Lunafreya lolled her head back against the headrest once she had climbed into the Regalia, the lack of sleep catching up to her. A headache was beginning to settle behind her eyes and she shut them, lightly rubbing her temple. She was grateful Ignis hadn't put the top of the Regalia back yet, as it muffled Gladiolus arguing with Crowe over who was going to ride on the back of the motorcycle with her. It had been decided that they could use Aranea to help take down Deadeye and nearly the entire walk from the base to the car had been spent arguing over whether she was a threat or an asset. She opened her eyes and sat straight when the door beside her pulled open and she looked up to see Aranea's curled lip.
"I'm sick of hearing him yap about me like I'm not here. Scoot over, making the call myself." She declared. Lunafreya shifted over in the seat, turning her head when the other door opened and Noctis scooted in. She lifted her knees as she sat uncomfortably scrunched in the middle seat, trying to give Aranea more room. The front doors opened with Ignis and Prompto each stepping into the car, causing Lunafreya to lift a brow and look at Noctis, but he answered the question before she could ask.
"Ignis figured if he was going to be an ass about who rode with Crowe then it should be him so we don't have to listen to more arguing."
"Will Crowe be able to adequately control the bike with such a large man sitting behind her? I would imagine it would make it quite difficult to balance." She remarked.
"He insisted on driving. Crowe was happy to back down and let him. The drive will help him calm down anyway." Noctis answered her with a shrug. He took note of the darkness rimming her eyes, and how she appeared somehow paler than her norm. "It's a long drive to where Wiz told us Deadeye's lair is. Why don't you try to sleep a little." Lunafreya nodded at this suggestion, closing her eyes and leaning her head back.
The bump from pulling off the paved road onto the dirt pulled her from her brief sleep. She felt a pressure on her right ear and realized that she was leaning against Noctis. She shifted, pulling herself back upright and pressed the back of her fist against her mouth to stifle a yawn, asking if she had slept the entire ride when it appeared that they were parking the Regalia. Noctis answered the affirmative and helped her step out of the car, the rest of the Retinue doing the same.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"Eleven." Noctis walked up to Ignis who was staring down at his phone. "You know where we're going?" he asked. Crowe and Gladiolus were pulling up and parking the bike right behind them. Noctis cast a cursory glance at them, sighing when it appeared they were bickering amongst themselves. Ignis described a wooded area with a clearing that hunters had reported seeing the beast retreating to. If they were to enter the grove and wait for Deadeye, they would be able to follow it back to its lair. The pair joined the rest of the retinue, each standing close to their charge.
It only took approximately fifteen minutes of walking before the clearing mentioned by Ignis came into view, and another ten to reach it. Once through the initial trees they were able to get a solid look around them. Large paths of brush had been trampled flat, and the area was devoid of the usual chatter of birds and insects. There was a vague sweetly sour odor in the air that grew stronger as they walked further into the clearing. Despite the sparsity of brush within the clearing, it sat in a small valley surrounded by tree and brush coated cliffs that cast the area in a dusk-like darkness even at noon. Even the distant trees and brush seemed darker than natural.
"See anything?" Prompto asked. Everyone hung silent as they looked around, searching for any sign of the behemoth.
"Not yet." Noctis answered him. Everyone else echoed his negative until Ignis cut in,
"Over there." He pointed. The others tried to see where he was gesturing to, but no one could see what he was pointing to. "You see that odd purple bush?" he tried to clarify. A few hesitant murmurs were close enough to a yes for him. "That's the tip of its tail." A collective oh followed his declaration, and he suggested they approach slowly. As they progressed through the clearing the bush vanished for a moment, and the full figure of Deadeye came into view.
The behemoth stood three-quarters the height of the few nearby trees, and nearly as broad as Hammerhead's garage. One paw would be capable of crushing the Regalia, the bush-like tuft on its tail as large as a man.
"Holy shit, we're supposed to kill that thing?" Prompto muttered. The sickly sweet-sour smell was more potent the closer they crept. "Pretty sure if we all work together we could hack off its tail before it eats us all." He added.
"Its why we collected so much fire, remember? Wiz told us some hunters said there were fuel barrels deeper in its lair." Noctis answered. He summoned one of his grenades and let it bounce in his palm. He had four in total and hoped like hell he could make good use of them. He vanished the grenade and turned his attention back to Deadeye as Ignis hissed them all to be quiet, the great beast beginning to move. They were downwind from the behemoth, and while the odor was making them all nauseated, it would cover their own scent.
Deadeye stood, its low growl could be felt deep in his gut, the low-pitch vibrations making him feel nauseated, the sound reverberating in his head and bouncing between his ears. A primal fear rose in his heart, some ancient instinct reminding him this thing could tear him apart. His feet remained rooted to the ground, wide eyes watching as the behemoth moved, hesitating and sniffing at the air for a moment. Noctis licked a finger and held it up to remind himself they were downwind. It can't smell us. It can't smell us. He tried to chant in his mind. But they hadn't showered after leaving that Imperial base, and he felt like he had a film of death coating his skin. It put its head back down and let out another low rumble, resuming its slow lumbering pace deeper into the grove. After several dozen meters it turned, walking in a wide curve to the north and Noctis cursed under his breath at the change in direction, licking his finger and checking the wind again but to his frustration found he couldn't figure out if they were still downwind.
Ignis mimicked Noctis's action but also came up short. Assuming the wind direction hadn't changed he figured they were not yet upwind, and continued their slow follow. They crested a small hill, and waited until the behemoth had vanished behind it before sneaking to the top, trying to stay hidden behind a rocky formation. They looked down the hill and it almost appeared to be the start of an old quarry. There were red metal barrels strewn about, some were on their sides while others were upright, some upsidedown.
"So how flammable is the stuff in those barrels?" Noctis whispered to Ignis. "If those things were knocked over the whole ground down there could be saturated."
"Most likely any spilled material would have evaporated unless something was tipped very recently." Ignis answered him. "Throw your fireballs once Deadeye is close to one, and we'll be able to better ascertain how explosive those barrels are."
"It's gonna be pretty pissed off once we do that." Noctis remarked. He summoned one of the grenades and gripped it in his fist, "Should we get a little closer?" he mumbled, mostly to himself as he looked for a barrel he could hit easily. Deadeye had curled up against one of the rock walls of the quarry, near two barrels. One was overturned, but the other was still upright. "All right, once everyone is ready." Noctis stated, looking to the others. He wasn't sure what plan they could come up with besides, blow it up and try not to die. "Okay." He took a deep breath, bouncing the vial in his hand and stood up. He adjusted his stance, rolling his shoulders before throwing the vial with all the strength he had, letting out a loud grunt, and watch it arc across and land about a meter from the barrel, but the explosion from the contained spell was still large enough to engulf the barrel and ignite it.
The overturned barrel exploded as well, and the group was engulfed in heat as the shockwave hit them, knocking everybody over. The behemoth bellowed, the sound nearly as loud as the explosion had been, its continued screech almost forcing Noctis to clamp his hands over his ears.
"Okay watch this!" Aranea announced, her spear appearing in her hand. She bent her knees and leapt, landing halfway between the hillcrest and where Deadeye was thrashing and howling. A second leap and she was atop its back, her spear thrust into the back of its neck.
"Well come on! She can't be the one with the biggest balls in the group, Gladio will never live it down!" Prompto cheered, and began to run down the hill. Noctis cast one concerned glance at Lunafreya before forcing himself to pay attention to the fight, recalling how badly the hunt with the sabertusks had gone, and had no intention of repeating it.
He called forth his Engine Blade and warped. He lacerated the beast's hind leg, crashing into it and warping himself to the ground to prevent a four meter fall. He gagged when he hit the ground, overwhelmed by the acrid sweet-sour scent from before now joined by burning air and the acidic scent of the burnt chemicals. He coughed, trying to blink away the burning in his eyes and not lose focus. He heard Aranea shout a warning, and looked up to see a paw swinging at him. He warped away and spun around, sniffling and coughing as he tried to clear his airways. Further from the ignited barrels he could see better, clearing the burning sensation from his eyes.
He cursed when he saw Ignis knocked hard to the ground by Deadeye's tail. He had thrown his two daggers. One had missed, the other had found its mark behind its eye. He cursed again, panting for breath wondering how the others were able to breathe back down in the cloud of smoke being agitated back into the air by all the commotion. He picked himself up and warped. He landed near the downed Ignis, and Lunafreya had caught up to him, trident gripped in her hand.
"I'll protect him Noct, focus on the behemoth!" she instructed. He nodded, looking up and saw that Aranea was clinging to her spear, her thin form being thrown about as Deadeye thrashed and tried to shake her. Gladiolus was wildly swinging his great sword from opposite the best. Sparks flew as he ground the sword past the rocks in his wide arcs to hack at the thick hide on Deadeye's thigh, missing his target of the tensed muscle above the ankle joint. Noctis winced, wondering how much damage he was doing to his own weapon. What the hell are we gonna do if he disarms himself by breaking his own damn sword?
The other Shield was more focused, having moved away from trying to sever tendons, instead focusing her attention on the tail. It was whipping about wildly, spraying dark blood, and Crowe was dodging the sharp motions. She hacked a slice of tissue away from the back of Deadeye's left leg below the ankle joint before being knocked down again by the bloodstained tail.
"Noct I can't fire at him with her up there!" Prompto complained, snapping Noctis's attention back over. He biting down on his lip as he aimed his guns at the behemoth. He could likely fire at its flanks, but he didn't want to risk an unexpected movement putting the dragoon in the line of fire. He could see where the fire had injured the beast from this viewpoint. The underside of its neck was singed, and down along its chest. Beefy red tissue surrounded areas burned black.
"I'll get her." Noctis reassured. He motioned to warp but Deadeye jerked, a large paw swiping at them. Light flashed around them, forcing them to cover their eyes. Noctis could hear Lunafreya's grunt, and saw that she had cast a shield in time to deflect the paw. The shield shattered in a rain of sparks and the young woman collapsed to her knees, leaning over Ignis,
"Go!" she shouted as her fingers lit up and gripped the downed man. Noctis grit his teeth, warping up to the behemoth's back. He dug his blade into the thick hide to gain his bearings and shouted the dragoon's name. She looked at him and he gestured to the ground, wrapping an arm around her waist and warped. The moment his feet hit the ground he could hear Prompto's guns firing, wincing at the loud sound as it echoed off the rocky walls. Its good eye burst into a gush of fluids and the sounds it made raised in pitch and Noctis could still feel it in his stomach.
"Iggy?" he shouted, looking over to where he was bent over with Lunafreya on her hands and knees beside him, panting for breath.
"I'll watch them. There's more barrels over there. Do that blue trick again and blow up some more barrels, then we can finish it off!" Aranea shouted over the bellows of Deadeye. Noctis nodded, taking a quick inventory of his friends to ensure he could pick a spot far away from any of them. Crowe was finishing an arc of her sword that finally severed Deadeye's tail, wincing as it covered her in blood. Its so dark in here it looks like oil. He thought to himself. Ignis was coughing but nodding his head at whatever words Lunafreya was saying to him. Gladiolus was continuing to attack Deadeye's right hind leg with large haphazard motions, and Prompto was reloading his guns.
"Prompto! With me!" he shouted. The gunman looked up and ran towards Noctis, who grabbed him and warped over to the barrels. "Fire at him and get him to charge at us, then I'll warp us away again. He saw Aranea pointing in their direction, and the rest of the retinue ceased their attacks and began to converge on Ignis and Lunafreya's positions. Prompto fired his gun as Deadeye began to turn towards them and bucked as a bullet sheared past a shoulder.
"Got 'im! Man that guy's skin is thick how'd you and the Nif chick manage to pierce it with just a sword and a spear?" he wondered aloud, and began to fire again. The behemoth bellowed, and Noctis began to shout, curse, scream, make any noise he thought would bring it over to them. And it worked.
"Holy shit this might work!" he commented. Prompto emptied his clip at the charging animal. While normally a moving target is difficult to hit, the sheer enormity of it ensured that all but two of his shots landed. He felt Noctis grab him, and in a blur of blue they were ten meters away. Noctis dropped Prompto roughly to the ground, Deadeye still charging at them and hurled two fire grenades. He could hear Prompto vomiting beside him and winced, remembering how nauseated warping used to make him. The behemoth was already limping its charge, and when the barrels exploded it was knocked over, screeching in pain and thrashing its limbs.
"That was cool!" Prompto managed after retching again. "Come on, it's neck is all messed up let's finish it off." Noctis held out a hand to help him up and nodded. He didn't think Prompto could handle the warp again and sprinted, hoping the thrashing beast would stay down. The gunman lifted his guns, Noctis readying his sword, and the pair focused their attacks on the neck. The Prince hesitated to allow Prompto to empty his clip before warping and using the momentum to force his engine blade into its neck.
"Can't let you boys have all the fun!" a voice rang over the anguished bellowing of the behemoth, the pair looked up to see Aranea descending from the sky, spear in hand, burning her spear beside Noctis's engine blade. Gladiolus was sprinting at them as well, calling forth his great sword and in a great swing brought the blade down, tearing through the exposed flesh of Deadeye's throat, the thick hide burned away. Noctis and Prompto flinched, backing away from the spray of blood, and the ear-splitting sounds died away into short whimpers, thrashing ceasing, until it merely lay there motionless save for a shallow rise and fall of its chest. In time that too would cease.
"How's Ig?" Noctis panted, leaning over trying to catch his breath.
"Luna's patching him up he should be okay. But let's go get back." Gladiolus answered him. Let his great sword vanish and pulled Noctis's blade and Aranea's spear from the behemoth's neck. Noctis thanked him when he took the blade and vanished it.
"How'd you sneak this thing off your airship?" Gladiolus asked, looking at the object in his hand and thrust it out to her.
"It's MagiTek. Oh don't give me that look, the stuff comes in handy sometimes." She replied, and a few odd motions of her fingers the large spear compacted down to about the length of her forearm and fit into a pouch on the side of her pants. "You guys okay?" she asked, quirking a brow.
"Yeah." Noctis answered. Prompto nodded as well, straightening out his shirt and holstering his guns after clicking the safety. "You?" he asked.
"Sore, but I'll live." She shrugged.
"The others?"
"They'll all live." She remarked.
"Hey… look. You helped us out. Thanks." Gladiolus grumbled after the other two had walked past. Noctis let out a breath as he overheard the half-mumbled praise, hoping that this mean he would just calm down already.
"Just don't forget to pay me." She answered. The four of them walked back to where the others were. Lunafreya was sitting on the ground, rubbing her temple with one hand, a sealed energy drink clutched in the other. She was flanked by Crowe and Ignis, the former rubbing a palm against her back. They looked up to welcome the rest of their retinue back.
"Hey… you guys okay?" Noctis asked, coming down to his knees before Lunafreya.
"I'm all right." She answered. "would you please turn this into an ether for me." She requested, holding the can out to Noctis. He quirked a brow at her, surprised that she was actually asking him for something.
"Uh… yeah. Sure." He looked up at Crowe, and remembered his earlier thought about the oil blood. "Is behemoth blood always that dark?" he asked.
"Deadeye was blighted." She remarked.
"Wait what?!" Crowe shouted, and immediately began desperately clawing at herself, trying to brush away the drying blood from her skin and clothes, slapping at her head in frantic gestures.
"Crowe, stop!" she shouted, biting down on her lip wishing she had told her the moment Deadeye had charged into Noctis's trap. She had merely wanted to wait until everyone was together. "I can help." She explained, and the woman ceased attacked herself. "It is why I need the Ether, I need to purge the blight from each of you." She continued. "Perhaps this is why Deadeye was such an aggressive behemoth, the blight may have warped its mind." She took the can from Noctis with a nod and a quiet thank you. She tried to drink it quickly, and immediately wished that the thing wasn't carbonated when she pressed a fist against her mouth to try and suppress the burb that rose.
"Wow! I give that one a seven!" Crower laughed, and Lunafreya's flush grew darker.
"I tried to drink the Ether too quickly…" she answered.
"Don't be embarrassed. You should hear this one belch, it'll scare off any animals for a hundred kilometers." Noctis teased, thumbing at Gladiolus.
"Give me a drink and I'll scare anything within two hundred kilometers." He snorted.
"Yeah I could go for a drink myself…" Crowe mumbled. "Hey at least now I can apparently add, survived contracting blight to my list of badassery."
"That's not the worst thing I've ever heard. Why don't we find a liquor store, make early camp, and drink the last fourty-eight hours out of our brains" Gladiolus suggested, getting enthusiastic agreement from the rest of their party. Lunafreya blushed again, pressing the drink to her lips to try and finish it off.
"I feel quite a bit better. Fascinating how fast those works." She commented. She reached out to Noctis who was still kneeling across from her, smiling and sliding her fingers slowly across his cheeks, closing her eyes and met him halfway to press her forehead to his. She found her light, pouring it into him as she whispered her prayer. She said her words slowly, needing this brief contact with him to ground herself from the images of the advanced blight victims swimming to the surface, the threat of seeing it on these familiar faces making her throat constrict.
Noctis remembered the notebook that had made Ignis so weary, and saw that agitation again in both his friend and Aranea as they received Lunafreya's light, wondering what was in those notebooks that distressed the two so severely. She moved on to the rest of the group, and once everyone had been purged she stepped back and clasped her hands in front of her.
"Shall we return to the Regalia?"
"Oh! Wait! Let me get a picture of Deadeye so we can prove it to Wiz." Prompto remarked. They gave him some time to pull out his camera and fiddle with the zoom and other settings that he prattled about aloud, squinting one eye as he gazed through the lens and took his series of photos. The photos came out dark, but passable. Noctis suspected that the pictures would not be sufficient proof, but that Wiz would trust them anyways. Once he had put his camera back away Crowe called out over them,
"Come on, this place reeks. I'm sick of being places that smell like a rotting garula's asshole."
Camp was made near a small pond surrounded by trees with enough of a clearing for them to pitch their tents. After returning to Wiz to tell the man they had successfully killed deadeye. He insisted on paying the group despite the fact they had done the hunt to repay him for all his kindness. They had used the money to purchase another tent with the new addition to their team, and a large quantity of alcohol.
"Here Sparkles," Crowe handed one of the metal cups out to her, Lunafreya taking it from her and staring at it for a moment.
"I rarely drink." She admitted with a flush. The only times she had ever imbibed had been when Ravus would smuggle some alcohol into her room. She suspected that it was his way of trying to soothe his guilt at how the empire was treating her, since it happened more often than not on the days she had bruises to hide.
"Well then you're probably a lightweight which means more for me!" she cheered. "Drink up and lets make our brain cells regret ever trying to write down the shit we saw in that base!" she declared.
"I'll second that." Aranea agreed, holding her cup up.
"Fuck our brain cells!" Prompto agreed,
"To washing away our memory." Ignis added. Noctis and Gladiolus raised their cups as well once they were passed around, and upon seeing everyone on the group Lunafreya smiled lightly and held up her own, adding her own curse our brain cells. They all lowered their arms and chugged the undiluted rum.
"Damn!" Crowe remarked, sitting up and lifting her brows. "Girl can handle her drink!" she remarked when Lunafreya downed half her cup in one large swig without coughing or wincing.
"Living with the Nifs makes you want to kill all your brain cells." Aranea suggested,
"I… cannot quite argue with that." Lunafreya admitted, blushing and running her thumbs on the rim of her cup. She looked over to Nocits beside her who was still rubbing the top of his chest after a hearty cough upon trying to drink his own cup in a large swig.
"Wish I could say the same for Princey over there. Who woulda' thunk that the oh-so-proper Oracle can handle her liquor better than the Prince!" Crowe chuckled,
"Maybe we should have bought some wine coolers for Noct." Gladiolus suggested and got a middle finger, and then blew a kiss back in response earning a second middle finger.
"Hey I suggested beer." He quipped defensively.
"Well while you sip delicately at your cup," Crowe leaned hard to her right to reach Lunafreya's cup and refill it from one of the two large bottle of rum they had purchased, the latter woman thanking her quietly and stared down at the clear liquid in the cup debating the wisdom of drinking more so quickly until Nettmann's face appeared behind her eyelids for a moment and she was quick to take a large swig. "That's what I'm talking about!"
"I always had a feeling the perfect little Oracle that the Empire toted around was a front." Aranea smiled, "glad to see that there's a human beneath the glowing perfection." She held up her cup, "fuck the Empire." And downed what remained in her cup.
"Agreed." Lunafreya concurred, unsure if the heat in her cheeks was from the words she spoke or the alcohol already taking hold. She thought about walking back over to the small pond and sitting where she had sat beside Noctis while he fished to dip her feet in the water, realizing how much alcohol she had consumed over her two large gulps. She was grateful that they had managed a relatively large meal, and hoped it would help her retain her wits. Noctis had managed to catch some fish, and when combined with the cup-noodles that Gladiolus always insisted on having, and dried foods gathered from the base, Ignis had been able to once again produce a satisfying makeshift stew.
"So you go from Imperial lackey to fuck the empire just because you have a new paycheck?" Gladiolus asked.
"You do what you need to survive in Nifleheim." She answered simply. "Don't have to like your boss to get your paycheck."
"Hey remember that summer we worked at that sports shop?" Prompto spoke up.
"Oh gods why did you remind me of that place." Gladiolus groaned. "our boss was the most miserable bitch I've ever encountered in my life."
"Wait… why the hell did you need to work a retail job? You're Sheild to the Prince of goddamn Insomnia" Crowe asked.
"Uh, my dad thought it would help me better relate to the common people."
"A.K.A, get your head out of your ass." Prompto smirked, Gladiolus jutting his bottom jaw out at him. "Didn't you quit by getting onto the loud speaker attention shoppers. Manager Leah is a cunt. That is all."
"She literally chased me out of the store with a bat!" Gladiolus laughed.
"Like, four shoppers called the cops." Prompto added, pointing at Gladiolus. "You should have seen the look on his dad's face when the cops showed up at the Citadel! He was training" he held his fingers up as air quotes "Noct when they showed up to talk to him! It was great!"
"Wait, why did the cops want to talk to him?" Aranea asked, "if he was the one being chased out with a bat?"
"Well she told the cops I was the one doing the chasing."
"And they didn't have security cameras?"
"They checked those after talking with me because they had to get the warrants first and everything. My dad still wasn't happy when he heard the real story." Gladiolus explained, finishing the dregs of rum in his first cup, holding it out to Crowe for a refill. "My father rained hell on me. But was still worth it to call my boss a cunt."
"Oh man it was glorious! I quit a little after him but man it was all anyone could talk about for a few days!" Prompto laughed, sipping at his own cup at a more realistic pace than his companions.
"So what made this boss so bad it was worth the shit you got into?" Crowe asked. "Well. Aside from the bat thing."
"She was psycho. No matter how hard I worked it was never enough. Or anyone. Shit, I had to do the heavy lifting for every department, and I was always bitched at for being too slow. She would pick on our coworker, the girl would greet new customers then be screamed at for not milling around her section of the store. If she walked around her section of the store she would scream at the girl for not greeting new customers. It's like she was just on a power trip and wanted an excuse to hurt people. I could go on for hours."
"I could tell you some stories from Nifleheim." Aranea responded, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. "Shit I was the only mercenary they had. Surprise my ass isn't permanently bruised."
"They allow that shit?" Gladiolus lifted a brow.
"I'm a mercenary, not enlisted."
"So they pinch your ass and you went crawling back?"
"I was hungry and needed to buy myself a fuckin' burger or two, so yeah, I went back to work." She snipped back.
"Any chance you fell prey to serial-butt-pincher Prise Frau?" Lunafreya inquired, Noctis nearly spitting out his sip and staring at her wide eyed.
"Oh gods that guy? Yeah, fuckin pervert if I ever met one." Aranea replied, then laughed a little. "Couldn't get himself some ass so thought he'd pinch some."
"Did you ever run into the man when he was bound with two casts?" Lunafreya swirled her cup a bit tilting her head as she gazed at Aranea with lightly furrowed brows.
"Oh yeah, I remember that, best six weeks of my life!" A light smirk pulled at the Oracle's lips at this answer, and a light chuckle preceded her reply.
"One of the greatest of mine as well. I had told my brother about Prise's…. habits, after a particularly frustrating rotation at the Manor. He never quite told me how it came about, but the next time I saw Prise he was sporting those two casts."
"So the whopping fifteen human soldiers the Nifs had and they couldn't just dedicate a handful to the Manor?" Gladiolus asked. Noctis had never given it a lot of thought, and rarely pried into the details of the logistics of the Tenebraen occupation but his Shield's question piqued his own curiosity and he echoed the question. Lunafreya steeled herself, feeling her cheeks burn and her head growing lighter she took another large gulp of her rum.
"They rotated stations every few weeks." She answered, leaving out the detail that Caligo was always too happy to provide.
This way none can grow too close you, my Lady Lunafreya. For how else could we expect our soldiers to stay in top form and remain objective? It's for your protection of course. That they never grow adjusted to this station or become attached, should trouble arise it would cloud their judgement.
"They can be fuckers like that. They always rotate people around. They would sometimes send me on solo missions, or stick to a platoon for a brief time. Never get to really know your brothers-in-arms."
"Figured you'd prefer it like that, being a mercenary. No bonds, just a paycheck." Gladiolus remarked.
"Because women can't enlist in Nifleheim." This caused the large man to jerk, quirking a brow.
"The fuck? They're raging war on two damned continents and ban half their population from enslisting?"
"I can't read their minds." Aranea answered back. Prompto helped bring the conversation back to friendly banter about terrible bosses each taking turns swapping stories, sipping rum, and laughing. Another toast to fuck the Empire was cheered around to finish off their alcohol supplies, most of which had been consumed by the women in the group.
"We should get to bed." Noctis suggested when he felt some raindrops on his head, looking up and noticing the absence of stars.
"I'm… pretty much half asleep." Crowe remarked. Darkness had fully settled onto the camp, the sky overcast with clouds the air colder than usual for the time of year. The group was happy to find that the area was surprisingly devoid of daemons, able to enjoy a peaceful camp. Prompto and Ignis had already crawled into their tent to sleep, Aranea had fallen asleep in her chair, retiring to the tent that she was going to share with Crowe so I can keep an eye on you when Ignis lightly shook her shoulder on his way to sleep.
"More like pretty shit faced." Gladiolus remarked.
"Oh screw you…"
"Is that an invitation?" he asked, giving her a broad grin. Crowe moved to slap him, but settled for dual middle fingers instead.
"I need sleep too." Noctis stretched, feeling some cracking in his lower back as he bent backwards a bit.
"Aw, did you have three whole sips of rum? Go sleep it off, try not to barf on the Oracle." Gladiolus joked, getting another middle finger. Lunafreya couldn't restrain a light giggle. She felt delightfully relaxed, and her mind began to drift to getting Noctis alone in the tent. She gripped Noctis's hand and began to lead him towards the tent after bidding Crowe and Gladiolus goodnight. She unzipped the flap of her tent and climbed in, Noctis close behind her. He had removed his boots while sitting at the edge of the tent to keep from tracking mud in the tent, pulling his feet in to zip the tent and remove his socks, turning his head to hear.
"How you feeling?" he asked, and couldn't help the smile at how… relaxed she looked. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him from behind, tugging him to the center of the tend, sitting up on her knees to rest her head on his shoulder, tilting her head to nuzzle him.
"Quite good I must admit. Yourself?" she inquired.
"Feeling pretty okay." He answered, and she tisked at the response, turning her head to plant a kiss in the crook of his shoulder. "I suppose we must make you feel a bit better." She placed a hand on his cheek to turn his head and pressed her lips against his, sighing against his mouth. He parted for her, although she still smelled and tasted of rum, but the feel of her arms around him and the taste of her tongue slipping past his lips made it the last of his concerns. She let out a long nasal sigh, and he moaned against her mouth, turning in her arms to face her, coiling his arms around her to pull her against him, enjoying the warmth of her in his embace.
"I think I'm feeling a bit better…" he murmured against her,
"Only a bit? Perhaps I'm losing my touch." She whispered back, and dipped back in to nip at his bottom lip then peck his cheek, the side of his jaw. Her lips came down against his neck and he managed to keep his moan down to a sigh. His hand found the hem of her shirt and slid under it, fingertips tracing the line of her back as she lightly bit down in his neck. "Feel more than only a bit better?" she inquired in a low breathy tone.
"Getting there…" he teased, and she bit his neck in retaliation. He flinched, scrunching his shoulder with a hiss of breath. But nonetheless, he found he liked the action. "That helped…" he remarked, and felt his cheeks heat up. "Maybe do it again?" he asked, and she was happy to oblige. He sighed, digging his fingertips into her back and rocked his hips against her, and she rocked her own in reply. One hand left her back and slid under the front of her shirt, drifting up to cup her breast. She whined when his warm palm cupped her, fingers lightly pinching a nipple getting her to bite down on her bottom lip. His hands were a bit rougher than usual, which she blamed on the rum, but her own actions were far from gentle. She hummed lightly as he toyed with her, rocking his hips against her again and she dropped her hands to start tugging his belt free.
"Are we feeling completely better yet?" she asked, fumbling with his pants button before slipping her hand down the front of his pants, stroking him through his boxers. "Feels like it." she gave him a light squeeze that made him jerk, and made her giggle. She sat back and he looked at her, her expression bright with a smile and cheeks glowing red.
He leaned forward, clumsily greeting that smile with a kiss, their arms awkwardly pinned between them. He slipped his hand out of her shirt and ran it through her hair. She winced when he snagged a tangle, and he brought his hand back up to cup the side of her head, his thumb brushing against her temple. She sighed against his mouth, her tongue his. He couldn't recall feeling her this passionate before.
"Almost there," he replied to her question. He gripped the hem of shirt to pull it up, wanting to see her, to feel her. He pushed her back and she followed his gesture, laying on her back and letting out a yelp,
"Oh that's cold!"
"We'll just have to warm you up," he smirked, placing his hands on either side of her bare waist. His hands were warm, and she reached up to pull his shirt off as well, he parted from her to let her slip it over her head. The static left his hair standing on end for a moment before falling back down messily, Lunafreya laughing and reaching up to ruffle his hair, which resulted in her massaging his scalp. He tilted his head into her hands and she bit down on her bottom lip, fingers curling in his hair to pull him back down towards her.
"Warm me up, and make you feel better," she declared, and sat up to greet his kiss, her mouth parting, tongues eagerly seeking each other. He tilted his hips away from her to fit his hands between them and with a few quick motions had her pants unbuttoned, unzipped, and pulled down. She tilted her hips to make the job easier and he rested against her, kissing her again. One hand ran through her hair again, the other traced her jaw, toying with her earlobe before his lips parted from her, bringing his lips to that spot just below her ear eliciting just the deep sigh he was looking for. When he sucked at that spot her sigh turned into a quiet throaty moan, tilting her head away from him. He wondered for half a moment if he had imagined it, repeating the action to get her to echo the sound.
"Gods I love you…" he moaned against her, rocking his hips against hers when she rolled her hips, the pair teasing each other still kept apart by fabric.
It felt as if it had taken half the night, but Ravus finally located where his sister and her entourage were camping for the evening. It was a small pond, horseshoed by tall trees, and had done an adequate job of shielding the small campsite. Frustrating for him when finding her had been so imperative, but at least he knew it would keep her safe. The canopies of the trees would shield their site from overhead imperial dropships now hunting her down, and the view from the road had been blocked as well. He only suspected the campsite because it was a popular one in the region according to the diner he stopped at to ask about the locale. He had seen the smoke rising through the trees, clue enough someone was making camp there.
He approached through the clearing and saw four tents, three green and one blue. He knew his sister well enough to know that the blue would likely be hers and assumed the four men she left Altissia with had divided themselves amongst the other two tents. He walked down the slight incline and tried to avoid making too much noise in the brush, approaching the blue tent and pulled the zipper.
He paused at the sight, too astonished to even shout her name. That… boy was lying atop her, in nothing but his boxer shorts, the hand over his sister's breast the only thing blocking his sight from seeing far more of her than he ever needed to. Her legs around his waist, and his hips moving in ways that no amount of alcohol would erase from his mind's eye. Heat rose in his cheeks, fingertips numb as he reached out, limbs stiff, grabbing the Lucian by the hair. He ignored the pained grunt and Lunafreya's startled shout. He threw Noctis away from the tent as he saw the blur of blue the Prince's hand, and unsheathed his own blade.
"What the hell?!" Noctis shouted, his voice high.
"How dare you!" he spat back, swinging at the Prince who only just managed to block the attack with his Engine Blade. He was vaguely aware of his name being called, but moved his hips and rolled his shoulders to parry Noctis's counter, the clash of their swords echoing through the trees.
"What the hell is wrong with you Ravus!" Noctis snapped back, bare feet stumbling in the damp mud. He began to shiver in the cool air, the chill in his fingers making it too hard for coordinated movements with his word.
"You foolish boy think you have any right to touch her like that?!"
"Ravus you stop this madness!" Lunafreya pleaded. She had scrambled after the two men from the tent, Noctis's shirt clutched over her chest, thankful he had yet to remove her undergarments. Her hair was sticking to her forehead, long bangs obstructing her vision. Goosebumps rolled down her arms as she shouted at them again, begging them to stop. She heard rustling and knew that the rest of their retinue would emerge and this fight could turn even uglier fast if they all joined the melee. Ravus lifted his blade, but his attack was interrupted by a flash of yellow, the image of pentagons appearing around him in a circle, and Noctis found the same around himself.
"You will stop this!" Lunafreya had shouted. Her trident was held before her. Both men were staring each other down. Noctis vanished his blade, Ravus taking two more angry swings at her shield, which caused her to gasp with the effort of holding it up against the strength of his blows. "Ravus!" she shouted. Her words finally reached him and he spun around.
"For the sake of the Six Lunafreya! Put clothes on!" he snapped, turning his head quickly.
"You're blaming me for my sorry state?!" She snapped, knuckles flushing white as she gripped her trident. "If you weren't behind that shield I'd have half a mind to strike you myself!" Her voice quivered with a scratch to it, hoarse from the combination of shouting and shame. Her head felt too light, her limbs too heavy, and the cold was beginning to make her shiver.
"Blame? I blame him! I was so relieved to know you had safety flew from Altissia, to think for once you were in control of your life. And thisis how the Lucian treats you?!"
"Ravus! Use your head! Do you honestly think he was doing anything with me I didn'tconsent to?!" Her stomach roiled, her cheeks flushed, and she gripped the shirt to her chest tighter. She tried to keep her focus on her shields, worried the two men would resume fighting if she let it drop. She suddenly felt something heavy on her shoulders, she looked to her left and saw that Gladiolus had dropped his leather jacket around her. She wasn't sure if their friends had been trying to say something to them, the royal trio too furious with one another to notice them.
"Oh… thank you." She was surprised at the gesture, but gripped it with her hand gratefully, now hugging her trident to herself as she tried to keep herself as covered as possible, her exposure only truly coming to her now that her brother and Noctis had ceased trying to kill each other by force.
"Mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Gladiolus asked, staring at the pair of men, features tensed and fingers drumming against his right thigh.
"Doesn't matter! Noct is almost naked and trapped in a bubble! This is great!" Prompto announced, the shutter of his camera an exclamation point on his statement.
"Wait, what the hell?! Don't you take a picture of me like this!" Noctis shouted. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards Prompto to fight his camera way from him only to collide with Lunafreya's shield and fall back into the mud again. This only got Prompto laughing even harder while Noctis cursed and began to argue with the photographer to cease taking pictures. Ignis was standing beside him, merely taking in the scene before him.
"I have no idea!" Lunafreya shouted in answer to Gladiolus's query, using her free hand now to help close the jacket around her frame, thankful for how large the garment was. "Tell us Ravus, what is going on here?"
"He was… disrespecting you" He nearly used the word defiling, but caught himself in time.
"Disrespecting?" She replied, incredulous.
"He was…" he paused, looking at their audience. "Shall we speak in private sister, once you make yourself decent again." He suggested, gesturing at the other men.
"No! You are the one who tore open my tent, pulled my beloved from my arms, and immediately began to attack him! You are the one to make this a public spectacle!"
"He was atop you! I was supposed to suffer that affront to you?!"
"Affront? Just what are you implying? That he was trying to force himself onto me?" She clutched the leather jacket with the arm that had been previously clutching her shirt so the arm with her trident could be thrust out before her, pointing the weapon at him, her arm jerking with angry gestures.
"Not… forcing… but he warped your mind! Sed- Coerced! Convinced!"
"Seduced? Is that what you were about to say? You think me so weak?" she shot back, her lips a thin line, shoulders stiffening. "That I'm still nothing but some obedient waif? You want the truth? I came onto him tonight! Yes! We fuck occasionally!" she snapped, having chose her words carefully, her intention to infuriate him further. "I am an adult! If I wish to lie with my beloved I will lie with him! Honestly, all those nights we snuck together I thought your ignorance to it was merely a farce for my sake! Gods damnit Ravus! How many times must we have this fight? How many times must you doubt him, and by extension my judgement?"
"Where did you learn such words? This is what I mean! This boy is a terrible influence on you!"
"That is what you are taking from this? Have you heard nothing I said?" Her tone pleading, shoulders slouching. "Do you honestly think so little of me?" she repeated. Her eyes began to burn, and she swallowed back the ache in her throat, struggling to keep her breathing level as her pulse began to rush in her ears.
"Lunafreya…" he managed to drop his tone, bite back the other words he wanted to say. The tears in her eyes, the angry flush in her cheeks. Even in the dark he could see her distress.
"Leave us brother. If you wish to speak to me again it will not be on this night, or at this place. You will return to whichever airship you came in, do whatever it is you were supposed to do, and leave me." She insisted. "I've missed you brother. And feared for you. But if this is how you rejoin me then I wish for you to leave." Ravus stood rooted to the ground. She had never dismissed him from her presence before. For the first time in his life, he questioned how he had treated her. She dropped the shields around the two men. Ravus bit back his words, and departed. In his haste to leave, he forgot what he had originally come to tell her.
"Luna are you…" Noctis asked, having got up from the ground, accepting a towel from Ignis to start trying to get the mud off his form.
"Did he hurt you?" she inquired with an unsteady voice. Goosebumps rolled down her trembling limbs, and she hugged Gladuiolus's jacket even tighter. Noctis shook his head; outside of feeling like he might be missing a few hairs, and that he would have sore limbs in the morning from the unexpected fight, nothing but his pride had been injured. "I'm going back to bed. Gladiolus, do you mind if I return your jacket in the morning?" He gestured for her to keep it for the night, the four men watching her vanish into her tent.
"I better make sure she's okay."
"Finish wiping off that mud. You'll thank me in the morning." Ignis called to him. Noctis heeded his advice, taking a moment to finish drying himself off and brushing off as much mud and dirt as humanly possible before crawling back into the tent himself to pull a towel from his duffel.
"You're showing me those pictures." Gladiolus smirked, walking up to Prompto.
"I too need to see these," Ignis grinned, and the trio of friends laughed together at their Prince's expense, collectively deciding to worry about the royal pair's state in the morning, it would do them no good to worry now. And they had to admit, the pictures were damned funny.
"Crowe is probably going to make breaking Ravus's face her new life mission." Gladiolus remarked, wondering how the two women had managed to sleep through the ruckus.
Noctis climbed into the tent, cursing the ache in his shoulder as he leaned his weight on it. He looked up and saw Lunafreya lying on her side, her face buried in the head of her bedroll, shoulders shaking with sobs. He quickly crawled over, lying beside her and wrapping his arms around her after calling her name. He wasn't sure what to tell her, furrowing his brow as his question with an obvious answer stuck in his throat. She shifted one arm from where it was tucked around her chest, gripping the hand around her waist tight enough to be uncomfortable.
"I'm right here." He assured her, not sure what could help her calm down. She still had Gladiolus's jacket wrapped around herself, knees bent and pulled in. "I could put an explosive flask right at the tent opening as a mine in case he comes back. It would kill us too, but totally worth it to teach your brother a lesson." He teased, and smiled a little when he could hear a short chuckle between her sobs, followed by a wet sniffle.
"I'm so sorry… you all right? You weren't just telling me you're fine to keep your friends from killing Ravus?" she asked, sniffling again, and feeling awful childish.
"Little sore, but I'm fine." He told her. "I think I'm missing a few strands of hair. Still willing to stick with me missing some of my luscious locks?" She chuckled again, and he felt her loosen her grip on his hand, stretching her legs back out a bit.
"I think I can make do." She turned, looking at him with red eyes. "All those nights we were so careful… what if we had made a mistake?" What if it had been Caligo? The thought made her shiver, and she clutched desperately at Noctis, pulling him closer to her. Every inch of skin that was exposed felt vulnerable, half expecting foreign hands to be grasping at anywhere that wasn't protected. What if he tells Caligo? Her breath began to hitch and she curled in on herself tighter. She knew how much Ravus hated Noctis. But he hates Caligo even more. She tried to reassure herself.
"You don't have to worry about that anymore, they aren't stalking the hallways outside your door anymore." He answered, shifting his upper body closer to her, doing his best to fold her in his arms despite her curled position. She relaxed her knees, shifting closer to him and buried her face against his chest.
"If my brother could find me, why not them?"
"Your brother knows you a hell of a lot better than any of them, so using him as a standard candle for Luna-finding-skills seems silly. It's like asking if Ignis can cook, why can't I?" She chuckled, tense limbs beginning to slack.
"I suppose you're right." She paused, brows shooting up for a moment and bile threatened the back of her throat as heat overtook her face. "Oh Gods Ravus saw…" she groaned, feeling dizzy with embarrassment merely thinking the words. She now wanted to bury herself beneath her sleeping bag to hide herself form the world.
"Good thing I had my boxers on or he'd be traumatized for life after seeing my hairy ass." Nocits replied, tapping his chin. Lunafreya snorted and sniffled again, wiping away the last of her tears.
"Oh dear Noct… I don't know if you have a single hair follicle on your body below your ears." She craned her neck to look up at him, shifting back to ease the awkward tension in her muscles before reaching up and stroking his cheek, thumb brushing against his skin.
"Hey! It's just because I've been shaving!" he pouted. "Should I stop shaving, grow out a manly beard?"
"Hmm, awful tempting." She sighed, continuing to brush her thumb over his cheek, letting her mind wander to what he would look like with stubble, or even a full beard. As she stared into his blue eyes, taking in his smooth skin, she could still see the young boy she had befriended who turned into the man she dearly loved. And welcomed into my bed right under their noses. Oh Gods… why did I take such foolish risk? She flushed again, flinching as old fears resurged and she tried to squint and regain control. In and out. Breathe. Breathe.
"Hey…" his voice kept her grounded and she focused on the cold sleeping bag, his warm skin, his steady breathing and soothing voice.
"I'm here." She answered, and flinched at herself. "I feel like a child." She admitted. "Like when I would have a nightmare… my mother didn't think it proper for a child to sleep in their parents bed but she would being me to the den and put on a movie. I would fall asleep at some point and wake up warm in my own bed curled with some stuffed animal." She tried to cling to this fond memory, not of waking up alone in her bed with an aching body. Footsteps outside the door echoing her nightmares and causing her to spend the remainder of her night curled on her side hugging a pillow, sometimes daring to read through her shared notebook with Noctis.
"Well, let's do that." Noctis drew her back to the present again, his thumbs massaging the skin of her back. "Let's snuggle and watch a kid's movie. I have a streaming service on my phone, it'll probably stutter… but we can watch it." he suggested.
"That sounds lovely." She admitted, smiling. He sat up, and she frowned at the departure of his warmth. But it was the trigger she needed to reach for her duffel and draw out something to sleep it, frowning and stuffing it back in, turning instead to where she had placed Noctis's shirt after pulling it off him earlier. "Klepto mode activate?" he teased her, and she flushed, hugging her arms.
"I just… your shirt is warm." She switched her excuse mid-sentence, heat rising in her cheeks.
"I am a space heater. Get over here," he gestured and she scooted over to him. He laid down, spooning her in his embrace. Her head was tucked just under his chin, shimmying to press herself against him for as much contact as possible. I'm safe. I'm here with Noct. I'm safe. She tried to reassure herself. He flicked the back of his case to push out a small stand, and after tapping at the device for a minute had a cartoon movie starting up. "I watched this one all the time as a kid." He explained. She smiled, letting her tense muscles relax.
"I'm sorry my brother-"
"I'm sorry your brother did that to you." He interrupted her, kissing the top of her head. "Enough sorrys. I don't want to think about your brother anymore. I want to think about you, and fall asleep with you and this silly movie and dream about cartoon animals all night."
"Hmm… that sounds perfect... I love you."
