New World • Prompto Argentum

chapter fourteen

Lumina's eyes shot open. She felt a sharp pain in her chest, right where her brand was. Thankfully Prompto was no longer in her arms and she easily stood up, holding her hand against her brand tightly. She felt sweat form on her temples as she tried to steady her breathing. Another wave of pain stroke her, a gasp escaping her trembling lips. "Prompto..." She barely breathed out, holding out her hand to try and wake him up.

She felt weak and could barely move, only being able to shake Prompto a little. But as another wave hit her, she screamed, causing the boy to jump from his lying state. Once he realized what happened, and hearing the whimpers from beside him, he quickly turned to his partner.

"What's going on?! What happened?" He asked full of concern. He placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down as she shivered and cried.  The pain had subsided but she had never felt so scared. She cried even harder as Prompto engulfed his girl in a tight embrace, a little scared of her sudden break down. "Calm down sweetheart." He whispered in her ear. "I'm right here."

Lumina slowly pulled from his arms and proceeded to peel off her tank top, trying to take a look to her brand. Prompto gasped a little too loud, eyes widening. Her brand had a lot more arrows, a lot more than it would normally have.

"P-Prompto..." She trembled, realizing what that meant. "What am I gonna do? I don't... I don't want to become a Cie'th" she cried out before Prompto jumped off the bed and took of his sweatpants, quickly putting in his everyday clothes.

"Get up and get dressed, quickly." He ordered as the girl looked at him confused.

"What are you doing?" She managed to ask. "We're going to find her."

Lumina's eyebrows furrowed. "Who?" The boy connected eyes with her.

"Lightning. And then you can be free. And when that happens... I'm going to marry you." He grabbed her clothes and rushed towards her to help her get dressed. "And I'll make you happy, like you've never been before." His hands were trembling. "We will have many many beautiful children." His voice cracked and Lumina fixed her top as she stared at him with dropped jaw.  "You'll never have to hurt again..." He suddenly dropped to his knees and broke down in tears. "Never!" He could barely speak between his whimpers.

She rushed towards him, kneeling before him and placed her hands on the sides of his face, forcing him to look at her. Yet, she had no idea what to say. She was just as scared, if not more. She had no idea how to calm him down, she couldn't even calm herself down. "That sounds like a plan." She whispered, thinking that it could ease the pain. Both his and hers. "We... We will find Lightning and then... nothing will break us apart." She breathed, holding his hands to help him stand up. "Let's go find Snow." She suggested and he nodded, wiping his salty tears from his freckled cheeks.

And so, the duo was off to the NORA house.

🐥🐥🐥

"What the hell do you mean?!" Snow almost screamed,slamming his gloved hand on the coffee table.

"I don't know Snow! It just, happened!" Lumina shouted back, she didn't even know what was going on herself.

"How can your brand grow so quickly?" He asked ,trying to calm down. "I don't know!" She repeated as she ran her hands through her hair.

"We have to find Lightning, Snow. You know this is our Focus! To bring everything back to where it used to be!" She suddenly said, begging Snow to help her. But he was not speaking. "You can't keep ignoring the facts! Do you prefer all of us turning into Cie'th?! You, me, Vanille and Fang?!" She screamed at the leader.

Prompto was standing by her side, hurt from her state, but he was not going to argue against Snow yet. He knew she could handle this.

"We don't even know where she could be, Lumina, it would be a pointless journey! You would be turned into a Cie'th before even getting a single hint of her whereabouts!" He fought back, trying to stop Lumina from what she wished to do.

"And what the hell do you suggest?" She questioned the platinum blonde man who averted his gaze from her.

"I don't know." He admitted, eyes dropping on the ground.

"Maybe we should go see Hope." A quirky voice with the familiar thick accent suddenly was heard from the door. Vanille stood there, hands against her chest. "He could help us." She took a few steps closer.

Lumina had no choice but to start from there. Snow was right, she couldn't go off roaming on every place of the world in search for Lightning.

"The boy could help." Snow agreed. "He helped the last time." Lumina nodded at that.

"Okay, then let's go!" She slightly raised her voice.

"We can't just leave out of the blue, Lumina, we just came back!" Snow tried reasoning with her, but in vain.

"Do I look like I have time?!" She pulled downwards her top, revealing the brand to her two friends. Vanille covered her lips with her hands, both hers and Snow's eyes widening in shock.

"No..." He breathed.

"See?!" She cried out. "We have to go to Hope, now!" She pleaded for the last time. For a few moments, no one spoke, Snow was trying to comprehend everything that had just occurred.

"Fine." The platinum blonde nodded. "We're leaving." He rushed off the house without a warning, the other three quickly following him.  "We'll grab Sazh's ship and go to the kid's lab." He explained as the team made their way to the airship that rested not far from their homes. As Snow was opening the ship's door, Fang suddenly stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?" She questioned.

"To find Hope." He eyed the tanned woman. "We need to get rid of this curse once and for all." He clenched his teeth, Lumina's brand in his head.

The woman eyed the group for a few seconds before nodding. "Right." She huffed.

"Off we go then." Lumina smiled, feeling relieved that they would all join her. And so, the five entered the airship.