Another chapter! I hope you enjoy it, felt very inspired and belted this thing out in record time once I sat down to write. I wish I could produce all my chapters this quickly.


With their meal finished, Lunafreya's portion only eaten with great encouragement from Crowe, Lunafreya had slipped her sweatshirt over her head so she could bunch it over her face to block out the light. The summer heat was doing little to ease her pain, but was grateful for the small mercy that was the relative quiet of their nearby surroundings. A part of her was unsettled, sure that the nearby cave and royal tomb may have something to do with the relative sparsity of local fauna and the resulting quiet. But for the moment, she was merely too grateful for the lack of stimulus to care much about it. Crowe was sitting quietly beside her, cognizant of the woman's distress.

"Quite the companion I am." Lunafreya remarked with a grimace.

"I mean, yeah, I was expecting you to leap up and do a jig." Crowe responded. "Such a terrible entertainer. It's almost like you're in pain or something." She added, nudging her slightly. She smirked at the small smile on Lunafreya's face, leaning back against her palms. "Nice to be getting a break after all the ass-kicking we did a few nights ago."

"Best hope nothing comes from that cave for us, or risk burning down this whole area." Lunafreya remarked. Her smile faded into a frown before she resumed her neutral expression, hoping to hide her rising anxiety from the other woman. We need to head to the meteor. The patterned throbbing felt as if it was hiding behind a layer of the pain, and the image swam to her mind with the newest wave. "We need to go to the meteor." She stated.

"That creepy tourist trap?" Crowe quirked a brow. "With all those people laying down offerings because they think Titan is there?" she asked.

"Titan is there." Lunafreya clarified.

"Shit. All this stuff I thought was fairytales, and other shit meant to make kids behave or piss their pants is all turning out to be real. You going to tell me the tooth fairy is real too?" she asked, letting out a sharp exhale through her nose and laid back in the grass, arms tucked under her head and stared at the clouds above them.

"I suppose that means Titan is my godfather." Lunafreya mused.

"Well if he's why you have this headache then your fairy-old man is a dick." Crowe shot back. "So if dickhead is your fairy godfather, who's your fairy godmother?" she asked, jutting her lip as she tried to think which of the Six best fit the mold.

"Shiva." Lunafreya answered matter-of-factly.

"If Shiva is your fairy-godmother then wouldn't Ifrit be your fairy-godfather?" she asked back.

"No, just my fairty-milkman." Lunafreya joked back. Despite the pain in her head, she couldn't help a slight laughter, restraining it as best she could to minimize the sharpness it sent through her scalp. "Oh, I am surprised the Gods did not just strike me down for such blasphemy!"

"If Shiva really is your fairy godmother maybe she just has a good sense of humor." Crowe joked back. "And if the stories are true Ifrit couldn't give less of a shit so you're in the clear there. And pretty sure Titan has his hands full, so he can't swat you." She added. Lunafreya chuckled again, wincing and trying to press the sweatshirt harder against her face.

"It feels as if there is a small daemon who clawed its way through my eye, and is now busying itself with trying to burrow through the top of my skull." Lunafreya stated so plainly Crowe took several moments to reply, unsure if the woman was joking or not.

"I know you aren't the most touchy-feely person out there. But I can try to massage your neck and shoulder a little. It might help." Crowe offered, biting down on the corner of her lip. Her brows shot up when her offer was not immediately rejected, and the young woman sat up, hunching over her knees with the sweatshirt still clamped tightly over her face. She nodded at the offer, and Crowe paused for several seconds. "That… that was a yes?" she asked, getting another nod.

"I'll try not to bite. Might make Noct jealous." She teased, hoping the resulting chuckle wasn't making her pain much worse. She reached out and placed her hands on Lunafreya's shoulders, keeping them there in spite of her flinch and started kneading at the top of her shoulders, and smiled at the deep sigh she got in answer.

"That… that feels quite good." Lunafreya admitted. "I don't. I haven't had many massages." She admitted, and was glad for the sweatshirt she was burying her face into, hiding the blush she was certain she could feel heating her face.

"Then I need to slap Noct, lucky enough to bag a gal like you and doesn't give you a backrub once in a while?" she clucked her tongue, then tisked. "Honestly."

"He does." She quickly defended, but left off he's not quite as good at it as this. Even so, she would still choose one of his massages, if only for the comfort and familiarity of it being his hands on her. But given the circumstance she was glad for someone more successful at helping ease this tension that had crept into her upper body. "I didn't get to see him often, the empire limiting his visits to two-week trips twice a year." She explained. She expected Crowe to tease her for being so enamored with someone she saw so little, her mind preparing defensive responses and explanations.

"I hope he spoiled you rotten those two weeks then, or I'll owe him a second slap." Crowe replied instead.

"I assure you he did. And I think he doesn't deserve that first slap, I did tell you he would offer me a massage."

"Huh, true. I guess I'll just need to find a better excuse to slap that pretty face of his." Crowe sighed. "Feeling better?" she asked, noticing that Lunafreya had ceased pressing her sweatshirt against her face, arms going slack in her lap. The young woman nodded, and she was glad she could provide some relief for her. "Do you think another ether would help?" she asked, this time getting a shake of the head.

"I can handle my coffee, but those energy drinks have quite a bit of caffeine and drinking more than one of those things seems to do more harm than good." Lunafreya explained.

"Yeah that stuff always gave me the jitters at first, but being in the Kingsglaive I never slept enough and eventually started replacing my blood with it." Crowe answered. "Though I couldn't hold a torch to Libertus." She paused, "damnit! I forgot about that asshole! If he's still alive I still need to kick his ass!"

"Volume!" Lunafreya yelped, and the sweatshirt came back up. Whatever word she said next was lost into the void of the fabric. Crowe winced, offering an apology and redoubled her efforts at finding and easing the tension in her muscles. Lunafreya mumbled again, and Crowe quirked a brow,

"Try that again?" she asked. The sweatshirt came back down,

"Why do you need to kick his ass?" she asked. Crowe couldn't help a laugh, shaking her head.

"Hearing you swear is as weird as seeing coeurl bark."

"I was merely parroting your own statement." She answered, cheeks heating up.

"Still weird. But you don't remember? It was when we all first met. I was given a cookie recipe instead of a message." She summarized.

"Oh, I had forgotten that." Lunafreya admitted. "Should ask Noctis if Cor can get in touch with this man. Just leave out the threats." She advised. Crowe snorted, nodding her head.

"Yeah I don't think the Immortal would like it very much if I used him as my bounter hunter to lay a beatdown on Libertus. Don't care if the asshole is still in crutches." She muttered.

"Remind me never to find myself on your bad side." Lunafreya teased.

"I get that a lot." Crowe admitted.

"I join the elite ranks it seems. What led you to join the Kingsglaive?" Lunafreya inquired. Talking was growing exhausting, though as long as she refrained from shouting hearing Crowe speak was no longer agitating the daemon scratching at her skull. Crowe began telling her tale in exchange for a promise for Lunafreya not to pity the Gralean orphan with a perchance for magic finding her way into Lucis and eventually into the Kingsglaive.

"It was a home, three meals, and a job." Crowe finished. "But don't feel bad for me, as you can plainly see I came out as badass as ever." She ceased her massage for a moment to flex her muscles, making exaggerated grunts with the effort, though with no point with Lunafreya's eyes locked firmly onto either her lap or the back of her eyelids. "I just wish my damn magic still worked." She lamented.

"Your fire plus my shields seem to be quite the effective combination." Lunafreya suggested. Crowe had to admit that she was correct on this. A silence hung between them for a short while after this, save for the occasional whine or that was a good yelp following the odd series of noises Lunafreya would occasionally make as Crowe continued her massage. Her thumbs growing sore she eventually sat back.

"How you feeling now?" she asked. Lunafreya managed to get herself upright, eyes open and squinted.

"Quite a bit better. Thank you. You need to teach Noctis your secrets." She requested.

"Aw, but then how do I get you rushing back into my arms?" she quipped, and leaned over to lightly punch Lunafreya on the bicep.

"If I ever get a headache… migraine… Pain. Like this again, I shall come rushing back to you." Lunafreya asked. Crowe laughed,

"You can be witty. You gotta let the others see this side of you." She teased. Lunafreya blushed again, biting down on her lip and shrugging. She laid back on the grass, glad the sun was beginning to dip behind the trees.

"I am more than simply the Oracle." She answered, closing her eyes. "I'm going to see if I can steal some sleep."

"Just don't feel guilty about it." Crowe chastised.

"I make for such an entertaining companion, huh?"

"Just get some rest. I'll read on my phone." Crowe reassured. After a brief pause Lunafreya asked in a quiet tone if Crowe wouldn't mind reading aloud. She obliged, bringing up something to start from the beginning and filled the unusual silence of the area with the tale of the Princess who wanted to be a Knight, and proved her worth by slaying the dragon plaguing their kingdom.

Crowe resumed reading silently when she got halfway through chapter two and heard Lunafreya's breathing slow. She read about the Princess watching a joust, eternally jealous of the men clashing at each other as they competed to see who would be given the honor of leading a troupe of men up into the mountains to slay the dragon. As she progressed in the story she would shift her attention to the girl beside her, deep in a fitful sleep. She frowned, wondering if she always slept as such. Her face periodically twitching, or her breathing quickening only to taper into a whimper then settle back into sleep. She frowned, a thought coming to her mind. She began to read the story aloud again, shifting her position so she could watch over her charge's sleep while she read, and the whimpers and breathing slowed as she continued to read to her.

Nearly halfway through the book Crowe found herself wondering for what felt like the tenth time that the hour was growing late, and wasn't confident they could get back to Wiz's post before dark. The birds were still grazing nearby as they had been, sure not to wander too far. Three of them were curled and sleeping together in a pile of feathers that looked so adorable and comfortable Crowe had to fight the urge to go over to them and fall asleep herself, stopped only by the image of Lunafreya returning to her whimpering and restless state. Her attention was jarred when the bird experimentally pecking at a bush of berries let out a loud kweh. The others looked up, including the sleeping trio who all echoed in kweh kweh!

"Huh?" Lunfreya hummed, sitting up and rubbing at her eye.

"About time assholes!" Crowe called out after she had stood and walked several paces away, not wanting to aggravate Lunafreya's migraine once more by shouting right next to her head again. "about time you get back here! We were just beginning to worry we'd be stuck here all night with nothing but iron giants to cuddle!" The four men were emerging from the cave, and her cheerful smile dropped immediately. "Holy shit what happened to you?" she asked. "Shit." She pat at her pockets, "There's two more energy drinks over there, Noct can you make a potion?" she asked hastily.

"Slow down." He complained, a hand clamped tightly over his arm. He was pressing a wet piece of torn cloth over what appeared to be a red burn. Ignis was behind him with a limp, an arm around Aranea's neck with one of her own wrapped around his back. Prompto rubbing at and rolling his shoulder but appeared to have escaped whatever did this relatively unscathed. Gladiolus the worst of the bunch. He had a burn coating his shoulder and left side of his chest, lacerations tore through his pants, his shirt tied tightly around his upper thigh dark stains on his pants peeking below the makeshift tourniquet. His hair was singed on one side of his head, his ear pink and part of his eyebrow was darker than the rest. She could smell the burnt flesh and hair once he reached twice arm's length from her.

"What happened?" she asked again. Lunafreya had rushed up to Noctis at this point, ignoring his protests as she palms clamped down on his cheeks in a vice grip and began to whisper her prayer.

"There was a damned wyvern in there!" Gladiolus complained. "Gods I need a beer." He complained. Lunafreya pulled away from Noctis and ran up to him,

"Or a bit of light. Alcohol doesn't solve every problem." Lunafreya countered. "Bend down, I can't quite reach you well." She added. Pain was written on the man's features, and he provided no protest to her light only too happy to accept it.

"You seem better." He commented as his burns began to turn pink, the pain easing.

"I do feel quite a bit better, yes." She answered.

"A wyvern?" Crowe asked, "Man. Guess we weren't joking about fairytales earlier. Did the thing breathe fire?" she asked, gesturing at Gladiolus's burns. Lunafreya was busying herself healing the others, Prompto the only one successfully fending her off with reassurances that his injuries were very superficial, an advantage of his ranged weapon preference.

"No, there were a couple bombs with it." Gladiolus clarified.

"It appeared to be a symbiotic relationship." Ignis added. "The wyvern had some eggs, and lots of bombs were nearby. As well as multiple dead creatures. I believe the wyvern would feed the bombs to placate them, so they would stay nearby and keep the nest area warm. We were just unfortunate enough to stumble too close to this nest on our way out the cave when we accidentally made a wrong turn." He explained.

"We're lucky we didn't stay lost then die." Noctis admitted. "Good thing for Ignis's visual memory. He got us back out of here."

"Daemons? During the day?" Lunafreya asked, her brows knit together. Noctis nodded at her, and she looked over at Ignis for explanation but he shook his head,

"I don't quite understand this. The cave wasn't quite as illuminated as outside, but I wouldn't have thought it dark enough to attract daemons." He offered, curling his lip and pulling his glasses off to clean them.

"All the more reason we must get to Titan." Lunafreya sighed, dropping her gaze.

"Titan?"

"That wasn't just a headache." Lunafreya admitted, explaining the patterned throbbing in her head. Noctis furrowed his brows, picturing that great meteor he could see from the terrace in Lestallum, wondering what the god himself must look like to hold up such a thing.

"You're better though? Healing us didn't make it worse?" he asked. She shook her head,

"Crowe helped me out quite a bit. And while I'm a bit tired, a little more rest should have me feeling like myself in due time. Though I feel this headache will not fade in its entirety until we convene with Titan." She stated.

"You still look pale. I should make an Ether for you." He suggested. "Don't say no." he interrupted. Crowe hastily went to where she had placed the supplies left to them by Ignis, handing an energy drink to the Prince who wasted no time infusing it with magic.

"None of that caffeine nonsense either Luna, that was hours ago." Crowe chastised. Lunafreya accepted the drink that was handed to her, drinking it while the others resumed conversation.

"So off to the metoer?" Gladiolus asked.

"Given the state of your clothing, and our supply of curatives, I feel it prudent to make a short stop in Lestallum to rest and restock." Ignis offered instead, then turned to the royals. "After what happened to the two of you with Ramuh I think being well rested would be in our best interest." The others voiced their agreements, voicing that their own bodies needed some rest after the beating they all took. A few sharp whistles and the chocobos all came running to their riders; Prompto's chocobo nearly knocking him over from nuzzling him, the blond laughing and pulling a few treats out of his pocket.

"That's all I got buddy, I gave the others to her," Prompto thumbed at Crowe. The bird continued to headbutt Prompto for more neck scratches, the man only mounting up when the others called for him to hurry up. "Okay okay!" he called, pulling himself up onto the birds back and spurring him into an immediate run, rushing past Ignis who was leading the retinue whooping and cheering with delight, wondering aloud how much a chocobo would cost to buy.

"He's like a little kid." Gladiolus chuckled.

"You really have a weird bunch'a friends." Aranea remarked, keeping pace beside Ignis. "You holding up okay? That thing got you pretty good in the hip back there and these birds aren't the most gentle mode of transportation."

"I'll be sore by the time we get back to Wiz's post, but nothing I cannot endure." Ignis answered her. The ride back was uneventful, despite how much each bounce in the saddle sent shooting pain down the advisor's leg, or the way the Oracle swayed dangerously in her saddle at times constantly reassuring every concerned companion.

They reached the post as the sun was beginning to set, and the debate over their sleeping options was short, Ignis being the one designated to ask Wiz once gain for his hospitality and a place to rest, unsure they could make it to any other safe location in time to wait out the night. They were provided a guest room, Wiz apologizing for the limited space. The retinue was quick to decide that Lunafreya could be the one to make use of the bed in hopes of resting off her illness, Noctis also winning the luck of the draw as a side effect.

"Sleep like the Prince you are," Gladiolus punched him in the arm as he laid out his sleeping bag on one side of the bed, just enough room remaining for Crowe to lay out her own between Gladiolus and the wall. Prompto was on the other side of the bed, Ignis and Aranea fitting between the foot of the bed and the wall leading out into the main hall of the post.

"I hope I don't have to pee, or I'll have to step on all of you." Prompto called, sticking two thumbs-up into the air.

"Hope you like to cuddle" Gladiolus remarked, and his following ow! made Crowe's answer obvious.

"Guess I won cuddle roulette then." Aranea replied,

"Sure you aren't jealous you don't get to snuggle with this." Gladiolus sat up and flexed his arms, and even from near the foot of the bed Ignis and Aranea could make out Crowe's eye roll before she flopped onto her side and jerked her sleeping back up to her shoulder.

"I like my current arrangement." She answered back, Crowe snickering loud enough for the others to hear. "Though I can't complain about a little eye candy." She shrugged, her eyes immediately shifting from the muscle-bound man to Ignis. Noctis couldn't help but note how quiet Ignis was being during all of this banter, and began to wonder if his friend's face was red. Had he ever even seen Ignis blush before? Could the man blush?

"Now that I think of it, why am I sleeping over here? I should be on that side of the bed next to Luna." Crowe suggested,

"No way! I sleep next to that bear every night! Let me enjoy my cozy wall-nook. At least he's not sleeping naked!" he countered quickly.

"I can sleep naked if you prefer," Gladiolus offered.

"I mean, I did say I like eye candy." Aranea mused, tapping a finger on her jaw.

"Then swap places with me." Crowe snapped back, and the dragoon laughed.

"I already said I am pretty happy with my current arrangement." Aranea laid down and curled up in her sleeping bag as if to punctuate her point.

"How you feeling?" Noctis asked from his spot on the bed, keeping his voice low as he rolled onto his side, reaching under the sheet to find Lunafreya's hand. He hesitated for a moment before gripping it, and when she wove her fingers with his and squeeze he gripped her back and smiled.

"A bit better lying down." She answered, and gave his hand another squeeze before closing her eyes, hoping to tune out the continued back-and-forth between Crowe and Gladiolus and find some semblance of peace for what the coming days would bring.

Everyone was all-too happy to sit in the comfort of the Regalia after their long chocobo rides, save for Crowe and Prompto who were on the motorcycle and were not shy to announce the discomfort in their asses to the rest of the retinue. Noctis volunteered himself to ride bitch in the back, so Lunafreya could lean more comfortably against the door, as it seemed sleep wasn't enough to cure her migraine.

"You okay?" he asked, and got yet another nod.

"You sure there sport?" Aranea asked, lifting a brow. "You look like you'd rather be dead."

"Perhaps another ether would aid you." Ignis suggested. "We are on our way to gather more curatives, so none of your we need to save them arguments." He added. There was a brief pause before she mumbled a quiet okay. Having suspected that such an occasion would arise, he had stashed one of their energy drinks in the dashboard of the Regalia, Gladiolus following the instructions to fetch it and pass it to Noctis in the back.

"It's okay if you would like to turn music on. No need to endure the entire drive in silence." Lunafreya suggested after a sip at her ether. She pulled it way and looked at it her brows shooting up, "Did you buy a different brand of drink than usual? I… I quite like the taste."

"They were out of Noctis's usual, so I purchased what was available. Glad to hear that you like it my Lady."

"Please call me Luna" she suggested.

"Guess we should keep an eye out for that brand." Noctis added. "I guess I just go so used to Rocket Boost that I never really thought about trying different ones."

"I wonder if it shall alter the effectiveness one way or the other." Ignis mused.

"I'll tell you if I feel much better after this ether than the one you gave me yesterday." She offered, and the advisor nodded and thanked her.

"Did the pressure point work at all?" Gladiolus asked. She gave it a moment's pause and nodded, reassuring the man that she did feel a bit better. She nestled the can between her knees to start massaging said spot between the sips of the drink. After her reassurance that music would not agitate her condition further Ignis tuned the radio and they passed the ride with music and conversation.

Lunafreya slipped into a fragile sleep after her ether, despite the volume of caffeine in it. Her brief episodes of twitching or whining had Noctis worried she was slipping into nightmares, and fought with the wisdom of waking her. She needs rest. Remember what Ramuh did, and Titan isn't preached to be as gentle. He rested his arms on his knees and leaned forward, head tilted as he continued to debate with himself. He hated when she her sleep was fitful like this, another flex of her hand and low whimper in her throat making him sigh and lean forward to rest his arms on his knees.

"Uh, should we wake her up?" Aranea asked. Noctis turned to her, seeing her trying to lean around Noctis to get a better look at Lunafreya. "She looks like she's having some nasty dreams." Why does this dragoon care so much? Noctis wondered, shaking his head.

"She needs all the extra rest she can get." He started, and hesitated before continuing. She seems determined to help us and its not fair to ask her to risk her life with us and not clue her in. He pondered. He drummed his fingers on his thigh, taking another glance at Lunafreya and sighed. "We already forged a covenant with Ramuh," that freak storm he cut himself off, trying to promise himself that he would admit their likely involvement with her airship crash at some point. He remembered seeing Lunafreya convulse, and grimaced. "Its… really hard on Luna." Me too. I am not looking forward to this he couldn't help but think, the pang of guilt almost making him nauseous.

"Oh don't beat around the bush by being cryptic." Aranea replied. "What do you mean hard."

"She convulsed on the ground and was unconscious for half a day. And Ramuh is supposed to be the nice one. If she's already having headaches what the hell is waking Titan up going to be like?" he explained.

"Shit dude." She answered, brows coming together. "I guess then yeah even nightmare-sleep is probably better than staying awake." Noctis managed to keep his face placid, but felt surprised at the concern in her voice. "The gods make her the most holy thing on Eos then kick her ass for waking them up like she's supposed to? That's… that's fucked." She added, exhaling hard. "You spike her with happy-pills or something? She's way to peaceful for someone getting screwed so hard." He imagined that were she awake Lunafreya would likely respond with some playful joke about hitting her head too hard once upon a time, but he couldn't manage to get himself to bring some humor into their situation.

"Maybe that's the secret to Spec's ebony obsession. Must be drugged!" Gladiolus declared from the font seat. Lunafreya flinched and sat up at the shout, looking around for a moment before rubbing the heels of her palms roughly against her eyes. "Oh shit. Sorry Luna… didn't mean to wake you up." He quickly apologized, chewing on the corner of his lip.

"Oh. It's quite all right. I've slept plenty." She countered, arching her back and stretching her arms, feeling several joints popping. "How long was I asleep?" she asked.

"About an hour." Noctis answered, then pulled out his phone to double-check. "Okay more like an hour and fifteen." She murmured a monosyllabic noise in answer, rubbing at her face again. "Headache?"

"I just feel hazy. The ether and that nap helped a bit. But I feel like I've just gone for a run." She admitted.

"Well you were having nightmares." Noctis admitted.

"Oh." she gazed out the window, "how far from Lestallum are we?" she inquired.

"Not much further." Ignis explained. Lunafreya tried to get herself to relax, but the patterned throbbing was returning behind her eyes, and she closed them to keep it at that dull throb and mouthed prayers to keep the pain at bay long enough for her make it to Titan and awaken him. Grant me the strength to lend my voice and raise him from his slumber. She felt a hand brush over her own, and squeezed the fingers that laced with hers.

"We're here." Noctis shook her shoulder and she opened her eyes, looking around feeling a bit confused. "You fell asleep again." He provided. She mumbled a bit, reaching for the door handle to let herself out of the car. The heat outside was startling, and helped finish waking her up.

"We won't be here long you can get more rest if you wish." Ignis suggested.

"Hmm? Okay." She agreed, leaning her back against the car. "Just going to wait outside the car though, get some fresh air."

"I'll be back shortly." Ignis reassured, and as he walked away Aranea gave Lunafreya a smile and a pat on the shoulder before jogging to catch up to the man,

"Hey I'll keep you company." She suggested. Noctis could have sworn he saw Ignis loosen his eternally stiff posture and walked next to the dragoon.

"I need new clothes, as much as everyone here probably enjoys this glorious body not everywhere is as warm as this damn city. Seriously… it's like its on top of a volcano." He complained. "Wanna join me or staying with the royal sweets?" Gladiolus asked.

"Royal sweets?" Crowe asked.

"They're so damn sweet on each other it gives me cavities I need a break to get clothes. And maybe stop for beer."

"I'll give you that one. And agree with the beer so count me in." Crowe agreed.

"Hey don't forget about me!" Prompto complained. "I like beer." He mumbled. "You guys don't mind?" he asked, looking to Lunafreya and Noctis. The pair shook their heads, the latter making a shoo gesture and he shouted wait for me! and ran after the two shields.

"Want to lie back down?" Noctis asked once their friends were out of earshot. She sighed, nodding. She knew her body and knew what was to come, and denying that she needed the extra rest was only going to make trying to wake the Archean even more enduring.

"The car is going to get scorching…" she sighed, cocking her head to the side.

"Keep the doors open for a breeze." Noctis suggested. She paused, blushing a bit.

"Well now don't I feel silly."

"For only that?" Noctis teased, getting an exaggerated pout from Lunafreya before they both chucked and she climbed into the car. Next she knew, Noctis was partially lifting her, and her jerking flinched caused her to strike her head on the roof of the Regalia.

"Whoa!" he yelped, "shit… you okay?"

"Ugh yeah… just startled me." she groaned.

"That didn't bring your headache back, did it?" Noctis asked.

"Man, we're back for ten seconds and you break the Oracle? Want me to slap him Sparkles?" Crowe called.

"Tempting." Lunafreya mumbled through a smirk. Crowe took this as an invitation and slapped Noctis on the arm,

"No breaking the Oracle! I need her to keep fixing hangovers. Gladio, take the bike. I need to keep an eye on this one here," Crowe thumbed.

"You sure its not just because your ass is still sore from those birds?" he asked.

"Oh that's totally my actual motivation. But I'm trying to pretend to be a good shield here."

"So how am I a good shield if I take the bike?"

"I'm badass enough for the two of us." Crowe suggested, and got a middle finger, Crowe too happy to give two in return. Gladiolus dropped his hand to reach for the door handle, jerking it open and dropping himself into the passenger seat, reaching his arm out to flip her off once more before pulling it shut. She rolled her eyes and shrugged,

"Oh Sparkles. Got you a little something." She said, and opened the door a bit wider to toss a tee-shirt at the young woman. It was tye-dye stating in large black letters I SAW THE METEOR AND IT DIDN'T CURSE ME and in the center was an image of a cartoony Titan holding up a bright blue meteor.

and walked over to the bike.

Ignis stashed everything he purchased into the trunk, as well as the clothes Gladiolus had bought and left behind the car when arguing with Crowe. Assured by everyone they were good to go, Ignis sat in his usual seat,

"I bought the brand you seemed to like my … Lunafreya." He tried to correct himself.

"Thank you." She smiled, "I just hope everyone else likes that flavor too…"

"For once think of yourself there lady." Gladiolus commented. "You drink more of them than anyone since you fix all our asses, its only fair that we use the one you like better."

"Oh. Well… thank you, quite kind of you all." The car lurched as Ignis put the car into gear, his face turning read enough Noctis could see it reflected in the rearview mirror, apologizing profusely and mumbling about this has never happened before! and aside form that first hiccup, the drive to the road leading towards the meteor was smooth as ever. They traveled for a short time before in the distance they could see a road block. Ignis pulled over for a moment, the motorcycle doing the same behind them.

"What's up man?" Gladiolus asked.

"Roadblock ahead. I don't know if it's the Nifs." Ignis explained. "Prompto's camera has a strong zoom, yes?" Gladiolus shrugged, and Ignis got out of the car to ask his friend for himself.

"Oh yeah. Hey good idea!" he cheered. The Regalia's trunk was popped and Prompto rifled through it to find his camera case, pulling it out to aim at the blockade up ahead. "Hmm… they don't like puppets. They're wearing black so they gotta be Lucian." Prompto announced.

"Why would they have a barricade on the road to the meteor?" Ignis thought aloud. He looked at it, trying to see if he saw anything unusual. "I don't think anything looks odd from here." He commented, looking at the large gray stone that seemed to pulse and shine.

"Yeah but remember the cave dude?" Prompto countered. "Looked all normal until we really stared at it."

"I think we are staring at it." Lunafreya stated. Prompto flinched, turning quickly,

"We need to get you a bell! Do you make any noise when you walk?" he exaggerated a shiver, "you can sneak up better than any ninja dude. Okay sorry, so staring at what?" he asked. She pointed,

"Didn't mean to startle you. The meteor. I noticed it the first time we saw it. It's gray. The meteor was always blue. At first I thought that it was merely the photographs I had seen, our first trip to Lestallum was my first time seeing it in person. But look," she held up the novelty tee-shirt Crowe had bought her, "it's blue on this too. Why would everything show the meteor as blue if it's always been gray?" she asked.

"Huh… that is weird. But look how cartoony Titan is. He's almost yellow and red on there. Maybe the shirt guys were just trying to make it more colorful." Prompto suggested. Lunafreya held the shirt out at arm's length and cocked her head at it, feeling unsure but matched his shrug.

"Perhaps you're right." She admitted.

"In either case, let us see what this blockade is about." Ignis decided, and they all got back on the road.


Event-wise, it feels like little happened here. But character development is important too, and I hope you all agree and found this chapter enjoyable! I just really wanted to show more interactions with Luna and the gang now that she's opening up, and some light Ignea (must... pace... self...) and I hope you find the pace of their eventually-budding relationship is going well and that the flirting doesn't feel forced or too quick.