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Iris sniffled, rubbing her wet face against her hand as she sat in the waiting room with her two brothers, feeling as guilty as sin.
She was shaking as she brought her knees to her chest, wanting to bury her face into them to hide from the rest of the world. Her eyes were hot and puffy and her sobs were barely audible due to her throat feeling so tight. It was so tight she could barely breathe. Her head hurt with worry and she thought she should feel this way because this was all her fault. This was her fault that one of her dads was currently being looked at by the doctors, laying in a hospital bed possibly fighting for his life and why the other one was probably fuming with them all-
It was an accident though!
They never meant for Regis to get hurt!
She tilted her head up ever so slightly only to see that Gladio and Noctis were not doing much better than her in terms of handling their emotions.
Gladio was pacing up and down the room, eyes dark, with the look of thunder present on his face. He was probably extremely mad at himself - as he didn’t really know how to express upset properly. The 12-year-old could understand, she felt the same way. But she darent voice her feelings at the moment. She’d just make Gladio angrier.
As for the prince, he had gone pale and was staring down at the floor with hopelessness spread across his features, also shaking in fear and grief. Iris knew why. Regis may be her dad too, for that is all she had ever known him as, but he was Noct’s flesh and blood. And if anything happened to their dad… Iris would never forgive herself and she was certain neither Noct or Gladio would-
It was an accident!!
A complete accident!
Tears began to free fall again as the images flashed before her amber eyes.
All three of them, her, Gladio and Noct, were having an argument. A stupid, stupid argument about- Iris didn’t even know now! All she knew it could have been avoided if none of them were as stubborn as mules, and that was where Regis stepped in to stop their needless squabbling and then.... Everything happened so fast… their dad fell to the floor.
He could have lost his footing, or one of them could have pushed his cane, or accidentally fell into him knocking him over; Iris didn’t know, the next thing she saw was her dad on the floor, holding his bloody head as he cried out in pain.
Thankfully, Clarus had literally come through the door directly after the king had fallen over but still… Iris couldn't stop crying because she had been one of the main reasons for his fall and now there was nothing she could do to help her daddy. The man who adopted her without a second thought and had always embraced her and Gladdy with open arms, treating them as equally as he treated Noctis! He loved them as much as he loved Noctis and now he was hurt. Probably hurt really bad! And it was all because of them!
Her sobs became louder, as she could no longer contain her guilt, and she cried loudly into the room.
“Squirt…” She heard Gladio’s voice, he was trying to be comforting but there was a layer of anger still present. “...this ain’t your fault.”
Iris shook her head not believing her brother’s words.
“Iris, it’s okay.” Noctis said, his voice shaken but he was trying to be supportive too. He sat down next to his little sister and wrapped an arm around her to give her a sense of security. “Dad is gonna be fine. I promise.”
“What-” Iris cried, taking a brief pause to breathe. “What if he’s not?! His knee? What if he has damaged that?!”
She took in some deep breaths, as she felt Noctis hug her tighter and she could hear that he was struggling to keep his emotions steady too. That thought probably hadn’t even crossed his mind and she had just fed it! She thought herself a horrible sister and a horrible daughter!
“Don’t think like that.” Noctis told her, rubbing her shoulder lightly. “We don’t know anything yet. I am sure dad is fine.”
“Yeah, squirt.” Gladio agreed, kneeling in front of his younger siblings as he took Iris’s hands into his own. “We just have to wait until dad comes out and tells us more about his condition. Don’t worry, you had nothing to do with dad falling over. I promise.”
Iris couldn’t help but gasp at her older brother’s words. He never called Regis dad…
Why would he?
He was 8-years-old when their dad and Noct’s dad finally became a public item. Gladio was used to having their mum around and he had always rejected Regis as a parental figure… but him saying those words… Iris didn’t know if she should be glad or more disaught. Because for Gladio to say something like that it meant that he was really worried. She knew Noctis felt the same as she did about Gladio’s reaction to her tears. She could tell it as she felt him tense up for a brief moment before relaxing again.
“I just want him to be okay…” She whimpered, bowing her head in shame.
This is all my fault...
“Oh Iris, don’t worry, sweetheart, he is fine.”
All three of them turned their heads to the sound of Clarus Amicitia’s voice and Iris just wanted to crumble at the sight of her dad.
He looked pale, not as pale as Noct did, but pale enough to know that he had been panicking out of his mind. Iris couldn’t control her actions. She pushed Gladio out of the way and ran to her dad, wrapping her arms around his waist to try and give him comfort. It was his husband who was hurt after all, he must be so upset.
“Sweetheart...” Clarus sighed, placing a hand on her head as he wrapped an arm around her. “It’s okay. I promise.”
“But daddy he’s-” Iris cut herself off, burying her face into his stomach.
“Is fine, sweetheart.” Clarus said, gently pulling his daughter away from him. “Go and sit by your brothers, I need to have a chat with all three of you.”
Iris nodded as she held back a hard gulp.
Her dad’s voice sounded plain. Too plain. That either meant one or two things. He was either about to burst into tears or he was about to blow his lid on them. Right now, it could be either. So she quickly did as she was told, sitting in between Gladio and Noctis before turning her attention on to her dad.
The Lord was standing a few feet away from them in silence. That put poor Iris on edge even more because if her dad, if Lord Clarus Amicitia, had to think about how he was going to word something… then that spelt trouble.
Clarus cleared his throat and looked at them, speaking in a bland tone as he did so. “Dad is fine. He has had to have 5 stitches on the back of his head and will require bed rest for the next week and a half and he has a concussion.”
Iris held her breath.
5 stitches!
That was bad! That was really bad! Oh no!
“His knee is fine. No damage has been done to that.”
Iris still held her breath in her lungs. Yes, she was so relieved to hear that their dad was okay but they weren’t out of the woods yet. She knew her dad had more to say on the matter.
Clarus began to slowly pace up and down the room, as he continued to speak, his voice still void from emotion. Iris could only assume that was to prevent tears or anger spilling out.
“But I do hope you all realise how serious this could have been? What were you even fighting about to cause this?”
Iris bowed her head in shame, she couldn’t answer as she really couldn’t remember.
“We were fighting about the stupid game console, dad.” Noctis finally spoke, his voice stiff from holding back tears. Iris rubbed her brother’s back trying to comfort him, just like he had done for her. “Are you sure he is okay?”
Clarus nodded, offering him a sombre smile. “He is Noct. I promise.”
“We didn’t mean for it to get out of hand.” Gladio stumbled over his words.
“Now you know in future that you don’t ever need to sort out disagreements with violence.” Clarus said, not once raising his voice. “I understand we are in the middle of a war, but we are family. Family is the most important thing that anyone on Eos has. And families do not fight. We talk. We listen. We love and we respect one another. If we don’t have family then we are nothing and accidents such as this one could happen.”
All three of them nodded, not looking their father in the eye.
Clarus sighed and pulled up a chair from the side of the room so he could place it in front of them and sit down. He leant forward and spoke calmly at them.
“I know you all feel very guilty about what has happened, and I am glad. It means you are willing to take responsibility for your actions. But honestly, you have to take this on board, violence is never the way. Fighting is never the way. I know all of you are better than that, both me and dad do. We love you all so much and we couldn’t be prouder to have you in our lives. But this needs to stop now. You all need to take a look at yourselves. Really take a look at yourselves. Because none of you are like this. This isn’t who you are.”
“You’re right.” Iris agreed, her tears beginning to dry on her face because her dad had told no lie. Sure, she could be upset about this but… the only person who truly mattered right now was their dad. “I am sorry, dad.”
“We all are.” Noctis agreed, resting his chin on his knuckles. “I promise I will never fight with you two again like that.”
“Same here.” Iris nodded, quickly agreeing with her brother.
“Yeah.” Gladio said breathlessly. “We fucked up. Someone got hurt. That is never acceptable. It will never happen again.”
“Good, now come here, all of you.”
Iris let out a very small smile as her dad wrapped his arms around all of them and held them close. Iris kinda felt like a squashed orange as she was in the middle but her mind was not focused on that. She kept thinking about their other dad. Knowing that he probably wanted a hug right now. He was such a delicate soul, and knowing him, he would probably feel guilty for them having to witness him being in pain! He was so lovely and silly sometimes but that was why they all loved him.
When Clarus let them go, he told them that they could come into the room and see Regis.
Iris immediately leapt at the chance, running ahead of her family, dashing to get to the door as quickly as possible.
When she opened the door, she found her daddy laying in a hospital bed with his leg elevated and a bandage wrapped around the crown of his head. And… she had never seen him so relaxed before!
When amber eyes met the green eyes of her dad’s, Iris saw a massive smile grow on the king’s face.
“Princess!” Regis said weakly, trying to sit up.
“No, dad.” Iris shook her head, running to his side to prevent him from accidentally causing himself any more pain. “You got to lay still.”
“Oh Iris, I am fine.” Regis smiled, running his hand through her brown locks. “I have a small headache but nothing to worry about.”
“Yes, well no more worrying. You got to stay here and rest.” Iris ordered, relieved to see that he was indeed okay.
“Yes, darling, listen to our daughter.” Clarus said, giving him a stern expression.
“Oh okay!” Regis said, dramatically rolling his eyes as he slumped back into his bed. “I guess I’ll stay here for a week!”
“Yes, dad, you will.” Noctis said with a nod, also very relieved his dad had maintained his cheekiness.
Gladio wrapped one arm around Noctis’s shoulders and pulled him in for a noogie. “Yeah, let this one deal with all the boring stuff!”
“Get off!” Noctis growled, trying to get out of his older brother’s grip.
“Boys, what did I just say?!” Clarus spat, preventing the spat from continuing.
Iris shook her head, and carefully wrapped her arms around Regis’s neck and gave him a hug. She knew he needed it. She needed it too. She just could not be happier to see her dad smiling away like there was no tomorrow and acting as if nothing had happened! But that was just Regis Lucis Caelum all around, always trying to see the positive side to everything he could.
“I love you, daddy.”
“I love you too, princess.” Regis smiled, hugging back her tighter.