I'm really happy about the reactions the prologue had. We have a longer chapter to set things up. I hope the action I wrote won't feel too confusing. I'm struggling with the words a bit today. I wonder how you'll react when you read who's Noctis' baby brother. OwO Have a good time reading.

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Stranded

Chapter 1 – Belated awakening

"The boy won't learn."

"He can't muster any sort of magic."

"He's only a child." Regis observed, his hand covering the prince's head.

Noctis was trying to stand on his own instead of clinging to his father's pants, but all he wanted was to cower against the king's chest and hide until the other men finished their talk. He had been through the crystal's trials and had failed. He was a mere five years old, his mother gone after giving birth to his baby brother and it was hard to face the disappointment everyone felt when he walked into a room.

"We must make something out of him."

The boy was too small to learn any fighting style yet. And although he could warp through matter, having inherited some sort of powers from his exposition to the crystal, he couldn't seem to absorb elements, not even when his teachers were nice to him.

Regis shuffled his hair, ordering his men to stand down. Noctis tried to control the quiver in his upper lip, but as soon as his father raised him from the floor, he curled into a tight ball.

"I'm sorry," came his voice through muffled sobs.

"There's no need to apologize, Noct. I know this might not sound like it right now, but you were blessed, in a sense. It won't be an easy life."

But there are sacrifice you won't have to make, his father had surely thought to himself as he stroked his back.

…

Noctis felt anything but blessed. He had been kicked out of his home, chased down by the people he'd called "friend", all because his so-called brother had framed him for something so horrible… If he ever managed to see Ravus again, he might actually murder him.

That would be ironic, he thought bitterly as he sharpened his blade.

The alarm had resounded early in the morning. Luna had squirmed out of his arms, almost smacking him in the face with her elbow, to retrieve her phone and check the news. Noctis had gathered his clothes, wondering if this night was an exception or a new and durable arrangement. He couldn't help but stare at her as she sat in bed, her skin covering with goosebumps. She was milky white, almost too pale, veins showed here and there. He'd traced their patterns all over her skin, kissing all the little scars, the bumps and imperfections that made her feel more real. He'd never felt this way about a woman before and wanted to pin it on the situation and how vulnerable he'd been ever since he was exiled. But when her eyes caught his staring and she mouthed the words "get your ass over here", he gave up half of his doubts.

This unorthodox princess was a keeper.

"The Nifs have been spotted moving out." She told him. "We'll meet them up as soon as I'm dressed, but I wanted things to be clear."

She tugged on his pants, the young man happy to follow and push her back into bed, half kneeling half straddling her.

"Last night will happen again." Luna stated.

"You didn't need to ask, your highness."

He leaned in for a kiss, only to feel her index on his lips.

"I'll keep calling you Cael in front of the soldiers… Your highness." She warned teasingly.

The title didn't hurt for once, and he wondered if it was her magic working on him or simply the fact she believed him, unlike everyone back home.

"Okay. I guess I should also keep my hands to myself in front of the soldiers, huh?"

"That was heavily implied."

She pulled on his hair to share a brief but passionate kiss with him. As they reluctantly parted, they exchanged a knowing smile. Duty called.

"Now let's be professional. You mind fetching me one of my battle dress?"

He rolled his eyes, wondering if that question could sound professional, considering he was her "knight", but crossed the room and quickly secured the padded uniform she'd wore on their first meeting.

"Why do you even have battle dresses?" he asked.

"Gentiana insisted on making them. Said it was more princess-ish or something."

Luna had put on underwear and was tying up her hair in her signature ponytail when he turned back to her.

"How does a cleavage make you protected?"

"She said that if I'm relying on my clothes to protect me, I'm already dead."

It seemed harsh, but she had a point.

"Well, rely on me out there."

She nodded in agreement, before to clasp her grey cloak around her shoulders.

…

Reaching the village Nifelheim had targeted took them about ten minutes with the train. Keeping control of the railroads hadn't been easy and constant guards were needed. Noctis had actually spend his first month doing that unforgiving job. Now, he was Lunafreya's shadow, following her everywhere she went. And the princess wasn't one to stay idle. She switched between the frontlines and the refugees' camps, either killing MTs and daemons or healing people with her magic. She had collapsed on her feet two times already, Noctis having to carry her to the closest paramedics for a blood transfusion and a few energy shots. He was now able to monitor the state of her strength and keep her from overexerting herself, which was no easy task.

Her face was pale as she saw the columns of smoke coming from the town. After leaping off the train, Luna ordered her soldiers to head a separate way. Noctis could carry her as he warped and get them both into town faster, but they had managed to keep his special ability a secret to the army and she didn't want anyone to worry. Powers like those were the stuff of legend, Lucis refusing to exchange news with the neighboring countries ever since the empire had started expanding.

Any playful banter was gone, Luna attaching her hands around his neck as he wrapped one arm around her waist. The first warping was always the worst. She couldn't understand how he didn't got sick from the speed at which he moved. It took twenty different blurs to reach the village and she didn't have to ask him for the 21th that got them on a roof, from where they could get a better view of the situation.

A single dropship had landed right in the town. MTs burned down houses and citizens ran left and right, cry of pain echoing through the cold morning air.

"What the hell are they doing? This isn't even a strategic…"

"Must be a trap." Noctis warned her.

"Well, I won't know until I'm caught. Let's clear the streets."

They came back down to the street level, Noctis calling off his engine blade while Luna summoned her trident. They got rid of the MTs methodically, the foreign prince warping whenever one machine doll tried to get away from them. He was quick on his feet and always managed to keep an eye on her, although it was barely needed. Lunafreya moved with grace and precision, taking out the Magiteck soldiers three at a time. Her trident followed swift arcs, apparently weightless in her hands. It was a heavy thing, Noctis having spared with her on more than one occasion, he knew it was almost as worse as one of Gladio's buster swords. Luna was strong and she had perfect balance, always using gravity against her foes. And her magic was at work as she laid enemies to rest in her wake, the wounds and cracks in the armor of the imperial's monsters all covered with light.

The girl had been trained early on, after losing her mother to the empire and receiving the protection of a mysterious swordsman simply known as the Immortal. The nickname was familiar to Noctis, but he couldn't tell from where it came from. All he knew was that keeping up with Luna felt worse than any training Gladiolus had ever forced him through. They felled as many MTs, they'd kept count a few times, when the battles were easy, and they almost always came out with a draw.

Noctis didn't care, as long as he could keep her safe. He'd fought on battlefield before, his father talking about making him a marshal in their army if he proved worthy. Which he'd almost been at if it wasn't for Ravus' paranoia and shady tricks. He would have had troops answering to his orders, with either Gladio or Ignis as his right-hand man, and now he was looking for fulfillment on someone else's battlefield.

Focus, he warned himself.

His relationship with Luna changing and the fact she knew his real name made it harder to keep the memories and resentment at bay. Sometimes he'd wished he could just wipe his memory clean and start over like he pretended to everything he met new people.

They cleared four streets, including the main one, nearing the ship at the center of the village. Luna had managed to infuse order back in the panicked villagers, giving orders for people to subdue the fires while Noctis and her took her of the MTs. The Tenebrae soldiers were joining up, clearing the outer streets of imperial forces and the situation might have gotten under control in a matter of minutes, if it hadn't been for the glint that blinded the princess and her bodyguard a second.

Panic surged all over again as people exclaimed with shriveling voice:

"It's him! It's general Glauca! The demon-man from the empire!"

And sure enough, among the rubbles of the well his ship had crashed in landing, standing tall with a disproportionate sword balanced on his left shoulder, his armor shining as if made of pure crystal, stood general Glauca, the faceless imperial soldier. Noctis quickly summoned a second weapon, ready to tell his charge to stand back. But Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, no matter how much older or more mature than him, had one big fault to her character. She never worried about herself, never fought with her safety in mind, but the safety of her cause, her people and sometimes, the world. It wasn't a surprise that she walked towards the tall man, her head held high, her eyes filled with cold fury.

"Princess of the rebellion," Glauca saluted her. "If you surrender now, the people of Tenebrae will be free of this useless suffering."

"Lies. Like the lies you told my mother."

His chuckle was like a whip cracking against her skin. Noctis had kept up with Luna so far, prepared to warp her away from an assault. She had fought against all sort of enemies, even the MA-Xs and he'd learned not to underestimate her. But if he'd learned anything on his exile, it was to always anticipate the worse. When she used her trident as a lever against the ground, lunging herself forward, Noctis understood this meeting held more meaning than a simple rival army's general trespassing a borderline. And even with warps, he couldn't catch up with her before the first hit connected with the crystal armor.

Lunafreya's trident scratched and screeched against the weird metal, the pikes scrapping out shards of crystal. Glauca retorted by swinging his blade, the shock hurl the princess ten feet backward. She had kept a hold of her trident, the aftershock ringing in her arms, her stance shaken, but her shoulders stiff with determination.

"You're making this pretty easy for me." The general observed.

"Or so you think. Cael!"

She was casting a spell and Noctis responded instantly to the alias, warping forward as a flash of light blinded Glauca. The light enveloped him in his run, melting into the after-images, making him and every of his temporary doubles too bright to look at directly. He was welcomed with a sharp blade slashing the air. Warping himself up, he went over it, thrusting his engine blade at the crystal helmet. Luna got closer as Glauca and Noctis exchanged blow after blow. From this up close, the general couldn't use as much strength, needing to equal his adversary's speed.

"Mercenary bodyguard. House Fleuret has really fallen."

"Save your insults for someone who cares!" Lunafreya warned, her trident hitting his back.

Glauca switched tactic, turning on himself with his blade raised, managing to push back both attackers before to jump high enough to land on his dropship. Noctis needed to catch his breath, but the general didn't stop there, rushing right back for the princess. And as he came down, he threw lightning in the bodyguard's direction. The exiled prince merely managed to evade the shot and sparkles, feeling his boots warming around his feet from the surcharge of power in the air. That spell was quite potent and its radius was growing by the seconds.

Luna was struck by a single spark of lightning but managed to stay upright, raising her trident in self-defense as Glauca send his gigantic sword forward. The trident was too thin to stand as a barrier, merely making the blade bounce off course.

There was a cracking sound and Noctis saw blood as the princess fell to one knee, looking for her breath. A gash ran along her left arm, strays of blond hair flying and when Glauca raised his sword once more, the young raven-haired man lost it. His skin burned and his heart was swelling and quivering at the same time, but he couldn't worry about it, or about the electricity gathering in his fist and running over the edge of his weapons. He had vowed to protect this woman and if there was one thing he wouldn't fail in his miserable life, it had to be this.

He warped-strike Glauca, his engine blade almost roaring with energy. The magic surged from his fingers, his eyes turning red and the crystal on the armor shattered with the first contact of steel. It had happened too fast for the general to move. The cracks ran from his back to his chest, Luna noticing the opening despite the fight she waged against herself to stay conscious. The cut on her arm was deep, her limb hanging limply at her side and it took some maneuvering to raise her trident quickly enough with only one hand. But the spikes reached up, the silver soon covered with blood. The result was instantaneous. Glauca kicked off her trident, swatting Noctis backward with his sword, before to retreat to his ship. His MTs had been taken out and the pair of fighters had proved more of a challenge than expected.

"Don't think this is a victory, princess." He called out before to kick off the dropship engine, the door closing on his bloodied armor as the ship lifted itself into the air.

Dust and dirt raised from the ground and they both coughed until the air cleared. Luna tried to push herself to her feet, only to feel Noctis' hands reaching for her as he dropped to his knees.

"What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't…" she sighed, unable to complete her sentence.

Her bodyguard was already checking her wounds and she wanted to give him some treatment, noticing a cut on his forehead and many bruises through his torn-up clothes.

"Easy, that arm's broken, your highness." He added as an afterthought, noticing the rebel soldiers walking up to them.

"Cael, stop worrying over me. Just help me stand up. We need to make sure the town is…"

"Lady Lunafreya." Biggs called out. "Wait until you're fixed up to intervene."

She felt guilty for her rash actions, slowly realizing why she'd jump into battle against the demon-man. Her entire body shivered and Noctis focused on her wound, coating the gash with potions to stop the bleeding and clean the potential impurities from her blood. She gasped, but gritted her teeth and ordered Biggs to check on the villagers, while Wedge would make sure no MTs were left. The rest of the men quickly took control of the situation, all knowing she was in good hands.

"What's wrong?" Noctis asked her.

"I know this was inconsiderate of me. Rushing into battle against such a man."

"He seemed to expect it. And you mentioned your mother…" he whispered, before to replace her bones in one swift motion.

She bit into her right hand to stifle her cry of pain, accepting the elixir he gave her and gulping down the content, knowing it would course through her system and mend her broken bone.

"Cael… You've noticed that you just made some kind of magic just now?"

He didn't know what to think of it. His warps had gotten more precise as he grew up, but canalizing elements and unleashing them into a potent spell had never been possible for him before.

"We can worry about that later. Luna, what compelled you into…"

"He killed my mother." She breathed out, trying to keep her voice cool and her face cold.

Noctis saw the shiver in her eyes, the fear and the hatred mixing together. He knew that impression. In the darkest part of his heart, he held Ravus responsible for their mother's death. He'd told his brother once, only once, and he'd regretted it dearly, but the idea of Luna wanting to take revenge. Her mother had died before her very eyes, the girl escaping the traumatic experience with her life. Anyone else would have asked for revenge in face of the murderer.

"I shouldn't have done this. Vengeance won't protect my people." She muttered to herself.

Her hair looked strange, with the short locks from Glauca's last attack and the long ponytail that hanged on the right side of her head. He wanted to touch her face, to wrap his arms around her, but he was already acting too familiar with her. So instead, he slipped one arm behind her shoulders and the other one under her thighs, raising her in his arms, bridal-style. She didn't protest, calling off her trident to facilitate his job as he carried her to a safer spot. The fires had all been controlled, if not extinguished and the citizens were receiving instructions from the soldiers, about standing guard, sending warning more efficiently and potential relocation.

Noctis had spotted a bench in front of the inn and was taking a few detours to make sure they steered clear of people in need.

"Luna, you've been seriously hurt. Don't push yourself."

"I'm all healed. I should be checking on the people."

"You'll fix them in a moment. Focus on your breathing."

She hid her face against his dark chest-plate for an instant, trying to calm down her ragged breathing. When he sat her down, she almost clung to him, needing the warm feeling of his arms, the sound of his heart close to her ear. But instead, she ordered him to stand guard while she gathered her senses, closing her eyes a long time and collecting all the self-control she could muster. Noctis stood back, his hands still burning from the lightning he'd called and casted, his heart a mess and his mind filled with questions. Was Glauca going to prove a problem? They'd barely managed to land a hit and he had no idea if he could pull off another magic spell. Luna had been in danger, and his mind had turned blank. If it was the sort of incentive he needed, he'd rather not have powers at all.

…

Regis was sitting in his throne room, his fingers drumming against the throne's armrest. The room was almost empty, except for his shield, Clarus Amicitia standing to his right, and his first councilor, Ardyn Izunia standing at the center of the room. The purple haired man was shifting from one leg to another, clearly trying not to burst in whistles or jokes. They'd been waiting for fifteen minutes and still…

"I think we should call this meeting off, your highness" Izunia observed after clearing his throat.

"Drautos knew this was an important occasion." Clarus observed.

"If he was simply delayed, he would have found a way to contact us, don't you think?"

Regis nodded, holding back a sigh. His army had taken a bad hit recently, with soldiers defecting after the massive attack on the north wall by a pack of enraged behemoths. Behemoths never travelled in pack, but it seemed the world was changing. Drautos' absence meant their initiatives for a new branch of operatives wouldn't advance. Insomnia needed protection and his wall wouldn't hold on forever. Heck, if Noctis had been here, he'd have someone to put in charge of the Glaives. Ravus was too precious to put in such a delicate position.

"We need to mobilize Galhad's people. Their district was almost destroyed, but they managed to push back the behemoths. Their fighters would be invaluable."

Those were the words Izuna had repeated for the last few months.

"We need a head for their flock. Is Gladio back to his feet?" Regis asked to his long-time best friend.

"He's guarding the crown prince, your highness. I don't think it would be a good idea to…" Clarus started before to be interrupted by Ardyn.

"Can't Scientia guard his highness? The boy has the crystal powers... Moreover, I'll be keeping a close eye on your heir. You have nothing to fear, my king." He then turned to Clarus, something in his washed-up eyes changing almost imperceptibly. "The prince's shield hasn't been through his trials yet. Leading the Glaives could be a first step."

Gritting his teeth, the king's shield turned to Regis.

"The decision is up to you."

"Call your son. We need this tactical team. It won't be long before the empire reach our door. I want the unrest in our kingdom dealt with before then."

To be continued….

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So then, pretty much everything is set. We still have to hear of Prompto, because he's going to be included in the fic, but otherwise, pretty much everyone else has been mentioned. Any questions, suggestions or comments?

The length of every chapter will remain pretty short and it might change. I will try to have fluff in every chapter, if possible. Also, my update might not be as quick as this one. And I will focus on Unexpected first. I just like having a really aggressive Luna that has no qualm killing because it's been her reality for a long time. This chapter felt as though the roles were a bit reversed between Noctis and Luna, since she's rash and he only think of keeping her safe. But I love giving them different dynamics. I hope you liked this. Every feedback is welcome.