Untold Omens
Chapter Twelve: Episode Nyx
Winter M.E. 750
Exhausted and covered in a layer of sweat and grime from fighting countless magitek soldiers and Niflheim dropships, Nyx Ulric was finally back behind city walls. After risking life and limb to impede the wide advancement of the Niflheim Empire, Nyx found himself greeted to accolades befitting a brave and selfless champion of Lucis.
A flip of a light switch illuminated a sad and dingy studio apartment, the place he called home within the dense slums of Insomnia. Luxuries included the faulty shower that too quickly goes from hot to lukewarm, a squeaky bed with a loose spring and hot grungy street food sold nearby by fellow immigrant vendors.
Hardly better than the bland ration bars they're fed while out on the field. At least it was warm and savory, bearing mild resemblance to the nostalgic flavors from his native homeland, Galahd. It was never quite enough for good-ole Lib and his absurdly discerning taste buds…
Understandably, many of his brethren Kingsglaive were displeased by the special treatment they were subjected to within the walled city. Even so, Nyx took to enjoying what little luxuries he could, given their hapless circumstances.
Falling under the stupor that can only be experienced amid the comforts of a hot shower, fresh memories of the previous battles surfaced to his mind. They just spent months on end deployed in the region of Duscae defending the territory, having lost the region of Cleigne some years ago. Scorched earth and battle cries filled the air as Kingsglaive units charged against the invading forces.
Those who favored the warpstrike tossed their weapons at their enemies readily, leaving a trail of ethereal blue light in their wake as they went attacking one enemy to the next. The more cautious glaives followed not far behind, providing shields of magic and aid for their more reckless compatriots.
Up on the highgrounds, glaives with the highest magical aptitude united as one, pooling their magic together to call upon the very elements of nature to their aid. At their behest, dark clouds filled the skies and thunder rumbled threateningly above. Lightning strikes ripped into the metallic dropships looming overhead, destroying them before Niflheim could unleash hordes of magitek soldiers into the fray.
This most recent bout against the empire ended with Niflheim's retreat, however it was hardly enough to call for celebration. It was only a matter of time before they're deployed back to the frontlines… Each time returning in fewer numbers than the last…
When he made his way towards the training grounds within the Citadel the following morning, Nyx expected everything to be as they left it, rundown and disregarded like the rest of Kingsglaive. Instead, he was met with scaffolding and construction work around the unused portion of the courtyard.
"I'm telling you, this shit is going to come out of our paychecks." Luche decried with a scowl and arms crossed over his chest.
The brazen young man stood at the center of a commotion, ranting and raving like someone or something had crossed him.
"Quit making such a big deal out of it." Among them, Libertus stood alone in attempting to settle the glaive down.
Some nodded along and seconded in agreement while others, like Crowe only rolled their eyes at the affronted young man. With a groan, Libertus continued trying to settle down the irritated glaives.
"For all you know, maybe they found some extra budget somewhere," reasoned the older glaive.
"Budget for what?" Nyx couldn't help but ask as he made his way over, being out of the loop to the full conversation.
"This shit!" Luche waved a dismissive hand over the new construction in a huff. "How long have they left us with this craphole of a training area? Think about it, if they cared enough, they would've found the budget to do it ages ago."
Eyebrows raised Nyx looked about, wondering what else changed in his absence. Apart from the unexpected construction, there were also minor additions such as a proper weapon storage unit, a couple of nifty benches and even fancy little drinking fountains.
Some distance away from them Gladio could be heard by all, barking out instructions to the newest batch of young Kingsglaive trainees.
Minor additions indeed. Nyx noted to himself with an exasperated sigh.
With a teasing glint in her eye, Crowe shot him a knowing smirk. After all, it was his bright idea to recruit the former shield. Undoubtedly, the intensity of the kid's presence took everyone some getting used to, and he was an outsider amongst them no less. The units of Kingsglaive consisted mostly of displaced immigrants from the outer territories, whereas the Amicitia teen was the son of nobility, native to the city of Insomnia.
However, none of that truly mattered to Nyx when he urged his mentor, the Captain of Kingsglaive to afford the exception. While Gladio could be sort of 'rough around the edges' at times, he knew an upfront guy when he saw one… And, turns out the kid was genuinely good at his job. A natural insufferable drill sergeant, Nyx noted to his own amusement.
Speaking of outsiders, Nyx also knew when a man was trying hard not to be seen. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied the Marshal of the Crownsguard of all people, skulking about the premises. The presence of Cor The Immortal was interesting to say the least, and far more alarming than any of the mysterious equipment strewn about the courtyard.
"Marshal." Nyx addressed the man, a cheeky grin spread across his face as he began to approach the intruder.
Upon being spotted, the surly man immediately began calculating his escape, taking a step to move away, but it was far too late to properly retreat. If he was nervous at all, Cor did impressively well at remaining stoic.
"Good morning." The glaive greeted jovially.
"…Good morning, Ulric." Cor returned, yet he remained guarded, steel blue eyes narrowed at the Galahdian.
"Fancy seeing you here in this part of the Citadel. You're a bit far from the Crownsguard offices," noted the glaive casually. He smirked and cocked his head in Gladio's direction, who could still be heard barking orders far behind them. "…Looking for the kid?"
The Crownsguard Marshal measured the glaive with a quick look, taking a thoughtful moment before dismissing him with a simple no. With purpose, Cor walked right past him.
Nyx crossed his arms in annoyance, eyes lingering on the man's back as he walked off.
"Well, if you care to know—" Nyx began, letting out an exasperated sigh, "—he's doing just fine by the way!" He bellowed after the retreating marshal.
The Crownsguard pointedly ignored him as he continued on his way.
The Galahdian wandered back to the gathering of Kingsglaive, now catching the tail end of their previous conversation.
"There's no point bitching about it to us, Luche," reasoned Crowe. "Go talk to HR if you're that pissed about it!"
"Sage advice coming from someone like you." Nyx teased, cutting in.
"Shut up, Ulric." Crowe dismissed him.
Bzz… Bzz…
Luche looked to his pocket in confusion. Who might possibly be messaging him at this time of day? Sad fact was that everyone most glaives knew personally were most likely presently accounted for. Baffled, Luche pulled out his phone and quickly swiped it open to check the message. As he read through the words, his furrowed brows deepened into a scowl.
"Know what, Crowe. Maybe I will." Luche declared, a downcast look overtaking his face. "Apparently, I'm being summoned…" He announced, shoving his phone away.
At his reveal, all eyes laid on Luche in surprise.
Despite Crowe's flippant suggestion, most glaives avoid dealing with human resources as often as they possibly could afford to. The Kingsglaive HR department was notoriously incompetent, misplacing most documents in an impossible mess of unorganized files and old, perhaps even ancient, mounds of paperwork. They were better off finding alternative ways to resolve such matters themselves.
Nyx frowned, watching the glaive cross the field on his way to the HR office. A sinking feeling filled his chest as it dawned on him that today was going to be full of surprises. Reluctantly, he decided to follow him. Although Nyx could be every manner of brash, brave and bold in his behavior, in actuality he was never a fan of surprises, the good kind or otherwise.
Much like Kingsglaive, their human resources office stood tucked away in a remote corner in the Citadel. Unless you were a glaive or an office employee, no one would realize it existed at all. With less than a handful of people running the department, stacks of unfiled paperwork often overran the cramped space in towering mountains. It came to no one's surprise whenever a paper avalanche befell the unfortunate staff.
Nyx was quick to spot what was different when he followed Luche into the stuffy, windowless office. Or rather, who was different. Baffling all on its own was the presence of Tredd, the cocky glaive idly standing by reception. However, this quickly became unsurprising taking circumstances into consideration.
Seated behind the reception desk was a young brunette girl he's never seen before. Smartly dressed with a face dusted in freckles, her cold discerning eyes glanced at them through a pair of sleek glasses. With a quick once-over, she rifled through the stack of stapled packets by her side.
"Luche Lazarus." The girl noted as she clipped the packet to a clipboard and handed it to him. "You're going to need to fill these correction forms, your original submission was done incorrectly."
"You're shitting me right?" scoffed Luche. "I have better things to do then—"
"Then what?" challenged the girl as she waved a hand towards the countless stacks of paper surrounding her. "If you somehow haven't noticed yet, I have plenty of other things I could be doing right now than dealing with your tantrum over incorrect paperwork."
"Burn," sniggered Tredd before Luche turned around to shoot his friend a death glare.
Nyx raised a brow. Compared to human resource's usual scripted response, delivered in a lackluster zombie-like drone, this girl practically oozed spunk despite her prim appearance.
"You can either correct your forms now or deal with your subsidies being suspended and then come back to do it," continued the girl in a clipped tone. "Personally, I would rather not have to deal with your subsidies being suspended at all. I'm trying to fix the problem before it becomes an actual problem. Now fill out the correction forms or get out."
"You think just because you work in the office that you're better than me?" Luche snarled, slamming his hands on the counter.
"Luche, chill," Nyx interrupted, hooking an arm to pull the irate glaive away from the counter. "Girlie's just doing her job."
"Girlie has a name." She retorted as she pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.
"Well then," continued Nyx with a cheeky grin. He slipped away from Luche and suavely rested his arms on the counter. "Care to share it with the rest of the class?"
"Care to stop impeding me from doing my job?" countered the girl in turn.
"Nyx," scowled Tredd. "Quit flirting with the jailbait, will you?"
"Oh please, you're one to talk." Nyx remarked with an incredulous scoff. "Why else are you hanging around here?"
"That's a wild accusation, Ulric." Tredd snarled before clarifying. "I'm actually here to ask about all that new equipment in the courtyard."
"Aracelis," an unknown voice called out. In playfully literal observation, a walking tower of paper stepped out from the archive room. "Do you have a moment?" A quiet-looking young man peered out from behind the tall stack he was carrying, revealing a pair of bespectacled green eyes. "I can't seem to find—"
Luche's eyes practically bulged in recognition. "IGGY?"
Iggy became quite frazzled by Luche's exclamation. Lips pressed thin, the shy young man tried his best not to react to the glaive's excitement. His face however, betrayed him as it slowly flushed red at the attention.
"I… don't believe I know who this Iggy you're referring to is," stated the young man as calmly as he could muster.
However, his attempts to deny any connection Luche made were thwarted by Aracelis, who turned away with a hand over her mouth, failing to hide her growing amusement at the woeful act. The teen carried himself in the same proprietary manner as the stringent girl. However Iggy seemed shyer, and frazzled much more easily.
"My name is Ignis." The young man awkwardly stated. Nyx couldn't help but smile at the odd pair.
"Holy… shit! It is you!" A gleeful smile crossed Luche's once disgruntled face.
"If you want to talk to Ignis about his extracurricular activities, it will have to be after office hours," noted Aracelis with a quick clear of her throat to get rid of any lingering laughter in her voice. Her face suddenly dropped, all hints of previous humor now completely gone. "Now, get out. Do not come back without your forms in proper order."
"Who does she think she is, anyway?" Luche griped, walking alongside Tredd with Nyx following close behind them. "I bet she thinks she could talk to us like that just because she's a Crown City girl."
"Nah," the older glaive amended. "Trust me guys. I know the difference. Wanna know what I think?" Although met with resounding silence and a pair of rolling eyes, Nyx pressed on anyway. "I think she's actually trying her best to do her job. I'm sure she's the one responsible for all that new equipment. Who knows? Maybe with her around things may actually change for the better around here."
"…You're just a hopeless optimist, Nyx." Tredd dismissed under his breath.
With seemingly nothing left to say, the three glaives headed back to the courtyard in a wordless stride. While Nyx briefly contemplated asking them to explain the whole 'Iggy' thing, a curious sight halted his step, silently parting him from the group.
A little girl, maybe no older than ten years of age wandered about the crossing corridors of the Citadel. Brows furrowed, she looked left and right as she went. Concerned that the child might be lost, Nyx made his way towards her, remaining careful as to not spook her away. The Citadel was not a safe place for children, especially without a chaperone.
"You lost there kiddo?" Nyx called out to her.
The dark-haired little girl looked up in surprise, but showed no signs of being wary of his presence. On the contrary, she seemed happy to see him and decidedly ran up to approach him.
"You're Kingsglaive right?" chirped the girl brightly. "Maybe you can help me! I'm looking for someone."
"Oh?" noted Nyx indulgently as he knelt down to her eye-level. He held a smile on his face although he was mildly surprised that the child exhibited no signs of being wary. "Who are you looking for kiddo?"
"My big brother, Gladiolus!"
"…Gladio's your brother?" Nyx blinked in surprise.
The girl hummed in confirmation, beaming with pride. Waving her small hands about in excitement, she elaborated. "Noct said he's with Kingsglaive now, so I wanted to come over and say hi!"
While he knew nothing of Gladio's home life, Nyx hadn't expected the gruff and buff teen to have such an endearing little sister. The girl was practically beaming like a ray of sunshine compared to her older brother, the two Amicitia siblings couldn't be more different from one another.
"Iris!" cried a breathy voice, filled with relief. "There you are…"
From around the corridor appeared a scruffy-haired teen boy, clad entirely in black attire. Chest heavy with breathing the teen was stooped over, palms steadied on bent knees. Lifting his head with notable effort, long dark bangs swept aside better revealing his face. It took a moment for Nyx to readily identify the unassuming teen as the Lucian Prince, Noctis.
"Hi Noct!" Iris chirped. "Guess what? The nice Kingsglaive said he'll help me find Gladdy!" She declared in glee, oblivious to the worry she caused.
Judging by his condition, the prince must have been frantically searching the entire perimeter of the Citadel for her. A wry chuckle escaped him in his brisk jog towards them, remarkably the prince didn't appear the slightest bit angry at the girl for being so difficult to find. If anything, he only expressed patience.
"Iris." The prince exhaled once more, relieved to be standing beside the formerly missing girl. "…Your brother is probably busy. If you drop in on him now, he might get in trouble." Noctis explained, his steady tone masking a near desperate plea.
"Awww." The little girl whined. Her voice dripping with dramatic heart-wrenching sadness.
"…But I wanted to say hi!"
An amused grin crossed Nyx's lips at witnessing the royal prince struggle to reign in a small child.
"…You know Iris." The glaive helpfully cut in. "…I think I saw Gladio training with the cadets… so he really won't be able to talk with you if you go to him right now."
The prince glanced at Nyx in surprise, a thankful expression crossing his face before he returned his attention to the little girl once more. "You don't want him to get in trouble right?
"…No." The child pouted, kicking the tip of her shoe on the ground morosely.
"How about we try again later after training?" Noctis offered, before he knelt down and planted a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Maybe he'll be free then."
"…Okay…" She finally yielded, albeit with much reluctance.
"Come on." Noctis offered his hand to her.
The Crown Prince and a battle-hardened member of Kingsglaive, both kneeling to appease the whims of a little girl. Covertly, an alleviated glance was exchanged between them. What an absurd picture they painted.
"Come on, we better get going…" Prince Noctis grasped her hand after he sluggishly stood upright again.
"We'll be back!" Iris declared with certainty, her small hand gripping tightly onto the prince's longer fingers. "You'll help us find my brother later right?"
A rugged smile tugged at the glaive's lips. He stood from where he knelt and offered the girl a playful two-finger salute. "Sure kiddo. I'll even let Gladio know you stopped by."
Pleased by the answer, Iris shot the prince a cheeky grin at her success. Noctis sighed in exasperated fondness before facing Nyx with a hapless shrug and a half-grin of his own.
In truth, the unpretentious teenager wasn't at all how Nyx previously envisaged the Crown Prince of Lucis.
Outside the Citadel, the commonwealth contended the young man had no significant faults to speak of. Noctis was to become their future monarch after all. For his eventual subjects to espouse otherwise would only stoke further civil unrest. Despite the current public divide towards the reigning Lucian King, the prince remained a highly regarded figure, beloved and supported throughout the court and kingdom.
Behind the walls of the Citadel however, whispers within the court cast Noctis in a more nuanced light.
As if out of the blue, the frequent strife between the prince and his shield suffered an unbidden eruption of court intrigue. Gradually, it snowballed into a hot subject of gossip, circulating throughout the Citadel. Far reaching such as it was, it pervaded even the segregated corner afforded to Kingsglaive.
"I see you've found Iris."
Nyx froze at the sound of the Marshal's low baritone voice.
Cor's eyes fell on the young pair before his steely gaze promptly zeroed in on the glaive with them. With a resonant stride, the Marshal made his way towards the group.
Realization overcame Nyx and much to his immediate surprise, it turned out the Marshal actually wasn't looking for Gladio after all. Nyx knew of the Amicitia teen in name only, well before making his incidental acquaintance some time ago. Although never afforded with details, he roughly surmised that the debacle between the prince and his shield marred the latter with notoriety, and that was even before the scandalous termination.
Consequently, Nyx reckoned the prince to be something of a heedless noble. A petulant royal with no regard for his closest subjects, one whose negligent behavior led to severe punishment for those who served him. That's why the glaive didn't think twice about feeding the Crownsguard Marshal the random lie about a 'cross-department exercise' months ago.
"Marshal." Without missing a beat, Nyx was quick to casually address the man leering at him. "Seems like you and I keep running into each other today…"
The man remained unbaited, therefore the emboldened glaive continued.
"These two seemed a little lost," Nyx explained with a sunny candor, waving a hand towards Iris and the prince. "So I thought I'd help them find their way.
Cor's discerning gaze narrowed on the glaive, as though challenging Nyx to only continue speaking if he dared.
"Don't you have something better to do, Ulric?"
Involuntarily, Nyx felt his shoulders hunch defensively.
"…Of course…" He blurted the clumsy answer, lips pressed into a thin smile.
Before taking leave with his newly appointed mentor, Noctis chanced a fleeting glance at Nyx before trailing after Cor. The teen's trepid gaze quickly averted as he murmured a barely audible thank you. Watching him go with Iris in hand, the Galahdian decided it best to reserve any foul judgements towards the wistful teenage prince. With his mind changed, Nyx began making his own way back.
He couldn't say for sure what was going on. Seemed to him that something big could be unfolding, just beneath the surface. Whatever it was, it would hardly matter to him either way. At the end of the day, the only thing Nyx looked forward to was knocking back a few beers with Lib and Crowe before bedtime.