Prompto tried to calm his breathing as he stared at the massive shape of the Behemoth. It seemed to have its back turned to him and after endless minutes of listening to the even breaths he could finally convince himself that it was sleeping. Very slowly, Prompto got to his feet again, eyes always on the beast, watching it for the slightest move that would indicate it waking up.
He looked around for a moment to look for the best way to go and decided he'd rather walk away from the Behemoth's head. From what he could make out he was in a small clearing made by the Behemoth, trees toppled over to make it more spacious. Prompto thought back to the day they fought Deadeye near the Chocobo farm. That one was already big but the one that was sleeping there seemed to be monstrous. Another reason for the blond to step carefully, feeling around a bit with each foot before putting weight on it.
Nearly there. He could see the line of trees not far from him now. A few steps more and he would reach it. Maybe not complete safety, but he'd feel a lot safer than out in the open, sleeping monster-behemoth right next to him. He took a deep breath and made a few quick steps, breathing out when he was hiding behind a tree. Listening intently, he could still hear the steady breath, no sign of the behemoth waking up.
"Good." He whispered to himself before walking on, still aware where he stepped. Now, with the adrenaline slowly dissipating, he became aware of other noises around him. Crickets, frogs and some night birds in the distance. It smelled like wet earth.
'What am I doing?' He thought to himself, just now becoming fully aware of his situation. He didn't even know where he was. He had to get back. He was jerked out of his thoughts when, after another step, his foot didn't instantly connect with the ground but sank down, wetness filling his shoe as he now stood knee-deep in water.
"Shit." He cursed under his breath, trying to keep his balance. When he got out of the water, he pondered for a moment, looking back in the direction he came, before flicking on his flashlight, careful not do shine it in the direction of the behemoth. Now finally seeing again, he found himself at the edge of what looked like a swamp. "Well, great." He sighed, walking up and down the shore a bit, not seeing any other way. "No way I'm going back to that big guy."
With a sigh, he decided to walk along the shore for a while, just to see where it would lead him, secretly hoping to find a haven along the way.
A loud crash made him jump and he looked back to where it came from. Hearing a low growl he felt his insides turn to ice and instantly sped up his steps, praying internally that it wouldn't come in his direction. He stifled a gasp when he lost his footing again, stepping into air before meeting cold water again. This time he kept walking, wading through the wetness while listening behind him occasionally.
He heard the behemoth walking through the bushes like it were right behind him, deep growls sending shivers through his body.
Tying to concentrate on where he stepped, Prompto forced himself to look forward, dodging low hanging branches that seemed to come out of nowhere. Then, suddenly, he was at the edge of the treeline, water nearly waist deep. Stopping, Prompto looked around for a moment. Before him, the swamp opened up, looking almost like a lake, but patches of tall grass here and there told otherwise. The blond made a few steps back, not fond of running through the open for everything to be seen.
That move didn't come too soon. To his right he heard the behemoth's deep bellowing, waking and scaring off some birds in the near trees. Remembering his flashlight, he flicked it off again and stepped behind the next tree. He didn't need to wait long, soon after he hid, the behemoth slowly came walking out from the trees not too far away, head down, nose skimming mere inches above the water's surface. It didn't look like it was drinking, but smelling something. Looking for something.
For a moment, Prompto could only stare from where he was behind the tree. The sky had opened up a bit more and a half moon shone its light onto the swamp and the huge beast, giving the whole scene a surreal feeling. Prompto caught himself thinking, that if it wasn't so damn dangerous, he would have loved to take a shot of this. It looked so perfect.
The behemoth's head went up again and turned slightly to the side. The monster was now looking in the general direction of where Prompto was, not yet right at him. Hoping he had pulled his head back in time the blond pressed his back against the tree and tried to calm his racing heart. Had it noticed him?
The sloshing of water indicated that it started moving again and Prompto's heart dropped when he realized, that it was walking in his direction, heavy steps getting louder until he could feel its presence behind him. Not moving, he listened to the behemoth slowly inhaling as it scanned the air. For a moment it was dead silent, then he heard a low guttural growl and it felt like is was right behind him, could feel the vibration in his chest. Should he make a run for it? As long as he stayed between the trees he could slow the behemoth down at least a bit.
His thoughts were interrupted, when something huge appeared in his peripheral vision and, turning his head, Prompto looked right at the Behemoth's head. No time for thinking anymore, the blond pushed himself away from the tree and started running. Stumbling through knee-deep water, he tried to get further back between the trees, hoping to slow his pursuer down but it didn't seem to even notice them, running straight through, uprooting everything in its way.
When the water became more shallow Prompto picked up speed and in a euphoric rush he thought he might be able to get away somehow. Then the trees vanished and before he could even think about stopping or changing direction he was running through an open area. The heavy thumping passed him and then the behemoth was in front of him, about to jump and ready to kill.
That was when Prompto's flight mode turned to fight.
Out of reflex he let himself fall on his back, using his momentum and the wet, muddy surface to slide towards the monster and summoned his gun. It was hard to aim in the darkness, but it wasn't the first time for Prompto and the behemoth was big enough so he would at least hit it somewhere. Aiming at it's head, he squeezed the trigger rapidly a few times, hitting his mark. The behemoth flinched and roared in pain, shaking it's head to get rid of the stinging bullets.
Prompto knew he wouldn't do much damage with these few shots but it only had to be enough to distract it for him to get away. Scrambling to his feet he started running again, when something big hit him. He flew through air, losing every sense of direction for a moment when he landed and rolled over the ground. Coughing, he tried to get on his feet again but the dizziness let him fall back on his side again. The behemoth stomped towards him with an angry roar, bleeding from multiple wounds in its face. Not wanting to simply give up, Prompto summoned his gun again. At least he would go down with a fight.
He was about to shoot, aiming at the head of the approaching behemoth, when his arm seized up painfully. His cramping hand pulled the trigger but the shot went in the air, hitting nothing.
Why now?
Grabbing his arm, Prompto curled up and tried to regain control but it only got worse. Then everything around him became unbearably bright and loud. There was a strong wind and something that sounded like shooting, along with the roaring of the behemoth. When he opened his eyes again and looked up he knew why his arm acted up again. Magitek airships were hovering above him, soldiers standing on the open bay doors were shooting at the monster, forcing it so retreat step by step.
"Prompto!"
Prompto's head jerked around. He knew that voice. Another airship was behind him, closer to the ground and flood light on Prompto. That explained the sudden brightness. There were more soldiers coming out of that one but also another person, who was walking towards him. Prompto recognized the shape of the man, not able to see much more of him because of the bright light.
"Ardyn." He breathed out, voice possibly not even audible through all the commotion around them. Without saying anything, Ardyn pulled him up, holding him steady on his shoulders for a moment.
"Can you walk?"
Prompto gave a shaky nod. "Think so."
"Then let me get you out of here." Ardyn put a hand on his back and gave the blond a soft push towards the Magitek ship. Prompto was a bit hesitant, the memory of the last time he was in one of those still fresh. On the other hand, Ardyn could bring him back to safety, right? Maybe he would give him a ride back to the Chocobo Post to meet with the others. To explain everything.
While walking, Prompto looked over to the behemoth. It was lying on the ground, but still breathing. Another much bigger Magitek airship was hovering over the beast, lowering something that looked like a cage down on the monster.
"What are they doing?"
"Catching it." Ardyn answered after glancing over himself. "We are to look for specimen like that one to secure them and take them to our scientists in Niflheim. Why and for what I don't know and if I did, I might not be allowed to tell you."
"I must admit, I'm surprised to find you all the way out here." Ardyn said when they entered the ship. He had brought Prompto in the back corner where he could sit down in a bench and offered him a bottle of water. Watching the blond drink using mostly his left hand he nodded towards his right side.
"How is that arm of yours doing? Still 'nothing wrong' with it?"
Feeling caught, Prompto leaned back a bit and sighed. Of course. Ardyn knew that there would be problems, he was the one who told him.
"It got worse again when you showed up." He admitted silently, "I think it's something within these ships. Or the MTs."
"That's what I thought. I'm sorry."
Prompto shook his head. "It's alright. I will deal with it, there will be a way." He forced himself to think positive, pushing the memories of his dream as far away as possible.
"Ardyn, uhm...is it possible for you to...to take me back? Back to my friends, I mean. It was stupid of me not to tell them. I'm sure we can work something out if I let them help."
Happy to get that out of his system he looked up to Ardyn and his face fell a bit. The lager man's look was full of sorrow and after a few seconds of eye contact he turned his head a bit to look to the side.
"I think this may not be a good idea, Prompto."
There was silence for endless minutes while Prompto tried to process what Ardyn just said. Why wouldn't it be a good idea? They were his friends, they would help him, right? They wouldn't judge him. Right?
Feeling Prompto's eyes on him, Ardyn looked at him again.
"Yesterday, when you suddenly vanished," He started, "They came to me, asking it I have seen you. I was still down at the slough. Obviously I didn't know about you vanishing all of a sudden but they kept asking. Your friends aren't dumb, you know that, right? They noticed something was wrong – as did I when I picked you up from the disc, by the way."
Prompto swallowed down the lump building in his throat. Ardyn sounded so serious. He looked down at his hands, left tightly closed around the right, which was still shaking, his whole arm was slightly tingling like the last time he was in a Magitek ship.
"Did you tell them?" He asked, surprised at how weak his voice sounded.
Ardyn didn't answer right away but then nodded with a deep sigh. "I don't appreciate lying." He said and turned away to walk a few steps to one side.
"I was hoping they would understand. After all, you are their friend and even within that few hours I spent time with your group, I never..." He stopped and sighed again, visibly struggling with the right words as he turned back to him.
"They didn't take that information very kindly."
Prompto's breath hitched. That couldn't be true. Why would they – no. Why wouldn't they be angry. He stared at his feet, eyes going in and out of focus.
"That can't be." He whispered, voice sounding hoarse from his suddenly dry throat.
Ardyn stepped a bit closer and eventually sat down next to him.
"I'd rather not tell you what they said. Only if you really want me to, that is." He said, fiddling with his hat. "They made it clear that they don't want to see you again. I'm so sorry, boy."
"So you weren't here because you were looking for me?" Prompto asked. For a moment, when he saw Ardyn coming towards him, something hopeful inside him let him think that he was there on behalf of his friends. That they had asked him to keep a look out for him from the sky. That they were worried and looking for him.
"I truly wish I could tell you otherwise but no, that isn't the reason I'm here." Ardyn said, leaning back against the wall. "We were following some rumors about a giant behemoth in the area, which, coincidentally, was the exact one out there that was trying to kill you."
"Oh."
Prompto felt empty. He should have told them. Surely they wouldn't have been angry had he not hidden this damn code all the time. Maybe if he had asked Ardyn to tell him everything about it while the others were still awake. Find out this secret together.
He shook his head, drawing in a shaky breath. His ears were ringing, Ardyn's words repeating themselves over and over.
"A gil for your thoughts." Ardyn said with a half-smile, but Prompto only shook his head again, not trusting his voice to actually be of use. Not that he had anything to say anyway. There was nothing, just a big void inside his head.
"Stay the night." Ardyn's soft voice and a hand on his shoulder pulled him out of the darkness just enough to recognize what he was saying. "It's not much I can offer but I guess it's still better than sleeping out there. Let's talk more tomorrow."
Prompto nodded.
Ardyn stayed a few more minutes, sitting with the blond in silence, before he was called over by someone and left Prompto alone, his promise of being back in a few minutes falling on deaf ears.
