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Ignis watched as Noctis slowly hung up the phone. Part of him wanted to cry at the sight of Insomnia smoking in the distance, Imperial airships filling the skies, his family surely dead. A larger part of him refused to let himself break down, and it welcomed the distraction of Noct’s phone call.
“What did the Marshal have to say?” he asked somewhat tersely.
Noct was silent for a moment before looking up at him, that same heavy distance in his eyes that Ignis had observed several times since he had walked in that morning with the terrible news of Insomnia’s fall in his hands.
“He said he’s headed to Hammerhead,” Noct answered levelly.
Gladio’s pacing turned towards Noct. “And the King?” he asked.
Noct’s silence as he returned his gaze to the city was answer enough. They all continued to stand, watching the city, seemingly unable to tear themselves away from the sight.
Eventually, Ignis’ blank grief faded enough for his surroundings to seep back in. The first thing he noticed was Noctis. Normally, Noct reacted to his darker emotions with denial, as if by not expressing them they would conveniently disappear. But out of the corner of his eye, Ignis could see a deep frown on Noct’s face and a furrow in his brow.
Of course, none of them had ever been in such a horrible situation before. Their homes gone, their loved ones likely all dead… It’s not like there was a precedent for any of their behavior from here on out.
However, after a few minutes, Noctis turned his back on the city and frowned back the way they had come. It forced Ignis to finally look away from the city, and he noticed Noct’s hand seemed to be spasming against his thigh. After a few aborted motions, Ignis’ own brow furrowed. It looked like an aborted motion for accessing the Arsenal.
“Noct?” Ignis questioned, worried.
Noct’s gaze darted up to his eyes, still heavy, before returning to the direction of the ruins. “What?”
“Is something the matter?” he probed.
The moment stretched as he waited for an answer, Gladio and Prompto’s attention now on them as well. Noct pressed his twitching hand against his thigh to still it, still frowning. “Nothing’s wrong,” he muttered, and then shook himself as if throwing off some horrid thought. Noct straightened, his shoulders falling back and his chin rising. “We should get going,” he said, and strode forward.
Ignis, Gladio and Prompto followed him down.
It took them only a few minutes to make it back to the car, where Noctis let Ignis drive without a word. Normally Ignis wouldn’t think anything of it, especially with Insomnia hanging over them, but this time Ignis had a hunch it was due to whatever had distracted Noctis on the cliff.
They had barely rejoined the main road and started on their way to Hammerhead when Noct called out, deeper and sharper that Ignis had ever heard from him before, “Pull over, Ignis.”
Ignis nearly fumbled his grip in surprise but managed to have the car stopped safely in moments. Noctis was off like a shot once they had come to a complete stop, none of the usual dash and recover he would exhibit on exiting a car, crossing the road and beginning to head up a hill.
Ignis, just getting out of the car, tried to divine where he was going, glancing ahead with a frown. There was a thin trail of blue smoke rising in the distance, barely visible through the rain, indicating a haven, and slightly closer, the walls of a fort.
From behind him came Gladio’s exasperated shout of “Noct!”, the big man hurrying his steps to catch up with the prince. Ignis and Prompto followed in his wake, also going slightly faster than normal. Luckily, Noctis wasn’t actually running, just moving quickly, and they caught up to him as he topped the first small hill.
“Are you heading to the fort?” Ignis asked. “I’m not sure that’s the wisest decision.”
The question got Noct to actually pause and look at him in confusion. “What,” he said blankly, but his attention was already sliding away. “No, there’s just something here,” he said, “something I have to find.”
Noct’s last words only barely drifted to Ignis over his shoulder as he started moving again, “Something that’s mine.” The words seemed flippant, but Noct’s voice rang with his certainty.
Ignis’ brow furrowed in worry. Something strange was going on. Noct’s behavior made no sense, even given the upset of the current circumstances.
Gladio seemed to agree, as he dashed forward and grabbed Noct’s arm, forcibly halting him. “Noct, you need to talk to us,” Gladio growled softly, “We just saw Insomnia, we’re all off balance, and now you’re acting strange. Talk to us.”
At least now they had Noct’s attention, even if it did seem slightly angry. “Gladio, let go—” Noct began, his voice ringing with command, but Prompto cut in before he could really snap at them.
“Dude, just give us something! We’re kinda’ worried here!”
Ignis breathed a silent sigh of relief as the anger went out of Noct’s shoulders. He frowned at them for a minute before giving a tiny sigh of his own.
“Look, I don’t actually know what it is I’m looking for, but my magic is pulling at me.” Noct’s gaze went a little distant and settled over Gladio’s shoulder. “My magic is insisting that there’s something here for me to find, something I need to claim.”
Noct’s words dropped heavily into the space between them, and Gladio sighed. “See, was that so hard?”
Ignis cracked a tiny smile and adjusted his glasses. “Now we have an idea of what’s happening and can keep an eye out without needing to watch you.”
Prompto came up and clapped Noct on the back. “Yeah man, your magic being weird is still concerning but at least now we have an idea what we’re doing.” Prompto had brought Noct’s frowning attention back to them, and after a moment he gave them a purposeful nod.
Gladio let go of his arm and Noctis turned back towards the hills and set off.
Having mounted the first hill, other buildings were now visible, but thankfully Noct didn’t seem to be headed for the fort. It didn’t seem to be an Imperial fort, or at least not an active one, but Ignis was glad they weren’t headed towards it.
As they walked Ignis eyed their surroundings and glanced towards the line of cars barely visible at the city checkpoint. In a stroke of luck, no MTs seemed to be in sight, which would mean no MTs had a sightline on them either. It seemed despite the danger of being so close to an entire squad of MTs, they would be safe from discovery.
With the declaration that his magic was guiding him somewhere, Ignis kept expecting Noct to veer off in some direction, walk into one of the buildings and say he’d found it, or discover some hidden doorway into one of the hills they were walking over. It wasn’t until they began climbing onto the haven that he thought it might be their destination.
Ignis glanced around the plateau and was more surprised than he cared to admit when he registered the shape of a person curled up on the rock. Somehow in all of their camping, they had never come across another person at a haven before.
And of course, Noctis was headed straight for them.
Before any of the three of them could jump in and stop him, Noct had crouched down beside the stranger.
“Hey,” the Prince called softly. “Hey, you okay?”
Ignis stole a quick glance at Noct’s face and found himself relieved. This wasn’t the distant look Noct had worn since the cliffs, but a wholly present look of concern.
Ignis let go of the dagger he hadn’t even realized he had summoned. Noct could be surprisingly caring at times, but he had never lost his caution to his kindness before. If he was in caring mode, Ignis didn’t have to be overly concerned for his safety.
When no response came from the figure on the ground, Noct reached for their shoulder and gave them a little shake. Ignis had moved to stand just over Noct’s shoulder when he had braced for danger and saw them stir.
A head raised slightly, and Noct waited. When no further reaction came, Ignis heard Noct say again, “Hey, you okay,” accompanied by what was no doubt a squeeze of the shoulder.
The figure on the ground stared at Noctis. Ignis could see when their head moved to follow Noct’s arm down to their own shoulder, and heard a clearly male voice detachedly say, “Ow.”
The man seemed to be awake now, and moved to sit up. Noct released his shoulder and sat back to give him his room, but the man only made it halfway up before letting out a strangled grunt and dropping again. He caught himself on the arm that had been tucked beneath him, hissing in pain.
“Careful,” Noct scolded, moving forward in concern, and grasping the man’s arm in support. Unfortunately, that appeared to be a very unwise thing to do, as the man flung himself away from Noctis with a horrible shriek caught in his throat.
Ignis winced as the man’s back hit the ground with a thud. He heard Gladio mutter ‘shit’ in sympathy behind him. The man certainly couldn’t be doing himself any good with that impact. Ignis moved forward a step, shocked at Noct’s own cursing, and noticed that the covering the man had been wearing had fallen open.
The first thing Ignis registered was a shock of ash white across the man’s chest, crisscrossed by something bright blue. The second thing he registered was the line of buttons and cords running up the man’s chest.
A Kingsglaive uniform, Ignis identified with surprise. Somewhere in the back of his head he had known the Kingsglaive and the Crownsguard both had been guarding the city, but beyond heading to meet the Marshal, he hadn’t thought about them. If pressed, he would have easily guessed at a high number of casualties among their ranks during the attack but would never have contemplated their running into such a casualty themselves.
Ignis’ eyes fell back to the streak of white across the man’s chest. He winced as he was able to identify it this time. His arm. A flick of his eyes traced the streaks of blue. A makeshift sling and restraint both, he determined. Given the acknowledged tendency of soldier’s to power thru injuries, the glaive’s arm must be an agony if he had gone so far as to restrain it. Ignis was barely even aware of the concern pulling at his face.
As the man’s agony seemed to fade, Ignis could see his mouth open to speak, but he was taken over by a coughing fit. Noct kept his distance to give the man space but reached his arm out to place a soothing hand on the man’s chest.
Ignis could hear Noct murmuring a litany made up of “Hey”s, “Easy”s, and “Careful”s.
Once the man had caught his breath, Noct leaned in. “Take it easy, yeah?”
The glaive’s next breath came out as a huff of what might have been laughter.
Noct shifted and got comfortable on his knees, straightening and moving closer to make up for the change, his hand on the man’s chest sliding towards the shoulder and edge of the covering. “Can we help?” he asked, “Do you need anything?”
After a long moment, the glaive lifted a hand and covered his eyes in defeat before answering, “Ahhh, I could use a couple Hi-Elixirs, all I had on me was a Potion and I used it before I fell asleep,” in a thin voice.
Noct’s back was still for a moment before he turned to Ignis, the frustrated look in eyes no doubt from failing to find any Hi-Elixirs in the Arsenal.
“Gladio,” Ignis called, turning to look at him. “Do you have any Hi-Elixirs?”
“Sure,” Gladio answered, rummaging in his pockets, “I know I’ve got at least one.” It took a moment of rummaging before he found it and then he was stepping forward towards Noct’s outstretched hand. “Yeah, sorry, only have one.”
Once he had it, Noct turned back around to carefully break the vial over the glaive’s chest. Even at a distance Ignis could see the relief in the glaive’s body. His eyes traced over the ashy scars on the man’s neck that had been revealed when he covered his eyes. They were the same color as the man’s arm and Ignis wondered at it.
The minute it took the man to try and sit up was plenty long enough for Ignis to compare the ashy scars and the injured arm that hadn’t visibly healed at all from the Hi-Elixir, and conclude they were likely from the same source. When the man did move, Noct was there, going for the glaive’s good shoulder and helping him upright.
“Sorry, we only had one Hi-Elixir on us,” Noct told the glaive.
The glaive’s voice was heavy with exhaustion when he spoke. “It’s fine, Your Majesty. I’m already much better.”
Ignis startled slightly at the term of address, pushing his glasses up his nose. Noctis being recognized so quickly was surprising. He expected Noct to say something, to protest the title, but the Prince apparently ignored the form of address entirely, not even reacting to it.
“Is your arm okay?” Noct asked. Ignis saw the glaive’s eyes fall closed for a long moment before they blinked open again.
“Sorry, what,” the glaive asked in a hoarse voice, and Ignis could tell that whatever energy the glaive had found for being woken up by strangers was fading. Likely without the pain to keep him awake he was struggling against falling asleep.
Ignis could practically see the decision Noct was making, even without seeing his face. It was confirmed when Noct began adjusting his grip on the man. “Come on, you shouldn’t rest here,” Noct told him, rising into a crouch.
“You said you needed another Hi-Elixir, and this is much too close to Insomnia. Let’s get you up.” Noct was guiding the glaive forwards and up, and to the man’s credit he was trying to help, but they were getting nowhere fast.
With a sigh at his Prince, Ignis couldn’t resist commenting, “And what is it you’re planning to do with him,” even as he moved forward to offer his own help.
Going around the man’s back he avoided the shape of the restrained, ash white arm and helped get the glaive on his feet. He and Noctis began to guide the man forward and towards the little ramp off the Haven.
“We’re taking him with us?” It was Gladio who asked the question, voice unjudging but a furrow in his brow as he kept pace with them.
“Well it’s not like I’m going to just leave him here,” Noct replied, an annoyed snap in his voice.
“Hey, hey, is this guy what your magic wanted to find? Or are we going to be coming back here on another quest,” Prompto asked, a tease in his voice.
Noct didn’t answer until after they awkwardly maneuvered off the haven. The glaive’s eyes were half-closed, and he hadn’t reacted to any of their words even as he let himself be led docilely. Ignis was 90% confident that the man was actually asleep on his feet, given his lack of reaction. Catatonic with exhaustion was another possibility.
Finally, as they began to walk across the desert grasslands, Noct answered. “Yeah. This is what my magic wanted to find,” his voice was distant again, and when Ignis glanced at his face across the glaive supported between them, his eyes seemed unnaturally bright.
Before Ignis could begin to worry, Prompto had piped up again. “Oh really? So, this guy is what you needed to find? To claim?” Prompto’s voice was cheerfully insinuating, and Gladio had barked a laugh before Noct could even begin to protest.
“What?” Noct practically squeaked.
“Is that why you’re dragging him around?” Gladio asked cheerfully. “To claim him?”
Noct spluttered. “I’m not—”
“I remember you saying, what was it, ‘something that’s mine’?” Ignis could feel the smile curling his lips.
“Guys!” Noct whined.
They all laughed, Prompto giving Noct a slap on the back, and they continued back to the car in a more cheerful mood. Noct didn’t often give them such a perfect opening for teasing.
Crossing the road was somehow a lot harder than Ignis had expected, as getting the glaive over the guardrail was a trial and a half. Gladio ended up lifting the man entirely to get him over it but set him back down with Ignis and Noct before climbing over himself.
When they got to the car Noct seemed to have made a decision and slid into the rear seats before reaching out to guide the glaive in after him. It took a great deal of maneuvering to get the man into the car, as it seemed the auto-pilot that had made the man so pliant had finally failed. Ignis found himself thankful that when Noct had reached out to guide him the glaive had actually reached back and grabbed onto Noct.
Eventually they got the man in the car, if perhaps not comfortably, and closed the door behind him. Prompto and Gladio began rounding the car for their own seats, while Ignis took a moment to tug his clothes back into place before getting in the driver’s seat.
A glance in the rear-view mirror showed that the glaive had collapsed with his head against Noct’s chest.
Mouth tightening in worry over the situation, Ignis put the car in motion and began driving to Hammerhead.