Happy fourth birthday, FFXV!

This chapter contains some dialogue lifted straight from one of my favorite moments from FFXV. I'm sure you'll recognize what it is. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Twelve

A Curious Stranger

Noctis awoke abruptly by the sound of an incredibly loud squeal. He gasped and quickly looked around, his eyes adjusting to waking so suddenly. Noctis took in a breath as he looked around, confused.

He was sitting on a metal bench across from another metal bench occupied with someone else. Someone he couldn't identify. Not because he didn't recognize him, but because there was nothing to recognize. It was a shadow. A living silhouette of a man with a hat, sitting with a black silhouette of a newspaper he was casually reading. As he looked around, Noctis noticed the rest of the train filled with similar looking people. All shadows. All seemingly unaware of being shadows. All around him was metal. He was in a carriage of some sort. A long carriage of a train.

Noctis slowly stood, stumbling to his feet as he felt the train coming to a stop. Nearby, the doors slid open, yet no one exited. He looked around at the others, all of whom seemed ignorant of anything happening around them. When he realized no one else was going for the door, he decided that perhaps he had to, to figure out where the hell he was.

Noctis stepped out onto the platform, finding it similarly filled with shadows. He saw one quickly approach, ignorant of his presence, ready to barrel right into him.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Noctis exclaimed as he held up his arms to stop the shadow.

He let out a gasp as it passed harmlessly through him, dissipating briefly before coming whole again on the other side. If he had been confused before, now he was thoroughly freaked out.

"Where am I?" he muttered as he looked around at the platform.

There was graffiti plastering the grey walls, but it was written in weird symbols he couldn't understand. All around, shadows moved to and from the platform, entering the long metal train or leaving up some stairs nearby to disappear somewhere else. Noctis chose to make his way to the stairs and see if he could leave this train station and figure out where in Lucis he was.

As he approached the stairs, he looked up, climbing them with his eyes. On and on they went, disappearing up into darkness. He felt a sinking in his stomach, and he realized then that he was starting to feel scared. He shook his head and took his first step onto the stairs. Nothing happened. A good sign, he felt.

Noctis climbed the stairs, leaving the platform behind. As he walked farther and farther up, he became blanketed in darkness and silence. The only sounds he could hear were the heavy thudding of his footsteps, reverberating off of the unseen walls. He climbed the stairs for several minutes, wondering he was making progress. Yet when he looked back, he saw nothing but darkness below. He gulped and continued his ascent.

Before long, a small light came into existence. He walked toward it and the light expanded, more and more. It cut the darkness and, briefly, blinded Noctis. Yet he kept up his march until he took another step and did not feel a stair. His stomach sank as his foot quickly came down farther than he expected, before meeting solid ground. When he opened his eyes, he was, to his surprise, in a forest.

Leaves rustled. Birds chirped. He stood at the edge of the stairwell and looked around. There were no more of those shadow people. As he looked around the woods, he felt a strange familiarity. As though he were walking through some distant memory he had though forgotten long ago.

Noctis!

The voice was in his head and all around. The one that had been plaguing him for some time now. A voice that sounded neither male nor female, but somewhere in between. He had heard it at the party. He had heard it in a dream but a few days past. He had heard it once before, as a child in Tenebrae.

Noctis, you've returned!

Nearby, the bushes rustled. Noctis tensed as he felt it approach. The source of the voice. He reached out a hand toward it, ready to meet a long-forgotten friend.

Noctis startled awake, quickly looking around as he sat up in bed. He was back in the Leville, back in Lestallum, back in Lucis. The dream had escaped him, right at the last second. Yet, even as he sat there, he found its details becoming hazy. A dream slipping away into darkness.

Gladiolus snored heavily and Noctis sighed, knowing it would be a while before he could fall asleep again. He saw the big burly man breathing as he laid there. On a bed nearby rested Ignis. Yet, when his eyes traveled to Prompto's bed, he found it empty. Puzzled, Noctis stood from his bed. He saw the door to the balcony was open, a gentle breeze pushing the curtains.

Noctis walked out onto the balcony and took in the cool nights air, a welcome feeling after the hot day. He looked around, surprised to find it unoccupied. Where was Prompto? He got his answer when he heard his voice coming from above.

"Can't sleep, buddy?" he asked.

Noctis looked up to see Prompto sitting on the roof of the Leville, staring down at him. Noctis smiled and climbed up, taking a seat next to him.

"Just having some weird dreams," he replied. "Also Gladio is snoring, and I know that's gonna keep me up."

"Oh yeah," Promto replied, laughing. "His snores are as loud as he is massive."

"Ha, yeah," Noctis replied. "That was a hell of a day today, huh?"

"Yeah," Prompto agreed. "It was something. Everyday travelling with you guys is something though. Never thought I'd get to have an adventure like this, you know?"

"Who would've thought, huh?" Noctis asked.

"So, how long have we been friends now? Let's see… beginning of high school, so… five years?" Prompto tapped a finger on his chin.

"Yeah, but we've known each other for longer than that," Noctis said. "Since elementary school, right?"

"I'm surprised you remembered that," Prompto said, smiling sheepishly.

"Could hardly forget getting gawked at," Noctis said.

Prompto laughed. "Well, you know, it isn't exactly easy being in the presence of royalty."

"And when we did meet in high school, you pretended it was the first time."

"Yeah, the first time I worked up the nerve to say something." Prompto sighed. "Feels just like yesterday…"

"You should've said something sooner," Noctis replied.

"Oh Noct... You just wouldn't understand," Prompto replied. He gave a small smile. "Back then...I was... Actually, never mind."

"Hey, you can't just stop halfway," Noctis complained.

"Aha," Prompto laughed. "Yeah, I know. I used to be super shy. Couldn't talk to people. No surprises, but I had no friends... at least not real ones. I was always alone. And there were times when I felt, well, worthless."

Noctis raised an eyebrow. "That's what's been bugging you?"

Prompto smiled sadly. "I mean, when you look at me you wouldn't think that I'm anything but a fun-loving, happy-go lucky joker." The smile slowly faded. "But that isn't the real me. Behind all the quips and laughs, I'm a mess of hang-ups. I've always felt inferior to you guys. I'm not royalty and I'm not strong. I'm nothing, really." Prompto leaned forward, resting his chin on his knees. "Unlike Gladio, I'm not good with people. The way he connects with them, he's operating on a different level. Unlike Ignis, I'm not smart and I can't cook to save myself. But when we hang out, it's so much fun I forget what I'm not. Then reality hits me like a splash of cold water, and I remember that I don't belong. But I want to. Every moment, I'm desperate to earn my place, to prove that I'm good enough!"

Noctis placed a hand on his friends' shoulder and smiled. "Think what you will, but I think you're good enough for me."

Prompto straightened up, looked his friend in the eye and felt his own begin to water. "So, you really think I'm doing okay?"

"Yeah, I do," Noctis nonchalantly replied. "Anything else?"

"Uh, no," Prompto said, wiping a tear. "Nothing at all. I'm sorry I got so real all of a sudden."

Noctis sighed. "You should know better by now. You think I just make time for any old loser?"

Prompto grinned mischievously. "Huh? Why, you mad, bro? Seriously though, thanks for making time for this loser." Prompto sighed. "Huh. Feels good to get that off my chest."

"Happy to hear."

"Alright!" Prompto exclaimed. "I'm gonna keep on keepin' on, the only way I know how."

Noctis smiled. "Yeah, you do that."

"Listen…" Prompto began. "I'm glad you came out here tonight." Noctis looked over at Prompto and tilted his head. "The past week, everything has changed so much that… I was beginning to feel like I'm bothering you more than making you happy to have me around."

"Oh?" Noctis asked. He thought about this for a moment, thinking of everything that had happened since they left Insomnia. Noctis let out a sigh. "Truth be told, I have been a little too harsh on you and the others. I've… got a lot of anger in me right now, Prompto. Some of it has been really hard to control, too. But yeah, I need to treat you guys a little better. You don't deserve to be on the other end of this."

Prompto smiled. "Thanks, buddy. We'll make it out just fine, I think. You'll see."

The two sat in silence for a while before they decided to turn in for the night.

The cool mist of the waterfall splashed against Noctis's skin as he and his three companions emerged from the cave, one more royal arm in hand. The Swords of the Wanderer. Unlike the others, no vision came to Noctis upon acquiring the weapon, and he was thankful for it as the descent through the cave had been cold and filled to the brim with daemons hiding from the light. Back out in the light of the world, Noctis was relieved to be free of the task, though the weight of a third Royal Arm was beginning to weigh on Noctis in ways he didn't expect. Not that he felt a physical weight for having another phantasmal sword lingering somewhere within the ether inside of him, but a different sort of weight. Like the weight of growing destiny. Yet along with it came a strengthening of his skills. He knew he was getting stronger and stronger, and ever closer to devouring the empire.

"Damn was it cold in there," Prompto exclaimed, wiping frost from the tips of his blonde hair. "I hope we don't have to do anything like that again."

"We'll have to be sure to resupply our curatives when we get back to Lestallum," Ignis said. "We burned through quite a bit fighting through the daemon hordes. An altogether unpleasant experience."

"Netted us another Royal Arm though," Gladiolus said. "The Swords of the Wanderer, eh? Fancy looking thing. Pull it out, Noct."

Noctis shrugged and held out a hand, and the weapon flashed into his grip. He held it at the handle at its middle, where two blades shot out of both ends, coming to sharp curves. Noctis then grabbed the handle with a second hand and pried it apart, where the one weapon became two swords.

"Neat trick," Gladiolus enthused.

Noctis grunted as he held the swords, feeling it starting to sap his strength. He released it and let out a heavy sigh as it relented its grip over him.

"Still having trouble wielding the Royal Arms, then?" Ignis asked.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do," Noctis said. "I have these amazing weapons, but I can't use them, or else I die. What kind of power is that?"

"It is power you aren't ready to control yet," Ignis said. "You will be though. Master Cor said that as you acquire them and gain strength, you will one day be able to wield the weapons with ease. It will come with time."

"Yeah… time," Noctis muttered. "And what time do you think we have? We don't know what tomorrow will bring. What the empire will do next. We act like I have the luxury of time to get stronger, but we don't, do we? How long until it's too late?"

Gladiolus placed a hand on Noctis's shoulder. "We worry about that when it happens. For now, we continue on."

With that, the boys left the waterfall behind, marching across a path of grass and snow that led away from the Greyshire Glacial Grotto, back to the rest stop where they parked the Regalia. The four entered their black car and drove it back to Lestallum, silent as the radio played a song that they paid no attention to.

All the while, Noctis sulked, wondering why despite his greatest efforts, he wasn't as strong as he needed to be. When he fought in Insomnia, he felled dozens of soldiers, yet that power was now beyond his grasp. He could not summon the Armiger. He could not face the empire without aid. How was he to take his revenge if he couldn't control the power he was apparently destined to wield?

These troubling thoughts followed him back to Lestallum, where they parked the car and exited. As Noctis took a step out, he let out a gasp as a sharp pain shot through his skull. He collapsed to the ground, catching himself with his hands.

"Noct!" Gladiolus shouted.

As he fell against the ground, Noctis felt as though his head were about to split open. The world around him disappeared, and in a flash, he saw something else. An eyeball, huge and orange, ablaze like flames. As it pulled back, he saw a large face, cracked like stone with a grimace revealing a wall of wide teeth. It spoke in a language Noctis did not know yet could somehow understand.

The Disc of Cauthess. The rites summon you.

"The… Disc of Cauthess?" Noctis said with a moan.

The world came back into view and Noctis saw the grey stone of Lestallum again. He felt someone pull him to his feet and saw Gladiolus above him. Gladiolus straightened him up and looked at him, concerned.

"What happened?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

"I saw something," Noctis replied, groaning as he felt his head pounding. "A vision, I think, of something huge. It called me… to the Disc of Cauthess, or something like that."

"Did you say the Disc of Cauthess?" Ignis asked. "That's where the meteor fell and, supposedly, the Astral Titan caught it. Or so the legends say."

"Titan…" Noctis muttered as the headache started to fade. "Does Titan have a massive face and skin like a mountain?"

"From all the artwork I've seen, yes," Ignis replied.

"Then… he called me," Noctis slowly replied. "Titan."

"You're kidding," Prompto said. "So they are real…"

"I thought we've already been over this," Gladiolus replied. "Of course, the Astrals are real. It's all part of Noctis's chosen task."

"Forgive me, Gladio," Prompto replied. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this stuff."

"Regardless," Ignis cut in. "This is big news. We need to go to the Disc of Cauthess, then. If Titan is calling you, then the Rites are beginning. You need his power to help you."

"Did you say Titan?"

The four turned to see a man robed in black and white approaching them, hand gripping a black fedora. He smiled as he saw them. Gladiolus stepped in front of Noctis and shot the man a killer look.

"What's it to you?" Gladiolus growled.

Ardyn smiled, and he recited:

"From the deep, the Archeon calls

Yet on deaf ears, the gods' tongue falls

The King made to kneel, in pain, he crawls."

"What?" Gladiolus asked.

"Nursery rhymes are curious things, aren't they?" Ardyn asked. "For instance, that one is about Titan himself. Curious, too, that a group of young men in black should be speaking his name."

"What's it to you what we do?" Noctis asked. "Who are you?"

"Me?" Ardyn asked. "Just call me Ardyn. I'm just a… curious stranger passing through. Nothing more."

"Right," Gladiolus replied. "You can keep passing through then."

"Well, now," Ardyn continued. "Perhaps you shouldn't be so quick to push me away. You see, I happen to know the empire has placed the Disc on lockdown. You'll have a hard time getting past them."

"We'll figure something out," Noctis replied.

"Ah, but you needn't," Ardyn said with a wide smile. "You see, I happen to have connections within the empire. I could get you past that gate."

"And why would you want to do that?" Ignis asked. "What benefit does this do you?"

"I suppose it's another curiosity on my part," Ardyn replied. "I would very much like to see Noctis here awaken the Astral."

Gladiolus stepped closer to the man, widening his stance to intimidate the man. He growled, "How do you know who we are?"

"That hardly matters," Ardyn said, smiling as Gladiolus attempted to scare him. "What matters is, I can get you to the Disc unmolested. Does that not pose a certain value?"

Gladiolus walked away from the man, and the four huddled together, just out of earshot of the man.

"Do we trust him?" Prompto asked.

"No," Ignis replied. "We needn't trust anyone with connections to the empire. However, we might want to accept his offer and keep ourselves on guard."

"And if he steps out of line?" Noctis asked.

"Then we kill him," Gladiolus quickly replied.

"Right," Noctis said. The four broke huddle and walked back over to the man. "Lead us on, then."

Ardyn smiled and tipped his hat.

"Follow me, then," he said. "You in your car, me in mine."

And so it was that the Regalia tailed Ardyn in his maroon convertible, a car considerably less fancy than royal vehicle. All the while, Noctis and company kept close as they followed Ardyn across a bridge over a chasm separating Lestallum from the Duscae countryside, where they followed along a winding road.

Around them, great garulessa grazed on abundant fields of grass. Trees swayed, their leaves pulled by longnecks herding across the land. A distant rumble came from a massive bull of a beast Noctis and company could only barely see many hills away yet seemed to tower over all other beast near it.

Their destination was always in sight, however. The meteor was large, and it did not escape Noctis's notice when they first crossed the Norduscaen Blockade. The Astral Shard that fell from the stars eons ago glowed in the horizon, the long stone towering over everything around it.

They passed under great stone arches that snaked over the roads like mountainous snakes. The arches seemed oddly unnatural, as though crafted to move as they did. Yet, Noctis wasn't sure if this was the case. So much of Lucis was full of wonder. The Astral Shard was evidence enough of that.

As they drove, they saw Ardyn pulling the car over at a gas station. The four looked at each other, puzzled, as they pulled over at the stop.

The rest stop was lightly occupied with people, mostly taking to tables to snack on whatever foods they bought from the store inside the Coernix Gas Station. As Ardyn stopped his car, he got out. Noctis and company did the same and Gladiolus immediately marched over to the man.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"We are spending the night at the caravan nearby," Ardyn said. "The sun will set soon, and I am feeling a bit peckish."

"No way," Gladiolus said. "That wasn't part of the deal."

"I've had a busy day, I'm afraid," Ardyn continued. "And I'm sure you have as well. We rest. I foot the bill, for the caravan and the food. We go first thing in the morning, yes?"

"Fine, then," Noctis said. The others turned to him, surprised. "We could use the rest, anyway. I have a feeling we'll need to be ready for anything tomorrow anyway."

"That's… very reasonable of you, Noct," Ignis said.

"I am capable of such things, you know," Noctis said with a sigh.

"Very well, then," Ardyn said, clapping his hands together. "I will secure us some rest, then. You boys get yourselves all set up, yes?"

Ardyn walked away to the gas station to find whomever he had to pay to use the caravan. The four made to said caravan, where they took a seat at several lawn chairs. When Ardyn returned, he bore his familiar sugary-sweet smile, and Noctis found it grating the longer he looked at it. The man approached and stood beside Noctis's chair, looking out at the distant horizon, at the meteor still visible even from there. Dusk was steadily approaching, and as the skies darkened, the meteor glowed ever brighter. A celestial beacon upon the mortal world. The resting ground of an Astral.

Noctis considered what it meant to come face-to-face with such a being and wondered what tomorrow would entail. What did communing with an Astral mean? What did it mean to take their Rites? A fight? Some sort of contract? The questions tumbled freely through his mind, circling one thought that had plagued him since he left Insomnia: What was his place in all this? Chosen by destiny to vanquish the darkness… Involuntarily, Noctis rubbed his temples.

"Plagued by uncertainty?" Ardyn asked, looking down at Noctis with faux concern. "Understandable, I suppose. These are uncertain times after all. Darkness is starting to plague this land, you know. Daemons spreading beyond the depths of the caverns dotting Lucis, striking unfortunate travelers wandering the roads under the weak light of the moon. Things are looking rather glum, I'd say."

"And what's your role in all this?" Gladiolus asked. "And don't give me that curios stranger crap. What do you really want, Ardyn? Are you a friend? A foe?"

"I'm a concerned citizen," Ardyn coolly replied. "I simply wish to do the right thing, and helping you boys out would fill that quota, I'd say. Surely you see the value in my aid. Someone like me could open all sorts of doors for you."

"Maybe we'd trust you more if you told us what you actually do," Prompto said. "You're only making yourself seem more and more suspicious the more you talk."

When Ardyn stared at Prompto, a curious expression befell his face. He looked at the young man like one looked at a pet. One he intended to train in some way. To house break.

"Let's just say, I work as a point of contact between Lucis and Niflheim," Ardyn said. "I relay messages between the two superpowers, and work to keep the peace as much as I can. Beyond that is all personal things I don't wish to reveal. Is that sufficient enough?"

"There better not be a trap waiting for us at the Disc," Gladiolus said. "If there is, I'll personally take your head."

"Well, for the sake of keeping my head, let's not lose ours, yes?" Ardyn replied with a smile. "There is no trap waiting for you. I'll get you through the gate safe and sound. You've only the Astral to contend with."

"Right," Noctis said. "Then, we need to get ourselves ready and rested. Would you mind?"

"Oh, I'm not sure where you think I'm going," Ardyn replied. "I paid for this caravan for all of us to rest in, and all of us includes me. So, who wants to start off the evening with a nice, scary story?" Noctis and company stared at each other incredulously. Ardyn smiled. "Oh, I have one. Have you heard the tale of the man who became a daemon? They say he wandered the roads too late at night, one chill Niflheim winter. In the lonesome, isolated by fields of blanketing snow, with clouds so thick they blacked the light of the moon. On that lonely road, he found a beast that at once looked like a man. Yet, deep within, there was a darkness spreading amongst him. The man did what he could to flee the beast. He hid behind rocks. He buried himself in the snow. He ran across barren fields in search of even singular hope. Yet, the beast followed. Slowly. Surely. All the while, its arms stretched out to embrace the wanderer. It followed for hours and hours, until the man could flee no more. Until the man collapsed upon the snow, a mortal husk, and passed out from the exhaustion. It was mere hours later when he awoke and found himself a changed man. Through his arms, he could see his veins, but they were black as ink. He was transforming, into the very beast that had pursued him for hours. He felt a new hunger within. He felt his humanity fading, a most horrifying feeling. A death that was not physical, rather one from within himself. And he became caged there, a prisoner of the darkness now wearing his skin. Forever forced to look out into the world, unable to act. Unable to stop the thing now wearing his skin from devouring his friends. His family. His life. And that was the end of the man, now lost to darkness. They say he could still feel everything the daemon did. Taste everything it devoured. Imagine that, a prisoner of your own skin. Some say all daemons feel as such, trapped in sempiternal suffering. Really makes you wonder what they are…"

The story was met with a long silence, until Prompto released a breath.

"That's messed up, yo."

Noctis wasn't sure when exactly he had managed to fall asleep on the thin bed inside the caravan. He had spent much of the night laying in silence, listening as Ardyn lay but a few beds away. He listened for his breathing. Any signs of snoring. To his horror, he hadn't heard but a noise. Though physically he could see the man lying in the bed, everything else made it seem like a ghoul was occupying the space. Something not quite human. Not quite normal.

Yet morning had arrived, and he awoke, groggy. Noctis saw the caravan empty, everyone else seemingly having awoken before him. He got himself ready and left the caravan, to see his four friends waiting near the Regalia. Ardyn was there too, standing beside his car. When he met eyes with Noctis, he gave his faux smile. Noctis grimaced and approached his friends.

"Are we ready to go?" he asked.

"Now that you're here, yes," Ignis said.

"Then we make for the Disc of Cauthess," Ardyn said. "Do try and keep up."

Onward, the Regalia followed after Ardyn's car. They drove for miles, the meteor that once loomed in the distance slowly closing in. As they got closer and closer, the heat in the air intensified, coming closer to the temperature in Lestallum. The power of the meteor was falling over them, and Noctis felt something weird inside. A strange reaction building the nearer they got to the obelisk.

Before long, the road curved, leading to a metal gate on a wall erected around the Disc of Cauthess. Noctis tensed as he saw the empire gathered at the gate, guns trained in their direction, as they slowed their car behind Ardyn. The car whined to a stop and Noctis gritted his teeth, ready for the worst.