So I know in Episode Ignis, it's Caligo Ulldor who actually kills Jared, but why not add a twist, hm? Enjoy!


Ignis felt his breath taken from his lungs. Took her away?

"Why?" Prompto got to his feet. "Why would they take Lexus? She has nothing-"

Iris stood, facing Prompto. "She did it to protect us!" She barked, making Prompto step back. "They almost searched this floor, she was worried they would find me or Taclott. When Jared was killed, she tried to fight back, but… She was taken."

Prompto fell back on the bed, hanging his head in his hands. Gladio eased his sister, holding her close to calm her down as she cried into his shirt. Ignis and Noctis shared a look, one of guilt and one of outrage.

The door creaked open, Talcott was at the door wishing to see Noctis. But the sounds of his refrained sniffles showed he was trying too hard to put on a brave face. The death of his grandfather was a hard one, even more so to witness it at the hands of the Imperials. Noctis approached him gently, kneeling down to the distraught boy.

"It's not right." He told him. "We should've been here."

The boy cried, refusing to wipe his eyes of the tears he shed. "I-I couldn't stop them!" He sobbed, hands clenched as he said. "Grandpa and… And…"

His heart broke, he had witnessed Jared's death and couldn't do anything to stop it or Lexus' capture. "But I won't let the empire get away with it." I told firmly. "They'll pay for what they've done and we'll get her back. I promise."

Talcott looked up, pressing a fist to his chest as he nodded to him. "I believe in you, Prince Noctis." He sniffled, as tears shed down his cheeks and returned to his room.

"I'm taking Talcott, and we're going to Caem." Iris declared, looking up at her brother "We… We can't just stay here and do nothing!" She cried into her hands, allowing her brother to comfort her.

Prompto clenched his hair into his fists, thinking of the unimaginable things they could be doing to her right now. Ignis met Noct's gaze before leaving the room and approaching the door to the Quintin's.

Ignis rapped his knuckles on the door, waiting for confirmation to enter. The door creaked open and Ignis was surprised it was Varin who opened it. He was fitting in a new wheelchair, one that was mechanical by the means of the control stick on the arm rest.

With no words to exchange, Varin allowed the advisor in the door left open for Noctis who followed behind, Ignis found Hilda at the window, her crying wasn't loud sobbing nor soft like Talcott's. But enough to crack his own heart, watching the pain a Mother was going through, unknown to what was happening to her daughter.

"Mrs. Quintin," He approached, she paused, sniffling to herself. Hilda turned to find the man bowing deeply at her, his head low in shame of the news. "We vow on our lives to bring Lexus back, alive and well."

When no word was given, Ignis dared to raise his head, only to earn a slap across the face by the woman. Noctis was shocked, as was Varin who moved to his wife.

"Hilda!"

By this point, Prompto stood behind Noct at the door, the two keeping a distance. Ignis cleared his throat, reaching down to pick up his glasses that had fallen, pressing them back to the bridge of his nose.

Varin tugged at Hilda's arm. "What are you doing?"

Hilda yanked her arm back. "My daughter, my Lexi, kept her word on protecting you." She said, her voice quivered as she spoke.

"Those Imperials beat her, and she still kept her word. They killed Jared and she still kept her word. And now she's in their possession and here you are…" Her eyes overflowed as she pointed her finger at his face, his features usually stoic held a look of empathy.

Varin took his wife's hand as she broke down in tears, leaning over his shoulder as she fell to her knees. He did his best to comfort her, rubbing her back and kissing her head.

"My Lexi is gone!" She cried in his arms. "I want my baby girl back!"

Noctis walked over, standing beside Ignis. "I promise, we will get her back." He swore, Varin looked up at his prince. "They will pay for everything they've done here."


The numbness had finally died down in her nerves, replacing it with pins and needles up her arms and legs. Though the culprit of that could be the fact she was currently chained to a wall by her hands and feet. The cell or room she was stuck in was small and dark, only the lamp hanging by the door giving light. The walls were what she assumed to be man made, and the flooring was cement.

So, she was in some sort of building, no cave or dungeon. The spark of red eyes caught her attention outside the door through the window, there were guards at her door. She was held captive by the Imperials.

Assessing herself, she felt sore all over her body, her stomach muscles burning from the punch and her cheek felt swollen. The cold floor actually felt good on it, but not for the rest of her body. Not to mention with her lack of jacket and no sun, the room felt cold to her, making her shiver at the loss of warmth.

Half of her wanted to scoff at her predicament; using her as bait for the boys? Iris would've worked but if she's here, Lexus hoped that meant she and the others were safe.

Others, wait Jared.

Her heart sank, remembering what had happened to him. Poor Talcott. Lexus could only hope he didn't suffer for too long before death.

The door opened and there she was greeted by the pompous Loqi. He sneered at her. "Hope you are enjoying your new lodgings."

"Where am I?" She questioned, glaring at the man.

He chuckled, "Formouth Garrison, quite the fort if I must say. Supplied with enough MTs to take down that filthy city we dragged you from." he told.

Lexus growled, struggling against her restraints. "You'll pay for that!" She barked.

"What a temperamental girl." A second voice came. Another man, much older, came around Loqi frowning down at her. "Much like a restless pup."

"And you are?"

"Caligo Ulldor, Brigadier General and Commander of the Niflheim occupation force for Lucis." He answered, not looking impressed by his prisoner. "This is the girl they'll want?"

Loqi shrugged, "Even so, she is a worthy fighter. Might make a good soldier for the Empire." he chuckled.

Lexus did what she could and that was spit at his shoes. "The empire can screw off, I rather be eaten by a Voortooth than ever pledge my allegiance to a country of murderers."

Loqi, just as before, lost his temper and grabbed her by the shirt, threatening to tighten the chains between her and the wall making her arms strain against the pressure. She grit her teeth as he glowered at her.

"That can be arranged." He warned.

"Stand down, Loqi. We need the prisoner alive." Caligo told Loqi to lose his grip and have her drop to the floor. With her legs bound she fell against the wall, still glaring up at him.

Caligo and Loqi made their leave, the door slamming roughly. Lexus sighed and adjusted her seating, staring at the ceiling. "Please be okay, guys."


The room felt eerie without Lexus occupying it. Ignis wandered into the room, finding the bed was unmade, scraps on the table, along with her bag and jacket on the chair. His hand skimmed the parts and tools resting on the surface, Iris had informed them that the chair Varin was using Lexus had built for him. Apparently, the tremors caused an incident with their apartment and he lost the chair in the collapse. Schematics with notes were beside them, his fingers tracing the outlines of her creation.

His green eyes fell upon the messy bed, moving to make it. The sheets were cold, as if expecting her warmth to still be held in the fabric. He then walked over to the chair, her jacket was examined with no evidence of cuts or stress, nor her bag. When moving it, something fell out of the pocket, bending down he realized it was her phone.

Inspecting the phone, he saw it had been shot through, breaking the device entirely. Had they broken her phone, unable to contact them? He remembered Iris told them they beat her, how bad though? Enough to render her unconscious to take her or worse?

The phone clutched tightly in his hand, the screen cracking more as he felt the rage boil within him. "I swore we would be together, and…" He closed his eyes and pressed his fist to his forehead with the phone as he leaned on the table. She was just a phone call away if he had tried to contact her sooner-

"Ignis?" Gladio entered the room, finding the troubled advisor hunched at the table.

Ignis took a deep breath, trying to push his emotions down as he put the phone on the table. "Do we have a location?"

Gladio walked over, "Witnesses said they saw her being taken away, they mentioned Formouth Garrison." he told.

Ignis pressed his knuckles to the table, Formouth Garrison, which fort could that be? Lexus' map couldn't help, having no information on the Imperial's buildings in Lucian.

"We'll get her back, Iggy." Gladio assured him. "Noctis feels just as guilty, since she protected him."

"Yet we can't protect her." Ignis snided at him, refusing to turn to his friend.

Gladio frowned. "We had no car and no contact; how would we know the Empire would show up here of all places?"

That's true, for all they knew she could've been caught if she had gone searching for them or found them. Maybe different scenarios would have occurred. She chose to stay behind, and Ignis thought she'd be safer here than facing an Archeon.

A hard clap came upon his shoulder. Daring to look, he saw the encouragement of Gladio's amber eyes. "She's a tough girl, we've seen her take some brutal hits on the battlefield."

He turned to his friend finally. "This is the Empire; they show no mercy." They didn't know Jared mercy.

Gladio sighed, Ignis was right. He was just trying to ease his friend until they could find the fort's location. "Then we'll show them no mercy."

Prompto burst into the room, alerting the two. "Guys, we got a location!"

"Where?"

"Northern Leide- remember where Cor showed us the first tombs?" He reminded them.

"That's not too far." Gladio noted.

Ignis looked to Prompto. "When shall we leave?"

"Now." Noctis arrived at the door, her brows furrowed with as much perseverance as the others. "Let's get Lexus back."

The boys left the hotel and marched toward the gas station, spotting Iris standing by the car. "Come bid us good luck?" Prompto asked.

But she shook her head, "I'm going with you." she told.

Gladio frowned, "I told you, we'd come back to get you and we'd all go to Caem." he explained.

"It's far too dangerous." Ignis agreed.

Iris stomped her foot, "I need to do something!" she argued. "I feel like…" She looked down, gripping the edges of her skirt. "I feel like it's my fault she's in this mess. Lexus put herself on the line to keep us safe and this is what she gets?"

The boys looked to one another, knowing how she felt though still thought she'd be in danger going. Gladio approached her, placing his large hands on her slender shoulders. "Sorry, but I need you to stay here. Her parents and Talcott are going through a lot, and will need your support." He explained.

Iris sighed, feeling defeated in her argument. "Promise me you'll contact us the second you get her back."

Gladio nodded, pressing his fist to his chest. "Promise."

Iris stood back allowing the boys to climb into the care. She watched as Ignis turned the car and sped off toward Leide, starting their rescue mission.


If her stomach didn't hurt, she would've felt the hunger that panged her every few minutes. But refusing to eat the bread and water they gave her was her own choice. She doubted they poisoned it, but she just couldn't let her guard down. Because the bread and water hadn't been consumed, the bread was probably stale and still water.

All Lexus could do was shift her sitting as the chains jingled against her wrists and ankles. "If only I could summon something." She muttered, leaned back and closed her eyes.

Her eyes shot open, could she? Lexus had somehow summoned her crossbow when confronting Loqi, could she summon other things? Behind her she opened her palm and kept thinking about her crossbow, closing her eyes tightly and straining as if trying to push a door open. When nothing happened, she gave a grunt and kicked the tray, watching the contents scatter across the floor.

"Damnit, how did I do that?" She chastised herself.

Did she feel different than she did now? Thinking back, her crossbow came to her hand when she witnessed Jared's death, seeing the sword run through the old man by that blondie bastard. Her anger rose once more, as she clenched and opened her palm asking for her crossbow. Something fell into her hand, making her gasp and try to look behind her. Craning and tilting her head, she shifted and put it beside her, only to deflate seeing some sort of orb.

"What is that?" She questioned, nudging it with her foot, but felt a chill when she touched it. "Wait, isn't this… Damn, what did Ignis say? Magic… flask?"

Cold air oozed from the flask, tiny flakes of ice chilling the cement ground. Her eyes stared at it for a while, maybe she could kick it and freeze the door? Well, can't then she'd still be chained-

"The chains!" She exclaimed, straining to turn herself as she picked up the flask again.

Lexus had seen Noctis and Ignis use these flasks, they can be damaging to downright annoying when used within their ranges. Prompto once had his biscuits burnt thanks to Noctis after running in too close for a photo. But this was right into her hands, maybe if she was careful she wouldn't freeze to death.

Palming the flask she twisted her wrist, wincing at the strain against the shackles. She counted down from three, and slammed the flask against the shackles at one. Lexus tensed but felt nothing happened. Was she not hitting hard enough?

Lexus recounted and tried again, this time she felt the ice blast onto her back and cover her hands causing them to go numb. She bit her lip, hearing the cracks as the metal shackles froze against her skin.

Having to work fast, she slammed the metal against the wall feeling them grow weak. By the fourth hit, the shackles broke into pieces like glass. She swung her arms forward and started to warm her hands up. Shuddering as Lexus felt the stinging in her nerves return, breathing hot air on them.

Her wrists held bruises from the shackles and how she kept spraining to move her hands. Lexus huffed and looked down at her ankles, could she summon another one? Leaning against the wall, Lexus held her palms out, closing her eyes trying to focus on a magic item.

Another item fell into her hand, and it was cold! Lexus grinned as she opened her eyes and found another flask! Without hesitation she raised her hand and slammed it against her ankles. Because she was rougher this time around, Lexus bit back the urge to yelp as pain shot through. She had accidentally frozen her feet but she had to still break the shackles.

Lifting her legs up, she brought it down and shattered the shackles against the ground. Lexus rubbed her legs and ankles, cursing herself to have worn shorts thanks to the heat in Lestallum.

"Ohh man…" She groaned, looking toward the door for her escape. Lexus might be able to stun the guard and hopefully sneak out wherever she was. So long as she avoids those two douche Generals and the MTs.


Night had fallen as the darkness enveloped the sky and earth. The four boys had parked the car and rode their Chocobos to the tower that stood just outside the Formouth Garrison.

"So, what's the plan?" Gladio asked as Ignis scanned the garrison.

He turned to the group. "Suffice it to say, a frontal assault would be ill advised, this being a rescue mission."

Prompto nodded, "We gotta keep Lexus safe… Where she is in there." he told.

"We enter the base undetected and cripple it one target at a time." He explained. "Once clear, we'll infiltrate the buildings and search for Lexus once it's safe enough to find her."

"Where do we start?" Gladio asked.

Ignis pointed toward the garrison, where red lights could be seen flashing. "There are generators that fortify magitek troopers. Take them out, and the enemy won't be nearly as fearsome."

Noctis nodded, "Let's do this." he confirmed.

The four climbed down the tower and snuck into the territory, using the shadows and darkness to their advantage. So far they avoided the spotlights until passing a gate, paused when troops stood tall and still as a tree.

"...So they're sleeping?" He asked, noticing they hadn't moved despite their presence.

"Take care to avoid detection." Ignis urged them to move as he explained. "If a trooper is alerted to our presence, it will awaken its fellows."

Noctis paused and looked up, spotting a patrol on the higher tower. With his sword summoned, he warped up and killed the patrol MT with a single strike. Noctis looked over the area, spotting a generator surrounded by spotlights. Warping might be too obvious, so he returned to the others.

"I spotted the generator, but it's surrounded by lights." He explained.

Noctis lead them around the stacks of crates and weapons, finding the bright red spinning generator. They crouched behind the stacks, but before unfolding a plan an MT came around the corner and screeched out revealing their hiding spot. Soon, all the MTs woke up, and marched into battle.

Ignis groaned as they summoned their weapons to fight. "Not unfolding quite as planned."

"Who came up with this plan, anyway?" Noctis snided as he sliced through MTs.

Ignis threw daggers before back flipping from a swing blade from a trooper. "I've never made a mistake I myself couldn't remedy." He told, summoning his polearm and stabbing the trooper. "I'll take point here."

Gladio swung his large blade, slicing a few more soldiers in half. "We have to find Lexus." He reminded them. "We can't let her in this fight!"

"I know!" Noctis yelled, trying to focus on not getting hit.

Prompto fired his guns at any sniper MT he could see in the higher towers and Noctis warped past him to stab another. The battle was growing more intense as soon as the mechs started landing from the ships flying in. Prompto took the chance to jump onto the firing cannons and shoot the mechs until they fell and self-destructed.

Eventually it grew clear enough that Noctis made a warp toward the generator and slashed at it until it blew up in smoke. Gladio sliced down the remaining troops and the four met up, taking breaths and wiping the sweat off their brows.

"Now, let's- What?" Ignis looked up, the others following his line of sight. At Least fifteen imperial ships were hovering in, carrying who knows how many enemies to take down inside.

"Didn't expect to meet you again so soon, Highness." Greeted a man through some speakers. "Taking that peasant girl was worth the effort after all."

"Where is she!?" Noctis barked, though his voice was muffled by the hums of the engines above them.

"You were foolish to come here." Another man said in a smug tone, chuckling to himself. "Surrender now, or we will make you wish you had."

Two ships lowered, releasing over thirty MTs to demolish. "Who the hell are these jerks?"

"Loqi and Caligo, commanders of the Imperial army." Ignis answered with a snarl.


The echoes of explosions and the walls shaking scared Lexus to try and grip the wall. What was happening? Were they dropping bombs on her? With a panic to escape, she examined the MT outside her room, seeing he was right to the door. Moaning her arm, she braced for the injury she was going to give herself, and rammed her arm against the glass. She bounced off it, making her step back and rub her arm.

"Damn glass." She grumbled, positioning her arm and ramming it again.

She did it again, and again, and again. Lexus backed up a few more steps, huffing a few times to ignore the pain she was causing her arm. Lexus rammed once more, only to have the door open making her nearly trip herself to stop. The darkness enveloped the hall as the door creaked open widely.

"...Hello?" She inched closer, was Loqi back? Lexus grabbed the metal tray that held her food and raised it above her head. Not the best weapon to have, though it was all she had in the room.

"Hey! Come on! I know you're out there!" She yelled, though her voice was shaken by the unknown of who was out there.

Soon her answer was given when she saw a set of glowing red eyes. Lexus almost went rigid but was given no time, as the infantry guard charged at her with a sword. Lexus cried out as she jumped to the ground to dodge the swing. She looked to the door and bolted right to it, hearing the clunking soldier chase after her. Once her foot reached past the frame, she grabbed the door and slammed it shut, hearing the door lock.

Lexus heaved a huge sigh, leaning against the door only to have herself hitch when a sword burst through the door right beside her head. "Best I take my run while I can." She ran into the void of darkness hearing the door being destroyed behind her.

Her feet tripped her a few times in the darkness, but she kept running to keep from falling on the hard cement. The explosions grew louder, shaking the ceiling and walls, as cracks started to form above her.

"Is this place collapsing!?" She cried, dodging a chunk of ceiling that fell.

Refusing to be buried alive, Lexus pushed herself to run faster in the darkness, hoping to find a light at some point. Soon the quakes ended, though she still hurried in the darkness in fear of something collapsing on her. Lexus turned a corner but froze, seeing a glint in the darkness, something red. Her heart sank, another MT? She felt around the walls and floor, trying to find something as a weapon. Sure, she could try summoning, but since the ice one was a doozy to her hands, the small, enclosed hall was too risky to end up freezing herself.

Was there another root? The halls seemed to never end, turning left right and long narrow ways repeating. She paused, feeling a draft. Was that a small gust of wind she felt? Lexus did the old 'wet her finger and check the wind' tactic, grimacing when she tasted whatever got on her index. There was a draft, coming from behind her? Had she passed another hall?

Risking a way out, Lexus ventured backward, walking slower than before to keep track of the current. After a few moments, she paused, losing track. Her hands felt the walls and jumped when she pushed what felt like a door, hearing it creek. Lexus pushed it open, the wind a little stronger as she heard it funnel through. Fueled with determination, she jogged through the door feeling the gust grew stronger and stronger, her heart lifted seeing the halls lose its darkness.

Curbing a sharp left, she blinked, finding lines of light flashing against a wall. She approached finding double doors with light peeking through under and between them. Lexus attempted to open them, but they felt jammed. She shouldered and rammed it a few times, before finally they opened with her stumbling through.

Lexus was greeted with sudden strong winds, rain and flashes of lightning outside. Her hair blew wildly as droplets smacked her face, trying to block it with her arms.

"Is there a storm?" She questioned, venturing further to see bodies of MTs lying around.

The ground shook, making Lexus drop to her knees covering her ears when a loud clap of a lightning strike echoed in the sky. It felt like a tornado was dropping onto this place! Spotting a row of tanks, she crawled toward it, getting under feeling less wind and rain pelting her.

Waiting out this random storm, the rain had stopped and wind was dying down as the sky's clouds were fading to reveal the sunlight breaking through. The thunder still rumbled , but it finally grew silent and still. Looking around her surroundings, Lexus finally took in the area, seeing it looked like a military base. Must be one of the forts the Empire had built around Lucian. Lexus crawled out from under the tank, still careful in case those two assholes or MTs lingered around.

As she wondered, saw more of those soulless soldiers laying around, mangled, destroyed and dead. Still watching her footing, not wanting to be grabbed by it as if it were some zombie, she also noticed remnants of giant robot-like parts were strewn about, smoking and some with smoldering flames.

Lexus frowned at the wreckage. "What happened?"

Her answer was possibly given when she rounded a crate and spotted someone. Not an MT nor Loqi or Caligo. The weird hairstyle, tall lean frame, and those undeniable spectacles. Her heart flew and her breathing hitched.

"Ignis!" She cried out, stumbling into a run toward him.

He turned, shocked to see her and met her half way. Lexus collided into him knocking him back a few steps as she clung to his waist. Startled at first, he felt her shoulders shaking and placed his hands on them and her back to comfort her. Clearly distraught, though he wanted to see if she was injured in anyway.

Letting her relax into him, she finally pulled back letting him see her face. She looked fine overall, though her skin was ice to the touch and he did notice a scratch on her cheek with a smear of dry blood. He pressed his thumb over it, making Lexus hiss now realizing she had an injury.

"Loqi." Lexus answered his questioning green gaze. "I'm okay, though. They didn't do anything else." She assured.

"Ignis!"

The two turned, finding the others caught up, spotting him with the Lexus they ran over with Prompto speeding over. He enveloped her into a hug, near squeezing her.

"Are you okay!? Did they hurt you?" He asked, pulled back to see her over. "Your cheek-"

Lexus waved him off, giving a short smile. "I'm alright, they put me in some dark place underground." Her eyes looked around as Gladio and Noctis caught up. "Some sort of barracks?"

"Formouth Garrison." Ignis answered. "You've been gone for a few days."

Her eyes went wide. Was she down there and out of it that long? "It felt like I've been down there maybe half a day." She told.

Lexus hugged Gladio's bulk form and even Noctis, who patted her back. "We're glad you're alright." He voiced when hugs were over. "I'm sorry we weren't there when everything happened."

Lexus frowned, "You can explain to me once we get out of here." she told, eyeing the Mts corpses. "I don't feel like staying here any longer."


Despite it being daytime, the group drove to the nearest rest stop, as Lexus hadn't consumed anything since she was taken, and her stomach was starting to hurt from hunger. They drove to Hammerhead since it was within distance. Cindy had heard about the incident and was instantly hugging and comforting Lexus upon their arrival.

"When I got word, you had been take'n, I tried search'n any sign of you. With hunters help'n out as far as they could." She told, her face filled with concern and relief.

Lexus smiled, "Thanks, Cindy. They had me at this base, underground." she explained.

Cindy frowned, fists on her hips. "Those rotten-" She sighed, folding her arms. "They didn't bruise you up too bad, did they?"

She felt her cut cheek, but still felt the possible other sore bruises around her body. Thankfully her gut didn't hurt from the punch, just from hunger. "Not too bad, got under this one generals' skin pretty good."

Cindy and she laughed as Gladio approached them after setting the car in the garage. "Thanks for offering to fix the car up, Cindy."

She waved him off. "See'n that poor ride in that condition, can't let you leave with her all cracked and banged up." Cindy patted Lexus' shoulder. "Go get some grub and rest. I'll be done with the car by morn'n."

The Regalia was in pretty poor condition. The driver's door was dented inward, and all the windows were cracked or shattered. Cindy turned pale either seeing the car or Lexus when they pulled into Hammerhead.

Gladio and her walked to the caravan, at first she thought they'd be eating at the diner. But seeing Ignis through the window cooking at the stove, she couldn't help but smile. Her stomach voiced out for the food he was preparing.

"Want to get cleaned up? Iggy's making a big lunch for us all." Gladio informed.

Lexus nodded, "Yes, please. A hot long shower." she hunched now more excited to be warm and clean.

Prompto and Noctis sat outside, Prompto perking up as she and Gladio arrived. "Lexus, feeling alright?" He asked.

She nodded, raising a hand for him to stay seated. "For the fourth time, yes. They didn't beat me to a pulp, Prompto."

He chuckled, adjusting in his seat as Gladio took the seat beside him. "Sorry, just checking."

"I'm going to take a long shower." She told, turning toward the caravan. "A long hot shower."

Lexus climbed in, greeted by the smell of onions permeating her nose as he was dicing them up. The other ingredients were waiting for their fate to his right with a pot sitting on the unlit stove. His gloves were on the counter by the sink and his jacket was gone, his sleeves rolled up. She seemed to be in a trance as she watched him cut up the vegetables and slide them into a bowl before reaching for some garlic cloves. As he smashed them with the side of his blade, he glanced over noticing her watching.

"How was Cindy?" He asked, looking down on his work.

Blinking from her staring, she looked down, hands knotting in front of her. "Good, she was concerned but happy I was alright."

"As we all are." Ignis chimed, dicing up the garlic then putting them to the side in a smaller bowl. He got some sweet peppers and sliced them in half, crushing them as well. "Lunch will take some time to make, but not too long."

"What will it be?" She asked, folding her hands behind her as she saddled up beside him.

"Burly Bean Bowl, something warm and filling for you." He told, dicing the peppers.

Lexus wanted to offer to help, but she was sure she stunk and didn't want to smell while he was cooking. "I'm going to take a shower, probably stink to high heavens." She joked.

"Not really." Ignis muttered, though looked away when Lexus looked up at him.

Her cheeks tinted at the comment, but she felt less self-conscious from it. Ignis stepped to the side for her to shimmy past him, she skimmed him as she got by him and entered the bathroom. Once the door shut, Ignis put the knife down and leaned on the counter, shaking his head at his own comment.

Not really? Why would he even respond to that? That was outlandish to do, even more so after she was just held captive for days. He rubbed his wrist against his cheek bone in a means to wipe away the heat in his face. Ignis tried to return his focus back on the cooking when he heard the shower screech in the bathroom.

Lexus let the hot water pound on her head, soaking her hair and skin. She felt her arms and waist, looking down at her slender body to find faint bruises on her arms and legs.

Lexus remembered tumbling down the steps when first encountering Loqi. Her thoughts faded to the cold-blooded bastard, Loqi.

Seeing him take that damned sword and tab it right through Jared. She stood there, doing nothing, unable to prevent his death.

Her hands pressed against the tiles, her shoulders hunched as she closed her eyes tightly. But in the darkness of her sight, she saw the repeated death of Jared, whose life left his eyes when he crumbled to the ground.

Her fists curled, knuckles grinding the wall. Tears mixed with the water dripping down her face. Lexus curled down to the shower floor, the wall was her support as she leaned her forehead next to her hands. She whimpered to prevent a sob releasing, not wanting her distress to be heard.

"He's dead because of me."


HAPPY 2022! MAKE YEAR THIS BETTER PEOPLE!