After the Light (FFXV)

Chapter 12

          "Where are you right now?" Gladio asked, holding Ignis' phone and leading the team down to the Regalia.
          "We're back at the manor." She answered.
         "Stay there. We're on our way." Noctis said, now walking next to Gladio. 
          "All right. We'll see you soon." Iris said.
           Both sides ended the call, and Gladio returned the phone to Ignis. They sat in the car, with Ignis as the driver, and were soon on their way to Hammerhead.

Ravus stood by the window in the study, at the Manor, with his eyes closed. The room itself was quiet, but he found a sense of peace in the sound of the pouring rain. Hearing Stella's dream about daemons returning, and that she had been attacked, made his blood boil. While he respected and accepted Noctis as the Chosen King, a big part of Ravus wished that the plan to save Noctis' life had failed.
Not a day went by where he didn't think of Lunafreya. He'd spent the last decade haunted by his failure to save her. Sometimes he wished she wasn't the Oracle. Then there's Stella. In time, Ravus grew to love Stella and wanted to protect her, but sometimes it pained him to look at and be around her.
He opened his eyes, and mixed in with the rain droplets on the window, stood Aranea's reflection.
"Wasn't expecting a call from you." She admitted.
"I have a job for you. I need you to get Stella out of here." Ravus kept his eyes focused on the outside view.
"Oh yeah? Why not do it yourself?" She sounded curious, but deep down, she didn't actually care for the reason. Either way, she was getting paid for being there.
         "I have other business to attend to, and I don't entirely trust her life in the hands of that girl." He said.
          "Iris? Why not?" Aranea folded her arms.
          "She's part of Noctis' inner circle, and is just a little too close to him. I'm sure she sees my sister's death as a win for her; putting her one step closer to her beloved king." Ravus scoffed, turning away from the window.
           "I highly doubt that's the case. It'd be pretty screwed up to praise Lady Lunafreya's death, and then become best friends with her sister. What you're doing, is holding on to your sister's death so you have a reason to hate everyone. It's been eleven years. There's-...You know what? I'm not entertaining this any more." Aranea said before leaving the room.
           Knowing that she was part of the time traveling team, Aranea couldn't help but feel guilty after what she almost said to Ravus. There's nothing anyone could've done to save her. If they wanted to, they could ask Umbra to send them back again, so they could at least attempt to save her from being stabbed by Ardyn. Going back the first time was risky enough.
        

         Noctis stared at the starry sky, as Ignis flew the Regalia over the ocean. The stars were quickly hidden by thick, dark clouds.
         "You okay, buddy?" Prompto asked.
          Noctis turned his attention to Prompto, who sat in his usual seat. "What?...Oh, yeah. Just trying to figure out how to handle all of this."
          "Iris said they were back at the manor. That just tells me they were attacked in public. The people of Tenebrae will blame you as soon as they see you. Maybe you should lay low for a bit." Gladio suggested. 
         "It'll take some time to get to Tenebrae. Wouldn't it be in his best interest if they saw him coming in with us?" Prompto said.
         "In the time it takes us to get there, he could've taken the train out of Tenebrae, only to be picked up by us at the next station." Ignis picked up his coffee and took a sip.
          Noctis sighed. "So they won't believe me, no matter what I say."
         He took his phone out of his pocket just as it started to ring, and answered. "Hello?"
       "Hey, Noct." Iris said. "Listen, Aranea's here to take me and Stella back to Lucis. I don't know how close you guys are to Tenebrae. Should we wait?"
        "Whatever works for you. We're not that far." Noctis replied.
         "We'll wait. I'm sure you guys are tired and- Stella, watch out!!" After a loud crash, the call had ended.
"Iris?...Iris?!" Noctis looked at his phone and then tried to call her back.
Gladio and Prompto pulled their phones out and started texting. They listened for Iris' voice through Noct's phone, but she didn't answer.

Aranea held her spear out of the shattered window, and shook off the magitek troop that she had just impaled moments ago. A group of other troops were scattered on the floor, in pieces. Iris and Stella joined her at the window and watched as an army of imperial ships emerged from the dark storm clouds. With all of Tenebrae experiencing a blackout, the lights from the ships stood out, even when lightning struck.
Iris picked up her phone from the floor. The screen was severely cracked, but it still worked. Turning her attention back to the ships, she answered the phone. "Noct?"
"Is everything all right?! What happened?!" Noctis' voice sounded worried, but also gave the sense that he was trying to remain calm.
"We're all fine, but there are imperial ships everywhere." Iris moved away from the window and left the room with Aranea and Stella.
She could hear Noctis speaking, but the poor reception made his voice sound broken. It wasn't long before she completely lost service and the call ended.
"We're getting the hell out of here. Now." Aranea demanded.
They stopped by Stella's room, where they found Pryna. Moments later, they were joined by Ravus, who quietly pushed the door until it was cracked open just a little. He pressed a finger to his lips, and then peeked through the crack in the door.
Several magitek walked down the hall, while others were heard crashing through the windows of other rooms. Ravus turned to the others and nodded, assuring them that the magitek were closing in on them and to be prepared. The ladies nodded back, confirming that they understood.
Ravus gave them a finger countdown, starting from three. He opened the door, and they all rushed out, ready to fight.