FFXV: After the Fall

Chapter 38 (Epilogue)

Noctis walked past the fireplace, beef sandwich in hand as he looked at his watch; almost eleven. They'd be starting soon.
The others watched him as he paced back and forth along a stretch of carpet that was roughly four or so metres long, wondering what he was doing as well as how long he was going to insist on doing it for.

They'd had a bit of a mad scramble to get back to the castle with decent time to spare, having woken up late in Galahd due to the party last night. They'd snatched some toast before leaving their borrowed house, quickly said goodbye to the Elder with a promise to return again soon, then practically ran to where the Regalia was parked for the last leg of the round trip.
They'd made it back to the castle at ten-thirty, then descended upon the kitchens en-masse in order to grab the rest of the breakfast that they'd had to miss. Thankfully, after a vat of coffee and several hot beef sandwiches between them, they started to feel decently awake.

It was then that Helena suddenly remembered that she was raising Lunafreya today, with an official welcoming ceremony to be held in the courtyard for press and public at precisely three, and she flew into a panic as she'd not got her official robes. They were still in her house back in the Diamonds.
She spent a couple of minutes working her way through said panic, then hit on the idea of calling Bahamut to ask his advice after the others had shooed the regular staff out of the area.
She explained the situation, saying that she'd not got enough time to fly to the Diamonds to collect the robes, then travel to Altissia to raise her, let alone getting her to the red carpet for three, and Bahamut sagely listened to her for a few moments before suggesting an alternative method of transport. He offered her to use his teleporting ability, giving her one of his rings that she could borrow just for today, so she then quickly said goodbye to the others and vanished along with Bahamut...
Which then led the others to watching Noctis pace the carpet.

They all exchanged silent looks as Noctis turned, paced back the way he'd just come, then look at his watch yet again. It had only been a minute since he'd last looked at it.
   "Dude...what are you doin'?" Prompto asked then.
   "Waiting." Was the short reply.
   "Waiting for what?"
   "Luna."
   "But..." Prompto then caught a look from Nyx that strongly suggested to leave it alone. "...oh." He said instead. "Okay."
After another minute, Nyx and Gladiolus left the room to talk in the corridor just outside.
   "He's gonna do this the whole time, isn't he?" Gladiolus asked.
   "Unless we do somethin'? Looks like it." Nyx replied. "He looks real nervous, and seein' Elle in a panic just before she left won't have helped him, either."
   "We can't just let him do this until they get back, though. There's gonna be a fuckin' trench in there before long."
   "I know, I'm tryin' to think of somethin'." Nyx rubbed his forehead briefly. "I reckon he's far too aware of time passin' right now. So what we need to do, is distract him from it."
   "...distract him."
   "Yeah! Like...find somethin' for him to do so that he's too busy to look at that fuckin' watch of his."
   "That's a good idea. Like what?"
   "...not got that far yet." Nyx added. "If we appear too insensitive and shit, he could turn on us."
   "That's why you stopped Prom just now?"
   "Yup. Wouldn't have gone down too well. We need to be a little more gentle here, I think, and-"

At that moment, Carbuncle appeared on Nyx's left shoulder, making him jump slightly.
   "Careful!" The Divine fox snapped. "I'll fall off."
   "Don't appear on my fuckin' shoulder, then!"
   "...ooh, someone's moody today."
   "You seen Noct?" Gladiolus told him. "That's why."
   "Yeah, I've been watching him for the past few minutes. Honestly, he's worse than a woman."
   "How about helping us?" Nyx asked.
   "Well, luckily for you, that's what I came here to do. The carpet won't thank me as much as you guys will, but oh well."
   "Oh- okay, thanks. What are you gonna do?"
   "Before I start, have you got anything he could do instead?"
   "I was just thinkin' of that."
   "Think faster, that area of the dining room's almost threadbare."
   "Hey, I know," Gladiolus then suggested, "why don't we borrow him to help move your stuff into my place? Could always do a few chores too, that'll distract him for a good while."
   "Chores?" Carbuncle exclaimed. "You want distracted, not about to commit suicide. How about, you also move some of Sis' stuff in there too? Big Sis would totally love you for that."
Gladiolus paused. "But...her stuff's in the Diamonds."
Carbuncle jumped off Nyx at that point, landing lightly on the floor before sitting down to inspect one of his paws. "Daddy isn't the only one who can teleport, y'know." He told them both. "How do you think we get around so fast?"
   "...you can do it too?" Nyx looked at him.
   "Yay, he's finally awake!"
   "Shut the fuck up." He grinned. "So what, you're gonna enable us to do that zapping stuff?"
   "...I might." Carbuncle sniffed.
   "Aw c'mon, I thought you wanted to save the carpet?"
   "Yeah, help us out." Gladiolus added. "You know we like you."
Carbuncle grinned at that- which is to say that he bared his teeth and looked more like he was seething with rage, but the two men assumed that if a fox could grin, it'd look like that.
   "I guess I can help you out. I'm bored to be honest, was gonna visit Sis but she's busy right now. I haven't got any rings though, I'd look really stupid with one so I'll have to come with you. That's a good thing, though, or you'd probably get arrested if you tried to get in her house on your own. Plus I know the way."
   "Very convincing case you got there." Nyx smiled.
   "Let's go and break it to him, then."