Beta read by: SinikkavonWolperting

Request for: Shiary

Summary: When Prompto receives a threat from an unknown source, the others take things into their own hands to assure his safety. Some nice Cor bonding. C:


websky: I have to say the same. He never stuck out to me as an interesting character. Then again, he's also one of the pones we know little about, so that leaves room for quite a but of creative freedom. ;D


Prompto was pulled from his deep slumber from an unwarranted 'buzz' from his phone as it danced across the solid surface of the side table. Groaning and complaining quietly under his breath, the blond snatched it up before it could wake the others. But, as he held it in his hand and gazed at the time, his brow wrinkled in confusion. It was only one in the morning, who the hell would be messaging him at that time. Shrugging it off, he checked his inbox, and his bewilderment deepened when he didn't recognize the number displayed across the screen.

He pressed the palm of his hand against each of his eyes, trying to rub away some of the blurriness that came hand in hand with his grogginess. It took a few seconds for his vision to clear up and adjust to the brightness that assaulted his sensitive eyes, but once it did, his chest clenched as he read over the words that he could make out before opening the message.

You're getting rather cozy, aren't you, Prompto? Seeing as you've managed to weasel you-

His thumb hovered over the 'open' option, but he couldn't quite bring himself to just tap the button. It wasn't the context that initially bothered him, it was the use of his name. Whoever this was knew him by name. Then again, that shouldn't have been too surprising considering who he was traveling with. Still, something about this didn't sit right with him, and his stomach dropped as he finally built up the courage to open it already.

You're getting rather cozy, aren't you, Prompto? Seeing as you've managed to weasel your way in the middle of his group. The prince does seem rather fond of you. So, I wonder, how would he feel if something were to happen to you? Would he be devastated, too shaken to keep his composure. After all, the best way to get to people is to go after those that they care about. Don't take it too personally, but of the three, I have a feeling you're the more interesting one of the bunch.

The blond took a few deep breaths in, but it didn't feel as though they were doing any good; he was light-headed and his pulse was ringing in his ears as the words replayed over and over again in his head. He swallowed the lump in his throat painfully and his hands trembled. Why was he so freaked out? This should have been nothing, it could have just been a cruel prank from some kid somewhere, or maybe they had the wrong number and they were referring to a different Prompto and Noctis...and a different prince with that same name.

His eyes refused to tear away from the device, and he just stared at it for an extended period of time. He would have continued to do so, too, if another, larger hand hadn't reached over and gently pushed the phone down and out of the kid's sight.

"Prompto?" Gladio questioned, his voice sluggish and raspy with a touch of puzzlement underneath. He didn't get an answer for a few seconds, causing his worry to perk up and he pushed himself into a half-propped up position. "Hey," he called out again, his hand now moving to nudge the gunner on the upper arm, "you in there?"

Prompto finally released a heavy and shuddery exhale before turning to face the shield. His face must have shown just what he was feeling because less than a fraction of a second, Gladio was sitting up, his face now clear of his exhaustion. "I-It's nothing," he stammered, trying to brush it off, wanting to do so more than anything, but he was unable to shake his own growing fear. "Really, it's just some stupid...thing," he muttered, ready to just turn the phone off. But, he was too slow as the brute snatched it up instead before he had the chance to react or do anything about it.

"Wait!" Prompto exclaimed, calling out louder than he intended. The sudden commotion was enough to rouse the others from the other bed, both of which shared the same mutterings of annoyance and irritation.

"What's all this about?" Ignis asked, already sitting up and rubbing at his own eyes. Noctis, on the other hand, had barely twitched from his spot, but he was still awake and unfortunately hearing everything going on. The adviser gazed over at them, and with the seriousness on the older man's face, accompanied with the dread and terror on the others, his mins snapped into wakefulness. "Gladio?" he questioned, allowing his demand and urgency to shine through.

The shield took a few more seconds to read over the message again. Unlike Prompto, the first emotion to bubble to the surface wasn't confusion or horror, but rather rage and fury. He hadn't even noticed how tight his other fist was clenched until the brunet called out to him once again. "You know who this bastard is?" he asked, ignoring the other and looking straight to the blond expectantly. Not uttering a single syllable, the gunslinger shook his head slowly and dropped his head. He stared down almost as if in shame.

Now this really had Ignis' curiosity, and with the sound of his shield's tone, even the prince was sitting up and looking over. The brunet flipped the light on, earning a few hisses and groans from the others, but he hardly appeared to be phased by the intrusion of light. "Let me see that," he ordered, holding out a slender and waiting hand. He looked it over just as the brute had, and he had a similar response to the message, although he managed to keep his anger in check and keep his cool about it.

"Did you just get this?" he asked, looking pointedly at the blond, obviously not in the mood for any aversions of his questions. Slowly, Prompto nodded and raised his head just enough to meet the inquisitive stare.

"Yeah...just now," he replied, wishing he would have just waited until morning to check it. For some reason, a ping of guilt fluttered in his heart at having woken everyone. With the week they had, sleep wasn't exactly a thing they could afford to miss out on. Letting out a heavy sigh, the blond shrugged his shoulders and held his hand to take it back. "It's fine though...I'm sure it's nothing."

However, Ignis didn't take the bait, if anything he was more determined not to leave it at that. "I'm just going to hold onto this," he said, getting to his feet and strolling over to pluck his discarded jacket from one of the dining chairs.

"You going somewhere, Specs?" Noctis asked, the only one who still had sleep weighing down his words.

"Yes, I am, and the two of you are coming with me," he said, and it wasn't a suggestion, he really wasn't giving them a choice in the matter.

At this, all three of them perked up, all sharing the same question in their eyes. "Two?" Gladio asked.

"Indeed, Prompto is to stay here," he clarified, only raising more questions and confusion. He looked over long enough to catch the expressions he was faced with. "Don't worry, I don't intend to leave him here alone. I'm going to make a quick call. Someone has to stay here with him. But, if that message is really a threat like it appears to be, then I have no doubt that whoever sent it is in the area, waiting. Even if it is empty words, I still suspect them to at least stick by to watch things unfold."

None of them had really thought about it, but now that it was out there, they didn't have any arguments against it. Well, no one but Prompto. "What, you mean like a babysitter?" he asked, slightly offended. "Don't you think that's a tad overboard, I mean I can look out for myself. There really isn't a need to get anyone else involved in this," he half-chucked, a clear sign of his nerves getting the better of him.

The adviser cleared his throat, obviously he should have chosen his words better. "No, not like 'babysitter', just a bit of reassurance, if you will," he corrected, snatching up his own phone to make a quick call. In a matter of seconds, the phone was ringing and he had it pressed firmly against his ear, ready to start talking the moment it was answered. And, he did just that, quickly going over what had happened and what was needed. When he was done, he wasted no time in hanging up and sliding his jacket on.

"Come on, the both of you, start getting ready. By the time we're all set, he should be here. Lucky for us, he happened to be in the area," he informed, not missing a bit. The words seem to tumble out of his mouth, barely leaving time to breathe.

Neither of them dared to ask anything more or speak of anything out. This was probably one of the only times they've seen this man be this serious, second only to the day their home fell. They exchanged only a small glance before getting to their feet. To be fair, Gladio wanted nothing more than to give this person a piece of his mind...and perhaps an introduction to his fist. However, he had a feeling with Ignis tagging along, he wouldn't get the opportunity to do much of anything.

Noctis, though, was still a bit hazy, everything happened so fast, and no one bothered to explain a thing to him. But, he figured that he had plenty of time to ask questions when they were out. A glance at his friend told him that maybe now wasn't the best time to start talking about all this. Not when he appeared to be as shaken and concerned as he was.

It didn't take much time after that until the three of them were dressed and finally waking up completely. All except for Prompto, who still remained exactly where he was. Not once had he gotten up or even moved. But, he did raise his attention to watch the others as they buzzed about, yanking up their belongings and slipping their shoes on. Just as he took in a deep breath, his focus, along with the others', snapped to the door as a knock resounded off the walls. Ignis was the one to take it upon himself to investigate. With a quick glanced through the peephole, he let out a small breath of relief and pushed it open.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," the adviser muttered along with reaching his hand out to shake the other's.

Cor just shook his head in understanding and accepted the gesture. "Don't worry about it, it's not a problem. I was just passing through anyway, so making a pit stop won't hinder anything," he promised, letting his hand drop away. He then gazed passed the brunet to look to the others. It was pretty obvious that none of them expected to see him there, but it was the blond that appeared to be the most surprised.

"Really?" Prompto asked, looking between the immortal and the strategist. "You got him to come? Don't you think he might, I dunno, have more important things to do?" he asked, now completely embarrassed to have someone of that man's caliber sticking by him through this. This was overkill, and it was humiliating. He really did feel like a small child in need of protecting, and quite frankly, he was more than a little put off by that.

It was the commander that replied. "From what I was told, I think this is for the best. We don't know who this person is or what they're capable of. There's no such thing as being too prepared," he added with a small nod in the blond's direction.

The blond didn't have anything else to say to that and just lowered his gaze once more and scooted himself closer to the headboard to lean against it and draw up his knees. No matter what any of them said, he still wasn't comfortable with this whole thing. He merely took a deep breath, leaned his head back, and accepted this for what it was. The man was already here, it would have only been a huge waste of his time to send him away now.

Now that Cor was there, the others were ready to set out on their way to scout the area. Though, Prompto still thought they were taking all of this a bit too far. He appreciated it, yeah, it was just a lot and not something he was particularly used to. Defeated, he sat back as the door clicked closed and him and the immortal were left to themselves. For a while, only awkward silence and the occasional cough and sigh filled the room.

Unable to tolerate it any longer, Prompto cleared his throat in a more exaggerated way, easily catching the other's attention. "So," he started, feeling so out of place, "are you sure this is really alright? For you to be here I mean. I mean, I'm sure you're a pretty busy guy and this must be an inconvenience and so out of your way. And, well, it's just that y-"

"Prompto," Cor spoke up, cutting off the younger man's anxious ramblings, "it's really alright. I wasn't doing anything, and this is no trouble. If it helps, this was a threat to the prince as well. So, if you want to think about it that way, then feel free to."

"Right," the blond muttered, shifting uneasily closer to the edge of the bed. Sitting there like that, it was starting to drive him crazy. "Does...this sort of stuff happen often?" he asked after a moment, lifting his gaze and finally gathering the courage to look the man in the face. "I can't imagine this is the first time a threat like this has popped up."

Cor leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, making himself more comfortable. "Oh yeah, quite often actually. Though, most are in the form of letters and to His Highness directly. Happened to the king often enough as well. It just comes with the title. Though, I can't say targeting those close to the royals is something I would call common. I think that's why they're taking this one so seriously.

The blond pursed his lips at that. Seemed pretty backwards to him, but whatever. "You don't think they're overexxagerating a bit then?" he asked. A part of him really wanted him to say no, mostly because it would validate his initial reaction to see the message. If they were taking it more seriously than they needed to, then what did that say about him?

"Not at all," the commander answered, earning a soft sigh of relief from his mortal companion. "In fact, I believe they are treating this with the severity it needs. I don't think you fully understand the gravity of something like this. If someone, one you don't know, was able to acquire your number without you knowing, know who you are, then it's safe to assume they know where you guys are as well. That on top of them having ill-intent. Yes, this is a rather serious matter and one that needs to be dealt with before it has the chance to escalate."

Well, when it was put like that… "Oh…" the gunner muttered, now feeling a tad foolish. No matter what, it was one thing or another. "I see. Think they'll be alright then?" The way he saw it, he should be out there with them, it was as if they were taking care of his problem for him. And, if it was as Cor said, and this was about Noctis, then he definitely shouldn't be out there. None of this was making any sense to him, and he was convinced they all had their priorities backwards. But, he had to trust them on this, they were the experienced experts when it came to these sorts of things.

"They'll be fine. Both Gladio and Ignis have been trained their whole lives to hand these matters. I have no doubts they will make quick work of things and get whoever this is in the hands of the authorities. Just, try to keep your mind off it."

He was right, Prompto knew he was, he was just a bit off due to the message, and he was well aware that's all it was. Cor was completely right, they were fine, and they would be fine. Hell, they've taken down behemoths and much more menacing foes, this was nothing compared to all that. It was ridiculous to even consider this being an issue for the three of them to handle. Alone, each of them could have taken care of this, and they were together. If anything, he should have been worrying about them going overboard when they caught the guy.

"Yeah, I suppose," he shrugged, allowing himself to finally relax a bit. He hadn't realized how tense he was until he felt the slight aches in his shoulders. He needed to calm down a bit.

Cor leaned forward at the same time, a different look now occupying his deep and thoughtful gaze. "You know, you seem different from the last time I've seen you," he muttered, hand now at his chin. "I can't quite put my finger on you, but you seem like you've grown up a bit."

The blond couldn't quite hide the embarrassed heat that rose to his cheeks. "I-I do?" he stammered. "I don't think anything's different...I feel the same anyway."

"No, you definitely have, and that's not a bad thing. I think you're finally shaping into quite the crownsguard," he commented as he leaned back once more. "Last time I remember, you could hardly stand on your own two feet in front of someone without being a nervous wreck. And yet, here you are, traveling with the prince, his shield and adviser. Out of all those other people, you were the one chosen to tag along," he muttered, a hint of pride in his tone. Prompto couldn't quite place what that was though, but it was odd, a tone he wasn't quite used to.

He was so put on the spot, how the hell was he supposed to respond, let alone speak after having something like that said to him? "Uh, t-thanks?" he replied awkwardly, mentally slapping himself for sounding so stupid.

"I'm not kidding, Prompto, you've come a long way, and it's quite remarkable. You should be proud. I know it wasn't easy, but somehow, against the odds, you did it, and here you are, standing among some of the best." As hard as it was for the gunner to take all this in, it was clear that it wasn't empty flattery. Cor...this immortal man, was actually giving him, a nobody most of his life, genuine compliments.

All he could think to do was smile at that, it was all he could really bring himself to do, knowing that whatever came out of his mouth was bound to be incomprehensible mutterings or something short and meaningless. Lucky enough for him, he didn't have to because, just in time, the door creaked back open and the familiar voices of the others filtered through. Mostly coming from the raven himself, and none of the words being particularly friendly ones.

"Everything...alright?" the blond asked, glancing over to see the more than annoyed expression as Noctis practically stomped his way back in.

"No, it's not," the prince replied. "Why didn't anyone tell me what happened before we left? Prompto, you should have woken us up the moment you got that message, you know. Seriously, what were you thinking?" The things said sounded as though they were said from anger, but the worry was clear and Prompto was just amused with the tone if anything. He expected nothing else from the guy.

"Sorry," the blond swiftly apologized and raised his hands in mock surrender. "I guess I didn't think much of it." He chuckled to himself nervously, but the laugh was humorless.

Noctis folded his arms and looked down at the other pointedly. "I don't see what's so funny about that, but it's been taken care of. Turns out the guy was lurking around outside. But the idiot was too much of a dumbass to put his phone on silent. One phone call and that was it, we found him."

"If it wasn't that bad, then why're you all worked up?" Prompto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's not the point. The point is it could have been worse," he muttered, kicking his shoes off and stripping his jacket off before falling face first back onto his bed. "Next time, you damn well better say something...we lucked out on this one, you got that?"

Prompto just smiled at that as he watched the raven relax against the mattress. Already he was letting his exhaustion carry him away. The gunner didn't know how he did it, especially with the commander in the same room like that. He did it so naturally and so casually, it wasn't human.

Shaking his head, he looked back to the others who had all gathered around the table and taken a seat. They were all clearly tired, but after what had just transpired, they weren't sure if they would even be able to get back to sleep. With nothing else to do, the blond took the fourth seat around the table and fell quiet as the others talked amongst themselves. But, his eyes kept drifting back to the immortal, his earlier vibe now gone, but his words lingered in his heart. He never noticed it until now, but there was something about that man, something familiar, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. For now, he shrugged it aside and leaned forward, finding comfort in the conversation before him.


~AND I BELIEVE IT IS TIME TO CLOSE REQUESTS~

(I apologize, but they're starting to really add up now. xD)

And, I'm sorry and hate to do this, but from now on, I will message people before I do your story, and if I don't get a reply, it will be skipped until I hear from you again. Only reason I feel the need to do this is because multiple times, I have written a request, and the person would never show up again. And, honestly, these take time, and if the person that asked doesn't stick around, then I don't want to take the time to do it.


Queue as of now:

53 - Defiant Drift

54 - Prompto-cam

55 - xYukiNoYume

56 - __C'estletemps_

57 - Mirajane92

58 - Brooke3131

59 - Free_Bird

60 - MasterThiefWolf


~IF YOU REQUESTED AND YOUR NAME IS NOT ON THIS LIST, PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I SOMETIMES LOSE TRACK~