It was a blessed Saturday. Noctis had been looking forward to it; a day of cheap snacks and hours of gaming with his best friend, free of princely duties and part time jobs. The new Assassin's Creed Syndicate — bought by his hard-earned money, thank you — rested in his bag, ready to be played. Humming slightly, he knocked on his bro's door.

A scramble of feet and curses echoed beyond the wood. Noctis cocked his head. While Prompto can be clumsy at stuff, he wasn't someone to be caught off-guard like this. He knew Noctis was coming, after all.

The scramble didn't stop even when the door opened.

"Hey—"

His shirt was yanked into the house.

"—what's got into you?" Noctis blinked as the door closed behind him.

Prompto still had Noctis' shirt in his fists. "Noct! Y-you…"

"Prompto?"

"G-game!" Prompto shook him. "You!"

"Hey!" Noctis pushed him off.

Prompto went with it easily, but took to pulling his hair. "RPG in real life!"

Used to his best friend's melodramatics, Noctis easily noticed the wild eyes and hysteria — this was beyond the usual stuff. Slowly, he placed a hand on his bro's shoulder. "Dude, calm down."

"I can't!" Prompto cried. "I've seen the future!"

"You're not making sense Prompto."

For the second time, Noctis felt himself getting yanked at the shirt. Unwilling to get bruised on the stairs, Noctis dug a pen from his bag and threw it upwards; he materialized at the top of the stairs, pen in hand again. As Prompto fell behind him, Noctis went into the doorway in the right, scanning the room for whatever got his bro in a tizzy.

The room looked normal as usual, so Noctis focused on the TV. Whatever game was there was paused, he noted, since there was some sort of blue menu there that…

Noctis' brain shorted at the familiar people standing beside the list of text.

"I swear this isn't a prank!" Prompto said as soon as he reached him. "When I woke up this morning, this was in my mail!"

Mechanically, Noctis turned to his bro, then back to the screen. Digital Prompto in the screen looked a bit older, more fake, but it was the same likeness as the flesh and blood Prompto. Uncanny.

"I wanted to tell you, but I was curious of course so I popped it in and started playing it and ohmygosh they nailed us from your royalness and me for my awesomeness and Iggy's poshiness and Gladio's toughiness and we're all awesome and the Regalia's cool and we met Cid and he's so grumpy but Cindy she's the bomb and now I'm in chapter three and—"

It was Noctis' turn to yank Prompto toward him. "Prompto. What. Is. THIS?"

He let Prompto slide from his grasp. Prompto dived to the bed, pulling a pillow off that hid a slim case underneath.

Prompto frantically pushed the case to his hands. "Look for yourself!"

Noctis stilled; there, smack dab on the cover, was his face, looking grim and determined. Super imposed were the letters 'XV' and some red crystal shards. Above his hair was emblazoned the words Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition.

~ FFXV wasn't the best game I've ever played, and while some stuff makes me rage about wasted potential...

The feels, man. It made me feel enough to write a fic despite my busy schedule.

Expect infrequent updates. :)