Prompto Argentum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hashtag_chocobro) wrote2022-06-20 05:28 am
hashtag_chocobro) wrote2022-06-20 05:28 am
Entry tags:
En Route to Tenebrae; Niflheim; Eos; Monday, 07/04 ET [Monday, 06/20 FT].
Fodina Caestino had been rough, sure, but they'd come out of it with much more than a new weapon for Noct's arsenal. Harmony and synergy had been restored, and Gladio was willing to make a concession for the stop in Tenebrae. So, back on the train, with some time ahead of them before they got there, Prompto settled in to focus a little more on Ignis' communicator. At this point, he was sort of running out of ideas.He knew this thing inside and out by now, but nothing was working. Still….maybe all he needed was the right spark of inspiration. Hmm. Spark…could that be it? A different energy source? But what could he use? Magic? There was an idea he could perhaps try. And if he'd just kept trying,, something new would click, and he'd finally have it. He'd….break the code, or whatever.
It'd been so long already, though. Sighing, Prompto looked up from the pieces of a communicator now so familiar to him from all his attempts to fix it that he could practically put it back together in his sleep. Maybe it was pointless. It'd been well over a month, well over two.. Maybe Liz had already forgotten about him. Maybe she'd already moved on. He couldn't say he'd really blame her if she had. Maybe she'd actually been relieved….nice convenient excuse to finally be rid of him…
…but he'd promised. He'd promised that, no matter what, he'd keep trying, and so, with another sigh, he bent over to start peeling back the plates on the communicator into the inner workings, maybe to explore this whole magic angle, when…
He caught something, through the window, out of the corner of his eye. This area of Niflheim was weird, rolling out of the desert almost immediately into the snowy mountains of the Tenebrae area, and now, over those mountains….
"...whoa." Prompto's eyes widened for a moment, and leaning forward, he confirmed that they weren't just playing tricks on him. First, he took a moment to reach for his camera, snapping a quick shot of the phenomenon. Maybe he'd try to send it to Liz later, but before he did that, he quickly, hastily wrapped up the pieces of the communicator for safe keeping and rushed out of the cabin to go find the others.
Dashing full speed through the dining car, he almost actually blew right past Noctis, who had been sitting in one of the booths, staring out the window. He stumbled as he put on the brakes, picked himself back up, and shot back to Noct's table, leaning on it to catch his breath.
"There you are, buddy!" he said. "Did you see this? It's unreal!"
"Yeah," Noctis breathed out, half-marvel, half-concerned, as they both now looked out the window at the dark clouds hanging over the mountains in that strange, unnatural way. Like a dark fog gathering around them, but in large, slightly swirling columns. They stretched across the whole mountain range, too, as far as their eyes could see. "I've never seen anything like it. Doesn't make any sense…."
In that moment, something odd seemed to flash across Noctis' face. Prompto caught it, tilting his head at him slightly, and he was just about to ask what was up….was he getting some kind of vision from the gods again? Headaches again, like he had before they took on Titan?...but, before he could ask, Noctis quickly pulled himself out of the booth. Prompto backed up, to give him space, hand out and ready to reach for him if he needed support.
"What's…going on?" Noctis asked.
"You okay, Noct?" Prompto asked, the concern now growing. "It's not….it's not those clouds, is it? They're kinda giving me the chills…."
Actually, it was Noctis giving him the chills at that moment, turning and looking at Prompto with a strange expression on his face. He snarled, deep with contempt. "What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded, and, before an answer could even form on Prompto's lips, Noctis attacked.
"Whoa!" Prompto barely jumped back out of the way, narrowly missing Noctis' punch. "What's going on?!"
Slowly, he started to back up down the aisle of the train car, holding up his hands as if in defense.
"Easy there, buddy!" he called out, and with his next attack, Noctis didn't use his fist. Flashing blue magic surrounded his hand as he summoned up one of his swords from the ether, trailing light as the blade went slashing toward Prompto.
"Shut up!" Noctis demanded as the sword found thin air from Prompto deftly stumbled out of the way.
"Be careful there!" Prompto shouted back, wide-eyed and certain that if it weren't for the fact that Noctis seemed to be swinging wildly, in a panicked, nearly crazed frenzy, that last swing would have easily had sliced into him.
And any hope that Noctis was just playing some sort of weird, stir-crazy from being on the train so long joke on him dissipated when he saw the hatred flashing in Noctis' eyes as he glared at him. "Wait," he realized, breathing out as icy fear started to grip his chest. "This is for real?"
His stomach dropping to his feet, his head swimming with confusion, Prompto didn't know what else to do but to turn and start running. Gladio.. He had to find Gladio. He had to find Ignis! He had to find anyone who might be able to figure out what the hell had gotten into Noctis and why he was suddenly intent on killing him, apparently!
Prompto began to race through the next few cars, with Noctis in hot pursuit on his tail. Making it to one of the sleeping cares, he quickly….hopefully before Noctis saw him, threw open a door and ducked inside, slamming it behind him. Pressing his shoulder against the door and holding his ragged, worried breaths, he listened.
"Show yourself!" Noctis demanded, and Prompto heard the door to the cabin next to his be thrown open. He was almost too scared to move, trying to keep his breaths under control as he tried to think this through. Clearly, something was happening, something had….possessed Noctis into thinking…
Or maybe….it wasn't possession, it wasn't anything influencing him at all, maybe it was just that he finally realized.
Prompto shook his head. No, that couldn't be.
Could it?
Maybe….maybe if he could just talk to Noctis, talk him down, figure out what had suddenly gotten into him.
Cautiously, he pulled open the door. He slipped back out into the hallway.
"Um, Noct?"
Noctis responded immediately by throwing another punch, but at least it wasn't the sword this time. "You son of a bitch!"
Prompto realized very quickly that, yeah….there was not going to be any reasoning and talking about it here! Dodged out of the way of Noct's fist, he started running again for the next car, desperate in the realization that if he didn't find Gladio or Ignis soon, he literally had no where to run..
"Come on, Noct!" he pleaded as he ran. "You're scaring me! Seriously, man! Cut it out!"
He was very quickly running out of train, too.
"This isn't safe!" he called out, voice getting more desperate by the second.. "Plus…you're…you're causing a scene! Quit…quit playing around, okay?"
"You think this is funny?" Noctis growled out as he caught up to Prompto again and sent his sword arching down over his head.
"Dude!" Prompto dropped to the floor, dodging the attack and rolling away, pushing himself back up to his feet as quickly as possible. "Are you seriously trying to kill me?"
He knew the answer even before Noctis gave it.
"Why," the intensity of the growl out of Noctis alone struck a chord of terror in Prompto so sharp he could barely yank open the next door, "wouldn't I?"
Breathless, desperate, confused and betrayed, Prompto found the next door was completely immovable. It was locked. End of the line. He turned his back against the wall for some sort of support while his mind swirled with confusion.
"I've got you now," Noctis breathed out with a humorless laugh, slowly walking up to his cornered friend, and his voice raised in a demand. "What're you after? Following me around this whole time! It's all your fault!"
Noctis lunged for him, pinning him against the wall with his arm pressed into Prompto's throat.
Prompto's hand went to Noctis' arm, trying to pull it off of him as it pressed down on him, his body squirming against the wall in an effort to wrangle himself free. "What are you talking about?" he gasped out. Tears started gathering in his eyes. Not from the pain of the pressure, but of the absurdity of the situation. None of this made sense! None of it made any sense!
What had he even done? What was all his fault?
"Do…you really mean that," Prompto managed to get out, more defeated than desperate or pleading now, the words sinking deep into his heart, "Noct?"
"What?" Noctis choked out, all but spitting it right into Prompto's face. "Are you saying it's not?"
"Yes!" Prompto answered, the desperation flooding back. "What good would it do me to hurt you?"
"Who cares!" Noctis shouted, pressing against him even harder.
"Noct! Please!" Prompto didn't even think he felt the pain from Noct's hold anymore, not with the pain of his confusion and betrayal to contend with. "Can't we just….talk for a sec?"
"Never!"
Noctis moved to finally swing his other arm, sword still on the ready, straight for Prompto's side. Out of wild impulse, out of wild self preservation, Prompto shoved him back with all his might, before anything could make contact. He was surprised to see how well that desperation allowed him to send Noctis back, staggering until he hit the ground. Prompto froze in place, or, at the very least, he attempted to, but he staggered slightly, while the train screeched to a sudden halt, brakes screaming in protest.
When Prompto looked back at Noctis, he wasn't moving.
A new panicked moment of indecision filled him.
This might be the only chance he had. He had to go find Gladio. He had to find Ignis! They had to figure out what was wrong with Noctis!
Before it was too late.
[[ part 1 of 2 for Final Fantasy XV Chapter 11 - "In the Dark," which is kind of a goddamn mess, because good lord this game goes off the rails (except not because train) in the latter par, but I'm trying my best! NFB, NFI, OOC welcome, of course, of course! Part 2 to come later~ ]]
It'd been so long already, though. Sighing, Prompto looked up from the pieces of a communicator now so familiar to him from all his attempts to fix it that he could practically put it back together in his sleep. Maybe it was pointless. It'd been well over a month, well over two.. Maybe Liz had already forgotten about him. Maybe she'd already moved on. He couldn't say he'd really blame her if she had. Maybe she'd actually been relieved….nice convenient excuse to finally be rid of him…
…but he'd promised. He'd promised that, no matter what, he'd keep trying, and so, with another sigh, he bent over to start peeling back the plates on the communicator into the inner workings, maybe to explore this whole magic angle, when…
He caught something, through the window, out of the corner of his eye. This area of Niflheim was weird, rolling out of the desert almost immediately into the snowy mountains of the Tenebrae area, and now, over those mountains….
"...whoa." Prompto's eyes widened for a moment, and leaning forward, he confirmed that they weren't just playing tricks on him. First, he took a moment to reach for his camera, snapping a quick shot of the phenomenon. Maybe he'd try to send it to Liz later, but before he did that, he quickly, hastily wrapped up the pieces of the communicator for safe keeping and rushed out of the cabin to go find the others.
Dashing full speed through the dining car, he almost actually blew right past Noctis, who had been sitting in one of the booths, staring out the window. He stumbled as he put on the brakes, picked himself back up, and shot back to Noct's table, leaning on it to catch his breath.
"There you are, buddy!" he said. "Did you see this? It's unreal!"
"Yeah," Noctis breathed out, half-marvel, half-concerned, as they both now looked out the window at the dark clouds hanging over the mountains in that strange, unnatural way. Like a dark fog gathering around them, but in large, slightly swirling columns. They stretched across the whole mountain range, too, as far as their eyes could see. "I've never seen anything like it. Doesn't make any sense…."
In that moment, something odd seemed to flash across Noctis' face. Prompto caught it, tilting his head at him slightly, and he was just about to ask what was up….was he getting some kind of vision from the gods again? Headaches again, like he had before they took on Titan?...but, before he could ask, Noctis quickly pulled himself out of the booth. Prompto backed up, to give him space, hand out and ready to reach for him if he needed support.
"What's…going on?" Noctis asked.
"You okay, Noct?" Prompto asked, the concern now growing. "It's not….it's not those clouds, is it? They're kinda giving me the chills…."
Actually, it was Noctis giving him the chills at that moment, turning and looking at Prompto with a strange expression on his face. He snarled, deep with contempt. "What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded, and, before an answer could even form on Prompto's lips, Noctis attacked.
"Whoa!" Prompto barely jumped back out of the way, narrowly missing Noctis' punch. "What's going on?!"
Slowly, he started to back up down the aisle of the train car, holding up his hands as if in defense.
"Easy there, buddy!" he called out, and with his next attack, Noctis didn't use his fist. Flashing blue magic surrounded his hand as he summoned up one of his swords from the ether, trailing light as the blade went slashing toward Prompto.
"Shut up!" Noctis demanded as the sword found thin air from Prompto deftly stumbled out of the way.
"Be careful there!" Prompto shouted back, wide-eyed and certain that if it weren't for the fact that Noctis seemed to be swinging wildly, in a panicked, nearly crazed frenzy, that last swing would have easily had sliced into him.
And any hope that Noctis was just playing some sort of weird, stir-crazy from being on the train so long joke on him dissipated when he saw the hatred flashing in Noctis' eyes as he glared at him. "Wait," he realized, breathing out as icy fear started to grip his chest. "This is for real?"
His stomach dropping to his feet, his head swimming with confusion, Prompto didn't know what else to do but to turn and start running. Gladio.. He had to find Gladio. He had to find Ignis! He had to find anyone who might be able to figure out what the hell had gotten into Noctis and why he was suddenly intent on killing him, apparently!
Prompto began to race through the next few cars, with Noctis in hot pursuit on his tail. Making it to one of the sleeping cares, he quickly….hopefully before Noctis saw him, threw open a door and ducked inside, slamming it behind him. Pressing his shoulder against the door and holding his ragged, worried breaths, he listened.
"Show yourself!" Noctis demanded, and Prompto heard the door to the cabin next to his be thrown open. He was almost too scared to move, trying to keep his breaths under control as he tried to think this through. Clearly, something was happening, something had….possessed Noctis into thinking…
Or maybe….it wasn't possession, it wasn't anything influencing him at all, maybe it was just that he finally realized.
Prompto shook his head. No, that couldn't be.
Could it?
Maybe….maybe if he could just talk to Noctis, talk him down, figure out what had suddenly gotten into him.
Cautiously, he pulled open the door. He slipped back out into the hallway.
"Um, Noct?"
Noctis responded immediately by throwing another punch, but at least it wasn't the sword this time. "You son of a bitch!"
Prompto realized very quickly that, yeah….there was not going to be any reasoning and talking about it here! Dodged out of the way of Noct's fist, he started running again for the next car, desperate in the realization that if he didn't find Gladio or Ignis soon, he literally had no where to run..
"Come on, Noct!" he pleaded as he ran. "You're scaring me! Seriously, man! Cut it out!"
He was very quickly running out of train, too.
"This isn't safe!" he called out, voice getting more desperate by the second.. "Plus…you're…you're causing a scene! Quit…quit playing around, okay?"
"You think this is funny?" Noctis growled out as he caught up to Prompto again and sent his sword arching down over his head.
"Dude!" Prompto dropped to the floor, dodging the attack and rolling away, pushing himself back up to his feet as quickly as possible. "Are you seriously trying to kill me?"
He knew the answer even before Noctis gave it.
"Why," the intensity of the growl out of Noctis alone struck a chord of terror in Prompto so sharp he could barely yank open the next door, "wouldn't I?"
Breathless, desperate, confused and betrayed, Prompto found the next door was completely immovable. It was locked. End of the line. He turned his back against the wall for some sort of support while his mind swirled with confusion.
"I've got you now," Noctis breathed out with a humorless laugh, slowly walking up to his cornered friend, and his voice raised in a demand. "What're you after? Following me around this whole time! It's all your fault!"
Noctis lunged for him, pinning him against the wall with his arm pressed into Prompto's throat.
Prompto's hand went to Noctis' arm, trying to pull it off of him as it pressed down on him, his body squirming against the wall in an effort to wrangle himself free. "What are you talking about?" he gasped out. Tears started gathering in his eyes. Not from the pain of the pressure, but of the absurdity of the situation. None of this made sense! None of it made any sense!
What had he even done? What was all his fault?
"Do…you really mean that," Prompto managed to get out, more defeated than desperate or pleading now, the words sinking deep into his heart, "Noct?"
"What?" Noctis choked out, all but spitting it right into Prompto's face. "Are you saying it's not?"
"Yes!" Prompto answered, the desperation flooding back. "What good would it do me to hurt you?"
"Who cares!" Noctis shouted, pressing against him even harder.
"Noct! Please!" Prompto didn't even think he felt the pain from Noct's hold anymore, not with the pain of his confusion and betrayal to contend with. "Can't we just….talk for a sec?"
"Never!"
Noctis moved to finally swing his other arm, sword still on the ready, straight for Prompto's side. Out of wild impulse, out of wild self preservation, Prompto shoved him back with all his might, before anything could make contact. He was surprised to see how well that desperation allowed him to send Noctis back, staggering until he hit the ground. Prompto froze in place, or, at the very least, he attempted to, but he staggered slightly, while the train screeched to a sudden halt, brakes screaming in protest.
When Prompto looked back at Noctis, he wasn't moving.
A new panicked moment of indecision filled him.
This might be the only chance he had. He had to go find Gladio. He had to find Ignis! They had to figure out what was wrong with Noctis!
Before it was too late.
[[ part 1 of 2 for Final Fantasy XV Chapter 11 - "In the Dark," which is kind of a goddamn mess, because good lord this game goes off the rails (except not because train) in the latter par, but I'm trying my best! NFB, NFI, OOC welcome, of course, of course! Part 2 to come later~ ]]