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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And again, Ignis shrunk back when Gladio came near. He wasn't even aware he was doing it. All he knew was that he hurt and wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and pass out again. His reasoning mind knew that the potion would help but the base animal in him was petrified and wanted to get away...

Sighing roughly, he wrapped shaking fingers around the potion and did his best to break it open, moaning under his breath when he finally managed it. It eased the pain to something resembling more of an ache than anything and allowed the sluggish bleeding to finally seal up and stop, but Ignis was still pale and shaky thanks to blood loss and the bruises, while not quite as livid as before, were still very evident along his skin.

"You need one too. Too hot."

Had... Ignis pulled away from him? Was Ignis afraid of him? Never in their lives had Ignis been afraid of him, always calm and collected and giving him some hard looks before they became friends but never afraid. What in the hells was going on?

Still, he pulled out a second potion and just let it crash to his chest in his hands, groaning as the coolness started to spread but it only took the edge off the terrible heat. He wouldn't know it stopped his brain from cooking inside of his own skull given his temperature.

It was taking everything in him not to pass back out. If he did... he was certain they could die before the morning came, potions or not. "...You- you know what happened?" Because clearly something attacked them but... what? Why couldn't he remember anything? Had he taken a blow to the head?

As the pain had eased, so had some of the tension in Ignis' muscles. He was limp now, sprawled on his side as he ever so slowly started to uncurl. Right then, he was on the edge of unconsciousness but Gladio's voice tugged him back. Groaning in protest, his opened his eyes again and tried to focus on his friend but weariness wouldn't allow it...

... when did he lose his glasses? Is that why his face was scraped up? Had they ended up broken?

"... I don't remember a lot. I left the haven to look for herbs to use for dinner. Something... it chased me. Big and strong. It... held me down-"

Ignis' voice faded at that, the hand near his waist slowly reaching up to tug the remains of his pants a little closer to his body.

It took longer than Gladio would ever care to admit to realize what Ignis was saying. His eyes followed the movement of that hand, staring with barely half-opened eyes, before it registered. Something... something had hunted Ignis down and- Gladio felt a sick churn in his stomach, almost violently, before he breathed out hard. "Iggy..." Quiet, sympathetic, but with no idea what to do. What was out there that would do something like that? What kind of sick monster?

He laid there, feeling more helpless than he'd felt in his life, and it was an even more sickening feeling. "...get some sleep," he murmured. "I'll keep watch." Because one of them had to. If they both passed out again... even in a haven, there were people who could find them who they wouldn't want to.

The tone of Gladio's voice left him feeling even colder than before, a shiver sliding through him as he tried to nod in agreement. Right. Sleep. Sleep would help. He was already so tired and sleep would be a good thing to help his body start to get itself back to normal.

Sighing, he curled up again, his eyes closing after a moment, though he was still oddly aware of Gladio's presence. It was... uncomfortable but he was glad he wasn't alone. Gladio would keep him safe. He could trust Gladio-

The depths of their injuries and sickness showed when they woke not within the haven, but on soft beds. Both Gladio and Ignis were tucked up into beds, but as it turned out, not in the same room. Ignis' wounds had been tended to and he had been washed, but only time would fully take away all of the damage done. The faint, familiar taste of potions would linger on his tongue, potions used to handle the internal damage.

But he wasn't alone in his room. On a chair near the door sat, of all people, Cor Leonis, carefully working a whetstone over the length of the katana in his lap, the quiet ringing repetitive as he worked to correct a nick in the blade.

It was a familiar sound. Familiar enough that when he came to enough to actually register hearing it, he almost drifted back to sleep. The pain he remembered was gone now, replaced by a faint, lingering ache that was nothing more than stiff muscles. He'd felt worse when he had first started training and still felt worse after a long hunt and the like. His throat was still scratchy feeling, but it didn't hurt. It felt more like disuse than anything else.

It took him longer than he realized to properly wake up and even then, it was just barely. He was still tired since his sleep had been anything but restful, but he felt... better, considering what had happened. Still, he couldn't let it linger. There were things that needed doing. He could handle what had happened in his own way, and later.

Huffing under his breath, he reached up and scrubbed a hand through his hair as he got himself sitting upright only to freeze when he saw who was with him... and that he wasn't where he last remembered.

".... Marshal."

"Ignis." Calm and measured as the Marshal always was, not even looking up from the methodical work on his blade. "Glass of water, right next to you." He was very well aware of what had happened to Ignis, far more than either of the two injured parties knew. Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time he had seen something of this sort, and their bodies had been puzzles that fit far too well together in the story.

"It's a little after nine in the morning. We found you not long after dawn yesterday morning." Ignis was the sort of man who needed facts, who needed to know what was going on to be able to settle in his mind, but Cor was well aware it had to be done in pieces, in this case, to keep from overwhelming the younger man.

He'd been out for that long?

Facts were good. Concrete knowledge was good. What wasn't was the lingering confusion still swirling in his head. That vague confusion was probably clear as he absently reached for the mentioned glass, draining it rather robotically as he tried to start piecing things together.

"... Noctis? He's safe? Was he with you when you found me?"

His first concern. Not for himself.

A safe topic to keep on, so Cor chose to answer. "The King is safe." His emotions remained absent as he put down the whetstone and tested the feel of the place the nick had been carefully with the edge of his thumb. "It wasn't me who found you. I kept him under my eye, here, until you were located. For that you can thank Auburnbrie when you see him next." Dave, the hunter.

If Noctis had been able to control himself, instead of panicking, he could have gone out with Dave and two of his hunters to search for Ignis and Gladio with only the knowledge that they had found a haven, but Noctis' safety, even from himself, took priority.

Well, that was the first thing that'd gone right in days. Ignis' relief was visible, the tension lining his shoulders and back easing almost immediately. While that didn't ease a lot of Ignis' confusion, it helped ease his mind. Sighing, he absently scratched at his cheek before realizing that he was clean. That knowledge sent awareness screaming back into his mind. He couldn't help but shift a bit uncomfortably, quietly thankful that Cor was busy with his blade to be watching him.

"Yes. Well. I'll be certain to offer him my gratitude the next time I see him."

If Ignis truly thought Cor was occupied with his blade, he would be wrong. Cor was watching him closely but allow Ignis that certain privacy. He himself had taken care of Ignis once he had been brought back, not allowing Noctis or Prompto to see what had been done for all of their sakes. Gladio had been handled by Dave and his men (it had taken more than one to properly haul an unconscious Gladio around) but there was no doctor to be had. They were dealing with potions and antidotes to try and stop what had infected the Shield.

"Noctis and Prompto are waiting to see you, but I told them they'll have to wait until you give the okay. They're in the next room over, and Gladiolus is on the other side of this one."

For a moment, the urge to argue about the cost of three rooms was there, waiting on the tip of his tongue. Something else was closer to the forefront of his mind, though. Just the mention of Gladio's name made Ignis lick his lips, a nervous reaction and a telling one. He didn't really remember what had happened, but he knew that Gladio had been part of it.

"... Gladiolus. He was... ill. How is he?"

Very telling, and it prompted what he chose to say next.

"...He's alive," Cor said quietly as a start. He had handled the cost of the rooms which, in fact, were currently costing them nothing except a favor owed to Cor by the motel's owner. "However, there was some form of poison or venom that went untreated and infected all of him. ...Currently he is chained to his bed and has yet to regain complete consciousness due to the fever, we believe. His Majesty mentioned that earlier that day, you had taken on a particularly dangerous hunt?"

He was well aware how much information that was, but he wanted to start to find out how much Ignis knew of the attack and Gladiolus' behavior leading up to it.

Chained?

Brow furrowed, he kept himself from questioning that simple fact, though it wasn't easy. The only reason he didn't was that he trusted the Marshal. He respected him. If that was trying the best course of action, then he knew that it was something that Cor had agreed with.

That didn't make it any easier to think about, though.

His question pulled Ignis' mind back to the moment, an absent nod his answer at first.

"Yes. A rather nasty chimera that had been plaguing the locals. It was a hard fight, but we won. We were all hurt, but... we took care of it. Gladiolus as well. At least, I thought he was taken care of. I should've checked better-"

"I've seen chimeras before." This was where he had to be cautious because he knew it could rapidly progress. "Terrible beasts. Local legends say that it's from a daemon mating with one of the behemoths, and what was born could stay in the daylight but preferred to come out at night." Which might explain why they had been forced to fight it in a cave. "...supposedly," his voice staying calm but there was that brief, almost telling pause, "it's forced to find something to mate with it to create more of them, then it eats the mate like a praying mantis."

Ignis' face was expressionless as he listened to Cor. He'd heard the local legends about their prey and as usual, he hadn't taken much of it to heart. Sure, it could lead to some knowledge about the beast's habits and mannerisms and such, but little else. Each word from Cor made his stomach twist a little tighter. He had no clear memory of everything, but there were flickers of images if he thought about it hard enough, and what he saw there made him want to stop thinking about it.

He remembered seeing Gladio coming out of the underbrush. He remembered the unholy light in his usually warm amber eyes. He remembered crushing pressure at the back of his neck, begging words-

He hadn't realized that his hand was clenched up in the sheet still covering him and he hadn't realized that his skin had paled even more than before. No, his brain was locked in a loop of those images still lingering in the back of his mind.

Cor lifted his gaze and watched Ignis carefully, frowning when he saw the color drain from the advisor's face. "Ignis." His voice firm, tight, attempting to wrest Ignis out of his thoughts he could practically see moving across his face. "Ignis Scientia, focus. Focus on my voice.

The next step would be a physical pull out, but given that Ignis was a fighter and a spooked one, he wanted to avoid that for both of their safety.

Burning hot skin against his- the hand at the back of his neck tightening- skin peeling away from his hip as-

Ignis-

The sound of his full name made Ignis' hands tighten even more, the knuckles white with strain. It took a moment and the effort was visible, but slowly, wide green eyes crept up to stare at Cor. The next breath he took was shaky, but his gaze never left the Marshal.

"... does Noctis know what happened?"

Cor's eyes kept with Ignis', giving the other man something to focus on. There was no judgment in his eyes, no sympathy, only the same calm understanding that Cor seemed to have about everything. He even kept that gaze as he shook his head slightly. "He knows you and Gladiolus were attack and injured, and that his Shield is sick. Nothing more."

But his tone said that he was well aware. He knew something far more, even more than Ignis did.

There was no way that Ignis could look away even though he wanted to. What he wanted to do was burrow back down into the bed, shut the world out and try to wrangle the memories still bouncing around in the back of his head. He still couldn't remember a good chunk of what happened, but Cor's words, the way he was watching him... Ignis was starting to suspect and it made him feel ill just thinking about it.

A million questions were there, waiting on the tip of his tongue. All of them were fearful things, things he didn't want to ponder, much less speak. He was smart enough to reason out what he knew and speculate what he didn't, but he wouldn't. Not when everything pointed to Gladio-

He couldn't. He wouldn't.

His gaze locked on Cor, Ignis' head slowly started to shake as if that would be enough to negate the whole situation.

"You can't be implying what... you can't."

"Gladiolus was out of his mind, and we currently have no concept of how he will be if he comes out of unconsciousness." His tone stayed even, but his eyes were watchful. He knew all too well the small signs that Ignis was showing of possibly going down a very dark road very quickly, and while he could not fault the other man for it, he also was aware that they likely could lose both of the King's friends if they weren't careful over the next few days.

One from withdrawal or depression, the other from sickness or guilt. It was not going to be easy, but he hoped, for their sakes, for the sake of the King, they would be able to keep it together.

Cor's lack of denial told Ignis that his fears and speculations were right. He felt bile rise up in the back of his throat and in the back of his mind, he idly wondered when the last time he'd even thrown up was. No. No. If he kept thinking like that, he wouldn't just be thinking about it. His body would allow itself to do just that and right then, being sick was the last thing he needed. It was bad enough that he already felt like he'd never be clean again-

It was hard, but he managed to tear his gaze away from Cor's all too knowing one, his green eyes dropping to rest on his lap. The sheets, Anything else but Cor's eyes.

"Has he attacked anyone else?"

That was the strategist talking and that emotionless tone was a sure sign that he was trying to disconnect. If he didn't, he wasn't sure he could function.

Cor allowed it to happen, for now, but he knew well that it wouldn't be able to remain as such for long. "No, but we can't risk it, either. ...He'll know what happened within minutes of waking up." That if still hanging in the air unspoken. It was a waiting game to see if Gladio survived the venom at all. "We only have legend to work off of here, and the closest doctor is still days away."

He was giving Ignis something else to concentrate on, for the moment. "What do you want me to tell his Majesty?"

"If you're working with knowledge from local legend only, then you have no idea if he'll remember it or not. Let's hope that he doesn't for all our sake."

The last thing they needed was an enraged or guilty Shield. One was likely to hurt others while the other was likely to hurt himself and neither of those options were allowable. The if.... wasn't something Ignis was willing to think about. Noctis needed his Shield. Whatever happened between him and Ignis was secondary, or so he kept telling himself.

"... I'll talk to him. I'm sure he's concerned enough that seeing one of us is the only way he'll settle down."

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