My long week is upon me in my odd work cycle, and I'm working extra hours so my free time this week is extremely limited. I wasn't sure how i felt about ending this chapter where I did but I wanted to post a small chapter rather than nothing.
Noctis was rolling his fingers against his temples trying to ease the throbbing pain threatening to send him back into unconsciousness. His memory after gathering the Blade of the Mystic was spotty. He vaguely recalled setting up camp on a haven, and nearly being forced into a tent. There had been a fleeting thought about rushing off into the night, daemons be damned, to hunt down the airship that took Lunafreya away from him. But fatigue wrapped its arms around him, lulling him to sleep with the promising of easing the heavy ache in his joints, every muscle, every bone, the throbbing in his head and his eyes. His body ached anyway. The jostling of the car on the unpaved road wasn't helping. It felt agonizingly claustrophobic with the roof up, air conditioner blasting to counter the noontime heat. It was hotter than usual, and everyone had agreed to close the car. He lolled his head back and immediately regretted it, sitting up straight and pressing both palms over his face until the vertigo passed, mumbling semi-coherently at his friends who asked if he was okay. His stomach roiled as his brain tried to convince him he was in a tumbler, finally settling after several seconds. He blinked rapidly and looked at his arms, frowning at how many dark bruises marked his skin.
"Where are we going?" Noctis asked, ignoring the second wave of queries on his condition. Only succeeding in speech on his second try after clearing his burning throat. "Gods I need something to drink."
"Myrlwood. To gather the Star of the Rogue." Ignis answered from the front seat. He jerked the steering wheel, causing the passengers in the car to lurch. Gladiolus swore, Noctis hissed and rubbed his shoulder that hit the side of the Regalia. Aranea grunted, and blew out a hard breath and tossed Ignis a glance before twisting in the passenger seat, holding out a metal water bottle,
"It's piss warm but it's water." She offered. Noctis mumbled and reached out, draining the contents and setting the bottle down after a loud gasp. He panted for breath for a few seconds, having drank so fast his throat and stomach protested causing his headache to throb again. He dropped the bottle between his feet and settled back again.
"Turn around. We need to chase the airship." He insisted.
"We are no match for an airship of Magitek puppets. And we need time to think of a plan. May as well pass it getting stronger." Ignis countered. He shifted in his seat, reaching up to adjust the rearview mirror.
"I should have called Titan to snatch that airship out of the sky." He mumbled. He looked down at his palms and flexed his fingers, his skin felt itchy and he rubbed it against his pants and curled his lip. Two of his fingernails were bruised so dark they were black.
"Drink a potion." His advisor commanded. His tone was sharp and Noctis blinked several times, brow knit together as he looked up at the man, seeing his stern expression reflected in the rearview. "You need your strength. We need to get through the Myrlwood quickly so we don't get stuck there during the night."
"Don't worry dude… we'll get that weapon make you glitter with even more blue, and knock some Niff skulls in!" Promtpo cheered, reaching out and punching Noctis hard on the arm. The blond was smiling with lifted brows, shoulders hunched as he drummed his fingers on the knee of his bouncing leg.
"Damn right we well." Gladiolus echoed. The same damn thing Noctis had promised himself when he was eight. And every night since, until finally, he ran from the Nifs with her hand clutched within his. He was lying in bed at night with her by his side. He was glad for working himself into a blackout at the meteor. How the hell was he going to sleep? Prompto hit him again to try and get his attention, and Noctis finally nodded and rubbed at his arm.
"Yeah." He nodded, then his features twisted. "We'll make them regret ever putting a finger on her." He again recalled with a bitter taste in his mouth these very promises he made to get himself to fall asleep at night when guilt and regret consumed him. His friends tried to encourage him for a few more minutes, but when responded to only with silence or a curt nod shifted subjects. They passed the time talking about whatever subject cropped up. Token efforts to talk about Gladiolus's most recent book, or the music on the radio. The car lurched to a stop when they pulled to the side of the road when they couldn't continue any further.
"You need some coffee man?" Gladiolus barked, too happy to get out of the congested car. "Oh Six!" He shouted, clamping a hand over his nose as soon as he stepped out. "Smells like rotting eggs!"
"Aren't swamps just lovely?" Prompto cheered, clasping his hands together and batting his eyes. "The beautiful scenery, the alluring smells. Perfect place for a romantic date!" Prompto took in a deep breath and immediately coughed, earning him a slap on the back hard enough to cause him to stumble. He cursed, catching himself on the door of the Regalia and glared up at Gladiolus who wore a smile that seemed to be warring between apologetic and trying not to laugh with the occasional twitch in the corner of his lips. Crowe parked the motorcycle close to the Regalia and climbed off, and after glancing at the Prince talking with his advisor and the Nifleheimer woman, decided she was in better company with her fellow Shield and the blond.
"You up for this?" Crowe asked, cocking her head to the side at Prompto, gesturing at the leg he was hovering off the ground. His hair was damp with sweat already, his flushed cheeks and dark circles around his eyes were an intense contrast to how pale the rest of his face was. "You look like shit. You should just get some more rest."
"I wanna help Noct do whatever it takes to help get Luna back." Prompto quickly countered.
"Can you put weight on your leg yet?" she asked, crossing her arms. He frowned, shifting himself to stand up, taking a step with a wince and a sharp intake of breath.
"Totally! See!" He cheered, gesturing to his leg.
"You need more rest." Crowe insisted.
"Gotta agree with her, sorry." Gladiolus shrugged. Prompto pouted, and tried to take several more steps to prove that he was okay. But he moved slow, and eventually stood balanced on one leg to keep the pressure off the other.
"You're not okay." Noctis finally added. He was looking down at his hand, flexing his fingers and a can appeared in it. "Here." He held out the drink, wiping his palm against his pants.
"Whoa look at your hand dude." Prompto remarked, absently holding the can and staring at Noctis. Everyone turned to the prince, and Gladiolus grabbed his wrist so he could get a proper look.
"Shit." he mumbled.
"It's just some bad bruising," Noctis insisted. "Let's just get to that tomb. The faster we get the weapons the faster we can take on the Nifs and get Luna back. Prompto just stay here and rest that leg…"
"I won't slow you down! I promise I can keep up!" He frowned, taking several more steps. "Here I'll chug this down and I can totally keep up!" He flipped the tab and brought the can to his lips, dropping it with a loud gasp and pressed fist to his mouth in a failed attempt to cover a belch. He put some test pressure on his leg, wincing, but no longer felt the need to keep the leg in the air.
"I'm not worried about you slowing me down. I don't want you walking on that leg if it hurts that bad." Noctis replied, his brows knitting together and wondering if he had been pushing his friends too hard to get these arms and rescue Lunafreya. Though everything had been a blur. Did we stop for the night somewhere? He realized that blacking out after obtaining the weapon from the meteor he lost track of date and time. But then he recalled again making camp and his fleeting thoughts of running away.
"What if I stay 'n keep you company? Pretty sure I have a deck of cards stashed in my mysterious bottomless bag of bullshit." Crowe offered, thumbing to the motorcycle's side bags that had been used to mostly carry the smaller camping supplies.
"Get some rest dude… you can come with me for the next one okay?" Noctis offered. Prompto pouted, testing the weight on his injured leg again and let out a razzberry in a long release of breath.
"Fine. But you owe me some serious chocolate bars!" He declared. Noctis chuckled, managing a smile.
"Deal. You go sit down and I'll buy you some chocolate." He nearly rolled his eyes at how immature the request was, but suppressed the urge. Crowe tapped rapidly on Prompto's shoulder to get his attention, the blond man rolling his shoulder hard.
"Okay okay. I'll go sit! Ugh… this is gonna be so boring since I can't turn my phone on and watch a movie." He complained. "What do we do if trouble happens? We can't call each other."
"Kick it's ass. Now sit!" Crowe answered, pointing at the car. "Princey will do the same."
"I'll make sure he gets back in one piece." Gladiolus assured, wrapping an arm around Noctis's shoulder. Noctis groaned, rolling his eyes and shoved his Shield away from him. He laughed, straightening up and thumbed behind them, "well we should probably get going or we'll be camping in a daemon infested swamp soon."
"Do be cautious of the water." Ignis added.
"Yeah it doesn't look right." Aranea wrinkled her nose, side stepping away from the water to her left.
"Probably why it smells worse than Prompto's ass." Gladiolus remarked, pinching his nose.
"You that familiar with his ass?" Aranea teased, elbowing him in the ribs.
"Share a tent with him one night!" He barked back. The others laughed, and started to walk away, Gladiolus holding up a middle finger when Prompto shouted an indignant Hey! sure that he was giving a finger of his own.
There hadn't been a storm in the region for two weeks, and the water levels were low enough to leave a dry path deeper into the Myrlwood. The trees were thick, sunlight thinned by the dense foliage above them. The water was dark, and resembled oil slicks more than the miniature algae filled ponds typical to a swamp. The fallen leaves looked more decayed than expected, staining the ground and adding an old musty dampness to the already unpleasant sulfuric odor of the swamp. Walking through the area it took Noctis nearly a quarter hour to realize why he was so bothered by the silence.
"There's no bugs or birds or anything." He commented, halting whatever conversation his friends were having.
"The water's quite dark. Perhaps the drought caused minerals to concentrate so the water cannot sustain life?" Ignis suggested, looking around them. They studied their surroundings better and saw that the trunks of the trees were cracked. Their branches gnarled and twisted. The veins of their brown leaves traced with the black sap that nourished them. They followed the lines and cracks down to the roots that dug deep into the earth and further to the various small ponds that made up the swamp. "No moss either." He added, knitting his brows as he studied the trunks of the trees and the bare ground, soil eroded to expose the rock beneath.
"We should hurry." Noctis answered. "You guys should head back. No use all of us risking our asses in this creepy place."
"Bullshit. We're not going anywhere." Gladiolus countered.
"Yeah you are, go watch Prompto I'll keep going. I can move faster alone." Noctis answered. Gladiolus scowled, reaching out and grabbing Noctis by the front of his shirt and jerked him closer, pulling up, forcing the Prince to stand on his goes.
"What the hell!"
"Get your head out of your ass! We all want to save Luna!"
"You don't know what they're like!" Noctis growled, teeth clenched together.
"But I do." Aranea snapped. All eyes turned to her. "And I agree with him," she thumbed at Gladiolus "You need to think things through! What can six assholes do against the might of Niflheim if we just charged right on in there. You think a pissed off upper cut is gonna save the day? We all want the Oracle safe. Even a Nif." She wrinkled her nose on the final word, locking eyes with the Prince. Noctis bit down on his lip, eyes squinting and his brows came together with deep creases. He let out a long breath, his expression softening. Gladiolus set him back down, keeping a grip on his shirt until he was sure the Prince could stand on his own legs. Noctis flexed his fingers, roughly rubbing the sides of his pants.
"I'm sorry." He sighed, bringing one of his hands up to scratch his scalp. "I just can't stand the thought she's back with them."
"We'll do a better job of getting her back if you calm down enough to think and if we work together." Gladiolus insisted with a hesitation in his tone, pausing after the first word to keep the remaining softer. Noctis nodded, and waited for his friends to take the first steps before they resumed their march.
The deeper into the swamp they walked the thicker the place began to feel. The rocky ground was coated in a layer of brown and black leaves. Despite the lack of foliage little sunlight was penetrating through the branches. The silence was replaced with a deep groaning, and the retinue found themselves walking much closer to each other. The air itself felt thick, and the sulfuric smell was fading to be replaced with sickly sweet odor that left a taste on the back of the tongue. A sudden grunt caused Noctis to spin around just as he saw Aranea had impacted the ground.
A gnarled black branch curled around her ankle, and was dragging her up from the ground as she clawed at the rocky ground. Noctis saw flashes of blue as Gladiolus and Ignis called their weapons. His engine blade felt heavy as he called it in a flash of black sparks, the itch in his palms intensifying. All three rushed forward, slashing at the branch that was dragging away their companion but it jerked back with a living fluidity.
"Get me the fuck down!" Aranea screeched. She reached for her own weapon, but with the branch wrapping up around the whole of her leg she couldn't pull her polearm free. She tried to kick with her free foot and cursed at the pain flaring with the impact, and kicked again. Noctis ground his teeth together, and warped forward. He impacted the branch, metal greeting the black branch with a wet squelch. The blade dug deep, and the low pitched groaning changed into an overpowering screech. The sudden motion jerked the sword, embedded into the soft once-wood of the branch, and he fell. He hit the ground before he could think to warp, all air forced from his lungs. He curled on his side, clawing at his chest as he tried to command his lungs to suck in air. His throat burned, his chest ached, and his mind began to fuzz before that first blessed agonizing breath filled his chest and he exhaled it in a grunt, panting and groaning in pain.
It took nearly half a minute for him to realize the odd groaning he was hearing was not the tree, but rather Aranea who had also been dropped and seemed to be in the same shape as him. He tried to sit up, squinting through the wave of pain and dizziness. He turned to ask if she was all right but she was madly gesturing. He followed her hand and saw Ignis and Gladiolus struggling as more branches descended from around them. He tried to scream for them to run, his first attempt halted by pain. Panic helped the words out his second try,
"Run!" He snapped, calling for a flask and thanking the Six when a fira appeared in his hand and he threw it. His friends wasted no time to contemplate his warning, and fled just before flames ignited the ground where the had just stood. They all slapped their hands over their ears as the trees began to scream. Sound blasted through them, hitting them like a physical blow. Noctis squinted, so overwhelmed by sound he wanted to shut out the fading light to ease the burden on his overtaxed brain. He felt a jerk as Gladiolus pulled him up to his feet by the back of the shirt, shoving him forward.
"Run you idiot!" He snapped. Noctis nodded, and began to flee with his friends. He called for his magic again, but felt no fire. He called a second time and thunder answered his call. He shouted a warning to his friends and threw it in the air. Deafening screams surrounded them once more. He squinted through the darkness, sure that he could see grey in the distance.
"There! We're almost there!" He shouted. Black tendrils started drifting down. Ebony vines blown around by a non-existent wind. "Shit shit shit…" Noctis mumbled as he called for his magic and found none. He flexed his fingers, and felt his heart leap into his throat when Engine Blade answered his call. He swung it around him madly, chopping at the branches and vines. Hissing joined the screams and light cast stark shadows from behind the trees but he didn't want to take his eyes off the grey building growing closer to see what hissing daemon was casting the orange glow.
Their sanctuary was in a small clearing, and the branches and vines were reaching for it, lacking by several meters the length necessary to touch the building. The itch in Noctis's palms reached a maddening burning degree, his arms twitching and he could hardly keep running with the desire to twitch his hips. His vision was growing sharper, and he thanked the Six that his eyes seemed to be adjusting so quickly to the dark. He hit the door, screaming as he slammed his palms into it, the doors giving way; all four of them sprinting in with him. Noctis and Gladiolus were the first to spin around, shoving the doors closed behind them. Aranea joined and shoved her polearm through the doors handles, Ignis was bent over with his hands on his knees panting for breath.
"Holy shit. What time is it?" Gladiolus asked.
"My watch says it is only three P.M." Ignis answered. Noctis walked over to his ancestor's tomb, rubbing his palms against the edge of rough stone. He ground his arms against it, grunting with pain and relief. His body trembled, and he bit down on his tongue to keep from turning up his meal onto the floor.
"It's only three?" Noctis asked, hissing and withdrawing his arms to look at them, realizing how badly abrased they were from rubbing them so hard on the stone.
"What the hell is going on?"
I wanted to play a bit with imagery, I hope it worked?
