Dear Prompto

Prolouge

Prompto stared at the door of the house, unsure what to do. It wasn't intruding since no one lived there. And it also wasn't intruding since it was technically his home, but...

Flashback.

"Marshal... Have you heard anything from my mother? She's not answering her phone and I just got this message from her and it sounds like... Like she was saying goodbye... Is.. Is she okay? Where is she?" Prompto asked as they made their way to Keykatrich. Cor stopped in his tracks. Everyone stopped and looked at him.

"May I hear the voice message?" He asked. Prompto handed his phone to Cor and Cor listened to the message in silence. Slowly, his eyes closed.

"Oh, Dawn, you fool..." He sighed heavily. He returned Prompto's phone to him.

"I was unsure at first, but that message confirms what I feared." Cor said. Prompto stared at the Marshal, his heart sinking slowly to his gut. Cor sighed heavily and reached in to his pocket.

"She told me to give this to you, should she not survive. I'm sorry, Prompto." Cor said, handing a tattered, tan ribbon to Prompto. Prompto felt his heart break.

"No..." He whispered shakily. He felt Noctis wrap his arms around him.

"I'm so sorry, Prom." Noctis said. Prompto's legs gave out as he fell to his knees in hysteric sobs, holding tight to his mother's ribbon.

Flashback ends.

"That was ten years ago... She's been gone ten years..." Prompto sighed. He took a deep breath and pushed in to the house. He was immediately overwhelmed with childhood memories. His mother first leaving him as she left for a mission. When she first came home. His first camera. His first work out. The first time his mother offered to train him. The first time she said she was proud of him. The first time she broke a promise....

Sighing, Prompto grabbed his phone and pressed play on the message he had saved.

"Hey, kiddo. I hope things are going well for you. I just wanted to call to say I love you, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was never there. I'm sorry I didn't take care of you like I should have. I'm sorry for everything. Every missed award, every missed school carnival, every missed birthday, every broken promise. I'm sorry. You deserved better than that. And... Sorry, Chocoboy... I'm breaking one last promise. I won't be here when you come back. I hope everything will be okay for you in the future. Listen to Ignis. Don't provoke Gladiolus. Show Noctis how much you love him at every chance you're given. Don't fight with Alice. Keep working on your photography. You take beautiful pictures. I love you, Prompto. With all of my heart. You are everything to me. You're my whole world and I want you to know that. Stay strong, my son. I love you, baby boy." Dawn's exhausted panting and choked up voice filled his ears again.

Prompto closed his eyes and let the tears roll one more time. He touched the tattered ribbon on his wrist. The last thing his mother gave him. He could still see it tied in her auburn hair. Holding back all but the bangs that framed the left side of her face. Her thick glasses resting on her nose over her jade green eyes. He could even still see the freckles that dotted her face and arms.

He wiped his eyes and moved deeper in to the house, looking for anything he'd want to take with him. Once he and Noctis married, the house and everything in it would be sold. He wanted to have something of his mother's other than her ribbon to remember her by. Every picture that hung on the walls, even those that had fallen to the floor and sat on tables went in to the box Prompto carried under his arm. He stopped when he saw a specific picture.

One when he was a baby. He didn't know who took it. But It was of him and his mother. He was just a baby at the time. Maybe two years old. His baby form slept soundly on his mother's chest and she was sound asleep on the couch. Looking at the picture, you'd assume that the future the two had wasn't the one that would belong to them. You'd imagine a dotting mother and her baby boy, spending every moment together. Her embarrassing him in front of his friends in high school. Her making corny jokes in the kitchen as she made dinner while he groaned about them over his homework. Her holding him tight as he cried in to her shoulder over his first heartbreak. Her right there in the front row, cheering him on at every track meet, every soccer game, every basketball game.