Chapter Text
Insomnia.
The Crown City of Lucis.
Met a fate fifteen years prior that snowballed into the state it currently resides in.
At present, the kingdom is being ruled by Noctis Lucis Caelum, the one-hundred and fourteenth king. Who, for the past five years, is diligently putting the nation back to its formal glory after his ten-year absence.
Noctis puts together various groups of glaives and volunteers to help rebuild the society that everyone desires. And while there has been substantial progress in the passing years--there is still a long road ahead to make Insomnia the capital it deserves to be. Magic can only go so far, it can not fix everything--some things truly just take a person’s hand to work wonders.
Noctis will accept nothing less of the success of the restoration of Insomnia.
However, a king can not rule on his own, nor hope to achieve such a feat by his own hand. His royal retinue is small due to the fall of the land prior, but he still has a decent number by his side. Though the three who are most important above all--Ignis, Prompto, and Gladio are the ones Noctis knows are a vital backbone to the whole city.
Ignis, while still Noctis’s advisor, is far more than that currently. He serves as almost a “right-hand” man to his majesty, often taking care of smaller issues and bringing important information to Noctis’s attention. His encyclopedia of knowledge he continues to retain over the years has been a tremendous help in reforming the crown city. Ignis’s other practical skills like cooking, sewing, and other expertise have come in handy in “educating” other members of the royal party among the citadel. It’s almost baffling to Ignis how many of them don’t even know how to cook an egg.
Gladio’s position as Noctis’s sworn shield continues to show no signs of faltering. If anything it’s shown how much it solidifies how serious he takes his position, but also remembers that Noctis is a close friend and the two are not the same. His duty does not cloud his friendship with Noctis and vise-versa, he keeps them separate.
Gladio often is sent on missions to take care of any dangers that may try and enter the crown city (thankfully there have not been any dangers that exceed the day Insomnia fell). This does leave his position as shield to be put on the back burner and while that bothers Gladio a bit, he trusts that everyone else has the king’s best interest in mind versus failing to do the duty they are all set out to do (protect the king and the kingdom). However, being able to travel as much as Gladio has on his own leaves the allowance of experiencing many more writers of Eos and growing his book collection. He’s often reading a bit at night during the short sleep and break bursts he has on missions to immerse himself in all the writer’s glory--doesn’t mean all the books are great. Some are downright awful, but the thrill and journey of a book keeps Gladio in a fixation till he’s seen the book to its end.
Prompto is in charge of various departments in the citadel and is also someone that is sent out on missions when is needed. Prompto also keeps in contact with those who are patrolling the city border and reports any suspicious activity to Ignis (or directly to the king). Ignis then takes the other information he gathers and reports it to Noctis. Prompto’s knowledge of machinery and his skills in that trade have become a valuable asset in allowing him to create blueprints for tentative advancements. Prompto’s photography has also proven to shine when his pictures are used on billboards mostly to showcase something or advertise. Still, Prompto is always taking pictures of everything he possibly can. He’s filled over three large photo albums now.
Prompto while discovering his true origins from a mission--it was hard, but Prompto was able to accept them by having Gladio by his side when he discovered it. Learning that his fate would have been an early death, Prompto took all the research he could find from the lab after it was shut down and with the aid of magic and advancements from citadel doctors they were able to create a treatment that allows Prompto’s body to reform the way his cells work so the aging process and decaying of his anatomy tremendously slow down and he’s able to have a human’s normal lifespan.
When Gladio is gone there is a gap in his duty as the shield, something that while Prompto is not the position for--is stronger than Prompto has ever been and stands in to do his best at being the substitute, often cracking a joke or two about it.
While the days of lax duty are over, the four are still as closely knit as ever and still joke around. Still coming across as friends in the line of duty rather than just any ordinary royal retinue. When Noctis has a moment to breathe (or he’s avoiding paperwork) and the rare chance the other guys are free--they hang out like the old times--the road trip days.
Making the kingdom the best that it can be is not the only thing that has been brewing within the citadel walls. There is also the blooming of relationships.
Noctis struggled with his own identity, often feeling strange compared to his best friend Prompto--in the sexual attraction department. Prompto could go on about how attractive someone was or talk about his sex life (which Noctis had to shut Prompto up on the details, but Prompto never went fully into it--just acted like he would to tease Noctis) with Gladio and how attractive Prompto found him.
Those types of things hardly would cross Noctis’s mind and he started to believe that he must have been asexual or something. That was until he realized--he wasn’t.
Noctis knew he loved Ignis, romantically and when they got closer and began dating he worried about not giving Ignis the appreciation and desires that Ignis deserved to have satisfied, but the more Noctis eased himself into their sexual endeavors--he realized he did find Ignis appealing sexually, but was more interested romantically.
However, Noctis didn’t entirely care about where his sexuality lied. He loved who he did and the person he loved was Ignis. Still, it was slightly distressing to figure things out, but when Prompto brought up how he came across people talking about demisexuality--that was when Noctis realized it lined up with all of his feelings.
Ignis’s side of this was accepting. He wanted nothing more than to make Noctis as comfortable as possible and only do as Noctis desired and was wanting to do. Ignis did not want Noctis forcing himself on his behalf, luckily Noctis didn’t push himself often, but when he did they would talk about it and each assurance was good to know that their relationship was based on love and understanding and not just sexual desire. Nor was it simply based on duty.
Or is it based on love? Noctis keeps having a reoccurring nightmare he can’t quite place about Ignis and Ardyn and his world and relationship with Ignis is about to be turned upside down.