Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
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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] Alex was behind him. Prompto almost jumped out of his chair, but his limbs didn’t quite work right so he just let out a half-strangled yelp. Alex was behind him. Alex had...something. That something was on the table now. Did he smell...chocolate?
Take a moment. Recenter. That’s what Alex said. Prompto tried.
He wasn’t good at it.
”Y-yeah.” Prompto felt a chill go through him as the humming finally, blessedly stopped. The room felt quiet without it.
”Drinking something of the material plane will reground you,” Matoya growled. Prompto blinked at her stupidly.
”Drink...something?” Then his eyes landed on the thing Alex had left on the table. It was a mug. Full of something that smelled like chocolate. ”O-oh! Yeah. Yeah, I get you.” He grabbed the mug and held it in both of his hands. It was warm. He hadn’t realized how cold his fingers were until now.
”When you can, tell us what you saw.” Alex was sitting a little ways away on a chair he’d turned backwards, his arms folded on the chair’s back. He looked real casual and confident, sitting like that. How long had he been there?
”What I saw…” Prompto looked down into his mug. It felt like something he could hold onto, like maybe if he held tightly enough, he wouldn’t be sent screaming off into the void again.
He swallowed.
”I saw…” Words that had been ready to tumble out of his mouth just a minute earlier were slow to come now. He didn’t know what to tell them. What he’d seen would have sounded crazy if they hadn’t been the ones to send him there, but they had so it shouldn’t have been a big deal, telling them about it.
One thing at a time.
”I saw...a lot.” He gave a short, painful laugh. ”It was kind of scary, hurtling around like that. I...didn’t find Noctis.”
That was the first part, but it wasn’t the most important. He felt his chest tighten with panic.
”But Gladio and Ignis! I saw them. And they’re…” Prompto’s eyes felt hot so he rubbed them with the back of his gloved hand. Stupid. He was being stupid.
”They need help,” he said. ”They’re somewhere cold. There was snow. And mountains…” He’d taken a minute to look at all the details, hadn’t he? So what could he make of it now? ”It was Sonora. It had to be! You know anywhere else with snow this time of year?” It was a question he didn’t expect an answer to. He hadn’t been a whole lot of places in this weird world yet, but he’d heard about a lot of places, and Sonora was the cold one. That was obvious.
”They were in a prison,” he said slowly. ”They looked...bad.”
That was one word for it. He felt sick just thinking about it.
”Gladio and Ignis...They’re my friends. The other crownsguard, you know? I’ve got to help them. I promised…” It was a promise they couldn’t hear, but that didn’t matter. Prompto had heard, and he’d remember it until the second they were free.
”Th-thanks. For helping me.” He inclined his head towards Matoya in a kind of half-bow before he looked at her earnestly. ”Really. Thanks.”
The mug was hot enough that his hands felt like they might burn up. He looked down at it in surprise then smiled at the familiar creamy brown inside. ”Is this hot cocoa? Wow.” He sipped it carefully, humming at the sweet taste of chocolate. It was good. Really good.
”Thanks,” he said again. ”Can’t be sad with cocoa, right?”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] She was amazing.
That’s all he could think in that first moment when she started her magic. Matoya sure did look like an old witch who lived in the middle of the woods, and boy if that wasn’t the right impression. As soon as the crystal ball (or eye as she’d called it) came to life, it was like something right out of a movie.
Prompto didn’t know much about magic. It was just what he used to call his weapons into his hand, but he thought he could feel something different in the space between him. It was like a sixth sense he hadn’t known he had. He couldn’t say he heard it, exactly, but if he could, it would sound like the purr of an engine. It felt like he’d fallen asleep in the back of the Regalia while Ignis was driving, and he had no idea where he was going or what the world looked like as it flew by, but he knew they were going somewhere, and he just had to trust the driver that they’d end up in the right place.
It felt like that, he thought. Magic.
”Reach out your hand to the eye’s gateway,” the witch said. ”Close your eyes and focus on the magic you received. Focus on how it feels and then think only of how it binds you to the others. Think of nothing else.”
’Think of nothing else.’ It was like when Ignis had tried to teach him meditation and he just couldn’t get the hang of it. He’d sat there cross-legged for the better part of an hour trying really hard not to think, but then all he could think about was trying not to think and then his thoughts had chugged along to wherever else they wanted to go anyway.
But she wasn’t asking him not to think, was she? She was asking him not to think about anything but Noctis. He could do that. He already did it on his own most days anyway.
Noctis. He had to think about Noctis. He had to find their bond, that wisp of magic he’d been given the day he became a crownguard. Prompto knew that feeling. It was warm and strange and foreign, but it felt like Noctis was right there beside him, and if he could only reach out…
Prompto closed his eyes, took a breath and held out his hand.
The portal thrummed in answer. The engine revved and switched gears. Then he was off.
Prompto didn’t have words for what happened next. It was fast and bright and wasn’t at all like sleeping in the back of a car. No, it was more like he’d fallen off the back and was clinging onto it for dear life, screaming for Ignis to pull over. There were lights and sigils and a whole world of color zooming past, and if he could just stop to look at them properly, maybe he could-
Noctis. He had to find Noctis. Only Noctis.
The car, he came to realize, wasn’t just some metaphorical thing he came up with in his head. It was made of magic, his magic. It was like a bullet train dragging him along the tracks that linked him straight to the source. Was this what the witch had seen, always there but always just out of sight? No wonder the witch had trusted him to make it where it was headed. He didn’t think he could have derailed it if he’d tried. Though maybe if he really tried…
Nope. Bad idea. He had to only think about Noctis. He had to find Noctis. Somewhere.
Somewhere…
He saw somewhere that looked like outer space flash like an echo in front of him. Time was slow here. It seemed to drift by in a sparkle of lights and muted sounds-
(the crystal)
-then the car skipped a beat and he was somewhere cold and covered in muddy snow. He came from the sky, he thought, circling above it like a vulture. There was slush and rock and blinding white on the mountain tops, and down below him, a circle of gray. It looked like Niflheim, he thought, but the magic told him that wasn’t quite right either. The train wasn’t moving anymore. It had left him here, right here, floating above some icy wasteland in the middle of nowhere.
Had he done it wrong?
The thought chilled him worse than any snow. He’d messed up. That must have been it. He hadn’t focused hard enough and now he was lost and he’d never find Noctis and would he ever get back? What would happen if he didn’t? Would he-?
The world shook around him, trembling like an earthquake, and he yelped in fear. It was in that moment that he saw something flash before him. It was like a ribbon, thin and wavering. It wasn’t like the one he’d seen before, strong enough to hold like train tracks, but it was there all the same, and it led down.
The world gave another shudder and Prompto grabbed the thread like a life buoy to shore. It didn’t matter where it led. As long as it wasn’t here.
He descended slowly this time like a balloon losing helium. That little gray circle in the snow grew larger and larger as he approached, and the details popped steadily into focus. There were towers, looming up out of the darkness with spotlights. The circle was really a wall sealed up tight and made out of stone. He thought he saw something shimmering over it, a kind of dome made out of glass, and he shivered as he passed straight through.
What was this place? He didn’t know. He didn’t think he wanted to be here.
The yard looked like somewhere Prompto might have seen in a movie about hardened prisoners or maybe a documentary that made him too sad to watch about what happened to soldiers taken by Niflheim. It looked like it had snowed here recently, but now it was all trampled down into gray, slushy mud. There were people here, milling around aimlessly. They looked bad. Some of the men were big and bulging with tattooed arms. Others were way too thin. They all wore the same clothes that were only a little better than rags.
Why was he here? Where had the magic led him? There had to be some kind of mistake. Noctis couldn’t be…
Not Noctis. This magic felt like it had once been Noctis, but it wasn’t anymore. It was something else -- someone else that felt familiar all the same, and as he followed the thread closer and closer to the dismal ground, he felt his heart pound faster as slow realization hit him and then he saw-
”Ignis?
His voice didn’t sound right. It sounded far away as though through water, but that didn’t matter because there, right in front of him, was Ignis. He was tall and willowy and way too skinny and nothing like the put together, “always had it under control” Specs that Prompto knew except for the scar that ravaged its way across one of his eyes and the shaded glasses that kept his glazed eyes hidden.
Ignis. He was here. What was he doing here? In...prison? Was it prison? It didn’t look like any he’d seen before but here was Specs blind and cold and standing next to someone who was built like an ox and looked a lot like Gladio but couldn’t be because…
Because…
”Oh no…”
The magic connected to all of them. There was the thread of magic, and he saw it all. One for Ignis, one for Prompto, and one for Gladiolus, all bonded together by the power of a Lucian king.
They looked bad. They looked real, real bad.
”Hey! Guys!” Prompto tried to shout for them, but they couldn’t hear him, and he couldn’t hear them. Not really. They were talking about something. Fights? Drugs? It didn’t matter. Prompto tried to reach out for Ignis, and his hand passed straight through.
”Guys.” Prompto bit his lip. He was standing beside them now, and he could see every detail. He saw Gladio’s limp as he walked, his strange deformed ears, all the news scars and bruises that were normal for a guy like him but were way too much now. What kind of place was this? How had they come here? Why couldn’t they get out?
”I-I’ll find you. I promise. So just...just stay tight, okay?”
They kept talking, looking past him like he wasn’t even there. He guessed that he wasn’t, really. He felt like he wanted to cry.
No. Stay focused. Keep your eyes on the road.
Where was he? A prison in the middle of somewhere that snowed. He could see the sun which meant that they weren’t on Eos. It had to be Sonora then. He looked for any signs that might tell him more, but there weren’t any. He saw some guards walking along the walls holding assault rifles. Sticking out of one of the towers, he saw a gatling gun aimed towards the outside. From here, he could see that the glass dome he’d passed wasn’t really glass at all. It was made of light all threaded together like a quilt. More magic?
That was all he could see from here, and he was afraid to let go of the thread to try to find more. Prompto bit his lip and turned to his friends again. It was good to see them, but he wished it was anywhere but here.
He didn’t know if they’d last much longer.
”Hey,” he said again. ”I’ll come back for you. I promise. So just...make it until I get here, okay? Stand tall…” He felt his voice crack, and he looked away. ”You trust me, right?”
He didn’t know if they did. He didn’t know if he trusted himself either.
Prompto took a deep breath and squared himself in front of them. He put a hand on each of their shoulders, and though they couldn’t feel him there, it felt right somehow. ”I promise,” he said again and then looked up at the ribbon of magic trailing through the sky. He just had to grab hold of it and then…
And then…
The train had started again, and he was screaming through the sky, past the icy mountain tops, past that strange space in the stars, back to the world of streaming lights and sounds and he held on tight.
It was time to go back. He had to make it back to his body. He had to save them…
The engine roared, stalled, and then died down to a low thrum. His head felt heavy. The world was dark. Why was it dark?
Oh right. His eyes were still closed.
He took a jagged breath and slowly opened them. The front room of Alex’s house swam into view. There was the bar and the table and the vase of flowers that were really weeds. And there was Matoya and her crystal eye. He breathed in sharply then choked on the air and doubled over, coughing. His eyes swelled hot with tears.
”They’re-!” he started and then broke down into more coughs. ”They’re hurt! And trapped and-!” He gasped a few mouthfuls of air and then shuddered. ”My friends! I-I have to help them!”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] The door closed, and they were left alone in a metal box looking out over the carnival. Part of Prompto wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. The other didn’t like this at all. It was enclosed which meant that Ardyn couldn’t suddenly warp onto the side and grab them. On the other hand, that also meant they didn’t have a way of escape if they saw something, way up high. Not that either of them could’ve done much at that point anyway. Noctis wasn’t scared of heights, and Prompto didn’t think he was either, but Noctis could warp, and the best Prompto could do was a slow, terrifying climb back down hoping he wouldn’t slip like an idiot and bash his brains against a metal pole.
That was Prompto’s life in a nutshell. Sticking around Noctis and trying his best to keep up the pace.
The Ferris wheel jerked into motion, and then they were off. Slowly. Their car swung a little with the movement, and Prompto watched as the ground jerked out from under their feet. It was pretty with the dark city all lit up with magic. It was prettier than Insomnia, he thought, but that thought just made his heart ache. There were other things to think about. Worse things.
Prompto didn’t find that he could look at Yuna straight on as she told him about Ardyn. He’d been at a hospital. Just the words made him feel sick. Ardyn had always liked to play at helping people. He was like a cat batting at a mouse that had found a nice corner to hide in, never letting it know that he could finish it if he really wanted to. Prompto’s nails dug into the fabric of his jeans.
Yuna had healed a man in front of him. Ardyn had thought she was an Oracle because…
”Wait, you healed the scourge?” Prompto blinked at her, frowning. ”Sorry, keep going. That’s just...wow.”
He looked down at his hands, cheeks suddenly hot. Yuna was an incredible woman. He wanted to ask more, but…
He always had a habit of interrupting. He’d wait. He just had to remember his questions for when he had the chance.
It didn’t take her long. Prompto waited just to make sure he heard it all right and then he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. ”Yeah. That sounds about right.”
He looked away, choosing instead to watch the half-shaded side window. His heart was pounding. Steady, Prompto.
”Ardyn, he doesn’t kill people until he’s done with them. I mean, I think he kills a lot of people, but the ones he’s got an interest in, he doesn’t. He just…”
Leads them along. Makes them think he can help. Blinds them. Tortures them. Uses them to hurt Noctis.
”I-I, um…”
No good. He couldn’t say the words.
”So…are you an Oracle?” He looked at her, eyes wide, before he shook his head. ”Sorry. Guess it doesn’t matter. But that’s bad if he thinks you are. He killed the Oracle where I’m from. I wasn’t there to see it happen, but…”
But he saw her after the fact -- cold, pale, drenched in blood and seawater. She looked so much smaller that way, and though he’d known it as soon as he saw it, he still couldn’t believe she was dead. That kind of thing didn’t just happen. Not like this. No way.
But it had. Prompto bit his lip.
”I don’t know exactly what he is. We still had a lot of questions when I woke up here. But…”Breathe, Prompto. In and out.”But he’s like a daemon. When he’s hurt, he looks like somebody with the scourge. And he can’t die. I shot him in the back of the head once and he just…” He made a pained noise and looked away again.
”I thought things were different here,” he said. ”No scourge, no daemons, no…” No imperials. No Ardyn. He swallowed. ”I’ve gotta find Noctis.”
That’s what was important. That was all that mattered. If Ardyn came after him, it was only to get to Noctis. And if Ardyn had already found Noctis…
”He’s my best friend, and Ardyn wants to hurt him. He set it all up just to get to him, and then he used me and Gladio and Ignis to hurt him worse. I don’t know why, but that’s all he wants, and I can’t…”
Prompto looked down at his knees. ”I can’t let that happen.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] ”Prompto. Prompto, you need to breathe.”
His hand found its way between both of hers, and he paused, a little stunned by her touch. She cast some kind of magic on him and he blinked and she smiled, ”Did it work? You seemed a little dizzy.”
”Huh?” The magic had felt...warm. He didn’t know any other word for it. It was weird seeing people use magic that weren’t Noctis or related to Noctis or part of Noctis’ life. It was weird, and he didn’t know what she’d cast, but it had been kind of like taking a potion or something. He wasn’t sure. He felt real warm though, especially in his cheeks.
They were still holding hands.
He glanced down at their hands and then back at her and then she let go and she was talking about.
Talking about Ardyn. Shit, he’d almost forgotten about that.
”Oh, uh…” He glanced away. His heart was still hammering from panic, and he felt cold with fear but also warm with whatever feelings he got when Yuna held his hand. He didn’t know what to think or what to say. He couldn’t think straight. It was like trying to walk a tightrope after a few glasses of wine.
”O-okay.”
She’d tell him more. About the two times they’d met. That was two too many.
”Do you want to talk there maybe?”
”Sure. Yeah. Okay.”
Prompto didn’t really register what he was seeing. There was her finger, pointing at something. And a ferris wheel. And she wanted to talk.
She’d held his hand.
Ardyn could be anywhere.
Prompto felt sick.
”A slow ride. No, I get you.”
He walked it back, really trying to get her, and he thought he did. She wanted to talk about Ardyn. She wanted to talk on the ferris wheel. That sounded weird, but now she was embarrassed so he wouldn’t say so. Instead, he shook his head, lowered his voice, and said, ”Just be careful. He could be anywhere. He can look like anyone, you know.”
That was something he’d learned the hard way.
They walked together towards the ferris wheel. Turns out, it needed a special ticket so they walked back to the ticket booth and got a ticket with their date badge and went back. Prompto tapped his foot as he waited in line, glancing carefully at every shadow and ever person that seemed to saunter more than walk.
This was stupid. He was being stupid. What were the chances that Ardyn had stalked him to a carnival? That he was waiting around, humming to himself, taking his time before he struck because Prompto was Noctis’ best friend, and if Noctis was somewhere around here then that’s how he could hurt him the most?
A worker waved them up and Prompto took a deep, steadying breath before he slid onto the seat of the ferris wheel.
”We shouldn’t talk until we’re a little higher up,” he muttered to her. ”He can warp, but we’d notice him up high. That way, we’ll know he’s not listening.”
Did he sound crazy right now? He probably sounded crazy right now, but he couldn’t help it. His mind was a steam train, and it thought they were in danger, and he was just chugging along after it trying not to lose pace.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] ”Her...time?” Prompto looked up to see Matoya watching him patiently. She didn’t have to talk him down like this. She really didn’t, but it helped anyway. Prompto sniffed and wiped his eye with the back of his hand. It wasn’t Lunafreya’s time. She’d been murdered. But he didn’t want to argue with a nice old lady just trying to tell him what she thought he needed to hear.
It had all come out of nowhere. Bringing up Luna like that right out of the blue. Why would anyone…?
’Hips to die for, Prompto!’
He shuddered. Something wasn’t right with Alex. He hoped not so secretly that he wouldn’t come back for a while.
”I don’t know what Luna would have wanted,” Prompto said slowly. ”But...I guess it’s to look out for Noctis, right? Which means I’ve got to pull myself together.”
Which was a lot easier said than done. Prompto could only pull himself half together at the best of times. Some Crownsguard he’d turned out to be…
”It’s just...real hard. A lot of stuff happened, and Alex…” Prompto glanced back at the door. ”I want to like him. He’s helped me out a lot, and I mean, he even brought you here! But...the way he talks sometimes…”
Prompto shook his head and fell heavily into the chair across from her. ”I think maybe once I’m done here, I’ll strike out on my own. I mean, I’ve got to if you help me find Noct.” He rubbed his neck then paused, realized he was fidgeting, and forced himself to stop. Eyes on the road. No distractions.
”Noct…” Prompto sat up straight and took a long, deep breath. They were linked, him and Noct. There was a thread of magic between them so strong that the old lady could see it without even trying. He had to trust that she was right.
He knew that she was right.
”Okay. I’m ready.” Prompto looked at her as seriously as he could manage. ”I’m focused so just...tell me what to do.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] ”Also, the way you reacted, well. I’m wondering right now if Noct’s fiance is back on the market. Have you seen her in a white dress, Prompto?”
For a moment, Prompto was stunned, staring at him. Noct’s fiance? In a white dress? She’d worn that dress at Altissia. That’s the only place that Prompto had really seen her, making her speech and then a little glimpse of her down by the water while the sea had been raging and people were screaming and he’d weaved around collapsing buildings as the MTs closed in. She’d worn that dress when they’d found her after, cold and still and soaked with seawater, blood blooming like red flowers between her unmoving fingertips.
White. Cold. Red.
He hardly heard Alex’s voice as the man left, footsteps echoing. All Prompto could do was lower his eyes and mutter, ”Lunafreya’s dead.”
It didn’t feel right to say it outloud. That’s why he had to whisper it. Because if he said it outloud then that meant that it was really…
Alex was gone. He’d gone for tea. And Prompto was…
”Ugh!” Prompto let out a groan of frustration and threw himself to his feet where he paced wherever his feet would take him. ”What. Is. With that guy?” He found himself next to the door so he closed it then looked for a lock, and when he didn’t find one he turned furiously back towards the tables and started pacing again.
”I’m trying to focus! I’m really trying! But then he just had to-! What was that supposed to mean, anyway?”
He slowed to a stop and put a hand over his face. Breathe. He wasn’t breathing right.
”Luna’s dead,” he said again. His voice was shaking. ”I know that. But with everything that happened, I never really got to...I mean, we never really…” It was hard to swallow. ”It’s just been a lot, you know?”
No. No, he wasn’t going to cry. Not here. Not in front of this nice old lady who just wanted to help if he’d stop being like this. But it was hard when his eyes were already hot and he just kept seeing Luna small and pale and stained in red with her hair tangled and soaked in sea water.
”I could have saved her,” he choked out finally. ”If I’d just been there. If I’d just been better. I’m not-” He shook his head. Shit. He wasn’t supposed to cry. ”Sorry,” he muttered. ”Didn’t mean to…”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Prompto was flying high. He’d been flying pretty good already what with the lights and the music and the smells and the cute girl on a date with him, but all this talk of Eos and Noctis and Yuna’s glaive friend really sold it. He was so excited that he hadn’t even noticed how rude he must have sounded until Yuna pointed it out.
Classic Prompto.
”Oh! Yeah! Tomorrow! I didn’t mean-! I mean, if it had worked out right now then yeah sure, I’d be down for that, but like. I’m enjoying myself too! Really! I just, you know. Got real excited! Heh…” He rubbed his neck, feeling his cheeks heat with an oncoming blush. Real smooth.
”I mean it,” he said, glancing down. ”You’re really cool, Yuna. I’m glad we got to hang out like this.”
And it sure was a great place for it too. This was the kind of place he could only dream of taking somebody! With all the lights and the people and the magic…
He wondered what Noctis would think of it. He was sure they’d have had a blast together.
”Your friend’s...got a lead on Noctis?” Prompto peeked back at her, suddenly too cautious to meet her eye. ”Seriously?”
He wanted to believe it. He wanted to believe it so bad. But there was something else she said, wasn’t there?
”You said…’at one point.’ So not anymore? But...But that means he was here! Somewhere! Right?”
Now he really felt desperate. Ignis liked to joke that Prompto had a face like a hopeful puppy, and boy could he hear it on his voice right now. He laughed and tried to rub the “puppy dog” look from his eyes.
”Sorry. It’s been rough lately. Just hearing something about them’s got me all…” It had him all twisted up in knots on the inside. He was the kind of person that liked to charge ahead without looking back, locking up all the bad feelings until he forgot about them forever, but that hadn’t been working out so well these last few weeks. He couldn’t even go on a date without running himself in circles.
Yuna was strangely solemn now. How long had she looked nervous? Prompto frowned as she sat up on her knees, hands folded in front of her. What was she…?
”I met someone else from Eos once, but I haven’t seen him in a long time. I hope he’s gone. Have you heard of Ardyn?”
Prompto felt his breath steal away. ”Huh?”
Ardyn.
She’d seen Ardyn.
Ardyn was-
”He’s...He’s here?!” His voice cracked. It felt like the lights had dimmed. Had they? Everything was dark out here. Way too dark. ”Ardyn. You’re sure it was…?”
No, no, no, no, no, no.
”No. No way! You can’t-! We shouldn’t-!” Prompto staggered to his feet. His heart was hammering where his throat should have been. ”That’s bad. That’s real bad! He could be-!”
He could be anywhere. Or anyone. He could be watching them right now, laughing, and they wouldn’t know any better. He could be peering from the top of the carousel where it was all shadowy, humming to himself with that stupid voice, wearing that stupid hat, peering at them with those eyes…
Those yellow eyes…
”Woh...” Prompto winced and put a hand to his temple as the ground swooped up under him and he staggered to keep his balance. Also bad. What was he doing, panicking when Ardyn could be anywhere? He had to keep his head on straight or he might as well hang a bright red sign on himself saying, ’Easy Target! Please Ambush!’
”I’m sorry,” he muttered. ”You’ve got to tell me everything! If he’s here then-!”
Then no one was safe. And they never would be again.
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] ”My own...signature?” Prompto frowned as she explained. He didn’t know what “aetheric” meant, but he’d thought that “aether” meant “magic,” and he knew he didn’t have any of that for himself. It was just Noctis’ power that made him special, that was all. Just Noctis and-
whatever they did to me in Niflheim
-and that was it. Prompto wasn’t even good with magic like Ignis was. Ignis kept saying he’d train him properly some day, but there hadn’t really been time after Promtpo had joined the Crownsguard. It was all running and fighting and camping after that.
Prompto tapped his fingers on his thigh. His heel was tapping out a fast rhythm on the floor. It was hard to sit still.
”Do you understand the magic in you to sense it? Sense it enough to pull yourself towards them? The aether is filled with much noise which can distract you -- memories, astral beings, elementals, impressions of others...If that happens, who knows where your essence could end up on this planet.”
”Oh…” Prompto glanced away. It felt like she was looking deep into him again. By “essence,” did she mean...soul? It felt like she could see his essence right now.
He wasn’t the best at not getting distracted. It felt like his mind was a roaring steam engine, and he was somewhere in the back of the train car, watching the clouds drift past. Ignis had tried to teach him about “mindfulness,” but it hadn’t worked very well. Every time they tried to sit in silence, it just got Prompto’s brain chugging faster, and there was no telling where it might end up.
But this was important. This was for Noctis. If it was for Noctis, he had to try. Didn’t he?
”Yeah. I-I’ve got to. I mean…”
”Right. Out of curiosity, when Noctis came to our world for a bit, he shared this kind of power with me, albeit only very briefly. Would I have these traces too? Or too brief?”
”Huh?”
Prompto looked up at Alex, bewildered. When Noctis...came to “our world?”
For some reason, Prompto saw red. ”He did not!”” Prompto waved his hands in exasperation. He felt something bubbling up inside him. Something he didn’t like. ”Noctis wouldn’t give that to just anyone! It’s...It’s special!” Prompto clutched his hand to his chest. Even though that wasn’t where Noctis’ power was necessarily, it was where he felt it. Right at his heart. Right there with his essence.
”There’s the Crownsguard -- that’s me, Gladio, and Ignis. Then one day if he’s king, he’ll have a glaive. But that’s it. When you take that power, you have to promise you’ll stand by him forever. You’ll protect him even if it kills you. No matter what…”
Prompto looked away. He couldn’t remember the words he’d sworn on the day he’d taken his oath, but he knew what they’d meant to him. They’d meant…
That Noctis was the most important thing in the world. They’d meant that Prompto would never give up on him. They’d meant…
’I want to be by your side forever.’
Prompto laughed weakly. ”Man, I’m really over thinking this, huh?” He rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. ”I’ve just got to think about Noctis, right? I’m not so good at keeping focused, but I know him better than anybody. This magic...it feels like him. So yeah. I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp on it.” Prompto smiled and for the first time on that terrible, no good day, he felt a bit of light come back to his eyes.
He shuffled forward and sat up straight with his nails digging into his jeans.
”Sounds dangerous, but I’ll be okay. And if not, at least I can say I tried.” He looked at Matoya straight on and nodded. ”I’m ready.”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] Matoya snapped something grumpy at Alex then pulled out a full pillow from somewhere in her robes. Prompto didn’t know how she’d been carrying something like that without anyone noticing, but if he had to guess, he’d have said ’Magic.’ Or a special-made pillow holder which he kind of had to respect. Either way, it was old and velvet and looked like the kind of thing a fortune-teller would use which just got him more excited when she twisted the glass sphere off her staff and set it in the center.
”Woh…” Prompto blinked and looked between her and the orb to wait for some kind of warning to stay away. When it didn’t come, he grinned and scrambled forward, eyeing it about as close as he could without touching it. She waved a hand and it burst with a bunch of light like tiny fireworks. Prompto laughed. ”That’s your eye? Yeah, that makes way more sense than what I was thinking.”
He didn’t know what she meant about magnifying glasses and magic threads, but she’d taken a seat now and didn’t look like she was about to yell at him again. He carefully picked up the vase of flower-weeds and set them on the ground so she had more space on the table.
He had the feeling things were about to get interesting.
”Alex went looking for you because of me?” Prompto blinked and looked over at Alex for confirmation. ”Wow, that’s…”Super nice. He didn’t say it like that though because that felt weird to say out loud. So instead, he said, ”You didn’t have to. I mean, you’ve already helped me out a lot.” And Prompto hadn’t been anything to him but trouble. He wished Alex would let him out on some hunts soon. He wanted to pay him back -- ASAP.
She went on about something called aether which sounded like a cool way of saying magic, and Prompto listened, shaking his head and sheepishly saying, ”Sorry,” when she guessed correctly that he didn’t know much about it. She trailed off thoughtfully, and Prompto shifted, trying not to fidget in the silence.
The old woman raised her gaze, looking at him so hard that he felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle. It felt like he wasn’t just being looked at, but looked through, deep down to his core. After a long moment, she nodded decisively.
”There is magic in you that’s not wholly your own,” she said. ”Do you know its source? Or perhaps know of a magical bond shared between your friends?”
”H-huh? How’d you know about that?” Prompto blinked in surprise. ”You saw that just by looking at me?”
Holy…
”Yeah! Yeah, that’s right! It’s Noct’s magic. I mean, he’s the only that can do magic since he’s a king and all, but I got it from him! I’m part of his Crownsguard which, uh, probably doesn’t mean anything to you, but that means we get his magic. So we can do stuff like this!” Prompto waved his hand and summoned his pistol to it with a flash of light and an expert flick of his wrist. He twirled the pistol between his fingers then banished it again in another flash of blue.
”I guess, that’s why I think he’s gotta be here, or at least be around, you know? I can feel it. And...I guess if you’re trying to find a magic thread, it’ll lead you right to him. Right? Then the other Crowsguard, Gladio and Ignis, they’ve both got it too so...that’d be another thread. I think.”
Prompto looked up at her, eyes wide and hopeful. ”Could you really do it? Find them, I mean?”
[attr=class,lyric1]gonna keep on keeping on the only
[attr=class,lyric2]way i know how
[attr=class,bulk] ”Wh-what?”
For a moment, Prompto could only stare at her, startled, as she sat straight up and proclaimed he must be from Eos. It was a bit of a surprise, coming out of her and all, but before he could even so much as give an uncertain, ’Yeah, you’ve heard of it?’ she went on.
To talk about Noctis.
King Noctis.
”Wait, you know Noctis?” He launched himself forward, eyes wide. ”Wait no, you said your friend knows Noctis? A Kingsglaive? That’s-!” He didn’t have words for it, actually. Just hearing that someone knew him...That someone knew anything at all about where he’d come from…
“Is Noctis a common name? It must be if your friend isn’t royalty.”
”Nah, that’s defs my Noctis! He’s a prince. Not a king, but you knew, close enough! Iggy actually had to talk to me ‘bout that after his dad died. Apparently Noct isn’t king until they do some...thing. Starts with a 'C.' But then Lucis was taken over by the empire so he’s a prince until we get it back. I don’t really know what’ll happen once he’s all kingly, you know? Could someone like that still hang out with some nobody like me?”
He was rambling. Didn’t matter what he was saying, really. His mouth was chugging along on its own, and Prompto was just along for the ride.
”Er, anyway, but you’ve got a friend who’s a Glaive? I don’t know too many of those. I’m, uh, kind of new to the Crownsguard so I never talked to them much, but maybe he knows something! Or...wait, do you think he’s found anyone else? From Eos? Maybe I’d know them!”
His head was spinning with possibilities and thoughts and ideas that probably weren’t right but he didn’t care much if they were.
”I’ve got to meet him! Your friend! Man, I’m getting in with all the guilds lately, huh? It’s kinda cool when you say it like that.”
