Day 43:

Someone pounded on his door.

"Five more minutes." Noctis rolled over and dragged his pillow over his head.

"Noct! Get up."

Weird. Ignis didn't usually sound so much like Gladio. Sure, there was the closed door to consider, but muffle didn't usually affect accents.

The pounding resumed. "Ignis is gone."

"He's what?" Noctis made the mistake of trying to sit up and get out of bed at the same time. His face hit the ground.

"Gone," Gladio repeated. "Left a note in his room."

After some ingenious thinking and a lot of wiggling, Noctis managed to pull his legs free of the blankets and get to the door. He yanked it open.

"A note?"

Gladio thrust it under his nose.

Noctis,

I am sorry to leave in this fashion. But I have chosen to do so for—I suspect—much the same reason Reina did: because I fear I will either be stopped or accompanied if I inform you of my plans before they are in motion.

I am going to find Reina. I daresay she will not be convinced to return; His Majesty knew as much when he failed to send you after her. But she will need allies on whom she can count. I hope to be one.

I realize I have duties to you, which I will neglect in pursuit of Reina. But I also have responsibilities to Reina, which I would neglect by remaining in Insomnia. Though, in all these years, I have primarily served as your retainer, caretaker, adviser, and any other role you required of me, His Majesty's orders to me made no distinction between the two of you. He asked me to take care of his children; to be a friend and a brother to both of you. To date, I have judged that your need was greater than Reina's, which is why I have been primarily at your side alone. Things have since changed.

That you have need of me now, I have no doubt. But Reina's need is greater. You will do admirably with or without my help.

I must go with Reina. I hope you will understand this.

Ever yours,

Ignis

Noctis had to read it through twice before the reality of the situation registered in his brain. By then he was staring open-mouthed at Ignis' handwriting.

He was gone. Ignis was gone.

He was never gone. Not even when Noctis wished he would go away, he was still there, just in case Noct needed anything. It had always been like that. As far back as Noctis could remember. How could he just… not be there anymore?

Noctis went back inside his room and fumbled for his phone. Specs was probably still pretty close by. Noct would just call him and…

Well, he'd figure the rest out later.

The phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

And went to Ignis' voicemail.

Right. So. He wasn't just going to call Ignis. Maybe he was just somewhere he couldn't talk on the phone. That was probably it. Noctis sent him a text instead. He would read it and respond as soon as he could. Really soon. Like in a minute tops, because that was how Ignis always responded to text messages.

"So… what're we gonna do?" Gladio asked.

"Do?" Noctis tapped his phone against his chin, waiting.

"Y'know. About the kingdom? We've got stuff to take care of, right?"

Right. The kingdom. Various princely duties. Except Noctis had no idea what those were without Ignis following him around steering him in the right direction and making list after list of stuff he needed to do. Never thought he'd miss those lists.

Well, Ignis would probably just tell him what he needed to deal with when he texted back. He'd probably written it all out before he left or something. He always thought like that.

Around five minutes in, Noctis sent another text. Maybe he just hadn't gotten it. Maybe it had gotten lost or he hadn't heard the notification. That was probably it.

After the fifth message, the denial was wearing off. And the panic was setting in.

Noct didn't know how to run a kingdom. He didn't know how to do any of this stuff without Ignis to fill in the blanks. He didn't even know where to start. He couldn't do this without Ignis. But Ignis was gone and he wasn't answering his phone. He wasn't going to. He wasn't going to text back detailed instructions or hang on the phone so Noct could ask questions whenever he needed to.

Prompto and Gladio had both tried Ignis' phone too. Just in case. They didn't get any further than Noct.

Eventually someone started wondering where Noct was and sent a servant to check on him. A servant who was noticeably relieved to find Noct alive and in his rooms. Guess no one wanted to tell Dad that Noct had gone missing too, after this whole thing with Reina.

At that point he couldn't see any other choice but to go down and try to figure out what he was supposed to be doing and how. He kept his phone on him, just in case, but as hours passed, his hope of Ignis calling him back diminished.

People in the Citadel were eager to tell Noct what he was supposed to be doing—including a couple things he should have done already but had forgotten about because Ignis was supposed to remember that and remind him. Also, it was a lot more clear that Noct didn't know the names of any of these probably-important government officials whom he had been working with for a few weeks now. Ignis always muttered names in his ear when he walked into a meeting. Told him what everyone's job was. That had been… helpful.

He dragged through the day like that. Gladio and Prompto weren't nearly as good at Ignis' job as Ignis was. Anyone in the Citadel who had thought Noct was doing a halfway decent job of anything was now rethinking. Back to the screw-up prince who doesn't do much and never does it right.

"Noctis." His dad caught him in the hallway, somewhere between meetings he had forgotten to go to.

It was still weird to see Dad like that. All young again like they'd gone back fifteen or twenty years. Nice. But weird. If Noct had grown a beard, it might almost have looked like they were related for once. Dad had his retinue and Noct had… well, just Gladio and Prompto but that was all of them right now. That was about where the similarities between them ended. Dad probably did not need Clarus to tell him where he was supposed to go next.

"Hey, Dad."

"Is everything alright? I have had more than one person ask after your health, citing that you seemed off-balance today."

"Uh. Yeah. I'm fine." Noctis ran his fingers through his hair. How was he supposed to tell his dad that he was only a halfway decent heir when Ignis was around? He sure wasn't going to lie after that whole thing with Rei. "Just… uh… Ignis is gone."

"Gone?" His eyebrows came together in the middle.

"Yeah. He went after Rei. Early this morning, I guess."

His dad looked momentarily surprised. Like for some reason it hadn't occurred to him Ignis would want to do that. Hadn't really occurred to Noctis, either. It should have, but it hadn't. Ignis was always there. Why would he ever not be?

"I see… It seems I have misjudged young Ignis."

Noct wasn't really sure what that meant, but alright.

"Very well," his dad said. "I can see why that might have you out of your element. In any case, what's done is done; we must all learn to adapt in his absence. We will see to it that you have an attendant—not as a replacement for Ignis, but simply because it is quite impossible to fit everything in your mind at once. Your attendant will not know what is important and what must be written down, but they will record as instructed and organize a schedule for you. Not even I know where I am meant to be before Avun tells me."

Behind him, Mr Scientia bowed. "I'm honored, Your Majesty."

Right. So. He didn't need to remember all that stuff at once. That was one hell of a relief. But he still needed to know who people were and what they did and how they could help. Somehow, Noct didn't think Mr Scientia reminded Dad who his councilors were before every meeting.

"Right. Thanks. That's… good to know," Noctis said.

"Have you spoken with Ignis since his departure?"

Noct glanced automatically at his phone. No texts, no calls. "No. He's not calling me back… hope he's okay."

"I have no doubt he will be quite alright, most especially if he has found Reina. He is a capable young man." His dad squeezed Noctis' shoulder. "You will be fine, my son."