Spending a whole life training for combat, learning to respond to threats before the brain has even processed that a threat exists, is not something that is easily broken or set aside. This was never more obvious as when, stepping through the door to their room at the Leville, Prompto nearly shot Iris.

  Prompto and Noct had spent their time in Hammerhead experimenting. Both of them wanted to know exactly what kind of effect Noct’s orders had on the magitek soldier. They obviously couldn’t just summon Ardyn and ask him to participate so there was no way to tell if that worked as Prompto suspected it might, but they could experiment with Prompto acting on his own, having his own opinions. They found that if Noct asked what he thought or felt about something, there was either no pain or only very minor pain in thinking about it and answering truthfully. That alone was a relief to Prompto; it had been years since he had been able to have his own opinion about something without associating it with pain. He suspected that what pain he did feel when giving his opinion was psychosomatic. However, he still felt the same higher levels of pain for his own opinions if he shared them without first being asked, or if Ignis or Gladio asked him.

  Noct wanted him to practice resisting his orders as well, not wanting Prompto to mindlessly obey everything he said, but Prompto was less eager to do this. He trusted Noct on a deeper level than he had ever trusted anyone in the Empire. He had always obeyed his superiors because it was expected and the consequences for disobeying were dire. But it was different with Noct. And truthfully, he was a little afraid of being without anyone to order him; he didn’t want to go back to that lost and adrift feeling he had experienced after his unit was destroyed.

  It was likely only that reluctance to break free from immediately obeying Noct’s orders that saved Iris’s life and, by extension, Prompto’s; there was no way Gladio would allow him to live if he ever harmed his little sister.

  Prompto led the way into the room, laughing at something Noct had said when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, movement that his training instinctively interpreted as a threat. He didn’t even have time to think, didn’t really hear the wordless cry of the attacker, his body immediately moving to deflect the clumsily thrusting knife. He spun around, still gripping the hand, summoned his gun and had it pointed at their head.

  “Prom! Stop!”

  Prompto blinked. The order was enough to stop him from pulling the trigger, but it wasn’t until he recognised that the girl attached to the arm he was holding wasn’t truly a threat that he sent his gun away and stepped back, arms out passively.

  “What the hell, Iris?” Gladio demanded and, though he directed his question at his sister, he was watching Prompto warily.

  Not wanting anyone to think he might willingly attack someone, Prompto walked to the far side of the room and sat in a chair. “I’m sorry, Iris,” he said. He hadn’t met Iris before—she was out of town helping one of the women from the power plant when they were last in Lestallum—but he could see the Amicitia family resemblance now that he looked for it. He had also heard Gladio talking on the phone to her, he knew she was his kid sister. And that apparently that meant something outside the Empire.

  Iris, though, didn’t want to hear it. She was crying, and that made Prompto shift uncomfortably, unused to the reaction. She pointed a wavering finger in Prompto’s direction and cried, “Why do you protect him? He killed Jarred!”

  The three men all spoke at once.

  “What?” Noct said.

  “That’s impossible,” Ignis said, voice tense.

  “What are you talking about, Iris? Prompto’s been with us this whole time.”

  “P… Prompto?” Iris said, turning back towards him hesitantly.

  The corner of Prompto’s mouth twitched. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

  “Wait, what happened to Jared?” Noct demanded.

  “It… he…” Iris closed her eyes, ignoring the tears that ran down her cheeks. “He's dead.”

  “What?” Noct exclaimed, sitting down rather heavily.

  “How did it happen?” Ignis asked as he moved to the kitchenette. One thing Prompto had learned about the adviser was that whenever anyone was upset, Ignis baked. He had baked chocolate brownies when Prompto had explained his Inurement. After dinner, he had baked a caramel cake the first time Ardyn had utilised his Inurement and a strawberry cake the second time. This time it looked like it was something with custard.

  “Some Imperials came and started asking questions. One had his helmet off and he… he looked like him, like Prompto. But they were all called B-something.”

  “B Grade units,” Prompto said. Everyone turned to look at him and he shifted a little uncomfortably. “Like my name is C1094, their names would start with B.”

  “Your name’s Prompto, not some number,” Gladio said sharply and Prompto gave him a small smile, grateful.

  “Is there a difference?” Noct asked.

  “Some. The higher the grade, the more training, better equipment, better assignments, less likely to be cannon fodder. A Grades guard high profile people, like the Oracle.”

  “Luna?” Noct asked.

  Prompto nodded. “I never met her, before you ask. There was no way I would have gotten the chance; I was training as a B Grade before I was reassigned.”

  Noct frowned at that, making the connections, but thankfully he didn’t bring it up. Instead, he said, “You will, in Altissia.”

  Prompto gave a small smile, liking the idea. “But, Noct, if B Grades are after you… then no one’s safe here. They know you come here often, they'll be back. They were probably watching for you to return.”

  The sounds of someone crying outside interrupted any further attempts at making plans. Prompto clenched his fist, nails biting into his palm, and looked away. Crying still made him extremely uncomfortable, and it was hard to silence the voices that said crying was weakness and should be eradicated. It didn’t matter if the boy crying was only a child or that he had just lost his grandfather, Prompto had been that age when he had killed someone. Granted, that time was a training accident, but still.

  He squashed those thoughts and feelings down; that wasn’t him any more and, as he was discovering, there were other ways, better ways, to raise children. Noct seemed to have it in hand, though, as he went to the door and knelt down before the boy.

  “I… I couldn’t stop them,” the boy said in a hiccuping voice.

  “I won’t let the empire get away with it,” Noct said. “They’ll pay for what they’ve done. I promise.”

  “But… you travel with one of them,” the boy said, his wide pink eyes looking over Noct’s shoulder to where Prompto was sitting.

  “Prom’s different. He’s a good guy, you can trust him,” Noct said.

  “How do you know? The… the ones who came, they looked just like him.”

  “Because I know Prompto. He would never harm you, and he’ll help us make them pay, I promise you Talcott,” Noct said.

  The boy was still watching him, so Prompto gave a small smile and a nod, agreeing. He certainly had no reservations about attacking his home country, especially if he could break free of his Inurement first.

  “I… I believe you, Prince Noctis,” the child said, before leaving them and continuing on to his own room.

  “I’m taking Talcott, and we’re going to Caem,” Iris said once the boy had left. “We… we can’t just stay here and do nothing.”

  “I understand,” Noct said. “We can’t all fit in the Regalia, but Monica has a car. She can take you and Talcott there, and we’ll follow. Dad once told me he kept a boat there from when he took his road trip.”

  “Wait, your old man has a boat, and we’re just hearing about it now?” Gladio said.

  “It hasn’t exactly been maintained, I doubt it will even run. But since Luna’s last message said she was in Altissia I don’t think we’ll have a choice but to try and get it running again,” Noct said.

  “To Altissia, then,” Ignis said.

  “To Altissia,” Gladio echoed.

  “To Luna,” Noct said, looking around at each of his companions, determination written on his face.

  -l-l-l-

  Gladio surreptitiously watched Noct while under the guise of reading his book. The uncrowned King of Insomnia was sleeping. Again. He knew that the power wielded by the Lucian kings was draining, had seen firsthand how fast it had burned the life from King Regis. But Noct wasn’t maintaining a wall encompassing an entire city, nor was he providing access to the armiger to hundreds of kingsglaives.

  All that left Gladio with was one burning question: how the hell was Noct supposed to take back their homeland when just the MT fights and normal hunts had him snoozing every chance he got? And as the one responsible for his safety and his training, how did Gladio himself fit into that?

  “A weak shield protects naught.”

  That bastard’s words kept circling round in his head, echoing particularly loud because they were true. Ravus had swatted him aside as though he were no more than a fly and Noctis, the very one he was supposed to protect, had to jump in to defend him, to rescue him.

  And then there was Prompto. They had been travelling for over a month with the Magitek soldier now and Gladio was more than willing to admit he had been wrong about the boy to begin with. He truly did seem to hold no further loyalties to his home country. He was reliable and dependable in a fight, and his laughing mannerisms made him fun to be around. It was that Inurement that worried Gladio. His heart was in the right place and he had more than proven that he would put himself in harm’s way to protect Noct, had proven that the way he fought off the order to shoot him. But what about next time? What if the next time a Nif gave him an order he couldn’t or wouldn’t fight it off? He wasn’t sure he bought into the belief that Noct’s orders completely outweighed an entire lifetime of psychological training.

  And if he wasn’t able to fight it off, then Gladio had to protect their monarch from threats both inside and outside.

  “A weak shield protects naught.”

  He had to get stronger. There was no other way. He hadn't been strong enough to protect Noctis from Ravus, but he couldn't allow that to happen again.

  Putting his book away, he instead took out his phone and sent a message to the only person he could think of who would help without condemning him for needing the help in the first place. Noct had said the boat would likely need repairs; he had time.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  His phone buzzed with a single message from a Cor: “Ok”.

  “A weak shield protects naught.”

  Gladio smiled to himself as he pulled his book out again. Even weak shields can be tempered with fire, he thought to himself as he started reading, actually able to focus on the words now that a course of action had been laid.

  -l-l-l-

  Prompto hummed a little tune to himself as he tightened a nut on the engine he was working on. They had made it to Cape Caem without any problems and even managed to take out an Imperial fort along the way. This time they had been able to explore the warehouses once they were done so Prompto now had all the tools and supplies he needed to fix his armour.

  He'd finished that task yesterday and, wanting to keep busy, had approached Cid looking to help on the boat. Between that and taking photos of the beautiful ocean views, he had plenty to keep his mind busy. The old man hadn't trusted him to do much at first but, after he had shown that he knew his way around an engine, Cid seemed to have warmed up to him and now spent the days regaling him with tales of his youth. Prompto soaked it all in; it was so different to what he had seen and experienced growing up in Gralea that it almost seemed like a fairy story, the kind young children knew. Or at least the kind that Arvid knew.

  “Hey, boy. That fancy armour you were tinkerin’ with. That wouldn't happen to have any mythril we could cannibalise, would it?”

  Cid always called him “boy” too, which Prompto liked a lot better than Nif or unit. He snapped a candid photo of the old man, who swatted him lightly with a wrench he was holding, saying, “Oi, none of that.”

  Prompto just laughed and shook his head. “Only A Grades get mythril; I was nowhere near important enough for that,” he said. Sitting back and putting his camera aside, he wiped the back of his hand over his sweaty forehead, heedless of the grease streak it left. As windy as Cape Caem was, none of that breeze reached under the lighthouse where they were working, but the heat sure did.

  “Damn. Well, looks like you boys need to stop lazing around and go on a little reconnaissance mission.”

  “I’m up for that, but I think Noct wants to wait here in case Gladio comes looking for him,” Prompto said

  “He’ll come back and find you when he’s ready,” Cid said. “He’s got some stuff to work through first.”

  Prompto tilted his head to the side, considering that. Gladio’s desire to go off on his own for a while had seemed sudden to him, and with no true reason that he could decipher. “Did he say something about it to you?”

  “Na, but Cor sent me a message the other day saying he was going on some dangerous mission with one of his students and that if I don’t hear from him, to assume the worst. So dramatic. As if that little shit will ever die in combat!” he said, giving a bark of laughter. Prompto smiled politely, sure that he was missing some joke there. “Still, figured it was probably your missing shield.”

  “Maybe don't mention that to Noct,” Prompto said. “He'll worry. He'll pretend he doesn't care, but he'll worry.”

  “I'll worry about what?”

  Prompto jumped at Noct’s voice and flushed guiltily, even as Cid’s eyes twinkled with mirth. He could have said that the prince was coming up behind him! “Just that we don't have what we need to fix the boat,” Prompto squeaked, managing to hide the fact that lying to his new superior officer hurt.

  A dark eyebrow rose, suggesting that he still didn't buy it. He seemed willing to play along, though, saying only, “Oh?”

  “We need mythril. And the only place I know of that has a ready supply of it is in the Vesperpool, which is currently held by the Empire,” Cid said.

  “So let’s go take it,” Noct said.

  “I was hoping you would say that,” Cid replied with a smile.

  “Alright! Time to check out my armour!” Prompto said, punching the air.

  “You’re such a nerd,” Noct said fondly.

  Prompto just grinned.

  -l-l-l-

  Ignis had a bad feeling about this. It wasn’t even the way the Imperial gates were open to let them through, only to run into an MT blockade further along the road. They mopped that up fairly quickly despite the fact that they were down a man. It just seemed awfully convenient for the enemy that the one thing they needed to repair the boat was only available in one location, and that that location was under Imperial guard.

  They left the Regalia parked at the nearby Haven and took what they needed from the boot. It was with a strange sort of glee that Prompto put his newly repaired armour on.

  “Would it not be better to leave that here and keep your range of movement?” Ignis asked.

  “I can move just fine, thank you! I didn’t go through all that training with it for nothing,” he said, swinging his arms this way and that as though to prove a point. “Besides, it saved my life once, twice if you count the time Gladio nearly scalped me. If I get hit in this, it won't hurt as much.”

  “I'd rather you not get hit in the first place,” Ignis said.

  “Yeah, I know, but what are the chances of that?”

  Ignis didn't bother replying. As much as he admired the gunman’s skill, he had shown a complete disregard for his own safety, especially when it came to protecting Noct. Ignis had judged his shoulder healed enough to handle the armour back in Caem, but that hadn't stopped Prompto from gathering any number of cuts, bruises, and scrapes that he didn't even seem to feel with his various antics.

  “You think we have time to do some fishing?” Noct asked, looking almost longingly towards a pier that was just visible through the trees.

  “I don't see why not,” Ignis replied. “Anything you catch, I can cook up fresh for dinner.”

  “Yeah!” Noct exclaimed and Ignis smiled in spite of himself. Noct hadn't smiled a lot lately; Ignis was glad to do what he could to bring it out again.

  “Prom, if you could accompany his highness, I'll get the camp set up and dinner started,” Ignis said.

  “Sure,” Prompto said, jogging to catch up to the prince who had wasted no time in heading down to the water.

  The fact of the matter was, it didn’t take any longer to set camp up on his own than it did with the other two helping. Ignis was just putting the finishing touches on his immaculately prepared campsite when he heard the shout.

  “Iggy! We got trouble!”

  Gunshots followed Noctis’s voice and Ignis quickly turned the stove off before running down towards the pier. He expected some kind of creature attack, a giggatoad or sahagin or something. He even could have expected magitek troopers, though there was no sign of the drop ship that usually heralded their arrival. What he didn't expect, though, was both Noctis and Prompto teaming up to fight a veritable horde of sahagin with the woman they had fought at the Imperial fort on their way to Cape Caem. Aranea Highwind.

  There was no time to question it, however. Ignis grabbed the collar of Noct’s jacket, yanking him away from the jaws of a too-close sahagin before summoning his daggers and slicing downwards. They barely scratched its scaly hide, so he sent them away and summoned his spear instead.

  Dodging to the side to avoid getting bitten himself, he thrust his spear forward, allowing himself a small smirk of satisfaction when his strike struck home. He kept half an eye on Aranea, not entirely trusting her not to take the opportunity to attack them, but she didn’t seem interested. Especially when she protected Prompto from a flanking sahagin.

  Sharing a grin, Ignis and Noct both used their spears and struck simultaneously, forwards, to the side, outwards and forwards again. Then Noct took Ignis’s spear and used his own to warp forwards and up into the air, bringing both weapons down into an enemy. He then tossed Ignis’s spear back to land embedded into another to Ignis’s right. Iggy grabbed it, then spun around as a high-pitched scream sounded.

  Prompto was madly shooting at a huge sahagin that had its jaws around Aranea’s waist. One shot out the creature’s eye but that only enraged it further and, with a shake of its head, it sent the woman flying into the shallow water.

  “Noct, it’s blindside!” Ignis instructed.

  “Right,” Noct replied, moving to where Ignis indicated.

  Glancing over his shoulder, Ignis risked a look to where Aranea had fallen and was glad to see she was still moving, managing to keep her head out of the water even as she was trying and failing to get up.

  “Alright!” Prompto shouted, drawing Ignis’s attention back. They had downed the massive sahagin and a single shot killed the last one.

  “Are you both alright?” Ignis asked.

  “Yup,” Prompto replied.

  “We’re both fine,” Noct said. “She doesn’t look it, though.” He pointed his chin towards Aranea.

  “What do you want to do?” Ignis asked, his voice low and quiet so it wouldn’t carry.

  Noct didn’t bother with such subtlety, much to Ignis’s irritation. “Help her,” he said simply. “She was the one who warned us about the sahagins.”

  Ignis nodded and walked over to where Aranea had managed to rise to her hands and knees, one hand clutching at her side, blood leaking from between her fingers. He summoned a potion and handed it over. She accepted with a tight smile and a nod of thanks, downing it quickly.

  Ignis held a hand out to help her stand, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate being carried, and Prompto ran around to her other side to help. “We have set up camp at a haven nearby,” Ignis said as they started making their way there.

  “Thanks. My boys, though, they’ll want to know what happened,” she said.

  Ignis nodded. “Where are they?”

  “Steyliff Grove,” Aranea said, voice tight with pain despite the potion.

  “Prompto, would you mind going there and reassuring them that their commander is injured but will be returning once she's been tended to,” Ignis said.

  “Right,” Prompto said, starting to move off to do so.

  Before he could leave, however, Noctis held a hand out and said, “Hold up, Prom. Iggy, you sure that's a good idea? I'm mean…” he glanced to Prompto, then back to Ignis. “You know…”

  “I know,” Ignis replied, understanding Noct’s reluctance to send their friend to someone who could take advantage of him. “But we don't have much choice.”

  “Bleeding out over here,” Aranea quipped, but other than pursing his lips, Ignis didn't answer.

  “I'll go with him,” Noct said.

  Ignis was already shaking his head, but it was Prompto who answered. “I'll be fine, Noct. You won, remember? Besides, I'll be less conspicuous in my armour than you in your Lucian blacks,” he said.

  Noctis sighed. “Fine, but hurry back, okay?”

  “Sure,” Prompto said with a wave before taking off at a jog.

  “Noct, there's a first aid kit under the passenger seat. Could you get it for me?” Ignis asked as he helped Aranea into a seat. To Aranea, he said, “I will need to… get under your armour.”

  “That’s one I’ve not heard before. I’ve heard get in my armour, get me out of my armour, but good on you for being unique,” Aranea said.

  Ignis couldn’t help it: he blushed. “Th-that’s not what I meant at all!” he stammered.

  Aranea started to laugh but broke off with a hiss of pain. “You’re fun,” was all she said, but she did undo her armour, dropping it down beside her. Ignis was relieved; he had half expected her to be naked under it, but she was wearing a crop top and her skirt.

  “Don’t mean to ruin your moment,” Noctis said as he entered the haven with the first aid kit.

  “We’re not having a moment!” Ignis snapped. Aranea just laughed again.

  “Sure you’re not,” Noctis teased.

  “Noctis, I swear if I-”

  “Relax,” Noct said, cutting him off. “So, what do you need me to do?”

  “Just…” Ignis trailed off with a sigh and pushed his glasses higher on his nose. “Just keep an eye out for Prompto.”

  “Sure sure,” Noct said, though at least he did as he was asked and stood by the edge of the haven, looking out over the swamplands towards where his friend had disappeared.

  For a time, Ignis was able to fall back on his first aid training and focus solely on the task in front of him: cleaning and tending to the wounds the sahagin had left. Thankfully, they weren’t as bad as they first appeared; the biggest risk would be infection after falling in that filthy water. He was able to clean them and use steri-strips to hold the wounds together without stitches. “Next time you’re in civilization, you should probably get these checked. I can do field triage, but I’m no doctor.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Specs,” Aranea said, a teasing smile on her face when she used the nickname.

  “Here he comes,” Noct said as Ignis was fastening a bandage around Aranea’s midriff.

  “Hey, weren’t there four of you last time?” Aranea asked.

  “There were,” Ignis answered. “Gladio just had some business to take care of.”

  “Kinda rude, him running out on you like that. Isn’t he supposed to be your bodyguard?” Aranea asked.

  “Hey!” Noct snapped, but Aranea just shrugged.

  “Just calling it like I see it, kid,” she said with a nonchalance that would rival Noctis’s when he was in one of his moods. “And what about you?” she asked, turning her attention to Prompto as he climbed up to the haven.

  Prompto paused, uncertain. He glanced once to Noct before answering, “Ah, what about me?”

  “Why’d you switch sides? Why travel with them?”

  “Because I… because I like them?” Prompto said, glancing once more with that uncertainty to Noctis.

  “You don’t need to answer any more if you don’t want to, Prom,” Noct said and Ignis gave the boy a reassuring nod; he had been doing so well lately with expressing himself. Ignis didn’t doubt that it still caused him some pain, but either Prompto was practicing hiding that or it seemed to be less than it used to.

  “Oh relax. I was ordered to try to find out more about you, and to give you a few orders of my own just to see how you reacted, but I don’t think I’m gonna do that,” Aranea said.

  “Ordered by whom?” Ignis asked slowly.

  “Oh, you know the guy. Purple hair, freaky amber eyes, pompous ass all round.”

  “Ardyn,” Noct said darkly.

  “Yeah him.”

  “Why… why are you not doing as he asked?” Prompto asked, his voice quiet, staring at the ground.

  “Cause I don’t like him and he’s not paying me enough for that shit. He is paying me to help you get the mythril, but truthfully, I would have offered to help, anyway. You saved my arse back there,” she said, meeting the eyes of each of them in turn. “All of you. You’re alright by my books.”

  “Hear that?” Prompto said, nudging Noct. “We’re ‘alright’,” he said with a grin and coaxing a reluctant smile from the prince.

  “How did you know about the mythril?” Ignis asked sharply.

  “You just told me.” Ignis’s eyes widened and Aranea burst into laughter, gripping her injured side but unable to stop it. “Oh, the look on your face!”

  Ignis truly was mortified; had he just given their mission away through his own stupidity? And to an enemy, no less?

  “The same Chancellor who’s so interested in your gunman there said you would be by. He didn’t say why, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you’re here for.”

  “We’re just here to fish,” Noct tried.

  “The fishing is good, I’ll give you that,” Aranea replied. “But not good enough to risk gigatoads, cockatrices, sahagins, and enemy soldiers. And the Grove is the only place that has mythril. I don’t know what you want it for and I don’t care, but I will help you get it,” Aranea said. “Besides. Me and my boys are guarding the place. You’d have to go through us, anyway.”

  Ignis didn’t like it. But the fact was, everything she said was true. They did need it, and they would have to go through her. Even injured, he knew she would put up a hell of a fight. He gave a small nod to Noct, letting him know he approved.

  “Alright,” the prince said. Walking forward, he held out a hand out which Aranea took. “A truce so we can get the mythril. And get out again, then go our separate ways. Deal?”

  “Deal,” she said and shook on it.