'I failed?'
The silence was deafening to Noctis, his heart pounding louder and louder in his ears, until even that frantic rhythm was drowned out by what came next from all around him.
Instead of clapping, or even the tense silence from before, there was mocking laughter, low, toned-down giggles that quickly grew louder, erupting wildly into the air.
He turned before him, noticing the Elder's murmurs.
Some of them had a disbelieving expression, some had a blank gaze, but all had disappointment in their eyes.
A Failed Awakening wasn't impossible in this world.
They were indeed people who just had no elemental attunement at all, doomed to be nothing but weak mortals until their death.
But they were a clan of Awakeners, with Awakening blood flowing through them.
A Failed Awakening ought to be an impossibility, but when it does occur, it wasn't just a failure; it was a stain to their clan's Image.
But even with a failed awakening, Noctis did not waste a second more.
He gave one deep bow to the Elders, like the rest of the students before him had done, before quietly stepping off the stage.
Returning to his seat, he noticed Allysa turning to look at him, and he smiled quietly, but his heart flinched by what he saw.
She held no comforting smile or any of that.
Her face was blank, with no emotion, only a quiet conviction in the depth of her eyes that Noctis couldn't lay his hands on.
"What's wrong?" He asked, and she replied.
"You Failed."
She said, and the heartbeat Noctis tried to keep at bay, spiraled out of control.
He tried to keep it at bay, replying,
"I am not afraid, and... I'm sure you know why."
He said, and that was when he finally noticed it.
The knitted eyebrows and frown on Allysa's face.
"You Have No Future, Noctis...not in this world, and neither in the clan."
"You will be banished away from it, even if you survived the First Nightscape."
"And I just awakened a C-grade Light Affinity. I'm sure you know what that means, not just for me...but for the clan."
She explained quietly.
Silence reigned for a while, as students continued to rise to the altar, the ceremony continuing.
Did she really need to explain more?
A failed awakening did guarantee him a failure, and in a clan that branded themselves Awakeners, he had no identity.
His fate was to be banished.
But still, he remembered vividly the promise they had both made.
Turning to look at her quietly, he could see it.
Golden hairs still shining from the awakening, the powerful aura that lingered around her, and her equally cold face.
It was all he needed to know that she never planned on following through on her promise.
He would have normally taken this in with a silence or a smile like he normally does, but this time...he failed.
"I would have protected you..."
He whispered, looking right at her.
"In the clan...or banished to the world outside, I would have been there at your side...regardless."
His words made Alyssa's cold expression falter for a second.
Those words...they were true.
Absolutely true.
She could feel them in her soul, but...to what use were they?
"The last student, Thorne Lowell!"
The announcement echoed in the background, and after Allysa's words echoed in Noctis's ear.
"I'm Not You..."
FLICKER!
An incredibly bright light flickered out in the next moment, and an uproar burst through the hall.
"A Grade B Talent!?"
"That's Impossible!"
But to the murmurs and gasps of shock, Noctis paid none of it any attention.
He felt himself slowly cracking apart, something he could not understand as he sat well balanced on his seat.
The Elders gave a speech, but he couldn't hear them.
What he felt was some of the students rising and walking forward, including Allysa, and he raised his head.
He could see, right on the stage, about 5 of them, but the one who caught his attention was the one standing in the middle.
He found a young man with flaming red hair, the air around him cackling as if sent on flames.
He knew him well, Thorne Lowell.
His bully, who could never seem to get any true advantage on him.
And he noticed, right beside him, Allyssa.
"A Grade C Light Talent, and a Grade B Fire Talent..."
An Elder grandly announced, and in that moment, Noctis saw it clearly.
Allysa and Throne, the skin of their hands pressing together as they remained side-by-side and then quietly interwove together, both of their own conscious wills.
"To The Prosperity of the Clan!"
The Elder grandly announced, in that moment, all of the students raised their hands, including Alyssa, who had her interlocked hand with Thorne, raising it high.
"To The Prosperity of the Clan."
In that moment, see her piercing golden gaze looking at him as she held up Throne's hand.
Her message was finalized.
Thorne had a mocking grin spread widely across his face, as he also looked at Noctis, studying his expression, unable to wait for that pretentious mature expression to finally crack.
For tears and screams of injustice, but he was disappointed.
Noctis' expression did not falter.
Quietly, he rose from his seat and turned his back, straight to the hall's large doors.
Even though he said no words, Allysa's heart thumped crazier than anything.
She could almost hear it in her soul:
"It's Over."
A sensation of Loss came upon her in that moment, one which she couldn't quite understand.
Had she not been the one who decided to dump him?
Then why does it feel like the opposite was the case?
What was this sense of loss in her heart, as if she had just let go of something truly valuable to her, one which she would never be able to regain?
"He's a Failure and will amount to Nothing. You did the right thing, Alyssa. All of the Elders will Agree..."
The brash voice echoed in her ear from none other than Thorne, whose eyes flared with a lustfully pleased smile, his fingers caressing harshly on the back of her hand.
All she could do was turn her head back to the gate, where the halo of Noctis quietly disappeared.
"I... I did the right thing..."