What the Heart Wants [Noctis Lucis Caelum Short Story]

III

I'm falling apart
This pain destroying me slowly
But somewhere in the depths of my torment
Someone still burns for me

"In addition to the passing of King Regis, we've now learned that Prince Noctis and Tenebrae's Lunafreya Nox Fleuret have also been found dead."

All three of the friends instantly froze at the broadcast coming from the radio. They were already aware about the death of King Regis--that was yet to be confirmed--but to declare the death of the Prince and Lunafreya? How was that possible when the two of them weren't even in Insomnia when the attack happened?

"I-I thought Lady Lunafreya was in Altissia?" Prompto was the first to question the accuracy of the broadcast. "Wasn't that why we were going there in the first place?" As someone who looked up to the Princess and Oracle or Tenebrae, the news shocked him greatly. Though he never met her in person, the letter she sent to him when he was a child, boosted his confidence immensely. And without her, he and Noctis would've never been friends. Prompto was looking forward to finally being to meet her when they arrived in Altissia, but now to hear that she was so called dead... "Noct?" Prompto turned his head to look back at the young prince as if he had an answer. But to his dismay, Noctis only responded with an expression of shock and disbelief.

Noctis didn't respond to his blonde friend. He didn't know how to answer, for not only did it feel like his voice had disappeared, but his mind also seemed to have shut down. His mind was still a surging perplexity. All this news about the crown city--his home--being stripped away by the hands of the enemy empire and the supposed death of his father was already too much for the the young Prince to comprehend. But now with the news of the apparent death of Lunafreya and him as well,it was far too much for him to accept. His conscious was still flooded with endless questions, as he tried to continually convince himself that everything was just a bad nightmare, and if he woke up, everything would be back to normal. How bad were things in Insomnia that could result in the death of the two strongest people he knew? It wasn't possible, right?

When Prompto realized that he wasn't going to get an answer, he looked over to Gladiolus and then to Ignis, giving them a look of evident concern which they both returned back. But all three of them knew that there wasn't much they could do to help Noctis; maybe words of reassurance, but even that won't be enough. If more than anything, the news probably the hit him the most out of all of them. They couldn't blame him though. They'd probably react the exact same way if they were placed in his position. One does not rest easy when they find out about eh fall of their home and death of a family member--especially if they were the last one they had.

However unbeknownst to them, that wasn't all Noctis was worried about. No, there was so much more than that, and it ate away at the walls, that suppressed his distraught thoughts from escaping. Yes, the news about his father and Lunafreya was overwhelming, but the thought about you only further built upon that grief. After everything that he just heard, were you still alive? Noctis didn't even get a chance to see you before he left to Altissia. The thought of you being dead accelerated inside his head. He wanted them to slow but they only grew faster. It was like a carousel of fears, spinning out of control, each and every spin sending his sanity to blackness. His heart began hammering inside his chest as the adrenaline unloaded, like it was trying to force its way out of the cage within his being. Suddenly, the young Prince found it hard to breathe as his breaths came out in short pants--like his lungs were being bound by ropes, restraining him to breath in that precious oxygen.

Gladiolus was the first to notice Noctis hunching over his seat next to him; like he was in immense pain. He could hear the short gasps and wheezing as he tried to intake air. The scarred man's eyes widened when he came to realization of what was happening to the Prince.