The queen of excuses is back! I have been working far too many hours. Being a nurse during covid sucks. And please, no comments referring to or thanking me for my job that was not my point. Merely context for my long absences.


Lunafreya was sitting in the passenger seat of the Regalia with the door open, Crowe sitting on the hood making Lunafreya wonder what Ignis would say. Aranea wasn't able to keep herself still and was pacing in circles around the car.

"Hey! Look!" Crowe barked. "Someone's coming." She said. The car rocked as she slid off the hood, Lunafreya bracing herself on the seat for a moment then stood up and looked up the road. They hadn't seen anyone coming to or from the small settlement their entire stay.

"Is that Gladio?" Aranea asked. The three were standing together, squinting and trying to make out detail. "And he's got Prompto! Something's wrong!" She shouted. She ran ahead, the other two taking a moment longer to react.

"Guys!" Gladiolus called out. Prompto was on his back, and looked semi-conscious. "We need to get him on a bed, Luna we need you to heal him." He continued in a rush.

"We cannot go back into that hotel." Lunafreya replied, a quiver in her voice. "The backseat of the Regalia." She instructed, clearing her throat. She caught a flash of his hand, and needed to get her light into him. Gladiolus laid him across the back seat, all the movement jarring him from his stupor and he immediately started whimpering, drawing his arm close to his body.

"Prompto, it's me, please allow me to help." Lunafreya urged, trying to keep her voice calm her tone steady. He rolled onto his back and stared up at her, and she could see the fear and agony written into the lines of his face. She reached out for her prayer, struggling against his tremors and the tension in his body. But as she felt her light rise up and pour into Prompto she chased away the new traces of blight, the pain, encouraging his body to rush to the source of his injury and start the long slow healing process. She drew back and staggered, pressing a hand to her temple and shaking her head to try chase the dizziness away.

"Sparkles?" Crowe asked. She came up behind Lunafreya and wrapped an arm around her shoulder to help her steady herself.

"Sorry, I'm quite alright. Now I need to see his hand better." She asked. Prompto had slipped back unconscious, and she hoped that peaceful expression on his face would stay. "Where are noctis and Ignis? Are-"

"They're alright." Gladiolus interrupted, "we're useless if we're hungry and dehydrated. We need that money to buy food and water so we can fix all this shit already." He explained. He sat down on the ground, leaning his back against the car, dropping his head back. In his face too, Lunafreya could see. The circles around his eyes, the lines between his brow and the tension in his jaw. She came over, kneeling on the ground beside him,

"Please, allow me to help." She asked. He didn't move, and she accepted that as permission and eased his tension as well, leaving herself more tired and heavy than before but she was still able to try and look at Prompto's hand. "What happened?" she asked. There were small drops of blood here or there, but the wound was otherwise clean.

"Oh gods." Crowe whispered when she dared steal a peek. "Uh, do we still have a first aid kid?" She asked. Gladiolus nodded and pointed to the trunk. Some rummaging and she got the small red box, returning to Lunafreya's side. Unsure where to even begin, feeling helpless. She had poured as much light into him as she could, but only time would heal his hand now and she doubted he'd ever get much use out of it again.

"Prompto, I must tend to this." She asked. She reached for his hand, and the small touch was enough to snap him back to alertness.

"It hurts… gods…" He managed, moaning and gasping as he held out his trembling limb. She tried to find more of her light, the edges of her vision blurring as she gave him everything she had and asked Crowe's help bandaging him. They applied the ointment in a small foil packet, using non woven gauze to cover the wound followed by one of the rolled gauze.

"I wonder if they have another wrap in the store." Lunafreya asked. She had a few gil left herself, and Aranea, eager to occupy herself with a task went and purchased a brown elastic wrap usually used for sports injuries as a final layer to coat his hand. Once finished Lunafreya released his arm and sat back in the dirt, needing to press her face against her knees to keep herself from giving in to the fog and the blackness.

Prompto flopped back as well, curled in a ball with his arm drawn close against his body. Gladiolus climbed into the car, turned in the passenger seat and talked to him, while Crowe sat on the dusty ground next to Lunafreya who had her eyes closed and head resting against the car.

"Are you okay? Gonna pass out on me?" She asked. Lunafreya lifted her head and Crowe flinched. Her eyes were red and like the others, rimmed with dark circles.

"A mite of Ignis's Ebony and I shall be quite all right." She responded with a light smile. Her voice was hoarse and sounded distant, like she was talking to someone behind her where her eyes were focused. Crowe reached out, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face.

"Why don't you nap instead? Any changes in Prompto's condition I'll wake you up. Or when Noctis's ass shows up." Lunafreya hummed, shifting herself into a more upright position and shook her head. "Woman, stop being so stubborn." Crowe urged. But Lunafreya lolled her head against Crowe's shoulder and pointed to the dry dusty soil. It was then Crowe observed that Lunafreya's fingers were glowing as she drew a line in the dirt and revealed thin black lines that retreated from her touch. "Shit!" Crowe cussed, leaping to her feet and caused Lunafreya to flop over. She shook her head, blinking away her grogginess. Her shout gathered the attention of the others who collectively agreed to drag Lunafreya off the ground and shove her into the car where the rest of them packed themselves to await the return of Noctis and Ignis.

They didn't wait long, and it was Gladiolus who spotted them first. He squinted into the distance, tapping Aranea on the shoulder, who had started to doze in the passenger seat of the Regalia. She swatted him away but followed his pointing finger. The pair were walking back and were barefoot, limping, and he grit his teeth together and stood up on the seat of the Regalia, who's top was now down. He gave a shout, waving his arms trying to get them to hurry up and get into the car. He jarred awake Lunafreya who had allowed herself to fall asleep after much encouragement and veiled threats from Crowe, the Shield likewise falling asleep. Prompto flinched awake, but the Oracle was quick to pour more magic into him despite Crowe trying to tell her to settle down and gather her energy in case they needed it.

Something about Gladio's shouting and waving did put some fire under their feet and Noctis and Ignis ran across the remaining distance, though clearly still with a limp in their steps. "Get your ass in the car!" He barked, and nearly dragged Noctis into the Regalia before he could even reach for the door handle, Aranea doing much the same to Ignis.

"What the hell happened to your shoes?" Gladiolus asked, and was reminded that there was more than one patch of moss out there.

"We must turn in these accursed hunts and purchase what food and drink we are able." Ignis suggested. Gladiolus grunted his agreement, and after casting a quick glance around the car took the job himself. It took twenty minutes to exchange the hunt, and spend every last gil at the small corner store. It was difficult to cram all the supplies into whatever room there was in the car, and with some difficult shuffling and exchanging of seats left Ignis in his usual throne, the others sitting atop each other where necessary and tore out of the parking lot leaving a cloud of dust behind.

Ignis didn't need to refer to the map to remember where Costlemark was. The old stories and histories would forever haunt his nightmares, his tutors having this insane belief that seven years old was surely mature enough to learn about that was glad for Ignis's memory for geography and planning. Lunafreya was sitting on his lap, asleep with her head against his shoulder. He could feel a light bit of drool dampening his shirt and tried to make a note somewhere in his exhausted mind to tease her for it as soon as she woke up.

The tip of the tower peaked over the horizon, and any sense of humor was quelled. The trees on the side of the road began to shake, the steering wheel vibrating under Ignis's palms. He gave a confused grunt, pulling the car to the side of the road where the shaking became more obvious. There was a low hum echoing in the air and the shaking trees sounded as though they were hissing. It lasted only several seconds before everything was still again, the sound echoing away.

"What was that?" Noctis asked.

"Small earthquake it seems." Ignis replied, taking a moment to readjust the mirrors slide his glasses back up his nose and close the glove compartment that had been shaken open hitting Aranea's knees.

"What next a flock of birds is gonna come at us?" Gladiolus asked, and shifted uncomfortably. It was bed enough with Crowe's boney ass on his legs, and the shaking didn't help much. Prompto grunted his agreement, now more awake than earlier. He was hugging his arm close to him, and immediately shot down anyone who suggested waking Lunafreya, who somehow managed to remain asleep through the rumbling, to help him with some healing, despite the nausea in his gut and the light sweat on his brow.

Ignis pulled the car back onto the road, glancing around for any signs of cracking. Halfway to Costlemark he wasn't sure if he felt some light rumbling again, and dismissed it as aftershocks and kept his focus on the road. The tower loomed as they drew close, the blackened flora of the region thinning out as they drew closer. In the back, Noctis's bad leg began to hurt and he wondered if a storm was due to come in later that day, or if it was simply having Lunafreya sitting on him for so long.

They pulled to the side of the road, closing the top of the Regalia and climbed out. Black lines webbed the dead grass and climbed over the bushes and trees. The area was eerily silent of any birds or insects, no distant cries of animals. Noctis managed to rouse Lunafreya to climb out of the car where she paced to try and clear her head of sleep. Her body felt heavy, but the thickness in the air had her bringing her magic around her. Not quite strong enough to make her hands glow, but everything around them simply felt wrong.

"Careful." Noctis warned, grabbing her shoulders. She looked down, and saw that there were small patches of the moss-like substance from the depths of their nightmares. She flinched away from it, and the final dregs of sleep and exhaustion pulled back enough for her to use her cognition.

"Prompto!" She shouted, and rushed over to him, watching her steps acutely aware of how dangerous the ground was. He too appeared tired, pacing around the Regalia with his head down and hissing through his teeth. "Prompto, allow me to help." she asked as she drew closer to him. He looked up and she could see the strain the injury was having on him. His eyes were dark and red, his lips thinned into a frown, bottom lip quivering. He nodded at her, holding out his hand. The bandage was still clean, for which she was grateful. She found her center, and whispered her prayer. When she drew back the frown was gone, as was his tremor.

"Thanks." He smiled. "That feels a lot better." He still hugged his arm to himself, his eyes locked on her. But he looked much more relaxed and she accepted his affirmations of feeling less pain. She turned to look at the tower, chills running down her arms at old stories when Noctis went through this childhood phase of needing to prove how brave he was, writing her stories of the tower and how he would fight it; her own curiosity getting the best of her and finding old history books in the library and finding to her horror his exotic tales were true.

It took her a few moments to notice, but when she did she nearly yelped. The blackness that sprawled across the land, snaking over every plant, every rock, through the dust and soil, that silenced the air; stopped abruptly in a near-perfect circle around the tower.

"What's in there that even the blight won't touch?" Ignis asked as he stepped up next to her.

"I fear to learn." She replied.