BOOK 2: THE TALE OF THE CHOSEN KING

CHAPTER 28 – HOMECOMING

The next morning they were to travel to Insomnia. Now that the city had become the source of all the daemons, the surrounding lands were the most dangerous in the continent. Talcott would drive them to a Meldacio outpost just outside the city. Noctis was about to protest, but Gladio assured him that the young man was a fully-fledged Hunter.

"Well, fellas," said Gladio, stretching his arms. "We're homeward bound at last. Time to suit up."

"Finally get to rock these threads," Prompto added with enthusiasm.

"Wear them with pride," Ignis, said, taking some black garments out from a box and distributing them.

Noctis saw with surprise that the clothes were Crownsguard uniforms for his friends, but they had sewn for him an attire just like the one his father wore. Gladio informed him, not without pride, that Iris had tailored Noctis' clothes from scratch.

Finally discarding his filthy, tattered fatigues, Noctis looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, trying to comb his hair. Then he stopped readjusting the pauldrons and the jacket. With a shorter hair he wouldn't look much different from what the hazy memories he had from his father, before the Ring sapped his life away and his head was crowned with white much earlier than what would have been natural.

"It fits," he murmured, smiling at his reflection.

The Hunters and the guards around the perimeter waved at them as they made their exit. Talcott drove Cindy's old truck while the four friends sat at the back with Umbra, who never left Noctis' side.

The King looked behind one more time when they were at some distance: Hammerhead was the only source of light in the darkness: a visual representation of what that place had come to be.

Talcott stopped the truck and they got off.

"There they are," Gladio grumbled, hefting his greatsword.

Scattered along the road, at some distance, Noctis saw several tall forms, and many other, smaller ones, moving about. They had told him about the daemons having a nesting area along the way, and that seemed to be the place. The truck had stopped at a prudent distance, but the headlights had already dispersed some of the daemons.

"I hate those things," Prompto sighed, taking his pistols out.

"That is the infestation I mentioned," Ignis said. "We still don't know how the nidus appears, but we know that it attracts an uncanny number of lesser daemons."

"Yeah, big ones too," said Gladio as they approached.

"Same tactic as ever?" Noctis asked.

"I'd advise some caution," said the retainer. "It is hard to know how many lesser monsters are prowling about."

Noctis refrained from asking how Ignis could know without his sight, but then he remembered Talcott's words on their way to Hammerhead. All warriors in those days had to rely on other senses if their light source became compromised.

The plan would be simple in theory: Noctis would attack the nidus, while the others would keep the daemons at bay.

The daemons were waiting for them. However, nothing prepared them for Noctis' ring, which he used whenever his friends were in a pinch. The sacred magic imbued his sword, and each slash burned them. The daemons were strong, though, and it took them a while until the road was clear.

"There's more ahead!" Gladio warned them.

More daemons appeared, this time the smaller ones charged towards them.

Noctis warped and unleashed a series of slashes on several of them, who disappeared with a shrill scream. The momentary distraction served his friends to regroup behind him, just in time before a mindflayer appeared in a cloud of black smoke. The monster tried to attack the king while he tried to regain his balance, but Ignis cleaved his spear on the daemon's throat, severely wounding it.

The daemon reeled back with a pitiful howl and, at his side, a second cloud materialized and, from it, another mindflayer appeared, but Gladio engaged it before it could harm the retainer.

Noctis heard a gunshot: Prompto had shot the first daemon in the head, hitting it just between the eyes. Ignis, who hadn't moved, slashed at it with his daggers, which had been imbued with lighting magic. Noctis, using the Ring, conjured a spell which absorbed what remained from its energy, killing it for good.

Gladio, on his side, had managed to wound the second mindflayer, but he was having trouble trying to avoid its tentacles. Prompto, once he saw that Noctis and Ignis were taking care of the first monster, changed his guns for his submachine gun and fired away at the second daemon. The bullets weren't as effective as Ignis' weapons and magic with this monster, but they kept it distracted enough time for Gladio to attack. Ignis and Noctis, as soon as the first monster was death, joined the fray.

However, their attention was diverted at a necromancer that had started firing magic attacks at them. Ignis, dodging with ease, shouted to Gladio to leave the mindflayer to him. Gladio let the retainer attack the daemon, while he went for the necromancer.

The first thing the Shield did was taking out an ice grenade and throwing it at the monster. It exploded in a cloud of ice, making the necromancer scream in pain. Noctis used it as cue for attacking, but he saw how his friend's greatsword cleaved at the monster, shattering one arm with ease. However, the daemon recovered quickly and staggered back, preparing a spell with its remaining hand. Prompto joined the fray, but his bullets couldn't break the monster's concentration. Gladio shouted a warning: the energy beam would go straight in Ignis' direction. The retainer, busy with the mindflayer, gracefully sidestepped it, and the energy beam hit the monster instead, vaporizing it.

Noctis used the Ring once more, but one of the will'o'wisps which floated around the necromancer unleashed a small lightning bolt on him. The spell was weak, but it was enough to break his focus and interrupt the attack. He then felt a hand grabbing him by the neck and lifting him from the ground. However, Gladio cleaved at the necromancer's body, making it drop Noctis and focus on the Shield. Ignis, his daggers now infused with ice magic, slashed at the daemon in a whirlwind of attacks.

Free from the lich, at least for the moment, Noctis warped towards the nidus, which had started attracting more swarms of smaller daemons. When he finally destroyed the last of them, he looked behind to see the lich disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

He felt exhausted and yet, his three friends walked towards him as if nothing had happened.

"Sup?" Gladio grinned at Noctis, patting his back. "Ten years of sleep ain't enough?"

"Very funny…" he retorted. But the truth was that he was truly impressed at how strong his friends have become.

Talcott approached them with the truck and sounded the horn. The road would be more or less clear for a long while and they could go faster.

As the dark landscape passed by, Noctis had a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach. He was only hoping that it wasn't too late for the world to be saved. Intrusive thoughts were constantly in the way since he moored on Cape Caem, about all the lives lost to the Scourge so far. He shook his head, trying to concentrate. Losing focus wouldn't be good.

Gladio said something about a Meldacio outpost just outside the gates of Insomnia after the wall built by the empire, and before the bridge which led to the Western Gates. But Noctis wasn't paying attention. Prompto laughed nervously. Some things never changed. At that moment, Noctis realized that it was neither the fighting nor the future what worried him.

"Even if they can't solve your problems, you can't hide what's goin' on from 'em."

Cid's words, sounding from what seemed like another life, made him feel a pang in the chest. He had come to terms with everything but, what about his friends? They had been waiting for ten long years, never losing hope, for this.

He had to tell them, but that wasn't the right moment. Now it was fighting and surviving. A bit later, perhaps.

The sound of an assault craft echoed on the empty wasteland.

"Damnit…" Gladio grunted.

Before the Shield could make any signal to Talcott, the young man had stopped the truck upon seeing the craft flying over them.

"Imperial stragglers," Ignis announced, already imbuing his daggers with lightning magic.

"I hear something!" Prompto warned.

Noctis, running along his friends, could hear it too: The voice of a woman crying for help.

The old watchtowers beyond the improvised wall the empire had erected were still up and the search lights still worked, but they were too weak to penetrate the thick mist, and gave the surrounding area a sickly atmosphere. There was a shack on a small hill that Noctis didn't remember, probably built during the past ten years. That was where the voice came in.

The area was already crawling with daemons, and the assault craft they had seen brought MTs with it.

The imperial soldiers, bereft of any maintenance, were covered in rust, and many parts were missing from their bodies, especially the plates covering their bodies. Nevertheless, the surrounding miasma seemed to power them up and increase their endurance and strength.

The smaller daemons were nearly wiped out when a second craft appeared, this time deploying shock troopers. Noctis knew of their power and, while his friends kept the upcoming daemons away from him, he concentrated the energy of the Ring and released it.

Reality seemed to warp around the spell for a second, and the next one the troopers were absorbed into a magic sphere which disappeared with a bang.

Staggering back, Noctis tried to keep his footing when the world swan around him.

"You okay?" he felt Gladio' arm around his shoulders.

Noctis nodded. He had nearly forgotten how the stasis felt.

"Watch out!" Prompto yelled.

Pools of miasma formed in some places, and several flans sprung from them. Noctis took care of them while a third craft deployed more MTs.

The hunter inside the lodge wasn't entirely defenseless, though. A flan broke a window at some point, and was met with a blade between its eyes. It wasn't enough to stop the daemon, but it gave Noctis enough time to warp towards the amorphous mass and kill it.

When the last of the daemons disappeared, the King noticed a slow, heavy thumping sound in the distance.

Noctis swore under his breath: Three magitek armor units approached them.

He tried warp-striking the nearest one on the leg, but the hit barely made it budge. Without missing a beat, it fired a salvo of rockets Noctis had trouble dodging. He rolled away from the explosions, and didn't have time to look behind when he heard hurried steps approaching.

"They are more powerful than you remember!" Ignis warned the King while he helped him to his feet.

"We already have some strategy!" yelled Prompto, while he emptied a magazine on the M.A.

Without a word, Ignis imbued Noctis' sword with lightning magic.

"Try now."

Using Prompto's as a distraction, he warped again. There was an electrical explosion when his blade hit the M.A.'s leg, and the machine fell to the ground. Noctis shoot a brief glance at the other two machines: Gladio had attracted their attention and was resisting their attacks.

The King warped again, this time towards one of the M.A.'s attacking Gladio. The machine fell like the first one, and while Gladio kept himself busy with the third one, Noctis attacked with all his might the one at his feet, using the Ring to power up his blade.

Such was the strategy Ignis had come up with when dealing with several M.A. units: Throw them to the ground as fast as possible and attack. Repeat as soon as they are on their feet again until they are deactivated.

It was easier with Noctis, who had the warping ability and the power of the Ring, but it seemed a long-drawn fight to the King. Thrice they had to topple the machines, and twice the missiles were about to kill them. Gladio, at some point, was too reckless and one hit him square in the chest while he was parrying a flailing metal arm. Prompto had to cover him while Ignis ran to administer a potion to his friend. It was a close call, and the Shield might have died, had he been fighting alone.

As the last of the M.A. fell, so did Noctis, exhausted after the combat. Umbra, who had remained in the truck all that time, trotted happily towards him to lick his face. The King laughed, scratching the dog behind the ears.

"Mission accomplished," Ignis declared.

Gladio and Prompto had gone to the small cabin to check on the Hunter trapped there. The two returned with a young woman on her twenties. Her wounds weren't serious, and she agreed to let Talcott accompany her back to Hammerhead. It took her a while to take in the fact that she was talking to the lost King, and she seemed overjoyed by the news, thought she also looked like a woman to whom few things fazed her; cutting to the chase, the woman informed them that she had been traveling as a scout for Marshal Leonis and his Kingsglaive.

"The place has always been crawling with nasties," she said, making a gesture with her hand to point her surroundings. "But we could fight our way in to this point. Past the buffer area is all quiet, and it was empty past the Western Gates too. Something very strange."

Noctis said nothing. It sounded too perfect, and he knew who might have laid such a trap.

"When was that?" he asked instead.

"A few weeks ago," she said without missing a beat. "There are lots of monsters inside the City, though, so you'd better be careful. Oh, and MTs. Lots and lots of them. Seems like the miasma powers them up or something."

They thanked her and saw her to the truck. Talcott assured he wouldn't have any trouble driving back to Hammerhead, now that the road was clear again.

"But we'd better make haste," the young man told the Hunter. "You know it only lasts a few hours before the daemons come crawling back."

Umbra remained, though. The dog refused to go back, sitting stubbornly at Noctis' feet when the King told him to accompany Talcott.

"Let your furry friend come with us," said Gladio. "He's been waiting as long as us for you to show up."

"The fight has been a harrowing one," Ignis pointed out. "I'd suggest that we'd made camp and rested for tomorrow."

"Not here, though," said Prompto.

"Remember the outlook just around the City's entrance," Gladio proposed, taking out the camping gear from the truck. "I'd say we check it out."

"You serious?" said Noctis, looking at the bags.

"What? You thought Ignis would let me have His Majesty sleep out in the open?"

Noctis still remembered the path through derelict buildings and through the mountain. There were stray MTs prowling among the ruins, nothing they couldn't handle. The real peril came in the form of a daemonic beast which came out of a wall. Noctis gave orders to his companions to not engage that beast, and get away from its reach as quickly as possible. He knew that this daemon had an uncanny resistance to the Ring's power, and it didn't make any sense to engage in a fight which could prove mortal to any of them.

The gorge hadn't been blocked in those ten years, and Noctis felt grateful for that. But, when they reached the end and saw the walls opening into a plateau, Gladio, who walked first, signaled them to stop and crouch against the rocks.

They could hear the unmistakable breathing of an enormous beast and the heavy footsteps of powerful paws as the beast stalked what appeared to be its new dominions.

"Behemoth," Noctis sighed, still remembering their experience with Deadeye.

"This one's even worse," Gladio grumbled.

The King peered around the wall and felt his heart sinking. That Behemoth dwarfed Deadeye! It was older, Gladio said, so that was why it also had wings, though the Scourge didn't seem to be affecting it.

"Great, now one of those," Prompto whined.

"C'mon," Gladio patted him in the shoulder. "Think of how it will taste after all this exercise."

"Certainly," Ignis smiled. "I wouldn't be against cooking some sirloins."

"You serious?" Noctis almost laughed.

His retainer didn't answer, but his smile broadened.

"Okay," the King sighed. "Any plan?"

Gladio had more experience with those beasts. While the Shield talked, Prompto whispered to Noctis that their friend had been hunting Behemoths down as training.

The plan wasn't as simple as it seemed. This kind of evolved Behemoths used magic along with brute force, and it was said that they could summon blizzards to weaken and blind their prey.

"Did you bring it?" Gladio asked Prompto all of a sudden.

"You know I always carry it on big hunts," the gunslinger smiled, as he summoned a bazooka and patted it affectionately.

They took their positions and Gladio gave the signal. Prompto stood inside the chasm and readied the bazooka. Might as it was, the Behemoth couldn't reach inside the ravine without bringing it down on itself. Gladio knew those beasts possessed some degree of intelligence, and waged his strategy on the animal's self-preservation instinct.

The gunslinger had a clear vision of the Behemoth, despite the miasma. It had stopped at the border of the plateau, maybe looking for some prey, maybe on the lookout for daemons. Prompto waited until the beast gave its back to him and fired. As quickly as his weapon allowed it, he fired again, when the beast was already charging towards the ravine. His friends ran past him to block the beast from trying to enter, and Prompto fired a third rocket. Three shots, three explosions. All point-blank.

Noctis warp-struck the monster in the head, right after the last rocket exploded, blinding the beast. After that, Gladio and Ignis arrived and, as the shield had instructed, they unleashed a relentless attack, so the Behemoth couldn't fix its attention on any of them for more than a few seconds. Prompto, from his side, kept shooting with his machine gun while the bazooka cooled down.

The behemoth tried getting away from the ravine's entrance, but Prompto had a keen eye and a steady hand, and not even the blizzard the beast summoned could prevent the gunslinger from hitting his target.

The fight dragged out more than they thought. After the fifth salvo of rockets, the Behemoth sought cover next to the ravine's entrance, forcing Prompto to get out if he wanted to keep firing. This single movement risked their whole strategy. Gladio, seeing this, used his shield and his sword together to keep the monster distracted. However, the Behemoth was an intelligent beast, and its purpose was to lure whatever was attacking it out of the ravine.

Prompto kept firing even as the beast charged towards him. He knew the attacking patterns of these animals, and he knew he only had to watch out for the claws. The gunslinger dodged just in time as the claw passed over his head.

"Where are you going?" Gladio yelled, slashing at one of the beast's hind legs.

The Behemoth turned around with a roar and Prompto, now secure again inside the ravine, took out his bazooka once more.

Three rounds of firing rockets and shooting with the machinegun later, the Behemoth seemed to be on his last legs, but its tenacity didn't die down. The three warriors and the beast had reached a standstill, their energy almost depleted. Suddenly the Behemoth lurched forward, trying to reach Gladio with his giant paw. The warrior had enough energy to lift his shield and withstand the blow; he closed his eyes, bracing for the impact.

An explosion went off. When Gladio opened his eyes, the beast staggered backwards, falling so heavily the ground shook under their feet.

The Behemoth was dead.

"Wohoo! We are alive!" the three friends heard Prompto yelling from the crevice.

Gladio shook his head, chuckling. He had missed those moments.

"I'll get all the camping stuff," he said.

Helping Gladio setting up camp brought warm memories to Noctis. Their road trip had been fun and dangerous. He wished he could go back in time and do things differently, have another outcome, protect those he cared about better.

Looking at his friends, he felt something more than the wave of nostalgia. Cid's words echoed in his mind stronger than ever. He needed to tell them.

The four friends shared a delicious meal around the fire, like in the old times. After that they laughed and told jokes over Ignis' coffee but Noctis, despite following them, wasn't entirely there.

Taking a pause in the conversation as his cue, he began to speak. He had been rehearsing it on his mind ever since he set foot on Galdin Quay, but speaking was harder than thinking.

His friends listened in respectful silence until he finished, and then Ignis spoke.

They already knew.

It was in the old tomes, he said. From there they learned about Ardyn's curse and how his brother had to imprison them, waiting for the birth of a King of Lucis powerful enough to cleanse the Scourge from Eos.

Noctis looked at his friends as if it was the first time he saw them. Ten years waiting for him, fully knowing what would happen, and now they were accompanying him during the final stretch. They were smiling softly at him, even Ignis, but there was also a sadness about them, like that of a person who has already accepted fate.

Maybe that would make what he was about to say easier. Or so he thought. The moment he tried to say the next words, he stumbled into them, until Gladio just said:

"Out with it."

"I just…" Noctis started again, but the words jumbled together. "Dammit. The hell is this so hard?"

He tried again.

"So, I… I've made my peace. Still… Knowing this is it, and seeing you here, now," keeping his voice from wavering was even harder than saying those words. "It's… more than I can take."

His tears fell, unchecked, as he bowed his head.

"Yeah," Prompto whispered. "You're damn right it is."

"Uh, you spit it out," Gladio said, wiping away his own tears.

"It's good to hear," Ignis let out a sigh.

Noctis then got up and looked at each one of them, speaking in a hoarse voice.

"Well… what can I say?" he smiled. "You guys… are the best."

xxxxXX-0-XXxxxx

Needing some time on his own, the King went to the edge of the cliff to collect his thoughts. His friends stayed around the bonfire for a while, before they started busying themselves and preparing to sleep.

It was hard to believe that, ten years prior, he had stood on that same cliff under the rain, watching the columns of smoke rising from his beloved Insomnia. Now the city lain in ruins, but not entirely in darkness. Ardyn's work, no doubt. It didn't seem past him to keep the city running, if only to have it as a mockery of what once was.

After Gladio and Prompto went to sleep, Ignis approached Noctis.

"Y'know," said Noctis when he heard his retainer's footsteps. "Looking back… It wasn't all bad."

"I suppose we had some fun along the way."

"And our fair share of trouble, too… But I don't have any regrets. Luna and you guys brought me this far, and now I'm on my own."

"No. You won't be going alone. I'll-"

"No, you're right," Noctis interrupted, turning to face him. "I mean, I wouldn't have made it all this way without you guys. Why stop now? In the end, I might not have you at my side," he put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "But I'll always have you in my heart. Thanks… Thanks for everything, Iggy."

Ignis had a flash of memories: He saw a small, black haired child, shyly hiding behind his father, who softly pushed him towards Ignis.

Following his memory, Ignis extended his hand in the present day, and he felt Noctis' taking it between his own. They weren't the hands of a small child anymore, but those of an adult man: the hands of a warrior and a king. Feeling the tears rolling down his cheeks, Ignis smiled.