THE sunlight streaming in through your sliding glass doors was trying to wake you out of your restless slumber. You groaned and rolled over to try and get some more sleep. You weren't ready to face the cruel world that was waiting for you. All you wanted was to sleep and be alone. That seemed to be the only safe place anymore. For no one could hurt you if you were asleep.

But it looked like the world was bound and determined to interrupt your peace as your phone started vibrating on your nightstand. You rolled over to see who it was. Your heart rate increased as you saw Noctis' name on your screen as he was trying to call you again. You hung up the phone and slammed it back down on its face as you rolled back over. You buried your face in the bedding again as you felt the tears again. The sheets were soon soaked as you laid there and cried for what seemed like hours.

It had been three days since you had been at the Citadel for dinner. You had passed out from stress and dehydrated. Your parents had had to take you back to the hospital where they had pumped you full of fluids. Once you were good, they let you go. But by then, your family was just ready to be home.

Since then Noctis had been calling your phone everyday as he tried to reach you. But he was the last person that you wanted to talk to. Every time you saw his name show up on your phone, your heart felt like it was being ripped out and stomped on. A few times you had even silently hoped that you would never have to see him again.

As you laid there, you heard your door crack open.

"Hey honey." Said your mom softly to you. "Someone is here to see you."

"I don't want to see anyone." You said from under your pillow as you buried your head.

Your mom slightly smiled as she came over and sat on the edge of your bed. She started rubbing your back as she spoke to you.

"Come on dear." She started. "It's been three days. The doctor said that you were fine. And besides, this young man has been trying to see you ever since we got back from the hospital. Don't you think that you should at least say hi?"

"I don't want to." You said in a muffled voice.

"Well, that's to bad. He is quite handsome." Your mom returned as she was trying to tease you.

"I don't care. I don't want to see him." You said as you wrapped the pillow tighter around your head.

Your mom sighed as she rubbed your back one more time before walking back out of the room. You took your pillow off you head after she left and just laid there for a moment. Then you got up and went over to your sliding glass door. You opened it up slightly, then sat down by the cracked opening.

Within a few minutes, you heard the front door open and your mom's voice coming in through your door.

"I'm sorry dear. But she still doesn't want any visitors. Not just yet anyway. Just give her time. Perhaps after awhile she will come around." You heard her tell the visitor as she tried to comfort them.

"I see." You heard a smooth accented voice reply.

"Well, thank you very much for your time ma'am. And I'm sorry for bothering you. Please take care." You heard him say, which left you with no doubt that it was Ignis who had stopped by.

You stood up and glanced out the window and saw a black car with silver trim along with a chauffeur at the curb. You watched as Ignis walked back over to the car and got into the back seat. Then within a few moments, they drove off.

So you couldn't be bothered to stop by yourself, could you? You had to send your servant instead. What's next? Are you going to send your guardbody over to beat me up until I talk to you? You angrily thought to yourself. I'm so over this! If that's how your going to play, then you can play with someone else.

It was at that moment that you decided that you weren't going to talk to any of them. You were tired of being the one who was being stomped on. From now on you weren't going to talk to anyone. You did it last year. What was another six years.

And with that you got up and started getting yourself ready so that you could help your mom with the housework. Perhaps cleaning was just what you needed. After all it seemed to work for your mom all the time.

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

The rest of the weekend went on like any other had, before you started school. You helped to clean the entire house from top to bottom and had even volunteered to cut the grass for your dad. He was quite surprised since you normally hated the lawnmower. But that day you found it to be very calming as you easily walked behind it as you cut every inch of the yard. You had listened to your favorite music while you worked, which allowed you to zone out as you walked back and forth across the yard. You had never realized how calming it could be. You made a mental note to yourself to do this more often so that you could stay calm and think things out.

When Monday morning came, you were ready once again to face the world. But this time you were ready to face it alone once more. For you had decided that it wasn't going to stop you anymore. After eating breakfast, you were once more riding the bus to school. But this time you were ready for anything.

After getting off the bus, you made sure that this time when the bell rang, you steered clear of the 8th grade hallway. You were able to get through all of your morning classes for the most part. You had no issues with English, except for picking up the homework that you had missed last week when you were out. Art was by far the easiest, since you can't really make up an art class. Computer technology was one of your favorite classes that you had selected. But in was going to be a bit to catch-up. Your teacher wanted you to find several articles about different technologies that were currently being utilized. This was going to take some research.

Gym, which was right before lunch, hadn't even been that bad. All it consisted of was endurance training, which had you running the track, doing pushups, sit-ups and pull-ups if you could. Then at lunch you sat off by yourself in the far corner of the courtyard. Far away from the table of doom. After lunch you headed to history class and then on to math. These seemed to be a bit easier since Ignis had initially helped with this. He had gone over a bit more than what was required, which made it easier to understand the information when they put it out in class.

Finally you were heading to the last class for the day. You smiled to yourself as you felt relieved that you had finally been able to complete a whole day at school. As you walked into Choir, you looked around to see who was there. You knew that the choir consisted of all the grades since there weren't that many students that were taking the course. So you scanned the classroom to see if you recognize anyone. After a quick glance, you thought that you were in the clear. That was until you saw someone that made your heart jump. For sitting there in the front of the class looking over what looked like sheet music, was Ignis.

I didn't know that he could sing? You thought to yourself.

You had never heard him hum a single bar, so how is it that he is in Choir? You wondered. But this was soon answered as the teacher came in.

"Alright class let's warm up. Ignis can you get us going?" The Choir Director asked.

"Yes ma'am." He said as he stood up and walked over to the grand piano that sat in front of the class.

He carefully sat down and got situated before he started running us through the scales so that we could follow along and warm up our voices. You couldn't help but notice just how comfortable he was as he pressed the ivory keys and made the piano sing out it's beautiful tones. You were in the soprano section which was on the other side of the room so you couldn't hear his voice. But you watched as his mouth was open and his throat danced as he sang along with everyone.

He stayed there the whole class and played accompaniment while the group went through the music that had been handed out. But you noticed that he seemed to be singing when the tenors had their part. So, he did have some hidden skills after all. Perhaps he was more than just a servant.

At the end of class, you didn't think that he had noticed you the entire class, since he seemed so focused on playing the piano. So when the bell rang you just started to file out of class along with everyone else. But before you could get very far. You felt a hand grab your wrist and pull you back into the classroom.

"Hey! What the hell?" You asked out of surprise as you were being dragged back into the now empty classroom.

"Look, you may not want to talk to Noctis." He said in a stern voice. "But I would like to know why you won't speak to me? What did I do? I think you can at least tell me that."

You could see fire in his eyes as his frustration was building. You were taken back by his words. Truth be told. Ignis hadn't done anything wrong.

Besides him not saying anything about who he really was and who he worked for. But for all you knew, Noctis' could have ordered him not to say anything. You can't really fight against that when he's your boss. And especially when he's a Prince.

"It's not you, alright. It's Noctis." You said as you tried to get your hand free. "Now let go of me. I have to get to my locker."

"I will if you tell me what he did?" Ignis persisted as he kept a firm grip on your wrist.

"It's not what he did." You said in a low direct voice as you stood still.

"It's what he didn't do. He didn't tell me the truth about any of you. He lied to me about everything. About himself, about Gladio, and even about you. How am I supposed to trust someone who lies all of the time? He didn't even tell his dad the whole story about us. I could see it on his face when we were walking down the hallway as we headed for the dining hall." You almost shouted. You looked down as you finished.

"Our whole relationship is based on one lie after another. And now I suppose you're going to tell me that he's betrothed or something." You said as he looked away.

Ignis looked down at your hands and loosened his grip so that he could grasp the side of your hand.

"I'm sorry." He said after a moment.

"I didn't realized that you hadn't been told anything." He said in a soft tone as he gently rubbed his thumb over the top of your hand.

Again he was amazed at how soft your skin felt under his touch.

"I can see how that would upset someone. Especially you." He said as he looked back up at you.

"Are you happy now?" You shot back at him.

"I gotta go." You said as you yanked your hand away from him and walked out the door.

You started walking to your locker as if in a trance.

Is he really so dense that he didn't have any idea about what was going on? And why wouldn't he think that that would bother me? How 'out of it' do you have to be? You thought to yourself as you ran right into someone's back since you weren't paying attention.

"Hey! Watch where you're going?" Came another voice that you really wish that you hadn't heard.

As she turned around to face you, you saw Gwendolyn's blonde curls sway away from her face as she turned around to see who had hit her.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the girl who got me suspended for three days." She said with a sinister tone while she glared at you with her blue eyes. "I must thank you for that. My mother was more than happy to have me scrubbing the whole house for those three days straight."

She moved closer to you and leaned down so that her face was right in front of you. You could smell the onions on her breath from lunch. You had to hold your breath to prevent from inhaling it.

"I hate cleaning." She said with a scowl on her face. "You better watch yourself this year. All kinds of things can happen to people who make me look bad."

"Gwen." You heard Ignis' stern voice coming from behind you. "Don't you think that you should be heading home?"

She stood back up and gave him her sexy look. Then she walked over to him and slide her finger around the knot on his tie.

"Why, are you concerned about me?" She said as she slowly slide the tie through her fingers as she pulled his tie out of his jacket while undoing his jacket buttons.

"No. Not really." Ignis returned as he tried to back up.

"Oh." She said as she pulled his tie, and him towards her. "But I think you are."

Then she leaned up and smashed her lips on his.

You stood there frozen in place as you watched her kissing Ignis. Then you saw him put his hands up and push her away.

"Get off me!". Ignis shouted at her as he pushed his hands against her shoulders to get her away from him.

"What's the matter with you?" He said as he took a step back and gave her a stern look.

"Why are you fighting it Iggy?" She tried to say sweetly as she approached him again.

You couldn't stand it anymore. You were tired of her thinking that she could do whatever she wanted, with whoever she wanted. It was time to put an end to this, now. You quickly got in between the two of them.

"He said get off!" You yelled at her, as you stood there, ready to hit her if you had to.

Your body started to slightly tremble as you could feel your anger starting to rise.

"Get out the way bitch! This has nothing to do with you!" She retorted as she stared at Ignis.

"The fuck it doesn't. Your messing with my friend. And I don't like it when people mess with my friends." You said as you took your fighting stance.

Please six, let me remember how to do this again? You thought as you tried to remember the self defense classes that you had taken last year.

You hadn't been very good at it. But it had helped to give you some confidence that you might stand a fighting chance. Although you weren't sure if you wanted to test it on her though.

"Friend?" She sarcastically asked as she slightly laughed. "Do you expect me to believe that Ignis would ever associate himself with someone as lowly as you? Your nothing in this school. You're just an pest that needs to be removed."

"Oh no my dear." Ignis interjected as he placed his hand on your shoulder.

Then he stepped up beside you so that his arm was laying across your back.

"I think that it is you that needs to be removed. We are friends and have been for quite sometime. And I believe that it is you, that one might think of as being the lowest of the low. For you have to push people around, just to feel better about yourself.

"Not very attractive I'm afraid my dear. Not very attractive at all. You would do well to give it up. It's not very becoming for your family's image." He finished as he gave her a petty look.

Gwen looked like she had just been hit with a ton of bricks as she stood there staring at him. Her mouth was gaping open and she just kept looking back and forth between the two of you.

"Now if you'll pardon us. We do have to get to our lockers." He said as he dropped his hand to your waist and turned you down the hallway.

"Don't say a word and don't look back." He whispered to you.

He kept his hand on your waist as you both walked down the hallway. The closeness of him as you walked had your heart racing in your chest. Your skin started to tingle under your shirt where his hand was resting. The sensation and closeness made you feel more connected to him than you had ever felt around him. It was comforting and erotic at the same time, and you didn't want him to let go. But then he slowly dropped his hand to his side as you both turned the corner and out of Gwen's line of sight.

You both walked for a while in silence as you continued down the hallway. Each of you seemed to be lost in your own thoughts.

Oh my six. Did that just happen? You thought to yourself as you could feel yourself starting to freak out as the events started to register. Did I just stand up to her? Did Ignis just have his arm around me?

"(y/n)?" Ignis spoke as he looked at you.

His voice took you back out of your trance. "Yeah?" You asked.

"If you don't mind me asking, have you ever had any formal training on how to fight?" He asked as he glanced at you.

His question caught you by surprise. "Training?"

Ignis smiled a bit. "You know, any type of training in hand to hand combat or anything like that?"

"Oh. Well there was a self defense course that I took last year." You said as you looked forward.

"But I wasn't any good at it." You said as you dropped your gaze.

"I could hit and block. But I had a hard time with the escapes. I never seemed to be strong enough to escape from the instructors grip."

"Hmm." He hummed as he looked forward.

You looked at him for a moment and watched as his eyes seemed to dance as he was thinking of something. You knew that look. He was trying to come up with a plan of some sorts. The view made you smile. You hadn't seen that look on him in what seemed like forever. He looked over at you as you smiled back at him.

"Now what pertail is that look for?" He asked with a smile as he tried to act like he was annoyed by it.

"Your planning something." You said back as you continued to watch his face.

"Now what would give you that idea?" He asked as he tried to mask his face.

"I know that look Iggy." You slightly smiled back as you gave him a devilish grin. "What are you cooking up?"

Ignis just laughed. "You'll just have to wait an see my dear." He said as he put his hand on the small of your back and steered you into the closest classroom.

The turn caught you off guard as it dawned on you that you had still been walking through the school halls. For a moment there you had forgotten that you were still in the school. You looked around the room and realized that it was empty classroom. You stood there for a minute while Ignis slightly closed the door behind him. Then you turned around and faced him as he approached you.

He walked up to you and smiled as he stopped right in front of you. Then he dropped his gaze as he took one of your hands again.

"I just wanted to say thank you." He said quietly as he rubbed his thumb over your hand. "And that I'm sorry."

You looked down at your hands and watched as he gentle brushed your skin as he talked. Your skin started to tingle again from the motion. How is it that he could make you react like this every time he touch you? You wondered.

"Sorry for what?" You responded as you watched his hand. "You haven't done anything wrong. I should be the one apologizing for turning you away, the way that I have."

"You've done nothing wrong but help me ever since school started. And I thanked you by shutting you out. I'm sorry Ignis." You said as you tighten your grip on his hand. "I never meant to upset you or make you angry."

"All is forgiven." He said as he returned the pressure on your hand. Then he glanced up at you and just looked at your face as if he was memorizing it. "But only if you forgive me."

"For what?" You asked as you watched his face.

He glanced down as he heavily exhaled.

"I'm afraid that I haven't been completely honest with you." He said as he dropped his head.

Your heart stopped as you could feel the bombshell that he was about to drop.

"About what?" You asked as you started to brace yourself.

"Well, as you may have figured out by now, I'm not Noctis' brother." He started. "In fact I'm not of royal blood at all. But my family has served the Kings of Lucis as their royal retainers for generations. My uncle, who works for the Citadel, has also been training me to be the next Royal Advisor to the King. My training is getting me ready to proper serve Noctis and King Regis. Gladio and I are also both in training to be Noctis' Crownsguard so that we can protect him throughout his life." He paused for a minute as he started to work up the courage to continue.

"I see. Well that explains a lot." You said as you glanced down again.

"So does that mean that you were just keeping an eye on him when you would come to the park." You said after a brief pause.

"Initially yes." He admitted as he rubbed your hand again. "But.."

"You must all think that I'm stupid." You said as you could feel the betrayal once again ripping at you.

You looked away as you could feel your eyes starting to burn again. "Or that I'm just some sort of toy that you can to play with."

"No, that's not it." He quickly returned.

"And why not. I'm already Noctis' fucking fool that he can just throw out whenever he's done with me." You continued as you could feel you temper rising.

"Now you know that's not true." He tried to interject.

"Do I!" You shouted at him at you turned and looked at him with tears starting in your eyes.

He stared at you with his mouth open as he saw the pain and anger in your face.

"(y/n) please?" He pleaded.

"Please what?" You asked as your voice started to crack.

You dropped your head as you tried to keep your body from shaking.

Ignis lifted your chin with his free hand so that he could see your face. Then he slowly moved in and gently kissed your forehead. You stopped in your tracks as you felt the softness of his lips on your head. You could feel your body start to melt as the heat came to your cheeks as he removed his lips. Then he put his forehead to yours and brought your hand up and set it on his chest.

"Please stop fighting with us." He gently spoke as you could feel him pulling you into his embrace.

"We've been trying to make up to you." He said as he wrapped one hand around the small of your back and the other was against your back.

"Please stop pushing us away." He said as he moved his head to the side so that his head went over your shoulder as he pulled you in close.

His gentle embrace surprised you and comforted you at the same time. You had no idea that he could be so caring. He had always been a bit distant compared to the others. Never had you imagined that he would be the one that would be comforting you like this.

You closed your eyes as you slide your hands under his jacket and slid them around to his back. He shirt was soft and warm as you wrapped your arms around to his upper back and returned the embrace. The smell of his cologne filled your senses as you breathed against his chest. It seemed familiar somehow and it was waking up something much deeper within you.

"What can I do to make it up to you?'' He asked after a while.

His words seemed to come from a distance. You opened your eyes and stared at the floor.

"I don't know if there is anything that you can do about the past." You quietly said.

He squeezed tighter.

"I wish that I could." He quietly answered as he gently rubbed your back.

His touch was sending chills up and down your spine as he slowly moved his hand up and down your back. Then he slowly loosened his grip and leaned back so that he could see your face again.

"But I think I know where we can start." He stated as he looked in your eyes.

You tilted your head as you tried to figure out what he was up to.

"And where would that be?" You asked as you studied his face.

"I could tutor you until you are all caught up in your classes, if you like. I can only imagine that they have just swamped you with homework and make-up projects." Ignis offered with a gentle smile on his face.

"That sounds nice." You smiled back. "It would be a very helpful as well. I don't even know where to begin with it all."

Ignis smiled back as he saw that shine starting to come back to your eyes again. It had been too long since he had seen that sparkle.

"It's a deal then?" He asked as he tried to calm his rising heart rate.

You smiled back as you felt his heart rate increase to match yours. "It's a deal."

Then you put your hand on one of his cheek and gently kissed him on the other for a moment. He closed his eyes as he could feel his body start to heat up as his heart rate started to spike. The tenderness of your kiss was starting to drive him crazy. But then you broke away leaving him wanting more of your touch.

"Thank you Ignis." You said as you removed your hands from under his jacket.

You felt his body shake from the cool air touching the now exposed fabric. You grabbed both of his hands and looked at him with a smile as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Well I suppose I should go." You said as you looked down. "I have to catch my bus."

"Final call for bus 17 students. Please report to the turn around. Again this is the final call for bus 17 students. Please report to the turn around."

"Oh Shit!" You shouted.

"That's me! I gotta go. Call me later so that we can set up a time. Alright? Bye!" You said as you opened up the door and raced down the hallway.

Ignis stood there for a few minutes as if in a daze. His heart was still racing and his body was still responding to the kiss.

Wait, what just happened? He thought. Shit! I don't have her number! He quickly realized.

Then he quickly left the room in search of you.

After running through the hallway he stopped at the turn around and saw that all of the buses had left.

Damn it. I missed her. He thought as he looked down.

But then he looked across the way and saw you sitting on the curb with your phone in your hand. He smiled to himself as he pushed open the door and started walked over to you.

You sat there in a slight trance as you stared at your phone. Now how were you going to get home. You had missed the bus and both of your parents had to work late tonight. You sighed and closed your eyes.

I just can't win can I. You thought to yourself. I get one thing fixed, only to mess up something else.

"Hey (y/n)." Ignis said as he approached.

"Hey." You replied back.

"What happened?" He asked as he sat down beside you.

"I missed the bus. I got here right as the bus was leaving the parking lot." You answered as you looked down.

"What about your parents? Are they coming to get you then?" He asked.

"They both have to work late tonight." You answered as you put your head on your knees. Ignis smiled as he put his hand on you back.

"Would you like us to give you a ride home?' He asked as he tilted his head so that he could see you face better. "I can have our driver take you to your house. We just have to pick-up Noctis first, if that's alright with you?"

"Do you think he'll flip out when he gets in?" You asked.

"I don't want to upset him." You said as you looked down. "I haven't exactly been very nice to him lately. What with ignoring his phone calls and all."

"Well there isn't a better time than the present, to fix that problem. Now is there?" He said rubbed your back.

"No, I guess there isn't." You answered as you sighed heavily.

"Right then." Ignis said with a smile. "Let me call the driver. Do you need to get anything from your locker before we leave."

"Oh shit." You said as you abruptly sat up. "I forgot all of my books from this morning."

Ignis smiled. "That's ok. I still have to get mine as well." He responded back with a smile.

"Come on." He said as he stood up and held his hand out to you. "Let's get our things so that we can go home. Someone has some homework to get done."

You smiled as you grabbed his hand. "Right." You said as he lifted you up.

******Author's Note******

I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I can't wait until the next chapter thought. The next one will prove be a bit of a challenge as it will test not only my writing skills but also the skills of the soon be to King and his brothers in arms.

Until next time.

Thanks for reading. :)

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