"I'll have to remember that next time," Noctis volleys back without missing a beat. "No compliments for Gladio. Got it."
His brow furrows as Gladio suddenly gets serious. Noct knows what that means - he's been slacking off again somehow. Well, he figures, it's hard to slack off more than puttering around Amani while he's needed in the Crystal...it's not his fault and he doesn't know how to fix it, but he hasn't exactly been trying that hard, either. Or maybe it's about him wandering around a crowded place by himself? Maybe he should've brought Nyx or Prompto with him...
He's about to interrupt when Gladio pauses like he doesn't know how to continue, and Noctis pauses too, starting to doubt his assumption. He's never in his life seen Gladio hesitate to say something. And then all of that falls right out of his head when Gladio finally goes on.
I'm sorry is the last thing Noctis expects to hear. He blinks up at his Shield. ALtissia...it feels like it happened so long ago, now, though the raw emotions from that time still worry at his heart when he's left to his own thoughts for too long. He never really processed them - just put them aside for the greater good. Lucis needed a king, not a grieving boy, and Gladio was the one who forced him to act on what he already knew but couldn't do without help.
But here Gladio is, apologizing - not for doing it, which Noctis would have argued with, but for how he did it. And that, Noct can't really argue with. Over time, he's come to think maybe he needed Gladio to be that harsh, that hurtful, to shock him into motion. Hearing this now from the man himself and looking back on how absolutely crushed and undeserving he felt then, while Prompto hovered around not knowing what to do and Ignis was just trying to deal...Noctis can acknowledge that perhaps what he needed from Gladio then was something else. What, he's not sure, and he agrees that he probably would have lashed out no matter what, but...not like that. He might have felt indignant and pressured, but he wouldn't have felt so alone.
We never made it right. And then...you were gone. Noctis feels it all over again, the pang of - not guilt, exactly, because he knows it wasn't his fault, but - remorse, maybe, over having left the others behind when they needed him most. Them and the whole country, the whole world. And he knows, in his heart, that in some ways it really was his doing.
The touch is grounding. It helps Noctis avoid falling completely into his head despite the turmoil in his mind. Gladio's strong, firm grasp, as reliable and comforting as it has always been. But Noctis' face falls. "Four years?" So Gladio has seen more of the Long Night than Prompto has. More of the world descending into darkness all because Noctis wasn't ready to save it.
But oh...seeing his Shield straighten up like that, hoping he's better, for Noctis...it strikes some chord in the king's heart he didn't know could be struck. So many people are relying on me, he'd thought on his way to the Crystal chamber, and he hates how long it took him to realize that his closest friends were among them, too. They dedicated their lives to him, and what did he give them in return? Guff and reluctance, mostly. It's time for that to change.
He straightens up in turn, lifting his chin and gathering a kind of regal composure about him that Gladio may never have seen from him before.
"Gladio..." He brings his hands up to grasp the other man's arms in return. "Thank you. I...can't imagine what the last four years have been like for you, or for anyone. But I want you to know that I've been working hard, too, to become the king Lucis needs. I know I'm not there yet - it's only been two years for me, and I still have eight more to go. And I know it's because of how long it took me to accept the weight of everything needed of me that it'll take that long before I can return. I could never have gotten even this far without you, my friend. I accept your apology, if you'll promise to stay by my side until it's all over. I have full faith that you've become the best Shield I could ever have."
no subject
His brow furrows as Gladio suddenly gets serious. Noct knows what that means - he's been slacking off again somehow. Well, he figures, it's hard to slack off more than puttering around Amani while he's needed in the Crystal...it's not his fault and he doesn't know how to fix it, but he hasn't exactly been trying that hard, either. Or maybe it's about him wandering around a crowded place by himself? Maybe he should've brought Nyx or Prompto with him...
He's about to interrupt when Gladio pauses like he doesn't know how to continue, and Noctis pauses too, starting to doubt his assumption. He's never in his life seen Gladio hesitate to say something. And then all of that falls right out of his head when Gladio finally goes on.
I'm sorry is the last thing Noctis expects to hear. He blinks up at his Shield. ALtissia...it feels like it happened so long ago, now, though the raw emotions from that time still worry at his heart when he's left to his own thoughts for too long. He never really processed them - just put them aside for the greater good. Lucis needed a king, not a grieving boy, and Gladio was the one who forced him to act on what he already knew but couldn't do without help.
But here Gladio is, apologizing - not for doing it, which Noctis would have argued with, but for how he did it. And that, Noct can't really argue with. Over time, he's come to think maybe he needed Gladio to be that harsh, that hurtful, to shock him into motion. Hearing this now from the man himself and looking back on how absolutely crushed and undeserving he felt then, while Prompto hovered around not knowing what to do and Ignis was just trying to deal...Noctis can acknowledge that perhaps what he needed from Gladio then was something else. What, he's not sure, and he agrees that he probably would have lashed out no matter what, but...not like that. He might have felt indignant and pressured, but he wouldn't have felt so alone.
We never made it right. And then...you were gone. Noctis feels it all over again, the pang of - not guilt, exactly, because he knows it wasn't his fault, but - remorse, maybe, over having left the others behind when they needed him most. Them and the whole country, the whole world. And he knows, in his heart, that in some ways it really was his doing.
The touch is grounding. It helps Noctis avoid falling completely into his head despite the turmoil in his mind. Gladio's strong, firm grasp, as reliable and comforting as it has always been. But Noctis' face falls. "Four years?" So Gladio has seen more of the Long Night than Prompto has. More of the world descending into darkness all because Noctis wasn't ready to save it.
But oh...seeing his Shield straighten up like that, hoping he's better, for Noctis...it strikes some chord in the king's heart he didn't know could be struck. So many people are relying on me, he'd thought on his way to the Crystal chamber, and he hates how long it took him to realize that his closest friends were among them, too. They dedicated their lives to him, and what did he give them in return? Guff and reluctance, mostly. It's time for that to change.
He straightens up in turn, lifting his chin and gathering a kind of regal composure about him that Gladio may never have seen from him before.
"Gladio..." He brings his hands up to grasp the other man's arms in return. "Thank you. I...can't imagine what the last four years have been like for you, or for anyone. But I want you to know that I've been working hard, too, to become the king Lucis needs. I know I'm not there yet - it's only been two years for me, and I still have eight more to go. And I know it's because of how long it took me to accept the weight of everything needed of me that it'll take that long before I can return. I could never have gotten even this far without you, my friend. I accept your apology, if you'll promise to stay by my side until it's all over. I have full faith that you've become the best Shield I could ever have."
(So much for 'no compliments for Gladio.')