"GOOD evening.  And welcome.  I'm so glad that you could join us."  King Regis said with a big smile.

King Regis stood with his hands stretched out to his sides as he greeted us. He was dressed in his black pin striped suit, black shirt, black and white striped tie, that was finished off with his black leather shoes.  His dark brown hair and mustache gave him a fatherly appearance as his eyes shined with affection.

"Let me welcome you to the Citadel and my home. I hope that you have been treated well so far." He asked as he looked at all of us.

"We have your Majesty."  Your dad answered as he bowed again.

"I'm glad."  King Regis smiled back then came over to you and bent down so that he could see your eyes.  

"I know that Noctis has been anxious for your visit."  He said a bit quieter towards you.  "Please pardon him if he seems a bit nervous."

You smiled and dropped your head as you slightly blushed.  

"I can understand where he's coming from."  You said as you tried to brush the loose strands of your hair behind your ear.

"Good evening."  You heard a familiar voice say as you looked away from the king and towards the new comer.  "I hope that my dad hasn't been boring you."  He said with a smile.

There walking up, in a nice black suit himself, was Noctis. He looked almost exactly like his dad except that his jet black hair had the teased look to it. He was giving the king a joking glance as he approached.

"I dear say that I have no idea what you mean son." He joked back with a smile. 

Noctis just smiled back at him and shook his head as he joined his dad by his side.  The sight of the two of them joking like that, gave a sense of the true relationship between the two.  The King truly did care for his son and so did his son in return. You could see the loving affection of both on their faces.

"Well now that Noctis has joined us, shall we proceed to the dining hall?"  The King said as he placed his hand on Noctis' shoulder.

"Sounds good."  Your dad said.

"Please, this way."  The King said as he released Noctis and gestured towards one of the doors, that was being held open now by Jared. 

The door revealed a hallway that led off to the left from the main entrance.

Noctis bowed to you and held out his arm for you.  You weren't sure what that was about until you looked over at your parents and saw that your mom had taken you dad's arm with her hand.  They smiled and nodded to you with a smile.  You smiled back at them then turned to Noctis and placed your hand around his extended upper arm.  

He smiled and stood up as you further wrapped your hand around his arm. He placed his hand over yours then dropped it as he started to led you and the group down the hallway to the dining hall.  As everyone walked down the hallway, you could feel your heart beating fast in your chest as your nerves were starting to come unhinged.  Noctis looked at you and smiled.

"You look very nice tonight (y/n)."  Noctis commented to you.

You blushed and looked down at your feet.  

"Thank you very much.  You look very handsome yourself."  You returned as you looked back up at him.

"Thank you. Just try to relax okay?"  Noctis smiled back.  "It's just dinner."

"I'm sorry."  You said as you dropped your gaze and squeezed his arm.  "I'm just nervous."

"It's alright."  He returned.  

"So am I."  He said as he again placed his hand over yours.  

But this time he left it there and gently rubbed the back of your hand with his fingers.  You looked over at him to see him giving you a nervous smile back. You both smiled at each other and dropped your gazes as you continued down the hallway. Your parents and the King followed behind. It seemed as if Noctis was comforting himself, as well as you, as he gently ran his fingers over your hand.

"You know your Majesty. My wife and I had no idea that Noctis was the Prince when our kids first met." Your dad said.

"Oh." He responded. "I thought that everyone knew who he was. We had an announcement put out that he would be attending the school last year."

"Yes. We did see that on the news." Your mom confirmed. "In fact (y/n) was very excited to hear it at first. But that was also when we figured out who he really was. Because before that, we had no idea that he was the prince when we would visit the park so that these two could play."

Noctis' arm stiffened and his hand stopped moving as we continued to walk.  You looked over at him and saw his face starting to turn white. You squeezed his arm to get his attention. He looked at you and gave you a weak smile. But then dropped his hand back down to his side. 

I don't think that he told his dad the whole story. You thought to yourself as you could see the worried expression on his face. 

Your thoughts were then confirmed by how the King reacted.

"The park you say." King Regis said in a more monotone voice. 

Noctis did a hard gulp.

"Well that does explain a few things." The King said as he ran his fingers across his chin. 

Noctis looked down at his feet as we turned the corner and entered into the private living quarters part of the Citadel.  You had quickly glanced down the hallway that was in the opposite direction that you turned.  You saw something that looked like a simple pillar statue that was lite up as it stood in the middle of the room that was at the end of the hallway. 

I wonder what that's about?  You thought to yourself.

"What do you mean your Majesty?" Your mother asked.

"Tell me. When did you first met my son?" He asked as he looked at your parents.

"Well I think it was the beginning of summer about two years ago."  You dad said as he felt like he was starting to be interrogated.

"That's right." Your mom confirmed. "I remember seeing (y/n) talking to him that day. He just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. But that didn't stop our girl from saying hi and making a new friend."

"After that we would go to the park everyday so that they could play." Your mom continued. "We never saw any adults with him though, which had us concerned. That was until some other kids came up and started to play with them as well. So then we just figured that he must live near the park. But we decided to keep an eye on them ourselves while we were there anyway. Just to keep them safe."

"For that, I'm extremely grateful.  Thank you."  King Regis smiled back to them.

"We had hoped to see him last summer as well." Your dad continued. "But he never showed back up."

"Although we figured that his schedule must have changed and that he didn't have as much free time as the year before." Your mom chimed in as she tried to keep your dad from getting you upset again. 

She remembered all too well how rough that summer had been for you.

This time you were the one who started looking at your feet. You remembered how lonely that summer had been. The park just wasn't the same without him. Noctis looked over at you and could see the pain on your face. He dropped his own head as he once again felt angry and guilty for making you feel bad. 

I would have been there, if I could have.  He thought to himself as he clenched his fists to try and maintain a cool head.

You felt his muscles tighten again. When you looked at him you could see the tension on his face. You tighten your grip on his arm to try and get his attention. But he only slightly nodded to you before faced forward again. You could tell that he was still really bothered by this. 

It didn't help that this was still a sore spot with both of you. You had had a talk about it. It had been a very loud talk. But it was a talk nonetheless. Even though it still hurt to talk about what happened. At least you were both talking to each other again.

"You might say that."  King Regis said to your parents.  

"He did have a few addition things that he had to do that summer."  You could almost hear a mixture of anger and regret  in his voice.

There were a few minutes of silence as you walked a little further down the hallway before Noctis turned to led you into the dining hall.  The room contained a long dark wooden table that looked like it was large enough to sit about twelve people. The two end chairs both had a v-shaped back that had what looked like silver crowns on the three points. The rest of the chair was made up of a dark wood frame and smooth black leather for the sides, back and seat. 

The straight sturdy frame stretched down and made the four legs that stretched from the bottom of the chair. The remaining chairs looked the same except that the backs where straight across and didn't have the crown tops. The table had been set for six which made you wonder if there was going to be another guest or not.

The room that surrounded the table had a very large dark wooden china cabinet that contained some beautiful white china that seemed to shimmer through the glass doors that they were behind. There were also several paintings that hung around the room that had people that looked like past kings as they were painted wearing their royal ceremonial attire. You also noticed that there were huge curtains that covered one side of the room. Glancing closer at one of them you could see the glass that was hidden behind it.

After everyone walked in, no one of your family knew where they should sit, so you all stood there waiting for a moment as everyone wanted to hear some direction.

"Mr. (l/n). Why don't you and your wife have a seat at that end. I'll take this end with Noctis.  And (y/n), you can sit next to Noctis." King Regis suggested.

Everyone took their seats as the king had suggested. Your dad pulled out the chair for your mom and helped her push it in. You stood there for a minute and smiled as you watched them smile at each other. It made you wonder if it was like that when they were first dating.

"Would you care to sit?" Noctis asked as he pulled out a chair for you. 

You stood there in shock for a moment. Then you smiled and sat down as he helped you push in the chair.

"Thank you." You said as he moved to your side and sat down in the chair right next to you.

But before he could push it in, a person came up from behind and pushed him in. The person looked slightly familiar but kept his head down as he moved the chair in. When he was done he stood up and looked at you and smiled. Your face lite up as you recognized Gladiolus. You hadn't recognized him at first since he had had his head down and because he was in the same black uniform that the valets had been wearing.

"Gladiolus?" You whispered with surprise. 

Noctis even smiled as he saw your face light up.

"Hi Princess." He said quietly with a smile and a slight bow. 

"Good to see you up and about again." He quietly added as he backed up towards the wall. 

As he stepped back his face got serious and his whole body changed and went rigged as he reached the wall and stood like a statue.

What's he doing? You wondered.

"He's on watch right now." Noctis said under his breath when he saw the confusion on your face.

"I see." You whispered back as you glanced back at Gladio and smiled. 

He smiled back then went serious again.

"What's he watching?" You asked in a whisper as you turned back to Noctis.

"Me." Noctis responded with a slight smile.

You gave Noctis a surprised look. 

Gladio is Noctis' bodyguard!? You thought to yourself.  

Well that explains a few things.  You thought as you looked at your hands. 

I wonder if that means that Gladio came to the park  just to keep him safe and not just to hang out like they played it off? It makes me wonder what else he hasn't told me about? How many more lies has he told me?  I mean, are they even brothers? You thought as you tried to keep your hands from shaking again. 

Out of habit you started to wring your hands to together again.

Noctis glanced over at you with a smile until he saw your smile leave your face. 

I don't like that look.  He thought to himself.

He dropped his smile as he tried to figure out what had just happened to changed you that much. He watched as you just stared at your hands in your lap. He knew then, that something was wrong. Really wrong. 

He looked at you for a moment and was starting to get worried as you started to look very uncomfortable. Then he saw you start to wring your hands together. He definitely didn't like that. But when he went to reached out for your hands, he was interrupted.

"Ah. And here come our salads." Announced the King as several servants came out with plates of salads and dinner rolls.

You just stared at your hands as you tried to calm yourself down. 

I'm just over reacting. There isn't anything else. Besides, is having a bodyguard a bad thing. You told yourself. 

He is a prince after all. Why won't he have a bodyguard? And being a bodyguard would kind of make you like a big brother.  Even if you weren't related by blood.  You thought as you starting to calm down.

You were starting to feel a little better until someone placed your salad plate in front of you. You heart skipped a beat as you could smell a hint of a familiar cologne as the plate was set down. 

"Bon appetit." Said a smooth and all too familiar accented voice. 

You slowly looked over your shoulder and came face to face with none other than Ignis. He smiled at you as he stood back up as he went to grabbed a basket of rolls from one of the other servers.  

You could feel the blood draining from your face. 

Ignis is his servant? WHAT THE FUCK?! You shouted in your head. 

You could feel your anger starting to rise again. 

Damn it! Damn it Noctis! You thought as you dropped your gaze back down without saying a thing to Ignis or Noctis. 

Ignis placed a basket of rolls in front of you then moved away to the other side of the table. You closed your eyes tightly as you felt your stomach start to clinch. You whole body was going against you at this point now. Your hands wouldn't stop shaking, your heart was racing, and your stomach was threatening to turn over on you. 

He lied again. Damn it, he lied again. He lied about Gladio. He lied about Ignis. He even hid the truth from his dad. Our whole relationship is based on nothing but lies. You thought as you turned away from them. 

How do I know that he isn't lying to me now. You could feel tears threatening to come pouring out. I have to leave. Now!

"May I be excused?" You asked as you quickly stood up. 

You kept your head down so that they won't see the tears that were threatening to pour from your eyes. The whole room stopped and looked at you.

"Are you okay honey?" Your dad asked as he gave you concerned look.

"I'm fine."  You lied as you tried to keep your voice stead.  

"I just need to wash my hands is all." You lied as you kept your eyes down and your hands clasped at your sides to keep them from shaking.

"Very well." The King said. "The bathroom is just down the hallway and on the right."

"Thank you." You said as you bowed and turned towards the hallway.

"Ignis. Would you mind escorting Ms. (y/n) to the washroom?" King Regis asked Ignis.

"Of course your Majesty." He said as he bowed to the King and started to follow you. 

You stopped in your tracks

"Thank you your Majesty." You told the king while still keeping your eyes down. "But I think that I can handle this on my own."

"As you wish." He said slowly and waved Ignis off while still keeping his gaze on you. 

Ignis stopped and looked at you with a worried look.

You nodded and continued out of the room leaving everyone staring at you as you exited.

You could feel you heart breaking after you had left the room and as you walked further down the hallway. You had never felt so betrayed and used in your life. 

What the hell am I to him? You thought as the tears started streamed down your face.

I'm nothing but a fool. I'm nothing but the Prince's fucking fool. You thought as you stopped and put your hand on the wall to steady yourself as you felt your whole body start to shake.

Then you felt your stomach start to turn. You hadn't eaten anything since you left the hospital, but you could still feel your stomach acids coming up the back of your throat. You swallowed a few times to try and get it to stop. But it was no use. 

You quickly spotted what looked like the bathroom and rushed in. You spotted the toilet at the far end of the room. You closed the door and ran over to make it just in time, to see what remained of your pride come out of your mouth and into the most expensive commode that you had ever seen.

After a few minutes the sensation and convulsions stopped. But your body was still shaking as you rested you head on your arms as you leaned up against the toilet as you sat there on the floor. You weren't even sure if your shaking was due to the vomiting or to the whole situation anymore. All you knew was that you just wanted to go home and curl up in your bed and cry yourself to sleep. 

You felt like your whole world had just crashed down on you again. But this time you didn't see anyway out. And even if you did, you didn't think that you had the strength to escape anyway.

Then you heard your mom's muffled voice. "Honey?  Are you okay?" She asked from outside the door.

You remained silent as you just stayed as you were. With what little strength you had left, it was just barely enough to keep you upright. You heard the door crack open and your mom gasped as she ran in and dropped to the floor as she pulled you against her.

"Oh my god honey. What happen? Are you alright?" She asked as she looked at your face. 

You could just barely make out her face as everything started to fade. 

"Honey? Honey! Paul! Get in here!"  You heard your mom shout for your dad as everything went black.

******Author Note******

Okay so, it's not how I would want my first date to go at the Citadel. But then again, that wouldn't make for a good story now would it. Plus, one should rest after leaving the hospital. Even if this means not having dinner with a Prince. It's hard to be at your best if you don't take care of yourself first.

The situation may not be true, but the feelings of being deceived are. After being friends with one of my long time neighbors for years, I had moved away for about a year. When I moved back I was hoping to be able to confide in him the events that had happened while I was gone. But instead of being comforted, I was turned away and even threatened in school. It's not how I wanted to spend my time in middle school, but it is how I learned a lot about what a true friend is, and isn't.

Well I hope that you liked the chapter. I hope to see you in the next.

Thanks for Reading :)

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