Disclaimer: not mine

For those who don't know, this is now a multi chapter story. Please go back and read ch1 as it is now totally different to help lead into events in the game timeline. Parts of this chapter are now from the original ch1

Chapter 2

Prompto was exited to leave Insomnia for the first time since he had been brought to the city as a baby. He even got to drive for a bit! Though pushing the car to Hammerhead had not been fun! Especially in the heat, he had never done well in hot weather which he figured made sense. Noctis had been the only one to not taunt him over how easily the heat affected him. When they got to the garage and the car was being looked over Noctis herded him over to the diner to get out of the heat for a while, something he was very grateful for. He collapsed on a bar stool and the man behind the counter put a glass of water in front of him which he drank quickly.

"Saw you boys push your car in, figure you could use that. Name's Takka, let me know if you want to order."

"Thanks," he called after the man as he went to serve a customer. He looked up as the others walked in. "What's the verdict?"

"It will take all of our funds to repair the car," Ignis admitted. "Cindy has offered us some work to earn gil and suggested we also ask here for some easy hunts."

"Okay."

"You gonna be okay out there?" Noct asked quietly and Prompto mustered a grin for him.

"I'll be fine," he assured him while Ignis spoke with Takka before they headed out. By the end of the day he was glad to settle in at the Haven to camp, enjoying the cool night air. Thankfully the next day wasn't quite as hot and they stayed in the caravan before leaving first thing the next morning to hand off a package for Cindy on the way to Galdin Quay.

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"Hey! I see the sea!" Prompto grabbed his camera to grab some shots, trying to make sure he kept up the happy act, despite his nerves. He'd never seen the sea before, and he wasn't sure what would happen.

"I "sea" it too," Noct teased, making Gladio chuckle.

"That's Galdin Quay," Ignis indicated the buildings as he drove along the coast.

"Kinda wanna go for a dip," Gladio admitted as he stretched, it would be nice to take a break before the ferry to Altissia, cool off.

"That a big mountain behind it?" Noctis asked as he leant forward to see better.

"No, it's an island," Ignis informed him as they entered the tunnel only to come out just above the resort.

"Nobody goes to Galdin for an island, though. They go to kick back and get massages!" Prompto grinned, glad there was something besides the beach the place was known for.

"And savour the seafood. It's famously delicious," Ignis' comment got grins, trust Iggy to focus on the food, he was always looking for inspiration for new recipes of his own.

"Sounds great."

"Somethin' to look forward to."

They parked a few minutes later, Noctis pausing to fill up the car before they moved off to explore.

"We should find out what time the ferry runs before anything else, we may have missed todays, or it could leave within minutes," Ignis warned so they headed for the ferry wharf.

They walked past the restaurant and hotel, further along the wharf to find a man standing in front of the stairs leading down to the ferry. He had unkempt hair and wore multiple layers of dark clothing, attire that could oddly be described as both fancy and dishevelled, and as soon as he saw them he approached. "I'm afraid you're out of luck."

"Are we?" Noctis asked, suspicious of the man for some reason.

"The boats bring you here."

"What about 'em," Prompto asked when the man paused and the stranger looked at him, making him uncomfortable with the way he stared, like he found Prompto familiar which was impossible because he had never seen the man before.

"Well, they'll not take you forth."

"And what's your story?" Gladio demanded, moving to block the strangers view of Noctis and Prompto.

"I'm an impatient traveller, ready to turn ship. The ceasefire's getting us nowhere." He turned and tossed a coin at Noctis but Gladio snatched it out of the air before it could get to the prince.

"What's this? Some sort of souvenir?" he demanded.

The man smiled at him. "Consider it your allowance."

"Yeah, and who's allowing us?"

"A man of no consequence." He tipped his hat and walked away.

"Yeah, right," Noctis muttered, something about that whole thing had been very unsettling.

"You believe what that guy said about the port being closed?" Prompto asked, not sure if he wanted it to be right or not. Either way meant being way to close to the ocean for his liking.

"I'm sceptical, though I won't discount the possibility," Ignis admitted, turning to go down the stairs. They headed down to find the man had been telling the truth only to get roped into working for a reporter….at least it got them away from the sea for a while.

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Ardyn scanned over the files and smiled as he found the one he was looking for, the MT child that had been taken by a Lucian spy, the Immortal himself going by the very grainy surveillance photo. He went through the file on the boy and smirked, well, that could work very nicely. Though it was obvious the boy knew and knew how to keep himself human. So how to break that control? All others of that batch were dead, few had converted to MT's and those he had tried to awaken the latent DNA in had died mid-transition. Many of them had died without either being attempted, simply falling ill or their bodies growing oddly until they failed. He went to a machine that hadn't been used in years and activated it, it would take time to work but there was no rush at the moment. It had never been tested over quite the distance currently needed but there was no reason it wouldn't work. Besides, if necessary he could find a way to encourage the Prince's party to come closer. It may not work, the boy could still die, but there was no other option. No more samples existed. If he had known the child had survived he would have removed him from Insomnia years ago, although his presence beside the Prince could be just as useful. He would have to wait and see what happened. For now, he had an invasion to observe. Finally, Insomnia would fall.

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Prompto walked onto the dock, grinning when he saw Noctis standing at the end, fishing. He joined him, enjoying the sea breeze. He closed his eyes and then grimaced, staggering a step, fighting not to collapse. What the hell? It hurt! He forced himself to breathe through the pain, opening his eyes to find that Noctis hadn't noticed, thankfully. He wasn't in the water so why did it hurt? He forced himself to ignore the pain, sitting down beside where Noctis was standing, checking the esky to find some fish already in it. They would eat well that night.

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Ignis sat up, looking around to the bed that Noctis and Prompto were sharing. He got up and walked over, reaching out to gently touch Prompto's shoulder. "Shh, it's alright," he whispered, trying to soothe the younger man as he tossed and turned Noctis slept on, but he could sleep though anything. Prompto was whimpering in his sleep, half formed words slipping out occasionally, sweat dampening his hair. "Prompto," he called a little louder, better to wake him if he couldn't be coaxed into a gentler sleep. Prompto gasped, eyes snapping open and Ignis backed off, not wanting to startle him. "It's okay, you're safe," he soothed, and the boy blinked.

"Iggy?"

"It's me, you were having a nightmare."

"Sorry," Prompto mumbled.

"It is no problem, it's early yet, do you want to try and sleep more?"

Prompto shook his head and got up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Yuk," he grumbled, feeling the sweat on his skin.

"Grab a shower," Ignis gently pushed him towards the bathroom. He waited for Prompto to finish before having his own shower and heading out to check what time they were leaving and to find breakfast, what he found horrified him and sent him back to the room, a paper clutched in his hands.

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The drove through the now opened blockade, leaving Cor far behind. Prompto was glad to be away from the intimidating man and the creepy tombs. "Look out world, here we come!" he cried and Noctis laughed.

"We can finally leave this dust bowl behind, bet you find that a relief blondie," Gladio offered and Prompto stuck his tongue out at him, not seeing the look Noctis gave him, dark blue eyes wide.

"The lands beyond are vast by comparison to Leide."

"Bigger's better! More stuff to see and do." Prompto twisted in his seat to see more.

"First comes Duscae, a region known for its wetlands," Ignis explained, having memorised the map and information.

"Really? Wetlands?" Noctis asked, interested since that might mean fishing spots.

"There's also a Chocobo forest," Ignis smirked, shooting a glance at the youngest member of the group, he was aware of the boys nightmares ever since Galdin Quay and he knew of his obsession with the birds.

"Now we're talking!"

"Further west lies the Cleigne region, wherein we'll find the town of Lestallum."

"Oh. Isn't that where Iris is headed?"

"Barring delays, she should've arrived by now. Maybe even had herself a look at the Meteor."

"The Meteor of the Six?" Noctis asked, focusing on more than fishing…or Prompto's tongue.

"The same. Its heat is harnessed to power Lestallum."

"Whoa. That sounds way cool."

"I'm actually looking forward to this," Gladio grinned.

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Prompto sat near the fire, staring out at the massive lake. Catching frogs was not his idea of fun and now they were stuck at the Haven near the lake because they still had one more to catch! The stupid things liked the rocks and reeds beside the water, making it even worse. It wasn't as bad as being near the sea, but he could feel things he had thought permanently buried coming back and it scared him. He wanted so much to walk into the lake, but he forced himself to ignore that desire, he had to. He'd spent some time on the dock with Noctis as he fished for dinner and it had been nice just spending time together. He liked it when it was just them, not that he didn't enjoy time with all the guys, but he was closest to Noct, it was easier to be happy and not feel like he didn't fit.

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Lestallum was a nightmare, far too for him and even Noctis. Both of them ended up ditching a few layers of clothing and spending as much time in the hotel room as possible. Then Noctis started getting weird headaches which freaked them all out, so they took some jobs away from the town, looking for ingredients and lost vans as well as hunts.

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Noctis caught himself staring at his best friend again and forced himself to look away before he was caught. He found himself staring more and more ever since they'd gone to Galdin Quay the first time and he didn't know what was wrong with him. Prompto had always held an allure, even before he'd dropped the excess weight. He'd felt bad about their first meeting when Prompto had become a shadow again, but he hadn't felt able to approach the other boy, so when he'd come up to him when they started high school he had let him act like they were meeting for the first time. How much better would his life had been if he hadn't messed up their first meeting? Prompto was his best friend, the only friend he'd ever had who hadn't been chosen for him, he didn't want to mess that up but…he couldn't deny he was attracted to him. Yeah, the whole point of the trip had been for him to marry Luna, but that had ended with Insomnia's fall. He was an exiled Prince, assumed dead by many, that made him freer than he had ever been before.

He'd noticed Prompto's nightmares, he was a deep sleeper but sleeping through being kicked was something even he had trouble doing. Prompto obviously didn't want anyone to know so he hadn't pushed, he figured it was because he hadn't heard from his parents yet. Even if they were distant and often out of the city, he had to be worried about them. the longer they went with no contact, the more likely it was they had been in Insomnia and not made it out.

What was odd was the way he refused to join them in the water. He'd wash himself quickly in shallow rivers but never went in very deep at all. He'd never noticed a fear of water before, but it wasn't like Insomnia had a lot of rivers and lakes, just a few swimming pools. Did he not know how to swim? They should probably teach him if that was the case, on the run it was too dangerous to not know how with how much water they ended up near. Even Noctis went in more water than Prompto did, he'd swam a lot when he was recovering, the water removing the stress on healing wounds. He'd fool around with Gladio and Ignis before settling in to fish and Prompto always stayed back until he was settled in before joining him.

He shook his thoughts off as Ignis pulled off the road, getting out with the others for the hike to their latest hunt. They moved carefully through the woods, eyes scanning for their prey until they came across them, Ignis quickly devising a strategy to bring them down and then they moved, Noctis warping in, hearing the reassuring sound of Prompto's gun as he opened fire. Ignis darted in and out with his daggers while Gladio used his shield to block any attacks on them and bash the creatures in the head. When they were done, Gladio began collecting the proof needed to get paid and Noctis grinned. "Specs!" he pointed and Ignis looked over before nodding and Noctis jogged off to the half hidden lake and dock, Prompto soon falling in beside him.

They settled on the dock and Noctis cast his line in. there were quite a few fish in the water, and it wasn't long before they were biting.

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Prompto watched Noctis catch their dinner even as he fought to ignore something stirring inside him, the deep lake calling quietly to him. Noctis returned his pole to the armiger and then turned to face him, hesitating and then Prompto was shocked to feel lips pressed to his. He froze for a split second before kissing back, clinging to Noctis. He pulled back, breathing heavily and Noctis was as well. "Noct?" he whispered shakily.

"I…was that okay?" Noctis ask and Prompto nodded, it was more than okay.

"You shouldn't…I'm just a nobody…plain... not a good fighter," he stammered.

Noctis shook his head before kissing him again. "You're beautiful," he murmured, Noctis couldn't resist him anymore. He couldn't help staring at him, heart fluttering and he was done trying to fight it. They jerked apart as Gladio shouted in the distance for them to hurry up, nightfall was coming, and they needed to set up camp. They scrambled up and Prompto grabbed the esky with the fish, heading back to the others, cheeks a bit red.

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Ignis glanced at Noct and Prompto as he ate his grilled fish. Something felt different, ever since the boys had returned from the lake, he just wasn't sure what. He was honestly worried about both of them, Noctis was bottling his feelings, throwing himself into hunting and Prompto was suffering nightmares, possibly even physical pain, he'd seen him wince occasionally…usually when they were near water. And that made him stop and think…could Prompto swim? Were they endangering his life when they fought near bodies of deep or fast flowing water? If so, he would have to be taught and quickly.

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Ardyn checked the machine and smirked at the single glowing light. So far, it appeared to be working, the machine was registering a return signal, it definitely made tracking the boys a lot easier. Had no one ever checked to see if the boy had an implanted tracking device? He had a barcode after all, surely they realised there would be more? And yet it was still working and responding to the signals being sent. Everything was going rather well. Dear Lunafreya had woken Titan, they had failed to stop her, but Noctis had yet to approach the Astral which was interesting. It didn't really bother him, the girl could wake one, maybe two more Astrals before her frail body failed her and once they were awake they would remain so until they forged their covenants with the Prince. If that happened after he acquired the boy that was no problem…the only issue might be if Leviathan somehow interfered.

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Noctis dismissed his fishing pole and turned, reaching for Prompto who shuffled closer on his knees, eagerly kissing him, their hands wandering over clothed bodies as they kissed hungrily. When they parted for air Prompto kissed down his throat and Noctis groaned, hands grasping his shoulders, even as Prompto nibbled his skin before actually biting at the just above where his neck and shoulder met, and he gasped at the jolt of pleasure. It wasn't a hard bite, but it felt really good. He clung to Prompto, head falling back, giving him better access and Prompto bit down again, drawing moans form Noctis as his hips jerked against Prompto, body seeking friction.

TBC…