Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom Hearts

Part 46

Summary: Two warriors of Light, the Chosen King and Keyblade Master, face an unseen Darkness.

*On route to Gralea*

Late in the evening, with Gralea being only a day away from the speed of this train, many of the passengers had retired to their cabins to sleep or take comfort in companion.

Taking a swig of his beer whilst sitting against the bar table, the shield of the king hums as he turned to see his charges sleeping in their seats. After getting on board and seeing to Riku and Ignis' comforts, the royal couple had at first tried to stay awake by striking up topics of interest before their words slurred and become mumbles to finally going out like lights. He holds a chuckle back to avoid disturbing them, silently placing his bottle down.

The dining cart was empty save for himself, his "drinking" buddy and the two sleeping couples, the cart alit with light that was blessed by her grace before she dozed off to slumber with her king. Gladiolus had offered to stay in the cart as another passenger just in case of any sneaking imperials or worse happened to lie in wait, to which Noctis appreciated and even tried to stay awake before he could not resist the lull of sleep any longer than his precious bride to be.

The shield looked to Kairi stirring her soda with a bendy straw she was adamant in having when they arrived, eyes dimmed and dull like she was sleepwalking. He frowned in concern before he grasped his beer. 'Are you doing alright, kiddo?', he asks, low to not disturb his king. Kairi looked at him with a friendly smile and nods. 'Yeah…I'm ok', she assured, 'Its just…been a long day, you know?'. On that he could agree wholeheartedly, thinking back to the tomb, those Marlboro monsters and of course dealing with Ignis possibly going heartless.

As desperate as Gladiolus, hell he was sure everyone, is to have that man get his sights back, the method of doing so spoke volumes of concern to the shield. If he did manage to get his sight back but end up like Ravus, that price would be too much for anything them to bear. Since they had gotten him to bed, they would rotate between each other to monitor the man and Riku in case he woke up. Currently Prompto and Aqua were tending to them, leaving Donald and Goofy to sleep.

He watches Kairi rotate her straw within the contents of the flat drink, occasionally glancing at Noctis and Lunafreya before returning to her drink. The man near her could read her expressions perfectly, it reminded him a lot of Iris whenever Noctis became the subject. The look of envy towards a couple not in a bad way, but like a reminder of what she had lost. The warrior couldn't deny that the spirit of the group had certainly taken a nosedive since they had lost Sora, and day by the day it was beginning to wear on them.

Truly he wouldn't be sure if he would be able to keep it together if Aqua was captured or Noctis. Kairi had managed to surmount that pain and keep pressing forward after having her breakdowns, which she entitled to of course, and he believed she had come out stronger for it. However, as he learned, strength isn't eternal, and the moments of solitude and reflection often hammer home the losses they endured.

He hummed in thought. 'You know we're gonna get him back', he says, not facing her. Kairi looked at the shield as he stared at his drink. 'Don't matter what the empire, Xigbar or whoever is in charge throws at us, we're bringing that boy home'. After everything that's happened, from the day they met him to this point, saving him was the very least they could do. Kairi nods, lowering her eyes to the drink. '…I miss him so much…', she confesses, clasping her drink.

'I can't imagine kiddo', Gladiolus says with sympathy. He knew their story, how long the trio of friends had remained separated for so long and that this was the first time they could all be together on this grand journey across a brand-new world. If only they knew this journey would have done so much harm to them, from new scars to losing one another to their enemies. It still irritated the man that kids, not men and women, kids were forced to take up such a heavy burden, even more so when he learned from Donald and Goofy Sora was just a child when all this happened.

Kairi rubbed her eyes, sniffling but trying to hold them back. She can't cry again, not until she sees his face and is in his arms again. Sensing this, Gladiolus rubbed her back soothingly, in a brotherly manner. Nursing a wounded heart like hers wasn't too different from comforting Iris whenever she was pining over Noctis or when she got lonely at home without him, he sensed the pain with Kairi was something she had yet to properly nurture within her. It was evident that having Sora helped her with those doubts.

She giggles embarrassedly, smiling up at him. 'Sorry, I thought I was…done with, feeling this crappy', she apologizes. He pats her back. 'We all get weepy-eyed, no need to feel special about it', he teased. Kairi giggles back as he ruffled her hair, surprised by well Gladiolus was at comforting someone despite his gruffer appearance. Maybe it was the pros of being a big brother to a little sister she mused. Gladiolus swigs his beer as Kairi downs her soda, both emptying the beverages, the shield opting to grab another one while Kairi pushes her glass aside.

As he rounded the bar counter, plucking another of the cheap but tasty beverage, he looked at the girl. 'I'd offer ya one, but I'm scared of what Blue will do to me if I so much as say "I'm giving Kairi a beer",', he laughed. Kairi snickers at him, resting on her elbows. 'Don't worry, after seeing how awful a hangover is, I'm pretty sure I'll stay away from it', she assured. A sensible decision Gladiolus would say if he wasn't a lover of the finer things.

Plus, he wasn't seriously considering giving the girl booze, especially when she was still technically a minor.

The girl looked at the counter in thought, her finger making a circle idly as she settled into silence between them with only the gentle breathing of Noctis and Lunafreya filling the air. She then pulled out her GP and opened it to see contacts and Sora's name. A vain hope nested in her heart, but she closed it, the less she thought of it the better. Seeing this, however, Gladiolus says: 'Have you ever, wrote a text to someone but never send it?'.

At this, she looks up to see a raised brow from the man before she looked at her phone then smiled. 'No…but, I do have another idea that helps', she says. She got off her stool and stuffed her phone into her pocket, looked to the shield with a bright smile. 'Thanks for that, Gladio!', she said before jogging to her room. When the door slide closed behind her, the shield smiles warmly as he took another swig of his beverage, humming.

In her room where she'd share with Aqua, Kairi settles on her bed and reached into the pocket dimension they shared to pull out a large note pad with a purple pencil. Laying it on her knees she begins to write her letter.

*Hours later*

Not much had changed as the time slowly rolled onto the morning, a lot of the passengers had opted to stay in their cabins while a small portion of them sat around in the seats to watch the darkened world bypass them all.

In one seat, Noctis and Lunafreya, who was having her hood up to cover herself to avoid gaining the attention of the passengers. It was better safe than sorry after all and the last thing the group needs is to accidentally alert the empire that both king and Oracle were traversing the imperial land. They made small talk to distract themselves with another guest of honor sitting beside the Oracle.

'Still a little spooky…', Noctis remarked as Naminé finished her explanation of how she was able to transfer her heart and connect with Lunafreya's. She pouts at his jest, before smiling back to the memory when she first appeared to the others. During the boat ride to the imperial mainland, the former Oracle had explained a good chunk of how she knew about other worlds to them, backing up the tales of Eraqus and how she and Noctis knew him.

Then when they asked how she knew about Kairi and the others, that was when she introduced the team to Naminé. The ethereal girl appeared, startling Noctis and Gladiolus but near gave Prompto a heart attack when he fell out of his seat screaming "ghost" and even fearing the Oracle was possessed by a spirit.

The former nobody liked the reaction of the gunner so much she did, for a while, started to play hauntings on him for fun~

'Says the man speaking to air', she teased playfully as the king smirked. 'I could be talking to Luna, ya know', he remarked. They all turned to the landscape bathed in darkness as they were growing closer and closer to the Oracle's home, the darkened skies full of bleak and despair along with the occasional scattering glows of the daemon bombs and even some iron giants patrolling the region like the country's guardians. There were some variety of heartless among them, neo-shadows and a few armored soldiers too.

'There are so many of them', Naminé says, 'Soon Niflhiem may become a land exclusively home to daemons and heartless'. Noctis looks to her as the girl folds her hands on her knee, looking down. 'Why would the emperor allow them to do this to his land? If that gave a damn about anything other than the ring of Lucii it was making sure it was his empire ruling the world', Noctis asked, reminding them of the ambitious emperor's greed and lust for power. 'Iedolas has long been afflicted by the darkness Xigbar had brought', Lunafreya says.

'Combined with his blind lust for power and the corruption of the darkness and blight, it is likely to him this is his empire spanning across the world'. Noctis scoffs in disgust as he looked back out to the window. 'He's in for a rude awakening when we get there. That's for sure', he promises. Gently the Oracle places her hand on his arm, making him face her resolute face. 'We shall deal with him when the time comes, but our goal is to rescue Sora first and foremost', she says. Noctis' glare lessens as he nods, not at all forgetting the main reason they're on this dangerous journey, to begin with.

Lunafreya then smiles. 'Besides, I would like to have a double date with him and Kairi', she says. Noctis chuckles back with a toothy smile, nodding wholeheartedly at the idea. A simple date with two couples, knowing Sora it wouldn't be an average or normal one that was for sure. Naminé giggled at her friend. As the two couples chatted about plans or ideas for the date the former nobody stares out the window in thought, all the way linking back to Sora.

After her brief encounter with him during his exam, her "heart" yearns to finally see him face to face again after everything he had been through. Whatever romantic feelings she may have had for him has passed and while she felt traces of it linger whenever she thought of him, she accepted his heart had belonged to Kairi long before she ever came into the picture. Yet despite that, and though she knew he had yet to recall what transpired from their first meeting, she wanted to see him again.

It was thanks to her talks with Lunafreya about these matters, that she affirmed her hopes to finally meet him again with no more illusions or falsehoods. To be able to call him a close friend would be enough for her. The blonde also wanted to be able to join the group in their activities, especially after they had all gotten over her ethereal form. Maybe joining their adventures could help her or make her feel part of the team. It would certainly be a wonderful start…and maybe mend the pain within her.

'I understand that your vehicles have been in the cargo holds?', Lunafreya asked, drawing Naminé back into the conversation. 'Yeah, we're still trying to decide who's driving the Regalia', Noctis explained with a reluctant tone, 'That is if whatever Riku did doesn't work'. The two girls frowned with sympathy to their companion, but he lets himself laugh weakly. 'Hey, come on, knowing Iggy he'll probably be able to drive blind', he says confidently.

'I…fear that may cause some trouble with the law…', Lunafreya says warningly. Noctis waved her worries off with a smile as he turned down to the corridor to see Donald and Goofy approaching. He waves them down as they stood by their seats. 'Everything ok?', he asked. The two looked at each other first, likely deciding whether to inform Noctis of their worries before they nodded and turned back them. 'Aqua's in the driver's cabin with the conductor', Donald said, 'On her way there she heard somebody talking about the long nights'.

'Who?', Lunafreya questioned. 'We don't know', Goofy said worriedly, before glancing around then turned to Lunafreya. 'But she swore she overheard them saying something about the heartless'. This caused the three to frown with worry and suspicion, aware that there was a scant few people who knew about the creatures of the darkness. And likely somebody who had less than friendly intentions. 'Think its Xigbar?', Noctis asked. 'Not sure, but Gladio is already looking around the cabins ahead just in case', Donald said.

Noctis nods in agreement, before looking at Lunafreya. 'Think it's time you go for a nap, your grace', he says. With clarity in her eyes, the Oracle nodded and got out of her seat, Goofy and Donald following closely behind her at the silent request of the king. Naminé got out of her seat and nodded to him. 'I'll go have a peek down at the storage, maybe there's an imperial hiding out down there', she offered.

'Just be careful, ok?', the king requests. Despite her being both ethereal and invisible to their enemies, it didn't sit well with Noctis to send Naminé alone. She nods with a smile and walks down the corridor until she faded from his sight. Alone to himself, the prince stared out the window to watch the world slowly become polluted by more creatures of the darkness, humming to himself. Only a matter of time before they arrive at Niflhiem, only a little while longer before they rescue their companion from the two.

Many nights the king spent awake with worry for Sora, remembering how Xehanort was able to corrupt Aqua and the others to bear his darkness and become the perfect vessels for him. They feared the old man would do the same to Sora, but Aqua stated firmly he wouldn't do such a thing. Not out of the goodness of his heart she assured, but because any further delays wouldn't work for him if it were another who didn't wield the keyblade then certainly. Yet for Sora, as crucial and beneficial he would be to the Real Organization XIII, making him one of Xehanort's puppets would only delay the keyblade war.

That should've alleviated some of his worries, but did Ardyn truly care for Xigbar's grand scheme enough to not lay a hand on Sora? The man had proven he wasn't above using the hearts of those closest to his enemies, that much is certain. His thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly sees a scampering Prompto narrowly catching himself before he ran past Noctis. 'Dude, there you are!', he says, scrambling to his feet.

'What's up? Aqua sending you on patrol too?', Noctis asked with a small smirk. The blond rolled his eyes while patting his shoulder. 'No dude, she asked me to come check on you…and maybe meet her in the conductor's cart?', he said, scratching his neck. 'Something's bugging her, and maybe it's just paranoia but…'. After everything that's happened to them what some may call "paranoia," Noctis would argue it was the master being more cautious.

'Right…ok, I'll go see what she needs', he said.

No sooner did Noctis get up from his seat, however, he froze on the spot. A horrible chill raced down his spine, the air was dense with the cold and that sensation of the dark wrapping around his heart. Immediately Noctis tensed up, fists clenched when he looked around to feel a sudden change in the air, a chill that nearly tricked him into thinking he was wielding the royal arms. The entire cart was in this dark blue hue like he was entering a nightmare yet somehow still being in the waking world around him.

The entire cart was silent and empty despite the few people remained in their seats, still like wax figures. He feels as if he was thrown into a museum with how lifeless and still the cart felt. He looked at his hand and tried to call his light, feeling his power was intact and didn't sense anything had affected him yet. 'Maybe she's just a little on edge?'.

Noctis' head shot up at the voice, turning around to see Ardyn looking at him with that sardonic smile on his face. He was just casually standing there like he was a passenger the whole time and came to enjoy the beverages the dining cart had to offer. The king of light feels his eyes burning with hate, teeth clenched and fists tightening at that smile, the very same one he was likely wearing back in Altissia. That mockery of joy when he plunged the dagger into Kairi, when he stole the ring from him and when he kidnapped Sora.

And here he was, right in front of him…

With barely restrained fury, Noctis stormed over to him as he rambled on about his companions before he took a swing at him. 'You son of a bitch!', he shouted. His rage induced fist was narrowly avoided by Ardyn, who let out a surprised "whoa" and stepped around Noctis as he steadied himself. 'Easy there buddy', Ardyn says, genuinely surprised and startled by his nemesis surprise attack. 'That was a close call. Are you alright?'.

Taunting him, still mocking him and acting innocent despite everything he's done to Noctis and his band. Hearing that weak excuse of an innocent and confused tone furthered Noctis' rage towards him, marching over to him and drawing a royal arm. He swings at him yelling: 'Shut up!'. Again, Ardyn evades his strikes, staggering backward while raising an arm to protect himself. Noctis turned on him as Ardyn raised a hand to stop him. 'Be careful there!', he says. Slowly he was stepping back, the look of fear and shock on his face somehow pleased Noctis.

Maybe he finally comprehends just how much of a dead man he was going to be when the king got his hands on him. Ardyn then began to scramble away from Noctis, running likely for his life and even asking if this was real. "Oh its real", Noctis thought darkly, and a nightmare for the man before the king as he gave chase to this monster. Running through the carts and entering the cart carrying the cabins, he spots the man running into one.

Noctis ran and threw the door open but to his confusion, there was no one inside. He looked around feverishly, unable to believe the man just up and disappeared before him. 'Uh, Noct?', he says, sounding too close for comfort. But perfectly close for a fist to his smug face as Noctis spun around and threw one to the air. 'Bastard…', he grunts, running down the carts for him.

Entering another cart that was empty of passengers, he sees Ardyn at the end of it, alarmed and even scared of the king. 'Noct, come on! You're scaring me!', Ardyn says, indeed sounding terrified as he flees, 'Seriously! Stop it!'. Noctis ran down the cart, eyes dead on the cowardly man fleeing from his wrath. Every word he spoke, every lace of fear in his tone only fuelled the fires of the king's rage. What would he know of being scared? He was the one who nearly killed Kairi, forced Sora to give in to his anger, probably did all sorts of unspeakable things to the boy, and that was just the tip of the iceberg of crimes he's done to his friends.

Another cart in, he sees Ardyn at the end but for whatever reason was still pleading with Noctis to stop. 'Dude seriously! Stop it! You're causing a scene!', he says, strangely he sounded like he was trying to make light of the situation before them. Instead of cooling Noctis' fury, it only enraged him further. He had the nerve to make fun of this, like it was some sort of game between them, after everything he's done? Noctis summoned a royal arm and swung at him.

'You think this is funny!?', he shouted, the blade just missing the man. Ardyn fell onto his backside but quickly scampers to his feet hurriedly to flee from him once more. 'Dude! Are you seriously TRYING to kill me!?', he asked, horrified. 'Why wouldn't I!?', Noctis bellowed. Ardyn runs down into another cabin cart, where before he reached the last room, Kairi was just exiting her cabin with a small yawn.

'Kairi! Grab him!', Noctis shouted. Kairi jumps in surprise and turns to Noctis and Ardyn running, completely allowing the target of the king to run past her. She didn't even attempt to grab the man and just looked at him leaving with bewilderment. 'Why didn't you…oh forget it!', Noctis shouts, running faster towards Ardyn. 'Noct, what's going?', she asked but her question went unanswered as the prince ran past her, nearly knocking her back into her room.

'Noct!?', Kairi says, confused.

Finally cornering Ardyn in the small connecter of the carts, the man panting and raised a hand to stop Noctis, but he may as well have his hands down for all the effect does. 'What are you after, following me around this whole time? It's all YOUR fault!', Noctis yells. He grabbed Ardyn and pinned him to the wall, his arm pressed against his neck and lifting him against the wall. Ardyn struggled against the king, still looking at him. 'What are you talking about? Do you mean that, Noct?', Ardyn asked, in that tone. The tone that was so smug and shit-eating it just made the king want to rip his head off.

'Of course I do!', Noctis yelled, 'You won't be able to talk your way out of this one!'. 'You won't even let me!', Ardyn argued, struggling still. 'Noct…please'. Noctis seethed at him, but before he could rip into this man suddenly the train shook and next thing Noctis knew, his world went dark.

*After*

'Noct, Kairi, are you two ok?'.

The king quickly shot up the moment he regained consciousness, looking around the cart for Ardyn but he sees only Kairi and Prompto, the former getting up and rubbing her head. 'No, where's Ardyn?', he demanded, looking around for the red-haired monster. 'Ardyn? Wait, he was here?', Kairi asked, helping Noctis to his feet. He looked at Kairi with a look. 'Yes! You saw me chase him!', he reminds gruffly.

'W-What? No, Noct that's not what I…', she tried to say but Prompto interrupted. 'Leave it, Kai, we've got a problem, the train stopped', he reveals. The two royalties looked at him before seeing through the porthole of the sliding door of the train. Indeed the blonde's words rang true for the world had ceased movement. 'We better go see if there's something up down in the other carts', Prompto said, 'Luna and Gladio went to check on the engine room'.

'Right…come on!', Noctis said, running down the cart with Kairi and Prompto in tow. Running down the cart as people were asking why they had suddenly the windows on both sides of the train shattered, electing screams of terror and shock from the passengers as the king and princess fell onto the floor. 'Whoa, did they just bomb us?', Prompto asked, surprised.

Kairi got to her feet quickly and helped Noctis to his own, pushing him forward. 'Its got to be the imperials, I don't sense any darkness nearby', she says. Nodding to her deduction as Prompto says they needed to protect the people the king races down to the other carts. When they returned to the cabin cart, people were running through as the glass on the right side of the train smashed to pieces and an armored magitek axe wielder jumped on.

'Everyone get to another cart!', Kairi says, letting the people pass through while the king drew Night's Sky and warp stuck the mechanical solider. His keyblade was plunged into the mechanical heart of the warrior, with the king above and kicked it straight into its face and sent it onto the ground. 'So much for a safe ride…', Prompto remarked, looking at the machine. 'I don't think that's all of them, we should see if there's more in the carts', Kairi says.

They all raced down through the carts, reaching the dining cart as Kairi speaks: 'What do you think stopped the engine?'. 'Hopefully nothing we can't fix', Prompto remarks, 'Besides all else fails Aqua and Gladio will figure something out'. When the party reached the last cart before heading for the storage room, no sooner had Noctis taken three steps in, the wall on his right explodes. The chairs and walls were brunt or destroyed and the force knocked him on to his back, Kairi quickly hovering over him and pulled him to his feet.

All the eyes of the heroes fell to outside and they see a small platoon of magitek soldiers mindlessly walking towards the train, skeletal forms that resembled the undead come to life with how thin their limbs looked. There were other far more cared soldiers in the field, some firing their rifles at the train. 'Damnit, those MT's can self-destruct!', Prompto announced with a grunt. Kairi looked at the horde before a realization dawned on her.

'That's why they stopped the train! They're training to destroy it and stop us from reaching Tenebrae!', she stated. 'Not if we got anything to say about that!', Noctis declared, drawing his keyblade and running out onto the field.

Warping towards one soldier with an axe, Noctis chops off the armed limb before decapitating the solider. He turned around to cleave another in two between the right shoulder and neck, kicking it aside. Noctis then throws the keyblade like a buzz saw towards two running soldiers, allowing the weapon of light to slice them in two as he summoned the Katana of the Warrior and turned to a small group of soldiers. He warps struck to them, swinging his katana from a quick-draw motion before he sliced and severed the limbs of his enemies.

Thanks to the royal arms being a part of him without the crystal and maybe in part to the keyblade, Noctis didn't feel himself being drained when he wielded the weapons of his ancestors, striking down his enemies invigorated him. He used the sheath of his katana to smash the kneecaps of a soldier and then with an uppercut of the sheath broke the robotic jaw off the soldier.

The king warps into the air above the soldiers, both hands outstretched to summon two royal arms, Blade of the Mystic and Sword of the Wise, both he spins around as his blue crystal light begins to manifest around him while he descends to the battlefield. His swords became whirlwinds of destruction, slicing and severing the soldiers before him as each swing of the weapons rivaled the force of a runaway train, decimating the ones when steel meets steel and sending shockwaves powerful enough to break apart those in the distance.

He throws Sword of the Wise like a knife, piercing the stomach's of a row of six soldiers while he grabbed Blade of the Mystic with both hands and uses it's enhanced warp striking powers to fire off three ghostly blades that broke apart the three soldiers he aimed for and then warped himself in front of the forth, swinging the blade to cut from shoulder to waistline, bringing down another soldier.

An explosion caught the king's ear, reminding him of the detonating machine and the train he's supposed to protect. He turned around quickly to see the smoke fading but the train was covered in a faint violet light that covered the entire cart. He sees on top of the cart was Kairi, one hand placed on the cart while he left-hand holds her keyblade stabbed into the cart, her body encased in light. She looked to the king with a nod, encouraging him to worry not about the train and remove the soldiers before they take off.

'They just don't know when to quit', Prompto says, firing off a single shot that took the head off the soldier. 'Gotta love their persistence!', Noctis remarked, drawing Engine Blade as he sidestepped a swing from the soldier's axe. He retaliates by slamming the sword right on the head of the mechanical soldier down between its legs, splitting it in half. The king looks ahead of them to see a fleet of airships were beginning to hover over the battlefield, making the king reach into his pocket dimension and yank out several flasks.

Noctis warps into the air, yelling at Prompto to get to the train for safety. When his friend was out of the blast zone, Noctis begins to throw every flask he had on his person at the imperial forces, hitting the soldiers and ground with flasks. With a total of six already scattered around the field, he used the final fire flask to throw and crash against another flask. The collision caused a massive explosion that created a chain reaction of every flask Noctis had thrown to detonate. The abandon buildings and shacks were reduced to rubble, much of the land was scorched by flames or frozen in a blanket of frost.

The soldiers suffered tremendous casualties from this carnage of magical destruction, the land itself was beyond rescue as a battle between the three elements took place before them all, the soldiers within the cloud of magic wouldn't survive it. 'Wa-hoo! Nice thinking Noct!', Prompto said with a satisfied smirk, taking in all the destruction before them. Noctis looked back at Kairi, sweating and struggling to keep the barrier up but otherwise unharmed. Until her eyes widened when she looked ahead of them.

'Noct! They've got a tank…thingy!', she said, not sure what the actual vehicle was. The king followed her eyes and as she had said, there was a mobile vehicle before them readying to fire. Noctis curses as Prompto whistles. 'Well that's not a good sign…', he sighed. 'Noct! I don't wanna pressure you but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to keep my head from exploding if the barrier takes a hit from *that*!', Kairi stresses.

'Gotcha!', Noctis acknowledges, sprinting towards the tank, drawing Night's Sky once again as he cleaved his way through the soldiers. The tank turned its gun onto the charging king and fired a single heavy shell from it. Noctis phases through it and then warp strikes to the tank. Once he landed onto it, he sees a hatch and pries it off and throws the hatch aside. With his keyblade, Noctis plunges the weapon right into the engine or at least something important into the tank. Sparks and electricity began to flicker and dance as smoke pollutes his nostrils.

Taking that as his cue to leave, he warps away from the tank and found himself on one of the watchtowers. The tank explodes before him, ending that problem. The king looked at Prompto getting back onto the train just as it started to shift before moving away. Kairi dispels the barrier and waves at the king while standing up. He quickly warps back onto the train, being caught by the princess when he staggered and loses his footing.

Kairi hands him an ether and quickly he crushes it, replenishing his mana and strength. He gave her a nod before Kairi turned to the skies. Following her eyes, the king narrowed his eyes when he sees the airships that deployed the soldiers earlier have no begun to chase after them. 'You've gotta be kidding me', Noctis says, looking at the skies ahead of them. Just as he says this, Kairi plucks out her GP and answers it before putting it on loudspeaker.

'Kairi! Where are you? Have you seen Noct and Prompto?', Gladiolus' voice rings out. 'Gladio, I'm here with Noct right now! Prompto should be below us but we've got a problem!', she explains, yelling over the wind rushing past them. 'The imperials have drop ships populating the skies!'. The shield swears on his side as the two wielders of the keyblade watch in horror as the guns on the ships begin to open fire on them.

Panicking Kairi used her magic to erect a dome around herself and Noctis, but in doing so quickly her phone slipped out of her hand and bounces before it falls off the train completely. Kairi lets out a "crap" before concentrating on protecting the two of them. As the bullets bounced off the barrier, the king begins to worry the empire's gunships would tear the train apart. He looked at Kairi. 'Can you make a barrier big enough to cover the entire cart?', he asked.

Kairi looks at him, then to the cart before gulping. 'I-I can…but it's gonna take everything I have! I won't be able to help!', she warned. The king grabbed her shoulder tightly and stared into her eyes. 'Do whatever you can to keep these people safe, got it?', he instructed. With confidence restored, Kairi nodded and stood up, dismissing her keyblade and raised both hands up both spreading them open, her entire body glowing in a golden light that sinks into the cart, quickly covering it in a dense barrier.

The bullets bounced off the barrier like they were made of rubber, Kairi flinched and grits her teeth from feeling each pelt but carried on. 'I'll take them down! You keep this up!', Noctis ordered. 'Sure! Just please hurry!', Kairi pleaded.

Wordlessly Noctis warps to the airships, warping ship to ship until he finds an open hatch. Warping inside, he sees to his dismay that every one of the magitek soldiers were self-destructing, the very same ones he just fought earlier. One of them was strong enough to destroy a huge chunk of a cart, an entire ship could destroy the entire train. Noctis turned to the pilots, again magiteks and draws his gun. Quick as he could he fired two shots that pieced their metallic heads and when he reached the controls, he unloaded every bullet within the revolver.

The controls burst into flames with electricity dancing over it, alarms going off like crazy as the ship slowly begins to lean and fall to the left away from the train. Noctis runs to the ledge of the hatch and warps to another ship to begin the process all over again.

Meanwhile back on the train, Kairi fell onto one knee as the bullets bounce off her barrier, every strike to her shield was starting to severely wear on her as she feels herself sweat and her nerves were on fire. Eyes closed with teeth clenching hard she is almost worried she'll break them, but she keeps the barrier on, thinking of her friends on the train is all she could think about to help distract herself from this pain.

With luck, Noctis will finish off the airships quickly before her body collapses. Lucky for her no daemons or heartless have attempted to show up yet and very likely the imperials had their hands full with Noctis appearing and warping left and right to strike at them.

'Quite the admirable effort, on your part'.

Kairi looked to see Ardyn waltzing up to her with a cruel grin, eyeing her. 'Been a while since we last spoke, hasn't it, your majesty?', Ardyn greets with false warmth no warmer than dipping your feet into a frozen lake. Kairi glared defiantly at him as she tried to keep the barrier up while wracking her brain for a solution.

She was at his complete mercy now. The man knew this as he turned to see Noctis downing more ships left and right, striking them and removing them from the battle. 'Hmm? Odd…I seem to have recalled he should have lost his powers…', he muses with what Kairi sensed was anger and confusion. He narrowed his eyes at the king before he turned Kairi, his smiles gone and now in its place was resentment and spite to the girl. Then he grinned wickedly. 'Tell me, princess', he says, standing by her side. 'Can you survive being kicked off this train in your state?'.

'GET AWAY FROM HER!'.

A gunshot rang out and Ardyn just barely managed to evade the flying bullet, stepping front of Kairi as they looked to see at the end of the cart was Prompto, firing off another gunshot at Ardyn. The slayer of the Draconian evades each flying bullet but Prompto refuses to let up, firing continuously as if he revolver had turned into a rapid-firing assault rifle while taking several steps forward to the man who's brought more grief and pain to their band.

When Prompto was close to Kairi, he hands her an ether before he ran to Ardyn. He kept firing onwards as Ardyn sidesteps them and then moves to strike at the boy with a kick. Prompto rolled away from the kick, taking another shot at Ardyn. The man of no consequence dangerously avoids getting shot at the cost as bullet going through his fiery locks. He fried a black ball of darkness at Prompto, which in turn Prompto leaped over it and tackles into Ardyn.

The two rolled onto the ground as Prompto's gun clutters away from them, but Ardyn throws him off himself and Prompto lands on his back. Quickly as Ardyn fired more dark fire at Prompto, the Crownsguard rolls and flips away from the attacks, recalling his gun. He spun around and fires off a Starshell that soars into the air, just inches away from Ardyn's face. The light from it temporary took away Ardyn's vision as he grunts in pain, clasping his face with his hand while staggering back.

Next thing he knew when his sight was restored, Ardyn was on the end of Prompto's revolver. 'Don't even think about!', Prompto warned, 'I'm not scared to put you down!'. Kairi smiled in pride at Prompto, not only holding his own against this man but have him on the end of his gun. As she watched the ships fall, their retribution had come back in full swing.

Above them, Noctis splits two magiteks in half with his Axe of the Conquer and then threw the weapon into the main controls, demolishing it. The king warped outside of the ship and onto the top of one hovering over the train, but the king falls to his knees in exhaustion having himself quickly burn whatever energy he had regained from the ether. He coughs and pants, sweating and shaking with weariness tugging at his body, so weary.

Yet he pressed on, standing up with some staggering involved before the king shook his head and leaped off the airship, warp striking the soldiers inside the ship and simply going to town with his keyblade. Hacking and ripping apart the robotic pawns of the empire, Noctis plunged his keyblade into the controls after he eviscerated them all. The final airship, and with that, the train would be safe from any more surprises…

Or so he had thought.

The king looked through the windscreen of the airship and saw to his terror, Prompto being on the end of the gun while Ardyn held it at him with a smug look. His blood runs cold as he feels his heart rate skyrocket with horror before that melted into fury. With a roar, Noctis summoned his Engine Blade and smashed through the windscreen as the ship exploded behind him, allowing him to warp down to the train.

This catches the attention of the others, but before anyone could utter a single word, Noctis runs to Ardyn with a yell of Prompto's name, swinging his sword at him. 'NOCT NO!', Kairi screams. But it was too late.

When "Ardyn" staggered away from Noctis' first swing, he accidentally stepped to close to the edge of the train and when he tries to lean away from Noctis' second swing, he loses his footing and falls off with a yell of terror. Only when he sees the man fall was the veil lifted from Noctis' eyes, his best friend could only look at him in disbelief, terror, and betrayal as he falls from the train and onto the ground, disappearing before his eyes. 'PROMPTO!', Kairi cries out. Noctis stands there in disbelief, suddenly feeling like he just watched a part of himself die. His body shakes with revulsion to his actions, his sword drops and disappears as Kairi got to her feet.

He turns to the girl, who gave him a nod and without a word, Kairi leaped off the train. 'KAIRI!', Noctis screams as the train abandoned the girl and boy to their fates. Before Noctis could even put together what had just happened, he felt a presence nearby and then a strike to the back of his neck. He falls onto the train with a thud, as his vision fades into darkness with the only sounds being the rushing wind around him and Ardyn mockingly laughing at him…

What had he done?

*Later…*

Flinching from the pain, struggling to clear his mind. Noctis grits his teeth as he raised his head to see no sign of Ardyn, instead it looked like they were leaving the landscape were coming to a tunnel ahead of them.

Getting onto a knee, he rummages through his pockets for his phone, fearing how far they had gotten from Kairi and Prompto. The long eternal nights and the heartless was bad enough but now they were in the empire's land, that would be three factions of enemies all ganging up on the two of them. As he rang Gladiolus' number, he berated himself and punched the train. Cursing and ripping into his lack of forethought.

He had been played like a fiddle the whole time, that bastard of a chancellor had been playing him from the moment he orchestrated this whole thing. Him chasing Prompto down like he was some sort of thug who stole a woman's purse, the way he spoke to Noctis. The under layer of fear and hurt within his voice, that idea of having his best friend chasing him down and even affirming he was trying to kill him. Noctis feels sickened to his core, tears threatening to spill from his eyes, he didn't want to imagine what was going through Kairi's mind when she saw two friends in that situation.

'Noct! What is it? Where are you?', Gladiolus says.

'Gladio! You gotta stop this train!', ordered the king. 'Prompto and Kairi…Prompto fell, I…I pushed him off the train! Ardyn tricked me…K-Kairi just jumped after him!'. He could hear the distressed voices of the others from the other side, including a swear from Gladiolus. He shakes his head, 'I dunno where they are but we can't leave them!'.

'Noct', Aqua's voice called out, likely she had taken the phone from Gladiolus. 'Aqua, I…I…', he tried, but what could he possibly say to the woman who just lost her apprentice because of him. Before he could apologize, she speaks: 'Noct…I'm worried about them too…believe me when I say if we could we'd turn this train around in a heartbeat'. He heard her sigh defeatedly. 'But if we stop, we'll be inviting daemons and the heartless to come on board. We can't risk the other passengers'.

'What do we do then!?', Noctis demands. 'We drop them to Tenebrae, it's all we can do for them', she sighed. 'What about Kairi and Prompto!?', he says. 'If Ardyn was involved, then there's no doubt they won't be where we left them', she argued, 'Don't give up on them, Noct. Those two will survive long enough for us to find them'. As their conversation continued, the train slowly seeps into the tunnel leading to Tenebrae. He hitches a breath, trying to see the logic in Aqua's plan and explanation, but his actions had cost them more of their friends.

'Noct…can you make your way to the conductor's cart? I'm here with everyone else but Ignis', Aqua explained. 'What? W-Where is he?', he asked, full alert. 'I don't know…I've gotten Donald and Goofy to go look for him, but so far he's nowhere in sight'. 'I'm on my way', Noctis said, ending the call and then make his way to the end of the cart.

No sooner had the train entered it, Noctis sees the entire tunnel was swarming with goblins and large creatures he knew as gargoyles. 'Oh, come on!', he complains, summoning his keyblade. The gargoyles swooped in, meeting with the king of Lucis' steel. Noctis slashes his way past two of them as he jumps over a cart just as more daemons begin to pile onto the train. He swings wildly with his keyblade, trails of bladed light following each swing and slicing the daemons to nothing as he wildly fought his way to the conductor's cart.

The goblins impeded his run, however, trapping on a cart while taunting him as another gargoyle swooped in and slashed his back with its long nail-like claws. Noctis cries out in pain as his clothes and flesh were cut open while being throwing onto his stomach. He grunts in pain before he shoots back up in time to repay the same daemon with his keyblade slashing it's face, decimating the facial features and killing it.

The king stared down the goblins before him as they jumped into the air to pile on him. Noctis dismissed his keyblade and summoned Mace of the Fierce. He swung it with all his strength, smacking all three daemons and throwing them off the train and into the walls, now they were nothing more the blight paste on the walls of the train. Panting as his weapon disappeared, Noctis tiredly jogged on to his destination, sweating and in pain.

With no more potions on hand, not having any clue to how healing magic worked, he was running on fumes at this. Just three carts to go he thought, seeing the end of this forever moving road of his come to a merciful end. That was until when he looked above and sees three gargoyles flying towards him, forcing the king to summon Shield of the Just and hold his ground there. But the combined might of these vile creatures vs the fatigued king broke even his strongest defense. Noctis was then thrown back to the sixth cart, bouncing off it until he fell onto his side.

Noctis tried to get to his feet but he was completely at the end of his non-existent rope. He had no mana to spare; his limbs were aching to the point of feeling unbearable to even so much as twitch, the pain of his back tugged on his nerves and he knew he had lost a good amount of blood. He tries regardless of these wounds to push forward, grunting and cursing at the daemons prowled closer to him.

'Not…here... I'm not…gonna, die here', he grits out, getting to a knee before it became a battle to merely stand on his knee as opposed to standing on both feet. He stared down the daemons as they flew toward him, he would at least meet his demise with his head held up high.

They all tried to pounce on him, only for what looked to be like a spear covered in darkness shot and striking one daemon right in the just. The spear took the daemon across two carts before flying off the train and onto the tracks below where it would have at least a marked grave. The other two went still for a moment before suddenly flashes of violet light shined on their bodies in the form of blades, and then they went down.

'R-Riku?', he asked, before a hand was placed on his shoulder and a potion placed in his hand. 'I'm afraid not, your majesty'. Noctis looked to see Ignis facing him with a resolute look on his face despite the shades. 'I-Ignis…how did…', he gasped, before his advisor helped him crush the potion in his hand. 'Talk later, Noct. We need to regroup with Aqua and the others quickly', he advises, helping him to his feet, 'I've bought us a moment of peace, nothing more'.

Together despite the king's concerns, the two men in black ran down the cart to the conductors, but only when they stepped onto the final cart before the conductors, more goblins leaped off the walls of the tunnel to bar their ways. Noctis summoned his keyblade, stepping forward to keep Ignis back. 'Stay back, I-

Without a word, Ignis suddenly dashes past his king, daggers in hand engulfed in violet lightning The blind advisor struck down the goblins that leaped to him, his daggers moving so fast it was as if they were being stricken by lightning. Ignis slices up a goblin with both daggers crisscrossing over the monster before he spun around and flung a dagger right into the goblin that tried to sneak up behind him. The lightning infused dagger struck the goblin with such power it was thrown off the train.

Ignis spun his dagger in his right hand to reverse grip and then plunged it into the ground, erecting a cylinder of lightning around him the shot up and shocked the monsters, destroying them. He dismissed his weapons and turned to Noctis. 'Now's not the time for dalliance, Noct', he reminded, gesturing the conductor's cart ahead of them. Dumbly, the king muttered a "yeah" and followed him onwards just as the daemons begin to swarm behind them. When they stood on the conductor's cart, the advisor turned to the mass behind them.

Before his king could go all out on them, his advisor lowered his hand to stop him as his right arm was slowly being cloaked in darkness. Hovering over his hand a spear materialized, bathed in black flames as Ignis' own eyes glowed violet. With a yell, he shoots his hand forward, the spear charging towards the daemons like an arrow of darkness. The spear not only obliterated the daemons it hits but it created a massive shockwave that either threw them aside or destroyed them whole as the darkened weapon flew onwards to strike down anyone else.

When they were clear of daemons, Ignis turned to Noctis and assisted him down the ladder and into the conductor's room.

Inside the prince sees his companions gathered up with Lunafreya tending to Riku. Gladiolus, Donald and Goofy by the door in case of daemons attacked while Aqua had her keyblade touching the floor tip first to instill more light within the train. They all looked at the two men, Riku intensely looking at Noctis as the king lowered his head in shame. The master relents and sighs in defeat, wordlessly allowing the Oracle to heal him.

'How bad have things gotten?', Ignis questioned. 'We've gotten everybody to their cabins and ordered them to keep the doors locked', Gladiolus says, 'But Blue's trying to purge the entire train with light until we reach Tenebrae'. The moment he finished his sentence, Aqua's keyblade glowed beautifully and a wave of light washed over them all and spreads from top to end of the train.

Lunafreya revealing that the daemons had indeed been purged completely just as she finished healing Riku and got to her feet. 'We best prepare another veil to protect the train', she said wisely, turning to the others as they dismissed their weapons. 'It shan't be much longer till we arrive'. Most nodded but it was half-heartedly, their eyes downcast with worry as Aqua folds her arms. '…what exactly happened up there? With Kairi and Prompto?', she questioned.

Noctis re-told them everything that had occurred since Ardyn had arrived, from how he tricked him into chasing Prompto down, the fights with the magiteks and to the point where he pushed Prompto off the train and weakly confessing Kairi jumping after him the moment she could. He was genuinely surprised nobody had chastised him or even called him a fool for what he did. After this, Ignis spoke up. 'Likely those two will try to make their way to reunite with us at the capital if Ardyn, unlikely, leaves them'.

'However, and I apologize if I sound unsympathetic, there is nothing we can do for them at this very moment', he said with remorse. 'Ignis is right', Aqua agrees, her tone was strict and neutral yet they could see in her eyes the decision she must make is tearing her heart apart, 'Kairi and Prompto will have to make their way to us'. There is a collection of nods and "right" from everyone, but as they did, Ignis says: 'It looks like we're but an hour away from Tenebrae, provided we don't have any more run-ins with the empire'. Aqua looked at the time estimation on the monitor and nodded. 'Yeah, with luck it should be safer…there…', she said before pausing and then turning back to Ignis. 'H-How did you know that?'.

That is when all eyes fell to the blind man, who slowly took off his shades and re-opened his eyes. They were no longer the same green eyes that they all knew, but instead, they were violet with a hue of dark green. 'C-Can you see, Iggy?', Noctis asked, trying not to give in to false hope. The man frowns with a sigh. 'Somewhat…', he states, 'It is…difficult to explain but I see the world being bathed in fire…'.

'A world bathed in fire?', Riku asked, getting to his feet, 'That's a new one'. 'Without a doubt, I'm certain, but my sight has returned to a degree', Ignis agrees, 'It's just trying to adapt to it, that's all'. He placed his shades back on, smiling at the others though it was weighed down by the fact he wasn't seeing everybody again. The smile dropped quickly, this momentous triumph ruined by the party growing smaller and smaller.

'Least you're back to yourself again…just with bonuses', Noctis remarks softly. 'Yeah, if you're using darkness then we're gonna have to talk about using it more', Riku stated firmly, 'I'm glad I didn't turn you into a heartless so let's try and keep it that way'. 'Yeah, please do', Gladiolus said. 'I'm gonna go look around the carts, just in case'. The shield leaves the room while Lunafreya departs, following him to see if anyone needed healing.

Noctis looked at the four warriors of light, their eyes downcast and painfilled, but he could offer no words to them. What could he say to them? It was bad enough they lost Sora to the enemy but another one, especially one so close to their hearts? The less experienced one, all alone with Prompto in enemy territory with heartless and daemons prowling all over place. As the train moved on to the home of the Oracle, the darkness seemed to have grown…

*Tenebrae*

Upon arriving at the homeland of the Oracle, the mood of the party had dwindled the moment they had set foot on the ground. Like everywhere Tenebrae was riddled with powerful lights while in the distance of the station, they could see the old castle of the Fleuret family being covered in darkness with (using the cameras from the phones) heartless prowling around it like they owned the place.

Noctis looked at Lunafreya yet saw only resolve, like she had suspected her homeland would not be spared from the cruelty that threatened this world. She merely nodded in gratitude to Noctis' worries before they gathered up around the station bay, trying to wrap their heads around the situation they were in and trying to cope with recent losses.

'Well, look whose here'.

They turned to see Aranea strolling up to them, looking battered and weary. 'Aranea…', Riku greets, standing up as she folds her arms. Her eyes narrowed when she likely did a headcount, noticing they were three friends short. 'Where's…', started the woman, but Ignis spoke up: 'The empire's chancellor. He's…misplaced our companions'. The woman gave them all a nod of understanding, before falling to Lunafreya.

'Your grace…didn't think I'd see you come back', she confessed. The blonde princess said: 'It is my home, regardless of the empire's shadow looming over it'. The silver dragoon nodded, gesturing them to follow her. Whether it was to keep them incognito from the citizens or just for some space they couldn't say but none complained when they followed her, more so when she began to relay what's happened to Tenebrae.

After Altissia and with the Eternal Night slowly becoming the norm, almost everyone had abandoned the land, many migrating across the seas to escape. That was when the heartless had begun to swarm and take over the castle, practically consuming anyone that was nearby and walled off any exits from the castle, with barely few people escaping that hell. The king gently squeezed his lover's hand to comfort her as the news is relayed to them.

If that was how bad things had gotten here, he tried to not think of Insomnia. Since she left the empire, the dragoon with her men had joined in the search and rescue department, lending a hand where they could. Given her experience with daemons, the heartless provided little challenge to the woman of the skies as she boastfully claimed, but none of the group bought her claim, as they see her armor had taken several dents and hits from the dark creatures likely.

'So, what exactly are you guys gonna do now?', she asked, looking at the king and Oracle. 'Sora was taken to Gralea, and that's where we're going', Noctis started strongly. Aranea stopped walking and turned fully to them, making the team cease their walk. For the first, since they met this woman, who was like the face of confidence and bravery, they see she was looking at them as if they had all gone mad. Crossing her arms, she addressed them. 'You…you're not serious, right?'.

'Of course we are!', Donald shouted, 'Sora, and likely Kairi and Prompto are gonna be there! We're not leaving them!'.

'Donald's right on the gil there', Gladiolus stated. Aranea looks at them before she said: 'You guys are walking into hell on Eos'. This made them all raise a few brows and concerned looks adorned their faces as Aranea tells them. 'That place isn't just crawling with those MTs, but daemons, those other black creatures, and the white freaks as well. You're walking into a hell and that's without that pirate jackass and creep chancellor'.

'That could be Bahamut's summer home for all I care', Riku grunts, 'If we gotta fight all of them to save those three, then fine by me'.

Aranea rolled her eyes, both annoyed and somewhat impressed by the team's stubbornness. 'Then I'm guessing you're gonna be going by train yeah?', she asked. 'Do any of you know how to run one?'. Goofy raised his hand, much to the surprise of the entire group. 'Aww shucks, I know my way around a few trains here and there!', he argued. They looked at Donald, who shrugs. 'Better him than me…', Donald confessed.

'With that said, we do have a favor to ask of you', Ignis says, turning to Aranea. 'If Gralea is truly in such a state, then we can't take the other passengers with us'. 'So you want me to look after them?', she asked. 'If you could…'.

She nods with a shrug. 'Alrighty, I'll get some of my men to fix up your train then', she said. They nodded while Goofy followed her to meet up with her men, leaving the party to disperse. Much of them needing time alone or procure supplies, which leaves Noctis to walk off on his own and rest on a rock near the cliff.

Clasping his hands together as he exhales a shaky breath, his bearings all over the place while he tries to hold back his agonizing tears. Every second going back to seeing the look on Prompto's face when the illusion was lifted, the betrayal in his eyes as he fell off the train. He should've seen the signs of it all, the way Ardyn's speech resembled Prompto's, how terrified he was running from him and worst off, he should have given him a chance.

Now for all he knew his friend could be in Ardyn's company now, horrible thoughts of what that man will do to him as he waits for his friends to come. His mind wanders to Riku and the others, almost feeling sick with how once more his action had costed *them* their friend. The girl didn't even hesitate to jump off and rescue Prompto, even having better chances with the others to save Sora yet she would still risk herself for her friend.

Noctis looked at his hand before he summoned his keyblade, looking at the strange weapon before he pressed his head against the flat surface of the blade. They had come this far, surmounted so many trials and had lost much in their journey. Now their road may come to an end, ahead would be where the final battle might take place, and their friends merely taken a head start. Whatever may come, a king pushes forward and carries on, regardless of what comes.

'Noctis?'.

The king turned to see Lunafreya approach him, a frail smile adorn on her face. He gets up and approached her, she takes his hands into hers. 'Maria, one of my retainers has informed me of his majesty's sword', she says. Noctis' eyes open wide, remembering his father's sword was not on Ravus' person back in the city of water. 'She told me, the weapon was confiscated by the man in armor with silver hair', she elaborates, 'Likely, Terra is carrying the king's blade'.

"Of course", the king thought bitterly. Least he knows where to look once they arrive at the capital. Lunafreya rubbed his hand with her thumb, bringing him back to her. 'Gralea…it will be a perilous journey', she warned. Her words rang in his ear, if things are truly as bad as Aranea claimed they are to be then this will be the most dangerous journey the party had taken, and with them being down three, one of their best fighters, bod ill news to them…

'We'll make it…', he said strongly, cupping her cheeks. 'We have to'. This is their final moment of peace, their last bit of sanctuary before they would plunge into the darkness. For all Noctis knows, this may be his last time to cherish this moment with the woman he so desperately wished to stay with. For now, he'll give her this one memory with the hopes for more to come.

Gently he pressed his lips to hers, the Oracle stiffened before she relaxed into the kiss and wraps her arms around his shoulders, closing her eyes. In their final patch of heaven, before they descended into a hell, one moment of peace was all she and the king could ask for.

The party boards the train after giving the dragoon one final farewell and gratitude, with Goofy at the helm the train speeds off to Gralea where not only were their companions were waiting for them, but their enemies too.

The final battle was drawing closer and closer…

A/N: Well would you believe me if I said this went on longer than I thought?

So originally Tenebrae was supposed to have its own chapter…but nothing would really happen since Luna didn't die, and with Ravus…not alive, it was more of a stopping point before the party reached Gralea.

Next time we'll be back with Kairi and Prompto for the latter's episode! And depending on how I'm going, they'll get two chapters, and then after it'll be three chapters that may end this. I dunno, we'll see.

Massive thanks to VashTheStampede0409 for the Ignis idea, really helped and now Iggy's badass again! We'll expand more on what he can do in later chapters!

QUESTIONS!

Q1: What did you think of this chapter?

Q2: How was Ardyn in this chapter?

Q3: Do you wanna see more of Namine?

Q4: Excited for Episode Prompto and Kairi?

Q5: What did you think of the fights in this one?

Q6: Originally Lunafreya was meant to stay behind, should she tag along or remain in Tenebrae?

Q7: Did you enjoy the small fight between Ardyn and Prompto?

Q8: Anyone curious to what Kairi wrote?

Thanks for reading! As always stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!