Chapter Text
There were many reasons why Noct and Prompto found each other so quickly. The main reason was that they grew up alone with no friends, so they could relate to each other in a way no one else had before. However, the cause for their loneliness was somewhat different. As Crown Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum of the Lucis kingdom, Noct grew up in the Citadel where people were paid to monitor and ensure his safety, so he was never alone-alone. Ignis Scientia, his advisor, had been part of his life for as long as he could remember and although they played together, Ignis was more of a motherly figure than a friend you plan shenanigans with. Gladiolus Amicitia, his Shield, was also a childhood friend. Even though their relationship hadn’t started off that well, as Gladio thought of Noct as a spoiled and lazy brat, Noct gained Gladio’s respect after taking the blame when Gladio’s little sister Iris got lost when she visited the Citadel. Gladio’s responsibility as the Shield was, for instance, weapon training with Noct and during their sparring lessons their friendship and trust for each other grew.
However, after the Marilith attack, which almost claimed Noct’s life at the age of eight, his personality changed from being lively and mischievous, to quiet and withdrawn. From that point forward Noct felt alone and withdrew himself from others.
But Prompto Argentum, common born, had been truly alone. His adoptive parents were rarely home and he had no friends prior to befriending Noct in high school. Prompto came to terms with his loneliness when he was young, especially after his 11th birthday when his parents had to set off to work early in the morning, leaving a few presents on the kitchen table and a cake in the fridge. They might have thought he was now old enough to be more on his own and they could go away for work for longer periods. He still loved his parents, but after that he didn’t count on them being there at important events in his life. Unfortunately, he was right in not expecting their presence, so he took care of himself.
After Prompto took the leap to befriend Noct and started to get to know each other, they found they had a lot in common. Parents which, for different reasons, couldn’t be there when it mattered was one of the things, but being king was a pretty good excuse to miss out on some events in Noct’s life. One other was hating birthdays and holidays. Prompto hated it because he was alone and Noct hated it because it always involved some kind of royal social function with too many people. Prompto thought he was subtle when he expressed some envy in celebrating one's birthday with people, but Noct had picked up on it. Noct connected the dots and realised Prompto had probably been alone too many times on his birthdays. When Prompto had his 17th birthday, too scared to invite Noct to an empty house, Noct came over to Prompto anyway and dragged him back to Noct’s apartment. They stayed up all night, eating an unhealthy amount of cake and played video games. Since their birthdays were not that far apart, they decided to celebrate both of them on Prompto’s birthday, in whatever way they wished.
Growing up alone could of course explain why they were so unbelievably bad at pranks, as they had no practice of the fine art.
During their travels all over Lucis, Noct and Prompto had made several attempts at pranking Ignis and Gladio, trying to make up for lost opportunities from when they were children.
However, all of their attempts ended in well deserved scolding from Ignis, with Gladio standing in the background, arms crossed, with a scowl on his face. For instance, Noct and Prompto were sure they had a slam dunk of a prank when they had hidden Ignis’ glasses (and the spares) and forced him on a scavenger hunt around the Vesperpool. As soon as Noct had handed Ignis the map and explained its purpose, they had thoroughly been chewed out by Gladio and with their tails between their legs, they went to fetch the glasses. Even though Ignis could see well without his glasses, this little stunt was not popular. As punishment, Noct was forced to train with Gladio at the buttcrack of dawn for a week and Prompto hadn’t been allowed to use his camera for a week. The day after, Ignis had softened and gave Prompto his camera back, as he had looked so heartbreakingly miserable. Noct had asked, pissed, why his friend had been let off the hook so easily but one look from Ignis made him shut up and realise they were already going easy on him. Noct was a bit surly and thought that you could always trust Ignis and Gladio to think Noct was the instigator of their shenanigans. Most of the time he was, but that’s not the point.
Ignis and Gladio could of course appreciate a good joke and prank, but they were getting tired of Noct and Prompto’s poor attempts, so they wanted to nip it in the bud before it got out of hand. Therefore they were punished for messing with Ignis’ glasses.
Despite Noct and Prompto’s failed attempts to mess with Ignis and Gladio, they still tried to come up with plans. They were bound to be successful eventually.
Anyhow, Noct and his retinue were currently occupying the haven in the Fallgrove forest, located in the southeastern region of Duscae, still uncertain if they should try to tackle Costlemark Tower or carry on to the Balouve Mines to find Royal Arms to continue to expand Noct’s arsenal. Costlemark could have a Royal Arm somewhere within, as the tomb close by was empty and the hunters had a theory that some daemons had brought it to Costlemark. The mines should have a hidden tomb somewhere in its deep, since Noct’s ancestors apparently liked to build their tombs in the most delightful places, like the top of the volcanic Rock of Ravatogh and the freezing Greyshire Glacial Grotto coming to mind. After talking for some time they decided to sleep on it, hoping that inspiration might strike during their morning coffee. Or they could just flip a coin for it.
After they had eaten Ignis’ delicious dinner around the campfire and the protecting blue runes of the magical haven, warding off the dangerous daemons stalking in the night, shone brighter as the sun was setting behind the trees, Prompto scooched his camping chair closer to Noct.
“So Noct, I’ve thought of a prank that might work,” Prompto whispered to Noct as Ignis and Gladio were in the middle of a heated discussion the other two didn’t really care about: the correct way of cooking fish over open fire and Gladio was obviously not going to come out as a winner from that discussion, something Ignis’ cooking skills could attest to.
“Are you sure? The last one didn't,” Noct said, raising an eyebrow, flashbacks popping into his mind from when Gladio made him run through the heavy sands at the beach.
“Super sure! Let’s scare Ignis and Gladio!” Prompto said with a big grin on his face.
“Scare? Since when did scaring people count as a prank?” Noct’s face was blank, staring at Prompto as his eyebrow trailed even further up his forehead. Prompto looked back at his friend, his smile fading.
“Because it’s fun? Like, unexpected, but when you see that it’s not dangerous, it’s funny. I’ve seen lots of videos of people doing it and they always laugh! And I thought since the other stuff we pulled got us in trouble we shouldn’t ‘go big or go home’ as we planned from the start.” Prompto drew a hand nervously over his head, leaving his blond hair in disarray.
“You mean got me in trouble? Specs let you off the hook quickly!” Noct glared at Prompto.
“Yeah.” Prompto laughed nervously. He threw a glance over at Ignis and Gladio, who still were in the middle of their discussion. It’s more or less an argument now, might even be a fight.
“Just listen Noct! There’s a fishing spot near here, yeah?”
Noct nods with a contemplative expression and waits for Prompto to continue.
“First, you have to leave camp by yourself,” Prompto carried on. “We'll work something out so you can slip away without the other two following. I’ll catch up with you, stash you in a spot where you’ll get ready to warp into Gladio when I come back with him and Ignis.” Prompto stroked his chin and peered at Noct, who had a hint of scepticism on his face, but still seemed to consider the plan.
“Don’t know if I wanna warp into Gladio though. He might actually kill me. Especially after the whole Vesperpool incident.”
Prompto imagines Noct warping into Gladio and the inevitable ass kicking of Noct. The corners of his mouth turned back into a smile. “Yeah, go for Iggy,” he chuckled. “He’s quick though and can also whip your ass real good.”
“I’m quicker,” Noct answered confidently. “So we’ll do this tomorrow?”
“Yeah, after breakfast,” Prompto smiled with his whole face, excited that Noct’s onboard. He continued to go through the plan again, gesticulating widely “You do your thing, like say you're going to go fishing and just leave. Iggy and Gladio’s going to bitch about it and I’ll say I’ll follow you to drag your sorry ass back. I run after you, we find a good hiding spot, I’ll run back and get them and say something so they’ll come with me.”
“Like what?”
“I dunno. I’ll think of something,” Prompto shrugged.
“Right.” Noct said with a tone of doubt, glaring at Prompto through his bangs.
“It’ll be awesome!” Prompto looked triumphant. As he was about to ask Noct if they should play King’s Knight, they heard loud voices coming from where Ignis and Gladio were sitting. “Wait, are they fighting?”
They turned around to look at Ignis and Gladio. Gladio stood up, the camping chair had fallen over and Ignis had his book with recipes in his hands, pointing at the page he had flipped open.
Noct and Prompto stared for a few seconds before Prompto yelled with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Mom! Dad! Stop fighting!”
Ignis and Gladio froze, Ignis had just walked up in Gladio’s personal space with a finger a few centimetres from his face and Gladio was looming over Ignis with his arms outstretched as if challenging him. Slowly, they turned their heads towards Noct and Prompto. A heavy silence hung in the air for a few seconds until Noct couldn’t hold back his chuckles any longer. Soon the whole camp roared with laughter.
They stayed up another hour around the campfire, where Ignis and Gladio agreed to disagree concerning who knew the best way to cook fish over an open fire. Noct and Prompto had just rolled their eyes and knew they could expect Ignis serving fish for dinner tomorrow just to prove his point. When they all crawled into their tent and settled in for a night's rest, Noct and Prompto exchanged an excited look before their heads hit the pillows, excited for tomorrow's shenanigans. Gladio’s loud snoring lulled them all to sleep.
The morning came with a bright blue sky and a soft breeze. Ignis was first out of the tent and before he started to throw together their breakfast, he prepared some coffee. He basked in the warmth of the sun in blissful silence, sipping on the freshly made coffee. Soon thereafter Gladio and Prompto emerged from the tent and started helping Ignis.
“Shall we?” Ignis asked Gladio as he placed his fist in the palm of the other hand. Gladio sat aside his cup of coffee and walked over to Ignis.
“Why can’t we just take turns?” Gladio said as he copied Ignis’ hands.
“Because this is more fun.” Ignis answered with a smile.
“It’s because you win almost every time.” Gladio glared at Ignis, but he had a smirk on his face.
Just as they were about to start their daily rock-paper-scissors to determine who would receive the delightful honour of waking up a cranky Noct, the prince emerged from the tent with a glorious bed head which made Prompto snort. Noct gave him the finger while rubbing his eye with the other hand. The trio stood there and watched Noct stretch.
“What?” Noct asked, holding back a yawn.
“It’s a pleasant, yet unbelievable, surprise to see you awaken on your own this early without a gun to your head,” Ignis replied, both eyebrows raised.
“Stranger things have happened.” Noct answered deadpan.
Gladio just shrugged and continued preparing breakfast. Ignis glared at Noct for a few seconds before he turned around to make sure the bread didn't burn. Prompto walked up silently beside Noct.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he whispered sharply while keeping an eye on them. “Now they’ll be suspicious of everything.”
“A fly crawled into my nose and Gladio’s old sock was right beside my face, so I had to flee that smelly prison before I puked.” Noct replied.
“And why didn’t you tell them that?”
“That, if anything, would make Specs more suspicious.” Noct really had to restrain himself from talking too loudly. “I’ve told too many shitty lies when we grew up that he’s suspicious of everything.”
“Right.” Prompto rolled his eyes, punched Noct lightly on the arm and walked over to the table. Prompto had witnessed Ignis seeing through Noct’s more elaborate excuses and lies a few times, so yes, being vague was probably the best course of action.
They ate their breakfast and made small talk for a while. They still couldn’t decide on where to go next, so Gladio flipped a coin. It landed on the mines. Ignis made a mental note to drive via Longwythe, where they could stock up on potions and other necessities they were starting to run low on. He could also look for some spice and fish, to show Gladio that he, in fact, knew the best way to cook fish over open fire.
When they were done with the breakfast, Prompto and Ignis sipped on their coffee as Gladio turned towards Noct.
“What about some training, princess?” he said while standing up and rolling his shoulders, making the tattooed feathers on his arms dance. “We need to make sure that you can guard your left properly. A sword in the spleen wasn't that fun, right?”
“Nah, that’s what I got you for,” Noct answered nonchalantly. “I’m gonna check out the fishing spot.” He stood up and pointed vaguely in the northern direction. He snatched a soda from the table, jumped down from the haven’s edge and made his way to the path leading towards the lake and quickly disappeared behind a shrub.
“Noct! Get back here!” Gladio barked after him but there was no answer. “Noctis!”
Gladio growled and took a step to follow Noct, but Prompto stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Wait here, big guy! I’ll get him!”
“Sure.” Gladio answered as he stared at the shrubbery, annoyed.
“BRB!” Prompto exclaimed, dragging out the b’s.
As Prompto dashed after Noct, Gladio turned to Ignis with a sigh.
“Prompto will have a better chance of bringing Noct back, you know that.” Ignis said as he started cleaning away the breakfast.
“Would be better if he did what we actually should be doing and not fuck around.” Gladio scowled in the direction Noct and Prompto went.
“The mines are not going anywhere and it is still early, we will leave as soon as they are back. If you start packing everything inside the tent, I will pack up the kitchen.” Ignis knocked back the last of his coffee and continued his cleaning.
Prompto caught up with Noct just behind the bushes covering the view from the haven.
“That worked perfectly,” he whispered cheerfully, patting Noct on the shoulder. “Gladio’s not looking happy though, so good thing you’re going for Iggy.” he rubbed his hands and looked around. “Let’s find a good hiding spot!”
They walked for a few minutes until Noct spotted a tree that had fallen over and pointed over to it. “That could work,” he told Prompto.
“Awesome! Let’s wait a bit before I head back.”
Prompto summoned his camera from the Armiger, blue ethereal crystals briefly materialising and scattering around the camera, snapped a few shots of the trees with the sunbeams shining through their branches. He spotted a butterfly and chased after it to take a picture. Noct watched him and let out a small laugh while shaking his head. He took out his phone and walked around the tree to find a good hiding spot, sipping on his soda.
Prompto had always been the worst at waiting and after barely two minutes his body was crawling with restlessness and there were only so many pictures you could take of trees.
“Well that should be enough. I’ll go back, so you get snug and comfy!” Prompto waved a hand over his shoulder, already on his way before he had time to finish the sentence.
When Prompto arrived back at camp about ten minutes after he left, Ignis and Gladio were in the middle of the process of taking down the tent.
“Where is Noct?” Ignis looked over to Prompto.
“I dunno. He wasn't at the fishing spot, so I thought he changed his mind and went back another way,” Prompto answered and shrugged his shoulders.
Both Ignis and Gladio paused with worried expressions on their faces and started walking quickly toward the forest. Prompto followed, feeling a small twinge of guilt when he saw their worried faces, but shook it away. He thought that Ignis and Gladio should relax a little and not worry about Noct all the time. On the other hand, the two of them had been raised for the sole purpose to guide and protect Noct, so he could understand why they were worried.
After walking for almost five minutes, they arrived at the area where Noct was hiding and Prompto had to bite himself in the cheek to stop himself from giggling.
“Wait. I think I heard something.” he said when he came up next to the tree. Ignis and Gladio stopped, turned around and listened. They heard birds chirping and the wind blowing through the boughs. Prompto waited for Noct to warp into Ignis, but nothing happened. Prompto shifted his weight nervously and thought Noct might have fallen asleep.
“Are you certain that you heard something?” Ignis looked around with a frown.
“Totally!” Prompto answered a bit louder, hoping Noct would hear him. Still nothing. Prompto looked around to see if it actually was the tree Noct had hidden behind. He’s certain, maybe not 100 percent, but fairly certain. He remembers he thought one of the branches would be an amazing walking stick and he could see said branch on the tree in front of him.
“We better keep looking,” Ignis said as he and Gladio continued walking.
Prompto saw another tree further down the path and maybe Noct had decided that one was better to hide behind and moved over there. Before he followed Ignis and Gladio, he checked behind the tree. Noct had after all gotten the title Master Sleeper by the group, so he could just have dozed off.
But Noct was not there. On the ground he spotted a discarded soda can. The same kind of soda Noct had brought with him. All four of them would never litter and always made sure they brought all garbage with them. They had the Armiger, perfect place to stash trash until they found a trash bin. He bent down to pick it up, thinking that he would give Noct shit later for littering, when something caught his eyes. Something wet. Something red. Worry started to bubble in Prompto’s stomach.
“Guys. We might have a big problem.” He dashed back from the tree.
“What?” Gladio stares at Prompto with a scowl darkening his eyes.
“Noct’s not here. He was supposed to be here!” Prompto rambled. “Where is he?” The worry was turning into fear, making it hard for Prompto to speak and the last few words came out as a high pitched half-scream.
“What are you talking about?” Ignis said, eyebrows turning into a frown, walking back towards Prompto in a hurried pace.
“We wanted to mess with you again,” Prompto said as he walked back behind the tree. One tiny part of him desperately wished for the red wetness on the ground to be spilled soda or some forest gunk and not the blood the other part of him was sure it was.
Ignis crouched down, looked at the ground and touched the red drops. He rubbed it between his thumb and index finger and looked up at Prompto, his face drained of colour. “It’s blood,” he said faintly.
“Shitshitshitshit someone has taken Noct!” Prompto shouted with hands in his hair. “FUCK!”
The panic Prompto felt surging through his body was mirrored in Ignis and Gladio’s face.
Ignis observed the ground and saw two pairs of footprints from heavy boots and between them two trails, as if a person had been dragged and it looked like said person had not fought against it. He stood up and tried to enter the calm state of mind which always helped him recover his composure, so he could come up with a solution, make a plan, anything to find and help Noct.
Ignis drew a deep breath and followed the tracks with quick, long strides and heard Prompto and Gladio just a few steps behind him. The forest was too quiet, which just added to the panic Ignis tried his best to ignore. He spotted drops of blood here and there along the tracks and for every drop he saw, he walked faster. The red soles of their shoes hammered down on the forest’s green floor.
They came upon a road, saw blood on the ground and tire tracks speeding away along the road. They looked at each other as it dawned on them what just had happened.
Noct had been kidnapped. Without a trace.
“Well, fuck.” Gladio whispered.