Blessings of Eos

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy.

If Ignis and Gladio noticed how Prompto somewhat favored his right wrist the next morning, they said nothing.

Having finished all the hunts currently available at Hammerhead and picking up their newly upgraded weapons from Cid, the boys headed down to Longwythe to complete all the hunts there. "Now that's weird." Prompto commented, frowning at the chocobo rental kiosk.

"What's weird?" Gladio asked.

"This is the third kiosk I've tried, but all of them are out of service. The phones at the post are connected to the kiosk system, otherwise I'd just call Chrissy and ask." He explained.

"Perhaps there's a glitch in the system? You've only been trying for a day correct? I wouldn't worry too much for now." Ignis said, partly distracted by organizing their food supplies.

Still somewhat concerned, Prompto nonetheless dropped the subject.

"Well it doesn't seem like there's been a big difference in MT drop-ins." Noct commented as he rested against the blizzard element point, his arms around Prompto. "Wrist bothering you a lot?"

"Nah…you bandaged me up good. It's only been a day though." Prompto answered, sighing.

His phone chirped. Swiping the lock screen, Prompto and Noct read the text.

/The encounters are part random, part based on sightings of a black car. So if you do that again I will whip your ass./ The 'from' section contained the now familiar image of a cartoon Miss Aerith, only holding a whip instead of flashing the peace sign.

"Good, I've back up." Noct commented.

Groaning, Prompto just put his phone away. "I know none of you care about it, but I'm worried about it being sighted by someone. It's not something I can articulate; my concerns about it. But if Hat Guy is around, and he remembers me…when we run into him again I'm sticking to you like glue."

"You sound pretty sure we'll run into him again." Noct commented.

"…he confronted Miss Aerith, right after She saved me. I didn't really get what they were talking about…I just feel like he's deeply involved in what's happening. And there's something else bugging me." Prompto mused.

"What?"

"If he's a Niflheim official, why is he wearing black? I know while black is a royal color, it's not completely banned for others, but…it's just got me worrying."

Noct squeezed Prompto. "Can you leave the worry aside until we encounter him again? No sense of borrowing trouble when we've got plenty already."

"True." Prompto agreed as Ignis gestured them back up the haven plateau for dinner.

After dinner they decided to try fighting some daemons, albeit close enough to the haven to make a dash for safety if they were in over their heads. Testing out his new toy, Prompto had a blast with it, even if it was too heavy to use constantly. "Wonder what other kind of tech we can swipe?!" Prompto exclaimed, slightly giddy.

"Like a kid in a candy store." Gladio commented to Ignis.

Sighing, Ignis could only agree.

"This is really turning me off to mushy desserts." Prompto complained after their fifth round fighting daemons that resembled drops of pudding, with the color and consistency of gelatin.

"Totally." Noct agreed, drawing from the lightning element point.

While the Engine Blade and his new lance could draw element energy from an enemy, with magic being the only thing making a dent in the flans (as Ignis termed them), it wasn't enough.

Everyone jumped as an inhuman roar rumbled across the plain, and a huge ass hand shot out of the portal on the ground. Noct and Prompto exchanged looks at the now-fully emerged Iron Giant. "Think we can?" Prompto asked. "This is real life, this time."

"Won't know unless we try. Beside, I've always wondered how much of it was actually us, and how much was us believing we could." Noct answered.

Grinning, Prompto just summoned his new toy.

"Don't tell me you're really going to do this?" Ignis asked needlessly as Noct and Prompto rushed in.

Sighing, he summoned his daggers to join in, only for Gladio to stop him with a hand to his arm. "Something tells me this is something for them to do themselves." He said to Ignis. "And if I hafta jump in I'd really like some backup."

It was a near thing, but Noct and Prompto managed to kill it. Noct was woozy from warping so much, and Prompto was vaguely nauseous from the number of potions he chugged.

It turned out using so many potions at once with a phoenix down was a bad idea.

"If you're gonna be sick, do it before you go in the tent. Otherwise you'll be cleaning it out." Gladio scolded, impressed despite himself that the pair managed to take on an Iron Giant and win.

Prompto lazily waved a hand as he sagged in his chair leaning his head back. Noct missed his chair and wound up sitting on the ground. Blinking, dumbfounded at his location, Noct just latched on to Prompto's legs.

Ignis fussed around the camp, breaking out the mundane first aid kit and prodding both of them into drinking some water and making Prompto munch some crackers. "What was it you meant, when you said you were wondering how much was you and how much was believing you could?" Ignis asked once Prompto regained some color and Noct stopped swaying even as he hugged Prompto's legs.

"When I fell unconscious after that daemon attack, I found myself in this clearing. Prompto was there too. Carbuncle turned up, saying we had to find the way out otherwise I wouldn't wake up. At the end we had to fight an Iron Giant and a Naga. We had been kids the whole time, but somehow we managed to turn into adults to fight them." Noct explained, humming as Prompto's fingers played with his hair. "At the end before we woke up we promised to try and meet in the real world. Just took a while to manage it."

"How'd Prompto end up in your unconscious dream anyway?" Gladio asked, baffled.

"It's all one big dream world; everyone's got their own little corner. As for why…I don't wanna talk about it." Prompto answered with a yawn.

He poked Noct's shoulder. "C'mon, we can't sleep out here; Iggy'll fuss too much."

Noct roused himself enough to stagger into the tent with Prompto, somehow managing to remember the agreed-upon sleeping arrangements.

Snores soon began. "So he's done it before, like you thought." Gladio commented.

Unknown to Prompto, his bracelet had shifted enough to reveal the bandage underneath. Combined with the blood stain near the blizzard point at the haven they had spent the previous night at, it was enough to piece together what had been done. With this last comment, it didn't take much to presume cutting off the barcode was a first time event. Ignis would have been more surprised if Prompto hadn't attempted this at least once before.

"I had thought so, even if I hadn't expected it to have been at such a young age. I believe the only way Prompto could have managed it at all was because of his parents' busy schedules." Ignis elaborated, rolling his cup between his hands. "He may have been prompted to do it again because of the magitek trooper drop-ins. If they were locking in on the barcode, they would be far more accurate than they have been. But such things do not lend themselves to rational thoughts."

"No they wouldn't. Think Noct knows?" Gladio asked, eyeing the pair curled around each other through the gap in the tent flaps.

"He has to. The bandage looked too well placed for Prompto to have managed it one-handed. I do feel, however, that Prompto hasn't done this at least since he and Noct realized their feelings, if not from the time they met in high school. I can only hope Noct will be able to keep him from doing this again." Ignis said.

"Yeah…wouldn't all the potions and the phoenix down he used today have healed it?" Gladio asked.

"Healing items can be funny, when it comes to self-inflicted injuries. I doubt Noct would have been able to bring himself to harm Prompto in any way, and he certainly didn't approach either of us to do it. We'll just have to keep an eye out, especially when we encounter Niflheim officials again." Ignis said, having researched healing items and their limitations before they departed.

With little else to say, Ignis and Gladio turned in for the night themselves.

Prompto just frowned at the distance after they destroyed the budding blockade, Cor and Monica having departed. "That guy seemed familiar." He commented.

"That one we just fought?" Gladio asked.

"Yeah…can't say why." Prompto just shrugged. "Oh well, doesn't really matter I guess. We got more important stuff ahead."

"Like what?" Noct asked.

"Chocobos! The chocobo post is up ahead!" Prompto cheered. "Well, not right ahead but it's in Duscae."

"Is a visit really necessary?" Ignis inquired. "There are the rental kiosks at practically every outpost and there are more important places to visit."

"No telling how long they'll be down. And it's not like the Regalia can take us everywhere." Prompto reminded him.

"He's gotta a point." Gladio pointed out.

"In the next couple days." Ignis conceded.

Prompto stretched his arms over his head as he sat outside the caravan. Iris had called Noct once they reached the gas station. She had reached Lestallum safely, which eased some of their worries. Gladio had wanted to go right to Lestallum, but the chocobo post wasn't that big of a detour, and with Noct in ultimate command of where they went, they'd be at the chocobo post tomorrow. Ignis had dragged Gladio off shopping (what little shopping there was) and Noct was dozing next to him. "Can't wait to see Mr. Wiz and Ms. Myra and Cassie and Chrissy again. Maybe Opal will be in too." Prompto commented.

Noct started awake. "Opal?"

"Miss Aerith's chocobo. She accidently made her able to turn invisible, so Mr. Wiz couldn't really rent her out anymore." Prompto explained.

"How'd She manage that?" Noct had to ask.

"We ran into a tonberry-they're these really creepy daemons with a lantern and a knife-that first night, so She gave Opal a green that turned her invisible to get away. The day we reached the chocobo post we woke up to find Opal had turned white-ish and could turn invisible at will. Not sure why it happened tho', beyond the green having something to do with it." Prompto elaborated.

Noct just blinked. "She's like the complete opposite of what you'd expect a divinity to be like. Especially contrasted against the Astrals." He commented. "Why is that? She's basically the mother of humanity."

"From what She told me, when I realized it, the last word She'd ever use to describe Herself is 'goddess'. There's this thing called the Lifestream that looks like a river from which all Life comes from. She sees Herself as an avatar of the Lifestream. But I don't think that's the whole story." Prompto explained.

"How so?"

"It's hard to really explain, but…" Prompto caught sight of Ignis and Gladio approaching and changed the subject. "Wonder how many of your ancestors' tombs are out there to find?"

"There should be as many tombs as have been kings, but whether or not they're still intact is another story." Noct answered, catching onto the subject change. "The two centuries the kings have been buried in the same crypt, but there's no way to get to it currently."

"There's also no guarantee the royal arms have remained in the tombs." Ignis pointed out as he sat down.

"Didn't Cor say there were thirteen arms? But there's been way more than thirteen kings." Gladio asked, baffled.

"Maybe thirteen's the limit Noct can collect?" Prompto wondered.

There was just a collective shrug. "Do you know if your friend made it out?" Chrissy?" Ignis inquired.

"She left the university right before the start of spring semester; her twin Cassie's pregnant with twins and had to go on bed rest for the last three months. They've got people working there aside from her and her family, but Chrissy still felt like she should be home to help out." Prompto explained. "Their phone's tied to the kiosks, and with them not working, I can't call."

"Well we best get some rest; rain's called for tomorrow." Ignis declared, shooing Noct and Prompto into the caravan.

"Didn't you two get enough alone time earlier?" Noct asked, noticing how Ignis wasn't following them in, or shooing Gladio in behind them.

"Never mind that." Ignis answered, a faint blush on his cheeks.

Noct and Prompto just shared an eye roll. Ignis was weird when it came to PDA with Gladio, especially after they had caught the pair making out a couple years ago. "I know, the parents only get to have fun when the kids are asleep." Prompto commented, pulling off his shoes, gloves, and jacket.

Noct grabbed Prompto's jacket to hang it up, when he saw properly just what one of the patches on the back said. "'It's a beautiful day. Now watch some bastard fuck it up'?" Noct gave Prompto a bewildered look. "What's that all about?"

Prompto turned bright red and declined to answer, as he hunkered down under the covers.

Noct settled down next to him, mind swirling with ways of getting Prompto to explain.

Unfortunately, they all involved far more privacy, space, and/or items than were presently available.

Aerith stood unseen near the entrance to the crypt in the Citadel. Inside, Lali Ho was finishing the work necessary to permit the interment of Regis and Clarus.

If they inter them tomorrow night, then She'll be able to start moving the remaining Crownsguard and their families, the ones willing to go at least. Hopefully She'll be able to convince Eleanore to leave. Her dedication to her patients was praiseworthy, but once the Imperial Army started 'working the lists', hers and Michael's lifespan would measure in days. Michael will go whenever Eleanore does, so hopefully between the two of them they'll convince her.

Running through the arguments in Her head, She still noticed Ardyn's approach. "We meet again, My Lady." He greeted Her, sketching a bow like always.

"So we do." She said. "How does it feel, standing in what you helped build?" She asked.

"Oh come now, we both know there's nothing of mine left; it's all HIS." He nearly hissed the last word.

"And here I thought you stopped caring about anything." She commented.

"It's amazing, just how much the Chosen King resembles Him." He said in lieu of answering. "Especially when you toss in his companions. Once again, an Amicitia, a Scientia, and an Argentum join the King in opposing me."

No wonder his passions were aroused. "Dare I ask the purpose of this? Do you intend to deny Regis a proper interment? It's not like you actually need his body, with your skill in illusions." Aerith asked.

"I couldn't help noticing the Argentum with the King bore a striking resemblance to a certain boy from fifteen years ago. Between the bar code and the sparkles, it really is a striking resemblance."

She leveled him with a flat look. "Like you don't know perfectly well who he is."

Ardyn suddenly moved closer, pushing Her into a wall alcove. Being so close to so much blackness made Her stomach churn, but She had eons to work on Her game face. "I wonder, can the King really do his duty, with that blond tart enticing him to stay? It seems like a different blond is meant to die. What ever shall I do, with two prime targets?" He whispered into Her ear.

Unable to contain Herself, Aerith silently cast holy at point blank range. This sent him flying into the opposite wall, his illusion flickering away to show his true face. "Do not cross Me. Prompto is under My protection." She glared at him, the embodiment of all the Astrals' follies.

"There's little you can do, if the boy isn't strong enough." He reminded Her. "Haven't You learned about misplaced faith in Your eons? Perhaps You are as innocent as You've been made out to be."

"Oh I have learned all about misplaced faith." She said softly, Her aura pulsing around Her. "And I have never been as innocent I have been made out to be, or play at being. You, however, have learned nothing in YOUR eons about the human will. Hope springs eternal, strength is found in the most impossible places, and miracles are created. For in the end, humans can do what nothing else can; make the impossible possible."

It almost felt like She was standing outside of Herself as She spoke. "Leave. Now."

No fool, Ardyn faded away.

Breathing in deep, She let Her power fade away as She breathed out. Lali Ho stood in the door to the crypt, having come running when he felt Her power spike. "It's finished." He whispered.

"Good. It would be for the best to complete the interment tonight. The sooner the interment, the sooner I can start getting people out of the cross-fire." She said.

In the blink of an eye, the two were standing in the morgue's office. Eleanore and Michael jumped, hitting their heads on the bottom of the desk. Crawling out, Eleanore felt her blood run cold at the look on Aerith's face.

In that moment, she understood what all the stories of Her anger were talking about. "What happened? Were you not able to finish?" She asked.

"We finished. But we need to move up the time table. Eleanore, I know you're devoted to your patients, but Ardyn will be after you within days. He's recognized Prompto."

Michael paled. "So get the hell outta dodge is what You're saying."

"Yes."

Eleanore just closed her eyes and breathed in deep. "Is there anything else we need to do before we leave? Besides the interment?"

"No." Aerith answered gently, Her anger cooling.

Eleanore just nodded. "Better get started then."

It was a far cry from the typical royal funeral. Eleanore carried the urn with Clarus's ashes, while Lali Ho and Michael bore the stretcher with Regis's body. Aerith led the way into the crypt, where the vault containing Queen Aulea was open.

The men set the stretcher down next to the vault, and gently placed Regis inside. It hardly took effort to summon the finger that had been cut off prior to his death. His body whole again, Eleanore set Clarus's ashes next to Regis's left hand.

The work done, the other three backed away as Aerith swirled with power, sealing the vault and placing the edifice with one gesture. "You deserved so much more than this, My friends." Aerith whispered, a tear falling. "Long live the King."

Eleanore, Michael, and Lali Ho echoed the sentiment. "So where do we go?" Eleanore asked.

"The safest place is the chocobo post; it has My Blessing on it. Lestallum has more people, if you want to start a practice up." Aerith answered.

"We could do with some leisure time." Michael commented, looking at Eleanore.

"Chocobo post for us then." Eleanore said. "Is it safe to detour a day to Galdin Quay? I'd love a massage."

Aerith laughed in what felt like the first time in ages. "Definitely. Prompto and the others will be there tomorrow and the day after at the very least, so if I take you there day after tomorrow it won't be suspicious."

"I'll need the power of the Astral shards to do my work, if You need me to do what I think You do." Lali Ho commented. "Lestallum for me then."

Nodding, Aerith sent him on his way. Walking over to Michael and Eleanore, She placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "Next stop Galdin Quay. I could do with a massage too."

The trio blinked away, leaving the crypt empty save for the dead. The king reunited with his queen at last, if only in body.