Love
Lunafreya was arrogant… or so she thought of herself now, as she sat about in her manor and prepared to give her brother the Ring of the Lucii for Noctis, since her body no longer obeyed her.
But…she'd so eagerly believed in the gods, in thinking that they had humanity's best interest at heart, perhaps because she'd had nothing else to believe in. And now she knew that that wasn't the case: not when she'd heard an undercurrent of Bahamut's thoughts, that she knew he hadn't meant her to, when they all had Called on her recently.
She wished now, that she had turned sides earlier on—while she was still more agile—and that this must have been her punishment for wanting to throw Noctis' life away with her own, in order to "save the world".
And proving that they were still in sync, despite everything, it was when Luna needed Ravus so desperately now, and had even been thinking about him earlier, that he would approach her.
He came to her side, gently: holding one of her hands in his own and looking at her with the most sympathetic eyes that she had seen from him in a long time. "Lunafreya… I Imagine that, even as strong as you are, a part of you is tempted to ask me to do your duties now. And I had come here to tell you… to find the strength yourself, knowing you'd be more pleased with things that way, but instead I tell you… to please give up on them on the whole. I ask you that as a brother begging for his sister's life. And as one who even wants to see you happy by Prince Noctis' side."
"Ravus," Luna started, clutching her brother's hand to her hand, with as much strength was allowed her. She had been foolish and full of hubris, hadn't she? Because Ravus had argued the former to her so many times, but she hadn't seen… she hadn't seen…
"Thank you… And I would like to try it, truly I would… but we're watched day in and day out. What would you have me do? Stowaway in some locals' vehicle when I go to heal them? I shan't put them in danger like that."
But that gave her another idea… an idea that was far too risky, but Luna loved to take risks, didn't she? Tenebrae was a floating island with waterfalls, wasn't it? What if she went down one of the waterfalls, and put herself in the Hydrean's hands that way?
And there must have been a look in her eyes… because Ravus smirked at her before pulling her into a tight hug. "Whatever it is, Lunafreya, be careful. Especially since the chancellor in particular has his ears peeled. But do this, and I'll be there for you when it's all over."
"Yes, Ravus… bless you. And I, you."
So, Luna went about some of the training she'd gone through when she'd first become an Oracle: she stood for a whole day while praying, knelt for a whole day while doing the same (fasting on each of these days)… and finally, she had the goddess' attention: she appeared before Luna in her mind's eye.
Oracle! Why would you dare halt my slumber! I ought to slaughter you where you stand. I shan't, for your pretty bows and words—and our promise to end the Star Scourge with you—but tell me what rests in your heart, and tread carefully.
"Goddess of the Sea… I wonder if you trust your lord, Bahamut, and think he has the best things laid out for the rest of your kind and for humanity… Furthermore… Do you really want Prince Noctis to have to kill you in order to forge a pact with you to stop the blight?
…I'm listening, human.
And Luna could tell that the goddess was doing exactly that… the Oracle thought sarcastically. Rather, Leviathan seemed like she was about to change her mind and eat Luna, while Luna continued to pray sweetly, not wanting to lose the goddess' grace.
"I beseech you… please free me from my captors here in my own home, and allow me to meet up with the True King so we can come up with an alternative plan."
…I will give you this chance, Oracle, but do not fail me!
"I won't," Luna promised, knowing that she was echoing words that she'd said to Noctis what might as well have been a lifetime ago.
And Luna was strong and sneaky; in the dead of night, she got to the edge of her continent and leaped off… and the goddess was there to catch her in her mouth as she did so. As Luna then felt a weird shift, she thought the great queen may have been teleporting them somewhere now, too, as that was the only thing that she could guess for the bizarre feeling.
And Luna showed no fear, like she'd shown no fear while jumping out of airships with Nyx Ulric… even if a part of her was afraid that Leviathan would turn on her and decide to just have a tasty snack.
Fortunately, Leviathan did not.
And amazingly, dropped Luna off at her intended location with a small bow her way before fading into the ether.
…
As Luna reached the leville—the hotel, that Luna had been told Noctis and his friends were locating within Altissia at the moment—she imagined she looked much like a drowned rat… but she tried not to think about such things.
Instead, she put hands on the door, gently began trying to open it, and tried to instead focus on plans to live… and maybe a little bit on what she would say when she saw the whole entourage.
The Oracle—err, former Oracle—hadn't been prepared to see the group the moment she walked into the building, however. Clearly, they'd been about to do some sight-seeing?
And like Luna always knew it would the second she saw him again, she found her attention getting caught on Noctis and her breath catching.
And he… if she wasn't misreading things, seemed to be doing the same with her. Luna didn't know how he was, since she imagined she looked awful, but it was nice, all the same.
"Luna?!" Noctis questioned, rubbing his eyes as if he were waking from a dream, before taking a step her way.
"It's good to see you, Prince Noctis… Noctis," Luna beamed at him, suddenly shifting her foot from one foot to another—and hating how awkward it suddenly was, but maybe it had to be this way, since they'd gotten so little time to spend with each other in person. "We have a lot to catch up on, I know. And I have so many important things to tell you. And I will, but-"
"Lady Lunafreya… it's so good to finally meet you! How's Tiny doing?" Prompto enthusiastically interrupted Luna's words to Noctis. But then seeming to realize what he had done, he began to back-pedal. "Oh, no. Sorry. Ignore me! I didn't mean to interrupt you two star-crossed-lovers! I'll just be over he-"
"Prompto, Prompto, it's fine," Luna said placating him with her own hands spinning, and laughing. "It's I who is glad to meet you, Prompto—and all of you—Ignis, Gladiolus: Noctis has told me much about you two, as well—and I can't thank you enough for what you did for Pryna that time for me, Prompto. Thank you." And Luna bowed to the young man here, so that he would know just how much she meant this in her heart. Prompto seemed to blush at that, and it just endeared him to her all the more.
"While it is truly great to finally meet you, my lady… I wonder if we should just leave you and Noct to catch up?" The bespeckled friend—Ignis, Luna, knew—said, trying to get them all out of the middle of the hall, so that other patrons could get to the reception desk, and Luna immediately felt horrible and too much like a privileged-princess, who didn't know the plight of her people… even though she was not that.
"Yeah, Iggy's right. We're sort of blocking progress here," Gladiolus agreed. "We'll see you two later. "But you take care of her, Noct!"
Noctis very much looked like he wanted to say something to that, but maybe didn't for Luna's sake. Instead, he took her hand—and were these butterflies in her stomach?—and began leading her back towards the boys' room, so they could talk.
While they were in the hall, Noctis said a little embarrassedly with a hand in his hair, "Luna… I'm so glad to see you. You don't even know. When I first heard the false news that you were killed in Insomnia, I… but anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be with Camelia, getting ready to wake Leviathan?"
"Uhh… about that…" They had made it into the room and were dancing into it now. "I sort of already made a covenant with Leviathan, and… Noctis, you're going to want to sit down for this. It might take you by surprise." And once she'd made sure the prince—king—had done just that, Luna continued on with her story, sort of feeling like they were twelve and eight again. But hopefully things would be different this time. "I've decided that the other gods, Bahamut in particular, can't be trusted. And we must find another way to end the Star Scourge.
"And I know, Noctis," he was standing up now—clearly flabbergasted and maybe about to fight with her, as he ran hands through his hair—"that you've already made contracts with the other gods, because I said that it was okay. And that could cause a problem. And I'm so sorry… but we'll figure it out. I swear it. Despite everything, I'm still Oracle to the people and you."
Her reasoning there must have calmed him down, because Noctis sat back down on the bed—sighed once—and sent a small smile in Luna's direction. "I trust you, Luna. Sorry for freaking out for a moment there. You know more about this stuff than I do."
Luna was about to tell him then that—if he wanted to, of course—he should of course assert himself into these conversations more, since Luna feared that her being too controlling was part of the reason they were in this situation to begin with.
But she became distracted when she saw some cleavage peeking out of Noctis' shirt… and was it her? Or was he the same way with her? Luna swallowed, but tried not to look away and seem like a child.
Uhh, Luna… Not too sound too much like a hormonal teenager here, but as much as I'm liking hanging out with you in my room here, shouldn't we-"
"Yes! Right! Of course, Noctis! Remove the temptation! At least until we properly get to know each other in person?"
But even though she'd said that—and they both seemed to be on the same page here—they didn't end up doing that at all—instead, Luna found herself falling tiredly into Noctis' arms, and he just held her, stroking her hair every now and then. And oh, wasn't that was a lovely feeling, that made her actually feel loved and important.
And Noctis must have noticed her leaning into it, like a cat would a human petting them—being far too touch starved—because he asked her, concerned: "What exactly are you looking for here, Luna? Please, don't tell me you have all these traumas, and think things are your fault."
Luna ignored the curious second part of Noctis' words there—because of course things were her fault—and instead kissed the hand that was now on her forehead, as she answered truthfully, "Absolution, I think… For all the things that I've done."
But Noctis wasn't having that. He pulled away from her angrily. And Luna was sad, that all the pleasant feelings were gone, but Luna knew why Noctis was doing this. It was so she was forced to really see him. And see him, Luna did, as Noctis looked at her incredulously.
"Absolu- But, Luna. You don't need that at all! Don't you see? The stuff you did when you were seemingly b-brainwashed wasn't your fault. And you choosing to escape a horrible situation… you can't be blamed for that, either. I think, if anything… you should be looking for love."
"Love, huh? Now isn't that a lovely idea?"
Noctis sat down and brought Luna into his arms again then, and the former Oracle thought that maybe she felt truly comforted for the first time since she'd first heard about Oracles and True Kings.
And she smiled.
Maybe Noctis was right… Maybe Lunafreya hadn't been so arrogant, after all, and it had been wrong to think that.
Maybe she was just a girl, after all.
And how wonderful was that?
Author's Note: Liz, Since you finally beat FFXV, I thought I had to write you something for it for your b-day. I hope you liked it!
A lot of this is clearly based on Dawn of the Future stuff, but sort of my own spin on it, and sort of a spin on how I usually write Noctluna.
