To See Yourself

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XV or Harry Potter.

Author's Note: I shouldn't be starting a new story when I have so many ongoing and I haven't updated them in forever… but I'm doing it anyway. I've never written anything for the FFXV fandom before so I hope that this is a decent first attempt. I have a lot of other FFXV story ideas so I doubt this will be the only time I write these characters.

Also, I'm not a Hermione/Ron shipper but I don't dislike Ron I just don't see the pair working out in the long run. And it may seem like I'm making Ron awful here but I don't think it's out of character for him to say hurtful things during stressful times.

Not beta'd, all mistakes are mine.

Chapter 1: The Blind Stranger

Hermione couldn't sleep. Not that that was anything new. No, sadly the young witch hadn't been sleeping well for quite some time.

Only now she could hardly blame it on the cursed necklace that was constantly whispering all her worst fears and insecurities in her head.

Sitting up from her bed her eyes drifted over to Harry, he was asleep for once.

Lucky him.

She was only a tad bit envious.

Not that Hermione would trade places with him if she could, he deserved his rest and likely wouldn't get any when it was his turn to wear the locket again.

Look at him sleeping soundly while you're hurting, he's so self-centered. He's always been like that.

Her eyes glanced down at the locket wearily she knew better than to listen. Knew that those thoughts were not her own, not really.

It may have sounded just like her but she was not easily fooled.

Hermione knew herself better so she could ignore it. So why couldn't Ron? That thought sent a stabbing pain throughout her chest. But she could ignore it, emotions needed to be put away for the sake of the mission and Harry after all.

Even as she thought it her mind constantly drifted back to Ron… how could he have left them?

Because Ron was selfish.

Hermione didn't argue. Not that she ever had engaged with those foreign thoughts to begin with.

He wouldn't have said those things if he hadn't meant them.

The young woman stood then. She just couldn't stand being in the tent a moment longer, so she tore her gaze away from Ron's empty bed having only just noticed that she'd been staring at it and proceeded to leave the tent.

Outside of the tent she almost felt like she could breathe again.

The night sky was unusually dark tonight with no moon in sight and a forecast that with the aid of the tall trees helped to block any starlight that might have helped to illuminate the area.

Hermione glanced over in the direction she knew housed the burnt-out campfire. Harry had lit it shortly after they arrived in their new camp to boil the mushrooms, she scavenged for into something resembling soup for their lunch.

It was only just barely edible and not very filling. It made her regret not thinking to pack salt and pepper for the trip. If only that was her only regret, she'd be doing great.

Carefully she took the few steps to the log they'd positioned as a sitting area. Hermione trusted that hours of laying in the dark had adjusted her eyes enough to not worry about the short walk. Harry had also made sure to clear a direct path as it was usually him that awoke at night and star gazed.

Not that there were any stars half of the time but Hermione had caught him staring into the night sky as if searching for answers more times than was probably healthy.

So far, the sky hadn't given him any answers, or none that he shared with her.

Starting the fire should've been simple, after all, she was a witch. However, she was an exhausted one so it took her an embarrassing three tries to light the fire. She was grateful no one was around to witness such a pathetic display.

From there her mind wandered as it often did lately and it found its way back to Ron.

Hermione couldn't believe that Ron asked her to abandon Harry to just give up on their mission. She knew it had to be the Horcrux. He wouldn't be saying anything like that without its influence.

It made you think dark thoughts, feel negative emotions. It was almost overwhelming and maybe he had been wearing it for too long but once he took it off and threw it at them, she knew she could reason with him.

Make him see that nothing was going on between her and Harry. That he was just her friend, that he was Ron's friend. That she knew he didn't mean to bring up the fact that Harry was an orphan and was only worried about his family when he lashed out.

They could talk. Fix it.

So, Hermione chased him outside of the tent, "Ron!"

He just kept walking. He was ignoring her.

Hermione wouldn't let that stand however; she wasn't one to be ignored.

"Ron!"

He was getting close to the edge of camp when she grabbed his arm, "Stop, just talk to me."

"Why!?" He turned sharply tugging his arm free from her grasp, "So you can lie to me!?"

"I wasn't lying, Harry and I-we're not like that!" She pleaded for him to believe her but he just scoffed, "Right." He didn't believe her. It hurt. And it brought frustrated tears to her eyes but the witch refused to let them fall.

"I'm telling you the truth! I know this isn't you talking right now, it's the Horcrux. Your emotions are still heightened but once you calm down and we talk about all this-"

"It's not the bloody Horcrux! It's him! It's you!" He roared.

Hermione jerked back as if she were struck, "Me? Wha-"

"You don't understand either!" Ron interrupted again and Hermione tried her best to not show how much this conversation was hurting her, "Then talk to me and make me understand!"

Ron sneered and got right into her face, "Not all of us can magic away our family's memories and remove them from the line of fire! You don't have anything to lose in this fight!"

Hermione was stunned, "How-How can you say that?" Her voice was barely above a whisper but then it grew louder as she asked, "Do you really not get how hard that was for me!?"

"Oh yeah really hard, you waved a wand said a spell and poof your family is safe!"

At this point Hermione didn't know what to say to him, she had confided in him. Told him what she had done to keep her muggle parents safe and now he was throwing it right back in her face. She hadn't even confided in Harry because she didn't want him to blame himself for her decision.

Taking a step back she looked away from him as to not let him see how much he hurt her, "Just go." She didn't mean it.

At the same time, she did.

He was the last person she wanted to speak to right now but part of her still hoped that he would come to his senses and apologize.

Though she didn't know if she could forgive him.

"I was planning on it."

Hermione's head shot back up as she heard him moving and watched as he stepped past the wards, "Ron!" It was too late though he was gone.

He really left them.

Ron had left her.

Worse than anything he said was his willingness to abandon her when she needed him.

The tears she had held back fell then.

Hermione hated remembering that day. She still hadn't told Harry what Ron said, only that he left and she couldn't stop him.

He left because he wanted to.

Those weren't her thoughts but at the same time they were because she couldn't find any fault with them but she didn't dwell on them either.

No that wasn't quite true.

She had dwelt on them and in a way still was.

Sometimes she wished she could forget Ron all together.

If she just didn't care about him then it wouldn't still hurt her so much.

Sighing the worn-out witch poked the fire in front of her, using a nearby stick she had grabbed absent-mindedly. It wasn't as pointless as it appeared. Hermione was so tired she doubted she would even be able to correctly cast a simple warming charm. She knew that she was lucky to have gotten the fire lit to begin with.

And it was cold so the fire was needed.

That alone should have made her retreat back into the tent, even if sleep alluded her, she should still take the comfort in its warmth.

However, Hermione knew if she went back inside the tent her eyes would drift their way to Ron's bed or Ron's things… because he was an idiot and left them.

Hermione didn't know if she meant he left behind his things or her… them. She couldn't forget that he left Harry as well. Another reason she needed to stop her moping; it wasn't good for Harry. He would only blame himself, and he did that enough.

Frustrated on where her mind once again wandered without her permission, she tossed the stick angrily into the fire and stood up.

She wanted to yell, to scream but knew that she couldn't.

Not only would it wake Harry who needed his sleep but it might even alert someone possibly lurking around to their presence despite all of her precautions she just couldn't risk it.

Instead, the brunette decided to take a walk to blow off her steam. Given that she didn't want to accidently step outside of the barrier that didn't leave much more than her making a slow circle around the tent.

As she walked her eyes darted around her, she was so sick of seeing trees. Never before had she disliked nature so much. It was dark but the light shining from the campfire was enough and she had scouted out the area after making camp so it wasn't like she was worried about anything blocking her path aside from small rocks and branches.

That was why when she was halfway around the tent she didn't expect to trip over something.

But she did.

Hermione couldn't help letting loose a startled cry as her legs hit the large thing before her. Hermione all but tumbled headfirst only just barely reacting with her hands to catch her fall. Only her hands didn't hit the ground, they hit whatever had tripped her in the first place.

"What…?" Hermione's palms splayed out on a somewhat familiar firm surface that was most certainly not the ground.

And it was positively not anything that should be in a forest setting.

She jerked back and all but stumbled backwards onto her bottom with wide eyes.

It was hard to see even with her eyesight adjusted and the added light from the nearby fire but she knew what it was.

A body.

Trying to catch her breath as she suddenly realized how fast she was breathing the witch stared at the dark unmoving figure.

How had a body gotten into camp? The wards would have alerted her if someone had passed them, even a dead someone. Had they missed it earlier in the day? No… sure she knew that she was distracted as this was their first move without Ron. And okay the two of them were both exhausted but there was no way they both would have missed something like this.

Maybe she was wrong? Maybe it was just a bunch of wood… it hadn't felt like that though and where would a pile of wood have come from.

This was ridiculous.

She couldn't think straight.

Damn locket.

Damn Ron.

Wait... Ron?

No, it couldn't be… quickly reaching for her wand she cast a shaky Lumos with a whisper.

It flickered for a moment but still lit up the tip of her wand, not as bright as it usually was but still more than enough light to see what she needed to.

It was indeed a body but she quickly gave a sigh of relief to see that it wasn't Ron's, "Of course it wasn't… that wouldn't have made any sense."

And now she was talking to herself with a dead body nearby.

She was losing it.

Hermione didn't have time to worry about her declining mental health however as there was too much else going on. Like worrying about the dead body in camp, the mission, Harry, and whether or not Ron was alive out there or lying dead without anyone knowing.

That last thought wasn't even put into her head by the locket, no it didn't need to put that particular thought there but it certainly did like to exploit them whenever she gave it the opening.

Hermione's gaze hadn't left the body even as her mind wandered off.

That's when she noticed something that her earlier panicked and weary mind hadn't.

The chest was moving, the person was breathing.

They were alive.

Normally that would be a good thing, but things were as far from normal as they could be. So, seeing someone alive inside of her barrier was more worrisome than seeing a random dead body.

Scrambling to her feet she backed away from the body in fright. Was it a Death Eater? Who else would be this deep in the forest? Her first instinct was to go grab Harry and run away. Run from a potential threat to Harry, to their mission.

Running was so ingrained into her being at this point that it was a wonder that she hadn't responded this way when she had thought it to have just been a dead body invading their camp.

But as the nearly panicking witch moved away one of her feet knocked into a part of the body that she hadn't seen in the dark and he gave out an unconscious pained grunt.

Hermione froze once more.

Her eyes widened as she slowly turned her still lit wand to better see the person, she hadn't really looked before only looking just enough to see that it wasn't Ron.

It wasn't an it, or just a body though. It was a he, a young man. His rising chest told her that.

He appeared to be unconscious and not just asleep as he would've reacted not only to her falling on him but to her basically kicking him a moment ago if he had only been napping.

Moving the light further up to see if she recognized him Hermione gasped as the light shined on his face.

His newly scared face.

It wasn't like Bill's scars; in fact, it wasn't like any scar she'd ever laid eyes upon. Just the thought of eyes made her wince as she looked at his.

He would be lucky to ever see again with those horrible wounds on his eyes. Shifting the light, a bit, she had to reassess her thoughts some. Because it seemed possible that his right eye would be saved as the scaring was mostly on the left side.

Hermione hesitated but only for a moment longer before dropping back down to the ground on her knees this time to get a closer look.

She could already feel the strain on her core from holding her Lumos spell for so long and being just plain exhausted and probably slightly malnourished but she didn't let up. Instead, she leaned closer and knew that the first thing she had to do was check his forearms for the Dark Mark.

Hermione moved her wand to her left hand and used her right to roll up his sleeves to take a look, his arm was clear aside from some cuts and bruises. So, she carefully maneuvered around his body to check his other arm and got the same result. The young woman breathed a sigh of relief as she wasn't sure what she would've done if he bore the mark on his arm.

That done she flashed the light back on his face to examine his most prominent injuries.

Hermione was no healer; she knew the basics but that would clearly not help here. He would need a real hospital but with her current on the run status, she couldn't exactly take him to one. Maybe a muggle one but even that would be an unnecessarily dangerous venture. Not to mention they'd likely try to check her in as she doubted, she looked too good herself if what Harry looked like was any indication.

It was a good thing the tent didn't have any mirrors.

Shaking her head and getting back to the topic at hand she leaned over him and looked at his scar a bit closer hoping to determine the cause. And came to the only conclusion that she could.

The wound was likely of magical origin so a muggle hospital wouldn't be able to do much more than prevent infection. They probably wouldn't even be able to take the pain away depending on what kind of magic caused the wound.

Luckily, she could do that much as well as possibly reduce his pain. She even had plenty dreamless sleep potion left as none of them felt safe enough to actually take it even if they could all use it.

That in mind she dropped the spell and fell back into the familiar darkness with only the flickering flames just around the tent to see by. From there she took a steadying breath before gathering her strength to levitate him. It was a lot more difficult than it reasonably should have been given how even a first-year could cast the spell.

Without the proper sleep, nutrition, or even adrenaline running through her at the moment it was to be expected. It still frustrated and left her feeling almost useless. The dark entity latched onto that and tried to bring her down even further by whispering back her own worthlessness.

Hermione did her best to ignore it and focus on the task at hand as she slowly made her way into the tent. The mysterious wounded man floating along behind her as she entered, sparing a quick glance over at Harry's sleeping form she was pleased to see that he was still sleeping.

Then she looked around their tent for somewhere to place her patient. First, she looked at Ron's bed but her steps faltered. Then she gazed at hers considering it before turning back to Ron's after realizing that if she laid him in her own bed then she would have to take Ron's.

Hermione wasn't sleeping as it was, if she tried to sleep in his bed, she might never get any rest.

Decision made the brunette quickly and quietly moved him to the spare bed that had once belonged to Ron, then proceeded to take everything she could possibly need from her beaded bag.

Potions in hand she quickly came upon a new problem, she'd never fed an unconscious person a potion before, so how was she supposed to do that?

First, she simply tried tilting his head back but it leaked out of the corner of his mouth so then she searched around for some kind of cloth. Not wanting to use anything potentially dirty she came to the conclusion that the only thing she was sure was clean were the unused bandages she'd brought.

Hermione pulled the dressings out of her bag to help try and prevent the spillage. Unfortunately, all it did was make less of a mess but she didn't think that enough if any was actually going down his throat.

Frustrated she kept trying new ideas and eventually through trial and error and sadly more than one wasted potion managed to get him to swallow what he needed. He didn't seem to need blood but something for the pain and dreamless sleep seemed necessary so that was what she went with. Though given that he was still asleep the last was probably not completely necessary but it should keep him asleep long enough for her to tend to his injuries and maybe get some rest herself afterward.

Hermione really wished she would have devoted more time to the healing arts while in school but now was not time for regrets. Instead she used some of the bandages to clean the blood, dirt and debris from his face and as gently as she could from his wounds.

He had others but his face had the worst so that was where he'd likely infect if not properly taken care of.

She wiped his face with just some water first and winced whenever the pressure caused new blood to form, it wasn't overly bloody but it was still a painful sight.

Hermione could hardly imagine how painful this was to receive and wondered how much more pain he would feel as it healed? She wasn't sure she could stand it and the witch knew what a dark curse felt like. Though admittedly she passed out very quickly once it hit her and only had to deal with the dull echoes of pain after the fact.

Her hand reached for her chest; underneath was a thin pale scar that ran from just under her collar bone to right over her heart. Sometimes she still imagined the throbbing but she knew it to only be a trick of her mind.

Hermione did not envy this man his plight.

Not only that but Hermione had never considered what it might be like to lose her eyesight. Even in just one eye, which was hopefully the extent of his injury.

Even being friends with Harry who was practically blind without his glasses it never crossed her mind. She knew there were many things she had taken for granted. Her parents for one and now apparently her sight. Her hand left her chest and wandered to the stranger's face and hovered just above his left eye.

With magic nothing was certain, she just wouldn't know the true extent for sure until he awoke. Maybe it was purely superficial but she doubted it.

Yes, it was the left side that was undoubtedly the worst of it.

The more she looked at it the more she was sure that it would likely take more than a miracle for the sight to be saved in that eye, or maybe some really advanced healing magic. Not that she knew any so the point was moot.

Her hovering hand at some point during her thoughts started to trace her fingers delicately along the raised skin. They made their way from his left eyelid to his right. Due to the light scaring on that side he would probably be able to see from this eye she guessed. After all it wasn't even directly on his eyelid on the right side.

Hermione continued to gently trace the raised skin and her eyes wandered his face curiously.

She realized that she was seeing it for the first time, her focus had previously been on his scars, then on getting him to take the potion but only now did the rest of his features really register.

He had some other injuries, above his less injured eye was an open wound cutting through his eyebrow it still had some blood so she grabbed a new bandage and dabbed it with the water from her water bottle before proceeding to clean it to the best of her ability. From there she moved onto smaller wounds on his forehead and then the deeper one across his nose.

Despite the fact that he was a mess and clearly wounded she could tell that he was handsome and likely only a few years older than herself. It was only an observation though nothing to linger on.

After the cleanup Hermione dug back into her handy beaded bag for the paste. The witch decided she would focus on the one for scarring first. Because even if it didn't help them to fade which it might not depending on the spell used it should at least help to heal them quicker than if they were left to heal naturally. After that she would see to the one to reduce the bruising.

Hermione had originally packed the healing ointments with the intention of having to apply it to Harry at some point during their travels. She was somewhat hopeful that it would soothe him as well as lighten them making them less prominent even if it couldn't undo any of the likely damaged tissue behind his eyelid.

While rubbing the cream on the man's face, Hermione thoughtfully mused that she had never even touched Ron or Harry's faces as much as this stranger. It was as if she were mapping out his face as she applied the salve to his injuries.

She quickly jerked her hand away as a moan woke her from her train of thought.

It hadn't come from the wounded sleeping man before her, no it had come from behind her.

Harry was waking up.

Hermione sat down the paste and wiped her hands on her shirt before rising slower than she'd have liked off of her now sore knees to turn and face her friend. The other teen blinked blurrily and reached for his glasses clumsily before putting them on and flopping over lazily as he could feel a familiar gaze on his back.

Hermione watched his reaction unsure of what to say or do in the situation, first, his tired gaze saw her and he opened his mouth to speak until his swift eyes darted to the still figure lying behind her.

Harry was up faster than what should have been possible given his newly woken status, "Hermione what? Who… who is that?"

He was understandably wary of the person sleeping in Ron's bed. He knew it wasn't Ron even though he couldn't see the other person clearly his instincts told him so. Or maybe it was his magic, whatever it was had been on high alert for months now.

It was kind of surprising that he hadn't woken up to the stranger's presence the moment he entered their tent but given how out of it he was maybe that wasn't surprising after all.

Hermione didn't really know how to answer as Harry approached but she tried anyway, "I don't know… I found him inside our wards unconscious and injured."

Harry looked at her in disbelief, "And you brought him in here? You didn't think it could be some kind of Death Eater trap?"

"Of course I did but-" Harry cut her off in a panic, "Hermione you're not this stupid or reckless! What were you thinking!?"

Annoyed Hermione also raised her voice, "I was thinking that he doesn't have a mark, yes I did check! Oh, and then there's the fact that who in their right mind would likely blind themselves in an attempt at catching us!"

Harry blinked and then leaned around her to look at the man, "I don't know… an unmarked Death Eater probably." His words weren't as loud or sure but he was clearly still uncomfortable with the idea of the stranger being in such close quarters.

"I doubt he needs any unmarked Death Eaters now that he's basically in control."

Harry didn't want to agree on that front but it was probably true.

"Okay even if he isn't a Death Eater, he still shouldn't have been able to breach the wards."

"Maybe I made a mistake, it's been stressful lately." Hermione didn't want to even think about how that may very well be the case.

"You wouldn't make a mistake like that?"

Normally Hermione would be pleased with his confidence in her ability but right now she wasn't so confident in anything let alone herself.

"Mistakes are always possible."

"Well did you check the wards?"

"…No."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "You thought you might have made a mistake and you didn't check?"

"…Yeah." Harry looked like he was about to yell at her for her carelessness but quickly deflated, "I'll check them, you just hand over that locket and get some sleep you clearly need it."

"Harry…" He holds out his hand for the Horcrux and reluctantly Hermione removes it and hands it over. The relief she experiences is immediate as she drops it into his outstretched hand.

Was the locket getting stronger? It was probably feeding on them just like the diary did to Ginny and they were both exhausted which probably only made it easier. For a second she considered giving voice to her thoughts but watching him pull it over his head she shuts her mouth.

Her worries needed to remain just that, her own. The more she worried him the easier it would be for the locket to sink its teeth into him, figuratively speaking.

Harry walked out of the tent but not before eyeing the stranger with a wary look. Hermione sat back down and continued to apply the medicine. Just as she was finishing up Harry reappeared.

"There's nothing wrong with the wards," Harry tells her as he watches her pack up the healing paste.

"That's good." It was though it meant that she should probably have more questions but she was just too exhausted to think of any but Harry wasn't.

"Then how did he get in here?" He demanded as he approached the bed housing their guest.

"I could probably theorize something but why not ask him when he wakes up." Hermione told him this as she walked to her bed and practically fell on it, "Right now I'm gonna follow his example and sleep."

Harry didn't take his eyes off of the sleeping man, "You're gonna go to sleep in the same tent as a possible enemy?"

"You're the one who told me to sleep," Hermione mumbled into her pillow but he understood her nonetheless.

"Didn't think you'd actually do it." Hermione thought he sounded put out but didn't have the energy to care.

"If I don't, I think I'll collapse." Normally Hermione wouldn't admit to such a thing but her brain wasn't putting up its usual filter.

"Besides I gave him dreamless sleep, it should help him sleep for a few more hours at least." Harry sighed, "Alright fine, I'll keep an eye on him but once he wakes up, I want some answers."

Hermione didn't hear him as she'd already passed out cold.

He sighed at Hermione's sleeping form; she was so unlike herself lately. Then again, this whole mission was just one big stressful mess. None of them felt like themselves, at times he didn't even recognize himself so was it any wonder that he thought the same about his friends.

Friend… not friends. Ron wasn't here anymore, sometimes he forgot.

His eyes drift to Ron's bed and the stranger inhabiting it.

He moved until he was stand right beside the bed looking down on the man, his gaze fixed firmly on his face trying to place him in his memory.

Harry came up blank not only was he completely unfamiliar but he didn't look like any purebloods he knew of. Not that Harry was familiar with all of them or their inherited looks.

Was the man a muggle-born? Running from the Death Eaters?

He didn't think he'd ever seen him at Hogwarts but then again if he graduated before Harry started but he didn't look that much older. However, looks could be deceiving, then again maybe he was in a different house and graduated when Harry was in his second or third year, he hardly knew the upperclassmen those first few years.

Still, somehow Harry doubted that was the case.

And there was no way was he a muggle with those injuries and having got past Hermione's wards.

The wounds were caused by magic he was sure of it.

And the man appeared inside of a magical barrier somehow.

Harry's frown deepened; he really didn't like this.

They had too many unknowns to deal with already but he couldn't fault Hermione for helping the man, he only hoped it wouldn't backfire. If he was an enemy then not only had they used up valuable resources on him but also, he was in their camp.

Harry looked him over some more and found him to be unarmed but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. He could be a werewolf for all they knew and even outside of the full moon they were unnaturally strong.

Exhaling a deep breath Harry ambled over to the table to look over the book Dumbledore had left for Hermione once more hoping beyond hope that this time he'd find a clue.

He had no idea what he was doing.

In fact, he had woken up planning on telling Hermione that they should check out Godric's Hollow. It was better than doing nothing but that would have to wait now.

He couldn't just go and leave Hermione with the stranger, injured or not.

No, they would wait for him to wake up and if he wasn't a threat find somewhere to drop him off and then head to Godric's Hollow from there.

It was a plan, not a good one but Harry needed to do something.

The first thing he became aware of as he regained consciousness was that his face felt like it was on fire, the next thing was an unfamiliar voice with a strange accent, "You awake?"

He tensed and sat up swiftly despite the agony that it brought him.

"Easy there… hey, Hermione, he's awake." The same voice said making him turn his head but when he tried to open his eyes the pain intensified, he barely held back a pained cry as he grabbed at his face.

"Hmm?" A tired voice responded further away but his focus was solely on his eyes, his hand was missing his usual glove so he felt his face and the unfamiliar raised skin around his eyes.

"Oh, stop that. Don't touch." A hand grabbed his own away from his face, "Are you in pain?" This voice was female and had the same strange accent he noted as he attempted once more to open his eyes but to no avail.

His pained hiss was followed by the woman's voice, "Harry grab my bag, just try and stay still you're injured."

That was painfully obvious.

He had so many questions but first and foremost he needed to open his eyes, what was wrong with them?

Forcing them open despite the advice from the woman he found himself gasping at the painful sensation.

"I told you not to do that!" Her voice was exasperated but he didn't notice, instead, he worked on opening and closing his sore eyes a couple of times before realizing that the result was the same each time.

"Could one of you please turn on some lights?" His throat was sore and scratchy as if he'd not had something to drink in a while but his words were still understandable.

The two people don't answer him for a beat and when they do it's the woman who speaks, "The lights are on…"

He slowly raises the hand that had originally touched his eyes before it had been snatched away, the young man runs it over the raised skin on his face and barely notices the pain. His glasses were missing but that too was something that he hardly took stock of.

He couldn't see.

His sight was gone.

Was it temporary?

Some encounter with a daemon perhaps?

How had it happened?

And most importantly where was Noctis?

As if Noctis' name was the key to unlocking his memory he suddenly remembered… he remembered everything.

"… I see."

"You do?" The man asked only to have a smacking sound register, "Ow, what was that for?"

"Don't be insensitive! Clearly he can't." The woman hissed at her companion.

"But he just said-"

"It's a figure of speech."

He closed his useless eyes and stopped listening after that.

What was he to do now?

Review, maybe?