Author's Note: A companion story to Momentis and Revelations. You don't need to read those to get this story, but you might want to. Revelations would be directly after this story, and Momentis takes place after Gralea.
Waiting and Worry
by Philippe de la Matraque
Gladiolus knelt beside Ignis in shock. Noctis lay just beyond with Prompto at his side. He wasn't moving. Ignis was conscious for a bit. He'd asked Noctis to forgive him for something Gladio couldn't understand. Had he failed to protect Noctis? Was Noctis dead?
"He's breathing," Prompto said as he turned Noctis over. "I don't see any wounds."
Ignis's eyes had closed after asking for forgiveness, and they hadn't opened again. He had obvious wounds. But instead of red welts, the burns on his face were silver. One covered his entire left eye. His breaths came hard and Gladio couldn't wake him. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't carry both Ignis and Noctis off this altar.
"Weskham?" Prompto said. Gladio looked over. He had his phone to his ear. Gladio remembered that Weskham had dropped them off here in a boat. "Can you come closer? Yeah, we found them. No, I don't think so. Both unconscious at this point." He put the phone back in his pocket. Then he pocketed the ring that was lying between the two. "Weskham's coming," he told Gladio. "Ignis is too tall for me, but I can handle Noctis. You get Iggy."
Gladio nodded. He could hear the boat coming. He wasn't sure about lifting Ignis. He didn't know if it would hurt him more. But he couldn't leave him here in the rain. Should he try a potion or an elixir? "Maybe we should try an elixir," he suggested to Prompto.
"I don't know," Prompto replied. "Might make things better. Maybe a hi-potion?
Gladio nodded. They both summoned one and placed it in the hands of the unconscious men in front of them. They helped them squeeze until the vessel broke. Nothing changed. Noctis didn't wake up. Ignis didn't move and his burns didn't heal.
The boat pulled up alongside the altar, so the time had come. Prompto used Noctis's arm to lift and drape him over his shoulder. Gladio moved to Ignis's other side, the one with less burns. He slipped one arm under Ignis's knees and the other under his shoulders. Ignis was tall but thin and that made it easier for Gladio to lift him. Once up, he tilted Ignis so his head wasn't falling back but laying on his shoulder. Ignis didn't protest; his body was completely slack. Gladio could hear his ragged breathing better now, so close to his ear. He stepped gingerly into the boat and carefully laid Ignis down beside Noctis on the boat's deck. Weskham's eyes grew wide when he saw Ignis. "I'll take you to the Leville. Maybe Claudia knows where we can find a doctor in all of this."
Gladio sat cross-legged on the deck beside Ignis and lifted the other man's hand. "You need to keep breathing, Iggy." On this whole journey, he had never once seriously even considered that one of them would actually die. They were too strong for that. Ignis, too. His slight build hid a truly powerful fighter. Something incredible must have happened to bring him to his present state. Ignis's hand hung limp in his own.
The Leville, fortunately, had escaped major damage during the fight with Leviathan. Gladio cradled Ignis again, while Weskham helped Prompto with Noctis. They put Noctis in his own room. Gladio carried Ignis to the other room and laid him gently on the bed closest to the window. Ignis was still breathing but not easily. Gladio urged Prompto to see about that doctor.
Prompto nodded and hurried out of the room. Gladio pulled off Ignis's boots and pulled a blanket off the other bed to cover him. Then he sat back on the other bed, holding his head in his hands. What would they do if Ignis died? It seemed hours before the doctor arrived. It was dark outside.
"I could find no wounds on the other young man," the doctor said, rousing Gladio from his seat. "Now what have we here?" He was an older man, maybe in his fifties. He pulled back the blanket and unbuttoned Ignis's shirt. He used a stethoscope to listen to Ignis's chest. Then he used a light to look at Ignis's throat. He shined it over the burns, too. "I've never seen burns like this before," he said. "Do you know what caused it?"
"We weren't there when it happened," Gladio told him. "We found him like that. He was conscious, for a little while. Not since."
The doctor nodded. Very gingerly, he lifted Ignis's left eyelid. Gladio couldn't see it from his perspective on the other bed. Prompto was standing at the foot of Ignis's bed though, and he looked a bit sick. The doctor looked at his other eye, too.
"Odd," he said as he rummaged through the large bag he'd wheeled in beside the bed. "It's as if his face was on fire, but it doesn't seem to have singed his hair." He pulled out a small canister and mask. "Since I don't know what caused these burns, I can only really treat the symptoms and hope for the best." He turned the valve on the canister then slipped the strap of the mask over Ignis's head. He carefully placed the mask over his mouth and nose. He returned to his bag and pulled out a tube. He squeezed some onto his gloved finger and carefully spread it over Ignis's burns. "I'm going to leave this salve with you. If it looks dry, reapply. He's likely to scar. Once it's scarred over, you can stop the salve." He lifted the edge of the mask off Ignis's nose and put some of the salve on the welt there as well. "Be very careful over his eyes. The skin there is very thin." Next he pulled out a bottle and syringe. He filled the latter with liquid from the former and set it on the bed. "Oftentimes," he said, "burns lead to infections." He pulled Ignis's arm to turn him over and removed the shirt from it. He laid him back down and found a vein. "Broad spectrum antibiotic," he explained as he injected Ignis. "Keep watch over him. Remove the mask when the oxygen runs out. See if you can get him into some pajamas. Keep him warm and watch that eye. I don't like the looks of it. The other's not much better. Watch for fever, and call me if he gets worse." He stood up then and handed Gladio a card with his number.
Gladio felt relieved just to have instructions. He didn't have to try and think what to do. When the doctor left, he and Prompto worked together to undress Ignis and get him into pajama pants. They both agreed that the doctor may have to give him another shot before this was over, so they left the pajama shirt off for now. Gladio lifted Ignis again and Prompto pulled back the bed's covers. Gladio laid him back down and Prompto covered him up to his neck. And that was it. There was still oxygen in the tank; the salve was still glistening on the burns. There was nothing else to do but wait.
"I'm going to sit with Noct a bit," Gladio decided. "You stay with Ignis?"
Prompto nodded.
Gladio found Noctis still dressed under his blankets. He simply looked like he was sleeping. And that's really all they figured was wrong with him. Leviathan had exhausted him so fully the he could be manhandled and carried and still not wake up. Gladio really thought he should wake up though. Noctis had known Ignis longer than he'd known either him or Prompto. They had grown up together like brothers.
"You need to wake up, Noctis," Gladio told him. "Iggy's not okay. You don't want to wake up later and find that he died while you were asleep. If he dies, you'll want to be there." Noctis didn't stir.
Prompto very gently spread salve on Ignis's burns. He removed the mask, as the oxygen tank was empty. He was relieved to find Ignis's breathing was stronger, more even. Except for the burns, it just looked like he was sleeping, like Noct. He heard heavy steps behind him.
"How is he?" Gladio asked.
Prompto turned to him and smiled. "He's breathing better. He's not struggling for every breath like before." Prompto hoped that mean he would survive, that the worst was behind them. His stomach rumbled. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
"I could eat," Gladio replied. "But I haven't really slept either."
"Okay," Prompto decided. "I'll go see about some food and you can sleep here for a bit. I still don't want to leave him alone, you know."
"Yeah," Gladio said.
Prompto didn't really know where to get food. The city had been evacuated. With the level of destruction outside, it wasn't going to recover so quickly. Well, there was Weskham. The gondolas weren't running, so he gave him a call.
"How are they?" Weskham asked when he picked up the call.
"Noct is just completely exhausted," Prompto told him. "Ignis has turned a corner, I think. He's breathing stronger."
"That's good to hear," Weskham said. "I can bring you two enough food to tide you over for today. Once the people start coming back, I might be able to do more."
"Thank you, Weskham," Prompto said. "And if you see Cid, could you let him know what's going on?"
"I'll do that," Weskham said.
Prompto pocketed his phone and went into Noctis's room. Noctis was so exhausted, he hadn't even moved at all. Prompto remembered how he felt after sitting or laying in the same position too long. Things started going numb and then hurt when he moved again. So he pulled back Noctis's blankets and turned him onto his left side. He bent Noctis's knees so he'd be more comfortable and covered him again. He thought maybe he should do the same for Ignis. But he didn't want to wake Gladio, and he didn't know if would make things worse for Ignis.
"Iggy's doing better," he told Noctis. "I think maybe he's going to be okay. Maybe you know what happened. He's still asleep, too." Then he remembered something. "I have your ring. It was lying there between you and Iggy. I'm keeping it safe for you."
There was a knock on the door, so Prompto went to open it. Weskham was there with a bag of groceries. "You can make some sandwiches," Weskham said. "There's also fruit and some salad materials."
Prompto thanked him, then moved to the common area. He found a banana inside the bag and peeled its skin back. He ate it and checked the news on his phone. He yawned hard. He hadn't really slept well either. He had been afraid Ignis would be dead when he woke up, and he just didn't know what he'd do if that happened. He put his phone away and leaned his head back. Ignis was better. He could sleep now.
He awoke to the sounds of the paper bag rustling. Gladio was making himself a sandwich. "You'll be more comfortable in a bed," he told Prompto.
"Iggy still good?" Prompto asked.
"He's still out but he's still breathing. I put more salve on his face," Gladio replied.
Prompto nodded and got up. As he walked, he set a timer on his phone to wake him up in three hours. He checked Ignis for himself. He looked so much younger without his glasses and with his hair down. The burns on his face weren't silver anymore. Prompto hoped that meant he was healing. He touched Ignis's eyelid very lightly and lifted it. The white part of Ignis's eye was very red, and the iris looked cloudy. But it still looked, for the most part, like an eye. So he could hope it would get better.
Prompto lay on his right side so he could see Ignis if he opened his eyes. He yawned again, even deeper, and decided to turn Ignis over when he woke up in three hours.
The alarm went off and Prompto yawned and stretched. He sat up and walked the one step to Ignis's bed. He knew instantly that something was wrong. There was a sheen of sweat on Ignis's face but he was shivering violently. The burns over his left eye were red and swelling. Ignis's breathing was ragged and uneven. Prompto touched a clear part of his forehead. It was hot. He very carefully lifted Ignis's eyelid. He closed it quickly. He felt sick. But he was more afraid then sick. He ran to the common room. This time, he was waking Gladio.
Gladio startled awake. One look at Prompto's face told him something horrible had happened. "Iggy?" he asked, fearing the worst.
"We need the doctor. He's got a fever. His eye—" Prompto couldn't finish.
Gladio pulled the phone from his pocket. He was glad Ignis hadn't died but he was worried about this new setback. He dug out the card with the doctor's number. Then he handed the phone to Prompto because he'd seen Ignis last.
"He's shivering and sweating at the same time." He looked pained as he spoke about Ignis's eye. "It doesn't look like an eye anymore. It smelled bad." Prompto nodded and hung up the phone. "He'll be right over." he said as he handed the phone back to Gladio. Then they both went in to Ignis's room.
Gladio stopped at the door. He remembered something his mother would do for him or Iris when they had a fever. He went to the bathroom and wet a washcloth with cold water. He wrung it out then returned to Ignis. His mother would drape it over his forehead, but the burns reached into Ignis's forehead. He didn't want to cover them with that cloth. So he put it on Ignis's neck instead. Then he untucked Ignis's right hand and held it. It was hot in his hand.
The doctor arrived with two others in tow, a woman and a man. They each carried equipment. They ushered him and Prompto out of the room. They waited at the door. Then the doctor checked Ignis's eye. He nodded and the woman pulled back the blankets covering him. The other man met them at the door. "You're not going to want to see this. We have to remove his left eye."
Prompto made a brief, high-pitched noise. Gladio felt overwhelmed. "No," he said. Ignis couldn't lose one of his eyes.
"If we don't," the man said, "it could kill him. It's very infected. It's not going to get better. It's affecting his whole body. He can live with one eye."
Gladio turned away. He went to Noctis's room. Noctis was turned on his side, so Gladio went around the side of the bed. "Wake up, Noctis! Iggy's in there getting his eye taken out. He might still die. You have to wake up!"
Prompto felt his own eyes tearing up for Iggy. What had happened? Noctis was maybe the center, the focal point, of their foursome. But Ignis was the backbone. He'd been there the longest. He was the smartest, the thinker of everything, the strategizer, the one to find a bright spot in everything. He was always so sure of himself, but never conceited about it. He made Prompto want to be sure of himself. And no one anywhere could cook like Ignis could. They ate better at camp them they did when they stayed at top-notch hotels like the Leville.
What would Ignis do when he woke up with only one eye? If he woke up.
It was early evening when the doctor found him in the common room. Gladio was there with him.
"He's made it this far," the doctor said. "I gave him more antibiotics. All we can do now is wait. If the fever breaks, he will recover."
Prompto realized the other side of that was if it didn't, Ignis would die. He felt sick again. When the doctor and his companions left, Prompto went back in with Ignis. He wanted him to live, hoped he would live. But if he didn't, Prompto didn't want him to be alone. Noctis should be there, but Prompto would be there for him.
Ignis was lying on his right side. He had a thermometer strip stuck to his forehead. Right now, it was in the red, showing 102 degrees. It was 1700 hours in the evening. Some of Ignis hair had fallen and gotten stuck in the salve on his burns. Prompto brushed it away. He sat down on the floor there and reached under the blankets for one of Ignis's hands.
He looked at Ignis's face. There was no large hole or anything. He just looked like his eyes were closed. It didn't even look like one was missing. "Noctis is still sleeping," he told the other man, "like you. But I'll stay with you so you won't be alone."
It got dark outside the window, and Gladio brought him a sandwich and a glass of water. The thermometer strip showed 103. Prompto had a hard time swallowing his food. It just didn't seem right, eating while Ignis lay there dying. Gladio replaced the cold cloth at ignis's neck and they waited silently. Ignis lay still but kept breathing.
Prompto jerked awake when something moved in his hand. He was still holding Ignis's hand. He looked up. The thermometer was green: 98 degrees. Iggy was still breathing. Prompto squeezed his hand, and Iggy squeezed back lightly. He stirred. "Iggy?" he tried. Iggy didn't wake up. Not yet. Prompto tried to stand up but his legs protested. He'd been sitting so long they'd gotten stuck. He stood slowly, gritting his teeth until the pain subsided. Gladio had nodded off on the other bed. Prompto woke him.
"Is he—" Gladio started.
Prompto beamed. "His fever broke! He's alive!"
They both went to the far side of Ignis's bed. His burns were more dark now than red. They were scarring. Prompto felt bad about that. Ignis had had a nice face before this. Now it looked like parts of it were ripped away. Still, he was alive and that was a good thing. A very good thing. He removed the thermometer from Ignis's forehead.
"Makes me wonder which one will wake up first, huh?"
"My money's on Iggy," Prompto replied. "He was always an early riser."
"I'm going to make sure he's got clean clothes when he wakes up." Gladio left the room.
Prompto paced it. He was still stiff but he was determined to be there when Ignis woke up.
He dozed off a few times but he was awake when Ignis rolled over. Prompto rushed to his side.
"Hey, Iggy," he said. "Welcome back."
Ignis's one eye opened. "Am I awake?" he croaked. His eye was kind of milky. He closed it again.
"Yeah," Prompto told him. "You are. You had us worried."
Ignis blinked a few times and tried opening his eye again. "Why is it so dark?" he breathed.
Prompto didn't know what to say. It was 1230. Sunlight was pouring in from the window. It was anything but dark. His happiness started to plummet. "Ignis, can you see me?"
Ignis's face lost all color just then. "No," he whispered, squinting. "I just see dark. My eyes hurt." He closed his right eye again. "Is Noct alright?"
"Yeah," Prompto told him. "He's still sleeping in the other room. Leviathan took all his energy and then some. He's been sleeping three whole days now. Just like you."
"Three days?" Ignis started to touch his face but Prompto stopped him.
"You have some very bad burns," he told him. "You have to be very careful with them."
Ignis started to sit up and Prompto helped him. Then he ran to the dresser and grabbed the pajama shirt. Ignis did not like being exposed. "Here, let's get this shirt on you." He helped Ignis put his arms in the sleeves and button it up. He really felt Ignis deserved to know. "Ignis, your left eye got very infected. The doctor, he had to, um, remove it."
Ignis's breathing stopped for a few minutes. His face went white again. Finally, he blew his breath out slowly and the color returned to his face. "So be it," he whispered. "Is there anything to eat?"
"Yeah," Prompto said. "We still have some fruit. I can bring you some."
Ignis shook his head. "I need to stretch my legs." He slowly moved his legs to the side of the bed.
"Okay." Prompto helped him stand. Once he was steady, he guided him out to the common area where Gladio was snoozing. They moved slowly and Prompto led Ignis to a chair. Prompto kicked Gladio's foot to wake him. "Look who's hungry, Gladio!"
Gladio bolted upright. "Iggy! You're awake!"
Ignis opened his one eye briefly then closed it again. "Are you well, Gladio?" he asked.
Gladio looked to Prompto. Prompto shook his head. "Yeah," Gladio said. "I'm fine. Been worried about you."
Prompto checked the grocery bag. He hoped there was something easy for Ignis to eat. He found a baggy of sliced apple pieces. He grabbed that and opened it before putting in Ignis's hands. "Apple slices," he told him. "We'll call Weskham and see if he can get more."
"This will do," Ignis said. He started eating.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Gladio asked.
Ignis thought for a moment. "I remember finding Noctis and Luna. She had passed. I don't remember anything else." When he finished the apple, he asked for some water. "I feel sticky," he said. "I would really like a shower."