As it turned out, Iris found him before he found her.

"Noct!" she cried, rushing over to him, as he stared blankly at yet another makeshift building he was sure hadn't been there before.

"Iris!" he cried, and within moments she was crushing him as she wrapped her spindly arms around him, holding him tightly in place. "Yeah, I missed you too," he chuckled, lightly hugging her back.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she said, releasing him and looking him up and down. "After you left for Altissia we didn't really hear anything—I figured the thing with Leviathan must have been you, but no one said anything about it. You are okay, right? Lady Lunafreya got rid of the Starscourge?"

"Sure did," said Noctis, deciding now was not the time to get into his time travelling problems with Iris.

"What's up with your hair?" she asked, which was not a question he'd been expecting. "Do they not have hairdressers out there?"

Noctis couldn't help but think grimly that what with the situation in Accordo, Niflheim, and even the tenuous peace in Tenebrae, no, there probably weren't any hairdressers left around. His hair had gotten a bit longer in their absence (in fact, he was beginning to look eerily like his older self) but he didn't think it looked too bad.

"Nope," he said lightly. "Haven't really had time for a haircut, to be honest."

"I bet Gladdy looks awful," Iris snickered, but then her expression became sullen again.

"Yeah," said Noctis, quietly. "Sorry he couldn't be here."

Iris sighed deeply and scratched the side of her head. "It's not your fault," she said glumly. "Cor told me all about it."

Well he'd obviously left out the part where Noctis repeatedly mentioned it was all his fault, but it seemed there was nothing to be done about that now. Still, there was an aspect to it he was still concerned about.

"Um, how much did Cor tell you, exactly?"

"Hmm?" said Iris. "Oh, not a lot, I guess. He said I ought to ask you about most of it."

"Right." That meant Cor had helpfully left him with the task of breaking it to Iris that he was soon to face his imminent death. Fun.

"What did you want to know, exactly?" he asked, beginning to walk away from the centre of the camp, towards the large stone walls that surrounded it.

He didn't want anyone else to see him while he was discussing this. Especially since it had a decent chance of making Iris cry.

"Um, Cor said kind of a lot," said Iris, blushing slightly. "I guess...what happened after you left? How close was it with Lady Lunafreya?"

Ah, good. An easy one to start with.

"We made it to Altissia in time," he said. "The others weren't happy with me, obviously, but Luna healed me before it got super bad. It turned out okay."

Iris looked a little disappointed with that answer. Evidently she'd been expecting something a bit more exciting.

"But what happened after?" she asked. "With Leviathan? I heard she almost flooded the entire city!"

Noctis winced internally. Of course, Iris had no way of knowing that particular topic was a bit sensitive to him right now.

"It was pretty intense," he said. "I'm just lucky I made it out more or less okay."

"Did you get to use those Royal Arms you've been getting?"

"Yeah," he said, trying to sound a little less miserable. "Turns out they're super powerful too."

"Nice!" said Iris, pumping her fists.

Noctis, eager to get away from this topic of conversation, decided now would be a good moment to change it. "Anything else you wanted to know about?"

"Hmm," said Iris, pursing her lips. "Oh, I've got it! Cor said you went all the way into Niflheim—what was it like? I've seen tons of people coming through that seem to be from there. Is it really bad?"

Six, he still hated Niflheim. Not the country, or the residents, so much. Just the darkness.

"Noct?"

Noctis realised he must have been glaring at the floor, and straightened up.

"Sorry," he said. "Lost in thought. It was...pretty bad, to be honest."

Iris's gleeful pretence had faded, but she still had a determined look in her eye.

"How bad?"

"Awful. Never-ending night, daemons everywhere, no wind, no warmth. Just cold and dark. That's what it's like when the darkness comes."

"What about the people?"

Yes, she was definitely angling for something.

"Gone," he said. "Either left or—"

He cut himself off. Should he tell Iris about what the Starscourge really did? Would that scare her? But if he failed, somehow, if she had to stay here...she needed to know. She was staring at him expectantly. He cleared his throat.

"Or got turned into daemons."

Iris's eyes narrowed, but she showed no other sign of surprise. "Is that what happens?" she asked. "You stay there long enough and you get turned into one?"

"Not quite," he sighed. "People get the Starscourge by being mauled by daemons, then it spreads until they get taken over completely."

Iris had gone quite pale, but her tone was joking when she spoke. "Sounds like some zombie movie."

Noctis chuckled. "I guess that's not too far off."

"But you got it and you're okay," she said, now staring at him.

"I got healed," he said. "That's part of the Oracle's job."

"Can she do that to daemons too?"

"No." He still remembered the goblins from Gralea. "It's too late by then. The kindest thing to do at that point is just kill them."

"Right."

Iris seemed surprisingly okay with the idea.

"Thinking of going out there yourself?" Noctis asked, curious.

"No!" said Iris, far too quickly. Noctis raised an eyebrow at her, making her blush. "Well, it's not that simple," she muttered defensively. "I just wanted to know what's going on. Cor wouldn't tell me anything before. I thought things were getting pretty bad, what with the night drawing in, but no matter who I asked they just tried to act like it was all normal or something. It felt like the world was ending and no one wanted to tell me. Is that right, Noct?"

Noctis clicked his tongue, pondering. "Well, I hope not."

"That's not an answer."

He sighed.

"Well, that's because it kind of depends on what I do how badly this goes."

He could see Iris staring at him curiously from the corner of his eye.

"So this is all on you?" she asked. "You're like...some kind of Chosen One?"

"It's not like that!" he snapped. Iris flinched away slightly. "Sorry, I mean...it's not that simple. There's this...prophecy, about me. It says I'm the one who has to bring back the light."

"Sounds like a Chosen One thing to me," said Iris, teasingly.

"I have to die to do it."

The silence that fell after that was almost suffocating, and Noctis stopped walking to give Iris some space to catch her breath.

"What?" she asked, her voice now very small.

Noctis sighed. He'd gotten the worst part out of the way. Now he could be a bit more accommodating.

"It's one of the conditions," he said, turning to face her. There were already tears in her eyes. "I know it's...hard to hear, but it has to happen."

"When?" Her eyes were glistening, but she wasn't crying yet.

"Not yet," he said. "There's something else I need to do first, but soon we'll be going back to Niflheim and... Well. I probably won't come back."

Iris clenched her jaw, and Noctis could see her breathing deeply, trying hard not to cry.

"Come here," he said, holding out his arms, and she rushed to him, wrapping her arms around him in a fierce hug as she began sobbing. "I know, I know," he said, in low soothing tones.

"Why does it have to be like that?" she gasped, between sobs.

"I don't know," he said.

"It's—not—fair!"

He rubbed his hand over her shoulder, hoping it somehow helped. She kept crying furiously, clinging to him like she was afraid to let go. Noctis hugged her back, deciding he'd stay here as long as he needed to. It was awkward, to be sure, but there was something vaguely comforting in knowing that Iris at least still trusted him.

Eventually her sobs slowed, then came to a stop, though she was still sniffing.

"It think that's why he left, your brother," said Noctis, as Iris finally let go of him. "When the others found out they were...angry. They wanted to find some way to save me."

Iris's brow creased into a deep frown. "Why wouldn't you want that? Aren't they trying to help you?"

"Yes, but..." He could think of no good retort, not without revealing more than he should. "I'm just...worried about them. They left and I have no idea where they are. It's...hard, on top of everything else."

Iris nodded slowly. "I think I get it. But if I were in Gladdy's place I'd definitely do the same thing."

Noctis smiled at her, but the smile was strained. "I understand," he said.

Iris stared at him. "Do you?"

Were all teenage girls like this or did Iris just have some sort of eerie insight?

"I promise not to be too hard on him when he comes back."

She beamed at him.

"But I can't exactly forgive him straight away. I've got a reputation to uphold and all of that."

Iris pouted it a bit, but quickly let up. "Do you want to see the camp?"

The sun was very low in the sky now, and night would be coming on soon. It would be best go get an idea of where everything wad by daylight.

"Sure."


Iris led him around the camp, pointing out the dining hall, the barracks and the hangar, where she told him they were keeping any vehicles they could get their hands on. Most of the structures built by the Nifs were still there, though some iron fencing had been torn down, and in it's place, makeshift metal-sheet housing had sprung up, presumably to provide some shelter to the people staying there.

"So where do you fit into all of this?" asked Noctis as they circled back around to his hut.

By this time, night had well and truly fallen, and the fort was lit from above by harsh white lights, presumably powered by Lestallum's famous power plant.

"Oh, you know, I do this and that," said Iris, laughing, though her laugh sounded rather nervous.

"I'm surprised Cor let you tag along, to be honest. Usually he's pretty strict about that sort of thing."

"Well, not with me, I guess!"

Noctis looked at her. Her face was flushed, and she was avoiding looking him in the eyes.

"How is it here in the compound?" he asked. "You got a lot to do?"

"Most of the time," said Iris, but her facade was cracking as he asked more and more questions.

"Seems kind of slow out here," Noctis observed. "What do you do?" He smirked. "Bring people drinks?"

"I'm more important than that!" she cried, going bright red.

Noctis didn't reply, staring her down.

Eventually she gave a massive sigh, and slumped her shoulders. "Alright, you got me. They aren't letting me do anything here. I came along with Cor because I thought being here might at least be more interesting than being stuck cooped up at Caem, but it's not! I try to ask people what's going on and they all shut me down. Whenever I try to convince Cor to talk to me all he does is brush me off and say he's 'busy'. And even when I try to watch them training to pick up some hints someone always finds me and takes me away! It's so annoying!"

She stamped her foot as if to punctuate this statement, and for all it made her look even more childish, Noctis found he could relate sharply. For all he liked to try and be the sensible adult, sometimes a situation was just so frustrating that foot-stamping was the only appropriate reaction.

"They're keeping you away from everything, huh?" he said, deciding not to come down too hard on one side or another. He was sympathetic, but he still didn't want to piss off Cor.

"It's not just that," sighed Iris. "It's as though they think I'm stupid. As though by keeping me away from this stuff they think one day I'll just stop asking. I can see the sky too! I know the darkness is coming! I've even trained with Gladdy before—it's not like I'm totally unprepared for any of this stuff happening." She heaved a great sigh. "But they won't listen to me. It's like I'm some sort of annoying dog or something."

"What do you want to do?" asked Noctis.

Iris shrugged. "I dunno. Help with the hunts maybe? I'm capable of fighting, y'know? Honestly, I'd be happy even if they just actually told me what's going on. I know I'm young, but I'm not a baby."

"Want me to talk to Cor about it?"

She turned to him, eyes wide with amazement. "You'd do that?"

"Sure," he said. "I see no reason you shouldn't know what's going on. I dunno about fighting—Cor probably doesn't want you going out with the others because you're...y'know, fifteen. But you're more than old enough to know about the Starscourge and stuff."

"That's what I've been saying!" she cried, throwing her hands up. "Thanks Noct. I get the whole fighting thing, but I just want to be able to do something to help. I feel so useless just sitting here."

"Well..." said Noctis, thinking on it as best he could. "Cor wouldn't let you out with the others, but you could probably start training, if you wanted. I mean, Gladio was pretty young when he started training to be my bodyguard."

Iris's eyes were filled with hope, but her expression betrayed her doubtfulness. "Think Cor would let me?"

"He might, if I asked him."

"Yes!" she said, pumping her fists. "That would be great! I mean, aside from anything else it's not like I can just go back to being a student or anything is it? I want to be a hunter out here when I'm old enough. Then I can actually help keep people safe and stuff."

Noctis smiled. "That sounds like a great idea."

Iris began to march off towards the dining hall—he imagined it was almost time to eat, given the sun had set already.

"Hey, Noct?" she said, hanging back a bit.

"What is it?"

"Would you mind training me a bit after dinner?"

Noctis couldn't conceal his surprise. "Me?"

"Yeah—you know how to fight and everything."

"Well, yeah, but I've never tried to teach someone before."

Iris sighed. "It's just...I'm not sure I can convince Cor if you don't say you're set on it. He never listens to me."

"So you want me to force him, basically?" Noctis couldn't help but feel a little skeptical about how that would turn out.

"Not force," Iris insisted. "It's just...if you'd already taught me some stuff it might be easier to convince him."

Noctis sighed. "Alright. I can help."

Iris grinned, then went marching towards the dining hall again. Noctis wasn't sure what exactly he was getting himself into by complying with her request, but it would at least give him something to do. Keep him from lingering on thoughts of the others abandoning him. Besides, it would be good for Iris to be prepared. If she was going to stick with Cor, and he was coming to Tenebrae...she'd need to know how to defend herself.


"You ready?" He tossed one of the camp's wooden training blades into the air. Iris was standing with one of her own, waiting for him.

"Bring it!" she yelled, and Noctis immediately went running towards her.

They'd agreed not to use magic in the spar, for warping or anything else. Which was convenient as Noctis was in no position to use it anyway.

As it turned out, Iris already knew a thing or two about blocking blows, easily able to deflect the long, obvious strikes that Noctis was using against her.

"Come on, Noct!" she called, ducking out of the way of his sword. "Why are you going so slow?"

"Just trying to give you a chance!" he taunted, ducking around her and trying to strike from behind.

She caught the blow, but only just.

Gladio had probably taught her most of the basic moves Noctis was trying out. But if she wanted a bit more challenge he was happy to provide it.

He began moving a bit faster, tapping into the energy he'd usually reserve for warping, and instead exerting keen control over his speed, striking harder, and more often. Now Iris was beginning to struggle—her blocks getting later, and her footing more unstable. Noctis didn't relent though. As Gladio had always said: failure was the greatest teacher.

Finally, he landed a hit which knocked her clean off her feet, but fortunately the ground in the training area was padded.

"You okay?" he asked, jogging over to her.

She was already sitting upright again. "Ugh. Yeah, just about. Jeez, don't go easy on me, Noct."

He chuckled and pulled her to her feet. "Hey, you said you wanted more challenge."

Iris sighed. "I guess. You're really a whiz with that thing you know. I thought the balance might throw you off or something."

Noctis swung the wooden sword back and forth. "I guess. They make swords pretty light these days to be honest with you."

"Was I super bad?" asked Iris. She looked a bit downcast.

"No, not at all!" said Noctis. "You managed to block practically everything at the beginning."

"You were going really slow though."

Noctis shrugged. "Not all daemons are fast, you know. Bigger ones tend to be a lot slower."

"Really?" Her expression was doubtful.

"You're speaking to the expert, aren't you?" said Noctis, holding out his hands playfully.

She gave a half-hearted grin. "I guess. I suppose I've got a lot more training to do, huh?"

"Hey," said Noctis, becoming serious, "it took years for me to get this good. Same for Gladio. Considering how little training you've had until now, you're doing really well."

The grin was genuine this time. "Thanks, Noct. Hey, maybe by the time I'm eighteen I'll be good enough to actually join those hunters?"

"Like I said, I think it's a great idea that you want to help people like that. And you definitely have talent."

"Well, that's just the Amicitia blood for you!" she said, giggling. "We're born and bred to be bodyguards!"

Noctis grinned. "Maybe you could take up work guarding Luna when you're older. I don't think she has anyone at the moment."

Iris snorted. "Pretty sure Ravus has that sorted."

"Oh, I dunno. He's a busy man, you know. He can't be by her side all day."

"Huh," said Iris, biting her lip.

"It's getting late," said Noctis, gesturing to the perilously black sky. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Iris."

Iris jumped, as though she'd only just remembered the time. "Right! See you, Noct. And thanks for the training session!"

She began jogging away, presumably to her own quarters, leaving him to return to his.

Now it was getting towards curfew there were fewer bright lights overhead than before, but Noctis was able to find his way back easily enough. The ramshackle old hut was small and badly heated, but as he lay down in the squeaky bed in the corner, he felt somehow much less alone than before. A stab of guilt passed through him at the thought, but the others were far out of his reach now, wherever they were. Going out alone, in pursuit of some dream... There were plenty of things he would have said if he knew where they were, but as it was...

He just hoped they were safe.