From the Streets of Insomnia to the Streets of Fandom (et al); Late Thursday Afternoon, 09/15.

The light that filled the sky was blinding, impossibly bright and burning through the darkness that had surrounded them for so long. So bright that Prompto found himself cringing away from it, a gasp of pain seering through his eyes as he lifted arm to cover them and curled away from it. For a brief moment, he wondered....was this what it had been like? For Ignis? When he slipped the Ring of the Lucii onto his finger? Was this...was this what would happen to them all now, in light of Noctis' fight, his sacrifice? Then, a moment later, he felt himself transported, entirely, into somewhere not of this world, somewhere in the ether between worlds, his body suspended in a vast ocean of nothingness. Ignis and Gladio and Noctis there with him, Ardyn before them; the two Kings lifting their arms and reaching forward, and then, suddenly, Lunafreya was there, reaching for Ardyn's hand. The moment they touched, another burst of golden light, this one warm and embracing, but just as blinding, as he winced again and closed his eyes....

...before he opened them, the weightlessness was gone, he stood once more on solid ground. The light...the light was still so...so bright, but, groaning at the pain, Prompto fought through it to open his eyes again. Had it worked? Was this...sunlight, already? So soon? It had been so long since he'd seen sunlight, it would take a while for his eyes to adjust, and while he struggled to see, there was a rumble at his side, in his pocket. His phone, going absolutely crazy, vibrating and chiming with notications, puzzling enough to distract him slightly from the burning light. But, squinting, he realized the scene was becoming clearer, shaped presenting themselves, but it wasn't the Citadel he saw before him, it was...

"What?" he breathed out, staring with disbelief. "Fandom?"

His mind was reeling. What was....what was going on? Was he dreaming? Was he dead? Why would he be...after all this time....what had happened....with Noctis...with Ardyn....with Insomnia, with Eos? He held out his hands before him, turning them over, shaking his head as if he couldn't quite believe they were real, and then looking up, down the causeway, that familiar skyline, the castle on the island, of his youth....

And his phone, his persistent phone, still vibrating, enough that he dug it out of his pocket frantically just to get it to shut off, only to stare at it in marveled fascination at the absolute slew of notifications that it was being hit with, sent nearly a decade ago, finally making it through. Voicemails, texts from Liz, from Summer, even one from Yang...He shook his head, unable to process the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions racing through him as he lifted his eyes back toward the island.

"I..." he managed to stammer out, barely able to believe it himself, "I'm....back?"

( At first, Liz didn't realise what was happening... )

[[ preplayed with the ever lovely flamesburned; NFI and to be continue in another post shortly. Mild CW for some poorly dealt with surface-level trauma, and the OG Chocobro has officially returned! *internalized high-pitched squealing* ]]

The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Late Thursday Afternoon [09/15].

In the soft glow of the afternoon light through the windows, stretched comfortably on the couch with Liz there in his arms, Prompto began to feel a peace and ease that he hadn't felt for...a very long time. If there was anything to make him believe more than anything that this had to be some sort of dream, it was this moment, right here, this surreal contentment that was settling over him, in this moment that he wished he could just hold onto forever.

But it didn't take long, either, for the quiet, the peace, the soothing comfort, to start to take over in a different way, and he found himself starting to doze off. Because everything had happened so quickly, he hadn't had time to process just how exhausted he was. It had been a lot, really, finally infiltrating the Crown City, fighting their way through daemons and magitek troopers to reach the Citadel, fighting a god, all with the emotional toil of having to say good-bye to Noctis, once and for all, and, before he could even begin to contemplate that loss completely, being whisked back to Fandom, finding out that barely any time had passed at all here, and, not only that, but that Liz was pregnant. With his child. And he was realizing now that he didn't even know what had happened back in Insomnia. Did Noctis finally manage to confront Ardyn? Did he give himself over to the Kings of Lucis to banish the Starscourge, once and for all? What about the others? Gladio, Ignis...did they make it? Would they wonder where he'd gone?

Even with all those thoughts swirling in his head, as he quietly lay there, his fingers lightly brushing circles into Liz's arm, he felt sleep trying to take him away. But falling asleep here might mean waking up elsewhere, so he pushed past it, and he figured, if anything, they should at least....you know, talk about some things, especially if it helped him stay awake.

( So....a baby, huh? )

[[ Continued, of course, from here and once more preplayed with the fantastic flamesburned. CW for light on-the-surface trauma and shameless slander against Ringo Starr, NFI since they'll likely be at it like this for a while now, but OOC is always welcome ]]