With the cold air rushing against his face, Noctis tried his hardest to keep an eye out where they were heading. Prompto was the one driving the snowmobile, so Noctis tried to help lookout for anything firing at them. There were plenty of MTs and barricades along the path, and it seemed Prompto was focused on steering them through a clear path.

"Where are we headed?" Prompto shouted over the roaring winds. "What does the map say?"

After Aranea had come to help them, it wasn't long before they had been separated. They had only run down a set of stairs before she shoved a map at them and told them to go off without her. They left her behind to fight the daemons, driving out on the snowmobile as fast as it would go. Though Noctis wished they could have stayed back and helped, he knew how capable that woman was and knew that she would be fine and find them later.

"You'll wanna head north, I think. I can't really read it with the wind! So I'd say just keep heading down the mountain," Noctis said.

"Go down the mountain? No shit, looks like that's all we can do," Prompto said as he weaved his way down the mountainside.

Explosions went off behind them, nearly trailing them. The trek down the mountain was far from easy, but Noctis trusted Prompto to drive them safely away from all the chaos. It was still terrifying with every explosion that went off… every small cliff Prompto drove off. Every little thing sent Noctis's heart racing, so far from certain what the outcome would be.

After they passed under some rocky arches, the explosions around them grew closer. They practically were going off right beside them even as they kept driving forward. Then, just as they neared another ledge, one explosion nearly hit them from behind, sending the boys airborne. The startling shock of it even caused Prompto to let go of the snowmobile. Their only mode of transportation plummeted down to the area below, with them following after.

For a few seconds Noctis felt weightlessness before he and Prompto tumbled down to the snowy ground. Noctis groaned, thankful that the snow was light and plentiful, but it still hurt pretty bad.

He saw Prompto grunt and roll slowly onto his back. "We'll catch ya later, Aranea…"

"Prom… you okay?" Noctis asked as he tried to push himself to his feet. His body and muscles fussed at him, burning and back aching, but he persisted.

"Fine… Just feeling a bit 'ugh', I guess. And you?" Prompto replied as he got himself to his feet.

"About the same. But we can at least take a moment to check the map in peace," Noctis said as he looked up at the cliffside they had fallen from. "Doesn't look like they're attacking anymore."

"But we shouldn't wait to find out."

"Right, yeah, so let me check the map," Noctis replied as he pulled the map out of his jacket pocket. They looked at it and where Aranea had marked them to go, and it seemed it was only a little bit northwest of where they stood. There was a haven labeled as Deratom Haven , surprising both of them that havens were even anywhere in Gralea.

Together they pushed the snowmobile upright and got back on it. Prompto revved up the engine and they were off once more, heading towards the location at a much calmer and slower pace. At least now they didn't have to worry about too many boulders, dense trees or rocky arches.

Out on the lower valley, it seemed much more open, and before Noctis knew it they arrived at the haven. It was within a cave entrance at the bottom of one of the mountains. It was a strange place for a haven for sure, but Noctis wasn't going to question it. It was a place to warm up and hide from the snow, and that was all they needed.

"Come on, let's get that fire started," Noctis said as he walked forward, up towards the entrance.

"Yeah, a cozy fire sounds good right about now."

Just as expected, there was a special haven fire pit set up within the cave. The faint glow of blue magic flowing around it, proving that it was a legit setup. Noctis was quick to light the sticks that were already in the pit, and the fire was soon roaring and crackling before them.

Finally they could just sit down and relax.

"Man… that was something, wasn't it?" Prompto asked as he flopped down next to Noctis.

"It really was. But hey, we survived, and here we are."

Nodding, Prompto pulled out one of the few food items they had. Much to Noctis's dismay it just so happened to be a can of beans.

"Guess this is all we got. You won't go and destroy it now, will you?"

Noctis managed a small laugh before he pulled out his own can. "Nah, I'm not that anti-bean. I'll manage somehow."

Before long they had the cans open and cooked from the heat of the fire, slowly eating the content inside.. Noctis knew that they had already gone through so much in such little time, so a little silence between them shouldn't have surprised him. But every passing second was still rather dreadful.

He wanted to say something. Something he felt could help break the ice between them, anything to make it feel like normal again.

Then Prompto spoke first, giving a weak chuckle. "Almost as good as what Iggy used to make, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Noctis replied, his mouth feeling sting of what had happened to Ignis in Altissia still burnt in his mind. "But nothing replaces his stuff… or could've."

"Agreed there," Prompto said as he set the can down next to him. He let out a long sigh, looking down at the ground. "It's been quiet, at least. No MTs or crazy machines to bother us out here."

Noctis set down his can and rested his arms on his knees. "Yeah, it's nice for that."

A moment passed again and neither of them spoke. The fire flickered on, and it made Noctis's heart race with anxiety. Finally, he stood up and looked out to the land beyond the cave. "I'll, uh, I'm going to grab some more sticks. We may need some more soon. You… Are you going to be alright?"

"Hm, yeah, I should be fine. Not like I'd go anywhere or anything," Prompto replied. "But you'll be safe? You got your light?"

Noctis nodded as he clicked it to his jacket. "Yeah, I'll only be gone a few minutes."

With just a nod from Prompto, Noctis briskly walked out of the cave. A clump of trees wasn't too far off from the entrance, so he knew it wouldn't be too terrible if daemons decided to show up. But as he walked, it all seemed rather quiet and vacant of any daemonic life. He just hoped it would stay that way as he gathered sticks.

'What am I going to say to Prompto? How do I even handle a subject like this?' he wondered to himself as he picked up fallen branches. 'In less than two hours he learned he was a clone, could have been an MT, and killed the man who created him. That's just like 100 levels of fucked up.'

Wandering a bit further, he saw a few more good-sized branches that would be suitable for firewood. Of course all of what he was gathering would have to dry out first, but it was better than letting the fire burn out on them halfway through the night.

Lasting the entire night in a cold cave wasn't on his to-do list, but there was no other choice at this point. It was either there or attempt to head back to that facility, and that was already out of the question. If Noctis could avoid having Prompto go back there forever, then he would do so.

'I gotta just try and say something… Anything to help him overcome what he could be thinking. I'll give it a shot.'

As Noctis headed back to the cave, he looked to make sure Prompto was still there. He was in fact still sitting there, but as Noctis neared, he dropped the pile of wood from his hands. Prompto sat right next to the fire as expected, but he was now holding one of the burning sticks from the fire pit over his wrist.

"Prompto!" Noctis shouted as he ran over and grabbed the stick, then tossed it as far as he could. He then snatched both of Prompto's wrists and had him look at him. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

He could see Prompto looking at him with the widest eyes, full of fear and misery. "I… I'm branded for life, Noct. I thought maybe I could just-"

"No way is that ever the answer. I don't ever want to see you attempting to harm yourself, you hear me?" Noctis said. His voice was already sounding weak and shaky, but he didn't care. He had to say what he knew needed to be said.

"But, Noct… I'm just-"

"Hey, remember what I said? The thing about being just Prompto? 'Cause that's exactly what you still are."

Slowly, Noctis let go of Prompto's wrists, moving forward to hold him tightly. He brought his face closer to Prompto's ear, neary brushing up against the hair that stuck out of the winter cap. If now was the time to reach out to help Prompto, then he had to try. He had to man up, push away all of that anxiety eating away at him, and help his best friend.

"Barcode or not, I still care about you. You could have anything on your wrist: barcode, a smiley face, something completely vulgar, and wouldn't care."

"Even if I'm a woulda-been MT?"

"Remember what I told you back at the facility? When you first showed me your barcode? What did I chocobo promise you?"

There was a pause, with only the deep breaths of the boys being heard.

Then Prompto spoke once more. "You promised you'd never hate me."

"Exactly. So why should that change now? I'll always keep my promise to you, Prompto."

Feeling Prompto's arms wrapped around his back, Noctis figured he must have said something right. He decided to finally take it a few steps further. "And remember our rooftop talk? All the stuff we talked about?"

"Yeah… You still listened to me as I opened up about my insecurities. You still told me I was good enough, that I didn't have to prove anything. So, yeah… guess you have a point there."

"I'm glad. Just talk to me, okay? If you start feeling like that again… you know, with the stick and all?"

He felt Prompto nodding. "Yeah, I can try to. Sorry I worried you, I don't even know what I was thinking."

With one hand, Noctis reached up to slowly stroke Prompto's head. "It's okay. It's over and it won't happen again. But, uh, you know I care for you."

There was a small chuckle. "Yeah, dude, I know."

"No, I mean, like, I really care for you."

Pulling away from Noctis's hold, Prompto stared at him. "Is this what Ardyn was taunting about?"

Noctis nodded slowly. "It was. I thought it would be better to do it now than later at this point, since we are just getting things out in the open."

"And he was telling the truth? How would he even know something like that?"

"I don't know how the hell he could have found out, but it's true. I really do feel that way, liking you in that way."

"Since when?"

"I don't know exactly when. It took me jumping off the train to realize that I had felt this way. But if I had to pinpoint, I'd say high school? As soon as you ran up to me, hit me on the shoulder and smiled as you introduced yourself."

Prompto gasped. "Dude, that was, like, five years ago."

Noctis sunk a little, his eyes shifting away and his shoulders lowering. "It was five years ago, but I think that's where it really started. Even if I was in denial all those years up until now, you were special. You just… You opened up a side of me that I never knew existed. You helped me to smile more, to laugh and have fun. You were, and still are, just so adorable I couldn't understand how lucky I was. Even if I didn't think I could ever tell you, I wanted to keep being with you."

"You think I'm adorable?" Prompto gawked.

Noctis was able to manage a laugh from that, lifting his gaze back to Prompto. "That's what you picked up on?"

"Other than the fact that apparently you denied yourself feelings of love for five years until you jumped off a freaking moving train? Yeah, that's what I picked up on!"

"Well, it is true. I really like you, Prompto. Like you so much that it happens to be love. It's… It's fine if you don't feel the same way. I went this long without it, I can keep going after this. Just thought it would be good to finally say it."

"I guess we are both kind of stupid."

Noctis tilted his head, not reading Prompto's odd smile he now wore. "What?"

"We're both so stupid to think the other could never love us, putting ourselves in denial all this time," Prompto said, his voice thick with irony.

"Wait, you mean that you… You're…?"

"Yup. I love you too, Noctis, only I've actually known my feelings from the start."

"And what would your start be?"

Prompto's cheeks redden. "Since our first day of high school."

"And you were going to criticize me for falling in love five years ago?" Noctis snorted.

"No! Just didn't expect it to start for the both of us back then. It's a lot, okay? Just trying to process this. We love each other, and somehow Ardyn found out and wanted to taunt us. But wait, uh… what does this mean for Luna? I thought you were excited for the, um, you know."

Noctis hummed for a moment, thinking of how he was going to phrase it. He didn't want it to come off too harshly, but he wanted to be honest about it.

"It was a political marriage forced by the Empire. Neither Luna or I had a say in it, and I just tried to fake being okay with it. It was what everyone was expecting, but not what I was feeling."

"And Luna herself?"

"We only chatted through letters for years. Hadn't seen her since I was eight. So if anything, she felt like an old pen pal or something. Just a really good, old friend. I still cared for her deep, just not the same feeling that I have for you. If that even makes sense."

"Nah, I get it. You still cared, but just weren't in love, and being forced to marry wasn't helping the cause."

"Yeah, that's it."

After that they were met with silence again, both of them staring at each other for a moment only to drift off to the floor or ceiling of the cave. The feelings were out in the open, but now Noctis was at a total loss at what to do. He hadn't expected any of this, not for Prompto to be understanding or even return an ounce of his feelings.

"So, now what?" he finally asked.

"I dunno?" Prompto shrugged. "What do you do once you open up and confess to the love of your life?"

Suddenly, an absurd thought came to Noctis's head. It made him laugh. "You know what I just thought?"

"What?"

"In those cheesy romance books Gladio reads, what do the two lovers do after they've confessed their love to one another?"

"Dude, how in Eos should I know that? I always try to tune him out when he starts rambling about those things. Don't tell me you actually listen!"

There was a small shrug from Noctis. "Sometimes I end up remembering bits and pieces."

"So what do they do then? When the lovers confess?"

"They, um… they kiss."

"And you want to… do that?"

Noctis could already feel his cheeks burning. The sheer thought of getting to kiss Prompto ignited a spark in his heart. He wanted to know what it felt like to kiss, or more specifically to kiss Prompto.

"Should we kiss? Right now?" Noctis said, breathing out slowly. "I mean, I'm okay to try it, if you want to try?"

"U-Um, we could try?" Prompto replied as he leaned in closer.

Noctis leaned in as well, bringing himself close enough so that he was brushing his nose against Prompto's. Prompto's breath tickled against his cheeks, making his body shudder with a newfound feeling of nervousness mixed with a little excitement.

But he couldn't pull himself to go for the kiss. He didn't know if it was fear stopping him, or more likely the fact he didn't even know what he was doing.

"Is there a way you're supposed to kiss?" Noctis muttered.

"Don't ask me, I wouldn't know. It should just be as simple as putting our lips together? Like the movies?"

"The movies always make it look super easy."

Prompto chuckled. "Yeah, you got a point, there. So, um, go do that, then?"

"M-Maybe," Noctis said hesitantly. "Or maybe we can wait? Wait 'til we have time to think about it?"

Prompto leaned back and sighed. "Guess we don't wanna just rush into it or something? In case we make a mistake?"

"N-No, don't think of it like that! I just… I think if I want us to have a first kiss, it should be somewhere better than a cold and dark cave. When we aren't pressed for time?"

Prompto relaxed a little, giving a small nod. "Oh, yeah. I guess that would make sense. But, hey, at least we talked about it."

Even if he wasn't going to kiss Prompto, he scooted closer and wrapped an arm around him. "We did talk about it. Now I can say I love you at least."

"Me, too," Prompto replied. "Love you, too."

Humming happily, Noctis closed his eyes for a moment. With Prompto leaning against him, and their feelings expressed, a huge weight was lifted off his chest. He had never felt so light before, full of bliss and warm feelings.

"As heartfelt as the moment was, I was going to step in to interrupt if you guys hadn't stopped, yourselves."

Eyes shooting open, Noctis stared at the entrance of the cave, seeing Aranea watching them with a large smirk.

"A-Aranea!" both Prompto and Noctis shouted in unison.