Chapter 2
Luna blinks feeling her joints ache underneath her body. It feels like she has slept on nothing but rocks last night. Her head feels foggy, unorganized as she slowly sits up holding her hands over her ears, trying to soothe the sharp headache forming from the back of her head towards the side of her temple. She needs quiet, no sounds for the next hour or so and it will be gone soon.
She let’s out a steady breath and hears a clash of metal against metal and winces. Hushed whispers followed by a slap and another sound of a falling pan. Luna sighs and looks toward her side, gasping for a few reasons.
For one the large stick that had been jabbed inside the arm is gone not to mention no bandage or scar can be found on the injured arm meaning a potion had to have been used. For two her dress that was ruined is no longer on her body. The clothes she is wearing is nothing more than an undershirt. She wonders who would have done such a thing while she was sleeping.
The tent flap opens, and Luna’s cheeks turn pink as she covers herself with the blanket all up to her chest. She sees it’s the woman from last night and watches as the woman raises an eyebrow at her antics, and sighs.
“Look, we both got breasts it’s not that big a deal. Besides, I’m not interested in someone who passes out from a little injury.”
“Little,” Luna laughs throat going dry. “There was nothing little about it!”
The woman smirks, “Well, nice to see you got your spunk back. I bet you’ll be on your way soon Princess.”
Luna lets the blanket falls to her legs. “I’m not a princess.”
The woman snorts, “Aww little princess is sad.”
“Not sad,” she sighs rubbing her head. “Thank you for healing me.”
“What makes you think I did it?”
“You…you have to have healed me. I saw,” she pauses as the woman looks at her confused. “Never mind. It seems I never introduced myself last night- “
“Well it wasn’t hard to figure out. Lost woman all in white, bleeding. Not to mention the book in your satchel,” she says holding the oracle book in front of her. “Gave you away.”
“Yes well, I am Lunafreya, but you may call me Luna. Thank you for last night but I do not wish to trouble you further,” she says about to stand before realizing her mistake. “Do you perhaps have my dress from last night?”
The woman chuckles, “honey that dress is shredded. There was no point in saving it.” Aranea holds her hands up noticing the drop in Luna’s face. “Don’t worry we look to be about the same size. You can borrow my clothes,” she says tossing the oracle book by Luna.
“I…thank you,” Luna replies looking over at the woman a bit more closely. Her eyes are a vivid green, same as last night and the silver hair tied back into a messy bun makes her seem domestic. However, Luna can see clearly this woman is not in any way shape or form domestic. Not with those thick thighs? Luna clears her throat and looks up at the smiling woman. “Forgive me but I didn’t catch your name last night.”
“It’s Aranea,” she says before standing. “Now quit dropping your jaw at my crotch and get dressed.” She tosses some clothes in Luna’s direction. “Do you have a plan of where you need to go?”
Luna sputters, “I was not looking at your…and yes I have a plan,” she says, narrowing her eyes. “I need to go to Insomnia and seek out the King for help.”
“Oh, is that all,” Aranea snorts.
Luna stands from the makeshift bed and glares at Aranea. “Listen, thank you for your help last night, but I will not be treated as if this…this plan is not sound. Now you can either help me if you wish or let me leave on my own. Now excuse yourself out while I get dressed,” she says staring at the woman trying to maintain eye contact.
Aranea just crosses her arms smirking, “princess has spice.”
“Oracle,” Luna nearly growls out glaring at her. Aranea leans down to her level staring right back not saying a word. Luna does not give into the stare down and holds her ground as Aranea backs away chuckling.
“You got some kick in ya…Oracle,” she teases before turning out of the room ignoring the huff from Luna.
Luna let’s out a sound of frustration and grumbles to herself as she gets dressed in the outfit given to her. It’s nothing like her dress at all. It’s terrible and smells musty, but it will have to do. She can’t wear a bloody dress to the king. She sighs hooking the borrowed bra around her breasts. It feels a little loose, but it is better than nothing. She slips on the shirt and quickly gets into the pants left by Aranea. She doesn’t want to be in her company longer than necessary. While she is grateful for the woman caring for her last night, she does not deserve the attitude from her.
She pulls her hair out from under the shirt and adjusts it, tucking it into her pants before securing the belt around her waist. The socks and boots by the side of the cot don’t look much better. They thankfully don’t have a heel, but they are thicker on the bottom than what she is used to. She pulls them on and laces them up her legs before grabbing her book and satchel from the side. She places the book in her bag and exits the room, pushing the stray hairs from her face.
Maybe if she asks nicely Aranea will have a brush or some hair tie she can use to pull her hair back. The braids on the side and back of her head have already begun to fray and fall from place.
“Good morning Oracle,” states one of the men from last night. Wedge if she remembers correctly. She offers a smile before placing her hands up. “Please don’t bow…it’s not necessary,” she says nervously as she watches Aranea walk in from her right side.
“What, are you too good to receive bows now?” Aranea snorts.
Luna sighs, burying the seed of anger deep, deep down to her core. She needs to remain calm and diplomatic if she wants to get to Insomnia. “No, I don’t want attention drawn to myself. If I am to be traveling, I assume Niflheim will come searching for me and I do not want to draw that sort of attention.”
Aranea grins, “well then might I suggest wearing something over that shirt. It’s a bit see through from wear and well, you can see a few ice peaks Ms. Oracle.”
Luna looks down and flushes, covering her arms across her chest. “Really and you accused me of looking, well you know,” she says embarrassed as the man from last night Biggs retrieves an over shirt from one of the crates outside.
“Yeah well, never said I disliked it now did I,” she smirks as the flush fills in on Luna’s face. “Anyway, hope you like breakfast. Garula bacon is fresh this morning. Hey Biggs give Ms. Oracle some bacon before she has a fainting spell.”
Before she can get in a word edgewise Aranea is already leaving the campsite walking towards what appears to be a store in the distance.
“Is she always like this?” she sighs, staring off at Aranea.
“Hmm not always,” says Wedge who has been cooking over the fire pit. “Been awhile since she’s flirted so openly.”
Luna chuckles, “Flirted? Well that can’t be. She just wants to annoy me or bother me for no reason at all. I haven’t done anything wrong. I only arrived for help and I’ve been a decent guest, haven’t I?” she asks Wedge.
Wedge shrugs and hands her a plate of food. “Look Aranea is just Aranea. She flirts like that with everyone. Don’t worry about it. Eat up, she’ll be back with information from the hunter headquarters soon.”
“Hunter headquarters?”
Wedge smiles at her, serving the next plate. “Yeah you know the ones that fight the daemons. Not everyone has soldiers to protect their people from daemons. Besides sometimes the best daemon hunter is a hunter…I guess cause it’s in the name?” He shrugs as Biggs sighs.
“Wedge just serve the eggs and eat. You’re terrible in the morning without coffee in your system,” Biggs sighs once more as Wedge just shrugs and begins to serve himself a plate.
Biggs looks over at Luna, “So you plan to enter Insomnia?”
“Y-yes,” she says moving the questionable meat around on the plate. “Is that so difficult to imagine?”
“Hmm currently yes. The treaty between the two princes has been compromised and Insomnia is locked tighter than a walnut. Just curious how you plan on entering such a place,” he chuckles.
Luna smiles, “Well obviously I am the oracle-”
“Right and how many do you think have tried that already?” he asks her as she stares at him confused. “All I’m saying is it’s not going to be a cake walk in there and you’re better off cutting your losses and moving on,” he says through bits of food in his mouth.
Luna bites her tongue, “I can prove I am the oracle. No one else has the powers I hold. If I could give a demonstration-”
Biggs snorts, “They won’t allow you to give a demonstration. You need papers and I doubt you got those when running away.”
Luna stiffens, “I did not run away.”
“Oh really? My bad. Run away from danger to save yourself,” he growls out.
Luna clenches her teeth, breathing out through her nose to calm down. “I did not run away. It was not my choosing. It was either escape or be captured and used as a weapon against Insomnia and the other countries.”
Biggs rolls his eyes, “You don’t have that much power if all you can do is heal. That’s not a weapon, more of an item to be used when you are dying. A bought potion is all you really are,” he sneers.
Luna clenches her fist and lets out a steady breath. Luna looks deeply into Biggs and smiles, “You are hurt from before.”
“What?” he laughs.
“You carry a hurt inside you. It festers, pulls, and tugs in opposite directions. It’s tangled and chokes on your conscience,” she states before grabbing his wrist. “You wanted to save him, but duty called. You were more loyal to your duty than to him,” she says a golden glow begins to flow over Biggs’ wrist. “It bothers you still and you lash out, yet hold it close. You know the game, how to make it seem like anger for something else and not what it really is.”
Biggs tugs his arm away from Luna, holding it close to his chest. “The hell did you do?”
Luna smirks, “I started to heal you. Your emotions are wrapped too tight around that issue. I loosened them. Be careful now, you don’t want your emotions to control your judgement during a hunt or battle, do you?”
Biggs scoffs before leaving the area. Wedge however stays a good distance away from Luna and looks at her concerned. “Will he be alright? What happened?”
Luna sighs rubbing her head, “I began to untangle his emotions. I do not only use my powers to heal wounds. Emotional or mental emotions can be healed as well but I have to be careful to not leave any of my own emotions or objectives inside them when I heal them. Otherwise I could have them blindly follow my commands unconsciously.”
Wedge’s mouth drops open.
“That is how I can be used as a weapon. I can be forced to leave certain emotions or mental tasks in those I touch with my powers. I can be used to corrupt a person to follow something they do not believe in. Force them to be a husk of their former self if I was placed in the wrong hands.”
“So that’s why you left, princess,” smirks Aranea having arrived back to the campsite. “You spooked Biggs whatever you said.”
Luna flushes, “Yes well I let my anger get the best of me. I apologize.”
Aranea snorts, “You don’t need to apologize. That guy is always trying to get under people’s skin. Nice to see someone else returned the favor.” She reaches out her hand towards Luna. Luna pulls back quickly.
Aranea laughs, “you don’t have to jump, I was just getting the hair out of your face. Might be best if you tied your hair up. We got a long way to go to Insomnia.”
Luna nods her head, “Yes I suppose we do. We are in Lozola still and will need passage across the sea to enter Cleigne correct?”
Aranea shrugs, “that would be the easiest way to do it.” She offers her a hairband from her pocket. I doubt you want to enter Niflheim to get across the strait. Too many MT units out and about.”
Wedge looks at Aranea confused, “Uh, why should we worry about MT units?”
Aranea twitches and looks over at Wedge, “Because we don’t want to fight more than we have to. They’ll have infiltrated Cleigne by now or already be setting up camps.” She stares as Luna pulls her hair into a bun.
“Well we should head out soon then correct?”
“Uh yeah sure once we pack up, we should be good to go. But first we gotta consider payment.”
“Payment?”
“You didn’t’ think I was doing this out of the goodness of my heart did ya,” she smirks. “Just sit tight while I discuss it with the other two. We have to figure out how much you’ll pay us once you reach Insomnia. You think this king will vouch for you and pay for your safe passage, right?”
“Noctis? Yes of course he would,” she frowns, “we haven’t seen each other in a long time but we still keep in touch.”
“Oh, how’s that?” Aranea asks, curious. “Thought all mail was monitored in your neck of the woods.”
Luna chuckles, “There are ways around it. Wish I would have known sooner that Niflheim would betray us on neutral ground. Could have warned him,” she frowns.
Aranea nods her head, “Right, so going to discuss this with the boys and figure out how much you’ll owe us. You better hope your Noctis can pay princess,” she winks as she grabs the scruff of Wedge’s shirt and pulls him.
“Hey hey I’m coming,” he says stumbling backwards as Aranea drags him away from the campsite. Luna chuckles in the background watching the two leave before wondering how much they could ask for her safe passage. It is a long journey might take a few days or weeks depending on how they plan to transport through the regions.
“I swear, Wedge you are the biggest idiot I have to take care of,” she hisses at him when they are out of earshot of Luna.
“What’d I do?”
“You asked why’d we have to worry about MTs.”
“Well why should we when we are part of the Niflheim military?”
Aranea sighs, running a hand down her face. “Because princess doesn’t know that and if we can deliver her to them unharmed and intact…” She pauses giving him time to think.
“Then we get a bonus?”
“…bonus sure, but we can bargain with her. You can get a bonus if you want to or get released from Niflheim permanently. Think about it no more missions. No more senseless battles over what King Aldercapt’s latest fancy is…actually Aldercapt is at least tolerable compared to Verstael. But we’d be free. We could be real mercenaries not fake ones secretly working for Niflheim,” she says excited.
Wedge stares at her thinking, “So you wouldn’t be my boss anymore?”
“I was never your boss. The one’s above me are. They tell me who needs to be killed, how to accomplish the deed or else,” she clenches her fist. “I’m done being a collared animal. I want to be free. Don’t you want that?” Wedge flinches under her gaze and Aranea let’s out a sigh, “Look this is one way to get out of Niflheim. If we get caught, we can just say we were bringing her to the Empire eventually. Had to make it believable we would be saving her alright. Personally, I want to be free of them and either way if Luna is saved or not, I’m getting that freedom.”
Wedge rubs the back of his neck. “It sounds good…but only if Biggs joins. I’m not going to leave him behind and when he hears about helping Luna get a safe passage to Insomnia…I don’t know if he’ll say yes.”
“Yes.” States Biggs sharpening one of his blades. Aranea smirks and Wedge’s mouth drops open.
“You…you’re going to help Luna after what she did?”
Biggs stops sharpening his blade and sheaths it. “She pushed my buttons and opened a can of worms inside me but Niflheim has been trying to carve me out into a hollow man. I think taking Luna to Insomnia is the better choice than letting Niflheim whittle out what emotions I still have left. Besides if all else fails I can blame Aranea,” he smirks. Aranea sticks her tongue out at him as he pats Wedge on the shoulder before looking at Aranea. “When do we leave?”
“As soon as we get everything packed back at camp. But first ground rules such as no mentions that we are part of Niflheim at all. When we see imperials or MTs we have to kill them or risk ruining our cover with her. So, we should stick to the backroads and travel quickly so we can get this done as soon as possible.”
“Boss,” asks Wedge. “What is she going to pay us? How will she get us all free?”
Aranea smirks, “I already have that planned. Come on let’s go tell the princess she needs to start helping us pack for the journey.
Aranea watches as the two men nod in agreement before walking along side her back towards the campsite. It’ll be tough hiding who they really are but if they play their cards right, they could earn more than just their freedom.
Aranea points to the left of the camp, “Pack light. We’ll try to start up the old car. It should get us to the ferry at least,” she tells them before spotting Luna. “Luna. Just who I wanna see.”
Luna turns looking at Aranea, “I am sure. So, may I ask have you come to a decision? Will you be helping me or not?”
Aranea smiles sharply, “Oh, we will help. Our payment will be three pardons and automatic citizenship to Insomnia.”
Luna blinks, “Excuse me?”
“I think you heard right princess,” she grins.
“It’s Oracle and yes I heard. I just don’t understand the need for pardons without knowing what you have committed. Explain.”
Aranea groans, “Look, we don’t have time to explain our life story. It’s either a yes and we help you or a no and we go on our way. What’s it going to be?” she asks hands on hips.
Luna bites her lip pacing, “it will be a yes…I do not have the means to reach Insomnia on my own from this distance. I may be able to grant your pardons but citizenship I can not guarantee…Insomnia has very strict rules on who can become a citizen. They are selective but if they can not guarantee your citizenship then I will give you citizenship of Tenebrae if that is agreeable?”
Aranea taps her finger to her chin thinking before shrugging. “Well that’s better than nothing. Let’s head to old reliable if you have everything you need? We won’t be coming back,” she smiles.
Luna looks back at the campsite and nods her head. She already has her satchel and the trident is at her command. There is nothing else to gather from this campsite. She sighs and looks toward Aranea.
“Please lead the way to this old reliable you called it,” she hesitates as Aranea laughs loudly before reaching for Luna’s shoulder and pulling her down the trail.
“Yeah wait til you see it. I promise it will get us to the ferry stop at least,” she chuckles.