A Shift in the Timeline

4

The young Princess squeaked, watching as the pole she was using to protect herself against Gladio and Ignis's attacks be cut in half. The loud clanging of the cut side of the pole resonated through the room, the Princess's blue eyes looking up at her opponents with uncertainty.

Gladio did nothing, glancing at the royal tactician who watched the Princess's movements like a hawk. She took a breath, trying to calm herself down - remembering the words Ignis told her.

'Stay calm, watch the enemies movements carefully. When you show signs of anger your opponent will try to use that against you.'

Arabella's blue eyes sharply looked in the royal tactician's direction, his boots creating noise as he closed the distance between the two of them. The grip on her weapon tightened, her knuckles close to becoming ghostly white - her blue eyes gleamed with ruby red threateningly; an attempt to make him back off.

Ignis stopped a few feet away from the young Princess, kneeling so they would be at the same height. He had sighed, his look beginning to soften - a hand outstretched towards her. He needed her to calm down, he needed her to trust him.

_______

The Princess concluded that her and her father fought smoothly together, understandable since they were cut from the same cloth. While Arabella was not entirely perfect at the skill of warp striking, she did it nonetheless so her father wouldn't tease her about it.

As her rapier connected with the flesh of her opponent, she side stepped, her father flipping forward and finishing the job. "Huh, I'm quite surprised at your skill!" She complimented, throwing her rapier with a flick of her wrist - her body becoming blue particles as she attempted to warp strike once more.

Noctis smirked at her, his weapon disappearing as she took care of the last enemy. "And I'm quite surprised at yours, Princess."

She stood up, looking over her shoulder with a soft grin. Her rapier disappeared from her grip, and she silently thanked Bahamut as she closed her eyes - no more questions about herself being fired in her direction.

The others un summoned their own weapons, their eyes watching the sight before them: The Prince and the Princess turned to face each other, grins on their faces as their hands connected and their grins grew. Despite the bickering they looked happy, surprisingly.

A ringtone disrupted the happy moment, a confused look on Noctis's face as he fished his phone from his pocket - with a hum he answered it; placing the phone near his ear.

The Prince listened attentively, his lips sometimes pursing into thin lines as he answered whatever the other person on the other end of the phone asked him. He tucked his phone back in his pocket after a silent nod, meeting the looks of curious stares.

"That was Cindy, apparently there was this Dave that went missing - we were tasked to find him." He informed, walking foward and waving the others over.

The sun beat down on the Princess and the others made their way towards the broken down building Dave was supposedly at. Her title, Princess, sounded odd since right now her father is king - and while they are related others would probably think differently about the titles.

Prompto cleared his throat as Noctis began to make his way inside of the empty building. "So, since Noct's title is Prince and yours is Princess what's the story behind that hmm?"

Arabella turned towards him, the Shield walking past them as he went to check up on the Prince; the tactician stayed, leaning up against the wall. "I'm a Princess from a city far away, it was attacked so I'm certain that only ruins remain. That's the reason I moved to Insomnia."

'While I hope this lie sounds reasonable the others can't know the real reason just yet. I need to wait for the right time.' She thought, biting her bottom lip nervously.

Prompto's face lit up, not asking another question; much to her comfort. Ignis was always calm and collected, watching everyone like a hawk and trying to read them like a book. She felt him doing that right now, it felt quite odd - being the one at the end of the stick of this.

_______

From the cracked door the young Princess peaked her head in, the royal tactician quietly watching the King look down at the steps leading up to the throne he was sitting in. His gaze, his face was blank; it was easy to tell Noctis hated showing any signs of nervousness in front of his friends and family.

Ignis however, wasn't having any of it.

"Your Majesty, what's troubling you?" He questioned, Noctis looking up at him with a frown at was accompanied by a sigh. The wind blew from the left (or in Noctis's case right), enveloping the King in a cold hug - it reminded him of Shiva but he had no access to her mark or any other for that matter.

A shaky hand ran through his hair. "I'm worried for my daughter, the marks of Shiva and the others are gone. It just made me think..."

"They disappeared from you, only to appear in the hands of Arabella?" Ignis finished, his calm face sparking one of slight fear.

Noctis nodded slightly. "Precisely."

______

The Prince lowered his gaze, reading a note on the floor as the others looked around the building for any signs of the missing Dave. He let out a hum as he finished, a concerned look on his face as he thought it over.

"Noctis look out!"

He turned his body, just as something tackled him down and the tearing sound of weapons being summoned tickled his ears.