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year 5, quarter 3
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[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] ”Heh.” Prompto couldn’t help the softest, saddest, weakest attempt at a laugh in his life. Noctis was being so…honest. And he was saying nice things about him that made his ears burn. It didn’t feel right, somebody saying nice things about him like that. He was the group fuck-up and he knew it. The guys were always ribbing him. The good kind of ribbing. The kind that came from friends with a nudge and a pat on the shoulder, but still. He was the one who crashed cars and complained too much and made the dumb jokes and always went down first in a fight. He was the one with the least training, the least experience, the least brains.
He didn’t deserve to have nice things said about him like that. He didn’t deserve Noctis telling him he wouldn’t let him down like it was a fact and not a question. He didn’t deserve that little acknowledgement – ’You’ve always been there for me. Even after I threw you off a train.’
And all Prompto could say to that was just…a laugh. A little laugh. The softest, saddest, weakest attempt at a laugh in his life. What else was he supposed to say?
’Of course I’ve been there. Please don’t leave me again. I need to be there. I’d rather die than leave your side.’
Yeah. He’d get roasted so hard for that. Not exactly up to the standards of the bro code.
”I want to help as much as I can,” he said instead. ”I mean, I know it’s not much, but you always had a lot to carry. No one ever expected anything from me. So…”
So what? He didn’t know where he was going with this.
”Sorry. About the Crownsguard thing.” Yeah, that was a great idea. Don’t know where you’re going? Pivot to something else. ”I knew you liked having somebody who wasn’t from the palace. But…I got talked to sometimes. About how you were the prince and couldn’t keep hanging out with some kid who worked at a camera shop forever…”
Prompto rubbed his neck. He’d never actually talked to Noctis about the whole Crownsguard thing before. Why he did it. How Noctis felt about it. It was just “Surprise! I’m here forever now! And working for your dad! Turns out I’m great with guns. Weird, huh?”
The bro code didn’t allow a lot of talks like this. With tears and truth and hot cocoa.
”I didn’t wanna tell you, but those guys from the palace were always giving me a hard time. Cause, you know, we got an apartment and you were working with me at a camera store and they had to work extra hard to keep you safe.” Prompto rubbed his neck, keeping his eyes trained on the minty hot cocoa. ”I mean. I know you wanted to do all that, but they acted like I’d stole you away from your dad or something. So I asked Ignis about joining up. And man, it was hard. Iggy and Gladio both helped, but I’m pretty sure I thought my whole body was broke after I trained with Gladio the first time.”
He laughed again. Louder this time. They both knew how Gladio could be.
”But then I did it. But I never told you I was gonna do it. So…sorry for that.” His face was red. His ears were red. Was it from the cold? Or the feeling like he wanted to sink into a hole? His stupid pale face. It always told on him when he felt like that.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Prompto knew he shouldn’t have said anything. He knew it before he opened his stupid mouth. He knew it as the words tumbled out anyway. He knew it even more as Noctis responded, looking just a little more downcast and as he stumbled over the words that made Prompto’s heart sink straight to his stomach.
”It’s not a job!” he protested almost as soon as Noctis said it. Then he paused and added, ”Well I guess it is, but like. Come on. I never even got paid.” He tried for a smile. A joke. Of course he was joking at a time like this. Stupid Prompto, always making light of everything even when it was the damage that he’d caused.
”I-I mean it though. Half the time I forget I’m a Crownsguard at all. I don’t feel like one. I’m just…you know. Your friend.” Prompto looked down into his hot chocolate and watched the darkened swirls. Then he lifted the mug and took a long drink. It was sweet and thick and bitter and minty and so hot it scalded his mouth a little, but it warmed him up and made sure his mouth couldn’t run on its own and make any more mistakes.
Back in Insomnia, he’d wanted to be a Crownsguard more than anything. He’d worked hard for it, even training with Gladio and Ignis without Noctis knowing. Keeping that secret had been hard when Prompto wasn’t someone who could keep a secret to save his life, but he hadn’t wanted Noctis to get his hopes up or worse – think that Prompto had only ever stayed around him to make a name for himself.
He’d done it because he knew that one day Noctis would be the king of Lucis, and kings of Lucis couldn’t hang around nobodies they’d met in high school. They also couldn’t share an apartment with said nobody and play videogames until dawn and go around the city to find just the right place for a group selfie.
Prompto had loved everything about their friendship, but he’d known it couldn’t last. Not unless Prompto himself made a change. He’d do anything to make it last.
He'd never thought of himself as a Crownsguard. Not really. But when the day came to take his vows, he’d meant every word of them. Was he willing to give his life for Noctis’? He wouldn’t even hesitate.
When Prompto finally lowered the mug of cocoa, he thought he had his thoughts straight. He hoped so anyway.
”What I mean is…I made a promise, you know? To Iggy and Gladio and…your dad.” Prompto glanced away. ”I haven’t always done it right. Let’s be real, I was always the weakest link. I don’t make the plans or go in all crazy with a sword. I’d be dead a hundred times if you couldn’t use a phoenix down.” He watched his cocoa like it might have all the answers to life itself. Maybe it did, somewhere in its vanilla swirls.
”I’ve always just followed them. Now they’re gone. And…And I’m just really…” Prompto swallowed. Shit, his eyes were burning.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Prompto should have just stood there. He should have just waited now that he was at the spot that they’d agreed upon at the time that they’d agreed to and Cindy could be there any moment. But Prompto was never any good at standing still and waiting. And as his eyes wandered, he caught sight of the ice rink and a couple of skaters who were like dancers on the ice. He could see the picture coming together – the two of them, crossing paths, bodies arched like swans with the snow-covered pines in the background. And for a moment, he forgot his nerves as he grabbed his camera, flipped through the settings, and put his eye to the viewfinder.
He shifted, trying to find just the right angle which ended with him half-kneeling in the snow, camera tilted up so he could capture the feeling of flight. Then he had to wait for just the right moment as the skaters glided gracefully towards each other again. Waiting wasn’t so hard when it was for the perfect shot. Because he was in the zone. He had a vision, and by the Astrals, he was going to put it to film.
The skaters approached each other. His finger tensed on the shutter button. And then…
”Well hey there, handsome.”
”Wha-?!”
Panic bolted through him so hard that he flinched and his hands stopped working and his camera went tumbling into the snow with a muffled sort of thump. That’s what snapped him out of it. His camera. In the snow. He let out a strangled sort of cry as he scrambled after it, as he muttered, ”Oh no no no. Come on! Please work, please work!” He picked it up gingerly like it was a bomb that might go off and then brushed off the snow and ice, rubbing the camera on his coat to try to dry it off.
What would he do if he broke it? Where would he find another? Sonora was the place for it, sure, but he didn’t have that kind of money and even if he did he doubted the memory card was compatible with any computers here. Not that he had a computer here. He’d never back up what he already had. Pictures of his friends. Of Lucis. All of it, gone.
He almost sobbed in relief as his library of pics reflected back at him in the LED screen. ”Yes! Still good!”
Which left him with just one problem. One big problem standing right behind him. Terror seized him all over again, rushing up to his throat and tightening it as he remembered what had caused him to drop his camera to begin with.
”Oh, uh. Cindy! H-hi!” Prompto turned to face her like, feeling like a kid who’d been caught with his hand stuck in a cookie jar, and there she was. His Goddess. She was dressed a little differently today. Long jeans, a winter hat, a longer coat zipped most of the way up. He couldn’t blame her. It was cold out here, and Cindy was nothing if not practical. And beautiful. And really good with cars.
He ran through what she’d said to him in his head. ‘Hey there, handsome.’ Handsome? Had she meant it or was she just kidding around? His head spun with the thought. Was this a date? It couldn’t be, right?
”Er, uh. You too!” he said as he scrambled upright before horror struck him as he realized what he’d implied. ”You’re looking p-pretty, I mean! Not handsome. Cause handsome’s for boys. Unless you want to be handsome and then, you know, you could be. If you want to.”
He could almost see himself from outside his own body. Like something else had taken control and he was helpless to watch the trainwreck it was making. It was like playing a videogame where the character model starts bugging out. Except it was him. Him, right there, doing it in real time. He felt his cheeks go red as he rubbed the back of his neck, wincing.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Prompto let out a short, uncomfortable laugh to hide the feelings that welled up in his throat. They were like brothers. Prompto didn’t know what to say to that. Maybe this was why they didn’t talk about sappy stuff much. But Noctis had called him his brother. Him. Prompto. Sure, he knew Noct had basically grown up with Gladio and Iggy. They’d had that big brother dynamic since the moment he’d met them, but…
Prompto? He was just some guy. Some kid who had been bold enough to walk right up to Noctis and pretend they’d never met before. Some nobody who Noctis had decided he liked enough to keep around for some reason. And now Noct considered him right there with his guards who were practically family.
Shit. Now his eyes were getting blurry. Prompto lowered them and with a small smile just said, ”Heh. Thanks.”
The mug of hot, steaming cocoa came in and out of focus in front of him. For some reason, Prompto didn’t feel so much like drinking it anymore.
”They were the ones that always knew what they were doing,” Prompto admitted for reasons that were beyond him. ”It’s kinda scary going it just the two of us. You know? It’s like…I’ve gotta be me. And I’ve gotta think ahead like Ignis. And protect you like Gladio. Cause it’s just me. I wasn’t ever any good at this to begin with.”
The words tumbled out of him all on their own. Just him having too many feelings. Just his big mouth running without anyone telling it to. Business as usual in his dumb brain. Prompto cleared his throat and picked up the cocoa more to distract himself than anything. He liked the warmth of it in his hands even if it didn’t really seep so well through the leather of his fingerless gloves.
”I just mean…They’d want me to do it right, you know? Now that we’re together. I don’t want to let them down.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Prompto was only a little disappointed that he couldn’t show off his super cool off-the-grid rebel painting skills, but only a little. He still thought that his way was better and he still didn’t like the idea of going in looking like a bank robber (plus a mask like that would totally flatten his hair and he spent ages gelling it right), but it was Noctis’ choice so Prompto just shrugged and said, ”Yeah. Guess that works,” even though he felt a little prickly that Caius got to be cool and capable and they were listening to him about tech which was totally Prompto’s thing.
But it didn’t matter so much, really. Not compared to what came next.
”Huh?”
Prompto’s voice went up an octave as Noctis made the connection that Prompto hadn’t. If the Starscourge was here then that meant…
”No. No way.” Prompto’s mouth felt dry. That hot feeling from the whiskey came back and swirled around nauseously. ”He’s…?”
Yuna had seen him too. He remembered that from up on the ferris wheel. How she’d told him the story and it had felt like the floor had fallen out from under him and he was falling straight through. But that had been ages ago, she’d said. He couldn’t still be…?
”I, um. Heard from somebody that saw him too,” he muttered, glancing away. ”I just didn’t think…”
He didn’t think. That was his problem. It was always his problem. Because right after that, he’d seen Ignis and Gladio and he hadn’t let himself dwell on the very real possibility that Ardyn could be anywhere and he’d never even know the difference.
He didn’t like hearing his name. He didn’t like talking about him. He didn’t like hearing about him. He didn’t like learning more about him either, but something that Noctis said struck through the sudden ringing in his ears anyway, and Prompto frowned, glancing at his friend. ”Wait, really?”
Ardyn could cure the Starscourge? That was…new.
He might have asked more about it if Caius hadn’t gone on the attack a second later.
”Bullshit.” Caius’ expression changed. It really changed. His eyes were set on Noctis like he wanted to strangle him. ”You wiped it out. It was gone. Not a trace left in Eos, and you expect me to believe that-!”
”H-hey!”
Prompto didn’t know what was happening. One second they’d been talking about Ardyn and then the next Caius was picking fights. What he’d said didn’t even really hit when he was saying it in that tone, glaring at Noct like he’d done something wrong. Even Caius seemed to realize that he was out of line when he quickly sighed and bowed his head, apologizing.
What was with people exploding on them today? Prompto looked between Caius and Noctis uncertainly, not really sure what to say.
He was starting to think there was a reason they didn’t have more friends. When Noctis was the prince of Lucis and was going to be king one day with all the cool powers and responsibilities and everything that came with it, it led to people thinking he could do just about anything and that he should do it for them. It made people want to use him. It made them mad when they couldn’t.
”Yeah, well, Noct’s not an Oracle. It’s not his fault.” Prompto watched Caius cautiously even as he admitted his mistake and promised to help. After he’d seen that dark look in his eye, he wasn’t sure he could trust him as much as he’d thought he could. ”We’ve got a plan. That means we’re done here, right?”
Prompto gave Noctis a purposeful look and grabbed his arm. He knew how Noctis could get when the weight of expectation was thrown at him. Sometimes, he needed somebody to guide him away from it so he didn’t think too hard and start blaming himself. ”Come on, Noct. Let’s get outta here.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] ”Eh…”
He listened to Caius’ speech about the masks. He still wasn’t sure about it. He turned it over in his hands, inspecting the fibers suspiciously. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Caius it was just…
Well, Caius himself said he didn’t know much about tech, right? He knew more about Sonoran tech for sure, but that was only because Prompto hadn’t had much time to learn about it. Astrals, that would be a pretty great night. Just him and a bunch of tech he’d found, taking it apart, seeing how it worked, maybe even reading some books about it. Prompto didn’t usually like reading, but tech magazines? Instruction manuals? Internet tutorials? That was heaven was far as he was concerned.
Too bad they’d probably never come back to Sonora again. Not that Prompto wanted to spend a single second longer here than they had to, but it seemed like the only place with any really interesting machinery around here. He wished he’d had the time to appreciate it.
”I’m not saying you’re wrong,” he said. ”I don’t know much about Sonora stuff, and I only know what I saw in the prison. Buuuuuut….” And there was his counterargument, ready to make everything more complicated for no reason.
”Masks work fine for face recognition, sure, but Noctis and me might get in a fight, and I need a clear line of sight if I’m gonna be shooting anything from a distance. And Noct’ll need his, er, what’s it called? When you see things from the side? Peripher…Uh. Vision. Anyway, a mask’ll make that harder. Only so big an eye hole can go, you know?”
He was rambling, but it was a thoughtful ramble. It wasn’t that he dismissed Caius’ ideas and hard work out of hand, and he’d totally wear it if Noct thought it was the best idea, but…
But…
”Face paint’ll also do the trick, you know? Least it did back in Insomnia. If you make it all jagged and wonky in different colors, the software doesn’t know what to make of it. Plus it looks, like, really cool.”
Part of him had always wished that he was a little more edgy, the kind that’d need to use that really cool paint, but he was best friends with the prince and his crownsguard. He literally joined the system instead of fighting it. He knew Lucis had its problem, and Insomnia especially didn’t treat the poor all too well. There’d been a reason they were raising their voices against it, and Prompto had watched it all unfold from the internet. Sitting in his computer chair. In between hangouts with Noctis and training to join the crownsguard.
Kinda hypocritical, really. But that was waaaay past him now.
”I know how to do it. If we’re not worried about standing out anyway, face paint’ll be way more light-weight, and we’ll be able to see things better. You and Cindy should totally wear the masks just to be safe, and we’ll keep those extras ready for anyone else. But me and Noct should probably stick to the basics, you know?”
He glanced at Noctis, part of him desperate for approval, part of him prepared to drop it all if Noct just gave the word. As much as he argued, it was more on principle than, like, a super important thing to him. He just liked tech. He liked talking about it too, and most of the time, his friends shut him up before he got too deep into the cogs and gears of the whole thing.
Caius wasn’t done talking though. He finished his drink and set it down definitively on the table (so cool!) before turning to Noctis and Prompto again about some business they’d do after this.
”Uh…okay?” Prompto wasn’t sure there would be an “after this,” but if Caius wanted to be optimistic, that was fine with him. Caius seemed real serious about it too. His fist was even clenched on the table which seemed like a bit much until he kept on talking.
And Prompto’s eyes widened. He sat up straight and leaned in closer, mouth agape in shock.
”The…The Scourge?!” He stared at Caius, hoping beyond hope that somehow this was a really sick, uncharacteristic joke. Then he looked at Noctis. Then at Caius again. ”It’s here? But how? That’s like totally impossible, right? We haven’t seen a single daemon since we got here!”
Because that’s how the whole thing worked. You get sick. Nothing can stop it. And then you turn into a daemon. Or at least, that’s how it usually worked when it wasn’t done in some miserable lab doing unspeakable things to innocent clones. Prompto bit his lip.
”I…don’t know if we can help, man. I mean, we can take out daemons. We do that all the time, but healing someone, that’s…” His eyes lowered. The panic he’d felt sank into something a lot darker as he muttered, ”That was Luna’s thing.”
He’d never known Lunafreya. He’d never met her, really. But he knew that she and Noctis wrote to each other often, and he knew how broken up his friend had been after she’d died. She’d been a good person who hadn’t deserved what happened to her.
”Maybe you could find a healer? Somebody who’s really good at holy stuff? I don’t know if anybody like that exists around here, but maybe…”
Prompto also wasn’t too well-read on religion. Or history. Or medicine. Or…
But he knew about the Scourge. No kid coming out of high school could graduate without knowing a lot about the Scourge. Even a kid with a straight C report card.
”Is there anything you can think of, Noct? Cause I really don’t know…”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] ”Wait, what?”
Prompto was so caught up in his telling of the story and in his own grim mood that he almost missed exactly where Noctis had picked up some extra gil from. The…Rising Stones? Wait a minute, but that would mean…
Yeah, it was totally confirmed. Noctis told him that Caius would help which was a no-brainer and then went on to suggest somebody else. A somebody that Prompto had thought he’d left far, far behind him.
”You’ve met Alex?” Prompto stared at him, mouth gaping. ”No way…”
What were the odds? Seriously, the odds were like…nothing, right? He’d taken a statistics class once. He’d been really bad at it. Couldn’t remember a single thing about it now and he’d only passed because of Ignis’ help, but still. He knew enough to know that Noctis working with the Stones and knowing Alex the same way he had was like…way improbable. So improbable that it bordered on disbelief. Or suspicion. Yeah, Prompto was kinda leaning towards the latter.
He wanted to call Noctis out on it. He wanted to tell him that heck no they shouldn’t ask Alex for help. The man was like a creepy stalker or something, hunting them all down one by one on the streets of Sonora and bringing them back to his broken base that he called a guild. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t say any of that because he heard the emotion in Noctis’ voice as he thought about their lost friends.
Prompto’s eyes lowered. Whatever pain he felt thinking about Ignis and Gladio (and it was a lot), it must have been nothing compared to Noctis. Prompto had met them in high school mostly just because they were always around his friend. Ignis had helped him pass his classes. Gladio would play videogames with him and push him around for being so small. In the end, they’d both helped him pass the Crownsguard qualifications – Ignis with his book smarts and Gladio at the gym. Prompto had proved his own skills at the shooting range. They’d both believed in him or at least pretended to for Noctis’ sake. Then they’d all taken their trip together, a somber affair that they’d all made almost fun just by being together.
Ignis and Gladio meant a lot to him. They were Prompto’s friends. But to Noct, they were family.
Prompto averted his eyes so Noctis wouldn’t know he saw the tears welling up there. ”Never,” Prompto agreed earnestly. ”They’d do the same for us, right?”
Or at least, they’d do the same for Noct. If it had been Noctis in prison, the two Crownsguard wouldn’t sleep until he was free again. He didn’t know so much that they’d come just for Prompto, but that was alright by him. He liked to think that they’d be relieved to know that Noct wasn’t alone right now. That he and Prompto had found each other. Prompto might not have been the best guard, but he was one. He’d passed the test. He’d proven himself in the field. He wanted to believe that having him around was a far shot better than nothing.
Their drinks came. Their hot, steaming drinks. The waitress placed the deep red wine in front of Noctis and a mug of hot cocoa in front of Prompto. It looked really nice even if it didn’t have any whipped cream. That was the least of Prompto’s worries right now though.
Once she left, he started talking again. Earnestly. Seriously.
”You know I’ve got your back, right?” He tried to look his friend straight on. It didn’t matter if Noctis was crying or not. In fact, if he was, that was all the more reason to offer support. ”No matter what happens. We’ll do this together.”
Truer words had never been spoken in his entire life. He hoped Noctis understood.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Here it was. The moment of truth. Prompto hadn’t really thought much about what he’d do once he actually found Noctis other than hug him and never leave his side again. Maybe another time and place, that’s exactly what would’ve happened, nothing more and nothing less, but with the fate of Gladio and Ignis hanging over them both…
Well, that kind of soured things, didn’t it?
”Er, yeah. I made it out…alive.” That was all he could say about Cissnei’s little death trap of a bar. Or was it a strip club? He still didn’t know the right word for it, but Prompto sure wasn’t going to tell Noctis anything that happened in there that he didn’t need to know. ”And hey! She wants to help! So we’re on track there.”
Optimism was the spice of life, as they said. Or at least, he thought that’s what they said. Optimism wasn’t a spice he was used to around here.
”Isn’t it though?” Prompto rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. More snow ruffled out between his fingers and melted, leaving them wet. ”I swear, I thought I was in Niflheim at first. This is where I, uh, landed? Fell through a portal? I don’t know. And I thought, ’Oh hey. I’m still in Niflheim, I guess. Why’s the sun out? And where the hell’s everybody else?’ But it’s not Niflheim. Still gives me the creeps walking around it though.”
He was rambling. Or maybe he was just procrastinating. He didn’t want to talk about what he’d seen of their friends or what he’d learned from Cissnei. It was just too…grim. He didn’t like grim. He wanted more than anything to just have this moment with his best friend. After everything he’d gone through, he thought he deserved that, didn’t he?
Prompto was so invested in their conversation, in his own thoughts, in Noctis just being there across from him that he couldn’t help but jump when the waitress came by. He didn’t know this was that kind of place. A place with waitresses. He probably should have guessed from the menu on the table that he totally hadn’t looked at even a little bit. Noctis ordered some mulled wine (What did that mean, anyway? Mulled?) and then looked expectantly at him.
”Uh…” Prompto looked desperately down at the menu that, without opening it, was like a lifeboat still all tied up to a sinking ship. Then he looked at the waitress who was distractingly pretty with her blonde curls, and he swallowed before sheepishly asking if they had any hot chocolate. He felt like a kid, asking that way. And asking what he asked. Noctis was getting wine for Bahamut’s sake! So adult. So cool. But Prompto had never liked wine. And he didn’t know enough about other bar drinks to pick something on the fly.
The waitress responded that they had a peppermint spiked cocoa and Prompto nodded feverishly. ”Yeah, that! That sounds…good.” Then she left and Prompto sank into the booth, shoulders slumped, utterly defeated. ”Do we even have the gil for this? Tell me you’ve got gil.”
They’d had plenty of money before just from doing hunts and killing monsters and stuff, but no one ever trusted Prompto to hold onto it. He didn’t know if gil from Eos would be accepted here anyway. Probably not. Interplanetary rules and all that.
”What kind of help could we call? I mean, we could probably get Caius. He’s helpful, and like, a glaive so he’d be in on it. Probably.”
He imagined that conversation. ’Hey, do you want to be in on our suicide run to help our friends that you don’t know? It’ll be great!’ Caius might do it because of Noctis though. The prince of Lucis would have more than a little sway over a glaive.
Prompto bit his lip. If they were already talking about allies then it was probably time that he came clean. He didn’t want to. He wished he could just sip cocoa with his buddy and relish the luck that had brought them together again, but that wouldn’t be fair to their other friends, would it? And they were a group. Almost like a family. Noctis, Gladio, Ignis. They were more of a family to Prompto than he’d ever had growing up, at any rate.
”Hey, uh. Before we talk strategy and stuff, you should probably know…what we’re up against.” Prompto took a deep, shuddering breath and sat up straight again. His knuckles were white on the sticky wooden table between them. ”So I actually saw them. It was a weird magic thing, don’t ask. But I was looking for you and I guess it didn’t work quite right because trying to find you led me to them. I guess cause we’re all crownsguard and use your power and stuff. Anyway, I saw them. They were in this big prison in the middle of nowhere, all icy and cold, somewhere north of the city, I think. There was this big dome around the place. Cissnei said they’ve got an anti-magic field on it so maybe that was that. Guards everywhere. Towers with mini-guns and snipers. That kind of thing.”
Prompto looked down at his gloved hands. The place had felt so much like…Gralea. Like those metal towers and corridors where Prompto had found himself alone. Like the place where Prompto should have stayed if fate hadn’t shown up to steal him away to Lucis. He shook the thought away the best he could, but the darkness wouldn’t leave him, settling somewhere in his throat.
”They were in bad shape. Real bad shape. I could hardly recognize Gladio, he was beat up so bad. Ignis wasn’t so beat up, but he was skinny. Skinnier than usual, I mean, and being blind in a place like that…” Prompto swallowed. ”I don’t know if they’ll last much longer, Noct. I mean, they’re fighters. And it looks like Gladio’s really been fighting, but…”
He couldn’t finish the sentence. The darkness in his throat wouldn’t let him.
”A-anyway. That’s when I started trying to get people together. I went and found Caius cause somebody told me a glaive was in Torensten and I thought he might help. Then he sent me to Cissnei. And…now I’m here. It’s crazy even thinking about breaking into a place like that, but we can’t just leave them there. We just can’t…”
His voice broke. Damn it. Prompto rubbed his eye with the back of his hand and finally looked at Noctis to see what he thought. He knew he’d agree.
”So…that’s that, I guess. Everything I know. Sorry it’s not much to work with.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Prompto’s heart was pounding. Like, really really pounding. He wondered, somewhere distantly, if he was going to faint. That would be just his luck, wouldn’t it? To finally get exactly what he’d always wanted only to fall unconscious before he could get it.
Cindy had asked him out on, well, not a date. This was definitely not a date as he kept telling himself over and over again to try to keep himself from going into full on cardiac arrest. After they’d made all their criminal plans to save their friends, it was just a matter of waiting for the right time to pull it off. Which left them with some time in the worst city on the planet. That was when Cindy had asked him to…to…
To go somewhere. Alone. Just the two of them. Which was not a date.
Was it?
Of course, Prompto got there over an hour early. They were supposed to meet at this resort place so they weren’t seen together so much in the city, and the whole train ride there, Prompto had hardly been able to think. Once he got there, he had to admit, he was almost distracted. There were tons of people, lots of smiles, and skaters doing circles on the ice. The mountains were beautiful glistening as they were with snow and ice beneath the sun and a clear blue sky. It was all enough that Prompto couldn’t help but take out his camera and snap a few pics and it almost distracted him.
Almost.
But no matter how many pictures he took, no matter how many people there were, no matter how much the smells from the market stalls made his mouth water, he couldn’t stop the constant pounding of his aching heart. Cindy would be here. Cindy would be here soon. For him. Because she’d asked him out. Probably a pity thing after what had happened with Alex, but still. He’d take a pity date. Which this wasn’t because it wasn’t a date until you called it one. He’d take a pity…outing. Yeah, that was it. Because he was not a man of dignity, Prompto. And if it meant he got to spend time with Cindy.
His Goddess. His Muse. If Prompto had known any prayers to the Astrals, he’d have been on his knees begging them not to let him mess this one up. Once, just once, he would have begged, please let him be cool.
A couple walked past him, both sipping cups of steaming mulled wine. Prompto slid his hands in his coat pockets and retreated further into its warmth. He wasn’t dressed any special way, just in his coat and hat for winter, the same outfit that had saved his freezing butt in Niflheim. He hoped Cindy liked it. He hadn’t had time to go buy something better. She’d look gorgeous as always, he was sure. While he was just…just…
Prompto groaned as he sank into the collar of his own clothing. He kicked at the snow on the ground idly and tried to swallow back his nerves as his heart kept on beating, beating, beating like it wanted to escape before he made a fool of himself. Somewhere, a clock struck the hour with the echoing sound of bells.
Ready or not, it was go time. And he was not ready.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] So thankfully nobody thought using the ring on Alex was a good idea which meant no murder in Tifa’s bar which was not something Prompto wanted to see even if Alex was begging for it cause he thought he could take the power of the Ring of the Lucii. That was just like him, really. Thinking nothing could hurt him, they were all beneath him because they’d only fought an empire and whatever the hell Ardyn was while Alex had saved five worlds that morning or whatever. But Noctis agreed it was a bad idea, and Caius gave it a flat, “Please don’t,” so that was the end of that. Hopefully. Probably.
If Noctis needed to use the ring inside the prison then they’d just have to cross their fingers and pray it worked.
What was a little less clear though was what exactly Caius would do during the whole thing. It seemed like they’d shot a big hole through his behemoth idea. Which left them with…nothing. At least when it came to distractions. Prompto crossed his arms and leaned back and thought long and hard about what he could do from a distance, but then again, he’d be hiding in a box or something. ”I guess somebody could borrow my autocrossbow and start shooting. That’d get attention,” he said before realizing how that sounded and quickly adding, ”Er, that’s the name of a mini gun. Niflheim tech. Not like I can hide that going in so…”
Noctis suggested just summoning Ramuh and Prompto laughed. ”Yeah, that’d do it! Just a big old shot of lightning from the sky! Wait, are you saying you can’t do that anymore? I guess that’s not too big a deal. They always kinda picked and chose when they’d show up. It was real scary too…”
Though that did leave him wondering, was this somewhere even the Astrals couldn’t reach? Or had the Astrals decided to stop working with Noctis for some reason? The first thought sent a shiver up his spine. The second didn’t bother him so much. He liked Noctis cause he was a cool dude, not cause he was a Lucian prince who all the gods were into. The gods could be real dicks about it anyway. But after everything they’d done for them to just abandon Noctis now…
It wasn’t right.
Prompto picked up one of the masks that Caius had brought, turning it over in his hands. ”Dude, it totally looks like we’re about to rob a bank in these!” he said before turning to Noctis to see if he agreed. He thought he’d agree. ”It’ll be hard to blend in wearing this. For me and Noctis, I mean. Like. These are real suspicious. And once we get Iggy and Gladio, we’ll be sticking together and we know they know their faces.”
Prompto didn’t really care too much either way. If Noctis thought the masks would be useful then he’d use it without another word. ”Wouldn’t any mask work on face recognition software? I mean, unless there’s something about Sonora tech I don’t know. Plus, we’d have to have our faces somewhere they’d know to look. If they’ve got face recognition then they could probably use it on anybody who lives here, but not us! Not like we’re posting pictures on their internet or anything.”
He missed the internet. He really did.
He also missed posting pictures. And printing pictures. And taking pictures. And-
”So what do you think, Noct? Alex’ll need something to hide his face for sure. Oh! And Cindy too! Don’t want her getting in trouble cause of us.” He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at her sheepishly. ”Thanks, Cindy. I….er…You know. For….driving.”
He still couldn’t quite meet her in the eye. His Grease Monkey Goddess.
