The Night We Met
You stood, staring at the dying fire, hugging yourself, even though the night was warm. Your sadness is what chilled you to the bone. The group is broken, the air is full of tension. You missed how carefree this trip had been before Altissia. Gladio is barely speaking to Noctis, Prompto is trying to still be the glue that holds everyone together, and Ignis…
You turn your face Ignis whom sat a few feet away from you next to the fire, palming the ornate handle on his new walking stick. You hugged yourself tighter as you felt a pang of guilt hit your chest like a bullet. You had been there when he decided to put that damn ring on.
"Let me do it!" You had screamed at him, pulling at his arm. "You're too important to this group. If I die, it won't matter!" He had looked at you with those intense green eyes, and that was the last time you'd see those green eyes. Now they're milky with damage from the ring. Thank the Astrals he didn't die, but you still felt it should have been you.
You were the newcomer, having met them one night at Hammerhead, and after crossing paths with the boys several times, Noctis invited you to be officially part of the group.
"_?" Speak of the devil. You turned to face Noctis, his midnight blue eyes shimmering in the moonlight. His body was tense, and his face somber. Gladio had yelled at him for only thinking of himself, but you knew better. He feels it's all his fault. All of it. Lunafreya, Altissia, Ignis. He's lost just about everything, and it was weighing heavily on his shoulders.
"Yes, Noct?" He motioned for you to follow him, which you obliged, and you walked down from the haven.
You followed him a few paces behind and came to a stop next an ice deposit. You stayed silent, unsure of why he wanted to speak to you alone. You hadn't been alone with him since docking in Altissia. You watched him carefully, many emotions warring on his beautiful face, his hands one his hips.
"_, I just dunno what to do...anymore." He finally spoke, looking you in the eyes. He looked so helpless, like a small child. You stepped towards him, rubbing his forearm tenderly, laying your cheek on his bicep. You had known it was wrong when you felt it happening, but you had fallen in love with Noctis.
"I'm so sorry about everything." You stated, softly. He sighed, hanging his head as if in prayer, then turning his face to the sky as if in supplication, mouth parted slightly like he was about to scream. You wrapped your arms around his middle, and he maneuvered his arms around you, and you held each other in silence for several beats. The thumping of his heart grounding you to the moment.
"Do you remember the night we met?" He asked quietly, and you let out a small breathy laugh for the night seemed like an eternity ago. You hugged him tighter.
"I was having a smoke out behind the dinner at Hammerhead." You reminisced, smiling sadly.
"I was hiding from Ignis...the first thing I said to you was-"
"You know that'll kill ya right?" You both chuckled, and he laid his cheek on the top of your head. "And I said-"
"Sneaking up on me will get ya killed." His hands rubbed up and down your back. "You weren't the slightest bit intimidated that I was the prince." You shrugged.
"To be fair, at the time, I honestly had no freaking idea who you were." You both share another laugh.
"It was nice." He admitted, his heart began beating faster. "I wish we could go back to that night, it was the first time I wasn't worried about my future."
A pregnant silence fell between you, after you nodded in agreement.
"Like right now," he stated after several beats, "it's like the rest of the world can wait, y'know?"
"Yeah...I know...but Noctis-" He shushed you gently.
"Don't say it...don't say it can't. I can't hear that right now." You felt a heaviness settle in your chest at the sadness his tone held, his hug on you tightening. "I love you, _."
You froze, did you hear that Right? You pull back from him enough to see his face.
"What did you say?" Your heart was pounding in your chest, as he smiled at you.
"I love you." A blush tinged his pale cheeks, a shy look from behind his fringe of ebony bangs. He leaned down to you, capturing your lips. You felt your heart was going to jack hammer itself right out of your body. His lips were so soft against yours, he pulled you tighter to him, cradling the nape of your neck. Your hands roamed up and down his muscled back, as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss.
You'd never experienced a kiss like this, one that was so gentle and feather soft, but exhilarating in the same breath. For that small window of time, it felt as if the world was not broken anymore. You felt as if you could see a happy future, despite all the melancholy. It was just you and Noctis, nothing else mattered.
But, as with any moment, it came to pass. When the kiss ended you felt as if the abyss had opened more broadly than it ever had been.
"I love you, too, Noctis." He smiled at you, so warm, so caring, so loving. "Where you go, whatever you decide to do, I'll be right here with you, for as long as you want me."
"I want you with me forever."
Those memories still echo through your soul, 10 years later. You stood on a cliff, watching the sun rise again, like nothing had changed. As if Noct hadn't died, it doesn't feel like life should be continuing. Birds sang in the skies, you watched the world wake around you. You felt a presence beside you, and it felt like a knife through you heart.
You bowed your head as if in prayer, and then raise your face to the sky as if in supplication.
You had most of him, and then all of him, before some of him and now...none of him.
"What do I do now, Astrals?" You asked the heavens in your moment of supplication. "Be haunted by the ghost of him?" You brought you face back down and dared to look to your right, and your vision swam with tears, you could almost make him out. He reached out to you. "I...I want to go back to the night we met…" You whispered, holding out your own hand to him, but right as you were about to touch, he disappeared. You fell to your knees and let out a keening wail that threatened to shatter the world.