Disclaimer: not mine

Sorry for the long wait

Chapter 10

Noctis stared at his reflection in the mirror, he hated the full Prince's Raiment but to meet Luna and then the Imperial party nothing less would be accepted. The Heirs Crown felt strange on his head, he'd worn it no more than a handful of times since he had turned sixteen and had been officially named as Crown Prince. He was dressed in a formal black suit with gold details, a single black and gold pauldron on his left shoulder, and a lighter, shorter black cape than the one his Father wore. At twenty it had been decided that he needed to look more ready to ascend the Throne which was why the pauldron and cape had been added. He thought it was a little scary how much it made him look like his Dad.

He closed his eyes and reached for the new magic, it didn't feel cold like his own, this was bright and warm, like Prompto. It was odd, but he guessed everyone tied to his Dad or him felt the same when they were given access to their magic. He could feel the weapons available but he would not try and wield them unless there was no other choice.

"You look…"

"Like a dork?" he offered, opening his eyes to meet Prom's in the mirror, and the blond laughed.

Prompto walked over and brushed invisible lint off his cape. "Like a Prince," he grinned, and Noct spun, wrapping his arms around him to pull him closer, kissing him.

"You look pretty good yourself," he told him when they parted. It was true, the formal Crownsguard unform highlighted his lithe build, providing a nice contrast to the bright blond hair. Sadly, the formal jacket hid the arm cuff with the Royal crest on it, but it was probably for the best, to avoid antagonising their Imperial guests when Noct was meant to be marrying Luna for the treaty. "Nervous?"

"Oh no, it's not like anything bad could possibly happen," Prompto's voice was a little shaky even as he tried to sound at ease.

"We'll be okay," Noctis stated firmly, he had to believe it because the alternative… if the city still fell, how much would change with them there and not on the road? He pressed his forehead to Prom's, just soaking up the contact. "Love you," he whispered.

"Love you too," Prom answered before moving back. "I'm not saving you if we're late though."

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"Her Royal Highness, Princess Lunafreya of Tenebrae."

Regis nodded and the doors were opened, admitting the young woman he hadn't seen in twelve years. She walked calmly towards him, dressed in Oracle white she looked a lot like her mother.

She stopped before the stairs and curtseyed. "It has been a long time, Your Majesty."

"Yes," he agreed, "far too long."

"Prince Noctis isn't here, is he?" she asked sadly and his lips twitched in a smile even as he motioned to the doors again.

She turned and froze as the doors opened and Noctis walked in, his Retinue fanned out behind him.

"Yes, my dear, he is."

Noctis stopped and bowed even as Lunafreya curtseyed to him in return. "Luna," Noctis whispered but the acoustics of the Throne Room meant Regis heard him.

"Dear Noctis," she lifted a hand and Noctis moved closer, taking it and kissing the back.

"I wish that your reunion could be under different circumstance," Regis said, and they turned back to him. "I am too old to fight this war. I would have no choice but to receive the empire and accept their treaty…if it were true. I had hoped to have you both safely away from the city in Altissia and sent one of my Glaive to see you there but it was not to be."

"Wherever I go, the empire will follow," Luna smiled sadly. "We would have been hunted the whole way, and Altissia could not have stopped them."

He nodded, she was correct, it had been nothing more than a fools hope to think he could keep them safe.

She looked at Noctis and her smile became soft rather than sad. "It is my duty to protect the Prince and see his destiny fulfilled. These twelve years have not changed that."

"And what of your destiny?" Regis asked.

"My duty is my destiny, Your Majesty. I'm prepared to accept whatever may come to pass."

"Luna…I know the whole prophecy now. If Insomnia falls…we have to change things," Noctis told her earnestly. Too many people will die, too much damage will be done to the world for it to recover if we let things happen that way."

"Noctis?" she stared at him in concerned confusion.

"If the only way to save everyone is for me to die, I'll do it. But there might be another way. And even if I do it, the damage from a decade of darkness is not something that can be repaired."

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Luna wasn't sure what Noctis was saying. A decade of Darkness? The Prophecy said nothing of that. And it definitely didn't mention Insomnia falling. However, she could see that being the goal of the Emperor if the treaty was a sham. How many people lived in the city? She had seen the towering buildings and crowded streets as the Glaive drove her through the city.

"Noctis…" she didn't know what to say, her gaze drifting to his friends, knowing which was Prompto immediately. But…there was something about him, something different than expected, as if he…were touched by the divine as well.

"The Astrals don't care Luna, they could have stopped all of this back during the Founder's time but they sat back and did nothing," Noctis shook his head. "You don't need to wake them because I won't accept the Covenants. I'll claim the Royal Arms but that's it. We're working on another way to beat Ardyn."

"Ardyn? The Chancellor?" she looked from Noctis to King Regis.

"It has been revealed that the Chancellor was once Ardyn Lucis Caelum, older brother of the Founder and the first attempt at a Chosen King," the King explained. "He is now the source of the Scourge."

That…actually explained a lot. "How can you know this?"

Prompto stepped forward and bowed awkwardly to her and then she gasped as his eyes flashed gold with magic. "Because I lived it once already," the young man answered.

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Gladio checked the kids over again, happy to see Prompto's uniform in perfect condition even as Iggy fussed with Noctis' tie and cape, both a little off. He looked at Prompto again who blushed slightly, and smirked, understanding why Noct's clothing was a little rumpled. Not that he blamed them, anything to keep them both calm and cool for the party. The last thing they needed was a fight to start or for Prompto to have a panic attack.

He'd tried to talk the blond into staying behind but he'd refused. The Empire had caused him so much harm, the 'Chancellor' doing the worst and he would definitely be there. He just hoped Prompto could keep it together because the man was surely going to introduce himself to Noctis, to play with what he thought was an ignorant Prince. He also prayed to Eos that Noct didn't stab the man in front of everyone, even if it wouldn't kill him.

They took their places just in time for the Emperor to approach the King. No one was expecting trouble tonight, other than a possible kidnapping attempt against the Princess but she was…there, right beside Nyx and Crowe. Anyone trying to take her from those two would end up alerting the whole city and he doubted they would risk that.

"A most grand reception, King Regis. You honour all of Niflheim." The Emperor almost sounded genuine too.

"Oh, the honour is ours, Emperor Aldercapt. You have ventured far to grace us with your presence," The King responded and wow, Gladio hadn't realised he was that good at acting.

"It was the very least I could do. Tomorrow will be an historic day for both our nations. And your Insomnia is truly a marvel, my own cities pale in comparison. I pray we are able to take away much from this visit." And that statement could be taken in oh so many ways.

Thankfully the old creep moved on, Noctis bowing to him since an Emperor outranked a Prince. The kid managed to keep his face mostly to an emotionless mask. "And the young man of the hour, you must be looking forward to your upcoming marriage Prince Noctis."

"Thank you, Emperor, I am," only those who knew Noct really well could hear the hidden rage and disgust in his voice. So far, so good. Maybe he'd been a little curt but Noctis was known to be a bit socially awkward which worked in his favour.

When Ardyn himself began approaching, Luna was suddenly there, pulling Noctis out to dance with her, keeping the two as far apart as possible. Ignis and Gladio both shifted to block Prompto from the man's view too. The last thing they wanted was him sensing Eos' magic in him….or recognising Prompto due to his genetic donor. From what he'd said of some of the man's comments to him before the mess of his being captured, Ardyn had worked out where Prom came from early one in their 'acquaintance'. They didn't need the Empire trying to nab him too as bait for Noct.

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Nyx approved of the Princess dancing with Prince Noctis, and keeping him away from the creepy Chancellor. He liked her, she had a backbone of steel from the looks of things, and Crowe definitely liked her which could be good or bad. He'd hate to see what they could get up to if left alone given Crowe's love of setting things on fire and the Princess' own magic.

He had a good portion of the Glaive deployed but hidden around the party, ready to move in an instant if anything went wrong, he just hoped it wouldn't be necessary. The rest were helping the Guard with ensuring security in the Citadel and along the Wall. The king suspected an attempt at bringing it down to invade the city so they would do everything they could to ensure that would not happen. He just hoped they'd be enough with their depleted numbers, there had been no time to recruit new members in the days leading up to the festivities.

Even as the new Captain of the Glaive, he knew that the King was keeping something back about what was going on, but that was to be expected. He was the King after all. Nyx just hoped he'd be told enough to do his job properly. At least they were starting to get proper supplies in now and he kind of pitied whoever was behind that if it hadn't been his predecessor once Scientia found them. That kid was kind of scary.

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Iedolas was not happy. First, they lost all contact with General Glauca, now the Princess was too closely watched to be 'kidnapped' not to mention there was no sign of the tracker on her, and finally, there seemed to be something going on with the Glaive. Had the traitors been discovered? No! Nothing would stop him from claiming the Crystal and the Ring and burning Insomnia to the ground.

Without the massive force that was General Glauca though plans would need to be drastically altered and swiftly. Glauca had been his insurance against Regis's powers, and now there would be two Royals to contend with. Although reports of the Prince's skills showed them to be far inferior to Regis and not even equal to some of the Glaive. He was sure Glauca was dead, otherwise why would the Glaive have a new Captain? How much did Regis know? Surely not everything or he would have called the treaty off, unless he thought he could turn things in his own favour?

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Luna sat on the seat before the dressing table, carefully taking her hair down. She'd kept her distance from both her brother and the Chancellor during the party, staying with her Glaive escort or Noctis and his friends the whole night. Dancing with them had been more fun than she'd had in years, poor Prompto hadn't stopped blushing the whole time and technically, he was the oldest of them!

Hearing of the future he had lived, of her own death, the deaths of so many had been shocking and horrifying. She'd known her role would cost her, her life but to have her death used against Noctis like that? At least she knew he was beyond her powers to help so wouldn't bother trying.

How were they to defeat him though? What had been discovered of Prompto's power so far was little different to that of the Lucii other than his ability to teleport. He had even offered to share it with her! It felt…comforting and warm, like being in her Mother's arms again. Was it enough to make up for Noctis not having the full power of the Crystal, the Astrals, and his Ancestors behind him? They could perhaps kill Ardyn in the physical realm, but what of Beyond? She wished she could speak with Eos herself and seek answers…could she? She was the Oracle. She would lose nothing in trying, she hoped.

She stood from the dressing table and knelt on the floor, bowing her head.

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They lay in bed, wrapped around each other as close as they could get. Tomorrow… either they would win or Insomnia would burn. Parts of the population had been evacuated quietly, those who would leave without raising a fuss and giving things away. Many of the refugees had gone on the word of Glaive members, slipping away into Leide to wait for word to either return or to keep running. Security was as tight as possible but they had no way of knowing if every traitor had been caught.

"M'sorry," Prompto whispered.

"For what?"

"Should have gotten more info from survivors."

"Why? It's not like you knew you were going to be tossed back in time to now. Re-telling would have been painful for them and I know you, you wouldn't have wanted to cause them more pain. We can do this," Noctis promised. "Even if we don't deal with Ardyn tomorrow and only stop the invasion, it's still a massive step in the right direction and buys us time. So stop worry and get some sleep. No falling asleep at the signing," he warned, and Prompto laughed.

"Isn't that my line?"

Noctis grimaced and then sighed. "At least they didn't schedule it for the morning."

Prompto bit his lip to keep from laughing more and Noctis kissed him. They kept lazily kissing for ages before settling down to sleep, knowing it might be their last chance to do so in the Citadel if things went badly.

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Gladio peered in at where Iris was sleeping. The car was packed and ready, if things went badly, Jared would be evacuating her and his own grandson immediately to Lestallum where they could disappear in the crowds and get more supplies before heading for Caem, before the Empire would have reason to look for any of them there. Jared was not going to die this time.

They hadn't told her anything, but Iris was smart, she knew there was more going on. He just hoped she got a better life than the one Prompto had told them about.

He looked up as his Dad approached, looking in on her two before they left and collapsed on the lounge together, sitting in silence. No matter what happened, everything would change tomorrow.

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Gentiana stood outside of the city, her eyes closed. She could sense the Oracle and Chosen King within, as well as the Accursed and…so it was truly Her power she had sensed moving once again through the land. Good. Perhaps her Lady's fate could be changed. She would ensure Lunafreya had the Trident when she woke, she would not be defenceless. She did not agree with Bahamut's plan but she could not overthrow his Prophecy and save them all, she was but one Astral and a weakened one at that after her physical body had been defeated. She had regained power yes, but not all of it.

She would wait and watch and if her aide was needed, she would give it.

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Regis sat in his chair, staring out at his beloved city, unable to sleep. He had already checked on Noctis, unsurprised to find Prompto in his bed too, at least they were sleeping. He had done everything he could to protect his son and his people and he prayed it would be enough. He glanced down at the Ring, hoping its price would end with him. He never wanted Noctis to be bowed under the strain of holding the Wall and if they succeeded then he would be free of that and his ordained fate. He would die before he allowed the Astrals to sacrifice his son.

TBC….

It's been ages since this was updated. I'm still not entirely sure how I want the next day to go which is why this is stopping here. Any suggestions are welcome.