Veni Vidi Vici

by saber007

Imperatrix Tellus Aldercapt. Destiny did not have a plan for her, but the people of Eos would remember the empress that led them through the darkness. (Written before the DLC releases and therefore Semi-AU)

27. Chapter 27

Check out the new artwork on Deviantart under ExtraSaber for new character looks.

Persian

Roo-hetou kaam-kon- Take out your soul. (Humble yourself)

Khaah too saret- Throw dirt on your head. (An insult)

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XV

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"I need you to come with me." Tempesta told Lunafreya without an ounce of her usual forcefulness.

"Where to?"

The fist fighter's hesitant nature unsettled the oracle more than anything else and had her questioning the unmasked girl's identity. Yet, that night proved without a doubt the truth of Tempesta and Storm. They were one and the same.

A person's soul couldn't lie.

"It's outside Galdin Quay. That's all I'm gonna say." She scuffed her shoe on the floor. "And you can't tell anybody. It's a secret."

Out of the simple relief of escaping her room on the Nautilus, Lunafreya would agree to the request, shady as it was. She was tired of warding off her brother and his lieutenant, tired of peering at the walls of her chamber and seeing visions and most abundantly tired of the orchestra of lyrics continuously invading her mind.

Reading the chancellor's book had been insightful but it also set off her powers as she'd never seen before. Her hand couldn't keep up with all the musical notes she wrote throughout the days.

However, mistrust was holding Lunafreya back from venturing out with Tempesta. The elaborate lie she chose to enact now had the oracle juggling two sets of interactions within her mind and wondering which was real.

Was the reckless hothead that mocked her and demolished Lunafreya in spars the real one? Tempesta was very much a bully. Most days they didn't get along and Imperatrix intervened to cool off their disagreements.

There were few compliments Lunafreya could pay the imperial.

She never turned down a training request and unlike the princess, held nothing back. Tempesta's nonchalance to her health allowed the oracle to let loose more than she could with Imperatrix. She also wouldn't turn down the opportunity to explain a video game to Lunafreya and even taught her how to play.

The more positive range of her thoughts was attributed to Storm. The girl who went out of her way to include Lunafreya in fun pastimes and listened to her.

She felt more normal than ever when playing on the beach with her. And back when they shared drinks at the club was another event of normalcy. There were no watchful eyes to tear Lunafreya down for acting as a woman and not an oracle when they were together.

What a farce the fist fighter played! What was real and fake among them was difficult to distinguish. Could they even be considered friends when the imperial displayed two sides? Two opposing faces of enmity and affection perplexed Lunafreya.

"Allow me to finish this verse and we may go." The oracle picked her pen up, back to translating the lyrics from her dream into the common tongue instead of racking her brain over human relations.

The spirits had gifted her one more song and she was curious to know of its outcome. The song was of chains and lights, surely it would be a spectacular display of magic.

"Ugh, seriously? Who voluntarily does homework?" Tempesta flopped onto the bed, hissing at Pryna, who she upended off the surface. "When are you getting rid of the mutt? Make her disappear like the other one."

"I cannot dismiss divine messengers from my presence." The oracle reached down to pet her companion. "Nor would I ever want to."

Pryna and Umbra were consistencies of her life. Their bond to Lunafreya went back centuries, for an oracle was always accompanied by her faithful canine companions. She would love to know how a pair of messengers became the familiars of Nox though. Also, how they were tied into a reincarnation cycle.

The late Queen Sylva was their previous master until the pair perished and came to Lunafreya as pups. So many mysteries spanned the world.

The book Ardyn provided her was good for clarifying some intricacies of the world. New song magic was within her grasp, provided she adjust the measures from the bass of a male singer to that of a female soprano. Why did the chancellor have a book of magical studies? History knew of no male oracles to sing these songs.

Who even wrote the book? The signature of the Sage Prince was hardly helpful. She knew of no one with that epithet.

"You're making me miss my guitar." Tempesta nearly joined in with Lunafreya's humming, fingers itching for the strings of her instrument.

"That's right! You can play an instrument." Lunafreya smiled, drumming her fingers on the table in the way she would with piano keys. "It was Aranea that taught you."

"It's weird having you know stuff about me."

She froze and the warmth of her voice singing a tune from memory vanished. "I'm sorry, it's a side effect."

That melody wasn't from Lunafreya's memory but it felt so intimately real. As if the sadness and longing were hers. The transference had worked too well. Never before had the oracle retained so much of a person's soul after healing them. Usually, the memories lasted as long as a touch, ephemeral and soft and then they were gone from the mind.

This girl was a part of her now.

"You and Impera are the only ones that know about my kid." The fist fighter curled inward, clenching the bell in the pocket of her coat.

Envisioning the tiny, wrapped bundle being buried by the younger, grieving Tempesta was all too easy for Lunafreya. Such devastation and loss choked the Besithia to the core and now the oracle could feel that heartache as her own. The anguishing memory of sitting at that gravesite was deeper than the emptiness and ghostly hallways of Fenestala manor.

So much pain and loneliness…why did humans have to suffer these trials?

"His father is an asshole."

"Nevertheless, you want to see him." Lunafreya sat in front of the girl on the bed. "Because you believe he has Starscourge?"

"Yeah…the bastard better not be dead." She didn't voice her greater fear.

Cor the immortal as a daemon. The notion sickened Tempesta more than she cared to admit. Her being of the night was one thing but him as anything other than human just wouldn't fit.

"Why do you speak so poorly of him if you love him?"

"Shut up! I don't love Cor!" The fist fighter swatted Lunafreya in the face with a pillow and then fought off a dog. "Ack! Go away, mutt!"

Pryna snapped her jaw at Tempesta, ramming her head into the girl. The quarrel ended in the dog's favor as the human landed on the floor.

"I know you love Cor. I saw it, I feel it." Lunafreya leaned over the side of the bed, smiling down at the figure tangled amongst her sheets. "There was no lie in your soul."

She groaned, teeth jamming together and cheeks staining the color of life. Denials, denials, denials were all that pounded in Tempesta's head while a pounding in her heart advocated in agreement with the oracle's statement.

"You people are the fucking worst!"

Lunafreya gasped. "Don't say something so vulgar!"

Tempesta sprung up, belting out far more expletives at the fair blonde. Horrified, the oracle covered her ears, which made the fist fighter exclaim more. This process went on until the Besithia's throat dried up and her voice cracked.

"You're all the fucking worst for making me feel this much."

Sound re-entered Lunafreya's ears as her hands came down. She drew a blank at the sight of Tempesta trembling under the weight of sobs.

"I can't even lie with you because you've seen me. It's not fair!"

"But why must you?"

Tempesta couldn't get the reasons right in her head, let alone right to say out loud for another person to understand. Defeated by her own emotions, she dropped to her knees, face diving into the sheets of the bed. She wanted Imperatrix, wanted her hugs and comfort.

"Um…" Remembrances of the princess's methods for dealing with her retainer guided Lunafreya into patting Tempesta on the back. "Is this acceptable? Or…would you prefer I scratch your head?"

"That's personal! Quit using my memories to cheat!"

The oracle's hand whipped back to her chest. She blushed madly at the reminder of where the knowledge came from. Pryna's aggressive barking worsened her nerves and unintentionally the sounds of a cat to mind.

"Oh, hoh. I wonder which R-rated memory you're replaying in that pretty head, Lunar Temple?" Tempesta's tears dried at the new lure of entertainment. "Does it give you ideas?"

"Stop!" Lunafreya covered her ears a second time.

"I bet you're imaging yourself with someone, doing those exact things." Tempesta got in the conservative girl's face. "Who is it? Nyx? Nebula? Better not be Cor or I'll punch you."

She let out a squeal and fled from the bed. However, a devilish fiend wouldn't let her escape so easily.

"Maybe that prince you're so fond of?"

Lunafreya's stomach dropped to the floor and she gripped onto the desk as a lifeline. "Noctis…"

If he kissed her like that…touched her like that...

The thought of them so rough and intimate struck her insides with an unknown twisting and heat. She didn't want these images, they weren't allowed! The cardinals would punish her if they knew! The Astrals would reject her for being impure and sinful!

"Oh, you're dying for it. No surprise when you've been sheltered all your life." Tempesta nudged the hyperventilating female in the side. "First chance you get, go wild with Noctis. You'll freaking love it."

"What're you saying?! That goes against everything I've been taught!"

She leaned back at the outburst. "Who cares about that chastity nonsense those white-dressed freaks preach about?"

"I do! The cardinals taught me certain principles that I plan to uphold. I will not be baited by your immoral ways!"

Tempesta's face showcased how much disdain she had for those values but ultimately she conceded. "If you don't wanna, then don't. I'm just saying this ain't ancient times. You don't gotta be a tight-wad."

Lunafreya calmed a bit. Perhaps it was possible to reconcile the two versions of this girl into one. Consideration was indeed a shared quality between personas.

"Are you ready to go now?"

She retrieved a coat from the closet. "Ravus will not allow this."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be able to bullshit my way out. Which is why…" Tempesta grabbed Lunafreya's hand and darted down the hallway. "We're sneaking out!"

"It's not sneaking if you shout!"

They were lucky the guards on patrol were accustomed to the Besithia's antics and wrote the scene off as a joke. Everybody practically wrote her off, especially the lieutenant commander who chatted Tempesta up on the boardwalk of the Nautilus.

"I heard you got into a scuffle with a daemon. Are you alright, Lady Besithia?"

She purred, flexing out her arms with the purpose of enticing the man. "Don't I look it, Arik?"

He was so wrong in thinking Tempesta was just another harmless, cute girl. Her looks were up there on the attractive bar but her fists were lethal. This stringy Dane couldn't go a minute in the ring with the fist fighter.

The lieutenant fumbled, blushing while correcting her. "No, it's Erik. The sounds aren't the same."

Tempesta groaned. "It sounds the same to me."

"I understand how the Gralean accent gets in the way. You're free to call me that since it's easier for you."

She tuned out the rest of his blabbering, ogling his looks.

At least Erik had the classic looks of a Dane. He and Siegfried were decent-looking blondes with sturdy sets of shoulders. Ugh, she shouldn't be appraising Euphemia's betrothed, he was a teenager. Way too young for her and entirely not worth possible incarceration. And gods, there were too many blondes in the world! She shouldn't flirt with this guy either. Dudes with similar coloring were a major no-no in Tempesta's books.

But wait…they weren't similar anymore. Her hair and eyes…

"Well, I can see you're fine. Please look after Lady Lunafreya, it'll give Commander Ravus one less thing to worry over." Erik turned to address the younger sibling of his boss. "It would help morale if you had dinner with him. A content commander means a content legion."

"I will…consider it." The oracle offered in recompense for rejecting so many previous overtures.

The obvious expectation of disappointment was already ingrained in the man and it wasn't until the end of his nodding that he realized the opposite outcome had transpired. "You…will? That's…great! I'll let the commander know!"

The lieutenant rushed up the ramp, relieved to finally be excluded from Ravus's sour displeasure. Something always had the elder Fleuret in a foul mood; mostly he suffered from girl troubles. Either his sister or his wife vexed the commander and Erik had to weather the bad moods.

That mechanical arm attachment had made Ravus even scarier. Praise the Norns, he wouldn't have to fear stray zaps prickling him while conveying this report to his boss.

"Let's go before somebody else chats me up. Or worse, Izzy finds me." Tempesta tugged the taller girl off the ramp.

Departing from the Nautilus into the resort area subjected the females to the cramped and overcrowded beach. Between the tourists and the refugees, there was hardly any space to move. They'd been lucky the other day since the cold weather kept most people away from the sea. It was only the native imperials that dared venture out —being resistant to such mild temperatures— while the Lucian natives watched them like they were an animal special on the history chancel.

Only today with the warm glow of the sun and a gentle sea breeze did those chickens come out. The Lucians were also being nosy about the military preparations.

The rumor going around was that the higher-ups —basically Imperatrix but nobody would know that— had collaborated with the resort's management to set up an event. What that event included was a mystery everyone wanted to solve first. Tempesta's gil was on a festival.

The princess had missed out on the Solstice Festival in Gralea and she'd miss out on the one in Lucis coming in December since they would be leaving with the fleet. It was totally up her alley to throw one as a farewell gift and to make up for the missed ones.

The fist fighter could already hear the speech Imperatrix would be giving.

"We're taking the bike?"

Tempesta kicked up the stand, balancing the motorcycle more expertly than anything else in her life. "Don't worry, Temple. It looks scary but it's fun."

She still hesitated to move closer, jumping at the loudness of the vehicle's ignition.

"Come on. If one of the goons spots us, it'll be trouble."

Reluctantly, Lunafreya went for the sidecar, only to be berated for the action.

"No, no, no! Get behind me! That's the best way to experience a motorcycle for the first time.."

"Is this safe? How do I stay on?" The oracle felt lost and indecent, straddling the bike the way she was.

Thank goodness she now wore trousers underneath her dresses. One of her old pencil-styled dresses wouldn't have accommodated this mode of transportation. Lunafreya was willing to bend on the church's conservative dress code while on the field. It wouldn't due for the oracle to die from an unexpected attack because she couldn't move in a floor-length robe.

Imperatrix taught her she could be both practical and pretty and Lunafreya would heed that measure of prudence.

"First, put this on." Tempesta held out a helmet.

"Finally re-claimed it from that soldier?" Lunafreya glared at the cat-eared headgear, the source of the deception.

"No point to the game anymore. You know my face." She dropped the safety precaution on her lap and turned around.

With the helmet on Lunafreya's voice became muffled but wasn't distorted as she had anticipated. "Don't you need this? I thought…I'd sound different."

Tempesta hawked out a laugh. "I don't have the modulator turned on and my head can take a crash. Yours can't." She then wrapped Lunafreya's arms around her waist. "That's how you hold on. Here we go!"

The oracle shrieked from how the bike lurched forward and they soared on land. She clung to the driver, grateful for the helmet protecting her face from the harsh whips of wind beating against her head.

Whatever Tempesta tried to share was lost over the noise but Lunafreya felt the girl's mirth in the shake of her body. Eventually, the steadiness of a friend, the weightlessness of progress and curiosity urged the Fleuret to open her eyes and lift her head. The beauty of the ocean and land passed by too briskly for her to appreciate so she didn't understand the importance of the experience Tempesta spoke of.

With how fast they were going, this drive was more dangerous than fun. It was entirely different from how smoothly Nebula operated the jeep when they traveled. At any moment they could fall and with only her flimsy grasp on the fist fighter's waist, Lunafreya was terrified of the high possibility of this result.

Riding in the sidecar would have been sufficient! For what reason did Tempesta deny her security? She did love tormenting Lunafreya.

But this was controlled peril and with a companion. As long as she held on, there wasn't anything to fear. Under that context, the dread dwindled. There was freedom in their adventure. At this speed nothing could restrain the oracle, only propel her forward.

Ataraxy; this was what Tempesta felt while driving and what she wanted to share.

"Man, I hate havens." The fist fighter parked the bike at the edge of a campsite.

Before being within range of the runes gave her an itch but now a full-on stabbing-sensation pervaded Tempesta's body. She was sweating with the effort of not disclosing her whimpers.

"Will you be able to cross?" Lunafreya tossed the helmet into the sidecar, breathing in greedy amounts of fresh air.

"Hasn't been a problem before." She walked up to the magic circle, juggling confidence and worry in tandem and wondering which would fall into her hand.

"Be careful!" The oracle warned, sensing the spike in magic.

Too late. Tempesta yelped as she got blown back.

The stronger the daemon, the stronger the barrier's reaction. How in the world had she gotten past them before?

Hearing shouts of assurance, Lunafreya preceded on without her companion. Knowing that Cor was an ally of Noctis made it easier for her to venture into the campsite. Cookware was strewn about around a dead fire and the ground was wet with the spilled contents of a failed meal.

Tempesta's memories labeled the man as fastidious. Something had gone wrong.

The oracle stood in front of the tent, watching the flap sway in the wind. The signs were pointing to the marshal being in the initial stages of Starscourge. She expected to hear him coughing from sickness but it was eerily quiet.

"Hello?" Lunafreya called, uncharacteristically shy in her greeting.

Cor was a stranger to her but she knew more details about him than was proper. It took a considerable amount of restraint to not fidget and properly look him in the eye as the marshal emerged from the tent.

"You're not Tempesta." Cor rasped out, dwarfing the oracle even as he hunched over in weakness. "What're you doing here, Lady Lunafreya?"

For a moment, she was speechless. Then an unseemly and vicious statement left her lips. "You look like him. Like the general."

In person, the resemblance was far more apparent. Cor and Glauca could be brothers with their matching reddish-brown hair, blue eyes, tall, hulking statures and terrifying strength. Tempesta's skewed visualization of her lover —he always had a certain glow and perfection from the perspective of her memories— hadn't prepared Lunafreya for this similarity.

The marshal's jaw ticked but his tone managed to stay respectful. "Please don't compare me to that traitor. We have no connection."

She found that hard to believe but let the matter drop. Glauca was inconsequential to her; his death assuaged the pain.

"Did Tempesta bring you?" He could see the motorcycle and heard her shouts earlier.

Or…had his mind played a trick? Things had been odd since the beach fight.

Cor saw things that couldn't be real, had conversations that couldn't be real. His parents were long dead, along with Regis and Clarus. Yet, he could remember with clarity the discussions with he had with both groups of people.

How ironic...or maybe sick. Starscourge tried to give him catharsis before it killed its newest prey. He wasn't a lamb to lead to slaughter.

Lions were the predators.

"She wanted me to heal you." Lunafreya held a hand out to catch the swaying man but he righted himself first. "Tempesta was very worried."

"Do you know…about her?" Cor tensed, re-focused on the girl. "About...us?"

"Yes, all of it."

The simple response wasn't followed by fear or disgust, not even a minuscule amount of judgment. She wasn't putting him on trial but the marshal still felt inclined to muster a defense, if only for the girl he so desperately wanted to safeguard.

"There's nothing wrong with her. She's still a human."

Lunafreya stared at him, expression softening. So this was the love harbored between the Lucian and the imperial.

"Nothing…at all." Cor swayed.

This time, the oracle grabbed the marshal, struggling with his weight. The curse invaded her senses.

"Tempesta was right. You have Starscourge."

The black marks appeared on his neck and his wrist. Lunafreya settled Cor on the ground, channeling magic to her hands to begin the song of healing.

"Is Tempesta avoiding me?" He still couldn't see her anywhere, nor hear her.

"She couldn't get past the barrier."

Cor swore under his breath for not considering that possibility. Why did he continue messing up?

Well, he could claim one less error. There would be no lunatic fights between Monica and Tempesta. He sent the brigadier ahead with the reconnaissance squad. She needed to leave anyway to receive medical attention. From there, a good amount of rest at Cape Caem would do wonders for Monica.

"You love her even though she is an enemy to your nation?"

The marshal nearly snatched his arm out of Lunafreya's hand. "If anything, it makes me want to protect her more. She deserves a better life than what they gave her."

Lunafreya chose not to comment.

Yes, there was misery but the fist fighter had so many memories she deemed happy. That collection outpaced the sharp glasses of tragedy wedged deep in her soul. Tempesta would argue that a better life wasn't possible.

There were people in Niflheim that she cared deeply about. For that reason, the Besithia couldn't accept Cor's proposal of elopement, no matter how much she wanted to.

Tender feelings that weren't hers made Lunafreya duck her head in embarrassment. These remnants just wouldn't vanish! These feelings weren't her own!

"Did Tempesta really tell you everything?" Cor rolled up his sleeve to double-check the absence of a dark galaxy on his arm, mumbling to himself. "She's a loudmouth but not a blabbermouth. The oracle of all people?"

"She didn't tell me. I witnessed everything when I healed her."

The marshal practically clawed his arm while rolling down the sleeve of his sweater. Lunafreya's continued avoidance of his eye suddenly made sense. She wasn't afraid of him but mortified. The new comprehension flustered Cor and he distanced himself from the oracle.

Goddam magic! Always unpredictable and inconvenient! He barely used it for those same reasons.

It took years for him to master summoning from the Armiger, an ability that almost everyone connected to the King's magic could do without conscious thought. For some reason, Cor periodically withdrew the wrong weapons. Regis and Clarus ate that shit up and teased him to no end in his younger days.

The joke was on those bastards. Depending on his katana had improved his sword skills exponentially. He outranked the king and his shield in combat and beat their asses all the time. It was Cor that did all the fighting. He was lethal without magic.

With all his power, how could he fail them?

"Did the same thing happen with me?"

"You weren't advanced enough for me to see anything substantial." Lunafreya lowered her voice to a soft breeze. "Tempesta is below us if you want to see her."

"Why would you sell me out, Temple?!" The fist fighter's voice exclaimed from the specified point.

She'd been listening to them for some time.

"Stay here." Cor instructed before leaping down the cliff.

Tempesta fell onto her bottom from dodging a flattening via a pouncing lion.

"Why are you hiding from me?"

And not just physically. Short replies and unresponsiveness were not characteristics of phone calls with this girl. They usually included yelling, cursing and threats with a dash of flirting. This muted and timid act wasn't his kitten.

"What're you doing?!" Cor broke into a run after the fist fighter.

Lunafreya's healing magic was a miracle. An hour ago he was sluggish and feverish, hardly able to function. Now the immortal was doing a marathon in the forest with his…

There needed to be a better description for two people in a relationship. He was too old to be using "girlfriend" in association with Tempesta. Partner seemed too general and significant other was too specific, not to mention too committed.

But Cor was committed, otherwise, he wouldn't be chasing her.

"Go away! I didn't wanna see you!" The fist fighter hid behind a tree, the most childish and useless thing she could do when Cor stepping around the obstacle would reveal her.

"What a lie." He slowed to a stop, breathing heavily as he supported himself on the tree. "I heard…when you hit the wall."

She bristled at the reminder. "That was your fault!"

It wasn't since he didn't design the runes but why argue that point? The immortal was responsible for a more dire difficulty.

"I'm sorry, Tempesta." There was more than one apology packed into his words. "Are you hurt?"

"No, moron." Her nails dug deeper and deeper into the bark.

"Liar." Cor appeared in front of the woman, serving as an obstruction to further escape. "You were slower and your footsteps were loud."

"H-Hey!" Tempesta squirmed under his roaming hands, weakly pushing on his chest. "D-Don't t-touch me!"

He did the opposite, feeling under her shirt and finding a bandage. As Cor thought, the Rogue Star did surpass her healing capabilities. Light and dark didn't mix. The Royal Arms were fatal to creatures of the night.

"All curtesy of your girlfriend."

Cor sighed, banging his clenched fist on the tree. "You don't have the right to be that jealous. Not when you actively do things to drive me mad. How many times have you gloated to me about a conquest?"

This brat had the nerve to make him burn with jealousy. All those pictures and videos. How had he stayed sane? He should've deleted them all the moment she sent them.

"Because you wouldn't take me seriously! You never do!" Tempesta screamed in his face, angry that she wasted so much of herself on this man and other ones that didn't matter. "You had sex with me and then ditched me! How dare you!"

She'd messed herself up, fallen so low all due to her uncontrollable urges. This couldn't go on.

"That can't be helped when you're half my age!" Cor grabbed her shoulders, pining the female to the tree. "Has it ever occurred to you that I did that for your sake?!"

"How in the hellfire do you figure that?!"

"I wanted you to find someone else! Someone your age, who wouldn't suffocate you with problems!" He thumped his head on Tempesta's. "Why couldn't you give me that?"

She chewed her trembling lip. "Because… I only wanted…you."

There were plenty of guys in her circle that she could get serious with. Additionally, Imperatrix always offered to set Tempesta up with a good match. With a princess's backing, a handmaiden had a profusion of available options for marriage. None of that mattered though.

Tempesta's eyes only ever saw Cor. Her mind only ever thought of the immortal. Her heart only ever longed for his steady presence.

There wasn't anything she could do about it.

"Oh, kitten." Cor held the fist fighter close.

She wanted to hug him back, fill her nose with that persisting smell of forest and fires and be content. However, her arms were limp, paralyzed by the abhorrent reminder that those same arms that promised tenderness could promise death. She had nearly clawed him to death's door.

Tempesta was no benign kitten.

"What's the matter?" He asked after a minute of holding a stiff body instead of one melting into him.

"I'm not your kitten." She shoved him. "Can't you see that?!"

Looking into the mirror this morning proved the undeniable truth to Tempesta. Her outside had warped to reflect her vile inside.

Streaks of violet now took over her blonde hair and the blue of her eyes was now umber. Features that used to annoy the hell of the fist fighter were now gone. She didn't know how to feel about it. All her life, Tempesta looked the part of a Besithia, of a female clone of Verstael.

Who was she now? What was she now? Why were people acting like nothing had changed?!

Genius, Lunafreya and Cor behaved no differently around her. She was a monster, why weren't they repulsed? Why weren't they afraid?!

Tempesta needed Imperatrix to make everything understandable!

"Yes, you are. Nothing has changed." Cor insisted, burying his hand in Tempesta's mane of hair. "You're still the same brat that loves eating, fighting and yelling."

Right on cue, her stomach growled.

"See?"

Tempesta hissed and slapped his hand off her. "Shuddup! I'm leaving!"

Lunafreya healed the immortal. There was no reason to linger. She had to return to her brother and let him fix up some pain medicine. That little bastard was going to cave and dish out some pills or someone was getting their ass kicked.

The blank slate of sobriety was messing up the valve on her emotions.

"Not until I've fed you."

"I'm not your actual cat! Don't talk to me like I am." Tempesta stomped off. "You can eat alone."

"More steak for me then." Cor muttered nonchalantly, bait tossed for his quarry.

She stopped, slowly angling her body around. "You have Dualhorn Steak?"

"I do but I've been too sick to eat it." He fought down a grin as Tempesta gulped. "I could take it out the cooler for you."

"Sure you weren't planning that for Monica?" She spat, wiping at her mouth due to some minor drool escaping.

Goddam! Her senses were keyed up double-time with the daemon tuned more accurately to the fist fighter. Freaking Lunafreya.

"Not in the context you're thinking."

"Fine!" Tempesta marched up to the immortal, pointing up to his nose. "That broad won't be eating anything, let alone dirt, with you."

Cor clasped her hand, keeping a secure grip on it while they walked. She whined and tugged but their hands remained interlaced, bringing out the slightest lift of his lips. If Tempesta wanted to break their connection, she could have.

It didn't take long for the glutton to chatter on and on about all the ways steak could be enjoyed. Food was always the ticket to happy land for this Besithia. If only all things could have a straightforward solution.

The marshal wasn't blind. In the sunlight the differences between them were apparent. He was too old, too cynical and too bitter. People admired him for his titles and saw only that facet of him. They knew nothing.

No one could see the desolation. Except for the tornado that swung around now and again to stir up his life. His opinion hadn't changed and he would prove his dedication to Tempesta.

"This isn't cool! I'm not some dog." The fist fighter whined from outside the barrier, sulking while eating the food that won her over.

Cor leaned back some more, pushing Tempesta forward a little and she cursed him for almost causing a spill. The marshal had sat back-to-back with her once he finished cooking lunch. Lunafreya had also joined in on the solidarity by dining at the edge of the camp.

Their consideration made Tempesta squeamish. Stupid pricks! She could only put up with these stunts from Imperatrix. Her insides couldn't take it!

"I wasn't expecting you but this is a good opportunity." Cor passed the rest of his portion of food to Tempesta, who cheered. "You can come with me and I'll take you to the prince."

Lunafreya dropped her fork, fearful of retaliation but the imperial cared more about her food than losing a valuable hostage. "Where…is he?"

"Steyliff Grove but there's somewhere else we'd rendezvous."

Iris would be able to care for the oracle until the prince's group returned to Cape Caem.

"Tempesta…isn't that…"

"Yup. Impera's there looking for Mythril." She confirmed.

"What?!" Cor jerked back, effectively causing a spill this time, which Tempesta punched him for.

"You idiot! You wasted the food you gave me!" The fist fighter brandished her fork like a knife for stabbing. "Do you want to die?!"

"I'm flattered it means that much to you but focus." He brushed her off, digging in his pocket for his phone. "Noctis cannot be in imperial custody."

The plate slipped from Lunafreya's hands and Tempesta screeched.

"What is wrong with you people?! Stop wasting food!" She forgot her limitation with the haven and bounced back from the barrier. "I will fight you, bastard!"

Her threats were useless against an inanimate circle. Cor and Lunafreya continued talking while the fist fighter moped over the squandered fare.

Were this eleven years ago in Gralea, these two would have been heavily punished for wasting food. Shiva's ice deprived the country of its bounty and resources were limited. Food shortages were common in those days and continued for a few years. To this day, the Gralean population still had to follow a regular fasting schedule to keep things level among the populace.

What Cor and Lunafreya took for granted was something Tempesta and her group struggled for.

"Would you two chill? It's not like Impera is gonna kill the guy. She let him go once. Why wouldn't she do it again?" She blurted out in the middle of their discussion, disliking all the ragging.

This was why Noctis and Imperatrix were forbidden topics between Cor and Tempesta. They never talked about them unless it was an innocuous comment.

The oracle and marshal quit stressing over their failed phone calls.

"Impera has honored her promise on more than one occasion." Lunafreya admitted, saying the next part more to Cor. "I trust her to work with Noctis. She has shown a willingness to change from the old ways."

He gazed intensely at her. "So you're choosing her over me, too?"

Lunafreya balked, leading Tempesta to chime in.

"Of course she would. It's like asking someone to choose between tuna and steak."

Cor sighed out. "You're a damned food fanatic. And do you know how insulting that is?"

"Well…it's true." She scratched at her cheek. "There's no other way to put it."

"There are plenty."

"Are you calling me dumb?! Don't let the hair fool—" Again, Tempesta forgot herself and got launched back by light magic. "We're going to fight!"

The marshal shook his head, concentrating on the oracle and not on his lover's idiocy. "Why would you stay with the imperial princess when you belong with Noctis?"

"I…" Lunafreya stumbled on voicing her turmoil.

A Chosen King required an oracle to guide them. To help Noctis was her duty. Being by his side was the obvious method to accomplish this. No other golden opportunity would present itself to reunite the separated stars.

But…she couldn't control the hesitation muddling her priorities.

"I understand that you must distrust me." Cor nodded, a new scenario running through his head. "It's better if Noctis is the one to retrieve you. I'll set it up."

Lunafreya should've felt relief and a surge of hope. All she received was the tightening of her chest and lungs. The world squeezed her, boxed her and strangled her.

Why? Why was she so ill at ease?

"Temple, we're leaving. Izzy's called me too many times. I don't need him tearing through the resort for me." Tempesta broadcasted after delivering a solid punch and kick to the barrier. "How ya like that, asshole?"

"Stop it!" Cor chastised her, catching her fist before it connected again. "Quit being petty and injuring yourself."

"Butt out, old man!" She continued pounding her foot on the translucent wall, making sparkles fly off with each collision. "I'll do whatever I want!"

It took him picking her up and carrying Tempesta away to stop the one-sided fight. What an absolute idiot she could be at times.

"Don't just stand there, Temple! Get on the bike."

Lunafreya ran after the two, bowing her head to the marshal once at their side. Sensing that they had more to say to one another, she resumed the final stretch to the motorcycle.

"Don't even try it, pal." Tempesta advised at the sign of Cor's sight moving down to her lips and him leaning forward.

"Pushing me away while you're vulnerable is wrong. You're supposed to pull me in then."

"I don't need you."

"I know. You can take care of yourself." Cor wouldn't allow that fact to embitter him.

A self-sufficient woman was something to be satisfied with, especially one surrounded by allies. How else were people supposed to flourish?

It just stung that he wasn't one of them.

"Don't worry about me anymore. I'm done with the fights." Tempesta stuffed her hands into her pockets, comforted by the familiar coolness of her token. "I won't bother you ever again. We're square."

He seized her shoulders.

"Didn't you hear me? We're done."

"No, we're not. You always come after me." Cor squeezed on her shoulders as hard as his organs were on him.

How could this hurt more than the last goodbye? How could she look at him with finality?

"I won't." She pulled off his hands with ease despite how much he struggled.

A foot away from her and the world felt off balance.

The marshal cleared the distance in a single stride, declaring out. "Now it's my turn to come after you."

Tempesta turned her back on him, hiding how she was beginning to crack.

"I'll prove that I love you."

He didn't wrestle with expressing himself and she didn't deny his words. There was hope.

"What the hell are you saying to me?" Tempesta hunched in on herself, refusing to turn around.

"I love you. And if I have to spend weeks, months or years tracking you down to beat that into you, then I will."

"I don't believe you."

"Wait and see. A lion will be coming for you, kitten."

Fed up with her traitorous elation, Tempesta pitched her arm out. On reflex, Cor caught the projectile, choking upon opening his fist. There in his hand was the bell.

The sound of chimes and hurried footsteps overloaded the marshal's ears. The smell of apples filled his nose from the ribbon attached to the bell.

Was this the beginning of a new tradition?

---

XV

---

"Alright, Recruits. Now begins your training exercise." Aranea's voice oozed boredom as she descended the flight of stairs, spear hefted over her shoulder and clanking against her armor.

"Wait, you were serious about that? I thought it was a cover story?" Noctis ducked to avoid getting hit by the pointy weapon as the commodore faced him.

"I was paid quite generously by the chancellor so yeah, it's the real deal. But don't worry, Prince Sleepy." The horn of her helmet pointed next to the princess. "I'm not a rough teacher."

"Neither am I!" Imperatrix protested. "My methods are nowhere near as harsh as…"

Noctis tilted his head at her, wondering why she trailed off while looking at him.

"As…Master's." The princess finished lamely.

This boy hated her. Any mention of Glauca would send him into a violent fit. Her primary goal was to accomplish this joint mission with minimal in-fighting. No skirmishes would be preferred but she was realistic under these circumstances.

If she could get the Lucian prince to work with her once then future endeavors wouldn't be impossible. Peace, they had to continue onward towards that ambition.

"I'm sure your subordinates were happy with the switch of command." Aranea caught the back of Prompto's jacket after he tripped over a loose brick. "First lesson, keep your eyes open."

He straightened up with an exhale of thanks and fixed the flashlight attached to his clothes. "It's so dark even with the lights. How can you guys see without them?"

Aranea and Nebula had helmets on while Nyx and Imperatrix had on some retro-looking sunglasses. They should be the clumsy ones.

"All of our visors are equipped to give clear visuals in the dark." The gunman explained, gesturing to the clutter he just passed and was in the way for his fellow clone. "Watch out for the stones."

"Man, how far does this go?" Prompto complained after five minutes of walking downstairs, being warned away from numerous stones seeking his demise.

"Still a ways to go." Ignis replied, patting the blonde's back in encouragement as they lagged.

He groaned.

"Don't be that recruit. Unlike some of us, you're not carrying anything." Aranea rebuked him.

Prompto's light streaked across the line of descending imperials…plus Nyx. They were all lugging their weapons, bogged down by varying degrees of armor and knapsacks strung on their backs.

The commodore was the most burdened of the bunch in her terrifyingly spiky dragon-armor. Nebula took second place from the sheer number of guns strapped to his person. Talk about packing heat.

That sniper-rifle of the gunman looked nice. Prompto wouldn't mind testing it out.

Imperatrix and Nyx wore arm and leg guards over their clothes so they weren't looking too troubled. Although, between them, the princess had it easier due to her wearing fewer layers of clothes. Where she was only in her uniform, the glaive was wearing a winter coat over his old uniform.

He was feeling pretty envious of that warm clothing choice. Ignis was the information guru of the group and he would've forewarned them of the climate but since the area was under imperial control, their amazing tactical advisor miscalculated. Goosebumps pricked at his skin but Prompto didn't want to annoy Aranea by pulling out a coat from the Armiger and reinforcing her assessment of their privilege.

The gunner would just freeze to death and continue appearing out of place in the dungeon, the same as his buddies.

"Finally! I thought it'd never end. The people here must've been fit." Prompto joked upon entering the room.

"Or…you're out of shape." Nebula swept past the boy to inspect the room for traps despite his girlfriend's reassurance that her soldiers already did so.

Those sloths couldn't be trusted.

"Like you're one to talk, Mr. I-hack-my-lungs-out." Nyx snorted, jumping to the side at the gunman's movement.

True to form, the pistols did come out but didn't fire. The magical reading Nebula reacted to turned out to be torchlights coming to life.

Strange.

"Er…who turned on the lights? Are the owners still home?" Prompto gulped, creeped out but adamantly keeping it out of his voice.

"Nooo." Noctis dragged out the word, eyes closed and mind focused. "I don't sense anything."

"Weird. This hasn't happened before." Aranea murmured, guiding them to the right hallway. "Don't expect a warm welcome. My subordinates never got one."

"Stay sharp. This place has seen better days." Ignis grumbled out after walking into a cobweb.

Walking and cleaning himself at the same time wasn't a wise endeavor for someone with vision deficiencies. Particularly when in the dark. He accidentally stumbled into Imperatrix and dropped the spectacles.

"No one move!" The advisor's barbed command went obeyed without question.

Frozen, they waited for further instructions but received none. Ignis's flashlight whisked around, frantically searching for a gleam of silver. The slightest skid of noise on the floor alerted the hound and he once more reaffirmed his instruction of no movement.

"Scientia, could you point the light over here?"

Ignis did so and stepped over to Imperatrix. He bent down to her level, relieved to see his glasses in her hand.

"How did you know they were here?"

"I heard them hit the ground." She twisted the glasses by the handle, exposing the crack. "Do you have a spare?"

"Those are my spares." Despite his rising vexation, Ignis bared none of it at the princess.

His clumsiness wasn't her fault.

"Are you able to see me with them?" She asked once the advisor tried them on.

"Yes." He cleaned his glasses a little harsher than normal and put them back on much too slowly, very aware of how he could smell floral perfume from her proximity. "Close quarters won't pose a problem."

Not that his blurry sight could stop him from recognizing the princess. Her hair was a dead giveaway. No matter the close distance, she was a blob of snow he could pinpoint without issue.

"I am sorry about this."

"The fault is mine, princess. Think nothing of it."

She looked ready to oppose but a prompt from Noctis drew the two out of their exchange. "Ignis, how long are you gonna have us on Red Light?"

"My apologies. The situation has been rectified. We can resume."

"Nope. We can't move unless you say Green Light, Specs."

Ignis sighed and dutifully executed his liege's fancy. "Green light."

Imperatrix's faint giggle frazzled him but the advisor managed to abide by his ingrained courteousness and gestured for her to go ahead before him. He was being unnecessarily awkward with her and the frequency of it was adding onto his list of aggravations.

Their extended bachelor trip was beginning to impair Ignis's functionality around women.

"Basically, this place could fall on our heads without warning?" Prompto spun around, judging the distance between himself and the roof.

It wasn't big and realizing that was bringing up some claustrophobia.

"Is that not true of every dungeon?" At the boy's whimper, Imperatrix continued. "You will never accomplish anything without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind, next to honor."

"You don't have to monologue." Nyx interjected. "A simple 'buck up kid', works fine."

"Why you!"

What would have inevitably become a verbal row instead became a physical one as skeletons crawled out of the ground.

"Zombies!" Prompto wailed, summoning his pistol and firing off the first shot of the night.

"Show me your mettle, recruits." Aranea encouraged, showing no initiative to assist.

Imperatrix and Nebula also stayed immobile. Dismantling the undead was left to the Lucians. So weak an opponent didn't prove difficult for them. The battle was over in minutes.

"Did I miss something? Isn't an escort supposed to help?" Noctis demanded after dismissing his sword back to the Armiger.

Imperatrix's hand reached for the fading sparkles of glass. How beautiful. She wished with all her heart to see Borealis flutter just as magnificently. Petals called to her more than glass shards though.

She could see the shower of pink surrounding her now. The blooming lotuses...

"And you! Don't tell me you're going to mooch off us until we reach the Mythril?!"

Frowning at the prince, she raised a hand to halt Nebula's approach. "I will do no such thing."

"Then why was Nyx the only one helping?"

"For someone to counsel you they must first observe you. Hence, why none of us interfered." Those azurite eyes besieged by heavy bags glaring up at her were no different from Lunafreya's. "If my assistance is paramount to you, then I will participate in every battle right alongside you, oh Regulus."

He backed off. "Noctis is fine. I don't need any titles or weird nicknames."

Imperatrix let out a laugh of triumph, patting Noctis on the shoulder. "And you may reciprocate!"

The prince blanched at the familiarity and jerked out of the encounter, shuffling closer to Ignis. She lost none of her momenta, gushing in Latin to her retainer.

"What's she saying?" Noctis whispered.

"The princess is expressing her delight at breaking barriers."

"I shouldn't have said anything. Dammit."

"Language, Noct." Ignis stressed.

He waved him off and called for Prompto. The group pressed forward with a few incidents of wandering from Noctis's party. The boys quickly learned to abstain from exploring locations outside of Aranea's directions. Hidden items weren't worth being crushed by rocks.

Warping had never been so handy before. Thanks to the instability of the ceilings, the prince was improving on his reaction time.

More and more skeletons popped up in the corridors. They were more of a nuisance than an obstacle for the group. With so many high-level members, a substantial amount of ground was covered in a short period of time. The one most perturbed by this development was Aranea.

What was taking them minutes, took her crew hours. Her men periodically had to rest and someone got injured after every battle. Clearing one floor would take the eighty-seventh unit a day if she was lucky.

The commodore knew her unit's specialty was in the air but they shouldn't be so horrible with land jobs. For all her complaints about the demotion, it had been eye-opening to a degree. Aranea had neglected combat awareness, a mistake of the most ironic proportions for a mercenary-raised child.

No wonder the admiral so vehemently opposed considering her for a promotion. Stats in the air weren't everything.

"What is that?!" Prompto dived out of the way of a scythe's swing, colliding with the stone floor and whining about his bruised chin.

Nebula captured the back of his coat, rolling with the boy away from the continued attacks of their skeletal enemy.

"T-Thanks, man."

He shoved Prompto off, shooting at the scythe. The monster staggered backward into the range of Imperatrix and Nyx.

"This remind you of Balouve?" The glaive swung his bow, clipping his opponent on the leg with the sharp edge of the weapon. "Both of them are Grim Reapers."

"Yes, Aramusha was a devastating enemy." She bounded over Nyx, sword cracking against the scythe.

"But we still kicked its ass." He fired an arrow.

"That we did."

The hit made the Reaper howl in pain and the emptiness of its eye sockets filled with red. Its reprisal was fast and true; the deadly dance of a scythe against a sword.

"Just kill it already!" The directive was followed by a blade piercing the monster's chest and Imperatrix found herself frozen in the encounter, haunted by the protruding sword so close to her stomach.

Noctis then flashed into existence and yanked the sword right through the Reaper. With a mournful cry, the foe fizzled out into nonexistence in an outburst of red and black specks. The princess's whole body buzzed with a foreboding she didn't understand.

"Quit wasting time playing with daemons." The prince let go of his sword, sending it to storage. "Unless you enjoy picking on them?"

Imperatrix stabbed her blade into the ground, leaning on the pommel as she regained her senses. This was a training exercise. Focus on that.

For a third time, Noctis berated her for being too slow to kill. Aranea still hadn't rendered judgment on the boy beyond minor things, such as not getting separated from the group, good pacing and a level head. Imperatrix hadn't wanted to overstep but now her temper was flickering.

"Noctis, I would like to issue a challenge to you."

He crossed his arms. "What kind?"

"Your challenge is to fight without magic." She smiled thinly. "Can you manage?"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because it is the simplest way to understand me."

The prince blanked.

"All of your group should adhere to this stipulation."

"That's the maddest idea you could suggest." Ignis contended, applying the bandage to Prompto's chin. "No one in their right mind would intentionally handicap themselves."

"I see those mistrustful, Lord Scientia. I am not planning anything." Imperatrix sheathed her sword, gesturing out with her hands. "I merely wish for you all to experience what any common soldier does. Fatigue, fear and pain, things your magic makes it hard to know."

"Don't make us sound like one of your robots. We know the feelings fine." Noctis sneered.

He'd felt fear just fine leaving his home for a second time. The first time was when he was a kid and a daemon crippled him. Fear ruled his days and nights until Lunafreya helped him.

Leaving Insomnia a second time had more terrible results. His home was gone and now he was on this ridiculous quest to claim all the Royal Arms. Somehow, Noctis was supposed to answer his calling as king.

He didn't understand what any of it meant! The prince knew fear alright and with it definitively came fatigue and pain. The three were his soulmates since birth.

Why had Noctis been burdened with so much? Why him? Why not anyone else from the Lucian line?!

"Your magic is powerful but you are not." Imperatrix stated without malice to the prince.

"What did you say?!"

She danced around his step towards her, walking past the boys. "If you choose to heed me, you will understand."

Nyx intercepted Noctis and Ignis from the princess's path. "This might make you mad…but it wouldn't hurt to try it."

"You validate my suspicions with every word of favor towards her." Ignis scoffed.

The glaive's mouth moved with a retort but he contained his rudeness for a clipped response. "Just saying…I noticed some faults of my own after being forced out of my old ways."

Noctis let the idea float in his head while Ignis stayed in full rejection-mode. The advisor silently seethed over this and adjusted his focus to Prompto next. He vowed to keep his friend from being swayed by the mysterious imperial gunman. Divide and conquer wouldn't work as a strategy for their group.

Ignis would keep them together.

"Uh, what happened here?" Prompto pointed to the gaping hole so out of place with the refined-looking rooms and hallways.

It kinda looked like…

"We blew the door cause we couldn't get it open." Aranea kicked a slab with golden rays depicted on it. "Shame, cause it was pretty."

"Luna could've opened it." Nyx went through the doorway, peering over his shoulder at Noctis. "Maybe you could've, too."

"We'll never know now." He grumbled the next part moodily. "Never know about a lot of things."

The poor mood of the group was immediately lifted from the new scenery revealed in the next section.

Imperatrix was the first one on the balcony, gazing up in pure wonder at the shimmering water acting as a ceiling. Sea creatures swam freely and droplets sprinkled down from the phenomenon.

"Beautiful beyond words…" Ignis uttered from beside the princess.

They both reached out to receive the falling droplets of water into the palms of their hands.

This was a moment that transcended the mundane world. In something so magnificent, two people could forget everything and bask in the occurrence without the threat of their allegiances.

Even with the slight fracture in his glasses marring the scene, effulgent and diaphanous were the words to enter Ignis's mind upon meeting Imperatrix's eye. A smile was given and his breath was stolen. His eyes watered from the strain of staying open and that combined with the lack of oxygen made him mistake her white hair for a shade of sandy brown.

The sound of a crack returned Ignis to reality but he was too late to piece together the nearness of the noise. He pitched forward to grab the woman by the belt of her sheathe. Imperatrix dangled precariously over the edge of the balcony.

His heart wouldn't slow down even as he held the princess after recovering her from the near-death experience.

"Oh, my god! Are you two okay?!" Prompto checked them over and when satisfied, held his phone up. "Can you believe I got that on camera?!"

Imperatrix covered her face, mortified by how silly she looked in the picture.

"Instead of doing that, you could have helped." Ignis was also abashed but thankfully his disappointment won out.

Whatever this tension towards her was…it had to stop.

"It…happened...too fast?"

The advisor clicked his tongue, more scornful than he meant to be with his words. "Not fast enough if you managed to take a picture."

The gunman laughed uneasily, subtly pocketing his phone in case Ignis demanded it as punishment.

"Let her go." Nebula instructed, stalking up to the three with an equally put-out Nyx behind him.

Ignis's hands flew from Imperatrix's waist as he realized they were still embracing. The advisor removed himself from her with a speed that left him feeling illogically bereft.

These…sensations...were unacceptable! He wasn't one to behave so uncouthly!

How could Imperatrix even upset his control?! She had no power over him. She was no one! An enemy he acquainted himself with over the years to better prepare his liege.

"Neat as the water-ceiling is, don't go falling over the balcony to see it." Aranea jested, slapping Imperatrix on the back. "Cheer up. We were the only ones that saw."

The princess stood up from kneeling on the ground with her head down. Undergoing Nebula's castigation hadn't helped. He could be scathing with the most basic of words!

"Does this mean we're underwater?" Prompto questioned as they traveled along the bridge, taking more photos with his phone. "Woah, look at that fish!"

Noctis's head darted up. "It's huge!"

The perfect catch for an ace angler like himself.

"Noct, company!"

He growled, mournfully diverting his attention from the Murk Grouper to summon his weapon. His arm stilled in mid-throw for a warp. The princess's challenge echoed in Noctis's thoughts.

Could he fight without his birthright?

A Creme Brûlée slithering up to the prince decided for him. He warped away from a sludge attack and backstabbed the monster. It had been instinct. Noctis didn't know how to operate without magic, it was as indistinguishable as a limb for him.

At the end of the battle, Aranea pointed her spear at the boys and unified with the glint of her helmet's visors, the commodore was giving off a no-nonsense vibe.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Impera. You guys are abusing the hell out of that ability. I can't put up with it anymore."

"What's your problem?! You don't see me complaining about your noisy, flashy magitek." Noctis fired back.

He wouldn't even get into how unnatural the energy felt from the weapons because the ensuing explanation of his discomfort wouldn't make any sense. Like magic but not, fake and artificial. The source had no connection to the known elements of Eos.

Thinking about it gave him a headache.

"The difference is, I know how to use my weapon." She knocked the lance out of Noctis's hold and maneuvered her spear under his chin. "See? You've got all those weapons at your disposal but you can't even use one properly."

The prince glared, not intimidated by the threat at his throat. "I beat you at the base."

Aranea chuckled. "I retreated because I held up my end of the bargain to Ulldor. And that was four against one, not something to brag about."

"I must insist you lower your blade." Ignis's hand was in position to throw a dagger. "Or, I will act."

She relocated the spear to her shoulder. "Another thing, Prince Sleepy. Your retainers bail you out too much. Doesn't it bug you that they're the ones fighting while you warp in at the last minute to off the enemy?"

The differences were as clear as day to Aranea. Imperatrix was used to being in the thick of a fight with her retainers as support. On the other end of the spectrum was Noctis, who was used to being at the rear of a fight to assist his retainers. There wasn't a right or wrong tactic. At the end of the day, survival mattered.

However, a good fighter could adapt to the situation. The prince...wasn't showing this aptitude.

Ignis could hold his own with those daggers and he wasn't awful with a lance. On top of that, the advisor managed to keep tabs on his comrades, throwing them healing flasks and vaulting into a supportive role if needed. For this reason, he expended the most energy out of the three boys.

One person shouldn't be doing all the work.

And gods, where to even begin with Prompto? His lack of confidence was an extreme safety risk and why he flounder frequently. His hit-miss ratio was firmly skewed towards the "miss" range, a fact that was pissing off Nebula by the minute. Everyone could tell the gunner had the least amount of battle experience.

One more wayward bullet and her boyfriend would blow up on the little chocobo. Hell, she was getting to that point too after so many bail-outs. Playing a reversal of knight and damsel lost its humor after the fourth time.

"Fine! I'll stop using magic." The prince dug out his Ethers and gave them to Ignis. "It's not like I can't kill daemons on my own."

Noctis stomped away from the princess, fed up with the all-around insults to his abilities. He'd show them.

The next level down had the same layout as the one above, which caused some head-scratching for the mechanics of the underwater ceilings. Physics didn't seem to apply to this dungeon.

"Can we actually be submerged?" Noctis learned from Imperatrix's mistake and didn't lean on the rail.

"Gladio sure is missing out." Prompto had his phone out but with the same scenery as before, he wasn't as inclined to snap selfies.

"Not sure this would be his thing."

"Now, now. You can never tell with him." Ignis corrected.

The group had stopped to take a breath and the three Lucians relaxed in the safety of their own company.

"What was so important he had to leave? We know Iris is doing okay, so it has to be something else." Prompto slid down to sit beside the prince.

Through the lens of his camera, he could see Aranea and Nebula huddled together. Where did Nyx and Imperatrix go?

"Who knows? He didn't tell me anything." Noctis's crabby tone unveiled how offended he was for being left out of the loop. "Iris doesn't know either."

"There is no need to worry. Gladio will return eventually." Ignis assuaged the two, masking his own unease. "And then you can reprimand him for the unexpected leave of absence, Noct."

"Me? Can't you do that?" The prince shrunk into his jacket collar. "You're better at it."

"I am his co-worker, not his sovereign. The responsibility lies with you, Highness."

Noctis groaned.

Nonetheless, the advisor knew he'd end up doing it anyway. Confrontations were a weakness for the prince. He was more prone to making passive-aggressive comments and acting bratty to get his displeasure across to someone. Although, he didn't have an issue accosting Ignis or Imperatrix. The princess's case made sense but in regards to himself, he drew a blank.

It certainly wasn't out of disrespect because the prince displayed his esteem for Ignis by relying on him and confiding in him. If he had to guess, Noctis must feel comfortable enough with him to handle being candid.

Gladiolus…

The way the shield and prince began their interactions hadn't instilled a particular closeness in the two. It took years for them to slide into a range of friendliness. Were they not bound by duty, Gladiolus and Noctis wouldn't be the types to share a friendship. Their personalities clashed too much.

Hardened opposed to fragile, tenacious opposed to lackadaisical, flirty opposed to dedicated, and callous opposed to sensitive. There were so many more comparisons Ignis could compose in observance to his childhood companions. Where he was the middle ground of the three, Gladiolus and Noctis were divergent landmasses.

But sometimes…people needed that antithesis to grow.

"Are you okay?" Nyx rubbed Imperatrix's back as she leaned closer to the edge. "Don't want you tumbling off again. Falling is supposed to be reserved for me."

"I am sitting on the ground this time. It will not happen." She held her stomach.

For the past few minutes, her body debated between vomiting and not vomiting. All this activity so soon after dinner had unsettled her digestive system. Why was she having this problem though? Imperatrix was a healthy person and hadn't experienced this degree of nausea before.

"What are you doing?"

"Just checking." Nyx was a little disappointed with the flatness of the princess's belly. "You're still so skinny. One thing I'll be glad about is you getting a fuller figure."

How did she and Ardyn work? Sure, Imperatrix was tall for a female —matching his height of five-eleven— but still significantly petite in comparison to that red head's bulky body. That overcoat wasn't fooling Nyx. He could just tell the guy was hiding some rips of Gladiolus Amicitia proportions.

Which brought up even more questions of why the chancellor had to conceal just about everything regarding himself. The glaive wasn't the infiltration type but he had a duty to investigate his girl's sidepiec—

"Get off! Have you no shame?!"

An elbow to the gut spoiled Nyx's train of thought. "I wasn't doing what you think."

"Oh? Then what?!" Imperatrix couldn't misinterpret his hand sinking lower from her stomach.

He opened his mouth with a lie, closed it and then decided on venting what originally bothered him. "How do you have sex with Ardyn? Isn't it uncomfortable?"

She squeaked incoherently, flabbergasted by the topic.

"He looks too big for youu…ohhhh. Maybe that's why you're so flexible."

Imperatrix slammed her hands over his mouth with enough force to send him onto his back. She whispered frantically. "Stop, stop! How can you ask me such obscene questions?! And in the worst settings?!"

"You ask me embarrassing stuff, too. But I don't flip out like you." Nyx held her hands captive once they were off his mouth. "And I can't help it! You drive me nuts!"

He wanted to deck Ignis for holding her earlier. He wanted to deck Ardyn for being the first to touch her. He wanted to deck every other male that might steal her attention from him.

"Lower your voice!" Imperatrix lost the rest of her sentence to the shiver of queasiness.

"Nooo! Don't puke on my lap!"

A swallow of air curbed the disaster. She coughed from the sudden burn in her throat.

"Damn, that was close." Nyx reached into his bag and held out his canteen. "Here, drink up."

She winced after the water went down and some of her illness settled. "I almost expected this to be filled with beer."

"Baby, I'm all for us sharing drinks again, it opened up a nice opportunity." Nyx tipped the flask up with his fingers to make her drink more than a sip. "But it can wait until my kid's out of you and on solids."

Mistaking her sputtering up the water for another bout of sickness, the glaive was swift to scoot back. He then delegated the task of caretaker to the newly arrived Nebula. Imperatrix's gagging was starting to get him and Nyx hated vomiting.

His girl would have cope with the morning sickness on her own. He couldn't put up with that, not with his weak stomach. Damn...he'd getter weaker and weaker thanks to his shitty cancer.

The group break concluded and they were jogging through the dungeon again.

"Daemons. Till death do us part." Aranea pierced through a crowd of skeletons, kicking a dismembered skull at a new foe en route to her.

"Practicing your vows?" Ignis whirled his lance to clear out the horde.

"Yeah, right." She chortled, leaping over him to skewer a Creme Brûlée. "The army swore their oaths a long time ago."

"What does the empire seek here?" He had correctly deduced Aranea's overall indifference as disillusionment, thus the advisor accordingly pried her for information.

With the princess fending off a Reaper alongside Noctis, this was the opportune time for intelligence gathering.

"Besides Mythril? Specimens...and I got lumped harvesting them."

"What is the connection between the army and daemons?"

"You're a smart one, Glasses. I didn't even have to clue you in." Aranea burst forward with the propulsions on her back, spear impaling a stampede of skeletons.

Prompto squealed, clapping his hands and looking so impressed that she ached to see the something similar on Nebula's face. "That was awesome! You're such a badass, Aranea!"

"Aww, thanks. If only I could get my ball of sunshine to be so complimentary."

Nebula was too busy shooting like he was in a zombie video-game to hear his girlfriend's complaint. Wouldn't have made a difference if he did anyway. Flattery wasn't his style.

Aranea didn't care for schmoozing either but the trial run with Prompto had somewhat enticed her. The memory of her boyfriend's confession was also affecting the commodore's judgment. Those with a healthy amount of self-assurance could do with a little fawning here and there.

"The empire makes weapons out of them." Aranea confessed to Ignis.

And her dumbass self was in love with one. Go figure.

"Weapons?" Prompto wasn't clued in on the earlier portion of their gossip.

"I'm sure you've seen your fair share by now." She wanted to spill more, get it off her chest and be done with the distasteful truth but…

Behind the mask of every magitek soldier was a clone with the same face as Prompto. This kid would be wrecked if he knew. He had none of Nebula's steel. Besides, that was a tete-a-tete for Besithia's only.

"More than we'd like to." Ignis despised the airborne ambushes they often encountered on the road.

He couldn't decide if humans would be preferable over machines in those instances. They both managed to make a person feel dehumanized afterward. A corpse was still corpse, whether it was covered in flesh or metal.

"We're moving on." Nebula informed the three.

Prompto cried upon reaching another flight of stairs, leading to more teasing and him losing his footing. He couldn't be saved this time and took the glaive down with him.

"That's one way to take the stairs." Aranea was going to die of abdominal pain at this rate.

Something funny happened every second.

"Back to what we were discussing." Ignis initiated in the limited company of himself, the commodore and Noctis.

The other two imperials had hurried down to aid those that fell. A job that the prince should be on since the advisor was busy but he deemed it too strenuous.

"Something hasn't been quite right with the empire lately." Aranea mused.

Reneging on a peace treaty and bombarding a city was so far left of what she expected of the emperor. Iedolas wasn't the type to permit senseless violence. Yet, he essentially annihilated Insomnia. What happened to him? At this point, the only thing she backed him on was the denouncement of the Astrals and their expulsion from their world.

The lower ranks of government power were already filled with selfish dill holes. If the top became corrupt, well, there was no hope for the empire.

"It's not just lately." Noctis snipped out. "There's been something wrong for ages."

The commodore sighed and leaned on the wall for a moment. "True. Maybe…it's time I left."

Bewildered, the prince turned back around. "You'd do that?"

"I would, I'm no imperial zealot."

"You're…different from Impera."

"My viewpoint would be different from the princess's. I don't have a country on my shoulders." The helmet hid her face but the wistfulness of Aranea's voice was enough to understand what kind of expression she might have. "I was a mercenary once. Maybe, I'll round up my men and hunt daemons for cash."

The simple life she once abhorred. Her parents would roll their eyes in exasperation if they heard her. She did everything to kiss that family job goodbye and now was considering picking it back up.

"What about the empire strikes you as 'not quite right'?" Ignis wouldn't allow this chance to slip by.

They were nearing the end of the stairwell.

"The emperor, the senators and the new high commander for starters." Aranea counted off on her fingers. "Then there's that charmer of a chancellor. I can't stand him on most days."

"Interesting that you left the princess out of the equation."

Her boots clicked harshly on the floor. "She's got blame to bear but at least Impera isn't power-hungry. She cares from top to bottom about her homeland. Can't say that about a lot of others."

The deeper in the eight went, the more pensive each became. Everyone had different thoughts, motivations and anxieties. It was here in the dungeon that some of those internal conflicts could be addressed. It was here that opportunity graced mortals.

"Is it safe to cross? Things must be unstable after you guys blew up so many doors." Before the bridge, Prompto bobbed back and forth on his toes.

Done with the boy's skittish attitude, Nebula forced him forward. "Stop being so fearful."

"S-Sorry!"

This guy berated him so much that Prompto wondered why the gunman bothered saving him. It had to be a security thing; keep the weak-link out of trouble. His lameness was off the charts!

He wanted to cry. Why was it taking so long for him to get accustomed to Crownsguard duty? He had the certification and everything so Prompto had every right to be beside Noctis. He had the same rights as Gladiolus and Ignis.

But not the same skills.

"Noct!"

The floor dropped from under the gunner's feet from Ignis's yell. Then he realized the floor had actually collapsed and they were falling.

With no other alternative, Prompto flailed. He couldn't warp, nobody but Noctis could and the prince was nowhere to be seen. Not that the gunner could see anything since his flashlight popped off his coat at some point.

"I'm gonna die!"

Something touched him, freaking the boy out more due to his lack of vision. His scream became a grunt from his sudden stop in motion. Prompto couldn't tell if he was going up or down but his body was definitively moving.

"Oh please, oh please, oh please! Don't let it be a Naga!"

The grip around his waist had a leathery feel and not a scaly one.

"For the last time, control yourself."

"Nebula! I'm so happy it's you and not a daemon!"

"Don't be so sure about that." The gunman pulled the boy up. "I need you to hang onto me."

"Uh, what?! Why?"

"You can't see it but below us, Impera is fighting off a mob of daemons while your prince is buried under rubble."

"What?! We gotta help!"

"Then do as I said. I can't shoot with you in the way."

"Okay." Prompto unsurely moved his arms around Nebula." This is so weird. And uncomfortable. What are animes thinking?"

The gunman twitched to stop himself from hurling the boy off. He could hear Tempesta's ghastly laughter taunting him.

"So, what next?" Prompto regretted asking within the next second. Once more he experienced a sickening drop.

His cries were drowned out by the hail of gunfire. The darkness receded from the glow of a sword and Prompto could see again. They were descending from a wire straight into the middle of a battle!

"Holy shit!" The gunner braced himself for the impact.

"Go protect your prince!" Nebula wrenched off his monkey-clenching-passenger.

"R-Right." Prompto slurred, grappling with motion-sickness.

He wobbled off towards the pile of rocks. The patch of blue hair stood out like a beacon.

"Noct, buddy!"

The prince was out cold and unresponsive to any amount of shaking.

"No, man! This isn't the time for one of your narcoleptic naps!" He pushed with the entirety of his body against the rocks but it was no good. "Maybe, I shouldn't turn down Gladio's workouts so much."

With as big and chiseled of a body as the shield had, he could've lifted these boulders. Or, at least smashed them with his greatsword. Even Ignis would be more useful. He could always find some clever solution.

Prompto…was a loser; total deadweight to the group. He barely contributed anything!

The guys were either too nice to say anything or hoped he would get a clue. Well, the gunner got a ruthless one from Nebula earlier.

"I'll protect you, Noct. Just watch!" Prompto summoned a heavy artillery weapon. "Eat this, zombies!"

Dozens of bullets mowed down any daemon that came within range of the two. He continued thining out the enemy numbers, never once enabling his nerves to take over. One slip-up could spell trouble for his friend.

Prompto couldn't let Noctis down!

"Nebula!" He dropped the machine gun, clasping his hand around a newly crystalized pistol. "I got you!"

The Reaper reeled back from a headshot and faded. Nebula tossed his bisected guns, replacing them out from the arsenal strapped to his legs.

Prompto didn't stop there. He aimed his gun to the sky and shouted. "Starshell!"

Pure light burst from his weapon and blinded the enemies.

"Not useless at all." The gunman commented, round-kicking another Reaper and going hit-for-hit against its scythe with a pair of reinforced guns.

A few more bullets and slashes later and the battle concluded in human favor. Prompto sank onto the rubble, amazed that Noctis was still out. His friend could sleep through anything.

"Hey, I tried that…" The gunner went quiet upon witnessing Nebula lift the slate of rock off the prince.

"Prompto, if you could help me?" Imperatrix gestured to Noctis's other arm that she wasn't pulling.

"Y-Yeah."

Together, they pulled the prince out and the gunman let the boulder fall back into place.

"He does not have any critical injuries from what I can tell." The princess flipped Noctis onto his back, poking at his face. "He merely needs to awaken."

"Good luck. None of us have mastered it yet. Not even Iggy."

"I see."

A heavy sleeper just like Ardyn. Was somnolence a characteristic of Caelums? Asleep like this, Imperatrix could see a resemblance to her dear first love. It was this nostalgia that encouraged her to rest Noctis's head on her lap.

How cute. He drooled the same as Ardyn.

---

XV

---

"I take it you enjoy Tempesta's company?" Ravus's lip curled in distaste either towards the food or the mentioned servant.

Lunafreya's head rose from its usual downward dip while in the elder Fleuret's presence. "I do."

They were in the middle of an enactment of a family dinner within Ravus's office onboard the Nautilus. Both were dressed in their best clothes, appearing out of touch with their surroundings. The two siblings were far too estranged, far too different for the companionable air they both sought. Even so, Lunafreya wanted to try.

If she could forgive Imperatrix, then the same could be done for her brother.

"You appear to enjoy all their company." Ravus's knife scrapped against the plate as he cut into his fish. "They are all you talk about over the phone."

He was exceedingly tired of reading texts of paragraphs detailing the latest nonsense Imperatrix and her stooges caused. The tales of Nyx were even less welcome.

"What else is there to talk about? You tell me nothing of what I desire to know." Lunafreya was halfway through her meal while Ravus had barely started. "Our lineage shouldn't be hidden from me."

Pryna barked from below the table, done with her meal and watching the Fleurets with eyes too keen for a canine. Were she human, her two cents would be weighed in on the subject. Alas, she was confined to the body of punishment and had to make due with no one understanding her.

"If you were a boy, I would not have a problem. But you are a girl and burdened with all the curses of our blood." He slammed the knife down. "Why should I intentionally cause your demise?!"

The seafood already tasted odd to her and now what little enjoyment she got out of the meal swiftly died out.

"Denying me the tools I require to survive is the same thing, brother."

Ravus's face became stricken.

"I know you sense the abnormality within my magic." The oracle touched her chest, feeling the slow beat of her heart. "I have forged three covenants and they have weakened me."

How did one explain having their soul fragmented? Her body functioned normally —not at the capacity she once knew— but there was this emptiness on the inside. The abyss was gradually expanding until there would be nothing but absence. Without a soul, a person couldn't exist.

"Forging a pact with Leviathan will kill you. She will take the heaviest toll for her blessings."

"I know."

"And you would still go through with it? Knowing you will die?!"

"Yes." The affirmation was instantaneous but Lunafreya recognized her anxiety and smothered it down. "It is my duty to the world."

The elder Fleuret sprung out of his seat, pulling at his hair and cursing upon forgetting that one of his arms was mechanical and fully capable of making him bald. A fair few of white strands slipped from his metal fist as he punched his desk. These insufferable women he was forsaken to live with!

"I cannot stand how indoctrinated you are! Shiva has filled your head with martyrdom!"

"Don't blaspheme the Astrals, brother!" She urged, skin prickly with a chill.

They were always watching.

"Damn them and damn all their plans! They care nothing for humanity!" More and more dents formed in the high commander's desk. "We're puppets to them!"

"Stop it!" Lunafreya covered her ears, beginning to hum to herself to block out his ranting.

"Why are they making a little girl clean up their mistakes?! Ifrit is the one who delivered Starscourge unto the world. They should be the ones fixing this mess!"

Between Ravus's tirade and Pryna's barking, Lunafreya believed she would go mad. Everything was too loud, too violent and too confined. No amount of humming would calm her.

"The Astrals don't care if you die!" Ravus claimed the oracle's hands in his own, softening his voice to a plea from his sister pulling away from him. "But I do, Luna. If you die…"

The choked ending induced Lunafreya's eyes to rise higher and higher until they met a contrasting pair.

"Why can't you understand? I don't prevent your duties out of spite but because I want you to live." He became gentler and gentler by the second, laying his forehead against her knuckles. "You're the only family I have left in this world and I will do everything I can to ensure you live a long life. I'm your knight."

"Were is this…coming from?" She swallowed the lump in her throat, embarrassed by how readily a fresh set of tears were about to fall from her eyes.

Lunafreya felt the twitch of his eyebrow against her fingers but his voice didn't rise in anger. "Things…will change. I promise to...not be like before."

The parting message from Furia's attendants assured that a metamorphosis on his part was fixed. By the order of his wife's doctor, stressful stimuli were to be avoided, which in his case, meant no shouting, bickering or violent outbursts. For the sake of their child, Ravus had to reign in his volatile temper. He'd taken steps towards this by visiting his unit's psychiatrist; a concession to Furia that he loathed.

But Ravus was a pragmatic individual.

At four months, his wife now had a visible bump that contained their child. For that little being, he would do what was necessary. Improving his marriage was the first step in providing a good life for the little Fleuret.

"Brother?" Lunafreya called, unnerved by how rigid and morose he'd become.

"There is…another reason for you to survive." Ravus stood up, retrieving an envelope from his desk drawer after a moment of brooding over the damage he did to his workstation. "Here."

The oracle opened the envelope, confused by the dark picture. "What is this? It is the strangest piece of art I have ever seen."

Twisting it around solved none of the mystery of the picture. Was it a swan on a lake? Why was it so blurry?

"That is…a fair description."

"Are you well?" Lunafreya was further puzzled by her brother's bashful countenance.

"You are...looking at a picture of my daughter."

Lunafreya blinked, re-examining what she previously believed to be abstract art. Pryna also hopped onto her lap, pressing her nose into the picture to sniff.

"I told Furia to wait until I returned to get the ultrasound but she could not control herself." Ravus hovered over his sister's seat, pointing to the correct spot for her. "That is her head and the rest of her body."

A photo wouldn't satisfy him. Ravus had missed so much and he didn't want to miss more. He was ready to go home and be done with blasted Lucis.

"Amazing." She gasped. "You will be a father!"

He blushed deeply. "Yes, and you will be an aunt in five months."

Lunafreya set the picture down, overcome with elation. Another Fleuret would join the world! Another oracle to their line!

"Do you understand now, little sister?" Ravus cradled the sonogram in his hands, the same routine he'd lived by since Furia Furia faxed it. "There is still much for you to live for."

Forget Lucis and its forsaken throne. He wanted none of it anymore. His daughter was more important than Insomnia. Someone else could repair the city and govern it.

"Since you already know the gender, do you have a name picked out for her?" Lunafreya's cheer dimmed a little. "I suppose Furia would want a Gralean name."

"As if I would allow that." Ravus stroked his thumb along the paper. "Her name will be Stellamani Nox Fleuret. Our Stella."

She placed her hand over his. "That is a beautiful name. Our parents must be twinkling from the sky every night for you."

Pryna laid across the two siblings, whining softly. Both siblings stroked her fur, reminiscing different memories from childhood.

"They would have been so happy to have a grandchild."

"They would have." Ravus agreed.

The two lapsed back into silence. The sonogram switched from brother to sister, beckoning them closer to the bond they both hoped for. A disruption of this tender communion came in the growl of Ravus's stomach and his sister lectured him on self-care, which he took without backtalk.

At last, things felt...somewhat homey between the Fleurets.

"How long have you known?" Lunafreya found herself writing on the back of the sonogram. "Why are you just now telling me?"

"I discovered Furia's condition last week and I have been trying to share the news with you."

She rolled the pen in place, blotting out the music note of her future niece's lullaby.

"Had I known beforehand, I would not have left Tenebrae." Ravus pushed his empty plate away, ignoring the urge to throw it at the wall. "I could have seen the ultrasound in person and heard the baby's heartbeat. And I have even missed the first kick."

His job had stolen precious opportunities from him. Lucis once again proved to be a bane. Why the hell had he been obsessed with it?

"There will be other things to experience." Lunafreya tilted her head, smiling encouragingly at him. "Are you turning one of the rooms into a nursery?"

Ravus perked up, retrieving a new folder from his desk and showing it to his sister. "Furia sent me a catalog of things she wants for Stella's room. Would you like to help me review them?"

She nodded and patted on the empty seat next to her on the couch. The high commander sat down and they browsed through the magazine together. Before they knew it, hours had slipped away by the time the two blondes settled on a furniture set for the nursery.

Ravus took it upon himself to escort Lunafreya to her room. An unnecessary gesture since their rooms weren't far from one another. Additionally, Pryna was with her and would maul anyone dangerous. This was overbearing on her brother's part. However, generosity filled her and the oracle decided not to make a fuss over it. When they arrived at her door, he stood before her, edgy and awkward.

Waiting for him say what he wanted was going nowhere so Lunafreya spoke. "Goodnight, brother."

"Y-Yes." He reached forward but retracted his hand at once due to her retreat backward. "I will see you tomorrow."

The high commander bolted, a thundercloud of destruction returning to his head. The oracle felt responsible but her reaction was a reflex. Pryna rubbing against her leg didn't lessen the guilt.

Fear. She'd known nothing else of her brother for so long that erasing the mark would take much longer than a day. How sad.

"What are you two doing in my room?"

Genius and Tempesta bobbed their heads in acknowledgment but didn't look up from their intense video game.

"You're the one with a tv, how else are we supposed to play?" The fist fighter answered, batting the dog away from them. "That stupid dog needs to get lost!"

"I have explained to her to you're not a threat." Lunafreya grunted from holding the canine back from attacking. "Stop it! They're friends!"

Pryna had a new level of dislike for Tempesta. The messenger could probably senes the heightened darkness and wanted to protect her charge. It was unnecessary though. The two wouldn't hurt Lunafreya.

"Can you quiet her? We don't want Olberg banging on the door." Genius's red eyes glowed in the dim lighting. "He's annoying, more so than Impera's lieutenant."

"Sure is. He even tried to kick us out. Can you believe it?" Tempesta didn't wait for the oracle's response and popped open a can of soda, gurgling it down while she talked. "My good looks won him over in the end."

"What is all this?!" Her dignity wouldn't allow Lunafreya to express herself in a scream like she wanted but the gravity in her stare was enough.

"Umm." The fist fighter stammered, using her leg to move her snacks out of the oracle's reach.

Princesses always went for the good stuff and she wasn't losing her goods. Genius already confiscated all her recreational stimulants and alcohol. The little bastard even got to Tempesta's secret stash of liquor in the motorcycle.

How did he even know about that?!

"There's garbage everywhere!"

The floor was littered with bags, some empty, some open and some spilling out food. Pryna was seduced by the dried beef-jerky and gnawed at it. More irritating than the snack explosion was the mass amount of clothes thrown about. Taking a single step among this destruction was a risk.

Her room was neat when she left. How had it become a war zone within a few hours?! This was what Imperatrix put up with?! No wonder the princess was always nagging her retainers about orderliness and cleaning.

The Besithia were horrendous slobs!

"Out of us, you've got the best room. I'm tired of sleeping in a tent. And now I gotta share with Izzy since he wants to monitor me all the time." Tempesta's bemoaning tapered off as she won the first round of their game. "Take that, nerd! I told you my lineup was solid."

Genius seethed. "You got lucky. I've still got five more Pokemon. It's not over."

"Five more? Wow, I'm shaking."

"You've no idea how bad you're gonna lose. I caught a new legendary."

"Oh, please! Well-trained starters have better stats. You're losing this battle."

"Excuse me!" Lunafreya butted in before they could forget about her.

"Oh, you're still here?" Tempesta deadpanned.

"This my room!"

"Then what? You wanna play?" The fist fighter tugged her down to sit in the middle. "Watch and learn, Temple."

A joystick was shoved into Lunafreya's hands and pressure applied to her to win. She fumbled with the Tempesta's instructions. Acutely distracted, the oracle forgot about her previous discontent.

The three played video games until Lunafreya's head rocked with sleepiness. The tv was then turned off and bedtime measures initiated. In her wiped state of mind, she levied no protest to the Besithia siblings camping out in her room.

With Pryna cuddled into her side and the other two on the couch and floor, the lost, childish side of Lunafreya thought of this as one of the sleepovers she craved in her childhood. She and Noctis spent the nights of his recovery reading books with a flashlight. This sleepover had been wildly different but no less diverting.

Wherever her prince was, the oracle wished him safety. Her wishes were all she could give since they were likely to never meet again. She had come to accept that outcome.

Lunafreya's choice would take her far from Noctis. A star could only guide a king, never hold his hand.

---

XV

---

"You're in uncharted territory. My directions won't be much help." Aranea had to contain her frustration from creeping through the line. "Either wait for us or keep going down to camp."

Nebula had to repeat his report a few times before it finally came through clear enough for her to understand. "We can't move right now. The prince is unconscious."

"Ah, that kid." She faced Ignis, informing him of the pertinent portion of the transmission. "Your wee baby is fine. Your blonde one, too."

"They are not my children." The advisor refuted.

Nyx snickered, heckling the sandy-blonde even more with some pats on the back. Ignis growled out a warning for the glaive but it didn't dissuade him from pushing the spectacled man's buttons.

"Gods have mercy on my soul." Aranea said goodbye to her boyfriend and clicked off the line.

She wasn't liking the juvenile male theatrics of these two morons. She should've dropped them instead of saving them from falling off the bridge. For someone dubbed a hero, Nyx was a bit of a bully. While the person in charge of guiding a future king was mildly judgmental.

The two just wouldn't stop squabbling.

"I am positive this was planned." Ignis sneered, polite facade dropped on account of his present company.

Nyx cut in before Aranea could. "If it was, Impera wouldn't have gotten dragged down."

He was just as distressed, if not more than the advisor. Noctis wasn't the one carrying another life in his stomach. Imperatrix shouldn't have come into the dungeon. Her hard-headed denial phase was beginning to be a problem.

"Impera. You are so familiar, Ulric." Ignis rounded on him, voice carrying low for only them to hear. "Does it go so far that you are in her service now?"

"Technically, I'm in Luna's. But what does that matter?" The glaive removed his visor, ticked with how much taller the blonde was and how he had to look up to him. "Last I checked, the Kingsglaive was dismissed by the king."

Regis saved their homes for the reward of manpower and when they couldn't outpace the empire's army, he abandoned them. He used the glaives to protect his city and people but wouldn't do the same for those outside the wall. A bunch of foreigners didn't matter in the end.

Those that went traitor had a point. "For hearth and home" meant nothing if they didn't have one. And yet, here Nyx was, trying to do the right thing for a dead man, undertaking a final mission that he had no obligation to complete. Out of the good of his heart, he was still loyal to a man selfish enough to sacrifice thousands of lives for one boy.

"It is hard to believe you were ever the Hero of Lucis."

"I really wanna punch you." Nyx seized Ignis by the coat. "Your home's been taken from you? Guess what? So was mine!"

The advisor breathed heavily through his nose, retreating to get the glaive off but the man wouldn't have it. He tugged in opposition to keep them locked in their heated entanglement.

"You're just now feeling what others have for years. What gives you the right to say shit to me?!" Nyx crumpled Ignis's perfect suit with his fingers. "Were you ever on the battlefield? Were you ever the one risking your life?! And for what?! For a bunch of ungrateful, xenophobic assholes!"

All those years of sacrifice and he got a spectacular medal of honor located right inside his head. How was that fair?! How had he earned this sentence?!

"It still does not justify you being with her." Ignis relented in his ire, now disconcerted with an onslaught of shame.

Nyx stared for a long time, took a deep inhale and then full-out guffawed. "Are you kidding me right now?! Are you kidding me?"

Projection! Get a load of that!

"What is the meaning of this?!" The advisor sputtered under the slaps to his chest he received.

"If you two are done being crazy." Aranea drawled, chugging down some water from her flask. "Can we—" She rocked back on her heel, tilting her head back to make sure her vision didn't lie. "Move!"

Both males instinctively obeyed but they weren't fast enough to escape the behemoth silhouette behind them. For a second time, a bridge collapsed.

"Give me a break!" Nyx strung his daggers together, forming the bow and lining up an arrow.

They almost died from a claymore but the fat idiot missed them in the chaos of falling debris. The first fail wasn't stopping it though. Mid-air-cut-the-humans-up seemed to be the Iron Giant's new game.

He and Ignis were at a disadvantage in the air; they couldn't move freely and had limited range. Nyx's arrows weren't doing major damage at the low setting but he couldn't turn it up with the others so near the blast range.

"Okay, that's new." The glaive gawked at the dragon in action.

Aranea was proving that air wouldn't limit her. She zoomed around to meet the Iron Giant, playing a new game of medieval joust with it. Nyx cursed from a batch of rocks detonating in his face from a wayward attack from the daemon. He went blind for a minute.

"The ground is closing in!" Ignis announced, reaching around for the blue flask attached to his belt. "Brace yourself!"

He lobbed the magic container.

"For what?!"

Winter swirled into existence and flurries of snow discharged everywhere. The males plummeted into a mountain of snow, rolling and sliding to an eventual stop. When the Iron Giant hit the ground, they became buried under an avalanche.

"This feels like home." Aranea stood among the white desolation, abruptly finding herself removed from the situation.

Eleven years ago she lost her parents to Shiva's curse of ice. It was pure stupidity that saved her from sharing the same fate. An argument with her mom and dad sent her off into the inner city to expunge the negativity by performing at a bar. She wasn't on duty at the time. She had no idea of the horror that would overtake the Gralea.

That day Aranea had no idea of what she would lose.

"I'm not in the mood for you!" The commodore zipped to the side of a swing, hurtling toward the daemon's chest.

The Iron Giant blocked with its sword and she was thrown. As soon as her feet hit the wall, Aranea sprung back in for a frontal assault. The key to winning was to have a relentless offensive.

Slow as the daemon was, it could only meet a few of her lunges. The next blow to the claymore would shatter it. A leap up and the commodore was a dragon in flight.

"Bye-bye." She taunted with the rise of red energy building around her spear.

The Iron Giant hefted its claymore up, defense faltering under Aranea's might. A web of cracks signaled the end of the enormous weapon. Red, brilliant red tore clean through the daemon and rippled out to the edge of the room. The snow evaporated and the men were freed from the coffins of ice.

"How in Fenrir's name, did you take an Iron Giant all by yourself?" Nyx gaped at the woman still reflecting the color of the empire.

"S'nothing. Every commander and commodore can. It's a requirement."

"They make you guys kill a daemon for a promotion?"

"Yup and it has to be an A-rank one."

The casual admittance from the commodore had Nyx re-evaluating the standards of Niflheim. They were murderously high. The survival of the fittest must be their motto. With that mindset, no wonder so many of them were strung-up, backstabbing egomaniacs.

"Wait…so Impera did that, too?" His arm and legs tingled and it wasn't from the cold.

"Yeah, I think she killed a Deathclaw and Glauca promoted her to his old position."

He hardly heard Aranea, internally freaking himself out with his imagination. The thought of Imperatrix facing down an Iron Giant terrified Nyx. Then he remembered she did so in Galahd. Holy shit!

His girl had a danger streak on par with his...

This had to stop. Nope, while Imperatrix was pregnant with his kid, she was going to quit these little adventures. She could die and he...he couldn't stand the possibility. Goddamit, now what-ifs were getting to him!

This new territory of...emotinal attachment was turning Nyx upside down.

"Let's move before more daemons pop in." Aranea attached the spear to her back, tired of its weight. "What I wouldn't give to have Wedge carrying my stuff."

The three maneuvered through the wreckage, stopping at signs of shaking.

"What now?" Nyx groaned.

"This place…" Ignis couldn't take his eyes off the crumbled rocks reforming in the air. "Is exceptional."

What was once a broken bridge was now an intact one.

"Life in the Mystic's age must have been vastly different from ours." The advisor jotted down a few notes in his book.

Steyliff Grove deserved further study. He would confer with the marshal on assembling a team. Learning about ancient Solheim magic was a valuable opportunity.

His studies had hit a standstill after raiding all of the citadel's library over the years. There weren't many tomes to illuminate the subject but the ones available were difficult to decipher, let alone understand. If anything, studying the tomes al least hastened his comprehension of Latin.

He did find it concerning that despite how magic oriented the Caelum family was, their library lacked materials to educate them on their abilities. Regis hadn't thought anything of it when asked, citing that he learned from his father and it was a tradition he would pass onto his son. Unless someone was connected to the royals, the notion of learning magic was an impossibility. Whichever Caelum thought to restrict the information was good politics, was wrong, so very wrong. They robbed Noctis of crucial guidance.

"This way, boys." Aranea waved from within a door. "We're not far from camp."

They traversed more floors, defeating daemons and getting weaker and crankier with each win. Due to the commodore regaining her bearings, the group made it to the campsite before the other party.

As soon as the soldiers were in range Aranea passed off her weapon and began unfastening her armor. Used to the procedure, the cadets complied with carrying the pieces of battle wear off for a tune-up.

"I feel so much better." Now down to her top and pants, she stretched out. "Damn, I wanna shower."

Nyx whistled. "That's better. I can't stand all that armor."

"You and me both. But it's what keeps me alive." Aranea completely snubbed his appraisal of her by facing her first officer that popped out of nowhere. "Wedge."

The glaive squawked, stumbling away from the dark shadow that so creepily reminded him of Nebula. The officer bowed to his commodore.

"Nebula's not here, right?" She asked.

Wedge shook his head.

"Get me when he is. I'm beat." With that, Aranea made a beeline for her tent.

Ignis and Nyx stood there, waiting for the man in black to say something or do something that would validate his existence as a person and not a statue. This went on for a full minute and then another and another until the blue and green orbs met uneasily. A medical officer saved the day by stealing the two males to perform check-ups. They were patched up with bandages for their minor injuries since supplies were being rationed.

Afterward, Ignis and Nyx were offered food but both declined; their nerves were too strung for any kind of consumption. The glaive lounged in front of a fire while the advisor paced nearby. Most of the soldiers were working at stations to catalog items, clean ores or fix weapons. A majority of them were out of uniform as well.

No helmets, just a bunch of human faces. All in all, this setup didn't feel that different from a Kingsglaive base of operations. Nyx couldn't muster up any hate while observing them.

Niffs were what they were supposed to be. They spent years striving to murder him. But they had become Nephilim. A person couldn't hold onto hate forever. He would be a hypocrite to do so after berating Titus for clinging to the past. Well, actually, Nyx was a hypocrite that entire fight, being so absorbed with his sister's death and his country's fall. However, he came out with a new resolve.

Galahd still lived. The people were rebuilding and on the verge of thriving. His mom and Libertus were still alive. Insomnia was in tatters but it would come back to life again one day. All things would be rebirthed after death, that was the nature of their world, the nature that the Goddess Etro oversaw.

With Imperatrix as the next ruler, no more cities would fall. She didn't have the heart for it. The princess could probably be convinced to cede Lucis to Noctis under the right prodding. Everybody would be a little more inclined towards peace then.

"I highly doubt that will happen." Ignis resumed his pacing after replying to the glaive.

He absently rubbed his elbow. He'd fallen on it and now could feel some swelling. Pride and caution kept him from reporting the injury to the doctor.

"You never know." Nyx smirked, tone going from reflective to mocking. "But you should know. You're the one that stalked her every move for years."

The advisor went so very still.

"You've read so many articles about Impera after all."

"That was to keep Noctis appraised."

"You could've used the Altissian princess then."

Ignis had no desire to delve into the Unda Lacus family news. He was better off leaving that door firmly shut and inaccessible.

"Why'd you choose Impera? There are other royal families in the world and ones that have princes."

While there were other monarchies present in Niflheim, the Aldercapts were the leading power that they all answered to. The flag of twins dragons reigned supreme. They were the antithesis of Noctis. To be useful to his future king, Ignis had to know of the woman that would one day lead the largest empire of their time.

His interest in Imperatrix had always been purely academic.

"I bet that childhood crush has swept right back in, huh? The real things better than a poster, right?"

Control, control, the word control could use Ignis Scientia as a picture book description from how methodically the man held himself. Nyx might have been impressed by the advisor's carefully blank expression if he hadn't figured him out. He might have gotten the Ardyn-thing wrong but this he was certain about.

"Don't be absurd."

"It's not absurd, kid. I hated her when we met and I still wanted to fu—"

"Don't say it!"

Nyx lazed back, using his bag as a pillow. He was so right.

"I would never entertain something so obscene! She's the imperial princess, the enemy of my prince." The advisor balled his fist, actively preventing the Armiger from summoning his daggers in reaction to his agitation. "And for you to consider...or even do so..." He faltered on voicing the forbidden act and grew angrier from the glaive's amusement. "Is blasphemous, borderline treacherous!"

"There you go again, Ignis. Projecting all your pent-up issues on me."

His glasses slipped down his nose from straining his neck down and he scrambled to save them from another fall. He effectively checked himself back into composure. "I am doing no such thing."

"You are and denying it won't fix anything. Impera's not someone you can easily put out of mind." Nyx sat up from the sudden commotion. "And speak of the little daemon and she appears."

The missing members of their group dragged themselves into the safety of the haven. Except for Nebula, who stayed outside of the runes to talk with Wedge. He walked away from camp and nobody stopped him, not even Imperatrix.

"What's his problem? You punishing him for something?" Nyx inquired of the princess.

It took her a moment to realize that he wasn't privy to Nebula's condition. "Havens make him uncomfortable."

Nyx gave her the driest, most unimpressed frown he could.

"There is no need to fret." She smiled, happy that he cared enough to worry. "Are you well?"

"That's my line. Did you throw up again?"

"No." Imperatrix covered her mouth, slightly blushing. "And do not remind me of the unfortunate mishap."

"No can do. I'll be reminding you of a lot of things from here on out." Nyx grinned. "You've finally confirmed my suspicion."

She sighed with a look of affection as she passed by him. "I am too drained for your games."

Closer by the fire, Imperatrix caught the tail-end of the Lucian's conversation.

"This great. I'm not deleting it, end of story." Prompto's declaration sapped the last Noctis's energy.

"Whatever then, I'm not arguing about it anymore." He sloped to the side from drowsiness.

Ignis supported the prince by keeping him upright.

"I will procure a tent for you all." Imperatrix offered, on her way to Aranea's abode.

"That would be appreciated." The advisor said, all but holding Noctis up by himself.

"You'd think he'd gotten enough z's on Impera's lap." Photo snapped another picture, intent on using it and the other as blackmail when the need arose.

Say for…borrowing the Regalia to take Cindy on a romantic drive.

"He did what?"

"Drooled all over her pants, too." He showed the image to Ignis. "I got a video of his reaction, too."

"This will be confiscated later."

"Aww but Iggy—"

"It will."

Prompto pouted and only perked up when Imperatrix returned with Aranea. The commodore squeezed his shoulder before she passed him.

"Good job, Spikes."

"T-Thanks." He blushed, eyes following her until she exited the haven. "So, what am I being complimented on? Not that I'm complaining."

The princess transferred the stack of sleeping bags and the tent to Ignis. "You made it to the base without her supervision. And I did mention how helpful you were."

Prompto blushed harder, rubbing the back of his head. The gunner was just tickled pink and had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Imperatrix was still smiling at him.

"No, I won't be swayed! Cindy is the only one for me!" He proclaimed to the princess's confusion.

"If your daydreaming is over, I could use your help, Prompto." Ignis remarked dryly.

He lowered Noctis to lay on the ground, propping his head on the sleeping bag Imperatrix had put down.

"On it, Specs!" The gunner swept up the materials. "I'm a pro by now at setting up the tent."

"I shall leave you now." Imperatrix declared.

She was stopped by Ignis speaking to her in Italian. The question he asked wasn't one she could answer on the spot. The two became stuck in a standstill of lapis and aventurine.

Noctis bolting awake and spouting gibberish broke their trance. The advisor helped the sleepy prince up and directed him inside their tent. Years of habit had Ignis divesting his charge of his shoes and jacket before tucking him into the sleeping bag.

Twenty-years-old and Noctis was still helpless with many things. He needed Ignis's full dedication.

When the advisor departed the tent, he saw Prompto chatting with the princess and glaive. All three were huddled around a pile of cards. Upon closer inspection, he figured out they were playing Unus. The scene was so very similar to one of their nights on the road.

A perfect illusion of what could be. Imperials and Lucians not killing one another.

"Iggy, why don't you join? I'll deal you in." Prompto drew five cards from the deck and held the cards face-down for him.

"No, kid. You're supposed to sneak a peak." Nyx goaded, getting shoved by the princess.

"Cheaters are wicked."

"Are you one to talk?" The glaive intoned with pointed accuracy.

She could've struck him with lightning through eye contact alone. "Draw four, Nyx."

"Motherfu—" He groaned from a jab to his side. "I'm taking you down next turn."

Imperatrix scoffed.

"They're competitive." Prompto supplied in explanation to his friend. "Like, Gladio and Noct level."

Three games in and they'd threatened, hit and insulted one another constantly. It was seamless enough that he felt the third wheel grinding into his back. Now he and Ignis could be buddy-buddy to even things out.

"I hope these games will not last long. It is morning outside and we should be asleep." The advisor cautioned.

"Someone's just salty that they have the biggest hand." Nyx gleefully eyed Ignis's hand as he lorded his light hand over everyone else. "Unus."

"If you had not reversed the flow, I would have hit you with another draw." Imperatrix hesitated in lowering her card. "Apologies, Scientia."

Her "draw four" expanded his hand to the point that he could no longer hold them all. The glaive bawled with laughter.

"Maybe this will help." Prompto's tactic of changing the color to green with an identical three did nothing to hinder Nyx.

He threw down a wildcard and won.

"That's a tie-breaker. You kids have fun now." Nyx did a side-glance to the princess and decreed. "The color's red."

Imperatrix discarded an eight and the game continued for the remaining three players. Now free to focus elsewhere, the glaive tilted his head backwards to the ceiling.

Aranea had taken a wire up to Nebula's hiding spot and hadn't come down with him yet.

"I bet they're messing around up there."

Impera managed to not drop her cards.

"That's twice now in one day. I don't blame him though." Nyx sighed with a silly grin. "Aranea's fine as hell and that should put him in a better mood. I'd love to not be on high-alert for darts twenty-four-seven."

"Would you still your mouth?!" The princess hurled the wrong card down but Ignis was too taken back to correct her. "Why is that always the only thing on your mind?!"

"Chill out. You're looking like an actual gazelle right now." He more than enjoyed seeing the spark of jealousy on her for a change.

"Furthermore, why are you discussing it in front of these boys?!"

Prompto was dying of a blood rush to his face and Ignis was blue in the face. One of them was embarrassed and the other destroyed. Nyx saw how the advisor choked on Imperatrix's words.

What man could stand being viewed as a child by their crush?

"You've got a point. Adult topics should stay between adults. I do enough explaining for Luna." Nyx leaned on his elbows, eyes going back to the absent couple. "I got no time to parent more kids."

All his focus was going to be on the one Imperatrix would give him in seven months.

"I'd like to say that I'm a legal adult. I got my license and everything!" Prompto had his wallet out to defend his honor, id on proud display.

"Can you drink legally?"

"N-No."

"And you're still a virgin."

Prompto gurgled out noises, dropping his wallet and messing up the cards as he attempted to recover it. Nobody was playing anymore.

"You're still a kid." Nyx reinforced, squinting his eyes at the gunner as he scrutinized the boy. "A mini...Cloud?"

His mind buzzed at finally piecing together why the dorky munchkin seemed familiar. He wasn't a permanent fixture of the prince's retinue like his sword and shield. No, the boy was a recent addition to the royal retainers. Hence, why it took so long for him to put the puzzle right.

Prompto was the spitting image of a younger Cloud. Were they…related?

"Not all of us can be studs, alright?! I don't wanna do it with just anybody!" The gunner spewed out loudly. "It's Cindy or no one!"

Ignis pulled hard on Prompto's coat, bringing him back down to the ground. The blonde regained his senses and hid behind the advisor from the peering eyes he'd attracted.

"Ah, what a romantic sentiment." Imperatrix gushed, waving her hand for the other soldiers to return to their previous business. "It is pleasant to hear."

"It isn't for me. From the way he talks about her, she friend-zoned him." Nyx wasn't mad at the boy for taking a shot at him, solidarity between men was more important. "You have any idea how long it's gonna take to get him out of there?"

"What? How long?" Prompto rubbed the sides of his head. "Oh, man. I'm never gonna get out."

"With that attitude, you're doomed."

"Roo-hetou kaam-kon."

Nyx blanked out of his next spiel for the gunner to deadpan at the princess. "You know I don't speak Persian. I'm not the chancellor."

Imperatrix's face lit with a smile of pride. "Hmm? You were able to identify that?"

"Your Latin sounds completely different. It wasn't hard to figure out when you bounce between three languages."

"You can be smart on occasion."

"And you're stuck up on all occasions."

"Khaah too saret!"

Nyx threw up his hands. "Real mature, Princess. Insult me in a language I don't know."

They traded a few more barbs before Ignis snapped his finger to call the night...morning...whichever. "I believe it is time for bed."

"How could we leave Ignis out, that's rude." The glaive pushed the princess's face back from his. "I'm sure he's in the same situation as you, Prompto."

If she wasn't kissing him, she was screaming in his face. What a shame.

Before the gunner could flip out, Imperatrix slapped Nyx's hand off. "Enough! It is indeed time to retire."

He relented with a click of his tongue but got up to follow her. Noticing this brought a smile to her face but the princess schooled it into cordiality.

"Goodnight, boys. If you suffocate Nyx in his sleep, I would not place blame."

"I'm not—" The glaive clenched his mouth shut with a great effort.

Logically, he knew he couldn't sleep with Imperatrix in these circumstances. Didn't improve his mood though. It was a no brainer for where he'd prefer to be. His eyes didn't leave her until she was out of sight. He turned and Ignis was there to judge him with those cracked lenses.

Nyx was a traitor.