Disclaimer: Anything that is not mine, is not mine. The game, the characters, they are not mine. The concept of the story is mine, but the elements added that were not originally mine, are definitely not mine. I hope that's enough disclaimer!

Author's Note: I know, I know, I need to update my other FF8 stories (and I will!). I got held up by, you guessed it, FFXV! The past few months have been all about that damn game. I couldn't put it down! I'm crazy about that game. All my free time goes to that game. Even after finishing the main story, I still have a lot of quests to finish, and special items to find. So I guess you could say my weekends will also be dedicated to playing that game. I'm taking my sweet, sweet time until I decide to move on to the next game. With that said (oh and be warned before you move on. SPOILERS AHEAD) I simply couldn't find myself accepting the ending of the game. I mean, that's canon, but I know there's a possibility that there is a continuation where everyone gets their happy ending... at least for everyone in the game. So, I thought, what if there's another royalty they don't know about? Also, what happened Ardyn's time glitching powers? And that's how I came up with this fic. I can't tell you any more, but I do ask of you to read it and I hope you enjoy it. Your reviews will really help me improve on my storytelling and writing skills, so please do post a review!

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Eight months had passed since the first dawn.

Hardened by the ten years of darkness, the people of Eos celebrated the sight of sunlight everyday, emerging from their homes and shelters one by one to watch the morning star rise. And after they had made their warm welcome, they began their work, picking up the pieces of the calamity's aftermath and rebuilding Eos back to how they remembered it. With a renewed hope, the world was beginning to make sense again.

However, the remaining daemons still thrived in the night.

Despite being stronger and more prepared for daemon attacks, the people veered away from the streets and sought refuge in strongholds such as Hammerhead.

The very same one that provided the late King Noctis' last safe haven.

Petals of sylleblossons used to scatter around the place at the wake of Lucis' beloved king and savior. The people he liberated from eternal darkness offered thousands of his favorite flowers in memory of all who gave up their lives for the world's future. The friends he left used to hate the sight of blue petals, the pain of his memory still fresh in their chests. But as often as the flowers came, they found the strength to smile knowing how fondly their brother would take it.

"Order up!" Ignis said in his unfading refined manner as he placed plates of algreta bouginnon on Takka's former counter in his diner. Prompto was the first to jump from one of the red couches.

"Oh yeah!" Prompto said excitedly before grabbing his plate, followed by Gladiolus.

"New recipeh?" the bigger man asked playfully.

"Something I found in one of my older notebooks." Ignis replied, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"You found?" Prompto asked.

"Well, Iris found it." Ignis replied. "While she was rummaging through the rubbles of Insomnia."

Gladiolus grinned. "Well, you're lucky she found it in one piece."

"I'd say I am."

"How did you read the recipe then?" Prompto asked before taking a bite of his supper.

"It's not too hard to recall the recipes once you tell me what dish it is." Ignis replied, grabbing a plate himself and gracefully sitting beside Prompto. The latter still believed that Ignis had a secret extra sensory nerve in him that helped him manage to see without actually "seeing".

"I wonder what else Iris found in Insomnia." Prompto pondered.

"Worried that she might find something of yours?" Gladiolus asked.

Prompto frowned at him and leaned away. "No." he said. "I mean, Insomnia used to have the biggest everything! Malls, coffee shops, schools, libraries… I mean, there should be a lot of stuff there if you just keep looking."

"Now that you mentioned it, there may be important items in Insomnia that could preserve the very memory of the kingdom, waiting to be recovered." Ignis said. He cocked a fork towards Prompto. "You made a fine point."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Gladiolus replied. Prompto detected the despondence in his friend's voice and placed a hand on his shoulder. Following their king's final confrontation with his fate, it was Gladiolus who took it the hardest.

Ignis took a deep breath and sliced a piece of the bouginnon. He allowed a moment of silence to pass before speaking again. "Iris is doing an important job on saving the culture of Insomnia so that we may revive it or, at the very least, so people may remember that there was once a kingdom of Insomnia."

"And that there were kings who used to rule it." Prompto added.

"Right." Gladiolus replied. "It's all part of the rebuilding and recovery efforts."

"It is." Ignis said. "So that the memories of the kings before us may live on."

"Should we head back tomorrow, then?" Prompto dared to ask. "I mean, I think Iris could use some help, and…"

"I have no problem with it." Ignis said.

Gladiolus chuckled. "Easy for you to say. There's not much for you to see anyway."

"Heh." Prompto smirked. "See."

"Amusing." Ignis retorted sarcastically.

"So, are you with us Gladio?"

The other pushed himself slightly against the table, stretching his arms and leaning his back against the couch. "Well, my sister is there, and I don't see the point of staying here tomorrow." he replied. "Sure. I'm coming."

"What are we doing in Galdin Quay?" Ignis asked incredulously.

"Somebody didn't clean up the mess after slaying a red giant last night, blocking the expressway to Insomnia. Talcott had to make a detour." Gladiolus replied. "How did you know anyway?"

"The music from the radio tells me it is picking up a frequency different from Insomnia's, but more similar to Galdin Quay's."

Gladiolus shot Prompto a look, causing the latter to hold up his hands. "I didn't say anything!"

"Don't worry Ignis, this is the shortest route we can take to Insomnia." Talcott assured.

"Yes, but I can tell it's definitely isn't very short either." Ignis replied. "Night is befalling us."

Gladiolus and Prompto looked at each other before turning to Ignis again.

"Do you want to make a stop, then?" Prompto asked.

"If possible, yes."

"Dino's Hunter's HQ then!" Talcott said.

"Should not have taken that coffee last night. Stole more of my sleep time." Gladiolus said contritely, recalling how surprised he was when he realized it was already early in the afternoon when he woke up.

"Me too." Prompto added.

Ignis raised his eyebrows. He was sure Prompto did not take even a sip of the coffee he made the night before. He never liked coffee. "Right."

"Here we are!" Talcott said.

"And we've arrived just in time before darkness reaches us!"

"Oh Iggy, you never cease to amaze me." Prompto said, feigning allure to his strong sense of time.

"First time to be here." Gladiolus said. "Better check out their supplies."

"You might want to check Fifi's Curatives Express." Talcott added. "She has a neat stocks of potions."

"Great." Gladiolus replied, searching the area for the stand or a stall of the recommended merchant among the dozens of others. "Which one is Fifi's?"

Talcott stretched his arms, his elbows clicking. "Just… look for the girl with a red hat."

Prompto looked around and spotted the woman standing by a red truck which was filled with bottles, vegetables and spices. "Gotcha!"

"Good." Ignis said. "I will check their rates for an overnight stay."

"Work your magic, Prompto." Gladiolus said as he headed for the weapon's store.

"Magic on what?" Prompto asked turning to his friend, but didn't receive a reply. "Right."

He trudged his way to the merchant, scanning some of the stalls for any item he might be missing. The crowd of refugees was not as thick as in Meldacio's, but it had a decent amount of patrons who were also seeking a stable bastion for the night. Fifi's store almost disappeared through the crowd, visible only to the hunters who knew what they were looking for. Most of them recognized the blond newcomer and gave him firm salutes, which he would give back in kind. Being entrusted with Eos by the King himself earned them an endless list of responsibilities, but no reward is better than to be honored for their efforts.

Prompto gave another patron a nod before approaching the girl with a worn red hat. He leaned forward to take a closer peek of her face under the large shade that hovered over it. Disappointment was slowly turning to suspense and excitement the less he saw of her, but he could tell from her pinkish lips and peachy pale cheeks that a soft countenance is to be expected.

"Hello!" Prompto greeted.

"Good evening." The girl greeted back, bowing slightly. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm interested in buying some of your potions, and see your face at least."

The girl gave him a combination of a smirk and a frown. She placed a brown clipboard on the table in front of her with a list of her products written on a white parchment.

"Whoah." Prompto said when his gaze fell on one of the items. "Magitek booster, huh."

"Straight from Gralea." the girl replied.

"Nice." Prompto said, stealing glances of the merchant's hidden face. He wished he could take a peek, even just a little.

"Staring is rude, you know." she said.

Prompto stepped back. "Wha-"

"Don't deny it, you obviously were."

"How can you see me too?!"

"Too?"

"Like my blind buddy, Iggy, he-" Prompto shook his head. "Uh… nevermind."

"Maybe if you stop staring for too long, we wouldn't notice."

Prompto tensed at her rebuttal. How could she be so sharp? "Fine. Well, at least I got to hear your voice."

"Flirting is not my forte, good Sir." the girl replied, unamused. "And with all due respect, if you are not interested in buying any of my trades, I will have to ask you to show yourself out."

Prompto smirked and crossed his arms against his chest. "You don't even have a door."

"It's an indirect way of asking you to leave. Please, leave."

"Fine, fine. I'll be buying three pheonix downs." Prompto replied, reaching for the gil in his pocket. The girl nodded slightly and began stocking a blue paper bag with bottled feathers of pheonix downs, failing to notice how her customer was still trying to curiously take a peek of her face from any angle that he could. He straightened up when she turned back around to face him and handed him the paper bag.

"Is Fifi even your real name?" Prompto asked.

"Thank you for visiting and have a good evening." the girl said sternly.

"I honestly think Fifi stands for something…"

"Have a good evening, good Sir." the girl repeated.

Sighing again with downcast eyes, Prompto gave her a final wave with his free hand before walking away and headed to the caravan trailer Ignis rented for the night. He guessed he had no success story to share his friends before bedtime.

Not that he ever had one to begin with.

Even under the bright sunlight, Insomnia was definitely not how they remembered it. Gone were the days of its former glory, and they still found it hard to believe that they were home, but not quite home.

Ever since they reached the end of the road at the last night of the dark calamity, they couldn't find themselves going back to Insomnia. Streets filled with rubbles and swarming with daemons was the last image they had of their home. Eight months later, there may be no more daemons during the daylight hours, but the evident sight of destruction brought by the invasion of the empire and the starscourge was still far from gone and forgotten.

They all left Talcott's truck and each took out a black radio. The apocalyptic event destroyed most of Eos' communication towers, and left the surviving few unmaintained, sparing none. Mobile phones became no better than accessories, a reminder of how prosperous and peaceful the world once was.

"Iris, Gladdy to Iris. You there?" Gladiolus said after pressing the orange button on his own radio. After waiting for a response, he repeated his call.

"Gladdy to Iris, are you there?"

"Gladdy!" a woman's voice called back excitedly. "I'm here, where are you?"

Gladiolus looked around, making out and recalling the street they were at. Talcott recognized the confusion in his face.

"23rd Street." Talcott said.

"Uh, 23rd Street." Gladiolus called back.

"Insomnia?" Iris replied.

"Yeah."

"Whoah, this is the 23rd Street?" Prompto said, surprised.

"This used to be one of the main roads." Ignis commented. "I'm not surprised that you barely recognized it."

"Well, it still is one of the main roads." Talcott said. "This is where I drive through when I visit Insomnia. Not as big as before but, it still is passable."

"Where are you?" Gladiolus asked through the radio.

"A warehouse by Crowe's Nest Diner." Iris replied. "If you still remember where it is."

"Yeah, I remember." Ignis replied for Gladiolus.

"We'll be there, wait for us." the latter said.

"Copy that!" Iris replied.

The group began walking, taking the chance to fully observe the extent of the destruction in every street they passed by. Prompto thought it was beyond repair, as he scanned through the fallen debris of what once was the Crown City's museum.

"What a waste." he muttered.

"What is?" Ignis asked.

"The museum." Prompto replied. "Blown to bits, and left with nothing."

"Along with my childhood memories." Gladiolus added.

"You're lucky you even got to see it." Talcott said. "I never went to the museum. Too young to appreciate it, never realized it'll be too late by the time I will actually do."

"Ignis is right." Prompto said. "We should really work on searching for what's worth saving. We can still save what's left of our history."

"Why don't we start with the museum?" Talcott asked.

"We can ask Iris." Ignis replied. "But I believe what is left of the castle is far more worth of the preservation efforts."

The warehouse turned out to be bigger than the Crowe's Nest.

Under Iris' command, people had successfully turned the place into a headquarters for hunters and survivors alike. Boxes and bags of unclaimed items were neatly stacked at one corner of the shelter while women and men organized and packed many more. A middle-aged woman with a clipboard in hand was facilitating the group. Behind her was Iris, carrying six thick books stacked on top of each other.

"Gladdy!"

Iris dropped the books in her hands as soon as she glanced up to see her brother and ran to him for a hug. She then moved on to Ignis and Talcott, and giving an embrace-ready Prompto a nod.

"Hey, why didn't I get a hug?" he protested.

"So!" Iris said to the group, ignoring Prompto's comment. "What brings you guys here?"

"We all agreed to help in the preservation efforts of Insomnia." Ignis said. "To keep the memories we have left of the Crown City, and save them for the generations to come."

"It's part of our last efforts to save Insomnia." Gladiolus added. "You're doing the same, right?"

"Well, sort of." Iris replied. "We are more interested in recovering things with personal values to the people who used to live here. But we can help you out!"

"That will be great." Ignis said.

"Where do we start?"

"The palace." Talcott replied.

"Are you sure we can… you know."

"Enter it?" Ignis asked.

"Yeah." Iris asked. "Are we allowed to?"

"You, of all people, are asking?" Gladiolus said.

Prompto chuckled. "Of course we're allowed to go in. Especially you!"

Iris smiled under her blush. "I've always wanted to check it out. Can I come?"

Gladiolus locked her head playfully under his arm. "How many times do we have to tell you it's fine?"

"Cut it out!" Iris snapped back, flailing her arms at her poor attempt to hit her brother.

"We can start tomorrow." Ignis said. "At first light."

"Ayup." Prompto replied.

Coming back to the palace was easy. Collecting royal possessions from the ruins was easier.

Forgetting was the hardest part.

Gladiolus pushed the towering doors open that lead them to the throne room where the afternoon light peaked through the disrepair of the ceiling. The trio, with Iris and Talcott following behind, walked towards the staircase that elevated the Lucian throne, all pairs of eyes falling at the crimson stain where the last King of Lucis sat.

Gladiolus cleared his throat, facing away from the throne. "Where should we start from here?"

"The king's office should be around here somewhere, right?" Prompto replied. "Might be good to start there."

"It is around the high seats, possibly just beneath the throne." Ignis said. "Might I also suggest the archives in the study room."

"And where is that?" Gladiolus asked.

"That would be straight ahead along the halls outside. There should be a wooden emerald door that will lead us there."

"I remember that." Iris said. "I can help out and look around that place."

"I'll help." Talcott said. "How about King Noctis' room? Want to check that out too?"

Ignis pushed his glasses up his nose as his friends stood silent in reply. "Possibly… some other time."

"Oh." Talcott said. "R-right. I understand."

"Well, we best start working now." Prompto said. "We don't want the night to catch up on us."

"We'll see you later then!" Iris said as she walked away with Talcott toward the hallways.

"Hmm." Gladiolus murmured as he headed to the door around the throne. It opened with little effort and Gladiolus stepped back. "Huh. That was easy."

Prompto entered first and looked around the dark room. Ignis felt the switch along the walls and turned the lights on, revealing dusty surfaces and books neatly kept inside the shelves. Papers and pens were left scattered around the cherry oak desk, and Prompto couldn't help but imagine how much urgency King Regis was in before leaving his office in complete disarray. And he wasn't the kind who would simply have it.

He approached the desk and scanned over the papers, realizing that they were related to a supposed treaty between Insomnia and Niflheim. He lifted one page and read the Imperials' fake promise of peace between the nations for, as they would put it, "the good of many." He was no royalty, not even close to becoming one of the world's leaders to make drastic decisions for thousands of people. But he knew better than to trust to Imperials. Everything to them was a game, and they never hesitated to leave destruction in their wake to get what they wanted. Then again, there must be something else going on in the King's mind that made him allow everything to happen the way it did.

Prompto shook his head and all the thoughts away. "I'll start with the desk." he said.

Ignis was already pulling the stack of books from the shelves while Gladiolus reviewed each of them before deciding which one was worth saving.

"Everything else has been destroyed by the calamity." Ignis argued. "Might as well save everything that we can."

"Hmm, you're right." Gladiolus replied after realizing each book was either important or historical.

All efforts to select just the important ones were futile when they found themselves pulling and pushing bags of everything from King Regis' office three hours later: books, documents, and supplies were all swept and brought out of the room.

"Just… one more." Gladiolus said as he carried a large bag out. He landed it on the ground and brushed the dirt off his hands.

Ignis was aligning the bags side by side when his ear perked up at the sound of Iris' footsteps. "Ah, they must be finished too."

"Who are?" Prompto asked. He let his bag go and straightened up, facing Iris' direction. His eyes narrowed as he watched Iris running towards them hurriedly, holding a piece of paper in one hand and a bundle of envelops in another. "Hey! What's up?" he called as he ran to her.

"What do you mean?" Gladiolus asked as his gaze followed the running Prompto. He looked at his sister and sprinted to her when he sensed a pressing matter in her eyes.

"Gladdy! Guys!" Iris called back, waving the paper. "You gotta see this!"

Iris stopped on her tracks as soon as Prompto and Gladiolus reached her. When she finally caught her breath, she handed the paper to Gladiolus who then took it and studied it curiously.

"What is this?" Gladiolus said after determining it to be a letter from an unknown person addressed to the late King Regis.

"Did you already read it?"

"No, but I bet you did."

Iris grunted in frustration. "It's a letter from someone the King Regis knew. Possibly a relative."

"A relative?" Prompto asked. Ignis caught up with them and stood behind him.

Iris nodded and showed him the envelops. "These are all letters from one and the same person. If you read them all, King Regis seemed to be corresponding kindly to whoever this is. They were talking about something important. Very important."

"Which is?" Ignis asked.

Iris turned to Ignis. "Another royalty in the Lucis line."

Prompto's heart skipped a beat and looked at Gladiolus and Ignis. They too seemed to be just as shocked as he was.

"Another royalty? That's impossible." Gladiolus said. "We would've known if there really was another one."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Ignis said. "The King was good at keeping secrets. Especially the consequential ones."

"But Noct never really mentioned any relative. Not that he knew of anyway. He would have said something." Prompto said.

"What else did the letter say?" Gladiolus asked.

"If you read this one," Iris said, pulling another letter from one of the envelops and unfolded it. "he mentioned something about a baby."

"Whose?"

"The sender of the letters."

Gladiolus read the letter on his hand. "This Nubis person?"

"Yes."

"That makes him a royalty too, then."

"Or it could be the mother." Prompto suggested.

"If the mother was the relative, it says here she died during childbirth." Iris said.

"When did the exchange start?" Ignis asked.

"Twenty-five years ago." Iris replied. "Since the birth of the baby in question, they were talking about hiding the baby far away from Lucis. King Regis said something about her leading the people in the future."

"A girl?"

"Yes."

"A princess?" Prompto asked.

"A Lucian princess." Gladiolus added. "And possibly the present Lucian queen."

"Did it mention where she was hidden?" Ignis asked.

"The last disclosure of the location was 11 years ago. It was at the Old Lestallum." Iris replied.

"Do you suppose she is still there?"

"After the starscourge? Probably not." Gladiolus said.

"Maybe we should go ask someone to confirm this." Prompto proposed.

"There's a good start."

"I would suppose Cor can share something about this matter." Ignis said.

Prompto sighed. "Where is he when you need him."

"Well, you might need these, then." Iris said, handing the letters to Prompto. "If you're going to confront Cor about it."

"If he knows about this though, then he might be already searching for her." Gladiolus said.

"I heard nothing about a queen just yet." Ignis said. "It's highly unlikely that he has found her."

"Maybe we can help. Maybe these letters can give him clues." Prompto added.

"Let's get started then. A princess is to be found." Ignis jerked an elbow at Gladiolus. "I told you we should have come here."

"Yeah, yeah. Of course you're right. Again." Gladiolus replied.