Chapter V

He had been thinking about what happened all night.

Usually he could fall asleep rather quickly, but last night he was up practically the entire time. There was a few moments where he thought he was asleep, although it felt more like he was meditating. He felt exhausted when he woke up, while his mind felt wide awake, and his heart and his head felt like they were at war with each other. This shouldn't be so hard, so why was it?

While Noctis was brushing his teeth he let his thoughts run wild, hoping to come to some sort of resolution. Resolution did not come.

He had ended up brushing his teeth a little too hard and too long, because by the time he came to and spit, there was a little blood that showed up in the sink. Making a face, he quickly finished up and went to go put his school uniform on. By the time he got to his front door, he hesitated.

What if she was waiting for him? What if he wasn't ready to face her?

"Why are you being so stupid?" Noct asked himself as he threw open his door and practically slammed it in annoyance.

Walking down to the elevator, he saw Luna waiting just like he had feared, and nerves took hold of his stomach. When she turned around, he could feel the heat in his cheeks and he cursed himself for being so shy around her.

"Good morning, Noctis," she greeted as she gave him a smile.

Clearing his throat, he joined her by the elevator. "M-Morning."

"How's your wrist?"

"Fine.." he muttered again as he refused to meet her eyes.

After last night, there was just too much emotion in him to comprehend, let alone act on it. The way she was looking at him now and the way she had looked at him last night, they were one in the same. She liked him, and he… what did he feel for her?

Noct swallowed against the lump in his throat, and the elevator dinged, signaling the car's arrival.

They both got in, and Luna hit the L for lobby. They went down in silence, and Noctis was both thankful for it and hated it all the same. When the elevator doors opened again, Luna quickly hit the button to shut them, leaving Noctis shocked from his place behind her.

After they fully closed, she continued to stand in front with her back to him as she spoke. "I know you're nervous after last night. I'm a little nervous too. The way you changed… it was rather weird, but if I'm being honest, Noctis…" Luna turned her head and flashed him a sweet smile, her eyes bright and welcoming. "If you ever find the courage to be that confident again, I will gladly welcome it."

With that, she hit the open doors button and exited the car when she was able, leaving a shocked silent Noctis behind her. The doors almost closed again before he was able to will his legs forward and he walked out of his apartment building feeling as if he was floating. He made it to Ignis and the car within a few moments, and entered without a word.

Ignis started the car but didn't go anywhere. "What is it?"

"I, uh…" Noctis hesitated in meeting his gaze as he settled in. "Something weird happened last night."

"Weird how?"

Noct averted his eyes. "After Luna healed me… after we got off the elevator, I, uhm…" he ran a embarrassed hand through his hair and motioned for Ignis to start driving, because if they didn't start moving soon he wouldn't be able to speak. After they were a good block into the drive, he tried again, and attempted to ignore Ignis' look of confusion. "After we got off the elevator, we had a talk and I kind of… I may have… come onto her."

He saw Ignis' hands twitch in the steering wheels in the corner of his eyes as he looked straight ahead at traffic.

"In what way?"

Noctis grit his teeth for a second. "I held her hands and was close enough to, to, uh, kiss her. We touched foreheads."

"I see."

It was quiet for a few seconds, and he felt like he was gonna burn up into flames.

"Did you like being that close to her?" Ignis asked.

"Y-Yeah," Noctis admitted as he gripped his backpack that sat on his lap. "That's the thing. I-I liked it, but doing that-making a move like that-"

"-isn't normal for you," finished Ignis.

Noctis just nodded his head. Chancing a glance at his long time retainer and recent good friend, he elaborated, "After she healed me there was this weird feeling in my chest and whenever her and I were together yesterday I just felt… free? Like nothing was holding me back, and I just did what I wanted to while we talked."

"And what did you talk about that caused this affection?"

Noct deflated a little bit in his seat. Looking out the window, he saw they still had a good ten minutes before they'd be there, and he let his eyes roam from one passing person to another. "She said she was worried; that she didn't want me to die. I told her that if she were to die, especially if I didn't do anything to stop it, that I'd be lost."

"So the affection was also a matter of comfort for the both of you?"

Nodding, Noct stayed quiet and waited for Ignis' thought process to come to a conclusion.

It didn't take long.

His older friend glanced at him for a second before returning his eyes back to the road as he declared, "You clearly have feelings for the lady, and if she liked the affection as well, then I believe it is safe to say that you two have mutual feelings. The only problem here is, do you want to act on them?"

"I don't…" Noctis sighed again. "I don't know. It could put her life in danger. Plus I don't even know what kind of feelings I have exactly."

Ignis felt his lips twitch in a slight frown. "Her life is already in danger. This is a matter of, would you regret not trying if the worst was to happen?"

That made something in Noctis' head click, and he sat in silence as he mulled it over. Ignis seemed to understand, and stayed quiet as well.

By the time they reached the school, Noctis had yet to say anything, and Ignis understood why. While the retainer believed that they should do what's best for Lady Lunafreya, he also wanted his friend and prince to be happy, as well as his princess. Noctis may seem ignorant to his feelings now, but he was sure that he was only hiding behind the ruse of feigning dumb.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Noctis opened the car door and turned to Ignis. He muttered a thank you and left, leaving Ignis to watch him as he walked away.

Gladiolus had been waiting for twenty minutes.

He was in the Citadel, right outside the King's personal study, just waiting to be called in. He didn't know who was already in there, or what was being said. Hell, he wasn't even sure why he was here. The last time he had had a "security meeting" with the King was less than a week ago, and they were having strict weekly meetings, so the fact he was here for the second time that week meant this must be important. He just didn't know what this was about, exactly.

Breathing in deeply, the rapidly closing in on middle aged man crossed his arms as he stood outside the room. If this was gonna take much longer, he'd start getting hungry, and he knew the Citadel didn't have any cup noodles. Just as he was starting to decide which cup noodles he should eat when he got home, the door opened, and Ignis' uncle, who was King Regis' personal butler, came out.

"The King will see you now," he said as he fully exited the room, but kept the door open for the sworn shield. "Please bear in mind that this is similar to your weekly security meeting."

Gladio's eyes narrowed for a second, and he lightly slapped the butler's shoulder when he passed him. "Thank you, sir," he replied in farewell as the man closed the door behind him.

Looking forward, Gladio saw King Regis sitting in his desk chair, and the man didn't look too happy.

The sound of his boots seemed to echo in the rather large room, and for some reason Gladio felt nervous as he sat down in the chair across from the desk. "You asked for me, your Majesty?"

King Regis gave a small nod in acknowledgement and motioned to several papers laying on his desk. "I've been told that the Night has been failing at warping, and also that that the Eclipse has started attending the training sessions."

Gladio cleared his throat, and sat up a little straighter in his seat. "Yes, sir. That was the very last session, which was two days after our last security briefing. Whenever the Night attempts to warp, he always seems to either lose focus or the warp doesn't completely finish. It's whenever he touches the hilt of the weapon, it's like he thinks he's there, but he's not." He averted his eyes for a second as he worried the inside of his cheek. "As for the Eclipse… the Night brought her so she could be around other people. He won't tell anyone, but you can tell that he's worried she's been cooped up too long in her apartment, and he wants to get her out and making more friends."

"And you believe that this can be done safely?" The King inquired as he rested his hands on the armrests of his chair.

"Yes, sir. We have started renting out the banquet hall, and with the help of the other Crownsguards, who also help train the Night, we are able to easily turn it into a full on training room."

"Is there anything that should be-"

"Your Majesty," Ignis' uncle interrupted as he opened the door to the study.

Narrowing his eyes, King Regis sat up in his chair and referenced the butler inside. "What is it, Marcus?"

"Captain Drautos is here to see you, sir, and he says it's rather urgent."

Regis took in a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh. "I'm sorry, Gladiolus, but we'll have to end this briefing and pick it back up next time. Please make sure to take extra notes from now on."

Understanding what he meant, Gladio stood, bowed to the King, and marched out of the room, passing Drautos on his way out.

The Captain of the Kingsglaive studied the sworn sword as they passed each other, and focused on King Regis once the door was closed and they were alone. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing," King Regis deflected. "You said you have urgent news?"

Eyebrow raised in curiosity, Captain Drautos did the traditional Lucian bow and went to stand right in front of the King's desk, and attempted to let his curiosity go. His eyes skimmed the desk and he saw the stack of papers strewn about. "Yes, sir. We have reports that Niflheim is in a bit of a mess. It seems that the Lady Lunafreya has gone missing, but they aren't letting anyone but their higher ups know."

It was Regis' turn to be confused. "Where have you received this information?"

"The man our spy was conversing with has gone under house arrest."

Ravus, Regis thought as his eyes fell to his desk. Noticing the reports from Noctis' and Luna's secret guards, he straightened them up and quickly deposited them into a locked drawer to his right. He was gonna have to start his act sooner than he had hoped. He wasn't looking forward to it.

Standing, he soon rested his hands on the hardwood of his desk before fixing his gaze on Drautos. "I want a full report from all of the Glaives involved immediately. I want to know where Lady Lunafreya is as soon as possible. If Niflheim won't tell anyone about this, I don't want this getting out to anyone either, but we need to secure her safety."

"Yes, your Majesty," Drautos agreed as he bowed to the King. "Is there anything else?"

Regis shook his head. "No, Captain Drautos. You may take your leave."

Bowing again, Drautos turned and left the room.

He had been able to catch a small glimpse of the reports that were on King Regis' desk, and saw where he had put them. He had caught the word 'Eclipse', and for some reason, that intrigued Drautos, especially considering it was all hand written.

The Captain knew something was up, and he needed to find out.

Buses and cars whizzed by them as they walked down the street, only a few blocks from their school.

How Prompto was able to talk Irene into just meeting the three of them at the arcade instead of driving them home, Noctis didn't know, but he was glad for it. He could tell that Luna was getting tired of staying inside the apartment and only going to school. If anyone was watching them, it'd look suspicious if she never went anywhere.

During lunch that day they had all been talking and Prompto invited Luna to go to the arcade with them. When Luna said she had never played any video games, Prompto knew he had to make it happen, and while Noctis talked to Ignis about them going and not needing a ride, Prompto got on the phone with Irene.

Irene had been fully against it, but with his charms, and with promising her that she could come too, Irene reluctantly agreed. Noctis could tell she cared for Luna, and that that was probably why she was being a little lenient.

"While we're out," Prompto began as they walked down the sidewalk towards the arcade. "You have to try some street food! Insomnia street food is made up of so many different cuisines all in one, it's insane!"

On his right, Luna gave him a smile in agreement as she adjusted her grip on her school bag in front of her. "That sounds wonderful. I am rather peckish. Noctis…" She turned to the Prince to her right, watching for a second as someone ran by them on the sidewalk. "Are you hungry for a snack as well?"

"Sure," he replied. "There's a place right next door to the arcade. We can go there after, if you'd like."

She nodded her head, smiling at him in happiness, and the three of them continued down the street towards the arcade. They made it there in record time, and Prompto immediately started pulling Luna towards his favorite game. Noctis followed them, and the royalty watched as Prompto got sucked into his game, none of them really noticing as Irene walked into the arcade. She was close enough to watch everything, but far enough away that it wouldn't seem weird.

Every now and then Prompto would look at Luna as he played, attempting to show her a thing or two, but after a while he was too into it and left the other two alone.

After ten minutes, Noctis noticed that Luna had yet to touch anything, even though he had a prepaid card filled with money for whatever game they decided to play. Him and Prompto frequented this place so he kept it full just in case.

She was a few feet from Prompto, eyeing an older looking game, her face pensive. Making his way over to her, he politely moved beside her, and let her watch him in confusion as he swiped the prepaid card into the slot.

"You wanna play, right?" Noctis asked her as he pointed to the waiting screen.

Luna blushed at having gotten caught, and nodded her head. "I do… but I'm afraid I don't even know how to play."

Motioning for her to step up to it, Noct got right behind her and took in a deep breath. He mustered up all the courage he could and took her hands in his.

It was a simple game, one where you were a spaceship that shot at other spaceships above. In order to win you had blow up all of the ships and then the "master" ship. There was a movable stick with two buttons to the side. He moved both of their hands, the left on the stick and the right on top of the buttons, and the warmth of her body near his made him feel light.

Pressing the "shoot" button to start the game, he walked her through it, using his hands on top of hers to show her how to do it. As she steadily got used to it and began to feel more confident, he removed his hands, but didn't step back from her.

The skin of her hands was so soft, and she smelled so wonderful. It was a light scent, but Noctis could smell it forever, and a tiny voice in his head said that he could if he'd stop being such an idiot.

When the last of the mini ships were destroyed, Luna looked back at him. Her smile was so big, and Noctis knew in that moment he was done for.

Resting his left hand on her shoulder, he squeezed it and quietly said, "I'm proud of you. Now you just have to defeat the big ship."

Luna nodded adorably and turned back to the game. It was much more difficult than the other ships, but after a few minutes and some near misses, she was jumping for joy and clapping her hands as the game announced her the winner.

Before Noctis could even congratulate her, she was turning one eighty degrees and latching onto him in a hug.

"Thank you so much, Noctis," she breathed. "I couldn't have done it without you."

His eyes widened for a second before softening. Wrapping his arms around her, his chin rested against the top of her head. "Y-Yeah, you're welcome."

"Hey guys!"

Noctis loosened his arms and Luna left his embrace as they both turned to look at Prompto.

The blond was giving them a smirk as he sauntered on over to them. "You guys ready to eat? I'm starving."

Seeming unsure, Luna glanced at Noctis before going back to Prompto. "But we just got here…"

"We can come back! I just think that if I don't eat something soon, I might eat one of you."

Noctis playfully rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go next door."

Prompto made a fist bump in the air and started going next door while Luna and Noctis lagged behind.

Hesitantly meeting her gaze, Noctis smiled shyly and gently took her right hand in his left, making sure to go the extra step and lace their fingers together. "Ready?" He asked.

Luna returned his smile in earnest and lightly squeezed his hand. "Gladly."

As they left the arcade and walked the very short distance to the eatery next door, Irene following a few feet behind, none of them seemed to notice the undercover Galahdian on the other side of the busy street. Blue, steely eyes were trained on their position inside the eatery as he fake read a newspaper near a kiosk stand.

He had been following them since day one, watching and studying as they got increasingly closer. At first he thought it was simply because they had known each other years before, but now, seeing them hold hands and smile and laugh like it was getting intimate, it was almost as if they were dating, or on the cusp of it.

Sighing, Nyx Ulric pushed his sunglasses further up his nose and pressed a button on his hidden earpiece with his left index finger. When the secure line beep went through, he heard Libertus on the other side.

"Anything new?"

Nyx kept his eyes on the royals as he answered, "Nothing too new, but there may be a new complication."

"So it's not new, but it's a complication."

"A small one that could be more, yeah."

"I guess you'll have to take it up to the boss."

"Yeah, I guess so," Nyx sighed again. "Wanna trade locations so I can go speak to him?"

"You still at the newspaper stand?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I guess. Be there in a minute."

"Copy that."

Releasing the button on his ear piece, Nyx folded the newspaper up and put it back onto the kiosk stand. Just like Libertus had said, a minute later they were switching positions without even greeting each other, and Nyx got into his car and drove to the Citadel. When he made it there, he showed the front guard his key card since he wasn't in his Kingsglaive uniform and was allowed inside. He pulled right up to the door and let the valet take over.

Nyx didn't get much farther than the driveway because Drautos was exiting the grand entrance and looking him up and down in confusion.

"Where the hell have you been?" Captain Drautos demanded as he waited for Nyx to come up the steps. "I haven't seen you at command in weeks."

Holding back the contempt expression that dared to grace his features, Nyx saluted his commander. When he reached the top of the stairs, he said simply, "I've been on assignment."

Drautos narrowed his eyes. "I haven't assigned you to anything."

"It's nothing major," Nyx tried to deflect. "I just have to write up reports over the security on the wall."

"Then why aren't you in your Kingsglaive garments?"

"I'm off duty."

"And yet you're here at the Citadel in common clothes?" Drautos interrogated as he looked Nyx up and down.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Nyx stared his captain down, refusing to give in. "I got called in. Can I please go now? I have to give my report in a few minutes."

"With who?"

"Captain Drautos!"

Nyx and Drautos turned and saw King Regis exiting the grand entrance of the Citadel, with his Marcus and Cor not far behind. Both Kingsglaive immediately bowed to their King, and it wasn't until Regis waved it away that they relaxed.

"Your majesty, I was just talking to Ulric about-"

"-It's quite all right," King Regis intercepted as he hobbled his way over to the two. "I was actually hoping to talk to this fine gentleman about his report on the security of the wall. I became worried after there were reports of nearby Niflheim troops in Hammerhead a few weeks ago, so I had him go out and see for himself."

The confusion and suspicion on Drautos' face only caused Regis to secure his own. This morning during his visit and with this, he knew the captain may become a problem.

After a few seconds, Drautos averted his gaze.

"I guess if everything is fine here," the Captain muttered. "Then I'll just be on my way."

"I'll be looking forward to your next report, Captain Drautos," Regis said in farewell.

Once the Captain was gone and going towards his own personal car, and it was just Nyx, Regis, Cor, and Marcus, Nyx walked a few steps closer to the King and bowed his head.

"Your Majesty, I have some news I'd like to discuss."

Regis didn't his eyes remove his eyes from Drautos' person until he was inside his vehicle. "Is it anything we should worry about?"

"That depends," Nyx stated. "Long story short, the Eclipse and the Night are becoming affectionate."

"Affectionate how?"

"They were holding hands, sir. I believe they may start dating soon."

"And what makes you think that?" Cor intercepted as he stepped forward.

Nyx looked at the Immortal and bowed his head in respect. Returning his gaze to the King, he answered, "It's clear as day, sir. The Foster sees it too, she told me the other day, but I believe she has begun to deeply care for the Eclipse, whether she admits it or not, therefore not adding it into her report."

Cor and Regis knew he had been talking about Irene since he used her code name, and it just reminded Regis why he chose her to foster and protect Lunafreya in the first place.

Both Irene and himself were parents, although Irene had sadly lost her only child and husband to disease a few years ago. He had chosen her because he knew that she'd look after Lunafreya like no one else, that's she'd care for Lunafreya like no one else. It appeared she also had the same feelings concerning Noctis and Lunafreya dating as he did, although Regis was a little more skeptical considering the age difference.

Clearing his throat, King Regis gave Nyx a curt nod and thanked him for his report. The Kingsglaive bowed and went on his way.

"Are you gonna try and put a stop it?"

Regis turned to Cor, and the Crownsguard could see the conflict on his face. "I don't know," the King sighed. "I haven't decided yet."

The King and the Immortal began to make their way inside with Marcus right on their heels.

A few blocks away in his car, Drautos was in the backseat as one of his personal assistants drove.

"Cyma?"

The female assistant continued to drive, but watched him from the rear view mirror. "Yes, Sir?"

"Take me to the sanctuary. I must speak with the Chancellor."

"Yes, Sir. Rerouting now."

Let me know what you guys think in a review. As you can see, things are starting to get going, and once it starts, it's gonna be a while before it stops.

See you guys next time!