Night and Day
Chapter 4
Intermission
Sol let out a groan of annoyance, the annoying poke in her back was becoming more and more persistent in getting her up. She shimmied further along the bed in a vain attempts to escape the evil poke.
'Sol, come on…', whined Unius. 'Don't make it so hard to wake you this time…'.
As much as the princess loved her best friend she simply wished she would just leave her bed for another five minutes. The first real bed they finally got in this road trip and she was going to enjoy it. Her friend however refused to relent, her pokes becoming more insistent and rougher as her fingers poked into her lower back. Sol grunted in her sleep as she shimmied until she was against the wall.
Then the sheets was yanked off the princess, she gasped when the cool air washed over her skin.
'Time to get up', Eques said, tossing the stolen sheet on the bed near her. Sol refused to relent though, now grabbing her pillow and holding it against her body to apply warmth. Eques sighed, both annoyed by her stubbornness yet impressed by her determination to stay in bed.
'Unius, plan b', she said, grabbing the mattress.
Unius beamed.
Suddenly Sol woke up with a shriek as suddenly she was now face first into the carpet floor of the bedroom, her pillow protecting her torso from the fall. She shot up quickly, glaring at the two crownsguards who dare defied her sleeping ritual of staying in until she decided to face the day. Unius laughing away while Eques smirked the pouting princess.
'Oh princess, you're awake', Eques said casually.
She was so lucky Noctis was next in line for the throne…
Sol grumbled as she got to her feet, deciding to get dressed in the bathroom after a shower.
'Please take care not to sleep in the showers dear', Mederis said, sipping her ebony coffee.
'Shut up', she growled.
'Do I wanna ask?', Audax asked as he hopped on his bike after handing Sol the helmet, which she quickly put on, stilling pouting.
'The princess didn't get her "beauty sleep"', Mederis teased as she lowered the roof of her car.
The young man looked at the princess who was silently glaring at her guard, before she huffed and wrapped her arms around her guard as he kicked off the stand of his bike.
'To Galdin Quay!', Prompto cheered.
The drive there was quiet; Sol was more or less trying to keep her eyes closed. Part of her chastise herself for swapping places with Nigrum just to avoid the girls for the remainder of the trip, not because she still bore a slight grudge towards them for waking her up too early. She hated bikes, not just riding them but the noises they make startled her and just annoyed her, especially when she was still half asleep.
Plus the sheer speed of those things, and the numerous accidents that occurred with them back in Insomnia sort've left an imprint on her fears when she was a child. So she was more than content with her eyes closed and head pressed into Audax's back.
The samurai didn't comment on her being so close, though if anyone paid any close attention to his facial features they would all notice the red in his cheeks, and they would definitely be certain it wasn't sun burn. He let himself inhale a breath through his nose as he tried to ignore her arms around his waist that were tightly hugging him, and that annoying music of quickened heart beat was starting to test his patience and his resolve.
'Whoa!', Prompto exclaimed, nearly standing up to see the beautiful ocean blue sea shining before them. Audax followed his gaze and even let out a breath of awe upon seeing it. Galdin Quay may not be as huge as Altissia nor as culturally populated but the beauty of it was worthy of the trip alone. Crystal clean waters that was glowing with the rising sun, sparkles of light glistening in the waters, the "Mother Pearl" restaurant was one of the reasons to visit the place, in fact he heard from one of the guards the food was to die for.
'And here we are', Ignis announced, even he was in awe of the beauty.
'Next stop, is Altissia', Noct said.
Driving into the parking lot, Nigrum and Prompto(much to his dismay) begun unpacking the cases with Eques as Ignis was grabbing the papers and documents for the ferry that would be heading to the city. Mederis took the others to restaurant to reserve a room for them as the ferry was meant to arrive tomorrow and it would do everyone a wonder if they all had a good night's rest before they'd cross the glorious ocean blue.
'Ahh, that smells good~', Unius cooed, inhaling the delicious sea food aroma.
'One of the reasons people come here is indeed the food', Mederis commented. 'Among its five star hotel quality services from massages and spas'.
Sol rolled her eyes at those mentions, her eyes fallen to the small island that as in the background of the restaurant known as "Angelgard". Sol smiled as an idea for a drawing came to mind, she'll need to ask Gladio if he would pose for her.
'Not to mention its fishing spots', Audax added his two gil, hands behind his back.
'Fishing?', Noct said, grinning.
'Yeah, apparently there's plenty of game here, and it makes for an excellent tourist spot', he further explained.
The prince turned his blue eyes to waters, already dreaming of the fishes that reside within the ocean world below. His own personal hobby that Sol was happy he possessed but ultimately couldn't fathom the reason why he would enjoy it. Sure it wasn't for everyone but her brother was someone she'd picture more skateboarding or other more active hobbies, fishing being the last thing she'd ever see him do, thanks to his impatience.
She tried once with their father and him when they were kids, but she found the entire process of fishing so boring, and the smells of fish churned her stomach. Still, she had spent time with both her father and brother so a small sacrifice.
Climbing the steps to the restaurant, Mederis was already pulling her purse with cash for the rooms as the others chatted away.
That is, until…
'I'm afraid you're out of luck'.
They stopped to see before them a middle aged man with red-violet hair, amber eyes, and strong facial features. He is dressed in a long, black jacket that has a white and gray trim, and matching trousers. He wears a red scarf and a hooded, gray and white mantle.
'Are we?', Noct asked, folding his arms at the stranger.
'The boats bring you here', he says, amusement in his tone yet Sol could not help but sense an oddity from this man.
'What about the boats?', Audax asked, sensing his princess' discomfort and stepped in front of her as did Mederis.
'We'll, they'll not take you forth', he says, glancing back at the direction of where the boat is supposed to be. Sol glanced at Noct, concern washed over her face as his own glare towards the man was slightly shifted to apprehension.
'And what's your story then? Why are you here?', Mederis asked.
'I'm an impatient traveller, ready to turn ship', he says casually, before sauntering past the party of seven, Gladio, Mederis and Audax on guard.
'The ceasefire's getting us nowhere', he mused, his right hand raised up as a glimmer of light shined between his thumb and finger. Suddenly he turned around to toss something at Noct. Thanks to Gladio's reflexes however, he caught the flying object just in time. Audax immediately tensed and almost reached out his hand to metalize his sword and even Unius jumped in surprise.
Gladio opened his hand to show Noct it was actually just a coin. Not gil but definitely not from the Crowncity either. Mederis looked at the device in concern before turning to the stranger.
'And what's this? A souvenir?', asked the brute.
'Consider it your allowance', he said with a mysterious smirk.
'Allowance for what?', questioned Mederis, her tone cold.
'And "whose" allowing us?', Gladio said, stepping up to the man.
'A man of no consequence', the mysterious man said, before turning away and with a fedora now planted upon his purple-red hair, he walked off the pier, leaving the group behind.
'Creepy', Unius said once he disappeared.
'Indeed…', Mederis muttered.
'But ya think he's telling the truth about the boats?', Audax asked.
Sol prayed it was nothing more than this creepy man's attempts to give them a sense of apprehension or a mere cruel jest to test their sea legs. Yet unlike Unius, she was not creeped out by him, but she felt a much more sinister vibe from him. That smirk, the way he spoke to her and Noct, how utterly cheery yet wistful he spoke was unsettling. Plus, his eyes. A rare colour alone but these eyes showed a much darker persona than he shown them.
'We won't know till we see them', Noct answered.
'But it would be best not to ignore the possibility', urged the medic. 'Audax contact the others and tell them to leave the cases'.
The samurai nodded as he already begun dialling for Nigrum while Mederis headed for the front desk to book in their rooms. With them busy Noct lead the other remaining members of the group towards the docks. Much to their dismay and frustration, there were indeed no boats to be seen, even over the horizon.
'He was telling the truth', Gladio sighed. 'No boat, no Altissia'.
Noct let out a heavy groan, rubbing his face. 'Great…', he drawled.
'Guess you all haven't heard the news yet'.
They turned to see a man sitting down on the bench looking at them, smirking at their confused looks.
'According to my sources, the empire, gave strict orders not to let any vessels leave the docks of Altissia', he said.
'And why's that?', Unius asked.
'Good question sweet heart, but nothing's been said about it', he said, giving the dancer a charmed smirk. He turned his gaze back to Noct and Sol. 'Be a real shame if you were late to your own weeding, right prince Noctis?'.
The boy's glare darkened upon hearing his name as Sol's protective nature was stirred up instantly. 'And you are?', she asked. 'Dino's the name toots', he greeted. Sol's eyes twitched at the word "toots" and apparently it must have been a terrifying sight for Dino's smug looks vanished and was replaced with worry.
'I-I mean my name's Dino, your highness', he rephrased.
This man clearly wants to live Sol thought, folding her arms but never relenting in her glare. 'And you know us how?', Noct asked.
'The two kids of King Regis bounty hunting in their fancy cars…you really thought no one would catch on or notice?', Dino asked, back to his smug smirks and tone. 'Any reporter worth their gil would notice'.
Sol was so grateful Ignis wasn't here to subtly glare at their carelessness in that regard…
'Lucky for you two, this reporter has integrity. You two wanna remain incognito, then I'll respect your wishes', he said but there was that gleam in his eyes that the two children of royalty recognised within instantly.
'In exchange for a favour', Gladio said.
'Hey, nothing in this world's free', Dino said casually.
"Having our guards execute for you black-mailing is free" the princess thought darkly.
'Fine, what do you want?', Noct said. Sol was proud of her brother that day, and ashamed of herself. Least she knew if he was ever put in position he'll choose a much more peaceful approach, than her methods.
'I know you'd come around, let me see your map'.
'This road trip is starting to become a massive downer', Unius muttered as the group drove to the location Dino had directed them too. The trip's atmosphere was entirely moody and annoyance radiating from everyone's body language.
From a opportunity to finally have some relaxation and then hop on the boat to Altissia, to now being black mailed to collecting precious stones for some reporter just to remain incognito for the remainder of their road trip. Sure they could just to him to shoot himself but the media has more power than even the royal twins and being run out of town before getting their way to Altissia was not an option.
'Seriously, I could have dealt with him', Audax grumbled.
'No you couldn't without getting us into more trouble', Mederis said sternly.
'There was an ocean, plenty of alibis you could conjure up, and I would've been able to make his death look like an accident!', he argued, parking his bike with the others.
'…How?', Noct asked, genuinely curious and almost too egger to listen in.
'Noctis!', Ignis said.
'Ok fine, no!'.
Searching the area for gemstones of all things, the party searched and scoured the area for anything resembling Dino's request but so far all they found were materials for painting their vehicles, ingredients which gave Ignis plenty of new "recipehs" for dinner so there was a solstice to all of their misfortune. Yet none of the gemstones the found were anything like Dino's, and by the time the sun was slowly descending below the horizon everyone was tired.
Sol was even wondering if Ignis may have changed his opinion of Audax's plan.
'Sure Audax's idea wouldn't be better?', Gladio groaned.
'I vote we murder jerk reporter!', Unius announced.
'By this point I'm willing to make the kill', even Nigrum was shifting to punishing the reporter.
Suddenly Eques hushed everyone's compliant, pointing to a familiar creature sleeping just ahead of the stone arches. All voices were quieted and movement was stilled as though they were all turned to stone. Before Ignis could motion everyone to slowly walk backwards and as far from the beast as they could, Prompto let out a quiet whine and pointed just beyond the bird. The gem stones, glistened by the descending sunlight, were JUST beyond the creature.
'You have to be kidding me', Noct said with obvious nervousness.
'Of all the bloody places for the stones to be', Ignis muttered.
Gulping, Unius, being the lightest and quickest of the group, slowly made her way to the stones. Sol saw her movement and nearly let out her voice to stop her. Ignoring her gestures of returning to the safe zone, Unius slowly approached outer ring of the beast's "nest" and made her way to the stone. Her body shook with each step, her breath held as the fear so much as breathing a sigh would alert the beast and make her its dinner.
The beast shifted and Unius froze on the spot mid-stepping, her eyes widened with sheer terror. The beast growled in its sleep, but other than that remained stilled. Slightly quickening her steps, the dancer finally reached the bunch of stones. She almost cried in relief when she arrived, looking at the beautiful stones. Now all she had to do…
Wait a second…how WAS she supposed to pick them out with her hands?
Unius' skinned turned so pale she made plain white sheets look black. Sweating with fear she turned to the others, seeing their own dismay looks with one word mouthed that may be her very last.
"HELP".
Suddenly the bird woke up, wings flying upwards as the wind it created almost blew the entire group off the hill, Unius let out a scream and quickly ran behind the rock holding the gems and held on to it for dear life as the rest retreated behind some boulders. The bird let out a roar that shook the ground and ravaged their ears, before it took off, the breeze sending dust and sand all over the area like a small hurricane.
Peeking from the boulder, Prompto sees the bird flying away into the distance, Unius untouched but still very terrified.
Quickly the party joined the girl, clutching the stone with a death grip, her knuckles white and eyes wide like dinner plates.
'Unius…you can let go now, its gone', Mederis said, kindly.
The girl refused, shaking her head madly before Gladio pulled her off her little island of safety while Eques begun to pick out the gems. However she merely held onto him for dear life, still shaking like a terrified kitten.
'…Well least Gladio's mobile', Noct said.
The party returned back to Galdin Quay after prying the girl off Gladio's body so they could get into their cars and move on. Nightfall had arrived and if the quay wasn't beautiful before, it was majestic at night. The beautiful moon shining in the ocean with its tiny glowing stars, lights of the restaurant giving the place a romantic look. The perfect honeymoon location, and one even Noct was considering taking Luna to.
After giving Dino his gem stone and finding out he was actually an amateur jeweller. Turns out the gemstone was more rare than the party thought and Dino had been trying to get his hands on the gem for a while now, even resorting to blackmail it seems. Still he gave them an explanation to the coin the man from before gave them. They're apparently called "Oracle's ascension" coins; they were to commemorate the Oracle's ascension to becoming the oracle. He was apparently just handing them out, so he guessed he was from Niflhiem.
So to apparently make up for the troubles he's caused them, Dino managed to even procure them a ship to Altissia for tomorrow. All in all a decent trade off and most of their problems were finally resolved. So with all that, the party decided to call it a night.
'I doubt a coin like that would find its way into the pockets of an ordinary citizen', Ignis said.
'Yes, but perhaps the empire was merely handing them out to "celebrate" the peace treaty?', Eques offered.
'Possibly…'.
Regardless, the party all gathered into the guys room since it was the largest and more spacious for their little celebration. Food was served by the staff of the restaurant along with drinks, suggested by Gladio much to Ignis and Mederis' dismay. The man was a nightmare drunk…
'So tomorrow we set sail for Altissia', Nigrum mused, nursing his own glass of beer.
'Noct gets hitched, there will be peace between Niflhiem and Insomnia', Gladio added before chugging his own beverage.
'And NO MORE SCARY BIRDS!', Unius exclaimed.
Sol laughed at her friend's new fear of birds, patting her back in a friendly manner. 'Least it didn't pluck you off the ground and fly away', she offered.
'…I'm gonna pretend I'll be sleeping tonight…', whimpered the young girl.
Laughs were shared, food was consumed and good nights were given, their last peaceful sleep…
Next Day
Noct woke up much later in the morning than usual, groaning tiredly as he sat up in bed and sees pretty much everyone in the room. All but Ignis and Unius.
'Where's Specs and Uni?', he asked.
'Just gone out for morning ebonies', Mederis said, sipping tea on the chair.
Just as she finished, both missing party members had returned. Yet their hands were empty save for a newspaper in Ignis' hand, their faces were concerning. Unius looked devastated when she looked at Noct and Sol while Ignis looked lost.
'What's with those looks?', Noct asked.
'Uni? What happened?', Sol asked.
Wordlessly Ignis handed Gladio the paper as Nigrum and Mederis joined his side, while on his phone Audax's eyes widened with Eques and Prompto over shadowing him.
'Insomnia…falls?', Prompto gasped.
'What?', the twins asked, eyes open with terror.
'Its in…all the papers…', Unius said weakly, fiddling her hands.
'This…this your idea of a joke?', Noct growled.
Unius shrank under his glare but Ignis just looked at the two.
'I need you to calm down so I can explain', he tried but Noct refused.
'We're as calm as we're gonna get!', he barked.
Sol felt cold, her blue eyes downcast upon the floor as the words sunk in, but upon looking at Audax, his own eyes showing disbelief yet she pleaded with him. 'W-What happened?', she asked.
'…There was an attack…the imperial army have taken the Crown City', he said, his tone heavy.
Her heart felt like cracking, but it only raced faster when the one question was on hers and Noct's minds, a question that they truly didn't want the answer to.
' "As treaty room tempers flare, blasts lit the sky. When the smoke about the Citadel had cleared, the king was found…dead" ', Gladio finished, reading the paper with a heavy sigh.
Dead.
Sol felt her legs wobble and shake before she fell on the bed, head in her hands as her eyes felt moisture and threatened to spill tears. Noct gasped and ran his hand through his hair, shaking it. 'No, wait, hold on!', he started but his own words felt forced.
'We had no way of knowing', Ignis relented, approaching the distraught princess.
'What? Knowing what?', Unius asked.
'The signing was last night, than Insomnia', Ignis started.
'Hold on! The wedding, Altissia!', Noct argued.
'I know!', Ignis said back. 'That was the plan. Yet reports of the invasion are all the same. How could every headline in the kingdom be wrong?', he said, his own anger boiled but at a much more controlled state than his brother and sisters. Noct looked away, muttering "lies", unable to believe.
Yet even Prompto wasn't fooled or blinded by disbelief. 'If only they were', he said sadly.
'What else do we know?', Eques asked. Ignis shook his head, telling them. 'Then we won't know until we see it for ourselves'. 'Then that means, we go back to Insomnia', Prompto said, turning to face everyone.
'It may not be safe there', Ignis argued. 'It won't be safe. But it may not be safe here for us', Nigrum stated. 'We go back we may end up fighting some of the army, but if we want to know what happened and see it with our own eyes, we have to go back'.
'Turn back?', said Gladio, his eyes falling onto the twins.
Noct gave his sister a look, her own eyes red with unshed tears that she showed for her brother with her own. Their father is dead, their home was stolen, did they truly wanted to see it for themselves? Just to confirm their worst nightmare had indeed come to pass? Yet when they subtly looked at their comrades, their own families fates are unknown to them.
The decision was made.
'We go home', they said together.
A/N:
Now we're getting into the real game! I really hope you're all enjoying this story and please share your thoughts on the ideas and the structure, it really helps me.
As always, thanks for reading, stay awesome but most importantly stay safe!