Part II: More Magic, More Fantasies

Chapter 35- A Pulsian Interlude

It was late afternoon in Oerba now, and Prompto sat outside the house he would be staying in for the night, cleaning his gun. He thought the setting sun made it look very cool.

"Hey, Prompt," Noel said, approaching him. "Almost time for dinner."

"Ah, I'm in no hurry. The seeresses and children have to eat first." Prompto waved it off, before setting his clean gun aside. "Even though I am pretty hungry tonight."

A silence passed.

"What's this business about you going back to school?" asked Noel, sitting on the ground in front of where Prompto was.

"I've been playing with the idea. Seems like it'd be fun to catch up with everyone there. Maybe I could become a teacher..."

"You, teaching?" Noel laughed generously.

"Hey! I could do it!" Prompto threw the rag he'd been using to clean his gun at Noel. "You know the place doesn't actually take itself that seriously. How much would you say you actually learned, academics-wise?"

Noel thought about that. "The bare minimum."

"Exactly." Prompto pointed a finger. "It'd be nice to teach the kids some shooting precision. Eat normal food again. Get to know the youngins better. And, potentially, Lady Maceida..."

"If she's not back in Bodhum by then."

"What?" Prompto stared at him.

"Were you actually listening when Maceida said her rank? She said Lieutenant Maceida Cambridge, of the Bodhum Security Regiment. She usually lives in Bodhum, protecting the city from wild animals. How did you not- she went on about it for five minutes!"

"Must've slipped my mind." Prompto shrugged.

Noel gave him a look, before standing up.

"What sparked the interest in my move, anyway?" asked Prompto, as he walked along with Noel.

"I was thinking the move might benefit Yeul. You can't deny that place is top-notch in magic these days, so maybe someone could hopefully have some knowledge about her visions..."

This time, Prompto was the one to give Noel the look. "You know it can't be avoided, Noel."

"Doesn't mean I have to stop trying to prove the prophecies wrong."

Prompto just shrugged, and sat down. Noel sat by him, and they both grabbed empty plates and cups.

"Would you mind passing a plate this way?"

"Yeah, sure-" Prompto grabbed one and prepared to hand it over, before recognizing the voice and immediately turning around.

Caius stood behind Prompto and Noel.

"Are you going to let go of the plate? Surely you don't expect me to eat this way."

"Caius, where the hell have you been?!" asked Noel. "Three months. Three months you've been gone. This is inexcusable!"

"Noel, don't yell at the man. He's had enough problems."

Noel stared at his grandmother in disbelief. "You're taking his side?!"

"The circumstances aren't as simple as you would believe," added Yeul.

That got Noel to calm down, and Prompto let go of Caius' plate.

~~~~~

"There's some type of device, here; don't touch it or you'll-"

Prompto made the mistake of actually touching the small device on Caius' headband, and was promptly shocked.

"Idiot." Caius frowned.

"You say that like it's news." Noel laughed.

"Yeah, sure, laugh at my pain!" Prompto complained as he sizzled.

Caius continued, "I know not how that got there, or its function; however- and this is mere conjecture since I cannot see or touch it either- I believe it is the same type of device I was using last year for magic augmentation, back when I worked with the Crescents."

"It's been nothing but bad news since you did that," Noel shook his head.

Caius merely replied, "I had my reasons."

Noel just shrugged. "And you don't remember anything about while you were gone?"

"The last occurrence I remember, before anything to do with the trip back here, was being in Bodhum, but that had to have been during the summer. It was incessantly hot."

"All right. Well, we won't be able to do much investigating on that thing until tomorrow. It's not light enough outside, not even in the village proper." Noel looked out on the horizon. "I'm going to get some sleep. I suggest you both do the same." He threw a Cure spell Prompto's way, before walking off.

~~~~~

Prompto woke up early, a mind to go wake Caius up to come help with the hunt. Even if he wasn't completely himself these days, he was an immaculate hunter, and his skill would be very much appreciated. Maybe they'd be able to take down an adamantoise today, even.

When he got to the house and it was empty, he frowned in confusion.

"I was sure this was where he was staying..." Prompto scratched his head. "Then again, my brain did literally get fried yesterday. Noel probably has a better idea of where he is."

Before he could descend the stairs, he was intercepted by one of the men from Vanille's clan- his name escaped him at the moment. "Have you seen Ballad?" he asked.

"I was just gonna go ask Noel that same thing, actually," replied Prompto.

The two walked to Noel's place and, upon finding out that Caius was gone again, he facepalmed.

"You know..." Prompto said when he was alone with Noel. "Back when that whole group came to visit us, that cute small girl with them asked if I knew Caius. That makes me think they had some type of run-in with the guy..."

Noel facepalmed again. "When did you plan on bringing this up?!"

"I didn't think it was important."

"Not import-" Noel dropped it. "Come on, we have to find a way to get in touch with those guys. It could possibly not be a bad thing, but I'm almost definitely sure it is."

_
{a/n}: Short chapter here, giving some detail into Caius' character in this story and hinting at the role he's going to play in the overall plot. Plus, Noel and Prompto. Who could ever say no to those guys?