Disclaimer: not mine

Chapter 7

Harry followed Prompto into the sealed corridor once he had unlocked the doors. There was no battle damage, just the wear and grime of being empty for so long. There were several doors, spaced far apart which made sense, members of Royalty would have large suites. The corridor was richly decorated with artwork and what had been plush carpet. Harry motioned Prompto back and hit the whole thing with some housekeeping and repairing charms to freshen it up. "Where should we start?"

Prompto went to a door and tested the handle but it was locked. "This one," he said so Harry unlocked it and then went inside.

It was obvious why Prompto had picked this suite. The room they came into was furnished with comfortable couches, a large tv and entertainment unit. He could see what looked like movies and games…the room of a teenager? Then he spotted the wall with boxes up against it. "This is Noctis'?"

"Yeah." He wandered over to the boxes. "This is what we brought back from the apartment before leaving. Once he married Lunafreya they were going to live in the Citadel, when she wasn't fulfilling her duties as Oracle."

"Oracle?" Harry asked as he looked around, finding a small kitchen, three bedrooms and bathrooms as well as an office. He went to work cleaning it up so that it could be used.

"The Oracle was the Astrals voice to the people. They were also the ruling family of Tenebrae but the Empire took the country a long time ago, but they never touched Fenestala Manor because everyone would have rioted over their dare threatening the Oracle. The Oracles were left alone until Noctis and I were eight. Noctis was nearly killed by a daemon and was in a wheelchair for a long time, the King took him to Tenebrae for healing but the Empire found out and attacked. They killed Queen Sylva Via Fleuret but the King and Noct escaped. They had Luna with them but she let go of King Regis' hand to stay with her brother, Ravus. The Empire offered a treaty when we were twenty, Luna and Noct would be married as a sign of the peace, it was a trap obviously," Prompto indicated the mess outside the window. "The King sent us from the city, he wanted the wedding to happen in Altissia since while it was under Imperial control it still had its own government."

"Neutral territory?" Harry asked and Prompto nodded.

"Luna made it out of the city during the invasion and then went to work waking up the Astrals so that Noctis could forge covenants with them. She died in Altissia, during Leviathan's trial. Noctis was pretty out of it but…he said Ardyn stabbed her, her body was never found. The Oracles could heal people of the Scourge and the nights getting longer got worse after Luna died."

"Wow," Harry was amazed that one person had such an effect on the world.

"You don't have Oracles?" Prompto asked as he opened the windows to help freshen the suite.

"No. Then again there are more religions than I can count. Every one of them believes in something different, with different deities if they have any at all. Wars over religion are pretty common. I know Magicals believe more in magic as a force in the world, they swear by Merlin or Morgana, two previous very powerful and famous magicals from centuries ago. Prophecy is real so some believe in 'the Fates'. Personally if they exist I'd love to meet them and show them what I think of them," Harry snorted.

"Your world has prophecies too?"

"Yeah, true Seers are really rare and the prophecies all but impossible to interpret until after events. Trying to do so before hand and push them to a certain conclusion is generally a very bad idea."

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Prompto heard the tone and saw the grimace of anger and distaste on Harry's face. "Were you…."

Harry looked at him and then sighed, moving to the balcony to look out at the deserted city. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." he said once Prompto had joined him and Prompto couldn't help a slight shiver at the words. "Because of that my life was hell. All because an old man put his faith in the words of a washed up drunk and the Dark Lord spoken of wanted no chance of someone able to defeat him."

"But if it was a prophecy then wouldn't it have come true anyway?"

"It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, if they had ignored it then it never would have come into play. By killing my parents and trying to kill me he fulfilled the first part, 'marking' me which meant the rest had to be finished. If that hadn't happened…but it did."

"Oh…I don't think it was like that here. Bahamut himself gave the prophecy of the Chosen King, that he would defeat the Darkness and bring back the Dawn, but…Noct wasn't meant to survive. Don't know how Shiva pulled that off but she is definitely my favourite Astral for that, and Ramuh too if he was involved," Prompto offered a shaky smile before looking at the boxes. "Don't know how much of this Noct will even want now…we're not the same kids who left for a wedding."

"So he was marring this Oracle for peace…what about you three?"

"Luna knew and was fine with it, they weren't in love. She was more like a big sister to Noct, they only met the once when he was in Tenebrae, they kept in contact though. Everyone thought they were this epic romance."

"Ah, got it," Harry nodded. "Well if you're back to the same age as before, then any clothing in the boxes or closet will come in handy. Did you three live here or close by?"

"My apartment was a good forty minutes away by transport, Gladio lived at home and Iggy used to live here but he moved into an apartment in Noct's building so he was also in the process of moving back. The Amicitia estate was probably heavily looted at least," he grimaced. He'd never been there but he knew it would hurt Gladio…and Iris! Oh boy.

"What is it?" Harry asked as they began unpacking boxes.

"Gladio's sister is eight years younger him…we got de-aged about ten years," he answered and saw green eyes widen in shock.

"Ah, that could be interesting and….awkward."

'Yeah." They soon had the clothing hanging in the wardrobe and most of what Prompto thought Noctis would want in its proper place. Some things he figured Noctis would keep packed away or donate to kids in need.

"Which rooms next?" Harry asked and they moved on to the other suites in the hall until only one remained.

"This…this was the Kings. It should be Noct's now but…"

"The reminder will hurt. It's his room, it should be his choice. Besides, it's not like anyone will know since this is the Royal Wing, right? After everything you've been through the familiarity will be good."

"Yeah," he was relieved that Harry got it. "You three should stay in one of the suites too, best we all stick together." He knew Noct would want them to remain close, they were obviously not Lucian or any other known nationality and the last thing they wanted was some idiot causing trouble for the people who had saved them all from an eternity of being ice statues.

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Noctis smiled when Prompto and Harry appeared in the doorway, though part of him dreaded hearing how it had been. Was anything salvageable?

"Good news, you have a wardrobe!" Prompto gleefully announced. "Since my apartment is likely flattened, mind if I share?"

Noctis couldn't help laughing as he shook his head, they were pretty close in size after all. Harry got to work on lunch while they waited for the others. "How bad?" Noctis asked softly and Prompto bumped shoulders with him.

"Nothing a little magic didn't fix. Not sure about the electronics though, we'll have to wait till we have power. Your suite's all fixed up and ready. I told Harry they should use one of the others. All the suites are fixed up and ready for use. We…didn't go into your Dad's, Harry just hit it from the doorway with stuff to fix things up."

Noctis nodded, not sure what he thought of his Dad's rooms. He knew they were his now, that it was expected he would move into them. It made sense; they were larger which would be good with four of them living in them. Then Harry and his group could take his old rooms as the next biggest since they would need the room as a trio. But the thought of living out of his Dad's rooms was simply something he couldn't handle at the moment.

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Harry led the way into their rooms, all of them looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed. It was smaller than Noctis' rooms with only two bedrooms but it was definitely fine for the three of them. They preferred having two bedrooms because they didn't always want to share the bed, especially during sex. Thanks to magic they soon had it set up and some wards around the rooms for protection, adding to the ones Harry had already placed on the whole Wing.

The Marshal had taken the room down the hall that was put aside for guards, while he had rooms elsewhere in the building it was safer to remain close by until they had gone through the whole building. They had shared dinner in Noctis' rooms before splitting up for the night, Harry fighting back a grin at how excited all four were to be back in a proper 'home'. He knew what that was like, it had been wonderful when the fighting was done and they could stop living on the run out of the tent.

"I'm beat and I think I'll take advantage of being able to stretch out," Ron smirked, moving to the smaller of the two bedrooms.

"You sure?" Harry blinked, surprised he'd be willing to sleep alone so quickly in a strange new world.

"You've been working hard and stressing too much Storm," he teased with Harry's Marauder nickname. "Have fun," he said as he went into the room and put up silencing spells.

Harry just shook his head but followed Hermione into the main bedroom.

"Ron's right," she told him as she turned down the bed.

"Like you two haven't been working just as hard." He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a brief kiss.

"True," she grinned and moved towards the bed as her clothing vanished with a murmured spell and Harry laughed but followed her. They hadn't really relaxed since being dumped in that hallway so tonight they would relax and then he would sleep in the other room tomorrow.

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Ignis woke slowly, feeling utterly safe and content in a way he hadn't felt in far too long. He kept his eyes closed, using senses that had been honed during a decade of blindness. He could hear the soft breathing of the other three, feel the warmth of their bodies, Noctis' arm thrown over his hip, Gladio pressed against his back, knew Prompto was curled into Noctis' other side and he fought the sudden urge to cry.

He had thought he'd never have this again and yet here they were. He knew they had a lot to talk about, that they couldn't just go back to how they had been before the Crystal took Noctis. They had drifted apart while he was gone and he hated that, he knew he bore some of the blame for it too. He'd wanted so badly to prove he could still be independent, to learn to hunt blind, that he'd pushed them away. Gladio had just been so angry at everything and everyone that he'd left. Prompto had tried so hard but with the mental and physical blows he'd taken since that doomed train journey…had he thought they no longer wanted him because of his birth? He'd always been uncertain of his place with them, despite having been with Noctis first, that when they'd pushed he'd just faded out of their lives, working hard to help the refugees from the Empire. When Ignis had heard that Prompto's past had been revealed by a scared old woman, that some had turned on him, he'd been terrified and had rushed to help. Cor had beaten him there and defused the situation so that when Ignis had arrived, Prompto had been gone already.

They had seen each other, hunted together, and once he'd gotten an apartment in Lestallum and begun relearning to cook he had demanded they come when in town. He'd been able to feel how Prompto had tried to distance himself, obviously thinking Ignis didn't want him anymore. He'd had to coax the younger man into his bed and afterwards he had pretended not to notice the tears as Prompto lay curled in his arms. Getting all three of them in town at the same time had never been easy, there had been too much to do, but they had begun trying harder. He had never thought Noctis was the only thing holding them together and so he had worked to ensure they both knew he wanted them even without their King. But there had still been a tension between Gladio and Prompto, no matter what he tried. Even now, they were sleeping as far apart as they could get in the bed and it worried him a lot.

They would be very busy now, trying to get things started for the people who would be coming to the city. He didn't want them to get too busy to deal with whatever the issue was but he also knew pushing too hard would cause them both to pull away.

"Specs?" Noctis murmured and Ignis opened his eyes to find concerned blue staring at him, how had he missed Noct waking. "Too early to be thinking so hard," he told him before leaning in for a morning kiss.

Ignis smiled slightly as he returned it, there had been no time when they'd been reunited, not for anything more than hurried kisses in the dark and assuring themselves that Noctis was really back with them…only to find out they would lose him again so soon. When they'd woken alone in the Throne room they'd been terrified only to hear fighting outside. By the time they had made it down the front steps, the physical battle had been over and they had been given the chance to say their goodbyes one last time. Honestly, Ignis had been happy to face the spawning daemons, not wanting to live if his King perished. Now, he was very glad they had all survived. They had a second chance and he would not waste it.

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Noctis watched Ignis and Harry cook breakfast for the group. He'd woken up to find Ignis lying there, eyes closed, but obviously awake and thinking, whatever it had been had not been all that happy. They needed to talk, privately, before anyone else showed up. He hadn't had the chance to really talk to them about what had happened during the decade he was gone, if Talcott hadn't mentioned them being apart more often than they were together he never would have known. If he was going to be King and announce that he would not marry a woman to be his Queen then their relationship had to be stable. If they really wanted a Lucis Caelum heir there were other ways to get one, maybe their new friends would know of some more as well. He hated talking, especially about feelings, he wasn't any good at it, but it had to happen.

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Cor watched the two groups as he ate, there was tension between the boys, then again there had been ever since they returned from Gralea beaten and battered and with Noctis having vanished into the Crystal. He'd seen them fall apart without Noctis, something that had surprised him. He would make sure they had time to sit and talk because they had to be working seamlessly together before the refugees began arriving. They could show no weakness. Of the newcomers, well, he could see the signs that they'd had a good night and he didn't want or need to know anything else there. What worried him though was what he could see between his King and their leader, Noctis' relationship was complicated enough without throwing an attraction to someone else in, especially someone who was also in a relationship. How was this his life? Regis and Clarus were laughing their heads off at him somewhere, he just knew it. This should be their problem, not his!

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Prompto shifted uneasily as Noctis locked the door. It was easy to see what this was about and it terrified him. He couldn't lose them, he couldn't, not again. No, Noctis had shown no sign of wanting to end things, he'd kissed him in front of Cor! Did he know how badly things had gone when he vanished? Maybe…he'd been in a truck with Talcott for hours, the young hunter had likely filled him in on how they'd been…and how much time they spent separately. He knew that was partially his fault, he'd needed time to come to terms with the truth of his past. Gladio's anger had also scared him a little, to the point he'd avoided the older man as much as possible. Iggy had needed to find his independence and faith in his own abilities but as soon as he was back fully on his feet he'd worked to fix things between them and it had mostly worked. So why couldn't he and Gladio sort things out too?

He hated feeling so unsure but…it felt like when they'd started the road trip. Which kind of made sense, their bodies had been de-aged which meant they once again had the more volatile hormones, at least he and Noct did since they were only just out of their teens. That would explain why he felt like he was bouncing around from emotion to emotion, he hadn't managed to settle that down fully until he was twenty-three. Great.

"Noct?" Gladio asked, arms crossed.

"We need to talk, all of us," Noctis answered as he sat down.

Yep, he was really not looking forward to this.

TBC…