Archive of Our Own

There was something breathtakingly beautiful about watching Noctis, Prompto, and Gladiolus fight.

Noctis’ determination fueled his hand whenever he wielded a weapon. The Crystal’s magic poured out through the tips of his blades in a red glow that trailed behind in the air after every swing. The prince’s normally blue eyes would sometimes be overtaken by that same luminous red should any daemon or adversary threaten his hearts or beliefs. And what Noctis may have lacked due to his youth, he made up for with his will and need to protect his three comrades as their prince, as their King.

Gladiolus held a different beauty. After being gifted the magic of fire as an official Crownsguard, his broadswords would always ignite into an inferno that seared his enemies and warmed his fellow guards. The embers would trail much like Noctis’ magic, but instead of one constant line of neon light, his fire would spark off his swings like the drops of the enemy’s blood he shed with his attack. Gladio’s fire was as inconsolable as his need to perform his role as Shield, but the large man was able to direct it with such grace that the flames never once harmed his three companions.

And Prompto; sweet, sanguine, enrapturing Prompto. His sparks of lightning crackled around his twin guns in such a show of energized power that highlighted his violet eyes magnificently. The currents twirled around his hands as if they were living coeruls purring around the legs of their master. The very air itself would spark with electricity whenever Prompto released a bullet infused with his magic, making whatever body it connected with convulse in shock before falling to the ground. Just like with the Shield’s fire, Prompto’s lightning never dared to hurt his friends and instead created something almost akin to an electron barrier that could alert its wielder to the smallest shifts in the air before a battle.

The magic of the Crystal flowed through Noctis into his Crownsguard, granting them its power to wield in order to protect the Lucis Caelum heir. It was an honor to control one of the three elements that powered all of Eos, a privilege. But such magic could never be given without some sort of price to be paid.

The energy necessary to hone such power was immense and more often than not, completely draining. Noctis, Gladiolus, and Prompto could all end up in stasis so easily with just one ill-advised attack or missed swing. Their entire bodies would clench and shudder in pain once all their magic reserves ran out, and it would take at least two elixirs and a good night’s rest before the men would be able to properly move again.

It was in those times that Ignis would be the one in charge of looking after his loves and needed to escort them to the safety of a haven. He would drain their supply of tonics to replenish their strength, cook a magic conducting meal to help sooth their bodies through the pains of stasis, then send them off to rest next to the fire until he could set up their tent and give them a better nest to sleep in.

Ignis had had his fair share of nights desperately wishing that the Crystal had granted him the magic of ice so that he could better soothe the aches he knew the others carried, but no matter how hard he prayed, his magic was never changed.

Rather than ice, the Crystal had given him the power of ‘healing’. It had no practical use in the landscapes of Eos, no offensive boon for combat, and could only take away the superficial scrapes and injuries that a body could obtain. He was a glorified potion that couldn’t even offer the convenience of travel as there was only one of him and thousands of 50 gil bottles that could be stored in the armiger.

Hell, even a potion shoved into a pocket had a better use for at least that was instantaneous relief.

Ignis often lamented his worthlessness for being a poor conductor of magic to have been given such insignificant conjuring, and had used the years before the start of their journey to Altissia pushing his body further than what was ever expected of him. He was now a master of wielding daggers and lances, was able to maneuver his body with such speed and accurateness that it was practically impossible to hit him on the battlefield, and he was even able to train himself to use the flasks of magic those not granted the Crystal’s blessings were able to brandish.

Even if his hands were bruised and blackened, Ignis could at least say that he was able to command ice magic in some capacity.

Ignis also punished his body for its uselessness in ‘healing’ by improving what injuries his power could mend. At first it was small scrapes, cuts no more dangerous than what a paper could give, and turned those into deep slashes that offered the risk of bleeding out whomever was injured. Sprained muscles and pulled joints became broken bones and severed tendons. Ignis had even once repaired a cracked spine under the eyes of the previous King and his Shield.

If Ignis was destined to be a potion, then he had to make sure that he could heal at least the most common injuries seen in real world combat.

No matter how much he tried, though, Ignis’ magical costs were still another difference he had with the other Crownsguard. Still another obstacle to overcome in order to have even a miniscule amount of worth to the group.

So what if his body didn’t go into stasis like the others as actual magic should have put him in? So what if his healing tore at his insides so that whenever he was sick his toilet would be covered in thin blood that pooled from his mouth until he spat it out? He may have been reduced to bed rest for a day when his body was wracked with violent tremors, but he was still able to complete his duties as Advisor from his phone during that time, so there was no real cause for harm to be had.

Ignis never told a soul about the cost of his magic, and until he couldn’t complete his purpose at Noctis’ side he refused to ever mention a word of it to anyone. So long as no one knew, it couldn’t be used as another comparison to how the Crystal divided its powers.

Gladiolus had asked him, once, before they set out on their travels what he should expect if Ignis ever overused his magic in the field, but Ignis had simply told him that his symptoms were inconsequential compared to the elemental magics that the Shield and gunner could use and the conversation had been dropped.

The present night was a beautiful one for camping, Ignis thought to himself as he heaved into a bush after a long day of hunts. Something about the stars brought back old memories of Insomnia before it fell and Ignis couldn’t help but seep into his thoughts of all they had trained for before reaching this point.

The Advisor gave a final spit to clear out the last of the blood in his mouth, then leaned against the tree trunk he was sheltered under.

Prompto had taken a nasty hit to his shoulder by a magitek trooper that needed to be immediately seen to and Gladio had practically been run over on a hunt by a garula that had left him with a dangerous looking bruise on his side that suggested massive internal bleeding. Once they had reached the safe haven, Ignis had instantly taken care of their injuries and shooed them off to rest until he could cook dinner. That was when his own insides had decided that they wanted to see the outside world and Ignis had suggested Noctis go with the other two inside the tent to take a small nap.

When the three were safely nestled in their shelter, Ignis had hopped off the rock the haven was station on and relieved himself of his intestines.

Ignis wiped his mouth with the back of his glove to clear away any sign of his sick. He still had to make dinner and the cleaning water would be fine to wash his gloves in afterwards.

“Ignis?”

Noctis’ voice was high pitched with beginning worry and Ignis pushed himself to stand.

“Right here, Highness.” Ignis’ normally accented voice was rough and he had to clear his scratched throat before he could speak again. “Just needed to take care of some personal business.”

When he stepped back into the light of the runes, Noctis’ face morphed from blatant concern into a small smile. The prince reached for Ignis’ gloved hand.

“Sorry. Just, with everything that happened today I was worried when I didn’t see you.”

Ignis subtly moved his dirtied hand away and took Noctis’ offering with his still clean one.

“I apologize. Next time I’ll be certain to let you know before I leave your sights.”

The lie came easily to Ignis’ lips. Just like it had all the previous times he had said something similar when he was caught away from the group. Just like it would come again the next time Ignis had to be alone to take care of the effects of his magic.

Noctis squeezed his hand tightly and Ignis felt his heart constrict at knowing how easily his prince believed him.

The two entered back into the campground and Ignis was quick to finally start on dinner.

***

“On my mark, Noctis,” Ignis yelled and threw his daggers at multiple imps to pin as targets. Noctis was quick to warp at one, use his sword to easily sever its head, then moved on to the next until the hoard that surrounded them was gone.

Noctis hunched over to lean his hands on his knees and breathed heavily in exertion. Ignis turned his head to see how the others were faring.

Prompto was almost done shooting at his daemons. His guns were buzzing with his lightning, but the electricity was small enough that Ignis didn’t need to worry about him going into stasis for it.

Gladio was already walking back towards them with his broadsword over his shoulder when Prompto shot his last bullet. The sound reverberated around the cavern walls surrounding them and it made the slight pain that was growing in the back of Ignis’ skull pulse harder.

The Shield clapped his hand on the blond’s back. “Good job, Prom. You managed to take care of three all by yourself,” the large man teased as he ruffled the shorter’s hair.

Prompto stuck his tongue out at Gladio. “At least I got all my kills in without any scratches. You’re bleeding all over the floor dude!”

At those words, Ignis looked more closely at Gladiolus as he and Noctis walked up to them. There was indeed a deep scratch across Gladio’s chest that was sluggishly bleeding down his stomach.

“Gladiolus,” Ignis sighed and the Shield at least had the gall to look sheepish.

“Those bastards are fast, let me tell you,” he tried to defend with a laugh which turned into a yelp when Ignis got on his knees in front of him.

“Whoa Specs, out here in the open?” Noctis whistled.

Ignis only dignified that remark with a roll of his eyes. “I, for one, would like to not have to scrub dried blood off these clothes later if that is alright with you. And seeing as you’re on washing duty tonight, your Highness, I’d say that I am doing you a favor.”

Noctis sputtered as Prompto laughed, but Ignis decided to ignore them.

He was already feeling tired after hunting for the Royal Arms all day and healing Gladiolus would need a bit of concentration if he didn’t want to pass out on the cave floor.

Ignis was so deep in his head that he flinched when Gladio’s hands went to the back of his head and pushed the sweated down tuffs of hair away from his eyes.

Ignis glanced up at the Shield and Gladio’s amber eyes flashed slightly when their gazes connected.

“I’ll be fine to use a potion,” Gladiolus licked his lips to wet them. “You don’t need to use your magic to heal something this small.”

Whatever tension was trying to build between them was shattered when Ignis inelegantly snorted. He pushed away the Shield’s large hands from his head and looked back down at the wound.

“Please allow me at least this show of faith, Gladiolus. This injury is nothing and we can better use that potion for battle at a later time.”

Ignis’ hand softly glowed with his healing magic before Gladio could say anything else. The headache that had been building before was now thumping in time to his heartbeat, but Ignis made sure to keep a steady flow of magic go into the wound despite the pain.

If Ignis couldn’t even handle an injury this small, he had no right to be out here with them.

The scratch closed easily enough and once he released the healing glow, Ignis let out a breath through his nose. The Advisor trailed his fingertip over the skin where it was once broken and nodded to himself when he affirmed that the tan skin was now again whole.

Ignis tried to push himself to stand against Gladio’s sturdy strength, but he ended up swaying precariously before he could find his footing.

“Hey, easy Iggy,” Gladio said and suddenly there were three pairs of hands on him.

Ignis tried to shake his head but that simply made the world spin a little more. Damn, he tried so hard to not end up on the floor.

Ignis’ heartbeat was thumping strongly in his ears and when he managed to open his eyes he saw all three of his boys staring down at him with concerned eyes.

Ignis tried to wave them off.

“I’m fine, fine,” is what he thought he said but the words sounded very far off in his ears, “didn’t drink enough Ebony this morning before we got in this godsforsaken cave.”

He saw the three share a look before returning their gazes on him.

“Maybe we should head back out,” Prompto suggested and his fingers, which Ignis only now realized were helping to hold up his back, twitched slightly. “We can always come back in later, or tomorrow.”

Noctis was beginning to nod but Ignis refused.

“I’m fine,” he managed to say more convincingly this time and the ringing in his ears had finally stopped. “Really. We’re already here, it’s a waste of time to come back.”

Ignis tried to plead with Gladiolus through his eyes, the Shield normally being the one to agree with him that their time was precious and couldn’t be wasted, but even his expression was hesitant.

Ignis huffed and again tried to get himself on his feet.

Prompto and Noctis immediately surged forward to help him and Ignis was proud to say that he didn’t sway this time.

“See?” he asked and pushed up his glasses with two fingers. “Perfectly good to go.”

Ignis was already walking away by the time his boys realized he was moving and ran to catch up with him.

The back of the cave wasn’t too far away from where they stopped, thankfully, and eventually they found an extravagantly marked door that was the typical sign of a royal tomb.

Ignis inconspicuously let out a sigh of relief as Noctis opened the door.

The tomb was typical, for what it was. Ignis knew that he should have felt more in awe at the sight and presence of a past King, but with his growing again headache and how many tombs they had already visited, it was hard to bring up the energy to show the proper respect.

Noctis grabbed the lance the statue king was holding, it floated around until disappearing into the armiger, and that was that.

Ignis bowed his head, he hadn’t lost so many of his engrained manners, and turned to leave. But before they could exit the room, there was a large earthquake that shook under their feet.

“Get down!” Gladiolus shouted and pulled Noctis into his chest to shield him with his body. Ignis and Prompto got down to a knee and covered their heads with their arms.

“We have to leave before this whole room comes down on us,” Ignis said and pointed out the door. Even if the tremors went throughout the cave, Ignis would much rather they be outside where the ceiling was higher than stay in this small enclosed room that could easily bury them with a well fallen rock.

Ignis grabbed onto Prompto’s wrist and used all his strength to send the smaller man flying out the door. The blond yelped in surprise but didn’t let out any other pained sound, so Ignis didn’t think that he had gotten hurt by the toss. Gladio waited for the next tremor to stop before he pushed Noctis towards Prom’s waiting outstretched hand.

Now that those two were out and somewhat clear, Ignis tried to shuffle forward.

“Gladio?”

“Right behind you, Iggy.”

The Shield and Advisor were quick to lunge out of the room right before a boulder crashed down where they were sitting.

“Uh, guys?” Prompto hesitantly called and Ignis looked up from where he had fallen.

Ah, that’s what caused the earthquake.

A gargantuan serpentess was trashing her tail against the walls of the cave, right where the tomb’s enclosure was located. The snake-like appendage kept thumping harshly above the rocks until the daemon’s large slitted eyes noticed them.

The serpentess stopped her mindless thrashing and instead lunged for the four of them with a cry.

“This is exactly how I wanted to end the day!” Prompto called out when the four of them ran in different directions to avoid the collision. “A giant snake trying to eat me!”

“Ignis, instructions?” Noctis yelled and Ignis summoned his daggers.

“Prompto! Try and stun her with your lightning. Gladio and Noct can use fire to weaken it while it’s down!”

The snake women let out an ear-piercing scream of anger and Ignis had to cover his ears from the pain.

“Prompto!”

“On it!” Prompto was much quicker to recover from the sound than Ignis was and the echoes of his bullets were sent throughout the cave. His electric magic also flowed freely and Ignis saw Gladiolus and Noctis run forward with their swords already alight with flames when the daemon’s body spasmed.

Their perfectly timed swings connected with the daemon body, but the momentum didn’t allow them the chance to avoid the dying throes of the snake tail that was aimed at them.

“Noct!” Ignis yelled when he saw Noctis get thrown aside with the impact and Gladio let out a mighty roar as he stabbed the beast again and engulfed its body in flames.

Ignis ran to where Noct landed with Prompto falling to his knees next to him.

“Noct, buddy?” Prompto tried to lift Noctis up but the prince let out a pained cry when he was moved. Prom pulled his hands back as if he was burned.

“Let me see,” Ignis instructed and switched places with the gunner. Ignis gently turned Noctis to the side and saw that the back of his jacket was slashed open and blood was spurting out of the open wound.

Prompto gave his own soft cry at the sight and Gladiolus cursed as he joined them in kneeling next to the prince.

“That’s not good. He’s gonna need stitches to close that,” the Shield growled, angry at himself if Ignis had to guess.

Ignis’ hand was already glowing as he shook his head.

“There’s no time!” Gladio said. “The cave’s already falling in.”

“I’m not letting him bleed out,” Ignis replied and touched his hand to Noctis’ back. “I just need a moment to close it.”

“Iggy, we have to go!” Gladio urged and made to scoop Noctis into his arms.

Ignis agreed that there wasn’t any time to be had, but he also refused to risk Noctis’ life when Ignis was right there and capable of healing him.

Ignis took a deep breath, and then pushed out as much magic as he could through his hand. The resulting light was blinding and Gladio flinched away.

“Ignis, what are you—?”

“Healing him,” the Advisor said softly and let his fear be his guiding strength. After only a few seconds, Noctis’ back was completely sealed shut and Ignis let his magic die out.

“Take him,” he urged and didn’t stop Gladiolus from lifting Noct again.

Prompto shrugged Ignis’ suddenly limp arm over his shoulder and hoisted them both to stand on their feet. “I got you, Iggy,” he said comfortingly but Ignis could barely hear him.

The Advisor was aware that the three of them were running, hopefully towards the entrance of the cave if Gladiolus knew his directions, and avoiding as much of the cave in as they could manage.

Ignis saw Gladio take a few rocks to his shoulders and felt Prompto flinch a few times at his side, but couldn’t do anything about it.

What felt like an eternity had to have only been a few minutes and the four were finally out of the cave and crashing down at the mouth of it. Gladio fell to his knees but easily let Noctis down from his arms now that the prince seemed to be awake and able to move on his own again. Prompto collapsed with an enthusiastic sigh and Ignis had no choice but to go down with him as the blond was his only support to his legs.

“We made it!” the enthused blond yelled in happiness as he flopped onto his back, his chest rapidly rising and falling with his quick breaths.

Noctis offered a tight smile and Gladio groaned.

“No more caves, princess. Next royal arms, you’re getting on your own.”

The three laughed airily with all the enthusiasm of men who literally outran death, and Ignis tried to focus his swaying consciousness on their voices.

Noctis happened to look over at him and his happy smile morphed into worry.

“Specs?”

The Advisor could feel the eyes of the other two also lock on him, but while on his knees, Ignis could only rock in place.

“You’re hurt,” he said to no one in particular, just aware somewhere in his mind that Gladio and Prom had taken a few hits, and he tried to reach out with his hand.

Noctis made to grab it but was too far away.

“I can heal,” Ignis deliriously slurred out, suddenly feeling very weightless and in his mind he had the great idea to just…heal, push out with his magic again like he did in the cave to hopefully blanket all three of his boys in its curing light. But when he tried, Ignis’ mind was instantly slammed back into his body and it erupted in complete and absolute pain.

The healing light of his magic barely flickered like a dying match and Ignis coughed unexpectedly. His body tilted to the side and the last thing he was aware of was three separate calls of “Ignis!” that resounded in his ears before his world imploded and turned black.

***

“Tell me why he’s still bleeding, Gladio!”

Ignis’ consciousness was slow to come back to him, but when it did, he was aware of everything at once.

His head pounded relentlessly, it felt like there were thousands of heated needles poking the back of his eyeballs without mercy, his throat was dry and scabbed as if someone had wiped it down with sandpaper, and there was a clenching in his lower stomach that pinched with timed cramps whenever he breathed too hard. He tried opening his eyes to see where he was, but realized that the world hurt just a little less if he kept them closed.

Ignis also realized from the split second of vision that he was on his side and could feel a pool of drool seeping from his opened mouth.

If Ignis was a different man, he would have said that he moaned at waking from the pain of it all, but since the Advisor prided himself on his control he would say that the noise that came from him was more akin of a calling to check on the others.

Either way, soft hands immediately threaded through his hair and lifted his upper body against another slightly. The space up from the ground was much appreciated and Ignis allowed himself to subtly spit out the drool that had collected in his mouth.

“That’s good, Iggy. Keep getting the blood out,” Prompto’s voice was calming above him and Ignis determined that his youngest love was the one who was holding him.

Blood, though? Ignis risked a quick peek at the ground but closed his eyes again and groaned to himself.

What he had thought was drool was in fact, and indeed, a nice pool of thinned red blood.

“Guys,” Prompto called and Ignis heard some thumps at the same time he felt the increased warmth of added bodies near him.

The Advisor chanced another glance up and saw Noctis and Gladiolus both staring down at him with a mixture of relief, concern, and anger.

“You’re awake,” Noctis breathed as he reached to touch Ignis’ cheek, but stopped himself at the last moment.

Gladio did the same but he held a white washcloth in his grip that he used to clean up what Ignis could only imagine was a mess on his face. When the Shield pulled the cloth away it was now stained in a light red.

Gladio’s eyes flashed slightly in anger when he saw Ignis push himself to sit independently without Prompto’s help.

“Ignis,” he growled and Ignis held up a hand.

“A moment, please,” he whispered and heavily shoved Prompto aside.

“Hey!” the blond yelled, but was drowned out by Ignis being violently sick next to where he was sitting before.

Ignis coughed and sputtered to relieve his stomach, thankfully the previous clenching was dying down with every heave he gave, but while his insides were beginning to feel better, his body began violently shaking with tremors.

By the time Ignis thought he was done, there were hands rubbing at his back and slight tears collecting at the corners of his eyes.

“Let’s get him to a haven now that he’s awake,” Gladio’s deep rumbling voice sounded and suddenly Ignis was being cradled in the Shield’s strong arms against his chest.

Ignis tried turning his head away so that he didn’t dirty Gladio’s jacket and instead ended up looking right at Prompto and Noctis’ pale faces. Ignis gave them a tight-lipped smile.

“I’m fine,” he said as Gladio began walking and the Shield’s arms tightened around him.

“Fine, he says,” Gladio snarled. Ignis decided to stay silent and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand.

It only took the four of them about thirty minutes of walking before they reached the campsite they stayed in last night and Gladio did his best to gently sit Ignis down in one of the chairs they had left. The sun was only beginning to set, but with how quickly night encroached nowadays, Ignis knew it would be completely dark before long.

The Advisor looked up into the three gazes of the men standing above him and tried not to blush. He really did.

“I guess I should start on dinner then,” Ignis offered to break the silence and made to stand but was stopped instantly when Noctis pushed back his shoulders, plopped down on his lap, and curled into his chest.

If Gladiolus’ glare could be any stronger, Ignis was sure that he’d be set aflame with the Shield’s fire magic.

“You’re staying right there. We’re having Cup Noodles tonight,” Gladio said as he ran his hand through his hair. Ignis flinched at the name of his most hated meal.

Prompto took the seat next to them and gently took one of Ignis’ hands. The blond removed the blood caked glove to toss aside and Ignis’ hand shook in strain.

Prompto cast his slightly glassy violet eyes to Ignis’ face, then brought the appendage to his lips. He kissed Ignis’ knuckles with all the gentleness a frightened lover could give and let out a shaky sigh.

Noctis clenched Ignis’ purple shirt in a tight grip.

“How are you feeling now?” he whispered and Ignis could hear the wavering tone in the prince’s voice.

“I’m fine, Highness,” Ignis said instinctually.

Gladiolus barked out a choked laugh of disbelief. “You call intensive bleeding, fine? Or passing out right after you try to heal us when the worst Prom and I had were a few bruises?”

The Shield stomped forward with all the wrath of a behemoth, but suddenly fell to his knees in front of Ignis and grabbed at the Advisor’s knee to squeeze. Ignis expected to see anger in his oldest lover’s eyes, but instead, when Gladio looked up to lock his gaze with Ignis’, his amber eyes were filled with such pain and worry that it took Ignis’ breath away.

“We couldn’t wake you up,” Gladio said with sorrow lining his voice, “you wouldn’t wake up and I didn’t know what to do. Then you started coughing blood and when Noctis used a potion, you threw up. We couldn’t even move you, we were so scared of touching you wrongly.”

Noctis flinched and Ignis’ free arm tightened around him in comfort.

“So don’t tell us you’re ‘fine’ Ignis when we spent the last few hours on watch to make sure you didn’t drown in your own blood.”

The concern in his lovers’ bodies, expressions, actions, was obvious and Ignis truly felt loved by all three of them. But.

But.

Ignis let out a shuddering sigh and suddenly all the warmth that was around him vanished.

“What you witnessed was simply a side effect of overusing my magic.” Even to his own ears, Ignis’ voice was cold and methodical. Unfeeling.

“My body will heal overnight and everything will return to normal by the morning. So, Gladiolus,” Ignis tried to make his voice calmer, less robotic but Gladio’s eyes hardened all the same, “I truly am fine.”

“Ignis,” Prompto whispered and clenched Ignis’ hand tighter. The Advisor cast a weak smile at him as he took back his hand.

“You told me that your magic doesn’t affect you,” Gladiolus growled with obvious hurt in his voice.

“I said that the effects weren’t comparable to the stasis your elemental magics put you through.”

“A stasis is nothing—”

“I’ve seen how weak you all become in the throes of a stasis,” Ignis interrupted. “I’ve taken care of you all through it. What you all go through is much more concerning than a few moments of weakness from my body.”

“Enough,” Noctis said and slid off Ignis’ lap to stand tall about him. Noctis’ eyes were slightly glowing and he had the beginnings of a glower forming on his lips.

“Ignis.” The addressed man straightened in his chair from the no nonsense voice of his prince and placed his hands onto his lap. “Is this what happens every time you use your magic?”

Ignis must have hesitated too long because Noctis’ glower evolved into a full-blown scowl before he could answer.

“Not always,” Ignis tried to say but the damage was already done.

“How long has it been since this started?”

Ignis’ hesitation was due more to him genuinely thinking than a refusal to speak, but the honest answer did make him pause.

“Training?” Ignis mumbled and hoped the answer was acceptable enough to drop.

“From when we were going to leave Insomnia or when you first became a Crownsguard?”

“Highness,” Ignis tried to plead.

“From when Ignis?”

“My healing ‘magic’ takes the health from my body and transfers it onto another. A single night’s rest is all I need to recover from whatever I had used during the day.”

Ignis had had enough of the interrogation and shakily got up on his feet and stared down at Noctis.

“What I experience for a few hours, you all can experience for days. My aftereffects are nothing in comparison to that.”

Ignis had hoped that Noctis would see the reason in his words, but was resigned with the prince to continuing to be angry with him. What he didn’t expect was for Noctis to surge up into a bruising kiss that knocked their teeth together harshly, then slap him on the cheek once he pulled away.

Ignis brought a hand up to cover where he was hit and stared with wide eyes into Noctis’ teary ones.

“That’s not the point, you idiot,” Noctis growled out when both Prompto and Gladio shouted his name in surprise. “We don’t want you hurt at all.”

With that said, Noctis turned on his heel and bolted for the tent.

***

The night had ended tensely after Gladio made his Cup Noodles for the three remaining people, and the group quickly headed for bed. Ignis’ body was still shaking both from his overuse of magic and the shock of Noctis’ actions, and Prompto had been the one to volunteer to drape himself over Ignis to keep him warm. Gladio laid at the entrance of the tent on Prompto’s other side and Noctis was tucked as far away as he could get with his back to Ignis.

It was the furthest Ignis could remember them sleeping from each other in a long time.

In the morning, Ignis woke up first as usual and got out of bed to make everyone breakfast, but it wasn’t long before Gladio rolled awake and joined him.

Well, joined was a strong word. It was more like the Shield was living up to his title’s sake and watched Ignis’ every movement like the bird of prey that was tattooed onto his back. Ignis was not allowed to even use the bathroom alone as Gladio followed him into the bushes and stood guard as Ignis freshened up. The Advisor tried to tell the larger man that he was healed, just as he had said last night that he would be, but Gladio simply snorted and gently pushed Ignis back to the camp.

Ignis took to the scrutiny as well as he could to appease his lovers, but knew that it was going to get annoying very quickly with how unnecessary it was.

His three companions all disagreed with him on the need.

When Gladiolus couldn’t watch him, Prompto took up the reins to keep Ignis constant company. He was practically glued to the Advisor’s side during a scuffle with some low-leveled flans and made sure to practically smash potions into anyone that showed even the slightest hint of injury or unease.

Ignis had made the mistake of offering to heal a cut on Noctis’ cheek that was bleeding sluggishly and Noctis slapped the outstretched hand away violently. His eyes narrowed in anger and Gladio had pulled Ignis so tightly against his chest that Ignis couldn’t move his arms away from his sides until Noctis was able to use a potion.

Ignis’ second mistake was to complain at the waste of funds by constantly using potions when Ignis was just as useful, and free, that Prompto of all people stared him dead in the eyes as the blond reached into the armiger and pulled out a potion to break over a bruise he had on his arm.

Ignis felt sufficiently chastised after that and kept his mouth shut for the rest of the day.

It was…painful seeing his loves pull so far away from him where before they had practically flocked to his side just so that they could feel the warmth of his magic and know how much he loved them through those touches.

Now, they did everything they could to keep him at arms distance: fearful that he would try and use his healing without them noticing as if he was some deviant that would take advantage of their inattention to force his magic on them.

Ignis was used to feeling sick from his power, but the nausea he felt now was infinitely worse. He had never been so cold as when they settled down for the night and he was pushed to the very back of the tent to make sure that he couldn’t leave without one of them knowing.

“We love you, but we can’t trust you right now, Ignis,” Gladio said in the morning as he grabbed Ignis’ wrist when the Advisor was trying to leave and Ignis absolutely did not keen in pain at those words. He didn’t.

The Shield flinched at Ignis’ sound and pulled the Advisor’s wrist until he could place a small kiss on Ignis’ cheek. “Please just…believe us that we don’t want to see you hurt any more than you want to with us.”

Ignis didn’t think that those two things were quite on the same level, but had learned to keep those types of thoughts to himself unless he wanted a scolding by one of his lovers.

Again.

So Ignis tried to keep to the back of things as much as he could. He let the three others take over the scrimmages and watched as they poured magic after magic into their attacks without thinking. He had to grit his teeth whenever anyone fell or tripped from exhaustion, but allowed them the minute to collect themselves before he went to help them stand and keep moving.

It took some time, but eventually he was allowed to touch his companions again, albeit sparingly. And when he accidentally grabbed Noctis’ shoulder while asking the prince what he wanted to eat for lunch, Noct only flinched for a second and didn’t say anything to Ignis’ holding him. They were making progress.

Sort of.

But progress was progress and Ignis was desperate for any type of positive reaction to his presence that he could get.

***

“If it’s not a cave, it’s a godsdamned mineshaft! I thought I told you, you could go get these royal arms by yourself from now on Noct!”

Gladiolus was only teasing, Ignis knew, but in that moment he couldn’t help but internally agree with the sentiment as the four of them ran for their lives away from the ronin that had been waiting on the lowest level of the mine for an opponent to kill.

Prompto squeaked as an imp threw itself at him before he was able to gun it down. “I’m with the big guy; all in favor of forgetting these royal arm things say “I”!”

The ronin let out a ghastly howl and stabbed its sword into the ground, forming a concerning crack that broke the ground in two and was quickly gaining on them with how easily it spread. Ignis gasped in a breath.

“Don’t trip over the crack! The daemon wants to slow us down—”

Turns out it wanted to do more than just that as the pathway split beneath them and, with a cry, Prompto unexpectedly began to fall through.

“No!” Noctis yelled and tried to grab onto the blond’s hand, but the shaking ground separated even more and Noctis ended up falling in after him.

“Shitshitshit,” Gladio chanted as the two boys’ screaming echoed around them and the Shield turned his frantic eyes to Ignis. “What should we do—?”

Before Ignis could respond, Gladio yelped as the ground crumbled underneath him, and as Ignis grabbed his arm to try and hold him up, the Advisor tipped forward from Gladio’s weight and they both spiraled down together after their younger teammates.

***

When Ignis awoke, it was pitch black and he couldn’t see two inches in front of his face. He groaned as he sat up, feeling at the ground to try and decipher what was around him and felt his glasses somewhere by his knee. Ignis blindly felt along them to make sure they survived the fall, but a large crack sliced the pad of his finger and Ignis pulled back with a hiss of surprise. So much for that pair, Ignis thought as he folded them up and tucked them into his shirt pocket to look at later.

There was a consistent dripping sound to the left of him and the ground was thoroughly wet where he was sitting, so Ignis figured that they had fallen into an underground water source of some kind and stood up carefully to avoid tripping on the slippery surface.

What he wouldn’t give to have Gladiolus’ control of fire right now. The darkness was all consuming and if Ignis was going to find his loves then he needed to be able to actually see what he was doing in order to,

Ignis’ heart stopped. Where were the others? He could only hear the sounds coming from him echoing around the walls, and if there was a large body of water here, any body of water here, and if anyone had landed in it then they could have drowned.

Hells, the fall could have done more damage than the water. They could have broken their necks upon landing; been impaled by any stalagmites that had formed on the ground; slashed open and bled out while unconscious and never even realized that they were in danger.

The possibilities were growing in Ignis’ head and he couldn’t take the uncertainty any longer. He summoned the armiger and pulled out a low-level fire flask from their supply. Ignis wasn’t as good at controlling the fire as he had learned to control the ice, but desperate times, and Ignis knew that his gloves would protect his hands from the worst of the burns.

So he crushed the flask in his grip and opened his hand to reveal a small open fire burning like a fireball on his palm. The light was minimal, but it was enough for Ignis to glance around the area and take stock of everything.

There was indeed a small pool of water that had a slight stream running into it; presumably there had to be a source of the not-river and Ignis tucked the information into the back of his mind for when they would need to escape. Ignis looked down and saw that he was standing on a ground made of small pebbles, all slick from the water and offered some cushioning for his foot when he took a step. There were worse places they could have fallen, all things considered, and Ignis figured that the pillowing effect the pebbles created was what kept him alive after the fall.

To his right, Prompto was unconscious on his back with his face turned towards Ignis. There was a nasty gash across his forehead that was bleeding profusely, already covering half the blond’s face in bright red blood and trailing in droplets to the pebbles underneath him. His normally joyous face was scrunched up in pain, even as out cold as he was, and Ignis winced in sympathy.

Further back from the water were Noctis and Gladiolus. Noctis appeared to be fine, no outwardly injuries to be seen, but that didn’t mean he was in perfect fighting shape as concussions and internal bruising are very much things that should be expected after a drop like they had. He was curled on his side with his black hair sticking to the cheek that was against the wet ground and if Ignis weren’t so worried he’d have thought that the prince was only resting.

Gladio, on the other hand, was face down on the pebbles and in the most unpleasant looking position. His arm twisted at such an odd angle against his back that Ignis instantly knew that some bones of his forearm and shoulder, if not all of them, were broken.

Ignis ran to him first and knelt down to turn his head into a better breathing position and to get a closer look at the mangled arm.

Up close, the arm was even worse than he thought.

Ignis used the hand that wasn’t holding the flame to hover over the appendage without actually touching it and he heard a low whine come from Noctis as he thought of all the work that would need to go into healing Gladio’s body.

Noctis was quiet for a few moments before he took in a startled gasp and shot to his knees.

“Ignis,” he whispered out horrified, his large blue eyes taking in Gladio’s prone body. “What happened?”

“We fell,” Ignis said and spared a once over of Noctis’ form to make sure he wasn’t in obvious pain before concentrating on Gladio again. “The mineshaft appears to have been built above an internal watering hole and when we fell through its lowest level, ended up here. Luckily, the ground was cushioned enough to stop up from actually dying upon impact, but...Gladio is by far the worst, but Prompto has a concerning cut on his head that needs to be closed as soon as possible.”

Noctis spun around on his knees to see where Prom was still laying and facing away from them.

“What can we do?”

“Get Prompto a potion, please. He should only need one to seal his wound and take care of his minor injuries. You need to take one as well; I couldn’t see any external injuries on you, but everyone should take a potion until we can get to the surface and take proper stock of our physical well-beings.”

Noctis hurried to Prompto’s side and opened the armiger to shuffle through their supplies. He was at it a good minute before he gave a choking sound from the back of his throat.

“Ignis, we don’t have any.”

Ignis looked up to him. “We don’t have potions?”

“None.”

“Anything that you can heal with?”

“Nothing.”

Ignis blew out a breath from his nose in frustration. He told them not to use all of their potions when he was right there!

Noctis’ hands awkwardly maneuvered around Prompto’s body, not sure what he should touch or leave alone, and looked at Ignis with such worry in his eyes that Ignis’ annoyance eased.

“Iggy…”

Ignis jolted. He hadn’t heard that nickname in such a long time.

The Advisor held his hand over Gladio’s mouth to make sure he was breathing before he brought himself up and gently walked to his other two boys and knelt next to Noctis.

“I’ll have to heal them,” he locked his gaze with Noctis who had grown even more pale than he was, “you understand, Highness?”

Noctis bit his lip and looked back and forth between their two still comatose companions. He closed his eyes and tightly grasped Ignis’ knee as he nodded.

“Please, be careful Ignis. This is the only time I’ll let you use your magic.”

Ignis smiled softly at Noctis’ worry, really feeling the strength of Noctis’ worry rather than his anger for the first time since they began fighting, and nodded.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Healing with one hand while trying to control fire magic with the other was no easy feat, but Ignis managed to call upon the healing magic that he hasn’t used in weeks to his palm and waved the glow over Prompto’s head delicately.

Ignis felt the slightest pull of pain in his chest, but it was much more manageable than before, presumably from how long he had built up excess magic inside his body from not calling on it as often as he used to.

In no time at all, Prompto’s cut was healed completely, so much so that it wouldn’t even leave a scar, and Noctis used the edge of his jacket to wipe away the blood that was still wet thanks to the water soaking them. The pain on Prompto’s face eased and his breathing returned to something more natural once his face was cleared.

Noctis let out a sigh of relief, but started when Ignis tapped on his shoulder.

“May I, Highness?”

Ignis held his palm up in offering; he desperately wanted to make sure that Noctis was not suffering from something he couldn’t see, but he also knew that Noctis was fine enough for now that if he refused, Ignis could wait until they got to the surface to check on him.

Noctis hesitated for a long moment, deeply searching in Ignis’ eyes for something the Advisor did not know how to express, then shallowly nodded in agreement to Ignis’ offer.

Relief flowed through Ignis as he pushed his magic into Noctis’ body and felt the reassurance that nothing was wrong with the prince.

When Ignis looked back up, Noctis had tears in his eyes.

“I forgot how amazing that felt,” Noctis whispered and reached up to hold Ignis’ face between his hands. “I love feeling your warmth flow through me, but I never wanted it at the cost of your life.”

Noctis pressed a tentative kiss against Ignis’ lips and Ignis almost wept in happiness at feeling the love that he’d been denied for the last month.

Ignis heard Prompto groan and felt him sit up against his side and offer a small kiss of his own to Ignis’ cheek.

“Never at the cost of you,” Prompto reaffirmed sluggishly and nuzzled at Ignis’ neck.

Ignis let out a stuttering breath and allowed himself to soak in the warmth that had been missing for so long.

But it wasn’t enough. Not yet. This conversation needed to be properly revisited once all four of them were safe, and Gladio still had a broken arm that needed to be dealt with before they could continue clearing the air.

Ignis gently nudged his partners away and made to stand. He nodded towards Gladio and Prompto gasped once he took in the sight.

“I’m going to need you both to help me heal him before we can leave.”

Noctis grabbed onto Ignis’ hand and stared up into his eyes. “He’s…so hurt. Shouldn’t we get him out first to get potions and a doctor?”

Ignis shook his head. “We don’t know where the exit is, and we fell fairly far down even once we do find it. We cannot risk carrying him like this around an unknown dungeon with the threat of daemons and more falling rocks to contend with. And I’m worried that a potion will set everything wrong and he’ll end up losing the use of his arm altogether.”

“But won’t your magic do the same thing?” Prompto asked after he had shuffled to Gladio’s side and caressed his face. “The bones will heal all crookedly if you just go at him like this.”

“That’s why I need you two,” Ignis said and gently maneuvered Prompto into a position to hold Gladio’s broken arm. The blond looked at him with shock and disbelief when Ignis placed his hands on the tattooed bicep and wrist.

Ignis then moved Noctis to hold Gladio’s other side but pressed down against his shoulder and hip.

“I can heal the bones one at a time instead of all at once, but I need you two to hold him in place as I work down. It will be…painful for him if he wakes up, so Noctis, I need you to make sure to keep him still while Prompto holds his arm in the correct place for me to heal correctly.”

The two younger men looked at each other with wide eyes, but nodded at Ignis when he asked if they were ready.

Ignis was going to need both hands for this to work, so he called to Noctis to summon his sword.

“Why?” the prince asked, but still did as told.

“If you can light it on fire and stab it into the ground, that’ll hopefully provide me with enough light to extinguish this flame and use both my hands on him.”

Noctis nodded, if still in disbelief at Ignis’ plan, but once the weapon was in place the group was illuminated in more light than what Ignis’ flask flame could give. Prompto laughed in incredulity that it worked and Noctis returned to position to hold Gladiolus down.

Ignis extinguished his fire and took a steadying breath to calm his nerves.

He had healed a broken spine before, he had healed broken bones before, but both those situations were in a controlled environment with doctors and helpers around to assist in case anything went wrong. Here, he didn’t even have a potion to offer to help ease the pain he knew Gladio would be in.

But there was no option, not here, not now, and the only other thing Ignis could do would be to leave Gladiolus here to die while the other three escaped, and that was not a choice that Ignis was willing to make.

The four of them would escape together, or Ignis would die trying.

The Advisor called his magic to his hands and looked to Prompto.

“Hold his arm straight as if he were stretching it behind his back. You might feel some things shifting, but make sure to keep him in place no matter what.”

Prompto gulped but readied himself to do as asked.

“On my count. Three, two, one.”

Prompto pulled the arm up and Gladio screamed.

Ignis jumped to sit on his back to help Noctis keep the Shield from moving and Ignis bent down to whisper into Gladio’s ear as his hands worked over the topmost broken bone.

“You’re doing so well, Gladiolus. Just keep still for me, okay? It’ll be over soon. I know it hurts, you’re doing wonderfully love. We all love you so much and want to make sure you feel better. You’re doing wonderfully Gladio.”

Ignis kept whispering sweet nothings into Gladio’s ear and after a while, when Ignis had managed to fix more than half of his arm, Gladio stopped screaming. His voiced became more akin to a pained whine, like a wounded animal, and Ignis was at least comforted that Gladiolus wasn’t actually awake and instead only subconsciously aware of what was happening to him.

It was a good sign that despite the pain he was in now, Gladio would probably not even remember what had happened once he awoke.

Ignis’ vision was swimming by the time Gladio stopped screaming, and he had to squint in order to see what his hands were doing thanks to the loss of his glasses and his strength to sit upright. But it was fine. Ignis didn’t really need to see what he was doing; he could feel his way down the arm and where his attention needed to be placed next, so as his nausea built, Ignis simply rested his head against Gladio’s now healed shoulder in pretend that he was still speaking softly to him.

By the time Ignis reached Gladio’s wrist, the Shield had stopped making noise altogether and he was practically asleep on Gladio’s back. Ignis did a final sweep over the arm to make sure that everything was healed and nothing was out of place, then risked sitting back up to look at the two younger men.

Both sets of eyes were weary, yet hopeful, and Ignis gave them a smile to appease their worries. He stumbled a bit to get off Gladio’s back and Prompto caught him as he fell to the side.

“He’ll be fine,” Ignis said weakly and against Prompto’s neck. He felt the blond’s arms wrap tightly over his chest and couldn’t help his eyes from closing in the warmth that surrounded him.

“Rest, Ignis,” someone whispered as they caressed the side of his face. “You did so well, just rest now.”

Ignis tried to nod, or say something to acknowledge that he heard them, but his body was so tired that he couldn’t stop himself from slumping more against the heavenly chest at his back and sighing out his last breath of consciousness as a third voice joined in the edge of his mind, wishing him a well-deserved nap for keeping them all safe.

***

The amount of times Ignis had to awaken after being knocked unconscious was getting ridiculous, and he swore to himself that the next time he felt faint, he’d bash an Ebony over his head and absorb the caffeine osmosisly.

Ignis groaned, at least feeling that he was laid out on a comfortable bed rather than the hard floor of a haven, and tried to cover his eyes with his arm, but found that the appendage was being held down by something at his side. Ignis peeked an eye open to check what was nestling against him and found Noctis using his arm as a pillow while the prince slept. Ignis tried to shift slightly, but a body on his other side complained and threw a pale arm over his waist to paw at his hip like a puppy.

Ignis huffed when the arm landed a little too heavily on his stomach but still managed to turn his head towards the sudden laughter that came from Prompto’s other side.

“Good to see you awake.”

Gladiolus stared down at Ignis, his head resting on the hand that hadn’t been broken down in the mines, with such fondness and exasperation.

Gladio sighed and used the hand that had been broken to brush back some hair that had fallen into Ignis’ eyes. “You really don’t learn, do you?”

Ignis could have gotten upset at the words, but he was too tired and Gladio said them too affectionately that he just decided to ignore them.

Ignis trailed his gaze to Gladio’s arm. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, thanks to you,” Gladio whispered as he continued petting Ignis’ head. “Better than new, actually, since you healed up all the little aches I’d had before too.”

Ignis smiled and nuzzled at Gladio’s large hand.

The Shield watched him intensely, then frowned a bit at the corners of his mouth. “I don’t know what to say to you, Iggy. Death by exhaustion is a thing, and you came damn near close to it with that stunt you pulled in the mines, but because of you I’m still here and the blond’s still here and prince charmless is sleeping better than he has in weeks. Prom’s head injury could have led to serious blood loss and my arm…you could have left me. Gone to find help and bring it back.”

“You’d have never survived the wait,” Ignis murmured as he rested his eyes. “And Prompto would have been fine if we’d had potions stored in the armiger. We should have had potions, except you all had to be stubborn and waste them on small things.”

“Cuz we hate seeing you hurt, Iggy,” Prompto whispered from underneath Gladio’s arm and the Shield lowered it so that Prompto could look up from his spot at Ignis’ side. “We realized that you’d used your magic way more than any of us ever did and it hurt knowing that all of our screw ups would leave you in pain.”

Ignis felt Noctis bury himself more into Ignis’ side, and even though the Advisor’s arm was full of pins and needles, he still maneuvered it so that he could wrap it around Noctis’ shoulders in an awkwardly done hug.

Ignis sighed and opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. The moldings on the walls were the signature ones of Galdin Quay and Ignis relaxed with the knowledge that they were back to a safe corner of the deteriorating world.

“I was aware that I over used my magic,” Ignis confessed without looking at anything in particular. “I…felt the need to compensate for the fact that my magic was not as useful as any of yours. I doubt the Crystal’s healing was ever intended to fully revert broken bones or completely reset an entire body’s health, but I forced my body to learn how to heal everything so that I could be of some use to you all out on a battlefield. I needed to reason with myself that I still had a purpose even though I was denied the use of the core magics.”

Prompto gave a soft cry and snuggled closer to Ignis’ chest. Noctis didn’t move from his spot, but obviously tensed even tighter at his side.

“Yeah, that’s…” Gladio sighed and leaned his head against Ignis’. “There’s so much to unpack there that I’m not sure where to even start. But, I need you to know that you’re worth more than just your magic, you got that? We love you for you, no matter if you can spit fire or throw ice or heal every bone in each of our bodies with a single touch. To us, you’re the cook who manages to make a new recipe with every new ingredient you get your hands on, the guy who insists on driving all the time because you think the wind hits best on the driver’s seat, the man who has the best damn body to cuddle against and has all of us fighting for the chance to be the one to hold you at night. And if you never use your magic again, which I’m kinda considering here Iggy, I’ll be honest, we wouldn’t say a thing about it so long as you are healthy and whole. No more secret suffering just to save our dumb asses anymore. None of that.”

“I second all that,” Noctis said into Ignis’ side.

“Mmhmm,” Prompto hummed.

There wasn’t anything that Ignis could say in response to that speech, but he felt like he should try to showcase even a fraction of the emotion that was bursting over in his heart.

“I…”

“Don’t say anything for now, Iggy,” Gladio shushed and rested his hand over Ignis’ eyes to stop him from speaking.

“There’s still more we need to get through that thick brain of yours, but all that can wait for morning. Sleep.”

“We can’t roast you if you’re not at your best,” Prompto beamed as he fully relaxed between Ignis and Gladio’s bodies.

Noctis quickly shuffled up to place a kiss at Ignis’ neck and whispered into his ear. “And you have to sit through all of it quietly. So rest and build up your patience. We’re not letting you go until all of you is convinced that we love you.”

Ignis gulped and nodded, Gladio’s hand following the movement from its place over his eyes.

The four of them finally settled down into a massive dog pile that they haven’t slept in for what felt like forever, but this time Ignis felt more secure in his place underneath everyone’s arms than he has ever felt before.