Chapter XIV: Axe of the Conqueror

It was the beginning of the week and Noctis had almost fully recovered which meant he would have to go back to classes. It had been an eventful week for Noctis and his team but things had begun to go back to normal.

Noctis laid in bed as his alarm went off, he groggily got up from his bed and took off his alarm. He looked around his dorm room and noticed that he was the only one there at that the rest of his team had already made their way to the cafeteria for some breakfast before class. He grabbed his scroll from his nearby desk and looked at the messages from his friends.

"Hey, Noct! We headed to the cafeteria, we'll save you a seat!" Was one of the messages he had received from his brother.

The one messaged that made him smile was a message from his new and first ever girlfriend, Ruby. "Goood morning, my Prince!"

"Good morning, my Rose!"

Noctis was fairly new to the whole texting thing and didn't really care for it, but Ruby liked it so he tolerated it for her.

He got up from his bed and grabbed his school uniform. He made his way to the bathroom and got undressed and hopped into the shower. For the first time in a while Noctis felt happy

considering everything that had happened and it was all because of a little rose.

Noctis got out of the shower and dressed into his school uniform and headed to the cafeteria to meet up with his teammates.

Beacon Cafeteria

Noctis walked into the cafeteria and noticed his team had already secured themselves a table with teams RWBY and JNPR. He walked over to the table and Ruby made room next to her for her boyfriend.

"Good morning!" Ruby said with a smile on her face

"Morning." Noctis replied returning the smile as he took a seat next to her

"I got your breakfast for you."

"Thanks, Ruby."

Noctis turned to see Yang had been watching him and Ruby with a huge smile on her face.

"Are you okay, Yang?"

"I just can't help it! You guys make such a cute couple!"

This made the young Prince and Huntress blush as the rest of their friends looked at the two with surprised expressions on their faces.

"You guys are a couple?!" Jaune asked

"Yup!" Exclaimed the red haired teen as she hugged her boyfriend.

"Since when?" Asked Pyrrha

"Yesterday." Noctis replied as he removed the vegetables from his plate and onto Ruby's

"Really?" Ruby asked giving Noctis a questioning look

"Vegetables are nasty."

"I'm very happy for the both of you." Pyrrha said with her usual smile.

"Thanks, Pyrrha!" Ruby said returning her soft smile

Just then Ignis' scroll began to rang. He took out his scroll and saw that he had received a message from Ozpin for PING to meet Nyx in his office.

"Looks like it's time for us to go tomb hunting."

"Awesome! That means no classes!" Prompto shouted in glee as he jumped out of his seat

"Tomb hunting?" Noctis questioned as he raised his eyebrow

"Yes, Ozpin believes he has a way that can help us against Niflheim, we'll have him explain it to you once we get to his office."

"Alright."

The members of PING got up from their seats, but Noctis was stopped from leaving. He turned to see that Ruby was holding onto his school uniform.

"Ruby can you let go, please?"

"I'm going with."

"No way, it could be dangerous."

"Which is why I'm going too."

"Sorry Ruby, but that is out of the question."

Ruby got up from her seat and gave Noctis puppy eyes "You promised me that you would let me help you if you were going to do something stupid."

"I-I know but-"

"And you promised me that you wouldn't make me worry anymore."

"I know Ruby but-"

Ruby put her head down and turned away from the young Prince "Fine, I guess you don't mind hurting me…"

Noctis let out a sigh of defeat as he put his hand on Ruby's shoulder "Fine, Ruby. You can come tag along."

And with that Ruby's attitude went back to her normal cheery self

"Great! Come on team RWBY we have to go get changed!" WIth that Ruby rushed out of the cafeteria and back to her dorm to change into her battle attire

Prompto went up to his brother and put a hand on his shoulder "Dude you got dooped by your girlfriend!"

"Yeah, I know."

"Can we tag along too?" Jaune asked wanting to skip classes

"Nope." Pyrrha said answering for the young Prince "You're behind in your studies, Jaune. I'm not letting you get even more behind."

This caused the leader of JNPR to sulk in sadness as teams PING and RWBY left to change in their mission attire and head to Ozpin's office.

Ozpin's Office

Teams RWBY and PING all stepped out of the elevator dressed in their combat attire. Noctis walked ahead of his friends and was met with Ozpin and someone he had seen every once in awhile in Insomnia.

"Ah, Noctis." Ozpin said then realized that team RWBY had tagged along "And… Team RWBY. I was not expecting for you girls to come along."

"Yeah, Ruby kind of invited herself." Yang said with a light giggle

"Well I think it's rather comforting knowing that the boys have already made friends that care about them." Ozpin then turns to the person that had been standing silently beside him "Noctis you may recognize him from Insomnia, this is Nyx he was in your father's Kingsglaive."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Prince Noctis… Or should I say King now."

"I… I guess I am a King." Noctis said with sadness present in his voice.

Ruby made her way to her boyfriend's side and put a comforting hand on his shoulder sensing that the realization that he had taken the role of King had been less than pleasant for the young King. "You okay, Noctis?"

Noctis rested his hand on Ruby's and gave her a small but reassuring smile "I'm fine, Ruby." Noctis then looked at Ny and Ozpin and did his best to give off the presence of a King "So why am I here? Ignis mentioned something about tomb hunting, what did he mean by that?"

"When you were out of commission Cor and I took the liberty of explaining our plan to your team. Your father had begun planning for this, before the attack on Insomnia he had sent Cor on a mission to locate the Royal Arms."

"Royal Arms?" Ruby questioned

"That's correct, Miss. Rose. Royal Arms are the weapons of past Kings of Insomnia, Noctis, your father believed that combining the Royal Arms and your semblance would help immensely against the Imperial army."

"That's why he sent us here?"

"Correct, if you had stayed in Insomnia and fought at your father's side then more likely than not you too would be dead, along with your friends. I also believe that you have already gained one Royal Arm."

"I have?"
"Yes, the sword you used against that creature the day of the initiation. It's called the "Sword of The Wise"

Noctis then summons the sword earning him surprised looks from his friends, but especially from his weapon obsessed girlfriend "Noctis that is soooooo cool! It looks so ancient but at the same time it looks so mysticy!"

"A king built a mighty wall and protected the realm. This was his sword. It devastated his foes and kept his people safe. Now it will serve you as it did your ancestor."

"How many are there?"

"There are 13 in total and Cor has been tasked in locating them, as well as other Huntsman such as Ruby and Yang's uncle."

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby and Yang said in unision

"Yes, Qrow has offered us his help in searching for the tombs. You are not in this alone, Young King."

"Right."

"Cor has located another Royal Arms, there is a carrier outside that i have instructed to take you to Cor's position, Nyx here will accompany you boys and girls, good luck."

With that said Noctis, his friends, and Nyx made their way to the carrier that had been waiting for them.

They all take their seats inside the carrier and it takes off.

"How long is it going to take to get to the location?" Nyx asked the pilot

"About 45 minutes!"

Shortly after the carrier had taken off the young huntsman and huntresses had slowly began to doze off. Ruby had fallen asleep, using Noctis' shoulder as a pillow, Yang doing the same with Prompto's shoulder. Weiss and Blake were using each other as pillows, and Gladiolus and Ignis were using their seats head rests.

Noctis had been falling in and out of consciousness and was slowly beginning to completely fall asleep. He looked around the carrier at his sleeping friends and took notice that Nyx had managed to stay awake.

"You said your name was Nyx, right?"

"Yeah, Nyx Ulric."

"So you were apart of my dad's Kingsglaive?"

"That's right. He saved my life and allowed me to join, I owed my life to him. And seeing that you're King now, I'm in your service, King Noctis."

"Thanks."

"You know, you have some great friends. People willing to help you accomplish your goal. You're lucky." Nyx said as he rested his head on the headrest "Not many people can say the same thing."

"Yeah…" Noctis said as he looked at the sleeping teen on his shoulder

"She cares about you, your highness."

"How do you know?"

"It's obvious. The way she looks at you…"

"I guess you're right."

"You should get some sleep, your highness. You're gonna need it."

Noctis nodded at Nyx and laid his head on Ruby's. He let the soothingness of the carrier flying through the air slowly take him until he fell asleep

Noctis woke up in a familiar place. He was transported to the grimm infested Beacon academy.

"Not this again!"

Noctis got up from the ground and attempted to summon his weapon to no avail "What the hell?" He then hears laughing and looks straight ahead and sees Glauca gripping the neck of Ruby Rose.

"RUBY!" Noctis shouted at the top of his lungs, gaining him the attention of the dream state Glauca "Let her go you bastard!" Noctis rushed at the General unarmed and let out a battle cry as he lunged at him attempting to fight the general without his weapons. Glauca easily stopped Noctis' fist and sent him flying with a kick to the gut all while holding onto Ruby.

"She's going to die, just like the rest of your friends!"
Just then the bodies of Prompto, Gladiolus, Ignis, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren appeared before him all lifeless, with sword wounds present on them. "You're powerless, Young King. Just like your father!" Glauca begins to squeeze Ruby's neck and she begins to squirm, trying to break free.

Tears begin to fall from her face as she stares at Noctis with pleading eyes "N-Noctis… I-I lo-" Before the young teen could finish Glauca snapped her neck and tossed her body away.

Noctis woke up from his dream, and he quickly looked at his sleeping girlfriend and let out a sigh of relief that she was okay.

"I will prevent my visions from coming true, I'll protect Beacon, and my friends… And you Ruby. No matter what I'll fight till there's no kingdom left to defend." Noctis thought to himself.

"We'll be landing in 3 minutes!" The carrier pilot shouted, waking up the sleeping Huntsman and Huntresses.

The carrier lands and the teens get out of the airship. Noctis gets out first and Cor is standing outside the airship waiting for them.

"It's good to see you're okay, Noctis."

"It's gonna take more than an Imperial soldier to take me out."

"I'm glad to hear that!"

"So where's this tomb at?"

Cor points towards a cave out in the distance "Right in there, but I have to warn you it's filled with grimm."

"I think we can manage!"

"Alright, I'm gonna head back to Beacon and give my report to Ozpin then I'm heading back out to keep looking, don't do anything stupid!"

"Come on, it's me we're talking about!"
"Which is why I'm telling you not to do anything stupid!"

Noctis and Cor share a chuckle and Cor heads into the carrier and it takes off.

"Alright, let's get going."
"Wait, you don't honestly expect me to go into that smelly cave, do you?" Weiss said as the group headed towards the cave.

"What's the matter, Ice Queen? Scared of the dark?" yang said in a teasing voice.

"Me? Afraid of the dark? How dare you insinuate something so preposterous!"

"Then ladies first." Noctis said as he motioned for Weiss to go in first.

The young heiress reluctantly went in first to prove that she was not afraid, The group of friends made their way deeper into the cave with Nyx leading the way. The group was mostly huddled up together, except for Blake who had fallen behind with her nose in a book.

Ignis noticed Blake had fallen behind and slowed down to meet her pace "Must be a really good book to be reading in a place like this."

Blake looked at Ignis who was giving her a soft smile and put her book down "I-I hate the dark." Blake said in a quiet voice so that the rest of the group couldn't hear her

"Really?" Ignis said surprised

"Yes, and reading is the only thing that can set my nerves at ease."

"Well no need to worry, Miss. Belladonna. I shall protect you from the horrors of the darkness!" Ignis said in a overconfident voice as he struck a superhero pose which made Blake giggle.

"How much further?" Noctis asked Nyx as he felt his stomach begin to rumble because he hadn't gotten the chance to eat his breakfast.

Nyx was looking at a map that Cor had drew for him to make it easier for them to find the tomb.

"It seems like we're almost there. Honestly it's surprising that we haven't run into any grimm."

"Maybe Cor took care of them for us!" Prompto said as he took pictures of the structure of the cave.

"Yeah, maybe…"

Just then the cave began to shake violently and the sound of a grimm began to surround the group. Noctis summoned his Engine blade and ordered them to get behind him. The rest of the group drew their weapons and readied themselves for a fight. A bear like grimm then rushes towards Noctis, before Noctis could react to the sudden grimm attack he was tackled by the bear like grimm, the force of the grimm was enough to send Noctis off his feet and through a wall. The grimm followed and before Ruby could help Noctis the cave began to rumble and debris fell from the roof, blocking off the newly formed entrance, leaving Noctis to fight the grimm alone.

The grimm lunged at Noctis, but Noctis rolled to the right side of the grimm, dodging the attack. Noctis summons a lance and uses it to keep the grimm at bay. The grimm swipes at the lance trying to close in on Noctis, but Noctis keeps up the defense. Noctis then summons his war hammer and slams it to the grimms side sending him into the wall. Before the grimm could get up Noctis lunges at him with his blade in hand and plunges the blade into the grimm's head. Noctis lets out a sigh and desummons his weapons. He looks at his arm which has a nasty cut on it.

"Damn, that stings."

"Noctis! Are you okay?"

Noctis heard Ruby's concerned voice and tried his best not to sound injured "I'm fine, Ruby!"

Noctis begins to look for a way to reunite with his team but couldn't find any type of exit "You guys keep moving, there has to be another way!"

"Be careful!" Ruby shouted

"I will!"

Noctis then begins to look for another exit and finds a small opening. He summons his warhammer and smashes the hole making it big enough for him to squeeze through. He squeezed through the small entrance holding onto his blood soaked arm and finds himself in a rather large clearing with an underground waterfall. Around the waterfall are bear like grimm just like the one Noctis had just fought.

"Well shit."

Ruby and the rest of her team and Noctis' team continued down the path with Nyx leading them.

"I'm sure Noctis is fine, Ruby." Yang said trying to reassure her little sister.

"Yeah, my brother is tougher than he looks!"

Ruby knew that Noctis would be fine but she couldn't help but worry about him.

They continued to head in deeper and deeper into the dungeon like cave and are ambushed by a group of beowulves. Nyx unsheathes his kukris and lowers himself into a fighting stance

"You kids get back, I'll handle the small fry."

"Are you sure, Nyx?" Prompto questioned

"I may not have the King's magic to help me, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Teams RWBY and PING get into cover as the group of beowulves begin to circle around Nyx. Nyx smirks as one of the beowulves lunges at him, he throws one of his kukris into the beowulves head and grabs his kukris as he jumps over the beowulves head, he lunges at the beowulf that was behind the beowulf that lunged at him and plunges both kukris into its skull. Nyx then turns to face the 3 remaining beowulves as they circle him. Before any of the beowulves could initiate the first attack Nyx dashes towards one of the beowulves and slides under its belly and tears at the grimm's underbelly as he slides under. In one swift motion Nyx immediately jumps up and throws his kukris into one of the beowulf's head. The last beowulf lunges at Nyx and attempts to bite the Kingsglaive's head off, but Nyx blocks the bites with his remaining kukris. The grimm fiercely bites at the Kingsglaive, but Nyx keeps up his defense against the gnawing attempts.

Nyx begins to lose grip on is Kukris as the grimm's teeth inch closer and closer to Nyx's face. The grimm takes hold of Nyx's weapon and causes Nyx to let go of his grip and tosses the dagger out of reach. The grimm then makes an attempt at Nyx's neck, but before the bite could land the grimm loses his head to the scythe of a young red Huntress. The grimm's body then begins to disintegrate and Ruby offers Nyx a helping hand.

"Thanks, kid." Nyx said as he took Ruby's hand and got up off the ground.

"Looks like the beowulf should have quit while it was… a head." Yang punned earning her disapproving looks from everyone one around her except for Prompto who couldn't help but laugh at the awful pun

"Get it? Cause Rubes cut off its head?"

"Please stop." Ruby pleaded with her sister.

Nyx retrieved his kukris and sheathed back in their holsters at his side and the group continued forward. It wasn't long until they heard the shouts of Noctis. As soon as Ruby heard his voice she used her semblance to head towards the sound of his voice. She was able to find him rather quickly as he was surrounded by the bear like grimm that had created a home in that cave. Noctis was keeping them at bay with his semblance as the crystallized weapons attacked the grimm if they got too close.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs as she shot Crescent Rose to give her a boost and one by one she had beheaded the grimm that had harmed Noctis. Seeing that he was clear he desummoned the weapons and fell to his knees from exhaustion.

Ruby ran to Noctis' side and helped him stand on his feet "Noctis you shouldn't push yourself so much, you know you're still recovering." Ruby then notices the nasty cut on Noctis' arm and rips off a piece of her cape and soaks it into the water from the waterfall and ties it around Noctis' arm "That should slow down the bleeding for now."

"Thanks, Ruby."

The rest of their friends had finally caught up to Ruby and saw that the two had been sitting near the waterfall. "How far do we have left?" Yang asked Nyx who was examining the map.

"Not far, we're here." Nyx replied as he pointed towards an old stone door with the symbol of the people of Lucis engraved into the door just ahead of the waterfall.

"Come on, Noctis. The sooner we get the Royal Arm the sooner we can get out of here."

Noctis gets up with the help of Ruby and she stands at his side fro him to lean against.

"I'm fine, Ruby. I can walk myself."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Noctis said as he smiled at the young teen who returned the smile.

Noctis slowly walked towards the stone door and reached out to it. He touched the Lucis symbol and examined the rest of the door.

"What are you waiting for, Noct?" Gladiolus asked as the rest of teams RWBY and PING stood behind Noctis.

Noctis turned towards his friends who are eagerly waiting to see what awaited them inside the tomb "umm… It's locked."

"What? What do you mean it's locked?"

"I mean it's locked,there's not really any other meaning of it's locked."

"Cor didn't give you a key or anything?" Nyx questioned

"Um, no."

With Cor

As the carrier reached Beacon Academy he put his hands in his pocket and took out a metal ancient looking key. "CRAP!"

With PING and RWBY

'Looks like there's only one other way." Gladiolus said as he moved Noctis out of the way. Gladiolus summons his greatsword and activates his semblance "If there isn't an open door… YOU MAKE ONE!" With his semblance activated Gladiolus swings at the stone door and the door explodes. Creating an opening.

"Well I guess that's one way."

Noctis walked through the busted door and walks into an empty room. The room is completely empty besides an isolated coffin with an axe that is being held by the engraved king like the one Noctis had seen in his vision. Noctis slowly makes his way to the coffin and raises up his hand like he had done in his vision. The axe crystallizes and and frees itself from the coffin. It levitates of the coffin and plunges itself into Noctis, adding it to his arsenal.

Noctis' friends watch in awe as the weapon circles Noctis in its crystallized form and disappears. Ruby watches her boyfriend in awe and smiles and walks up to him and hugs him.

"We're all going to make sure you reach your goal, Noctis."

Noctis looks at his friends and they all nod in agreement, even Weiss which had surprised Noctis.

Noctis let go of Ruby and summoned the axe that he had just received "2 down 11 more to go."

Later that night, Beacon Academy

Noctis had grown accustomed to going onto the balcony before bed and he enjoyed the peace and quiet that came without the breathtaking view of the moon. Ruby walked out onto the balcony in her pajamas and sees Noctis examining his new axe.

"Hey, Noctis." She said as she made her way towards the young King

"Oh, Hey Ruby. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I like coming out here before bed, it relaxes me."

Ruby looks at the axe in her boyfriend's hand and couldn't help but smile at how cool it looked "Can I see the axe!" Ruby asked with happiness clearly present in her voice

"Uhh… Sure but be careful it's a lot heavier than it looks."

"I'm sure I can handl-" Ruby took hold of the axe and as Noctis let go of it she nearly fell to the ground with it

"I told you."

Ruby uses both of her hands to pick up the axe and begins to examine it "This is so cool, Noctis! I'm so jealous that you can summon your weapons any time you want!"

"You know I can share that ability with anyone I want."

As soon as Noctis said that a gleam of light appeared in Ruby's silver eyes, she rushed up to her boyfriend, excited at the thought of being able to summon Crescent Rose whenever "You have to share with me!"

Noctis turned away from Ruby and looked out at the night sky "I don't know, Ruby."

"Come on, Noctis. Pleaseeeeeeeeee" Ruby begged as she stared at Noctis with puppy eyes.

"I'll think about it." Noctis said as he ruffled her hair.

Silence fell between the two as they both looked up at the night sky.

"Thanks for saving me back there, Ruby."

"Huh?"

"Back in the cave, you really saved my ass."

"Well someone had to!"

Noctis laughed and took Ruby in his arms and embraced her, the two of them continued to look at the star filled sky in silence.

"Isn't this the most beautiful you've ever seen, Noctis?"

"The second most beautiful." Noctis said as he put his hand on Ruby's chin and turned her head towards his and The two of them shared a kiss under the stars.

Yang and Prompto were hiding in a tree that overlooked the balcony, Yang grabbed Prompto and started to wildly shake him "They're just so cute!"

"Yang please stop!" Prompto yelled as he held onto the blond brawler's shirt for dear life.

City of Vale

A late night train makes its last stop in Vale as the trains begin to shut down for the night. Ardyn Izunia makes his way out of the train and looks at Beacon Academy as it towers in the distance "What a lovely place for a young King to call home." Ardyn said with a smile "I can't wait to make your acquaintance, King Noctis."

To be continued...