Silent Cries

A/N: Hey everyone!1 I have a new story! *sings* JK, anyways, yes a new one with Noctis and Lightning! Yeah, and well this is different from the usual ones I have written. I know you're all probably thinking I'm stupid for doing another fic, when I have 3 others to do. But hey, what can you do, I have ideas in my head and really want to let them out! Anyways, Ive had this idea in my head for sooooo long its crazy how long ive kept it waiting! And now here it is….written and ready! Hahaha, I really hope this one goes good to! Ive researched most of the stuff for this and whoosh, I think its ready! So enough talk, I present chapter 1 of Silent Cries!

Special thanks to Serfia13 for editing and fixing everything up! You are seriously the best! This story is going to be edited only by you! Thanks so much for your help!

Chapter 1

Encounters

"Try not to let your guard down; some of the patients will take advantage of it if the opportunity presents itself. Is that understood, ?" His new employer, Jihl Nabaat, stood before him in a pressed long white coat, waiting for his answer.

Noctis Caelum politely nodded. "Yes, Ma'am." He was anxious to begin his first internship at the Mental Institute for the mentally unstable, for it was his desire since he was young to help people. He knew how hard and tiring that a mental disorder could be for a person and their families from first hand experience. Even though Noctis was only nineteen, he made the decision to help others to help ease their suffering ... It was hard for him to see ...

"Good." Noctis snapped out of his pensive state and returned his attention back to Jihl. "Now then, try not to wear bright or intimidating colors, some of the patients would get uncomfortable or even try and hurt you. So please ..." Jihl gave him a skeptical look before continuing. "Try and stay to something simple."

"Yes, Ma'am." Noctis looked around and noticed the white, colorless walls. The place had no color whatsoever, so he wasn't too surprised as to why she told him that. Not that he minded. He usually wore black to begin with. But in this place, he probably stood out dressed as he was: a silverish-blue uniform which was in contrast to the gray uniforms that the other orderlies wore, so it wasn't hard to tell that he was new.

"You can start tomorrow, for now, I'll introduce you to your patients. You will be attending to three of them: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. Each patient has different disorders and different needs. I trust that you can handle this?" Jihl asked with a raised eyebrow.

Once again Noctis nodded and maintained eye contact as Jihl pulled the file out that was tucked under her arm and handed to him. "All the information about your patients is in there. I suggest that you memorize it and study it well before you start tomorrow."

Noctis graciously took it and began to skim through it. There wasn't much to look at for the file was small. He closed it and looked at Jihl with the intent of asking her a question. However, before he could ask his question, she spoke again. "If you will, please follow me."

Geez, this woman isn't even letting me talk ..., he thought to himself as he followed her down the narrow hallway. Pushing the thought aside for now, Noctis reopened the file looked over the information for his first patient.

Name: Oerba Dia Vanille

Age: 15 years old

Sex: Female

D.O.B: April 17 1995

Years in the institute: Four years.

Mental Disorder: Anorexia Nervosa and small case of Bipolar Disorder.

Bio: Ms. Oerba has been one of the needier patients. She refused to eat four years prior her entrance into our facility. Thus, extra care is needed in what is said to her. She has an overactive imagination, and can be very manipulative. Make sure she eats all of her meals and that she doesn't try to get rid of it in any way. Her emotions are unpredictable, so be prepared for emotional outbursts.

Family: Distant cousin who visits during breakfast and early morning hours.

Food of choice: Anything soft and easy to chew.

"Well, here we are." Jihl came to a stop in front of a large silver door.

After looking over the small notes, Noctis took in his surroundings and hoped that he would remember the way to his patients tomorrow. Returning his attention to the door, it looked rather thick, which would make it impossible to get in or out. Jihl took out a small key card and swiped it through a small scanner on the side of the door. With a raised eyebrow, Noctis thought, Security's pretty tight here.

Slowly, the door opened and she motioned for him to enter. "Try not to startle her." Noctis nodded and slowly stepped inside, Jihl was right behind him.

As his eyes scanned over the rooms surroundings, he noticed how plain it really was. The only things that the room had were a bed, sink and toilet; nothing more, nothing less. Noctis looked toward the corner and saw a petrified teenage girl. She wore what any other patient was to wear: a white t-shirt, matching Capri pants, and white cotton shoes. Her hair was the only bright and colourful part of the room, which happened to be pink and tied back into two low pig-tails. Well, at least he no longer felt like he stood out in this place with her hair so naturally colorful.

Jihl cleared her throat. "Vanille, don't be scared, we're not here to make you eat anything. As long as you had today's breakfast and a bit of your lunch …"

Vanille nodded and slowly detached herself from the safety of the corner. "W-who's this?" She pointed toward Noctis and frowned.

A warm smile suddenly appeared on Jihl's face – it was an expression that surprised Noctis, Ms. Nabaat seemed so cold and professional while she spoke to him – and she said, "He's your new supervisor. He'll be with you throughout the morning and making sure that you eat properly."

A hesitate smile was on Vanille's face and she nodded. "I see …" Then, and quite suddenly, she perked up as if nothing was bother her and grabbed his hand, shaking it with excitement. "Hi there! My name is, Oerba Dia Vanille! Nice you meet you mister …?"

"Noctis will do," he said and smiled while shaking her hand.

"Noctis ...?" The young teen looked bemused for a moment but she immediately smiled. "What a strange name ... but alright! Nice to meet you …, Noctis!"

He faintly caught her exotic accent and smiled at her, she didn't seem so bad.

"I hope you're not like the last guy ... he practically shoved food in me ..."

The pout that Vanille gave him was so adorable – it was a look that he'd expect from a younger girl, not from a teen not much younger than he was – that it caused Noctis to chuckle. "I promise I won't shove food in you. But can you promise me that you'll eat your meals?"

Vanille stopped and a thoughtful smile slowly crept across her face. "We'll see … If you're nice enough ... I might consider it!"

Noctis laughed nervously and smiled. "Then I'll be as nice as possible."

"Okay, Vanille, that's enough, you'll see him tomorrow … off to bed now." Jihl said in a soft but commanding voice.

Vanille nodded and pranced off to her bed; she sat cross legged on top of it and waved. "See you tomorrow!"

Noctis waved goodbye and left the fifteen-year-old alone.

"Well then, you seem to be on good terms with Vanille, but let's see if you can do the same with the next patient." Jihl smirked and adjusted her glasses.

She's back to that cold and professional attitude, Noctis thought as he watched her smooth out wrinkles that were on her coat. As they began to walk away from Vanille's door, Noctis followed and reopened the file.

Name: Hope Estheim

Age: 14 years old

Sex: Male

D.O.B: December 13 1996

Years in the institute: Eight years.

Mental Disorder: Un-named - being studied. Has a small case of Nightmare Disorder.

Bio: At the age of three Hope's mental development suddenly stopped. His mind stopped maturing at normal pace, thus leaving him in uncategorized situation. This now renders him with the mind of a three-year-old. It's best to treat him as a child for now. Physically his body is fourteen, while mentally he is three-years-old. Hope is not as needy as others, but when he is frustrated, it can get out of hand. If the case happens to arise when he is upset, he can be capable of violent actions. Try and comfort him if it happens. Distracting him is also advised.

His nightmare disorder developed two years prior to his entrance here. Night shifts, be wary that he will get out of hand from time to time, but only when he is sleeping. Do not fear, it's only a small case of Nightmare Disorder and he shall fall back asleep within a few minutes after being comforted.

Family: Mother and Father: alive. Mother visits every single day, even during evening hours.

Food of choice: Anything.

"Poor kid …," Noctis mumbled. He closed the file and quietly followed Jihl. They stopped at a silverish-blue door and he peered through the window. There sat a fourteen-year-old with a person that Noctis assumed was the boy's mother, but instead of doing what a regular teen would do, he was playing with building blocks and toy trucks. There was a content smile on his face as he played with the children's toys. Noctis almost felt sorry for the kid; having to think like a three-year-old for most of his life ... "Has he shown any signs of improving?"

"None so far …" Noctis felt sickened with the lack of sympathy that he heard in Jihl's voice as she slid her key card through another scanner. Once the door was unlocked, Jihl stepped inside and Noctis followed. Hope and the woman behind him looked up at them. Jihl beckoned the mother over and whispered a few words in her ear. The woman gasped slightly and both hurriedly went outside. "Noctis, take care of him. I'll only be ten minutes." And with that Jihl left the two males alone.

Noctis turned and faced the small teenager who was in front of him. "Hi …" Was all he could muster. Hope, like any other patient wore the same thing that Vanille wore. Well, maybe not. Noctis' eyes caught sight of numerous small plastic bracelets on his wrists. Noctis also took note of Hope's hair, which was a bright silver color and his eyes were as green as lush fields of grass. Hope stared at him with awe, and curiously crawled over and poked Noctis in the leg.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Hope looked up and smiled at him, got up from the floor, and dusted himself off. "Hi!"

Noctis couldn't help but chuckle at his childish behavior. But that was to be expected of a curious three-year-old, right? He kneeled in front of Hope and smiled. "Hi, what's your name?" he asked, only this time his voice wasn't as forced as it had been when he first said "hi".

An innocent smile with a childish giggle came from Hope. "Hope! My name is, Hope! Who are you!" Hope began to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet to his heels, his arms swung slightly at his sides.

"My name is Noctis." He held his hand out for Hope to take. Hesitantly, Hope took his hand and shook it. After another awkward silence, Hope went back to his business of playing with his trucks. Noctis sighed and looked around his room. It was very different from Vanille's. It was much bigger than he expected to be and it looked like a nursery room. It was still white like the hallways and other areas, but it seemed as if Mrs. Estheim added a mother's touch. Hope hummed while he began to build a tower made out of colorful building blocks.

Noctis knelt down beside the young teen. "Hey, Hope … How old are you?" No sooner than the words had left his mouth, Noctis immediately mentally faceplamed.

Hope looked up from his blocks and joyfully smiled. "Three!" He held up three fingers and stood up. "How old are you, Nocty?"

Noctis chuckled at his new nickname. "Nineteen."

Hope's jaw dropped in amazement. "R-really? You're so old! An old man!" Hope ran to his side and grabbed his hand. "Hey! Wanna play with me! Let's play! Let's play!" Noctis grimaced at the volume of Hope's voice but complied with his request. He was going to have to get use to it anyway, and there was always Mrs. Estheim to help him if he needed it.

After ten long minutes of playing, Jihl came back to retrieve the so-called "old man". After some very loud protests from Hope, Noctis bid his good-byes and left.

"I see that went pretty smoothly, did it not …?" Noctis remained silent, which prompted another question from the blonde woman. "You asked how old he was, didn't you?"

Nervously, he scratched the back of his head and nodded. "I was merely curious about his response."

Jihl smirked and pretentiously said, "It doesn't matter, all of the employees do that as well. But I guess it's just to see if he is actually developing or not."

Noctis nodded his understanding and followed her once more. "So, the next patient is my last one, right?"

"That's right. I suggest you read her file … she's … unique."

Noctis took out his trusty file once more and scanned over the notes on his last patient.

Name: Claire "Lightning" Farron

Age: 18 years old

Sex: Female

D.O.B: March 13 1992

Years in the institute: Four years.

Mental Disorder: Mentally Suicidal, Selective Mutism, Panic Attack Disorder (Rarely occurs), Avoidant Personality Disorder (Rare case) and pain disorder (Rarely occurs).

Bio: Special Case. She shows a strong case of Selective Mutism and her suicidal thoughts are quite prevalent. Try not to overwhelm the patient. She can be quite violent if provoked. Though she cannot speak, she is able to clearly show her thoughts and emotions through facial expressions and rare physical actions. Her avoidant personality disorder occurred when she entered the institute, but in her case it's rare for her to show it. Be (wary) new workers, she will avoid you if you provoke the wrong feeling. The panic attacks only occur when she is under severe stress or anxiety. When a panic attack does occur, one must remain calm and sooth her in anyway possible. Keep calm her until she is ready to move on. In the rare case that she doesn't calm down, sedatives must be used. The pain disorder is also a rare case; we believe it developed through her suicidal instability. Unfortunately, if this were to ever happen on any case, date or time, one must take her to her room and call the doctor immediately. Pain disorder occurs in two areas of the body and renders the patient almost immobile.

Remain calm around her, if the patient does not respond right away, give her time to get accustomed. One must also practice speech classes with her, as we are trying to restore vocal communication with her.

Family: Mother and Father: deceased. Younger sister: attending high school, visits every second day of the week and resides with distant cousins.

Food of choice: Anything sweet, sour and soft. Preferably sweet.

After reading the file, Noctis frowned. "Poor girl … so much …"

"Problems?" Jihl finished for him. "It's nothing, the rare cases are rare ... She only developed them after her third suicide attempt."

Slowly, Noctis closed the file. "Third attempt?" He couldn't believe that someone who was a year younger than he was had tried to kill herself three times already.

"Yes, it's sad really. She gave up on life too easily and too early. And now look at her; she's stuck in place where she cannot leave without risking her safety or the safety of others. More or less, the lesser occurring disorders have been getting better. However, we wish that she would put more effort into speaking when spoken to."

"What happened to her?"

"We're not sure. Not even her sister knows what happened to her. After the first attempt we sent her to some councilors. The second attempt, however, occurred during school hours …" She paused and took out her key card. "We were forced to put her under close watch. And the third time … well, let's just say she can't even leave her alone with plastic utensils."

Noctis furrowed his brows and frowned. He still couldn't believe that someone so young had given up on life. Sure, he had his share of hardships ... and had those thoughts, but everyone had them and pushed past them. It sadden him immensely to think that ...

"This is her ..." Jihl sighed when they stopped in front a red-chromed door. This, out of all of the other rooms, was the biggest room he'd seen thus far. On the side was a huge, two-way window. Noctis stole a small glance at his last patient and his heart literally stopped. She was so breath taking but looked so lonely all at once. She sat in the corner of her room on a bolted down metal chair listening to her ipod, and bobbing her head up and down. Her hair was the brightest strawberry blonde he'd ever seen. She wore a white tank top instead of a t-shirt, white tight knee high shorts, and white sneakers. She had bandages on her wrists and even on her ankles. I that hope those are just scars ...

"Don't worry, they're only scars. She hasn't cut herself in a while …," Jihl suddenly said, almost as if reading his mind.

Noctis made a soft "mmm" sound. "When was the last time that she cut herself?"

Jihl took a small clip bored that hung from the side of the window and began to scan the papers. "Six months ago." Ms. Nabaat stopped and flipped though more papers. "Good. She's already eaten and taken her speech classes, would you like to meet her today or tomorrow?"

"Today … if it's okay."

Jihl hesitated for a moment before taking her card out and sighed. "No, not at all. Go a head …" She handed him the key card and encouraged him to go in.

The hesitation that Ms Nabaat suddenly showed stirred Noctis' curiosity. "You're not coming?"

"Heavens no. She'd go berserk if it was me ..." She pointed toward the lonely teen. "She hates me ... literally."

Noctis found this amusing, that a professional such as Ms. Nabaat would be hesitated to see a patient and he chuckled. "Why?"

She shrugged once. "Not sure, and I don't have the time to find out. Now, hurry up … we need to go over some rules and regulations." Noctis hurriedly scanned the card and stepped inside.

The moment he set foot into the room, the air immediately went cold. Was the A/C on full blast? Noctis wondered as he shivered slightly and scanned the contents of the room. Soft, thick fabric lined the walls, while soft carpeting and even the back of the door was assembled with the soft, thick fabric. It also had a normal bed, but it was bigger than the other ones he'd seen so far. The bathroom was in a separate room; at least they considered her privacy in someway. He saw in two corners of the room had wall-mounted cameras. Which mean made sense if she was under consent watch. He scanned the area once more and saw that she had a small personal library, a metal desk - which was also bolted to the floor - and some papers and pencils. Wait ... she's suicidal, couldn't she just ...

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice that Lightning was staring at him with curious blue eyes. Feeling as if someone was watching him, Noctis turned and in an instant their eyes met, and Noctis felt something within him stir. It was a weird feeling for him. Lightning stood up from her chair and removed her headphones from her ears. Casually, she threw them on her bed and grabbed a note pad and black pen. She held them to the side as she scanned him from head to toe. Slowly, she began to write on her paper and showed it to him. "New?"

Being caught with his guard down, something that Ms. Nabaat had warned him about, Noctis found himself dumbstruck. All he could do was nod and force out a "Yeah…"

She wrote again and handed him the paper. "Welcome to hell …"

"Uhh … thanks?"

"You're welcome …"

As the uncomfortable exchange continued, Noctis regained his bearings. "I'm Noctis. I'll be your new supervisor."

Lightning blinked a couple times and wrote once more. "Great … good luck …"

Slightly puzzled by what she wrote, Noctis gave her a bemused look, but she returned the same expression to him. She rolled her eyes and headed for her bed; she sat on the edge and motioned for him to follow. Noctis complied and sat slightly too close for her comfort. She wrote once more. "You think I'm crazy, huh?"

"No … just … what's the word …"

She nudged him to look at her paper. "Looking for attention?"

Noctis chuckled after reading her note. "No, I don't think that ... you're just unique."

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Whatever. They all say that …"

Then, the door was opened and Ms. Nabaat's called to him. "Time to go, Noctis …, leave the little attention seeker alone …"

Lightning snared at Jihl and threw her pen at her. Noctis quickly grabbed her by the wrists and held them behind her. Though Lightning made no further protests, she sent Jihl murderous glares. "It's okay, don't worry. I don't think she understands …," he said softly into her ear, trying to sooth her. After he spoke those words, Lightning calmed down slightly and nodded.

Noctis let go of her and made his way towards Jihl, leaving Lightning on her bed. He looked back and smiled at her. "See you tomorrow!"

Lightning merely waved and hid her face behind her bangs.

To be continued in Chapter 2

A/N: There that's it! I really hope its alright and I can get peoples attention with this! Like I said I thought this through and then Sefira helped me with even better ideas! Yeah! So anyways, if all goes well and I get some good feedback and reviews, then chapter 2 shall be up in no time, if not then, im aiming for weekly updates either way! Hahaha review though! I want to hear ur thoughts!