I had no idea how long I stayed unconscious for and frankly didn't care. My mind was too foggy to bother pondering anything. All I know that I was laying on a nice warm comfy surface. By this point, I didn't even care where I was. I just wanted to sleep.

"How is he?"

"His eyes are moving!"

"He's regaining conscious."

"His fever still hasn't gone down."

"Can he hear us?"

"Noct, talk to us."

Shut up please. All I want is sleep. Please leave me alone.

I slightly whimpered in my half-awake state clearly annoyed at those weird voices.

"I don't think he can talk yet."

"Let's try not to bother him."

Yes, thank you. Just as I was about to relax, I helplessly whimpered again as I felt something super cold and wet placed on my forehead.

"Ssshhh. It's okay. It's just a rag."

"I don't think he can hear you, Gall."

"Just trying to comfort him in case he did, Prom. Now bring the thermometer. I wanna see how bad this is."

I was oblivious to my surroundings but my body was too busy struggling to stay properly functional to get a grasp of the situation. I felt so on fire as if someone tossed a bottle of Molotov at me. My breathing was labored and rabid in my body's need to get rid of the excess heat. I was damp from the mix of sweat and the rag water. A couple seconds later and my head was lightly raised, then I felt a thin glass object intruding between my lips then made its way under my tongue electing more grunts and whimpers from me. I felt like every movement and touch sent a wave of agony through my body and right to the bones.

"Sshh. It's okay, Noct. Easy on him, Gallius."

"Ignis, please. I'm being as gentle as I can. His body is just sensitive."

"Prompto, bring another rag." I heard footsteps moving away and moments after they came back, I heard something getting soaked into water then began to feel another ice-cold object on my chest. "Easy now. We don't want to disturb him." Warned the voice with the British accent from somewhere I didn't care to know.

"It's ok, champ. I know it's uncomfortable. But you have to bear with it." I heard the man's deep voice speaking gently to me. I was tensing visibly at the uncomfortable coldness on my chest but gradually began to relax as I got used to it.

"Mmm. Ugghhh. Mmm." I was groaning helplessly in my confused and sick condition earning a few coos and pats on the head.

"Something feels so wrong about all this." Said the guy with the high-pitch voice. "For him to get this sick all of a sudden, it just doesn't add up. There has to be a reason behind this."

"I'm afraid that your words may hold a bit of truth to them, Prom." Agreed the British voice. Just as I felt a hand gently caressing my sweat soaked hair, the device had been removed from my mouth. "This isn't good…"

"40 fucking degrees? What the hell?!" the same man from earlier half whispered half yelled.

"Keep it down. He can't handle any noise right now."

"Just how the hell did he get so sick? He was fine this noon."

"Let's just focus on nursing him back to health right now, okay?"

I heard the pair of deep voices having a quiet conversation about the matter at hand somewhere a few feet away while the owner of the third voice was holding my hand. However, one voice was coming from right next to me and it was the first time I heard it since I came to.

"You're gonna be okay, babe. You're gonna be fine." I could barely hear him as he was speaking a decibel above a whisper. "This should have happened to me, not you." I felt lips pecking my blushing cheek. "This was a bad idea, Noct. This was all a bad idea."

"*Cough* *Cough*"

"Hey now. Open up." Urged Gall gently as he moved the spoon of rice and peas to my mouth. I was sitting up feeling grumpy but had to comply despite my somewhat lacking appetite and being forced to eat Iggy's veggies for the past few days didn't help improve my mood. But I have lost some weight already and couldn't risk looking like an icecream stick.

"Good to see you've gotten better, babe." spoke Zora as he held my hand lovingly. "I'm glad his condition has improved these past few days."

"Considering how he was at first, I sure am glad to see the improvement." added Promp from his spot at the foot of my bed playfully rubbing my shins. "That was quite the scare…" he mumbled as his hand stopped moving on my leg.

"Yeah. His fever went down a couple degrees. Still, he can't leave the bed yet - unless he needed to take a piss." He added the last part as an afterthought. When I took a better look at my bodyguard as he gave me the last spoonful, he seemed… off. He kept his eyes averted and his eyebrows were knitted together as if something was on his mind. Something that was not good.

"Mhm." Hummed Yozora in agreement as he kissed the back of my hand.

"Time for your medicine, Noct!" Walked in Iggy cheerfully carrying a packet of pills and a water bottle. Poor guy looked disheveled as he walked over to sit by me. You know my condition must have been this serious if even that prim and proper nerd neglected to groom himself, which made me feel bad. I obediently opened my mouth so my advisor could pop the small pill through the packet right on my tongue, followed by considerable chugs of water from the bottle he opened for me.

"*Burp*"

"Excuse yourself." Chuckled Ignis and the others.

Out of those four, Ignis was the one who did most of the work. He would cook while the others switched roles watching over me. He would feed me. Check my temperature. Sleep next to me at night. Don't get me wrong; basically, everybody combined their effort to care for me but Ignis… he has a huge nurturing nature and it increases tenfold whenever one of us isn't feeling alright. One time, Prompto got injured on this bounty hunting quest and while potions did wonders for his injuries, he was still too exhausted and was in no condition to move. Just as me and Gall were about to decide who carries on with the hunt and who cares for the gunslinger, Ignis offered to stay behind instantly. He doesn't care about the hunts or the bounty. The wellbeing of everyone was what mattered to him the most and thus his tendency to bow out should he need to.

We don't call that beautiful bastard Mama Iggy for nothing.

"Stay hydrated, Noct. I'll come back for you again." Said my caretaker as he was caressing my cheek lovingly, tiredness evident on his sharp yet warm eyes.

"Get well soon, punk." Said Gallius with a playful smirk after getting up while carrying the empty plate. His large hand brushing gently through my still somewhat damp hair. Before he left, he took the rag from my forehead, soaked it into the water bowl and squeezed the excess liquid from it, then placed it back on my forehead. Prompro got up to peck me on the lips before he followed the other older retainers out the room. I knew I was in for a long chat with Yozo. I could see it on his face the entire time the others were here. He wanted to talk.

He got up to shut the door then went back to the chair he had moved from my desk earlier to sit next to me. "Noct..." he began.

"Yeah. I know." I whispered as I nodded and laid back closing my eyes.

"Look, if you aren't ready yet, we can wait until you're better."

"I got better already. Besides, I'm tired of sleeping."

"Alright, um…" he sighed then got quiet for a moment. Probably not sure where to begin. "Look. What we did wasn't exactly the right thing." Ok, he started by stating the obvious. That's why I didn't bother replying and instead nodded waiting for him to continue. "I mean I won't deny that was a heck of an adventure but it wasn't a pleasant one to say the least. What started as a fun trip ended in a total disaster. So the next time we go for an adventure just for fun, please, we have to make sure it's safe. Nothing is worth getting attacked by an angry ghost we have little chance of defending ourselves against."

"Yeah well. Here's the problem. That was not your run-of-the-mill ghost. I think that was a demon." I stated with my eyes still closed.

"All the more fucking reason why I couldn't believe our survival. We could have gotten ourselves killed in vain." I turned my head and looked at him tiredly at the sound of his disapproval. "I knew from the beginning that this was an entirely dumb move. If I had known that things were going to be this bad, I wouldn't have allowed you to go in the first place. But what happened to us… what happened to us…" he paused for a moment shaking his head with a huff. "It made me realize how serious this all was. The reason why I had agreed at all is because I thought we were going for a simple exploration, maybe stumble across a couple ghosts here and there, but we got literally hurt, dammit! We got hurt because we didn't know what we were up against!"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot." I whispered feeling utter misery and self-hatred for letting a loved one go through such trauma. "I didn't know as well. I- if I knew this was going to happen, I-"

"Hey hey. Easy now. I wasn't blaming yo-"

"All I wanted was to explore." I interrupted him without a care. "To discover something new. To understand how others were feeling when they went through these things. I wanted to know what it would feel like to be in their shoes. I got sick of just watching so I decided to do something by myself." I felt like by this point, I was just making excuses. Then again, there really never was a valid one for what I pulled us through. So might as well spit it all out. "I guess I wasn't so lucky." I mumbled the last part.

It was silent for a while before Yozora spoke again. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make you feel like this was entirely your fault."

"It was. I literally dragged us into this."

"No, you didn't. It was my choice alone to come with you. So the responsibility is mine as well."

"You did it out of sense of duty - Because you had to, not because you wanted to. If I hadn't insisted on going, you wouldn't have been subjected to this bullshit."

"That's enough. What happened has happened. No need to beat ourselves up over it. We're okay. We survived a scary experience and that's the most important thing. All I was trying to say is that we make sure we don't repeat something like that again, alright?" He gave a look that said 'get it now?' with a questioning nod, to which I replied with my own, barely having it in me to express my comeback verbally. My eyelids began to feel heavy again. Goddammit, really? I mean I love sleeping as much as the next lazy shit but this is just too much even by my standards.

"The medicine must be kicking in. whether you like it or not, you will sleep your ass off again. I mean, not like you don't normally do that." He grinned as if trying not to gloat and failed. "Sleep well, N. I will come back in a few." He said kissing my cheek. Then I heard Gallius calling from downstairs asking, more like demanding, Yozo to get there. Something felt off. I just knew it. And it didn't help that he sighed in resignation before he exited the room leaving me to my drug-induced slumber.

"Stand back, Yozora! I'm warning you!" I was back at the shithole mansion, backed up against the reception wall, arms raised ready to defend myself against my own boyfriend. He was dragging his feet towards me, neck bent at an abnormal angel, and his body would convulse between every few steps. His skin was deathly pale, borderline white with dark veins visible underneath it. But worst of all, he was staring at me with those unnerving black eyes. What used to be a beautiful pair of red and blue orbs got replaced by two black voids devoid of emotion and even life.

He got possessed.

But the realization didn't hit me as much as the sight in the background did. Behind my ghost ridden lover, there laid in view the severed heads of Gallius and Ignis. Gallius's head was hanging from the ceiling by his hair. His lids were half open revealing only the white of his sclera. Blood trickled down his chin from his parted mouth and throat stump to drop next to Ignis's head, which was implanted on a stake covered in the red sticky liquid. His glasses were missing and his hair was badly tousled. His eyes were closed but his expression looked sad yet relaxed. But, considering his condition, it was safe to assume these weren't emotions…

"Egghrrr." I averted my attention back to Yozora at the sound of the chocking noise he was making. The sounds you'd hear from a person whose body no longer belongs to them. He got closer in sporadic steps when I finally noticed Prompto's head in his hand. Still dripping with blood and leaving a long trail of crimson in its wake. The Chocobo ass hairdo terribly ruined from where the possessed victim had a firm grip on it.

This is not Yozora anymore.

"Get the fuck away!" my panicked shriek could be heard before I even realized it came from me. I tried to get away, to run somewhere, anywhere so I wouldn't be subjected to this madness. The sight of a possessed Yozora and what's left of my retainers was too much. Simply too much. I tried to tug myself but my body was frozen in place, as if I was being forced to face head-on whatever fate my now ex-boyfriend has for me.

Am I going to get possessed as well? Or lose my head like the others?

Guess I'm about to find out soon because Yozora opened his mouth inhumanly wide as he got closer revealing a gaping hole of emptiness. Just a black hole for a mouth. And for a split second, I spotted Gallius, Ignis and Prompto's heads come to life to shoot me meaningful looks; reprimanding, accusing looks.

'It's your fault we're like this' was what their faces clearly portrayed. Yes, it's my fault. All of it is my fault.

But I didn't have time to reflect on my blunder. For the possessed Yozora opened his wide maw then suddenly lunged at me at lightning speed like a horror movie jumpscare. Leaving nothing but blackness in his wake.

Yup, you guessed it. It was a dream. Again. Fucking again. Classic, no? or should I say 'motherfucking nightmare'?

Though I didn't sleep for long, it was more than enough time to virtually suffer the consequences of my actions had things gone any worse. It didn't take me long to completely snap out of it though. I was quick to embrace the comforting reality of me being safe at home with my very alive Crownsguard and ally. Which was right on cue as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs followed by Yozora stepping in with two cups of icecream in hand. Courtesy of Ignis, no doubt.

I stared at my totally not possessed boyfriend with his totally normal body. He was smiling at me with his normal colorful eyes, normal mouth and skin. I examined him in his natural real appearance only to suddenly get replaced in my head with dream Yozora that looked like the killer from Scream movie.

I rubbed my eyes to shake that blasted dream off my mind. That's enough. I'm awake now. Why the hell do I feel the need to further stress myself?

I raised my eyes hopefully that Yozo didn't notice my distress. Last thing I need is to further concern him over something as stupid as a dream. We have enough problems in real life already.

"Oh you're awake!" he commented as he handed me the dessert.

"No…"

"At least you can still be a sarcastic prick." He chuckled as he took his first spoonful from the icecream and I took mine. Mango flavored. It's… nice. It was so refreshing to have after days of feeling like an oven. Zora's treat was pink in color so it must have been strawberry flavor.

We both slurped on the cold sweet stuff before I decided to break the silence. "So, did you enjoy the little trip to the mansion?"

"Can't say I enjoy near death experiences but I don't think I regret it either, and frankly?" he said as he walked over to the water bowl on the opposite side of the bed. "I didn't just do it out of obligation. I really was kinda curious myself to know how it would be to explore a ghost house. So you shouldn't worry about me getting forced into it." He admitted with a smile as he renewed the rag water and put it on my forehead. Then he took our empty bowls and put them aside.

"Well. I guess that makes it the two of us then." I commented slightly feeling better that he didn't mind tagging along after all. "Now about the others, I think we should think about a cover-up story to-"

"They know."

"Eh?"

"They know what we did. I only told them that we were exploring a haunted house but they're still learning the rest of the details." My mouth stayed open at the revelation. They figured out that we were exploring a haunted mansion? They learnt about that dumbass stunt? It was supposed to be a secret for crying out loud! Now what are they thinking about us now? God, I feel so exposed…

"But why did you tell them? You promised-"

"To hell with the damn promise!" he snarled. "You passed out at the mansion and I had to get you help somehow! Then one thing led to another."

Fair enough. Well I guess I shouldn't hold it against him, then. I know I would have done the same. At least now I know why Gallius seemed distracted earlier. But what about Ignis? He seemed kinda drained when I looked at him but it was hard to tell what else he might have been thinking. And Prom was as playful as ever but this could have been an act for all I know. Easy as it is to read the usually expressive cameraman, he can make it challenging by covering his distress with humor.

"What did they- ok, you know what. Just tell me what happened when I blacked out."

"Noct? Noct?! Noctis, answer me, dammit!" I shook my outcold boyfriend's shoulder in an attempt to wake him but to no avail. He has already lost consciousness. I felt his body getting suspiciously warm and when I touched his forehead, he was burning up.

I sighed heavily. We just survived a deadly ghost encounter and now this? Just as I was about to act, I felt like we were being watched and when I looked up, I saw a tall black figure staring at us from the second floor window. I internally panicked as I realized we're running out of time. I had to get Noctis out of here quick!

With little to no choice on mind, I called Gallius for help and sent him our coordinates. Secret be damned but Noctis's safety comes first. Besides, I had to act quickly before that thing decides to come for us. And it would be just too dangerous to have one of his Familiars take us back. He needs a steady ride that doesn't subject him to air currents.

"What the hell happened, Yozora?" questioned Gallius the second he hopped outside the Audi R8 after the agonizing 10 minute wait.

"No time to explain. Just please take us home!" I was on the verge of breaking down as I was growing impatient to get Noctis treated as soon as possible.

"Alright alright. Give him to me." he easily hoisted him up and laid him down on the backseat before rushing behind the wheel. I joined Noct in the back and kept him in my arms throughout the unnervingly silent ride. Damn, he smelled like blood. I was breathing erratically while occasionally nuzzling my lover's hair and mumbling words of comfort I dearly hoped he would hear. My thoughts went back to the figure that was watching our vulnerable situation from inside its hellish abode. I wonder what it would have done to us had we stayed any longer. Good thing Gallius arrived in time before we figured that out the hard way. Considering what it did, it seemed to be the ruthless type. I saw it when it happened. I saw the iron rode get thrown on its own and straight into Noctis's back. That sonuvabitch really wanted us dead. I figured that out the moment the helmet that came out of nowhere hit me in the head the time me and Noct explored our own rooms. I didn't even have time to call for help. Now that I mention it, I have completely forgotten about my head wound. Noct must have used a potion on it cuz I didn't feel any pain and as much as I wanted to touch my head to check, my arms were occupied holding the fallen prince.

Gallius didn't waste any time parking the car randomly in his rush to carry Noct inside the house. Even Ignis opened the door before we rung the bell to reveal him and Prompto inside. they must have been really worried if they have been waiting for us at the entrance this entire time.

"Gallius! what happ-" Ignis was interrupted when the distressed bodyguard shoved past him carrying Noct bridal style and went upstairs to his room with me right behind him.

"Just get some rags and a water bowl. Hurry." He commanded leaving a confused Ignis behind but nodded and complied nonetheless with Prom following us upstairs, his understandably panicked stream of questions went ignored by the hassled bodyguard.

Literally moments later and Noct was moaning and grunting helplessly on the bed with rags covering his forehead and shirtless form. I sat there next to my poor lover holding his torn blood-soaked white shirt paying zero attention to Gallius and Ignis who were discussing the dilemma. Prompto sat on his knees by the bed holding Noct's hand while silently clutching his own forehead in outright distress which was quite the rare sight from the usually cheerful gunner.

Occasionally he would renew the rag water and carefully rub it across his patient hushing gently in the process. They were entirely clueless to the whole thing while I sat there knowing full well what had happened. It is only a matter of time before they start questioning me.

"This was all a bad idea, Noct." I whispered pecking his cheek. "This was all a bad idea." His breathing was coming out of his nose in shaky bursts. His eyes and forehead were covered by the water rag making him disheartening to look at. I held his limp hand and buried my face in the mattress feeling like shit. Might as well go get a pillow and a blanket from my room to spend the night here and-

"Yozora. Can you come over here for a minute?" oh crap. I knew from Gallius's 'we need to talk' tone that the moment has arrived. But I didn't expect it to be so soon!

I got up with a sigh as I followed the older pair to the hallway outside Noct's room with Prompto stepping behind me shortly after. I stood shifting my weight with my arms crossed waiting for the interrogation to start. I barely had time to mentally prepare, much less decide on what I should tell them. But there was no use hiding or twisting the truth. Our condition combined with the place where Gallius had found us was suspicious enough as it is. So just coming clean, however consequences it may rise up, should save a lot of complications.

"What were you and Noct doing at that house?" He asked calmly yet sternly with Ignis scrutinizing me from behind his shiny glasses giving off a creepy anime character vibe.

Boooy, will they be mad. Thing is that since Gallius and Ignis are the eldest in our group, with the latter's occupation as the advisor, those two are naturally viewed as the authoritative/parental type of figures.

I took a deep shaky breath before I answered. "It was an abandoned mansion so we went to explore it."

"I don't know since when it is a thing to explore empty houses, but that doesn't explain Noct's condition." Stated Gallius clearly not having enough answers which was quite understandable. So much has happened and it can't be explained in one sentence.

"There was quite a lot of blood on his shirt too. Did you two get attacked?" inquired Ignis.

"Please tell me not all of it was his." Begged Prompto. Sadly, Noct was the owner of every drop.

"It's… complicated. You may not believe me but…" and right at this moment, the four of us turned sharply at the sound of Noctis's pained grunts. We barged into his room to find him laying on his side with the rags slipping off of his chest and forehead.

"Noct! Hey, what's wrong?!" questioned Gallius worriedly as he lifted up Noct's weak and overheated form in his arms. He was thrashing his head around as he was whining and sweating at unbelievable rates. His eyes were eerily bloodshot. The sound of his heavy and rapid breathing alone was alarming.

That's when we knew that something was terribly wrong.

"He's gone septic!" my heart sank at the piece of info Ignis just spat out.

"I'll get the antibiotics!" declared Gallius as he rushed to get said medicine with heavy yet hurried footsteps making small earthquakes with every step. I tried to wipe his body with the rags but the guy has gone berserk! He tried to bite me and clawed away at Ignis causing the latter to jump back. Prompto squeaked when he almost received a kick to the balls.

"Ignis, watch out!" my eyes went wide as the disoriented prince charged out of bed for a full assault on Ignis, but the advisor quickly reacted by holding him from both arms and forced him on the bed in the midst of Noct's kicking, squirming, growls and grunts.

"Goodness. He doesn't act this aggressive when he eats meat." Breathed Iggy from between his teeth. Prompto hurried to hold his legs probably to prevent more kicks to the groin.

"Just keep him still while I rub him." I hurriedly continued dapping Noct's body with the cold wet rag desperately trying to keep his temperature in check while Ignis and Prompto held him down until Gallius comes back. The bodyguard didn't take long before he re-entered the room carrying the medicine bottle, some cotton, an alcohol disinfectant and the injection needle.

"What's wrong with him? Did he lose it?" he asked with wide eyes. I almost expected him to drop the items he was holding.

"He has gone out of his marbles. Help me keep him steady." Grunted Ignis. His glasses almost slipping off in the process of controlling Noct's frantic movements.

And so Gallius had to firmly keep Noct's arm pinned in place leaving room for Ignis to sterilize his arm before giving him the shot. And judging from Noct's increased whining that he must have been hurt by the firm grip Gallius had on him and the needle intruding into his skin. But given the emergency, we had no choice by this point.

And so for the next few days, the four of us have been cooperating to nurse our prince back to health. It was nerve-racking to see his condition complicate that much, but thankfully we managed to control it in its early stage before it reached dangerous levels.

When his health has finally improved, we deemed it safe enough to leave him alone for a while so the advisor, bodyguard and officer took the chance to carry on from where we left off when the tragedy happened.

"Now, where were we?" asked Gallius, rhetorically of course, as we sat around the kitchen table with a cup of hot drink facing each of us. The bodyguard was fingering the rim of his tea cup while I took a sip from my tea and milk followed by a deep breath to calm myself. The pressure had been building up since the mansion incident followed by Noct's sickness and spilling the beans didn't help in the least. But I wanted to get it all the hell over with and thus, I began to tell them what they had every right to know.

"Tell us everything from the beginning. Leave nothing out." Added Ignis before sipping from his beloved Ebony. I swear, it's always Ebony with that guy.

"Yozora. I know this may not be easy for you. But you have to tell us." Reasoned Prompto cupping his hot chocolate mug. A sympathetic look on his doe eyes which was an awful contradiction to the hell glares I'm receiving from the older guardians. Those guys mean business, don't they?

"Look. It may be hard to believe. But that house... It was haunted…" I started in a shaky voice. Here goes nothing.

"Hold up. Isn't that what I said?" paused Prompto mid-sip and slammed his mug on the table seemingly surprised that his own joke was real after all.

"Fuck you for being right." Mumbled Gallius after downing a sip of his tea.

"Fuck you for being mad at me! I was just kidding back then but I'm as clueless as you are!"

"Then fuck you for pulling such an accurate joke."

"Well fuck you for being an asshole!"

"Fuck you for being a dumbass."

"Fuck you for-"

"Focus!" their semi playful bickering was instantly put to an end by Ignis's firm bark of a command. Then he aimed his attention back at me with a 'carry on' look.

As I was talking, I was measuring their reactions through their facial expressions which was quite unnerving when Gallius and Ignis had this interested yet concerned and disapproving look on their faces which was not a good sign at all. Prompto seemed somewhat anxious but looking as disturbed as the other two.

"You can find everything here." I opened the laptop I have brought with me and started from the first video. I had transferred the videos from Prompto's camera and Noct's phone to the computer device at some point soon after he got better seeing as I didn't have the time to do so back when he needed medical attention the most. I even bothered to number all the videos so it would be easier to figure out their order.

I left them to their devices and went upstairs to see how the sickly royalty was holding up.

"Oh my God. We're so dead." I whined as I covered both my eyes feeling doomed after Yozora's story.

"The second you were knocked out from the medicine and Gallius called me to spill everything out to them and… you know the rest." He said as he shifted awkwardly in his seat. "I know it may take a miracle for them to get us off the hook, especially Gallius. Iggy might be easier to calm down but I'm not sure about that monster." He chuckled. "But I'll be sure to make him go easy on you. You didn't know better, after all."

"Hopefully my sickness would be enough of an excuse for that caveman to have some pity on me." I joked.

"That's what I was gonna tell him. Your condition doesn't need further stress so he and Iggs should cut you some slack." He agreed as he began to lay down next to me.

"Even so. Nothing they will say could begin to compare to what we have been through." I sighed feeling utterly glad that we survived this shit.

"They are watching the videos right now so they should understand our situation better." First, they squeeze the story out of Yozora and now they're watching the videos as we speak? Man, do I feel even more exposed. "Now that I mention it, thanks for saving the camera. I almost thought we would have to escape without it."

"Hey, I wasn't gonna allow Prompto's camera to be a stupid ghost's trinket and let all these precious recordings go to waste!"

"If we lost it then I would have been more than happy to get him a new one. Maybe even venture back inside the house to snatch it back then make my escape without the ghost noticing! It's the least I could do."

"But knowing him, he wouldn't give a damn about the camera as much as he would about us. He values his little gadgets a lot, yeah, but I'm sure he would have been more concerned that his friends have just survived an angry demon encounter." I said earning a few nods from Yozo.

"Thought I wouldn't be surprised if he ignored us and asked about the camera first!" quipped Yozo earning an amused eyeroll from me.

"At least it's safe now. I would have left it behind only if the circumstances forced me to. But luckily, I managed to take it back which should save you the trouble."

"Good. Wouldn't want you to miss the juicy stuff I got on my end." Said Yozo as he soaked the rag slightly in the water then began to wipe my chest with it.

"Watch the nipples!" I giggled. "They're especially important!"

"Haha yeah I'll be sure to pay special attention to those little guys!" he said as he wiped the rag against Lefty then switched over to Righty.

"Heh It tickles!" we both chuckled at Yozora's ministrations to my titties and suddenly he attacked my neck with kisses in the process with me squealing and playfully pushing him off. We carried on with the horse play for a while until he let the rag spread across my torso. He was hovering over me as he leaned on his elbow. We had a brief eye contact before I reached with my hand and rubbed his cheek with the back of my fingers.

"You're still hot." He remarked holding my hand.

"Thanks!"

"I didn't mean it like that, you ding dong!" he half-heartedly yelled eliciting more sniggers from me. It sure felt nice to have such a good laugh after the terrifying incident. Between the haunted house adventure that went wrong and my sickness, we sure deserved a break. Speaking of which…

"I think I have an explanation for my fever." I started.

"Uh well, I heard you say at some point that a contact with a ghost makes you-"

"No. Not this time." He gave me a questioning look. "If this was a paranormally induced fever, it would have quickly gone down without any complications no matter how severe. But I think the iron rod that stabbed me had caused the disease. It must have been contaminated and that's why I have gone septic. Remember that I was using it to fool around with decayed animal remains and Lord knows what else."

"Huh." He hummed at the new revelation. Then he squeezed me into a hug. "You know what; I don't care about any of this. I'm just glad you're okay. That's all I really want." I relished in this fact as I nuzzled Yozo's chest inhaling the smell of his sweat. Yes, I'm glad we're both okay. This was a shitty move and I will make sure it never happens again. If not for the sake of me then for the sake of the others. If I'm going to pay for my own actions, I don't want anyone else to share the price.

I broke out of the hug lest Yozo's unwashed body odor puts me in another coma. He backed away slightly whereas I replayed the mansion events in my head. As if they were a reminder that I survived. That I still lived to remember them - to tell about them. I was reciting it all in my memory like a mental video player until I paused at a certain situation on that fateful night.

"What did you find under the bed back then?" my voice must have been sudden for him as he looked back at me appearing somewhat startled. Wonder if he was thinking the same as me just earlier.

"You mean the Boogeyman?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you don't like spoilers." He smirked. "Let's not ruin the surprise. You're just gonna have to watch the videos and see for yourself."

I'm so in for a jumpscare…

"When you passed out at the house," started Yozo. "I noticed a weird hand-shaped red mark on your throat." He said gesturing at his own throat.

"You for real?" Must have been when that fucker was chocking me against the wall. Never really thought that the incident could have left evidence on my neck.

"Yeah well, it's gone now though. Must have faded soon after the incident."

"Too bad. I didn't get the chance to look at it."

"What the hell happened, Noct?" the tone of his voice revealed how much he hated the fact that something serious has happened to me and he wasn't there for me.

"Weeell…." I started then turned my head to look him in the eye. "You're just gonna have to watch the videos and see for yourself."

"Don't wanna ruin the surprise, eh?" I nodded. "Well then, good. Cuz I hate spoilers too." Grinned Zora. "Though I cannot wait to see what happened that made you look like a classic horror movie victim."

"Except that it wasn't a movie. It was Goddamn real life." I said waving a hand.

"And we came out of it with more than just scratches…"

"…yet here we are. Living and still breathing."

"Damn straight." That was his last reply before I reached out to pat him on his head and kiss him on the forehead. And he responded by nuzzling my cheek and running his hand over my arm and shoulder. But our moment was soon interrupted at the sound of a trio of footsteps coming up the stairs.

Oh dear.

Here it comes.