writing by vi

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Excerpt:

So, Ignis resigned himself to another likely futile interrogation. Perhaps Prompto was of no further use when it came to Drautos or the empire’s ploy, but they had prepared all they could for that anyway. No, reconnaissance was the name of the game now. If they were to play host to Chancellor Izunia, who hadn’t been present at the negotiations, then they required all they could ascertain about the man in advance. On that subject, Prompto couldn’t possibly be ignorant.

Well, so long as he was capable of speaking around Gladio’s fist.

With a twinge of mingled delight and exasperation, Ignis stepped out of the elevator to see the Shield in heated debate with the guard at the end of the corridor. The latter appeared to sympathize with whatever Gladio was growling, his eyes darting between the latter and the direction of Prompto’s cell with discomfiting temptation, but he remained rooted to the spot nevertheless.

For now.

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Chapter sixteen, “Spurious Slaughter,” is now available. Apologies for the delay–life has been a bit busy recently, so @wildrogueheart and I needed a bit longer for this chapter. Thank you for your patience!

Excerpt: 

“Is it loaded?”

“No.”

“Is it gonna be loaded?”

“No.”

“So, how’s it gonna go off?”

The marshal looked at him as if he had to be the dumbest person on the planet, and honestly, Prompto figured he wouldn’t have been wrong. Then again, he was dealing with a kingdom where magic was commonplace and royalty was nice –was it really so hard to believe that he had his doubts here? Prompto couldn’t claim to know anything about the Crystal besides that it was a giant rock that somehow protected Lucis. Despite his ignorance, however, he had a feeling that making loud banging noises probably wasn’t something he could expect from the alleged gift of the Astrals.

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Chapter ten, “Apocalypsis Prompto,” is now available! Only two chapters to go! 

Excerpt:

They didn’t get anything else out of him after that. He cooked in silence, ate in silence, indicated that he needed to get some sleep in near silence—he was a closed book. It was only because they knew him well that he and Gladio were able to piece together what must have happened, and considering what they came up with, Prompto couldn’t really blame him for wanting to keep it to himself. Ignis had suffered enough after Altissia, and in more ways than one. Having to relive that? Having to come to terms with it again and make the same choice even if it wouldn’t change anything? That had to be killer, especially for a guy who prided himself on never making the same mistake twice.

Except the tofu. Prompto would never understand what had possessed him to try that again when they’d all either been sick or gone hungry the first time.

Just like his nastiest culinary creation, Prompto had believed that Ignis’s injury would remain in the past, as well. There was no arguing that they’d been shaped by their experiences, of course; that was a given for anyone, not merely the retainers to the last king of Lucis. Even so, none of them were ready to jump in and go through an encore performance. They’d done their time, so there was no reason for them not to put those obstacles behind them and move the hell on.

If they were normal people, that was. Normal people got away with that sort of thing.

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Chapter seven, “Apocalypsis Gladiolus,” is now available! I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for the support you’ve shown both me and this story! Honestly, it’s such an honor to write something that you enjoy, and your feedback is so very appreciated. Thank you so much!

Excerpt:

It was such a Noct statement to make that Gladio was struck dumb. Neither of them seemed to expect an answer, thankfully, not with one of his usual retorts or anything more genuine either. That was about as comforting as it was going to get: there was so much clamoring around in his head that he didn’t think he could put any of it into coherent sentences, nor would he want to for fear of sounding exactly like what he knew he would. Being a sap hadn’t fit into his agenda, not in the last thirty-four years and certainly not today. Fortunately, he didn’t have to resort to that.

Unfortunately, someone must have decided that he didn’t have enough people ganging up on him.

Before he had a chance to even consider opening his mouth and letting something out, the ground quaked beneath his feet, sending him toppling to his knees. Ignis and Prompto weren’t far behind; raising his head, Gladio just barely managed to reach out in time to keep Prompto from losing his balance as they huddled together.

“W-What the hell was that?!” he shouted, hardly audible over the sound of the earth rumbling all around them.

Gladio braced himself against the crystal and called back, “An earthquake? Here?”

It shouldn’t have been possible. Paradise or not, natural disasters couldn’t be something the Astrals actually wanted. (Except maybe Leviathan, but she didn’t really qualify as normal.) This was supposed to be the land of sparkles and sunshine, not a typical day in Duscae. If it weren’t for their surroundings and the conversation they’d been having mere seconds ago, Gladio would say…

He’d say…

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Chapter six, “Wanderlust,” is now available!

Excerpt:

In those first days, he had nevertheless mourned his loss rather than remaining focused on what Noct had been deprived of. Even now, over a decade later, he was not immune to the odd bout of the doldrums that reminded him of what he would never have. The mental images of his friends would never be updated with their undoubtedly changing appearances as they aged; the memories of their journey would forever be all he had of the world, regardless of the ways in which it was altered. It was a facet of his reality that Ignis had grown accustomed to, existing in twilight and frozen in time as he seemed to be. No, it was not what he would have liked for himself, but there was no use dwelling on the inevitable.

Again, duty was easier to uphold. The voice inside that cried out for relief was better left alone. That, in any case, was what Ignis had tried to do, albeit with limited success at times.

It was also why he stopped dead on the other side of the Blademaster’s gate, his breath suddenly quickening and his eyes watering in mingled grief and ecstasy.

For in passing the gateway, they entered a world he scarcely could have imagined. It was as though they had stepped through a downpour, the dark rain clouds that had obscured his vision dissipating and the silver curtain of moisture that dotted the landscape of his personal abyss drawing to the side. Beyond, they entered a world of light and potent color that utterly defied description.

Relationship: Hal Jordan/Barry Allen

Story Summary: AU where Martin Jordan dies much later in Hal’s life, when he’s a directionless college student with an attitude problem. When tragedy strikes, Hal’s best friend and roommate Barry tries to help, but it’s up to Hal alone to turn his life around as he recovers from his loss.

Over the course of several months, the pair are faced with challenges that threaten to drive them apart, leaving them to wonder if there’s any room in their lives for their feelings for each other.

Chapter summary: Barry arrives in Coast City to help Hal after his father’s death. While he’s there, he meets Oliver, another friend of Hal’s, who offers his own perspective on the situation.

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Chapter five, “Convergence,” is now available! You guys have no idea how long I have spent studying the geography of Lucis to make this story work. As such, anything related to locations or movements is absolutely, 100% accurate. I take great pride in that and am also probably very pathetic as a result. xD As always, thank you so much for reading and feedback! :D I know those first few chapters were pretty tough to get through, so I really do appreciate your support!

Excerpt: 

Admittedly, that was yet another guess, this time on his own part. As helpful as the Glacian had been with that text, she was equally silent about where they could find Noct’s crystal coffin. Gladio didn’t mind that so much, though: there was really only one place where the Six could hide a bunch of dead kings.

Formerly dead. Formerly.

Whatever they were, Gladio was just crossing his fingers that he was right. They weren’t exactly swimming in other options, and if this one didn’t pan out, then the three of them were up shit creek. That thought alone was enough to set him on edge, but there was no use worrying about it now: they’d figure it out when they got there.

In the meantime…

“Careful, I think you missed one,” grunted Gladio, his fingers tightening painfully around the corners of the book as they drove over yet another pothole. That had to be the tenth one in as many minutes—no, probably half that. It was getting pretty hard to tell if Prompto was trying to find them or if it was an accident.

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Excerpt:

“For this particular outing, we’ll be taking the children to Insomnia’s foremost aquarium,” Ignis interjected, taking his eyes off the road momentarily to glance at them in the rearview mirror. Maybe it was Prompto’s imagination, but he could have sworn there was something wry in the chamberlain’s gaze when it fell on Noctis.

Or maybe he was reading things just right, because the prince appeared to notice it too. If Noctis was bothered by whatever Ignis was implying, though, he didn’t show it. In fact, the not so gentle reminder seemed coax the prince out a bit more. His professional smile grew into something larger and more genuine when he pointed out, “It’s super educational, Specs.”

Ignis hummed knowingly. “And it has nothing to do with your own preferred hobbies, then?”

“Come on, they have a touch tank!”

“For the kids ,” Gladio remarked, although he seemed about as convinced by Noctis’s act as Ignis was.

“ Duh ,” the prince huffed regardless. “They’re gonna love it.”

“And so’re you.”

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Chapter four, “Ancients and Kings,” is now available! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback on this story–I’m really enjoying seeing what you think of it! Also, if you are reading on FFNET, I’m sorry for the delay in updating! The site is currently down, so I will be uploading this chapter as soon as it is up! Thank you so much for your patience, and enjoy the chapter! :) 

Excerpt:

That was another discussion they’d had no less than fifty-two times, and it always ended the same way: with a big, heaping pile of nothing. There was nothing to find, nothing to see, nothing to hear—just…nothing. The only people who had been in the throne room in the last year were the Crownsguard members who swept up the remnants of the Crystal and the construction teams that had seen to repairing the wall. If there had been anything to discover, they would have by now. So, Prompto wasn’t at all surprised when Gladio shook his head, more exasperated than pissed off for a change.

“Nothin’ but dust,” he replied with a sigh. “Definitely didn’t see anything about whatever this bond is.”

“Something tells me that’s a less pressing matter than the Focus she mentioned.”

“You think the Six have a different definition than we do?” guessed Prompto.

Ignis didn’t answer immediately, seeming to turn the question over in his head first. When he did respond, it was with a careful deliberation that said he didn’t want to put his foot in his mouth.

Typical Iggy.

“Perhaps not a different definition,” Ignis qualified, “but the Glacian must have been referring to a certain context that we aren’t familiar with. I’m sure of it.”

“Pretty sure none of these books are gonna give us context,” observed Gladio, to which Ignis shrugged a shoulder and picked up his phone again.

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Here we go–finally leaving the doldrums behind and heading into the action! Thank you so much for reading and your feedback! :D

Excerpt: 

Like duty, the dreams that had plagued Ignis for a year were bittersweet. Ordinarily, he wished purely to evade them: seeing Noct on his throne only to lose him once again was hardly something he cared to experience as frequently as he was forced to. So many times, he had imagined what it would be like to enter the throne room and find Noct there the way he was always meant to be, that familiar smirk on his face and twinkle in his eye despite the heavy burden that accompanied monarchy. So many times, he smiled sadly at the fate that had befallen his brother instead, his pride tempered by the unfathomable indignation that gnawed at him when he let it. How the gods could allow this to happen, he would never comprehend. The threat Ardyn had posed should not have been permitted to outmatch the might of the Six, nor should they have waited so long to bring an end to him and Noct in turn. The Starscourge was their folly, and as such, it should have been their responsibility to heal it. Not the Chosen King’s, not the Oracle’s—theirs. That reminder in conjunction with the ostensibly scheduled visions that greeted him when he fell asleep left him bitter and resentful, and he had eventually reached the point where he simply could not take any more.

Tonight, however, was different. Tonight, Ignis rejoiced in the traitorous flow of consciousness that saw him walking down the corridor towards the throne room as though it wasn’t strictly off limits in the aftermath of their battle with Ardyn. Tonight, he basked in the warmth that spread through him at the touch of his Crystal shard, the warmth that told him he would not be alone when he opened the door and stepped into the grandest chamber in Insomnia. Tonight, he could smile, if only in his head.

Story summary: After some convincing, Barry Allen gets talked into going on a blind date. He’s not expecting the date to be with a guy, and he’s definitely not expecting that guy to be the Green Lantern. Hal Jordan is charming, but is Barry willing to give this a shot?

Story summary: After some convincing, Barry Allen gets talked into going on a blind date. He’s not expecting the date to be with a guy, and he’s definitely not expecting that guy to be the Green Lantern. Hal Jordan is charming, but is Barry willing to give this a shot?