iwillshieldhim | What Stalks in the Night [for fieryknowledge]

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What Stalks in the Night [for fieryknowledge]

The day had started out like any other. The pinging of Ignis' phone alarm. The snuggle of Prompto because that kid turned out to be a snuggler at night and always tried to hide it in the morning. The grumbling from Noct. Breakfast. Clean up. Deciding what to do.

Today turned out to be a day for a hunt. Good. Gladio itched for a fight today and a hunt mean a fight and gil, even if the latter was the more necessary right now. Those damn energy drinks for Noct to turn into potions were annoyingly expensive; thank the Six they were popular enough to be absolutely everywhere even if the blasted things were pricey.

The hunt itself proved to be surprisingly elusive, though. Most of the afternoon was spent in just trying to track down the beast, perched on the backs of their chocobos with maps pulled out and a lot of cursing because this place proved to be a bit of a maze of canyons cut into the rock. Eventually, they found it, though, and Gladio had to admit... this wasn't going to be easy.

It was almost like a giant scorpion, except it had paws and a sort-of-face like a lion and it was furred. The tipster had called it a Chimera; Gladio called it ugly. By the end of the long, damn difficult fight, he had called it several far less appropriate names. It had managed to put the hurt on all of them, but only Gladio had taken a blow from its glowing tail, stabbing right into the muscle of his left arm. One of those expensive potions had taken care of that, or so they thought, and they had gone back to camp stinking, exhausted, and ready to just get some food in their stomachs and pass out.

But as they finally saw camp in the distance, Gladio was surprised at how the heat of the day was clinging to him because he felt even more sticky-sweaty under the leather. Fuck. Last thing he needed right now was to have to air-dry his fatigues, but he probably wasn't going to have a choice.

Little did he know.

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That was what tipped Ignis off to just how bad things were. By now, Gladio should be openly harassing him, teasing him and such. There was nothing. No chiding words about being caught off-guard or jokes about his ass. Nothing at all and that worried Ignis.

Teeth gritted as his lungs started to burn with exertion, he shifted his path, trying to avoid getting boxed in and trying to avoid being herded. He had to get some distance, some time, to try and figure out what was going on with Gladio.

Besides, why would Gladio leave Prompto and Noct alone? He knew Ignis was out in the field getting things for supper. It just wasn't in his stance as a Shield to leave his charge what to do.

However, he'd done what he wanted - he'd gotten his prey into the rocky area. He waited until the prey looked away... then slipped into the rocks to follow him at a different, unseen angle.

The predator was suddenly gone. That was exactly what Gladio had been acting like - a preadtor.

And just like that, he was gone.

Panting quietly, Ignis let himself slow down, then come to a stop as he looked around. His stance showed that he was ready for a fight if it came down to it, but he still hadn't called his daggers to his hands. Not until he knew he had no other options.

Each step was careful, almost silent as Ignis slowly swept the area as best he could.

"Gladio. Something's wrong with you. I want to help."

Letting himself stop let Gladio cover the distance he hadn't been able to make up due to Ignis' quicker pace, and calling out only told him exactly where his prey was. Gladio moved slowly, silently, in a way that Gladio himself would have said he wasn't capable of with that bulky body of his. Closer. Closer.

Then, showing his teeth in a silent snarl... he pounced from the shadows as soon as Ignis' gaze had swept past him. Ignis had a chance, but Gladio had surprise... and the weight and strength as long as he got a hand on him. Gladio never, ever bore his full strength against them in a spar because it could cause damage, and he wanted a mate not a meal, but it was still more than the typical.

Ignis' head snapped around the moment he heard Gladio coming after him again. He did his best to get himself back out of reach, but he wasn't as quick as he should've been. A single dagger popped into his hand but there was no attempt to turn the blade on him. Instead, Ignis aimed a quick pommel strike to Gladio's cheek, trying to get him away until he could figure out what in the hells was going on.

The blow was taken better than most would have guessed, but Gladio had always been their Shield in combat and he took the title well. His head snapped to the side - it was going to be a hell of a bruise at some point - but he didn't release his grip. Instead, he only growled, a low, dark sound that was anything but pleased at the sudden pain.

His grip on Ignis' shirt allowed for a better grip on his non-dagger arm (not what Gladio would have done in his right mind, for if you can control their weapon you control them), then worked to pull Ignis to the ground.

That growl made Ignis' blood run cold. He'd heard that sound before, usually reserved for Imperial troops or something that truly angered him. Never at him, though.

Teeth gritted, he lashed out again, trying to find a way to break his hold. Another slam with his pommel again, harder this time, as he twisted in Gladio's grip. The motion sent him to a knee but damn it all, he would not go down if he could help it and if he did, he wanted Gladio to pay for it.

No block, not even the attempt to block it which Gladio should have given his experience in hand-to-hand and the fact his other hand was still free. However, for him, pain would be paid for in pain. Blood trickled from the corner of Gladio's lips - a slice from teeth, damage done to them or skin it was hard to say - but he didn't let go. Instead, he snarled and twisted Ignis' arm hard, his other hand coming up and back handing Ignis brutally hard across the face.

His arm screamed in agony, but that wasn't what got to him. The dagger fell from his hand, disappearing into a flurry of sparks even as his head snapped to the side. He saw stars as pain scorched along his nerves. It left him barely conscious, groaning as he clung to stay awake, try and get Gladio to think. He tried to speak, but his tongue was slow and his words were thick with pain.

"Gladio... Gladio, why are you doing this? This isn't you..."

Now, this close, Ignis might notice the glow in Gladio's eyes that suggested that no, this wasn't him. There was nothing of recognition in his eyes, only a hunger, a need, a heat. One hand grasped cloth and it darkened his expression into a scowl, so he jerked hard on it. The cloth strained, then the buttons gave way in a series of pops that sent the buttons bouncing out of view, and a second jerk pulled down on the material in a try either to get him down to the ground or it off, hard to say.

The jerk sent Ignis to both knees only to end up in the dirt a moment later, but not before he'd seen those vicious eyes. There was no sign of Gladio in that crimson gaze and he still had no idea what had happened to him. Had the Empire compromised him somehow? Had they all missed something about the big man?

So many questions that needed answers and Ignis didn't have the time or brainpower to figure them out. Not when he absently tasted blood and dirt in his mouth as he struggled to get himself up again. Once he was up, he could run again. He could get to the haven. Noctis and Prompto would help him subdue Gladio, help him figure out what was wrong with him.

He just had to get up-

That suggested Gladio was going to let him up in any fashion. Yet if it was the Empire, they were used to robots, to weapons. Not this bare basic fighting Gladio was relying on. A daemon? Perhaps but that made almost less sense because it was still daytime and he'd been fine--

He'd been with Prompto and Noct. He'd never intentionally leave them alone but he had been with them? What state were they in if he had left and come after Ignis?

One big hand shifted and grasped the back of Ignis' neck in a brutal squeeze, pushing him down against the dirt as he shifted behind him and Ignis would learn two other terrifying facts. Gladio was pouring off body heat, even for him, like he was burning horribly up with a fever.

The other, as he pressed against Igis, was that he was hard.

Just as he'd lifted his head up enough to get some air into his lungs, he was shoved back down and held there, instinct pushing him to remain still. The hand holding him down was heavy and hard and in the back of his mind, he realized that Gladio could crush his neck if he wanted...

The body heat was something else entirely. Prompto often joked that Gladio was their personal space heater for cool nights spent camping, but this... this went far beyond that. The close press of his body would've been oppressive just for that reason alone. What made it infinitely worse was that he could feel just how... enthused he was about the current situation. That little tidbit was downright horrifying to Ignis.

Groaning under his breath, he tried to inch away from that intruding pressure but he knew he couldn't get far. Not with Gladio's hand holding him down so firmly.

"... please. You don't want to do this."

Gladio wouldn't have wanted this. Gladio... well, it would be questionable how he would handle this when the venom finally ran its course. He had no conscious concepts, definitely not a chimera needing a mate or even that it was Ignis under his hands.

The hand at his neck remained, a constant and immediate threat, as his other hand grasped the material of his pants at the waistband. The fatigues were strong, leather, and magicked to resist tearing, but the belt at his hips was proving to be more difficult to get down. It was a bruising pain at those hips as Gladio, or whatever had Gladio's mind, pulled down hard at the waistband.

Threat or no, Ignis couldn't remain still once he realized that Gladio really did intend on- Gritting his teeth, he pushed that thought away, knowing that something else was at work here. Gladio wouldn't hurt him if he was in his right mind. He had to keep trying to gain some space and actively started wriggling again, his hands snapping out to try and push himself back upright. It was a risk, but it was one he had to take, especially now that he knew he'd be sporting marks from this and he had no desire to try and explain them away if questioned by Noctis or Prompto.

"Gladiolus, that is enough. Let me go!"

Snarl!

Gladio's sound was anything but human and he pushed Ignis' head down harder, squeezing his neck hard enough to briefly cut off blood around his neck and head. The wriggling, however, was enough to start to work belt and pants down over Ignis' slim hips, though its scraping off layers of skin in the process. None of this seemed to be stopping him.

The pressure around his neck was enough to slow down his movement and soon enough, he was starting to go grey around the edges of his vision. Panic had started to set in now, his hands scraping along the dirt, trying to claw his way free even though he dimly knew that if Gladio didn't want him to get up, he likely wouldn't be getting up.

A low groan of dismay slipped free even as he tried to grab the retreating waist of his pants with a hand, anything to keep them up and keep Gladio from-

Ignis' protests had faded into whispers, then whimpers as he realized that nothing was working. Unless Gladio came to his senses...

But Gladio didn't. None of them knew that there was poison in the chimera's sting, now in Gladio. Prompto and Noct were only just starting to realize that it was getting way too late, where were Gladio and Ignis? Something was wrong, but they had no idea how wrong it was.

Gladio's hand didn't loosen up, kept up the heavy grip it had around the back of Ignis' neck, fingers leaving behind bruises as it tightened to stop his prey from struggling further. It didn't do anything to Gladio when Ignis finally stopped moving other than he released Ignis' neck and set to what the venom in his mind drove him to do. Conscious thought wouldn't even come before the terrible fever finally took hold after Gladio had finished, leaving him as unconscious as Ignis. They wouldn't know it was meant to give the chimera a meal after it was done being impregnated.

Night crept over them both as they lay unconscious; their only defense was that daemons came thanks to movement, but other animals would eventually pick up on the scent of blood....

Waking up wasn't something Ignis wanted to do. Not when darkness was something safer and less painful. His stomach lurched when he cracked open his swollen eyes and for a moment, he almost passed out again. It would've been easier, really. Kinder. Unfortunately, it wasn't in Ignis' character to give up, as much as he might want to. Groaning under his breath, he did what he could to roll up onto his hands and knees, gasping when pain shot through his gut and-

He fought back a soft sob once he realized what had happened. He could try to deny it, but the telltale throbbing between his legs was unmistakable. His memory about what had happened was foggy at best, but there was no denying that something horrific had happened. Trying to push that ominous knowledge aside for a moment, he glanced around, swallowing past a dry knot in his throat only to croak something out when he saw that he wasn't alone. Gladio lay not three feet from him, clearly unconscious. Trying to speak again, Ignis lurched closer, still on his hands and knees because honestly, he wasn't sure he could stand up if he tried. Not with how weak his legs felt.

It wasn't good.

Gladio was very much unconscious and all it would take was a touch to feel that he was burning hot to the touch, far more than was safe. There was sweat heavy on his brow and worse, there was some sort of black spread from under his jacket that started where he had been stabbed earlier by the beast they had fought.

Worst of all, it was dark, with only the moonlight over head. They were in deep trouble.

When he tried to get more words out of his throat, there was panic in his voice. Gladio was far too hot to his grimy hands and nothing he did seemed to rouse him. Even worse, there was a trail of thick black ichor streaking from the wound that had been treated earlier and there was no way to miss it, even in the dim light of the moon.

Panting, Ignis clambered to his feet, wobbly as a newborn spiracorn. So far, he couldn't hear or see anything approaching but that luck wouldn't hold out. Not for long. One good thing was that in the distance, he spotted the familiar glow from the runes that protected a nearby haven. It wouldn't be the same one that their companions were camped out at, but it would do for the night.

Now, to get them there. Teeth gritted over pained noises, Ignis tried his best to drag Gladio along. He managed, but barely. Gladio was too damned heavy but Ignis was desperate. If they couldn't get to the haven, they'd be dead. Ignis was in no shape to protect them both. Hells, by the look of him, he couldn't even protect himself.

Five feet. Ten feet. Fifteen feet. Ignis was slowly dragging Gladio along, but even the rough treatment wasn't waking him. Something was terribly wrong, as if earlier hadn't proven that, but from the paleness of his lips specially set against the dried blood on them to his unconsciousness, Gladio couldn't have been too far from the edge of something even worse.

When Ignis was closing in on the haven, exhausted and hurting and leaving a slight blood trail on the ground (from himself, from Gladio, who knew), that was when the first howl happened. No ichor bubbling up from the ground, which meant most likely something not daemon - voretooth. Ignis still had at least another fifty feet to go.

The howl made his blood run cold. Still, fear or not, he couldn't stop. Not when their lives depended on it. Normally, Ignis could handle himself just fine. Unfortunately, even at his best, a full pack of voretooth could be dangerous even for the strongest of warriors. At the moment, he was a far cry from a strong warrior.

Biting back a moan of pain, he kept tugging, his pace quicker now. Another five feet, then ten. He kept his attention away from his screaming muscles and the pain in his abdomen and kept it on the pace of his feet and the weight in his hands. Finally, finally, it was close enough that the runes were bright in the dark evening air.

So close. So close... only for Ignis to falter and fall to his knees with a low cry of pain. He couldn't. He couldn't-

It was that cry of pain that finally started to draw Gladio out of the fever-state he was trapped in. The first conscious thought he'd had in hours was something so silly, so stupid, so impossible - Iris, give me ten more minutes - before reality started to set in. He was on fire, too hot, and someone was right beside him.

He couldn't see the voretooth pack that finally came into Ignis' field of vision, growling low as they circled their prey from every direction except from the haven. They moved as one, coming in closer and closer-

The growls alerted some deeper part of Gladio's brain that something was wrong, and all at once, instinct took over. He surged up, unintentionally nearly bowling Ignis over, and looked around as the world spun. He couldn't see much of anything and his entire body screamed as fever-tight muscles pulled, but it didn't matter. There was something growling nearby and a smear of bright blue that could only be a haven.

He looked down and barely made out Ignis on the ground next to him. A fight? Ignis hurt? Where was Noct and Prompto- the haven?

He quite literally grabbed Ignis by the arm, dragged him up and hauled him towards the haven, much to the confused surprise of the pack.

Ignis barely registered the hand hauling him up. Hells, he barely even realized that Gladio was upright at first, thinking that he'd just lurched over again. Once he realized that he was up, that the glow was close enough to touch, he bit back a muffled curse and clambered up and onto the flat of the haven proper, his hand absently reaching down for Gladio.

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/comes up with insane monster biology

It works!

Re: It works!

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