Noctis was waiting outside with Crowe, the former standing stiff watching the Nifleheim High Commander walk back to his airship, the few people wandering around the hunter camp had also stopped their motions to give the man a large berth.

"Where is everyone?" Lunafreya asked, looking around for the rest of their retinue. Her voice made Noctis flinch and he turned his attention away from her brother,

"Oh they're getting the final details on that hunt we want to do and Ig is using some of the money from the last hunt to stock-up on stuff." He explained. "You sure you feel up to this?" he asked her, brows furrowing. She nodded at him. The answer was half-truth, she felt better than the previous day but her limbs still ached, and her head fill felt light.

"You both should turn your phones off." Lunafreya suggested before proceeding to relay the information her brother had given her about the signal being tracked by the empire.

"Shit…" Noctis grumbled. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and with a wince shut it off. "Maybe Ignis will know a way to block our signals so we can keep using our phones." He mused aloud before shoving the disabled device into his pocket and Crowe did the same.

"Man what are you and big guy gonna do without that game you play all day?" Crowe asked.

"Borrow one of Gladio's books I guess." Noctis shrugged.

"You know how to read?" Crowe asked, quirking a brow. Lunafreya slapped a hand over her mouth to cover her snicker while Noctis let out an indignant Hey!

"I did always do the story reading when we were children." Lunafreya added with a sympathetic smile. "Oh stop that pout," she chuckled. They found the rest of their retinue where Noctis gave them the unfortunate update on their phones.

"Is that dude anything but trouble? He's the harbinger of annoyance!" Gladiolus grumbled.

"He is my brother." Lunafreya cut in with a frown. "I understand he is… difficult. But he was trying to inform us of danger. If this helps us avoid trouble with the empire." There was a short pause, and Lunafreya was sure that she could see a slight blush on the large man's face as he scratched at the back of his neck,

"I guess. Well I guess hard-mode engaged."

"Maybe Iggy knows something to fix it?" Noctis suggested.

"I'm afraid something like jamming our own cell-signal is more complicated, and trying to tinker with my phone to figure it out would mean the device giving out a signal all the while. So until we have a solution I say we listen to Lady Lunafreya's advice and simply disable them for the time being." Ignis countered. Noctis grimaced,

"Well let's get this hunt over with. Maybe we can buy some burn phones. Come on, we should head out."

"Wait." Lunafreya requested. "I wanted to heal those here still injured before we depart." She explained, hands folded in front of her, brow knit together.

"Of course." Ignis broke the silence, and the tension in her shoulders eased and she nodded her head at him.

"This will not delay us long." She assured them, and parted from the group. She gave her light to those in the camp, each giving her a warm smile and bright wide eyes when she revealed herself as the Oracle. She felt some of her anxiety lifting as she passed through the people, and bore a smile when she rejoined everyone who were waiting for her by the Regalia.

"I think it may be a good thing for the people to know who I am." She suggested to them upon return. "You could see the hope returning to their eyes. I do not think the allure of the Empire's bounty upon my head will sway them to betray us."

"Not everyone may be so prudent." Ignis countered her, frowning at having to pop her bubble. She shrugged, shifting the subject instead to the suggestion they enter the car to get the location of the hunt. "It's actually within walking distance."

"Let's go kick some butt and maybe eat it too. I'm starving!" Gladiolus shouted.

"Perhaps we can find some wild vegetation to cook the meat with, the region is known for wild foragables." Ignis agreed. "I do quite like to experiment with recipes."

"I could lock you in a closet with nothing but celery, baking soda, a week-old opened can of soda, and you'd walk out with a feast fist for a king." Noctis cheered, him. "I'm starving too now that I think about it…"

"I purchased granola bars. Would be ill advised to take a hunt on an empty stomach," Ignis announced, pulling the keys from his pocket to open the Regalia's trunk and fish out a box of granola bars, handing them out to everyone before pulling out his map that was always folded and tucked neatly into a pant pocket. He explained to the group where they were going, and was the first to walk away from the car with his friends behind him.

"I thought you said it was walking distance?" Prompto whined after they had been walking and passing the time with conversation for near an hour.

"Two miles is by all accounts waking distance. I am also unsure how you expected me to get the low-riding Regalia down this path?" Ignis countered, gesturing to the road they were walking down. "Hey is that a bulb-berry bush?! Oh man! I used to eat these all the time as a kid, my neighbor had them growing in his yard!" he bolted away from his friends towards a short ground-crawling bush coated in dark berries. "They look darker than I remember." He remarked, plucking one off the bush. "Dude the whole bush has weird leaves." He turned over his shoulder to look at everyone who was catching up to him.

"Oh Gods, drop that!" Lunafreya yelped, and he dropped the berry more from reflex, her words registering a moment after.

"Rotten?" Prompto asked, a quiver in his voice as he wiped his palms frantically against his pant legs.

"It's the blight." Lunafreya answered in a low tone. She knelt down beside Prompto, squinting slightly as she looked at the leaves. Black filled the veins that ran in webs along the small leaves, more than half the berries themselves were blackened.

"Oh shit!" Prompto began to wipe his hands even harder against his pants, groaning with the effort. He scrambled to his feet, staggering back. "Iggy you have sanitizer in your pocket?!" he asked, voice an octave too high. "Dude set this bush on fire!" he pointed at it as he backed away as fast as he could, tripping over the uneven terrain. He scoot back away from the bush another meter before getting back up to his feet.

"Can fire kill the blight?" Noctis asked Lunafreya. He hadn't funneled magic in some time, but was relieved to find that one vial answered his call and in a flash of blue sparks appeared in his hand, the yellow and orange flames dancing inside the warm vibrating bottle.

"At the least it will renter the plant a state inedible, preventing spread from wildlife eating the berries." Lunafreya answered, getting to her feet. She turned to Prompto a frown on her face, her brows knit. "Prompto?" she called, hoping to jar him from his panicked action.

"Dude I touched the blight! Am I gonna die?!" he asked, looking up with wide eyes.

"We all got away from that ice cave and the meteor in one piece." Noctis tried to reassure, but his unsteady tone failed to give Prompto the confidence he needed.

"Shit dude. I don't think we touched the blight back there though!" he all but yelped. His palms were red from his frantic motions. Gladiolus walked up to him, grabbing his wrists and holding them above Prompto's head until only his toes touched the ground.

"Get your shit together man! We have the Oracle." He reminded, jerking his head in Lunafreya's direction. She gave a shrug and a smile, folding her hands in front of her.

"You have no cuts on your hand, nor did you get any of the berries' juice on you, so I believe you will be fine." She spoke, trying to reassure Prompto. He grumbled shivering and crossing his arms to cease the mindless rubbing. Noctis was bouncing the small fire flask in his hand and Lunafreya raised a hand to halt him, "make sure we are upwind. Not sure we should breathe that smoke." She suggested. Noctis paused, nodding and sheepishly admitting she was right. They all moved to be upwind before he threw the small flask, the bush catching flame unnaturally fast.

"Come on, wastin' time." Gladiolus suggested as they stepped away from the deep black smoke billowing off the bush. Noctis stared at it for a moment longer, the bush looking eerily like the Insomnian skyline from afar, with the thick acrid smoke swirling above it. He curled his lip at it before following the light tug on his sleeve, stepping beside Lunafreya as they continued along Ignis's path. The grass grew more patchy as they walked, and more bushes with black leaves were mingled amongst the ones left only with black branches with nothing upon them.

"Uhh… just what are we hunting?" Crowe asked lifting a brow as she took several steps away from the nearest dead and dried black bush. Ignis flinched and turned beside him when Crowe bumped into him, and he frowned as he glanced around them.

"The poster only said that it was a mad bull garula that was even beginning to turn on local herds." He answered her. "I wonder…" his voice trailed and he looked up, scanning their surroundings. There was a lack of insect chirps, rusting of small rodents, or the songs of birds. He could hear a far-distant cicada whining in the distance but everything around them was still.

"I saw this shit back in Niflehiem… didn't think it was doing this so far east." Aranea murmured, Ignis turning his head to see she was standing just the opposite of him. Sandwiched between the two women he picked up his place to get back his personal bubble, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he tried to think.

"And you seemed to have walked away unscathed." He commented.

"Yeah 'cause I hopped right back in my ship and got the hell out of there." She shuddered. "Pretty sure we should be doing the same." She suggested.

"Well that's why we have our handy-dandy pocket Oracle, right?" Gladiolus countered with a laugh, walking up to give said woman a hard pat on the shoulder. She flinched the moment before he made contact before letting the tension release.

"I can purge the blight should it take hold." She half-whispered, knitting her brow. She had heard stories of the Blight growing so out of control in Niflehiem, her captors never taking her too far from Tenebrae's borders and she had merely assumed they didn't wish to waste precious time and resources traveling with her. She stopped walking, cocking her head as she approached one of the black bushes.

"Luna?" Noctis asked her, lifting a brow and following her a few paces, feeling nervous getting closer to the blighted bush.

"It's all right." She answered. Her fingertips became aglow as she reached out to one of the branches and touched the tip of it. She withdrew her hand with a sharp intake of breath through her teeth, the offended finger coming to her mouth as she sucked on it for a moment before waving her hand in the air.

"You okay?!" Noctis asked.

"That was…. Curious." Lunafreya commented, placing her palms on he knees to stand back up. "It's… difficult to explain." She started, trying to get her thoughts into words, letting out an annoyed huff of air through her nose. "The line of Oracle keeps the Blight at bay in a very… passive way. It is not something I think about." She gazed about her, curious if her impaired state wakened her light enough for whatever the disease was to spread faster. But Aranea mentioned seeing this before. Was there a gap in light in the world from her mother's death and her own ascension? "But I guess I can't directly try to cure the land." She added. "Come on… let's keep going." She got up, ignoring the suggestion that they just turn back.

"They put up the hunt for a reason, let's go kill ourselves a garula and Iggy an cook us some perfect medium-rare steak." Everyone agreed with Gladiolus's declaration and they finished their walk through the dry landscape until they saw the agitated animal chuffing at the bottom of a hill.

"It looks pissed." Prompto observed as they all watched the animal digging at the ground.

"Iggy what's the plan?" Noctis asked.

"You don't wish to simply warp down there and start slashing at it?" Ignis asked, quirking a brow and rubbing at his chin, "perhaps our young Prince here is growing up!" Noctis rolled his eyes and gave his friend the middle finger, getting a chuckle in reply. "I do believe that warping down and catching the animal in the rear flank is our best opener. It will make it difficult for the beast to charge us with a wounded hind." Ignis lacked confidence in this plan, but seeing an agitated animal stomping in an open field he couldn't find a more strategic plan.

"Well come on." Noctis declared, calling forth his Engine Blade and vanished in a blue blur, causing Lunafreya to yelp in surprise and Ignis to curse under his breath. Everyone followed the prince after he successfully warped his blade into the animal's flank near the joint. The still air filled with the pained bellow of the garula as it tried to rear up on its hind legs, a high-pitched squeal making Noctis flinch and stumble back. The others were still a few seconds of sprinting away when the garula turned to charge at him he pulled out his armiger.

Lunafreya's sprint staggered for a moment as her attention was drawn to the blur of blue with black sparks when he summoned his weapons. She called upon her trident and halted her sprint, legs aching for reprieve and she gasped for breath, completely exhausted from the short sprint down the hill. The raging garula dug at the ground, and she caught a glimpse of the black spirals painted across the animal's entire body.

"Noct!" she shouted, throwing out her hand and a brief shimmer of light forced Noctis to squint as her shield came up between him and the wounded garula. Prompto's guns echoed when he fired off the first shot, and everyone descended on the animal. Lunafreya was doubled over, her palms on her knees trying to keep her focus on the fight with the garula, trying to put up pitiful shields that shattered at first impact. An odd pungent scent filled her nostrils, and she forced back memories of Nifleheim hospitals. The edges of her vision grew blurry and she squinted to keep her tunneled sight on the battle before her. Her trident became a crutch, support her sagging frame as a tremor settled into her limbs. The animal fell, and a quick downward slash of Gladiolus's great sword silenced it, and after a few seconds of observation they declared the hunt a success.

"Is it safe to turn our phones on to snap a picture of this thing as proof we did the hunt?" Prompto asked.

"Maybe they won't bitch up a storm if we bring 'em back some steak." Gladuolus answered, kneeing down and tilting his head with a squint to his eyes. Lunafreya tried to steady her breath as she approached them, trident still clutched in her hand. Her vision still blurred at the edges, and the dizziness in her head made her path erratic.

"Whoa... Sparkles!" Crowe shouted, leaping to her feet and rushing to her side, followed by Noctis. Crowe looped an arm under her charge's, helping her to rejoin the group and settle her onto the ground. Closer to the garula the smell grew more intense, and her eyes flicked up to Gladiolus who was getting to his feet and holding one of the garula's legs up, arm out ready to hack off the limb.

"Stop." She commanded. He hesitated,

"I'm hungry." He answered her.

"Look." She insisted, pointing all around them. "You don't smell that?" she asked, looking at everyone. "This creature was blighted." She clarified.

"Oh shit!" Gladiolus dropped the leg, sword vanishing as he backed away, looking at the blood stains on his arms. "Shit…"

"Stop fussing, I'll help. But we need to get the blood off of you or it will simply re-infect." She directed. "It must be from eating all... this." she gestured to the foliage around them.

"Ugh and I was so hungry…" Prompto whined. "That granola bar wasn't enough. Let's get some food for real!" They all concurred that they were quite hungry, Noctis the only one remaining silent as he retained the desire to sit and rest until Lunafreya was better. They debated for a brief time about the wisdom of turning their phones back on to snap of a photo of the hunt, eventually settling on allowing Aranea to turn hers on, hoping that the Empire would simply identify her signal as Nifleheimer and not part of the royal retinue. Lunafreya was able to get back onto her feet, her vision returning and some of the ache in her legs dulling. She vanished her trident, the object feeling too heavy to keep using it as a walking stick.

"I'll be quite happy to get a hot meal in my stomach." Lunafreya smiled to Noctis to keep his concerned questions at bay. Her eyes trained on her feet, tunnel vision returning and she bit down on her lip as she grew impatient with herself. She knew she would feel better with time, but meanwhile her impaired state left her feeling apprehensive.

"Back to Hammerhead?" Ignis suggested. "Obtain a hot meal at Takka's and bring the King up to speed on our situation?"

"Yeah." Noctis answered simply, and made a mental note to also get some guidance from his father regarding which royal arms to gather next.

"Meanwhile how do I wash myself?! I need to get this infected blood off me!" Gladiolus barked, gathering the attention of his friends as he looked between his hands and forearms, and the patchy grass and black-stained plants. This caused a hesitation in the group, Prompto the first to speak up.

"Wasn't there a shower back at the hunter hub?"

"That would pose a risk to others." Lunafreya quickly countered. "We would be bringing the blight into their camp and infected blood into their communal shower. While I could provide aid to those infected it would be a… taxing venture. Simply washing with a water bottle from the car should provide adequate."

"Ugh I'll need to bathe in peroxide once we get to Hammerhead." Gladiolus grumbled. "Well let's hurry to the car before I look like those husks we saw in that base." He grumbled and made a hasty retreat back to the car, his friends quickly following behind.

The Regalia's keys were still in Ignis's pocket, causing an impatient Gladiolus to pace around the car for the few extra steps it took for his friend to unlock the Regalia's trunk and withdraw a water bottle. The Shield twisted off the cap and cast it onto the ground, pouring the contents onto his hands and madly rubbing them together.

"Gods I feel filthy…" he grumbled.

"Chill, you got the Oracle in your back pocket!" Prompto tried to cheer.

"That's like saying it's just the clap, go take some Cipro!" Gladiolus barked back. Prompto snorted, arms wrapping around his own ribs, cackling.

"Know from experience?" he wiggled his brows, and ducked to dodge the half-empty water bottle Gladiolus threw at him before he resumed scrubbing his hands, having pulled a black tee-shirt from the car as well to scrub himself with.

"Gladiolus, please, stop." Lunafreya gently called to him, approaching to place a hand on his shoulder. "Let me help, you've sufficiently cleansed yourself."

"I won't feel clean until I bathe in peroxide, maybe a few bottles of vodka, and probably fire too." He grumbled in answer, ceasing his frantic scrubbing only when Lunafreya grabbed both of his wrists. He tensed expression softened when he looked down at her, trying to offer him a small smile and another reassurance. He remembered the last time she healed him. The warmth and peace that ran through him, and bent over to let it flood him once more.

"Are you feeling better?" she inquired once she stepped back, the absence of her light almost making him chilled at the remnants of her light faded. He nodded, chewing the corner of his tongue almost feeling like speaking at this moment would be sacrilegious. They piled into the car, making the drive back to the hunter hub to turn in their hunt. They were pleasantly surprised to find this promoted Crowe's hunter level, which would allow them to take better-paying hunts in the future.

Turning away from the hub, the general mood of the car was light, and even Noctis found himself tapping his hand on the side of the car, music playing through the speakers and the top rolled back allowing the wind to tussle them and make conversation impossible. Noctis turned to Lunafreya, again sitting in the middle seat, and couldn't help the smile upon seeing her hum along to the song, wondering if it had been coming onto the radio frequently enough for her to learn it or if it was something she recognized from Tenebrae.

"Uhh… guys?" Prompto cut in, shouting over the wind. "Look behind us," the blond man was sitting upright in his chair, despite murmuring from Ignis not to get himself killed. But he ignored his friend, pointing at the road behind the car. They followed his gesture, save for Ignis, and looked behind the car.

"Shit…" Gladiolus murmured. Three Imperial airships were becoming visible just beyond the horizon, moving east towards the hunter hub they had just departed. Ignis tilted his head to get a better look in the rearview mirror, cursing under his breath and pulling the car to the shoulder of the road.

"What do we do?" Prompto asked, looking around to his friends. Crowe pulled the motorcycle up, Aranea climbing down from behind her,

"What's going on?" she asked, then looked where everyone was staring and cursed as the others had. "Well shit we gotta do something!"

"What can we do?" Ignis tried to provide.

"Help!" Crowe barked back, pointing in the distance.

"Those are puppet ships." Aranea clarified for them, hand on her forehead as she squinted at the distance. "They have at least twenty puppets each. I don't think our little rag-tag group can take on sixty puppets."

"With all the hunters there we sure as shit could stand a chance!" Crowe barked back, stepping around and closer to Aranea, face inches apart, letting out an angry breath through her nose.

"So we get the Oracle all patched up, the High Commander comes recommending we turn our phones off keep ourselves from being murdered, and haul ass down the road only to walk right into their arms?" Aranea snapped back, trying to stand taller but still half a head shorter than the other woman.

"So you think we should just abandon the people who just saved Sparkles' ass?"

"Unfortunately yes." Aranea insisted, stepping back to put distance between her and Crowe. The latter turned to her friends, gesturing at the dragoon,

"Well someone talk some sense into her!"

"Crowe… I do believe that she is being prudent." Ignis spoke carefully, stepping out of the car.

"Since when do we just let the Empire do what it wants? We took out that base." Gladiolus joined the debate, arms crossed. Noctis curled his lip, eyeing the debate carefully. He drummed his fingers on his thigh, eyes flickering between Lunafreya and the airships in the distance.

"Well we don't have a lotta time guys…" Prompto added.

"If Aranea is correct-"

"And how do we know she is?" Crowe interrupted.

"Has she lied to us yet?" Ignis quipped, pushing his glasses up his nose his voice deeper as he snapped back at Crowe.

"War sucks." Aranea snapped. "And sometimes you make the shitty choice! Be realistic! You think that we're any match?!"

"So we should just let them be slaughtered?!"

"Yes!" Aranea snapped, fists balled at her sides. "So we can keep them from doing it to someone else! If we rush back now we'll find sixty puppets against the seven of us, and one of us is an Oracle still trying to be not-dead!"

"Then we die with some shred if decency!" Crowe declared, lifting her head.

"Crowe, I implore you to see reason." Ignis cut in. "The High Commander sought us out to provide a warning to avoid us encountering that. If you don't wish to accept that, then remember you are Shield to the Oracle. Your goal is to keep her safe, and to keep her away from the Empire at any cost. So make a choice." Ignis's calm voice made her bite down on her lip, cheeks flushing as she tried to control her tone, the many replies swarming her mind fighting over which one would come out of her mouth.

"I… I can't stand the thought of…" her voice trailed off, turning with her eyes focused on something far beyond the car, brows knitting together. "We're just letting them attack those people who helped us. Well Noct time to be a Prince and order your damn people around. What do we do?" she asked. He paused, muscles standing in his neck as he clenched his jaw, knuckles flushed white as he pushed his fist into the edge of the seat.

"I don't think there's anything we can do."

"That's a statement not a choice!" Crowe snapped, brows knit together. "Sparkles! I'm your shield so I follow you and Noct here is so whipped he'll follow your choice so speak up."

"My brother would not have advised fleeing if he felt we were a match for what they were sending." She admitted, placing a palm over her ribs, sure she could feel the pain reigniting within them. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She pictured herself standing before Caligo, but rather than conjure thoughts of fighting back, of Noctis setting the man aflame, Prompto putting a hole in his forehead and a far messier one in the back of his skull; old pains flared throughout her body as fear threatened to take her. "The empire has committed a great many evils… we should heed Ravus's advice, as much as it pains my heart. We need to go to hammerhead." We need to save our star.

"Maybe they'll just ask really rudely where we went and leave em alone?" Prompto tried to suggest. "I mean. If they just massacre random people they might cause an uprising."

"War sucks." Aranea grumbled. "Get back on the bike. Once they realize we aren't at that hub they'll probably start by checking the main roads. We should use the shitty cow-trails that you call back-roads on this continent." Her eyes remained focused on the three moving ships as she spoke, fingers flexing next to the holster on her thigh. She turned, seeing the others slowly getting back into the Regalia, Crowe walking to the bike after hesitating.

"Take turns, Prompto get your skinny ass on the bike." She asked.

"Uhh… sure." He agreed. Aranea took his spot in shotgun, the gunman climbing onto the bike behind Crowe. Ignis briefly consulted his map, sighing as he tried to find the easiest path to Hammerhead that didn't use the main road. With a sigh, he shifted the car into gear and pulled back onto the road.

Ignis's estimate of one hour proved an underestimate, it taking nearly ninety minutes before they arrived at the garage. Noctis felt stiff, the scar in his back burning and the numbness shooting down his bad leg. During the long drive Lunafreya had fallen asleep against his shoulder, and he shifted carefully to wake her without startling her.

"I'm going to find Cid, I suggest we hide the Regalia inside. This car is a bit… distinct." Ignis explained with a note of affection in his voice.

"I'll bring Luna to the trailer. I can catch up with my dad in a bit." Noctis answered him, getting a nod.

"Don't be too misbehaved! That thing has thin walls!" Prompto teased, getting a middle finger from Noctis. "Come on big guy, you've been like totally silent all afternoon… let's feed you so you can go back to running your mouth!" he suggested to Gladiolus.

"Good idea. Hope Takka got a delivery recently! Could eat a dozen burgers on my own." The friends walked away from the car, Aranea joining Ignis, Crowe catching up to Prompto and Gladiolus after announcing her own hunger and steak craving after the disappointment at not being able to eat the slain garula. Noctis shifted in the seat, trying to rouse Lunafreya from her sleep. She mumbled, blinking several times before turning her attention to him.

"Hey… we're at Hammerhead." He explained, getting a nod. He stepped out of the car, giving her a few seconds to finish waking up before she shimmied to the edge of the seat, accepting his outstretched hand to help her stand up.

"Should we find your father?" she asked, and he shook his head at her.

"Let's get you resting in the trailer first." She frowned for a moment but nodded, and walked with him to the trailer. "You hungry? I can go get you something at Takka's"

"Not quite hungry, but likely the wise decision would be to eat something." She admitted.

"I'll go see if he has anything that isn't meat with even more meat."

"Well…" she paused, glancing around them. "Perhaps food can wait just a few minutes? We haven't had a chance to be alone in quite some time." A flush overtook her cheeks, staining her face red to the tips of her ears.

"What if I go get food and we make it a dinner date?" he suggested.

"Hmm… quite a romantic suggestion, what have you done with my Noct?" she quirked a brow at him. He played at shoving her shoulder, narrowing his eyes at her and she stuck her tongue out in answer. He opened the trailer's door for her and she climbed up the two stairs.

"I'll go get some food and then we can both meet up with my dad." He suggested and she nodded. With the trailer door shut Lunafreya walked to the bed at the end, lifting herself onto it, groaning in frustration at how her limbs immediately felt sore with exhaustion. She climbed up to the head of the bed, lying down to close her eyes for just a minute, thinking to herself that she would get up to look for a place setting to set the table.

A loud banging against the metallic trailer door caused Lunafreya to flinch, blinking away sleep as her heart raced in her chest. I fell asleep? She wondered for a moment, calling out that she was coming. She got up from the bed, the same frustrating soreness in her limbs from the effort, opening the door for Noctis who was balancing a tray with two large bowls of food and other miscellaneous items. Her brows shot up and she reached out to grab it from him, setting it on the table.

"Did you fall asleep?" He asked, Lunafreya nodding with a grimace. "You didn't hear when I tried to tap at the door, had to knock pretty hard to get you to answer. Made me wonder if you went for a walk or something." He explained.

"I'll be back to myself in due time." She replied, "Perhaps a good night sleep in a proper bed will set me straight." She suggested, sitting at the small fold-down table where she had placed the tray of food. Noctis sat across from her, reaching for one of the bowls.

"What did he have? It smells lovely." She commented.

"Got some peppers from Lestallum so it's a spicy noodle soup. I got him to put some beans in it for you so its more than just noodles and pepper."

"Thank you," she smiled, accepting the fork and spoon he was holding out to her. "Oh! This is delicious!" Noctis nodded his agreement, swallowing a large bite of food. They ate, Lunafreya remaining quiet while her Prince talked about the various royal arms still left to collect.

"With those royal arms… your armiger, something about it appeared odd back there." Lunafeya recalled the black sparks in the spinning blue weapons.

"What do you mean?" He lifted a brow, pausing before taking another bite of food.

"There were black sparks." She stated plainly.

"When? Today?" he asked. She nodded, stirring her noodles before taking another bite; her hunger catching up to her now that she'd eaten several bites. "I felt fine…" he ambled, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck before assessing his hands, turning them over and gazing at his arms.

"I don't sense the blight on you." She offered as reassurance. "I just found it rather odd. Perhaps we should ask your father?" she suggested.

"Maybe. But it could be because I was using the armiger with only a couple of arms." He countered. "I mean, Lucis's color is black. It's been the royal color for as far back as we can see. Maybe that's got to do with it."

"Maybe." She accepted with a shrug.

"Or the ring… no one in my family has ever tried to use the armiger without that Ring of the Lucii." He continued. She paused, not having given the ring much thought before.

"I hadn't thought of that." She admitted. "Perhaps talk to your father about it."

"Yeah." He nodded. "How you feeling? Better I'm guessing with some food in you."

"Gods I didn't recognize how hungry I was until I started eating." She confessed. "Though, there is one more thing I believe could do me some good." She added.

"Yeah?" Noctis asked, lifting a brow. "The store has plenty of energy drinks, need me to make something? Or get ebony from Ignis? I think there's a coffee pot in the cabinet." He listed off.

"No, you dork. Come over here." She got up from her seat, reaching her hand out and pulling him to his feet. She linked her hands behind his neck and stood on her toes to greet his lips, a light brush before settling back onto her heels.

"Oh." he answered finally.

"You sure your suggestions weren't just your own inner wants? We can certainly leave the trailer to ask Ignis for some coffee."

"When I'm finally alone with you?" He quipped back, sliding arms behind her back, tugging her closer to him.

"My ramen breath isn't a mood-killer?" she asked, tilting her head a bit when he tried to lean in for a kiss.

"Never." He answered her, chasing the tilt to her head finally catching her in a kiss. He felt her weight shift as she gave into the tug in his arms, answering the prodding of his tongue against her bottom lip and she greeted it with her own. She shifted a hand to the back of his head, ruffling through his hair, the other gripping the back of his shirt. She felt her own shirt lift, Noctis's thumb tracing circles in that way that sent goosebumps rolling down her arm.

"I think I can get used to you wearing normal shirt and pants." He murmured, breaking the kiss only long enough to speak. Her reply caught within her throat when lips met lips, tongue met tongue. Fingers traced along her back, her shirt hitched up further as his fingers lightly brushed her with a touch so light she giggled from the tickle of it. She stood on her toes to press deeper into the kiss, both arms winding behind his neck to hold him closer against her.

It almost felt too hot, holding onto each other so closely with the afternoon heat in the metal trailer. But the comfort of his arms was a welcome price. He pressed against her, and she followed the lead as he pushed her away from the table. Her shirt lifted further and she let go of shoulders, lifting her arms above her head to allow Noctis to remove her shirt.

"A sports bra?" he remarked, fingers brushing against her chest, just above the edge of the fabric.

"Crowe thought it would be more practical." Lunafreya answered, looking down at herself.

"You look… hot." He remarked, feeling some heat in his cheeks.

"Maybe I should take it off then? Your clothes must be stifling in this heat as well." She answered.

"No I mean…" he paused, scratching the back of his neck. "You look good in one." He clarified, and he smiled at the way her cheeks turned red. "I mean, sure, you look even better with it off," he added with a cheeky smile. She laughed, playfully slapping at his arm. She pressed her forehead just below his neck, letting out a long sigh.

"I feel exhausted already. Does that make me pathetic?" she asked, turning her head so her ear was against his chest, listening to his heart.

"You need to sleep a little more?" he asked, gently massaging the back of her neck.

"Not just yet…" she answered. "Get a girl excited then suggest a nap? You trying to be a tease?" she asked. He chuckled, the sound reverberating through his chest and tickling her ear. Sleep was a tempting throughout, the ache in her limbs almost begging for her to crawl into the bed. "We haven't been alone… I'd like to take advantage." She admitted.

"Me too." He reached out, a palm lightly resting against her cheek, his thumb lightly stroking back and forth. His other hand reached for hers, bringing her hand up, placing a kiss to the top of her hand, lips lingering for just a moment. The sensation sent a chill through Lunafreya, and she bit down on her lip as she let her mind wander. She withdrew her hand, again linking her arms behind his neck as she tried to pull him back, reaching behind her to feel the edge of the bed.

She indulged him for a minute, simply sighing against his mouth and savoring the feel of his tongue against hers. She whispered his name, her hands moving to grip the front of his shirt, tugging him to try and get him to follow her onto the bed. But one of his hands played with her ear, thumb teasing her earlobe in that way that sent shivers down her limbs. She broke their kiss, getting a whine from Noctis so she could reach behind her and pull herself onto the bed, reaching out for Noctis's hand. He reached out, their fingers curling around each other's and she pulled him towards her onto the bed. She shifted back to reach the pillows, laying back as Noctis crawled over to her.

His lips came to her neck, holding himself up with his hands. She parted her knees, and he was careful to keep his weight off of her. She turned her head, arching her back and winding her arms around his torso to pull him down to her. The light touches and gentle kisses against her neck were only driving her mind wild and she let out a huff of air through her nose,

"Noct…" her voice was low, thick with impatience. "I won't break." She added when he responded only with another delicate brush of fingertips against her stomach. She responded by sliding her hands beneath his shirt, raking her nails down his back. He moaned against her neck, teeth bearing down lightly on the spot. She almost advised him not to leave a mark but he soothed the spot with a roll of his tongue, and a gentle kiss. He shifted, finally laying his weight against her and she welcomed that pressure that made her feel engulfed, safe. She drew her fingers along his sides, bringing them to his hips so she could grip the hem of his shirt, sliding it back up in a slow and careful dance of fingertips, the hairs on his arms standing on end as goosebumps rushed down his limbs.

"Gods Luna…" he mumbled, clashing his lips against hers once more as soon as his shirt had been cast aside. He found her wrist, gripping it and pinning it next to her head, his other arm holding himself up. She gave a roll of her hips, and her breath tickled his cheek as she exhaled hard through her nose. "I love you…"

"And I you." His tongue brushed against her neck, his lips next. He whispered another devotion into her skin, the rumble of his voice tickling that spot below her earlobe. She arched her back and rolled her hips again, and he rolled his own in reply. His thumb pressed into her wrist, and she flexed her fingers, twining them with his until his thumb pushed instead against the back of her hand.

A rapping on the door pulled them apart, Lunafreya gasping at the startle, Noctis rolling off of her and cursing under his breath. He grabbed his shirt, shouting that he would be just a moment. Lunafreya sat up, shimmying to the edge of the bed and picking up her shirt from where they discarded it in front of the table.

"All I wish for is a moment alone…" Lunafreya whispered chewing on her bottom lip, sitting back down at the table where they ate their lunch and crossed her legs and tried to collect herself and banish her intimate thoughts hoping the crimson would fade from her cheeks by the time whomever was at the door would see her.

"Maybe it's just Prompto being an ass." Noctis suggested in a hopeful tone, and gave her a glance before walking over to the door and opening it, flinching and his brows lifting.

"Dad?"

"Hey son…" Regis greeted with a small smile, turning his head to look at the very red-faced Lunafreya. "Am I interrupting… a chat between you two?" he asked.

"No." Noctis and Lunafreya answered together almost instantly. Noctis cleared this throat, gesturing for his father to enter,

"We just finished eating lunch."

"I just wanted to talk to you, I can return later if-"

"It's fine. Come on in." Noctis beckoned, and Regis stepped up into the trailer, sitting down on the small couch directly across from the door.

"How are you both?"

"We have a lot to talk about." Noctis sighed.


Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! And poor Lunoct, they just can't catch a break. I promise I won't keep interrupting them like this. And I hope the fluff was adequate. Questioned myself a bit on it, but I question myself all the time anyway much to the chagrin of my beta-reader who is probably ready to slap me silly at this point.