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Veni Vidi Vici	By : Saber007 Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy XV Views: 1503 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XV, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Farsi
Keyli doostet daaram- I love you very much.
Man ghasam mikhoram keh nemitoonam to ro bishtar az haal doost daishteh baash. Dar eiyn-e haal midoonam fardaa bishtar misheh- I swear I couldn't love you more than I do right now and yet I know I will tomorrow.
Har jaa negaah mik onam eshq-e to raa beh yaad mi aawaram. To donyaay-e man hasti- Everywhere I look I am reminded of your love. You are my world.
French
Au revoir- Goodbye, until we meet again.
XV
"Oh, dear lord! Are you pacing?! I can hear the gravel scraping against your heels." Ardyn blew air into the receiver. "Do stop it. There is nothing to worry your gorgeous, little head over."
Imperatrix rung her hand nervously, mouth absurdly dry and heart racing. She couldn't stop moving.
The binoculars before her were trained on the Disc of Cauthess, where airships, magitek soldiers, and specialized equipment were prepped to combat the Archaean. The chancellor was on one of those ships, monitoring the prince's movements through what was left of the ruins from Lunafreya's journey.
Why Ardyn was even onboard made no sense!
What was he gambling his life for? Dark amusement in watching a boy flail around?!
He held no influence or authority in the military. She would be more suited for the purpose than him with her rank as a commander.
The presence of an actual commodore to oversee the operation was at least a consolation, it would've been a double boon were Aranea in charge, but the formidable dragoon detested the MTs and couldn't stomach any jobs with them. Androids she could bare, but not the enhanced, soulless troopers.
Imperatrix failed to cope with them for the same reasons as the lancer, their fates elicited guilt, disgust, and sorrow from her. Especially when two others could have shared their fate…
"Impera, stoppp!" The red-head wailed loudly into her headpiece.
"Gods dammit!" She recoiled from the assault on her ear, abruptly ceasing her pacing and pawing at her ear.
"Language, my dear!" The chancellor tutted admonishingly.
"Quiet, Old Prude!" The princess ought to have cursed him out for yelling into her ear, but decided not to be entirely immature.
"Testy, testy! Calm that fire and enjoy the show from Lestallum. It's sure to exceed Insomnia's."
Imperatrix fixed the binoculars, magnifying the scene of floating airships, and wondered which contained her imp. "You will not…kill the prince, will you? I need him alive."
King Regis's dying wish replayed in her head.
Walking a different path with her enemy's son. How to do so, weighed on her.
"As do I. My presence here is to ensure dear Noctis's survival."
"Among other things I am sure." She gasped after feeling the ground shake.
The other people at the onlook were in varying states of panic, some running to the railing to look beyond for the source of the natural disaster, some running for their homes, and some running for their cars to escape.
"And so it begins." Ardyn chuckled menacingly.
Tempesta and Nebula ran to the outlook, hanging over the ledge to gape at the rising meteor.
"I'm so recording this!" The fist fighter whipped out her phone, zooming in as much as the phone could. "Woah, look at the ships!"
She saw soldiers dropping from wires.
"Glad it's not us down there. Once was enough." Nebula leaned on his palm, digging into his coat for the light of the day.
Imperatrix balked at her retainers. "Did you two leave Nyx unaccompanied? You are supposed to be watching him!"
"He kept talking and complaining, I put him under. He's as out of it as the oracle." The gunman exhaled out smoke, flicking the bud in an agitated fashion. "The doctor will call us if either of them wakes."
"Put him under how?" The princess dared to ask, hoping Nebula hadn't overdosed the glaive with hospital drugs.
He wriggled one of his guns in response.
"Oh, thank goodness!"
Those tranquilizers wouldn't do lasting damage.
The gunman probably got tired of Nyx's uncooperation to get treated and shot him. The scarring needed a professional opinion this far past Alfred's original one, despite the glaive's nonchalance.
Painkillers appeared to be the only thing Nyx was willing to concede on with his abundant machismo. The wincing, headaches, and mental lapses would be lessened, and maybe the irritating sod would start behaving like a civilized individual and not a dog in heat.
Lunafreya hadn't opened her eyes, being labeled comatose and put under watch. Two weeks she'd been out of reach to the world. Whatever passed between her and Titan took its toll.
Would the oracle be changed when finally those determined blue eyes opened?
"Impera, my dear, are you listening?" Ardyn questioned with the air of someone who knew they were being ignored and was pettily trying to snatch back the starlight.
"I apologize, I was not." She cringed, mind brought back to the distant scene of the Landforger hefting the meteor on his back while simultaneously striking the land.
The aftershocks of every punch could be felt all the way in Lestallum.
"I asked if this is bringing up any unfortunate memories. Your breathing is decidedly uneven." There was no mischievousness in his voice, only the smooth understanding of someone well acquainted with the suffocating clutches of painful memories.
"Are you not afraid? To be so near…and so very reminded of your fragility?" Her words were jumbled and not entirely coherent as she gripped onto Nebula's free arm and he tilted his head at her.
The gunman shifted closer to the princess, offering silent comfort in addition to the verbal comfort she was receiving from the voice in her headset.
"I stopped fearing divine wrath a long time ago. There is little that strikes fear in this old, blackened heart."
"What does?"
"I should think that answer obvious to you."
"Enlighten me."
"Why, the loss of you, Dearest Musa. I might finally go mad if ever your light fades again."
Absentmindedly, Imperatrix squeezed harder on her retainer's bicep. An answer couldn't be mustered as the sky dusted red from the glow of imperial weaponry at work.
The princess took post at the binoculars.
Red beams of energy acted as leashes on Titan. Airships fired on him. All the weaponry did little to discontinue the god's roars and pounding fist.
The trembling ground made Imperatrix clasp onto the viewing glasses for balance, gulping fearfully at the explosions in the sky.
"Hoh! He's slapping the dreadnaughts out the air like they're flies!" Tempesta yelled, bracing herself on the ledge, phone still recording everything. She pumped her fist into the air. "Come on, you aerial whimps! Take him out!"
"Damn, I lost my cigarette…" Nebula complained, lazily crumpled on the ground and unwilling to struggle against unstable stone.
The imperials were the only ones foolish enough to still be at the outlook with the constant tremors. Everyone else had fled for safety.
Cracks were forming in various places.
The gunman scoped the area, mumbling to himself. "What are the chances of the hill collapsing?"
His acrobatics weren't the greatest, evacuating the princess out a cave-in would be complicated, but he would do whatever it took to keep her alive.
"Ardyn?!" Imperatrix cried, picking up the fallen headset and calling into it. When their was no reply, she checked her phone for connectivity.
The line became full of too much static for her to hear the chancellor's garbled words.
"Ardyn, I can't hear you!"
The call disconnected and her heart stopped.
A roar so loud and deep shattered glass, split the sky, and cracked the land. Buildings vibrated, tilted, or collapsed, pieces of earth jutted up, and cars sank below.
"Princess!" Nebula crawled over to Imperatrix, cradling her to his chest when she looked on the verge of hysteria. He was seconds away from picking her up and running.
Red was the sky. Gold was the god and meteor, a color so brilliant it blinded until it was no more.
The chaos ceased. The world thrummed with tense silence.
"Is it over? Did they defeat Titan?" Tempesta removed her helmet, pulling herself up onto the ledge again to see with her own eyes the disappearance of a legend. "No way…"
Volcanic looking land was on the horizon.
"So ends a god." Nebula stumbled up with the princess in his arms, also taking off his mask. He fixed his face into an approximation of softness. "Impera, it's over."
She looked from the missing disc to the city. "Lestallum wrecked and weakened…yet it stands. I am relieved."
A few braver folks ventured outside, bewildered and alarmed for the earthquake they'd suffered without cause.
Imperatrix lifted her phone, discomforted by the lack of signal.
There was no fleet in the sky.
What happened to all those soldiers? Were they alive?!
Her worried multiplied exponentially.
"Calm yourself, Imp. The chancellor slips death's grasp like no other." The gunman meant to swipe off the princess's tears, but he accidentally poked her in the eye.
"Nebula!" She whimpered, covering the afflicted area.
"Ehh, my apologies, Your Highness…" He bowed his head.
"Someone or something is always trying to maim me..." A tiny pout came upon her face before it quirked to an exasperated smile. "Let us check on the hospital."
At least two of her worries could be assuaged.
The hospital stood intact, electricity down and operating on limited back-up generators. New patients were being brought in and the lobby was a sea of commotion.
The imperials bypassed the general populace, taking the stairs to the upper floors. Each one of them cursed the long flight of stairs they'd gone up to reach the private sector.
Like the lower floors, the lights were out. Nurses and doctors shuffled carefully through the darkness, running periodic checks on the patients.
"Look at this bastard! He slept through an earthquake." Tempesta kicked at the bed Nyx was tucked into.
The glaive drooled onto the pillow, sleep undisturbed.
"Not surprising when one of you tranquilized him." Imperatrix droned with a deadened expression at Nebula. She set the glaive's arm on top of his chest, tracing her fingers over his bandages.
The urge to caress his face as she had in the canyon, was strong. Nyx wasn't so annoying when he was asleep.
"He was being a menace." The gunman defended himself, slouching onto the railing at the end of the bed. "I did the doctors a favor."
"Or increased the hospital bill." The princess grumbled, moving her attention to the oracle next.
Where Nyx looked dorkishly peaceful, Lunafreya appeared locked in a grimace of torment.
Was she in tune with the land's pain, with the Archaean's demise?
"Keep watch over them. I wish to see the power plant." Imperatrix ordered.
"Be vigilant, Your Highness. Lucians could be anywhere in the city." Nebula sank to the floor, getting comfortable enough to withdraw his handheld game console from his coat.
"Don't go getting kidnapped, Shitty Princess. Nobody's in the mood for that nonsense." Tempesta wriggled her fingers expectantly at her brother.
He wordlessly handed her a second console and she flopped next to him, cackling in anticipation for the electronic battle they would have.
"And you two refrain from harming our guests."
"More like freeloaders." The fist fighter muttered belligerently.
Imperatrix didn't comment, lest she begin fretting over bank accounts.
The urge for useful activity brought the princess to the Exineris Power Plant. She'd come to inquire about the state of the generator and would offer assistance if needed.
The women in charge of the industry looked too busy for chatting, running around in their jumpsuits with cords, cables, and all kinds of equipment in hand.
A rookie engineer like herself wouldn't couldn't contribute anything. Basic airship maintenance didn't translate to citywide wiring.
It was Saxham all over…
Uselessness didn't sit well with Imperatrix.
"Wait a moment…it is that girl." The princess focused less on the Exineris woman and more on the teenage girl standing out in her grungy, punk-rock clothes. "What is she doing here?"
The brunette in a red skirt talked animatedly with one of the workers. The words were lost at this distance, but the result of the conversation left the girl sulking with a massive pout and slump in posture as she was sent off from the plant.
"Why are you not indoors, Little Miss?" Imperatrix voiced once she was near.
The girl jumped, a childish noise of shock belting out from behind her horrified expression. She looked like a delinquent caught red-handed.
"Will your family not worry for you?"
"Nope, nope, not at all!" The answer was choppy and hasty, a sure sign of guilt. Her keychains jingled from her sporadic fidgeting, which was laughed off with thick exaggeration. "They totally trust me. I'm practically an adult!"
"You must have snuck out the hotel." Imperatrix surmised.
She'd seen the girl with a younger boy and an elder, possibly the teenager's brother and grandfather. Their looks had been critical and distrustful upon her arrival to the Leville Hotel. She wouldn't have paid it any mind if they'd honed in on Tempesta and Nebula, their masks naturally drew stares, but went unquestioned out of politeness. People wore stranger things in this day and age.
Oddly, the trio were fixated on her.
Lestallum was steadfast Lucis territory and many immigrants had migrated to the city. The princess and her retinue took this into consideration, dressing in clothing closer to what a hunter might wear. To the unaware they looked no different than any other traveller.
Could they have made a mistake entering the hotel in their simple disguise? Should they have dressed more appropriately for the higher-end hotel?
It did seem suspicious for hunters to be able to afford two rooms at the Leville…
"Might I ask your name, Little Miss? We have passed one another quite frequently." The princess smiled kindly as dread, then embarrassment zipped swiftly over the girl.
Whoever the brunette was, she'd been following Imperatrix for some reason. Her sneaking capabilities were so terrible, the princess had to stop Nebula from cornering the girl for an interrogation, and insisted he ignore the snooping.
One as young, and frankly, idiotic…couldn't be a high-risk threat.
Shades and hoodies worn regardless of temperature were hallmarks of cliche films and an utter disgrace to real life espionage.
"Um, it's polite to give a name before asking for one." The brunette gained a semblance of poise, wearily studying Imperatrix with too practiced of an eye, as if she knew danger stood before her.
"Yes, manners are a trademark of civilized conversation." The princess offered her hand in the western custom of a handshake upon introduction. "I am called Empress, but Em shall suffice. And you, young lady?"
Hesitantly a hand clasped over hers, brown, dove-eyes fluttered up at Imperatrix. "Iris."
"Like the flower? How pretty." She giggled, whispering conspiratorially. "Did you know, before the sylleblossoms became popular, irises were closely linked to Tenebraen royalty? People believed the flowers could carry messages to the gods. What could be a more perfect flower for the divine heralds?"
"No way. That's so cool!" Iris was enthralled by the tidbit of history, beaming in the way of an innocent with the power to steer away clouds of grim adulthood. "You're pretty knowledgeable, huh?"
"It goes hand in hand with travel."
"What brings you to Lestallum then?" The teenager's question was common and were it not for odd twinge in her voice and abrupt breaking of their clasped hands, someone else might've overlooked the unsubtle prying and just played along.
"Business that has concluded. I shall be leaving soon."
"And your friends? Are they okay? They're usually with you."
So young and foolhardy.
It was clear the girl knew on some level they weren't the average passerby.
Did Iris know they were imperial?
Was her identity as crown princess exposed? It would explain the following and now the probing.
"They are well. I simply could not sit still and left them to their own devices." Imperatrix tilted her head at the darkening of the sky and faulty flickering of city lights. "There was not…much for me to do…"
The princess wasn't responsible for this…was she?
Another city ruined…
"Em, hey!" Iris waved her hand in front of the woman's face, jingling bracelets snapping her out of the depressive train. "You kinda zoned out. It's getting dark, you should head back to the Leville."
"Those should be my words, young lady. Your grandfather is likely very worried."
The teenager made another startled noise, ducking her head shyly at the princess's sterness. "Y-Yeah, he probably is…"
"If you do not mind, I would like to escort you home."
"Oh, oh!" She was taken off guard by the considerate offer. "You don't have to do that!"
"Yet, I would like to. A girl your age should not walk home, alone in the dark. Not after the city has experienced an earthquake." Imperatrix shook her head, foot tapping impatiently. "Honestly, you should not have been out in the first place."
The girl wilted under the admonishment, obediently walking apace with the older woman.
The two didn't speak as life came to Lestallum from the power plant giving full power again. Once or twice, Imperatrix called or stopped Iris from tripping over fallen debris in her distraction of watching other people mill around, clean up damage, or complain.
"Do you have younger siblings?" The teenager skipped over a pipe at the princess's warning.
"What gave it away?" Imperatrix checked her phone.
Still no signal.
"The way you lectured me reminded me of my older brother." Iris lowered her voice, imitating a deep rumble and face scrunching into a serious expression. "'Stay out of trouble, Iris', 'it's too dangerous for you to come with me, Iris', 'I'm in charge now, which means you gotta listen to me, Missy'." She pouted, arms flying up in frustration. "I know he means well, but Gladdy is sooo overbearing! The big bear!"
They came upon their destination.
"It is an elder sibling's prerogative to be so."
Added to the pout was puffed cheeks and stubborn kicks to the ground.
"As spirited as you are, his overbalance is apropos." Imperatrix wryly appraised the perky teenager.
A miniature Lunafreya, if the oracle weren't so periodically frosty.
"Nah-uh! I've got a good head on my shoulders." Iris smiled confidently, only to squeak from a boy yelling for her on the balcony of a hotel room. She laughed nervously and waved at the princess. "I gotta go. Thanks for walking me, Em. You're…nicer than I thought."
Imperatrix narrowed her eyes once the girl was gone.
Who was Iris?
The princess entered her own room, sitting on one of the couches and slouching in it. She switched on her phone, breath hitching at the return of bars. Without hesitation, Ardyn's number was input.
She teared up at the familiar musical cadence of his voice. "You're alive!"
"But of course and I've even picked up some new friends." There were a lot inaudible protests in the background. "You're all so lively. The wonders of youth!"
Imperatrix took an educated guess as to who the company was. "Did you take Prince Noctis into custody?"
"More like safekeeping. A scorching death awaited them otherwise." His voice became distant as he addressed the other party. "Why, grant you safe passage, just as I said."
She listened to him converse with the other the other members of the prince's retinue.
"Come now. Is it fair to begrudge a man the circumstance of his birth?"
If she remembered correctly, the Caelums were always accompanied by a sworn-shield and a sworn-sword, similar to how the imperial retainer system worked. The shield and sword were members of noble families that served the Lucian royal family for generations.
What were those family names again?
"This instant? It's a long way down. Perhaps the army could break your fall." Ardyn chuckled snidely. "Or perhaps, you could simply sit back and enjoy the ride. You needn't worry, you're in good hands with me."
Whatever responses the chancellor received annoyed him greatly from the increased frequency of snarky barbs he traded. Hearing him ruffled for a change extracted a laughing fit from Imperatrix.
"If you'll excuse me, boys. I've been distracted long enough from urgent business. We can't all be so carefree." Things were quiet on Ardyn's side until he sighed dramatically. "I'm almost tempted to toss them out like they wanted."
"It has been so long since I have heard you vexed from conversation alone. Your pretenses crumble before a prince and his subjects?" Imperatrix switched the audio to her headset, arm numb from holding the phone and stomach clenching from her faded laughter. She laid bunched up on the one-seater with her head over the armrest and legs dangling over the other side. "Your infinite patience is not so infinite, Imperial Chancellor."
"Lets just say I've had my fill of angsty adolescents. Four boys as traveling companions for days is a recipe for exhaustion."
"Where are you taking them?"
"Near the chocobo post." At her disgusted scoff, Ardyn responded with a tut. "Now, now, don't be like that, Dearest. They've lost their precious Regalia. The chocobos are their only method of transportation."
"Oh, so there is an earnest reason. Thank goodness for that." She rolled her eyes, voice oozing sarcasm.
"We're going to have to address this phobia of yours some day soon, Impera. Chocobos are splendid and I won't stand for you bullying them."
"No, they are not! Eastern horses are better." The princess argued.
She would never trust the fluffballs after one threw her off and she almost died in a stampede of frightened chocobos.
The horses native to the eastern desert cities of Persia and Egypt were said to be descended from the Aithon, the flaming horses in service to Ifrit. To the north and south of the capital were the snow cities of Fellfin and Daneinar which boasted the breeds descended from the Sleipnir, steeds of Odin, the battle god.
Why care for wailing birds when there were resplendent chargers available?
"My mood isn't gregarious enough for this ongoing debate. We shall agree to disagree." Ardyn certainly sounded tired, a strange thing to associate with the perpetual eccentric bouncing with malicious energy. The man never seemed to sleep, always working or terrorizing someone.
There were the irregular occasions, hidden from the world in her bedroom, Imperatrix glimpsed the chancellor asleep. These were treasured instances where she could tenderly caress him and study him to her heart's content without any of the red-head's theatrics or flirtations.
When Ardyn did sleep, he did so like a man bereft of it, knocked out for an entire day or more. If ever there was a time to prank him, it was during this time. Unfortunately, everyone learned the hard way that taking advantage of the chancellor's snoozes was a surefire way to humiliation's lane.
He wasn't an imp for nothing, his title as Grandmaster of Pranks in the royal household had been well earned. Her father and Nebula didn't stand a chance against Ardyn.
"How fares Lestallum?" The chancellor asked after a beat of silence.
"It stands. They will require relief efforts."
"I'll pass that along to the commodore."
Imperatrix craned her neck up at the sound of the door opening and in waltzed Tempesta with bags of food. The fist fighter hissed when Pryna growled at the girl's approach.
"Stupid mutt, freeloading just like your master! Shouldn't even bother feeding you."
A bag of dog food was unceremoniously dumped in front of the beast.
"Do be careful. We do not need the bag bursting open." The princess said with an eye roll for how feral every interaction was between Tempesta and the dogs.
Pryna had been moody ever since Lunafreya went comatose, biting and snapping at everyone. Umbra was the easier of the two, but he'd run off a day ago. Explaining his disappearance to his owner was sure to be a disaster.
"Why do we gotta babysit so much?! Sheesh!" The fist fighter yanked off her helmet, plopping down on the couch with a burger halfway into her mouth. She distributed the rest of the food on the table. "I did not sign up for this."
"Neither did I, my friend." The princess caught a bag thrown to her, opening it to reveal a bunch of french fires.
Ardyn cooed in her ear. "Aww, are your charges exhausting you, too? One of them can't be that good of company for a minx like you."
Imperatrix coughed out the fry she'd been chewing, setting the bag on the floor. Tempesta looked up from her second burger.
"Ugh, are you talking to Dandy? Save the dirty talk for after dinner." She grumbled with a smirk, foot kicking at the princess's chair. "I wanna keep my food down."
"I was under the impression you had no issue listening to us. You always seem to be banging on doors or bursting through them."
The fist fighter hooted like a deranged child, slapping her legs in tune with her mirth.
"I am in such awful company!" Imperatrix groaned from her retainer sitting right on her stomach and still laughing out her lungs.
"Aren't you always, my dear? It's how you have fun." Ardyn teased.
"You are the absolute worst out of them all then."
He hummed in agreement. "And together we have the most fun."
"When you are not double-crossing me."
"Water under the bridge, Dearest. I am on my best behavior for you."
"How long will that last, I wonder?" At Tempesta's weighty bounces on her stomach, Imperatrix knew she needed to end the call. "Ardyn, I must go. A cat demands my attention."
"Ah, the dear Thundercat is stealing you from me? I shall't keep you then, those punches are unpleasant."
The princess glanced up, a blush entering her cheeks from the blonde's fanged grin making the freckles across her face stand out.
Her parting words to the chancellor were spoken in another language to stay private. "Keyli doostet daaram, Ardyn."
"Man ghasam mikhoram keh nemitoonam to ro bishtar az haal doost daishteh baash. Dar eiyn-e haal midoonam fardaa bishtar misheh." He took a shaky breath and Imperatrix ardently wished the distance was no more then a few feet for her to embrace him. "Har jaa negaah mik onam eshq-e to raa beh yaad mi aawaram. To donyaay-e man hasti, Musa."
"It is not fair that you speak better than I! How am I to respond as beautifully poetic as that? The words escape me…"
Her heart would burst from the fluttering of thousands of wings, the firing of thousands of arrows, and the unveiling of thousands of flames.
Gods! How muted and detached she'd become that falling back into their tide brought forth such surges of emotion!
"I had to return the sweet farewell you uttered to me, Impera. I swear, I very nearly turned around, joined you on the bed, and buried myself in you with no intention of ever resurfacing." Ardyn growled huskily.
"Okay! you two gotta stop!" Tempesta threw up her arms at the return to English. She yanked the headpiece from the princess's ear, shouting into it. "Bye, Ardyn! I'll make sure to put out the fire you started in Impera!"
A click and the fist fighter cut the call.
The princess wasn't sure whether to laugh or scream.
Her retainers did whatever they wanted.
"So, you and the red fop?" The fist fighter crossed her arms and legs, making herself comfortable on Imperatrix's stomach with no concern for her liege's groans. Her eyebrows hunched down and sky-blue eyes analyzed her best friend similar to how Nebula would. "Are you two on again or were you just being needy?"
"You are one to talk…" She muttered, shifting to get a modicum of comfort from their unorthodox sitting arrangement.
The blonde huffed, still waiting for an answer.
"I do not engage in flings."
"Okay." Just like that, Tempesta dropped the serious air.
"Okay?" Extreme skepticism wafted off the princess.
Were was the teasing? The inappropriate sexual remarks?
Tempesta was the peverted Besithia. No way was Imperatrix getting out of this conversation without some kind of mortification.
"Yeah, I'm fine with it. This means I don't gotta deal with a depressed, shitty princess. You were miserable for so long, which made me miserable, and that's not cool!"
Imperatrix smiled, springing up to embrace a surprised blonde. "Oh, my Darling! You can be so sweet when you wish to be!"
"Haha, I'm your favorite, right? Better than Neb?" She returned the hug with bruising strength.
"You both have your charms." The princess's expression teetered between smiling and grimacing, rubbing her retainer's back soothingly.
"Heh! I'm your favorite, you said it!" Tempesta decided on her own, pumping her fist at an invisible foe. "Take that, ya Geezer!"
Imperatrix sighed fondly at the younger Besithia's jubilation, laying back on the couch as the other girl bounced around the room, bragging nonstop to an imaginary elder brother.
XV
"Does it have to keep raining?! This is ridiculous!" Nyx cursed, wading through dirt and tugging the hood of his uniform down further to protect his eyes.
Little good it did when the rain seemed to fly unnaturally in all directions, inhibiting visibility and making travel through the canyon undeniably intolerable.
It felt like his life was one crazy event after another! Right after facing one god they were on track to face a second.
Somebody give him a break!
Ramuh, the God of Storm was the oracle's target for the next portion of her pilgrimage.
Everyone's low moods were causing them to reconsider ever getting involved with Lunafreya's magical quest.
"I am in agreement with Nyx. Is there any way to stop the rain?" Imperatrix hissed at how drenched her cloak was and how it weighed down her movements.
The goggles she borrowed from Nebula allowed the princess to see how miserable Lunafreya was in her own soggy coat, wiping furiously at her eyes to keep Pryna, their guide, in sight.
"The Fulgurian is testing us!" She warned just as a strong gust of wind almost blew her off to the side.
"Princess, get down!" Nebula tackled Imperatrix to the ground as a bolt of lightning hit the trench, launching rubble into the air.
Lunafreya saved her dog from being crushed, falling onto her bottom from the weight and missing another batch of falling rocks.
"Why do they have to try and kill us?!" Nyx grouched once the danger passed, scratching at his red face. "All this rain is wrecking my ointment."
Thank goodness for the painkillers muting the ache in his arm and leg. This icy weather was going straight to his bones, creaking joints feeling like he was in his late forties and not early thirties.
"What I wouldn't give to be Tempy, lucky pest." The gunman helped the princess to her feet.
"Where'd she disappear to? It's so quiet without her." The glaive prodded the two imperials.
Seeing the loudmouth drive off on the motorcycle instead of joining them on the Setzer had been a surprise. Even more surprising was the reveal that he'd slept through an earthquake.
His Kingsglaive conditioning was going right out the window. How sad…
"A personal quest." The princess left it at that.
"Like a vacation? Wow, don't your employees have it good?" He jested, elbowing the stiff gunman. "Can't remember the last time I got vacation days."
"Proof that Nephilim are superior to Lucians." Nebula's casual movement towards a holster had the fellow male leaping away from him. "Have I not told you, no touching?"
"He struggles with the concept of personal space." Imperatrix snarked.
"Shall I teach him a lesson, Your Highness?"
Nyx crossed his arms in a negative signal. "Don't gang up on me!"
Thunder boomed in the distance, jolting the group into focus.
"I believe that was a notice to move on." Lunafreya's hand fisted into Pryna's floating fur, reluctantly allowing the dog out of her embrace to lead them once more.
The oracle's magic illuminated the way and the others followed her.
It had been daylight when they began traversing the path of the Stormsender, but it quickly became misty black, droplets pelting down, lighting streaking in the sky, and thunder hammering the ground.
The gods wouldn't be making this particular pilgrimage easy.
Lunafreya prayed Noctis's tests weren't harsher.
She would gladly face the difficult trials for him, leaving only the task of him receiving the blessings, but that wasn't the way of the world.
The Landforger's trial proved that the covenants would have calamitous consequences for all involved. The oracle felt deeply guilty and sorrowful upon awakening to the damage done to Lestallum.
The city was a minor casualty in the grand scheme of things, just like Insomnia, but…the reality of what she was doing in the name of duty was getting to her.
Insomnia and Lestallum…so much destruction. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Was she becoming like the imperials? Walked path leaving ruination with every step?
"Hey man, why don't we trade? I'll take the biker mask, you get some air." Nyx bargained, grin slipping when his foot sank into the ground and he almost tripped. "Motherfu—"
"Stop running your mouth, and focus!" Nebula yanked the glaive out of the sinkhole, and then shoved him forward. "How in the world did the princess put up with you for so long?"
"Must've been my winning personality and good looks." At the responding long sigh, He barked a laugh. "Don't deny it, Impera."
"Stop addressing her like that!"
"Or what?"
Nebula leveled a gun at the glaive, who had his swords out just as fast.
"That's getting old." Nyx taunted, sneering vehemently. "And I outta kick your ass for shooting me at the hospital!"
"You two are going to do this? Here? In the middle of a storm?" Imperatrix's expression was hidden by the goggles and mouth-covering of the cape, but her tone oozed disdain and impatience.
"Oh, come off it, Princess! The snark coming from you these last days has been off the charts!" The glaive rounded on her, bending near her face. "You wouldn't be so strung if you'd let me fu—"
She struck him in the face before he could finish his sentence and embarrass her in front of an audience. "Be silent!"
It was like a snowball effect from there.
The storm grew progressively worse, as did the tempers of the group. Nyx swung at Imperatrix, fist intercepted by Nebula, which led to them boxing over her, and the princess shouting for them to stop.
"What in the world has come over them?" Lunafreya gaped at the fight, trudging backwards to put an end to the skirmish.
Once she neared them, the oracle stumbled as the rainfall felt like drills penetrating her skin and something choked full of enmity assaulted her senses. Vision became hazy, hearing became filtered, and she wasn't herself.
Pryna's fearful barks went ignored by her master.
"I'm so sick of you damned Niffs! It's your fault I've lost two homes and too many people to count!" Nyx barreled into Nebula, sending them to the muddy ground. His fists cracked against the helmet, but he was numb to the pain.
His home, his family, his career, his self-worth, all gone because of them!
He'd never tease or wrestle with his sister again. Never go hunting with his dad or craft things with his grandpa. Never get beers with Crowe and Pelna. Never get to show up the other pricks during training and listen to the captain chide everyone for constantly losing to the resident hero.
Gone…
So much of what he knew was gone!
The gunman did what he did best, his signature weapon went off, but missed blowing off the glaive's head from the princess kicking the man off.
"I am sick to death of you hypocritical Lucians! We have lost much to you as well!" Imperatrix screamed. "How many thousands of us have you killed with magic before we evened the playing field?!"
She'd seen countless soldiers mowed down by glaives because regular weapons were nothing compared to bolts of lighting, bombs of fire, spearing icicles. Their meager blows meant nothing when the enemy could cast healing spells. For every one the imperials took out, the Lucians took out twenty!
It was a battle of quality versus quantity.
"You wanna go again, Princess?! I'm all for it!" Nyx shifted his aggressive swings to the woman, forcing her to draw her blade from the thigh strapping.
"I will grind you to dust, you upstart!"
Steel clashed, splitting water and ringing in tune with the symphony of maelstrom.
"Stop acting like I disgust you! I can freaking tell you want me, you uptight, frigid, lying princess!"
"Not every woman need bow to your desires! You are an abhorrent, narcissistic, brazen scum!"
Their clashing heightened.
Imperatrix screeched as a snippet of her hair was sliced off from Nyx's sword missing her face. Her hand grasped at air, white strands slipping through her fingers into the dirty ground. She ground her teeth, breath quickening.
"It's hair, it's not that serious! My jaw on the other hand, might be." The glaive tapped the flat side of the short sword on his shoulder, not understanding why the princess was getting so worked up.
"Get away from her!" Nebula fired on the man, following up with a kick when the shot only grazed.
"Chill out, psycho! Why are you actually using bullets?!" He blundered through his defensive techniques against the unusual gun and martial arts combination.
"Why are you still alive?!" The gunman countered. "Die and stop bothering us with your presence!"
The three yelled and fought in the pouring rain, every grievance coming to light and worsening the situation.
Imperatrix was unprepared for the surprise attack from Lunafreya, tripping backwards to avoid the staff. She steadied herself by stabbing the saber into the ground and kicking the girl out of range.
"You wish to lay hands on me as well?!"
"As does half the world!" The oracle sprung up, staff twirling in strikes.
The novice bombardment was easily repelled by the princess, further angering the younger blonde and making her lunges sloppier.
Males and females battled.
Pryna barked and barked at the humans enthralled by the storm. Ramuh's challenge had begun before they knew it.
"You lying, little brat! I have given you chance after chance, yet you harm me still!" Imperatrix raged, slapping Lunafreya to the floor after tiring of the feeble tactics.
Pathetic! Had she not trained the girl to do better?!
It was the oracle who requested a teacher and she dared to perform so disappointingly?! At this rate, an actual polearm was out of the question!
Imperatrix should send the nuisance home to her brother. Lunafreya had no place in this ugly, hard world.
"You deserve no loyalty from me. All of Niflheim should burn to the ground, a reflection of those it's conquered!" The oracle spewed out hatefully, looking as feral as dog with mud marring her pure features and clothing.
"And there it is. Finally, your truth has manifested!"
Lunafreya blinked, a fragment of reasoning trickling into her mind.
Why had she said that to Imperatrix? It was so vile…not only to the princess, but to every innocent person born on the continent she also lived on.
As much as she disliked acknowledging it, she was also a Nephilim, a foreigner to every person that lived in the Lucian land. The distinction of oracle lineage was all that absolved Tenebrae of the usual bigoted contempt for easterners.
"Listen here." Lunafreya flinched at Imperatrix's full glare from the woman removing her goggles. "Your speck of a country is part of Niflheim and has been since the old Lucian Kings deserted you. Who has been aiding and protecting Tenebrae all these years? Who has safeguarded the Holy City?!"
The princess stomped her foot, spraying more mud on the girl.
"You, betrayed us!"
"I-Impera—" The oracle shook her head, opposing the urge to argue back. She wouldn't lose her mind again to the spell.
"How dare you allow those Caelums into our territory after what they did to my mother and I! Traitors! Golden-faced, silver-tongued traitors!"
She trembled at the accusations and the unnatural violet glow to Imperatrix's eyes. "Regis would never have condoned that…"
Lunafreya knew of what the princess spoke.
A secret mission had been undertaken to kill the emperor, putting an end to the war of all wars.
Lucian soldiers attacked the villa Iedolas was meant to be visiting, killing all occupants and fleeing when realizing their true target hadn't been present. The word of Imperatrix, the only survivor of the attack, was the singular piece of incriminating evidence.
Queen Sylva Nox Fleuret wasn't of a mind to believe such an atrocity. Her heart had gone out to the traumatized and semi-orphaned child, volunteering the healing services of their family to the grieving emperor.
If Iedolas had just accepted the hand, Noctis could've been spared a similar ambush that rendered him paralyzed from Starscourge.
"Yes, because you know Regis and Noctis so well! Your divinity sees all." The princess badgered, rain mixing with tears.
"Imperatrix…there is something wrong. You are not yourself." Lunafreya registered more of the heavy enchantment once Pryna trotted over to lick her face. "I can…fix this…"
Her vision cleared, heart lifted, and shame clawed at her.
Six forgive the horrible things she'd said and done under this trial!
"I will be fooled by that angelic face no more."
"Please, I did not mean…" The oracle hesitated to reach out with her healing hands.
That was a lie…
Ugly and hurtful, a side locked away in the recesses of the human heart. Truth had poured from her lips and she had to live with that, live with the memory of her viciousness.
"You meant every word! I am not blind. It is hatred I always garner, despite my best efforts." Imperatrix exhaled brokenly, trembling hands raising her sword. The negative energy consumed her. "Nebula, to me!"
The gunman appeared obediently by his liege's side, weapons smoking.
"It is us against them."
"Exactly how it has always been, Impera." He widened his stance, same wickedness radiating off him. "I will not allow a single one of them to hurt you."
"Fancy that, the killer's got a soft spot." Nyx took position in front of Lunafreya. He scowled at Imperatrix. "Perfect pairing for the ice princess."
"No, no! We must all stop!" The oracle pleaded at the three gearing up for another bloody conflict.
"Stand back, Your Highness. I'll protect you from these Niffs." The glaive pushed the girl behind him. "I'll die before they take someone else from me!"
The hood attachment made him appear as a death-dealer with his crazed violet eyes and crackling aura.
Battle commenced with the roaring of thunder all around, drowning out Lunafreya's pleas and locking the members in their worst urges, their worst memories.
The oracle cradled her head as the magic sought to entrap her, it wouldn't give up until they all destroyed themselves. Unbidden thoughts of Tenebrae's plunder, her mother's death, Ravus's distance, Regis's death, and her imprisonment swamped her mind to the point of suffocation.
Uncontrollable anger demanded release.
"I-I must r-resist!" She dug her fingers into skin, pain a deterrent to the spell. "Great Ramuh, I shall not be controlled!"
The oracle grabbed her staff and marched up to her feuding companions. Magic bursted out with the slam of the staff into the ground. The threw flew onto their backsides, vulnerable before Lunafreya.
"You are all enthralled! Look past shattered sight for we are not enemies, we are frie—" She wavered, the word was appropriate for the speech, but Lunafreya couldn't say the word yet. "We are comrades! Open your eyes from this spell!"
Golden light filled the area, overpowering the flashing lighting and booming thunder.
The rain softened.
"I do not…feel well…" Imperatrix swayed, hands hiding her face from the world.
What had come over her?
"What's going on?" Nyx mumbled, tossing off his hood. Color flickered from scarlet to blue in his orbs.
"More magic bullshit…" Nebula's visor hid his face, but he too experienced the change, grip loosening on the guns.
"Yes!" Lunafreya cried in relief at their passivity. "We are not enemies."
A song flowed from her heart, and now knowing their importance, the oracle gave in to instinct, freely singing.
Raindrops became falling stars of light, landing on the four and healing their wounds inflicted in error. The negative energy transformed to sweetness, blanketing everyone in warmth.
"This feels akin to a lullaby…" The princess blinked rapidly to forestall her misty eyes expelling droplets. She hugged herself, rejoicing in the peppered kisses of light touching her. "This form of magic…is not so bad…"
How could she have been so cruel to Nyx and Lunafreya? How unkind and foul she'd behaved!
Her mother would be ashamed.
Valeria, no…
Maneli of Persia followed a kinder mindset and continued those lessons even after lifting the veil of her homeland to convert to the ways of her spouse. She instilled kindness in her daughter.
If anyone slapped her on the cheek, Imperatrix was to turn to them, the other also. To love her enemies, to do good to those who hated her, bless those who cursed her, pray for those who abused her. As she wished others would do to her, she did so to them.
Lunafreya deceived her, endangered her, and mistrusted her. All wrongs.
Nyx challenged her, disrespected her, and belittled her. More wrongs.
But Imperatrix knew better…
Compassion and patience were needed to terminate their conflicts. She would do what she always did, take the first step towards healing.
"Woah, what's up?! Is this your new way of attacking?!" Nyx sort of flailed, flummoxed by the princess's cheek laying on his chest, hands fisting into his coat, scent filling his nostrils, and tenderness hitting him in the gut.
Hot and cold to the extreme!
"No, Nyx." Imperatrix sniveled, heart pounding uncomfortably for the rawness of the moment with this man she'd hardly known in the span of a falling meteor. "I am so sorry for everything you have endured."
Galahd and Insomnia, would that she could, the princess would raise them back to their glory, all lives intact.
"That's not…none of that is your fault!" As much as he didn't want to, the glaive pulled the woman off his chest, gripping her face to look him in the eye. "I blamed you at first, but I know that's not right. I don't hate you, Impera!"
"You do not?" She asked tearfully. "You have every right to."
"How could anyone hate you?" Nyx grinned confidently. "You're too wimpy to hate. Freaking crybaby!"
Imperatrix glared weakly. "Horrible fiend."
He chuckled and let her leave his hold. The princess clasped her retainer's hand next, giving him a benevolent, grateful smile.
Words weren't needed between them, the clutch of two friends was speech enough. A relief, a reminder of the lengths they would go for the other.
As Lunafreya's song came to an end, Imperatrix approached her. The oracle wobbled, faintish. She was caught by the shoulders and straightened by the princess.
"Lunafreya…" Soliloquies wanted to flow from Imperatrix, but this wasn't the time or place. "We have said much, the words came from depths of darkness and were buried truths. I ask that we find a way to move forward."
"How do we do that? Years and years…" She abstained from stoicism, acknowledging her unfamiliarity with communicating with others. "I-I have…had all this festering inside. I do not know…how to be rid of it."
"By learning to forgive those who seek your forgiveness." Imperatrix raised her hand peacefully, waiting for another to join it. "I ask for yours. For all the years you have spent alone, cold, and empty. A prisoner in your own home. I wish to heal the empire's stigma on you."
Lunafreya sucked in a breath, touching the spot above her chest where the lunar necklace laid. Her first genuine gift in years, the first measure of kindness since she'd forgotten what it was.
"I want to give it. I do, but I think…I need time." She reached out, clasping the hand. "Time and patience, for I am young and foolish, novel to the ways of interaction."
"Foolish you may be, but wise is your heart. We shall work towards it together."
The shroud lifted, horrible storm and noise receding. The clouds drew back, sun illuminating the canyon and banishing the mist. A pathway loomed before the group.
Something in the distance glowed.
"Now that we've all hugged it out, lets get a move on." Nyx dropped his arms on both princess's shoulders, hugging them into his sides. "Captain's orders, ladies."
"When did you become a captain?" Imperatrix went with the pull forward.
"When I beat Titus Drautos, that's when." He bragged, craning his head to smirk at Nebula behind them. "Hear that? I beat Glauca!"
"You and an army." The gunman corrected.
"Screw off, Gunslinger. I owned him my own!"
"The last great victory you'll have."
"You're next on my list to beat down."
"I see what you two fought about." The princess sighed good-naturedly, rolling her shoulders. "May you let go, Nyx? The weight is a discomfort to my neck."
"Suck it up." The glaive rebuffed flippantly with a tug on Imperatrix to bring her even closer into the fold. "You don't hear Luna complaining, do you?"
The oracle was in fact blushing from the closeness, but said nothing, more interested in Pryna's muddied fur. She was getting used to Nyx's ways quicker than the others.
"What's that?" The man's arms slipped from the females.
He stepped ahead of them protectively.
"A glowing…tree." Nebula despondently fiddled with the functions in his visor, speeding through statistics. "Pardon me, a magical, glowing tree. It's like the Stonehenge."
"Then this is the holy site." Imperatrix went no further than a breath away from the flowers in the illogical garden situated at the end of a trail.
As the gunman stated, a pale, white tree stood in the middle of grass, flowers, and runic circles.
"This is where I must commune with Ramuh." Lunafreya answered, anxiously looking upon the others. "I do not know what awaits…maybe it is best you all leave."
What if there was a second test? Was she leading them into more danger?
"C'mon, kid. We don't got all day." Nyx nudged her forward, grinning without a care. "Come what may, the adults will take care of it."
She frowned at the double dig on her age.
"Go on. We are ready for whatever." The princess added supportively, hand moving to the hilt of her sword.
"Though, if you can save us a death match, it would be appreciated." Nebula groused.
Lunafreya gazed at the three, nodding her head with trust in their abilities. She entered the holy garden, kneeling before the tree and enacting the rite of awakening.
She held more confidence with her second singing of the song. Titan's forged covenant was encouragement for the strength of her voice.
Thunder hit the tree, starling the songstress to her bottom for the burning coming from her bangs. She quickly put the fire out, looking upward with a tinge of irritation.
The God of Lighting hovered above, cloaked figure clouding the sky.
The oracle hastened to her feet, mentally cringing for how many times she ended up in disarray before important figures. She would fix this tendency!
"Hail, Great God of Storm, Ramuh! I am blood of the oracle, come to seek your blessings."
The Fulgurian took her in with a calmness the Archaean hadn't. No visions flooded her mind.
How would he chose to communicate with her?
Ramuh raised his staff. Lunafreya flinched, but her apprehension was for naught. The Stormsender's lips moved in the verse of the gods, the Chosen Language.
He spoke of the trials to come and the grim fact that she wouldn't survive the ordeal. Titan's vision of her death had been averted, but ultimately her thread was thinning by the day, scissors just waiting to snip her fate.
His voice was deep and soothing as he talked, what a grandfather would sound like. It was that small comfort that gave Lunafreya the courage to respond.
She felt no resistance to the forecast, as long the future was preserved. Her duty would be done.
The god gave a rumble, alighting the sky and sparking lighting. The oracle gripped her staff harder to hide how skittish the casual display of overpowered magic made her.
Ramuh didn't even seem mildly aware of the disturbance he was causing with his rumbling and strokes to his beard.
The Astrals were unbelievable!
After some thought, the Fulgurian reached down for Lunafreya with gargantuan hand and it took every bit of mental fortitude not to scream or run. Pure electricity surged around the oracle, zapping right to the core of her being.
He'd chosen to forge the covenant.
Another piece of Lunafreya was lost, returning to its divine owners.
"Oh my god…" Nyx's hands ran all over his face, caught between rushing to help the poor girl turned into a human lighting rod, and staying the heck away from the old guy willing to electrocute people.
"Five gil says she faints." Nebula slouched, uninterested since there was no danger to the princess.
"Nebula!" Imperatrix tugged on his sleeve in chastisement.
"Ten, says she'll be upright." The glaive boldly claimed, sizing up the gunman with a dirty look.
"Bet's on." He agreed, tilting his head. "Ah, look! Fenestala bridge is falling down."
Lunafreya stumbled after being released.
Ramuh vanished into mist, mixing with the clouds.
"No! C'mon, kid, stand up!" Nyx wanted to win and he was over carrying the oracle.
Imperatrix scoffed at the males, already moving to catch the girl. Her assistance was unnecessary as Lunafreya held herself up on the staff. Pryna ran past the princess to circle around her master.
"Hah! Pay up, man." The glaive swaggered with an outstretched palm.
Nebula sighed, forking over the gil.
"Woah, you actually did it…" He stared at the coins.
"Yes, yee of little faith. I have integrity." The gunman took note of Nyx's unfamiliarity with the currency. "Did you even have the money to bet with?"
"Nope."
Nebula twitched.
"Hey, none of that! Don't be a sore loser!" The glaive waved his hand at the gun pointing in his direction.
"Don't play if you've no hand, Sir."
"That's half the fun."
"That is stupidity." The ace holstered his gun, body posture dismissive. "Her standards have dropped significantly."
Nyx knew what that statement meant. "Say that again, I dare you!"
The females were oblivious to the male squabble.
Imperatrix lent a hand to the oracle, helping her down from the tree. Lunafreya tensed, whipping around.
"Gentiana!" She called.
From behind the tree appeared the messenger, serene eyes closed and looking mythical in her beauty among the nature.
The princess didn't go with Lunafreya, keeping her distance from the woman. Gentiana set her on edge.
When those green mirrors first opened to view Imperatrix, there was a flash of something, hidden so swiftly maybe it was imagined. The overlaying destruction might have been the cause of the high messenger's appraisal, but she'd barely given a glance to Insomnia as they stood on the outskirts.
What was a wasted city to a higher being like her?
"Imperatrix, my task is finished." Lunafreya announced.
The omniscient woman had disappeared as mysteriously as she'd arrived.
"If I may, what did she want?"
The last meeting, Gentiana gave them guidance to Nyx. What was she guiding them towards this time?
The oracle's eyebrows furrowed. She laid a hand on the white bark, where a new rune stood out. "She wished for me to connect the trees."
The answer made no sense to the princess.
"We should return to the ship."
"Right." Lunafreya gave a final stroke to the rune.
So many mysteries.
XV
"Would you like to play? Nebula is in his own world." Imperatrix smiled genially at Nyx, beckoning him to join her at the table.
The gunman's video game noise filled the recreation room with screams and gunfire. Were anybody sitting next to him, they could hear the verbal shit-talk he was having with his girlfriend.
"What's the game?" Interested, the glaive sat across from the princess. He stared at the bright colored cards Imperatrix was in the middle of shuffling. "Those don't look like your typical suit deck."
"These are not those kinds of cards."
"Are they tarot cards?" He smirked. "Going to read my fortune? Is there love in it?"
"I do not dabble in that line. Holy Mother Church in Tenebrae would riot if I did." She rolled her eyes.
If anyone in her family was liable to wet their feet with black arts, it would be Euphemia. Imperatrix would nip that bud though. Comic books and other harmless diversions were fine, but tarot cards were instruments of the occult, things not to be associated with the royal family.
"Then what are they?"
"The game is called Unus and played by discarding all cards in your hand to win."
"Sounds easy enough. Deal me in."
"Ah, but there are rules." Imperatrix held the deck out of reach when Nyx tried to take it. "Allow me to explain and demonstrate."
As a natural rogue, the glaive picked up quickly on the princess's lesson, shredding his cards with minimal mistakes in the first round. His biggest struggle came from differentiating the sixes and nines, getting a giggle out of Imperatrix. It was a common mistake. She did huff when he kicked her under the table for laughing at him.
Imperatrix won round one. The glaive called for a rematch and they settled into a nice pace of companionable card play.
They all were in better cheer after the conclusion of the day's events.
Lunafreya managed to stay lucid up to dinner's end, much to the relief of the resident "parents", who wouldn't have to carry her to bed. She retired to her room earlier to rest.
If her fainting spells were over, Nyx would hoot to the moon. The girl was finally getting some backbone and would stop being depressed over her weakness. Imperatrix's training regimes were paying off.
Tempesta hadn't returned from her quest and wasn't likely to for another day or more, leaving the ship less rowdy. The princess hoped the fist fighter would check in at some point, so she'd know if the girl hadn't been killed.
Honestly…she was reluctant to let her retainer go when she brought it up.
The person the younger Besithia wanted to see likely wasn't going to be receptive of her…not after Insomnia.
Imperatrix swore she'd hunt that man down if Tempesta returned harmed in any way. He'd already caused her misery. How dare he…
"Uh, babe…you're clenching your jaw pretty hard." Nyx pointed out, slapping a card down. "Unus!"
Imperatrix groaned at his impending victory, changing the color to red to throw him off. "Please do not call me 'babe', it is coarse."
"Okay, baby." Undeterred, he tossed the last card down, a red one. "I win!"
She sighed, adding her cards into the pile and maneuvering them into a neat collection. "Do not use pet names in reference to me. It is already improper for you to casually use my name, let alone my shortened one."
They weren't close enough for any of it! Why was he blazing through things with no consideration for the other person's pace?!
"Don't be a stick-in-the-mud, it's all harmless."
"Not from you."
The deck cracked against the table from the princess aligning the cards.
"What does that mean?"
"You know exactly what it means, Nyx."
He leaned over the table, closer to Imperatrix. She threw a card at his hand to distract him. Instinctively, the glaive slapped his palm over the sliding item to catch it.
"I want for us to be amicable. For all your nuisances, you are a good man." The princess managed to keep eye contact with him while she distributed cards, his satisfied grin for once didn't miff her. "Cease your advances, they are not welcome."
Too fast, he moved too fast!
Touching her when they barely knew each other was the height of improper! Things would've gotten out of hand on the roof if she'd lingered a moment longer.
"That started out good, and then went wrong." The glaive chortled, looking over his new hand.
"Please take this seriously." The princess flipped the top card on the deck, laying it on the table as the starter.
A wild card…
"Since I won the last round, I'll set the color." Nyx put down a blue two. "Tell me why."
The abrupt demand threw her off.
"You know, I do not owe you an explanation." She shook her head in exasperation. "When a woman tells you she does not like your approach, as a gentleman, you should stop. Are you not a knight to Lady Lunafreya? Chivalry is expected."
Nyx soured, nodding grudgingly. "I get all that."
Hopes of finally getting through to that wild, thick head were dashed when the man kicked her foot and stared heatedly at her.
"You're interested in me though, I've seen it! You don't get flustered easily, but you do with me. You're fine with physical contact with everyone else, but me. And you've flirted with me!" Nyx leaned back in his chair, studying her intently. "You're the one being inconsistent!"
Her face scrunched up at the accurate claim.
"Why do you suddenly hate my guts now? What's up, Princess?"
"For the record, I have 'hated your guts' since you kidnapped me in the car and again on the airship."
He cringed guiltily. "Lets not cast stones, okay? I've still got the elephant in the room, but I'm willing to move on."
Insomnia and Galahd hung in the air between them.
The game went forgotten.
Imperatrix crossed her arms, wondering why this conversation had to get out of hand. She just wanted things to slow down. Was that too much to ask?
"Are you a gemini?" Nyx's random question earned him a funny look from the princess.
"I am. Why is that important?"
He amazed her with his ability for blurting out things. Was this a nervous tick?
"Oh, man…that explains so much!" The glaive cracked up.
"H-How?"
"According to zodiac lore, you've got two souls in that body. No wonder you're crazy one minute and sane the next."
"I am not crazy!"
"You're a woman, it's hardwired."
"That is so biased! How could any woman stand you?!"
"Oh, pretty well. You'd know by now if you weren't so difficult."
Being in the Kingsglaive got him brownie points with the woman in the city. Too bad his job kept him busy and he was reduced to short liaisons. Or maybe that had been a blessing in disguise...
Time and proximity were showing that Imperatrix wasn't going for his ways. Now that he thought about it, Nyx had no idea how this was supposed to work…
"I cannot…" The princess rubbed her forehead.
"I can't either, you hot-and-cold tease."
"Stop insulting me, you petty man."
"Here we go again." Nyx chuckled, whistling teasingly. "Vegetarian weirdo."
"Useless meatbag!"
"Oh, you're going straight for the jugular. So feisty!" He kicked her foot harder. "Tomboy."
She gasped, hands flying for her hair. The fringe he cut off had been angled to the side to make the uneven bangs appear intentionally stylish. "I am not!"
"You are! The haircuts I've seen you with are boyish, you're freakishly athletic for a girl, and I've seen you wear a dress once."
Imperatrix bolted out of her seat, storming out the recreational room.
"Wait, wait! What's up, I was joking!" Nyx grabbed her arm, but she yanked it away, out of his grabbing range in record time.
He gaped at the door, hands going up in defeated confusion.
"You are a fool, not worthy to look upon nor speak with Her Highness." Nebula spoke up, starling the glaive as he remembered the other guy was present.
"Are you in love with her or something? Cause you're borderline fanatical…maybe Drautos level."
"I do love her, she's my sovereign."
"Not exactly what I meant, man." The glaive sank into his seat, toying with the cards. "Are psychopaths even capable of romance?"
"You tell me. Does having a girlfriend count?" Said woman was laughing on the line, laughing uproariously at him.
"No way! She's human?! Not some creepy cyborg?"
Nebula paused in tossing a grenade on a group pinning him down with gunfire. His spider was always ganging up on him with her flunkies. "You've got some strange ideas, keep your fetishes away from the princess."
He didn't need Imperatrix picking up gross things. She already had the outrageous affinity for moogles and tonberrys.
Ugh, disgusting!
"Whatever. Go back to your fake shooting." Nyx tried his hand at shuffling the cards the way he'd seen the tease do it.
"Fake, you say?"
He yelped, ducking under the table as actual gunfire went off. "Goddam you!"
The males wouldn't be curbing their aggressive compulsions anytime soon.
Imperatrix stopped in front of Lunafreya's door at hearing the barking. She knocked on the door.
Scratching noises and shuffling feet could be heard moving closer.
"Yes?" The oracle blinked at the princess in front of her door.
She expected it to be Nyx checking on her as he did every night.
"I heard Pryna and was concerned."
"She…misses Umbra is all."
"Where does he run off to so frequently?" Imperatrix observed the white canine sitting at Lunafreya's feet. The snooty thing sniffed at her with a turned head. "And how does he find us?"
Umbra disappeared while they were in Lestallum, and right as Lunafreya woke, he mysteriously showed up. Then when they reached the canyon, he darted off again.
That strange red book was always strapped to his back as well. What in the world was going on with the dog?
"Forgive me, but I am tired…" Lunafreya deflected with a carefully placed yawn.
"Oh, well…there is a matter I needed to bring up." The princess could see it wasn't a complete lie, the girl looked no better than a sick patient.
"If this about the morning—"
"It is not."
"Then?"
The princess held her phone in offering. "Your brother very much wishes to speak with you. Messages from me pale in comparison to your voice."
The elder Fleuret had sent numerous text messages after her call to Furia.
He asked over his sister's health, whether she was eating, because Lunafreya had a nasty habit of refusing food when she didn't get her way. A tactic to cut the person responsible.
He asked if his sister was being an inconvenience to Imperatrix, and if he needed to come retrieve her. An obvious cover for him to see her.
He even asked about Pryna and Umbra, if they were keeping the oracle company since they were the only ones his sister seemed to like.
Sweet, awkward Ravus had a foot in his mouth all the time.
It wasn't just the younger sister that had trouble communicating. They were a pair of people wanting to be close, but unsure how to go about it.
One bird tweeting in baritone, the other in soprano, their tune of bewitching discordance.
"Ravus?" Lunafreya's eyes widened in shock.
Imperatrix told her of his survival and had already volunteered her phone, but she hadn't known what to say to her brother. Then the other day she heard him on the radio, succinct and impassive over the announcement of Titan's awakening and the empire's swift response to end the rampage.
Hearing his voice…had been more comforting than she previously assumed, a fragment of home.
Perhaps…it wouldn't hurt to speak with her brother.
"Are you willing to do a phone call? He will not believe it is you otherwise." Imperatrix shifted the phone to her other hand after numbness prickled in her arm from holding the thing for an uncomfortable span of time. "It does not have to be a long, just…let him hear your voice. That is all I ask."
The princess was being pushier than normal, but she was doing it for a friend.
"I do not know how…" Lunafreya mumbled.
"You mean, what to talk about? You can never go wrong with asking a man about his day. Or you can ask about Furia, easiest conversation-breaker since he loves ranting about her. Or ask him about horses, because he is a great judge of winners, and is a sensational breeder—"
"I meant...I do not know how to use the phone." The oracle butted in, astounded by the rush of information.
Breeding horses? She thought Ravus lost interest in equestrians activities during boyhood after their mother informed him the unicorns no longer existed, even though the Fleurets still used them in the family crest.
Did she even know her brother?
What a stranger he was…
"Right, right. Tenebraen culture is against most modern technologies." Imperatrix deposited her phone into the girl's hands, launching into a lesson and demonstration.
Lunafreya took in the information, and when prompted, managed to call Nebula. The princess congratulated her and confirmed with the gunman that the call wasn't serious, a test for the oracle. He laughed and the girl knew she was being made fun of, frowning at the phone's motion of the call ending.
"Take all the time you need. I will be in my room." The princess backed away from the oracle's door, waiting to see if the blonde suddenly decided she didn't want to do it.
A nod and tiny smile quickened Imperatrix's retreat, banishing the second-guessing.
Delicate fingers hovered over the touch screen. Baby-blue eyes stayed glued to the contact photo as Lunafreya sat on her bed.
Somehow, Imperatrix had a picture of her brother smiling, a small, insignificant one, but one all the same. Really, it was more of that quirky smirk he could make when someone or something was so ridiculous he couldn't contain it.
That comical smile was given on the rare occasions her tirades on the empire didn't bother him, maybe even amusing him like a child whining about the unfairness of life to their parents from being denied a toy they wanted. Those instances he felt like the old Ravus, the one who secretly agreed their mother was strict enough for two people, and would join in on her complaining in their secret huddle in the library.
He'd tell her stories of their late father in that hut of carefully placed books to mime a cave.
Before she knew it, her finger landed on the symbol for calling and her heart pounded with each ring.
The texture of the metallic phone made her yearn for the two-ended telephone she was used to. Tenebraen phones felt more intimate than this little square box. Her phones could be cradled against the neck, with the head tilted to hear and speak...
She had to stop…
Not everything was cold and detached with imperials…
"Impera, you know I prefer messages. What could be important this late?" Ravus carped in a tone that wasn't really angry.
Lunafreya's mouth went dry. When was the last time he spoke to her like that?
And he called the princess by name. No formality, no titles…
"Impera, what is it? I am in the middle of something."
It sounded like he was pouring something into a bowl. She could hear the clinking against the glass.
Was he eating? Ravus did sneak into the kitchen for late night snacking when he couldn't sleep.
"For the love of- will you speak, woman?!" There was the crossness.
"Ravus…"
The commander stopped whatever he was doing, sharply inhaling.
"Ravus, it is your sister. I am using the princess's phone." Lunafreya managed to speak in an even tone, obscuring her nerves.
"I know the sound of your voice, Luna. I do not require an introduction." He snipped.
The oracle didn't know where to go from there and neither did her brother from the dead silence.
Distraction arrived in the sound of yipping. Naturally, Lunafreya looked to her dog, an entreaty for calmness on her lips, but Pryna was on the beg with no indication of having made a sound.
At Ravus's annoyed sigh, she ventured to ask. "Did I hear barking?"
"Yes, a sound you are familiar with and is thanks to the white-haired enabler in your company." Some of the testiness evaporated from his tone. "Impera had the gall to buy a puppy for Furia. Trifling woman can hardly care for herself, let alone an animal!"
"Oh, I remember that! She was very tiny and loud, with a pretty coat of fur."
"A perfect representation of my wife."
"Has she been named?"
The commander hesitated for a split second.
"Eros…" He grunted out with distaste. "Even though, it is a she."
Lunafreya chewed her lip to not laugh. "Like Cupid?"
"Yes, and it pains me to call for her."
She giggled uncontrollably at her sour-faced brother calling out the silly name, the servants hiding their mirth behind hands and whispers. "W-What gave rise to the name?"
"Repeating the story will destroy my dignity."
"Please, tell me, brother."
That little plea mollified him enough to groan in defeat.
"Furia said it was like getting shot with love's arrow when she saw the pup." Ravus groaned again, like he was coughing up something gross. "Fanciful lies! She's all but flung the responsibilities on me."
"Well, you do have experience."
Her brother helped care for Pryna and Umbra.
Though…was that a fair comparison when the two weren't the average canines? They were Divine Messengers, akin to Gentiana, and possessed intelligence.
"I suppose Eros is one female that is tolerable..." His voice became soft, cooing along with the happy growls in the background.
"Are we so tiresome, Ravus?" Lunafreya didn't mean for the words to stab, but they just hurled out.
The commander sucked in the usual breath that preceded a flare, but the emergence of another voice suspended his vexation.
Or shifted it.
"Oh, if it is not my blasted wife! Come to do your job at last?!"
Lunafreya became a listener to her brother snapping at Furia. They argued over Eros's care, Ravus's inability to relax, the second princess's overabundance of relaxation, the irksome balls Pax and Felix threw on their liege's orders, and numerous other topics. It was dizzying to hear them go back and forth with a puppy adding input in the form of yips.
Oddly enough, the arguing hit a plateau and they decided to walk in the garden with Eros.
The oracle was about remind them she was still on the line when things became noisy with static.
"Furia, Furia, stop it at once!" Ravus yelled.
"Give me the phone!" Her yells mixed with his.
"I said stop it, woman!"
"And I said give it here, husband mine! My word trumps yours!"
"In what country?!"
"Yours in fact! Tenebrae is a matriarchy!"
Clearly, they were scuffling. Some things crashed together and she heard some groaning.
"Ravus, are you alright?" Lunafreya was used to their acerbic displays of love.
"Oh, he is fine! No need to worry."
She had to take Furia's word on it.
Sharp words, slaps, and strikes were the couple's language. The oracle wasn't shocked by these habits of her brother, she lived with the man's bad attitude.
She was shocked by the small, poised girl exploding when provoked. Furia showed no inclination of bowing out to a man's displeasure.
Their rocky start made her question whether the marriage would last and she'd been of a mind to involve the church in the process of getting an annulment. As the Divine Voice of the apostolic church, she had that power.
The servant's gossiping stopped Lunafreya's divorce proceedings before they began. The females tittering about how the arguing spiced up Ravus's private life, made her rethink everything she knew about the marriage.
A life of seclusion left her unknowledgeable of the ways os spouses.
She knew the generalities.
Spouses spent their lives together. They woke up to one another each morning, did some quality-binding activities together, ate meals in private, and retired to bed together, repeating the cycle in a loop of marital bliss. At some point in the pattern, children came.
Out of curiosity, Lunafreya inquired of Furia where the children would come from. The second princess was disbelieving of her innocent upbringing and smirked the entire time she uncovered the mystery for her sister-in-law.
Being educated on sex from a girl younger than her, with a vast imagination and flare for description, had been mortifying.
She couldn't look at Ravus for days afterwards...
The second discussion before she left for Insomnia to wed Prince Noctis had been no less embarrassing…
"Lunafreya, there is much for us to catch up on! However, Eros needs her walk, and dogs are impatient creatures." Furia's voice was very pitchy and she sounded out of breath.
Had the two still been fighting?
"Au revoir, Sister!"
She stared perplexed at the phone.
That wasn't as arm wrenching as she thought…
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