Book Two: The Journey of the Lucians

III - The Cold Hard Truth

"Heya, morning," Sera hears Prompto's voice say through the door.

"Where's Specs?" Noctis's voice said through the door. Then she hears Gladiolus's voice through the door.

"Should be back any minute now." Sera then knocks on the door. The door opens and she is greeted by Prompto.

"Sera, what are you doing here?" Prompto asks. Then, Iggy comes in behind her, a somber look on his face, a newspaper in his hand.

"What's that look for?" Noctis asked. As the prince asked this, Ignis handed the morning paper over to Gladiolus.

"It's in all the paper," Ignis said, sounding serious, his voice slightly deeper than normal.

"What is?" the prince asked, his brows furrowed. Prompto peers over Gladiolus's massive arm, reading the morning paper's headline.

"Insomnia... falls?" Prompto said, his cobalt eyes widened.

"Wha...?" Noctis asks, shock washing over his face before quickly losing his temper. "This your idea of a joke?"

"I need you to calm down so I can explain," the advisor said, calmly.

"I'm as calm as I'm gonna get!"

"Noctis Lucis Caelum, calm down this instant and let the man speak!" Sera yells at her brother. "Go ahead, Ignis." I know the truth and the papers will slander it for the sake of the Niflheim Empire, Sera thought.

"There was an attack. The imperial army has taken the Crown City," Ignis said, still sounding calm. When Ignis finishes speaking, Gladiolus begins reading from the paper.

"'As treaty room tempers flared, blasts lit the night sky. When the smoke about the Citadel had cleared, the king...,'" Gladiolus paused, the words seeming to be stuck in his throat. "'Was found... dead.'" As well as Clarus, Sera thought, tears forming in her eyes. "Something wrong, Sera?"

"Clarus... he's gone. He was killed protecting Father. And what the paper says is true, Father is gone. Drautos killed him," the young princess said. When Sera finishes speaking, she notices Gladiolus's eyes have a sad look. Seeing her friend grieve for his father's passing on the inside, it tore the princess apart.

"No, wait, hold on..." Noctis said, seeming to lose his words.

"We had no way of knowing," Ignis sighs, now pacing.

"What? Knowing what?!"

"That the signing was last night," Sera said before the strategist could speak.

"That Insomnia..." Ignis said, before getting cut off by Noctis.

"But the wedding! Altissia!"

"I know. That was the plan. Yet the reports of the invasion are all the same. How could every headline in the kingdom be wrong?"

"...Lies."

"If only..." Prompto said, his voice trailing off, Noctis stumbling his way to a nearby chair.

"What else do we know?" Gladiolus asks, lowering the paper.

"The Empire, they took the Crystal and are in search of Noctis, Lunafreya and myself." At the mention of Lunafreya, relief washes over the prince. "Though, they're mostly in search of the Ring of the Lucii, seeing that the Crystal is nothing more than a rock without the ring. But that's all that I can seem to remember."

"Well then, we can't be sure until we see it with our own eyes."

"And that means we go back to Insomnia," Prompto said, facing the four once more.