After an hour of driving, Noctis follows Ardyn into the parking lot of the Cauthess Coernix Station. The group was bewildered at why they were making a sudden stop.

Ardyn, from his car, glanced back at the five with a smirk. "What say we call it a day here?"

Gladiolus was the first to retort. "What say we continue on to Cauthess?"

"The Archaean's not going anywhere," the man calmly replied.

"Neither are we, under your stewardship," Ignis chimed in.

"So we make camp...with Ardyn," Prompto muttered in disdain.

"Hell no," Noctis quipped as he and the others got out of the car.

Makina remained silent as she glared fiercely at the auburn-haired man. She was completely against the idea of camping with Ardyn, which the boys already knew from simply looking at her.

Gladiolus saw the imaginary daggers the princess was shooting from her eyes at the man. He found it amusing and almost found himself laughing. However, he cleared his throat and remained on the topic. "Might as well get the tent up."

Ardyn quickly intervened before the shield could open the trunk of the Regalia. "Oh, I'm afraid I've never really been one for the outdoors. I shall foot the bill, so let us stay at the caravan over yonder."

With that, the royal retinue and Ardyn rented the caravan for a day.

Makina entered the caravan but immediately regretted the decision when she saw Ardyn. She tried to make a quick escape before he could see her, but it was too late. He turned around the moment she turned to leave. "Ah, my lady. I do hope this arduous trip has not been too difficult for you."

She bit her bottom lip to keep the small insult from rolling off her tongue. Installing deeply, she sighed and reluctantly replied. "Not at all. Now if you'll—"

Ardyn was grinning as he reached out and grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving. "I only desire a moment of your time. If I may, I would—"

Suddenly, the door to the caravan flew open. Gladiolus entered and saw the situation. He leaned past the princess and grabbed Ardyn's wrist. He forcefully yanked the man's hand off the girl with narrowed eyes. "Mind keepin' your hands to yourself?"

"My apologies," Ardyn said as Gladiolus released him.

An awkward silence befell them. Before it could be washed away, the shield escorted Makina out of the caravan. He glared at the auburn-haired man one last time before he closed the door behind them.

"Thanks for that," she said.

"Don't mention it," Gladiolus replied. "Probably should've told you he was in there."

"It's fine. I'm just glad you came when you did. I almost summoned a weapon..."

Crossing his arms, his eyes trailed across her petite frame. "Did King Fellux ever think about assigning someone as your bodyguard?"

"No," she replied. "Ionian royalty has never required bodyguards. The Talosguard and Tarragon Sentinels were the only guards we needed. Kings and Queens were never assigned personal bodyguards."

Gladiolus jabbed his thumb at himself with a proud smirk. "Well, you can consider me your shield."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but you've already got your hands full with Noctis. Really, I'll be fine. Noct should be your first priority, anyway."

"Trust me, I can deal with two royals. Besides, it would make Prince Charmless feel better if someone else was watching over you when he's not around."

"Technically I'm not royalty anymore," she remarked. "My entire planet was decimated. I have no kingdom nor subjects to rule over."

"You still have the Valtreus blood flowin' through your veins, right?" He asked.

"Well, yeah, but—"

"There aren't any "buts" about it," he interrupted her. "A kingdom and subjects aren't what makes a royal, it's the blood that flows through your veins. You're still royalty even with Iona destroyed."

Makina fell silent. She couldn't deny the truth in his words. She knew her blood was important, but she considered it one of many things that made her royalty. Not once did she think it was the sole reason she was of royal descent. Because of the now-dissolved arranged marriage between Noctis and Lunafreya, she convinced herself royalty was more than blood. A royal wasn't a royal unless they had a kingdom. However, that idea she implanted in her mind was wrong.

Gladiolus saw the revelation in her eyes and patted her on the shoulder. "Glad to see you understand."

"I...I don't even know what to say..." She muttered in shock.

"You don't have to say anything. If I were talkin' to Noct, I probably would have to keep explaining," he chuckled. His eyes drifted over to the caravan to see someone peeking out from behind it. He recognized the raven locks and azure eyes. Carefully, he nudged the princess in the direction of the prince's hiding spot. "Looks like someone else is watching out for you, cupcake. Better go see him."

Makina easily spotted Noctis and walked behind the caravan. She eyed him curiously. "Why're you hiding behind the caravan?"

"Gladio stole my thunder," the boy groaned.

She giggled. "That's okay. You've saved me from other situations. Remember when we were in high school and decided to go to the arcade after we finished exams?"

Noctis sighed as the memory resurfaced. "There's no way I could forget..."

༻──── ⋇⋆✦⋆⋇ ────༺

After completing their exams, Noctis, Prompto, and Makina left school and headed to the arcade. Both boys were exhausted but the girl felt rejuvenated after the exams.

"How are you so happy?" Noctis asked the princess.

"Because the exams are over and I definitely feel confident I passed," she smiled. "Studying sure did pay off. You two should've joined me, but both of you were too busy playing video games."

"Don't remind us," Prompto grumbled.

The trio entered the arcade and set their sights on Dance Dance Revolution. Noctis and Prompto were the first to play. Makina watched the two boys battle each other as they danced to the beat and followed the arrows that soared across the screen. In the end, Noctis was the victor. He grinned as his eyes met Makina's. "Loser buys the next round of tokens?"

She smirked back. "You're on."

Stepping up onto the directional platform, she inserted a token and chose a song. She got into place beside him and waited for the round to start. When it did, she didn't hold back. After the song ended and the scores appeared on screen, she grinned victoriously. "Prepare your wallet, Your Highness. You're buying the next round of tokens."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be back." Noctis shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away with Prompto on his heels. The duo headed to the token machine and the prince used a few bills to get more tokens.

As the machine started to dispense the tokens, the boys heard a familiar shout. Abandoning their tokens, they rushed back to where Makina was waiting.

Back at the dance machine, Noctis and Prompto saw three boys in school uniforms surrounding their friend. From the colors of their uniforms, they knew the group wasn't from their school.

"Back off," Makina hissed as she yanked her arm free from one of the boys' grasps.

"You're THE Princess Makina, right?" One boy asked.

"There's no doubt 'bout it," the leader of the group grinned. "You're way cuter in person. Too bad you don't go to our school."

"I'm glad I don't," she quipped with a fiery glare. "Get lost."

"You just don't realize how much more fun you'd have with us."

Makina took a single step back as the boys closed in on her. Noctis saw her eyes were starting to glow and her pupils were morphing into slits as he witnessed the leader try to grab her again. That was the last straw. He rushed over and placed himself in front of the girl. He grabbed the boy's wrist and squeezed tightly, causing him to whimper in pain. "Didn't you hear her? Get lost," he snarled.

"O-Oh, shit..." One boy swallowed in fear.

"It's the prince!" Another shrieked.

"Should've known he was with her..." A third mumbled.

"L-Let's get outta here..." The leader muttered and pulled his wrist free before storming out of the arcade with his friends.

Noctis immediately turned around to face the princess. He saw her eyes were still glowing and her pupils were slits. "Whoa, hey..." He treaded lightly, knowing she had yet to have a full grasp on her powers. He held up his hands as a sign that he wouldn't hurt her. "Calm down, Makina." He gingerly placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them.

The snowy-haired girl exhaled a shaky sigh. Her eyes slowly returned to normal. "Sorry..." She pressed a hand against the side of her head with a guilty expression. "I almost lost myself."

"You're okay, though...right?" He asked worriedly.

She nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for stepping in. That could've gotten messy..."

Noctis could see the joy from earlier was gone. She now appeared to be exhausted and somewhat pale. "Let's head to my place and order some pizza."

"What about the tokens?" She inquired.

Prompto dashed over with the tokens the prince had bought. "I've got 'em! We can use them later. Food really does sound good right about now."

"Are you sure? I don't want to ruin this for us," she stated.

"I don't care about the arcade. I care about you," Noctis remarked. "We're heading to my apartment and that's final. Consider it an order from the prince."

She smirked. "Y'know, I can overrule that order with my own."

"You wouldn't dare..."

"Try me...at a later date because I am definitely tired now."

"You're not too tired for pizza, are you?" Prompto wondered.

She giggled. "Not at all."

༻──── ⋇⋆✦⋆⋇ ────༺

"Didn't want you to send the arcade or those guys to another dimension," Noctis huffed with a chortle.

"My dad would've skinned me alive if I did," she laughed. "It was because of you I came back to my senses. You could say you were my knight in shining armor that day."

The prince glanced at the caravan when he remembered who was inside. "Is it true? Y'know, the whole touching thing Prompto mentioned."

"You mean with Ardyn?" She asked. "I guess so. He does seem to be really touchy around me. It's very unsettling. I can't believe we have to share the caravan with him..."

"Neither can I."

A silence befell the couple. They weren't sure what else to talk about and Makina decided it was time for her to leave. "Well, I'm going to check our supplies and see what we need. Are you gonna keep hiding here?"

"I'll...think about it," Noctis answered.

"Have fun back here."

Makina left the prince and checked their current supply count. Realizing they were low on antidotes and potions, she took it upon herself to replenish their supplies. She entered the convenience store and used the gil she had at her disposal to buy what they needed.

While she was checking out, she felt eyes on her. Turning around, she saw a person dive behind the shelves to hide from her. As the cashier tallied how much gil she owed, she wandered over to the shelves and peered around them. She smirked when seeing Noctis was the one trying to hide from her. Silently, she approached him while he poked his head out. She squatted next to him and hugged her knees. "Are you following me?"

Noctis jumped. He turned his head to her, eyes wide with shock. "Uhhh..."

In his shocked expression, she saw the concern that glistened in his eyes. She knew why he was here, but she didn't understand why he was trying to be sneaky. "If you're worried about me, you can tag along. You don't have to sneak around. And you might come across as a stalker or a creep to other people. You wouldn't want the Prince of Lucis to earn such a title, would you?"

"When you put it like that..." Noctis grabbed her hand and pulled her up as he stood up. He cleared his throat and glanced down at their conjoined hands. "You don't mind, do you?"

She giggled with a smile. "Not at all. I'm a little surprised, actually. You never were one for holding hands. I usually had to initiate it." She squeezed his hand. "It's a nice change."

"You make it sound like I never held your hand," he muttered.

"You did, but it didn't happen often. You were really shy about PDA the first year we were together. You've gotten more bold since then," she snickered. "I don't mind, though."

Noctis, before he could say anything, was interrupted by the cashier. "Uh, miss? Are you ready to pay?"

She smiled sheepishly at the young man behind the register and promptly apologized while dragging Noctis along. She paid for the items and left the store with the prince carrying the small bag. They added the curatives to their supplies and decided to take a small stroll around the rest area.

During their walk, Makina brought up the past. "Oh, do you remember that drawing you drew when we were seven? The one where you and I were riding chocobos?"

"Yeah. What about it?" He asked.

"Believe it or not..." She slid her hand into her pocket and revealed a folded-up piece of paper. Unfolding it, she revealed the drawing she spoke about.

"You still have it? And you carry it around with you?" He inquired, eyes wide with bewilderment.

"I didn't carry it around until after the city was attacked. I saw it in my bedroom before the signing was supposed to happen and I wound up putting it in my pocket. I'm glad I did," she smiled.

"It's just a terrible drawing. You could've just thrown it away."

"No way!" She folded the drawing up and put it back into her pocket. "It was the first thing you ever gave me."

Noctis' eyes drifted to her neck. He saw the black gold chain he got her for her fifteenth birthday. From it hung her mother's ring. He got it for her because he noticed how much she loved the ring but refused to wear it on her finger. He thought it would be safer for her to keep it on a chain than inside her pocket. "What about the necklace?"

"Of course I cherish that too," she replied as she placed a hand over the ring that hung from her neck. "But I love anything you give me, even if it is a terrible drawing."

"Y'know, you never told me why you won't wear your mother's ring," Noctis said.

Her smile morphed into one of sadness. "I've never felt worthy of wearing it." She wrapped her hand around it and squeezed gently. "The ring has been passed down from queen to queen ever since Valtreus blessed the royal family of Iona with his blood. It was usually passed down at the coronation ceremony."

"I think you're worthy."

Makina froze. Her body stiffened as she met Noctis' gaze. She got over the shock and her joyous smile returned. "Thank you, Noctis. But..."

"You're still not gonna wear it," he sighed.

Her petrified state vanished. "Not yet. Besides, I don't want to lose it. The safest place for it to be is around my neck. I almost lost it once, but luckily Iggy was there to help me find it."

Noctis tensed up slightly at the mention of his advisor. "Specs, huh...?"

Detecting a hint of jealousy, Makina went to question him but was unable to when they were interrupted by the one person they were trying to avoid—Ardyn. He wore a lazy smile as he sauntered towards them.

"Oh, hell no," Noctis hissed.

"Hold on." Makina froze time. Once all was petrified besides her and Noctis, she looked around and saw a cliff located behind the outpost. She then created a rift that connected them to the top of the cliff. Grabbing the prince, she dragged him through the rift. Safely atop the cliff, she sealed the rift and restarted the hands of time. "There."

Noctis, although having witnessed her freeze time and open rifts over a hundred times, was still in awe. "I will never get over how cool that is."

"You can warp," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but I can't stop time or open rifts to other dimensions. I wish I could do both. I would've gotten away with a lot."

"You definitely would abuse such power," she snickered. She sat down on the ledge and hung her legs off the side.

"Oh, like you haven't used your powers to do something dirty." Noctis sat beside her and copied her actions.

"Okay, you caught me. I used it once to escape an argument with my dad. Happy?"

"How boring..."

Makina elbowed him in the side. "Maybe I'll shove you through a rift by yourself next time. I can't promise it'll be someplace nice."

He eyed her face and couldn't tell if she was kidding. "You wouldn't dare."

She grinned. "Push my buttons hard enough and you'll find out the truth."

"...Please tell me you're joking? I can't tell..."

She erupted with laughter. "Of course I'm joking, Noct. If anyone's gonna be shoved through a rift, it'll be Ardyn. His smile alone gives me goosebumps."

"Yeah," the prince chuckled. "Guy's a Grade A creep."

"Definitely."

Silence befell the two. They stared out across the Duscae region and watched as the sun began to set. Time seemed to pass by in an instant when the moon started to rise into the sky.

Makina's gaze drifted to the sky. Seeing the moon was full, she searched the night sky for the remnants of Iona. She easily located the ruins of her planet and sighed sorrowfully. Her eyes were watering, but she didn't realize a tear fell until she felt a finger wipe it away. Looking away from Iona, she glanced at Noctis after he wiped away her single tear. "Sorry for the waterworks."

"Hey, no need to apologize. Crying's not a crime," Noctis said, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's more of an apology for crying so much. After all, I am a crybaby."

"Nah, don't worry 'bout. Doesn't bother me one bit. You may be a crybaby, but you're my crybaby," he smirked, knocking his shoulder against hers.

"How cheesy..." She mumbled. "But I like it."

Just then, Noctis' phone started to ring. The raven-haired boy glanced at his girlfriend. "Wanna bet it's Specs?"

"Oh, it's definitely him," she snickered. "Better pick up and tell him where we are."

Noctis did just that. He received a small scolding from the tactician before hanging up abruptly halfway through the lecture. "I am not listening to that..."

"Don't worry, he'll chew both of us out when we get back." She stood up with a huff. "We should head back. We did leave abruptly."

Makina held out her hand, but Noctis stopped her before she could open a rift. He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. "I've got this. One rift was enough for you today. You're still recovering, after all."

She peered down to see just how high up they were. "You're going to kill us."

He summoned his sword. "Just trust me."

"Okay..." She wound her arms around his neck.

The prince tossed his blade and they both vanished from the clifftop.