New chapter alert! Finally. Things are not quite better, but I guess they're not worse? I'm talking about me here, not the story lol. Anywoo, it took me a while to find time to write. Work and thesis have been controlling most of my life, among with a case of minor depression. Most days, I'm doing okay. But free time feels rare.

Trigger warning for some kinda gory unpleasantness along the way, mostly at the very end of this chapter.

Ignea, feels all around, angst, Noctis facing his responsibility, a new problem arises, and we get some sort of reunion, although I wish I could say the whole gang is back together. It will happen eventually! Enjoy!

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Unexpected

Chapter 96 – Hold the line

Ignis and Aranea had fallen asleep with little clothing on and even less space between them, her arms wrapped over him, the metal pointing from her stumps warm against his skin. There had been tears and there had been anguish, but Aranea was more scared of not getting past this hurdle than hiding from him anymore. To say the least, they had very little sleep in their bodies, Ignis squeezing her closer from sheer instinct at the first buzz of her phone. Then his phone joined and he felt her hands shifting along his sides, pressing into the mattress as she tried to push herself up.

"Iggy," she whined, her nails grazing his ribs, making him shiver.

The phones buzzed hard, making their night table shake.

"Why now," he groaned, running one arm along her bare back. He had a very good mental picture of everything within this bed, but anything beyond it, including some of his clothes… It was pitch dark in his mind.

"It must be important," Aranea insisted, squirming to get herself closer to the night table. He blinked harder, his throat dry, biting back a moan of pain as the metal poking out of her legs dug into his. "Hold me steady," she asked him with a grunt.

She didn't have to beg, Ignis shifting along with her as she leaned to the right even more, half hanging out of the bed, letting out an exclamation of victory as she grabbed both of their phones. It was short-lived as she saw the caller on both.

"Fuck, I think Crowe's having her baby," she whispered.

"Already?"

"It's like a week early?"

He pulled her back on top of him, rubbing circles into her back as she unlocked the phone and answered. She tensed a little more, Ignis hearing Crowe's voice too, but unable to fully make out her words. What he sensed above all was the fact the former glaive was in pain.

"We'll be right there, hang in there, girl," Aranea told her friend.

"Do you think Iggy can try and… call Gladio? He's not answering and I can't…"

"Yes," Aranea said, Ignis echoing her perfectly. "Now give us just a few minutes, we'll be right there."

The following struggle was beyond hectic. Aranea could point everything to Ignis, but they were still perfecting their ways at guiding one another. Once they were both decent, he helped her into her wheelchair and pushed her out of the room. They asked for directions, something Ignis had never been too proud to do even when he still had his sight. He was just as worried for Crowe as he was for Noctis and the others as he wondered why Gladiolus didn't pick up his phone to answer his own wife. Tenebrae might have a bad signal to be fair, but still.

As they reached the room where Crowe was, Ignis hesitated, while Aranea wondered if they were supposed to just knock at the door to announce themselves.

"I'm taking so much damn space right now," she sighed.

"They know you were coming to give her support," he reminded her.

A nurse passing by asked if she could helped them and a minute later, Ignis had listened to Aranea being rolled away to support her friend, Crowe letting out one scream of agony and a couple curses while the nurse offered to take him back to the waiting room. They couldn't allow that many visitors, their rooms were too small to accommodate both Aranea and him and he knew Crowe needed her friend more than she needed his blind carcass. He let himself be led back to the waiting room, asking how close the elevator was. For some reason, the knowledge of walls around him made him feel claustrophobic whenever he was alone. He couldn't chase away the sensation of being trapped no matter where he turned. Large open spaces should have felt threatening, but everything was darkness and shadows. What did it change if the space holding up the shadows was a closet or an entire street? Everywhere was too much to handle.

He messed around with his phone to call Gladio, reaching his voicemail. Noctis's phone gave him a dead tone before a message warning the number he was reaching to was not within the service area or lacked battery. Suddenly, even the chair on which he was sitting felt too small. He tried Iris's phone and got the same message and Luna's phone went directly to voicemail, meaning the thing was closed. Just having his phone calling either of them and having to speak in hushed tones to the machine made him feel so low.

He jumped to his feet, apologizing as he heard a light gasp across the room from his harsh movement.

"No worry, sir. Do you need help?"

And here it was again. The question everyone he met asked. It was better than being taken advantage of, but somehow, needing so much help, having everyone assume he needed the help to begin with…

Let me ask for it. Give me the illusion I look well enough to manage.

Instead of letting out the bitterness in his heart, Ignis asked for directions to the elevators. He took it all the way down to the lobby and stepped out onto the streets. Without a cane again, but while the cane gave him some reassurance, he wanted to stop needing it soon. He needed to be as efficient as he could on his own to support Aranea better. She'd been so soft and fragile between his arms the other night. Apologizing for crying, then begging him to be rougher with her, so she could feel like herself, feel solid. His heart was still raw and he needed her in his arms again. Her voice steady in his ears and her face hinting a smile under his fingers.

He'd touched her longer and slower than he could remember. He'd lost it when he'd finally had the touches that could paint a clearer picture of what her legs looked like. She'd joked about looking like a sci-fi pirate and sharpening the spikes of metal prodding out of her, but he'd simply kissed her silent, hoping the gesture would be enough for her to know. It didn't matter to him. He was sad for her and it hurt to know how much she had lost, but he loved her heart.

He felt the vibration of his phone and brought it up to his ear to have the new text read out loud.

"Crowe is only midway dilated enough."

He chased the mental image away, voicing his answer.

You two need anything?

"Just get a hold of Gladio if you can," came her answer.

He really wished she would use another app and leave him actual voice message instead of texts, because the woman's voice who read up everything on his phone was already getting on his nerves.

Will try my best.

Now to try. He stepped off to find a quiet spot, preferably a bench, or even a fishing spot where Noctis would have happily dropped himself as he waited for Luna to be done with healing people. It had been merely a week since Noctis had left and he was already feeling quite miserable about his absence. He skidded down a few stairs, mentally stammering at his heart to control itself as the sudden fear had made it thunder madly.

From the sounds he heard around, he determined there was a wall to his right and reached for it, glad to find it, even if the bricks were damp with fresh greens that squashed under his touch. He stepped forward, mentally retracing his environment. Fourteen steps later, he turned left, avoiding the few chairs and tables serving as a picnic area next to the hospital. A few employees greeted him, cautioning him about one obstacle or the other, Ignis nodding his thanks and making his way to the closest pier. He should have been terrified of the water considering how it was the last place where he'd seen Aranea human. But his thoughts were too garbled with other worries. He sat down with his feet hanging above the water, letting out a short sigh. Time to take out his phone and fumble again.

This time, Gladiolus picked up after three rings.

"The fuck, man?"

"Excuse me?" Ignis managed, taken aback by the fact he was panting heavily and his choice of greeting.

"This is not a good fucking time."

"Gladio, what's going on with Noct and…?"

He heard a scream that wasn't quite human, his heart missing a beat. Something about that voice was terribly familiar.

"Gladiolus!"

"I really can't talk right now, Ig, I'll call you back when he's under control."

And that was it. The silence stretched like an nth rejection.

"Why would you even answer if you can't bloody listen?" Ignis couldn't help himself, drawing in a rough breath as he went over the few insults he had in mind for his friend. Not constructive, but it wasn't like Gladiolus was helping him.

Noctis was not safe. Unless they'd found Prompto, but that seemed too fast and why would they need to get Prompto under control? Unlike Noctis whose powers had been volatile after everything Luna had been through. Gladio had told him about the things he couldn't see during those 72 hours of Noctis running all over the place to solve everything by himself while everyone else were either sleeping things off or licking their wounds. Noctis was unstable. He had been for a while now. Ever since he'd started collecting and using those royal arms…

"Guide my son," Regis had asked him.

"I'm doing one hell of a job on this", Ignis whispered to himself.

"Noctis? Can you hit those breaks or do you need me to get out and hold the back of this fucking train?"

"Less talking, more killing," Noctis shot back, knowing full well those were the words that Gladio would normally use.

His Shield chuckled dryly, cutting through more daemons. They kept on swarming the place and he couldn't fight too close to Noctis to cover for him, not with the man's full armiger deployed. The daemons clawed from the other compartments, rushing through the windows, drawn away as the train went through a tunnel. The floor was covered with green and purple blood, the monsters faded into dark fumes, but always came back; Noctis felt a burning sensation in his back as they gathered, and the voice spoke in his mind, in his skull, strong enough it reverberated through his very heart.

We're still incomplete. Incomplete and you won't feed us any flesh.

His armiger pulsed, phasing through the walls to shelter the train compartment, Noctis keeping only his engine blade in his hand. His ancestors didn't comment. When the crystal spoke, they were silent. And more daemons gathered, Noctis throwing himself across the space and outside the train, warping on himself to get a better understanding of what was happening. The snow was stained with daemon spawn, gathering in a vast spiral, the front car of the train at its center.

His teeth itched, heart hammering in his temples. If Ardyn wasn't around, this whole event had to mean he was the cause. He wanted to make sure Luna was safe, but he couldn't, not if he was a beacon for danger.

Feed us, feed us.

"Noct!" Gladio called, pulling himself on the roof after him. He'd taken the chance to phase up and since he couldn't warp, it had taken him more time, but the look in his eyes told Noctis he had gathered the range of their predicament.

"Go find Luna and Iris!"

"But you're…"

"That's an order, Gladio!"

His Shield gritted his teeth but nodded, phasing back into the train. The daemons were gathering on the roof now, all along the train; wraiths and uttus shaking the cars by planting their harpoon like legs into it, goblins hopping and scattering along, hanging from dark moons. Noctis wanted to summon Ramuh, or even Leviathan, but as he pulled on his link to the Astrals, he found nothing. He needed to take away this swarm, he needed all the strength he could muster.

Reunite us, we're so close, finally so close, the crystal insisted.

Not yet.

He remembered his father facing the six-armed naga. Spotted a deamon as large as a behemoth, parting the snow and howling. Was it two jaws snapping? How could there be this many…?

We just need one.

The armiger was not enough. Warp-striking, throwing all his elemancy at them, stabbing, hacking, firing… Nothing seemed to be enough. Even though he'd toppled Astrals, he was out of breath and running out of ethers, his hands shaking as he summoned more thunder.

The ring. It's about time you fucking wear it, he thought bitterly.

He always kept it on him now. The giant daemon was rising onto its hind legs. What was a wyrm doing out of the caves and dungeons where they usually waited?

He slipped on the cold ring, the crystal's voice exulting in the back of his head, his right arm shaking as the skin cracked from the surge of power.

Something's wrong.

Eat them all. Reunite us.

The armiger pulsed, the blue growing purple, his eyes too red, unblinking, as he gathered the power inside and around him. There was a rebound to it, the same sensation as when he'd first touched the crystal. Flashes under his eyelids.

Dark towers, ancient wars, cold stars burning in the emptiness of space, stones in his flesh, hollowing him out, digging through his bones.

With a scream, he let the dark energy ripple out of him, channeling it through the armiger, letting his body zip to one weapon then the next, phasing through monsters, finding the connection to the Astrals once more.

Chosen King, they greeted him.

"Yes. If we're going to purge this star, might as well aid me for once," he barked, his blood rushing with the sense of death. Not his, but the one he could spread.

His vision lacked color as he blinked through the next warpstrike, closing one fist and watching the daemons dragged towards him, vanishing into darkness. Threads of light he absorbed, exhaling roughly. The taste of blood in his mouth. The sense he was larger than his body. The fact he could just pry them off the ground and into nothingness.

He drew a wave on his left and they collapsed as the darkness spread over the horizon.

Blink, ground yourself, he begged himself.

The cracks were running down his chest and up his neck. Reaching his eyes. Blinking was too hard now. Everything was blacks, grays and whites.

Die, die, die.

"As long as they die, she'll be safe."

Ramuh at his fingertips, he struck the ground with his thunder spear, the bolt spreading in waves, Noctis's hair rising with static. His teeth clicked together. They felt too large for his mouth, his jaw was starting to hurt. He needed to keep it in, to hold it back while still focusing everything he could on what was left of the…

Another blink, and he realized the daemons were corpses now, the larger one wavering. He took a step towards it, noting he was floating, drawing his armiger closer, warping the weapons into one. Instinct told him he could dress himself with the steel, make his very hands into the weapons he wanted, glaives, swords, even a giant hammer if he so much as willed it. It would be over with one fell swoop. The ring burned and froze and bit into his finger, hollowing more, bleeding him out, but it was working, he could achieve more than he'd ever dreamed…

With a flick of the finger, he ordered the train to a stop behind him and the gears grunted and screeched as they brought the rumbling machine to a rough halt. With three more steps, he was flashing across space, breathing the daemon in, closing both hands to swallow it whole.

Back to nothing, mine, all mine.

The thoughts scared him, sounding too similar to what the corrupt crystal would whisper. Its silence was also troubling, but with another blink, Noctis realized there was nothing but silence now. He let out a breath, seeing mist in front of him. The cold from the outside was reaching him again, his eyes filling with tears as the ring's magic faded to a tiny pull in his finger. He landed on the snow, stumbling and catching himself on the armiger, still floating around him. His hand was split open by a shard of his father's Glaive and he cursed out loud, colors coming back with the blood.

"Noct!" Gladio barked at him.

The King dropped his armiger, dread wrapping around his heart seeing his Shield stepping out of the train with no one following.

"Where's Luna?"

"Couldn't find her or Iris. The whole side of their car was torn open, but a lot of the train is in the same state."

"Gladio, where's my wife?"

"I don't know! I've been trying to call Iris but she won't pick up."

"You think they've fallen off that thing? I don't think I even have the energy to zip back over the tracks, do you have any ether on you?"

He was trembling, dark bags under his eyes, his cheeks looking hollow under the dark beard that hadn't been there before. Gladiolus spotted the ring on his hand and shook his head at him.

"Noct, we're going to find both of them, first you need to take a breather, take off that ring, you just took out…"

Noctis scrambled for his phone, snapping as he found it was crushed beyond recognition. When had that happened? Why couldn't any phone company make their phone daemon resistant?

"Call her. Call her right now."

Gladio blinked, his throat tightening. Noctis' eyes were still red. They hadn't even flickered back to blue. And there was something about his hair standing on end. One stray lock looked too straight, pointing upwards, curving weirdly. The Shield obeyed, fighting against an old fear he'd thought over. Noctis's voice was shifting to something harsher than he'd ever heard from him.

The call wouldn't go through, Noctis ripping the phone from his hands, snarling at it, his armiger sparkling back into the air.

"Dude, I looked all over those cars, there was no trace of either of them, so we have to believe they're fine."

Gladio didn't dare to speak of finding a body. His sister was also missing and he knew losing the Oracle now would doom them. Noctis glared at him, his swords whistling as they whirled around him faster.

"Noct, listen to me, you need to calm the fuck down."

"No, I need to find her. Now."

"Noct, your hands are…!"

The crystal roared in the King's mind, his throat closing as the taste of blood in his mouth became actual blood. He dropped the phone, nails breaking into claws, sensing the shift within, spreading from his spine, his back burning up.

"Fuck, fuck, this is not…"

His fingers were twice their size now, the ring burning, too tight but staying on, feeding his body with magic that would hold his mind together while everything else followed the pulse in his back.

We're wholer.

Not a word.

But we are.

"Gladio, I can't stop it, I can't…"

His skin was hardening and it meant he would be too dangerous, the cracks were shifting into scales and the scales itched, but his teeth and gums itched even more, his voice garbled as his jaw dislocated to make room for the fangs, Gladio taking one step back despite his best intentions.

"Where's Ardyn? How is he doing this to you?" the Shield asked.

"I don't know!" he squeaked. "It's not… Knock me out. Check my back, if you can see the crystal inside, it should…" Gladio was reminded of his state right when they'd found him following his kidnapping. "Fuck, it's just spreading, it's…" His voice broke.

Was it the panic deep in his heart fueling it? Their train had just stopped, there was no reason for neither Luna nor Iris to jump off a running train, even though daemons had been getting on it. They would have engaged the monsters. Luna could have made up a shield. He regretted not taking her with him. He hoped she would never see him like this. He wanted to cry but his eyes were burning, catching everything that was changing as his bones shifted, his shirt ripped open by the wings piercing through his back.

The pointy locks were twisting into horns now. The whites of his eyes had turned black, his iris red as blood, and Gladiolus wanted to wake up from this nightmare. This was Etro possessing Crowe all over again.

"Noct, is it the blight, did one of those daemons...?"

"No, it's…"

Luna is missing, you don't have time for this, you don't have time to turn into a daemon or fall under that crystal's control, whatever this is, you need to find her. Find her and Iris.

But thinking that Luna was missing reminded him of her blood on his hands, back in the cave where Ardyn had mimicked her semblance, back on the boat where she had become his wife, and the stains on her dress…

"Gladio, you need to…"

Gladio's phone rang, Noctis jumping away, his ears too sensitive for the sudden noise, the Shield gingerly picking it up, heaving a sigh.

"It's Iggy."

"Godsdammit!"

Prompto and Otto had two snowmobiles, already packed with travel equipment. As they led their "willing" captives, both men started arguing.

"How did you get daemons to rush the train?" Prompto kicked it off.

"I did none of that! The old creep told you about it?"

"Not a word, which is why I thought you were using your old connections to a certain chancellor."

Otto shuddered, pushing Iris forward a little too harshly, her feet slipping on the snow. Luna was tensed next to Prompto, sensing his nervous energy. This was not the best friend of Noctis she remembered, nor the young tortured man who'd helped her make it through too many nights spent worrying she'd never see her King again.

"Get on the machine," Otto ordered Iris, kicking in her legs as though that would make her faster.

"You're going to change your tone and attitude, Two," Prompto warned.

He remembered One looking down at him, like Two was doing right now. Brows frowning, his eyes disgusted.

"Or what? You were agreed to this shitty plan. You killed plenty of…"

"V wants them both alive!" Prompto barked back, letting go of Luna's arm to turn fully towards his clone.

"I'm not going to kill them with yelling," he observed, taking a step towards Prompto, who mimicked the motion and grabbed Otto by his coat.

He remembered what he intended to do to the kids they'd seen floating in blue tubes. How he refused to see another generation of them. How he'd clicked his tongue and moved his index finger against his own temple.

"Be straight with me, Buddy-two. Those daemons rushing out of nowhere in bright daylight…"

"It's gray as fuck for people with eyes!" Otto gestured at the sky, kicking at Prompto's shin, but the first clone of their bunch didn't let go of his coat, almost headbutting him. "I have no idea what Ardyn is planning or if he's around, I'm not his…"

There was a click between both men and cold metal pressed into his chin, his eyes widening as he caught the look in Prompto's glare. If Ardyn wasn't around, there was no point keeping up this masquerade of a truce.

"It's been long enough, right?"

The shot flared up, blood splattering as Otto's skull popped open, his body dropping to the ground, staining the snow, Prompto standing very still.

Iris had covered her mouth, Luna whiter than the snow, staring at the scene.

"You're not killing any more of us," Prompto whispered through clenched teeth.

His arm lifted the gun, Luna's scream snapping him out of the hateful trance. He looked around, reminded of that time when he'd shot One. When his friends saw Ardyn instead of him.

"I… I couldn't do that in the train, I swear it's me, Luna, Iris, I…"

He dropped the gun, lifting his sleeve to show them the numbers on his wrist, bile rising in his throat as his brain slowly registered what he'd just done.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to throw up," Iris managed, dropping to her knees without another word.

Luna held herself, blinking while Prompto wrung his hands together. They had to be terrified of him, he'd been missing for weeks now and the last they'd heard if they'd heard anything.

"I didn't mean to hurt either of you, I swear, Verstael has… He…"

He thought of daemon Ravus in his cage and how he'd used that flamethrower to subdue him. Of the Tenebraen people, Luna's people, from whom he'd stolen clothes and food just to survive as he destroyed one imperial camp after another.

"Prompto," Luna started, raising her hands in an appeasing gesture. "Prompto, please stay calm."

"We need to check his wrist," Iris said in between dry-heaving.

It hurt but she was right. Luna motioned for him to step away from the body, almost tasting his terror in the air around him.

"I didn't want to blow his head off, but he said he'd kill the others! Even if he's gone, I got only a few more days to get you both to the labs, or they'll die, they'll die and it will be my fault again," he started rambling, his eyes staring at Luna's, his hands shaking as she pulled the bloodied gloves off them to turn his right wrist. The series of numbers was there and she looked for the last one, knowing what to expect, her heart aching as he rambled off some more about kids trapped underground, about brothers already doomed and how sorry he was and how he couldn't leave yet, how he needed their help, how he'd find ways to make it up to them.

"Prompto," Luna said, raising her voice to catch his attention. "Prompto, I know it's you."

Iris understood they were safe for the time being, a tension releasing in her frame while her body heaved some more. Prompto was not dead, he was alive, the one with his head blown off and brains splattered atop the snow was the last clone, at least it sounded like the last of the clones, but Prompto was saying the word "clone" and "brother" again and he was sobbing now.

"Prompto, you need to start from the beginning," Luna asked him, reaching for his head and halting as he withdrew from her touch, his breathing getting even rougher.

"I… Can I burn him first or something?"

"By the gods, Prompto, how many times are you going to torture yourself like this?" she pleaded, taking the risk to pull him into a hug.

He didn't fight back, merely tensing and shaking, apologies pouring from his throat. The sky was turning dark above them, Iris gasping right as Luna felt the pounding of a violent magic rushing through the air. It felt somewhat familiar, reminding her of Nyx Ulric and Ignis Scientia. Her heart sank in her chest as hundreds of souls vanished, the magic spreading and spiralling, her light instinctively rushing into her fingertips, her shield blinking over the three of them.

The magic surged, dark and wild, a rolling thunder wrapped in fire, rippling in waves that dug rivulets of darkness through the snow. Otto's corpse was cut apart as though invisible blades were etching the snow into a puzzle of lines and curves, Iris screaming as the foreign sensation burned her senses.

Prompto squeaked, wrapping one arm around Luna as he looked around, his question covered by a thunderclap.

And as fast as it came, the magic retracted back to its source, Luna's light vibrating in her core as she understood.

Could it be Noctis? But how?

"What the hell was that?" Iris asked, walking up to them.

"Noctis was on the train," Luna managed. "Did you see how the daemons were acting?"

Prompto gave a shaky nod, rubbing her back without thinking.

"They were all aiming for the front car."

"Why would they…?"

"I'll have to see him first," Luna sighed. "Prom, you said you only had a few days before…?"

Prompto swallowed, forcing his words into a proper order.

"Verstael made more of his clones. They're about 10 or 11, they never walked out of their tubes yet. He had me and Otto doing whatever he asked for in exchange for keeping them alive. We… We were tasked to get ahold of Ravus and bring him back to him," he said as quickly as he could.

Luna grabbed his arms roughly at the news.

"My brother? Is he alright?"

Prompto started shaking his head and then shrugged with a huff.

"He's kinda furry with horns and fangs at the moment… I'm very sorry."

"But he's alive?!" Iris insisted.

"Yes. Yes, he definitely is. Our last mission was to catch you both and… well you know the rest."

"Is taking out Otto going to be a problem?" Luna asked him.

"Nah, jerk-dad has bombs in our heads, but no cam or mics, so whatever we do outside of the lab, he doesn't know. I can tell him a daemon ate him or something."

Iris grabbed his right arm, her eyes round as saucer.

"You have a bomb in your head?!"

"Crazy right? I mean, it's not exactly a bomb. It's tiny enough that no scan can see it, or maybe I was just too healthy for my own good. It would just scramble my nervous system. He can actually paralyze us… I mean me I guess… Well he can paralyze me from afar." He paused then, thinking to himself. "Maybe it'd be better if I don't drive, he might try that since Otto's signal must be gone now."

Iris cursed, Luna shaking her head at Prompto.

"This is insane. Is this what you've been dealing with lately?"

Prompto's chuckle was drier than sand.

"I've been trying to stay alive. We should get to Noctis now, right? I don't want him worried because of all this shit."

Luna nodded, reaching for his face, knowing he was pushing himself again to get past his panic.

"Prom, we missed you. A lot. Especially Noctis"

"Fuck, Luna, you don't get to tell me that when I just… You saw me pack that maniac in a trunk with a dead frog before and now I…"

"Prompto, this was the best option for us to have the upper hand against Verstael," Iris cut him off. "I wish you didn't have to…"

"At this point, what's one more gonna change, huh?" he interrupted right back, scratching at his head.

"I won't give you empty words," Luna said firmly. "But we did miss you. And not just Noctis. Cindy has been the ghost of herself."

His shoulders slumped at that, his eyes closing roughly as he tried to hold back the questions he'd fallen asleep to every night.

"I've missed everyone," he admitted, his voice breaking. "Who's with Noct right now?"

"Gladio is," Iris answered. At the frown on his face, her features darkened. "Let's say things were rough for everyone in Altissia. We can bring you up to speed when we've regrouped with the others? Gotta make sure what the hell this stuff on the ground means," she added, pointing at their feet.

The snow had been dug in by the dark tendrils of energy they'd seen, Luna shivering as she felt the familiar touch beneath the manifestation. Something was wrong. She dug in her pocket, finding her phone, but it refused to turn on.

"Iris, do you think we can reach either of them? Let them know we're on our way?"

"On it."

They could all hear Gladio barking from the other line, and something else that sounded weirdly like howling.

"Is everything okay?!" Iris asked.

"Send a picture or a vid of Luna so I can get him to calm the fuck down!" her brother demanded, Luna looking incredibly pale on the picture Iris took.

"Keep your phone powered, we'll get to you with the GPS," Iris cautionned.

Gladio promised and they were scrambling for the snowmobiles, Luna insisting she could drive one on her own while Iris agreed to share the other one with Prompto. They rushed through the snow, Luna following the threads on the snow, letting Iris correct her course with. It took them five hours to see the train again, but then it was mere minutes to spot Noctis and Gladio who sat on torn benches they'd taken out to wait, looking at the horizon.

Luna didn't have the time to step off the snowmobile, Noctis was warp striking to her, pulling her in his arms and hugging her close. For a few seconds, she was flying with him, and he held her up as they landed.

"Noct!"

"You were gone, I was worried sick," he told her, squeezing her close enough she couldn't breathe.

"Noctis, I felt magic that…"

He cut her off with his lips on hers and there was a different taste to his tongue, for a second she feared she had seen wrong and it might not be Noctis holding her, but then he sighed and relaxed between her arms, whispering a prayer. Her heart ached as she sensed the tears he was holding back.

"I'm sorry, I was almost… If I lose you, I lose myself, Luna."

The fear in his voice held nightmares and the shivers in his hands were almost worse. How she wanted to keep him hidden somewhere safe, to help him count himself down to every part and glue them together with the fabric of their love.

"Noct, I never meant to leave. We found Prompto, things just…"

Gladiolus had hugged his sister and tried to gather the gunman into a bear hug too, but Prompto had avoided it, too jumpy and stressed out to allow the contact.

"Prom's back?"

It did sound crazy, but Luna pulled back far enough she could look around for the blond man, Noctis's hands gripping her nervously. Words burned his tongue about what had happened to him, about the fact he had had scales just a few hours ago…

Prompto was a terrible sight, blood and burn marks all over his clothes, his eyes bloodshot and his shoulders drawn inwards even closer than usual.

"Dude, we thought…"

His mind was reeling, the ring heavy in his pocket. It had taken everything for him to take it off after finally shifting back to his human form. Gladiolus had chided him and warned him. This event was going to be shared with Luna as quickly as possible, but now Prompto was alive for real, although he looked just as traumatized as Noctis.

"I'm sorry?" the gunman said, his voice rasping as his eyes went from Luna to Noctis.

"Why should you? I thought I'd lost my best friend. Come here, man."

Prompto's head shook, as though he didn't understand, Luna squeezed Noctis's arm, hoping he would understand just how fragile the other man was.

"I can tackle-hug you if you don't move, you know?"

Prompto's smile was fragile, crumbling as soon as he reached Noctis, his shaking fully back.

"I wanted to get back sooner."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there, man."

Iris leaned harder into her brother, and Luna wrapped her arms around herself, trying to process all that had happened in a single day. The night was falling and she should have worried about daemons showing up, praying the Astrals to give them some peace.

The stone beneath his raw skin felt cold, sticking to his palms which were still bleeding. His ribcage had been torn and collapsed on itself and it was still fixing itself, somehow, the blight within worked too slow. One of his eyes was blind as he blinked, the other one giving him blurs of darkness. A single window to the sky and salty air made his chest clench and since everything was hanging out, it was pure pain burning through his fresh nerves.

Adagium. The first Caelum. The original Somnius.

The Kings of Old, ursupartors by inheritance, had given him the biggest slap of his existence. Foolish counsellor, wearing the ring and somehow controlling their power. He should have been more careful about the Lucii. Noctis was well under his thumb now, he could still taste his fear and his rage. But just now, as he writhed on the floor, smelling his entrails as they twitched and tossed and fell out again, Ardyn had sensed a disturbance. Whenever he died, his connections to the daemons grew tangible. They would normally gather to him in swarms, feeding whichever need he had, be it a corporeal form, a new heart, gray cells or the fabric of his favorite hat. But for some reason, only a handful had answered his pull, even though his signal was strong.

And then in one shot of scathing pain, he'd sensed them, faltering by hundreds. He'd felt the void too, the dark hole called by Scientia, as though its energy was awakened at new. Someone had worn the ring. His daemons had answered to a different call. The pieces were shifting on the board. With a grunt, he gathered his insides back within, pushing dirt and sand against his flesh, trying to grimace in a refined manner instead of just bearing his teeth.

He felt almost human and it was infuriating. He finally had Noctis where he needed him.

But there was something lacking. He gathered his magic, stitching himself with purple and red light, from neck to navel. He was almost inspired to make it into a drawing, either obscene or ludicrous, whichever his tired hands would manage, but he was too tired for fantasy. He blinked, seeing through both eyes now, getting to his knees and to his feet. A few things dangled but he cut them off, hearing flesh thudding and picturing the blood on Lunafreya instead of what pooled at his feet.

The screams all over Altissia. Drowning people.

Something felt wrong.

"I'm hollower," he croaked.

Maybe was it time to demand a real talk with the Infernian.

"Could use a sunburn or two," Ardyn told himself.

He took a step forward, stumbled on the third one and by the sixth he was phasing through time like only he knew how and making sure everything he'd missed was part of his knowing. Down to every single daemon and magiteck soldier Noctis had taken out.

To be continued...

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And here it is. Noctis wore the ring for the first time. It was pleasant for no one. This chapter was quite chaotic, but I hope to give everyone a breather in the following, before they head to face Verstael.

Any thoughts on what's coming? Reviews do keep me motivated 😊