FFXV: After the Fall

Chapter 25

She then thought of something and decided to try it out, hauling herself out of bed with a wince and slipping into a robe.
She then went into the bathroom, located the small pot of healing balm and took it back to bed with her, lying down with the covers out of the way. God, do I feel like a fucking idiot, she thought. It'll help if it works, though. Worth a shot.
She put a small amount of cream over the outside of her, as well as a bit more on her belly where she roughly thought her womb was, then concentrated and felt the heat sinking into her.
Was...rather nice, actually. Relaxing.
After that had finished, she gently poked around and...yeah.
That was a lot better than before. Not perfect, but she reckoned that she could at least walk about without any pain now.
She briefly thought of Nyx...then laughed.
   'Found out that my healing balm works on it pretty good. xx' She decided to tell him. Then if he wanted to try, he could...well.
She giggled about that for a few more seconds, then got dressed and headed for some breakfast.

She walked into the dining room to greet the others, smiling at them all, and she also saw Nyx smile at her briefly before putting his phone away.
   "How's things?" She said while she reached for toast.
   "Your furry friend's given Noct a visit." Gladiolus said while pushing a coffee towards her. "Wants you to call him back."
   "Oh- okay. Did he say when?"
   "Whenever, really. Long as we're the only people around."
   "I'll do it in a bit, then." She sat down at the table to eat.
   "How was the lie-in?" Prompto asked her.
She smiled. "Good. Wasn't used to it, though. And how are you doing today? Not hanging again, I hope."
He shook his head. "Nah, that's all gone, those bread bowls saved my life- and boy, am I glad. Learnt my lesson there."
   "I should think so, too." Ignis commented as Noctis briefly ran to the door, peering into the corridor outside and then closing it.
He then came back over. "Nobody's there." He reported. "You could get the Carbuncle thing outta the way, if you wanted?"
   "You're a little eager, dude." Prompto smiled. "You alright?"
   "Very funny." He sat back down. "Curious, really. Might also not get the chance later. This place can get pretty busy."
They all looked at Helena.
   "Uh...okay, sure. I'll see if he's there." She took a quick swig from her mug, then put it down and started searching, eyes growing oddly distant for a few seconds.
A short time after that, the furry Divine popped into existence in the middle of the table, sitting down and preening his fur for a couple of seconds. "Finally up then, Miss?"
   "Yeah." She smiled. "How did the explaining go?"
   "You mean buttering." Prompto joked.
   "Pretty good." The fox replied. "He wasn't overly annoyed cos' I did try everything I could think of first. I mean, it's not my fault that Roc has all the observational skills of a statue, is it?"
They all grinned at that one.
   "That's more or less how it went." He continued. "I tried to do it the subtle way, the indirect way, there was nothing else I could do short of beating him over the head. Least it turned out good. So Daddy let me off, and told me to be more careful in the future."
He then turned round towards Nyx. "Well, now. I don't think we've been properly introduced yet. I'm Carbuncle. Don't let this fluffy exterior fool ya, though, I'm a lethal killing machine."
   "You don't say." Nyx smiled at him. "What do you do, exactly, tickle 'em to death? Or is makin' people sneeze more your thing?"
   "...uh-oh." Noctis said under his breath.

Carbuncle's tail bristled- which made Prompto instantly reach for his camera to take several pictures of it- and he got up and leapt forwards by a foot to land closer to the now-grinning Nyx.
   "Oh, a wise-guy, huh?" The Divine said. "Terrific! I suggest you keep that sort of talk to yourself, pal, my fluff is fantastic."
   "Do you have a minute? My shoes need shining."
   "They'll need more than that after I've rubbed my ass all over them, village boy. Didn't your ma tell you about manners?"
   "Ooh, look at him go." Nyx chuckled. "Are you just all talk and fur? Or can you actually back that trash up?"
They stared each other off for a few seconds, then they both started laughing while the others began to smile.
Carbuncle then turned around to face the others. "Ha! Bet I had you all fooled, huh, huh? I bet I did."
   "I...wondered for a moment." Ignis smiled.
   "Hey, Carb, stop winkin' at me will ya?" Nyx grinned. "Not long had my breakfast."
The Divine then jumped all over his shoulders, depositing large quantities of loose, white hair all over Nyx as he batted him with the still-bristled tail for a few seconds. He then jumped off and sat back in the middle of the table afterwards.
   "Uh, sorry? I'm a little deaf, you know." Carbuncle said.
   "All jokers together." Noctis smiled. "Shoulda known."
   "Little light humour at the start of the day always does some good." The Divine asserted. "However, now it's time for business." He then looked at Prompto. "Get enough pictures, pal?"
   "Yeah, thanks." Came the reply.
   "Alright then." Carbuncle nodded, then did appear to lose quite a lot of his previous bubbly nature. "You only need one more Divine to ratify our Prince here before Daddy can give the nod." He told them all. "There's a choice of two. The only two left, really, so that one's up to you guys."
They all knew who those two were, and that made them solemn.
Leviathan, and Ifrit. Not a great choice.