—

"So, you're cured? Completely?" Ravus questioned in bafflement as he struggled to keep up with his sister's pace. The dwarf of a companion she'd brought back with her was fairing even worse.

Ravus was fairly certain he knew that dwarf. He was an Imperial, that much Ravus recalled, but he couldn't remember a name.

"Yes." Lunafreya kept striding forwards at her accelerated pace. "Ardyn absorbed all of the Scourge within me. …Which appears to have had some interesting side effects on him."

"Clearly," Ravus noted. "I didn't realize he could be more deranged than normal. What was that drivel about calling me his grandson?"

Lunafreya was silent for a moment as she winced. "That may not be an entirely false statement, actually."

"What?"

Lunafreya sighed. "It's merely speculation, but I discovered that there is a possibility of our line originating from Aera Mirus Fleuret and… Ardyn."

…Sweet Shiva, none of this was making any sense whatsoever.

Ravus' lips were pressed into the thinnest line possible. "…I may be ill." Surely not? Their line? Their line of light and healing? Came from that?

"Pardon my apparent ignorance, but would anyone care to explain to me how the former Chancellor of the Empire, could possibly be the source of a lineage that is over two thousand years old?" the dwarf Imperial asked somewhat snippily.

Ravus side-eyed him. "Well, you're quite out of the loop." He pivoted to round a corner, again increasing his stride to keep up with Lunafreya. "Sister, how did you manage to find this one?"

"This one has a name, in case you've forgotten, Fleuret," the Imperial groused.

"Ardyn was the original healer of the Scourge two millennia ago, but he absorbed too much of it and was brought down a path of darkness. The Scourge has rendered him immortal, and Noctis' true calling is to defeat him once he's absorbed enough power within the Crystal," Lunafreya said.

The imperial blinked repeatedly. "…In the army we used to mock his flamboyance to entertain ourselves on a regular basis. We had a betting pool on how long it would take for him to officially lose his mind…"

Lunafreya scoffed. "I believe all may have just witnessed that."

Loqi looked thoughtful. "Remind me how many years we've been in darkness?"

"Four full years and then some currently," Lunafreya supplied, and Ravus had to take a moment to appreciate just how good it was to hear her speak so strongly.

Loqi pursed his lips. "Typical. I would be swimming in gil, but everyone else in my unit is dead."

"Personally, I believe you were still off by a couple thousand years," Ravus muttered as they reached the usual meeting building and filed through the door and into the hallway.

"Marshal?" Lunafreya called. "Are you here?"

It was only a moment later that the door down the hallway from them burst open.

"Lady Luna?" Prompto shrieked, eyes comically wide.

"Prompto." Lunafreya smiled broadly at him. "Good to see you. I need to speak with the Marshal."

Prompto had a hand hovering over his side, almost like he was injured. "Uh, yeah! Sure! He's right inside…" he trailed off as his gaze drifted over to the Imperial. "Hey, I know you…"

Loqi arched an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Yeah! Noct and Gladio and I kicked your ass a couple of times."

Loqi scowled. "Ah, yes… One of the Prince's dynamic duo followers. I should have recalled that spiky mop on your head."

"Hey!"

"Oh, stop being asinine, both of you," Ravus chided. They needed to hurry up and speak to Cor so Ravus could get the full story about what happened to Lunafreya. "We are not here to squabble."

"Right." Lunafreya advanced again, and they followed, finally entering the meeting room where Cor was sitting at the table, as usual.

Loqi took a sharp breath. "Cor Leonis?"

Ah. So he was someone who'd been unaware of Cor's condition. That was a rarity these days.

Prompto moved over and sank into the seat closest to Cor, looking as though the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders.

Cor only gave Loqi the briefest of glances before focusing on Lunafreya fully. "Well, this may be an unexpected welcome back, but I won't protest."

Lunafreya smiled again. "It's good to see you, Marshal. I have much to discuss with you all."

Cor's one eye flicked over to Prompto for a moment. "Much indeed."

Aranea had honestly still been waiting for something to go horribly wrong until the very last second they were still outside the walls, but nothing had. The city gate shut behind them, and there had been no incidents. Mission complete. Food found. Good news to deliver.

It was a great feeling. Iris and Evan were beaming, clearly thrilled that their test mission had gone so well.

Still, some questions were bothering her. What was this weird fruit? How was it growing with no sunlight and the barest minimum of soil?

Whatever the case, they had some more supplies now at least. Evan hadn't died from the fruit, so it appeared to not be poisonous.

Aranea hopped out of the truck, stepping aside so Evan and Iris could scramble out of the back.

"Araneeeeeeeaaaaa!"

…Usually, someone screaming her name seconds after she got back wasn't a great sign, but Prompto had a huge grin on his face as he sprinted over.

Aranea scowled. "Hey, kid, take it easy on that leg."

Prompto slowed, huffing and puffing. "LadyLunaisalive!"

Evan almost fell out of the truck as his foot slipped, but he recovered in time to land smoothly on the ground. "What?"

Prompto nodded furiously. "Yeah! And get this – she found another city! A whole city of people near Insomnia! And they wanna start up trade and stuff with us!"

…Holy weird apples.

Despite the strange circumstances that put him here, and the overload of information that was swimming around Loqi's head at the moment, things actually appeared to be going well. Apart from the slight squabble with one of the Prince's tagalongs, none of the leaders appeared to care they used to be on opposite sides.

Good. Then they were the type to think logically rather than holding grudges. Not that he expected any less from Cor the Immortal.

Immortal. He didn't look so immortal now. If anything was a sign of their dire times, it was seeing those who once stood so tall brought down to… this.

Half-blind and half-crippled. Loqi once would have been thrilled to see the great "immortal" fall so far. Now it just made his head buzz with unpleasant thoughts about how everyone's demise was soon to be at hand if they weren't all extremely careful.

"I don't believe any of us are against trading with your settlement, but there is one rather serious problem in the way," Ravus said, looking a fair bit worse for wear than when they'd started this meeting several hours prior.

"Transportation." Loqi noted, having thought about that before he'd started off with the Oracle on their trip here.

Cor nodded. "Lestallum by no means has enough vehicles or fuel for consistent travel of that distance. Not to mention the amount of manpower needed to transfer the goods and guard them."

The Oracle pinched the bridge of her nose. "Perhaps we could all give this matter some more thought after Loqi and I have taken some time to settle back into the city?"

As much as Loqi wanted to get things done, that was a welcome idea. Much had happened, and Loqi knew if this was Crestholm he would have a mountain of tasks to take care of with this kind of development. Not to mention he wanted to see the city himself. And just have time to think.

He still couldn't believe that Chancellor Izunia of all people was the cause of everything.

There was a knock on the door, but it was already being pushed open before anyone had time to answer.

"I'm sorry – what happened while I was gone?"

It appeared the Prince's tagalong had returned with the person he'd been sent to get.

"Commodore," Loqi greeted. "It's been some while."

Highwind stopped, staring down at him. "Wait, you? You are the guy running this supposed new city? By Insomnia?"

So the gunner had filled her in on some details on the way, then.

One of her eyebrows shot up. "And you actually let people not Imperial born in?"

Loqi wanted to spit back something at that, but he… really didn't have the right. That was a fair judgement of the him she'd known.

Instead, he laced his fingers together atop the table. "Discrimination is a luxury this world can no longer afford, Commodore. The two with which I share authority in Crestholm are both Insomnian born."

Highwind shifted her weight to one side, cocking her head. "Huh… The darkness sure changed your tune."

"Quite."

He'd been chilled to the bone when he'd received his first act of kindness from an Insomnian. Her nationality had been the last thing on his mind as she'd laid that blanket over his shoulders.

"Ravus," Cor addressed. "I believe it would ideal for you to see to the two of them while the Commodore briefs me on her mission?"

Ravus rose from his chair. "Of course. Follow me."

"We shall see about getting you some more long-lasting accommodations, but for now this open bed with have to suffice."

Ravus skin was crawling at the very thought of this arrangement, but they had little other choice on such short notice. They just didn't have the room anymore.

Loqi snorted, taking the steps in Leville at a slightly slower pace than Ravus himself. "I sleep with a folded towel as a pillow. I assure you I will be more than satisfied with any type of actual bed."

How delightful. Fortunate that the Imperial wasn't too particular. At least now. Ravus suspected he had a silk pillow back when he was working for the Empire. "You need only mind your roommates. The second bed is unoccupied, but there are two others making use of the room itself."

Lunafreya sucked in a breath. "…You've put him in the room–"

"Yes," Ravus confirmed.

Loqi glanced between them, but didn't ask anything.

After all, Evan still never slept in the bed, even if he did live there.

"I would recommend checking the bathtub before you try to make use of the bathroom," Ravus noted.

Loqi raised an eyebrow at that, but still said nothing again.

Ravus reached the proper room first, tapping the door with his knuckles.

The door opened a hair, and Talcott's face appeared in the crack. "Oh, hello, Your High– Lady Luna!"

Lunafreya waved, smiling. "Hello, Talcott."

Ravus sighed. "I do suppose I should go prepare a statement about your return for our press before word and rumor spread."

"You have press?" Loqi sounded surprised.

"Unfortunately." Ravus turned his attention back to Talcott. "Younger Mr. Hester, you and Evan are going to be rooming with our new guest until we can find another place for him."

"Oh! Sure, that's fine. Evan still sleeps in the bathtub anyway," Talcott said.

Ravus nodded. "Then here is where we leave you for the night. I'll arrange a guide for you for the morning."

Loqi held his chin high. "My thanks."

And so Ravus and Lunafreya left the Imperial and headed for their next stop.

"Your room hasn't been changed. We were rather occupied with other matters," Ravus said as they neared.

"Convenient for me, then," Lunafreya said with a smile. "I can likely accept a roommate of my own now that my health is so much better."

Already thinking ahead for the good of the city. Never a moment for herself.

Ravus stopped, the numbness and shock of the last few hours now faded to the point where events were truly hitting him.

"Ravus?" Lunafreya put a hand on his shoulder.

Ravus blinked against the stinging wet in his eyes and swallowed. He looked down at Lunafreya, bringing a hand up to brush the knuckles of his real hand across her cheekbone. "I'd thought I'd lost you… Just like mother and father…"

Her smile turned bittersweet. "I told you you wouldn't be rid of me that easily."

He chuckled lowly, pulling her into a hug for the second time that day.

Thank the Astrals…

She was back. He had her back.

—