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a-still-small-vox · 3 years

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New Year’s fic wrap up 2021

Fics written in 2021, and their word counts:

A Cursed Blessing | FFXV • Promptis | 5,845 (FTH)

Let’s Conspire To Ignite | FFXV • Gladnis | 4,417 (Gladnis mini-bang)

A Spell For Adonis | Cherry Magic • Adachi x Kurosawa | 6,196 (Cherry Magic mini-bang and FTH)

The Tale Of The Obsidian Mask | FFXV • Promptis | 7,143

They Say A City In The Desert Lies | Star Trek • Kirkspock | 8,008

I’ll Take You To Hell | Hiveswap Friendsim | 2,685

Escaping from Niflheim and Other Extreme Sports | FFXV | 5,251 (FFXV Book Club discord exchange)

Aches & Apple Juice | Homestuck • DaveJade | 2,958

Skyhold Reunion | Dragon Age • f!Fenhawke | 2,635 (not on AO3, this blog only)

Fics from 2020 that were published in 2021:

His To Save | FFXV • Promptis | 1,566 (for FFXV fix-it zine)

The Prince Who Sought Light | Kingdom Hearts • Soriku | 3,493 (Soriku Ever After Zine)

Ocean Stars Falling | FFXV • Promptis | 6,923 (for FFXV book club discord winter exchange)

Awake, My Soul | Miraculous Ladybug • Adrinette | 3,592 (for Lovesquare zine)

5,000 Yen Note | FFXV • Noctis-centric | poem (for Older Promptis zine)

Other:

[TR] Langue Maternelle | DCU • Cassandra Wilson x Rose Cain | 4,972 - this was a French translation of a fic written by ictus, for FTH

High School and then Forever | ATLA | 2275 - written for the Crossroads Zine, which is still in pre-orders

Total fics: 10 Total word count: 47,413

Once again, FFXV dominated, mostly due to the fact that I entered several FFXV events. Other than that, choice of fandom was very random.

Specifics:

Best/worst title?

Best: They Say A City In The Desert Lies

Worst: A Cursed Blessing

Most of the titles this year were inspired by songs or other stories (A Spell For Adonis and Escaping from Niflheim are both named after other books). A Cursed Blessing wasn’t inspired by anything, and that’s the problem. Maybe if I had been inspired, the title would not suck, lol.

Best/worst quote/passage?

Best: A stone’s throw from Avion, a king walked through the moonlit desert. Silver waves of sand rose all around, reflecting the light of the stars, themselves a splash of shining dust over the face of the deep black sky. An ancient road cracked beneath his feet. The air was swept over with small, cold ripples of wind. King Kirk in his burnt-sugar-orange and white fur coat was alone.

It was but a mile from the city when black forms began to surge out of the silver waves, like craggy, broken pieces of wrecked ships. As he approached, their vague outlines melted into familiar, but twisted shapes. Here, the crooked line of an ancient wall. Here, the outline of a shed. Here, the sunken pit of an old well. Here, the road hardened to cobblestones as it became clear that once this had been a city, and now was but a hollow ruin.

[...]

The vultures called in their broken voices as the wind howled lonely wolf-cries all around. Goose-bumps raised on Kirk’s exposed face and hands. Yet he squinted his eyes to gaze into the wind, and did not seem to see or hear. Every so often, his face would tip up toward the stars. His eyes would scan the sky, as if searching for a continuation of the path before him. Then the line of his mouth would tighten, and he would march on. (They Say A City In The Desert Lies)

Why?: I like how I adapted the lyrics of Mad About You by Sting to create this scene. I think I captured something of the original mood and imagery of the song, which is really hard to do.

Best/worst first line?

Best: “So a frog walks into a bank,” Rokaku declares. (A Spell for Adonis) Why?: Honestly, it just makes me laugh. Rokaku is referring to the “it’s a knick knack, Patty Whack. give the frog a loan” joke.

Worst: It had been less than a day since Dave had blown onto Jade’s island in a massive storm. Why?: It’s not really bad, it’s just very utilitarian.

Best/worst last line?

Best: “Hey, don’t you want your chair back?” Prompto asked, wiggling his eyebrows playfully. Love stretched Noctis’s smile almost painfully wide. “Jester, you can have all my chairs.” With that, Prompto swung his body into a sitting position, reached up, grabbed Noctis by the collar, and kissed him. (A Cursed Blessing) Why?: I just think this is a great and adorable callback to the “Jester, get off my chair” line from the game. Ardyn can’t have Noctis’s chair, because he is evil, but Prompto can have it, because he is beloved.

Worst: And with that, they flew as one towards the new life that they were building, day by day, together. (Escaping from Niflheim and Other Extreme Sports) Why?: I’m just not that hot on it. It wasn’t very inspired.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted? Fewer, and fewer original works, too. I wanted to write 6 short stories this year. That did not happen. Everyone was riding the struggle bus in 2021 though, so I guess I’m not surprised?

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? Firstly Maximum Ride, but secondly, I’ve got a wip for freaking Redwall going right now. I never would have guessed that! Love how I’m always surprising myself in terms of fandoms, actually. It’s like presents to myself from the future.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest. They Say A City and I’ll Take You To Hell are my most self-indulgent.They Say A City is that kind of poetic experimental nonsense I like to play with, and I’ll Take You To Hell was my first OC fic (well, my own OC) in a while.

Okay, NOW your most popular story. His To Save, but that was written last year, so... of the ones actually written this year, A Cursed Blessing is the top by both kudos and hits.

Story most underappreciated by the universe? I’ll Take You To Hell. Has 41 hits but only 1 kudos. I’m sure it’s because it has an OC in it, but I’m surprised more people don’t want Ardata Carmia dead. Story that could have been better? I’ll Take You To Hell could��ve had more thought put into it, but since it was just a vent fic, I’m not mad about it. I still think the story is good. Sexiest story? Let’s Conspire To Ignite (and the translation, Langue Maternelle). The others are all rated for general audiences.

Saddest story? Although A Cursed Blessing does have a sad curse in it, it ends well. I’ll Take You To Hell, I feel like, has more negative implications for what happens after the story ends. Even though Arisen technically won, she’ll still have to live with the trauma of what happened. Most fun? Let’s Conspire to Ignite. Just a fun romp with a little romance. Story with single sweetest moment? A Cursed Blessing. The ending is just too sweet.

Hardest story to write? A Spell For Adonis - it was my first Cherry Magic fic, and it’s always tricky to get into a new fandom.

Easiest/most fun story to write? I’ll Take You To Hell was definitely the easiest. I didn’t even plan it, I just sat down and wrote it.

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters? I never really shipped Gladio x Ignis before, but I wrote Let’s Conspire to Ignite anyway, and now I kinda see why people like it. I’m still not too big on it, but I can see it.

Most overdue story? Aches & Apple Juice - I think writing that was on my to-do list for 2 years running.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? Well, I did do my first fic remix event. Other than that I would say that it was a pretty chill year.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

The one goal I had for last year that I actually accomplished was to rewrite part of Feathers & Firearms, and this is the story that ended up being called Aches & Apple Juice.

My writing goals for 2022 are:

1. Once again, write more original fiction. 3 short stories by 2023 is definitely doable. 2. Writing a story or fic in French. 3. Making progress on one of my unfinished works on AO3 (Perchance to Wake, OFF-Script, or Fateswap Beyond).

And if I had to pick one fic from my list of unwritten dream fics to complete, it would be Day by Day.

That’s all, folks! If anyone else wants to do this wrap up like it’s a meme and tag me, go right ahead. Happy New Year!

#vox news #fic wrap up #2021 #post

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a-still-small-vox · 6 years

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Raising Prompto/Saving Insomnia AU

Rating: G unless you use your imagination Characters: Prompto x2, Noctis x2, Ignis x2, Gladio; brief Luna, Gladio 2, Iris, Cor, Aranea, Regis, Pryna Relationships: Chocobro brOT4, PROMPTIS x2 COMBO, background optional Gladio & Ignis multishipping including Gladnis, Highspecs Warnings: mild homophobia Tags: big damn fix-it, found families, parenting, military campaigns, bullying, fluff, tooth-rotting fluff, mild angst, self-indulgent AF, Prompto-centric, Noctis-centric, time travel, fate & destiny

Fic is in outline format because it’s too much for me to write right now. Outline is ~9.5K Finished fic would surely be over 100K. If I change this outline at all, it will be to add more events with Ignis and Gladio in them. (This post was moved from @voxiferous)

So. Imagine this. Chocobros in Altissia, Luna just died, Ignis just went blind. Noctis is grieving and Gladio is angry. The four of them are together for a brief moment as they prepare for the train ride to Tenebrae to claim the last King’s sword. Then, Pryna appears and finally reveals her mysterious god-dog powers. She sends the four of them back in time to Insomnia in order to give them another chance to save Luna. Only the last time Pryna was in Insomnia, it was when Prompto rescued her and he was like 12 years old.

So the morning after baby Prompto rescues Pryna he wakes up and discovers four strange men sprawled (asleep) over the couch and the floor in his living room. Terrified, he tries to sneak into his parents’ empty bedroom to use the phone and call the police, but his fear makes him clumsy and he trips and makes a loud noise. One of them wakes up - older Prompto, who corners him in the bedroom. Young Prompto hides behind the bed, but older Prompto stands in the doorway and gently explains that hey, it’s me. After getting young Prompto’s permission, he comes into the bedroom and shows him his bar code and how they are the same. This calms young Prompto down, so the other three Chocobros introduce themselves. Then baby Prompto realises he is late for school, so Ignis writes him a note and sends him on his way.

During the day the Chocobros figure out that Pryna must have sent them back in time. But Prompto has no memory of meeting his older self as a kid, so they aren’t sure about the rules of time travel or what they need to do. They have to contact Luna, but they can only do that through Umbra, because the information they have is too sensitive for the postal service, even though they know Luna will send baby Prompto a letter in a few days’ time. They sit down and make a timeline of all their memories from this period so they can figure out when to approach young Noct and ask him to send a letter to Luna for them.

So then young Prompto comes home that night, and he wanted to be a good host so he brought them all burgers from his favourite fast-food joint. The Chocobros quickly nickname him PJ (Prompto Junior) and he starts calling older Prompto onii-san (older brother) to prevent confusion. PJ brought Prompto his favourite burger from his childhood days, and Prompto is like, having these weird flashbacks to when he was a kid. The house and the food are just so familiar. It’s a little overwhelming. But Noct, Ignis, and Gladio are being SO kind to PJ. They ask him how school went and about his photography, and answer all his nervous questions honestly. In the middle of dinner Prompto tears up, but only PJ sees. When PJ asks if Prompto is okay, he replies that he’s happy that all his friends are safe and together, and that he’s here with PJ too. PJ feels warm, but he doesn’t know why.

After dinner, they request PJ’s permission to stay in his house until they hear from Luna about the rules of her time-travelling dog. He agrees because his parents aren’t even there most of the time. They think it’s going to be for a short while, but spoiler alert, it’s not…

The next day, PJ comes home to a meal cooked by Ignis with help from Prompto because Ignis is blind now, and a letter from Luna. As it did for older Prompto, the letter inspires him to talk to little Noct (who henceforth will be called Nox to prevent confusion**). Prompto and Noctis are conflicted because they know what the outcome of that meeting will be, but they don’t know if they should interfere with PJ’s life or if they should let him make his own mistakes. When Nox initially rejects PJ’s friendship, PJ is angry. He tells Prompto there is no way they are the same person because Prompto is so much cooler than him, and skinnier, and has Noctis for a friend. This time, Noctis is the one who talks to PJ, telling him Nox’s side of the story - that Nox doesn’t know how to make friends either, that young Noctis hoped every day Prompto would come back and talk to him again. Prompto also busts out his old memory sticks full of photos, showing PJ the photos he took of himself every day when he was trying to get in shape as a kid. PJ begins to feel a little bit better.

((**@revasnaslan suggested I name him Noctis Nouveau. I laughed for like 10 minutes because of that one. You guys are welcome.))

After that, Prompto literally teaches himself to run by promising to jog with PJ every morning before school. With the Chocobros’ encouragement, PJ talks to Nox again for several days in a row, until they kinda sorta… are friends? Because of PJ’s success in talking to Nox, the Chocobros are able to get a letter to Luna through PJ and Nox. PJ explains to Nox how he got a letter from Luna (though he doesn’t tell him the contents, which Nox is fine with because he’s an introvert so he understands), then gives Nox the Chocobros’ letter and claims it’s a letter from him in reply to Luna. Nox puts the letter inside the notebook when Umbra comes calling, and thenceforth Umbra knows to call at PJ’s house as well as Nox’s.

From Luna’s reply, they learn that while Umbra enables travel through time without actually changing it unless you create a stable time loop (which is why going back in time during the game doesn’t change the outcome of any plot points, but you can still bring Talcott a Cactaur), Pryna can actually rewrite the timeline even if it makes no “logical” sense. However, she can’t travel back and forth through time at will; she can only move people to different points on her personal timeline. If they want to go back to the future, they will have to travel to Tenebrae to see Pryna in person. Although Pryna was just in Lucis, her near-loss scared Luna and she doesn’t want to allow Pryna out of the palace again. This is a problem because Tenebrae is under imperial control, so they can’t just waltz in there. Besides, they can change the timeline. Surely there is something they can do to change the dreadful outcome of Luna dying before it’s too late.

The second rule of Pryna’s magic is that only those who have been told who they are will know them. They have this kind of magic protection on them such that they won’t be recognised. Why? Because Pryna’s magic is incredibly powerful and so has automatic safeguards on it to prevent time paradoxes and decrease the necessity of rewriting individuals’ personal timeline. This magical protection works on a name basis, so as long as they don’t reveal their full names to someone, that person will never recognise them, should it be Ardyn himself. They each claim a pseudonym that they will use around all strangers and allies for the duration of their time in past!Lucis. The Chocobros make a pact not to tell anyone else who they are unless it’s absolutely necessary, even though Noctis wishes he could tell Nox.

Noctis doesn’t know that Luna is fated to die. He knows he is the Chosen King, but he doesn’t know he is fated to die at 30.

Here are some things that happen while PJ is in middle school (~2 years):

Ignis and Gladio sleep in the guest room, while Noct sleeps on the remarkably comfy sofabed, and Prompto sleeps on an air mattress in PJ’s room.

It becomes common at school to see PJ trailing after Nox like a little lost duckling. As they get closer over the course of months, PJ begins to talk more around Nox, and while Nox replies in short phrases which might seem curt to outsiders, it definitely works for them.

It makes Prompto really emotional to see how much everyone loves PJ and he is like “I’m not a charity case” and Noct is like “neither am I but you became my friend cuz Luna told you too” and then Prompto doesn’t have any excuses not to just accept that his friends love him a lot.

Ignis is blind now. He tries not to be upset that it seems like the others are thriving in this new timeline, but it seems unfair that they were whisked back to the past right after he lost his sight. If they’d left two days earlier, he could’ve kept remained sighted. However, he also finds himself adjusting to his disability remarkably easily. As in the Dark World potential future, he learns to cook by himself again. As it turns out, he has actually been blessed by Ramuh, which is why he can still fight and do everything the same as before even though he can’t see. And even without help from Ramuh, Ignis could find his way around PJ’s house in his sleep because he gets so familiar with it. He comes to terms with being blind and occasionally gets a boost to his lightning elemancy in battle, courtesy of Lightning Grandpa.

Although the Chocobros made a huge calendar of stuff they remember happening when they were young, they accidentally forgot about PJ’s “real” parents. One night, PJ’s mother comes home when they are all at dinner. As an adult, Prompto realises that there’s something slightly “off” about her, and then Gladio recognises her as a member of the Kingsglaive, though she never mentioned anything about that to Prompto or to PJ. Because Gladio and Ignis were fortuitously wearing their Crownsguard uniforms that day, they’re able to find out that she works for Titus Drautos, and she believes they are here to replace her in PJ child-rearing duties. This is all very confusing for both Prompto and PJ, especially when she says that she’ll leave the Chocobros to it and implies that neither she nor PJ’s father will be coming back now.

After she leaves, the Chocobros look in her room and find very few personal effects - almost like nobody is really living there at all. They also find some classified documents revealing that PJ was supposed to be a sleeper agent planted there by agents in the employ of the Empire, yet PJ’s mother said that she was working for Titus Drautos. Because of this incident, the Chocobros find out about the traitors in the Kingsglaive, including Drautos, and this marks the beginning of their efforts to root out these traitors and help the actual Kingsglaive do more successful counter espionage.

But the more immediate problem resulting from the mother’s visit is that now PJ is accidentally an orphan all over again. Noctis, Ignis, and Gladio already knew about Prompto’s bar code because he had to reveal it to PJ when they first arrived, but none of them had asked him about it. Now they know. PJ is seriously upset about his mother (but weirdly unsurprised), and Prompto is terrified that his friends are going to hate him now they know he’s from Niflheim. Instead, what ends up happening is a “well, I’m going to be his mother now” moment where Gladio steps up and says “We can’t leave this kid without any parents. We’re gonna be his big brothers now.” Since they need a place to stay anyway, they promise PJ they’ll live in his house and take care of him. The Chocobros have basically become child Prompto’s four extremely loving and protective older brothers.

Gladio and Ignis move into PJ’s “parents’“ old room, while Noctis and Prompto finally get their own room: the guest room. They have to share a bed, oh no.

Money isn’t an issue because we’re working under the “everything goes in the Armiger” heacanon, and they fortunately had all their wallets in there before the time travel. Said wallets contain the bounties from the Behemoth hunt and the 100 cactaurs hunt, so they’re pretty much rich for the time being. They just have to watch out for coins that have future dates printed on them, or risk getting arrested for counterfeiting. Everyone but Ignis is guilty of using future-date money in vending machines just to get rid of it (Gladio), because they forgot (Prompto), or because the vending machine doesn’t know the difference (Noct).

Additionally, Noctis has found that the kings’ swords remain at his disposal. He has the Ring of the Lucii, but he doesn’t want to put it on because his father is currently wearing its double and he and Luna believe that wearing it would seriously mess with the timeline and Pryna might not be able to handle it. Also, he still has all the blessings of the gods that he had acquired before he went back in time: Titan, Ramuh, and Leviathan. This is because time is more immaterial to the gods than it is to humans - Noctis’s whole lifetime is the blink of an eye to them, so it doesn’t matter that they technically gave him their blessings from the future. Noctis doesn’t try summoning any of them, but he feels their eyes on him sometimes. Lastly, he can still meet Carbuncle in his dreams. Carbuncle is a little more confused by the time travel thing than the gods are, and Noctis tells him to focus on young Nox. But he does see Carbuncle from time to time, and it’s comforting.

The Chocobros set a variety of missions for themselves, starting with cleaning up the Kingsglaive. This opens their eyes to realities of the political and war situation in Lucis that they didn’t know about when they were growing up. Ignis and Noctis are especially disturbed at how much they didn’t know. Ignis feels betrayed, and Noctis realises how much time he lost in the past because of his depression. They have to reveal who they are to Cor in order to gain access to classified intelligence and such. Noctis vows that this time, he’s not going to let Insomnia fall.

Even with all these missions, they still don’t have enough to completely fill their days. They decide to have at least one person at home every day when PJ comes home from school so he won’t be a latch-key kid any more - why not? Noctis and Prompto play video games, and bemoan the fact that their favourites won’t be coming out for another few years. Gladio has them spar in the tiny back yard, or put their Crownsguard uniforms on and sneak into Crownsguard facilities until they become familiar faces there. Cor helps them get credibility there. They go on walks in the evenings together and basically have a life again.

Gladio really misses Iris. He likes to see her hanging out with his younger self, but has to admit he shouldn’t really approach her. Of all of them, he is the most bored/discomfited by the situation, but he tolerates it. It’s good that he has PJ to take care of. If they had just been sent back in time and never met PJ, it would have been worse for him with missing Iris.

A couple of months after becoming Nox’s friend, PJ invites him to come over to his house. Older!Noctis is the unlucky brother who is home for this surprise visit. He freaks out a little bit because even though he knows Pryna’s magic will keep Nox from recognising him, it still feels so weird to look at his own young face and know that Nox doesn’t know who he is. As it turns out, Nox brings young Iggy to PJ’s house because neither Iggy nor the Crownsguard wanted to let Nox go to a stranger’s house unchaperoned. But ironically, because the people who are supposed to be PJ’s parents work for the Kingsglaive, the household passed the background check that would require an actual member of the Crownsguard to accompany Nox. No one has yet figured out that PJ is being raised by four illegal time immigrants in their 20s.

Anyway, during this visit, several things happen: first, Noctis is a good brother and offers PJ and Nox a snack while they finish their homework. Then they want to play video games. Okay, fine. Nox has warmed up weirdly fast to older!Noctis and asks him to play with them. Young Iggy (older Ignis = Ignis; younger Ignis = Iggy) seems to be stuck on his homework, so Noctis leaves Nox and PJ to their games and goes to help Iggy. But Iggy stubbornly resists help, which Noctis figures (from vague memories of Ignis as a kid) has something to do with Nox being in the room. Noctis tells Iggy that Nox is too young to need to know how to do advanced calculus, so Iggy shouldn’t feel bad about also not knowing how to do it.

Unfortunately, Noctis also doesn’t remember how to do advanced calculus, so he calls older!Ignis and leaves them to skype call it out. He tells Iggy that Nox and PJ are waiting for him and that he should play with them, because it seems like the right thing to say. When Ignis and Ignis are finished doing Ignis’s homework, Iggy comes and sort of awkwardly watches Noctis, Nox, and PJ play the Lucian equivalent of Super Monkey Ball. Noctis shoves a controller into his hands, and just like that, Iggy is playing a video game for the first time in his young life. Nox and PJ don’t seem to mind, and it seems like everyone has a good time. They all eat dinner together, and Noctis fondly watches Iggy bother Nox about eating his vegetables. PJ says something that makes Nox smile. Noctis gets a weird feeling similar to the one Prompto had upon meeting his shy, lonely young self, remembering how little he had smiled after the Naga incident as a kid.

After dinner, Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto come home just as Nox and Iggy are leaving. Ignis doesn’t really get a chance to see Iggy in person yet. Ignis and Prompto clean up the kitchen while Noctis sits on the couch and thinks. PJ goes to his room. Eventually, it gets late; Gladio and Ignis retreat to their bedroom while Prompto, concerned, goes to sit on the couch with Noctis and find out what’s going on with him. Noctis tries to explain how he’s feeling after having seen his younger self, but he’s so conflicted that he can’t get any words out. Prompto apologises for not becoming Noctis’s friend sooner, but Noctis says it’s not his fault. His eyes and throat are burning with tears. Young Nox has a whole life ahead of him, but it’s a life Noctis doesn’t want for him, didn’t want for himself.

Things could have been different. Noctis says this, and then slumps forward and puts his head in his hands. Prompto doesn’t know what to do, but tentatively puts his hand on Noctis’s shoulder. When Noctis leans into the touch like he wants it to engulf him, Prompto wraps his arm around him. This breaks Noctis completely and his shoulders start to shake with silent sobs. Prompto holds him, but Noctis only cries for a moment. Noctis goes very quiet, and Prompto anxiously reassures him, saying that Things /will/ be different, for Nox and for you. Noctis admits he never wanted to marry Luna. Prompto doesn’t understand the significance of this until Noctis turns towards him and leans his head on Prompto’s arm for a moment. Prompto feels electric. Noct lifts his head and looks him in the eyes. In the second before he speaks. Prompto gets it. It’s always been you.

Then they kiss.

Noctis sheds a few more tears. Prompto finds himself lying on his back on the sofa, holding Noctis in his arms freely for the first time in his life. Nothing more between them but the truth. He can’t help but stroke Noctis’s hair and back in wonder, hands nearly trembling because he’s so overwhelmed. Both of them are exhausted. Noctis closes his eyes, but Prompto gently wakes him and they retreat to their bedroom where they fall asleep holding hands.

The next morning, Noctis is nervous about telling Gladio and Ignis that they’re dating now, but Prompto’s main concern is PJ. They agree it’s best that PJ doesn’t know because it might be weird for him, and they don’t want to make him think he has to date Nox if he doesn’t want to. Because of this, they never kiss when PJ is around, but they’ll cuddle in front of him - what, they did it even when they weren’t dating. They also hold hands under the table sometimes. Subtle. When they finally admit to Gladio and Ignis they’re together, a couple of days later, Gladio rolls his eyes because he had already figured it out, but both he and Ignis congratulate them sincerely.

All of this happens in the first year. Prompto and PJ keep running. PJ slowly loses weight and is really proud of himself. PJ and Prompto have a joint birthday party. PJ gets more presents than he’s ever gotten at once in his whole life. Nox invites PJ over for his birthday, which gives PJ anxiety because he doesn’t want to miss Noctis’s birthday and he doesn’t know if he should stay home or go to the palace. (The Chocobros make him go to the palace.) He gives Noctis this really heartfelt photo collage which Noctis puts on the wall in his room and Prompto doesn’t know what to do with. Since it’s the summer and PJ is home all the time now, the Chocobros change their schedule, alternating between all four of them being at home to hang out with PJ and have fun, and all four working at once (instead of one person always being home and the other three being working/training/out). This results in PJ going more often to the palace with Nox, Iggy, and little Gladio and Iris. When the Chocobros are home, they take PJ and Nox, sometimes also Iggy, and rarely young Gladio or Iris, to do stuff with them like go to the movies or whatnot. (Not sure if there are amusement parks in Insomnia…)

The Chocobros continue to correspond with Luna through Umbra’s notebook. If Pryna gets ill, it means they’ve messed up the timeline beyond repair. This never actually happens, but the threat of it hangs over their head as they continue trying to fix things.

The next school year starts, and the Chocobros have to tackle things like back-to-school shopping and the dreaded parent-teacher conferences. They initially send Ignis to be Prompto’s mom stand-in for this kind of thing at school, but all four of them have taken to signing his permission slips as “G. Argentum”, “N. Argentum,” and so on. One time Prompto signs a permission slip as “P. Argentum” and the school sends it back thinking that PJ was trying to forge a signature, slipped up, and signed his own name.

The Chocobros have to give PJ The Talk. He got some form of sex ed at school, but it was inadequate in some way, probably by not having enough information about lgbt+. The Talk turns out to be more hilarious than embarrassing, because they all have different ideas about how to do it and spend most of it bickering with each other. Ignis wants to take the scientific route with diagrams on his phone and Wikipedia pages but everyone else thinks that’s dumb; Gladio is the only one of them with experience with women so they all look at him when PJ asks a question about periods or something and he gets all flustered; Noctis and Prompto sit there petrified the entire time because their only experience is with each other and they desperately do not want PJ to know that. Prompto: “Me? Oh, I’m still a virgin. Definitely.” His face is a red as a tomato. Noctis nearly chokes. Gladio snorts with laugher and then starts coughing as he tries to hide it. Ignis sternly watches this complete chaos. PJ gets educated, though.

Here are some things that happen while PJ is in high school (4 years):

After two years of unemployment, they’re running low on cash in spite of Ignis’s careful budgeting. Fortunately, Titus Drautos and the Kingsglaive apparently paid off the lease on the house, as well as the utilities, but the five of them go through a lot of Toasty Rice Balls and Toadsteaks and that’s not in the budget. Plus, PJ shed at least 20 pounds and is growing like a bean pole, so he needs a whole new wardrobe. None of them want to get jobs because they need to keep their schedule open for fighting the Empire and raising PJ. Prompto is voted Least Valuable Player and gets a part-time job, but they soon discover that Pryna’s identity-concealing magic works so well they can actually trade places at work and nobody will notice as long as they use the same name. Also, Cor is able to get them a small allowance. Money remains tight, and PJ gets a lot of hand-me-downs, but their situation isn’t desperate. PJ has a weekly allowance but Prompto, Noctis, and Gladio have to ask Ignis about any purchase over 5$, which all of them hate. Gladio jokes that if only Prompto and Noctis would stop buying so many condoms, they wouldn’t be poor anymore.

When PJ enrols in high school, he makes sure to put on all the forms that his brothers are his 4 legal guardians. This becomes important sooner than expected. One day in the late fall, Prompto gets a call from the school to come get PJ early. He finds PJ has been hauled to the principal’s office for fighting. Some guys had been harassing PJ for his relationship with Nox, saying homophobic things about how PJ probably sucks Nox’s dick and shoving PJ into lockers. So PJ hauled off and hit one of them. In return, he got a black eye and a split lip for his troubles. PJ seems really ashamed of himself, and Prompto is too shocked to do anything but apologise to the principal and leave. Prompto had to deal with some shit in the locker room when he was in high school, but he had never gotten into fights over it. He isn’t sure whether to yell at PJ or comfort him, but he ultimately decides to take PJ to the Crow’s Nest and buy him some fries so they can talk about it.

As it turns out, PJ has been experiencing this on a regular basis since starting high school. Nox doesn’t know about it, because PJ’s ashamed and because Nox would go off on anyone who dares to insult his dad’s prized lgbt+ protection laws. Because PJ’s friendship with Noctis began earlier, he and Nox are more touchy-feely than Prompto and Noctis were at the same age, making PJ a bigger target for homophobic harassment. The prince is untouchable, of course. It sucks for PJ because he actually is bi/pan so he’s starting to feel bad about actually wanting to suck dick, in spite of his very sex positive education from home. Prompto now feels bad for never telling PJ that he’s dating Noctis and therefore never setting a good example for him. After the other Chocobros hear what happened, Gladio insists that PJ should have self-defense training so that people think twice about messing with him. PJ consents to training with Gladio.

A few weeks later, Noctis is the one to get the call to come in to school and pick PJ up. He finds PJ looking a little less ashamed than last time, but trying to hide his satisfaction from the principal, who looks pissed off. PJ got a bloody nose, but he took one of the other kids’ teeth out. Noctis comes in the office, slouches in the chair, and looks arrogantly at the principal as she demands that PJ serve 3 weeks of detention. “Like hell he will,” says Noctis, then points out that it was the school’s job to keep people from bullying PJ in the first place. After a short argument, Noctis gets PJ’s sentence whittled down to a week. Then they go get fries at the Crow’s Nest again, and PJ gives Noctis a play-by-play of the fight.

The third time it happens, all four Chocobros are home. All four go to get PJ, but Noctis and Prompto wait in the car while Gladio and Ignis go in. The principal is getting real tired of PJ having different, random-looking brothers, but Ignis assures her that there are only four of them. This time, two of the kids that PJ was fighting with are there, and so are their parents. From the looks of them, PJ was winning his fight, even two against one. While Gladio menacingly stares down everyone in the room, Ignis calmly threatens to expose the school administration as homophobic, which would result in the loss of their star pupil, Prince Nox. PJ has to hide a smirk behind his hand. When they’re done with the meeting, all five of them go to the Crow’s Nest. Ignis remarks that they really shouldn’t be rewarding PJ for getting into trouble, but he doesn’t mean it - especially not when PJ wrist-bumps him and Gladio and tells them they were awesome.

After that, nobody messes with PJ again. Everyone knows he can fight, and besides, his four brothers are terrifying. Yeah. All four of them.

On the political front: Although the counter-espionage in the Kingsglaive is going really well (Drautos is under surveillance and being fed fake information, and everyone who works for him gets the same treatment or is “accidentally” killed), they really need better spies within the Empire. After some deliberation, they decide they can’t risk Noctis being captured, so Ignis and Gladio leave Noctis at home with PJ for a month and take a little vacation to the Gralea. Though their magical protection from Pryna prevents them from being recognised as Lucian and really helps them blend in and sneak around, they also don’t take Prompto because he is bad at lying. In Gralea, Ignis and Gladio meet young Aranea Highwind, a mercenary captain who seems to be rising through the ranks of the Niflheim Army. They score a major team player by convincing her to pass them information under pretext of writing to Ignis as her “brother”. If you want to do some shipping, you can read this one of two ways. Either Ignis and Gladio took a romantic trip to Gralea and casually came back dating, or Ignis and Aranea’s letter writing permits them to have a long-distance relationship from now on. Choose your own adventure. :)

Prompto and Noctis pass a fun 4 weeks with the house to themselves and teenage PJ. It’s great, except they have to order a lot of take-out because Noct can cook, but he hates doing it; and Prompto and PJ are only good at making salads and vegetable omelettes which Noct won’t eat.

Because they’ve become so active in pursuing their political and military goals, it’s getting hard for them to maintain a low profile at the palace. Cor can only take credit for so many surprising reports smuggled in from the Empire through Aranea. He assigns them some official group codename (I’d like to point out that their initials can spell PING but I seriously hope Cor can come up with something better than that, like IDK, Agent Voretooth or something, that’s also dumb, I know) and gets pulled into Regis’s office for a mini interrogation over it. Cor tells Regis the truth about the time-travelling Chocobros because Regis orders him to. Although Regis doesn’t really believe it, he accepts the explanation because it’s too crazy for Cor to have made it up, and because so far PING have done nothing but good for the kingdom. Regis feels a little hurt that Noctis, if it’s really him, didn’t come to visit him. What he doesn’t know is that although Noctis does miss his dad, he kinda wants to avoid him because of all the negative feelings he has about Regis keeping secrets from him, not being there for him, and then dying. He also knows how busy Regis is, and wants him to spend his free time with Nox - he’s not going to take that away from him.

Meanwhile, Gladio is really struggling with not being able to treat Iris as his little sister, even though the Iris in this time is far younger than the one he remembers. Younger Gladio (I’m out of nicknames, sorry) is the younger chocobro who hangs out with PJ the least, and it kinda hurts. Gladio lashes out at Prompto in anger and jealousy, and there’s a bit of discomfort in the household for a while, though they try to keep PJ out of it. Gladio can’t just go make friends with Iris because she’s so much younger than him that people will think he’s being really creepy. Then Ignis hits on the idea that Gladio could introduce himself to young Gladio, become his friend, and gain general access to the Amicitia household that way. Since they have a connection to Cor and the Crownsguard, Gladio decides to spend more time actually working as a member of the Crownsguard (guarding the Citadel and the royal family), thus becoming the Chocobros’ main palace liaison, and spending more time in a space where he might encounter his family.

In the course of working for the Crownsguard, Gladio also follows Cor to meetings that involve the Kingsglaive, since the two groups do overlap somewhat. If you would like to ship Gladio with any member of the Kingsglaive such as Nyx or Crowe, this is your chance. (I guess you could ship him with Cor too. That relationship’s a little stoic for my taste, but whatever.) The extra socialisation helps Gladio feel better and he ultimately drops the idea of interfering in his family’s life out of deference to his younger self. Still, older Gladio and younger Gladio have definitely become friends now, and that’s a little comforting to older Gladio as well.

Since Gladio is now officially working for the Crownsguard, he gets a salary. Prompto keeps his part-time job (which Ignis and Noctis still rotate in at sometimes), but the money situation is never a problem for them again. They buy PJ a new camera and a new phone for his birthday that year.

PJ joins the track team in the spring and wins 3 more medals than Prompto did at his age. What a champ. He also expresses the desire to start training for the Crownsguard, something that Prompto didn’t do until after he had graduated. PJ already knows hand-to-hand combat because of the bullying incidents, so Prompto takes PJ to the shooting range, while Gladio starts him on staff and sword training. PJ doesn’t tell Nox about any of this.

PJ gets a part-time job to help support the family, despite the Chocobros’ protests that they’ll be fine. They never take his money for anything, unless it’s a small amount and temporary.

At the end of PJ’s second year of high school, PING/what-have-you successfully assist the Kingsglaive and the Lucian army in liberating the island nation of Galahad. In order to prevent retaliation from the Empire, the Lucian army disguises itself as Galahadian rebels. The liberation of Galahad was designed to be a distraction as well as to provide Lucis with new soldiers and resources, to test fighting alongside the gods in war, and to weaken the Empire’s control. This is a major coup, as no serious military victories have been won against the Empire in over 50 years. It’s only possible because of Titan, Ramuh, and Leviathan. Ramuh strikes Empire airships out of the sky, while Leviathan prevents their approach to the island by sea. The problem now is holding the island, so Noctis requests that Leviathan and Ramuh remain in the area and their highly effective team-up convinces the Empire that they need to stay away from Galahad for a while. All MTs in Galahad are rounded up and thrown into the sea.

At the end of the Galahad campaign, Shiva appears in the form of Gentiana and gives Noctis her blessing. Also, Regis and Bahamut didn’t miss the appearance of the gods over Galahad. Neither did Ardyn and Ifrit. None of them understand it, because Pryna’s magic protects Noctis from being identified. But it is a successful distraction for Ardyn, who thinks that Regis must have let Nox have the Ring of the Lucii early. If only Regis would let him into the country so he could confirm it for himself. Because he can’t prove that the gods didn’t act on their own but under the impetus of a Lucian king, the “Galahadian rebels” get away with their disguise. There is no major retaliation against Lucis, although Titus Drautos gets more pro-active about trying to steal information from the Kingsglaive. This is a great excuse for him to get demoted and replaced, but not entirely removed.

The Chocobros realise that they won the Galahad campaign by the skin of their teeth, and only because of Ramuh and Leviathan, who are no longer available because they’re still protecting Galahad. Noctis wonders if the Wall can be strengthened, and Prompto wonders how MTs really work, so they decide to take a trip to Hammerhead and see if they can rope Cid into helping them reverse-engineer some Empire technology. Prompto and Cid dissect some of the Magitechs from Galahad. Thanks to Aranea, they become aware of the Empire’s plans to develop technology that disrupts the king’s magic, which is seriously worrisome to Noctis. Now he understands how Insomnia fell. Strengthening the wall will be an ongoing project for them for the next year (until PJ is a junior).

During the Galahad campaign, PJ has to be left alone in the house for sporadic weeks, then for around two months. They keep in touch via text, of course, but it’s still lonely for both the Chocobros and PJ. The Chocobros don’t tell PJ when they will be back, then arrive home on a Friday before PJ gets home from school. They are all dead tired from travel, but when PJ comes home, he finds them waiting in the kitchen with dinner on the table. PJ throws himself at them and get massive hugs from everybody.

The Chocobros realise that their bodies are ageing with time. They’re not sure what will happen when they return to their own time. Noctis and Gladio grow their hair out and Prompto grows his little beard… thing. Ignis changes his hair style. PJ is weirded out by Prompto’s beard, but Noctis likes it. Also, PJ is starting to look like the Prompto everyone remembers riding around in the Regalia with. Therefore, Prompto keeps the beard. It’s still a little weird, but everyone can deal. What they can’t deal with is how PJ’s voice sounds exactly like Prompto’s. It’s nigh-impossible to tell them apart without being able to see them. They take to announcing their names if calling from another room.

At the beginning of the summer, Nox moves into his own apartment. Noctis notices something about Nox - well, they all notice it. Nox isn’t as depressed as Noctis was. He’s clearly still struggling, but his apartment’s levels of trash never reach the epic proportions they reached in Noctis’s adolescence. He also sleeps a lot, but less than Noctis always did. Young Iggy seems to be more self-confidant and relaxed than Ignis was. The older Chocobros are all doing pretty well, too. It’s strange. None of them know what it means, and it makes them feel like they’re doing something wrong. But Insomnia is still set to fall, and that hangs over Noctis like a cloud.

Nox gets his part-time job at the sushi restaurant. He still hates it.

PJ has his first sleepover at Nox’s apartment. All the Chocobros feel weird about the fact that their “little brother” is growing up, even though he is literally Prompto. By junior year, Nox and PJ are showing signs of being interested in dating one another. It’s obvious to Gladio and Ignis. Nox and PJ have been holding hands under the table. Noctis and Prompto are like, “No way, that’s just how we act.” In fact, the homophobia that PJ experienced in his first year of high school is engraved into his mind. Though it was brief, it made him nervous about his sexuality, especially when it comes to Nox. Therefore, Noctis and Prompto are right; Nox and PJ aren’t actually together, even though on some level they both want to be.

One weekend, when Nox is hanging out with PJ and the Chocobros, Noctis finds himself accidentally giving advice to Nox about his life. Of course, all of them have given advice to PJ, Nox, Iggy, young Gladio, and even young Iris in turns. But Nox seems to need advice that only one prince can give to another. Nox wants to date someone (Noctis pretends for a second like he doesn’t know who) but he thinks it’s not worth it because there’s no way it can last. He also is concerned about his dad’s health and the weight of the ring. Noctis tells Nox that he should live for now and not worry about the future, that doing something for a short time is better than never doing it at all, and that most importantly, Nox won’t be a strong king if he isn’t strong as a person. And that means allowing himself to form strong bonds and love. All of this is hard for both Noctises to talk about, and Nox tries to dance around the issue, but Noctis has grown enough to know that this message needs to be given straightforwardly.

Well, Noctis’s advice does help Nox, but it also starts him wondering about who - or what - PJ’s brothers really are. He comes to the conclusion that Noctis must be another prince of Lucis (maybe a past one), but doesn’t - can’t, because of Pryna’s magic - realise that Noctis is himself. He brings this up to PJ, who does a bad job of lying that he has no idea what Nox is talking about. Nox is a little put out, wondering why Noctis, whatever he is, confided in PJ and not to him, the current prince of Lucis. He confronts Noctis about it in private, and Noctis doesn’t know what to do. He and Nox are about to have a fight about it, when Ignis, who overheard, walks in and diffuses the situation. Then Noctis changes his mind and makes the executive decision to just explain everything to Nox.

Nox, of course, wants to know every single detail of the future that Noctis, Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto came from. When they won’t tell him about Insomnia falling, he asks why they are in the past. Noctis says they have an important job to do, and Nox demands to know why he hasn’t been involved in saving his own city in his own timeline. Neither Noctis nor Ignis has an answer for him, so the conversation ends on a sour note.

Prompto, Cid, and Cindy (with input from Noctis and Ignis) finally finish their design for the Wall enhancer. There is already a massive stone/concrete wall shaped like a four-petalled flower that encompass the entire city. However, the magical Wall is circular, and extends beyond the borders of this concrete wall. The plan is to mount twenty-four mechanical/magic anchors (one for each bend in the wall) on the concrete wall to stabilise, strengthen, and carry the Wall. Part of the design for the Wall enhancer came from the Old Wall. After examining the statues and their magical properties, Noctis realised that the Old Wall wasn’t just designed to come to life - the statues were also designed to be the very kind of magic anchor they were hoping to replicate, but the city outgrew them.

The Chocobros could have brought the plans for the Wall enhancer directly to Cor as usual. Instead, Noctis drops them in front of Nox at the dinner table and says, “If you want to help out so badly, get these built. Now.” Nox takes them home, looks at them, and is blown away by them. He immediately contacts young Iggy so they can figure out the fastest way to get the Wall enhancers built. He also accosts Prompto and demands to know how and when he got so good with technology, since PJ is good with it but nowhere near that level. Prompto protests that it was a group effort and mostly on Cid.

The Wall plans seem to have really awoken some kind of spark in Nox that not even Noctis has shown. Thanks to Nox’s enthusiastic lobbying of the Crown engineers, the Wall enhancers get built within two months of the finalisation of the plans. The enhancers work even more efficiently than predicted because the royal engineers discovered that the city was built on ley lines, veins of magic in the earth upon which havens are built and elemency crystals form. Regis physically feels the Wall’s burden lift from him when the last enhancer is activated. Because Nox was involved in the project, Regis meets up with him to talk about it. Nox gives all the credit to Noctis, who Regis still doesn’t quite believe is real; and Regis tells Nox that no matter who made the plans, he’s proud of Nox for taking the initiative for the first time in years and getting the enhancers built.

The Empire does remark upon the change in the shape of the wall. Ardyn is furious, recognising the enhancers for what they are and knowing that infiltrating the city will not be so easy now. He suspects that the Lucians have been stealing Niflheim technology, but when the Empire attempts to take photos of the enhancers, the few clear shots they manage to get don’t prove it. If anything, the enhancers seem to be a unique design based on the Old Wall of Insomnia. Ardyn knows, because he was there when the Old Wall was built.

PJ finally admits to Nox that he’s been training for the Crownsguard with his brothers. Nox is touched and invites PJ to start training with the rest of the Crownsguard so he can pass his examination at the end of senior year. PJ gladly accepts.

At this point, Noctis believes the refurbished Wall, the king’s renewed strength, and the neutralisation of Titus Drautos will be enough to keep Insomnia safe from invasion, at least until the Chocobros fight their way to Gralea. Galahad has been liberated. Now it’s time to focus on saving Luna. Because of the liberation of Galahad and the enhancing of the Lucian Wall, the Empire doubled down in Tenebrae to make sure that it can’t be liberated in its turn. The other Crown strategists conclude there is no way to re-take Tenebrae - the Magitek army is simply too overwhelming. Ignis comes home from that meeting and tells Prompto to re-open his Magitek engineering project.

IF “Ignis is dating Gladio” = TRUE THEN Iggy and younger Gladio begin a FWB around this time. IF “Ignis is dating Aranea/someone else” = TRUE THEN Iggy doesn’t do anything. ELSE “Ignis isn’t dating anyone” = TRUE THEN Iggy becomes friends with Iris. Maybe one day it will blossom into a romance of some kind. OR Iggy doesn’t do anything. Up to you!

PJ decides he wants to go to a two-year college of technology, just like Prompto did. Naturally, he gets accepted into the best one in Insomnia. Nox decides not to pursue higher education, but to continue his active involvement in the war effort.

PJ and Nox start lowkey kinda dating. They don’t really talk about it, but their physical intimacy increases to the point of making out late at night and then not talking about it afterwards. Nox speculates that Noctis and Prompto may be dating, which blows PJ’s mind a little. They don’t ask about it, though.

Preparations for Tenebrae are completed in the spring, but the Chocobros wait around in Lucis for a little while longer. They know they won’t be coming back from Tenebrae.

PJ and Nox graduate from high school AND PJ passes his Crownsguard initiation.

The Chocobros are so proud of them and use both things as an excuse to throw a party. PJ shows off his new Crownsguard uniform to his brothers. It has minor changes from Prompto’s - the patches are different. Gladio admits that PJ and Nox feel like his kids, or at least 2 extra little siblings. Ignis says that Noctis was always like his kid, and PJ was much easier to raise. (RIP Noctis)

The week after the graduation party, they break the news to PJ, then to Nox, Iggy, and young Gladio: they’ll be going to Tenebrae, and they won’t be coming back. PJ and Nox understand that their brothers are going back to where they came from, where they belong, but they both seem devastated. PJ has no other family. Prompto tells him that it’s impossible for them to be separated since they are literally the same person. He reminds him that he has Nox, as well as his own Ignis and Gladio. PJ asks if there’s enough money for him to move into his own apartment before his brothers leave so that he won’t be all alone in an empty house.

Noctis takes Nox out to the backyard and shares the blessings of Titan, Ramuh, Leviathan, and Shiva with him. This is something he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do, but Luna had told him to give it a shot and it seemed to take okay. He can’t transfer the king’s weapons, though. He tells Nox to get the blessings of Bahamut and Ifrit, and how to get the swords. Then Nox asks Noctis to be real with him and say if he’s been dating Prompto or not. Noctis admits to it, and Nox just nods and looks thoughtful.

Unexpectedly, Cor steps in and offers to look after PJ for the two years remaining between graduation and the road trip. Not to live with him, but to pay his rent and bring him dinner once a week. PJ shyly consents to this. The Chocobros secretly leave two years of birthday presents for PJ with Cor. Then Noctis, Prompto, Gladio, Ignis, Nox, Iggy and young Gladio help PJ move into his new apartment. It’s lowkey a second party, but this one’s sad. Nox, Iggy, and even young Gladio are also surprisingly sad, because the older Chocobros were good brothers to them too. Afterwards, the Chocobros go to the palace to meet with the Kingsglaive and get ready to ship out to Tenebrae.

Once they get to the palace, Cor informs them that Regis has requested to meet with Noctis, much to Noctis’s surprise. Regis semi-publically honours the Chocobros by bowing to them when he meets them. In private, Regis asks if Cor’s story is true, and Noctis really is his son from the future. When Noctis tells Regis his full name, Regis is immediately able to recognise him, starts tearing up, and says he never thought he’d see Noctis looking older than 20 (he’s now ~26). Noctis gets emotional too, and apologises for never having come to see Regis before this. They hug, and everyone looks away to hide tears and smiles.

Just as they’re leaving, Regis lets slip the whole you’re-fated-to-die thing, because he thought Noctis would have known by now. Noctis plays it off because he doesn’t want to upset his dad after they just reunited. But that night, as they’re sleeping in the Kingsglaive barracks and knowing they’ll ship out in the morning, Prompto wakes up to feel Noctis’s body shaking so violently with sobs that it seems Noctis will shake himself apart. He’s stuffed his own fist into his mouth to keep from making any noise, but it seems like he’s only seconds from bawling loudly enough to wake the entire Kingsglaive. Prompto holds Noctis and cries with him until Noctis finally tires himself out. On the edge of sleep, Noctis admits one thing: he didn’t fall apart until he realised that if his death is fated and part of the prophecy, then Luna’s must be as well. Every action they’ve taken to change the past has been pointless. Then he falls asleep before Prompto can reassure him.

During the voyage to Tenebrae, Noctis is quiet and moody, to no one’s surprise - it’s like the past 6 years have just been taken out of him, leaving him exhausted and dead-eyed. He only thanks the stars that Nox wasn’t there to find out about his fate. Nox, who’s happier and stronger than Noctis ever was. Noctis just hates himself. When the fighting starts, Noctis almost - almost just gives up and lets the Empire overwhelm them. But he looks to Prompto, his beloved, and Ignis and Gladio, his brothers, and knows that he can’t let them down. Even if he, Noctis, can’t have a future, a life - he desperately wants for PJ to have one. He dutifully summons Titan and Shiva. The weapons Prompto and Cid developed to take out the Magiteks do, in fact, take out the Magiteks. Aranea’s mercenaries quietly sabotage some of the Empire’s efforts to regroup, but they don’t outright betray them.

The Lucians re-take Tenebrae. This time there is no fake “Galahadian rebel groups” business; the Empire will know this was an act of war on the part of Lucis. What can they do about it? Insomnia won’t fall.

Having freed Tenebrae, the Chocobros head to the palace where they meet up with Luna, Pryna, and Umbra. Noctis has another small, miserable outburst, not wanting to leave this time and return to a doomed future. They spend a few hours hanging out with Luna, who is overjoyed to see them, and Ravus, who is grateful but doesn’t want to admit it, but Noctis can’t fool himself into forgetting, so it’s really not a good time. Then Pryna uses her power to put Noctis out of his misery by sending them all back to the future from whence they came.

When Noctis wakes up, he’s in a bed with Prompto in what appears to be Altissia. Of course - they just fought Leviathan, and Luna just died. But why is Prompto there? Wait - weren’t they also just in Tenebrae? As Prompto starts to wake up, Noctis tries to sort through all the memories in his head. First, there’s the original timeline, the one that makes the most sense to him, with Leviathan and Luna dying. Then, he remembers how they went back in time and raised Prompto as PJ.

Finally, he remembers being Nox.

Noctis isn’t sure who to be. Noctis 1 was depressed and miserable. Noctis 2 was stable but then despaired at the end of his time loop. And Nox was way more optimistic than any Lucis Caelum ever had a right to be. Remembering the reasons Noctis 1 and 2 were depressed, because they knew they were going to die, is confusing for the part of him that wants to be Nox. The weight of his despair makes him feel like Nox is being crushed. Noctis decides not to think about any of this and figure out what happened in those last 2 years when Nox was on his own again, with no more older Chocobros.

“Why are we in this bed?” Prompto asks upon waking up. Thinking about each timeline again, and focussing only on Prompto, Noctis feels an overwhelming love. Apparently Nox and PJ finally got together at the beginning of the road trip, in Hammerhead. Noctis and Prompto have loved each other for three timelines now. Three timelines which, if you add up all the years, made for almost a reasonable lifetime. In case there is any confusion about whether they’re dating now, Noctis immediately asks Prompto out again, which just makes him laugh and start kissing Noctis all over. It’s so good. Overwhelmed, Noctis can only say, It’s enough. Even if he dies tomorrow, which he might, at least he had three lifetimes with Prompto and their brothers, their two best friends in all the world. Noctis is finally sort of at peace.

Just then, there’s a knock at the door. Ignis and Gladio come in, trailed by Pryna and Umbra.

Behind them is Luna.

She says something like, "I’m very cross with you boys. I’m supposed to be dead right now, but as you can see, I’m clearly not, and I don’t believe I ever will be again. Also you rewrote the timeline so well that now you are in Altissia as part of your plan to invade Niflheim, which is starting this morning. Wedding? What wedding.”

That’s when they know that everything is gonna be okay.

#ffxv #prompto argentum #chocobros #noctis lucis caelum #promptis #raising prompto #saving insomnia #writing #fanfiction

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