Salvation || Chapter 1
The Price of Freedom
The rain poured heavily that day, yet dull light still flickers at the end of that long stretch of road...
The rain offered a bittersweet cleansing. Emerald hues watched as the rain washed away the crimson liquid from her shaky hands. She prayed to Gaia, or Aya or to the Six, or whoever would bother listening, that she could finally be free from the life forced upon her but she knew better than to believe her sins could be washed away so easily.
Soaked black tresses did little to shield her eyes from the worst mistake she could’ve ever made. Now she had to live in constant fear that he would make her pay for what she's done...if he still had a pulse.
“Rayvenna?” Hearing her name had been the cause of her finally tearing her eyes away from her bloodied hands but only briefly. The rain had washed away most of the crimson essence from her skin but some still remained.
A familiar male had called out to her. His blond spiky hair dampened by the rain. “Ray, why are you out here?” When she didn't so much as turn to eye him, he reached out and grabbed her arm, his grasp firm but nowhere near threatening or painful, even so it was enough to cause the noirette to flinch and instinctively back away from him.
She turned to eye him, momentarily forgetting about her bloodied and tattered dress. Her dress had been a pure white and went down to her knees just a few hours ago. Now it remained torn, nearly falling apart from the bottom up and barely reached her thighs. It served as evidence that she’d spent far too much time running.
When the male had taken in her appearance he had been stunned to silence, the rain drenching both of them no longer of importance.
“What happened?” He asked as he snapped out of the storm raging within his mind, all the swirling thoughts and scenarios of what happened to her had come to an abrupt halt when she spoke.
“I had to free myself.”
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A shrill ringtone pierced the air of the otherwise silent room, startling the sleeping occupant awake. A slender hand shot out from underneath a cream-colored duvet, blindly searching for the source of the noise. After a few frustrating moments, a tired noirette pulled the covers off herself and finally answered the phone, not bothering to check the caller ID.
“Someone better be dying for you to be calling me this early.” She groggily answered.
“Oh c’mon Ray, don't give me that.” A familiar and cheerful voice responded on the phone.
“Tifa, you better have a good reason for waking me up, otherwise you’ll learn pretty quickly that I-”
“I know, I know but I do have a good reason for waking you up. I have a job for you.”
“From who?” Immediately Ray sat up, her interest sparked as her friend stated her purpose for this early morning call.
“Cloud.” Hearing that odd name momentarily stunned Ray.
“Why would-”
“Well it didn't come from him directly but apparently someone he made a delivery for previously, needs to refill their stock of curatives. Before you ask why you have to go as well, one of the clients is wounded and needs help. Cloud will be there to pick you up in an hour. Have fun you two.” With that Tifa hung up. Ray stood, intent on being ready before Cloud arrived.
Like clockwork, an hour had passed and the roaring of his bike's engine could be heard approaching her home. While the bike nears her home, Ray gently packs some of the curatives she'd made just a few days prior alongside materials she'd need to tend to a wound. It always helped to be prepared, is Rayvenna's mindset.
She can hear his boots trudge closer to her home as he approaches her door. Before he can knock, her front door swings open allowing for both of them to meet face to face. Not much of a greeting is needed between them other than quickly fleeting smiles.
"You sure are a master at giving a proper heads up." Rayvenna's tone is tightly laced with sarcasm but not a single hint of annoyance, causing Cloud to snort ever so lightly; so quiet that most would never hear it.
"I try." He retorts before offering his hand to take the bag containing the package she so neatly put together. Rayvenna shakes her head in response, slinging the bag's strap on her shoulder.
"Let's go, the customer can't wait forever." With that the duo venture out, Rayvenna riding on the back of Cloud's bike.
It's a pastime Rayvenna will never get enough of, to feel the wind hit her, the world around her passing by in a blur of colors, drowned out by the sound of the engine purring. To her, this is freedom.
All too soon, that rush from riding with her friend dies down as they come to a slow stop. It had been approximately an hour of driving and yet that still didn't feel long enough to satisfy her. Ray wouldn't ever say that though, it would make her sound vulnerable and needy.
They had arrived at the outskirts of Edge, a golden place dry and devoid of much life save for a few rebellious greenery here and there. Sitting up straight, Rayvenna stretches her back to relieve the ache brought on by leaning forward onto Cloud for support during the ride. A moment later and she's stepping off the bike, her boots finding hard solid ground beneath her. The desert is something she's used to given the many times she's traveled with Cloud.
"So who exactly placed this order?" Ray asks after five minutes of waiting for them.
"The caller didn't leave their name but he did say his two friends were coming to meet us." Cloud answers simply, no suspicion evident despite the fact he didn't seem to recognize the customers.
"All a part of the job." Rayvenna remarks earning a quirked brow from her blond companion. She didn't need to hear his question to know there is one.
"Showing up to meet random people in the desert to give them what's requested." Her clarification only receives a curt nod from him.
Only a few more minutes of idle chit chat pass before the clients arrive. To the surprise of both Ray and Cloud, a third person is in tow. A tall man with glasses helps his much more muscular and shirtless friend walk to them, said muscular man having his arm around the shoulders of the bespectacled man and another blond stranger.
"I am aware our comrade mentioned there would be only two of us that would show up but I'm afraid our friend here requires more assistance than just myself." Rayvenna takes note of the distinct accent but can't quite place it.
"Cue me!" The blond speaks whilst straining himself to keep the middle man up.
"Right." Is the only response Rayvenna gives, accompanied by grunting from the injured man as his comrades help him settle down on a rock only approximately two feet away from all of them.
"I apologize for the trouble." The middle man speaks as if he's winded. Rayvenna wastes no time in digging in her bag to retrieve the makeshift first aid kit, the clinking of glass bottles can be heard as she does so.
As she approaches him and gains a better look at his face, her eyes widen ever so slightly as a wave of recognition washes over her. The man looks to her confused, just barely catching the look before she forced it away and began the process of cleansing and dressing his wound. She puts gloves on before gently moving his hands from his lower right side, allowing her to see the blood staining his hands.
"It's not too serious." She remarks loud enough for his friends to hear, earning sighs of relief. Her green hues begin scanning the damaged area, her hands carefully placed around it while her small form leans forward to get a better look at it. The wound is about half the size of a thumb in length and twice that in width.
"It looks bad but it should heal in a day or two when I'm done." Rayvenna retrieves gauze before placing it over a bottle and spilling the bottle on it, allowing for the gauze to soak up the strangely colored liquid within the bottle.
"This will make the wound close and the skin fuse back together quickly." She informs him before placing the gauze over the wound. The man hisses in pain when she presses it down.
"Sorry." Rayvenna murmurs. If I really wanted to...I could use magic to make this easier…Rayvenna quickly wipes that idea out of her mind. Doing so could reveal her identity, and opening that door won't end well…
"What is that?" Her impromptu patient questioned.
"A concoction I made. Heals quicker than any Elixir but not in a drastic way like a Phoenix would. It does prevent the need for either so you don't dip into the supply you're picking up now. It is strong though so he will need to rest after this"
He nods in understanding though judging by the way he continues staring at her, Rayvenna wonders what else he may have understood. Does he think I look familiar as well?
"We appreciate your assistance." His very formal friend spoke, giving her the perfect excuse to stand up and step away from him.
"Hey...I think it's already healing. The pain is gone." This news brings a quickly fleeting but still prideful smirk to tug at her lips.
"Whatever that stuff is, it's already working miracles. Thank you." He adds before extending a hand her way. "Gladiolus." His introduction quickly follows. Before she can smother it, her eyes widen in response. It doesn't take much for every man except the other blond who is too busy on his phone to take notice.
"Something wrong?" Gladiolus asked, taking the words right out of Cloud and the other man's mouths.
"No." Comes her answer but given the way she hesitates it makes each of them wonder what else lingered.
"I'm Ray." She finally returns Gladiolus' handshake, faking a brief smile all the while.
Now it's Gladiolus' turn to be stunned momentarily. This makes Rayvenna's stomach drop.
"Have we-"
"I-I have your curatives." Rayvenna is quick to rush over to her bag, retrieving the box for them and handing it over. Once Gladiolus takes it, she retreats to Cloud's bike, putting significant distance between herself and the three comrades. This causes the bespectacled man's brow to raise and the blond's attention to finally move from his phone to the situation happening right before him.
"Thank you." The accent rings out lowly, though there's a silent question in the man's tone.
Cloud clears his throat, breaking whatever silent tension is slowly brewing.
"Right. Ignis, let's pay them for their trouble and get out of here." Something now begins to weigh on Gladiolus but neither of his comrades has the courage to ask what it is right now.
"Of course." The man, Ignis, agrees before a gloved hand of his reaches into his back pocket. The exchange of Gil to the seller is swift and without further incident. Rayvenna keeps her gaze to the ground, not wishing to allow any of them to get a better look at her.
"You have our thanks." Ignis announces smoothly before he motions for his comrades to follow. Gladiolus chances one more look towards Rayvenna before he follows behind his friends.
It's not until they're far out into the distance that Cloud dares speak. Leaning against his bike, he eyes Ray; almost nervously.
"You wanna tell me what that was about?" It may very well be an idiotic question but it's one he feels the need to ask nonetheless. It would eat at him if he didn't ask.
"I recognized him." Her initial answer is enough to make Cloud's gaze give away to one of complete seriousness and genuine concern. Before he can ask her to elaborate, she does so. "From when my mom brought me to Insomnia. His family has close ties to the royal Insomnian family." That's all she has to say for Cloud to fully understand.
"Ray...do you think they-"
"No. They were and still are loyal. There's no way to know for sure if he recognized me too. Even if he did, the only thing we can do is leave and forget this happened." All Cloud can do in response is nod. It's not his place to object.
With that, they leave, unaware of the conversation begging to be had between the three comrades just a short drive away. Inside the car, they've been gifted for the day.
"So uh…" Prompto is the first to speak, nervousness easily peaking through. "What happened back there?" Ignis remains silent but his gaze still flickers to Gladio through the rearview mirror every time the cat encounters a red light.
Gladio appears to be lost in thought, gaze glued to the fast-moving blur that is the world outside the car. It takes him thirty seconds to answer Prompto's question both because it took half that for it register and the other half for him to form the words.
"I think I know who she is." Ignis has a nerve stricken by this news. His own vague recognition settling back in.
"What do you-"
"We'll finish this discussion once we arrive back at the hotel." Ignis intervenes, earning a nod from both Prompto and Gladio. Thirty minutes of driving later and they return to the hotel as planned, just outside of Hammerhead.
They're greeted by a curious and well-rested black-haired male, their fourth and final companion. He stares at each of them, searching for signs that they've in fact done as he was told they were intending to do when they left. Seeing Gladio no longer needing both Prompto and Ignis to walk or stand, he assumes they had.
"I was about to lead a search party for you three." Comes his greeting.
"Aw, Noctis, you were worried about us? It's okay bud, we're all fine." Prompto teases, having momentarily forgotten about his concern for Gladio, unlike Ignis.
"Sure. That and if you three needed me to come save you, I wanted to make sure I would be there." This response earns an exasperated sigh from Prompto. While the younger members of their party engaged in playful banter, Ignis and Gladio made their way up to the hotel room.
"Ignis...Tell me, did that girl seem familiar to you?" Such a question is to be expected, even so, Ignis needs a moment of deliberation. He's searching for any explanation, any way that he can explain this that follows the story he was told. Then again, such an explanation only proves there is really no other way as he was told a story.
"Yes, she did." Ignis answers, his tone giving away that there's far more to say on the matter than just those two words.
"Do you think Ray...stood for Rayvenna?" The very mention of that name is enough to fill both with a sorrowful nostalgia.
"I think there may be a chance. Amarynthian officials declared her dead after that raid of Kalm." Ignis adds the last part as a reminder to both of them.
"Yes but…What if how they say it ended had been a lie?" Gladio has the words but barely the courage to say them.
"It is true that the timeline they gave had been odd and the things they've left out are even more suspicious but there's been no sign of her." Ignis tries to reason.
"Yeah, no sign, until now." Gladio had a point, Ignis is sure of that but is he sure this girl they met could truly be who they're wanting her to be?
"There's no way for us to know the truth without a shadow of a doubt if we don't properly investigate. So, I propose that we do just that, investigate." Ignis' idea brings a smile to Gladio's face.
"Then that's what we'll do. In the meantime, what will we tell Noct?" Gladio posed a good question one Ignis had been dreading.
"Nothing. There's no sense in getting his hopes up for it to only be a dead end."
"What won't you tell me and get my hopes up about?" Both Ignis and Gladio quickly turn to see the Prince himself standing there with a worried Prompto standing behind him, both thoroughly confused.
"It's noth-"
"Oh c'mon, Gladio. Don't tell me it's nothing when you two are clearly up to something you don't want me to know about. Judging by your tones it's fairly serious, so out with it."
"Noctis…" Ignis start but then needs to take a beat before continuing. What would he do if they told him?
"We think we may have found a lead on...Rayvenna." Gladio is ultimately the one that breaks it to him. The look that overtakes the young royal is enough to make both of them regret ever considering this. First utter confusion overtakes Noctis' blue hues, then sorrow and finally raw pain. They had ripped open an old wound, and this time it couldn't heal without answers.
"W-What?" The question isn't one demanding an answer, rather it's the only thing he could think to say initially.
"It's true. When we went to retrieve the curatives and have Gladio's wound tended to, there was a girl there. She had a striking resemblance to Rayvenna and even the name she called herself, Ray while not uncommon had been the same as Rayvenna. Those are the only clues we have to go off of though so we must not jump to conclusions."
"Where was she?" Noctis' tone had taken a far more serious edge to it, one portraying the hurt he felt but also the desperation and hope coursing through him.
"Noctis we don't know-"
"Where is she?" He barks, not willing to listen to the reasoning his friends had on the subject.
"We don't know. We met her and her comrade not far from the ruins of Midgar just outside of Hammerhead. She's long gone by now." This news does nothing to quell his desire to see who they were talking about. Prompto only grows more concerned but doesn't have the courage to interject.
"Noctis…" Ignis is the first to break the tense silence that fell upon them. "I understand what this means for you but you must not lose sight of what's important. Even so, I know you won't let this go so...I suggest we utilize two days to gather as much info as we can and figure out if this is indeed a lead we should pursue." This news births a new flicker of hope within Noctis.
"Thank you." With that he offers a small, fleeting smile before heading towards the room, leaving his comrades on their own once more.
"Consider me completely lost." Prompto finally chimes in. "Who is Rayvenna?"
"An old friend of Noctis, one that was declared dead a few years ago." Ignis explains, searching for a good way to explain this to their clueless friend.
"Wait...that name does strike a chord. Why?"
"She was Amarynthia's Princess and only true heir to the throne. She was kidnapped and supposedly killed as a means of forcing the Amarynthian government to surrender to a mysterious enemy." Ignis continues but realizes a little too late that Prompto now had even more questions.
"The entire situation had been odd but it was the only information given to both the citizens of Amarynthia and other nations. The Amarynthian royal family were allies to Lucis but King Regis had never been allowed to aid them in finding her. A few years after her kidnapping, a raid of the town Kalm, not far from where we went today had been raided in an attempt to find her." Gladio chimed in now, trying to piece the story together as best he can despite his own doubts.
"The operation hadn't gone as planned and Rayvenna had supposedly been killed in the process. That's the story the king of Amarynthia told but reports state her body had never been recovered. When anyone asked about those reports they were silenced one way or another." Gladio continued.
"And you guys think that Ray girl we saw in the desert could be her?"
"Yes. We didn't want to tell Noctis until we were certain. You see, Rayvenna and Noctis were very close as children. He had known her before Lunafreya and her death devastated him. He's never believed the story told about anything that happened to her." Ignis' follow up explanation earns him a nod from Prompto.
"And if it turns out she's still alive, then she and Noctis can reunite and we can figure out what really happened to her." This excites Prompto, in turn earning smiles and nods from his friends.
"Then what are we waiting for?!" He cheerfully runs after Noctis wanting to keep that hope alive.
"Ignis...You realize, if this turns out to be her, there's gonna be much more than a happy reunion, right?"
"Yes. We'll help her get back home and reclaim the throne her father currently sits on. There may be a coronation for her and a wedding for Noctis in such a short span of one another."
"It'd be nice to know she's safe though I wonder if it will cause issues for Noctis' and Lunafreya's relationship." Even though that may be a serious issue later, Gladio can't wipe the smile off of his face.
"I suppose only time will tell."
Just a few miles away from the motel Prince Noctis and friends currently inhabited, Rayvenna could be found pacing in her home.
"What if they tell that bastard they found me? What if they're in their way here now?!"
"They wouldn't do that. You said it yourself that they were allies to your family. And you were close with the Prince so there's nothing you need to worry about." Cloud watches patiently from against the closest wall.
"A lot can change, Cloud."
"What happened to you reassuring me that everything would be alright?"
"That went out the window when we turned on the news and saw that Lucis is signing a treaty with Niflheim in four days. If they realize it's me, they might be forced to hand me over right to Nikal."
"Then we make sure that doesn't happen." Cloud's tone leaves no room for debate. He's serious and has no doubt about his words. This is enough to ease Ray's concerns, her shoulders falling slump and short-form collapsing onto the couch in relief.
"You're right." It's all she can say and all there is to hope for.
A day would pass before the four comrades would have any substantial leads.
"Noctis!" Ignis exclaims, bursting into the tent the four of them shared, effectively waking the Prince from his slumber.
"What is it Ignis?" The sleepy Prince grumbled, still lost in the space between consciousness and slumber.
"We may have found something about Rayvenna." This is enough to make Noctis sit upright, at full attention and fully awake.
"What is it?" He's already shuffling to get up.
"I just got off the phone with the Marshal. He informed me that Rayvenna's aunt, Lady Anya, used to reside in Midgar before the Meteorfall, after some shuffling around she began living in Lestallum but made frequent trips to Kalm right after moving there and eventually a town known as Edge just outside of Midgar. It isn't much but it's a starting point." Ignis speaks while they exit the tent, joining their other two comrades outside.
"So that means-"
"We're taking going to the Edge!" Prompto finishes his sentence excitedly, earning groans from his three friends because of the pun.
"Essentially, yes. Now we best head out, the earlier we get there the better." Ignis' friends agree with him and quickly busy themselves with cleaning up the campgrounds and heading towards their now fixed vehicle.
"On our way to save a Princess!" Prompto seems to be his usual, excited self.
"Potentially, we must not forget that nothing is set in stone." Ignis reminds him and in turn Noctis of this fact.
"Right…but how cool would that be?!"
"Very." Noctis agrees, still hopeful. He doesn't catch the concerned look Ignis shoots him. It's clear the bespectacled man is worried this might all be for nothing and would crush the Prince's hope.
As they each get situated into the car and head out towards Edge.