Chapter XII: Homecoming
"I thought you said you could fly this thing!" Noctis yelled as the four of them made their way out of the wreckage from the crashed carrier.
"I never said I knew how to land it."
Ignis had attempt to land the airship on the outskirts of Insomnia to not alert the imperial soldiers but failed to mention that he never made it through the landing classes. They had successfully landed in the outskirts of Insomnia near a wooded area infested with Grimm. As the four of them surveyed the area to make sure it was secured of Grimm and imperial soldiers a low growl is heard from a bush followed by multiple growls that surround the four huntsman in training.
"U-Uh guys, what should we do?" Prompto asked as he eyed the growling bushes
Noctis summons his Engine blade and his friends follow suit and summon their own weapons "We fight!"
Just as Noctis shouted to encourage his friends and brother 4 ursas and 3 beowulves reveal themselves from the bushes and circle the four teens.
They stand their ground with their weapons drawn and wait for the grimm to attack them. What feels like an eternity passes and Gladiolus grows tired of waiting for the grimm to initiate the first attack so he takes charge and slams his greatsword into the ground blowing away the three ursas. Noctis follows Gladiolus' lead and uses Gladiolus as a launch pad and jumps into the air and plunges his sword into one of the ursas, killing them. Gladiolus then activates his semblance and with one mighty swing of his greatsword he takes out the other three ursas.
Ignis activates his semblance and identifies the ursas weak spots, he then summons his double daggers and throws them at the ursas weak spots, killing it instantly.
Prompto activates his semblance and as the ursa jumps at Prompto he dodges to his side and the ursa turns to attack again, but with his deadly accuracy Prompto fires all six shots into the grimm, the grimm stumbles and falls past Prompto and before he could get back up Prompto loads one fire dust filled bullet into the chamber of his revolver and points it at the grimm as it slowly gets up and turns towards Prompto. "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
The ursa makes one last effort to skewer the young huntsman in training, but before it could attack Prompto fires his round hitting the ursa right between its eyes causing its head to explode.
After a few minutes after the four of them had time to catch their breaths Noctis looked to the sky and took in the silence that had fallen amongst the friends "This deafening silence is my crown."
Gladiolus goes up to his young leader and pats his shoulder "Don't worry, your Highness. We're taking back our home, no matter what we have to do."
"We should get going." Ignis said as he pushed up his glasses "It would be in our best interest to get to Insomnia before night falls."
The three friends agree and they make their way out of the forest as the sun begins to set.
They make it out of the forest with relative ease, as they were able to sneak past bigger grimm, dodging unnecessary fights. As they make it out of the forest the illuminating lights coming from their kingdom and the lights from the checkpoint that the imperial army had set up fills the night sky with artificial sunlight.
"What's the plan?" Prompto asks as they survey the checkpoint ahead of them.
"We're gonna take them head on and kill each and everyone one of them." Noctis said with a silent anger present in his voice, the young Prince summons his Engine blade and prepares to attack, but a hand grabs him by his forearm, stopping him from initiating the first attack.
Noctis turns to face the one who stopped him and sees Ignis gesturing for him to get back down.
"I know you're angry, Noctis. Trust me, we all are. But we can't just rush in without knowing how many we are. We can't take back the crown if we end up dying."
Noctis reluctantly sits back down knowing that Ignis was right, if he wanted to make the imperials pay for what they had done, he couldn't throw his life away acting hastily.
"So what's the plan then?"
Ignis points towards a small hilltop overlooking Insomnia "We head for that hilltop, it overlooks the kingdom so we'll have a good vantage point."
Noctis sighs in defeat and desummons his weapon "Fine, lead the way specs."
The sun fully sets as they make their way to the small passage that leads to the overlook. Ignis leads the group as Noctis, Gladiolus, and Prompto follow. Ignis motions for them to stop and they back up against a wall as a passing patrol passes them.
"They have soldiers guarding this passage as well." Ignis whispered
"So what now?" Prompto asked.
"We're not heading back." Noctis said in a cold monotone voice.
"Then what should we do."
"We fight our way past them." Noctis said as he summoned his Engine blade "We'll make those bastards wish there was a peace treaty to protect them!"
With that said Noctis left them behind as he charged the two imperial soldiers that had passed them earlier. The two soldiers hear the sound of the running foot steps and turn towards where the footsteps are coming from but are too late to stop the attack, Noctis tosses his sword towards one of the soldiers and warps to it and plunges his blade into the soldier's chest, the soldier to his side shifts his gun's barrel to Noctis, but before he could pull the trigger Ignis throws one of his daggers and hits him in the head.
"Thanks, Ignis."
"You really should learn to pay more attention to your surroundings, your highness."
The four of them continue through the path up the hilltop until they come to a clearing nearing the top of the hill. As they arrive on the clearing a group of soldiers are seen on top of the hill, waiting for them.
"Let me handle them." Noctis said as he summoned his Engine blade
"You sure about this, Noct?" Prompto asked his little brother.
Noctis said nothing and Prompto saw the look on in his brother's eyes and understood that Noctis had anger that had to be brought out "Just be careful, Noct."
Before the soldiers could react Noctis threw his blade and warped to it, he dropped kicked one of the soldiers and summons his lance and plunges it into the soldier next to him. The three soldiers take out their own semblance powered blades and slash at Noctis who is still on the floor, he summons his engine blade and blocks the oncoming slashes from the soldiers. He activates his semblance and the crystallized weapons block the oncoming attacks. Noctis jumps back up to his feet and pushes the soldiers away with his semblance. The crystallized weapons continue to circle around Noctis and aims them at the soldiers he launches them at the soldiers, killing them instantly.
The soldier that Noctis had dropped kick gets up and looks around him to see his comrades dead. He picks up a gun, but before he could fire Noctis was in front of him. The soldier looks at Noctis with fear in his eyes and begins to shake. He looks down and sees Noctis' blade inside his gut. In one quick movement Noctis takes out the blade and blood begins to fall from the sword. The soldier slowly moves back, holding his bleeding gut until he hits the edge of the hill. Noctis slowly walks towards the soldier who looks at Noctis with fear in his eyes.
"S-Stay back! Please, please show mercy."
"You didn't show mercy to my people, so don't expect me to."
Noctis activates his semblance and the crystallized weapons return.
"I'm going to take back my kingdom, but before that I'm going to kill each and every one of you bastards!" Noctis launches all 4 of his weapons at the soldier and each hits throwing the soldier off the hillside and into the ocean below.
Noctis looks over the hill into the ocean below and his focus turns towards his kingdom. His friends join him on the hillside and his big brother puts his arm around his brother's shoulders. "You okay, Noct."
"I feel better."
The four of them turn their attention towards the skyline over Insomnia, which was now covered with Niflheim warships. "We need to get into the kingdom." Noctis said watching the ships drop off additional soldiers into Insomnia.
"Noctis, there is no way we can take on all those soldiers. WE should head back to Beacon and talk with Ozpin, maybe he could help."
"No. We're already here."
"Come on, Noct. We've seen what kind of army Niflheim has in Insomnia, now we can plan." Ignis said
"If you guys didn't come to help me, then why did you guys come?" Noctis said growing angry that his team was trying to stop him from taking back their home.
"We came because we knew you'd do something stupid if we weren't here to stop you."
"And you promised Ruby that you wouldn't do anything that would get you killed, Noct! Don't you know she cares about you!"
"I know she does!" Noctis shouted angrily "But I didn't ask her to! I'm king of Insomnia now! It's my job to take care of my people and I can't do that if I can't even take back my kingdom!"
"You can't take care of them if you're dead, Noct! Don't you think team RWBY and JNPR would help us? You don't have to carry all this weight by yourself, Noct. That's why King Regis sent us with you, to help lighten that load for you." Gladiolus said trying to convince his leader.
"Then what should we do? We don't really have a ride back to Beacon."
"Simple, we steal one of theirs." Prompto said motioning towards one of the many airships."
"But how are we gonna get passed the security? You guys have already made it clear that we can't take on the whole army. So how are we doing this?"
"Simple, we're gonna go through the front door." Ignis said proudly
Noctis, Gladiolus, and Prompto sweatdrop at Ignis' plan.
"You're kidding, right, Ignis?"
"Nope." Ignis replied with his smile still present.
"And you're suppose to be the smart one?" Prompto sarcastically said.
"So how exactly are we going through the front door?"
"We're going to run straight through, take out any imperials in our way and run straight for the airship. Simple, like I said. We'll wait till the sun fully sets, maybe we'll be able to slip by with as less resistance as possible."
Later that night
"So you all remember the plan, right?"
"Run like there's no tomorrow till we get to the airship."
"And avoid being detected by the imperials, if possible."
The four of them begin to run, pass the waiting cars waiting to gain acceptance into Insomnia, Noctis summons his double daggers and run towards two guards checking a car, as the spotlight that is shining down on the vehicles pass the two soldiers Noctis throws both daggers at the soldiers getting them both in the chest. He summons his daggers back to him and hops on one of the cars
"Really, Noct?! We were suppose to be quiet!"
"Really wasn't my style!" Noctis shouted as he ran and jumped across the cars. One of the guards watching over the checkpoint spots Noctis through his sniper scope, but before he could fire Noctis tosses his dagger towards the soldier and warps above the soldier and drops down on him and shoves his dagger into his shoulder and the second dagger into his heart. He then takes out the soldier controlling the spotlight as his teammates make their way towards the the airships. Noctis continues to clear the way of soldiers for his team to pass easily without alerting the rest of the imperial army occupying Insomnia.
Ignis makes it into the airship and begins to ready for take off.
Noctis finishes off the remaining soldiers surrounding the airstrip and heads into the airship.
"Is this thing ready yet, specs?"
"Almost, just keep an eye out."
Just then an General Glauca appears before them and stands outside the airship
"Your highness! It's so good to have you back!"
"Keep this thing running, Ignis."
"Noct, that's General Glauca, it's too dangerous to fight him alone."
Prompto said worried for his little brother.
"He won't be alone, Prompto." Gladiolus said as he got up from his seat "We'll be right back."
Noctis and Gladiolus both step out the airship to face the infamous General, Noctis summons his Engine blade and Gladiolus summons his greatsword.
General Glauca unsheathes his own blade and and bows towards the two and draws a line in the cement ground "Your father's lives were ended by this blade, you two shall meet your end just like them."
"You bastard!" Noctis yelled at the top of his lungs as he rushes towards the general he leaps into the air and slashes at Glauca, he easily deflects the attack and sends Noctis flying with a kick to the chest. Noctis regains his balance mid air and tosses his blade towards the general, he hits the blade over his head and Noctis warps to his blade and summons his war hammer and brings it down onto Glauca's head, who blocks it with his greatsword, while Noctis kept him busy, Gladiolus comes from behind and swings his greatsword and lands a hit onto Glauca's side, pushing him back a few feet.
"You two have definitely gotten stronger from the last time I saw you two."
"How dare you claim to know us! You know nothing about us!"
Glauca gives the two a soft chuckle "I've known you boys your whole life." Glauca removes the armoured helmet that had kept his face hidden to reveal himself to be the leader of the Kingsglaive Titus Drautos.
"D-Drautos?!" Noctis said unable to believe that the man that had murdered his father was the one his father called friend, and brother "B-But why… My father treated you like family!"
"Your father would've led us to our demise! There is a way coming and your father was not strong enough to lead us! I did what was right for our people, Noctis! And I would do it all again!"
Noctis clenched his sword as hard as he could and directed his blade towards the unmasked General "I'm going to kill you for what you've done!" Noctis once again rushed at the General, but this time letting his anger guide him towards his opponent. Glauca readied himself for the attack, but Noctis warped himself behind the General and summoned his lance and slashed at his back, sending him back a few feet away from Noctis.
"Noctis, come on!" Ignis shouted for him and Gladiolus to get onto the airship. Gladiolus entered the airship and sat down, still processing Drautos' betrayal.
"Come on, Noctis! Let's get out of here!" Prompto shouted at his younger brother, who still demanded Glauca's life.
"Not until he pays for what he's done!" Noctis shouted as he once again rushed for the imperial General, Noctis and Glauca both traded blows, each blocking and parrying each other's attempt at an attack.
"I can go on for days, your highness. But I don't think you could say the same." Glauca taunted as he saw Noctis trying to catch his breath and that the young prince was covered in cuts from his greatsword all throughout his body. "You're going to die here, alone just like your father."
"You're wrong!" A voice called from the airship, Prompto gets out the airship with his revolver in hand "He has his big brother looking after him."
General Glauca rushed at Prompto as he made his way to his little brother's side, Glauca slashed at Prompto's chest, barely missing as Prompto slid under his slash and fired two shots, exposing some of his armour.
Prompto loads his revolver with six ice filled dust rounds and picks up his little brother who is on his knees covered in cuts and bruises from Glauca's relentless attacks. Glauca faces the two brothers, blocking their way to the airship. Prompto puts down his little brother and gets into his cowboy stance.
Glauca uses the boosters installed into his armour to boost his speed and brings up his sword readying to end Prompto's life "It's high noon." Prompto says as he activates his semblance and swiftly and quickly draws his revolver and fires all six shots at lightning speed, hitting Glauca in the chest with deadly accuracy, causing the General to stop his attack and stand frozen like a statue a mere foot away from Prompto. The General, now frozen is unable to do anything but watch as Prompto picks up his little brother and carries him to the airship. As soon as the brothers make their way into the airship, Ignis takes off and heads back to Beacon.
Beacon Academy
Team RWBY were in their rooms, Weiss was at her desk studying, Blake was on her bed with her nose in a book, Yang was on the floor of the room playing a videogame, and Ruby laid in her bed with her eyes glued to the ceiling.
Yang looked up from her game and noticed the sad expression on her baby sister's face
"Hey Rubes, are you okay?"
Ruby poked her head out from the bed and looked at her sister with the same sad expression that she had been wearing since PING had left for Insomnia "No…. I-I'm worried about Noctis, he wasn't himself."
"I mean, he just found out his home had been taken over and his father was killed, he deserves to be pissed off."
"I-I know but…. I just felt so useless… I didn't know what to say or do to make him feel better." Ruby said as she looked down at her bedsheet that matched her hood "He's helped me so much these past two weeks and the time he needs me to help him I couldn't even do that. I just wish he would've let us gone with them"
"You heard him, Rubes. It's something they had to do on their own."
"Yeah… I know."
"Just then an Imperial ship had landed in the Beacon Airstrip that the school had and Ruby shot up "Isn't that a ship from Niflheim?!"
Hearing this Weiss got up from her desk and looked out the window to the ship in question "You're right, Ruby. It is a Niflheim ship."
And with that team RWBY had rushed out their dorm and made haste towards the airship. When they had arrived at the airship they were welcomed to the sight of Noctis being carried out on a stretcher by two doctors. Ruby covered her mouth in shock at the many bruises and cuts that Noctis had suffered on their mission to their homeland "Noctis…" Ruby said trying to hold back her tears.
The rest of team PING exited the airship after their leader was taken out and escorted to the medical wing of the school. Ruby followed them shortly after, leaving the rest of her team to question the rest of team PING.
"What the hell happened?!" Yang shouted, being the first one to break the silence.
"We had a run in with General Glauca…" Gladiolus answered with his head facing the ground.
"Wait.. THE General Glauca?" Weiss asked
"Yeah, THE General Glauca." Ignis responded
"Noctis is lucky to be alive… Hell we all are…." Prompto said
Just then Ozpin, and Glynda had arrived at the airship after checking on Noctis.
Ozpin looked at PING and took a sip out of his coffee mug "We have a visitor here to see you." He said to the remaining members of team PING
The three boys looked at each other with the same questioning look then looked at Ozpin "Us?"
Ozpin simply nodded and turned to head back to his office.
Medical wing
Noctis had been given his own separate room and was hooked up to several medical machines. Ruby had fallen asleep while sitting next to Noctis' bed. Prompto gently shook Ruby to wake her up and she slowly opened her eyes.
"Hey Ruby, the rest of your team went to the cafeteria for dinner and asked us to tell you to go join them."
Ruby looked at the boy she had fallen in love with as he fought to stay alive as he was hooked up to machines to help him breath "I-I can't just leave him." Ruby said almost choking on her words
"He's gonna be fine." Prompto said trying to reassure the crimson teen "Noctis won't let a little thing like this be the thing that ends him. Besides I'm sure he would want you to keep up your strength." Prompto said giving Ruby a soft smile.
Ruby nodded as she reluctantly agreed and got up from her seat, she looked at the resting Prince and gave him a peck on the cheek "Please don't die on me." Ruby whispered to him and then left the room.
Prompto watched as his little brother rested on the hospital bed and just stood there in silence.
"Come on." Gladiolus said breaking the silence "We'll go see who our visitor is then we'll come back."
Prompto nodded in agreement and the three of them made their way to Ozpin's office.
Ozpin's office
The three of them exited the Elevator and walked into Ozpin's office. Ozpin was sitting at his chair facing his desk, GLynda was seated beside Ozpin, and a man in a plain black shirt and jeans was standing in front of Ozpin's desk.
As soon as Glynda saw the three members of PING she shot out of her chair "How's Noctis?" She asked with a worried tone
"He's stable right now." Prompto replied
Glynda gave a relieved sigh and sat back down in her chair "That's good to know."
"Boys." Ozpin said grabbing their attention "This man standing here is Nyx Ulric." Ozpin said introducing the mystery man.
Nyx walked up to PING and saluted to them "I was a member of Kingsglaive before the attack on Insomnia."
"So you were there during the attack?" Ignis asked
"Yes. I was tasked with stopping their attack but…. I failed."
The room grew silent for a second before Ozpin spoke up "The reason he was he was to deliver something to the Prince, correct?"
"Yes… But on my way to Vale me and a friend of mine were ambushed and the item was stolen from us."
"What was the item?" Prompto asked fearing that he already knew the answer.
"It was a ring."
"The ring of the Lucii" Prompto said "That was the ring that helped power the magical barrier around Insomnia."
"Is it dangerous that Niflheim has the ring in their possession?" Ozpin asked Prompto.
"No" He replied as he shook his head "Only the blood of Lucis can truly take control of the ring, so the Imperials shouldn't be able to use it."
"Well then that's that, I'll have my people look into the ring and see what turns up, but right now we have other matters to attend to."
Just then the elevator door opened up and Cor walked out carrying a piece of paper at his side, he walked up to the boys and gave them each a hug "I'm happy to see you guys didn't get yourselves killed."
"Well it wasn't from a lack of trying." Prompto said sarcastically.
Cor laid out the paper he had in his hands on Ozpin's desk and revealed it to be a map.
"I don't think now is the time for a treasure hunt, Cor." Ignis said
"It's not a treasure hunt, smartass. Like I was trying to tell Noctis before he went and ran off to take on Niflheim by himself, I might have something that'll help us against the Imperials."
"What is it?"
"They're called "Royal Arms" They're weapons that the past Kings of Lucis used in battle, King Regis had me look into them a few months before the attack, I thought it was a waste of time for me to go looking for some ancient weapons, but it turns out these might be exactly what we need against them!"
"Great! Where are they located?"
"Well, that's the problem. They're hidden. I'm working on tracking them down, but I have discovered one not so far from Vale. Once Noctis is good and able Nyx will take you guys to the first tomb."
"That's right, it's the least I can do after failing the KIng twice."
"Niflheim is arming themselves for a full scale war and Noctis may be the only one that can stop them…"
To be continued…