Disclaimer: not mine

I have reposted the previous chapters after doing some editing.

Chapter 9

Noctis was on his way back to the Crow's Nest to hand over the hunt flyers that they weren't going to attempt when his phone rang. "Hello?"

"Um, Noct?" A young female voice questioned, and he frowned before he realised who it had to be,

"Iris?"

"It's really you! So good to hear your voice! Everything's fine over here. We managed to make it to Lestallum. We just settled into our new digs. So, yeah. Let me know when you're coming so we can meet up," she babbled, and he smiled.

"Yeah, will do," he promised.

"You better!" she laughed and then they both hung up.

"Who was that?" Gladio called as he left the store.

"Iris," Noctis ducked into the diner to let the man know which hunts they were going to tackle. With five of them now they shouldn't take as long and with Harry's magic as well, hopefully they'd be easier.

"Hmph. Can't even call her own brother," Gladio grumbled as Noctis re-joined him and they walked to the car where Ignis looked up from studying the map.

"In all fairness, yours wasn't the obituary broadcast all over Lucis," he pointed out. Though for Noctis to have died, Gladio would likely died as well.

"Let's get hunting," Noctis offered as Harry moved up to his side.

"They're close enough to leave the car here," Ignis announced when he looked at the flyers and there was some good natured grumbling, but they headed across the road and down into the grass. They began to jog towards the water, eyes peeled for predators.

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That night they camped at a Haven, despite the rain. Harry set up his tent and Ignis used the kitchen within to cook the evening meal. It was cold and wet outside, but the tent was toasty warm, a fire burning away merrily to heat the tent. Harry had transfigured two more beds as well and fiddled with the tents 'settings' to increase the size of the second bedroom so that all three could share without being too cramped.

They'd managed two hunts, and both had gone very well. They were getting better every hunt, learning how to judge they would react, how best to corner them one by one to take them out without being overwhelmed by a herd. Harry had meshed easily enough with them, hanging back as magical support but quick to make use of any opening.

Ignis served the meal and they all dug in, enjoying the warm food.

"So, I was thinking…" they all glanced at Noctis. "There's a Chocobo outpost nearby."

His words had Prompt practically bouncing in his chair, eyes lighting up in excitement. "Can we?" he begged and Noctis grinned slightly even as Harry's knee nudged his under the table.

"I've never even seen a picture of one," Harry admitted, and they all looked at him. "What? We don't have them; I think the only animals in common is the fact we have fish."

That obviously surprised them. "Really? Wow. So your world is safe?" Prompto asked and Harry shrugged.

"We've got predators, sure, magical and not. Magical ones are nasty between dragons, Nundu and Dementors. But we don't have to worry about being killed while going for a stroll." He got up and went to the bookshelf, pulling out two books. "Here, a non-magical animal guide and a magical one," he grinned and offered them to Prompto. "Fully illustrated."

"Wow," he flipped them open, staring in awe at the animals shown.

Gladio sighed but nodded to Ignis, Iris had called, she was fine and would be even if they took a side trip. A glance at Noctis showed a small smile and Ignis looked back to where Harry was showing Prompto animals in the books.

"Once we have finished these hunts we shall head to the outpost," Ignis announced and Prompto cheered. He was surprised when Harry got up and began cleaning up. "There's no need."

"You cooked, which means you don't clean. I spent a year on the run living in this tent Ignis, I'm very used to splitting the chores to keep it clean," Harry assured him and Noctis groaned but got up to help, getting a smile from Harry. When they were done they settled down with the books and Gladio produced their bestiary to compare, seeing just how different their worlds fauna was. They moved on to an atlas of Earth, the three surprised by just how large Harry's home world was. Noctis had helped Harry with enough homework when they were younger that he wasn't surprised.

When it came time to sleep, Ignis watched his King and Harry retreat to one bedroom. He wasn't sure what he thought of that, Noctis was meant to be marrying the Lady Lunafreya…but with everything that had happened that marriage was no longer necessary. They could die any day, shouldn't Noctis get the chance to be happy? There was no law against it, at least not in Insomnia, so long as an heir was provided.

"They've been together since they were fourteen," Prompto told him, seeing the look. "Same year Noctis gave him his armband, it was a bad year for Harry, and he wanted him to have a physical reminder that Noct would never turn on him."

That was interesting and made him even more curious about the young man who had joined them. What had he gone through that Noctis would feel the need to give him such an item? Fourteen…yes, there had been a period of upset and then….Noctis had bene happy, smiling easier than ever before, had that been when they got together?

"Come on, let's get some sleep. You can ponder things in the morning Iggy," Gladio offered, getting up. "I want to make use of an actual bed I can fit in."

Prompto snickered but headed for the bed he'd used before, changing into sleep clothes before burrowing under the blankets. The others were soon settled as well, and he turned the light off how Harry had shown him.

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When Ignis got up in the morning he was surprised to see Harry in the kitchen along with Noctis. He checked his watch and found it was 7am, Noctis never got up so early, not willingly anyway and yet the two were working happily together, making breakfast. Noctis looked over and managed a tired smile even as he poured out coffee for himself and Ignis before pouring tea which Harry sipped while working at the stove. "It is nice to see you up and functional so early," he offered and Noctis rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "Drink your coffee."

It wasn't long before Gladio appeared, dressed to go running and then Prompto slipped out and into the bathroom, the shower soon running. It was nice having access to running water and indoor plumbing as well as warm beds. It would make their travels much nicer.

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Gladio glanced at the back seat, seeing Noctis fast asleep, not unusual at all, the kid could and did sleep anywhere. He spent a lot of the time in the car sleeping, this time though he wasn't leaning against the window, instead he was curled on his side, head resting on Harry's shoulder and out like a light. On Harry's other side, Prompto was nodding off over his camera, slumping towards Harry who was slumped in the middle seat, head back, staring up at the sky. The three of them looked as if they had been friends forever and yet it hadn't even been a week for Harry and Prompto.

Ignis caught him looking and glanced in the rear view mirror, unable to hide a soft smile at the sight.

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"Chocobos! Chocobos! We're gonna see the Chocobos!" Prompto was practically bouncing as they got out of the car. Noctis just grinned at his excitement and the others looked around as Prompto approached an older man by the tables. "'Scuse me. We'd like to ride the Chocobos."

The man turned to him as they approached, looking them over. "The Chocobos, huh? I hate to break this to y'all, but we can't permit our birds to leave the post. Not while Deadeye's still about. He's an uncommonly ferocious behemoth that's taken to prowlin' these parts of late. His scent makes our birds nervous, an' to prevent accidents an' tragedies, we have no choice but to suspend rentals. But hold on, now—ain't you lads the hunters that've been makin' a mark? You reckon you could handle the likes of Deadeye? If you could bring the beast down, there'd be a reward in it for ya. But knowin' the danger, I wouldn't blame ya for sayin' no."

They all looked at Noctis who looked around the outpost, this explained why none of the rental machines had been in operation. How many people had been stranded by the lack of birds? Perhaps even died because they couldn't get to a Haven on foot in time? "Sure, we'll handle it," he agreed for them, accepting the flyer to look over what was known. He read it and passed it to Harry who then passed it to Ignis. They checked their gear over and then headed out.

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Prompto yelped and hit the ground, hard, barely keeping his grip on his gun as Deadeye turned in his direction. He scrambled back, trying to get his feet under him, to concentrate enough to warp, anything and then with a near silent crack Harry was in front of him, one hand raised towards the behemoth.

"Avada Kedavra," Harry whispered though Prompto still heard him. There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air and Deadeye collapsed to the ground, unmoving. Harry turned and offered him a hand up and Prompto took it, letting the slightly taller male pulled him up.

"Thanks," he whispered, and Harry nodded even as Noctis rushed over, eyes wide.

"Harry? Was that…"

"Yeah," Harry looked away.

"But, I thought…you said…" Noctis was obviously worried, about the 'spell' Harry had used? But why?

"I can use it, I'm the only one who can without the requirements or side effects," Harry answered before walking off.

"Noct?" Prompto was confused.

"There are three spells that get you an automatic life sentence in a prison worse than most of the dungeons we've seen. One tortures, one controls and one…kills. Harry is the only person to ever survive a direct hit from it, his parents and a lot of people he knew didn't. it was war, Harry's cast the other two, though he wasn't really successful with the torture one," Noctis explained quietly, watching as Harry helped Gladio take what they needed to prove they had completed the hunt.

Prompto's eyes got steadily wider as he realised just what the wizard had done to save him. "He said he did it without the requirements or side effects, what…" he couldn't finish the question, unsure he wanted to know.

"To cast the Killing curse takes power and concentration, something he doesn't lack, but it also needs the desire not just to kill, but to commit murder. It's seen as Dark magic, something only evil magicals use, though there are exceptions in war time. The curse…it affects the casters own soul."

"So how can he cast it?"

Noctis frowned and then his eyes widened. "Oh," he whispered before offering a small smile to Prompto. "It's something personal, but he'll be fine. It won't affect him," and then he jogged away to grab Harry and kiss him, holding him close and Prompto watched as Harry relaxed in Noctis' arms, wrapping his own around the King. Good, that was good, he didn't like the idea of them arguing or anything.

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Harry turned, hearing someone approach at a jog and then arms were around him, warm lips against his, fingers digging into his hip and shoulder and he felt the tension drain away as he kissed back. It was okay, they were okay, Noctis understood what he hadn't said, he wasn't ready for even Prompto of the guys to know everything yet. As Master of Death, he could use the Killing Curse with no ill effects, and without needing to desire murder. It used his connection with Death to separate body and soul. Maybe he was always meant to be who he had become, no one else had ever survived the curse after all, how many Mother's had given their lives for their children and yet none of those had survived. He'd never had the guts to ask and Death hadn't said, but it felt right.

"I love you, no matter what," Noctis swore again and Harry smiled.

TBC…