A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction in a very long time! Life happens, so it's been a while. This is nothing serious, just a oneshot I cranked out, so forgive me for any errors in terms of story timeline or characterization. Like many fans, FFXV left me intrigued and not in a satisfying way. I truly wish these characters had more time- especially Lunafreya. But oh well! This may be the first of a series or another fic, who knows. Anyways.
Blaring red. That was the tone of his eyelids all of the sudden.
Noctis slowly eased his eyes open. There was no more redness, rather the bright whiteness of the window curtains, and the sun that apparently shone directly through them at the moment.
It must've been noon.
The prince (or King now?) drew a long sigh. He had yearned for a chance to sleep until this hour for over a year now. The night itself lasted ten years.
But before then there was Ignis urging him to help with cooking, Prompto insisting in his company for the latest photo trend. Noctis had to admit- Prompto had a knack for it, though flipping through endless filters afterwards always seemed ridiculous. Especially when they had just sprinted for their lives from a catoblepas.
Gladio was perhaps the most convincing. The Leige of the Lake was no easy feat. In fact, after the first several mornings of rising at the crack of dawn with the formidable friend to fish wish, Noctis was beginning to believe that Gladio was making it all up.
"Puny. Just like yours."
If he heard that one more time he would've dropped the rod and sulked. But instead the next cast proved to be more rewarding. Prompto had joined them by the lake at that point- ready as always to take the picture of Noctis heaving the creature to the surface, nearly falling in the lake himself.
The Leige was still swimming.
The room was bright white, reflecting the sunlight from the outside, the bed had a white canopy with white linens.
Noctis was more aware of his surroundings and sat straight up when he saw it.
The giant fish was swirling gracefully in a fish tank on the far wall, like a trophy in its full glory and a living testament to Gladio's claim and Noctis's perseverance. At fishing that is. And waking up early for a good catch.
His sudden movement woke the sleeper next to him. Noctis blinked down at her. Platinum blonde locks on bare skin. Puzzled, inquiring blue eyes steadied on him. It was Luna.
"Noctis? What's wrong?" The gentle voice inquired.
Noctis slid back down into the sheets- partly from apprehensive bashfulness because he suddenly realized his lack of clothing and things just suddenly got so weird.
"Luna!" He gasped. Not knowing what else to do given the circumstances, Noctis stared at her, sharp blue eyes focused on her. She reached forward sleepily and clutched his hand in hers, long slender fingers intertwining with one another.
"You're alive." He whispered, pushing his hand to her cheek, pressing his forehead to hers, their hands remaining clasped in each other's.
"As alive as you are," She replied, smiling a little. "You remember what I told you, don't you?"
"When the world falls down around you, and hope is lost, when you find yourself alone amid a lightless place, look to the distance. Know that I am there and I am watching over you always."
It hit him. The movement he turned to her during the confrontation with Leviathan, chest heaving with fatigue. His flesh on his right thigh burned with a fresh wound being bathed in sea salt, hair matted to his face, eyes burning from tears and salt.
But there she was. The woman he was betrothed to, and despite not seeing one another in years they still kept in contact discretely, exchanging letters to be delivered by her trusty messenger Umbra.
He had watch her die. Bright red blood soaking her white gown from the wounds that Ardyn inflicted, her limbs flickering as her last breaths of life were made, before the ocean took her away.
A radio DJ had questioned whether she was truly dead in the days that followed, but Noctis knew the truth. He saw her eyes glaze over the moment she passed.
But then she blessed Ardyn in the moments before his own death. Noctis himself succumbed to his own mortality- the price that had to be paid to bring the night to an end. But then he was on the throne, Luna by his side, in the gown that had been displayed at her memorial in the streets of Altissia. It all seemed to longer ago, the events were clearly far apart but time seemed distorted to the Lucian King at the moment.
"I remember." Noctis nodded, his light blue eyes only inches from hers, "But how?"
Lunafreya chuckled. She pulled back for a moment and studied his face. He had aged quite a bit during his time inside the crystal and from using the Ring of Lucii. But she had to admit it suited him. Specks of graying hairs shone on his jet black head and in the hairs the poked through the lower portion of his face, grazing her skin when they had kissed amidst the passion. Creases framed the outer corners of his eyes in the top of his forehead- telltale of the trials he faced in his final days.
"I don't know." Her voice faltering a little as she sat up against the large headboard, pulling the white blankets over her chest. "I just know you're here with me now."
Her body was as bare as his, he realized now. He could feel heat in his chest and cheeks as memories- or whatever they were filled his conscience of the night prior. He had entered the room and saw her dress hanging on the far wall, where the fish tank now stood. She sat in front of the mirror brushing her hair, looking as elegant as ever even with her hair loose over one shoulder and in a simple blush colored robe.
He remembered how she looked when she saw him in the reflection of the mirror dressed in his King's regalia she stopped and turned her head to her shoulder.
"Noctis." Her gaze met his, eyes potent and fixed on him. He was still new to this place, so the sight had an intoxicating effect on him.
He remembered how the minutes that followed were a blur, and Noctis cursed himself for being unable to remember them properly. Her skin was warm, as if she had been sitting under the sun all these years, patiently waiting for him to press his lips to it. Her voice was exactly how he remembered in the few moments he had with her as an adult- delicate, but firm with her accent thick as she gasped and urged him on. His body had aged but he had maintained his stamina, and the room air had been so thick for a while.
"Do you like being here with me?"
Noctis nodded, sitting up next to her now. After those memories, leaving his chest exposed didn't seem like nearly such a big deal.
"Yeah, I do." He grabbed her hand again and turned toward her. "I've..." He paused a sighed, meeting her eyes again and sucking air through his teeth before speaking again, choosing his words carefully for some unknown reason. "I've thought a lot about what I would say to you if I ever say you again."
Lunafreya nodded, ushering him to continue. The Noctis she remembered would brood quite a bit in his early life, sending her letters of deep thoughts that she could tell he had never shared with anyone before.
"What would you say?"
The unabashed nature of their bodies possessed him. His thumb grazed her palm lightly. "A lot of things. Not a day went by that I didn't think of something that I wanted to tell you about."
Luna's breath was caught in her throat for a moment. His response was absolutely heart wrenching. Her breathing slowed and deepened as he continued, but she wanted to suppress her tears. As a woman who was beaten and witnessed as much tragedy as much as her, she was quite good at holding back tears.
"At first I didn't believe you were gone. I was just really sad. And then I became so angry." Noctis's voice shook, "I was little angry at you and my dad, because I felt like you kept this great secret from me my whole life. But I was especially pissed at Gladio, because he was on my case the whole time."
The Oracle took a deep breath-fuel to keep her voice steady. "I'm sorry for that. But you understand why I had to do it, didn't you?"
"I know." Noctis replied quietly. He shifted over, closing the gap in between them against the headboard, and held her close against him. Her skin still felt so warm.
"We both did what we had to do, but selfishly the thing I wanted the most throughout the whole thing- more than the liberation of Insomia, was to be with you."
Lunafreya shuddered against him. "I wanted to be with you too."
They sat in silence, eyes drifting slowly to one another's, until Noctis closed the final amount of space between them, gently slipping a hand up the base of her neck to the back of her head through soft strands of hair that only reflected light. He kissed her gently, but if was enough for her to let a sob slip from her lips from the sweet intensity of it all.
When their lips parted Luna broke the silence. "Do you miss them?"
Noctis furrowed his brow inquisitively.
Lunafreya giggled. "Well I ask because of the picture." She jerked her chin toward the nightstand behind Noctis. He turned over his shoulder, spotting the picture they took before the departure to Altissa. Prompto had of course insisted on it and Iris was stubborn as well. Gladio and Cid were the least enthused, but smiled big regardless. It was one of a series of shots because Prompto wasn't satisfied with the light for the first several takes, and after that the group had gotten progressively rowdy and uncooperative.
"That's a weird thing to have on a nightstand while we uh..."
Lunafreya laughed as Noctis sank back down into the pillow and pulled her onto his chest as he lay on his back.
"But in all seriousness, yeah of course I miss them." He turned his head back to the picture.
"I understand. I've missed you too. But you can watch over them still. Like I did for you." She shivered a little as his hand traced her spine.
"You did."
Luna nodded. "That's all I wanted."
Noctis breathed in a flowery scent from the window's breeze. Sylleblossoms bloomed somwhere outside. The rest of his thoughts cascaded as he pulled Luna in for another kiss. Right now there Luna was the only other thing that existed. Except for his mother's lullaby. And his father's protective clutch around him as a young child, and getting excited about his first fishing catch, only to find it was a long spindly branch that mimicked the weight of a fish.
The same branch was growing into the room through the window now, but the scent of sylleblossoms sweetened its journey. Power lines were resurrected somewhere and a honeymooning couple was seated at a table in the new restaurant in Galdin Quay. The Liege stretched its great fins in the tank. An elderly former Imperial soldier was giving his account to a reporter. It was a historical special interest story.
A rush of scents bombarded them now, blood, steel, dust, and then sylleblossoms again.
Insomnia was in the process of being restored for some time now. Somewhere in the streets people were rushing in again- the first push of refugees from Lestallum.
A statue of the King on his throne and the oracle by his side was raised in the square where Noctis last parted with his father, a crowd was cheering and Prompto, Ignis, And Gladio were there. And Luna's skin still felt like sunlight.
A/N: For those who are familiar with the HBO series "The Leftovers", I was thinking of an equally surreal however less complicated interpretation of the "other side", and leaving it up to the reader what their interpretation of that is. I loved this game mainly for the potential and am so sad it left us where it did! R/R and I may just come out with more to fill the void!