Title: holding out for a hero
A/N: For the prompto zine! I wanted to focus on Prompto and Iris in the World of Ruin. It is criminal how she didn't get any screen time there.
Summary: It was hard to keep hoping, to keep believing that Noctis would return. The years were piling on, the darkness expanding, the body count increasing. Hell, Iris was a daemon slayer now. Still, Prompto believed because he didn't know what else to do.
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"You're staring."
Prompto jerked his head to the right. His eyes darted wildly, taking in the scenery outside the jeep window. Well, what little he could make out. Ever since the night had come, the only things visible were the fiery swords of daemons. "I'm not."
"Riiiight," Iris laughed, her voice deeper than he remembered. Everything about her was different. Prompto peeked at her from the corner of his eye. Gone was the sunlit girl of his youth, the spunky teen who teased Gladiolus with one breath and adored Noctis with the next. Instead, there was a heavily scarred woman driving, resembling her brother more than Gladiolus would have liked. "And Ignis can see."
Prompt sighed, crossed his arms, and shot her a baleful glare. "Can you blame me? You're…" He gestured at her, lost for words. Honestly, if she hadn't said she was Iris when he'd hopped into the car, he wouldn't have guessed.
"I'm…?" Iris trailed off, raising her eyebrow at him. When he didn't say anything, her lips quirked in amusement. "Oh, come on, you can't be that surprised. Didn't you hear the rumours?"
"Well, yeah, but they're rumours." Prompto snorted dismissively. "I mean, people say Gladio's a one-man army and that Ignis has eyes behind his head. Sure, both of those are kinda true, but still…Cor taking on an apprentice? Iris the freaking demon slayer?"
Iris covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking with laughter. "Gladdy had the exact same reaction. Then he tried to beat up Cor."
"And got his ass handed to him?" he asked.
"And got his ass handed to him," Iris confirmed, smirking.
"Oh man, wish I could have seen that!" Prompto crossed his arms behind his head. "Last time I saw him lose…" He fell silent. It had been at an imperial base, Ravus beating the tar out of all of them. That day felt like it belonged to a different lifetime, a different Prompto.
Noticing his reticence, Iris pressed, "You know, I can't remember the last time the three of you were at the base at the same time." Her fingers tapped on the wheel as she considered it. "Actually…I can't remember the last time any of you met."
There was a beat of awkward silence.
"We've been busy," Prompto lied with a shrug. He leaned against the window, watching the bright flames of daemon after daemon blur as they sped towards their quarry. "There's a lot of daemons. And it's hard to slack off around those two."
Iris looked at him in disbelief. "I've seen your kill list."
"Hey, I barely made it through those fights," Prompto protested, pouting. "Besides, daemons aren't going to kill themselves—it made sense to split up."
"No, they're not." Iris stared into to the darkness again. Her fingers curled on the steering wheel and the silence sat heavy for a bit.
He was trying, really, but it was hard not to stare. Her profile looked like Gladiolus' when he was brooding. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to imagine Ignis in the back, worrying his lip as he waited for trouble. Noctis…well, he wouldn't be sleeping in the backseat anymore, looking less like a prince and more like the high school boy Prompto had tried hard to befriend. It had been almost natural when they'd drifted apart, the memories too real, too sharp when they were together. "How much further to the hunt?"
"Twenty minutes." Iris kept her eyes on the road. A wide swath of light spilled in front of them, courtesy of Cindy's headlights. Her hand tightened around the wheel. "Do you…" She trailed off, then spit out, "Do you think Noctis will actually come back?"
Prompto's breath caught in his throat. Instinctively, he glanced in the direction of Angelgard. It was too far to even glimpse of crystal's soft light. "I…"
"So you doubt too." Iris laughed bitterly. "Sorry, that was unfair."
"No…I…" Prompto stared down at his hands fisted on his thighs. His knuckles had bled eight years ago, as he'd banged on the crystal, begging for Noct to come back. Now there were only scars and a memory of fear, loss, and utter hopelessness. "Gentiana—you've seen her."
"And heard her." Her lips formed a line, tone harsh. "And despite it all, the night grows darker, the daemons grow stronger, and more people die."
"That's true." Prompto closed his eyes, remembering the messenger who kept appearing in his pictures like a ghost. "But she isn't wrong."
"No, she isn't," Iris admitted, her frown deepening. "But she also doesn't know when. Noctis could come back today. Tomorrow. Next year. Ten years from now. We could be dead."
Despair bled into her words and Prompto bit his lip. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with. Despite what he'd seen, what he'd experienced, it was easy to doubt. By now, sunlight felt like a fairy-tale, like a forgotten dream. The gods were wrong with Adryn. The gods could be wrong again with Noctis.
Despite that, Prompto smiled softly, lowering his eyes. "Still. I think he'll be back."
"Why?" Iris asked, observing him, and for a moment, she looked like the teenager she used to be.
"Because…he's Noctis." Prompto shrugged again, struggling to find the words . "He'll come back for us. I know he will."
"Yeah, that is Noctis." Iris smiled softly. "You know, when I got lost once, he found me. Somehow, against all odds, he found me."
"Me too." Prompto could still feel the restraints on his wrists, hear Ardyn's laugh on the intercom. "He found me too."
"But." The spell broke and Iris's voice took a harder edge. "Even if he comes now, it's too late for some. We're going to have to survive, without him."
Before Prompto could respond, the jeep squealed to a halt. Two swirling pools formed in front of their headlights, a giant sword slowly emerging from each one. Daemons. Strong ones. Iris scowled and honked the horn. "Oh, come on! This is so annoying!"
"Annoying?" Prompto shot her a dry look. Maybe she and Gladio were starting to resemble each other beyond appearances. "You do know they're trying to kill us, right?"
"Yeah, and I know you can kill them easily." Iris rolled her eyes as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Guys like these are more annoying than anything. And we still have our real hunt after." She jumped out of the car, drawing her sword. "Now, come on, slowpoke."
"Slowpoke!" Prompto stared as she charged at the daemons. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE GLADIO'S MANNERS TOO!" He scowled as he yanked off his seatbelt. Just because he didn't get off on fighting didn't mean he was slow! Didn't they ever hear that slow and steady won the race?!
Still, he was glad the conversation got cut off. He couldn't refute her words. Noctis wasn't here and sometimes it felt like he never would be. The night grew darker, the daemons stronger, and with only two functioning cities left, it sometimes felt like they were just one bad night away from annihilation. Climbing out of the car, Prompto stared towards the crystal. Noctis would come, he was certain. Just…not when.
Or how long they could survive.