The crystal ate Noctis, and Ardyn walked away unscathed, not even a bullet to the back of the head stopping him. He just left them there, in the middle of the Empire, with the crystal that was supposed to save them all, and no idea what to do next.

Now Prompto, Gladiolus, and Ignis stood around, each waiting for the next to suggest where they go next, but no one had a clue.

Noctis was gone.

It didn't feel real, then again how could any of it when it was all so impossible. An immortal, who was apparently distantly related to Noctis, had set a trap so a crystal would eat the one person who had any chance of stopping him, in a country that had been turned into deamons.

Yup, totally believable, not completely off-the-wall batshit insane at all.

At least, that's what Prompto would have thought if he hadn't been born in this hell hole. If he weren't some sort of test tube baby with the sole purpose of creating artificial souls to stick in murderous robots. He'd managed to escape the being turned into a murderous robot fate, and got stuck killing all the rest along side his friends. At least he had friends, all two of them at this point.

"God damnit" Gladio was the one to break the silence, an angry whisper turning into a shout as he repeated it, "God damnit, god damnit." He kicked the railing, and lashed out at the catwalk they shared with the crystal. "All of this, all of this bullshit, for nothing!"

"We don't know it was for nothing." Ignis's voice was quiet, but it wasn't calm, it shook with a soft sort of anger. "This may have been his plan, but I don't think he wants to win."

"Then what is it he wants? Gladio rounded on Ignis, "He spent all this time pissing us off, and leading us on a wild goose chase, for what." He threw his arms wide, spinning in a circle. "We have the crystal and no one to use it. No Noct, no heir to Lucis, we have nothing."

"Noct is still alive." Prompto forced out between gritted teeth, "He's not gone, he'll be back."

Gladio laughed bitterly, "How do you know that? He just disappeared and the bad guy walked away like we were nothing."

"This." Prompto shoved his gun in Gladio's face, still holding it in a white knuckled grip. "This is how I know he's still alive." He was shouting too, he hadn't meant to, tears stinging his eyes. "After Noct disappeared into the crystal we summoned our weapons, not before, after. He's still alive."

"It's true." Ignis said, as if just realizing it, unable to see Prompto's proof, so he summoned his own instead. "If Noct were dead, then like with the machine, we'd have no way to access our weapons. That ability comes from Noct, and Noct alone."

"So, then," Gladio summoned his sword, seeming to take comfort of the weight of it in his hand. "What do we do?"

"We wait." Ignis said, reaching out to find Gladio's shoulder, "We wait until Noct returns to us, and we fight."

"For how long?" Prompto asked, knowing Ignis didn't have that answer but hoping anyway.

"For as long as we have to."