2
"NOCT!"
Noctis jolted from his thoughts, quickly glancing around the train car before letting out a deep sigh. It was bad enough that Prompto had been kidnapped, but the circumstances of the incident didn't make it any better for either of them. Noctis had been thinking about it the whole time. Where his best friend could be, and what he could be going through at that very moment...
"How much farther is it?" Noct asked, turning to Ignis and Gladio as he attempted to distract himself, as well as hoping they may be able to strike up a conversation of some kind to keep his thoughts occupied with something other than missing his best friend. The rumbling and clanking of the train simply wasn't doing the job.
"Still a ways." Ignis answered, a light sigh escaping his lips as he placed his index finger against the nose piece of his sunglasses, re-positioning them as they had slipped slightly too far down his nose for his liking. Not that they were particularly of much use anymore anyway. "We'd best use the time to prepare ourselves for the coming battles."
"Yeah, no way this is gonna be easy." Gladio said. His gaze turned towards one of the many windows in the train car, watching the landscape as they passed through.
The cold, unforgiving country of Nifilheim where the crystal had been taken too. And Prompto as well, no doubt. They all thought about it, fearing for the safety and well-being of their youngest member and dear friend.
"No way in hell." Noctis remarked, opening his hand to take another look at the ring he now carried with him.
Soon the time would come where he would have to finally wear it, and he worried that time would be soon. He still didn't know if he was ready to bear the burden of the Chosen King, and of Luna's sacrifice.
"But no matter what goes down when we get there, I hope we all agree that finding Prompto comes first." Noct closed his fist around the ring once again, looking back up at his two remaining friends. "I won't do this without him. I can't. Besides, it's my fault he's in trouble in the first place..."
"Sure, we'll find him." Gladio said, turning back to him as well. "He's our friend, isn't he? But you can't forget what your duty is. No matter what happens, whether we find him alive or not, you need to be prepared to fulfill your duty as king."
Gladio sighed to himself, seeing the worry in his king's face from the thought that his best friend could very well be dead.
"Still, I'd much rather the kid be safe when we see him again. I'm not heartless, you know."
"No one has ever said anything to the contrary, Gladio." Ignis commented, turning his attention to the shield. His smooth, strong accent cutting through the cold air like knives slicing through their hearts whenever he spoke.
"Yeah, well as long as Noct's got his head on straight we'll be fine. No matter what that bastard of a chancellor tries to pull on us." Gladio retorted, turning back to the window once again.
"I'm not the only one who needs to have their head on straight." Noct mumbled, looking out his own window, taking note of everything he saw outside of the train.
It was dark, and snow was falling all around them. In the day, this was probably a beautiful place to see... but at night, and to Noctis, it looked evil. Dark, cold and unforgiving. It felt like everything around them was a part of Ardyn. He'd taken so much from them already, it was only a matter of time before he came back to take even more.
"No, of course not." Ignis said, his face ever serious against it all. "We must all be prepared for whatever may be in store for us once we reach the capital. We'll reclaim the crystal, and no doubt Prompto will be there as well. I hate to be an echo, but it does bear repeating. This will not be an easy venture."
"Yeah, but what that bastard doesn't realize is that he's made the biggest mistake of his miserable life, taking Prompto like that." Gladio said, his expression a mixture of both anger, and a slight bit of worry which he was obviously trying to hide.
Though it wasn't working out too well.
"And on top of what he did to Iggy..." The shield growled quietly under his breath, beginning to fail at controlling his anger. "He's seriously gonna pay!"
"Oh hell yeah." Noctis nodded in agreement, turning to look at the remaining members of the team.
"But are we sure Prompto's even gonna be there when we show up?" Gladio asked after a beat of silence, offering an inquisitive glance to the others. "I mean, knowing that no good bastard, he's got him stashed somewhere we wouldn't think to look. It would be just like him to play us like that."
Of course, he wasn't wrong. If they knew anything about Ardyn, it was that he was a cruel, heartless, twisted son of a bitch. Using Prompto like that would be hardly a surprise.
"Gladio, please." Noct said, a little quieter than before. "Can we just... not talk about that right now...? All of this is my fault anyway. Prompto would still be here if I wasn't such an idiot..."
"Noct, you know full well that what happened on the train before was Ardyn's doing. Not yours." Ignis countered, merely stating the facts, though he hoped they would be comforting ones. "You cannot continue to blame yourself so completely like this."
"And how can you expect me not to, dammit!?" Noct asked, raising his voice slightly, failing to maintain his cool any longer. "I was there, Ignis. I was right there! I was the one who attacked him! I was the one who pushed him off the train!"
Noct's eyes slowly lined themselves with tears no matter how hard he tried not to let them. His thoughts were plagued with the image of Prompto's terrified expression as he fell from the train, betrayed by his closest friend. The guilt was eating away at him... it was almost more than he could bear.
"I was the one who hurt him... who betrayed him!" Shaking his head, Noct looked back at Ignis. "How can you expect me not to blame myself when he was kidnapped because of me!?"
"Noct, you need to calm down." Ignis said, softening his tone to try and ease his king's emotional state. "We don't expect you not to feel any responsibility. But we expect you to at the very least attempt to be calm, because nobody blames you for Prompto's current situation but you."
"Iggy's right, Noct." Gladio remarked, reentering the conversation. "Besides, I'm sure that's exactly how Ardyn wants you to feel." Walking over to Noctis, he took a seat in front of him. "You've gotta pull yourself together. For Prompto's sake."
"Dammit, Gladio, you don't know how I feel..." Noctis sighed, lowering his head so he was just staring at the table in between himself and Gladio.
"You feel guilty." Ignis said, looking over to the young king and his shield. "We know that much, you've certainly made sure of that. You feel responsible for Prompto's capture because you were there when it happened. And while Gladio and I can't dispute the fact that you are Prompto's closest friend, that doesn't mean you have to shoulder the responsibility on your own."
"That's right." Gladio nodded in agreement. "And for the record, by your logic if you're to blame, than Ignis and I are just as guilty."
Noct looked up at his shield, his eyes filled with sorrow and disbelief.
"We're a team, Noct. We're supposed to look out for one another, protect each other. And yeah, you're the king, which makes top priority, but this team is more than that. Prompto was taken because we all failed, hear me? We all failed to protect him. We were sloppy on that train. And I'm not gonna sugarcoat this, we fucked up. And because of that, Ardyn got the upper-hand." Gladio gave Noctis a hard, stern glance. Placing his hand on Noct's shoulder, he gave it a light but firm squeeze. "Now it's our job to go and rescue him. But you've gotta snap out of this slump you've gotten yourself into, because sitting around moping and feeling sorry for yourself isn't gonna do anything for him. Got it?"
Noctis looked solemnly from his shield to his adviser, taking note of Prompto's absence without even trying to. But Gladio did have a point, if he just sat around feeling sorry for himself again, nothing would actually get done. And maybe he and Gladio would end up fighting again like they had after Luna died... the last thing he wanted was to make his friends go through that again. Especially when all they wanted was to help.
But with Prompto gone...
"Of course we're gonna rescue him." Noct said, an air of confidence and anger overtaking his crippling depression. "You can count on that. We'll rescue Prompto, get back the crystal, and save the world."
A slight smirk came across Noct's face as he looked at his two friends.
"That is still the plan, right?"
"Of course." Ignis said, offering a nod of confirmation. "That has always been our intention."
"You sure you'll be up for it, Iggy?" Gladio asked, shooting a concerned look to the adviser. "The capital's gotta be crawling with deamons. It's gonna be really dangerous..."
"You know full well that I intend to accompany you all until the very end. I thought I made that fact quite clear in Cartanica." Ignis countered, determined to remain with his dear friends. Besides, he knew they wouldn't survive without their team mom. Despite Gladio's papa bear tenancies. "As such, you'll need all the help you can get in the capital. And depending on Prompto's condition when we locate him... you really will need my help. Blinded I may be, but I believe I can still be of aid to you all."
"Thanks, Ignis." Noct said, offering his adviser a gentle smile. Even though he couldn't see it, Noct knew he could feel the sentiment sent his way.
"It is my duty, to stand beside you, Noct." Ignis answered back, offering a small smile of his own to the young king. "But you are also my friend. And as such, I would go with you to the end, not out of obligation, but because I want to. I will certainly do what I can."
"I couldn't ask for anything more." Noct said as he turned away from the adviser, his voice dropping slightly in volume as he returned to watching the cold country pass by them.
"Attention all passengers."
The party of three turned their attention to the loudspeaker as the voices of their drivers came through to give them news, no doubt about their progress towards the capital.
"We'll be arriving at the gorge soon. It's gonna get real cold in there, so brace yourselves."
"Of that, I have no doubt. With the body of the Glacien lying in wait in the gorge, the temperature certainly will not be preferable." Ignis sighed, adjusting his glasses once more, pushing them up gently with the assistance of his left index finger. "We had best prepare, I'm certain we will find deamons waiting for us upon our arrival."
"Yeah, no kidding..." Gladio scoffed in agreement, annoyed by all the impending delays to their plan.
They didn't exactly have all the time in the world anymore. In fact, it seemed that any time they did have was quickly disappearing along with the ever few remaining minutes of daylight. And with Prompto smack dab in the middle of harm's way, they had even less time for delay than they already didn't have.
"Though whatever's waiting for us, I'll bet it's nothing we can't handle." He continued, crossing his arms before he spoke again. "We'll have Prompto back before you know it."
"We'll just have to see I guess." Noctis sighed, getting up from his seat at one of the tables in the train car, making his way to the door to the next car. He just needed to be alone for a bit, maybe then he'd be able to sort out his thoughts finally. But it seemed like everything they had talked about in the past fifteen or twenty minutes at least only seemed to make things even worse.
As the door closed behind him, Noctis leaned ever so gently against the wall of the space between cars, staring at the wall in front of him, not really paying much mind to his surroundings right now. All he could think about was Prompto.
Where he could be?
What he could be going through?
What he might be feeling right now?
And just overall... was he okay...?
"We're on our way, Prom..." He thought, looking down at his hand. The hand that had removed Prompto from the safety of the train, and caused him to lose his nearest and dearest friend. "Just hang in there."
The train rumbled along, the young king mourning the capture of his dear friend as it roamed along through the snow to deliver the tree men to their destination. Which they hoped would be where everything they were looking for could swiftly be found. Noctis gently closed his eyes, bringing his palm to his forehead as he leaned his head back, resting it softly against the cold metal wall of the train.
"And... please be alive..."