Chapter XXI:

"Are you okay, Ruby?" Yang asked concerned about her younger sister. It had been a few hours since Noctis and his team had left and team RWBY were stuck back at Beacon, waiting for their return.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ruby said trying to sound like her usual self but failing.

Yang hopped into Ruby's bed next to her and gaver he sister a concerned smile "Come on, Ruby. You know you can talk to me about anything."

"It's nothing, really, Yang."

"Is it about the young prince?"

Ruby stayed silent which spoke volumes.

"So what happened?"

"I-I don't really want to talk about it."

"Come on, Ruby. I can't help if you don't let me."

"W-We… I…. I broke up with him."

'Wait, what?!" Yang said surprised at her sister's response "You're kidding right? You guys seemed so in love with each other, what happened?"

"I saw him staring at another girl."

"That's it? Ruby guys always look at other girls."

"You don't get it, Yang. Noctis never looked at another girl the way he looked at me, but he did. I-It hurt me…" Tears began to form in Ruby's eyes and Yang did her best to comfort her little sister.

"It's okay, Ruby. I know Noctis still loves you and I know he wouldn't do anything to hurt you. You should talk to him when they get back."

"Where did they go anyway?" The heiress asked

With Team PING

"You know Noctis, I'm pretty sure we could've just asked to borrow an airship, I don't think knocking the pilot out was completely necessary." Prompto said looking at the unconscious pilot on the airship.

"He just had some pent up anger he had to let out." Gladiolus said casually

"We don't need you to encourage such behaviour, Gladio." Ignis said as he flew the ship.

Noctis just stood silent, looking out the window at the ocean, thinking about how he screwed up with the girl he loved and cared about more than anything in the world.

"Ignis, take us down." Noctis said as he noticed that they had arrived near the place that he was instructed to go in his vision/dream.

Ignis did as he was asked and landed the airship

"Wow, Ignis, that was a lot smoother than last time." Prompto said with a chuckle.

"Well after our last little adventure I took it upon myself to read a few books on piloting."

"Really?"

"No, I I just watched a few MeTube videos on piloting."

The four friends continued on an almost hidden path near a small wooded swamp that you wouldn't be able to find unless you were really looking, Noctis led the group as they walked through puddles of mud.

"Why exactly are we here, Noct?" Prompto questioned as he covered his nose to block out the smell.

"I had a vision that told me to come here."

"A vision? So we're here in the middle of a swamp because you had a "vision""

"Basically."

"Greeeeeat." Prompto said sarcastically

"Stop whining Prompto, this smell builds character." Gladiolus said

"You know what else builds character? Spas. Why can't we ever visit a spa during one of our missions or an amusement park? It's been nothing but a tomb and now a stinking swamp."

"Relax, Prompto. The sooner we find what we were meant to find the sooner we can leave."

"Wait, so you don't even know what we're looking for?"

"Not exactly."

"Man, I want my bed."

"Isn't this where that meteor had crash landed 20 years ago?" Ignis questioned as he looked at a rather large mountain cliff at the end of the swamp like village.

"It might be."

"Awww man, a mountain is blocking our path, looks like we'll have to head back, better luck next time guys."

Just then Noctis began to climb the cliff as Ignis and Gladiolus followed his footsteps

"You guys aren't seriously gonna climb this thing, are you?"

"You're welcome to stay down there and look out for the alligators." His little brother responded

"Y-You're kidding right?" Just then Prompto heard bubbles popping in the swamp behind him and rushed onto the mountain "W-Wait up, guys!"

With RWBY

Ruby was still in her bed sulking, Weiss had been studying at the small desk they have in their dorm room, Blake was in her bed reading a book as usual, and Ruby's older blonde sister was nowhere to be found, until there was a rather loud bang at their door that made all three girls jump. Ruby slowly got up from her bed and walked towards the door, with her shoulders sulking at her sides.

"Coming."

As soon as Ruby opened the door Yang rushed in holding a towering amount of pizza boxes that blocked her view. Yang pushed Weiss' chair making her slide across the room and dropped the pizza boxes on the desk.

"That's a lot of pizzas." Blake said in her usual unamused tone.

"Well duh. Tonight we are having a girl's night! We're gonna spend the whole night watching movies, eating pizza and then dessert!"

"No thanks." Ruby said as she shuffled back to her bed.

"Come on, Ruby. Nothing soothes a broken heart like pizza, ice cream and friends!"

"I don't really feel like having a girl's night, Yang."

"Well it's too late cause I've already invited everyone." Yang said with a big smile

"What do you mean "everyone"?" Weiss said giving Yang a questioning look

Just then Nora rushed into the room in her pajamas "GIRL'S NIGHT! I AM SO PUMPED!"

Nora grabbed a box of pizza, took a seat on the floor and began to devour the pizza.

Pyrrha, and Velvet more quietly followed behind the hyperactive teen.

"Hello again." Pyrrha said in her usual cheerful tone as she put down her sleeping bag.

"Thanks for inviting me, Yang. I've never been to a girl's night before." The bunny faunus teen said with a smile.

"Sorry guys, but girl's night is cancelled, Ruby doesn't feel like having fun."

"Awwwwwh." Nora said sadly with a full pizza hanging from her mouth

"Isn't that right, Ruby?"

Ruby let out a deep sigh and gave the girls in the room a soft smile "Okay, fine."

WITH PING

Gladiolus was the first one up the mountain, he turned around and gave a hand to Noctis, Ignis, and Prompto.

"Man, please tell me there's some sort of escalator we can take back down." Prompto said as he tried to catch his breath.

"We still have a while to go." Noctis said as he pointed towards a long dirt road up the rest of the mountain.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Looks like you boys could use a lift." A voice called out to the friends.

Noctis turned towards where the voice had come from and saw a familiar face "Hey, aren't you that guy me and my friend ran into in Vale?"

"Ah yes, I do believe we had the pleasure of meeting before." The man said as he removed his fedora and bowed "Ardyn at your service."

"What are you doing here?" Noctis asked him as he gave him a questioning look

"Nothing in particular, I am just a man who prefers the company of mother nature rather than humans."

Ardyn put his fedora back on and headed towards his car that was parked on the dirt hill that led up the mountain and leaned against the car door. "That is a rather long walk, I do not mind giving you four a lift."

"Yes please!" Prompto nearly shouted as he rushed towards the car and hopped into the back seat.

"It would be better than walking." Ignis said

"Fine."

Noctis, Ignis, and Gladiolus got into Ardyn's car with Ignis, Prompto, and Noctis in the back while Gladiolus took the front seat.

"Buckle up, it is a rather bumpy ride." Ardyn warned as he began to drive.

With RWBY

The girls had just finished eating the last of the pizzas which were mostly devoured by Nora and were all sitting in a circle playing a card game.

"See, Ruby. Don't you feel better?"

"Yeah, I guess this does help." The redheaded teen replied with a small smile

"What happened?" Velvet curiously asked

"M-Me and Noctis broke up…"

"What?!" The girls who weren't apart of team Rwby replied in shock

"How come?" Pyrrha asked

"Did he hurt you?" Velvet asked

"Do you want me to hurt him?" Nora asked

"Really guys, it's nothing, I just don't really want to talk about it."

The room fell into silence for a few minutes until Yang broke the silence

"Come on guys, it's time for dessert!"

"YEESSSSS DESSERT!" Nora shouted as she jumped up from her seat on the floor.

With PING

PING and Ardyn arrived near the mountain top but stopped once they saw that the road ahead was blocked off.

"I'm afraid this is as far as I can take you lads."

"We can walk the rest of the way." Noctis said as he got out of the car "Thanks for the ride."

"Of course, I do hope our paths cross again one day."

The rest of PING got out the car and Ardyn took off as the four friends made their way up the mountain.

"You know, he wasn't as creepy as he looks." Prompto said with a chuckle

"Come on, we still have to make it to the top."

"Are you sure this place doesn't have like a hidden escalator or elevator somewhere?"

"I highly doubt that."

"Yeah, but a man can hope."

The sun beamed on their backs as they got closer to the top of the mountain. The mountain overlooked the Kingdom and the grimm infested swamp.

"Jesus, we're pretty high up." Prompto said with a nervous chuckle as he looked over the ledge of the cliff "Hey Ignis, are we sure that this won't collapse and send us tumbling to our deaths?"

"Not really, but you know what they say. Nothing ventured."

"I really want my bed right now."

"Relax, we're almost at the top."

Before long the four friends made it to the top and gazed at the view that met them as they reached the top of the mountain. The giant hole made from the fallen meteor from long ago had created a surge of unknown energy that filled the sky with purple light.

"Wow." Noctis said looking at the purple sky "I bet Ruby would love this view."

"Come on, your highness. We should do what we came here to do and get out of here before it really does collapse." Gladiolus said with a pat on the young King's back.

"Right."

They began to walk down a hidden path that led away from the hole until the cliff began to rumble below them

"What the hell is going on here, Specs?!"

"I am beginning to think that Prompto may have jinxed us and the mountain really is going to collapse!"

"Hey! Don't blame this on me!"

"Whatever it is we better get out of here before we fall with it!" Gladiolus shouted as he gave everyone a push and they all started to run towards the opening of the small valley.

"We aren't going to make it!"

"We will if you shut up and run!"

They barely manage to reach the opening of the valley as the rocks from above began to crumble to the bottom blocking off the valley.

Prompto let out a chuckle as he looked at the fallen debris behind them "That would've sucked."

Noctis began to walk towards a King's coffin that was placed at the edge of the cliff with a giant stone like titan overlooking the statue, as if it were guarding it. "How the hell did that get up here?"

"'Perhaps that little earthquake was meant to lead us here?"

"Go on and do your stuff, Noct!" Prompto said with encouragement to his little brother as he pushed him closer towards the coffin."

"Here goes nothing, I guess…"

Noctis slowly walked towards the coffin and reached out his hand until a crystallized blade appeared above the coffin and like the others it flew towards Noctis and plunged itself into the young King's chest, adding itself to his Royal arms. The 3 Royal arms circled around Noctis and then disappeared.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that." Prompto said as he watched his brother in awe

"Now that that's done we can get out of here."

As Ignis finished his sentence the ground again began to shake, more violently than before, until the ledge where Noctis had been standing collapse right under him and he went tumbling to the small ledge above, he did his best to grab onto whatever he could but to no prevail, the cliff was too sloped and he slid down nearing the edge that would surely mean his death. As he reached the end of the cliff he flew off the edge, but before he fell deeper a hand grabbed him, stopping him from plunging to the ground. Noctis looked up and saw Gladiolus holding tightly onto the young King's forearm.

"Where would you be without me, huh?"

"Dead." Noctis said looking down below him.

With one pull Gladiolus was able to pull him up to safety.

"That was too close." Noctis said trying to catch his breath "Thanks, big guy."

"Are you two alright down there?"

"Yeah, we're fine! But looks like we're going to have to find another way around, we'll meet up with you two! You guys go ahead!"

"Be careful, you two!"

"Out of the frying pan." Noctis said with a deep sigh.

With RWBY

"I'm so full." Nora said rubbing her belly as she let out a rather manly burp

"Ruby sat there quietly, her plate still full of chocolate chip cookies which Yang noticed right away "Come on, Ruby. You love chocolate chip cookies."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just not that hungry."

"I'll eat them!" Nora said with a gleeful shout

"NO Nora! Ruby will eat them."

"She can have them."
"No, you're going to eat them Ruby. I made them for you, come on just one. My chocolate chip cookies would always make you feel better whenever you were down."

"Fine."" Ruby picked up a cookie from the plate and ate it, as soon as the cookie touched her mouth her eyes shot wide open and she began to engulf the cookies almost as fast as Nora with her pancakes.

"See Ruby, don't you feel better already?"

"Yeah, I guess you were right. The cookies did kind of help."

"Of course they did, I made them! So what's next on our to do list for our sleepover?"

"We could have a little book club!" Blake said enthusiastically

"A what?" The blonde brawler questioned with a confused face

"A book club, we'll go around the room and tell everyone our favourite books and a little bit about them, then we'll have a little discussion."

"Okay, now how bout something that won't put Nora to sleep." Yang said as she motioned towards Nora who had indeed fallen asleep.

"Pancakes!" Nora shouted as she forced herself awake.

"Ohhhh how about we find Ruby a new boyfriend." Yang said with a sly smile

"Wait what?!" The red headed teen shouted "N-No way."

"Come on, Ruby. It's not like you're in a relationship or anything."

"I know bu-"

"Besides there's this new guy, he's a student from another school. I think he said his name was Mercury? Anyways he said that he thinks you're really cute." Yang said with a wink "We should go see if we can find him."

"I-I don't know, Yang."

"Come on, I think this would make a certain king rather jealous." Yang said with a devious smile.

"You think?"

"Oh yeah, this will make him see the error of his ways."

"F-Fine… I'll talk to him, but that's it!"

"Awesome, let's go!" Yang shouted as she grabbed her little sister by her pajama shirt and dragged her out of the room.

"This isn't going to end well." The heiress said as she shook her head in disapproval.

To be continued...