#and im definitely gonna abuse the godray effect i figured out for gladdy

[berrydoodleoo]

the world waking up, 2/2

(Used tobaal’s lightning in Ignis’ image and thesuper’s fire in Gladio’s image. Iris’ butterflies are ripped from FFXIV with some tweaks. Trees are from various CGtrader downloads.)

Awakening world fics under the cut!

Iris hasn’t been home in over ten years. Not since Dad called her after school to say he was staying at the office, and to remember to do her homework and mind Jared. And maybe to keep an eye on the news, just in case, but that he would be home before midnight. He promised. But he never did come home that night, and she never did finish her homework, and Jared ... Jared was executed in a Lestallum plaza long before the Long Night ever began, but somehow it all seems like one continuous thing -- one endless war that started with a phone call and hasn’t stopped yet....

Iris visits Noctis in Hammerhead, and it’s nothing like going home. She hugs the boys and they only panic a little when she cries, and Cindy breaks out the whiskey in celebration of the Dawn. But in the end, it’s easier to leave than to stay.

In Lestallum, a phone call from Gladio reveals that Cor is planning on giving her command of the Kingsglaive, and she promises to lead the next convoy to Insomnia to talk things through. Instead, she heads in the opposite direction. It seems right that she should head for Galahd, the land the mother she never knew loved so dearly. After a full day of driving, she parks and camps in an old haven, feeling both terribly lonely and terribly free. At first she thinks the lights have gone out, the old protection magics finally worn down, but after dark the truth is revealed. A flock of enchanted butterflies emerge from the branches of the old, rejuvenated willow she’s camped out beneath, light and safety emanating from their glowing wings. They fill the air, dancing and frolicking, and she imagines she can can hear an unfamiliar woman speaking through them. Calling her name. Calling her home.

~

Ignis insists on being the one to investigate the earthquakes. Gladio can’t leave the recovering and vulnerable King, and Prompto’s engineering expertise is needed to get the city up and running again. “Besides,” he adds, when Noctis still hesitates, “I would like to check for any useful herbs or spices in the area. I’ve been running low for ten years now.” So it is that he and Talcott meet up with a squad of Glaives escorting a cold, muddy, and thoroughly miserable convoy down the treacherous Leidan roads. He doesn’t have a chance to break out the monitoring equipment that night before a roar splits the air; merely alarming at first, and then as Ignis summons his blades from the Armiger, pitching over into deafening.

For the second time in his life, Ignis loses touch with one of his senses. Operating on pure, blind (ha) instinct, he drops his knives and summons his magic with all of his strength. Lightning favors him, and suits him as a replacement for his destroyed vision; he can gain an image of the world by interpreting the patterns of resistance and reactivity. Something sparks against his awareness, and he casts his attention and magic in it’s direction automatically. A truly massive creature is beneath the mountain -- no! It is the mountain? Or perhaps merely it’s shell---

Talcott breaks an elixir over him, bringing the noisy world back into sharp focus, but Ignis can’t pull himself away. The adamantoise seems to speak to him, flashes of a long life and bitter enmity with the wielders of the Armitage’s fire. But before he can even think to reply -- how would one even speak to such a creature? -- the lightning whispers back, soothing and wise, counseling patience, compassion, and calm. The ancient beast lets them off with naught but a rumbled warning; these are his lands now. And he will submit to no mortal king ever again.

~

Gladio never strays far from Noct’s side -- never will again, after everything that happened -- but they need people to monitor Cavaugh and the ruined areas of Insomnia, and with Cor and the other guys around it’s safe enough for him to volunteer. The regrowth near the Citadel is mostly maintained as the area is resettled, but the outlying boroughs are completely overgrown. It’s barely been ten months since Noctis returned, since the Dawn came back, and yet the site of the old Amicitia Manor has been turned into an autumn wonderland. There’s a half-grown oak sprouting right out of the damn foyer, for Six’s sake.

He feels a pang of regret at the loss of the old house, but damn, what would it have been like to grow up in a place like this? The grass, the flowers, the smell of the earth and the crisping leaves.... It’s been nearly ten years since he put up a tent under the setting sun, but he hasn’t forgotten anything. For a moment, he stands near the flames, letting them ease away the autumn chill, and looks out over the transformed world. It’s peaceful, he realizes with a pang of grief: this is peaceful, this is what peace was like. He’d nearly forgotten.

He closes his eyes, tips his head back, and listens as the fire crackles and the wind sings in the trees.