Chapter 7
Noctis peeked his head in another room, letting out an irritated sigh upon sighting the grate covering most of the floor- with pipes visible beneath -before moving on. Although it was difficult to say for certain with all twisting staircases, branching corridors, dead ends and maze-like layout, he was almost positive he was near the area where he'd left Prompto.
His quick steps brought him to a three-way intersection, making him hesitate. Was he still heading left or should he start heading right? Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath as he tried to visualize the path he'd taken thus far in relation to where he was trying to get. A frustrated growl escaped his throat a moment later. It was just too easy to get turned around down here. He headed down the left path with an annoyed shrug of his shoulders. Given the number of marks in the room, chances were high he'd stumble into it sooner or later, whether he wanted to or not.
Fortune seemed to smile on him several minutes and two turns later when he saw the very same ladder he and Prompto had lowered not too long ago. Excited that he was finally on the right track- and still feeling a bit bad about leaving the blond in the first place -Noctis quickly climbed up the rungs and headed down the corridor.
It was only another minute or two before the path sloped down toward the familiar iron bar door, the handle turning easily in his grasp. "Sorry it took me so long," he apologized, spotting Prompto on the other side of the room as he let the door swing shut. "This place is really-" He broke off, eyes narrowing as the blond turned to him, signaling almost frantically for silence.
"Noct," Prompto whispered, the words barely audible over the distance between them. "It's here!"
"What's here?" Noctis asked, keeping his voice soft as he carefully moved toward the stairs at the end of the walkway he was on.
"The monster!" Prompto answered, pointing up. "It's right above me!"
Noctis immediately fell into a battle ready stance though he didn't pull out his sword right away. He continued walking toward the blond with careful steps, warily eyeing the area above Prompto to see what he would be facing before snuffing out the flame. He stopped four or five feet away, eyes darting around the various pipes attached to the wall. "Prompto, I don't see anyth-"
The blond couldn't help the shriek that escaped him as a bit more drool landed on his head, tensing even further. "Did you see that?" he squeaked, not caring how much of a hit his manliness had just taken in the face of his demise at a monster's claws.
Noctis was staring above him, looking a bit perplexed. His gaze switched between the blond and whatever was above him a few times before widening in realization. "Dude, I am so sorry," he began, shaking his head sadly as he backed off a couple steps. "But this is... There's nothing I can do."
"What?!" Prompto couldn't believe his ears. Was Noctis really abandoning him to save himself? Then again, what was the life of some nobody worth compared to that of the heir to the throne?
"Don't make any sudden movements," Noctis cautioned, holding the flame a bit higher, "but turn your head and look up."
"Why? So I can see what it is before it eats me?!" Okay, so maybe he hadn't made his peace with being consumed by a sewer monster so Noctis could escape, but it wasn't exactly like he'd had much time to prepare.
"Trust me- this is really something you need to see for yourself," Noctis urged.
Against his better judgment, Prompto did as he was instructed. Very slowly, he turned his head and looked up. Several pipes of different sizes were bolted to the wall running parallel to the floor, but the soon to be well-fed sewer monster was no where to be seen. He opened his mouth to ask what he was looking for when a bit of water squirted out of the joint of a skinny pipe right next to him, landing on his face.
"As I said," Noctis continued, the smile audible in his voice as the blond sputtered and rubbed the water from his eyes with his sleeve, "I can handle monsters, but leaking pipes are beyond me. You need a plumber."
"You...! You...! I thought I... But YOU...!" Prompto sputtered, unable to even form a coherent sentence. "You...jerk!"
"You have to admit, I got you good," Noctis chuckled, still grinning broadly as he walked over to the blond. "The look on your face..."
"That wasn't funny!" Prompto yelled, punching the prince's shoulder hard as he could. "I was already freaking out before you- augh!" He turned away with an inarticulate cry, breathing loudly through his nose as he plopped down on the ground and wrapped his arms around his knees. His bruised shoulder protested the movement but he ignored it, wanting nothing more than to hide from the world for a little bit.
Noctis was taken back by the blond's reaction to the joke, not sure what to say. He had thought it would just be some harmless fun, but it seemed he had gone a bit too far. To be fair, the majority of his experience in pranking other people came from Gladio and the brunet had pretty thick skin. Prompto was clearly far a more sensitive type.
He carefully eased himself down beside the blond, giving his friend a moment to get a hold of his emotions before speaking. "Hey, I'm sorry Prompto- I was out of line," he apologized, voice soft with sincerity.
Prompto took a deep, shuddering breath, finally having managed to get his breathing back under some semblance of control. He wasn't quite sure what to say to the prince. On the one hand, it was obvious Noctis hadn't been trying to be mean, even though he could clearly see how frightened the blond was. Then again, wasn't that was friends did- scare the crap out of each other and then both laugh it off afterward?
"No, it's- it's fine," Prompto said, raising his head slightly though he kept his gaze on his knees. While he wasn't up to laughing quite yet, he didn't want Noctis to think he was mad at him. "I'm...sure it'll be really funny tomorrow."
"Maybe," Noctis conceded, shrugging. "But there's a time and a place and this wasn't it. I shouldn't have played on your fears like that. I'm sorry."
Prompto nodded, accepting the apology. They sat there for a few minutes more, Noctis willing wait as long as he needed to for the blond to be ready to continue. At last Prompto released his knees and leaned back, wincing slightly as he moved his left arm closer to his body once more. "I probably deserved it. I mean, begin scared by a leady pipe?" he asked, corner of his mouth kicking up in a lop-sided grin. "To be honest, I'm not sure I would've passed up such a 'golden opportunity' either, if our roles were reversed."
"I'll make sure you never forget it," Noctis promised, returning the smile. "So, we cool?"
"Yeah." Prompto let out another deep breath, pushing himself back to his feet. "Anyway, we should probably get going," he said, eager to put this whole incident behind him.
Noctis nodded, standing with a bit more difficulty as his hands were otherwise preoccupied. "You want to try the pipe again or somewhere else?"
Prompto gave him an odd look before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh, right- I didn't get a chance to tell you," he said, turning his gaze back to the ceiling in the corner. He couldn't pick out anything that looked like a trap door, although the pipes, cables and wires littering the wall made it difficult to tell for sure. "Turn off the fire for a sec, would ya?"
Noctis blinked at the strange request, opening his mouth to protest before thinking better of it. He let the flame die, taking the opportunity to rub his temples until Prompto asked for it back.
It took several seconds for the blond's eyes to adjust to the darkness and a few more to find the faint outline he was looking for. "There!" he said, pointing uselessly toward the ceiling. "Do you see it? Up by the roof, in the corner of the room?"
Noctis looked up at the question, eyes scanning the darkness for what had drawn the blond's attention. His eyes widened when he found the weak light nestled amongst the shadows. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked, his voice quiet as he tried not to get his hopes up.
"I think so," Prompto answered, keeping his eyes glued to the spot. "I was trying to check it out when... well, you know," he hedged, shrugging. "Care to shed a little light on the situation?"
The flame burst to life in Noct's hands before the blond finished his sentence, both teens staring up at the ceiling. Even knowing where to look, it was difficult to see the outline of the hatch as the shadows flickered and danced across the ceiling.
Noctis headed back to the stairs, Prompto on his heels as they climbed back up to the walkway and followed it around past the control panel and doorway to the opposite corner of the room. They came to a stop beneath where they'd seen the trap door, looking at the wall for a way up.
"You have got to be kidding me," Noctis groaned, shaking his head in disbelief. There, camouflaged amongst the pipes and cables running along the wall but still clearly visible to anyone who actually looked, were metal rungs leading up to the ceiling. "And we walked right past this how many times?!" he demanded.
"Uh, fifteenth time's the charm?" Prompto offered, not sure whether he wanted to laugh because they had both missed it so many times, or cry because they probably could have gotten out of here an hour ago, at least.
"Alright, alright," Noctis said, closing his eyes and taking a breath to control his temper. "Better late than never, I suppose. You want to climb up and see if it's open?" he asked, already coming up with ways to get through if it turned out to be locked. At this point, he was willing to see if he could create a flame hot enough to melt the metal if that's what it took to get out of here. Destruction of public property- and the blinding migraine he was sure would follow magic of that caliber -would be a small price to pay for their freedom.
"Sure," Prompto agreed, climbing up the rungs as Noctis stepped to the side and held up the flame so the blond could see what he was doing. "Please be unlocked, please be unlocked, please be unlocked..." Prompto whispered under his breath as he neared the top, threading his leg through the rungs to free up his arm. He let out a cheer as the trapdoor opened easily, clattering noisily on the floor above. "Noct, it's open!" he called unnecessarily as pale light spilled in through the hole. "I think we're finally out!"
Soon they were both standing in the small room at the top of the ladder, looking around. A table and chair sat next to a large cabinet, the ajar door allowing them a glimpse of tall plastic boots, hard hats and other gear for tromping through the sewers that was stored inside. A large map hung over the table, seeming to be a schematic for the tunnels below. On the other side of the room was a tight circular staircase, the light filtering in from above.
The two wasted no time in climbing up the stairs, stopping short at the top. A small stone structure had been erected over the stairway, mostly sheltering it from the elements as an iron bar door on either side of it served to keep people out. Beyond the bars was a field of grass with trees along one edge and a footpath illuminated by lampposts circling around the perimeter. City buildings were visible beyond the park walls, a number of windows glowing in the darkness despite the lateness of the hour. They had finally made it outside.
Prompto cheered again when the knob turned easily in his hand, the door swinging open freely. "Yes! We did it, Noct! Oh, I was beginning to think we were going to die down there!" he cried, holding his arm out as he spun in the circle, simply reveling in being outside.
Noctis laughed at his friend's antics, though his grin was just as wide. "I wouldn't go that far, but it sure feels good to finally be out of there," he agreed, letting the door swing shut behind him as he glanced around. "Any idea where we are?"
Prompto stopped spinning, taking a moment to actually look at their surroundings. "Uh, yeah, actually," he admitted, a little surprised. "My house is about three blocks from here." He wasn't sure if he should tell Noctis that they had only managed to travel a couple blocks from where they'd entered the sewers to begin with.
Noctis shivered as a cold wind swept past them, ruffling the bare branches on the trees and chilling his wet clothes. "Lead the way, then," he instructed, trying to slide his hands up the opposite sleeve since he couldn't put them in his pockets.
It took the pair almost half an hour to cross the three blocks, cutting through alleys and between buildings to stay off the main roads as much as possible. Noctis hadn't wandered around in the sewers for hours just to get caught now that he'd finally made back to street-level.
The prince was shivering uncontrollably by the time they finally reached Prompto's house, clenching his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering as the blond fished out his keys and unlocked the door. "Home, sweet home," Prompto said as he pushed open the door and stepped back to let Noctis inside. "Do you want to shower first? I have some dry clothes you can wear," he offered, closing the door behind him.
"I'd love to, but I need to get out of these first," Noctis said as he held up the handcuffs, the links clinking softly as his hands visibly shook.
"Oh, right!" Prompto said, wincing at the oversight. "I'll, uh- the computer's over there," he said, gesturing. "I'll grab you a blanket and make some hot chocolate or something if you want to look up how to get out of handcuffs online," he suggested, heading toward the closet.
Noctis nodded, moving to sit in the chair as he reached for the power button. "Do you even have hot chocolate?" he asked, still clenching his teeth tightly to keep his words smooth.
"Is there anyone that doesn't?" Prompto returned. He dropped a heavy blanket over the back of the chair, shaking it out before helping Noctis pull it around his shoulders. "It's not like I can't have sugar- I just don't like to over-indulge."
"Fair enough," Noctis stated, snuggling into the blanket while he waited for the computer to start up. Between finally getting out of the sewers and reaching Prompto's house unseen, things were finally starting to look up.
Ten minutes later, Noctis had changed his mind. He was half lying on the table, the blanket partially covering his back but mostly pooling around his waist. His head was resting on a hot beanbag- which was actually helping his headache, surprisingly enough -with his arms thrust out to the side as Prompto fiddled with the locks. Two empty mugs had been pushed back by the monitor to clear his work space as the blond tried his hand at locking-picking, discarding a bent paperclip in favor of a bobby pin as he clicked over to a different tab in the browser and watched the tutorial again.
"Just for the record, I think that's cheating- I mean, when are you ever going to find a pair of handcuffs with one side made of clear plastic so you can see the locking mechanism?" he complained, gesturing at the screen.
Noctis just grunted, shifting slightly to relieve some of the pressure on his shoulder. There was really no good way to lie on his side across the tabletop, but he was still cold and he was tired. Plus, it was easier to lay on the beanbag than try to keep it balanced on his head while Prompto pulled and twisted his arms and wrists this way and that in order to get the best vantage to pick the lock.
All Noctis wanted at this point was to take a shower and go to sleep. "Do you have a pair of bolt cutters?" he asked tiredly, watching the blond with half-lidded eyes.
"Uh...I don't think so," Prompto answered distractedly. "At least, if my dad does, I've never seen them."
"How about scissors?"
Prompto blinked at the random question, glancing at the prince before returning his attention to the lock. "Sure, why?"
"I think I just want to cut off my shirt and jacket."
The blond huffed out a laugh, turning Noct's wrist so the back of his hand was touching the tabletop. "Isn't that a bit extreme?" he asked, a grin tugging at his lips as he re-positioned the bobby pin in the lock once more.
"Nope," Noctis replied, completely serious. "I'm planning on burning them anyway, and that's all that's keeping me from a shower right now."
"Uh huh. And how are you going to get dressed afterward?" Prompto asked, twisting and turning the pin as he tried to catch the release. "Or are you just gonna go back wrapped in a blanket?"
"Good point," Noctis conceded, not having gotten that far in his grand master plan. However, the blond's idea was not without merit. "Can I borrow this blanket?"
Prompto laughed again, grinning outright. "Are you seriously gonna walk into the Citadel wearing nothing bu-" He broke off mid-word as the ratchet slid halfway out past the pawl before the lock bar caught it again. "Dude- I think I got it!"
"What?" Noctis asked, sitting up and pulling his arms back. Sure enough, the cuff around his right wrist was loose enough to slip his hand through, which he did immediately. "Ah, yes!" he said, stretching both arms out to his sides. He never thought he'd miss the feeling of being able to pull his wrists apart so much.
"So, you want to wait while I work my magic on the other one, or would you rather shower first?" Prompto asked, watching his friend with a broad smile across his face.
"Shower," Noctis answered immediately. "Definitely a shower first."
"I thought you'd say that," Prompto said, pushing his chair back as he stood. Although Noctis was no longer shivering, his hands were still like ice. The blond moved toward the hallway, the prince following behind. "The shower's in there," he said, gesturing to an open door as he continued to his room. "I'll go grab you some clothes." It didn't take him long to retrieve a pair of sweats and a loose t-shirt from his closet, returning to the hall and tapping on the now-closed bathroom door. "I'll leave the clothes here for you. Just make sure you don't use all the hot water."
"Thanks," Noctis called through the door, working on getting out of his still-wet shirt. He blinked as the second part of the blond's statement registered, turning a confused look at the door. "What do mean? Do you have limited hot water or something?"
"Doesn't everyone?" Prompto replied with a laugh.
"Uh, no?" Noctis sounded confused. "Is this a common problem?"
Now it was Prompto's turn to gape at the door. "Wait- are you serious? Like, you're not just messing with me?" he asked. The silence from the other side was answer enough. "You don't even- I mean, I assumed your life would have been a bit different growing up in the Citadel, but to not even realize-" Prompto broke off, shaking his head. "Just...wow."
"So how much hot water do you have?" Noctis asked, a bit embarrassed by his lack of knowledge and trying to get the conversation back on track. Was there even enough for both of them to get a shower?
"Oh, sorry. You'll have enough for a nice, long shower- don't worry," Prompto assured him. He was still trying to wrap his head around how Noctis could have gone his whole life thinking everyone had an unlimited supply of hot water. The privileged truly did lead a very different life than the rest of the populace.
"Is there enough for you as well?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah- There should be plenty left for me, as long as you're not in there for over an hour or something," the blond said, waving his hand dismissively. "Anyway, you've got clothes right outside the door and I'll be out in the living room when you're done."
"Okay."
Noctis stepped back out in the living room twenty-ish minutes later, handcuffs dangling from one wrist while he strapped the watch back onto the other one. "Shower's free," he said, retrieving the fresh blanket Prompto had set out and wrapping it around himself. The pervasive chill that had plagued him since falling in the water was finally gone, but he didn't want to lose all the warmth from the shower just yet.
"Cool," Prompto said, dropping a hand-held game onto the counter as he stood. "Uh, you can help yourself to anything in the fridge, although I kind of left all my groceries in the alley. There might be some instant noodles in the cupboard, though," he said, shrugging.
"Thanks," Noctis said, moving toward the kitchen. Although the smells of the sewer worked wonders for suppressing his appetite, the meager bowl of cereal he'd had before this fiasco began was long gone.
"How long do these tests usually last?" Prompto asked, hesitating in the doorway. "I mean, is there a set time limit or is it over when you reach the Citadel?" His parents would probably be back some time tomorrow and he expected they'd like some warning before walking in to find the Crown Prince sleeping on their couch.
"There's a time limit," Noctis said, holding up the wrist with the watch on it as he opened a cupboard. "Cor always leaves me a watch with a countdown, so I know how much time's left," he continued, pulling a cup of instant noodles from the cupboard. "Right now, I've got..." He trailed off as he stared at the watch, brow furrowing. "...a bit of a problem, actually."
"What?"
"It's...blank," Noctis said, holding it up to his ear as he tried pushing the buttons on the side to try and get it to work. "I guess... It must have been damaged when it got wet..."
"Well, it's not that big of a deal, right?" Prompto asked uncertainly. "I mean, if it just tells you how much time you have..."
"I guess not," Noctis agreed slowly, lowering his arm. His eyes suddenly widened as something else occurred to him. "Unless the tracker got broken, too..." he groaned, dropping his head into his hands as he thought back over the evening. There was a lot of water down in the sewers- how many times had he gotten the watch wet? The only two times that stood out in his mind were just a little bit ago when he fell off the pipe...and when Prompto's phone had been broken.
"Uh, that's...kind of a big problem, right? What do they do if you break the tracker?" Prompto asked, eyes darting to the front door as if he expected the Crownsguard to come bursting in at any minute. He hoped they wouldn't hold him responsible for it, as it was technically his idea to head into the sewers in the first place.
"Freak out, probably," Noctis muttered. The situation, while still serious, wouldn't be quite so bad if he had broken it after the pipe. Cor would probably be pulling everyone in to search for him, but wouldn't have resorted to drastic measures just yet. If the tracker had broken at the same time as the phone, on the other hand...well, the city wasn't in complete lockdown, so that had to be a good sign. And the sewers would have been crawling with Crownsguard...right?
Noctis groaned again, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I need a phone," he said, glancing around the room. Regardless of whether it had been only thirty minutes or several hours, the prince needed to check in and let everyone know he was fine. "Do you have anything other than your cell?"
"Uh, yeah- on the table by the couch," Prompto answered, pointing toward the living room.
Noctis nodded, moving over to the cordless phone and dialing one of the few numbers he had memorized.
"I'll, uh, go take a shower now," Prompto said, giving the prince some privacy as he disappeared down the hall.
Noctis nodded distractedly as he placed the phone to his ear, waiting for the call to connect. It was picked up halfway through the second ring.
"Have you found him?" the voice on the other end asked in lieu of greeting, the words crisp and sharp. Anyone who knew the speaker well, however, could easily hear the stress and concern hidden in the tone.
Noctis winced guiltily. It seemed the tracker breaking wasn't as recent a development as he had hoped. "It's me, dad," he said, slouching back into the couch as he rubbed his neck. The fact that he couldn't have contacted anyone much sooner seemed like a paltry excuse in the face of his father's worry.
"Noctis?" Regis breathed, voice soft with surprise though it didn't take him long to recover. "Are you alright? Are you in a safe place?" he asked urgently, relief tempered by practicality. "What happened?"
"I'm fine, dad- I'm over at Prompto's house," Noctis assured him, fiddling with the edge of the blanket still wrapped around him. "The tracker just got wet and shorted out."
There was a brief pause. "You should have checked in earlier," Regis stated, though the words sounded more tired than anything else. "The Crownsguard has been searching for you for hours-"
"I only just realized it wasn't working," Noctis said defensively. His head was still hurting and he didn't really feel like listening to a lecture on being irresponsible at the moment.
A soft sigh came from the other end. "Noctis..."
"I know," Noctis said, massaging his temples with his free hand. Not bothering to check and make sure the watch was still working wasn't a much better excuse than knowing it was broken and not doing anything about it. "I should have checked it when Prompto's phone stopped working, but we had just lost our only source of light. It was dark and Prompto was freaking out over monsters that might be hiding down there even though it was just a leaky pipe, but the entire thing is set up like a maze, with dead ends and locked doors all over the place, and..." He finally let the sentence trail off, pausing to take a deep breath. "And we kinda got lost, so I wouldn't have been able to contact you much sooner regardless."
Noctis was rambling. Regis couldn't help the smile that lit his face as his son jumped from one topic to the next without any obvious link connecting them. Noctis only did that when he was relaxed enough to not bother guarding his tongue. It was an old habit they were working on breaking him of, but right now it was more reassuring about his son's current state than mere words ever could be and the king finally started to relax for the first time in hours.
The talk of monsters was concerning, though it sounded like an imagination gone wild rather than an actual threat, so Regis decided to skip over it for now. "Got lost down where?" he asked instead. Now that he had been assured of his son's well being, he was curious as to how Noctis had managed to avoid the Crownsguard for so long- apparently, while being lost to boot.
"In the sewers."
"The sewers?" the king repeated, the words halfway between amusement and incredulity. "You have been wandering around for the last three and a half hours in the sewers?" It was no wonder Cor hadn't found them- they hadn't even been looking in the right place to begin with.
"It's like a maze down there, dad," Noctis repeated, feeling the need to justify himself. "Winding corridors, leaky pipes, water everywhere- and Prompto's phone broke pretty early on, so I had to carry around a flame in my hands the whole time." He closed his eyes, laying his throbbing head back against the cushion behind him. "How do you do it?"
"How do I do what?" Regis asked, unbothered by the non-sequitur. It seemed Noctis had had just as trying a night as the Crownsguard and needed someone to vent to.
"Maintain the Wall."
Regis was silent. It wasn't often the two of them got to simply talk like this anymore and he had long since decided those precious conversations wouldn't be tainted by his son's future duties to the crown. Then again, Noctis had never before asked about it, either.
"I mean, it's a constant thing, right?" Noctis continued, realizing how vague the question was and trying to explain what he meant. "Twenty-four seven, whether you're asleep and awake, you're powering the Wall."
"Yes."
"Well, how did you learn to do that? How do you do that?" Noctis asked. He held the blanket in place with his elbow as he pushed himself to his feet, retrieving the cool beanbag from the table and sticking it the microwave like he'd seen Prompto do earlier. "I mean, I summoned the smallest flame I could, only feeding it enough energy to keep it from going out and my head was pounding within the hour. How manage do you do that all the time?"
There was a soft chuckle over the line. "It's a bit easier for me, I think," Regis answered. "The ring does most of the work, automatically taking what is needed to sustain the Wall as long as I am wearing it. I only need to consciously strengthen it when outside forces are attacking." His eyes narrowed in confusion as a soft ding sounded over the line. What was Noctis doing?
The prince returned to the couch, plopping down on the cushions with a soft groan as he held now hot beanbag back to his head. "Well, that's something, I guess," he muttered.
"Is your head still bothering you?"
"There's a steady throbbing behind my eyes that just won't quit," Noctis complained. "Prompto gave me a hot bean bag though, which seems to be helping."
"A...beanbag?" Regis repeated, not sure he had heard that right.
"Yeah, I asked if he had a heat pack or something and he grabbed a beanbag and threw it in the microwave," Noctis explained. "Kinda weird, but it works well enough, so I'm not complaining."
"Hm. I would not have thought of that," Regis admitted, bemused.
"I know, right?" Although he realized his father wasn't the best judge for what was normal, Noctis still felt a bit better knowing he wasn't the only that hadn't heard of beanbags being used in such a fashion.
"It sounds like you're suffering from magical exhaustion," Regis continued. "Have you any other injuries? Any open wounds should be cleaned especially well, given you've spent the better part of the night in the sewers."
"No, I'm fine and I took a shower shortly after getting here," Noctis said, his voice turning a bit bitter. "Prompto was shot though. I made sure it didn't break the skin, but it was already pretty swollen at the time and he hasn't moved his arm any more than he absolutely has to since."
"Prompto was shot?" Regis repeated, sounding surprised. "Did you explain to him what was going on?"
"Ashley didn't give me a chance to!" Noctis returned heatedly, anger as his ex-coworker surging anew. "Prompto saw me in the alley and ran over to see what was going on. Then the new recruits showed up with guns, telling me to come with them. Prompto, thinking I was actually in trouble, jumped in between us and Ashley shot him before I could explain anything." He sighed, closing his eyes once more as he repositioned the beanbag. His head didn't appreciate the outburst, but Noctis was still very upset about what had happened. "Can you make sure they pick up his groceries when they come get me?" he added as an afterthought. "He dropped them in the alley."
"Certainly," Regis replied, absorbing what his son had just told him. "And I'll be having words with Cor about this incident, as well." As he recalled, Prompto was in Noctis' class at school, which would make him about the same age. Shooting a civilian was bad enough, but a minor? Cor certainly had some explaining to do.
"Thanks, dad."
"Are Prompto's parents there? Can I speak with one of them?" Regis asked. He was sure Noctis would have explained the situation by now, but they and their son were still owed an apology, at the very least, and some form of compensation.
"Uh, his parent's aren't here- he said they should be getting back in the next couple days, I think?"
"I see. Then we'll have him checked out along side of you."
Noctis sat up at that, the bean bag falling to the cushion beside him. "What? Why do I have to get checked out? I told you, I didn't get hurt- not even so much as scratch." Probably, anyway, though he did have a few bruises.
"Noctis, the temperature outside is very close to freezing," Regis pointed out.
"Yeah, and?" Noctis asked, not understanding what that had to do with anything. "They handcuffed me with my jacket on- I couldn't have taken it off even if wanted to."
"Are you telling me that you managed to stay completely dry in the sewer, with 'water everywhere,' as you put it?" Regis asked.
Noctis winced, guiltily rubbing his feet together under the blanket. The entire sole of both of his feet had been wrinkled and prune-like when finally he'd peeled off his wet socks. "Not...exactly..." he hedged.
"Wandering around in wet clothes when it's that cold outside is dangerous. I'm sure you've warmed up by now, but I still want someone to look at you to make sure there isn't any lasting damage."
"...alright," Noctis conceded with a sigh, not really able to argue as he was still wrapped in a blanket, despite no longer being cold. "I guess someone will be by to pick me up soon then?"
"Yes. Let your friend know he'll be coming with us."
"He's still in the shower- I'll tell him when he gets out," Noctis promised.
"Very well. I shall see you soon."
"Yeah. Bye dad."
"Goodbye Noctis."
Noctis pressed the 'end' button before replacing the receiver on the charging base, the loose handcuff scrapping loudly across the wooden end table. "Might as well try to get this off in the meantime," he muttered, holding the blanket in place as he shuffled back over to the computer. The bobby pin and paperclip were still lying in front of the keyboard and the tabs with different tutorials they had looked up earlier were still open on the browser.
Noctis clicked the 'play' button, watching through the tutorial once more before picking up the bent metal and slipping it into the lock. After a few fruitless attempts, he found himself agreeing with Prompto. Being able to see the locking mechanism- and, more importantly, where the pick was in relation to the lock bar -was clearly cheating.
. . .
Regis disconnected the call, slipping his phone back into his pocket as he glanced over to Cor. The marshal had called off the search when he realized the king was talking to his son and dismissed the Crownsguard altogether once it became apparent the prince was safe and sound. After he had finished handing out assignments for the clean up- getting the trains running again and whatnot else -he returned to the king's side, catching the very tail end of the conversation as he waited to drive Regis to wherever Noctis was.
"Noctis is at his friend Prompto's house," Regis informed the marshal, rising from his chair. He paused briefly, needing to lean on the table as his knee threatened to give out on him but waved off Cor's assistance as the feeling passed. It seemed he'd need to start using a cane sooner rather than later, as his father had before him. "Do you know the address?" he continued, leaving the impromptu command center Cor had set up and heading toward the Regalia.
"I don't have it memorized," Cor confessed, falling into step behind his liege, "but Monica should be able to pull it from the public records."
Regis nodded, letting the marshal get the door for him before stepping into the backseat. "In the meantime, you can explain to me why one your recruits thought it prudent to shoot a minor during a training exercise."
Cor bowed in acquiescence before closing the door, keeping his expression neutral as he rounded the car to the driver's seat. A quick order to Monica over the headset got him the address he needed, although his mind was preoccupied with the coming conversation. This was going to be long drive.
To Be Continued