Prologue:

The hit sent his way was so strong that Noctis thought he had blacked out for a moment.

"I'm afraid that's it, East. Unfortunately." South said.

Bright eyes of the Witch of the East observed Noctis without interest, as he struggled helplessly to stay awake. Black dots littering his vision obstructed shapes and colors, making it nearly impossible to make out what was going on and that ringing in his ears...

The Witch of the South smiled. "You'll die, East. Here and now."

The Witch of the East didn't answer right away. Standing still, illuminated only by eternally moving curse circles, she bore her motionless stare into Noctis, waiting. As he sighed with pain, his body sagging, signalling a consciousness that had been lost, East turned to the other Witches.

"Yes." she said and her voice was calm. "But I will not die alone."

/

Chapter 1:

Three months earlier

It really sounded like a good idea at that time.

Of course, they should have known not to give in to Prompto's stupid plans, but a bunch of wolf pups seemed like a no-challenge at all, especially to bored teenagers. However as they just discovered, even if humans made discusable parents, the animals cetrainly were properly protective. So when adult wolves jumped out of their hiding place in nearby bushes, situation quickly changed from amusing to terrifyingly life-threatening.

"Noct!"

The prince cringed. Tightening his sweaty grip on a dagger's handle, he slowly backed out into relatively safe spot behind Gladio's back.

"Stay back, your highness!" Ignis called from not so far away, where together with Prompto he was being cornered by a pack of four really big wolves. One of them growled hoarsely, circling around guarded humans. Bigger than the rest, it must have been the pack leader, which made the situation only worse. Ignis felt his muscles stiffen from effort not to do any sudden movement. From what he remebered, the wolves were aggressive when provoked and even though they had provoked them alright, if only they could make their way out of this woodlet...

The pack leader deprived him of his choices. As Ignis wrecked his mind to find a solution to this dangerous situation, the animal scanned the surrrounding.

"You think it's gonna... whoa! No!"

Prompto didn't finish, because when three wolves jumped on them together, the pack leader leapt away, with planned movement path landing on Gladio's back. But instead of sinking its teeth in muscular bodyguard's back, the wolf swiftly turned to the one hiding back.

"Noct! Run!" Gladio roared, before a heavy paw grounded his face into grass.

"NO! Stay where you are!" Ignis slashed a wolf's muzzle, trying not to turn his back to the other one. To his right, Prompto wrestled with another animal which bit his sword and refused to let go.

Noctis didn't hear them. Hypnotized by two unmoving, deadly calm yellow eyes, he didn't know what to do. Running meant turning away from the wolf and getting attacked; standing in place also meant an attack, this time received with full attention what made it even more terrifying.

The wolf pounced on the boy frozen in fear. With its jaws opened wide, the animal aimed to bite Noctis's head off in one quick snap, but when its teeth clacked on nothing, it stopped in confusion. Blue lights danced in front of it and through them, the wolf saw his prey crawling backwards on all fours some distance away. The boy had been hurt, that much was obvious from blood flowing freely down him arm and marking his escape path.

The pack leader growled again, preparing for another jump. It could hear its packmates swarming on fallen Gladio, another two taking care of screaming Prompto, while the beta took on Ignis's daggers with quite big success. The pack was about to have a really great feast tonight, as the three men were rather big prey. And even if this little boy was thin and unappealing as a meal, the leader still chose to kill him first. Being the weakest, he still radiated something unnamed, what made the wolf stiffen in a non-explained uneasiness, so the best option was to get rid of the nuisance right then and there. It opened its terrifying jaws again and howled, listening to the kid's scared squeak.

That was when a flour bomb hit it right into its eyes.

/

One way or another, it seemed that his magic kicked in this time, as he ported out of the wolf's way. Not so far, though. When magical blue lights finished blinding him and Noctis could feel his body again after appearing back, he yelled in pain. Apparently, his magic worked unevenly, because the wolf managed to scratch his arm and forearm with its teeth, as it was now bleeding quite badly.

Noctis took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Along with relief of being alive came adrenaline from near death experience. Not to mention that the wolf was still close and coming for another attack!

At first, Noctis tried to crawl back, but his injured arm gave out the moment he tried to put his weight on it and he fell to the ground. It hurt, it hurt so much that tears came to his eyes, but he blinked them away, more focused on getting away from immediate danger. He was some distance away from the wolf, but not enough, as it could close the gap in a single jump. While it was preparing to pounce again, Noctis, who suddenly felt as if someone hit him on the head, heard a loud whoosh and a small package hit the wolf in the eye, bursting into a cloud of something white.

Noctis didn't lose time. Supporting on his healthy arm, he jumped to his feet and made a break for it. Or would have, as the moment he straightened, a vertigo overcame his scared mind and he stumbled. Sliding down onto grass, Noctis tried to look around, find his friends and help them or call for help, but something like a thick red curtain covered his sight, along with awful ringing in his ears. He could hear alright, but all sounds were distorted and became unrecognizable. Noctis could only guess that a low whizz sound was wolf's growl, while soft booming must have been the packets with white powder hitting the animal.

Losing feeling in his limbs, Noctis would have fallen limply face first into grass, if a pair of strong arms hadn't caught his shivering body.

"Hang in there, son." came a comically deformed voice somewhere from above his head.

"Wah, they are coming!"

"Your highness!"

"Noct..!"

"We are here, Miss Lucia..!"

The arms holding him positioned his body as if he was a mere child's doll. The person who rescued him (a woman? A man?) laid him on the ground, because he could feel a touch of grass on his cheek. Through loud commotion surrounding his battered head, Noctis heard Ignis clearly, Gladio partially and that high scream must have been Prompto's. Voices of his friends awoke something in him and he tried to move.

"Stay down, lad."

A hand, small but really forceful pushed him back down to prevent him from any unnecessary movements. Along with it came a feeling of tingling itch, one that Noctis associated with a healing potion. But where would it come from? He was sure none of them brought any, so maybe the people that came to their rescue..?

Through disgusting red mist covering his eyes and swirling in his mind, Noctis felt feverish and overwhelmingly thirsty. So much, that it rendered him completely unable to think about anything else. His vision seemed to pulse in the corner of his eyes, making him want, want, want...

Not caring about the healing magic coursing through his body from the stranger's touch, Noctis sprang upwards, displaying an abnormal strength freed himself from the one holding him and attacked that person's throat in desperate attempt to feel their blood on his tongue. He could nearly taste it, a feel of human skin on his lips and teeth, nearly sinking into tender flesh without resistance, but then he received a real blow to his head and the world dissapeared into darkness.