So here's my first story on this account. One thing that I'm going to note. The descriptions of the characters probably won't match those of the actual characters in the game, movie, or anime. Don't worry too much about it, because I did it on purpose for a lot of them. As for why, well if you read carefully enough you might figure out in time.
This is also a complete AU of the story, and I do plan on making more than one book in this "series" of events. I'm planning on also making more stories about this game, and others. If its something that interests you, feel free to keep reading. Enjoy the story and feel free to leave me a review below.
Chapter One: Striking Twice
The ground sped past his tired paws, but he couldn't bring himself to stop. He had to keep going, and he would keep going, until his legs gave out beneath him. He didn't want to be caught again, considering what the Empire would do to him if he did. He was defective. A Magitek that was too kind to humanity, a creature with his memories even though he should have been a mindless machine that was supposed to kill on command. How he'd retained his memories from being a demon before was beyond him, but he was terrified.
He didn't want to die, but he was even more scared of the idea of being alone. His kind were already rare as it was, having nearly been hunted to extinction. He was a Deamon known as a Thunderdog, a large wolf like creature with almost wing like blade structures on its back haunches and shoulders. Still, he was too small for his breed, and he wasn't a dark storm gray like the rest of them, but a bright lightning yellow. These things had made his pack abandon him as a pup.
That's where his familiarity and fondness to humanity had come in. Having been abandoned by his pack and too small to hunt for himself, he had wondered into a Hunter's camp. There, one of the children that lived there had adopted him, despite her parent's protests, and raised him. He had quickly become used to the way people stared at him, as if he was evil, and the way that those that showed him kindness acted towards him. He had quickly learned the best ways to get favorable reactions from humans, even learning to help with hunts.
His kind weren't very good outside of packs, and often worked best when in a group, so working with hunters was a good exercise for him. Though he couldn't speak their language, he had done his best during night hunts to help against the deamons they had been fighting. There had even been times when he had been separated from the group, only to find one of the hunters injured and guarding them through the night until morning came and the rest came out to look for them.
That hadn't last more than a year though before the Empire had come through the area and attacked the hunters for "disrupting the peace". Then he, along with many other Daemons, had been scooped up and thrown into cages, before going through years of conditioning and experiments until they had all gotten human like forms, become Magitek members, or MTs as they were most often called by the humans in the outer world. Still, he'd never forgotten his time before, or his kindness towards humanity. He'd even refused to let himself be known by the number and code that had been assigned to him. Even if Tia was dead, he wanted to keep the name she had given him, Prompto.
So he'd been running for days, and he hadn't stopped. After the unhappy citizens had attacked the citadel in an attempt to unseat the once kind, now power hungry dictator, he had been released to battle humans just like others of his kind. However he couldn't have brought himself to hurt the people if he had tried, and instead he had fled the battlefield instead. He was fast, much faster than a normal Thunderdog his age, but it was because he was small.
His fur, bright yellow, was spiked in long but soft trails down his body. His face was brown, as were his eyes, and there was a section of his body where his fur was short and brown, almost like a place where a saddle could be put. He was around seven years old now, easily the size of a large dog, but he was still too small for his age. White structures rose from his back and back haunches, sharp to the touch and made of bone, like an exoskeleton of some kind. His tail was short, almost bobbed, and it was difficult to see his long ears because of the equally long fur on either side of it.
It was an odd coloration to see since most Thunderdogs were a dark storm gray color and with dark golden wing like structures. They were also usually much larger, even at his age, and they weren't seen running in broad daylight. Being Daemons, they usually only came out at night, but being a MT, he was able to travel during the day and spent most of his time sleeping at night like a human would. Even so, he was much faster in his true form, and he didn't care who saw him as long as he could get away from that accursed place. Any fate, even death by a scared civilian, would be a better fate than having to kill people because they thought he should be some monster.
Prompto came to a field of beautiful purple-blue flowers. The scent they gave of was calming and peaceful, a gentle scent of peace and promised rest. Panting, the young MT sank down into the flowers, laying his head down on his tired paws. How long had he been running? Several days at least. Though he was a MT, and definitely not human, even he had his limits. He was young and inexperienced, and his headlong flight had left him too tired to continue. His long pink tongue lolled out of his mouth as he scanned the area. He was outside a town, Tenebrae, if he remembered correctly, and the only building that was nearby was the house of the line of the Oracle.
A frown touched his face a moment, not that a human could be able to tell what it was just by looking at him. He didn't know much about human culture, other than apparently the Oracle was supposed to be a girl with the ability to speak with the gods, and to heal the various afflictions caused by daemons. He hadn't been able to do any that his kind had once been able to do since he had become a MT, as if all the darkness of his birth had been cleansed from him somehow. How that had happened, he had no idea.
His ear flicked at the sound of a human child. It sounded male, and like it was in significant pain. There were older humans yelling, and the sounds of what seemed to be some kind of scuffle. Unhappy with the thought of a child being hurt, he stood and crept carefully towards the noise, which was coming from the house. Peering inside, he snarled as he saw MTs facing off against the various servants of the house. One of them had managed to drag a boy around his age out into the yard, and he wasn't making any move to stand.
There was a girl with long blonde hair, staring with wide eyes and looking desperate to help the boy. Her green eyes were piercing and worried, and something in that gaze made her even more inclined to help though he wasn't sure why. There were various servants, but a boy around fifteen or so with silver hair was trying his best to defend the girl, glancing around quickly for any way to get past the guards. Then Prompto noticed something else.
There were two dogs standing in the house, watching him with tilted heads. One was white while the other black, almost spitting images of each other. Well, he thought they looked like dogs, but there was something far too knowing in their eyes as they watched him. From the shadows stepped a woman with long black hair. Her eyes were closed for a moment, but they opened, revealing purple orbs that stared at him carefully. Seeing that he had met her gaze, she gave him a soft smile, putting a finger to her lips. She then pointed to the boy again. Slowly, Prompto let his eyes slide towards the boy, noticing the overturned wheelchair on the ground. So he was hurt? Could he not walk? As he turned his eyes back for confirmation, he noticed that both the woman and the two dogs had disappeared as if they had never been there.
As startled as he was by this new development, he decided he'd rather follow her request and help the boy. The MTs had turned their attention instead to the more obvious threat of the boy with the sword. Prompto slowly made his way over to the dark haired boy, pausing as he saw him. His hair was long, hanging into his face, and a dark black color.
His eyes on the other hand were a dark color as well, and Prompto was unsure what color they exactly were. They were fathomless, as if they had were meant for something far greater than this mortal shell spoke of. He was pale, trembling as he saw the daemon making his way closer. The Thunderdog dropped to his belly and crawled the rest of the way forward, hoping the boy wouldn't scream and alert the MTs to what he was trying to do.
No one had noticed yet. The commotion towards the front and the fight going on had seen to that. Stopping next to the boy, Prompto looked closely at the boy, watching for his reaction. The boy was quiet, and he was surprised to see interest there more than any fear. Did he not know what he actually was? No, he was fairly sure he was certain the boy knew he was a daemon. Still, he couldn't blame him for being curious.
Seemingly unable to move much, the boy managed to shift to where he raised a hand towards the MTs face, hesitating a moment with a shaking hand. Whether it was from fear or pain, Prompto couldn't tell, but he didn't move as the boy brushed the short brown fur on his face with his fingers. Embolded, the boy began stroking him more, which Prompto had to admit to himself he enjoyed. He hadn't been pet since Tia had adopted him, but he didn't have time for this.
"Can you stand?" Prompto whispered. The boy immediately pulled his hand back as if he had been stung.
"H-Huh?" the boy managed.
"I'm not a daemon," he replied. "I'm an MT, but I'm not with them." he added quickly, seeing the boy stiffen at this response. "Come on. Get on my back. I'll carry you."
The child hesitated again, seemingly nervous to trust the strange creature that he'd never met before. However he grimaced then and turned as much as he could, reaching up and grabbing onto Prompto's thick fur. The young MT didn't move as he waited for the boy to pull himself onto his back, even turning his shoulders as far as he could so the boy could pull himself over the blade like structures. The boy shuddered as he cut himself on the sharp spines, but didn't make a sound.
Once he was on Prompto's back and settled between the four blades, he wrapped his arms around Prompto's neck. Then, ignoring his screaming muscles, the Thunderdog stood and turned, creeping carefully away from the battle that was still fighting. He went carefully and slowly, trying to ensure that no one would see them as they made their way away from the area. When he reached the edge of the flower field he picked up his pace into a trot and made his way carefully into the trees that lined the edge of the field, heading into the forest.
It was obvious that the boy wasn't keen on the idea of going into the wilderness here, and especially not with the strange creature he had only just met. His hands tightened around Prompto's neck, and the Thunderdog immediately stopped, not wanting to make him more nervous than he was. It was then that the black dog decided to make an appearance, wagging its tail at the boy and motioning the Thunderdog forward again. The boy paused, looking up.
"Umbra?" he asked. The dog barked and wagged its tail, making the boy's brows knit together. "You want me to go with him? Okay..."
Prompto quickly made his way into the forest again, following the path the black dog took as it led them farther in. The boy on his back seemed to finally relax and laid his chin on Prompto's shoulder, trusting him to take him to where he would be safe for a while at least. They reached a small clearing where there was a small log that they could shelter in the shade of, but the dog was no where to be seen. Shaking his head and deciding he had to worry about the boy more than disappearing dogs, he laid down carefully and let the boy slide off.
He made a whimpering noise, curling up against the Thunderdog's side and pressing his back against him. As he did, Prompto became aware of the long scar along the boy's back, with stitches still in it. He didn't know where he'd gotten the wound from, but it was obviously what had pained the boy so much and made it hard for him to walk. Exhausted, but far more alert, Prompto laid his head on his paws again, scanning the tree line.
After a long while, the boy's fit of pain seemed to pass, and he calmed. Feeling the creature up against him seemed to make him relax a little, as if he was less afraid of being out in the wilderness with the young MT near. The silence continued for a long while, and Prompto found himself carefully listening for the sounds of battle or of approaching feet. Finally forgetting his fear, the boy stirred a little.
"So, you're a MT?" he asked.
"Yeah," Prompto replied. "Didn't like it much though. I never liked fighting, and they considered me defective."
"De-defective?" the boy asked, testing the word. "That means...they didn't like the way you turned out? Why?"
"Because I had my memories," Prompto replied. "And I rather like humans. There was a girl that...was rather nice to me before all of this. So since I was still nice to people they thought I was defective." He laughed a little humorlessly. "I guess I was born defective. I mean… have you ever seen a Thunderdog so small, or this color?"
"I think its kind of cool," the boy replied.
The boy's words made the young creature pause a moment, feeling touched and confused at the same time. It was the first time he had a voice to say the words he'd wanted to, and he found himself regretting not being able to tell Tia, or any of the hunters had had previously lived with, these things before their paths had been painfully parted. Slowly, Prompto raised his head and turned to look at the dark haired boy laying on the forest floor next to him. He could see his eyes shining as he looked up at him through his hair, watching him with interest. Prompto let out a whine without meaning to as he looked at the boy.
"Are you sad?" the boy asked, struggling to try and sit up before groaning and settling down again. Ignoring his pain, he seemed more concerned with the creature he was sitting next to. "Wh-Why?"
"No one's really..." Prompto said sadly. "said something like that in a long time. And when she did..."
"The girl who took care of you?" the boy asked. Prompto nodded sadly.
"She took care of me even when everyone else was scared of me," he said. "And now, people are even more scared of me because I'm a MT."
"Well," the boy said thoughtfully, before smiling a little. "Then I'll take care of you, okay? So you don't have to look so scared all the time. I'm sure everyone will understand. My dad's really nice."
"Wh-What?" Prompto asked with wide eyes.
As touched as he was by the offer, he couldn't help but remember how people had responded to him before when he had been a daemon instead of a MT. Tia's father and mother had only let the girl keep him because she had been sick and dying of a disease and expected her to be gone in a few weeks. Only she hadn't. It was as if being with Prompto had brought life back to her. They still didn't trust him, they never did, but they accepted his presence after a long time of hard work and hadn't tried to throw him out.
But a MT? People thought of them as even more soulless than daemons, and he couldn't see this boy's father letting him keep a "pet" like him anyway. And who was "everyone" that he had said? The young creature was almost sure that he wasn't talking about the people he'd seen at the manor back there. His accent was off, as if he hadn't lived in the Empire for a long time. It brought up the question as to why the boy had been targeted at all if he wasn't from here.
"My name is Noctis," the boy continued, as if not hearing the shocked exclamation before. "Noctis Lucis Caelum. Do you have a name?"
"U-Uh," Prompto said. "Yeah. It's...Prompto." He was aware of how strange the name was, made up from a child's mind. It had gotten some teasing when he had been a daemon. Noctis however, just nodded as if it all made sense.
"You have a human form right?" he asked. "Some MT's can transform into their daemon forms. Can I see yours?"
Prompto paused a moment, before nodding and standing, taking a step away from the boy. Carefully, he concentrated on changing his body's structure until he retook his human form. Only being a seven year old child in body, he wasn't allowed much outside of the citadel in Nifilheim. He wore a simple black shirt and shorts, not much different from the simple outfit that Noctis was wearing. He was small, smaller even than Noctis, and had freckles running across his nose. His eyes were a dark brown, almost green color, and his blonde hair that framed his face and hid his eyes a little.
Frowning, Prompto noticed Noctis struggling to turn to see him. He carefully scooped the boy up by his arm pits and helped him up into a sitting position. Shuddering a little, Noctis held onto Prompto for a long moment until the pain had passed. Once it had, he blinked and looked up, taking in Prompto's appearance. A smile spread over the boy's face as he saw the tiny creature in front of him, and Prompto quickly looked away, feeling shy suddenly.
"See?" Noctis said. "You're not so scary. You should stay in this form more often! Then people won't be so scared of you if you look like them."
"Y-You really think so?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah," Noctis said with a bright smile. "I mean, you saved me, right? So you can't be bad. Now, I'll save you."
Prompto quickly turned around, trying not to let Noctis see him crying. He managed to fight the tears back, but his eyes still became misty in the process. He felt Noctis lay a hand on his shoulder, no doubt trying to be as comforting as possible, but wincing all the same. After a few moments, Prompto managed to reign his emotions mostly under control. He took a shaking breath, which Noctis didn't seem to hold against him. Prompto wasn't sure Noctis even understood how much that acceptance had touched him. Still, he doubted that it would go like Noctis thought it would. Even so, he wanted it to. He wanted to belong somewhere.
"Thanks," he said quietly.
"Don't worry about it," Noctis said kindly.
Prompto opened his mouth again to speak, but then immediately paused and bristled. He could hear several people running their direction, no doubt looking for Noctis. He couldn't be sure if they were friend or foe though, and he found himself feeling more protective of the boy behind him. Immediately he dropped to all fours and changed forms, making Noctis behind him jump in surprise. Snarling, the young MT watched the treeline in case someone strange would appear.
The person who stepped through made Prompto pause and raise his head a little. It was the blonde girl from before, who blinked upon seeing him, but then smiled and immediately began making her way towards them. The boy with silver hair was just behind her, who bristled upon seeing the creature. Prompto felt himself tensing as the boy reached for his sword. He knew that look, the look of a man wanting to kill him without asking questions because of what he looked like. The girl quickly held up her hand to stop him, making both the MT and the boy pause.
"Lunafreya," the boy hissed. "Come back. That creature is dangerous!"
"No, Ravus," the girl answered in a voice that was gentle, but commanded attention at the same time. She smiled instead at Prompto, coming closer and extending a hand to him. When he didn't move, she smiled and ran her hand over the soft fur. "He's not. He's the answer to my prayers. I asked the gods to send someone to help Noctis, and they did. This is who we got."
"A daemon?" Ravus scoffed. "Forgive me for not believing that the gods would send a blight on this world to help us." Lunafreya just smiled and continued to pet Prompto, who slowly sat and allowed her to pet him.
"Prompto's not a daemon," Noctis suddenly said in defense of his new friend. "He's a MT."
"That makes it worse," Ravus growled, eying Prompto like he was going to attack them. "He's probably working for the Empire as we speak! He'll catch us off guard and take you away. Your highness, perhaps we should-"
"Prompto wouldn't do that," Noctis insisted. "Umbra led him out here, and he's been with me the whole time."
Ravus frowned now, his eyes flicking between Prompto, Lunafreya and Noctis, narrowing a little as he thought. As nervous as the man made him, he couldn't help but be surprised at his choice of words. Calling Noctis "highness" meant that he was of high stature, right? That meant that he was of a royal bloodline, correct? Now, even less sure that Noctis would be able to convince anyone to allow him to keep Prompto around, the creature lowered its head a little. Lunafreya however just continued to pet him for a while.
"So," she said. "your name is Prompto?"
"Yeah," he replied quietly, seemingly to Ravus's surprise. Lunafreya's smile widened.
"I see," she said. "Thank you for looking after Noctis. The gods must favor you if you've made it this far. You've had a long journey."
Prompto jerked up in surprise, his eyes widening at her words. He met her eyes, which weren't scared of him or deceitful. She just continued to smile and began petting him again when he had calmed down, though Ravus reached for his sword at the sudden motion. Now Prompto was confused and felt a little wary. How could she possibly know that he had been taking a long journey? He wanted to snap at her, or at the very least pull away. Only, he didn't. The feeling was gone as soon as it had calm, as if he just knew he could trust her.
"My name is Lunafreya Nox Fleuret," she said. "and I am the Oracle." This surprised Prompto even more. She was supposed to be the powerful girl who healed others with her powers over light alone? She was so young! "Noctis was injured after an attack on his mother, and his father sent him here to recover. He is of the line of Lucis, the kings of Insomnia, and he is the chosen king that will bring light back into our world."
"Luna," Ravus hissed. "You can't just give that kind of information away!"
"Why not?" she asked, looking genuinely perplexed. "He's no danger to us. The gods sent him to help Noctis after all. He should stay with him." Ravus opened his mouth to protest, but paused when another voice joined the conversation, making Prompto jump again.
"She speaks the truth," a woman said. It was the same woman from before, who had asked Prompto to help Noctis and be quiet while doing it. Her eyes were closed now as she smiled pleasantly at the young MT. "The storm beast will not harm the boy, and it was preordained that the chosen king and his beast meet here. This creature is one who will share the king's journey, and may yet have a chance to aid him in more ways than even he can know."
An uneasy silence fell, and Lunafreya withdrew her hand, turning instead to look at the older boy, who continued to frown as he looked at Prompto closely. The MT could see his mouth pulled into a tight line as he watched and waited for any signs that he was going to attack or prove any danger. For a long while, nothing happened, and the young swordsman finally growled and turned away, looking back towards the mansion.
"I don't care," he said. "I don't trust him."
"Gentiana is a messenger of the gods," Lunafreya said with confusion on her face. "She does not lie."
"He's coming back with me," Noctis added with a frown.
"You two don't get it," Ravus snarled at them, then he let out an unhappy and reluctant sigh. "But I can see there's no arguing with you two. Fine. You can bring him back with us. But don't come crying to me when he attacks you one day."
With that, Ravus was gone, storming back towards the castle. Prompto found himself both confused and annoyed by his attitude, though it was similar to so many before him. Glancing towards where Gentiana had appeared, he noticed her gone again as if she had never been there before, not even a blade of grass bent out of place by her passing. She was supposedly a messenger of the gods, so he couldn't be too surprised. Still, why would the gods favor him? Why would they think he needed his help at all? Why was Noctis so important, and why had he decided to help him?
"Do not worry," Lunafreya said soothingly to Noctis. "Prompto is not evil. I can sense it. He is also filled with blessed light. Perhaps that is why he is so different from others of his race."
"I know," Noctis said with conviction, turning to Prompto. "I trust you, Prompto. I do."
"Then let us return to the manor," Lunafreya said with a smile.
Prompto, too surprised by the day's events but with no where else to go, didn't move as Lunafreya moved to help Noctis back onto his back. After all, without Ravus's help they would need someone to carry Noctis back to the manor. He shook his head, as if doing so would wake him up from the strange dream he'd found himself in. Of course, no such thing happened, so he settled instead for following Lunafreya back towards the mansion as she smiled and chatted to Noctis, who was perched on his back, wincing as his sore back pulled. At least the two were smiling now, seemingly perfectly happy with his presence.
If this was an omen for things to come…
Prompto was glad that he had this moment of happiness at least.
Foreshadowing perhaps? Oh yes, yes it is. You guys better be ready with some tissues, because I fully intend to break your hearts as this story progresses. As for why Prompto is the way he is, why he is full of "blessed light" and how this is going to effect the story, well I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out.
Unfortunately, my updates tend to be rather sporadic. I update when I have time and when I have inspiration. Have fun with that.