As promised, this chapter lightens things back up again!

Reclaim What is Yours

Night had long fallen by the time Noctis pulled himself remotely together. It was ten at night in Lucis meaning it would be two in the morning for Tenebrae. Perfect.

He fumbled for his phone and was surprised when he didn't feel it. Where had it…? He sat up stiffly and checked his nightstands and saw nothing. Climbing off the massive bed, he went to the door and tried to open it, but the knob wouldn't turn. Oh, right…he'd locked it. Flipping the switch on the handle, he pulled the door open sharply all for a body to spill over at his feet.

"AH!" he jumped back. The figure didn't move from its spot on the floor, though its chest did rise and fall steadily.

He crept over to his light switch and flipped it on. With the room brightened, he could see who it was that had camped out in front of his room. He didn't need to look any further than the shock of blonde hair.

Prompto lay curled on his side, still dressed in his suit as his normal outfit had been barricaded in the room. Noctis looked closer and saw that he was clutching something: his cell phone. Quietly, he reached over and yanked it out, noting the shattered screen with a grimace. He knew his friend hadn't done this; for all his awkwardness, Prompto treated all forms of tech with pure reverence. A scratch on his phone screen would be enough to send him into a panic. He must've dropped it himself at some point and here his friend was, simply trying to return it to him. It warmed his heart, something he really needed at that moment.

He pressed the power button on the phone and was thrilled to see the screen come to life. Good, he hadn't completely destroyed it. He opened his contacts and dialed one of the names on the relatively short list. "Hey, you awake? Good, I need help disposing of a body." He ended the call before the other person could say anything else.

Gladio was there in thirty seconds.

"The hell is this about you needing to dump a body?" He muttered as he stood in front of the open door but then he looked down and saw Prompto. "Oh. Yeah, I can handle this." With ease, he wrapped Prompto in one of the rugs on the floor and hoisted him over a shoulder. "Consider it done, prince," he assured and gave a two-fingered salute.

"Thanks, Gladio. Knew I could count on you."

The man strolled from the room, shutting the door behind himself. Noctis had just pulled up his contacts again to make another call when he heard "HEY, DON'T KILL ME, BIG GUY!" in Prompto's voice. His yells faded away as the pair moved down the hall though Prompto was spouting something about MT's and Niflheim…

It didn't concern him. He pressed another name on the list, sitting back on his bed with a pillow to his chest, calming his nerves.

The line picked up. "Noctis! I'm so sorry! I—"

"Luna, it's fine. I just wanted to say that I wish you luck for your future. You deserve it." He wasn't sure what he was saying but it sounded like the right thing to say.

"You have no idea what you're saying, do you?" She called him out.

"Not at all."

"Noct, I tried to give you a warning when I texted you. Ravus told me yesterday—right before we got wind of your press conference—that he was telling the media that he wouldn't allow for me to have anything to do with you. He got to the cameras before I could. But, when the news channels asked me to confirm for him, to confirm that it was true that the wedding was off…well…I wanted to be honest. And I honestly don't want to marry you, Noctis. At the very least, not yet. I didn't want to call my brother a liar on the telly so I…ended up confirming what he said. When I tried to add on that last part, nobody cared to listen. They had what they wanted and that's all that mattered. I'm so sorry, Noctis. You didn't deserve to be shamed like that."

Noctis had been prepared for a passive-aggressive conversation, like suburban-mom frenemies, and was caught off guard by how much she still cared about him. After Ignis, she was his longest friend, of course she'd care. Besides, never did the Cosmogony state that the Oracle and the Kings of Lucis had to marry; his father hadn't married Queen Sylva. It just stated that the Oracle was to aid the King. And if that meant to aid as only a friend, then…he could learn to accept that. In truth, their "wedding" had never been officially announced. It was simply assumed, another juicy gossip piece. For twelve years, Noctis had allowed himself to get caught up in it. Never again.

Their conversation concluded at nearly four in the morning her time in which she promised that if the band was still together, the next time they were in Tenebrae, she'd be there front and center. That was more than enough for him to forgive her. He hung up the phone with high spirits, an almost foreign feeling after so many days of tension.

Speaking of which…this wasn't over yet. The media might've gotten their precious views and ratings from dragging his name through the mud and were now finished with him, but the real ones responsible still hadn't been handled. He said he'd make them pay for tarnishing his family's name, along with the families for Gladio and Ignis and likely Prompto as well. The niceties were finished; now it was time for the gloves to come off.

~.~.~

"Aw, man, another road trip? We just got back into Insomnia!" Prompto complained as he stacked camping chairs into the trunk of the Regalia. "I only got to sleep in my bed once! And I spent last night rolled tighter than a chalupa on Cinco de Mayo! Can't we spend just a little more time here?"

"Stop bitching and keep packing!" Gladio thundered, pushing him aside to shove the tent in with the rest of the gear.

"What Gladio said," Noctis shrugged, placing a small pot into the back.

Gladio saw him and grunted. "And you need to get your rear in gear and actually grab a bag or something. We ain't got all day. I'm ready to punch someone's face in for what they did to us."

Noctis shook his head at him, pulling a duffle bag of food on the ground that was too heavy for him to carry. Gladio snatched it from him and tossed it in, looking at the prince with disappointment. Noctis ignored it and said, "Now, Gladio, violence isn't the answer. Unless someone says something offensive, then physical punches are fair game."

"And I'm rather certain His Majesty would disagree with His Highness on that," Ignis chimed in from the front seat of the car.

"Why aren't you helping?!" Prompto yelled at him.

"Because I have to pilot this thing and I need to be at peak condition. If that's alright with you?" Ignis eyed him as he sipped his Ebony.

Simultaneously, Prompto, Noctis and Gladio shouted, "We're flying again?!" with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"Do you wish to fly?" Ignis asked

"YES!" Noctis and Prompto shouted.

"NO!" Gladio objected.

"Flying it is," the advisor shrugged.

Gladio chose to move very slowly with packing the rest of the gear. Prompto and Noctis though sped up and with the car stuffed, the two eagerly climbed in, fastening seat belts that resembled what would be found in a jet. With absolute reluctance, Gladiolus got in as well, instantly pulling out a book and hiding his face away.

Just as the car was started up, a figure appeared at the top of the Citadel steps. Noctis saw it was Cor and felt a river of mixed emotions flow through him. The man had ditched them when they'd really needed him but Cor had always been so trustworthy. He'd always been a natural-born mover and shaker and could be counted on to get things done, even the dirty things that most others wouldn't do. That tenacity is exactly what had earned him a spot beside the king at only fifteen.

Now he quickly descended the steps, approaching Noctis with several papers in hand, but also sporting a purple eye and several bandaged fingers. "Hey, prince! You're just going to rush into battle without any info on your enemies? C'mon, don't be that dumb. In fact, as his Crownsguard, the rest of you ought to be ashamed, too."

Prompto and Gladio ignored the jab but Ignis primly drew himself up. "I'll have you know—!"

"Yeah, whatever. Look, Noct, sorry about the ditching you as your manager thing but I couldn't operate the way I needed to if my hands were tied with that kind of label. Anyways, I was able to ask around and call on some favors from some people that owed me."

He held out the papers and as Noctis took them, glancing again at his condition, he wondered not for the first time if Cor actually had ties with some kind of mafia. If so, then likely he had them twisted around his finger and not the other way around.

Continuing, Cor said, "I already had a…conversation with Vyv and Dino, the photographer and the scumbag reporter. Dino says that Vyv asked him to write the article since that kind of trash is his bread and butter. However, Vyv didn't even take that photo. He said he was handed it by some guy named Ardyn. Ardyn Izunia or something. The guy just walked up and handed it to him and said that he was free to take credit for it himself. Supposedly, the guy wanted nothing in return, saying that the aftermath would be payment enough."

Three sets of eyes twisted around to look at Noctis. "Ardyn…I've heard that name before," Gladio began to think.

"That guy at the Galdin Quay! The one that wanted our autograph!" Prompto rushed out.

"Precisely the one," Ignis nodded with a finger pressed to his chin. "Though…why would he be so adamant on ruining Noct's name?"

Noctis folded the papers and stuffed them in the pocket behind Ignis' seat. "Don't know and don't care. But if he's the one that started this, then we're gonna finish it. Let's go."

"Hold up now, there's one more thing." Cor lowered his voice, causing all four to lean closer. "That Ardyn guy is no joke. Seems like he rubs shoulders with the Nifs. In fact, he does more than rub shoulders. He's in bed with them, more specifically, he's the Chancellor of the Niflheim army. My intel tells me someone by that name has been spotted around Lucis but I don't have anything definite. If the breadcrumbs lead to him having gone back to Niflheim, promise me you'll call off the hunt. You four would be obliterated and you know the King wouldn't rest until he personally avenged you."

Noctis had only seen his father fight once, a time when their convoy was attacked when he was eight. His father had actually conjured the armiger and had launched himself into battle alongside his Glaives, back before his leg had been weakened by the Wall. The fanatical look in his eye as he warped around the battlefield had scared him and yet, he knew then that his father would move Eos, heaven and hell to protect him and would easily lay down his life for vengeance.

Swallowing, Noctis gave his word. "We won't attack Niflheim. We'll keep it here in Lucis. But do you know where the last sighting of Ardyn was?"

"Yeah, supposedly he's renting a sea-side cottage in Cape Caem. Oh, and, I gotta insist…when you find him, make sure you don't do anything I would do, got it?"

Noctis blinked innocently. "You mean extortion, torture and blackmailing?"

"Yeah, that stuff!" Cor clapped him on the shoulder with his uninjured hand. "You're a good kid, Noct. Good luck!" He trotted back up the steps and slipped inside the Citadel with the stealth of a shadow.

Ignis put the car in gear and folded the roof up as they began to drive. "Well now, that greatly helps. Most definitely we're flying then. Hopefully we can catch him before he moves locations."

Gladio turned a shade of green that nearly matched the cover of his book.

"Alright, let's do this! For hearth and home!" Prompto shouted.

"…I think that's the battle cry for the people of Galahd," Noctis informed him but he had to admit, he did like the sound of it. "Alright, yeah…for hearth and home!"

"Indeed," Ignis smiled as the Regalia began to take flight.