Summary: A tribute for the brave souls who deserved better than what the cruel Astrals offered them.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XV belongs to Square Enix.

Warnings: FEELS, Angst, Un-beta-ed, Major Character Death, Violence, Gore, Afterlife, Post Canon, Mentions of human experimentation, Mentions of possible Polyamory

Authoress: So…I had major feels after I finished the game. I mean everyone in the main cast died; although, Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolus had an open-ended scene it is more than likely they died fighting off the daemon army. So here I am writing a mini-tribute a million years later. Hope everyone likes the flow of this.

Music: "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye

They Triumphed and They were Tragic

Dawn glowed with a blended radiant light of orange, pink, and blinding white.

It had had been 10 long years of darkness since Prince Noctis had disappeared into the Lucis Crystal. 10 long years of prayers, lost lives, and stubbornness had kept humanity alive during this turbulent time. Everyone had slowly watched the world die around them. In turn, humans were slowly wasting away too. First, it was the land that dried into brown, black matter. The dark ashes floated away and polluted the air in a few months. Plants had dried into husks. Crops had stopped growing, leaving nothing but half rotten vegetables and wheat. Slowly, edible animals started dying off from starvation, disease, or being eaten by the empowered daemons.

Humans fell by the thousands: from the daemons, from hunting them, from the unknown starscourage, and from starvation.

It was unbelievable really. Hope had dwindled like a roaring camp fire until its last smoking embers. The light was an unattainable dream to many and unbelievable to the few children born during the decade. So, when Dawn breathed a sigh of relief and the Sun showed its powerful white rays across a clear bright blue sky, many could simply not believe it.

When people are done rejoicing and finally notice something amiss, it will be a tragedy waiting from them at the capital of Lucis, Insomnia. Many tears will be shed for the guardians that saved the world and no one would fathom the whole truth of the victims of Fate.

~*1 hour before Dawn~

If there was one thing Prompto had confidence in, it was imagining things to nauseating degree. He spent many years imagining his skinny body in his mirror before he achieved it through rough exercise and salad eating. He imagined all the things that could possibly go wrong with his friendship with Noctis. He dreamed of horrifying images of glowing blue tubes, needles, and experiments on his worst nights. When the four of them left Insomnia, he had visions of black blood mixing with red blood from people, MTs, daemons, and themselves. He wished those visions never came true.

Prompto was never the strongest one of the group. Not even after 10 years. He knew coming to Insomnia would mean his death. But he was always the most optimistic. He had hoped—even if Noctis couldn't—that his friends would have lived through the night. He didn't know how long they had fought.

And he had watched Ignis and Gladiolus fall.

It was pure chaos. Thousands of daemons showed up after Noctis sealed the throne room. They started back-to-back but were forcefully ripped a part. It was hours of intense battle. Iron and Fire Giants littered the Citadel steps along with thousands of imps, goblins, nagas, and other daemons never seen before. Prompto struggled to hold many of them back. The daemons were strengthened with the eternal darkness. It took two clips from his gun before they went down. The gunner was chocked, slammed, and slashed numerous of times.

Prompto heard more than saw Gladio fall first. His giant sword, Hyperion came flying by Prompto's head. At that moment Prompto had got tossed into the air by a Fire Giant. His blue eyes widened when Gladio got pinned by a multitude of imps. "Gladio!" Ignis and Prompto cried in horror in unison. As Prompto fell into the waiting grasp of the Fire Giant, he saw the grimace of the shield's face. It happened quickly. Gladio was beheaded by an Iron Giant's blade. The veins from the shield's severed neck gushed thick rivulets of red liquid onto the ground. The pale head of Gladio, frozen in horror was taken from Prompto's view as he began getting crushed in the Fire Giant's hand. Crying and squirming, Prompto managed to get a hand free and fire into the head of the Fire Giant, setting himself free for the moment.

The blond screamed in anger and sadness but it was lost to the continued sounds of weapons clashing.

It was some time latter Ignis fell. Prompto had ended up on the stairs leading into the Citadel. He had lost sight of Gladio's body and Ignis for a while though he could see the advisor's spells. He was barely dodging anything. Half his Crownsguard uniform was gone, hung by threads to his hips and arms. Sweat dripped down the side of his head with blood. He was a mass of walking bruises. Unexpectedly, Ignis yelled in anguish. A Fire Giant had landed a flame spell on the advisor. Prompto watched in the direction of the flames and Ignis' scream. Once the flames disappeared, a charred corpse stood standing. It collapsed into black ashes when tonberrys hit it with their lanterns.

That minute of distraction caused Prompto his life. He was pinned against the wall by a yonjimbo's sword. The long sword stuck through Prompto, causing a tearing sensation to burn through his abdomen. Defiant dark blue eyes stared the daemon down as it twisted the sword viciously. More red and black blood splattered against the daemon and Prompto's face as the gunner shot at it.

It didn't matter he was going to die anyway. It didn't matter that nothing may not be left behind from either himself or his friends. It didn't matter if people knew the truth behind the wretched darkness or bright dawn. It didn't matter that the four of them couldn't talk about their relationship before going to Altissia and falling apart. As a light orange glow started to creep over the yonjimbo's shoulder, Prompto smirked one last time as his throat was slit by the long sword.

The daemons had lost.

~*Insomnia*~

Cor Leonis was a hardened man. He was a soldier since he was a thirteen-year-old boy. He had outlived two of the kings he served and sadly, a third had been added to the list. The Marshall stared into the faces of heroes and heroines. The bodies of the Oracle Lunafreya, her brother Ravus, the mercenary Aranea, the Kingsglaives Nyx and Crowe, the Crownsguards Gladiolus and Prompto, the former King Regis, and his son Prince Noctis laid before him. His soldiers could not find a body for Ignis.

Noctis had ascended the throne and performed his duty as the King of Light. He was crowned King Noctis before the Astrals and Lucis Ancestors. The multiple stab wounds on his body proved it. The light of the new dawn on Eos proved it. The sacrifices performed by many people to get him to Insomnia proved it.

Those bodies weren't the only ones. Hundreds of hunters, MT soldiers, half-daemons, and citizens were lined up as well. Death is the great equalizer and Cor would be damned if the innocent victims of a tortured soul killed as casualties wouldn't get a proper burial. Even Ardyn would be remembered.

The Immortal knelt next to Noctis as silent tears dripped down his face. It was unfair to ask anyone to die despite how many lives it would save. Noctis wasn't given a choice. He wasn't even told the truth until the end. Cor slid Noctis' long bangs back from his face. He felt like a failure. He couldn't protect any of the people he vowed to. He stood by as they slowly died from the crystal in one form or another.

Cor briefly wondered if he was cursed. He was always the last man standing—the one left behind. He would make sure the people knew their King, heroes, and heroines. People would grieve and write history as a fairy tale as times go on but they will know the truth. It would be the last thing he did.

~*Peace*~

Blinding white light was the first thing that greeted Prompto. His head pounded and his throat was drier than sand. Where was he? Everything in his body ached.

Wait…

He shouldn't have a body. He should be dead?

Sky-blue eyes opened slowly. Blond lashes blinked away confusion and sleepiness. The blond took in his surroundings. It was a Romanesque open room. Was it even a room? The bed was comfy with dark red sheets and pillows propping Prompto up against a white stone headboard. The bed he was lying on was surrounded by tall white columns with wine red canopy curtains. Bushes of purple campanulas bloomed around his bed and a set of low stairs lead to an open garden of sorts. But what shook him was the person at his bedside.

Dressed in a royal navy suit was his best-friend. Noctis looked ethereal sitting in his golden chair. He had shaved his face, looking much younger. He had a ribbon tie of navy and white around his neck, fastened with the Lucis crest. His suit was accentuated with lines of white, black, and silver around the edges while a large silver sash was tied around his left shoulder and waist. The silver crown of Lucis glittered between his longish hair. The King's eyes were the color of pale magenta wide-eyed in surprise. "Prompto!"

"H-how?" Prompto shook his head in denial. "How am I here? You?"

"We did it, Prom." Noctis' face gentled into a warm smile. "We saved everyone. Everyone who we lost," the King paused as the smile widened into a sunny grin. "they're here Prom."

Tears filled Prompto's eyes. He would see everyone again.