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Who: Prompto, Noctis, Ignis
What: The Talk
When: Shortly after new arrivals
Where: In the choco-hut
Warnings: Sad

Prompto had never intentionally withheld information from the other two. From the beginning he'd told Ignis that he had something to tell him, and that he'd do it later. He hadn't because, well, they had been so focused on other things. For a while it felt like old times again. No more daemons. The excruciating trip to Niflheim had been postponed. For a brief time it was possible to act like everything was okay.

And then Ardyn showed up. And he knew.

Prompto couldn't bear to let Ardyn be the one to tell the others about him. However he painted it, it would undoubtedly make things even worse. He had to do what he promised. What he'd always intended to do.

So, on a chilly wet night when they were all gathered together and no one else would be nearby, he decided that it was time.

"Umm..." He broke the silence before he truly knew how to begin. How did one tell their friends that they weren't who they thought they were? "I've... There's something I need to tell you guys."

Fear and nerves mixed together in his tone as he sat with his knees pulled up. His eyes turned towards Ignis. "Remember when I said there was something I needed to tell you, and I promised I'd tell you later?"

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Ignis nods in response to Prompto's question. He remembers well the promise even though it had been made back in the haze of the dream world while he himself was still trying to shake off the shock of his injuries. On occasion, as time has passed, he's thought about that promise, but never brought it up to the blonde, content with waiting until he was ready to speak of it. They were all keeping secrets of one kind or another after all, just needing a little time to figure out the right way to share them.

Then, Ardyn arrived and threw all ideas of waiting out the window. There's part of Ignis that is glad Prompto has finally decided to speak. They need to be a united front right now with no secrets separating them. Otherwise, the Chancellor will pick them apart one-by-one just like he had been doing back on Eos.

Ignis' voice is gentle when he speaks, "You're ready to share what happened now?"

Noctis perked up when Prompto started talking. He looked at Ignis, expected to exchange a glance with his other friend. However, he had for that split second forgotten that Ignis wasn't exactly capable of that.

He tossed the small stick to the side, that he had used to make scribbles with in the dirt. Down town on the island was rather boresome, so important conversations tended to happen. He straightened up and looked at Prompto, a soft expression on his face. "Go ahead," he encouraged. Even if Noctis already had some ball park idea what Prompto was going to talk about, he knew it was important for Prompto to tell his story.

Here came the difficult part. He sucked in a deep breath. Even after all this time, he hadn't planned out exactly what he was going to say.

"Okay, so..." he started speaking. As he fought through he spoke more slowly and hesitantly than normal, choosing his words carefully. "When I... fell off the train, I ended up stumbling across one of Niflheim's facilities. And I... I discovered a lot about myself there."

He laughed but there was no mirth present in it. It was soft and hollow. His eyes turned down to his bracelet - one that Noct would have never seen him without. He'd always had something on his wrist his entire life. Wrapping his hand around it, he paused. Once he took it off, he wouldn't be able to take it back. That would be it. Ignis wouldn't be able to see exactly what it was, but Noct would.

He bit his lip and slid it up a little bit, revealing the barcode on his wrist. He'd never shown anyone this. Surely his parents must have known, because he couldn't have done anything to hide it as an infant, but as far back as his memories went he'd always hidden it. He hadn't known at the time what it meant. He just knew it marked him as 'different' from everyone else.

There was nothing convincing in the fake cheer in his voice as the pain seeped through and threatened to choke him. "So, as it turns out, I'm one of them. Just made to be... to be turned into one of those things."

The mention of Niflheim's facilities causes a cold knot to form in Ignis' stomach. They've all heard rumors of the things that happen in those facilities, and the idea that Prompto learned so much about himself in one is terrifying. What kind of horrors had he suffered there?

Oddly enough, when the truth finally comes out, Ignis feels a strange sense of relief. Slowly, as so not to startle the high-strung blonde, Ignis slides closer.

"You're not one of them, Prompto. You're one of us. You breathe and bleed and feel pain just like we do. None of this changes that," he gestures the best he can in the direction of the boy's wrist. While he isn't able to see the revealed bare code, it doesn't take Ignis long to put the blonde's reluctance to uncover his wrist together with everything they've just been told. "I just wish you had not had to learn this all on your own. We should have been there with you."

"You're fine." Noctis moved over to his friend and affectionately grabbed his shoulder. "It's hard to imagine you anything other than my best friend, so I'm just going to refuse to do so." He gave Prompto a reassuring smile. It didn't matter the circumstances of Prompto's birth. He was apart of Insomia. "Whether here, or back home, we'll always have your back. Just like you've always had ours."

He sucked in a deep, shaky breath. He was just managing not to cry. It was hard to believe that they'd be willing to accept him so readily. He'd been created for the sole purpose of hurting them. To kill Noct.

Thoughts of all those other experiments that hadn't escaped didn't help. Grown in a lab and shoved in armor or mutated into horrific daemons, without ever having a chance to live. The idea lingered in the back of his mind that that could have been him. There was nothing he did in particular to escape. Somehow, by some miracle, someone had taken him away. What were the chances of that? They had to be minuscule.

He rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes and nose and sniffed. He was a man, damnit, he wasn't going to cry. ...Right? He was at least human, wasn't he?

"You're... sure?" He glanced between them. "We can't know exactly what I am."

After all, how could they know he hadn't been created with some sort of kill switch or something? Prompto didn't even know what he was anymore. He let his bracelet slide back into place. It was so much easier to pretend he was like everyone else when he couldn't see it.

Ignis reaches out carefully, looking for Prompto's hand, arm, something, so he can give it a gentle and reassuring squeeze, "You're Prompto and 'Prompto' is whoever you want him to be. I can't understand the worries that plague you or the 'what ifs' that swim through your mind, but I can promise you that you aren't alone. Should those worries or 'what ifs' come to pass, we will deal with them then. As Noct said, you've had our backs and we will always have yours. No matter what happens, we are brothers and we stand together."

He nudges Prompto gently then, voice softening, "Besides, you didn't allow me to be left behind. I'll not allow you to be left behind either."

There was a long few minutes of the friends just standing there, in silence. Hopefully the reassurance resonated with Prompto. As his friend told his secret, Noctis couldn't help but lull his own that he was keeping from Prompto over his own mind.

"If we're telling secrets. . . ." he started. "I have something I need to tell you to."

He wasn't going to mention that he told Ignis already. That was up to Ignis if he wanted to bring that up. "It's about my conversation with Bahamut." He shifted his weight, anxious where he stood. "There's really no easy way to put this, but in order to heal our star, to truly defeat Arydn. . . I'm going to have to die. That's my duty as the chosen king, apparently."

When Ignis mentioned not leaving him behind Prompto's chest tightened. It was true. He hadn't wanted to leave Iggy behind, but he never thought much about it. It was just the right thing to do. Much as they cared about Noct and their mission, ditching someone wasn't on the table. He was so glad they still wanted him, messed up as he was. He didn't know where else he'd go.

He was still reeling from his revelation when Noct spoke up. He listened, of course. If Noct had something to share he wasn't going to stop him.

Except when he heard what it was.

"No," he answered in a shaky breath. It hadn't been ten years of darkness. Prompto still got called a 'kid' all the time. He wasn't ready to give up his best friend. "No, there's got to be another way." He glanced to Ignis to back him up, shifting slightly in his spot. "We can't let that happen."

As Noctis speaks, Ignis bows his head slightly. He knows what's coming, but hearing it the second time is no easier than hearing it the first. By the time Prompto turns to him, Ignis' jaw is clenched so tightly that it causes pain to throb behind his eyes.

No, no. It's not his tightly clenched jaw doing that. It's phantom pains. Ghost pains drawn back to mind by the last time he felt as helpless as he does now. Still, he eventually forces himself to speak.

"We'll find a way. I'm the farthest one back aside from Nyx." And no matter how much he may want to help, they all know there is absolutely nothing the Glaive can do. Nyx did his part. He got Lady Lunafreya out of the city with the Ring. The rest of this rides on their shoulders.

On Ignis' shoulders. As the farthest one back, he has the most time to find another path.

He swallows suddenly, a snippet of conversation from his meeting with Ardyn flowing unbidden into his mind. Had the Chancellor told the others when he was from? If that was even the truth?

Ten years. Surely, he can find another path in ten years.

"I don't know what the Chancellor may or may not have told you two, but when we spoke, he claimed he was from ten years after the events that happened in Altissia. I'll find a way, even if it takes every bit of those ten years to do it."

The gears in Noctis's head begins to turn. Ten years? Would that be how long it took for him to leave the crystal, or even longer. Still, hearing his friends how they wanted to save his life- it made him happy, but. . .

"No." His voice was stern, but not harsh. Kingly, almost. "I appreciate the both of you wanting to. I do, really. If what Arydn says is true, if it really does take ten years before I emerge from the crystal, we can only imagine the kind of devastation that the scarscourge has brought on the world. When I'm in the crystal, I'm safe there, but the people won't be. It'll be on you guys to make sure those people are protected."

She sharply breathed in. "And when the time comes for me to face him. I don't want, I don't need you to try and save me. Do you understand?"

He wasn't sure exactly why he had to die in order to save the world, just yet - but he knew. He gut churned and as if on instinct he turned the Ring of the Lucii on his finger. "I'm going to need you to have my back, support me no matter what happens. Got it?"

This was hard enough for Prompto to bear even after 10 years. Trying to accept it, right now, when he was still trying just to get back to them... All they were doing was trying to get to the crystal so it could destroy the daemons. Nowhere in there were they trying to sacrifice Noct.

He pursed his lips, hanging his head. His eyes were tearing up too much to hold it in, but by the gods was he trying. He was shaking his head, and when he finally retorted his voice was cracking and, despite the chill air, his face felt like it was burning.

"Why should we believe what Ardyn says? Hasn't he already lied to us enough times?"

He wasn't ready for this. Hadn't they lost enough? Been through enough? Why should they have to lose Noctis, too? What was the point of that?

It takes all the strength Ignis has not to lose control like he had back when Noctis first told him about his fate, even though it is now anger that threatens to overwhelm him instead of grief. His fists clench at his sides, and he knows his fingernails would be drawing blood if he wasn't wearing his gloves.

How can Noctis stand there and rip out his heart--their hearts--in one breath and then turn around and ask them to stay at his back in another? Isn't keeping him alive what staying at his back is suppose to do?

When Ignis finally trusts himself to speak, his voice is soft, but sharply--maybe even frighteningly--devoid of emotion, "Sometimes, the most painful lies are the truth. Ardyn enjoys upsetting us and lie or no, that is certainly what all this is doing. However, Noctis, the two things we are discussing don't have to be mutually exclusive. If we have to protect Eos in your absence for ten years, we will be traveling all over, going wherever the need is the greatest. Nothing says we can't look into alternate paths at the same time."

They didn't get it. They just didn't get it. It was okay. Noctis didn't want to argue the point with them. Maybe if those ten years of were true, then they'd get it. Maybe he'd finally fully understand it as well. Everything from the inside the crystal, other than his conversation Bahamut was pretty hazy. It was almost like he was taken from the middle of it.

"Fine." Humor them. It didn't hurt to allow them to have that hope. "Whatever happens there, we'll face it together, just like we always do."

He kicked the dirt. "And that goes for here too. I don't know about the rest of you, but despite sleeping in the dirt, I almost feel like we get a breath of fresh air here. A time where we don't have to worry too much about home."

Thank the gods he wasn't the only one arguing this. It had been tough enough standing up to Gladio. Prompto didn't think he'd be able to stand up to Ignis and Noctis. He couldn't give up on his friend. He just couldn't. In some ways it felt like Noctis was all he had. He cared about Ignis, too, but without Noctis would they continue to hold together...?

He was more than happy to latch onto something more positive. While they were here they were 'safe', in a way. No crystal, no daemons, no prophecies to fulfill. There were gross bugs and weird creatures and other problems, but if it meant keeping Noctis alive he would deal with all of those.

"Yeah. It's been weird being able to sleep at night and it being... quiet. I almost feel like I want to figure out how to make a new safe haven just in case we suddenly have to deal with daemons in the future." It was such a fact of life for them it was hard to let go of the things they'd used for protection. "But it's not bad. There's cool people here. And we're getting by. With a little more time maybe we can build ourselves a luxury hotel."

Fine. How many times over the years has Ignis heard Noctis end a conversation or argument with that one word? That one word that sounds like an agreement, but really is a statement that he's doing no such thing. The argument is just done because he's decided it's done. Ignis doesn't want to let the conversation end there. He wants to keep going until he makes Noctis understand why it means so much to he and Prompto that they be allowed to do this, but in the end, with them both moving to lighter conversation, Ignis can't bring himself to be the one holds them back.

They must stand together, even in something like this.

Slowly, he uncurls his hands from the fists they've tightened into, fingers tingling from how tightly clenched they were.

"I can't say I've minded being able to focus solely on regaining my abilities after everything," Ignis' words are a little hesitant, head tilting toward the floor. Even if the tone is lighter now, he still finds it hard to speak of his injuries and all it's cost him, but he's trying.

Edited (Missed a word!) 2017-10-17 04:14 (UTC)

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holy shit I could've sworn I responded to this ages ago.

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