"Thanks." Noctis quietly said. "Good night princess."

"Good night sweet prince." You whispered then hung up the phone.

******Author Note******

Ok. So I had to take a step back for a minute to set the stage for the next part. But not to far back. Besides, who hasn't had that friend that you wish that you could have gotten to know better in a more personal way. I know that I could name a few in my life.

Well I really do hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see you in the next chapter as our friends start to learn a few new tricks for their training.

Thanks for reading. :)

*************************