Seven hours earlier
"Hey Dave, wasn't expecting to meet up with you"
"I know but...I got Hunters missing and need you four to go on a tag Hunt, add in the fact that I think I found something interesting out that you four in particular might be interested in and I decided to see if you guys were in Hammerhead"
"Okay, let's eat and then we'll get talking, been a hard week with one Hunt"
"Right"
And so the group begins to eat and Dave turns on the radio thinking he might be able to catch up on some things that were important to the Hunters not realizing that the group was about to hear shocking, and extremely devastating news
"As we have been reporting for the past two weeks the Empire recently released a statement saying that High Commander Ravus was executed for treason against the Empire a new statement has been released recently that Commodore Aranea, who had been imprisoned at the time of the execution escaped five days ago and is now considered a fugitive with authorization to kill her on site as a co-conspirator though that was only recently discovered, in other news..."
Dave quickly shut the radio off at seeing the entire group go pale in shock which told him that the news was important in a way that he hadn't known the first time he'd heard it and once he figured they were a little calmer speaks up
"I'm sorry, if I had known either of those two were important to you I would have warned you first"
"Not...not your fault, you know we're secretive as all get out for a reason"
"Yeah, but still this is something I should have figured you needed to know before hearing the news"
"What's happened happened, we...we'll have to meet and discuss what you wanted us to know some other time"
"Understood"
The group decides to head to Lestallum to see if they could do anything there and while in the car is when Noctis made the decision to head to the Disc and do the little ceremony he'd just finished
Present
The group heads to a little known location that they'd been to a couple of times in both timelines to get a late lunch and then when they started to head to Cape Caem and saw an Imperial ship, that's when it really hit home for them what they'd heard only hours earlier
"For Ravus?"
"Indeed, hopefully Aranea will meet up with us later but for now..."
"Exactly"
And so the group is more emotional when fighting the enemy this time around since they were still only beginning the grieving process they also took more risks because of that factor too, but eventually they reached the house and went to sleep, unfortunately they had a really, really bad PTSD episode because of what they had learned about Ravus and they had dreams that were part memory part actual dream and woke up with weapons in their hands, and that was after Monica trying to wake the three of them up for the day and after seeing them in the throws of a nightmare
"Monica...are you okay?"
"Yes your Highness, I made sure to use the techniques his Majesty and Cor taught me until I saw that they weren't working, I then made sure to be as safe as possible when physically waking you four up"
"Okay, that's good, but if it ever seems that the safe methods aren't working don't try and force us awake, especially since we might not be that deeply asleep through our own fault, though I won't explain things further"
"Understood sir"
Five minutes later and Monica was back
"Cor's here with an unknown sir, and the unknown is close to his back, do you think..."
"Get Iris and Talcott to a safe room if you have it, and you stay there Monica, you're the only person I trust the most as the last line of defense for those two, the four of us will take care of any problems before they get to you hopefully, but be ready for a fight"
And so the group gets ready and then Prompto speaks up
"So, look to see who it is and then go from there?"
"No, mainly because of Ardyn, we're going to use code phrases for safety, after all that's why we met up with Dave that one time"
"Good idea"
And so the group looks and sees Cor and Dave, but because they needed confirmation Prompto and Gladio were the two to step out with weapons already out which told the two approaching the house that they meant business and then Gladio is the one that speaks up first
"You'll go no further you two"
"Gladiolus..."
"No, I will not fail in my duty to my King"
"Agreed, there is only one way we shall let you pass unharmed and one way only, fail to figure it out and we will fight you"
Cor is the one to figure it out first because of the fact that he knows the background of the four better than Dave did and the fact that Ignis had to use this method himself only a few years ago also helped, he realized that they needed to know two different things at once with him seeing as how it did look slightly suspicious that Dave was completely behind him, they needed to know first of all that it was indeed the real Cor in front of them and that he wasn't being forced to lead the person with him to their location
"Gladiolus, Prompto, you can tell our King two different things regarding me, the first is that Dawn's light shines bright the second is that while I may be called the Immortal I can still die"
Hearing that allowed the two to relax fractionally but not completely, however it also allowed Dave to know what was going on ever so slightly and he spoke up next
"I should lead by following my own path, and hopefully someday I shall, but in the meantime I shall remain where I am needed and help wherever I can however I can, even if it means doing secret missions that my fellow Hunters can't understand if they happen to help me"
Once the two heard both of them give their half of the code phrase they completely relaxed, gave out a sigh of relief and then Prompto's the one who speaks up
"Divine 7 guys!"
With that the door opens to reveal Noctis who greets the two newcomers with hugs