A/N: Additional Author Notes will be posted almost daily in my Profile (which is going to get a revamping soon). There is an official banner for this fic. The link is also posted in my Profile.
Primus Occursus is Latin for "First Encounter or meeting".
Chapter One – Primus Occursus
"Peace conference negotiations have been cancelled for the day as certain delegates have been showing signs of the seasonal flu. It is advised that citizens remember to visit the nearest medical clinic to receive a vaccination. Every year, thousands of people die from the illness having neglected to take proper measures. In other news, a recent accident at the construction site of the new highway has delayed…"
There was never any doubt in her mind whether she trusted Noctis or not. She did trust him. No question, no doubt about that. They had endured enough life threatening situations together for her to be completely confident in Noctis and his judgment. Her trust was not wavering. It was definitely not wavering. Not in the least. She tries to tell herself this when she recalls about how she had refused to give him any of the evidence that she had gathered from the scene she had visited. Not that she had hidden what she had found from him. She had been very thorough in relating everything that she observed. It was just that, in her stubbornness, she had refused to simply hand them over and let him deal with it for her. Instead, she had insisted that they go together to drop off the samples at the lab. She wanted to be fully involved in the investigation into the "strange appearances" of something never seen before on their planet. It was not a behemoth, like they were used to seeing and fighting from time to time. Even though instances that they encountered them within the major cities were rare, they did happen on occasion. Yet, something that big and that destructive would have destroyed blocks upon blocks within the city before Noctis stopped it completely within its thunderous tracks. No, this was something far superior in intellect and far stealthier than even they were.
That really was not an encouraging thought.
Besides feeling that there was something there, some other presence within the veiled city limits, there was nothing else to feel. She could not truthfully say that the something felt menacing to her. It was just strange. Unlike the times during the war, when she could sometimes feel the danger as it approached from afar. This was just strange, different. Different in the sense that it felt as if it did not really belong here. She wonders, if only to herself, whether this was because this presence must be like her and Noctis. There were often moments where she felt out of place. Neither she nor Noctis ever truly felt as if they were the same as everyone else because of the things that they could do and the deaths that they had escaped. It had been something that they had discussed often together, quietly, in those long nights of keeping watch. They saw things that normal people did not see. They heard things that people did not hear. They felt things that no one else felt. Only, Noctis felt all these things to a higher degree than she did. His abilities far surpassed her own. There were times when he would exude such a force of power that she felt a scratchy sensation crawling just beneath the layer of her skin. More than once, her eyes would carefully watch his skin to make sure the dead layer of cells did not bubble from the powerful current underneath. She had even witnessed just how much force of will he had to constantly exert so as not to hurt those around him. If he lost that sense of control, there was no telling just how much damage he could do and none of it to himself.
One would not think him capable of such extreme self contained suppression to look at him. From the exterior, he looked like a young man who had barely left his teenage years behind and did not have a care in the world. Everything about him exuded an easy confidence and arrogant indifference to anything that did not revolve around him. He certainly did not look like he had a very lengthy attention span. That was only on the outside. Within the depths of his person was a man far older than he looked and far more aware of the things that could be seen and the things that could not be seen, around him. His self indulging persona, when he looked so aloof, was a great illusion. There was not anything that passed through his awareness without proper assessment. It gave her much cause for dread whenever she found herself wondering what he had already assessed about her and about them. Not that he was never wrong, but once a decision had been reached inside that complex brain of his, there was nothing to change it. That was how everything was arranged within his psyche.
Given the amount of things that his receptors could pick up, the thing that confused her was that he had not been able to locate the anomaly, except at certain times. Though he had not been at all reasonable about being forthcoming with the details of what this anomaly looked like, she did manage to get a few tidbits out of him. She is not sure she could accurately picture what morsels he had surrendered. Details given vaguely, she realized with more unease, because he could not really describe it into words. He had said it was not a man and it was not a beast, but it was in the shape of a man. It was not a machine but it could pass for one. He had sensed the beating of a heart and the flow of its life force as like the blood within their veins. It had been living and it had been extremely astute. When he had finally managed to strike it, causing the collision with the high rise, it had run into the darkness in retreat. Normally, the darkness was the worst possible place to run from someone like Noctis. One who thrived within the deep recesses of night. Yet, it still had managed to evade him and vanish from both his eyes and his awareness. Which meant that it was as comfortable as Noctis was within the darkness and it had the means with which to hide entirely from them both. Scary thought, that.
The arrival of a predator as dangerous as Noctis could never be considered a good thing. Especially when there was no telling what its purpose was in coming here to begin with. That its arrival coincided with the beginning of the peace conference could not be passed off as a mere coincidence. There was a reason it had come when it had and for that very reason, she was currently busy, sitting in front of her laptop watching lengthy video feeds that Phil had been kind enough to give her.
"You sure you want to look at all of it?" Phil had asked skeptically. "That's a lot of video, Stella."
"I am aware of that," she had answered stubbornly. "Indulge me, Phil."
"Something to pass the time?" he baited.
"Call it a hunch and I would appreciate it if you did not let Noctis know."
"Now you know that won't fly," he retorted with a snort.
"I know," she had sighed. It had not seemed logical to keep it from him. "When you do tell him, let him know nothing he says will change my mind."
"What exactly are you looking for?" Phil had asked curiously. The interest that had been in his eyes almost had her confessing just what she was looking for. "We've already looked through them and haven't found anything suspicious."
"So a fresh set of eyes would be good," she reasoned with a smile.
Phil had sighed, leaned back into the back of his chair and crossed his arms as he looked at her. In turn, she had crossed her own and waited patiently. He and Noctis had been friends for so long, sometimes they had the same way of doing things. Not exactly the same but an adopted mannerism that they had obviously picked up from each other. She had certainly noticed many bad habits that the four of them had that she knew Noctis, specifically, would not have picked up from his royal training. Even Cal, the least attentive one, would stare at her in a similar way that Noctis did. Only his stare was something all his own and not exactly the same at all. It definitely did not have the same effect on her either. None of the three friends had ever effected her as much as Noctis always did. Generally, all he had to do was look at her for her to be effected. So when Phil gave her that studying stare, it was not hard for her to keep her expression firm and unmoving.
So that left her with now. A day later and still looking through boring footage from the day of the opening procession for the peace conference, on four split screens on her monitor. Security to gain entry into the city was extremely tight on any given day, but every vehicle, every person had been checked at more than one checkpoint through the city that entire week. All before the delegates had even arrived. Additional cameras had been set up to overlook any blind zones within the procession's path and a few had been angled towards the windows overlooking the street. So many options that it would take someone a lifetime to look through everything in minute detail. She was going solely with intuition. That had not been a lie. Those internal receptors were interested in these vids and she was going to listen to them. It narrowed her search so that she had not even bothered to look at the feeds that had been directed at the buildings. She wanted to see the crowds of spectators. She was not going to question why or how she knew to look there, but she had learned to trust her instincts.
Each visiting dignitary had, had one camera that followed them around and she found herself staring at the one that kept its lens on Noctis. It never took much for him to gain her full attention. Since he had refused to be seated within a convertible, the camera had been positioned from inside the car as he slowly passed the crowds of cheering citizens. Though his expression gave nothing away, a careful look into those deep eyes hinted at bemusement and a small amount of pleasure to be so readily accepted by his people. His fight had not been about fame or notoriety. He had done it because he had to and because he could. The task had been his. It had been his battle to fight. It was always easier for him to shrug off praise than beam under it. As he sat there, she notes how relaxed he looked. The alertness was there, for it was a constant, but he had not been nervous nor had he been uncomfortable. That is, until his entire body stiffened and his posture went from languid to rigid within a split second. Though he never really moved, his eyes had taken on that dangerous glint as they hardened at something. Then it was gone. All that tension released and he was back to languid, with a touch of confusion creasing his brow. It looked like he did not know what it was that had put him on edge.
What had been there?
She quickly rewinds to those crucial seconds but realizes that the angle of the camera made everything outside the car extremely blurry. Pausing all the other feeds, she pulled Noctis up to her full screen and zoomed the areas outside the window then replayed the video. All she saw was a watery sea of blurry shapes and nothing else. Her eyebrows push together as she frowns, recalling her options. She had been following a car or two behind Noctis that day, but she had been riding on a convertible with the top down. Thinking back to that day, she tried to remember if she had felt anything particularly strange that day too. Her mind came up blank. She pulls up her own feed and maximizes it to full screen, skipping to the part where she reaches the same area Noctis had been when he had reacted so strongly. She was not sure if she was upset or disappointed in herself when she had not even paused when she had passed that general area. Her smile had not faltered and she had been unaware of any potential danger.
Deciding it could not hurt to do one last check, she rewinds the her feeds and replays it, this time zooming into the faces within the crowd. Leaning in too close and focusing too intently, she is nearly blinded when something catches the reflection of the sun within the crowd. Letting out a startled yelp, she has to blink her eyes several times in an attempt to rid her vision of the small black spots floating around. She rubs her eyes as she plays that part back again and tries to prepare herself for the glare this time.
"Wait," she mutters to herself as she feels her body go very still. She replays that last second and slows it down to half speed, eyes widening in recognition at something she finds.
No, not something.
Someone.
"Someone like you should not be in a place like this."
"Neither should you."
"You don't need to worry about me."
For there he was, the second thing that she had deliberately been stubborn about. She had consciously left out the details of her encounter with the dark haired stranger in the park. The image of his face had been reappearing in her mind ever since. She could picture him now, sitting there under the lone light, carving the image of the praying child. The imagery always touched a chord within her. Such a quiet, serene scene amidst the chaotic and oppressing shadow that was the city of Nihilsomno. The conversation, though not entirely soul baring, had been intriguing. It had been a trial to keep the encounter with him from Noctis. She can just imagine what kind of expression would settle onto his face when she told him. That cynical look that she was merely trying to make him feel better that it was because the stranger reminded her of him that she had found talking to another man so fascinating. The two were different and yet very much the same, but she doubts he would accept that. Especially now, when he had not so vaguely told her that she might be tempted to choose another. That grates her nerves the more she lets that linger so she pushes that insinuation aside.
Quickly switching back to the moment Noctis had stiffened, she tries to pinpoint exactly where he had been and flips back to the paused image from her camera. One shared location. Two different reactions. Though she had not been able to get a glimpse of him clearly from the camera stationed in Noctis' vehicle, she could see the stranger's face clearly from hers. Everyone around him had looked jolly and full of excitement. He had been still and serious. His gaze had been focused entirely on her face in that sharp, studying stare that she knew so well. The same one that he had looked at her with that night she had run into him all alone in that dark park. There had been nothing menacing about him then and she still sensed nothing dangerous… she stopped there. He did have something dangerous about him, but that danger did not seem to be directed towards her. At no time had he ever made her feel threatened. Maybe that had been why she had not felt anything when she had driven past him that day. Which did not mean that he had not felt that way towards Noctis. Noctis who had not seen the stranger, but had only felt him.
Which could mean anything. She did not exactly see him to be the kind of person to cheer even if he had been feeling particularly cheerful. The most one could get out of Noctis in that kind of a situation was a smirk. So his serious demeanor did not look too suspicious to her. It just peaked her interest in him a little more.
Even looking at him in the light of day, he could have been mistaken for Noctis. She might have even thought it was Noctis if she had seen him standing there. There was that extra something about him that made one want to take a second look. Not just because he was unnaturally attractive, but he imbued this strong aura of power along with an underlying danger that instantly attracted. The kind of danger that aroused that inherent feminine desire for an untamable man. It was the very thing that attracted her so strongly to Noctis. While everyone else was wearing festive colors along with happy faces, he was wearing all black and unsmiling. If the picture were sharper, she knew she would be able to see the faint glow of those red eyes as they watched so carefully. She was absolutely not going to think about what his look may or may not have made her feel.
Saving the still image of his face, she cross references it against all the databases within the "Brother" network. The name was an inside joke between the four friends. Their own fraternity, hidden within a secret network that had a backdoor access to every network within Nihilsomno. They had assured her that it was only Nihilsomno networks, but she would not put it past Phil to try breaking into the systems of outsiders. Cal, for one, was amazingly skilled when it came to computers. He often challenged Phil into competing to see who could break into a secure server first by manually breaking through the firewall. She had seen them do it. They had even been exasperating enough to do it while they had been pressed for time during an already high pressure covert mission. Cal had accidentally triggered a hidden alarm within the facility's mainframe and the entire system crashed as a result. Well, crashed after it had raised an alarm that had brought down an entire army upon them. Needless to say, Phil had won that round by default and Cal had received more than just a smack to the back of his head by her, Noctis and Durus.
Absently watching the progress of her search, the sudden ringing of her mobile startles her out of her memories.
"Stella."
"Phil," she says, mimicking his tone. Not his usual serious tone. There was enough wariness in it to put her on alert.
"I think..," he hesitates.
"What is it, Phil?" she urges.
"Noct's going to need you as backup with this," is the strange reply.
"Is he there?"
"No, so you're going to have to hurry before he faces whatever this is by himself."
"Where is he headed?" she asks, jumping out of her chair and running over to her closet to grab her gear.
By the time Phil finishes telling her, her destination, she is already climbing onto Luna and starting up her engines. There was a seldom heard edge to Phil's voice that did not bode well. Luna boots up and her digital voice greets her as she finishes up the remainder of her conversation.
"Be careful," warns Phil.
"I will," she responds, cutting the connection. "Luna, high alert."
"Battle mode set, your highness," is the easy response before she is tearing through the streets a moment later.
