"Aw man, Not a ship in sight. What gives?" Prompto commented as we saw no ship in sight which is odd. Ardyn's words proved to be true for once. We were heading back inside the Mother of Pearl restaurant until a voice spoke up,

"According to my sources, the empire, giving strict orders not to let any vessels leave the docks of Altissia."

My eyes saw a middle-aged man sitting on the bench who had silver hair with grey eyes that held mischievous aura. He wore a black suit with an aqua tie, grey dress shirt with black pants and boots. My scanners alerted me about this man and in two seconds his info came in.

Oh shit...

"Real shame if you were late to your own wedding right, Prince Noctis? Name's Dino, by the way. Pleasure. Oh hey, Alice baby. Still looking hot as ever." Dino commented as he eyes were on me, I feel the four boys' attention is on me and my eyebrow twitched

"I still see you are alive...Silver pervert," I commented as he chuckled at my response

"Still got that fighting spirit in ya, baby. It's one of your beautiful traits." Dino said as I snorted at his words, he looked at Noctis and said,

"The crown prince of Lucis, bounty hunting in his fancy car. Surely you didn't think it'd go unnoticed-at least not by this reporter?" This got the boys' attention for a reporter is annoying but feared.

"Dino, stop being an ass and ignore us," I said firmly but Dino ignored me.

"Lucky for you, this reporter has integrity. If you wanna remain incognito, I'll respect your wish...in exchange for a favor." Dino said as Noctis thought about it and asked,

"What do you want?"

"Hey, I knew you'd come around! Lemme see your map." Dino said as Noctis handed him the map, Dino marked a spot and handed back to him.

"Marked where you need to go on your map. All you gotta do is find me some rough gemstones-like this one. Do this and your ship will come in. Don't and the papers will run you outta town. Capisce? " Dino said and then looked at me

"Alice baby, if you help them, I got some new information on that master of yours."

He is still an ass...

"Let's go boys." I quickly said while we left the docks and headed to the Regalia

"He's really got your number, Noct." Prompto commented, "Yours too, Alice."

"I always hated Dino for blackmailing others. Coward." I said

"How do you know him, Alice?" Noctis asked as he voiced sounded a little demanding but mixed with worry

"I meet Dino years back when I need information to find my master. He's well connected just...a pervert." I answered as Gladiolus chuckled at my answer and said,

"Not like we made much effort to keep it secret,"

"Even if we had, the press always finds a way. We needn't befriend him, but we'd best not make him our enemy." Ignis stated as we got into the Regalia and headed to the location. We got to the marked location that is in the middle of nowhere until Ignis pointed out a path to the upper part of the hilltop. We began to walk on the pathway until we found some tiny gemstones that looked similar to the one that Dino had. Noctis commented on the color as I picked up one as well with my scanners identified the materials that could be useful to me and Medusa. I placed it in my pocket as we continued forward and stopped to see a massive bird monster sleeping.

"Oh em god. We're supposed to get near that thing?" Prompto mumbled in fear

"Pipe down before you wake it up." Gladio silencing him as Noctis lead the way around the sleeping creature, my brain notified me of the creature sensing something around it's nesting place and cursed mentally. We made it to the other side of the creature as Noctis got the gemstone that Dino wanted and started back the way we came. My eyes saw a scare on the creature's neck that made me remember this creature immediately. However, the creature awoke suddenly as we almost made it to safety and growled at our presence. Prompto is panicking about the creature as Noctis, Gladiolus and Ignis were ready for an attack. I snapped back to reality as the bird's wings stretched wide, my feet walked towards the creature and the others were yelling for me to come back. The bird looked at me for a minute as if he realized something about me, it lowered it's beak to me and I placed my hand on its beck.

"Fly, dear Griffon. We will not return here again." I spoke loud enough for the bird to hear me and Griffon growled again in response. The Griffon took off from the nesting place and began to fly away.

"Off it goes," Ignis said

"We made it out alive," Noctis commented

"Barely, I seriously thought we were at journey's end," Prompto added as Noctis went to me and asked,

"What is wrong with you, Alice? You could've have died!"

"True but I know that bird," I said as the boys looked at me in confusion.

"You know that bird? How?"

"I fought that beast 5 years ago," I answered as the boys were even more shocked at my words

"My master wanted me to fight the Griffon when I got my first sword and I won."

"Kid...You are crazy." Gladiolus commented with a smile

"Whatever, tattoo man. I'm a badass." I said as Noctis shook his head

"But that feat was fit for a king," Gladio commented

"Indeed," Ignis added as we headed back to the car

"So you thinking to fairy tale Lady Lunafreya back to the Crown City?" Prompto asked as we all got in the car, Ignis started the car and drove on the pavement.

"Nah, no need to rush to happily ever after," Noctis answered as he took a quick glance at me, our eyes meet and I saw the shadowy figure that seemed to merge with Noctis. However, it was only for a moment and his eyes went to the open road.

"Wow. Still can't believe you're actually tying the knot, dude! How does it feel now that it's finally happening?" Prompto wondered

"Fine, I guess?" Noctis said as he didn't know how to answer the question.

"C'mon, you can't-fool me. Any guy would be over the moon to marry her." Prompto said

"No big deal," Noctis said

"Yeah whatever." Prompto commented, "Hey Alice, you ever thought about-"

"Fuck no, blonde. I don't do weddings." I quickly answered as the boys laughed at my response and Prompto whined. We were back in the Gladin Quay area as Ignis parked the car, we headed into the Mother of Pearl to the Piers and found Dino still sitting on the bench.

"Nice work, kid! Sorry for giving you such a hard time. I just had to get my hands on this, even if it meant blackmail. You understand, don't ya?" Dino said as Noctis handed him the goods and I scoffed at his sentence.

"Y' see, I'm a reporter by day, and an amateur jeweler by night. This elusive little beauty's gonna become a masterpiece." Dino commented as he put the gemstones in his bag and said,

"To make it up to you, I'll share a little scoop. That special coin you got-it commemorates the Oracle's ascension. That guy was tossing 'em out to everyone. Musta picked 'em back in Niflheim. And speaking of freebies, here's one from me. Come back if you wanna buy more!"

"I doubt a souvenir like that could make its way into the hands of an ordinary citizen," Ignis commented as I knew that idiot was messing around but to pass that kind of coin out? He is up to something.

"Well, it's our pocket change now!" Prompto added

"Let's learn from history and book a place this time," Gladio said and I nodded in agreement

"As promised, I'm in the process of securing your ferry tickets right now. Told ya, I'm a man of integrity. Should be smooth sailing from here, so lemme know when you're ready to ship out." Dino said "Alice baby, the information on your master. I heard your master is heading to some sacred place that only the worthy enter. Last that anyone has seen him is here at the Mother of Pearl."

"...Thanks, Dino." I said pretending to be sad of the news as he nodded in response

"I admit I didn't expect Dino to secure us a ship," Ignis said

"Well, must be pretty connected if he can pull some strings around an imperial embargo," Gladio said

"I told you he is well connected, didn't I, tattoo man?" I said

"Yeah, you did tell us, kid," Gladio commented as he ruffled my hair, I gave him a light punch and he chuckled in response

"Yeah, that guy's one artful artisan," Prompto said

"How about we can crash right here," Noctis said

"Ditto.," Prompto added as we headed back inside the Mother of Pearl and checked in to rooms for the night. Ignis gave me my own room which I was thankful for as the boys told me a good night and went to their rooms. Luckily, their rooms were next to mine. I used hacking skills to hack one of their cellphones and listened to their conversation to see what their next move was.

"Man, I'm beat..." I heard Prompto in the room

"Yeah, me too..." Noctis commented "Something wrong, Specs?"

"It's about Alice," Ignis said as I tensed up of my name being called

"What about Alice?" Gladiolus asked

"She has me concerned about her well-being." Ignis said, "When Dino told her about her master, she looked rather saddened."

"Oh yeah, her master is still missing. Not even the Kinglavies can find him." Prompto added

"Didn't the Marshal say that her master is not a person to be found, rather he finds you? What's that about?" Noctis asked

"I think the Marshal knows her master but didn't give us a lot of details," Gladiolus said as I tilted my head in confusion. The Marshal knows my master? Medusa and I made him up. How?

"Not only that, Alice is having nightmares and it's getting worse," Ignis said as the group became quiet for a moment until Noctis spoke up

"Yeah, I've lately found her holding my hand and mumbling words in Latin. Ignis, did she learn that from you?"

"No, she must've learned it from her master," Ignis replied

"Why are we talking about Alice?" Prompto asked

"I have searched for a profile on Alice online and nothing came up except for an article of a village that was destroyed by our enemy," Ignis said

"What happened to the village, Ignis?" Gladiolus asked

"The article reported no survivors and said that the enemy had a new weapon at the time. They name it 'Death Knight' and I'm concerned that if Alice is a survivor of that village then she saw the 'Death Knight'." Ignis said

"Whoa, Death Knight? Isn't that the world famous killer in all of Eos?" Prompto panicked in his voice

"Yeah, the number killer in the world and works for  Niflheim," Gladiolus commented

"Should we ask her?" Noctis asked

"No, let's wait a bit longer than we ask her about it," Ignis said as I ended the hack, my ears only hear mumbles now and my hands twitched. They knew something was not right about me. I had kept my cover safe but there were times I could've been discovered. Medusa should be keeping track of my documents. I hesitated to used my grid world to contact her but I had no choice. My brain connected to my grid world but my body began to shake violently as I laid on the bed and my scanners were giving me danger signs. Then my eyes began to see a familiar grass area and I hear the one person in a while.

"Welcome back, (y/n)."

I hope you all like the new update of the story. Things are now in motion. I'm sorry for the delay. Work is becoming busy with spring time. I do hope you all will be patience with me as I do my best to get the chapters published.

Please enjoy the next two updates that are coming soon. Noctis and Nyx are the two winners of the Voting game.

Please vote and comment on the chapter. Thanks!