A.N: *May 30th. Why is this so hard to write? Argh!... June 8th and still nada... . I know that once I get the first part done the rest will come more easily, but still...Also, I've seen that the amazing Araceil has started a story for this crossover category! It is amazing and you all should read it too! (I'm a fan of Araceil's writing..and am waiting for more chapters on many of their stuff *puppy eyes* please continue your other works as well! heh...anywho...)
Prompto was dozing lightly, the radio playing a gentle melody in the background. Gladio was reading in the back and Noct was staring at his phone screen. Ignis was keeping his eyes on the road dutifully, though his attention was also on the rest of the guys. They'd gone to see the disc, as he'd asked if they could while they were in the area, but had run into a gate on the road to it. They had had to fight a group of magitek's and a magitek armor, but the fight was easy enough with Prompto flinging devastating magic at them.
He had kept to the three types they had easy access to, since he still hadn't managed to learn, or re-learn as it were, to wandlessly cast his kind of magic, but the spells seemed overcharged or something. Prompto later admitted that he'd felt his magic practically buzzing under his skin like bugs or something, and it was harder to control so he didn't accidentally blow them all up. While they were driving away after the fight, Prompto's fidgeting lessened and he seemed relieved when they were farther away.
"Prompto." Ignis' voice had Prompto startling awake and the blond looked to Ignis with a questioning hum. The other two's attention went to them, but he ignored them for now, eyes not leaving the road. "What happened back there?" by which he meant the fight and his magic.
"...I don't know. I mean at camps I can feel my magic tingling a little or something.. But never like that. It was like the difference between standing in a small pond to standing in a fricken lake." Prompto ran a hand through his hair. "It might have been the meteor I felt? That thing is used to power Lestallum and the whole region, right? Well all that energy in one place could explain it."
He thought for a minute. "It's actually kind of similar to the weird feeling I get whenever I go into the Citadel, come to think of it, though less muffled. More wild.." His musing cut off as they drove through a gate and onto a bridge. The land soon dropped away on both sides and to the right was the shore off in the distance, though there was obviously a high enough wall or something that no ocean filled into the gash that was left from the Astral War all those centuries ago.
To the left, the deep rift stretched on far out of sight until nearly at the southern coast. It was so wide and so deep that no one had tried exploring it, at least no one from Lucis. He didn't doubt that Niflheim would have done so with their flying vessels if they believed they might find something that they could use against Lucis. He dreaded what they could find down there from so long ago, even if he knew nothing of what was there. It was just a soul-deep wariness that he couldn't explain.
He pushed his thoughts aside as they reached the other end and saw the large creatures, Arba, roaming freely there. Soon they were driving past and into a tunnel.
"Woah... Its like we're warping to another dimension." Prompto made his voice sound 'spooky' at the end, though the grin ruined any spooky effect he was going for.
"Wonder where we'll end up." Noct chimed in. Prompto looked back at Noct and saw the slightest of grins, genuine though small, on his friends face. He faced forward again before his face to get a dopey, sappy grin on it that might reveal his feelings for Noct. All four were mildly awed at their first look at Lestallum. It was the largest city they'd seen since leaving Insomnia, though still small in comparison. It was also completely unlike Insomnia in that the buildings were so close together and their architecture was more modern than most of Insomnia.
"They've got cable cars!" Prompto wondered if they could get a ride in one of them. Soon they were pulling into the parking spot on the left and got out. Immediately they noticed how hot it was there.
"Damn... why is it so hot?" Prompto whined, pulling off his vest and wiping off sweat from his forehead. He was not used to the heat, which was a more humid kind than the dry desert-like heat of Leide. Noctis voiced his own agreement and Prompto was a little dazed as Noct pulled off his jacket, leaving it in the Regalia. They continued their conversation as they headed up and into Lestallum.
"What, too scared to show your scrawny body?" Was Gladio's taunt in reply to Noct saying he wasn't going to go around shirtless like Gladio did, even if it was hot as all hell here.
"Hey! I've got muscle... you just can't see it..." Noct's defensive tone wasn't overly convincing, but still the topic of conversation had Prompto fighting a furious blush. And a nosebleed. He wiped at his nose as discreetly as possible, glad to notice his gloved hand came away clean. He took in the view of Lestallum as they crossed the street.
"What are the chances of sleeping in a nice room tonight?" Prompto piped up suddenly. He looked to Noct for a second, then to Ignis who was sort-of, technically, in charge of their money to make sure they didn't spend it all on 'frivolous purchases'.
"I am sure we could secure suitable accommodations nearby." They noticed a familiar looking logo on a truck on this side of the street.
"They've got cup noodles outside the city? Alright." Prompto withheld the chuckle that wanted to escape. Gladio was seriously addicted to that stuff. Not that he was one to talk, seeing as the only reason he hadn't lived off that stuff growing up was due to remembering how much he'd suffered, growth-wise, from being denied healthy food growing up with the zoo animals called the Dursleys.
"Yes it might be wise to procure some in case our pantry ran bare." Ignis let Gladio go up and buy a few, as in like twenty meals' worth, of the stuff. They were then across the street and Prompto found himself surprised by the sheer number of people moving about compared to the places they had been since leaving the Crown City.
"Woah, one hell of a crowd." Then a slightly more morbid thought reached him. Just how many of the people there were refugees from Insomnia? They knew that Iris, Gladio's kid sister, had been bound for Lestallum with refugees from the Crown City, so there were at least some. He didn't voice his rather bleak thoughts, and Gladio spoke up before he could anyway.
"She's at the Leville." So the four friends headed in the direction of the hotel, after asking directions since Lestallum was kind of larger than they were used to other than Insomnia.
"Been a lot of tremors lately..." A mans voice spoke up from within the crowd, and they couldn't help but eavesdrop out of curiosity. "Hope the rocks around here haven't been shaken loose." Other such similar topics reached their ears as they arrived in a plaza-like area where a large fountain dominated the center.
On the far side they could see the sign for the luxury hotel, The Leville. They made their way to it, only for Noct to bend over clutching his head just as one of the tremors they'd heard about just minutes ago hit. Prompto could have sworn he heard something, some rumbling voice calling something, but the voice and shaking were gone before he could make sense out of it. He then noticed Noct looked to be in pain and went up to him.
"You okay Noct?" Prompto's voice drew the others' attention.
"Is something wrong?" Was the concerned question from Ignis.
"Yeah, I'm fine. My head just started... throbbing. With the quake. It's fine now." Noct brushed the concern aside seemingly carelessly, and they let him. If he said he was fine, then he probably was. They entered the hotel and stood around in the lobby to wait for Iris. It wasn't a long wait.
"Nii-san!" The guys looked to the stairs to see Iris coming down to meet them. "Look at you guys, holding your own out there." She teased lightly. Prompto internally scoffed, this was nothing compared to his 'Seventh-Year-That-Wasn't' at least all of them were well-equipped to defending themselves and each other unlike three seventeen year olds that hadn't even finished their schooling yet. Instead he said,
"What can I say? You look good." His light-hearted words drew a sad smile.
"All things considered." He tried not to wince at the pain coming from everyone else, who all lost someone in the attack. "You guys are staying here, right?" Iris continued on, looking mostly at Noct, but also to her brother. Prompto tried not to feel jealous every time her eyes lingered on Noct for too long (in his opinion).
"Yeah."
"That's the plan." Gladio and Ignis spoke at almost the same time, reminding Prompto of a set of twins he'd known a lifetime ago. As everyone was looking at Iris, they missed his sad smile. He did rather miss the twins, if only because they could always cheer him up and knew when he needed to be cheered up. They were better at it than his so-called friends, who never pried unless they felt he was hiding something from them and tried pressuring him to spill all his most personal secrets to them.
"When you have time, we have catching up to do." Gladio continued, oblivious to Prompto's dark thoughts. He pushed the thoughts aside to rejoin the conversation. Ignis booked them a room, with two doubles so they'd be sharing beds, and they went up to drop their stuff off and catch up in privacy.
Once in the room, they met with an elderly man named Jared, and his grandson Talcott. The kid was kind of cute, he meant in the 'young and innocent child' way and not like some creeper pedo way! His declaration that Iris was safe with him was adorable. After the two left them to talk, they took up positions around the room. Noct sitting at one of the chairs positioned around the coffee table in their room, Iris in another, Gladio sitting on the bed behind her, Ignis on the other bed, and Prompto leaning against a wall behind and to the side of Noct.
"So Iris..." Noct began, the room quickly growing somber at the incoming discussion. "What was it like in the crown city?" Prompto didn't want to hear it, honestly, he knew it would be horrible. Possibly like one of the worst scenes that was featured in his nightmares from one of Voldemort's worst attacks.
"Not pretty." Iris recounted the attack. "The Citadel took a beating." And of course it would have. That was the stronghold of Lucis, their Crown and where their protective wall came from. To take down that very defense would have painted a large target on it. "But a lot of outlying neighborhoods made it through in one piece." She hastened to assure them.
"The Empire had tactical targets in mind." Ignis' voice was cool, controlled, and Prompto envied him for his ability to remain so calm when hearing about this. Both then and now Prompto wouldn't be able to do so, thus him remaining silent on his own opinions of the attack. He wouldn't have been able to hold back the anger, the feeling of wanting to pound the face in of anyone from Nifleheim that had been involved in the attack on Insomnia.
"You know if there's anything else, you can ask me." Iris suddenly added, with a weird little bowing thing from her seated position. The emphasis she put in seemed to surprise Noct too, for his reply was a bit stuttering. There was a moment where it looked like Iris had something to say, and Noct noticed this. He asked her about it.
"So... about Lady Lunafreya." Prompto's focus shifted fully onto the two seated members of their catching-up session. "I keep hearing she was in town." Prompto felt relieved, but also a little, not-quite, disappointed at the sight of tension leaving Noct that none had really noticed was there with that news. "Apparently she left right away.. but at least it means she's okay." While he was glad to hear it, he also was worried that that meant that Noct was going to be even less likely to ever see him as anything other than a friend.
"That's good to hear. Thanks." Noctis was surprised the sheer level of relief he felt upon hearing that Luna was okay, that she had been in Lestallum. He was also surprised to note that other than relief, he didn't feel too strongly about her. Yes, he still wanted to see her, but it wasn't the same as when they were heading to Galdin so he could go to Altissia and marry her.
Iris bid them good night, and they soon were taking turns showering and getting ready for the night. Ignis and Gladio took one bed, while Prompto and Noctis shared the other. Now, Prompto was both elated and horrified at this. Elated, because he was sharing a bed with Noct, horrified, because he was sharing a bed with Noct. Whom he had a major crush [or rather whom he loved hopelessly] on. If he could avoid any embarrassing bodily reactions that would possibly drive Noct away, then he'd be completely fine and happy.
His solution to this was: turn into a feline. That way, not only would he avoid embarrassing himself due to his body's reactions to Noct's nearness, but Noct could also have more room to himself if he wanted/needed it.
Owari...finally. Okay so that is another chapter done! Yay. I have started on the next one (though it will take a little while to finish since my muse is mostly focused on HPxOP crossovers more than FFXVxHP right now...) I will try my best to not take three+ weeks like I have so many times already. Also, will post tomorrow/in the morning the next chapter of Stray Bullets as that one is also done. It is essentially a direct continuation of this, though again is not to be included other than as a side note type mention... because it involves a mature content dream...LOL... heh... yeah..
*edited a few spelling errors... and one which wasn't really an error so much as me being Canadian and spelling a word the Canadian way which my American-using computer settings disagrees with. Neighbor' as 'Neighbour' where it's saying the 'ou' is wrong. bleh... whatever. Its now the American spelling.
Later all!