Awkward silence followed them around for the next thirty minutes or so while they were eating. Prompto fought against the urge to just bury his face in his meal, it was so delicious. But at the same time, he still felt bad about what happened, even though he still believed in what he saw.

"Talion told me before that you were a member of the Kingsglaive," he finally broke the silence, letting his curiosity take over. "How was it? I mean...if you wanna talk about it."

Libertus seemed to be far away for a moment, recalling some of the memories and Prompto was about to apologize again when he nodded with a soft smile on his face.

"I came there in a very hard time but not everything was bad." And with this he started talking. How he and Nyx came to Insomnia, how he became a member of the Kingsglaive, both sides, good and bad, about living in this big city, missing home. And finally, how it all went down.

Prompto listened with fascination, not once saying a word. Hearing about the fall of Insomnia from someone who witnessed it first-hand made Prompto's heart ache in sadness, but he stayed silent, not wanting to interrupt.

All he could utter when Libertus finished his story with the parting of him and Lunafreya, and her promise, was a silent "Wow."

Sensing something in the way he looked, Libertus leaned forward, making eye contact.

"Was Insomnia your hometown?"

Prompto tensed up for a moment. Was it really?

He nodded. "Yes. I grew up there." That was the truth. He didn't remember anything from Niflheim, never felt connected in any way, so why call it 'home'?

"I went on a camping trip with some friends so we weren't there when the attack happened." This wasn't wrong either but to evade further questions he kept quiet about whom he was with.

"Why are you alone, then? Did something happen?"

Prompto didn't want to answer, what should he say anyway? That someone told him that he was a monster that could snap at any time? That his 'friends' surely won't take kindly to him if they'd know? That all this was eating him up inside? Hell, what would happen when Libertus would find out? He already saw the code. Or what was left of it.

"Prompto."

His head, which had turned down to stare at the table, snapped back up. His vision was blurry on the edges and he rubbed his eyes for a moment.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Libertus said in an understanding way.

"We just...went our different ways." Prompto said, not wanting to leave the question unanswered. It wasn't a complete lie at least, so he didn't feel too bad. He'd have loved to just let it all out, to talk about it, but somehow he couldn't. Something inside him blocked and dismissed the thought as soon as it came up.

Libertus nodded, sparing him with further questions and leaned back in his chair, raising his eyebrows as he looked to the window.

"Well that took a long time, it's already dark out."

Prompto turned and laughed a bit at the fact. He hadn't even noticed it getting dark.

Libertus needed to go to sleep, giving his aching leg a rest; it never fully recovered from the injury of his last fight as a Glaive. But Prompto was free to stay awake if he wanted to, after all, he'd slept until noon and was old enough to decide for himself. "Just don't stray too far, you know why."

Prompto was indeed not tired enough and decided to visit Cass once more; and maybe Talion, if he still was at the stables. When he walked past the destroyed building, where he saw Nyx – or what he believed was him – before, he stopped and thought for a moment. Nobody was outside at this hour, so nobody would see him. He made a few hesitant steps. Thinking about the fact that he had seen the image of a dead man didn't sit well within him, but this made him want to prove that there was nothing. Maybe it was just the heat.

He made two more steps. It would feel better when he had made sure that no one was there, he tried to convince himself. And looking was the easiest way. Giving himself a mental push, Prompto walked through what must have been the entrance once. It was too dark to see much. He could make out rubble everywhere, some destroyed furniture. With most of the walls at least partially intact, he had to find a doorway when he walked from room to room to not fall over too much debris.

In one of the rooms, he had to pause for a moment, taking a deep breath. Suddenly, his emotions seemed out of control. He felt a chill, fear welling up inside him. He wanted to cry. But why? Nothing had happened. The feeling of being watched was there again and Prompto turned around. Nothing. He almost laughed at himself. Why should there be anything anyway, right?

He slowly turned and made his way outside again. The feeling of dread left him almost instantly as he hat left the building. Glad he could breathe freely again, he threw one last glance back at the dark hallway, before hurrying on.

There were still lights on at the stables. Feeling relief, Prompto sped up a bit, already whistling for Cass and got an answer straight away, hearing her whinnying and slamming a hoof against a wooden wall by the sound of it. The doors to the paddocks were all closed and so he walked into the barn, seeing Cass poking her head out of one of the stalls. In most of the other stalls were Chocobos, some of them seemingly annoyed by Cass' behaviour.

"Hey, girl." He greeted her, pushing her a bit backwards so he could enter the stall this time. "Couldn't just leave you alone for the day. I have to at least say good night, right?"

Cass rubbed her head at Prompto's side, showing open affection, which made the blond smile. Compared to how wary she was a few weeks ago and now shamelessly treating him like one of her own made him proud. He leaned against her shoulder, face buried in her mane, breathing in her distinct smell.

He wasn't sure if he'd dozed off for a minute, but it could very well be, because the next he remembered was him nearly falling, as Cass moved a bit to the side. She had lifted her head again, ears perked up, and was looking towards the doors. Straining his ears Prompto heard it too. There were steps outside. Leaning over the stall door he watched the barn doors, fear inside him rising for a moment, as one of the doors eventually opened.

As a familiar face came in sight, he breathed out, making Talion jump from the noise.

"Man, what are you doing here at this time?" Talion said, laughing at his own startled self. "Gave me quite the scare."

"How should I know that you're so easily scared?" Prompto said chuckling, pulling himself up to sit on the stall door. Cass, seeing that as an invitation, laid her head on his legs and started nibbling at the seam of his shirt.

"She sure loves you." Talion stated as he threw some strong smelling herbs into the food tray of an old looking Chocobo.

"Looks like it." Prompto said, ruffling the thick fur on her forehead.

They were silent for a moment, Talion was leaned against the stall, watching the Chocobo carefully peck at the herbs.

"He's our oldest." He explained absent-mindedly, "Basically saw me growing up, since I got here."

"You lived here long?"

"Long enough." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, now leaning with his back against the stall. "The village got destroyed in the war, as did everything around, turning hills of grass and forests into a damn wasteland. But there were some pig-headed people who didn't flee to insomnia. Among them, my grandparents and my mother. They just couldn't leave. So they took shelter somewhere for a while and came back after a few years. I think I was thirteen or so at that time. They repaired and rebuilt many of the houses. Back then they couldn't take the animals with them but some of the Chocobos were still there, surviving somehow. Kip here was one of them."

Prompto smiled at this story. Their loyalty was one of the reasons why he loved Chocobos so much.

"I'm sure he will live some more years, as long as you care for him."

Talion chuckled lightly, but nodded as he petted Kip's head. "Oh be sure, I will. As long as he enjoys his life, I will make sure it stays that way."

Fiddling with Cass' mane Prompto argued a moment with himself, before he looked at Talion.

"Talion, this one building that is still in ruins, the one not far from Libertus'..."

"What about it?"

"Who lived there?"

Talion gave him a strange look, but Prompto didn't avert his gaze.

"Nyx Ulric lived there." Talion finally spoke, "With his sister and his mother, I think. That's what Libertus told me once."

"So you didn't know him?"

"No, I was too young. He and Libertus went to Insomnia, so even if I'd have met him, I must have been too small to remember. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

They kept talking about random things for a while, before deciding to finally leave and go to sleep. With Talion having to go in another direction, Prompto was once again alone, destined to pass Nyx's house again. He was starting to dislike that. As he got closer the ruin again, he told himself, just to walk past at a fast pace. Don't even look at it, look straight ahead. That would have been the plan. But as he was walking past the gaping entrance, he slowed his steps. He didn't mean to, he just did, becoming even slower until he stopped.

"Come on. Move," he whispered to himself, but his legs just started to shake a little. The dreadful feeling was back again, luckily not as bad as the last time. Thinking he saw something out of the corner of his eye, he turned his head towards the house again. Did something move in there?

"Hello?" He said, sounding awfully small in the quiet of the night. "Is someone there?"

No answer. Of course not, why would there? There was no one there, it was just his imagination.

Overcoming the stiffness in is legs and getting them to move again, Prompto walked on, shaking fists pushed deep in his pockets. He felt eyes on his back until he turned around the corner.

Silently he slipped through the door and tiptoed down the hallway so he wouldn't wake Libertus, who he heard snoring in his bedroom. In his own bed, Prompto curled up to a ball, his thoughts still on that house. Why was it bugging him so much? There was nothing there. Right?

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Days went by and though Prompto had planned to leave as soon as he felt better, he found himself enjoying the time there. He had started helping Talion in the stables on a regular basis and on some days he accompanied Libertus, who basically just helped where hands were needed.

He got to know more of the villagers, though he still preferred hanging out with Talion and Libertus, both had gained enough of his trust that there were even times where Prompto could laugh freely and push his fears and sorrows to the far back of his head. It helped that his arm had not even once acted up in that time. It felt like having a family again, felt good enough that Prompto did everything he could to stop him from remembering Ardyn's words. He wanted it to last just a little bit longer.

The only thing that still made him nervous was this house. The shortest way to the stables went past it and though he tried to make a detour around it, most times he unconsciously chose the other path again. And every time he stopped. He stopped and looked at it until he realized it and forced himself to walk on. On many occasions he thought he saw something. A piece of fabric fluttering around the corner, a shadow moving in one of the doorways. When it was too late he started humming a random tune when he passed the house so as not to hear any disembodied footsteps and to calm him down a bit. That place outright scared him.

He had asked about Nyx a few times, just out of curiosity, and Libertus loved to talk about the things he and his friend did. The pranks when they where younger, the adventures as Kingsglaives or how life was before the war. It was hard to make Libertus talk about that time, but Prompto eventually found out that Nyx's mother and sister had died during the attack on their village. This was something that never really left Nyx and there had been days where he blamed himself for what happened. But it also drove him to always do everything he could. Prompto caught himself more than once staring at the pictures and thinking about that first day.

One particular day, Prompto was at the stables for hours on end. Talion had already left, but the gunner wanted to stay a bit longer, cuddling with Cass and bonding with two freshly hatched baby Chocobos. It was pitch black when he decided that it was time to go back.

He was in a good mood, a bit tired from the work and not even thinking about the house, walking with a slight spring in his step. Suddenly, he froze mid-step. His body felt numb and he took a slow shaky breath as he stared at the figure in front of him. It was still a fair distance away, but Prompto knew exactly where it was standing. Fear slowly took control over his body, every muscle tensing as they stared at each other. The figure was dark, but Prompto knew that it was staring at him.

This never happened before. Not even once! Never were there more than shadows in his peripheral vision apart from the first time. The night was utterly and terrifyingly silent, not even nocturnal birds or crickets. Prompto wanted to scream at the figure, scream for help, anything, but it was as if he was frozen solid. His body wouldn't budge.

Then the figure moved. It made just a few agonizingly slow steps towards him. But, it was enough to wake his body and turn on his heels to sprint back to the stables. He only felt safe again when he was back inside the barn, back pressed against the door. His breathing was way too fast and he could hear the blood thumping in his ears. Still shaking, he walked over to Cass' stall. The Spiracorn had poked her head out, giving him a puzzled look as he climbed into her stall again, sitting down in the fresh hay.

He couldn't remember what happened then, the next he knew he was lying curled up next to Cass, both hands entangled in her mane. Talion was standing outside her stall, looking at him in bewilderment.

"Don't tell me you've slept here?"

"Think so." Prompto said rubbing his eyes.

"Then you should hurry back to Libertus now, he was asking about you, cos you weren't in your room, he's worried."

"My bad. I didn't want to, it just..." He stopped, cringing a bit when the memory of the last night came back.

"Did something happen?"

"Yes...no...probably not. Just my head, it...I don't wanna talk about it. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, buddy."