Rambling Into the Abyss

You…have been gone for some time. It takes a few days for you to realize exactly how long, and when you do you suppose Shai’s reaction makes more sense. You’re not sure you would take it fabulously well if they disappeared for over two years without any warning before popping back up out of the aether. But they don’t know the circumstances. They don’t know the full story. If they did, they would be kinder. You tell yourself that, but much has changed. You have changed.

Shai has changed.

It takes time for you to begin to realize quite how much. You can’t get close, after all. Being close upsets them, and your desire to avoid that outweighs your desire to explain the full story. For now. But you do keep track of them. To stay near, even if out of eyesight.

The townhouse is easy enough to find, and you know that while it is always filled, they are rarely there. It seems a good place to start figuring out their schedule.

But when you knock, you are not expecting a middle-aged woman, harried and trailed by a gaggle of curious children, to answer the door with an impatient, “Yes? Out with it.”

You clear your throat and recover quickly. “I’m looking for Shaicarus Ilthanuel?” you say, just the slightest uptick at the end. If you seem unsure, then there are fewer walls to wiggle past.

The woman’s eyes narrow slightly and she gives you a shrewd once over. One of the more daring children clutches at her skirt and peers around her, and her hand falls to the girl’s head.

“The professor ain’t here, my lord,” the woman replies. “Who’s askin’?”

There’s a beat while you fit that word into your ever-complicated mental map—professor—before you offer a name. It’s fake. You pulled it out of a hat. Based on the last meeting, if it could even be called as much, you know that Shai won’t take it well if someone tells them that ‘Ashley’ was asking after them. And then you bid the woman a good evening and carry on your way.

You suppose the university is the next logical place to check, though that means you still need to narrow down which one.

the house is kind of a beehive right now. we’re nine hours away, but my dad is the one who needs to handle most of the official stuff. my grandpa’s dementia has progressed too much for him to handle any of it. originally my dad was going to head up the day after christmas, but he went ahead and left today. if something happened between now and after christmas and he didn't get a chance to say goodbye, he would never forgive himself and he would probably kinda blame us. he'll be back in a couple days.

and I dunno how I’m supposed to feel. I’ve never been very close with most of my extended family? when I was little my grandparents were kind of disinterested in learning anything about my diabetes, so I couldn’t really spend the same one-on-one time with them that my siblings did. so I really only saw them once a year or every couple years when the whole family visited. even when I was old enough to manage my own diabetes, they still tended to treat me like an infant and I had no interest in visiting.

so…I dunno what to feel. I mean, I’m supposed to be upset, and I am, but it’s just a vague ‘well, that’s unfortunate’ and a sort of nebulous ‘!!!!!!’ mostly I’m sad for my dad and my aunt and my uncle.

Fandom:  Final Fantasy XV
Characters:  Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum, Ignis Scientia, Gladio Amicitia. Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Ardyn Izunia, Nyx Ulric, Crowe Altius, Libertus Ostium. Regis Lucis Caelum, Carbuncle, various astrals. A few other cameos.
Pairings: Noctis/Ignis/Prompto/Gladio, Noctis/Luna, Noct/Luna/Ignis/Prompto/Gladio, Noct/Luna/Nyx, a giant clusterfuck of an implied polyship, and implied Ardyn/Prompto
Chapter Rating:  PG-13 
Warnings: Anxiety, panic attacks, possession, dimension-hopping, mild suicidal ideation, blindness, canon disabled character, implied kidnapping, polyshipping if you couldn’t tell.
Word count: 21,734
Notes:  …So I wrote a sequel to If the Ring Fits. It took… a while. And it’s over twice as long. I got a little carried away. But I’m actually pretty proud of it.
Once again, basically every AU presented has had way too much thought put into it and some of them might be expanded upon later.
Some of the AUs here also showed up in ItRF, but I’m not gonna explain that here. Either you figure that out or come ask and I can explain things in way too much detail.

previously: If the Ring Fits

 

Noctis stared at the ceiling of the hotel room, the room dark enough that he couldn’t make out any of the details. To his left, Ignis was all but wrapped around him, their legs tangled, one of Ignis’s hands fisted loosely in the fabric of Noctis’s shirt. To his right, Prompto curled up against his side, one arm tossed over both him and Ignis, as if to hold them close and keep them safe at the same time, the fingers of his other hand threaded through Noctis’s hair. Gladio slept on the other side of the bed, his back to the three of them.

Noctis couldn’t sleep. It was such a strange thought. Part of him wanted to get up—to try to walk off the excess energy buzzing through his veins—but another part of him was wary to move. Ignis had never been a heavy sleeper and Prompto slept so much lighter than he used to, always waking up with a start like he expected to be somewhere else. 

So Noctis stared at the ceiling for another half hour, trying to will himself to fall asleep, until boredom finally won out and he began the careful process of extricating himself from the tangle of arms and legs. 

Ignis made an agitated noise and his hand tightened against Noctis’s chest. He buried his face further against Noctis’s shoulder, only to jerk awake with a pained hiss. 

“Noct?” he murmured, voice rough with sleep. “What’s wrong?" 

Fandom:  Final Fantasy XV
Characters:  Prompto Argentum. Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. Ravus Nox Fleuret. Pryna. Umbra. A couple OCs.
Chapter Rating:  PG, for the moment. 
Warnings: Brief mentions of invasion
Word count so far: 12,313
Notes:  Chapter title from Sing Me to Sleep by Alan Walker and Iselin Solheim
Shilling: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? If not...well, sorry. But if you are, I have a Ko-fi. I'm broke and appreciate every cup.

Previously: Prologue. Chapter One. Chapter Two. Chapter Three.

CHAPTER FOUR: Wait a second let me catch my breath

“Assistant to the king,” Prompto repeated, stuck somewhere between dubious and wildly incredulous.

“Yes,” Luna confirmed, nodding once, her hands linked together behind her back. In the kitchen, Ravus had tea with Prompto’s parents as he explained much the same thing to them. “He has more duties now than he’s ever had before, and he had no time to prepare for them. On top of that, many of the personal staff he would have inherited from our mother did not survive the attack.” Her expression dimmed slightly, before she cleared her throat and carried on. “He needs someone who can make it so he doesn’t need to worry about the minutiae. You’ll have your own room at the palace as well as the attention of my old tutors.”

"But what if I’m bad at it?” Prompto asked, tone approaching something plaintive. “I’ve never done anything like this before!”

Finally, Luna smiled gently. “Then your job will be to keep me company. I’m sure we can think of an official title. The Oracle’s Confidante, perhaps?”

“I don’t understand why, though?” Prompto replied, slightly distraught at the special treatment.

Luna’s hands settled on his shoulders. “Because making sure you’re safe is important.”

Prompto’s mouth opened, but no words came out, and he closed his mouth once again with a click. He blinked at her dumbly, and she covered her mouth with one hand to ineffectually hide a laugh.

“Will you try, at least?” she asked quietly.

Slowly, Prompto nodded. “Okay,” he agreed faintly.

His parents, once it was explained that Prompto would be safe from the public in the palace, were quick to agree as well.