Book Three: The Children of Fate

XIV - {EDITED}

After three years of being in the Crystal shard, Sera found herself awake on the floor of the chamber that once housed the Great Crystal. In a matter of a few moments, her appearances shifted to adapt to that of her 36 year old self.

"Home at last," she said before heading to the infirmary where Prompto had been sleeping. Before she reached the door to the hospital wing, Shiva who had been disguised as the High Messenger, Gentiana, came to her.

"To awaken the King, the Oracle of Night must breathe life into him," Shiva said in her usual cryptic language. Sera had no idea what she meant but proceeded to enter the room, finding her beloved laying on the first bed, frozen.

"The Glacian put him in a cryogenic state soon after you left," Ignis stated upon seeing the raven haired queen enter the room.

"He won't be happy when he finds out he looks three years younger than his wife," Gladiolus said, smirking in a teasing manner.

"He'll just have to deal with it, at least until his appearances start altering to reveal how he should look," Sera retorted, before moving to sit on the bed beside him. "I ask that you leave me alone to do this." Sera looked at her husband, her one hand in his and her other hand on his cheek. She carefully leaned forward, enough to feel the chill radiating off his stasis body.

"Of course, Your Majesty." Ignis bowed a bit, Gladiolus doing the same before leaving the couple alone in the room, closing the doors behind them. They knew all too well that Sera needed to do this on her own, especially after three years of being apart. It had been three long years since the two could do so much as to hold each other in their loving embrace. In that time, she tried to reach out to his frozen figure, to let him know that she was still there but that hope was lost the moment she remembered that she was nothing more than fragments in the very ether she would pull her weapons from. It was harder for her and she had hoped that it wouldn't be too much on her.

"Awaken from your slumber, my dearest Prompto," she said before gently kissing him, her soft lips feeling the crystals of ice on his once warm lips. The moment she kissed him, the ice started to melt, the frost immediately evaporated as his body temperature rose once more. In a matter of moments, the blonde haired male sat up, his cobalt eyes sparkling as he looked into the crystalline eyes of his wife. "I'm home, Prompto."

"About time," he said with a smile. "I thought you would never return."

"You know how the Draconian is. He made it extremely difficult to go back when I was finally rid of Romelle's presence," Sera said, smiling in return as she moved her other hand to rest on his cheek. "I would have returned sooner, but I also found myself in a bit of a predicament that I didn't think was possible, at least so soon that is."

"You're here now, that's all that matters to me." He leaned in, kissing her softly, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Ignis and Gladio are waiting outside the room to know if you're alright now."

"Right." Sera turned to the door and called for the two head Glaives.

"Ignis, Gladio, he has awakened. You don't need to stand there and wait much longer," she said, her voice loud enough to travel through the double doors that led into the grand hallway.

After the reunion, Sera headed to the library, reading through some old manuscripts that she and her mother had written over the time of their lives.

Mother knew a thing or two about writing such beautiful pieces such as these, she thought, flipping through some old pages of writing her mother had written. She found herself fully immersed in the words on the page, every description taking her to unknown worlds that could have only been from Aulea's mind.

After what seemed like a few hours, the raven haired Oracle was startled by a hand gently resting on her shoulder. She turned her head to look at who had rested their hand on her shoulder.

"Looks like a good book. You've been here since I woke up," Prompto said as he carefully wrapped his arms around her.

"My mother wrote it in her spare time. It's the only one of its kind and I keep it hidden from the servants, to keep it from getting lost or destroyed by accident," Sera responded, placing her hand on his arm, gently rubbing it. She didn't know how to go about her next choice of words, finding it only better that she just got it said and done. "I have some important news and it may be a bit... unexpected and shocking, as well as confusing." With this, Prompto's attention was now on Sera for sure.