Hello, friends. Welcome to Chapter 3! In this chapter, we get to learn a tiny bit more about Lydia, and we get a little Prompto time. I wanted to write a couple shorter chapters that would focus individually on Lydia's relationship tp Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis - so I will be doing something sort of like this for the other guys as well.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own FFXV.

Chapter 3: Picture-Perfect

The cellphone was one of Lydia's favorite modern inventions. As someone who had been reborn into this world dozens of times since her creation, she never ceased to marvel at the wonders of technology. She wasn't a huge fan of humans—or any species for that matter, but she had to admit they were quite clever when it came to developing new devices and tools.

That's why instead of enjoying the early morning breeze or listening to curious sounds as she might have done in another life, Lydia spent the hour between 4 and 5 a.m. playing a fruit matching game on her phone. Longwythe Rest Area was mostly deserted at this hour aside from the occasional vehicle passing by, and she enjoyed the silence. She enjoyed the feeling of cool air against her skin. There was something unique about the way the air felt before the sun came up.

Unfortunately, her quiet time was interrupted when a door creaked nearby, snatching her attention away from her phone. It was the room the Prince and his friends were sleeping in. She watched from her seat at one of the tables as the small one, Prompto, crept out and ever-so-slowly shut the door behind him. He didn't seem to notice her as he walked past, so she cleared her throat. "Going somewhere, Blondie?"

She cracked a small smile of amusement as he jumped in surprise and turned toward her. "Lydia! Geez, you almost scared the pants off me. What—what are you doing out here this early?"

With raised eyebrows, she said, "I could ask you the same thing. I'm just out enjoying a bit of morning air. Although—you seemed like you were trying pretty hard not to be noticed."

Prompto relaxed his stance and laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Well, Noct gets pretty pissed if he's disturbed really early in the morning, so I was trying not to be too noisy. I don't know if or when we're coming back here, and there's something I really wanted to do before we left."

She stuffed her phone in her pocket, curious. "Oh? And what's that?"

Under the dim lights from the parking lot, Lydia saw Prompto's face light up. "I've heard there's nothing more beautiful in the Leide region than Longwythe Peak at sunrise. So I'm going to snap a pic at just the right time for my collection!"

She lowered her gaze as he gestured to the bag on his shoulder, where she guessed he must have had camera equipment stashed.

So this was just a personal side trip. Although—she did admit, it seemed pretty reckless of him to wander out into the wilderness alone—especially before dawn. And he hadn't even planned to tell anyone where he was going, for that matter.

A few seconds of silence passed between them. "You—wanna come along?" he eventually asked, dragging out the question as if unsure what he wanted to say—or should say.

But after a short pause, Lydia stood and approached the young gunman. "Sure, why not? I could use a walk, and we don't want any daemons making off with you before the sun comes up."

He laughed. "And here I thought you were only here to protect Noct."

"I am," she said. "But the way I see it, I'm protecting him by protecting you."

"Fair enough! I'm in your capable hands."

She gave him a critical side-eye as she fell into step at his side, heading out toward the mountain. "You're the trusting sort, I see."

He turned his head to look at her, and then turned the rest of the way around so he was walking backwards next to her. "I mean—is there some reason I shouldn't trust you?"

"Well, if there was, I definitely wouldn't tell you that."

"Okay, solid point."

"Look, I'm just saying in general—you should be careful. This isn't your precious Insomnia anymore. It's a big world, and you have to be prepared."

"Oh, I know that," he said, shoving his hands in pockets and returning to a normal walk. "I gotta be prepared so I can see it all! Plus, I have to be able to keep up with Noctis and the other guys. I'm not nearly as talented as they are, but I'm working at it."

"Eh, you seem like a pretty impressive shot to me," she told him, thinking back to his marksmanship on the battlefield yesterday. "That gun might not do you much good against creatures of the night, though." With a glance up at the sky as it slowly turned shades of pink and grey, she added, "Luckily, we probably won't have to worry about them now. The sun will probably be peeking over the horizon in a few minutes."

"We'd better hurry, then," he said, picking up the pace and only stopping when the mountain was in full view. Brilliant hues of red, orange, and violet gathered in the east, branching out and spreading light across the entire sky. The clouds turned brighter every second, and the way the colors blended together competed with some of the most beautiful sunrises she had seen over her lifetimes.

"Wow, this is gonna be incredible," he said. She stopped at his side when he pulled out his camera, snapping a shot of the mountain against the watercolor sky. "Aw, man! Some God somewhere must be smiling on me this morning!" As the sky changed, Blondie continued taking pictures to make sure he got the best possible shot. He even grabbed one right as the sun came over the horizon, although Lydia had to glance away immediately to avoid being blinded by the light.

"Hey, check it out," he said, pushing his camera toward her with a grin on his face. Hesitantly, she took the piece of equipment and scrolled through his images. While no photo of the dawn could quite do justice to the real thing, these came pretty close. "Pretty great, right?" he asked.

She nodded as she handed the camera back to him. "Yeah, they are. I'm sure your friends will love these pictures. I, uh—take it you're really into photography."

"Well, it's only my life," he said. "Aside from, you know, being the Prince's bodyguard and all that, ha. I like taking pictures because—well, I mean, memories can be kind of unreliable. But when you capture a moment in a picture, you get to keep it forever." Suddenly, he grew a bit sheepish and looked away. "Anyway, I just think that's cool, I guess. Sorry, it probably isn't that interesting to you."

She shrugged. "Not really—but that shouldn't stop you from talking about what's important to you."

Prompto blushed and scratched himself behind the ear, eliciting an amused smile from Lydia. She took one last look at the mountain, which was now bathed in early morning light—and then looked down at her wristwatch. "Anyway, we should be getting back. Wouldn't want your friends thinking you were carried off in the night."

"Totally right," he agreed, pushing on ahead of her. "Ignis'll be worrying his tail off, I guarantee."
"Really?" she asked. "I didn't peg him as the high-stress type."

"Oh, that's just because he hides it so well. Trust me, Ignis has a lot of crazy stuff going on in that head of his. He's just super good at compartmentalizing."

Lydia crossed her arms. "Huh. Him and me, both."

With a laugh, he asked, "What, the worrying part? Or the compartmentalizing part?"

"Uh, little bit of each, I suppose," she said, prompting another chuckle from the both of them.

Blondie glanced back at her with a big, stupid grin on his face. But about half a second later, that grin morphed into an expression of fear. He glanced up at the sky, his eyebrows knitted closely together. "Maybe you wanna start worrying, now?" he suggested, which made her to turn around. It didn't take long for her to figure out the cause of his concern. When she looked up, she saw a massive magitek engine hovering above them. She hadn't even noticed because it was too early in the morning for the machine to cast a shadow over them. It wasn't common for magitek troopers to appear in these areas and cause problems, so she could only guess they were looking for the Prince. She was willing to bet they recognized Prompto, and that's why they were here.

Daemons, she had expected. Niflheim garbage, not so much. And she gritted her teeth in frustration as a group of MTs dropped down onto the ground from the machine. "What do we do, what do we do?" Prompto whispered, clearly in a panic as he gripped the gun at his side.

While the troops were in the process of surrounding them, Lydia moved until she was pressed against Prompto's back. They aligned exceptionally well, despite the fact that she was a few inches shorter than he was. "Just stay calm and don't move," she instructed quietly. She had a feeling that if they were looking for the Prince, they wouldn't shoot unless Lydia or Prompto attacked first. They would want to ask questions—perhaps even use the two of them to find him. So how to take them all out at once?

"We're doomed, aren't we? Lydia?" Prompto whispered, pressing harder against her back as the Niflheim troops closed in on them. They were completely surrounded—which, perhaps, would work to Lydia's advantage.

"Stay very still," she ordered, watching the MTs as they made each step closer. The firearms in their hands could have riddled them with bullets at any second, but Lydia didn't plan to let it get that far. "Just wait for it," she whispered, rubbing her fingers together to get a little bit of energy moving inside her.

Now.

Before the magitek troopers had time to react, Lydia dropped and splayed her hand on the on the hard, dry ground. Magical energy shot through the ground in all directions, leaving a thin layer of frost in its wake. Cries and groans of pain sounded in her ears as each trooper found himself impaled on blades of ice, which shot up through the soil per her precise calculations.

The MTs didn't move again, and Lydia cast her gaze up at the engine above them. She waited for a few seconds to see if anyone else was brave enough to come out and face them. Based on the way the engine quickly turned tail and began flying off in the other direction, she guessed not.

Prompto stared at her in awe as they carefully stepped past the impaled troopers, which were now oozing daemonic miasma. "That... was... AMAZING!" he exclaimed, laughing as if he was simultaneously thrilled to be at her side and simply glad to be alive. "Dude—I've seen some cool stuff, but I have never seen anything like that! You just took out like eight troopers at once. You've gotta tell me your secret, girl!"

Lydia scoffed, nudging him along to get them away from the scene as quickly as possible. "Practice. Lots and lots of practice."

"Oh, come on," he prodded. "That can't be it."

This kid clearly had issues minding his own business. She gave him a pointed look, hoping it would deter him from asking any more questions. But thankfully, he held up his hand in defeat without a fuss. "Okay, okay! Whatever, if you want to keep being all mysterious, that's cool. But surely you won't mind me telling the guys about that awesome thing you did once we get back, right?"

She sighed. "You can tell them whatever you want. Just try not to make a huge deal about it, please?"

"Oh, sure! You want lowkey, you got it."

A Short Time Later...

"So guys, can you believe what Lydia did while we were gone?" Prompto exclaimed as the group hurried to pack up and get back on the road. "Imagine it—eight magitek troopers. We're completely surrounded. And she just takes her hand, slams it to the ground like BOOM!" He mimicked her motion by splaying his palm to the pavement. "And they're all impaled by icy spikes of death. Damn, it was picture-perfect—should have gotten a photo."

So much for 'lowkey,' I guess.

"That's great, Prompto," Muscles said, not sounding very impressed as he loaded up the car while the Prince checked out of the motel. "But maybe you wanna come help out—you know, considering it's your fault we're bolting before 7 a.m."

"I said I was sorry," Prompto said, a little more meekly as he took Ignis's bag and put it in the trunk.

"I'm just grateful Lydia didn't let you go alone," Ignis said. "I understand you want to see the sights, but we're on the run now. We need to be cautious."

"I just hope they won't come looking for us here," the Prince added as he walked over.

Lydia absently handed Noctis's bag to Gladio and said, "The magitek troopers aren't designed for meaningless bloodshed. Even if they show up, the people here shouldn't be in danger as long as they cooperate. And luckily, no one knows where we're headed."

He nodded. "Then let's hightail it out of here as fast as possible."

And as the Prince commanded, they all piled into the car and took off without even bothering to have breakfast. Lydia sighed. Another long day ahead.