After the Light (FFXV)

Chapter 23

"....-ella!" Shouted a muffled voice in the process of becoming clearer.
She groaned, with blurred vision as her eyes slowly opened.
"Wake up, Stella!" Iris shouted from the cell across from Stella's.
"...Iris?" Stella mumbled.
"Are you all right?!" Iris asked.
"Y-yeah." Stella sat up, rubbing the back of her neck. "How are you? Where are we?"
"Zegnautus Keep." Said Cain, as he walked down the hall and stood between their cells.
"Cain." Stella glared.
"In the flesh. Hello, ladies." Cain paced slowly back and forth. "I'm sure you're both wondering why you're here, so I'm going to just cut to the chase and tell you. You're both part of a project I'm working on."
"We're not interested." Stella snapped.
"You don't have a choice. Unless...you want something to happen to your dear brother?" Cain stopped. "Funny. You both have a brother, so the threat works out either way."
Iris glared. "If you hurt either of them, you will regret it."
"Cooperate, and they'll be just fine. Now, allow me to tell you more about your contribution to this project. Oracle, your near-death experience allows you to enter another realm in your dreams, and communicate with the souls who linger there. A much easier process than having to force one of my subjects through a near-death experience." He stopped, facing Stella's cell.
"You want me to steal souls, like you did Lunafreya's?" Stella snarked.
          "Lunafreya has been given a second chance. Wouldn't you rather see your dear sister alive and among loved ones?" He attempted to sound sincere, but still came off cold.
          "How is that even possible?" Iris asked.
          Cain motioned for someone to come to him. Daemon Prompto soon showed up, and stood beside him.
         "Cloning. Though they're more like dolls. Mr. Argentum is not the only one. I've spent years on this project. My system works better, thanks to your little time traveling messenger dog. His blood was the most difficult to obtain when I started this project." Cain explained.
          "You put Lunafreya's soul into a clone?!" Stella shouted.
           "Yes. You see this?" He held up his hand, revealing the white ring. "It's what I use to transfer souls into the clones who lack them. I'm doing good for the world. All you have to do, Stella, is open the Door of Souls, and capture a few."
"And if I can't?" Stella asked.
"You'll be able to. Don't be so negative." Cain said.
          "Then what? You turn them into daemons?" Stella asked.
          "I like to call them Immortal Beings." Cain replied. "Let's get to work. Remember, your brother's life is on the line."
         A group of Magitek troops marched up the hall, as Cain unlocked Iris' cell door, and pulled her out.
"You know what to do." He said, handing the white ring to Daemon Prompto.
"What about Stella?" Iris asked.
"All she has to do is sleep, which can be done in her cell. I have other plans for you." Cain responded, before taking Iris away with the magitek.
"Don't you dare hurt her!" Stella demanded as she held the bars of her cell.
"Well that depends on you; now doesn't it?!" Cain shouted.
      Stella sat in her cell for several hours, being watched by Daemon Prompto. Kinda hard to sleep when someone's staring at you. She ignored her growling stomach, and focused more on how she was going to get out of her cell. I need to be careful. I don't want anything to happen to Ravus, and that lunatic has Iris.
She sighed. "Can you turn around? I can't get to sleep with you gawking at me." 
       Stella groaned as Daemon Prompto continued to stare.

         Iris sat with her wrists and ankles tied to a metal chair. She looked around at the magitek lined up against the wall with their guns. Her wrists bled as she desperately tried to loosen the tight ropes.
        The door creaked as Cain opened it and entered the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting." He said unapologetically.
        He took a cell phone out of his pocket, as he noticed her blood on the ropes. "If you sat still, that wouldn't have happened."
        Glaring, she asked, "What do you want with me?"
         "Your role in this project comes much later. Consider this a...sneak peak. For now, you can talk to the king. I'm sure he's very worried." Cain answered. After one tap on the screen, he pressed the phone against the side of her face.
         "...Hello?" Noctis said.
          Iris held her breath and turned her face away from the phone. Cain had been out of the room for hours, so she had no idea what he had planned.
        "Hello?" Noctis said again.
         While Iris remained silent, Cain moved the phone and ended the call.
         "Did you not want to talk? How will he know where you are if you don't tell him?" Cain asked. "Would you like me to do it for you? I can go see him. Or your big brother."
          "Leave them alone." She demanded.
          "Then talk. If he's truly the chosen King, he should have no problems once he's here." Cain called Noctis again, and held the phone beside her face.

           Noctis and the guys were sitting inside Aranea's airship, on their way back to Lucis. Noctis looked at his phone again as it rang.
          "Is it the unknown caller again?" Prompto asked, sitting next to him.
           "Yeah." Noctis said before taking the call. "...Hello?"
             Noctis sighed as there was silence. "Whoever this is-"
            "Noct?" Iris said.
            "Iris?!" He responded. He put the phone on speaker as Gladio and Ignis rushed over to him.
            "Iris, are you and Stella all right?!" Gladio asked. "Where are you?!"
             "...I don't know. I've never been here before-" she said before crying out in pain.
"What's wrong?!" Gladio asked.
"...Zegnautus Keep... That's where we are. Please be careful." Iris said, right before the call ended.
Aranea sighed. "Guess we gotta turn around."

Some hours later, Stella had finally fallen asleep.
She opened her eyes and found herself outside of the Citadel, in the ruins of Insomnia. Turning around, she looked up to the sky and saw the bright star, with a beam of light descending from it. She approached the beam, walking away from the Citadel.
        "...I can't do this...but if I don't, he'll hurt Iris and Ravus." She said.
          The beam was warm to the touch, as she placed her hand inside of it. Her eyebrows raised, as she noticed the white ring on her finger.
        "If I have this... I need to wake up." She said, backing away from the beam.
        She climbed onto a dusty car, closed her eyes, and then fell back, off of the car.

        Stella's eyes popped open, and as she expected, the cell door was opened. Daemon Prompto was kneeling beside the bunk bed, watching the ring he had placed on her finger. Stella shoved him aside as she jumped out of bed, and ran out, closing the cell door.
        Summoning her rapier, Stella raced through the facility, striking down every magitek troop in her path. She soon arrived in a large computer room, where the wall was filled with screens. Each one alternated between cameras to different rooms.
"Where are you guys?" She wondered, as she approached the screens.
         Ravus almost immediately popped up on one screen at the top. He was sneaking down the halls, hiding in any place he could, to avoid alarming the magitek.
         "Okay. That takes care of you. Now where are you, Iris?" Stella folded her arms.

          Breaking free from those ropes seemed impossible, but Iris didn't give up. Cain left the room sometime ago, so it was just Iris and the magitek. She managed to get one hand free, and then discreetly began to untie the other. As the creaking door opened, she sat still, with her arms behind the chair. To her surprise, Ravus stood in the doorway.
         "Get down!" He shouted as he charged into the room and attacked the magitek.
          Iris dropped to the floor to avoid the gun fire, and dragged herself behind a nearby desk, where she untied her ankles. She peeked from behind the desk, and watched as Ravus struck down the last couple of magitek.
         "Are you all right?" He asked. "You can come out now."
         Standing up and approaching him, she said, "Yes. Thank you."
         "Do you know where Stella is?" He asked, picking up her katana and handing it to her.
          "Yes. I-...Oh. She's right there." Iris motioned for Ravus to turn around.
          Stella ran up to the door. "There you two are. Let's get the hell out of here."
          "I know several ways out of here. Follow me." Ravus said, as he passed by Stella.

         Noctis walked alongside Ignis, Prompto, Gladio, and Aranea through the streets of Gralea. Not too many people lived there, so that fact combined with the late hour and freezing rain, made the city feel like a ghost town.
        "How much further to the train station? Does anyone know?" Prompto asked.
        "About twenty minutes." Aranea answered.
        "Got it. And why couldn't we just fly up to Zegnautus Keep? That's what we did when we went to save Iggy." Prompto wondered.
        "That was eleven years ago. I don't know what tricks Cain has up his sleeves. Sneaking in is the smarter option." Aranea said.
         "Okay; and what about-" Prompto began.
         "Stop with all the damn questions." An irritated Gladio demanded.
         "Now, now, that's no way to talk to your friends, Gladiolus." Said a woman's voice.
         Gladio's eyes widened, and his face turned pale as he and the rest of the group stopped walking. Emerging from the shadows, with her face uncovered, was the woman with the very long braid. They all readied their weapons, but Gladio, with his hands free, stretched his arm out in front of them.
         "Wait!" He said.
         "Why? Who the hell is she?" Aranea asked.
          "...My mother." Gladio answered.