Ugh! So I left my comfy, luxurious hotel room this morning only to find myself in a crappy wooden cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere, here in northern Norway. It's snowing, this "hotel" has absolutely nothing, the room is creepy (looks more like a bomb shelter to me) and there are spiders EVERYWHERE! At least internet is good though, so I can cheer myself up a bit by uploading a new chap for y'all x)
She was running for her life through a dark cave. She was panting heavily, barely managing to move her legs any further, but she knew she had to continue. She would die if she stopped. The terrible sounds behind her encouraged her to keep moving.
She froze when she found herself at a dead end. She slowly turned around, prepared to meet the Daemon that would end her life in an atrocious way. But her eyes didn't lock with the monster's bright yellow ones, but with a pair of dark blue ones. Noctis was staring at her in silence, his expression glacial.
This was starting to feel familiar. Iris already knew what was going to happen next.
And indeed, a hooded figure emerged from the darkness and stepped forward, standing beside the prince. Iris noticed how Noctis looked slightly blurrier now, while the mysterious stranger was becoming clearer…
Iris woke up with a startle. She yawned and stirred before unceremoniously dropping her hands to each of her sides, recovering from her nightmare. Her left elbow fell on something hard and she turned around to see what it was.
She yelped when she found herself inches away from Prompto's face, his eyes still closed. Upon impact with her arm, however, the boy slowly started to open his eyelids, his arm automatically lifting to massage the spot on his head where he had been hit.
They both stared at each other, Iris too horrified to speak and Prompto way too sleepy and confused. The silence was broken by someone screaming outside the tent.
"The stone! It's gone!"
Prompto frowned and seemed to have fully awaken at the sound of Noctis's words. He jumped out of his covers and rushed outside, Iris following shortly after.
"What's going on?" the gunslinger asked.
"The Quicksilver! I had it with me when I went to bed yesterday and now... it's gone!" Noctis explained agitated.
"Calm down, maybe you dropped it in the tent" Ignis tried to reassure "Let's take a look".
"You won't need to".
Everyone suddenly stopped and turned to the only female member of their group. The girl had one hand in her pajama pants pocket, and extracted the crimson stone.
"Iris? Why did you take it from Noct?" Gladio asked in disbelief.
"I didn't" she replied truthfully "I just realized it was in my pocket. I swear I didn't take it from you, Noct".
"I believe you" the prince reassured "I know you wouldn't do such a thing".
"So how did it end up in her pocket anyway?" Prompto asked in confusion.
"That's quite the mystery" Ignis commented.
Iris returned the Quicksilver to its rightful owner but, as soon as the stone came in contact with Noctis's hand, it disappeared from their sight.
"Wha-?!" they all exclaimed.
"It's… in my pocket, again" Iris said.
"Oh my word" Ignis commented "I think I'm starting to understand…"
"Will you be so kind as to explain it to us too? 'Cause I'm honestly quite lost" Gladio remarked, crossing his strong arms.
"The stone is still fully effective. It's just that… Noctis doesn't seem to have been chosen as its wielder" the spectacled man explained.
"What? Do you mean Iris has?" Prompto intervened.
"I believe so" Ignis nodded solemnly. He proved his theory when he approached the girl and took the stone from her grasp. The Quicksilver immediately disappeared from his hands and reappeared in Iris's ones.
"Un-freakin'-believable!" Prompto whistled "That's one hell of a plot twist!"
"But how can this be?" Iris asked, unable to believe what Ignis had said "I am no royalty".
"I am certain that the stone doesn't exclusively obey to royals. I believe it selects its new owner if it considers him or her worthy enough" Ignis continued "Not that you're not worthy, Noctis. But the stone must have sensed something special with Iris".
"I'm not complaining" Noctis admitted, resting one hand on his right hip "Just a bit disappointed, maybe. But I trust Iris will make good use of it".
"What are you implying, Noct?" Gladio said "My sister cannot be left taking care of such a dangerous object. That thing almost brought our world to an end, and you want her to keep it?"
"She doesn't have a choice. The stone wants her and her only" Ignis said reasonably.
Gladio snorted and ran a hand through his long, dark hair.
"Well, we can't leave her in Lestallum" her brother continued "The Empire will eventually find out. It seems to me that the stone becomes brighter each day it stays with Iris, and this will only cause her troubles".
"Indeed" Ignis agreed "What do you say, Noct?"
"I say we've got room for one more in our car" the prince smiled approvingly.
"Wh-what?" Iris could not believe her ears. Were they basically inviting her to join them?
"Welcome to the family, Ir!" Prompto enthusiastically patted her shoulder with a wide grin.
Iris could only stare in disbelief and confusion as the boys elected her as their fifth, permanent party member.
When they returned to Lestallum to let Iris collect her belongings and say goodbye to Jared and Talcott, as well as telling Ferguson he needed to find a new employee, Noctis began acting weird.
He had been complaining about a terrible headache which was now plaguing him again with visions of something –or someone- waiting for him there.
The group of friends had instantly decided to check the place out as soon as possible.
On their way to the car, they were greeted by a mysterious-looking man with long, curly hair and a long coat, a man the four boys seemed to have met before. Iris didn't have a good feeling about him, for some reason. He acted in quite a friendly way, but she couldn't get herself to trust him, not one bit. She sensed that something was off with him, and her suspicions grew stronger when she felt the stone in her pocket on the verge of igniting.
The man, who revealed to be called Ardyn, seemed to know what was plaguing the prince, and offered to guide them to the Disc of Cauthess.
Iris had to simply accept the idea of getting in the car with the others and follow Ardyn's one all the way to their new destination. To her relief, none of them seemed to like the guy too much either, and they all agreed to keep their eyes open and watch their back.
They arrived at the entrance, and at that point Ardyn took his leave.
The five friends walked the short distance that separated them and the Royal Tomb lying in the middle of the Disc, and Noctis obtained a new weapon. Their triumphant expressions didn't last long, as the earth under their feet started shaking violently, and the bridge they were standing on quickly began to crumble.
"RUN!"
They tried to run as fast as they could toward the exit, but everything collapsed at such a quick pace that Noctis eventually fell down the ravine. Gladio immediately turned around to join him, and the group got separated.
Ignis, Prompto and Iris rushed to the edge of the ravine and all sighed in relief when they saw both the prince and Gladio had made it out alive.
"We'll try to find a way down there!" Ignis shouted.
The three of them started descending the mountain when something made the blood freeze in their veins: a gigantic Titan, which no one had previously noticed believing it to be a mountain, had awaken, its voice a cacophony of unintelligible sounds. The Titan was focused on the small figures of Gladio and Noctis, who were trying to keep as much distance from the god as possible.
Things got possibly worse when the giant began attacking the two boys, and when the unmistakable sounds of Magitek engines could be heard above their heads.
Iris's heart was hammering furiously against her rib cage: she couldn't see a way out of this mess, not with an angry god and the Empire determined to kill them.
"Aw, gimme a break!" Prompto huffed at the desperate sight in front of him.
The Magitek engines were shooting at the Titan which, in return, was trying its best to squash Noctis with its huge arm.
The five finally reunited at the bottom of the pit, fighting both the god and the Empire at the best of their abilities.
"Iris, take cover!" Gladio shouted, while swinging his great sword.
The girl turned on her heel to find shelter but was greeted by the sight of a Magitek soldier staring down at her, his emotionless eyes fixed on her frightened face.
The soldier lifted his arm to hit her when he suddenly fell dead.
"You alright?" Prompto rushed by her side, and Iris could now see a smoking hole in the soldier's forehead.
"Yeah, thanks Prompto" she said gratefully.
"That's what friends are for!" the boy grinned, and returned to assist his other brothers-in-arms.
"Right" she whispered to herself. Somehow, his words had stirred something in her. She didn't want to hide. She wanted to prove she could take care of herself, that she could help too.
She briefly watched the desperate scene in front of her eyes: Noctis could barely keep up with the Titan's fury, and for every Magitek soldier killed, it seemed that ten more came in their place.
"This is not working" she muttered, extracting the stone "Please, get us out of this mess".
She brought the stone close to her face, closed her eyes and… hoped.
She felt the stone growing hot, the warm sensation spreading through her body. It gave her strength and motivation.
She opened her eyes determinedly, and watched in disbelief as the Magitek soldiers, as well as the engines hovering over them, froze in time and space, suspended in a moment that would never end.
Some had stopped while walking across the ground to reach their opponent, others had their vacant eyes trailed on the Titan, and others had their arms lifted in mid-air ready to strike.
It was quiet. The uproar of the battle had suddenly ceased, and everyone was staring in wonder.
The Titan, however, didn't seem to have been affected. It had stopped tormenting the prince and was now fully focused on the tiny stone that Iris was holding in her palm.
Then it spoke with its deep, metallic voice which resonated throughout the valley and in their very heads.
Iris didn't need to speak the language of the god to understand what it was talking about, but couldn't tell whether it was good or bad.
The four boys took this distraction as their chance to strike back. Prompto, Ignis and Gladio used the prince's borrowed ice spell to freeze the god's arm, while Noctis exploited the power of his sword to destroy it for good. Without its support, the god fell miserably under the huge boulder it had been holding and disappeared in a sparkling of deep blue lights.
Noctis received the god's power, the very first one.
Unfortunately for them, their problems had just begun: the whole place was coming down and would soon crush them. However, with the power of the Quicksilver fading from the battlefield, the Magitek engines above them began flying again. One of them opened its front door, revealing the figure of Ardyn, smiling down at them.
"I don't think I have formally introduced myself" the man said "Ardyn Izunia". He bowed mockingly.
"The Empire's Chancellor Izunia?" Ignis asked in surprise.
Ardyn nodded with a smirk before offering to escort them to safety.
"Unless you prefer to be buried alive here" he continued.
"Dying here is not an option, Noct" Ignis said hurriedly.
"I know" the prince simply had to give up.
They didn't have a choice but to get on board.
Next Chapter: Gentiana leads the five friends to the next godly power. Iris admits to herself she is attracted to Prompto *O*Ignis comes up with a plan to get the Regalia back.