"You did just fine," Luna said as they entered the Cathedral after finishing the press conference.

"Thanks," Noctis said. He felt the burn coming and with a flash of light he was back to being eight and wearing his casual clothes. Luna soon resumed being a child too. He checked his subspace inventory and his dress clothes were there along with Luna's gown.

"Now all we have to do is find a way out without them seeing us like this," Noctis said gesturing at their child forms.

"There should be a side entrance over this way," Luna said grabbing Noctis's hand and leading him down the aisle. It was a big church. Bigger than even the largest church Insomnia. The murals of the six were actually pretty nice. The side door lead them out into the crowds and allowed them to get lost amongst them, just another pair of children in black and white.

"Where are your parents?" They stopped in front of a matronly looking lady.

"They're gone but we're here with my brothers," Noctis said.

"There you two are!" Prompto appeared as if on cue, "You were supposed to wait by the cathedral."

"Sorry," Noctis said.

"We were too eager to wait," Luna said.

"The others are over by the gondola station," Prompto said. Once they were away. "That was close. I didn't know you could tell a bald faced lie so well, Noct."

"I wasn't lying," Noctis said. Prompto blinked before he pulled Noctis into a big hug in the middle of the walkway.

"Ok, enough," Noctis said without any real heat. Prompto let go and his eyes were shiny, but he was beaming.

"You made his day," Luna said.

"I thought he already knew," Noctis said with a shrug.

"You called Prompto your brother and expected him not to be happy?" Gladio said.

"Can we just go?" Noctis said gesturing at the boat, "You know before people put two and two together about us being escorted by you guys?" The gondola ride back was mostly quiet aside from Prompto snapping a few photographs here and there. Noctis waved at a few people as they passed, trying to play the part of a kid in an exotic city.

"Luna, are you happy to be going with us?" Noctis asked her as they drew closer to their stop.

"I'm happy being here with you," Luna said with a smile on her face.

"Ok, let's get off the gondola love birds." Gladio said.

"Gladio!"

"It's alright," Luna said patting Noctis on the head. They exited the boat and walked up the stairs through the crowds and past all the children who were dressed to emulate Noctis and Luna more than ever.

"I think you're their heroes," Prompto said.

"For what? Wrecking the city?" Noctis asked.

"For standing up to the empire and taking on Leviathan and winning!" Prompto said.

"Yeah, I really look like a hero right now, don't I?" Noctis said gesturing at his child body.

"We'll break that as soon as you get that crystal!" Prompto said. They had been buzzed through the front gates of the First Secretary's Estate and were making their way to their rooms.

"We hope that is the case," Ignis said fumbling for the doorknob.

"I've got this Iggy," Gladio said opening the door. Madame Claustra was waiting for them.

"The speech was a rousing success. So much so that Niflheim is demanding both King Noctis and the Oracle be turned over to them immediately."

"When can we leave?"

"Your vehicle has been loaded up onto a ferry leaving for the mainland in three hours. You'll want to travel with it."

"We'll need to pack quickly then," Ignis said.

Noctis stared over the water as they quickly left Altissia behind.

"Just when it was beginning to grow on me," Noctis said.

"I'm sure you'll be able to visit it again some day," Ignis said.

"Doubt it, we do have an evil empire to take down," Prompto said.

"I was trying to look at the bright side of things," Ignis said.

"It's not a bad impulse to have," Luna said, "But I fear with my powers reduced like this, the light will recede faster than it has been."

"What's really going on?" Noctis asked.

"The Starscourge is coming and it will bring eternal darkness to Eos if the King of the Stone isn't able to stop this once and for all," Luna said.

"That's a lot of pressure to put on whoever that is," Prompto said.

"It's me," Noctis said.

"Oh."

"The True King, the Chosen One, Chosen by the Stone, the King of the Stone, you certainly have a lot of titles," Gladio said.

"I still like Prince Charmless," Prompto said.

"Or the King of Fishing?" Ignis said.

"You guys promised to never bring that up!" Noctis felt his face heat up from embarrassment.

"King of Fishing?" Luna asked.

"This nut loves to go fishing whenever we can and one time he got a really, really nice fish and declared in a loud voice, "I am Noctis, Prince of Lucis and King of Fishing."" Gladio messed up Noctis's hair as the king pouted.

"I suppose it's a little better than the story about the time we accidentally tied our hair together with flower crowns whenever we were children," Luna said.

"Luna!" Noctis held his face in his hands. Great. Now all three of the people who had childhood dirt on him were traveling with him for the foreseeable future. He was destined to blush like a tomato for the rest of this trip.

"Do you have any other little Noctis stories?" Prompto asked.

"What about the time you set Ravus's hair on fire?" Noctis said. Two can play at this game.

"That-That wasn't my fault and you know it!" Luna sputtered.

"Whose candles were those?" Noctis said.

"But it was your idea!"

"I was eight, you were twelve; you were the one who was supposed to know better," Noctis said.

"I can hardly imagine it was the Oracle's idea to act on this without your prompting," Ignis said.

"All I said was "why not use candles?" She's the one who actually did it," Noctis said.

"I'm sure that's all you said," Gladio said.

"It actually was, he had thought it would look prettier with candles," Luna said.

"Aw, Noctis wanted something to look pretty," Prompto said.

"I was eight," Noctis said.

"You're currently eight," Gladio said.

"Physically," Noctis grumbled.

"You're acting a bit like it too," Ignis said.

"So? You try having an adult mind in a kid's body," Noctis said.

"He's already been there, done that," Gladio said.

"I beg your pardon!" Ignis said.

"Face it, dude, you were pretty much an adult since you were old enough to say the word "recipe."" Prompto said.

"I'll have you know I was a perfectly normal child," Ignis said.

"Perfectly normal children don't have rooms that look as neat as yours did," Gladio said.

"You were in his room as a kid?" Prompto said.

"We were partners and it was more convenient for us to meet in my chambers than other areas at times," Ignis said.

"That's why you two were always so good at double teaming me," Noctis said.

"It was necessary to keep you out of trouble. Though, I daresay it still found you often enough anyway," Ignis said.

"It's not as if he tried to avoid it," Gladio said.

Boarding the train was a bit of an ordeal, to say the least. Multiple newspapers had the headlines "PROPHECY OF THE STONE TO COME TO PASS?" or news about how Altissia had been partly wrecked by the Tide Mother's Wrath only to be saved from being washed away in the nick of time by the King of Lucis calling upon the Six. Which was true but it was far more attention than the group really needed to have.

Then there were the well meaning attendants who wanted to make sure that the "uncles" of the two kids were able to handle them. It was simpler for their stories that Gladio was Noctis's uncle and Prompto and Ignis were brothers and Luna was their niece. With the hair colors, it was plausible.

"It's so kind of you to take care of your sister's son," a woman told Gladio as he took a seat across from Noctis and Luna.

"It's not problem at all," Gladio said with a nod at Noctis. People were still unsettled by their group, but Iggy's eyepatch and Gladio's...Gladio-ness were also a bit of an attention grabber for most. It was nearly impossible to not notice the walking wall of muscle that was the King's Shield.

"I'm heading down to the dining car, anyone want to come with?" Prompto said with a stretch.

"I think I need a drink," Noctis said hoping up.

"I'll join you," Luna said.

Prompto helped them up onto the stools and waved the bartender over.

"What do you have to drink that's kid friendly?" Prompto asked.

"We have the finest fruit juices fresh from Tenebrae," the bar tender said.

"Do you have an Ulwaat Berry juice?" Luna asked.

"In fact ,we do," the bar tender said.

"I'll have the same," Noctis said.

"What about you?"

"I think I'll have a cream soda if you have them," Prompto said. The drinks were placed in front of them in quick order.

"You two really like those berries," Prompto said.

"They're a reminder of happier times," Luna said. Noctis nodded in agreement.

"And they're really sweet even before sugar gets added,"he added with a smirk.

"Great, I just sugar loaded a twelve year old and an eight year old," Prompto moaned.

"Can't be any worse than you on twelve energy drinks," Noctis said, "You swore you could hear color."

"That only happened once!" Prompto said before he went back to his own drink.

"Hearing colors?" Luna asked with an innocent grin on her face.

"Energy drinks can cause crazy effects on the mind," Prompto said.

"No, energy drinks can cause your heart to feel like you've run a mile. What you had was a mild case of caffeine poisoning," Noctis said.

"Why do you have to be such a smart ass?" Prompto said.

"Better than being a dumb ass," Noctis said.

"You should really watch your language," Luna said.

"Why?"

"You're setting a bad example," Luna said.

"I only imitate what I see around me," Noctis said with a cheeky grin, "Yell at him, he's the "adult" here."

"Hey! Don't drag me into this!" Prompto said.

Noctis and Luna were on their way back to their seats, Prompto had decided to stay back to "drown his wounds in cream soda" because of the fact the pair had teased him. Noctis bet it was because he was trying to play wing man. It was hard to have any sort of romance ideas because he and Luna looked like a pair of children. It just wouldn't look like anything more than a couple of kids and some puppy love. Though, at this point, was it really anything more than some affection for a childhood friend on Luna's part? Noctis dropped those thoughts.

"We're pulling into Cartanica Station. Those getting off should have their boarding passes ready."

"Hey, it's time!" Prompto said as he caught up to them and they met up with Gladio and Ignis. Yeah. It was time to go after the next royal arm. With any luck this might also push his magic to the point it could override the curse without them having to fight their way through the empire with two children in tow.

They disembarked and looked around the station. It really wasn't all that different than any of the other hot and dusty areas they'd been in when they traveled Lucis. Except, of course, the snow fields that glimmered in the distance. The results of slaying the Glacian had ended up with a tundra on one side of the region and a desert on the other.

"We'd best stock up on supplies before heading down into the quarry," Ignis said.

"Alright," Noctis said nodding at him.

"The quarry? You're taking children down there?"

"They will be perfectly safe, I assure you," Ignis said, "They may not look it, but both are highly trained hunters who are more than capable of taking on any creatures that come their way."

"Are they the two Lucian hunters who were hit with that curse?"

"We are," Noctis said. Luna nodded.

"A real shame that, at least you're alive." The concerned woman walked away.

"That was very quick thinking, Noct," Ignis said.

"People already know two Hunters were turned into kids, why not pretend to be them?" Noctis said with a shrug.