A/N: Here is the first chapter in a multi-chapter fic that I am working on, based on the premise that Noctis never left Insomnia before the Niflheim invasion. I have a basic idea for the plot and I'm aiming for around 10 chapters at completion. As I am a slow writer (I get distracted by awesome TV shows/horror movies) I am aiming to post one chapter a week.

Without further ado, here is Chapter One.

"Noctis! Run!"

Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum looked up from his phone as his father yelled at him. He was sitting in the royal conference room along with delegates from the Niflheim Empire and Lucis. The cease-fire talks had been under way for hours and Noctis had tuned it all out in favour for playing his favourite game on his phone. Turns out, he should have been paying attention.

His father was on his feet at the head of the table, his chair having been pushed back in an obvious haste to stand, his hands clenched tightly at his sides and a thunderous expression on his face. Next to him, Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt sat, staring straight ahead and looking rather bored. What was going on?

Then his father's words registered. Run? Why?

Before he could think any more on the matter, the Prince was hauled out of his seat by none other than his advisor, Ignis, and pulled towards the main door. They hadn't taken more than a few steps before the doors blew open and armoured Niflheim solders poured into the room.

"What?" Noct stammered out as the room erupted into chaos. His wrist was clamped tightly in Ignis' grip and he winced as the pressure increased. They stumbled to a halt as the soldiers fanned out, weapons at the ready and pointed at every Lucian citizen in the vicinity.

"Ignis? What's going on?"

Ignis went to answer, but before he could even get a word out, a heavily-armed Soldier stepped forward and ripped the prince out of his grip and wrapping an arm around his neck in a choke-hold.

He watched on in horror as Noctis struggled against the pressure, flinging his arms up to try and push the weight away from his airway. The prince started to gasp as the pressure became too hard and started to cut off much-needed oxygen. Ignis started forward, pulling a small dagger from a holster at the small of his back, but was quickly ambushed from behind by another attack.

The room fell into a hushed silence then, only Noctis' strained breathing breaking the quiet. It was only then that Noct could see that his father had moved from the head of the table and was now half way between it and him. His sword was gripped tightly in his hand and the glass-like Royal Arms weapons spun around him lazily. Emperor Iedolas had not moved from his seat.

"What is the meaning of this?" King Regis bellowed out, watching the scene unfold in front of him in horror. When Cor had come to him during the beginning to the treaty talks and said vastly increased Niflheim army numbers had been spotted around the borders of Insomnia, Regis had very quickly come to the conclusion that all was not right. He did not dare take his eyes off his son currently being held captive by the enemy. He had almost lost him not once, but twice, and he wasn't going to go through that again, hence the reason for telling his son to get out before all hell had broken loose.

The Niflheim Empire were obviously after the crystal and there were currently only two people in Eos who could control its power.

"Let go of my son!" he commanded when there was no response to his previous question. Regis lifted his sword to almost shoulder height, pointing it directly at the man who held his son. Lightning started to flicker along the length of the blade. If he needed to, he could warp-strike the soldier before he knew what was happening and get Noctis out of the way before the assault began.

Noct winced as the pressure tightened around his neck slightly before releasing all together. He let out a gasp of relief, only to stop as the arm was replaced with a sharp blade that pressed against the hollow of this throat.

"Ah, ah, ah," Emperor Iedolas finally spoke. "You do anything to harm myself, my delegates or my soldiers and your precious prince will die where he stands."

Regis forced himself to lower his weapon as he saw a thin line of blood drip down Noctis' throat from the knife. He couldn't – wouldn't – risk the life of his son. His family was all the king had left in life. There was nothing he wouldn't do to ensure his safety.

"What do you want, Iedolas?"

Iedolas smirked before beckoning over his soldier. Noct found himself being pushed forward as the soldier holding him moved towards the Emperor. They passed his father and Noctis struggled to keep his composure.

Stay calm. Do what they say. I promise I will get you out of this.

With those words conveyed in a single glance, Noct nodded very slightly to let his father know his message had been received. He glanced back at where Ignis had been standing and saw he, too, had been captured by an enemy soldier. His advisor was now on his knees, head bent and his hands cuffed behind him. A gun was pointed at his head.

They reached the Emperor and Noctis forced himself not to shake in front of Iedolas. He was the Prince and this was clearly a pre-planned attack on Lucis; he would not show any fear to this coward that had used a treaty cease-fire talk as an ambush.

"What do I want?" came the sarcasm-tinged reply. "What does every nation except Lucis want? I want the Crystal, of course."

Of course they wanted the crystal. With Lucis being the only nation on Eos to still have a crystal, they were the powerhouse of the world and the only nation able to control magic. To combat against the great force that came with owning the last remaining crystal, Niflheim had begun to build their forces using robotics and technology. And with the fall of Tenebrae, they had built the greatest army in all of Eos.

The only thing that had kept Insomnia (and Lucis) intact through all of this was the Wall; a magical barrier that covered the entirety of Insomnia that was all but impenetrable. It had kept the city safe for years and even after many attempts to breach the Wall, Niflheim had never succeeded. Noctis had come to hate the Wall. Yes it kept them all safe, but at what cost? The crystal had started draining the life from his father to keep the Wall up and in what seemed like an instant, the King had gone from being young and strong to old and frail.

"You say you want the crystal Idola and I know you plan on using Noctis as a way of gaining it's power. But I will never let you harm my son while I'm still breathing."

Iedolas smirked, his weathered face once again becoming very sinister. Dread shot though Noctis. He had a feeling he knew exactly what Emperor Aldercapt planned to do. His father had been played from the very beginning.

"Then we'll just have to make sure you stop breathing then, won't we?" he paused, "Your Majesty."

In that instant, Noct felt the power his father was drawing to him. His sword once again appeared in his hand and the King wasted no time in warping towards Iedolas, swinging his sword in a great arc in hopes of possibly decapitating the man. Noctis used the distraction to draw some power of his own, thanking his father for beginning to teach him how to use the crystal only some months earlier.

Metal clashed against metal as the two leaders of their kingdoms met in a ferocious battle. Noctis warped out of the hold of the soldier, wincing as the knife against his throat sliced through his skin slightly. He pulled a dagger from the Crystal and raced over to where Ignis was being kept captive, slamming the blade into the soldier's chest and grabbing his advisor before the gun aimed at his head could be fired.

Gunfire echoed through the conference room and Noctis had a passing glance of some of the Lucis representatives being gunned down where they knelt. His father and Idola were circling each other in a deadly dance and after breaking the cuffs holding Ignis' hands together open, he planned on going over there to help his old man out.

Idola needed to die.

"Highness!" Ignis' voice carried over the gunfire and clashing of swords. "We must retreat! The Emperor cannot get his hand's on you, or the crystal."

"I have to help my father!" he retorted, getting ready to warp over to him. As he did, Noctis managed to see his father look over towards them and speak something.

Get him out!

Ignis' hand on his shoulder stopped him and Noct glared as he was yanked to the side and pushed into a small alcove on the far wall.

"Your father appointed me as your advisor, Noctis. Right now I am advising you that we need to leave. His Majesty's wishes are for you to get to safety."

"I can't leave him! He needs my help!"

"Your Highness!" came the desperate call as he darted out of the alcove and back into the fray. Immediately several Imperial soldiers blocked his path and Noctis cut through them with ease. His dad needed help.

A sudden pain sliced through his right arm and Noctis glanced down to see a cut bleeding on his upper arm, most likely from a dagger or sword. Pushing the pain to the side, he continued on, slashing through the enemy. He thought hard about the training both Gladio and his father had pushed on him, drawing on the crystal's power, as well as muscle memory to get him through.

What seemed like hours later, but in reality was only a few minutes, Noctis made it through the soldiers and towards his father. It was only then as he paused for breath that the prince noticed the haze spreading across his vision.

He blinked, trying to clear it away, but found it only made it worse. The grey haze started to darken at the edges and everything wavered for a moment before stilling once again. The Niflheim troops in front of him had started advancing on him and Noctis struggled to keep himself balanced enough to begin warping through the attacks.

King Regis parried a blow from Emperor Iedolas and swiftly delivered a counter attack, letting his sword vanish before calling forward the Star of the Rogue and flinging the great weapon at his enemy. The Star was great for long-range battle and keeping your foe at bay, which was exactly what the King had intended.

He need to get to Noctis. The boy had decided to not listen when told to run, and was now directly in the middle of the fighting. He risked a glance over at his son and Regis had to halt momentarily as he saw his son stagger and sway.

The Imperial troops were advancing on Noctis and it seemed like the young prince could not keep himself steady, swaying and stumbling as he tried to keep the soldiers at bay. Dodging another throwing dagger, the King threw a ball of fire at Idola and he smiled when the elder man let out a yell as he was singed by the flames.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the King watched his son begin to warp-strike a Nifleheim trooper, only to reappear a few steps from where he started. He could see the dazed expression on Noctis' face as the boy stared down in wonder at his hand as the weapon he was gripping vanished.

Something was wrong.

When Regis had decided to start teaching Noctis the ways of using the crystal's power only months before, he had been very pleased to find that his son was a natural. It had taken a while for him to master the basics of summoning a single dagger, but once he had got it, the rest was easy. He had picked up warping in only a matter of days.

But now it seemed that his son was not able to complete a simple warp-strike.

Regis skirted out of the way of another attack and started to race towards Noctis, flinging several elemental attacks at the soldiers approaching his son. He had barely made several paces before Noctis' eyes fluttered shut and the prince dropped to the ground in a boneless heap.

"Noctis!"

The King warped over to his son, ignoring the outraged screech from the Emperor and cast a wave of lighting in a spreading circle around them. He called forth more power from the crystal and in moments a glittering shield rose up from the ground to encase the two royals.

"Your Majesty!" a voice called from behind. As Regis gathered his unconscious son in his arms, he turned to see Ignis Scientia kneeling behind him and also inside the shield. He was glad to see that the young Advisor had made it to the safe zone, knowing he could help his son.

"Help him. He collapsed suddenly and I don't know why. He was unable to warp or keep his weapons from disappearing."

Placing his son on the ground and under the careful eye of Ignis, Regis was now able to focus the majority of his attention on the battle raging around him. He could see Cor Leonis battling with several soldiers to his right, and his sworn shield Clarus Amicitia dodging a heavy barrage of gunfire on his left.

So many bodies littered the ground, both hailing from Lucian and Niflheim. Regis had to fight to control the rage at the Emperor for even daring to attack them. This was exactly what he had tried to avoid with hosting the Peace Treaty talks!

"Your Majesty?" Regis turned to face Ignis, who was leaning over his son, carefully examining something on his upper arm. "There is a cut here made by a sword or knife I believe may have been coated in poison. There is a slight green-tinge to the wound and surrounding skin."

Ignis looked slightly dismayed at the diagnosis. He glanced up at the King. "I do not have anything on my person that would help rid the poison from His Highness' body. We need to get him out of here and get him to a healer, soon."

Noctis' was pale, a tinge of pink to his cheeks signifying the beginning of a fever and his breathing was laboured. It must have been an extremely fast acting poison to affect his son this quickly and so harshly.

"Aright," the King spoke. "Do whatever you need to keep Noctis alive. I shall work on getting us out of here."

As much as he wanted Iedolas Aldercapt dead this very instant, his son's life was more important.

Hold on a little longer my son.

A/N: And there is the first chapter! This is going to be a fairly action packed, hurt/comfort fic and will involve a lot of the main characters. I am a huge Noctis fan and he will be the central character, but I'm liking writing from the other's perspectives too.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed.