Bit of a long chapter. I hope you enjoy though.
They disembarked onto the pier, glad for the cover of night. Noctis half expected that reporter Dino to be camping at the bench again ready to blackmail him, and almost hoped that he was so he had an outlet for this tension inside of him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it, relieved to find he had a bar of service.
N: Dad we got out of altissia whats happening in insomnia are you okay?
He stared at the screen hoping for an immediate response. He startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to see Ignis. His advisor suggested he sit at the bench while they each reached out to people they knew, someone was bound to answer them. Gladiolus was pacing up and down the pier, mumbling under his breath while he typed away on his phone, shoving is back into his pocket, pulling it out again, and typing.
N: Got luna out too were all safe me and the guys and luna even cor is fine
He hit send, and began to nervous bounce his leg. He stopped when he felt a hand reach over and grasp his own, looking up to meet Lunafreya's gaze. Gladiolus was still pacing, Prompto and Ignis both staring down at their phones. The motor of the royal ship pulling away from the dock momentarily made any chance at conversation impossible, and they all stared down at their phones desparate for a response from someone. Anyone.
"Hey!" the group all looked towards the sound of the voice. Noctis leapt to his feet, hand ready to call forth his Engine Blade at a moment's notice, Lunafreya picking up Pryna , Prompto and Ignis flanking the Prince while Gladiolus stepped ahead of them all, greatsword in hand. "Whoa whoa I mean no harm!" the voice came, and the figure of a woman came down the ladder. "Look, my shit's all tucked away, I'm not gonna hurt you. I was sent here to catch a ferry to bring a letter to the Prince."
"Who are you?" Gladiolus demanded.
"Oh come on, you've been gone from Insomnia for less than a week, forgot me already?" The woman who stood under the street lamp was average height, and quite muscular for a woman. She had brown hair pulled into a messy ponytail, and the dark rims around her eyes showed she had gotten about as much sleep as the rest of them. Her palms were held up to show her peaceful intent, though the glaive hanging off her hip meant she was not unarmed.
"Wait… Crowe?" Gladiolus asked.
"He's not as dumb as he looks." She answered back. Gladiolus knew the woman mostly by name. His father Clarus spoke of the Glaives often, and Crowe stood out as the only woman amongst their ranks. He had seen her occasionally in the training rinks when he was busy beating Noctis to a pulp, enough that now that he took a good look at her he could recognize her.
"What are you doing here?"
"Didn't hear me the first time? I was sent with a letter for the Prince. Libertus himself penned it up all nice and pretty. Aren't you lucky" Noctis approached the young woman once Gladiolus let his greatsword vanish in a flash of blue,
"Any news from Insomnia?" Noctis asked.
"No, I left my phone behind to avoid being tracked too." She answered him, lifting a brow. "Why?"
"Altissia was attacked by the Nifs." She stiffened at this news, looking from Gladiolus to Noctis as if expecting an answer to come from thin air.
"Shit!" she cussed. She fished the letter out of her pocket, handing out to Noctis, "Here, maybe this will hold some answers. Libertus said it was important." Noctis took it from her, tearing it open with haste. He unfolded the paper inside,
"Is this a joke?" he asked, looking up at her, fingers tensing before curing up the paper into a ball. "Sent all the way here with a cookie recipe?"
"What?!" She reached out, grabbing the balled paper from Noctis's hand and opened it, cursing again when she saw that it indeed was nothing more than a page torn from a cookbook bearing a recipe for snickerdoodle cookies. "That son of a bitch!"
"What's going on?" Noctis asked, patience worn thin.
"Libertus had news that some of the Glaives were pretty pissed. Okay most of them are, not gonna lie. He said he had an important warning for you gave me this letter, and rushed me out of Insomnia." She paused at those last words, face lighting up. "We gotta get back."
"It seems like Libertus sent you away from Insomnia for a reason. And Noctis, we've been over this. It is not in our best interest to rush into the Empire's hands." Ignis explained, trying to keep his tone steady.
"So what should we do." He asked his advisor.
"Let's go back to Hammerhead, it's one of the closest fueling stops to Insomnia we may find news there."
"Noct please listen to him," Lunafreya's voice joined the conversation. Her arms were full trying to hold Pryna or she would have placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Okay we'll start with Hammerhead, but if the road is clear I want to try to get to Insomnia. We have the wall…" he added that last part halfheartedly. He knew how hard that wall was for his father to maintain. The group agreed to this plan, having no better suggestions. They found the Regalia where Ignis had parked it prior to catching the ferry, Cor clearly having either never receiving his request to bring it back to Insomnia, or having been redirected to Altissia prior to having the chance to fetch the car. Or he just ignored him, that was always a possibility.
It had taken a lot of arguing, but Ignis agreed to attempt the drive to Hammerhead in the dark, despite the threat of daemons. With Noctis's lap in the passenger seat, Ignis taking driver's, Pryna held on Lunafreya's lap as she sat sandwiched between Gladiolus and the gunman, the car ride was off to a stressful start. Crowe was following them in the motorcycle she had taken to Galdin Quay, and was grateful for the solitude of her own vehicle after how tense the royal retinue was. Hammerhead was a long ways away, and they had hardly driven ten kilometers when the first shadows were seen crawling across the road.
"Animals?" Prompto suggested hopefully.
"Doubtful. Daemons prowl the lands at night…"
"As the blight strengthens so do the daemons. It is as if they both feed off the growing darkness." Lunafreya provided, and felt Noctis's arms tense around her. "We best try to drive around them." She suggested. Ignis was reluctant to try and make the low-riding car drive off-road, but failed to see another option unless they wanted to take their chances fighting these things. He drove off the road, foot pushing on the gas and wincing at the whine of the engine as the Regalia kicked, accelerating quickly and they drove past the strange creatures.
"What were those things? They're like if you set a bowling ball on fire and painted a face on it." Prompto remarked.
"Bombs." Lunafreya answered.
"That sounds… ominous." Prompto grimaced at her response. "Know anything about them?"
"Not much." She admitted. "Just that they are elemental creatures… a village in southern Tenebrae was ravaged by a pack of hundreds them once. The fires were visible for miles." She furrowed her brows at the memories. The Empire had brought her there to try and tend to the survivors, and she would never forget how the air was stagnant with the smell of burning flesh, overpowering all else. The burns that the people came to her with. She had slept for nearly two days to recover herself after trying to heal all the injured until she simply collapsed with exhaustion. The people had demanded answers for where such a massive exodus of daemons had come from, and the Empire had no answer for them. Rather, decided to distract the people by focusing on how their Oracle came to them in their time of need.
"Luna?" She startled, turning her head to look at Noctis,
"Sorry. Tired I guess." She answered. He looked unsure, but decided not to probe her. Ignis had the car back on the road. They had managed an hour's drive before Ignis brought the car to a stop. Several meters to the left of the road was a large imposing creature, dragging a flaming axe, tailed by two of the daemons Lunafreya had identified as bombs earlier.
"That thing is a little bigger than a bomb."
"Astute observation Gladio, not sure what we would do without you." Ignis answered him. "Think we can drive past it? It's a bit off the road."
"I dunno man, that thing looks like it has a mean reach." Gladiolus answered.
"I don't think we can take it guys… so either gun it, wait here all night and hope it never notices us, or go back to Galdin Quay until the morning." Prompto suggested. "I like the idea of a sanctuary. Man… I always thought the boogyman coming out at night was just a story to scare kids. Never saw this kind of thing in Insomnia."
"Because the daemons seem to fear the light, and from what Noctis has told me Insomnia is never dark." Lunafreya answered him.
"Well we're not going back to Galdin Quay. We can make it to Hammerhead."
"We're only a quarter of the way to Hammerhead and already stopped twice. This does not bode well." Ignis countered, and voiced his agreement with Prompto that a sanctuary was a good idea.
"How do we even know sanctuaries are safe?" Gladiolus asked.
"Well nothing attacked us when we stayed at that one near Galdin Quay. Maybe those glowy runes aren't just to attract tourists?" Prompto asked, fidgeting in his seat and bouncing his leg.
"If we sit here with the car running arguing that thing is bound to notice us and introduce us to it's axe. Make a decision."
"We need to get to Insomnia!" Noctis insisted. "Gun it Iggy." The advisor sighed, gripping the steering wheel and once again accelerated the car hard enough to make it complain, ignoring the protests from the rest of the group. He could hear Crowe's motorcycle screaming as it too tried to accelerate hard. The car flashed with heat and light as flames shot overhead, all the occupants shouting and ducking their heads. Ignis swerved before forcing himself to sit up strait and try to regain control of the car.
"This is a shit show!" Gladiolus complained. But he had to admit, he was just as anxious as Noctis to get towards to Insomnia. He had yet to hear from his father or Iris, and all signs were pointing towards trouble. "What was that thing? It almost set us all on fire!"
"That wasn't the giant. That was just one of the bombs." Lunafreya supplied. "These daemons are no petty threat."
"If the flaming beach balls did that what could that giant thing do?" Prompto asked, though he wasn't sure he really wanted the answer. Lunafreya explained she didn't know a terrible lot. Getting her hands on books about the daemons was nearly impossible, so she only knew from the situations she encountered as Oracle, or from she learned of Gentiana. They drove for another hour, occasionally seeing packs of daemons out in the fields, hearing whispers and growls from the trees and brush. Ignis was growing more agitated with each pack they accelerated past, wondering how long their luck would hold. He tried to implore Noctis to see reason, but only Prompto joined his side. Gladiolus and Noctis were too eager to return to their home city, and Lunafreya remained a silent observer.
They arrived at Hammerhead at the pre-dawn hours, and the occupants of the car were all too eager to scramble out of the Regalia and stretch their limbs and burn off the nervous energy from spending four hours dodging monsters and testing their luck. Even Lunafreya found that the burning and throbbing in her feet were not enough to keep her from wanting to stretch her legs. She could only pace around a little before she was forced to go back to the Regalia and sit down in the passenger seat.
"Hey," Crowe walked up to Noctis, and he turned towards her. "If we all head up to Insomnia that'll attract a hell of a lot of attention. Why don't you let me go scope it out, I'll see what's up and come back." She offered. Noctis looked ready to protest, but Ignis beat him to the quick and accepted Crowe's offer. He Ignored his Prince's attempt to argue, insisting that approaching the situation tactically was more likely to yield information than if they were barreling towards the border and were forced to flee an army of airships.
"So I'm supposed to just sit here while the Empire is probably attacking my home?" Noctis snapped,
"Yes." Ignis replied, keeping his tone level. He replied with a frustrated grunt, and began to pace around. The group found themselves unable to sit still while they waited for Crowe to return with news of the Insomnian border. Lunafreya frequently found herself returning to the Regalila when the throbbing in her feet made pacing difficult. Seeing her struggle was only making Noctis more impatient, and he frequently found himself pacing near the small Hammerhead shop where he could purchase the supplies necessary to wrap her feet with potion-soaked bandages checking the hour sign hanging on the door. It was a quarter hour past seven when Crowe returned with her assessment of the border conditions, the group anxiously meeting her as she pulled up next to the Regalia.
"There's a blockade at the bridge to the city." Crowe announced when the gang nearly ran to her, stepping off the motorcycle and holding up a hand to forestall the Prince from demanding information. "But there's a hill where you can see the city from if you're just itching to see shit for yourself. Though I don't really recommend it. There's no way we're getting through that blockade, and it's a bit of a swim so getting back is out of the question." She provided.
"Let's get going then." Noctis was quick to insist.
"Whoa hold up a sec. You can't get the car up that hill, you have to climb through some abandoned buildings."
"I can't let that stop me."
"I don't think the Oracle is really up for a hike." Crowe clarified, nodding her head in the direction of the Regalia where aforementioned woman was sitting. Noctis furrowed his brow, feeling guilty again for making her dash across a city barefoot. He needed to see Insomnia, assess his home for himself. But he couldn't drag Lunafreya through the hike Crowe was mentioning.
"I can stay here, I'll be quite alright." She offered, putting on a smile to attempt to reassure him and mask her rising anxiety. "Besides, Pryna needs someone to look after her."
"If the Empire is sending airships all over the place I don't want to leave you here alone."
"I'll stay put. Already saw what those Nifs are up to, don't care to again." Crowe proposed, arms crossed. Noctis appeared hesitant but agreed with her.
"I'm sorry Luna… but… I need to see Insomnia for myself. I need to see if there's anything we can do." Noctis tried to apologize but Lunafreya held up her hand,
"I understand."
"Look I'll have my phone in my pocket, gimmie your number so we can touch base if shit goes down, will that unbunch your panties?" the Glaive suggested. Noctis bit his lip, but recited his number to her while she plugged it into the device.
"Let's get going." Gladiolus insisted after putting his own phone back into his pocket. Lunafreya took this as her cue to get out of the passenger seat, forcing a smile to prevent Noctis from apologizing to her again. He gave her a quick kiss, and they exchanged promises to stay safe, Crowe reaffirming that the future Lucian Princess would remain safe with her by her honor as a Glaive. The pair of women watched as the men departed before Lunafreya walked over to the stone wall of the Hammerhead garage to sit down.
"The store will open soon and we'll get those feet right as rain with some potion." Crowe stated sitting next to her. She saw the woman knitting her fingers together and grimaced, "hey they'll all be safe. Gladio is too bullheaded to allow anything bad to ever happen."
"It's not that. Watching your home burn is…" she sighed, and watched the Regalia vanish into the distance.
They followed the road from Hammerhead towards Insomnia, the blockade visible from a distance with airships passing over it. Ignis suggested they pull the car up near the brush and walk the rest of the way, the iconic car likely to draw attention should they pull up any closer. The friends decided to follow their tactician's advice, parking the car where it would be difficult to notice from the airships, and hoped that traffic in the area was light enough that no one would attempt to steal the Regalia. They looked for the path off to the left of the blockade that led through the abandoned building that Crowe mentioned, and found it to be guarded by Nifleheim soldiers.
"Well, this ain't gonna be easy." Gladiolus remarked. "Good exercise." He added after a moment. They were all hiding behind the remnants of a stone wall, assessing the entrance to the buildings and how visible they would be from the blockade proper.
"If we hug that wall over there we should be able to get inside without drawing additional attention. Assuming that no airships pass over our heads." Ignis offered, gesturing at another segment of the same broken wall that would provide some minimal cover. "Still won't be very easy. There are plenty of Nifs in our way."
"No turning back now. Besides, it'll be nice to get a little bit of payback for Altissia." Noctis responded. His Engine Blade appeared in his hand, forcing back thoughts that Insomnia could mirror the chaos that was Altissia. Gladiolus took point, leading the group of four along the path dictated by Ignis. They slipped through the open face of the building without catching attention and paused to reassess their surroundings again. Ignis looked up again, and saw there were far too many soldiers to continue any attempts at stealth.
"Was itching to warm up my muscles, still pretty stiff after that long drive."
"Pretty tired is more like it." Prompto rebuked, "I haven't slept yet."
"Well the faster we annihilate these puppets the faster we can get back and go to bed." Gladiolus suggested.
"Hey what'd'ya say we spice it up a bit huh? Make it more exciting to help me stay awake. Whoever kills the most puppets gets the bed in that trailer all to themselves, the loser has to sleep in the car, everyone else can share the tents." The gunman offered.
"You're on little man."
"Who you calling little?"
"Man, where's that voice coming from? I think it's a man but… I don't see one." Gladiolus answered, feigning looking around. Prompto growled and Ignis asked them to bring their attention to the task at hand, reminding them that reinforcements were likely to arrive soon if the number of airships in the sky above the blockade were any indication.
"Come on." Noctis gestured, and was the first of the group to emerge from cover, vanishing in a blur of blue before appearing with his blade through the chest of one of the soldiers, oil spraying him in the face as the high-pitched wine of offended gears and electronics continued functioning for several more seconds before the machine collapsed to the ground. Noctis removed the word, hearing the bark of Prompto's guns. Several meters away from Noctis a solider with a rifle fell from atop his perch, and it was only then the Prince saw the bullet hole in the supply crates only a couple centimeters to his left. He ducked behind the crates while he looked around for any more soldiers armed with guns, only emerging when confident the rest of the puppets were melee contenders.
Noctis warped to a soldier, remember the face of the young man who brought his fist down against Lunafreya to teach Noctis his place. He remembered all the bruises he found on her over the years. The one time she didn't notice the small drop of blood in their notebook. Of all the times she would walk with a limp, or the writing in their notebook was messy as she wrote with her right hand, trying to claim she was merely trying to learn to write with both sides. He screamed, recalling all these memories, every ounce of fury he felt over the passing years and swung his blade with enough ferocity to cut halfway through the machine's metal, kicking it hard in the chest to free his blade for another strike. He swung again, cleaving off it's arm, cursing that it fell so easily. He looked up, warping to the next one, leaving it crawling on the ground after hacking through its legs and warped to the next mask in which he saw all those faces that dared to hurt her. When they made it through the building and to the foot of the hill Prompto loudly proclaimed Noctis was the clear winner of their competition. Be he was busy dashing up the hill.
"Those bastards!" The Prince's voice carried down the hill as he stared across the water at his once proud city. The skyline was obscured by fire and smoke, the Citadel hidden behind the black and red. He could hear the distant echo of a shadow moving through the obscurity, nearly as tall as the Citadel itself.
"What the hell is that thing?" Prompto asked, Ignis and Gladiolus staring across the sea in silence.
"Ignis, what do we do? How do we take back our home from these… bastards." Noctis snarled. He pulled out his phone, shouting when he saw no unread messages and for a moment felt the impulse to throw it into the water, but retained the sense to shove it deep into his pocket.
"We can't take that entire city on our own Noctis. We need to go back to Hammerhead, we-" the rest of his statement was lost in the howling of the wind and roar of engines as a trio of airships passed overhead, the group covering their eyes from the dusk kicking up. Ignis was busy thumbing at his phone, and soon the voice of a reporter was buzzing out of the speakers,
Mixed reports of soldiers and daemons descending upon Insomnia. Citizens flee by the thousands. Prince Noctis, recently arrived in Altissia, as Nifleheim invaded the floating city is feared dead, as is the Oracle Lady Lunafreya. The former Princess of Tenebrae was to wed the Lucian Prince per the terms of a treaty with the Empire. It is reported that the King, Reglis Lucis Caelum is unaccounted for, and also feared dead. Rumors say the King's personal guard rose against him in protest of the wall and the fall of Galahad during the last Empirical invasion.
"Shut it off Ig." Noctis stated, fists balled as his side as tears stung his eyes.
"He's only unaccounted for. We can't assume the worst."
"Our home is on fire, Accordio is crawling with Nifs, they own everything they finally did it! They finally stole everything on the face of Eos!" He snapped at his advisor, who was shutting off the radio as it began to discuss casualties. Another burst of wind and roar of sound accompanied another wave of airships overhead, and Ignis suggesting a tactical retreat. Noctis wanted to throw his Engine Blade clear across the water and warp to his city, he wanted to destroy that towering shadow, tear apart every single puppet. He wanted to find every human soldier hiding amongst the machines and make them feel the pain he was feeling. The years of pain they made Lunafreya feel. He wanted to travel to Gralea and burn it to the ground so those damned Nifs could know what it felt like to watch your city burn.
"You're hurt." Prompto jerked him from the night his mind was trying to hide in. Noctis furrowed his brow, and looked to where his friend was pointing. He had a gash in his arm, and only then began to feel the sharp sting, or the annoying sticky feeling from the blood running down his arm. "We should get back to Hammerhead." He suggested.
"A wise idea. Let us regroup with the Lady Lunafreya, and Lady Crowe."
"I can't just let them burn Insomnia to the ground!"
"My family is in there too." Gladiolus answered him, and Noctis finally relaxed his stance.
"Iris…"
"And my father, Jared, and his grandson Talcott. I can't get through to any of them either. You think I don't want to charge in there too? It would be suicide." Noctis paused, biting down hard on his bottom lip, shaking his head as he failed to blink back the tears that stung his eyes, his voice locked in his throat with the painful lump that was hindering his breathing.
"Come on. Let's go back." He agreed.
The pair of women rested against the cool stone exterior of the garage, waiting for the royal entourage to return. Pryna was sleeping, and Crowe tapped her foot restlessly feeling agitated by the quiet. How the hell could this Oracle and her dog look so serene after the night they all just had? Well, she wasn't about to take it in stride. She reached into the inner pocket of her jacket and pulled out a simple flask. She opened the top and took a long swig, rubbing her tongue against the roof of her mouth to soothe the potent aftertaste of the rum, cursing herself for not dropping just a bit more money for the palatable brand. Damn my frugality. She cursed. She held out the flask towards Lunafreya who looked at her like she was holding out a frog.
"Rum. You look like you could use it." She lied. Damn girl looked like she had taken a sedative.
"I-" don't drink. The words came to her mind but she cut them off. "Thank you." She accepted the flask, taking a small sip, clearing her throat after swallowing it, wincing at the taste.
"Takes like paint thinner, sorry. But gets the job done." She shrugged, taking another long swig herself, and held the flask back out to her. "You are't going to drop dead from two sips." She added when she saw the girl hesitate. "Your night was even shittier than mine. You don't have to be that prim little Princess around me, I don't give enough of a damn about that shit." Lunafreya chuckled at this and accepted the flask, taking a second larger sip this time holding her composure as she expected the potent sting in her throat.
"I wonder what time this business opens. I hope the owner does not mind us loitering on his property." Lunafreya pondered, if only to continue conversation and fill the time with something other than silence.
"Didn't the Prince mentioned something about this place belonging to his dad's old friend? Just play the guilt card if anyone gives you trouble." Crowe suggested. "The hell is that?" she pointed to two figures who were limping up the road. "Must be refugees from Insomnia. Come on." Crowe wave a hand, tucking the flask back into her jacket. "Can you walk like that?"
"I made it through Altissia, I can handle a short walk to help those fleeing Insomnia." Lunafreya replied. Crowe shrugged, taking her answer at face value. She waved to the two strangers, and as they got a bit closer she squinted, "Nyx? And… holy shit." She broke into a sprint as she saw who he was with. "Your Majesty,"Crowe panted, bowing to her King.
"More of the glaives made it out of Insomnia? Good to see there were still those loyal amongst your ranks." Regis answered, then nodded his head at her. "please, stand. No need for formalities at a time like this."
"There's a garage right over there, they have a trailer. Come on… let's get you there to rest"
"Crowe?" Nyx asked. Lunafreya caught up to them with Pryna trotting beside her, and the Oracle met Regis's astonished expression,
"Luna! You… is it you?"
"Regis." She answered him, looking into his aged face, but recognizing those gentle eyes.
"You… you got out of Altissia. Then my son… Noctis…"
"Safe." She answered him quickly. "His friends too. We all got out of Altissia with the help of your friend, Cor." She looked down and saw one of his hands was wrapped in cloth, stained with blood. "You're hurt. Please, let me help you." She reached for him, but he shook his head at her with a gentle chuckle.
"So dutiful my dear, you haven't changed at all, have you? Let us get to safety first." He answered, gently blocking her hands with his uninjured one. She bit her lip, but gave him a curt nod. "Where is Noctis?"
"He… he heard news of Insomnia. He went to see for himself."
"He went back to Insomnia?!" Regis stood straighter, his good hand flexing as he quickly turned to look back over his shoulder, "we hardly got out…"
"He isn't trying to get through the blockade" Crowe quickly interjected, "there's a hill where you can see sh—" she paused, "everything going down."
"We should tell him you're safe, Noct has been worried sick." Lunafreya suggested, but Regis shook his head,
"My phone was left behind in the chaos…" Regis explained, Nyx echoing him about the loss of his own. Crowe checked her own phone, and was happy to find she had a bar of service.
Crowe: Get your royal ass back here yer dad is alive
Crowe had hardly hit the send button and placed her phone back in her pocket when she felt it buzz with Noctis's reply.
Noctis: He got out hes safe?
Crowe: yeah in one piece hes with a glaive and friend of mine get back here
Noctis: on the way
She placed the phone back in her pocket to look up at her King,
"Here, let me help you. Nyx you must be exhausted let me take over." The exhausted man was more than relieved to allow Crowe to take his place supporting Regis, rolling his shoulders and rubbing at his neck with his fingers, mumbling to himself about numb fingers and throbbing legs. Lunafreya offered to help support him on the other side but it was Crowe who reminded her about her feet, and insisted she get back to Hammerhead with the white dog and rest before hurting herself worse.
"What is wrong with your feet my dear? Is Noctis hurt too?" Regis asked, getting a shake of the head in reply.
"I'm alright, as is he. Please, let us get you two back first. I will answer any questions you have about Altissia. Sir… Nyx was it? Do you have any injuries?"
"What Regis said, let's get back first." He replied, trying to keep from curling his lip at the thought of the young woman's hands on him. After what he saw in Insomnia he had no desire to let anyone touch him with any form of magic. The group made slow progress back to the garage that was showing the first signs of activity. The garage door was open, and the lights on the small store were lit. An elderly man was seated in a tatterd lawn chair, Cindy sitting in the other one opposite a small table supporting a partially torn umbrella. The group walked up to the trailer on the side of the lot. and Crowe helped her injured King sit on the stairs, Regis groaning with the effort of trying to reach such a low perch.
"Cindy, I'm going a bit blind in my old age so I need you to clarify something for me. Is that who I think it is?" Cid ground out in a deep gravely voice. He furrowed his brow, a deep crease between his brow. The mechanic looked up at him and bit her lip, unsure if the question was rhetoric. He walked away from her, limping towards the trailer, the King's three companions stiffening at his approach, Nyx putting himself in the way of his path.
"Stand down Nyx. Cid is an old friend." Cid scoffed at this, arms crossed,
"Reggie. You got some balls." He paused, looking down at the arm Regis was clutching to his chest, the blood stained bandage leaving a dark mark on his shirt. His leg was braced, hair askew in the places that it wasn't stuck to his forehead with tried sweat. "The hell just happened in Insomnia?"
"Nifleheim finally got what they wanted." Regis replied.
"Guess that wall of yours wasn't worth sacrificing the rest of Lucis for, huh?" Regis flinched, and Lunafreya started to speak but was cut off by Regis,
"No my dear. I'm afraid Cid is correct." Both men stared each other down, Cid finally dropping his shoulders and shaking his head.
"You look awful. Come on, get outta the sun. Gets hotter than hell out here." He walked away from the Regalia, Regis and his companions following his old friend into the garage. Cindy followed her grandfather, bringing the two lawn chairs with her,
"Pawpaw?"
"Cindy, Regis. Regis, my granddaughter Cindy." He gestured at her as he paused.
"How is-"
"You ask about my daughter and I'll make you look an even sorrier sight than y'already are."
"Hey!" Nyx snapped, balling his fists as he approached Cid, ignoring Regis's plea to leave it. "You have any idea of the shit we just saw? We're lucky we got outta that city in one piece! And he's your King."
"He stopped being my King once he pulled that damn wall in closer to Insomnia. And I spent enough time runnin' 'round Lucis with his sorry ass long to earn the right to talk to him however I damn well please. Now sit your asses down before I change my mind about helping y'all." He bit back. Regis was happy to sit back down again, Nyx collapsing into the chair next to him. Lunafreya watched Cid leave and worried her bottom lip, fingers knitting together before she turned her eyes back to Regis's hand,
"Now that we're back in Hammerhead let me help you." She offered again. "Let me see," Regis frowned, letting out a long sigh before moving his injured hand away from his chest, carefully peeling back the bandage wrapped around the hand. Blood quickly welled up and began to drip on the pavement floor, Lunafreya gasping at what she saw. Regis's right hand was a mess of sinew and jagged bone fragments poking through raw flesh. His third fourth and fifth fingers were missing, as was half his index finger.
"What happened?" Lunafreya asked, but provided no pause for him to answer her as she quickly grasped the sides of his face, pressing her forehead to his as she whispered her prayer, feeling him begin to relax under her touch, heard his breath begin to slow, and the rapid pulse beneath the heels of her palms calming. Nyx reached out quickly to keep Regis from slumping out of the chair entirely as he slumped down.
"I'm alright. If I didn't collapse back in Insomnia, I'm not going to do so now." He looked down at his hand, fresh pink scar tissue knit across his hand, some skin still raw in places. Lunafreya resisted the urge to press a hand to her forehead, her previous fatigue coming back in full force.
"You don't look good, sit, don't feel like cleaning the mess if you fall and crack your head open." Crowe suggested. The Oracle nodded in answer, lowering herself to the floor to sit, Pryna anxiously walking circles around her mistress until she sat. She held up a palm and shook her head when Nyx motioned to move from his seat for her.
"You need rest more than I do, please, stay in your seat."
"Thank you Luna…" Regis nearly whispered. He flexed his thumb, what remained of his second finger pulled painfully on the still-tender scar tissue, seeing some bits of the wound were still raw and exposed, but would heal fully with time. She asked him again.
"What happened?"
"I was betrayed… by the glaives. My Shield… Clarus… he…" Regis dropped his eyes. "He fell covering me as Nyx spirited me from the Citadel. Drautos showed his hand too soon. He cut the Ring of the Lucii from my hand. The Empire has finally captured what they've longed for for countless generations. They have the Crystal and the Ring." He shook his head. The line of Lucis has failed in our calling.
"Noctis will fulfill his calling as the Crystal's Chosen and restore the Crystal back to Lucis." Lunafreya promised him, "With the Oracle by his side. The two shall purge their star of the scourge. And if we must stop Niflehiem to do so, then so be it." She recited, and for a moment she sounded like that twelve-year-old child reading books to Noctis as they talked and played games about their roles with an innocence he wished wasn't snatched from them so young. He forced back the apologies that were swarming in his mind, knowing the petty words meant as little as any change they could bring. He would not waste his words on sentimentality when it was action alone that would provide reprieve.
"Here, unless I've gone senile you could turn this sugary nonsense into something useful." Cid's voice cut cross the room, holding out a tall blue can, several others clutched to his chest before dropping them into Nyx's lap. "Here sonny, help out your King like a good little citizen." He quipped. Regis thanked Cid, and asked if he had a first aid kid with bandages despite his reluctance to ask his old friend for anything. "Here," he held out a small red box that he rummaged from the back of a shelf, knocking over several half-filled plastic containers of oil and transmission fluid, kicking one of them clear across the garage with several curses, and muttered something inaudible about it being pointless cleaning it up if there were so few citizens with cars needing servicing.
"Now my dear, let me return the favor." Regis turned his attention to Lunafreya, sliding out of the chair with a groan and holding up his good hand to halt her protests. She forced herself to relax as he changed the energy drink into a Potion, and soaked a bandage with it. He asked her to remove the ones she had wrapped around her feet, wrapping them again with the potion-soaked gauze. She knit her fingers as he tended to her, knee locked stiff as she watched him. The potion had a pleasant cold tingle against the abrasions on her soles, exhaling through her nose.
"Thank you." She nodded to him, pulling her legs back and curling them at her side.
"Now tell me, what happened in Altissia? I must admit seeing you in one of my spare sets of clothes is quite shocking." She flushed, looking down at the baggy garments around her and wound her arms protectively around herself.
"I… We left in such a rush…" she stammered, dodging eye contact. Leaving out the bit of Noctis's presence in her room, she told Regis of his rush to spirit her from the hotel to meet his friends, and their flight from the city. She reassured him Noctis was quite fine, and that last they saw him Cor was safe as well. She was knitting her fingers again after she had finished talking, eyes downcast.
"So that trailer we saw, we should ask the old man how much to rent it." Nyx interrupted, "we're all exhausted and need some rest. Should be enough room in there for all four of us. I mean, may need to snuggle a little," Nyx added, winking at Crowe who rolled her eyes at him.
"I'll chalk that up to fatigue-induced-lunacy and pretend you didn't suggest that." She responded.
"Oh come on admit it, nice to see a familiar face." He teased back. She balled a fist and raised it, lifting her brows and giving a short nod at him, getting a laugh in response. The sound of the Regalia's engine drew their attention, Regis whispering a prayer to the Six that his son was safe.
I wanted to keep Regis alive in this fic, since he's so rarely alive in others. I think that if Luna wasn't in Insomnia Regis would have fled the throne room when attacked since he didn't have to cover her retreat. I hope you enjoyed seeing Regis reunite with Luna, Cid, and approve of how I've written Crowe and Nyx thus far.
