Blessings of Eos

Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy.

"You better get all your questions out this weekend; I don't think I'll want to answer any after that." Prompto informed Noctis, still holding hands.

"What about Gladio and Ignis? Do you think you'd be able to tell them? You don't have to, but they're gonna wonder just what was so big that I'd spend the weekend with you after learning it." Noct told him.

Prompto just sighed. "I don't think I want to tell them as much as you…maybe just that since I was supposed to join the Imperial Army Officer Corp, they started early, and someone who disagreed with the methods got me out? It's kinda the truth."

"How so?" The bed was narrow, meaning that aside from on top of one another, the only comfortable position was on their sides. Noct propped his head up on his right hand as he asked the question.

"The file had like everything they had on me, and the first thing in it was a birth certificate. Miss Aerith left a note explaining why there'd be a birth certificate made; mostly to keep anyone not connected to the magitek trooper program from looking too closely if a unit was deemed to be of more use as an officer. Evidently, they came up with names based on the letters at the end of the number." Prompto looked at his right wrist, where the bar code lay under the wristband. "The letters denote the maternal and paternal genetic sources, the first letter for maternal and the second for paternal. So 'Prompto Argentum' was the name assigned to me. I had always thought Miss Aerith made it up." He admitted.

"Kind of a big coincidence that you got adopted by Dr. Argentum and her husband. Looking at the three of you, I'd have never guessed you were adopted without you telling me, since you look like her, somewhat." Noct said.

"There were pictures of my genetic parents included. Mom resembles my genetic mother, 'Pamela Kania'. She said her dad's surname was 'Kania' and that grandma said she looked like him. There were never any pictures of him, so it's kinda up in the air just how far the resemblance goes." Prompto shrugged with his free shoulder. "It doesn't really matter in the end; Mom and Dad are my parents in all the ways that really count, even if it would be kinda cool that I wound up being adopted by my aunt or cousin."

"Aren't there blood tests they can do?"

"Yeah there are. Mom asked if I'd want to find out for sure, but I said no." Prompto then asked about something that had caught his attention. "So you already knew Mom?"

"Kinda. She led the operation on me after the daemon attack." Noct told him. "She checked up on me for a year or two afterwards to make sure there wasn't any complications."

"Man, we kinda came close to meeting soon after the dream, didn't we?" Prompto mused. "Mom asked me if I wanted to come along with her to see a patient a few times, but I always said no. Never really felt comfortable tagging along."

"Who is Miss Aerith exactly, anyway?" Noct had to ask. She seemed to keep coming up in relation to Prompto. "I think Dad mentioned her a couple times when he'd tell me stories about his travels during the war, and she looks familiar."

"You don't remember seeing Her near the end of the dream? Carbuncle said She was my 'safe place'." Prompto asked.

"I do, but I know I've seen her before then." It was frustrating. Noct was sure he'd seen Miss Aerith before the dream. He just couldn't think of when.

The boys lapsed into silence. Noct was fascinated by the noises of the house settling. The Citadel was so massive that the only noises were from other people, and his apartment building was too recently built to make the same kind of noises.

Truth be told, it was kind of creepy, not knowing what the noises were, but Noct couldn't bring himself to try freaking Prompto out by asking about the noises. "…so they call them 'units'?" He finally asked.

"Yeah." Prompto worked his arm free, pulling a chain with a tag on it out of his shirt. Noct had seen it before, but never close enough to read the writing on it. "No birthdays either, just 'production dates'." He ran his thumb over the writing. "I don't really need to keep this; I know my birthday and blood type now, and it's not like I can forget the number. It was the first thing I remember, learning my number." He tucked it back into his shirt. "Can't bring myself to take it off though."

"Is what happened, Before, why you're always muffling your voice when you wake up?" Noct had always wondered about that; it was a weird quirk.

"I guess I was…four? The first time I saw the final transition. It was one of the units from production year M.E. 729 who would be kind to the other production years…at least, what passed as kindness there. When it's done…the mouth and eyes leak with the blackness, and the skin looks like something out of a zombie movie. Before they took her away, for what was called 'final processing' to get fitted with the armor and magitek…it was like she was looking through me, not at me. Afterwards, I started to wake up screaming. They put me in isolation, and…trained? Conditioned? Me until I stopped waking up screaming." Prompto admitted, curling down so his head was tucked under Noct's chin. "You know that nightmare I told you about, where there's a snake eating a woman? When I try to save her, and reach her…she looks the way the unit did then. I remember it as a snake eating her…but in reality, she was changed, cuz she tried to stop them from hurting us too much…the woman looks like the picture of 'Pamela Kania'."

"Alright, enough dark stuff. Tell me more about your trip with Miss Aerith." Noct declared.

"When we stayed at the chocobo post at Chrissy's house, we had a splash fight when She gave me a bath the first night. I had only had showers before, so She asked if I minded Her staying in the room. She washed my hair for me and it was like She had magic hands, it felt so good! Begged Her to wash my hair for me every time I washed after that. Ms. Myra, Chrissy's mom did chocobo-shaped pancakes and scrambled eggs and biscuits and cake the last night we were there. I asked Chrissy what the trick was, and she said it was just chocobo-shaped cookie cutters in different sizes.

"The day before we reached the post we found a fawn in a hunter's trap when we were looking for dinner. Miss Aerith said that it would be kinder to kill the fawn, since it was too young to survive without its mother and the mother had left. But after She got the meat we looked for other traps so it wasn't too bad. She nearly burned dinner though. Got too distracted by what we were doing."

"What could be so distracting as to nearly burn dinner?" Noct asked, not really aware of the fact he was playing with Prompto's hair, and had been since he tucked his head under his chin.

"She was working with me on the Sight. She was all sparkly, with pretty green sparkles, and She said that I could See them cuz I had the Sight. So She was making it stronger and teaching me about it." Prompto answered, being very aware of Noct playing with his hair but enjoying it too much draw attention to it, in case he stopped.

"I've never Seen anything with sparkles in the Sight. What do sparkles mean? Wait, you've got the Sight too? Isn't it supposed to be rare? I only have it because of the Crystal." Noct said.

"Yeah…Miss Aerith said that the Sight is an extension of what is usually called the sixth sense, so it's probably more common than you would think, where people can actually See stuff, but they don't want to be seen as crazy. She did stay that practically everyone has it when they're really little, but grow out of it as they get older and get told that what they're Seeing isn't there. She said the sparkles meant She wasn't human, since humans and animals have a steady glow in the Sight." Prompto paused here, before continuing. "I can See kill shots really easy; I don't need to think about aiming for them, I just can. I thought it was because of the blackness, but I've found out since that it's a form of the Sight. It's why I was wearing glasses for a few years, so things were blurry enough to not be distracted by them. Headache got too bad though." Prompto yawned, the late hour getting to him. "Talked to someone else who Sees them, so I got a few tricks on filtering them out."

"After the daemon attack, I started Seeing when souls passed through Etro's Gate. It's part of why I went to Tenebrae to recuperate. The Oracles can See them without coming close to Death, so Queen Sylvia taught me how to filter it out." Noct yawned himself. "Night Prom."

"Night."

Noct groaned, suddenly cold. "'rom?"

"Sorry; going on my run, be back soon." Prompto whispered, tucking his part of the covers around Noct to keep the body heat in.

"Hurry back." At least that's what Prompto thought Noct said, since he was already halfway asleep again.

Noct hummed, latching back onto his breathing pillow as it slipped back into bed. "My 'rom."

Nosing at his pillow's hair, he wondered why it was wet, but it wasn't important enough to wake him up even more, not when his pillow was hugging him back.

Eleanore tiptoed down the hall towards Prompto's room. Michael, once up, couldn't go back to sleep and so was taking part in some mindless video game violence after his post-run shower. She had her camera in hand. She knew that as it was the weekend, Prompto usually went back to bed after his run and shower, and she wasn't about to miss out on capturing the boys cuddling. She had been shocked when Aerith gave her an album of Noct/Prom cuddling photos. Not that She had made one, or given her one, but that She had given His Majesty his own copy, on his request!

She had had a passing acquaintance with Regis before adopting Prompto, meeting him after the hell she raised to change her medical school focus and getting the Crownsguard to cover it. He had been present during her negotiations with the head of the Crownsguard at the time, interested in someone determined enough to go all the way to the top to get what she wanted. Given the difficulties Queen Aulea was having to conceive, he had been sympathetic to her reasons for suddenly changing her focus. While she wasn't sure of it, Eleanore had a feeling Crownsguard had only consented to covering her medical school expenses for the time necessary to complete a new concentration in exchange for doubling her service commitment from ten years to twenty and remaining on call if necessary for the rest of her life because he had put in a quiet word. He had certainly remained curious about her, enough to know about her miscarriages and the adoption debate. Michael had more familiarity with him, having been sponsored by the Amicitia family and having spent time with Clarus Amicitia, increasing the avenue for knowledge.

Regis would probably declare a public holiday should Noctis ever admit to his feelings about Prompto. He knew the advantages of falling in love with your best friend. She wasn't sure how Lady Lunafreya worked in, given how nearly everyone expected her and Noctis to marry and the massive crush Prompto had on her.

Double checking the flash was turned off, Eleanore eased the door open slightly, just enough to stick the camera in. She had to bit her lip to keep from squealing as she took in the sight, Prompto was hugging onto Noctis, head buried under his chin. Noctis had his head buried in Prompto's hair. Snapping a couple shots, Eleanore gently eased the door closed again.

"Adding to the album?" Michael asked as she entered the living room.

"You know it."

"I don't get what so cute about it; I'm just wondering how long they can live in denial." Michael admitted.

"Long enough to cause a public holiday if they come clean. And don't lie to me about not understanding the cuteness of it; you're the one who introduced Prom to those cat videos, not me." Eleanore reminded him, setting the camera down and picking up her cross stitch project.

She hadn't really had a lot of time to indulge her preferred hobby, so she was using her months off to catch up on some projects. Her current one was a sunrise over Cape Caem that she planned to give to Prompto someday, in memorial of his first dawn. Despite his lack of patience, Prompto was pretty good with a needle and thread, and regularly used a program that converted digital photographs into cross stitch patterns.

Michael groaned as the game over screen appeared, having died against the same boss giving Prompto and Noctis so much trouble. "How long before you want me to start the waffles?"

Eyeing the clock, she said, "It's only 7:30; maybe in an hour or two? Not like any of us have anywhere to be. I'll be using the remaining meat sauce with pasta later in the day; that one with three different shapes."

"Sounds good. Need anything from the store?" Michael asked, opting to turn off the video game instead of dying again.

"I'll have to start a list up, so not today anyway. When you do go, get that chocolate mousse cheesecake we all love." Eleanore said, frowning at her stitches before adjusting the lamp.

"That one you only let into the house every three months? Got it." Michael picked up his latest book, covering accident causes and how human factors affected the outcome.

The two parents shared the sofa, resting their legs on each other and taking the time to just be with each other.

Noctis felt his pillow move and stretch. Grumbling, he hugged it tighter. "Noct? Wanna let go? Food?" His pillow spoke.

Hmmm…food or sleep? Food was good and all, but he couldn't hold onto his pillow while eating.

"Seriously dude, I really, really need to pee."

Groaning, Noct let go of his pillow, allowing Prompto to get up and run to the bathroom.

Prompto just smiled softly when he returned. Noct had latched onto the real pillow, hugging onto it and the roll of blankets the way he had him.

Somehow, it didn't bother Prompto anymore, waking up curled around Noct. True, the size of his bed was a factor, but…

That warm and fuzzy feeling, the same one he had the morning after Noct had burned his file, was back. Taking in the sight of his best friend, who was still willing to be so close to him, even after learning about his past, Prompto picked up his own camera and snapped a shot of Noct sleeping in his bed. Putting the camera away, he grabbed onto the blankets and pulled.

Noct just blinked up at him from his new spot on the floor, awake but not quite getting how he ended up on the floor. "C'mon dude, breakfast is ready. Dad did waffles with his waffle grill and Mom made bacon."

Spurred by the thought of bacon, Noct got up, detouring to the bathroom before following Prompto and the bacon smell downstairs.

It was cozy, spending the day with Prompto and his parents in the living room. No one bothered getting dressed, Prompto and Michael having crawled back into their PJs after their run. Noct couldn't recall having such a lazy day, with the only work being done by anyone for anything was Eleanore and cooking. "She led an operation to separate conjoined twins on Prayer Day, and since they're doing great, Mom demanded three months off. She's still on call if Crownsguard needs her, but she's never off call with them anyway. The best part is the food though." Prompto informed him, having volunteered them both for dish washing.

After experiencing another great dinner, Noct couldn't help agreeing. "Just don't let Ignis know."

"They're good in different ways; Iggy does amazing stuff with the ingredients, but Mom's taste like home." Prompto said, smiling to himself.

Dr. & Mr. Argentum laid claim to the living room for a movie night, so Prompto took the house laptop up with them to his room for a movie night of their own. "They call it a movie night, but it's more so they can make out on the sofa like teenagers." Prompto admitting, putting in a new (for them) Yamato horror movie, Pulse.

Noct blanched. "Seriously?"

"Oh yeah; they never over explained what they were actually doing, but they don't hide it either." Prompto snickered at his expression.

Noct had agreed to leave the lights on for this one, if only to not interrupt 'movie night' downstairs.

A couple hours later, the credits having rolled past and disc going back to the menu screen, Noct asked, "Have you thought more about what you'll tell Ignis and Gladio?"

"Kinda. Like I said, I don't think I wanna tell them all that I told you. They're great guys, don't get me wrong, but I don't feel as close to them as I do to you." Prompto told him, popping the movie disc out and opening up YouTube. "I came across this series of videos of dumb criminals; it's hilarious."

"So if Miss Aerith isn't human, what is she then?" Noct asked as Prompto entered 'dumb criminals' into the search bar.

"I dunno exactly. She told me Her job was to make sure people wound up in the right place so they could make choices, regardless of the outcome. As far as I can tell, She travels all over, helping people. It became a familiar sight to watch Her haggling with the shop keepers over what they'd let Her pay for." Prompto clicked on the first video.

"How come?" Noct paused the video before it could really get started, not wanting to miss the answer.

"Evidently, She's helped a lot of people in so many ways that they don't want to take Her money. She doesn't want to take advantage of their kindness, especially with regards to their livelihoods, so She usually winds up working out bargains with them that makes everyone happy." Prompto switched the view mode to fill the whole screen. "There's this place in the dream world where we visit, and She's sent me stuff, but we haven't meet in person since the last checkpoint before the Wall. She didn't tell me about the bomb until right before the first checkpoint, since She didn't want the knowledge hanging over my head and making me dread reaching the Crown City. I think it's part of why we spent three days at the chocobo post and had a beach day. Miss Aerith had worried I wouldn't be able to move past what happened Before, since I can remember it easier than the average person could, so She made sure to I'd have good stuff to remember more easily too." Prompto hit the play icon, and satisfied with his answers, Noct didn't try pausing it again.

The video ranked a series of twenty videos, with commentary by comedians and B-list actors. This particular one wasn't dumb criminals specifically, but dumb drivers. Taking in how a man on a fork lift managed to wipe out a whole warehouse of top shelf vodka by backing into one shelf, Noct just said, "He's a dead man." And that wasn't even the number one video!

At the end, Dr. Argentum knocked on the door. "Found this in the sofa cushions; it keeps beeping." Noct couldn't help noticing how the buttons on her pajama top weren't done up right, and given what Prompto had said about 'movie night', he couldn't help blushing. Eleanore just smirked as she handed Noctis his phone. Unfortunately the boys looked as put together as they had three hours ago, or she'd have made a comment of her own.

The screen was full of text notices from Ignis and Gladio. "Probably should check my phone too." Prompto said, reaching for his own phone.

Prompto's phone didn't have nearly as many text notices as Noct's did. "Should probably call 'em." Noct said, pulling up the contacts list.

"Can you do a party line with them, or do I need to call one of them?" Prompto asked.

"Nah, they're probably hanging out together anyway. They both swear they're straight, but I'm not so sure anymore, with the amount of time they spend together." Noct said, calling Ignis and turning on the speaker phone.

"I have to say I'm amazed it's taken you this long to reply; normally you're sitting on your phone." Ignis said in lieu of a greeting.

"Given how you picked up after two rings, you can't really talk." Prompto said.

"The chemistry lab really exploded?" Gladio asked. "You didn't have anything to do with it did you?"

"We were on the opposite end of the building, and we're not even in chemistry this year." Noct informed him.

"Are you doing alright Prompto? I imagine it must have been something big, whatever you told Noct, for His Majesty to agree to him spending the weekend at your home." Ignis asked, concerned.

"Yeah…" Prompto said. "Mostly Noct caught me at a time where I was willing to talk about it…I'll tell you guys Monday?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Gladio reminded him.

"I'd rather get it all out while I'm still kinda willing to talk about it…don't think I'll want to, if I wait too long." Prompto admitted.

"If you're sure, then we'll be waiting at the apartment after school on Monday, should there be classes." Ignis said. "Naturally Crownsguard hasn't had much time to investigate, but so far there hasn't been any sign of malicious intent in regards to the explosion."

"Well, if school's canceled on Monday, then we'll just meet up at the apartment in the morning." Noct decided.

"Don't forget to keep Prompto away from breakables." Gladio snickered, remembering the dishes broken by Prompto before the ice was broken between them.

"Hey!" Prompto exclaimed.

Chuckling, Ignis just said, "We'll see the two of you Monday. Have a good weekend."

Noct and Prompto echoed the salutation as the call ended. Prompto slumped on the bed. "Stars I want it to be over."

"You don't have to tell them." Noct reminded him gently.

"No, no I do have to. If only so I don't keep wondering about their reactions or worrying about it coming out at the wrong time. On the surface, it sounds pretty bad. 'Future MT'" Prompto sighed.

"'Intended future MT'" Noct corrected. "But I get what you mean."

Noct half expected Prompto to start vibrating nervous energy already over Monday, but mostly he just seemed worn out. "I suppose you'll want to do something about the football team?"

Noct scowled, remembering what Prompto had said about 'services'. "Prom, practically all those guys are Gladio's size or bigger. And they seem to move in packs like the gossip girls; you can't tell me you'd be able to handle it if they decided to 'sample'."

"No, no I probably couldn't. I'm just worried that if you intervene, it'll make things worse. For all the talk about having an in with you by doing so, they've been careful not to say anything where'd you could hear. Most of it is stuff I've overheard in the locker room or bathrooms when they didn't realize I was nearby, but a couple have starting asking me directly the last few times you missed school for functions." Prompto admitted, flopping over to sprawl in Noct's lap.

Blushing a little, Noct started playing with his hair, but not overly distracted from the conversation. "I'll just put Iggy and Gladio on it. They've been to the school enough times that it wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility to spin it as something they happened to overhear recently."

By now Prompto had realized that Ignis and Gladio were as much his friends as Noct's, so he didn't protest Noct getting them to handle it. They would more than likely volunteer upon hearing what the football team was saying, even without Noct asking them to. "No permanent damage, and nothing that would reveal that I've told you." He asked, rubbing his head into Noct's hand.

"You turning into a cat?" Noct asked, obliging the silent request.

"Hmm…no. They tried to artificially enhance night vision and reflexes with couerl DNA, but it didn't work as far as I or Mom could tell. Just realized I enjoyed it the first time Miss Aerith washed my hair." Prompto said, nearly purring. "Soon after they brought me home, when I was still recovering from the bomb removal, Mom and I would curl up on the sofa and she'd rub my head while reading out loud from whatever book she was reading. Really helped me to get comfortable with her. Still do it, even with it being a tighter fit on the sofa." He admitted. "Dad was easier, with the video games and photos and building overly complicated machines."

"Can't really imagine what it would be like, suddenly having parents." Noct said gently.

"The hardest part was realizing that they really did care. Didn't really sink in until right before ninth grade, when I reached my weight goal. Seeing how happy they were for me, and with all they had done to help me and cheer me on…it really hit me. I knew in my head that they did before then, but it then that my heart learned it, cheesy as it sounds." Prompto said.

"Can't really call it cheesy, since it seems like you've realized it with regards to me, just from the touching." Noct told him.

"…does it bother you?" Prompto tentatively asked.

Noct snorted. "Hell, when I'm half asleep you're my breathing huggable pillow." His other hand started rubbing Prompto's back. "So I'm not really in a position to complain, even if I mostly do it in my sleep."

Prompto practically melted when Noct started the back rub. "Dude, keep that up and you will turn me into a cat."

"Yeah, an epically clumsy one."

Prompto couldn't be bothered with a rebuttal, the warm and fuzzy feeling having seemed to have taken up residence. "You wanna watch more idiots? It's amazing how many people haven't realized that there are cameras like everywhere." He asked lazily. "I think there's a series where they do dumb brawlers."

"Meh, doesn't really matter." Noct answered, just as lazy.

Reaching for the laptop, Prompto started up another video.

Several hours later, Eleanore eased the door to Prompto's room open. The laptop was in power save mode, and the boys were sprawled on the bed, their heads at the foot. Grabbing a blanket off the floor, since her son never made his bed anyway, she covered them both with it. Sleepy eyes blinked at her as she tucked them in, but it wasn't enough to wake them up more. Picking up the laptop, she closed the door gently behind her as she left. Setting the laptop on the dresser in her and Michael's room, she crawled back into bed, spooning her husband. The house quiet, she just sighed to herself, content as she drifted asleep.

Debating how much to cover Operation Deal With the Football Team. It's almost more terrifying to only hint at the details then to explain them. Meh, still have to do the Ignis and Gladio reveal before I have to decide.