Chapter Text
“You sure he has everything?”
Aaralyn glanced at Noctis as she followed him down the Citadel hallway towards their quarters. Noctis looked as commandingly handsome as always, wearing a black suit after their early-morning meeting. The corner of his mouth twitched with a smile as he glanced at her.
“Yeah,” he said. “I triple-checked last night. And if he forgot something, Evangeline won’t have.”
“Good,” Aaralyn said.
Noctis reached out to open the door to their living space, holding it open for her to go into first and then bringing up the rear. He looked around at their suspiciously empty living room and raised an eyebrow.
“Cal?” he called. “You good to go?”
From down the hallway, there was a clatter of things falling onto the floor, followed by a quiet swear in Galahdian. Aaralyn glanced at Noctis before following the direction of the noise. They opened the first door on the left, peeking in at the disaster of a bedroom they walked in on.
“Callum?” Aaralyn called. “You okay?”
The fifteen-year-old standing in the middle of the mess with an open suitcase looked up at his parents in surprise. He was the spitting image of his father: with the same blue eyes and black hair, even though his was more tame than Noctis’s had been.
Noctis lifted an eyebrow at their son. “You ready or do you need a minute?”
Callum looked around at the mess of clothes and toiletries he’d taken out of his suitcase. He shuffled a little, picking up a random trinket from his bedside drawer before putting it back down.
“I can’t find my toothbrush,” he muttered.
Noctis furrowed his brow, braving the mess to look around for it. “You sure? I swear I had you put it in your suitcase last night.”
“I did! I just…can’t find it anymore,” Callum lifted a shirt to check beneath it.
Aaralyn entered the room to help search as well. She found the missing toothbrush almost immediately, sitting on her son’s dresser, wrapped in its plastic baggie to prevent it from rubbing against anything. She picked it up, handing it to him with a little smile.
“There you go, bud,” she said. “C’mon, let’s get all this back in your suitcase. The others should be here any second.”
He nodded and worked together with his parents to repack his entire suitcase. When they were done, his room looked far less like a disaster zone and more like the bedroom befitting the Crown Prince.
“Thanks,” he said as he stood up. Noctis pulled the lever for the suitcase handle and dragged it behind him. He looked at Aaralyn, still with the same fondness as he always did, and squeezed her shoulder.
“Mind getting Dawn while I get this down to the Regalia?” he asked.
“Yeah, no problem,” she said. She kissed his cheek (Callum pretended to gag in the background) and went out of the room to the door across the hall. Behind her, her husband and son began making their way towards the elevator.
Aaralyn knocked once on the door before entering, finding her daughter lying in bed. Dawn was a picture-perfect blend of both of her parents, with Aaralyn’s red hair and Noctis’s blue eyes, but honestly, sometimes Aaralyn was mildly convinced her twelve-year-old really just wanted to watch the world burn.
“Dawn,” she said. “Callum’s about to leave, come say bye.”
Dawn groaned. “He’s only gonna be gone two weeks.”
“I know,” Aaralyn said. “But c’mon. Let’s at least go say bye, kiddo.”
She groaned again, louder this time, pushing herself up and getting to her feet. She followed her mother from the room and back down the Citadel corridors to the elevator. They took it down to the ground floor, stepping out into the radiant sunlight.
It was like stepping into a memory—albeit one filled with more people. The Regalia sat in front of the grand staircase, the sun glittering on beautiful nearly-rebuilt Insomnia. Noctis was standing at the trunk, hauling Callum’s suitcase in. Around them, Aaralyn could see her friends gathered to wish their children well on their road trip.
“I’ve got everything ready,” Evangeline—Ignis and Autumn’s sixteen-year-old daughter with her father’s eyes and hair—stood with a bag in both of her gloved hands. “Including extras for emergencies.”
“Good,” Ignis said. His arm was around Autumn’s shoulders. “And the first aid kit?”
“Fully stocked.”
Ignis nodded, pleased with her answer. Autumn stepped forward, leaning down carefully to kiss Evangeline’s forehead.
“Have fun, alright?” she said. “Be careful, and don’t stay up too late. Keep Callum and Chase in line as best you can.”
“I will, Mom,” promised Evangeline. She gave them both a hug and a kiss on the cheek before she joined Noctis and Callum by the trunk to put her bag in with the prince’s things. Standing by the hood of the car, Gladiolus watched Theo check under the hood of the Regalia one last time before slamming it shut. Cassielle and Piper lingered nearby.
“Looks good?” Gladiolus asked.
“Yup,” Theo wiped his hands. “No problems, as usual.”
“Good,” Gladiolus said. “I’d hate for your road trip to start off on the same foot ours did.”
Theo laughed. “Even if it does, I’d know how to fix it.”
Gladiolus snorted, giving his son a noogie, sending his dark tangles of brown hair into a state of disarray. “Watch your mouth, smartass.”
Cassielle hurried forward, holding Theo’s hands in her own. Her son was now far taller than she was and he had to stoop to let her shower kisses all over his face.
“Be safe, okay?” she said. “Call me every night before bed. And don’t forget to eat healthy, I know you skip breakfast sometimes. And-”
“Mom— Ma,” Theo cut across her, laughing softly. He smiled warmly at her. “We’ll be okay. Honest. I’ll keep you posted.” He glanced up at his twin, looking amused. “Make sure Mom doesn’t go too crazy without me.”
Piper laughed, putting a hand on her hip. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Theo nodded, circling to the driver’s side to get in, car keys in hand. Aaralyn waved to him as she approached Noctis and Callum with Dawn walking moodily beside her. Noctis reached out to gently take Aaralyn by the arm, kissing her forehead in greeting.
“Look good?” she asked, peering into the trunk. “Still enough room for Chase’s stuff?”
“Yup,” said Noctis. “Should be.” He glanced up. “Where are they? The kids are gonna be late leaving the city.”
No sooner had he commented, than a four-door sedan came screeching into the Citadel roundabout. Prompto popped out of the driver’s seat as soon as the car came to a stop, waving his hand exaggeratedly.
“We’re here!” he shouted. “Sorry we’re late!”
He opened the back door for his kids. Chase and Hannah came tumbling out of the backseat, arguing. Adelaide got out of the passenger’s to unbuckle little Niall out of his car seat, gently hoisting him onto her hip as she closed the car door.
“Get your stuff, Chase!” she called.
“Hannah pinched me!”
“Don’t care! Get your stuff!”
Chase grumbled under his breath, yanking open the trunk to grab his suitcase from inside. He rolled it over to the Regalia, allowing Noctis to take it and fit it inside with the rest of the kids’ luggage. The king made sure it would fit before closing the trunk and glancing at Aaralyn.
“That should be everything,” he said.
“Alright,” she smiled. “Time to get this show on the road.”
Callum, Chase, and Evangeline hurried to take their seats in the Regalia. Chase shouted something about claiming shotgun as he quite literally crawled over the door to get first pick. Callum groaned loudly, admitting defeat in the form of sitting behind Theo in the driver’s seat. Evangeline rolled her eyes at Chase’s antics as she sat behind him.
“Be safe, you four,” Noctis warned, putting an arm around Aaralyn’s waist. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll be fine, Dad,” Callum said. He drummed his hands eagerly on the back of Theo’s seat. “Let’s go already!”
Noctis rolled his eyes fondly as the other parents gathered to say their goodbyes. Theo turned over the engine before waving at his parents and his sister one last time before guiding the Regalia around the roundabout and to the checkpoint.
Aaralyn watched her son go with a fond smile on her face, head resting against Noctis’s shoulder. At her side, Dawn scrolled through her phone with her face pinched into a scowl. Noctis ruffled her hair.
Around her, Aaralyn’s longtime friends were mixed between waving enthusiastically at the car now going through the checkpoint or sobbing uncontrollably. Autumn was the worst of them all, torn between crying over her daughter finally forging out on her own and waving so hard that Aaralyn was a little concerned she’d pull something. Ignis rubbed her back soothingly, confident in the knowledge that Evangeline would be fine. Cassielle was blubbering next to him, holding onto Gladiolus’s shirt and continuing to worry aloud until Piper butt in to placate her. Prompto and Adelaide seemed to be holding it together the best, shouting after Chase to take lots of pictures and send them in the family group chat.
Aaralyn smiled as Noctis leaned over to press a kiss to her forehead. She leaned into him, watching as Theo turned a corner and the Regalia vanished amongst the other cars.
She couldn’t believe she’d managed to get this far. She was finally living in the peace she’d craved her entire life, surrounded by friends and family that she would trade for nothing.
It had taken her a long, long time to get here. But if she were given the choice, to suffer through everything all over again just to have a taste of this kind of happiness, she’d do it. She’d take the offer in a heartbeat, just to cling onto something so precious for the rest of her life.
And she’d get that now, didn’t she? She didn’t have to fight and die in a war that only had something to do with her because her home had been a casualty in it. She didn’t have to narrowly live every day, skating on the edges of fate because her own had been defied for her so long ago. She got to live, not as a soldier, not even as the queen, but as a person. A person with a family and life of her own, where she got to take the legacy of her people and her fallen comrades with her into the future they’d all wanted to see so badly.
And that was more than enough.