Rest in Peace [Noctis Lucis Caelum]

V

We're all in the same game
just different levels.
Dealing with the same hell
just different devils

Noctis had his head bowed, his chin almost touching his chest. Laid out in front of him, were folders, upon folders of documents filled with endless lines of boring text that was probably vital. He tried his best to focus on the meeting, the information being discussed was obviously important. But his mind always found a way to stray, and wander into thoughts that slipped in and out of his consciousness. The voices that were entering his ears were only being registered as muffled sounds that blended into the background.

Noctis shook his head in an attempt to keep himself awake and blinked a couple times to force his eyes to open wider. However he would always find his eyes weighing his lids to a close. Recently, it was hard for the young king to fall asleep as his nightmares were becoming more frequent. They plagued him, showing him the same scenario over and over again; of his kingdom burning to the ground before his very eyes, occupied with the blood-curdling screams of his people. Voices and faces of strangers came to haunt him, their once peaceful faces twisted into one's filled with torment and resentment. He'd always awaken from these twisted nightmares, but he'd feel as though he didn't get any form of sleep at all. And even if he did want to go back to sleep it would be almost impossible, for the fear of what lay in wait if he did submit to his much needed slumber would keep him awake. As a result, Noctis would feel as though his life had been sucked out of him, clouding his mind with thoughts of sleep. He brought a hand up to stifle a yawn. The boredom he was going through at this meeting wasn't making the situation any better.

Restoring the kingdom was all the meetings have been about lately. With the war now over, bringing the kingdom back to it's feet was the utmost priority of the council. Though, the kingdom was being rebuilt one building block at a time, there were still problems that needed to be solved. And Noctis had full awareness of what these problems were. After all, he did encounter one of them just yesterday.

"Noct." Ignis hissed, trying to get Noctis' attention. However Noctis did not respond. He sighed and gave the sleeping king a light but firm nudge on his arm, causing his head to jerk forward in alarm. Noctis looked up from his lap to see the councilmen looking at him with their grim expressions.

"What do you think your majesty?"

Noctis' entire body froze and he started to panic. He had completely missed what they had said. He turned his head towards Ignis in hopes that he'll give him an answer, but alas his so called adviser only gave him an amused smirk to which Noctis responded with a glare of betrayal. His mind was reversing, he tried to backtrack to the conversation that was going on but all he hit was a dead end. He couldn't remember anything about the discussion-anything that entered his ears only came out the other end without a trace. His eyes flickered to the pile of documents in front of him, and he reached out to grab the closest one; in hopes that'll at least give him a lead. But there was no time to read the mass of tiny fine print, the councilmen wanted an answer now. Cold sweat was running down his necks as he felt their lethal stares while they waited for their king to give them an answer. He was hitting blanks left and right, without any form of response.

"Your majesty." Noctis' gaze switched to the councilman who asked the question again. "What do you think we should do with the intruder from yesterday?"

Noctis blinked. The sudden change in topic took him by surprise. Clearing his throat, he bought the first answer that formed on the tip of his tongue. "I'm fine with whatever decision you make." He answered. At that moment he wanted to dig himself into a hole and die. Nevertheless, hopefully it at least covered the discussion, or it could've gone the other way around and missed completely.