Blind Faith

Epilogue

It took another week of spotty communication back home and plenty more strained conversations between them, but the four were finally boarding the yacht that Cid safely navigated through the wreckage and they were now heading to Niflheim.

"Everyone seated?" Cid's gruff voice asked over the sound of the waves. Prompto brought Ignis to the bench of seats toward the back of the boat and sat next to him. Since that night, Prompto had made good of his word and hardly left Ignis' side. He helped when he knew Ignis needed it, but also learned when he needed to back off and give him some space. He was never condescending or overbearing about it and his help was appreciated more than Ignis could express.

Gladio remained standing close by, his hands gripped on the bars for support, while Noct stood at the stern, leaning somberly on the rails and letting the wind blow through his freshly-washed hair. He didn't get a verbal response, but Cid powered the boat up and slowly backed it out of the port, leaving the ruined city of Altissia behind.

"Where are we headed, boys?" Cid tried again, careful not to hit any wayward stones or debris in the water.

Without looking up, Gladio responded: "Our end point will be Gralea, but we need to begin in Cartanica. Anyway you can get us close?"

Cid stroked his chin in thought. "Hmmm, I'm not sure. There's a port on the eastern edge of Niflheim, but it's still a ways away from Cartanica. I reckon you could take the Regalia and drive to the train station, but you'd have to be very discrete about it; those Magitek drones are ruthless and if you youngin's get caught . . ." Cid whistled loudly to punctuate his point.

"But, Iggy can't drive," Prompto pointed out.

"No, but Noct can," Ignis kept his gaze to the floor. "It is his father's car, after all. It's our only option at this point."

Noctis pushed himself away from the rails and plodded back to where everyone was, stumbling as the boat rocked in the water. He steadied himself by leaning against the cabin structure. "If I have to drive, I'll do so."

"You're damn right you will," Gladio reviled.

Prompto groaned. "Not again . . ."

"Did you want to drive, Gladio? Because if you're going to keep hassling me for everything, then maybe it might be best that you take the wheel."

"If you boys are gonna start fightin' on this ship, then you best make sure you keep the bloodshed to a minimum. I ain't about to clean up any mess you two make," Cid chided, his eyes still to the horizon ahead. Both Noct and Gladio bared their teeth at each other and turned away. Prompto let out a sigh of relief and Ignis remained stoic and neutral.

The cruise over the water was uneventful after that and they made good time to the Niflheim port. Once docked, they stepped onto solid ground and waited patiently as Cid backed the Regalia out of the boat's storage and parked it next to them. He stepped out and dusted off his hands with finality. "She's a real beaut. You're lucky to be driving that girl around, you hear? Take care of her," he looked over the four men before him and nodded. "And take care of yourselves, as well. Remember, you're on dangerous grounds now. Keep your heads down and nose clean for the time being until you make it to the train station. From there, it should only be a short ride to Cartanica," Cid reminded.

They all proceeded to shake hands with the older man, knowing this was goodbye for now. "Thanks for getting us here. We'll try to keep in touch along the way," Ignis said as he opened the back driver side door of the Regalia, sitting beside Gladio. Noctis gave a final nod to Cid and sadly walked to the driver's side of the car, looking back one more time before getting in and starting the ignition, pressing a button to put the top of the Regalia down. Prompto leaned over the back of his seat and waved from the passenger seat, lurching back as Noctis quickly accelerated on the gas, kicking up gravel in their wake. Cid grew smaller in the rearview mirror until he completely disappeared from view.

Even with Altissia behind them, Ignis still felt the gnawing sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. The city was supposed to bring them immense hope and happiness but ended up taking so much from them. He could only hope that they were prepared to take on whatever fate was going to throw at them, especially with him not able to help as much as he used to.

"Cartanica, here we come!" Prompto encouraged to the solemn group, trying desperately to rid the tension between them.

Ignis gave a small smile and looked up to the sky. Even though he couldn't see, he still knew the sun was high above them by the minuscule amount of light he was able to sense. That small amount of light gave him hope, however slight, that they could successfully help Noct take back the throne and rid the world of its daemons.

"Here we come."

Author's Note: Well, there you have it! I really hope you enjoyed my take on what happened in Altissia. Now, I'm gearing up to start writing the story I've been DYING to write. It'll be an IgnisxAranea fic that spans the 10 years between Chapter 13 and 14. I'm honestly so excited to get this one going and it's all I've been able to think of. Hopefully I'll find you over there (I've found I usually update in a weeks time to give myself enough time to write up the chapter, reread it, edit it, edit it again, edit it one more time, and then finally post it; So hopefully the Prologue and Chapter 1 will be up by the end of this upcoming week). In the meantime, I'm debating setting up a Tumblr or Livejournal to keep tabs on my progress with my fics, ideas, etc. I'll let you know if I do.

Thanks so much! See you soon!