It would take several hours to get to where they would need to be. Thankfully, the weather continued to hold.

"Man, I'm bored," Prompto grumbled about an hour into their trip.

"You could always take a leaf out of Noct's book and take a nap," Ignis said with a smile.

"We could play the license plate game," Prompto said.

Noctis couldn't help but snort. They were all alone on the road. "King's Knight not working?"

"Phone's updating," Prompto replied with a heavy sigh.

"Might as well catch up on your reading," Gladio said, handing him the book he always had with him.

Prompto looked doubtful as he took it, but started to page through it.

"Is that the book you got from your dad?" Noctis asked Gladio.

"Yeah."

Noctis was familiar with the book, as he had a copy as well. He didn't know if it was still around, as he'd left it back in the Crown City. To him it was a rather dry history of the Kingdom of Lucis, but Gladio insisted that it was fascinating.

"Nah, you can have it back," Prompto said, handing the book back to Gladio, who stowed it away.

"It's a great book if you can't sleep," Noctis said, earning a laugh from Prompto.

"Whatever. Seems I'm the only who's got any taste around here," Gladio said.

"I'd beg to differ on that," Ignis remarked dryly.

"Hey, can we stop here?" Prompto asked. They were coming up on the Alstor Coernix station.

"Yeah, I'm hungry," Noctis said.

"Let's try not to take too long," Ignis said, pulling in next to the Crow's Nest. Everyone got out of the car, stretching and chatting lightly as they headed towards the diner. When Noctis turned to shut his door, he caught a glimpse of Gladio's book again.

The book had been forgotten, but now that Noctis was briefly alone with his thoughts, they went back to Insomnia. The awful day when Ignis told him what had happened there and Cor confirming it. At the time, he was overwhelmed with thoughts of his dad and Luna. But as time pressed on, he wondered what else he would go back to – and not go back to. Who knew when that would be now?

Get to Luna. Save the kingdom. But instead of going straight to Altissia, they were driving around Eos, hunting, running errands, and camping.

When he thought about it one way though, Noctis found that it made a certain sort of sense. Helping people – that's what kings were supposed to do, right? Not that we went around talking about who he was. Only a few people out here knew or cared who he was. People took him and his friends at face value and asked them for help. Help with things like finding a dog tag, taking pictures or delivering food.

He knew that when it was time to take the throne for himself, those things would have to go by the wayside.

"Noct?" Ignis's voice came from the doorway of the diner. Gladio and Prompto were already inside.

"Yeah?"

"Everything alright?"

"Yep. All good," Noctis replied. Ignis didn't push further, and Noctis was grateful. They jointed the other two at the counter.

Ignis saw that Noctis was staring off into space. Lost in his thoughts, no doubt. He wished that Noctis would share those thoughts. Often the conversation was mostly about the weather, food, the monsters they fought.

But Ignis knew that Noctis had a lot going on in his head. For good reason, of course. Ignis had been his adviser since they were young children so he knew what was to be expected of Noctis. If only his friend would talk more about what he was thinking about. Not because Ignis had answers, but it might help him get his thoughts straight.

But Noct was Noct. And Ignis couldn't change him, nor did he ever want to. He knew his friend would talk when and if he was ready.

The four ordered their food. Gladio and Ignis chatted with the tipster, while Prompto played King's Knight. Noctis didn't really taste the french fries he was eating. He looked over when Prompto nudged him with his phone.

"Want to play?"

Noctis shook his head. "Nah. Maybe later."

Prompto looked like he was about to say something else, but just shrugged instead.

"I'm going to get some potions," Noctis said. He just couldn't seem to sit still. He walked next door to the shop.

Noctis did a mental calculation of how many elixirs and phoenix downs they could carry and nearly bought out the entire stock. He spotted a cookbook and purchased that as well. He stowed the items in the Regalia and walked back to the diner, sitting on the bench outside. He was hoping his friends were almost done so that they could move on. It was still afternoon, but it was a long way to their destination. Or, at least their destination for now.

He thought back to Polly. She wasn't much different from the others they'd come across in their trip. Just someone trying to do the best they could, whose biggest goal in life was trying to find food for a chocobo and keep the memory of a daughter alive.

Maybe in another life Noctis would have bred chocobos. The thought struck him suddenly and it managed to both amuse and sadden him. A brief image of himself dressed like Wiz, feeding and caring for the big birds. But then the thought faded away. He had only one road, and if he didn't take it, the consequences would be damaging to everyone.

Despite having the three best friends a guy could ask for at his side, Noctis felt a sudden rush of loneliness. The one person who would be able to answer his questions and really and truly understand his fears was gone.

"Ready to go?" Gladio's voice brought him back. Noctis's friends had left the diner and were heading to the Regalia.

"Yeah," Noctis said. He pushed himself off the bench and joined the others.