Beta read by: SinikkavonWolperting and istoleyourcheesecake
And I apologize to both of you, I know beta reading for me must be a nightmare. lol
Prompto shifted uncomfortably in his seat, itching to check those new messages, but they were nowhere near their destination, and it would be near impossible to open them unnoticed. More than once, he had to stop himself from reaching for it, the urge to do so driving him crazy. Reaching for the buttons on the radio, he began to flip through them to give his impatient hands something to keep them busy. One station after the other, not a word on any of them were actually heard though. This task was only serving to keep his hands off his phone, but his brain was still locked on the thought of it.
Ignis glanced over occasionally, debating whether or not he should comment on this. Looking through the rear-view mirror, the others didn't seem to care about the matter, or if they did they weren't showing it. The only sign was Gladio's eye twitching occasionally. "Prompto." He finally spoke, the radio settling on a station for more than a couple seconds for once.
"Hmm?" he asked, leaning his head back and turning it far enough for his whole face to be in view.
He licked his lips before replying, "Surely you have something better to do." He tried not to sound too annoyed, but it was starting to grate on his nerves a bit.
The blond looked from Ignis to his fingers which were still hovering over the dial and he stayed set on that for a moment, "Huh, oh right, sorry. I guess I wasn't really paying attention." He slowly extracted his hand, intertwining it with the other and began to fiddle with his thumbs instead; it wasn't as helpful, but it still served its purpose of calming his nerves.
"Something on your mind?" Ignis questioned after a few minutes of this new habit. He kept his eyes forward, but all of his attention was on the younger man.
Prompto frowned at the question and shook his head a couple times, "Not really. Just not used to being out is all." His fiddling continued, more intense now that he knew the others were paying attention to it. He then thought that maybe he should just stop and gaze out the window instead.
The adviser hummed to himself and fell silent for a moment longer. "Alright," he replied after sometime, voice slightly solemn, "But if you change your mind, don't hesitate to speak up." He cut his eyes over and briefly made contact with Prompto's and turned back to the road.
His mind instantly displayed those messages for him again, every letter that was typed out. A stab of guilt penetrated his chest as they replayed. "I won't," he promised, looking back out the window. Throwing another quick look over, he sighed to himself and fought the need to say something. It wasn't worth risking the safety of someone else.
The rest of the ride went on without conversation, each of them focused on something else. And, to Prompto's relief, his phone didn't go off anymore. That didn't help that matter any, but at least they seemed to be leaving him alone for a moment. Unless they were upset that he didn't reply to the last ones and now they were taking some sort of action to retaliate that.
"We don't have too much further to go," Ignis' voice dragged him out of his thoughts once again, which he was quite thankful for.
"So, how many of these things are we dealing with?" he asked, more to keep the other talking than out of his own interest on the subject.
He thought about it for a moment, "It wasn't clear on the exact number, but if I had to guess, I would say the usual. So, probably around six or so, perhaps more. It could be riddled with these foul creatures as far as I know."
"In other words, enough to be annoying and take more than a few hits to get rid of," he half whined in response. "Why do we always get stuck with the boring and tedious hunts?" Sitting back in his seat, his eyes drifted to the road, "Why can't we have an enjoyable one for once, like 'Here, drive my daughter to the beach for the day.' You know, something like that."
An expression of acceptance graced Ignis' face, "There are many things wrong with that statement, but I'll let you figure out what they are."
"Do you really think someone would let four men escort their daughter?" Gladio asked, entertained.
Prompto peeked around the back of the seat, "Hey, you never know. It's possible." He gave the other a smirk, "I mean, it won't happen when a brute like you is around of course."
"You wanna run that by me again?" He leaned up in his seat far enough that the blond ducked back in front of his own. "That's what I thought."
By now, Noctis decided it was time for him to join in, "I dunno, Gladio, if I were a girl I might feel a little intimidated around you." He flinched when a fist suddenly connected with his arm, "See what I mean, so violent."
"Yeah, and that's why you two have the ladies hanging all over you," he retorted, voice dripping with mockery. "It's not my fault I'm just a natural charmer."
"Sure you are." the prince teased, turning his attention to Ignis. "How much further is it? Feels like we've been riding forever."
"Just a few more minutes, and we've only been on the road for about an hour," he deadpanned. "Hopefully there is a haven nearby we can stay for the night. I do expect this to take a while, so I have my doubts that we'll be done in time to return to Lestallum today." To anyone else it sounded like a normal statement, but the others could hear the unease behind the collected exterior.
"I'm sure there's one around somewhere," Gladio assured. "You know as well as I do those things are sprinkled around all over the place. I'd be more surprised if we didn't find one to stay at." There was pure confidence in his voice, believing the information to be one-hundred percent true himself. "Try not to concern yourself too much with it."
'Easy for you to say,' Prompto thought to himself, but stayed quiet on the subject. He could tell Ignis tried to keep it together and act like everything was fine, but there were moments where he could see the events shine through. It wasn't to the degree that he was showing his struggles, but he always seemed to have his guard up now, rarely lowering it. "Yeah, I'm sure things will be fine." He tried to sound positive, though he completely felt the same worry as the other.
Ignis nodded once. "I believe this is it," he announced, pulling over and turning the car off. "I do hope no one forgot their flashlights."
"Got mine." Prompto flicked his on and off a few times. He stepped out and naturally reached for his phone to check the time, freezing once it was in his hand. His fingers tightened subtly around it as he slid it back into his pocket. He didn't even want to see the notifications at the moment. "So, this is it, huh?" He walked over to stand in front of the cave's entrance, gazing into the darkness of it. "Suuuure looks inviting."
"You could have just stayed behind," Gladio proposed, even though they both knew that wasn't true. One way or another, he would have gone with them.
Prompto whistled into the cave, listening to the echo as it bounced around, "Welp, sounds pretty empty to me." He leaned from one side to the other, trying to get different views of the place, but still seeing nothing but blackness where the natural sun ended.
Noctis clapped him on the back as he walked by, causing the other to jump from startlement, "I don't think they're going to be hanging around their front door, waiting to be killed." He turned on his own light and stepped inside, the blond followed closely after.
"I hate these kinds of places." Prompto groaned, "You know, dark cramped places." He ran a hand over the rock, feeling the dampness that coated them. "This place is disgusting." Wiping his hand on his pants, he looked behind him to see the others weren't too far away, just entering into the cave themselves. "So, any idea where in here these things are?"
"Sorry, I don't have the blueprint of this place," Ignis joked in his own way.
"A simple 'no' would have worked fine." He stopped as an idea came to mind, "I'll be right back, I, uh, I left my phone in the car." He threw a thumb back and jogged towards it without a response from the others, "No need to wait, I'll catch up," he called back, hoping they would go on.
When he reached the Regalia, he looked back, ease settling over him when he couldn't see the others anymore, although deep down he was aware of that familiar fear that was always present lately. Without taking his eyes off the cave, he took out his phone and finally looked away long enough to open up his messages. The first one wasn't that bad. 'Someone has quite the temper'. Sure it was pretty terrifying that whoever it was knew he almost broke the thing, but it didn't compare to the next one. His hands began shaking as he read the words. 'Iris is such a pleasant person to talk with. So kind. So innocent.'
He took a few deep and shaky breaths, waiting until his heat wasn't about to explode. For a moment he wasn't sure he was even breathing anymore. This couldn't be real, did they actually come into contact with her, they talked to her? He didn't want to believe any of that was true. Perhaps they were only lying to get under his skin, or he prayed that was the case. He hastily tried to reply, spending more time backspacing than anything as his trembling fingers kept pressing the wrong letters. 'I swear, if you lay a finger on her'. He didn't finish that thought.
For a few seconds he stood there, still trying to get his breathing down to a reasonable pace. It was one thing that she was threatened, but the guy having access to her and knowing exactly where she was, and the fact that he already had an opportunity to do something was too much. He had to put his phone away, had to get it out of sight before he ended up throwing it again. Placing the palms of his hands against the Regalia's black surface, he leaned into, legs wanting to give out on him.
Shoving down all his uncertainties, he stood back straight, willing his legs and hands to stop shaking long enough for him to get his bearings back. He inhaled deeply a few times and turned to head back to the others, knowing that he's been gone long enough, and any longer they might come looking for him. He took his time though, hopefully the slow walk would give him the chance to calm down some more before he got back to them.
He heard the buzzing before he felt it, and he couldn't stop the small and quick exclamation that leaked out. He only closed his eyes momentarily and went on, choosing to wait until later to check it; he wasn't sure he could handle their reply just yet. "Took you long enough," he heard Noctis from just up ahead.
"Yeah, it kinda fell between the seats, had to dig around for it." He took a quick look around now that they were actually in the cave, "Whoa, this place actually doesn't look half bad." He was even surprised by that. He thought he would be a mess coming in here, but somehow it was completely different. It was probably the hue of the place, it had more of a blue one than the brown the other place had.
"Really?" Gladio asked, also a bit shocked by that reaction, "I mean, if you say so."
Prompto shrugged, "It is pretty nice. If you forget the fact that it's infested with little freaks that like to attack everything they come across." The sentence came out in one steam of words with no pauses. "But other than that, yeah, it's nice."
Gladio fixed him with his own look, "Sometimes I just don't understand you." Prompto instantly looked away, which seemed odd to him, but it wasn't that unusual for him.
"Watch your step up here," Ignis called back, "It's a tad on the slippery side. He stepped over a puddle of water, trying to avoid as many of the inconveniences as possible. "I would prefer not to have any accidents if we can help it."
"Don't think you'll have to worry about that," Noctis replied, stepping over the same puddle. He cast a look back to Gladio that told him to keep a close eye on Prompto. He didn't doubt the other's abilities, but it was clear he wasn't at his best, the way he occasionally lost his balance. The larger man gave him one solid nod in response.
"Hey Prom." Gladio got the blond's attention, "Why don't you take a few photo's, I'm sure Iris would like to see some of this place."
He didn't miss the slight change in Prompto's posture, "Y-yeah, you're right, I should do that." Taking out his camera, Gladio noticed the slight tremor in them, it was subtle, but it was visible.
"You cold or something?" he asked, rhetorically.
"It's probably just from the draft." Gladio just hummed in false agreement, despite the fact there was no draft that he could feel. "Ok, so, what kind should I take for her?" He wasn't sure if it was just him, but his voice sounded higher than normal.
"I dunno, just do your thing." Gladio waved a hand, "You're the camera guy, not me."
"Right." He snapped a few quick shots, not really focusing on what he was doing, just doing his best to look natural he supposed. "Maybe I should get one of her brother, I'm sure she'd love that."
"Yeah right, I personally think she'd prefer one of His Highness himself," Gladio teased, with a hint of mimicry in his voice. Noctis glanced in his direction and rolled his eyes. "What, don't feel like posing for a few shots? It'd only take a moment."
Prompto took a quick photo of Gladio anyway, no warning in advance, just a flash as the sound of the shutter made itself known. "Really?"
"And here we have the barbarian in his natural habitat." He flashed him a quick playful smile.
"You won't be smiling when I take that away from you."
"Aw, come on, don't be such a stick in- in the mud." He stuttered as his phone sounded again. "It was just one picture after all, and I mean, like I've said before, the best photos are always those taken off guard," he unintentionally rambled a bit.
"Calm down, it's fine," Gladio reassured. "I was just messing with you."
Prompto nodded, "Yeah, I know." He looked away timidly, "Sorry, don't know what that was about."
"Shh!" came from Ignis in the front; he stopped where he was and held up a hand. They all stopped and listened intently as he turned his own head to try and hear things better. "I think there's something up ahead." He took a few more steps while the others stayed where they were. "I think it might be a few goblins, but it doesn't sound like a whole lot."
"That's good though, right?" Prompto asked, sounding hopeful.
Ignis listened for a few more seconds, "Yes and no. Yes because it means we won't have to take care of a whole lot at once, which is safer for us. And no because that means they are more spread out and we'll have to go further in to take care of them all. Which of course will take us longer and means we'll be stuck in here longer."
"So, what are we waiting for? Let's just take these guys out. Like you said, there aren't many of them." Noctis already had his sword summoned and was ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.
Ignis gave him a disapproving look, "I said it doesn't sound like it, not that there wasn't." He clarified, "There could be more."
"Well, I'm going out there. They're just small fry." He ran past Ignis who in turn let out an exasperated breath and followed suit, calling his daggers.
"Very well, we'll do it your way, I suppose." He remained calm, since Noctis was right for once. They were pretty easily taken care of, but it didn't hurt to show some sort of caution every once in a while; something the prince would have to learn to have more of sooner or later. "Come on, you two, let's go assist him."
They both summoned their own weapons, following closely behind them. The moment they rounded the curve, there was a small scuffle going on, nothing too major. There was only around five of the things and they seemed to be handling them well on their own. Either way, they had no choice but to join in as two broke off from the main group to try and take on their new targets, one going to each of them. Of course, they weren't having any trouble with their own enemies.
The one going after Prompto leaped at him a few times, but each time he easily stepped to the side to avoid being hit. Once he had a clear shot, he raised his gun and aimed it at the creature's chest. Just as he pulled the trigger, there was that dreaded buzzing again. That fraction of a second of distraction was all it took for him to jolt slightly, causing his shot to go wide, missing by a hair. Now the goblin had its opportunity, and it took it. While the man was momentarily stunned, it leaped again.
Before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in his upper right arm. It wasn't particularly bad, but it was enough to pull him out of his trance and he spun around to face the creature that was now behind him. With quick succession, he fired off three shots into the thing's chest and watched as it dropped to its side, lifeless. He felt the warm substance flow down his arm, but that's not what he was worried about at the moment. What really concerned him was the fact that he now had three unread messages.