He knows it's a lie, but they don't have a choice in the matter. Prompto might catch the faint look of 'proud of you' in Gladio's eyes or not, but it's there, as he shifts enough to try and make sure that Prompto does not in fact headbutt him, then takes his hand to hold it before pouring on the potion. This time, given the somewhat dramatic reaction of last time, he braces himself more by tucking his shoulder right behind Prompto's head and uses the side of his head to keep the blond's there while keeping a grip on Prompto's hand. At least he can protect himself from some flying body parts, this way.
He's damn proud of how Prompto's handling all of this. He could be broken, angry, scared, and no matter what he is, he's fighting to keep going. Noct needs Prompto, hell they all do, but Gladio knows that like Ignis did, Prompto's got to make that choice to stick with them. Otherwise, the fight won't be in him to keep going through this, but... how they're going to make it to the end, he has no idea. Find the crystal, that's the only path forward he knows right now. Noct has a destiny and for better or worse, they're there to make sure it gets seen through to the end.
Right now, though? Once the pain wears off for Prompto, he might notice that Gladio has let go of his hand and unthinkingly is stroking the skin along his forearm with his thumb, trying to be soothing.
It's a good thing Gladio holds onto his arm this time because when the Nif curative starts sizzling away, the first thing Prompto does is try to jerk it away. Since the other man's much stronger than he is, he doesn't manage to wrench his arm free even though he's totally hopped up on adrenaline. Next thing he does is immediately do what he was hoping he wouldn't: his head spasms back and if it wasn't for Gladio bracing for it, he probably would've cracked his skull square into his nose.
When the pain subsides, Prompto finds that he's gone limp as he pants softly against Gladio, relief coming with the numbness. Sure, it feels like his wrists are missing and he can't tell if his fingers are moving without glancing down, but he's glad it's over and done with. He shifts against Gladio's chest.
"Thanks, buddy. You did me a solid."
He turns his head, careful, so careful, not to hit Gladio. More than anything he wants to see a friendly face and seeing those long scars slashed across his face, the amber eyes that seem to pull you in even as they're crinkling at the edges with faint laugh lines. He looks up into those eyes, holds them, and he manages a grateful smile up at Gladio that he hopes can say everything words can't.
Amazing how much power could be in that little body when it's in pain. Gladio is damn glad he'd been ready for Prompto's head because a broken nose is the last thing they need to deal with right now, on top of everything else. As Prompto goes limp, he lets out a quiet sigh of relief. What in the hells is wrong with the Niffs that they'd make a potion carbonated?
...Hells.
Gladio finds himself immersed in that gaze. Maybe it's the redness around his eyes, on his cheeks, that makes them seem so much brighter, but he finds himself at a loss for words at what he sees there. It's... beautiful. Not a word he uses easily when it comes to another person, but it filters through his mind until he brings up a hand, touching the side of Prompto's face gently, palm against his jaw. He lays their foreheads together without a word, eyes closing as he just... is, just for a minute. Maybe saying something he can't, right now. Maybe never. An apology, for what he's said and done to Prompto in the most immediate and in the past, and probably what will come in the future.
Little do either of them know just how bad it will get all too soon.
It's as weak as he's let himself be since Ravus had cut himself down so easily.
He isn't expecting what Gladio does next - at the same time, Prompto's greedy when he's busted up like this and y'know what, he's totally taking this. His eyes drift shut after a surprised moment to bask in the moment, in the other man's presence. What it means to be Gladio's friend and before this, he'd wondered if they'd be more. If there was something after Noct did his thing with the Crystal. It had seemed far away after the train, after Ardyn and his fun rack, and suddenly it's swimming back into focus and Gladio is front and center.
Prompto swallows, throat closing up, and it has nothing to do with what Ardyn did or the Nif potion burning. His hand cups Gladio's, his numb fingers dwarfed by the larger man's and, he imagines, warming with his body heat.
"Thank you."
For all of this. For being there. Prompto could run down a whole list of everything he's grateful to Gladio for and none of it seems like it would cover all the bases. He pulls back after a moment, blinking quickly again and this time his eyes are glistening as he reaches up and rubs at his eyes before it's obvious he's tearing up. Probably too late. Maybe he should just bite the bullet and run with that secret moment they have between them. Prompto focuses on Gladio, drinking in every detail of his face, the smudges of dirt, the new scar slashed across his forehead that he still hasn't explained, and he runs with it:
"Gladio, I was thinking - "
And because they can't have anything nice, that's exactly when the dorm's intercom system buzzes on and Ardyn's voice purrs through the static:
"It's so very heartwarming to see a reunion between friends."
Is it bad my mind went 'AND BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!' on that last line? XD
There is a moment of peace, the first in a long time, as they both get a good look at each other. He might have said something of what he was feeling, but Prompto gets there first and-
Prompto would be front and center to feel every inch of Gladio as the man tenses. It's like a ripple through his body as Gladio's anger surges hot through him, his head snapping up and glaring angrily upwards towards nothing in particular, but he knows there are Gods damned cameras around. His body language screams of rage, but also protectiveness as he shifts himself slightly to put his body between Prompto and the door, keeping him close.
Unlike Noct and Ignis, elsewhere, Gladio had heard nothing of Ardyn's little fun speeches and torments as he'd moved through the Tower. Too unimportant, he might have guessed, so he growls under his breath like a behemoth before he snaps out, "if I get my hands on you, there won't be anything left!"
Prompto isn’t proud to say he goes rigid at Ardyn’s interruption. He stiffens while his hand clenches tight onto Gladio with a deathgrip that can’t be comfortable, teeth on edge as they grind painfully. He’s...seen things with Ardyn, things he doesn’t know how to explain but enough to know that the door? Might not be enough to stop him if he’s on the other side. If he wants in, he'll get in. The intercom crackles:
“That would be interesting to see, no doubt: maybe I’ll drop by for a visit. Between friends, you understand, just you and me and maybe Prompto if he’s feeling up to it.”
Prompto’s gone even paler. The intercom clicks off and it's silent again save for their breathing, his going shallow, Gladio's deep, quicker than before, as if he's prepping to carry his threat out. His throat feels like it's tightened as he swallows thickly before he finds his voice, searching for what to say. His eyes drop from Gladio's face to his hands which look like they've curled into fists, skin stretched tight over his knuckles.
"We probably shouldn't stay in one spot for too long," Prompto says finally. "Makes it easier for Ardyn to come after us."
He dreads the idea of walking again. Getting caught in a room with one exit, watching Ardyn torture Gladio just to keep himself occupied and his mind fresh, and yeah, he dreads that even more. Consider him motivated to get outta here.
"You try to touch him again, you'll pay for it," Gladio snarls up at the intercom, an honest to the Six snarl. If he's even noticed Prompto's death grip, he gives no sign, but despite everything he feels, that Prompto shouldn't be up and moving yet, he won't leave the blond alone and they can't stay here. He whispers a harsh curse before he makes a fast choice. "We need to find Noct and Iggy, and I need to cut that bastard into a thousand pieces."
But Prompto's in barely any kind of shape, even after the potion. At least the worst around his eye and the ragged flesh of his wrists are handled, but anything past that, he has no idea. He shifts his body, putting his back to Prompto, and he gestured with his chin. "Arms around my neck." Oh yes, he would piggy-back Prompto because it would let them move quick and keep Prompto damn well at his side, out of Ardyn's hands. Long as Prompto could hang on, he could even potentially have his hands free in combat and the kid barely weighed anything for him to worry about.
He needs to find his charge, needs to bring Prompto to him so Noct stops being so singularly minded, needs to know Noct and Ignis are okay.
Prompto will need to explain he isn't sure that's a thing. The whole cutting Ardyn into a thousand pieces thing? Yeah, so it might not be as easy as it sounds on paper. Last thing he wants is Gladio to find that out the hard way...and find out what happens if - when - Ardyn morphs from amused to bored and maybe decides he's doesn't want the Shield around to toy with.
"Yessir," Prompto tries to lighten the mood as he slings his arms around Gladio's neck. The guy's built like a wall but even so, he hopes he doesn't, like, choke the guy after everything they've been through. "Maybe we need another plan of attack? He wants us to be together and doing what he wants seems like...I dunno. It doesn't end awesome."
As much as he aches to see Iggy and Noct - especially Noct, if only to ask him the questions he wishes he could ask privately - he doesn't want to keep following along after Ardyn's carrots. Sure, sometimes it pays off at first but there's always something, always a catch even if it's days down the line. Prompto's grip tightens for a moment as he loops his legs around Gladio's stomach, feeling the hard muscles flex as he stands.
"Feel free to drop my on my ass if you need to," Prompto tries to manage a feeble smile at the back of Gladio's head. He's still got that quasi-mullet going on and if you ask him, it's the best damn mullet in the history of mullets.
"We can't stay apart," Gladio mutters quietly, hoping if they keep this discussion just between them maybe the asshole listening in wouldn't be able to hear. "...Noct's been freaking out ever since- whatever the hell happened on the train." He still doesn't know about Ardyn's little ability to cast illusions. "He needs to know you're okay or he's going to break himself getting to you. Even if that's part of Ardyn's plan, we still gotta do it." He'd never heard Noct sound like that before and he'd be happy to never, ever hear that kind of fear again.
"We get into a fight, you hang on for everything you're worth, got it?" He would, in fact, drop Prompto on his ass if he needed to, but he'll make sure he's protected. He'll be protecting Noct by getting Prompto back to him alive because Noct will stop head rushing into everything blindly in his worry. Which is how they ended up separated to begin with, damn it. "We gotta find the other two, then we gotta find out where the crystal is. I've got an idea; I saw the damn thing on a monitor as I was going through this hell hole, but getting there isn't gonna be easy."
Danm right it's the best damn mullet in the hisory of mullets. He pulls that shit off.
He went to the door and opened it, looking down the hallway. Everything's been empty except those MTs that seem completely busted up, but right now it looks like they're alone. "You manage to hang on, I'll give you the first shot on fuckface, okay?" Trying to keep Prompto's head in the game, knowing that the other has to be absolutely exhausted.
There's no way to say this without sounding totally lame, but when he hears that Noct's actually worried, it does make him feel better. Couldn't shake what he said the last time on the train, even though he knows what Ardyn did because the Chancellor couldn't help gloating about it. Good thing he's riding piggyback on Gladio: it means the guy can't see the pathetic, hopeful look on his face.
"Yeah...yeah, I guess you're right. We'll hook up with Noct and everything will be better."
Okay, so now he's just saying that, trying to put his best foot forward so Gladio doesn't see the real him.
Prompto's grip tightens around Gladio to show he's got him, since he can't see him pausing and nodding. For a moment he's silent as he peeks out the hallway. Now that he's conscious this time around, he can see that it's abandoned, for the most part. A few sprawled MTs lie here and there, something clutching at his throat as he goes down that rabbit hole and wonders about them. Who they were. How much of that person might've been alive inside the shells, if that was a thing. Horrible to think this, but he's hoping for their own sake whoever fueled the MT? That they're long gone. Casting one last look at the red points of eyes glaring from within the MT's casing, Prompto tears his eyes away.
"About that," Prompto bites his lip before he goes on, "Gladio, I kinda don't think it's that easy. Maybe we should just get to Noct and Iggy and the crystal and call it a day."
Cowardly, maybe, but the idea of Gladio facing up against Ardyn and thinking he'll die like anyone else 'cause he got run through with a bigass blade? It scares the holy hell out of him.
Gladio's ignoring the broken wrecks, though he does give them as wide a berth as he is capable. The fact that any of them are up and moving has left him with an utter distrust of the damned things even more so than he had before coming into this hell. This place is downright disturbing in its empty silence to the point that even trying to imagine it full of people working, creating these monsters, feels impossible.
He isn't a stupid man. He's no Ignis, then again very few people are, but he picks up something that slows his step, a frown coming across his lips. "...Prom, what aren't you telling me?" he growls very quietly the words under his breath, knowing that they're being watched. What does he know about why it wouldn't be that easy? Yeah, fuckface (he's mentally completely ignoring that that man even has a name) has some tricks up his sleeve, but together, they'll figure out a way to handle him. There's nothing political, no reason to hold back. They need to kill him, however or whatever it takes.
This damned place feels endless. He's still on the move, one arm tucked under Promtpo's backside to keep his weight up, but something is out there. He can feel it, somewhere in this tower is the King and friend he needs to find, the man he needs to kill, and the crystal that is the last hope to save them all. "...we'll deal with him last. Noct and Iggy first, crystal next."
Prompto's legs tighten around Gladio for a moment as they round a corner and he holds his breath, half-expecting to find a lurching MT on the other side. "I like the sound of that plan."
And at first he wants to keep his mouth shut because the cowardly part of him doesn't want to buck up. After the first few corners and eerily empty halls, Prompto starts spooking, thinking about what could be around the next corner, the creak and groan that could be a daemon, and he just knows he can't sit on this. He taps Gladio on the chest with his fingers to indicate he should hold up, slow down for a sec. Now that he's free of the fun rack and the Niff curative has cleared his head a bit, numbed the worst of his injuries to an ache, and he figures he better spit it out now than later. For all he knows, there might not even be a later.
"It's about Ardyn," Prompto's voice cracks before he swallows and tries again. "He's...different. Like not just weird, stalkery, totally got issues different." It's a struggle to put on his finger on it, put it in words even though he knows what he saw. What he did. Why he realized that he wasn't getting out of here on his own steam.
"Way back when he brought me here, he tricked me. Made me think I could escape when they still had guards," Prompto sounds bitter now, angry he'd even fallen for it but knowing he'd probably make the same mistake again even though he knows better. "I was desperate, I - I stabbed him...and he laughed it off. Dude didn't even blink."
When the tap to his chest comes, Gladio glances out of the corner of his eye but he does come to a stop. There's something important, hopefully what he asked about, that he damn well doesn't want interrupted by a daemon or an MT, plus he can get some of his breath back. He's moving as quickly as he dares with Prompto's weight and the very real knowledge that in this damn maze he might miss Noct and Ignis by seconds. His head tilts, listening closely.
Shit. That is not what he wanted to hear. They're all damn well aware that Ardyn's a madman, though none of them know the absolute extent of it just yet. He remembers Noct rambling on the train about having seen Prompto and Ardyn, a gun drawn, and somehow being tricked and it gives him the willies down into the depths of his soul, like any second he's going to get tricked like that (or like Prompto).
His brows shoot up, then come together hard. "...the hell do you mean, he didn't even blink?" The amount of fear that Prompto must have felt to outright just stab someone, when he damn well knows Prompto is no kind of close-ranged fighter on purpose... "Like you hadn't actually stabbed him at all? It didn't penetrate?" Because those make more sense than the reality his mind hasn't grasped yet.
Prompto thought he'd been scared before. Between all the times they nearly got squashed by giant snakes and had MT dropships stalking them, he figured that hey, he was starting to get a handle on the adrenaline spiking with fear and his heart jumping in his throat.
That was before Ardyn picked him up. Now he knows better.
"I saw the knife go in! He just stood there and laughed!" Prompto's throat clenches as he swallows and he wishes he was making this all up. Problem is, he'd been lucid all the way for that one and he knows what he saw, had it seared into his mind's eye as he replayed it over and over, trying to figure out if there was anything he could've done differently even as he was dragged back to the rack. "He even told me to have a second shot because we're 'friends'."
And he hadn't missed that time, either. Hard to when Ardyn grabbed his hand and guided the knife to his throat and they did it together, basically, and instead of red blood, something thick and black had sprayed out while Ardyn kept smirking. Somehow he doubts Gladio will have much better luck even if he has a giantass sword over a tiny knife.
[Just so you know, I'll be gone from the 13th-28th so I think tags will be non-existent since I'll be in Japan. Please don't abandon thread if I go quiet, please?? <3 I adore this thread.]
Gladio goes silent as he listens to this. As incredible as it seems, as impossible, he believes Prompto. There's no reason for the other to be making this up and Prompto sounds so damn certain about it. How could it be possible that a man could be stabbed, twice even, and not die from it? He frowns, turning over the possibilities in his mind.
"You're certain... you stabbed him? Not an illusion, not some... freakish twist where you in fact stabbed someone else? How can a man be stabbed and not so much as suffer for it?" It goes against anything Gladio knows and it's far more disturbing than he cares to think about. He knows how to fight. You stab things, they die. That's how it works. How could they fight something they could stab and it never falls?!
"...so much of this doesn't add up. The things you and Noct say he can do, but- how? How could it do any of this?"
Gotcha! Thanks for the heads up and have fun in Japan!
It feels a little weird having a heated conversation with the back of Gladio's head. Prompto figures he'll be very intimate with the guy's mullet after this.
"I-I don't think so. I think it was real," Prompto says, although he does wonder and the thing is, he can't say he's sure. For all he knows it could be an illusion like what happened on the train. Some trick up Ardyn's long, fancy-pants sleeve. No idea how he does it, if it's magic like Noct's or it's some new kind that they've never seen until now and that thought legit scares him. "I don't know. Maybe we'll find answers here."
Prompto shivers at the idea of having to wander around Gralea any longer. He's been stuck more or less in the same building, as far as he can tell, but he would've thought there would be more people out. So far it's just been daemons and MTs and while he has an idea what's going on with the new, stronger daemon's sprouting up out of nowhere, he hadn't thought it would happen this fast. There's no way the Imperial capitol could be cleaned out...right? They can't be the only humans out here.
He realizes with a start that he's unconsciously starting to hug Gladio to him. With a muttered apology, Prompto loosens his arms from around his neck, legs from where they'd tightened around his stomach.
[ooc: Thanks! I am so nervous and so excited! Also, any ideas on where we want this thread to go? I'd love to see it go right through the crystal scene (skipping around a bit if we need to) and the 'what the hell do we do now'? and out into the ten years. I've never gotten to play that out before.]
At least it's a fabulous mullet to be well aquainted with?
Gladio, so far, hasn't seen one other living being besides Prompto and daemons (if they can be considered 'living') since he lost sight of Noctis and Ignis. Everyone's gone, dead or... changed, though he doesn't know the latter so much, yet. "All I want to find are the two other and the Crystal. That's the important stuff right now; anything else we find out other than that's just a bonus I guess."
He can feel Prompto tightening up, but he isn't sure what in reaction to. About Ardyn? (What did that bastard do to Prom?) About the eerie silence of the city around them? About the gods damned MTs that keep sometimes coming into view? About all of this hell? Doesn't blame him a bit; he might be getting a bit of comfort from the feeling of Prompto up against his back. Not that he'd admit that.
"We just need to-" Gladio stops, cocking his head and listening. "You hear that?" He's not sure if he's imagining it, but he thinks somewhere he's hearing some kind of... crackling?
[Let's maybe do it earlier than the ten years? Like maybe a year or so far so they can be not Maximum Badass. I'll start the timeskip. Also I'm not yet sure what the liquid Arydn was putting in Prompto was, thinking maybe bringing out daemon attributes? /bullshits madly]
Prompto pauses to listen. His hearing isn't too good right now - he blames Ardyn and a period where he blacked out and woke up to find blood trickling from his ears - but if he concentrates, he picks up a hint of what sounds like something crackling and sizzling.
Probably too much to hope someone's making breakfast really, really loudly.
"Yeah," Prompto says and wonders if he'll regret saying that. "...I'm guessing we're checking it out."
It's close, ish, and while they run into the MT who isn't as dead as it looks, they make it there in one piece and Gladio has time to recover his breath as the door hisses open. It's when he hears Iggy and Noct's voices on the other side that Prompto whispers to Gladio that he'll take a break from the piggyback and it has everything to do with wanting to appear like he's okay. He has to reach out to grab Gladio's arm to steady himself but he manages to walk through that door on his own two feet and for a few minutes, in the middle of a dead Imperial capital, he feels like maybe they got this. They're together, finally.
That ends when Noct makes the mistake of touching the crystal.
That was the last time he saw the prince. After that, it's endless night and the groans of the daemons are a teeth-grinding constant, always too close for comfort.
Sorry for the default icons and any typos. Phone tag from Japan!
Gladio had understood the need to walk in there on his own, more than Prompto might have guessed. He wouldn't have done any different; his pride wouldn't have let him and he can understand the need to soothe that over without suffering more on it.
But in the end, in so many ways, it feels like it didn't matter. They had lost Noct to the Crystal, and Ardyn's words had proven true as it dragged into a year since their friend and King had vanished into what was supposed to save them all. Instead, it had sealed their fate utterly. Now the world is darkness and daemons and death.
Gladio had lost himself almost as completely. Losing Noct had taken away his duty, which had given him everything in his life - his goal, his sense of grounding, his one certainty. It felt like a blow to the gut, like they had failed in succeeding. Ardyn certainly thought so, laughing at them as he had walked away.
Life has not been the same since. Trying to do anything they can just to survive as plants die, as food becomes scarce, as daemons are everywhere and constant. Gladio tries, but it's going downhill in a spiral as his anger surfaces so much easier and constantly, driving most people away from him and leaving him to be more risky, throwing himself into any fight to take out some of his rage and guilt and the feeling of failure.
Prompto misses him. He misses the godawful dad jokes, the way he used to sling his arm over his shoulder and nearly bowl him over, he misses that little sly quirk of his mouth when he would kinda but not grin. A world full of darkness and daemons means that there isn't much room for any of that. Prompto tries to keep in contact with Gladio, keep up, but one day he wakes up in Lestallum and the man's just gone after they bitched each other out. He hears about a big hunt that could clear the way to Hammerhead after the fact.
It's radio silence then.
After Gralea and Ardyn, Prompto's never really felt like his old self. Not entirely. Sometimes his nerves on fire and he catches himself shaking slightly, fingers spasming as feeling vanishes. Sometimes he finds himself wandering in the night like it's magnetic and he realizes he can see just fine outside of the safety of the lights. Whatever Ardyn did to him doesn't mean he's suddenly buddy-buddy with the daemons or the MTs wandering out from the old Imperial bases. It just means he has to haul ass back to a haven every time he gives himself a shake and realize he's wandered off again, zombie-style, and if he isn't careful, he'll get Iggy killed at this rate.
So he pulls a Gladio. He leaves.
A year in and Prompto's a better shot, lankier and with less photos under his belt. Hadn't seemed like there was much of a reason to whip the camera out unless he needed photographic evidence of a hunt. He comes across Gladio totally on accident. Same job, with the other hunter camouflaged in rags it's hard to make his features out. The new guy comes in and decapitates the daemon before Prompto can finish the job, the sword ringing through the air.
He isn't even pissed the guy stole his thunder. Right now he's just relieved as he dusts himself off because his fingers are numbing again, starting to shake slightly as he tries to hide the symptoms.
"Just like old times, eh?" Came the familiar voice from the hidden visage. The figure pulled back his rags and revealed an equally familiar face, though time had added and changed the other's face. A faint white scar near his chin, the thicker beard scruffy on his face, and his hair was quite a bit longer, long enough to be pulled back.
But the eyes are the same.
"Hey there, kid." Gladio gives a tired smirk, dismissing his blade and letting his stance fall into something more casual, though his eyes lift and watches around them. Always wary. Theres no other way to be, in these dark days. "Been a while." Been a long while, but that had been on purpose. It had taken... long, too long, to figure out his own path to get past the anger and guilt and the weight of loss that had been haunting him so darkly.
That last snap at Prompto that had driven him away,,, he wonders if Prompto understands how close he'd come to actually physically lashing out at his friend. That had been the turning point. The pinnacle of his fear.
He hurriedly moves to keep his hands busy, pulling out his camera and taking a quick snapshot of whatever's left of the daemon before it finishes disintegrating. It buys him a few seconds, enough that he can try to still his hands and get over the shock of seeing a familiar face again. Gladio looks...well, he looks rough(er) than he remembers. New scar that's had time to heal, could use a shave, and if he had a mullet before, the thing's officially out of control. Still. It's Gladio, from the roll of his shoulders to the smirk.
"Yeah, kinda," Prompto says and now he feels awkward all of a sudden, the relief he'd felt two seconds ago starting to get colored by what happened the last time he saw Gladio. "Really cool to see you're alive and kicking."
And a second later his cheeks are burning red at the sheer lameness of what he just said. A year of being forced to live on his own without backup hasn't fixed some things, apparently.
Prompto's changed more than him, Gladio thinks. That baby face is gone, replaced by a man with a jaw softened by muscle instead of angles and bone. There's some scruff that looks good on him, but mostly he sees it in the way Prompto holds himself. How he was in that fight. He's learned to fight alone. Grown.
He's missed them; seeing Prompto again hurts. They parted so badly, after Gladio had said--
It doesn't matter what he said.
"Same. They told me the hunter who went after this guy," gesturing to where the daemon had vanished, "probably died. Glad to see he didn't."
Prompto almost falls into the trap of pretending like things are the same. Like they can pretend nothing happened and it's all buddy-buddy with the teasing and Gladio's godawful dad jokes and play wrestling. All of it's still seared into his memory. He trails off, suddenly aware of how it doesn't sit right yet. His lips press into a line that ages him.
"We shouldn't hang around here any longer than we have to. Saw a small daemon herd less than a mile south."
Prompto's all business even as he avoids looking at Gladio and pretends he really needs to focus on putting his camera away.
It is so easy to pretend like nothing had changed. It's easier than admitting to himself everything that he feels inside. Hiding down any other emotion besides his anger was just something secondhand to him, after all. As it is, even the sight of Prompto is bringing back all of the old memories that he doesn't really want to think about. The affection he had held for Prompto back then hadn't lessened over time, but it had changed. It's something that he believes died on the floor of that apartment Ignis had managed to get and they had been sleeping in when their fight happened. Regret.
He imagines Prompto feels anything good towards him.
"Yeah. Hunt's all yours. ...Should probably keep on the move." But how he wants to ask how Prompto is. To ask about the scar he can make out. To make things really right again.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
one step at a time. hair pets will come. XD
He's damn proud of how Prompto's handling all of this. He could be broken, angry, scared, and no matter what he is, he's fighting to keep going. Noct needs Prompto, hell they all do, but Gladio knows that like Ignis did, Prompto's got to make that choice to stick with them. Otherwise, the fight won't be in him to keep going through this, but... how they're going to make it to the end, he has no idea. Find the crystal, that's the only path forward he knows right now. Noct has a destiny and for better or worse, they're there to make sure it gets seen through to the end.
Right now, though? Once the pain wears off for Prompto, he might notice that Gladio has let go of his hand and unthinkingly is stroking the skin along his forearm with his thumb, trying to be soothing.
excellent
When the pain subsides, Prompto finds that he's gone limp as he pants softly against Gladio, relief coming with the numbness. Sure, it feels like his wrists are missing and he can't tell if his fingers are moving without glancing down, but he's glad it's over and done with. He shifts against Gladio's chest.
"Thanks, buddy. You did me a solid."
He turns his head, careful, so careful, not to hit Gladio. More than anything he wants to see a friendly face and seeing those long scars slashed across his face, the amber eyes that seem to pull you in even as they're crinkling at the edges with faint laugh lines. He looks up into those eyes, holds them, and he manages a grateful smile up at Gladio that he hopes can say everything words can't.
have some cute and maybe heartbreak
...Hells.
Gladio finds himself immersed in that gaze. Maybe it's the redness around his eyes, on his cheeks, that makes them seem so much brighter, but he finds himself at a loss for words at what he sees there. It's... beautiful. Not a word he uses easily when it comes to another person, but it filters through his mind until he brings up a hand, touching the side of Prompto's face gently, palm against his jaw. He lays their foreheads together without a word, eyes closing as he just... is, just for a minute. Maybe saying something he can't, right now. Maybe never. An apology, for what he's said and done to Prompto in the most immediate and in the past, and probably what will come in the future.
Little do either of them know just how bad it will get all too soon.
It's as weak as he's let himself be since Ravus had cut himself down so easily.
my favorite >:3
Prompto swallows, throat closing up, and it has nothing to do with what Ardyn did or the Nif potion burning. His hand cups Gladio's, his numb fingers dwarfed by the larger man's and, he imagines, warming with his body heat.
"Thank you."
For all of this. For being there. Prompto could run down a whole list of everything he's grateful to Gladio for and none of it seems like it would cover all the bases. He pulls back after a moment, blinking quickly again and this time his eyes are glistening as he reaches up and rubs at his eyes before it's obvious he's tearing up. Probably too late. Maybe he should just bite the bullet and run with that secret moment they have between them. Prompto focuses on Gladio, drinking in every detail of his face, the smudges of dirt, the new scar slashed across his forehead that he still hasn't explained, and he runs with it:
"Gladio, I was thinking - "
And because they can't have anything nice, that's exactly when the dorm's intercom system buzzes on and Ardyn's voice purrs through the static:
"It's so very heartwarming to see a reunion between friends."
Is it bad my mind went 'AND BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!' on that last line? XD
Prompto would be front and center to feel every inch of Gladio as the man tenses. It's like a ripple through his body as Gladio's anger surges hot through him, his head snapping up and glaring angrily upwards towards nothing in particular, but he knows there are Gods damned cameras around. His body language screams of rage, but also protectiveness as he shifts himself slightly to put his body between Prompto and the door, keeping him close.
Unlike Noct and Ignis, elsewhere, Gladio had heard nothing of Ardyn's little fun speeches and torments as he'd moved through the Tower. Too unimportant, he might have guessed, so he growls under his breath like a behemoth before he snaps out, "if I get my hands on you, there won't be anything left!"
NOPE that is perfect
“That would be interesting to see, no doubt: maybe I’ll drop by for a visit. Between friends, you understand, just you and me and maybe Prompto if he’s feeling up to it.”
Prompto’s gone even paler. The intercom clicks off and it's silent again save for their breathing, his going shallow, Gladio's deep, quicker than before, as if he's prepping to carry his threat out. His throat feels like it's tightened as he swallows thickly before he finds his voice, searching for what to say. His eyes drop from Gladio's face to his hands which look like they've curled into fists, skin stretched tight over his knuckles.
"We probably shouldn't stay in one spot for too long," Prompto says finally. "Makes it easier for Ardyn to come after us."
He dreads the idea of walking again. Getting caught in a room with one exit, watching Ardyn torture Gladio just to keep himself occupied and his mind fresh, and yeah, he dreads that even more. Consider him motivated to get outta here.
What will you do with this, Prom?
But Prompto's in barely any kind of shape, even after the potion. At least the worst around his eye and the ragged flesh of his wrists are handled, but anything past that, he has no idea. He shifts his body, putting his back to Prompto, and he gestured with his chin. "Arms around my neck." Oh yes, he would piggy-back Prompto because it would let them move quick and keep Prompto damn well at his side, out of Ardyn's hands. Long as Prompto could hang on, he could even potentially have his hands free in combat and the kid barely weighed anything for him to worry about.
He needs to find his charge, needs to bring Prompto to him so Noct stops being so singularly minded, needs to know Noct and Ignis are okay.
None of them are, but... alive.
that is a good question
"Yessir," Prompto tries to lighten the mood as he slings his arms around Gladio's neck. The guy's built like a wall but even so, he hopes he doesn't, like, choke the guy after everything they've been through. "Maybe we need another plan of attack? He wants us to be together and doing what he wants seems like...I dunno. It doesn't end awesome."
As much as he aches to see Iggy and Noct - especially Noct, if only to ask him the questions he wishes he could ask privately - he doesn't want to keep following along after Ardyn's carrots. Sure, sometimes it pays off at first but there's always something, always a catch even if it's days down the line. Prompto's grip tightens for a moment as he loops his legs around Gladio's stomach, feeling the hard muscles flex as he stands.
"Feel free to drop my on my ass if you need to," Prompto tries to manage a feeble smile at the back of Gladio's head. He's still got that quasi-mullet going on and if you ask him, it's the best damn mullet in the history of mullets.
Gladio's gonna mention dem wristbands shortly~
"We get into a fight, you hang on for everything you're worth, got it?" He would, in fact, drop Prompto on his ass if he needed to, but he'll make sure he's protected. He'll be protecting Noct by getting Prompto back to him alive because Noct will stop head rushing into everything blindly in his worry. Which is how they ended up separated to begin with, damn it. "We gotta find the other two, then we gotta find out where the crystal is. I've got an idea; I saw the damn thing on a monitor as I was going through this hell hole, but getting there isn't gonna be easy."
Danm right it's the best damn mullet in the hisory of mullets. He pulls that shit off.
He went to the door and opened it, looking down the hallway. Everything's been empty except those MTs that seem completely busted up, but right now it looks like they're alone. "You manage to hang on, I'll give you the first shot on fuckface, okay?" Trying to keep Prompto's head in the game, knowing that the other has to be absolutely exhausted.
ooh
"Yeah...yeah, I guess you're right. We'll hook up with Noct and everything will be better."
Okay, so now he's just saying that, trying to put his best foot forward so Gladio doesn't see the real him.
Prompto's grip tightens around Gladio to show he's got him, since he can't see him pausing and nodding. For a moment he's silent as he peeks out the hallway. Now that he's conscious this time around, he can see that it's abandoned, for the most part. A few sprawled MTs lie here and there, something clutching at his throat as he goes down that rabbit hole and wonders about them. Who they were. How much of that person might've been alive inside the shells, if that was a thing. Horrible to think this, but he's hoping for their own sake whoever fueled the MT? That they're long gone. Casting one last look at the red points of eyes glaring from within the MT's casing, Prompto tears his eyes away.
"About that," Prompto bites his lip before he goes on, "Gladio, I kinda don't think it's that easy. Maybe we should just get to Noct and Iggy and the crystal and call it a day."
Cowardly, maybe, but the idea of Gladio facing up against Ardyn and thinking he'll die like anyone else 'cause he got run through with a bigass blade? It scares the holy hell out of him.
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He isn't a stupid man. He's no Ignis, then again very few people are, but he picks up something that slows his step, a frown coming across his lips. "...Prom, what aren't you telling me?" he growls very quietly the words under his breath, knowing that they're being watched. What does he know about why it wouldn't be that easy? Yeah, fuckface (he's mentally completely ignoring that that man even has a name) has some tricks up his sleeve, but together, they'll figure out a way to handle him. There's nothing political, no reason to hold back. They need to kill him, however or whatever it takes.
This damned place feels endless. He's still on the move, one arm tucked under Promtpo's backside to keep his weight up, but something is out there. He can feel it, somewhere in this tower is the King and friend he needs to find, the man he needs to kill, and the crystal that is the last hope to save them all. "...we'll deal with him last. Noct and Iggy first, crystal next."
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And at first he wants to keep his mouth shut because the cowardly part of him doesn't want to buck up. After the first few corners and eerily empty halls, Prompto starts spooking, thinking about what could be around the next corner, the creak and groan that could be a daemon, and he just knows he can't sit on this. He taps Gladio on the chest with his fingers to indicate he should hold up, slow down for a sec. Now that he's free of the fun rack and the Niff curative has cleared his head a bit, numbed the worst of his injuries to an ache, and he figures he better spit it out now than later. For all he knows, there might not even be a later.
"It's about Ardyn," Prompto's voice cracks before he swallows and tries again. "He's...different. Like not just weird, stalkery, totally got issues different." It's a struggle to put on his finger on it, put it in words even though he knows what he saw. What he did. Why he realized that he wasn't getting out of here on his own steam.
"Way back when he brought me here, he tricked me. Made me think I could escape when they still had guards," Prompto sounds bitter now, angry he'd even fallen for it but knowing he'd probably make the same mistake again even though he knows better. "I was desperate, I - I stabbed him...and he laughed it off. Dude didn't even blink."
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Shit. That is not what he wanted to hear. They're all damn well aware that Ardyn's a madman, though none of them know the absolute extent of it just yet. He remembers Noct rambling on the train about having seen Prompto and Ardyn, a gun drawn, and somehow being tricked and it gives him the willies down into the depths of his soul, like any second he's going to get tricked like that (or like Prompto).
His brows shoot up, then come together hard. "...the hell do you mean, he didn't even blink?" The amount of fear that Prompto must have felt to outright just stab someone, when he damn well knows Prompto is no kind of close-ranged fighter on purpose... "Like you hadn't actually stabbed him at all? It didn't penetrate?" Because those make more sense than the reality his mind hasn't grasped yet.
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That was before Ardyn picked him up. Now he knows better.
"I saw the knife go in! He just stood there and laughed!" Prompto's throat clenches as he swallows and he wishes he was making this all up. Problem is, he'd been lucid all the way for that one and he knows what he saw, had it seared into his mind's eye as he replayed it over and over, trying to figure out if there was anything he could've done differently even as he was dragged back to the rack. "He even told me to have a second shot because we're 'friends'."
And he hadn't missed that time, either. Hard to when Ardyn grabbed his hand and guided the knife to his throat and they did it together, basically, and instead of red blood, something thick and black had sprayed out while Ardyn kept smirking. Somehow he doubts Gladio will have much better luck even if he has a giantass sword over a tiny knife.
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Gladio goes silent as he listens to this. As incredible as it seems, as impossible, he believes Prompto. There's no reason for the other to be making this up and Prompto sounds so damn certain about it. How could it be possible that a man could be stabbed, twice even, and not die from it? He frowns, turning over the possibilities in his mind.
"You're certain... you stabbed him? Not an illusion, not some... freakish twist where you in fact stabbed someone else? How can a man be stabbed and not so much as suffer for it?" It goes against anything Gladio knows and it's far more disturbing than he cares to think about. He knows how to fight. You stab things, they die. That's how it works. How could they fight something they could stab and it never falls?!
"...so much of this doesn't add up. The things you and Noct say he can do, but- how? How could it do any of this?"
Gotcha! Thanks for the heads up and have fun in Japan!
"I-I don't think so. I think it was real," Prompto says, although he does wonder and the thing is, he can't say he's sure. For all he knows it could be an illusion like what happened on the train. Some trick up Ardyn's long, fancy-pants sleeve. No idea how he does it, if it's magic like Noct's or it's some new kind that they've never seen until now and that thought legit scares him. "I don't know. Maybe we'll find answers here."
Prompto shivers at the idea of having to wander around Gralea any longer. He's been stuck more or less in the same building, as far as he can tell, but he would've thought there would be more people out. So far it's just been daemons and MTs and while he has an idea what's going on with the new, stronger daemon's sprouting up out of nowhere, he hadn't thought it would happen this fast. There's no way the Imperial capitol could be cleaned out...right? They can't be the only humans out here.
He realizes with a start that he's unconsciously starting to hug Gladio to him. With a muttered apology, Prompto loosens his arms from around his neck, legs from where they'd tightened around his stomach.
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At least it's a fabulous mullet to be well aquainted with?
Gladio, so far, hasn't seen one other living being besides Prompto and daemons (if they can be considered 'living') since he lost sight of Noctis and Ignis. Everyone's gone, dead or... changed, though he doesn't know the latter so much, yet. "All I want to find are the two other and the Crystal. That's the important stuff right now; anything else we find out other than that's just a bonus I guess."
He can feel Prompto tightening up, but he isn't sure what in reaction to. About Ardyn? (What did that bastard do to Prom?) About the eerie silence of the city around them? About the gods damned MTs that keep sometimes coming into view? About all of this hell? Doesn't blame him a bit; he might be getting a bit of comfort from the feeling of Prompto up against his back. Not that he'd admit that.
"We just need to-" Gladio stops, cocking his head and listening. "You hear that?" He's not sure if he's imagining it, but he thinks somewhere he's hearing some kind of... crackling?
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Prompto pauses to listen. His hearing isn't too good right now - he blames Ardyn and a period where he blacked out and woke up to find blood trickling from his ears - but if he concentrates, he picks up a hint of what sounds like something crackling and sizzling.
Probably too much to hope someone's making breakfast really, really loudly.
"Yeah," Prompto says and wonders if he'll regret saying that. "...I'm guessing we're checking it out."
It's close, ish, and while they run into the MT who isn't as dead as it looks, they make it there in one piece and Gladio has time to recover his breath as the door hisses open. It's when he hears Iggy and Noct's voices on the other side that Prompto whispers to Gladio that he'll take a break from the piggyback and it has everything to do with wanting to appear like he's okay. He has to reach out to grab Gladio's arm to steady himself but he manages to walk through that door on his own two feet and for a few minutes, in the middle of a dead Imperial capital, he feels like maybe they got this. They're together, finally.
That ends when Noct makes the mistake of touching the crystal.
That was the last time he saw the prince. After that, it's endless night and the groans of the daemons are a teeth-grinding constant, always too close for comfort.
Sorry for the default icons and any typos. Phone tag from Japan!
Gladio had understood the need to walk in there on his own, more than Prompto might have guessed. He wouldn't have done any different; his pride wouldn't have let him and he can understand the need to soothe that over without suffering more on it.
But in the end, in so many ways, it feels like it didn't matter. They had lost Noct to the Crystal, and Ardyn's words had proven true as it dragged into a year since their friend and King had vanished into what was supposed to save them all. Instead, it had sealed their fate utterly. Now the world is darkness and daemons and death.
Gladio had lost himself almost as completely. Losing Noct had taken away his duty, which had given him everything in his life - his goal, his sense of grounding, his one certainty. It felt like a blow to the gut, like they had failed in succeeding. Ardyn certainly thought so, laughing at them as he had walked away.
Life has not been the same since. Trying to do anything they can just to survive as plants die, as food becomes scarce, as daemons are everywhere and constant. Gladio tries, but it's going downhill in a spiral as his anger surfaces so much easier and constantly, driving most people away from him and leaving him to be more risky, throwing himself into any fight to take out some of his rage and guilt and the feeling of failure.
cool! Lemme know if I should change anyhting
Prompto misses him. He misses the godawful dad jokes, the way he used to sling his arm over his shoulder and nearly bowl him over, he misses that little sly quirk of his mouth when he would kinda but not grin. A world full of darkness and daemons means that there isn't much room for any of that. Prompto tries to keep in contact with Gladio, keep up, but one day he wakes up in Lestallum and the man's just gone after they bitched each other out. He hears about a big hunt that could clear the way to Hammerhead after the fact.
It's radio silence then.
After Gralea and Ardyn, Prompto's never really felt like his old self. Not entirely. Sometimes his nerves on fire and he catches himself shaking slightly, fingers spasming as feeling vanishes. Sometimes he finds himself wandering in the night like it's magnetic and he realizes he can see just fine outside of the safety of the lights. Whatever Ardyn did to him doesn't mean he's suddenly buddy-buddy with the daemons or the MTs wandering out from the old Imperial bases. It just means he has to haul ass back to a haven every time he gives himself a shake and realize he's wandered off again, zombie-style, and if he isn't careful, he'll get Iggy killed at this rate.
So he pulls a Gladio. He leaves.
A year in and Prompto's a better shot, lankier and with less photos under his belt. Hadn't seemed like there was much of a reason to whip the camera out unless he needed photographic evidence of a hunt. He comes across Gladio totally on accident. Same job, with the other hunter camouflaged in rags it's hard to make his features out. The new guy comes in and decapitates the daemon before Prompto can finish the job, the sword ringing through the air.
He isn't even pissed the guy stole his thunder. Right now he's just relieved as he dusts himself off because his fingers are numbing again, starting to shake slightly as he tries to hide the symptoms.
"Thanks, man. You did me a solid."
Works for me!
But the eyes are the same.
"Hey there, kid." Gladio gives a tired smirk, dismissing his blade and letting his stance fall into something more casual, though his eyes lift and watches around them. Always wary. Theres no other way to be, in these dark days. "Been a while." Been a long while, but that had been on purpose. It had taken... long, too long, to figure out his own path to get past the anger and guilt and the weight of loss that had been haunting him so darkly.
That last snap at Prompto that had driven him away,,, he wonders if Prompto understands how close he'd come to actually physically lashing out at his friend. That had been the turning point. The pinnacle of his fear.
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He hurriedly moves to keep his hands busy, pulling out his camera and taking a quick snapshot of whatever's left of the daemon before it finishes disintegrating. It buys him a few seconds, enough that he can try to still his hands and get over the shock of seeing a familiar face again. Gladio looks...well, he looks rough(er) than he remembers. New scar that's had time to heal, could use a shave, and if he had a mullet before, the thing's officially out of control. Still. It's Gladio, from the roll of his shoulders to the smirk.
"Yeah, kinda," Prompto says and now he feels awkward all of a sudden, the relief he'd felt two seconds ago starting to get colored by what happened the last time he saw Gladio. "Really cool to see you're alive and kicking."
And a second later his cheeks are burning red at the sheer lameness of what he just said. A year of being forced to live on his own without backup hasn't fixed some things, apparently.
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He's missed them; seeing Prompto again hurts. They parted so badly, after Gladio had said--
It doesn't matter what he said.
"Same. They told me the hunter who went after this guy," gesturing to where the daemon had vanished, "probably died. Glad to see he didn't."
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Prompto almost falls into the trap of pretending like things are the same. Like they can pretend nothing happened and it's all buddy-buddy with the teasing and Gladio's godawful dad jokes and play wrestling. All of it's still seared into his memory. He trails off, suddenly aware of how it doesn't sit right yet. His lips press into a line that ages him.
"We shouldn't hang around here any longer than we have to. Saw a small daemon herd less than a mile south."
Prompto's all business even as he avoids looking at Gladio and pretends he really needs to focus on putting his camera away.
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He imagines Prompto feels anything good towards him.
"Yeah. Hunt's all yours. ...Should probably keep on the move." But how he wants to ask how Prompto is. To ask about the scar he can make out. To make things really right again.
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