Zodiac (Final Fantasy XV)

|•XLI•|

"The hell are you doing here?!" Noctis snaps, sending a fist flying towards the older man.

He dodges, scrambling to get back onto his feet. "Whoa, what's going on?! Easy there, buddy. Didn't see that coming. You alright?"

My eyes widened when I realized Noctis wasn't attacking Ardyn but was attacking Prompto. I grabbed Noctis just as he summoned a sword, ready to strike the blonde. The sheen of mana covering the boy fell as he no longer appeared to be Ardyn. Sadly, Noctis still saw his best friend as the chancellor. He pushed me aside and swung down at Prompto.

"Be careful there! Wait-is this for real?" Prompto scurried to another car, avoiding my brother's blade.

"Noctis, stop! It's Prompto!" I shout, chasing after him. Before I could exit the dining car, the door slammed shut and locked. Due to the force of the door slamming, I fell and landed on the carpet underneath me. When I looked up, a smirking Ardyn stood before me. I crawled backwards as he took long but slow strides towards me. He placed a hand over his chest as he finally came to a stop. "I am more than joyous to have not claimed your life in Caem. A small error on my part, but now, I must correct it."

"What do you want, Ardyn?" I snarled, getting to my feet.

"My dear, a simplistic request upon my part is all I ask."

"Spit it out!" I shout.

Ardyn shook a finger at me with closed eyes. "Temper, temper. Now, as the civil gentleman I am, would you so kindly hear me out? I only ask for one thing." I fell silent, my glare sharpening as the man stalled. His grin seemed to widen, his hands gesturing towards me. Suddenly, I felt something wrap around my body and drag me into darkness. Before I lost consciousness, I heard Ardyn's voice. "You."

~3rd Person POV~

With a winning smirk, Ardyn saunters out of the dining car and puts his final plan into play. The chancellor moved to the top of the train where he had appeared before Prompto. The boy had summoned his pistol, aiming it at the dastardly man.
Acting innocent, Ardyn sticks his hands in the air just as Noctis appears and yells for his best friend. "Prompto!"

He swings his blade at the blonde, knocking the pistol from his hand. With another swing from his sword, Noctis knocks him off the train. As he watched Prompto fall off the train, the veil is removed from his eyes and sees his mistake. Noctis froze, horrorstricken from the sight of Prompto falling off the train.

With Prompto's pistol in hand, Ardyn chuckles deeply. "How long were you in the dark? Even you're poor sister saw through my trick. Such a shame you didn't listen to sweet Zodia when you had the chance."

Noctis turns to look at Ardyn, but an intense pain in the back of his neck causes the prince to fall to the roof of the train, unconscious.

-A Few Minutes Later-

Noctis comes to, still laying on the roof of the train.
"Dammit." He pulls out his cell phone and calls Ignis.

"What's wrong?"

"Ignis, you've gotta stop this thing! Prompto fell off the train. I pushed him-I mean, Ardyn made me. I don't know where he is, but we can't leave him!"

"Stay calm, Noct. I'm as concerned for Prompto as you are, but stopping the train would endanger everyone onboard. We'd be sitting ducks for the daemons."

"What do we do?!"

Ignis does his best to ignore the prince's shouting. "First, we drop the passengers off at Tenebrae. We'll be arriving shortly."