Author's Note: Applause to all the authors on this site. Writing stories (especially one with multiple chapters) is kinda hard, I've noticed. XD

Also, thanks for the reviews, especially Katchihe. They are all very helpful to understand the fresh reception of the writing after my sore eyes have read it over for mistakes countless times (and not to mention are fun to read anyway xD). So again, thank you very much for the kind words and I hope it continues to please you all.

In response to altair703's review, I think I can say without spoiling anything that Noctis will show up later in the plot, but how long it'll take to reach that, I'm not too sure. I just wanted to wait to get to that point before adding it in the description, but he'll show up. ^^

For the story, sorry, I had to slam ya with more descriptions of things. There'll probably be 1-2 more chapters (pending) describing things before the plot truly progresses, but I promise it will!


Vitalus

Chapter 3: Gail

Prompto opened his eyes slowly but squinted when he was met with a bright light. He saw an arm push the light out of his face but he still brought a hand up that'd rub it to help his sight readjust to the room.

"You should be fine now, but no roughhousing for a while, alright?" The woman said. Sitting up and allowing the cloth that had been covering him to slide off, Prompto looked around to the see source of the adult voice he had been hearing. He found himself in a room not especially spacious but big enough to serve its obvious purpose as a makeshift operating room. There were miscellaneous dated medical tools and equipment laid out on counters where it wasn't so much clutter as it was simply a lot of useful things to pack into such a limited space. Large book cases, cabinets and a few sinks lined a few of the walls and even given the bright operation light, the room was very dimly lit. He could spot a few scrap neon lights here and there to help out with this problem but it did little to truly illuminate the room.

Eventually, Prompto's eyes fell on the woman who addressed him.

He could tell by her voice that the she was older but he couldn't tell much else about her than that. She wore a nurse outfit, a stained, splattered once-upon-a-time-white shirtdress that reached down to the middle of her shins. A dull white vintage hat and a surgical mask that covered her face also accompanied it, so in other words he didn't even know what the lady looked like aside from the outfit.

She said nothing else as she leaned casually against the table behind her almost as if she was waiting for him to take his turn to say something. Prompto suddenly became rather uncomfortable under the cold unwavering gaze of her nearly clear eyes and he grasped for anything at all he could say. He rubbed the back of his head finally breaking her eye contact.

"Er...thanks for healing me, Doc?" he said at last but more like a question since she didn't say anything informative yet.

"...Gail." She stated flatly, startling Prompto. "Dr. Gail Bellamy." She cocked her head like she was observing some rare specimen when she asked, "How are you feeling, Lad? I see my girls found you somewhere in the city and dragged your carcass here for healing. I applaud that you beat the odds. It either means you're extremely resilient or incredibly stubborn."

With that, Gail fell silent again scrutinizing his reaction with what was probably a blank expression. Whatever was occurring in her head, she seemed to possess no concept of the word "awkward" in how she would allow such long squirming pauses. Prompto couldn't help but glower at the poor excuse of a greeting especially when it was followed up by her intense silence. And to be honest, the harsh silence spoke a lot louder than her biting tone.

This lady wasn't exactly aiming to impress, was she?

"Well, Dr. Bellamy," Prompto a replied with a hint of sarcasm, "I'm Prompto. I'm feeling just fine, thank you. Also, I'm in a hurry. So if you don't mind, I'm going to find my gun and high tail it outta here." With that, he slid off the table and onto the floor since he was slightly on the taller side anyway. He was stopped with a halting hand and his brown eyes beheld piercing grey ones yet again.

"Hold it right there. Even if I did let you go that easily, I'm not allowing my girls see you dressed like that." She demanded, crossing her arms. "Or lack thereof for that matter..."

She gestured for him to wait then walked over to table on the other side of the room. Prompto raised a questioning eyebrow and looked down. Just as soon as he did, he snapped his gaze up and shut his eyes letting out a groan in absolute frustration realizing he only had his pants and shoes on in addition to missing his weapon. Upon closer inspection, he even noticed he now sported a fresh set of well sewn stitches where his wounds were earlier that night.

Prompto turned to glare at her again only to be met with a flash of brown and white to the face when Gail tossed his clothes to him.

"And by the way, yes that is a new shirt. Your old one was reduced to nothing more than bloody gauze. The girls thought you'd need a new one and fashioned that based off the other. Once you're fully dressed, then you can at least walk around."

Without waiting for a response, she turned away from Prompto and headed for a hidden office inside the medical lab. It was largely for the sake of giving him privacy as he got dressed, even it just being a shirt and vest to put on.

Ignoring her abrupt personality and behavior, he asked "What do you mean by 'your girls'? Are you raising a family or something?" he called out to the other room as he shrugged on his shirt with relative ease. Whoever the kids were, they did a pretty good job with the fitting for using spare resources.

"You could say that..." She responded thoughtfully. "But think of it more as if I'm adopting them, I suppose. There sadly aren't many to be found these days but it's always worth the effort to rescue them."

With every passing sentence, Prompto became even more puzzled by Gail than he did a few seconds before. The vague answers to his questions only translated into more inquiries.

"Rescue? Did something happen?" Prompto asked placing his vest on and ruffling up his hair a little out of sheer impulse.

"Nothing particularly recent. It's regrettable they have such a hard time surviving under these tough conditions but what can one do but the best they can?" she admitted. "Seems a little strange to be asked a question like that though."

"How so?"

"No cautious person dares to venture anywhere without knowing anything about their destination, especially if they end up here. Of that, hope no one sent you. Talk about getting hung up and left to dry." She said accusingly making the gunner twitch an eye.

"Excuse me for asking." he glowered, before attacking the heavier statement. Prompto didn't know who she this Gail thought she was but he didn't appreciate baseless accusations, and if she really thought he had some hidden agenda he was going to set that straight immediately. "I also hate to disappoint, but I'm not nearly as 'shady' as you'd like to think. I honestly got a little lost and I never had any intention to visit this shoddy town. Maybe if you thought to ask how I ended up injured before assuming anything, you'd realize I was actually chased and shot at by soldiers." He snapped at her. "If not for staring death in the lookers, I'd have kept going."

"Then I don't suppose you'd mind telling me where you were really going then? If you're so transparent, that is." she challenged.

"I realized you healed me and all, but I'm not too trusting of strangers myself." Prompto said as he crossed his arms.

"Fair enough..." She replied still gripped in doubt before they both fell into silence. Breaking it, she asked the young blonde, "Are you decent?"

"As decent as you." He replied curtly. More impatiently, he asked, "Where's my gun?"

He watched as Gail stepped back into the room. Prompto saw that she hadn't simply just been waiting in her office. Apparently she was switching out of her uniform herself, now dressed more casually, if such a word could be used to describe Gail.

Instead of the dingy nurse apparel she donned earlier, Gail was now wearing a much neater peach shirtdress of sorts and a long, heavy cream jacket over it. Both articles of clothing were considerably faded and rather dusty with dirt despite her efforts to keep it as presentable as possible. Her shoes were well worn brown combat boots that appeared to retain a shocking amount of mileage in them, and like her apparel, she did what she could to keep them tidy. (Might be the reason why they've lasted this long.)

Her hair was even stranger than her apparel. It was an ashy brown at shoulder length and fashioned where the front locks had been pulled and clipped to the back so the remaining hair was kept out of the way. The ends were tightly curled and overall had a surprising sheen to it.

Her face showed her age as if she had been under a lot of stress her whole life, and Prompto guessed that she was probably in her mid forties. He saw that she was incredibly pale as if she had stayed indoors for years refusing to step into the sunshine. This coupled with her sharp gray eyes gave her a very ghostly appearance that could be very hard to stare at if you thought about it too much. While Gail did not leave a very good impression on him initially, Prompto did admit to himself that she was somewhat pretty in her own right and for her age. She had a unique style visually that hadn't been embraced by the rest of the world for decades. If her color scheme was any more de-saturated, she'd be like a living photograph taken in yesteryears unknown to him.

He stared at her in inquisitive wonder at these observations only brought back to the present, so to speak, when she made a coughing sound to get his attention. "I take it this is yours?" she asked, handing over his gun which he eagerly accepted. He felt kind of incomplete without it.

"Thanks again." Prompto responded politely...enough. Pulling it up to rest on his shoulder he made a gesture to imitate looking at a watch. "Ah, look at that time, Madame Bellamy. As much as I'd love to linger in your very...humble abode," he jabbed earning a scoff from Gail, "I need to get going. Places to go, hopefully no other people to see. You get the gist."

"Are you sure you want to be so hasty? From here I doubt you'll get far." She stated bluntly, this time stern with no particular intention to be harsh. "You were quite a mess when you got here, you know. If you attempt to navigate these streets alone again you'll only get yourself killed. Three hours of work lying in a ditch somewhere? That'd be hotsy-totsy." she grumbled.

The last bit of wording made Prompto question if he suffered head trauma in addition to getting shot. He looked at Gail in vexed disbelief not sure of how to respond. He opened his mouth a few times to address it but opted to disregard the lingo quietly when he brought up a hand and instead head for the door.

"Look," Prompto began once he approached it, "I appreciate your scathing concern, but I think I can take care of myself. It's just one giant, grimy street, right? If I can't get out of that alive, I don't even deserve to live." This merited a noticeable reaction from Gail.

"One street?" Gail asked calmly but very much astounded by his supposed lack of knowledge for his surroundings. Prompto largely shrugged off her subtle reaction but noticed it was suddenly void of the bite it had earlier like she was genuinely shocked. "Surely you must be joking, lad?"

"I could say the same to you." He retorted twisting the handle and walking out the door and into her living space. Gail stood there confused for a moment before she hurried her stride after Prompto curious about this very incorrect idea of a 'single street'.

Both entered a large living room immediately outside of the operating room that still felt very closed in, maybe because most of the walls and the floor was concrete. The room had the usual couch, loveseat, coffee as well as end table and so forth surprisingly void of clutter. Bookshelves, memorabilia and documents helped to fill up wall space and the lighting was an improvement compared to the lab. Momentarily taking in some of the room's contents, the notable absence of windows instilled a growing claustrophobia in Prompto that he never knew he was capable of.

Just another reason for him to move along as soon as possible.

"Wait a minute, Prompto was it?" Gail called out catching up and blocking his path to the door.

How annoying that she pretty much matched his height else he could easily sidestep her. The young man glared knives as he tapped his gun against his shoulder impatiently.

"What did you mean by 'one giant street'? You know there are numerous large streets you could be referring to. And plenty of alleys to get lost in for that matter. What honestly makes you say there's just one? If you were chased through them, you should know much better than that."

"'Cause I saw it with my own eyes. And frankly, I think you're crazy." Prompto responded curtly. The woman sighed in frustration unfazed by his opinion.

"Okay, that's fine." Gail says calmly trying a different approach to their would-be circular miscommunication. "You don't believe me? I'll humor you. Pray tell, Prompto, what do you recall of your surroundings before you passed out? Make me understand your perspective, because obviously we are in two separate books."

Prompto let out a groan at the woman's persistence thinking it highly unnecessary considering their unusual argument that he knew he was right.

"Simple as I said in the other room. I was running through a forest at dusk and I stumbled across this village built along a single street. After that, I passed out from my injuries and woke up in here." he repeated.

The added mention of 'dusk' piqued Gail's interest as she compared his account mentally with another take on the same situation. This distracted her from Prompto's departure, even when he announced to the surgeon "For the thousandth time, thank you and good night, Ms. Bellamy. It's been real fun but I'm outta here." With that he stepped around her and hastened out the door and away from her.

It didn't take Gail too long to connect the dots once the door slammed shut.

Wait, he saw a forest and a small village at dusk? That can't be right. To witness dusk, you'd have to see the sun! And to see the sun, you'd have to go to...

Gail's face contorted in doubt.

...No. The girls... they said they found him in the streets half dead. Neither have a reason to lie to me, right? Why are the stories so different?

The more she thought about it, she realized how vague the children's explanation to her was which left a lot of room for Gail to assume. Ironically, the clarity of truth hit her like a bat at their very ambiguous wording. She inwardly applauded the children's clever phrasing but was highly upset at their blatant disobedience.

'Found him in the streets, huh?' I'll have an interesting talk with them about that later. She told herself.

Gail noticed looking up that Prompto was long gone to her chagrin. She figured since it truly may not have been his fault to end up in her house that she might as well at least let him know what he was going up against. In hindsight, she admitted she could have utilized a different method of uncovering Prompto's true intentions, but the kids' failure to specify where precisely they found him did not allow much room for trust. Had she have known otherwise, she would have handled him accordingly but there was no way to change what had transpired and all she could do was move foward.

The young man obviously had no idea what he was dragged into as a result and she began to wonder how far the peturbed blonde could have gone in a matter of minutes. She then began to wonder if he had already gotten hopelessly lost but a screech from outside and familiar shouts oddly settled her nerves.

Preparing herself to step out, she smoothed her already neat hair, adjusted her coat and patted her dress. Straightening her posture, she went out into the street to fetch Prompto and drag the klutz back to safety.


Character Achivement Unlcocked

Sooo... I see you've met Gail. xD

As the 'reward' for it, her design can be observed in the icon for this story. Hopefully it matches her description well enough.

Let me know what you think in a review if you'd like.

Bleh. Personally I didn't like this chapter much, a lot of it due to having to portray a vague miscommunication without putting it too plainly. Been fumbling with it for days. :P Probably failed it miserably but next two chapters will clear it all up and I'll post them together next time I update. Comments, critiques, questions, reasonable complaints, observations. Feel free to drop them off.