Day 44:
"Reina? Reina, look at me."
It took too long for her eyes to focus. When they did, it was on Cor. He was worried. He would be angry later, once he was sure she was alright, but for now he was just worried.
His hands tightened on her shoulders. He shook her. "Reina."
Or he would be both at once.
"Let her go, Cor. You won't be able to shout contrition into her." Ignis appeared, laying a hand on Cor's shoulder.
Cor growled and pulled away from him. "You talk to her, then."
His hands dropped away from Reina's shoulders; he stepped to the side and Reina's hand shot out to grab his wrist before he could move farther than that. Cor froze. She could see Iris, now; she had been behind him, blocked from view. They were all still alive. All still upright.
"Reina?" Ignis took a tentative step forward.
Reina reached out to him with her free hand and fell against him, wrapping her arm around his waist and hugging him as fiercely as her tired muscles would allow. Ignis made a sound of surprise, hesitating briefly before wrapping his arms around her.
She maintained a vice grip on Cor's wrist all the while. Her only regret was that she had no more hands to spare for Iris. She kept her eyes on her, gaze fixed beneath Ignis' arm as he patted her back uncertainly.
Eventually she managed to pull away from Ignis and give the same treatment to an equally stunned Cor. He was alright. A bit bruised and battered, perhaps, but alright. He was always alright.
Iris came next. She hugged Rei as fiercely and as readily as Reina hugged her.
It wasn't until she released Iris that she realized her cheeks were wet with tears.
"What's this, no hug for me?" Ardyn stepped forward, arms held out to his sides in invitation.
Reina hugged him, too. Just for good measure. Judging by the way he froze for several solid seconds before hugging her back, she guessed he hadn't been expecting her to actually humor him.
"Is Father alright?" Reina asked, once she had pulled away. "And Noctis?"
"Why wouldn't they be?" Ignis asked.
"I don't know," Reina said. "But why send the Messengers after me, if not as a distraction?"
"To kill you," Cor said flatly.
"Why don't we just call and find out?" Iris pulled her phone from her pocket, dialed a number, and held it to her ear. "Hi Dad! Is everyone still alive? ...Yes, we are… No, she's okay, just tired. Did King Regis want to talk to her?... Alright… What? Oh, Cor? I'll let him know… Thanks! Love you, byeee!"
She hung up the phone. "Everyone's fine. Cor's in trouble. And the king said you can call whenever you're ready to talk to him."
Cor crossed his arms over his chest. Reina looked from face to face, hardly daring to believe any of this was real.
Ignis cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should return to Cartanica? I believe we passed by lodgings on the way through—if nothing else they have running water."
Reina swiped at her cheeks. "Yes. Let's go back to Cartanica."
Maybe she would feel a little more herself after a shower. Maybe she wouldn't. She still wasn't sure what herself felt like, but there was a spark of something familiar in the company of her friends.
Her friends.
How many years since she had thought of anyone that way, without bitterness attached?
"Can you walk?" Cor asked.
"Yes," she said. "I'm fine."
"Well that's a lie we've never heard before," Iris said dryly.
Reina glanced down at herself, taking note of her own body for the first time. Claw marks cut across her bare shoulder, a gash—likely from a blade—was bleeding sluggishly at her side, and her pants were torn in a few places. If she had looked closer, she expected a cut in her skin associated with each tear. When she reached up to push her hair from her face, her fingers came away from her forehead coated in fresh blood.
"I suppose I must look a bit of a mess," she said. Now that she thought about it, she felt it. Exhausted, like after she had fought Drautos.
"Just a bit." Ignis came up behind her, resting his hand on her uninjured shoulder. "The car is but a short walk and, if you should falter, I have little doubt Cor will sweep you off your feet."
"Or throw you over his shoulder," Iris said.
Cor was glaring at her. The relief had worn off and the anger had set in. Iris was probably right.
"Let's walk," Ignis repeated.
They walked. In fact, a 'short walk' was even an exaggeration. If Cor was worried about her ability to walk thirty feet, she was in for a lecture as soon as he had the opportunity. That should have made her nervous. Instead she smiled stupidly. In a few moments she was in the back of her car between Ignis and Iris. She tucked each of her arms around one of theirs. Just to be certain.
Cartanica was more or less as she had left it. Still dusty and desolate, though it seemed to contain more bystanders than usual. Everyone at the station watched their passage with curiosity and confusion. The receptionist at the hotel—not far from the station itself—looked them over twice before handing over the keys.
Between the five of them, they rented three rooms. They stopped in the hall to discuss important technicalities, like who was stuck with whom and, more important still:
"Who would like to volunteer for babysitting duty?" Ardyn asked.
"I will," Cor said.
The only reason he had stopped glowering at her along the way was because he needed his eyes on the road. Now the fixed glare was back.
She could run from the lecture no longer, it seemed.
"He said babysitting, not shouting," Iris said.
Cor's glare didn't even flicker.