DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!

Prologue

A Change of Fate

Night had fallen onto the lands of Niflheim, shrouding the continent in a blanket of darkness. A cold wind blew east, over and away from the capital city of Gralea. Down it flailed into a forest without a name, ruffling its treetops before beating down onto a small group of men and women garbed in the dark colors of Lucis.

While each of them carried a light, only the one in the lead kept his lit to minimize their chances of being seen. The majority of them was made up of spies that risked their lives to gather information on the Empire. The rest of the group were the soldiers of Lucis, sent by their King to safely extract them from Gralea and bring them home, along with whatever Intel the spies managed to gather.

Cor Leonis, the Immortal, held the highest rank as a Crownsguard and was the one leading the group. A strong gust of air plastered him in the face and he quickly raised a fist, stopping and silencing his troops.

"Any of you hear that?" Cor asked, having heard the wind carry something distinctly familiar.

Everyone in the troop strained their ears, trying to pick up the faintest of sound. It was soft, but they could hear the faint sound of roars and snarling being muffled by the thick forest around them. Along with it were the clash of metal on daemon skin, grunts of pain that were distinctly human... as well as the cries of a small child.

"Elshett, stick to the rear and keep the baby safe. Everyone else, follow the sound. Double time people." Cor ordered quietly.

"But sir, what if they're imperial troops?" One of his men questioned.

"Then we deal with them." The Crownsguard answered as he rushed forward while keeping the noise to a minimum. The crunching sound of leaves told him that his troops were following his orders.

The troop of soldiers ducked and weaved through the forest, dodging low hanging branches and vaulting over upended roots, eventually making their way to the edge of a clearing. The group stopped and observed the scene in front of them. A group of wolf-like daemons surrounded a group of three civilians, two adults and a young child; the very picture of a family of three.

The father of the trio was literally on his last leg, having sustained several claw wounds all over his torso while his left ankle was bent at an odd angle, miraculously still holding onto his spear in a battle ready stance. The mother was even worse off as she lied face down on the ground, her blood seeping out of the hole where her left abdomen used to be. The smallest of the group, a little girl who looked no older than three, was crying her eyes out and desperately shaking her mother to wake up.

"Surround the daemons and secure the civilians!" Cor barked his order and immediately rushed into the clearing, hands already on his katana. Then as if he warped there, he stood in the center of the clearing, next to a daemon that was about to blindside the only male member of the family. Then in one quick flash, his weapon leaped out of its sheath and cut clean through the daemons neck, sending its ugly head flying.

"W-Who..."

"Stay down! Let us handle this!" Cor interrupted the man, re-sheathed his blade, and dashed once more towards another daemon that wanted to sink its claws on the little girl. Cor kept moving, dashing around the family to keep the daemons away. Soon enough, more light flooded the area as the other Lucian soldiers activated their own flashlights and joined the fray; swords, spears, daggers, and axes lashing out against the daemons, catching them by surprise. The men quickly encircled the clearing, cutting off any path of escape for the daemons... and for the family of three should they prove to be a problem.

In spite of having a greater number than the Lucians', the daemons were quick to fall as they were individually weak and had been attacked unaware. The ground was soon being painted with the dark blood of daemons and the Lucian men made sure that they had all been taken care of. Cor double checked his surroundings too, making sure there were no further threats before he turned back to the male civilian... only to find that he had dragged his broken body back to his family, leaving a trail of red blood while the man cradled his wife in his lap.

"Hey... Hey!" Cor shouted at the man to keep him conscious as he ran to him. The amount of blood he left behind on the ground told him that he didn't have long for this world. He knelt down to the man, hands gripping his shoulders to keep him conscious. "Stay with us! You need to take care of your daughter! Monica, we need an Elixir!"

"Can't... " the man wheeze out and shook his head, his eyes already milky and sightless. He coughed out violently, spitting a mouthful of blood, signaling his time was already over. "Please... Keep Aranea... Saf-"

"Papa! Papa! PAPA!" The little girl, Aranea, Cor supposed, bawled with tears constantly streaming down her cheeks.

Cor cursed. This was simply the worse outcome to develop. He moved his hand to the man's face and slid his eyes shut, doing a silent prayer for his soul and repeated it for the woman. That done, he turned to look at the now orphaned girl.

Little Aranea had silver-blonde hair, close to white really, and a pair of green eyes. She was wearing a white dress and a red scarf, one that matched her parents. She noticed him staring at her, her face filled with confusion and despair.

Cor reached out and patted the girls head, trying to calm her down. Immediately, Aranea reacted and reached out towards him, looking for comfort and security. He sighed but took her into his arms, embracing her gently while he patted her back soothingly.

"It's alright, kid. You're going to be okay. I promise you that." He calmly and unhurriedly comforted her. "Your name's Aranea, right? You got anywhere to go? An uncle or an aunt?" He asked her. She responded with a nod to her name but shook her head at the latter questions.

Cor looked around and saw that the soldiers had secured the clearing and were now giving the little girl pitying looks. It was definitely the worse situation that left Cor with only one option that would allow him to keep his humanity. He pursed his lips and nodded to himself as he made his decision.

"Give her parents a proper burial. We leave in an hour." He commanded the Lucian soldiers and a chorus of "Yes sir"s followed, most of them moving to do the grim task.

"... Sir, you're not thinking of-" One of the operatives spoke up with concern but Cor held up a hand to stop him. Still carrying the white-haired girl, he slowly rose up from his kneeling position.

"We're already bringing one orphan with us. What's one more?" He asked the soldier rhetorically before he turned back to comfort the still crying child. "Hear that Aranea? We're taking you home. We're taking you to Crown City."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

HIGHSPECS SHIP AHOY!

So yeah, I'm starting a new story when I should really be doing Fate:Shattered Match right about now. ((Dodges pitchforks and torches thrown by angry mob))

Sorry, sorry! But there was a severe lack of motivation for Fate and even my favorite stories of Shirou haven't updated in a while, so I tried looking elsewhere and I ended up finally trying Final Fantasy XV.

Do note that I haven't completed the game as I decided to take my time with it while I write the story, but I have looked up spoilers as well as the Episodes. I just haven't played them myself. The ideas and inspiration mostly come from "Another Butterfly Effect" and "Unexpected", which I'm sure most FFXV fanfiction readers have given a try.

In any case, this another story where we begin following our heroes while they're children. Why? Well, I need to practice writing children since it's pretty tough... but mostly because the shenanigans kids get into seem a whole lot funnier to me(lol). Also, I need to show exactly just what Aranea changes among the guys and to the Kingdom of Lucis itself.

And yes, if it isn't obvious yet, I've changed Aranea's age, effectively making her eight years younger, the same age as Ignis. She'll also end up being Prompto's adoptive older sister, thus Episode Prompto(when I get there lol) would have a lot more emotions in it.

- So, next chapter when?

Tomorrow actually. I haven't written all that far, though it's certainly longer than the Prologue, but I'll be showing an Eight year old Aranea tomorrow, and hopefully an Eight year old Ignis by the day after. I'm just trying to grit my teeth and actually write Ignis' part because I'm finicky on how to write his childhood.

Still, this won't be my main fic as I still want to write the anti-villain Esdeath and I will enjoy breaking Shirou.
Oops. Spoiler alert I guess. ((Chuckles darkly while looking at the Partas Village))