—

Scientia had survived the fall. He'd survived that damned fall. Ravus was fully convinced now. There were just too many details adding up for it not to be him.

The secrecy, the research he'd been attempting, the daemon eyes despite him not showing any other signs of changing… If his appearance wasn't recognizable enough with his facial scars, the rest of that was irrefutable evidence.

The question was why. Why would he have possibly done this and left all of his friends to mourn? From what Sikozu had told him, Scientia was absolutely desperate to keep the fact that he was alive completely hidden.

Ravus swallowed the rage that was threatening to build inside him.

This was Scientia. He wouldn't have left them in the dark without reason. He wouldn't have left Lunafreya in her condition at the time without some drastically powerful motive. Not to mention how painful it must have been for him to leave behind all of them.

Noctis. Noctis would have been a powerful enough reason. It was clear Scientia would do anything for that boy-King. But that didn't explain the secrecy. If all he'd needed to do was research the tombs, he didn't need them to think him dead. Cor likely would have granted him permission, and then he would have had transportation as well instead of having to span the continent on foot.

He was up to something that the rest of them would not understand without speaking to him.

…If Scientia was even alive anymore, given that he'd been left in those strange ruins with no supplies. Any other man, and Ravus would proclaim them certainly dead. But Scientia? Die from lack of supplies in a dungeon of puzzles? He was too stubborn.

But the hardest part of this was that Ravus would be able to tell none of the others. He'd sworn that before he'd know what Sikozu wanted to talk about, and on top of that… If Scientia had been this adamant about keeping himself dead…

Ravus had to trust him. Scientia overthought everything. This had been a calculated choice, and Ravus had no idea what the ramifications would be if he broke Scientia's cover.

…Perhaps it had something to do with Ardyn.

Ravus sighed raggedly. Neither he nor Sikozu had spoken in the last few minutes, but Ravus was at a loss for words.

…Dare he hope? Dare he allow himself to hope that Scientia had escaped that dungeon and was still out there?

"…Need a drink?"

"…Please."

Well, this was a bloody awful first date.

Prompto yawned broadly, not bothering to cover it at all as he headed back to his room. What a day! A really, really, really good day! Which was weird considering it started off with him waking up in pain and crying into his pillow. Again.

But now he wasn't dying, and Lady Luna was okay! No way this late turn-in time was enough to bring him down. So what if he had to be up bright an early? Groggy was still better than dying.

"Prompto!"

Prompto skidded to an abrupt stop, doing an awkward hop turn so he didn't twist his knee as he spun around to find Gladio chasing after him.

"Oh, hey, Big Guy!" Prompto grinned. "Welcome back to the civs!"

Gladio did not look happy in the least as he slowed to a stop in front of Prompto. "I came as soon as I got Cor's message." He shook his head, brow pulled with, like, a kicked puppy dog look. "How are you holding up?"

"Hm?" Oh. Ohhh, Cor had contacted him before Lady Luna had popped into the city. "Oh, man, dude! No, I'm fine! I'm healed! And so is Lady Luna! She's all cured, and Ardyn dropped her back in the city, and she healed me, and she brought that Loqi guy with her – you remember him, right? – but now he's, like, this leader of another city–"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? Prompto, slow the hell down!" Gladio shook his head. "Let's start over with you and Luna not being dead or dying."

…Right. Slow it down. Sure.

He really needed sleep. He was so wired right now.

"So. I was all, like, preparing for death and everything, but then bang. Ardyn drops into the city and dumps Lady Luna and that Loqi guy here. I wasn't there, but he was, like, high on Scourge or something from healing Lady Luna and taking the Scourge she had, and he just kind of left, but then–"

"Stop." Gladio pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know, I think you need some sleep."

"…Yes, I do."

"Yeah, go do that. I'm gonna go ask Cor what the hell is going on…"

Well, this was one hell of a turn of events, and he didn't even have all the details yet. He had… a lot of maybe details that didn't make any sense, even by Prompto's usual standards.

Gladio scowled, looking around him at the empty streets. It was way too silent for how crowded this city was. What time was it here? He didn't keep any real schedule while he was out of the city, but they still had one to keep things in order, even without the daylight. Would Cor still be up? Maybe, because he was Cor. But maybe not, because he'd already sent Prompto home.

…Or maybe he didn't need Cor, because someone else with answers was walking around right now.

"Ravus," Gladio called, picking up his pace to jog over to the High Commander.

Ravus stopped, his head leaned back with an exasperated sigh before pivoting around. "Gladiolus."

Wow. That was grumpier than his usual disposition. It really must have been late if he was in this bad a mood, even after and Lunafreya had basically come back to life like Prompto was rambling.

Gladio gestured around them. "Mind filling me in on everything, because I've been hearing a whole load of crap tonight and I'm not sure what to take from all of it."

Ravus' deadpan stare gave Gladio the impression that Ravus would have rather he died on the spot. "…Can this not wait until the morning? We'll all be congregating to solve matters then anyway."

Well, fine.

"What time is it here?" Gladio wondered.

"Four," Ravus said flatly.

"…Right. I can wait–"

"Thank you." Ravus brushed past him.

Damn. For all the supposedly good news, everyone sure was in some interesting moods.

Aranea sat perched atop the Leville, in no mood for sleep. She gazed at the city, not really looking at anything particular as she tossed a purple apple back and forth from one hand to the other.

She felt oddly distant tonight. Maybe it was just the length of the day. Maybe the apples were poisonous after all. Whatever.

She stopped tossing the fruit long enough to take a bite. They really were good.

She closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the flavor. It had been so long since she'd had fresh fruit.

They needed to figure out how these were growing like they were. Maybe find a way to get more of them going.

Ignis probably could have made a pretty damn good pie with these, she noted. Maybe that would have been a waste of resources, but she could dream.

She could dream…

She needed to. Everyone did. Everyone around here needed something to hold onto, whether it was for themselves or everyone.

A longing for good health…

A wish for the kiss of the sun…

A desire to fight…

A yearning for the return of an old friend…

An aspiration to unite people through trade…

This day had changed everything. Just a day.

Evan and Iris were being slowly let off their leashes. That was two prime fighters to add to the ranks.

The Princess was back, and Six was it good to see her standing tall and healthy.

Aranea smiled to herself. It wasn't every day that she'd gotten someone she'd lost back. Or ever.

But it wasn't just her friend they'd gained back. Now they once again had a way to fight the Scourge.

And then there was this… other city.

Too good to be true? Maybe. Time would tell.

She hadn't spent a lot of time with Loqi when she'd worked for the Empire, but she did remember that he was a pretty obnoxious, loudmouthed, and xenophobic shrimp.

Sure, the world had changed a lot of peoples' tunes the last few years, but was he one of them? Or did he have some other motive.

Yeah, she was going to keep an eye on that shrimp, that was for sure.

…And speaking of him, there he was now – heading for the Leville.

Aranea narrowed her eyes.

Evan and Iris were with him. Well, he was sure making fast friends. That was dangerous. Evan was still very impressionable, and it would be easy for someone to manipulate him if they really put their mind to it.

Yeah, over her rotting corpse would she let that happen.

If Loqi tried anything with that kid, she'd spear him in the face, other city leader or not.

—