Luckily, Ignis had been right. It wasn't long before Cape Caem came slowly into view, the huge lighthouse towering over everything else in the vicinity. Noctis could still feel a deep tension in his chest. He was still on edge about his nightmare; not what happened in it, but the effect it had had on him. He'd been drowning in his dream and, somehow, that had carried over to his unconscious body—he'd begun choking; if what Gladio had said was true, that was. Considering what usually happened to him in his dreams, soon that could have very dire consequences.

Even putting aside the fact he might give himself some sort of seizure in real life, if, by chance, he had a nightmare about what was happening to his hand (and that was bound to happen sooner or later) then they could end up removing his glove, and that would be...incredibly bad. For a number of reasons. Still, they were almost there, and he'd need to put on a slightly more cheery face for Iris. The last thing she needed was to worry about him while he was away.

They pulled up to the path which led up to the lighthouse with surprisingly little resistance. Or maybe it wasn't surprising. Maybe it was just him. He frowned as he got out of the car. No one had said much to him on the way back—except Prompto, who had insisted on talking no matter what. They were probably going to have some kind of deeply serious discussion of this later, but he tried to put the thought out of his mind as he looked around Cape Caem.

It was as green and peaceful as ever. It annoyed him that that seemed strange to him now. This was how it was supposed to be. He ought to have adjusted to being back by now. But he hadn't. And he wouldn't. He could sense it. He tried his best not to scowl. No point in bringing down everyone else around him just because they didn't know what might happen if they didn't succeed. After all, that was the point of not telling them in the first place. His muscles were aching horribly. He felt a distinct sense of deja vu as Iris approached them.

"Gladdy!" she said, quickly running up to Gladio and pulling him into a tight hug.

Noctis smiled in spite of himself. At least he'd done something right.

"Hi there, Iris," said Gladio, also smiling, as he ruffled her hair affectionately.

"I knew you'd come," she said, grinning widely as she released him. "I told Talcott you'd be here soon. He'll be pleased to see you again."

"How's he holding up?" asked Gladio, now looking a touch concerned.

"Oh, he's fine!" said Iris, beckoning for them to follow her up the path to Cape Caem. "I think to him this just feels like one big holiday. Even if we...can't really go back home. If anyone seems upset it's Jared. I know he puts on a brave face for us, but I can tell he didn't like leaving Insomnia behind."

"He's old," said Gladio, with a sigh. "I know it doesn't affect his duties, but when you live in a city your whole life and you've been around as long as Jared has...it's got to be rough leaving all that behind."

"Yeah," said Iris, quietly.

Noctis didn't quite know what to say. He didn't even know if he should say something. This was new to him—he had no idea what his role was in this new group where Jared was still alive. Not that that was a bad thing; it was a damn sight better than him having been tortured to death by Caligo. It was...strange though. Noctis decided it might be best to remain quiet. For now, anyway.

"Hey, Noct," said Prompto, quietly coming up beside him.

Or not.

"Hi," said Noctis, his attempts not to be so gloomy already foiled by the tiredness in his voice. He really was exhausted though.

"How're you doing?" he asked, and while he didn't look quite as devastated as he had earlier, he still didn't exactly look happy.

"I'm...okay," said Noctis, trying his damnedest to believe that was true. "I mean, yeah, my nightmares are getting shitter, but otherwise...I think I'm doing better than before."

"That's good," said Prompto, now smiling genuinely for once.

Noctis felt his heart twinge a little. It was fine. Prompto would probably never find out. Not if all went as planned, anyway.

"Looking forward to putting your feet up for a bit?" asked Noctis, diverting the conversation towards a less fraught topic.

"Am I?" asked Prompto, with a grin. "You know it, Noct! I feel like I haven't actually sat down in a building for like, two years."

"Yeah," said Noctis, smiling. "It's been a while."

Truthfully he didn't really know how he felt about getting the chance to rest again. If there was one good thing all this moving around had done for him, it had cleared up his time travel relapses like a charm. He suspected that would not be the case when they actually got to stay a while at Caem. Especially with Jared around. He'd be less likely to actually forget what was happening, sure, but the flashbacks had been becoming...brutal. Add in his worsening nightmares and the Starscourge and...well. The sooner Cid got there the better.

They were coming up close to the lighthouse now. The safe house had come into view. It was such a ramshackle little building. Sure, it was warm enough at night and kept out the rain but...it had felt incredibly empty the last time he was there. Maybe that would be different now. What would that even mean for him? He hesitated as he came up to the door. Iris was standing just in front of him, holding it open and smiling. He almost didn't want to go in.

But no—he was being ridiculous! It wasn't like there would be Imperial troops in there.

He entered the building.

It was bright inside, with an overall atmosphere of calm and quiet. Everything seemed to be immaculately clean; probably Monica's influence. He remembered she liked things to be neat and tidy. Talcott was standing next to the table, and grinned widely as he entered. Someone was happy to see him at least. And there, just behind him, looking as severe and no-nonsense as ever, stood Jared. Noctis blinked a few times. He'd been expecting it, naturally, but still, it was incredibly strange. He felt wrong somehow. Like he was watching from outside, rather than standing in the room looking at things with his own two eyes.

"Hello, Prince Noctis!" said Talcott with an excited bow. "Did you find the sword?"

For a moment Noctis wondered if he really had lost it again. What sword?

"Yeah, thanks Talcott," said Gladio, smiling warmly down at him. "Your tip lead us right to it."

Talcott beamed at this praise. Oh, right. That sword. The one behind the waterfall. It seemed like an age ago.

"Noct and his friends are going to be staying here for a while," said Iris, closing the door behind her. "Right, Noct?"

"Oh, um, yeah," said Noctis, taken a little off guard. "Until the boat is fixed."

That wasn't true; he'd need to go and find the mythril first. At least he'd remembered not to mention it this time.

"Speaking of the boat," said Ignis, breaking his silence, "any update from Cid on how long it will take him to get here?"

Noctis could estimate purely based on the distance, but dutifully got out his phone and checked it. He had one voicemail.

"Well boy, I've finished packing up my stuff and I'm getting ready to head over to Caem as I speak. It'll take me a day or so to get there, so don't go tooling off to wherever before I arrive! And turn your phone off silent! Kids these days…"

"He says he'll be here in a day or so, and I got this while we were driving so...probably tomorrow or the day after," said Noctis, storing his phone away once more.

He tried to look on the bright side; at least it wouldn't be almost a week like it had been in Lestallum. On the other hand, it was easy to run away in Lestallum—easy to hide from the others when everything was too much. Here...there was the safe house, the lighthouse and the open road. He hadn't taken the car while in Lestallum. That would have been provocation. Here though? It was different. He was trapped.

He couldn't help but scowl as he looked around the house. What a nice place to be trapped in. He was whining and he knew it. But it was getting dark outside now and he wasn't tired at all. Just like Lestallum. Dammit.

"It's getting dark out now," said Jared, peering out the window. "I'll leave you children to your fun."

He sighed almost imperceptibly, then left the room.

"See?" said Iris, after Jared had gone out of earshot. "It's like he's...worn out."

"That would seem to be accurate, yes," said Ignis, sitting down in a chair and looking less than happily around the room.

Iris quickly noticed the rather downtrodden attitude of the group.

"Let's not talk about that right now, huh?" she said, now smiling again, though Noctis got the impression it was more for their benefit than any actual happiness she might have. "Um, we should do something—we have a ton of old board games here, if you want to play?"

"That sounds great, Iris," said Gladio, reaching under the table to retrieve what Noctis could only assume was one of the old board games, and began setting it up on the table.

"Oh hey, retro!" said Prompto, rushing over to the table and plonking himself down in a seat. "Care to join us, Noct?"

Noctis was about to answer to the effect of 'yes' if only to make himself tired enough to sleep later, when he felt something that made him stop. A twinge in his right hand. A painful twinge. It was high time he saw to that particular situation of his.

"I...need to go to the bathroom," he said, coming up with the quickest excuse off the top of his head. "I'll be back out in a minute though."

"Cool."

Noctis hurried into the downstairs bathroom and locked the door behind him. At least he wouldn't have to use his phone for light this time. He decided it might be best to get the process over with as quickly as possible this time, though that did leave him with the issue of how to dispose of the old bandage. He probably shouldn't put it in the Armiger. He spied a window high in the wall opposite the door. Hopefully no one would be looking outside when he pulled off his little burning act.

He quickly removed the first aid kit from the top shelf of the cabinet above the sink, pulling out the bandages and unwrapping them so he could bind the injury as quickly as possible. He then removed his glove. He couldn't be hesitant this time. It wouldn't be long until the others wondered what he was doing; whether he was in trouble again. He unwrapped the bandages, frowning as he noticed the ichor starting to show through the white gauze. Then his hand was revealed once more.

He felt himself shaking slightly.

Though it was less painful than it might otherwise be—whatever effect Ramuh's gift had had on him still seemed to be there, it looked...bad.

The wound had begun to close, but with that came a price—the black ichor surrounding it had begun to spread. The veins beneath his skin around the wound were starting to go a terrifying black. The Starscourge was beginning to set in.

He was shaking badly now, hardly able to keep his hand in place. No—he needed to finish this before anything else. He couldn't let the infection spread.

He grabbed the new bandage and started wrapping it fiercely around his hand, trying not to think about what it meant. He then pulled his glove on and was conjuring a flame to his fingers before he could think clearly about what he was doing. He thrust the soiled bandage out of the window and watched, trying to control his breathing, as flames flickered and slowly spread across its length. He dropped it out of the window.

He rushed back over to the sink, fumbling with the tap and splashing water over his face. He couldn't panic now. Letting the others think he'd gotten sick from something or other was the last thing he needed. He looked up at himself in the mirror. It was an eerie sensation. He still looked mostly the same as before, but incredibly tired and strung out—like he'd been awake for days. He certainly felt like he'd been awake for days. And his eyes looked...different. As though they had some sort of film over them. It was hard to see, even in the strong light of the bathroom, but they had definitely changed somehow. Noctis thought about how the light had been hurting his eyes. This was bad.

He splashed water in his eyes as well, hoping that might take some of the edge off, before emerging back into the main room, where everyone else was gathered around the table. Everyone except Monica, Talcott and Jared, that was.

"Monica and Talcott have gone to bed," said Ignis, spotting Noctis and quickly guessing at the source of his confusion.

"I see," said Noctis, joining them at the table, hoping they wouldn't notice anything was wrong.

The evening passed quickly. Noctis didn't really join in with most of the games, instead content to watch his friends having fun. The thought of the Starscourge loomed large in the back of his mind, but a few times he was able to thrust it away—the atmosphere around him chased away the dark thoughts. For a time, anyway. It wasn't too long until everyone was tired though, and that meant bed.

Noctis collapsed onto his, still fully clothed, not wanting to sleep, not wanting to rest, but feeling so utterly exhausted he had no choice.

Sleep had found him once more, and, as he was gradually starting to learn; with sleep, came nightmares.