Prompto awoke rather early for him, the consistent aching in his knee pulling him out of his merciful slumber. It was still fairly dark out, but there was a tinge of light to the sky. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and took a look around. Everyone else was asleep aside from Ignis, who was standing nearby, but hadn't noticed the other's presence yet. He sat in silence for a while longer, not even bothering trying to get back to sleep, knowing it wouldn't do any good.
After a few moments he noticed how stiff he felt, and felt the need to move and stretch his muscles a bit, but he didn't want to risk flaring up his injury by giving in to that need. So, he settled for stretching his other limbs individually. It didn't completely rid him of his discomfort, but it did make it a little easier to bear.
The small movements were enough to draw Ignis's attention. He turned his gaze to so Prompto's awkward attempts at stretching. "I don't mean to disturb you, but you seem to be having a bit of trouble." He said with amusement.
The blonde slightly jumped, unaware that Ignis had seen him yet. "What? Me? Nah, no trouble here." He replied as he struggled to move his left leg without disrupting the other. "Maybe just a little, but nothing I cant handle."
Ignis ignored him and made his way over anyway, holding out a hand for him. "No reason why you can't stand for a bit, just so long as you put no pressure on that knee of yours." Prompto gladly accepted his hand, squeezing his eyes shut as he was pulled up and his leg moved for the first time since the night before.
He took a moment to catch his breath before nodding to Ignis, "Thanks." he breathed out, opening his eyes. He had one arm draped over Ignis's shoulders, making sure his foot was hovering just over the ground, not even letting his toes brush across the earth. He helped him hobble on over to a tree to hold onto so that he could step away t put the fire out.
"We will have to leave soon. We appear to be safe for the time being, but I cannot be certain how long we have before they find out where we are." He stepped over to Gladio, who woke up on the first attempt. Then moved on to the prince, who took a bit more persuasion to get moving.
"Ugh, why are you waking us up so early, the sun isn't even up yet." Noctis whined, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Less whining, more moving your ass." Gladio scolded as he helped to smother the last of the embers. "Ok, Prom, how are we doing this? You can hobble along with assistance, or I can throw you over my shoulder again."
The blonde nervously laughed, "Uhh, I think I would rather do whatever I can that doesn't involve being man handled."
"As you wish princess." Gladio replied, taking the trees spot as supporter. "Just make sure you let me know if the pain gets too much worse or anything." He shifted himself to make sure he was supporting the majority have the other's weight. He at least wanted to make the going for him as easy as he could. If Prompto was aware of what he was doing, he didn't say anything.
"Very well, if everyone is ready, we should set forth. We aren't too far from the Chocobo ranch, so we'll make our way there. It's probably about a day's travel normally, but given the circumstances, it may take more time than that. Hopefully we can get some reception before we reach there and give Cindy a call and see if she can come and pick up the Regalia."
"This is Cindy we're talking about." Prompto chimed dreamily, "Of course she can."
"Come on lover boy." Gladio said, practically dragging him along, "The faster you move, the sooner you'll get to see her again."
"I hope so, I miss her." He responded, absentmindedly hopping along.
"You just saw her yesterday." Noctis said from in front.
"Still, one day too long if you ask me."
Ignis was in the front, since he was the only one with any sense of direction, and he could usually spot danger with now issue. Luckily they had covered quite a bit of ground without any obstacles or surprises. The going was still a bit slow, but it was still considerably decent for someone with only one functioning leg. He threw the occasional glance back now and again, checking for any signs in Prompto's features that told him if he was still going strong, knowing that he wouldn't say anything if he wasn't. Fortunately, with Gladio's assistance he was doing quite well.
"How much further do we have to go?" Prompto asked, breathing heavily. Turns out that hopping on one leg took quite a bit of energy, even when someone was holding most of your weight.
Ignis thought for a moment, "Maybe about a fourth of the way there. We've been walking for approximately four hours anyway, so this is just a guess. Do you need to stop for a break?"
"No, no. I can go all day. Besides, we want to get out of here as soon as possible, right?" His voice carried a note to it that told the others he wouldn't stop until he absolutely had to, or until they made him.
"If you say so." Ignis stated before turning around and continuing forward.
It was well into the afternoon before their pace really began to take a toll. They had managed to travel for a good eight hours though. Prompto had slowed down considerably, but it was Gladio that finally spoke up. "Iggy, I think it's time for a quick break. We all could use one." He added that last bit for the blonde's sake, not wanting him to feel like they were stopping just for him, even if they kind of were.
Ignis took a look back, taking in how hard Prompto was breathing now, and how his fingers ever so slightly gripped Gladio's shoulder. "We'll go on for a little longer. We should be close to a river by now. We should stop there so we can get some water and maybe catch something to eat."
Gladio looked over the Prompto, "Think you can make it that far?"
"Yeah, of course." He took a few deep breaths, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He tried to give him a reassuring smile, although it came off as a bit forced and unnatural.
"I'll take your word for it. Just make sure you don't over do i-"
"Everyone, get down!" Ignis called out of nowhere.
Ignis fell to the ground, grabbing Noctis and pulling him down as well. Gladio followed his example and pulled Prompto to the ground before using his own body to try and provide some protection. The harsh movement jerked his leg enough to make him cry out. As he was trying to fight off the blackness that threatened him, he could vaguely hear shots being fired rather close to them. He was also aware of himself being lifted. He didn't realize it until his vision had cleared a bit, be he could also his own quiet whimpers.
"Prompto, I need you to listen to me. Can you hear me?" Gladio was looking straight into his pain-filled eyes and waited for him to nod. "Ok, I'm going lie you down under these bushes. I need to to stay here, and not move. We'll take care of these guys." He gently placed him on the ground before running off to join the others.
He lied there, unmoving. Partially from the pain, but also because he didn't want to put himself in danger which would result in his friends needing to help him again. He listened as the battle waged on; he could hear ever shatter of an enemy and every battle cry from each of his friends. But he wasn't worried until he heard a different kind of scream. One of fear and surpise mingled into one. He peaked between the leaves to see one of them had Noctis pinned to the ground. The others had noticed, but they were too preoccupied to come to his aid.
In the spur of the moment, he drew his handgun, and took aim, directly at the thing's head. Without hesitation he pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet went straight through their head and they fell to the side, freeing Noctis.
Gladio instantaneously knew who the gunshot belonged to, having fought with the others long enough to know everything about them and their weapons. He shot a look over to find the end of his gun poking through. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another troop heading towards that same spot. He grit his teeth and fought harder against the three he was already fighting.
Prompto sighed in relief now that Noctis was no longer in danger and leaned back down, closing his eyes. He was torn from his reverie as the leaves began to rustle before a hand reached in and grabbed his wrist. He frantically pulled his hand out of their grasp and continued to drag himself deeper into the foliage. There was a bit more ruffling around and then there was a flash of light as something slashed by. Everything was silent for a second before someone busted through the curtain of leaves.
"What the hell do you think you were doing?!" Gladio asked rather harshly. Though it was more out of concern than anger. "You are in no condition to be fighting, you could have gotten yourself killed." He crouched down and helped the younger up and out before finishing his scolding. "I told you not to do anything." He took a steadying breath before adding in a softer and calmer tone, "We can't have you getting any more hurt than you already are, ok?"
"I-I know, I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry. Noctis was in trouble and you two were busy with your own enemies. I couldn't just watch." He looked down to the ground, but instantly looked back up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you, I appreciate the back-up" Noctis said, nodding his head. "You did good."
"We should get going, I doubt that will be all of them." Ignis interrupted the moment, eager to get to a safer place as soon as possible.
The others were quick to agree, all wanting to get out of this are as much as he did. With that they went on their way, ever so vigilant of their surroundings this time.