After they'd been walking for around five minutes in silence, Prompto finally turned to him, and Noctis guessed he wanted to speak.
"So, you never did tell me what happened to you," he said, giving Noctis a smirk. Noctis gave him a slightly withering look and he quickly backtracked. "Not that you have to! I mean, I understand if it's upsetting—you were, like, really messed up. At least, that's what Jared said."
"It's fine," said Noctis, sighing a little to himself. "But I guess it just seems...really dumb in hindsight."
"Aw, c'mon dude, it can't have been that bad!" said Prompto, giving him what he probably thought was an encouraging smile, but ended up looking more like a grimace. "I mean, you're okay now, right?"
"I was literally just unconscious for twenty-four hours."
"Yeah, but you seem like you're back to normal now!"
"Back to normal?" he asked, and got the distinct impression he wasn't going to like whatever Prompto was going to say next.
"Yeah, we were all really worried about you after we got to Hammerhead; it was like you were a completely different person!" said Prompto, still smiling, oblivious to Noctis's increasing distress as he continued. "You seemed so...old, all of a sudden. And sad! I thought you might be having second thoughts about...you know."
Noctis knew what Prompto was talking about. He was still anxious about his place as a part of the team and had likely convinced himself that Noctis's depression was his fault. But he only knew that because Prompto had practically told him as much last time, and there was no way he could be completely sure unless he told him again.
"About what?" he asked.
"About...me being here. As a part of your guard, I mean."
"You seem to be doing just fine to me," said Noctis, hoping to reassure him a little. And to distract him from thinking about his change in personality in Hammerhead.
"But I can barely keep up with the rest of you!" said Prompto, anxiety ringing clear in his voice. "I had no idea you were so good at fighting—you always complained about it so much when we were back in the Crown City, so I figured we'd be about equal. But you make it look so easy! Even Ignis and Gladio look bad next to you. But they're not bad! They're really good, and I'm—I'm—"
Prompto trailed off and Noctis could see he was close to tears again.
"Hey, hey, Prompto, you're fine, I promise," he said, placing a hand on his shoulder in a way not dissimilar to what his father had done to him upon leaving Insomnia for the last time. "I hadn't even noticed, and to be honest, stuff like this just takes time. Besides I'm not that much better than you guys—especially when I don't have the rest of you around."
"You don't have to say that Noct, I know I'm not as good as you," said Prompto, placing his hand on Noctis's wrist as though he were going to move his hand, but he didn't. He just looked gloomily at the floor and frowned.
"You want to bet?" said Noctis, smiling. "Come on, I bet you won't think the same when I tell you what happened to me."
He began to walk again, and Prompto looked puzzled at him before quickly beginning to follow.
"I guess I'd better start after I left you guys to go to the hotel," he began, and Prompto nodded, clearly eager to find out what'd happened. "I started out by taking a look around the city, trying to get my bearings, you know?"
"Yeah, Lestallum is pretty twisty," said Prompto, glancing up at the buildings they were walking past.
"Yeah, no kidding," said Noctis, glancing around to make sure they were still going the right way. "Anyway, after that I went out to the viewing platform, where Umbra found me. He wanted me to follow him, so I did, and he took me to Gentiana."
"Ah, hold up a second," said Prompto, confusion evident on his face. "Who's Gentiana again?
"Right, you haven't met her yet, have you?" said Noctis, internally cursing himself for forgetting the list. "She's an Astral Messenger, though she spends most of her time with Luna."
"An Astral Messenger?"
"Yeah, like a 'spirit', I guess," said Noctis, trying to explain, though he himself only really had a vague idea of what Gentiana truly was. "She hasn't aged a day since I met her."
"Whoa, really? That's pretty bizarre."
"Yeah, it's kind of weird. Ignis could probably explain it better than I could," said Noctis, and he couldn't help but wonder to himself where Ignis had gotten to. Neither he nor Prompto had seen him since he went after Gladio. Hopefully the two of them were alright. "Anyway, when I got to her she told me that Luna would show up here soon to wake the Archaean."
"Wait, as in the god , the Archaean?" asked Prompto, his eyes wide with amazement. Noctis had to stifle a laugh.
"Yeah, that's part of her thing as the Oracle."
"No way! That's so cool!"
Noctis had to smile at Prompto's enthusiasm, though he knew that Luna's talents were more of a burden than a gift. How soon would she arrive in Lestallum? He'd been trying not to think too hard about it. He still wasn't sure whether or not he could face meeting her. They'd never been able to even speak in person last time, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to see her, knowing what fate might eventually befall her. But that was a decision for later. For now, he needed to finish his story. Though he quite suddenly realised that he wouldn't have known exactly what Gentiana's message would have meant at that point in time and quickly tried to act confused.
"Anyway, once Titan wakes up apparently it's my 'destiny' to 'gain his favour' or something," he said. He suspected that Gentiana had been deliberately vague on that particular point. Possibly because each of the Hexatheon wanted him to do different things, but most likely because gaining Titan's favour meant fighting him, and 'Go and punch the Archaean' wasn't exactly the most appealing of suggestions.
"What really?" asked Prompto, snapping Noctis out of his reverie. "Do you think they'll make you do stuff for them? What would a god want though? Hey, do you think Titan will make you destroy that meteor on his back? That thing must be a massive pain."
"Maybe?" said Noctis, conjuring a mental image of himself repeatedly stabbing the Meteor of the Six with the Ultima Blade in an attempt to destroy it. It was not an appealing image. "Who knows with the Astrals?"
"That would be so cool!" said Prompto, looking dreamily off into the distance. Noctis resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Perhaps," he said, then reluctantly carried on with his tale. "So anyway, after I spoke to Gentiana I had to get back to Lestallum—that was the tricky part."
"Wait, you had to get back to Lestallum? I don't remember you leaving it!" said Prompto, turning to him with a frown.
"Oh! Yeah," said Noctis, trying to pretend he hadn't deliberately left that part out. In his defence, he had asked Umbra if he could have driven there, and the dog had been distinctly unhelpful about it. "Gentiana wasn't in Lestallum, she was, uh, pretty far away, actually."
"How far away are we talking here?" asked Prompto, and there was a slightly teasing note to his voice.
"Let's hypothetically say around the distance from here to the Disc of Cauthess," said Noctis, beginning to regret his decision.
"Hypothetically," said Prompto, with a knowing smirk. "Got you. Also, wow ."
Noctis gave Prompto his most withering look, but it seemed to slide off him like water. Infuriating.
"So anyway ," he began, through gritted teeth, "On the way back I was totally wrecked by daemons, as in, used-up-most-of-my-potions wrecked. So yeah, in summary, that thing you said about me being really good at fighting—definitely not true."
"Huh, that's kind of weird," said Prompto, looking at him quizzically. "You've been fine with most of them so far, I mean, it's not like this is the first time you've done this or anything. We just knew where you were. And you didn't collapse."
"Yeah," said Noctis, trying to push down the familiar stab of guilt and act nonchalant. "What can I say; the initial adrenaline must've worn off or something."
"I don't think adrenaline can make you that good at fighting dude, but I guess I can't argue given what happened when you got back…" said Prompto, and Noctis was pleased he'd managed to distract Prompto from his feelings of inadequacy, if a little less pleased they'd come back around to the subject of his collapse.
"Hmm, well I haven't fainted yet so I'm going to take that as a good sign," said Noctis sighing and stretching his arms. His muscles were definitely still sore, but no longer in the awful, almost electric way they'd been before.
Noctis glanced once more at the street to triple check they were still going the right way when he noticed they'd soon arrive back at the hotel. Sure enough, they turned a corner and there it was, looming tall over the square, still bustling with people. By then it was mid-afternoon, and the slightest streaks of yellow were beginning to cross the sky as the sun began to sink behind the clouds. Noctis couldn't help but note to himself that it seemed a little early for the sun to be setting already, but perhaps he was simply on edge. He hadn't exactly been watching for it last time.
And on the subject of time, he still had at least four days until Titan awoke. He no longer needed to collect the Royal Arms, since they were all safely stored in his Armiger and appeared to be fully functional as weapons. Ideally, all he'd actually need to do was track down Ardyn and attempt to kill him straight away, but he had no way of knowing if he'd show up in Lestallum again, or if his theory was actually true. Instead he'd just have to fight Titan again. But what to do in the intervening time? It all came back to Luna. She would be here soon, and he had to see her when she did. He didn't want to. He was scared of having to face her again, and still felt, on some subconscious level, that he'd already failed her. But he had no choice. He'd decided long ago that this time things would be different, and what better way of preventing Luna's death than warning her himself?
He continued to ponder his next actions as he ascended the steps of the hotel into the foyer, Prompto trailing just behind him. When he looked around for the receptionist however, he was greeted instead by the sight of Ignis and Gladio, engaged in quiet conversation near the back of the room. They hadn't noticed his presence.
For a moment, he wasn't entirely sure what to do. On the one hand, the sooner he could reconcile with Gladio, the better. He didn't want the awkward tension hanging between them for the duration of the trip like it had after Leviathan. On the other hand, he still wasn't exactly happy with him, and more to the point, didn't know if Gladio was ready to talk about it yet. Trying to speak to him right then could easily become very awkward, and he didn't know if he was ready for it yet.
Instead he elected to remain silent and watch for a while to try and work out if Gladio was still angry or not. He wasn't shouting, but that wasn't exactly saying much, and his expression was fairly inscrutable as he and Ignis spoke in hushed voices. Noctis couldn't quite make out what they were saying and was going to edge closer when he caught sight of someone else in the room he hadn't noticed at first.
Iris was sitting next to Talcott in the corner of the room, away from her brother, and had apparently seen him come in because she was already looking at him. She beckoned him over and he sat next to her, Prompto sitting just across from them.
"So, how is he?" asked Prompto, his voice quiet.
Iris shrugged.
"Not as angry as he was, I guess," she said with a sigh, "But I think you should probably talk to him yourselves. If he gets mad I'll tell him off for you."
"Are you sure?" asked Noctis, now more reluctant than ever to face Gladio again.
"Gladdy's just…difficult, sometimes," said Iris, with a sigh. "To be honest I was more worried about you , Noct. But I'm glad he didn't upset you too much. I heard that things got pretty heated in there."
Noctis tried not to think about the red patches he was hiding under his glove. It was his fault, not Gladio's.
"Yeah," he said quietly, ignoring the voice in the back of his head telling him to say 'No, it's not alright, I'm not alright,' and just pretend everything was back to normal. That was what they wanted, right?
"Well, if he blows up at you again I'm pretty sure Ignis will bite his head off before I even get the chance to," said Iris, looking back over at the pair conversing in the back. "So good luck Noct!"
"Thanks Iris," said Noctis, taking one last look over at where they were sitting, before rising from his seat and heading over to them.
"Hey, you're just going to go up to him?" asked Prompto, grabbing his shoulder from behind and pulling him back slightly.
"I think I just need to get this over with, you know?" he said, and Prompto thought for a moment, before nodding and letting him go.
"Hey," he said loudly, finally catching their attention. "So, you're back."
Gladio just looked at him for a moment, before rising from his seat. Noctis couldn't read his expression and had to stop himself from instinctively shrinking back from his height. As the silence lengthened it looked like he would have to be the one to initiate further conversation.
"Just to clear the air, I'm sorry for leaving you hanging all night," he said, and he hoped it would be enough.
"No, it's fine," sighed Gladio, and Noctis could tell just by his voice that he'd calmed down from earlier. "You did mess up…but I shouldn't have been so hard on you. All of us make mistakes. So, I guess I'm sorry too."
"Thank you," said Noctis, though he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say. Still, at least it was out in the open now. Hopefully things would be more smooth from here on out. He found himself pondering Prompto's words from earlier, 'back to normal' he'd said. Perhaps that's what he had to do. Act like everything was back to normal. For as long as it took.
