Chapter 6

Teenagers

"I'm sure you will, Prompto."

The room was quieter than usual as Cor stared hard at both Noctis and Prompto.

The two boys were sitting side-by-side on the medical bed, looking sheepish, guilty and embarrassed as their gazes were locked onto something invisible on the floor.

"Let me get this straight. Noctis, Gladio found you cuffed that night with Prompto about to cut you because you didn't want to accidentally hurt him when he's hurting you. Is that right?"

Noct gave a small nod. "Yeah, more or less."

"And you were the one who wanted him to cut you?"

Another little awkward nod.

"And you thought that was a good idea?"

"I didn't actually think whether it was a good idea or not," Noctis mumbled to the floor.

Cor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Gods, these kids are dumb.

When he first read the report about Prompto trying to hurt Noctis, his initial thought for the cause had been probably a fight over something the boys didn't agree on or the like.

But this. This was really dumb.

"You should've told me about not feeling pain, Noct," Gladio said from where he was standing near the door, voice curt, his arms crossed.

"I know. I'm sorry. I was just really worried and I didn't know what was causing it," Noct said, still not looking at anyone.

"The more reason to tell us about your condition," Cor scolded, and then his voice mellowed somewhat. "Your Highness, you have to remember that you're the Crown Prince of Lucis. Your well-being is always our top priority. The King was really worried about you, seeing you falling into a deep sleep like that, not knowing if you'll ever wake up again. And so was Ignis, and me and Gladio here. We were all so worried about you. And you somehow got Prompto tangled up in this whole mess. You know he could've been charged for trying to hurt you. So please, Noctis, try to think about your actions a little bit more next time."

Cor didn't continue with his words when he saw Noctis's eyes starting to water as he nodded again and again, still so meek and quiet.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," Noctis said, trying to hide the tremble in his voice. He sounded so young then, like a little kid being scolded by a parent for coming home late playing with his friends at the playground.

Cor just continued to stare at the boys. He still had a lot more to say to them because by gods, what they did were reckless and dangerous. Prince or not, he had to remind himself that these kids were just teenagers, and teenagers did dumb things all the time. Hell, he'd done even dumber things when he was a stupid teenager himself.

He took in a deep breath. Looking at the boys now, down and remorseful about the trouble they had caused, he decided maybe he should tell them off at another time.

"What about now, Noct? You still can't feel pain?" Gladio asked, watching Noctis with concern.

Noctis shrugged and raised his arm slightly to Prompto who blinked at him in puzzlement.

"What?"

"Pinch me," Noctis said casually.

Prompto was positively alarmed by the prince's words, looking nervously at Cor and Gladio, expecting them to be on him in a second. When neither of them moved or said anything, he slowly brought his shaking, clammy hand up to pinch Noctis's inner elbow very, very lightly.

"I'm sorry!" he yelped suddenly when Noctis pulled back his arm in reflex. "Did that hurt?"

"Yeah… just a little."

"You sure?"

"You can trash me if you don't believe—"

"Noct!" Prompto cried. "Stop saying things like that."

Cor sighed tiredly. He really didn't have time for these kids' antics.

"Anyway," he started, "as for what was causing all this trouble in the first place, I think we have an answer for that. Sort of."

Both Noctis and Prompto looked at him. "You do?" they asked in unison.

"It's those junk food you had in your apartment, the ones I believe were brought over by Prompto."

Prompto looked confused at first, his wide eyes darting from Cor to Gladio and then to Noctis at his side. Cor could see the gears turning in his mind before traces of panic entered his eyes. "The ones I brought over?" he repeated, voice wavering.

"Yeah, the ones with the funky, lame-ass names," Gladio said, stepping closer towards Prompto. "Where did you get them?"

Prompto looked around uncertainly, the frame of his body shrinking.

"W-why? They're just chips and soda—"

"Fucking hell, Prompto. You don't have to look so scared. We just want to know from where you got them," Gladio assured, placing a hand on Prompto's shoulder which only made him shrink even more into himself.

"I got them from the convenience store near my place. I worked part-time there last summer and the manager was nice to me. I'd go say hi to him once in a while. I dropped by a few of weeks ago and he gave me a box of those tomato-flavoured chips. And I dropped by again last week and he gave me another box of those pea-flavoured ones and the spicy soda. He said they might be new products because he'd never seen them before. His store doesn't carry any of them."

"Wait, his store doesn't carry them? Then from where did he get them? Why did he give it to you?" Cor asked, frowning.

"He said a lady came by and gave him the box full of the tomato ones. And she came by again on another day with the box of peas and the soda. She told him to give the boxes to the 'nice sunny blonde boy with freckles.' The manager figured she meant me because I was the only person who'd worked there who fitted the description."

Cor's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who was she?"

Prompto shrugged. "I don't know but apparently she'd dropped by the convenience store once while I was still working there and I was, I dunno, nice to her maybe? I don't really know and I seriously don't remember meeting anyone like her."

"Did the store manager give you a description of this lady?"

"Uh, he just said she was very beautiful, had long burgundy hair and amber eyes. And that she looked a little out of place? It was raining really heavily that day she came to drop the first box— a super storm was coming the manager said— but she was wearing a sundress and a wide-brimmed hat like she was going on a summer vacation or something." Prompto looked up at Cor, puzzled. "But what's that got to do with anything?"

"The junk food. There were apparently two unidentified substances along with some other less significant ones mixed into the ingredients. The first one was found in the pea-flavoured chips and soda, and the second one in the tomato-flavoured. The guys at R&D are still looking at them but from the data they've gathered so far, they believe these substances could cause disturbances to the body system."

Prompto and Noctis looked shocked, exchanging worried glances with each other.

"Apparently, the one in the pea-flavoured chips and soda could cause the most disturbance to the brain, and I think that was the reason why Prompto was having some trouble with his memory for the past three days."

"You were?" Noctis asked, turning to Prompto.

"I was?" Prompto asked, blinking up at Gladio and Cor.

"Yeah, you were spouting some shitty nonsense," Gladio confirmed with a little annoyed look. "I almost smacked the shit outta you for the stupid things you were saying."

Cor cleared his throat pointedly, glaring at Gladio. "As for Noctis, you would've been affected by the substance too, I presume, if it wasn't for— and this is just my theory— if it wasn't for the Crystal's power flowing in you. I think the Crystal had put you into a deep sleep in order to protect your mind from going haywire while it worked to get the substance out of your system."

"So I could've been talking nonsense like Prompto if not because of the Crystal?"

"Not quite. The doctors took samples of your blood and Prompto's for testing and at first, everything seemed normal, they didn't find anything out of the ordinary. But then they reported dark flecks started to appear in the blood vials after some time. They managed to analyse the flecks and compared them to the substances they found in the junk food. They matched. There weren't a lot of dark flecks in Prompto's blood vial but in yours, Noctis, almost half of the blood had turned dark."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Noctis asked in alarm.

"It means that the amount of these unidentified substances was almost double in your blood than they were in Prompto's, and had the Crystal not protected you, you could've been experiencing severe disturbances to the mind or even lasting brain damage from the effects of one of those substances."

"That's crazy…" Prompto whispered in disbelief, staring at Noct like he would drop dead at any minute. "Wait— what about the other one? The other substance in the tomato-flavoured chips? I gave Noct a whole box of that shit."

Cor turned to Noctis. "You ate them?"

"Yeah. A lot actually," Noctis admitted, looking even guiltier and worried. "Like, the whole box."

"Gods, Noct. Iggy's gonna freak out when he hears this," Gladio said with an exasperated sigh. "Is damn junk food all you eat? You have to watch what you're eating."

Cor just ignored him and went on before Noctis could say a retort. "When did you eat them?"

"Two weekends ago, I think. And I've been eating them throughout of last week."

"That's about right, then," Cor said mostly to himself. "The other substance has the potential to make you feel constant pain all over your body. You wouldn't have been able to sit still or feel comfortable in your own skin. Noctis, you not being able to feel pain was probably due to the Crystal's power trying to protect you from that. It's a defense mechanism."

"Wait a sec. You mean Noct would've been in a lot of pain?" Gladio asked, incredulous. "What the hell?"

"You ate them too, right?" Noct turned to Prompto with sudden realization.

"Yeah but I only ate like a packet or so with you that night I brought them over. But my skin did feel prickly for a few days."

"You didn't eat any more of the chips after that?" Cor asked.

"No, I don't think so."

"I guess that's a good thing. As you don't have the power of the Crystal to protect you, you could've been in a lot of pain if you've eaten as much as Noctis did."

"Just curious, but how much pain are we talking here?" Prompto asked, rubbing his arms as if to make sure he was feeling fine. "It couldn't be that bad, right?"

"Painful enough for you to beg for death."

Prompto visibly shuddered at Cor's words. He had somehow dodged a bullet.

"But what are those substances?" Gladio asked. "How could they cause all this?"

"Like I said earlier, the researchers still couldn't determine what they really are as of now but what they do know, there are traces of something resembling daemon blood in them."

All three boys stared at him with their mouths opened in shock.

"What? Daemon blood?!" Noctis cried with a mix of disgust and disbelief.

"That's horrible! Are you saying we've actually consumed daemon blood?" Prompto moaned before making some retching noises.

"Why is something like that in some harmless junk food?" Gladio asked. "And why junk food of all things?"

Noctis turned to Prompto. "You think that lady has anything to do with it?"

"She could be targeting Noct through you," Gladio said.

Prompto shook his head. "I don't know, man. I mean, she was just some lady trying to be nice. She probably didn't know those things had freaking daemon blood in them."

"I wonder where she got them," Noctis contemplated, a finger tapping his chin.

"You kids don't have to worry about that now," Cor said, standing up looking a bit more relaxed than he ever did for the past three days, relieved now that the prince was awake and Prompto was himself again. "There's going to be an investigation regarding this incident but for now, just try not to worry about it. Noctis, you should go see your father— no before that, go see the doctor for check-ups. Gladio, take Your Highness to the doctor. Prompto, you stay here. You'll need further check-ups, too."

Noctis obediently got off the bed, turning to Prompto and giving him a little wave. "See you later," he said in a small voice and shuffled after Gladio out of the room.

Prompto twiddled with his fingers nervously when it was just him and Cor and the silence in the room.

"Sir, am I in trouble?" he asked quietly as he went on to fidget with the hem of his shirt. He was looking paler than ever. "This whole thing happened because of me. I was the one who brought all those junk food to Noct. I tried to hurt him… even though I didn't mean it."

Cor sat back on the stool, looking directly at Prompto. "There would be some questionings you'd have to sit through but now that we know the circumstances, and I trust what Noctis has told us just now was the truth, I don't think you'd be in any kind of trouble. So, don't worry about it, kid."

Prompto looked at him, eyes full of hope. "A-are you sure?"

"Yes. I know that Noctis is a prince and can be very demanding about what he wants, but try not to get swept away by his whims next time," Cor said, clapping Prompto fondly on the shoulder as he got up.

Prompto smiled up at him, his body sagging with relief. "That might be a little hard to do but I'll try my best, sir."

Cor looked at the smiling kid and somehow he felt himself smiling, too.

"I'm sure you will, Prompto."

.o.o.o.

Prompto didn't bother switching on the lights in the living room when he entered his house, trudging up the stairs with a groan as he made his way to his room. He let his body crash into his narrow but comfortable bed as soon as he reached it, a long sigh escaping him as he buried his face in his pillow.

What a long damn weekend. The whole thing was a mess, like some weird fever dream.

He shifted to lie on his back and stared up at his cobwebbed ceiling, the yellowing plaster spotted brown from rain water that had leaked through the roof over the years.

He wondered how Noct was doing.

He didn't actually get to see him again after they separated at the Crownsguard medical wing that morning. A nurse had taken him to see some more nurses and doctors for further check-ups and after a whole long afternoon of some tests, prodding and more questionings, they finally let him leave the Crownsguard building. By that time, the day was already nearing dusk.

Gladio had come to fetch him, telling him Noct was still busy with check-ups and royal whatnots and wouldn't be able to see him again today. Prompto was disappointed to hear that. He really wanted to see Noct but he was glad when Gladio told him he was free to leave the Citadel. After what had happened over the weekend, being at the Citadel was just too nerve-wracking for him at that moment.

"Hey, Prompto. I'm sorry for being a bit rough with you these past few days," Gladio had said as he escorted him to the Citadel main building.

Prompto was surprised to hear Gladio apologizing to him out of nowhere. He wasn't even expecting an apology because honestly, he didn't think Gladio had wronged him in any way, not like he remembered much about what actually happened. Besides, he probably deserved being treated that way.

"It's okay. You're just doing your job, right?"

"Yeah, I know. But still." Gladio shrugged. "So, no hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings." Prompto almost stumbled down a few step of stairs from the good-natured slap in the back Gladio had given him.

Cor himself had driven Prompto home in his Crownsguard-issued black car which happened to be the fanciest vehicle Prompto had ridden in in his whole life. Cor had ignored his protests when he said he could just take the city bus to get home.

"I'm treating you to dinner before taking you home, kid. You're too damn scrawny," Cor had said as he drove through the traffic of the Crown City. It left Prompto speechless and even more nervous.

Dinner with The Immortal himself?

The thought of it was both a nightmare and a dream at once. In the end, Prompto decided it was a nice dream, after all. Cor had brought him to a quaint little eating place at the outskirt of the city—his favourite place to wind down after a hard, stressful day, Cor had said—and ordered him several hot delicious meals that Prompto had never eaten before and had trouble pronouncing some of their names.

When he got home, full and dead-tired, he just wanted to lie down and sleep.

But he should shoot Noct a text first.

Prompto slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants and realized his phone wasn't actually there. Right. Gladio said he'd chucked it in his school bag days ago when they brought him to the Citadel, and Prompto had unthinkingly dumped his bag at the front door when he got home earlier before slogging up the stairs to his room.

He had no energy left to go back downstairs for his phone. He was sure it'd been dead for days with how his battered, outdated phone could last up to only half a day without charging.

Prompto covered his eyes with his arm, sighing again. He'd just realized tomorrow was a school day and he'd missed a couple of days already this week. Not good. And homework! He just remembered there were tons of homework from last week that he hadn't even touched. And all of the school books were there downstairs in his bag.

"This sucks…" Prompto's mumbled words were mostly a sigh.

He didn't know why but he felt so exhausted, like he'd just run a hundred miles. It was weird because according to Cor, he mostly spent his time sleeping for the past three days, besides being out of himself.

He wanted to talk to Noct, ask him if he was alright. But at the same time, he was a little afraid to talk to him. He felt guilty. He was essentially the cause of all this trouble. He was the one who accepted suspicious food from a stranger. He was the one who brought them over to Noct without checking if they were safe or not, always forgetting that Noct was actually a fucking prince and his safety always came first. Prompto was the one at fault.

Maybe… maybe he shouldn't be friends with Noct in the first place if all it did was create trouble for him. But the thought of not being friends with Noct anymore…

Prompto squeezed his eyes shut tighter, trying to push away the pain that came with the thought of not having Noct as a friend anymore.

He needed to apologize to him. Tell him he didn't mean any harm, that he never would want to hurt him for any reason. But because of his useless self, he'd gotten Noct into trouble—into danger! What if the Crystal hadn't protected Noct from those daemon blood substances? What if the substances were potent enough to override or null the Crystal's power? Would Noct have suffered from the effects? Begged for a merciful death to escape the pain enveloping his body, the rotting and dementia of his mind? What would Prompto have done to help? What could have he done to help? Nothing. All he could do was probably watch his friend deteriorate in agony and feel guilty.

What a horrible, sickening thought.

Prompto felt his mind go numb, falling into a fitful sleep with all these thoughts and feeling of guilt churning inside of him, turning into a vicious storm in his head.

.o.o.o.

The next day, Prompto had gone to school earlier than usual.

The sun had just risen, the sky still a little dark up above, the horizon alight with a soft glow; a beautiful morning, but he couldn't help tapping his fingers against the side of his thigh as he waited by the school entrance for Noct to arrive. Actually, he wasn't even sure if Noct was coming today. Maybe he needed more rest? Had to go through some more tests? He hoped not because that would suck.

Prompto had woken up from a nightmare at around three last night, trashing in bed sweating buckets with his limbs tangled in his blanket. He couldn't get back to sleep after that, the memory of that nightmare haunting him, of Noct bleeding from a big ugly wound in his chest and Prompto was unable to get to him, to save him as he was shackled to a contraption.

He tried to forget the images from the nightmare by going for an early morning run. It helped a little, the cool refreshing air calming him. It was still too early when he'd gotten back home but he didn't want to be alone in the house with his thoughts anymore so he decided to just go to school early.

He stood staring at the lightening sky now, thinking he had more or less an hour before Noct would show up when a familiar sleek black car came rolling and pulled up right in front of him. The back passenger door opened and out stepped Noct. His eyes met Prompto's, looking relieved but that slowly turned into a frown. Prompto glanced nervously at the driver as the window of the front door rolled down. He couldn't help noticing the way Ignis was sharply staring at him.

"Have a good day at school, Your Highness," he said to Noct, giving Prompto a curt little nod before driving away.

"Noct, you're early—"

"Were you thinking of getting rid of me?" Noct burst out angrily, taking steps closer towards Prompto until he was pushed flat against the wall behind him.

Prompto stared, wide-eyed. "Huh? W-what are you talking about, Noct?"

"Why did you turn off your phone? I sent you hundreds of texts and called you so many times and none of that got through! You really think you can get rid of me that easily?"

"What? Noct, calm down. I wasn't— I wasn't trying to get rid of you! My phone died. It's been dead for days. And last night I was just too exhausted to dig it out of my school bag let alone charge it. It's still in here somewhere buried at the bottom," Prompto explained, grabbing his school bag and making exaggerated shoving gestures with it.

Noct stared at him, the frown on his face slowly disappearing, the hard look in his eyes turning soft.

"… Really? You weren't trying to avoid me?"

"Of course not. Why would I do that when all I wanted was to see you?"

Noct blinked, looking sheepish at his own misunderstanding, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh. Oh okay. It's just that… knowing you, I thought you'd blame yourself for everything that's happened…" He looked at Prompto, studying his face and a look of pain entered in his eyes. "Oh no… you do blame yourself, don't you? Don't do that, Prompto. Please."

Prompto looked down at his hands, feeling the guilt growing inside him.

"I… I'm sorry, Noct. It was because of me—"

"Come on, Prompto. It's okay, alright? I mean, I'm sorry too. I kept forcing you to do whatever I wanted, I didn't think how stupid I was being, how much trouble it'd be for you. I didn't even consider your feelings. So… it was my fault too." Noct looked at him through the fringes of his hair, a guilty look on his face. "I'm sorry," he said, voice soft.

Prompto couldn't help letting out a light little laugh. "I guess we're both sorry, then. It's okay, Noct. C'mon, let's not say sorry anymore."

Noct smiled at his words.

"So… you're good now?" Prompto asked.

"Yeah. I still have to do a couple more tests just to be sure but the doctor said everything's back to normal."

"That's a relief."

"But Dad said we can't have any more gaming nights."

Prompto's face fell at that. Their Friday gaming night was one of the few things that brightened up his life, but the King had now decreed it forbidden.

"Well, that sucks. Expected, but still sucks."

"But it's only for a month," Noct added with a little mischievous grin.

Prompto could hardly believe his ears but the delight was already showing on his face.

"Really? And then we can play together again?"

"Yeah, but Ignis and Gladio insisted on joining us."

Prompto scoffed. "Royal babysitters, huh. But I guess it'll be a lot more fun with more people to play with."

"It's better than nothing," Noct said with a shrug. He studied Prompto for a few moments then. "What about you? You okay? You look like you didn't get enough sleep last night."

Immediately, fragments from his nightmare came flooding back to Prompto.

"Uh… I'm good, never better," he assured, smiling as to not make Noct worry about him.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Noct was quiet for a while, thinking. "Did anyone say anything… unpleasant to you?"

"Um, no?" Prompto wondered if Noct was worried that he was hurt by anyone's words. "No one said anything nasty to me, Noct."

"Not too sure about that. Gladio wasn't being the nicest to you back at the Citadel."

Prompto laughed then. "About that, he actually apologized to me before I left the Citadel yesterday."

"Gladio did?"

"Yeah. He looked genuinely sorry, too."

"That's good then." Noct rubbed the back of his neck again, shifting his gaze away. "Glad that no one said anything hurtful to you."

"The Marshal did tell me not to get swept away by your whims again, though," Prompto said with a chuckle.

Noct scoffed, trying to hide a smile. "Good advice, I guess."

The school bell chimed right then, its melodious peals breaking the morning silence, blending with the sounds of hurried footsteps and voices of the students as a steady stream of latecomers rushed through the school gate.

"That's enough talk. We better get going," Prompto said, punching Noct playfully on the shoulder with a fist that probably packed a bit too much power.

"Hey, that actually hurts!" Noct whined.

"Oh, you feel the pain! Glad you're back to normal, you weirdo prince."

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***End***

Author's Note

6 December 2021

In the end, the culprit is junk food XD

Thank you everyone for reading this story. I hope you enjoyed it!

By the way, the lady in the sundress with burgundy hair and amber eyes is actually a character from my other fic, Let's Play Zap the Prince (she messes around with Noct in that one). I was too lazy to create a new evil person for this story so I just stole her from that one.