A quick little one-shot I threw together, nothing too fancy, but it's something. Wanted to try and do something hella cute and fluffy, not sure if I accomplished that or not, but here it is anyway.
Noctis dodged under yet another slash the behemoth threw his way. The four of them had been asked to rid the area of the beast as it was terrorizing the local area and preventing people from visiting. It wasn't anything too impressive, but it was rather massive and not to mention a bit stronger than the average one they came across. They were going all out, wanting to finish this up as soon as they could as they desperately needed the gil to stock back up on supplies, and this job offered a very generous amount. Noctis delivered his own slash this time, slicing the creature along the side of its face.
"Wooo, go Noct!" Prompto yelled from below as he release a clip into the behemoth's side, causing it to cry out as it turned its body to try and get away from the offending objects cascading it. He rolled away from it before continuing to fire at it.
Gladio charged at one of its legs, cutting cleanly through its flesh and spilling blood onto the ground below as he quickly moved on to the next leg. He maneuvered effortlessly around its trampling steps and shuffles, expertly avoiding being stepped on or kicked by the giant. "Watch where you're shooting!" He yelled over his shoulder as a bullet whizzed past his face, barely missing him."
"Sorry about that!" Prompto apologized, Holding his hands up in mock surrender. He then threw himself to the ground when the beast's tail came flying by, the wind from it roughly blowing his hair in all directions. Pushing himself back up, he brushed himself off and flashed a smile at Gladio who only shook his head and carried on what he was doing.
Ignis was on the other side, also attacking its legs, trying to take them out to make this a little easier for them. "Be wary of your surroundings please, this is not the time to lose focus!" He yelled over to the two of them, then switched his attention over to Noctis, "It would probably be better for you to assist in this you know. The moment it's stationary you may do as you wish."
He grunted in agreement and warped down next to Ignis, "Whatever you say." He replied as the two of them double-teamed the back right leg.
With all four of them out of the creature's view it began to panic out of instinct as it quickly turned without warning. Gladio was quick to evade the feet the stamped around him as it turned its towering form. Noctis and Ignis both simultaneously jumped back, getting at a safe enough distance where they were out of immediate danger.
As Prompto became aware of what was going on he jumped back as well to get out of the way, but what he was not aware of was the tail making a trip back around. He saw it out of the corner of his eye, but being in mid jump he was unable to dodge, so went for the next best option. Holding up his arms to protect his face, he felt the full force of the muscular appendage crash into him. The force was strong enough to throw him back a few yards where he landed on the ground quite hard and skid for anouter couple of feet.
"Promtpo!" Ignis cried out. He got no response and he only lied there completely still. He was about to run to his side, but was rudely reminded of the behemoth's presence when it swung one of its over-sized paws towards them and he had to put his undivided attention into dodging instead.
Seeing that Ignis was preoccupied, Gladio took it upon himself to check on the youngest of the group. He was next to him in an instant, barely remembering running over to him with all the adrenaline running through his veins. He crouched over him and the first thing he checked was his pulse. Relieved to feel that it felt fine, if a little fast he tapped his cheek lightly. "Hey, you awake in there?" Still no response. He was completely out.
"Hey, Gladdy!" Noctis called to him in between attacks. "Get him out of here would ya?" He asked, seeing the seriousness of the situation and not wanting to put his friend in more danger be having him stay there longer than he had to.
"Come on kid." Gladio said softly as he slid one arm under his shoulders, and the other behind his knees. He lifted him with ease as his head lolled lifelessly to the side. "You're a lot of trouble, you know that?" He then turned to face the others. "You two sure you'll be alright here?!"
"Yeah!" Noct replied, "We got this, take care of Prom until we're done!"
Gladio tightened his hold on the blonde and began making his way towards to closest haven. It wasn't too far out of their way, and he would still be able to see the fight from it while still being at a safe distance. He was about halfway there when the man in his arms let out a soft groan. Looking down, Gladio saw him struggling to open his eyes. "Hang on for a little bit, ok?"
Prompto squeezed his eyes shut the moment he got them even slightly open. Without a word he tried to push away from the larger man, very feebly, but trying nonetheless. "...own." He barely was able to speak, but he tried again anyway, "Down." His voice was quiet and slurred, but Gladio was able to make it out well enough. He complied and eased Prompto down who immediately fell to his hands and knees and harshly started to vomit where he was. Gladio froze up at the sight.
He didn't know what to be more shocked about, the fact that he was throwing up out of nowhere, or the dark red that was dyeing his blonde hair. He wasn't sure how he had missed that. Slowly looking down he now realized that his left arm was covered in crimson as well. Unsure of what to do, he wrapped an arm around Prompto's shaking body, he was having a hard time just holding himself up.
When he was finally done, he was left shaking even more than before and breathing heavily. "Hey?" Gladio moved to see Prompto's face, "Are you alright? Talk to me." He looked in his face and didn't like the distant and foggy look in his eyes. "Can you hear me?" He grabbed him by the chin and slowly turned his head to look at him. He didn't even seem to acknowledge his existence. His eyes began to slide closed and Gladio caught him before he could slump to the ground.
He stayed crouched with Prompto in his arms, still a little shocked about the the events that happened. He felt his own heartbeat thrumming in his chest. He was no doctor, but he did know that head injuries were no joke, and also knew this own seemed to be pretty bad from what just happened. He got back to his feet, and held the other closer to him protectively and headed back towards to haven, much faster now that he understood the extent of the damage.
The rest of the way there, he made no other signs of being conscious, at was as if he never even woke up to begin with. Out of fear, Gladio consistently checked his pulse, almost expecting not to feel anything each time he checked. As soon as he reached the area he lied Prompto down on his side and took off his own jacket to place under his head. Next he removed the bandanna from Prompto's arm and pressed it to the still bleeding wound on the back of his head.
He was slightly taken aback when the gesture earned him a whimper from the blonde. Keeping the pressure on his head, he lifted him to lay against his lap, "That's it, Prom, open your eyes."
He gasped as the pain that came with waking up hit him all at once. He wanted nothing more than to go back to the blissful darkness, but there was something that wouldn't let him. Like a magnet, he was pulled towards whatever that something was until he realized it was a voice. He knew he recognized it, but he couldn't quite put a face to it.
Gladio tried to once again, "Come on, buddy, you've been napping long enough." Prompto groaned once again and tried opening his eyes. Despite how agonizing the light was that was piercing his sensitive eyes straight into his throbbing skull, he tried to keep them open long enough to try and make out who was talking to him.
He tried to speak, but nothing came out except from a soft croak followed closely by a wince. Waiting for the intense pain to subside a little he gave it another shot. "Wh...who?" He swallowed hard, fighting against the strong nausea and gave it another shot. "Wh-who is it?" His voice sounded weird in his head, like it didn't belong to him.
"It's me, Prom. It's Gladdy." He saind, lifting him a little more, hoping he would be able to see him easier. "What do you remember?"
His eyes began to close again, staying awake becoming a near impossible task. Gladio shook him lightly before he could black out again, "No, no, no sleeping. I need you to answer me."
Prompto forced his eyes back open against their will. "That's it, now answer me, do you remember what happened?"
He took a moment to process the question, and Gladio hated that he could see the confusion engraved into his face, "'Wh-what...happened?'" He slurred out, repeating the question to himself. "Dunno." He said more to himself than anyone. "Wha? Don remember." He took a deep breath. "M'tired." He said quieter as he began to relax more.
"Hey, I said no sleeping!" He said a little louder than he meant to. The noise causing the other to groan as it increased the pounding in his head. "Keep talking to me." He said much softer, realizing he was doing more harm than good by letting panic get the better of him. "What is the last thing you remember?"
Prompto thought for a moment, "Dunno." He slurred again. That was slowly becoming his favorite answer. He grew quiet again, fighting with his own brain to remember anything, but coming up with nothing in his dazed state. He squeezed his eyes shut as the pain flared up, "Hurts" He whispered, though it came out more as a whine.
"I know, Prom, I know it hurts, but I need you to stay with me for a bit, ok? For me?" He asked, practically begging him to stay awake, at least until Iggy got there, someone who actually knew what to do in a situation like this one.
"Mm'k." He replied, shifting slightly in the larger man's hold.
Gladio pulled the cloth away from his head, checking to see if it was still bleeding, which it was, but not as bad as it had been. He tried to ignore the way blood had soaked through the material and was now seeping between his fingers. He tossed it aside and used his bare hand to try and stunt the flow instead, not liking the way the saturated bandanna felt in his grip. "We were taking out that behemoth? Don't you remember that?" At this point he was trying to distract himself just as much as trying to keep the other awake.
Prompto started to slowly shake his head, then stopped when the first small movement made itself known to be a bad idea. "N-no." Gladio felt his heart drop a little at the answer, until the gunner opened his mouth to speak again, "Um, wait." He closed his eyes as he fished for the memory, "I remember...remember something."
"What is it? What do you remember, Prom?"
He stayed silent for a few seconds, "Remember being hit by...by something."
"That's right." Gladio confirmed, relieved that his memories seemed to be slowly coming back.
"Gladio!" He turned his head to see both Ignis and Noctis running towards them. He felt slight guilt when he realized he never once thought of looking to see how they were holding up, despite picking this spot for that very reason. That guilt quickly dissolved now that he could see they appeared to be unharmed.
"How is he?" Ignis asked, dropping to his knees on the other side, automatically drawn to all the blood the painted the both of them. He did like Gladio had done multiple times and pressed two fingers against his neck and seemed satisfied enough with the pace of it. It wasn't ideal, but it showed that it was strong enough not to cause too much worry.
"It's his head." Gladio wasted no time filling him in. "It bled a lot, but it's slowing down down" He looked over to the soaked cloth he cast aside. Noctis followed his gaze, feeling his breath catch at the sight of it. Blood was seeping into the ground around it, coloring it a rusted muddy red. "I've tried keeping him awake, but he's having a hard time staying conscious."
Ignis listened to every word he said, though he didn't say anything to him. He turned Prompto's head to face him and forced one of his eyes completely open. The blonde whimpered slightly and tried to turn away, but Ignis' strong grip prevented him from doing so and proceeded to do the same to the other eye. He shook his head at seeing how dilated his pupils were. "You did good to keep him awake." He finally spoke, "But we need to get him help as soon as we can."
"He'll be ok though, right?" Noctis asked. He stayed quiet up until this point, not trusting himself to speak before then.
"Physically yes." Ignis stated confidently, "But until he's healed we won't know for sure how sound he is mentally." He didn't miss the shadows the fell over both of their faces, "But I have hopes he'll be fine, since you were able to keep him somewhat awake so far." He noticed Prompto's eyes were closed now, and he quickly shook him before he could fall asleep. "I'm sorry, but you can't sleep yet. Just a little longer and you can sleep all you want."
"K." He whispered, not even feeling up to forming actual words anymore.
Ignis got to his feet and picked up Gladio's jacket off the ground and draped it over his arm, and even though there was probably no saving it, he also retrieved the bandanna, assuming he wouldn't want to lose that. "We'll get him to the car and get to town so we ca get our reward and buy the potions he needs."
Gladio nodded and held Prompto against him as he stood up, he was being extra cautious in lifting him this time now that he was away of his injury. The smaller gasped, as even the smallest movements was enough to cause pain to shoot through his skull. "Sorry." Gladio apologized quietly.
On the way to the Regalia, Gladio had to snap Prompto awake on four different occasions, and it frightened him how difficult it was getting to keep him awake. He was losing what little strength and energy he had fast, and it was making itself obvious in the way his will to not sleep was slipping away.
The moment they got to the car Ignis immediately started it and drove on, going just a little faster than he normally would. Meanwhile in the backseat, Gladio cradled Prompto's head in his lap, never taking his eyes off him out of fear of him falling asleep while he wasn't looking. He brushed the hair out of his face, still hating the distant look he had in his eyes. "It won't be long now." He whispered, hoping he was listening."
To his surprise, Prompto actually looked at him. "Been... 'earing that alot."
"I know, but it's the truth this time. I promise." He reassured, taking his eyes off him for the first time to look down the road. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted when the buildings finally came into view. "See? It's just up ahead." He looked back down and felt the weight come back down full force. "Hey, no sleeping, remember?" He asked shaking his shoulder slightly. When he got no response from the action, he tried again, only harder. "Wake up, Prom."
Hearing the commotion in the back, Noctis gazed back as Gladio was desperately trying to wake up their friend, "Ignis, can you go a little faster?" He asked as panic began to overtake him as well. Everything that followed afterwards seemed to be a blur to all of them.
Gladio was sitting next Prompto, who was still peacefully sleeping, and had been for almost two days now, yet he never left his side, determined to be there when he woke up. The wound on the back of his head was basically fully healed, but he still hadn't waken up since he passed out in the back of the Regalia. Even though Ignis tried to convince him it was alright and he would need time and would wake up when he was ready, it didn't help any to chase away the concern that lingered.
"Gladdy?" It was so soft he wasn't even sure if he really heard it, or if he was imagining it. But looking up he was greeted by those familiar blue eyes staring back out him. It took a few moments to sink in, and even when he did, he couldn't believe it.
"Prompto?" He didn't remember standing up, or even moving for that matter, but he was at the blondes side now, looking down at him. "How are you feeling?"
"Ok, I guess." His voice was a little hoarse from lack of usage, but it least it wasn't slurred anymore. "Have a killer headache and I'm tired, but other than that, I feel pretty ok."
"Glad to hear. Tell me, do you remember anything? About what happened, I mean."
He thought a bit, still fighting through the fogginess that was his memories. "I remember fighting a behemoth, and then getting hit, but nothing after that." He answered, pushing himself up. "But, more importantly, where are we?" He looked around noticing they were in a hotel room.
"Oh, right. Jared was kind enough to spare us a room until you were well enough to move about. Said we could stay here as long as we needed, so take your time getting better, ok?"
"Right." He replied letting himself lean back into the sheets, then he noticed there was something missing. "Where's my bandanna?"
"About that. You may need to get a new one. I'm sorry, but I had to ruin it." He didn't go into detail about the events that occurred, not wanting to remember them himself.
"Oh, I got-" He was interrupted as he choked a little on the dryness of his throat.
Gladio was up in a moment's notice, fetching a glass of water, "You must be dying of thirst." He said, holding the water out to him. "You got it?" He asked as Prompto took the offered glass, hands shaking slightly from still being exhausted.
Prompto nodded as he took a few sips, remembering to drink slowly before he was scolded. "Thanks." He said, handing the glass back. "By the way, I'm never fighting a behemoth again."