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year 5, quarter 3
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[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Caius was…not doing great, and part of Noctis felt bad at the way that he had posed those questions like he was interrogating the man. He didn’t mean to—he was just so bewildered and confused, and he felt like he needed to know how to place all of this in terms of his life and family history. When had all of this happened, and why hadn’t anyone ever said anything to him about it?
One of the first things Caius did though was stutter out an apology for yelling at his dad, and that more than anything made Noctis take a deep breath and try to calm down. None of this was Caius’ fault, and he needed to get a handle on his own emotions before he could help someone else with theirs. “It’s okay. The mystic deserved it, and it’s not like I’ve never yelled at my dad before,” he said a little quieter as he tried to pose his questions in a less accusatory way. “Can you clarify all that for me though? He wanted your family to live away from Insomnia?” That…didn’t sit too well. Maybe his dad was trying to protect their extended family from being targeted by Niflheim or something, but living outside of the capital came with the drawback of being outside of the wall’s protection. Caius’ family hadn’t died to daemons or anything, but bandits weren’t exactly running amok inside Insomnia. It would have been better to keep them closer. Not for the first time, he wished he could know what his dad had been thinking. First the treaty and now this.
Caius also explained the difference between the two memories Noct had witnessed—that he thought he’d just naturally forgotten the first one and mentally repressed the second. He also stressed that he didn’t want to relive it anymore, which made the prince nod. “I’ve heard of stuff like that happening. And I get it, we don’t have to talk about that part…” There were definitely moments of his own life that Noctis didn’t want to ever relive. His retainers being slaughtered by the marlith. His dad running away with him while Tenebrae fell around them. Luna being stabbed while he couldn’t do a single thing about it.
And now he was dwelling on those. Great. He really needed to pull himself together.
Caius added that he didn’t really know how this made them related and that he didn’t know if it even really mattered in terms of Lucis. That last part ruffled Noct a bit, and he frowned over at the blond man. “...It matters to me.” Until recently he’d thought that he didn’t have any family left. And then he’d thought that the only family he had left was Ardyn, which was somehow so much worse than just being alone. If he had some kind of other extended relation, then he really wanted to know about it. Especially since he already knew Caius.
The final straw though was when Caius pointed out that he hadn’t been chosen by the crystal and that he’d only been meant to disappear. “...Screw that,” Noctis said, clenching his jaw as he glanced down at the ring again. “And forget the crystal. I was only chosen because I was in the direct line of kings. Not because I’m any more or less worthy than you. Plus the version of me that gave you magic isn’t here, so it’s your own as far as I’m concerned.” Caius wasn’t his kingsglaive. At least not really. Noct himself only had three crownsguard so far, whatever he might do in the future. So as long as they were on Zephon, the glaive’s magic really was his own in a sense.
“And I’m not letting you disappear from history, you got that?” The prince had to basically look up to meet Caius’ gaze—why did he and Gladio have to be so tall?—but he did his best to stand up straight. “This family has too many secrets, and I’m sick of it. If I’m supposed to end everything, then I say I want you there. You have just as much of a right to be there in Lucis as the rest of us. You lost everything too.” Noctis didn’t know if they’d ever find a way home, or if he’d ever be ready to confront Ardyn without spending more time in the crystal. But in this case he hoped it was the thought that counted.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Noctis felt a little bad at making Tifa reflect on just how awful life under Shinra had been. He didn’t want to sour the mood or anything, so he latched onto the one positive point she said near the end. “Sounds like it would have been a good trip…minus the whole searching for a psychopath calling down a meteor.” That did usually put a damper on things. “Glad you all got to travel and live under the open sky for a change though. Did any of your other friends end up here? I know you talked about the blond guy who took out Alex’s guild front. I uh. Still haven’t mentioned that to him by the way, don’t worry.” He mostly just didn’t want Tifa to get caught up in whatever drama that was inevitably going to cause.
Tifa rolled her eyes at Noct’s platitude that feeding everyone was the most important job, even if that really wasn’t a lie. She did say that she wanted to learn more about building stuff along the way though, which made the prince nod. “I could stand to get some lessons in that too. Hopefully we can enlist some experts.” It sounded like a few people from Tifa’s world had helped build her secret bar basement in the past, so it didn’t sound like collecting workers with experience would be too hard at least.
The brunette woman seemed to empathize with Noct’s position that he had left so much undone back on Eos. “...Yeah. You’d definitely know the feeling too,” he said with a faint smile. It wasn’t necessarily comforting since it was hard to say what was going on back home for either of them. Maybe Gaia had been struck by a meteor and maybe the starscourge had completely swallowed up Eos. But it was still nice to talk about it with someone who understood having to live with the uncertainty.
Moving on to brighter topics, Tifa touched on a couple things from her past that piqued Noct’s interest. “What made you want to learn martial arts from your teacher by the way?” He himself had basically never had a choice when it came to practicing swords or magic, so he was curious what had prompted the bartender to start using her fists. “And what’s the Highwind? Sounds kind of like a boat.” Just a guess from the name—it must have at least come with beds since they had stopped having to camp out once they got it.
Tifa also joked that she could teach him how to bake since he’d shown her how to fish. She didn’t entirely look like she expected him to take her up on that offer, but considering who they were going to rescue tomorrow, Noct found himself agreeing immediately. “Honestly, I’d like that. Cooking’s never really been my thing, but Ignis—he’s who we’re trying to rescue—used to be great at it. Maybe I could bake something for him for once…” It was a lot harder for his retainer to do it himself now that he’d lost his eyesight. Noct wouldn’t have been caught dead helping Ignis bake before, but now…he felt like he owed it to him. Ignis had put on the ring for his sake after all.
“Of course, he might have to meet you and shake your hand if I end up as a halfway decent assistant,” the prince quipped, hoping to leave off on a lighter note. Maybe that wasn’t entirely a joke though. Specs did like to be involved in his life.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] As Noctis was doing his best to reason with the kings of yore, Caius chimed in that his vows actually had been to him, just not this version of him, which made the prince laugh under his breath and briefly drop the kingly act. “I don’t know if they’ll accept technicalities,” he muttered to his friend, before his attention was fully taken up by the revelation that the mystic had dropped. Royal blood? What the hell was that supposed to mean? They couldn’t have meant Lucian royalty, did they? It was widely known that Noctis was the last of his line, so he turned to give Caius a confused look to see if the kingsglaive had any idea what they were talking about. Apparently not though since he started laughing and saying that he didn’t know the prior kings had a sense of humor.
“I’m…not sure they do,” he said a little uncertainly. They were just the remnants of the souls of prior kings at this point, so Noctis sort of doubted that much of their personalities remained. Caius seemed to realize this on his own though as his laughter faded and he put one hand to his head. At this point, Noctis was starting to get worried, so he sort of forgot about the armored figures surrounding them as he stretched out a hand towards him. “Hey, you okay?” Caius was most certainly not okay as he suddenly doubled over. Noctis launched forward to catch him and ended up struggling to support the much taller man leaning on him. Caius didn’t say anything, but the frantic tapping against his arm would have been clear even if Noct hadn’t vaguely recognized it. The blond man was asking for help.
The prince was bewildered and had next to no idea what was happening, but he needed to pull back the kings and he needed to do it yesterday. He kept one hand holding on to Caius to support him and raised the other that had the ring on it. “Alright, this has been fun and all, but you guys need to-” Before Noct could banish them though, it felt like cold water had been dumped all over him as the room they were in faded out of sight and a vision took over instead. He realized pretty quickly that this was definitely not one of his own memories—he appeared to be in a child’s body—and he had no idea who either of the adults were who were arguing. They mentioned the king and also that the true king had been chosen, which made Noctis tense. Did that mean this had occurred back when he was a kid? What really gave him pause though was the woman’s full name. Olivia Lucis Caelum. How…how was that possible? When was this?
As quickly as it had started, the vision ended, and Noctis was left blinking rapidly. He was still holding onto Caius, who revealed that the woman had been his mother. That…just gave the prince about fifty more questions. “Olivia. Your mom. Was she really…?” Lucis Caelum. How was that possible? Noctis’ mouth was dry, but before he could ask anything else Caius started to scream. The prince winced, and he quickly moved both hands to the man’s shoulders. “Hey! Hey, it’s okay. I got you. We’ll figure this out.” He honestly had no idea if that was true or not right now, but his consciousness was yanked into another vision before he could try to make good on that promise anyway.
This one was darker. There was death—a lot of it—but Noctis recognized the players this time and whose viewpoint he was probably looking through. By the time that he was thrust back into his own body, he just numbly stared up at the other man. “Caius…” he started, but then he stopped. What else was there to say when he’d just witnessed how the man had lost his entire family? Nothing would make that any easier. Still, he winced when the blond man suddenly burst into tears. He really wasn’t any good at this kind of thing—Ignis was way better at comforting people—but he hoped that maybe just staying by him would help. After a moment though, Caius started to yell at the kings of yore who…Noctis had honestly forgotten were still here. The prince respected the sentiment of chewing them out even if he really didn’t recommend it, but before he could intervene, the kingsglaive named Regis as the object of all his rage.
Noctis froze and unconsciously took a step back from the other man. Somehow in all of this, he had really been hoping that the king who had been paying for the family to have a life away from the capital hadn’t been him. Even if the timeline had only pointed to one possibility.
“...Is all that true?” Noctis heard his voice crack a little as he scanned the armored figures in front of him. “Dad?” There was an almost imperceptible shift in a single figure near the back, and as the prince’s eyes latched onto them, he saw the figure dip their head and then raise it as if they were about to speak. And suddenly Noctis just…couldn’t. Maybe it was selfish. Maybe Caius needed the closure, but he was suddenly too horrified to let this continue. Raising his hand, he pulled hard on the ring’s power, yanking every ounce of it that he could back inside himself. The armored figures vanished into the shadows around them and sunlight suddenly poured through the windows again as if nothing at all sinister had happened in the middle of Cindy’s living room.
For his part, Noctis stumbled back as the exhaustion from using the ring so much hit him like a car. Gritting his teeth, he yanked the ring off his finger as he stared down at the innocuous piece of jewelry sitting in the middle of his palm. His eyes burned a little just looking at it, and he had the sudden irrational urge to chuck it out the window, but he closed his fingers tightly around it instead as he let out a breath.
“...Olivia Lucis Caelum. Who was she? Who are you? Are we-?...” The word ‘related’ hung like a knife in the air between them. Noctis had been so positive that he didn’t have any living family.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Tifa confirmed that the overhead lights had simulated night and day in Midgar, which made Noctis grimace in a way that he hoped wasn’t rude. “That sounds pretty bad by itself, even without everything else they were doing. Glad you gave everyone a second chance.” Assuming the meteor that Sephiroth had summoned had gone away once he was dead, but Noct stayed silent on that end. Tifa didn’t need any more doubts about how her home was doing.
She agreed with a laugh to mostly let him be a pack chocobo once they started construction on her bar basement. Apparently she’d never really done a lot of building work either, so she said that her main job might just end up being keeping everyone else fed and hydrated. “Hey, that might be the most important job of all,” he joked. “We won’t get very far if everyone’s hungry.”
The first thing that Tifa noted from Noctis’ story was that the Niflheim empire had a strangely similar name to her hometown. The prince wasn’t bothered that she’d picked out that detail because it was weird now that she laid it out. “Huh. Yeah, those names are really close actually. No one in your town seemed like they wanted to start expanding into an empire, did they?” There were enough time shenanigans going on in Zephon without Noctis making conspiracy theories about Tifa being from Eos’ past. It was just a funny thought.
Tifa grew more somber when he finished his story, and she said that she was sorry he’d gone through all that. “Thanks,” he said with a slight frown before finishing what was left in his glass. “I’d really like to take Insomnia back someday and unite Lucis again, but…that’s obviously taken a backseat while we’re here.” Not much he could do about Eos while they were a world away. Meanwhile, Tifa refilled her glass and held up the bottle indicating that she’d fill his up again too. “Thanks,” he said as he held it out, grinning faintly at the way she tilted the glass during the pour. Definitely an expert bartender.
She seemed pretty amused at his answers for what he liked to do, and Noctis shook his head when she said he made it seem like all of that was normal. “It sounds like you’ve fought your own share of monsters with just your fists,” he pointed out, since that was honestly a lot more impressive than using a sword. “And yeah, we camped out all the time. It was one of the cheapest ways to get around in Lucis whenever we were low on money.” It probably sounded a bit ridiculous for a prince to be low on money, but much to his dad’s credit, Noctis had lived a pretty normal life until recently. He’d even worked a few part-time jobs in the capital, so he wasn’t above scrounging for gil.
Tifa shared a few of her other interests too and then expressed that it made her sound boring. Noctis laughed and waved a hand as he took a sip of wine. “Trust me, if it was up to me I’d just sleep and fish all day, so you’re free to bake and read. Feels like we never really had the luxury of being boring until now, you know?” His life had been too much of a car fire for that, and it sounded like it had been the same for Tifa. “The good thing about this place is maybe we can all finally breathe I guess.”
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Caius admitted that he had never been on a road trip before, but that the idea sounded nice. “That’s settled then. Once Ignis is feeling better and Lumina’s safe, we should all go camping. Cindy can come too.” Gladio would be missing, but maybe the inclusion of their other friends would keep the three of them from feeling his absence too keenly. “Just be prepared for Prompto to take a ton of pictures. And I’ll be fishing of course.” That went without saying, but since he’d found Caius fishing on the first day they’d run into each other, then maybe the kingsglaive wouldn’t mind that too much. It might even be nice to have some company with his favorite hobby. The guys had never wanted to fish alongside him really. They usually just watched and yelled at him to respool his line.
Caius also expressed his doubt that Alex had ever been any other way than how he was acting now, which made Noctis frown as he rubbed at his forehead. “Maybe, but part of me wonders if his past lives are getting to him.” It didn’t excuse him yelling at Prompto or trying to kill Caius’ friend, but he didn’t want to just leave Alex to that fate either. “It sounded like he’s been reincarnated a bunch of times and periodically just…remembers things. I’ve been wondering if something happened, but we can worry about that later I guess.” It definitely wasn’t the most important thing on his plate right now, but it had been bothering him ever since the strategy meeting in Tifa’s bar. He knew on some level that it wasn’t his responsibility to fix whatever was going on in Alex’s head, but another part of Noct wanted to intervene anyway.
The blond man also reassured him that he’d be happy to arrange a meeting between him and the girl who looked like Luna. Apparently Lumina’s family was looking after her, which made Noctis look at him in surprise. “I’ll have to thank her for that. I didn’t know she had family here, but I appreciate them looking out for her…” If Lunafreya had still had her memory, then Noctis might have assumed that she’d leave with him after they reunited, but at this point she’d probably prefer to stay with the few people she knew. He would just be a stranger to her if she really had amnesia.
Caius didn’t seem thrilled at Noctis’ suggestion that they ask the kings together to extend the rings’ power—scratch that, the man actually looked terrified. Noct was about to rescind the offer and suggest that they find another way, but at the last moment, Caius reached over and took his hand. Second-guessing himself, the prince almost wanted to ask the glaive if he was sure he wanted to do this, but that would probably be an insult based on the determined look he had on his face. He was scared, but he wanted to do this. He was trusting Noctis to keep him safe, and the prince intended to do just that. Steeling himself, the prince reached down into his core where he always felt the ring’s power, quietly thrumming away and draining his lifeforce. “Show yourselves,” he muttered, while calling on that strength.
The effect was immediate. Despite the bright sunlight shining through the windows, the room immediately dimmed and appeared to be cloaked in shadows. Noctis honestly wasn’t sure if that was actually happening, or if he and Caius were just caught in an illusion, but it came to the same thing. Armored figures started to rise up from the darkness, blue Lucian magic shimmering around them, until Noctis felt like the two of them were perfectly surrounded.
“King of Light, it is not yet time to call upon the wards of Eos’ future.” The words were distorted and muffled to the point where the voice barely sounded human, and yet Noctis understood them perfectly. Letting out a slow breath, he stepped forward to try to keep most of their attention away from Caius. He didn’t intend to show an ounce of weakness in front of them. Walk tall, his father had said, and that’s what he intended to do. Maybe his father was even one of the armored figures surrounding them right now, but Noctis was going to stumble if he dwelled on that thought.
“Kings of Lucis, I ask for your aid. We may not be on Eos, but the blight on our star is spreading here too. I need your help to wipe out the starscourge where it’s taken root in someone, before it can spread further on Zephon. And I ask that you allow me to share your power with my kingsglaive for a short time, so that we may work together to end this.”
…Was that good? It was brief, but hopefully it had at least sounded kingly. The armored figure across from him gave nothing away though unfortunately. “You have our power, King of Light. But it is not yours to share.”
Clenching his jaw a bit, Noctis glanced back at Caius before shaking his head. “I’ll decide that. His vows might not have been to me, but he’s a kingsglaive of Lucis, and this is what we need. We’ll make it work.”
“You misunderstand.” If it was possible for a sentient shade to sound dismissive, then the one across from him was definitely annoyed. “We will pardon him for daring to stand before us, for he is of royal blood. But he is not of the direct line of kings, and we do not grant him our power.”
For a moment, Noctis only registered that he was being rejected again, but before he could formulate a retort, the rest of what the king was implying hit the prince like a car. He immediately lost all semblance of kingly dignity as he gaped over his shoulder at Caius.
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Tifa explained a little more how the slums worked by saying that they had lamps that sort of acted like sunlight. “Is it basically always night there, or were the lights just that bright?” He asked with a grimace. Honestly, between the two of them, Noctis would have chosen for it to always be dark. Somehow artificial sunlight sounded way sadder than just streetlamps. Tifa also revealed that she wasn’t really sure what had happened to Midgar in her absence. Apparently she had woken up in Zephon right after they had defeated Sephiroth while that meteor he’d called was still descending. That was…honestly the worst. “Ouch,” he said with a sympathetic wince. “Sorry. Must be tough not really knowing what happened. Sounds like you did everything you could though.” And then some. Defeating super soldiers really didn’t need to be in a bartender’s job description, but Tifa was incredibly tough and hadn’t stood for what Shinra was doing. Noctis was really starting to admire her.
She also joked that she would hold him to his promise to help her build a secret basement in her bar, which made the prince laugh. “Didn’t say I was any good with a hammer, but I can at least be a pack chocobo.” He was happy to cart wood around and help with construction for a while. Tifa deserved it after putting up with all of them, and if it gave them a safe space to meet in Sonora, then that was even better. Noct had a feeling that everybody could use that once this breakout was done.
Tifa thanked him for saying that she could talk about the people that she’d lost, but she made it pretty clear that wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have tonight. That was totally fine, and it was probably a bit heavy to bring up when they were still on their first glasses of wine anyway. She also said that she’d listen to his story though, which made Noctis glance down at his wine before taking a bigger gulp than his first sip. They’d known each for long enough at this point that he really did owe her the short version. “Lucis—that’s the country I’m from—had been at war with the Niflheim empire forever when they finally offered a peace treaty to my dad. They wanted all our lands except the capital of Insomnia, and…they wanted me to come do a symbolic marriage with the princess of one of their territories.” It felt weird to describe Luna in such sterile political terms, but that’s what Tenebrae had become. And that’s all it was to Niflheim. A political marriage.
“It was just a ploy to get inside Insomnia though. I was traveling to the wedding when…I heard the city was destroyed. Niflheim basically rules the entire planet now.” Or they had. There wasn’t much left of them either from what Noctis had seen in Gralea, but he needed at least half a bottle of wine before he started to unpack what Ardyn wanted.
Noctis nodded slowly when Tifa pointed out that it probably made the others feel better to call him a prince and that she also still believed that they’d all find a way home someday. “Thanks Tifa. I hope you’re right.” He paused for just a moment as he glanced down at their glasses. “In the meantime, this isn’t so bad.”
Tifa liked the wine, which made Noctis smile slightly as he nudged the bottle towards her. “Well, plenty more where that came from.” His own glass was going pretty fast as he looked down again at the way the city was illuminated below them. As worried as he was about the breakout, this was actually pretty nice. He liked talking to Tifa.
She asked about his hobbies besides fishing, which made Noctis rub the back of his neck. Somehow he could picture Prompto doing a huge face-palm if he told her ‘nope, fishing and sleeping are the only things worth doing’ so he put a bit more effort into his answer. “I really liked camping with the guys. Even though we were on the run, they made me forget about everything else. We were always hunting monsters or fixing up the car…” Clearing his throat, he looked over at Tifa again. The light from the streetlamps reflected in her eyes back at him. “What about you? You’ve talked about bartending and martial arts. What else were you up to when you weren’t overthrowing the government?”
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Caius expressed concern for his retinue and said that he would keep checking up on Ignis. He trailed off rather than finish a certain thought about him though, and Noctis furrowed his brow a bit at the implication. He had a feeling that he knew how the blond man was going to finish that sentence, but it didn’t really make sense. If Caius was from the future, then of course he should have known that Ignis had lost his sight. Unless that implied that something had cured his eyes in the future? Maybe once they had actually been able to stop and get him long-term medical care? The prince didn’t dare to get his hopes up though, so he chose not to pester Caius on that front. Part of him wasn’t sure if he wanted the answer right now.
Caius also clarified that he had gotten days off in Lucis before, but that he’d usually used the time to study. “You definitely need something like a road trip then,” Noct commented as he leaned back a little on the couch-bed. “Think we could all use something like that once this is over.”
Apparently Alex was trying to kill a girl who worked with Caius because she could summon her version of astrals, and if that wasn’t a lot to unpack. “Dude,” he complained a little but relented when the man said he wasn’t in the headspace to cover that fully. “Once this is all done, I need to go pay him a visit. I swear he wasn’t like this when I first showed up. Not sure if something’s wrong or what…” Prompto wouldn’t be happy at all if he knew that Noctis wanted to talk to Alex, and it was probably kinder not to tell him honestly. He’d just worry and get upset when he already had his hands full with Ignis. This would definitely be a solo trip.
Once they got down to business, Caius confirmed that he had met the woman who could be Luna, and Noctis let out a slow breath when he revealed that she had full amnesia. Oracle or not, she definitely wouldn’t be able to help with Lumina then. “...When this is over, will you take me to see her?” He asked a bit apprehensively. He didn’t want to get his hopes up when it might not even be her. Caius must have been a kid when she died after all, so he’d only know her from pictures. Even if it was her, it sounded like she wouldn’t remember him. Still, Noctis would be happy just knowing that she was alive and okay somewhere…
Their planning boiled down a lot more to the ring of the Lucii than Noctis would have liked. It made sense—it was a powerful heirloom that could give them the upper hand in this fight—but he’d never quite gotten over his distaste for it yet. Maybe that was understandable though, given that it had prematurely aged his father, stolen Ignis’ sight, and was slowly draining his lifeforce.
For Caius’ part, he ruled out Noctis trying to form a wall, which made the prince sigh even if he agreed the more he thought about it. “Fair enough. I’ve never done it before, and I don’t want to make you fight alone if keeping it up drains me.” The kingsglaive also reassured him that he had no intention of putting on the ring, and that Noctis was its rightful wielder. He had apparently only wondered if some of its power could be extended to him through their connection, and the prince hesitated as he stared down at the black piece of jewelry. “...Maybe. I don’t think my dad ever used it like that, but…” But all of his energy went into maintaining the wall. That went without saying, so Noctis continued on without finishing that thought. “Your magic was how I found you fishing on the beach that day. So I think we do have some kind of connection even if your kingsglaive oaths weren’t technically to me…”
It might be worth a try. Caius pointed out again that he was the true king and that his ancestors' power was his to command. He wasn’t entirely sure that would make a difference since they had still blinded Ignis, but it was nice to have someone be that confident in him at least. Maybe that was why the prince closed his fingers around the ring and proposed something rash.
“Then let’s ask them directly.” Ignis must have heard their whispers and garbled speech before when he’d put it on and asked for their favor, but this was a first for Noctis inviting someone to come speak with them. He wasn’t sure if Caius would even agree or not, but he offered him his hand anyway. It would probably be safe as long as he was the one still wearing it, right?
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] As Tifa explained what the city that she’d lived in was like, the details just kept getting worse. “Seriously? They built a city like that on purpose, where some people wouldn’t have sunlight?” That really put everything that Caius had told him about Ardyn’s ten years of darkness into perspective. At least that hadn’t been an entire group of people who decided it was fine for the lower-classes to live like that. “No wonder you overthrew them. What’s Midgar like now?” Lucis didn’t exactly have the cleanest history either—he’d never been comfortable with the idea that his grandfather had pulled the wall back to Insomnia and left the rest of Lucis to the mercy of the empire. Plus there was everything that Caius had told him about Ardyn and the founder king. History was messy, but he was glad Tifa and her friends had managed to shape a better future. Now if only he could do that too.
As Noctis pulled the cups out of his glaive for their wine, Tifa joked that he was a man to call for just about anything. “I did offer you a hammer whenever you’re ready to build that basement,” he said with a slight grin before shaking his head. “For real though, it does come in handy. I still have all our camping equipment from Eos in there, which was really nice when I first got here and didn’t have any money.” Come to think of it, the only reason he had any money now was from doing some jobs for the Rising Stones, and Alex and Prompto were probably not going to be inclined to work together going forward. That…could be a problem, but he’d worry about finding an income source once Iggy was out.
Tifa confirmed that she did miss Gaia sometimes, mostly because of the people, and Noctis frowned a little when she said that she’d lost a few of them along the way. “Sorry to hear that…If you ever want to talk about them, I’ve got plenty more where this bottle is concerned.” He understood if that wasn’t where she wanted to take the conversation tonight, but that was a long-standing offer for the future too.
She asked in return if he missed Eos, which made Noctis hesitate for longer than he probably should have. “Like you said, I miss the people. But things were pretty bad there when I left.” That was an understatement, considering that about every major civilization had fallen and Ardyn had played his final hand. “The others still call me a prince, but a title isn't much use when your kingdom’s fallen.” That was still hard to admit, but talking to Tifa was always easier than he expected. It felt like he’d known her for longer than he actually had. “I’m still hoping to take it back someday, but there’s not much I can do about it from here…”
Honestly, it was a relief when Tifa raised her glass and made a toast to new beginnings. That really was perfect when he thought about everything that he’d left in the rearview mirror, and maybe it was for her too. “And a new world,” he added, clinking his glass to her offered one before he finally took a sip of wine. It was sweeter than he’d expected—maybe the grapes in Accordo did a little better than Lucian grapes. “How’s it stack up, bartender?”
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Caius reassured him that he had gotten away from the prison fine before asking how his friends were doing. Noctis hesitated for a moment and rocked back on his heels as he debated how to answer that. “Not…great. Physically they’re healing up, but they were in bad shape. I haven’t really gotten to talk to them much yet…” Once they were ready, Noctis planned to have a heart to heart with them though. The four of them hadn’t even seriously talked about Gralea yet, let alone what had happened on Zephon so far. They were long overdue to catch up.
Caius talked a little about what he’d been up to since the jail break, and Noctis shook his head when he said that Lumina had forced him to take his first ever day off. “I didn’t give you time off in the future? Sorry for being a hard ass then.” Sometimes it was hard to reconcile himself with the king that Caius knew, but he supposed that he did have a decade to grow into it at least.
As the kingsglaive continued with his tale, Noctis was definitely concerned about someone attacking the crystal in Torensten, but he had a lot more questions about the first part. “Wait, what was that about Alex and murder?” Astrals above, he was going to go back to the Rising Stones and launch an intervention when he had time. He’d really liked the guy when they’d first met and…stolen a taxi together. Okay, that part was best forgotten. Point being though, Alex’s temperament seemed to be going downhill, which led Noctis to wonder if something else was going on with him. Maybe all of his past lives were getting to him.
Caius finally admitted to the real reason he’d come to visit, and Noctis nodded slowly at the revelation. “I expected something like that. I didn’t get the impression in Sonora that there was a lot of time left.” The couch was currently made up into a makeshift bed for the prince since Cindy didn’t have enough beds for all of them, so Noctis gestured at a chair instead for the kingsglaive to sit down if he wanted to. On his end, he shoved the couch blankets to the side and sat down across from Caius. He was ready to help however he could, though part of him was glad that Prompto was still outside for this discussion. His friend had gotten pretty worked up last time.
The blond man outlined his plan and what he’d been doing so far, and Noctis frowned as he considered it. “I’ve never used my magic like that, on someone with the scourge,” he admitted. “That might have just killed them honestly. But I know this situation is different from back home since it merged with some other parasite. So if you can show me what you’ve been doing, I can try it with you.” He hesitated before adding one caveat though. “It…does make me a little nervous doing this without an oracle. Forcing it out sounds like it could hurt her depending on how far along she is…” He had a feeling that he wasn’t saying anything that Caius hadn’t already agonized over, but he still felt like he needed to offer the warning. “It might be our only option though if you haven’t heard anything else about-...about Luna.” The prince hadn’t really let himself focus on the possibility that she’d been sighted in Zephon. He didn’t want to get his hopes up over someone who might not even be her. Not after he’d watched her die.
The kingsglaive also broached another idea he’d had. He was clearly worried about the strength of the parasite that they’d be fighting once it had been freed from Lumina’s body, and he asked about the Ring of the Lucii in terms of adding to their chances. Noctis nodded thoughtfully as he mulled over how to best use the extra boost of power that his ancestors could give them. “I guess I could either take it offensively or defensively. In theory I can use a more powerful version of the full armiger with it, so we could hope that goes better than when I tried it without the ring against you.” The royal arms had drained him a lot faster on Zephon than they ever had on Eos. Maybe channeling the ring would help with that though. “Or…I never had to hold up the wall around Insomnia,” he added a bit hesitantly. “And I doubt I could do something the size of a city so far from the crystal and without any augmenters. But maybe I could do a small version of the wall around wherever we’re doing this? It would at least stop the parasite from escaping and hurting anyone else until we deal with it.” Or until it killed Noctis, but that went without saying. “I hear it’s pretty draining though. That might land the bulk of the fighting onto you…”
Which led to Caius’ second proposal, but that made the prince seriously hesitate. “I know you’re worried about her, but I don’t want you to get hurt. And asking the other kings for power…historically hasn’t gone too well.” The fact that they’d blinded Ignis of all people was enough to have him scowling down at the innocuous piece of jewelry on his finger. All Specs had tried to do was protect him, and his ancestors couldn’t even forgive that much. “I really wouldn’t put it on unless it’s a last resort.”
[attr=class,lyric1]i am noctis, prince of lucis and
[attr=class,lyric2]king of fishing
[attr=class,bulk] Cindy pointed out that no one knew him here, so he’d be free to live his life like he wanted to. “That’s a weird feeling,” he admitted while rubbing the back of his neck with his gloved hand. “Guess I’ll worry about that once the others are safe.” He honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do away from Lucis and prophecies and Ardyn. He had a feeling that he had a whole quarter-life crisis coming though once everything had calmed down.
Cindy also suggested that he just plug in his phone here, which made Noctis laugh to himself. “Right, I forgot you’d definitely need electricity out here for the garage. I just know Provo’s kind of split between that and whatever crystals they import from Torensten, so I wasn’t too sure what you had around here.” Did he still have his phone charger? That was a good question, but he couldn’t see why it wouldn’t still be in his glaive somewhere. “I’ll look for it, and then maybe we can try it out when I come back? No real rush since I can’t get calls on it. Playing King’s Knight again sounds great though.” There was no real point in charging it for any other reason. Still, a game night with Cindy and the boys sounded great.
The mechanic laughed about her grandpa some more before saying that it hadn’t been too tough to set up shop here when cars were the only thing she really knew. “Well you’re damn good at it,” he said, and he really meant it. He hadn’t said that to Cindy enough back on Eos when she’d been helping them out, and he hoped to fix that now. “I never wanted anyone else to work on the Regalia.” And when they’d saved enough to buy a car here, he’d bring that one straight to Cindy too in a heartbeat.
When Noctis asked if he could come back sometime, Cindy looked almost offended that he had to ask. Her answer was so heartfelt that the prince wasn’t sure where to look. She was still the first person he knew that he’d run into here on Zephon, so he felt a slight lump in his throat at how welcome she made him feel. He quickly tried to bury that with a cough though. Poor Cindy didn’t need him to dump anything else on her today.
“I won’t be a stranger then. I’ll come back as soon as I find the others, I promise.” That meant that he really did need to keep on traveling since it was still a long way to Sonora. Especially when he’d need to get a taxi or something. Hopefully he wasn’t blacklisted since he and Alex had stolen a Sonoran taxi and driven it off a cliff, but that was something to worry about once he got there.
“I should keep on going to Sonora if I want a chance of tracking them down. Don’t work too hard, okay?” He said with a slight grin as he raised one hand in a slight wave. “And let me know if you ever need anything. I kind of miss those quests for car parts you’d send us on.” He might not have said that at the time when he was tired and hot and running across Lucis, but he looked back on everything before Accordo with some amount of nostalgia now.
