FFXV: After the Fall

Chapter 38 (Epilogue)

They entered the room, and the others all looked at Carbuncle first, then their two friends. Noctis also noticed, stopping his pacing and coming over with a worried expression.
   "Is something wrong?" He asked.
The fox tutted. "I don't just appear when stuff is wrong, y'know. Everything's fine, so just relax."
   "...oh. Okay." He went back to his pacing.
   "So...what are you doing there, exactly?"
   "Just waiting."
   "You've got a bit under four hours yet, lad. You're not gonna walk up and down there all that time, are you?"
   "...got nothin' else to do."
   "Really? In that case, you've just been drafted for a vitally-important, top-secret mission that these guys need help with."
   "Oh?" Noctis came back over again. "What's up?"
   "I'll explain when we get there."
   "Hold the fort until we get back, guys." Gladiolus smiled.
   "You got it." Prompto saluted. "Good luck."
The three men then vanished along with the Divine, and reappeared in a much-warmer area lined with huge, mansion-type houses that all sported wrought iron gates.
   "...where's this?" Noctis was first to ask.
   "Wow, this is pretty nice." Nyx smiled as he looked around.
   "Never been to the Diamonds before?" Carbuncle asked him.
   "Nope, first trip. This would be good for a holiday spot, if-"
   "We're in the Diamonds?" Noctis gasped. "Why?"
Carbuncle looked at him. "Oh, didn't I mention it? You're gonna help us move some of Sis' stuff into this guy's house." He nodded at Gladiolus as he spoke. "She doesn't know about it, so it'll be a real nice surprise for her when she gets back."
   "I...oh." Noctis paused. "Is there enough time?"
   "Should be, hopefully. Might still have to get a wriggle on, even with my extremely prestigious taxi services. Don't worry, though, I know which things are her favourites. That should cut down on some time as well. Are you in?"
   "Uhh..." He looked at Gladiolus.
   "It'd be a big help if you could give us a hand." He said.
   "Yeah." Nyx added. "Should be time to spare as well, if we get stuck into it well enough."
Noctis nodded. "Alright, sign me up. Might as well, now that I'm here and stuff. Which house is hers again?" He turned and looked at some of them while the other two men grinned at each other.
Carbuncle's distracting chatter and imposing of a task- as well as lots of information- had succeeded in breaking the worried, time-driven state that the King had gotten himself into.
Would still involve actual work being done, but meh.

Carbuncle led them to the correct house, the door's lock responding to his whisper of magic, then he instantly ran in and headed for the living room couch, bouncing up and down on it in a manner not unlike a five-year old.
   "You gonna help too?" Nyx asked him.
   "I am helping." The Divine insisted. "I'm your taxi service. If you grab some of the vases out of here, I can start shipping them over to your own living room along with some other stuff."
   "So why are you on the couch?"
   "She never lets me sit on it. The hair, you see. But she's not here now and you've already got a couple of couches from what I can tell, so...why not?"
   "Living dangerously." Gladiolus smiled.
   "You've got it. Don't always get so much fun."
   "Okay then," he said to the others, "we'd better get to it. Searchin' this place might take a while."
   "Slacker." Nyx accused with a mutter.
   "What was that?" Carbuncle said loudly.
   "Nothing!" The cheeky man grinned.
   "Oh good. For a second there, I thought I could hear voices in my head telling me to leave you all stranded here."
   "...which vases did you want?"
   "Those blue and white ones." A white paw indicated.
The three men laughed, then decided to get stuck in.

Over the next couple of hours, the three men went to each room in the large house, taking the things that Carbuncle told them about. There were only a few items of actual furniture, including her bed, some of the moveable wardrobes and other storage items. Most of their haul was either stuff from the kitchen and bathroom, or it was ornamental in nature. The Divine described each item meticulously, always leading them to the right one while he remained on the living room couch and treated it outrageously. He bounced along every single centimetre of the three soft seats as well their backs and arms- which he launched himself from to bounce even higher- and he also rolled and rubbed his fur along those same areas.
The three men took a break half-way, borrowing some items from Helena's fridge, and by the time they'd finished putting all of the items through the blazing white portal that Carbuncle kept open for them, the entire couch was saturated with little white hairs.
   "Y'know," Gladiolus said as they took another break on the room's still-pristine armchairs, "I still have another free room."
   "...you do?" Nyx said. "How big is your house, exactly?"
   "Bout the same size as this, more or less."
   "It's true." Noctis smiled. "It's the family home that he got from his late father." He then looked at Gladiolus. "...right?"
   "Yep, that's right." He nodded.
Nyx whistled. "No wonder it's big. Clarus always did want the best for his family, I remember that much."
   "Did you know him well?"
   "Quite well, yeah. When he was workin', he was pretty similar to Roc. All business, y'know. Pretty strict. He was damn good at it though, Regis couldn't have had a better Protector."
   "He was a little strict at home, too, but only where he needed to be. He was a different person then, always real caring and patient with me and Iris. Kinda needed to be too, heh. We gave him some fairly excitin' moments while growin' up."
   "I bet." Nyx grinned.
   "Is your dad still around, you think?"
   "I dunno. Not even sure if I remember who he was, we all ended up movin' several times when I was still real young due to the wars and shit, and he always went off to fight in 'em. Tried lookin' for him while I was still in the mist, specially after I managed to find my mother and my sister, but...couldn't see him."
   "That sounds like a mission to me." Noctis smiled gently.
   "Heh. Doubt he'd wanna see me now."
   "I'd bet you're wrong. Like I was wrong, remember? You weren't there at the time I had it out with my dad, but...we made it good again. And he told me that they did everything they could to give us a chance. It's been over a year in the making, but we finally paid them back and put things right. He said they were all proud of us, and we weren't the best-behaved kids either. So...if your dad ever found out about you? I think he'd be real proud to see what you've done in his name, like ours were."
That made Nyx quiet and thoughtful, as well as slightly sad, but he then lifted his head up and smiled.
   "...said like a King." He replied. "Well, if y'all ever get bored and stuff, I could always use some help trackin' him down."
   "You got it." Gladiolus offered instantly.
   "Me too." Noctis agreed. "And now that I am a King, I've got far more contacts...allegedly. It's time they earned their keep."
They all smiled at each other, then their minds drifted back onto their previous conversation.