Chapter 3

Ignis slowly opened his eyes and discovered he was lying in a meadow of royal blue sylleblossoms. The sun was shining brightly making the delicate flowers sparkle. His glasses were gone, but he could see more vividly and clearly than he ever had.

It was astonishingly beautiful. He couldn't remember a time in his life when he felt more peaceful or safe. The soothing atmosphere made his eyelids feel heavy. He started to drift off until an angelic voice called his name.

"Ignis," she said warmly, "you have to wake up." Ignis opened his eyes again and saw a beautiful woman kneeling beside him.

"Lady Lunafreya," he tried to move, he wanted to respectfully greet her, but his limbs felt like lead weights. Her hair fell loosely to her shoulders and she was wearing an elegant white gown. Her wedding dress? Ignis was having trouble thinking clearly. He stared up into her face.

"Are we in Tenebrae?" He thought sylleblossoms only grew in Tenebrae.

"No...we are not in a physical place," she replied calmly. Ignis' former peacefulness was replaced with growing concern. She noticed his distress and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"...not a physical place?" Ignis waited a moment before finishing his thought. "Is this...the afterlife?"

"You might call it that. My mortal life has come to an end," she said it solemnly, but not with sadness. Ignis felt his heart sink. He struggled to sit up. Luna put an arm around his shoulders to help.

"Then I have failed you. Please forgive me." She kept her arm around him, comforting him.

"You did everything you could. It was not your fate to save me," Ignis found little comfort in these words, but he greatly appreciated them. "All of this was meant to happen. It is part of the prophecy." After a pause he turned to her.

"And Noctis?" He couldn't bear it if Noctis had been lost. She smiled.

"He defeated Leviathan. He is alive and well." Ignis felt so relieved, but there was another important question to ask.

"If I am here with you, does that mean I too have passed?"

"No," she said as she stood up. "You are in between."

"In between?" Ignis was finding it very difficult to grasp what was happening.

"Yes. You are between life and death." This was a very shocking thing to hear, but he hardly knew how to respond. "Your friends are trying to save you," she turned away from him for a moment and looked off into the distance.

"You have a difficult journey ahead of you," she said somberly, "but you must try. Noctis needs you." She said it with great conviction, but Ignis did not need to be convinced. He would never abandon Noctis if he had even a fraction of life left in him.

"What must I do?" He said as he looked up at Luna. She held out her hand and he took it. With her help, he managed to stand up.

"You have to go back." Once he was standing in front of her, he noticed just how much taller he was. It made her seem so much younger and more vulnerable than she had a moment ago.

"What is the way back?" He asked, still very confused. It was difficult to hold on to a thought-much like in a dream. She pointed to an opening in the distance-he hadn't noticed it before.

"You must follow that path." The two of them walked towards the opening. As it came into view, Ignis could see that the pathway led to a dark forest. He felt nothing but dread when he looked at it. He suddenly had a powerful desire to stay where he was.

"You must make your journey soon," she said, "the longer you stay here the less likely you are to leave it."

"Will you walk with me?" It was a question, but also a plea.

"I cannot. Only you can." She seemed pained by this. "I am so happy I got to meet you-even if it was like this."

"The pleasure was most certainly mine," he bowed before her and took her hand. He lightly kissed it. He was determined to observe etiquette.

"Godspeed, Ignis." He nodded in response and started to walk towards the forest.

"Wait-" He stopped and turned around. Luna walked towards him and clasped his left hands between both of hers and looked straight into his eyes. "You must remember not to fall asleep-no matter how tempting it might seem." He placed his right hand over hers.

"I will not fail, Lady Luna." She nodded and unclasped his hands. It was time to go.

Prompto sat in a chair beside Ignis' bed. The hospital was overcrowded, but they'd managed to get him a small private room. Ignis' status and role in protecting the citizens of Altissia had accorded him some special treatment.

It had been over 12 hours since they'd rescued Ignis, but they were just now getting an opportunity to see him. His eyes and forehead were wrapped in clean bandages. His usually perfectly coiffed hair was matted and clung to his forehead. He was still unconscious and that scared Prompto more than anything. His vital signs had stabilized, but they kept him on oxygen and several IVs. One was an antibiotic, that much Prompto knew. He assumed it was purely preventative.

Ignis' familiar Crownsguard attire had been replaced with hospital clothing which looked like ugly pajamas to Prompto. He was sure Ignis would hate them. He seemed to be peaceful, though, and that gave Prompto a bit of hope.

Gladio paced around the room. He found it impossible to be calm or still. With Ignis out of commission, he was the de facto commander of their small group.

"You think he can hear us?" Prompto asked as he looked at Ignis' bandaged face.

"Probably not. He's out cold." Prompto disagreed, but he kept it to himself. Moments later, the doctor they had seen before entered the room. He was in a hurry.

"Good evening gentlemen."

"What can you tell us?"

"He has severe ocular trauma. We could not determine the exact cause. The injuries are consistent with burn damage-possibly chemical-but it could also just as likely be blast trauma. There is no other severe trauma to his body which is, frankly, miraculous if it was a blast. He has no observable brain damage, but he is in a coma state. We were unable to awaken him."

"Coma?" Gladio asked. "Is that permanent?"

"Not necessarily. It could be a few hours, a few days, a few years. We just can't tell for certain." The doctor explained. A few years? That wasn't the news Gladio was hoping to hear.

"What about his eyes? Will they heal?" Prompto asked.

The right eye-possibly. We have to wait and see, but his left eye is badly damaged. He sustained an open globe injury. I will reassess in a few days, but we may have to enucleate it."

"Enucleate?" Gladio repeated.

"Remove the eye," the doctor tersely replied. Prompto very nearly threw up. The doctor moved on to his next question.

"If he doesn't wake up soon, he will need to have medical decisions made for him. Does he have living parents?"

"Not that I know of," Gladio replied.

"A spouse?"

"Definitely not."

"A will, or at least an advance directive?"

"I don't think so, maybe."

"Well, I advise you find out as soon as possible. If one cannot be produced, I will have to make the decisions for him." Gladio found these questions incredibly stressful. It sounded like they were planning his funeral. Why would Iggy have a will? He's hardly more than 22 years old.

"Can I stay here for a while?" Prompto asked.

"Yes, you may. The nurse will let you know when visiting hours are over."

The doctor made a few notes on his clipboard and walked back out into the hall. Gladio slumped in another chair and sighed.

"Maybe Noctis would know if Iggy has family who can help," Prompto suggested. Gladio laughed sardonically

"Yeah, when he finally wakes up he can tell us what to do about the other guy in a coma,"

"It's not funny, Gladio." Prompto was rarely serious, but he was in that moment.

"If you don't laugh, you'll cry."

"Believe me I do both all the time," that got a smile from Gladio.

"I'm going to get some sleep. You should do the same." He stood up and patted Prompto's shoulder as he passed. Prompto leaned back in his chair.

"Willing to bet he still wakes up before you do," Gladio said as he walked out of the room

"Ha Ha." Prompto closed his eyes and prayed that Gladio was right.

Author's notes: I'm approaching his injury in a somewhat realistic way (that is, if he showed up at a modern hospital with it). I'm not sure where Altissia is in terms of medical tech, but I'm going to assume it's pretty current (like everything else in the city). I've actually done a bit of research on eye traumaafter starting this-harrowing stuff. I truly feel for anyone who suffers one of these type of injuries.