Seven
When Noctis is seven the Crownsguard have already given him a hundred lessons on what to do in case he is kidnapped again. He vaguely remembers what happened the first time when he was a little kid, so he promises that he will always be more careful.
The Crownsguard are careful with him; everyone knows that he is the only son Regis will ever have due to his dad's unwillingness to marry again. Noctis is happy that he doesn't have to worry about another brother or sister. It means whenever dad has some free time he can spend it with Noctis and only Noctis.
He doesn't have to share his time with any kids, but he does have to share his time with the teachers at the Citadel and dad's chamberlain and Shield and all the foreign digni...digni… digni—people. There are so many of them that are always coming and going and Noctis wants to kick them because they always take dad's time.
It's why Noctis is outside the Citadel practicing his singing on Thursday morning. His dad wanted him to learn how to sing the beautiful high notes of "Somnus" to perform for some people coming in from Altissia. He wants them to be impressed because if he can impress them dad promised that he will tell Noctis the story about how he and his friends went to Altissia once.
Dad's stories are always great, and so Noctis is willing to do anything to get his dad to be happy with him.
And when the men from the Crownsguard come inside the chapel to pick him up after practice, Noctis isn't worried because all of them look the same to him. Big men in uniforms. Noctis doesn't ask any questions because when people kidnap you they want to hurt you.
These guys are his dad's Crownsguard.
Except they aren't, but Noctis doesn't know this.
All of the roads were blocked off for the incoming envoy from Altissia, the Crownsguard says and Noctis smiles in the the back of the black car, kicking his shoes together.
"Okay!"
His dad's told him so many times not to kick the back of the seat and to be polite, so Noctis clasps his hands in front of him for a minute, five minutes, then ten minutes.
By fifteen minutes he's bored and tomorrow is the big day, and "Mr. Crownsguard sir, can I practice? My dad's gunna be so excited for tomorrow!"
And the Crownsguard just shrug their shoulders and Noctis takes this as his cue to sing.
And sing.
And sing.
He doesn't notice that the men are sweating and twitching. They need to stay calm so that the guards at every gate let them through, because Prince Noctis wouldn't be smiling and singing "Somnus" in the back of the car if this is a kidnapping. Just singing, singing, singing.
For four and a half hours.
Noctis gets a lot of practice in.
He sings "Somnus" over and over and over and over and over again, until finally the Crownsguard driving the car is laughing a little bit louder than Noctis likes and they pull over into a McCaelum's parking lot. The two men get out of the car and Noctis asks for some cola and a Prince Noctis meal (McChocobo nuggets are great and Noctis doesn't mind being named after or for something so awesome.) One of the men dazedly says something and walks off. Noctis thinks it's a yes, and he keeps singing.
They don't look back.
Actually, if it weren't for the fact that they end up a leaving him in the car with the engine running for fifteen minutes by himself after four and a half hours going around and around Insomnia looking for an exit, Noctis wouldn't have been suspicious at all.
But the McCaelum's looks empty and Noctis is hungry, so he taps the little black button on his watch to call the Crownsguard to him. They don't come, so Noctis clicks the little red button on the side that dad says is for emergencies only.
The sky lights up with a hundred red and blue flashing lights in less than two minutes and he is being pulled out of the car by Gladio's dad. He looks half-dead from panic and Noctis feels guilty for worrying the man. Giving Gladio's daddy a heart attack isn't what he wanted to do, but…
"They said they'd get me a Prince Noctis meal," Noctis admits when his dad's Shield puts him down on the ground to check him over.
It is less than a minute or so later when his father arrives on a helicopter that lands on top of the McCaelums building.
Cool.
"Dad, I'm okay! Pinky promise!" Noctis promises over and over again as his dad lifts him up in his arms, higher than his dad has held him in a long time. He likes it, but knows that it's bad for his knees. At least that's what he usually says. "They just said they'd get me food and I'm kinda hungry."
He doesn't understand why his dad is so worried, because it's not like it was a bad day. "I got a lot of practice in," he says, but Regis just holds him tighter.
"You were kidnapped," his dad explains, but Noctis doesn't understand.
"But the roads are all blocked."
"And they used it as a guise to take you."
Noctis allows his dad to hold him for another minute before he pulls away. "Can I still have my Prince Noctis meal? Please?"
The next day Noctis hits all of the notes and smiles at his dad.
The extra practice definitely helped.
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