The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Saturday Evening [12/17].

[hashtag_chocobro]

It was one of those things where, if you squinted at it hard enough, the logic of it may have started to fray along the edges, but, broadly speaking, it made sense. Prompto, unlike so many others these last few days, hadn't simply woken up in Fandom a different version of himself; he hadn't woken up in Fandom at all. So when things were set right again, he was set right back to where he had been: in his bed, seemingly safe.



Or maybe it was the last moments experienced by his other self that carried him to this place now: in his mindless, blood-thirsty, Starscourge-tainted haze, he remembered Ardyn giving him orders ("Take down the smaller one; I want him to see exactly what you're capable of."), and lunging for Ignis, taking him down, tearing into him. The battle that ensued was a blur, up until, suddenly, it wasn't. There was a flash of steel, a deep, burning sensation across his chest, a sort of shock and surprise, because it didn't even really hurt, not compared to everything he'd been put through to get him to that point, and then...nothing.

But now...this.

Pulled into consciousness again, out of sleep, or that's what it seemed like, that's what it had to have been, right?, with a sudden gasp, a startled gasp, and then, immediately, choking down the scream that wanted to escape him, because he knew, almost before knowing anything else, that he couldn't wake Liz. But he didn't even have time to see if he had, or if she was even there in the bed beside him, because, unlike most times one of his decade-long nightmares caught up with him, it was quickly followed by a wave of remembering everything that had happened in this one, and then the subsequent wave of nausea that followed in its wake. The pain, the suffering, the things done to him and the things he'd done to others, rushing over him so powerfully that all he could do was scramble desperately out of the bed and fumble his way quickly toward the bathroom, just praying that he made it before all the vile and vomit began to spew out from him.

Thankfully, he did. It spilled out of him and it felt like it would never stop, but once it finally did, he let out a desperate sob and slumped against the wall, on the floor, wiping a hand across his mouth as if that would do any good, and already desperately trying to think of some excuse, in case he did end up disturbing Liz, and she started to worry or wonder what was wrong, so he could try to pass it off as just something he ate, maybe, and not just that, out of all the nightmares he'd had, ever since Niflheim, none of them had felt as visceral or real as this one, less like a dream, more like that it had actually happened, so much so that he found himself groping at his chest with one hand, half-expecting to find blood and a gaping wound from the flash of Ignis' sword...



Ignis' sword...? It had been the sleek, long Genji blade, too, the one Gladio had earned in the Trial of Gilgamesh. And at one point, he'd ripped Ignis' shirt in the fight, revealing a splash of tattooed feathers and a sharp eagle's eye. And Ignis could see again, too. Remembering those details actually help him breath better now, deep and shallow and trying to calm himself down. It had to be a dream, then, right? His brain must have somehow merged Ignis with Gladio in the dream, and that was why...That just meant...

Hand now covering his eyes, breathing now coming easier, albeit still in shaky gasps and exhales, Prompto just waited for it all to pass, until another wave of nausea hit and put him right back over the toilet again.

[[ for liz, of course <3 ]]

Comments

[flamesburned]

After the last few days of not sleeping and then the anniversary of the time loop, Liz had ended up spending the day sleeping on and off so at first she barely registered that Prompto in the bed beside her, she didn’t want to get her hopes up that this was a dream.

Then she felt him stir and make a beeline to the bathroom.

She slowly opened her eyes and sat up, “Pr- Prompto?” she called softly, hardly daring to believe it, now a different kind of worry and confusion setting in and she carefully made her way out of bed and towards the bathroom.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Slumping back against the wall after round two of attempting to apparently purge as much of that awful nightmare from himself, Prompto reached over to at least flush when he realized that not only had he woken Liz, but that she was headed for the bathroom now, too. Hopefully, he got that desperate whimper out before she could hear it, and he supposed he should say something, but all he wanted to do was just curl up in misery for a while, even right here on the bathroom floor, as the vestiges of the nightmare failed to start fading like most dreams should, but, instead, seemed to come back more vibrant, with more details. Verstaal and Ardyn in the lab. The Starscourge painfully burning and gnawing away at his humanity, all the tests, the torment, the torture...

"I...I'm fine!" he finally managed to call out, though no amount of effort could keep it from wavering desperately. "It's...it's fine..."

[flamesburned]

Liz stopped in her tracks, hesitating at the wavering in Prompto’s tone. His insistence that it was fine. That he was fine.

It wasn’t fine, Liz could tell and as desperate as she was to see him, she didn’t know what he had gone through the last few days, she hovered near the bathroom “Do …I …I’m …I can wait out here if you’d like?” she assured him, taking a deep breath to steady herself, wanting to give him those extra moments to himself if he wanted them. There was a pause, “or I can go and make us some tea? One of Nell’s herbal ones?”

[hashtag_chocobro]

Oh, he wanted them, those extra moments. He needed them, clinging to them like he'd just been clinging to the toilet, and he tried to push down the urge to go for round three. And the one of the last thing he wanted was for Liz to see him like this, in this miserable state. But he also didn't want her to worry, so, no matter how much he wanted to just wallow, he took a few deep breaths, scrubbed his hands over his face and over his mouth to attempt to clear away the tears and vomit, and pushed himself up to his feet. Wiped his hands against his thighs since he was already a mess, anyway, and staggered over to the door.

"Sorry," he said, leaning on the doorframe a little and trying for an apologetic smile. "I didn't mean to wake you."

[flamesburned]

Liz stared up at Prompto, taking in that it was him, that he was back after days of worrying where he was, if he was going to come back at all, “that’s okay, I …I …I haven’t been sleeping much,” she admitted.

It was taking all of her self control to not start crying, “you…you’re back,” she trembled, taking a step forward, “I …I …you’re really here,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

...back? Bewildered, but with flashbacks of a few months ago helpfully elbowing the nightmares out of the most prominent spot in his brain, at least, wasn't sure what Liz meant by that, but he was sure that if Liz was crying and stepping closer, he was meeting her more than half way and wrapping his arms around her to pull her close.

And maybe clinging, just a bit.

More than a bit, as another wave of the implications of this last one--what if Ardyn did come back? What if Verstaal wasn't dead? What if he really could be infected with Starscourge and attack his friends, his soon-to-be wife, his soon-to-be daughter?--hit him.

"I'm still here," he assured her.

"I'm still me," he assured himself.

"Bad dreams again?" he guessed, although not just because it would be easier to talk about hers than even acknowledge his own.

[flamesburned]

For a moment Liz wondered if maybe she had just dreamt everything that had happened in the last few days, when Prompto wrapped her in close and she leaned against his chest, absorbing how real this all was.

She hadn’t been sleeping, it was possible she had just confused everything with what was real and what wasn’t.

She let out a sob as she clung to him, “I …I thought you were gone,” the tears started to fall into his chest, “I couldn’t find you and Ignis had never heard of you and he could see and I’m …I’m so tired,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Shhhh," Prompto, eyes closed, head resting gratefully again Liz's, gently tried to quiet and soothe her, rubbing her arm, rubbing her back. Thinking what a pair they made right now, wrought with nightmares and trauma. "It was just a dream, right? It wasn't real, everyone's okay."

He pressed a kiss into the top of her head.

"Come on," he now tried to guide her back to the bedroom. "Let's get you back to bed, yeah?"

Her. He knew he wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep for a while now.

[flamesburned]

Liz’s mind was jumbled as she let Prompto guide her back towards their bed.

“It …it felt so real,” Liz sobbed softly, “but you’re here …this is …this is real right?” she looked up at him, afraid that he would disappear again.

Then there was another thought, “there’s no time loops again is there?” she said fearfully.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I don't think so," Prompto said, looking at her again with that faintly apologetic smile, wiping away some of her tears from her cheeks gently with his thumbs, almost as if to make up for not having a better answer. "I sure hope not. I've kind of had my fair share of time-related bullshit..."

[flamesburned]

Liz tried to let out a sigh of relief but it came out in a choked sob instead, she took a deep breath as she tried to calm her jumbled thoughts.

“I …I thought …it was the anniversary of the time loop, maybe it was happening again?” she trembled, feeling comforted as Prompto wiped away her tears.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"That kind of felt like a one-off thing," Prompto offered, "you know? Like, there's some things that'll repeat, like the potential kids or turning into kids ourselves, and...well," he laughed, just slightly, "all the holiday stuff, but the time-loop didn't feel like anything to be thrown at us again any time soon. But, in the case that it is.."

Another soft, encouraging smile, and another kiss, this time on her forehead, which was as close of a kiss as he was going to subject her to when he'd been throwing up, and still had the occasional twist on his gut that warned him there might still somehow be more.

"...that's something we can deal with after you've had some sleep."

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded as she processed what Prompto was saying, letting out a tired yawn as she did, “sleep does sound good …I …I can’t remember the last time I slept properly,” she admitted, letting out another yawn, “it’s …it’d be nice to be able to sleep again, maybe I should talk to Dr. Lecter about this later?”

She hadn’t had a session with him in a couple of months, after the last few days it probably wouldn’t hurt to talk to him again.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I definitely don't think talking to Dr. Lecter could ever be a bad idea," Prompto said, grinning a little more when that second yawn wedged out of Liz, and just sort of marveling at the quick turn-around just being with her had caused in all this worries about that nightmare. Once she managed to drift off to sleep and he was still wide-awake, staring at shadows on the ceiling, though, it would probably all come flooding back, but he'd deal with that then. It wouldn't be anything new, after all.

But for now?

"Just much," he said, "much later. Come on."

With a grin, he went to scoop Liz up in her arms so that she'd have no choice but to be settled back softly into bed, with Prompto then joining her and nuzzling in.

"Bedtime."

[flamesburned]

Liz managed to let out a tired giggle as Prompto scooped her up in his arms and got ready to put her back to bed, “much much later,” she agreed, “and you’ll still be here when I wake up?” she checked as she still clung to him, afraid that he would disappear if she let go.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto breathed out a little, part laugh but mostly something else entirely, a complicated mess of a certain...dishonesty with trying to assure her on that one, because that wasn't anything he could really promise...

...and once she did finally fall asleep, and he, in his pen restlessness, checked his phone, certain aspects of this conversation would be shed in an entirely different light.

But as of now, still thinking everything was all just a dream on both their ends, he had a pretty good track record in the last few months to back him up, and no reason to think otherwise.

"I will," he said, kissing her forehead again. "I'm staying right here, in this bed, until you wake up. I'll even tell Gladio I can't do training tomorrow morning, too, okay? How's that sound?"

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded tiredly, still clinging to Prompto, feeling assured as he kissed her forehead again.

Then she picked up on the last part of what he said, “I thought you didn’t train on Sunday?” she blinked a bit as she looked up at Prompto, “did Gladio change your training days?”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"....Sunday?" Prompto's softly reassuring smile slipped into a small frown. "But tomorrow's Wednes--"

Liz's concern about the time loop came rushing back to him, and he pulled away, enough to go groping around at the bedside table for his phone.

And the date on it.

And then tried very hard not to panic.

[flamesburned]

A sinking feeling appeared in Liz’s stomach as she heard Prompto start to say that it was Wednesday and then his urgency at finding his phone.

“Prompto?” she said uncertainly as she watched him realise what date it was. “It is Sunday tomorrow isn’t it?”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Y-yeah," Prompto managed to get out, eventually, negotiating with his own sinking feeling and rubbing his face again, which then lead into rubbing his forehead. "According to my phone, anyway..."

Somehow.

"Fuck," he breathed out, sitting up, staring down at his phone and trying to keep the nausea he was feeling down again. How could there be anything but bile left inside of him, anyway? "Have I been in a timeloop?"

[flamesburned]

“The last few days …” Liz took a deep breath, “they …did they happen, I didn’t dream them?”

She desperately wished they had been a dream, a terrifying nightmare but at least she was here now with Prompto. Prompto who hadn’t been gone the last few days, where Ignis and Gladio knew who he was.

“Oh god…” now Liz looked like she was about to be sick.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Wait, hold on," said Prompto, wincing, as his hand went to his face again, pressing his fingers against his eyes, against another barrage of things from his own dream, a sudden rush of thirty years, and then everything slowing down, coming into focus, Ardyn, leading him here, attacking Ignis, and again, a few days later. Ignis, who could see, who had the Genji blade, who had the Amicitia tattoo, and the time in between, Ardyn's musing, his plotting, his hand under his chin, just like when...

And now Prompto was scrambling back put of the bed. "Hold on," he said, "I have to call Iggy."

He left the room, too, with a determination and a frenzy and a panic, and a sinking certainty that this was going go be a conversation he would not want Liz to hear.

[flamesburned]

“Okay,” Liz took a deep breath as she tried to steady herself, “I’ll stay here,” she assured him, she could at least do that as she tried to process the sudden whiplash from thinking that everything that had happened was a dream to everything being real.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she added quietly.

[hashtag_chocobro]

And it was a while, a good long while, before Prompto returned to the bedroom, stiff and drained and dejected. There might have been a few times, where the conversation had gotten heated and desperate enough to carry Prompto's voice back to the bedroom, but he had tried. He had tried to keep it all contained, to get all his shock and anger and pain all out of his system before going back.

So, yeah. It took a while.

And when he did return, it was only after he'd been so drained of everything else that all he could only shuffle in numbly, crawl back into bed, wrap his arms around Liz and bury his face into her shoulder as he hoarsely whispered out, "I'm so sorry..."

[flamesburned]

Liz was careful to not listen to Prompto’s conversation, even when it did get rather heated.

She felt so helpless, she wished there was more she could do. She waited as quietly as she could for Prompto to come back.

“You have nothing to apologise for,” she assured him, as she leaned into Prompto when he came back and got into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her, “it wasn’t your fault,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

And Prompto knew that Liz would say something like that, and a part of him even knew that it was true, and that almost made it worse, that these things were so out of his control, that there was nothing he could do to stop them or prevent them...

There was nothing he could have done.

And it could have been so much worse.

But he felt he had to say something, so a thick sort of rasp of "I know" escaped him.

"I'm still sorry," he added, clinging a little bit more.

[flamesburned]

Liz trembled, wishing that there was something she could do or say to make Prompto feel better.

She clung tightly to him, “I know,” she said softly, feeling like that was the only thing she could say as well, “you’re here, with me now, I …I thought …” her voice trailed off as she let out a sob, “I thought you might have been stuck again,” she admitted softly, “I …I was so scared,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

A part of Prompto felt that it might have actually been better if he had actually been stuck again, or stayed stuck the first time, but he wasn't about to actually say that out loud.

And if Liz was scared by just him seemingly disappearing, what would she have felt if she actually saw him? What he'd become? What he was probably meant to be all along?

He did a poor job of suppressing a shudder, scrambled for something to say.

"I wasn't stuck," he started, because while that wasn't the whole of it, there was a kernel of reassurance in there, too, right? "I...I was actually here, a few times, but I wasn't...me."

That wasn't me.

He had to remind himself of that. That wasn't him. That wasn't who he was, even if it was what he had been 'born' to be...

That wasn't me. That's not me. It isn't who I am.

"It's...." he added shakily, "complicated. I don't even know if I get it, but it doesn't matter. It's over now. That's all that matters..."

[flamesburned]

Liz clung even tighter at that if that was possible, “I …I didn’t know,” she said softly, “I…I tried calling you and I couldn’t reach you and then Ignis said he’d never heard of you, he thought you …I think he thought you’d lied to me about everything, I tried so hard to tell him that you were real …”

Her voice trailed off, “I thought I was imagining everything,”

It was why she had been so desperate to cling to the notion that the last few days had all been just a bad dream.

“I missed you so much,” she let out a sob.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Yeah," Prompto said quietly. Since there wasn't much closer they could get without probably crushing her or the baby uncomfortably, he just began to lightly rub her back with his hand. "Iggy told me about that. About him not knowing who I was. Apparently, things had gone...off. Skewed, I guess. He was an Amicitia. Gladio was a Scientia. And I guess I..."

...was exactly what he was created to be.

"...was just some Nif, I guess."

Not exactly, but the less he had to recount about what he'd actually been these last few days, the better.

"But," his hand stalled for a moment, embracing her again, in a squeeze, before he pulled back enough to look at her as he said this next part, "that doesn't matter. It's over now. I'm back..."

And, knowing it was a risk, but figuring it would be worth it if it worked to ease some of that distress out of her, he added, with a faint smile, "And it didn't even take me nearly as long this time, either."

[flamesburned]

Liz tried to giggle at that she really did but it came out in a mix between a sob and a hiccup in the process and then she was full on sobbing.

“Sorry,” she managed in between her sobs, “I’m …I missed you, I’m …I …” she had to slow down her thoughts and remember how to breathe. “Sorry,” she said quietly again.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I'm the one who should be apologizing," Prompto said lightly, "...for that terrible joke."

And probably that one, as well.

He shifted a little, freeing his hands so that, when he looked at Liz,he could gently brush her hair back out of that tear-stained face.

"But I'm here now," he reminded her. "And I'm not going anywhere. Everything's fine. It was just another weird Fandom thing, okay?"

[flamesburned]

Liz took several deep breaths as she tried to calm down, “okay, I’m not going anywhere either,” she told him softly as she stared up at Prompto with tear stained eyes, nodding as she was assured that it was just a Fandom thing and Prompto wasn’t going anywhere, “I love you,” she added.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto smiled softly at that, closing his eyes as he brought his forehead gently to hers. "I love you, too," he said, then lifted his face to kiss her forehead.

He wanted to add another kiss (probably several more) to her lips, but the last thing she needed right now was a post-vomit kiss.

"So much."

[flamesburned]

Liz managed a tired smile at that, she would have even welcomed a kiss from Prompto’s lips post vomit she had missed him that much but she understood why he had chosen to go for the forehead instead.

“I’ve missed this, I’ve missed us,” she said quietly, “it … it was lonely here without you,” she paused and then added, “Rain missed you as well,”