Chapter Text
Noctis was back. He hadn’t seen his hometown since he left ten years prior. Left was the nice was to put it, he thought; it wasn’t as though he had a choice in the matter. One thing had led to another—his father had died when he was still a child, and his father’s friends were unable to make arrangements to have him stay in town. So they let him go to foster care, and Noctis left.
Inevitably, he caused trouble for the families who were kind enough to take him in. He never meant for it to happen—but his intentions made no difference in the end. The damage was done, and the families each had their breaking point. That would be when he moved to the next, hoping that next time would be different.
This time, Noctis, really hoped it would be different.
He walked along the road toward the high school, where he was starting as a first year. It was a solitary journey; other students passed him without incident. On a stretch of road where he found himself alone, though, something caught his eye.
Someone, he corrected himself, stopping to get a better look. Someone, a blonde in a soft yellow yukata with his back to Noctis, was whimpering as he searched the bushes along the tree line off from the road. Noctis was no stranger to odd happenstances like this, and he felt a tug at his core that reminded him of what it always meant.
Not this time, Noct vowed to himself. He would not get involved in this youkai’s business.
Noctis tightened his grip on his school bag as he carried on, glancing at the youkai in his periphery as he ran off further into the trees. The boy shook his head and sighed—he wished he didn’t have to be the one to see them. They have brought him nothing but misery. A frown settled into the lines around his mouth for the rest of his walk to school.
Once he was there, he went to the office to obtain his schedule and didn’t stop to talk to anybody. There wasn’t anyone waiting to see him anyway—he moved away while the rest of them stayed together. Even if this was his hometown, Noctis had no real ties to the place.
Noct told himself maybe that was a good thing. Getting attached wasn’t something he knew how to do. He was likely to mess it up. In his mind, it was almost a guarantee.
Noctis took his seat at his desk and settled in for a day of classes. He had always liked school for the distraction that it gave him. Simply being in the building gave him some semblance of safety; having lived in both cities and small towns, Noctis learned that youkai from the outskirts of small towns rarely ventured inward—despite the fact they could not be seen, they were skittish around humans.
But Noct knew from experience that there would always be the ones that weren’t afraid, that could practically sense his ability to see them, and they would find him anywhere.
Noctis shuddered and kept his eyes turned away from the window.
The day passed without incident, and soon enough it was time to walk home again. Noct had managed to forget about the youkai he saw that morning until he saw him again on the way back. He paused to watch the youkai search the same spot, this time hearing clipped sentences like, “Where is it?” added to the sounds of distress.
Noctis groaned inwardly. It was obvious that he had lost something, and Noct knew youkai were nothing if not fiercely sentimental. He had known them to be violent when upset, and this one has been searching the entire day without luck. Noct knew it was in everyone’s best interest if he helped him find whatever he had lost.
He knew, but he didn’t like it.
With a cursory glance around to assure himself that no one else was near, Noct walked over to the youkai that still had his head in the foliage, unaware of the person behind him. Noct cleared his throat, but it didn’t register for the other. His heart had already picked up, nervous by the close proximity alone. “Hey,” he said through his fraying nerves, not loud enough to change anything, so he took a deep breath and said louder, “Hey.”
The youkai started at the voice and spun around, tripping over his own feet and landing in the bushes he had been looking in. “You scared me,” he stated, as if it weren’t obvious.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Noct replied succinctly. “Did you lose something?”
“Uh, yeah, I lost…” the youkai split his attention between talking and struggling to stand up. “I lost… a handkerchief, that I borrowed. I can’t lose it; I need to give it back.” The blonde was hopeless to find purchase on the bush, and so Noctis offered a hand to help him up. The youkai looked at it hesitantly before taking it. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” Noct said as he started to pull him up. Before he brought the other to his feet, though, a memory long since forgotten made its way to the forefront of his mind.
A boy in his late teens held out a hand; Noctis’ smaller one was engulfed as he was lifted from the ground.
Noct paused in his actions, leaving the youkai dangling from his hand as he remembered more.
A handkerchief was handed to him so that he could clear his eyes of tears. A voice next to him spoke through a sad smile:
“Sometimes, I feel lonely too.”
“Is… everything okay?” the youkai asked. Noctis recognized it as the same voice.
The teen loosened his grip, and the blond fell back to where he was with a noise of protest. “It’s you…” Noct said under his breath, taking a step back.
The youkai slid himself to the ground and got to his feet, “Me?” He took a step closer to Noctis.
“Stay away from me!” Noct cried, startling the youkai before he took off down the road, not looking back.
Confused by the encounter, the blonde watched his retreating form, and it felt like it reminded him of something from long ago.
“Stay away! Monster!” the dark-haired child shoved Prompto back and ran away, crying harder than he had when Prompto had found him. He supposed that was what he deserved for lying to the human.
Prompto’s eyes widened with realization as he whispered to himself, “It’s you.”