Stand by me
7 - Barrel of a gun
Work it harder
Make it better
Do it faster
Makes us stronger
More than ever
Hour after
Our work is
Never over
Springtime passed and summer settled down, hot and bright. The king kept the windows open most of the time, trying to catch a breeze. His outfit was too warm for the weather and he allowed himself to loose the jacket when it became unbearable. The long-sleeved shirt was too much by itself but at least the fabric was soft.
Everyone else was dealing the best they could with that first bout of summer in a decade. In the first half of July, every single person Noctis saw was suffering various degrees of sunburn. Gladio and Ignis were lucky enough but Prompto's complexion made him one of the most spectacular victims of the sunlight.
His face was so red it was painful just to look at him. His hands and neck were burned too and Noctis knew that there was more to it than he could see. He had spent so much (probably too much) time watching him that he was sure to notice the slightest change in Prompto's demeanour and he couldn't have missed his weird and sudden stiffness. Despite his best efforts to conceal it and to keep a straight face, pain took him by surprise and he couldn't help frowning or grinding his teeth.
It was ten in the morning when Noctis saw him wince for the third time that day and reached the peak of his exasperation.
"What happened?" he asked briskly.
Prompto startled.
"Nothing. What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. You can barely move. What happened?"
"Nothing happened." Prompto said once again, with a failed attempt to fake disbelief.
Sadness washed over Noctis. Had they now reached a point where he would rather play dumb than talk to him? He waited for his throat to be less tight before he answered and when he did, his voice was steady and a bit too hard.
"Fine. I don't even want to know how you managed to get yourself in such a state when every person in the whole country is hiding from the sun three hours per day. But I don't want you wandering around like that either. Go find Ignis, send him here to take your place and go back to your room. I want you to go to bed and to lay on your stomach until you're properly healed. You'll come back when it doesn't hurt anymore."
Prompto straightened at the authority of his tone and bowed to him. He moved graciously and if it was painful, he didn't let it show.
"Yes, my king."
Noctis watched him go with a mix of longing and frustration. He wasn't even sure why he was so angry.
Prompto stayed away for three days and Noctis had Ignis and Gladio check on him twice a day to make sure he stayed indoors - let him know what it felt like to be locked inside!
On the morning of the fourth day, he showed up in Noctis's office. He was brown as a nut and some skin was still peeling off his nose but he wasn't in pain anymore. Noctis didn't say anything about it and tried hard not to stare. Prompto's suntanned skin created a stark contrast ; it made his hair look fairer than usual and his eyes stand out like icy gems. It had been weeks since the king had felt such a powerful urge to touch him. He repressed it with an ease born from habit.
Things went back to normal and Noctis was quickly distracted by Gladio's latest initiative.
At first it had been a matter of going back to training for the three of them but before even the first session could have been planned, word had spread about it - that was one of the problems with all the people living in the castle. A good deal of men had gone straight to Gladio at the first mention of it.
"They're volunteering to join the army, except that we don't have one anymore,", he explained to Ignis and Noctis over lunch.
"Do we need one?" Ignis mused.
Noctis remained silent for a while, thoughtful.
"Even when the Wall was up we had a military force, defensive as it was. I don't think we should totally neglect this, even if we can't afford to have two hundred men spending their time and energy training for a conflict that might never happen."
"Of course." (Ignis pushed his glasses back up his nose.) "How do you reckon we should proceed?"
"The Crown's Guard remains as it is. I won't have anyone else coming that close to me. As for the King's Glaive, we'll compromise. A large group would be useless, wasteful even. Fifteen people, maybe twenty but that's the limit. Gladio could handpick them amongst the hunters and train them. How does that sound to you?''
Ignis simply nodded and Gladio smiled broadly, his eyes lit up like a pair of lamps.
"Sounds damn good,", he said, looking very happy about it. "It'll be a small force, but it will honour you and the Kingdom, you can trust me on that."
"I do,", the king replied with a small smile of his own. "I know you'll be perfect."
And so he did. Just like Noctis had been raised a king-to-be, Gladio had been raised and trained as his Shield to come. He had probably been aware of that fact the very day Noctis had been born, even if he had only been five then. Small as it had to start, it was his legacy and the king was glad to make it right after all this time.
Gladio set to work the next morning. He knew the hunters, knew the teams and he had chosen every leader himself. In a week he had made a selection of thirty men amongst them and in two he had thinned it down to eighteen. Those he started to train.
It was well into August and Noctis's birthday was nearing. Noctis didn't like to think about it. Doing so always ended up in endless speculations about his actual age and it made him both anxious and confused. How old was he really? He couldn't possibly celebrate his twenty-first birthday. It would be pathetic and also very inappropriate. A king must be turned toward the future, not clinging to the past. On the other hand, the idea of admitting what had happened to him, that he would soon be thirty-one years old and to make a public statement of it... It was too horrible to contemplate.
Gladio had to reorganise his whole schedule. He needed someone to take his place at the head of the hunters and he picked Ashton, the man who had led the first group from Lestallum to Insomnia - the first name Noctis had committed to memory. The guy was definitely up to the challenge.
Gladio now shared his time between his duties to the king and those of general - that he was, even if twenty wasn't much of an army. Five mornings a week were now dedicated to the training of the young recruits and Noctis quickly decided to follow. He couldn't attend every practice but he wanted to go at least once a week, twice if he could.
The first time he entered the training grounds, Ignis in half-reluctant toll, silence suddenly fell around him. The men stood still and mute while Gladio welcomed the newcomers.
"Come to see if you can still land a hit on a dummy, your Majesty?" He teased.
Noctis was tempted to answer that he'd come to see of he could still land his majestic foot in Gladio's ass but he kept the words behind his teeth. He'd spent months sitting in an office. Of course he was powerful - he was probably the most powerful being on Eos. But using his magic would be insane. He didn't want to kill Gladio, and he had little chance to best him in a sword fight.
"I came to practice warping. I've kind of lost the hand of it."
"You can still do it? I thought the Crystal was dormant." Ignis commented.
"It is. I can feel it.'' Noctis , waving the hand that sported his father's ring.
Mine now, he thought.
"But you can still tap into it?"
"There's nothing to really tap into. The crystal is asleep, not dead. Its mere existence generates power. What it gives off now is too thin to feed anything like the Wall, not even a small one. But I can use it for teleportation. I tried and it works, but I keep bumping into furniture. I need space."
Gladio didn't ask further and went back to his trainees. Ignis sat on the side and Noctis moved to an empty part of the training ground which was, obviously, too big for them.
He made some attempts, starting with small, two feet jumps to remind his body of what it felt like. He was glad to see that he wasn't tripping so much when he wasn't trying to teleport in a furnished room.
He felt confident that it would come back to him quickly and it was nice, but he stopped after a few minutes. The men were distracted. They were stealing glances at him and even if the king willingly played his part whenever it came to putting on a show, it made him feel very self-conscious. He ended up sitting on the side with Ignis. They chattered and watched the others at practice. It proved quite instructive in itself.
They quickly got used to the king's presence though, and after a few times, he simply joined them and trained under Gladio's supervision. The King's Shield paired the men on the field but Noctis only ever fought him and occasionally Ignis.
Sometimes Gladio would let the men pause in their own practice to watch him fight. Noctis still found it slightly unnerving but he did his best to ignore it. It was good for the Lucian people to know that their king was strong and fit.
Ignis had agreed on that point, too. They would spread the word. And the pride in their eyes when Noctis turned to them after a hard-won fight was making it worth the hassle. He wasn't exactly fit. The others were going easy on him for the show's sake, but he worked twice as hard. Gladio's intermediate level training was exactly what he needed. His time in the Crystal had made him stronger on a magical level but when it came to regular fighting, he had undoubtedly spent too much time sitting on his royal butt. He loved practice and once things were settled, he attended it thrice a week.
Gladio vigorously approved and Ignis came on a regular basis too. He even managed to bring Prompto along on one, memorable occasion.
It was a week before Noctis's birthday, on a sunny morning. The king was with the rest of the group going through stretches when Ignis entered the field. Noctis kept on moving at the sight of his friend but he stopped when he saw who was following him.
Prompto never came to practice. The weirdest thing about it had been Gladio's totally-cool-with-it attitude. It was so uncharacteristic of him to let anyone get away with something like that. Prompto belonged to the Crown's Guard. Training was part of his duty, even in peaceful times. He should have come, even a few hours a week. But he didn't and Gladio wasn't pestering him about it. It puzzled Noctis to no end and after a while, he had just asked.
" I wouldn't let anyone skip practice. He just does plenty of it on his own."
"How so?"
"He's out with the hunter teams two or three times a week. And also to the shooting range almost every day. He started going back there the very day we took the city back."
That had left the king speechless. Was that what Prompto was doing with his free time? Was that how he'd gotten himself roasted a few weeks earlier?
Noctis still had no answers. For the time being, he was watching Prompto in silence. Gladio had stopped the session and after he had greeted greeting Noctis, mute and respectful as ever, the gunslinger went to mingle with the men. He obviously knew them, which made sense since they were all former hunters, and they welcomed him as if he was part of the team. One of them - a grey-eyed guy who couldn't be more than twenty-five years old - shoulder-bumped Prompto. Under the king's watchful eyes, he smirked and retaliated by elbowing the young recruit, looking perfectly at ease.
A sudden flare of jealousy turned Noctis's insides into a pit of molten metal. Quickly, he turned away, feeling like he'd just eaten a plate of live coals. And found himself looking right into Ignis's eyes.
He froze, fully aware that he looked ready to bite. He tried to soften his expression, forcing his mouth into a fake smile. Ignis was looking back at him, clearly unsettled.
Gladio started yelling orders, startling the king and offering him the distraction he oh-so-needed. Noctis regrouped with the others and Gladio paired everyone for sword practice.
Noctis saw it coming but couldn't find a way to avoid it. Did he really want to anyway? What would happen if he tried? What if he just went and did it?
He'd have no choice but to look at me. To be focused only onthe both of us. Maybe we could find a way to communicatethrough this.
As he expected, Gladio paired him off with Prompto. The men dissolved into enthusiastic talking, not giving any sign to start their own duels. That wasn't a surprise either. Noctis let out a nervous sigh and entered the circle. Prompto made to follow his lead but was stopped by Ignis, who presented him with a wooden box. Even from where he was, Noctis instantly recognised it.
"Look what I found in one of the closets!" came Gladio's voice.
Inside the box were Prompto's fighting practice guns. He couldn't wield actual weapons in training so he used those instead. They looked like regular guns but instead of bullets, they shot small balls of coloured rice powder that would mark every part of the body they hit. They allowed him to practice combat and since he wasn't making actual damages, Prompto's aim was generally to end it quickly by landing quick, lethal marks. Last time Noctis had seen him at it, he wasn't faring so well. Focus had never been his forte.
For the time being, though, he looked agreeably surprised to see them. Maybe he had come to forget them, abandoned to gather dust in the condemned city. He took the guns and made them twirl. Noctis watched him with some surprise. Prompto had had time to practice this trick and was now doing it with ease, looking relaxed. Seizing the weapons, he joined the king in the circle and faced him.
Noctis wondered if he had come of his own volition or if Ignis had somehow dragged him here. Prompto's eyes were focused on him but his face looked like a mask, not giving anything away. Maybe it was just wishful thinking but Noctis had a feeling that this wasn't just randomly happening. Had Gladio and Ignis set it up together or was he being delusional?
"Getting bored here!" Gladio suddenly called. "C'm'on boys, get it on!"
Noctis diverted his look from Prompto to Gladio for a split second. When he looked back at Prompto, he was moving. Noctis cursed and warped out of his quarry's line of sight.
There was no noise following; Prompto had not shoot. Noctis reappeared quite haphazardly, but he had no time to recover for he found himself facing his friend's gun. He warped once more before getting shot. But when he touched the ground again, Prompto was aiming his weapon at him. Again.
It went the same the third and fourth times and the king realised he was reduced to keep moving, with no chance to counterattack.
Shit, this is humiliating! How does he do that? It's likehe always knows where I'm going!
And indeed, Noctis kept teleporting only to find Prompto pointing a gun at him. On the sixth jump he was getting a little more than annoyed, on the tenth he was exasperated. He wasn't even putting up a fight, just making a fool of himself in front of everyone.
He stopped warping for a second, enough to properly locate both of their positions, also giving Prompto an opportunity to shoot. Noctis warped to avoid the bullet but instead of jumping away, he barely sidestepped. The projectile, aimed for his head, barely grazed his left ear. Prompto clearly hadn't expected him to reappear right in front of him and the king used this fleeting moment of surprise to teleport with precision, right behind his opponent.
... or right in front of him. Noctis swore between his clenched teeth. He had honed that move while fighting alongside Prompto, of course he expected him to do that as soon as he had the chance.
He was getting a bit dizzy with all the teleporting around. He had lost a good deal of stamina in the last few months and he had to end this fight before exhaustion beat him. And if he didn't win, he needed at least to lose honourably.
Playing his last card, he warped and reappeared just over Prompto.
The gunslinger noticed him as soon as he popped out of the air but it was too late. He hadn't seen it coming and Noctis crushed into him from the top. It was messy; they both tumbled to the ground, Noctis's short sword and Prompto's pistols scattering around them. They rolled over each other, struggling in earnest now. The men were cheering and suddenly ; the king was on top, straddling his opponent. He was holding both of his wrists, pinning him to the ground.
Things went strangely still for a few seconds. Prompto laid utterly motionless, his whole body hard with tension under Noctis. He looked furious. His face was closed like a prison gate and he had that get-off-of-me look in his eyes that made the king want to recoil, but he couldn't move. Breathing harshly, his heart beating three times too quickly, he was paralysed, unable to take advantage of the situation. He was painfully aware of what he was currently sitting on. Spread-legged. And everyone was looking at them.
For the few seconds that it lasted, Noctis felt like he was naked, both terrified and eerily thrilled by this unexpected closeness - they were touching. It hadn't happened again after that time when he had panicked in the middle of a speech. Prompto had helped him getting out of it because Gladio and Ignis had their backs turned to him and couldn't see what was happening. They hadn't shared any sort of physical contact ever since and there they were, in a position that could have been that of two lovers in bed. It was overwhelming. And it hurt, too, because Prompto's eyes were harder than stone.
Maybe Noctis would have snapped out of it by himself but Prompto didn't wait for him to. He gave a starting, powerful twist of hips, surprising the king who lost his balance. He shouldn't have let himself be distracted.
What happened next was so quick, he barely registered it. His back hit the ground and when he opened his eyes, Prompto was kneeling above him - not touching - and Noctis was staring down the barrel of a gun.
"You're dead, my king."
Hardness had left his face as soon as he had regained control of the situation. He got back up and Noctis swiftly followed. If Prompto didn't offer him a hand, it would be very awkward and he clearly didn't like it when they touched. He might as well spare him that.
The little crowd whooped as Prompto walked back to them and Noctis joined Gladio and Ignis. He still felt light-headed and didn't really want to talk but he couldn't stay alone in a corner. It would look he was sulking because he'd lost. Gladio patted his shoulder.
"Gotten dizzy, have you?" Ignis asked.
"Yeah", the king answered, relieved that he was bringing that up and not something else. "I haven't teleported like that since the last fight against Ardyn."
" I bet you thought you'd beat him," Gladio chuckled.
"I wasn't expecting that kind of demonstration."
"It was very impressive," Ignis agreed.
"When did he become so good? He used to run around shooting everywhere. He's always had a good eye and fast reflexes but this? He barely moved at all and yet left me no openings."
"You still managed to find one,'' Ignis pointed.
Anxious to avoid talking about what his finding an opening had led to, Noctis didn't react to Ignis's comment.
"He wasn't much of a fighter back then,'' Gladio said. "He only had an accelerated training before we hit the road and, as he puts it himself, there hadn't been much to start with. We all spent most of your time away fighting daemons like those you saw when we came back to the city, and sometimes even worse than that."
"It was much more difficult without you. We all had to work three times harder to be strong enough. Prompto has become very serious about it."
"I noticed. But it doesn't explain how he managed to predict my movements the way he did."
"You would have to ask him about that."
Noctis threw a quick glance to their friend. He saw only his back but it still strengthened something inside him.
"You 're right."
He did so three days after that. He had spent the whole morning thinking it all over and over again and when Prompto came into his office to take Ignis's place, his mind was made up. He even knew what he was going to say and how to phrase it; he was ready. Prompto had wanted the distance between them, the silence. The whole non-communicating thing. Noctis had done his best to respect his wish, hoping that things would improve with time and so far, it had proven absolutely fruitless. His reflexions had brought the king to realise that he had done nothing but enduring the situation. He hadn't done anything about it, even if he knew that it was slowly getting worse. What if Prompto had expected for him to say something about it?
Gladio had told him that Prompto had suffered a lot more than them during the Long Night. Noctis's absence had hurt him badly. They had never talked about this, and maybe Prompto was mad at him. Maybe there was something he could do to mend at least their friendship. He would never know unless he tried, and he would start by being a bit more honest himself. It couldn't hurt.
The king waited for Ignis to leave the room and when the door was closed, he said:
"Prom."
His friend looked at him in surprise.
"Can we talk please?"
"Sure, why not?"
Despite his readily answer, Prompto looked nervous when he came to sit in front of him. He did it without asking permission, which Noctis internally thanked him for.
"I kind of missed the opportunity to tell you that the other day but you've become really good. What you did when we fought, it was amazing."
Prompto seemed to relax and even smiled a bit.
"Thank you."
"How did you know where to aim? Besides the obvious, I mean. Gladio already told me that you became faster and stronger by fighting daemons during the Long Night."
"We all did a lot of that."
"Well, yes, but it doesn't explain how you could predict my moves. What's that new talent of yours?"
"It's not new. I could already tell ten years ago."
Prompto had said that very detachedly, as if it was nothing to be impressed of. Noctis begged to differ.
"Won't you tell me how? You're killing me!" he said jokingly.
He was elated to see Prompto's smile broadening slightly.
"It's not anything special, really. You make the air vibrate when you teleport. There's this light that... floats around the spot where you're about to pop out. You must have seen it on some of my pictures."
"Yes, I remember. But it can't be that. You were waiting for me every time I warped. You wouldn't have had time to do that just by looking for this, it happens too late in the process."
"So smart." (And he literally chuckled. Noctis tried very hard to not get carried away.) "You've guessed half of it on your own. Yes, that happens too late in the process, it wouldn't be enough. It's actually quite simple. Your destination is set the very second you warp, and there are earlier signs. The air crackles slightly. It's so faint, it would be impossible to detect in group combat or when fighting heavy creatures. It's like a ripple. I couldn't have done it if the others had cheered us on from the start. But luckily for me, it was very silent."
"I didn't know."
"I only do because I observed you all the time when we fought. While taking pictures. And my sight is my strong spot, my eyes are the best trained. It's handy."
"You're more focused."
"It changes everything." Prompto agreed. "I noticed that ripple one night when we were on the road. We were camping, it was cold. The air was dead still and you warped right beside me. I felt it. It gave me chills. I though it was because of the weather but it wasn't. If I can detect it, I know which way to turn and I only have to adjust my aim when the light gives you away."
"That's why you were standing so still."
"If I had moved, I wouldn't have been able to catch you every time. It's not much of a weakness."
"You still kept me on my toes."
"Yeah. Who would have thought?"
It was nice. Noctis though about the next thing he wanted to say and took a deep breathe before doing so.
"I'm sorry, Prom."
"What for?"
"For leaving you. For abandoning you and everyone else, for having been gone for such a long time."
"It's not like you had a choice. There is nothing to apologise for."
His tone was so definitive that Noctis instantly dropped the subject. But he wasn't done. The next one was even harder.
"I miss you."
This time, Prompto watched him in genuine surprise, but it didn't last. He suddenly looked awkward and Noctis saw him closing up on himself once again. He looked down and didn't answer.
I miss you right now. I need you.
"We don't ever talk anymore. Why can't we just get back to how things were back then?"
Seconds passed in heavy silence.
"I guess time changes people." Prompto answered flatly, straightening up.
Noctis felt his heart drop in his stomach. His throat was too tight but he had one last thing to ask and he wouldn't have another chance. He was sure of it.
"Do you remember the last time we had a real talk? It was in Zegnautus, the night before I left."
He saw, clear as day, the unmistakable spark of understanding flickering in Prompto's blue eyes. And something else that Noctis failed to catch.
"I can't say that I do, my king."
"Why are you lying to me?"
Those words he hadn't planned to say and he snapped his mouth shut, equally horrified and relieved. There was no taking it back. It was out now, for better or for worse. Prompto was looking very tired.
"I'm sorry. Whatever it is you're talking about... I can't help you with that."
"You're lying to me." Noctis said it again, as if for himself.
They sat face to face in silence while Noctis wondered what they could possibly say now. The atmosphere was suffocating. After a moment, he got up and walked to the door, pausing midway to say bitterly:
"I guess you're right. Time does change people."
Prompto didn't answer. He made no move to try and stop the king when he left his office. He just sat there, facing Noctis's desk even if he wasn't sitting there anymore.
Noctis made for the training grounds, hating himself for provoking such a debacle.
So much for trying to improve the situation.
