Chapter Text
Sometimes your destiny is greatness, sometimes it’s a call to action. Some people are destined to be the greatest minds of their generation, some are destined to accomplish never before done feats, others are destined to lead normal lives happily contributing in their own way to society.
Or, if you’re Noctis, your destiny was to kill another man who was a puppet of fate as much as you, sit on a godsdamned chair, die to get rid of a Scourge the gods refused to deal with, kill the previously mentioned man again in the afterlife for fuck all, and then remain in the after life while your best friends, your brothers dealt with rebuilding your kingdom after 10 god forsaken years of continuous darkness.
Oh yeah, and did he mention this whole “Prophecy” thing was a big sham constructed by some sicko of a god for his own twisted amusement? What the fuck? So that was it, just some elaborate spectacle for the Astrals to watch for the fuck of it?
Like really, just fuck destiny and fuck the Astrals.
Noctis decided he wasn’t going to let the gods have their satisfaction of fulfilling the prophecy. Fuck the Prophecy and fuck Bahamut.
He was lying on something soft and warm, the kind of warmth he never wanted to get up from. He felt safe curled up in these blankets...blankets? Wasn’t he just sitting on the throne in the Citadel? Or was he in the afterlife? Slowly Noctis opened his heavy eyes, he groaned feeling the familiar feeling of grogginess overcoming him.
The King of Kings blinked away sleep and found himself staring up at a ceiling, a very familiar ceiling. Noctis’s eyes widened and slowly he turned his head to the right, still half asleep, where he came face to face with an alarm clock that read 6:03 am and his old cell phone plugged into a charger. Further behind it he saw furniture, bookshelves, and other old belongings of his, including his Carbuncle charm he had lost when he was swallowed by that Astrals damned rock. Now he’s fully awake and sits up, heart beat picking up.
He was back in Insomnia in the past, he did it, he traveled back. The King,( Prince?) grabbed his phone on the bedside and checked the year: M.E 751, fifteen years years in the past.
Noctis slowly gets out of bed, his head felt like it was spinning. He was back in Insomnia years before its fall, that means everyone was safe and alive. He takes a deep breath, inhale 5 seconds, exhale 5 seconds.
“I’m home, and I guess I’m up pretty early for once. Specs will have a field day.” He whispers to no one in particular, then Noctis suddenly peeks out the window and his breath hitches.
The sun peeked over the horizon, bathing the world in it’s beautiful orange light, the sky decorated in shades of orange, red, and pink in the morning. Tears blurred the king’s vision and he let out a small sob as more tears escaped his eyes.
A sunrise, the first he’d seen in ten years and it was beautiful, shining on Lucis it’s incandescent rays. His heart swelled, spilling over in more tears. How many sunrises over Insomnia had he slept through as a boy? The sight of the sun rising over his people’s land filled him with more emotion than he could bear. They fought so hard for this light, now he was here and he was going to safeguard it, make sure that light never went out again.
He wipes his eyes after collecting himself finally and gazes out at the horizon one last time, a serene smile on his face, before turning and heading back inside. His alarm clock went off and Noctis slammed the off button then opened his phone and checked the calendar.
The former king, now prince again, blinked once, twice, three times at the label on the calendar: First Day of School. Noctis looks up at his closet doors, the uniform hanging out on the door and he groans. “Come on, I have to go to school? I’m a thirty year old man and I saved the world, I should be dead, not pursuing academia."
The grumbling continued for all of ten more seconds before he quieted. He wasn't a king now, he was just a prince who also happened to be a first year in high school, he would get to meet Prompto again. Noctis's smile drops from his face as he walks on auto pilot to the bathroom.
"That's right….Prompto wouldn't remember those 10 years in this time." There was a pang in his chest at that thought. He chose to go back in time before this mess began because he wanted to give his friends and his people a better future and stick it to those damn Astrals. He was the only one who remembered the future, but he would have to be okay with that.
Noctis turned on the faucet and splashed some water on his face before looking up at his reflection where he was greeted with the face of his 15 year old self. He stood up straighter, examining his appearance. "Huh, not as much acne as I remember." And baby fat too! Is what Galdio, the Gladio he knew, would have teasingly said if he were here. Quite a difference isn't it? He could almost hear Ignis's voice clear as day. Haha! Hey, at least one lady likes it. Prompto would chime in.
The prince shakes his head. He shouldn't think that way, at the end of the day his friends would always be themselves and he could always become friends with them again, just like before. Noctis turns his attention to his reflection. "Hey there me, I guess it's just the two of us now huh? We're on our own."
Noct grimaces and begins to brush his teeth. This was sad, he was a thirty year old man in a teenager's body talking to his reflection- His eyes widened, a teenager's body. "I gotta go through puberty again fuck!" He swore loudly and groans into his hands.
A few minutes later Noctis stands in front of the mirror looking at his uniform. The nostalgia hit hard at the sight, so many days of high school spent with his friends. He missed those days, and while he was on a mission here he was excited to be able to live that portion of his life out again.
He could change things, cherish those moments he took for granted. The alarm clock sat on his bedside table, Noctis gave it one last glance 6:23 am before taking a deep breath and opening the door. There gods to kill, people to save, and a traitor he needed to catch.
"Iggy, on your right!"
"Much obliged Prompto."
There was the sound of a roar and suddenly Gladio was standing in front of him, shielding him from an incoming attack. "Careful Prompto!"
There were daemons everywhere, crawling out from their hiding places, with only one goal: Kill the King.
Like hell any of them were gonna let that happen. Prompto grit his teeth and fire a barrage of bullets at one daemon who clawed its way too close for comfort.
"They got reinforcements at 10 o' clock !" Ignis tosses a dagger at another daemon as Prompto yells. "Whatever happens, we can't let them reach Noct!"
Gladio grunt and kicks away another daemon, knocking it back his shield. "Iggy is right! We're not gonna let anyone near Noct!"
Greif hung in the air, they wouldn’t let these daemons close to their king’s, their friend’s body.
Then there's a loud bang, a roar , and a blind flash of white light as everything fades away into silence.
….and the silence is broken by a "Kweh!" Prompto groans, not quite registering the noise. His head felt foggy and he was dizzy. "Kweh! Kweh! Kweh!" Breaks through the fog.
Prompto's eyes are closed, but the noise draws his attention. "Mm th'fuck?" He mumbled confusedly, what the fuck was that noise? "Kweh! Kweh! Kweh!" Hang on, why was he so warm? He looks down and sees bedsheets. Oh, that made sense. " Kweh! Kweh ! Kweh!" Prompto finally scowls and slams his hand on the alarm.
Or he would have had he not seen the alarm clock covered in Chocobo stickers. The last time he ‘d seen that alarm clock was when he lived in Insomn..ia. Prompto gasps in realization as he whipped his head around. He was in his old house?!
“Wh-what’s going on?! How am I here?!” The blonde shot out of bed and checked his phone M.E 751. Prompto sets down his phone, mind completely blank, hands shaking. Wh-what was he doing here? What was happening?!
He could hear his heartbeat thudding loudly in his ears, causing a pounding in his head. There was his own harsh breathing turning into high pitched whistles and stuttered gasps and his phone slipped from his hand onto the floor.
Was this a dream? A sick sort of joke? Was he dead hallucinating? No this was real, far too real. How was this possible? He was alone, no Gladio or Iggy in sight and Noct-
Okay Prompto, you can’t fall apart here. He takes a deep breath 1, 2, 3, exhale 4, 5,6. “Alright so let’s review Prompto.” His eyes flutter open, he hadn’t even realized he shut them. “You were fighting daemons at the bottom of the steps to the Citadel, guarding your best friend with your other 2 best friends to the bitter end when there was a loud flash of everything faded away. Now..”
His voice trails off as he glances up and catches the sight of his uniform and his reflection, flat hair, lean, goatee-free 15-year-old Prompto. “Now you’re back in your old childhood house, decidedly not dead, 15 years in the past alone. Cool, wonder if Gladio or Iggy came back.” His head felt like it was spinning. “First thing’s first, gotta find Noct.” Noct was alive, safe here in Insomnia. Prompto needed to find him and figure out if he remembered, if not he would befriend Noct again and guide him.
Prompto’s legs felt like jelly beneath him as he collapsed onto the floor in relief. Noct was safe and alive. Silently Prompto turned his head up to the ceiling, sending a silent prayer of thanks to the Astrals for giving him this time with his best friend- even if he didn’t know him yet.
A few more deep breaths and Prompto grabs his towel before beelining to the shower. He needed a distraction and a hot shower was just what the doctor ordered.
When he stepped into the warm water he almost had to bite back tears. A warm shower was a rarity during the Long Night and electricity had to be rationed for the most critical appliances: lights. Prompto would normally let the younger children and refugees use the hot water, it was a small comfort, but it proved to do wonders for their spirits.
Back in Insomnia, er now? Prompto loved taking a warm shower, letting the water away the ache in his muscles or the thoughts that plague his mind as he washed his hair and sang at the top of his lungs.
Sometimes he would sing while in shower while over at Noct’s house or when they got a hotel room on the road and he would hear the prince belt out lyrics from the living room or his bedroom which devolved into them screaming lyrics at each other through the door.
Gladio would join in sometimes, his deep baritone voice becoming high pitched as they all sang loud and obnoxious. And when he came out of the shower and dressed Ignis-
Prompto falters, Ignis would have just shook his head fondly and asked Prompto to help him with whatever he was doing. His heart constricts, he and Ignis had grown so close during the Long Night. A few months into the Long Night Gladio started doing more frequent hunts and training Iris and Prompto stayed with Ignis while he helped the man adjust to living his life in perpetual darkness.
They went through everything together, they were together through the hunts where Prompto took more hits for Ignis than he could count and Ignis had saved his ass more times than he could count.
They were together through the nights when one woke up screaming and sobbing while the other came bounding into their room and held them tightly and whispered reassurances until they fell asleep both with tear streaked faces and serene expressions hiding hurt beneath them.
They were together through the times filled with laughter as they played music from a battery powered radio and cooked trying to make their own light in the darkness. Prompto’s singing voice filled the apartment while Ignis smiled softly at him before shaking his head fondly and resuming his cutting or stirring.
Then Prompto would dag him to dance along to the music, convincing him to do silly moves with him until they were breathless with laughter. Ignis would wrap him into a hug and thank him for a laugh while Prompto melted in his unknowing arms, content to have just this with Ignis.
Together through the horror stricken nights when they lost their friends, good men, children; together through the rainy days they stayed inside with Prompto on one side of the couch and Ignis on the other sipping coffee; together when Ignis went out hunting on his own and returned with a 3-inch wide wound and Prompto scolded him through tears while cracking a potion over the wound.
(When Prompto asked him through tears why he had done it he only said “To prove I’m still Ignis.” And Prompto almost kissed the man right then and there, because for someone so smart he acted like such a reckless idiot and that only made him fall for the older man even more.)
Together through the nights of frustration when Ignis couldn’t quite hit the target or still tripped and stumbled, when he couldn’t quite read the braille and threw the book out of frustration and broke a frame. Prompto had cleaned up the frame pieces and gently reassured Ignis it was okay while he apologized repeatedly.
Together with Gladio, Iris, and Talcott at havens where they camped and Prompto whipped out his guitar and they song loudly through the darkness, loudly until their throats were raw and hoarse, and they were breathless but surviving, surviving and living through hell where everything hurt but they had to laugh or else the alternative would leave them more heartbroken than before.
Tears were flowing freely down Prompto’s eyes and he let out a pathetic little sob. He wanted Ignis, even now how he yearned for his friend. He swallowed a choking sob, and tries to forget, focusing on the warm water instead. A few more minutes found Prompto reluctantly coming out the shower and pulling on his uniform.
He checked the clock, 6:37 am, morning. Then Prompto’s eyes widened and he rushed to his window and he saw it.
The sun rises over the horizon drowning Insomnia in its majesty. Light, sunlight warm and whole everywhere. Prompto’s eyes welled with tears, they fought so hard for this light, so many days spent in darkness wondering when they would ever see the light of day. He fantasized about that day, and now it had come and it was all so much.
He lets out a watery laugh, then starts laughing uncontrollably with his whole body. There were tears running down his eyes as he let out real giggles and his sides burned but he didn’t care, it was dawn. He sat there, bathing the morning light. “We did it boys.” He muttered to no one but himself with a small smile. “We can make things different this time, keep this light.”
Finally he composed himself enough to make himself some breakfast and throw his shoes on. High school huh? If he remembered correctly this was the first day. ‘Great I gotta go through puberty again. You have got to be shitting me. Okay Prompto, just act the way teenage you did, you don’t know if anyone else remembers the future, so just go find Noct.’
He nodded to himself satisfied with that plan and then threw the door open and stepped into the sunlight for the first time in 10 years. Maybe a run would help clear his head.
“Gladdyyy, wake up Gladdy!” Gladio winced at the loud voice and he sits up and opens his eyes and immediately spots several things wrong with the picture.
First off, he was face to face with a pouting 10-year-old Iris instead of his 25-year-old Demon Slayer of a sister.
Two, he was sitting in his old bed in his old room in Insomnia, a very soft cushy bed.
“Iris what happened to you?” Three, his voice sounded much, much young.
The little Iris pouts and crosses her arms, glaring at her brother but really she looked more a grumpy moogle. “Nothing, Gladdy you meanie! Just hurry and get ready, Jared made breakfast.”
“He’s alive?!” Gladio stands abruptly and Iris squawks as he almost knocks her over, but Gladio steadies her. “Of course he’s alive, he’s not that old! Did you hit your head?”
That couldn’t be right, could it? Unless he...Gladio swallows, his mouth felt dry all of a sudden. “Iris what’s today?” She looks up at him perplexed. “Today is Noct’s first day of high school and you’re supposed to meet him for training later.”
Gladio sucks in a breath and freezes. That was 15 years ago, what was he doing here in the past? Something weird was going on here. Wasn’t he just at the Citadel and Noct he...he was alive and safe in Insomnia. Relief washed over him, Noct was alive!
He wasn’t sure what he was doing in Insomnia 15 years in the past, but he was still the Sheild and he would protect Noctis. Iris had left sometime during his minor freak out and he was left alone, on autopilot Gladio began to do his old routine from when he was still living in Insomnia.
He catches the sight of his reflection, scar free with short hair. He looked so young, nothing like the battle hardened warrior that survived the end of the world. He didn’t want to think about this right now, he wasn’t even sure if he had come back alone or not so instead he pulled on his old Crowngarud outfit when his phone dinged.
The Shield picked up and saw a text from Ignis.’
Ignis: Good morning Gladio, would you please pick up Noct from school this afternoon for training?
Ignis being business as usual, perhaps he didn’t remember then. Gladio frowns, he looked over his list of contacts and didn’t see Prompto’s name. Right, he and Noct hadn’t met yet, so he and Ignis hadn’t met the blond either.
He swallowed a lump in his throat that left a damn bitter taste on his tongue. His brothers had no idea what they had gone through together in the future, and Prompto and Ignis had no idea who the other was. It was bizarre to think of those two separated after all the years they spent together, it didn’t feel right., none of this felt right.
Gladio: Yeah, don’t sweat it. You wanna come with?
Ignis : Yes.
It was almost 7 am and Gladio glanced at the window and almost dropped his phone. The sunrise was there. Gladio’s breath hitched again, he never thought he’d get to the sight of Insomnia at sunrise again, it was so beautiful.
Whether or not the Shield spent the next couple of minutes fighting back tears and failing miserably at the sight of the dawn is no one’s business but his own.
Finally he went downstairs and Gladio came face to face with Jared and his father and he stared at the men. Clarus looks up from where he had been smiling down at Iris “Ah good morning Gladio.” His father smiled and Jared set down a plate for Gladio.
Tears blurred Gladio’s vision and he gulped, shaking a bit. Before he could stop himself he was already at his father’s side and threw his arms around him.
The older Amicitia was taken aback by Gladio’s sudden hold, but wraps an arm around his son. “M-morning Dad.” Gladio murmurs and then pulls Iris into the hug. “What ever has gotten into Gladio?” His son pulls back and smiles apologetically.
“Sorry Dad, I just haven’t seen you in a long while and missed you.” Iris hugs her brother’s side. “Yeah! You’re never home Daddy!” Clarus frowns, he supposed he had been spending quite a lot of time with his charge, when was the last time him and his children had spent some time together?
“You’re right, that is unacceptable. Tell you what, when I’m done with duty tonight, we’ll go out and have a nice dinner.” Gladio perks and Iris cheers. “Can Jared and Talcott come?” Clarus smiles and nods. “I don’t see why not.”
“Now, now don’t let breakfast get cold.” Jared smiles serenely, Gladio smiles fondly, he missed Jared dearly too. “Thank you Jared, and you Moogle have to eat.” He pokes his little sister and Iris pouts and jabs him back.
He could think about what was happening to him later, for now he just wanted to eat this breakfast and make good use of the time he had.
The first thing Ignis notices when he wakes up is that he’s in a bed, his eyes are still shut, but that didn’t make much of a difference. What had happened after that loud noise?
Briefly Ignis wondered if he was dead, but then dismissed the silly notion. They must’ve been rendered unconscious and someone had come to collect the fou-three of them. He swallows thickly, Noctis….Noct gave his life for everyone, he became a true king and died one too. Ignis swung his legs around the side of the bed and stood. He felt around and found a smooth bedside desk as well as an alarm.
Over the last 10 years he had adapted to living in the dark, he took pride in how far he has come. He had Prompto and Gladio for that. They were patient with him and when Gladio went off on his own to be with his sister Prompto had stayed with him.
Ignis smiles faintly, Prompto...ever since Altissia he had been nothing but patient and kind with Ignis despite his frustrations with his blindness.
He could recall when Prompto had pulled him aside shortly after he recovered from his injury and asked Ignis to stay close to him (something Ignis took very seriously), how he had stayed by Ignis’s side when tensions were high during the aftermath and through the malboro. During the Long Night Prompto encouraged him to pick up cooking again and he took pictures to document his progress. Even when Ignis had flung a book in a fit of frustration and shattered a framed photo, Prompto just smiled and told him it was alright as the blonde cleaned up the glass so Ignis wouldn’t hurt himself.
He was light in the Long Night, he guided Ignis, a gentle presence that never strayed too far.
When they had first met and Prompto had given him a shy smile when Noct nudged his smile, Ignis’s first thought had been: It’s impossible not to smile along with him. As he returned the younger male’s smile with a reserved one of his own.
Perhaps he should have realized then the hold Prompto Argentum would have on him.
Ignis paused when a familiar smell reached his nose, cologne and old books. It was a nostalgic smell from his youth. Memories came back and Ignis found himself feeling a mix of nostalgia and confusion, he hadn’t smelled this in over 15 years…
Not since...Ignis froze, his heart pounding in his chest at the wild idea. Now the afterlife idea was sounding more and more plausible. The scent was painfully familiar because it was his uncle’s, but he had been dead 15 years.
Perhaps he had lost his life after that bang and flash, but he didn’t register any pain. He takes a few steps forward and feels something warm on his face.
Ignis reached up to touch his face and then his mouth formed an “o” shape. It felt smooth, he felt around a little more, there was no scar tissue anywhere. “Ho-how?” This can’t be real he-
The realization shakes his very core as the warmth invades his face and Ignis frantically feels around, he knocks something that sounds like books over and his hands reach the glass of a window. His hands shook as he turns his head forward and there’s red beneath his eyelids where the warmth is.
He hadn’t picked up light changes this well since… Ignis gulps as hope and anxiety wells in his chest, his heart felt like it was going to burst. He takes a deep breath, trying to calm his breathing down. ‘ Pull it together Scientia, you don’t know if you can see or not. It would be best not to get your hopes up.”
Then Ignis concentrates and counts to ten before he slowly opens his eyes and it’s bright there’s light! Ignis blinks a few more times then he sees it, the sunrise. He gasps and his hands fly to his mouth, tears blur his visions and he wipes them away frantically and keeps his eyes glued to the sight of the orange sky, pink clouds, yellows and purples, the moon visible as it sets in the other side of the sky.
And Ignis sobs and laughs hysterically, triumphantly. Cries until he can’t breath anymore, until his legs collapse under his weight, but he doesn't care. He can see and the dawn was beautiful, more beautiful than anything he had ever witnessed.
He can see the clouds, put an image to the sun beating against his face, and it was Insomnia, he was in Insomnia. How was he in Insomnia? Ignis’s head was spinning and it was all too much, but he soaked it all in greedily like a starving man, committing every detail to memory as if he’ll blink and lose it.
Finally the situation caught up to Ignis and he turned away from the window reluctantly when he heard something ding. He turns back to the bed, his bed in his old room in his uncle’s home. Ignis walked over and picked up his phone and saw a randomly new article notification, nothing important but the date caught attention April 3, M.E. 751, 15 years ago.
“It appears that I’ve traveled into the past.” He aloud to no one in particular, then he holds up his phone to speak into the mic. “Open calendar.” But his phone doesn’t do anything, right he didn’t need voice commands. Ignis squints at the blurry text and then looks around and finds his old spectacles.
“There old things served me well.” He murmurs and he examines them, it was a nostalgic sight, he could see all the fine details of the spectacles he never noticed before, the slightly uneven bend of the glasses arms, how the one lens was over to slightly scratched. He puts them on and everything is suddenly much clearer, but still bright. That will take some getting used to again.
He checks the calendar app on his phone and sure enough today was the first day of Noct’s first year of high school, making Ignis 17 years old. “Okay Scientia, you traveled back into the past 15 years, you have no idea what you’re doing here or why you’re here, but N-noct is alive-”
He chokes down a sob, Noctis, his charge, his brother was alive and safe. Everyone was safe, Insomnia was still here, everyone was alive. He finds himself holding his phone to his chest and bowing his head, taking a few deep breaths to compose himself.
If he was truly 15 years in the past then that meant-There’s the sound of clinking dishes in the kitchen and Ignis gasps and rushes out the door into the kitchen, almost tripping and throwing himself into a wall in his mad dash.
“Ignis! Is something the matter? You’re all frazzled.” A painfully familiar, gentle voice freaks through to Ignis and he turns his head up to see his uncle looking at him concernedly. He swallows and he can see the tears blurring his vision. “U-uncle Ven.”
His uncle’s small smile is replaced with a frown. “What’s the matter Ignis?” The bespectacled teen shook his head and then made his way over to his uncle and pulling the man into a fierce hug. His uncle chuckled and then carded a hand through his hair, as if he was still a young child, but Ignis found it comforting. “Terrible nightmare Uncle, I lost you, I lost everything.” He murmurs.
“Sh now, it’s okay, everyone is safe and alive, it was only a nightmare.” But it wasn’t, Ignis jad lived through it, they all had and he wasn’t going to let it happen again. “Thank you Uncle.” He whispers and Uncle Ven only laughs.
“Any time Iggy, now why don’t you get ready for the day and then we’ll eat breakfast before heading to the castle hm?” Yes, yes he would love to eat breakfast with his uncle again. “Okay.” He found himself saying and then looking down at his phone that was still opened to the calendar app. He wasn’t confident in his ability to drive just yet, so he shoots a text to Gladio asking him to pick Noct up from school.
Gladio’s response is near instant and Ignis responds that yes, he’ll go with Gladio to get Noct. A large part of the reason, he was ashamed to admit it, was because he needed to see Prompto. Even if he didn’t remember, Ignis hadn’t seen them in so long he just wanted to drink up every detail of his friends’ faces. Was that odd? Oh well, he found he did not care. He had breakfast to attend after a shower.
Noctis strode through the halls purposefully, he was a man on a mission. On his way to his destination he passed by Kingsglaive Nyx Ulric, he nodded to the glaive and Nyx was taken aback. Noctis walked with the air of a king, regal and unyielding, a commanding presence unlike any normal fifteen-year-old Prince.
Noctis pauses, right he was still a teenager, he still keeps up the proper posture, but relaxes his face and body. “Morning Nyx.” He greets and the glaive gives him an odd look but then nods. “Good Morning your Highness.” Noctis smiled and waved at him dismissively.
“Please, just Noctis is fine. Do you know where my father is?” The glaive’s eyes widened in surprise for a moment before he schooled his face. Was the Prince feeling alright? He almost never went to see the king. “His Majesty is still in his private quarters, you are up rather early your-Noctis.”
Noctis smirks inwardly, oh he so gonna enjoy fucking with all the staff. “Thank you Nyx.” Then he summoned his engine blade and warped down the hall, taking off into a full blown sprint, leaving the bewildered Glaive behind. “What the fuck?”
Meanwhile Noct takes off across the Citadel halls, he almost knocks over another poor glaive and maid before he reaches his father's quarters. This was his first order of business, he wasn’t going to waste what precious little time he had with his father ever again, it had one of his biggest regrets.
The guards at the door shout in surprise as Noctis materializes in front of them with a determined look. “Excuse me, make way for this son!” He doesn’t spare them a second glance before swinging the door open and them slamming his shut as he belines for his father’s bedroom.
Regis has been sitting in bed looking over some documents when he hears someone yell “HIGHNESS THE DOOR!” And then a slammed door that rattle loudly, before there was a distant shout that grew louder and louder. “DAAAAAAAAD!”
Then the next instant he found his arms full of his teenager son who presumably warped through the door into his arms. “Noctis!” He laughs at the sight of his son, confused but delighted for his son’s sudden visit and hug. Noctis didn’t let up the hug, holding his father tightly, his father was alive and he was hugging him, he felt like he was going to cry again.
“Hello son, what brings you here?” Noctis can feel the low rumble of his father’s chest and he chuckles. “Missed you dad, wanted to eat breakfast with you.” Well, what kind of father would he be to deny his son breakfast together on his first day of school?
“Well, let me get dressed for the day and I’ll join you in the dining hall in a bit?” Noctis, his dear sweet son beams and nods and jumps up. “Don’t be late Dad!” Then he warps out of the room, leaving Regis alone to get ready, before he hears Noctis distant shout of “NOT TODAY ASTRALS!” Huh. Perhaps it was a teenager thing?
The sun was still rising when Regis entered the dining hall with Clarus and Cor in tow and the King sat down at the table with a delicious breakfast in front of him. Instead of sitting at the other end of the table Noctis takes a seat next to his father much to his father’s surprise.
Noctis doesn’t comment on it so Regis decided he won’t embarrass his son for fear he leaves him side. A few moments later Regis decides to breach the warm silence. “So are you excited for school son?”
Noctis snorts and puts down his fork. “I can’t believe I gotta do this again. I am a thirty year old man. What the hell am I going to school for? I could be breaking Luna out right now.” He mumbles, maybe he could make a break for the Regalia and high tail it to Tenebrae, maybe stab Ardyn along the way because spite . Regis blinks. “WhaT?”
Noctis jumps and attempts to correct himself, keyword attempt. “SCHOOL IS GONNA BE GRAND NOTHING WEIRD GOING ON HERE, NO TIME TRAVEL SHENANIGANS NO SIREE BOB SIR AND I’M DEFINITELY NOT PLANNING ON JAILBREAKING OR KILLING ANY NOBILITY. Pssshhh.”
So of course he failed at it. He should've invested in a lying stat or something, did they even had lying stats? “
Uh alright then.” Regis nods slowly, teenagers were so complicated, was he this bad back in the day? Maybe he should ask Clarus. From behind him he heard Clarus cough and Cor presses his lips in a thin line before dismissing himself for training.
“Sorry just got a lot on my mind dad.” Regis nods again, then he eyes glint. “Well Noct I hope you don’t mind sharing your thoughts, maybe it will lighten the load.” Then his son scowls, but there’s no heat behind it.
“Ugh tfw you’re dad isn’t funny.” Noct rolls his eyes good naturedly. “TFW?” Regis tilts his head and Noct looks up from his pancake. “That feeling when, it’s text-speech.”
“Ah another teenager thing I don’t understand then, I believe I heard Clarus complaining about how hard it was to understand half of what Iris said because of text-talk.” Noctis hums and then he gets an idea and smiles widely, too widely.
“I’ll teach you dad. Get out your phone, and I’ll teach you the power of a well placed eggplant emoji.”He whispers conspiratorially. Why did Regis suddenly feel very afraid for Clarus, ah but he would never pass up a chance to mess with his Shield.
He grins gleefully as his son opens up his texting app and begins to show him some simple abbreviations (abbreves) like OMG, LOL, TFW, TBH, OMW, ILY, BRB, and TTYL. He also learned about emojis and how you could use emojis to make a story, he was particularly fond of the crown emoji and sunglasses one.
The best part of his impromptu lesson with is son was his big smile as he chattered away, showing his father how to text the “right way” this was the most fun he had in a long time and with his son no less.
Eventually Ventus Scientia alerted them that it was time for Noctis to head to school and the boy frowns.. “I guess I better head out...actually dad do you want to come with me?” Regis felt like he was going to cry, his son wanted him to see him off to school, screw the Council, they could wait.
“Of course son, let me get my casual clothes on.” He smiled gleefully and Noct turns red from embarrassment. “Come on dad, don’t cry.” The poor king was overwhelmed and nods, then disappears out the hall and then a few minutes he returns and Noct groans when he sees the shirt he’s wearing, suddenly feeling very much like a teenager again,
His dad just had to come back wearing a shirt that says “I HAVE AN EPIC SON” didn’t he? Damnit dad. A very exasperated Clarus followed behind Regis who was holding the key to a car. “Don’t try to argue with me on this Clarus, LET ME DRIVE MY SON TO SCHOOL!”
“Your MAjesty this is against protoco-”
“Screw protocol, I’m driving or my son and I ditch you and blow this popsicle stand.”
Noctis wheezed a laugh and grabbed his backpack. “QUICK DAD LET’S MAKE A BREAK FOR IT!” Regis wasted no time grabbing his son and summoning a sword, ignoring the yell of “YOUR MAJESTY!” As they two warped out of the dining room, out into the hall, barreling past confused glaives and crownsguard. At some point the guards started running after them, then Nyx appeared in front of them. The two royals barreled to halt before Nyx stepped aside and then grinned, Noctis gave him a two fingered salute running past the glaive out to the back where the cars were parked.
Regis beelines for the driver's seat and Noct warps into the passenger before hapardly throwing his back into the back seat and Regis lit the ignition and Noct screamed “FLOOR IT DAD!” Before the car jerked out the parking spot and out of the garage into the streets, at some point Noct is pretty sure some Crowngaurd almost got run over.
When the two royals finally turned onto the highway they burst into laughter. “That was insane! I wish I could have seen Clarus's face!” Noctis grinned, wiping his eyes.
Regis chuckled good naturedly as he drove along to Noct’s school, if the tell tale repeated dinging of his phone was any indication, Clarus was pissed. Noct plucked his phone from his pocket when a different notification sounded. It was a message from Cor
Cor: Clarus is pissed, you should see his face right now. Come back after you drop the Prince off.
“Cor says Clarus is fuming and to come back after you drop me off.” Noct recites and Regis nods.
They fall silent, soft music fills the car as they drive. Noctis gazes out the window at Insomnia in the morning light, there were cherry blossoms blooming brilliant pinks in the spring air. He tried to recall his original first day of high school, specifically when he met Prompto.
He wondered if Prompto would approach him this time around. Maybe he changed too much already? Well, it didn’t matter too much who approached who, Noct knew he could reach Prompto.
Ignis was taking in every detail of the Citadel as he walked down the halls, or he was until he rounded a corner and found a red-faced Clarus angrily texting, an amused looking Cor, and Kingsglaive and Crownguard looking extremely frazzled.
Ignis had to compose himself for a moment at the sight of Cor and Clarus, actually being able to see them, and the fact that Clarus was still alive took some getting used to. Cor noticed him first “Ah Ignis, thank goodness you’re here. Listen, his Majesty and Prince Noctis already went ahead to school, but they went unaccompanied.”
Ignis blinked perplexed. “I’m sorry Marshall, did you just say Prince Noctis and the King are-”
“Yes, yes I did.” Cor is obviously trying not to smile, while Clarus looks like he’s about to have a conniption. “I see, shall I contact a glaive to escort his Majesty back to the palace?” Cor merely shook his head. “Clarus and I will handle it Ignis.”
Ignis nods, looks like he’ll have to wait until Gladio picks up Noct to figure out just what was going on. He was quite proud that he was handling this situation well, he hasn't completely gone mental yet.
Ignis left the two men to their devices while he made his way to the library, he could gather his bearings there, perhaps handle whatever college coursework he needs to do, figure out how to live with eyesight again.
“Ignis!” A familiar voice broke Ignis out of his thoughts. “Gladio.” He turns and comes eye to eye with his friend for the first time in a decade.
He looked just like he did when he was eighteen, wearing a hoodie and probably just finishing up training. Gladio falters, and he can’t help the wide grin that stretches across his face as he sees Ignis’s clear green eyes and scar-free face.
“Your eyes Ignis.” he found himself saying before he could stop himself. There’s a small stretch of silence before Ignis grins broadly. “I know, it’s nice to see you again, Gladio.”
Gladio’s breath hitches “You remember.”
“Yes.” Ignis nods and then Gladio gives him a tight one-armed squeeze. “Alright! If you remember then Noct and Prompto might too!”
Ignis pretends not to hear they way Gladio stresses Prompto’s name. “I hope so.” He says lowly and Gladio frowns. “Hey, even if he doesn’t, he’s still Prompto and you’re still Ignis.”
“I’m a 32-year-old man Gladio, and Prompto would be a 15-year-old boy who never shot a gun, much less survived the Long Night.” Gladio sighs and squeezes his shoulder.
“What now?”
“Well, I suppose we wait until school ends and then go pick up Noct. We can figure out what he remembers then, if he remembers nothing well, we’ll handle that if we get there.” He tried to put a brave face on, but deep down Ignis was scared of Noct and Prompto not remember, he didn’t want to lose his brother again, and he didn’t want Prompto’s light to dull.
“Yeah, that sounds like the best course of action, but it feels weird going through our old routines from fifteen year ago, and it must be even stranger for you, what if having your sight back and all.” Ignis could agree with that.
“Indeed, being able to see again was quite the shock, everything is so overwhelming and the light is bright.” Gladio hums and fishes out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket. “Here, there should help.”
“Thank you Gladio.” Ignis put on the sunglasses and immediately his eyes eased up. “This is much better.”
“Ha! Looking good Iggy.” He nudges the other man and Ignis returns the favor. “Hey Iggy, let’s hit the training grounds, see what we can still do, we might even blow some trainees out of the water.”
That did sound tempting, oh why the hell not? Ignis smirks and pushes his sunglasses up. “Lead the way Gladio.” Followed by the Shield's chuckles.
Prompto opted to run to school, figuring some exercise could relax him. He put on his old running playlist and was hit by a wave of nostalgia, some of these songs he hadn’t heard in years, it was exhilarating and sobering at the same time.
He finally reached the school and by the time he had gone through gathering paperwork and such before the opening ceremony, he decided to look for Noct. Students were still filtering so he decided to check the entrance only to find Noctis and the motherfucking King getting out of the car.
Prompto’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw what the king had on and he stifled a laugh, oh Noct must be soooo embarrassed. To his dismay they was a bit of a crowd and Noct looked occupied. ‘I’ll find him later, when there’s less people.”
One opening ceremony later, Prompto was starting to get extremely frustrated. He couldn’t find Noctis anywhere! He tried checking the spot where he and Noct had first met and found nothing, so he wandered around the courtyard, cafeteria, roof, but everywhere he looked he couldn't see his friend.
Prompto sighs and looks at the clock, he didn’t see Noct in class either when he went to get his syllabus, it was time for students to go home. Maybe he could try again tomorrow? There wasn’t any guarantee Noct knew exactly what was going on.
While pondering what he was doing he made his way to the entrance of the school.
Noctis meanwhile was frowning to himself, where was Prompto? He had been looking for him everywhere, maybe he’d see him in class tomorrow? Was he too shy this time around to approach Noct?
He was lost in thought when a car pulled up and Gladio and Ignis got out. He turns to them and smiles when he sees Ignis wearing his glasses and Gladio leaning against the car. “Hey Noct, how was your first day?” Ignis is quiet, observing Noctis carefully and then Noct begins to respond but Ignis and Gladio don’t seem to hear him, their attention had suddenly been drawn to something behind him.
Noctis turned around and he saw Prompto standing a couple feet away staring right back at him frozen in place. For a long while the four friends said nothing, only staring at the others until…
“I-I-...I WANT TO RIDE MY CHOCOBO ALL DAY!” Prompto blurts out, singing the chocobo song he always loved to torment them with.
Then all hell breaks loose as Noct warps his ass on over to Prompto and tackles him into the biggest hug of his entire life, tears in his eyes. “PROM PROM IT IS YOU!”
“Noooooct!” Prompto yells and reciprocates the hug with matching ferocity.
“PROM!”
“NOCT!”
“PROOOM HOLY SHIT DUDE YOU’RE SO YOUNG!”
“YOU TOO!”
The two friends clung to each other and fell onto the floor in a heap, they were here together, alive and safe. Noct grabs his friend’s cheek, squishing them, yep definitely Prompto. “IT’S REALLY YOU! HOW ARE YOU HERE? HOW DO YOU REMEMBER?”
Then Ignis and Gladio let out a twin yell of “YOU REMEMBER THE FUTURE?” But that didn’t matter because Prompto is yelling at them to get in the hug.
Ignis and Gladio oblige, happily throwing themselves into the hug, they’re all crying and clinging to each other, each relieved and joyous to be together. Gladio gathers them all into his arms and Ignis squeezes Noct tightly before looking up at Prompto who has tears still pooling in his eyes.
Gently he reaches up and brushes his thumbs along Ignis’s cheeks. “Iggy, you can see again. Ignis can see again, guys! Ignis can see us!” And then Prompto is jumping up and down, beaming brighter than the sun and Ignis can’t look away. “I know, it’s...there are no words to describe how beautiful everything is.”
Noct envelopes his oldest friend, his brother into a hug all over again. “I’m so glad Specs.” Green eyes dart down to the Prince and Ignis ruffles his hair.
“Uh hey guys, as much and I love group hugs, people are staring.” Gladio jerks his thumb in the direction of some bewildered teenagers and Ignis clears his throat. “Right, everyone get in the car, we’ll talk about this somewhere private.”
“We can go to my place?” Prompto chirps and Ignis nods.
“Alright, Specs get in the back, I call shotgun and Gladio’s driving.” Noctis says, already hopping into the passenger’s seat with a shit eating grin on his face, highly inappropriate for a thirty year old king, but so unapologetically teenage Noct.
Prompto can’t even find it in him to be embarrassed as he and Ignis climb into the back seat and Gladio starts the car. As they pulled out Ignis turned to look at Prompto and squeezed his shoulder gently. Prompto responded in kind, giving him a small smile of reassurance.
No words were exchanged between the two, but they knew what the other was saying. If Noct or Gladio noticed this small exchange, they didn’t say a word.
Thirty minutes later (Noct wanted to stop and grab some food from a convenience store) the four friends found themselves inside Prompto’s empty-what-a-shocker apartment and as soon as the entered Ignis locked the door and Prompto turned to Noctis.
“Alright start talking Noct, you know we’d follow you to the ends of the world and would literally do anything for you, Ignis put on the ring for you. We’ve seen some weird shit in our lives, but this might just take the cake for the strangest occurrence to have ever happened in the history of everything and everyone.”
“Okay, so I may or may not have flipped off the Astrals and accidentally pulled you guys back with me in time 15 years in the past.” He blurts out and then just keeps going. “The Astrals are fucking stupid, fuck them they gotta get fucked and we’re here to knocked their asses into next week. Bahamut’s a piece of shit that lied about everything, even Adryn and so he’s at the top of the shit list.”
Ignis and Gladio exchanged confused looks. “Care to elaborate Noct?”
“Okay get ready for my verbal dissertation entitled: Explaining What the Fuck is Actually Going on and my Grand Plan to Mass Murder our Enemies and Shove The Prophecy and the Crystal Up Bahamut’s Fat, Sadistic Ass.”
So Noctis does, telling them about how all the shit that’s happened to them had been the Astrals’ fault, specifically Bahamut’s, only his explanation about his revelations was a lot more vulgar and angry.
“In conclusion, GET FUCKED DESTINY.”
Noctis turned back to his friends who all had varying degrees of shock on their faces. Pompto was the first one to speak.
“Why shove a sword up Bahamut’s left buttcheek specifically?” Noctis gives him a level look. “I just said I was going on a mass murder spree of my enemies and teleported us back in time to defy fate and you ask me why I wanna stab Bahamut’s left asscheek?”
“I’M SORRY I'M TRYIN TO PROCESS THIS ALL HERE. ARDYN WAS HEALER? And are you gonna tell me why or not?”
“Until Bahamut said not and made crystal turn him into the Adagium yep. And because I said so.”
“And the Founder King was supposed to be Ardyn until his brother killed him?” Ignis pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Yep.”
“And the whole Prohecy is a bunch of bullshit set up by the gods because fuck it all?” Gladio looked ready to break something.
“Ditto.”
There’s a moment of tense silence before Noctis cracks open a soda.“So you guys in or what?”
“Duh.” Prompto snorts. “I call dibs on Verstael.”
“You make it sound as if we don’t wish to amend the future as much as you.” Ignis muses with a small smile and Gladio punches his fist to his palm. “I’m always up for Saving the World Round Two with you guys.”
“Thank you, you guys really are the best.” Noctis takes one last sip of his soda and then whips out his phone, typing furiously.
“Alright I’m putting us all in a group chat right now so we can talk about this stuff. We need to get Prompto clearance to enter the Citadel, also I’m not sure if I’ll have to collect all the King’s Arms again. Hold that thought.” Noctis summons the Sword of the Father King from the Armiger. “Okay I have all my weapons nice, I still sense the Six’s blessing too, all that’s missing now is the Ring and it’s safe with Dad.”
Gladio follows suit and summons his weapon from the Armiger and then dismisses it. “Sweet, I still got my weapons.”
Prompto stands abruptly. “Oh gods!” He declares and calls forth his camera and photo albums. “Phew, they’re still here.” He holds up his Lokton and the photo’s he’d taken during their trip.
“Hey, those are all our pictures from the trip to Altissia.” Noctis slides into the seat next to Prompto and snags the album, flipping through the pages, Ignis and Gladio crowd around them too. “Ah, the stories we could tell.” Noctis summons another photo of the four of them in front of the Regalia and places it back at the very start of the book.
“You sound like an old man, Noct.” Gladio teases and Noct rolls his eyes. “We’re all old.”
Prompto opens up the second album and traces his fingers along the pictures. “Iggy, come here.” Ignis, who had been rather quiet, turns his attention to the blond and Prompto holds out a picture to him. “This is us during the Long Night.”
Ignis’s breath hitched, he had no idea what any of them looked like in their thirties, he was very curious to see how Pro-they all had aged. He looks down at the album and sees a picture of him and Prompto standing inside the kitchen of an apartment, their apartment he realized, he didn’t have his visor on and he could clearly see the scars on his face. There was one completely covering his right eye, his eyebrow, his bottom lip, but he was smiling along with Prompto, he noticed he looked a bit more tired in this picture and his hair was styled differently, but he looked good.
What really caught his attention though was Prompto. His older self had a bit of goatee on his chin, Ignis could finally put an image to the sensation of it, his eyes like Ignis were more baggy and tired, but there was the same beautiful smile on his face that made Ignis’s heart soar. The picture was domestic in nature, the two of them standing together in the kitchen, Prompto’s arm wrapped around him and he squished their faces together. It made Ignis think silly thoughts, wonderful, silly thoughts of domestic bliss with Prompto in Insomnia.
The other photo included Noctis and Gladio with the two of them outside a caravan, they were all sitting around the table drinking coffee, catching up on the last ten years. Noctis looked just like his father and Gladio had longer hair and more scars that was quite fitting of the man Gladio had been during the Long Night
He must’ve been staring at the picture a while because even Noctis and Gladio go quiet, wearing twin smirks on their face. Ignis looks up at the youthful Prompto, then to Noctis and Gladio. “We are old.” He finally declares and all four of them fall into a fit of laughter.
The rest of the afternoon was spent joking around, flipping through photo albums, and taking jabs at each other as they made fun of the other’s olde appearance or reminisced about something they had done.
It was around 6 pm when Noctis finally stood up. “We have to head back to the Citadel, I was planning on seeing what Dad was up to.”
Gladio nodded and stood up. “Yeah, and I got a dinner date with Iris and Dad too.”
Ignis stood as well, dusting himself off. “Well I suppose we all have our own plans for the evening, Uncle and I are experimenting with a new recipe of mine tonight.”
Prompto smiles sadly, “I’m glad you guys have fun stuff planned for the evening.” Ignis frowned at that, after spending so long without Prompto it just felt wrong not being around him. “Are you sure you’ll be fine here alone?”
Prompto looks around the house and shrugs. “I’m a big boy Iggy, I can entertain myself for an evening, you go on and enjoy your time with your families. Besides, I got something I want to do too.” Ignis frowned, he wanted to argue But you shouldn’t have to be alone! And drag Prompto off to his uncle’s with him.
He hated how Prompto just resigned himself to being alone after everything they had been through today! Obviously Noctis and Gladio had their own grievance with this judging by the looks they were giving Prompto.
“Dammit I’m getting a background check run ASAP so Prompto doesn’t have to spend another godforsaken moment in this house!” Noctis shoots a text off somewhere, Ignis decides he’ll have it marked as priority. Gladio scowls and then wraps an arm around Prompto, face softening.
“I’ll text you as soon as dinner is over okay? Then we can video call and talk for however long you want.” Ignis and Noctis nod their head vigorously at that.
“Thank you guys.” Prompto croaks and smiles at them. “Now get out of here and go be with your families, all of you.”
The guys bid Prompto farewell as they piled into the car, heading off to the Citadel. When they were finally out of sight, Prompto swallowed the feeling of emptiness in his chest and headed back inside.
The blonde opened the door to his room and sat at his desk, pulling out a few writing materials, paper, an envelope, and a letter that smelled of perfume. He swallows, thickly, one of Prompto’s biggest regrets had been never writing Luna back after rescuing Pryna, he wanted to amend that and he could now.
So Prompto clicked his pen and began to write.
Noctis added Gladio to the chat
Noctis added Ignis to the chat
Noctis added Prompto to the chat
Noctis change chat name to Screw the Prophecy I Do What I Want
Noctis: mendad.png
Noctis: Making the most of our time after getting scolded by Clarus.
Ignis: cookingw/uncle.png
Ignis: As am I, well, san the scolding.
Gladio: amatictiadinner.png
Gladio: Iris has sauce all over her face and dad is failing to clean her up.
Prompto: sunset.png
Prompto: It’s a beautiful sight, and the sun will be back in the morning.
Noctis: And we’ll do everything we can to protect that light.
Ignis: Are you sure you’re alright on your own Prompto?
Prompto: I’m fine Iggy, if anything I’m more worried about you.
Prompto: Being able to see must be a shock.
Ignis: It is jarring to read works on a screen instead of hearing a voice read it off to me, but I’m thrilled.
Prompto: Good! I’m so happy you can see again Iggy!
Noctis: Yeah, benefits of time travel lol
Gladio: Indeed
Noctis: Hey guys, I taught dad how speak teenager
Noctis: I regret is deeply, he keeps saying lol after he cracks dad jokes
Noctis: I should’ve stayed in the crystal
Gladio: You’ll live and suffer with the rest of us.