You are not weak,

Just because your heart feels so heavy

AVALON WAS LOOKING OUT TO THE OCEAN, THE BREEZE FELT SO WONDERFUL AGAINST HER SKIN, the young woman was proud to be on the ocean right now with her friends. She stood at the edge of the boat; Avalon turned around seeing the boys talking amongst themselves.

"Y'know, I've always wanted to go sailing like this," Prompto admitted to everyone smiling.

"Not many opportunities living in Insomnia," Gladio responded looking at Prompto while Ignis and Noctis nods.

"Out here!" Avalon grins. "It's just us and the horizon! It's amazing - it's... life changing!" Avalon spins around happily making the men laugh.

"We've quite a ways to go until we reach Altissia, so keep gushing to your heart's content," Ignis tells the two who were spinning around still in happiness. When Prompto stopped he looked at the men too, speaking as well.

"When we step off the boat, we'll be in a foreign country."

Ignis nods, "The anticipation alone is a foreign sensation."

"And to think this where we were headed, to begin with." Gladio sighs looking at the sea as well, enjoying the breeze.

"We've been through a lot." Noctis reminds them, Avalon nods in agreement.

"And there's more to come," Ignis adds in agreement as well.

"So next on the docket is the Leviathan." Prompto looks at everyone.

Gladio looks at Ignis, "What sort of deity are we dealing with?" Ignis puts a finger to his mouth thinking quick.

"A serpent said to embody the roar and rage of the sea," answers Ignis looking at Gladio, then at everyone else.

"We'll have to "sea" for ourselves." Noctis chuckles at the joke he just made making Avalon giggle.

Avalon looks at Noctis, "Can't let Lady Lunafreya do all the heavy lifting." Avalon told him with a small smile. "You must be so psyched to see her."

"Luna?" Noctis looks at Avalon.

She nods to him still with a smile on her face. "Yeah!"

Noctis smiles at her as well, having a little red on his face. "Well, we need to make sure she's alright before anything else."

Ignis nods, "Indeed. Her well-being is top priority."

Avalon purses her lips tightly, wondering if she was actually okay. Luna was Noctis' love, she's the one who brought Prompto and Noctis together and for that, she was really grateful to Luna for everything that she did. Avalon would do anything to help her friends save Luna from whatever was going on. Sighing a little bit, Avalon looks at everyone.

"The ring is important, and so is Leviathan—but Luna comes first," Noctis tells everyone.

"You know, I was thinking back to our encounter with Ravus," Ignis stated catching Avalon's attention.

"Hmm?" Noctis and Avalon hummed in response.

"Do you recall an apparatus in place of his arm," questions Ignis, curious.

Gladio nods curtly, "Yeah, I remember."

Ignis puts a hand to his chin as if thinking, "Seems he lost his old on in the invasion." He stated pursing his lips. "But in its place, he seems to have acquired new power."

"Power?" Noctis questions raising a brow obviously in question.

Avalon clicks her tongue and responds quickly. "That would explain how a son of Tenebrae suddenly came to command Niflheim's army."

"Now that you mention it," Prompto jumps into the conversation, "his strength did seem sorta... supernatural." Prompto begins, Avalon nods in agreement. "I just chalked it up to the Oracle lineage."

Gladio nods in agreement as well, speaking, "His ancestry may be part of it," Gladio spoke quickly. "But that alone wouldn't account for his freakish strength."

"I wonder what could've happened to him," Noctis stated putting a hand on his face as well, thinking.

"There's a disturbing rumor about Lord Ravus has taken to brandishing his Majesty's sword," Ignis told him staring at Noctis.

"My dad's?"

"And what's the big idea behind that, Ignis?" Avalon asked him, staring at Ignis.

"That his power's the same as the power of kings?" Prompto added to question.

Ignis shakes his head, "I cannot say for sure, but I have my doubts." Ignis sighs a little bit. "Ravus wears the sword, yet does not wield."

"Do you think, now this is just out of curiosity, maybe he wants to give the sword to Noctis?" Avalon asked him. "I know it seems farfetched, but I wouldn't discount the possibility of maybe Ravus being on our side behind off of this..."

Gladio shrugs at Avalon's point and adds, "For all his newfound powers, he's still the chancellor's lapdog." Gladio purses his lips, "holding onto the enemy king's sword like some badge of honor."

"It might help if we knew what he was after." Prompto said glancing around at everyone as Avalon nods in agreement.

Noctis shrugs; "Who can say?"

"What are the odds the empire will crash the pool party with Leviathan?" questions Prompto staring at Noctis.

"Consider it a guarantee," Ignis answers him. "They felled a god to prevent Noct from receiving his blessing, and they'll do so again."

Avalon began thinking about the chancellor, Ardyn, what was his motive? Putting a finger to her chin gently, she let out a long quiet breath. Avalon closed her eyes gently trying to strategize in case things go south. Taking another long quiet breath, she looks up hearing Prompto whine.

"Are we there yet?"

"Didn't you just say you always wanted to go sailing, Prom?" questioned Avalon raising her brow quickly.

"Yeah," Prompto dragged out glancing at Avalon. "but all this ocean gets kinda bland after awhile."

Gladio chuckles intervening, "Last time I checked, it was "amazing" and "life-changing"."

"So, soon you'll have yer old man's ring back." Cid started speaking and everyone turned their gazes to him after laughing a little bit.

Noctis nods his head confidently, or at least that's what Avalon saw. "Yeah, when we arrive in Altissia,"

"Good thing," Cid nods. "To him, it was his heritage."

"Is that what my dad said?"

"Carrying a royal line ain't a task to be taken lightly." Cid explains to him, "For a small thing, that ring can sure weigh heavy. After he became king, I only ever saw his face in the paper."

"Wait a minute," Avalon pauses "Weren't you at the coronation?"

"Nah, I was long gone from the city." Cid answered once more, sighing.

"Must've been invited at least," said Noctis with a raised brow himself.

"Had a fallin' out o' sorts with your old man." Cid began explaining to them. "Right at the end of the trip."

"You did?" Prompto asks him.

"I was given to understand you stayed in touch," Ignis adds almost concerned.

Cid shakes his head and then his hand gently. "We buried the hatchet years later, but never talked face to face again," explained Cid almost sadly. "Shoulda paid a visit while I had the chance. Well, no use dwellin' on it now. Got the Regalia in the hold, but y'all gonna stay in Altissia for a good while, right?'

"Yes, we believe so," Avalon answers with a nod.

"In that case, I'll tune her up for y'all. Not that I'll have much to do, though, what with Cindy lookin' after the old girl." Cid said to them.

Avalon smiles at his kindness, she then backs away from the men and walks out to see the ocean once more, seeing Altissia in the distance. They were right, Avalon noted in her head. From what she could tell, it was beautiful.

But --- she had a feeling something bad would happen. Avalon couldn't shake the feeling but she had to try for the sake of herself. She couldn't risk anyone getting hurt. Biting her lip gently, she closes her eyes quickly trying to erase those thoughts from her mind.

~

Shaking her head, she looks up seeing herself in the destruction of Insomnia once more, taking a quick breath she begins looking for her friend.

"Nyx, are you here?"

"Must you be so loud?" She heard him joke, she turns quickly seeing him sitting there watching her. "What's up?"

"We're heading to Altissia, well, we're almost there but that's beside the point." She shakes her head once more. "I have a bad feeling something is going to happen."

"Then act on it, don't let the others worry about it. You're protecting them,"

Avalon sighs, "Nyx, seriously, I know that." Avalon looks down a little bit. "Something about this is setting off signals in my head and my stomach."

"You've been fighting all this time and common sense still eludes you, doesn't it?" Nyx laughs when she glares at him. "Okay, okay," He shakes his hands and stands up looking at her. "Look, when you get feelings like that, you wanna get all your ducks in a row before going to the battlefield. If anything happens, don't let it destroy you or your friends. Don't let it drive you apart."

"Easier said than done."

"Which I understand," Nyx responds sighing. "Don't let it bring you down, be the rock they can lean on if shit happens. Do you understand me? If it does, it makes what everyone's sacrifice to have Noctis be the true king, for nothing."

"I'll try my best,"

"That's my girl," Nyx tells her with a smile. "You got this, okay?"

Avalon smiles lightly and nods. "Thank you, Nyx."

~

Avalon gasps awake seeing buildings surrounding her, she sits up quickly seeing that she was in Altissia. Panting as she looks around and shakes her head a little bit. Taking another deep breath to calm herself down, she sees the young men waiting for her. Avalon gets up and quickly heads their way.

"Don't let it bring you down, be the rock they can lean on if shit happens," Avalon remembers Nyx saying to her, she had to do it. She'll be the rock, the protector they need. She knows it's a lot of weight right now on her shoulders, but - it cannot bring her down.

She has a king to protect, and Avalon needs to be at her strongest,

~

A/N: I'M SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY! THE NEXT ONE WILL BE JUST AS LONG! Let me know what you think of this part. Lots of love(;