—

"Well, you're just full of shit," Aranea said brightly, her heels propped up on the foot of Gladio's hospital bed as she leaned back in her chair. "All that crap about me needing help, and then you just keel over..."

And he had the audacity to give her the pity eyes across the table earlier.

He glowered at her. "Yeah, because we're in the same situation here."

"I thought you weren't feeling anything since the old sword guy kicked the bucket," she mocked.

"I wasn't! I felt normal until earlier!"

"Uh-huh. I'm sure there were no hints that you ignored or brushed off."

"Okay, you know what–"

A knock on the door of the room interrupted their bickering.

"What?" Gladio snapped.

Aranea winced. Poor whoever was just trying to check on his wellbeing.

The door cracked open a bit and two blond heads poked through.

"Bad time, Big Guy?" Prompto asked.

"Gladdy!"

"Oof!"

Prompto and Evan both got shoved aside as Iris tore into the room. Aranea wisely moved her feet and stood, retreating over to the door as to avoid the worried sister. "Okay, kids, let's give them a minute." She shooed the Argentums right back out the door of the room to leave Gladio and Iris alone.

Prompto hovered by the door after she'd closed it behind them. "He okay? What happened?"

"Not sure." Aranea leaned against the wall across from him. "Definitely something to do with that Blademaster guy. Glowing blue and everything again."

Prompto groaned. "Why couldn't somebody catalog all this magic and Scourge crap back then so we'd know what we were dealing with?"

Aranea gave him a look. "…Yeah, I'm sure they had a real grasp of genetics and shit back two-thousand years ago."

"…Point taken." He heaved a sigh. "At least it doesn't seem to be, like, really hurting him…"

"…It might, if this happens while he's fighting…" Evan muttered, literally twiddling his thumbs as he stood next to Prompto.

As always, that kid was a smart cookie.

Of course, pretty much everyone had already thought that or was going to eventually. Gladio himself definitely already had. Yet there was no doubt in her mind he was going to try and shrug this off and keep doing field missions anyway. That muscle-stacked hypocrite.

The two of them were annoyingly alike.

"We'll figure something out," she said confidently. She didn't know what, but something. She could brainstorm with the Princess and the Marshal later. When she felt less wiped out.

…Who was she kidding, she always felt wiped out these days…

Nothing she couldn't handle, though. She could keep pushing on while a lot of others couldn't, and those that couldn't needed her.

"Um." Evan bounced on his toes, looking hesitant.

"What's up, kid?" Aranea asked instantly. She may have had less of an impact on his life now than she liked, but there was no way in hell she was going to let him start getting nervous around her.

He scratched the back of his neck. "Not certain it's really the time, but I wanted to show you something…"

She would make time. Whatever it was, she'd find a way to look at it even if a marlboro crashed through the building right now.

She jerked a thumb at the door to Gladio's hospital room. "He's stable and he's not going anywhere for a while given the test they were planning to run. This is a perfect time."

He perked up instantly. "Oh! All right, then… Dino. He's taken to drawing as well as crafting. And… he's come up with uniforms for us. He wanted to know what people thought before he tried to make them."

Designing, crafting, drawing, sewing… Dino may not have been as natural at fighting as the others, but assuming that he survived to the end of this mess, those practical skills would help him settle in.

"Well, let's not keep Guyliner waiting, then." She pushed off the wall. "Lead the way."

…Wait. This was the clone that gave the Lucians a run for their money on wearing dark colors. Uniforms? Were they just going to be entirely in layers of black on black on black?

She guessed she'd find out.

Sweet Shiva.

Aranea had to stop herself from gaping at the paper in her hands.

The uniforms had some black on them, yeah, but it certainly wasn't the primary feature because the uniforms was a stylish mix of three different, very specific colors: black, white, and red.

Dino squirmed in his hospital lobby seat, ducking his head to hide under his beanie.

"Kid, this is amazing." Aranea said, having no intentions of handing the picture back yet, but wanting to put the poor boy out of his nervous misery.

"Really?" He perked up.

"Yeah. I was expecting something a bit darker with your fashion choices, but this is incredible."

Honestly, she wasn't sure she'd seen a scrap of any real color on him since he'd been aware enough to choose his own clothes.

He smiled sheepishly. "Well… black is my favorite, yeah, but 's also the Lucian royal color, so…"

"So, you used all three primary national colors to represent each of them," Aranea filled in.

He nodded frantically, visibly just bubbling with excitement. He stood, jumping to stand up on the chair so he was high enough to point out things on the drawing while she was still holding it at the level she was. "See, look here!"

Loqi – who was in another lobby seat close by – raised a hand and opened his mouth, but then shook his head and sat back. Apparently not jumping on furniture wasn't something they'd covered yet. Though who really cared about that during these times?

Whatever. Technically, Dino was still a child, and fun was something children these days hadn't exactly had a lot of.

Dino started poking specific points and details. "I thought since the old nations we were told 'bout 'are pretty much merged, I should keep their colors as tributes! 'Specially if the trade route is bridgin' the gap between cities. Plus, I tried to mix the styles…"

Tried and succeeded. Aranea doubted anyone could have seen these uniforms and accused the designer of favoritism to any one nation.

Yeah, the style was primarily like that of the Crownsguard or Glaive, but white was the most prominent color on the coat while the biggest section of black was the pants, and the red was splashed in places all throughout both. The Lucian logos were also gone, she noted. There were no symbols of any kind.

…And damn if she didn't want a pair of the matching boots. Classy, classy… White laces and buckles over a black and red base.

Given her mercenary life, she'd never given much thought about herself in a uniform, but she wouldn't have minded this. Mainly because it was already almost the same colors she wore anyway. Although personally, she never would have designed something for battle with any light colors because of the stains, but she wasn't trying to represent all the world's nations and shit in one outfit.

She tried to picture Loqi wearing it. Not hard. Ravus? Even easier. Ignis–

…No. Not going there. But it would have worked too.

Aranea glanced over at Loqi. "So, will their fearless leader be wearing this change once the project gets all sewn up?"

"Of course," Loqi scoffed. "It's hardly unification if I don't partake, especially since I'm the only Imperial born of the group. We'd be a nation short."

Aranea frowned over the paper at him. "Who's from Tenebrae in your group?"

"Delilah, clearly," he said as though it were obvious.

But… She'd fought very specifically for Lucis before… "I thought she was a Glaive?"

"She is. A Glaive initially from Altissia." Loqi crossed his arms. "Had you not noticed the color of the uniform she already wears?"

Dino bobbed his head. "She's where I got the idea!"

Honestly, Aranea hadn't given it much thought. She'd noticed the white coat, yeah, but she'd thought that was more a medic thing, not a national pride thing.

Aranea shrugged. "Fine, fine. All nations present and accounted for – got it." She finally returned the paper to Dino. "These are brilliant, kid. I look forward to seeing them in action."

National colors aside, them having uniforms out there was a really good idea. Anything that would make them recognizable, really. Symbols of hope, like that Guardian guy that everyone was currently gaga about.

Slowly but surely, they were climbing out of the oppressive ditch they've been thrown into.

At least most of them…

It was selfish, Aranea knew, but she wasn't super fond of Loqi and Delilah playing the most prominent adult roles in the clones' lives.

At least… at least not in Evan's. That should have been her, and she had no one to blame but herself that Evan was finding other role models.

She just… wasn't the motherly type.

Maybe it was better that Evan had Delilah for that.

But that still didn't change the fact that Aranea missed the strange little family she'd never officially had in the first place.

—