"Mmgh… Uhh…"

He could feel sheets on top of him. A mattress under him. He also felt pain. Pain in every part of his aching body. It was a struggle to try and wake up. He'd felt this before. But where? And who was he anyway?

"Shh, I think he's waking!"

"Really? How did you come across this guy again, Sice?"

"Me? It was Ace!"

"He doesn't seem like a student I know…"

"No uniform. Guy showed up outta nowhere burnt to bacon. Prolly' no good…"

He opens his eyes a crack, and instantly regrets it. A brunette, with a blood red scarf, stares at him in great curiosity with dark blue eyes, only centimeters from his face.

"Ah!" She pulls back out of surprise, "He's awake!"

"Deuce, you're too loud!" A boy with light blue eyes and short blonde hair seems flustered. He steps up, "Um, hello. Are you alright?"

"… Uh …"

"Do … Do you have a headache? Pain? You shouldn't move too much. Those were some nasty burns…"

"… Ngh…" Disregarding the warning, the stranger sits up. Arcs of pain send him into spasms, and he doubles over in pain, gritting his teeth and breathing hard.

"Well, let's go Ace. Let the nurse take care of this," A tall, messy blonde with a scarred face and light blue eyes ushers the girl and boy out. He is followed by a girl with white hair in a messy ponytail. She tosses the stranger a queer look before leaving the room empty of visitors.

"Oh, good, they left!"

A woman in a doctor's coat enters. She has long black hair, pinned up in a neat, tight bun and hazel eyes. Looking to the stranger in bed, she clicks her tongue.

"Looks like your bandages need changing now."

The woman pulls off his sheets with a rough hand. With commands not to be disobeyed, she has the stranger sitting quietly as she unwraps the soiled linen bandages that cover most of his body. When peeled away, the skin beneath seems to be healing slowly, but surely. Red, oozing rawness remains on some of the burns. After the body is done changing, she proceeds to change the wrappings on his head, arms and legs.

"You must've been in quite the fire, stranger. Ace told me you were much worse than you are now."

"… Ace?"

"Ah, so you speak. He was the one who bought you in. The one with the short blonde hair. Such a silly boy. Now, almost done …"

The nurse finishes quickly enough. She ushers him back to resting before leaving the room. The stranger, utterly confused and at a loss for everything, feels exhaustion overcome pain and he eases into well-meaning rest.

...

It's dark. There is fire burning, scattering grotesque shadows that dance in the firelight. They seem to have smiles and evil looking expressions. A voice calls out to him from seemingly nowhere, pleading and soft:

"Noctis … NOCTIS, NO!"

He turns here and there but sees only the sneering shadows encroaching. A familiar name leaps of its own will off his lips:

"Luna! LUNA! Where …"

"She's neither here nor there, I'm afraid."

A man, robed in black with grey and white trim, a messy head of red-violet hair, and a black wing adorning his left arm, materializes out of nowhere and stands in the midst of the shadows. The figure pulls out a black fedora from nowhere and puts it on his head before looking straight at Noctis again, revealing a pale face with black sclera, gold pupils and black dripping marks running down his face. He smiles mockingly.

"And why would she? Oracles time and time again have spurned me."

The prince bares his teeth at the despicable former vizier of the Niflheim Empire, "…Ardyn."

"Yes. Surprised to see me?"

"You're supposed to be gone! The prophecy –"

"The prophecy, oh sweet words of the Great Kings, yes. But, how much of it can one actually trust?"

"Better them than you!" Noctis summons a spear and points it at Ardyn, ready to charge, "Why are you even here? The Usurper is supposed to be extinguished!"

"Indeed. And it is. The specter you view before you is powerless," Ardyn spreads his arms wide, "Yet, the darkness lives. Don't you see?"

The shadows seem to grin. From them come many, many ugly forms of Daemons. They twist and wriggle as they birth from the shadows.

Noctis growls, "Why the hell won't you rest in peace!?"

Ardyn seems surprised by the question, "…Well how can I?"

"AAAAGHH!"

Noctis charges forth, spear raised. The tip pierces and enters Ardyn's body like a knife through butter. It slides out through his back, and blood gushes out of the wound on both ends. It stains the shaft of the spear and spurts, flecking Noctis's face and hands.

"Ohh…" Ardyn moans in seeming pain.

Noctis, detecting a hint of mockery, twists the spear deeper into the chest wound. More blood spills and dribbles onto the floor. Ardyn's head lifts to face Noctis, but then … it wasn't Ardyn.

The face of Lunafreya, teary and soot-stained, looks up to the Prince. Noctis' expression pales as realization of the deed dawns on him. He looks into her blue eyes, red-rimmed with tears, and his hand shakes as he feels blood, her blood, drip down the spear shaft. She coughs, staining her lips crimson, before falling backward. His loosened grip allows her body weight to take the spear with it as she falls to the ground, landing with barely a sound. She lay there, still, with the spear still impaled in her chest. A red blossoms from the wound, staining her white dress and the ground. Her eyes are dull, yielding no response. The last of her tears slide down the side of her face.

Noctis' hands shake violently as they flop lifelessly to his side. He can only gaze at her lifeless form lying there. His breath quickens. A scream of absolute despair claws itself up his throat and burns his body from the inside.

Around him, the Daemons tear free of the shadows and approach, remaining in a ring around him and the fallen Oracle. Many of them seem to grin, and they bow to him.

"N-No… NO!" Noctis frantically looks down at his bloodied hands, then to the Daemons bowing, "NO! I … I'm the Savior! The darkness… NO-!"

He feels a burning from the core of his being. Hotter than Ifrit's fire. Distraught, he looks to see a landscape of ash and flame behind the Daemons. The flames leap high and shimmer with a face like a mirror. Reflected in the flame mirror's shine, the prince sees his own eyes, golden and fiery. As he stares in horror, his clothes disintegrate, as though burned from within, revealing his skin that is now scarred with glowing red cracks, as though under the influence of the Ring. However, it felt much more sinister, like something was crawling under his skin …

The grinning Daemons and their ominous shadows start a chant low, which soon rises in volume as their multitudes appear subsequently.

"ASHES TO LUCII, ASHES TO EOS…"

"AAAAAAAAGHHHH!" The Prince feels his skull about ready to split in two.

Images. Impulse. They race in his mind like a raging pestilence, unwilling to be quelled. Images of a king, a king's brother, an outcast, cast out to the darkness, fed on by the vultures, propped up as a toy by the people, his people, whom he'd assisted so many a time. Impulse, the impulse to destroy, to weep and cry in despair, in the dark. The impulse to wrest fate from the gods, and dominate it, purge the weak and become strong, strong enough to rival those who dared to condemn him to such a fate. Revenge against the line of the Lucii.

"No… N…" Noctis feels his voice catch in his throat. It was hopeless. He'd become unclean. Tainted. This future of fire and destruction that awaited him … His brothers were no longer here. Iris … Luna … Father … he was utterly alone.

"Banishga."

A godsend. Rays of light propel out of the ground, expelling the horrid images. The Daemons howl in madness as they are pierced by the shafts erupting around them. The flames pale in radiance to the light, and the landscape of fire and darkness is swept away by white. Noctis hears the soft growl of Ardyn as the last traces of his nightmare fade in retreat. He looks down. The cracks have turned a silvery grey and stopped glowing. He remained half-naked in this now white space.

"… Luna? Is… Is that you?" He glances around hopefully. He'd never seen white magic like that before.

"I'm afraid not."

He turns to the unfamiliar voice. Facing him is a woman in a layered white top and slim flared pants, a little over five feet tall, enshrouded in an enigmatic aura. Her skin is somewhat pale, contrasting with her long black hair which is largely held back with a lavender headband. Her hazel eyes stared into him from behind red rimmed glasses. She casually holds a cigarette-in-a-holder in one gloved hand, lit and smoking.

"You aren't from around here at all, are you, boy? You rather fit the role of a L'Cie. Who sent you?"

"What? L'Cie? What's that? And who are you?"

She takes a drag from her cigarette and blows out a multihued vapor, "I am Arecia... Or what is the memory of her here. Hm, puzzling. You clearly have been touched by a Crystal, no?"

"Crystal … You mean the Eos Crystal?" Memories of the stone of legend return to the prince, "Yeah, I'm the Chosen One …"

"Strange indeed. I suppose others have decided on similar means as I did… You come from Eos, you said? The name rings a bell. I can't be sure if it was a friend or foe…"

"… Look, thanks for saving me and all. Really. But …" Noctis shakes his head in slight bewilderment, "I don't know where I am or what I'm doing here. I need to find someone. Luna. Do you have any idea at all…"

"No," Arecia blows out another puff of smoke, colored differently, "I don't care too much for affairs of the others. You must come from a world of magic, I assume. This may be surprising, so I shall elucidate for you as slow as I can. You are here in Orience. It was once a world where Crystals were the subject of wars. However, it is now a simple world without magic or Crystals. Its inhabitants are but the simple folk that populate the world currently."

She tilts her head slightly at him, "You'll stick out like a sore thumb if you use magic, in other words."

Noctis looks to his hands. He wills his engine sword to appear. It obeys and pops into existence in his hand. The familiar blue flecks of magic flutter. The mysterious woman clicks her tongue.

"None of that please. Orience has seen enough blood at the hands of such things," She taps the holder with her index finger, making ashes fall from the butt of the cigarette, "So tell me, how did you come by to this world?"

"I'm from Eos. I'd recently just … met up with my fiancée, Luna. But … at the gates of Etro to the afterlife, we-"

"WHAT?!" Arecia jolts at the last statement, "The Gates? You found the gates?! And … yet … you live?"

"Uh …" Noctis is slightly taken aback by the reaction, "She's … the watcher of the afterlife… so, after we die, we go to her gate …"

Arecia looks at him with a new interest glimmering in her eyes. Her fingers toy with the holder so the cigarette twirls in little circles, "… after 600,104,971 cycles I failed to find the doors … and yet, you… hehehe…"

She laughs quietly to herself for a few seconds, unnerving Noctis. After the laughter stops, she looks at him with a forlorn smile.

"It seems it was all in vain, Diva. This world remains anchored to the gods…"

"Wh-What are you talking about? Who are you talking to?" Noctis asks, uneasy.

"You are one chosen by deities, by the Fal'Cie. You are Agito, able to find and approach the doors to Etro's Realm without actually dying. That you stand here, in the Orience without Crystals, is an omen that the Maker … no, the Creator, is returning," Arecia takes a long drag and blows out ashen smoke, "It will be the end of the world as we know it …"

"I-I don't get a single thing you're talking about …"

"You'll be able to use your magic freely again soon, boy. Until then, I shall pray and consult Gala and Diva … so this world might be saved. But if not," Her eyes train on him with a look of firm conviction, "Promise me you'll protect my children."

"What?"

"Class Zero. If this world should fall, protect them."

"Wait, but who are you exactly? How are you in my dreams? And this world … why can't you protect your children? I don't even know them…"

She looks down at the empty space they float in for a second, impassive almost, "I retreated from this world's fate so they may live lives free from gods. Gala slumbers and Diva is a do-nothing. I took the Crystals away. I can no longer interfere in Orience. My children no longer know me as 'mother.' No one remembers anything about the Orience that was. Thus, I must find another to do as I desire. You, boy, will be my L'Cie."

"Look, lady, I don't know-"

Arecia closes the distance between them in a flash. Noctis' eyes widen in surprise. Her face is only inches from his own, though her shorter stature made the movement less intimidating.

"Calm yourself. As a measure of good will…"

She blows a puff of smoke in his face.

"Cure."

He coughs. But before he can respond, he whiteness of the space suddenly engulfs his vision, drowning him out. Arecia disappears into the melding white space, smiling.

…

The white of the curtains billowing in the wind greet the prince as he awakes, cured of his fugue.

"…" He sits up. The pain from earlier that was so sudden does not occur despite him expecting it. He feels his wounds ache, but no unbearable pain. It was as if someone'd used a potion on him.

Was that all a dream…?

He shifts, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and steps onto the cold tiled floor. Two navy blue slippers lie near the foot of the bed. He slips them on. They're a bit too big for him. A bathrobe hangs by a door to his right. He dons it, seeing as he was only wearing pants and bandages.

Hobbling slightly, he quickly regains his coordination and shuffles out the door he recalls the people with the red capes leave through. The nurse seems to be absent and there's not a lot of people out in the corridor. Perfect.

He walks casually out of his room, hoping his balance wouldn't suddenly give. People barely gave him a second glance. He walks out the end of the corridor, arriving to a concourse. Ahead, the corridor continues in a fashion identical with the hall he'd just walked. To his left, a tall threshold opens to a wide expanse of green grass, with a building wall on the far opposing side. On his right, a staircase leads up to a large foyer, though he can't really discern to where it leads. People in various colored scarves and uniform populate this area.

Feeling some wary eyes on him, Noctis makes a break for the wide expanse and comes running out into a field of cut green grass. It is a large but walled area, with buildings encompassing the rectangle. There appears to be a single person in the center. The figure turns to face Noctis as he approaches. Noctis recognizes him to be the tall blonde from earlier, the one with a scarred face. He's holding a thin rod javelin in his right hand. He looks at Noctis with a peeved expression.

"Hey, you're that guy in the infirmary! What're you doin' outta bed? Does the nurse know this?"

"Uhh…" Noctis stammers slightly. A jolt suddenly runs through his mind and he sees this same person, but in a different uniform, wielding a spear. He seems to throw his weight and arrogant attitude around, and others refer to him as …

"Nine … right?"

The blonde seems shocked at the address, "H-hey you know me or something? Well, I mean, heh, I'm … pretty popular on campus. Even if I … can't have Ms. Emina … heh …"

Nine falls silent suddenly, his head hung. Noctis attempts to peer at his face.

"Uh, you ok-"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Without warning, Nine makes a 180 turn and charges, javelin raised. He tosses it as far as he can towards the other end of the field.

"Ms. Eminaaaaa! Ugh, WHY?!"

With the javelin thrown, his shoulders slump and he begins bawling. Noctis starts to back away, unsure of the unstable youth. He backs into another person.

"Uh," Noctis whirls to apologize, "S-sorry…"

He turns to face a tall blonde with long hair and hard, red eyes. The visual stimulus triggers another jolt. Images. This man, and his two handguns … King. Noctis avoids blurting out the name. King looks to him impassively, then walks past him without another glance.

"…Watch it."

Noctis peers over his shoulder just to glance as King comforts Nine. The prince shakes his head. What are these memories? Did that Arecia woman plant them in his head? What were they even for?

Names, coupled with accompanying images of twelve individuals, swim in his head. Ace, Deuce, Trey, Cater, Cinque, Sice, Seven, Eight, Nine, Jack, Queen, and King …

"My children."

Noctis places a hand on his forehead to still his swimming brain. The identities came with information that swelled in size gradually. Rubrum, Milites, Lorica, Concordia, nations of Orience … A soft chorus of student's voices in song …

"…Are you okay?"

Noctis snaps out of his daze to look into the eyes of the short-haired blonde from earlier. This was the one the nurse called … Ace.

"Uh … Yeah," Noctis nods, "I'm fine. Thanks. You, uh, found me, I think?"

"Oh, yeah. I found you on the roads at the other side of school. I could swear," Ace laughs a little nervously, "I coulda sworn you fell outta the sky. I-If you want, I can show you. I doubt the janitor's cleaned up the soot marks yet …"

"Uh…," Noctis decides not to be rude, "Thanks."

Ace walks off to the side of the field, with Noctis following. The building that walls the field has archways leading to the open yard of the school, a lawn crisscrossed with white tiled paths speckled with students. A few gazebos dot the terrain, bordering where small artificial ponds run about into a closed mini-canal system that runs below some of the paths, providing for a rather scenic walkway.

"Uh, by the way," Ace strikes up conversation as they walk, "I never got your name."

"Noctis."

"Oh, well, I'm Ace. So, um …" Ace seems to ponder a bit, "You've got me all curious as to where you came from, Noctis. But you, uh, don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Oh … Thanks…?" Noctis clumsily acknowledges the equally clumsy gesture, "So, ahem… Where did you find me?"

"Oh, just over there…" Ace points to a spot just a little away from their standpoint. Warning indicators are set up around the area, which is blackened, "Wow… It's still smoking…"

Noctis approaches slowly to peer at where Ace points. There is a black ring of soot encircling charred matter on the white stone tiles. The nearby grass seems to be yellowing and singed. Gray smoke rises sluggishly from the char.

Noctis swallows. The memory isn't pleasant. Both being hit head-on by Ifrit's fireball and the nightmare where he caught on fire. He turns to look at Ace.

"I … fell out of the sky?"

"Uhh, I didn't really see … It was all a fast surprise. I was about a foot away, then it was like FWOOM!" Ace makes a brisk swoosh motion with his arms, "There was fire! I'll admit, I guess I didn't see you fall down or crash, but it was pretty sudden … I beat the flames out with the help of some nearby students and I almost took you for dead! Nonetheless, we took you to the nurse posthaste and, well, you were out for only a few hours at most. Actually, you're moving around remarkably well compared to when you first woke up."

"Heh, just lucky, I guess …" Noctis looks thoughtfully down at the scorched ground. What could he tell Ace? Arecia said this world was one without magic, so he'd be the black sheep. But how could he get out of here then? He wishes he'd asked the arch-sorceress.

"Uh, so, Noctis, you hungry? It's about lunchtime."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sounds good…"

Noctis turns to follow Ace as they turn around, back to Akademeia. A lingering cloud hangs over the prince's head. How in the world was he going to see Luna again?

Part 1 of 2 FFT0

Sorry for the long wait. Ended up splitting the work a bit.