Here we go, Prompto walks us through Episode Ignis! Enjoy!
Noct is alive. Noct is alive. Noct is alive.
Prompto repeated the statement in his head as he ran through the ruins of Altissia's street where none of its previous beauty was left. Somewhere along the way, he'd gotten separated from Gladio, but as much as he would have loved having the big guy with him right now, reuniting with him wasn't his top priority right now. Noct wasn't dead, not yet, but maybe he would be if he didn't find him fast-
He cut off the train of thoughts, willing himself not to go there. Instead, he focused on feeling Noct, the faint but thankfully still steady flow of water he had come to associate with him over the years.
The thing with the Armiger connection that nobody had told Prompto about before they'd hooked him up to Noct's magic was that he wasn't just connected to Noct, but to everyone who had access to the Armiger. In his case, that was only Ignis and Gladio- and at first, he couldn't help but wonder what it had felt like for the Glaives, where so many people were all connected to the king's magic. He'd asked Gladio about it once, and apparently, the Glaives received special mental training to tune the others out, or at least banish it to the back of their mind as some sort of background tune. That's how he had understood it, at least.
Nobody had bothered to give him or the other three the same kind of training, but Prompto absolutely did not mind. In fact, he was almost ridiculously grateful for the connection. Constantly feeling three other souls - or whatever it was, he had to admit he still didn't really get how that whole magic thing actually worked - besides his own did wonders for his loneliness. He… hadn't felt alone ever since the connection had been made.
It was probably kind of pathetic to feel that way, but right now, he was even more grateful for the connection than usual, since it told him that they all were alive, at least. Gladio and Ignis were both alright, which was a relief considering Ignis had been on that collapsing bridge. And Noct… yeah. Noct was alive. Didn't get much better than that, Prompto figured.
Another cool thing Prompto had noticed was that each of his friends felt different. He'd spent long nights trying to come up with descriptions, and he'd ended up with some that he felt were quite poetic, and also really really embarrassing if he ever spoke them aloud.
See, Noct felt like water. A slow but steady stream most of the time, calm and soothing, but boy could he turn dangerous. Like an actual river after heavy rain, and yeah, wasn't that another genius metaphor. Something bad happened, like a thunderstorm, and Noct got absolutely deadly.
...right now, he felt more like a dried up creek, though. All the more reason for him to hurry up.
As he rounded another corner and realized with frustration that he had ended up in the same place he'd already been before, he spotted a familiar figure in the distance.
Gladio.
Seeing him nearly brought Prompto to tears, but he swallowed them down, didn't slow down and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Gladio! Hey, big guy!"
Gladio stopped and turned around, eyes widening when he saw Prompto. Effortlessly, he caught Prompto's shoulder when he barreled into him and nearly slammed into Gladio's ridiculously hard abs with his nose.
A damn rock, Prompto thought. Gladio was a damn rock, and that brought him right back to his metaphors. A rock was what Gladio felt like, not just physically when his body was a real threat to Prompto's poor nose, but also through the Armiger. Nothing could move him, Prompto often thought of him as indestructible- the scar on his chest was proof for that, any normal person would be dead. And he protected them all, not just Noct. Gladio's soul thrummed through his consciousness as a strong, immovable presence to lean on. Right now, that was exactly what Prompto needed.
"Did you find the others? Did you find Noct?" Gladio demanded immediately, his expression grim with worry.
"Not since I dropped him off, I've been trying to find him too," Prompto said. "I don't suppose you've heard from Iggy?"
Gladio shook his head. "No. But he's okay."
"He feels okay," Prompto agreed, referring to the connection he knew they could both feel.
"Yeah. Come on. We gotta find Noct."
They broke into a sprint once again, and Prompto was suddenly really glad for all the stamina he'd built up by running regularly. Even now, his breathing became labored fast and his side hurt, but he kept going.
Altissia had been an adventure to navigate through even before Leviathan had used it as her sparring ground, but with many of the bridges collapsed and everything burning, it was a maze and nearly impossible to find a way through if you were in a hurry.
Just as he and Gladio were forced to turn around again because the street was blocked, Ignis' presence became a lot more noticeable.
Iggy felt like fire, which was awesome because of his name, but normally, it was like… a fire in a hearth, maybe. Warm, welcoming and nurturing, and kind of like the abstract concept of home. In battle, Ignis' fire became a controlled detonation, hitting the intended target only and returning to its initial state immediately after.
Now was different. A whole lot different. Ignis was a blaze, an actual firestorm that somehow felt literally anything but controlled.
"What… the fuck," Gladio panted next to him. "The hell is he doing?!"
Prompto didn't have enough breath to reply, but he silently agreed. This didn't feel like Iggy, but it was unmistakably him. Nobody else was hooked up to their literal mind and felt like fire, after all, but this was worrying.
He urged himself to go faster when a curative was pulled from the Armiger, and then another one, and another one. Beside him, Gladio sped up as well, because Iggy was usually so reluctant to take potions for himself even though he regularly forced everyone else to use one even for what was barely more than scrapes and bruises.
Damn, Iggy, what are you doing, Prompto wondered distantly as they encountered yet another broken bridge that delayed their search even more.
One second, Prompto was listening to Gladio swearing, and the next, he found himself doubling over with sudden pain in his entire head, burning up from his left arm, his face-
He staggered to a halt and leant on a wall of the nearest building for support, one hand coming up to his head. It felt like he was being burnt like a stack of dry wood, Ignis' fire no longer warm, or even hot, but positively scorching, destructive, and this wasn't good, this wasn't good at all.
"Fuck! " Gladio gasped. Prompto couldn't focus on looking at him, but from the sound, he could tell Gladio was leaning against the wall as well.
"What is happening? " Prompto choked, nearly unable to breathe through the pain. This hurt, but at the same time, it didn't hurt like his own pain. He wouldn't be able to explain it if asked, but somehow, he just knew that this pain was Iggy's, strong enough for them to feel it through the connection.
He wasn't able to tell how long they were standing there, even though he logically knew they had to get moving, but neither he nor Gladio managed to even stand upright on their own.
And then, just like that, both the pain and the fire died down. Unlike after all their other battles, it didn't stop at a cozy hearth fire, though. Instead, the fire went out completely-
The fire went out completely!? But that would mean Ignis…
"Gladio," Prompto forced himself to say, his voice sounding pained even to his own ears. "Gladio, he-"
"No!" Gladio bellowed, moving closer to Prompto as if he were about to grab him by his collar, but he stopped himself mid-motion and clenched his hand into a tight fist instead. "No. He's still here. Weak, but…"
So Prompto focused. For a long, horrifying moment, he couldn't feel anything besides Noct and Gladio, and wondered if Gladio was just imagining things they both wanted to feel, but then- there! A tiny flame, flickering like a candle in the wind, about to go out any second.
He shuddered. This was so unlike Ignis he wanted to cry. "We need to find them."
Gladio gave a grim nod and they took off once again.
Prompto kept stealing glances at Ignis. Not that he needed to be careful about Iggy noticing now, it wasn't like he could see him.
He focused on Ignis' fire again, something he hadn't been able to stop doing ever since Iggy had woken up. The fire was nearly back to normal now, if a little subdued, but it was hard to forget the horrible moments during which Prompto had thought it had gone out forever.
Iggy's right here, and Noct's gonna wake up soon too, he reminded himself when the dark thoughts once again became too overwhelming and he forced his gaze away from Ignis and onto the destroyed city. Not that that was much better. There really wasn't much that was good right now, and wasn't that a depressing thought.
It wasn't long before his eyes landed on Ignis once again, though. Ignis' face was tilted up towards the sun and his breathing was calm, and if not for the iron grip he had on that cane Accordo had gifted him with, Prompto would have thought he was asleep. Not that he could have blamed him, really. He was still on painkillers, the strong stuff, and he seemed exhausted despite sleeping a lot. Whatever had happened had taken a lot out of him, and Prompto's mind already circled back to the nearly dead flame.
"Prompto, is something the matter?"
Prompto flinched violently and averted his eyes bashfully. He should have known better than to assume Ignis didn't still notice literally everything, even Prompto staring at him.
"No, it's all good, I just…" he trailed off, his deliberately cheerful voice faltering near the end. Whatever he had been about to bullshit to brush Iggy off and pretend everything was fine got stuck right in his throat as he looked at Ignis. That gentle expression that hadn't changed one bit and the way he was tilting his head ever so slightly to listen, something he had started doing after he'd woken up from his… coma, yeah, it had been a coma. Brief, but…
"I'm so glad you're still here," he blurted out, face burning with embarrassment, but that, at least, Iggy couldn't see. Leaning closer to Ignis, just a little so their shoulders were lightly brushing together, he fought very hard to keep himself from getting all clingy and annoying, but he really wanted nothing more than just latch onto Ignis and never let go.
Ignis' expression softened even further. His arm came up and wrapped itself around Prompto's waist, pulling him in.
Prompto followed readily, pressing a bit closer to Ignis than what was probably socially acceptable, not that Ignis had ever cared about that kind of stuff anyway.
He let Prompto lean into his side and press his face into his shoulder without a comment. Instead, he turned his head and lightly pressed his lips to the top of Prompto's head.
"Oh, Prompto."
"Sorry, sorry," Prompto sniffled, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. He hadn't meant to cry, but something about Ignis made him want to abandon all caution and just weep into his shoulder. Luckily, he was able to keep himself from acting on that urge, at least. "Just… You feel like fire. Through- through the Armiger, I mean. And it was nearly out, I thought-"
He choked, unable to continue. Tears blurred his vision and he blindly grasped for Ignis' hand, squeezing it tightly. "I'm sorry," he repeated miserably.
"Don't be. I'm here," Ignis told him, never letting him go.
Prompto squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to take a deep breath, willing himself not to start crying in earnest. It worked, sort of, and he relaxed a little, but he made no move to pull away from Ignis. Just a bit longer.
Okay so the whole feeling each other thing might be a bit over the top here but I don't even care, I just wanna write about their wonderful friendship that now includes feeling each other like this, you're welcome. They can't normally feel each other's pain btw, this is just because of the ring.
Also, I love Prompto to pieces, he's right behind Ignis in my favourite character ranking, and I also love writing those two being friends so here's to affection-starved Prompto and affectionate Ignis and a lot of cuddling.
I just hc Ignis as giving out affection and forehead kisses and hugs very readily if the person needs it and I can also totally see him call his friends pet names like 'darling' or 'dear' bYE
ANYWAY, in case you're wondering what Prompto feels like, I couldn't decide between a summer breeze (because I was going with the four elements at first, so Noct = water, Ignis = fire, Gladio = earth and Prompto = air because I thought it fit them well) and literal sunshine so yeah, feel free to choose.
I'm also on Twitter ( Butterfly_OnIce) and Tumblr (thisfairytalegonebad), and even on Discord too (thisfairytalegonebad#2939) and I'm always happy to chat, about my fics or these boys or literally anything!
Stay tuned for Noct telling us about Episode Prompto!