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autumn-maple13 · 4 years ago

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Lost to Time - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Vesperpool

It hadn’t taken them long to find their way down to the lakefront below, or to find a suitable parking space near an overlooking haven. The ground was marshy underfoot, but Amara didn’t seem to care about it too much, stepping out into the rain after a quick look over her map.

Not like they had yet been able to dry off after that little “greeting” anyway, she reminded herself as raindrops ran down her face.

“The tomb is around to the left side of the pool and the ruins are to the right. What do you say, Noct?”

“Let’s get the Arm first. If we’re dealing with Izunia, we may not get another chance.”

The woman nodded and motioned for every to follow her as she started down towards the water. The lake was found easily enough, and the many Cypress trees growing along its bank were found to be good camouflage when she pointed out a group of creatures with very large jaws not far away. Not good enough camouflage for them to not be sensed though.

“Sahagin! They can shred you in a second if they get their jaws around you!”

“So, don’t get bitten then!” Noctis retorted, about two seconds before one of the beasts popped its head out of the water nearby. Amara was quick to summon out her drain lance, holding it at the ready as she tried to judge how many there were.

“I only see five, but these things are know for groups of ten or more so be careful!”

Prompto groaned, but summoned out his pistol to go ahead and start firing off shots at the things trying to get them near the water. Noctis, too, had summoned out a firearm of some sort, and taken a position on a nearby rock to begin firing while his cousin decided to warp around behind the beasts to begin trying to spear them. Being careful to avoid getting shot or snapped in half, Ignis stayed near Noctis, tussling with one of the Sahagin that had already crawled out of the water. It wasn’t too difficult of a fight with two shooters making it easy to weaken the beasts usually tough skin, and before long the group was regrouping.

“Y’know, maybe we should stay away from the water?” The younger blond suggested. looking hopefully at the two nobles. They seemed to agree, and after a quick scope of the area Amara was leading them up and away from the water. Using the large stones that were abundant in the area as cover, she led them around the lake, well away from its surface, though they noticed her pause every so often to listen to their surroundings. Sounds akin to croaks made the men suddenly remember her warning from days prior about the ‘giant toads’, putting them even more on edge in the already enemy controlled area. After a short walk through the still pouring rain, though, they were soon stepping onto what appeared to be an at least marginally maintained path, leading right in the direction Amara wanted to go.

“It’s starting to get late. We may end up having to shelter in the tomb,” she commented after a look at her watch. “Let's hurry and get there so we at least have a chance to get in and out.”

The men voiced their agreements, following her once more as she started down the path, a bit quicker than before. They had been jogging along the path for some distance before the woman froze, pointing out something just ahead of them.

“Is that a giant chicken?”

“Close, it’s a Cockatrice, and it looks like it has a Basilisk buddy with it. We better try and find a way around them, they’re fucking vicious.”

“They look like they’d be good for dinner.”

“Hey, if you wanna go fight one of them, be my guest, but don’t scream for help when they start kicking your ass.”

That seemed to deter the king’s hunger, making him decide instead to follow her in sneaking around before they noticed the intruders. Thankfully, as the group trudged along it seemed that the larger beasts were keeping a lot of the smaller ones at bay - they were able to skirt along the path without any alarms going off, only to get back on time to have to skirt a tall cliff. But the still pouring rain was causing another problem for them: the rising humidity was sapping them faster than the heat had back in that sand bowl of the Leide region. The mugginess of the air was starting to make it a little difficult to breath as the group finally made it to a bend in the path, and a sign reading ‘The Myrlwood’. A hurried look at the map confirmed that they were entering the area where the Tomb would be.

“Are we ready guys?”

“Hell yes, let’s go already.”

Ignis looked down the rock lined path for a moment before starting down it. It was a rather slick down hill slope, curving through tall boulders and rock formations that were covered in moss and grass from the undoubtedly damp air of the region and they did have to all but crawl over a few spots to keep from busting their asses. Finally, though, they were entering what at first glance appeared to be a forest inside of a cave, then opened up into a walled off bit of forest.

“Wow, this place is a jungle!” Prompto was looking around in amazement, while Ignis just pulled off his glasses to wipe away some water that would doubtlessly be replaced before he got them back on.

“Full of flora and fauna I suppose. We best watch our backs.”

Already, they could hear the cries of some wild creature or another, though a glance at her watch left Amara wondering if daemon could spawn within the Myrlwood. She drew her kukri as soon as she finished adjusting the flashlight pinned to her shirt.

“It’s pretty late, better hope fauna are all we run into.”

Knowing she was right, they let her take the lead. Trying to be careful not to make too much noise stepping through the damp underbrush, the woman led them through the trees, all the while keeping an eye out for whatever was fighting. The sounds were steadily getting louder, though she was trying her best to avoid the source, it seemed like they were going to end up right in the middle of it.

Deciding to try and avoid a fight as long as possible, Amara ducked into the brush, then leading the guys through a few tall shrubs and over some boulders, thankful that the rain had stopped so she could hear her surroundings better. Though the fighting creatures had been avoided, they were quickly aware of a few others, hissing and screaming somewhere off to their left - still out of view in the encroaching darkness. There was no way around this one. Motioning to Noctis, she reached out to try and locate the target with her magic before warping after it. The large Mushussu snarled at her, dodging around her after her initial attack hit its scales. Noctis had to be shoved out of the way of one of its long poison prongs, but soon he was joined by Ignis in attacking the creature from behind as Amara and Prompto tried to keep its attention on them. The lone beast was quickly felled, though the woman made it clear that if there had been more than one, it would have meant trouble.

As the group began to traverse around the edge of the rocky walls once more, they were soon to see a new fight ahead of them, illuminated just enough by their flashlights to make the Glaive grimace.

“That one that looks like a walking tree is a Mandrake, but I can’t tell what the other thing is that it's fighting.”

“Can we get past?”

“Not likely.”

“Then we fight our way through.”

She nodded, but just as she was about to try and warp into the fray - a pang, right in her heart. Amara gasped nearly dropping her weapon in shock as she realized what she was sensing, and it made the guys look at her in a concern.

“The daemon, I can sense them now. They… they’re so full of darkness, just like him.”

“Amara?” Ignis reached out to her, but drew back when she looked at her friends.

“I think a few more things are starting to click in place, but I’m not sure yet. We need to get out of this area first though, before I can try and explain.”

They nodded, and followed her into the fight. It was a group of Glamhoth that had been fighting the Mandrake, which was still trying to put up a fight despite the clear injuries it had already sustained. Ignis was able to easily put it down with his lance, though dodging its long tail to do so had been a bit of a challenge for him. While he was focused on that, however, Amara had Prompto fire a flare to weaken the daemon hord before summoning one of the Royal Arms to her. With her uncle’s sword in hand, she and Noctis starting to attack the goblin creatures. Even armed with weapons of Light it was a tricky situation. The daemon were quick footed and able to claw at the group as they tried to defend themselves, even weakened by their earlier battle with the Mandrake.

Prompto took a particularly nasty slash across his back as a Glamhoth jumped around the younger blond, making him cry out for a moment before he was able to dispatch the beast. Amara warped over to him, calling upon her Glaive training for the first time in a while to summon her magic in a healing burst over them, though she was a bit irked to see that her previous lack-luster ability with that form of magic usage still applied. It was enough for Prompto to get back into the fight, but would definitely need to be checked out when they got somewhere safer.

Thankfully Ignis and Noctis had managed to take out the final creature while she was tending to her former classmate, and as they joined her she decided to go ahead and give it a look anyway.

“It’s a little deep. Do we have any potions?”

“Of course.” Ignis pulled one from his jacket, which he quickly broke over his friend’s back. They took a moment to make sure it actually healed before beginning to move on, with Prompto suddenly remembering all those times Amara had returned with bandages covering her.

“So Glaives can use healing magic, but it doesn’t completely work?”

“Not when it comes to daemon wounds, no. We were trained to use the King’s magic like that as a kind of failsafe, so we could have a chance of coming home alive.” she shrugged, motioning to a large scar on her forearm from her very first mission. “Daemon usually leave deep wounds, capable of making you bleed out quickly. We had to be able to do something to stop the bleeding before that happens, since we didn’t usually have potions on our missions.”

“Makes sense.”

The woman nodded, then took a look around before starting off in a new direction. Before too long, they were ducking through a narrow stone corridor of sorts, loud fighting echoing from within. Just around the corner, a Mushussu attacking a Lich - glowing green with its power. The daemonic summoner was one which Amara had not seen in some time, but she was able to recall had been fairly weak. So they hung just out of sight until the Mushussu had been dispatched before the two nobles summoned an Arm and warped after the fatigued humanoid creature, dispatching it with ease before it could muster up an attack against them. With the corridor now cleared, they wandered down it until they came to a split. The redhead paused, and reached out in both directions before looking at the men.

“Alright, so there is a Haven that way, but the Arm is this way. It’s already late at night, so what do we want to do?”

“Is there another way out from the Tomb?” Ignis questioned, looking at her curiously. When she shook her head, he looked at his King. “Tired as we may be, it may be for the best that we procure the Arm first, then retreat here to rest so we can head for the ruins come morning.”

“There won’t be as much risk of daemons that way,” Amara agreed. “It takes a lot more energy to fight a daemon than it does the wildlife, and I think it would be safer to not use too much of that energy when we don’t know what will happen when this Arm is gained.”

Noctis nodded, looking over at Prompto. “Can you make it?”

“You’ll just have to carry me out if I can’t.”

“True. Let’s go get the Arm first.”

The woman nodded, motioning for them to follow her down the right tunnel, which was covered with ivy and moss. It was long and winding, slanting at times steeply uphill, but thankfully free of any enemies, before it opened up to look over a deep basin with a single, large tree sprouting in the middle. The roof of the Tomb could be seen just beyond, glowing slightly in the moonlight filtering in from above. The way across looked to be empty, but Amara couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

With the guys following her slowly down the cliff they had emerged at the top of, she kept an eye out for anything unusual. And a good thing too: about as soon as they had stepped down into the basin, a large Treant dropped almost silently from the large central tree. Its bark-like skin, though clearly succumbing to rot, was deeply marred from years of fighting, and its sheer size showed it had likely come out on top from sheer strength.

“Aw shit! Ignis light it up! Prompto get on the cliff and stay out of its way! Noctis try to avoid its claws and its tail!”

Almost as soon as she said that, the beast-plant whipped around, swinging its massive tail at them. Warping out of the way with Prompto, she made sure he was okay on the cliff before warping down to head the Treant on the head. The others had managed to avoid its attack as well, and now Ignis was deftly dodging around as he threw elemancy orbs full of fire magic at the creature. It roared at them in pain and anger, whipping around again and this time catching Noctis on the side as he tried to get out of the way.

Remembering a trick Ignis had once shown her, Amara willed fire onto her kukri, coating them in the magic, before jumping back into the fray to hack at the beast. Ignis seemed to share her idea, summoning his own daggers to coat with fire to run in and land a massive blow to the chest of the distracted Treant. The now alight beast flailed, trying to put itself out, and leaving itself open for an onslaught from the group. Indeed, with the four of them focusing their attack together, it only took one last push to finish the monster off. Prompto was “singing” victory theme as he came down from the cliff, making his classmates laugh for a minute as they checked themselves over for any injuries. With no new ones of value they exchanged one final look before turning to the Tomb, Amara making her way to the door first so she could unlock it.

“So which King was this? Do you know Amara?”

“No. Usually they’d be talking to me by now but this one’s being pretty quiet.”

Only because I await the right time, Lady Amara. The look that crossed her face as she paused made the men look around at each other, waiting for her to do something. Not all rulers stayed in the light of their people. With secrecy, some may work best in the shadows. You, Amara, are one such Caelum, never to step fully into the light or dark. Tread the line between carefully.

“The Rogue,” Amara murmured, and with a jolt realized it was the Queen who had spoken to her so many times prior.

“What, what did she say?”

The woman shook her head, stepping into the Tomb and leaving her cousin to follow. Looking down upon the lighting shuriken clasped in the hands of the stone statue laid out before them. She began to reach out to it, but paused again, this time looking at Noctis. Realizing what she must have wanted, he stepped to her side and reached out to the Arm. Focusing on it , the group watched the weapon begin to glow, lifting from the statue as it spun gently in the air before shifting into two. The shuriken shot down into a noble each, forcing out the Armigers to make their appearances among the other Royal Arms they had gathered.

Amara knelt, saying a quick prayer and word of thanks before she stood to leave with her now curious friends, locking the Tomb behind her before they turned away.

“Is everything okay Ams?”

“Did she, uh, reveal anything?”

“No, not this time, but I’ll tell you about what she did say on the way to the Haven.”

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autumn-maple13 · 4 years ago

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I can't speak for the all the agencies of DHS, but as one of it's officers, as someone who stepped into the shoes of a woman who jumped in at rollout, the amount of things that the general public will never understand is the number one reason DHS and it's agencies are seen in such a poor light by Americans.

I'm not defending everything that has happened. DHS and it's agencies have fucked up a lot along the way, but it's making strides. Nothing is ever perfect at the start, but nothing has ever had to be so hurriedly formed either.

And other countries have taken notice. Many European leaders have opened their own similar agencies to copy what America is doing with DHS. Many even have stations for American officers to come over and help supply knowledge and training for the blooming agencies.

Americans will never have the knowledge they need to fully under what the Department of Homeland Security does, and we know this. We know coming in to expect a lot of shit, but there is a reason behind every agency's existence, every bit of training, everything we do.

It's not time to get rid of DHS. It's time to make the public more aware of what it is we are really doing so we can begin to fix the things we as officers don't notice. Public scrutiny can help move improvements along much faster than we can ourselves, and that's what we need. We need the public on board, checking us, pointing out places where a bit more attention could be used, and not because of leftover fear of past events, horrible as they were, but because there are still threats to be worried about in the future.

it was also supposed to be temporary

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autumn-maple13 · 4 years ago

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Me: *is sad about writers not updating their fanfics*

Also me: *doesnt update fanfic*

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autumn-maple13 · 4 years ago

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Lost to Time - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Lighthouse

It was still early in the morning when Amara and the other's decided to go ahead and get back on the road, much to the barely awake Noctis's disappointment. Between complaints of wanting more sleep and wanting to do more fishing, she wasn't too sure how he managed to get everything put away back in the armiger, let alone follow them back to their vehicles without stumbling over himself. For leg of the drive, as short as it looked to be, Ignis decided to take control of the Regalia, leaving Prompto to cheerfully volunteer to ride with Amara. So, for the short hope through the tunnel and to a large dirt parking area below the Cape Caem Lighthouse, Prompto held onto his seat behind his former classmate while the others followed at a safe distance in the car. Not too worse for wear, Prompto made a little quip about being happy to see Talcott again as he hopped off the bike, leaving Amara to roll it over to the large billboard to park under a little bit of shelter. The others, including a (thankfully) more awake Noctis soon joined her, looking up at the hill they needed to climb in order to reach the lighthouse.

Gladiolus was the first to grumble out a comment, though it seemed he was looking at their goal instead of the path. "Woah, pretty impressive lighthouse."

"What's say we head on up?" Prompto was too happy for being awake so early. He gently smacked his friend's shoulder. "C'mon Noct."

Ignis chuckled, looking at Amara for a moment. "Ought to be a nice view, if a bit blustery."

"I think I saw a path up there." The redhead gave him a small smile before taking off. There was indeed a path of sorts not far up the slope, and after only a few feet, they realized there was something else there too.

"Hey, Cindy!"

"What's up?"

The blonde smiled, crossing her arms. "Knew it was ya'll! Recognize the purr of that engine anywhere!"

prompto copied her motion as he walked up beside his friend, looking impressed.

"Whew! You know your stuff."

Iris giggled, giving a quick goodbye before heading up the hill alone, leaving everyone else there with Cindy. Finally, Noctis looked at her. "How's the boat?"

"Paw-paw's tinkering away. Reckon he'll be tinkering for some time."

Ignis seemed concerned. "Trouble as sea?"

The woman shrugged, turning to lead everyone up the hill. "Seen her share, by the looks of her. Some parts we can fix, others need replacin'."

Gladio shook his head with a grunt. "An overhaul."

Cindy didn't seem deterred at all, instead smiling brightly. "Don't y'all worry. Paw-paw ain't goin' nowhere 'til the job's done. Parts won't fetch 'emselves, though. Was kinda hopin' y'all wouldn't mind helpin' out with that?"

The advisor nodded. "We're at your disposal."

"To tell the truth, we already got a couple hands on deck: Dustin an' Monica. Those two have been real swell. Managed to gather just about everything we need."

"You can depend on the Crownsguard," Amara commented, looking back at everyone as she walked ahead of the group. "They'll usually do whatever they have to and do it well."

The other woman nodded, suddenly looking a little upset. "Trouble is, they ain't had much luck findin' a certain somethin' by the name of "mithril". Apparently the stuff's hard to come by around these parts, least accordin' to the little fella from the city."

"Talcott?"

"You betcha! Sharp as a tack, that one. Could tell y'all more about the stuff'n I could."

"We'll be sure to ask," Noctis confirmed, giving Prompto a glance before noticing Cindy had stopped walking. The others stopped not far ahead when the woman gave them a smile.

"Paw-paw's down on the dock. Now if y'all'd excuse me, I'm gonna grab my tools and skedaddle. Got a garage to look after."

"Thanks for the help Cindy."

"Ain't nothin'! Good luck."

The group watched the woman head off to gather her stuff before heading off themselves, but as they were reaching the top of an old staircase carved out of the rock face, they became aware of something calling for Noctis. A quick glance over towards the source made them notice Talcott waving excitedly from the porch of a weather-beaten house, so they changed direction to head over to him. As soon as they approached, it seemed that little Talcott went right into professional mode, only exchanging a few hellos before looking up at Noctis.

"I think Miss Cindy might've told you already, but she needs a very special kind of ore called mithril to fix the boat. Remember the waterfall? I read in Grandpa's notebook there's some ruins near a lake just north of there. It said you'll find mithril inside!"

"Hey, thanks for the great info Talcott!"

"Of course, if you guys are going to leave to find it soon, be careful."

"Yeah." Noctis gave the boy a smile, then looked over to where Iris was standing, patiently waiting her turn. "Iris?"

"Well. About that lake: pretty sure he was talking about the Vesperpool. I asked Monica to look into it, and she told me the road leading there's under imperial lockdown. You'll wanna be ready for anything."

"You're right. We'll make sure we're ready before heading out."

"Yeah, just… give us a second." Gladio was unusually quick to jump in, giving his sister a worried look.

"Uh, okay? I'll be inside, then."

Once Iris and Talcott had made their way inside, the Shield was slow to look at his friends, and more specifically at Noctis.

"So yeah, gonna have to ask you to handle this boat business without me."

Prompto gasped, almost jumping forward. "Say wha?"

"Got some business of my own to deal with."

Noctis took a breath but nodded. "Do your thing. Not like we could stop you anyway."

That seemed to put the taller man a bit more at ease. "You know me too well. See ya 'round guys."

Amara rolled her eyes, whistling to get his attention as he tried to leave. The man seemed a bit surprised when she threw the keys to her motorcycle at him, but she just gave him a wave. "Don't fuck it up and we'll be fine."

With another nod, Gladio turned to make his way back down the hill, heading off to do whatever the hell it was he had his mind on. The others seemed a little bit unnerved by his departure, and the woman could feel their eyes on her as she watched her friend disappear from view. But they didn't have time for that. She decided it was her turn to go get some stuff done – namely checking their supplies and talking to Monica about a few things before they left for the Vesperpool. Knowing that there would likely be a good period of time passing before they could come back, she checked and rechecked everything, acting almost as if she was about to deploy on a Glaive mission.

It was actually kind of impressive to watch.

Before too long the group was saying their goodbyes and heading down to retrieve the Regalia, with the younger men snagging the back seat to themselves so Amara could be up front, and on point. Ignis didn't say anything, but he saw her summon a gun from her armiger and slip it into the map pocket of the passenger door.

"It's going to a be a few hours until we get there, but while we're there we should definitely take advantage of being in the area," the woman turned to look at her former classmates in the backseat. "There's a tomb in a forest there."

"Great, so we can grab the ore, and get a new Arm all in one go?"

"Not quite? It looks like the tomb and the ruins are on opposite sides of the Vesperpool, however , it shouldn't be too hard to get both while we're there. Y'know, if we can get past the imperial blockage undetected."

"Doubtful."

"Do you think they're be much of a fight?"

Something in Amara's mind was screaming at her to be careful, so she shook her head. "No. I think we may just get "help" again."

Now that got a groan out of everyone else in the car, but not much else. They group fell into a bout of silence, the younger men deciding to pull out their phones and distract themselves for the time being while the duo upfront scanned the road ahead. Ignis was clearly allowing himself a fair bit of leniency with the Regalia's speed, and within the first hour they were passing the waterfall where the tomb had been hidden.

"The waterfall cave was down there," Ignis remarked as they crossed the bridge, leaving Prompto to stick his head up front.

"That means the lake should be to the north!"

"Yes, but we must be careful – where we go the Empire tends to follow."

Amara nodded. "Even if the Vesperpool is under lockdown, I doubt the Niffs wouldn't vall in some backup just for us."

Ignis hit the switch to put up the car's roof as a few raindrops began to fall. They fell back into silence as the downpour started, drumming on the roof with a steady rhythm until another sound interrupted it. A siren was going off as a set of large metal doors appeared ahead of them, opening up for them as they got closer. The group exchanged an unsettled glance as they entered the tunnel the door had sealed off, Prompto finally breaking the silence after a moment.

"Wait – what happened to "under imperial lockdown"?"

Ignis slowed the car to a stop, turning to look back at where they entered. "They all but turned the key and left the gates open for us – as if awaiting our arrival."

The younger blond groaned for a moment. "And if anyone's waiting for us, I bet it's that guy."

"Chancellor Izunia," the advisor agreed, looking to Amara as she rolled her eyes.

"Can't complain as long as he lets us in," Noctis almost sounded as if he were disappointed.

"That doesn't mean he'll let us out," his friend sighed, looking at her boyfriend, then the others. "We need to be careful, guys."

Ignis nodded. "Not to mention we're a man down. Would that the marshal were here with us. No offense to you Amara, but when it comes to dealing with him…"

"I don't want to be involved either." She made a motion at him, and finally Ignis began to drive again, soon bringing them out of the long tunnel and out onto a rain-soaked road lined on each side by tall cliffs. Having to turn his focus to not hydroplaning around the curves, they were all less than thrilled when he slowed again not long after reaching a straight part of the road.

"An imperial blockade."

"Oh, there's the "under imperial control"."

Ignis stopped the car, opening the door soon after. "We must be doubly cautious!"

"Right," Noctis looked at them. "No room for error here."

Amara was one of the first to start for the imperials, eyeing the battery soldiers with a less than impressed look as they began firing at her, then the guys as they closed in behind her.

She was heading for that MA-Veles that had decided to start firing rockets at them, which she heard exploding around her as she warped through the air. Amara warped in, aiming for the cockpit, which she thrust a broadsword through the glass of. The blood of the human pilot splattered across the remainder of the screen before she sent the weapon back into the armiger so she could leap away from it. Summoning her scythe, she turned to breaking down the mech's weak 'legs', listening to bodies begin to hit the pavement behind her. Pouring her magic into the weapon allowed the weapon to be brought down easily (though she was partially sure it was because the mech was so old). In fact, as soon as she got away from the explosion the walking tank erupted into, she realized that none of the forces had been very strong. They had been such a pathetic fight, that even the guys looked concerned.

"Something's off here."

"Why would they have such weak forces up here to "meet" us?"

Ignis adjusted his glasses, turning to head back for the car some few yards away. "Doubtless part of one of Izunia's ploys to make us lower our guard. Come, it will do us no good to ponder it now."

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autumn-maple13 · 4 years ago

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Lost to Time - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: The Cape

It was late afternoon the next day when the group finally made it back to the Regalia and Amara's motorcycle, having decided to spend another night at the Haven in the Thicket for the woman to recover a bit more of her energy, as well as for them to come up with a plan. There were still a few too many loose ends for Ignis to be comfortable with by the time they eventually recovered, but even he had been unable to account for much outside the realm of the current knowledge now that Amara's secret had been revealed and left the already wildcard that was Ardyn Izunia an even more unpredictable piece.

As everyone returned their previous spots, Amara spared her cousin one more look before she turned over the engine of her bike and pulled away from the gravelly parking spot. The Regalia pulled out close behind her, and Noctis was actually attempting to keep up this time. A sharp right off the dirt road and back onto the freeway had them soon to be speeding around mountain curves until the sea came into view off to their right. She could hear a car horn behind her, so after a quick glance revealed Noctis to be signaling her, Amara pulled off into a parking spot she saw ahead.

"Noctis, what's up? We've hardly been on the road long enough-"

Prompto had run up and slung an arm around his former schoolmate before she could finish and leaned in close so he could whisper to her. "Iris is feeling a little iffy about jumping ship so soon. Noct thought a little more time for her to hang with all of us would help her feel a bit better about it."

"Ah, got it. In that case," the woman pulled out her map to glance over, soon finding where she thought they might be on a long winding road near the coast. "There's a Haven up ahead. I know we only just left the other one, but maybe we can camp out again, and do a little fishing?"

Ignis didn't seem upset at the idea. "It would be nice to restock some of our supplies."

"Alright, I'll go let Noct know!" Prompto grinned and ran back to the car, and after a quick glance back at them Amara stowed her map away and pulled her motorcycle back onto the road. It wasn't too long of a drive, with the ocean stretching out to their right providing a welcome distraction, right up until they started to cross a massive bridge, heading for one of the region's many tunnels. Amara could sense the Haven's power not far away and pulled to a stop close to a concrete staircase that led down to a sloping hill below. Noctis was careful to pull the Regalia up behind her.

"Where's this Haven at?"

"That way." Gladiolus didn't seem impressed but motioned for her to lead the way. With a nod, the redhead started down the steps, taking a moment at the bottom to look out to the mouth of the river that was feeding into the ocean whose salt was stinging her nose. The sea breeze wasn't very strong where they were, sheltered by a rocky outcrop, but she could see the trees rustling overhead. It was a fair slope downward toward the river, with rocks and boulders sticking up everywhere though it did start to clear up as they got closer to the riverbank. As they stepped out onto the open stone bank, she looked over at the cliff framed view of gentle waves, feeling the breeze pick up around them.

"Wow. I've never seen the ocean like this before."

"Really? You would have loved Galdin Quay then!" Prompto laughed, pulling out his camera to take a few photos. "Hey, maybe you should ask Iggy to take you back sometime."

"Sounds romantic," Gladiolus snickered, patting Amara's shoulder as he walked past her. "If you do go, try not to have too much fun."

The woman huffed, giving his sister a look. "I think he's jealous."

"Well he did have a crush on you way back when so-"

"Iris!"

"Wait what?!"

"Duude!"

Ignis, despite the quick adjustment of his glasses, didn't seem fazed by the implication, instead crossing his arms with a rather knowing look. "Come now Gladio, don't blame Iris for telling us something that quite frankly I'm surprised no one else noticed. However, you might want to work on that timing. I believe you're late? And by quite a few years, might I add."

Amara grimaced, turning her look on the elder Amicitia, who looked ready to die (though of what she couldn't tell). "Gladio, how about we agree to forget this happened and get back to what we actually came here to do?"

"Agreed." He nodded, glaring daggers at his smirking sister as she followed the Glaive across the grass covered rocks that lined the bottom of the cliff. It was fairly hazardous to walk across the area without paying attention to where you were stepping, so as Amara tried to focus on making sure she and the younger girl made it to what would be their camp for the night, she just hoped Noctis didn't stick his foot in a half-covered hole and hurt himself. Hearing the guys start to complain behind her as the wind picked up offered a bit of reassurance that they were at least marginally aware of the terrain around them.

"Damn, this wind's strong!" Noctis was struggling to keep his overshirt from whipping up and hitting him in the face, finally reaching down and fastening a few of the buttons to keep it from lifting up too far.

Prompto had other problems though, wearing a heart broken look as he whined. "No! My perfectly groomed hair!"

"You think you got it bad? Check out Ignis!"

"Whoa, you're right!"

The advisor scoffed, trying to ignore the wind that was ruining what might have otherwise been a perfectly put away hairstyle. "It's rude to stare."

Honestly, when she looked back at the guys, none of them looked like they were well "groomed" anyway, but after sleeping at a camp for two nights she didn't know what else to expect. The complaining, though, seemed a bit overkill in light of that.

"You all look like hell anyway, why complain about the wind messing up your hair now?"

"Hey, you're one to talk!"

"Yeah your hair looks just as bad!"

Iris looked between the younger men and their friend before shrugging. "Actually, this whole wind-swept look looks pretty good on her, I'm a little jealous."

"I know, dammit," Prompto looked defeated, running his fingers through his hair. "It's not fair."

"Neither are a lot of things Prom." The woman rolled her eyes, leading everyone around a bend. "Hey, looks like the Haven's over there, but it's got a lot of tide pools around it."

"Wait, is that a dock I see?"

"Well we know where Noctis will be spending his time until we leave."

"In that case, why not try and catch us something for dinner while we set up camp? Like I said before, we should take a chance to replenish our supplies while we can."

"On it!"

His cousin laughed as the King warped ahead of everybody, obviously eager to get to the dock and cast a line. Iris and her brother followed as closely as they could, with a few shouts to mind the erosion on the rocks around them, while the other three split off to start setting up camp. Thankfully Noctis had started storing everything in the armiger and summoned it all out for them before he summoned his fishing rod. So, while the boys set up the chairs and camp kitchen, Amara got to work pitching the tent for them, hammering the anchors into the rock with a fair amount of effort before she set about getting the sleeping bags all set out and ready for the inevitable crash that would come after whatever dinner her boyfriend would whip up with Noct's 'catch of the day'. Once her part of the work was done, she decided to walk over to the edge of the Haven and take a seat to watch Noctis fish for a bit, wondering for a moment how he would have any luck fishing in such a small area beside the literal ocean, before another thought crossed her mind. Looking back at her friends, she was a little hesitant to ask.

"Did King Regis like to fish too?"

"As I recall his majesty did enjoy a few magazines on the topic from time to time, so possibly." Ignis looked at her from where he was preparing a kettle of some sort by the camp stove. "Unfortunately, we'll never know for sure."

The woman took a slow, deep breath, turning her attention back to her friends below.

"Yeah… even though I saw it happen, I keep finding myself forgetting he's really… gone. I saw the Fall, saw nearly everything that happened, and I still don't always think it was real."

"But being a long-lost member of the royal line sunk right in?" Prompto plopped down next to her. "C'mon Ams, with everything that's happened recently, I think your whole revelation the other night was the only thing I could 'forget' was real."

"Yeah, you have a point."

"Let us not forget that her family tree bears two branches of nobility." Ignis came to join them with cups of coffee for them. Taking a place on Amara's free side, he took a moment to sip his drink before looking down to where his king, and friend, was arguing with Gladiolus about being a "backseat fisher". "What light may Lady Lunafreya yet shine on the situation? If she really did convene with your mother, the first Oracle, for so many years until Noctis led her to you, what might have been told, one Oracle to another, that the Kings of Yore couldn't possibly tell you?"

"A great deal, honestly." For a brief moment, she felt her mother's presence, flowing freely in the magic of the Haven. "For all we know, Luna could have a whole other side of the story to tell me. And honestly, I'm kind of afraid of knowing if I'm right about that."

"Ams?"

"Amara, what on Eos could possibly be left to tell that could frighten you?"

"I don't know. That's the scary part. With the Kings, it was all related to my powers as a Lucis Caelum, my place in the family tree - my Lucian lineage and all the attachments, good and bad." Amara looked down at her cup, watching the liquid give off a little bit of steam that was being carried away by the now dying wind. "I don't really know anything about the Fleuret side of myself. Even when I've talked to mother in the dreamscape, she hasn't told me anything about it. Uncle Somnus has been trying to keep the focus of the Caelum side."

"Y'know, it's a little unnerving to hear you talk about them like that," Prompto looked a little nervous. "I mean, yeah, you and Noct have always been a little weird when it came to stuff like that, but he never talked about dead relatives like this."

The woman paused, biting her lip for a moment. "It's like… They're not fully dead to me, and I think that's due to the Fleuret side. They can enter my dreams, appear as visions, all kinds of things. I know from Pip, Noct's guardian messenger, that he is building connections to the past kings from the Arms like I am, but I don't think they can speak to him the way they do with me." Ignis looked thoughtful for a moment, but before he could speak, the trio found themselves distracted by a commotion from the dock below. Noctis had reeled in a massive fish and had apparently spotted another judging by his quick recast. The advisor sighed softly, getting up from the edge.

"I best begin preparing for supper."

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