Holy hell guys... I am sorry for this delay. I can't begin to describe how difficult how work has gotten. I'm scheduled for an 8 hour shift, and they've been lasting 9-12 on average. Then I went on a much needed vacation. But I am back, on the hunt for a new job, and I have a short chapter to hopefully make up for my delay. I want to start the next one as soon as I can, but this is my "long" week and with these long shifts my life has been an endless cycle of work/sleep with no real recreation. Came back from vacation to the same conditions. I'll try as hard as I can to get something up soon.

Guest: Thank you for so much support ^.^ Your reviews always make me happy. I hope this update is good despite the brevity


Crowe tightened her grip on her charge while their voices grew louder trying to clamor for a plan. Lunafreya squinted her eyes, trying to subdue the rising panic. Her heart was racing, leaving a rushing throb in her ears and an ache in her chest. Her fingertips were growing numb as her light flashed in and out of her hands. The periodic thuds of the bullet hitting the dirt echoed by the loud crack that would echo throughout the landscape. The air smelled like copper, and she licked her lips and ran a hand under her nose to assure herself there was no blood. She tried to focus on the arms of her friend and pry her eyes open.

She looked around, at the divets in the ground surrounding the car. They were far heavier on the far side of the car and the area behind. With her brows knitting together she looked past her foot, and to her right. There were no such pits. She let out a slow breath, observing the ground and listening for the cracks. More pits appeared to her left. She rolled her shoulders to try and ease the grip around her.

"Crowe, please let go." she stated, trying to turn her head to look up to her Shield.

"We don't have enough cover!"

"I don't think they're aiming for me. Look," she gestured at their feet.

"There's bullet holes everywhere!" Crowe's voice rose further, and gripped the Oracle harder.

"Not around us! Look around!" Lunafreya's voice rose herself as she tried to writhe out of the other woman's grip. "Let me go, I know what they want."

"Yeah! Your brains decorating the landscape! Kinda boring as is all beige and black they wanna add a little red to it to make Nif colors!" Crowe snapped back, wincing when another pop and crack filled the air. Dust kicked up as the pock on the ground close enough to Gladiolus's arm the man jerked inward in a too-late fearful reaction of being grazed. He cursed, Prompto gasping and whining at the jostle as the group tried to huddle even closer. Lunafreya pursed her lips together and let out a hard breath of air through her nose.

"They won't shoot me." She tried to insist, but Crowe tightened her grip for a moment with another pit and crack. Lunafreya again scanned the ground and the patterns torn up into the dirt. She let out a slow sigh, squinting her eyes. "I'm sorry." She twisted and rolled her shoulder to free her arm of Crowe's grip, bending it and with a jerk slammed her elbow into the side of her Shield's throat.

The woman gagged and coughed, both her arms dropping enough for Lunafreya to pull herself out of her grip, rolling to her right and getting to her feet as a chorus of voices started screaming her name. Noctis's voice was shrill, louder than the others. She could hear the crack in his words, his desperate screams. She blew out another breath and fought against the pounding in her chest. She looked up at the meteor, taking several steps until she was next to the Regalia's headlight. The air fell quiet, and she stood tall scanning the rocks for any movement. Everyone continued to call to her, and she could hear the strain in Gladiolus's voice as he alternated between trying to call her back to their illusion of safety, and trying to snap at Noctis to not join her in her idiocy.

"Listen." she told them. Noctis still grunted against his Shield but the clamor of voices stopped.

"The gunfire stopped." Ignis observed. "I would still not advise getting up from our cover." he added quickly, gaze locked on Noctis.

"Luna you should get back here." the Prince pleaded.

"They don't wish me dead."

"They might still hurt you!" He jerked his hand, pointing to her lower chest.

"Look!" she pointed, squinting at the rocks. The others unsuccessfully tried to tilt their heads to look without exposing themselves, ducking back down and asked Lunafreya for clarification. "An airship."

"Shouldn't we…" Crowe started, the words came out a high-pitched wheeze, the Shield coughing to clear her voice as she rubbed at her throat. "Shouldn't we get in the car and fuck off then?" she started again in a gravelly voice choked by the odd wheeze between words. She coughed roughly again, wincing and rubbing at her throat more. Lunafreya frowned, opening her mouth but hesitating before speaking.

"I'm sorry I-" Crowe cut her off with a palm, and shook her head. Lunafreya sighed, shifting her attention back to the meteor site. "They'll follow us." she waited for more airships, her brows knitting together as she shifted her weight, eyes trained on where the airship was lifting off from. There was no second ship following the first, and the lasting silence drew Aranea out of cover first. She walked up to Lunafreya, looking up to the ship as well.

"That's no puppet ship. Look at the stripes in the back," Aranea pointed.

"Someone important." Lunafreya answered when she made out the details. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, goosebumps rippling down her arms as she took a step backwards. Her palm rested over her side, a phantom reminder of the sharp pain throbbed in her memory.

"Guess we'll find out who." Noctis answered. Lunafreya flinched and gasped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, fingertips digging into her skin and she turned to face a wide-eyed Noctis, his limbs rigid, wide eyes trained on the sky.

"Noct." Ignis's stern tone startled him, and he blinked several times to look at his friend's impassive face. The man was still standing at the back of the car with Prompto. Noctis let out a long breath, tension slacking.

"Sorry Luna… you just scared me there." he admitted, dropping his hand off her shoulder, watching the momentary white fingerprints in her skin fade. "They could have shot you…" his gaze flickered between her and the airship coming towards them.

"Whoever was shooting was specifically aiming away from me." She insisted. "And fairly certain had they wanted to kill you they would have." she looked at the pits in the ground all around them.

"But they shot me!" Prompto whined, helped to his feet by Gladiolus once the man saw Ignis try to help him up while Prompto braced himself against the Regalia, wounded leg picked up to keep the pressure off of it. The Shield nudged Ignist aside and jerked Prompto's arm around his neck and wrapped an arm around his back.

"I can try to offer you more light," Lunafreya offered, turning her attention to him. "You were shot by a Nifleheim sniper… yet you're alive..." her voice lifted at the end as she looked at the blood stain on his leg. He followed her look and quickly shut his eyes and shook his head,

"Don't look at it don't look at it…" he chanted to himself in a rapid tone. "instead look at the terrifying looming death flying towards us."

"On the sniper note... the hell kind of bullets they used that you were shot in the leg and still have one?" Aranea asked, walking up beside Lunafreya and cocking her head to the side to look at Prompto's leg. "I've seen what a Nifleheim sniper can do, usually involves a cloud of pink, and a whole lot of sad people."

"Thanks for that imagery!" Prompto groaned, squinting and trying instead to focus on Lunafreya as she placed her hands on his cheeks, and on the warmth flowing into him easing the worst of the pain in his leg. He bit his lip as he could feel the tremor in her hands against his face, and how her smile as she pulled back didn't touch her eyes.

"You'll still be hurting for quite some time, but this is the best I can do. " she wanted to try to assure him she may have removed the risk of a permanent limp, but didn't wish to raise his hopes were she wrong. "A potion may perk you up a bit more, at least for a couple hours until a bed is found for you to rest." The distinctive hum of an airship engine started to make itself distinct over the ambient wind, Lunafreya biting down on the corner of her tongue as she looked once again up at the sky.

"Umm yeah, thanks Lady L," he smiled at her, and put his leg down and gave it a pressure test. "I think I can stand up." he removed his arm from Gladiolus's shoulder and settled back on both heels, shifting his weight to mostly rest on his good leg. "Noct buddy?"

"Yeah I think I got one, just a sec…" Noct mumbled, eyes still trained on the sky, deep lines forming between his brow as he absently reached to his pocket, a blink of blue and a can appeared in his hand. Magic warmed his hand and poured into the drink. He shifted his attention to Prompto,grimacing at the stain on his pants as he held it out to him.

"Here man… let me know if you need another one." he answered, and wondered if he should have made something a little more potent. But his friend had grabbed the drink and snapped the tab, downing what must have been half the drink in one go, pressing his fist to his mouth to unsuccessfully mute a belch from chugging the carbonated drink so fast.

"Careful man I might just want the energy drink so I can feel like I'm on speed." Prompto tried to joke, spinning the can in his hand, "let's see… two hundred milligrams of caffeine? That's like, twice Ignis's precious Ebony!" he cheered, and brought the can back to his lips. His smile dropped when Ignis failed to jump to the immediate defense of his beloved coffee.

"It's almost here." the advisor observed.

"They'll land any second. That ship is fast." Aranea agreed with a grimace, her hand tapping at where her polearm was collapsed and stored on her hip, stepping slowly so she was just in front of the car. Lunafreya joined her, Crowe finally moving from where she was sitting against the Regalia, fingers brushing against her neck. The two women exchanged a glance before shifting their attention to the airship that was now descending. Everyone lifted their arms to cover their eyes as the descending airship kicked up dust and sand. Noctis squinted one eye, the other half-open to see where he was going so he could stand by Lunafreya, Gladiolus just behind him while Ignis stayed with Prompto who was still standing at the back of the car, still unsure about testing his leg's ability to bear his weight for more than a few seconds.

The loud humming quieted, the dust and sand started to settle when the airship touched down. Noctis and Crowe stepped forward, Crowe's arm reaching out to keep Lunafreya from stepping forward as well. Noctis fidgeted, feeling the ache in his leg, the magic to access his Engine Blade just beyond his reach as his fingertips prickled. Lunafreya reached out, pressing her hand into Notis's shoulder, tugging to encourage him to turn.

"Noctis." She urged, mustering her voice into little more than a whisper.

"Don't worry Luna, we won't let anything happen to you." he assured, nodding and turning back to the airship. A hydraulic hiss preceded the door opening. Dust kicked up as the door impacted the ground, and the distinct clang of puppet footsteps started descending down the ramp. There was an odd rigidity to the soldiers, their uniforms failng to move as fabric shoulder. Their faces were obscured with expressionless masks, heads periodically twitching.

"I thought you said this wasn't a puppet ship?" Prompto asked.

"Behind them." Lunafreay answered, her voice in a hoarse whisper. Noctis reached behind him to grasp her hand, feeling the tremor in her arm.

"I won't let them hurt you Luna." He declared, trying to stand straighter, squaring his shoulders.

"Noct…" He could hear the quiver in her voice as their focus shifted behind the MagiTek soldiers. A thin man stood level with his metallic guardians, his grey hair brushed brushed back, a receded hairline giving his forehead a prolonged appearance, sideburns blending into the wispy beard that lined his narrow jaw. His high-collared uniform announced his high station within Nifleheim, his gaze lifting up as they approached the Lucian retinue hardly a meter away from where Noctis, Crowe, and Gladiolus stepped forward.

"Lady Lunafreya Nox Fleuret."

"Verstael." Lunafreya shifted her stance, wincing slightly at his use of her full name, her right foot sliding back as she stood at an angle.

"Hmm… a few weeks from the Empire and you lose your manners?"

"Sir Besithia."

"Doctor." he insisted with a twitch to the corner of his mouth. "You've caused me significant delays Lady Lunafreya, it is time you return to your place." he stepped forward, but halted when he saw Noctis and Crowe close the small gap between them, effectively blocking his view of his goal. "Do not be foolish. Stand down." He drolled, eyes flickering around. The Magitek soldiers around him raised their guns and locked their joints.

"I find it best we heed his warning." Lunafreya stated to the others, walking around Crowe so she could turn to face the others. Noctis's expression curled, brows knit tightly together as he locked eyes with her.

"Luna! We can't just let you go with him!" he insisted, pushing his shoulder into Gladiolus when the Shield attempted to stop his approach. But Lunafreya held up a palm, placing it on Noctis's chest to halt his approach. She glanced away from him into the guns pointed around her, and back to her friends who were holding swords, save a pair of pistols in Prompto's left hand, the right hand helping to brace him against the Regalia. She blinked away the images of how quickly the Magitek would raze them down, and let out a long breath through her nose, old memories surfacing setting her heart racing and it took great effort to keep her breathing level.

"You must let me make this decision Nocits," she started, forcing the words past the wall of fear pleading with her to let the others rescue her. "You know what happens when you oppose them." her voice cracked to little more than a whisper, and she bit down on her tongue to try and keep her expression neutral as a knot formed in her throat; her stomach churned at his expression scrunched, his frown deepening and he squinted hard, bangs swaying as he shook his head. Echoes of old pain throbbed throughout her body, pulsing as she remembered each kick, each punch, each slap, a hand guarding over her ribs.

"No… you… I can't…" he started stammering, reaching out and gripping her shoulders.

"You have stalled for enough time, shall I order my Magitek to fire?"

"No." Her voice cracked as she looked over her shoulder. "They won't fight. That won't be necessary." she insisted.

"The hell we won't!" Crowe snapped, reaching to place her hand on Lunafreya's shoulder. A Magitek standing next to Verstael lifted its arms, the butt of its rifle striking her jaw, a pained cry cut off with a deep huff of air as she hit the ground. It pointed the barrel away from her head, pulling the trigger. Lunafreya flinched and slapped her hands over her ears with the loud crack it produced, looking with wide eyes to Crowe, letting out her held breath, chest rising and falling rapidly as she began to hyperventilate. Her shield had a palm pressed to her jaw, staring up at the Nifleheimers, half her face glowing red and traces of blood visible through the gap between her fingers. The woman opened her mouth and closed it, shifting her weight as she tried to sit up, staying on the ground while the rifle was still pointed down at her.

"I advise staying put. And enough." Verstael added, turning his head, grey eyes boring into the machine beside him. "Point made." It settled back into formation, gun held with the military rigidity of its cohorts. Lunafreya had to focus to discern his words over the ringing in her ears that she tried to rub away, the echo of the gunshot still felt like it was vibrating through her entire body. Spent gunpowder invaded her nose, and she let out a hard huff of air, sure that she could taste the black dust in the back of her throat. "Now. Lady Lunafreya, do join me. You've set me quite behind in my work and I wish to catch up on my mounting backlog." Verstael turned his attention back to her, expresion flat as his eyes flickered between her and her restless companions.

"Luna… we can. I... We can figure something out." Noctis whispered, though Lunafreya had to conjecture much of what he said, the rest lost within the ringing.

"You remember what happened when we were young and you tried to protect me from them?" she asked, turning to capture Noctis's eye, and to better read his lips. "Our hands are tied. Trust me, my Prince." her voice cracked, the trembling in her limbs intensifying.

"No!" His own voice quivered. She stood on her toes, tilting her head to press her lips to his. He could feel the tears on her cheeks, her breath hitching with a sob that broke their kiss apart. "Look I'll… I'll see you soon, okay?" he mumbled. "I can't just let them take you away." Lunafreya gasped when she felt fingers dig into her shoulder and jerk her backwards. She looked over her shoulder to the Magitek shoulder that was pulling her away from her friends.

"I love you." She forced a smile and turned before she let her expression drop. She bit deeply down into her lips, squinting hard to try and keep further tears from rolling down her cheek. She inhaled carefully to keep her breath from stuttering, and tried to focus on the promises of rescue coming from behind her.

Noctis was flexing his fists beside him, knuckles flushed white as he gripped his Engine Blade harder. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his heart throbbed in his ears. Muscles in his jaw stood out, flexing as he ground his teeth hard enough to cause his cheeks to ache. Bile burned his throat and his chest felt tight and painful. His fingertips grew numb, and he flinched with a near-instinctual urge to swing his sword when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced quickly up to Gladiolus, his rage reflected in his Shield.

"We'll get her back." he assured as the Oracle stepped onto the ramp with a procession of metallic footsteps. Noctis remained silent, eyes burning and the pain in his throat finally escaping into a sob. The engines wound up, dust whipped up into a blinding wind. He closed his eyes, dropping his sword and the tremor reached his legs. He fell to the ground, leaning forward into his fists, slamming his right hand into the dirt.

"Godsdamnit!" His voice failed to carry over the wind and the engine. Remember. Memories started to flicker to his mind and he tried to force them back. Not this time. He promised himself. Her eyes had been so dilated, voice so unsteady as she tried to talk him into submission. "Fuck what happened before." he cursed, his voice caught and he tried to clear his throat. He lifted his leg and pushed a hand into his knee to help himself stand back up, a sharp pain shooting through the limb sending him momentarily off balance. Gladiolus was still behind him and helped to right him, but Noctis shoved him away and ran both his hands through his hair.

"Noctis, we will formulate a plan and-" Ignis began, startling the Prince's attention behind him.

"Fuck plans! For all our scheming and plotting and trying to think we know what we're doing, look where it got us!" Noctis shouted over Ignis's steadfast tone. "She's gone! Right back in their hands! It's like all the shit we went through in Altissia meant nothing!" His voice broke and a sob punctuated his words. His eyes burned and he failed to restrain tears that stung his wind-burned cheeks. "I failed her! Again! I just let her walk onto that fucking ship!"

"Think Noct! How could we have opposed a whole squadron of puppets armed with guns?" Gladiolus tried to yell sense into Noctis if Ignis's cold logic could not. The Prince's form shook and Gladiolus wrapped his arms around him. "You didn't fail her. We were outgunned. At least we're all still here to go rescue her. If we fought we would have all been killed. At least now we're all still here to go get her. We couldn't have planned for something like this."

"Then we should have planned better! Maybe laid low after we saw those airships at the hunters until we had a better idea than running into a trap?" he snapped back. He rolled his shoulder, bringing his fist in an attempt to punch Gladiolus, but moved his arm in an awkward arc as his Shield tried to embrace him. The punch lost its strength before he finished drawing his arm back and instead pat his chest with a closed fist, and wept, pressing his forehead against him and curling both hands tighter. "I lost her again…"

"We'll rescue her, like all white-knight and kick some teeth in. Be extra romantic and all as you scoop her up and flip off all the Nifs." Prompto cut in. Noctis knit his brows, shifting his attention. Prompto was leaning against the car, a forced smile on his face. "She's like, totally a thousand times stronger than anything that ever walked on Eos. She put up with Nifs for twelve years, I'd lose my mind after twelve hours!"

"You've put up with me for a while. Hmm… maybe that does explain a lot." Aranea quipped. Noctis flinched at her voice, almost surprised she was still with the group. She was on the ground kneeling next to Crowe and he couldn't remember seeing any movement. Noctis ground his teeth again, veins in his neck standing out.

"Where would they take her?" He asked, redirecting his attention to the dragoon.

"You think they clued me in to all their plans? Especially Doctor Creepy?" She asked, her lifted brow dropping and a frown overtook her face. "I should have thought of this. But I didn't expect Verstael to predict our movements."

"What are the chances?" Gladiolus agreed.

"Our phones?" Prompto wondered, pulling his from his pocket to check that the device was turned off. "I have like, so many cool photos on here…" he whined. "So I better pull out the SD first. That's not the thing making it trackable is it?" he asked before he started looking for a place to pull his phone apart to find its memory card.

"They shouldn't be able to track the things if they're off!" Gladiolus insisted, crossing the short distance between himself and Aranea. "Cooincidence that Verstael, of all fucking Nifs, was waiting for us here?! How did they know we were backtracking?" he asked. Ignis quickly caught up to the Shield and put himself between the man and the dragoon.

"Gladiolus calm down. Likely, had the Empire been informed of our intent we would not have arrived here for a show of strength and the abduction of the Oracle." Ignis tried to offer to placate him.

"Then what the hell was this about?"

"Random speculation will not draw us to an answer. What is important now is that we focus on what we can do to rescue Lunafreya."

"Yeah. She's just with one airship, not in a manor in an occupied country." Noctis added, bouncing on his leg, shifting his weight and bouncing on the right one when the movement was making his left leg feel like he was being continuously shocked. "Like assholes they flew off behind the meteor… so figuring out where he took her won't be easy." He added.

"If he flew behind the meteor that means he flew west." Ignis explained.

"How are all you talking at a normal volume? Pretty sure one of my ears is deaf…" Crowe finally added to the conversation, sticking her pinky into her ear.

"You okay?"

"Okay let's be real you don't care about if I'm okay, you just want us to get in the car to go rescue Luna." She quipped back, grunting as she got back to her feet. "Lucky for you, first, yes I'm okay. Second, I agree with blowing up everything we see until we get her back. But we might wanna listen to the smart one in the group for a plan that might actually make that happen."

"I can't let her suffer with them! You don't understand what they do to her!"

"I do!" Aranea snapped, then quickly shut her mouth. "Just because they were my paycheck doesn't mean I got blankets and cocoa. And I'm no idiot, I could see behind their propaganda."

"We need to go back to Hammerhead. Come up with a plan to get her." His eyes were scanning either side of the meteor site, looking for any sign of the airship changing direction.

"We need to stay here and find the royal arm we came here to find. I know you're in a rush. We all are. But the more arms you have the better chance we have at opposing the Nifs." Ignis suggested.

"I'll shove every weapon down that bastard's throat." Noctis ground out, and pushed past his friends towards the path leading into the meteor site.