Behind him stood Iris, who, going by the car parked nearby and the serious-looking member of the Crownsguard sitting in it, had just arrived from Insomnia.

"Iris! You're okay?" he said, trying to act appropriately surprised and relieved.

He tried to push down the sinking feeling that accompanied the sight of her. It wasn't that he wasn't happy to see her, he was, but her presence meant that he'd have to conceal his pain for even longer, and he was already thoroughly exhausted from his night-time excursion.

"Yeah, I made it out okay. So did Jared and Talcott, they're in another car, just a few minutes behind us. But what happened to you Noct? You look like someone dragged you through a hedge backwards!" she said, bouncing towards him and prodding him in the arm.

"H-Hey!" he spluttered, backing away slightly. "I'm fine! Just…tired, I guess?" He said, trying to hide the fact that his eyes were watering just from being prodded in the area that had been so recently healed.

Iris snorted at this, a trait she'd apparently inherited from her brother.

"You don't get your clothes all messed up from being tired, silly," she said, rolling her eyes.

"W-Wait, you can see them?" he said, then immediately wished he hadn't.

"Uh…yeah?" she said, giving him roughly the same look Ignis gave him after the Ardyn incident, though with a lot less sympathy. "Guess you really are tired," she mumbled, more to her herself than at him.

"No, listen, it's just—it's really hard to explain, okay, but can you tell me what they look like?" he said, fervently hoping Iris would just chalk it up to exhaustion and not mention it to her brother when they met up.

"Are you sure you're just tired Noct? 'Cause you sound pretty out of it." She said, peering at him suspiciously.

"Iris, please, just humour me for a second, okay?"

"O-kay, they just look…normal, I guess? Like what you usually wear? But, uh, pretty torn up. Like someone's been beating you up or something. Though actually now you mention it I'm getting kind of a headache looking at you. Might just be a migraine or something though. Plus you just look…really bad, like seriously, get some sleep."

"Thanks," he muttered.

"Hey, you asked for it," she retorted, rocking back on her feet. "So, where are the others? I'd of thought Gladdy would be with you at least." She said, looking around the square. Though the tone of her voice was still light-hearted, there was a slight edge to it that told him she was still worried about her brother.

"He's probably still back at the hotel with the others. We can head over there to meet him if you like?" He said, motioning down the street where the Leville was situated. Iris's face lit up as he said this; she was clearly relieved to hear that Gladio was still safe.

"Yeah, come on, let's go!" she said, grabbing him by the arm and starting pull him down the street.

"Ow! Iris!" he winced.

"Oh, sorry! Have you hurt your arm or something?"

"No more than everywhere else," he muttered, massaging the recently resealed flesh.

"I knew it! You were in a fight or something, right?" she gushed, hopping on the spot in excitement.

"Nope. No fight. Not now, not ever."

"Oooh, I get it, you don't want Gladdy to know about it right? It's okay Noct, your secret's safe with me!"

"Uh, yeah…thanks," he said, figuring it was probably best to let the matter slide so long as she didn't say anything about it to the others.

"Still, if you really don't want them to know you should probably get changed or something. Your clothes are pretty messed up," said Iris, looking pointedly at his cloak…or jacket, from her point of view.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," he said, quickly looking around for a place he could change before they reached the hotel. "Ah, there's a restaurant just over there. You mind ordering something so I can go into the toilets and get changed?"

"Sure. I'm starving anyway." She said, before bouncing over to the counter.

He quickly ducked into the toilets, which were mercifully quite pleasant, and swiftly removed his suit and cloak, ignoring his muscles screaming in protest at being bent in such a way after all the strain they'd just been put under. He decided to wear his usual attire instead, which, if Iris was accurate in her description, shouldn't arouse too much suspicion in the others. He then stored the ruined clothing in the Armiger until such a time when he could repair it, before re-emerging to see Iris waiting for him outside, now with a large ice cream.

"You're having ice cream for breakfast?" he asked, a little bewildered.

"Hey, it's super hot out here, besides it's not like you can talk, Mr No-Vegetables," she said.

"True," he sighed, before starting to head back to the hotel again.

"Why do you have two pairs of the same outfit anyway? That seems kind of weird if you ask me." She said, taking a bite out of her ice cream, causing Noctis to almost do a double take. Who bites ice cream?

"Well, fortunately, I didn't ask you," he said, quickly recovering himself and smirking.

"Bully," muttered Iris. "You just like being all cool and mysterious."

"I-I do not!" stuttered Noctis, but it was too late.

"Yeah you do, that's why you were standing in the square and staring off into the distance, all mysterious-like. Besides, why won't you answer any of my questions? You're just being enigmatic and stuff deliberately so everyone thinks you're cool." She said, taking more chunks out of her ice cream.

Well, if that wasn't a crushing blow to his psyche.

"I'm not— Actually, you know what? Never mind." He said, realising that this was as good an excuse as any not to reveal any more information. Well, to Iris anyway. It wasn't necessarily what he would have come up with, but he was just going to ignore that.

"See, you're doing again!"

"I just…don't want to talk about it, okay?" he said, looking pointedly at the ground.

"Oh, right. I get it. Sorry." She said, and when Noctis glanced up he saw her looking guiltily at the floor. Damnit, he said the wrong thing, again.

"No, it's fine, I'm just…not quite over it, you know," he said, trying desperately to reassure her. The last thing he needed was one more person treading on glass around him. "Augh, I haven't even asked how you are yet. Sorry, I guess…your dad…since my dad's gone…"

"Hah, yeah," she sighed. "You know, I hadn't even thought about it too much until you brought it up. I guess I knew, but, didn't? At the same time? Like, I knew that if the King was dead then my dad probably died protecting him, but…it just didn't sink in…until now." She said, and Noctis could see tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey, it's okay," he said, somewhat awkwardly putting his hand on her shoulder. "Well, it's not—nothing is—but at least you still have something, right? Gladio's still okay, and you said Talcott and Jared are alright as well. We're still here for you, you know? You're not alone.

It almost felt familiar, him comforting Iris, calming her down like this, so when she threw her arms around him and burst into a flood of tears he was reasonably sure he hadn't said the wrong thing again. It was still a little awkward, what with Iris's hands being sticky from the ice cream, and it being too hot to be quite comfortable, and his body still aching from daemons, and his muscles protesting at being squeezed again. But it was the good kind of awkward, the kind that meant that everything was real, even if it wasn't exactly perfect. It felt almost like…family.

They stayed a while like that, and Noctis realised he hadn't been in such a dissimilar position just a few hours ago, with Ignis, and realised he was probably still very worried about where he'd gone. He wasn't going to rush Iris though, and after a few minutes she'd calmed down and withdrew, sniffing.

"Thanks, Noct," she said, smiling. "I don't suppose you have any tissues on you?"

"Ah, let me see…" he said, rummaging through his Armiger. "Will these do the trick?" He asked, tossing her a packet he'd stolen from the Mother of Pearl, having anticipated he might not be done crying that day. Fortunately he'd proven to be incorrect, though they had come in handy after all.

"Yeah, thanks," she said wiping her eyes. "Sorry, I've ruined your second jacket haven't I?"

It was true that his jacket was now rather sticky, and wet where Iris had cried on it, but not exactly ruined.

"Ah, it's nothing that Ignis won't be able to wash out. Actually, I bet he's wondering where I am."

"Oh, yeah, we were going to the hotel, right?"

"Yep, let's get moving."

They walked on in silence, Iris busy eating the remains her ice cream, Noctis preoccupied with his own thoughts; specifically how he was going to explain his all-night absence. Now that he thought about it, there was no particular reason he couldn't tell them the truth, or at least, some of the truth. He refused to admit to them he'd followed Umbra at least thirty miles across difficult country for no real reason other than boredom. He also refused to admit he'd spent most of the night fighting a ridiculous number of daemons and had used up almost all the potions he had in stock in the process.

Unfortunately, while he refused to admit it, that didn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't notice. He was still beyond exhausted from fighting daemons for almost nine hours consecutively, and no amount of clothing changes would solve that. He was just about able to keep putting one foot in front of the other, but anything more intense than that was beyond him. At least he'd managed to resupply before Iris found him in the square, so they probably wouldn't notice. Or at least, he hoped they wouldn't. He could tell them about Gentiana though, and that would be a perfectly legitimate excuse for heading over to Titan the moment the headaches began. What it probably wouldn't be a legitimate excuse for was staying out all night. This was going to be a long day.

They soon reached the Leville, though Noctis thought it a little odd he hadn't seen any of the others yet. It was almost nine o'clock, which, while definitely early for him, was pretty late for them. Iris had finished her ice cream by this point and was now staring up at the hotel in a calculating way.

"So, this is where you're staying, huh?" she said, walking up to the windows to peer inside.

"Hey we can just…go in you know. You don't have to look through the windows."

"Shh, I want to know if Gladdy's in there before I go in," she whispered, face pressed up against the glass. "Looks like it's clear. Let's go!"

"Why don't you want him to see you?" asked Noctis, wondering if Iris was actually being confusing or if his brain was just behind again.

"I want to surprise him obviously!" she said, and almost reached out to grab his arm again before remembering and withdrawing her hand. "Right, almost forgot, sorry about that."

This somewhat relieved Noctis. If she could only just remember his injuries after about ten minutes of telling her then there was little chance she'd pass on what she'd seen to the others. Not that that was going to do his poor arm any favours.

They crept into the lobby of the hotel in what Noctis thought was probably the most suspicious manner possible for people entering a hotel, and proceeded to look around for any sign of his friends, Gladio in particular. No such luck. They clearly weren't in the lobby at any rate. Well, there was one easy way to remedy that. He walked over to the reception desk.

"Ah, excuse me sir, have you possibly seen three men that booked into this hotel last night?" asked Noctis, putting on his 'polite customer' voice. "One of them had an eagle tattoo, if that helps."

"Oh, hello sir. Might you be the fourth person they booked for?" asked the receptionist.

"Ah, yeah, Noctis."

"I gave the room key to a Mr Scientia. I don't believe I've seen them leave the hotel yet sir."

So, they were definitely still inside. Well that was something at least.

"Thanks, you've been a great help," he said, smiling politely.

"A pleasure to be of service, sir."

He walked back over to Iris who'd been watching nervously from the sofa.

"Well, what did he say?" she asked, eagerly.

"Says they haven't left the hotel yet," he said, taking another cursory glance around the lobby. "They might still be in their room, or possibly eating breakfast, I know this place has a restaurant."

"Let's go look for them there then!" said Iris, already heading towards the nearest door.

"Uh, Iris? The sign says the restaurant's that way." He said, pointing to the door across the room, roughly the opposite direction of where Iris had been headed.

"Right, I knew that," she said, turning and heading towards it without missing a beat. It was lucky the hotel had signs, otherwise he'd have had to do still more awkward explaining. Small mercies.

The restaurant was bustling when they entered, it was pretty much bang on when most people had breakfast after all. In fact, that was why they almost never ate in the Leville's restaurant, despite the food there not being too bad all things considered. Iris was the first to spot them, and Noctis was notified of this by a shooting pain through his arm. He winced and Iris gasped before mouthing 'Sorry,' at him. She then proceeded to weave through the other diners, bending down slightly like a spy out of a cartoon, trying to avoid being spotted. Noctis followed her, similarly trying and failing not to be noticed. Ignis, Gladio and Prompto had chosen a table next to the window, overlooking the street. Fortunately they seemed to be pretty deeply engrossed in conversation, so in spite of his and Iris's monumental failure at trying to sneak up on them, they did not notice their arrival. For a moment Noctis could just about hear what they were talking about, and though he didn't catch his name, he could tell immediately that they were talking about him. Which wasn't actually that surprising since for all they knew he'd gone missing. His eavesdropping was interrupted, however, when Iris decided to announce their presence.

"Gladdy!" she yelled, springing up from her crouch and running up to him.

"Iris? You're alright?" Gladio marvelled, his relief at seeing his sister written all over his face.

"I'm fine! Jared and Talcott both got out okay too." She said, pulling Gladio into a hug.

"Well that's a relief," he said, exhaling deeply as Iris let go of him again.

"And guess who else is fine!" exclaimed Iris, throwing her arms up in Noctis's direction.

"Hi," he said, not really knowing what else to say. He felt a sinking feeling as he saw that his presence was met with decidedly mixed emotions. He knew it was his own fault, but they couldn't at least pretend to be happy to see him?

"Noctis," said Ignis, clearly trying to decide whether to be angry or relieved, and deciding to settle on something in between with exasperated concern.

"Yeah, didn't collapse in the street. Sorry about that." He said, trying and mostly failing to lighten the mood. Iris apparently noticed this and tried to help matters along.

"He's the one who found me this morning. I saw him wandering around the main square like a confused garula and he took me to you guys." She said.

"Confused garula?" he asked, slightly offended.

"Yeah, you looked like you were totally out of it, like you were super tired or something," she said, smirking at him.

"I am tired, I've been up all night," he retorted cattily, trying to ignore the symptoms of his exertions resurfacing with a vengeance as he was forced to stand still for an extended period of time.

It was as though having a brief moment of rest had allowed his body to catch up with what just happened to him. The initial dull pain in his head he'd felt upon Umbra leaving now spread through his entire skull, growing slowly in intensity as it did. He could feel a sharp, stabbing sensation in the areas where he'd had his skin ripped open, along his arms, legs and back. His legs were beginning to shake under him as they attempted to keep supporting his weight, causing him to feel roughly as though he was about to collapse. Clearly whatever adrenaline-induced strength had carried him to the hotel was rapidly wearing off.

"Yeah, care to explain why exactly that was Noct?" asked Gladio, in a tone that only missed being accusatory by the slight edge to it.

"Listen, I'll explain everything later, I just need to lie down first," he said, trying to get out of the restaurant before he collapsed right then and there.

"Lie down? If you think you're getting away with that as an excuse—"

"—Gladio, I think it's best if we trust Noct's judgement on this occasion. He does owe us an explanation," said Ignis, looking pointedly at him, "but he's clearly in no state to give one at the moment."

"Iggy…"

"Here are the keys to the room Noct—I trust you'll be able to get there yourself?" said Ignis, ignoring Gladio and turning to him, handing him a small key card.

"Yeah, thanks Ignis," he said, taking it and walking out of the restaurant, feeling Gladio's gaze sharply on his back. He immediately went to the elevator, doubting his ability to climb the stairs in his current condition. He glanced at the key card before pressing the button for the second floor. He was heading for Room 243. There was no one else in the elevator, which was initially a relief—until it started moving. He immediately felt intensely light-headed, and the ghosts of the wounds on his back flared up violently as he recalled the Red Giant rising under him. The world was spinning in front of him, and as the elevator came to a stop he just about managed to stumble out, clutching at the nearby bannisters to steady himself. His legs had begun shaking again, and he knew he had to get to the room as soon as possible.

He scanned the numbers above the doors, willing the world to come back into focus as he leaned on the walls, trying to work out which room was the right one. As he came to the end of the hallway, he thought he could just about make out the correct number above the door just before the maintenance stairwell. His hands were now trembling as well as his legs, and he fumbled with the key card as he attempted to enter the room. His first two attempts were met with a red light and an uncomfortably loud buzzer, but mercifully his third attempt was successful and he staggered into the room, only just able to remain upright. The world had now lapsed into a foggy, impenetrable mass of colours and vague shapes, and he could already hear a familiar ringing. Damnit, he only needed to move a bit further, just reach the bed… But it wasn't enough. As he attempted to move from the wall he was clinging to, his vision was obscured entirely by darkness and he felt himself falling forwards…and then, nothing at all.