Eyes of the Artist (Final Fantasy XV FanFiction) DISCONTINUED

Chapter 3: Caught Blue Handed

Noctis is still staring at the ugly scars on wrist as I try to free myself from his grip. He's beginning to squeeze it painfully tight, but the look on his face tells me he doesn't even realize. The other three are coming over now. I'm trying even harder to get away.

"Hey, Noct," the tattooed man says to the prince, "what's up?"

Noctis pulls my arm forward for the others to see. I can feel my face burning as they all frown at the scars on my wrist. It's a little hard to see because the sun has almost completely set, but they seemed to have spotted the problem. Some of scars were old, some had reopened slightly during the fight, and some were still healing. Three obvious cuts from a few hours before stand out the clearest, the dried blood having cracked during the fight. I struggle to pull away as more fresh blood begins to rise up from the open wounds, and slowly drips down towards the ground.

"Woah, what happened to your arm...?" the blonde asked, looking up at my red face with a questioning look.

The other man adjusts his glasses, then speaks carefully. "Prompto, perhaps you would do better not to ask the young lady about this..."

The blonde, Prompto, looked at the dressed up man, then at the tattooed man, seemingly looking for some kind of answer.

The large man shook his head. "Ignis is right. You shouldn't ask her about it."

"But, what's the big deal? Did she get hit during the fight?" Prompto persists. Gods, he's annoying.

"Prompto," so the prince has a voice after all. "Shut up."

Prompto looks like he's going to protest, but seems to think better of it.

"We'd better have a look at those cuts when we get to the car," the man with glasses, Ignis, says so as if my coming along had been decided. Which, with Noctis's grip, it probably is.

Damn it... How could I let this happen...? My frustration must have shown because the tattooed man - who's name I have yet to learn – smirked.

The party lead me back down the alleyway, over to where the car is parked. It's a small, fancy black convertible, with chocobo claws on the hubcaps of the tires. It's a pretty car, and looks expensive. So, just take a second to try and imagine my reaction when Ignis opens the door and Noctis pushes me down in the seat. Done? Good. Reaction reveal: I sat there stiffly, not understanding why someone like me, who is obviously living alone on the streets, is allowed even near this car.

"Highness, a word please," Ignis says to Noctis.

The prince nods and turns to the large tattooed man. "Gladiolus, watch her for a minute?"

The large man, Gladiolus, nodded and smiled. "Yeah, no problem."

"Hey, what about me?!" Prompto says, clearly upset.

"She probably won't have a problem escaping you," Gladiolus says before laughing loudly. Prompto looks a little disgruntled, which makes Ignis laugh. I myself am struggling not to smile at his reaction. The only one who looks unamused is Noctis.

"Ignis..." the prince raised an eyebrow at the other.

"Of course," the two of them walked over to the trunk, speaking in hushed tones.

"So," Prompto speaks almost immediately.

"Prompto..." Gladiolus narrows his eyes at the blonde.

"Relax, I was just going to ask for her name!" Prompto quickly says in defense, raising his hands. He then turns to look at me with a big goofy grin. "Well, what is your name?"