Noctis woke up gasping for breath. He lay on his back, and all he could see was Gladio's shoulder. The bodyguard was sprawled on top of him, crushing him.

"Gladio, get off!" he said, struggling to push his friend away, but having little success. The man was gripping his shoulder so tightly that he was losing feeling in his fingers. "Wake up!" No response. Noctis wriggled, trying to shift, but he couldn't feel his legs either. All of a sudden Gladio jolted upright.

"Noct!" he shouted, right in his friend's face. He dragged his prince up to a sitting position as Prompto, who had been squashing Noctis' legs, rolled off of him and lunged to his feet. "What happened?"

"Where are we?" asked Prompto, glancing around. "Where's Iggy?"

"Ignis?" bellowed Gladio, having satisfied himself that his charge was uninjured. "Ignis, can you hear me?" Noct shook himself free and grabbed his father's sword from where it lay beside him. He flung it towards the top of a nearby tree and warped after it. Or rather, he tried. His magic didn't respond, and so he just stumbled forward as his blade clattered uselessly down at the base of the tree. Prompto stared at him.

"It's gone!" said the prince. "It's stuck, like in Gralea. I can't reach the armiger!" His friends stretched out their arms, as if by some miracle they might be able to summon their weapons, but their hands remained empty.

"What about the ring?" asked Prompto.

"Nothing," said Noct. "I can't even sense it."

"Ardyn," spat Gladio as if it were a curse. "Come out, you bastard. Show yourself!" There was no sound except the wind rustling through the tall pine trees that surrounded them. It was early afternoon, and the sun shone brightly down through clear, blue skies. It wasn't a very thick forest, and they couldn't see their companion or their enemy anywhere.

"Iggy!" called Prompto again. "Iggy, where are you?"

"Ignis!" Noctis felt a sickeningly familiar panic rising in his gut at the thought that another friend had gone missing. He'd failed them again.

"Prompto, climb up and see if you can spot him," ordered Gladio. "Do we have any supplies?" They searched their pockets, finding an antidote, two hi-potions, and an elixir. They had no food, and their only weapon was Noctis' sword, not even a pocket knife. They had their phones and their flashlights, but the phones had no service.

"There's no sign of him," said Prompto, dropping out of the nearby tree. "The forest goes on for miles. He could be anywhere."

"We'll find him," said Noctis confidently.

"Damn right," said Gladio. "Prompto, you got anything?"

"Nah, Ardyn took it all...before." The blond shrugged uncomfortably. "What happened with the crystal, Noct?"

"It was a trap," he said. "I touched it, and it started sucking me in. I couldn't move."

"Wait, so are we actually in the crystal then?" asked Prompto.

"Um...maybe? No? I don't know!" said Noctis. "It's not like I'm the expert on it or anything."

"But it is your heritage," countered Gladio.

"Just another thing my Dad forgot to mention," Noctis said. There was awkward silence.

"I really thought we were dead," said Prompto after a minute. "I mean, there at the end, Ardyn was gloating and taking pictures and talking about how long he'd waited for this. Why didn't he kill us?"

"Maybe the crystal can't kill the chosen king?" said Gladio.

"Ardyn said something like that!" remembered Noctis. "Right after it got me, he came up gloating about how it didn't burn me or something."

"So...Ardyn just dumped us in the woods somewhere?" said Prompto. "That doesn't sound like him." He fidgeted anxiously with his wrist band, itching the barcode beneath.

"Maybe the crystal did it?" said Noctis.

"Unless he wasn't done playing with us," said Gladio. "I mean, he took you, and now Ignis is missing."

"Guys, we've got to find him," said Prompto sickly.

"We will," said Noctis again.

"Prompto, did you see any water when you were up there?" asked Gladio.

"No, sorry," said the blond.

"Alright," said the prince. "Gladio?"

"Let's head downhill," said Gladio. "We need to find some water before we make camp."

The trio loped off, running at that casual jog that they could sustain for hours. Gladio led, their only sword held in one meaty hand. It looked odd to see him with a weapon that was so much smaller than his usual choice, but as he was most likely to stumble into trouble before the rest of them, he'd insisted on carrying it. Since they were cut off from the crystal's power, he could wield the magical sword without incident. Every few minutes, they stopped to call for Ignis.

Six, please let Ignis be alright, Noctis prayed as they ran. Please let us find him soon.

"There!" said Prompto. He was up in yet another tree. "I see something that could be a river!" It was getting to be late afternoon.

"Which way?" demanded Gladio. Prompto pointed to the left of their course, and Gladio glanced at the sun calculatingly. "Alright, how far?"

"Not far," said Prompto, climbing down carefully. Noctis noticed that he'd slowed down significantly, but he didn't comment. "I couldn't see it before, but it's just around that ridge."

"Great, we'll make camp when we reach it," said Gladio.

"We could keep going," offered Prompto. "We'll still have some daylight left before the demons start coming out."

"We only have Noct's sword," said Gladio. "We have to make camp and make sure that we have someplace to wait through the night."

"But what if Ardyn has him?" said Prompto in a small voice.

"Gladio's right," said Noctis reluctantly. "Ignis is smart, and he's strong. He'll be okay. We're gonna be okay. We'll find him and we'll stop Ardyn and the demons, I swear."

"Let's go," said Gladio. "We'll have time to talk tonight. The days are shorter now, remember?"

It took them less than an hour to reach the river. It wasn't too broad, but it was fast-flowing, difficult to cross. They set up camp nearby, with the water at their back. Noct and Prompto gathered wood while Gladio cursed and sweated and finagled until he'd managed to start a fire without matches. They lit four bonfires around their camp, and then Noctis took first watch while the others stretched out in the center.

"It's gorgeous tonight," said Prompto, watching the sun begin to set.

"Sure is," rumbled Gladio, arms behind his head. He stared at the clear sky. "Glad we don't have any rain."

"Don't even say that!" protested Noctis. "You'll jinx us, and that's the last thing we need."

"Isn't it funny," said Prompto, "I actually wish we were back in the swamp in Cartanica?" It wasn't funny at all.

"What happened after you fell off the train?" asked Gladio when the silence grew long.

"Well, I, uh, I killed a bunch of demons," said Prompto. "I followed the tracks for a few days, and..."

"A few days?" interrupted Noctis. "You were missing for weeks! When did Ardyn grab you? How long were you a prisoner?"

"As I was saying," glared Prompto, "I followed the tracks for a few days, hoping that maybe another train would come by and I could hitch a ride. Um...I ran out of food, and just as I was literally freezing to death, that's when MTs found me of course."

"Of course," agreed Noctis.

"I woke up in a lab, and my barcode tattoo was visible," he said. "I was locked in, and I was messing with the keypad trying to get out, and it accidentally scanned me and the computer remembered me and, just, like, unlocked the door?" He fidgeted anxiously with his wrist. "I had no idea what was going on. Ardyn showed up to give me my gun and he told me that I was home. I thought he just meant that I was back in Niflheim."

"So you didn't know..."

"I always knew I was a Nif," said Prompto. "I mean, I look totally different from everybody. Obviously. But I never knew how I got to Lucis. My parents never talked about it even when they were around. But anyways, Ardyn told me I was in the first Magitech Production Facility, and that I needed to find Chief Besithia, so I started looking around." His voice cracked awkwardly, but neither Noctis nor Gladio felt like ribbing him for it.

"I kept finding references to how demons power the MTs, and how they were trying to change people into demons to make an army, but they were running out of test subjects, so Besithia started to try to find an alternative...and that's when he decided to clone himself." Prompto stared at his hands as Noctis tried to keep his reactions under control.

"When I found out that MTs have code tattoos like me, then I pretty much knew," admitted Prompto. "I heard recordings where Besithia talked about how the Lucians had stolen an infant, so I guess that's how I ended up in Insomnia."

"That's messed up," said Gladio. The sky was darkening to dusk, but there was no sign of demons yet. "So what did you do?"

"Well, I didn't want to believe it at first, but everything kept adding up," said Prompto. "And then I started passing these big test tubes with clones in them, and they looked like me but they were turning into demons, and then when I found Besithia, I just couldn't deny it any longer. Turns out, he was the one who really wanted the attack on Insomnia. He wanted to study the crystal."

"I shot him." Prompto wet his lips. "Aranea found me, and we got out together. She said you guys were looking for me."

"We were!" interjected Noctis.

"She was gonna go destroy this superweapon or whatever, so I helped her out," continued Prompto. "We fought this enormous cyborg that climbed all over the room and caught on fire but just wouldn't die! Then there was this giant worm machine thing that was powered by Besithia, and she drove while I shot it down. It was pretty epic. I wish I still had my camera, I took some great pictures!"

"We'll look for a new one for you," promised Noctis.

"Anyways, I was all ready to come meet you guys in Gralea, but I just came around a corner and Ardyn was there and...I went a little nuts."

"Who could blame you?" Gladio agreed.

"I should've just run," said Prompto, "but I didn't, and he totally wrecked me. I mean, I thought I was done for, but he just dragged me into an airship and took me to Zegnautus Keep. Then you guys showed up."

"You seemed pretty beat up when we found you," said Noctis cautiously.

"Ah, it was nothing," said Prompto evasively.

"Let's hear it," said Gladio, propping himself up on his elbow. The prince stared at his friend. The blond wouldn't meet his gaze, and Noctis clenched his fists and tried not to panic. He was angry at the Chancellor, not Prompto, and the guy was already skittish.

"I think Ardyn was bored," Prompto said eventually. "At first he was all electricity and fire and sharp pointy things, and then he'd heal me somehow and we'd do it again, but eventually, like, even torture gets old. I mean, how many times can you scream 'Please no AHHH, amirite?'" He gave an awkward laugh that his friends didn't acknowledge. "He kept disguising himself as different people with magic, but he wasn't very good at pretending to be you guys so I could always tell it was a trick, so then he thought it might be fun to try to get me to do things. I mean, I fought him in the beginning; but then he threatened to turn me into an MT and make me kill you guys or have you kill me, so I just sorta shut down and did whatever he wanted. He got tired of me pretty quickly after that, and then next time I woke up, I was in that cell, and you know the rest."

"What did he make you do?" asked Noctis quietly.

"Spit it out," urged Gladio, when the boy opened his mouth and closed it a few times.

"It's alright," said Noctis reassuringly. "Nothing you can say will change anything. We just want to be able to help. You aren't responsible for anything he made you do...or he did to you."

"Dude, it's nothing like that, it's not that bad, it's just embarrassing," whined the blond. "He's not that kind of pervert, he just got off on messing with me, okay? He liked watching me kill MTs. He made me beg him for food and eat off the floor and sit at his feet by his chair while he petted me like a dog, just stuff like that. I pretty much just did or said whatever he wanted me to." He took a deep breath and looked Noctis straight in the eyes. "He told me to bow to him and call him Your Majesty, and I did, but I didn't mean it, Noct, I swear!" Noctis dropped his sword and hurried over to take his friend's hand.

"Hey, you did what you had to do," said Noctis. "You could've been killed! You did the right thing."

"The princess is right," said Gladio, clapping a giant arm around his smaller friend.

"It was my fault, anyways," said Noctis. "If I hadn't fallen for his tricks, I wouldn't have knocked you off the train."

"Haha, Noct me off the train?" joked Prompto. Noctis chuckled and punched him in the chest. "Ow, geez, too soon?"

"I'm just glad you're back," the prince said sincerely.

"No big deal," said Prompto, shrugging awkwardly.

"If you say so," agreed Noctis, glad the emotional moment was past.

"Guys, look at the sky," said Gladio suddenly. The stars had come out.

"Sure is pretty," agreed Noctis.

"No, guys, look at the stars. Do you recognize any of them? Because I don't!"

"...So?" asked Prompto.

"My dad taught me the stars," said Gladio. "We would go hunt demons and we'd navigate by them! I know what they're supposed to look like."

"What are you saying?" asked Noctis.

"We're not in Niflheim, and we're not in Lucis," said Gladio. "Eos doesn't have stars like this. We're somewhere else."