AN: Hey everyone!

I hope you are well :). I can't seem to be able to distance myself from this story, haha, it's the only thing that I can think of at the moment. The plot has captivated me and I need to write every day, even when I have so much to do and so many obligations waiting for me. Uff, I seriously slept for the last week only three to four hours the night, only to have time for writing my ideas down, so I really, really hope you all do enjoy reading it so far, the same as I do enjoy the writing.

As you will see, from this chapter onward, the universe of FFXV inevitably changes into unknown territory - I wish we would finally see some glimpses of the videogame's true story! And the names of the antagonists, I only know of Eldercapt, but what about the hood-guy, and what about the black haired beauty? What about the red-haired guy? Uff, I need to invent some names for them and replace those when we do know more about the characters. At least I'll try to make the plot big, conspiratory, as fantastic as I am sure the final game will be, ha. So, enough said for now, have fun with this chapter.

ben4kevin: ha, I know, right? I'll try to insert as many sexy-cute scenes with Noct as possible, because I think in "real-life" in game he would be the same. A tad on the passionate side, but when confronted with serious/fun/sad things more unsecure of himself. Please enjoy this chapter.

Youwan: hey, thank you again for your long review. And please do not worry about your English, I understand perfectly what you say :)! Well with POV I meant to split it between Noct and Prompto into one chapter, the plot needs to go on now and there are scenes where both of their views are important for the plot to deepen. As for Ignis POV it was just an idea, seeing that the guy reacts so funny - but after writing the fourth chapter I am not sure it will be a good idea anymore. It doesn't fit anymore. So, only Noct and Prompto POV from now on, as it is -their- story ;). Have fun reading!

Lis Alice5472: oh, is it really that rare for an author to reply to reviews? I come from the artist's scene and there it is very usual to answer on viewer's comments. I simply love to learn about the people who read/enjoy my work, this is why I seek to converse with them, listening to ideas or their advice, so you are welcome, no fainting please xD! I had to laugh out loud at your reactions to Noct touching himself, etc. And YES, I am definitely a big fan of Noctis - how did you know that?! I tried to keep this to myself .. and failed, haha. For me he is Squall's reincarnation, only upgraded, firmware 2.0 xD. Love that Noct isn't depressed and lonely, but a super cool guy (well, he tries to be) and he -can- laugh when he wants, ha. He is totally my type ... so, yup, I share the same fascination with you ;). And about the fandom's stories, yes, this is one of the reason of why I wanted to contribute my own ideas, because I myself am mature and haven't really found a (finished) story yet that is exactly what I want to read about these characters - they are as you said, mostly written by younger people for a younger audience - nothing wrong with that - but those stories are not for me. I hope in the future more mature writers will follow and blow us away with deep and intelligent writing and complete stories. :) So, thank you a lot for your long review, I totally enjoy reading them! Please do not stop, ha, and enjoy this chapter, dear.

everyone: have fun! please let me know if you liked it :)!

...

Chapter 4: The Astral Plane

"Father ... !"

My arms embrace the man before me very, very strongly, in fear, that once I let go of him, he would disappear forever. I grasp his garment as tightly as I can, with my shaking fingers, gasping and crying my heart out in my pain. My miserable feelings, of once loosing the person most dear to me, coming to the surface once more.

I do not know how long we were standing there, bitter tears flowing down my face, listening to his soothing words and clinging onto his protective frame like it were my very last lifeline.

Neither did I care in these moments, of how this meeting was even possible.

Because the hard truth is, my father died.

And the dead could not return to the living.

So many conflicting emotions and questions were trying to take over the wheel inside of my heart, of why the invasion has happened, why did he have to die, why did this have to happen to all of us, where and how should I go on without his guidance and protection?

"Son ..." he is placing his strong hands softly on my shoulders, taking a step back to take a better look into my tears stained face. My tears do stop to flow for one moment, as I read the profound understanding shining in his sad eyes. "I do know exactly what you think and feel right now. Do not worry, I will answer all your questions in time.", he then moves one hand to point at this place around us. "This is what all mortals know as the Astral Plane. The spiritual world, where the dead and higher beings are dwelling."

I gasp outloud as I fully take in my surroundings. I feel overwhelmed, as I wipe the remaining tears with both of my hands away from my face in wonder. "Good God, this is beautiful ...!" It feels like the multitude of vibrant colours around us are dancing, singing, changing. I suddenly can -hear- the chiming of the colors, I can -see- the floating vibrations all around us, I can -touch- the emanations of my father's deep love with my own heart. And the most unusual impression I have, is the total awareness prevailing inside of my mind. Here, in this place, I feel alive and am focused in a way I have never been before.

"The Astral Plane has it's own rules, it's own structure. Your very own thoughts and your entire belief that is stored deep down in your inner subconscious, do influence, how this place and the residing beings inside appear to your perception. Therefore, this plane's intrinsic nature is of a mental essence."

As I try to process the true meaning of his words, he places his hand on my back and says: "Come, we have a lot to make up for the lost time we have had. And I do mean this in mortal terms. Because in the spiritual world, space and time are merely illusions."

I rise my eyebrow at him curiously. "So this means, in this place, we do have all the time in the world to talk? Does this mean, I can meet you as often and as long as I need to?"

"Yes, ... indeed." he replies in a mysterious manner, as we slowly walk toward a myriad of transculent, circular staircases.

"I can hear a -but- somewhere hidden in your answer. So, I will bite. There is a catch?"

He is laughing out loud before I can feel a tender pat on my back, where his guiding hand is touching me: "Oh, my son, how deeply I regret leaving you. I already did miss our fun banter and your quick thinking mind. Good thing, that my message has reached Prompto, who in turn, influenced your behavior as well and made it possible for my message to reach you in time."

"Wait a moment, what does Prompto have to do with you sending him messages? Could you not just have reached me instead, from the very beginning?", I ask in a voice that sounds much to overprotective of Prompto.

I can hear my father chuckle slightly at my tone, as we reach the staircase infront of us and I look up, feeling horrified that we would need to climb probably thousands of stairs to reach our destination - whereever this might be.

Then we stop walking and he faces me to look at me seriously. "I want to be frank with you, Noctis. Prompto is your true soulmate. You two belong together, bound by destiny, ever since the universe startet spinning. The fact, that both of you are drawn to each other quite strongly and that both of your life forces are so compatible in this lifetime, must be obvious to you. Gender doesn't play a role in all of this, as both of you shared already bodies as females as well in the far past." He leans down to kiss my forehead. "I can read your mind, even without your face staring deeply shocked into space. It has deeper meanings to the two of you consuming your love to each other. ... Come, let us go on, I want for you to meet some influental spiritual beings. There is a lot to explain and quite a lot of planning to do."

As I rise one of my feet to climb up the stairs I let a small astonished cry, as I see that we are floating the way up, instead of walking, and it doesn't even feel strenuous at all. All of a sudden a ridiculous fear appears in my mind. "I am not dead, am I?"

My father is smiling as if amused and says: "Thank God, you are not. Even if I would love to have you here by my side, your destiny must be fulfilled in the mortal realm first. I think I better explain some facts to you first. The body, in where your every day consciousness resides at this very moment, the part of your mind that is talking to me right now, would be what you mortals term as the Astral Body of a human being."

I nod my head. "Alright, yes, I have heard about this."

"You see, every living being, be it an animal or human, is born into the material world inside a physical body. But pure flesh and bones alone do not induce a human being to move on his own, nor the lungs to breathe in and out, nor the blood to rebuild it's cells itself. For this, he is being born with a second, so called etheric body, which is completely energetic, invisible to the normal eye and fully comprised of etherical life force. One could say, it is an energetic interface and it's nature resides in the etheric envoirnment. The codes of your physical substance are stored therein, your appearance, your health or sickness, your capability of using life force as magic to name a few, and these are being altered throughout your entire life period as you grow older. To be brief, the etheric body is holding up your physical flesh and bones in sync and alive, and prevents the entire body to disintegrate instantly."

He stops here for a moment to let me digest this information. I cross my arms thoughtfully and then ask to make sure: "So, in a way, our physical bodies on the outside seem like those websites, that you can open via the internet and you look at the colours and text and click anywhere where it is possible. The etheric bodies on the other hand, represent the source code behind the visible website. The language, the mathematical data, which is holding up the appearance and it's content together like glue. Without the codes, the website would collapse, the content would not exist. Is this right?"

"It is a fitting comparison, yes. Also, the life force contained in the etheric plane would be equivalent to the electricity fueling the computing devices. Now, the human being has a physical body that needs an etheric body to function the way it is supposed to do in the mortal realm. But, for this being to have emotions, to act out the desires and to have a -will-, he needs an additional body - the astral body. This energy body is of a subtle essence, it's energy vibration much higher than the etheric one, hence even more invisible to the mortal eye. Imagine a human being without feelings, without the will to live. What purpose in life would this physical being share with all?"

"I think I understand.", I answer, thinking that emotions are indeed the ones that make us either fail or prosper in life. "Only through living out our emotions, and the consequences of acting these out, do we grow stronger?"

"Right. And now, imagine a human being, having only a physical body, an etheric body and an astral body. One that is material, one that is life giving, and one of emotional essence - these three bodies are identical to the entire body of an animal. In this state, these would only induce a human being to live in a constant eat and be eaten mentality. Now, let me ask you this: does an animal ask "Who am I", does an animal wonder "Who are you?" And are animals creative, do they have inspirations and ideas, do they love unconditionally? You see, for us humans to live fully, for us to grow, to experience, to create, expand ourselves and to transcend said emotional astral body, all three bodies would neet to become aware of the puppet master behind it all: to be aware of the connection to our Higher Self, so to speak."

... I am left speechless. God, the implications of these words are incredible! Why do we not learn about this in school? Why is society not questioning any of this, questioning their very own existence? To me, this is a very significant and universal truth to know ...

"Noctis, this is my homework for you: where do you think this awareness, the human consciousness, the unconditional love for all beings comes from?"

The only answer I have right now is to nod briefly. Because my mind is working with the velocity of light over this deep truth. "I will definitely ponder about what you just told me. But, father, this seems to be very important information - I do not understand why this is not already common sense in our society? Such profound truths should not be concealed, but revealed to everyone."

He is looking with a sad expression on his face, somewhere at a point behind me and his answer is instantly boiling up my blood vessels on a full scale in anger - well they would do, if I had any in this astral condition of mine.

"The truth is, ever since ancient times, there has been a group of higher beings living in the higher planes, cooperating with evil human beings in the mortal realms. In exchange for infinite life force, which is their nourishment and ambrosia, they help the lesser human lords win their meaningless wars and bring tragedy all over the world. These higher beings are still influencing humanity today, hence the invasion of Niflheim and them stealing the last Crystal, the Crystal of Lucis. King Eldercapt is the reincarnation of one of those ancient evil human lords and is under direct comand to fulfill the contracts of their overworldly masters. And for them to fulfill these contracts, without major interferences, humanity must be kept in constant sleep - completely unaware of their own true purpose and of their true immortal origin."

This is ... this is unbelievable! I clench my fists tightly while thinking furiously about a solution to this. Heaven! Overworldly beings manipulating evil humans and in return manipulating the whole world!

"There is no end to this, is there?" I need to ask, I have to ask this question, even when I already know the answer.

"Well, we are here.", he says simply. "This way. The spiritual masters I have spoken of before, that are waiting for you, are on the other side of this portal. Come."

These news have instantly changed my perception of my revenge. I suddenly do not want anymore to let Niflheim feel the same pain as my people and myself have suffered. After hearing my father's words, this objective seems minor in comparison. I now want to cancel these ancient contracts by all means. I want to take away the terrifying power from these mad human lords that have terrorised humanity for thousands of years and stil do so today! Just getting the Crystal back would change -nothing- on the future history of human kind, this much I understand now.

There won't be peace, for any of us. With this knowledge I just cannot stand back and let history repeat itself over and over and over. There -must- be something that I can do. And if there is not, then I will break through every wall, I will cross any distance if I need to and I am going to rip apart any veils that are standing in my way! This can't go on any longer, not as long as I am alive and breathing.

With my new resolve growing stronger and stronger by the minute, my father and I reach the huge portal infront of us. I look up higher and expect to see the top of the doors, but I cannot see an end, it seems to be reaching literally up into heaven. The chiming sounds as the colours move over the white glowing portal are so beautiful. Like a small kid, I need to touch the surface in hopes to catch one of the moving vibrations and am instantly dissapointed of failing to do so. I catch my father's warm smile at my childish antics and I smile sheepishly back to him.

God, this place is truly mystical. The same as all ancient sages, shamans and mystics have always spoken of and have lived to tell about. One does truly believe in this place only, if one has experienced it for oneself.

Just when I am about to touch the surface of the portal more strongly, the portal's doors open up and I almost fall inbetween and somehow I manage to refrain from making a fool of myself as my hands land on the chest of a person.

"Steady there! Young man, I can feel miles away your intent to catch one of those cute little sounds, but believe me, you'll fail every single time. Trust me, I have over 295279 human years accumulated wisdom and experience. Hahaha!"

My eyes open wide as I allow myself to assess the laughing black haired man before me, up and down and then up again. The funny thing is, he looks younger than myself, but is speaking as if his soul is indeed that old. He is standing there proudly, staring me down with his bright blue eyes in a way that makes me want to tease him, or punch him.

With my father on my side I resort to teasing, so I say back to him smugly: "Well, you might have 295279 human years of accumulated failures of catching them. I, on the other hand, have only one human day of accumulated success of catching -one-.", I say, with an arrogant smirk on my face, as I open up the palm of my hand and the little speck of colour floats away chiming as if laughing out loud. No, wait, the laughing part comes from my father, as he is bowing down to hold his stomach with his arms in laughter. I am so glad to see him laughing again ... it has been roughly about one week ago since he left my side, but God did I miss him dearly ...

The young guy is now looking at me as if he saw Death himself, it's hilarious, all large eyes and wide open mouth, as if he can't believe what he has just witnessed and blinking a few times in shock. I feel strangely proud of myself.

Then suddenly more laughter is joining my father, and I realize behind the young guy, there are more people standing. I can only rub my neck in embarassement now. Honestly, I still work on my impulse to brag around, truly, bragging doesn't become me at all. I can't stand this weakness of mine and hope to get rid of it as soon as possible.

"I am Riaan. Nice finally meeting you, son of Regis. You haven't changed at all, even in your new reincarnation.", says the young guy proudly of my accomplishment. "It seems you just did pass my test, now you can meet my other partners in crime. This is Leyhen." A tall, good looking guy, white long hair, red eyes, maybe older than Riaan, is coming forward. "Good to finally see you Noctis.", he greets me, like we were very old friends. Wow, Leyhen seems to be the strongest one of all, his aura is simply ridiculous!

Riaan then proceeds to introduce the next person: "This is Niell." Now a smaller person, female and about at my age, with a petite figure, long red hair and glowing green eyes, is coming forward, smiling at me brightly. "It's good meeting you again Noctis." she says and is shaking my hand. I instantly feel connected to her, I start to already like her. "And this one is Oruaar." This one is a middle aged-looking guy, remembering me of an older Gladio for some reason. "Hey there.", he greets me with a strong clap on my back. Yep, definitely Gladio-like, alright.

I swallow down my sudden upcoming nervousness. Something about these people feels very, very familiar. Their aura is crazy strong and they truly seem to be wise beyond their years. When everyone is finished introducing themselves I reply politely. "Nice to meet you all. I heard from my father you did wish to speak with me."

Niell steps forward, grasping my right hand with a concerned look in her wise and beautiful green eyes as she says in a soft tone in her voice: "Noctis, you might not remember anything yet, but before you were reborn on Earth you have already agreed to join our resistance group. Your friends, family and yourself have been on our side for many generations before. We all have fought together to keep the balance between the darkness and light. We all fight for the Goddess of Death and we are called Etro's Knights. You could say, everyone of us here is on the grey side of things. We are in agreement, that the light side, with it's ridiculous freewill regulations of not interfering in human affairs, are too lenient with the manipulative dark side. So we all have taken it upon ourselves, since ancient times, to keep the darkness at bay and serve the goddess Etro in every way we can."

I am thankful for her holding my hand, or else I would have lost the ground beneath my feet. "Etro's Knights? The Goddess of Death is real? She is not just some mythological being, but a -real- entity?" Today's news keep coming and coming at me and I find myself not knowing how to react anymore.

Leyhen steps to my side and is placing one hand on my shoulder. His power is overwhelming. "She is very real. As soon as your friends and yourself do recall your past and remember your future destiny, she will call you to met her personally. You already have her gift, to see the Light of the Dead."

Then Oruaar steps in and adds further: "It is not so much a duty to serve the Goddess of Death. It is not a contract that is forcing you into something you do not want. We all have once made a choice, out of our own freewill, to assist Etro in her plans to bring balance to this world. Contrary to human superstition, the Goddess of Death is not some creepy Grim Reaper, striving after human lifes and judging harshly over their sins, only after to exile them to burn in hell forever. These superstitions were planted on purpose by the White Knights on Earth, thousands of years ago, to let the fear rule over all human minds - heaven forbid, not that they might start to search for the truth. You probably know of the popular saying -to divide and conquer-."

Good God, this totally blows my mind! The more I hear, the more I would want to join Etro immediately, even if I didn't already agree to fight on their side in my distant past already. I can see and feel that these people are telling the truth and I let my eyes wander slowly to where my father is standing, looking into his eyes. He is my confirmation, that we all are immortal, that there is a deeper meaning to our lifes and that this is exactly what I always have been destined to do. I feel it deep down in my heart and I can't wait to get back to talk with the guys about it.

So I say to him: "Father, I have so many questions I just do not know where to start. Give me some time to think over everything. What is it that I can do for now? How can we meet again?"

Niell and Leyhen make room for my father to step closer. "Son, what you can do for now is to think deeply over and understand the significance of our conversation today. Then you have to tell your friends and make them understand as well. And after that ..." he is smirking openly at me now. "Well, after that, you should sit down with Prompto and let him enlighten you in the way of how you can meet us here on the Astral Plane on a regular basis." Alright. That sounds mysterious. What is Prompto knowing that I did not figure out on myself yet? Interesting ...

"The next time you'll visit, we will let you in into our plans to get the Crystal back to Lucis, the Crystal's power is very important for your own health. I will explain next time."

"Alright. Thank you all, truly." I look at the smiling faces of the spiritual guides beside me. "I feel like my true purpose has been revealed to me today, it did wonders to my confidence and resolve."

Riaan answers then amused: "Oh come on Noctis, don't you dare get all mushy on us, you know, we all missed you as well!" He then is boldly embracing me fiercly and everyone is laughing in good humor at his antics. The more I am in the presence of these people, the more I feel right at home and I wish Prompto, Ignis and Gladio could be here with us as well.

As if reading my mind Niell is telling me with a longing tone in her voice: "Please greet Ignis from me ... I miss him terribly.", and then she is hugging me as if I were the one who is delicate.

Oh. Now, this is intriguing ... are they ..? "Ignis is my soulmate, yes.", she says to confirm my thoughts. Wow. So this must be the reason of why Ignis has never been interested in any romantic trists before, his heart seems to be already taken ... and he doesn't even know the truth, yet. Finally something I can tease him with, as payback. But when I look at her closer, Niell is truly beautiful and graceful beyond words, long curly red hair, vibrant jade coloured and very intelligent eyes, a grace of a true female warrior ... if Ignis only could see her.

"Well, greet your friends from us, take care of yourselves. Until next time." Leyhen is giving me a hug as well.

Then Oruaar is giving my hand a strong shake. "And greet my twin flame Gladio from me, will you?"

What? I blink at him curiously.

"Our souls are twins. You already might have recognized our resemblance.", he winks at me with a grin. I smile back. "Of course I did, now I know why. And I will. Well then ..."

This time I have to force myself to look at my father, in fear that I will get all emotional again and never stop crying. He is stepping closer to embrace me very strongly. "I am truly proud of you Noctis. We can make this work, you are strong - never forget that. You are not alone."

And I can only nod in silence, my farewell tears threatening to choke me up in pain again, I do not want to leave him here and I wish I could take him -home- with me. A childish wish, I know.

And then everything becomes blurry before my eyes, I feel weak all of a sudden, and I fall deeply asleep ...

...

With a shocked gasp I wake up, heart beating rapidly in my chest. It just felt as if my body was falling down from a very high place and landing with a hard thud on the ground. I take a moment to calm myself, then my eyes focus to see Prompto's handsome face leaning over mine, that is looking down at me in concern. "Noct ... everything okay? I tried to wake you, but you were deeply asleep."

Without saying anything, I embrace him tenderly, kissing his cheek and bury my face into his neck. I fight against the tears that do already come out, while I think of how to breach this important subject with Prompto. Maybe I should wait until morning and talk with everyone first.

"Heaven, you are shaking, come, let's get back into the comfy bed." Sweet Prompto is standing up, helping me on with my trousers and takes the boots into his hand while grasping in the other one my own shaky hand securely. If he noticed the shimmering tears in the corner of my eyes, he didn't say anything. And so we walk back together in silence to the caravan and tiptoe as silently as possible inside to crawl back into the soft bed, under the warm and fluffy blanket.

I don't want to sleep -alone- tonight. And I don't care about pretending in this moment, to be what we are not anymore. So I take Prompto into my arms, hearing him gasp in surprise, to savour his warmth and his soft breathing ... and his scent ... until I fall deeply asleep ...

...

In the morning, I wake up to soft kisses on my face, on hands caressing my chest softly. A tender smile appears on my face, as my eyes open and a smiling Prompto comes into view. His hair is somewhat messy, so I rise my hands up to brush my fingers gently through his blonde strands of hair, letting it fall back sexily into his eyes. This is my favorite look on him. He is closing his eyes, purring like a cat, and I have to stifle a laugh. I look to the other side, where Ignis and Gladio were sleeping, but they seem to be already up and somewhere outside.

"Good morning, Noct." Prompto's hands resume to caress the skin on my chest and probably he is reading my mind, because he is moving atop of my relaxed body and is laying his soft lips on mine, kissing me leisurely. I will never grow tired of kissing him. I feel the kisses becoming deeper and hotter, so I stop him, to not become aroused again. He seems to be confused at my behavior, so I say to him with a smile to reasure: "Morning ... today I need to talk to all of you about something very important. For that I will need to focus - and I can't do that when my body is screaming for your touches .. so, let's continue at a later time." I say ruefully.

"Okay." he says in understanding, and then is giving me a quick peck on my lips before he is standing up. God, he is so handsome. The sun is shining through the windows and giving his nude body an ethereal touch, his golden strands of hair seem to glow brightly. I have heard in the past from many people how they were talking about being in love. Never experienced it for myself before, at this moment, I am left speechless, staring at him with awe, with a million butterflies fluttering in my stomach and enhancing my longing for him. I marvel at the sweet pain and the yearning in my heart, while looking silently at his handsome form. He raises his arms up, stretches himself and is giving a small groan of pleasure. My eyes follow in appreciation a path from his long neck, further down over his well sculptured back, lean muscles and sexy freckles on his skin as far as my eyes can reach, then my eyes caress him lower over his slim hips, to stop on his firm and sexy bottom for a moment. I swallow. My hands were gripping the blanket very, very tightly and here I just can't help myself anymore, I shove the mentioned blanket aside and rise up to embrace him from behind and to start to shower his bare back with open kisses and to lavish on his delectabel skin with my wet tongue. Spreading my saliva all over the skin as if to claim him mine.

I hear a slight moan. "Noct ...! I thought we will continue later ...?"

I look up at his beautiful smile, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief and I smirk naughty in reply, only a moment later to bow my head lower to bite into one of his perfect buttocks. He is moaning softly and leaning his body back into my arms, as I rise myself up again to fully embrace him around his chest, placing the palm of my hands against his hard nipples, caressing the soft skin around and over them, and continue to kiss and nipp and suck on the soft skin between his neck and throat from behind. His head is leaning back on my shoulder, with closed eyes and open lips in rapture and I can hear him moan deeply this time. "Hnn ... Noct, please ... if you do not intend to finish what you start, let's stop here ..." God, how I wish to continue, it is like I can't stop myself. As if I don't have any control over my actions. His entire presence is attracting me like a bee to the honey. I suck at his skin as I move up to his left ear to bite teasingly. I now hear his erratic breathing, see the adam apple on his throat bobbing up and down as he swallows hard and this is probably the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life - I let go of his skin, distance myself from his tempting body and sit myself back down on the bed.

A harsh breath is escaping me. "... I apologize. God, it is so difficult to keep my hands off of you today." He is turning around, excitement and understanding in his eyes. "I feel the same ... but we will get to enjoy each other at a later time, so, let's be patient." A small laugh escapes me to hear him saying this. "You? Patient?" He bows down to me to peck my lips again and then chuckles. "Yeah, go figure. Now the world must be ending." We laugh at that and then force ourselves to go to freshen up and make ourselves ready for the day.

...

About half an hour later we step out of the caravan to look for Ignis and Gladio.

Imagine my surprise, when both of them are already standing a few steps away, waiting for us. I can see Gladio crossing his arms, and having a very serious expression on his face.

I need to swallow dry. Oh God, he knows. What now?

Prompto is hiding behind me and gives a whimper in fear. "Oh no, Gladio will beat us up!", he whispers frightened.

A quick look at Ignis confirms my fears. He has had -the talk- with Gladio.

I let a sigh out to relieve myself of nervousness - well my intention was already to tell him about us, I do not like to keep secrets from my friends and family. But I can't keep myself from glaring at Ignis, because this is something that I would have liked to tell Gladio on my own. Ignis in return, does only shrug helplessly his shoulders - alright, I get it, he didn't have a choice.

So I take Prompto's hand into my own and walk with my head held high into their direction, until we stand directly before them. "Good Morning." I do hope to sound as cool and sure of myself as I try to be.

"Mornin'" Gladio's eyes immediately stop at my hand holding Prompto's and in turn I hold onto him even more firmly. Then his eyes wander up into my face and I stare back at him in challenge.

The tension between us grows ... and grows ...

I let Gladio see all the feelings I have for Prompto and that nothing would ever change my mind, or my heart, to be apart from him from now on. If he doesn't agree ...

"I know, if I do not agree, I can go and fuck myself several times over." says Gladio and is interrupting my thoughts. "Damn, what took you two so long to come open about it? I swear, your behaviour was downright hilarious to watch!", he is grinning widely at us and steps forward to hug Prompto teasingly around his shoulders. Prompto instantly is whining as Gladio is gripping him tighter, his head now between Gladio's armpit and I hear them joking around and I can't help but smile at their comical behaviour.

I feel my whole body relax, as the tension lessens, and Ignis is giving me a thumbs up sign and smirking. "I have breakfast ready, let's eat something, while we discuss today's schedule."

"Actually ..." I stop him as he is about to turn away. "Instead of discussing today's schedule first, I have some important news to share. A profound message from beyond our mortal realm."

Now I have their attention. I start to get a bit nervous at the thought of what kind of subjects I am going to share with them. What if they won't believe me? It does certainly sound very fantastical ...

I look at my dearest friends, family and lover, and then take a deep breath before dropping the bomb on them.

"Tonight, I met my father."

...

To Be Continued :). Thanks for reading.