Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Firing against the daemons that were trying to force themselves into the throne room, Prompto fought back the urge to cry when the corpse of his best friend entered his peripheral vision.

“Prompto! Wake up!”

Jerking his head away from the aching sight, he rubbed his eyes with his arm and made eye contact with Gladio and gave a firm nod before killing off more enemies with a few quick headshots.

“Yes sir!”

Gladio turned back to the battle at hand and rammed his greatsword through into the ground, the surrounding enemies stumbling at the shaking of the impact and with a great swipe of his blade they were destroyed.

“Hey, Ignis! How long we got until dawn?!” Gladio yelled out to the other as a Naga made a lunge for him, stopped by the sudden stab of a dagger through its head from the advisor.

The blind man muttered a quick question to his phone and raised his other dagger just in time to stop the small but deadly blade of a tonberry heading for his side.

“According to Siri we have at least five more minutes, gentlemen!”, he said, shoving his dagger back and into the side of the small daemon.

“About time! Man, I’m getting so tired of all these dudes!”, Prompto playfully whined and the others chuckled.

“Keep complaining and we’ll just leave you to deal with them all!”, Gladio shot back with a grin on his face.

Before the shooter could get another jab in the room shook with a great roar and they glanced back towards the throne to see a Red Giant take shape, reaching its hand out to grab at their king

“Hey! Hands off!”, Prompto growled out angrily, firing out a flare right at the daemon’s face.

With a great screech the giant stepped back from the sudden burst of light and the three leapt upon it, diverting its attention away from Noctis. With a guttural wail the giant swept out its blade, catching them all off guard and throwing the trio against the far wall.

Prompto hissed out a curse at a sudden wave of pain overcoming him and glanced at his side to see a shard of glass from the many windows shoved into the flesh there. Glancing over at his companions he winced at the sight of Gladio’s legs twisted in angles that suggested that there was no way the man was standing up anymore. Ignis wasn’t any better and was trying hard to bite back a scream from the giant piece of wall crushing his left arm.

“Any….ungh….a-any advice there, Iggy?” Gladio heaved out, still trying to valiantly stand up and defend the others from the approaching giant.

Prompto swallowed down bile at the sick sound of further crunching of bone as Ignis shifted, shakily pulling out his phone and through shaky breaths was able to ask Siri the time once more.

“The current time is 6:02am.”, Siri’s neutral tone drolled out and Prompto felt his heart sink.

“I-it’s dawn?! But how is it still here?!”, Prompto cried out.

“It’s the ceiling. The inside of the palace is still too dark so the daemon can still thrive at the moment.” Ignis explained rather calmly for a man whose whole arm was completely crushed currently.

Gladio and Prompto jerked at the sound of the giant’s footsteps and bristled at the sight of it slowly making its way back to the king’s body.

“YOU KEEP YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF HIM!” Gladio yelled furiously, his failed struggles of standing being brought back with desperation.

Prompto materialized his gun and randomly fired at the beast’s back, but the giant continued its path forward unphased.

“Prompto!” The shooter stopped firing and turned his head back to Ignis in question. “There should be a chandelier above us, do you see it?”

Turning his eyes to the ceiling, Prompto located the large hanging object and turned back to the advisor.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Shoot it.”

Gladio stopped his struggles and joined Prompto at staring down Ignis.

“Iggy… the ceiling is too damaged if I shoot then it’ll-”

“I know.”

The advisor’s grim tone conveyed the message clear and Prompto turned to stare back at Gladio, meeting the swordsman’s solid gaze and nod. Raising his gun back up, this time pointing at the grand crystal chandelier, the shooter breathed out heavily, eyesight starting to blur with the blood seeping from his side still steadily pouring out.

“It was nice knowing you guys.” Gladio’s fond and sincere tone startling Prompto.

“Hmph, it has been a pleasure, gentlemen.” Ignis wheezed out, his usual serious speech seeping with warmth.

Eyesight wavering now from the tears seeping out of his eyes, Prompto croaked out with a sad smile, “Yeah, you guys…..you guys are the best friends I’ve ever had.”

Inhaling deeply, he propped up the shot, aimed at the clasp holding the chandelier to the ceiling.

And fired.

Chapter Text

Prompto never gave any thought to what happened to someone when they died.

He figured he was too busy trying to build up his friendship with Noctis to take the time to think about where he would go when he died protecting his best friend.

Awakening from what felt like a dream, in a field of flowers and feeling as though he just took the best showering session of his life was not what he expected.

His best friend and his fiance smiling and kneeling next to Prompto with the Citadel in a beautiful glow behind them in the far background, also not what he was expecting. So he figured he could be forgiven for the high pitched scream that erupted from his throat and the automatic response of his limbs as he grabbed Noctis and proceeded to suplex him.

Noctis let out a garbled noise that made Prompto realize what he just did and scrambled to release the king and began to frantically apologize.

“Oh shit, Noct, I’m sorry, just you startled me and everything’s glowing and you- you don’t even have a beard and I thought it was a trap and I-”

Lunafreya’s choked laughter made Prompto stop rambling and he whipped his head to her with eyes wide.

“L-Lady Lunafreya? Is that you?”

Clearing her throat and smothering another bout of laughter, the oracle smiled softly down at the boy staring gobsmacked from his squatted position next to their king.

“Yes, dear Prompto, it is truly me. It is good to see you finally, after so long.”

Prompto flushed and scratched the back of his head nervously.

Noctis let out a final wheeze and proceeded to sit up and wrap his arm around Prompto’s neck, dragging his friend into a playful wrestling pile.

“Really?! She gets the royal treatment and your best friend gets thrown to the ground?!”

Prompto squawked and let out a whining mess as Noctis used his other hand to ruffle his blonde locks firmly. Lunafreya looked on at the two boys scuffling on the ground together and felt a fond warmth bloom beneath her chest.

Using his amazing tickling powers, Prompto was able to finally wiggle his way out of his friend’s grasp and stumbled to his feet to get a safe distance away before the dark haired boy could grab him again. Laughter bubbled out of the blonde boy’s mouth and he rushed behind the oracle, using her as a human shield .

“Like I said dude, I’m not used to you not looking like some homeless dude. Besides the last time I saw you, you-”

Prompto suddenly halted his words and felt his body freeze as the images of his friends corpse sitting slumped over in a throne, a sword stabbed clean through his torso and wedged into the throne behind him. Lunafreya turned to face him and gently placed a comforting hand against his cheek.

“You died. You were dead and so was Lady Lunafreya, Ignis and Gladio, an-and…”

Prompto felt his eyes prick and begin to water, tears slipping over his cheeks as he stared down at his best friend still sitting amongst the flowers- a field of sylleblossoms, Prompto now realized- garbed in an outfit befitting his stature as king, face freshly shaven and his eyes filled with sorrow looking back at him.

“I’m dead, aren’t I?”