An Angel Blooms (Gladio X Reader)

Chapter 26

"Hey, Ex-Retainer." I am rudely shaken awake by my driver. My eyes fluttered open and he let go of my arm, "You need to get out. I have more hunters to drive around today."

I groaned and sat just sat there rubbing my eyes for a moment, "Hey! Do you hear me?" I rolled my eyes and quickly grabbed the bag of meteorshards at my feet. I then opened the door and got out without a word. I sleepwalk through the streets of Lestallum, ignoring all of the stares I get as I make my way for the square.

Everyone knows that I was a retainer for King Noctis. They always ask me about our journey together and why he disappeared, but I refuse to tell anyone. I don't want to share my memories with those four boys. They all just stand there, burning holes in my body with their eyes. As if that would make me finally crack or something. I just hand over my meteor shards from the last hunt to a woman in the square and then head back home.

Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We headed back to Cape Caem in silence. Most of the journey back had been quiet. We had no idea what to do after Noct was sucked into the Crystal. We had called Cor, the only person we can turn to in times like these and he ask to meet him in Caem. I just stood near the edge of the boat, looking out at the sea, the only light source coming from the moon.

Eventually, the lighthouse in Caem came into view. It shined brightly for us, welcoming us back.

"What do you think he wants us to do?" Prompto asked.

It was quiet for a while, none of us were sure how to answer, "Who knows," I mumbled.

"Perhaps we'll be helping the hunters." Ignis chimed in.

"Yea. There's gonna be a lot more daemons from now on," Gladio added. It was like we had all lost a purpose. We had been trained our whole lives to protect and guide the king, and now we no longer have one.

When we reached the dock below the light house we stepped out one by one and slowly shuffled into the building. It was empty inside, not a soul in sight. We figured everyone was at the cabin, so we walked up the stairwell to the elevator. When the elevator opened it was a horrible site. Bombs and Flan surrounded the cabin. Cor, Dustin, and Monica try to defend it on their own, but they were clearly out numbered.

"Quick! Protect the cabin" I yelled before aiming my polearm for a warpstrike. I instantly killed an ice bomb in front of Cor and then quickly used a fire spell on the horde coming towards him. They didn't die right away, but they slowly burned to a crisp.

"Finally, thought you'd never show up," Cor sighed.

I smirked, "Wouldn't want your legend to end here," It didn't take very long to kill the daemons now that we were here to help. Afterwards, Monica quickly ran inside. I assumed Iris and Talcott were still inside.

"So, I see you were serious about the King," Cor said between breathes as he put his katana away.

Gladio sighed, "Yea, he got sucked up by the Crystal."

"Ardyn said he need to obtain the full power of the Crystal," I added.

"Ardyn?" Cor questioned. We explained to him who he was and told him that he claimed to be a part to Noct's family. Cor didn't look very shocked by any of this. He brought us inside and revealed something very shocking to us.

Hundreds of years ago, when the Crystal was brought to us a man named Ardyn Lucis Caelum was anointed by the Crystal. I thought back to what he had said to Ravus in Gralea.

"The Crystal chose me, not you,"

He said that in legend the True King, in attempt to save everyone from the darkness, he began consuming daemon energy. This did hold off the end of our world, however, the Crystal started to reject him. When it was discovered what he was doing, the founder king casted him into exile. The darkness inside of him consumed him and he grew hateful. Because of his immortality, he went into hiding and waited for the Crystal to anoint a new king.

After that sunk in we asked him what had been happening here in Lucis. He told us that there has been no daylight for days now.

"All of the hunters and Kingsglaive have been stationed in Lestallum. Guess you can say we're turning it into a quarantine zone. We need more people to protect the citizens and hunt for meteorshards that way we can have more light at all the outposts."

"So, you want all of us to join the hunters?" I asked.

"Actually, I need some help in Hammerhead. The boys can come with me, but I'm afraid Glaives need to stay in Lestallum." I froze for a moment. I could barely understand what he was saying. I looked over at Gladio who was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. He just stared long and hard at the floor.

I could feel eyes on us both. It was dead silent, and without a word everyone left the cabin. Cor was the last one to leave. Before he exited he looked over his shoulder at us, "We'll be waiting outside by the road,"

Gladio and I were silent and didn't look at each other. It was only a few minutes of this, but it felt like an eternity. Gladio sighed, although it sounded more like a scoff, "We shouldn't keep 'em waiting..."

I slumped my shoulders in sadness. I guess whatever feelings he had for me were gone... I stand up quickly and burst out of the cabin so that he couldn't see my tears.

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

I laid there on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I often spent my days looking at the patterns at the walls and turning them into shapes in my mind. I would just stare blankly for hours, trying to forget that I'm here.

As I was looking for all of the letters of the alphabet in the ceiling I heard a knock downstairs at my front door. I groaned as I sat up. All though I'm hated there are people here who still like me. Mostly just people who I met on the journey. I walked down stairs, thinking it was probably Iris and Talcott paying me a visit or something.

I swung open the door and sighed, "Hey. Sorry guys, but I'm really not in the mood fo..."

I trailed off and lost my train of thought as I looked at the man in front of me. A man I hadn't seen in years.

He looked at me nervously, hands in his pockets, "H-Hey," he stuttered in his usual gruff voice. I just stood there dumbfounded as Gladio waited eagerly for me to let him in.