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

The chapter picture was generated by of Nightyswolf. She is a very talented artist and has beautiful work that she does in 3d animation. If you like it, please follow her on nightyswolf.tumblr.com or nightyswolf.devaintart.com.

Please don't steal her work. I have received her permission to use this picture for the book.

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THE sunlight came shining in your room from the open balcony door and was shining right in your face as you laid there. You slowly opened your eyes and looked around and saw that you were on your bed. As you looked around, you realized that you were still fully clothed in your swim team attire. But then as you went to roll out of bed, you were stopped by an arm as it came around you and pulled you in close.

You heard a quiet exhale as you felt their gentle breath on your neck as they fell back to sleep again. You smiled to yourself as your wrapped your hand around his and curled up with it. He tightened his grip on your hand and pulled you closer to him. You closed your eyes again as you relaxed against him. You laid there and enjoyed his comfortable embrace as you recalled his gentle message that he had given you.

He had gently messaged in some of the pain cream onto your back. His tender touch was enough to put you into pure bliss as your whole body relaxed under his soothing touch. His gentleness must have been enough to make you fell asleep as his fingers had carefully slide across your skin. And since he had focused on the areas that still showed signs of the previous trauma and on the new area on your lower back where you hit the bus stairs, your whole body now felt relaxed.

You laid there for a while until you felt the dull pain in your abdomen again. You sighed to yourself. You still hadn't taken the medicine that he had handed you a while ago. And your body was now very angrily reminding you of that fact as the pain started to kick in again. You looked over at the night stand and saw the pill bottle sitting there beside a bottle of water. You smiled as you looked at it.

Only you would think to make sure that there is water available for me to take those. You thought as you smiled while looking at the bottle.

But then when you went to reach for it, Ignis tighten up his grip on you again. Unfortunately, you felt another wave of pain go through your abdomen at that precise moment. So when he pulled you back towards him, you groaned at the same time.

Upon hearing you, he quickly let go and woke up. He looked around in a confused state for a split second before he looked back down at you. Then he blinked away his confusion and saw you safely laying in front of him. He leaned in and gently kissed you on the cheek as you were curled up in pain.

"Someone fell asleep before they could take something for that." Ignis softly spoke in your ear before gently kissing you earlobe.

"That's because someone else has magic fingers." You purred back to him as the pain was starting to be replaced with passion.

"Awwwh." Ignis began as he let you roll on your back so that you could look at him,

"There's that flattery again." He finished as he gave you a heated gaze before he leaned in and gave your neck a soft kiss.

You moaned under his kiss as he applied a small amount of suction. He then kissed your chin before moving up an capturing your lips. He kissed you long and passionately as he ran his hand down and started rubbing your abdomen for you. Almost instantly you went from being in pain to yearning his hand to go lower.

You placed your hand on his and squeezed it softly as you moaned against him. He instantly deepened his kiss as he started to feel the heat coming off of you. But then you heard something shuffle on the couch and you froze. Ignis pulled away with a heated grin as he looked at your shocked expression.

"My apologizes. I had forgotten that we weren't alone for a moment." He softly said through a heated breath as he kissed your cheek again.

"We will have to let the medicine take care of the pain this time." He said then he reached over you and grabbed the water and pill bottle.

Once Ignis had them in hand, he sat up on the bed. You sat up yourself then scooted against the headboard so that you could lean back. He then handed you the pill bottle. You smiled at him as you took two out before putting the bottle back down. Then as you put them in your mouth, Ignis opened up the water bottle and handed it to you. You took the bottle and a long drink as you swallowed the pills.

"Are you two done making out? Or should I head to my room?" You heard Noctis' voice coming from couch.

"We were not making out." You teased back.

"Say what you will, but I know what I heard." You heard him say. "Ms. moans a lot."

"Hey!" You teasingly shouted at him as you threw a pillow at the couch.

Both Ignis and Noctis laughed at you as you took another long drink of water. You could feel the heat rising in your cheeks as you blushed under their friendly laughter. Ignis stopped after a bit then gave you a kiss on the cheek again.

"Although that happens to be one of the things I love about you." He whispered to you before he pulled away again.

You dropped your gaze as your cheeks heated up even more. He smiled at you then moved over to the side of the bed and slid his legs off the edge so that he was sitting on the edge. Just as he got there, there was a knock on the bed. This was followed by the door slowly cracking open.

"Is everyone awake?" You heard Gladio say as he peeked through the crack.

"Come on in Gladio." You said as you brought your legs up to sit indian style as you put the lid back on the water bottle and set it back down.

Gladio smiled then walked in with Monica following right behind him.

"Can I come in too?" Monica asked sweetly as she looked at everyone.

"Of course." You said with a big smile.

"We heard that your bus was attacked last night." Gladio said as he walked and stood behind the couch. "What happened?"

You smiled at the two newcomers. 

"You're going to want to sit down for this one." You said as reached over and grabbed Ignis' hand as you gave him a scared but loving look. Ignis simply smiled back.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

For the next hour or so, the three of your filled in Monica and Gladio as to the events that unfolded the night before. They sat there in shock at first as they listened. But then they soon started asking some of the same questions that had been asked just a few hours before. As you answered the questions, you could feel yourself reliving the events. You could feel yourself flying after Noctis, as you were restraining people to the vehicles after they got pinning to them by Noctis. You even felt the fear again as you once again saw Ignis starting to fall out the back of the bus.

The room was silent for a while until Gladio asked about what happened once you got back to the citadel. Then the tension in you got high again. You excused yourself when this started so that you didn't have to listen to it again. You had decided to take a shower while they discussed that part. You were still very upset by those turn of events and didn't want to take it out on them. It wasn't their fault after all.

By time you were done with your shower, Gladio, Monica and Noctis had left. Ignis had just finished straightening up the room for you. When you walked out he looked up at you and smiled. He straightened up and gave you a loving look as he scanned your body as you stood there in his sweatpants and hoodie.

"You know that your wearing out that outfit." He said with a hint of heat.

"I don't care." You said as you walked up to him. "It's the softest thing of yours that I can wear. And besides, it reminds me of you."

He reached up his hand and ran it across your cheek after you stopped in front of him. He searched your face as he warmly smiled back at you. Then he softly kissed you forehead. You closed your eyes as you found comfort once again in his touch.

"Then I am honored that you wear it so much." He softly said as he put his forehead to yours. "For it will have to take my place for awhile, as I head back to the condo for a few."

"Will you be back later?" You asked as you looked back up at him.

"Of course my love." He said as he smiled back down at you. "I just need to shower up and grab a few things."

"Okay." You smiled back.

Then he headed out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and doing a few fun activities for once. The group had spent some time watching tv and playing video games. Then everyone decided to hang out in the garden for a spell as everyone enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch. By time sunday night came around, you were starting to feel like your old self again. Everything was a normal as it could be in that crazy citadel world. But for you all you needed was to see that everyone was laughing and having fun. It was one of the best weekends that you had had in a long time.

Monday morning started like any other. You had almost forgotten that anything had changed until you were at lunch with Ignis. He mentioned that he was going to be staying after for a bit so that he could practice on the piano a bit longer since there wasn't any rush to head over to the rec center anymore. This would mean that you would be picking up Noctis by yourself.

"How long will you be here?" You asked after he told you.

"I was planning on spending an additional two hours practicing here before heading over to the citadel to join you." He answered as he looked at your sad eyes. "But that is only for this week. After the concert on Friday there won't be any reason for me to stay late."

"I understand." You said as you looked down. "The car's going to be lonely without you."

"You'll still have Noctis." He said in a comforting voice. "Besides, it's only for the afternoon. I'll still be riding with you in the morning."

"Is anyone going to be here with you?" You asked as you looked back up at him.

"Pelna said that he would be here with me for these next few afternoons." He answered cooly.

He knew that you didn't like the idea of anyone being by themselves after what had happened on saturday. But he needed as much practice as possible. He wanted to make sure that he wouldn't have any issues with his solo during the concert. And the best piano to practice on was the one that he would be performing on during the concert, which was the one that was on stage already.

After choir had finished up, you walked slowly over to Ignis as he was standing there talking to the Choir Director. They both turned as you came up slowly. Ignis smiled at you and grabbed your hand. You slightly smiled back but then looked back down at the ground. He smiled at you then interlaced his fingers with yours as he tried to comfort you.

"I'll meet you on stage Ignis." Ms. Julius said to Ignis then started for the door.

But right as she was walking past you, she paused and placed her hand on your shoulder. "Great job with the dance lessons. But be sure to review the dance steps with him each night as well. It will help out both of you for the concert." She said as she winked at you before she continued out the door.

"Thank you Ms. Julius." You called after her as she stepped out of the choir room, leaving just the two of you.

"Anytime darling." She called back from the hallway.

Ignis then turned to you and grabbed both of you hands with his face down. He slowly ran his thumbs over your hands as he quietly stood there. You looked down at your hands as you tried to relax. Then you looked back up at him.

"So I'll see you back at the citadel later then." You quietly said as he still had his head down.

"You will." He responded. "After all, I wouldn't want to miss my dance lesson." He said as he looked up at you.

You shyly smiled back at him as he leaned in a gave you a peck on the cheek. "I'll walk to you the car before I start though." He said as he reached down and grabbed his backpack.

So true to his word, he walked you to the turn around and even opened the door of the car for you to get in, before bidding you goodbye. You quietly said bye and watched him through the window as he disappeared back into the school, as Tredd drove off. The car ride to Noctis' school was quiet as you stared out the window. You had never been in one of these cars without him being with you. It seemed strange to you, as you rode through the streets of the city.

You were quite relieved when the car finally pulled up in front of the elementary school. You quickly got out and opened the door for Noctis. He gave you a strange look as you got out. You smiled at him and held the door for him as he got in.

"Where's Ignis?" He asked once you got back into the car.

"He wanted to stay and practice for his solo on Friday." You said as you put your seatbelt back on.

"Will he be doing this until the concert?" Noctis asked as he searched your face.

"That's what he told he wanted to do." You answered back as you searched his face. "Why do you ask?"

"Well I was hoping to be able to work with you on our warp-strikes and distance warping. But I wasn't sure what he had planned for you." Noctis said with a smile.

"I don't think he had anything planned. Plus, your idea sounds like fun." You smiled back at him.

"Good." He smiled back. "We'll work on that while he's practicing. It'll give us something to do since we now have time." He quietly said.

"It's a good trade off I think." You half smiled back.

You knew that he was trying not to upset you about not going to swim practice.

"Good. We can start as soon as we get home. I have a couple of ideas on how we can both hone our skills." He said as he gave you a grin.

"Sounds good." You grinned back.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the week went fast as you got use to the new routine. Your morning was still the same, but your afternoons now consisted of working with Noctis for two hours on various warp-strikes and distance warping drills. Then you would make dinner which was followed by reviewing the dance moves for the choir concert. Then you and Ignis would take to the mat or the target range for fighter practice. You had started alternating between mat and the range a couple of weeks ago, so this wasn't really a big adjustment for you.

By time thursday night came, you had gotten use to the new routine and was quite enjoying the fact that you got to work with both Ignis and Noctis. Each of them could review something that the other couldn't do, which is what made it fun. Plus you and Ignis had gotten the dance steps down pat for the concert, with the help of Marge and Jim of course. You were both all grins as you finished off the routine for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"You two look wonderful." Marge was saying as she smiled at the two of you. "You tell your choir director that next time she wants to do a dance, to challenge us to a harder one."

"I don't think she did the dance to challenge you." You smiled at them.

"We are just middle school students afterall." Ignis added as he smiled while he held you in his arms from behind as you both faced Marge and Jim.

"Say what you will." Marge said as if insulted.

You and Ignis both smiled and slightly giggled at her before he released you. He then took your hand so that he could lead you to the target range. You were both smiles as you raced to the target range. Ignis seemed very anxious to get there. You weren't quite sure why, but you figured that you would find out as soon as you got there.

As you entered the room he slowed down and released you as he started for the first target. "I got something for you." He said as he smiled back at you.

"For what?" You asked as you watched him reach behind the target.

"For saving me." He told you as he walked back over with something behind his back.

"You don't have to get me anything for that." You commented to him as you slightly blushed.

"Well that," he said as he stopped right in front of you and gave you a passionate look. "and for being my girlfriend." He said.

Then he gently kissed you on the cheek, followed by him grabbed your hand again and placed a long white box in it. You stared at the long white box for a moment before you looked back at him. He smiled broadly at you as you stared at him as tears started to form in your eyes. You briefly smiled, then looked down at the box as you slowly opened the box.

You were blown away with a beautiful sterling silver arrow through a double heart pendant. The light shimmered off of the white crystals as you held the box up. Your breath and heart both seemed to catch in your throat as you were rendered speechless as you looked at it. You had never seen anything as beautiful as this before.

"I wanted you to have something to remind you that we are now joined by our hearts." He quietly said as you stood there holding up the box.

Instantly your eyes filled with tears as you looked at the beautiful heart pendent. He then carefully pull it out of the box and brought it around your neck so that he could put it on you. You held your hair off to one side so that he could reach your neck.

"This should help to remind you, that wherever you go," he said as he reconnected the clasp, once the necklace was around your neck, "I will always be with you." He finished as you released your hair as he ran his hands through your hair as he brought it back down over your back.

You gently placed your fingers on the hearts. Your hand slightly trembled as you ran them across the white crystals. Then you turned around with tears pouring from your eyes as you wrapped your arms around his neck. Then you gave him a passionate kiss as you capture his lips. He wrapped his arms around you an pulled you in for a full embrace.

You heart felt like it was going to explode from the love that you felt for him. You had never fallen this hard for anyone before, but none of it scared you. In fact, you welcomed every minute of it as you allowed yourself to fall completely for him. At that moment, you gave him your whole being from your mind, body, heart, to even your very soul. And all of that you showing him as you passionately kissed him. He answered back with the same passion as he held you tight. After a few moments you pulled away and looked at him with tears still in your eyes.

"I love you Ignis." You quietly said as you ran your hand through his hair.

"And I love you, darling." He said as he ran his hand through your hair as well. "With all my heart."

Your heart leaped with happiness at his words. "My heart and soul will always be yours." You said back as you saw your love reflected in his eyes as he smiled back.

Ignis felt his heart leap as he heard the words and saw the depth of your love in your eyes. His heart started to race as he leaned in and capture you lips once again as he relished in the love that bonded the two of you. He knew at that point, that no matter what, as long as he had you, he would be happy. Even if you were separated by a physical distance, he knew knew that he would always have you to support him.

After a few moments you broke apart as each of you tried to catch your breath as you smiled back at each other. You then gave him a quick peek again before you backed up and looked at him. He smiled back at you as he ran his hand through your hair again as he moved it behind your ears. Then he gave you a kiss on your forehead before he let you go completely.

"Shall we see who is can get the highest score today?" You teased as you summoned your bow.

"Only if we use the same weapons this time." He teased as he summoned his daggers.

"Fine." You teased back and released your bow so that it disappear. "We'll start off with daggers then today." You said as you walked over to grab a set of cold steel blades.

"Sounds good." Ignis smiled back as he walked over to the targets.

After a good round with the daggers, to which Ignis won of course. You switched to bow and arrows. You were able to win that one at least, but not by much. You were both very happy with the session as you put away the equipment. Then you walked him to the front door so that he could head back to the condo for the night. Then after one last long kiss, you released him so that he could head back to the condo for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning almost seemed to be a blur as you went through your normal routine without really thinking about it. That was until lunch came. Ignis had told you to meet him in the auditorium for lunch instead of the library this time. He had said something about a private performance. You became nervous as you pushed open the doors to the auditorium as realized that there wasn't anyone else there.

"Ignis?" You called as you slowly walked in and tried to look around.

https://youtu.be/zRvhQ5Rf6-U

Suddenly the stage lights came on and you started to hear the most beautiful music coming from the stage. You slowly made your way up on stage as you seemed to be captivated by the music as it was came from the piano. Then when you looked at the bench, your heart stopped for a moment when you realized that it was Ignis who was playing.

You were in a state of shock as you walked around the piano so that you could watch him play. The piano keys seemed to yearn to play as his fingers danced over the keys. The sound was heavenly as the notes sang loudly out of the piano and filled the auditorium with beautiful music.

When he finished he looked you right in the eye with a huge grin. You bit your lip as tears were starting to form in your eyes again. You knew that he could play. That you had heard in the choir room as you were learning the songs. But that had never really shown his true skills. You now understood why the choir director wanted him to do a solo during the concert.

"How did it sound?" He asked as he sat there looking at you.

You brought your hands up to your face as started to wipe away the tears. "I have never heard anything more beautiful in my life." You said as you tried to gain your composure again.

Ignis looked at you as he smiled broadly again and reached out his hand to you. "You can sit down if you like." He said as he invited you to sit on the bench beside him. "We can practice the songs if you like?"

You shyly smiled as you made your way over. "Sounds good mystro." You teased as you walked over and sat beside him on the bench.

Then for the first part of lunch, the two of you went over the songs for the choir concert. Then you enjoyed your lunch on the stage before heading back to class. Your heart was still soaring long after leaving him for your afternoon classes. For it seemed like you blinked and you were heading back down to choir for practice.

For practice today, the choir did a dry run through the concert. The songs were covered this time. But she did have everyone go over the dance moves. You and Ignis seemed to be the only two who were practically flawless as you smoothly flew through all of the songs and steps. In fact, Ms. Julius had the two of you demonstrating for the choir so that they could see what it was suppose to look like. You felt a bit shy to dance in front of the whole choir. But since Ignis was your partner, he just had you concentrating on him and not on anything else and the two of you did it as if you had known the moves your whole life.

After school that day, Ignis was once again in the car with you as you both headed to pick up Noctis before heading to the citadel. You held his hand the whole time and leaned up against him as if he was going to slip away from you. If felt so good to you to have him back in the car with you. You hadn't really realized how much you had gotten use to him being in the car until he wasn't there with you.

Once you arrived back at the Citadel it was anything but normal routine. For the whole citadel was excited about the concert. They couldn't wait to see Ignis performing on stage. And after what you had seen earlier, you understood why.

Since the concert was fairly early, you had to immediately cook dinner while Ingis ran to the condo to get ready for the concert. Once he returned, everyone ate. Then once it was done, Marge and Jim insisted that they would do the dishes for you so that you could get ready for the concert yourself. You were very gratefully for the additional time, that this would allow you. For the choir had to wear a certain dress for the concert while the guys had to wear a certain suit.

Both were black and very trim. The dress was a straight, floor-length dress that came just off of the shoulders as it seemed to smooth out your sides. The suit that he had to wear had a white shirt, with a jet black tie, jacket and slacks. It reminded you of the black tie events that your parent use to attend for work.

You heard the knock on your door as you were finishing off your makeup. "Come in." You called as you applied your lip stick.

You heard the door crack open. "Are you ready?" You heard Noctis' sweet voice say as he stepped in.

"Almost" You called back as you put down your lip stick and dabbed you lips on a tissue. Then with one last look in the mirror you smiled to yourself. "All done." You said as you walked out of the bathroom.

You saw Noctis standing there in his black pin striped suit from the night of the dinner date. You gave him a broad smiled as you walked over to him. You loved seeing him dress up like that. Having him look so handsome made your heart jump every time. For it helped you to see what he might look like as king, as if it gave you a glimpse of what he might look like as a grown up.

"There's my princess." Noctis commented s you smiled at you.

"There's my prince." You smiled back. "And looking as dashing as always I might add."

"My dad said I should at least look the part tonight." He commented as he held out his arm for you.

"Well perhaps he should have you do it more often." You joked back as you took his arm as you allowed him to lead you out of your room.

"No thank you." He laughed back at you as you started down the hallway as you headed for the sitting room. "I quite enjoy my jeans and t-shirt thank you."

"Too bad. The girls would have a hard time staying away from you if you looked like this more often." You joked with him as he opened up the door to the sitting room.

"That's not a concern for me. In fact the longer then stay away, the better." He responded as he dropped his arm. "You on the other hand have someone who seemed to love everything you wear." He continued as he gestured towards Ignis, who was standing on the other side of the room again.

Once again, before you could leave, Marge insisted that she got some pictures of the group before anyone left the citadel. KIng Regis and Korn even got into them this time. This photo session was cut short though since you had to get to the concert. So after a few pictures, you were on your way to the concert. You sat next to Ignis and nervously held his hand. He tried to comfort you by holding you against him.  At one point he even tried to distract you by sneaking in one kiss on the backside of your shoulder so that Korn wouldn't see. You gave Ignis a devilish look as he played it off as if he had to scratch his nose.

Once you arrived at the school, you and Ignis walked down to the choir room and got ready like the rest of the choir. Everyone was excited and nervous as they chatted loudly among themselves. You did seem to notice that Gwen seemed more nervous than usual as she kept looking over at you alot before quickly looking away once she saw you looking at her. You weren't sure what it was about. But with Gwen it could be anything. So you just brushed it off as Gwen being up to her old tricks again.

The first half of the concert started like any other. Everyone got on stage and stood on the risers in their different section and performed the very serious and complicated songs. This seemed to fly, for next thing you knew, you were walking back off of the stage as the solos were getting ready to start. You knew Ignis was going second, so as soon as the curtain closed, you ran over to the right side of the stage. You stood behind the black curtains with Ignis as you waited for his turn. He was standing there looking very serious as he ran through the keys and notes in his head. You saw how nervous he was, so you placed your hand on his arm.

"Just play like you did earlier and this crowd will go crazy." You said to him with a big smile.

"Thanks love." He said, then gave you a big smile.

"Now go on." You said as you started to push him towards the piano. "I'll be right here when you done."

"Promise?" He asked as he looked at you with love in his eyes.

"I promise I won't move a muscle." You smiled back.

He smiled at you, then gave you a peck on the cheek. "Wish me luck."

"You don't need it with your talent." You said as he walked away with a big smile.

He grinned back at you before he turned around and slowly started out on stage. The whole crowd erupted with applause as he stepped out into the light. You felt your heart leap as you watched him walk out. But just as you were getting ready to enjoy the show, Gwen step up beside you.

"I'm surprised that they let you on stage with him like this"  Gwen said as Ignis walked over to the piano bench.

"What's that supposed to mean?" You asked as you gave her a questioning look.

"Well you know. The empire needs you more than he does." She said then slowly looked over at you.

"Wha....." You started to say.

But just then, she reached around your head and placed a cloth tightly over your mouth and nose. Instantly everything started to get blurry and you could feel your body starting to go limp as you tried to grab at her arms, but to no avail.

"It's nothing personal." Gwen said in your ear as everything was getting fuzzy as your arms heavily fell down to your sides.

"But I have to save my parents." Gwen said as her voice cracked right as everything went black.

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

I love choir and have been apart of several very talented groups. But my favorite memory was when we actually performed several dances on stage. To bad it didn't quite work out this time for these two.

Now I think it goes without saying that you will want to come back for the next chapter. Otherwise, you'll never get off of this cliffhanger. 😊

So, I shall see you in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading. :)

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