"You son of a bitch! You did this!"

Noctis rammed Ardyn against the wall. This was it; he had the fucking Chancellor in the palm of his hands. This was the man who killed Luna, Nyx, and for a brief moment, Iris too. This was the piece of shit that reduced his home, the city of Insomnia to rubble. All he had to do was kill Ardyn for vengeance and justice, so why did he hesitate? Was it because there were other people on this train and he didn't want to look like a cold-blooded murderer? No, that couldn't be it. Noctis never cared what others thought of him. There is just something not right about this situation.

"Noct, what the hell are you talking about?!"

"I'm talking about you killing my friends, and destroying my home!"

Noctis was furious when he saw Ardyn's face contort in confusion. Was the Chancellor really that monstrous that he doesn't care about all the pain and misery he had wrought on the people of Lucis? Once again, Noctis' rage took over him

"Don't tell me you forgot about all this shit you caused!"

"Look Noct, I'm sorry that I couldn't keep a look out on Luna and Nyx but I don't know what you're talking about messing up Lucis!"

"What?!"

An explosion knocked the king off his feet and onto the floor. It looked like the Empire found out where they were at. The King looked out the window and was shook when he saw the amount of airships that were on their location. It soon became apparent that piece of shit Ardyn disappeared in the confusion. From out of nowhere, Prompto appeared and helped him up.

"Looks like the emperor found us, you ready to eliminate some Nifs?"

"Yeah, but…did you see where Ardyn went?"

"That guy is here? That would actually explain why the train stopped and the ships overhead."

"Wow, you sound more…composed."

"Well, with Ignis gone, somebody has to reign in on your debauchery."

"Hmph, you even sound like specs now."

"What can I say? I'm good at impressions. Gladio, Cor, and Iris are in the engine room, so I guess it's up to us to fight them here."

"Huh, you're right. Kinda sucks that I can't fight alongside my girlfriend, but hey! What are you gonna do? Am I right?"

For a brief moment, Noctis saw his friend's face morph into a confused glance. Did Prompto really forget that he and Iris were in a relationship? Prompto was never really successful with women but even he wasn't that clueless!

"Uh, hello, earth to Prompto"

"what?"

"Did you actually forget that I'm dating Iris?"

"What? No! I'm just kind of shocked that you would be thinking about the Shield's little sister at a time like this!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The duo stepped out of the train and were greeted with the usual suspects- a bevy of magitek platoons and a couple of mechs. Luckily for them, the mechs were off their game due to the fact that most of the human pilots defected from the empire. Noctis used the fight for an opportunity to test out the latest Royal Arm he received, the katana of the warrior. The blade's lightning fast warp strikes coupled with Noctis' natural inclination towards teleportation made his end of the fight a breeze. Out of the corner of his eye the King saw Prompto going to town with his pistol skills. It was as if Prompto's personality took a 180 degree turn. The blonde was shooting and killing troopers without batting an eye, which was a far cry from his usual habits of tripping over himself while fighting. Noct could have sworn he never saw that model pistol in Prompto's armory. "Must have picked that one up after Altissia" the King reasoned to himself.

"Hey Noct! Take out those airships! One of them is bound to have an engine that powers these demonic soldiers!"

"How the hell did you find that out?"

"Just a hunch! And besides, we have to take those things out anyway; they're going to destroy the train!"

With a nod, Noctis boarded the first airship. It didn't have a magitek soldier powering engine but it did have a regular airship engine, so he blew that up and warped the hell away. He continued his little routine with the rest of the airships- warp, look for a soldier powering engine, destroy the ship, and warp out. Things almost settled until a comfortable rhythm until he reached the flagship. "I bet the engine is in that thing! Better load up my magic grenades." Noct warped to the final ship and attempted to look as cool as possible.

"Hi there guys" Noct threw a fire and lightning grenade towards the engine and warped away with a cheeky smile.

His victory was short lived when he saw Ardyn cornering Prompto and holding him up with a pistol. The king leaped into action and warped into the Chancellor. Only to realize that the man he knocked into the snowy wastes was his best friend.

"But…how?"

"Just as I said Noct, I'm good at impressions" With a slimy chuckle, the Chancellor whacked Noctis in the back of the head with his pistol.

The king awoke from his slumber a couple minutes later, confused and horrified at what he had done. He frantically contacted Cor to tell him what happened.

"Cor! Prompto is down below, we have to get him!"

"We can't stop the train right now."

"The hell we can't! I am not leaving Prompto alone out there!"

"Calm down, one of our new allies from Niflheim contacted me saying they spotted him rolling down the hill. They told me they were going to pick him up. Your boy was lucky to fall right where Verstael is making robot troops to help us fight the magitek troopers. The troops will give him a jacket and a ride to Tenebrae to meet us there. How the hell did the kids fall off the train anyway? I know that he's clumsy but falling off a train?"

"Actually…I pushed him off…"

"You…WHAT?!"

"I'll explain it all in person; just let me get off the roof of this thing."

"Okay Noct, spill it"

"Well Gladio, Ardyn used some weird illusionary tactic to make me think he was Prompto and that Prompto was Ardyn. I knocked Prompto off the train thinking it was Ardyn."

"Is that you're excuse for knocking your friend off a train?! That you thought he was someone else?" Gladio was furious at the King for potentially injuring an ally.

"Glady, please listen to Noct. Ardyn did a similar trick to me where he shape shifted or whatever into me and stabbed. That man is dangerous"

It was Cor's turn to add to the discussion "Yeah, wasn't he the guy who bested Ignis and killed Nyx and Luna? If so, he's a lot more dangerous than he appears. The next time any of you guys see him, call for backup before engaging him. For now let's get some rest and meet Blondie in Tenebrae."

Knowing they couldn't do anything else, the rest of the group reluctantly sat down and just waited for their stop.

Meanwhile, Prompto was rolling down a snow-covered mountain. After a terrifying couple of minutes, he finally hit even ground and sat up. He silently blessed his artificially strengthened body for dampening much of the impact of his tumble; if it was a 100% natural body he surely would have broken a few bones. Coming off the adrenaline rush of what just happened Prompto's body finally noticed the temperature.

"Fuck, its cold!"

Luckily for him a magitek ship with the Niflheim flag absent came down after him. Prompto knew that a missing flag meant that whoever was in there was a defector. To his surprise, Loqi came out with a winter coat, hat, and goggles in hand.

"Here, you are going to freeze to death in your current state. Cor informed me that you landed somewhere around here after a fight with the Empire. You are lucky that we were flying over to Verstael's lab to obtain his latest research and robot troops."

"Wait a minute, Verstael?"

"Yes, we won't be able to go immediately to your precious friends; I don't want to hear any complaining."

"No dude, Verstael is my dad…sort of, I am one of his clones that he sent to Lucis to live a normal life."

"Ah, that old coot did mention sending a clone away because he couldn't bear to see it turn into a demonic Magitek soldier."

"How could you work for such an evil Empire? I mean, turning babies into demonic soldiers? That just crosses the line twice!"

"It wasn't always like this. Verstael made robot foot soldiers so that fewer people had to die in our battles, then Ardyn came along and this whole nation went to hell! Come along, you get to meet your father."

The trip to Verstael's research lab was uneventful but Prompto noticed something odd. "How come there are no daemons here?"

"Ha, you have a keen eye, young one! It seems that daemons aren't fond of extreme temperatures. The only ones that appear in these parts are those who already use ice based attacks. We assume that similar logic applies to desert areas and fire based daemons."

"Thanks, and young one? Seriously? You shouldn't act all wise when you look like a pretty boy!"

"Listen up whelp, I am thirty years old and while that is young for a Brigadier General, know that I have years of experience and-"

"Calm down dude, I'm just messin' with ya! Hey look we're here!"

The crew (and Prompto) landed at the entrance of the facility and were greeted by two guards. After explaining why Prompto was accompanying the soldiers, they were let in without much hassle.

"Man this place is huge! And look at all these robot guards! Man I can't wait to meet my dad?"

"Do you ever slowdown? You also seem to have such a casual attitude towards meeting your father. He is afraid that you would hate him for abandoning you. Tell me, do you hate him?"

"Why the hell would I hate him sending me to a place where I wouldn't be turned into a daemon soldier?"

"Good point."

Verstael greeted Loqi with open arms, but the sight of his "son" made him go pale.

"Hey dad, what's up?"

"Loqi…you didn't tell me that-"

"That I was going to be here? Well I wasn't! I just got knocked off a train and ended up here, isn't that crazy? Well anyways, I'm doing fine, had a good life, yada, yada, yada don't feel any guilt for sending me off to Lucis. How are you doing?"

Verstael was taken aback with how casual Prompto was meeting him again after all these years. For several moments, he just stood there in silence.

"Helllllooooooo!? Is anyone in there? Come on dude, speak up!"

"What? Oh yes…well I am doing relatively fine all things considered. I just recently got out of prison because the fine men that occupy this facility decided to let me out. I was sent to jail for daring to speak against Nifleheim's newfangled "demonic soldiers"! It was that Ardyn bastard, I tell you! He was the one who corrupted our once benevolent Emperor into a madman obsessed with the Lucian crystal!"

"Geez, this Ardyn guy seems like a real piece of work? Do you know anything about the Starscourge?"

"Yes, the plague seems mystical in nature. By that I mean it senses your emotions and past actions and judges you accordingly."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that if you fully give into negative emotions or have done terrible deeds in the past, then you will turn into a daemon that befits the judgment the virus gives you. If you hold on to hope or if you are of moral character than you will just suffer the common cold for a few days than become immune to the effects of the plague. Everyone in this facility and our allies should be fine. Unfortunately Niflheim soldiers that stayed in Gralea who are still loyal to the Emperor are most likely daemons by now. And the magitek troopers are probably mutated beyond recognition."

"I hate to interrupt this nodding moment, but we need some robotic soldiers to take to Tenebrae and help evacuate the remaining people."

"Ah yes, my apologies Loqi. Prompto, I am sorry that our reunion was reduced to pure exposition. I wish you and your friends luck on your journey to retrieve the crystal. Be careful in Gralea, the whole place is infested.

"Will do! See ya later dude!"