Hey dear readers,

how have you all been? :)

Next chapter up!

I just watched the movie Kingsglaive! I don't quite understand all the negativity surrounding it, I LOVED the movie! Sure, it has its own problems, but I enjoyed it none the less!

I'm just sad that Ravus apparently isn't the same character as I had imagined him to be. Maybe the game will change that, but as for now, I don't like Ravus' personality inside the movie. I'm really disappointed ;_;. I thought he would be a much smarter villain and well, more classy, I guess.

Anyways, enjoy this chapter :D.

And please, I don't want to sound pushy, but please let me know what you think about my story so far. In the past months In Aeternum had so many views and visitors and none of the visitors have left a comment/review. It makes me sad, and I start to question if my writing is not good enough (compared to other, native English speaking authors).

I can't read minds ;), so please, write a few words. It takes me many hours of hard work to write a chapter for your enjoyment and entertainment at no charge, and compared to that it takes only a few minutes to write a short feedback. I genuinely would appreciate your honest thoughts, they help immensely to motivate me to write more.

Thank you for reading,

Kamuel

bevin: haha, yeah, Noct's biggest nemesis!

Rachel07: thank you so, SO much for your compliment! I'll continue to give my all, I just love these characters very much :). Please enjoy the upcoming chapters!

Chapter Nine

...

I can only gulp down at the dreadful sight before me.

Feeling Ignis' eyes on me, I know he's watching my reactions intently like a hawk. I'm aware of his wish for me to eat more vegetables, I know he means well and that he cares about my health a lot, probably more than I myself do, but... I wish he hadn't chosen this weekend of all days to do this.

Now that I think of it, he's a true genius. It's incredible that Ignis goes even that far, to take advantage of Prom's condition to make me eat those evil meals. He obviously intuited that I can't and won't say no in front of my new friend.

He must have noticed how fond I've grown of Prom in such a short period of time...

Anyways, back to the matter at hand. Those nasty vegetables be cursed... if I had the same powers as my father does, I would immediately banish all greens out of this place. Alas, it seems I can't avoid them today, not with Prom sitting next to me. If I were to refuse those meals, I know that Prom won't eat either.

Every single dish in front of us has been made, in one way or another, from the green stuff I absolutely abhor. I can already feel my taste buds protest against them vehemently. If anyone were to ask me, if I could remember the very first impulse of my never ending distaste for vegetables, my dry answer to them would be simple, 'since birth'. Clearly my genes are not at fault here, because compared to me, my mother loved veggies very much...

"Noct, what's wrong?" Prom waves his hand in front of my face again in hopes to finally get my attention, his voice laden with apprehension.

Well, it's obvious that I can't sit here completely horror-stricken the entire time and not expect Prom to get worried about me.

After what seems like an eternity, I manage to croak out, "Sorry, I-I'm okay. I'm just surprised, that's all." I swallow dryly a few times before glancing back at Prom, to focus on his wide, blue eyes as he tries to understand my visible anxiousness, something that I can't hide from him no matter how much I try.

"Go ahead, let's enjoy our meals," I encourage Prom with an inviting gesture of my hand to be the first one to start, signaling to him to eat to his heart's content.

Prom sends me a sheepish, thankful smile. "Thanks for having me, Noct," he says before staring at all the food in front of him in awe, "whoa, would you look at that! Everything looks and smells so delicious, what should I do? I don't know where to start..."

I chuckle at his overwhelmed expression, teasing him as I continue to watch him fondly, "Don't hold back for my sake, eat everything you like, it's more than enough for the two of us on the table."

Thankfully Prom doesn't hesitate to tackle the food this time. He decides to get a taste of the spring rolls first, which admittedly look really good from the outside. But... it's the inside of those evil things that have me wrinkle my nose in distaste as soon as Prom holds out a spring roll for me to bite into.

"Hmh, those are amazing! Noct, come on, try one," he urges excitedly, not noticing my hesitation. His ridiculously eager looking eyes are giving me the impression that he just ate the most delicious food in the entire universe.

Well, I guess I should brace myself up for the challenge, but... there are carrots inside, and I truly can't stand carrots. They are an abomination. I'm completely convinced that carrots are not meant to be eaten by humans, why else are those nasty things being fed to bunnies and guinea pigs all the time? Those animals worship the ground those carrots walk on. Right? Makes no sense.

But when Prom's expression changes from expectant to confused and then to disappointment, because I still don't move nor say anything but stare at the spring roll in front of my face as if it could violently attack me at any moment, I have no choice but to take a bite of it to make Prom happy.

Honestly, I don't want to be the reason to make Prom sad yet again. Even without speaking frankly about it, he made me understand yesterday that he never had a true friend before, and so I invited him inside my home for us to have fun. I promised to myself that the precious time I'm allowed to spend with him from now on will be solely dedicated to his own happiness. I genuinely want to make him smile all the time.

So, if making Prom happy means that I'll have to make a pact with the devil himself, then by all means, so be it. With a weary sigh, I suddenly find myself caving straight into hell.

"...and, good?" inquires Prom, sounding unsure because of the somewhat sour look on my face.

"Hn, yeah, good," I confirm with a swift nod of my head, the smile on my face appearing crooked rather than charming, my left eyelid twitching uncontrollably as I proceed to chew the slimy thing in my mouth metaphorically to death, pushing with my tongue the chewed up food from one side of my inner cheek to the other, because my throat absolutely refuses to swallow down.

Yet, against my expectations... the spring roll doesn't taste as bad as I had it stored in my memory. But honest to Eos, it doesn't taste that good either, not as good like Prom just made me believe it does. The filling's flavor reminds me strangely of smelly socks, and I bet my underpants on the fact that it would taste much better if it weren't for those obnoxious carrots inside (and only the Goddess knows what else), which makes it taste as if the roll had previously crawled into a sewerage to die, only for it to change its mind all of a sudden, rolling its mushy carcass straight into my mouth instead to rot comfortably inside.

Ugh, the things Prom makes me do already, I hope my sacrifice today will not be in vain.

Taking a deep breath, I give my all to swallow down and I force myself to finish the entire spring roll at one go. The whole time I try not to show visibly on my face how big the urge is to spit the slimy mess out. To get rid of the horrible aftertaste in my mouth, I reach for a glass of water to neutralize the abomination's lingering slime on my tongue.

At first I thought that's it. I thought my obligation is hereby done.

Foolish me. Think again, Noct.

Because sweet Prom, Eos may bless him, places now plenty of veggie-pasta on my plate and pours some UHS (unidentified herbal sauce) all over it. To add even more insult into the injury, he graciously places a few spoonful of mixed salad next to it.

"Now Noct, you absolutely have to taste this. I never knew that healthy food could be this delicious! I promise to never ever eat those burger and chips ever again," he gushes over the food in front of him excitedly.

Goddess have mercy...

My breath hitches once, not aware that I hold my breath now as I continue to stare in disbelief at my full plate. If I wouldn't know it better, I would be suspicious of Prom that Ignis might have persuaded him to dump all those abominations on my plate on purpose. Now I find myself not able to refuse. Not when Prom smiles at me like this.

So I reply with a wry grin, cursing my inevitable fate inwardly, "Y-yeah, looks really good."

Hell... right now I sorely wish that I could catch some of his excitement. I start to feel annoyed at myself and sad that I can't join the fun.

After Prom looks away, focusing back on his own full plate, I poke with my fork halfheartedly around the mixed salad while trying my best not to give the carrots dwelling midst the greens the evil eye. Wouldn't want Prom to get scared because of my mean looking face.

I stab an innocent looking cherry tomato with my fork and bring it up to my mouth in slow motion, proceeding to chew it slowly, very slowly, procrastinating the unavoidable for as long as possible. At least the salat dressing tastes not bad, a high praise coming from me indeed. Right now, I can't help myself but inwardly demand, from the bottom of my heart, for those offensive monstrosities to mysteriously vanish from my plate, eyeing with utter animosity those bitter rucola leaves in front of me.

Greens. Vegetables. How can anyone freely eat and enjoy the taste of them? For me it's incomprehensible. Those people must be either tough or completely insane.

Not to mention the veggie-noodles. They are even multi-colored. I don't have to be a genius cook to understand that the red colored ones are made from carrots, and that the origin of the green colored ones might be spinach. Such a huge surprise, one abomination after another.

Imagine my joy... right now it just grows and prospers.

Yeah, now I can be certain that this was all Ignis' planning and doing. He's the only one who knows exactly which kind of veggies and greens I always avoid to eat after all.

I take a few sips from the water next to me first, preparing myself mentally and emotionally as I rotate with unenthusiastic movements of my hand some of the white noodles around my fork. I'm painfully aware that I'm just fooling around with my food right now and not eating properly as I should. All the while my stomach makes hungry noises. I'm really hungry, but I want to eat proper food, not this.

Glancing sideways to Prom, I envy him so much at this moment, the veggies obviously not hampering his healthy appetite. His plate is almost emptied by now while mine is still full. Maybe if I eat all the white noodles first, there might be a slight chance that Prom will ignore the leftovers on my plate... hopefully?

By the way, do dogs by any chance eat veggies? Dogs are animals, right? Animals love carrots as far as I am aware of, so there shouldn't be a problem with my logic. Because damn, I wish Pryna or Umbra were here, at least then I would be able to sneak some of my food under the table. I really have to try this the next time Luna's puppies are here...

Speaking of sneaking, I swiftly sneak another glance over at Ignis, who now watches me closely with a frown on his face, and then I sneak a peek back at a chewing, content looking Prom, who just raises his hand to lick off some sauce from his fingers, and when his eyes meet my own, his bright smile almost blinding me, I just know that I'm doomed. There is no way out of this. I have no other option but to resign to myself, knowing, that lunch today will be the death of me.

That is the last thought I have before I dive my fork down straight into the bottomless pit.

...

"Finally! I thought this would take forever," Prom groans out, sounding relieved as he places his books away, looking happy because we just managed to finish the huge amount of homework.

It's gotten late already, too late for us to start playing something worthwhile and I stare in absolute resignation at the clock. Almost a whole day has gone by without Prom and I doing something fun. Well, fighting the nightmare off inside his lucid dream this morning doesn't really count.

Even dinner has been a dull experience for us, because there were yet again healthy meals served to us and this time I behaved like an idiot, refusing the entire time to eat anything that even resembled greens in any way. Because of lunch, my stomach had still been in pain.

Prom grew sad that I refused to eat the meals, he was probably blaming himself for my behavior. So I can't wait for us to be alone. I need to talk to him that this wasn't his fault at all.

I tune into Ignis' and Prom's conversation, yawning heartily as I shuffle Prom's homework over to his side.

"...and remember Prompto, cut down on the sweets and you'll be just fine. Be patient, losing weight isn't happening suddenly over night, give your body time to adjust to your new diet. Follow the steps I wrote down each and every day and this will help you to stay healthy along the way."

"Ignis, you're so amazing. I can't thank you enough for your help today," Prom beams happily at my childhood friend, bowing once more to show his heartfelt gratitude.

At this moment I somehow feel blessed to be his friend. He's so genuine and honest with his feelings that I have to admit, I seriously could learn a thing or two from him.

"Right. Then this will be my cue to leave," Ignis says uncomfortably, adjusting his glasses back on his nose.

I have to hide a smile when I see Ignis sending me a meaningful glance. My childhood friend seems to be struck speechless because Prom is so different than he probably imagined him to be.

As Prom makes room for Ignis to leave, both stand up at the same time from their chairs and it's too late for me to react in any way, helplessly watching those two as they knock their heads in the haste of their movements to get up.

"Oh my gosh, Ignis, I'm so sorry," apologizes a stricken looking Prom as he holds his own forehead from pain.

Ignis rubs over his head, wincing, "No, it's all right. I apologize, this was my fault, I stood up to quickly."

"I'm such a klutz, I should have realized you wanted to get up first," adds Prom with a devastated expression on his adorable face.

"Don't worry about it. Are you okay?"

"Err, yeah, and you?"

I don't know why, but those two are amusing to watch as they continue to send each other apologies. I am glad that Ignis has accepted Prom to be my close friend.

A huge yawn escapes me yet again when Ignis turns to me with a soft look inside his eyes, "Noct, if you two decide to play games this evening, don't forget to turn off all the consoles after you're done playing. It's dangerous to leave the devices on over night."

"Huh, why?" I ask confused.

Ignis huffs, "Surely you didn't forget how Umbra came into your game room unannounced and how he chewed up all the cables lying around. He could have gotten himself hurt. Last time you fell asleep in the middle of your game."

"What?! You must remember it wrong, I did no such thing," I deny vehemently, feeling my cheeks heat up because Prom has to witness and listen to what would be one of my weaknesses.

Prom dares to chuckle, and when I try to stare him down, he chuckles even more.

But instead of feeling annoyed with him, something in my gut tickles and makes me smile at him in response.

"Well, I don't think that we will play any games today. It's not only too late for that, but Prom and I are really tired," I say to Ignis, sounding regretful, aware of the fact that Prom and I didn't get enough sleep the night before.

"Is that so?" Ignis watches us with a raised brow. "Well then, I bid both of you a good night. Don't hesitate to call for me if you need my assistance. The guest room has been already prepared."

"Hn, thanks. Night, Ignis."

"Thanks again for everything, sleep well, Ignis," says Prom with a happy grin, waving his hand until Ignis disappears from our sight as the door clicks shut behind him.

...

"So, about the guest room Ignis mentioned...," Prom shuffles his bare feet on the floor, already dressed in his pajama and ready to go to sleep.

Having remembered that I hadn't taken a shower since yesterday morning, I took a quick one just now, not wanting to let Prom wait for too long for me. As I dry my damp hair with a fluffy towel, I can't help but notice how skittish he has become all of a sudden.

Furrowing my brows at his strange behavior, I just shrug my shoulders once, not understanding why he turns away when I get closer to him. But his red ears stick out in between his blonde strands of hair and I blink a few times at that.

"You can stay here, if you want," I say casually, not noticing how my words affect Prom and intensify his skittishness around me.

Placing the towel on one of my chairs, I enjoy the warmth underneath my own bare feet, thanking Eos profusely for the luxury of having a floor heating system installed inside my bedroom. I quickly take my own pajamas out of my wardrobe and walk towards my bed as I dress the comfy pants on.

When Prom still doesn't say anything, nor doesn't turn around to face me, I crawl beneath the blanket and make room for him to join me.

"My bed is big enough for the two of us," I say with a yawn, stretching my arms and legs as I make myself comfortable on the left side of my bed. "Besides, the guest room is too far away from here," I add, hinting to him that I don't want to be separated from his presence. I intend to keep Prom close to me for reasons that I still can't comprehend fully myself yet. I just know that as long as we are together, I don't want to sleep alone anymore...

Prom finally joins me, the mattress bouncing when his heavy body lies down next to me.

"Is this really okay...?" He asks breathlessly, sounding nervous to my ears.

Blinking into the darkness just as I switch the light off, I answer with a frown, "Yeah, of course."

"I mean, I-I don't want to get you in any trouble," he stutters, suddenly shifting his body away, as if wanting to stand up and leave.

My hand shoots out instantly for his upper arm to hold him back. "What are you talking about? You are my friend. I promise nobody will get mad at you for sleeping here. Stay and forget about the guest room."

I can't see his expression in the darkness very well, but I can feel his rigid body reluctantly lying down again as he turns carefully on his right side.

I turn around under the blanket to face him, smiling slightly, happy beyond words that he decided to stay. His presence next to me feels comforting and I don't want to miss this feeling ever again. It's strange how the night before has forged such a strong connection to him.

There is an awkward silence between us now and I decide that I don't like it.

"What's wrong?" I finally ask after awhile, noticing Prom's skittishness returning.

His feet can't keep still as he continues to shuffle them under the blanket. "N-nothing. It's just... I don't think that I can fall asleep yet," he whispers, his voice sounding strange.

Oh! Of course, he's probably still disappointed and mad that I behaved so foolishly at dinner before.

Searching for appropriate words to apologize, I say softly, "Sorry about dinner. I didn't want to make you worry. You must know that I can't stand vegetables. I know the food is healthy, Ignis tries all the time to make me eat greens and stuff, but it just tastes all wrong for me... it's something I seemingly have no control over."

"I see...," is his quiet answer. "Why didn't you tell me? Because of me, you had to suffer at lunch..."

"Don't you dare start to blame yourself, I didn't wish to hamper your appetite. After you were so ill yesterday, I wanted you to enjoy the food instead of worrying about me being such a spoiled brat," I say jokingly and place my hand in an affectionate gesture on his shoulder.

He hisses slightly as if in pain, trembling slightly under my touch when I pat and caress his arm like I did the night before to calm his fears down. "I'm really sorry," I say one more time, letting go of his arm when I can clearly feel how uncomfortable he has become.

"I-it's okay. I understand now, thank you for telling me," he whispers.

I wasn't aware of holding my breath, dread creeping up my spine at the thought of him refusing to be my friend now because I wasn't honest with him from the start. But his slight smile that my eyes can catch in the darkness before he pulls up the blanket to hide his face from me, makes me breathe out in relief.

"Good night, Prom," I whisper, my jaw cracking slightly as I yawn.

"Good night, Noct..."

From his rigid posture I can still feel that there is something bothering him, but I'll wait until he's ready to talk to me about it.

...

I curse inwardly when my full bladder wakes me up in the middle of the night.

Prom and I met again in a lucid dream and we've just chased down some low level nightmares inside his subconscious mind. Just seconds before I woke up, both of us had a lot of fun, jumping high into the night sky, enjoying the thrill of flying next to each other in our shared dream. Not to get lost, I held his hand into mine as he laughed out loud at a joke that I made.

Ugh, I want to go back to sleep right now.

But instead, I have to stand up begrudgingly, making haste to reach the loo in time.

When I get back to my bed, silently crawling beneath the warm blanket next to Prom, his sudden, soft voice startles me.

"I can't go back to sleep."

"Sorry for waking you up, but nature called...," I say sheepishly, rubbing my tired eyes.

Prom chuckles and I hit the side of his feet with mine to make him stop. "Quit laughing. That's the downside of lucid dreaming. Once awake, it's not easy to go back into it, especially when one is not used to it."

He turns his head to look at me, sounding excited when he asks me, "Lucid dreaming is so much fun, can you teach me how to do it every night?"

I shift my body towards him, feeling excited myself at the possibility of experiencing thrilling adventures with Prom each night. Something that I always felt uncomfortable asking Ignis or Gladio, because sharing a lucid dream feels immensely intimate. But the prospect of sharing them with Prom feels strangely natural to me.

"If I were to be your guide, you have to know before hand that I'm going to witness the deepest parts of your mind. You have to be sure...," I say awkwardly, only now becoming aware that he'll learn everything about me once I allow us to visit each others subconscious minds.

I have nothing to hide, but... well, having Prom inside my mind is something very intimate and yet it feels right.

"I want to learn, I trust you," he says firmly, reaching for my hand to squeeze it slightly.

"It's not always fun," I warn him. "You may learn things about yourself you might not be ready to face, not to mention the amount of fears you'll have to overcome. You saw how terrifying that Iron Giant was, needless to say, there are much more horrifying nightmares lurking inside your mind. It will take years to master this skill, if not a lifetime."

"Noct, you'll probably scoff at this, but when we are together I'm not afraid of anything. I feel free in a way I have never felt before. Please teach me, I feel compelled to share my dreams with you and I can't explain why," Prom whispers. "Having just experienced what lucid dreaming feels like, I now know that it's possible for us to be friends at all times. Not only during the day, but during our dreams as well..."

I'm somewhat struck speechless, because he feels the same as I do.

My heart starts racing, my hand held inside of his own starts sweating.

"Okay," I whisper delighted, knowing that our conversation tonight will change our future irrevocably, in a very good way. "Let's start right now with your lessons. The sooner you get a grasp on how to become aware inside your dreams, the sooner we'll get to have fun."

I roll my body out of bed, taking the blanket with me, laughing softly at Prom's squeak of surprise when I leave him uncovered.

"What are you doing?"

"Psst, follow me and stay silent," I say quietly, motioning with my hand for him to follow me as I walk towards the door.

I hear Prom's feet getting closer and I open the door as silently as possible. Glancing back over my shoulder, I whisper to him, "There are guards stationed at night everywhere. We'll need to be careful."

Prom places his hand on my back. "Wait, where are we going? Wouldn't you get in trouble if anyone were to see us? I have a bad feeling, let's go back to bed."

Taking his hand into mine, I counter, "Didn't you want me to teach you? You'll need to overcome your fears. This is no different than experiencing a similar situation inside a dream, think of this as a lesson."

I can hear Prom gulping down. "Right. This is a lesson. What are we waiting for, let's go," he says bravely.

I smirk into the darkness of my room. I like his courage.

As we make our way up to the top floor of the palace, my heart beats with excitement, the blood rushes in my veins, and as I hold Prom's warm hand, interlacing his fingers with mine, I imagine that an amazing adventure has just begun...

...

To be continued.