Day 48:

The lights in the city had all gone out. One too many power lines hit by bolts of lightning, which had grown as common as the fat raindrops falling from the black clouds overhead. The top of the Citadel wasn't really the best place to be standing, but it was better here than on the ground, where the Crownsguard was evacuating citizens.

All across the city, little canopies of blue magic opened up as lightning rained down on Insomnia. The Crownsguard could wrangle the civilians, but the Kingsglaive were the only ones who could protect them. Until people were out of the way, they needed the Glaive in the city. So the five of them were alone on the rooftop.

They stood underneath a bubble of safety; Regis could protect them from the bolts that rained down from above, but not the ones Ramuh threw at them. Thunder cracked. The bolt that came along with it struck Regis' shield and was gone. If it hurt, he didn't show it. He was wielding his full Armiger and still had the strength to use his magic indiscriminately.

"Is he going to stay just out of reach forever?" Iris wrung the hilt of her sword. "What's he so afraid of?"

"He doesn't have to be afraid," Cor said. "Just intelligent."

Their range was limited. His was not. It stood to reason he would attack from afar.

"Look sharp!" Clarus shouted as Ramuh stretched out his finger and lightning leapt across the gap toward them.

Regis caught it. He wasn't hit by it; he caught it in his hands and crushed the light out of Ramuh's magic.

"Show off," Clarus said.

"We need a better strategy." Regis stood at the edge of the roof, his toes nearly hanging over. Each time Ramuh threw lightning, he deflected it, caught it, or absorbed it. The Armiger turned a slow circle around him, waiting for his concentration to turn back toward them. He could protect the rooftop or he could attack Ramuh, but not both. Standing here they were just a liability.

"We need to split up," Cor said.

"For what purpose?" Regis asked. "So that he might electrocute you all separately?"

"He'll be focused on you," Cor said. "Keep him busy and we can deal some damage behind his back."

"These old legs still have some jump left in them." Cid stood taller than he had been the past few days. Straighter. He held his lance to one side—relaxed but not forgotten.

"Just like old times." Clarus nudged Cor in the ribs.

"I hope not," Cor said. The last time they had all fought together, he and Clarus had been at each other's throats the whole time. Adolescence was a period he mostly tried to forget about.

"Well I can't jump or shoot." Iris looked up at Cor. "But I think I could manage to fly with a little help."

Cor nodded once. "Let's get out of the line of fire first."

"Fly?" Clarus asked. "Fly where?"

Iris pointed at Ramuh. Clarus looked from Iris to Cor and back again with an open mouth before the pieces clicked together.

"No," he said. "Absolutely not. You will not throw my daughter at a god six hundred feet off the ground!"

"Sorry, Dad!" She flashed him a smile and stepped toward the inner edge of the root, toward one of the adjacent towers. "This way, Cor?"

"Cor, don't you dare."

Logic said listening to the father of a fifteen year old over the girl was probably the better choice. Everything else said when he was fifteen, he had fought Gilgamesh and been appointed as the king's bodyguard. If someone had stood in front of him and said he was too young, what would have happened instead?

"Sorry, Clarus." Cor stepped after her.

"Cor—!"

He gave Iris a boost and launched her across to the next tower. Once she had landed, he leapt after her. He was airborne, moving too fast to think. The angle was all wrong. He slammed into the side of the north tower of the Citadel and scrambled to turn his fingerhold into something a little more stable. He had made worse choices in the recent past. At least this time both of his arms and legs were working.

Iris grabbed his wrist, braced her feet on either side of him, and heaved. It took all of her body weight to lift him enough to get both arms over the edge so he could pull himself up. But that was enough.

Clarus' voice drifted across from the other tower. "If we get through this, I will skin you both alive!"

"I think I'm grounded," Iris said.

"I think you've got bigger problems." Cor stepped up to the edge. They were off to the side of Ramuh, now, but a little farther away. It would have to be a damn good throw. "You still want to do this?"

"Mhm." She stepped up beside him and cracked her neck. "The faster we take this guy out, the faster we can get to Rei."

"Right," Cor said. Never mind the fact that they had no way to get to Angelgard because Reina and Ardyn had taken their only way across. It was something to fight for, at least. If the pending end of the world wasn't a good enough motivator.

She wiped her hands off on her jeans and stooped to rub them in the powdery dust that covered the rooftop. Smart kid. He did the same thing and held his hands out toward her.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Ready." She took both of his hands and braced one foot against his bent knee.

"On three."

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three!"

He launched Iris up, over his head, and at Ramuh. Their grip held true. Her lift felt right when she pushed off of him. Still he spun around so fast to see if she had made it that he nearly lost his balance and stepped off the roof himself. That would have been an ironic end to the story. When he could see straight again, he focused on Ramuh. And there, climbing up the back of his robes like a monkey, was Iris. Cor let out a slow breath. He hadn't killed Clarus' daughter. He probably wouldn't be skinned alive in recompense. Just murdered. He could handle that.

"Good luck, Iris…" His words were swept up in the howl of the wind and another crack of lightning.

Across the gap on the other rooftop, Regis had let down his barrier. Cid took a running leap off the side nearest Ramuh: it had looked impressive thirty years ago. Now it looked Gods damned impossible. He shot into the sky like Drautos' Magitek suit and nearly disappeared into the clouds overhead. But he was coming back down. It shouldn't have been possible to aim like that, but today was a day for the impossible. The tiny spot in the sky grew and grew until it resolved into an arrow: Cid shooting downward with his lance held out below him. He came crashing down, driving his lance down the back of Ramuh's neck and sending the Astral reeling, turning, and swatting at Cid. By the time Ramuh's hand came down, Cid was already gone. This time he landed on a nearby skyscraper in downtown Insomnia. He caught Cor watching and gave him a salute.

So he still had it after all.

Cor could make the jump—not like that and not from here, but he could make it. He waited until Regis had stepped off the edge of the Citadel, taking flight and turning half a circle around Ramuh to keep the Astral's attention focused away from them, and then he leapt back across to the other tower. This jump went more neatly. Both feet hit the edge of the Citadel and Clarus grabbed the front of his shirt, jerking him forward so he fell on his face instead of off the tower.

"Don't think this means I won't kill you later," Clarus said.

"Of course not." Cor brushed himself off and turned to look at Ramuh. Regis had driven him a little closer. Iris had made it up to his shoulder. Even Clarus could make that jump, old man that he was these days.

"You ready to go?" Cor asked.

"No." Clarus' sword vanished. He reached up and tore his councilor's robes off over his head and dropped them on the roof. The wind caught them and sent them out into the city. Clarus sighed, resigned to the loss. "Now I am ready."

"Together?"

"If we must," Clarus said.

They took a few feet of clearance for a running start. Every little bit. The gritty rooftop wasn't great for a quick start, but Cor shoved off as well as he could anyway. He built up as much speed as he could as quickly as he could. At the end was the edge of the roof. His toes tipped over the edge. He launched himself off the corner and into the sky after Ramuh.