This story is far from dead! I am so sorry it took so long to get a chapter up. As I explained in "At Last" the combo of a highly mobile toddler combined with the holiday season of December and working a bit too many hours led to me having trouble finding the free time to write. But, here it is! I really hope you find it up to par!


The rocking of the Reglia coming to a full stop got Lunafreya and Crowe to sit back up, both women managing to drift into a fragile sleep during the short ride. With the return of conscious, so returned their respective headaches.

"You two alive back there?" Aranea inquired, turning in her seat.

"I think some garula's stampeded inside my skull but I'll live." Crowe answered, Lunafreya simply nodding her answer. Everyone got themselves from the car to meet up with Gladiolus and Prompto who had just parked the bike and climbed off of it. Lunafreya hovered in the Regalia for a few moments longer, rubbing at her temple until she remembered Gladiolus's advice and pinched the area on her hand again. She scoot to the edge of the seat and accepted Noctis's extended arm to help her stand.

"I'll go speak to Wiz." Ignis offered, the others waving to him. Prompto fell into his brief song I want to ride my chocobo all day and made is way to the paddock to go watch them, digging through his gil to see if he had the money to buy some treats for the ones they would ride to the thicket. There was some debate between Noctis about whether to bring some emergency supplies with them via packing a duffel, or using Noctis's pocket. While he used it for his fishing gear and weapons, the idea of storing rations and water made him wince. Accessing it too much drained him, so the idea was unappealing. But after Gladiolus threatened to make him be the one to carry an overpacked duffel he relented, and with his Shield began to pack some things for the day.

"Hey, you feeling any better?" Gladiolus asked after standing back up from the truck with water bottles in his arms, pointing at Lunafreya's hand massaging the spot he had taught her. She looked down at her hands for a moment before shrugging,

"A bit." She answered. Though truth be told she wasn't entirely sure. The sharpness was back behind her eye, the edge of her vision blurring.

"You look miserable." Aranea observed. Gladiolus opened his mouth, but quickly shut it again. Lunafreya tried to reassure them she was feeling a bit better than before, and could see the frown on Noctis's face. She was grateful he wasn't calling her out in front of everyone. "Just overdid the booze?" she could hear the subtext behind the question and shrugged.

"We should have thought of buying painkillers when we were buying shit." Crowe commented with a sigh. "Gods… remind me never to drink like that again."

"Would a potion help?" Noctis suggested, trying to think of where they were on their supply of energy drinks.

"We need to keep those in the event of an emergency. A headache does not qualify as such." Lunafreya answered.

"Speak for yourself. I'll take one." Crowe countered. "Pretty useless as a shield if I just want to crawl into a hole and die."

"Let me try something," Lunafreya suggested. Crowe lifted a brow at her, but when she saw the Oracle reach her hands to her face pursed her lips, closing her eyes when their foreheads touched and she whispered a short prayer. Warmth filled her veins, reminiscent of sitting before a winter campfire roasting chunks of meat. The tightness in her scalp and neck faded, and the nausea hiding deep in her stomach eased.

"Damn Sparkles, figured curing hangovers would be beneath the holy magic tricks!" she cheered, knocking on the side of her own head to temp the pain to come back, smirking when it failed to. "Go fix the dragoon, I want to see the look on the big guy's face when she feels better." She added hastily. Aranea opened her mouth and shut it, a bit unsure exactly why she wanted to protest. But she allowed Lunafreya to approach and perform the same ritual, staring at her for a moment. She smirked and thanked her with a hard pat on the shoulder.

"Well seems unfair you fixed us and get stuck with a headache, so take a potion." Aranea tried to suggest, Crowe nodding beside her. Lunafreya declined the offer again, insisting she would be fine. Ignis returned with Wiz, the elder man beckoning the group. They went first to gather the riding equipment for the chocobos before he led them all to a fenced field behind the training paddock. The man set to work saddling and bridling the birds, Noctis recalling his old lessons to prepare the birds for himself and Lunafreya.

Said woman watched as the others mounted their birds with ease, doing her best to observe the way they put their foot in the stirrup and hoisted themselves onto their backs. Even the dragoon managed the task. But when she looked at the bird in front of her the only thing she could think of was that her attempt wound result in her simply falling backwards, or launching herself onto the bird's other side. She flinched when a hand grabbed her shoulder, jerking back and turning her head to meet Noctis's smile the moment before it faded.

"Sorry, didn't meant to startle you. I just wanted to show you some basics…" he suggested.

"Oh." she replied, then glanced back at the bird. She asked him how to mount, failing to banish the images of her making a complete fool of herself. But he was patient, promising to stand behind her to catch her if she lost her balance. Her first attempt resulted in her falling back down, but as promised Noctis was there to catch her. She blushed when she collided against his chest, biting down on her lip at his oof and quickly apologized, trying to hide the red coating her cheeks. The second time she got up successfully, and found a fragile balance.

"Shift your hips a little, you're leaning back. The bird isn't gonna turn around and bite." He teased. She blushed again, tilting her head in an attempt to hide and it shifted her posture so she was leaning more forward, and the sense that she could fall any moment faded. She smiled at this small accomplishment, and suddenly wondered if she was delaying the entire retinue, taking a glance around. She assumed quickly that Prompto was the one in the distance, enjoying a wild gallop. The others were taking their birds for little test-trots around the outside of the fields fence. No one was staring at her, and she was grateful for it some of her guilt fading.

"I can keep myself balance standing still, hopefully that doesn't change as soon as this fluffy guy decides to move." She joked, though again her mind came alight with images of her making a fool of herself. This time, of her topping backwards over the bird and like the cartoons she would watch with her mother as a young child land in mud, or worse.

"We'll start slow." Noctis reassured her, but she shook her head.

"We don't have time for me to learn slowly. I'll be quite ungraceful, but I need to know how to stay atop my little friend here so we can head to that tomb." She answered. If anything, she wanted to hurry to the tomb so she could sit and rest again, the pain in her head coming in waves that was starting to blur her vision. Hopefully that doesn't make this any harder than it already is.

"Well kick lightly with your heels, here," he guided her foot and she bit her lip and did as told, giving a yelp when the bird started moving. She gripped the reigns harder, hearing Noctis shout "don't pull those!" but the motion had startled her and she did so, the bird coming to a stop. She lurched forward, hugging the chocobo's neck, knees pressing tight against its sides to keep herself from sliding off. She could hear Noctis's chuckle, and wanted to think of something witty to snap at him but was too focused on not falling down. "Pulling on the reins makes it stop. Sorry, guess I should have started with that." She could hear the slightly laugh in his voice, and turned to him,

"I'm sure on your first lesson you ran with the bird like a beast-god descended from the heavens?" she quipped. He huffed with a smirk, shaking his head.

"Fell on my ass and bruised my tailbone actually." He answered. "So you're already one step ahead of me.

"My dear Prince fell? In a moment of clumsiness? I'm quite shocked at this!" she gasped. She would have covered her mouth to finish her feign, but like hell if she was letting go of these reins. He snorted and scrunched his features to pout at her, and she couldn't help her chuckle turning into a full laugh. "Oh you are far too adorable when you look at me like that."

"Annoyed? You enjoying torturing me that much?" he shot back, jutting his bottom lip to exaggerate his pout.

"Oh too much." She admitted.

"That's how you treat ones you love? Man, I'd hate to be your enemy!"

"Only for you, my dear Prince, do I enjoy such awful treatment. I suppose this makes me quite the terrible person." She sighed, tilting her head with a wistful tone in her voice. She clucked her tongue for a moment, "goes to show how crazy you are, falling for such terror." She looked at him from the corner of her eye, a smirk tugging at her lips at his smile.

"Completely insane." He agreed.

"You two are gonna make me barf!" Gladiolus shouted, and laughed. He had finished trotting around the area, and Noctis noted a pair of rather attractive women eating at one of the nearby tables, leaving little wonder as to why Gladiolus hadn't gone for a run around the field with the others. "Hurry up and make out so you can finish that lesson and we can get going. My ass is already getting sore and we have a long ride." He added. The royals blushed, but Noctis was glad to see that rather than hunch in on herself Lunafreya smiled with a light chuckle.

"Okay okay." Noctis waved off his friend, and turned his attentions back to Lunafreya. He reviewed the basic commands, her naturally gentle nature making sure that her gestures with the reins were subtle enough easy to learn. "Come on let's go for a quick run around the field, then we can head to the Thicket." He suggested. She bit down on her lip, but knew time was limited. She didn't want her insecurity over chocobo riding and subsequent desire for longer lessons to result in them being stuck in the thicket after dark. She gave him a nod, having to echo with an affirmative I'm sure after a quick circuit I'll have the basics down to assure him she was ready for him to mount his own bird. He nodded at her, leaping onto his own bird with an ease that made Lunafreya bite her own tongue at the surge of envy in her heart, chiding herself for it. By the time they rounded the field, she insisted she was as comfortable as she was going to get, and that there was no further need for delay their departure for the thicket.

She feared that the pain in her head would break her concentration, or that her blurring vision would make her miss something in the landscape that could cause her to fall. The pain was beginning to creep down her neck, but she pondered if it was merely the odd senses of impact she felt when the bird ran, never having ridden a chocobo before. Ignis led the troupe with the others following, save for Prompto who would spur his bird into a rapid sprint and run circles around his friends while occasionally whooping and declaring how awesome it was. The thicket appeared on the horizon, and Lunafreya could see the shift in Noctis's posture.

"Noct?" she inquired. He turned to her, but after a few seconds "something wrong?" she inquired. He opened his mouth, and she could detect the I'm fine on his lips before he said them and cut him off with "And don't tell me that you're fine." She insisted.

"Nervous I guess. What if my ancestor thinks I'm not worthy because I'm taking so long?" he asked.

"We left Altissia two weeks ago, and you have gathered two weapons and one covenant. Hardly being lazy." She pointed out. Then paused. Two weeks. A flush coated her cheeks. "Two weeks…" she mumbled. "And I don't have to give you back." She nearly whispered the words, but then flushed with guilt that he was trying to express his concerns to her and she had brought the conversation over to her own feelings. "Your ancestor shall find you worthy. Who are they to deem you unworthy if a God himself disagrees?" she inquired. Noctis hesitated, her words weighing heavily on his mind.

"Well you can still return me to the store. Their policy is 21 days. As for opposing a God? Well, where do you think I got the Lucian cockiness from?" he asked. She laughed, shaking her head.

"You two love birds gonna catch up any time soon?" Crowe shouted. "You're making me look bad letting you get so far away from me, do I gotta spank you. Oh wait, that's Noct's job!" she teased. Noctis gave her the finger, Lunafreya blushing furiously and could feel the heat reaching her ears. Crowe laughed, slowing her bird so her charge could catch up. "I'm just teasing ya'" she reassured the crimson-faced woman, but for once, Lunafreya didn't feel like vanishing into a hole.

Once they had reached the tomb, Lunafreya sat on the grass, face buried her hands as she rubbed her forehead. She didn't care anymore if the retinue saw how much pain she was in, it had simply grown too strong to continue to hide it. The edges of her vision had blurred completely, and colored spots were appearing sporadically. She had managed to stay on her feet for the walk through the thicket, their birds allowed to graze outside while they ventured forth to find the tomb.

"You okay?" it felt like the hundredth time she had been asked that question, and it was growing irksome. As was her constant reassurance that she would be fine, and likely just needed some rest. Noctis was extremely hesitant to enter the tomb, and Luanfreya had to remind him about the threat of nightfall if they stalled for too long in order to get him to go in there.

The heavy door shut behind him, casting the room in near complete darkness. The windows, already dim due to facing north and south, were coated in vines, their sills stained green from a stone-loving moss. He wondered that if enough light could get in here, if the walls would be green too. The thicket felt humid, and the summer climate wasn't helping to make the room more comfortable. The air felt thick, and once the door shut the limited breeze was cut off abruptly and he couldn't help the sense of claustrophobia that began to settle over him. He took a deep breath, recalling that he'd proven his worth to his ancestors twice, and to a God once. Luna's right. I can do this. He stepped forward, looking down at the carving of a man and finally reached out his hand. He felt the familiar tug, and godsdamnit did it hurt when that damn weapon plunged into his chest. Expecting it did not help. He groaned, rubbing his chest, glad his friends were outside. He took a moment to collect himself before turning to the door and pushing it open, squinting at the sudden brightness.

Lunafreya was sitting on the ground, her head buried in her knees. Crowe was sitting beside her, rubbing her back, speaking too quietly for Noctis to hear. Luna! He ran over to her, dropping to his knees beside her and said her name, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"She's being stubborn. Talk her into taking a damn potion!" Crowe asked, lacking her usual bite.

"Luna take something… please." He asked.

"Those should be for emergencies." She mumbled into the fabric of her pants.

"I'm pretty sure this counts as one. How can you ride back to Wiz's in this condition?" he asked, squeezing her shoulder. "the chocobos are birds, they're really strong but can't handle two adults." Even one as skinny as you. He managed to keep the latter words in his head. She mumbled something, her words muffled by her pants. "Wanna try that again?" he asked.

"I said I guess you win." She sighed. "But I think an ether would work better than a potion." She admitted, biting down on her bottom lip. Noctis quirked a brow, but had the suspicion she would be dodgy in her answer if he asked her why she thought that. He nodded, asking if anyone had an energy drink on them, Crowe pulling one out.

"Where were you keeping that? I thought women's clothes didn't have pockets?!" Prompto asked.

"That's why I'm wearing men's pants." She answered. "It was in my pocket. I had a feeling Sparkles would eventually need it." she explained. "What do I care what I look like right now? Seriously who am I trying to impress with my sexy sexy legs?"

"I wouldn't mind seeing some legs." Gladiolus mused. "And Prompto's chicken legs in skinny-jeans doesn't count."

"Hey!" Prompto's sudden exclamation made Lunafreya whimper, and he winced, mumbling a much quieter apology. Noctis decided to trust her and infused the drink, nudging her to get her to look up enough to take it. She nodded her thanks, wincing at the crack and hiss of opening the can. She sipped at it, recalling her embarrassing belch the last time she drank one of the things too quickly. The more she drank, the more the pain began to fade. Though it didn't vanish completely. The colored spots in her vision vanished, though her periphery remained blurred; this made her a bit anxious as it would be easier for something or someone Luna. Always someone to sneak up on her.

"Thank you." She murmured again once she had finished the drink.

"Any better?" she nodded, accepting Noctis's assistance to help her stand. Her head throbbed for a moment in protest of how quickly she tried to get up, but faded just as quickly. "Can you ride?" he asked.

"I don't have much of a choice, lest we all spend the night cuddling with daemons." She answered. Noctis frowned, not having anything to counter her point. She suggested they get moving already.

"three down, ten to go." Noctis mumbled.

"Speaking of," Ignis cleared his voice. "We made good time. We should head over to the Tomb of the Wanderer."

"I think I want to just make early camp so Luna can get some rest." Noctis argued, but said woman was already shaking her head.

"We need these arms." She insisted. "Besides, with that ether I feel better." Lunafreya countered. Noctis paused before agreeing, and together the group returned to their chocobos. He helped Luna onto her chocobo, grimacing at the slight waver in her posture but she was quick to right herself and hold the reins with a firmer grip. He mounted his own bird, asking Ignis to lead the way to the next tomb.

By the time they had all reached the next tomb, everyone dismounted with complaints about how sore their lower backs and buttocks were, sliding off their birds with far less grace than before. Lunafreya was the last to dismount. Her eyes were squinted shut, and she struggled to keep herself upright as her vision again began to blur over. She found a bizarre pattern in the throb behind her eyes, though she couldn't quite figure out what it was. Her head began to feel lighter, and it was more difficult to tell up from down, and if she was holding herself upright. She tried to hold herself up by looking down, but the colored splotches had returned.

"Luna?" Noctis asked, rubbing his bottom as he walked over to her bird. "Oh shit!" he tried to run closer to her as he saw her begin to slide off of her saddle on the far side of him. Crowe had exclaimed too, trying to rush to her charge as the woman fell hard onto the ground with an involuntary grunt. The collective shouts had drawn the attention of the rest of the retinue who all came over. The chocobos all began to kewh and fluff their feathers, one stomping its feet in agitation. Lunafreya's bird ran several meters away when the others rushed in its direction.

Pain throbbed throughout her body, and she strained to catch her breath. The impact with the ground had forced the air from her, and she gasped uselessly for several seconds before taking in a large painful gulp of air that tapered out into shallow pants. A new sharpness in the back of her ribs rolled around her back and settled into her tailbone making her legs go numb. The pain joined the pounding in her head, and she for a moment wished she would simply black out.

"Shit Luna…" Noctis murmured, placing a hand on her shoulder hesitating to touch her. She groaned and managed to roll onto her back and moan a yes in answer to the many are you okay's being thrown at her from every direction. She shifted, managing to put her arms beneath her to sit upright, feeling an arm around her back. She was still trying to gather her senses through the blur, a bit confused as to how she ended up on the ground.

"I'm all right I'm all right." She mumbled. Dear gods did everything hurt. She could hardly hear her own voice over the patterned throbbing in hear head, blurring her vision with each beat. "I…" she hesitated, wondering if she was merely paranoid. The throbbing was no longer just simple pain. This cannot be merely a hangover. Maybe she was falling ill? "I'm all right." She repeated, dropping her original intent.

"You are very not okay." Noctis countered. Lunafreya caught herself before insisting that she was, but winced with a sharp twinge of pain radiating from her back. "Maybe you should stay outside while I go to the tomb, get some rest." He suggested after some hesitation. The idea of leaving her alone sat ill with him, but he couldn't justify bringing her to that tomb in this shape, and hated the fact he knew she would slow them down when time was a factor.

"I'll watch over her." Crowe added.

"You need that arm, Noct." Lunafreya could see the hesitation in Noctis's thin-lipped expression and the furrow in his brow. "I'm in good hands." Her respirations were shallow to compensate for the pain of trying to breathe any deeper, and keeping her eyes focused on Noctis was getting more difficult as the pain in her head longed for the darkness inside that cave.

"I…" the half-formed protest in his mind failed to come out his mouth and he clamped it shut, letting out a frustrated nasal sigh. "Okay." He relented. Crowe nodded at him, placing her hand on Lunafreya's shoulder.

"I got this. Plus, nice chance to sit on my ass for a few hours and play with some chocobos." She grinned.

"Oh! Speaking of!" Prompto chimed excitedly, nearly startling the birds even further, one of them walking several paces away to resume its grazing. He fished deep into his pant pocket and pulled out a paper pouch, holding it out, "some treats for the chocobos. Spoil them for me while I'm gone, 'kay?" he asked. "Some chocobo snuggles might make you feel better too there Luna."

"Just don't get bit, doesn't feel good." Gladiolus asked. "And keep trying that pressure point." He suggested. Lunafreya nodded, smiling as each of their companions offered her a various I hope you feel betters and promises to try and make the trip as short as possible,

"Pretty sure Noct would explode into frustrated confetti if we tried to keep you two love birds apart for longer than a few minutes."

"I think Sparkles has a hopeless romantic side to her that she's not letting on. But I'll try to make sure she doesn't explode into confetti either, especially when her dashing knight shows up at the mouth of the cave letting out a manly bellow and holding some cool ghostly weapon above his head making the rest of us jealous with the badassery of those things." Crowe narrated. "Because those weapons are fuckin badass." She added, not bothering to hide the fact that she was, indeed, envious of the things.

"Careful not to inflate his Grace's ego." Gladiolus chuckled, patting Noctis hard on the shoulder who let out a surprised oomf and glared up at his friend.

"I guess that makes my role to inject a little estrogen into the testosterone party before they all beat each other senseless from the man-fumes." Aranea added with a smile. "And here…" she reached into her pocket, pulling out a small tin. "I guess I should have offered something sooner, but didn't think of it 'till now. Mints. Might help with the whole headache thing. Man, hangovers really kick your skinny ass, huh?" she held it out to Lunafreya who accepted it after hesitating and debating refusing the offer.

"Thank you." She tried to offer a small smile, eye twitching with a new throb.

"Sure you'll be fine?" Noctis asked her.

"Better than I would be trying to keep up with you like this." She admitted. Her voice was growing even softer, eyes half-lidded. "Enough stalling for my sake. Go, go." She tried to insist, making a shoo gesture with her hands. Noctis leaned forward to give her a quick peck on the lips, fighting the urge to let the kiss linger before parting from her for what was likely going to be several hours. When he pulled back he watched her cheeks glow pink, and lips tug back in a smile.

"Try not to explode without me."

"Likewise." She smirked.

"Here," he reached into his pocket that he had stored all the supplies, laying out more than enough rations and water to get the two women through the rest of the day, and the night if necessary. The last thing he wanted was for them to be stranded without enough food because he was taking too damn long. Lunafreya and Crowe both offered their thanks, the latter shooing him off before those goo-goo eyes you're making at her make me barf glitter. He stood up and turned and began to head into the cave, leaving the two women and their chocobos behind as they entered the cave. Noctis threw one last glance over his shoulder, seeing Lunafreya flop back against the grass with her arm slung over her face to block her eyes, Crow leaning back against her palms beside her. He chewed the corner of his lip, not liking the idea that he was entrusting Lunafreya's safety to someone other than himself. Don't be possessive. He chided himself, and tried to focus on what lay before them.

The cave felt unnatural once past the opening. In spite of the summer heat, the inside of the cave was almost immediately significantly colder. Everyone cursing or muttering told Noctis that he wasn't completely insane.

"What the hell?" Prompto muttered, hugging his exposed arms.

"Seriously." Aranea echoed. "This place is… unnatural." Noctis nodded in agreement. His eyes began to adjust to the darkness and he gazed around. Blue ice seemed to coat everything, reflecting light from an unknown source. It was cold, though not enough so for him to see his breath when he exhaled but he was still uncomfortable.

"My ancestors really knew how to pick a place for a tomb, cocky bastards." He muttered.

"I wouldn't go about cursing your ancestors when we're on a quest for their blessings." Ignis suggested. Noctis suspected by the slight curl to the man's lip that his friend had been thinking the same thing.

"Let's get this over with so we can get back to the Regalia and blast the heat!" Prompto suggested. "I hate the cold." He added in a mumble under his breath.

"Yeah." Noctis agreed. Something about the cold felt unsettling and a chill ran down his arms. He couldn't help but suddenly picture Lunafreya skipping around the cave asking everyone what was wrong, tossing her sweatshirt to Prompto to keep him warm while she instisted the cave was, if anything, a bit on the warm side. He snickered under his breath, which earned him an odd look from Ignis and he just shrugged and quickened his pace to hide his new frown.

"Is that just the wind? Man this place is freaky." Prompto complained.

"I've bunkered down in a few ice caves now and again in Nifleheim, that'd be some freaky sounding wind." Aranea countered.

"So is there like, something in here?" He asked, drumming his fingers on his arms. "Okay I'm not an idiot there's got to be. Animals always live in caves like bats 'n stuff." He added. "Guess this place is just creeping me out."

"It's pretty creepy" Aranea agreed. Noctis waited for Gladiolus's inevitable quip, and was a bit surprised when the man didn't verbally attack the woman. He finally get the stick out of his ass? He mused. He let his eyes wander more around the cave now that his eyes were beginning to adjust well to the darkness, grateful for the light in spite of the unnaturalness to it. Splotches of black hid in webs behind the ice, and the more he looked the more black he found.

"Shit, guys." He shouted. "Look around," he pointed, and the rest of his retinue looked around as well. "There's those black webs…" he trailed off to blink away the shadow of those three people in those beds.

"Oh shit. And Luna's outside." Gladiolus remarked. His fingers flexed at his side, muscles on his arms standing out.

"It may all be well hidden behind the ice." Ignis suggested. "But we should all take great care."

"Man, I knew this place was giving me the creeps for a reason!" Prompto added, fidgeting in place. "Let's get that stupid weapon and get the hell out of here then scrub our skin off." He looked at his arms for so much as an abnormally dark freckle before resuming the walk forward.

"Look at the water." Aranea pointed to an area to their right where the ice ended sharply. They approached her, peering over the edge and saw a river of what appeared to be black water.

"Just shadows making the water look dark?" Gladiolus asked, and Noctis was surprised by the lack of bite in his answer to the dragoon.

"I don't think so. So don't drink the water." She remarked. "Or touch it. Or smell it. Gods I want to crawl out of my skin."

"Why is the ground and the water black? I thought the blight like, infected humans and animals and stuff." Prompto asked. No one had an answer for him, and after several seconds Noctis suggested they hurry the hell up. He pondered the wisdom of even being in here. What if they contracted the blight like this? Can Luna even fix us if we do in her state? He grimaced, letting out a surprised yelp when his foot went out from under him and he landed hard on his ass. He cursed, rolling onto his hands and knees to stand himself back up and rub at his ass.

"Careful dude." Prompto warned. He looked down and shook his head, "at least the ice here doesn't look like nightmare fuel. But guess we need to be careful with all this ice." Put their plans on rushing on hold. Noctis contemplated abandoning the trip altogether, returning when Lunafreya was in better shape and more apt to cure the blight from them if they contracted it from this place.

"You think the blight would get worse in this place if we come back later?" He asked aloud. It was a few seconds of silence before Ignis postulated an answer.

"If it works similar to the way it does in humans, than yes. I do think that if we attempted to return at a later time it would have spread beyond its current state."

"I was afraid you'd say that. Those notebooks from hell you read, anything in there about the blight being on things, not just alive things?"

"I am afraid not. Merely the twisted ramblings of a desperate scientist who forgot that humans are… well, humans." Noctis frowned at the way his friend's features scrunched up. Aranea side-stepped to be closer to Ignis and squeezed his shoulder, letting out an exaggerated sigh.

"Pretty sure I'll be having nightmares from those notebooks for the rest of my life too, so at least you're in good company." She added the last part with a sarcastic laugh that petered out into a long sigh. Ignis reached his hand up to pat her hand in solidarity and waited until she dropped it from his shoulder to resume walking forward towards Noctis.

The eerie echo in the cavern seemed to grow louder the deeper they progressed inside, and despite getting further away from the sun at the mouth of the cave it grew no darker. The ice shone and reflected, webs of black hidden beneath them. They grew thinner the deeper they progressed into the caves, but showed no sign of disappearing completely. He wondered if it had reached the heart of the cave, or the tomb of his ancestors. Throughout the walk they took turns slipping on the ice, joking about the share of bruises they would all have by the time they got back out.

"And even with her hangover and falling of a chocobo Luna will come running up to us and insist on curing the bruises saying something way too sweet." Prompto predicted. Well. He's not wrong. Noctis mused, chuckling to himself.

"Pressy sure she could be in a coma and she would sleep-walk out of bed walk across all of Eos just to cure Noctis of a papercut." Gladiolus added.

"Seriously. Whenever I saw the Oracle on the news or just heard stories I always figured it was people hamming it up to hail the girl as a pseudo-goddess but shit, she really is made of sugar, more sugar, and everything nice. Skipped the spice step."

"Which is weird because her mother was scary as hell. She must take after her dad." Noctis answered. His only memories of the woman was from the visit when he was a child. She was kind enough when healing him, but holy hell was she not someone to cross.

"Is that how she ended up with you? Just way to nice to tell you to bugger off?" Aranea teased.

"I wonder that myself a lot." Noctis joked back. "How deep does this place go?" he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time and rolled his eyes at himself. I'm in a cave, of course I don't have service. When the clocked blinked 00:00. Ignis saw his friend checking for the time and looked at his watch,

"We've been walking nearly two hours. We must be close to the center by now." Ignis answered. Though it was another half-hour before they made out what they assumed was the tomb. Another fifteen minutes, and two slips on the ice later, the group was standing before the tomb. Ice coated everything this deep inside except for the tomb itself Noctis looked around for the black webbing, for any sign of it in the stone of the tomb, but it seemed to stop creeping at the edges of the tomb.

"What time is it Iggy?"

"It is… three in the afternoon." He answered.

"Shit. I better hurry my ass up." Noctis ran a hand through his hair and approached the tomb. The echo from earlier had at some point stopped, and none had thought of it until it returned suddenly, and significantly louder.

"Please tell me that was just Noct's stomach." Prompto asked. Noctis felt like he was in some horror movie made on a low-budget with a cliché script when he looked around at the awkward shadows cast by the non-existent light source reflecting off all the ice.

"You're a bunch of kids scared of the dark." Gladiolus dismissed. "Noct go fetch your next shiny toy so we can get the hell out of here and warm up."

"Yeah I'd like to get out of here." He agreed, and approached the tomb. He checked once more, eyes trained on the black webs that stopped abruptly at the tomb's edges. He hesitated for a moment before pushing it open and walking in. He couldn't help but wonder if he should be giving more pomp and parade over doing something so powerful, reaching into the echo of his ancestors and collecting their arms for the sake of his nation. But without ceremony he walked up to the stone carving and reached out to that magnetic tug, squinting with the anticipation of being stabbed with the weapon. A blinding but almost instantaneous pain that flashed and vanished like it had never happened. His hand tingled for a moment longer and he walked back out of the tomb.

"All set Noct?" Ignis asked, getting a nod from his friend.

"Not gonna show it off?" Prompto asked, Noctis shaking his head at the question.

"I just want to head out." He answered. A squeak caught their attention, and a flash of a shadow flew down at them. Ignis let out a shout followed by a curse. A bat had charged down at Ignis, knocking the glasses from his face, giving several more indignant chirps before flying away, quickly followed by two-dozen other bats.

"Cursed creatures." He mumbled.

"What you do to piss him off?" Gladiolus thumbed. "I think I heard it say something about your mother?" he mused, tapping his chin. Aranea rolled her eyes at the large man and walked over to Ignis, bending down to pick his glasses off the ground. She look a moment to inspect them with a slight smirk,

"Got yourself some sexy glasses here," she extended her arm to hand them back to him, and Ignis looked at her taking a few seconds to gather his reaction.

"Oh. Um. Thank you." He tried to turn his head as soon as he felt the heat rising in them, his neck beginning to itch.

"Sexy glasses… I think that suits you better. Specs always makes me think of some geeky kid stuck in front of a computer whining about hacking and mathy-technobabble." She asserted. Ignis cleared his throat a bit, letting out a short cough.

"They've called me that since I was a kid." He provided, slipping the glasses back onto his face and blinking a few times to readjust to everything coming back into focus. "My eyes are… quite inefficient without my glasses and contacts never sat well with me." He continued, his usual clear voice fading into a slight mumble.

"Yeah I'll never forget that! You looked like a raccoon for three days they were so red and swollen!" Prompto laughed.

"You tried to pretend for half a second you got into a fight because you were too embarrassed to admit it was just contact lenses." Gladiolus added. Noctis snickered with his friends, Ignis letting out an indignant huff.

"That's quite enough!" He shouted, feeling defensive.

"I dunno, I think the glasses suit you. Hard to picture you without 'em." Aranea offered with a shrug. She smirked for a bare moment stepped back, "Well come one, you all keep bitching about wanting to head back, so let's go."


A little friendship, a little flirting. I hope the pacing of things feels right. And hope that I won't take a freaking month to get a chapter up again