The undergrowth caressed his legs gently as he moved in the darkness, silently like a prowling beast. Noctis hardly dared to breathe as he froze to inspect every sound or each shifting shadow. Mentally he scolded himself for being this jumpy.

He splish-splashed across the small river and got onto the path that would eventually descend down the moss enveloped hillside. There he stopped, however, to take the last glance towards their camp. He imagined Prompto still sitting by the fire, more focused on what must have been either his camera or his guns than actually watching the camp, and he smiled a little.

He didn't think they had noticed that he was gone yet. He could still go back and pretend this never happened. 'And waste another day before we can get out of here', he thought. But he wasn't going to.

It had never been in his nature to stand idly at the sidelines. Noctis acted first, thought second, and worried about the consequences later.

With a deep breath, the prince steeled his heart and turned his back to the campground as he started the descent on the slippery rocky path.

Low battery.

The red caution icon flashed irritably across his screen; in the background, the app sounded a melancholic fanfare as his King's Knight character died when he wasn't attending to it. Prompto moaned an irritated groan as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

Small particles of light danced in the heat rising from the embers; Prompto let his lazy gaze follow them until they cooled off and faded into the surrounding darkness. A shy smile curved the edges of his thin lips and he dug out his camera to scroll through his latest shots.

There was the picture of the machinery Noctis had requested. Pretty damn nice shot, dare he say so himself. Especially the soft lighting had been spot-on. And then there was that one he took at the station: a landscape over the mine valley. 'Doesn't really represent the reality,' Prompto thought a bit bitterly.

He kept scrolling; there were a few other landscapes he had snapped from the train, but not that many of people. He hadn't really felt like taking pictures of them lately. But as he got to one shot of all four of them, posing with arms thrown over each other's' shoulders, his finger froze, and he didn't smile anymore.

It had been their first night in Altissia. The exuberant city's grandiose facade opened behind them majestically like an icon of sophistication. And they all looked so dazzled, so excited. So happy. Prompto let out a shuddering sigh that, if you didn't know better, could have been mistaken to be a sob.

That was from two days before the summoning. Before the havoc. It was like seeing into another dimension, into a world which was both familiar and foreign and strange at the same time. Prompto recognized every single detail, and yet they felt so distant, so far off that he almost had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

It had been different. They had been different. They had been like a pack of wolves: inseparable, a team. Hell, a family. Now they were just... falling apart, and Prompto didn't know how they could fix it. How had that happened?! His eyes stung as he looked at their smirking faces on the small screen of the camera. Noct had been so excited to finally get to be with Luna. Ignis still had his eyes.

It was them, but it was another them. The uncorrupted-by-the-horror-they-had-gone-through them. The unconsumed-by-their-own-grief them. The same, and yet not at all the same. Those them in the picture had died that day. He took a few deep breaths to will away the treacherous moisture as he turned his gaze into the blackened-out sky.

If you had told Prompto a year ago that he would be among the ones fighting for the liberty of Insomnia, he would have laughed. If you had told him that he would be risking his life in battle for way more times he could count, he wouldn't have believed. Even now it seemed incredulous how far they had come together, how far Prompto himself had come with them, and even more so when he imagined what would be waiting for them once they reached Gralea.

If they reached Gralea.

It seemed less likely every day. The passive-to-the-point-of-being-almost-phlegmatic attitude Noct was presenting, and Gladio constantly pushing his buttons, was doing little to advance their goal. If anything, it was draining their morale rather quickly. 'What was it that kept them going,' he wondered. It certainly wasn't any ludicrous, chivalric ideal to rush into the enemy stronghold and crush the opposition. No, that delusion had crumbled long ago.

Prompto just didn't know anymore. Not looking at the pictures any more, he shut down his camera and breathed a shaky breath. More light particles flew into the night as the smoke rose towards the starless sky.

"Uah!" It took less than a blink. Noctis' foot slipped on the moist moss; instinctively he threw his arms back to balance himself as his footing morphed into free-fall. At the last possible moment, his hand met solid rock and he pressed himself flat against the wall. Panting heavily, he stilled to recompose.

With a final huff, he pushed himself off the stone. The path had gotten much steeper than he had thought and the ground seemed moister, mud-like. And the darkness did little to help; despite his flashlight, it was difficult to see more than a few feet around him. But if he wasn't mistaken, he saw even ground ahead.

What he failed to see, however, were the steadily moving ripples on the water. The sharp eyes that keenly observed his every move inched closer and closer in dead quiet.

Ti-ti-di didi-didi di-di-dii dii-dii-didi-dii-dii-dii…

The melody snapped Prompto from his thoughts; his eyes searched frantically for the source of the disturbance, until the rhythmic buzzing against his thigh finally registered and, grunting a little in embarrassment, he fished out his flashing phone to silence the timer.

"Alright!" he grinned as he stretched a little and got up from his place by the fire. It was stupid-o'clock in the night and he was just about ready to let Gladio take over and bunk. His steps faltered ever so slightly as he made it to their tent. But as he opened the curtain and was about to crawl in, he noticed that something looked weird. The insides of the tent looked awfully… spacious.

He gulped audibly as it clicked.

"Noct?" Not wanting to believe his eyes, Prompto crawled all the way into the tent, not too careful about the other occupants. "Noct?!" he gasped a perplexed yelp, panic creeping up his spine.

"Hey. Where's the fire?" Gladiolus' soft grunt was half irritated, half joking. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and middle finger as he made to sit up. The humor was replaced by concern, however, as he laid eyes on the blond. Even in the scarce lighting of the tent, Gladio could tell that the boy was gaping, his eyes were wide and he had a look on his face that could only be described as clueless.

"Prompto… what is it?" He made a move to inch closer, but froze as something registered. He was left staring stupidly at the vacant space that should have held the prince. "What the…?"

Prompto felt his lips moving, but nothing came out. He could feel movement by his side; Ignis made soft noises as he shifted. "Is everything... alright?" The long silence and partial sounds of hesitation that couldn't quite be called communication told the strategist enough; he dragged himself into a half-rise, supporting himself on his good arm as he peered into the direction of the voices, his expression questioning.

The sky blue eyes had locked with the amber ones; their silent communication spoke of worry, of bafflement. Only as the fire-starter coughed an irritated request to be enlightened did they remember that Ignis didn't know. Choosing carefully how he should word this, Prompto hesitated. "Yeah, Ignis, uh… no reason to panic 'n all, but… Noct's gone."

Now instantly awake, Ignis got up as if he had been struck with an electric shock. And the face he made made Prompto's heart skip a beat. He would never know how Ignis knew he was exactly where he was, but the strategist fixed him with a stare so stern, so focused, and so thoroughly scorching that for a moment the gunslinger felt like he was looking straight into his soul. It was a look of pure demanding.

Ignis' tone was a freezing hiss. "His Highness is what?!"

One second. That was all the time Noctis had to react to the splashing sounds and the thumping that charged at him from the darkness. He spun to the direction of the sounds just in time for his flashlight to illuminate the scaled skin and the rows of teeth before he was thrown to the ground, a heavy weight landing not two feet from him. As he scampered back onto his feet and backwards, he simultaneously heard the other creatures closing in on them; the one that had attacked him had re-positioned itself and tried to snap him into its jaws. An ache ran along his arm.

"Ah!" His heart rate skyrocketed; adrenaline erupted into his bloodstream as he summoned his spear. In the feeble light, he saw the scales, the jaws, the fins.

'Gurangatches. Of all things they had to be gurangatches!' he gulped as he backed away blindly. These crocodile-slash-man-eaters weren't funny things to face under the best of circumstances, and at the moment the conditions for fighting these creatures were less than ideal. On unfamiliar ground and alone, blessed only with the visibility provided by his flashlight, Noctis knew he was in serious trouble. Sparing a glance at his throbbing arm, he noted the long scratch. It stung quite a bit, but it didn't seem deep. With a heavy intake of breath, he tried to close out the intensifying throbbing in his ears – and lunged.

The animal closest to him let out a screeching roar when he drove the spear into the soft flesh of the belly. Before it had time to pull him along into its trashing, Noctis tore the weapon out, only to result to magic to avoid a leap at his torso. The jaws snapped closed with nothing but air in between them; the baffled animal stilled for long enough for the young man to jump over it and out of the harm's immediate way.

He could see all of them now. Five animals were stalking closer; the one Noctis had struck was still trashing and effectively neutralized, but it wouldn't be for long. The wound hadn't been lethal. Crippling at best. He jumped to dodge a set of jaws as one of them rushed to take out his arm and thrust upwards. A hot spurt of a thick substance struck his face; instinctively, he twisted the weapon, tearing the flesh as the animal trashed, only hurting itself more as the spear sunk deeper. Noctis abandoned the javelin as he saw movement in the corner of his eye, and his greatsword materialized just in time to parry the oncoming attack and direct it aside. The derailed crocodile fell into the muddy ground with a heavy thump, and he didn't waste his chance. He called a pistol and fired at point-blank: four times at the creature's eyes. The agonized animal trashed its head, roaring wildly before slumping.

Through the mayhem he still heard it: the stalking movement to his right tried to circle behind him. A self-satisfied smirk curved his lips. If the animal thought it could outwit him in the darkness, it had been sadly mistaken. Using the combined force of his own strength and momentum, Noctis twisted his whole body to swing the blade in a mighty arc. The leathery, crushing crunch that resulted as the blade buried itself into the creature's shoulder sent tingles of excitement through his core.

It screeched rasped sounds as it fell onto its stomach and tried to wriggle away from the human. The engine blade found its way into his hand as the man was already moving. Nostis landed hastily just behind the creature's trashing head, and flexing his entire core, he plunged the blade almost half-way into the beast's neck, severing the cervical vertebrae. He clenched the handle with both hands, knuckles white, until he felt the tremors beneath him ceasing.

It had been a mistake.

The blow landed straight into his back. It struck the air out of his lungs in one strangled gasp as he was thrown forward and into the ground; the sword fell from his hand. For a critical moment he just laid there, desperately trying to force air back into his abused lungs.

He felt rather than heard the creature leaping towards him. He rolled blindly out of the way, but didn't get far. The rows of teeth met air where his neck had been a mere instant ago, but the sudden crushing pressure on his lower body effectively trapped him on his back in the ground, the heavy animal halfway on top of him.

His lungs burned in lack of oxygen. A reflex pulled the greatsword from the aether to shield him as the creature dove to finish him. The weight crashed against his defenses like a megaton hammer; Noctis' arms buckled under the blade as he fought to hold it against the creature's ferocious jaws. Wisps of lightheadedness swam in and out of his mind as he struggled to free himself, but it was a futile effort. "No…!" 'No! No, not now!'

A gasp of pain tore from him as the creature's claws scraped his side. It drove against the blade in an effort to smash it, and Noctis snarled as he felt his strength draining. Dizzy with fear and something else surging through his panicked body, he struggled fiercely to free himself. Darkness loomed at the edges of his vision, threatening to take him. He fought it, willed his strength to stay with him. But he felt his limbs growing weaker as the beast slammed itself against his last line of defense before those deadly jaws. The last thing he saw before white hot agony struck him senseless was scales and teeth reaching for him over the edge of his lowered blade.

"Nooooct!"

"Noct!" The voices traveled around the surroundings of their campsite, calling, searching. Ignis sat by the dying embers, an unusual snarl twisting his features. His good arm clenched his wound a little too tightly, but the adviser didn't even notice it. As he heard nearing steps – the heavy footfalls of Gladio – he turned towards the sound expectantly.

"Anything?" Ignis' guarded tone betrayed the nervousness.

"Nothing!" There was a loud thump and a small crack as the shield punched the ground. The other furrowed his brows at him but said nothing.

Prompto returned soon after. He didn't need to say anything; his whole demeanor screamed out his disappointment. He slumped down with a concerned sigh. "Do you think he could have, you know, just gone to take a leak or something?" It was clear from his tone that the blond didn't believe in his words himself.

"Without saying anything? Not likely." The anxiousness was apparent in the gruff tone. The shield's face was focused as he peered into the darkness around their campsite and kept calling his name.

"It certainly would seem illogical," Ignis said, his solemn tone darkened. "Even of him."

"Do you think something happened to him?" the lithe man asked timidly.

"Uh'dunno, but the hotspur better not get himself killed," Gladio muttered and dug a hand through his hair in frustration. "At least not until I get my hands on him…"

Ignis flashed a sympathetic grin. "I would certainly like to give him a piece of my mind as well." He held a pause. "It is as his late Majesty used to say: Noct has always been wayward." The words were condescending, but his tone held some amusement alongside the worry. There was a smirk in the strategist's lips.

"The ol' man said it," Gladio huffed, also grinning a little as he shook his head lightly. "That reckless idiot… Did you know that when he was a little kid, he and Iris got into trouble together? He took the bullet for it, said it had been his idea. Iris later told me it had been hers."

"Dude! I didn't!" Prompto spurted a laughter. "Prince Noctis – always there to save the ladies," he sighed over-dramatically as he closed his eyes and mimicked a theater fainting.

"His own ass is what needs saving," Gladio grunted, drawing his legs crossed to sit more comfortably. "I bet he's–"

The others would never know what Gladio 'bet he was'. His voice trailed into dumbstruck silence as the world seemed to suddenly fade out into blackness that had nothing to do with the night. It was as if light had disappeared from his eyes; a shudder coursed through him.

"What the…?" Prompto's voice shook at the half-voiced mutter. Both seeing men's eyes were glued onto the skyline where an ominous purple and grey glow shone from behind the cliffs, and they could make out the roar of approaching thunderstorm.

Ignis, sensing that something was wrong, got onto his feet. "What is it?" As he got no immediate response, he demanded sternly, "What is going on?!"

"Uh…"

Against the glowing sky stood an enormous humane shape; purple lightnings struck the clouds around it as it seemed to move. The monstrous rumble of thunder resonated in the walls of the valley, coursing through them like a bass boost at a nightclub, shaking their very core. Flashes of pure energy danced in the distance. Then the world exploded as a tremendous thunderbolt struck the earth.

The deep sound made their hearts skip a beat, it took their breaths away. The force of it left their hands shaking as the hairs in their necks stood. Their breaths came in deep pants.

"Wa-" Prompto had to cough to stop his voice from shaking. "Was that…?!"

"It was, alright. The Fulgurian." Gladio's eyes were wide, tone disbelieving. There was a hitch of breath.

"Noct…!"

"Let's go!"

The entire world had a rosy purple tint to it. Noctis eyed the destruction around him through half-lidded eyes, panting and clutching his scraped arm. The swamp was on fire; the devastation of the Astral's fury had seared everything, leaving plants and logs charring as the embers still smoldered around him. The stench of burning flesh and leathery skin made his eyes water with disgust, and he dry-heaved a couple of times. The only sounds he heard were the last crackles of electricity dancing in the area, and his own ragged breaths. There were no birds, no ripples of water. No signs of life other than those he made himself.

His legs were numb and shaky under him. The summoning had taken the last of him: that, and his lack of sleep and continued overload of stress and grief finally seemed to catch up to him in one neat, destructive bunch. As his pulse gradually eased back to normal and the adrenaline drained from him, he found himself only that much from collapsing. With sheer willpower, he dragged himself onto the now charred grasses uphill from the waterfront, and slumped.

His cheek met the scorched earth roughly. Couching a little, he drew in shaky pants as his worn-out body sprawled onto the dead flora. 'Can't… sleep,' he tried to scream at himself as his eyes fluttered dangerously. 'Must… stay awake. Must… go…' He tried to make a move to sit up, but nothing obeyed as he felt his body shutting down. He struggled against the sweet, seductive embrace of sleep. But he was so exhausted! Sleep felt so inviting. As the oblivion came, he welcomed it like an old friend.

AN: When I was writing the rough draft of this, I was to my beta reader like, "I'm gonna finish this [story] in two chapters." Yeah, as if. :D As it turns out, it's gonna take more than that. But it's drawing to end, not sure if its gonna be two or three more. Thank you for staying with me! Your love for Collision has made me so happy! I'm so glad you're liking it. ^.^

I had so much fun writing another battle scene! And haha, you also get a pretty good idea of my preferred weapons load. I tend to use a lot of magic, too. What weaponry do you guys like to use?