victory_road | o9

So, uh... I was going through some of the pictures I first took on my Pokegear and the first one was labeled for today. A year ago. It's almost hard to believe that I've been here for that long, and I only realized in May that I don't want to go back home. It probably sounds selfish, but things are, um... They're better here, and...

_{[Bertolt seems to hesitate for a moment, then he swings his camera around to focus on his Arcanine sprawled out on his back and taking up the entire space on the floor between his bed and the other in his hotel room.}

I couldn't leave him behind. It's even harder to believe that he was barely thirty pounds and didn't even reach my knee when I got here, and now he's got to be around five-hundred and even taller than I am.

_{[One of his Arcanine's feet kick and he shifts around so he's more or less completely upside down, his jowls flopping out to show off his big ol' pearly whites. He's sort of smiling for the camera in his sleep now!]}

I think if I was given the choice to go home or stay here, I'd choose the latter. _{[Bertolt stretches his leg out and now he's rubbing his Arcanine's chest with his foot, which earns a low, content rumble that sounds more bear than dog. Gods, why are these Pokemon so ridiculous?]}

If you had the option, uh... What would you choose? And why?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

..Obligations to my country. To my people.

[It's said softly, Noctis having been rather low-key about his status back home because here it didn't really matter.

But Bert was asking so..]

My father--the king--was killed by the Empire of Niflheim and that..leaves everything to me. We have to stop what the Empire is trying to do and restore the crystal that protects our city--protects Insomnia.

Ah...

_{[That's... Yikes.]}

I'm sorry that happened. _{[A crystal protecting a city sounds a little strange, but after this place? Anything could be possible - hell, even his world is protected by giant walls, so it's not really too different.]} I could understand having to go back for that. A-And for your people. It's...

_{[It's a terrifying thought, but...]}

Do you have anyone helping you?

It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault except the Empire's.

[And Ardyn's but he didn't realize that fully just yet. For now he was content to blame the Empire as a whole for everything.]

I did, yeah. My friends Gladio, Ignis and Prompto. [He manages a small smile.] Among others. A lot of the former Crownsguard fled the city and we met up with them once we got clear as well. They've been assisting use ever since.

It's... always really nice to have that sort of support. I know I'd have been lost if I didn't have my friend with me when things got bad.

Are they here?

Yeah, it is. I would have been..I don't think I'd gotten as far as I did back home without them.

[They had been helping him keep it together.]

Two of them are. They're--we're..all from different points, though.

I... I know how that is, actually.

_{[The timeline issue is still something that trips him up sometimes, but he's gotten better at dealing with it.]}

Compared to my friends here, I'm from the future to them. I-It's not even that far ahead either, but, uh... A lot happens between what they remember and what I know.

That's...I'm really sorry to hear that. It's not an easy thing to deal with--at least, I can imagine it's not.

[Though it was still bad not knowing. Sure Ignis had told him some things but his steward had been reluctant to give away much.]

..Things are better here at least, right? I mean, you guys get to experience things together.

...Yeah, actually.

_{[There's a hint of a smile, and Bertolt reaches up to rub at the back of his neck a little sheepishly.]}

There's food here that I don't think the others have had before, but we had stuff like it in my hometown. Our baker got really creative sometimes when he'd manage to get his hands on really rare stuff, so it's nice to see that it's pretty common here.

[God they...Noct can't even imagine what it must have been like for all of them. For Bert and Armin and even Ash, who was from a completely different world from them but had been in a very similar situation.]

I'm glad you guys have access to all that stuff now. Everyone should, no matter where they're from.

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