melodiesofeternity | Crystalline Chill

Entry tags:

Crystalline Chill

Who: Residents of house C-01 and friends!
When: All throughout May, see prompts and individual threads
Where: House C-01
What: Monthly catchall for the XV House shenanigans
Warnings/Notes: There's likely going to be spoilers for Kingsglaive and the main game up to Chapter 13 somewhere in the comments.

A. Sometimes you just want to ride...
Late in the morning of the 1st, there is a low purring sound of an engine going down the street. One that wasn't accustomed to travel aside by foot or chocobo claw. Yet, somehow, a certain man manages not to clip a single thing. And it sits there, in front of House C-01, black, shiny, and very much a wonder to a few moogles. Especially since the convertible's roof is airship-grade plexiglass.

B. [Insert "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" joke here]
There was one upside to living with the once-deceased leader of the Crownsguard, and that was one didn't have to go far for a training enthusiast. There was also one downside to this: not having to go far for a training enthusiast. It's the crack of dawn when the nice little symphony of insects and kwehs get interrupted by the sounds of wooden weapons clashing and spells being practiced.

Rest in pieces, light sleepers. They apologize in advance.

C. That's it!
Of course, no one can train or go through the day on no fuel. And one person in particular has taken upon himself to at least ensure a few others can eventually cook eggs without burning them. The real question is: Will Ignis come up with a new recipeh involving that jar of kupo nut butter?

D. I want to ride my chocobo all day~
If anyone is surprised at the fact that there are two or three (depending on the date because Chocobo Eater event) lovely birds, then they clearly don't understand at least 50% of the household's love for the magnificent creatures. The black one in particular seems to be particularly happy with their nice little stack of shiny objects...

There may or may not be a pair of glasses on the top of that pile. Sorry, Specs.

E. Hold my Ebony
(Feel free to come up with your own prompts, guys; these aren't the limits to our zaniness.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He didn't mean to joke around, he just didn't want to think about how heavy everything was because it was slowly crushing him. He didn't know what Ignis meant when it came to saving him. Saving him from harm? They didn't manage that.

Alive, however, he was definitely still alive.

"I was the bait, so yeah, I mean, I'm alive if that's what you're asking."

Alive and okay were two different things and he didn't think he could classify his mental state as 'okay'. "You guys did come for me." It wasn't Ignis' fault, and Gralea was not close to where he'd been snatched at that.

No, Prompto wasn't okay, Ignis knew that, very clearly. Especially now that he had the information on what happened. There is nothing he can say- no words of encouragement or support that he can offer that could make everything better. It's no wonder he didn't want to talk about this back at the doctor's office.

Ignis is now actually surprised that Prompto did open himself up, even a little bit, about this. Just thinking about it was probably a strain on Prompto.

"Yes... I was wondering if we reached you before Ardyn took your life." That would be something neither of them (and especially Noctis) would be able to recover from.

"A bait... to toy with you like this..." Ignis mutters darkly and stands up, placing the mug on the chair and starts pacing around, hands crossed over his chest. A habit when he has a lot on his mind that needs to be contemplated on. A bait for what? To lure them to Crystal? What was Ardyn's game? Shouldn't he try to stop them from reaching it?

"He'll pay for it. Once we return." They will return. And Ardyn will suffer the consequences for everything he's done.

A small favour that he wasn't killed, he supposes, but he's far too amusing alive, at least he's been told that. He fidgeted with the bracelet on his wrist.

"I'm not-" His voice caught a moment. "I'm not done, Iggy."

Prompto sucked in a breath, it was all about to go to hell in a handbasket.

"After I was rescued and we t-talked about what I found out." Something he would gloss over for the moment and he would have to come back to because he owed it to his friend.

"We spent the night, and then we went to find the crystal." Prompto hadn't really wanted to spend the night, but he wasn't in the best physical condition when they found him.

"Noct, um, he touched it and it..." He didn't know how to break this news, to him it was more devastating than everything else.

"He's gone. I don't know, like he was sucked into the crystal and the Chancellor came and he's waiting. He's waiting for Noct to come back, whatever it's going to do for him and we-" He swallowed.

"We can't do anything Iggy. He can't die. I tried. Gladio tried. I do not miss. I know I shot him in the head and he just got up!"

Prompto's breathing was hitching and he was feeling a fresh flare of panic which he did not need, it was not going to help him explain matters at all.

"Sorry, I- and then since then, we had to leave it's been a week, he's not back yet and just, there's no sun and everything's..." He waved his hand. Gone to hell. That was the perfect way to describe it.

Ignis stops pacing around when Prompto says he wasn't finished. And the feeling of dread was back full force. The Crystal...

"Noct... disappeared within the Crystal?"

It wasn't a hallucination then. Or him passing out and having some weird dream of Astrals and Noct and future. The words that reached him in Altissia, from the white dog that fell not long after Lady Lunafreya did... they were-

Ignis is at Prompto's side in few steps, crouching with hand on Prompto's shoulder. "He- he will be back Prompto. He's here now, correct?"

He needs to know too. But how does he go around telling Prompto that Noct will... for them all? Still, keeping it a secret from him would only make him angry for not telling him. Which is worse Scientia- keeping this burden, the price of the Prophecy a secret and having Prompto be angry with you, or completely devastate him with the truth?

The truth that even Ignis doesn't want to believe in.

"Take deep breaths Prompto, alright? We're here." For now. His gaze falls to the ground. "I too... have something to tell you. Now that I know what transpired."

Ignis stands up and ushers Prompto to do the same and to follow him inside the house. While there's no danger for them outside right now, the things he has to say- he can't do it here.

"I kn-know." Prompto said, his voice trembling from the emotion he was trying to hold back, because he was infinitely worried about Noct, he didn't know how long he'd be gone for, and everything around them was crumbling into a mass of daemons and darkness and he, Ignis and Gladio were so stilted and he didn't know what to say anymore.

They needed Noctis, that much was clear, and he didn't want to leave him behind but what could they do?

He could take cues and he got up, trying not to freak out, which had never been his strong point honestly speaking, but he was holding it together on that bare thread that seemed to be holding him together as of late.

It wasn't just at the nurse that he was so jumpy, twitchy or skittish. He'd been like that all over the place.

He nodded and followed Ignis, there were details he needed to add, things he needed to confess to, and they terrified him even though when he told Ignis, Noctis and Gladio, they didn't make a big deal of it.

It didn't matter, he was still scared. Did he need to do it at all?

Ignis leads them to the living room and lets Prompto take a seat on the couch first- he looked a bit unstable so he wanted to make sure he sits down. Because what he has to tell him no one would be able to take on while standing. Ignis, too, can feel his legs almost giving out as he sits down next to Prompto.

He waits for several moments, for Prompto to catch his breath.

"Prompto, you... have to listen to me carefully," Ignis starts, looking down at his own hands. "Because, if I don't tell you this now, I'm afraid I won't be able to say it. Ever. Until it happens. And by then, it... it will be..." late. Late to try to do anything, to maybe change the outcome. Even though what he heard was crystal clear.

"Noct... he had to enter the Crystal for a reason," his voice is barely above the whisper and he still refuses to meet Prompto's eyes. "Right before I ran into Ardyn, I encountered Lady Lunafreya's dog. Not the usual messenger that visits Noct, the other one." The white one.

"It passed out as Lady Lunafreya passed and... it gave me a- vision. Of sort." Pause. "Of things to come." Ignis' voice became more unsteady to the more he went on, fearing the moment he will have to tell Prompto what is at the end of the endless, dark tunnel.

"The darkness that came, that you witnessed with Gladio and I, Noct is destined to purge it. The Crystal and the Rulers of the Past will grant him the power to do so. That is probably the reason why he was pulled into the Crystal.

However..." Ignis voice completely disappeared as his memories came back in full blast.

The Throne. The Sword. The Ring. And Noct... a flash of him being speared through the seat.

"...the price for it is. It's..." Ignis took a deep shaky breath and finally looked up at Prompto.

"...Noct will die."

When Ignis said he head to listen to him carefully, he was determined not to interrupt even though, he had a tendency at times to blurt out what he was thinking and at least he'd caught his breath and calmed himself by the time he began to speak.

Noct had to go into the Crystal. He wished he'd have known that, but it got worse. At the mention of Lady Lunafreya's white dog, he couldn't help himself.

"Tiny." He murmured, because he'd met that very same dog, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. He'd never told his friends that part of the story.

Ignis had seen a vision of the future, the darkness, he knew about the darkness. At least they were right, Noct would come back to fix it.

Noctis would come back.

However...?

Prompto sucked in a breath extremely sharply, eyes wide and he turned to look at Ignis, to take in his features, to look at his expression. He looked dead serious. He looked devastated.

For a moment there was silence between them, lingering hot and heavy because he couldn't say anything, or do anything. He didn't even notice the fact his vision was blurring before his eyes, nor did he feel the first tear spill over his cheek.

The only sound Prompto made was a heart-wrenching sob before his hand shot up to cover his mouth and muffle the sound, his body curling in on itself.

Ignis didn't say anything anymore. He knew that whatever he said right now would be lost on Prompto and, honestly, nothing really mattered. Their friend, brother, Prince and King, is destined to die to bring back the dawn. For people. For everyone. For them. Ignis wanted to argue that with all his heart, but it wasn't his place. And it's not his decision to make.

And there's nothing he can do about it.

All of this trouble, the battles, the injuries, the losses- everything just so that Noct dies at the end as well?

Prompto's sob made Ignis' heart clench painfully- so hard, as if he only just now realized how much it hurts. He tried lying to himself, tried to ignore the things he saw, thinking it wasn't true. But it was. Prompto confirmed it. And there was no avoiding it.

Without a moment of hesitation, he shifts closer to Prompto and pulls him in a hug, while trying to keep his own sobs and tears at bay.

He's not succeeding.

He turned in the embrace and slid his arms around Ignis, sobbing instead against his shoulder because the news was crushing and debilitating all at once. It was like his entire world had come full stop.

A week. Prompto had been missing Noct and wishing for him, that hole widening in his heart and it had only been a week.

The thought made him cry out and he brought one arm up along Ignis' back to rub at his eyes.

"I can't-" He swallowed.

What was he supposed to do for the rest of his life without Noctis? What was he supposed to do? Noctis was, to him, everything and he'd just pictured their time together to be longer than five years, the only good five years of his life honestly.

When the good was taken from him, what would be left?

The fact that this was true brings up plenty of other questions. None of which matter right now. He's stuck like deer in headlights, not knowing what to do or say to comfort Prompto because... there's nothing that will lessen this pain.

So he just holds him. And lets him rub his eyes as he tries to stifle and bite back his own sobs because it's finally hitting him full force. His fingers twist in on the back of Prompto's shirt.

When Prompto pulls away a bit, Ignis says with a shaky voice, "I'm... I'm sorry I had to- to break it to you like this but..." a sob made him hiccup and he pressed the fist against his lips for a moment. "But... you deserve to know..."

Ignis doesn't know what they are going to do without Noct. His whole life revolved around Noct's existence, ever since he was six. He felt as if someone moved earth from underneath his feet and left him falling. And the landing is going to be devastating.

Prompto understood that exact feeling. He hadn't had anyone in his life before Noctis who paid him any mind, attention or care. He was unwanted. He was nothing, until fateful meetings and his destiny changed its course again.

He never pictured their time would come to an end. Not until they were old and grey and ready for it. Noctis was a lifelong friend, that was all there was to it.

He nodded a little to acknowledge Ignis' words.

"Yeah. Yeah I...Yeah. I needed to-" He choked back another sob, he couldn't say it. He didn't know how he was going to face it. He hadn't planned for this.

Somewhere, the Astrals were laughing at him, as he often thought they did. "Damn the Six." He cursed because he knew it was their fault too. "And damn Ardyn and just why? It's not fair. It's not and he has to- he should get to grow up! Get old and stuff!"

It wasn't just about him, more than him Noct was losing out on yet another opportunity.

The Gods were cruel.

Ignis envisioned himself standing by Noct's side, as his advisor, for the longest time. It was what he strived to be, all of his training, years spent with Noct, tutoring him and supporting him in the darkest of times. For him, to get this kind of an end, an early end, and end for the sake of them and everybody else- it is not fair.

He takes in a shaky breath, nodding. "I... don't know. All I know is that- that we don't have the choice but accept it." Because, if what Prompto says is true, that the world plunges into darkness the moment Noct enters the Crystal- there really is no other way.

Face buried into his hands now, glasses knocked off to the side, Ignis finally breaks into louder sobs, "T-There's nothing- nothing I can do! I - I was trained to protect him from e-everything-! Why can't I-" protect him from his own destiny!?

"This sucks." That was the only way he could think to describe it, tears sliding down his cheeks because he couldn't help it, and he needed to discuss this with Noct.

"Does-" His voice caught. "Do you think he knows?"

Prompto swallowed, Ignis sounded agonized, and he felt bad. "If we could just stop this I...I'd give anything Iggy. Really." So would Ignis, and he knew it.

"If we think of something...you can have anything. Anything you need from me."

Ignis doesn't know how to bring this up with Noctis but yes, he needs to talk about it with him. To warn him if he doesn't know or discuss if he does. Ignis won't calm down until he knows that there is nothing he can do. He'll turn the sky upside down if he has to.

"I... don't know what we can do," Ignis says with heavy sighs, his cheeks still stained with tears as he leans back on the couch. "But that doesn't mean I won't try to do something. I can't just accept this while sitting down and doing nothing."

What was the point of getting a vision of future if not to stop it?

"The eyesight you mentioned I lost- I'd give it million times again if it meant that it will change something." Although, he knows that he's insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

"No, I agree with you. We have to...we have to do something." Prompto answered, his fingers curling into fists on his lap, even though he couldn't stem the flow of tears down his cheeks. All of this was too much, too unfair and too cruel.

He hated it. He wasn't mad at Ignis, no, there was no need to shoot the messenger.

"I wish it did. I don't-no one knows why you lost it so I can't say what you gave it up for, except to save Noct. That we know."

Prompto sniffled, he was not a delicate crier, at all. His face was blotchy, his eyes red and puffy.

"It's not fair, it's just not fair, I don't know how I can just let that happen. I can't Iggy, I can't."

"The question is- what can we do?" That is the problem with prophecies. They are usually set in stone with very little chance of being changed in any way. Can they really defy it? Ignis wishes with his entire being that there is. And if there is, he will do whatever it's needed to get it.

Ignis shakes his head: "My eyesight matters little right now. If that was the price for Noct's safety, then I'll pay it again." He isn't much of a "pretty crier" either, but he's lucky enough that only his cheeks and nose get red, without eyes getting too puffy.

He is silent for a long moment. "...I know. It is not fair that he should die for sins he didn't commit. To fix someone else's mistakes." He rubs away the tears that slid down and takes a shaky breath. "But... if we can't do anything, we'll have to accept it. The decision that Noct makes."

"I don't know." He answered mournfully. If he knew the answer as to how to defy the Astrals, he would offer it up willingly on a silver platter. As it was, he wasn't entirely sure they could.

"I.." He swallowed. "I figured you would. I know it'll be hard, but I couldn't just not tell you."

Prompto let out another sob and pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes and just sniffed slightly. "His decision? You think Noct wants to?"

He shook his head a moment later. "I kn-know he will." He was letting out shuddering breaths.

"I'm not ready to lose him."

They all would. Ignis would do it the moment he heard about it. Without hesitation. But, it wasn't about them in the end. All they could do is sit and watch and despair and mourn. And it makes Ignis want to scream.

Ignis nods, "Yes. I appreciate it." He does. But, as he said, losing sight is nothing compared to losing a life.

"To protect us... he would," Ignis pinches his nose. He would and they wouldn't be able to change his mind once he's set on it no matter what they said. "Me either... and we won't. For now, while we're here." Ignis takes a deep sigh and rubs his eyes, trying to get them to stop stinging from tears.

"I will make use of the library here. Try to find something that could maybe help us."

"Let me know. If there's anything I can do." Prompto said, exhaling a little and using his shirt to dry his eyes.

He didn't know how he wasn't going to tell Noctis all of this the next time he saw him. He had a hard time keeping some secrets between them.

Prompto breathed. "...There was one more thing."

"I will." Ignis nods and gives Prompto's shoulder a squeeze. "This is something that I won't be able to handle alone and keeping you out of the loop would be unproductive and insulting."

Ignis looks around for his glasses and puts them back on, now that the tears have stopped streaming down his face.

"Hm? I'm listening."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

Prompto was quiet a moment and fiddled with his bracelets.

"I'm from Niflheim. I'm-no. I'm not one of them but I was made to be an MT so..." He said softly.

"There's uh, a barcode on my wrist, marking me as one of theirs."

Ignis listens quietly, eyes catching the small movements of Prompto's hand around his bracelet.

"And you thought that would bother me?" Ignis asks softly. This is just classified as new information in Ignis' head- it doesn't change his view of Prompto at all.

"You've been with us through thick and thin," Ignis says, smiling slightly. "As far as I'm concerned you are Prompto- a Crown citizen, Highness' best friend, a member of the Crownsguard and Prince Noctis' retinue."

He was overemotional at the moment and he wrapped he turned and hugged Ignis, squeezing him a little too tightly perhaps, but it was just because he was so grateful. He shook his head, breathing in a shuddering breath.

"N-No. No actually." Prompto shook his head again. "This is what you said last time. I'm just really glad to hear it again. All of you just were great."

He let out a little sob, or something like it. It was just a really emotional evening.

"It bothers me more than it seemed to bother you guys and I'm just so glad to hear it again. I'm sorry I-" He swallowed. "Still thought you should know."

The hug was surprising, but not unwelcome at all. If it could help Prompto feel just a tad bit better, especially after this news, then Ignis is more than willing to hug him as many times as he needs it.

Last time...? Ah. Probably at some point in the future because Prompto never brought this up in the past. Still- his opinion won't change. He runs his hand up and down Prompto's back slowly, hoping it would offer a bit of comfort.

"It is nothing to apologize for. It is a legitimate fear and nothing to say sorry for." Ignis nods.

The motion is nice and comforting, and it was what prevented him from letting go as quickly as he might have otherwise. Prompto wasn't in the habit of hugging Ignis, granted, he wasn't in the habit of hugging anyone, but it seemed like a necessary thing in that moment.

"I have a lot of stupid fears." He muttered, sometimes Prompto was sick of being scared all the time, but his brain was uncooperative in that department.

"Yeah. Thanks. Just...thanks." He trusted his friends to stand by him, even if he was scared they wouldn't. He wanted his friends by his side. Wasn't that the conclusion he reached?

Crystalline Chill

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