Prompt: #21 Speed

Summary: Flashes of time are as quick as lightning.

A/N: This is not only by request but also, I thought I'd use another prompt to expand this verse.

Celeritas is Latin for "swiftness, speed".

Celeritas

The mind was such a marvel. There is nothing quite like it. It adapted to things with an ease that was nothing short of amazing. Certain things were automatic. Many things were learned. Once learned, many times it will remember even though your conscious self does not.. For though, you may consciously or unconsciously forget, once reminded, the brain recalls it as if it were as fresh as the day you mastered whatever it was. It could become acclimated to pain. So much so that your conscious self only registers it as a dull ache once it has had time to accept it. It adjusted to loss, no matter what that loss actually was. It does this so seamlessly and methodically, that one does not even realize it has happened until the pain is refreshed or when what was lost was regained. To think that they each had one, was something almost impossible to imagine. It worked so quickly and so efficiently that there would never be a computer that could ever compare.

Thinking of it this way, it makes her feel better once the dawn drew near and the slow orange hued rays began to warm the insides of the cave. She may not have noticed it when her powers had become nothing but a flash of fancy light, but she certainly noticed it when they had returned.

Those morning rays had barely begun to sink into her awareness when suddenly, her entire body is consumed with a flare of heat. It started slowly at her toes then rushed up to her face like a battery freshly recharged to the max. She sucks in a hasty breathe as her rune flashes a brilliant gold and her finger tips feel the tiny pricks of energy as the sounds of shattering crystals echo in the cave. It only takes a millisecond to register that the strange emptiness that she had felt before was the loss of her powers. The thought barely reaches the forefront of her mind before she notices that she is not the only one who has become renewed. The brilliance of blue nearly overpowers her gold, as ripples of intense energy rafted from Noctis' form across from her. The crystals surrounding him stand rigid and poised in a solid shield around him as he slowly rises to his feet.

He, obviously, has experienced such a thing before. Not only was there no surprise, there was no indication that he felt as jolted as she had a moment before. It simply looks as if he has been waiting all this time for the return that he was sure was coming, while she had only wondered at the hollowness within her chest. She watches as he raises both of his black leather clad gloves in front of him and she can see the high voltage electricity that sparks out of the tips. The cast highlights each bolt like streaks of white. It feels fuzzy and she feels almost tingly to be as close as she is to him. He clenches both hands into fists as his jaw tightens and everything abruptly vanishes while the hollowness echoes the crashing of the Crystals upon the stony ground. The cave is once again lit only by the dying embers of their fire, the crystals catching the dying flashes of dark yellow and gold. There is a twinkling light that surrounds them for a moment before it too dies.

"I suppose that means the storm is over now?" she asks hesitantly, looking up at him.

There is a moment of silence as his shadowed form remains unmoving above her. She hears him take a long breathe through his nose and the silhouette of his head turns upward. When he releases the breathe, he levels his face to the entrance of the cave. Whatever light the fire provided extinguishes with a snap. It is cut short so swiftly and so thoroughly that the logs are not even orange. There is only that last swirl of smoke to prove that there had been a fire there in the first place. She turns her startled face towards his, but he is still facing the entrance. The look on his face is absolutely predatory as he stands there at the ready. He is poised for battle and she wonders, not for the first time, what was waiting for them outside. Instead of a shiver of fear, she feels almost an invigorating sense of thrill.

"Are you going to merely be an observer or are you going to participate?" he asks, still not turning to look down at her.

Her mind races with that jilting speed she was admiring before, searching for a meaning to his words. They could mean a great many things. None of which are pleasant. She reacts by taking in a quick breathe through her nose as he had and opens her mind to search for what was outside. Her eyes fly open in surprise as she catches the presence.

"Why did you not tell me?" she accuses, rising quickly to her feet to stand beside him. She faces the entryway as he is.

"What would you have done?" he asks, taking the time to give her a dense look before turning towards the entrance again.

"You went out there knowing they were there?" she asks, with a voice that nearly squeaks from her unusually high pitch of indignation.

"We needed to eat," he says casually with almost a shrug.

"They could have killed you," she hissed. Her anger surprises her but more surprising is the reason behind her anger.

He turns to glare at her this time. His eyes are red now, absolutely itching for a fight, as they narrow on her.

"Clearly, I gave you more credit than you were due, Princess," he hisses back.

She nearly steps back from the venom in his voice. Spoiling for a fight with him was not exactly the smartest thing to do in their predicament but really, just because it had never been proven that those who had come back from the death realm were easy to kill did not mean that it was true. She was never too eager to try that theory out. Trust him to be silly enough.

"That is not an excuse to be reckless," she manages to glare back at him.

"Are we going to fight each other or the danger outside?" he sneers at her.

"That depends," she says flippantly. She gives him a level haughty look before continuing. "Are you going to make it worth my while to fight with you?"

He raises a condescending eyebrow at her and this anger is something she can tolerate.

"What did you have in mind?" he asks in that infuriating way that upsets her every time.

"Stop being an arse," she snaps. "How do I know that they mean you any harm? They left you unscathed earlier."

"Because they were just as powerless as we were during the storm," he says with a tightened tone of impatience.

A crackle of falling rocks just outside the entrance draws both of their attention at the same time. That effectively ends the argument because not a moment later, they were bombarded with a large barrage of enemy, bent on killing them. The cave fills with a mixture of gold and blue as they run head first to meet the attack head on. She was more of a fencer herself, but from the corner of her eye, she can see that Noctis was more than just knowledgeable with swordplay. He was deadly with just about anything. She had never seen him in action before and she can admit, even if it was only to herself, that he was magnificent in battle. His speed, agility and precision was unmatched and she wondered why he even bothered to ask for her help. It was clear that he did not particularly need any assistance.

The last body falls to the floor before Noctis turns to her as they both catch their breathes.

"Come, we must get out of here before more arrive," he orders before running out of the cavern without even making sure she listens.

She does not even stop to feel indignant or insulted but follows right behind him.

The sky is shiny and bright and so clear. The air is clean with the light crisp scent of moisture soaked nature, from the retreating storm clouds. The entire forest around them is covered in droplets of water. Branches hung heavily with the burden of the added weight. This was beautiful, rich and rugged country here and she can appreciate its beauty as she had not been able to the day before. Who knew that amidst the harsh desert terrain between Tenebrae and Nihilsomno, such a place existed within his realm.

"Stunning," she murmurs in admiration.

"Why thank you," he comments and when she looks at him it is clear he takes her comment as a remark on his person instead of the landscape.

Her automatic reaction is to roll her eyes.

"Just when I think I could admire you…," she says, deliberately leaving the end hanging.

"I am not hard to admire," he comments smugly before jumping off the precipice they are standing upon, sure that she will follow.

She takes a moment to sigh as she watches his rapid descent to the flat grounds below. Just like everything else, nothing with him was ever slow. From the speed of his movements during battle to the quickness of his wit, one could never say that he was a slacker. His ability stretched too. Not only could he make her feel almost glad for his company and not a second later, regret she ever thought him pleasant. Of all the minds (brains) that she has ever encountered in her life, she does not think she has ever met any that moved as swiftly as his. Shaking her head, she easily leaps and jumps down after him.

End Note: Good gracious, this has been a long time in coming. My sincere apologies for not getting this draft out before. Blasted massive monster of a project delayed this almost two weeks (as that was when my project was assigned to me). I haven't started the last two prompts yet. This next one is a bit of a doozy considering, I have no idea what I want to write about. Hopefully I'll have something soon.