Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XV or any of its characters.
Title:the world at your fingertips, you just need to seize it
Summary: As far as the six year old Noctis was concerned, his entire world consisted of four walls and Father always told him it's safer to stay inside than going outside. It's when those walls come down that Noctis's entire world changes.
Rating: T
Warnings: Potentially disturbing imagery, emotional abuse
Author's Notes: I combined aspects of Disney's Tangled and Emma Donoghue's Room, both dealing with a person who has lived almost their entire lives in a secluded tower/room. In particular, Mother Gothel from Tangled was such an interesting villain as an emotional abuser who terrifies Rapunzel of the outside world and tries to poison Rapunzel's other healthy relationships. Of course, I feel that Ardyn would be that kind of person who would enjoy emotionally manipulate a child, especially one of the Lucis line. For the purpose of this story, all the characters except for Noctis will be at their in-game age because I just had a mighty need to write about a child Noctis and his interactions with adults.
At the tender age of six years old, Noctis's world was condensed into the room.
The room was large enough to contain one bed, one circular table, two wooden chairs, a few shelves and chests filled with books, clothes and toys. There were two windows high above that Noctis could never hope to reach, even if he stood on top of his bed and chair and jumped as hard as he could (he should know, he did try – many times).
The floor was smooth and cold and had different shades of grey and white and Noctis delighted in sliding around when he didn't feel like walking. The walls, stacked with large stones as big as Noctis's head, was the same color.
Noctis's days were quite simple: wake up, wash his face and brush his teeth, do his stretches, running and exercises, choose his clothes for the day, eat his morning meal before cleaning the floor and washing any dirty clothing, take a nap if he was tired or read his books and play with his puzzles.
After his afternoon meal and when the sunlight has moved to the middle of the room, he would do some coloring or continue reading, attempt to do some homework even if he really didn't want to (but what else was there to do?), run around the room some more, grab all his toys and act out one of his many imaginations and storytelling and again, take a nap if he wanted to.
Once the light was beginning to fade, he would finish the last of his coloring before putting all his toys, crayons and books away, after his evening meal, he would take a bath, splashing water everywhere, then he would clean up the washroom, read one more book before turning off all the lights and go to sleep.
It was very routine and straightforward and Nocts had gotten used to it.
The only change to his schedule was when Father came to visit.
Father was the only other person Noctis would see. He never realized how Father would somehow appeared into the room when there were no door to enter the room and the two windows were always, always shut. But Noctis was the happiest whenever Father came to visit him because no one else would.
Father would bring him food and snacks and other gifts and presents and if Noctis was lucky, Father would stay with him for a few hours, coloring with him, playing games with him and regale him with stories.
Noctis would always be sad when Father had to leave because that would mean he would be all alone again.
" Why can't I go outside?" Noctis would always ask Father, especially if Noctis was feeling bored.
" Because it is dangerous outside," Father would always reply.
" I don't think the sun or grass or ocean is dangerous," Noctis would stubbornly argue. He read all about those things in his books and he would love nothing more than to feel the sunlight against his skin, touch the grass with his hands and kick the waters with his feet.
" Don't be so naive!" Father would laugh. His laughter was nothing like Noctis's. It always sounded rough and teasing. " There are far worse things outside. If you go outside, there are all kinds of monsters and people."
" What kind of monsters and people?" After all, Noctis was a curious boy and liked to ask questions even if the thought of monsters and scary people terrified him.
Father's eyes would take on an amused gleam. " The kind that would eat you and hurt you and cut you to pieces."
Noctis gasped. " That's horrible!"
" Oh yes, it is very horrible." Father would lean forward, his voice becoming low and harsh. " Large monsters with long claws and many teeth. Soldiers with sharp swords and pointed guns. Armoured vehicles that trample everything down. Human-like beasts that gobble up helpless children like you. And you cannot forget the villainous black king."
He shuddered. Father was fond of telling him the stories about the black king. " That king is the cruelest being. He disguised himself as a human dressed all in black but deep inside, he is a monstrous beast who would tear you apart with weapons that appear out of thin air. And if the black king was to ever get a hold of you, he would grab you and take you away."
At this part, Father would reach out and grab at Noctis's ankle. Noctis would always try not to shriek in fear but he would always fail and soon dissolve into giggles.
And at this part, Noctis would say, " I don't want to be taken away from you!"
Father would smile a sweet smile at him. " Then stay here, where you will be safe and the black king will never find you. And you will never be taken away from me."
Father's grip would tighten over Noctis's ankle, hard enough for Noctis to wince and for the start of bruises to darkly loom over his skin. " I'll stay here, Father," Noctis would promise.
It was only then that Father would let him go.
" That's my good boy."
~.~.~
On this day, Father did not come see him.
It was not so strange. Father was a busy man as Father had told Noctis many times. He couldn't always stay with Noctis, no matter how hard Noctis pleaded for Father to remain with him all day to chase away the growing darkness.
Sometimes, if Noctis was bad (what did he do wrong? how had he made Father so angry? Was he really an awful child?), Father would not come for a whole day and Noctis would try to ignore how his stomach ached and how lonely he was because Father was the only one who would come to see him.
But when Father did return, Noctis, so tired and hungry and thirsty, would apologize and apologize and tell Father he was so sorry and that he would do better and not make Father so angry next time so Father wouldn't leave him so terribly lonely and forgotten in his room.
And Father would smile his strange smile and tell him to not make promises he won't be able to make.
So on this day, Noctis did not think it was any different.
The only thing different today was that the floor appeared to be rumbling below. Usually the room was quiet with the only sounds being Noctis's voice if he chose to shout and stamp and make a ruckus. Father had said the rumbling was due to soldiers and monsters prowling outside, trying to get in, trying to come capture him.
As nervous as he was, Noctis was curious and he pressed an ear to the floor and wondered what kind of monster would make sounds that sounded like human yells.
But as the hours crept by, Noctis realized with horror the rumbling was growing louder and closer to him.
The monsters were breaking in!
Father had never told him what to do if the monsters got inside. Swallowing down on his panic, Noctis did what any sensible boy could do.
He fled under the bed.
Noctis made himself as small as possible, his feet squashed against the wall. His nose itched at the dust coating the floor but he dared not sneeze. He couldn't let the monsters know he was here.
The minutes lengthened. Noctis could barely breathe, just listening as the rumbling grew louder and the floor trembled violently. He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing Father would come and all of it would just stop.
Without warning one of the walls gave a loud shrill wail just before it exploded and collapsed in a shower of rocks.
Noctis bit down on his tongue to stop himself from screaming.
A shower of debris and smoke hurtled everywhere in the room, some clattering underneath the bed and hitting Noctis.
Voices that did not belong to Father were talking and Noctis recognized there were three people entering his room.
Steeling himself, Noctis opened his eyes. He could see three pairs of muddy boots near the large black hole where the wall was, glinting brightly despite the dark shade of the material. Noctis marvelled at such material, wondering what it must be like to wear it. Father never bought him shoes even if he gave Noctis other assortment of clothes, had said he would have no use for it.
The voices had a variety of intonations and articulation. They sounded human and adult like Father as far as Noctis could tell. One sounded young and excitable. Another thoughtful and serious. The third brusque and coarse.
" This is – ?"
" It is most certainly the room where the prince is being held."
" That bastard Ardyn sure knows how to decorate a prison."
Prince? Ardyn? Who were they? Noctis was the only one who lived in his room. And why did that third man call it a prison?
" What if Ardyn already took him? Or could he be hiding under – "
The one speaking broke off as he stepped close to the bed and managed to spot Noctis.
For the longest moment, the four of them simply stared at each other, Noctis frozen in place and the three men half-kneeling to see him better.
" I'll be damned," a large burly one whispered.
" Hush," a man with the glasses (Noctis knew the round circles on the man's face had to be glasses; his books told him so) firmly said to his partner before turning to Noctis with a gentle smile. " Hello there."
Noctis shrunk further away. He never had any trouble speaking to Father but to be suddenly faced with strangers – the same possible monsters that Father had said prowled beyond his room and waited to devour him – Noctis could only whimper. He quickly averted his gaze from their piercing stares – mostly because the men just wouldn't stop looking at him.
" It's all right," the man with the glasses soothed. " We aren't going to hurt you. Won't you come out?"
Ignoring them, Noctis's eyes darted between them and the broken wall. Would Father be able to come and rescue him with the three men staying here? Was there a chance he could run past the men and get to Father? He didn't where Father was and the three men are certainly bigger and faster than him and who knows how many more of them were out there.
Still, Noctis had to try.
" Can you tell me your name?"
Again, he refused to speak, more focused on looking at the broken wall.
" What about your age? How old are you?"
Silence again. Noctis bent his knees, shifting his weight. He had to take this chance before more of them come and he would never find Father and they would steal him away into the dark –
Only to be interrupted by the rumble of Noctis's stomach.
He froze. Noctis flushed, remembering that he had not eaten all day since Father had not come for him.
The men began to chuckle. " A kid's still a kid," the large man guffawed.
" I think I still have a candy bar." The blond man began rummaging through his pockets. " Here it is!" Upon producing a strangely wrapped bar, he crouched at the edge of the bed, sliding the bar towards Noctis. " You can have it."
Noctis stared blankly at it. Was this a trick? Were they trying to fattening him up before they ate him?
" It's not poisoned," the large man gruffly said.
The blond man opened the bar and even from his position Noctis could smell the sweet chocolate that Father sometimes brought him as a treat. He took a tiny bite, showing white teeth coated with chocolate. " See? It's safe."
He held it out again and this time, hunger prevailed. Slowly, Noctis reached out and snatched the bar from the blond man, gobbling up the chocolate bar like his life depended on it.
" Do you think they were starving him?" he heard someone whisper between his bites. " He looks so thin."
" We won't know the extent of what had happened to him until doctors look into it."
Fingers and mouth sticky with chocolate, Noctis continued to warily watch them. The men seemed friendly. But Father had warned him that it was all a lie, all a facade before the monsters snatched him away once his guard was down.
" Is he so frightened that he would not speak?" one of them was saying, frowning. " A mouse would have made more noise by now."
" Maybe he doesn't know how to speak," another hesitantly suggested. " Like he wasn't taught?"
The large man looked furious for some reason. " If I ever get my hands on Ardyn," he growled.
" Not helping," the man with the glasses sighed.
These men thought Noctis didn't know how to talk? Indignation overrode Noctis's fear. " I can talk!" he irritably huffed.
At the sound of his voice, the three men's heads swivelled to look at him and Noctis immediately regretted speaking out loud. The man with the glasses beamed, looking pleased. Noctis suspected he had fallen into their trap. " I'm glad to hear that," he said as he bent down to see Noctis better.
" S-stay away from me," Noctis said, trying hard to sound brave.
The man with the glasses held his palms up as a gesture of goodwill. " We are going to stay right here if that is what you want. Is it all right with you?"
No, it wasn't all right. They didn't leave and Noctis kept looking at the broken wall, wondering why Father still hasn't come for him. Did Father forget about him? Was this his punishment?
" Perhaps you could tell me about this room?" the man with the glasses suddenly asked, startling Noctis. " It's a lovely room. Do you live here?"
Like they didn't know why Noctis was here. " I have to," Noctis squared his jaw, glaring heatedly at the man. " Because of you."
" Me?" There was genuine confusion in the man's voice.
" If I leave, you will eat me and hurt me. That's what monsters and people outside the room do."
A flash of emotion appeared on the man with the glasses' face. Noctis couldn't tell if he looked sad or troubled. The other two men didn't bother disguising their expressions.
" Oh man," the blond one murmured, aghast.
The large man snarled several harsh words that Noctis never heard of but it was clear the man was infuriated, perhaps because Noctis knew of their plan all along.
He retreated further under the bed, afraid.
" That is not true," the man with the glasses softly said. " We would never eat or hurt you in any way."
" You're lying. People outside always lie. Father told me so."
The man with the glasses blinked. " Your father?" he repeated. The blond man and the large man shared strange looks.
The mention of Father appeared to make them uneasy. Noctic seized on that. " Father will come for me," he raised his head, embolden. " And – and he will make you pay for finding me."
" Who is your father?"
" Father," Noctis stubbornly said.
The man with the glasses glanced briefly at the other two. " We can help you find him. Why don't you let us help you find him?"
Noctis shook his head, hair flopping side to side. These men really thought he was an idiot, that he would leave the safety of the room and go with them.
" Okay then. What would you like us to do?" The man with the glasses tried a different tactic.
" I want you to leave," Noctis whispered.
Silence.
The man with the glasses exhaled slowly. " How about this? Why don't my friends leave?" He raised his hand at the protests of the other two. " They can help us see if we can find your father and maybe we can find more food for you too. One candy bar is hardly enough for a growing boy like yourself."
Noctis frowned, trying to detect some lie in the man's words. But he was growing exhausted and frustrated and his stomach was still rumbling. And Father for all his promises to stay with Noctis always had yet to keep them.
Finally, he nodded.
The man with the glasses looked relieved. " Thank you." He muttered something to the other two who reluctantly left. Noctis watched them with confused fascination as they grew smaller and shorter once they left the wall. Did all people outside do that?
" If you like to know, my name is Ignis."
Noctis almost forgot the man with the glasses remained in the room. He wondered if he should to try to run when there was only one of them here.
The man with the glasses – Ignis – smiled benignly at him. " The two that left are my friends. The one with the golden hair is Prompto and the big tall one is Gladio."
Noctis stared at him, uncertain what to do with that information.
" We came here because we heard of a brave little boy," Ignis continued gently. " We heard he was inside for so long that he wished to see the sun and the sky and the trees and the oceans."
Noctis couldn't stop the gasp from deep inside his throat. How did Ignis know that he would love nothing more than to see those things? Ignis never met Father and Father wouldn't have repeated Noctis's wishes to an enemy. " How do you know that?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Ignis appeared sad even if he continued smiling. " Because someone who loves you very much knows that's what you want."
There was only one person who Ignis could be talking about. " You mean Father?" Noctis breathed.
Ignis paused briefly, as if thinking hard about his next words. " Yes," he said so softly Noctis almost missed it. " And that person wanted us to become friends so you would feel safe. Would you like to be friends with me? With us?"
Friends was a strange concept to Noctis. He had read about it in his books. Friends were people who played games together and shared snacks, toys and books. He asked Father before if they were friends but Father only laughed.
It made Noctis wonder if he could have friends one day.
" I swear to you, that we would never lie to you or hurt you." Ignis' voice became softer yet explicitly firm. It was a tone that Noctis never heard before, not even from Father. " Please trust me when I say that."
Ignis's eyes were bright and open and honest. Father's eyes were never like that. His eyes were always dancing, gleaming and teasing. It was hard to predict what Father would say or do.
And yet, something told Noctis that he could trust this strange man from beyond the wall.
Slowly, very slowly, Noctis nodded.
Ignis released a shaky sigh, smiling a huge smile. " Thank you. Now, do you think you could tell me your name?"
" Noctis," he mumbled.
Ignis jerked, as if Noctis's name alone was enough to make him rock back. His shoulders seemed to sag even if his voice remained light and easygoing. " Noctis. That is a nice name. Would you like to come sit next to me, Noctis? I'm certain it must be getting stuffy underneath that bed."
He held out a hand.
For a moment, Noctis blinked at the offered hand. He remembered in his books, friends often held hands. Father never held his hand, not once, even when Noctis tugged insistently on his wrist.
But in a very short time, Ignis wanted to.
Perhaps this was a sign that Ignis could be trusted.
Carefully, Noctis crawled out of the bed, raising one trembling hand to hold on to Ignis.
Ignis's hand was warm and steady and strong as if he could lift up Noctis and the entire world that Noctis thought he had known.
The smile on Ignis's face was kind and warm and Noctis couldn't help but return one shy smile of his own.