Disclaimer: Don't own FFXV

I know, I shouldn't start another, but I couldn't help it. Not sure if there will be pairings or not.

Chapter 1

Noctis grumbled to himself as he fought through the brush. Did Specs really need the mushrooms? Apparently he did, or else he wouldn't have sent Noctis and Gladio out looking for them. He hated camping but he loved Ignis' cooking which was how he'd been convinced to go mushroom hunting with the sun low in the sky. The terrain around Alstor Slough varied quite a bit, he was just on the other side of the water to the Haven they were camping at, making his way uphill through thickening trees. There was another Haven nearby at least, should he need it.

Nothing in his life had prepared him for this, for living on the road, always hunted by Imperial forces. He didn't know how they always seemed to find them either. Even in dense tree cover where no ship should be able to detect them, they'd run into the MT's. The only good thing about his life now was Specs and Gladio. He didn't know how he could do it without them, he was pretty sure he would have died on his first hunt without them, if not then, then he would have died fighting to get back into the city. They were the only friends he'd ever had, even if he and Gladio didn't always get along. There were times….he wished for more, a friend who had truly chosen him, just Noct, not the Crown Prince and not partly out of duty. It'd never happened though, the kids at school wanted to be the Prince's friend and to let everyone know. And then he almost tripped over a root as it hit him, most if not all of those kids were dead now or living under the control of Imperial forces within Insomnia. Word of what it was like was hard to come by but there was some, martial law was the kindest thing said.

He'd never really hated the Empire before, it had felt so distant, but now he would gladly strangle the Emperor with his bare hands. That was the only good thing about the MT's finding them, it let him take some of his anger out on the Empire. The Empire cared nothing for the people it supposedly ruled, the Emperor just wanted to rule the world. It sickened Noct, he had been raised to know he would rule his people yes, but that he must always do his best for them, to keep them safe and happy. His father had failed, but he had died fighting the Empire, even if Insomnia had fallen with him.

He wished they'd had more time together, that he'd done more to show how much he had loved his Dad, how much he'd appreciated everything Regis had done to try and let him be a normal teenager. He wished his Dad hadn't kept what was coming from him, then again, would he have ever agreed to leave if he had known?

He came out into a clearing and it took a second to realise what he was seeing. At the other end, propped up against some rocks, was an MT. He tensed but it didn't move, and he couldn't see a weapon anywhere. He listened carefully but all he could hear was the normal sounds of wildlife which tended to indicate there were no large groups of MT's around. He called the Engine Blade to hand and took a cautious step closer, no point wasting the magic of a warp strike if the thing was already dead. He was halfway there when the thing moved, masked face slowly rising, unsettling crimson eyes looking his way and Noctis stopped, watching it. Slowly, an arm rose towards him, jerking and shaking and then his jaw almost dropped from shock.

"H…He…lp…" the voice was scratchy, jerky, and it sort of buzzed with static…but it was a voice. He had never heard an MT speak before, hadn't thought they could. The green mask was expressionless which didn't make things less creepy. Why would it ask him for help? Maybe it didn't recognise him? he was torn, he should kill it immediately and yet… "H..el…p…me…" its body jerked slightly. "Ple….s…"

His sword vanished and he slowly moved closer, coming to crouch near it. "Help how?" he asked softly, not wanting to speak loudly and startle it. The mask slowly turned to face him since he was crouching at its side and he noticed the crimson of its eyes wasn't as bright. Then he noticed the armour was dulled on one side…no, it was black fluid covering the shine. He was crazy, he should help by putting it out of its misery and yet he hesitated. How many of his people had this thing killed? Why was he hesitating? Because it spoke?

"P…ow…r….at…7%..." was the stuttered answer.

Noctis stared at the MT as it hit him….fear…it was afraid. Despite the strange voice and blank face, he could almost feel the fear coming from it. Since when did MT's feel anything, let alone fear? "What can I do?" he asked even as he mentally hit himself for asking. Even if he could help it, what was to stop it attacking once fixed?

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Unit 05953234 remained propped against the rocks where it had dragged itself. It's armour was compromised, and it knew it was leaking vital fluids. It's power systems were running far too low; it's homing beacon disabled. It had failed, it should be shut down. It hadn't even been a combat mission, but its squadron had been attacked by a Behemoth. It had been tossed by the beast, its armour punctured, and it had ceased to function for a time. When it had come back online it had been alone, obviously thought to be permanently deactivated. It had dragged itself into the shelter of the trees to be safe from the sun since the armour was damaged.

Its vision was barely functional, but it had still registered the approaching human. It had taken several seconds to register the male was Lucian…unarmed. Civilian? Yes, it decided, this was a civilian and civilians were not targets. A sword appeared in his hand and it changed the designation from civilian, but it still might not be a target. Lucis had Hunters who dealt with beasts and daemons and kept civilians safe as units did. It struggled to lift an arm towards the Lucian, he would either terminate the unit or help, either way, it would be over. "H…He…lp…" It forced through rarely used vocals, knowing it sounded like nothing human, was it understandable? "H..el…p…me…" Its body jerked slightly as something misfired. "Ple….s…"

The Lucian disarmed himself and moved closer, out of its visual range. "Help how?" the voice was soft…was this what gentleness was? It slowly turned to see him, the Lucian was blurry, and it knew its optics were failing.

"P…ow…r….at…7%..." It informed him; it could feel itself shutting down. It did not want to terminate.

The Lucian was staring at it, at least it thought he was, it was getting very hard to interpret any visual data. "What can I do?" the Lucian asked.

It dug a clumsy hand into its armour, pulling back protective plating to reveal the charging port. It was harder than ever to do as power levels continued to drop; limbs barely responsive. Then it could feel human hands on the armour, looking the port over.

"I don't have…..charge….with…."

Audio reception was now failing, and it felt its head slump down.

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"I don't have anything to charge this with," Noctis admitted before nearly jumping as the helmet slumped down. "Hey!" he reached up to tip the helmet back up only to see the dimmest of crimson glows. It was dying and he knew he should let it, one less MT to fight. If their positions were reversed, he had no doubt the MT would run him through or snap his neck since it didn't have a weapon. And yet…he couldn't do it. Specs was gonna kill him. He touched the port and took a deep breath, reaching inside for his magic, specifically the lightning magic he had absorbed from around the last Haven, he drew it forth very slowly, just a tiny amount, and worked to guide it to the port, instead of the normal magic flask. He grit his teeth, sweat pouring off of him as he struggled to control it, he wanted a small, steady charge and not a quick jolt. He didn't know if it would work, elemental magic was not a power cord, but did Magitek take normal electricity anyway? He felt the armour jolt slightly.

"Easy, it's okay, I'm just trying to give you energy, hope you can tell me when to stop," he rambled, watching as armoured joints shifted slightly, starting at the feet and working their way up. It jerked harder when the area of damaged armour was reached and then the helmet snapped up, the eyes glowing brightly.

"Unit 05953234 awaiting orders," it stated, startling Noctis into releasing his hold on the magic. The voice still kind of buzzed but it was a machine, at least its words were understandable now.

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It suddenly jolted back into operation, able to feel its armour once again, helmet snapping up as everything came back online. "Unit 05953234 awaiting orders," it stated immediately, anything else would receive a reprimand. It took a few seconds longer for it to remember what had happened and it turned its head to find the Lucian still crouching beside it, body tensed in what trainers referred to as 'fight or flight'. Now that its cognitive capabilities were further online it recognised the Lucian, it was a target. But targets destroyed units, they did not repair them, so was he not a target anymore? "Clarification required," it said, needing orders.

"About what?"

"Lucian identified as target, Prince Noctis. Targets destroy units. You have repaired this unit. For what purpose?"

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Noctis was shocked, he'd never heard a MT speak and yet this one clearly could, if stiffly. And it wanted to know why he'd helped it; he didn't even know! "I don't really know. I just…I couldn't just sit here and watch you die. You asked for my help, I've never heard one of you talk before."

"Vocal communication is deemed unnecessary." It shifted and then froze and Noctis swore as he saw more black fluid leak onto the armour.

Normally he'd put pressure on a wound but touching that stuff would burn his skin, he knew that from previous experience when he'd been knocked down with an MT and had landed on where it had been sliced open, even as it had been vanishing some of the black fluid had gotten on his hands and it had taken a potion to heal. "Can you fix that?" he asked. "I know that stuff will burn my hands if I try and I'm low on curatives." He'd give the MT one if it wasn't a machine, then again that would make the black its blood and he doubted even an elixir would work on that. It may even do more damage if they really were something to do with the Scourge.

"Negative, armour requires maintenance. Homing beacon is disabled. Squadron was destroyed or already retrieved. No search for this unit will be made."

The words were mechanical, so it had to be him attaching emotion to them and yet, he'd swear it sounded resigned to just doing the MT version of bleeding out. He glanced around and saw the drag marks now that he was looking. "You dragged yourself in here."

"Affirmative, armour is compromised and therefore sunlight deadly."

Noctis reached into the armiger and brought out one of the repair kits they'd taken to carrying since they did occasionally run into people who had broken down on the road. "Don't know if anything in here can help?"

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05953234 studied the revealed tools. It still did not understand the Lucian's reasons for rendering aide. Did he hope to learn information on the Empire from it? It had been taught about the targets abilities as had all units, but it had never seen a human pull something out of nowhere like that before. "For external repairs, internal repairs still require outside assistance." It studied the Prince, a title it did not fully understand.

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"I'm sorry," if he'd known, would he have tried to give it power? It had seemed a rather gentle death, now it was doing the equivalent of bleeding to death all over the grass. This was crazy! What was wrong with him? He should just kill it and get back to the others, the sun was getting dangerously low in the sky now, it was already getting dark in the trees and he switched his light on, aiming it away from crimson optics.

"Night is dangerous for humans, you should leave," it told him and Noctis stared at it, torn.

"Does a Haven affect you badly?" he asked, and the MT seemed to stare through him.

"Negative," it finally answered.

"Right then." Noctis got a towel from the Armiger and pressed it into the wound and then stood. "If I help, can you walk?"

"Unknown."

"Okay, let's give it a go," he reached down and got his hands under its arms. "Push up as I lift." He braced himself and then pulled as gently as he could, feeling it push. It took some work but soon the MT was on its feet. It was very awkward, and his back was aching, but they made it and he settled the MT down before getting out his phone. "I just need to call the others and let them know I'm at a Haven for the night," he told it, with the fluid it was losing, it wouldn't last the night and he could at least be there, to let it know it wasn't alone. That was something no one should ever do, it was something Cor and Clarus had taught him, that if you could, you made sure no one died alone. It may not be a person, but it could speak and think and that was enough. He dialled Ignis' phone and it was picked up very quickly.

"Highness?" Ignis' voice was tight, and he winced at having worried him.

"I'm fine Specs. It's too dark to make it back but I'm at a Haven."

"Gladio made it back several minutes ago, we were becoming concerned."

"Sorry, and no luck on the mushrooms either."

"That is fine, so long as you are safe."

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"We shall place your gear into the Armiger so that you won't be sleeping too roughly."

"Thanks. Don't spend all night worrying about me, you're the driver."

"I shall try," was the dry answer and then they hung up.

Noctis waited a few minutes before retrieving his bag, sleeping gear and the tarp. "Back in a second," he warned, dropping off the Haven to collect some wood and two sticks. He then built up the fire and strung the tarp between the sticks to give them some cover before setting up the sleeping bag, but he lay the mat that usually went under it next to it and shifted the quiet MT onto it. "It's not much but it beats solid rock."

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05953234 was still confused by the Prince's actions, especially when he gave up part of his sleeping equipment for it. It knew it would fail to function before the dawn, even with the material wedged in stemming the flow, it was losing too much fluid. Even if it was returned to base it would likely be decommissioned and recycled rather than waste resources on repairing such a damaged unit. Then maybe, regulations did not matter? It slowly reached for the tool kit, fingers running over them even as it felt the Prince focus on it, it understood why, these could be used as weapons with an MT's greater strength. It found one that might work but hesitated. It did not want to be reprimanded, but there was no one here to reprimand it except the enemy. But he did not act like an enemy. The superiors told them of the evil Lucians but this one did not seem evil to it. It had always been faulty so perhaps it simply did not understand? If it was to terminate then it would do so with one last second of freedom.

It took the tool in its hand and raised them to its helmet, seeking out the seal.

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Noctis couldn't help tensing slightly when the MT began looking the tools over, was it going to try to kill him with a screwdriver or something? It looked them all over before choosing one and then it shocked him by lifting the tool to its own helmet….no, where the mask and the rest of the helmet were fused into one. It wedged the tool in and began trying to pry them apart and Noctis swallowed. Part of him had always been curious as to what lay underneath but when they died they vanished in black smoke and sparks, there was nothing inside the armour. Even if he didn't land a kill shot, so long as it was daytime, they were destroyed by the sunlight. So what was under there? He wasn't sure he wanted to know anymore but…if this thing was dying, could he blame it for wanting to die with that heavy helmet off?

Noctis slowly moved closer and held his hand out. "Here, I can get better leverage," he offered, and it stared at him with crimson eyes and then slowly handed the tool over. It was weird, but he didn't find those eyes so creepy now. He felt along the mask and helmet, feeling for a seam that he could work at. "Here?" he asked, thinking he had it.

"Yes," it answered quietly.

"Okay, let me know if it hurts or something or you want me to stop," he told it and then went to work, lodging the tool in as deep as he could get it before throwing his full weight behind it, the tools were strong since they came through Cid, but who knew how firmly the two parts were fused together. It seemed to take forever just to get it to where the tool could slip in deeper, though he was worried about it hitting whatever was below the helmet, the MT never made a sound. He braced his feet and pulled back since it was easier than pushing. He worked and worked, feeling sweat once again soaking his clothes and then he tumbled back onto the stone as with a loud crack, the seal came apart. He blinked up as the MT reached up to pull the two pieces further apart and then the mask was off and all Noctis could do was stare in horrified shock.

TBC…