An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Gladio...

Fuck.

He didn't know what to do.

It was the first time in a long time he felt utterly lost, without a path ahead of him. Oh, there was a goal still out there, but the path to it had been completely and utterly obscured. Noctis hadn't woken. Prompto was near constantly at his side, looking lost in a way he'd never seen the kid. And Ignis... Ignis...

Ignis was blind. He damn well knew it. He would never get out of his mind finding his friend, spasming on the ground, his flesh burning away at his hand and face, sizzling... only some strange instinct, some connection maybe through Noctis, had he thought to remove the damned ring once he saw it. He hadn't even thought if it would hurt him to do so. It was somehow worse than it hadn't, even as it dissolved away Ignis.

Now he was sitting here, nursing a few cuts, but... relatively fine. While Noctis might be never waking up and Ignis was gods damned blind. He sat there, staring at nothing in particular, listening carefully for Ignis.

The scene kept replaying in his mind, him screaming his defiance and the feel of the ring scorching his finger before that fire started to eat away at-

No.

Everything after that had been a blur, what little of it he could remember. Ravus carrying his sister and Noctis limp in his arms, but the rest burned away with the feel of his own skin melting. He still wasn't sure how he'd been found, but he suspected he knew who it was that had found him and that made his chest ache just thinking about it. Sighing, he shook his head as if that would be enough to dismiss the dark behind his eyelids while his hand idly picked at a loose thread of the blanket he was still under.

"...you're awake." The voice nearby was rough and immediately distinct. The emotion in it was... strange. Or, maybe not the emotion, but the lack of it. Gladio's voice was flat, almost painfully so. It was the first sign of how tightly the big man had his own emotions restrained.

Someone had to remain calm through all of this. Had to keep their end goal in mind because it was so much bigger than any of them. It meant the Six-damned world, now, not just them or even all of Insomnia. But what that meant, anymore? What number of them it meant? He didn't know.

He couldn't stop seeing, hearing, the scent, the memory of Ignis screaming.

He wasn't sure when he had slept last. If he had even slept since the summoning of Leviathan.

Was he?

He wasn't sure.

In a way, he was hoping this was all some insane fever dream, brought on by the venom of something they hunted. A nightmare brought on by recent events. Who knew? No, the idea that this was the world now, where Ignis wasn't sure if it were day or night outside, pretty much frightened him and Ignis wasn't one to scare easily. He hadn't since he had been a very young child and he had no intention of letting it take him over now.

Instead of answering Gladio, he slowly reached up, his fingers tracing along the bandages still covering raw skin only to gently start to unravel them.

"Is Noct?"

No word about himself. No care for himself. Right then, even when he was still in pain, his focus was Noctis.

No. Gladio shifted, stood, and reached out to gently take Ignis' wrists in strong hands and pull them away from his bandages. "Not until the docs say." With a quiet but firm tone that meant he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Ignis was an adult, but doctors knew their stuff. They said the bandages needed to stay on, to give his eyes as much time to save any sight left, to let the burned (dissolved, he had thought, but they couldn't understand that) skin heal as much as possible to reduce scarring.

Scarring. Damage. His beautiful Ignis.

"...no. Hasn't been any change in him." Which concerned Gladio more than anything else. Noctis would always come first, though Ignis was only a step behind. "Prompto's in there with him now."

There were bandages around Ignis' one hand as well, the one that had borne the ring itself. The damage to his hand or his eyes, which was worse?

The touch startled him more than he liked. They told him that he'd grow used to it, in time. That he'd adjust. He thought they were lying, but he kept quiet about that. The scholar in him knew that they were right, that he'd learn to listen closer and such, but for now, they were all lying.

Scowling, he shifted back and idly tugged at his hands. He knew Gladio wouldn't let him go until he was ready and honestly, part of him wished he wouldn't even if he'd been kept from doing what he wanted to. He wanted the damned bandages off and he wanted to go see Noctis.

"They won't tell me anything. They won't let me see him."

For now, Gladio released Ignis' wrists when he attempted to pull them away, but he did not leave the spot he had come to occupy and was ready to prevent the action again if necessary. What the true extent of the damage done was, he only had the image of blood and charred flesh remaining ever present since the moment it had been branded into his skull, but the bandages needed to remain to reduce some of it. ...There was no reducing all or even most of it. He was no fool to think so optimistically. Even Prompto couldn't, not in this case.

"...there's nothing to see, that's why," Gladio said in his blunt way, but more so, trying to prove that he was telling the truth. "Noctis is in there looking asleep." Except he's very straight out, hands along his sides in a way Noctis never slept. (Who never slept in anything but a ridiculous sprawl or curled up on himself.) Except there were a few bruises and cuts on his pale skin that Ignis would have wanted to tend to himself, if he could, but doctors had to do instead. Except Prompto rarely left Noctis' side for more than a few minutes while awake, and Gladio had no doubt would have curled up at the foot of the bed to sleep like a loyal dog if he thought he could get away with it.

The scowl deepened even more, the motion making his freshly split lip ache as he tried to bite back his frustration. Noctis needed him and right then, they were keeping him from him. If he'd been hurt more than Ignis had noticed that night, then he needed him. He needed to see him-

Damn it.

This time, when Ignis moved, it wasn't to unravel the carefully placed bandages. No, he shifted enough to get his legs over the edge of the bed, clearly intent on getting up. While his eyes had been the main injury, he had still been victim to shock and blood loss, which had left him weak but he wasn't even thinking of his own well-being right then. All that mattered was Noctis.

"I can't just lay here all day. They need me."

"You damn well can. You nearly died, Ignis!" Gladio couldn't help the growl that came into his voice despite his attempts to be gentle. He had never been so frightened in his life. He had thought it was terrible, standing there above the city, knowing his father was undoubtedly dead, no idea if his sister was safe... but finding Ignis laying there, burning from the inside out, body flexing, twitching. "You're going to lay there until you're healed and trust that Prompto and I can keep an eye on Noctis. I don't know which of you is in worse condition but if I had to take the guess it's you!"

His hand came down on Ignis' shoulder and refused to let him out, but while the growl was there in his voice, there was the very faintest shake in his grip and it wasn't anger.

He wouldn't admit to the night he spent scared, or when he cried, because he knew he had to be strong for all of them now. They all needed a Shield, and he needed to be it.

Restless fingers plucked at anything they could find while Ignis silently seethed under Gladio's steadying and confining hand. The thin nap of the pants he was wearing... the soft plush of bandages covering his hand... and again and again, the bandages. There was no effort to remove the white covering his hand, but the motion was there. It was something common for him, those fingers not used to being so useless.

In the back of his mind, he could've sworn he'd heard his partner in the night after he'd been found. If that had been anger or tears, he had no clue and honestly, he'd written the whole thing off as some pained dream while his mind had struggled back to the surface past the medications the damned doctors had foisted on him.

"... I failed him."

His voice was low, broken, as if his throat was still sore from screaming.

"I failed all of you. I should've been there to protect him if you couldn't. That's what I'm here for."

"Failed him how, exactly?" Gladio said bluntly, with a tone of disbelief and disagreement as he pulled back from Ignis. "He's still alive. Yeah, he's gotta recover, but he's alive. That's what counts." ...Luna, though... His lips thin against one another. "You didn't fail shit. You protected him and that's why he's alive." But he had failed both Noctis and Ignis, and now... both of them were hurt.

Unseen, his fingers clenched hard against his thigh. "Right now, the both of you just need to focusing on recovering. Then... then we figure out the next step." Because damned if he knew what it was. Ignis was possibly blind, Prompto looked broken, and Noctis... they just had to wait to see what happened with him.

The sudden withdrawal of Gladio's hand made Ignis shift, his head tipping toward the now missing contact. Such things were startling to him now and while he'd been told he would grow used to it, he privately thought that anyone that told him that was insane. Part of him wanted to reach out, find that hand again, give him something to anchor himself but he didn't. His hands stayed as they were, though the fingers plucking at the bandaged hand grew a bit more insistent as the worried at the end of the wrap.

"... yes. Recovering."

Gladio let out a breath, looking off to the side. That tone in Ignis' voice spoke volumes where he was remaining mostly quiet. Fine. He knew that there was at least something that could be done. "...What if I take you in to see him?"

Flinching ever so slightly at his own wording. "You can feel for yourself. Still alive. Unhurt. Just... recovering. But if we do this, you have to promise me you'll come back in here and recover as well."

The moment Gladio finished his offer, Ignis' hands stilled. He didn't have to see the flinch to know that it had been there. Hells, he knew Gladio far too well to expect anything less. The wording was beautifully ironic and if he was in a better frame of mind, Ignis would've appreciated it, but all he did was nod after another long, silent moment.

"I promise."

"Alright." Begrudgingly. Gladio got up and then there came the touch of his hands again, pulling back the sheets and helping Ignis to his feet. His touch wasn't overly gentle, but it was that precise measured kind of touch when he was deeply controlling his strength, where he was being extra careful. The Doctors hadn't understood the depth of the damage of the Ring, none of them could and anyone who might was... dead. He was worried about hurting Ignis further.

"Stay." It wasn't a moment before a robe wrapped around Ignis' shoulders, letting the other get into the robe himself, and something soft nudged a foot, then the other. Slippers.

Upright was harder than Ignis wanted to admit. He felt shaky and his legs felt weak, but he did his best to keep from letting that show. Such weakness wasn't something he could let on, especially now that Gladio was actually letting him out of that damned bed.

There was a subtle twitch when Gladio wrapped the robe around Ignis' shoulders, clearly showing that he hadn't been expecting the contact. Again, he remembered- adjust. The slippers hadn't been as much of a shock. He'd done what he could to keep an 'eye' on Gladio as he moved.

Once he was as dressed as he could be, he set off in the direction he thought the door was, not even thinking that eyes might be helpful when faced with an unfamiliar room. A few seconds and a stubbed toe later found him cursing under his breath and absently reaching out for Gladio.

Deep inside, Gladio really wasn't sure what to do with this changed Ignis. A part of him, the part of him that was the King's Shield and supposed to protect him, his duty to get through this... this everything that was hitting them and to what Noctis' Fate was designed to be... that part of him said that this changed Ignis was a liability. That they wouldn't be able to carry him while he was like this.

The friend immediately moved over and slid an arm under Ignis', leading him around things and to the door that connected the two rooms together. "...Prompto hasn't left him. Want me to wake him up?" Gladio murmured as he popped open the door and pushed it, leading Ignis into it. As he expected, Prompto was asleep in the chair beside the bed, half on that bed, dead asleep.

If he knew that Gladio thought of him as a liability, there would be harsh words even if deep down, he wondered the same thing. It was bad enough that Ignis was locked in a vicious cycle of self-doubt now and the forced idleness wasn't helping one bit. Yes, the rational side of him knew that he wouldn't be allowed to really do much until his healing was further along, but he'd never been a good patient. If anyone should know that, it was Gladio.

It seemed the faint frown curling his still split lips would end up a permanent expression. He took the offered help with a sighed murmur of gratitude, but the sound was full of resignation. The assistance was helpful and soon enough, he felt the edge of the bed against his knee. It took him a moment of shuffling around with his still free hand before he found Noct's and when he did, his face fell before he let his head drop a bit.

"... no. Let him rest while he can."

Even as he spoke, his fingers gently curled around Noct's, his thumb a gentle brush along their young King's unresponsive digits.

It wasn't a particular fair thought from Gladio, even he would admit it, but in his mind, there wasn't a ton of choice. Whatever may come, he had a duty and that duty was to Noctis and what his Fate was set to be. Even if that Fate made his stomach churn to the core of him, but he had known it since he was about eight years old. Now, as he stood there behind Ignis, looking down on the face of his King-too-soon, he felt sick all over again. None of it was fair. The world wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair. Life slaughtered the innocent and lifted the wrong, but maybe, just maybe, they could reverse some of that. Bring life to the world.

His eyes close as Ignis took Noctis' hand. "I'll be back," he said quietly, gruffly, and he turned and walked out of the room. There was the quiet click of the door shutting behind him. It left Ignis there in the darkness, with Prompto's quiet snore and Noctis' slow breathing to accompany him.

Gladio dropped into a chair in the other room then dropped his head into his hands.

That click wasn't so quiet to Ignis. It was close to panic inducing, but he couldn't allow it to be. He stilled the trembling of the hand curled protectively around Noct's, silently wondering when it'd started to shake in the first place. More than anything, he wanted to say something, anything to make Prompto wake up. Anything to banish the silence that seemed as oppressive as the darkness behind his own eyes.

Anything to keep from being alone because right then, that was all he felt. Alone. Afraid.

Useless.

In the back of his mind, he knew he couldn't allow that kind of thinking but it was unavoidable. How could it not be? He truly felt as if he'd failed each and every one of them. If he'd been stronger, faster, then he could've saved Luna and kept Noctis from this.

Those were the same sort of thoughts running through Gladio's head. He was supposed to be the King's Shield, to protect him, to take the blows meant for him, and he had failed utterly in it. That failure left Noctis there, unnaturally straight and still in that bed with only the hope that he would wake up.

It wouldn't be long, maybe a few minutes at worst but possibly an eternity for Ignis, before Prompto started to stir. He reached out on instinct to feel across the bed and encountered Noctis' leg. That calmed his next actions as he lifted his head, eyes blinking slowly-

Only to briefly go wide in surprise. "Ignis?" quiet, still filled with the last dregs of sleep.

He heard Prompto moving before he even realized it. The rustle of fabric sounded loud in the silence of the room, his voice even more so though he knew that the younger man was trying to be quiet still. His head tipped toward Prompto at the sound of his name, his face aching as he moved.

"I didn't want to disturb either of you. I just wanted to... check on him."

I just wanted to see him-

[ooc: *runs around like a crazy person* @_@ Life needs to stop being so busy. ...oh ahahahaha the holidays are coming up. Anyway! I got our other thread, right? I was thinking about the 'original' thread yesterday and just how LONG we've been at it... it's amazing! And I still absolutely adore it. I love our boys.]

"S-Sorry. Didn't mean to fall asleep." There was a faint slur in his words as sleep was still falling away from him. Prompto rubbed his hand over his face, trying to aid in the process. What kind of guard is he supposed to be if Ignis, and presumably Gladio, came in here and sat down without him immediately waking up?

He couldn't blame Ignis, though. There was a reason he'd been at Noctis' side this whole time that had nothing (and yet everything) to do with loyalty. It felt like if he took his eyes off his friend, something else terrible was going to happen. He'd seen Noctis off to Leviathan alive, well, ready... then they found Noctis and Ignis together. One unconscious, one... Prompto tried hard not to think how they found Ignis or how Gladio's voice broke calling out their names.

"It's.. It's good to see you up." That much was easier to say and he meant it. The fact that Ignis had been stuck in that bed, the bandages around his eyes and unnaturally still unless the painkillers wore off... it had been disturbing as everything else.

[ooc: I know! We're about to slow down at work, so I'll have some more free time and I might be going to mornings so that might be a good thing. The other thread is so damn big and I love it. Still having so much fun with it! You're fantastic!]

Before he could think, a sharp comment teased at the back of his throat but thankfully, he bit it back. At the moment, he was frustrated with everything, but Prompto didn't deserve his ire. None of them did. He just had to keep reminding himself of that.

Instead, he pulled his hand away from Noctis' and settled it in his lap atop the still bandaged one. He couldn't deny that the urge to tug at the bandages was still there, but he knew that he'd get an earful from Gladio if he pulled them off.

"Don't be sorry. You needed the rest. It's been a taxing few days."

[Only because I have a fantastic partner to write with! I'm hoping things start to slow down at work to a certain degree because we push out a GIANT release this week, one I had a lot of hand in so I've been really fighting to make sure it goes right. Normally I get the chance to tag at work, in fact it's the majority of my tagging time, so having it cut off so much has been tricky. @_@ Going to mornings sounds great, though! ...also that's what she said? hehehe /is five year old]

"...yeah." Agreement on a breath out, though there was a bit of guilt floating on his breath out. He got out of it all with just some scraps and scuffs and burns; all the others had taken more of a brunt. Yeah, it was supposed to be part of the point of him being a gunner, to keep him away from the enemy, but it felt like he got off relatively light compared to everything else.

Compared to Noct. Compared to Ignis. He'd heard what the doctors told Gladio.

"Gladio thinks... with the fight against Leviathan, Noct just completely exhausted anything he had left in him and it needs to fill back up. Said he's seen something kind of similar when they were young and Noct was learning how to warp." Prompto pulls up a knee and wraps his arms around it, watching Ignis and wondering... wondering if that's it. What are they supposed to do now? Lady Lunafreya's... dead. The wedding off, no way to make more pacts.

[ooc: You're terrible. I love it.]

There was a low mumble of agreement from Ignis. He knew what Gladio was talking about and while he didn't really fill in the details for Prompto, he wanted to make sure that his young friend didn't allow himself to worry too much. Well, more than he could help anyway.

"He's always been a fan of resting. Just think of this as him... recharging himself. He'll come around. Have faith."

Have faith.

In what?

Ignis knew his reassurances sounded flat but they were the best he could offer while bitterness at his own shortcomings circled around in his head like an angry Zu.

[<3]

Prompto was already worried plenty. Between Noctis and Ignis, he felt utterly helpless and if he could have taken some of that pain from them, taken Ignis' injuries even... he would have. In a heartbeat. Ignis was so much more useful to everything that needed to happen than he was, and while yeah it would have ruined his ability to fight, that would have been okay. Ignis was a way better fighter than him.

But it was all stupid thinking. Couldn't change what happened, just... keep going, whatever going was right now. He was going to be there for all of them. Right now, for Noct, because he wouldn't want to wake up alone, either. "Yeah. Always liked to sleep." His voice tried to take on a joking tone and didn't quite succeed. "He's always wanting to sleep in, but man, not the right time, Noct." Looking towards his friend, gaze ever hopeful.

"He's always had horrid timing."

Ignis' tone was as light as Prompto's. If it was anyone else, outside their little group, he wouldn't have even tried for levity. With them, he felt it was necessary. The easy banter of not so long ago felt so far away now and right then, Ignis would've given almost anything to have that ease between them back where it belonged.

Back before everything went so wrong.

"Have you been resting while you have the chance to?"

Even now, even battered and scared up, he was still trying to mother everyone that would let him. Gladio wouldn't, he knew, so that focus fell to Prompto since Noct wasn't really capable of handling Ignis' 'nagging' yet.

"Yeah," Prompto muttered quietly, but there was a look towards Noctis' face that suggested the truth. Any time he'd gone to sleep, it had dissolved into nightmares. Nightmares of giant snake goddesses attacking. Nightmares of Magitek Troops attacking him. Of finding Ignis and Noctis. Of finding one or both of them dead. Of what no one but himself saw, that the vehicle he'd found had responded to him and just what that meant. The nightmares had woken him up screaming twice now.

He'd nearly pulled a gun on Gladio the first time. The memory of trying to call it to his hand, of Gladio seeing the sparks of light around his hand... it haunted him. He could have accidentally shot or killed Gladio in his panic. Hells.

"You wanna eat or something? Tea? ...You haven't eaten properly in the last like, forever. I can go get you something." It was also offering Ignis some private time with Noctis, if he wanted it.

The nightmares weren't anything new to him either but he suffered them in silence. If that was due to his personality or the drugs the doctors seemed so keen on keeping him on, he had no clue. Even worse, there was no real respite when he awoke. He couldn't open his eyes to banish them into the dark where they belonged. Not when it seemed the dark was where he belonged now as well.

A denial sat on his tongue at Prompto's offer. 'I'm not hungry' right there. Prompto was right, he hadn't eaten in a while. He had no stomach for it. That, he suspected, was a sign of guilt and not the drugs he blamed his lack of appetite on, but he wouldn't let on anytime soon. Instead, he sat in silence for a moment, pondering how to proceed.

"... some tea would be nice."

He knew that Prompto, bless his soul, was trying to help just as much as Gladio was. A sharp rebuke wasn't something either of them had earned nor deserved. Instead, he relented, though his stomach turned at the thought of putting something in it.

Prompto reached out, wanting to touch Ignis' shoulder, to squeeze it, to get that feeling of connection back to the forefront of what used to be easy between them all. Instead, his fingertips hovered not far from Ignis, but he realized it might be rude, now. Ignis wouldn't see the move coming and... Prompto bit his lip as he hesitated there before saying quietly, "yeah, I'll come back with some tea." He tried to inject some lightness into his voice but it failed more than he thought. "Be right back."

The sound of footsteps, the door, shut. Silence, except for Noctis' slow breathing. There was muttering from the other room, Gladio and Prompto. Prompto's higher voice, Gladio's rougher one. A second door opening, shutting.

He knew. Ignis knew. He'd heard the soft rustle of fabric that seemed to herald motion and he realized that Prompto was moving closer so he steeled himself and waited, patient and willing to allow contact, but nothing came. Ignis wasn't sure what to think about that. Were things so wrong already? Was it just him? Perhaps Prompto was angry at him, that he hadn't been able to do more to protect Noctis...

Once the door closed, he sighed only to tilt his head at the sound of voices in the other room. They were both voices he knew well and while he'd been idly wondering where Gladio had gone off to when he'd left him there, he was quietly relieved that he hadn't gone far. Really, it wasn't a shock to Ignis. They didn't want to be around him.

He'd failed all of them.

Without thinking, his hand had sought out Noctis' again, the contact a source of comfort for the adviser even if part of him felt like he didn't deserve it. There were things Ignis wanted to say, apologies that hovered behind his lips, but he couldn't bring himself to break the silence in the room.

It would be another two days before that silence would truly be broken.

With Ignis often on duty, listening, waiting, when he wasn't asleep or being looked over by the doctor's, sometime on the day following his wakening, the doctors would finally allow the bandages to be taken off. Carefully, oh so carefully, they would be unwound from around Ignis' fingers and face, putting on full display the terrible scarring left behind.

And how little sight had been left behind as well for only a creep of light would be able to come in past the one set of lids... and none at all through the other, sealed shut by the terrible damage the Ring had done to someone not worthy of the power of Kings.

It'd been over twenty-four hours since Ignis had spoken a complete sentence. Usually so eloquent, he truly had nothing to say. Not that would ease their heartache. Nothing that could bridge the distance that seemed to be growing between them. Nothing that would wake their liege.

Nothing.

Ignis hadn't thought there'd been any hope left in him, but he knew better when he tried to open his eyes after the bandages had been removed. He'd heard the nurse's soft sigh as she saw just how bad it'd ended up. The doctor's tone hadn't been much better. He was broken. Flawed. An adviser was supposed to watch and listen, to aid his king, but how could he do that now?

Why was he even there anymore?

Instead of reaching out to his brothers, to ask their help, he let himself go silent, walling himself away from them, sitting as still as a statue by his king until he awoke. At least he could manage that, right?

Prompto meant he wasn't entirely alone in that. The blond stayed with Noctis as much as he could and he talked. Talked with Noctis as if he could hear him, about... anything. About King's Quest, about the city and its recovery, about stupid things. Anything he could think of. He fussed with his phone in silence, much different than normal, and still slept kind of at the foot of Noctis' bed.

However, he was out when for the first time in days, there was a stirring from the bed. A quiet, pained, confused sound as Noctis started to come out of the depths of magic-induced unconsciousness.

He had no idea where he was, only that he was existing after a time of not having so. After strange dreams of Luna and an endless blue and eyes watching him, larger than any he had ever seen, after sinking down into waters deeper and darker than any he had ever known, after being a fish sleek through those oceans.

He'd wanted to spare them all the sight of his ruined face. One of the few times he voluntarily allowed the doctors to check on him yet again, he asked for something to help cover his eyes. It was almost funny when they'd found some dark glasses. Glasses, even now when his eyes were useless at best. At least he wouldn't have to get used to wearing them, right?

His mind had been quite a distance away when he heard that soft noise from his oldest friend and for a moment, he thought he might've imagined it. Any other time and he would've been up on his feet, already halfway to the bed at that noise, but now? He was tired. They were all tired and tired in a way that sleep couldn't fix.

Instead, he shifted a bit in his chair, as if glancing over his shoulder. Nothing to let on how bad things were just yet.

"Back with us?"

His hands settled on the arms of the chair, an idle pat helping to center his suddenly racing thoughts as he slowly got to his feet. He didn't need his sight to know that they were alone in the room since there no exclamations at their liege's awakening. That meant they needed to know.

Once he was up, he let himself turn just enough that Noctis would be able to see the dark glasses in place of his usual frames and a carefully blank expression firmly in place.

"I'll tell the others... though it may take a bit."

Edited 2017-12-01 18:47 (UTC)

Back with us? Just how long had he been out? The sun was streaming brilliantly all around him, the sheets around him warm and soft, but there was something cold in the center of his chest, something that no amount of sunlight could warm. When he brought his gaze up to focus on Ignis, really look at him, he could see the edges of something on the other's face, past the unfamiliar sunglasses. It took a few seconds of focus for him to realize- "you're hurt." Worry, concern came out heavy in just those two words.

What had happened? How did Ignis get hurt? 'The others'... were Gladio and Prompto okay? Why would it take a bit to tell them?

His hand tightened, and as it did, it was enough pressure to feel something biting into his palm even through the glove covering it. Tension spiked through his body at the familiar-yet-unfamiliar shape of it.

you're hurt-

Normally, he'd brush off that concern. Offer up reassurances of 'I'm fine' or 'just a scratch'. Nothing a potion couldn't fix, right? Wasn't that always how it was with them?

Everything fixable.

Now, Ignis wasn't fixable. Still, he couldn't let Noctis worry too much. He'd have to do what he could to settle his concern and try to look dignified while he shuffled off to find their companions. Hopefully, he wouldn't bump into anything on the way out. It wouldn't be proper.

"A... small sacrifice in the greater battle."

He had no idea of the weight of the object resting in Noct's hand. If he did, he might look as terrified as he felt.

Sacrifice.

The word is like a punch to the gut, making his fingers unintentionally clench as he remembers. The sight of blonde and white, the crashing of water all around, the roar of Leviathan's words in his ears, the surge of power, the sight of crimson on white--

"And Luna?" With the smallest break in his voice, barely there, almost too subtle to catch as he stares at Ignis, trying take all of this in at once. It feels like a tidal wave coming for him, ready to crush down upon him until he can't breathe. It's already taking the breath from him, wrapping a vice around his throat.

He knows, he knows, he knows but it can't be true....!

That was the question he dreaded the most. There would be no lie even if Ignis felt it might be kinder, but kindness wasn't for kings to bear. They needed truth and while it might be painful to hear, it was necessary. Life had changed when Insomnia had fallen, but things had taken a drastic turn when the battle with the Hydraean had ended.

There was a pause in his steps as he weighed his words. In a way, he knew that Noctis already knew and he still hated to have to confirm it.

"She has passed."

There was a quiet sorrow in his voice as he gave words to Noctis' fears. This wasn't what was supposed to happen, damn it. They were supposed to be married and happy and more than anything, Ignis wanted Noctis to be happy...

Lips pursed, he shifted a bit, silent as he let Noctis settle those words in his mind. A few moments later, he pointed toward the bed, his damaged face in stark profile. It was a simple thing to point out the little book that Umbra had delivered not so long ago, but it was harder to bring himself to walk toward the door.

There was no hiding the way his breath stopped as Ignis' words all but choked off the last of the breath in his throat, the way he started shaking every so slightly. His body turned, fingers scrambling for the book at his side as soon as he saw it. Carefully, he flipped open the oh-so-familiar book and to the last page-

an endless sea of blue, flowers, a place that feels like home all turned to black, a fish in the endless

When he choked down a breath, it came out as a sound he didn't even hear properly, staring down at the flower pressed between the pages. It was true. It was true. She was-

His hand tightened more and he felt the object there again. Slowly he opened his fingers, dreading everything he knew he would see. The world began to blur when he looked down at the Ring, but instead of throwing it across the room like he wanted, the first proper sob left him as his hand closed again and he wrapped his arms around his knees, crying like a child into them.

In that moment, Ignis was torn. The big brother in him wanted to turn around, to go wrap his arms around Noctis and let him cry it out against his shoulder. He wanted to try and ease his pain however he could and damn the world for making him hurt so much. The tactician and adviser in him knew he needed to go tell his companions that their liege was awake. They needed to plan their next move and put it into action lest the Empire get the drop on them.

Before he could think on it further, he murmured his condolences and stepped out, his hand reaching to see if anyone was nearby.

The last thing he would hear was the first heart-wrenching sob as Noctis collapsed in himself, curling himself into a tight ball much like he had as a child, arms around his knees, and cried.

As it turned out, Gladio was there, because as soon as Ignis stepped out of the room, Gladio was standing, the familiar sound of his heavier footsteps. "...Is he-?" He wasn't even sure what he was asking because from a safe guess Noctis was awake, if Ignis' tight lips and tighter fist at his side spoke anything and he knew that Noctis was most certainly not okay. None of this was okay, none of them were okay.

Ignis had risked everything to protect Noctis and it made Gladio sick to his stomach because it wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to take their blows, not Ignis. Ignis was supposed to be their eyes and ears, the one who saw it all and analyzed.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

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