Chapter 8

Prompto:

After about an hour of driving, the group of friends had finally cleared through all of the security gates leading outside of the crown city. Noct had long fallen asleep, and was now using his friend's legs as a pillow. Sighing, Prompto just turned his gaze towards the scenery.
The area they were driving in was not very interesting. There was some small shrubs here and there, and every so often they would see some wildlife, but other then that there wasn't too much to look at. Prompto felt his eyes starting to grow heavy with sleep.

Prompto looked down at his hands which were resting on the desk in front of him. He recognized the desk and notes from when he was in high school, right after he and Noct had become friends. The class period went by quickly, and when the bell rang, he excused himself to use the restroom. While he was washing his hands, a few boys he had not recognized came into the room. Without meaning to, he listened in on their conversation.
"Can you believe how many omegas go to this school?
"Yeah, there's so many of them, it fucking stinks here."

"Why do omegas even go to school? They're only good for one thing."

"And we all know they're not smart enough to do anything productive."

Prompto looked at his hands as the soap washed off of them. Is that all I'm going to be good for? As he contemplated this, the bathroom door opened and a group of omegas walked in. The boys from earlier noticed this, and instantly backed them into a corner.
"What are you omegas doing in this bathroom?"

"Yeah, can't you tell this is alpha territory? Or, were you looking for an alpha to show you what you're purpose is?"

"No, we just came to use the restroom."

"Well, you can't. I won't let you." The alpha looked down on the omegas in disgust. One of them had gotten so scared he wet himself.

Prompto woke from his dream with a start, causing Noctis to also wake up. He hadn't thought about that day in years, but it still haunts him. All of the stress of his current situation must be why he had that dream. He could sense Ignis looking at him in the rearview mirror with concern.

"Are you alright, Prompto?"

"Yeah, I'm ok. Just a bad dream." Prompto tried to play it off as nothing, but he could feel his ears drooping in sadness over the memory.

Noctis looked at his friend with sleepy concern. Prompto just smiled at him, then turned to continue looking out the window. He would not be falling asleep again during this trip.

"How about some tunes, huh?" Gladio said, knowing that music would help sooth prompto's thoughts. The car was suddenly filled with a quiet melody that reminded him of a video game he had once played a long time ago.

Noctis:

Noctis didn't fall asleep the rest of the trip. He was worried about his blonde friend. He remembered that his friend had nightmares in high school, but it been a while since he had he had two nightmares this week. Yesterday it seemed like his friend was under a lot of stress when he ran into him outside of the specialty shop. Noctis had tried to take some of his friend's stress away by making a joke, but it seemed to backfire on him.

Before leaving on their trip, he pulled Ignis aside, and asked if Ignis could distract Gladio at some point so he could talk to Prompto. Ignis thought that was a wonderful idea, and had agreed. Noct couldn't shake the feeling that Ignis knew what was bothering Prompto, but he also knew that Ignis wouldn't tell him anything.

After what felt like forever, the group finally pulled to a stop at hunter headquarters. Prompto was the first one out of the car, followed by everyone around.
"Let's check out the shop." Gladio said as he and Prom already started walking that way.

"Come with us Noct."

"Yes, it would be a good idea to stock up on curratives before meeting Dave, the head hunter for our assignment."

After spending all of their funds on potions, elixirs and cup noodles, the group made their way to where Dave was standing.

"Good evening boys. I see that you made it in one piece. I hope it's not too much trouble to ask you to come all the way out here."

"No trouble at all." Ignis said, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Yeah. We're glad to help anyway we can."

"I'm glad to hear that coming from the crown prince himself. These are dark times, and we seem to be losing more hunters then we are gaining new ones. I hate to ask you to do this kind of thing, but I need you to retrieve some dog tags for me in the Mrylwood, near the Vesperpool. I sent a team of hunters out to take out some creatures that were causing trouble, and they have not returned. I would like to return their dog tags to their families, if possible, to ease their families minds."

"Leave it to us. We will return with the fallen dog tags." Ignis said solemnly.

"We'll take out the troublesome creatures while we're there too." Gladio added.

The group of four returned to their car, and all hopped in, Ignis once again taking the driver's seat. Once they had arrived at the vesperpool, they quickly set up camp. While Gladio and Prompto set up the tents and chairs, Ignis and Noctis set to work preparing the evening's meal.

"Penny for your thoughts, your highness?" Ignis asked without looking up from the vegetables he was chopping.

"I'm worried about Prompto. He seems really stressed about something."

"Yes, he does seem to be quite distracted by something. As promised, I will keep Gladio distracted while you take Prom and try to find out what's bothering him."

"Thank you, Ignis."

Once the four had eaten and settled down for the evening, Ignis cleared his throat and looked thoughtfully at Noctis. "Your highness, I do believe there is a fishing spot nearby. Perhaps you and Prompto would like to go check it out? I hear it is also a great spot to take pictures."

Quickly catching on to what Ignis was suggesting, Noctis agreed. Prompto, however didn't seem very excited to be joining his friend. The two friends walked slowly towards the designated fishing spot, a strange silence falling between them.
Noctis pulled his rod, and began to fish, as Prompto took pictures of the scenery, and even got a few pictures of Noctis as he fished. As the silence continued, the tension was slowly beginning to rise between them. Finally, Noctis spoke up.

"So, What's been up with you lately?"

"Huh?" Prompto looked up, as if he was in deep thought before Noctis said anything.

"You heard me. You've been acting weird. Ignis and Gladio noticed it too." The two friends had stopped walking, and Noctis was now facing Prompto.

"Oh. I… uh…" Looking down at the ground in defeat, Prompto could feel his ears droop and his tail fall, both are submissive behavior only omegas demonstrate. Prompto gives a heavy sigh. "Noct, I have something to tell you. Please, don't be mad at me for not telling you sooner."

"Tell me what sooner?"

Before Prompto could say anything though, a strange feeling moved up his spine. He heard light footsteps behind them as someone approached.

"Oh my. It seems I stumbled upon an intimate moment. I hope I didn't interrupt anything too important."

Noctis immediately moved in front of Prompto, as if to protect him. "What are you doing here? And what do you want?" Noctis growled, his hair standing up slightly.

"Oh nothing, really. I only came to collect what is rightfully mine."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"That boy behind you. I'm taking him, and claiming him as mine."

"Why would you claim an alpha as yours? That doesn't make any sense."

The creepy many looked passed Noctis right at Prompto. "Oh my, you haven't told him yet?"

"Tell me what?" Noctis growled. He was starting to get frustrated. Why would nobody tell him what was going on.

"Your friend there has been keeping secrets from you. He is not what he claims to be at all. Go on then, boy. Tell him what you really are."

Noctis turned towards Prompto, who was now fully displaying submissive behavior out of instinct. "Noct. I… I'm not an alpha." He said quietly, not lifting his head, tears forming in his eyes.

"What? I don't understand."

"Oh my, you really are dense, aren't you. I'll say it clearly for you. That boy there, is an omega. And I have come to take him as mine."

Ardyn surged forward, and dealt a painful blow to Noctis, knocking him out cold. The last thing he remembers was seeing a terrified Prompto being grabbed, and knocked unconscious.