Noctis felt a pang of guilt over the way he responded to Gladio. None of this had been his fault, and he wasn't the one who had been keeping the information from him. He hadn't been the one who smiled kindly at him all while knowing how it would end.
Frustration burned through Noctis's mind as he continued down the hallway. What little control he thought he had was an illusion. His life had never been his own.
The source of his anger was out of reach, so momentarily lashing out at Gladio was an easy outlet. He told himself it wasn't completely without cause. Gladio had responded to his need to get away with a tone that suggested his reaction was unreasonable.
Maybe he was being unreasonable, but the Astrals and their damned prophecy had chipped away at every piece of his life, so Noctis was granting himself an hour to be a pain the ass about it.
He slowed his steps breathing in deep reaching out taking cautious steps until his fingers brushed against an intricate carving. A smile twitched against his lips but vanished as quickly as it appeared. A few more steps forward and Noctis pulled open the heavy doors to the throne room.
It only seemed fitting that he would wind up here he told himself as he stopped short at the base of the stairs to the throne. The last time he felt so achingly long ago it almost seemed like a different life.
He dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands just standing there as the seconds ticked by.
"You knew," Noctis let out a stuttering breath one that appeared to have been holding together everything inside of him. A sob broke from his throat, and he ducked his head shoulders shaking under the weight of it all.
It was easier to yell at an empty throne when you couldn't see that no one was there.
"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was fragile but still echoed around the empty walls. "You just, you just every day you just," He blinked against the tears that rapidly filled his eyes. "All those times you looked at me, and you knew."
Noctis was having the same problem he had after his father died after Insomnia's downfall. He pushed his hands through his hair frantically trying his best to order his thoughts. "You should have told me! Both times!" He was frustrated, and panic edged its way into his voice he could feel his knees shaking beneath him.
"I could have…I could have…" He strained mentally grasping at something he couldn't reach. He wasn't sure where he was going with that thought. He didn't even have an immediate plan for himself much less a retroactive one for the past.
"We could have had more time." He settled sinking to his knees fingers pressing against the cold stone beneath them. He flinched and closed his eyes tight letting the tears leak down their corners. "I just wanted to spend more time with you. If I had known either of us-."
Noctis cut himself off not wanting to finish the statement. "I would have tried harder. So, somuch harder."
The prolonged silence was suffocating the room. The only sound was Prompto bouncing his leg up and down in agitation along with his attempts at muffling the hiccups from his previous sobbing.
Gladio was pacing the back of the room like a caged animal. There was nowhere concrete to direct his agitation to the current situation. He could be angry with the Astrals all he wanted, but in the end, it wouldn't get him anything.
Instead, he turned his frustrations on Prompto. "Oh, pull yourself together!" He snapped causing Prompto to jump slightly and duck his head.
"Gladio." Cor only gave him a brief shake of the head once he had the other's attention. He understood his friend's frustrations, truly he did. There was a helplessness that was being felt by all of them right now. He knew Gladio, in particular, was feeling the sting.
What good is a shield to a dead King? How was he supposed to protect someone from death whose very mission was to die?
Still, it didn't give him the right to take his anger out on Prompto. This was their moment. Their one chance to piece themselves together and then put on a brave face for Noctis. At least until it was over.
"It makes sense now," Cor spoke up again letting the lingering tensions between Gladio and Prompto vanish.
"I can't say that anything about this particular situation makes sense." Ignis frowned.
"What I mean is most of us wondered if his majesty was just overly indulgent, or soft in his treatment of Noct." Cor rested his arms on his knees. "There was time where he was withdrawn, for days. It must have been when he found out."
Gladio's mouth twitched into a bitter smile at a memory. "That was the reason I figured he was going to be a whiny, spoiled, little brat." He looked down. "That wasn't all true."
Prompto pushed himself to his feet silently heading towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Ignis asked making a motion to follow after him stopping only when Prompto gave him a quick shake of the head.
"Walk." Prompto's eyes flickered to Gladio, but quickly back to the door as he headed out before anyone could stop him. If he was going to pull himself together as Gladio had demanded, he wasn't going to be able to do it in a room full of people reminiscing about Noctis as if he were already gone.
There were a few silent beats after the door closed that Gladio stared at it before turning back to the rest of the group. "Should someone go after him?" Obviously, he wasn't suggesting himself. Gladio was becoming increasingly aware that he wasn't exactly a pro in the comforting area.
Still, it wasn't as if he couldn't acknowledge that Prompto needed someone right now.
"Give him a bit of time to himself," Cor said not looking up. "He's had a lot to take in today." Not to mention the rest of them were really no better off than Prompto himself.
It was likely that Prompto would head straight to Noctis which was probably best for both of them.
Noctis wasn't sure how long he had been sitting at the base of the throne with his head buried in his knees. It could have been hours. It could have been just minutes. However, a familiar chill settled in the air causing him to pull his knees more tightly to his chest.
"I suppose you're looking for a thank you for earlier?" Noctis muttered into his legs not bothering to lift his head to speak to the Astral that was now standing at the bottom of the throne's staircase. After all the half-truths and run around he got from the Gods paying proper respect was the furthest thing from his mind.
What were they going to do about it anyway? Kill him?
"I do not come seeking your gratitude my chosen King," Gentiana spoke in her normal even tone sounding neither amused nor offended by Noctis's response.
Noctis turned his head making a face at her words. He knew that calling him her chosen king was meant with reverence and not disrespect, but it still felt like a slap to the face. Chosen sacrifice felt more like it.
His heart hammered in his chest he swallowed, but it felt like he was sucking in tar instead of air. "You here to kill me now?" He tried his best to keep the fear and vulnerability out of his voice. Working to maintain an air of resentment. It didn't carry over quite the way he intended.
"You are not strong enough as you are now to trade your life to end this plague and defeat the usurper." If Gentiana noticed the hitch in his voice, she didn't react to it. Her tone remained neutral a fact that only furthered Noctis's upset state.
Prompto was right. These Astrals didn't view him as anything more than a means to an end.
He might have to give his life to correct their mistake and save humanity, but that didn't mean he had to be passive about it, did it?
He tried to give a snort of derision, but it came out more like a choked sob. "Sorry? I haven't had much time to work on being a good sacrifice."
Gentiana clasped her hands together closing her eyes and going silent for so long that Noctis shifted his attention leaning his head to the side attempting to determine if she was even still there.
"The chosen King must commune with the crystal to absorb its full power. Only then will he be able to trade his life for the safety of the world."
Noctis grit his teeth hard, fingernails leaving small indentations in his palms. The news of his soon to be fate had been bad enough, but to have Gentiana here just reciting details in such a flat manner void of any real emotion was starting to push him over the edge.
"Yeah? Well, maybe I don't want to spend quality time with the murder crystal." He responded facing away from her once again. If she was going to talk to him in such a clinical manner, he was going to be petulant enough to not face her when she spoke.
"It is necessary."
Noctis snorted his irritation growing. "Is it now? The crystal isn't even here so good luck with that." He knew he was being difficult and possibly borderline childish, but the truth was in this moment Noctis didn't much care.
Gentiana didn't seem bothered by his reactions. "You must feel it. Even now the crystal draws nearer. Unable to draw you to it by his own hand the usurper brings its power to you."
He swallowed hard. He had been trying to push the fact to the back of his mind and write it off as his own growing anxiety, but he could feel the constant call of the crystal getting louder in his veins. "You're the one who let us go!" He shot back trying to shove a rightful amount of blame on Gentiana.
She paused and when she spoke a bit of the curtness again had slipped from her voice giving way to something that Noctis could almost mistake for affection. "I wished to afford you a choice. To come to the crystal by your own power."
For a moment Noctis almost felt grateful, but the moment quickly vanished. It was still only the appearance of a choice. Whether he went to the Crystal himself or Ardyn dragged him kicking and screaming it didn't matter to the Astrals just so long as he went.
Noctis took several sharp breaths through his nose. Everything about this still felt so confusing. Why did Ardyn want him to get the crystal's power? How would he even harness it? Was that how he was supposed to meet his end?
For as many questions as he had, Noctis could tell he was running out of time to get answers.
"What do I even do?" His voice was barely audible, and he held his arms tightly to his chest trying to keep the shattered bits of his heart from spilling out.
"The crystal will draw you in. It will allow you the time until you have fully absorbed its power and are ready to end this blight."
Noctis let her words turn over in his head as he processed them slowly. Flickering back and forth between despair and outrage. All this darkness and horror in the world that he was expected to fix only to find he isn't even ready to do it. Not by the Astral's standards.
"Ten years time-."
"No!" Noctis cut her off his response immediate and urgent.
Gentiana didn't continue stunned by his passionate outburst.
"You want me to sacrifice myself for them," He protested from what he could tell just a few weeks in darkness had begun to set the public on edge. Things were rapidly going from bad to worse, and now the Astrals wanted to incubate him for ten years before any of it got fixed? "But you don't give a damn about any of them do you? Who cares how many more die right? We're all nothing to you!"
Gentiana remained silent patiently allowing him to go off on his rant.
The silence only served to fuel his ranting. "No, screw that I'm not leaving them in the dark for ten years! Do you know what will happen if this goes on for that long?" He was breathing hard unable to fully organize his own argument at this point.
"The prophecy-."
"Fuck your prophecy!" Noctis shot back. He almost thought he could deal with dying if it meant that everyone he knew and loved would be safe. But this? This was too much. He wasn't going to practically abandon everyone for ten years so he could show up and fix it later.
Gentiana didn't speak for a few moments presumably allowing Noctis a few seconds to calm down and his breathing to get back to normal. "I cannot force your hand."
"Damn right," Noctis grumbled.
"But I do not advise this course of action. Without the full power of the crystal, you will fail. You cannot undertake this task alone."
A wry smile touched Noctis's lips. "Well if I fail," He said putting as much emphasis on the word if that he could. "Then I guess you all will have to fix things yourself."
The more Prompto thought on it, the more he was certain that the Astrals should be able to fix this whole mess themselves. There was no reason outside of total convolution and sheer laziness that they should have to screw over the lives of two families for centuries to make things right.
The Astrals had been sleeping for years doing dick all. Even when they were woken up to help out with the mess they started, they were massive turds about it. The Astrals obviously were more trouble than they were worth and apparently just riding the wave of that one time they were actually useful.
Prompto frowned pressing his forehead against one of the walls and took a deep breath to calm himself down. Even if he did think he was right about the Astrals fuming about it wasn't an effective plan.
Neither was the strange glum acceptance everyone else had seemed to adapt.
He closed his eyes and gave a quick shake of the head. They were already planning Noctis's eulogy back there. He was their friend and King, and they would be willing to just let him go because over a thousand years ago some hoity-toity God said so.
Prompto scuffed his feet against the ornate carpet in frustration. He had gotten himself worked up again.
Coming to a stop, Prompto looked around. He hadn't been on this level of the Citadel save for the day they started this adventure. Even then he had been too nervous about his place here to draw a mental map for himself.
The living areas he knew. He had been such a frequent guest in Noctis's room that he had taken to just letting himself in pushing past the tour groups there to see the historical and viewing levels and heading straight for the private elevator.
This area was tricky. Every hallway looked the same decorated with portraits and artistic renderings of historic events. To Prompto's knowledge, Noctis himself hadn't even ventured up here often. Though Prompto understood it to be more of a self-imposed avoidance rather than not being welcome.
He turned another corner ducking under the gaze from a portrait of a rather scornful looking former King.
Who was even going to lead them if the Astrals took Noctis from them? Prompto knew it was a job that Noctis hadn't particularly had been looking forward to, but Prompto had always thought in spite of his lack of training Noctis would make an excellent King.
Another cold wave of nausea rolled around in Prompto's gut as he realized Noctis's lack of political know-how was likely because his father knew he wouldn't live to ascend the throne.
If he could just talk to one, Prompto thought, maybe the Astrals could be reasoned with. There were other types of sacrifices other than just one's life, and Noctis could be so much more to so many people than just Astral fodder.
Noctis figured speaking to Gentiana in the manner in which he did probably wasn't his best idea. Not that he'd take back any of what he had said. Maybe just the tone and the general flippancy for which he regarded his predestined fate.
Still, spending ten years absorbing the crystal's power was asinine. It only proved to him what little regard the Astrals had for the people.
So many people would be lost if this went on for that long. There would be food shortages, overcrowding, safe havens would dwindle as the daemons grew stronger.
If he had to die to save everyone…
He let that thought dangle a moment. The concept felt too real and not real at all at the same time leaving Noctis with a cold, numb feeling all over his body.
He leaned his head back resting it with a dull thud against the base of the throne. It was ironic, he thought bitterly, becoming the King was a job he never wanted. One that he spent most of his life trying to push to the side in his mind and now per his wish he'd never have to do it.
But, if he had to die to save everyone, he was going to save as many people as possible. His people didn't have ten years to wait.
Noctis sat up a bit straighter as he heard the doors open.
"Hey," Prompto hesitated in the doorway as he tried to gauge if Noctis was up for having some company.
Noctis shifted to the side making extra room next to him in response. "They send you to come get me?" He asked his tone deflated. If Prompto had come to drag him back, he wouldn't put up much of a fight on the matter. Even if he wasn't ready to move just yet.
Prompto felt lighter at the unspoken invitation to join his friend hurrying up the steps. "Uh, no, I…They were just—I needed some air."
"Yeah." Noctis echoed. It wasn't hard to read between the lines. He knew that the others cared in their own way. He knew that they were just doing what they had to and he was grateful for that. He was grateful for Prompto's manner of caring too.
He felt Prompto sit down next to him and the two sat in silence neither knowing what to say as they both choked on the heavy atmosphere.
Prompto opened his mouth to say something several times but always thought the better of it. He hated to admit it, but the others were right. Promising Noctis that they'd find a way to avoid all this was doing more harm than good.
It wasn't going to stop him from trying though.
"Gentiana was here," Noctis said quietly. He had debated if he was going to relay this information to anyone, but in his mind, if he was going to tell anyone Prompto was the best bet.
Prompto quickly turned his attention Noctis. For a second he dared to hope that she had brought good news, but Noctis's quiet expression told him otherwise. "Oh?" He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the rest, but he urged him to continue all the same.
"Don't tell the other guys," Noctis let out a shaky sigh. "She said…Well I mean apparently I'm not good enough to sacrifice like right now. She told me I'd have to I don't know bond with the crystal, well, inside the crystal for ten years."
Prompto sputtered. Just when he thought that the Astrals couldn't get any worse, they reach new and impressive levels of convoluted douchiness. "Ten years?!" He chewed at his lip. "Noct, I-." He stopped himself noting how his friend was trying to curl in on himself. "So what do we-."
"I told her no," Noctis muttered into his knees not looking to Prompto when he spoke. "If I gotta die I'm not taking half the population of Lucis with me while they wait around for ten years."
"That's why you can't tell them." He added. Noctis knew they would tell him to do it. That they'd keep things together during that time. That it would be okay and he just needed to follow the prophecy as stated.
Prompto wouldn't.
Noctis's voice started to crack. His bravado from facing Gentiana had fallen and given way to fear. "I mean I guess now it will be harder. I guess I'm not strong enough to do this and I'm already at a disadvantage anyway," He sucked in a breath. The deck felt incredibly stacked against him at this point. "Still, I can't, I can't do that." His voice was raw, and he buried his head back into his knees.
Prompto wrapped an arm around his shoulder. He knew that a lot of people wrote Noctis off as apathetic, but the truth of it was Prompto believed that Noctis might care too much.
Noctis gave a bitter laugh and was quick to wipe away any stray tears from his cheeks. "Weird isn't it? The world is literally going to be a better place without me in it."
Prompto's heart sank. "Don't say that."
After a half-hearted shrug, Noctis let his shoulders drop. "I die, and you all get the sun back. The daemons go away, and no one has to live in fear." He hesitated for a second. "It's obvious."
Prompto made a frustrated sound hating with every part of himself that Noctis was believing this about himself. Hating even more that in a way it was true. "It's not you that's making the world a mess though!"
Noctis made a hum in understanding. "Yeah," He sighed raking shaking fingers through his hair. "Did I screw up? Should I have just done the stupid crystal thing? I mean…I screw up now, and everyone loses."
Regret was starting to set in, and Noctis wondered if by trying to save more people he'd actually just doomed them all. The fact that he'd have to fight Ardyn was becoming a clearer picture in his mind along with the fact that he had some major disadvantages in battle.
"No." There was a certainty in Prompto's voice that came as a relief to Noctis.
"Noct, it's not like we're going to let you face this alone." At least Prompto knew he wouldn't. He felt confident that the sentiment spoke for everyone though. If they failed, well, they wouldn't live to see the disastrous results.
Noctis gave him a small smile and then bumped his shoulder against Prompto's. "You gotta live you know? Someone has to keep this place together afterward."
Prompto sucked in a painful breath. He knew Noctis words were well-intended and meant to be uplifting. He wanted them all to carry on things for him after he was gone and help everyone rebuild what they lost.
If he were being honest Prompto wasn't certain he'd be able to do any of that. If Noctis was truly gone when this was all over Prompto believed he'd be living the rest of his days out cut off from everyone else. The thought alone of losing Noctis began to tear a hole through his insides and left his entire body feeling cold. "Noct?" His tone was more serious than the one that Noctis had used. "Look, if there's even a small chance or opportunity that presents itself to save you too…I'm going to take it."
The words caught in Noctis's throat as he found himself unable to respond to such a strong declaration. After a moment his heart sank. He wanted so badly to believe it was possible. Even when the voice in the back of his head was telling him it was a selfish wish.
Who was he to take away that small bit of hope from his friend? If it helped Prompto to think that there might be a chance he'd let him have this for now. Noctis only hoped that Ignis or Gladio would be able to help Prompto pick up the pieces of himself when this was all over.
Don't be so selfish, Noctis thoughts shot back at him. You have one job as the King, and too many have died because of all this already. It's time you do your part.
Still, Prompto's resolve was tempting and a little contagious.
A little hope never hurt anyone, did it?
Noctis's voice was small shaking on every strained word. "Prompto, I don't want to di-."
Prompto's upbeat ring tone filled the room sounding out of place in the dark atmosphere cutting off Noctis's words.
Noctis's shoulders dropped, and he came back to what he assumed were his senses, and he nodded towards the sound. "You should probably get that." He said clearing his throat a bit. "Probably Ignis looking for us."
Prompto's brows furrowed as he checked the name on the display screen.
"Hello?"
Noctis tilted his head. On the other line, the volume was up loud enough for him to hear Aranea's voice. "Got some bad news for you kiddo." Static crackled briefly on the other end. "Spotted a big ass airship flying over the sea heading in the direction of Insomnia. Looks like the Chancellor is headed your way."