The clash of wooden swords could be heard in the courtyard, mixing with grunts and shouts. In the Courtyard, two men could be found swinging wooden swords at each other, one being the son of the King of Lucis. The other one, a young adult, tried desperately to train the Prince for his duty as royalty when his father eventually dies off, however, it didn't seem to be going so well.
"Come on, Prince Noctis, you aren't even trying!" Gladiolus shouted, swinging the sword vertically at Noctis, being blocked by him. Noctis stared blankly, only blocking his attacks to not get hurt. Eventually Gladiolus knocked him over, loosening the Prince's grip on the sword. It slid out of his hands, falling into the grass with a loud thud. Gladio pointed the tip of his sword at Noctis, knowing that he has won, but not fairly. "Noctis, you know what you have to do when you're older, right?" he asked, grunting in slight anger as extended a hand to help the prince back up.
"Yeah yeah, I have to protect the people of Insomnia, I hear this all the time from my father," Noctis retorted, standing back up and picking his sword and balancing himself on it.
"Not just Insomnia, but all of Lucis. Your responsibility as the Prince of Lucis isn't an ordinary task. What will you do when your father isn't around anymore and you have to take the throne?" Gladiolus responded, grunting angrily as he grabbed Noctis' sword and put both the wooden blades on the weapon rack. "However, strength isn't the only thing you need to be a good King. You also need a smart mind, and on that topic, how're your grades in your classes?" he asked, lifting up his heavy backpack from the wobbling bench.
"Are you my dad?" Noctis scoffed, picking up his own bag from the ground. "My grades are fine. Exams are tomorrow, so it'd be best for me to-"
"Study?"
"I was thinking to go home and sleep until exam time, but that also works, I guess." Noctis sighed, beginning to walk to the door, until Gladio stopped him.
"You have to take this stuff seriously, Prince Noctis, otherwise-"
"I won't be a good King, how many times have I heard this from you? Even today you've said this like, four times in the span of an hour?" He stared at Gladio angrily, having a more serious look than usual.
Gladio chuckled, stroking his stubble. "I guess I've said it enough today, huh? Well," he slapped Noctis on the back, "go on, if you're ready to go."
Noctis left the room with an emotionless expression, slouching slightly.
Nearing the night, Noctis and one of his friends, Prompto, were walking home to their dorms together. "Prince Noctis-"
"Prompto, you can just call me Noct if you want to, I don't need to be called that by you every time you address me." Noct chuckled, punching him lightly on the shoulder and receiving a punch back.
"Alright, Noct, are you nervous about the exams tomorrow? Are you even gonna study, since, well, you usually don't study for these?"
"Eh, it all depends how tired I am when I get back to my dorm, what about you?"
"Is that even a question? Of course I'm studying for it!" Prompto replied, laughing. "I'm going to assume your answer is a no then?"
"Correctamundo." Noctis patted him on the back, approaching Prompto's Dorm. "Well, here we are."
"See you after the Exams then, bye!" Prompto said, practically bouncing up and down into his dorm.
"Bye, Prompto!" Noctis replied, beginning to head towards his dorm.
"Your Highness!" a familiar voice shouted from behind him. He thought, Who else could it be? Noctis turned around and spotted Gladio running towards him. "You forgot something." He reached into the bag he had around him and pulled out a textbook. Noctis took the textbook back and flipped through it. The book contained some very well drawn pictures of weapons and people holding and fighting with them. "I didn't know you were such a good artist."
"It's a good pastime, especially when you want to avoid studying." Noct smiled, scratching the back of his head.
"I see. Well, don't forget to study tonight, otherwise you'll be kicking yourself on a really tough question."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for bringing this back to me, Gladio," Noctis responded, punching Gladio lightly on the shoulder. "See ya around." He walked off, heading to his dorm once again.
"See ya, Prince Noctis." Gladio smiled, turning around and heading to his own home.
Noctis slowly walked down the corridor of the building, slouching slightly and holding his backpack instead of carrying it, ready to dump it on the floor or couch. He eventually made it to his dorm door, reaching for the knob and turning it. Strangely, it was unlocked, he could've swore that he locked it the last time he left. However, he shrugged it off, opened the door and went inside. As soon as he walked into his room, his face turned from neutral to shocked as he dropped his backpack. His entire room was clean! Everything was sorted nicely, trash bags were empty, magazines and comic books were stacked onto shelves, and no smudge or liquid stains were on the couches. Oh, and a certain, glasses-wearing friend was in the kitchen cooking something.
"Well, it's about time you got home," Ignis began, speaking in a traditional English accent. "Where were you all this time? You should've been here about ten minutes earlier."
"Well, can you tell me this first, why are you in my room for one? And why is it clean?" Noctis asked, picking up his backpack from the brown and dark brown floor. He chucked his backpack onto the coconut-colored couch and lay down on it. "I was talking with Prompto about Exams, and after that Gladio brought back my drawing notebook." He sat up, pulling out that same notebook and a mechanical pencil.
"Aren't your exams tomorrow, Prince Noctis?" Ignis asked, putting on a dark green oven mitt. He opened the charcoal-colored oven, pulling out some delectable-looking sweet tarts. "Anyway, I'm here because I wanted to try a new recipe for the tarts that you had in Tenebrae. As for your room, I could barely get into it because the door was blocked off by some heavy trash bags. So, I took the liberty of cleaning your room for you, however, don't think that I will do it again. I only did it so I could actually move around, next time it's all on your own," Ignis explained, setting the piping hot tarts on the dining table, the spectacular scent spreading throughout the room.
"Yeah, yeah, I was fine with my room dirty by the way." Noctis shot up from the couch, walking over to the dark oak table and grabbing a tart. "Did you change the recipe any?" he asked as he took a small bite. Flavor exploded in his mouth as he chewed, and a bit of saltiness too.
"Yes, I added more salt and got rid of the pie crusts, since they added a bit too much crunch to it," Ignis replied, taking off the oven mitt and setting it on the counter.
"Hmm," he was lost in thought as he ate, "it's a bit too salty, and the one I had in Tenebrae was a bit sweeter."
"Understood, maybe a little more sugar and less salt would help." Ignis took off his glasses and cleaned it off with a dampened rag.
"Don't get me wrong," Noctis began as he took another bite, "they're still pretty good, but not like the ones in Tenebrae."
"Which is why I've been trying to perfect it ever since you were a child. I'm a perfectionist, you know," Ignis replied as he slid his glasses back on his face.
"Ya can't be perfect all the time, look at me. I must be the worst prince in the whole world." Noctis put the half-eaten pastry back onto the plate, flopping back onto the couch as he pulled out a comic book.
"Well, this is not the only reason why I came here. I've heard around the castle that your father has been getting weaker and weaker putting up the shield around Insomnia. His powers are draining his energy day by day, and he has lost his ability to summon weapons apparently," Ignis explained, pulling up a chair and plopping himself onto it.
"What are you saying?" Noctis asked, taking his mind out of the comic and facing towards Ignis.
"I'm saying that, well, you becoming the king is probably gonna happen sooner than you think."
"So, my father's gonna die!? Is that it!?" Noctis shouted, quickly transitioning from his nonchalant tone to a more serious one. He stared at Ignis, waiting for an answer.
"Calm down Prince Noctis-"
"I'm as calm as I'm gonna get!" he retorted, quickly standing over Ignis.
"I am NOT saying that your father is gonna die soon, I am saying that he might get too weak to protect Insomnia from the Imperial Empire, and eventually you'll have to take his place."
"So my father is gonna die, that's basically what you're trying to tell me?!" Noctis replied fiercely, nearly making Ignis fall over off his chair.
"You are missing the point!" Ignis got up from his chair, standing eye to eye with Noctis. "You aren't thinking straight, your father is getting too weak to put up the shield, and you'll eventually have to take his place, that doesn't mean that he's gonna die!"
"You're just trying to make this better, it's not working. I know what you mean by 'getting weaker'. You don't have to sugarcoat it." Noctis backed away. "I think you should leave."
Ignis grunted in anger, grabbing his navy green backpack full of baking supplies, and walked to the door. "Fine then, I'll be back after your exams. Make sure you study," he said in a calm tone, walking out the door and shutting it. "What a stubborn kid, hard to believe that he's a prince," Ignis muttered, walking through the dorm hallway and out to his car. As soon as he opened the car door and plopped himself into the car seat, he clamped his eyes and slammed his face on the steering wheel multiple times, making a continuous honking noise that went on for a straight minute.