No need to worry about me not finishing this one, since I basically already have it finished. Just waiting between chapters before I post them. C:
The sun was bearing down on the group of four, more so than it has in days. Kind of hard to believe considering they didn't think the heat could get any worse. Noctis was in the back seat doing what he could to block the intruding rays from unprotected eyes. Scoffing, he turned his head to the side, that way it at least wasn't piercing into him directly. "How much longer Iggy? I'm ready to get out of this heat."
"I would say approximately half an hour, given we don't run into any complications along the way." Ignis replied as he turned onto another back road. At this point the had been driving for about an hour already, which was one hour too long to be in that heat for anyone's liking.
"What's the matter Noct? This heat messing up your do or something?" Prompto piped up from the front, with a light-hearted chuckle.
"You're one to talk, your hair is looking a little worse for wear from where I'm sitting." Noctis countered when he noticed the slight wilting in the blonde's hair, earning himself his own laugh.
He playfully panicked, reaching up to feel his own hairstyle, "What?! You're kidding right? Do you know how much effort it takes to make this happen?"
"Effort?" Gladio joined in on the jokes, "Looks to me like you just let chocobos lick it into place."
"Not cool." Prompto whined, "I work really hard on it." He was combing his fingers through the strands, trying hopelessly to get them into their original position.
"Can you three please settle down? You are being a bit distracting at the moment." Ignis asked deceptively politely, but it was pretty obvious to sense the underlying annoyance.
"Aw, come on Iggy, lighten up a little." Prompto replied, with a light punch to the shoulder. "It's just a little harmless banter."
"Yeah, it could do you some good to be a little less serious occasionally." Noctis backed up.
"I'll be less serious when all of our lives aren't literally in my hands."
"Fine, fine, be a kill joy." Prompto joked as he turned to look out the window. Gazing down the side of the rather steep hill, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. "What the hell is that?" He asked, straining his eyes to make out anything he could as it quickly got closer.
"What is it?" Ignis asked as he glanced in the direction the younger was staring at. "It's kind of hard to tell form this dis-"
Their world was abruptly engulfed in flames as they were forcefully lurched to the right, the blast from the left side of the vehicle propelling them off course. No one had an opportunity to react to the sudden impact; the motion had been enough to knock the breath out of each one of them. They could hear nothing aside from the destruction of the Regalia; the sounds of scraping and groaning metal against rock as it made it's descent down the slope.
They came to an immediate stop when they finally made it to the bottom of the slope. Smoke was steadily streaming from the side of the car, rising up and filling the sky. As the last of the creaks began to dissipate, Ignis slowly came to as he could feel something running down the side of his head. Sluggishly opening his eyes, he tentatively placed his fingers to the liquid's origins, sucking in a breath as they came away bloody.
He glanced around, seeing that everyone else was coming around as well, "Is everyone alright?" He asked worriedly, glancing around to everyone.
"I think I'm alright." Gladio called from the back. "Noct just seems to have a pretty deep gash on his arm, but it doesn't look too serious." He added as he applied a bit of pressure to the wound.
"Glad to hear." He averted his attention to Prompto who was just staring forward. "And you Prom? Everything alright with you?"
He glanced down at his feet then back to Ignis. "I-I don't know, I think so?"
"What do you mean, 'you don't know?'" Ignis asked rather impatiently.
He looked away once again, "Well I..." He took a deep breath, "I can't feel much below my right knee." He went to try and move it, resulting in an intense sharp pain shooting in both directions, originating in his knee. The agonizing feeling was enough to cause him to cry out as he grabbed his leg, fingers gripping into the fabric in a futile attept to alleviate the pain.
"What is it, what's wrong?" Ignis asked urgently. Noctis sat stunned in the back, the sudden outburst shocking him.
Prompto only sat there for about a minute, taking in short gasps, trying to ride out the waves before he was able to reply. "Knee" He ground out between his teeth. He took a deep breath as it finally began to dull down a bit, although it still throbbed immensely. "Don't know what happened there." He continued in a low voice, leaning his head back into the seat.
"Let's get everyone out, and then I want everyone to have a thorough look over." Ignis flatly stated as he stepped out of the vehicle, making his way around in case the youngest of the group need assistance. Gladio and Noctis stepped out as well, the ladder holding a hand over the still bleeding laceration, stunting the blood flow at least a small amount.
Ignis opened the door for Prompto, holding out a hand for him, basically telling him to accept his help and not complain about it. He accepted it, and braced himself as the other strongly pulled him up. He was especially careful with his injured leg, keeping it as still as he could, desperately not wanting a repeat of what happened moments ago. He hobbled out on one leg, highly dependent on Ignis to keep him upright.
"Easy now." Ignis encouraged as Prompto jarred his leg a bit, gripping tightly onto his shoulder as he did so. "Slow and steady." He allowed Ignis to support most of his weight as he painstakingly hopped along, joining with the other two a few feet away.
"Thanks Iggy." He sheepishly said as he was slowly lowered to the ground, back against a small tree.
Ignis crouched down, "I'm sorry I have to say this, but we are going to need to remove your pants in order to get a proper look at the injury."
Prompto cringed at the suggestion, "You know what, it suddenly doesn't hurt as bad anymore." He went to move it again to try and prove his point, only to immediately stop and suck in another sharp breath.
"Prom, stop being a baby and let the man do what he has to do, or I'll have to hold you down and force you to comply." Gladio said, folding his arms from a foot away.
"Fine, just let me do it though." He gave in, not liking the thought of someone else stripping him and began to unbutton them, slowly and carefully pulling them down. He stopped once he got down to his knees, hesitating and trying to mentally prepare himself for the discomfort it would cause. Both physical and emotional discomfort that was about to ensue. He went to pull them down more, but had to stop when the small motion caused a flare up.
Looking down to the ground, face flushed with slight embarrassment, he had to ask, "Um...can, can someone help with this part?" He closed his eyes, hating himself for having to ask such a thing. He knew they wouldn't judge him for or give him a hard time considering the circumstance, but it hurt his pride nonetheless.
"There's no need to be ashamed." Ignis comforted as he made to give a hand. Before he could even see the full view of his knee he could already tell it was bad. Bruises were peaking through the edge of the fabric. He let out a sympathetic sigh as he prepared for the worst. Once he had them removed he took in the full extent of the damage, and saying it wasn't pretty would be an understatement. It was dark in color, and it looked almost...deformed in a way.
Both Gladio and Noctis winced at the sight of it. Prompto hadn't looked at it yet, he was too busy keeping his breathing steady. "How bad is it?" He asked after catching his breath.
"I won't know for sure until I can inspect it." He gently placed his hand on his knee, feeling around with his fingers and adding minimal pressure to test out the joint. Prompto whimpered from his spot, doing his best not to instinctively pull away. Ignis clicked his tongue in disapproval and removed his hand. "Gladio, I think I may need your help with this."
"Wh-why? What is it?" Prompto asked nervously, still refusing to look.
Ignis hesitated before answering, knowing full well that telling him was probably a bad idea. "It appears that your knee is dislocated." He gave a moment for that to sink in. "And I'm afraid we can't leave it like that. It's going to have to be popped back into place."
Prompto paled a little at what that entailed, and he knew it would be far from pleasant. "How are you gonna do that?" He asked, his voice a little higher than usual.
"Gladio, I'm going to need you to hold him still. No matter how hard he tries, he's not going to be able to hold it together when I do this." Ignis waited until Gladio was in place and had a firm hold on the blonde. "Prompto, let me know when you're ready."
He took in a shakey breath, "As ready as I'll ever be I suppose." Ignis curtly nodded in response.
"On the count of three then. One. Two. Three." In one swift motion there was a repulsive and loud pop followed directly by Prompto's misery filled scream. A few tears rolled down his face and his breaths were coming out in quick gasps. "Ok, it's over with now. How are you holding up?" Ignis looked up when he didn't get a response. "Prompto?"
Gladio gazed down when he felt the weight shift in his hold, followed by his breath evening out. He looked at his face and saw that his eyes were closed, not tightly closed, but normally. "I think he passed out."
"I'd be more surprised if he didn't." Ignis said, feeling his pulse. "He'll be fine though. We still need to splint it to minimize movement for now, but we need to get to a safer spot first. I have no doubt the imperials will follow us after that missle. They know exactly where we are." He switched his attention to Noctis who was still standing nearby, hand still covering his cut. "How bad is your arm?" He added as he went back to the Regalia and fetched their sparce medical supplies.
"It can wait, I'll be fine until we get to where ever we're going." He replied, staring down at his friend.
"Very well. Gladio, could you carry Prompto? Be mindful of his leg though." Gladio nodded and pulled his pants back up, to spare his pride if nothing else, before lifting the youngest and draping him over his shoulder. "Let's move, we've been here too long as it is." He began heading deeper into the forest, followed closely by the other two.
They traveled for a short time until Ignis declared they were far enough and in a thicker part of the forest to go practically unnoticed. It was a fairly small clearing, enough to keep them well hidden, but it was comfortable enough for them to gather themselves for however long they may need. Gladio delicately removed Prompto from his shoulder and lied him down, making sure his right leg was straight.
While Gladio did that, Ignis was checking Noctis's would for him. Cleaning it and wrapping it until he deemed it taken care of well enough for the time being. Once done, he made is way over to the other injured member of the party. "I need two sturdy sticks. I want to get this splinted before he comes around. It will spare him at least a little bit of displeasure."
"I can go find a couple." Noctis called from behind, quickly walking off in his search. Ignis removed his jacket and folded it to try and prop up Prompto's leg somewhat. Just as he finished that, Noctis showed up with the makeshift splints.
"Noct, I need to you to place them in either side of his knee and hold them tightly in place. Don't worry about hurting him, they need to prevent movement." He did as he was told, and Ignis began securely wrapping them in place, making sure everything would stay in place, but also that Prompto would be unable to bend it. "That should do it, now we just wait until he comes to, which shouldn't be too long."
Everyone took a seat on the ground, aside from Gladio who went off in search of fire wood, considering they might be stuck there for a little while with no reception. While he was off, Ignis was aware of the slight hitch in Prompto's breathing. Glancing over to him he saw that his eyes had started to flutter a bit. As soon as he was aware enough, a grimace of pain graced his face. "Son of a bitch." he lightly swore as it finally hit him. He looked around him, "Where are we?"
"At least I don't need to ask you how you're feeling." Ignis began, "We had to move further into the forest to prevent any ambushes from the Imperials. We may be here for a while, so get comfortable."
"Easier said than done." Prompto replied, struggling to sit up without pulling on his leg too much. Noctis got up at this point to help him scoot back to lean against a tree again. "Thanks" He smiled at his friend, then looked around again. "Where's Gladdy?" He asked, not seeing any sign of the giant of a man.
"He went to get fire wood." Ignis answered. "He left only a few minutes ago."
"And is everyone else ok? I mean, no one else is hurt, are they?"
"I can asure you, we are all somewhat unscathed. A bruise here, a cut there, but all in all, mostly unharmed."
Prompto sighed in relief, "That's good, I'm glad." He smiled to the others and leaned his head against the tree. "What exactly happened back there anyway. What hit us?"
Ignis put his head down, "Missile. It seems the Imperials are after us. It will be safer if we stay here for a little bit and wait until the move on. It's not in our best interest to be fighting anyone at them moment when we are down a man." He nodded towards Prompto's leg, who followed his gaze adn frowned at the damaged appendage.
"How bad is it?" He asked, afraid of what the answer may be.
Ignis thought on how best to word it. "It wasn't ideal, but you definitely won't be walking on it for a while. I managed to get the bones back in place where they should be, but I can't be certain of the true extent of the damage. I recommend you keep it elevated as much as you can though."
Prompto sat silent as he soaked it all in, then nodded in understanding, obviously a little down at the news. "At least it will still heal eventually." He said after a while, trying to stay positive.
"Yes, it will, with time of course." Ignis stated. standing up when he noticed Gladio had returned. He met him at the edge of the clearing, taking some of the wood he brought back and helped him to carry it to the center of the area.
Noctis turned his attention back to Prompto, "So, how are you holding up? Aside from, you know."
"Oh you know, I'm doing good. I mean, yeah, I'm not happy about this situation, but it could have been worse. Better me than one of you guys anyway." His voice was laced with certainty, honestly believing he was more expendable.
"No, it would have been better if it was no one." Noctis retorted.
"Maybe." Prompto straightened himself up a little, gasping slightly when his leg moved. "Seriously though, glad you all are ok at least." His eyes landed on the bandage around Noctis's arm, "Well, mostly ok."
Noctis followed his gaze, "Oh, right, this is nothing. Should be fine within a few days. But, do you need anything?"
"Hmm? Oh nah, I'm good." He perked up a bit when he finally remembered something. Feeling around in his pockets frantically, his face fell a bit when he couldn't locate it. "Um, by any chance, have you seen my camera?" He asked as he rechecked himself, hoping that he had just overlooked it.
"No, I haven't, are you sure it wasn't left in the Regalia?"
"No, I'm certain I had it on me. Oh man, it must have fallen out in the crash. You have got to be kidding me." He put his head in his hands, "I really liked that one."
Noctis looked down for a second before looking back up, "If you want we can probably go back and check tomorrow."
"Are you sure? It sounds like it might not be a good idea with the Imperial so close. It's fine, I can just save up for another, it's no big deal."
Before Noctis had the chance to persist, Ignis came up behind him. "It's getting pretty late, and with these trees it will be darker than usual. It would be best for you two to be closer to the fire." Noctis complied without complaint. Ignis bent down to lift Prompto up, and with his help he was able to painfully hop over. He lowered him down, sympathizing with every wince and groan the came with the movement. He went back to retrieve his jacket so he could once again place it under Prompto's leg.
"I'm sorry about all this inconvenience." The blonde mumble timidly, lying back on the ground.
"It's really not an issue." Noctis quickly replied. "If you were that much of a burden you wouldn't be with us now."
"He's right you know." Gladio spoke up, "Now, you guys try and get some sleep, I'll be keeping first watch, so no need to worry about anything sneaking up." He didn't have to say it twice, all of them were tired and sore from the earlier events, and fell asleep with ease.