Archive of Our Own

Sometimes, Loqi believed that the years in Insomnia were too easy. It was almost a decade ago when Regis Lucis Caelum was killed and the city was occupied in a strangely bloodless takeover. It was a surprise to Loqi that Emperor Aldercapt then found the military to suddenly be... unnecessary.

Niflheim now had the prized jewel to sit in the crown of their war - the Lucian capital itself, and its Crystal. There were worries that the last remaining member of the Lucis Caelum family escaped that day, but even then - the stranglehold on the city was too much for him to rise up against.

Many officers, like Loqi, were given positions of power in this new capital. The Imperial throne was even moved as a means to mark the Empire's successful conquest. Now, the military wasn't specifically dismantled. It was a means of enforcement. They ruled over people in the city. They provided a means to ward off the daemons of the night - especially now that the Wall no longer existed.

It seemed... Okay. At least, for the wealthy. They were allowed to continue on with their lives, as Niflheim sought to fill their coffers and keep them complacent. Lunafreya Nox Fleuret even played her own role - though Loqi didn't quite understand. She was originally very outspoken against the occupation at first, but she eventually started to walk the line with them. She continued to serve the people as Oracle and seemed to be strangely obedient to their demands.

However, Loqi knew that, in spite of their efforts to make everything seem without any problem at all, there were many issues that ran underneath the surface. He remembered the messages that went to the officers only when the Crystal refused to acknowledge the Emperor Aldercapt. He remembered the need of maintaining their army of MTs for enforcement of the city, as not all were content and complacent with the occupation.

In fact, the greatest of that part of the worries came to a head when he arrived at the building that housed his office near the Citadel. The glass double doors for the entrance were shattered. Cracks and bullet holes punctured the glass walls to either side of them.

Glass cracked beneath his expensive shoes as he stepped through the doors. He pulled a cell phone out from the inside pocket of his suit coat and quickly dialed an emergency number. As he lifted the phone to an ear, he walked to the security desk. The monitors had been knocked over, and the one that was still up and remained on only showed static.

Buildings that now belonged to the Imperial government, such as this one, often had MTs assigned to them for security. He could see that several units were ruined and parts of metal remains laid on the ground in a path to the elevators. Their bodies had mostly dissolved by this point, but pieces had been left behind.

"This is Tummelt," Once the call connected, Loqi spoke up. "I think my building has been compromised." Though Niflheim now controlled the city's law enforcement, that wasn't who he had called. Those in the know had their own special enforcement for certain situations. This absolutely seemed like one of those cases.

"Security this close to the Citadel is too tight for them to get this close, are you s-"

"Shut up." Testily, Loqi interrupted the voice on the other end, "I'm absolutely sure."

"What about the MT's?"

"Busted. That's why I called you."

"Ugh. Fine. I'll send someone your way. Just stay out of trouble, got i-?"

Loqi groaned and disconnected the call before anything else could be said. By this point, he was angry. He shoved the phone into the pocket of his suit and pressed the call button for one of the elevators.

As Loqi waited, he looked around at his surroundings. With a swear, he stormed away from the elevators and decided he'd take the stairs. They were going to already expect him if they were on his floor, anyway. They just couldn't ambush him from the elevators this time.

The hike up was a little longer than expected, but he didn't care. Once he exited the stairwell, he could see that his floor seemed fine - at least until he saw the hallway that led to his office specifically. It was littered with damage. However, when he arrived at the reception area, he saw that the entire area had been left untouched and undamaged. He looked over it, confused. It seemed to lead him to this location, except it stopped.

With a grimace, Loqi turned to leave, until he felt an arm wrap around his chest to pull him back and the edge of a blade settled against his neck.

"Good evening, General Tummelt," a smooth voice spoke from behind him. "I suggest that you do not move, since I come bearing a message."

Loqi smirked. He was right in his guess from the damage on the lower floors. He recognized the voice, since he had heard it before quite a few times. "It's not like you to openly show yourself these days, Scientia."

There was a laugh, before Ignis said, "Tonight's a special occasion. His Majesty wishes to have an audience with you."

"Does he now?" There was a bit of conflict in his mind. This was an opportunity he couldn't miss. Except, if he came out of hiding, there were contingencies in place for his safety.

As he was forced to turn and face the doors to his office, Ignis answered, "Since he's taken time out of his busy schedule. I suggest you don't hesitate."

Loqi was released and shoved forward.

"Do not look back. We have insurance to guarantee that you cooperate. I hope that we won't be required to use it?" The smug tone made Loqi grit his teeth. This meant that a sniper somewhere had a shot trained on him. That was on point for that circle, as well - the gunman was not easy to forget.

He straightened his back. Loqi quickly took a hold of his suit coat and straightened it out before he smoothed out the lapels. After he ran his fingers over the buttons and found himself to be content with his checks, he said, "Fine. I'll see what he wants."

There wasn't an answer. Instead, Loqi walked forward to his office and pushed open the doors to enter.

The scene inside was the opposite of the reception. How they kept that area untouched, he had no clue. Here, the chairs in front of his desk had been overturned, a table to the side had been cut in half. Bullet holes littered the walls and papers and glass had been scattered around the floor.

The real statement, however, was on his desk.

He could hear the whines of servos and the clicks of solenoids. The chitters of machinery clicked on as a hand twitched. This specific magitek trooper laid face down across his desk. It was pinned in place by a sword that had been stabbed through its back and into the desk itself. The MT was still operational, but barely.

It was also clear that this had been the intention.

Loqi recognized the sword. It was unmistakable. The machinery at its hilt gave it an engine-like appearance. He was about to pull out his phone when he spotted motion to his left. He twisted around to see one of the club chairs to the side occupied by a man in an all black suit.

Loqi hissed, "Noctis Lucis Caelum."

The man held a cool confidence in his posture. He lounged back in the seat, with one leg crossed over the other. His right arm was propped up with an elbow set on the arm of the chair. A USB stick hung from a ring looped around the man's index finger.

It was hard to not notice the black ring on the man's middle finger of the same hand. That was one of the things that Emperor Aldercapt desperately wanted. It slipped through their fingers on the day the city fell.

And the Ring of the Lucii was right there.

However, its owner was clearly the worst possible person someone could try to take it from.

"I thought we tripped the alarm." Noctis casually spoke as he looked at the USB stick. He slowly closed his fingers over it, then glanced up at Loqi without moving his head.

Loqi had only seen Noctis in photographs after the city fell. Something about the man's expression was unnerving. It was a sign that he knew who was truly in control in this office, and it most certainly wasn't its owner.

When the city fell, Noctis managed to escape Imperial capture. Before, he had left for Altissia but came back for reasons that Loqi didn't know. This put him in the city when Niflheim arrived and he disappeared into the chaos. He somehow managed to remain hidden in the city and gathered supporters in the shadows. Many people - especially those close to the new Niflheim government called him the Insurgent King. However, another name given to him by his supporters was the True King of Lucis.

"You made a mess." Those were the only words Loqi could pull together.

Noctis shifted in the chair a bit, before he asked, "Did I?" He was dressed in a well tailored all black suit. His black hair was kept neat and long bangs were combed to the side so that they weren't in his face. His beard was kept trimmed and neat. He didn't look like he was in hiding, in fact. He looked both in good health and in great financial status.

"If your troops hadn't made such a fuss," Noctis continued. "We would have just come right in. It sounds like you should blame them instead of me."

Loqi bristled as he responded, "You can't just walk into someone's office like that."

Without missing a beat, Noctis countered, "That's what you did with Insomnia."

There.... Was no way he could argue that. Instead of trying to justify the empire's actions, Loqi asked, "What do you want?"

"I want my kingdom back," Noctis said calmly. "But I know you don't have the power to fulfill that request, so I'll settle for the trade manifest from the Cordelia shipment that arrived last week. All I could find," the USB stick was revealed again as the man gestured with it, "was the OBL on your computer."

Noctis paused. "Sorry about that, by the way." He glanced past Loqi and at the desk, "The MT broke it when it fell on the desk."

Loqi crossed his arms and snorted, "Fell?"

Noctis shifted, uncrossed his legs, and sat up. Something about him suddenly looked regal. "Yes. Fell."

It wasn't the words that made the former general want to take a step back. It was how he suddenly appeared kingly in the lounge chair.

"I don't have it."

"You were named on the ship's bill of lading."

"I don't know anything abou-"

Noctis interrupted again, "If you didn't know anything about it, you wouldn't have immediately known which ship I was talking about by memory. How many shipments do the Insomnian ports receive these days?"

Loqi, again, didn't have an answer.

This time, Noctis gestured with a hand and the USB stick disappeared into a glimmer of blue light. He set both hands on the arms of the lounge chair and moved to stand again. "Once more, where is the manifest?"

Now that he was on his feet, Loqi's confidence began to melt. "It was on my laptop."

Another glimmer this time and in the man's left hand was a hard drive. "I looked." Noctis must have pulled it before the computer was ruined.

Loqi suddenly stepped forward to try and take it from Noctis' hand, but stopped. Noctis had calmly lifted his right hand to Loqi's face. "I'm a patient man, but a king should never have to ask for something more than once."

This time, the tone of voice was dangerous. Loqi knew he couldn't move when he had the blade to his neck earlier, but now that he stared down the hand of the last Lucian king, he felt small. Noctis wasn't powerful enough to waltz into the Citadel to take it back, but he was powerful enough to wipe someone like Loqi off of the face of this star.

"Caligo." When Noctis didn't move, Loqi quickly added, "H- he was in charge of the manifest." He raised both hands in an attempt to show that he wasn't going to fight back. "Besithia didn't want all of the info in one place."

This time, the smile Noctis had was dangerous. "Because of me?"

"Y- yes." Loqi nodded. "Because of you."

When Noctis lowered his hand, Loqi let out a shaking breath. He scrambled out of the way as Noctis walked past him and towards the window. As he passed the desk on his way, Noctis didn't even cast a glance at the engine blade before he recalled it into that space that came with his magic.

Noctis stopped at the window and looked at the skyline through it. Loqi's office didn't face the Citadel. It looked away and the rest of the city could be seen from it.

"That was a mistake on Verstael's part." Noctis laughed before he turned his back to the brightly shining skyline underneath a twilit sky. "You're the one that had better network security."

His body flickered with a shimmer of blue magic before he seemed to pass through the glass. Once on the other side, it almost seemed like Noctis decided to let gravity have a say as he tilted himself back and fell.

Loqi quickly raced across the office to the window, just in time to see the tale-tale trails of blue light that indicated that Noctis had warped before he hit the ground. He dug out his phone and called the number from earlier. As soon as the line connected, he didn't wait for a greeting. "He was here."

"Not one of his court?"

"Scientia was here, too. I bet Argentum was somewhere, also. But no, Noctis himself was here. He's going after Ulldor next. Also let Besithia know that they're looking into the Cordelia."

"He's out!"

Noctis heard Prompto's voice over the tiny earpiece as he warped to the ground. He pulled the engine blade from the concrete to dismiss it into the Armiger.

He quickly scanned his surroundings before he asked, "You guys clear?"

"Iggy is. He has it easier, though."

Noctis laughed, "You could learn that Vanish spell, too, you know." He quickly picked up the pace to get off of the street. "Do you need a hand, Prom?"

"Nah, I got this. I'll see you later."

The alleyway that Noctis stepped into wasn't as well-lit as the areas around it. He hated that some areas were just neglected like this. "Good. Be careful."

"I always am!"

The air shimmered and Ignis was suddenly next to Noctis. "I don't think we should go this way. It's too dark." The appearance didn't surprise him. In fact, it was his idea to have the glaives teach the spell to his advisor. They needed everything they could get.

Noctis simply scanned the alleyway in silence. "Yeah, it is." He shed his suit coat and casually tossed it aside, though it disappeared into the armiger instead of hitting the ground. "It'll give us added cover."

"While putting us at greater risk." The assessment was a fair one. Noctis acknowledged it with an idle tilt of his head. That was why Ignis had the role he played. Noctis quickly gave him a glance and he just shrugged. "If you're willing to take the gamble."

"What are the better odds? Getting through the alley without a daemon surprising us, or pulling an SSR weapon in King's Knight?"

It had been a very long time since they had played the game, really. Mobile phones in general were too easy to track. He stopped carrying one years ago, within weeks of his dad's death.

Ignis laughed. "You'd go for the pull anyway, wouldn't you?"

"For a kickass character? Hell yeah, I would." Noctis quickly took off in a run. Ignis followed behind. There was a gunshot, then a second - the MTs had found them. "See, Iggy? No time for other options."

"So I see."

As Ignis pulled up a shimmering barrier of light and disappeared, Noctis twisted around with lightning crackling around his hand. He gestured upwards and caused a bolt of lightning to crash down in front of the magitek soldiers, and knock them off their feet.

"That's one way to call attention to us." Noctis could sense where Ignis was from the use of the spell, but couldn't see him.

"We need to slow them down anyway."

"But now we have additionalcompany, as well."

The words were enough warning before Noctis phased away from the claws of an imp that had bled out of the shadows beside one of the backdoors of one of the shops. "Can't be helped!" Noctis called out. While he wore the Ring of the Lucii, the Wall hadn't been a thing since Insomnia fell to Niflheim. Much of the city adjusted with bright lights in various districts, but those with less activity or districts that had been slowly abandoned became rife for daemonic attacks. The Imperial occupation did little to try and alleviate them.

Another imp was stalled as Noctis held his right hand out and cast Death on it. It exploded in a burst of black and red energy that was drawn back into his hand.

"Your Majesty," the small earbud headset Noctis wore squelched to life. "The manifest was found on Ulldor's network. We got a copy."

"Great work, Talcott." Noctis smirked and shook his hand out. He broke into a sprint to get through the rest of the alley. "We have a tail. Drop into radio silence and we'll continue this discussion when I'm back."

"Got it. Be careful out there."

With a laugh, Noctis glanced back to see that the MTs were on their feet and started down the hallway. "Always. Catch you later."

He had no intention of playing around and burst out of the alleyway just as a black car pulled up to the sidewalk near him. He didn't have to stop running. Ignis dropped his cloaking magic at the car as he was opening the door. It allowed Noctis to jump in and slide across the seat. Ignis joined him and quickly shut the door.

"Great timing, Gladio." Noctis leaned forward and patted his Shield on the shoulder. This was a different arrangement than most. Gladio helped at the start of the mission with getting into the office, but they knew they were going to need a getaway driver once Loqi showed up, and Ignis had a finesse that was better suited for all of this.

Gladio floored it and twisted the wheel away to pull from the sidewalk, "We're not out of the woods yet. Sit back and buckle up, Noct."

With the tilt of his head, Noctis did just as he was told. While the car accelerated, Gladio explained to Ignis, "They scanned the plates. We'll need to dump the car."

That info was enough for Ignis to pull out his notebook. He flipped over a few pages, then returned it to the armiger. "Let's head towards entrance 32B."

"Good idea."

Noctis didn't like the idea of being on foot again for a part of the escape, but it couldn't be helped. "Is Prompto going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine. Since you drew all the attention, he'll be able to slip out unnoticed."

They didn't want to try and check Caligo's systems first. Breaking through the network's security would mean that the vulnerability would have been found and patched out. This was worth it. They needed to know what was in that manifest. Niflheim usually shipped anything to Insomnia directly from Gralea via their own aircraft. However, this was something that was shipped via a third party through Altissia.

Ignis suspected that it was something that someone didn't want getting spotted. His hunch was right when they found out that it was something being shipped for Besithia of all people.

Knowing what kind of records and data were in the Citadel when Niflheim occupied it, they couldn't be too careful. Many of the computer systems inside could be wiped remotely, but there were records that were still physical, as well as the archives of any research on Lucian history, magic... This kind of information falling into the hands of Verstael Besithia was exceedingly dangerous.

Gladio was definitely breaking the speed limit, and Noctis twisted around in his seat to see that they were indeed being tailed. He spotted the rifle aimed at the car too late. As he called out to his Shield, a gunshot was heard.

He didn't have a chance to react. Ignis had already moved and set his hand on Noctis' back and forced him to lean forward. This was in case any other shots came through the window. At the same moment, another vehicle pulled up on the other side and slammed into theirs.

Noctis could hear the tires screech as Gladio attempted to get the car under control. The gunshot must have been to take out one of the tires. When he felt the side of the car begin to lift - he knew that they were about to be in a rollover. He quickly reached out - one hand around the drivers' seat to grab hold of Gladio's arm, and the other on Ignis' shoulder.

As the car flipped, he phased all of three of them out of the car and they tumbled onto the ground. The crash was loud as the car landed on its roof behind them. Noctis got onto his feet quickly and raised his hand just as the MTs fired on them - he created a barrier to block off the gunshots.

"Noct!" Gladio yelled at him angrily.

"I don't care! We'd be sitting ducks in that car right now." The ring itself was glowing as he was using his magic through it to help maintain the barrier. With its power, he could do so as long as he needed. He just knew that the cost would likely come later, as did everything else with the ring.

There were too many for them to be able to fight off - two vehicles of MTs, and at least two human enforcement officers. Niflheim couldn't use dropships so easily on the streets themselves.

"I've got this, get him out of here!" Gladio's words were the only warning that Noctis would get. He felt an arm wrap around his waist and he was dragged away from where he stood. Since his focus had been disrupted, the barrier fell, but Gladio pulled a shield from the armiger and used it instead.

As Ignis pulled Noctis from the scene, he gestured with a hand and the air shimmered around the both of them - a sign that the stealth spell was used again. "What are you doing?"

"Gladio will be okay." Ignis quickly tapped on his earpiece. "Prompto, if you're still available, sector 281. Gladio needs cover fire to get out." He didn't expect a response, until he quickly ducked down another street and the two of them took off in a run.

The cloak fell as they sprinted together. This street was not a part of the weird opposing views of upper crust vs neglect that they saw near the Citadel. This was firmly in the middle of the class structure of the city, but well lit by neon and LEDs that identified restaurants and the other storefronts. These streets were lit by store owners and others in the community, something that Niflheim had no intention to do themselves in these areas.

They got to an unmarked door. With a gesture from Ignis, Noctis went to the door and set his hand on an innocuous panel. There was a pulse between it and the ring before a heavy chunk could be heard from within the door. Ignis pulled it open and pushed Noctis through. He didn't close the door entirely - he just scanned the street in both directions before he eventually followed.

As he pulled the door shut, he could hear the lock engage. Noctis finally took several steps back and slumped against the wall. "Dammit. How's Gladio going to get in now?"

"Through a different route."

In ten years of all of this, Noctis never grew to like these situations. He hated the idea of people potentially getting themselves killed for him. Though he understood it, he decided that he'd still complain. "There's not another entrance nearby."

"He'll make do, as we all have." Ignis began to walk through the tunnel. It, like the safer parts of the city, was well-lit. There was no chance in taking risks. "Now, we need to get you secure and let you talk to Talcott. Once Gladio and Prompto get back, I'll make sure they join you."

A massive network of tunnels could be found in portions of southeastern Insomnia - especially in areas that saw heavy business use. These were separate from the subway system and somehow they even twisted their ways around them in ways Noctis couldn't really come close to understanding.

The important part was that he and his supporters managed to take control of a large portion of them. They sealed off any entrances that were indefensible and created heavier fortifications deeper in towards the center.

That's what getting secure meant in the first place. Ignis led Noctis to this area and, on the promise of coming back once he'd made sure Gladio and Prompto were safe, locked him down in.

Thankfully, Noctis wasn't alone. Talcott met him there. He was part of the supporting circle - and one of the first when things began to crumble.

"Welcome back, Your Majesty." No matter the situation, he was always friendly and amenable. He wore jeans and a casual t-shirt - Noctis never expected formality from anyone around him. They didn't always have the choice.

They were in a meeting room for the facility. Like the halls and other areas, this was bright and well lit. Noctis took a seat at the table. "Hey, Talcott. Thank you."

"Think nothing of it." He set a tablet down on the table in front of Noctis. "I made sure to transfer the manifest to this before you got here."

Noctis tapped the screen of the tablet and leaned forward to begin reading over it. The tablet was, like many computers in their hideaway, not connected to the general internet at large. Instead, it was connected to an intranet that had been built for their use. Their access to traditional information had to often be cut off for privacy reasons.

It's not like there was any time to just play outside of the rare occasion. This kind of work was the norm these days. This was nothing at all what he expected his life to be like as king, but in all technicality, he couldn't be a king of Lucis in the first place. Lucis did not exist anymore, in terms of the new Imperial law that had been set on the city.

Talcott quietly took the seat across from him. He had his own tablet. "I can go over the even numbered pages if you want to focus on the odd pages. Divide and conquer."

Noctis paused as he began to feverishly flip through the paper. The manifest was for the whole ship and not just the container. "This is going to take forever..."

Talcott mumbled, "Unfortunately, the info we found only said that they used this ship. It didn't give us the container name."

Noctis set his chin against the palm of his hand, then paused. "I didn't get a good look at the bill..." He quickly pulled out the hard drive, then the USB stick and set them down in front of Talcott. The adrenaline of the escape led him to forget the most important part of all of this. "Did you bring your computer?"

Talcott picked up the USB stick and grinned "I did." He stopped, then looked at the hard drive. "But what's this?"

"It's the drive from Loqi's computer. I didn't have time to really dig through anymore when he got to the building. I decided to just pull the whole damn thing."

Talcott whistled. "Good idea. Hopefully he didn't have it encrypted."

The drive wasn't the important part. It was what was on the thumb drive that would tell them what they needed. By the time they had the manifest up with the container's information, Ignis walked in, followed by Prompto and Gladio.

"You made it," relief filled Noctis' voice as he stood up.

Gladio laughed as he walked past Noctis and gave him a playful shove to sit back down. "You actually doubted me?"

Before they could get sidetracked, Talcott handed his tablet to Ignis. "Look at what we found."

As Ignis took the tablet, Prompto sat down next to Noctis, who handed his tablet up for someone else to take. Gladio snatched it up right away. There was a moment before, "...what the hell?"

"Yeah." Noctis slumped back in his seat finally.

Confused, Prompto looked between Noctis and Talcott, "What? What's going on?"

"It seems that," Ignis spoke as he took a seat. "Besithia is slowly migrating parts of some of the machinery he developed in Gralea to Insomnia."

Prompto looked at Noctis quickly, who was simply staring up at the ceiling of the room. He didn't know what to say immediately. When Noctis got his thoughts together, it was to say, "This isn't something to worry about yet, but if he's moving things here, then there may be a new attempt to come after us down the line.

"I think there's still too much here for a full on assault." A lot of Ignis' work had begun to rub off on Noctis over the years. He had definitely grown more tactical. "Aldercapt wants to maintain good graces with the citizens. As long as he's allowed to play his games, we don't really have to worry about Ardyn." A beat. "Hopefully we don't, at any rate."

Noctis held his hand up. Without the need for a question, Gladio just knew that he wanted the tablet and handed it over. Noctis sat up and set it on the table. He reached over and used both hands to zoom in on the items that had been in the container. "For now, let's just keep an eye open for another similar shipment. They know that we've figured out their method of hiding these things, which means that they're going to have to change their methods."

"In other words," Ignis said. "They will need to delay the next shipment from Gralea."

Noctis nodded. "Yeah. Tonight wasn't a perfect win, since we couldn't stop the arrival of that shipment. But sometimes just causing chaos is part of why we're still here. We don't want Niflheim's rule to be an easy one."