Pictures in my imessage are not loading/working properly.

I was hesitant to use the word loading because it appears the pictures are non-existent let alone "loading."

I recently turned on my old Ipad air after about two years of not using it. When I go into my old messages, the pictures that are within those messages do not load/appear properly. All it says when I click on an image is "IMG_####" "JPEG image."

When I save one of these images to my photos, nothing appears, same when I email, copy to notes, airdrop, or save to files. It's almost as if the ipad recognizes there's a picture there, it just doesn't have the file for the actual image.

I've tried backing it up, copying messages in a third party software, and restarting the ipad. I don't know if it's just because the messages are old, or if maybe I was under a different apple account when I sent/received the messages.

I've attached a few pictures for reference, any and all help is really appreciated! There are some great memories that I really wish I could see on there!