A/N: -starting- Oct. 26, 1am. I'll actually start writing the chapter in the morning (like 9am if I wake up early enough before work...) [and now it is April...oops]
Prompto was sat in the dropship, trying to sort out everything that had just happened, Noct propped up on his shoulder asleep. Gladio was going between eyeing Ardyn suspiciously and keeping an eye on Noct and him. He tried not to blush as Noct shifted slightly, feeling the dark strands tickle his neck. Ignis was asking questions of Ardyn, though the man was being annoyingly evasive and creepy.
The longer he spent in the man's presence, the less he liked him and the more he was reminded of a creepier Voldemort really. Ignis and he had found a route down and arrived just as Noct was getting started to fight back against the attacking Archaeon. They joined in, easily bantering with each other, despite the magnitude of fighting an Astral.
Prompto had kept half his attention on Noct, the rest on dodging and taking down Imperials. He tried not to think too hard about whether or not he was fighting MT troops or real people and for the most part didn't let himself focus on any of it. He was good at that kind of compartmentalizing thanks to the Battle of Hogwarts.
Now, after the fighting was done and they were in a questionably safe situation, Prompto could relax some and just sort through everything. He could feel the jumpiness of his magic due to closeness to that creep Ardyn, but tried his best to ignore it. They luckily weren't in the ship for long, being dropped off near a campground/haven not far from the Chocobo post.
Prompto glanced at the reddish-pink haired man every time he felt eyes on him, only to never catch him looking, but once he looked back to Noct who was sat beside him, he could feel the gaze return. It made his hackles raise and he had to hold in the agitated hisses that wanted to escape him. He was unsure of whether it was his feline instinct or his snake instincts that would be more dominant in that instance.
"Well then gentlemen, I shall leave you here. Do hope you find that car of yours soon." Prompto really wanted to wipe that smirk off the man's face but kept close to Noct instead. They kept a wary eye on the ship as it took off again before heading to the outpost for the time being. Being around other people seemed safest for the right now. Prompto made a quip about scrubbing himself raw in a hot shower until he felt normal again, earning a huff of a laugh from all but Ignis.
Ignis looked not unapproving, but thoughtful instead. It was almost like he hadn't even heard the other.
"So Iggy, want to share your thoughts?" Prompto had sidled up to the silent advisor as they walked.
"Just thinking it odd that he took us so far from the Disc when he would have known the Regalia was close by. I believe he intended to separate us from the car for some reason or other." Ignis frowned slightly. "What that reason is, I cannot guess." Prompto hummed agreement. It would have been easy for him to drop them off at the Regalia since it wasn't that far from the center of the disc technically speaking.
"So the Empire will have her. They better not mess with her." Prompto scowled. He wouldn't put it past the Empire to tamper with their mode of transport. "We should bring her to Hammerhead and have Cindy look her over once we get her back then." He knew Cindy would notice any tampering of the Regalia. The guys nodded agreement just as they arrived at the Chocobo Post.
The smell of Chocobo brought a small smile to Prompto's face. He was fond of most bird species, due to his beloved familiar Hedwig whom he missed dearly, but Chocobo's, in particular, were just so adorable! As a kid, he'd wanted a Chocobo of his own so badly, had many Chocobo plushes and keychain/phone accessories of the fluffy yellow bird.
They rented birds for them for a week, since they didn't know how long they would need to find the Regalia and spoke to Wiz, who had some errands for them to tackle if they could. They learned from him that the Empire had blocked the Duscae region off from the rest of Lucis and set up inspection points at the gates leading to Leide and Cleigne.
That stank of a setup of some kind from Chancellor Ardyn, so they were essentially grounded in one region, aside from Prompto turning into a 'flying monster' [aka Quetzlcaotl] and bypassing the checkpoints, that was. However, he wasn't sure if he could carry more than one of them at a time, so that was only good for a back-up plan in case they got swarmed by a veritable horde of MT's.
The group took turns with the showers, Prompto arguably taking the longest. He scrubbed himself raw and still felt gross, just the memory of Ardyn's eyes on him making his skin crawl. Some instinct really didn't like the man, so he was relieved to be far away from him. After the shower, Prompto met the others at the table outside the camper they'd rented for a few days. They had ordered food already, so they were able to dig in as soon as the last member joined them.
"So, what's the plan?" Prompto made sure to swallow his mouthful before speaking.
"I've contacted Cindy, she will make inquiries on our behalf to locate the Regalia, for now, we can think of this as a sort of break. There are some errands we can run in the meantime." Ignis the ever practical man. They had been asked by a few people to go look for this or that in the Duscae region, and this was as good a time as any for it. Luckily they'd done all the urgent-sounding 'jobs' already, so taking the Chocobo's to run these errands would be fine.
It was also a good way to kill time while waiting on word of their Regalia. They finished eating then headed out on the Chocobo's. First, they took on some hunts nearby, then looked for a Chocobo Wiz had told them about being injured, then they helped that woman Sania with catching frogs, then they ran into a guy that was fishing who challenged Noct to catch a Crag Barramundi. Of course, this took a few days, so by day four they were ready for a break.
"So... what are the odds the Empire has the Regalia?" Prompto asked, unnecessarily since the odds were rather high. It was likely the Empire had snatched the Regalia while Ardyn was 'escorting' them to safety.
"It is most likely..." Ignis was in agreement. They had asked Cindy to check around the garage's throughout Lucis, but none of them had high hopes of their car being anywhere but in Imperial clutches. "We should wait for word from Hammerhead before making any plans."
Prompto sighed then noticed something.
"Oh hey, it's Umbra!" He noticed the dogs arrival quickly. The others turned to look. With their attention off him, Prompto let a frown cross his face for a moment. He could feel something on the edges of his awareness, a whisper of cold that had invisible hackles raising and made him wary. The sensation was not unfamiliar to him, now that he thought back on it.
He'd felt something similar, though somehow fundamentally different, before. With Titan, the Archaeon. A 'ping' of energy not natural to this world, shifting rock and ancient earth. Now that the Meteor was gone, the awareness of this other energy was much stronger. The movement of the guys drew his attention and he sprinted after them, following Umbra. Finally, the dog(Messenger?) stopped and turned around.
A woman, dressed in an almost Japanese-style of robe, stepped out from behind one of the trees that bordered the far side of the Ranch (opposite to the campers' location). She was beautiful, in an inhuman way, ethereal almost with that sense of otherworldly power he'd felt before. Noct seemed to recognize her, for he made a soft 'ah' sound when he saw her.
"Gentiana..." That was definite surprise in Noct's voice.
"Hear me, O King of the Stone." She had a strange accent and was archaically formal. "By the Stormsender's blessing will the path to the Stone be opened. The Oracle goes hence in her King's name." At the mention of 'The Oracle', Noct visibly reacted.
"Luna... Where is she now?" Prompto tried not to let jealousy at the concern for Lunafreya in Noctis' voice show, but it was still a sharp sting. He was also worried about Lunafreya, but he was still jealous of anyone having Noct's attention and possible affections. He could admit, if only to himself, that he was rather possessive when it came to his crush/friend, always wanting his attention. He was not nearly as subtle as he liked to think himself.
It was sheer luck that Noct was rather oblivious about such things as people being interested in him romantically.
"The eye of the Storm." Gentiana's voice broke through his musings. "When the covenant is forged, the Oracle and ring shall await their King at the Walls of Water. Stray not from the path." The group only looked away for a short while, but when they looked again she was gone. The strange energy was gone as well.
"She is a Messenger, a spirit faithful to the Oracle," Ignis explained when he noticed Prompto's confused expression. That sort of explained the feeling he got from her, but not entirely.
"For real?" Had none of them felt the hidden coldpowerfulOtherworld that she gave off?
"We're going beyond real now, pal." Gladio huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Umbra got their attention then, Noct kneeling down to untie the book and read Luna's message to him. It was solid proof that she was still alive and well, the relief was immense, though he noticed a lack of intensity that he'd expected to feel at finding out she was okay. There was only a sense of relief for her well-being, as a friend and not romantic in the least. True, he hadn't really felt any attraction to her before, having met her when he was eight, but he had thought that he liked her romantically after the years of sending messages to each other.
This revelation, or epiphany, made an invisible weight lift from his shoulders it felt like. Yet at the same time, he wondered what that meant for him. Unbidden, that dream came to mind and he felt his face heat slightly. Willing the thoughts and images his subconscious provided away, Noct wrote a reply after applying the sticker he bought from the Chocobo Post and returned the book to its place.
"Let Luna know, I'm okay and I'll see her soon." Noct rubbed Umbra's head and watched as the dog turned and set off to return to Luna.
'Unto the King alone, this voice is heard.' Noctis stood as Gentiana's voice sounded in his head. Prompto twitched and looked around, not quite able to make out what was said, but feeling the voice projecting somehow. 'Creepy~' He thought to himself. He couldn't make out what was said, and it seemed to be directed to Noctis alone, but he could hear a static-y buzzing of a sort.
"Lady Lunafreya has done well to keep the Ring from falling into enemy hands." Ignis suddenly speaking made Prompto jump and swing around to face him. The group headed back to the outpost, calling their rented Chocobo's with the bird whistle Wiz gave them after they took down Deadeye.
"So, where to next? We need to get to Altissia, of course, but before that?" They needed to find the Regalia first, but until they located it they were pretty much twiddling their thumbs.
"To get to Altissia we would first need passage aboard a ship. Caem may serve us now as it did them then." To which Prompto didn't know what he was referring.
"The hidden harbor. Hmmph, just might work. I'll have Iris set it up." Gladio was already pulling out his phone and dialing his sister's number.
"So in the meantime.." Prompto trailed off.
"We head into the Storm." Noct finished for him. So the message sent to Noct via divine-being-telepathy was their next 'objective'?
"Another day, another deity." And of course this was his life. Couldn't have a normal, boring life, could he? Then again, 'normal' got dull really quickly. He shouldn't expect anything less than the absolutely most bizarre events to occur in his life, whether he was Harry Potter or Prompto Argentum. So long as his soul was the same, and his memories were still intact, nothing was ever 'typical' or 'normal' for him.
Of course, it had to start raining while they were making for the first location of this trial of the Fulgurian's. "So what exactly are we doing?" Prompto thought that a pertinent question to ask.
"Following a trial to some "runestones"..." Noct answered as he passed him on his Chocobo. Prompto nudged his own bird into going faster, starting up an impromptu race of sorts with Noctis.
The first 'stone' they found wasn't too far, though there was an imperial road-block and soldiers to take down first. At various intervals, Noct winced and paused while the staticky sound returned to Prompto's ears. It was so frequent that Prompto's patience was wearing thin. 'I swear, next time I see her I'll hew her for being so annoying about pushing us along.' Prompto thought as they made their way to the second stone, having finished off yet another squadron of Imperials after another 'reminder' from Gentiana.
The second stone was also 'guarded' by Imperials, more than the last one, but those were quickly dealt with. Then, with another message to Noct's ears alone, they were told to head back to Fociaugh, which was pretty much exactly where they'd started from. Further than that, even. Not to mention that the weather had been raining non-stop since they had set out from the Chocobo Post. His water-repelling spells didn't seem to stick on the Chocobo's feathers and thus were essentially rendered useless for them, since their legs got soaked from contact with the Chocobo's sides.
He hated the unpredictability of his 'old magic' sometimes. While enchantments on electronics didn't have the same negative effects as it used to, some of the wildlife were unaffected by various spells. His 'new magic', the magic he got from Noct, was far less useful for it seemed to have only specific purposes. There was the elemental spells, and then there were other spells that he knew of but hadn't learned how to use yet.
The Kingsglaive had healing spells they could use, and they'd been able to use the warping ability Noct had (he SO wanted to learn that method of warping, even if he had apparition. This method was silent.), and were better at a range of weapons Prompto could never hope to learn to use. He used a sword once in his training, and was essentially banned from ever using one again. The crossbow is one he was thinking about learning to use, if a Kingsglaive would be willing to teach him, but that was about it for learning new weapons for him.
A/N: omf... I AM SO SORRY TO MAKE YOU WAIT SO LONG! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT HAS FAVORITED OR FOLLOWED THIS STORY RECENTLY! ((as well as everyone that liked this story from pretty much day one))-all caps is on purpose-
BTS' NEW ALBUM IS AMAZING AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH!
I HAVE SO MANY NEW IDEAS... AND WANT TO CHANGE PROMPTO A LITTLE TO MAKE HIM KNOW (FINAL FANTASY) HEALING MAGIC...
also: final word count 2,575 words
Also I am working on another FFXVxHarryPotter fic... a FemHarry one which is loosely based off of MWolfe's 'Prophecies, Kings, and Destiny'. I highly recommend you read it if you haven't already. It features Hermione arriving in Insomnia. While I don't usually read fic's not centering around Harry, this one is really good. (can u guess my favorite HP character?) I apologize for any errors I missed.