Chapter X: Encounter part I

She waited as he slept in his bed

Wishing for Etro to take her instead

Coming by as days passed on

Just to say goodbye before he awakes

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"Prince…"

Noctis heard a girl say softly; it was the same voice he had heard in his dreams. He opened his eyes and saw the girl holding his right hand close to her chest with the Dextrose still intact, was he in a hospital? He observed his surrounding and concluded that he is in fact in a hospital but how come? He remembered that when he was still young he had poor health but he knew that he was treated inside the kingdom; was his condition so dire that he need medical attention only a hospital can give?

He looked at the girl again and saw that she was still holding his right hand and looked so sad. The girl wore the same clothes when she got stabbed, upon closer inspection her clothes were tattered and there were bandages covered all over her body. Noctis wanted to hug her and say that he was alright but when he started getting up he noticed that he couldn't move at all.

"Please wake up…"

Noctis opened his mouth and was glad to at least speak but then there was no voice coming out of his mouth. He tried to shout but to his dismay, it did nothing and his sight started fading.

"Not now I need to talk to her! Please I need to talk to her!"

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"I'm sorry so please wake up."

Noctis' sight came back and he saw the girl standing again but now with a hospital gown and some bandages already gone. He tried to move again but to no avail so he just settled where he currently was; bedridden.

"Prince Noctis….why won't you wake up?

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"I-i-it's all my fault."

The girl cried, she was sat on Noctis' bed this time and was wiping the tears that kept falling down her eyes. Noctis wanted so badly to comfort her but he knew that he could not move so he just listened as the girl kept crying for him to wake up.

"I-I'm, hic…

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"You know Prince Noctis I have a sister and she's really pretty and cute…unlike me. Everyone says that I'm not worthy of my family name and that I'm nothing like my sister. She was kind, pretty and smart; she was the exact opposite of me and I hated her for that. One day I got into a fight and I was badly beaten by five mean boys…I-if you think I'm weak then I'm not! I could have beaten them all but one of them threw sand on my eyes so I couldn't see them at all so they took that opportunity to kick me again and again, and again. I really thought that I was gonna die, but then I heard my sister's voice…"

The girl paused and stood up; she went to a table near Noctis' bed and replaced the red roses that were already withered with a new batch of fresh ones. Noctis looked at her hands and saw that it was bleeding and her fingers were covered with bruises and torns; the roses were probably handpicked.

"My sister is already hurt so please stop; if you want you can hit me instead…. Is what she said, then the boys started running away saying that they can't possibly hit a girl and when I opened my eyes…I saw my sister trying so hard to put on a brave face yet tears and snot were streaming down her face…. I would have laughed at how pathetic she looked, really, but instead I hugged her and since then I didn't care how those boys didn't see me as a girl or how the adults said I was a disgrace to my family because I k-knew, hic, that my parents and my sister, hic, loved me dearly…"

"I-I'm sorry….for crying again when I, hic, when I promised you I won't."

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"Hey you've been sleeping for like…three weeks now, you know? You sure you're not waking up soon?" The girl giggled and opened up the curtain letting the sunlight seep from the window and to the room. "Rise and shine Prince! Good news damdududaaam! They said that you'll probably wake up today and that means this will be the last day I might be with you…but it's okay! I wished the Goddess to wake you up and she granted it, isn't she just the best! Oh and look," The girl waved her arms up and down and spanned two times and almost fell as her leg caught up with the other. "My bandages are already gone!"

"Oh, I probably should go now before they caught me, and if you want to ask why, maybe because I was already fine last week and was already admitted out? I know you won't remember our time together since you are asleep all the time, obviously, but please keep this a secret. I'm not even supposed to be here, I mean there are like a gazillion soldiers outside guarding your room but luckily I'm a God and I climbed up to your window!"

"Please open up I want to see my son Noctis."

"Dad?" Noctis asked himself as he heard a too familiar voice.

"Yes your Highness!" a loud voice said, perhaps from a soldier guarding his room like the girl said.

"That's my cue; I guess this is finally the last?"

"Wait!"

"I know it's not right for me to say this…"

"Don't go!"

"But I really want to be your friend."

"Please stay!"

"Thank you for saving me."

"I'm begging you."

"Goodbye…"

"Don't leave me again."

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"Don't leave me again!"

Noctis opened his eyes and was surprised to see a smiling Prompto in front of him. It was already morning and the sun was slowly rising above, everyone was already awake and was preparing to leave.

"Rise and shine Prince."

Upon hearing the voice Noctis quickly looks to his left and his eyes widen with relief and saw Lightning packing her things together. There was sarcasm in her voice as she spoke that would have probably angered him but for some reason he felt at ease seeing her.

"Hey Noct were you afraid that we're gonna leave you behind?" Prompto asked as Lightning quickly looks away and continued packing up her things. Noticing that he was staring at a person he dislikes, he too looks away and gave his attention back to Prompto who was still smiling at him thinking that Noctis thought that they were going to leave him behind.

Noctis only muttered a 'shut up' as a comeback as he started getting up and went to head to their car. He opened the door to the passenger seat and sat there as he waited for them to finish packing, when Ignis went to the driver's seat indicating that they were already finish packing he hooked his seatbelt on and noticed something. They have a vehicle with them but the other party did not, so how will they travel without having one? He looked at where Lightning was and saw that she was fixing her boots while Hope was facing him backwards and seemed like he was tweaking something in his hands.

"Hey Ig don't tell me they're riding with us-" Noctis started but stopped when he heard something strange as to where the other party was stationed, he glanced at them and was stunned when he saw a strange looking motorcycle floating slightly above the ground. Lightning was the first to hope on as Hope followed suit in the back.

"Whoah," Prompto commented as he whistled in amazement at the new thing his eye just saw. He went toward the strange vehicle and examined it as he repeatedly poked it to see if it's going to do something weird. "Sweet ride, can I test it cl-" Prompto stopped as Lightning gave him a death glare, Prompto surrendered as he slowly backed up and raised both his arms. "C-calm down Lighting, it was an honest mistake really! I didn't really meant to say your na- I mean, uhhh…..it's not my fault that I can't get it right, it has only been a day!" then Prompto ran to their own vehicle besides Gladiolus and covered the side of his face with his hand blocking out Lighting's glare towards him.

"It'll probably take us about two days to travel to Tenebrae at full speed, and that is if we don't stop." Lightning said as she started her engine. "So here's the plan, since Niflheim is on our tail its better if we travel less off road."

"You sure know your way below." Noctis commented as he leaned his elbow on the door frame and closed his eyes as he waited for an answer.

"What are you implying?" Lightning challenged thinking 'not this again'.

"And here I thought you were smarter than you looked." Noctis challenged back.

Sighing, Lightning massaged her temple trying to calm herself of Noctis' stubbornness. "I thought that we already established that?"

We didn't establish anything." Noctis clarified as he motioned for Ignis to move on and ignored Lightning before she can say anything back.

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"Heeeey Noct..…Noct?...Noct!"

"What!?" Noctis finally answered as he looked at Prompto who was covering his ears from Noctis' loud voice. They had been traveling the road for hours now and they were lucky that they had not yet encountered any Niflheim soldiers yet.

"Shhhhh, keep your voice down or you'll wake Lightning up!" Prompto whispered-yelled to Noctis as he pointed his thumb to Lightning's direction who was sleeping behind Hope as he drove in her stead.

"I don't care and why is she sleeping on his back anyway?" Noctis asked as he glared towards Lightning and Hope's direction and when he noticed Lightning stir on her sleep he looks away and crosses his arms huffing.

Confused at what Noctis' question supposed to be; whether he was worried Lightning might fall behind Hope or was he asking why Lightning was asleep. "You're right, it's probably better if we let Lightning sleep on our ride before an accident happens where she falls off that velocycle!" Prompto concluded as he pointed at Gladiolus and told him to trade places with Lightning so she can rest better.

Noticing that Prompto got his question wrong he unbuckled his seatbelt and looked behind him and shoved off Prompto's hand away that was pointing at Gladiolus. "I was asking why she was sleeping idiot!"

Ignis looked at the rear mirror to Noctis and asked. "Why are you concerned anyway, I thought that you didn't care?"

"I'm telling you I don't! I'm just curious why the hell is she asleep, and what if Niflheim ambushed us and we got caught because she is sleeping?"

"Oh is that so?" Prompto laughed. "Don't be too harsh on her Noct, she stayed up all night to guard us while we slept. Glad here even offered her that they split up guard duty so she can at least take a rest but she refused saying that we need all our energy since she believes that we'll probably encounter Niflheim today."

"And how can she be so sure? Heh, she's only putting up a front so she can laze around while we do all the work-"

"Enemy at front!" Lightning suddenly shouts at them as she took out her gunblade and fired some shots to Niflheim soldiers and successfully hitting them despite the distance; Cocoon technology. She patted Hope's back telling him to stop and when the velocycle slowed down she hoped out from it and changed her weapon to its blade form. She ran to the enemy's way and took out some soldiers that blocked her path and when they started shooting at her she ran to her right, dodging bullets as they kept firing at her.

Lightning hid behind a big boulder and fired some shots again and thought it was futile as she saw soldiers started coming out of a military truck. "Ready your weapon mates; this will be a really nasty mess." Lightning commented as she saw her comrades approach her and hid in a bigger boulder on the other side.

"Fighting an enemy on an empty stomach will probably take its toll on my body." Prompto commented as he put a hand on his stomach while the other was holding his shotgun.

"Stop complaining lad, Lightning has it worst. She had only two hours of sleep and she's even on the frontlines, you should learn from her." Gladiolus said waiting for the soldier's to change their supply of bullets so he can charge right in front of the battlefield. "and the irony that a woman is protecting us is hilarious."

"Don't belittle Light." Noctis looks at Hope and was ready to mock her but stops as he saw Hope's face, Noctis thought that he's going to look determined but was surprised that Hope looked sad like he knew something but can't do anything; which he on the other doesn't know any. Noctis was about to ask him something when the sound of bullets being fired died and Prompto saying that it's their time to shine.

Noctis went out of their hiding spot and quickly assessed the situation; they were four large trucks that carried a container each. The other three containers were open and Niflheim soldiers were coming out consecutively while the other one was left unopened; might be a surprise attack Niflheim was planning if ever they caught them off guard. Each container held at least a hundred soldiers and it only meant one thing; they need to be extra cautious.

Noctis summoned a sword and threw it to a soldier who was firing aimlessly, he appeared behind it and slashed it with his weapon producing a screeching sound as it stopped moving and fell to the ground. More soldiers came to him so he did the same as his first strategy; which was to evade any incoming attacks and strike when the right time comes.

Noctis had a feat going on, as so as his friends; they were moving like a team. Ignis was casting spells to soldiers Gladiolus wasn't aware of, Gladiolus was slow and was too engrossed to enemies that came to him leaving a huge disadvantage when shots were fired at him so Ignis took the liberty to assist him. Prompto on the other hand was at a distance firing shots to soldiers who were unaware of their surroundings and were programmed to shoot anything that wasn't of Niflheim's. Although Noctis didn't want to admit but Hope was doing a good job himself, like Ignis he too was casting spells, but it was to soldiers who were not on their formation.

All of them were doing fare aside from one, Lightning, who was way at the frontlines doing an excellent display of power. She was physically well maintained and produced superior amount of magic capabilities. When soldiers neared her, she attacked them using her weapon in such elegance that she looked like she was dancing albeit the strength she produced when she hits her target. And when soldiers ganged up on her, she will back away and will cast spells in quick successions after one another that not even Ignis himself can ever achieve, nor anyone Noctis knew of. Her talent as a soldier was immense while her magic prowess was proven to be limitless to an extent that this battle seemed to be a child's play from Noctis' perspective.

After less than an hour, all thanks to Lightning, the soldiers were diminished to less than a quarter of their total and as if on cue, the one container that has been left unopened started opening to reveal a huge monster. It looked like a vicious creature from the sea that had a set of front legs and hind legs, its fangs were long and no doubt as sharp as a sword just by looking at it.

"W-woah, are you totally kidding me, we're supposed to defeat that thing?" Prompto pointed as a sweat dropped from his forehead. They were at least a hundred feet away from the vicious monster and they were sure that it was gigantic, the container was already spacious yet the monster clearly didn't have space to move even an inch of its body. When it got out, Lightning started running away from it with great speed so the others took it as a cue to run as well.

"Every one of you get to your vehicles and fly away from here!" Lightning shouted at the top of her lungs making sure that they heard her clearly.

"What the hell's that thing?" Prompto shouted back as loud, they never did leave Insomnia so he wasn't sure if the monster was common or not outside.

"Just get out of h-" before Lightning could finish her sentence the monster tackled her from behind and successfully hit her launching her upward as it opened its mouth. Sensing that the monster was probably going to swallow her, Lightning casted Fira towards it mouth causing an explosion of fire as it made contact with its wide mouth, but as the flames disappeared the attack didn't do any damage and Lightning can't evade from mid-air and was falling towards it.

"Light!" Hope shouted as he was about to hop onto his velocycle but stopped as he saw Lightning falling to the monsters mouth.

Lightning surged through Lightning's body as she snapped her fingers, controlling the area around her and making her fall more slowly than before and was enough to let her say her last word before she could drop to its mouth. "Get out of here and head to Tenebrae! That's an order!" although of the distance, Hope saw Lightning turn around him and smile. "Believe in me Hope." Hope stared a moment then nodded his head, even though Hope didn't hear her say it, he was certain that that was what she said as he read her lips as it moved before she got swallowed by the vile creature.

"You have my word Light so stay safe." Hope said as he glanced below him and at the monster as they flew by it, after Lighting got swallowed the monster roared in victory and to their luck it didn't follow them.

"Hey, are we going to leave her like that!" Noctis yelled as he leaned out of their roofless airship looking at the monster from the distance as it kept roaring. "I know we weren't in friendly terms, hell I even despise her for what she did but… isn't this just cruel?"

"Oh and now you care?" Hope replied back as he kept his eyes at front.

"What the hell's wrong with you? Aren't you worried about her at-" Noctis stopped as he noticed that Hope was gripping the handle of his vehicle too hard and yet when he looked at his face, he looked calm.

When Hope noticed that Noctis was staring at him, he turned around to face him and gave him a glare but then quickly looks away for no reason. "Keep your worries to yourself because it's not even the last thing she'll need…"

*Sound of a loud explosion*

Everybody, except Hope, looks behind them when they heard a loud explosion coming from where Lightning was and stopped their vehicles temporarily.

"I think we should head back." Ignis said as he was about to turn their airship around but was stopped by Hope as he said something that surprised them.

"Don't, just….move forward." Hope replied back. "Light said….to believe on her so I'll….believe her."

The Lucians stared at each other then nodded their heads and continued moving forward. They didn't said anything back because all of them knew, just one look at the young man….they were positive he was also worried about the female l'Cie as much as them. He was holding himself back as hard as he could, yet he could not hide the anxiety he felt that turned into fear when they saw an enormous warship carrying a large green dragon whose massive wings were chained together with its body, which only ignored them heading to where Lightning was again.

"Now not's the time to act tough kid, she clearly needs our help!" Noctis said as he ordered for Ignis to turn back but Ignis only disregarded him waiting for Hope's answer.

"What are you waiting for Ignis? Turn back now, she really needs our help!-"

"Quiet Noct…if this is already hard for you when you only met her, and the fact that you hold a grudge on her...consider about what he's feeling." Ignis said as he instructed Noctis to look at Hope who was glaring at no one as his hair flew along with the wind.

"We have to….keep moving forward."