Once upon a time, there was a prince with a broken heart.
He had been lonely all his life – but for a time, a boy as bright as the sun had dawned in his sky, filling his nights with laughter and his days with anticipation. Now that boy was gone, and the prince fell into black despair.
His Shield told him that he was a lovelorn fool, and to snap out of it already.
His advisor suggested, diplomatically, that he might be able to discover the boy's address.
His father frowned and fussed as he had not done since the prince was very small.
But the prince ignored them all and closeted himself in his chambers. He often slept an inordinate amount, but in his grief he slept yet more.
It was there, in the land of dreams, that he found a small, white creature he had not seen for quite some time. Carbuncle, his treasured childhood friend, had doubtless come to comfort him.
Carbuncle pressed against his legs, and hopped upon his shoulder. But when it squeaked at him, the text that appeared above its head was not a consolation at all.
"Hurry, Noct," it said. "You've got to go find him."
And there into the dreamscape, usually so pleasant and mild, crept flashes of pain, and the suffocating grip of steel, and a gnawing, desperate hunger.
"Where is he?" Noct demanded.
Above Carbuncle, the lettering flickered into sight, solid and true as the title of a storybook: "I can't help you, this time," read the words. "There's stronger magic than mine."
===
Noct came to Ignis' chambers in the dead of night, hair rumpled from sleep, clad in his black silk pajamas. He knocked twice and then waited – knocked again, more urgently, and Ignis opened the door, still in the process of sliding his glasses onto his nose.
"Get me his address," said Noct, and Ignis knew, without asking, that it would not keep until morning.
He pulled the immigration records from Niflheim for the past ten years, and he pored over them in his study, a strong cup of coffee in one hand. When dawn came, he had determined that no boy named Prompto had come to settle in Lucis during that time.
It raised questions, to be sure: why the boy's papers weren't in order, and why he had bothered to circumvent immigration law when the requirements were no more complicated than a valid form of ID and a single three-page form. But that could wait for another time.
For now, they would need another means of searching.
Ignis availed himself of a map. On it, he marked what few details his prince had provided: an area near the outskirts of Lucis, by the border of Niflheim, where the countryside grew green. After a moment's thought, he looked up the residence of Chancellor Izunia, as well, and noted it with a small, black dot.
Then Ignis drained the last of his coffee, folded his map, and went to see Noct.
Re: [Fill: 13/?] Noctis/Prompto Cinderella AU
Once upon a time, there was a prince with a broken heart.
He had been lonely all his life – but for a time, a boy as bright as the sun had dawned in his sky, filling his nights with laughter and his days with anticipation. Now that boy was gone, and the prince fell into black despair.
His Shield told him that he was a lovelorn fool, and to snap out of it already.
His advisor suggested, diplomatically, that he might be able to discover the boy's address.
His father frowned and fussed as he had not done since the prince was very small.
But the prince ignored them all and closeted himself in his chambers. He often slept an inordinate amount, but in his grief he slept yet more.
It was there, in the land of dreams, that he found a small, white creature he had not seen for quite some time. Carbuncle, his treasured childhood friend, had doubtless come to comfort him.
Carbuncle pressed against his legs, and hopped upon his shoulder. But when it squeaked at him, the text that appeared above its head was not a consolation at all.
"Hurry, Noct," it said. "You've got to go find him."
And there into the dreamscape, usually so pleasant and mild, crept flashes of pain, and the suffocating grip of steel, and a gnawing, desperate hunger.
"Where is he?" Noct demanded.
Above Carbuncle, the lettering flickered into sight, solid and true as the title of a storybook: "I can't help you, this time," read the words. "There's stronger magic than mine."
===
Noct came to Ignis' chambers in the dead of night, hair rumpled from sleep, clad in his black silk pajamas. He knocked twice and then waited – knocked again, more urgently, and Ignis opened the door, still in the process of sliding his glasses onto his nose.
"Get me his address," said Noct, and Ignis knew, without asking, that it would not keep until morning.
He pulled the immigration records from Niflheim for the past ten years, and he pored over them in his study, a strong cup of coffee in one hand. When dawn came, he had determined that no boy named Prompto had come to settle in Lucis during that time.
It raised questions, to be sure: why the boy's papers weren't in order, and why he had bothered to circumvent immigration law when the requirements were no more complicated than a valid form of ID and a single three-page form. But that could wait for another time.
For now, they would need another means of searching.
Ignis availed himself of a map. On it, he marked what few details his prince had provided: an area near the outskirts of Lucis, by the border of Niflheim, where the countryside grew green. After a moment's thought, he looked up the residence of Chancellor Izunia, as well, and noted it with a small, black dot.
Then Ignis drained the last of his coffee, folded his map, and went to see Noct.