A/N: sijdofkmsoidjmsdfoijsdkf that's how I'm feeling right now! I have so many things I want to write and so many scenes playing in my head but I've gotta get there first! Yikes! Hope you all enjoy. Please leave me some comments, I really love the feedback, it helps keep me going!

Chapter 14:

"Took you long enough," Cor grunted when Inertia reached the Citadel.

"Apologies, Marshal," She bowed a little, gesturing for Barrick to step forward.

"So, is it true what I've been told, Stroud?" Cor approached the young man, hands behind his back, spine straight, chest forward. He was at attention.

"Yes, sir," Barrick mumbled sadly. Inertia tried her best to keep her face straight, lest she betray any hint of sympathy for the traitor. But the world wasn't black or white, not really - there were plenty of places where the colors collided, where the hues mixed. Shades of gray were everywhere. People merely chose not to see them. Barrick was neither good, nor bad; he was human. Stuck in a gray place of his own.

A gray place.

She liked that.

She felt as though she'd spent her entire life there.

"I see," Cor sounded sad, disappointed even, and turned his back to him without another word. "If you'll follow me."

Their short trek through the Citadel was quiet, and there was a heaviness in the air that made her feel as though she were wading through a swamp. With every step she took, dread lined the innards of her stomach, and apprehension closed her throat. She didn't want this. Looking at the broken boy beside her - because that's what he was, not a man, but a boy, a kid faced with an impossible decision - she wished she'd never taken Cor's mission at all.

It was only a small ways to the throne room, and Regis already sat waiting upon the throne.

"Good evening, your Majesty," Cor offered a bow, and Inertia and Barrick both followed suit, without pause.

"Good evening, Cor," Regis looked from him to Inertia and her charge. "And good evening to you both, as well."

"Apologies for bothering you at such an hour, your Highness," Inertia offered her own small consolation. He raised a hand, silencing her.

"It's no bother, Lady Izunia," He assured her. "This is merely yet another part of a King's duty." He paused, and looked to Barrick. "Shall we begin?"

King's Knight was more than just a game to them.

It started as a hobby, some mobile app Prompto had introduced to Noctis, but as their obsession grew, so did his retainers' interest in what was taking up all their time.

It hadn't been long before they'd been absorbed too.

But King's Knight wasn't much of a consolation for any of them tonight.

They were all distracted, Prompto most especially. He couldn't get Inertia out of his head. Was she safe? Did she finish what she set out to do? Were there still Niffs somewhere in Insomnia?

"Hey, Gladio, Iggy… do you have Inertia's number?" He wondered aloud. All three of his friends looked up at him with blank looks on their faces.

"Um, I believe I do, yes," Ignis was the first to answer. "Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to text her," He shrugged, voice small. "Just to see if she's ok."

"Are you still worried about that?" Noctis groaned, tossing his phone in the couch. "She can take care of herself, from what you all tell me."

"Still can't get over Luna's right hand could kick my ass if she wanted to," Gladio whistled. "Then again, I might like it."

"Don't be crass," Ignis scolded him. "Prompto, Nyx assured us all she should be fine, wherever she may be."

"Can you just humor me, for once?" He whined. Ignis capitulated, tossing him his phone so Prompto could copy her number into his own. "Thanks, Iggy."

"Don't blow up her phone too much," Noctis warned with a laugh. "You don't wanna seem clingy."

"Prompto? Clingy? Never," Gladio taunted.

He was hardly listening now, trying to figure out what to say to her.

Hi, it's Prompto… are you safe?

No. Too desperate.

Hey Inertia, it's Prompto. Just checking in.

Checking in? What, was she his employee?

It's Prompto, r u ok?

No, chat speak was embarrassing.

"For the love of - Give it here!" Gladio barked at him. Jumping out of his skin, he tossed his phone to Gladiolus, then tossed Iggy's phone back at him, too. He waited while Gladio punched something in, tossing it back.

"You're welcome," He rolled his eyes. "Can we get back to King's Knight now?"

The four of them nodded, reopening the app. Prompto had to check what Gladio had sent her first, though.

Inertia, it's Prompto. I've been worried. Let me know if you're alright.

"How do you answer to the charges against you?" Regis spoke with authority, looking to Barrick for an answer.

"Guilty, sir," Barrick hung his head in shame, a drunken hiccup escaping his lips. Inertia's face and heart fell in kind; this was no way for this young man's life to end.

"You do realize you're pleading guilty to treason?" Cor offered gently. It was the first time she'd seen the Marshal's kindness, though she knew it was there all along. "You still have the right to a fair trial."

"What's the point?" Barrick mumbled. "We all know I did it. Just get it over with."

"Your Majesty," Inertia stepped forward cautiously, allowing her voice to carry itself to Regis's ears. He cocked his head in curiosity at her.

"Yes, Lady Izunia?" He tapped his cane to the floor. "Do you wish to speak on Barrick Stroud's behalf?"

"I do," She nodded. She felt Barrick's hand on her arm, and he was shaking his head vehemently, but she ignored him, stepping further forward and out of his reach.

"Do you wish to refute the charges laid against him?" Cor wondered aloud. Inertia shook her head.

"No, sir, I do not," She hesitated. "Though I do wish to protest his culpability in the matter."

"And how do you figure that?" Regis inquired. He was neither sarcastic nor bombastic; he was genuinely curious.

"My King, this man, he's little more than a teenager," She gestured towards Barrick. "How old are you, sir?"

"Twenty-one," He mumbled meekly. Younger than her by a year.

"He has 9 younger, starving siblings at home whose mouths go un-fed by parents plagued with poverty," She continued on. "No disrespect intended to your wonderful city, but this poverty is of an institutionalized origin, is it not?"

"We're not here to debate the state of the Crown City's economy, Inertia," Cor protested. Regis raised a hand again, silencing his Marshal.

"Cor, let her speak," He asked gracefully. The Marshal nodded, and she released the breath she'd been holding.

"This boy sought martial employ to feed his family," She looked to Barrick, whose head hung low. "Niflheim took advantage of his situation by threatening to kill every one of these family members, the selfsame family members whose well being he puts before his own. They are the very reason he's a Glaive today. What choice did he have but to comply? Should he have rebuffed the Empire, his family would be dead."

"And what chance would the Empire have of penetrating our borders," Cor offered.

She whipped her head around to face him.

"A notion that goes disproven by the thirteen dead Insomnians lying in the ruin of the Roadhouse this evening," She spat at him. His face grew somber, his eyes darting away from her own. "Stand in their ashes and ask the ghosts how useful your defenses were against the Empire."

"He facilitated their entry," Cor argued, a little angry at her insubordination. "Without his compliance, they never would have infiltrated the city at all."

"And if not him, they would have found someone else," She turned back to Regis, then, pleading with her eyes. "They would have leveraged another innocent Glaive into gaining entry to the city. And then his family truly would have been in danger. Allow me to ask you this, your Majesty: when faced with an impossible choice, what decision do you make? Do any of us make?"

Regis didn't answer her. He merely sat, quiet, in contemplation. She took the opportunity to continue speaking.

"You are a good and just King," She conceded. "And so, I beg of you, see reason in this. Executing this man for his crime solves not the problem that faces us here tonight."

"So what would you have me do?" Regis looked to her as an equal, then. Not as a King, not as a superior, but as a man to a comrade, an advisor, a friend. She appreciated the display of trust.

"He should be removed from the Glaives, without a doubt," She agreed. Barrick hiccuped again beside her. "But do not execute him. Let him atone for his crimes. Give him community service work. And provide his family a way to eat."

"And what jury would accept so minuscule a punishment as this?" Cor debated at her side. She didn't even look at him - she gazed at King Regis upon his throne.

"There's a reason you brought us here tonight, immediately, only in the King's stead," She began. "There's no jury here. No trial. This was meant for King Regis's judgment alone, because entertaining a trial means admitting to the public that the Empire is encroaching upon the city's borders faster than they think. Even before the armistice," She couldn't hide the smirk that danced upon her lips. "And you can't risk the morale of the people. Not so close to the treaty signing."

Regis stiffened a little, his jaw clenched tight.

"She's right, Cor."

"But, Regis-"

"Barrick Stroud!" Regis had risen to the feet, relying on his cane to do so. His voice commanded the room, and Cor Leonis had been successfully silenced for the first time Inertia could remember. She stiffened, back straightening, as the king rose, waiting for his judgment.

"Yes, your Highness," Barrick fell to his knees immediately, head bowed.

"You will be discharged dishonorably from the Glaives," Regis announced. "You will perform an indeterminate amount of community service for the Citadel… but you will be paid to do so. And we will see to it your family can eat. Turn to Lady Izunia and thank her kindly, tonight. She's the only reason you're still alive."

With that, Regis descended the throne, exiting through one of the many doors leading to the room. Barrick was crying, and hiccuping, and clumsily rising to his feet, grabbing Inertia by the hands, hugging her, thanking her for giving his family this chance, but she was distracted. Cor stood, hands behind his back, unmoving, unblinking, and she knew her evening wasn't over.

She still had the King to talk to about her own secrets.

The three of his friends had crashed on the couches in Noct's apartment after an invigorating round of King's Knight, and since no one really wanted to go home after the night's events, Ignis had gone and fetched the spare blankets from the closet that he kept there for reasons like this. After covering them adequately, he fetched himself some Ebony, taking his place at the large bay window that looked out into the city streets below. Insomnia was always alive at night, streetlights lining the city streets like a pinball machine, cars and pedestrians scuttling along like ants. He committed it to memory in his mind like a map almost every night he was here at Noctis's apartment. It was one of the few peaceful moments he was afforded in this life, where he could stop, and think, and breathe. There was something calming about the city at night, lights bright against the dark sky; a constant reminder they were safe from the Empire, and from the daemons that roamed Eos. The streets pulsed like a heartbeat, streets a bloodstream leading to a strong heart, the Citadel.

He didn't know why he was jealous.

Prompto's passing fancies of every pretty girl he saw were a bit of a custom now in their ring of friends.

He knew to expect it, just as the others did, but for some reason, it was different with her.

He didn't have time to be distracted by her, and yet he found himself thinking about her all the same.

Perhaps it was the way she committed herself to Lady Lunafreya, in such the same way he had committed himself to Noctis.

Or perhaps it was the way she outwitted him, could speak circles around him, and do mental gymnastics he had only ever recognized in himself.

Or perhaps it was her sense of diplomacy, her sense of duty and honor, and yet her enduring kindness, as he'd borne witness to when she'd spared Nyx's life, and almost given her own for people that weren't hers.

Or maybe it was just her smile.

He hated himself for his weakness.

He hated that he allowed her to interrupt him from his duty, his dedication to his work and his liege the most paramount aspects of his life. He himself was meaningless; it was what he gave in service to his kingdom that mattered.

And he couldn't do that if he was constantly daydreaming, like Prompto or some such buffoon in love with the idea of love.

And yet, the envy gnawed at his gut, slowly, agonizingly, in small, insidious little bites that would eventually swallow him whole, though not altogether at once. It was a slow, tenacious thing, this jealousy creature, and while he sought to vanquish all the monsters in his life, he was ill-equipped to deal with this one.

HIs entire life he'd successfully staved off feeling for anyone anything even remotely romantic.

And Inertia Izunia had broken him.

"Cor tells me you've a proficiency for the Royal Arms," Regis wasted no time in establishing the point of their little visit. He took a seat in an armchair near the far window, resting his cane against the wall. He exhaled in a pained way, and she could only imagine the exertion his body was under. He was a man of 50, clearly handsome, though haggard, as his maintaining of the Wall around Insomnia, and bestowing upon his Glaives his abilities sapped away his life-force, leaving him a battered, bruised, and broken man who was old beyond his years. It instilled in Inertia a great sense of admiration, and so it hurt her to know she was about to lose his trust.

"Cor is a dutiful servant to the throne," Inertia nodded at the Marshal as he closed the door to Regis's quarters behind him. "He wouldn't tell you such a thing on false pretense."

"But I'm asking you for your opinion, Inertia," Regis smiled at her, the crow's feet of his eyes feeling like home. He was more fatherly while scolding her than Ardyn ever was, and it hurt her stomach a little to admit it.

"I… have dabbled, your Majesty," She admitted. "But the point stands: yes, I can warp-strike, use magic, erect barriers, and access the Armiger like you and your son, my King."

"And how could this be?" He wondered aloud. "The Oracle's retainer being capable of such a thing?"
"I'm sure you're well aware that I'm the daughter of Ardyn Izunia, Chancellor of Niflheim," She conceded. Cor finally spoke.

"We've been aware since Lady Lunafreya first made you retainer to House Nox Fleuret," He pointed out. Regis nodded at Cor.

"I may share Ardyn's DNA," Inertia continued. "But I wasn't borne of his flesh… I was created. Grown in a lab. Somewhere in Niflheim." She pulled the charm bracelet away from the barcode tattoo it was covering, allowing Regis to see it.

"So you're a test subject?" The King inquired. She faltered.

"I'm… not sure what I am, to be quite honest," She fumbled for the words. "There were others grown, too. They went on to become the MagiTek infantries your forces commonly engage."

"And what of you, milady?" Regis inquired. She shook her head.

"Ardyn trained me for combat, infiltration, assassination, and reconnaissance throughout my childhood," She explained. "He possesses the same abilities as you, your Majesty."

"Does he now?" Regis's brow furrowed. "This is… troubling."

"He claims it to be some sort of neural implant," Cor interjected. "I fear the implications if they mass produce these for their infantry forces, Regis."

"As do I, Cor," Regis agreed. "Inertia, what can you offer us on the matter? Is this true?"

"It's… what I've been told, your Grace," She hesitated. "Though I doubt it to be veritable."

"And why is that?" He encouraged her to go on.

"Well, sir, I grew up in a research facility until the age of thirteen, and, generally, neural implants leave behind certain side or residual effects," She explained. "None of which I have ever observed in Ardyn or myself."

"We should investigate the matter," Cor spoke up again. "This does not sit well with me."

"Nor I," Regis hesitated. "Cor, begin an inquiry at once."

"Of course," Cor bowed, and saw himself out. Inertia paused, unsure if she was meant to leave, too.

"Inertia, you are free to go. Though first, allow me this," He rose again from his seat, fetching his cane for aid. He limped to her, placing a strong hand on her shoulder. "I do not doubt your integrity, nor your allegiance. You have proven yourself a strong ally in the name of Lady Lunafreya. But I can see this troubles you. Where does your heart lie? Can I ease some of your burden?"

His kindness touched her heart, and she struggled to blink the tears away that welled up in her eyes.

"Thank you, my King," She bit her lip. "But please, do not ask me where my heart lies. My loyalty is with you and your son, with Lunafreya, with Lucis, and with Tenebrae. But my heart…" She tried to ignore the burning of her eyes. "You'd need to salvage the thousands of broken pieces of it and put it back together again before I could tell you where it belonged."

With that, she exited his quarters, letting the tears fall freely as she escaped to her own apartment, devastated by all she'd lost, both today, and in the past.

Lady Inertia,

I respect what you did today on behalf of the Kingdom of Lucis. Please know I hold you in the highest regard, and I would like to ask forgiveness of my distrust of you prior to this foray into Niflheim's ill-intent. If you would, by order of King Regis himself, you are welcome to train with me, the Crownsguard, and the Glaives any day.

-Cor Leonis

She smiled to herself, closing her email for the night. She had a feeling Regis had coerced the Marshal into sending such a correspondence, but she knew Cor's heart was in the same place, albeit his words were a little fancy for his mouth. She was exhausted, and every part of her body hurt, but her mind was racing, and she knew sleep wouldn't come for awhile yet. Kicking off her shoes, she made her way towards her bedroom, with no intentions of removing her makeup or even changing out of her dress before succumbing to the sheets and pillows that called her name. Though sleep may elude her, the comfort of the bed would not. Her tired body needed it after today.

Griseo yawned lazily from atop the mattress, and she rolled her eyes.

Glad you had such a nice day, she thought bitterly.

I accomplished much today! Some communing with Gentiana, you see. There was a twinkle in his eye, and she tried not to groan in disgust. Typical Messengers.

Absentmindedly, she checked her phone as she lay back, only to find she had several invitations for King's Knight multiplayer matches sitting idly on the screen. She rolled her eyes. She really didn't know why everyone enjoyed it so much. It was fun in small doses, but just another typical mobile app at the end of the day. But her texts caught her eye.

Inertia, it's Prompto. I've been worried. Let me know if you're alright.

She blinked.

Well, that was unexpected.

She wondered if maybe Ignis or Gladiolus had given him her number, and was a little dumbfounded at the confidence with which he'd texted her. He was so shy and awkward around her in real life, but he'd texted her with some real authority. Maybe Gladio helped write it, she thought absently. She snickered to herself. Yep, definitely sounds like a Gladiolus text.

I'm fine. Thank you for your concern. How are you faring?

But it didn't end there.

Another message sat in her inbox, lonely and unopened.

Forgive me for being forward, but I wanted to check on you after this evening's events. You are a strong, capable woman, but should you need someone to lean on, know that I am here. As are we all.

Ignis. Of course.

With a smile, she wrote him something back, a little dazed by all the concern.

I appreciate your candor. I was lucky you were there tonight, your help was invaluable. I'll try to get into less trouble going forward.

She sighed happily to herself, settling into her pillows. Was this what it felt like to have friends? To have people who cared about her? She had Lunafreya, of course, but nothing about their relationship was normal. They had to communicate through a talking, god-given Fox, for Astrals' sake. No. Maybe, just once in her life, normal would apply itself to her.

It didn't take very long for her to fall asleep for once.