Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XV or any of its characters. I also don't make any profit from this piece of fanfiction. If I did I would have a lot more time to write more chapters instead of going to work…

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Noctis watched as the sun carried on its journey into the sky and dawn came to an end. He looked down at his hands and wriggled his fingers, trying to rid himself of that feeling. Every time he thought about it he wanted to vomit. He wanted to rip off his skin and take a year-long shower.

Someone else had been in control of his body. He felt violated. More so than he ever thought possible. The things she made him do…He could hardly shoulder the guilt. He nearly killed every one of his friends. He did kill Lady Calleja. Some could argue that he didn't actually kill her, but he did. They were his hands that broke her neck. He would never forget that feeling.

Was she a good person? No, she sold him to a power-hungry god. But he was forced to take her life. He killed her unwillingly and that would stay with him forever.

"Hey," Prompto smiled, walking back up from the Regalia to the temple, "Welcome back."

Noctis glanced up and then at the ground, "Thanks," he muttered.

"How're ya feeling?"

"How do you think?"

"Sorry about the uh…" Prompto pointed awkwardly at Noctis' shoulder wound.

"Are you serious?" Noct frowned at him.

"I had to do it. I didn't want to-"

"No," he shook his head, "You're apologising to me?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"After everything I did-"

"That wasn't you-"

"Yes it was!" Noct snapped.

"No!" Prompto snapped back just as hard. "You weren't the one who did all those awful things. You were the one who stopped her from doing worse."

"You stopped her from killing Ignis."

"And you stopped her from killing me!" Prompto held his arms out wide to illustrate his point. "Stop beating yourself up for something you didn't do, okay?"

Noctis let out a deep sigh, trying to force himself to let go of all the guilt. He didn't get rid of it all, but it helped.

"Noct!" Ignis barked, stepping out of the temple doorway. "What's going on, are you alright?"

Noct smiled weakly, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." He straightened his shirt. "Let's go, you need to eat something."

When they got to the diner they ordered almost everything on the menu and ate like animals that hadn't eaten all winter. Except for Ignis, who spent half and hour chastising the tipster for not including the fact that the Red-Tipped Crawlers were poisonous on the poster.

He collected their reward for the hunt and returned to the table. "Now that that's taken care of." He said, clearing his throat.

"Time to get back on the road?" Noct asked.

"Precisely."

"No more detours, huh?" Gladio sighed.

"No thank you." Prompto shook his head.

Noct nodded in agreement, "From here it'll be smooth sailing..."