It had grown late, Noctis realised, as he emerged from the Niflheim offices and looked down at the street below. The sky was still bright, but long shadows were being cast over the city and the street was almost entirely in shadow. A chill wind blew over him as he stepped out onto the window pane. He needed to get to Luna as soon as possible if they were going to pull this off today. Not to mention he still needed to warn her about Ravus's plans.
"Hey, Noct, are you good?" called a voice from below him.
He looked down to see Prompto waving at him from the street, still surrounded by the broken shells of MTs that had been shot to pieces. Thankfully, he seemed mostly unscathed.
"Yeah, you'll never guess what's up here though," yelled Noctis, before throwing a sword down to the floor and warping down to where Prompto was waiting.
"Whoa, you almost took my head off there dude!" said Prompto, backing away from him with a laugh.
"I wasn't even close, dumbass," said Noctis, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, look at what I found up there."
With these words he reached into the Armiger and produced the Colonel's uniform with a dramatic flourish.
"Stroke of luck, right?"
"Dude. Is that what I think it is?" asked Prompto, taking the uniform in his hands and looking over it.
"Sure is. Turns out Niflheim's offices really are well-hidden, I certainly couldn't tell what they were until I got inside."
"So, what, this was just lying around in there?" asked Prompto, incredulous. "That's crazy. Hey, maybe it's because of all the bad luck you've been having recently, huh?"
"I wish," sighed Noctis, recalling the conversation he'd just overheard. "Listen, we've got to get back to Luna as soon as possible. From what I overheard while I was in there, they're going to start going after her, and soon."
"Wait, what? But she's been here for a day already!"
"Yeah, I think these are new orders from whoever's leading them," said Noctis, unsure if he was supposed to know that person was Ravus just yet.
"Shit, that's bad," said Prompto, looking around nervously and biting his lip.
"Yeah, no kidding," said Noctis, trying not to think about what would happen if the Empire got their hands on Luna before she could forge the covenants. "But did you find any uniforms that look like they might fit?"
"Noct, these are MT uniforms, they're going to notice if I stroll up wearing one of these without being made of metal," said Prompto, rolling his eyes.
Noctis couldn't help but flinch a little internally. Well, Prompto definitely didn't know about his true origins yet, but he still felt awful for forgetting, given how sensitive the situation would become later. What was he thinking?
"Hey, don't feel too bad dude, I bet Ignis and Gladio found something!" said Prompto, apparently having noticed him having a little moment.
"Yeah, sure," said Noctis, trying to pull himself back together. "Let's go find them."
It didn't take long to find Ignis and Gladio, who were similarly surrounded by MT corpses. They'd actually begun clearing the bodies away though.
"Ah, you've returned," said Ignis, noticing the two of the approaching from the corner of his eye and turning to greet them.
"Yeah, and you'll never guess what we found while we over there," said Noctis, preparing to brandish the uniform once more.
"Noct found the Nif offices!" said Prompto, beating him to it.
"Really?" asked Gladio, frowning, as though he couldn't believe it.
"Sure did, found this too," said Noctis, finally taking his opportunity to show off the uniform once more.
"You found a Colonel's uniform?" asked Ignis, similarly astounded.
"Hey, don't seem so surprised!" said Noctis, a touch offended by the rampant doubt in his uniform-stealing abilities. "I thought it looked about Gladio's size, so I guess you're going to be the one in command," he said, tossing the uniform in Gladio's direction.
"Hmm, looks about right," said Gladio, turning it over in his hands. "We found some uniforms for you two as well, and one for Iggy, of course."
"Seems like we've had a stroke of luck this time, yes?" said Ignis, looking fairly pleased.
"Oh, yeah, about that," said Noctis, feeling more than a little awkward about raining on their parade. "We need to find Luna as soon as possible—I think the Imperial Army is after her."
"What?" asked Gladio, simultaneously outraged and confused.
"I overheard one of the Nifs talking about it while I was stealing this," said Noctis, gesturing towards the uniform. "Seems like it was a sudden change of plan going by how flustered he was. But she's definitely in danger. We need to find her."
"Well, the person we'd usually turn to for that information would be you Noct," said Ignis, frowning. "You seem to know where she's likely to be better than we do, at any rate. Did she tell you where she wanted to meet us?"
Noctis wracked his brains trying to remember their last conversation—he couldn't remember her telling him a location, only that they'd meet today. Presumably she'd been planning to track him down herself. Not that that would be particularly hard, given the devastation they'd just caused.
He scowled in frustration—there was no way he'd be able to run around the city to try and find her without the Nifs getting there first. The only advantage they had was time—the order had been given mere minutes ago, so there was no way the Nifs had mobilised yet. Where was she most likely to be? Luna's job was to heal people, she'd spent most of yesterday in the healing tent—it was more than possible she'd still be there today. It was a little tenuous perhaps, but better than nothing, and they needed to move quickly.
"I might have an idea," he said, addressing his friends once more.
"See, you have a knack for this Noctis!" said Ignis, apparently very pleased by this development.
Noctis wasn't sure whether he had a 'knack' for it, or simply several years more experience than they did. It was one or the other.
"She'll probably still be in the healing tent, that is her job, you know?"
"It's as good a start as any, I guess," said Gladio, though he still seemed a touch unenthusiastic.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Prompto already jogging off down the street.
Noctis found himself instinctively going after him, the memory of Ardyn still looming large in his mind. He couldn't allow one of them to go off alone, the chance of something going wrong was much too high.
He managed to keep pace with Prompto right up until they reached the tent, at which point Noctis quickly overtook him and immediately went inside, looking all around for any sign of Luna. He didn't have to look far. She was administering to an elderly man, lying prone on one of the beds. It hurt him to take Luna away from her duties like this, but it had to be done. He went up to her side.
"Luna," he said, taking a moment to catch his breath.
"Noctis?" she asked, looking up at him in surprise. "Have you got everything already? I expected you to be longer…"
"Yeah, we have, and we also have news," he said, willing his voice not to give out on him.
Apparently his concern showed though, because Luna sighed to herself.
"I can tell by your face that it isn't good news," she said, looking at him with tiredness in her eyes.
"No, it's not. The Empire's coming after you—I heard Ravus ordering it over the phone."
"Ravus?" she said, and for a moment she seemed so shocked Noctis briefly wondered if he'd said something non-time-compliant again, but she quickly recovered her composure. "I should have expected this. He will not want me to forge the covenants."
"I'd ask you why, but I think we're on kind of a time schedule here," said Noctis, glancing around for any sign of Imperial soldiers.
"I understand, let us go quickly," said Luna, rising from her seat and moving towards him—but not before leaning over the elderly man and saying a short prayer.
They hurried out of the tent together to see Prompto, Gladio and Ignis all waiting nervously outside.
"Do you guys have the car ready?" asked Noctis, not particularly hopeful.
"Sorry, we forgot," said Prompto, a little sheepishly.
Noctis quite suddenly noticed that all three of them were looking at Luna with a fair amount of awe. He realised quite suddenly that he was in the presence of not just Luna, his childhood friend, but also Lady Lunafreya, Oracle of Tenebrae, who none of his other friends had met before. Awkward.
"Will there be room in your car for me Noctis?" asked Luna, looking somewhat worried. "If there isn't I can find some other way to travel to the Disc."
"There's room Luna, we just need to get there without any Imperials spotting us," said Noctis, still scanning the streets for MTs.
"Yes, and that could prove to be quite the task, given we'd be travelling with the Oracle," said Ignis, the first to pull himself back together after the shock of seeing her.
"Indeed," said Luna, frowning. "I'd get changed in order to be less conspicuous, but I understand we're on something of a time limit."
She glanced over at Noctis, and he felt his chest tighten slightly. He wouldn't feel guilty about this. They needed to get to Titan, and Luna needed to get as far away from the Imperials as possible. How long had it been since he'd heard the order being given? Not very, so it was still possible none of the other Imperials knew yet.
"If we go quickly, like, right now, it's possible we can make it out of here before anyone knows otherwise," he said, already beginning to head down the street. "The order was only just given. It's possible they don't know what's going on yet."
"That's a large risk Noct, it might put Lady Lunafreya in danger," said Gladio, following cautiously after him. "You sure what you're doing?"
"If you have a better idea Gladio, then please, share it with the group," said Noct, a touch snappily, and quickening his pace.
"No, I don't, I just want you to think this through," said Gladio, who, thankfully, didn't seem to feel slighted by Noctis's anger.
"It's fine—Gladiolus, was it? I am quite capable of taking care of myself," said Luna, who was keeping pace with Noctis and holding her head down to try and avoid suspicion. "If Noctis thinks we can get there in time then I trust him."
"On your own heads be it," muttered Gladio.
They managed to make swift progress towards where they'd parked the car, and it seemed Noctis had been correct about the orders not having circulated yet. Just as they were approaching the car, and Noctis could finally feel his spirits lifting, however, a voice called out behind them.
"There! That's her! She's getting away!"
Noctis didn't even bother to turn around and see who it was, he just started bolting towards the car.
"Run!" he yelled over his shoulder, already wrenching the door open and practically jumping into the seat.
He quickly turned on the engine and grabbed the steering wheel, fully prepared to slam on the accelerator the moment they were all in the car. Luna got in next to him, and Ignis, Prompto and Gladio all stumbled into the back. He was already flying up the road out of Lestallum before Prompto could tell him to 'step on it!'
"Why aren't they firing on us?" asked Noctis, when his brain had stopped completely panicking.
"I don't think they want to kill me," said Luna, looking tentatively over her shoulder.
Noctis had already guessed as much, but his friends seemed surprised.
"They never seem to have as much sympathy for us," said Prompto, almost sounding offended.
"You aren't a part of the Empire. I am," said Luna, and though there was humour in her voice, Noctis could hear the underlying tone of bitterness. "They wouldn't want to hurt their assets."
"O-oh, right," said Prompto, a little awkwardly.
"Anyway," said Noctis, eager to turn the conversation in a less uncomfortable direction, "Luna, you said Ravus won't want you to forge the covenants—why?"
"Sorry," said Prompto, interrupting, "who's 'Ravus' again?"
"Ravus is my brother," said Luna, completely serious now, "and the High Commander of Niflheim's military."
"What! How did that happen?"
"Sometimes I wonder myself," said Luna, with a wry smile.
"Anyway," said Ignis, who was apparently more interested in the covenants.
"Yes, of course," said Luna, leaning back with a sigh. "Ravus won't want me to forge the covenants with the Gods—doing so will have a...detrimental effect on my health, so he is very much against it."
"Would you mind telling us how detrimental, Lady Lunafreya?" asked Ignis, with the same tone of voice he used when he was cautioning Noctis against something dangerous—albeit far more polite.
"It will likely endanger my life," said Luna, her voice monotone and firm.
She clearly didn't want to argue about the matter. Noctis could understand the feeling.
"I...see," said Ignis, now hesitant, knowing he could hardly reprimand the Oracle, though clearly wishing to do so.
For a moment there was silence in the car, and though Noctis was keeping his eyes firmly on the road, he could feel the tension in the air. In a rather grim way, he was glad he wasn't the only one whose self-sacrificing nature caused awkwardness.
"So, do you know what will happen when you forge the covenant with Titan?" asked Gladio, finally breaking the silence. "Will we have to fight him?"
"It's possible," said Luna, who seemed happy that the conversation had turned to a different topic. "Noctis will certainly have to complete a trial in order to earn the Archaean's blessing, though only the Archaean himself can determine what the trial is."
"That could make things...complicated," said Gladio, with a sigh.
"Indeed, and I must warn you that if Gentiana deems the trial too dangerous, she will likely take me away from you," said Luna, her voice grim.
"Understood, and thank you Luna," said Noctis, and he would have given her a reassuring glance if he hadn't been so concentrated on driving.
"Not at all Noctis, it is my duty, after all," said Luna, and he could hear the smile in her voice.
"We're almost there," he said, and began to slow the car down, making the executive decision that they probably shouldn't be seen driving up to the blockade in a vehicle known to belong to the royal family.
"Good idea Noctis," said Ignis, quickly realising what his plan was and getting out of the car with the others. "Lady Lunafreya, you said Gentiana is able to get you past the blockade?"
Luna opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off by a voice behind her.
"Indeed," said Gentiana, continuing in her usual manner of suddenly appearing out of nowhere. "The High Messenger is able to take the Oracle through the blockade without the knowledge of others."
"It'd be helpful if you could do the same for me," said Noctis, a touch sardonically.
Gentiana appeared to understand the reference to their earlier meeting and smiled passive-aggressively.
"The High Messenger's duty is to the Oracle first," she said, before grasping Luna by the arm and saying, "Are you ready Lady Lunafreya?"
"Yes, Gentiana."
And with those words they both disappeared before his very eyes. He was never going to get used to that.