Ignis wasn't certain if waking up alone had been a positive or not. On one hand, he hated being alone again so soon. On the other, it was nice to have a moment to absorb his new situation now that he could actually think.

There was no doubt that someone had given his health a magical boost. Ignis hadn't expected to wake up feeling so much better, but it had been a welcome surprise. He was still a tad scatter-brained and jittery, but he was leagues better than he had been when was last conscious… and being strangled.

Ignis almost shivered at the thought. He could still feel a phantom lingering of Ardyn's fingers around his neck.

But Ardyn was gone.

Ardyn knew he was alive… but no one was dead. The city was still in one piece. There had been no catastrophe of rage by the daemonic immortal.

In all his time in the wild – all the time he'd spent hiding and scrounging and thinking up various scenarios that might happen upon his return – not once had Ignis considered that Ardyn might take the news of his deception well.

…All right, not exactly well, but apparently he cared more about upsetting Lunafreya than performing more of his fun bloodshed.

Lunafreya…

She'd been with him before. He wondered how long he'd been asleep that she'd decided to take her leave.

Leave. He needed to leave. Not the city, like he'd been trying so desperately to do before. He just…

He had to make amends. Personally.

He may have given himself a head start by giving Lunafreya some details to pass on, but that was nowhere near enough.

The hardship and sorrow they must have faced when he'd left…

Was everyone he cared about even still alive at this point? His memory of his poisoned time wasn't the clearest, but he was certain he'd seen a fair amount of faces that belonged to his friends.

…He honestly had no idea which Argentum had been in the background, though. Studying facial hair hadn't been high on his list of priorities, and that might have changed in his absence anyway.

Ignis took a slow breath, drawing his covers back as he dropped his feet down to touch the cool floor. The cold there was familiar. Comforting, almost. The heat in Lestallum had always run overly high, but it felt particularly foreign now that Ignis had been living in the sunless wilds for so long.

Ignis spared a moment to rub the faint sheen of sweat from his face. He'd never disliked having a beard more than now.

Never mind the mild discomfort.

He had places to be and people to see.

And it didn't appear anyone was going to stop him.

Much to Ignis' surprise, the nurse let him go with very little fight, but he supposed the medical staff had more than enough people to tend to without keeping ahold of the ones they'd already magically healed.

Whatever the reasoning, Ignis wasn't going to complain. He graciously accepted his belongings, donned his returned darkened goggles, and headed for the lobby.

He wondered where he might get a fresh set of clothes. Everything he'd owned prior to leaving had likely been donated to those in need–

Ignis stopped abruptly in the middle of the lobby, finding his fear chased right back into him at the sight of a certain former mercenary.

She'd been waiting for him.

"Aranea…" he breathed, the raspiness in his voice quieting but not completely silencing his voice.

"Specs," she returned, her own voice calmly neutral.

Well. That was a better start than a lance being thrown at his head right off the bat.

They stared at each other in silence for a moment.

She looked as amazing as always – ever confident and comfortable and breath-taking in her hunting attire. No one else could ever look more at ease in this type of world. She didn't look like his absence had harmed her at all.

He wasn't certain whether he was grateful or selfishly hurt.

Of course, looks could be deceiving, and she was well gifted in the art of masking her true emotions… She might have been doing terribly and no one had even noticed. He hoped not.

Ignis cleared his throat finally. "Did Lunafreya…"

"Yes and no." Aranea caught his meaning right away. "She and the others are chatting it up. I wanted a more direct approach."

Ignis bowed his head. No matter how justified his reasoning, he had hurt many people, and he knew that. He wasn't going to act as though he hadn't, and he wasn't going to be defensive either. "Whatever you wish to ask, I will answer. I'll not patronize you by raining excuses upon your head."

"…Appreciated," she muttered, rising from her rather uncomfortable looking chair. "Come on. We've both been in here long enough. Let's get fresh clothes, a place to stay, and a damn razor."

Ignis almost choked on the sudden chuckle that escaped him. He instinctively raised a hand to his beard at the reference to it. "I haven't been overly fond it myself."

"Oh, it looks hot, actually," she said casually. "It's just not you."

"I… thank you?" He reached the door to the outside before her, holding it open. Goodness, he'd forgotten the levels of her sheer unexpected honesty.

"Don't think charm is getting you out of this," she grumbled.

"I would never assume such. But all the same, let it not be said that I've lost my manners."

This was so… easy. Her company… the banter…

He'd missed this. The city. His friends. Her. All of it.

"I assume my lodging with Talcott and Evan is no longer viable?" he wondered.

Aranea pursed her lips. "Well, it hasn't been completely taken. They were growing boys with some complicated circumstances, so there was no permanent third member in their room. Now that Evan's traveling between cities more, he and the second Dino crash there when they're in town. Cor's assigned you to a solo spare room for the moment, though. Prompto ran me the key earlier."

Ignis raised an eyebrow as they started down the street away from the hospital. "The city has those on hand?"

Aranea nodded, gaze flitting between him and the ground as though she couldn't decide whether or not she wanted to look at him. "Since we allied ourselves with Crestholm, yeah. They've got a lot more room."

All of this was information Ignis direly needed to catch up on, but it wasn't really what he wanted to speak about at the moment. Not with the tension lingering over the two of them.

Ignis wanted to bite the bullet. He wanted this hell talk over with.

"Are you angry with me, Aranea?"

Aranea's next step faltered just slightly. Now she was avoiding looking at him. "…No. Yes. I don't know. I haven't decided yet. I want to punch you, but I really don't want to see you hurt again."

Well, that was something.

"I do not blame you if you are." He coughed into his fist. He really should have spoken aloud to himself more out there. "I never considered my plan to be an especially good one, it was just the only one I had."

"Because of Dino's death?"

"Yes." Ignis winced. Even now, that memory hurt. It always would. "Ardyn set up a game that I could only lose. I tried to play that game, but even when I followed all of his rules, Dino's life was still taken. By my own unwilling hand. The only way I could see to escape that game without further loss was to take myself out of the equation entirely."

"…Okay." Aranea pinched the bridge of her nose. "Start from the beginning of this mess. I want all the details. Everything."

And so he gave her everything. Everything he could remember from that terrible time while they walked across the city at possibly the slowest pace Ignis had ever walked in his life.

Ignis' throat ached. He still kept going.

By the time they reached the Leville, Ignis felt as though it had been another year.

"I knew I would cause you all pain, but I truly did not see another option–"

Aranea held up her hand, and Ignis silenced himself instantly.

"Inside." She gestured smoothly.

He gave her a hesitant nod before they moved into the Leville.

So quiet… So many less people than before… But that didn't mean the same foreboding thing it had before he left.

They didn't encounter a single soul between the desk and his new room.

He didn't care about the room. Yes, the comforts of civilization had been sorely missed, but they just weren't high on his list at the moment.

He still didn't know what Aranea's reaction was going to be. She'd been so quiet thus far, but he knew it was coming. She wasn't going to take this all silently forever–

However he'd been expecting her to act, it was not like this.

He had not in the slightest anticipated her pushing him to the nearest wall once they had privacy and planting her lips on his.