Honestly, Clara isn't really the best when it comes to "brief." She gives way too many of the boring details and spends too much time making me look like a lazy bum, so I'll cut to the chase.

Eventually we made it to Hammerhead and met our mechanic. She was some girl named Cindy and I'm pretty sure her outfit wasn't up to code, but Prompto couldn't take his eyes off her, so I'm guessing it couldn't have been all bad. Clara, on the other hand, was not too happy with it and chose to go look around the local store even though we didn't have money. I agree that Prompto was being a little… well I'll leave that there, but Clara really needed to make up her own mind too.

In any case, Cindy introduced us to her grandfather, a real old stiff named Cid. I'd never heard of the guy- lucky me- but supposedly he was friends with my dad, which kind of explained a lot. He wasn't so bad underneath, even I could tell that much, but I was sick and tired of being compared to my dad, being called some 'strip-down, shrimpy prince.'" I knew I wasn't a great prince, I just needed him to fix my dad's stupid car.

Thankfully, we were strapped for cash and ended up having to fight some nearby monsters to pay off our bill, at least I could take out my frustration on that. I was always good at that. It was close enough that we didn't even need to take a car- even if we had one- instead just jumping a couple fences and running out into the open. The moment my boots touched the ground and I looked around at the vast plains and the endless sky, my frustration seemed to melt away. After growing up literally surrounded by a wall, there was something oddly freeing about being here, earning my pay and my name. I was still pissed with Cid, though.

"So, we just have to take out some reapertails, right?" Clara asked, walking beside us.

"Yeah. We've all had combat training at some point or another, so it should be easy enough. Just try to stay alive out there." Gladio responded, already brandishing his absurdly large sword.

"Look, there they are." Iggy said, stopping us in our tracks and pointing ahead to the first group. "Noctis, why don't you warp to the other side and distract them, so we can launch an assault? They happen to be weak to lightning magic, but I'd refrain from using it if possible, Clara."

"It'll be my pleasure."

"I'll do my best."

The plan pretty much went off without a hitch, so of course it was too easy. There were a lot of reapertails, like a lot, in the second group that we pursued. We used the same plan, but it wasn't quite as effective, and the others ended up getting ambushed by them instead. We came out on top in the end, but, by the time we were engaged with the last group, the sun was already setting.

"The daemons will be out any minute, we need to finish this now!" Ignis yelled, fighting off the scorpion thing that had him pinned to the floor.

"Clara, you need to use that magic of yours!" Gladio yelled, cleaving it in two and helping Ignis up.

"I can't, you guys are way too close, you might fry." Clara yelled back, swinging her own sword at another reapertail. It was odd, Clara had never had much connection with the crystal, but she had managed to pull a sword out of the Armiger- a name we extended to include whatever pocket dimension we put stuff in. Somehow she always managed to grab it without me feeling it, but maybe it was a perk she got in exchange for not being able to pull anything else out.

"Look, it doesn't matter, we've got potions and stuff." I yelled at her, stabbing through one more of the endless horde. "We'll be fine, just do it!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Clara tossed her sword to the side and it disappeared in a flash of light before she put her hands together, forming an arc of lighting between them as she pulled them apart. "Thundara!"

Clara jumped up, throwing her hand toward the ground and lighting up the whole area.

"You guys okay?" Clara asked, panting from one knee when the smoke had finally cleared.

"Uh, yeah." I told her, dusting myself off. "Which is weird, considering that you used fricking thundara!"

"I had a hunch… mostly." Clara said, motioning to her earring. "I think it's a ring of resistance- slightly modified, of course. It keeps your party safe from magic conducted by those in the royal family. More or less." She added that last part at the sight of Prompto's hair sticking up and sending static every time he tried to touch it.

"Oh, okay, even better. You used thundara on us because you had a hunch!" I fired back. "A hunch, by the way, that you wouldn't have had if dad had just told us what that thing was in the first place instead of speaking in riddles like he always does."

"Look, I don't get why dad didn't just tell us what it is either. Maybe he just hoped we wouldn't have to use it." Clara said, shrugging her shoulders.

I sighed, doing my best to release the insane tension that was building in my body. I'd come out here to ease my frustration, not make it worse. I could tell that Clara was just as confused as I was, but she didn't know our dad as well as I did, so she tended to trust him way more. I knew the kinds of things he'd hidden before, and the lengths that he'd go to hide them.

"It's not your fault. Just… don't do that again. Okay, sparky?" I said, lightly punching her in the arm.

"Sure thing. Next time I'll just aim for you instead. Save myself the trouble." Clara said, punching me back.

"Whatever the reason for the king's actions, I'm sure we can all agree he would certainly prefer you don't get eaten by daemons." Ignis said. "I certainly would."

Iggy's head was turned toward us, but his body was facing the direction of Hammerhead, where Prompto and Gladio were already half-way to. Gladio at least had the decency to stop when he realized we weren't following, but Prom was still barreling along.

"Yeah, yeah. We're coming. Right?" I asked, looking back at Clara and extending my hand to her. She gave me a small smile and took my hand, a sign that whatever had passed between us would stay there, if not disappear entirely.

We made our way back to Hammerhead just in time for the sun to set fully. There was a moment, just one moment, where the landscape was more beautiful than anything I'd ever seen. It was vast and nearly endless, seeming to glisten underneath the moon. For a minute, I wondered. What would life be like without them? How would people live, enjoy all that the world had to offer if the Scourge had never appeared? I didn't get a chance to think about it long- I never really did- as glittering pools of black miasma, splattered with purples and reds, rose from the ground, birthing daemons right in front of my eyes.

They seemed to pop up on almost every inch of free space; big ones, small ones, ones that glowed bright red. My eyes drifted to the large lights that somehow kept them back, to the fencing that no doubt surrounded even the smallest hospitable areas. Clara was standing in front of it, or rather the gap between the two sides, looking out into the darkness. She seemed almost entranced by the image before us. To me, their movement seemed random, ugly, but Clara always saw things differently. To her, it must have seemed like a dance.

Suddenly the world didn't seem so big, so vast, it looked like a prison- a big one. I wondered for the first time if maybe we weren't the only ones living behind walls. I thought of Luna at that moment and sent a silent prayer that, wherever she was, she was safe.

"Let's turn in for the night, the car won't be ready until at least tomorrow anyway." I said, placing a hand on Clara's shoulder and guiding her away from the street.

No one really slept well that night, so we got up early (as early as possible anyway) and, at Ignis' suggestion- which was happily backed by Prompto- asked Cindy if there was anything else we could do. There was. Just my luck.

Apparently someone named Dave had gone missing, and with the passing of the night no one had found him and everyone was worried. According to Cindy, he was a hunter and there are certain safe havens across the landscape, but the hunters had been swamped with missions lately and an extra set of eyes couldn't hurt.

The good thing about the area being mostly barren plains was that he didn't take too long to find, though we did get ambushed in the process. Turns out he had got caught outside while doing a surprisingly difficult hunt. (why did that sound familiar?) Eventually he'd managed to get to a haven, but he had a nasty run in with a group of beasts and got injured, hiding away in a shack to keep himself safe.

All that was just great, but the worst part came when he asked us to take on another quest: some stupid mutant dualhorn that had been giving the bounty hunters a run for their money for ages. So of course we had to track it down. At least we got some money out of it, and a flask for storing magic; we were going to need plenty of those if we were going to keep getting stuck doing quests like this.

"If anyone... asks us for anything else… we say... 'no.'" I said, panting for breath.

"Are you tired already, princess? I could take at least three more of them before I even break a sweat." Gladio said, flipping his sword around and making the light glint in my face. If I could have stood, I would've punched him.

"Would you look at that, there's three more right over there." Clara said, pointing to a horde of dualhorn in the distance.

"Yeap, those are dualhorn alright. Why don't you go fight 'em, big guy? Show us how it's done." Prompto joked from where he was collapsed on the floor next to Clara.

"Aw, hell no." Gladio said, sitting down next to them. "But I could take out a Prompto. Maybe two."

"Harsh… real harsh."

Gladio may have come this close to killing Prompto at least three times already, but I was glad that he and Clara were at least talking again. Besides, he wasn't driving anymore, so they definitely couldn't cause another accident. At least I hoped.

It wasn't even noon by the time we made our way back, but the Regalia was finally ready to go. (Not to forget the giant bird that flew over our heads; I was really starting to dislike the outside.) Cid didn't see us off, but I told Clara that she hadn't missed much. We took a picture all together in front of it, courtesy of Prompto. Gladio and Ignis stood on either side, while Prom and I posed in front of the car; Clara sat on the hood in between, legs crossed and dangling down the front of the car.

"Hey, prince! Can I bother y'all for one last little errand?" Cindy asked, just as we were all loading into the car.

I sighed, groaning and squeezing my eyes shut. We were so close. "Sure thing, Cindy. I mean, you basically fixed our car for free anyway."

"Thanks. It's just a simple delivery, and right by a rest stop if needs be."

"We'll get on it."

And that's how we ended up driving to the Longwythe Rest Area. Of course Ignis was driving this time, he really should have been from the beginning, and Prompto was made to sit next to him in the doghouse- or "dog-seat" in any case. That only left Clara and I sandwiched together between Gladio and the right-side door. Cindy wasn't lying when she said the delivery was simple, in fact we'd still be able to make it to Galdin Quay (more-or-less) on time.

Before we left, I got one last surprise- a pleasant one this time.

"Umbra! Hey, buddy!" I said, petting the dog that obediently sat in front of me. There was something tied around him, a notebook. A message from Luna.

"It's come time for me to leave Tenebrae. I wish I could express myself properly through this book, but I have no doubt that you must know. May the gods be ever with you, my love."

I knew the guys would get me for it later, but I smiled like an idiot reading even just those words. Underneath my usual exterior, there was at least some part of me that was so excited to see her, to marry her, that I was afraid I might burst. And parts that were just afraid.

"Could've used those guys a while back. (I'll tell you about it later.) Hopefully your journey will be better than mine. I can't wait to see you again. Don't know about gods, but I'll always be with you. Love, Noctis."

I loved her too much. I still wasn't sure when it happened, but I loved her so much it hurt. She was the Oracle, I was the Chosen, and that's not even to mention the Niffs. I didn't always buy into this "fate" and "gods" stuff, and I wasn't always the best chosen prince, but I silently prayed that my message would reach her. That if something had to happen, it would happen to me and I would see her first.

Umbra almost seemed to read my feelings, shoving his head under my hand in the moments after I reattached the notebook, before turning and disappearing into the distance.

"Take care out there," I said long after he'd disappeared.

"So… you're, uh, not going to tell us about that, right? Asking for a friend."

"No, Prompto, I will not tell you what that was about." I said, turning toward the car and by passing all my other curious friends.

This was going to be a long ride.

"Welcome to Galdin Quay."

Sometimes I hated cheery people.

I'll admit, Galdin was a beautiful island. The sand was a pristine white, and the water was a clear blue that I never thought existed in my life. I'd have to take Luna here someday, I knew she would love it. All we had to do was take the ferry and we were home free.

Of course the damn boats weren't working.