—
"Ravus." Highwind's voice was eerily steady and cold as she tightly clutched the phone in her hand. "I'm going after them."
Ravus sighed. He'd expected that much. As much as they needed her around, she wasn't going to let Evan go without a fight, and he couldn't stop her from leaving. "Then I would ask that you do so quickly and carefully." He wouldn't have time to speak with Cor. Highwind was going to be out of here and after them as soon as she physically could.
"Do you know me?" Aranea snarked back, heading for another vehicle.
"Highwind," Ravus called after her, tone firm. He'd never really considered himself above her, but this had to be said. "You cannot take Tummelt's life. Crestholm is something we need–"
"I know," Aranea growled. "Just don't expect him back with all is bones intact."
…That was the most he'd get out of her. He was going to have to take it.
"Very well."
He couldn't entirely swallow his guilt as he stared at her back as she left.
…This was all so entirely unfair to her. Losing Ignis and now having the child the two of them took in taken from right under her nose…
Ravus sucked in a slow breath.
Perhaps it would be crueler to give her the hope of Ignis being alive, but he still felt the need to do so all the same.
Hope… Would it even be hope? There was just as good a chance of him being dead as alive now. It might just be a slap in the face that Ignis intentionally left her in the dark.
He'd left all of them in the dark…
Six, if Ignis was alive currently and eventually returned to them without a damn good excuse, he was going to find out how getting one's nose broken by a metal fist felt.
It truly was a slap in the face. That wasn't just the case for how Aranea would feel – it was a feeling that Ravus had been trying not to lean into himself since Sikozu had first told him.
But all of that could wait for the moment. The information on Ignis wasn't about to change, but Evan's condition could very much take a drastic turn.
Six only knew what horrible fate Tummelt might lead him to out there.
"Ayyy, Macarena!" Evan and Callux called in unison with the song, Callux bobbing his head as Loqi led Evan in the arm motions.
Loqi grinned. He'd well realized how draining his position in Crestholm was, but he hadn't realized just how deprived of fun he'd been until he'd actually agreed to assisting Callux "providing Evan with some important human experiences."
He blamed this moment of insanity on the fact that he was to be cooped up in a car with Biggs Callux for Six only knew how many hours.
Thank the Six Petra wasn't here. If word ever got back to Crestholm or Lestallum about this, Callux was a dead man.
"We gotta make a list!" Callux said loudly.
The man turned the volume of his music down for nothing, Loqi was convinced. Loqi had tried to lower it earlier when they'd been talking, and he'd gotten scowled at so hard that he was mildly surprised he hadn't died instantly from Callux's pure spite alone.
"Of what?" Loqi asked, not ceasing his arm motions despite the burn. The small work out after sitting this long was welcome.
"Things we can't let not get passed down to the kidos these days! Can't let the darkness steal our culture!"
Loqi arched an eyebrow, turning his head to stare at Callux directly. "This is what you consider culture worth salvaging?"
"Bloody right, I do!" He released the steering wheel with one hand to join in the hand motions.
"…Callux, please do not drive us to the unceremonious end of dying in a ditch."
"Oi, we're fine – lay off. I know what I'm doin'!"
"Debatable."
"You wanna walk the rest of the way there, mate?"
"And miss this fine culturing? I wouldn't dream of it."
"Well, there's plenty more comin' up, mate!"
Oh, joy. Only an untold amount of hours to go.
"'Nea!"
Aranea let out a frustrated sigh, not bothering to hide he scowl as she jumped out of the bed of the truck she was taking and landed smoothly on the ground. She'd so been hoping to be out of here before she had to have this conversation, but it didn't look like luck was being kind to her today.
Apparently, lady lucky had chosen to favor Loqi instead. Bitch.
Aranea stuck her hands on her hips, staring Prompto down as he approached. "No, you aren't coming."
"But–"
"No."
Prompto squawked indignantly, his tense shoulders giving him that oh-so-terrifying ruffled chocobo look. "He's my brother!"
Aranea held up a finger. "Your leg." Two fingers. "Cor needs you here." Three fingers. "You just had the Scourge and you need to be resting." She dropped her hand. "There's three reasons why you're staying off the top of my head. Give me thirty seconds and I'll think of twelve more."
Ruffled chocobo shifted into depressed chocobo as Prompto's shoulders slumped. "I hate this… I spent all those years thinking I sucked, and now that I accepted that, hey, I'm actually kind of a badass at what I do, now I can't do it anymore…"
Ouch. That did suck. Maybe she didn't have the cleanest record, she was damn glad she never had big confidence issues.
"Hate to break to you, Short-cake, but life kinda sucks for everyone right now. But just because you can't be in the field doesn't mean you aren't still a badass." She gave him a light punch on the shoulder.
Prompto continued to look sad. "Just do me a favor and break Loqi's knee, would you?"
"I'll break them both if I find him," she growled. "He can run Crestholm from a wheelchair." Still technically keeping her word to Ravus.
Prompto snorted, his brow pinching. "…What if he's right, though?"
"Excuse me?" He was going to have to run that one by her again.
"I mean…" Prompto ducked his head, scratching the back of his neck. "What if there are more… of us. Me and Evan, I mean. You've said yourself – we're totally different people. What if… What if there are more of us still at the base? Shouldn't… Shouldn't they get a chance to live too?"
…Well, shit. She really wasn't prepared for that one.
"Not like this," she settled on. "Loqi just wants to use them, remember?"
"That's not exactly what he said…" Prompto mumbled.
"No, but what he's done is unacceptable already."
Prompto nodded. "…I'm gonna do something nice for Evan when he gets back. Dunno what, but… I haven't really been there for him, you know?"
Aranea swallowed. "Neither have I. Since Ignis…" She closed her eyes for a moment. "Things kind of all went to shit after that. Talcott and Iris are really the only ones that have made time for Evan. One mission after this long… Six, screw what the public thinks. He needs to do more missions – for his sake and the city's."
Prompto chewed his lip. "Imma gonna talk to Cor while you're gone."
"You do that." She gave his hair a ruffle. "I gotta get going if I'm gonna catch up."
"Right!" Prompto's posture shot up straight again. "You go do the thing!"
"Hold up."
Aranea blinked, looking past Prompto to find Gladio heading their direction with a bag over his shoulder.
Gladio jerked his chin at Prompto. "He may have reasons to stick around here, but I'm always coming and going. Mind an extra sword?"
Huh. She hadn't considered him, but yeah. "Wouldn't mind at all so long as you don't slow me down." Which he wouldn't, she knew. And he knew her well enough by this point to know that she didn't actually expect him to.
"Wouldn't dream of it." He smirked briefly before his expression returned to serious. "Look, I know I've given your kid a lot a crap, but he's a good kid. I only–"
"Was worried about what he'd do because of programming and possession possibilities," Aranea finished, trying to ignore the twinge her stomach gave at the "your kid" part of that. "Yeah, I get it."
Gladio nodded. "We both know who this is due to, though. I've dealt with that Loqi punk before."
"Right?" Prompto said. "He was so annoying – ruining our fun at the Assassin's Festival!"
Aranea rolled her eyes. Of course something like that was what irritated Prompto the most.
"If you're coming, we leave now," Aranea said.
"That's what I figured." Gladio headed for the truck, slinging his bag off his shoulder and tossing it into the bed of the truck.
A mission with the Mountain Man. Huh. Weird that for how long she'd known him and of him that they'd never actually been on a mission together. She'd spent the least amount of time with him of the royal retinue.
Although… she supposed eventually that would be Ignis, because there would be no more with him.
—
