There were twenty days left until the parade.

Noctis had told him off for hovering all the time, said her current lab work was too dangerous for him to be around.

That was fine. He was happy to get some of his free time back. He still dropped in to bring her lunch, though, because he got the sense that she'd otherwise forget to eat.

" You should bring her out with us," Lina suggested, as he packed a plastic tray full. " Anyone would get lonely, cooped up in that lab all day. Doesn't the Commodore General just have her prepping stuff for his medical outreach thing? That's got to be boring!"

" You don't understand, Lina," he said, self-serious. " She's married to her work. Absolutely devoted to it. She'd probably just find a dancehall annoying."

" There's no such thing as a girl who doesn't like to dance," Kada said.

Deep down, Prima felt that there was a little truth to these words. Noctis was a puzzle that he turned over in his head, pieces that didn't quite fit together. Her coldness reminded him of himself- the way he'd been before William and Nova rescued him, a husk that was empty save for bitterness and resentment. She, too, had been held captive by Diurn- perhaps not as directly as he had been, but a prisoner nonetheless.

So yes, a small part of him wanted to see her smile, like a normal girl.

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