Gladiolus Amicitia

One of the great things about planning these weekend get-aways was finding some really unique and interesting places all around the country, and so when Gladio set out to find somewhere to visit to celebrate Nell's birthday a little bit, he figured a place called The Hike Inn would be pretty fitting! And he was not wrong on that assumption, considering that even just getting to the place required a hike from the state park's visitors' center, so when they arrived yesterday, there was a little bit of exploration there before they headed out to the lodge deep in the foothills of northern Georgia.

They didn't entirely have the place all to themselves, but, since it was definitely at the tail end of the prime hiking season, it was still pretty quiet, and those who were also staying there or passing through were enthusiasts with shared interests that Gladio, at least, enjoyed talking to when they did cross paths. But, for the most part, it was just him and Nell, laughing at the bunk beds in the cabins that he'd been prepared for, meaning their first night had been spent making slightly more room on the floor with some sleeping bags instead.

So then there they were on their big full day there, having some breakfast in the common area of the lodge with its comforting woodstove at the center of the room, light pouring through the windows that surrounded it, and Gladio was pouring over the hiking map for the area.

"Hey, look at this," he said, with a grin, turning the map and pointing at some of the information on top for Nell to read, "they've detailed some of the more interesting plants and things that grow along the trail, too. That's kind of neat."

The whole place was, really. The survivalist in him appreciated all the eco-friendly nods to conservation, the fact that it was built on stilts to have less impact on the earth, the solar panels running the place....he was even kind of excited to check out their worm beds later that evening, so he was feeling pretty good about this pick, that was for sure.

The great company certainly didn't hurt, either.

[[ for the little lady with him (or anyone who wants to get in touch) and nfb for distance, of course! ]]

With all his usual Monday errands to keep him busy, Gladio was pretty unaware of anything else going on on the island that might have left an impact on the usual Mondau night gathering, as quiet as they'd been lately, but he could tell, coming home when he was done, that something was definitely different about tonight. The vibe was off, the energy, and it instantly had him a bit worried and checking his phone to make sure he hadn't missed any important messages. But seeing none, he just dropped his things off in the kitchen and went searching for where Nell and the kittens may have wound up.

"Nell?" Honestly, at this point, checking the roof was likely the winning choice, and so it was there he headed first. "You up here?"

[[ mostly for the little woods witch tonight, although definitely open if anyone still does want to end up stopping by! ]]

Nell had told Gladio that he was making breakfast that morning, partially as a joke, no doubt, but anyone who'd met Gladio would know that he took jokes very seriously. And when he realized that this would very likely be the very first time a man had ever used the kitchen at Soulwood, well, that's when he knew he would be locked in. He was going to make oatmeal that morning, godsdammit, even if that meant he wound up burning the whole house down because of it.

(There was, after all, a part of him that thought burning this house down might be the best thing for it, but he was trying not to think too hard on that).

He didn't really think much of it, because it was oatmeal, anyone could make oatmeal, and he expected it might be a little different because of Nell's warnings about using the woodstove, but how much different could it actually be?

Different enough, it would seem, that he was pretty sure he'd ruined this pot entirely. Frowning, holding it up, Gladio tried poking at what had become a pretty much charred lump of what could have been oatmeal at the bottom of the pan with a knife to see if he could get it off, but no such luck. There was a firm smack of the pot on the side of the counter, but all that did was make a sound and dent the pot (which was ruined anyway, but, well, looks like he owed Nell a new pot...).

So, with a sigh, Gladio just tossed the ruined pot of failed oatmeal into the sink, ran some water into it in case that ended up helping, and went to fish out another one.

"Okay," he murmured to himself, setting the pot aside and going to carefully measure out some ingredients all over again, "round two."

He was pretty sure he knew where he'd gone wrong and things would go better this time around, but if he still managed to mess this up, he was honestly going to call it a win if he could manage to eke something edible off of this stove without having to admit defeat to Nell or call Ignis for advice.

[[ and obviously for the bossy woman whose pans didn't deserve this, and NFB for distance ]]

This little get-away spot that Gladio had planned would have been pretty perfect a few weeks ago, when he'd actually originally planned to whisk Nell off for a belated birthday trip, only to miss out on it on it due to being a kid, but he really hoped that it was early enough into December that it wouldn't have gotten too cold and bleak for them to go now. Especially since one of his main reasons for choosing the Primland Resort was how much it was touted as an excellent place for stargazing.

The other reason he'd picked it were its Tree House cabins, which were clearly just too perfect to pass up. And so, up bright and early to make the most of their time and to squeeze in a good breakfast before hitting their portal because they'd need the energy for the hike just to get to their lodgings, Gladio and Nell made their way up through the woods and the mountains to reach their destination.

"Well," Gladio announced, with a pleased and satisfied sigh at how this was all shaping up to pretty much how he'd imagined it would have been, opening the door with a little gentlemanly gesture to welcome Nell in first, "here we are. Home sweet home, for the next two days, at least. But, if we hate it," he threw Nell a wink, "I did bring a tent, too."

[[ for the belated birthday girl, and NFB for distance, of ~course~! ]]

Not that there was really any reason to need an excuse to stay over at Nell's these days, but last night actually had been a very practical sleepover, since Gladio had made some plans for a nice little belated birthday weekend get-away with Nell, and it was just that much more convenient for catching their portal in the morning, because, of course, he wanted to get some good hiking in at their destination before they got around to the nice rest and relaxation in the little cabin in the mountains he'd booked.

Clearly, however, that morning, things were....not exactly going to plan.

Because....well, you know how this one went. When Gladio did finally wake up, yawning and stretching and frowning a little over the fact that he'd slept in, which meant that he'd probably missed his chance to sneak in on the Crownsguard training that morning, he was also a little confused by another person in the bed with him. He groaned a little, rolling his eyes, thinking it was Iris having snuck in because she was scared or just being kind of a brat, but it was pretty obvious this wasn't his sister pretty quickly. Some friend of hers, maybe? Someone brought in to help take care of her, like the King had that Scientia boy take care of the Prince?

Well, whatever it was, it wasn't his problem. His problem right now was that the Crownsguard was probably half into all the good forms by now, and if he didn't hurry up, he'd miss all of the good training, and then the Marshall would give him a lecture about tardiness, or, even worse, he'd get it from his dad! So he wasn't going to pay any mind to the little girl as he pulled back the covers, rolled out of bed, and tried to get his bearings a moment, trying to find some shoes and wondering if he'd have time to coax a quick breakfast out of the cook before he rushed off to the Citadel.

[[ for she whose place this actually is! ]]

Sure, the weather was insisting yet again on being hot and humid, but Nell and Gladio had decided they were going to have a picnic that day, and so a picnic they would still have! Maybe it would start to cool down as they headed into evening, anyway, and besides, Gladio was never that bothered by hot weather, anyway.

Even with a shirt on.

So when Nell was finished with work, he swung by to pick her up so they could get things for the picnic together and head out. He knew the preserve very well at this point (best to avoid the woods on the other end of the island for now, really), so he felt he knew a good spot that would be cool and comfortable, with just enough shade from the surrounding trees and close enough to the shore to maybe sometimes get a little bit of a refreshing sea breeze coming off of the ocean.

But, of course, a second opinion on the matter was vital.

"Think this'll work?" he asked, turning to his companion in this particular excursion, with all the confidence that she'd approve because, well...he knew how to pick a good spot.

[[ for she who was egregiously modded for lovely date tiems~ ]]

The heat was definitely still persisting, which made Gladio think that maybe his grand plan of finding an ice cream place on the mainland near a park, so that he and Nell could make their picks and then go take a nice walk while they enjoyed it was...a little less than ideal. But there was some good shady spots and the ice cream itself did a lot to help...assuming they could eat it before it melted too much. The heat never really did bother Gladio too much, though; he just mostly hoped that Nell wasn't too uncomfortable with it.

And, if he was entirely honest, even though Baltimore was pretty tiny compared to Insomnia, it did sort of feel good to be in a metropolitan area proper again. After all, even with all his love of nature and the outdoors, he was at his roots a born and bred city boy. Made him feel a little homesick, but what didn't, really?

None of that really mattered that much, anyway, as long as Nell was having a good time, so he'd of course be sparing her a few speculative glances here and there, and, at one point, letting out a soft huff in regards to the quick work he was making out of his ice cream cone.

"Might need to swing back around for a Round Two," he speculated, with a bite to really highlight that, between the battle between the heat and Gladio's appetite, the winner was clearly the latter.

[[ for the ice cream date~ and NFB for distance, obvi~ ]]

"You seem quiet," said Gladio, setting down the plates of breakfast he'd just finished making, then pulling out a chair to join him at the table. "Thinking more about yesterday's oh so handwavey encounter?"

"Rather hard not to," Ignis replied dryly. He'd, of course, reported back to Gladio the moment he'd returned to the apartment: soon after he'd left the Photo Hut, still rather bewildered over his discussion with Liz, he found himself face to face with none other than Ardyn Izunia, in the flesh, and dragging along with him none other than some sort of Magitek daemon soldier the likes of which he'd only really seen once in his lifetime, that encounter with Ravus Nox Flueret, after being exposed to the Starscourge directly. And as if the implications of Ardyn's return, in the company of a daemon that could actually withstand the light weren't disturbing enough on its own, there was the matter of the exchange that followed after he and his new pet attacked Ignis. Claiming that things were...off. They weren't quite right. How was it that he was the Shield, that he had the Sword? And what did that mean for the other one, which he could only assume meant Gladio. Was he now the one who saw things that others could not? Ardyn had tsked at the prospect, as if disappointed, while Ignis deftly avoided his advances, as well as those of the daemon monster beside him. He was, admittedly, a bit distracted in the moment, but he could swear, underneath the Starscourge and smoke, that creeping black ichor and the throbbing purple veins, he'd seen that face before...

...not even an hour before, in a picture, from Liz's phone.

He'd told Gladio all about that, as well, and, of course, their immediate thought was to try and strategize. Ardyn had left Ignis alone after a while, claiming that things just weren't right, and he needed to attend to why, but there was nothing unusual about that. They were used to the man's mind games, and clearly this was no exception.

"Nothing about this feels right, Gladio," he said. "Nothing makes sense. I know we never truly knew what happened between Ardyn and Noct, but your visions..."

"I know," said Gladio, quietly, a gentle suggestion that he'd rather not be reminded of the things he saw, that night, when the man in question himself nearly put an end to it all, if not for his desperate sacrifice.

"We simply must find him," Ignis decided firmly.

To that, Gladio let out a sardonic huff. "Knowing Ardyn," he said, "he'll have no trouble finding us first."

"Exactly," Ignis agreed. "All the more reason to be proactive and ready. And I can't help but wonder...do you suppose it would reap any benefits, if we were to inquire of Liz about this daemon he has with him?"

But Gladio gently shook his head, shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth. "Sounds like she's got more than enough to worry about right now without adding that to it," he said. "Besides, you said you didn't get that good of a look, right? Could have just been your mind playing a trick on you. That's sort of Ardyn's trick du jour, too, remember?"

There was a deep frown punctuating the silence that followed. "Perhaps you're right," he said. "There was much to process at the time, but the resemblance, even through the Starscourge, was uncanny..."

Gladio just grunted his response, as he kept digging into his food. They were going to need the energy to deal with whatever was about to be thrown at them, he was sure of that much, so they'd better enjoy it while they could.

[[ open! ]]

Gladio had been running a bit late that morning, which didn't happen often, which meant that Iris and Ignis were really never going to stop letting him hear about it. But, look, sometimes, you just got into a groove with your workout, and then there were about a thousand messages to get through on your phone because rebuilding an entire world was a pretty demanding business, and then you got distracted by one particular message that brought some of the best news you could have asked for, that they'd recovered the Cup Noodle^TM factory and damage was minimal and they believed they could get production started back up again by the end of next month....

Oh, they were definitely going out and celebrating tonight!

But Gladio finally managed to hurry out the door, into the bright streets of Insomnia, with a faint wince at the light that still threw him off a little on a cloudless day like today, and he took two steps forward from the door before he remembered something for Iris that he'd left on the counter, and so he turned around to go back to get it...

....only to reach out for a door that was definitely not the door to the apartment he'd been staying in while they worked this part of the city, and, instead, was the door to....a gym? A familiar gym, but one he hadn't seen for a very long time, and, with a horrible feeling creeping over him, Gladio took a step back to confirm this impossible suspicion as he looked at the sign.

And then turned to look at the street around him, which was not the once-bustling, quickly rebuilding metropolis of Insomnia, but the quiet little Old World charm of Fandom Island.

"What the fu--"

A series of chimes started to emanate from the phone in his pocket, alerting him to a slew of messages hitting all at once, and he dug out his phone to see what was up and just sort of...stared for a moment. Because the bulk of them seemed to have come from Prompto. Within the last month. And that was when he also noticed the year on all of them, which now also matched the year on his phone.

2022. Not 766.

"Fuck."

[[ oh. hey. it's open :) ]]

After fighting their way through the daemon clogged streets of Insomnia, still overrun by the last remaining factions of the still-clinging Niflheim Empire, the area around the felt Citadel shockingly untouched. If it weren't for what they'd all just been through, the struggle it was to reach these gates again, and the darkness that still surrounded them, it would almost feel like it had been, those ten long years ago, when they'd approached those steps for the last time to meet with Regis in the throne room to see Noctis off on his fateful journey.

And, of course, someone was already there, waiting, though he moved toward them as they approached, his steps slow and steady on the concrete beneath his feet.

( Ifrit! The Infernian. He doesn't share the Glacian's fondness for mankind. )

And with those words, Ardyn thrust out his hand sharply, sending out three bursts of dark purple light. They went sailing straight past Noctis, each one finding and smashing into the chests of his friends; with started grunts, they went flying back, fighting against the magic as it surrounded them with a black fog.

Fighting against it, however, proved futile.

They had no place in this, a battle of kings.

And so Noctis would have to move forward....alone.


[[ taken from the absolute mess of Final Fantasy XV's Chapter 14: 'Homecoming'. NFB, NFI, TBC! *inserts anticipatory heavy breathing* ]]