Noct felt stifled, which was why he was the first out the door the second his first class ended.
He pretended at nonchalance as he stood in front of a wall and breathed in the fresher air (or it felt that way, anyway), his bag strap slung over one shoulder and his hands in his pockets, but they were there so no one would see his clenched fists.
He couldn't look anyone in the eye.
It would've been worse, probably, if Dad had sent him back to his old school like he'd planned. At the last minute Dad had decided to send him to a mixed school instead, and he was begrudgingly grateful for it.
Around half of the kids were from Houses, like House Amicitia, and so didn't stare at him so much, but a good chunk were normal kids too. No prestige, no rank, and no noble blood. Being here, they'd gotten used to being around the kids of important people, but he was the Important Person, which for some reason meant they couldn't stop looking at him.
Dad had gone to a fully public school, which made him not stuck-up (Gladio's words, not his) and that was where he met Mom. He'd been a royal among non-royals. Noct had been going to a school like that, maybe even the same one, but they'd never gotten over who he was. He couldn't make any friends because of it. He didn't know how Dad did, but that was where he met Uncle Cid and Uncle Weskham, so.
Noct mostly liked his old school, but the thought of walking through those halls now, with all those stares, made him feel shaky, made his palms feel sweaty.
While he waited for Gladio, he distracted himself with recognizing insignias on the uniforms that passed him. He knew a lot of Houses by sigil but not their names (even though his tutor had tried to get him to memorize all of them over his extended break). A dark-haired girl from House Fortis walked past him without a glance, and he only knew because their insignia was a white carnation.
It wasn't a sylleblossom, but it was close.
Finally, Gladio came down the hall and stopped next to him without looking, the strap of a messenger bag over his shoulder as he scanned and re-scanned the hallway like a hawk looking for prey.
Noct still wasn't talking to him, but that didn't mean he didn't feel better by him just being around.
He almost wished he didn't, just so he could be more stubborn.
Seeing him in a uniform was weird. Gladio wore hand-me-down crownsguard fatigues around the Citadel, sure, but this was an actual uniform, with a blue suit jacket and steam-pressed pants.
Gladio did another scan.
"They're just staring," Noct felt like he had to say when he didn't stop. "It's not a big deal."
Gladio grunted vaguely at him without looking, and Noct realized that it was probably a lot worse for him.
Gladio was in the same building, as close as he could get while not being put in the same grade, but he'd always been tutored, like Iggy.
Until now.
Noct had never thought about why, but Gladio was older. Too old to go to his old school, and he'd never had to be his Shield in public.
Noct wasn't the only one suffering, and stupidly, it steadied his trembling hands and annoyed him. He didn't want to feel positive things about Gladio.
The hallway was almost empty and being late wasn't really an option for him, but Gladio stayed in his way. He waited, but Gladio didn't move, and he briefly, accidentally caught the eye of some blond kid with glasses who'd been staring at him but ducked around the corner before Noct could get a good look.
"You're going to be late," Noct finally said, having nothing else to say.
"Yeah," Gladio agreed, glaring down the hall. "I'm going to go look in on your brother. I'll find a window or something where his class is. Won't take long."
It was like Gladio hadn't heard him, but Noct... well, he thought Gladio didn't like Arc. And Arc was in the next building over. It didn't seem worth the trouble.
"What for?"
"Look, just because—" he stopped the argument before it could begin, shaking his head. "Okay, yeah, fine, I'm not his Shield, but Iris is still too young. I have to pick up the slack until she's old enough."
Noct was stunned into silence. "What about Ravus?"
"He's old," Gladio dismissed.
"You're going to look in his window? That's kinda creepy."
"No, it's not," Gladio denied, turning away from him. He broke into a jog. "Go to class, and then go to the roof for lunch!"
Wait, was he skipping?
"The roof?" Noct asked himself, dumbfounded as he stared after his Shield's retreating figure.
.
.
.
Noct sat beside his brother and across from Gladio, automatically picking out veggies and dropping them into an empty corner of Arc's lunch box.
Their legs touched, but Noct barely noticed.
Arc, in return, allowed him to take out half of the strips of beef from his lunch box. Dad would say he shouldn't because his brother was a growing boy, blah, blah, but so was he.
"How was it? Class?" Noct felt like he had to ask. "Better than home?"
Arc leaned against his shoulder in answer, and yeah, he felt the same way. It was hard.
Noct ate a strip of beef. "I'll take you home if you want," he offered.
Arc looked up at him with big eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah, I'll come back after," he said, knowing he probably wouldn't. He really wanted to beat the last level of King's Knight, but he couldn't do it unless Arc was watching. It didn't feel as fun playing when he was alone, even if Arc wasn't playing.
Arc was pretty bad at King's Knight, but still loved telling him what to do. But it felt different because it was Arc. It never felt annoying enough to tell him to stop, like when Iggy tried to tell him what to do.
"What happened to your tie?" Noct asked around his improved lunch. He picked a renegade baby carrot up between his chopsticks and held it out to him.
Arc's uniform was less strict because he was a baby in baby classes, but he'd had a tie.
Arc leaned up and ate it right from his chopsticks. "I asked if anyone wanted it and they took it."
Noct stilled. "You what?"
"It came off," his brother said defensively, looking up at him. "No one said they'd fix it for me and you and Ravus were far away."
"No one said...?" he trailed off, blinking at his brother. He poked his forehead with the clean ends of his chopsticks. "No one is supposed to say that. No one is your servant here. You're supposed to as for help."
Arc rubbed the spot, pouting ferociously at him. "Ravus wouldn't say that," he said, like he was supposed to feel guilty.
Noct poked him again. "Dad should've sent you to real school," he said. "Ravus would say worse. He'd give you that flat look he always throws around at everyone and say, you're not better than them just because you're a lucian Prince—"
Someone delicately cleared their throat and Noct's impression of Ravus died on the spot as he heard the roof door click shut.
Arc immediately turned, practically using Noct as his personal pillow as he asked, "Would you say that, Ravus?"
"I don't believe my voice is that deep."
His hair, fully down, was almost long enough to reach the middle of his back. It was weirder still to see him in uniform.
Ravus usually dressed plainly. He still had that black version of his outfit from Tenebrae, but Noct had never seen him wear it.
"But I might use similar words if I didn't sound like my diet subsisted on gravel," he added, leaning back on the wall next to the door. He was carrying a wrapped lunch box that he must've bought, because he had no bag.
Arc pouted at him too. "How was class, Ravus?"
"Very Lucian," he said, not hearing or ignoring his tone as he pulled the plastic off his lunch.
Ravus was the only one allowed a cell phone to use in case of emergencies. Noct had Gladio, and he suspected that Kingsglaive that had watched him was watching his brother.
He hadn't thought about it until after Gladio left, but Dad wouldn't leave Arc undefended like that.
...or maybe he forgot. Noct hadn't seen him in person in days.
Noct stopped as he went to eat another meat strip, realizing that Gladio had been quiet the entire time.
Noct tensed, expecting Gladio to be about to blow up at him when he looked over, but instead he saw that Gladio had put his barely eaten lunch aside and was holding some kind of wrapped square.
"What's that?" Noct asked, not even minding when Arc maneuvered down to eat the strip between his chopsticks.
Gladio looked down at the square, as if it had appeared between his hands without him knowing, and then he cleared his throat.
"Here," he said stiffly, holding out the square.
Noct looked at it.
Gladio's eyebrow twitched. "Just take it."
Noct could've been difficult just because, just like Gladio always was, but he reached out with one hand and took it. Moving his arm made Arc fall fully into his lap, but instinct had him moving his lunch box out of the way automatically before his brother could cause a mess.
The square looked like it had been wrapped with holiday wrapping paper, with too much tape on the corners. He looked skeptically at Gladio, but his Shield was looking away.
It made him curious enough to put down his lunch and unwrap it, pausing as he started to see the cover, the game cover, underneath.
It was King's Knight 2.
Noct stared at it, then completely tore off the packaging to be sure, then broke the seal and opened it to be doubly sure the cartridge was right.
"Arc, here," Ravus said suddenly, tilting his bought lunch box to show him the celery sticks in it.
Arc got up and left and Noct couldn't believe it.
"How did you—it hasn't even come out yet," Noct breathed, looking up with wide eyes.
Gladio looked uncomfortable. "So, you like it, right? I borrowed that thing you're always playing and the card thing in it was the first one—"
Noct blinked at him shock. "When did you...?"
"So I looked it up and saw that the sequel was coming out. And, uh, there was this store doing this promotion," he said, bulldozing past his question. "They had early copies, I guess? They gave the first twenty people in line when they opened that morning the chance to buy them with the promise of getting something else half-off or something, and I was doing a run that way anyway—"
Noct stared down at the cartridge again.
"Just tell me if it works," Gladio said tightly, gripping the back of his neck. "I got a gift card, so Arc can get something too if he wants?"
Noct spun around, putting his back to Gladio. He felt Ravus looking at him, even as he kept Arc distracted, and ducked his head away from him.
"I thought you hated me," Noct said, his voice steadier than he felt.
"What?"
"I thought you hated Arc too."
"No, I—" Gladio stumbled, and Noct had never heard him sound so unsure before. "I don't—I don't hate him. Or you—"
Noct couldn't hold back a wet sniff any longer, and it seemed impossibly loud, because Gladio immediately stopped talking.
"Woah, hey, are you crying?"
"No," he answered. He wasn't. His nose just wouldn't stop running, no matter how much he wiped it. "Is that something else that makes me a bad Prince, too?" he asked, surprising himself with how angry he suddenly was.
Gladio fell silent again.
Noct heard him scooting closer, until Gladio was sitting right next to him, and Noct immediately moved to get up, but Gladio caught his arm and tugged him back down.
Noct grit his teeth, but Gladio wasn't looking at him. He was deliberately not looking at his face.
"Look, Noct, I'm—" the words seemed to get stuck in his throat. He swallowed hard. "I'm not good at this," he settled on. "I can't just say—"
Gladio let go of him to cover his eyes with his hand. He tapped his foot on the ground. "I was wrong and I know I was wrong and Iggy is always right, damn it—"
Noct looked at him.
Gladio was practically hunched over, still covering his eyes. "I'm the worst, okay? I know I was making everything worse. I just—" he cleared his throat again, his voice hoarse. "I'm your Shield. You don't get it. I failed. Dad's never failed. Not once, even when they were kids like us."
Noct didn't understand. "You weren't there."
"No, it's—I didn't say it for—I want you to get it, because I can't say what I should say so you gotta get it—" his voice broke, and Noct felt shock, because this was Gladio, and he'd always been unbendable. Gladio swiped a hand across his eyes, shocking him even more, and quickly covered them again. "I don't want Iris to be a Shield. I don't want her to feel like this. That's not Arc's fault, but if you thought Iris would get Arc hurt, you'd see. You'd get it."
If Iris would hurt Arc...?
Noct's wet gaze drifted over to his brother. Arc was looking back at them, frowning even as Ravus, on one knee in front of him, was probably trying to explain to him what was going on with them.
And he saw the way Arc looked at Gladio, like he hated his Shield for making him cry, and he got it.
The ball of anger that had been festering for weeks over everything Gladio said or did to him since Tenebrae came undone. He still wanted to be mean and stubborn over Gladio snapping at Arc, but that made him get it even more.
He still didn't get the Shield part, not really, but he couldn't say that if Arc were in Iris' position, he wouldn't hold a grudge.
He wouldn't blame Iris if she already hated him.
"I forgive you," Noct said. He looked down at the game case.
They both had feeling like they failed their dads in common too, even if Noct couldn't find the words to voice that.
"For me," he added. "You can't apologize to Arc by asking me to accept things for him. That won't help."
Noct very suddenly didn't want his little brother growing up hating his Shield. Not because of Gladio, but because he now had a crystal clear picture of what it would do to him.
"You're going to say you're sorry. The right way," Noct said. "And then we can be friends again."
Gladio sucked in through his teeth. He laid back on the roof and covered his face with his arms. He didn't say anything, but Noct knew he would.
x
x
Ravus figured he ought to know how to work the screen of his phone in case an emergency did happen.
Standing against the wall outside Noct's building, he experimentally tapped an app with a phone icon and numbers, from 0 to 9, appeared on the screen.
His last class unfortunately let out earlier, and there were only so many ways for him to keep himself occupied with watching his so-called classmates leave or converse with each other each day, or with watching the environment.
Tenebrae didn't have 'smart phones', or phones at all. He knew that one of his ancestors had attempted to adopt the use of landlines like the rest of the world, but the mountains, as always, made things difficult.
There was no wire that could pass from mountain to mountain without making bridges out of them, and each mountain having its own individual electric grid was an unreasonable ask, which made all things technology limited. Fenestala Manor had used solar power when they needed to. Mother had been fond of using birds to carry her messages, and Ravus, well—
He'd never needed to access the aviary, and never would now.
Ravus had a good grasp on how to make, answer, and end calls when the time neared for Noct, Gladio, and, a little later, Arc to be coming out. It felt like an obligation, the desire to see the two Princes safe with his own eyes before he could return to the Citadel.
Ravus had just started to play around with the other apps when the screen flickered with odd static and an app opened on its own. Before he could grasp what was happening a video began to play, and as he watched it, it felt like the world fell out from under him.
"—Tenebrae is strong. We have faced many hardships and sorrows in recent months, but they have not, and will not, break my people," his little sister was saying, sitting delicately in a white chair, hands folded in her lap as she faced the camera.
Her hair had gotten longer.
Ravus heard echos of her voice around him, some a second late, some a second ahead, and some part of him became aware of the phones his classmates were taking out, the same video playing on them all.
Looks were sent his way as the more knowledgeable of them realized who was on screen.
"The attack on our home saddens me," she continued gracefully, pressing her dress down as she stood. "I am disappointed in Lucis, and thank Nifleheim for their aid."
Her dress was long, with flowing sleeves that swallowed her hands but still fit her perfectly.
Ravus could only think was that she must've loved it. Even if Nifleheim had chosen it for her, Luna had always adored dresses.
"But as the next Oracle of all, I will not call for war. I would like for, above all else, a peaceful world," she said. "I'd like to be your Queen one day, if you'd have me, but I'm still learning. When I ascend as Mother once did, only then will I be ready. Until that day comes, I've chosen a temporary reagent to rule in my place, someone I trust not to lead Tenebrae astray."
It was hearing temporary reagent that violently tore his attention away from his sister, and as he registered the lie they were making her tell, his fingers tightened around the phone.
Nifleheim wanted it believed that Insomnia had attacked Tenebrae unprovoked. They must've heard King Regis' statement by now, and this was theirs.
Luna, older and taller than he remembered, picked up their mother's crown from a pillow on a small table off camera and nodded to someone else off camera.
A young man stepped into frame and knelt before her, bowing his head in deference.
"Lord Achlys Talis of House Talis will be your King," she announced, and then carefully fit the crown atop his head.
It was maddening to watch.
Achlys was brown-skinned, with hair as long as Ravus' own, but the opposite color, as black as night. He wore a suit the same cream color as her dress, with gold accents and jeweled rings around his fingers. But what caught Ravus' eyes was the pink feathered earring that hung down and bobbed into sight only briefly as Luna gave him permission to look upon her.
"I will, to the best of my ability, do all I can to fulfill your hopes of me, Princess Lunafreya—"
Just as abruptly as it had began, the broadcast ended. The screen flickered again and the app closed itself, the video gone.
Ravus pressed the app, wanting to see it again just to get any look at Luna that he could, but there was no video. It only showed the local news, and the weather.
"—Ravus! Prince Ravus—"
Ravus raised his eyes automatically at the sound of his name and saw the lens of a digital camera aimed at him, the woman behind it, and a man holding something small out to him, like a tape recorder.
"—I'm Jett, reporting on the ongoing incident that just occurred in the Optimus district. It appears to have been a hacking attack of some kind—"
Ravus registered them, but he didn't see them at all. He went back to the home screen and clicked on the app again, but it still showed him only stories about Insomnia.
"—do you think that was really Princess Lunafreya, or a fabrication by Nifleheim? What about her statement? Is there any truth to it, or was it coerced—?"
"Luna wouldn't say that," Noct said from behind him, slightly out of breath like he'd ran to them. "Leave Ravus alone. If you want a statement—take mine. It's the Nifs. They did this in Altissa too before I was born. They put someone Altissians trusted in front of a camera and made her say they were free, but they weren't. It's the same thing now."
Both the reporter and camera operator turned to him, but Ravus couldn't get the image of his sister out of his head. He wanted a closer look to ensure for himself that Nifleheim hadn't harmed her, but all he could do was stare at his reflection on the dark screen in his hand.
"Do I have it correct that it's your opinion that Nifleheim has taken full control of Tenebrae, Prince Noctis—?"
"Hey, hey, back off!" Gladio was shouting, suddenly in the face of the reporter, using his height to block the camera's view of Noct. "You're breaking the law! Doing this on or near school grounds is—"
"Illegal," a new voice said. His classmates were looking at a woman who stood suddenly behind the reporter, wearing a dark, familiar uniform. She walked up to the reporter and grabbed his shoulder. "Let's have a quick chat, yeah? I'm dying to know who told you the perfect time to be here."
"Kingsglaive," Gladio identified her. "You're—"
"Crowe," she said, waving at them with her other, gloved hand. "Call me Crowe. I would've stopped him anyway, but you did good!"
Ravus pressed the tip of the phone to his forehead and shut his eyes, letting the image of his sister go. She wouldn't want him to despair over her like this. If she knew the sight of her made him fall apart it'd make the weight on her shoulders heavier.
"That archaic law is about Lucian royals. It says nothing about foreign nobility," the reporter was arguing.
"Well, we'll see how the Marshal feels about your interpretation of law soon enough, but before I take you in I need to make a few arrangements for the littlest Prince," Crowe said. "If your footage isn't deleted by the time I get back, I'm taking it for evidence."
Ravus slowly opened his eyes.
"You can't—" the reporter sputtered. "That footage is owned by our parent company—"
"I, uh, forgot my notebook," Noct said suddenly. "Be right back." Before anyone could say anything more, Noct spun around and jogged back up the steps.
Gladio took a step after him, but Crowe put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Keep an eye on these two for me. I'll only be a few minutes, I promise!"
"But—"
Ravus stood, making the decision for him when he turned from the reporter and the Kingsglaive and walked up the steps after Noct.
He was familiar with his own building, but every time he had to navigate the other two he felt like he was in the wilderness. It was no different this time, but Noct had been slowed by taking off his outside shoes and exchanging them for inside shoes.
They were abandoned on the floor instead of in a cubby.
Ravus caught Noct as he turned quickly around a corner, and no one was around to see Ravus ignore etiquette and follow him.
The door to one of the classrooms shut loudly and Ravus opened it a few seconds later and went inside.
Noct was bent over a desk, gulping in air.
Ravus didn't move or make his presence known until his breathing had evened out. "I find myself in greater debt to Lucian nobility every day," Ravus said offhandedly, and Noct stopped breathing completely, but didn't turn around.
Noct had only stepped in to defend him, after all, and it led him here.
"Thank you," Ravus said, moving to kneel, half-playfully, half-gratefully, but Noct shook his head hard.
"Don't," he breathed, heavy again. "Don't treat me like a Prince right now. Please."
Ravus paused. He abandoned the half-kneel and walked closer to him. "Do you want a hug instead?"
Noct immediately turned and slammed into him, hands clinging to his side as he shoved his face against his chest.
Ravus bent down and managed to get Noct into a proper hug, holding his head against his shoulder until Noct fully calmed down.
Noct mumbled something.
Ravus was patient, waiting until Noct pulled away and said it again.
"Something wrong with me," he mumbled, looking away. "They didn't even get close to me, and I started talking to them first."
Ravus touched a hand to his arm. He was shaking. "Have you ever spoken to the media before?"
"No but—" he tensed. "—it's not just them. I don't like when people look at me. Even people like Gladio's dad, and I've known him forever. Dad is—he's always been confident. I've read interviews he gave to some newspapers when he was my age and—"
"That doesn't mean anything about you is wrong," Ravus interrupted him. "No one has the benefit to be born identical to their parent."
Noct looked away again. "Bet people wish you were a Caelum," he muttered. "They wouldn't be stuck with me that way."
Ravus leaned back on his heels. "And there you've said exactly what would be wrong with me if I were wrong, and I don't think I am."
Noct looked sharply at him.
"A good King for Lucis doesn't make for a good King for Tenebrae," Ravus explained, standing.
Noct's eyes widened. "I didn't mean—"
"I am nothing like my mother. She was the Oracle. I can't be. She was loved by her people. I doubt they've seen me more than a handful of times," he said. It was why Luna hadn't needed to mention him in her speech.
To Tenebrae, he either fell into the shadow of their beloved and soon-to-be Oracle, or they'd see his absence as something painful to Luna, because to them, if they even knew he'd left, Ravus had sided with their attacker.
Even if he were to make a statement, it was his word against that of the Oracle. Noct's statement would cast some doubt, but not enough. Plus, there was no way to guarantee it would reach them at all.
Nifleheim's propaganda hadn't worked in Altissa because King Mors' word had meant more, especially with the evidence of war at his feet. There had been no war to take Tenebrae.
Just one quiet, decisive battle.
"When my people looked at me, they didn't see their future King. They saw the son of the Queen," Ravus continued. "My mother only needed words to cut down her opponents. I couldn't even outwit your brother when we met. Still, I won't sit quietly here forever and let a puppet take my place. I owe it to my mother to be King."
Noct rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What if people don't like you?"
"Then I'll do my best to win them over. If words fail me, then my actions will have to do."
"And if they still don't like you?"
"I have no answer," Ravus said honestly. "All I or you can do is our best. But I know that, in that uncertain future, every decision I make will be for my people. Whether they'll like it or not, I can't say."
"Can you..." Noct trailed off, looking uncertain. "Can you be my big brother, too? You shouldn't just be Arc's. It's not fair."
Ravus blinked, and then he laughed. "I think if you asked Arc, he'd tell you that I was already that."
Noct looked embarrassed, quickly turning red.
Ravus thought he should mind it all more. He should mind the lack of freedom he once had in the manor. He should mind that he was rarely ever alone in his room in the Citadel and rarer still had his bed to himself. He didn't spend his time going from one lesson to the other anymore, from lunch to swordplay to maths to dinner, rearranging it as he wished to visit Luna or Mother as he wished.
Insomnia was rigid, from school to the schedules of the people around him, but he couldn't say that he preferred how he'd been in Tenebrae.
Ravus could only think that he was out of stories about the Astrals and, when Arc or Noct or both invaded his bed later because they couldn't sleep, he'd have to make one up.
Noct sat on the floor in front of him. "Who's that House Talis guy, anyway?"
Ravus raised his eyes to the wall-spanning windows. "He's not of House Talis. I suspect he's of the Empire's nobility."
Noct paused. "So they really did lie about everything. Why put him in charge? They had to know you'd know."
"No," Ravus disagreed. "He looks and dresses like a member of House Talis. Had I not seeing his earring, I would've believed him to be myself."
"His earring?"
"Do you know why Galahadians wear beads in their hair and within their clothes?"
"Because they're from Galahad?"
"Yes, exactly. It's a part of their culture, and so part of them. It's not so easy to abandon. I've never known anyone of House Talis to wear feather earrings. But I have read a report or three of commanders that Tenebrae has met on the battlefield who do."
"Wouldn't the real House Talis speak out?"
No, probably not. The real question was, how had House Talis been bought off by the Empire, or what threats had been made to silence them?
The only people who would know of those reports were probably killed in the garden, and the Empire had likely burned them by now.
Ravus shook his head at himself. When he could, he'd tell King Regis what he knew, and King Regis would decide what to do from there. Ravus didn't have the power or influence to answer any question he could come up with.
Noct stood to follow him as he moved towards the classroom door, and Ravus patted Noct on the head when he got close.
"What was that for? Don't do that," Noct hissed as he batted his hand away.
Ravus didn't look down and only asked, "You wanted a big brother, didn't you?"