Gladio kept looking back at his shadows. The two kidified hunters, a boy and a girl called Zach and Halley, had been entrusted to him by Dave whenever he dropped them off at the edge of the Malmalam Thicket.
"The sign says "No Hunters Allowed," but right now they're not hunters, so it's alright."
He'd had to traumatize Halley by destroying a herd of spiracorns. To be fair, those spiracorns would have mauled the kids had he not killed them. "Sorry, not sorry" as Prompto would say. Still, they were almost to the point on the map Dave had indicated. Ah, a hut and an old lady?
"Hello! Kimya, I am. In need of my services, are you?"
"Yeah. These are Zach and Halley. They're not supposed to be kids right now. Can you fix them?" Gladio said, "Here's a sample of what shrunk them." He handed her the litch ashes.
"Ash of a monster? Nothing, this tells me. Test it, I shall." Kimya shuffled into her hut and came back with a tray of test-tubes and each one had a different glowing liquid in it. She set it on a bench nearby and opened the handkerchief and sprinkled parts of the litch ashes in the tubes. There were no responses.
"Irreversible, this is. Grow up naturally, they shall have to," Kimya said.
"Are you sure? Dave seemed to think you'd know how to fix this," Gladio said, "We have a friend who was also turned into a kid and we need him to be an adult. The world needs him to be an adult!"
"Speak as if your friend were the King of Light, you do," Kimya said. Gladio stared at her, "I see. The King of Lucis, your friend is. Difficult, this must be. Help you, I cannot except my silence."
"Are you sure you can't help?" Gladio said.
"Potions and curatives, my specialties are. Curses and spell work, lay outside my abilities they do," Kimya said.
"Thanks anyway. Kids, say good bye to Madame Kimya," Gladio said.
"Bye!" Zach said. Halley ducked behind Gladio.
"Your gratitude I accept," Kimya said.
"Remember, my shadow should always eclipse yours."
"Yes, Mr. Gladio!" Zach said.
"Yes, Gladio." Halley rubbed her arm and Gladio nodded to them. The trail was more treacherous at late afternoon, but they had to keep going to avoid nightfall. The buzzing let him know a killer bee was zooming right at his head. He smashed the bee with his sword and before he rammed the blade down on a spiracorn that tried to gore him. The horn snapped off with a satisfying crack!
"Here," Gladio handed it to Halley who looked up at him. "It's worth money and it's a neat trophy to show off to Dave."
"I want one too," Zach said.
"You'll get one, I'm sure," Gladio said. A few moments later a havocfang attacked and he broke out some of its teeth. Zach took them with a grin. It was a game as Gladio took down more beasts on the way down. They were finally at the bridge where Dave was waiting for them, but it was later than he'd hoped because of the kids and the attacks.
"There's a haven nearby," Gladio said.
"I know the one you mean. Ok, what have you two got there?" Dave said.
"Gladio gave us these!" Zach said.
"He said they were trophies," Halley said.
"Sure are. They prove what brave kids you two are," Dave said.
Dinner was cup noodles because Gladio couldn't cook and neither, it turned out, could Dave.
"Where did the camping gear come from?" Dave asked.
"Subspace. I keep it there to save trunk space in our car," Gladio said, "Perks of being friends with a magic user."
"I take it she couldn't help?" Dave said.
"No," Gladio said, "The ones affected have to grow up again."
"What does that mean for your quest?" Dave asked.
"Not sure. I think Iggy might have one more trick to try in reversing this, but we'd need to get to Altissia first," Gladio said.
"Thanks for taking them up to her," Dave said.
"No problem," Gladio said, "Why'd you think she could help, anyway?"
"Well, rumor has it she's a witch," Dave said.
"Didn't seem very witch like to me, aside from the weird speaking bit she pulled. Right out of that movie Noct and Prompto watch way too often," Gladio said.
"Well, she makes very effective potions and cures, so people assumed she was a witch for it," Dave said.
"It's a kind of magic, but it's also inherent in the stuff used. Now there are somethings that are only effective when Noct touches them or they're activated by his powers. Well not only effective or I guess shops wouldn't carry 'em but I think they're usually herbal remedies and not straight up used to fix magical afflictions," Gladio said.
"Really? What are the things—."
"Well the flower "maiden's kiss" actually does reverse the toad curse nagas like to cast, even when used to flavor some fruity drink," Gladio said, "A gold needle undoes petrification, smelling salts fix magic induced confusion, for example."
"But nothing to undo becoming a child," Dave said.
"No Lucii ever came across this curse before, and never had to reverse it," Gladio said, "Or Noct would have been taught how to undo it with whatever corresponding cure it was."
"This is where we part ways?" Dave said.
"Yeah. I need to head to meet up with the others," Gladio said.
"We'll be on our way back to Meldacio then. Take care out there," Dave said.
"Likewise. You two, stick with Dave," Gladio said.
"Yes Mr. Gladio!"
"Ok Gladio!" Gladio pulled out his chocobo whistle. It was like magic whenever the blue chocobo sidled up. The poor bird wasn't a natural blue, but he left Prompto alone with some gil near a place that sold feather dye and the result was a quartet of colorful birds in shades of blue. Gladio mounted and soon, they were galloping across Eos. It was likely going to take him all day to get to Cape Caem by bird, and that was without being attacked by MT's. He hoped, not being in the Regalia or with Noct might discourage the MT's from bothering him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll get my bird off the road whenever daemons and beasts aren't a problem," Gladio grumbled. The drivers on the roadways were not appreciative of a man riding his chocobo on the roads. In his defense, the roads were usually mostly empty. Near settlements traffic was more frequent, but usually he and his bird had the road to themselves. It was already after noon. He checked a roadsigns and sighed. He would be cutting it close.
Ignis pulled off the road at the end of the drive. The sun had just set. He heard trotting and looked up to see a tired blue chocobo and Gladio. He hopped off and stretched.
"You ok, Gladio?" Ignis asked, once he exited the Regalia.
"Bit sore, but otherwise ok," Gladio said. Ignis said Noctis had climbed out with Carbuncle on his heels and he was mesmerized by the Chocobo. Right, though the adult Noctis preferred to play down his love of the feathery creatures, a child Noctis would likely express that love more openly.
"Hey, looking more like you!" Gladio said reaching down and picking Noctis up.
"Hey! I'm not a little kid, put me down!" Noctis said.
"Everyone's little compared to me. Even grown-up you!" Gladio said before setting the miniaturized king down.
"Any news from the Thicket?" Ignis asked.
"Nothing," Gladio said, "Except the course of time and nature."
"What?" Prompto said.
"He means if we want adult Noctis back, we have to wait for him to grow up again," Ignis said.
"But we don't have time for that!" Prompto said.
"Why?" Noctis asked.
"Have you heard the prophecy yet?" Ignis asked.
"Luna told me," Noctis said.
"It's coming true at the moment and we need you as big you because you have to be big you to fulfill your destiny," Ignis said.
"Oh," Noctis said looking down.
"It's not your fault, or anything. It's that monster that cursed you," Prompto said.
"We do have one more option to pursue but it will be sometime before we can put it into effect," Ignis said.
"Why?" Noctis said.
"It involves getting to the Oracle. She's in Altissia and we're here. We were waiting for Cid to finish fixing up the boat whenever we went on that hunt that ended up with you becoming a kid again," Ignis said.
"Who's Cid?" Noctis said.
"He's a mechanic who knew your dad," Gladio said.
"Oh," Noctis said looking down. The phones buzzed.
Aren't there people here waiting for us?
"Right, best press on," Ignis said. cataurs
"Who's here?" Noctis asked.
"My sister Iris," Gladio said.
"There's Talcott. Cool kid if a little obsessed about cactuars," Prompto said.
"Says the man completely obsessed with chocobos," Gladio said.
"There are also Talcott's Uncle Dustin, a loyal retainer of the Amicitia family, and Monica a loyal agent of the Crownsguard," Ignis said, "They've been told about what has happened, so they will not be too shocked by seeing you like this."
Noctis was still nervous as they walked up the winding path.
"What if you can't fix me," he asked.
"Fix you?" Iggy said.
"You're planning on turning me back into big me again by asking the Oracle, and what if she can't fix me?" Noctis asked, "What will we do then?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Gladio said, "Prompto filled me in on that spell you did earlier. I guess we can't count you out entirely."
"Besides, why worry about what might be whenever there's what is right in front of you," Prompto said.
"That was oddly profound coming from you," Iggy said.
"That hurts, Iggy. Really does."
MP: HC: Noctis and Prompto routinely have Star Wars marathons. Gladio does not appreciate this in the least. Ignis acts unwilling, but they always manage to rope him into it too and he makes delicious and healthy snacks.
Also: The game calls "maiden's Kiss" a fruity drink so I decided that it takes its name from a flower with a fruity flavor of its own and that flower is the root of its curative properties.
I named the Hunters at random.