Despite what had just happened to Jared, Noctis couldn't wipe the grin from his face as he hung up the phone. He hadn't expected Ignis to answer a text, let alone a call. And now they were back to being able to talk in general. He'd say it was more than he'd hoped for, but he hadn't even been hoping a few minutes ago.

Six, it was so good to hear Ignis' voice again. So good to hear that he was okay – that he was with people who would watch his back. And Noctis did believe that Aranea would watch Ignis' back. Ignis could say all he wanted about Aranea being a mercenary, but she'd risked her neck for them before, and she wouldn't have kept in contact with Ignis all this time if she didn't care about them.

Plus, Nyx was there too.

…Though, Noctis wasn't sure how great of a team that really was. If a gun went off, they'd probably try to fight each other over who was going to take the bullet.

Self-sacrificing, stupid, annoying, loyal, lovable saps.

Noctis pocketed his phone, turning to face the hotel room's door right as Gladio and Prompto pushed through it.

Gladio – who was understandably looked pissed off – scowled. "Win the lottery or something, Princess? Last I checked, there wasn't a lot to be smiling about today–"

"I just talked to Ignis," Noctis blurted out. They all needed the good news. "I shot a text at him, and he actually answered, and then we ended up with an actual call."

Gladio and Prompto were so stunned that they were quiet for a second, but then the questions started.

"Wha– what did he say?"

"What did you talk about?"

"How did he sound?"

"Did he say where he was?"

Noctis held his hands up, waving frantically. "Geez, guys! I'm magical, but I'm not that kind of magic! Slow down!"

They fell silent again, and then Gladio took a breath, asking his question at a normal pace. "What can you tell us?"

Noctis sighed, collecting his thoughts as he took a seat on the end of the closest bed. "Well, we were right… He's with Aranea and Nyx."

Gladio snorted. "No shit."

Noctis smirked. "I don't know where they are, just that they're all together. He… sounds like he's actually doing okay at the moment."

Gladio made a face. "He sounded like himself before what happened that made him leave, too…"

Noctis shook his head. "Nah. I can tell the difference. He's better than he was then. Maybe not a hundred percent, but better."

"Wait… but… isn't he helping track down Loqi, then?" Prompto chewed on his lip, looking worried.

Noctis frowned. "Yeah. I'm not too happy about it, but at least he's got Nyx and Aranea watching his back."

"…Sort of," Gladio said.

"Sort of?" Prompto echoed.

Gladio crossed his arms. "Nyx isn't really in the condition to be watching people's backs from what we heard."

…Fair point. "Well, he's got Aranea and Biggs and Wedge, then. They've got more experience out here than us."

"But no magic," Gladio noted.

Noctis shrugged. "Well, they've made it this far. And they owe Ignis and me. They'll keep a good eye on him."

Gladio nodded. "Just hope it'll be enough– ow!"

Prompto was giving him a dirty look, having just kicked the bigger guy in the shin. "Okay, Captain Negative, can we have a second to be happy that he's doing okay before we start moping about every possible thing that might go wrong?"

"I'm just being realistic."

"No, you're being pessimistic. Big difference. Big."

"Not with our lives right now, it isn't."

"Oh, knock it off." Noctis snatched a pillow off the bed and chucked it at both of them, managing to hit them both. "Anyway, he's agreed to keep in touch. No more walls of silence."

"Oh, good, maybe we'll actually make plans for stuff again…" Prompto's shoulders sagged in clear relief.

"Hey!" Gladio snapped.

"We make plans!" Noctis protested. They may not have been as good as Iggy's plans, but they were plans.

"Guys, we ended up following the Chancellor of the Empire to where we almost got melted with lava," Prompto said flatly. His eyes lit a moment later. "Ooooh, I can text Ignis on new recipes!"

"No, that's not right." Noctis grinned.

"Huh?"

"You're saying it wrong."

Prompto blinked blankly. "Recipe?"

"Yeah, see, that's wrong." Noctis cleared his throat, summoning up his best Ignis impression. "It's recipeh."

Gladio snorted loudly.

Prompto choked on his sudden laughter. "Nice, Noct. Real nice!"

Yeah. It was nice. Being able to joke about Ignis and not feel like he'd been punched in the gut just at hearing his name was real nice.

—

Finding the others at the lake wasn't difficult, but it was odd. Ignis had expected Biggs to be moving about and making conversation – playfully splashing water at the others perhaps. He was not. In fact, none of them were moving around much at all. Aranea was passing around the food, but the other three men were all in chairs on the pier, looking from a range of bored to miserable as Wedge drew in his fishing line.

Nyx and Biggs were without any fishing gear, and Biggs appeared to be alternating between staring at a frog that was hopping around in the shallow water nearby and swatting at bugs around him. Nyx at least appeared to be busying himself with carving something, but he didn't look much happier.

"Well, now, I can see this is a lively affair…" he mused as he reached the pier and moved to join them at the end.

In all honesty, the sight was familiar and entertaining. How many times had a similar scene occurred with Noct's fishing habits? He and Gladio and Prompto never knew if they'd be sitting there for minutes or hours. Hours was generally the more likely answer. It had gotten to the point once where Gladio had bought them all movie tickets just to avoid another trip to the lake Noct fancied in Insomnia.

"This is the most bloody boring hobby to ever exist." Biggs slapped himself on the neck, grimacing. "Why the 'ell are we doing this?"

"Got a better idea?" Wedge griped.

"Yeah: anything."

"Well, it's too bloody cold to swim, and 'e couldn't anyway." Wedge jabbed his thumb at Nyx, who continued carving away at the wood in his hands.

Biggs sulked, sending Nyx a look. "This is your fault. You could 'ave done that back while we played video games."

"The air is fresher here," Nyx said, not looking up.

"The air's crawling with blood suckin' daemons!"

Ignis chuckled, stopping beside Nyx's chair. "I'm not certain mosquitos classify as daemons."

"The 'ell they don't…" Biggs muttered. "Like sleeper agents…"

Aranea snorted. "An unnoticed task force of female vampire daemons? I like it."

"Yeah? Maybe I'll write a book." Biggs smirked, only to scowl again as he swatted another bug on his arm. "So, you said Loqi wasn't there?"

Ah. Yes. There went the air of amusement and comfortability.

Aranea, having finished dealing out the food, threw a rock that skipped a few times on the surface of the water before sinking. "Nope. The weasel never was. My contact did say it was a guess based on the secrecy of the project and how closely they've been guarding Loqi's movements, so it's not all that surprising. Just annoying."

Very. But, as Ignis had thought before, the trip had not been without merit. At least not to him. He wondered if Aranea felt anything had been gained at all.

"So… back to the waitin' game?" Biggs asked.

"Looks that way." Aranea tossed another stone. "Maybe next time you oafs can join us."

"You get info on that bastard again and I'll be ready." Nyx punctuated his words with a particularly strong jerk of his carving tool.

Aranea side-eyed him. "Make sure that temper stays in check there, Captain."

Nyx's hands stilled as he looked up to glare at the lake. "Don't call me that."

That earned a raised eyebrow from Aranea and Ignis both. Oh, dear… Ignis knew Nyx had to be suffering the loss of his comrades, but he hadn't seen the extent very much until now. Of course Nyx would feel bad for what was technically his Glaive turning against the throne, but outright refusing his title was testament to how deep that guilt was.

Ignis felt a rush of pity for the man. He had seen that Nyx hadn't particularly cared for the position in the first place, even if Ignis personally thought he'd been brilliant in it.

Still, he wasn't one to judge or argue about such a thing given the choices he'd made as of late.

"What would you prefer us to call you, then?" Ignis asked lightly, trying not to make it a big deal.

Nyx continued to stare at the water for a moment. "Ulric's fine."

How… odd. As far as he recalled, Nyx had always insisted on most people addressing him by his first name.

"Very well, then," Ignis agreed pleasantly. "That is the name we'll use."

Nyx gave a dry, humorless smile. "Thanks, Scientia."

"Ignis," Ignis corrected. "Specs is also acceptable, on occasion."

"Great," Aranea said. "Then while we're at it, let's ditch this 'Commodore' and 'Highwind' crap."

Nyx looked like he was going to turn in his chair, but then thought better of it and just craned his neck to look at her. "Lady A, then?"

Aranea's face of revulsion was a clear answer. "Absolutely not. Only these two idiots get that privilege." She nodded to Biggs and Wedge respectively. "Aranea is fine. Though I'll accept Miss Highwind from Specs."

Both of Ignis' eyebrows shot up at that.

An oddly pleased grin spread across Biggs' face, and he wagged his eyebrows at Wedge, who rolled his eyes.

…Oh, Shiva, not them too. He'd been around Noct and Prompto and Gladio more than enough to read what that was about.

Why was everyone making their relationship into what he wanted it to be rather than what it actually was? It was bloody hard enough keeping his feelings in check without everyone encouraging him on a path that was sure to be a disaster.

The name meant nothing. He'd simply been calling her that long enough that she was used to it and it didn't bother her. After all, she just said that only Biggs and Wedge were allowed to use her other nickname, and she certainly wasn't romantically interested in either of them. Nicknames were always… something with her. She seemed to have one for everyone she met, so perhaps many people happened to have ones for her.

At least Wedge seemed to be trying to ignore Biggs. Ignis made a mental note not to call Aranea 'Miss Highwind' in front of Biggs. Ever. Or Noct, if they all happened to meet up in the future.

…Or would calling her by just her first name be the thing that would encourage Noct more?

Blast. There wasn't much of a way to douse this fire if all parties were involved. Well then, he'd find a way. He refused to endure this torment.

…Torment. He was hunting the man who'd kidnapped and tortured him, and yet he was considering this torment.

His life was strange.

"Works for me." Nyx went back to his carving.

Ignis took a moment to study their little group. There was no telling when the next time Aranea's contact would get back to them, and there might be more dead ends. It might be best to get used to the dynamics here.

Perhaps they should do some team building exercises in their free time.

Or… would letting their relationships play out naturally be a better route?

Perhaps he could wait a few days and see how things fell. After all, it certainly looked like they had the time.

Yes… that sounded as though it would be best. Perhaps he could prod them in the direction of some card games and them let things unfold. Other activities could wait until Nyx was further along in his healing, if things took that long.

Either way, they'd be ready when it came time to truly confront Loqi.

Happy Thanksgiving!