Content warning: There's some violence and a mildly graphic description of vomiting in this chapter.

Chapter Three: Found

Prompto wasn't sure how far he had gotten before he was forced to stop. He was on his own now, out alone in the monster-infested wild. It should have concerned him more than it did, but he was too miserable to care about any creature that might be stalking him.

Winded, he leaned against a tree and wrapped his arms around himself as he tried not to puke. His chest hurt and not just from pushing himself to run as far as possible. It was like the pieces of his shattered heart had blown outwards and were lodged in his ribs.

He gripped his arms tight to will away what felt like death clinging to him, staring down at Noctis' blood still soaked into the knees of his pants. A whimper built in his throat as he tried and failed to focus on anything else. He could barely breathe and a non-stop trembling had settled into his body.

I hurt Noct, he kept reminding himself. I can't be with him anymore. Or any of them. He had lost everything.

His hands buried themselves in his hair, tightly gripping the blond strands. Tears welled up in his raw eyes as the stinging pain radiated across his scalp.

"Idiot," he whispered aloud, bitterly. "Idiot."

Prompto wept to himself in high-pitched, pathetic keening noises. It was because of this that he was almost deaf to the familiar, threatening growls moving towards him. Looking up, he saw more damn Voretooths making their way out of the trees—five of them. Prompto started backing up in shaky, exhausted steps as they closed in on him.

He summoned his gun, raised it and fired. His aim was completely shot to hell in his distress and compromised vision. The dirt to the side of one of the Voretooth's front feet was displaced as he missed. The beasts advanced, unperturbed.

"Back off!" he shouted, his voice torn as a few stray tears left him. "I've had enough of you bastards today!"

Of course, the Voretooths wouldn't care about that. Prompto turned and ran before they could fully circle him, trying to put some distance between them. His legs and lungs were strained which slowed him down not long after starting. He whirled on his pursuers and fired off another shot. It hit this time, a little off his mark, but it still hit the closest of them in the leg which swiftly brought it down.

Calling on a strength he didn't know he had left, Prompto sprinted further, the snarls of the other four Voretooths on his heels. He thought he could handle it this way. At least to wound them and keep them off his tail so he could get away if he couldn't kill them. But the cruel, heartless universe had other ideas.

As he dashed out of the treeline into a clearing, his feet got caught up in some brambles. No, no, no! He pulled free, but not soon enough. A Voretooth was quick to clamp its teeth onto Prompto's arm. He screamed as long, sharp fangs pierced his skin, blood immediately gushing from the wounds.

"Get the fuck off me!"

Frantic to free himself, Prompto put the barrel of his gun directly against the beast's head and shot it point-blank. The sound seemed to crack in his own head, leaving his ears ringing, but it did the job and he wrenched his arm free. His dulled hearing could pick up the savage growls of the other Voretooths in front of him. He tried to keep running but was immediately knocked off his feet as another set of jaws dug their way into his calf.

His gun flew from his grasp as he hit the dirt, crying out as the Voretooth that had him bit in harder and shook his leg like a damn chew toy. He reached in vain for his gun only to be dragged back away from it. The other monsters gathered around, snapping their teeth as if taunting him.

So, this was it. This was how he was going out; Voretooth food.

But even when facing down his own death, he couldn't think about the fear of it or the pain. No; at that moment his mind only wandered to happier times with his partners. Falling asleep leaning on Noctis' shoulder as the prince fished over a calm lake. Getting pulled suddenly into Gladio's lap and having his face littered with playful kisses. Hugging Ignis from behind as he made them all dinner, basking in his warmth and the sound of his steady heartbeat.

Prompto wanted all of it more than anything. If not that then just to see them one more time. But he had messed that up, and now he was going to die. Alone, cold, and soaked in a mix of his and Noctis' blood. He sobbed as a heavy paw pressed into the center of his back. Hot breath panted against his neck, strong-smelling saliva dripping onto his skin. He trembled in pain, waiting for those fangs to sink into his throat.

I'm sorry, guys. I'm so sorry.

And then the weight was suddenly off him; following a muffled, familiar, deep-voiced battle cry and the sound of a blade swinging through flesh and bone. The teeth at his leg left as the Voretooth willingly let him go to deal with the unexpected intrusion on its pack's meal. With tears streaming down his face, Prompto looked up to see Gladio standing over him. The Shield's face was a picture of fury as he swung his greatsword at the three remaining beasts.

He…came after me?

Prompto dragged himself towards his gun; he had to help. Cradling his injured arm to his chest, he grasped the handle in his shaking hand. By the time he had it, one of the Voretooths was dead and Gladio was fighting the other two. He raised his gun towards them but froze. What if I hit Gladio?

His already labored breathing caught in his chest as he tried to track and predict the sporadic movements. He knew he was over-thinking (one of the first damn things he had been warned against when he started his training), and it was making him slow and unreliable. The taste of blood appeared in his mouth as he bit his tongue in frustration.

I 'm being stupid! Just shoot it!

Willing the trembling of his arm to stop, Prompto aimed at the Voretooth furthest from Gladio (Don't hit him, don't hit him, please don't let me hit him) and fired. The bullet passed through the monster's skull perfectly, killing it instantly. He kept his gun at his side, but let the Shield take care of the last one.

Prompto watched as Gladio slashed his blade into the Voretooth's side, bringing it down onto the creature's neck and severing its head as it lay bleeding on the ground. Not a second seemed to pass before the larger man was rushing to his side with a look of wide-eyed concern on his face. His ears were still buzzing, but he clearly heard Gladio call his name.

Prompto couldn't meet his eyes, guilt still plaguing him. Why had he even come to find him? None of them should want him after everything that had happened. He tried to shuffle away from Gladio, only to have a gentle hand wrap around his good arm to keep him still.

He watched Gladio's lips move, but could scarcely make out the words aside from 'stop' and 'okay'. There was a flash of light at the Shield's hand, materializing into a potion. Prompto immediately tried to pull away, ignoring the flare of pain from his wounds.

"D-don't! Don't waste it…," he begged in a voice that felt choked.

Gladio looked at him, puzzled. He shook his head, saying something that sounded like, "It's not a waste."

Too weak to fight it, Prompto allowed the potion to be used on him. His pain aside from the blood loss-induced dizziness was relieved immediately as the bites knitted themselves together. He didn't deserve it. Not when Noctis had been left to bleed in agony and die earlier that same day.

A large, achingly comforting hand pressed against his cheek and he found himself looking into worried, deep amber eyes.

"Prompto, are you okay? Can you hear me?" Gladio asked, clear now that the potion had restored Prompto's hearing. The concern in his voice was so real, his face and touch so loving. Why? Why does he still care? Why? Why, why, why, why? It was all too much.

Prompto leaned to the side and threw up in the grass. He retched violently, startling Gladio who was instantly reaching for him again. Prompto batted him away and nearly doubled over on himself. I can't let myself have this.

Gladio's voice was weirdly soft. "Let me help. I—."

"I killed him! I-I killed Noct!"

"Prompto—."

"Why!?" Prompto cried shrilly, whipping his head up to look Gladio in the face. "Why don't you hate me for this!?"

He expected sudden understanding and agreement, for the big guy to up and leave him to his sorrow. What he didn't expect was to see Gladio looking back at him like his heart had been ripped in two—definitely not the tears shining in his eyes.

"Gods, no," Gladio nearly gasped. He held his arms out. "Please don't say that. Just…just come here. C'mere, sunshine."

Prompto was stunned into silence before dissolving once more. Gladio, like him and Noctis, wasn't the pet names type—that was more of Ignis' forte. It was rare enough to hear a simple 'babe' from the Shield. But even so, he had long since used that special name on occasion just for Prompto and its utterance broke any of the blond's resolve. He all but threw himself at Gladio, crying against his chest as he was wrapped up in his arms.

Gladio slowly stroked his back and hair.

"We don't hate you. We could never hate you," he said, his voice thick. "We know you'd never hurt Noct on purpose. It was an accident."

Prompto shook his head. "It shouldn't have happened…not if I was d-doing anything right…I…I shouldn't st-stay with you—."

The hug around him became fierce. "You have to….I don't know what we'd do without you. Hell, Prom, the first thing Noct did when he woke up a little while ago was ask for you. He wants you with us. We all do."

Hope welled in Prompto's chest, soothing a bit of the ache that had settled there. Do they really still love me? He wasn't brave enough to ask the question aloud yet.

"We don't have to go back yet if you're not ready," Gladio said. "How about we just sit and calm down a little, yeah?"

Prompto nodded, still sniffling. "Okay."

He sat on the ground and leaned against Gladio's side, feeling a large arm wrap around his shoulders to bring him in closer.

"Did I, uh—?" Gladio said after they had been quiet for a while. "Did I ever tell you about the time I accidentally broke Noct's arm?"

"N-No," Prompto said, wondering how the Shield figured that a story like that was supposed to calm him down, but he let him continue anyway.

Gladio cleared his throat. "You've probably heard that Noct and I didn't really start out so good."

Prompto hummed an affirmative in his throat. He wiped the back of his hand over his eyes. More tears fell down his cheeks despite the effort.

"Well, we'd been training together for close to two years at that point, I think. And things had gotten a lot better between us," Gladio said. "But…then he came in one day being a little more bratty than usual and I had already kinda been having a shit day. We argued over something. It was so stupid that I can't even remember what it was now, but it got us all heated. We got to sparring and…I tackled and pinned him to the mat too hard."

He tensed. Prompto looked up at his face—stormy and regretful.

"Don't think I'll ever forget the sound of his bones just snapping like that…or him screaming his lungs out," Gladio said, his eyes closing against the memory.

"What happened after that?" Prompto asked.

"I freaked the Hell out…got him help," Gladio continued. "But then I couldn't stand to look at what I'd done. So I avoided him for a week—even though that hurt just as much. I felt like I'd failed as his Shield…and I actually thought about stepping down."

Prompto felt his eyes widen. "Seriously? You? "

"I know, right? Then…well, it started with me getting an earful from my dad about being a self-pitying, stubborn dumbass." A small, sad smile upturned Gladio's lips. "But it took Noct coming to me himself, all teary-eyed and doped up on pain meds, for me to realize just how ridiculous I was being. Turns out he had been missing me that whole time and thinking that I was avoiding him because what happened had made me not like him again. He tried to apologize for me breaking his damn arm."

"He wasn't mad at you?"

Gladio shook his head. "Nah. Just scared about losing me of all things…I think that was when I started feeling like I wanted to protect him. At first, it was just a duty, then an honor when I got to know him better. But that was when I knew I loved him. Not like I do now, but we got so much closer after that. I didn't want to lose him either—for myself more than just for the sake of his line."

Prompto took it all in, picking at the grass. "I…I get what you're trying to do for me. And I don't mean to take away from what happened to you because that sounds awful, but…I almost killed Noct. How…how can I even think about moving past that?"

"No; I get that," Gladio said. He sighed, sounding like he was preparing himself. "Don't…bring this up to Ignis 'cause he won't talk about it, but…he found out about Noct's coconut allergy the hard way."

Prompto's stomach dropped, recalling the intense warnings he had received about the prince's highly dangerous food sensitivity. He remembered the serious, heavy atmosphere as Ignis taught him how to properly administer an EpiPen—now he knew why there had been a far-away, fearful look in the other man's eyes through the entire thing.

"Full-on anaphylactic shock and everything…he stopped breathing. It was really touch and go to save him," Gladio said, looking sick. "Iggy was just beside himself."

"Yeah, no kidding," Prompto said after a shaky exhale.

"It really messed him up for a while. He never left Noctis' side even after he had recovered; obsessing over everything he ate until he was one-hundred percent sure it was safe, barely eating or sleeping until we practically forced him to. Eventually, Noct telling him that it wasn't his fault started to sink in. But it was still a good month before Ignis was himself again, or tried to cook anything for him."

Prompto looked at his feet. "And he's probably never forgiven himself."

"No…and I don't think I've ever fully forgiven myself either," Gladio admitted. He captured Prompto's chin and made him look him in the eye. "But that's not my point. My point is: shit happens. Accidents happen."

"It…It hurts though," Prompto said, fresh tears spilling over.

Gladio hugged him again. "I know…I won't lie and say it stops. But I just want you to know that even if we never forgive ourselves, that Noct forgave us. We forgive you…and we don't love you any less. We'll help you through this. I swear."

They…still love me, Prompto thought. I can stay. Despite the pain and the still-flowing tears, he couldn't help a fleeting smile from reaching his face. He pulled back from Gladio a little.

"I…think I wanna head back now," he said.

"Yeah? Good," Gladio said, grinning. He leaned in and kissed him despite how gross he probably was from crying. Prompto almost felt like melting in relief; he thought he would never get to do that again.

They stood together, and Prompto shook a little on his legs, still weak from his injuries. Gladio caught on immediately, crouching and presenting his back.

"Hop on. You're looking like a baby Spiracorn right now," he said.

Prompto took him up on the offer, climbing up and allowing Gladio to carry him back to camp. As they trudged through the woods, he thought about the path—and hopefully healing—ahead of him, unspeakably happy that it would involve the three people he loved most in the world.

But the first step was clear and still frightening: facing Noctis.

Thanks for reading~!

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