revivalproject | Our Home Out In Space

WHO: Gladiolus Amicitia, Open
WHERE: The Glitter Food
WHAT: Just lingering on the ship on security and orbit duty
WHEN: February
WARNINGS: N/A

I. Watchman In The Night

They say it's lonely out in space. Not that Gladio thinks he can confirm it one way or the other. The Agrii at least seem to be a little too not lonely for their own sakes at the moment, and the space station they had been to was like that too. But now, well, he supposes he gets the vibe. Mostly the feeling had come from video games Noctis used to play in the old days. Now... Now it's something he can understand.

Here he sits, alone on the bridge of the Glitter Food, switching his attention between his communication pad and the large display screens before him looking into the star filled void, and gets it. With a sigh he sets the pad aside, no security flare ups needing intervention lately, and shakes his head.

"Would you hate how still it is here, Noct, or revel in it?"

His question goes unanswered, of course, save by the chiming announcing someone requesting entrance to the bridge. Which, of course, he confirms with an unthinking push of a button.

II. Camping King

There's nothing that quite compares to camping in Gladio's opinion. It's peaceful. It's restful. It reminds him of his father and his best friends and of Noctis of course. Maybe that's why he had abandoned the room assigned to him on the ship. Instead Gladio had hauled out his camping gear and moved to the big central area. It was simple to set the thing up on the edge of the sandy shore, a tent and a fire ring and a seat. His weapon lays beside the seat, a thing of habit. No fire was in the ring, but for now this was enough. He could rest here, staring up at the starry sky through the massive overhead dome.

In a way, he can almost fool himself into thinking it's home.

Of course, it's not. And in the minute of annoyance over remembering that he does something foolish. He grabs the hilt of his sword and with a twist and fling he throws the thing far from him. There's of course no satisfying thunk to it hitting anything. It explodes into crystals once it reaches a certain distance from him and he can feel it settling back into that waiting space in the bond to... To emptiness.

"Fuck this place. Fuck it so much."

III. Keeping Fit

If there is one thing he knows how to do, that he does without hesitation, it's keeping fit. Without the youths to manage for the school, without the drive to protect them being so strong, he does what he always does. Which is why anyone on the Glitter Food, visiting and crew member alike, might see him in the mornings. He runs the length of the ship, which is no small thing. He finds a tree with an ideally placed limb to do chin ups and other strength training. He moves supplies around in the cargo hold for some degree of muscle training. And, for hours every day, he goes through practice routines with his sword and with his shield.

None of it is done with single minded focus of course. That isn't his style. So when someone approaches he comes to a stop to nod, or tilts his head in a quiet invitation to join him.

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"Why will he still be king, though? The world ended, right? Does your country even still exist?"

Leo is never one to give up on a happy ending.

"It does, even if things have fallen. The King of Light, the True King, will guide us through the nightmare. But he will not do it by shedding his life to give us a new dawn. No, we'll see him walk into it, to guide us all."

Because that was what a king should do.

Now everything Gladio's saying sound a little too Prophecy-y for Leo. He grimaces.

"Uh, yeah, okay. I guess. Just still seems kinda like it sucks."

Hey, it's because there had been a prophecy they were denying. Can't help that's how his world works.

"It really does," Gladio says. "I don't think Noctis ever wanted the seat on the throne. But I don't think his line has in a while."

Leo sighs.

"Yeah, well, that's what happens with bloodline stuff. You don't want it, but it keeps coming after you anyway."

Yeah, it was. Gladio wilts a little to think about it.

Actually, he wilts a lot.

"Guess that's how fate works."

Leo nods sullenly.

"It got a lot of my family, too. Fate and bloodline curses and stuff."

Bloodline curses? Damn, that sucks.

"Same for him. Apparently a god screwed over his ancient ancestor. That is still alive and wants revenge. Which makes sense. We're hoping to convince him to help us fight the god rather than submitting to the fate that would kill Noctis."

And Gladio's so tired of trying to hide who Noctis was if Noctis wasn't here. What Noctis was.

It's really more like bloodline responsibility, but given how many members of his family have died from it, Leo thinks of it as a curse.

He never really met Noctis, so this isn't a very shocking revelation for him. In fact, he doesn't have much of a reaction at all.

"Yeah? You think he'll join you?"

Yes, it was a bloodline responsibility. Though he doesn't think it's a curse. They have all seen it as an honor.

"Of course he will. He believes in fairness, and what the gods have done isn't fair."

"Hey, that's good. And maybe since he's family he'll want to pitch in just from that."

Leo has a very high view of family, so this makes sense to him.

Family. Gladio huffs.

"Well, no, family connections hasn't made Ardyn on our side before. He just wants to have fairness for him. But he was screwed over a bit."

"Well, it was worth a suggestion."

Fairness is a good enough motivator, he supposes.

"Sounds like the gods in your world do that to people a lot." Screw them over, he means.

It really was. But alas. Some people are just assholes.

"Sometimes it's revenge that connects people. But mostly it's Bahamut that screwed the metaphorical pooch."

"Is that the god that caused all these problems?"

He's not familiar with the name.

"The dragon god that is patron of my order, of the Glaives, of my family, of the line of kings. Yeah. That's him. Arrogant fuck messing with the world for centuries really didn't help anything."

"Can't he just fix the problem himself? Sheesh."

Then again, Leo doesn't know much about gods. He thinks his dad mentioned them a few times? What was it called again? Augh, he'll have to ask Donnie sometime.

"Oh, he has a solution," Gladio says, his expression darkening. "Basically involves human sacrifice. Sacrificing Noctis. Needless to say, as his bodyguard, not a big fan of that. Giving my life to protect him so that he can be a sacrificial lamb is not okay."

Plus he loved the man, so that definitely wasn't happening.

"That doesn't sound like fixing the problem himself. Just getting other people to do it for him."

Basically this god doesn't sound like much punk.

"There's a theory that Bahamut can't access the power he needs to deal with it himself, and so he's been manipulating Noctis's family, and by extension, a whole nation for well over a hundred generations."

And Gladio, along with Ignis and Prompto, weren't amused in his timeline.

This god is sounding increasingly less godlike. But then what does Leo know?

"So now you end the manipulation."

"Yep. That's the goal. When I go back, it's to fighting fate."

And really, it's a way worthy of going out.

"Guess so. But we gotta finish this here, first."

Unless Gladio gets lucky and poofs back on his own, he supposes.

"I don't like leaving a job unfinished, so I agree," Gladio assures Leo with a nod.

"Yeah."

Leo nods himself, then gets to his feet, brushing sand off.

"Anyway, I should probably go track down Dee and make sure he's drank water sometime in the last twenty-four hours. But we should do this again sometime!"

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