1

The memory was still a little fuzzy. After all, it had all happened so fast... one moment Prompto was standing face to face with Ardyn, gun firmly pointed at him, more than ready to pull the trigger.

And the next, he was falling.

Landing painfully on the hard ground, rolling a short ways over the dirt and rocks before stopping in a heap on the side of the tracks. But one thing never left his mind, lingering in his ears no matter how much time had passed between then and now. Noctis, screaming his name, just before his feet left the solid surface of the roof of the train. He remembered Noctis watching him as he fell, whisked away from the safety of the company of his friends by the cruel force of gravity. Those thoughts, and those images stayed with him this whole time. It had been several days since it had happened... and so much had happened to him since. He was a broken man, lost and alone in a sea of darkness and uncertainty.

"Prompto!" Noct's voice rang in his ears, continually bringing him back to that time, and his darkest moments of despair... what had happened? Why had it happened? And what would he do now...?

Prompto shook his head quickly, trying to cause the memory to dissipate. Despite all he knew about what truly happened back then, thinking about it still hurt his heart to relive those painful, tormenting moments.

"Hope the guys are okay..." Prompto whispered quietly to himself as he dismounted the snowmobile he had been riding, gazing upon the dark city before him.

Gralea.

The capital of the empire, and the new home of the Crystal. As he looked out at the city, he could see nearly countless deamons, roaming in every direction. It appeared that nowhere would be truly safe for him to lay low and try to avoid being discovered. Despite this, he slipped into a nearby building, quickly shedding his tundra gear and re-equipping himself with his normal fatigues. All the black and general dark colors making him that much more inconspicuous, plus he realized it was noticeably warmer in the capital city somehow despite the cold terrain not that far away.

"Just gotta lay low until we meet up, I guess..." He said, poking his head around the door frame of the building he had taken momentary refuge in, making sure the way was at least clear enough to advance deeper into the city. Staying here would do nothing for the sake of progress. Especially if the possibility that the guys were already here was true.

Deeming the distance between himself and the nearest hoard of deamons far enough, Prompto quickly exited the building, staying low and close to the walls of the buildings for the purpose of stealth and safety. True, he never had any formal training in pretty much anything like Noct and the others had, but he did know a thing or two about stealth from all of his time with the guys.

"Don't worry Noct, I'll do my best. I can't go getting myself caught now..." Continuing on, Prompto surveyed his surroundings once again, making sure the way forward was still clear enough for him to advance safely. Swiftly making his way from one building to the next, he ducked for cover behind almost everything he could to avoid being seen by the deamons, or worse... Ardyn.

"I hope they show up soon..." Prompto whispered to himself, plopping down behind another abandoned building to take a quick breather. He had been sneaking around for what felt like forever, and the stress and fear of being discovered was starting to get to him as he got closer and closer to the fortress in the center of the city. It was truly unnerving for the blonde boy-wonder being the only living thing in sight that wasn't a bloodthirsty deamon. The tension of each moment he spent alone in this place was so high, he felt like he was in a horror movie. Though given the circumstances, he probably wasn't that far off with that train of thought.

"Sure wish my friends were here right now..." Prompto sighed quietly, once again taking in his lonely surroundings as he took these few peaceful moments to rest. Even being alone most of his life, Prompto was never one for being in solitude. Especially now that he actually had friends unlike when he was a child, it was much harder for him to be alone... and much more painful.

"They'll be here soon, hopefully. And we can get through this together..." He smiled to himself as he thought of reuniting with his dear friends. "We'll storm the fortress, take back the crystal, and save the world."

"Or at least that's what I'd like to think..." He sighed, glancing at his branded wrist, a sad expression falling over his face. "what will happen if they find out...? Or rather, when they find out...what will they say...?"

Prompto frowned, looking up at the empty skies of Nifilheim. Despite the fact there were no clouds, it was completely devoid of a single star... and the moon was barely visible at all. Looking back down at the dark city he was sat in, he pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his forehead gently on them as he continued to dwell on his thoughts.

"Will they accept me... when they learn who I really am...?"

"That certainly is the question, isn't it?"

Prompto quickly got up from his hiding place, whirling around in the direction of the unfortunately familiar voice as he summoned his handgun into his hands, gripping it tightly as he pointed it at the origin of the voice in self-defense. He tried not to show fear on his face, though it was prevalent in his heart and mind, his hands shook just enough to outwardly show the uneasiness he felt inside.

"Oh come now." Ardyn said, a small smirk coming across his face, his deep, deceptively calm voice sending even more fear through the young blonde man. "There's no need for that."

Slowly raising his hand in which he held a strange switch looking device, Ardyn clicked a button on it, the ever faint clicking sound almost echoing throughout the empty city. Prompto quickly glanced back to his hands to see his gun quickly disappear from his grasp.

"W-What did you do?" Prompto asked, almost frantically trying to summon his gun back into his hands, but to no avail. A setting that was unfortunately too familiar in some ways. The lack of a weapon being one way, and standing face to face with Ardyn being the other.

"Me?" Ardyn asked, gesturing to himself in the manner of an innocent child, though he was neither of those things. "Why, I simply sealed away your weapons." He smirked at the younger man, offering a small, amused chuckle as his voice deepened with malevolence. "We can't have you spilling blood here, too, now can we?"

"Shut up! Just shut up, you bastard!" Prompto said shouted as he thought back to his last little 'adventure' Ardyn had caused him, not particularly enjoying the memories at all.

"Now now, there's no need for such hostility." Ardyn said, shaking his head at the young blonde. "After all, weren't you ever taught manners? That you must respect your elders?" He sighed, shaking his head once again as he continued to feign innocence. "Children these days..."

"I'm not a child." Prompto muttered, growing ever more frustrated by his situation.

"Even so, I think it's time you were taught some respect." Ardyn said, a malicious expression coming across his face as Prompto quickly looked around at the sounds of resident MT's approaching the two of them, stopping as they got no more than ten feet away from the younger man, surrounding him on all sides.

"Damn..." Prompto thought as he assessed the situation he was now in. Surrounded by MT's, no weapons, no actual formal battle training, and Ardyn with the upper hand.

There was nothing he could do.

"It would be my greatest honor to invite you to my lovely fortress." Arydn said with that ever present condescending and subtle malevolent tone in his voice. Gesturing to the fortress before them in an ever elegant bow as he glanced back up at the younger man, his eyes narrowed and a smirk across his face as the MT's moved in around Prompto, grabbing his arms and forcing them behind his back, holding fast against the blonde's desperate struggles. "Would you be so kind as to join us, dear boy?"

"No!" Prompto shouted, struggling against the MT's restraining him as they proceeded to drag him away to the Keep. "Get off of me!"

"Come now, do behave yourself, Prompto." Ardyn said, a slight chuckle under his breath as he followed behind. "I would hate for his majesty to arrive to find his precious friend broken and lifeless." He chuckled once more with a more malicious tone as he narrowed his eyes at the blonde who's own eyes widened with fear as he processed what he had just said. "Wouldn't you?"

Prompto quickly turned back to the Keep, continuing to struggle against the multiple MT's who had their cold metal hands on him, leading him ever closer to the dark, foreboding structure.

Closer to his possible death.

The thought of being killed in this place, by that man... it was a terrifying thought. His struggling became stronger, almost frantic along with his escalating breath and wide eyes. Doing everything he could to free himself, to try to somehow escape... but it was no good. He wasn't strong enough to overpower more than one MT without a weapon. With one more frantic glance around, hoping for any ray of hope, he once again spotted Ardyn. Chuckling to himself as he watched the blonde struggle in vain attempts at escape.

He looked calm.

Almost... entertained.

Prompto could feel his heart beating in his chest as the MT's restraining him pulled him through the gates, and they quickly began to close. It was then he realized just how much danger he was truly in. This was nothing like what he had experienced at the Magitek Production Facility, this was far more dangerous. And he didn't have Aranea around this time to bail him out.

He was all alone.

In that moment, a final wave of pure and intense fear consumed him. With the closing of those gates, went any hope he had of reuniting with his friends any time soon. And any hope of coming out of Gralea in one piece.

As the gates quickly approached their closed state, Prompto was completely consumed by his fear, his eyes widening in such a way that tears began to appear to line them, from both his fear, and the need to blink. Struggling hard against the MT's, he was able to free one of his arms, breaking quickly and heavily to the point of near hyperventilation as he desperately tried once again to escape. Though he knew it was all for naught. Reaching towards the nearly closed gates, he knew there was nothing left he could do.

There was only one hope for him now.

"NOCT!"