MEANWHILE back at the Citadel....

"We have to get out of here." Erica said to Anthony right before she leaned back against the pillar and reloaded.

"Don't worry, we will." Anthony said as he leaned back against the pillar at the same time.

"Please tell me that means that you have a plan." Anthony heard Steve say through his headset.

"I do. But I don't know if you'll like it." Anthony said before a new ray of bullets stared flying at them as he put a new clip in his pistol.

"Anything's gotta be better than this shit." Alyse said in a frustrated tone.

"Everything is better then this." Steve said in firm tone.

"So then what's the plan?" Erica asked as she eagerly looked at Anthony.

"Steven and I'll provide cover fire so that you and Alyse can make a break for the door." Anthony started to say before a bullet went flying past.

"How about we just rush them?" Alyse replied. "These idiots all seem to fire at the same time. I bet we can take them if we rushed at the same time."

"That's not our goal." Anthony said as a few more bullets went flying past. "Our goal is to make it out of here alive and get back to the boss."

"Do you know where he is?" Steve asked.

"Of course. I know exactly where they all went." Anthony said as he gave Steve a slight smile.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's rush these guys." Alyse commented.

"Only long enough to allow you and Erica to make a break for the door. Then you two will provide cover fire for Steve and I."

"I like that plan better." Alyse replied with a smile back to Anthony.

"Then let's do this." Anthony said as he cocked his gun for the ready. "On the count of three."

"One." Everyone else did the same thing and watched Anthony carefully.

"Two." Everyone slid up their pillars so that they were all standing.

"Three!" Anthony shouted, and they moved out from behind the pillars and started shooting at the gangsters.

Two of the gangsters fell to the ground in a heap with one direct shot to their heads and the other to their chests. The remaining one was the leader himself. Who quickly hid behind the closest pillar.

"Go!" Anthony shouted to Erica and Alyse.

Both girls dashed off to the door while Steve and Anthony slowly took precision shots at the edge of the pillar as they tried to hit the leader. But they kept barely missing him as he kept quickly switching sides as he tried to return fire. Then as soon as the girls reached the door, they started to do the same thing. To which Anthony and Steve quickly turned and made a break for the door.

Once they reached the door, they all quickly exited. Anthony then grabbed a broom that had been precariously left by one of the janitor's in the stairwell. Then he shoved the handle of it through the door handle, creating a barrier between them and the remaining gangster. They all sighted in relief for a moment as they turned to Anthony.

"I can't believe that worked." Erica said through short breathes.

"Of course it worked." Anthony said with a smirk. "That was just like the last drill that we did with boss."

"Sure. But our boss was shooting at us with rubber bullets." Erica said as she tried to calm her nerves. "These assholes were using real ones."

"Either way it worked." Steve said as he holstered his pistols.

"Now let's work on getting out of here." Anthony said as he turned towards the stairs and started to head down to the parking garage.

As they ran down the flights, they could heard the distant sound of metal on metal. But they didn't stop. They knew that there would still be a few glaives trying to fight back as they tried to clear the citadel of the magitek troops. Even as Anthony opened up the door that lead to the garage and all they saw was nothing but glaives taking out each machine that came across them. None of them even so much as flinched.

This is just like the last drill that Paul had run us through. Anthony thought as he looked around the garage that seemed to be filled with nothing but magitek troops and glaives fighting against each other.

"You're to take out as many enemies as you can. But don't lose your focus on each other. Work as a team and I guarantee that you'll make it. And no matter how many there are, do whatever is necessary to survive. And never leave anyone behind." Paul had said as they were trying to get through the very elaborate training session.

Anthony had taken those words to heart and they had been successful during that drill. Which had deepened his respect for his boss and for the rest of the team. And when he glanced at the others, they gave him the same look after they scanned the area themselves. Anthony could see the same fire in their eyes that they had given him during the drill.

We can do this. Anthony thought as his lips curled into a smirk. "Let's do this."

All of the others simply nodded and took out their guns once again. Each of them had the same look of confidence and determination. Anthony nodded back and took out his pistols as well. Then without a word, they formed a tight circle and started taking out the troops as they started to make their way across the parking garage.

At first the glaives were in shock as the magitek troops started to suddenly drop one by one right before their very eyes. But then after a quick glance back at the foursome as they continued to move smoothly and steadily towards them, they gave them a slight smile Then they started to go harder on the troops and began to dwindle down the enemy at an increasing rate. And as the last one fell, the cheer from the glaives brought a smile to everyone's face.

"Impressive work." They hear a deep voice say from the crowd of glaives before they watched Cor step out in front of them. "You must be Paul's team. I've heard a great deal about you."

"All good I hope." Anthony nervously joked as he tried to relax despite the over powering presence that Cor gave off as he stopped in front of them.

"Mostly." Cor answered in a flat tone.

"Oh." Anthony replied as his face dropped.

"But your assistance is greatly appreciated." Cor said with a slight nod before he started to walk past them. "I hope that one day, we'll be able to return the same."

"Oh, and if you wouldn't mind, I have a small favor to ask." Cor said as he stopped in his tracks.

"Hmm?" Anthony hummed as he watched Cor slightly turn his head back towards him.

"We had been able to save most of his majesties personal staff. They departed a short while ago after we sent them on their way right before we nearly got over powered. If you could keep an eye out for them and protect them as you head over to the safe house, I certain his majesty would appreciate it."

"Of course." Anthony answered as he could see how that would be important to King Regis.

"And there's still one car left in the garage over there. I'm sure that the owner won't mind you borrowing it. As long as you don't damage it of course." Cor said with the wave of his hand as the rest of the glaives turned and started to head to the stairwell. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have a citadel to clear out. And I believe you have a job to do as well."

"Of course." Anthony replied as he watched Cor walk through door after the rest of the glaives.

Anthony turned and looked across the now empty parking garage and saw a certain car left by the guard shack. He couldn't help but to slightly sigh as he immediately recognized the car. Which certainly didn't help out his nerves.

"Isn't that...?" Erica started to ask before Anthony interrupted.

"Yep." Anthony answered in a flat tone as he started the lead them over to the car.

"Let's see, what did you call it, the doorman's car?" Alyse joked as he smirked at Anthony.

"Shut up." Anthony said as he walked over to the guard shack to grab the keys. Of all the cars left, it had to be Korn's.

Then after he quickly located the keys, he unlocked the car and everyone piled in. At first Anthony wasn't sure if the car really had what it took to get them out of there safely. But after he turned it on and felt how smoothly it took the corners as he heading out of the garage, he was starting to see the appear.

That was until he exited the parking garage and saw a couple magitek infantry soldiers wandering around the back gate. And as they turned and faced him as he pulled the car out from the safety of the garage, he felt his heart start to pound.

"Well, let's see if this car is more then just a doorman's car." Anthony said as he slammed on the accelerator so that he could fly past them.

One of the magitek solider saw this and pointed at him as it's hand dropped down to reveal the hidden rocket in it's arm. But Anthony didn't slow down as he flew past it and towards the open gate. Then right as he was reaching the gate, the rocket launched right at them. It just barely missed the car before striking the building across the street as Anthony quickly slid the car around the corner of the security wall and took off down the road.

"Damn! I love this car!" Anthony shouted as he started to fly through the streets as he headed for the freeway.

"Fuck that was close." Alyse said as she slumped back in her seat as she tried to calm down her racing heart.

"To close for comfort if you ask me." Steve said as he looked back at the huge gapping hole the rocket had left in the side of the building.

"Yeah." Erica quietly replied as she looked down at her hands for a moment as she tried to stop them from shaking.

"It's a good thing then that Korn's car runs a lot better then the royal cars." Anthony said as he drove past the high sky scrapers that gave way to the smaller shops and apartment complexes. "Especially after the mechanics figured out that it was only missing it's spark plugs when they did the inspection after the parking lot incident."

"It still didn't explain why the other cars didn't fair as well though." Steve replied as he thought back on the report that they had received the day before.

"And where the hell did the blade tip come from?" Alyse asked. "Did someone steal it or are we looking at it being an inside job?"

"We may never find out now." Erica said as she clutched her hands.

"Yes we will." Anthony said in confident tone. "It's only a matter of time before something will turn up."

"Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later." Steve answered before the car became quiet as they all got lost in thought.

Once Anthony hit the freeway as he headed to the planetarium, the others finally started to relax. Erica even closed her eyes for a moment as she let out a deep breath that she had apparently been holding in for a while. Anthony glanced at as her as she sat beside him with a slight smile before turning back to the road.

Soon the city lights were behind them as the car raced along the nearly empty freeway. That was until they came across one of the troop transport trucks that Anthony recognized from the citadel. As he got closer to it, he could see that it had taken some damage from some stray bullets that had hit it. And he couldn't help but to wonder if it had happened during their escape.

He pulled up beside it and Erica glanced at the driver. And after the driver gave her a quick glance she couldn't help but to smile. Then she looked back at Anthony with a giddy grin on her face.

"That's one of ours alright." She said so that everyone could hear.

"How do you know?" Steve asked.

"How else would let Nyx drive." She replied with a slight smirk.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

After helping the staff at the planetarium get everyone else settled into the tents that created a small town of little white buildings, you and Ignis went to check on Noctis. You hadn't really said anything to him all day since seeing him at the church. Which seemed like a lifetime ago now after what happened. And Noctis seemed to agree as he looked up at the two of you as you approached.

"I was beginning to think that you two had forgotten about me." Noctis said in a short tone as he sat on the floor with his back up against the wall beside his assigned tent.

"Like that could ever happen." You said as you sat down next to him.

"We just wanted to make sure that everyone was okay before we came to sit with you for a while." Ignis said as he sat down beside you.

"And are they?" Noctis asked as he looked down at the floor in front of him.

"They're a bit shaken up. But they'll be fine for the most part." Ignis said as he straightened out his glasses.

"How many of them got hurt?" Noctis continued in a low tone.

"A small handful of them have minor cuts and bruises." You replied as you tried to give him a reassuring smile.  "But they'll be good as new in no time."

"I'm not talking about them." Noctis said in firm tone. "I'm talking about the ones who didn't make it out of there."

Both you and Ignis looked down at the floor yourselves. Neither of you wanted to think about it. Especially after seeing the one server get crushed right before your eyes. Which made you shiver as you tried to shake off the terror that they must have felt.

"It's too early to tell." Ignis finally answered in a low tone. "We still haven't been able to get a full control of the citadel yet, let a lone a full accountability of everyone who had been there."

Noctis clenched his hands as he closed his eyes. You dropped your head more as you could feel his frustration. The thought of losing anyone from the citadel would be hard to handle. Even if you only saw them in passing as they walked past you as they went to work. And especially if they were apart of the staff that you had gotten to know really well.

"Ignis!" You heard Korn shout which snapped you out of your slight trance as you started to worry about the people that you hadn't seen yet.

"Pardon me." Ignis said as he stood up.

Then you watched Ignis walk over to his uncle who was standing beside Mary who was weeping in her mom's arms. You felt your heart crack as you watched her crumble in her grief of having her wedding reception ruined with such a violent attack on the citadel. It was like all of her hard work was for nothing as it ended in the worst possible way.

"You don't have to stay with me if you don't want to." You heard Noctis say in a low tone. "I'm sure that your dad could use your help as well."

You looked at Noctis and could see the hurt in his eyes from his own words. But you didn't make a move to leave him. Instead you wrapped your arms around his arm and laid your head against his shoulder. You couldn't leave him like that. Not when he looked so defeated.

"I'm not going anywhere." You quietly replied as you tried to comfort him.

Noctis slowly looked at you for a moment before he laid his forehead the top of your head. "Thank you."

You gave his arm a slight squeeze as you took comfort in his warmth as you tried to fight off the chilling reality that was surrounding the two of you. Which consisted of people crying and softly whispering to each other as they tried to comfort one another. But the longer you sat there with Noctis, the quieter the noises became. Until they were just a faint background noise.

"This reminds me of when we were camping." Noctis said in a low enough tone that only you heard.

You couldn't help but to smile as you thought back to when the two of you had sat around the fire at night. "Yeah."

"All we need is a fire pit." Noctis said in a tender tone.

"And perhaps a blanket." You replied as you felt a slight chill as if someone had walked past you.

"Here." Noctis said as he suddenly released you and pulled off his suit coat.

Then he draped his coat over your shoulders. "I don't want you to get cold."

"Thank you." You smiled back at him as he pulled the coat around you.

His warm coat smelled like his cologne and natural musk that matched his usual cool demeanor. Which made you smile as you pulled it closer around you. He gave you a half smile as he slowly gazed over you. Then he reached up and combed his fingers through your hair.

"I love to see you smile." He said in smooth tone with his eyes half closed as he searched your face.

"Thank you." You said as you slightly looked away as you felt your cheeks start to heat up.

"(Y/N)?" You suddenly heard your dad call.

Noctis quickly dropped his hand and looked away from you as your dad started to walk over to you. You looked back up at Noctis and saw the slightly hurt look return to his face as he turned his head. Which made your heart sink. He had just started to cheer up a bit.   But now he was looking as defeated as before.

"There you are." Your dad said as he walked up and stopped in front of the two of you.

"Hey dad." You replied as you shifted slightly from Noctis.

"Is everything okay?" Your dad asked as he glanced between the two of you.

"Of course not." Noctis said in harsh tone. "How can you ask us that?"

Then your dad looked at Noctis who averted his gaze back to the floor again. He could see that the young prince was clearly struggling to keep his temper in check. But as he watched Noctis pull one leg up to his chest he would tell that was just barely. Which made Paul slightly look down himself for clearly upsetting him.

"I didn't mean it like that." Paul said in a low tone.

"No?" Noctis asked in louder tone before he slowly looked up at your dad. "Then how did you mean it?  Are we okay with being here like this? Is that what you meant?"

"No.." Your dad started to say before Noctis quickly got to his feet.

"Then what did you fucking mean?!" Noctis shouted at him as he was clearly losing control of his emotions.

You quickly looked up at Noctis as he stood there with a fire burning in his eyes as he stared at your dad. Your heart started to pound at how quickly Noctis had gone from smiling at you to shouting at your dad. Never before had you seen him that upset. Nor were you prepared for it.

"Look, I'm not trying to upset you." Your dad answered firmly as he stood his ground against the fury showing in Noctis' bright blue eyes.

"Upset me?! Do you really think that I could get anymore upset then having my home destroyed and forced to flee in the middle of the night?!" Noctis shouted again.

"You need to calm down, your highness." Your dad said in a low firm tone as everyone around the three of you got quiet as they watched the heated exchange.

"Calm down?!" Noctis shouted again as he tightly clutched his hands into tight fists. "This is as calm as I can get right now!"

"Noctis! Enough!" You heard King Regis shout as he came over to see what all the commotion was about.

You quickly got nervous as you saw the faintest hint of purple starting to form around the edges of Noctis' eyes. The look could only mean that he was about to blow up even more. Which could be really bad if he really started to lash out. And it might even lead to more people getting hurt.

"Noctis, please." You said as you quickly stood up.

Noctis quickly looked at you. Which made you gasp as you saw the purple rings start to glow. But you knew that you had to do something, otherwise he could possible hurt himself or someone else. So you wrapped your hands around his clutched fist as you tried to calm him down.

"He's just worried about you is all. We are all. So please calm down." You pleaded as you slightly squeezed his hand.

You tensely watched his eyes get brighter for a moment as he looked at you. But then you watched as they slowly started to fade as he searched your face. Then he diverted his eyes away from you as he looked back down to the floor. Which made you slightly relax as you felt the tension start to leave his hand.

"Fine." He quietly said before he turned away from you.

"Thank you, Noct." You quietly replied as you felt your heart pounding in your chest.

"I need to be a lone for a while." He said without looking at you.

You dropped your head as you released his hand. "Okay."

Then as he walked away from you, you felt your heart break as you could just barely hear his foot steps as his moved further away from you.

"Come on." Your dad said as he placed his hand on your back. "Let's give him some space."

You didn't say anything in response. All you could do was turn your head as you watched Noctis walk out of the room and head to the other side of the building. Your dad may have been right about giving Noctis time to cool off. But all you wanted to do was check on him to make sure that he was okay.

Yet you kept walking away with your dad as he lead you back over to your tent for the night. Not that you felt like you were going to get any sleep after everything that had happened that night. But you really didn't feel like fighting with your dad at the moment. There was already enough tension without causing another scene.

Noctis could feel his hands still shaking as he clutched them tightly as he walked out of the room. He hadn't meant to go off like that. But after everything that had happened, he couldn't seem to control the hatred that started to brew in him from being forced out of his home like that. Especially since that had been the second time that he had been chased out of a place where he was finally feeling comfortable.

He slightly closed his eyes as he tried to avoid remembering how his dad had had to race off with him in his arms so that they could avoid being captured in Tenebrae. All while Luna had had to stay behind. He could practically smell the gun power and smoke from the burning vegetation as his dad raced through the castle's massive courtyard. And as they emerging into the town, all of the citizens must of had the same idea, since they were also racing to the train in an attempt to escape from the surprise attack by the Empire.

As Noctis entered the other side of the planetarium, he looked up and saw a huge line of people. He looked around and saw that they stood there waiting for their turn to be treated for their wounds by the healers at the far end of the room. He blinked as he could suddenly see the train instead. He furrowed his brow and quickly made his way to the closet door so that he could step outside instead.

King Regis started to slowly approach his son before he watched him quickly duck out the door. He then quicken his steps and followed suit. The door didn't get the chance to close completely before he reached it and pushed it open again. Then he let the door close gently behind him as he stepped outside.

The cool night air was crisp as it blew across his face as he stepped outside the building. But he didn't notice as he kept a constant eye on Noctis. He watched his son walk a short way from the building before he stopped in his tracks in front of the tall statue that stood in the middle of the open walkway. King Regis then watched Noctis look up at the statue for a moment in silence as he walked up to him.

"You know, people use to pray to the gods here in hopes that their prayers would be heard better being this close to the heavens." King Regis quietly said as he walked up and stopped right beside his son.

Noctis didn't respond or even look at him as he stared at the face of the closest face of the one of the gods who had been chiseled into the stone. King Regis did a slight glance at his son as he tried to look as his face. But Noctis kept looking forward as if lost in thought. King Regis then slightly sighed before he turned to his son.

"You know that Paul didn't mean anything ill towards you when asked how you were." King Regis said in a low tone.

But again Noctis still didn't say anything.

"And you really shouldn't let your emotions get the better of you like that." King Regis continued as he tried to get Noctis to talk to him. "It's not very befitting for a King."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that your the King." Noctis replied in a low tone.

"And you will be one day as well." King Regis said as he placed his hand on his son's shoulder.

Noctis quickly looked away from his dad. "I would rather not think about that right now."

King Regis slightly looked down as he knew that Noctis knew the reality of how he would become the king of Insomnia. And that would be after he himself had passed away. Which wasn't something that he really liked to think about either. But the reality was that it would happen one day, which was why he had had Noctis going through all of the extensive training on how to rule himself one day.

"Then perhaps you could think about how your reaction affects those close to you." King Regis redirected as he shift away from that topic. "You know that Ignis and (Y/N) are just as concerned about you as their parents."

Noctis closed his eyes tight as he fought off the hurt that he had felt from you when you pleaded with him. He didn't want to upset anyone. Especially you, since he wanted nothing more then anything to have you all to himself. And he didn't care how selfish that was.

"And I'm concerned about you as well." King Regis said as he turned Noctis towards him with both of his hands. "It's not like you to lose your temper like that against other people."

"Then how do you think I should act? Like nothing happened tonight?" Noctis asked in hurt tone. "Well I can't! We just fled and left everyone else behind again!"

"I know that you may not believe this, but it was the only thing that we could do." King Regis replied as searched his son's face.

"No it's not!" Noctis said as his felt his temper starting to flair up again. "We could have fought!"

"And we could have died in the process as well." King Regis return in a smooth tone as he tried to keep Noctis from getting upset again. "Is that what you really want? Do you really want to see everyone that you care about die right in front of your eyes?"

Noctis looked off to the side as he clinched his jaw. King Regis slightly sighed as he watched his son. Then he pulled Noctis into his arms and held him close against his chest. And even though Noctis didn't return the embrace, he held him there for a moment.

"I think that we have seen enough people being hurt tonight." King Regis said as he rubbed his hand across Noctis' back. "Don't you?"

Noctis dropped his head so that his head was on his dad's strong shoulder. He knew that his dad was trying to talk some sense into him like he had so many times as he grew up. But he just couldn't shake off the feeling that this would only be the beginning of a much larger attack that could possible take everything from him entirely, including you. And that was something that he wasn't ready to give up.

They stood like that for a while before King Regis spoke again. "Are you feeling a bit calmer now?"

"I'll feel calmer once we're back home." Noctis answered in a low tone.

"Hmm." King Regis hummed as he gave Noctis a slight squeeze as he tried his best to comfort him.

"But I will try to watch my temper." Noctis quietly continued.

"That's a good start." King Regis said with one last squeeze before he leaned back and scanned his son's handsome face. "And I think getting some sleep will help with that. Are you ready to go the bed?"

Noctis simply nodded as he kept his eyes averted from his father's. To King Regis , that alone was enough to let him know that Noctis was okay.

"Well then, let's head back inside. Shall we?" King Regis as he took a step back from Noctis.

"Sure." Noctis answered in calm tone.

King Regis then walked beside Noctis as they headed back inside.

**********Author's Notes***********

Well, now that almost everyone is safe. Things start to get interesting as Paul and his team start to piece everything together and come up with a solution that is simple but effective.

But wait a minute, is that....? Dear gods what happened? And if you keep an eye out for the next chapter, you'll find out for yourself.

Thanks for reading. :)

***********************************