Stars in the Night Sky [NOCTIS X READER]

CHAPTER 16 - ALL OF HEAVEN IN A RAGE

Luckily, you'd made it on the train with a few minutes to spare before it left.

You all piled onto it, collapsing into seats and looking and smelling positively rancid. One by one you all took showers provided by the train and settled back in. You took a well-deserved nap and woke up a few hours later, blinking in confusion as you cast a glance outside to see that it looked like late afternoon outside. Upon checking the time, it was only about two in the afternoon, which meant the sun had no business being as low on the horizon as it was.

Trying not to think about it, you turned your attention to look around at your companions. Adelaide and Prompto were asleep, cuddled up to each other on the same bench. Autumn was peacefully reading a book while Noctis and Gladiolus were nowhere to be seen. You stretched your arms above your head, moaning happily as your back gave a particularly satisfying pop as you turned to address Autumn.

"Where're Noct and Gladio?" you asked, blinking a few times to banish the last of the haze of sleep from your mind.

"Noct went to the dining car," Autumn said, idly flipping a page on her book. "I asked Gladiolus to confirm something for me."

"And that would be?" you raised an eyebrow.

Autumn nodded to the window. "You noticed how late it looks without actually being all that late, right?"

You nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, I heard someone mention that the nights have been growing longer lately," Autumn admitted. "So I asked Gladio to look into it for me."

You remembered loosely Lunafreya mentioning darkness descending on the world to swallow it during her speech. Did she perhaps mean that literally and not metaphorically? You had heard that the days were growing shorter and nights longer and as a result, daemon attacks were near rampant nowadays.

The dread that swallowed you at that thought was hard to shake.

"I didn't realize it was such a big deal nowadays," you admitted, swallowing thickly.

"The change wasn't too drastic until recently," Autumn pursed her lips down at her book, no longer looking too interested in reading it. "Now it's more noticeable and more people are talking about it and before long...we won't have any daylight left. So I thought it would be best to look into it while we can."

"Good idea," you said. You stood up, stretching out your sore limbs and feeling the pleasant burn of your muscles untightening. "I'm gonna go find Noct. Make sure he's...still doing good."

There was a knowing grin on Autumn's face that now almost everyone was getting around you and Noctis lately, and you hadn't the faintest idea why.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Autumn reprimanded lightly, tone teasing.

"We're friends," you couldn't help but grumble as you stood up and made your way to the back door before Autumn could refute the statement.

The dining car was a few ones behind the passenger one they were occupying, but even then it wasn't hard to spot Noctis' mop of black hair sitting at one of the booths. An empty glass sat in front of him, of which he was staring at intently, stirring the ice around the cup like it was the most interesting thing he'd done all day.

Silently, you approached him and slid into the seat across from him. Noctis looked up with a slight start but his expression softened into a warm smile when he saw you, tilting his head a little bit to regard you.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Just checking on everyone's favorite prince," you said. "Are you holding up okay after...all that?"