Summary: [WARNING: Summary contains major plot spoilers for Remnants.]

Reina Lucis Caelum lived ten years of darkness awaiting her brother's return, at the end of which time... she woke up on May 15th, 756. The day before her father died. Now, against her father's orders, she returns to Insomnia with Noctis and co in tow, armed with the knowledge of everything that will occur in the next two days. But the future is fluid and the waking world isn't quite the same as the Dream she's been living for ten years. Every choice she makes changes the future and this time she can't see it.

Series: Shattered Dreams vol 3

Sountrack: Search "Restored || FFXV" on Spotify

Related Fics:

Fractured (vol 1)

Remnants (vol 2)

Reckoning (vol 4)

Author's Notes: This is the fourth story in the Shattered Dreams series and is written largely from the perspective of characters who have no idea what happened in either part 1 or 2. As such, it will probably make sense without having read either of those first, though I expect it will make more sense if you read those first. Or maybe not. idk.

She screamed.

Few things could wake Noctis from a dead sleep, but his sister screaming was one of them.

"Rei—?" On his way out of the tent, he stepped on Gladio's face, tripped over Ignis, and dragged himself over Prompto—still asleep.

Why the fuck didn't legs work in the mornings? This was why he always slept in.

It was pitch black outside. Real weird sleeping under the stars with no Wall between them and the sky. Nights were too dark, out here. Gladio's campfire had died down to just embers and Reina was sitting in one of the chairs in the fire circle.

By the time Noctis reached her, she wasn't screaming anymore—she had only done that once, loud enough to wake everyone else. She was sitting bunched up in one of the camp chairs by the dead fire. It wasn't cold, but she was shaking. Nothing around to scream about, either, but it hadn't stopped her.

He shoved his hair out of his eyes and forced his voice to work. "Hey. Rei. Wake up."

Ignis headed the others out of the tent.

"What's up?" Gladio hid a yawn behind his hand.

"A dream, perhaps?" Ignis looked real weird without his glasses on.

"Yeah…" said Noct.

He leaned over her chair. She was motionless—at a glance, she was only sleeping—but if she punched him again for trying to wake her up…

"Rei? Reina? Can you hear me?" He poked her shoulder and prepared to duck. "Hey."

Nothing.

No, wait—something.

"No… no, no, no, no, NO!" She twisted her head back and forth, tucking her chin under and leaning back in her chair.

Yeah. She did that, too.

"Reina-a-a. Hey. Reina. Wake up." Against his better judgement, he grabbed her shoulders and gave her a solid shake.

The good news was she didn't punch him in the nose. The bad news was she didn't wake up, either.

She squirmed in his hands, pushing him away.

Shit. Dad always woke her up. Noct never could—no one ever could except Dad.

"Come on, Rei, you gotta wake up." Noctis wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight like Dad sometimes did.

She stopped trying to get away. He pressed his cheek to her head and she grabbed onto his arms. That was a good sign, right? That meant she was waking up?

Ignis was standing on the other side of her chair. He had put his glasses on—thank the Gods.

"Is she awake?" Noctis asked.

Ignis shook his head.

Shit. Okay. Right. What else did Dad do? There were some words he always said.

"No…" Reina writhed. "I have to go back—I have to—"

She pushed against his chest, but Noctis held firm. "Hey, Reina, it's alright—you're safe."

That wasn't what Dad said, but it seemed to help. She quieted, even if she didn't wake up. Noctis leaned back, grabbing her shoulders. Only one other thing he could think to do.

"Reina." He tried to sound like Dad, tried to reach that level of command he always had. "Look at me, Reina. Just me, nothing else. See me."

When Dad said those words, she always woke up. Her eyes would flutter open and she would look at him in a daze. And she always said the same thing:

'Father?'

To which he always said, 'Just me.'

Noct wasn't sure if he was allowed to say the last part—it was a bit of a lie and she would definitely punch him in the face for that—but he was spared the trouble of finding out. She held onto his arms, breathing rapidly, and slept on.

Shit.

"So… what do we do…?" Prompto asked.

Noctis shook his head, then his sister. "I don't know. Dad always wakes her up."

"What happens if His Majesty isn't here?" Gladio asked.

"Dunno. She's never woken up without him. I guess… maybe she'll wake up when it's over."

Hopefully.

"She does not, at least, appear to be under great duress," said Ignis. In other words, she wasn't screaming her head off, which was an improvement from some other nights. "Perhaps we should put her in the tent and wait?"

"Yeah…" said Noct.

What else were they going to do?

Gladio carried her into the tent and they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Dawn came.

Reina cried out several more times but, no matter what he tried, Noct couldn't wake her. Nothing would wake her but Dad. He knew that, now, because desperation put that bucket of water in his hands and nothing had happened. She hadn't even stopped screaming. It was as if her soul wasn't even in her body, anymore; she was an empty shell, reacting to things that were happening to someone else.

Noctis paced the length of the camp, running his fingers through his hair. She was quiet, again, but that didn't mean anything.

Prompto was sitting in his chair by the fire pit, legs crossed ankle over knee, jiggling his foot and worrying at a loose thread on his pants. Gladio stood outside the tent with his arms crossed, looking between Rei and the Regalia down on the road. Ignis was immobile as statue, one arm folded over his stomach, the other hand on the bridge of his glasses like seeing helped him think. So far it hadn't done them any good.

Reina had never Dreamed this long, before.

Prompto asked the question they were all wondering.

"What do we do if she never wakes up?"

Gladio looked at Ignis. Ignis looked at Noctis. Noctis pulled at his hair.

Shit shit shit.

"Call my dad."

"His Majesty may not be available," Ignis said.

"Just do it, alright? Just get ahold of him, whatever you have to do, because she has never Dreamed this long and I don't know if she can wake up without him."

Ignis was pulling out his phone when Noctis ducked back into the tent. Reina was motionless. Except for her weird position—and the fact that her clothes, hair, and sleeping bag were all pretty soaked (which had a completely reasonable explanation)—he might have thought she was just sleeping. But her eyes moved rapidly behind shut eyelids. She wasn't breathing like people usually did when they were asleep—slow and steady and relaxed. It was shallow and fast.

"Come on, Reina… you gotta wake up…"

From outside the tent: "No answer."

"Well try again," said Gladio "I'm gonna try my dad."

"As an alternative: I will try to reach my uncle. He is often at His Majesty's side."

"Sure, just do it."

Then silence again. Noctis shook her shoulders, half-heartedly.

Gladio broke the silence: "Dad. Can you get King Regis on the phone?"

Noctis stopped breathing. He sat back on his heels and looked toward the open tent flap.

"No, Noct's fine. It's Reina. She won't wake up."

Gladio's head appeared in the tent opening. He held out his phone and Noctis scrambled to take it.

"Dad?"

"Noctis. Tell me."

"It's Rei, Dad—I can't wake her up. I tried everything and she won't budge."

The line was quiet.

"Can we bring her back?" Noct asked, "We're not that far—"

"No. You must not return to Insomnia, Noctis."

Noct bit back a sound of frustration. If he didn't want them coming back just because he didn't want to ruin the weight of the words 'once you go forth, you cannot turn back,' Noctis was for sure punching someone.

"Then what? What if she never wakes up? You're the only one who can get her out of this! She's never done it by herself."

Reina winced. Her face twisted and her body twitched and recoiled like she was in pain.

"Hold the phone to her ear."

This was never going to work. But what the hell, nothing else had, either. Noctis did it. He cranked the volume up to max, first. It was loud enough that he could hear his dad's voice even though the receiver was against Reina's ear.

"Reina? Listen to me, Reina. Just me, nothing else. Hear me."

How the hell did he turn everything into a command? It wasn't a request. It wasn't even an 'obey me or else…' it was an 'obey me,' with no 'or else' because not wasn't an option.

Reina shifted. Her head turned toward the phone.

No way. No fucking way.

"Father?"

Noctis almost dropped the phone. Her eyes fluttered once, twice.

"Just me, my dear. Welcome back."

Reina blinked, finally focusing. Then her gaze flicked toward Noct.

And she jerked upright.

He did drop the phone.

"Noctis."

"Uh. Yeah—"

"Father—!" She scrambled for the phone he had dropped—it was only a little wet—and pressed it to her ear. "Father?!"

"I swear it on your mother's grave."

Her face said 'No way. No fucking way,' which was about what Noctis' looked like, too. She touched Noct's cheek and her mouth snapped shut. She looked toward the opening of the tent—still wide-eyed and disbelieving—where three heads had appeared.

"It was a Dream." She was amazed but without any hint of the panic he had expected. "It was all a Dream."

"Reina. Listen to me, my dear. You are awake, now. You are safe. And you must breathe."

If Dad had seen her face, he wouldn't have bothered. She wasn't having any trouble breathing. It looked like her mind was running a mile a minute.

"What day is it." More a demand than a question.

"May fifteenth," said Noct.

"May fifteenth," said their dad.

Her eyes widened and Noct thought she was going to drop the phone.

"I can stop it," she said.

"Reina—" Dad couldn't get more than her name in.

"I can stop all of it."

Her eyes locked onto Noctis. Intense, focused, driven. It wasn't a look he had ever seen on his twin's face before. And he had seen every look on her face.

"We're going back." She climbed to her feet, still holding Noct's phone, still dripping wet. "Ignis, start the car."

Their dad was still on the phone. "Reina, no. Listen to me. You must not, under any circumstances, return to Insomnia."

And that would be that. Reina would back down in the face of a direct order, because she wouldn't disobey him. Never could.

"Nothing you say will change what I must do, Father."

Until… now, apparently.

Noctis hadn't even known her voice could sound like that. What the hell had she Dreamed?

"Reina, I know what you have Dreamed—"

"You only know the half of it, Father. Don't you dare try to stop me from saving your life. I will fix this if it is the last thing I do in this world. I have died once for Lucis. I will do it again."

What—?

"REINA—!" The last time Noct had heard that desperation in their dad's voice, Noctis had been eight and bleeding out.

"I'll see you soon, Father. I love you." She hung up the phone.

Everyone was staring at her.

"I said we're going. Get in the car."

That was the voice. Dad's voice. That one with no 'or else.' They went.

"Wait—" Reina caught Ignis' arm.

He turned to face her. "Your Highness?"

She took his glasses and brushed her fingers over his face—an intimate gesture when she spent so much time insisting she didn't like him.

"Your eyes are beautiful," she said.

Ignis stared at her. "I—ah—thank you—Your Highness—Reina. I have always thought yours were lovely, as well."

If it wasn't all so damn weird, it might have been funny to watch Specs try to string two sentences together.

Reina sighed and handed his glasses back. "Later," she said, maybe to herself. "Now let's go home. As fast as you can take us there, Ignis."

AN: Quick, go back through Remnants and Fractured and find all the phrases that are bolded. They're all things that Noctis says in this chapter while he's trying to wake her up.