Years before…
In Butterfly Kingdom, there was a place, where almost nobody dared to step, the Nightmare pits, a darkened land left to rot in the corner, and the ones in charge of such a mess were the Noctis, a family that carried their weight, and that of those who ended up as their people in this cursed Dukedom.
In this place, there was one man, who kept everything together, a beacon of light in the darkness, piercing through all the obstacles uncontested, no matter the odds.
Aberon De Lio Noctis, The Spear That Pierces All Nights, had a strong white beard, long hair, and a dense mustache, all of it on his highly muscular body that carried power that could not be matched, once he had his spear in hand, the magical heirloom of the family.
1001 Nights, an artifact that could pierce through all.
Standing at 200cm(6'5), the man was an absolute unit of power, a testament to what the nightmare pits could mold, as his body was filled with scars.
(Image here.)
At the time, when Relious was only 8 years of age, the day he would partake in his first and last family meeting with the Butterfly, and other lesser branches of the family had come.
So, he was getting ready, but things didn't exactly go according to plan.
Face planted on the ground with a big foot stepping on his young body, Relious had been utterly defeated.
"Hahaha! Is that all you got? You told me what you really like are women, freedom, power, right? If you want any of those 3, being this weak will get you nowhere, boy." A gruff man with what could be called a lion's mane, stomped on him as he spoke.
The spear that brings hope to the Nightmare Pits, Aberon Noctis.
"Urgh!" The young Relious could only spit out blood at the abuse in place.
There was an angered look of frustration directed at the older man, as the boy squirmed on the ground.
"Tch! Don't bother looking at me that way, if you're not ready to die. Your mother would be pure wrath itself if I killed you though, lucky little bastard!" Aberon crouched to poke at his victim physically.
"Urgh!…" In this weakened state, even more blood escaped Relious.
"So dramatic, those are superficial wounds, in the future you'll have to fight with your guts handing out, so stand up, come on! Show me my genes didn't give up on you because you're useless!" Aberon yelled at him and lifted him by a single arm, before letting go of him.
As his feet hit the ground, Relious' entire being felt like it was still getting attacked and bullied to oblivion even now.
Normally there was no way he could have physically just kept standing in such a state, his face was caved in, he had bruises and cuts everywhere, and so much strain on his muscles that they might as well just fall off.
Still! The mind overcame the body, and he felt a strength that only existed inside, reach out for once, as he stood there, a trembling mess.
Nothing impressive to see, just a broken kid refusing to fall again, puppettering his own body with the string of his stubbornness carried on pure will.
"Hahahaha! Not terrible. I guess one of my genes did manage to sneak in, but your mother truly is something else, almost none of you had hair anywhere near white like mine… At least you're closer." Aberon said with a smile, before slamming the boy back into the ground with one hand.
His green eyes looked down at his son, and for a bit, they softened.
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The last thing he saw was his father's softened gaze before the world went black. He awoke not to the familiar scent of iron and dust, but to clean sheets and a foreign softness.
Later, Relious woke up in a different room from his own.
"This isn't my room... Or castle… Are we in…" He looked around to see the white, blue, much lighter colors that carry a much less intimidating feeling than he had grown used to.
Then his attention came to the other new factor, a mask, on his face. It was almost a robber's mask with the back that matched his clothes not helping the look.
(Did Dad put this mask on me? Is that old bastard trying to hide his abusive behavior?) Relious wondered in his mind.
"What… Why… Urgh!" Finally, just like a clock on time, the pain of his entire body contorting and burning like he was bathed in acid, hit him.
At that point, he fell back on his bed.
It was clear that the pain he got from his dad's beating was not gone yet.
"I'm in the butterfly palace, but what now? Did they leave me out of the meeting because of that old man's abuse… They really should invent CPS in this realm." He forced himself up despite the pain in every movement.
He still made his way out of the room, and into the halls of the palace.
"Since, I'm here, I should check if there's nothing powerful that will be useful, like dimensional scissors… If anyone asks, I'm just the lost son of Duke Noctis!" He looked around as he decided with a devious smile on his face.
It was clear the palace was quite big as both halls to both sides just seemed to go on, and on.
Thus, he went from room to room, like a video game protagonist, simply invading every room hoping to find something of use to himself.
In this search, there was not much return for the vast majority of it, as most rooms were either empty, bedrooms, bathrooms, or had some basic facilities.
Eventually, though, his misguided crusade came to bear results, just not the way he might have expected.
In the next room, he opened there was a pair of red scissors with that fancy look that he had come to expect from those, just lying on a dresser, but as soon as he paid attention to what was around, something became clear.
The room was significantly bigger than the other ones, and had better everything, it was a surefire sign of what was going on.
"Hmmm, this might be the royal room, how is it unguarded, or unlocked?" He kept looking around and the sheets on the bed were slightly off, and there was this odd feeling about the room.
Yet, the call of maybe snatching an item that might give him an immeasurable advantage in moving around and getting what he wants for the plot was simply too appealing.
So he stepped into the room, and the moment he moved to close the door, things clicked for him.
4 guards tied down with their 4 limbs, and gagged.
"Oh sh-" Before he could speak at all, he was pounced on, and pinned to the ground, his heavily injured body was not taking it well. "Argh… Damn…. IT! Stupid old man…"
"Ah ha! Got you, thief! That weird face thing, can't keep you safe from the great warrior princess! Star Butterfly!" A bond little demon girl clad in chest plate armor that was far too big for her yelled at him, as she kept him pinned down with hearts on her cheeks glowing.
(Why did I have to come across her now… Damn it… I need those scissors… But she's crazy, like the only person who won't listen to me at all!) Relious frowned internally and wanted to facepalm, but his weakened body could not push an already abnormally strong magic girl.
Quickly she tied him up with a rope as well and then opened a door that revealed a weapons room directly connected to the royal bedroom.
"I'm not a thief! My name is-" He tried his best to break free from the ropes, but they would not budge.
"Don't even try! That's exactly what a thief would say! Dad, and the guards already told me about all your tricks, and dressed in all black, and coming to take things at night! I'll get you to confess!" Star interrupted him and went into the weapon room.
In there were all kinds of sharp objects, and weapons. Swords, axes, maces, spears, knives, and all other manner of sharp and blunt tools.
(I'm cooked until someone finds us… I guess I did try to steal from them, but in my defense, they exiled my family into like mini hell, so I think robbing them a little is fair.) Relious looked around with his eyes and head, trying to find something to help himself out.
"Here it is! The perfect one to get anyone to talk!" Star finally returned carrying a dastardly, feather.
"Classic, huh… I'm not a thief ok! I'm Relious and we're third cousins! I came with the Noctis from the family meetings." He hurriedly explained himself.
"They all say that story! I'm not falling for that! The interrogator told me to say this one, which makes you lose hope of making up stories. Now! Confess, thief!" She ignored his words completely like they went into one ear and came out of the other.
(What now? Like I thought, she's crazy… It's all that violent old man's fault, if he stopped beating me up for once!) Relious gritted his teeth unsure of what to do now.
Star got closer and began using the feather, which worked as Relious was highly ticklish, but the longer she stayed close the deeper a slight blush on her face grew.
"Hahahaha! Stop!…. Urgh!…" Relious coughed up blood as his internal injuries acted up.
"Hmmm, why do you smell so nice?! Thieves aren't supposed to!… Anyway, I guess I went too hard with the feather…, but they said it usually takes at least hours before they start coughing blood! I know! You're a weak thief!" She pointed and laughed at him even as the blush on her cheeks persisted.
(What kind of logic does she use?… Whatever, let's try to reason anyway…) He shook his head, already convinced of his doom.
"Just take my mask off, and you'll see I'm telling the truth." Relious tried to smile, but through the mask, it only looked more suspicious.
"You're trying to trick me! So, I'll huh… Check for weapons!" She got closer and checked his pockets, before lifting his shirt. "Tch! It's just boring stomach muscles… You do have some cool bruises! Wow, those look bad, did you fight a monster bare-handed?! You're kinda cool for a thief!"
As the blush on her face grew a bit, and she continued to ask questions and make up her own answers, she pulled the shirt back down.
"Yeah! And if you let me go we could go fight monsters together, how awesome would that be?" Relious saw a chance and decided to take it.
"Really?! We can fight a super huge bear with 5… No! 6 heads!… Wait, no! You're a thief! I can't fall for your tricks… But that sounds so cool… Fine! I'll see your face, but if you're lying, I decree that you'll be executed, like a thief should be!" The blush on her face by this point had deepened and spread further.
There was a small pause, before she reached out to pull the mask, and while his face was still bruised he had recovered mostly only bruises at int, a level of regeneration quite far above the average human.
"Wow! You're like a real warrior who just came back from a super cool fight! Hehehehe!" Star began laughing then she leaned in, and before she knew it, she was already kissing him.
This caused Relious to widen his eyes, and try to squirm away!
However, his efforts didn't work at all, and he was entrapped.
Then something interrupted the moment.
"Star?! What are you-… Is that Relious?! Is he tied up?!" Star's mother, Queen Moon, who was just coming to her room to check on her escaping daughter after a while, was met with an unexpected scene to put it lightly.
She had long pale blue hair, light blue eyes, and heliotrope pink-colored diamonds on her cheeks. Moon also used magenta pink lipstick. She stood at a height of 5' 7" (1.7 m).
There was her hair, it was up in a big, heart-shaped updo, and she has a golden crown with a purple diamond in the center. While She wore a light blue, periwinkle, and white gown, the skirt somewhat resembling the shape of a heart, with long blue gloves. She also wore a light blue and periwinkle lace-up boots under her dress.
Carrying a concealed decently defined physique, she was still more than ready even at her age.
(Images here)
That moment Star opened her eyes, and pulled away, jumping off him.
"What did I do?! That! It happened!!!" Red as a tomato realizing what she just did a moment of strong emotion.
"Clearly… It did… Urgh… Star, do you understand what you just did?!" Queen Moon did not have words for this, and could only rub her temples as she looked at the scene.
"It! It wasn't me! It wasn't me! It was him! It was him!" Star was jumping before dropping to the ground and throwing a tantrum flailing her arms and legs around.
"Star… You… We'll have a serious conversation about this later! Now to your room!" Moon yelled at her daughter not having it one bit.
"But it was h-" Star wanted to be going, but got hit with a death stare.
"Your room! Now!" Moon did not intend to repeat herself after this one.
Nit testing her luck, Star complied and left hurriedly after giving Relious a conflicted look, of guilt, anger, and something else.
Moon walked to the boy, and untied him, then untied the guards.
"I'll have to talk… with them, you'll wait for me, here, don't leave." Moon walked to the dimensional scissors and picked them up, then she left with the guards, before locking the room from the outside.
"She locked me in here… This is not good… I was just going to do a little bit of thievery and karma hit me like a truck… I'm way too unlucky for my luck stat…" Relious sighed at this predicament he found himself in.
It didn't take too long for him to snoop around and look to see if there was something worth it, even if not now, later.
"They probably hid the important stuff with magic." Just as he said that, he found a hidden cabinet on the nightstand.
Inside said cabinet, he found a collection of phallic-shaped objects, bigger and smaller ones.
"Huh… I didn't take Moon for the type." Just then he heard a click behind him.
Immediately he hurried to close the hidden compartment and walked back to where he was just as the door opened.
Coming inside and locking the door again. Moon made her way to him slowly before taking a seat on the bed and patting the spot next to herself.
Unsure what would come next, Relious took his assigned seat.
"Do you understand what just happened?" She asked calmly almost too calm, to the point it was unnerving.
"I do… I think." He nodded.
"Good. Cause I want to ask you for a favor, as your aunt it will be unfair, but as Queen and Mother." Moon said with a straight face.
"… What?" He simply asked.
"When Star talks too much and I know she will. Please take the blame. My side of the family has done enough to yours as it stands, if we get into another dispute started by us again now, things will be very chaotic for everyone." She asked, turning to him with pleading eyes.
"That's a bit…" Before he could even finish speaking she stopped him.
"You will face some problems and limitations for a long while, but I promise that I will have Star resolve it herself later, and once that's done, you'll have my support in whatever personal endeavors you take, within reason, of course." Moon stopped and waited to see what he would say.
(This is crazy! I'm pretty sure what happened was in part due to my unique gifts influencing Star, but from her perspective, her daughter the princess, tied down the son of a Duke, and assaulted him?…. I guess… Maybe I do have a high luck stay, Moon's support later on will make a few things way too easy! Hahaha!) Relious was stunned to see things going this well in his favor just for taking a fall that in the long run was minor.
"I… Don't mind… I want to keep things peaceful." He replied outwardly.
At this response, Moon hugged him tight, a response he did not expect once in a million years.
"I'm so sorry! I don't understand what got over her for her to do this to you, to leave you in such a state. I'm so deeply sorry." Tears fell her face as she almost refused to let go of him at this moment.
(Oh! She thinks my injuries were Star's doing… Damn… I almost feel sorry for Star now, but if I tell her it wasn't Star, she might think I'm trying to protect, or worse, break the deal.) He shook his head internally at the very idea. (I can't afford to risk that right now, so sorry Star, I guess we're both taking blame for someone else. Then again, this situation is almost fully my fault… Don't let the guilt take over, reap the benefits!)
"It's ok, I'm fine…" He simply played into it.
This only caused her to hold him tighter, he was at this point pressed on her, and it wasn't unpleasant, quite the opposite.
After that, he found the mask again and put it on.
From there, the rest of the meeting took a natural course, and as Moon expected at some point Star blew up into spouting her own distorted version of the events, and Relious was henceforth banned, under suspension of thievery against royalty, Assault on royalty, and Espionage.
The first was dropped due to lack of evidence, and so was the last one, leaving only the second which relied on Star, and she was too pressured to say something happened to not condemn him.
In the end, Relious was just made the most trapped out of the Noctis, who were already quite caged.
After all that, years have passed, and now, the two of them would meet again, this time to resolve this matter once and for all, but will they reach an agreement or push things further down the cliff to where it could have ended years ago?