Edited version of chapter one as of November 18, 2018

Chapter 1: Journey Interrupted, or: Where Was That Boat Headed to Anyway?

It was the moment before the sun was completely ready to wake up. Only a faint line of light at the edge of the horizon hinted at the coming dawn, casting the ocean a misty purple. The Royal Vessel drifted in the calm water, with but a slight breeze disturbing the rhythm of the waves. Noctis swayed along with it: up and down, up and down, up and down…

He knew he was on his way somewhere, on his way to a good place. However, the journey was slow-going. Wherever he was headed, there was no reason to hurry. Here, out on the sea, Noctis was at peace.

Well, almost.

If only that fish on the line wouldn't be such a pain in the ass.

Judging from its silhouette, it was a small trevally, barely twelve inches long. But this tiny thing put up resistance with a vigor akin to the Devil of the Cygillan.

"Oh c'mon you little…" Noctis ground his teeth. Some fish didn't know when to give up. Not that he should've been surprised, really, considering this fight would determine freedom or death for the poor thing.

But Noctis wouldn't give up, either.

For several minutes, it was a tug-of-war. One moment he would gain ground, the next moment the fish would make a long run to the open water on Noctis's right, stealing the line off his reel.

His arms started to burn under the strain of the fish's thrashing, but that only fueled his determination. For reasons he couldn't comprehend, this was the fight of his life and he had to win. With each tug on the line, it became more and more pressing not to lose this one catch, however tiny and inedible it may turn out.

His line wouldn't hold much longer, though. It was tight, very tight, and looked ready to snap. Uh-oh. Noctis had to admit that the battle was turning out more and more in favor of this puny beast of a fish.

Just then, he noticed the sun finally rising above the horizon, momentarily blinding him with the intensity of its light. At the same time, the fish broke the surface of the water, making for a high leap.

"Whoa."

It was beautiful. Small, as he'd guessed, but magnificent, its wet scales glimmering an ethereal amber, almost golden, bathed in the radiance of the morning sun. It wasn't a trevally. Noctis had never seen this kind of fish before. Strangely enough, its eyes were trained on him insistently. Almost as if it wanted to tell him something. Yes, he could see that there was something, some kind of knowledge, gleaming in the translucent eyes of the fish. When the fish opened its mouth, there seemed to be words flowing out of it and Noctis was just about to grasp their meaning and—

From nowhere, a thunderous thumping shook through the boat. And then everything changed.

Where the world had been calm before, now it exploded with motion. The water became alive beneath the Royal Vessel, waves pitching and tossing the boat so much that Noctis could barely hold on to the railing. The sky opened up, and a torrent of rain pelted down as sharp, cold winds slashed at his skin and wrenched his rod out of his hands.

His stomach doing nauseating flips and his whole body shaking from the wet clothes clinging to his skin, Noctis didn't even have the presence of mind to mourn the loss of his beloved rod. He was almost convinced it was the Tidemother herself wreaking havoc once again, the memory alone making his blood boil. Noctis had seen enough of Leviathan to last a lifetime.

Despite all his other much more pressing concerns, Noctis chose that moment to look up at the sky, in search of the sun. The sun was still creeping its way up to the firmament, and he watched on as it rose higher and higher.

Until it stopped, and fell. As if its weight suddenly became too much to bear on its own, it just dropped out of its assigned place, plunging straight in the sea.

There it goes, thought Noctis.

There was an enormous splash where it hit the water somewhere far away in the distance, setting off a wave that looked taller than the Citadel.

"Well crap," slipped out of his mouth as he realized the surge of water was coming his way—and fast at that.

His hold on the railing tightened. He knew nothing could save him from this. Shit shit shit, repeated in his mind as he stared at the mountain of a wave closing in over him. It cast a dark shadow over the boat, and for a moment Noctis thought the long night had returned once more.

That moment didn't last long, because water, so much water, swept over and tore at him, wrenching him away from the boat. His grip on the railing posed no resistance. The ice-cold waves felt like needles piercing into his skin, and he would have cried out in pain if not for the salt water burning his throat. Fighting for breath, Noctis struggled to swim his way back towards the surface—wherever the surface was—but the water's current was too strong, and it pulled him back down.

So he relaxed, and let it happen.

Then, as he sank, he saw it. There in the distance, the sun was ablaze, scorching everything around it an angry red. Despite all these miles between him and that thing, Noctis could feel its heat radiating even from where he sank through the water. And, as if mirroring his own descent, the sun was sinking further into the depths of the ocean.

The both of them sank and sank, and sank.

Little by little he could feel himself losing consciousness. The last thing he saw was the big red ball of the sun, and, much to his annoyance, that freaking golden fish closing in on him, no doubt mocking him for his failure.

And why did Noctis have the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something really, really important?

Next thing he knew, everything was back to normal.

Phew. This fish puts up a good fight, Noctis thought. So good, that for a second he had the most vivid hallucination of drowning. And of celestial bodies going for a plunge in the ocean.

Ha. Yeah, sure.

Now, though, Noctis stood there as before, clothes dry, rod in hand, fish still on the hook. The water was as calm as ever, as was the breeze. Seriously, this little pest. Noctis felt he already went through all swear words he knew because of this fish and it still wasn't enough. But he would end it n—

The line snapped.

"Just. Great." Noctis almost cracked his rod in two right then and there.

The fish, meanwhile, made its exit with a final splash. This tiny thing would grate on his nerves until the end.

But Noctis wouldn't have it.

He grabbed his tackle box to pull out both new line and lure, ready for revenge. If not on this fish then on one of its friends. Yep, he was petty like that. He respooled the line, secured the lure, readied himself to cast, and—

"Don't ya think it's about time we headed back? Not that I'm bored or anything watchin' you fish for hours on end," came a voice from behind him. Gladio.

Oh, right, Gladio.

Wait—Gladio? Since when—?

Noctis turned around. There was Gladio indeed, sitting on a camping chair set up under a shady tree next to the pier, half-read novel in hand.

How could he have forgotten his company? Especially when that company was none other than Gladio—big, bulky, behemoth? And most of all, always ready to comment on Noctis's fishing failures? No way could he not have heard that.

"Eos to Noct?" his Shield asked, one corner of his mouth twitching upwards at Noctis's no-doubt gaping expression. "You still with me? Or have the fish finally turned you into one of them?" Yup, this was Gladio and his big mouth, all right.

"Uh, no?" Noctis suppressed a snarky retort. They'd be at it for ages if he took the bait. More importantly, what had Gladio been talking about again? Oh right. "And, head back, where?"

"Back to the Citadel, brat. Where else ya have in mind?"

Citadel? If that was a joke, it wasn't funny. During their journey, he, Gladio, Ignis and Prompto had come to the unspoken agreement to never make jokes about their lost home.

"C'mon. Pack up your stuff and let's get going." Gladio slammed his book shut with an audible slap and stretched his long limbs. "Thought you could escape today's festivities altogether or what?"

Festivities? Okay, this joke was starting to become weird, even for Gladio.

"What do you mean?" Noctis asked cautiously.

"Oh c'mon. We all know all you want to do on your birthday is fishing, but His Majesty is waiting for you."

Gladio stood, and began to gather his belongings. Clearly, he expected the same of Noctis, but Noctis's mind was elsewhere. Birthday. Festivities. Dad? Not even Gladio would go this far with his jokes. What was going on?

Noctis scraped his shoes on the wooden pier he was standing on, the feel of the smooth and sturdy surface under his feet somehow grounding him. It felt better to finally stand on solid ground after the constant rocking and rolling of the Royal Vessel.

Yeah, solid ground was nice.

Real nice.

…Wait.

What the—?

He stopped to take in his surroundings, carefully this time. He stood on a small wooden pier jutting from the edge of a lake, a lake which looked slightly familiar, although he couldn't put his finger on when he had last been there. That in itself wasn't surprising, what with the insane number of lakes and ponds he'd visited during their journey. The real issue was, he was certain that just moments earlier he had been standing on the Royal Vessel out on the open sea. How could he be out there one minute, and here the next, without even noticing? And he had been alone there, but now Gladio was here. And his friend was talking nonsense about the Citadel, and his birthday, and Dad who was apparently waiting for him.

There was so much wrong with this situation. His brain worked on overdrive trying to make sense of everything.

But nothing made sense.

Being here didn't make sense. And now that he thought about it, everything from before didn't, either. How come he had been out at dawn all by himself in the middle of the ocean, to begin with? Why would he leave his friends behind for a boat trip of all things? Sure, if they camped close to a fishing pond, sometimes Noctis would sneak out when he couldn't sleep and go for some night fishing. Or sometimes he'd ask one of his friends to wake him early because some fish only bite in the morning hours. But this time around, he didn't have any recollection of how he even ended up all alone on the Royal Vessel. And everything after that was even more confusing. Ugh.

What was the last memory that made sense, anyway?

There was…

There was something.

There…

Oh.

Oh Gods.

I walked tall… And though it took me a while, I'm ready now. I love you all. Luna, guys…Dad… The time we had together… I cherish.

I'm ready now.

Damn.

I'm ready now.

Of course. This was it. He remembered.

All at once, everything came flooding back to him. Noctis felt his eyes starting to burn and his heart rate going through the roof. He choked on his breath, trying to control the overflow of emotions. I remember now. Oh gods, I remember. How could he have forgotten for even a minute?

Here—wherever this place was—the sunlight kissing the water of the lake was bright and the air was warm, hugging Noctis's body in a welcoming embrace. But before, while he had been stuck inside the Crystal for ten years, there was only the unyielding coldness of a world shrouded in darkness. While he slept, his friends and his people were left behind in that horrible world to fend for themselves. So many people died there. So many people died for him, because of him. And when he came back, the world was in ruin and all he could do was bring back Light for them.

And that he did. He remembered the feeling of it. Fighting Ardyn. The Royal Arms piercing him one after another, until the only one left was his father's. And he remembered burning. Burning in the Crystal's light. Dying. And realizing that he wouldn't even be able to see whether he succeeded, whether the dawn really would be restored to his friends and his people, to all people of Eos. Realizing that it was over for him.

And then it was, or at least he thought it was.

So why was he here…? What was this, then?

The afterlife? If this was what the afterlife would be like, Noctis had to admit it was different from what he'd expected. It was too…normal. Aside from watching the sun drop out of the sky, maybe. And the sudden location swap from saltwater to freshwater. Other than that? Just ordinary stuff happening. In a disturbing way, being here at a random lake on a fishing trip with Gladio was fucking with his head more than the idea of going for a dip in the ocean with the sun as his swimming buddy.

"—oct? Hey, Noct!?" Oops. Speaking of Gladio, he was calling his name. Loudly. How long had Noctis just been standing there and freaking out?

"Seriously, what's wrong with you today?" Gladio's face showed his typical mixture of worry and annoyance. Gladio's face...that was young, now that Noctis really looked. Much younger than the last time he saw him. Even younger than the time they left for their journey right before the Fall of the Crown City. There were no scars on his face. Neither that stupid scar Gladio brought back from his solo trip nor the one he took for Noctis when protecting him from some drunken guy in Insomnia.

That face took on an increasingly sour expression as the silence continued, though. Noctis must've been taking too long staring at Gladio.

"Uh, sorry, I guess?" he said sheepishly. "Spaced out for a minute."

"Tell me about it." Gladio's expression turned from outright scary to somewhat skeptical. But whatever went through his head was left unsaid for now. "Now, hurry up. Ain't got no time to waste." Gladio seemed to have given up on Noctis packing up by himself. He grabbed Noctis's fishing tackle and rod, and hastily threw everything together—no doubt making a mess of everything. Then he went off somewhere. Maybe towards where they were…parked?

He stared after Gladio's retreating back for another moment and took a deep breath. His mind couldn't stop running over everything that happened. He didn't feel like he could keep up with it all. But he figured keeping up with Gladio was the first priority for now, before his friend exploded on him or turned into a real behemoth or something. Processing what was happening to him—whatever that was—had to wait.

So he followed behind, trying to catch up to Gladio's head start. His Shield threw a look over his shoulder, seemingly satisfied that Noctis had finally decided to listen and move it.

As they walked up a dirt road, Noctis took in the scenery around him, trying to figure out just why this place seemed so familiar. The lake they distanced themselves from was of medium size, nothing as huge as the Vesperpool, but no tiny pond, either. They were surrounded by vibrant greenery, but enough sunlight came through from above. Aside from the occasional twittering of birds, it was quiet here. This place could be anywhere in Lucis.

Once they progressed further and the road opened up, though, Noctis began to see more and more signs of life. On a bench close to the road, an old man was perched on the edge, chugging beer. Meanwhile, a family was coming their way, son sandwiched between mother and father. What finally made him jump in surprise, though, was the group of cyclists zooming right past him. Still, this was nowhere near as startling as the sound of a busy city highway somewhere close by.

This wasn't the countryside.

All these sights and sounds were both so foreign and normal, like when he was younger; like in his teenage years. It took him back to a time when things had been simpler. By no means perfect, and maybe not simple, but simpler.

That was when it clicked.

He jerked his eyes up to the sky. Shit.

There was the Wall, looming over them just like in the past.

For some inexplicable reason, they were inside the Crown City and the Wall was still there—gods, the Wall. That meant Dad was here, too. Now it made sense why Gladio looked younger, and why he mentioned the Citadel and Dad in such a casual manner. Guess anything's possible in the afterlife… Even visiting places from the past.

The past... Gladio had said that it was Noctis's birthday today. He didn't know which birthday, but he knew enough to say it was before the Fall.

And this place… He remembered it now. This was a natural park area in the western outskirts of Insomnia. Noctis recalled that he occasionally came here for fishing, usually with Ignis or Gladio in tow. He couldn't see the Citadel from here, as this place was too far off from the center of the city where all the skyscrapers and luxury buildings accumulated, but this was inside the Wall, it was Insomnia. His home.

But just why on Eos was he here of all times and places?

Before he could come to a conclusion, though, they arrived at a decently packed parking lot.

As predicted, Gladio's car—he recognized the flashy girl the instant he saw her—waited for them. They hopped in and Gladio started her up, evidently in a hurry to get back to the Citadel.

"Okay, let's hope traffic's not a bitch and we make it with time to spare, maybe get you into somethin' fancier." He threw a quick glance in Noctis's direction. "Iggy'll kill me if you show up lookin' like that."

That statement made Noctis look down at himself.

He was wearing a casual outfit, definitely something he'd still wear. What baffled him, though, was the difference in his body. He was close enough to his current—err, future? 20, no 30-ish years old? Ugh, whatever—build, but slightly leaner, and his limbs looked shorter, too. It wasn't anything big, but it was disturbing to have a look at his younger body. And he hadn't even seen his face yet. Just how old was he here?

Argh… He pressed a hand against his temple to fight off the tension of a headache that was starting to build behind his eyes.

"If we make it in an hour, we'll be there by five p.m. Sound good?" Gladio asked.

Five p.m.? But how—?

No longer able to trust himself enough to speak out loud, Noctis just nodded.

That seemed to be enough for Gladio who—doubtlessly having caught on to Noctis's lacking desire for small talk—turned on the radio and didn't attempt any more conversation. That was something Noctis could live with right now.

Five p.m. Huh. Only now did Noctis notice how the sun's position had changed. He hadn't even noticed earlier—what with the Wall taking up all his attention. Not that anything surprised him at this point. What was the big deal anyway? He only went from early morning to late afternoon in record time today. Just another thing that didn't make sense.

Taking another deep breath, Noctis tried to calm himself.

He needed to figure out more about this place—about this time—or he'd be in for even more surprises later.

An idea came to him. He patted down his jeans pockets and—ha!—fished out his saving grace: his phone.

No doubt it would give him some helpful information. Like today's date. Clearly, today was his birthday. But which year? He tapped the phone. Fortunately, he never changed his passcode, much to the chagrin of a certain chamberlain of his. He remembered too many times Ignis had tried to convince him to change it.

"Using His Majesty's birthday as a passcode is a security liability, Noct," he would say. "You had best change your passcode promptly."

"What, should I use your birthday instead?"

Eyebrows raised, Ignis would ask, "Do tell, when would that be?"

"…W-well, that's what I'm sayin'! You know me, Specs, Dad's birthday's the only one I'd remember."

"And unfortunately, so does everyone else in this kingdom." Then he would let out a sigh. "I suggest you reset it. And preferably before we have a public relations disaster on our hands."

Or something along those lines. Not that Ignis had been wrong. And still, Noctis had kept that passcode—mostly for the purpose of getting the occasional rise out of his future advisor.

Noctis typed in the passcode. Moment of truth. The home screen flashed, and today's date popped up.

August 30, 752.

He counted backward. It was his seventeenth birthday.

He was more than thirteen years back in the past. Even though he had spent most of those thirteen years in the Crystal and time flowed in strange ways there, the memory of his seventeenth birthday still felt way too far off in the past. Why would his afterlife make him relive that birthday?

Admittedly, his seventeenth birthday had been kind of special. On that very birthday, a ceremony had been held in the Citadel—his coming of age ceremony.

As heir apparent, Noctis had come of age earlier than normal crown citizens. If not for his dad, it would have been even earlier. Like the last half-dozen generations of successors in the line of Lucis, Noctis had originally been meant to reach the age of majority on his sixteenth birthday. But his dad had tried to push back the date of the ceremony as much as possible, giving Noctis an extra year before he would have to take on more royal obligations. Another year of freedom for him.

Until his seventeenth birthday.

And that day, as it seemed, was today.

Was that why he was here? Was his memory of this birthday so special?

But of course, the answer refused to come to him. Giving up on this thought, Noctis forced his attention back to the phone. His inbox was practically fit to burst. Well, it was his birthday after all. After some pondering, he pressed his thumb on the blue envelope icon. Predictably, the majority of the texts seemed to be birthday wishes, and Noctis scrolled through in the hope that some of these messages would jog his memory. He didn't recognize many of the contacts, but that wasn't anything to do with being in the afterlife; he was just horrible with names.

But maybe—maybe there were some texts from his friends…or from Dad?

That was when a text caught his eye. There it was, a text from Dad, already marked as 'read'. Not that he could remember its content after all this time.

Noctis's heart pounded against his ribcage as his fingers hovered over the screen. He wanted to read Dad's text so badly, but he didn't know if he could keep it together, after all that had happened. And if he were to get all emotional right here in the car with Gladio sitting next to him, what then? It would make things even more awkward for sure.

Later then, he promised himself.

Scrolling down, he spotted a text from Prompto. This he could handle.

Prompto (11:23): hey buddy! happy bday! 2 bad u have a boooring royal party planned 4 today and wont grace this pleb with ur presence… lmk once u know when u wanna hit the arcade tmr!

Oh Prompto...

The text instantly brought a no-doubt stupid grin to Noctis's face. Damn, he missed his best friend. The few days in between Noctis's awakening after his Crystal sleep and their return to the Citadel barely had been enough time to catch up and get to know this grown-up version of his friend better. He could only get a small glimpse of the incredible person Prompto had become.

The same could be said for Ignis and Gladio, of course. He missed them all, and he just wanted to hang out with them just like back when they had been young and stupid.

Maybe he had the chance to do so here?

Even if his friends were just some projection or memory or whatever without the shared memory of their journey, it was better than nothing. He'd take that chance any time.

This thought made him look over to Gladio, who'd been quiet the whole ride. Now that Noctis had calmed down somewhat, he wanted to make use of the opportunity of this unexpected reunion, because who knew how long he'd be allowed to stay here?

But as always, Noctis struggled with his words. What was he even supposed to say in this kind of situation? What would his seventeen-year-old self have said? Probably not the right thing, either. Noctis had never been good with words, especially not when it came to Gladio. The both of them only ever managed either some good-natured banter or ended up having full-blown arguments. There was almost nothing in between.

But he really wanted to say something.

Noctis tucked his phone back into his pocket and sneaked another peek at Gladio. He took a breath, swallowed his insecurities down and just went for it.

"Hey, thanks for today, I guess." Okay, that sounded cringe-worthy.

"Oho, someone finally learned some manners." And why for god's sakes had he missed that guy again? "So, how was the rod? Any good?" Gladio asked.

Great, more guessing games, Noctis thought. He could hear his brain rattling at this point: A Rod. Fishing. Fishing rod. Gladio and rods. Birthday. Insomnia. Rod. Gladio. Birthday. Rod. Oh.

"Right, the one…you gave me?"

"Yeah, that one, genius."

Noctis managed something close to a genuine smile this time around. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I like it... Thanks."

He received something of a big grin in return.

Right. Gladio once gave him a fishing rod for one of his birthdays. His seventeenth. He did use that rod for years.

The both of them fell silent again, but the silence didn't feel as awkward anymore. Noctis relaxed back in his seat. For the first time since he found himself back here in the Insomnia of his past memory, he wasn't on edge and didn't feel close to panicking or puking or whatever. That definitely was a step-up for him.

But gods, was he exhausted.

He let his eyes flutter shut. Right now, he didn't even care that the music of the radio was so disturbingly outdated, he'd be in for a life of cringing if he were to listen. Instead, he just let the music envelope his ears, helping his brain to get into a drowsy mindset.

He'd never have imagined the afterlife would turn out like this, but maybe it actually wasn't such a bad thing. He'd get to see his home in one piece. He already got to see the sun right where it should be, high up in the sky. He'd gotten to see Gladio. And he'd also be able to meet his other friends. And his dad. And maybe even Luna? Who cared if this was real or not? Maybe this was his afterlife giving him a chance to say goodbye to the life he had, to give him the peace he needed to move on? For once, he knew that everything would be alright. He'd already done his work. He'd brought back the dawn, and this was his well-deserved retirement. Yeah.

Maybe he'd go back to the lake one of these days, take the guys with him. They could make a camping trip out of it. Gladio would have the time of his life. Ignis wouldn't admit to it, but he'd secretly enjoy cooking for them. And Prompto would be beyond elated to just be invited along and snap away until his camera would overheat. And Noctis… Well, he never got to go through with his revenge on that nasty fish. Oh yes, that sounded like a plan. Feeling light and giddy with anticipation, Noctis dozed off, planning their outdoor trip and brainstorming evil revenge schemes.

Nothing ever had been easy, but he finally made it. Everything would be all right now.

.

.

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A/N: Hello everyone! :D

I've been waiting for a nice, long time travel fic that explores the time before the chocobros head off to Altissia, one where poor Noctis has to go back further in the past - practically, a few years before the game begins. But none ever came (as far as I know), so I decided to write it myself!

In this story, Noctis and the others will go through a lot emotionally and physically - be prepared. I'm also going to explore many lore elements of FFXV, such as the Kings of Yore and the Astrals. You won't believe me how many notes I took while playing the game to make sense of the lore. :') This is also a story for people who love time travel mechanism because there's even more of it to come.

The story is all outlined, planned out, and will have 33 chapters in total!

Now, Noctis's struggle to make things right will be the main focus of this story, but there will also be a romance subplot:

The romance part of the story will center around a complex and slow burn polyamory relationship. The character and relationship tags on FFN are restricted to only four characters, which is a pity, because I couldn't add the other important character of the main relationship(s): Luna. Of course, I won't yet reveal how it will play out, but please be assured that there won't be any character bashing taking place here and that I'll try my best to stay true to our favorite characters! In any case, love will play quite an important part in this story, but please be aware that this will be as slow of a burn as they come with much character and relationship development to cover first. Polyamory is difficult to write, but I do plan to treat these relationships with respect and as realistically as possible.

I hope you enjoy the story!

Finally, big shout-out to my wonderful beta readers kitsune_138 / Kitsune138 and Poshu! I'm so lucky to have you!

EDIT: Another big shout-out to Diamond1502 from DeviantArt for creating such beautiful art for this fic and for letting me use it as the cover image! Isn't it gorgeous? :D