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It had already been ten long, hard fought years since Noct had seemingly disappeared into thin air; and without Noct, the crystal was all but useless in the fight against the daemons that threatened to destroy the world as they knew it. Prompto wasn’t sure how he had managed to make it an entire decade, but by some miracle, or curse, he was still alive and mostly kicking. He had had quite a few close calls here and there when he had gone out to take on a particularly nasty hunt every now and again, but somehow, he always seemed to make it back mostly intact.
The blonde gunner had become quite independent since he, Ignis and Gladio had slowly started drifting apart. Wasn’t it bad enough that he had lost Noctis? Apparently, the clear answer to that was no, because no matter how hard Prompto had tried to keep everyone’s spirits up after Noct disappeared, without Noctis there to unite them, it seemed they were destined to fall apart, like a puzzle that completely fell apart because it was missing its most important piece.
In recent years, Hammerhead had to be the closest thing that Prompto had to calling somewhere home, even though he knew it would never actually feel like a proper home. Home was where you belonged and where you felt most comfortable and at ease, but the gunner rarely felt those feelings anymore. He guessed it must be one of the side effects of living in a world cursed by eternal darkness.
The blonde marksman could at least smile for the fact that he had been able to easily take down a large daemon that had been noted by multiple groups of hunters to have recently started threatening to break through the outer limits of Hammerhead. He might even be able to buy some decent food with the gil he would get for taking the monsters head. Maybe if it was good enough, he might be able to convince Ignis to come by for a visit, as the advisor despite his injury still insisted on continuing to cook as good if not better than he had before the accident. How long had it been since he had seen him? He wasn’t really sure, but it had to have been three weeks at the very least.
“Hey man, I bet you’ll never guess what Drew’s group ran into just now...” A young male hunter that Prompto had never seen around here before exclaimed loudly as the blonde passed by on his way to Takka’s Diner, which had basically become the new Hunter HQ.
“What now? If you tell me they ran into a red giant one more time… I swear to the six-” The other male groaned exasperatedly, looking as though he were ready to smack the first guy’s phone right out of his hand.
“Nah, man.” The hunter apparently very consumed by what he was looking at on his phone replied quickly. “He just texted me and he said that his girl found some random guy, completely unarmed and passed out on the side of the road, half hidden beneath some big rock formation while they were out making their usual rounds to scout the near-by daemons.”
“What? You sure he’s not just screwing with you?” The second hunter shot back, barely trying to keep the sheer skepticism out of his voice. “That sounds exactly like the kind of stupid shit that Drew likes to pull when he gets bored.” The hunter gave a pointed and unconvinced look as he continued, “Even if you did expect me to believe you, how the hell would a single, unarmed guy manage to fall asleep out in the heart of daemon territory and not instantly be torn to shreds by said daemons? That’s totally unrealistic and you know it.”
“Hey, I’m just tell you what Drew told me. Take it or leave it, man.” The first hunter shrugged. “If you still don’t believe me, Drew said he should be bringing the guy back here in the next few hours and you can see for yourself.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” The second hunter laughed.
After that, their conversation became considerably less interesting. Something about a candy or food that one of them had eaten while staying in Lestallum recently, or something like that. Prompto wasn’t sure, and to be honest, he didn’t really care. The part of the conversation that had held him stock still and at attention, was the story about the mysterious man that the one guy had mentioned.
For a moment, the blonde had almost been tempted to butt into the conversation and see if he could get any more information to see if maybe… no. Prompto had already had his heart shattered far too many times over the years when he had foolishly gotten up his hopes that Noctis might finally return to them to help finish what they started all those years ago, just for reality to come crashing back down and for him to realize that he wasn’t sure if he would ever see the raven-haired prince ever again.
It’s not Noct… He thought to himself furiously. Don’t be stupid. You know that you’re just going to get your hopes up again and then just like ALWAYS, it won’t be him… It’s never him. You should have learned at least that much by now, haven’t you?
It was a hard truth to accept, but the blonde guessed that the sooner he accepted it, the better off he would probably be, because then he wouldn’t spend what seemed like every waking moment hoping that maybe… just maybe, this would be the day that he might get the chance to see him, just one last time.
With that being said, Prompto decided it would probably be best for his own sake and sanity to just leave the matter well enough alone. Letting out a deep breath he didn’t realize he had been holding, the blonde forced himself to push the conversation he had just witnessed back into the deep recesses of his brain as he finally forced his legs to continue on their way towards the diner that he had originally been heading before he had become distracted by those other two hunters. The sooner he could forget about that little exchange, the better.
Prompto had done a pretty good job of distracting himself with tooling around with various treasures and other random things he had managed to pick up on the last few trips he had made out past the safety of the lights of Hammerhead.
The gunner wandered outside hoping to see if he could catch Cindy and ask her about a rumor she had told him about the other night when the blonde’s vision suddenly when white.
The blonde was rather confused at first as to how exactly he could possibly be blinded, when it definitely couldn’t have been by any kind of natural light… the last of the natural sunlight had faded years ago and as far as he knew he hadn’t been standing in front of any of the large lights that had been positioned strategically around the Hammerhead compound.
When the sudden light suddenly disappeared and the blonde was able to blink most of the blankness away, he realized that the cause of his sudden blindness had been from two large, piercing headlights from the large truck that was now a mere ten feet or so in front of him.
Once the engine had been silenced, a group of hunters started to pile out of the cab of the truck and quickly crowded around something in the cargo bed in the back.
“Let’s get him over to Cid. The man’s not exactly a medical man, but at least he knows what’s what and he should be able to point us in the direction of someone that could at least let us know what we’re dealing with here…” The one man muttered as the others spoke to each other in hushed tones. “I’m pretty sure he’s just unconscious, but I’m certainly not any kind of authority on diagnosing what’s wrong with people.” The hunter, obviously in charge, directed as the others nodded and started to gather whatever it was in the cargo bed and proceeded to carry it in what looked like some sort of makeshift stretcher.
Oh great… Prompto thought to himself, this must be the guy those other hunters were talking about. The one that I was finally able to start forgetting about. So of course, here he is right in front of me, as though the astrals haven’t toyed around enough with my emotions… The gunner thought dejectedly and he was ready and prepared to make a quick bee line back to the small room/workshop that Cindy and Cid had been so kind as to let him use whenever he was around. At the very last second however, he just so happened to catch a glimpse of the stranger’s scraggly, dark, unkempt and yet somehow very reminiscent of the way a certain lazy prince’s hair would get after he had taken one of his monster naps and slept for practically the entire day. In fact, it looked like it had been years since anyone had so much as even tried to brush or otherwise attempt to manage it.
“Wait!” The blonde had yelled loudly before he had a chance to stem the words from flowing suddenly out of his currently, gaping mouth.
“And who the hell are you, blondie?” The man who was definitely the leader shot back, annoyed that this older newcomer was delaying him from being able to do what he felt like he needed to do.
“I’m well… my name’s Prompto, but that’s not important right now.” Prompto quickly replied. “The guy you’re holding there, I-I need to see him. I think… I think I might know who he is.” There were so many thoughts running around in the gunner’s head that he felt like his head was simply going to explode. This couldn’t be… it couldn’t be him. There had to be a whole bunch of people that had the same color and type of hair that Prompto was sure that he would take one look and just like every other time, it wouldn’t be him. After everything, he would be left all alone again, with nothing that would be able take away the pain that he had tried so hard to bury deep down for the past ten years.
“You expect me to believe that?” The leader countered, obviously not thrilled with Prompto’s response.
Ah shit, what was his name? Prompto thought to himself as he tried to recall that damned conversation that he had just spent the majority of the last few hours trying to forget. Didn’t the other hunter say the leader’s name was Drew or something like that?
“I don’t care if you believe me, but I promise that I’m telling you the truth!” Prompto shouted, unable to mask the quickly building desperation in his voice. “Just let me see his face and if I don’t recognize him, then I promise I’ll leave you alone… just… just let me see him… please…” The gunner finished almost so quietly that he wasn’t ever sure if the man had heard him.
“Comon Drew…! Just let the man take a quick looksie,” One of the women spoke up from behind the much larger man and Prompto couldn’t help but give an appreciative smile. “What’s it gonna hurt? The worst that’s gonna happen is that he’s not going to recognize him and we just take him on to Cid like we were plannin’ to.”
“Yeah okay, fine.” Drew finally shrugged his shoulders dismissively. “You know I can’t say no to you, babe.” He finished before proceeding to order everyone to carefully place the man they had been carrying on the ground so that his face was now clearly visible.
Okay, it’s now or never Prompto… this is it. The blonde closed his eyes tightly and sent a quick prayer up towards the Astrals even though he knew that it was likely that this was all some sort of horrible trick or taunt on their part to make sure that he suffered, though for what reason he deserved such a fate he didn’t know.
Before the younger, hard-headed hunter had a chance to reconsider, Prompto forced his eyes down and when he looked upon the unconscious man lying before him, he nearly lost any last shred of composure he had left.
He’s definitely aged, but there is no mistaking that it’s still the same Noct that he had loved since they had become friends back in High School.
It’s him… it’s really him… the thought echoed all around and inside his skull as if his brain wasn’t sure if he should accept it, and at first Prompto doesn’t know what to say or do. He honestly can’t be sure at first that his eyes aren’t completely lying to him and just showing him the face that he had been so desperate to see just one more time for the past ten years.
“N-Noct…” The gunner is barely able to breathe out as his eyes continue to scan over his long-lost lover’s still form.
“So, I’m guessing you do know him?” The brawny hunter, Drew’s voice, cut through the silence.
The gunner had to take a moment to try to take a few deep breaths so that he could try and stay as coherent and clear as possible. “Yeah… yeah, I do.”
“Okay, well I’m guessing that I can trust you to make sure nothin happens to him while my crew and I go try and track down Cid?” Drew asked, in a distinctly gentler tone than anything else he had used before. To Prompto it really didn’t matter why the man had all of a sudden become so accommodating to him, but what mattered was that the unconscious man below him was not a dream; not just some dreamed up figment of his imagination, but real… completely and 100% flesh and blood.
“Yeah.” Prompto replied, unable to really say much more than that at the moment. He could already feel the tears start to build and start streaming down his face, dropping and falling onto Noct’s same dirty old t-shirt that wore practically every day before everything went absolutely and completely to shit.
As if things weren’t already overwhelming enough, after a few minutes of Prompto trying desperately to stem the tears that absolutely refused to stop falling, the blonde noticed the other’s face start to twitch slightly and before he knew it, the gunner was gazing into those as stunning blue orbs that he had always been gotten completely lost in so many times before.
“Hey, Prom… long time no see.” The raven utterly quietly as though he didn’t trust himself to speak any louder. His voice was very rough and had a bit of an edge that hadn’t been there before, which was probably some lingering side effect of not having been used it for the past decade, but Prompto didn’t care. Every single syllable out of Noct’s mouth was music to the gunner’s ears.
Sniffling slightly, as he began rubbing his eyes furiously, Prompto made sure to keep from launching himself at the other just long enough to utter a quick, “You sure took your sweet-ass time getting back here.” The gunner finished, chuckling with genuine laughter for what felt like the first time in a very, very long time.
“You’re welcome.” Noctis chuckled as he pulled Prompto down to where he was still lying flat against the cold concrete into a deep and passionate kiss that he hoped would be the start of many more in his attempt to make up for all the time he had lost while trapped within the crystal. The two, now older men stayed that way until they needed to break part so that they could both breathe.
Prompto soon found himself settled up against Noct’s side, with his head on the raven’s chest content to listen to the other’s heartbeat. It was proof that this was really real and not some kind of horrible hallucination. He knew that they probably looked absolutely ridiculous just randomly lying on the ground for no apparent reason and that they would probably have to move at some point, but for right now…? Prompto was more content and happy in this single moment than he had been for the last ten years combined, and was it so wrong for him to just want to enjoy this feeling of comfort for just a little longer?
“Thank you, Noct.” He muttered quietly as he hugged the other man even closer and Noct continued to hold him tightly. Perhaps all hope was not lost after all.