''No room for error here.''
''No time to chill either, just make it quick.''
Kiara rolled her eyes at the two boys, she would say men but with the jabs they'd been making to each other, it was hard to view them as anything over than boys; even Prompto would have been more mature than those two right now.
They had come to an edge, needing to shimmy themselves across it whilst leaning against the wall. It looked dodgy but it was the only way forward, Gladio went first, then Noctis and Kiara followed.
Tremors happened as they crossed, also as Noctis got another headache. ''Ugh, My head.'' Kiara's hand shot out to the young Kings chest, keeping him still until the pain and tremors near enough dissipated.
''Again? Of all the times.''
''Shut your cakehole and move!'' Kiara demanded of the shield, with a glare, getting one in return, but Gladio did indeed move. They had to stop again as Noctis's pain only got worse with each step, Kiara's hand hadn't yet move and really, Noct was grateful; he wasn't all that sure he could trust himself to stay upright without help.
''Hey! titan! What's the big idea!''
''Save it. Get to solid ground first!''
''Faster!''
'''Calm down. I'm going as fast i can.'' They got near when Kiara removed her hand to stop herself from falling from the ledge at the particularly nasty tremor which of course, also had to be the moment that Noctis fell.
A small scream managed to leave her before Gladio's fast reflexes saved Noct from a fall to his death. Gladio jumped just as the ledge fell away, Leaving Kiara to scrabble at any crack to hang onto.
''Blake!'' Noctis seemed worried, by the sound of his voice as he called her name. ''You need to jump!''
''Oh gee! Thanks Noct, Why didn't i think of that!'' Kiara laughed, shaking her head, slightly in fear at the very long way down should she slip.
''We'll catch you!'' Gladio called. She didn't answer as she got herself a better grip on her little cracks in the wall, Lifting both boots to lay the soles of them flat against the wall, she aimed herself to the left. The boys saw her body give a little shake before she jumped towards them, though he had his arms out to catch her, She ended up landing behind him.
''I can jump, Gladio. I'm not helpless. So let's go.'' Noctis nodded and jogged on with her following, Gladio seemed to simply stare after her for a moment before realising they were leaving.
And really, Kiara was starting to wonder if her chances on the wall were better than being around these two.
Noctis groaned as he stood from the small slide they'd just used, feeling and looking rather run down. ''I'm sick of this endless walking.''
''And i'm sick of your endless whining,'' Gladio grunted, throwing his hand out to grasp Noctis' collar. ''Calm the hell down!''
''Get off my back.''
''Are you a man of royal blood or aren't you?''
Noctis gave a look in Kiara's direction, seeing her hardened glare at Gladio before she realised he was looking at her. She gave Noctis a smile, a confident one that knew the answer he was going to give before he even did.
''Of course i am.'' He shoved Gladio's hand from his neck and backed away. ''I couldn't forget it if i tried. What about it?''
''I ain't saying you've forgotten, but you gotta know something: you're not the only one who's having a tough time. We're all on edge. We Amicitia, are the kings sworn shields, Guard the king with our lives- that's the way its always been. I've embraced my duty, and i take pride in it. When you can't focus, I focus for you. It's my job, so let me do it, alright.''
''Alright.'' Noctis sighed, turning his eyes towards Kiara. ''You got anything to say?''
''I'm your Glaive.'' She told him. ''I take your orders and yours only. As per your fathers request, i am here to protect, guide and advise. Should you need me for anything, I shall go without complaint. My trust in you, Is infinite.'' And it was, for what she had seen in Noctis, He had a strong sense of morality and she found it easy to trust him.
''Even if it gets you killed?''
''Yes.'' She said firmly. ''If you need me to do something you tell me to do it without hesitation. If i lose my life, the fault is mine, not yours.''
Noctis didn't like that answer, she could tell but he didn't say anything else as they continued to walk. A magitek engine landed not soon after, Ignis had tried to call to warn but the signal had gotten cut off.
It wasn't too hard to deal with the troops but the large titan was a different story altogether. Gladio stopped Kiara from jumping after Noct when the Titan knocked him from them, prompting to pull her in the direction which had given them little time to push Noctis out f the way of an oncoming foot.
There was far too much talking for Kiara's liking as they ran from the titan, dodging the fists that kept flying their way. ''Over here!'' Gladio gave Noctis and leg up as Kiara took a run up the large wall that was too tall to merely jump.
Once both were up,Gladio soon joined. ''Don't stop!'' Kiara pushed Noctis to his feet had out of the way of yet another attack by the titan.
''He just won't quit.''
''It's getting tedious!'' Kiara yelled, somehow managing to remove herself of the heeled shoes to run faster without worrying about breaking an ankle. She can mourn the loss of her boots later, after they were safe.
''i'll hold him! Get clear!''
''Gladio!''
''Hurry! I can't keep this up!'' Kiara jumped after Noctis warped, following the boy she was supposed to protect, but ending up landing on her ankles wrong and so, to prevent breaking something, the rest of her body followed into a roll before stopping altogether on the floor.
The sight of the titan this close was something to behold and at the same time, quite frightening. But she noticed, it only focused on Noctis, she could hit it all h wanted but it wasn't paying any attention to her.
She realised what was going on a few moments later. It only cared about Noctis, only cared about getting him to fight; it wasn't going to let him get away without him showing what he can do, what he was capable of.
''Are we doomed!? Pretty sure We're doomed!'' Prompto's voice reached her ears as the man himself ran past her with Ignis.
Kiara gave a laugh, joining in with the boys and their fight. ''Well am i glad to see your beautiful faces. Honestly, Noctis and Gladio were starting to prove as boring company!''
''Nice to know you missed us!'' Prompto had answered. If Kiara was being honest, she wasn't really giving it her all until Noctis had given the plan for Blizzara, each of them throwing their own spell bomb at the arm of the titan; blowing the limb to pieces.
Kiara knew it was over, the boys seemed a little afraid there was going to be a bigger fight when more tremors appeared, but Kiara knew differently. The Titan surrounded itself in a golden light before ultimately.....it vanished, like it was never even there.
Kiara would have stayed put in wonder had Prompto not grabbed her hand and pulled her away. ''doesn't get much worse than this!'' Gladio remarked as they all seemed to huddle together as a magitek engine appeared from the sky.
''The empire! now?!''
''Gladio's fault! He said it doesn't get much worse! I'm blaming him!'' The only one who smiled was Prompto, even if it was little. The ship opened its metal mouth to reveal Ardyn.
''Fancy meeting you here!'' The man shouted. ''It occurs to me that i never formally introduced myself. Izunia! Ardyn Izunia!''
''Imperial Chancellor Izunia!?''
''At your service and more importantly, to your Aid. I guarantee you safe passage. though you're always welcome to take your chances down there! Buried among the rubble, is it?''
''Dying here is not an option, We have no choice, Noct.'' Ignis spoke and as much as Kiara really liked the sound of his voice, she really just wanted silence.
''i know.'' So there they had gone, Boarding an Imperial ship. Ardyn held his hand out to help the lovely lady board the ship, smiling when she gave a glare and slapped it away, barefoot slapping against the cold floor of the metal ship.
''I'm thoroughly uncomfortable with this.'' Kiara muttered angrily to herself. ''having to hitch a ride with the enemy. I wanna pound his smug face in with something heavy, like a large piece of concrete.''
She looked over to see Prompto just staring at her with raised eyebrows. ''Dont' look at me with those blue eyes.''
''They're.....the only ones I've got?'' Kiara pressed her lips together tightly, trying to hide the smile on her face, She was angry and annoyed, she didn't want to smile. Prompto enjoyed it though, seeing her mood lifted even if it was only for a little while.
''You know, Prompto.'' the softness of her voice surprised him, she was so quiet that he had to kneel beside whatever it was that she was sitting on just to hear her speak. ''I hope, that you'll be the last bit of sunshine still standing if darkness falls over us.''
''You know it won't!'' He replied just as quietly but still quite optimistic. ''We'll stop it, Noct and Lunafreya will get married and -'' the blonde trailed off as Kiara started to laugh, looking at her in confusion as he watched her laugh solemnly.
She turned to him and place her right hand on his left cheek and lowered her forehead to his right shoulder. ''You radiate light and its wonderful.'' Prompto didn't say anything to that, how could he? There was nothing to say to counter that nor the way she had spoken it.
So he just stayed there, senses overwhelmed as he felt her breath fanning against his neck. He could see strands of her hair in his vision and the bumps of her spine through the leather that covered her torso.
The sharp nailed hand still resting limply on his shoulder, two fingers under his jaw and two either side of his earlobe; it felt hot, though that could have just been himself heating up with their close proximity.
He could have stayed there for much longer than they had been, as the ship came to land and the five of them walked off it somewhere in the middle of nowhere; Prompto found himself missing her touch. How stupid he was, to fall for such a woman who cared more for her mission than she did for anything else.
He couldn't have been more wrong, and he would have realised it had he seen the smile on her face directed towards him as she spoke the fact that they were near the chocobo wiz post. ''How do you know?'' Noctis had wondered, spinning on his axis while looking for any sign of the wiz post.
''There's chocobo tracks in the ground, more than would be if it were wild Chocobo's. With the company of a couple of human footprints.''
''There could be worse places to be stranded.'' Ignis said, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
''Right then, lets go sort out our lodgings.''
With no arguments from any of them, The four boys followed Kiara, where they did indeed end up at the Chocobo post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =) thats all i got for ya. Just a nice smiley face =)