Chapter Text
“I can’t believe my father is making me go all the way to Niflheim with him next week…” An eight-year-old Noctis groaned as he was being escorted back to his room by his royal adviser, another young man only a few years Noctis’s elder.
“You are the Crown Prince of Lucis, you will need to lead this nation one day, so the more exposure you get with how affairs are run, the more prepared you will be when it is time for you to take the throne.” Ignis suggested as he finished cleaning the lenses of his glasses before placing them back on his face.
“But it’s a whole DECADE before I can even think about ascending, Iggy.” Noctis reasoned. “I’m still just a kid and I never understand what they talk about at those big meetings anyway… it’s all just gibberish. Does me being there really matter that much?”
“It does to His Majesty, or he wouldn’t bring you along. Your father has his reasons and you should be proud that he wants to include you in such important matters.” Ignis stated. “Not only that, but you are the beacon that shows not only the kingdom of Lucis, but the entire world that our kingdom is strong and will continue to grow and prosper.”
Noctis just sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess… but why of all places do I have to go to Niflheim? Isn’t that place really dangerous? Is this really the place where I should be making my grand debut as successor to the Lucian throne? Couldn’t we go someplace nicer, like Altissia or Tenebrae?”
The tall blonde paused for a moment, bringing his hands up to scratch his chin, wondering how best to reply to his young charge. “I agree it is quite a surprise that His Majesty would risk traveling all the way to Niflheim, as they can be… subversive to say the least. Putting those thoughts aside and seeing as we have been able to maintain a careful peace with their kingdom in the past, it is imperative that things stay that way. Having the King as well as the Crown Prince visit and be hosted by the Niflheim emperor extends a certain amount of trust and respect on our part that will hopefully be enough to maintain and even possible strengthen the peaceful relations between our two nations.”
“If you say so… but I still don’t like it. I’ve overheard stories between my father and Cor about Niflheim-”
“Those are simply old war stories and as long as we remain at peace with Niflheim, there is no reason to believe that anything like that will come to pass while you are there.” Ignis interjected as the two finally reached Noctis’s bedroom. “Clean yourself up and I will lay out a change of clothes for dinner, you don’t want to keep His Majesty waiting too long or your food will get cold.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Noctis muttered as he waved his adviser off and entered his bedroom. “Just make sure you don’t try and sneak anything onto my plate like you did last night or I’ll just have to start skipping dinner all together.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Your Highness.” Ignis laughed as he followed the young prince inside and laid out his clothes before heading down to the kitchens to prepare the young prince’s dinner.
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There was a small part of Noctis that was really hoping that his father might forget about the whole taking him to Niflheim to renegotiate the terms of their peace treaty, but he was pretty sure even if there was the slightest chance that his father might forget, Ignis would never allow that.
The only positive thing that Noctis could see in this whole ridiculous endeavor was the fact that he wouldn’t have to go to school during the entire duration of the trip. Not only was school super boring since he had already been tutored by the best royalty could buy, but no matter where he went, it seemed as though he was never left alone. Once other students saw him and realized who he was, all they seemed to want to do was to stand around and gawk at him. Students either bombarded him with questions about living in the palace or what it was like being the prince, or anything else that had to do with being royalty, it was tiresome to say the least. The worst part of all, was that Noctis knew that everyone wanted to be his friend only because of the fact that he was royalty. If he had just been a normal kid, he was sure that they wouldn’t have looked at him twice; and honestly Noctis would have preferred that any day of the week.
“Have you finished packing yet?” Ignis inquired as he entered the absolute mess that was Noctis’s room. There were clothes scattered everywhere, but there was a small suitcase that seemed to have a particular number of clothes thrown in it along with some of Noctis’s favorite books and video games to keep his attention during the long journey lying haphazardly on the large four poster bed. “The royal transport will be leaving within the hour.”
“Just about finished.” Noctis replied as he searched through a particularly large pile of clothes for his favorite jacket. He knew that Niflheim was infamous for its frigid temperatures and he wasn’t particularly fond of freezing to death before they even managed to get to the capital city, Gralea. While the young prince continued to throw unwanted clothes every-which way, Ignis proceeded over to the small suitcase and immediately began to neatly fold the clothes that were lying in a large, messy pile within. “What about you?” Noctis asked as he finally pulled the jacket that he had been searching for out from the very bottom (of course it was at the very bottom…) of the pile that he had been searching through.
“Did his majesty not tell you?” Ignis replied as he continued straightening up the young prince’s suitcase.
“Tell me what?” Noctis asked, confused.
“As per request of the Niflheim Emperor, Iedolas Aldercapt, only those of royal blood are permitted to enter the Emperor’s palace. It was hard enough for Cor to get permission for himself and a handful of Crownsguard to accompany you and your father. It seems that Aldercapt is just as skittish as the stories say and he wants to make sure that there is no funny business while your father is renegotiating the terms of the treaty.”
“You can’t really be serious…” Noctis groaned.
“Unfortunately, I am completely serious.” Ignis confirmed, he really would have preferred to accompany the young prince to make sure that he was safe and that he behaved appropriately as a prince of the royal line of Lucis would, but if what he heard from Cor was true, then there was no way that he would be allowed within the palace grounds. Emperor Aldercapt had been very careful and meticulous with his restrictions about exactly who and how many people he would allow within his home, it was certainly odd, but Ignis was sure he had his reasons one way or another.
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If anything could be said about the Niflheim empire, Noctis would describe it as cold and miserable. That pretty accurately summed up his experience with the barren wasteland thus far. He knew that it was supposed to be cold, but this was ridiculous. How did these people survive with the weather like this ALL YEAR ROUND???
It wasn’t long before the Niflheim capital, Gralea was visible and Noctis wasn’t really sure what to expect, but as it finally came into view, it was rather… well... unimpressive. Certainly nothing comparable to the grand view of the Lucis capital, Insomnia. The buildings seemed to exude this very damp and depressing energy… as if the whole city was just waiting to be put out of its misery.
If Noctis thought things would improve once they finally entered the city limits, he was sorely mistaken. The whole place seemed like a ghost town, the streets and shops were empty and seemingly abandoned. There was barely even enough lighting to guide the royal caravan on its way through the city streets. At first, Noctis was convinced they had gotten lost and were in the wrong place, but after asking his father, Regis assured his son that this was indeed the Niflheim capital of Gralea.
“Where is everyone? I haven’t seen a single person since we entered the city…” Noctis questioned, a very uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. Ignis had told him that Niflheim was known for being a very industrial city and didn’t have the track record for the best quality of life, but what he was witnessing right now was far, far beyond anything he could have ever imagined.
“I believe that we arrived shortly after the imperial-mandated curfew, so the citizens of Gralea are not permitted to be outside of their homes until the curfew is lifted in the morning, or else they will surely be arrested by the local authorities.” Regis calmly explained to his son. “In Insomnia, we have the protection of the crystal, which prevents us from having to enact such drastic action on behalf of the safety of the citizens we protect. Niflheim lost their crystal long ago, and thus must take much harsher precautions if they wish to keep the people of Gralea safe.”
“I guess…” Noctis replied quietly. “It’s still hard to believe what I’m seeing… this place seems to be Insomnia’s opposite in just about every way I can think of.”
“It is indeed a drastic change, which is one of the reasons why I wanted you to accompany me on this journey. You must realize that not all kingdoms live and have the ability to govern in the same way. We are truly blessed to have all that we do in not just Insomnia, but all over the entire country of Lucis.” Regis paused before gripping both of his son’s much smaller hands tightly, staring straight into the young prince’s dark blue eyes. “Noctis my beloved son and heir, do not ever take what we have been given for granted. We must remain thankful every day for the gifts that the Six have so generously bestowed upon us.”
Noctis wasn’t sure why his father had decided to get so serious all of a sudden, but understood that it must be important, so he smiled and nodded before his father suddenly pulled him into a tight bear hug.
I will try my best to make you proud, Dad. Noctis thought to himself as he sat back against the seat of his father’s personal transport and anxiously waited until they arrived at the Emperor’s palace wondering what would be there to await them once they arrived.
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After the dankness and deplorable looking conditions within the city of Gralea, Noctis wasn’t really expecting all that much once they actually got to the Imperial Palace. For what seemed like the hundredth time today though, Noctis was completely and utterly shocked into disbelief. The palace itself was huge…! It rivaled even that of the Citadel back in Insomnia. Noctis couldn’t help but be consumed in thoughts of how breathtakingly beautiful the palace was as well; especially in contrast to that of the derelict and seemingly forgotten city that surrounded it.
Once they pulled up to the Palace’s entryway, Regis and Noctis were quickly escorted to the exquisitely designed and almost impossibly spacious suite that they would be occupying for the duration of their visit. Regis left almost immediately with Cor to meet with the Emperor for some preliminary discussions and thus Noctis had been told by the Marshal and his father to wait in their room until dinner. He was not under any circumstances to leave the room, not at least until Cor had a chance to put certain precautions into effect to ensure the young Lucian prince would not come to any harm while on his own.
Noctis was half-reading, half-sleeping when he was startled by the door to his room swinging open with an alarming amount of force. It was but a few moments later that the young prince settled himself back on the excessively large bed when he reasoned with himself that it must be either his Father, Cor, or one of the other Crownsguard that were in charge of protecting the Lucian royal family while in Niflheim. Who else would have any reason to come here to see him anyway?
“Bit scrawny for a prince, aren’t you?” An unfamiliar voice loudly laughed as Noctis was shocked once again back into reality by the sudden interruption.
“Wha-” Noctis spluttered as he tried to figure out who the mysterious looking stranger was that was staring at him, an unimpressed smirk plastered over his face. The stranger could only be a few inches taller than Noctis and couldn’t more than a year or two older than him with flowing chocolate brown hair and vibrant orange eyes that seemed as wild as an out of control brush fire. “Who are you?”
“I guess when you don’t have to do anything but sit around and play all day, you can’t expect to get any kind of muscles. It’s not like you softie Lucians have any real problems to worry about…” The boy continued on, completely ignoring young Lucian prince’s question.
“What the hell is your problem, huh?!? Who gives you the right to barge in here and start insulting me and my kingdom?” Noctis spat back as he practically jumped up off the bed to come nose to nose with this new and infuriating visitor. He was completely awake now and rather pissed off because a) he had been having a really good half-nap thing going on and b) no-one was going to sit in front of him and talk bad about his home unless they were asking to get punched in the face.
The young brunette’s eyes grew wide, caught off guard by the sudden exclamation from the raven-haired boy, looking as though he couldn’t believe that someone would have the gall to actually cut him off. “Since you obviously don’t know who it is that you are talking to, I’ll enlighten you. I happen to be the Crown Prince and heir to this great and powerful Niflheim Empire, Eldrith Aldercapt. I could very well have you thrown in the dungeon to rot away to nothing before you could even blink, so I would watch how you address me, little Lucian peasant.”
“Yeah, well I’m not sure how much my father, Regis Lucis Caelum, King of Lucis, would like that. But you can go ahead and try and see what happens… if you’re not too scared. I’m sure you’ve noticed the handful of elite Crownsguard soldiers that are here as my personal guard to make sure no harm comes to me while I’m here? You so much as touch me and you’ll have to answer to them, and they won’t hesitate to take you out regardless of who your daddy is.” Noctis shot back. He wasn’t exactly sure why this kid hated him so much, but he certainly wasn’t about to be trodden all over by this idiot thinking he was hot stuff because his dad was supposedly the Niflheim Emperor.
“As if those losers could beat our elite MT guard…” The other boy scoffed as he stuck his nose up away from the brat of a Lucian Prince before him. He had to admit though, as much as he was annoyed by the dark-haired prince, he wasn’t nearly as much of a pushover as Eldrith had been expecting. He had heard stories about the young Lucian prince and how he was supposedly very frail and withdrawn from the public eye due to the chronic & prolonged heath issues that had been plaguing him since his infancy. He very rarely left the palace apart from going to school, but there were also reports of multiple instances where he wouldn’t show up to school for weeks at a time. Eldrith almost respected him for being so strong willed, even if it annoyed the shit out of him. Maybe, just maybe, this kid could be useful after all.
Eldrith composed himself, put on his most sincere looking smile and extended his hand out towards the raven-haired prince who was still refusing to break eye contact with him. “I still don’t like you or your prissy little kingdom, but I can respect your commitment to not back down. So why don’t we try this again…”
Noctis wasn’t sure what kind of game this guy was playing; he knew the kind of person this Eldrith character was and he certainly wasn’t one to change his tune so quickly just because some half-assed excuse like “he respected him.” However, if Noctis was being completely honest with himself, he was bored as all heck. It wasn’t like he was stupid enough to think that he and Eldrith would become friends and go off and hangout together or anything like that, but Noctis was actually moderately curious about what Eldrith’s endgame was. If anything, it had to be more exciting than just sitting around here waiting for his father to get back from all his meetings with the Emperor.
“Noctis Lucis Caelum, Crown Prince of Lucis.” Noctis extended his hand towards Eldrith’s already extended one, an equally deceptive smile upon his face as was on Eldrith’s, as the two boys shook hands.
“Eldrith Aldercapt, Crown Prince of Niflheim.” The boy replied as he refused to be the one to break the tenuous handshake. “Meet me here after dinner and I promise you we are going to have more fun tonight than you could ever possibly imagine.” The malevolent smile that quickly found its way onto the Niflheim prince’s face was unsettling to say the least. Noctis could swear that he felt a sharp chill run down his spine. As much as he was longing for something that didn’t involve sitting in this room and doing nothing, it was at that moment that Noctis was genuinely worried at what had suddenly gotten the other boy so riled up. However, despite the apprehension he felt, he sure as hell wasn’t going to back down, it wasn’t like they were going to be doing anything illegal, this Eldrith was the Crown Prince after all and Noctis was sure that even here in Niflheim, royalty must have certain expectations and limitations to what they could do while in the shadow of the palace.
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Dinner had been surprisingly uneventful after Noctis’s run in with the Niflheim Prince Eldrith earlier that afternoon. His father had been busy meeting with the Emperor until shortly before dinner was called, so he had pretty much gone back to napping and messing around with one of the video games that he had brought with him on the trip until Cor and his father came to fetch him for dinner. Noctis barely paid attention to the lavish feast, as he couldn’t stop thinking about what Eldrith could possibly have in store for him after dinner. Should he be worried?
As the dinner started to wind down, Noctis was definitely starting to get more concerned and starting to seriously debate if he should fake being sick and just call the whole thing off or not. It was probably just going to be something stupid, but he couldn’t help but wonder what would get someone like the Niff Prince so excited….
“…make sure that you don’t wander off….” Cor’s voice jolted Noctis back to reality as the older man was escorting Noctis back to his room. “The palace is very large and I don’t want you getting lost. You certainly don’t want to accidentally wander into someplace where you are not welcome.” Cor continued in a serious tone, halting the young prince and kneeling down so that he could look into the young prince’s eyes and make sure that Noctis knew he was being dead serious.
Noctis couldn’t help but let out a loud groan. “But Cor…” he whined, “What was the point of me even coming on this trip if all I’m allowed to do is sit in my room all day doing nothing??” he complained, to which Cor replied by placing a comforting hand on the pouting prince’s head and ruffling his short, dark hair.
“Your presence is what is important, not necessarily the actions that you take while you are here. The fact that His Majesty has brought his son, the Crown Prince of Lucis to Gralea is a very important matter. It shows Niflheim not only that we trust them enough to safeguard our royal family, but it also shows them that the line of Lucis is strong and will continue to endure even after His Majesty has lost the strength to lead it himself.” The young prince nodded, although he still was not all together thrilled with the revelation even though he did see Cor’s point.
“I guess….” Noctis sighed. “But it still sucks that I’m confined to that stupid room all day while you and my dad are busy meeting with the emperor…” Ignis had told him that they were only supposed to stay in Niflheim for a week, but it was only the first day and he was already bored out of his mind. There were only so many times he could replay the video games that he had brought or read the books that Ignis had given him before he felt like he was losing his mind. He was still a kid after all, and one specific thing could only hold his attention for so long.
“Unfortunately, that cannot be helped, Your Highness.” Cor noted solemnly as he stood back up and the two Lucians continued their journey down the long corridor towards the guest suite that he and his father were staying in. “There are many things that even the prince of Lucis is not privy to… but I will talk to his Majesty to see if there anything that you can do to help in the meanwhile.”
The two were just about back to the suite when a young man suddenly blocked their path and appeared before them as though he had simply melted out of the shadows.
“Good Evening, honored guests of Lucis…” Noctis instantly recognized the voice as the one that had ambushed him in said suite earlier in the day.
“Good evening.” Cor replied as he bowed in respect. “Prince Eldrith, I presume?”
The boy grinned and bowed back with such genuine respect, Noctis was almost taken aback. If he hadn’t had the earlier encounter with the prince, he would have almost believed his act.
“I’m honored that you know who I am, you who has seemingly cheated death countless times and come out on top, the legendary, Cor the Immortal.” Eldrith grinned as he quickly closed the distance between himself and the two Lucians.
Cor nodded, unfazed by the supposed adoration and respect brimming from the young prince in front of him. “The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. We are here because of the graciousness of your father, Emperor of Niflheim.”
Noctis was wondering why Eldrith was being so cordial right now… was it just because Cor was here…? He certainly hadn’t hesitated in letting Noctis know how he felt about Lucis when they had met earlier. Noctis just really couldn’t figure this kid out and before he could say or do anything, Eldrith started speaking once again.
“Is that Prince Noctis of Lucis behind you? I was excited to hear from my father that both the King and Crown Prince of Lucis would be gracing us with their presence this week. It gets awfully lonely in this big palace and I was hoping that we could meet and maybe even become friends….” Eldrith was certainly laying the innocent prince act on pretty thick and Noctis sincerely hoped that Cor wasn’t stupid enough to fall for it, it was almost painful for him to watch.
“Yes, I have to assist His Majesty, King Regis, with some important matters before he retires for the night, so I was just escorting the young prince to make sure he got back to his room safely.”
“I can show him the rest of the way, Sir…!” Eldrith quickly interjected. “I live here after all and know the palace like the back of my hand. There’s no possible way we could get lost and then you can do what you need to do quicker, it’s a win-win situation…” The brunette prince shrugged as he grinned.
Cor was silent and hesitant as he stood before the Niflheim prince. He knew that he should just finish escorting Noctis the rest of the way to his room, but they were only like two hallways away from his door. Cor glanced in Noctis’s direction, trying to read what his young charge was thinking. “It’s up to you, Your Highness.”
Noctis shrugged and without any kind of reply, continued walking along the route that would take him back to his temporary room and without so much as a confirmation Eldrith followed after him. Cor made sure to shadow the two boys until they made it to the hallway where Noctis’s room was located before he headed off to go wrap things up for the night with King Regis.
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“Wow, I thought he’d never leave…” Eldrith groaned as he opened the large door and stuck his head out into the hallway just long enough to confirm that the older Lucian that had be escorting Noctis had indeed left. “You ready for the real fun to start, your princely-ness??”
What the hell… if I don’t see this thing for myself, I’m going to drive myself crazy just thinking about it… Noctis thought to himself before nodding.
“Follow me and stay quiet. Do exactly what I do or we’ll get caught and you’ll be sorry.” The taller prince ordered, which only heightened Noctis’s suspicions.
“Where in the world are we going??” Noctis asked. If they were going to be avoiding guards, then they probably weren’t supposed to be going to wherever it was that they were going….
“Someplace that is a very well-kept secret, only known by the royal family and my father’s closest confidants. That’s why we need to be careful. Outsiders aren’t really supposed to see it, but what’s the fun in that? Just make sure you don’t tell anyone about it. If my dad finds out he’ll lock both of us up and I can tell you, you don’t want to be thrown into a Niflheim prison… he won’t care one bit about our positions as Princes.”
Now Noctis had a REALLY bad feeling about whatever it was that they were going to go see, but he couldn’t stop himself, he was in too deep and much too curious to back out now. The raven-haired prince nodded in agreement before Eldrith disappeared outside the door and Noctis followed right along behind him.
Noctis had been following Eldrith for the past fifteen minutes and it seemed like all they were doing was just walking in circles. Right when he was about to tell Eldrith off for leading him on some stupid wild goose chase, they suddenly found themselves in the middle of what looked like a large throne room. It looked completely abandoned and honestly… just looking at the poor state of the room, it looked like it hadn’t been used or eve cleaned in at least a few years. There were cobwebs everywhere and so much dust that Noctis worried that he might cause a small dust storm if he accidentally sneezed. Was this the secret that Eldrith had been bragging to him about…? A secret throne room or something like that? It was cool that was for sure, but the throne room in back in Lucis was much more expansive, elegant and inviting.
“Bet you’re wondering if this is what we came here for aren’t you…?” Eldrith’s smug voice quickly broke the silence. “But you haven’t seen anything yet…” Eldrith disappeared behind the throne for just an instant before Noctis heard a slight click and something that looked vaguely like a trap door popped up just enough so that the young Niflheim prince was able to grip it and push it aside to reveal a ladder that seemed to lead deep underground. “You coming…? Just make sure to put the trap door back once you get through.” Eldrith smirked again as he quickly disappeared into the darkness below.
Noctis took a deep breath and started descending the ladder after the Niflheim prince, making sure that the trap door swung back in place to once again hide its presence from anyone who didn’t already know it was there.
When the two boys finally got to the bottom of the ladder they seemed to have entered some kind of old fashioned stone dungeon. Noctis’s heart started beating faster and faster as he feared that he might have just full on walked into a trap. If Eldrith wanted to silently get him out of the picture, this would be the place to do it; chains lined the walls and there were countless cells carved into either side of the corridor they were currently walking down. As tempting though as that was to believe, Noctis knew that if Eldrith wanted to actually do something bad to him, he had already had plenty of opportunities to do so… so no, it had to be something else. Noctis was consumed by the thoughts racing around in his head that he didn’t even notice when Eldrith stopped walking and he very nearly almost walked right into the larger Prince.
“And here we are….” Eldrith smiled, a look of longing on his face that Noctis couldn’t quite understand.
Noctis was about to ask what was so special about some random empty cell when he took another step closer and realized that this particular cell wasn’t as empty as he had first thought.
Curled up in the far corner was something so still that Noctis had initially thought it was just a pile of old rags. But after continuing to look at it a bit closer, the young Lucian prince had noticed something strange… the pile of rags was breathing. It was very slow and soft, but nevertheless it was surely breathing. It was alive… and not just alive, but a kid not unlike himself. Judging by his small size and stature, he couldn’t possibly be but a year or two older than himself if not the same age as himself, and Noctis was only eight years old for six sake…!
“What in the-” Noctis breathed out unable of how to process what his eyes were telling him, which surely had to be the truth.
“Hey, blondie…! Get your ass over here, I have someone I want you to meet!” Eldrith shouted at the still form leaning against the back wall. The figure didn’t respond, either because they hadn’t heard or had heard and had chosen to ignore the call from the prince on the other side of the bars. Obviously, Eldrith didn’t take too well to being ignored, so he proceeded to slam his fist against the cell bars as hard as he could, his voice loud and demanding.
“I know you can hear me you little shit, get over here before I come in there and drag you out here myself.” There was still no movement from the blonde figure and by now, Eldrith was absolutely fuming. Seemingly having had enough, the young Niff prince dug an old rusty key out of his pocket and started fiddling with the lock on the bars before a small click could be heard and Eldrith slammed the door open and stormed angrily inside the cell.
Noctis was in absolute shock as he witnessed this scene folding out in front of him. Out of all the things he had thought Eldrith wanted to show him, he never in a million years would have thought that it would lead to something like this…
Noctis was quickly shaken out of his reverie as Eldrith advanced on the young boy in the rags and something about Eldrith actually coming in after him, seemed to shock the boy’s body back to life as he desperately started scrambling away from invading prince and fighting him with all his strength, which was nothing when compared with Eldrith’s. There wasn’t really anywhere for the other boy to run though, so Eldrith was able to quickly corner and grab him by his dirty blonde hair and started dragging him back towards where Noctis was still standing frozen to the spot right outside the iron cell.
“Shut up and stop fighting me, you piece of shit.” Eldrith warned the boy whose hair he was still tightly gripping once the boy started moaning and struggling. Eldrith ignored the boy’s quiet pleas before turning back to face Noctis. “I remember you mentioning about how bored you were just sitting in your room, and since I wanted to be a good host I thought I’d share with you my secret to blowing off steam and having some fun while you were here.”
“…”
“Don’t be shy, it doesn’t mind. You can do whatever the hell you want to it and no-one will care. It lives for these small periods of human contact as it lives out the rest of its miserable life rotting away in this cell.” Eldrith laughed. “I’ve had the chance recently to get really creative recently and damn I have never felt better.” Although as quickly as the laugh came, it was gone and there was a distinct look of annoyance on the Prince’s face as he continued. “Unfortunately, my father has since become aware of my more recent actions and I was banned from relieving my stress in such ways… for now at least. So I thought that just because I can’t have my fun with it, that doesn’t mean you can’t. Feel free to go crazy in my place.” The prince now smiling again as he continued to keep a strong grip on the struggling boy beneath him.
Noctis knew that he should say something, do something… but he was frozen. There were so many questions that were running through his head and he couldn’t think straight. Ignis had warned him to be very careful in Niflheim because the empire had a reputation to be… well, unsavory; but this… how did he get himself smack in the middle of something like this??
“I…” Noctis breathed. “I don’t… you… wha-”
“What the hell are you waiting for?” Eldrith grunted as he continued to drag the blonde closer and closer until Noctis could practically reach out and touch his filthy blonde hair. “I thought you said that you were bored?! Here I am giving you access to my personal fail-proof way to entertain yourself and you’re just standing there like a damned pansy, pampered little Lucian…!”
“Hey…! I’m not-”
“Then stop standing there like a dumbass and DO something!”
“No!” Noctis finally managed to yell, loud and clear. “I would never think about taking on my frustrations on an innocent person!”
“Well aren’t you just little Mr. Prince Charming….” Eldrith spat as he looked Noctis up and down with a look that was a mix of disgust and amusement. “I thought you might actually be worth something, but I guess I was wrong about you, little Lucian loser. Well, if you’re not going to take advantage of it, then I certainly will. I sure as hell didn’t come all the way here just for the company, my father be damned.”
Before Noctis could even ask what he had planned to do, Eldrith had dropped the young boy that he had been holding and quickly started delivering strong short kicks to the blonde’s midsection. He continued harshly beating on the boy, seemingly getting more and more fired up the longer he went and Noctis could do nothing but stand there and watch in abject horror. Every fiber of his being wanted to put a stop to it, but he couldn’t seem to make his muscles work and judging by what he saw here, there was no way that Noctis would be able to overpower the other prince even if he wanted to… all he could do was sit and wait until it was all over and hope that this horrible scene wasn’t completely 100% burned into his memory for the rest of his life.