sorry for the wait!

It was near evening when Claire found Noctis again. Finally released from Stella's side after touring the whole castle, from ballroom to gardens and the forest around, she returned to her room to find the prince flopped over their bed, his back to her and his hair in an ever messy array. As an amused smile automatically twitching up to her lips, she quietly slipped into the room, her steps light and easy with years of practice. Born from a game she used to play as a child, a challenge to see how quiet she could be when she woke before her parents. From years of trial and survival, her father has grown to be a very light sleeper.

While her mother was a very deep sleeper.

Both she and Serah inherited Odin's sensitivity to sounds in the night, only her sister liked sleep a lot more than her.

Sitting on the bed with a soft sigh, she pulled her shoes off and freeing the confines of her feet to the air. Rolling her feet and stretching, she eased back a little as she stared at the grey brown cieling above, finding herself liking the color. It was very relaxing.

She paused when she heard the mattress shift behind her, alerting her that Noctis wasn't as out as she had thought. "You're back?" a soft voice asked.

She confirmed, "I escaped."

She could hear the humor in his voice as he replied, "I should have warned you that she gets carried away." Sitting up, he turned her, sleepy eyed and blinking as he woke. She wondered, "You've been napping all day?"

"Like Stel suggested. It was nice. And needed. So what did you two do all day?"

"Toured the whole Caelum manner, I saw your gala, your gardens, a bit of the forest around the castle."

Noctis slouched back with a frown, leaning against the bed frame. "Well I guess that sums up all the things we could do today... or tomorrow I guess."

"That can't be the only thing we could do. A castle can only humor you for so long."

"Well... I can't think of much else we could do. Swim?"

"How about we spend the day exploring Lucis, I wouldn't mind checking out the city."

"That could be something," Noctis said, excitement growing in his voice, signaling that Claire had made the right offer. Cracking a smile, she pulled her pants off and replaced them with shorts, ignoring the flushing prince behind her as she considered her shirt. Not particularly fancy and still comfortable and fresh, she decided to go ahead and sleep in it.

Unhooking her bra and resting it on a near chair, she slipped into bed before Noctis had time to react. "Sorry," he babbled hurriedly, "I'll-" She cut him off as she grabbed his shirt sleeve, tugging him back onto bed. "We'll have to share the bed sometime," she reasoned. Noctis blushed at that, weakly arguing, "Not a little too soon for you?"

"No, its perfectly fine for me. The sooner we get used to it, the better." Claire was completely nonchalant about the prince's nervousness, pulling up the blankets up and snuggling underneath easily. Awkwardly and slowly, Noctis followed her example and slid underneath. Soon both were settled in and staring up at the cieling, Claire's side pulled up to her chin for warmth while Noctis had his shoulders bare, his hands clasped and resting on his chest.

Silence passed between them as they laid out in bed, all to aware of each breath the other took, each twitch, and the heat they gave off.

"Are you even tired?" she asked him, curious.

He cracked a wary grin. "I'm always tired," he admitted. "Won't be long till I'm taking over the throne." Even more so now that he was married. Married. That was still a weird thought and fact.

"Its a good thing I'll be here to help," she offered him. "Can't leave you to burden the whole thing."

Noctis fiddled with his fingers as the thought popped into his head. "Do you... do you think we'll be good...?"

"King and queen?" Claire guessed. "I think so. We both have the preparation for it, a desire for peace, and no current hunger for power. We're pretty content with where we are in life. I think we'll be fine. You've had your training with your father and I have worked with Idola enough to know how to run a kingdom, and make a council piss in their pants."

Noctis laughed at her choice of words, relishing the slang. It wasn't that was heard to often from any political figure. His smile fell as he lightly pressed. "How are you doing? About the whole thing with King Eldercapt?"

He felt her shrug, the mattress shifting with the movement. "Well enough I suppose."

"Really?"

She sighed quietly, a frown on her face as she realized she didn't sound too convincing. Even to herself. Slowly, she went on, "I'm disappointed, sad; but not surprised." Noctis glanced at her, the dim light barely showing her face to him as she continued. "This is a man that has been something of a grandfather to be for a very long time. And the rest of the Eldercapt family have been equally friendly. Aunt Nora, she was great. Fun, open, and bold. She and mom were the best of friends. Ans Uncle Bart, a little awkward, but an equally sweet man. It hit everyone hard when they passed. Especially Hope. It took nearly a whole year to get him to talk again."

She shook her head. "I don't know what happened to him, but Idola started to crack for some reason. Maybe it was because of Ancora's death, I don't know; but he started wanting more and his expectations and dreams started to get a little too big."

"Like disapproving Nora's marriage?"

"That's certainly one of them. Sometimes I do wonder if he did arrange it." Her grip tightened on the sheets, wondering if Idola would go so far as to arrange something like that for them.

"I was hoping that this would snap him out of it. Realize that enough is enough, his most trusted adviser and general seeking to bring the world peace. I don't think it did nothing but add wood to the fire." She grimaced as she murmured darkly. "Niflheim's going to have a rare civil war."

"Lucis is at your side and service," he promised her.

Claire glanced at him for a moment before turning back to the cieling and murmuring a soft, "Thank you."

Sharing a small smile with her, Noctis closed his eyes and tried to relax into the mattress, ignoring the awareness of another body near his and settle with sinking into his dreams. It wasn't long till the only sound to be heard in the room where their soft even breathes as they slept the night away.

Lucis was a lot more colorful than Claire had originally thought. Instead of black like she had thought, the building were light grey and towering. Light and color easily and eagerly reflected off each one adding their own shine to the capitol. And with the greenery planted all around, it brought out a natural and easy feeling with Lucis, matching the forest that surrounded it.

The civilians themselves were open and easy, going about their business with their heads bent down, checking their cells and skillfully weaving around others. Only a couple had glanced their way but over all, Claire enjoyed the fact that they were mostly ignored.

Keeping her light grey hood up and hiding her bright out of place hair, and adding her worn jeans to her wear, Claire blended in well with Lucis, not drawing any attention to herself what so ever. So her knowledge, most of the civilians didn't know her appearance, only a princess by name that came from Niflheim. She felt that it was pretty safe for her to walk around in broad daylight.

Noctis on the other had, she had a feeling he didn't go out too much, or got the chance to get often.

Dressed in a flashy leather jacket, blue jeans, and sunglasses; the future queen felt that her king could have dressed better for the occasion, something a little more worn to match with the world outside. But she supposed it was good enough since he wasn't attracting as much attention as she feared at first. Cracking a smile at her nerves, she casually asked him, "So, what are some of the great wonders of Lucis?" Looking up at the stores and the wide streets, she could tell already that there were a wide variety of stores and attractions, and most where to be found here in the capitol close to the royals.

Niflheim was a little broader in comparison, and not as tightly packed as since. While relaxing, Claire suspected that with the right amount of tension, this city could feel very... caging. She wondered if Noctis would feel that Niflheim was too open perchance if he ever went under extreme measures.

"Uh," was the first intelligent thought that came out of his mouth as he slowly walked down the street with her, frowning as he tried to think of what she would like or be interested in. It was hard to guess since he only knew that Niflheim was an old war country, and were traditionalists. Well, most were. Claire and her family seemed open to change so long as what was important to them remained the same.

So what would an open traditionalist like in and open and ever changing city?

"Well there's Lucis' History Museum, aquarium... though its not as grand as Niflheim's or Accordo's I'm sure. Both live on the coast so have a better access." So probably not the aquarium since anything had probably paled in comparison...

"I got it!" Noctis exclaimed, catching Claire off guard with the explanation.

Ignoring her imploring look, he took her hand and lead her towards Mars street, knowing that would have entertainment that she would be familiar with and would probably enjoy out of everything else here. "Dad considered closing this place down a few times," he rambled as he lead her through the people, "but too many people enjoyed going for it to get closed down. It's only staying up for now with high security and promise that the merchandise will never leave the building."

"Where are we going?" Claire wondered.

Noctis just flashed her a smile as he pulled her along, stopping only when they reached the desired building. Her eyes wide at the sight of it, her smile grew as she went up to it without him, eager to experiment.

Lucis only building where it was allowed to shoot guns. Often frequented retired officers and guards, or frustrated moms that needed to vent by shooting at billboards; it seemed like the perfect place for a Niflhem to hang. As a war country, they were open and fond of all sorts of weapons, from blades, to staves, and to guns.

It really was an ideal place to start out their date.

When they were both registered and signed, they stood in a shared booth, two guns that Noctis didn't know laid out patiently before them, with Claire adjusting her headphones and goggles. Around them, loud bangs could be heard from everywhere, making Noctis instinctively twitch at each one, though Claire hardly batted an eye.

"Know how to use a gun?" she shouted over to him.

"Not really," he shouted back, a little nervous to hold and use it as he eyed the weapon. With guns being banned in Lucis, he never had a need or chance to learn how to use one. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to know.

But Claire was eager to teach, he could tell by the gleam in her pale blue eyes. "Its all in the wrists and eyes," she told him, jerking her hand up as an example. "To shoot a perfect shot, you need a good sense of balance, technique, and quite a bit of practice. And no two guns are alike. These two," she tapped the booth where the two small guns lay, "are handguns. Pistols to be precise. They are used for close targets, shotguns and rifles are used to long ranged, which is why we're not using those today."

"Why are we wearing goggles?" Noctis shouted, he could get the headphones but goggles?

"Protects your eyes from hot gas, lead particles, and flying shells as they are shot out of the gun," she clarified easily, picking up one of the two guns and showing him the proper way of holding it. "Keep it facing away from you and everyone else, even with safety on, better safe than sorry. Have it tilted down as you unlock the safety," she went on, showing him by unlocking the gun by pulling the top of it back. Then she held it up with two hands and pointed at the target.

"Hold with two hands as you aim, your fingers clear away from the side. When it shoots, the gun will jerk and will pinch or scrape your fingers. Now keep you body firm and balanced," she showed him, setting her feet apart and bending her knees, a solid form for shooting, "aim well, and fire."

A lone loud bang erupted out of her hands and flew straight towards the target, hitting the figure in the center of their head. Noctis gulped a little at the sight. "You're turn," Claire said, unloading the gun and putting the safety back on hers.

Oh dear, Noctis thought as he shakily picked up his.

"That was a lot of fun," Claire assured him as the left, stretching back happily while Noctis rolled his sore fingers around, trying to ease away the tension from gripping his gun too hard.

Shooting a gun was a lot more work than he had thought originally. Half the time when a gun was fired at him, they just aimed and shoot. He didn't think there was more to it than that alone. Shaking his head, he asked aloud, "Lunch?"

"Sounds good to me, we spent a good couple of hours in there."

"Oh yeah, you were having way too much fun with that gun."

"It was a pretty good one, though not near as good as my gunblade."

He laughed, "I'm sure. I think i'll just stick to my swords though."

She agreed, "Guns are an acquired taste, most weapons are."

"So? Anything in particular you want for lunch?"

Claire hummed, tilting her head as she thought about what she wanted. Almost a little too quietly, she asked, "Do you have a sushi place? Or some sea food restaurant?"

"I think I have the perfect place in mind," he assured her. "And thankfully, its not far." Offering his hand to her with a broad smile, he laughed when she put hers in his slowly, a warm blush on her cheeks. As soon as their hands clasped together, they set out down the street, hand in hand, and side by side. Their shoulders brushing occasionally as Noctis walked on.

Claire kept her eyes on the city, taking the sights and sounds, trusting the prince to lead her to their destination. After a while, she couldn't help but ask, "So, what did you really want to talk about?"

Noctis started. "What?"

"Last night," she put in. "You weren't sure about something and you were going to ask, I guess us as rulers and you went with it. Was that really what you wanted to know?"

"Oh." It was his turn blush, though his was much dark than hers. Still, her own cheeks automatically warmed at the prospects that he could bring up. Clearing his throat, he managed out, "I, I was wondering about us. As a couple. Do you, do you think we'd be a happy couple? I don't doubt that we'll be a good king and queen. But as a couple, as a family; would we be a good one?"

Her blush died down at the question, a sense of calm washing over her at the uneasy question. It was something to wonder and worry about. She wondered about such matters as well. Would they be good parents? Would their child love them? Would they really stay side by side, shouldering both tense kingdoms?

"What do you think?" she asked instead, her voice calm and soothing, her own body relaxed against his. The same calming effect that Farrons just seemed to pass on to others with debates like this. "I think we could be good," he admits. "So far, we're getting along very well." He did think they were getting more comfortable with each other. Even if he woke with an elbow digging into his gut and she with snoring in her ears, neither didn't seem to have slept horribly. They both woke in a good mood and well rested.

"I think we could make it as a couple, but somewhat happy if not completely." If they didn't work out as lovers, they would be solid friends.

Claire considered his answer and nodded as she agreed with him. "I think so too." She held up their clasped hands, fit snugly together in a secure clasp. "I think we'll make it far and very well, as king and queen, as friends, and as lovers. I don't know for sure if we really were the best match for each other, but for what we love, I'm sure we'll do just fine."

There is no guarantee that they would work out, but she was confident that they could.

Especially if they both wanted it.

Stopping them for a moment, Noctis stared at her while she peered back up at him, curious as to why the stopped. For a small bit, it felt like they were at their wedding night again, seeing each other for the first time. Her eye lashes were long, her eyes sharp and sure, her lips soft and pale, lovely without any lipstick slathered on. Instinctively, Noctis leaned into towards her slowly, leaving it open for her to draw away from him.

She blinked in surprise before relaxing, catching him off guard when she leans up and meets him where he paused.

Her lips were as soft as he remembered, fitting against his perfectly and the movement, Noctis shuddered, forgetting here he was for a moment as he stepped closer, soaking in the kiss and enjoying the feel of her lips and soft body lightly pressing against his. When they drew away, hazy eyed and breathing hard, they smiled goofy smiles as they laughed and giggled at themselves.

Yes, they both thought to themselves, they could make this work.