Ch.8
The next day, Prompto went through school like he usually did. All except for the fact that Noctis was not there. He could manage through a few lonely school days, knowing that he could always call and text Noctis later. Still, it never would fill in the gap of Noctis actually being with him.
"Maybe I should call and see if Noctis got Ignis to approve my visit. I'd rather check in on Noct first before doing any patrol around the kingdom."
Pulling out his phone at lunch time, he started to text Noctis. He started at his messenger app for a moment before he started to type out his message.
Chocoboy: Heeeeeey buddy!
FishPrince: Hey! Lunchtime?"
Chocoboy: You know it!
Chocoboy: But it's sooooo boring without you!
Chocoboy: Who else am I going to steal veggies and delicious homemade meals made by Ignis from?
FishPrince: I'll be back before you know it.
FishPrince: Then you can steal all my veggies all over again. Please.
Chocoboy: Haha yes!
Chocoboy: Bu… I also had a question?
FishPrince: Sure what's up?
Chocoboy: Am I able to visit you yet? Or is it still deemed too unsafe?
FishPrince: Let me ask. But I am sure I can convince them even if they say no.
FishPrince: I wanna see you soon anyways. I'm going mad by myself here!
Chocoboy: Then I'll make sure to come as soon as I can and rescue you from the boredom!
FishPrince: What a hero XD
Chocoboy: You know it buddy! I'm the best hero there is!
Prompto couldn't help but hold his breath. He knew there was probably no risk to just joking around with Noctis, but every mention of the word hero always seemed to put him on edge. It made him feel like he was getting into deep waters that he wouldn't be able to swim out of.
Noctis didn't know his secret. Noctis would never know his secret… at least that was what Prompto assumed. He had to do it to keep Noctis safe, but he hated the idea that he could never ever tell Noctis the truth. Part of him still believed that one day he could reveal the secret to Noctis, but it wouldn't be for quite some time.
FishPrince: Okay Ignis says it's all cool, but he will pick you up after school.
FishPrince: That okay?
Chocoboy: Of course! I'll look forward to it!
Chocoboy: I'll see you then Noct!
Chocoboy: Lunch is just about over.
FishPrince: Alright, see you.
Putting his phone away, Prompto cleaned up his garbage and throwed it away. The bell soon rang and he was ready to head off to his next class, but before he did he stopped to stare out the window. He couldn't help but share the uneasy feeling he had in his stomach. It had been quiet ever since that last big event, nothing had happened in the city. Not even small jewelry thief crimes! With it being so quiet, Prompto couldn't help but worry that meant something bigger was coming.
"Please… please don't let anything happen… I just need to have one good day with Noct with no interruptions."
He closed his eyes, sending out his plea to who knows where, and then finally started to head to his class. He could manage the rest of the day now knowing that he had a good visit with Noctis to look forward to. If he pushed away those uneasy thoughts, he was only filled with happiness and an excitement to see his best friend again.
By the time the final bell rang, Prompto burst out of the school, perhaps a little faster than he should have. He nearly crashed into several other students in the process, apologizing profusely as he continued to speed through the halls.
Skidding to a halt when he got outside, he pulled out his phone to see if Ignis was going to text or call him. He waited a few moments, looking back and forth from phone to street, but he didn't see anything right away.
Figuring that he probably had some time while he waited, he moved over to one of the bus benches and sat down. He opened up the news app on his phone and began to scroll through, looking for anything that could have been a new hint or development for future crime.
"Everything still looks clear so far… still I can't help but think back to what happened Luche…"
He was a rogue Kingsglaive… one who turned against the Crown. If a Kingsglaive could turn traitor so easily, Prompto began to wonder how many others there could have been or maybe still were. No doubt King Regis took care of it when it first happened, but Prompto shuddered at the thought that there could be more still hidden.
"If any Kingsglaive ever try to harm Noct they'll have another thing coming to them!"
Prompto's phone then went off, showing the caller ID being from Ignis. He picked it up right away and Ignis told him that he was just about the corner and Prompto should be ready for pick up. Excited, Prompto jumped up to his feet and watched as the signature black car strolled down the street, stopping right before him.
He swung the door open and slid into the seat. "Hey Iggy! How's it been?"
"It's been quite well, Prompto. And yourself?" Ignis said as they began their drive.
"Doing the best I can! But hey I get to see Noct today so that's a good day in my book."
Ignis nodded. "I know Noct is looking forward to today. I'm sorry that you weren't able to see him for a few days."
"Nah I get it. Noctis has to be protected and blah blah blah. I understand. As long as I can still see him at some point again I'll be good. Or actually, as long as I can still text and call him, that's good enough to fill the void for the in-between."
Ignis chuckled. "Always able to find a shining light, aren't you?"
"That's what I do best! Keeping an optimistic face to make everyone else feel better too."
"Just don't wear yourself thin, alright?"
"Oh I won't! I'll take breaks if I need them!"
The car soon pulled into the parking lot of the Citadel, and Prompto smiled knowing he was getting closer to Noctis. As soon as the car stopped, Prompto jumped out of the car and followed Ignis into the building, heading to the elevator to head up to the floor where Noctis's room was.
Happily he moved in front of Ignis and knocked on the door. "Oh Noct Noct! I'm here!"
The door opened a second later and Noctis stared at him. "Were you saying 'knock' or my name there?"
Prompto grinned. "Yes."
Noctis laughed. "Alright get in here." He then looked over at Ignis. "And thanks Ignis."
The two teens headed inside the room and Noctis closed the door behind him. "Okay first off! Man is it good to see you again."
"Me too dude! I've missed you even though it's been only a couple days."
"Well, you are here now. And let me guess, you wanna play games?"
"You bet! We gotta make up for lost time! Let's get something started!"
Flopping down onto Noctis's bed, he waited as Noctis set up the game system before coming to join him. The two sat close and Prompto couldn't help but smile as they started playing one of their favorite racing games. It was just like any other day, back to the normal they would usually have beforehand.
But even with that feeling, Prompto had to ask what was on his mind. "Do you know if you'll be able to come back to school soon?"
"Hopefully. As long as nothing else happens like before."
"Yeah… wouldn't it be nice if people just weren't assholes and didn't attack or rob places?"
"It would be a nice thought for sure. But then, you know, the superheroes would be out of work."
"Oh, guess you got a point," Prompto replied. As much as he wanted that safer world, he still wouldn't want to give up the superhero life ever.
"It would be kind of weird for a world just full of superheroes if there wasn't any crime," Noctis added.
"You think the superheroes would just get together to play games to challenge each other to fun battles?"
Noctis laughed. "Sounds like maybe it wouldn't be too bad if that was the case. A group of superheroes just acting like goofs."
"That sounds like it would be a tv series! Dude! We should make a show and have someone greenlight it. We could be rich!"
"I'm the prince, Prom. I'm already rich," Noctis snorted.
Suddenly, Prompto thought of something. He always had tried to skirt around superhero talk, but he didn't feel like it this time. It was just a natural conversation at this point, and he wanted to go on to talk on this subject.
"Yeah I know… but hey, speaking of superheroes, you ever wonder more about them?"
Noctis tilted his head. "Like what? Like the costume talk we had last time?"
"Kind of. I was thinking about the superheroes themselves… and what makes them super?
Noctis paused the game and leaned back on the bed. "That's a weird question."
Prompto shook his head. "Sorry, we can forget about it. But I've always wondered, y'know? Some heroes are just regular people using a lot of fancy tools, and others have actual powers."
"Guess it is interesting how it works. I never really thought too hard about it before though."
Prompto could tell that something about the topic was making Noctis spacey. He wasn't like that in previous conversations, so Prompto cleared his throat. "Hm, yeah, guess that's fair. I don't know what I was trying to think about honestly. Let's find something else okay?"
Noctis smiled as he sat back up straight. "Yeah, sure thing."
A loud sound suddenly roared from outside. The two boys jumped to their feet and ran to the window, staring outside of it to try and find the source. Right away, Prompto saw where it was coming from… the front gate to the Citadel was busted open, with a fire burning all around it.
"What the fuck?" Noctis cursed.
"Shit…" Prompto thought to himself. "How could I possibly get away from Noct to change? There's no way I can make a good excuse! This can't be the way he finds out."
"Come on," Noctis said slowly, backing away from the window. "We need to get to the safe room before they get into the Citadel."
"What? Safe room?"
Noctis grabbed Prompto's wrist. "Yeah, we'll be safe there. We should hurry though."
The two scurried through the hallway, down to a hall Prompto had never been to before. Noctis pressed a hand up against the wall, and suddenly a secret door slid open. He pulled Prompto inside and he saw that there was an elevator within a small room.
"What the heck? A secret elevator to the safe room?"
"No, this will just take us to the main floor. We can't have any elevators or other entrances to the safe room, but we need to get to ground level," Noctis said.
His tone was far more serious than usual, but Prompto figured Noctis had been prepared for any citation like this. It would be really sucky if the King didn't have security protocols and special measures given to his son in times of crisis. Though considering that, it made Prompto wonder if saving Noctis was ever possible. There was the Kingsglaive and the Crownsgaurd, and whatever form of basic defense Noctis probably knew.
Prompto sighed, putting away those thoughts, knowing now was not the time to be day dreaming about saving Noctis. They were soon in the elevator, riding down to the main floor quickly. With a glance at Noctis, Prompto could tell that he was nervous. His hands were clenching and unclenching all while he let out deep and heavy breathes.
Slowly, Prompto reached over and took one of Noctis's hands, causing him to look over in surprise. "Huh?"
"You doing okay?"
"Just hoping we can make it there in time… but I also wanna make sure Ignis and Gladio are going there too. I forgot my phone in the room," Noctis said.
"Shit. But they'd know right? To head to the safe room?"
"Yeah, but they may also try and look for me once they realize I'm not answering my phone."
The elevator doors opened up and Noctis moved out first, carefully moving towards the door across from them. He pushed it open and peeked out into the hallway. "Alright… looks like the coast is clear. Come on."
The two started to run down the hallway as quietly as they could. They were just about to turn a corner when an explosion came from behind. They staggered forward to turn around, seeing smoke and dust rising from the end of the hall. Figures were walking out of the smoke, heading towards the two of them.
"Shit… Prompto run."
"What?" Prompto gasped. "And leave you? No way!"
"I won't let you get hurt, Prom. Just run and I'll distract them. I can at least try to get them to talk to me."
"B-But-" Prompto started to say before stopping himself. If he ran away now like Noctis was asking him, he could change into his costume. It was the best chance he had so he nodded to Noctis and took off running.
"Be safe!" he shouted as he ran as fast as he could.
"I'll try my best!"
Prompto ran farther down the hallway before turning down the next cross hallway. From there he ran into the first room that was unlocked. He pleaded that it was one with no security cameras, but he honestly didn't want to waste any time searching to find out.
He stripped his clothes off, thankful that he had the thought to put his costume on underneath his clothes before leaving school. He tossed his clothes into the corner of the room, hoping that he would be able to get them back. Next, he ran to the window in the room and opened it, quickly crawling out to swing around from the outside to get to where he had left Noctis.
He approached the area quickly, seeing the smoke still rising from the damaged part of the building. Jumping down inside he swung in through the hallway, trying to sneak up to the three figures standing in front of him. He could see them there, with Noctis just a few feet in front of them.
"Hey!" Spider-Man shouted. "Do you guys have your visitor's pass? Otherwise I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
The three turned around and right away Spider-Man saw the two of them staring down at him the three still had their eye on Noctis. In an instant he recognize how familiar their outfits were. "You guys really stole Kingsglaive outfits to blend in? I'll give you props for that but it still isn't going to work!"
The redhead of the group groaned. "We are Kingsglaive."
"Wait what!? Then why are you doing this!" Spider-Man asked. He cast a quick side glance to see Noctis was still standing behind with the three Kingsglaive watching him carefully.
"Because we are doing what is needed. After we heard word that Luche was arrested yet again, we decided it was time for our plans," the redhead said.
"Oh great…" Noctis groaned. "More traitors."
"Quiet Your Highness!" he yelled as he turned around, marching over to him.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Spider-Man said as he shot a web out. It clung to the back of the red headed Kingsglaive and he was quickly pulled down to the floor. Now that all three had their attention on him he started to carefully back up. He breathed in carefully, making sure he was thinking through everything he was about to do.
"Your Highness, run!" he shouted first before he jumped into action.
He went back to fighting the Kingsglaive, barely even giving them any time to move out of the way or attack back. He was thankful that the hallways had a tall ceiling, giving him enough space to jump up and swing from above. Still, once the three started using their weapons and magic, he knew that he had to be a little more careful. These weren't his average thugs robbing a store, these were highly trained and deadly warriors who were supposed to be sworn to protect the royals.
As he fought against them, dodging as many attacks as he could, he started to think of a plan. He needed a way to stop the three without killing them or something else just as drastic. As he thought, he glanced to the side to see Noctis was still in the hallway, having only backed up a good few feet to be out of the main area of the fighting.
"Why hasn't he run off yet?" Spider-Man thought to himself.
He thought to shout at him, to tell him to run, but before he could even consider it, one of the Kingsglaive seemed to notice Noctis as well. They turned and started to head off towards Noctis while the other two Glaives still came after Spider-Man.
"Run!" Spider-Man shouted again. "Get out of here now!"
Noctis seemed to get the idea, turning to start running, but Spider-Man could see that the Glaive heading towards him started to charge electrical magic in their hands. Quickly, Spider-Man kicked back the other two, causing them to smash into each other against the wall. Before they could even regain their senses he webbed them up before jumping and swinging forward.
He swung down at the Glaive, causing their magic to shoot off in the wrong direction. Parts of the wall were struck and windows shattered. All three Glaive were now groaning in a half conscious state. Now that they seemed to be taken care of, Spider-Man turned to Noctis and ran over to him.
"Come on, Your Highness. We need to get you out of here before they wake up. And I'm not letting you play observer again."
Spider-Man then picked up Noctis and started to swing down the long hallway. While he knew Noctis could totally run away on his own, he didn't want to take any risks. He wanted to get Noctis away as quickly and as safely as possible from those Glaive.
"Whoa hey wait a minute!" Noctis said. "What do you think you are doing?!"
"I said, taking you somewhere safe and farther away from there. I promise I'll be careful Noc-Your Highness."
"And do you even know where you are going? You're just going down random directions in the hallways."
"Oh? Uh, well uh… tell me where I should take you?"
"Just let me off up ahead here. I'll make it to a safe area on my own, but I need to find my friend first. He's still hiding."
Spider-Man swallowed. "I could find him for you! You shouldn't go running around on your own. You get to wherever you need to go, and I'll send him your way?"
"He doesn't know where the safe area is. I never told him," Noctis sigh.
"Okay how about directions so I can guide him there? You don't have to tell me though. Totally get it with the security and privacy and secret prince royal stuff. No problem!"
There was a sigh before Noctis shook his head. "Down the hall. Leave me there and I can handle it from there. Just send my friend, Prompto, find him and send him here okay?"
Spider-Man nodded as he swung a little further before landing on the ground. "Sure. I can do that."
"So… you going to put me down then?"
Suddenly, Spider-Man remembered just what he was doing. Under the mask he could feel how warm his cheeks were getting. "R-Right! Sorry about that. Guess I was still in 'saving mode' ha!"
He placed Noctis down onto the floor. "So, I go get your friend and you promise you can be safe here?"
"Right. Thanks," Noctis said. "Uh, Spider-Man. You were just nearby?"
"Yeah, you know. I was in the area, sort of. But I heard the explosion so I came to check it out."
Noctis nodded. "Well, good thing you were patrolling the area. You were helpful."
"So will everything be okay? You know back there? With the Kingsglaive traitors and stuff?
"Yeah, it'll be fine. I saw other Kingsglaive and guards heading that way before you turned the corner."
"Good! Well if that is all taken care of I can get going."
Noctis smiled slightly. "Guess so. But seriously, thanks again for stopping by to help."
Spider-Man gave a thumbs up. "Well you know me! Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man here to help! Now you go and be safe! I'll grab your friend!"
Speeding around the corner, Spider-Man headed back to the room he had left originally. Quickly he grabbed his clothes and started to change back into his regular clothing. He stopped for a moment and sniffled his outfit, seeing how badly he smelled of smoke. Thankfully, it was not as bad as it had been the last time.
"Eh we were both pretty close to the explosion. Maybe he won't notice."
Once he was dressed he stepped outside the room and carefully started running down the hall to where he had left Noctis. There were in fact guards of all kinds, as well as firemen behind him, and thankfully no one turned around to try and stop him.
When he made his way to where he had left Noctis, he started to look around. "Noct? Where are you?"
"Over here!" Noctis whispered in a low voice.
Prompto saw one of the doors ajar and Noctis peeking out from it, waving for him to come closer. Prompto ran over and Noctis pulled him into the room, closing it and locking it behind him.
With a deep breath, Noctis sighed as he leaned against the door. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you? I feel completely shitty for running away like that."
Noctis shook his head as he crossed the room to pull some books out of a bookshelf. "Nah, I told you to run away. Besides, Spider-Man came to help out."
Prompto nodded as he watched Noctis pull a couple more books out before the shelf slid back to reveal a secret door. The two headed inside which led to a smaller room which was clearly designated to be a safe room with study build walls as well as amenities.
"So where did Spider-Man go?" Noctis asked once the door was closed to the room.
"Uh, I think that he went off to do other things? Superhero stuff?" Prompto asked with a slight shrug.
"Makes sense," Noctis said as he walked across the room. "Well better get comfy. We may be here awhile. I'm going to use the phone here to signal Ignis and the others that I made it."
"How long do you think we'll be here?" Prompto asked as he moved towards the couch that was in the room.
"Until they take care of everything… I don't know," Noctis said as he let out a sigh. "But we got plenty here to help us pass the time."
Flopping down on the couch, Prompto tried his best to relax. He could only hope that their time in the safe room wouldn't be too long. If it ended up being that there were more Kingsglaive to be fought, he really didn't want to be trapped in here while that happened. He could only hope at this point that things would start to calm down and he could get out of there as soon as possible. But he knew he could rest easy knowing that he had actually gotten to save Noctis, and that he was now safe. As long as Noctis was safe, Prompto knew he could be happy.