#concerned she's six years younger than him and still a fucking teenager!!!!!! i don't know

[forestgreenlesbian]

.

#feel like my relationship with my younger brother is changed completely forever not to be dramatic lol but i am sad #we used to b very close but he has kind of. found his faith again and gone full missionary christian which like. i knew meant the dynamic #was doomed lmao but actually acknowledging it makes me sad i feel like i'm grieving for the friendship we used to have even though #it is literally a me problem i think from his perspective he doesn't think anything has changed. but i feel weird about everything #also his new gf is nineteen and he is. almost 25 and i am the only one who feels weird about it like i know she's over 18 but! idk i can't #tell if i'm being overly cautious or if my gut instinct is right. my sister & her husband have a similar age gap but they met when they wer #both over 30 so like. it didn't feel weird. and i didn't feel comfortable actually seriously talking to him about it apart from the first #time he mentioned her over facetime (he went to another country to do mission stuff & met her there) so like an idiot i've just been #making jokes about the age gap becausee like. thats always been our thing lightly bullying each other lol but he blew up at me and said #i've had nothing positive to say about her since he's been back home and that he thinks i hate her and i'm out of line for constantly #implying he's creepy for dating someone younger. idk i felt like such a freak idiot horrible person about it. it completely blindsided me #bc yes the jokes were coming from a place of idk how i feel about this situation so i'm going to rely on the humour-based communication #we have always fallen back on as a safety thing but i guess i was wrong or the dynamic shifted or something anyway it's all fucked #& everyone is just telling me i feel weird out of some?? misplaced kind of jealousy thing?? because i'm 'losing' my brother to his gf lol #which does not feel right at all he has dated so many other girls and i have never had a problem it is literally the age gap like i haven't #even met this girl i'm sure she's very nice! i just worry about her being nineteen!! jesus. and yes maybe i do feel some resentment around #a brother younger than me who seems to be able to live his life with zero difficulty whilst i'm stuck being this unemployed loser who ruins #literally ever friendship & relationship ive ever had but i think thats ok right like i can't help feeling that. i don't fucking knowwww #am i just projecting all these sad feelings about our friendship dying onto his new relationship or like. am i right to be genuinely #concerned she's six years younger than him and still a fucking teenager!!!!!! i don't know

[sparklecryptid]

We've had Noctis going back in time, chocobros, Ardyn, royal bastards in their various incarnations, Cor-

But I don't think I've ever seen Regis be the one to get sent back in time. Like, can you imagine it? Regis, who just killed Noctis (his son his child his), waking up as a teenager over 40 years in the past. And deciding to Fuck the Prophecy and Bahamut too, he's not doing any of that again (please don't make him do that again he can't).

Regis goes on to completely demolish the timeline, with Clarus and Wesk trailing behind and making concerned noises. (understandable, Regis kind of changed overnight)

For bonus points, his original timeline was one with a royal bastard, maybe even more than one. Except this time, Regis actually keeps track of his exes so he finds out about them pretty soon.

(If you want maximum angst, it was the one where Luche kills him)

Regis dies. It is a swift death. A mercy given to him by the hands of his daughter.

(His daughter that he never knew. His daughter that must have suffered for it to have ended this way. His daughter. A traitor. But still his daughter.)

Regis dies, and when he wakes he finds himself younger. He finds himself nineteen years old and untested by the hardships of the coming years.

Regis dies with blood in his mouth.

He wakes up with the memory of cold arms lowering him to the ground and frost curling across a pale cheek. Is his daughter alive yet? Regis doesn't believe so but he can't know for sure.

He knows Noctis isn't alive. Regis knows that at least his son will be safe. But Luche? Regis doesn't know.

Something in him aches.

-

There is something off about Clarus' Prince. The only King that will ever have his loyalty, the only person Clarus will die for that isn't his wife. There has been something off about Clarus' Prince for years now. Ever since Regis woke up on his nineteenth birthday something has been off about him.

Regis dives into whatever work is assigned to him. He plays politics like he's an old hand at it and seems to know what schemes his father is up to before they happen. Regis is different, it's shown in the frantic but careful way he directs resources into areas he thinks will need them most and ignore the nobles that grumble and whine only to be shocked that Regis was right about diverting their forces from around Insomnia to near Galahd.

It is as if Regis has grown the ability to see the future and Regis laughs at Clarus when he suggests it. For a moment it looks like he's about to make a joke but his face freezes as if he's remembering something.

"Clarus," Regis says slowly, "What was the name of the woman my father sent me on my eighteenth birthday?"

"Why do you ask?" Regis plotting something, this much Clarus can tell. But it's been six years since then and Clarus still can't tell exactly what Regis wants with this information.

"I need to know," Regis says, "I think she has something of mine."

-

Her name is Tita Lazarus.

Lazarus. It isn't a common enough name for Regis to ignore the possibility that this woman is the mother of his child.

Regis remembers her dazed gaze a she looked at him through their night together. He remembers how she was cold even when he tried to warm her with his magic. Most of all, Regis remembers when frost started to coat her fingertips after they had finished.

He hadn't thought of the woman much in his life before, he thought her another manipulation by his father to get him to behave. But if she hadn't told Mors about her child then where did her loyalty lie?

For Luche's sake, Regis hopes it's with him.

-

The ones who meet them at the docks of Galahd's biggest - and only - port are a mix of those from Clan Khara and Clan Bellum. They watch as Regis jumps off the ship and makes his way toward them.

Their body language is relaxed, but there is a tension in the air that tells Regis that although he is welcomed he better not try anything.

"Greetings, Son of Crystal," The leader of the Khara delegation speaks, "May we inquire as to the nature of your visit?"

"I'm looking for a Lazarus," Regis says and the air goes still. Ah. They are hiding something. Regis knew it. "Her name was Tita. I believe she has a child."

The tension doesn't ease with Regis' words but it changes.

"And if she does?"

Regis smiles. It's all teeth.

"I would like to meet my daughter."

-

Here is the thing: Regis refuses to let his mistakes bleed into this life. He refuses to let his daughter suffer and he refuses to let his son sacrifice himself like a karakul on an altar.

That being said, he doesn't expect the reaction he gets when his daughter meets them on the way to her own house.

"You're not supposed to be here." Tiny fists clutch at Regis' pants and glowing blue eyes peer up at him. Her face is scrunched up in terror as if the world had suddenly changed. Beside him the Khara and Furia accompanying him and Clarus are quiet. "You're not supposed to be here! The path has changed the trees face backward. You're not-" She stumbles over her words and tears well up in her eyes and freeze.

"Why now?" Luche's voice trembles, "Why this path? Why this journey? Why this me? Why not the others? Don't you know how they - how we - suffered? Why am I enough but they aren't? Why-" Frost curls over her cheekbones and Regis reaches out-

The Furia swings into action before Regis can scoop his daughter into his arms and soothe her. Lottie - the Furia - drags Luche away from Regis and Regis bites back a snarl even if he can't help the way his magic sharpens the air.

There is so much he doesn't know about his daughter. It infuriates him others know more than he does.

He has time to learn.

It doesn't make up for what happened in the past.

"Stop your wandering," Lottie gently scolds Luche, "The trees are the same, the path is solid. There is no use wandering on what-ifs and could-bes. Come back to the greener grass and the song the winds sing."

Luche stares at Lottie, her eyes slowly focusing on the figure in front of her. She blinks once. Twice.

Luche spins to look at Regis.

"Why are you here?" She demands and this time Regis can notice the buzzing of his ancestral magic under her skin.

"I'm here for you," Regis says, "And your mother."

"You don't want her," Luche warns, "She's gone too far."

"Do you want her?"

Luche pauses.

Regis smiles.

"Think about it," he says, "On the way to your home - tell me about yourself."

#a darkness born in youth verse #hahaha I MADE IT HAPPY #anyway regis is like 'mine' immediately with itty bitty luche #itty bitty luche who is still trying for her mother and grandmother #and regis will be displeased when he finds out how his daughter has been treated #and will offer her a choice #she can come with him or he can provide everything she needs to thrive on galahd #luche blinks #she pics the second because she hasn't given up on her family yet. not yet.