A/N: Sorry for the wait again, guys. I keep getting that darn Server 503 error. Super frustrating! I hope you enjoy this chapter; I have this habit of telling my stories through multiple perspectives and skipping time, forward and back, a lot, so if this is confusing I apologize! I hope to expand on what HAPPENED in this chapter more in future chapters... just bear with me! Much love :) And thanks for your lovely follows, favorites, and reviews! I appreciate any feedback you have for me. Enjoy!

Chapter 11:

Gladio eyed Inertia and Nyx sitting at the bar, nursing his empty mug, while also watching Ignis from the corner of his eye. He didn't like this. Nyx Ulric was her contact? About a potential traitor in the ranks of the Glaives? Everyone knew Nyx. Even if they hadn't met him, they knew him by his moniker: Hero. Gladio had always respected him; he admired anyone whose strength rivaled his own or that of his father's. So what had the Crown City Hero heard about a plot in the royal ranks? And why had he not heard about it, too?

Ignis cleared his throat, and Gladio snapped himself back to reality. He raised a brow at Iggy.

"Everything good?" He wondered aloud. They were already paid out and their tip sat waiting for their waitress on the table; but they had nowhere to go, not until Inertia's business was concluded and they'd figured out just what was going on.

"Fine," Ignis said curtly. Gladiolus opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again when he saw Inertia put a hand on Nyx's shoulder, laughing to herself. Ah. Iggy was jealous. He was sure that was a feeling with which he wasn't familiar. The poor guy was always so wrapped in royal business, diplomacy, scholastics, and duty that he never stopped to talk to a girl every now and again. Now one interrupted the very fabric of his being - his work - and he couldn't keep his mind off her.

"Ignis, she's getting information," Gladio said slowly, sipping from his empty mug. Had to look convincing sitting in a bar, in case anyone with ill intent was, in fact, watching. "Ease up, buddy."

"No need, Gladio," Ignis raised his own glass to his lips. "I've no attachment to her outside of our professional relationship. But I've a bad feeling about this entire soiree."

"What do you mean?" Gladio leaned forward on the table, like he was paling it up with his best buddy, instead of scoping out the place for anything amiss.

"Ever since Mr. Ulric sat down with Ms. Izunia at the bar, no one has come in or out of the establishment," Ignis murmured, voice low. He arched his head towards the entrance without looking in that direction. "The bouncers haven't let anyone new inside, or let anyone else out."

"Definitely not a coincidence," Gladiolus nodded his head, trying not to let the worry show on his face. Ignis nodded.

"I have yet to find more evidence to the malcontent I feel, but…" Ignis trailed off. "I feel something is amiss."

"Do you want me to shoot her a text?" Gladio rubbed the back of his neck, checking out the rest of the crowd. People were dancing while the live band played, servers rushing to and fro as they took orders of other couples and friends sitting at tables and in booths, just like him and Ignis. Little did any of them know something more nefarious was going on just before their eyes.

"Not yet," Ignis shook his head. "I fear if we alert her to our suspicion, she may blow her cover."

"Got it," Gladio agreed. His eyes swept the floor a little more, but he failed to find anything else to justify the unease he felt. Realizing how conspicuous it might look if the two of them sat here together in silence surveying the crowd, he broke the quiet between them.

"So, you're not bothered by her talking to Nyx at all?" He probed. Ignis scoffed.

"Why do you insist on this imaginary relationship?" Ignis crossed his arms. Gladio laughed.

"Just wanna see you happy for once, Specs," He taunted, although his words were sincere. Ignis readjusted his glasses on his nose.

"I'm satisfied with my position at Noctis's side," Ignis concluded. Gladio fumbled for the words.

"I get that, Iggy," Gladio continued. "But there's something a woman's touch can give you I don't think the Prince ever could."

"Surely you would know," Ignis spat right back. Gladio laughed; as prim and proper as he was, Ignis could dish it as well as he could take it.

"Hold on," Ignis cut off Gladio's laughter with a hand. Gladio snapped back to attention, falling silent.

"What is it?" He asked. He tried to remain nonchalant, taking another sip from his very empty mug. Ignis blinked, eyes hard.

"A new player has entered the field, but he's entered from the back door," Ignis removed his glasses, beginning to polish them. Gladio looked towards where Ignis's eyes had been, where he could indeed see a young man with a shock of dusty hair making his way through the crowd, flanked by two gentlemen whose faces were obscured by hats that shadowed their brows. As they moved through the bodies huddled together by the bar, he caught a glint of light play off of one of their holsters, and reached for his phone.

"Iggy, get ready to hightail it," He found Inertia's name in his phone, hardly even looking as he typed.

"On it," Ignis agreed, reaching for his coat and rising from his seat.

He sent one word, and one word only.

Abort.

"Look, all I overheard was a phone call," Nyx explained, sipping on more of his beer. "I feel bad, you know? Potentially jeopardizing a man's career, his whole life, based on something I mighta misheard."

"That's why I'm here," Inertia put a hand on Nyx's shoulder, trying to ease his reservations. "I can look into this further and, if it is just an unfortunate misunderstanding, than no one has to know."

"Yeah, I know… Cor's a hardass, but he's a damn good leader," Nyx slammed his mug down on the bar; empty again. "This kid, he's fairly new to the Glaives, name's Barrick-"

Inertia raised her hand for the bartender again, but Nyx stopped her with a hand of his own. With a nod, she let him continue.

"Anyway, I've been trying to show him the ropes, kinda help him along, right? We were in the armory polishing weapons together, and I left before he did, it was last Friday and I'm sure Cor told you I like to come here Friday nights for the music, but I left my phone behind, and when I went back to get it, he wasn't where I left him…"

"Go on," Inertia encouraged him. She wanted to give him her full attention, this handsome, earnest man seated next to her trusting her with this information, but the hairs on the back of her neck were standing tall, and her skin was beginning to crawl. She chanced a glance back at Gladio and Ignis, who were no longer looking at her, but towards the back of the bar, and she tried not to think the worst. A quick glance at her phone, and she saw no new messages, and she had no intention of leaving without information if she could manage it.

"But I could hear him talking behind one of the weapon racks, saying something about meeting a guy in a week at a club in town, and if he would have the stuff like he promised."

"Any idea what the 'stuff' was?" Inertia asked genuinely. "Maybe it's just a drug deal gone bad."

"I wish," Nyx laughed wryly. "Nah, he said if he was gonna work with a dirty Niff then he better make good on his promises."

"Oh… fuck," Inertia swore. That was, indeed, damning. Niffs weren't allowed inside the city. They couldn't make it airborne past the Wall with any of their MagiTek engines, or past security at the city's checkpoint on foot. How were they planning to get in? And why would a Glaive be meeting with one in the first place? They had no reason to be here in Insomnia.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Nyx grimaced. "Got my phone and got the hell out of dodge while I still could. Told Cor as soon as I found him."

"Did he mention what the name of the club was?" She wondered. There was a commotion at the back door that caught her attention ever so slightly; not a commotion like a riot or mob, but the entrance of a few more into the crowd, bodies shuffling to accommodate them. She took little notice, enrapt by Nyx's tale.

"La Traviata," He rolled his eyes. "Real high end, expensive place."

"And they're there meeting tonight?" She asked, reaching for her purse. She had places to go, it seemed.

"As far as I could tell, yeah," He nodded. He reached for her arm, then. "You aren't gonna go alone, are you?"

"It's best if I do," She explained. "Barrick knows what you look like, who you are. I'm an unknown."

"You're right, of course," Nyx agreed. "But I might feel better if you had some backup."

Her phone buzzed, and she chanced a glance down at it, not even stopping to remove Nyx's hand from her arm.

Abort.

She didn't miss a beat. Grabbing the hand that held her arm, she forced Nyx up from his seat at the bar.

"We need to move. Now."

Prompto and Noctis were the only two people moving towards the chaos, instead of away. Prompto wasn't really trained in the art of damage control like the Prince and his retinue were, and he'd be lying if he tried to say he wasn't a nervous wreck, but at the end of the day, he liked to think he was still a decent guy. He didn't love comic book heroes for no reason; in a way, the characters, the guys who were nobodies who got made into somebodies who saved people, helped people, that was who he wanted to be.

Guess he was starting tonight.

Smoke was rising from somewhere against the skyline, but he couldn't tell where. Girls ran crying past him, guys holding them up lest they fall in their heels, some on cell phones, some with eyes blank, confused, in shock. Only when they got closer could he tell they were right around The Roadhouse. Ignis and Gladiolus loved this place; Prompto and Noctis had only ever been for the food and music, but never the drink. It wasn't like they didn't ever drink when it was just them at Noctis's apartment, but they were otherwise pretty straight-laced, what with Noctis being the sole heir to the throne and all. Not a lot of room for young adult rebellion with the whole world watching all the time.

Prompto's heart sank. Wasn't this where Iggy and Gladio were headed tonight?

"You don't think-" He began. Noctis cut him off.

"No. No, I don't," He said harshly. He pushed forward, not stopping, and it urged Prompto on, too. Surely there was another explanation for the whereabouts of their friends. There had to be.

Suddenly, he was getting pushed in one direction, and Noctis was being pulled in another, and his friend with the lazy fatigues and messy black hair had disappeared into the crowd, and he was on his own, struggling to see past the bodies and the smoke.

"Noct!" He called out. "Noct, where are you?"

Suddenly, a hand was over his mouth. The smell of its wrist was nice, really nice, kind of vanilla-y, mixed with lavender or something, and the fingers were soft, but he didn't have time to appreciate it as he was wrenched damn near off his feet and backwards.

"Be quiet!" The familiar voice chastised him, and he blinked as she let go of him. He gaped, some gorgeous goddess in a little black dress looking up at him from beneath cola-red hair, long lashes, and blue eyes. She was shorter than him, and she looked dainty, all pale skin and long legs, but she'd grabbed him with a surprising amount of strength. Only when he squinted his eyes through the smoke did he realize who it was.

"Inertia!?" He gawked. "What…how… why are you here? And what are you wearing?"

"There's no time to explain, Prompto," She grabbed him by the hand, pulling him through the herd of bodies.

"What's all the smoke from?" He coughed.

"There's been an explosion at The Roadhouse," She didn't stop, continuing to pull him along.

"Is anyone hurt?" He asked with worry.

"I don't know. I hope not," She offered sadly.

"Oh…well…you look great," He mumbled pathetically, still in shock and awe at what was happening. Where was Noctis? Why was she pulling him away? Where were Iggy and Gladio? Why was she dressed up like this? Why was he so turned on in the middle of what he could only surmise was some sort of terrorist attack?

"Thank you," She offered halfheartedly, pulling him into a back alley. Smoke whisked past the nook between buildings, offering their lungs a small amount of reprieve while they caught their breath.

"Where's Noct?" He wondered wildly.

"He's safe," She assured him. She reached around, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and off her face. "I had Ignis and Gladiolus escort him to safety."

"Iggy and Gladio were with you?" He grappled with the information. "So they're ok?"

"They're fine," She put a hand on his shoulder, and his breath hitched in his throat. Wow. She, Inertia Izunia, lady-in-waiting to the Oracle, put a finely manicured hand on him, Prompto Argentum! If he were still in high school he'd be rubbing this in everyone's faces in the morning. "But the more you speak any of their names, the more you may alert the empire to their whereabouts," She explained. "So I need you to remain calm, and not implicate anyone from the Citadel."

"Wait… the empire?" He straightened up, her hand falling from his shoulder. "You don't mean they're here, do you? How could that even happen?"

"I promise I'll explain everything to you when we're somewhere safe," She nodded at him, readjusting the strap of her purse and tapping a heel on the sidewalk. "Are you ready to move?" He nodded, flabbergasted, and let her take him through the alley, towards where, he had no idea. But if putting his blind faith in a beautiful woman was the way he was gonna die, he would die peacefully.

"There's a Glaive waiting for us a few streets over. He can escort you home," She explained, keeping ahead of him by a few paces. Her stamina was surprisingly good, considering Prompto wasn't totally out of shape himself. Did she work out often as a retainer to Lady Lunafreya?

"And where will you go?" He wondered. She hesitated before she answered.

"I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"What?" He jogged a few steps to catch up to her. "What does that even mean?"

"Nothing you need concern yourself with," She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Inertia, you can trust me, you know that, right?" He asked, grabbing her wrist to make her stop and look at him. It was only when she did look at him that he realized he was still holding onto her wrist. There was something about the way her haunting blues eyes burned into his own that made his stomach drop, butterflies dancing all around as she looked up at him with a sincerity so pure it hurt. He couldn't take it anymore. Clumsily, awkwardly, he let go of her, the heat in his hand climbing into his cheeks, and he tried to swallow, but there was something stuck in his throat. He laughed uncomfortably, wishing he were anywhere but here. "Sorry." He managed sheepishly.

"No need," She smiled at him, and there was something sad about her eyes, but he caught it only for a second before she was on the move again, climbing over trash and rubble through heels in an impressive manner.

"You're, uh, pretty in shape," He observed, trying to keep up with her.

"I am?" She asked, surprised.

"I mean, it's not a bad thing," He tried to salvage what he figured she perceived as an insult. Stupid Prompto, no girl wants to hear she's athletic. That's like basically telling her she's a man! "I just mean, you're fast, and I'm running out of breath, and you're like, totally okay."

"I spent a lot of years running," She said, and there it was, that sad tone in her voice again. Before he could ask what she meant, they'd already reached their destination, and none other than Nyx Ulric was pushing himself up from off the wall he was leaning on.

"Took you long enough," He teased Inertia. She smiled at him.

"Argentum had a hard time keeping up," She smirked at Prompto, and he cleared his throat nervously.

"Ha… guilty," He managed. The Hero of the Glaives looked from him to Inertia and back again, and he couldn't help but blurt out the question before he could stop himself. "So, are you guys like, a thing, or something?"

"What?" inertia laughed. Nyx laughed too.

"Us? No," He shook his head.

"I just met him like an hour ago," Inertia was eyeing Prompto with a glint of mischief in her eye, and it made his stomach do somersaults.

"Oh, great, so…I look like a total idiot, huh?" He asked. He was laughing; if he didn't he might cry. Inertia shook her head, as if to say, Prompto, you're an idiot. Yes, he was.

"Nyx, get him home safely, if you will?" Inertia pled sincerely. "I'll see you both soon, I presume."

"Aye aye, ma'am," Nyx nodded at Prompto, heading in the opposite direction. Prompto watched, a little sad as Inertia went the other way.

"Be careful, wherever you're going," He murmured before letting Nyx lead him away.