Your prodigal author has returned. I'm back, and I plan to continue with this story until it is finished. I can't plan that I will update every week, but I sure will try!
I've always wanted to try what Silver does during their venture in the cave. I might do it one day. I would recommend against doing it though, because I hear it is quite dangerous. I hope you enjoy~
I do not own any characters other than my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own.
Chapter 7 ~ Calm Before the Storm
They all rush the beast. It senses that they may be a bigger threat than anticipated and inhales deeply. The five notice it's puffing up for something big and begin to scatter.
Silver notices that the beast has its eyes trained on Gladio. The snake opens its mouth. She acts on instinct and dashes over to the warrior, donning her hood and grabbing the heavy fabric of her cloak with each clawed gauntlet.
She jumps in front of him as a green acid spews from the snake's mouth. She holds her cloak open with her back to the snake as the thick black fabric does as it was supposed to and keeps the acidic venom from splashing on either of the two. She immediately ditches the cloak when she notices little holes beginning to form in the heavy fabric.
"I owe you one," Gladio thanks her with a squeeze to her shoulder before letting the large sword in his hands slice at the snake. Silver checks to make sure there were no other splashes of the venom on her person.
Noctis warp strikes, sending his sword clean through the large snake's hood. It thrashes and whips its spiked tail around, almost catching Gladio and Silver. Gladio jumps in front of her and uses his sword to deflect the spiked tail. She gives a nod of thanks before she sprints in front of him and sinks her claws into its body.
Prompto shoots at it from a distance, making sure he keeps out of the way of the flailing tail. Ignis slashes at the snake each time it tries to go after Noctis, making sure to embed his daggers into the softer underbelly while the beast remains distracted.
The snake whips its body around, sending Silver flying into Gladio, knocking him over and sending his sword flying. It lands close to Prompto, eliciting a yelp from the gunslinger. His hand clenches as he jumps away and accidentally fires the gun. The bullet flies through the air and clinks against Ignis' dagger as it flies towards the snake, sending the dagger off course enough to lodge into the large eyeball of the serpent.
They watch as it struggles and flails around in pain. The large serpent slithers around half blind, crashing into Noctis, sending him stumbling backwards to crash into Silver as she helps Gladio up, keeping them on the ground. Silver pushes herself off of Gladio's chest. Her eyes, once a pale blue color, begin to glow an electric blue.
The warrior's breath hitches as Silver stands, acting like a completely different person. She looks at Gladio and then at the snake. She points to its head and then to the air. Gladio puts his sword on the ground, understanding she needs his help to gain some sort of momentum.
She steps onto the sword, getting into a fighting stance, ready to spring upwards once he is ready. He uses all of his might to fling her upwards in the air.
The next moments pass by in slow motion for the four as they watch her soar through the air like an angel of death. The snake sees her too and quickly coils itself.
The snake shoots its body upwards, ready to catch her in the air. She holds up her hand once her ascent slows. The enormous sword, granted to her by Oshogo, appears in the air. She takes the hilt in her hands and uses her body to gain momentum, spinning in the air and swinging the sword in a large circle.
She comes down with full force-the blade easily splitting the hard skull of the stretched out snake. The sword does not stop, as it easily cuts through the snake like butter and embeds itself deep in the ground as blood and gore rain down on her.
She stands and looks at the others. Her eyes still glow an electric blue as she holds the sword with one hand. It disappears in a swirl of blue magic, leaving a deep gouge in the earth. Silver drops to her knees as her eyes return to normal. She breathes heavily and wipes the blood from around her eyes, trying to see a bit more clearly at her friends.
They all stand and watch her with awe and horror. "Just like an angel of death," Gladio whispers to himself. Prompto holds up his camera, looking to see if he got any good shots. He had one that he thinks is amazing: Silver in the air, bringing the swords down on the great Serpent's head.
They all watch her with wide eyes as she finally pulls herself off the ground. She stands and steadies herself by holding her arms out. She looks at the others and gives a smile. The smile of a hunter that had successfully brought down a target—a smile of pride and courage graces her lips.
"Silver…" Prompto whispers her name in awe. He jumps up and down and throws a fist in the air, "That was amazing!" She runs a hand through her hair and frowns when she feels the slickness of blood. She gags when she brings the hand in front of her to look at it. She gives them all an unhappy look.
Gladio comes over and playfully smacks her on the shoulder. Ignis and Noctis congratulate her on such a fine kill and a wonderful show of her true prowess. Prompto gushes about how amazing that was and his need to learn some cool moves like that. Silver looks at her discarded cloak.
She walks over and picks up the tattered fabric. She holds it up for further inspection. The holes grow larger by the second, making her believe that her entire garment would soon be gone. "Wow, Gladio, look," Prompto walks over and points to the diminishing fabric. "You are so lucky Silver jumped in front of you!"
Ignis walks over to inspect the cloak, or rather what is left of it. "What truly terrifying venom; Prompto is correct. You may just owe your life to Silver for her quick thinking." They all look at her, and she gives a sheepish smile.
Noctis crosses his arms, "What made you do that?" He questions her with mild curiosity, wondering why she would jump in the way like that if she had no idea whether the snake was going to attack or spew its venom. How could she have been certain that it would only get on her cloak and not seep through to harm her?
She points to the snake and covers her eyes. "Ah," Ignis nods, "You recalled what it did to your brother. You do seem to be worth all the trouble." He gives her a chuckle when she crosses her arms and frowns at him.
She just rolls her eyes at them and walks over towards the water of the river. She reaches the edge and looks back at the four. They watch her with uncertainty, wondering what she could be doing. She points to them and then covers her eyes. She turns back around, hoping they understood her intention and takes her black long sleeve off, tossing it on a nearby rock.
She unlaces her knee-high women's combat boots and kicks them aside before jumping into the river with her pants still on. She quickly scrubs her hair clean of the snake's blood and she runs the near frigid water over the four wounds on each arm from the morning. A few of them begin to bleed anew from the scrubbing, but most stay clotted.
She gets out and wrings out her hair. She holds up her hands in the air as her outfit begins to change. The water is whisked away and her hair only remains slightly damp as the blue magic swirls around her.
The four were caught up in their conversation, having been kind enough to grant Silver her privacy.
They turn once they all feel the magic spike in the air. Noctis looks at her outfit, narrowing his eyes, as he believed her outfit to look rather familiar to him. She wears black pants tucked into the knee-high boots and a black frock coat partially buttoned up. She wears a black scarf as a belt, letting the ends hang and flutter.
Prompto leans closer to Noctis and whispers, "Is it just me, or does she kind of look like she is wearing Kingsglaive Uniform?" Noctis nods slowly as he eyes her suspiciously. They all exchange glances as she walks over to them. She gives a smile, feeling much nicer after cleaning the gore from her person.
"Let's get going," Noctis points to the waterfall. They all walk onwards up the incline to the waterfall. Silver walks a bit slower than the others, looking around at the water and the plants.
Gladio hangs back a bit and waits for her to walk past him. He walks beside her, "Thank you for sacrificing your cloak to protect me from the venom."
She gives him a smile and nods her head. "You know that the way you are dressed makes you look like part of the Kingsglaive," he points out.
She just shrugs her shoulders at him. She gives him a cheeky smile, and it made him almost certain she wished to answer, 'I am protecting the King aren't I?'.
She looks ahead when she hears Prompto's excited voice, "Let's get a pic of this spot!" She stands and looks on at them as they all stand on a rock before the camera to get the waterfall in the background. Prompt runs over and drags her over with them. She gives a smile for the camera as Prompto drapes his arm around her.
The camera flashes as it takes a photo. Silver waits for him to put all of his camera accessories away and walks with them to the waterfall. She looks up at the large waterfall and frowns when a large gust brings more mist her way, getting her wet.
"Wow," Prompto beams, "Wouldn't you know it—an entrance!" Silver freezes before the cave mouth. She feels the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. The cave sends chills down her spine before she even steps into it. She can't help but think: This cave is bad news.
"Got a problem?" Gladio questions from behind her. She shakes her head slowly and wanders into the cave. She feels the chill as a breeze wisps past her. She hugs herself as she watches her breath in the air. "This place gives me goose bumps," Prompto voices. "Double back for our coats?" He questions hopefully.
"What's the point? Little chill won't kill ya," the warrior crosses his arms and gives a smirk to the blond. Silver walks closer to the blonde, holding onto his arm as they walk.
"Looking on the bright side," he begins, "Maybe the cold keeps the monsters at bay?" Silver sighs and shakes her head.
"Yeah, because monsters like warmth." Gladio's words were laced with sarcasm.
Silver snickers as she imagines a Thunder Bomb frozen in a block of ice. Prompto snickers too and glances to the side at her. She gives him a questioning look. He puts a hand up to his ear. She snickers as she remembers her brother's prototype.
The royal party and the she hunter walk further in, noting the dropping temperature. She looks at a few icicles hanging from the ceiling. She walks onwards to see a huge pillar of ice before the cave turns to icy flooring and descends deeper.
She walks over and presses her tongue to the frozen pillar.
She giggles as she tries to pull her tongue away to see she cannot do that. Prompto walks over to her with a frown as he pulls out his camera and flashes a photo of her smiling like an idiot.
"Silver?" She looks to the side enough that she won't pull her tongue and sees the rest of the royal party with their arms crossed, looking on at her, with her tongue stuck to the ice pillar. Noctis has a hand on his face as he gives a drawn out sigh. Ignis pinches the bridge of his nose while Gladio gives an amused smirk.
Prompto snickers at her once she tries to pull away. "Looks like you are stuck there for now," He walks back over to his friends.
Ignis walks over and looks at her with a frown, "We are going to continue forth. You will be safe until we return. Should you get unstuck, stay here."
Silver rolls her eyes at him and giggles. She hears Noctis slide down the icy ground and descend deeper into the network of caves. She hears the others slide down after him and the footsteps echo as they walk.
She hums softly as she waits. Her tongue burns as it absorbs the cold from the ice. Drool dribbles down her chin and drips onto the floor.
She feels the coolness in the air and hugs herself to try and keep warm. Sounds of metal against metal could be heard from further within. Noctis and his team had likely encountered some monsters. She sighs, wishing she were able to go there and fight too.
She doesn't regret sticking her tongue to the ice pillar, for it was fun in the moment and she had always wanted to do it. She was also a bit worried about the feeling of fear she had when first entering the cave.
She pulls out her phone and holds it to the side to take a selfie. She gives a thumbs up and half a smile to her phone. She gives a giggle as she looks at the picture to see what she looked like. Her long silver hair was flawless as it could be after fighting a giant snake and practically taking a spa day in the river. Her chin was wet and a long line of drool hangs from it. She does look happy though, having done something she had only seen in movies.
She waits for what seems like an eternity before she gets tired of having her tongue stuck to the pillar and brings her Hell Blades into existence with the swirl of blue magic. She lets the metal glow red and touches the claws to the ice. The blades slide into the ice easily, melting it. She slowly edges them closer to her tongue until she can feel the heat and the water drip down her chin.
She finally frees herself and looks around with her tongue sticking out. She tries to warm her mouth a bit and finally gets her freezing tongue in her mouth with a wince at the coldness. She giggles and sits down cross-legged doing as she was told and waiting where she was.
It was awfully quiet in the cave. It was frigid, dark and wet. Her back began to feel the cold more and more, causing her to shiver. Her teeth chattered and her breath came out visibly, much like a plume of smoke. Gods, she was freezing. She just had to move to keep warm, but she was told to stay put, so what could she do?
She stands and summons the unholy weapons Oshogo had gifted her. Hell Blades appear on her hands, glowing orange with fire magic. She then summons the same whistle she used to bring the griffon to her. She uses the other side this time, making a deep sound, almost like a sound one would bring forth when playing the didgeridoo.
A deep, rich sound with a hint of bass comes from the end of the whistle and travels through the network of caves. She smirks when the effects of the whistle take place and several imps crawl up the icy slope her friends disappeared down. She lowers herself, getting into fighting stance and growling at her new foes.
The nasty little creatures hop around her, trying to get her to lose track of them. The first one jumps from behind, aiming for a strike to her back. She ducks as the little daemon flies over her head. Silver jumps backwards and then forward at the imp to her left. Her blazing claws cut it clean through. It disappears in black smoke with red orbs of its daemon essence—essence she knows all too well.
She gives a chuckle as the others look at her with slight fear. This was the way to rid her of the cold. Heating her body with the fuel the bloodlust provides. Her claws make quick work of them as she laughs. One shoots her with a beam of purple magic, sending her forward and onto the floor.
Silver wished she were able to speak, for she wanted to let them know that their demise was imminent. Her claws burn with the white-hot intensity of a sun. A blinding white light comes from the ten claw blades and begins to consume the daemons. All she could hear was their screams of pain as they had been burned to ash.
She looks to see the ice around her has melted and runs deeper in the cave. The ice pillar is no more and the walls were heated rock. She sits down where she had been standing, since the rock there was warm and dry. She couldn't wait until the others came back. She knew exactly what they would be thinking when they saw all of the ice gone. They would think she did all of this because her tongue was stuck.
…
Ignis pinches the bridge of his nose, "You did not…"
"She so did!" Prompto runs over to her excitedly and puts his hands on her shoulders, flashing her a huge smile.
Noctis laughs and falls to the ground, holding his stomach. He tries to breathe in between his laughter and words, "You… burned everything… just to get… unstuck." Gladio gives a chuckle at both her antics and his friend rolling around on the floor.
She gives a smile to them all and shrugs. They all took a few moments to appreciate the heat from the rocks around them, happy to have something so warm to stand by after a long expedition through frozen caves. Noctis leads them out of the cave, stopping before the entrance to look at the waterfall.
He suddenly brings his hands to his head and falls to his knees. Ignis is immediately at his side with his hand on Noctis' shoulder. "What did I? Where was that?" The prince questions as he looks around a bit confused.
"What is it?" Ignis questions.
"A hole in the ground… something burning… The meteor?"
"You saw the Disc of Cauthess?" Noctis nods to Ignis' question, standing up and regaining his composure. He shakes his head and begins walking.
"Let's make our way back to Lestallum," Gladio suggests as they all look towards the dying light of the sun.
Silver takes the opportunity on their trip back to the car to walk over to the snake and take one of the large scales from its body. She holds it up and gives a smile. She worked hard for this and she was going to turn in the bounty for this great beast and impress everyone with her antics.
They all pile into the car, complaining a bit when Silver hops in the passenger seat up front. She turns around and sticks her tongue out at the three men squished in the back seat. Prompto takes his opportunity to get a picture of her gloating, and then a selfie of the three of them squished in the back.
Noctis smiles as he looks in the rear view mirror at his three friends and then as he looks to the side at Silver. He really did have the best of friends. They all got along, for the most part anyway, and they were all a bunch of fun.
Prompto was his best friend, always keeping the group happy and together, he was like the glue of the group. Ignis was strict at times, but he knew when to be lenient or, dare one say, fun at times. He was what kept them all on track and out of trouble for the most part. Gladio was the playful warrior that knew when he needed to put down his foot. Silver, she was another story altogether.
Silver had stumbled into their lives, or rather they chased her down. She was so expressive and odd. Sure, she didn't talk, but you could see her feelings in those big blue eyes she had. He could even see those times that her smile kept her deeper feelings hidden. He could see her eyes when they were at the HQ, when she first got to see her brother.
Her eyes betrayed the distance she held between herself and her brother. She was putting on an act while they were all there. He had easily come to realize that she kept Prompto around the night before because she felt safer that way. He had brought the fact up to Ignis while they were in the gas station in Lestallum. He agreed, having seen first hand how her brother had been acting around her. He had said her brother was quite surprised when he realized Ignis had been standing there and watching him be so rough with his sister.
He looked at her again before pulling away from the parking spot. She sits relaxed in the front seat. She closes her eyes and slowly brings her hand up to her slightly red cheek. Her usual smile falters for just a brief second. He knew—they all knew. She had put on an act. She was suffering on the inside, always hiding behind her big smile.
…
"Prince Noctis!" Talcott runs over excitedly, "Welcome back!"
"Your story came to a happy end," Ignis reports with a smile.
Noctis gives a smile to the young boy, "We owe you, Talcott."
Iris stands beside them, she waves Silver over while Noctis briefly talks to Talcott and Jared. Silver takes out the large snake scale and shows it to Iris. The young teen looks at it with awe in her eyes.
Silver looks back to Noctis when he grunts with pain. She briefly gets a bit protective and on edge until she notices it was just a headache like before. She watches beside Iris. "Not again…" Noctis manages to say under his breath.
Iris walks over to him with worry written all over her face. "What's the matter? Are you alright?"
Gladio lays his hand on the prince's shoulder and turns towards his sister, "He'll be fine. Don't worry. We oughta take a closer look at this so-called 'Disc'," he suggests.
Prompto smiles, "Then look no further than the outlook. When I went with Silver, we were able to see it from there. I bet you can use the viewer things."
Ignis puts a hand to his chin, "No substitute for being on sight, but it would be a start. Let's see what we can glean of Noct's condition."
Iris walks over and grabs hold of Silver's frock sleeve. "Gladdy, can I please keep Silver here?" Silver turns to look at Iris and then at Gladio. The woman of silver hair seemed to have no problems with it, but had no idea if that would be acceptable. Gladio looks to Noctis who waves them off. Iris happily drags Silver upstairs.
…
You all know what part happens next. Will Silver get left behind? What will happen next? Will Silver rise to a challenge or will she flee like a coward? Will they ever get to meet up with Sen again? Will Gladio teach him a lesson about hitting women?
Next up is Chapter 8: "I Will Protect Her"!
Leave a review or private message me. The next chapter will be a bit… dark? It's a little violent. I still want to know what you all think. I'm leaning towards a Gladio x Silver, but that could change at any time. I may end up just making her non-exclusive and then the real fun starts. I'm just kidding. I won't turn this into a raunchy smutty fiction. The plot will always come first. See you next time.