The Far Edge of Fate (Final Fantasy XV)

CHAPTER 31 - SINGULARITY

hope y'all didn't think i forgot about episode prompto :)

POTENTIAL TW: Graphic depictions of rotted corpses, vomiting, self-worth issues, and human experimentation.

chapter title comes from "Singularity" from the Persona 5 Strikers/Scramble OST. It is also recommended—but not required—to listen to it as you read.

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"Did you hear?"

In a whirlwind of excitement and personality, one Talcott Hester swept into the Leville's courtyard. Aaralyn could barely spare him a glance before she was forced to block Solara's wide swings with her wooden sword. The kid was getting good—and getting good fast.

"What's up?" she asked, forced to take a step back and pivot to the right to avoid Solara's next stab.

"We got intercontinental travel all set up!" Talcott said. "Cindy repaired a bunch of the old Imperial dropships you guys recovered from Insomnia."

Solara paused. "So we can go back across the ocean?"

"Yeah!" Talcott bobbed his head, grinning. "It'll make getting to people trapped there easier! Cor's gonna send preliminary teams there as early as next week!"

Solara dropped her stance to properly stare at Talcott in awe. "So that includes people in the Empire, huh?"

Talcott nodded.

Aaralyn took the opportunity to lift her wooden blade, gently tapping Solara on the shoulder with it. The little girl heaved out a sigh, lifting her hands in surrender.

"What's rule number one, kiddo?" Aaralyn asked her.

Solara pouted. "Never take your eyes off your opponent."

"Atta girl," Aaralyn picked the false sword from her shoulder and let it rest on her own. "That'll be all for today. I gotta go talk to Cor. You two go run off, alright?"

Solara opened her mouth to protest when Talcott grabbed her by the hands.

"Let's go talk to Dino!" he said enthusiastically. "He'll have more details, I know it!"

Solara's disgruntlement faded immediately from her expression as she nodded emphatically, running along behind Talcott. Aaralyn watched them dart into the alleyway back to the Leville proper with a fond smile. As soon as they were out of sight, she scooped up Solara's forgotten sword and took it with her as she headed back to the apartment she was sharing with Cassielle and Autumn.

The door creaked loudly as she opened it and she cringed at the noise—it'd needed a good oiling for a little over a year now, but given how scarce resources were starting to get, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

She dumped the swords on the couch and made her way over to her phone that she'd left charging on one of the desks. She was lucky she was a soldier—anyone who had a phone was only barely ever allowed to charge them. They were seen as an unnecessary 'waste of power', which was starting to get harder and harder to come by nowadays. Soldiers were the only ones who had ready access to their phones and the cellular network as a whole, just in case they needed to contact each other in times of crisis.

She dialed Cor's familiar number and held it up to her ear, waiting. She knew her Captain was sitting by his desk—as always—doing paperwork and approving missions and teams for daemon exterminations. While he was in Insomnia around this time, his routine didn't change much from when he was in Lestallum.

Cor answered on the third ring. "Hello?"

"It's Aaralyn," she tucked her phone under her ear to scoop up the play swords from the couch and put them away before Autumn complained about it when she came home later that night.