She flexed her fingers as the people around her just kept talking. Introducing themselves, explaining that Prompto was being kept down with sleep spells. They said he was no longer deliberately dangerous, but that he was still kind of crazy. They promised that she and Gladio could change that.
"How'd you get us?" Gladio asked.
She perked up and tuned back into the conversation with the question. It was a good question, after all.
"Black magic," a man with a long braid said at the same time as the woman with pink hair said, "white magic."
A lady in a long, lacy dress coughed. A boy in a green coat raised a hand to explain "It's a mix of them, um…"
"When we removed the influence from Prompto, he gave us a few names." Hilda swept a hand through the air in front of her. "The mages found a way to use those to summon you."
A pit opened in her stomach. "He asked after me?"
Gladio sighed. She ignored him.
The man beside Hilda twitched. Iris thought his name was Baralai? "He gave us three names, including Iris, Gladiolus, and Ignis. It appears we got two out of the three."
"Damn good thing, too." Gladio rolled his head around his neck. "If Ignis didn't stay back home, there would be no home for us to go back to."
Iris said, "I'd like to see him."
They stopped outside the door, them and the entire entourage. Hilda stood straight, by the door. The posture reminded Iris of King Regis. "If you believe yourselves to be prepared."
"There is little preparation could do for them." Baralai invited them in.
Iris entered and her hopes faded when she caught sight of Prompto's sleeping form on a little couch in the corner. Oh, he was so thin. And it was so dark and musty down here.
Hilda's composure failed as she worked her jaw for a moment. She cast a spell.
Gladio walked past her and sat on the other side of the couch, causing a stir from Prompto. Iris couldn't bring herself to get any closer, a sudden plethora of fears cropping up inside her.
What if he didn't actually want to see them? What if he would do better without them there, or—
His eyes blinked open. And caught on her.
"Give him here." Ace reached out and didn't wait for Desch to start moving the weight of the kid. Ace looked over the features of the dozing kid. Dajh didn't have the scars of some of the Broken. Had to have been taken after Bhunivelze found Hope.
Ace wasn't sure whether that was better or worse.
"You know this kid?" Desch asked, shifting the weight of the girl on his shoulder.
"King, it's Dajh. He's here." Ace couldn't see any obvious wounds or anything that would need to be dealt with.
King took a moment to respond, but when he did, he did so with an urgent tone. "Bring him home, Ace. Soon as possible."
"Do you know how he's doing?" Ace asked of Desch. Desch frowned.
"Terra couldn't take the shards from him." Desch narrowed his eyes in thought. "Pretty sure she said he only had one or two, though. She stayed to talk to the espers in Ivalice, so can't ask her right now."
Ace couldn't feel any obvious signs of displaced power. If Dajh had any, that would just speed along his ascension.
But if you had to remove the shards to remove the influence, then what were they going to have to do?
"Okay, okay…" Ace adjusted his grip before walking away.
Behind him, Desch started muttering. "Do you not know where everyone else is, or…? Guess not?"
"Cottage!" Ace shouted. Redirected his attention. "I'm coming now, King."
Prompto didn't say anything. Just kind of looked at her, then looked at Gladio. Then back to her. Back to Gladio.
"Prompto?" She asked, her voice embarrassingly small.
He looked back to her, with unsure eyes. "I'm seeing things."
Her heart dropped, and she took an involuntary step forward. "No, we're here to take you home."
He shook his head. "I'm not… I'm… I don't have a home." He looked up to the group by the door. "Right?"
Iris rushed forward. Prompto flinched back but didn't escape before she threw her arms around him.
"We're here, and we're taking you home." That was the way it was. She wasn't going to let any complications get in the way of that plan.
Prompto shoved at her. Iris grabbed Prompto's wrist.
"Don't you think this is too far?" Prompto shouted towards the door. "You know this isn't right! Hilda?"
Only then did she notice that Prompto had chains holding one of his wrists to the couch.
"What do you mean? We're here to help you!" Iris stepped forward, but Gladio held her back.
"Perhaps we should leave." Hilda gave Baralai a meaningful look.
Baralai shook his head. "We need to be here if something goes wrong."
"We will remain close by." Hilda swept out the door. Baralai reluctantly followed.
"No, wait, let me go!" He pulled against the chain, away from Gladio. He looked so weak, he didn't stand a chance.
"You aren't okay, Prompto." Gladio waited for the others to disappear out of sight and kept his voice low. "Let us take you home."
"I don't have a home!" He looked around, frenzied. "I have a mission! I have a purpose! I have a job to do, and if I—if I don't…"
Iris said, "You asked about us. I thought that maybe you wanted to see… us."
"It doesn't matter what I want, what matters is His plan." His voice cracked and broke. "All my fake memories don't matter."
Gladio scoffed. "Sounds fair."
Prompto avoided Gladio's gaze. "It is. You shouldn't mock it."
"I'll mock anything that screws my friends over."
"… We are friends then?"
Iris planted her feet. "You shouldn't diminish yourself like that! You're a daemon hunter, and when Noctis gets back, he's gonna want to see you!"
Prompto stiffened, trying to pull away from Gladio. "I've got stuff I have to do, I'm not supposed to worry about everyone else. What about Leon, is he my friend too? Or the Turks?"
"Hey," Gladio said, "back off! She's right!"
"This is what I'm supposed to be!" Prompto finally looked at Gladio, disbelief apparent. "Even if… if I keep fighting, then it won't be over!"
"What does that mean?" Iris asked.
"It doesn't matter!"
"I think it does! What does it mean, Prompto?"
He looked down, still shaking. "Bhunivelze is done with me. He doesn't have anything else, but I'm still here, so I can still fight for Him."
"You don't belong to Him."
"Don't say that!" He covered and ear. "It's not true!"
"You belong with us! You're you, Prompto. You know Ignis will be happy to see you, and Talcott!"
Prompto dropped his head. "I can't go back."
Gladio grunted. "Sure you can."
He cried. "No, I can't. I can't go back, I'm not more than—this is all I am."
Iris felt at her brass knuckles. She was no Shield of the King with some responsibility to uphold the image of the Kingdom of Lucis, not that Gladio would try too hard in that regard either. So maybe it would be okay if she spent some time being a little more bloodthirsty.
"When has that stopped you?" Gladio asked.
"Yeah, you made friends with the prince!" Iris rested her head on Prompto's shoulder. He didn't react.
"I have blood on my hands," he choked out.
Gladio looked across at Iris. She met his eyes for a moment but remained where she was. He shrugged. "Your head was screwed up by a god. That's not your fault."
He relaxed. Just a little.
"Home isn't the same without you," Iris whispered. "It's too empty and lonely and it doesn't feel right."
Prompto took a deep breath, still a little shaky. "What did He do to me?"
"Apparently, He gets in your head and rearranges your priorities." Gladio shrugged. "Makes you focus on Him and how you have to do what he says."
Prompto shivered. "I get that, I see it, but it's still there. Maybe it's wrong, but it's still there."
"Hold onto us. We'll carry you through." Iris took his hand in hers, still leaning on him. "You don't have to do it alone."
Prompto took one more breath. Then nodded.
Ace carried Dajh through time and space to a place that sat on the precipice of both. Entering Valhalla was no longer as disorienting as it once was, which made it much easier to hit the ground running.
"Queen!" Ace shouted. "King!"
Before he saw either, Vanille hurried his way. She didn't ask questions, just stopped and rested a hand above Dajh's forehead.
Her hand lit up. "Queen told Trey. He and Sazh are on their way." She hesitated. "There's a sleep spell over him but it won't last too much longer. How was he found?"
The events of the past hour or so were kind of fuzzy in his head, which wasn't fair, because he was a God now. "The mages found him. I didn't ask a lot of questions before bringing him back." Wait, Desch had named some place. "Ivalice."
"What was he doing there?" Vanille took him into her arms.
"Didn't get the details." Ace walked on, letting her carry Dajh. With him in hand in Valhalla, he needed to get back world-side. This proved that, at least.
Vanille whispered some continuous chant or something underneath her breath as they walked. She mentioned voices still in her head after losing Mwynn, but Ace assured her it must be a side effect.
Ace climbed the stairs into the main building and hurried down the halls. He made sure not to outpace Vanille, better not to since she was carrying the reason he was here in the first place.
Vanille finished her chant and switched to a continuous hum. Dajh's phantoma looked perfectly normal, though Ace kept expecting it to look twisted and unnatural.
Ace burst into the command room, Vanille on his heels.
Queen stood the moment they entered.
"He needs to stay asleep," Ace said, finally stopping a few feet inside the room. King reached out to take the kid, but Vanille shook her head, holding tight.
"You sure?" King asked.
"Of course!" Vanille repositioned the weight. "He's Sazh's son. I'm not letting him out of my sight until his dad gets here."
"How far out is Trey?" Ace asked.
Queen examined the kid but didn't have anything new to note. He was asleep, he needed to stay that way. "I have visual confirmation on Dajh. Don't waste time, Trey."
Ace watched as Vanille slid down against the wall, with a death grip around Dajh. King responded to some question from one of the others and Queen, apparently satisfied with Dajh's situation, turned back away and sent a generalized message out to all of them.
That was it. He wasn't needed here anymore.
Ace turned and left. Back to the Guild.
Sazh trudged through the shores of what had to be the Valhallan ocean. He hadn't been here before, where was…
Trey stepped out of the water, dripping none of it. "Your son lies this way."
Sazh broke free of the ocean and stumbled after him. Trey kept talking about how Sazh knew this and it was strange to suddenly forget.
They ran up the stairs and into a small room with—
Vanille waited for them and carried a familiar little bundle. But not as little as it used to be.
"What's wrong with him?" Sazh asked, reaching out and taking him from Vanille's arms.
"He's not in his right mind." Vanille dropped her arms as Sazh took Dajh's full weight. Still so small. "When he wakes up, he'll be confused. Maybe still a little… a little under His control."
Sazh bit back a variety of curses. Dajh was there, after all. Asleep, maybe, but still there. "So, what am I supposed to do to bring him back?"
"You can do it, Sazh." Vanille gave him a cheery grin that stopped him short. "When he wakes up, if you're there, he'll know he's home."
How long had it been since he'd seen her? Really seen her? Had he seen her smile during the exodus? Had it been since before Cocoon fell?
Not a problem he needed to figure out right now. Dajh was the priority.
Always.
"How am I supposed to wake him up?" Sazh asked. Behind Vanille, another one of the red kids strolled over. Yet another blond kid.
The new kid didn't say anything upon arrival.
"I can wake him up for you, when you think you're ready." She gave Dajh a soft look. He looked so peaceful, sleeping the time away. "But once he's awake… he changes."
His gut twisted. "I'm ready."
Vanille bit her lip but nodded. Lifted a hand over Dajh's head and held it there.
"Wake up," she whispered, voice echoing off the nothingness.
Sazh pulled Dajh closer as he began to stir.
"Your dad is here, now." A drop of glowing smoke-like light drifted down from her finger to Dajh's head. It drifted down over his head before fading away.
Trey and the other kid tensed.
Dajh opened his eyes. Bleary, but awake.
Took a moment to look around with tired eyes.
Then started writhing.
"Let me go!" He yelled, trying to shove away. Sazh grappled with him, but the kid was slippery! "Let me go!"
"Hey, hey!" Sazh pinned down Dajh's arms. "Calm down. Come on, Dajh, you're safe."
He looked around, eyes wild. "Where's Krile?"
Who in Etro's creation was Krile? Vanille gave Sazh an unsure look.
"I think 'Krile' is with friends now." Vanille hesitated before the name.
"She and I have stuff we're supposed to do." Dajh slowed down in his squirming. "Work. We've gotta make sure some stuff…"
Sazh pulled him tighter. "That's not your problem anymore. I'm here, you're gonna be safe. From now on."
Dajh started shaking.
Violently.
Sazh held on tight as Dajh started screaming. Warmth in his eyes, but that wasn't his problem.
"Let me go! I have to find Krile!"
"Hey, hey, calm down!" Dajh was still small enough that it wasn't that hard to keep a hold on him. Just exhausting.
"I can't be here! I don't wanna be here!"
Even here in Valhalla, Dajh didn't want to stay. He'd been telling Sazh for so long that he wanted to go find the others. Yet he still wanted to leave. Maybe it wasn't that he wanted to find the others, maybe he just didn't want to stay with Sazh.
No. This was just the influence of Bhunivelze.
That…
He shoved back the curses again.
"You remember how you wanted to go and find everyone again?" Sazh asked. Dajh kept screaming and fighting. "You kept talking about missing them. Look, Vanille's right here."
She looked up at her name.
"This isn't where I wanna be! I have to find Krile!" Where did the kid get all this energy?
"Who's Krile?" Vanille asked.
"She showed me the light, and we gotta fight together. And… and they got her, too."
"You think she's safe?" Sazh asked of Dajh.
He sniffled. "I don't know, they might try to hurt her."
Kept pushing. "We got you back, do you think they'll take her to the people who care about her, too? Don't you think she would want to be with them?"
"It doesn't matter what you want!" Dajh started shoving again. "It's about what we're supposed to do!"
"So, you do want to be here?" Vanille asked.
Dajh didn't reply. Screamed again.
Sazh remembered days where Dajh's screams were just exhausting and frustrating. But these, they bit down to the core. There were things that Dajh would never forget about this.
"I'm sorry, kid."
Dajh kept screaming.
"Sorry that I didn't listen."
You can't always have what you want. But that didn't matter because this, this Dajh could have.
"I will, from now on. You won't have to run away to find someone who will. I'll be there. I'll always be there for you."
Dajh stilled, screams dying to hiccups.
He forced his way past that lump in his throat. "You're safe now. Home."
Something in Dajh changed. Magic flooded out from him like the cool water of Sunleth.
His son, his beautiful son turned to look up at Sazh's face. Sazh loosened his grip, slowly.
"…Daddy?"
Vanille gasped.
Sazh threw his arms around Dajh and Dajh hugged him back, little arms trying hard to wrap around his father.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I did something stupid, I got people hurt."
"Hey, hey." Sazh wasn't going to stand for that. "You're here, now. You're alive. You're safe. You're home."
Sazh looked up at an odd light. That new kid was glowing a little. Glowing red.
Dajh kept sobbing out apologies and Sazh kept pushing back, trying to remind the kid that it wasn't his fault. Not really. There was one person to blame, and it sure as hell wasn't Dajh.
Sazh couldn't say how much time passed, or if any did, given the location, but after a while, Dajh calmed down and sat up, sniffling, to examine his surroundings.
"Hey, Dajh!" Vanille waved from where she sat about four feet away. "It's me, your auntie Vanille!" Oh no. "I wanted to see you, too!"
Sazh raised an eyebrow. Dajh grinned and waved back.
"More like cousin," Sazh said as Dajh accepted a hug from Vanille.
"Well, that's another loose end all tied up nice." The new kid placed his hands behind his head. "What's up, Trey?"
Trey stepped past him. "I would be pleased to regale you with the particulars, Jack. As it stands, I find I must report to Queen. She remains this way, does she not?"
"She and King both. They never leave."
Trey left after an extremely long farewell statement.
"Where are we?" Dajh asked.
"This is Valhalla," Vanille offered. "The old throne of Etro."
Dajh wrinkled his nose. "She's dead now."
"That's true enough." Sazh nodded. He refrained from commenting on the tragedy of which god was dead and which one wasn't. Dajh didn't need to think about the other one right now.
Or ever.
"Are you like Ace?" Dajh asked of, what, Jack was his name?
Jack gave him a chuckle and a thumbs up. "Yup. Ace is one of my brothers. My name's Jack. You're Dajh, right?"
He stuck a hand out. Sazh resisted the urge to pull Dajh away from it.
Dajh shook it, after a moment. "So you went to pick up one of the others, right?"
"I did. I went and found your aunt Lightning."
"Hey, that's kind of…" inaccurate?
Vanille clapped her hands together. "She's not here right now, but you'll see her when she gets back, I'm sure!"
Sazh dropped his head to his hands. Doubted he'd get them to drop the familiar titles.
Especially with Dajh looking so thrilled about it.
"Is anyone else here?" Dajh asked, looking around with bright eyes. Sazh rubbed at the back of his head.
"Just one. Yeul. The rest are out trying to deal with the others." Jack gestured inwards. "If you want to see her, Yeul's inside somewhere."
Dajh looked taken-aback. "Who's Yeul?"
"Noel's friend," Sazh said. "Good to know she made it back safe."
"Oh, sure." Jack rested his arms on his hip. "She's doing just fine."
"Why do you look so weird?" Dajh asked.
Jack paused. Sazh bit back a chuckle, reminding himself that Dajh shouldn't be asking questions like that. Just couldn't bring himself to care about it.
And Jack's skin did look unnatural. It shimmered and looked less… alive. Like Trey had, after they had ascended.
"Well, cause I'm not human anymore." Jack rubbed at the back of his head, then replaced his hand on his hip. "Got too much power in me."
"Where are Lightning and the others?" Sazh asked. Couldn't really explain why, but he didn't want to deal with explaining the ascension to Dajh at the moment.
"They're finding their way to Noel's world." Vanille rose to her feet, stretching out her sides. "I think they're almost there."
Great. Then they'd only be missing one, and…
When did he start letting himself care?
"And what are you gonna do now, Sazh?" Vanille asked, clasping her hands together. Dajh looked at Sazh with the question, eyes wide.
Sazh groaned as he stood. "Couldn't say."
"Are we gonna stay?" Dajh asked. Sazh shrugged.
"For now, sure." Dajh had so desperately wanted to be with the others that he had run away and gone through hell. Sazh had to admit it that they couldn't just turn around now and go hide away on the floating continent again.
And seeing Vanille so cheerily accept the kid felt good. All those old problems, gone forever. Instead, they were stuck with new ones.
Relatively new.
He wasn't going to take Dajh away from what he had so desperately wanted after letting him have it. Some day soon, he was going to have to admit that he wasn't going back to the life he thought he wanted.
For now, he could get a hold of the situation from Valhalla.
