A/N: Noctis hanging upside down. I didn't know that many of you would comment on it but I'm glad that you guys thought it was so amusing. Why? It just seemed like something he would do. He's stuck on a ship and he really has nothing to do. I couldn't picture him as someone who would lie in a bed just to stare at the ceiling. There is also that I heard hanging upside down really does help to clear your head. Not sure if that is true since I would probably be like Cal and fall on my head instead of hanging like that.
Imperceptus is Latin for "unknown, unperceived."
Chapter Eight: Imperceptus
How does one seek relief when the blood within your very veins feels as if it seeks to boil right out from within them? It is a pain so intense that no scream is able to escape his lips. There is not even the hiss of a breathe because he cannot breath either. He feels trapped within his own mind, though his body still moves. Only it moves of someone else's volition instead of his own. It makes him feel like an observer instead of a participant. It is that, that fuels his rage. Even with this searing agony lacing through his body, he feels the rage against being the puppet yet again. A doll to be controlled and toyed with for the whims of someone other than himself when he had only just begun to take it back. To succumb to the will of yet another fills him with an anger so hot that it rivals the flames of his blood.
It is when he feels his jaw clench tightly that he realizes that he has regained control of himself. So he fights against the remaining bonds that seek to take over him and the pain, to rise back to his feet. The flash of red from his eyes clashes against the eerie blueness of the room. It takes him a moment to blink his eyes several times as he forces himself to remain standing before he realizes that he is alone. Alone to find that presence gone. That white cloaked figure that had been there. The figure that had done this to him by manipulating his Crystal against him. That faceless hooded figure that he was going to kill once he found him again.
His entire body racks with the aftershocks of the intense pain of before and he stumbles back onto his knees. He just barely catches himself with shaking arms as he tries to focus on how to achieve his next breath.
"Noctis!" he hears as if from far away. It is hard to hear over the pounding in his ears, but he knows that voice. That voice, accompanied with that body he so longed to feel. Gentle hands grasp his shoulders and soft fingers touch his face. He feels her arm against his back and he opens weary red eyes to stare into her blue ones. "What happened?"
He was asking himself that very same question. What happened?
To say things had not gone as planned seemed too obvious in its idiocy to even bother saying. Just before the sun declared the start of another day, they had finally reached Glacies. They had already prepared for the harsh winter conditions but not to the extent that they would be able to see through the thickness of a snowstorm. Cal had managed to land the airship without too much damage but they had, had to remain a short distance away from the actual city until the storm had lifted. By the time they had entered the city, the carrier airship had already arrived. Its engines had still been exhaling warm puffs of smoke so they had not been too far behind it.
Perhaps he had been too eager. Maybe he should have waited and given more thought. But he does not think that it would have mattered either way. He had raced on board the ship, ready to battle any fiend that was unfortunate enough to be in his way. Only to find that the entire area of the cargo hold was empty. All that had remained was a fresh scrape upon the metal floor where the Crystal must have been before it had been swiftly taken away. He had knelt down to touch it and had felt the slightness of energy that had remained behind. One look up at Stella and he knew that she understood this too. At least it had not been a fool's errand. The lingering essence of the Crystal told them that it had been there. So it had to have been smuggled to some other part of the city quickly upon arrival. The question had been where.
"Well, looks like the pilot and whoever else was on here, have flown the coup," commented Cal as he had returned from checking the rest of the ship. He had looked almost disappointed not to have used his ever present rifle.
"At least we know that they could not have taken off on another ship," said Phil. No, not with the wind blowing as it had been outside. "While we're here, I'm going to download the ship's records."
"But we gotta go, don't we?" asked Cal, watching as Phil made his way to the cockpit with a baffled look on his face.
"Phil knows what he's doing," said Durus confidently.
Always level headed and thinking about all aspects. Phil could always be counted on on to remember something that another would forget in their haste. To find out the who, they could more easily find the where.
Stella turned a questioning gaze toward him and he had responded with a confident nod in return.
"How long will he take?" asked Cal.
"Not long," he had answered.
He had used that time waiting to try and reach out to the Crystal. In hopes of perhaps coaxing it to call to him as it had when it was being taken out of Nihilsomno. It had been there, he had felt it, but something had been blocking his connection with it. Something that felt more like someone. All he had been able to discern was that it was close. Yet not close enough to make him feel a level of comfort. Whoever it had been that had it, was skilled with their abilities. He had known to be on his guard.
It was not too much time that elapsed when Phil finally resurfaced from the cockpit.
"I found out more information about that shell corporation that this ship was registered to," Phil related as he rejoined them. "It looks like the forwarding address is here."
"Is it far?" asked Stella.
"It wouldn't surprise me if it was an empty building," commented Durus.
He had to agree with his friend there. The chances of them actually finding a company at that address were too small to be hopeful. Yet it had been the only lead they had, so they had not much choice but to see where it would lead them.
Halfway there Phil had stopped them as a thought had struck him.
"Maybe we should split up," Phil suggested.
"Why?" asked Cal. "What are you thinking?"
"I may have a theory," answered Phil.
"What is it?" he had asked.
"Back in Tenebrae, we had found connections between your city and Glacies," said Phil carefully to Stella and Cal.
"What kind of connections?" asked Stella in surprise.
"There was a group that had been responsible for building the catacombs beneath your city," continued Phil. "Those same people were responsible for certain buildings here in Glacies as well."
"What does that have to do with this?" asked Cal.
Phil looked at him for that explanation.
"I felt something back in Tenebrae," he admitted. "When I tried to seek it out, I saw something beneath the city."
"What was it?" asked Stella.
"I am not certain what I saw," he confessed. "All I caught were glimpses of blue glowing water within a stone room."
"How are you so sure that it was underground?" asked Cal.
"Instinct," he had answered. "Ones such as I like to hide underneath the surface."
"Ones like you?" asked Cal with a frown.
"Beings that have similar powers," explained Stella.
She neglected to say just what kinds of beings but he had appreciated her diplomatic description. It seemed to be enough for Cal so he had not felt the need to correct her.
"I still think we should split up into two groups," said Phil. "One group keeps going on and see what this address is leading us to and the other with me."
"Where are you going?" asked Cal.
Durus and he had grinned together knowingly.
"The library of course," answered Phil as if it should be obvious.
He had known right away that it would be best to separate himself from Stella. So that left going to the address with Cal and since Durus would not let Cal out of his sights, that meant he had come along also. Which meant that Stella had gone with Phil ahead to the library. Even yet knowing that he would see her again, in less than an hour's time, he found himself stopping to look at her before they had separated. Not a brief parting glance either. A long, lingering stare that was completely unnecessary and undeniably vital all at once. She had returned his look with a guarded one of her own. It was right for her to be wary and confused about him. He was half out of his mind because of her. Perhaps if she knew just how conflicted he was about her, she would laugh at him. That would be a welcome reprieve to this relentless intensity that he felt for her. Her laughter would wound him to the point where he would refrain from being so obvious in his regard. A part of him wished that Cal would joke about it and tease him, if only to lessen this tight tension mounting every minute that he fought against his impulse to grab Stella. Yet, Cal had remained uncharacteristically mute on the subject and Stella, he knew already, would never laugh at him. It would have to be his own lessening control to compel him to action. In the end, he had, had to make himself look away from her to follow behind Cal and Durus.
Once he was a safe distance away from her, he felt able to concentrate a bit better. He had wondered if his presence was as distracting to her as hers was to him. Not that he was incapable of thought when she was around. He was incapable of thoughts that did not revolve around her. Being in an unfamiliar place had helped to distract his mind enough away from her that he could at least enjoy the outing. It had been more than a little amusing to watch Cal and Durus interact with each other in a series of taunts and half hearted disputes. He had listened with half an ear as they walked. The rest had been on the new world around them.
Glacies was a place with sharp, stinging air that left your skin dry and raw when you walked about the outside. Even more so after such a fierce storm as they had just encountered. The pavement was more white than the usual dark grey and people walked with heavy woolen coats and animal skinned boots. To say that the three of them had attracted attention with their obviously foreign clothes would be an understatement. People stopped to stare at them. Vendors had shouted prices that he knew were exuberant and children openly gawked at them as they passed. It was a busy city but one that obviously did not see very many outsiders. Much like Nihilsomno in a way, only their lack of foreigners were not from government restriction but severe climate and a remote location.
It had not taken long to realize they had a bit of a problem in finding their destination. He had never given much thought to the importance of having street signs until there were none. As they had looked around dumbly in search of any sort of sign, they had realized with a certain amount of stunned surprise that there were no signs to be found anywhere. None of the long winding streets had them. Streets was also a relative term as well. They were not exactly streets persay. Some were paved but most were not. There was a short amount of distance between each side of structures. They were broader than a walkway but not quite broad enough to fit a car and with the obvious neglect in maintenance, trying to get a car through would not have been wise anyway. After a certain amount of struggle, yelling from Cal and growling from Durus, they had been able to figure out that location names were based off landmarks. In their case, it had been "Statua" and after some more disagreements, they had finally found themselves in front of a small monument that could have been considered a statue at one time. Perhaps a time that amounted to an age ago. There were legs where a body would have been held upright but it was all that remained. As he had been paying half attention to the things they passed, he had deduced that they were going the right way at last. He had not recalled passing anything else that could have been called a statue.
A thorough sweep of that "street" had turned up rather fruitless. Not entirely so since they could confirm that this was indeed a dead end but also, Cal had managed to get himself into a scuffle with some of the locals about their deplorable hygiene when one had inadvertently dumped some murky water a foot away from him. Murky water had turned out to be something far more foul that would go without a name and it was with a certain amount of amusement when he had taken hold of Cal's arm to keep the blonde haired man from introducing a bulky local to the butt of his rifle.
"These snow boots are new!" complained Cal angrily as he was dragged away from the little crowd that had gathered to watch.
"And I thought we attracted trouble wherever we went," commented Durus with a roll of his eyes while Cal had continued to rail against unhygienic locals in very colorful terms.
"Now we do not need to feel guilty about placing him in danger," he had responded with a smirk.
Finally, Durus had grabbed Cal by the cuff of his collar and hauled him completely away. While the altercation had taken place he had done a quick sweep of the area with his mind to make sure that they had not missed anything. He had not sensed anything out of the ordinary. There had not even been lingering traces in the air. The majority of the structures were decrepit and uninhabitable on that street so there really had not been much to search through anyway. It had been one of the more seedy parts of the town from what he gathered as they had been walking along. In the end they had just retraced their steps and found themselves where they had started in the first place.
The library was easily reachable. The street had simply been called, "Bibiotheca." It was also the finest structure he had seen within the rugged city. Not only a library, but the town hall, treasury and just about everything else. As soon as he had seen it, he had noted the many similarities between Glacies' library and the one back in Tenebrae. Though not an exact replica, there were certain distinct features within the design that only the same architect would repeat. It was something that he had often noticed in the many high rises in Nihilsomno. Certain design patterns and lines within the base of the structure were like an artist's signature upon a painted canvas. Only one that looked closely would notice such a thing, but those that did, could appreciate the work.
"It's like all the tax money goes into this place," commented Cal with that usual look of easy bewilderment.
"I would have to agree," he had said as the three of them had taken a moment to observe the lone building worth looking at amid the many crumbling ones around it. Not that it had been in tip top shape either. It was just that it had fared better as time had passed.
"It seems out of place," commented Durus with a shake of his head.
Within the walls of the building were many upon many rows of books. It had surprised him that marble had been used in the interior as well as in the exterior. Marble, when other buildings were made of such inferior quality materials. Large columns held it up to tall heights but he could see that where once was a glass ceiling had been changed to something more durable to withstand the weather. He had found it odd that the designer had not thought of something like that when planning the building materials to be used. It had begged the question of whether the conditions outside had always been that way or had something astronomical occurred to change the very weather patterns of the area.
There had been no heat within those stone walls and the dust upon the books was thick from neglect. It reflected the city outside these walls. How people could have survived like this had been amazing to him. Adaptation was a skill that he could admire. For it meant the acceptance of change and he was very much for change. A heavy draft flowed through the empty, dusty halls and had created a whistling sound as they went in search of Phil and Stella among the many shelves. There had been no librarian or any sort of attendant. The people here obviously had no use for books. They passed old weather beaten paintings and worn statues until he had heard Stella and Phil converse before he had even seen them.
"It cannot be coincidence that they look similar," he had heard her say.
"I don't think so either," Phil had agreed as they had turned the corner and seen them.
Both Stella and Phil had looked up and greeted them as they made their approach.
"Anything?" asked Phil.
"Nothing!" cried Cal before he or Durus could answer. "And what did I get for my troubles? Nasty stains on my new boots!"
Stella had given Cal a patient look before she had giggled behind her hand.
"How did everyone else's boots fare?" she had asked him and Durus in a voice that was both serious and teasing.
"Fine," he had answered with amusement.
"Of course!" cried Cal. "I know they were purposely aiming at me because they thought I wouldn't do anything."
"It was an accident," Durus had explained.
"Accident?!"
"You shall just have to bare the stain, Cal," admonished Stella. "Sit down. This is going to take awhile."
"How long?"
Longer than Cal would have ever expected, he is sure. The archives were in such a damaged state that Phil had been unable to recover most of the information. There would be fragments and pieces of data that he had begun trying to piece together. Of course it took longer than anyone like Cal could stand to wait. So it was not long before Cal was leaning back so far on his chair precariously balancing himself on one leg while the other laid against the table they were sitting at.
"Oh gawd!" cried Cal as he fought another yawn. "Just how long are we going to be stuck in this freezer?"
"When I am done," muttered Phil in reply.
"You know you could do something useful like helping to look," said Durus, who had been leafing through an old tome.
"I'm not here to study up on things that I wouldn't understand in the first place," complained Cal. "I signed up for the adventure and fighting part."
"And all you have had to fight so far has been the locals," commented Phil without taking his eyes away from his screen.
"That guy was asking to be introduced to my longsword," responded Cal with a tap of his rifle.
"Is that why you carry it around all the time?" asked Durus. "You think of that as a sword?"
"It's a clever nickname, Scar face," answered Cal.
"Sounds like you're over compensating for something else," Durus countered.
"What?!"
He had gotten up from his seat then to avoid the conflict that he knew was going to explode. A quick glance at Phil and he knew that Phil understood. He had just felt sorry that Phil would have to endure witnessing it by himself. It was a good enough excuse to leave because he had feeling restless himself. Idleness was not something that he could withstand for too long. The impulse to get up had been fought long enough anyway. He had just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to get up so that he could see what Stella was doing. She had disappeared some time earlier to roam the shelves of books in search of a section she had been discussing with Phil. He had been eager to rush after her but had remained in order not to be too obvious.
With the argument going into full swing behind him, he slowly walked along the many rows of bookcases. He had finally come across her in between the shelves. She had not been looking at a row of books but at a broken statue against the wall instead.
"It must have been beautiful," she had commented, keeping her eyes on the damaged stone.
It was when he had stood beside her that he realized that it had been two figures entwined in a passionate embrace. Only, they did not have their arms nor their faces. It looked as if it had been purposely destroyed in a fit of rage.
"I wonder what happened," he had said. It had looked incomplete. Their chests had been pressed together but it was unclear if they had been in an eternal kiss when they had been beheaded. It had occurred him that looking at such a scene with Stella had not been a very good idea. Before he knew it, his eyes had moved to her mouth.
"The people here keep to themselves," she said, not seeming to know where his thoughts had gone. "When they had seen what our destination had been they had fled from us. This place was open and it is clear that no one comes inside. It is like they fear it."
"Something is here," he said.
"You feel it too?" she had asked, finally turning to look at him.
He nodded. "I cannot find the source though."
It had been her turn to nod.
"I checked for the books regarding the people responsible for building this place and parts of Tenebrae. They are missing."
"Missing?" he had asked with a frown.
"They look... I will have to show you for you to understand," she said gesturing with her hand for him to follow her.
They had gone to a far end of the library before she pointed to a few empty spots upon the shelves.
"See?" she had asked, raising to the tips of her toes to look.
He had fought the urge to put his hands on her waist to steady her before he had moved to stand beside her instead and looked at what she had been trying to show him.
"The layers of dust are not as thick where someone slid the books off the shelf," she pointed out.
She had been right. Though not recent, someone had removed all the books that had mentioned or had described the mysterious group that they were trying to find out more about.
"This cannot be coincidence," she had said.
"I agree."
"Did you notice the design of this building?" she asked.
He had been surprised at her mention of it. Though he had wondered if she would notice something like that, he had not tried to ask her.
"It shares the same creator as the one in Tenebrae," he answered.
She had smiled at him. A warm and inviting smile that had him yearning to lean in closer to her as they already stood so close to each other.
"Yes," she had breathed and he could almost feel it on his chin as he looked down at her. "I am glad I am here."
"Are you?" he asked as his eyes had ventured towards her lips again.
"I would not have believed all this if I had stayed in Tenebrae," she answered, taking a breathe and leaning away from him. The move reminded him of when he needed to step away from her so that he could concentrate. "I want to be here to see who is responsible."
That she should have as much trouble as he when they were so close made him want to smile. It only seemed fair that she should suffer just a little bit too.
"Hey Noct! Stella!" called Phil. His voice had echoed in the stillness of the moment they had been sharing. "I think I managed to salvage something!"
The frustration and relief on Stella's face had matched his own, when he watched the different expressions fly across her face. He does not think he would have kissed her then, but he was beginning to crave her closeness too much to be considered normal. With a short sigh and a smirk, he had gestured for her to proceed him to begin their way back to their party. It had not been possible to walk beside her through the bookcases so he had walked behind her instead. He wonders what would have happened if he had been too distracted with walking with her heat beside him to have noticed a sharper draft hit his arm as he walked past a tattered tapestry.
Stella had not stopped and had not seemed to notice that he was no longer right behind her as he paused to feel that gust of frozen air again. There was that hint of something again. Something different this time but the essence was the same. However good it had been at hiding before, the wind seemed to carry its energy with it. Which meant that the origins of the draft were the same as the thing itself. He had not even thought to alert the others before he moved closer to the ruined artwork and pulled it aside.
It had revealed a partially obscure door, carved within the marble of the wall. There was no handle but once he had poised his hand to slide it along the edges, it had slide open for him. Without any hesitation he had stepped through the door way and into the dark passage when the door slide shut behind him.
"Noct!" Phil had called. His voice had been static in his ear.
"I found a door," he had answered. "I seem to be stuck inside a passage."
"Where is the door?"
"Behind a battered old tapestry," was his answer. There was no way to tell them which one considering he had not been able to decipher what had been woven within it to begin with.
He had felt another cold gust of wind again and this time the presence had been stronger. A banging on the other side of the door alerted him to the arrival of the rest of his party.
"Where the frak is the door knob?" Cal had yelled.
"How did you open it?" asked Stella.
"It opened of its own volition," he had answered. "I am going to check this out."
"Maybe you should wait," suggested Cal.
"We do not know how long it will take for you to get that door open and I cannot stand here and wait for you to figure it out," he answered. "The Crystal might be down this way and I am going to retrieve it."
"Don't have all the fun without us!" cried Cal.
"Is that all you're worried about?" hissed Durus.
"I am going," he said before they could get into another argument.
He took another step away from the door and ventured further into the deep darkness before him. His eyes shifted to red as he continued on his way with confident steps forward within the blackness. It was not long before he had reached a flight of steep stairs and had quickly teleported to the bottom. There was the distinct sound of dripping water and it had him referring back to that image of the stone room below Tenebrae. Would the water glow the same blue? He could feel the presence of the Crystal now and he felt the other presence. That other presence that had blocked the connection between him and what was his. He had followed that trail and could feel the Crystal leading him closer.
It had felt like a trap. He had known it must have been a trap, but he could not have foreseen just how bad things would get once he caught sight of both the white robed figure and the Crystal.
"Not early and not late, but right on time," the figure spoke.
"What do you want with my Crystal?"
"I want many things, Prince Noctis," answered the figure behind a deep hood. "I want the downfall of your dynasty and the end of Nihilsomno."
"So you think to destroy the Crystal?"
"This," he had gestured. "Is already dying. What good would it be to harm it now?"
"Then why did you take it?" he had demanded.
"Did they tell you nothing?" taunted the figure and it is then that he had seen a glimpse of familiar red from underneath the hood. "The Crystal itself is useless."
"I do not believe you," he said. The Crystal was everything.
"No, my ignorant Prince," answered the figure with a shake of its head. "The Crystal can only work now because of you."
He frowned even as he felt a dawning sense of dread. That had been why not all the lights in Nihilsomno had shut off when the Crystal had been taken out of the city. That had been why Legatus had so adamantly tried to keep him within the borders of the city. He had known.
"Do you see now?" asked the figure in a knowing voice. "You are the power behind this last Crystal and I shall use the both of you to my benefit."
Before he could even ponder the meaning of those words he had felt it. A slow vapid heat that had begun to spread in veins that had previously been cold. He had looked and seen the Crystal glowing an angry red even as he heard it cry out for him. His hands had begun to tremble as they had suddenly become too hot to bear before his equally scorching legs failed. He had stumbled to the ground as the heat spread to every part within him to burn him from the inside out. He could not even choke out a breath. The blood flowing in his veins felt like boiling vats and he could almost smell the burning of his flesh. It had almost been a physical feeling when his thoughts were pushed far back into the recesses of his consciousness.
When his arms had moved again, he had not been the one that commanded them to do so. Hands that had just been trembling were steady as they made to help the rest of his body rise. He had felt as one would feel within a dream. Aware and conscious of things happening but as someone else looking in. His body had not been moving because he willed it. It had been so much worse than when he could not control himself around Stella. This was even worse than the control that he had fought against the Concilium. This had been someone else entirely. It had been the robed figure standing over him that was causing his own body to move while he was being pushed away with unimaginable pain and heat. This was the ultimate insult. His anger had swelled up within him enough to rival the heat that burned him and pushed. His mind had railed in defiance as his will shot forth to break out of the heated hold that had entrapped him.
Not again. Never again. I Will Not Be Controlled!
A desperate gasp echoes in the hollow room as he feels the heat subside and he can breathe again. He does not remember how the room had suddenly turned blue and he has to pause a moment to let the pounding in his ears ease before he realizes that he is now alone. Then the adrenaline of a moment ago drains completely from his limbs and the aftershocks of his pain has him stumbling back down to his knees. Barely managing to prevent his face from smashing against the unforgiving floor he tries to focus on taking in his next breath.
"Noctis!" cries a voice. A voice that tells him that there is help coming. A voice that makes him feel something else besides the pain.
He feels gentle hands take hold of his shoulders before delicate fingers touch his face. Her arms surround him and he can feel her gentle presence surrounds him. But he needs to see her. He needs to behold the vision of her face with his eyes. Summoning enough strength he manages to open weary red eyes to stare into her blue ones. "What happened?"
He cannot answer that. There is no strength within him to answer that. All he can manage is another breath before his eyes close as he loses consciousness and falls into the unfamiliarity of slumber.
End Note: In a completely random, bizarre twist of fate, FFN gave me scareware yesterday at work. I can't even begin to tell you how badly I would have reacted if it had happened on my home computer. Fortunately it had been at work where the IT guy was very helpful and had to reprogram my entire work profile (which was not fun considering I was computerless at work for more than two hours). In light of this, I may or may not be posting the remainder of Adventum here. Please check back on my Profile as that will let you know what I decide. So, if you do not see an update of this for longer than five days, check my Profile to see what's happening.
