Here it begins and I really hope people will like this. Beta read by Elillierose, who also keeps me motivated to do this.
Who would have thought that they would meet him again. That strange man from Galdin Quay was leaning against the low wall of the lookout, looking rather surprised as he recognized Noctis and his friends.
"Well what a surprise meeting you here." He greeted them with a lopsided smile.
Gladio, remembering his strange behavior the last time they met, made a half-step to the left so he was standing between the stranger and Noctis. This caused the man to hold up both hands and chuckle nervously.
"No need to be hostile, really." He said, leaning a bit back at Gladio's warning gaze. "Actually...I want to apologize for my behavior."
"Apologize?" Prompto asked, speaking out what the others were thinking, "What do you mean?"
"Well, you know." He said, visibly embarrassed. He was fumbling with his hat in his hands for a moment, before he spoke again. "I feel so bad about it but I was terribly frustrated that the ferry to Altissia wouldn't come for a while and had a few more drinks than appropriate."
"Wait...are you telling us you were acting like the biggest weirdo because you were drunk?" Noctis asked, not hiding the amusement in his voice.
The man nodded, an embarrassed smile forming on his face. "I guess that describes it quite accurately."
Prompto couldn't suppress a snort and Noctis' shoulders relaxed. Ignis and Gladio were still wary but allowed themselves to calm down a bit.
"The name is Ardyn, by the way."
Not seeing any more reason for hostility, the guys introduced themselves as well. Ardyn seemed like a nice enough guy, if a little weird, and the creepy vibe he gave off in Galdin was completely gone.
"Are you still headed for Altissia?" He asked as the conversation went on. Noctis grew quiet and looked away for a moment.
"Kind of." He answered eventually, "We wanted to...visit the disc of Cauthess but Niflheim got everything shut off there."
"'Visit'?" Ardyn asked with a knowing smile, "Or rather have a talk with nice guy Titan sitting in his cozy crater over there?"
Gladio's jaw clenched visibly but Ardyn laughed and waved a hand. "Oh come now, do you really think I don't know the face of the crown prince?" He was now talking in a lower tone so as not to not attract the attention of the people near them, "You see, I have some secrets about my person as well. Or let's say...'imperial secrets'."
"You work for the empire?" Prompto blurted our. He flinched as he earned a warning gaze from Ignis, but Ardyn immediately made a calming gesture.
"I'm no important person, but it's true, I am a part of the empire." He explained with a soft smile, "But only because I do, that doesn't mean I'm on their side or share their view of things if you know what I mean. I know things, true, but also I can be very useful. You want to get to Titan? I can take you. What do you say?"
He looked at their faces, waiting for an answer.
"I think we need to think this through for a moment." Noctis said a bit hesitant before turning to his friends. Ardyn gave a short nod and turned around to leave them alone for the moment, occupying himself by watching the other people walking by.
"This might be our only chance, right?" Noctis said in a low tone when he felt safe that Ardyn had wandered far enough away.
"He gets us through the barricade, you have your chat with Titan and we leave again. Sounds easy enough, right?" Prompto summarized in a hopeful voice. He wasn't fond of going there to begin with but he knew Noctis had to and he wouldn't leave him. But anything that would speed this up and meant less fighting sounded good enough to the blond.
"This might be the best we can get." Ignis said, "This Ardyn seems genuine to me. A helpful soul as long as he stays away from alcohol and the like."
"So it's settled, then?"Noctis asked, looking from one to another, "Gladio?"
The Shield had been quiet all the time, eyeing Ardyn like he was trying to remember where he knew his face from. When he heard Noctis call his name he turned his head to look at him.
"I don't know where to put him yet." He said and threw another short glance over to Ardyn, who was absentmindedly looking over one of the near food stands. "But I guess it will do. As you said, he might be the only chance to get to Titan. And he seems alright, I guess."
"Let's get to it then, before I change my mind." Noctis swiftly walked over to Ardyn to tell him their decision. The man made a short bow and a delighted smile appeared on his face.
"Truly glad I can be of service."
Together they walked over to the parking lot, Ardyn talking about his car but Noctis' thoughts were somewhere else. He glanced over to the faintly glowing meteor one last time. He wasn't sure it he was ready for it, but now there was no turning back.
"So, what do you think of him?" Prompto asked into the silence of the car drive. Everyone seemed to be deeply in thought and the silence became near unbearable for him.
"You mean Ardyn?" Gladio finally reacted and Prompto instantly turned around in his seat to face him, relieved that someone would talk to him.
"Yeah. I mean, looks like he's cool, right? I was just thinking, if he's really from Niflheim, can't we ask him to help us with some other things? I'm sure he knows a lot of stuff about the empire."
"I would rather not rely on him too much." Gladio said, "I want to get this done without anyone getting hurt and then-"
He was cut off by a phone ringing. Noctis sat up straight and started rummaging through his pockets until he eventually found his phone and took the call. He formed the word 'Dave' with his lips for the others while he listened to the voice on the phone.
"What did he want?" Gladio asked when the call ended. Noctis leaned forward to pat on Ignis' backrest to get his attention. "Dave and his hunters are having an issue with monsters at the Cauthess station and the situation is getting out of hand. He said the Station is basically overrun. We really should get there."
Knowing Noctis, Ignis knew the prince didn't really want to visit the Archaeon but he wouldn't go out of his way for a minor ask for help. What he described definitely sounded dangerous. He nodded his understanding and honked a few times to get Ardyn's attention, who was driving his own car in front of them to make him slow and eventually come to a halt on the side of the street.
Noctis jumped out as soon as the Regalia had stopped as well and jogged over to Ardyn, who was looking at him questioningly.
"Got an emergency call, we need to make a quick detour." He explained, leaning slightly against the driver's door. Without asking for further explanation Ardyn gave a short nod of understanding.
"Lead the way."
"You're coming with us?"
"Why shouldn't I? I may not be much of a fighter if that is required but I might as well try to be of some help, right?"
Noctis hadn't expected this. But he didn't question it, remembering the urgency in Dave's voice as he called and already turned back towards the Regalia.
"Thank you." He said before jogging back to his own car, Ardyn giving him a short wave and starting to turn his car around.
They rushed over to the rest area already seeing monsters roaming the street from afar. Ignis stopped the Regalia at a still safe distance, Ardyn's car parked behind them as they were jumping out.
"You sure you wanna do this?" Gladio asked, summoning his sword to get ready. "Can't ensure your safety when we're occupied with those things."
"Don't you worry, I can watch out for myself." Ardyn said in a slightly mocking tone, "Might I suggest not to waste anymore time now? Your prince is already on his way."
Gladio cursed as he turned around, seeing Noctis already running towards the fight.
Prompto kept his distance, realizing that he won't be of any help would he jump around amidst them, snarling monsters everywhere. He scanned over the scenery and shot where it was needed, keeping the backs of the hunters and his friends as free as possible. Following the light blue streak that was Noctis warping right in between a group of monsters that had surrounded a hunter. Taking one of the beasts out mid-jump before it could even reach Noctis, the blond hummed a tune while twirling the gun in his hand.
When he noticed movement on his side he abruptly turned around, expecting danger, but he looked only at Ardyn, guiding some civilians and injured hunters to safety. This made him smile a bit. Ardyn was an unusual guy, like in the way he gave himself, but looking at how he helped and tried to do his part, Prompto felt like he really was one of the good guys.
The blond stiffened, as he saw movement coming from the buildings behind them. Two big beasts – What were those anyway? Havocfangs? - charged right towards the group.
"Ardyn!" He called out to the man, already running towards them, trying to aim at the beasts. He hit one of them but it didn't do much more than to make it stumble for a moment and then continue on it's path.
Ardyn had stopped by then and was turning around to look at the approaching monsters. Prompto shot a few more times, successfully turning the attention of one of them over to him. It turned and ran now towards the blond who miscalculated the distance between them, his eyes still on Ardyn who was about to brace for being jumped by the other foe. Prompto tried to dodge the attack but it was too late and the world around him turned to a whirl of colors and pain. He lost his gun when he landed on his back, which knocked the air out of him and raised his arms to protect his head, when he felt a firm grip around his right wrist.
He was jerked out from under the monster and while there were still dark blotches in his vision he could still make out Ardyn's shape next to him. The man had grabbed Prompto's gun as well and proceeded to unload it into the monster until it finally dropped dead. The blond shook his head to get rid of his obscured vision and the ringing in his ears.
"Thanks." He said, voice still a bit shaky from the rush of adrenaline, "That was close."
Ardyn didn't answer and when Prompto looked up at him again, he was staring down at Prompto's arm he was still holding. Or more specific: At his code tattooed on his wrist. Reflexively he pulled his arm away to hide it behind his back.
Ardyn made no attempt to hold him back but his gaze was serious. Without a word he handed Prompto back his gun and looked around until he found what he was looking for. He stood up and picked up the wristband Prompto was normally wearing. It must have come off when he fell. Handing it back to him as well, Ardyn looked him straight in the eyes.
"Do you know what that is?" He asked, nodding his head in the direction of Prompto's right side.
Not wanting the tattoo to be visible any longer, the blond secured the wristband around it again, pondering how he should answer this. He didn't know. It was just there, always has been.
"Not really." He said with a shrug. He tried to act not interested but Ardyn's reaction made him nervous. Since he could remember the code was always there and he always hid it. He had tried to ask his parents about it a few times but never got a satisfying answer, so he proceeded to hide it out of instinct, not wanting to be asked about it by anyone.
Ardyn knelt down again, his face worried, and pointed at Prompto's wrist.
"You really don't know what you have there?" He asked again, making the blond tense up as he heard the urgency in his voice.
"I told you, I don't." He answered, wrapping his other hand protectively around his right wrist. After thinking about it for a few seconds he asked, "Do you?"
Ardyn nodded and Prompto felt his insides cramp up for a moment. He knew something. That was no joke, Ardyn's face was dead serious, he definitely knew something about this.
The larger man got to his feet again and offered Prompto a hand to help him up.
"Let's finish this." He said in a calm voice. "I can tell you all about it if you want me to, but only under one circumstance."
"What is it?" Prompto had to take a few deep breaths to steady his voice again. He wasn't sure if it was positive excitement he felt, finally learning something about this one thing that had accompanied him all those years and he still knew nothing about, or if it was fear. Fear because of the grave and worried expression in Ardyn's face since he saw the code, which couldn't mean a good thing.
"We have to talk about this alone. If you tell your friends afterwards, I don't care. But I would prefer to talk in private first."
"Deal."