By the Stars (Noctis x OC)

And so it begins

"Your Highness, would you please wake up already?",Ignis stood at the door, sighing furiously, as he tried to wake the sleeping Prince for the last half hour. You would think he was used to getting up by now, but no, not Noct. With a groan he turned around, covering his head with a pillow, sign enough for Ignis that he was once again talking to the walls. Mumbling to himself, he closed the door. Ten more minutes then, if not he had to think of something to get him out of bed.

As he reached the spacious lobby of the Citadel, he was greeted by a sight that gave him at least some hope. "Good morning Iggy.", came the friendly greeting of the all too familiar girl. "Good morning Lady Solis.", he greeted back, keeping his manners as he was taught. Looking at her, she usually was a very lively person, but today she seemed a little off. Sure she was smiling, but Ignis noticed, it did not reach her eyes. 'Curious.', he thought. "Might I ask, what brings you here this early?", he might as well try ask a few things, maybe he would figure something out.

Her smile turned sad for a few moments, before she looked at him again as if it hadn't happened. "Well we are leaving today to make sure my best friend gets married, I figured that was a good reason to be early.", she smiled at him, but again her eyes remained empty. "Hmm, I see. Well you could actually help me if it is not asking too much of you. He refuses to get up.", pushing his glasses up Ignis sighed. With a little laugh she nodded, before she went past him. "Don't worry Specs, I'll take care of it.", she let him know, before he could hear her starting to run down the corridors. "Well, let me go and find the rest then.", the brunette said to himself as he set off too.

On the other side of the corridors the Prince was still lazying around in bed, cause you know, being awake doesn't necessarily mean you have to get up. Besides, he did not really feel like getting up. If he got up, it meant he had to leave. And not just that, he would have to get married. He liked Luna, how could he not, she had never been anything but nice to him. But did he love her? Groaning he turned around, throwing the pillow, that had covered his head earlier, across the room. It had been twelve years since he had last seen or talked to her. What was his father thinking? Oh right, it wasn't his father's idea, those bastards from Niflheim came up with this. 'To strengthen the bond between the Empire and Insomnia, my ass.', he thought, throwing another pillow right at the door.

"Yea, good morning to you too.", came a grumpy voice from the direction he had just thrown the pillow at. Looking up, his mood brightened a little. "Hey Ai, sorry 'bout that.", Noctis said, finally sitting up in bed. Aidin walked in and closed the door, "You ok? Or do you just enjoy throwing pillows around?", she joked while picking it up. A little laugh escaped his lips, before he got out of bed, revealing a rather lightly clothed Prince, starting to stroll around in nothing more than his shorts. Upon seeing that, Ai turned around. Not just out of embarrassment, but to hide her blushing face. "Gods, Noct. Get dressed already. Your dad could call for you any minute now. I'm sure you wouldn't want to say bye dressed like that.", she tried to sound casual, teasing even, as they always did. The ravenette on the other hand looked at her back, a little confused, but eventually found his way towards the closet.

While Noctis was getting dressed, Aidin picked up the other poor pillow that had suffered under the Prince, seemingly, bad mood. Once he was probably dressed and the pillows back in their rightful place, they both looked at each other. Somehow the atmosphere inside the room had gotten quite awkward. The young woman, not able to stand the awkward silence anymore, spoke up first, "So, yea, guess we're going to see Luna again, huh?". Well that wasn't awkward at all. Noct let out a sigh before he looked at her with a rather awkward smile, scratching the back of his head. "Yea, looks like it.", that short answer was all she got, as his phone started ringing. He went past her, picking up his phone from the nightstand, "Yea? Oh Ignis.", a short pause, "Ok, got it. We'll be right there.". With that he hung up. She turned around to look at him, it wasn't hard to guess what that call was about. "Let's go see uncle Regis then.", Aidin said, before she took his hand, turned around and they left the room.

After meeting up with Prom, Gladio and Iggy, they had met with the King. To say the talk did not go as Ai had imagined would have been an understatement. She knew that the King and his son had grown distant in the past years, but she didn't think it was that bad. As they left through the front doors of the Citadel, her father had stopped her. "So in the end you're really leaving. I knew this day would come, but I thought we had a little more time.", Johann said as he hugged her. Aidin started laughing, "Dad, you're acting like I'll never come back again. It's just for a few weeks.", she reassured him. He let go of her, only to take her hands into his. "Listen to me, whatever you do, whatever happens, stay near your friends, understood? And promise me to take good care of his Highness.", Johann said to his daughter, smiling. 'But his eyes look so sad.', Ai noticed looking at him. She nodded nonetheless, hugging him again, before she pressed a little kiss to his cheek. "Don't worry dad, we'll be back soon.", she said, before letting go and joining the others.

After King Regis had given Noctis and his friends a few words to heed, they made their way to the car. As everyone had finally found their place, Ignis started the engine. The two ravenettes looked back, waving at their fathers, before they left the Citadel gates. With their children out of sight, Johann turned towards his King. "Your Majesty," he started, only to be interrupted, "Now old friend, enough with that. What do you say? One last glass, to the good old days?", Regis smiled at him. Putting a hand on his friends shoulder, Johann nodded, "Lead the way Reggie.". A few minutes later they sat down in some comfortable chairs, in the Kings office. Pouring each other a glass of whiskey, neither of them said anything for a while. Johann broke the silence eventually, "You talked to Cid recently?". Regis let his sight wander, "Yes, can't say he was happy about the things I told him. He will help them nonetheless.", a little smile on his face. "Don't you think we should have told them at least..", Johann started, but was cut of by the King, "Have some faith in them old friend.Everything will fall into place eventually.". With that both men smiled, raising their glasses. "To the good old days," Johann said, "and those that are to come.", Regis finished.