[ It's fortunate there was a natural break in the story there, because it's not easy to tell, even after all this time. Even if the people they'd been when that news broke were far distant, even if Eos no longer existed. It had been nothing short of devastating, and his hand gently squeezes hers back. For all he'd never been close to his parents, he'd...never found out what happened to them after that day. It had been a brutal attack, and there was no telling...

But it's nearly ancient history now. ]

...Yeah. [ He nuzzles softly against her cheek, sighing. ] Or...we tried to, anyway. They killed King Regis and took the Crystal. We had to...see it for ourselves.

[ To quash that bit of denial they'd all clung to, but Noctis most of all. ]

When we got back to the outskirts of the city, though, the Empire'd already blockaded it all off. We only really got a glimpse of what our home used to be.

That's when we all kind of realized...this trip wasn't going to be what we planned it to be. At all.