A/N: Before reading, note that a large portion takes place in a makeshift asylum. This asylum is definitely not going to be accurate. Not only was it created for very specific circumstances in a fantasy world, but I don't have many references or experiences from which to draw on to structure it. Do not go in expecting accurate portrayals of an asylum as I have no experience with them other than reading fictional works, which have the freedom to create their own little realities. This is fiction, even if it is fanfiction. Please proceed and I hope you enjoy the read.

Noctis put his arm around her and she didn't hesitate to lay her head on his shoulder. Light never imagined herself being classified as a psych patient, dressed up in the bland pajamas they were all given, at a specially created asylum for the criminally insane with unnatural magic abilities. The name of the facility didn't roll off the tongue, but Amodar, Raines, and Rosch—one of the highest ranked members of PSICOM—put their heads together and came up with mandatory psychiatric in-patient help in the same building Nabaat imprisoned them in, but slightly remodeled.

They used her research to keep the building and employees safe from any patients who might lash out with their powers. The doctors they employed had a daunting task before them. Undoing years of turmoil rooted in PSICOM's experiment and hopefully help their patients rejoin society as a decent member, or at least not a criminal. But being a criminal was all most of them knew. It was their entire world and it was crashing down on them, burying them in its weight.

At least they didn't implant us again, Light thought. Amodar trusted her and she vouched for Yeul and Noctis, so they were allowed to be free of their implants as long as they never used their powers. However, the second they used any magic ability, the few guards roaming the ward were under instruction to subdue and prep them for surgery to receive a new implant.

"Not like we need them for anything in here," Noctis said as they settled into the new common room at the center of the floor. "With Nabaat gone, it doesn't matter if we have to wait until they release us to use them again."

The common room was littered with couches and tables. One TV stood in the center of a wall, continuously mumbling among the chatter of the patients. Light heard that the room was renovated from the offices, including Nabaat's. Something about that possibility made her smile. The idea that Nabaat fell so far that her office was now used to occupy people labeled insane. People she made into wounded animals whose only option was to fight. The renovations didn't take as long as most remodeling projects, just turning the experimental rooms and offices into therapy rooms, nurse stations, a common room, and such.

They were all lucky to only be locked away temporarily—or permanently depending on the person's mental health—in an asylum where they were seen as causes to be fixed instead of being locked away forever in a prison. Because their current states were a result of PSICOM's tampering with them without consent, the punishment ended up lighter than it would have been.

The staff was careful to refer to the building as an 'asylum', but Light believed they used it to refer to it as a refuge for criminals. This wasn't for mental health, even if they found that an important aspect of the patients to consider. This was the easiest way to keep dangerous people enclosed and improve publicity at the same time. 'Guardian Corps Works with PSICOM to Give Help to Those Affected by Unauthorized, Unethical Experiment,' she was sure the headlines of every news media read. Romanticized stories to keep the public happy while a chunk of those experimented on sat caged and bored.

The doctors were nice enough, and used more technical words than 'insane' to describe them. Light was smart, but she was soldier smart. She knew fighting, not healing, so most of their medical terminology never stuck with her. Names for their conditions, long and derived from an ancient, dead language, were pieces of information she had no use for anyway. She firmly believed that the patients were more sane than the doctors. More sensible than the doctors would ever give them credit for. Because despite their extreme circumstances in life, they managed to build their own communities within Eden. They created their own families and did what they could to grasp any power Eden could offer, even if that meant being part of elaborate drug trades, robberies, and even assassinations. If money and power were on the line, these people knew no limits.

"This is strange," Light said, tuning back into the world around her.

"What?"

"Being kept here, but being treated like we're human. Like they care."

"In a way, they do care," Noctis said. "They care about nursing our mental health back to an optimal state and helping us cope with what PSICOM did, how it effected us, why we turned to crime. Stuff like that."

"Should be easier for us to be cleared for release than for others."

"Yeah, but they still put in place a one year minimum stay," Noctis said. "And another two years of mandatory therapy after release."

"Could be worse."

"Yeah, it could be. They could have separated us. Or put us in a real prison with no possible release."

"Or killed us," Light said. "It would have been the easy way out for them, but they wanted to give everyone a second chance instead."

After the first few days in the makeshift asylum, Noctis started disappearing for hours at a time. But beyond the common room and his own room, she didn't know where else he would be. She remembered looking back to where he stood only to find him gone without a trace over a dozen times. Then, when she was just watching TV or chatting with another Nightingale, she'd turn and find him nearby like he had always been there. She would raise her eyebrow, asking without words "Where have you been?" He would just shrug and look away like he didn't understand her or didn't know what she meant.

Then he showed her the reason for his disappearances. Every morning had a lull after breakfast, when the nurses handed out medication they thought could undo a life of being an outcast and the toll that took on the mind. The newest nurse gave Light a tiny paper cup with a few colorful pills sitting inside. Her hands shook and her smile was tense, but Light smiled with as much kindness as she could muster. The nurse's eyes brightened a bit, her hands steadied, and she continued on her way. Light held her pill cup in one hand and a cup of water in the other.

Swallowing her pills took only a moment, but she swore she felt them linger in her throat, stuck. She didn't have long to think about the pills possibly obstructing her breathing when Noctis grabbed her arm and dragged her through the halls behind him.

"Where are we going?"

"Someplace quiet. Someplace that's our own." He turned back just to wink at her. "Just trust me, alright?"

The path he took was unfamiliar to her, even after she studied the map of the floor so much. Must have been added during their renovation. It took long enough for this to be done. A few weeks even with them rushing. A few weeks of being locked away in my room, like solitary. Now they have floors of 'crazies' to manage. What a deal.

He pulled her into a small room, hidden behind a door freshly coated with paint at the end of dead end path. The inside of the room still smelled faintly of paint, but mostly like cleaning supplies. "A nice quiet space for only us," Noctis said.

"It's small," Light said. It could fit maybe five people, at max. Even that would leave her feeling claustrophobic and trapped.

"Makes it more personal. Besides, how much room do we need?" Noctis asked. He propped a step ladder against the door, under the doorknob. "Also, there aren't surveillance cameras here. Only room anyone can enter without an ID that doesn't have cameras."

"And if someone needs something from in here?"

Noctis shrugged and leaned against a wall without shelves of supplies. "They can wait or find it from somewhere else."

"Won't they see us on the security cameras in the hall on our way here?"

"Who cares who knows what we do? Let them fantasize."

Their days started being spent in that little closet, but Light never complained about it. Instead, she looked forward to their time together. She looked forward to the feel of him, the sight of their clothes tossed haphazardly throughout the room's tiny space. His breaths that tickled her skin, shimmering with sweat under the dim light. She wished the circumstances were different. That they didn't have to hide away to make love because it was their only choice. That they could have a proper room of their own with an actual bed.

She yearned for his soft 'I love you' in the middle of the night to be whispered in her ear, feeling more trapped in her room now than she did when PSICOM imprisoned her there. Things were different when it was PSICOM in charge. Sure, they treated her like a human now and wanted to help her, but every night they took what she wanted most without even realizing it.

Light never imagined that Noctis could be so caring, so human, but a lot happened that she never dreamed of before. Back when she was a soldier in another life, where only Serah mattered. It shocked her to think back to those times and realize she didn't miss them.

When she first joined The Nightingales, it always felt like there was a hole in her chest. Then, it was gone, but she never noticed its absence until now. Yeul, of course, helped her during her stay, but ultimately it was Noctis who eradicated the existence of that horrible emptiness threatening to swallow her. The man who caused the feeling is the one who healed it.

And now, she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

"You have a visitor, Claire," the nurse said, walking into her room.

Light stood and followed the nurse to the visitation room. A simple room with a sheet of glass cutting it in half with small holes at the center to be heard through. It reminded her of the ones in prisons, just without the phones to talk through. She knew it was just a precaution, but sitting at a tiny desk and being forced to see people she loved through a glass barrier hurt. It reinforced that even though she's treated as a human here, there's a wariness about them. A reason to keep them contained. All the 'just in cases' and 'it could happens'.

The nurse opened the door for her and closed it to give her privacy after reminding her to knock when her visit was over and she'll let her out.

Light nodded and thanked her before taking her seat at the lone chair on her side of the glass. She could almost see the weaving of anti-magic material in the glass, sometimes believing it to be a trick her eyes played on her, and knew that even physical force wouldn't shatter it unless the force was incredibly excessive. The Guardian Corps used the same kind of glass often enough, just without it being able to shut down implanted magic users. Her visitor cleared his throat to wake her from her absent-minded thoughts.

"Hope?" she asked. She met his eyes, green and so much sadder than she remembered.

"Sorry if I'm not who you expected," he said. "I just needed to say thank you for warning me about your plan."

"You didn't deserve to die there. You weren't like the other workers. But is there something else you wanted to talk about? You look… down."

He shifted in his seat. "I don't know what to do anymore. My position at PSICOM no longer exists and with all the publicity they've gotten, no one wants to hire a former employee."

"I think I might be able to help you," Light said.

Hope sat up straighter and looked ready to jump from his seat. "How?"

"NORA takes members of all backgrounds. You won't make nearly as much as you did with PSICOM, but you'll be able to get by and help others in the process. All you have to do is go to Lebreau's bar, you know where that is right?"

He nodded.

"Perfect. Go in and tell Lebreau that Claire said you could find a job with them," Light said. "If they have problems with your PSICOM history, they're more than welcome to come visit me to discuss it."

He seemed hopeful, but she saw hesitance in the way he almost forced himself to cling to his chair to avoid jumping out in preemptive excitement. "Why help me?"

"You deserve another chance at your future, Hope. Besides, you helped me. Consider it repayment if you want."

He stood. "I'll go now," he said. "Thanks again. I guess I'll see you on the other side?"

"Look forward to it. I'll know where to find you."

She asked the nurse to take her back to her room. Noctis was scheduled to be in his therapy sessions for most of the day, so she decided to schedule in a little alone time for herself. Prompto and Gladiolus had each other for company and Yeul was in the midst of examinations meant to determine if she met the requirements for early release. Since she was with NORA and never captured by PSICOM, they were much more lenient with her and unsure if they should have admitted her here at all.

She dozed off a few times, but never for long. Noctis' presence became her drug and his absence, her withdrawal. In the back of her mind, the feeling that this wasn't right lingered. The thought that she should run when released and start a new life outside of Eden like she always wanted enticed her, begged her to listen and obey.

But when was the last time she had something for herself? When was the last time she got to be a little selfish? With Noctis, she felt welcomed and safe. She felt loved in a way that no one else could provide. To start a new life elsewhere would mean losing everything again.

Being alone gave her too much time to over think such small details. They had a rough start, but out of necessity. That's all it was. Noctis, now, acted like a completely new man. And she trusted in that.

Because if she didn't, she'd lose everything that mattered again.

"Yeul is staying with us," Serah said from the other side of the glass wall. "We figured that she didn't have anywhere else to go, at least until more of you get released. Besides, we enjoy her company."

The doctors decided to release Yeul early, and Light thanked them for that. Yeul didn't belong here. She was still so young and had a lot of life left to live outside of being locked away.

"She seems cold, but she warms up to people," Light said. "I experienced that myself. She was the only thing that helped me through those first months with the Nightingales."

"I know. She's a sweet girl. Is it all right if we let her stay in your old room?"

Light laughed, thinking back to all the time she spent in that room as a kid and how silly her problems seemed now. And how many of those problems were actually the byproduct of PSICOM's little unethical experiment. "There isn't anyone else I'd rather have inherit that room," Light said.

"I actually have another question," Serah said. "You still have about three-fourths of a year to stay here, right?"

"Around that, I guess. It's pretty difficult to keep track of the days here."

"Well, Yeul expressed some interest in going to a normal school. She's really smart, but never had the opportunity to receive a traditional education. Would you care if I enrolled her at the school where I teach?"

"Oh yeah, you graduated college while I was gone," Light said. All that time she lost herself in her own problems and forgot that she missed important events in her little sister's life. "Sorry I missed it."

Serah shrugged, but Light knew she faked her smile. The fake ones never made her face light up the same way as the real ones.

"You couldn't help it," Serah said. "I'm happier that you're alive than I am sad that you missed something like my graduation."

"Still. You haven't gotten married yet, right?" She asked, desperate to witness at least one milestone of Serah's.

Serah shook her head, this time her smile was real. "We've started planning it, but I was reluctant to pick a date. I just held on to the hope that you were all right and would be there if we waited a little longer, despite the doubt from everyone else."

"I'll be there. No matter what," she promised.

Serah put her hand on the glass and Light matched it. She willed the glass to shatter into thousands of pieces, but it remained intact separating her from her precious sister.

"I could never imagine my wedding day without you there, sis," Serah said. "Do you think you could get early release like Yeul did?"

"I'm lucky to get released at all. I abandoned the Guardian Corps to join a bunch of criminals and even killed soldiers while I was with them. Normally, I'd rot in prison. What I did is not taken lightly by the GC."

"Even though it was all a result of PSICOM?"

"Because it was PSICOM's fault, I'm getting released on the condition of mandatory therapy. What they did was horrible. But I've done horrible things as well and I'm getting let off easy compared to others."

Serah shifted and her gaze turned down. "I can't imagine you doing anything like that. You're Claire. You've always been there for me. Always."

Light heard the strain in her voice and looked down as well. "I'm almost happy here, Serah. A little caged, sure. But I'm with Noctis and I love him. I love him more than I ever thought possible."

"Claire, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I'm asking you to think about your relationship with him. He's half of the reason you're sitting across from me behind glass. Are you sure it's really love after everything he's done?" she asked.

"Serah, I know you're worried. I get that and I appreciate that you're trying to look after me," Light said. She stressed each syllable. "But just let me take a chance. It was the one thing I never really got to do growing up and I want to be selfish just this once. I want to take a chance at a future I never thought I'd have."

Serah sighed.

"Just give him a chance," Light said.

"Alright. One chance."

"Thank you."

Sazh sat across from her. The only doctor they employed who cared very little about formalities and preferred his patients call him by his first name. "You have a half year minimum stay left here, Claire. Do you feel like you'll be ready to rejoin society by then?" he asked.

"I felt ready half a year ago," she said. It was a lie, but she could've survived. Her mindset was much milder, maybe a little shaken from everything she went through, but not nearly as bad as other patients kept there.

Sazh chuckled. "Sorry, can't do that. You know the rules."

"Yeah."

"But from all our sessions, I don't see any reason why I couldn't try to put you up for early release. Your state of mind is surprisingly sane and clear compared to others."

"I made peace with my past," Light said. "And everything associated. After Nabaat died, a new beginning started for me. And for the Nightingales."

"Well, I'll see about early release. Other than that, I guess our session is about done. The hour goes by so quickly doesn't? Maybe I'm just getting old." He laughed. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Claire."

"You too, Sazh."

Light crumpled the paper before she tossed it into the lone trash bin of the common room. 'Early release: denied', it said, somewhere in the middle of other words she didn't care for. She wasn't surprised, but she held onto a small bit of hope that maybe Sazh could have gotten her an early release. It took so long for him to get her a rejection that her mandatory commitment period would be over in a couple months. She still had Noctis though and still felt the same intense love for him.

Serah stopped visiting about a month ago. At first, Light worried. But Hope, the newest NORA member, visited and told her Serah's alright. She fell sick and had to stay in the hospital for awhile, much to her dismay. Hope said she was driving the hospital staff crazy with her insistence that they can release her and she would be fine.

The important part of Hope's visit was when he mentioned that Yeul softened Serah's view on Noctis to the point that she admitted he may not be as bad as she assumes. He told her that she even said she really doesn't know Noctis well enough to judge him so harshly now that she understands what PSICOM did and the history all of them shared with Nabaat's experiment. The experiment that sowed tragedy into the lives of its victims.

"I might not be released at the one year mark," Noctis said, taking his usual seat beside her on a couch tucked into the corner of the room.

"What? Why not?"

Noctis sank back into the cushions. "I told them about my power creating its own personality filled with blood lust. Even though it seems to have vanished completely, they're still very concerned it might resurface. They want to keep me at the inpatient status for longer than one year."

"How long?" Light asked. She was so close to being released herself. She almost even qualified for an early release. Now, neither seemed like something to look forward to. Not without Noctis. He had been her entire world for the past three-fourths of a year and now they faced being separated again.

"They didn't say, but I'll do my best to get released as early as possible. Don't worry about it," he said. "Your sister will take you in until I get out. You can take Prompto and Gladiolus and reclaim the Nightingale house if you want. They'll be out of here too."

"If that's the case, then just let me enjoy my time with you until I'm released."

"That's a plan I can get behind."

Light declined Serah's offer to stay with her and Snow, in the house where she grew up. The Nightingales' house will be fine, she told them. Someone has to take care of it and plan the group's future, she insisted.

They may have been given amnesty, but only a fraction of them. The majority of high-ranking members of other powerhouse gangs, like Jenova and Sin, were never admitted to the impromptu asylum. Most would never be released if they were.

Judging by what she saw in her time there, that held true for most patients. They were too far gone. Too set in their ways to ever change. Some of the more disturbing ones loved the chaos and destruction they could cause, and it frightened Light to understand their feelings. She remembered the adrenaline and thrill she felt with the Nightingales while on missions. The anticipation for the next time they'd strike just so she could feel that high again. It became her drug.

"The people here didn't have a vengeance to drive them," Noctis said from the other side of the glass. "Not like I did. They're all lost without the streets of Eden to guide them. Me? I'm accomplished. I completed the goal I set my sights on as a child. That's why I'll get out while they'll rot here."

"But when will you get out?" Light asked. She pressed her hand against the glass. When they first met, she would've given anything for there to be such a barrier between her and Noctis. Now, she wanted nothing more than to smash the glass just to bask in his touch again.

"As soon as I can. I'm hoping I'll make it in time to be your date to your sister's wedding. You still want that, right?" He asked. He looked so vulnerable sitting across from her. This wasn't the man she met, the monster. This was the man she fell in love with without realizing it until there was no turning back.

"Of course I do. Yeul helped warm her to the idea that you aren't the heartless beast she imagined."

"I was, but I'm doing everything I can to avoid returning to that state. I want to salvage the life that was stolen from me, Light. It's so damn hard to resist the urges to use my power again, to escape this place with a river of blood flowing behind me, but I'm winning this time. I'm in control this time and I'm going to do everything right. I promise. And this time, I won't forget it."

The sincerity in his words took her aback. She never heard him speak like that, with such passion to be better. In those words, he bared his soul to her and she felt the trust he gave her.

"How are you holding up on the outside? Did you go back to being a soldier?" he asked.

She laughed softly at that. "No," she said. "They wouldn't take me back even if I tried to join again. I'm no better than a traitor in their eyes."

"So, what are you doing?"

"Maintaining the Nightingale house. I talk with Amodar and Snow, then take Prompto and Gladiolus with me to strike at Jenova and Sin. Most of their members didn't end up here, so someone has to take care of them, but we've only managed to strike low-ranking members so far."

"Amodar, the guy with the Guardian Corps? He's okay with that?"

"It's better to let us take care of problems like this. He said they'll turn a blind eye as long as we're doing them a favor like this. He even offers bounties for the heads of high ranking members and pays us under the table," Light said. "He's a man of honor, but he knows this is a fight that we're more suited for and he knows this is the only way to protect civilians from gang members who aren't like us. The ones who'll happily spill blood like it's just a game."

"I like it when a woman takes charge," Noctis said. "Actually, just you. I love seeing your inner soldier come out."

Light blushed and crossed her arms. She cleared her throat. "Someone has to take charge while you're lazing around, Princess."

"I think I deserve a bit of vacation, Sarge."

A nurse popped her head into the room on Noctis' side. He turned and nodded at her before looking back at Light. "Looks like our time's up for now," he said.

"We'll see each other again soon enough," Light said.

She met Serah outside the building. "How'd it go?" she asked.

"As well as it can," Light said. "It's mostly just a waiting game now."

They walked side-by-side through Eden's streets, the nice ones with expensive shops lining both sides. A day shopping wasn't something Light enjoyed, but she did it for Serah. A little quality time with her sister after so long refreshed her. She needed to see a little light after being in the darkness all that time.

"I might have to buy a pair of sunglasses," Light said. "It's really bright out today."

While she enjoyed the warmth of the sun on her skin, she despised how its light blinded her. It caught Serah's engagement necklace, which Snow gave her in lieu of the traditional ring, turning it white like its metal was still being forged. Bathed in the sunlight covering Eden, Light imagined a time—months, maybe years in the future—when she would be walking alongside Noctis. It would be her engagement ring catching the light and glimmering.

Is Noctis the kind to be interested in marriage?

She still had so much to learn about him.

"Vanille really hit it off with your friend, Prompto," Serah said.

"I guess I'm not surprised," Light said. "He always reminded me of her. Trying his best to keep up a cheerful appearance, but hurting on the inside. Vanille is the same way. Fang never was able to completely relieve the pain Vanille felt. Maybe Prompto can. He understands."

"You're right, but it's so weird having Nightingales casually showing up at Lebreau's."

"They aren't bad. The only ones you should be wary of are Ignis—although he's not really a member anymore—and the other gangs, the ones that embrace chaos and fear," Light said.

Ignis' disappearance worried her, and she found herself staring at her ceiling in the middle of the night. He betrayed them so easily, people who considered him family. She tried not to think of what else he might be capable of doing, but those were the thoughts that lingered longer than her other worries.

"What about you?" Serah asked.

Light shrugged. "I'll run things while Noctis is still in the asylum. He told me about Jenova's leader, Sephiroth, and the man sounds like a monster. So, let the gangs believe that they still rule Eden tonight. Because when tomorrow comes, we will be swift in bringing them down and cleaning up the city. Maybe we can help make it shine like it should by cleaning it from the shadows."

"What about Yeul?"

"She seems to like school, so we should give her the chance to continue learning. If she wants to help us, she'll always be a Nightingale. But being a Nightingale is no longer her only choice. Her future has opened and she deserves the opportunity to decide her path after PSICOM tore that chance away from so many others."

"Noctis?"

"He promised to be my date to your wedding," Light said. "And once he's out again, he'll retake command of the Nightingales. We'll start from there and see where the future takes us."

Light squinted as she looked up at the sky, a rare blue illuminated by the sun. "No matter what, I think it's going to be a bright one."

-End-

A/N: And that's it. This may or may not be the end, but for now, it definitely is the end. I left it at this part because I felt it provides enough closure, but at the same time leaves enough room so that if I decide to come back and write a sequel, I have enough to work with. In fact, I have an idea for a sequel, but I'm not sure if I'll go through with writing it or not.

So thanks to all of you who followed Madness from the beginning and those of you who joined along the way. I hope you enjoyed the story. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favorited it. It was all of the support from you guys that kept me going, no matter how many times I wanted to give up on the story. Go out and find another adventure!