Chapter 1: Tequila Sunrise

Ignis Scientia was not a man accustomed to waking up on the floor, any floor, let alone a strange hotel room floor. And yet, here he was, just waking thanks to an ear piercing cell phone alarm. His head was throbbing in response. He managed to push himself up into a sitting position. Everything felt a little—wobbly. It was also quite chilly too. Prompto must have left the A/C on all night again. When would he learn how to set it properly? He laid his head back against a rather fine couch positioned just next to him. "Ah", he thought, "this must be where I started out last night." The trouble was, Ignis could not really remember anything about the night before and that was more than a little terrifying. He could see that the coffee table had quite a few empty shot glasses on it and a mess of playing cards. Perhaps they had just got a bit carried away.

He wanted nothing more than to shut his eyes again, but that infernal alarm had to be addressed. It was his habit to place the phone a distance from everyone so that no one could easily hit the "snooze" button. "Curse my good planning". He forced himself to stand up—the pang of head pain would probably have killed Prompto, he was sure of it. As he strode over to the phone, he nearly tripped over a motionless Prompto, face-down. Ignis could see that he was still breathing so he made his way to the phone and shut it off. While he was up, he decided to flip the light switch.

"Rise and shine," he said with a mock cheerfulness. The profanity and groaning that ensued was something to behold. Gladio got up from an armchair near the card strewn table—angrily cursing the whole time. Noctis, sleeping soundly on one of the beds, made a grunt of acknowledgement. Prompto rolled over onto his back and start to whine about how sick he felt.

"What gives, Specs? Trying to kill us?" Noctis finally added.

"Believe me, it was just as bad for me."

In the brighter light, Ignis could clearly see that this was a Galdin Quay signature suite. Those cost $10,000 gil. He knew that was going to be a stretch and judging by how much top shelf liquor was sitting on the coffee, they probably wouldn't have enough cash.

"I need an antidote…" Prompto groaned.

"Quit your bitchin' Prompto. You just need some hair of the dog." Gladio started to pour a small glass of something Ignis didn't recognize.

"What is that?" He asked. Gladio turned the bottle around to look at its label. It had an unmistakable little cactus emblazoned on the logo.

"Slactaur tequila," Gladio read.

"No wonder I feel like I'm dying," Noctis offered. That beverage was notorious for causing monstrous hangovers. Why had they been drinking that?

"Don't drink anymore of that. It's clearly toxic." Ignis advised.

"Relax. You just aren't used to hangovers." Gladio was putting on a bit of a front. He felt quite awful.

"I assure you I know how to drink. This is no ordinary hangover," he replied as he sank back onto the couch. They weren't used to seeing Ignis look so under the weather. It was a bit unnerving.

"Are you ok?" Prompto asked with a touch of real concern.

"Yes, I'll be fine." He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Even the mild lighting of the room made his head throb. In a few moments Noctis was by his side offering a cold glass of water.

"Drink some water and rest up. You're the designated driver after all."

"Wonderful." Ignis accepted the glass and pressed it to his temple. If he didn't improve, long distance driving was out of the question.

"I'm going to go settle up so we can get out of here. They might charge by the hour." Noctis offered.

"Noct, places like this most certainly do not charge by the hour." Ignis said without opening his eyes. Noctis waved him off and headed to the front desk. He felt like he'd been stomped on by a herd of garulas too, but he had a remarkable ability to recover quickly. Perhaps it was his kingly powers. He put on some casual clothes and a baseball cap to conceal his unkempt hair.

It was a short trip to the front desk. Galdin Quay really was beautiful in the early morning, he thought. It would be nice to stay in town for a few more days, but not for 10 grand a night.

"Good morning sir, what can I do for you?" the attendant was far too chipper for this hour. Noctis winced a bit.

"I'd like to check out"

"Did you enjoy your stay?"

"Uh yeah I think so." Noctis could barely remember what happened last night but he had to believe he enjoyed the stay.

"That will be $10,000 gil, sir." Noctis reached for his wallet. It felt disturbingly light. He looked inside. Everything was gone. No cash, no credit—not even any half used gift cards. This was a crisis.

"I know this will sound like BS, but I seem to be fresh out of cash." Suddenly the attendant's cheery front began to fade.

"Is that so."

"Yeah, it must be back in the room or something."

"That's what they all say."

"No really, believe me. I'm good for it." He didn't want to openly say who he was. That seemed like a bad idea given the current political climate.

"Well based on the car you drive, I would think so. How much do you think that is worth?" Noctis really didn't like where this was going.

"A lot, why?"

"I have a proposition for you. I get to keep that sweet car until you find where you misplaced that 10,000."

"You have to be kidding me."

"I'm most certainly not kidding." Noctis felt his pockets for the Regalia keys. Perhaps it was time to bolt.

"Looking for these?" The attendant held up the Regalia keys. "You had me valet it last night. Don't you remember? " Noctis didn't remember anything from the night before, but he couldn't imagine why he'd let this tool drive the Regalia.

"So what do you want?"

"I want that $10,000. I don't care how you get it, but you won't have the Regalia back until you settle up." Noctis felt like taking the keys by force but decided against it.

"Fine, it's a deal, but if there is so much as a scratch on that car…" Noct left the threat hanging in the air and headed back to the hotel room.

His comrades were in slightly better shape now, but only just. Prompto was at least in a sitting position and Gladio had moved on from "the hair of the dog" to some bottled water. Ignis was standing, pacing a little and holding a bag of vending machine ice to the back of his head. He never showed when he was in pain so this must have been an epic headache.

"Noct," Ignis began, "this is quite embarrassing, but I'm afraid I can't, in good conscience, drive today. My deepest apologies," Noct could see he was truly guilt ridden over it. He reached out and patted his friend's arm.

"Don't worry about it. We're not going anywhere today anyway. The Regalia's gone." Shocked gasps and shouted interrogatives greeted this news. Noctis calmly explained that they were broke and the hotel impounded the Regalia.

"So we need to raise $10,000. That's more than a little," Ignis observed.

"Well sorry guys," Promto added, "I'm just too sick to work." Gladio threw an empty water bottle his way for that.

"Maybe we should just sell some of your crap, Prompto," Gladio countered.

"I'm afraid Prompto does not have enough "crap" to even approach $10,000," Ignis realistically observed.

"Well, I guess fishing it is." Noctis declared. More groaning and complaining followed.

"If I find out you orchestrated this whole thing for a fishing trip…" Gladio threatened. Noctis smirked. At least one of them was going to have a bit of fun today.