"So...we're agreed then?"
"Yeah, we're agreed"
"So, we're telling dad tomorrow?"
"Yes, in regards to both issues seeing as how we're agreed that they should know the full story behind the Hunt that we're taking on"
"Yeah, and I will get the full story for the first time myself, you guys just gave me a very brief update in my opinion"
"With reason, we wanted to make sure that no one else needed to know before giving you the full story behind how we learned about Dave and this Hunt"
"Makes sense"
The next day the four had an audience with the three who had helped them since they had come back from the future
"We await word on what you have decided in regards to Our Marshal"
"We have decided that in one and a half months we shall be undergoing the Hunt that we have talked about before, we have also decided that the three of you are going to be hearing the full story behind the Hunt, now then the majority of the speaking will be done by my retainers, but I will also be telling the story in regards to what I know personally"
"If that is the case how will this begin?"
"Noct, you start with our attempt, and ultimately success with the Hunt we're going to be going on soon enough"
"Very well, now then the first thing you need to know is that the minimum group requirement was well established by the time we found out about this Hunt, and the minimum group requirement was actually a necessity purely based on the fact that the target of the Hunt was, and actually since it hasn't been activated as a Hunt yet is huge you need at least two people on each side to be able to have a chance of weakening it, and yes that's with magic at our beck and call, second thing you need to know is that the person that allowed us to be part of the Hunt, who's name is Dave by the way, trusted us despite the fact that we were hiding who we were, apparently he somehow found out about our true identities but at the time it was Cor who vouched for the four of us, the third was that if we hadn't of joined in the Hunt Dave was going to deny the group of Hunters that wanted to partake in the Hunt the opportunity to do so since they didn't have a big enough group. When us four, and Monica who decided to join us for whatever reason, agreed to join the group of six Hunters and Dave, Dave approved the Hunt and though it took a bit of work we succeeding in taking down the target"
"Granted the Hunt wasn't easy by any means and had earned the right to have a minimum number for safety reasons as well, but...we didn't exactly find that part out until during the ten years of darkness"
"Fast forward about four years into the ten years of darkness, it wasn't an easy day for any of us and since Gladio, Iggy and I were mainly separated by our own duties we decided to spend a day catching up together, when Dave came in...he looked terrible, and the four of us decided to have a few drinks, bad idea in that environment by the way considering the fact that alcohol...well let's just say it wasn't the greatest at the time. In any case it turned out that Dave had an even worse day then us, he lost twelve good Hunters trying to get civilians to safety, civilians who had managed to survive outside of Lestallum somehow since the darkness came, he got...depressed during our drinking to say the least, that day brought back bad memories for him"
"The Hunt you four want to take on and the King wants me to join in"
"Yes, the Hunt we're going to be going on soon enough"
The three who were told the story took long drinks from the glasses they had been given by Regis, and the three non time travelers could tell that action was the three trying to drown out the memories of what they had seen, and been told but finally Ignis speaks up again
"You have to understand that when we had joined the Hunt several years earlier we could tell that Dave was relieved that the Hunt could finally be declared over, we figured it was because of the amount of losses over the years of the Hunt because of the minimum group requirement" (snorts) "that was a mistake on our part big time, because we learned the full truth the night we got a little...drunk with him" (sighs) "it began innocent enough I suppose, he suddenly asked us if we remembered the Hunt that we took on that was forbidden without at least nine people and we answered that we had. That was the day we also learned that he had somehow learned about Noct being Prince of Lucis because he asked, and I'm quoting here 'what made you think it a good idea to go on a Hunt with the Prince of Lucis with you?, I thought the job of the Crownsguard was to protect the ruler at all times', we gave a brief explanation about our situation to Dave who sighed and basically said that it made sense we did what we did, needs must basically. In any case he then said that the trip to Lestallum to try and bring civilians to safety had brought back memories of that Hunt because of the amount of losses that had been incurred on that mission, he said that the Hunt we took on had the minimum group requirement for a reason, that he had put that requirement on himself after...after the first time he himself had taken on the Hunt when it first became a target. The original Hunt wasn't exactly required to be a group Hunt but Dave and some others decided to cooperate on taking the Hunt because like Noct said the size of the Hunt was huge, the target was at least ten feet tall and ten feet long, I might have been wrong but it was still definitely taller and longer than any of us partaking in the Hunt that day. Anyways he started to tell the story and like I said it wasn't required to be a group Hunt but it was turned into a group Hunt anyways by Dave and his comrades, that first Hunt...was a slaughter according to Dave and quite frankly I have to agree with him. The group had no idea what they were up against which was poor planning on their part, then again it was a new type of target so they weren't entirely at fault either, they also didn't have any healing items which made matters worse. According to Dave the fight was long, hard, and ultimately brutal in regards to death and severe injury, out of fifteen Hunters who came together to take down one target Dave was the only survivor and with his injuries that took months of healing he isn't even sure how he survived in the first place, he woke up quickly enough but not quick enough to stop three Hunter trying to avenge their losses from losing their lives. That's when Dave decided that at minimum nine people were to take part of that particular Hunt and that he was going to be one of the mandatory members. And like we said before part of why it took so long was because it took time to gather the right amount of numbers for the Hunt because it wasn't just about numbers, but also skill, if you weren't an experienced Hunter you were denied being on the mission, how the Cor we remember managed to convince Dave that we were good enough I have no idea"
"This is why you four want to take on the Hunt before it becomes official, you don't want a comrade who won't remember you to suffer the loss he's about to suffer"
"Exactly dad, especially because the fourteen people who died that day, were experienced Hunters, you now understand that the Hunters are a relatively small group compared to the area that they cover, to lose even one Hunter with a good decade or two of experience is a hard blow, but to lose fourteen Hunters with a combined experience of over a hundred years...it was hard, real hard for the Hunters to even regain a sliver of that experience back"
"And it was all lost during the ten years of darkness"
"Then let's keep the Hunters at least a little stronger for a little longer"
"One and a half months then, we start training now though so that Cor can adjust to our tactics and we can start thinking about what we're going to do to take that target down"
"I agree with them Cor, you may be the Marshal, but you are not used to fighting alongside the four of them despite training with them on occasion, you know as well as I do that such things can get people killed"
"Understood sir"
"Dad...I know it won't make much of a difference when the time comes, but I want you to do some training with us as well, it might...it might allow you to survive just a little longer, maybe...maybe make it so that Nyx doesn't use the ring"
"Noct..."
"I know, I know, Drautos is a tough opponent, especially since he's the enemy Glauca, though we can't prove it which is really annoying, but maybe just a few more minutes, or even maybe actually defeating
Glauca could save Nyx's life, I know that dad is going to die that day, but to take out Glauca...it shouldn't have to be Nyx's job"
"I failed in the other timeline and I know it from what you've told me, but Noctis you must understand that I might not be able to defeat Drautos, especially since we haven't even been able to prove that he's a traitor"
"I know, but to give them even a few more minutes might be enough"
"Then I shall intensify the training I do whenever I join the four of you"
"That'll have to do, for now though...Cor we're going to be training for the Hunt three days a week, the rest of the time will be our regular training"
"Understood your Highness"
"Good, and by the way where we're heading is going to take a full day of travel so make sure that when it's time to leave you pack camping gear because we're going to be stopping at a Haven overnight"
"Understood"
"Specs?"
"Oh I already have what's needed packed in the Regalia for not just this Hunt but for when it's time to begin our journey once again"
"Scientia..."
"Sorry your Majesty, but considering that from my memories you haven't used the Regalia in the last few years before we left Insomnia on the fake wedding..."
Clarus raises an eyebrow at hearing that
"Regis...have we been sheltering you too much?"
"Um...Noctis, Gladio, Prompto, Ignis?"
Noctis simply sighs, looks at the other three who give him a single nod and then speaks
"Yeah dad, you've been sheltered too much lately, the last six months I was home you had to be sheltered because quite frankly all the arrangements were a pain to get done in the limited amount of time we had, like I said before I have no clue how we managed to get everything done in six months time, but the rest of the last few years you haven't really been seen much. I get that part of it is your health but...the people haven't really seen you lately and the Regalia is practically gathering dust"
"Gladio?"
"Hate to say it dad but...Noct's right, most of your time in the last few years before everything happened was mainly you being at the Citadel, from what I know about the day that Insomnia fell you were killed before Regis, as such the shield did not survive his King unlike me, but...you were also basically paranoid regarding the King's health"
"Wait, I thought all of you died"
Noctis speaks up
"Um, yes and no actually you three, my retainers didn't exactly die, at least not when I did anyways, and not exactly what most people consider dead either"
"Wait what?"
(Sighs) "According to the Astrals you guys fought hard, you won your fight and allowed me to bring back the light, and you guys actually managed to see the sun rise too, well feel it in Iggy's case, but you three didn't realize just how badly wounded you three were, between the attack by Ardyn that knocked you out, the fight with Ifrit, the fight that allowed me to ascend the throne, and the fact that Ardyn...he managed to poison you without your knowledge meant that you three were in trouble and didn't know it until it was far too late. According to the Astrals about six months after you returned to Hammerhead one by one you three collapsed and your bodies began to fail. The doctors, such as they were declared the three of you brain dead, your bodies were still functioning but with there was little hope of you three ever waking up again"
"Wait, what did our friends decide after hearing about that?"
"Keep hoping you three would wake up, but within a time limit, if you three hadn't recovered even slightly within two years they were going to let you three die peacefully in your sleep, no medical devices keeping the three of you alive like what was actually happening when I brought us back"
"Oh, wait so if we were transported here mentally does that mean that our bodies..."
"I don't know what happened to the three of you when the transfer happened in the alternate timeline, what I do know is that when I was given the choice of coming back I was informed that mentally traveling back to the past was practically the only possible way to do so"
"Oh...wait, why so long after..."
"That I don't know either but it might have been because of the Scourge"
"Could be all things considered"
"Yeah, now then we should start establishing our routine for the next month and a half"
And so for the next month and a half that's exactly what they do, train, and do a lot of it too so as to adjust to Cor being an actual member of the group