Chapter Text
Final Fantasy XV - Aurora Helios x Ardyn Izunia
Scream
Chapter 1
Aurora Helios was a 27 year old woman who had joined Insomnia’s Kingsglaive when she was 17 years old, and had gained major recognition easily and quickly due to her special powers that allowed her to use magic without the help of the King’s powers, much like Crowe Altius. Aurora’s mother and her mother’s ancestors had all been gifted with dark magic abilities, which had consequently been passed down from generation to generation, from mother to daughter only passing on in the female genes, and so Aurora too had inherited them.
Her ‘unnatural’ powers caused confusion and fright in the hearts and minds of others, so she found that hiding her gifts from a young age was key if she wanted her and her family to survive; as there was an incident when she was a toddler where she accidentally electrified a young boy with her lightning magic, and the small town Aurora and her family lived in turned against them and were going to kill the her. But fortunately for them, the young King Regis had heard of this young child and her unique power and offered the small family refuge in the city of Insomnia, and from then on the large city had been her home, growing up under a strict ill-mouthed-degrading father and her sweet kind-loving mother.
Aurora had wanted to join Kingsglaive before her 17th birthday but her awful father who was secretly jealous of her powers told her that she didn’t have what it takes to be part of the King’s regiments, that she was useless, that she would never amount to anything in life, but when her Mother passed away just before her birthday her father became increasingly more insufferable and even more verbally abusive, so she left home after an atrocious fight with him and happily joined the King and his Glaives just after turning 17.
By the age of 21 Aurora had risen through the invisible ranks and had been trained by some of the best Glaives Insomnia had to offer, including Nyx Ulric and Titus Drautos, and had even sparred with Cor Leonis and the shield of the young Prince; Gladiolus Amicitia a few times.
Even though there were no set groups or ranks within the Glaive, her fellow Glaives held high opinions of her and even began to look up to her, like she did with her personal idol and friend Nyx.
Aurora dabbled in many areas other than her job as a Glaive, being a naturally curious being she was always reading books, and articles on her cell phone about the current situations of the world, mythology and even the old rumours of the planets histories. Her personal mantra was ‘knowledge can be power’, she didn’t ever want to land herself in a situation where she didn’t know at least something, and found knowledge appeased and excited her.
She had gone out of her way to befriend Ignis Scientia as soon as possible as he was specifically a regular fountain of interesting information, although Ignis did need a little prompting and had to trust you completely before he divulged anything to you, and through the young Royal Advisor she met and made friends with Prince Noctis himself, Prompto Argentum and one of her old associates Gladiolus Amicitia.
In quieter times when Aurora wasn’t on mission for the Glaive or King she was a regular 5th wheel to Prince Noctis and his friends, but being the oldest of the group sometimes felt a little strange, almost like being the mother they didn’t want or need. Nevertheless, the 4 boys treated her like one of them, in fact Gladiolus treated her like a younger sister which often confused and annoyed her, and had to remind the burly man regularly that she was a good 4 years older than him, to which he shrugged and grumbled in response.
Noctis was a good friend to Aurora but they had a fairly cool relationship when compared to that of the others, there was just something between them unspoken that kept them being distant to one another, and it wasn’t that they disliked each other, on the contrary they did like the other very much, but there was just a certain kind of detachment between the pair; Aurora suspected it was the age gap.
Aurora and Ignis however had a very good friendship; they often spent time together without speaking, and just enjoyed each other’s company in silence, mostly while he cooked.
Gladio and the older female had a close friendship, with him treating her like a younger sister. The two regularly sparred with each other for practise, never holding back against each other, and not afraid to speak their minds to one another either.
Prompto and Aurora were incredible friends, having a definite little brother, big sister relationship, the two had bonded so well that any outsider would have thought they were siblings; he came to her in times of need and she went to him in hers. She loved her dear Prompto and would do anything to keep him safe if ever he was in trouble.
Due to the relationship she had with the Prince, King Regis had also deemed her one of his son’s main friends even though they hadn’t grown up together like the others had, and then one night she had received summons directly from her boss Titus to go to the King in the Throne Room, but didn’t say why.
Aurora was nervous as she approached the large wooden doors, sighed and knocked.
“Enter.”
As Aurora walked into the throne room she quickly noticed she was alone, the guards were gone and King Regis was standing with his back to her near the base of the left stairs up to his lavish throne.
“Your Highness.” She uttered calmly, watching as the older man turned to her, and she bowed deeply.
“Aurora, please…” He said quietly, motioning for her to come nearer, and she did as asked stopping a few feet from him. “My dear, you are as close to my son as his brothers. I regard you as Noctis’ Sister, and I wish to ask you my Glaive to do something for me.”
Aurora’s eyes searched his Majesty’s, feeling herself frowning. He sounded almost sad, and there was a distinct look of sorrow, even regret in his deep green eyes. Was he showing her… weakness? Was that why there were no guards? She bowed lightly again.
“Your Majesty, I will do anything you ask.” Her voice curious but sincere all the same.
“Prince Noctis shall soon be leaving Insomnia for his journey to wed his bride.” Regis told her, and she nodded in agreement. “I am sending Ignis, Prompto and Gladiolus with him.”
“As I have heard, your Majesty.” She agreed frowning more.
“I also wish for, You to go with them.”
Aurora’s eyes went wide with astonishment, she hadn’t expected the King to want this, but was more than happy to oblige.
“Of course your Majesty, if it is what you wish.” She said with a light smile and a bow. “I will accompany Prince Noctis as long as he needs me.” But as soon as her voice left her she couldn’t help but wonder why, and Regis noticed the confusion on her face.
“What is on your mind?” The King asked curiously, but when she hesitated he smiled kindly. “Please do not be afraid to speak your mind.”
She nodded.
“Why send me? Wouldn’t Nyx or Titus aid the Prince better, Sir?” She asked innocently, but Regis gave her another smile, and put a fatherly hand on her shoulder.
“You are far closer to Noctis than either of them, plus they are needed in Insomnia at this turbulent time.”
“As you wish your Highness.”
“The group will leave in five days time.” He told her, and that’s when he looked over her shoulder towards the door. “Ignis.” He called, and the giant doors opened and Ignis walked in giving a deep bow and came to join them, his perfect dirty-blonde hair swaying slightly with his movements. “Aurora will be accompanying you on my son’s journey.”
Ignis looked from Regis to Aurora and gave a curt nod of understanding.
“Her special magic’s shall help you immensely.”
After a few more minutes in the King’s chamber the two were dismissed and left the throne room in silence together, continuing to walk down the long hallway to the fork at the end of the corridor, Aurora meaning to go left as Ignis would have gone right but Ignis caught her arm before she could leave his company as she said goodnight.
Her waist length black hair swung around her, strands falling into her eyes as she had to turn quickly on heel to catch herself from falling, feeling a well of sudden anger burn in her chest as green eyes behind black framed spectacles looked into her own pale blue-green ones.
“You are prepared?” Ignis’ posh voice, much like her own asked, his expression very stern almost agitated.
Aurora’s black brows furrowed once more as she looked at him.
“What?” She asked confused.
“Are you prepared for what is ahead?” The tall man asked her, she was only 5’5 so she peered up into his face with a cold irritated look.
“Ignis…” She replied in a whisper. “I’ve been a Glaive for 10 years. I’ve been on more missions than some of the older Glaives… This won’t be anything new for me.”
Ignis bowed his head and nodded earnestly, but sighed heavily.
“This journey will be with the Prince. It may not be as easy as you think.” He warned, but again she frowned deeper and darker.
“Iggy… I know this won’t be an easy task.” She paused and straightened up, and gave a dark scolding look. “You want this to be some fun road trip, but it’s probably going to be hell…” It was Ignis’ turn to look at her and frown. “Are YOU prepared?” She now asked in retort. “Because I think you underestimate me.”
The next five days leading up to leaving was a shit show for Aurora; the other Glaives really didn’t want her to leave. She even had Nyx approach her to tell her that he would miss her and that he didn’t want her to go, as well as giving her a tight hug before she left saying he had a really bad feeling about everything, and she too admitted to him that something didn’t feel quite right, but she just put it down to leaving home. Aurora gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before uttering the words; ‘For Hearth and Home’ minutes before joining the boys to say goodbye to the King.
A few days before that there were rumours that reached her of Niflheim’s troops gathering in mass, even that their large inhuman army was rallying, however when she spoke of these rumours to Titus before leaving but he waved her off saying there was no need for panic, “…the patrolling units watching the Niff’s said the rumours were fake”. Aurora nodded to her old Captain and bid him farewell.
All in all, emotionally the five days prior to her leaving sucked.
Once she and the boys had left Insomnia the road was clear like the blue skies above and a one way drive to Hammerhead unlike the packed Insomnia city roads, but she was too busy squashed into the back of the Regalia between Gladio and Noctis to enjoy the blue sky or clear roads, not to mention how fun it was in the blazing desert heat, she felt like a sweaty sardine next to the giant muscle and a skinny kid.
Sighing internally she rested her head on Gladio’s shoulder as seen as there wasn’t much else to do with or put her body… at least that was until the car gave a lurch, and a loud bang came from under the hood of the car, and it rolled to a slow halt.
“Well…” Ignis started as he looked down at the steering wheel and then around to the others, who looked disheartened and Aurora was unamused to say the least.
“What do we do!?” Prompto asked panicked.
“Get out and push.” Came Gladio’s solid unapologetic dead answer as he opened the car door and got out.
“Really?” Noctis whined. “You’re the muscles here Gladio, you push it.”
Twenty minutes later after pushing the incredibly heavy vehicle what felt like 100 meters, but was more like 10 feet they were all exhausted, and were taking turns in sitting in the driver’s seat to steer and take a break, but due to the scorching heat even taking a break in the seat wasn’t enough.
Another few minutes passed and Prompto lay on the sizzling tarmac a few feet away from Noctis who sat with his back on the registration plate of the car, Gladio stood leaning on the car itself, Aurora was sitting on the back seats with her legs over the side of the door, and Ignis was still in the driver’s seat looking no worse for the wear.
After a little while banter broke out between the men, slowly but surely it got angrier as the heat fuelled everyone’s buttons, but Aurora kept quiet hoping they wouldn’t notice her lounging there.
“Oh get up.” Gladiolus huffed at Prompto, soon the scuffling of feet met Aurora’s ears and the other two were standing again. “C’mon Aurora.” Came Gladio’s voice again, but she just lay there pretending to be dead.
“I thought the car was supposed to move us!” Prompto exclaimed as he came to the left side of the car, and Noctis to the right where Aurora’s legs were still hanging over the side of the door and gave a light kick to her booted feet, making Aurora growl unhappily but thought it better to move than be on the other end of Gladio’s rising temper, as he was now snapping at Prompto for complaining.
Hammerhead was a lot further away than any of them had expected since they’d had to push the damned car all the way there, but once they were there they were greeted by a beautiful blonde grease monkey lady named Cindy who took the Regalia into the garage and introduced them to Cid, an old friend and comrade of King Regis.
Cid was a nice man, who had agreed to upgrade their weapons at any time and was generally pleasant, although Aurora had the feeling that he thought Noctis a spoilt brat, which seemed to rub Noctis the wrong way, much to her general amusement. He also told them that he had custom made the Regalia back in the day for Regis, making a few jaws drop.
That night the five friends stayed in Hammerhead’s caravan and spent their first night somewhat exhausted from all of the car pushing, not much was said between them, but at least they’d managed to scrape up a little gil to pay Cindy for her troubles to fix the car through doing a job in the wilds for her, during which they met a man named Dave, who was an interesting character… At least to Aurora, she felt as if she knew the man, and made a promise to herself to ask him at another time if they had met before.
The next day the car was ready to roll out, and so they headed off to Galdin Quay without any more hitches, except the drive was a long one so they made another pit stop at the next rest station, where Umbra; Lunafreya and Noctis’ shared dog appeared out of nowhere bringing Noctis news of the lovely Lady Luna.
Aurora took this time to wonder around the small rest stop by herself as the boys went off into the café for food, and found herself bumping into Dave the hunter again.
“Hey again!” He greeted in his kooky voice, and she bowed kindly to him and gave a small greeting. “I want to thank you again for yesterday.” He said to her offering his hand out to shake it, which she took. “You really saved my ass there.”
Aurora gave a small laugh and waved it off.
“It was nothing.” She said with a kind smile, and then looked at his tattooed arm that now broke from hers, and frowned. They looked familiar, heart stopping familiar.
“Something wrong?” Dave asked frowning as she stared in awe at his arm.
“I…” Aurora started but her voice trailed off for a few seconds, before tearing her eyes away and up to his face. “Have we met before?” She heard her somewhat posh voice ask with a slight frown. “Before yesterday?”
Dave frowned and pulled a face of confusion, then shook his head.
“Don’t think so… I have a good memory for faces.”
“I’ve seen those tattoos before.” Aurora said with her own frown, pointing to the ink of a goddess with one wing. “It’s Eos… isn’t it?”
“Y… Yeah.” Dave replied in a quiet voice, looking over Aurora with a sudden quickening of curiosity and suspicion. “Had these since I was 18.”
“Aurora!” Prompto called making her jump. “Come and eat before Iggy drags you in by your ear.”
“S-sure.” She called over her shoulder; feeling a little dazed then looked back to Dave who looked back calmly. “See you around.”
Aurora followed Prompto inside the diner and took a seat next to him as Gladio was sitting at the bar near the table, and she began to think of a time when or where she could have seen that mans tattoos before, racking her brain hard to figure out at what time period she could have, as it hadn’t been any recent memory, but after hours of thinking she still couldn’t remember so she inevitably gave up.
The next morning they set off again for the Quay and reached it by mid afternoon which was a surprise as seen as she had expected the journey to the coast to be much further away, and all too soon realised that they could have reached the ocean the day before if they hadn’t stopped at all.
The sea breeze was a welcome change from the deserts stifling heat, as was the picturesque postcard scenery, as well as the bliss upon getting to stretch their legs after the ride as the Regalia was not meant for so many people.
“Now this is what I’m talking about.” Gladio grinned as his tall frame stretched upwards towards the heavens.
“Sea and sand!” Prompto chimed with an equally wide grin, tapping Noctis on the backside happily.
The group decided to have a quaint little walk on the beach before continuing to the port, the stroll along the golden sands was less than quaint or quiet because they had to take down a few giant crabs that were determined to slice and dice the party into tiny pieces, but the skirmish was quite worth it especially when Ignis harvested the crab meat to come up with a new recipe on the spot with a content smile.
“This is nice and all, but we should get moving guys.” Aurora suggested after an hour had passed as they’d all sat down on the sand and chilled out watching the sea and the large fish float around, the men mumbled and grunted in sad agreeance before making a move back towards the Quay pier.
“Welcome to Galdin Quay!” Said the welcoming staff at the main entrance of the restaurant, Aurora nodded to them with a smile but soon became distracted by a man a few feet away wearing the most unusual clothes, but then it was his hair that took her interest – it was a violet-red-purple.
‘How unusual.’ She mused to herself.
The tall man seemed swanky yet at the same time reminded her of an old fashioned eccentric antiquity collector, it wasn’t until her eyes met his did she literally stop mid step; they were the most beautiful shade of bright yellow-orange amber. It was from then on he had her complete attention, she took in his face and found he was very handsome, jaw droopingly handsome, she felt heat rising in her face as she continued to gaze at the stranger, the teenage girl in her not wanting the man to look at her because she was afraid he would see her thoughts swimming in her mind about him being handsome, but even though he was drop dead gorgeous there was something else written on his face, something smarmy and… dark.
“I’m afraid you’re out of luck.” The strange man said as Noctis and the others passed her by on the way towards the stranger, as she was still rooted to the spot, he sounded aloof and sincere, yet sarcastic and amused all at once adding more intrigue to the dark haired woman's sudden fascination.
Aurora couldn’t take her eyes off him as he spoke to the others, and of course the others were very cautious of him and extremely standoffish as the man seemed to know them, and know they were all trying to catch a boat out of there instead of coming for evening dinner.
The tall handsome man began to walk through the others before seeing Aurora, stopping in his strides to look at her, and his half cocked smile turned into even more of a smirk as he took her in, then met her eyes and gave a small courteous bow.
“My lady.” He said slowly and deeply before turning back to Noctis, tossing a coin at his face, thankfully Gladio caught it before it could hit Noctis in the head.
“What’s this?” Gladiolus asked incredulously opening his palm to look at the coin in disgust.
“Consider it your allowance.” The man said before turning back to Aurora smiling, once more he looked her up and down, his amber eyes drinking in her frame and body like it was his favourite wine and again his unusual eyes rested on hers. “You are a true beauty my dear.” He whispered only so she could hear, and her face instantly flushed.
“Who’s allowing us?” Gladiolus called roughly before the violet-burgundy haired man walked away.
“A man of no consequence.” He called, and left without another word, leaving Aurora feeling slightly shaken and not understanding why, but soon the five found out that the kindly yet completely weird stranger was perfectly correct in telling them that the ships were no longer running.
“Another omen.” Gladio muttered distastefully after a man seemingly a reporter offered to help them out of their situation, for a price.
“Damn Dino.” Aurora muttered.
“Yeah.” Noctis muttered through a sigh. “Now we have to become delivery boys.”
“And women.” Aurora added with a dark look in his direction, making Prompto smack Noctis on the arm.
“Yeah Noct! And women!” Prompto said in a scolding light-hearted tone.
“Whatever.” Noctis muttered under his breath, making a small smile appear on Aurora’s lips.
“So… Who was that guy?” Prompto prompted. “The coin guy.”
“I have no idea.” Ignis replied straight away.
“Me either.” Said Gladio, Noctis and Aurora in unison.
“He seemed to know us though…” Aurora continued cautiously, looking to the others for support of her conclusion. “Or rather you Noct.”
“Yeah.” Noctis agreed looking to her. “He knew.”
“I don’t like it.” Gladio piped up soon after. “Someone obviously knowing we’re the royal retinue with the Prince.” He gave a small growl and looked around sceptically.
“You think we’re being watched?” Aurora asked with her own frown looking around with her eyes not her head, training kicking in instantly, eyes sharpening as her adrenaline began to pump through her veins.
“Possibly.” Ignis replied coolly. “We should be more careful.”
“Do you want me to scout out the area? See if that guy’s still hanging around?” Aurora offered openly.
“That would seem like the best option,” Ignis intervened before anyone could reply; obviously being the royal advisor, this was something he advised on. “Don’t you agree Noct?”
“I don’t like it.” Noctis replied looking over his shoulder to Aurora. “We have no idea who he could be…”
“And that’s the point,” Aurora said in a smile. “Your Majesty… We have no idea who he is, friend or foe. Watching us or not… I am more than qualified for a simple scouting mission.”
“I think she should.” Prompto said, taking her by surprise. “We need to keep you safe Noct…” The sound of Prompto’s voice changed a little as he became spooked. “I don’t like the thought of that guy spying on us.”
“Fine, fine.” Noctis sighed rolling his eyes. “Aurora…”
Aurora nodded and gave a small bow of her head.
“Be careful!” Gladio called after her as she moved passed them.
“I will.”
“Remember to watch your back!” Gladio called again, instantly becoming big brother Gladiolus.
“I will!” She said again with a grin.
“Stay vigilant!” He called as she moved further away. “Call us if you get into trouble!”
“Geez.” Aurora sighed as she was far away enough. “You’d think I was a newbie in the field.” She said to herself as she rolled her eyes hopping off the pier to the right and onto the sand, she couldn’t help but let her mind ease somewhat as the soft sand hugged her boots.
Yawning slightly she headed east to the fishing spot just near the shoals and then decided to climb up the rocks and go over the landscape in a large circle, as it was the best plan.
The fishing spot called Galdin Shoals according to the map was silent and empty, the fields behind it on the cliff were empty too, and the beach from where she stood was also somewhat empty with no sign of the odd amber eyed stranger, so she continued her quest up the mountain towards the parking spot at the top of the hill.
The first hour strolling up the green slopes wasn’t too bad, however the sun was now starting to set and the sky was a mix of stunning lilacs, blood oranges and vibrant pink’s, but it wasn’t time to admire mother nature because the daemons would soon be appearing.
The higher she climbed the more out of breath she became and realised she was losing the light more rapidly, but from the top she would have a clearer view of the banks and it would only be a short walk across the top of the cliffs to spot anyone for miles around.
“Ah!” A delighted voice greeted as she briskly reached the parking spot… it was him. “You seem very tired.” He cooed with a look of mocking and upset.
“Why are you still here?” Aurora asked sharply, trying not showing how out of breath she was out of spite.
“Why I wanted to watch the beautiful sun set.” The man said softly, but still with that oily velvety condescending tone. “I assume that is why you trekked all the way up here.”
Aurora just looked at the man unsure what to say.
“Oh dear.” He gasped, putting a gloved hand over his heart. “You weren’t looking for me were you?”
Again Aurora just looked at his handsome rugged face trying to interpret his tone of voice that felt so utterly… fake.
“Oh my…” He went on tilting his head to the side closing his eyes and then re-opened them with a smirk. “I caused that much trouble for your dear friends?” His eyes latched onto Aurora’s green-blue ones easily and held her there, she had no idea why this man was so… entrancing. He took a few steps towards her, still not breaking eye contact. “If my presence has caused such a ruckus I will make sure to leave immediately.”
The man then finally broke his watchful gaze and looked down to the floor as he gracefully bowed to her, but then for the third time drank her in as he looked up to her face, and she could instantly feel herself growing hot under his enchanting gaze. Everything about him screamed, ‘Mystery’ and Aurora absolutely loved a good mystery.
The man took her in for the third time that day, she was dressed in all black: Glaive boots on her feet and up her legs, a velvet tail coat even though it was warm, a black taffeta and chiffon tutu like skirt that hung at varying points and highly unusual, and a tank top that had a corseted v-front where her cleavage could be seen, alluring his eyes. He could tell she was wearing a long sleeve jersey material cardigan too, just visible under the coat. Her long shiny thick black hair swayed in the ocean breeze, and her face had dark gothic make up on; her eyes largely blackened in an ancient shape he had once seen in the old days, and dark red lips clashing beautifully with her pristine white skin.
“Exquisite.” He whispered in a sigh, catching her eyes once more.
“What is?” She asked feeling her hairs stand on end at his sigh.
“…The sunset.” He replied unhurriedly with a smirk, gesturing behind her and she turned.
“Yeah… It is.” Aurora muttered quietly as she looked at the sky.
“Have you and your friends found a way to cross the ocean yet?” He asked quietly.
Aurora frowned and felt her fingers twitch ready to summon her weapon if this guy tried anything.
“Why are you so interested?” She asked turning back to him with a calm expression.
“Ah, I am simply a fellow traveller concerned about the wellbeing of… others.” He said with a seductive tone and a smile.
“Mhmm…” Aurora hummed warily. “I’m sure you are.” She gave him a curious look, quickly looking him up and down, again coming to the same conclusion as earlier that day; he was a handsome rugged looking man, with a heap of mystery encasing him and an air of danger she couldn’t put her finger on.
“Darkness is approaching, my dear. You should go back to safety.”
Aurora took in a long slow breath and looked up and the darkening sky.
“I’m fine thanks. You should go though.” She said sweetly, defiance playing rampant on her face, causing the stranger before her to give a wicked smile. ‘Oh right, he’s one of those.’ She thought refusing to give in to the eye roll that was burning her skull.
“But your safety is more important.” He said with a teasing warning flash in his eyes.
“I can take care of myself, thank you.” Aurora retorted coolly with a smirk on her face now.
“I am positive you can, but think of your friends… You wouldn’t want your friends to find your lifeless corpse out here, ravaged...” The emphasis on the word ‘ravaged’ made her visibly shiver. “By daemons.”
Aurora smiled earnestly and sucked her teeth slightly, before licking her lips and pouting.
“You don’t know me, Sir.” She countered politely as he batted his big thick eyelashes at her.
“Wouldn’t you like me to?” He asked bowing his head slightly looking at her under his eyebrows in a very sexy and enticing way, taking Aurora aback at his sudden flirtatious behaviour.
“No.” She said calmly with a nervous smile, and then wondered why the Kingsglaive had never taught about what to do in a situation like this; a drop dead gorgeous man was flirting and she had no idea what to do or say, even though he quite obviously was some sort of spy or at least had ulterior motive.
“Such a shame.” He cooed again frowning and pouting slightly, his amber eyes shone with excitement and amusement. “I’m sure we would get along nicely.”
“Uh huh.” Aurora muttered impatiently and turned her back to him as she realised it was actually dark now. “It’s night, you should go find somewhere safe to stay…” She gave a sigh and then shrugged more to herself than anything else. “Or find a way home.”
“Hmph.” The man grunted behind her cynically. “Home?” His face darkened and he could feel the daemon in him coming to the surface as the words accidentally triggered dark emotions.
Aurora watched the skyline and the sea before she noticed an unusual smell of sulphur in the air, she even turned her head slightly to the side only seeing the strangers outline in the background unmoving.
“Look I don’t know who you are but you need to leave here, alright?” She said now sternly, but her tone wasn’t accusing because she didn’t trust the guy, it was more out of concern for Noct and the stranger’s safety in the dark.
Suddenly Aurora felt her senses heighten greatly as she heard the man’s footsteps coming behind her, she was about to swivel around with her sword in hand but didn’t have time to as she felt his chest come into contact with her back. Like lightning she craned her head over her shoulder ready to shout, but he swiftly put a soft gloved hand over her mouth so she couldn’t scream.
“Shh…” He hushed, and with his free hand he pointed to their left where the grass was bubbling, black ooze and vapour was rising as a giant purple arm rose out of the ground, followed by a another huge arm holding an even bigger sword.
‘Iron giant…’ She thought horrified, feeling time slow down and her eyes going wide, she was strong yes but without Noctis and the others it would no doubt annihilate her. Instinctively she felt herself pushing backwards into the arms of the man almost curled around her, and then she decided that summoning her weapon would be wise, with the thought her golden Khopesh appeared in her right hand.
“It would not be wise to fight.” The man purred bewitchingly into her ear, she hadn’t even realised it but she was actually leaning on him quite heavily, and also realised she was getting lost in his scent which was of musk and pine trees… it was intoxicating, making her not think straight. She literally had to shake her head to pull herself together, blinking rapidly to pull herself back to Eos.
“What do you propose?” She said in a hard but quiet voice after the man removed his hand from her face, and pushing herself from his chest enough that they were still very close but not leaning together.
“We flee.” Came the simple answer and they both turned and walked away as quietly as they could, until the danger was safely behind them.
“Well that was fun.” Aurora said dryly as they walked side by side until they were under a lamppost standing staring at one another again.
“Indeed it was.” The wine hair coloured man said with a genuine wide smile. “Well, I shall bid you farewell.” He said with an over exaggerated bow. “Until next time.” He turned and began his swanky walk back up the road away from Galdin Quay, leaving Aurora yet AGAIN shaky to her core’s, and secretly hoping she wouldn’t have to deal with that character again… He bought out too many odd emotions.
Ardyn stopped at the Parking Spot on the top of the hill and looked down at Galdin Quay and at the young woman he could see fighting off a pack of Imps, and smiled.
“Quite an exquisite creature.” He said aloud to himself as the Iron Giant that appeared when they had been together took notice of him, but it did not attack as it saw another Daemon unworthy of its attention, or was it because it sensed such great daemonic power that it was afraid?
Ardyn smiled again and continued walking back up the road away from Noctis and his rabble, although the woman did not count as rabble, she was… something else entirely.
“Where the hell were you!?” Gladiolus burst as Aurora made her way down to the beachside campsite where the others were, apparently not having the funds as of yet to get a hotel room.
“Well…” Aurora muttered and pulled a grimace. “I found him.”
A chorus of, ‘what?’ rang around the fire, Ignis louder than everyone else.
“Oh yeah…” She nodded and sat down on a deck chair, nodding thanks to Ignis who brought over a hot cup of tea. “I’m one hundred percent sure he was waiting for me… or at least, for one of us.” She took a sip of the searing drink and looked at her boys. “I still don’t know who he is though…”
“He didn’t harm you did he?” Gladio asked with a sour look on his face, and she shook her head.
“He somewhat saved my life actually.” She said with a deep confused frown.
“How?” Ignis piped up before Noctis could.
“I told him to leave, it was dark… And an Iron Giant popped out the ground… He assisted in escaping it.”
“So we CAN trust him?” Noctis asked sounding uncertain.
“No.” Aurora said with a grave shake of her head, and a frightful grin. “Ain’t no way we can trust him, he won’t tell us his name.” ‘And because he’s a weird flirtatious bastard…’ She added silently as the others mumbled a little then went quiet.
Not before long everyone but Aurora and Prompto had turned in, she looked over at him curiously, and found he was staring deep into the fiery depths of the small pyre seemingly oblivious to the world around him, and didn’t even notice when Aurora had stood up and sat next to him, she had to playfully bump into his shoulder for any response.
“Alright…” Aurora sighed as he looked at her dazed and a little sad. “What’s up?”
“Ah, nothing.” He replied in his whiney ‘there is something wrong, and I do want to talk about it, but I don’t wanna’ voice. It took one stern look from Aurora to make him spill, with a sigh. “It’s Cindy.”
“Oh…” Aurora commented with a deadpan nod. “Girl problems.”
“Is it a problem if she doesn’t even know I exist?” He asked.
“Well… Sure that would be a problem, but that isn’t YOUR problem.” She said with a smile as he looked at her a little perplexed, and she quickly put a tight loving arm around his shoulders and pulled him tightly towards her grinning. “Your problem is that you should talk to her.”
Prompto gasped and shook his head wordlessly.
“Well!” Aurora said with an over exaggerated melodramatic sigh. “How will she fall in love with you if you don’t speak to each other?” She squeezed him to her even tighter, imitating Gladiolus.
“Alright, pep talk with you is over!” Prompto replied with upmost discomfort. “Squeeze me anymore and there’ll be nothing for Cindy to look at let alone talk to!”