Aelia didn't remember much of the trip to Tenebrae, only that it had been long and Noctis had spent most of the time sleeping. And it had been a shame to arrive at Fenestala Manor at night since the view when getting close was amazing, she knew that now that she had been there many times.
They had arrived late to Fenestala Manor and even if Queen Sylva had been there to receive them, their interaction had been short and the official one would take place the next morning. Aelia started feeling the jet lag kick in, but she wouldn't go to sleep until Noctis was safe in his own room and tucked in, as her father needed to send Cor and the Glaives away and was unavailable to do so himself.
Aelia sent Lysa to acquire a glass of honeyed warm milk as she helped her brother change into his sleepwear. After tucking him in and having him drink at least half of the glass of milk, Aelia was about to leave as she wanted to go talk with her father before going to bed herself. But Noctis held her hand when she was just about to leave.
"Can you stay a little longer?" He said quietly.
Aelia smiled and seated back on the bed. "Yes. Of course."
She knew full well that it would be best for her to stay until he fell asleep. Perhaps being in a different place was making him a little uneasy, or he simply wasn't as sleepy as her, after all he had almost all the trip sleeping. She leaned against the headboard and Noctis settled his head on her leg instead of the soft pillows.
"Not sleepy yet?" She asked and started to pass her hand through his hair.
He didn't answer, just shuffled closer to her. There was nothing much to do but wait then, she really wasn't that good at telling stories, and she wasn't sure he wanted to listen to one right now.
Not soon after she fell asleep, and was awakened gently by her father. He was smiling fondly and he caressed her cheek as he used to do when she was small and fell asleep in her mother's legs.
"Finished already?" She asked groggily.
"Yes." Her father answered as he moved the now sleeping Noctis into the pillows and released her half asleep leg. "For tonight at least." He added resignedly and tucked the bedcovers safely around Noctis.
"Hm." Aelia answered tiredly. "Then, you better go to sleep as well."
"I'll stay with Noctis for a little longer." Her dad said, smoothing out the blankets, then turned to her with a twinkle in his eye. "Unless you want me to tuck you in as well?"
"I'll pass. Goodnight." She was sure she gave him quite the grimace as he smiled amusedly.
"Rest, my child." He said softly. She smiled, and waved exiting the room.
On the way to her room, she saw the Marshal walking away down the corridor. He probably was passing by or had been tagging along with her father before going his own way.
"Cor!" Aelia called and caught up to him when he turned to her.
"Princess." Cor greeted her.
"You're leaving tomorrow early, right?" She asked, already knowing the answer from listening in to the talk he had with her dad. But he was the last one she still hadn't given the Bahamut medal, and this was probably the last chance she would get.
"Yes." He answered. And why couldn't he be more expressive or inviting to talk to from time to time?
"Well… Here!" She said extending the medal to him a little awkwardly.
"A necklace?" He raised an eyebrow.
"It isn't. It's just a medal of Bahamut, it's a charm for victory and protection of sorts…" And why was he staring blankly at her? Was it so odd to receive a charm of good luck?
"Of sorts?" He said taking it from her hand and examining it.
"That's what the seller said." She mumbled looking at her feet.
"Oh? I'm indebted to the seller then, for my future protection." Cor said dryly.
"You say that, but you still take it." Aelia scoffed a little when she saw him actually putting it into his pocket.
"It happens that I actually like it." He dismissed it.
"I thought you might." She said looking up at him again, she was feeling a little shy, not expecting him to actually like it. "I've given it to the Glaives before and it works. You better don't lose it!"
Because if he didn't lose it, it meant he was alive.
He huffed and laid his hand on her head. "Alright, off with you. It's way past your bedtime."
Aelia scoffed. "It's past your bedtime as well, Marshal. You're the one who has to leave tomorrow at dawn."
Cor chuckled, but said nothing else and left. Aelia watched him go until he disappeared turning a corner and wondered if it would be the last time she would see him.
It hadn't of course, though she had heard he had been close to it a couple of times. But it had been the last time to see him for at least two years. That memory stuck firmly into her head because she had seen him laugh -of sorts- for the first time. Aelia was sure that was the moment she realized she had a crush for the man. She met Cor again on her second trip to Tenebrae, he had heard he had been back to Lucis a couple of times but she hadn't seen him at all.
In Tenebrae she had found a reluctant, irritable friend in the Crown Prince of Tenebrae, at first they had clashed but eventually bonded over the responsibilities that came with being born with royal blood and the shared older protective sibling thing. Yes, Ravus had become a good friend, probably her best friend as he was the only one in her age range, and most likely it was the same for him. And even if she was fond of him, she had felt the urge several times to throw him off a bridge.
It was rare when she accepted to spar with Ravus at swordplay. And now, as she rubbed her bruised arm she remembered why.
"Can we stop already? I'm sure tomorrow there won't be a spot that won't be green and purple on my skin."
Ravus smiled coldly. "Your swordplay has deteriorated."
She growled and flopped into her back watching the clouds float overhead. "Or maybe you've gotten better. You know, besides growing way bigger and stronger than me."
"Is that your excuse?"
"That's my explanation."
"A bad one." A third voice said. A voice she hadn't heard since two years ago.
She darted up. "Cor!" And sure enough, it was him. He was leaning against one of the trees that surrounded the training ground. "Since when are you watching?" Aelia asked suspiciously.
"It doesn't make a difference. I'm sure all the rounds went as badly as this one." He said walking to them.
"Marshal." Ravus greeted with genuine politeness, which was odd of him.
Cor nodded at him. "You've refined your counter attacks since last time I saw you." Cor praised, which was odd as well.
And of course Aelia wasn't scoffing in jealousy at all. Aelia had thought she didn't hold a crush for the man anymore, until now, when she realized she wanted his price and attention. If only a little. So she flopped again in her back, listening to the two men talk about sword techniques and what-not.
Aelia was sure she had been spending too much time with Noctis lately as his sleepiness had started to rub off on her. The weather was warm, but laying under the shade of the trees with a little wind was too lulling, besides her tuning out of what Ravus and Cor were talking about. She started to doze off, only to be awakened rudely by the nudging of a boot in her ribs.
She cracked her eyes open to have them meet the cold face of the Marshal.
"First you get beaten to a pulp and now you fall asleep? You'd die very quickly on a battlefield."
"That's why I'm thankful that there aren't many battlefields anymore." She answered, raising up and rubbing her eyes. She grunted in pain, maybe it hadn't been a good idea to just lay down after so much exercise and beating. "Besides, I'm just a weak little girl. What could I even do in a real battle?" She added sourly.
"Keep yourself alive would be good enough." He answered dryly.
"I'll try my best." She said while trying to get on her feet. Damn she felt stiff and aching all over already, she didn't want to think how she would feel in the morning. "Help me up, would you?"
Cor sighed, but complied. With one swift tug he pulled her to her feet. Aelia grimaced in pain, why couldn't he be gentler? She glared at him, and noticed he was smiling in amusement at her pain.
"Here, a souvenir from Gralea." He said and put a small necklace in her hand.
She blinked in surprise and all her pain and anger dissipated in a second. Aelia raised it up to see it more closely, it was a small Shiva necklace.
"Now we're even." He said, and at first she didn't understand it, then remembered the Bahamut amulet she had given him before he left for war.
She couldn't help but smile brightly. "So it was useful after all. I told you it worked!" She laughed.
He huffed and put his hand on her head. "It actually did. But you know what works better? Having proper training in combat." He said and pushed her head back, then motioned with his head to get back to train with Ravus –more like get back to be used as a practice dummy-.
Cor just had to ruin the moment didn't he?
He had left not long after, after correcting her strikes and swings until he realized it was useless. As soon as he had been out of sight she had sat down and pulled the necklace out to watch at it with what she was sure now, a stupid grin on her face, no wonder even Ravus had noticed her crush for Cor.
Ravus smiled sardonically, and it was more resembling a bearing of teeth than anything else. "Really, Caelum? A man twice your age?"
Aelia knew she was turning a little pink faced. "Anyone gets crushes at our age! It's completely normal." She defended.
"People our age do? That's probably because they don't have anything better to do."
"I feel bad for whoever falls in love with you." She said feelingly.
"I don't think it's something likely to happen, so your sympathies are wasted." Ravus dismissed her so easily, she wondered if he wasn't a glacial instead of a man of nineteen.
"By Shiva! You're cold." She huffed and returned to examining her new trinket.
Aelia smiled as she held the necklace now, she almost never took it off. It was one of her most precious belongings.
But spending so much time with sour-faced Ravus had indeed helped Aelia to see how she could shape her future in a way to help her family and the world. So she had started to work harder to understand the administrative and diplomatic ways of Lucis.
Her twentieth birthday was getting close, and now she had a more clear view of what she should do as the Princess of Lucis; she couldn't be like Cor or the Glaives, so she had started studying more politics and economics. Her father had allowed her as well to be present in some meetings with the Council, though he had been a little confused about her new found interest, after all they were rather -very- tedious things. Aelia couldn't deny she had almost fallen asleep over a few times, but she had prevailed and started getting an idea how this worked. Besides, it was a good way to spend more time with her dad without taking his time away from his duties, and someday she may be able to ease some of the burdens he carried and that Noctis would in the future as well.
Aelia walked outside the council room beside her father and Clarus, it had been a particularly boring talk about the recent rise of cost in the transportation of certain products from other countries. Why the King needed to be present for those she didn't know, but at least it had given her a better perspective of what some of the noble characters were like; sleazy old men and women for the most part. No wonder her dad always seemed drained after one afternoon of these kinds of meetings, Aelia hoped Noctis would be able to get rid of these kinds of people and fill the council with actual hardworking or at least competent individuals.
After they had made some distance from praying ears her father sighed. "I don't understand why you willingly take part in these Aelia. If I could, I would skip them all." He said with a small twinge in his eyes.
Clarus threw an unimpressed look at his King, who had quite often in fact, avoided many of these meetings.
"Well, someone has to, right? And in the future I can do it in your place or Noctis so you have more free time." Aelia said shuffling through some papers that had gotten mixed when taken in a rush to leave her dad's office, so she didn't notice how her father looked at her until he called her name.
"Is that why you're doing this?" He asked her, there seemed to be some guilt there and she hated to see it. She was doing this to help him, damn it! Why did he have to make that kind of expression? They have stopped all together in the middle of an empty corridor.
"Is it wrong?" She frowned and squeezed her hands, wrinkling all the paperwork in them. "Wanting to lift some weight off your shoulders and Noctis's?"
There was a moment of silence, then Clarus cleared his throat and moved beside her.
"I'll take those back to the King's desk." He said and rescued the almost ruined papers from her hands, using this to excuse himself, leaving father and daughter to talk.
"Aelia." Her dad said softly and she looked at his eyes again. "I just want you to live a happy life, and this;" He said, moving his hand signalling everything around them. "It's very hard to find it here."
"Then, should I leave you and Noctis to do it all alone?" She said indignantly. "We're family, if I can help you, at least in this I want to do it!"
"But at what cost? I don't want you to completely sacrifice your youth for me or Noctis. You left school-"
"I didn't leave it, it was just annoying how slowly it was going. Having tutors is way faster and less tedious!" Aelia corrected.
She could see her father was fighting the amusement off in the twinkle of his eyes. "You have no interaction with people of your age." He proceeded solemnly.
"They're mostly dumb." She muttered under her breath and now she was sure she had spent too much time with a Tenebraen Prince. "And I talk with Ravus! He's my age." She added.
"It's not quite the same as having friends to interact with more than once a year." He said dryly.
"But you know what they say: 'The friends that are worthy are the ones that you can meet after years apart and yet felt like you talked yesterday.'"
Sadly, her father didn't seem very convinced by it. "You can't just spend your youth talking to dried old men and women who like to squabble all day for a lack of better things to do."
"And I don't." Aelia said. "I spend time with the Glaives as well."
To be honest, it brought more dismay to her father than relief. Not because he thought them to be bad or less, but because they were people bound to a risky job, prone to get grievously wounded or dying. And one of those situations could be in protecting her. Aelia was sure her father wanted her to have something outside of such an extreme world, something safer, reliable to fall to outside the Citadel's walls. But she wasn't like Noctis, she didn't care for the simplicity of life outside the responsibilities to their kingdom. When she was in school, she couldn't bring herself to care for girls and boys whose only worry was passing some exams or having the one they liked liking them back. Hah, thought maybe nowadays that wasn't so true. Or listening to them whine about how their parents didn't allow them to do this or that, or how they weren't understood. To her they were just dumb kids that didn't know nor cared for anything outside the small bubble they lived in.
Either way, as the war with The Empire had started to dwindle when she had been around fourteen, none of the Glaives she was most attached to had died. But she must admit some of her reckless streak perhaps came from spending too much time around the magic soldiers, who had become some sort of glorified babysitters from time to time.
"Yes, you spend time with them, most of it training." Her father pointed out.
"Well, it's still interaction outside of old top lofty nosed politicians! And I watch them train, I would probably die if I tried to use so much magic, if any at all." She defended. "Dad, this is what I want to do, be useful not just to you or Noctis, but for Lucis as well. I really care about the Kingdom, and if the Astrals didn't want me to care for it I wouldn't have been born a Princess!"
Regis smiled softly, if strained. "I see you're already set on this path." He sighed. "If it's what you really want, then so be it. But mind, I still expect you to find friends outside and closer to your age."
"How about I take a trip to Tenebrae and spend some time with Ravus?" Aelia clucked her tongue.
Her father rubbed his temples and muttered. "You're impossible to deal with." All in good humour, because she could always see his inability to hold back his smiles at hers and Noctis antics.
But part of that discussion had put the idea in her dad's mind that she might work as an ambassador, in the incoming years when the war was to be finished a lot of diplomatic talks and deals must be made and having the Princess herself sent to it would make things work more smoothly. Aelia had jumped at the idea and soon enough she was sent away with Weskham again to Accordo and several regions of Lucis to start understanding how things worked. Maybe that's what had sealed her path to unequivocally falling in love with a man more stubborn and work focused than her.
Cor tried to focus on the documents he had just brought with him, it wasn't working. He kept going back to the scene of yesterday, and his conflicting desire to see Aelia to make sure she was fine versus hoping they wouldn't meet for several days -and that he would be sincere in it. His incapacity to move away from it was starting to irritate him even more than he was after a night of almost no sleep.
He sighed and rubbed his temples, then stuck one hand into his pocket and touched cold metal. Cor pulled out the damaged figure of a Bahamut stuck to a chain, as always it was cold in the palm of his hand. He stared at it and wondered again why he still carried it around when he had never been one to like jewellery. Not that he had known it was expensive jewellery when Aelia had given it to him. But he had ended up becoming fond of it, especially after it saved him from a bullet while fighting Niflheim. It had been one of the last battles around Gralea, and as much he had hoped that would be the last battlefields that would try his luck since becoming part of the regular team of escorts the Princess took out in her diplomatic missions he had been tried as many times as when in the forefront of war.
He still remembered the first trip they had together, it was in fact, quite memorable.
As they walked through the dilapidated buildings and quietness the Princess walked slowly behind him watching around all the ruins. The only sound was the crunching of the snow under their steps and the distant howling wind that passed through some of the tallest ruins of the city. They were at the east side of Riflhum that was completely abandoned, they would part from there in a car to the west side of the city were the talks would have place in the Castle of Hart. They were here because they had based here more Glaives and Crownsguards here than it had been technically agreed on.
"It's so silent." The Princess said, her hands buried deep into the pockets of her coat.
"It is to be expected. After some remains of the Empire's troops bunkered here not long ago." Nyx said. The hero of the Kingsglaives and Crow were the ones to go with her as her escorts besides Cor. Now that the war was 'over', most Glaives had been relieved of their service with handsome rewards and sent back home, the few that remained were now kind of personal guards of the Royal family.
"It is such a shame… I've seen pictures of Riflhum from forty years back, it was such a beautiful place."
"War does that. Cor said. Plenty of places in Lucis were destroyed as well."
"Yes. But now we're reconstructing… I just hope this so called Governors and representatives of Disera will want to rebuild their nation as well."
Cor had been sceptical of that, not because he thought the common folk were against it but on the contrary when they had reached the mostly intact part of Riflhum they had been greeted with cheers and great celebration as they reached the Castle. But as always the ruling ones who had been the pets of the Empire and grown fat from the misery of their people wouldn't be too eager to help nail the coffin that had fed them for so long. Cor was there to make sure the Princess didn't die or get kidnapped, not to voice his opinions over diplomatic matters. That generally was wasted time and breathe. What had completely convinced him of their insincerity was that the so called Governors of Disera had started talking directing at him their questions and propositions. Something that had not only irritated him but Aelia as well.
"I don't think you'll get much out of the Marshal, he has always been more a man of action than words. So don't waste our time." The Princess said while swirling gently her cup of tea.
Aelia was sitting on a comfortable and elegant couch, one leg crossed over the other and a ghost of a smile in her face. Cor was standing behind her with his arms crossed, mostly ignoring the idiots sitting at the other side of the coffee table. The two Glaives were outside the room, per request of the Governors. That just made Cor more alert for any potential danger, even if the two old sticks-in-the-mud didn't represent any actual danger, one being an obese man and the other a skeletal woman who used a cane.
The man cleared his throat and laughed, his jowl shook under his face. "Of course Princess, we meant no offense of course! But you see, we are used to dealing with older representatives."
"Just like the new Empress of Niflheim?" Aelia said and Cor couldn't help but stop himself for smiling at the way the woman gripped her bird cane and the man seemed to have a sudden stomach ache. Aranea Highwind, the new victor of the war against Aldercapt and just a few years older than the Lucian Princess, was clearly a topic they didn't find pleasant. The new Empress was an ally of Lucis and was eagerly hunting down the last remains of the supporters of the old order.
"Clearly you're ignoring the terms by which I came here to negotiate or you didn't want to hold to them from the beginning. So then, may I know your reason for holding such a meeting?" The Princess continued, ice-cold was lasing her words now.
Still to this day Cor felt sickened by the lame response the both of them gave, something about situations changing unexpectedly after the initial agreement of the terms. So they had decided to have the meeting changed for the next day. Of course it had been just an excuse to do exactly what Cor had been expecting since the start, so at least they hadn't been caught unaware nor unprepared.
Aelia was sitting by the window watching the snow fall, a book forgotten in her lap. Nyx and Crow were playing cards in a corner near the door of the room. The clock struck the twelfth hour of the night, Cor finished polishing his swords after sharpening them and sheathed them again. There was a strong fire burning in the fireplace, which for Cor and he knew for the Glaives as well was unnecessary as they already were accustomed to the cold from the times fighting in such weather and even colder, but the Princess wasn't, hence the fire.
"Do you really think they are going to try something?" Crow asked, throwing her cards on the table after winning for the fifth time in a row.
"If they are, they are taking their damn long time." Nyx said stretching and yawning, losing was entertaining just for so long.
"Maybe I was overthinking it." Aelia said from the window. "But their 'change of heart' was too obvious, showing they actually didn't plan to cooperate from the beginning. They don't want to be part of the new Empire, yet they don't want our help either when their people already do."
"They know you want them out of their position as bad as the new Empress." Cor said. "They were hoping to win time in case Verstael manages to make a strong enough comeback."
"Which he won't." Nyx added and started to shuffle the cards again. Then he froze and turned sharply towards the window as he reached for his kukri.
"Princess! Move!" Nyx shouted and it was a good thing Cor had been just besides Aelia, because he reacted as soon the Glaive had reached for his kukri and shoved the Princess down.
The window shattered and shards flew all over the room, the lights were cut out, and only the fireplace shed illumination into what was happening. Several bodies had entered the room through the windows, bodies that had no business being so far east. Magiteck soldiers.
Cor had expected something to happen, but the puppets of Verstael had been the last he expected, much less that Glauca was there as well. The armour of the general was reflecting the dancing flames, both from the fireplace and from the Glaives who hadn't wasted their time. Fire was always a good cover to blind your enemies, Cor didn't waste time and unsheathed his first katana. Just in time to block the advancing general, the hit made his teeth clench and his bones complain. Whatever powered up that thing was no joke, even if it wasn't the first time fighting him, Cor still wished he had more than two Glaives at hand as reinforcement.
Glauca pushed down his great sword and Cor used his momentum to throw him to one side, he staggered but not enough. Glauca's backhanded him and it smashed against his shoulder, it threw him against the wall leaving him momentarily stunned. But he moved it time to avoid being run through, the sword of Glauca stuck slightly into the wall and it was good that Nyx had finished with the Magiteck soldiers for the moment, because he sent a wave of ice magic to secure the great sword into the wall, at least for the time being.
Cor's job wasn't to take down Glauca, it was to make sure the Princess was safe, so he turned to search for her in the room. She was behind Crow, a rifle on hand and shooting whoever wasn't already being taken care of by her bodyguards. But in that moment Glauca did what they weren't expecting, he forgo his sword and just as Cor had found the Princess so did he. Then he jumped against the Glaive guarding her and barrelled her against the floor, knocking her unconscious as she hadn't been fast enough to react and pull a shield to protect herself.
Aelia gasped at the massive General now standing in front of her, Cor cursed and jumped over the bed just as Nyx's kukri flew against the wall behind the Princess and he warped. Glauca already had grasped the Princess by the neck but after a well-placed kick to his own neck by Nyx he was forced to release her. Cor lost no time and slashed with all his strength at the arm of the General, he felt metal screeching against each other then give way and he knew he had succeeded to at least scratch the skin under the armour.
Incensed, Glauca stepped back and a stand still fell between the four standing individuals in the room. The Princess was stooped besides Crow trying to shake her awake, Aelia was holding her neck out of pain or shock for being seized from there he didn't know. Either way this didn't paint well, they were down one man and someone had to take the Princess away to their safe-house were more Glaives and Crownsguards where awaiting to be called when they were needed, but most likely they were already on the move.
Time moved again and Glauca jumped back for his sword, Nyx warped there faster and shocked him with some lightning before trying to stab him were Cor had nicked the armour. Cor meanwhile moved to the Princess and pulled her to her feet as she crushed a Potion over Crow, who almost immediately came awake, and he just hoped it wouldn't tax Aelia too much the use of it. Meanwhile Nyx succeeded in stabbing the General and a guttural scream of pain resounded in the closed walls, then Nyx was thrusted violently outside from one of the still-standing windows.
Cor was sure he would survive just fine the fall from the third story fall, but it wouldn't be so soon he would re-join the fight as he had taken a glimpse from outside and there were more Magiteck troops outside, besides some heavy looking vehicles. But the Hero had purchased enough time for his fellow Glaive to stand again.
"Ah! Hell, this is going to shit very quickly!" Crow muttered while summoning a quite impressive burst of lightning, much powerful than Nyx's last one. They didn't waste time after Glauca was staggered and Crow pulled the Princess out and down the corridor of the Castle, Cor took the rear knowing it would be seconds before he had to turn around and make time for the Princess and her escort.
Just so, the wall between him and the Princess broke apart and Glauca jumped from between the flying debris. Cor made a fast slash targeting the wounded arm of the General, which he was forced to defend and thus making sure he didn't reach for the Princess again. Because now he was sure he wasn't trying to kill the Princess but take her alive, if not he would have already harmed her much more than taking her by the neck. That gave them a slight advantage.
Cor remembered that battle against Glauca being one of the most hard-hitting of his life, even with a wounded arm, he still had managed to best him by brute strength the armour provided and shoved him through the ground of the castle to the floor behind. He didn't remember how many ribs he had broken, but it were enough for him to pass out immediately and wake who knows how long after and making his way out of the castle trying to catch up with the Princess and Crow to make sure they had managed to avoid Glauca. After ten minutes or so to fight through Magiteck soldiers he made it outside where he watched thin unnatural tornados of fire some distance away. He knew immediately that they hadn't escaped Glauca and Crow was giving her all to protect the Princess.
Cor ran as fast as his broken ribs allowed him, making his way through the ruins of the east of Riflhum wasn't easy, but the marvels of elemental magic guided him well enough for him to find the place where the battle had happened. Since everything had turned dark and quiet not long before he found the place, he had feared the worst until he heard Aelia scream. It was half fear, half anger, and he rushed to see her struggling and kicking to get away from the armoured general. They were fifteen meters away, and the humming sound of a shuttle was getting near, Cor looked up and sure enough it was closing it very quickly. He wouldn't make it, it didn't matter how fast he ran.
Glauca pulled the Princess onto his shoulder, he was making ready to jump to the opening hatch of the shuttle.
"Princess!" He screamed. She heard him and looked at him.
"Cor!" She reached towards him, as if that could make a difference. Then a light shone in her hand. She was summoning a weapon. For what? She wouldn't be able to stab and make Glauca release her. But no. She was throwing the dagger at him, she was trying to warp and he clasped the flying weapon easily by its guard. He knew it was a low chance she would manage it, she hadn't been able to train at it for her incapacity of magic use and it required focus and practice.
But before he started to think how they would pursue the shuttle before it went too far west, she disappeared from Glauca's shoulder as he jumped towards the ship. And Cor didn't have time to brace himself properly for the impact of her body against him. Some wind was knocked out of him from catching her in his arms and his broken ribs definitely didn't appreciate it, but she had made it.
"I did it!" She said relieved then fainted immediately after.
Cor's relief at having her far from the ship was soon replaced by severity of the situation when Glauca jumped down again from the shuttle.
If he hadn't been able to defeat him when his ribs weren't shattered, what chances did he have now with an unconscious Princess to look after?
He put her down gently and took what would probably be his last stance, it seems they finally could take away his Immortal nickname Cor thought in some amusement. Now he only needed to buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive, as he was sure he wasn't the only one that had seen the light show put up by Crow.
Glauca charged at him and just then another light from a warping Glaive appeared and Nyx was there again. Cor blew out a mix of laughter and a sigh.
"The Hero of the Kingsglaives indeed." He muttered.
They didn't have to fight long before he decided to retreat as he had been informed Lucis reinforcements were close by. He had been relieved, not for the first time he was ready to make his last run and again not for the first time had he been saved by his comrades. If he was the Immortal it had more to do with the help from his alleys than anything else, well, and a good deal of luck.
Afterwards they had gone to the safe-house, Crow hadn't been seriously injured so no lives had been lost, unless of course, the Magiteck were counted. And just at midday of the next day the Princess had woken up. Cor hadn't know the details of her magic limitations back then, only that it taxed her greatly to use it.
"Up already?" Cor asked dubiously as she was looking sickly pale. Monica was helping her to a chair.
"Some elders of Disera asked to meet me." She said rubbing her temples.
So headaches and exhaustion was part of the weakness after using just a small amount of magic, Cor noted to himself.
"I trust they aren't related to the Governors of the Castle of Hart."
"No, they're not. They are representatives from Halima, Feral and Caloris. They were meant to be at the talks yesterday and that the supposed unanimous voice of actions were only the Governors from Riflhum was a lie. They were made to believe the talks were today, so they wouldn't get in the way." Aelia sighed exasperated. "What a damned mess." She muttered after a pause.
"You could just make them wait or leave them for the Empress to deal with them." Cor pointed out.
"Yes, I could. But then the only chance of regaining the independence of Disera would be lost forever. As much as an improvement Aranea Highwind is from Aldercap, she would be stupid to let Disera go if she can help it. They are the highest grain production region that the Empire acquired in the past." Aelia said and took thankfully a cup of tea from Monica.
"Won't you try to eat something now?" Monica asked a little worried.
"No, I don't want to take the chance to throw it up later." The Princess grimaced.
"Still, it's won't hurt them to stay part of the New Empire." Cor continued their talk as if it hadn't paused.
"I know you know better the mettle of their new Empress and that she would treat Disera fairly. But the talks and agreements were almost settled and you saw how the people where hopeful about it."
Yes, Cor remembered she had asked to sneak around the city for a little while before the talk. He had let her, as she had disguised easily as a citizen of Riflhum and he had heard the sincerity in people's words and hopes.
"We can't let the innocent suffer from the mistakes of a few." She said looking out the window into the clear midday light.
It had been then that he had stopped to think of her as a child, he knew she was just one more of the ones that left the carelessness and childish mind-set of the world behind. Even if she still had many things to learn, she wasn't searching for her own pleasures and entertainment, she was searching to help people. In some ways, even he had more freedom when he had been her age, he had travelled around with his friends, his brothers and joking from time to time when they weren't fighting. Cor knew she had passed from trying to fill her mother's place for Noctis to dive completely into the disgusting and annoying world of politics to help her father. The most fun she seemed to have had been at the times in their trips when she sneaked out in disguise and just walked around, eating and buying trinkets for her father and brother. But nowadays she couldn't even do that, the scar on her face too easy to recognize and hard to hide…
Cor clenched the Bahamut medallion. If only she had hurdled towards him rather than to a damned exploding ship like she did when Glauca was about to take her away… He sighed, it didn't help him get his bad mood under control if he thought of that. So he didn't and put again the charm into the inner-pocket of his jacket.
"Why did you throw the dagger at me?" Cor asked now that they were safely on the ship back to Lucis.
They were at the deck watching the setting sun, Nyx and Crow were again playing cards with other Glaives on their back, their bickering mixing with the sound of the waves against the hull.
Aelia lifted her head from the book she had been reading. "Oh." She frowned. "I'm not sure."
Cor stared blankly at her and she laughed.
"I think it's because I wasn't thinking clearly and suddenly remembered what Nyx told me about warping effectively. You have to make your mind jump before your body, so your body can follow were your mind goes, so the easiest way to do that is to want to reach the place you throw your weapon at as soon as possible. So knowing you would be at the end of the trip helped me focus way better that a random place of dirt."
"I'm honoured to be preferred over random dirt." He couldn't help but smile faintly at her explanation. She trusted him to protect her at any situation didn't she? It was a little naïve of her, he was just human after all.