Night Light {FFXV/OT4}

Voices

Chapter Eight: Voices

-

"Prompto! Shoot it, now!" It took only a second for Prompto to react to the yelled order; the crack of a gunshot rang through the forest as Prompto shot with scary accuracy, locked on to his target. The speeding bullet hit the Mindflayer right where the brain should have been, however the daemon seemed unaffected, even if it thrashed its tentacles particularly hard for a few moments.

Despite the lack of a decent reaction to his shot, Prompto wasn't about to give up. He had been trained to kill people, not monsters; he knew the vital points of the human body, how to kill someone instantly. Monsters however were proving to be different: they had strange anatomy, weaknesses and strengths unique to every species. They were new, they were exciting and Prompto loved it.

The blonde ducked on instinct as Gladiolus came flying out of nowhere, jumping in with a broad swing of his new greatsword. It cut right through one of the daemons, that had been weakened by a barrage of shots from Prompto's gun. The creature went down in a swirl of the sword's enchanted flames. The two remaining Mindflayers didn't have the capacity to grieve over the slaughter of their fellow daemon, continuing their relentless attacks as though nothing had changed.

Deciding it was time to try and bring this fight to an end, Prompto loaded one of the flare bullets into his gun. Noctis had given him six as they drove towards the hunt location. The prince had explained that he, Ignis and Gladio had found the bullets lying around here and there but had never had any use for them. Things were different now, though: they had a skilled marksman on their team and Prompto certainly knew how to make use of these bullets.

Deft hands loaded the bullets into the gun with precise, efficient actions. In less than twenty seconds the flare was ready and Prompto shielded his eyes as he fired. He could feel the heat from the shining projectile as it stuck in the sky, casting its light across the battlefield. The daemons writhed and shied away from the blinding lights. An awful cacophony of screeching sounded from the Mindflayers, the daemons weakened by the light. Both Gladio and Noctis took full advantage of the opportunity, the two barraging one of the Mindflayers with a relentless stream of heavy hitting, unforgiving attacks, hoping to take it down before the flare faded out.

Prompto begun to take a few steps back from the heat of battle, wanting to keep his distance as any gunner should in a fight like this. He'd had to get in close to set off the flare with maximum weakening effect on the Mindflayers, but that close proximity to the daemons proved to be a mistake; Prompto let out a shout as he felt a single, slimy tentacle wrap firm around his ankle, and within seconds he was pulled into the Mindflayer's grasp.

Prompto squirmed and tried to pull away but to no avail. He was unable to do anything but yell for help as he felt more purple tentacles, dripping with viscous slime, wrapping tight around his waist. They were squeezing, crushing, Prompto gasping for air as he felt as though his ribs were going to snap.

And then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Prompto fell to his knees, gasping in much needed lungfuls of air. Above him, Ignis had speared the Mindflayer right through the head with his polearm. The creature had been unable to dodge with its usual speed due to its grip on the blonde, and had been impaled. The daemon shrieked in pain, tentacles whipping out faster than anyone could react to. Ignis received a long but thankfully shallow cut up his forearm from the sharp side of the tendril, a parting memento from the dying Mindflayer. The daemon dissolved into a puddle of black goop, Ignis somewhat gingerly retrieving his spear from the mess.

Noctis and Gladio had successfully taken down the final Mindflayer with their relentless attacks, the creature melting to sludge. Prompto felt an irrepressible shudder run through him at the sudden quiet of the darkened forest, a chill sweeping over his body as the adrenaline of battle faded away.

All attention was on the injured Ignis, Noctis whipping out a potion and pouring it over the cut. The skin hissed and bubbled for a few moments as if it were fusing together like it should, but when the bubbles faded and the skin returned to its normal state, the cut remained.

"Mindflayer venom" Ignis explained, and Prompto noted with concern that the man seemed a little breathless. "It can't be treated by potions, antidotes or even ethers."

Noctis shook his head, cool blue eyes gazing up at his advisor. "Stop talking like you're not affected by it. You're sweating."

Ignis met his Prince's cool gaze with one of his own, the man crossing his arms across his chest. That in itself was odd: Ignis was usually so composed, Prompto had never seen him looking so... so vulnerable before. "That's perfectly reasonable, we just fought a tough battle and-"

"-Iggy, you never usually sweat after fights. Not this much, anyways" The advisor fell silent as Gladio cut him off, and the lack of further argument proved that Ignis really was under the influence of the venom. "Exactly. Don't be so quick to disregard your own injuries next time."

Ignis once again chose to remain silent at the Shield's chastising, and without further ado they began walking. Noct let them know where they were going after a few minutes of trudging over forest ground, the Prince leading the way. "There's a Haven near here, we'll camp there. The Regalia's more than four hours away, but the camp is only two"

Nobody argued with that, knowing that getting Ignis somewhere safe was worth the discomfort that came with camping. They walked in relative silence on the way there, all stewing over there fact that they'd allowed one of their own to get hurt. Prompto was silently tearing himself apart the whole time. Because Ignis had been hurt, and it was all his fault.

Maybe they'd be right not to trust him after all.

-

It was a quiet morning, or as quiet as it could be out in the wilds of Lucis. The group were camped at the Pullmoor Haven, in Duscae. I'm summary: they were in the middle of nowhere, with no civilisation in sight.

Every so often the howl of a varetooth echoed through the dense forests, coupled by grunts of nearby Garula. The monsters never strayed too close to the campsite though, unable and unwilling to scale the steep, winding path up the edges of the Haven.

The relative silence of the forest was not one that Prompto appreciated. It left him to the noise of his own thoughts: the intrusive, self loathing whispers that wouldn't let him rest. They wouldn't stop reminded him that it was all his fault, that he was the reason Ignis was hurt. If he wasn't so weak, so stupid, Ignis wouldn't be suffering. If he hadn't been selfish enough to think that he was strong, that he could actually put up a fight against the daemons.. if he hadn't been cocky enough to get in close and shoot that flare, he would never have been caught, and Ignis wouldn't have had to rescue him.

Astrals, why was he so stupid?

Prompto grit his teeth as he heard another pained moan from the tent. Ignis, as the man finally woke up from his night long venom induced sleep. It was followed by hushed whispers from Noctis and Gladio. The two were vigilantly looking after their friend, helping him wake up and recover.

Prompto listened carefully to their hushed conversation, feeling the tightness in his chest lessen a little as Ignis said he was fine. He sounded like it was true this time, at least; the advisor's voice was full of its usual strength and subtle confidence.

That still didn't make the voices stop.

'He wouldn't have been hurt in the first place if it weren't for you.' Prompto shook his head as if it would make the thoughts disappear, but they only grew harsher in their words 'Stop trying to deny it. You're a burden. You're a danger.' the voices told him, and he found himself believing them.

'You should leave' they insisted. He agreed with their words, swinging his legs over the sides of the Haven. He jumped down, easily absorbing the impact on the hard packed earth under his feet. He started to walk, eyes ahead, not looking back. He wouldn't be missed, right? He was just a Magitek Trooper. Just an MT...

When Prompto left the camp, nobody noticed his disappearance. Ignis was just waking up. He was fully recovered but all attention was on him, making sure he was okay. Nobody noticed the missing blonde, didn't know of the danger that Prompto was obliviously walking into. Not until they heard his screams.