He didn't take too long getting changed in the bathroom and soon returned to the bedroom, though he still didn't feel fully prepared to face the others yet. Ignis hadn't said anything else about his strange behaviour though, so that was one good thing at least.
"Are you ready to go now?" asked Ignis, who, while not exactly saying it, clearly didn't think he was up to it.
"Yeah, I'm ready." he said, as certainly as he could, given the situation.
As he began to follow Ignis through the door, it occurred to him that he didn't actually know where there were going precisely. To meet with Gladio and Prompto in the restaurant, obviously, but then what? Last time he'd insisted on seeing the ruins of Insomnia himself, just so he knew for certain it was real. He didn't exactly have that problem this time around, and he also didn't want to waste time that could be spent preventing the ten years of darkness from ever happening. But equally, could he deny the others the closure of seeing Insomnia fall for themselves? Wasn't that a bit selfish of him? He still hadn't decided exactly what to do when they emerged into the main body of the resort and he finally caught sight of Gladio and Prompto again.
They were both sitting on stools around the main restaurant area, apparently too preoccupied with their own thoughts to attempt conversation, which made Noctis feel a little better about his own fairly miserable attempts at it so far. As he and Ignis approached, Gladio was the first to notice their presence, immediately lifting his head and then beginning to get up from his stool. Prompto wasn't far behind him.
"Noct! You're finally up!" he said, and Noctis couldn't help but notice the slight tremor in his voice, not quite masked by his upbeat tone. He really wasn't ready for this. "We were beginning to think you'd never wake up."
"Yeah, you were in pretty deep." said Gladio, and while Noctis couldn't hear anything amiss in his voice he could clearly see the tense way he was standing, as though ready to spring at any moment.
Something was wrong. Well, obviously something was wrong—their home had just been utterly destroyed and Niflheim had won, but there was something else as well. He'd been expecting questions about what to do next, upset over what had happened, possibly even anger at his lateness; not half-hearted jabs about his sleeping habits. Then he realised: this was why Ignis had been so hesitant with him earlier.
He'd almost been too caught up in his own thoughts to notice it, but Ignis had waited an unusually long time before telling him about Insomnia. That was probably in part due to his little...episode, but mainly motivated by his previous behaviour, which, of course, they had experienced too. They were still worried about his state of mind after trying to attack Ardyn, let alone all his other strange actions since then. That was why they hadn't immediately woken him up upon discovering the news about Insomnia: they'd been concerned about how he might react. Six, they might even have worried that he'd turn to violence after what happened. And he had no way of alleviating their fears since he'd been doing everything under a misapprehension he had no way of explaining without sounding completely insane. Fabulous.
"I know what's happened." he said. The less time they spent worrying over his mental state the better.
"O-Oh, really?" said Prompto, evidently a bit shocked that he'd taken it so well.
Under any other circumstances he'd have been slightly offended. Gladio shot Ignis a look that Noctis took to mean 'Why did you tell him?' Apparently they'd discussed this beforehand.
"I guess that's that then." said Gladio, though he still seemed displeased by this turn of events.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Noctis, hoping he might be able to pass off the decision to his friends, giving him a little more time to think about his situation.
"That decision is up to you Noct." said Ignis, turning to face him. No such luck.
"Well, shouldn't we at least go and see if it's true?" asked Prompto, desperation and hope flooding his voice in equal measures. "I mean, it's not like nobody got out, right?"
He so badly wanted his parents to be alive. Noctis felt his former feelings of guilt for ignoring his best friend's distress multiply by several factors.
"It's true that we have yet to see whether or not these rumours are completely accurate, not to mention we have no way of knowing whether or not the King survived." said Ignis.
It was still deeply unnerving to him to think that his father had been alive right up until a few hours ago. He'd also mostly forgotten that they didn't yet know who was dead and who wasn't. Insomnia's fall and his father's death; the two were so intimately connected in his mind he had trouble distinguishing them, which was understandable given they'd happened at more or less the same time. He'd had to go and meet Cor at the blockade to find out last time, which would also lead to him getting the keys for the Royal Tombs. Which he didn't need, since he already had all the Royal Arms in his Armiger.
He still hadn't quite wrapped his head around how no one but him had noticed the difference in their gear yet. Not to mention the obscene amount of money they'd acquired over the course of their trip, which had also helpfully transported along with him. Still, a part of him didn't want to go back to the blockade again. He was still angry over the deaths that had occurred in his absence, and the apparently meaningless nature of his final sacrifice. Going to see the ruins of Insomnia again would only aggravate him further, and besides, at this point it was essentially useless anyway. He already knew what he would find there, and it wasn't like anyone but him would benefit from going there. If he was going to be doing things differently, he was going to start now.
"He's gone." said Noctis, his voice now steady. He had a plan. "I can feel it."
He couldn't feel it. Well, not anymore anyway. But he had felt it the first time this happened: a shift in his magic. He'd done everything he could to ignore it at the time, but this time it was going to be different. The others had no way of knowing he was lying, since magic was poorly understood even within the royal family. There was no way this could fail.
"What? How?" asked Prompto.
"My magic, it's...different." he said, hoping that was enough to convince them.
"You're quite sure about this Noct? There's nothing else that could be causing you to feel this way?" asked Ignis, using the same tone of voice he'd used after Noctis's outburst about Ardyn.
His plan to convince Ignis he was having a nervous breakdown had apparently worked a little too well, even if he didn't know whether he was actually acting or not. Alright, so this might be a little harder than he thought it was going to be.
"I didn't feel like this until I woke up this morning." he said. "It has to be because…"
He deliberately let his voice trail off towards the end. He may not feel much now, but he remembered how he felt the first time, how he hadn't wanted want to face what had happened.
"Well, if you're sure then it might be better not to go back to Insomnia." said Gladio, though he looked about as convinced of Noctis's reliability as Ignis was. "Rumours or not, it won't be safe for us there anymore."
"Might not be safe for us here." said Prompto.
Noctis recognised this part of the conversation. It was true—but only to a certain extent. Yeah, they'd had MT's dropping on their heads every other minute, but it was never anything they couldn't handle. Noctis had a sneaking suspicion that may have had something to do with Ardyn, but quickly put the thought out of his mind. He wanted to think about Ardyn as little as he possibly could until absolutely forced to.
"Well Noct? We appear to be at an impasse." said Ignis. Looked like this was going to be up to him after all.
"I say we go to Lestallum." he said.
"What? But that's ages away! How will going there help?" asked Prompto, dismay written all over his face. He hated doing this to Prompto, but he felt that if he didn't do something now he never would. This was a turning point: change everything, or nothing. He had to do something. He couldn't let them die all over again.
"Lestallum's the nearest city to Insomnia; if the rumours are true they'll have refugees pouring in soon. If we want news, that's the best place to go." he said.
There was another reason, of course. Soon Titan would be awakened by Luna, and the faster he dealt with that little problem the better. There was also the fact that Iris would be arriving in Lestallum fairly shortly as well, and she'd be able to get the others up to speed without sounding clairvoyant.
"I suppose...when you put it like that…" mumbled Prompto, obviously still upset about not being able to confirm the news with his own eyes.
"We have our destination then." said Ignis, and he began moving towards the exit.
"Wait, we're going now? Like, right now?" asked Prompto.
"Right now." said Ignis. "Everything's already in the car. It's best if we start moving as quickly as possible."
"Let's get going then." said Gladio, moving to follow Ignis. "Come on Noct, we haven't got all day." he said as he passed Noctis, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Y-yeah, sure." he said, trailing behind them.
His mind was elsewhere; he could hardly believe he'd actually convinced them. They were actually doing this. This could be his chance to solve everything. No one had to die this time. But as he stepped outside he still felt uneasy, almost afraid he'd be smited on the spot for his transgression. Nothing happened, of course, but his anxiety wouldn't shift. Hopefully he'd be able to relax in the Regalia, but somehow he doubted it.