Untold hours passed.
At some point, Noctis and Crea had both climbed into Reina's bed with him and the three of them lay in a nest surrounding her.
Regis held onto her magic throughout.
He called her. He begged. He pleaded.
He had no notion of whether or not she could hear him. If she was aware of her father's despair, she gave no outward sign. She Dreamed. She Dreamed for longer than she ever had before, while Regis was helpless to do anything, save hold her and mourn.
If she was truly gone, how could he carry on? Already he had lost one love. Let him not lose a second. Let him not live through the death of a child, when all he had done to this point had been to prevent either of them from a premature end.
Almost worse than the thought of losing her was the uncertainty. Would he ever know, truly, if she was gone? Or would she languish in Dreams for the rest of her life until her body wasted away? Would they sustain this lifeless husk of his daughter's body, forcing food and nutrients into her system on the off chance that some day, some day she would come back to them?
She would waste away into a skeleton. Like Aulea had, before the end.
Not even Crea's touch and the warmth of her hand covering his could chase away the dark daemons that now haunted his mind.
Beneath their clasped hands, Reina's chest rose and fell steadily, as if a deep and peaceful sleep held her. A few times, subtle expressions flitted across her face. Pain? Distress? He couldn't place them. All he knew was they did not wake her.
He laid his head down next to her. And she spoke.
"Ardyn!"
Regis jerked half upright. Beside him, Noctis and Crea did much the same.
"We have to go!" She cried, as if calling out over a great din. "This isn't real. It's just a Dream! Come on."
She knew. She knew she was in a Dream.
He caught Crea's eye across Reina's sleeping form. She had no idea the significance of that fact. The Dreams she had witnessed from Reina were few and far between and she had no experience with magic.
Regis forced both his mind and his mouth to work against the haze of despair. "If she knows this is merely a Dream, then she is not lost."
Noctis sat fully upright. "She's coming back?"
"I don't know, my son."
He should not give them false hope. If Ardyn had the power to hold her in a Dream, then she would not be able to escape. And yet, she was not lost. He struggled not to latch onto this hope himself—it would only hurt worse in the long run—but after the show of power she had displayed tonight, he found himself wondering if she wouldn't be able to break free of Ardyn's hold on her.
"Wait," she said. "One more thing."
Again, Regis caught Crea's eye. One more thing. One more Dream?
They waited, this time hardly daring to breathe. How long would they wait before despair took full hold once more? If dawn came with Reina still locked in Dreams, he would be no more capable of leaving her side than he had been of leaving Noctis' after the marilith attack. The world would have to turn without him to push it.
Or else it would stop. He cared little, unless Reina woke.
Ten minutes passed.
All at once, Reina jerked upright, taking a gasping breath of air as her wide round eyes swept the room. They glanced over Regis, Crea, and Noctis, hardly seeing them, and fixed on the shadows near her desk instead.
"Oh, Uncle…" she said. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"
Regis seized her face between his hands and turned her to look at him. Her eyes focused on his, though tears fell intermittent down her face.
"Reina."
"Father." She managed a watery smile. "I know what you need to tell Ramuh."
He could not have cared less about the storm at that moment. The Astrals could drown all of Lucis. Niflheim could send their soulless army to tear Insomnia up from the roots. None of it mattered, so long as he had his daughter back.
"Oh, Reina. My Reina. My little girl." He wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against his chest.
After a moment of stunned silence, Noctis threw himself against them, hugging Reina from behind, and Crea wrapped her arms around all three of them. They remained that way until Reina began to squirm.
"I can't breathe in here," she complained.
Noctis and Crea let go—reluctantly. Regis loosened his hold only to take her face in his hands once more.
"Never do that to me again. I thought I'd lost you."
"Oh, Father…" She clambered up to her knees and threw her arms around his neck. "I told you once I would always protect you with my Dreams. All parts of you."
"What happened, Rei?" Noctis asked.
"I ended the war." She yawned and sat down on Regis' lap, leaning against his chest.
While Noctis and Crea gaped at her, Regis found the wherewithal to ask what he feared to know.
"And what did Ardyn wish for in return?"
"To live the past." She looked up at him, then aside. "It was rather personal and I don't feel I should talk about it. But he used my magic like—like I was a vessel and he was steering—and we went back two thousand years so he could remember a time when he was happy only… only he got lost in the Dream and when we reached the part that was unhappy, he couldn't get out again. I had to pull him free and back into the Black River."
Whatever he had expected, it was not that. To relive the past? She was capable of such a thing? Could she, thus, take him back to a time when—
But no. To relive a past he had already set aside was folly. It would do much more harm than good for the both of them. In any case, to learn that what Ardyn wanted in exchange for ending the war was a jaunt into happier times made him seem so much more human. And so much less daemon.
When she had first woken she had been overcome with sympathy. What had she been forced to experience as Ardyn was swept up in his own memories? Regis knew, perhaps, a part of the tale, but only second hand. He dared not think what it would be like to stand by as an observer while one brother betrayed the other. Or worse yet.
"Then I asked him to steer when I wanted to go," she continued, "To see how to bargain with the Fulgarian. And I saw Father again. And you were magnificent, Father—you were flying, with the Armiger all about you. And you were speaking to the Fulgarian. I didn't hear everything that was said but he was… remorseful, I suppose is the word. Or regretful. Or both. And Father said 'All this death and destruction can be undone. You know it to be true. All you need do is let go the ties that bind you to Eos and your part in the tale will be through.'"
And despite all that, she had kept in mind what she had promised to Dream for Regis.
He should have been furious with her. The number of direct orders from him she had disobeyed in a single night was unconscionable. And yet, he could feel nothing but relief that she was here and whole once more. So intense was his relief that he could not even begin to feel grateful or amazed that she had learned in one night what they had struggled for months to learn. How to end the storm and bargain with the Fulgarian.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair. "You have been a great many places and seen a great many things this night, little princess. It is high time you had your rest."
"Are you mad at me, Father?" She asked.
"Furious," he lied.
She managed a watery smile. "I love you. Even when you're upset with me."
"And I love you. Even when I am mad at you."
