Hello! I'm a little behind as always, so here's an update with two chapters :) I do so hope you enjoy. Lemme know what you think.
It took several long arduous moments, but Prompto made it to the bathroom. On his own.
He felt pretty accomplished.
After having been wheeled around the citadel to his various appointments, he was tired. And achy. And a bit angry, if he was being honest.
The doctors had been nice enough; had explained a few things to him. The dull pounding at the back of his head would probably last a few days. Yes, his nose would always be a little bit crooked (Gladiolus had said it made him look dangerous, and Prompto secretly enjoyed the comment, even if he knew the warrior was just being nice). No, he would not keep the limp—it was just a byproduct of his 'trauma' (they sure did have a long list of words to use instead of calling a spade a spade) and the broken toes on his foot. The gravelly quality his voice got when he hit a certain octave would also fade with time. His rib bones themselves were more or less healed, but still deeply bruised, and it hurt to breathe, walk, stand up, sit down….
They were making him see a psychiatrist in the morning.
Prompto stared at his chin in the bathroom mirror. Watched as it trembled ever so slightly, his lower lip going numb with its perpetual pout. He couldn't raise his gaze any higher, though. Had not, in fact, looked at himself in the eye since he woke. He couldn't bring himself to, because he knew. He knew there would be something different there, now. He wasn't the same Prompto that went to class that morning almost two weeks ago; the Prompto whose worst worry was the math test that afternoon. He simply wasn't that boy anymore.
That Prompto was dead.
He was gone and now he had to learn to be this Prompto. This sad, pathetic, dirty, disgusting—
"Prompto?" Noctis' voice carried through the heavy wooden door, and Prompto sucked in a breath, gripping the side of the sink.
"Yeah," he croaked, cleared his throat and tried again. "Yeah, I'm in here! Gimme a sec."
There was a muffled ascent from the outer room and Prompto shuddered out the breath he was holding. "Get your shit together," he hissed at his warped shadow in the porcelain of the sink. When he lumbered back out the door, Noctis jumped up from his perch in the armchair and took a step forward, then back, then forward again in an awkward shuffle.
Prompto favored him with a pained smile. "S'ok. I got it." He plopped unceremoniously on the bed, drawing his legs up after him and leaning back against his pillows. He furtively met Noctis' eye once or twice, but settled for staring at his hands. He'd been doing a lot of that, lately. He watched them as they twisted together; fingers gripping each other so tight that they went white in places…pulling at the skin until it tingled; until it hurt.
"…Prom…?" Noctis said his name in that quiet way that said he'd probably been trying to get his attention for a few minutes.
The blond shook his head as if he could rid himself of the shadows inside his head. "Yeah, Noct? Sorry, I think I got lost for a few minutes, there." He tried for another smile, but couldn't muster it.
"It's ok." Noctis' eyebrows were knitted together in concern, his midnight eyes dewy with emotion. His usual slow and easy smile was replaced with a watered down version that made him look vulnerable. "I was asking if you were up to another trip? I know you've had a full day with the doctor visits and the tests and stuff, but I think you'll like this."
Prompto spared him a questioning glance.
"Nuh-uh." The prince shook his head. "Surprise."
When Prompto still hedged, Noctis broke out the big guns. "C'mooonnnn. Iggy made those weird brownies you like. We can eat those when we get there."
The blond let out something akin to a chuckle. "Fine, yeah, take me away from all this, Noct."
He meant it as a joke, but Noctis regarded him seriously for a moment before reaching out to offer his help to get back up. "I will. When you're all better, we'll go somewhere great. But, for now, this will have to do."
Prompto put on a false smile as he took the prince's hand and allowed him to help him into the wheel chair he'd been using all day. He doubted he'd ever be 'all better'.
Once settled and on their way, Noctis began to talk idly about whatever suited his fancy. He told the story of a painting in one of the great halls, and some gossip about one of the guards standing outside the east wing. He prattled on for three corridors about a 'mystery' involving one of the suits of armor they passed (apparently, Ignis and Noctis were quite the eager detectives when they were small, and solved all sorts of 'mysteries' within the citadel walls). It was an odd sensation, being on the receiving end of nervous yammering.
Maybe the old Noctis was dead, too. He and old Prompto were somewhere in the afterlife, enjoying something simpler than what hung between them, now.
If only he'd not been so dumb. If he had noticed sooner that Crepitus and Lentium were not Crownsguard…if he'd just—
"We're here. Well, almost. Gotta go through those doors." Noctis parked the wheelchair and ran ahead to prop open one of the large ornate doors at the end of the hall. He hurried back and Prompto noted a bit more pep to his step as he pushed him forward and into the room…
…no, garden.
No, that couldn't be right, either. Courtyard? Miniature nature preserve? "What the actual fuck, Noct?"
The door had let them out onto a stone patio that quickly gave way to lush grass. The path that led into the stand of trees some forty yards away was well worn and hard packed. Above them, a sliver of the same kind of honeycomb energy barrier that protected the city sealed in the entire arboretum. The sun shining through it gave everything an opalescent glow.
"Yeah. Cool, huh?" The grin in Noctis' voice was tangible as he began wheeling Prompto down the path. "But this isn't even the best part. Just wait."
Despite himself, Prompto perked up, curious as to what his friend was referring to.
"So, you know, I didn't really know my mom. Dad's told me a lot about her, but she died when I was a baby. This was her place." Noctis was quiet a moment as they walked, a sadness creeping into his aura. "So anyway, the story goes that the beloved Queen Aulea was brave and bold and smart and kind and apparently, she loved cats."
As if on cue, a plaintive mewr sounded from one of the bushes along the path. It was joined by another, up higher, and Prompto tracked the sound to a set of bright green eyes looking at him with aloof disinterest from a low tree branch.
"And she was often found scouring shelters and back alleys to pick up strays…"
Noctis pushed him on and they soon came to a sunny clearing where at least a dozen cats were laying in various spots of light.
"…and Dad has kind of kept up the tradition in her honor."
"Nooooct. Caaats, Noct. Holy hell, look at them all!" Prompto grinned up at Noctis, a real true grin, and his prince gave him one in return.
"C'mon, let's go introduce you." Noctis helped him to his feet and took his arm when Prompto leaned into him, muttering encouragements. He took them over to a particularly sunny patch of grass and got him settled on the ground after having pulled a blanket and the promised Tupperware full of brownies out of his armiger.
It wasn't long before the curious cats began to wander closer to the pair. They were obviously familiar with Noctis, but were a little shy with Prompto. Well, some of them were. There were two precocious little kittens that were enthralled with the half-undone laces of his shoes. They yanked and pulled on them with their tiny claws and teeth, and he laughed softly as the balls of fluff managed to unlace one sneaker, and tighten the other.
Soon, however, both boys were covered in purring felines of all shapes and sizes and colors. A particularly fat old black cat seemed to have taken up permanent residence in Noctis' lap while a patchy calico kitten nibbled at the prince's ear. Prompto couldn't help but laugh at the half perturbed, half amused expression on his friend's face, and his fingers itched for his camera.
They spent the late afternoon like that; huddled with the cats and talking quietly about mostly normal things. It was nice.
They were just finishing up the last two brownies when Noctis made a face at him. "I don't know why you like these. Ig has so many better recipes. What makes these so great?"
Prompto huffed out a half laugh. "Dude, they are called 'Iggy's Special Brownies'."
Noctis rolled his eyes at his friend. "Right, that didn't work on me when I was ten, and it isn't going to work on me now, cause I know Iggy is not going to put weed in his precious baked goods."
Prompto shook his head with a mischievous glint in his eye. "No, but he may need to sneak vegetables into stuff so a certain prince doesn't die of malnutrition."
"What are you talking about, Prom?" Noctis stood in front of him, arms crossed and foot tapping, looking impatient and incredulous all at once.
"The secret ingredient to Iggy's Special Brownies is black beans, dude. You just ate a bunch of bean cake, essentially."
"Bean cake?! You're fucking kidding me!" Noctis' face was a mask of indignation.
Prompto grunted out a few pained laughs. "Man, don…don't get me started on what was in that 'cheese ravioli' with 'meat sauce' we had a few weeks ago." He said, complete with air quotes. "I'll give you a hint; there was no cheese or meat in the entire thing."
"Treason!" Noctis jokingly snarled as he took up position behind Prompto's chair and began wheeling them back out of the gardens. "I should have him thrown in the dungeon."
It felt good to laugh, even if it hurt.
The clicking of Cor's boots upon the stone floor of the citadel warned anyone in range that he was coming and he was not happy, which loosely translated to 'get the fuck out of his way'.
He came to a stop in the receiving area of the king's office, staring down Lapis Etiam, a small woman with stern features who wore her dark hair pulled back in a no-nonsense bun. She regarded him coolly, lifting one overly manicured eyebrow above her wire-framed glasses.
He readied himself for a fight, but she simply pressed the button on her desk that buzzed open the inner office door. "His Majesty is expecting you."
"Of course he is," he muttered under his breath as he stormed into the office proper, all but slamming the door behind him.
Regis sat behind his large desk, barely acknowledging Cor as he strode forward. Once he'd finished reviewing the document before him, he folded his hands atop it and offered a wan smile.
"Do you want to start or shall I?" He asked, furrowing his brow a little.
Ah, Cor mused darkly to himself, here's the fight. "Why don't we start with why you let that fucking quack physician run tests on that boy?!" A brief moment of silence had him remembering himself, and he added a curt 'sir' to his nearly shouted inquiry.
A shadow crossed the eyes of the king, and he looked down at the desk. "That was an unfortunate necessity."
"Necessary how? They could have killed him, Reggie. His fever was over 104 for several days, he—"
"That is enough, Cor. Though I am rather alarmed they let it rage that high, I did permit them to run their tests so that they could measure the Scourge cells more accurately. Dr. Lues also reports there being an altogether different mutation as well, which is quite concerning."
"I reviewed the reports, your highness, and still saw no reason to keep him sick. The doctors figured out he and the others were not contagious years ago; their particular strains of the Scourge are dormant. Just because the cells multiply under stress is no reason—"
"You're going to tell me that after everything that happened that you see no reason for us to be extra cautious of the boy? For us to need to test the reach of his affliction?! My son killed for him, Cor. He executed two men without trial—"
"I would have done the same if I'd gotten there first. You saw the photos, read the reports. What those men did to Prompto was unconscionable."
Regis got to his feet, slamming his hands down upon the desk and leaning forward to glower at the younger man. "You are not a sixteen year old boy! You are not fated to one day rule this country!" The king slowly straightened up, letting out a blustery sigh before changing tactics. "How do you think the citizens of Insomnia will feel if they find out that there are those who walk among them that have daemon essence in their very blood? If those people were known to exist by the people meant to protect them? If one of them was a possible love interest of the crown prince?"
Cor had not prepared for this line of questioning, and it showed as he worked his mouth soundlessly. Satisfied that he had the younger man's attention, the king continued. "I love my son very much, Cor. And I want nothing but his happiness. What am I supposed to do here? Just let my son lose himself within someone who may not be what he seems?" Regis pinched the bridge of his nose and turned towards the lone window in his office. He strode towards it and placed his hands upon the sill, staring out at the afternoon sky for long agonizing moments. "How many are even left of the group, Leonis? Or do you even keep track anymore?"
Cor rapped the knuckles of his right hand twice upon the surface of the desk. "We started with seven. And ah, three are left, including Argentum."
"I know that two of them did not last long enough to be adopted out; what of the other two?"
Cor looked to the side, keeping silent. He knew Regis was just as aware as he of what happened to the other two children. As if hearing his thoughts, the king spoke up again. "They vanished, isn't that right? 'Poof' in the night; they disappeared. Just like all the other afflicted."
"Yes, but they both disappeared over five years ago, and they lived outside the wall. The three that remained within Insomnia have shown no signs of abnormalities." Cor groaned, leaning his head back and staring up at the ceiling. "Until now."
Regis turned back from the window and once again took his seat at the desk, pulling a decanter of brandy and two tumblers from the bottom drawer and proceeded to pour them each a hefty drink.
Cor joined him after a bit of internal debate, taking the glass and staring down into the amber liquid. "Still a shitty thing to do. I'm sure the poor kid has had enough experiments done on him to last a lifetime. And, then, to go through what he just went through only to have the people who are supposed to be helping him purposely keep him from fully recovering because something interesting came up in his blood work…it's fucked up, Reggie."
The king sighed. "Look, Cor, for what it's worth, I'm sorry." He took a long swig of his brandy and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling.
"Well, Reggie, it's not fucking worth much." Cor's chair scraped across the stone floor, squealing out his displeasure. He didn't say another word as he left the office, letting the door shut softly behind him.
Regis poured himself another drink.