#ffxv au fic

[charlottedabookworm]

You know how in lotr Aragorn commands an army of ghosts because they broke an Oath to his ascentor and can't rest until they fulfill it?

Nyx Ardynson doing something similar with Gilgamesh and all those ghostly warriors in Taeloar Crag. (On one hand, they won that battle and pushed the Nifs back quite a lot. On the other, now everyone has questions.)

...yeah

yeah i uh- totally know that definitely yeah 100% hides in never actually watched nor read lotr

but anyway literally all i can see is clarus and cor staring at nyx, at where gilgamesh has just vanish from, obviously hating being summoned, seething in his silence but unable to deny the order from the kingsglaive once he'd sworn on his blood spilled upon the ground

and one of them, cor or clarus, ask how?

nyx raises his eyes from where his father's betrayer stood and he doesn't smile. "he swore an oath to an ancestor of mine," nyx says casually, easily. "gilgamesh swore his loyalty and his protection to him and his descendants and he swore it in blood and oath and on the gods"

now, nyx smiles. it doesn't reach his eyes. "he broke that oath, sworn on the gods themselves, and this? this is his punishment."

"in perpetuity he swore and so, as long as a member of that mans bloodline still lives, he is bound. the oathbreaker forced to honour his oath."

what did he do? cor wants to ask, but the memory of that ghost standing in taelpar crag stops him

whatever it is he did, even gilgamesh believed he deserved this

[someobscurereference]

ive been rereading your ffxv fic "im trying hard to take it back" for literally four years now. please end my suffering and tell me how gladio feels. please. PLEASE. (but only if u want ofc)

(fic) Short answer: Gladio feels insane guilt and spends a lot of his life trying to make this up to Prompto. In the process, they deepen their connection as friends and do begin a relationship probably around the one-year mark of endless darkness. <3

Longer answer: (implications of abuse/violence tw but no worse than in the fic itself; just what others assume to be true even if it's not in the context of this specific fic)

Gladio is a secret romantic at heart who has always envisioned meeting his soulmate, but he's also duty-bound and duty comes first. So even though he reads romance books (amongst other types of books too) and indulges in his head a bit as many people do, he's often put his duty to the crown first and foremost in his mind. He also didn't imagine his soulmate was anyone on this trip and thought perhaps the person he may have been fated to meet died in the assault of Insomnia. Even if they were a refugee, they can't be a priority to him at this moment. His priority has to be Noctis.

Prompto has obviously grown on him over the course of their road trip, but there are aspects of them that don't 100% mesh (as is true with every realistic relationship). That said, Gladio never in a hundred years would want this moment of (understandable but out of line) frustration and anger in the wake of Luna and Altissa to be a permanent mark on Prompto's face. He's genuinely horrified and disgusted with himself for a long time after this and spends most of his life trying to make it up. He feels like a dirtbag about it.

That said, Prompto runs away from him in this moment and they need time to calm down, just as the fic shows. Noctis goes after Prompto, just like in canon. Prompto falls off the train and has his Despair Arc just like in the DLC, now with the added despair of "well, in addition to being a clone, my soulmate hates me. And in addition to the mark of inhumanity on my wrist (barcode), I have a giant hand print of him literally Shoving Me Away on my face. Forever."

Aranea: Well, do you want to die about it. Or do you want to live.

Prompto, eventually like in canon: Live, I guess. But it will be excruciating.

Aranea: That's what living is. We do it anyway. Your friends love you. Get off the floor.

He fights his way through his issues and gets rescued like in canon. Gladio probably tries to talk to him when they all catch up again, trying to apologize, and Prompto tells him to hold off on that for later.

Then, of course, Noctis is eaten by the crystal and "later" becomes much, much later as they evacuate and try to survive in eternal darkness. (Though they also can't Not think about it because it's a giant hand print. On Prompto's face. And every person they meet has Something To Say about it, for better or worse, whether they knew Prompto before or not. Prompto cannot escape it, and when Gladio is not doing Crown Duties he feels he must do in Noct's absence, he's with Prompto, so he also Cannot Escape It either. Even when the person speaking is unaware that Gladio left that mark. It's almost worse when they don't know, but when they see it's Gladio, who is such a big guy who seemingly hit Prompto and left that permanent mark there, some of them get nasty to him and some back off out of fear. Both are horrible. The guilt is eating him alive.)

Eventually, enough time passes as the dust settles that they do Talk About It. Gladio apologizes sincerely, for the 500th time. Prompto's like, "Well. It's not like you could have known that this would be The One Time it happened." And then cracks a joke about their soulmate mark being a Prompto's hand print on Gladio's ass from a butt slap in another life, which does help the tension somewhat. (The more Gladio tries to apologize, the more Prompto grows sick of hearing it, so they just have to move on and keep going, as he's learned to do.)

They grow closer over time, especially because there's not a lot of people who have survived to this point and even less later on. They do get together romantically, both because they do like the idea of soulmates (for different reasons) and also because they're living out of each others pockets for years, so there's an affection and dependency that develops there. Also, teenage Prompto always thought Gladio was really handsome and teen Gladio thought Prompto was cute and sincere for a pipsqueak.

When they are out together on dates in normal settings surrounded by strangers after the light returns, Gladio will receive dirty looks for the rest of his life from strangers who see the hand print on Prompto's face and immediately (correctly) assumes it was out of anger rather than a funny accident or something. (Edit: Some people will assume there is a funny story attached. Gladio will not know what to say to this. Prompto will play along.) He will learn to live with this. Prompto is really grateful Gladio is with him despite everything.

[raven-6-10]

@a-world-in-grey

Right, after some deep diving through FFXV wiki and some research into hereditary titles, inheritance laws and various historical and fictional courts, I think I have a general idea of what I want the Niflheimr court in general and the Aldercapt dynasty in particular to look like.

***

Let's start with the inheritance laws.

I settled on agnatic-cognatic (male-preference) primogeniture i.e. the throne goes to the eldest son, then his brothers by order of age, then his eldest sister and so on. And since the Aldercapts don't have Bahamut artificially pruning the family tree to one child per generation in recent centuries, there are actually people related to the Emperor with a legitimate claim to the throne.

(Side-note: some pruning is still happening as a result of children competing for the throne. Iedolas' brothers and one sister had died before he even came to the throne.)

The issue here is that Iedolas is an ambitious man - even if he's not obsessed with reviving Solheim (at the moment) - and wants to leave a legacy. Which means he wants his heir to be his child/grandchild.

You raised a valid point about Iedolas having children before that point. Which. Uhmm. Canon doesn't exactly help here. The only thing we know for certain is that he had at least one son (b. 720 ME) who died at the earliest in 748 ME (because that's the birth year for Solara Antiquum) but was definitely dead when the game kicked off in 756 ME. Considering Iedolas is from Mors' generation that's kind of late to have your first child.

So!

I'm gonna make an executive decision here.

Iedolas did have children before that with his wife. Specifically two sons and a daughter. Possibly some grandchildren even. However they all died due to combination of illnesses, accidents and deliberate action. At that point he tried for another child with his wife, which canonically ended up with her death from childbirth complications within a year. In this au, the son in question was born early - resulting in underdeveloped lungs plus host of other health issues - and died as a young teenager due to pneumonia.

Hence, the order for Besithia to create an heir for him.

***

Situation at the Imperial court is surprisingly stable at the moment.

Just because the Emperor has no children doesn't mean he has no heirs*. The current heir presumptive is his younger sister but since she's rather elderly, the throne is actually probably going to be inherited by his great-niece. The woman in question is from a high-ranking house, married to a man from similarly titled house, has a range of useful political and military connections and a daughter of her own at the time of Prompto's birth.

(Iedolas had been planning to betroth Prompto to his great-great-niece and name the mother a regent just in case he dies before his son is an adult.)

So most of the politicking is currently about getting into the good graces of the imperial heiress and discrediting the rivals. The most opposition is from warmongers (Ulldor) as she's much less militant than the current emperor, so will likely focus on consolidating the imperial gains in Tenebrae and addressing social issues instead of continuing the conquest.

***

As for where that would leave Prompto (or whatever Iedolas would rename him)?

I'm headcanoning that Niflheimr royals don't introduce their kids to public until they are at least 10. Before that there might be rumours, especially if the Empress is obviously pregnant, but nobody will confirm anything outright.

There's a bunch of historical reasons behind that, but mostly it's very useful if you need to, erm, adjust the family tree.

And right now it means that Aldercapt still has time to get his kid back instead of writing him off as a lost cause and trying again or just formally declaring a new heir from among his relatives. Because nobody will bat an eyelash on the boy not being seen before his formal introduction.

If the Nifs actually recover him, he will be raised in a secluded estate on the outskirts of Gralea with staff being responsible for his upbringing and Iedolas visiting often to check on him.

***

*I was inspired by the House Arryn. Somebody once joked that even if you are five generations removed from lordship, you can still end up being the Heir Arryn. A peasant sneezes in the Vale and they've lost half their house members.

[sole-fitheach]

Artwork loosely based on the Gladnis fic “Ignis and the Beast” by @moonraccoon-exe . Please go ahead and check it out it’s an amazing fanfic

[weregreatatcrime]

Changeling Ignis is 70% leg and 30% trauma

Yes I'm back on my bullshit

[ertrunkenerwassergeist]

Chapters: 13/? Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Cor Leonis & Nyx Ulric, Crowe Altius & Libertus Ostium & Nyx Ulric Characters: Nyx Ulric, Cor Leonis, Libertus Ostium, Crowe Altius, The Kingsglaive (Final Fantasy XV), Luche Lazarus, Tredd Furia, Sonitus Bellum, Axis Arra, Pelna Khara, Titus Drautos | Glauca Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Fae AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, selkie!Nyx, shape-shifter!Cor, Galahdian Culture (Final Fantasy XV), Galahd (Final Fantasy XV), Cultural Differences, Worldbuilding, headcanons, I Blame Tumblr, Fihrie are the Fae of Galahd, Me messing around with fantasy languages, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Series: Part 1 of Fae AU Summary:

Nyx had thought he had found his place in Insomnia. Amongst humans and fae alike. He misses the home he had been forced to leave behind, like all of them did. But the fihrie - the fae of Galahd - are unwilling to let things stand. They want their people back. As the only fihrie to flee Galahd, it falls to Nyx to be the bridge between two parts of the world, he had never thought could be connected with each other.

[a-world-in-grey]

In Bring Back Memories, was the attack at Taelpar Crag planned to take out Sola or was it just bonus that she was there when it happened and they really just wanted to take that place? Did Drautos even relay her movements to Nifs, or wasn't it something they cared about?

It was planned! Niflheim's been trying to kill Sola ever since her enlistment in the Kingsglaive was leaked. It starts off small - ambushes while on missions from MTs, but then it escalates to an attempt using a King Behemoth of all things a few weeks before Sola's Coming of Age.

After 3 bases get swarmed by daemons while Sola's back in Insomnia, Sola deploys to their most critical point. Everyone knows by now that Sola's presence will draw the Nifs like moths to a flame, but they also know that she's a damn juggernaut on the field and responsible for saving the lives of half her comrades.

After almost a year, Sola is exhausted. She's not happy about being assigned to Taelpar Crag - no glaive is happy getting that assignment, Taelpar Crag is a nightmare to defend - but she can't deny that the 3rd regiment desperately needs reinforcements. The attack on Taelpar Crag comes at the end of the 3rd's deployment, when they are exhausted and waiting for fresh reinforcements from the 5th.

Titus absolutely helped plan this. Arranging for Taelpar Crag to be hit hard enough for Sola to get transferred there, telling Niflheim when the 5th would be deploying to replace the 3rd so that the attack would hit the outpost when everyone was most exhausted.

[awlwren-writes]

Delta Blues - Chapter 2

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: Teen & Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Cor Leonis/Nyx Ulric (background), Nyx Ulric & Libertus Ostium Characters: Nyx Ulric, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Libertus Ostium, background Luche Lazarus, background Titus Drautos | General Glauca Additional Tags: Fall of Insomnia, Nyx Ulric Lives, Nyx Week 2023, Fear, Ends, KG Legends 2023, AU, Life After

Summary: He whirled, sole remaining kukri at the ready as the Princess spread her feet and crouched slightly, ready to run or attack. A car pulled up behind them and jerked to a stop. Libertus rolled down the window and beckoned them over.

“C’mon, get in! They set up a trap in the square, I heard it on the radio,” Libertus yelled in that tone that he was convinced was quiet.

Continuing my Nyx Lives AU where Libertus finds Nyx before he gets shot, and so he never puts on the ring. And things go from there.

Libertus PoV this chapter!

[garbria]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Libertus Ostium & Nyx Ulric Characters: Libertus Ostium, Nyx Ulric, Luche Lazarus, Crowe Altius Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Friendship, Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Prince Nyx Ulric Series: Part 2 of Crownless King, Part 4 of Kingsglaive Legends 2023 Summary:

On their way to Insomnia after the attack on Galahd, Libertus decides Nyx needs some time away and invites him on a hunt. Unfortunately, he should have realized that nothing is simple when traveling with an Ulric.

[gingerel]

harbinger | promptis exchange

Too much magic, they say. The entirety of Winter, solely under Noctis’ tenuous control. It’s difficult, not least of all because it isolates him, makes it impossible for other Gods to be around him, let alone anyone else. “Didn’t it hurt?” Noctis asks. “When you touched me.” “No,” Prompto says. “Should it?” Noctis doesn’t know if it should, just that— “It does everyone else,” Noctis says. “Everyone?” Prompto sucks in a deep breath and pushes it out long and slow. He doesn’t seem scared when he reaches for Noctis’ hand, doesn’t even hesitate to interlock their fingers, and press their palms together. “There we go,” Prompto says softly. “To start making up for it.”

Alternatively: The only thing that can threaten the God of Winter is a broken heart—and no one will ever get close enough for that.

Read Harbinger on AO3 | Written for Mani in the @promptisgiftexchange

[mikumixtwix]

figured i should make a basic list for reference in case anyone is interested in a particular AU or OC-centered story i've made and mentioned before, but haven't brought up in a while

unfortunately i only have a dedicated tag for a few of these (marked w/ a *) and the others are kinda in the amalgamation of my OC core tag)

Here's the AUs

Puella Magi! Noctis AU*

FFXV/Sburb AU*

Evillious/FFXV AU

BOTW Twin AU

Jaune V8 Timeloop*

Sending Vash to Ever After (RWBY crossover)

And here's the OCs

Original LoZ story (unnamed rn)

Twin Area of Effect (Kingdom Hearts OCs)*

MSPABand (Homestuck OCs)*

(i'm literally always thinking about these OC stories/AUs but i have the habit of only talking about them a handful of times in tags and like once in a actual post)

[charlottedabookworm]

I have realised we missed the Funniest possibility: Noctis knows immediately that his new buddy Phe is an LC and just. Never mentions it. Ever.

After all, it's not like there weren't variously distantly related LCs running around before, and since most of those don't have magic after a generation or two, it's really not a problem. Noctis just assumes that his Dad knows about this thing, either because it came up in the background check or because he was already keeping track of this branch of family. And since Dad didn't say anything to him, it's probably Not That Important and not worth mentioning.

So Noctis just shrugs and focuses on befriending his probable-nth-cousin however-many-times removed.

okay but-

tjis is great and also perfect because phe also honestly thinks they know

phe thinks that the king knows about his dad and just doesn’t care and he genuinely doesn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want his dad but fine sure whatever

and noct takes one look at his new classmate and is like. huh. distant cousin? cool

this would mean absolutely nothing at all except they also click immediately and are the best of mates and phe is just like ‘idk if the king told him but noct defo knows’ and noct is just like ‘hey my new cousins aew so fucking cool take that gladio all your cousins are twats’

and neither of them mention anything. ever

they’re just going about their lives doing their best and sure maybe sometimes during gaming marathons noct will snarl and say phe is the worst cousin ever when he beats him and phe will laugh (cos honestly noct being hsi uncle os so fucking weird but phe knows how to deal with cousins) and that’s it

they never speak aboutnit

until oen day they’re in a room with their dads and obviously something is happening and the whole ‘magic thing’ is revealed and noct just stares at phe like ‘i thought you were a distant cousin wtf’

regis stares. nyx stares

phe frowns. ‘dude i know we both prefer cousin but like. you’re my uncle. you can’t get much more closely related’

turns out they really should have talked about it

[reflectionsofacreator]

“Crowe, what…”  Nyx didn’t even have a chance to get his words out before Crowe was running into him and hugging him. She had to be careful, despite wanting to squeeze him as hard as she could—she’d probably kill him if she did. He groaned a little even though she was being gentle, and his hands fluttered before he slowly brought them to wrap around her middle.  “Crowe, how’re you alive…?” He whispered into her hair, hugging her tight. “I saw you, the morgue, the body bag, I—“  “Me? What the hell happened to you, to the city? ” She demanded and pulled back to look at him. Her fingers came up to trace the silvery white scars on his face, traveling up from his neck and over his jaw, up to his temple and into his hairline.  He flinched just slightly and pulled away from her fingers, only for his head to snap up when they both heard the whir of an engine. “No time for that. Come on, let’s get down from here and then we can talk,” he said, glancing at her. “… you can warp?”  She wasn’t supposed to have magic. But neither was he.  “Yeah.” She said, and met his gaze squarely. 

-Astralfire Credence, Ch 5: Dead Soldier Walking

Whelp, this chapter finally got finished! :D I was aiming for 7k-ish and it's now 8.4k. Dammit.

Have some traumatized glaives dealing with the Fall of Insomnia.

[queenoffishingandcookies]

Wondering if Lucis Caelum’s who fail to expend built-up magic end up burning up from fevers or crystallizing. Or both.

Well, if using too much magic reduces you to ashes, maybe the build-up of that would, instead, lead to crystallization.

Thinking of a LC have wings AU where Noctis had wings, lost them in the Marilith attack - as in, they were either severed or such a total loss that amputation was necessary - and, because of the pain that came with trying to use magic post-Tenebrae and the unbalanced of magic expenditure in trying to rehabilitate said magic leading to crystallization.

(Example being he learns to make flasks and talismans to try and work off built-up magic, but it isn’t enough-)

Except said crystallization leads to the growth of new wings, or spreads over false-wings crafted specifically for Noctis. Said Crystallization is also terrifying for all parties involved, and probably painful since it’s literally Crystal growing out of his body.

They’re beautiful, as they are heavy and cold to the touch, unless magic is used. Then they are too hot to touch, searing skin - and almost too bright to look at.

[bookworm-faolanne]

Cloud upturned the soil like his mama showed him the other day. She had been teaching him about his family history!

“Cloudy!” Claudia calls entreatingly. Cloud perked up, wondering why his momma was calling for him. He knew that most times when she used that tone, she had something new to show or tell him. Last time, it was an old bloodstained behemoth horn that dated at least 310 years before the arrival of the Calamity. She held up a curious pale blue blossom for him to see, which caused Cloud to scarper over curiously. 

The delicate flower had an overall layered conical shape, and when looked at from directly above it looked similar to a rose. “This flower is one of the only plants that don’t rely on the ‘stream, for the species predates well before the lifestream was introduced in its first form over four millennia ago. While there used to be fields of the blossoms, now there are only the ones we Strifes grow personally and have managed to preserve.” she informs him quietly, sadly.

“Wha’ they’re called, Momma?” Cloud inquires curiously, staring enraptured. The blossom was very familiar to the golden-haired child, but exactly why playfully avoided his mind. He knew not to push it, because last time he tried (last time was the stained behemoth horn), his head hurt bad, and he didn’t like his head hurting like that. 

Claudia Strauss smiled at her little boy somberly. “We call them a multitude of names, among them Shiva’s tears and Cursed One’s blood-blossom, for they have long been a flower of mourning and death and sadness and healing.”

“The flowers however, especially around 2.3 millennia ago, had started disappearing while the land was in turmoil and the nations that existed during that time had both been falling apart further and could only just start healing from a bad event. But that was not what you were asking, were you?” His mother continued, a little sadly.

“Well, they were known as sylleblossoms.”

[ertrunkenerwassergeist]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Mors Lucis Caelum & Regis Lucis Caelum, Mors Lucis Caelum & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Noctis Lucis Caelum/Original Female Character(s) Characters: Mors Lucis Caelum, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Regis Lucis Caelum, Ardyn Izunia, Cor Leonis, Original Characters, Gladiolus Amicitia, Ignis Scientia Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Character Death, Violence, Blood and Injury, Mors did many messed up things in his life, this is an au of Dreams of Our Past, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Whitemage!Noctis, Magic, Bahamut (Final Fantasy XV) Being a Jerk, Healer!Noctis Series: Part 2 of Deep City Summary:

Mors Lucis Caeum, CXII, The Stern, King of Lucis, King of Stone, Great Paladin of the Crystal and First Priest of Bahamut, was dead. He died of magical exhaustion (like so many of them did, if their death wasn’t violent) at the ripe age of 61, and woke back up in a rickety bed in a run down room, body the age of maybe thirteen.

 Or: Mors time travels because of Etro's death witchery and wakes up in his grandson's quite illegal clinic.