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shield-agent78 · 5 years

Text

Linguistics: Chapter 1

ALPHA

Parring: Bucky x OC (Ema) Bucky x You

Warning: Mentions of verbal abuse, fluff, language

Rating: PG-13

Summary: linguists specialist who has been hired to work at the newest Avengers facility in upstate New York. Her life up to now has been a hurricane. Soon she meets a super soldier with a metal arm that she can't get enough of and the feeling is very mutual.

A/N: Thanks for reading my story. I use the name Ema in this story instead of Y/N it is just an author preference. Feel free to insert your name instead of Ema’s. Flashbacks and thoughts are italicized. Please enjoy.

Linguistics- the scientific study of language, and involves an analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context.

(2 Years Ago)

My mom had always told me that I was a sassy, hard-headed southern girl that would one day turn into a wonderful woman. Looking back I don't think I disappointed her. I was still sassy and hard headed but with a good head on my shoulders. Early on I was determined to develop a skill set that would allow me to serve others, so I pursued a degree from LSU that allowed me to become a linguistics specialist for the government.

However, that was before I let my heart got in the way... His name was Chis Nelson, a blond hair Greek god that I met while I was pouring drinks at the Hurricane Bar in New Orleans just so I could pay for my car note. For some reason, I let my heart fool me and soon fell for his charms. Several months later I moved with him to Washington D.C. His assignment: Strike Force at the newest S.H.I.L.D. facility. Little did I know that my life was soon going to change in a way I could have never predicted.

Three months later S.H.I.L.D. fell, exposing H.Y.D.R.A. agents that have infatuated the program. I had suspicions that Chris was one of these agents, but I had no hard proof. I guess you could say, I had no proof; mental abuse doesn't leave marks on the outside.

"Your nothing just nothing little girl!" Chris' voice filled our small apartment again. How did I ever get myself into this mess? I was stronger than this. "You don't know anything. I wish I had never trained you!" He stood screaming at me while with one swoop of his hand the kitchen table that I had just been doing my work on had been wiped clean. Files and my laptop were now scatted onto the floor. I had pressed my back against the entrance door to the apartment hoping to get away from him. My eyes filled up with tears but I blinked them away. I had to get away from him. He looked at me with a stern face. His brown eyes blazing into me. If looks could kill, I knew that I would have been dead. Chris took a quick look at the text he just received and then back to me, "I have to go to work. Be out by the time I get back, I never loved you. I regret us. All of us," he said pushing aside me walking out the door.

I let out the breath I was holding and picked my flies that were now scattered on the floor. As I picked up the last one, I noticed a red file that had been taped under the couch. I lay on my stomach and pulled the file out of its hiding place. I sat crossed legged on the rug as I ran my hands over it. This wasn't a typical S.H.I.L.D issued file. This was something else. My hands began to shake, I opened the file only to find the H.Y.D.R.A symbol plastered on the first page. I skimmed through the file quickly finding Chris's name plastered on the pages. I slammed the file closed, placed it with my others and stuffed it into my satchel along with my loaded Glock. I took one more look around the apartment grabbed my cellphone and ran out the door. I ran away from Chris and away from the life that I had known. I dumped my government issued cell and bought a burner one off of the street. The first call I made was to my friend Ann, she was a counselor that I had been seeing to help me get over panic attacks and PTSD. She had convinced me to get away from Chirs and thank God I had listened to her.

I ran into her office out of breath with the files and gun still in my bag. Panic tried to set in with each step I took. Her office door was closed but I knew this was her lunch hour. She didn't have clients right now. I open the door to see her fighting with a man who was wearing a black mask. With several hard kicks, she had knocked him out cold taking a flash drive out of his hand.

"Ema! Steve! Sam! Get her out of here!" She pushed me out of her office door back into her waiting room. I looked to find a blond hair man who had clearly been in a fight looking at me intensely. I quickly figured out that was the one and only Steve Rogers and Sam Willson. I gaped at them for a moment and placed my hand over my mouth.

"You know the next time I let you pick me up from the hospital, remind me never to go by your pretend job," he snorted at her as Ann cuffed the man. Realization flooded my face. This was Natasha Romanoff.

"Dammit," I muttered looking at them both now as the pieces came together in my mind. Later that evening I found myself on a jet headed to upstate New York, however that was only after I had identified the chard remands of Chris Nelson.

(Chapter 1: One Year Later)

“Do you want to keep staring at the wall or do you want to go to work? I mean it’s a pretty interesting wall.” Steve asked Natasha as he entered the waiting area outside of the large training room.

“I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other’s eyes. How do we look?” Nat asked him strolling out of the common area heading to the training room.

“Well we’re not the 27 Yankees,” he retorted.

“We have some hitters,” Natasha smirked back as they walked by me. I leaned back on the bench that ran the wall of the waiting area and pulled out my earbuds.

Well, that means that they didn’t need me for a while. My job had been slow for the last several weeks. Now with training starting, it appeared like it would be picking up soon enough. So why not take advantage of some quiet downtime. One of my favorite places, the common area close to the offices. It was actually peaceful, well decorated and natural light. I still had no idea why Sam had convinced me to move up here in the first place; oh that’s right my ex-boyfriend turned out to be a HYDRA agent and wanted me dead. Good enough reason. He had tried to sweeten the offer by “Come on girl, it will be fun. You will have me. You will meet New people to meet, and see the world.” I told him he sounded like an airforce recruiter. He just laughed. Nevertheless, I was here and had been for two years. The idea of wanting something more in my life wasn’t new, it was more of an attitude. Always grow. Always change. Keep moving up. Don’t let your life turn into a hurricane.

I turned up my headphones while internally rolled my eyes. I knew that Steve was going to be late for our meeting so getting lost a little in my music until then was a great distraction until I felt the bench shift as a tall burnt sat down next to me. Looking beside me I saw a Greek god; tall, muscles to die for, shoulder length hair and blue eyes looking at me intensely. Sam hadn’t told me about him. Wow! Ok, stop gawking at the stranger, Ema. Just because a hot guy is staring at you doesn’t mean for you to lose your….

“So what’s your story, I mean why aren’t you in there with them?” He questioned.

I removed my earbuds and gave him a slight smile. “I’m not the superhero type I guess.” He tilted his head as a small chuckle erupted from his mouth.

“Why aren’t you in there?” I sassed. Great insult him why don’t ya. Do you have any idea how to act around a cute guy? Yes, it’s been a while but come on. Besides look at his tattoo arm and muscles, he should be in there. You’re trying to justify your actions.

“That’s only for the new ones.” He retorted back in a cool tone.

Oh, so he isn’t new.

“Why are you here? Running from someone?” He continued his authoritative tone. Wonder if he is CIA or military. Sounds like one.

“No. I don’t run,” my tone as cool as his. My new friend shifted where now his hands rested on his lap with his feet slightly apart. He took a deep breath with his nose and locked his eyes upon mine. Dman his eyes are intoxicating.

“Sorry I didn’t mean for it to come across that way. Let’s try again ok?” I gave him a slight nodded. “I’m Bucky Barnes,” his New York accent came out thick and strong. Yep, he is defiantly the alpha male type.

“Nice to meet you Bucky. I’m Ema Jones.” My southern accent flooding out of my mouth. Well, that hasn’t happened in a while. Bucky just smiled at me before speaking again.

“So where you from?” He gave me an amused cocky grin.

“California,” I teased. I knew he didn’t believe me one bit.

“No, I don’t think so,” he teased, “try the south.” His smile is intoxicating too. It just made me smile wider. Relax. Say something cute…

“That easy to tell?”

“Well maybe.”

“Louisiana. I’m in linguistics. He raised a curious eyebrow at me. “Primarily German, French, Italian, code-breaking and I’m learning Romanian. So how about you?” Don’t ramble. He gave me an amused smirk.

“An assassin from Brooklyn. Sorry, excuse me Ma’am for a moment.” He pulled out his vibrating phone to answer a text while I shifted nervously in my seat tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. Figures all the cute ones have something up with them.

Steve: Well, what do you think of her?

Bucky: I like her. Seems sweet. She rambles when she is nervous.

Steve: And?

Bucky: Beautiful. Have you seen her eyes, Rogers? May have to consider asking her out

Steve: Told you. I’ll be there in 5

“Sorry, doll.” Bucky snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked back up at him.

“I ugh like your tattoo,” I motioned to his arm. It looks like golden strips on your forearm. Reminds me of a wolf. Bucky looked amused and then chuckled.

“Tattoo?”

“Ya, I augh…” I blushed with embarrassment. Haven’t known this guy but for like ten minutes and go and offend him Ema. Great.

“No, no it’s fine. I had forgotten with this new nanotech that it looked like.” I gave him a curious look. “I just got back from Wacanda. Here let me show you.” His arm began to change from flesh tone to vibranium reviving the Wolf markings. I looked on speechless for a moment. Realization hit me. This is Steve’s friend. The Winter Soldier aka the White Wolf. Wow, girl! Damn!

“Oh wow; that’s really cool,” I said typing to play it off. “Ugh you’re the Winter Soldier aren’t you?”

“Back there I was called the White Wolf but ya that’s me,” Buck said sheepishly rubbing his neck. I folded my hands in my lap. All this time I’ve been making moves and talking to the Bucky Barns. Howling Commandos. save the universe, snap Thanos in half, serve your country, ok the brainwashing but no one is perfect; veteran, and handsome Bucky Barnes!

“Thank you for your service Sergeant,” Buck gave me a huge grin.

“Your welcome.” His blue eyes sparkled with appreciation over my words.

“Buck, Ema you’re with me.” Our heads snapped up looking at Steve. I felt like I had got caught red-handed making out with his friend.

“Ok. Comin’ Steve,” Bucky answered as he stood up. “After you doll,” he motioned with his hand for me to go first. I stood up smoothed the bottom of my red dress. We walked down the hall to Steve’s office. I caught a glimpse of him in one of the mirrored office doors as we passed. His eyes running over my legs to my behind. Did he just check me out? Ok, just breath. Meeting that’s right.

Steve sat down at his desk as I took a seat in front of him. Bucky leaned against a table behind my chair. “So a linguist agent is needed on each team. As you know, Agent Malone was retired and I am looking for a replacement for Alpha team. Interested?”

“Of course! Thank you, Steve. However, whose team is that?”

"Mine. Sam and Steve are also on the team but with Steve’s other duties I’m led,” I heard Bucky grumble behind me. Of course the one with a hot assassin super soldier, Sam, Steve and now me.

“One more question why me? I mean for the team. Just seems like you all are the top dogs.” I said waving my hand for emphasis. Steve gave me a smile. His blue eyes shown brightly.

“Let’s just say that I believe the two of you have more in common than you know. You make a good fit. Both determined to make a difference, and hard-headed.” He said glancing behind me towards Bucky. Buck gave a little chuckle. Just like I thought all the good ones have some type of issues, but man this could lead to something big.

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#bucky barnes #buck #winter soldier #bucky x reader #steve rogers #bucky x oc

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notyoursterotypicalnerd · 6 years

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Do you know who I am? (Stucky/Stark x OC)

Summary: Lana Montgomery, the Stark’s dirty little Secret. After the shock disappearance of Bucky Barnes and after the shock death of Captain America, Lana had encouraged Howard Stark to use her as an experiment. He had broken his promise to Lana instead freezing her until he found fit to bring her back, he had died before he had a chance to tell anyone about Lana instead Tony Stark stumbled upon her cryo-freezer. Now that Both Bucky and Captain America are back, Lana breaks all of Tony’s rules.

Feat: Howard & Tony Stark, Peggy, Nat,Steve,Bucky,Bruce Word Count: 8127

Authors Note: This was going to be a Reader! Story but as I started writing, I guess creating my own little character felt nicer. This falls AFTER Captain America: Winter Solider and kinda rewrites the MCU of past and present. May contain spoilers of MCU. Also put Lullaby by Todrick Hall Feat Brandy on repeat. I tried to find all the grammatical errors, hopefully it makes sense and seems okay. I know it’s quite long and I’m sorry. Italics are flashback scenes IMAGES ARE NOT MINE! CREDIT BELONGS TO RIGHTFUL OWNERS! – I used google to find these images.

She followed Howard Stark around the foyer “Come on, Mr Stark. You know I won’t take no as an answer”

Howard stopped in front of the elevator “Look, I can’t.”

“Come on Howard, it’d be nice to have some fresh eyes on this.” Peggy looked up at the eager female and smiled. The two females had become close friends over the past few months and it was quite fun considering neither of them were very good at keeping female friends.

Howard stepped inside the elevator and sighed; Peggy stepped next to him as the two of them looked at the female standing outside the elevator doors.

“Fine” Howard managed to say.

“Thank you, Mr Stark” She bounced on the balls of her feet as the elevator doors slide shut. She couldn’t wait. She rushed out of the foyer of the building, goodbye to the days of working as a waitress.

“James” She called out.

A black-haired male dressed in a military uniform turned around and reached his arms out as she ran into them “Lana” He kissed her cheek.

She had exciting news to share and she couldn’t wait; her arms wrapped around his neck. He also had news of his own to share; news that would overshadow the best day of her life.

The two of them were the best of friends; he would protect her when he could that was when he wasn’t protecting the sickly Steve Rogers that Lana had come to be friends with. The three of them were almost inseparable.

That was until she meet Peggy Carter months ago and Lana had been spending more time with Peggy rather than with the boys.

- - -

He pulled her up into a hug “I promise I’ll be back” He kissed her cheek.

“I’ll be waiting” She kissed his cheek before watching him board the train with the other soldiers. She waved as the train began to pull out of the station.

- - -

She placed flowers on the makeshift grave that she had created for James Buchanan Barnes. They hadn’t told her that he had died instead telling her that he was missing in action and they believed that he had died.

She stepped back; standing next to the super solider that had changed so much in only a few short months. He draped his arm around her as she leaned body against his. The one person in her life that never gave up on her, the one person in her life that she was willing to wait for.

James loved woman and he certainly wasn’t shy about it, but this was one woman who was punishing herself for loving a man that eagerly loved too many.

- - -

After Steve Rogers plummeted into the ocean; she had felt like she had lost everyone. Bucky had fallen to his death from the freight train while on a mission with Captain America. She had watched Peggy mourn for a man that she wanted to grow old with.

Looking up at Howard Stark, the man who felt like he needed to create a safer world. Something that he would be proud of, something that he didn’t ever want to fail.

“I’ll do it” She spoke up.

Howard looked up at her and shook his head.

“Howard, what have I got left? Experiment on me. Use me.” She pleaded him with.

His brown eyes meet up with her hazel eyes “I can’t, I won’t.”

“Please Howard.” Feeling tears swell up in her eyes “I’m not of use anymore. I can’t just keep carrying on like you and Carter.”

Howard reached for her hands, but she pulled them back.

“Just use me.”

Howard closed his eyes.

- - -

She laid back in the slated chair as she looked up at Howard Stark “Just promise me that no matter what happens….” She couldn’t find her words.

Howard half heartedly smiled as the lid closed over her body.

She smiled up at Howard “Just promise.”

Howard held his hand over the button as he quite one final glimpse at the woman who wanted to give up her life for the sake of Howard Starks’ experiment .He looked down at the red button the he had just pressed listening as the container filled with chemicals freezing her body.

= = =

A lot had changed since she had seen him; He wasn’t the man that she had grown to love, he was now the man she had feared. He was a sweet innocent man but now he was a killer. He used to just go by the name of James that was until he became nicknamed Bucky and now they knew him as The Winter Solider, the man who had more blood on his hands than he cared to count.

Standing a few metres from him; she could tell it was who she was thinking off. She didn’t move as he marched closer to her; she watched as he lunged at her. She could see it in his eyes, he was a monster.

She grabbed his wrist causing him to drop the knife; He grabbed her by her arm flipping her over onto her back. In a quick swift move, he managed to pick his knife up off the pavement and balance himself over her.

“James.” She whispered.

His blue eyes stared into her hazel eyes. He recognised that name; a name that was he no longer called by.

She reached her hands up to his chest and pushed him off her; She swatted the knife out of his hand. It was like he had froze as he watched the movements she made.

He pushed his metal hand up against her throat as he pushed her into the side of a car; His grip wasn’t tight enough to harm her but tight enough to send a message. She kept her hazel eyes on him; She wasn’t scared. If she was going to die than she was going to die by the hands of a man she used to love.

= = =

She hunched over as she tried to catch her breath.

“Why didn’t you stop him?”

She looked up at the man who was failing at reprimanding her.

“Tony don’t start”

Tony folded his arms across his chest.

“Now you look like your father.” She smirked as she straightened stance.

The Stark family had their secrets, and this was one secret that Tony had been keeping for long enough. SHIELD knew about Lana, but Tony had managed to keep Fury away from using Lana once she came out of the ice, she was originally supposed to be the next secret weapon that was until they found Captain America and brought him to the current century, she quickly took a backseat and remained hidden under Tony’s watch.

That was until they caught wind of the Winter Soldier, she had heard that Captain America was supposed to bring the guy in but turns out he knew the guy who had countless murders under his belt which made it quite difficult.

Lana had risked everything to run out and find out who the winter solider was. She had chased after him just like Captain America did even helping Captain America and Natasha fight him in the middle of the street.

There went her secret.

Captain America had figured out who she was or at least figured out who he thought she was. Tony had quickly created an imaginary barrier between Lana and Captain America. Claiming that the woman was just another SHIELD agent and that no one needed to care about her.

= = =

Some time had passed.

Natasha had given up trying to find out anything she could on who the woman who helped them attempt to capture the winter solider was instead she threw herself into other matters. Captain America had kept searching, he kept the imagine of the blonde-haired woman in his mind constantly replaying her in his mind. He believed he knew who she was, but it couldn’t be possible.

- - -

She had grown accustomed to a world that she had forgotten; growing up in the early 1900’s was certainly different living in 2014. She had been defrosted for almost four years, a year earlier than the famous Captain. She had grown to love but hate the woman’s fashion, she loved that they could wear what they please but hated that it was more revealing than she was used to. Technology had certainly scared her with the help of Tony Stark, she had learnt to love it.

With the help of Tony Stark, she had done her research of Mr. Star Spangled Banner. She had learnt more than she knew. She believed that in 1945 he had plunged the aircraft into the water to save the world from the dangers from Red Skull where she had spent time with Peggy Carter and Howard Stark mourning the solider.

“Lana” Tony called out as he entered her apartment.

She looked up from her laptop that sat on her lap “Mr Stark.”

The man in front of her rolled his eyes; he shared similar features to his father. The man that Lana had gotten used to back in her time “What have I said about calling me, Mr Stark?”

“Force of habit, I guess.” She shrugged slightly. That was half the truth, she did it because that was what she was accustomed to, but she also did it because Tony Stark hated being called Mr Stark “What do you have there?” She watched as Tony placed the bags in his arms down on the table.

“I saw a few things that I thought you’d like.” Tony admitted “Pepper helped me.” He sighed a little thinking that would hurt Lana’s feelings. She had heard some much of Pepper Potts but had yet to actually meet the female that Tony talked so much about.

Lana placed the laptop down on the lounge before stepping up to Tony; She opened one of the bags and smiled as she pulled a dress out of the bag. It reminded her of the dress that she had worn each time she went out dancing with James. She held the dress close to her body as she closed her eyes letting the memories flood her mind.

= = =

“Come on, Doll” James reached out his hand “Last dance.” He smirked in a cheeky manner.

“You said that three dances again” Lana laughed a little as she placed her hand in James’ “Last dance.”

He placed his other hand on her lower back as the two of them swayed around the dance floor. The two of them couldn’t take their eyes off each other. They were just close friends and that’s just what they were; Lana knew what James was like with other woman but with her, he was different. He was more of a caring male who was willing to put Lana before any other girl if she had asked him to, but she never did. She let him play the field, she let him bed other woman while she stayed on the side lines with Steve Rogers.

= = =

“Lana?” Tony called out.

She gently shook her head before placing the dress back in the bag; she ran her right hand’s fingers over her cheeks trying to wipe away the tears “Sorry.” She looked up at Tony “Thank you.”

Ever since Tony had stumbled across Lana’s cryo-freezer he did what he could to help her adjust to the 21st Century. When Tony allowed Lana out to explore the city that had changed so much, she kept reminding him of one thing that she wanted to keep from her past and that was the fashion. Every chance he got, he would bring Lana a new piece of attire that he believed would suit her. She loved it and never complained.

= = =

Captain America pushed Tony into an empty room “Who is she?”

“Who is she?” Tony pushed Captain America’s hands away before straightening the expensive high brand fashion name jacket he was wearing.

“The blonde, the woman”

“Pepper?” Tony seemed confused “You’ve meet Pepper Potts before.” He went to stepped out of the room, but Captain America had pushed his friend back away from the door “Rogers, what are you playing out?”

Captain America sighed in frustration “You know who I’m talking about. The one from months ago, the one who was out there fighting Bucky.”

Tony looked down at his polished shoes before looking up at Captain America “Just a friend, someone you don’t need to worry about.”

= = =

Captain America didn’t like being lied too, he snuck behind Tony Stark watching as Tony entered a hotel. Captain America followed close behind, moving closer to the elevators as the doors closed when Tony stepped inside of them, Captain America watched as the numbers moved up, watching as the elevator stopped on the thirtieth floor.

Captain America pressed the up button and waited for the elevator doors to open. He sighed in frustration as he realised that the elevators needed a hotel key card to work, he stepped out of the elevator; he went to find the emergency stairs before rushing up them. He wanted to know what Tony Stark was hiding.

- - -

Captain America stopped and tried to listen out for Tony’s voice; he wasn’t sure which apartment that Tony had gone into. He quietly moved closer to each door listening out for Tony’s voice; It took several attempts, but he had finally found the right apartment. His hand gripped the door handle and pushed it open; for a guy named Tony Stark, his security seemed pretty relax.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen; he wasn’t supposed to barge into an apartment and find out this way.

“Steve?” She froze as she looked at the muscled blonde hair male in front of her. She looked him up and down, he certainly hadn’t changed.

Steve Rogers stood in silence as he looked at the blonde-haired female; She looked just like she did when he knew her “That’s not possible” He whispered.

She bite her lower lip before turning her attention to Tony Stark; She was supposed to be a secret. That was the whole reason that she was hiding, it was her fault that Steve Rogers had wanted to find her.

Tony took a step forward “Who do you think she is?” he asked Steve.

“She can’t be.” Steve managed to say. “How is this possible?”

Lana smiled a little before looking back at Steve Rogers “What’s my name?” She asked him.

“You can’t be.” Steve repeated himself.

“What’s her name, Rogers?” Tony asked.

“Lana Montgomery” Steve let the name slip from his lips; He studied the dress she was wearing, he looked as if he recognised it. The dress looked exactly like the one she wore on the day she had placed the flowers on Bucky’s makeshift grave. She looked just like she did the last time they had seen each other except the difference was she looked less scared.

= = =

Lana smiled at the sight of the plums at the fruit market; She looked up thinking she had heard her name being called. She turned her attention back to the plums and picked up a few, inspecting which ones she wanted to buy.

She lifted her head back up; twisting it around, again thinking she had heard her name being called out. She paid for the plums in her hand before making her way back to her apartment. She tried not to look around as she felt like she was being followed. She felt like she was being watched, she reached into her handbag and pulled out her mobile phone.

She began to search for Tony Stark’s number as she entered the hotel’s foyer. She pressed the call button as she stepped over to the elevator.

You have reached the voice mail of Tony Stark, you should know what to do.

She hung up before dialling again as she stepped inside the elevator; pressing her floor button. She stood listening to the dial tone as the elevator went up the shaft.

You have reached the voicemail of Tony Stark, you should know what to do.

Lana tried ringing him again as the elevators doors opened on her floor level, she stepped out and hurried her steps towards her apartment door.

“Lana? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

She finally heard his voice as she opened the door “I don’t know, I think I’m fine but I…” She stopped her words as she saw a man standing out on the balcony.

“Lana?” Tony questioned.

She carefully quietly placed her handbag down on the kitchen bench.

“Lana?” Tony asked again.

The man on the balcony turned around; She froze, she let her hand drop to her side.

“LANA!” Tony Stark’s voice filled the silence.

She watched as the man slide open the balcony door, stepping inside. He studied her carefully “You’re her, aren’t you?”

Lana nodded her head slowly as Tony’s voice kept getting louder on the phone. The man in front of her had changed so much, the last time the two of them meet he had placed his fingers on her throat trying to kill her. She kept still as she took in the details of him, he wasn’t the clean cut solider that she was in love with instead he was the shaggy black-haired male with a metal arm.

“LANA! ANSWER ME!” Tony’s voice screamed.

The man in front of her looked at the phone in her hands; Her eyes shifted to where his gaze was. She quickly placed the phone to her ear “Sorry, I have to go.” She hung up on Tony Stark before he had a chance to respond.

- - -

It didn’t take long for Iron Man to fly over to Lana’s apartment, he had slide open the balcony door letting himself into her apartment. His body on high alert as he took in the quiet apartment, he noted her handbag on the kitchen bench as he took further steps into the apartment.

He pushed open the bedroom door; She wasn’t there. He pushed open the bathroom door; She wasn’t there.

What had he done? He had let his guard down and let Lana disappear. Iron Man stepped out onto the balcony before flying off to find Steve Rogers.

- - -

“I won’t ask twice, where is she Rogers!?” Tony stormed into the Avengers tower not caring who was around.

“Who?” Steve looked up from the movie he had been recommended.

“Lana!? Where is Lana!?” Tony screamed.

Bruce looked up from the tv screen; He noticed how much of a panic Tony Stark was, it was an emotion that he wasn’t used too seeing. Natasha had come running into the room when she heard Tony’s voice.

“Whose Lana?” Natasha asked trying to figure out if this was a mission that she wasn’t told about.

Tony gaze shifted to Natasha “A girl that I was supposed to keep safe, but it seems that the minute Captain America found out about her, she’s goes missing.” He turned his attention back to Steve.

Steve’s eyes widened “Why would I take Lana?” He jumped to his feet.

“Because you were jealous that I was keeping her from you” Tony admitted.

Bruce slowly rose to his feet “I think we need to tone this down” He didn’t want to go code green if he didn’t need to “Tony, I think you need to start from the beginning. Why were you keeping Lana safe?”

“Banner, I’m not in the mood to explain. I need to find her” Tony looked at the scientist and sighed. He understood what his friend was trying to do but Tony just didn’t want to explain, not right now.

= = =

“How did you find me?” Lana carefully asked as she eyes scanned the run-down apartment that he had taken her too.

“I don’t know” Bucky admitted.

“How did you know it was me?” Lana carefully asked again.

“I don’t know” Bucky admitted again.

Lana sighed “Tell me, who are you?” She knew who he was, but did he know?

He didn’t want to answer that question.

“I thought you died” Lana looked down at the ripped-up carpet below her heels.

“I had” Bucky shook his head “I felt like I had.”

Lana looked up at him “I mourned for you, Steve mourned for you” She froze as she thought that’s how Bucky had found her.

The named Steve had caused Bucky to wince; Lana’s hazel eyes scanned the run-down apartment noting one thing that looked out of place. A neat kitchen bench with a small plastic bag full of plums.

“I see some things never change” Lana smiled.

Bucky’s eyes flicked over to the kitchen bench than back at Lana.

= = =

She had barely made it inside her apartment when she heard his voice “And where the hell were you?”

“Mr Stark” Lana closed the door behind her as she looked at the Iron Man standing in her apartment. She saw Steve Rogers rise up from the seat he was sitting in “Captain.”

“Lana, this isn’t funny. Where were you?” Tony repeated his question.

She placed her key in her handbag “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Scare me!? Scare me!? I almost threw Rogers into the ground because you went missing!” Tony shouted.

Steve almost winced at Tony’s choice of words “We looked for you, we searched the city for you” He had calmly said.

“I’m sorry.”

“You can’t just say sorry, Lana.” Tony relaxed his tone “I thought something happened to you, I thought you were hurt or killed.” He pulled her into his arms. “Who was the male’s voice?”

Lana stepped back from Tony “Tv” She lied.

Tony raised an eyebrow “Tv? That didn’t sound like a man’s voice on the tv.”

“Bucky?” Steve asked.

Lana shrugged “Like I said, it was just the tv”

“You’re not being helpful, Lana” Tony admitted “You know what. Fine, you’re going to come stay with us. This way at least I can keep a better eye on you.”

= = =

“Those boys you hang around with” Peggy began her sentence “Who are they?”

Howard listened as he tried to work.

“James and Steve” Lana smiled “Their sweethearts though James is a charmer”

Howard looked up at Lana.

“Are you with one of them?” Peggy asked.

Lana shook her head causing her blonde curls to bounce around her face “No. Lovely boys but certainly not.”

“Why not? If James is such a charmer as you say. What about Steve?” Howard asked.

Lana looked at Howard “Mr Stark, they are my friends. If your implying that I have slept with them than you are clearly mistaken. I’m not one that likes to be just another name on an ever-growing list”

- - -

“His still the same boy that you knew, Lana” Peggy admitted “But less scrawny.”

Lana looked through the folder that Peggy had handed her; Seeing her friend had been experimented on. He defiantly wasn’t the same scrawny kid that she had grown up seeing instead he was now someone who looked as if he could outfight the bullies.

- - -

Lana ran into Bucky’s arm “I was worried about you”

Bucky held Lana close to his body; She was the one girl he could count on. He inhaled the scent that he had missed, he didn’t want to get her go.

= = =

“And where exactly do you think your going?”

Lana turned around to see Tony Stark standing behind her with his arms across her chest “I was just going to get some plums.” She admitted.

Tony raised an eyebrow “Plums?”

Lana nodded “I like plums,problem?”

“Than you wouldn’t mind me coming with you?”

Lana sighed a little “Mr Stark, I have spent long enough out there to know that I’ll be fine.”

“You weren’t supposed to be alone, Lana. I slipped up and let you go out by yourself” Tony sadly admitted. He had constantly reminded Lana that she was never allowed to step foot out of her apartment but, yet she had done that. She was now in the Avengers Tower and he wanted her to stay put. “Now, are you sure you really want those plums?”

“No” Lana looked down at her heels before slowly making her way back to her room.

Tony watched Lana; he wanted to know what she was up to.

= = =

“I love you” Lana whispered in Bucky’s ear as he wrapped his arms around her body one last time.

“I’ll come back, Doll. You and I” He smiled as he kissed her cheek “Than I’ll take you out on a date. Dinner, dancing. Just like the old days”

“I’d like that” Lana smiled as she watched Bucky and the rest of the Howling Commandos followed Captain America out to an awaiting military car.

She watched as the car drove out of view.

= = =

Lana studied the redhead female sitting across from her.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” The redhead looked up at Lana.

Lana thought for a moment before shaking her head; her gaze shifted back to the laptop screen.

“Are you sure, you have been staring at me for an hour.”

Lana looked back up at the red head female “Who are you?”

“I’m Agent Romanoff” She stated coldly.

“Do you have a first name, Agent?” Lana asked.

“Nat” She responded.

“And Nat’s short for?”

“You like asking a lot of questions, don’t you?” Nat watched as Lana closed her laptop lid before placing it down on the coffee table.

Lana shrugged a little “Do you like Plums?”

That question had thrown Nat off,plums? Did Lana just ask if Nat liked Plums? Natasha Romanoff was a trained assassin and one question that she had never been asked was if she liked plums. She wasn’t sure how to reply to Lana or how to react.

= = =

Lana was pretty good at trying to find ways of escaping from the Avengers Tower, but Tony was one step ahead of her; his A.I kept a close watch on Lana when no one else could which usually scared Lana when she said J.A.R.V.I.S’ voice.

She sighed as she walked into the kitchen; She was getting restless, she was getting frustrated,she didn’t like just sitting around, she wanted to go out and find Bucky. She wanted to know his side of the story.

She watched as the coffee maker did it’s thing.

“Steve!” Lana called out “STEVE! Where’s Bucky!?” She questioned.

Steve didn’t want to look at Lana as everyone filed into the building.

“Where is Bucky!?” Lana begged “Where is he, Steve?”

Steve lowered his head as he Lana stopped him from walking away “Where is James?” she asked him.

Steve turned to face Lana “I’m sorry, Lana.”

She slapped him across the cheek “No..no...” She shook her head “You promised, he promised” She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks.

Steve pulled Lana into his arms letting her cry out for their friend.

“Sorry, I should…go” Steve interrupted Lana’s thoughts as he entered the kitchen.

She placed her hands on her cheeks wiping away the tears she had felt falling down her face “It’s okay, stay” She finished making herself a coffee. The two of them had distance themselves from each other when Steve had found out about Lana, he was still trying to come to terms with how this was possible. Tony had explained to Steve what Lana had done when Bucky and Steve died.

Steve opened the fridge door trying to figure out what to say to Lana; the two of them had ended their friendship the day that Lana mourned Bucky.

She took a sip from the coffee mug as she watched Steve “Do you like plums?”

“What?” Steve closed the fridge door.

“Do you like plums?” Lana asked again.

Steve seemed confused.

“When I was staying in the apartment that Tony set up for me, there was a nice little fruit stand. When Tony and I went out, I would always grab a few plums from the stand. It kind of reminded me off all the times we went to the fruit stands back, home.” She blew on the liquid inside the coffee mug.

Steve lowered his head as he remembered what Lana meant.

- - -

The two of them walked down the street ignoring the stares of those around them; Lana was surprised that she was even allowed to leave the Avengers Tower little did she know that Tony had set up a rule that Lana was only allowed to leave the tower if she was accompanied by someone from the team.

Steve watched as Lana walked a few steps ahead of him; The way her dress swayed as she walked, the way her heels clicked on the footpath as she walked. He smiled, she was just the way he remembered her. The girl who was always in a hurry.

He felt guilty for pushing Lana away when Bucky disappeared; She was the only friend that he had left, after Bucky’s death; Steve threw himself fully into being Captain America which had cost him his life. He didn’t know what happened to Lana after Bucky’s makeshift funeral; Peggy refused to talk about Lana which eventually caused him to stop asking about the woman that loved Bucky.

Lana stopped in front of the fruit stand and smiled; she looked down at the display of plums as Steve stopped next to her “Remember when James would try to get me to seduce that guy cause we didn’t have any money for food” She looked up at Steve.

Steve slightly nodded his head “Which quickly backfired”

“Most of his plans usually did when it came to me” She sighed as she looked around trying to spot a familiar face.

There he was; Standing across the road. Wearing a baseball cap to keep his facial features hidden. She smiled over at him; He wasn’t quite sure how to react.

“Grab a few.” She said to Steve before carefully crossing the road.

Steve looked up from the plum display before looking where Lana was going; He froze. That couldn’t be, He knew Bucky was alive but seeing his friend standing across the road couldn’t be right.

“Do you know who I am?” She asked Bucky as she stepped up onto the footpath.

Bucky reached his human hand to her cheek “Lana” he whispered as he placed his hand on her cheek.

“Do you know who you are?” She looked him in the eyes.

Bucky lowered his head trying to avoid answering that question.

“I come here just because of you” She placed one of her hands under his chin lifting his face up to look at her “Since that day you took me from the apartment. It’s hard now that Tony moved me, but I try, try just to catch a glimpse of you. Try just to talk to you, try just to remember everything we did together.”

Bucky smiled a little.

“I miss you” She whispered to him.

Bucky quickly pulled away from Lana when he noticed Steve Rogers heading towards them; He quickly pushed past the crowd causing Lana and Steve to lose sight of their friend.

Lana looked up at Steve “I told you to grab a few plums”

- - -

The two of them paid for a few plums to eat on the way back to the Avengers Tower

“That day that Tony thought you went missing, you were with Bucky?” Steve asked as he threw his last eaten plum in the bin.

Lana sighed “He came to my apartment that day” She bite into her final plum “I was at the stand, I could have sworn I heard my name being called out, but I couldn’t see who was calling it out. I started to head back to my apartment because I thought I was being watched, once I got inside I saw him standing on the balcony. I don’t know how he got in, I don’t know where he came from but there he was.” She took another bite from her plum “He took me to a safe house. The whole time we just stared at each other, he was scared, Steve” Lana stopped and looked up at Steve “Just like you, he couldn’t believe I was here, but he was afraid to come close to me. I explained to him what I did and he just kind of panicked.”

Steve listened to what Lana had said.

“So, since Stark moved me to the tower, I’ve been trying to find a way to get out. Find a way to see James again even if it’s just a glimpse” She lowered her head, looking at the plum in her hand. “you need to promise me that you won’t tell Tony, please”

“Lana” Steve sighed.

“Please Steve.” Lana begged as she looked up at him.

Steve knew that he should go and tell Tony Stark but at the same time knew that his friends from the past were more important that whatever Tony had planned.

= = =

“Lana, look what I brought you” Tony said as he walked into the lounge room with Happy trailing behind him with a few grocery bags.

“Not another outfit” Lana looked from Steve to Tony; She smiled slightly at Happy, she had meet him once before when he was instructed not to talk to Lana while she sat in the back of Tony Stark’s car, years ago. Happy had assumed he knew what Lana and Tony did, he was used to driving woman back home.

“I brought you plums” Tony beamed as Happy took the bags to the kitchen.

Lana’s face dropped “Sorry?”

“Well seeing as though as you keep asking everyone if they like plums and since you and Rogers keep going out almost every second day to go get some plums and you always seem to come back empty handed, I thought I would buy some for you to have” Tony casually sat down next to Lana; She quickly closed the page on her laptop screen.

Lana and Steve looked at each other; Had their secret been blown?

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Tony asked as he watched Lana attempt to find a new distraction on her laptop.

Lana kept her gaze on the screen while Steve watched the two of them.

“You and Rogers” Tony looked up at Steve than at Lana.

Lana looked up at Tony seeming confused on what Tony meant.

“The two of you are dating, aren’t you?”

Steve and Lana looked at each other; Lana breathed out a sigh of relief as her facial features relaxed.

“Lana and I?” Steve questioned.

“Yes, Steve. You and I” She glared at Steve trying to get him to agree to the words that Tony had just said.

“It was bound to happen, right? The two of you from the same time.” Tony started to come up with an explanation.

Lana and Steve nodded “Right” they both said.

“Good, now that we’ve cleared the air. No more sneaking out for plums” Tony jumped up to his feet as he air quoted the word plums; Tony began to walk out of the room and down to his lab.

“Oh, thank god” Lana breathed when Tony was out of sight.

= = =

“Maybe you should give the kid a chance” Bucky whispered in Lana’s ear as he moved his hands away from her waist.

Lana looked over at Steve “James, his sweet but…”

Bucky wasn’t taking no for an answer as he lead Lana over to Steve “Steve, why don’t you and Lana have a dance.”

Steve looked up at Lana; She was incredibly gorgeous under the dimly light room “I’m fine, Buck.” He looked up at his best friend.

Lana reached her hand out to Steve “Just one dance” She managed to say as Bucky took a seat.

Steve placed his hand in Lana’s “I guess, I could try.” He stood up and let Lana lead him over to the dance floor.

Bucky watched as the two of them awkwardly swayed on the dancefloor; He watched as everyone watched Steve interact with Lana. Woman weren’t exactly a fan of being around Steve Rogers, to them he wasn’t the guy that a girl falls for; Bucky was the type of guy that woman easily fell for.

“sorry” Steve whispered as he stepped on Lana’s feet.

“It’s okay.” She mumbled. Lana was supposed to go home four dances ago, but Bucky always had a way of convincing her to stay longer.

= = =

Lana placed her laptop down on the messy paper covered bench as she watched Tony work on the latest piece for his new Iron Man suit.

“Are you mad?” She asked as she sat down on the chair.

“Why would I be mad for you and Steve dating?” Tony glanced over his shoulder at her before looking back at the work in front of him.

Lana shrugged “I just thought that maybe you…”

Tony laughed a little “The two of you aren’t really dating, are you?”

Lana leaned back in the chair “What gave it away?”

“You know I’m with Pepper” Tony placed the hand drill down on the bench space next to him before turning to face Lana “Tell me the truth”

“Steve was helping me track down an old flame” Lana sighed.

“Does the old flame just happen to be Bucky?” Tony asked.

Lana nodded slightly.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you.”

Lana shrugged her shoulder lightly “What was I supposed to say? Everyone was hunting him down than he went underground. I just said plums because Bucky liked them and thought it was one way of tracking him down.”

“So, let me get this straight, if I lay out a trail of plums. The guy will come out?”

Lana laughed “No.”

= = =

Bucky pulled Lana down onto his lap as Steve sat back down; her feet killed her from the amount of times Steve had stepped on them. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

“I should really go, now” Lana sighed as she felt Bucky rest his chin on her shoulder.

Steve watched the two of them; He wanted what Bucky had, he wanted a girl to himself. Lana was gorgeous but knew she just wasn’t interested in some scrawny kid.

“Steve can take me home” Lana’s eyes flicked over to Steve who was starting to seem uncomfortable in the company of his friends.

Bucky’s eyes glanced over to his friend and smiled “Well in that case, I guess you should go home.”

Lana pulled away from Bucky before leaning down and kissing his cheek “Enjoy the rest of your night.”

- - -

“James told me that your going to keep trying to enlist” Lana tried to come up with something to say. She knew that Steve was just a kid who wanted to keep the bullies away.

“Yes, ma’am” Steve nodded.

“Can I give you some advice?” Lana asked.

“If it’s too tell me not to, Bucky has told me that before” Steve sighed.

Lana shook her head “No, not that.” She looked at the guy walking next to her “Don’t give up. Don’t let your spirit be crushed, no matter the outcome.” They stopped outside the front of her unit “Goodnight, Steve Rogers” she kissed his cheek before pushing the door opening and walking up to her floor level.

Steve smiled.

= = =

Lana hadn’t given up searching for Bucky, she hadn’t stopped trying to escape to see the fruit market but now that it was 2016,things had defiantly changed.

She listened as the Avengers talked about the accords, she had learnt a lot while being in the shadow of Tony Stark, but he still wanted to do his best to keep Lana safe. She was still under his guard and regularly had deliveries of plums sent to the Avengers Tower.

Lana missed trying to catch glimpses of Bucky and used the photos that Tony could find as her reason to not give up trying to find her friend. Her relationship with Steve Rogers had certainly changed, they were more known to each other than they had been in years that passed by. Lana wasn’t using Steve to help track down Bucky instead they had started to form a closer bond to the point that the other Avengers thought the two of them were dating.

She walked out of the room as the discussion began to become heated over whether signing the accords was worth it.

- - -

“We’re doing this for the future” Howard slammed his hands down on the table.

Lana and Peggy looked up at him “But this isn’t the future, Howard. His just a kid.” Lana argued with Howard.

“His not just any ol’ kid, Lana” Howard tried to reason with her.

“And what happens if it backfires?” Lana questioned

“Howard will make sure that it won’t” Peggy reassured Lana “Won’t you, Stark?” She looked up at Howard.

= = =

“I found him, Lana” Steve rushed as he spoke on the phone

Lana smiled when she heard Steve’s words “Where is he?”

“Sam’s keeping an eye on him at the moment. But Bucky is back, Lana”

Lana closed her eyes for a moment as she beamed; she couldn’t believe it.

“But I need you to promise me something”

“Anything” Lana admitted.

“Don’t tell Tony, he’d want Bucky brought in”

- - -

Lana had kept her promise to Steve; She wanted Bucky safe, she had heard what happened. She had heard that he was being framed for a bombing on a King of Wakanda. She hadn’t seen Tony in days; leaving her on her own in the Avengers Tower.

She kept the TV on trying to catch any report of either Steve, Tony or Bucky and thankful they kept the reports flowing of those three. She knew they were alive that was the main thing. She kept her laptop switched on; using the internet to keep up to date on the current happenings that the media wasn’t reporting on tv. She followed the updates from civilians as they posted what was going on around them.

= = =

Lana felt like she was going insane; she hadn’t had any contact with anyone from the Avengers team in days. F.R.I.D.A.Y, Tony’s latest A.I wasn’t being helpful instead doing the best to keep Lana stuck indoors.

“Where is she!?”

Lana heard Tony’s voice; she rushed out of her bedroom “Tony!?” She saw his damaged Iron Man suit, seeing his bloody face as she faced him.

“Did you know?” Tony asked as he began to pull pieces of his iron man suit off himself.

“Did I know, what?” Lana watched as the pieces hit the floor; watching as Tony winced in pain.

“Did you know that your boyfriend killed my parents!?” Tony screamed as Lana.

Lana’s eyes widened; She didn’t know; Steve hadn’t told her. He kept the winter solider side of Bucky hidden from her. She managed to slowly shake her head.

“Don’t lie to me” Tony’s raised his gloved ironman hand to Lana.

“Anthony Edward Stark, I promise you that I didn’t know.” Lana bravely said before watching Tony lower his hand pulling the pieces off his hand.

“I want you out.” Tony looked down at the pieces of the suit down to the ground.

“Tony” Lana whispered.

“I WANT YOU OUT!” He looked up at Lana; He felt betrayed. Not only had he lost a man that he had began to trust but he had also lost trust in the woman he had saved.

Lana didn’t need to be told a third time as she ran from the sight of the man.

= = =

Lana had no where else to go; the one man that had kept her safe all these years was now kicking her out of his life. She wasn’t sure where Captain America was, she wasn’t sure where Bucky was. She felt lost as she stepped out onto the pavement, tears falling from her eyes.

She kept her head lowered as she squeezed past the crowds. Lana needed some where to go, she only knew of one other place and wasn’t sure if anyone else would be there.

She hurried herself past the crowds as she made her way to the one place she had known off.

Lana pushed open the door seeing that the run-down apartment had dramatically changed. Sure, it was still as run-down as the last time she was there, but it had looked as if there had been a few physical fights in here.

She leaned her the back of her lower body against the kitchen bench as she hunched over letting the tears fall. She felt alone. She felt just like she did all those years ago except this time there was no Howard Stark or Peggy Carter to make Lana Montgomery get over her emotions.

Lana’s blonde hair draped over her face as she tried to come to terms with what was going on. She would give anything to go back to being frozen, she would give anything to go back to her time. She would give anything to go back to before she even knew of Steve and Bucky. She would just go back to life before meeting Howard Stark and Peggy Carter.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been crying for, but her feet had ache from her standing too long; her back ached from being hunched over for too long. She sat down and leaned her back against the wall of the kitchen bench, feeling the temperate change of the breeze.

She looked out at the broken back door. Wishing for a miracle, wishing someone would come and tell her that she wasn’t alone. She turned her head when she heard footsteps out the front of the apartment door, she shuffled her position to behind the kitchen bench trying to hide as the footsteps got louder.

She listened as the footsteps moved around the run-down apartment before stopping. She carefully peeked her head out from behind the kitchen bench, she recognised those pants. Her gaze shifted up “Captain!” She jumped up to her feet.

“Lana” Steve pulled her into his arms.

“Where’s James?” She asked as she began to feel safe in Steve’s arms.

“His safe, I’m going to take you to him” Steve smiled as Lana didn’t pull away from him.

= = =

Lana followed behind Steve as the two of them stepped off the plane. She had told Steve what Tony did; Steve acted surprised for Lana’s sake, but he wasn’t surprised, after everything the everyone had been through, he would have been more surprised to have Lana stay in Tony’s life.

Steve lead Lana down the streets of Wakanda and down to the paddocks; down to the huts. He lead her down to one that sat close to the water’s edge. The two of them watched as man with black hair tied back into a bun turned around.

He had changed since they both last saw each other; He no longer had his metal arm instead his stub of his shoulder was held back in a sling, he looked calm.

“Do you know who I am?” Lana asked as she and Steve stopped in front of him.

“Lana” Bucky smiled.

“Do you know who you are?” She asked as she stared into his blue eyes.

“Bucky” He replied calmly.

Lana could feel the tears of joy roll down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around his neck; He placed his hand on her lower back. Bucky felt home with Lana in his arm.

Steve tried to sneak off as the two hugged.

“Where do you think you’re going, Steve?” Lana stopped Steve from walking away “Come here”

Steve stepped closer to Bucky and Lana; She wrapped one of her arms around Steve’s neck keeping her other one around Bucky’s; Steve placed one of his hands on the back of Lana while the other one placed over Bucky’s shoulder. She wasn’t going to let go of the boys that she loved; she just wanted to stay with them until the end of time.

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randomfandomimagine · 6 years

Text

Sunshine in the Moonlight. Chapter 16: Absent

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV

Pairing: Prompto x Alexandria (OC)

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For the rest of the journey in train I observed the ring, trying to distract myself and avoid noticing Prompto’s absence. I forced thoughts about the ring of the Lucii and the Crystal to my mind instead, finding an eerie feeling taking over me that worsened the longer I carried the ring.

I refused to talk to any of my friends and decided to become isolated instead for the time being, promising myself to quit that attitude once we arrived to Tenebrae.

Once we reached our destination, we found with Aranea Highwind. Ignis quickly told me about their previous encounters with her. Apparently, she was a valuable force in the imperial forces yet the ex-mercenary had proven herself to be a great ally for ourselves, as she also helped them find the mythril needed to fix the ship that sailed us to Altissia. Luckily, Aranea lent us two of her men –Wedge and Biggs –and offered them to drive us to Gralea. The Crystal was apparently locked away in there, which allegedly kept the daemons away. Whatever the case, it rightfully belonged to Noctis and he was determined to take it back.

We arrived to the conclusion that the Chancellor was behind everything, as usual, and that he quite possibly had Prompto in his power. I did not like the idea of Ardyn Izunia keeping my sunshine locked away, not one bit. I was also obsessed by the idea that if something happened to him my last words to him weren’t ones of affection. They had been pointless blabber when I could have reminded him of how important he was to me. I promised myself to tell him ‘I love you’ if… when I saw him again.

Once we boarded the train once more, this time with a proper driver, we sat in silence at first. We now had the entire train to ourselves, yet such emptiness felt distressing. It also reminded me of Prompto’s absence, almost like the world was darker without him there with us.

I absently glimpsed at my bracelet, nostalgic about the moment we purchased it back in Altissia. The leather bracelet that matched Prompto’s own. The one that he was so excited to buy because it meant to be sharing something with me.

“Alex” Noctis’ voice caught my attention, and I felt relieved to have something to further distract myself with.

“Hello, Noct” I crossed my arms over my chest, concealing both the ring and the bracelet, and looked up at him with a forced smile. Worryingly silent and solemnly, Noctis sat down in the seat in front of me and stared. I could tell by the expression of his face and the pained look in his pale eyes that he was the bearer of further bad news.

“Look” He began to say, causing my breath to hitch in my throat. “I’m sorry”

“About what?” I anxiously replied, although not quite sure whether I wanted to know or not.

“About Prompto” My friend replied, as though it was obvious.

“Oh” My artificial smile transformed into a sweet and genuine one when I took notice that he was there to comfort me. “Don’t worry about it, it was not your fault”

I leaned forward to place a hand atop of his, knowing he must have felt distraught himself. After all, Prompto was his best friend and he cared deeply about him. Much to my bewilderment, Noctis’ hand slid away from mine, refusing the touch.

“Hasn’t Ignis told you?” His dark thin brows furrowed in shock and astonishment.

“T-Tell me what?” I mentally prayed that if we had more information about our beloved blond, it was positive. Even if my anxiety grew at the possibility that it wasn’t.

“He… didn’t fall off the train” Noctis looked away in shame. “He was pushed”

“Ardyn” I immediately spit out.

“No” He heaved a big sigh before carrying on. “I did it, I… I pushed him”

To me it felt like the train had stopped again, like the world had stopped existing and the only thing I was aware of was the fact that Noctis was confessing to have pushed his best friend off a moving train. Shock was dominating me, making it impossible for me to feel anything else, like anger or sadness or horror.

“How…? Noct, you…” Was all I could let out in astonishment.

“I mean” Noctis corrected himself, very quickly. “Ardyn made me, he tricked me!”

I watched him in silence, still too startled and speechless to manage any coherent words.

“He… disguised himself as Prompto and Prompto as Ardyn. I should have seen through it, but I didn’t, and he tricked me! That son of a bitch made me push my best friend! And now we don’t know where he is or what happened to him or-“

I stood up, not taking it anymore. Instead of relieving my doubts and anguish, that last statement only worsened my nervous condition. Ardyn was involved after all. Of course he was.

“Alex?” Noctis dared to say, seeing as I was not uttering a single word or sound.

I realized then I had stopped in front of the door that gave access to the next car of the train. I hadn’t moved from the spot, holding myself back before completely leaving the scene.

I wanted to blame Noctis, yet I couldn’t. I wanted to shout at him, call him unconscious and stupid. Be furious with him. Cry like crazy. Leave him alone and never speak to him ever again. Give him the silent treatment as a punishment. But I didn’t. I didn’t do any of those things. No. I needed to stop running away, I needed to stop blaming everyone else for my mishaps and my feelings. I needed to be brave and confront my problems instead of childishly resolving to crying or hiding. I needed to start approaching those obstacles with maturity and diplomacy.

I wondered if it was the ring locked in my fist which caused such an emptiness and dark apathy within me. Yet I felt like I did not have the energy to do nothing but to stand there.

“It’s not your fault” I took a great effort, but I choked out a few words. “It wasn’t you, it was Ardyn”

Noctis was feeling the weight of guilt crushing him at the moment, which added to everything he had in his plate already. His concern for Prompto was definitely as great as mine, and he didn’t need the unnecessary guilt. He would never consciously hurt him. Or any of us, for that matter. He had just fallen victim to one of Ardyn’s tricks and mind games, it happened to the best of us. It would be hypocritical to blame him for a mistake I made in the past as well.

“But I should have realized it wasn’t really Prompto” Noctis was being harsher with himself than I was, he couldn’t truly forgive himself even if I did. “Then he would be here with us”

“It’s so easy to fall into one of his traps…” I feebly turned around and tiredly plopped down back in my seat. “Anyone could have”

“Not anyone” Noctis leaned forward, nervously playing with his hands, and shook his head, mad at himself.

“It happened to me too” I stated, causing him to quickly look up at me in surprise. However, I continued talking when I felt the need to confess that crime, to share that horrible guilt that had been eating me alive ever since it happened back in Altissia. “Ardyn did the same to me and I made the same stupid and horrible mistake”

Noctis’ eyes were wide with shock, his lips silently moving in a dazed attempt to say something. I resolved to carry on explaining before I regretted it or lost my courage.

“While you were fighting the Hydraean, Prompto left to help you”

“He… did… He helped me get there”

“That was Prompto” I nodded, gluing my gaze to the bracelet in my wrist to avoid Noctis’ eyes. “And I thought the person that came to me next was still Prompto, but it was Ardyn”

“What did he do?” Noctis was smart enough to realize Ardyn had used that twisted scheme to hurt me.

“Well, he did say some unnecessary and hurtful words that would only hurt more coming from Prompto… but he also… that bastard…”

“Did he hurt you?”

“Well, he knocked me unconscious but…”

“Alex, what else did he do?” I had never heard Noctis’ voice so cold and serious before, it was almost intimidating all the hatred his voice was laced with.

“I couldn’t help Ignis” My voice broke as I confessed, and the bracelet suddenly blurred when my vision was dimmed because of my sudden tears. “If I had realized that wasn’t Prompto, I would have been able to go back to him and now he wouldn’t be blind”

Noctis didn’t say anything. I just heard him gulping loudly and exhaling a trembling sigh.

“That son of a bitch…” He just repeated in the end, hatred and fury still present in his tone.

This time it was him who stood up in anger and seethed there in silence. I dared not to say anything, feeling like the tension was palpable in the air and the situation seemed fragile like glass. I feared that if I said something, Noctis might break down, or I would.

Suddenly, a hand fell on my shoulder, comfortingly.

“None of that matters now, we can’t change the past” Noctis stated, quite in a wise fashion, I must add. It left me dumbfounded for a second, yet I recovered quickly. I looked up at him and nodded, glad that we had somehow forgiven each other. We had shared our thoughts, those feelings that we so desperately needed to vent in order to be able to move on. Even if it would be far more difficult to forgive ourselves.

Fortune wasn’t favoring us, it seemed. As though the deep darkness that surrounded us wasn’t harrowing enough, an unforgiving cold overcame us seeing as we passed by the Glacian’s body as the deity was somehow killed by the Empire.

I had shared my apprehension with Ignis about the ring of the Lucii, confessing its eerie aura triggered great concern in me, as though it was a bad omen. I could not get rid of the bad feeling that it occasioned on me. My friend, however, shrugged it off. He reassured me by saying that it was no strange that in times of trouble as such I felt distraught, yet I was quite possibly blaming it on the ring when it was nothing but an inanimate object that had no part on the current events.

Hence, the five… four, of us sat in the train waiting until we made it to the imperial capital. That was, until the train suddenly came to a halt. We just hopped it had to do with the snow and not with something Ardyn related. We did, however, waste lots of valuable time outside investigating and battling monsters that got in our way.

Strangely enough, the following events seemed to mix together when we hopped back into the train and Noctis was about to join us. All I knew was that I was cold, very cold, and I couldn’t truly fathom what was happening before I passed out.

A constant and sharp noise woke me from my restless stupor, and I found myself lying in the train floor, completely clueless about what had happened. When I lifted my head, I saw Gladio and Iggy standing to their feet and Noctis sitting down in front of me. That noise I heard was the sound of him shivering and his teeth chattering.

“Noct?” I mumbled groggily, slowly sitting up and craning my neck to look up at Ignis and Gladio.

“I saw the Glacian” Noctis mumbled to the two men. “It’s okay, she’s gone now. You guys check on our drivers”

“Got it”

“Everyone alright?” Ignis worried as Gladio took him by the arm.

“Yes” I mumbled as they obeyed Noct’s orders. Only then did they walk away, leaving the two of us alone.

I sighed and dragged myself closer to Noctis, realizing he wasn’t moving from his sitting spot nor was his shivering stopping. Concerned, I placed a hand on his bare forearm.

“Noct, you’re freezing!” I exclaimed, immediately wrapping my arms around him.

“I-I’m fine” He managed to let out, even though he could not stop shaking under me.

I glued my body to his, with both arms placed around him, in an attempt to provide him with my body warmth and frantically rubbed my hands up and down his arms to hopefully raise his temperature. He instinctively leaned into me to further facilitate the process.

Noctis suddenly hung his head low and his shoulders started convulsing in a way much different from his temperature shivering. I leaned forward to see his face and caught a glimpse of some tears running down his cheeks.

“Noct…” I uttered sadly, hating to see him cry.

I had never seen Noctis cry, and it was such a harrowing image. Witnessing one of your closest friends cry was just horrible and rendered you helpless as you wondered what you could do to stop it. Maybe even blame yourself for not avoiding it on the first place, for not being enough for them so that it ended up becoming too much.

“I’m fine” He repeated again, sort of in a bad temper. At least it seemed like he had stop shivering as much, which was some improvement.

Feeling extremely clumsy and incapable, I resolved to soothingly rub his back in an attempt to calm him and comfort him. I just wanted him to stop crying, to be alright.

“I know I shouldn’t be crying, but…” Noctis whispered in a strangled voice. “It’s so hard… Luna and…”

“Noct, you may be king now” I gulped, feeling like that term didn’t quite represent Noctis still. “Yet you’re a human being first and foremost, you are allowed to cry and grief, remember?”

“That’s not what Gladio says” Still quite angry, he wiped away his tears with the back of his fist.

“What Gladio means is that you are allowed as long as you pick yourself up and bravely carry on after that” He didn’t reply, but his stiff shoulders relaxed a tad. However, my friend remained sitting there, defeated and exhausted.

I knew Noctis, and I didn’t want to impose. Hence, I didn’t urge him to speak his mind and tell me what was on his heart, for he would do so if he wanted to and only when he saw convenient. Also, I ventured that what he needed the most was some time alone. He wasn’t like Prompto, who was more likely to burst out and blurt all his thoughts and emotions as he cried and asked to be held. Noctis preferred to go through that alone, without anyone being there to witness such a personal and shameful moment.

“I’ll give you some privacy” I finally told him, slowly breaking the physical contact.

Noctis leaned on a seat to pull himself up as well and faced his back to me. Even if he dedicated me a brief look after that. He had stopped crying, and his expression was one of pure strength and determination. Noctis was willing to heed my words and pick himself up in order to carry on after his breakdown.

Before I left and as I stood to my feet, I watched him in awe. The thought hit me that, the person before me wasn’t the Noctis I knew. He wasn’t a spoiled prince anymore, he was starting to become a mature and wise king. And I was so proud of him.

The train was operational once more, yet not for long. We were quick to investigate the malfunction once more, only to be faced with a nasty surprise. As we walked through the connecting car, the entire train violently shook, the glass windows cracking at our left. All of us fell to the floor because of the tremor and took our time to recover.

“What now?” Gladio grouchily muttered, his voice being muffled because of the driver’s inaudible announcement through the speakers.

I gasped when small yet frightening creatures jumped to land on the cracked glass.

“What is it?” Ignis blindly reached out for me until his hand finally touched my arm.

“Daemons” I replied angrily, heaving a resigned sigh.

I held my hand up, trying to conjure my sword yet nothing happened. I glanced at Noctis and realized his hand hovered in the air in a similar manner.

“The weapons…”

“Get back!” Gladio pushed through us to aggressively kick the monsters that were starting to fill the car we were in.

“Run!” Ignis yelled, realizing we were mostly defenseless. Without further ado, I linked my arm with his and took him with me as all of us prepared for our escape.

“Only a matter of time before we run out of room to run” He objected as we relentlessly ran car after car.

“Got a better idea?” Noctis complained behind us.

“The Regalia!” I exclaimed, quickly remembering it was somewhere in the train as well.

“C’mon!” Gladio encouraged us at the rear of the group, always the royal Shield.

Ignis and I ran at full speed, leading the march as we made our way to the part of the train where the Regalia was kept. Once again, that car felt like a safe haven for us.

Once the vehicle was at sight, I hurriedly led Ignis to the back seat, there where Noctis usually sat at. I myself occupied the copilot seat, the one that Prompto usually claimed. I couldn’t help but to be overwhelmed with mental images of him as we travelled in the Regalia. Watching Prompto take pictures from his spot, or turn around in the seat to talk to us, or lean over the side of the car to calmly watch the passing scenery.

A second after, Noctis sat in the driver’s seat next to me and Gladio accompanied Iggy in the back. Our royal friend was quick to start the engine and stomp on the gas pedal to quickly escape.

“Floor it!”

“That’s the plan”

As Noct drove extremely fast, I wished there were seatbelts in the bloody car, yet there were none. Instead, I firmly held on to the seat as I watched him navigate through the path ahead.

We were currently inside a tunnel, which felt quite claustrophobic as it was also dark and filled with obstacles that Noctis had to be extremely attentive to in order to avoid. Soon enough, fortunately, we were out in the open again.

It wasn’t fortunate for too long, I realized, because explosions started to erupt around us. They were trying to get us off the road, and it was also damaging the car. Bracing for the inevitable, I stretched out my arms and pressed my hands against anything that could provide me with support and shut my eyes tight. Indeed, the car came to a sudden halt. I couldn’t tell whether we had crashed, the Regalia couldn’t take the strain anymore or Noct have abruptly stomped on the breaks. Whatever the case, I finally exhaled deeply as I dared to open my eyes.

The glass of the windows was cracked and filled with water drops, which made me aware of the fact that it had started pouring with rain outside. The front of the car was smoking and it was probably wrecked as well.

Resigned and saddened with the state the car was in, all of us exited the vehicle. I watched it, taking notice of the terrible damage that had been done to it.

The car that had taken us so far in our journey, that had accompanied us and made us feel safe. That sheltered us from the cold, the rain and the monsters. The car where Gladio gladly allowed me to sleep over him when I was exhausted. Where Prompto had used me as a pillow, causing butterflies in my stomach out of pure bliss. Where Noctis and I had our first friendly interactions. The car that Ignis used to drive. I never thought I could grow attached to a car, yet I did. I was nostalgic upon remembering all those memories, all those moments we shared in it. To add to it, Noctis then uttered some gut-wrenching words that provoked a lump in my throat.

“Dad, thanks for everything…” There was a great sadness reflected in his pale blue eyes as he stared at the destroyed vehicle. I realized then that the Regalia had been King Regis’ car. Noctis definitely had many more memories joined to it than we did. All the more heartbreaking.

Sharing a flew glances, we exchanged our restlessness concerning our situation. We were to enter the capital empty handed, defenseless as we still had no weapons, and by foot. It wasn’t too comforting.

Noctis closed his hands into fists and showed a stoic expression as he started leading the way, heading towards the entrance of the building where we would hopefully find the Crystal that was stolen from Insomnia when the Empire attacked it, as well as rescue our beloved Prompto.

Gladio and Ignis stood back slightly as the latter needed to be more careful due to his blind state. Gladiolus was sure to guide and help him as well.

I followed Noctis closely, eager to immerse ourselves in there. Not because I wanted to get inside, but merely because then we could finally reclaim what belonged to Noctis as well as get our friend back.

“We’re almost there” I told myself, solely to ease my anxiety. The closer I stepped to that place, the more my mind reminded me that Prompto was in there. That we had no idea of what could have happened to him, especially if Ardyn was involved.

Noctis stepped under an upside down train that had allegedly flipped onto that position. I felt squeamish as I followed after him, experiencing the unpleasant feeling of peril that a precariously settled object like such exerted over me as I passed under it.

I should have guessed that it would budge, because as soon as I had positioned myself below, the train began to budge.

“Alex!” Noctis shouted in horror when he noticed.

Letting out a scream of terror, I threw myself forwards to save myself from the falling train that would no doubt squash me to death. Noctis gasped and reached out to catch me as I fell forward in order to break my fall. Time seemed to slow down as I fell.

The deafening sound of the train collapsing behind me, the screaming coming from Ignis and Gladio, the loud gasp from Noctis, the grunt as I collided with him.

I breathed heavily as my friend’s arms supported me and I fell over his torso, keeping me from landing on the floor, and he urgently pulled me up to my feet.

“You okay?!” He exclaimed, digging his eyes in my face in concern.

“Yes…” I managed between ragged breaths, completely dazed by what could have happened if I hadn’t been fast enough. I shakily supported my hands on his shoulders to stand on my own as he absently let go of me. That was a close call.

“Hey, Ignis!” He shouted then, turning around to see the falling train had separated us from them. “Gladio!”

Upon receiving no answer, he faced me again. He frowned and so did I, yet we communicated without any words. My glance seemed to convey all the restlessness I felt and his showed a great determination. I nodded to him to express that I would stand by him, and he understood.

Noct nodded himself, vehemently, before leading the way once more. This time I stood next to him, refusing to stay away from him in such perilous situation.

Hence, we headed for the place where the Crystal and Prompto allegedly were. That place where we would retrieve the light that would end the darkness of the world and keep the daemons at bay and the sunshine that would dismiss our own darkness.

It wasn’t easy going through daemons without the help of our weapons, but we made it inside. Once sheltered from the danger as well as the rain, Noct and I sat on the ground to catch our breaths.

“This place will be infested with daemons as well” I warned him between ragged breaths.

“I know”

“We have no possible way of defending ourselves without our weapons”

“I know!”

However, an idea arrived to my mind that very well could save our lives. My hand fell over my pocket, there where a small round object sat.

“Noct, the ring!” I quickly pulled it out of my pocket and offered it to him. “Without our weapons, it’s our only chance!”

“No!” He refused, turning his face away from me, repulsed by the mere sight of it.

I supposed that ring was a reminder of Luna’s passing. It was that which she gave her life for, trying to deliver it to its rightful owner. It also must have frightened him the amount of responsibility and power it harbored. Not to mention the painful memory of his father.

“You have to put it on!” I exclaimed, knowing it was of great importance.

“I can’t do it!”

“Noct, you can do it! I’m here with you! And I know you can!”

The ring lied on my palm as I offered it to him. He eyed me in silence, moving his gaze from me to the ring and back to my eyes. He hesitated.

The ring still seemed to be provoking great sorrow within me, filling me with that strange heavy void. However, as soon as Noctis took it from my hand, that eerie feeling completely vanished as though it was never there. It felt like the ring weighted more than just a ring.

Noctis and I exchanged a restless glance before he proceeded to put it on. His face began to distort with pain and strife. I watched him struggle as he tried to put it on, seeming like it exerted a great force and resistance. My friend groaned and sharply inhaled and exhaled as he fought against the influence it had on him. With a firm and cold clamp clutching my stomach and my throat, I stared at him in horror, feeling unable to help, until it finally slid around his finger. Noctis then screamed out, almost like he was experiencing a great and excruciating pain.

“Noct!” Worriedly, I placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it anxiously. “Are you alright?”

I impatiently awaited an answer as my entire face distorted with concern.

Noctis slowly recovered from whatever had happened to his body when he put the ring on. His uneven breaths slowed down until they recovered a more natural and tranquil pace and he sighed, almost in relief. Still not quite registering my presence there, he looked at the ring as he opened and closed his hand.

“N-Noct?” I nervously uttered, frightened by a new energy that emanated from him. One far more aggressive and imposing than before.

Finally, he glanced at me, acknowledging my presence. His eyes were hard at first, until they saw me and softened, acquiring that usual calm and laidback glow of his.

“I’m okay” He replied, nodding his head.

“I’m proud of you, Highness” I confessed, realizing that he might need to hear those words as well.

It made him smile a little, relieving the tension and importance of the situation we were currently stuck in. He nodded again and stood up, taking a confident and worthy stance.

“The time has come” He told me, holding his arm up against his chest.

The words gave me goosebumps, as it felt like we were on the final stage of our journey.

As we started advancing, a daemon obstructed our way and Noctis protectively placed an arm before me. It passed my mind that he had stopped being the protected and was now the protector instead.

“Stay behind me”

“I might not have my weapons, Highness” I replied, attempting to lighten the mood still. “But I’m not completely useless”

Noctis grinned at me over his shoulder, but I obliged and stayed behind him, resting my hands on his shoulder so he knew where I was standing at every moment.

He extended his right hand –the one that worn the ring –towards the daemon and immediately, I could feel energy exerting from it. Reddish and blueish lights emanated from the ring until they reached the daemon, that exploded and its black fog slowly dissipated in the air.

Taking my wrist in an obvious gesture that implied that he wanted to keep track of where I was at, Noctis kept on walking. And I did too.

Looking up, we could evaluate the great proportions of the place. It was a long way, but we had to make it to the top. There where we would hopefully find the Crystal. And Prompto.

That place was eerie and unsettling, it seemed to be playing tricks on us. The complete silence and stillness anguished me as Noctis and I navigated through the dimly lit hallways and long lonely corridors.

We slowly made our way up, managing the best we could as we had to find keycards in order to open doors and take elevators. I was very glad that Noctis was there with me, at least, and that I was with him. It would be far too frightening to experience that alone.

The ring saved us from the daemons that we encountered on our way, although we still had to be extremely careful and drop a few punches and kicks here and there.

We remained silent for the most part, except for sporadic comments when we felt like the tension was too great and the silence was too loud and suffocating.

Startled and frightened, I clung onto Noctis’ arm when a voice echoed around the hallways we were currently walking along.

“How does it feel to be powerless?” It was the unpleasant voice of Ardyn Izunia. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to help your friends”

“Don’t listen to him, Noct” I told my friend, still holding on to his arm.

“Shut up” He said, looking up and directing his words to Ardyn.

Noctis, however, gasped when he looked down and ahead again, and urgently took me with him. In a rush, he held on to me as he hid in a small open space in the wall which served as a hiding spot. My back rested against his chest as we both squeezed together in that very tight, cramped space.

“What’s-“ I began to ask, wondering what he saw to give him the urge to hide like that. Noctis quickly shoved a hand against my mouth to silence me, so I obliged and remained quiet. Even if he hadn’t uncovered my mouth. It was the right call, because I let out an involuntary muffled yelp against his gloved palm when a shadow passed us by. A dark shadow that displayed a reddish light.

My heart sped up at the sight of such a horrible and scarring creature, which vaguely resembled an MT soldier, albeit mixed with a daemon. I could hear Noctis’ accelerated breathing behind me as well. We solely relaxed our stiff postures and alert stances once the MT passed by and was far gone. Then he dropped his hand and sighed softly.

“I hate MTs” I mumbled, carefully exiting our hiding spot and watching we were safe.

“There’s something off about those, though” Noct mumbled as he left that spot as well.

We locked eyes, and I knew by the look in his that he was as distressed as I was.

“Let’s keep going” He mumbled, to which I nodded in agreement.

We were somewhere halfway to the top, and we had no other choice but to continue climbing to the highest point. Even through eerie daemons, MTs and Ardyn’s taunts.

I grew more restless by the second. Being exposed to that unnerving atmosphere for such extent period of time was messing with my head. Every slight source of light created frightening shadows along the walls that my brain always registered as either daemons or MTs. On an instinct, I always tried to summon my weapons as a result, just to be reminded of the cruel reality.

I felt extremely lucky that Noctis was capable to wear the ring and use its powers to our advantage. Otherwise, the daemons would have killed us long ago.

Noctis looked over his shoulder to check on me like he had been doing almost ever since we arrived. Once he saw I stood strong and followed closely behind him, he kept leading the way and being alert in case he had to take more daemons down or we encountered more strange MagiTek troopers.

“Poor Prompto” A pompous voice told us, coming from nowhere. “I just hope you can get to him in time”

I clenched my jaw at the image those words created on my mind, of my sunshine being broken and miserable. Being hurt and enduring insufferable pain and holding on to the hope that we would rescue him, trying not to give up on his life and fighting to stay alive after whatever horrible things Ardyn might have done to him.

Feeling weak, I rested a hand on Noct’s shoulder as we continued walking and shut my eyes tight to try and shake that horrible picture away.

I was fed up with Ardyn’s mocking words to upset us, to make us feel alone, frightened and miserable. To create those images in our heads about our friend.

“Shut up!” The image wouldn’t leave me, that of a pale, bloody and sick Prompto lying lifeless on the ground as he tried to desperately hold on to his last drop of life.

“Calm down, Alex” Noctis told me, surprisingly serene. “He’s lying, playing with you”

I was alright with Ardyn’s stupid taunts when they didn’t involve Prompto. But ever since he realized what hurt me the most, he started to pull the right strings to get into my head.

I figured he was lying as well, but what if he wasn’t? That concept obsessively took over all my thoughts and rid me of any objectivity or rationality. And he knew.

“If you keep wasting time it will be too late…” Ardyn feigned sadness. “And to think the boy merely wanted to see you again”

“Ardyn, you bloody…” I shouted at the ceiling. “Show yourself, you clown! Stop hiding in the shadows and face us!”

“Alexandria” Noctis turned around to me, yet I ignored him as he tried to get ahold of me and I absently swatted him away. I had never ever felt such a burning hatred towards anyone. Such a lively fury that only evolved with the sound of his disgusting and arrogant voice and the implications of his words that made my stomach turn queasy.

“Where’s Prompto, you son of a bitch?!”

“Alex, Alex!”

“Stop playing games!!”

“Alex, Al!” Noctis took me by the arms and energetically shook me once.

Entertained by the scene I was causing, we heard Ardyn’s evil cackle echoing around the empty hallways. I scowled in response, even though tears of frustration and helplessness burned in my eyes.

“Look, I’m as worried for Prompto as you are” Noctis mumbled once he finally managed to gather my attention. “But don’t give into this, this is what he wants!”

“That bastard…” I still looked up, fuming mad at Ardyn.

“Look at me” Noctis shook me once more, until I locked eyes with him. “Listen, listen to me”

I nodded to let him know that I was listening, even if the fury was burning under the surface still. My friend then proceeded while I tried to block out the noise of Ardyn’s background voice.

“We’re gonna find Prompto, he’s gonna be okay and we’re gonna get him out of here, okay?”

“But Noct, what if-?”

“Okay?” He exclaimed, shaking me yet again. I finally seemed to control my temper, because I acquired a more serene outlook.

“Okay” I agreed, sighing as I put my hands before me to express compliance. “Sorry”

“It’s fine, just… chill” Finally feeling more convinced, he let go of me.

“We should continue” I said to him, not without sending Ardyn one last death glare in the hopes that he could see how much I hated him.

“Yeah, we should” He motioned for me to follow as he carried on advancing like we were before we were interrupted by my outburst caused by Ardyn. I forced myself to keep collected in order to carry on our mission.

I wouldn’t be able to take it for much longer. No matter how much we advanced, it seemed to never end. Like we could never get to Prompto, no matter how long we looked him for. And I was exhausted. I just wanted to see him, look into his soft blue eyes and witness his bright smile, hear his upbeat voice and feel his warm touch around me. His absence was becoming too much of a burden once the fear that he might be at the verge of death settled in my conscious mind.

Feeling resigned and defeated, I sighed and resolved to just keep walking. Hopefully it would all be over soon. I glanced at Noctis to analyze his demeanor, yet his expression was quite controlled and neutral albeit focused.

My friend was looking all around him to make sure we weren’t taken by surprise by any daemons or MTs on our endeavor. And then, suddenly, I noticed something in front of him.

A figure wearing dark clothes. A mop of disheveled blond hair.

I blinked and it was gone, but it was present long enough to make my heart flutter.

“Noct! Did you see that?” I pointed my finger ahead of us, filled with hope, causing him to turn.

“See what?” His eyes scrutinized the area, just to find nothing.

“Prompto, I… I saw him!”

“You did? You sure?”

“Well, I-I… I thought so… I… don’t know”

“Maybe your mind is playing tricks on you” When he uttered the word ‘tricks’ I realized it was definitely a trick, just that it wasn’t my mind who was playing.

“Or Ardyn” I angrily suggested, closing my hands into tight fists.

A noise behind us startled us, so we were quick to turn around to see what it was.

“Daemons!”

“Run!”

And so we did, not having the time nor the energies to face more monsters.

Ardyn’s voice had become a nuisance, a buzzing noise that irritated us even if we tried to block it out. He could never make me lose hope, no matter how many doubts he achieved to plant in my brain.

Tired yet relentless, we trudged along the never-ending dark and narrow corridors until we finally found ourselves with a lead. We had found Prompto, we merely needed to get to him and rescue him.

I ran to the metallic door and closed my fingers around the bars that separated me from my boyfriend. I stared at him, worried to see that he was sitting motionlessly in that cold and metallic chair, with his head limply falling to the side.

“Prompto!” I energetically shook the bars that separated us from him. “Wake up, we’re here!”

“Dammit, it won’t budge!” Noctis did the same, trying to force them.

“There must be a way inside”

“Let’s take a look, maybe we can find a way around it”

I nodded and followed after him, allowing him to lead still, just in case we encountered more monsters.

It took us more time than it should have, and hopefully Prompto’s life wasn’t in peril. Yet we managed to sneak into the room Prompto was kept at. Eager to see him up close and touch and comfort him, I tried to approach him. Noctis, however, held me back.

“Wait” He was cautious and wary, and I could sympathize with that feeling. “Stand back”

I peeked over his shoulder as Noctis slowly crept up to him and slowly stretched a hand to place on his shoulder. When he touched Prompto, everything changed before our very eyes. There was no Prompto, just another stupid MT soldier, an empty shell this time.

“No…” I uttered, shoving my hands against my face in the utmost desperation.

“Another trick!” Noctis inhaled sharply, deeply annoyed. “Back to square one”

He turned to me, almost seeking comfort, yet I had nothing to provide him with. We merely exchanged a restless glance, feeling ourselves breaking more and more.

Every step was more exhausting. Every breath was harder to take. Every corridor seemed like it could finally be the last one, yet it never was. I was losing my mind.

“I’m losing hope” I uttered, not strong enough to say it out loud.

“Well, don’t” Noctis heard me, however. “We’re gonna find him”

“I hope Iggy and Gladio are alright…”

“Me too, Alex”

I rummaged through my mind and my soul, scouring myself for a shred of hope somewhere in there. Anything that sparked something within me, some emotions.

And I found it.

Anger.

“If I see Ardyn I’m gonna punch him until I break that stupid conceited face of his” I crackled my knuckles, finding that strange satisfaction quite appealing at the moment. I was holding onto that emotion as the situation threatened to rid me from any, to turn me into an emotionless robot. I refused to become that, especially after I realized on that journey how strongly I felt things.

Noctis managed a small chuckle in response to my comment.

“Even if we get our powers back?”

“Even then, I don’t need any weapons”

To my surprise, Noctis stopped walking all of a sudden. I wondered why and examined my surroundings in search for any menaces. I found none.

“Did you hear that?” My friend whispered, slightly crouching down in an alarmed posture.

“No” I breathed out and got quiet, trying to hear what he did. I could hear a faint and distant beeping noise that I couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“Alex, look out!” Noctis shoved me out of the way just as an imposing metallic door shut itself, there where I was standing just a moment ago. If it weren’t for him, it would have squashed me.

“Noct, no!!” I tried to move fast enough to avoid it, yet the door heavily closed. Separating me from him.

“Noct, can you hear me?” I shouted, repeatedly hitting my hand against the door, hoping his voice would come through from the other side. “Noctis?!”

I awaited several seconds, just to receive no answer other than the echo of my loud voice reverberating against the high and spacious stances.

“Dammit!” I furiously kicked the door, knowing Ardyn had something to do with it.

Indeed, an evil cackle echoed all around me, as though he was mocking my strife. It gave me courage out of spite to try again.

“Noctis!” I shouted, punching the door with the back of my hand until it hurt. “Noct!!!”

Yet it was no use, no matter how hard or insistently I hit it. It was futile.

I was alone, lost, concerned and very frightened.

Tagging list: @prince-of-wind, @toranyx, @ghadah1421

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tenroseforeverandever · 6 years

Text

Dear Father Christmas... Chapter 10: December 24, 2025

MASTERPOST

Characters: Tentoo; Rose Tyler; Jackie Tyler; Pete Tyler; Tony Tyler; OC Hope Tyler-Noble; OC Charlotte Tyler-Noble; OC Wilfred Tyler-Noble

Rated: Teen

Tags: Family!Fic; Kid!Fic; Pete’s World; Letters to Santa; Christmas Fic; Family; Fluff; Hurt/Comfort; Angst; Romance; Love; gun violence; violence resulting in death; life-threatening injury; life threatening situations

Summary: When Rose Tyler was little, she always wrote a Christmas wish list to Father Christmas. As she grew older, the wish list became more of a letter to someone she could confide in once a year, but she fell out of the habit somewhere along the way. Now, as a new mum, celebrating her daughter’s first Christmas, Rose takes up writing her Christmas letter to Father Christmas once again.

Rose’s Christmas letters are excerpts from her life with her beloved Tentoo and their children in Pete’s World, written once a year, for each of 31 years.

Chapter Summary: For Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth, there’s nothing quite like the adventure of saving the world, until one Christmas, the adventure becomes far too dangerous and puts Rose’s life in jeopardy.

Notes: Trigger warning for serious, life-threatening situations, violence, life-threatening injury, and violence resulting in death.

My darling betas, @rose–nebula and mrsbertucci. How can I possibly thank you enough? I appreciate all that you do. You are wonderful!

Thanks to @doctorroseprompts for their 31 Days of Ficmas prompts. A reminder that I am using the prompts very much out of order, but I intend to use them all. The prompt I used today was Family.