Aranea, even if she had reacted quite harshly to Prompto when he had learned about his origins back in Gralea, still had understand how he could have felt. She had been born in Niflheim, too, and with time, she had come to realize she was born in one of the worst places. She had almost died, being almost killed by her ex-boyfriend, and had decided she wanted to join the army to make sure she could defeat everyone who would try to harm her. But the only army she could have joined was Niflheim’s, and she had done it. She had learned a lot with them; she had grown way STRONGER thanks to them, and could face pretty much any threat now thanks to them. However, a part of her still wondered how her life would have turned if she had grown up in Insomnia, like Prompto, and if she would have joined the Crownsguard or the Kingsglaive instead. She would have become stronger, too, but she would have also been in the right place; she would have been on the good side of the war since the beginning. Of course, she was fighting for Lucis now and protecting its people, so she had ended up this way anyway, but she still hated herself for working at Niflheim Empire for this long.
It wasn’t everyone who trusted her though: sometimes, she joined forces with members of the Crownsguard or even hunters who couldn’t stand her. They fought side by side, but they still kept insulting her because of her past allegiance. She hated when people didn’t even try to understand someone. They didn’t know her, so they couldn’t affect her. But she knew how mad she would get if she heard such a thing about Prompto.
“Of course they would say the same. I’m amazing.” Aranea teased, a playful smirk crossing her features. She knew how hard it was to deal with that world of darkness, and this was why she kept joking and teasing her friends. She had to light up the mood, at least. Her smirk saddened a bit at the mention of Noctis. “He will return. I wasn’t sure of him when I met him, but now, I believe in him. This is why we have to fight, to protect his people, to make sure he still has a kingdom when he’s back.”
"That you are,” he teased back, although a tease in earnest, before the mood dampens just a bit.
They were definitely all feeling the sting of Noctis’ absence, even those who hadn’t known him long, or even at all. It was hard not to, with the sun entirely absent, and eternal night constantly looming over their heads. It’d be a lie to say he wasn’t one of the first people to gripe when morning came, but damn, he sure would like to see the sun in the sky right about now.
“Yeah...” he agrees somberly. “But with all of us working towards the same thing... you, me, Gladdy, Iggy, the Glaives, the Hunters... I think we can do it.” Soft-spoken as it is, its also delivered with unwavering conviction. “Noct isn’t going to give up, wherever he is, and neither will we. Not even if it takes a lifetime.”
There’s a moment of pause, glancing back down at his hands where he’s idly tearing a piece of grass in half.
“Of course, it’d be nice to see him before a whole lifetime has gone by too.”
He blinks hard at the ground for a moment as his brows furrow at the possibility, but he tries to push it aside and look up again, not wanting to dwell on that thought too much. A lifetime would just feel too long. Hell, his absence already felt too long now.
He didn’t want to drag Aranea down into his same dreary thoughts though, trying to shift gears to something a little more light-hearted.
“Hey. You know, one of the things that was always really nice in Insomnia were some of the celebrations. Like, festivals and stuff, you know?”
He wasn’t actually sure if she knew. He didn’t know what growing up in Niflheim was like or if the military power-house had things like festivals, outside of celebrating their conquests, but he did know that when they arrived there to retrieve the crystal, things were bleak.
Empty, industrial streets void of much human life, filled with roaming beasts and daemons and Magitek suits... between Niflheim and Lucis, he wasn’t sure which had gotten worse treatment in the end. Even their own king hadn’t exactly been spared a bad fate.
“Maybe its too early to start thinking ahead to things like this, but when Noct returns, and things are back to normal... or mostly normal, we should throw a party. A big celebration!” He throws his arms wide.
“It... probably won’t be as big and fancy as the ones we had before. Not like fancy lights and floats and confetti, but you really only need people and some good food to get things poppin’. Maybe put some of those cool fight moves out there as some kinda entertainment for the masses!” He mock-boxes the air a few times.
“Bet’cha the kids’ll love it!”