Noctis reeled in his line, humming to himself as he considered the results of his day of fishing. Plenty of edible fishes to pick and choose from. He turned on his heels to shout to his companion, to ask their opinion on which to gut for supper.
And founds himself in the middle of a fiery battle.
A mother and her child ran past him as something big and wrong screeched in anger. A Marilith? What in the Six?
Noctis flung the questions into the dark corner of his mind for later. The Marilith raised its swords above its human head.. The targets: the mother and child that had just passed him. Noctis didn't hesitate.
He warped, one of Gladio's shields appearing in his hand, and blocked the blows before they could cause harm.
"Good one Noct!" A joyful, achingly familiar voice called out. A gunshot later and the night sky was filled with light.
"On my mark!" Another voice Noctis hadn't heard in much too long. His shield turned into a sword without conscious thought. Several daggers imbed themselves into the Marilith's weak points. Noctis followed the attacks with his own, using the magic in the daggers as anchor points.
The Marilith had no chance as Noctis cut down half of its arms in quick succession. "My turn!" A third, deeper voice roared from below Noctis. A large sword, familiar in the way that made Noctis want to cry, descended from above the Marilith. The blade cut deep and true.
With a final death cry, the Marilith disintegrated into black Scourge Mist.
Noctis landed easily, his body remembering old lessons even after so long. He turned towards the fleeing family, his priority for the moment. Noctis sighed in relief as he saw the mother and child, huddled together by a...black...royal….car.
"What the fu...crap is going on?" His exclamation caused the duo to flinch away from Noctis.
"Noctis?" Two sets of eyes turned to the trio of men approaching from the side. Ignis frowns, looks - actually looks!- between Noctis and the child half-hidden by the lady in front of him and sighed. "Well then, this is...unexpected."
Prompto looked like a garula caught in between two lights. HIs head shifted from one Noctis to the other. "Oh em gee! There are two Noct's! Noct and mini-Noct!" He tugged on Ignis' sleeve. "How is that possible? Noct died!" Prompto paused, frowned then added, "I'm pretty sure I died too."
To hear Prompto died caused Noctis to flinch. He'd known about his own fate but had hoped his friends would have survived to see the Dawn again. Gladio said, "Pretty sure you did too Prom." He jerked his head towards the road, where lights were fast approaching. "We can figure out what's going on later. We're about to have company and I don't know about you, but I'd rather make sure both Noctis' are safe before we do anything else."
Ignis and Prompto both nodded. Gladio stalked up to Noctis, hand reaching out to tug the 30 year old behind him and away from the approaching cars. Ignis turned to the 8 year old Noctis and his nanny, knelt down and said, "We swear we mean you no harm Prince Noctis." The small boy looked at Ignis for several seconds before stepping away from his nanny and nodding shyly. "Please stay behind us should a fight start. We will protect you." Another nod satisfied Ignis. He rose back to his feet and readied himself for whatever came next.
The cars barely had time to stop before a man jumped out of the front one. Noctis felt his breath catch in his chest. HIs eyes met the panicked ones in front of him. A happy scream confirmed what his eyes were seeing. "Daddy!" Tiny feet ran past Noctis to jump into Regis' open arms.
King Regis stood before them, looking several decades younger, his son safely in his arms. He stared at the four men before him, stared at the black haired man who looked vaguely familiar, and demanded. "Who are you?"
Noctis scratched the back of his head, turned to glance at his brothers, before he met his father's relentless gaze. "My name is Noctis Lucis Caelum, 114th King of Lucis." He bowed to his dad as one king did to another, the Royal Arms he'd gathered materialising around him as though called upon to prove his words.
The silence that followed was broken by a single cheerful childish voice who declared. "They saved me and from the big Snake-Lady!"
Elsewhere
Two ladies stared down at the luminous line between them. The red-haired one turned to her black-haired companion and asked, "What exactly did we bet upon Etro?"
Etro shrugged as she watched the Chosen King of Bahamut be escorted by one of her favorites into a car. His brothers slid beside him without a word. "I don't quite remember Eos."
Eos facepalmed, "This is going to be a mess…"
Etro grinned, eyes twinkling in sheer amusement. "Most certainly. But it will be a fun mess."
A/N:
Bahamut's Prophecy is almost done. The last chapter is being beta-read and edited. The epilogue is planned out and being written piece by piece.
I'll be updating this whenever I need a break from other projects or get kicked by the muse.
Please leave a review if you enjoyed it!
