Hearth and Home

Chapter Ten

Prompto's arms shifted around her waist, every now and again he would shift them to angle his phone so he could see it over her shoulder. This time, he removed his arms entirely and repositioned them over her shoulder, the front-facing camera on his phone activated. 

The right corner of her mouth tilted for a moment as her eyes glanced at the phone, creating enough of a window for Prompto to tap the screen; after that, his arms returned to around her waist, not wanting to fall off the back of her bike. 

''I like this.'' He spoke suddenly in her ear to ensure that she heard him over the rush of the wind. Kiara turned her head slightly to indicate that she heard him, unwilling to open her mouth for fear of swallowing bugs. Prompto's chin dropped on her shoulder and out the corner of her eye, she saw him close his eyes. ''It's nice.''

She nudged her head affectionally against his, she didn't know what it was but she felt closer to Prompto than any of the other three; there was just something about him that drew her in. Maybe it was how carefree he was most of the time... or how carefree he made her feel? She wasn't sure, but it was nice. 

Lestallum was a nice calmly drive away, though Ignis shouldn't have been too far behind in the Regalia with Noctis and Gladio, she still got to Lestallum way before the Regalia even arrived. ''What do we do to kill time?'' Prompto had asked the moment he dismounted the bike. 

''Shop?'' Kiara offered. ''I need different clothes. I feel far too regal in my Glaive uniform.'' 

''Shopping it is!'' 

It was far harder than she thought it would be, rack upon rack in the clothing store of Lestallum was filled with either baggy trousers or skirts; not one pair of tight jeans in sight and she was hating it. 

''You looked good in the last two pairs!'' Prompto moaned, having quickly gotten over the rush of shopping with Kiara. ''Pigeon!'' He called her, hoping the use of her nickname would stop her from shopping. 

It did not. 

''I can't fight in something so baggy, Prom!'' She replied, angrily handing the clothing back on the rack. ''It'll get in the way and a skirt is just ... so revealing!'' Kiara's face was then overcome with a look of realisation. ''Unless...''

''Unless?'' Prompto asked, fearing the worst. When she didn't answer, Prompto tried again. ''Unless what?! Kiara!'' Prompto's last call to her was ignored and for the next half an hour, he was left to his own devices.  Kiara returned not too long after the 30-minute mark, grinning from ear to ear. 

Prompto looked up from his phone, where he was playing kings knight and greeted her with a smile, swallowing the saliva that suddenly seemed to gather in his mouth. Kiara's Kingsgalive attire was no more, instead, she wore a pair of tight black trousers that ended mid-thigh and a normal white T-shirt that seem just a couple sizes too small to keep it from being baggy.

''Well?'' She asked, raising her arms and doing a spin. 

''I think that fabric looks familiar.'' He replied, glancing down at the black fabric covering her waist. 

''Yeeehhhh.'' Kiara dragged out. ''I may have asked the seamstress to make it into a pair of jeans - Hey look! there are the boys! jeez how time flies!'' Prompto knew she must have spent quite a bit of money to get the seamstress to leave her work but he had to admit, It was a nice change; Kiara had always moaned how impractical her uniform was. 

She showed her new outfit to the boys before they met up with Iris at the Leville. Iris had a saddening story to tell them all, while they were away the empire had come to Lestallum and Jared had been lost. 

Poor Talcott was heartbroken, crying as he spoke to Noctis. Kiara's face betrayed no emotion but her eyes said everything when she looked at Talcott, understanding how it felt to lose the only person you ever really had. It had been a tiring couple days and as Noctis took a kip, Kiara decided to do the same. 

Only it had happened in the presence of Gladio, Ignis and Prompto. Sitting with them until her conscious faded to sleep, slumping in her seat and falling against Prompto who had sat next to her just an hour prior. 

'It's time.' The voice from before echoed in her mind before she fell asleep completely. Prompto tried to stay as still as possible for Kiara, not wanting to disturb her sleep despite desperately needing to shift himself so his butt wouldn't go numb. Every now and again, he would see her eyes twitch, her top lip would curl for just an instant.

He stayed with her even when Ignis and Gladio had walked off, moving gently to lay her head in his lap and just ...watching her and the faces she would make. He wasn't sure if she was dreaming or having a nightmare, at times it seemed like both. 

''Still watching her?'' Gladio asked fifteen minutes later when he returned. It had been a full hour since Kiara had fallen asleep and Prompto was no closer to figuring out if her dream was good or bad. 

''I don't know if I should wake her,'' he said, contemplating the consequences that action would have. 

''Maybe you should.'' Gladio agreed the moment Kiara took a small and shaky intake of breath, relaying that whatever she was dreaming about, was scaring her. 

''Yeah.'' Prompto whispered. ''Yeah.'' he repeated more firmly, his hands making their way to shake Kiara at the shoulders until she bolted into an upright position with a short scream that quickly turned into a few sobs. ''Woah! hey, hey, shh. It's just us.'' Prompto assured gently, placing a hand on her back. 

Kiara's head turned to look at him so fast he feared she'd get whiplash, she looked at him with frantic eyes, obviously scared of something. He wasn't sure but grew confused when she raised a hand to her chest and the other to her stomach before her face visibly relaxed, she fell towards Prompto, her shoulder resting against his chest. 

''Fun dream?'' Gladio asked, a light teasing tone in his voice. Kiara didn't answer, she just looked up at him with an annoyed look, not in the mood for any of his jokes. Taking the hint, Gladio walked away and Kiara turned to her blonde haired friend. 

''There's somewhere I need to go.'' She told him distractedly, ''Where did Ignis go?'' 

''To..the market. Where - Kiara!'' 

Kiara didn't turn back, she had a couple questions to ask Ignis. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I may wait a bit longer to update this rather than every week. Since the Royal edition is out and i wanna play it. There's some new stuff in it and i might put some of it in this story. 

But i need to play it first. So updates will be a bit slower now.