Disclaimer: Don't own FFXV

Due to popular opinion this will be a chapter fic now so please re-read ch1 as I have filled things out more.

Chapter 1

Mira Argentum loved being a Mother. They'd only had little Prompto for two years but every day with him was a joy. He was such a happy baby, their little bundle of sunshine. When Cor Leonis himself had approached them they had been wary, a baby could not be held responsible for the actions for the actions of the leaders of the country of his birth but that did not stop people blaming the refugees and treating them badly. Were they really willing to take that on? Then they'd seen him, and he had stolen their hearts with his chubby little cheeks and freckles. There hadn't been a lot of information on him, he hadn't even had a name, just the strange tattoo on his wrist of a barcode which just showed how sick the Niflheim military was. The Marshall had told them to keep it covered for all of their safety and that was easy enough. They had named him Prompto because he was so quick as soon as he had begun crawling. He was a quiet baby, content to watch and learn, and he was a quick learner. They couldn't have asked for more in a son.

She smiled as he splashed in the water of the bath, he was a water baby, loving bath time and even storms. She splashed back gently, and he giggled, eyes bright with joy. She finished washing him and lifted him from the water, weathering the pout as she dried him, not noticing the tiny scales that quickly faded away as he was dried off.

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Ardyn was not happy. Verstael Besithia had failed him for the first time. He had taken on the role of Chancellor to the Empire to steer it along in accordance with his own plans. Some of those plans had involved ancient samples that had been old even in his mortal lifetime. Samples that had been saved since the time of Solheim. At that time there had been one more race, a race lost to time, all record of it expunged from history. He had found the samples well hidden in a ruin, he had then re-hidden them and then retrieved them when the cloning program had been explained to him. The samples had been carefully introduced into one of the clone production batches very carefully. At first, things had appeared to be going well, other than one of the clones being stolen a few months after removal from the growth tube. Now, several clones had died, bodies twisted and deformed after they had been exposed to tubs of sea water. Besithia had suggested they needed to wait longer before exposing them, let their bodies become stronger first and so they were left waiting, a further three had died of no obvious cause since. He needed those clones to live, he needed them to access the ruins of their society, hidden too deep in the sea for any human or daemon, even him. Records hidden with the samples recorded a source of great darkness hidden away down there and he wanted it. He would plunge the world into eternal darkness, and it would make it a lot easier.

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Kyle adjusted the wristband to hide the barcode on Prompto's wrist and then smiled at his son. "There you go, all ready."

The boy bounced on his heels, excited to be starting school. He grabbed his little backpack and followed Kyle out of the house, taking his hand as they walked two blocks to where the school was. At six, Prompto was small for his age but he had been sickly the last few years, there had been a few real scares where they had thought he was going to die. The Marshall had even had him taken to Doctors in the Citadel, not that Prompto remembered those trips with how ill he had been. The last year he had improved though, so they had decided to enrol him in school. If his health suffered they would need to withdraw him and look at home schooling when he was well enough to focus on studies. They both hoped that wasn't necessary, Prompto had no friends and they wanted him to have some. He had them but he was lonely, nothing could replace friends his own age. He wasn't as quiet as he had been as a toddler, he was becoming a little chatterbox, always questioning everything, very curious. He should be running around with friends, not watching TV or reading. They were having to really watch his diet now; he'd begun gaining some weight due to his inactivity when ill.

"Okay?" he asked as they reached the gates of the school and Prompto stared with wide eyes.

"So big," he clung a little tighter to Kyle's hand.

Kyle chuckled and led him through the gates, following other families with tiny kids. He saw Prompto to his classroom and then left.

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Prompto sat alone with his lunch, hiding in the shade of a tree. He picked at his wristband, fighting tears. He wanted to make friends, but no one liked him. They made fun of him cause of his hair colour which was just silly cause there were two girls with even lighter hair! He had been looking forward to school, but it wasn't what he'd thought it would be. He was picked on for anything by everyone. It wasn't fair!

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Prompto sat in the bath, staring down at his legs, seeing the pretty scales on them, wondering how many more he'd get as he grew up. One reason to be glad he was small; he could still lie out in the tub. He lifted a hand seeing his nails looked longer, sharper? He'd been really hungry lately, but nothing seemed to make it go away. His parents were away, they'd had to go for work, but they called every night and had Miss Eliza come and check on him every day to cook him dinner and make sure he was okay. He didn't like it, but it wasn't meant to happen very often, and it meant he could soak in the tub as much as he liked as long as he went to school and did his homework. The kids all called him chubby and fat but when he was in water that didn't matter.

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Mira smiled and ran her fingers through thick blonde hair. She hadn't liked leaving him at home, but they couldn't pull him out of school to take him with them. there shouldn't be another trip like that until school was on break so they could take him on that one. She knew he would love Altissia with all its water. There were places to swim there, maybe that would help his weight which was beginning to concern them. the tv was on low, a kids movie playing and Prompto began humming along to the tune. He had a nice voice, even for humming and it was getting better as he got older. It was rather….soothing….she sighed, settling deeper into the couch, eyes drifting shut as she listened only to the sound of his humming.

Mira blinked, opening her eyes to look around in confusion. The TV was off, and Kyle was there, carefully lifting a sleeping Prompto, smiling when he saw she was awake. "What time," she yawned.

"After midnight, I've got the kid, go to bed."

"Hmm…" she stumbled off to their room. She'd been wide awake, falling asleep on the couch was not something she did…it was odd.

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Kyle jiggled his keys in the lock, glad to be home early. He glanced around but there was no sign of Prompto, then he saw the closed bathroom door. He knocked on the door and then cracked it open. "Hey kiddo…." He trailed off, eyes wide in shock, not really registering what he was seeing.

"Dad!" Prompto grinned, pushing up in the tub.

Kyle stared in horror as he began registering what he was seeing…scales…silvery blue scales covered Prompto's legs, more scattered over the rest of his body.

"You're home early," but his smile faded as he saw the look on Kyle's face. "Dad? What's wrong?"

"I…what…" Kyle backed away. What was this?

"Daddy?" the seven year old whimpered, dropping back into the safety of the water.

"Get dressed," Kyle demanded, fleeing the room. He collapsed on the couch, what had he seen? Should he call the Marshall? He knew Prompto had been taken form a lab, but they'd been assured he was fine! What was he meant to do now? Should he call Mira? What he'd seen…that wasn't human. His hands were shaking a little as the bathroom door opened and Prompto emerged, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt…bare legs free of scales.

"Dad?" Prompto shifted nervously, not understanding what was happening. Why was his Dad upset?

"How long?" Kyle demanded and Prompto blinked, obviously confused.

"How long what?"

"The…the scales?"

"Always? There's more every year, it's really neat. How many do you have?" he asked, sounding exited to find out how many he might have as an adult.

Kyle stared at him, he thought this was normal? "None. No one has scales. It's not…it's not human."

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Prompto froze. What? But he had scales. He was human. What did his Dad mean? He bit his lip, wrapping his arms around himself. He didn't understand. And then his Dad destroyed everything he thought he understood….he…he was from Niflheim…a lab…he couldn't listen…he didn't want to know! He bolted from the house, running for the small park nearby, hiding in the bushes to cry. He was human, he was!

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Prompto watched silently as the bathtub was ripped out and a new standing shower was installed, he had no more tears left to cry. The new rules were very firm, and he hated it, he wanted things to go back to the way they were meant to be. He'd tried to hug his Mum when she came home, and she'd pushed him away. Didn't they love him anymore? He hadn't done anything wrong! Everything was changing.

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Prompto sat on the couch with a bowl of ice cream, watching the news. He stared in horrified shock as a devastating announcement was made. Prince Noctis had been attacked by a daemon while outside the city, his guards had been killed and he was in critical condition. It was terrible, the Prince was only a few months older than him, that meant he was only eight, Prompto couldn't imagine seeing people die like that. For months the city was on edge, waiting for the Prince to either recover or die. Prompto and every refugee form Niflheim paid the price for the attack as the people blamed the Empire for the attack, saying they used the daemon to try and assassinate the Prince. Prompto figured they were right, otherwise it was a very big coincidence, but that didn't make them guilty! He'd been a baby when he was brought to Insomnia, he had no memory of the Empire but the bullies and even adults didn't care. It made school harder, but he was determined to keep his grades up, to keep his scholarship. He needed to stay in a good school, to get into a good high school and then maybe university. He doubted his parents would pay anything for that schooling, not anymore.

He never really say his parents anymore; they took more and more of the offered trips for work every year. He hated being left alone, Miss Eliza had moved several months ago, but when they were home it was nothing like it had been. The house felt cold, whether they were home or not, they barely spoke to him anymore. Especially since…since he'd bitten his Dad, he hadn't meant to! It had been an accident, but it had been so hard to let go, he'd felt really hungry after, had downed some frozen fish fillets, raw. He didn't understand why he was different, what was happening to him. He'd had to stop listening to music cause every time he hummed he got kind of fuzzy headed and so had his Mum last time he'd done it when she was in the room. He'd tried searching the net but hadn't found anything to explain what was going on. He just had to do his best to hide it. He hated it, but he had to, he didn't like what it did to him. He used to like having scales…but the other bits he didn't like at all, it made it hard to think rather than just react.

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Prompto watched from a distance as Prince Noctis sat down to eat his lunch. Everyone had rejoiced when he had returned from Tenebrae, healed. Though even after only a few days in the same school, Prompto had noticed him favouring his left leg occasionally. The King did that too, he even wore a brace and used a cane, because of the Crystal so how badly would it affect the Prince when he became King?

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Prompto looked at the letter again. He couldn't believe Lady Lunafreya herself had written to him! He didn't want to disappoint her, but how could he do what she asked? The Prince thought he was heavy! He couldn't help it, he wanted to change, he really did. He wanted to be like any other kid. At least after five years the weird things had stopped, he guessed because the only water he was exposed to was showers and washing in the sink. He missed it, part of him craving the embrace of cool water, to feel scales in the place of weak flesh, but he did everything he could to ignore that part. Maybe with it all having faded, he could get his eating under control? Fish was healthy….salads maybe, get rid of the take-out food and figure out how to cook. He could do it, he had to! He wouldn't let her down!

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Prompto forced himself to keep going, no matter the ache in his calves. It was working, slowly but surely he was beginning to lose weight. He still had no friends and was bullied but nothing would change that. It would be even worse if anyone learnt his secrets, but he would never tell. He'd been shocked the last time his parents were home, three weeks ago, his Mum had actually commented positively on his weight loss. It had felt good to hear her praise for the first time in seven years and yes, he had been keeping track. He had a bit more to lose but maybe next year he could finally try and be Noctis' friend. They were starting High School, but he'd gotten a scholarship to the same one everyone said Noctis would be attending. He'd have to work hard and keep his grades up to keep it, but he was determined to do it.

He even had a hobby now, photography. His camera was old but that didn't worry him, he'd fiddled with it to improve it and his photos were getting better all the time as he learnt about lighting and filters. It was fun and maybe it was something he could do for a living one day.

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Prompto fiddled with his uniform and took a deep breath before approaching where Noctis was sitting. "Hi! I'm Prompto," he held his hand out, grinning widely and Noctis looked up at him, surprised, before slowly taking his hand.

TBC…