AN: If anyone is wondering, there may well be a pairing in the fic along the line (it has already been hinted at) but I shan't say exactly who just yet as my fics have a tendency to change as I write. Many thanks for the reviews, they do make me smile!
A slightly shorter chapter this time, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.
It quickly became evident that a doctor would not be of any use to their ailing friend.
Confused and discomforted, Ignis did, however, seem to be settling somewhat. Noct allowed himself the small hope that perhaps the worst had passed, for now. Still, it the connection between Luna's message and the man's current state had become all too evident when his eyes had opened, revealing burning embers in the place of his usual calm green irises.
"Ifrit...is using Ignis as a vessel?" Prompto was reading over Lunafreya's note, his eyebrows furrowed a little as he did so, "If he's out to cause havoc, he picked the most composed guy out of the lot of us. Shoulda gone with Gladio."
Noctis didn't pay much attention to the ensuing squabble between Gladio and Prompto. Instead, he turned tired eyes to Ignis.
The man was awake now, sitting comfortably in one of the chairs in the hotel room. He had, however, elected to keep the quilt wrapped around his shoulders. His temperature was wildly fluctuating; one moment would see him shake the quilt off and looking uncomfortably warm, the next, he would be grasping back for the warm blanket. Still, he didn't complain, and his face was beginning to set back into its usual stern composure, eyes starting to unclear from the confusion of fever.
"I'd question his decisions as well..." Ignis mumbled, though Noctis' eyes narrowed. Somehow, he felt Ignis knew more about Ifrit's decision to pick him as his vessel than he was perhaps letting on. Questions of his past that had flickered to the surface of his mind the previous night still stung and nagged at his thoughts. "Though I would not wish this upon anyone, much less a friend. It's rather tiresome to be burning and freezing in equal measure."
"That will settle...in time."
A voice embodying the eye of a storm, light and calm, cut through the group's conversation with ease. Though she had made no sound, it appeared Gentiana had joined them, stepping out from the shadows behind Prompto and earning a jump of alarm from him. Her smile ever-painted upon her face, she bowed a little in greeting. "I assure you, the first few days are difficult. But it may alarm you to realise that it is in the Infernian's best interested to keep you alive. If you were to die, his spirit would be freed again, and we would not make the same error twice. He would not have the luxury of choosing his vessel. If he has picked you for a reason, it stands that he would wish to keep you safe."
"You wanna commune with him goddess-to-god and maybe tell him to lay off the fevers and such then?" Gladio asked, jerking his head towards Ignis. "If this is Ifrit doing his best to keep him alive, I'd hate to see his worst."
Gentiana's smile faltered a little at this, and Noct was sure she saw almost guilt flicker over her features.
"I doubt this was intentional, rather, a side effect of a human housing the spirit of fire. Such a thing has not happened before...the gods had their own bodies, or if needed, would take a Messenger as a vessel. We are akin to their own forms, far stronger than humans and much more resilient to elemental energy. In truth, your friend may perish despite Ifrit's best efforts."
"I am conscious and still in the room." Ignis retorted haughtily, stirring his Ebony a little too briskly, "Have you all gotten into the habit of speaking about me as if I can't hear you?"
His sharp response earned another slight bow from the Messenger.
"My apologies...as I say, the temperature is likely a side effect you will learn to control. By all accounts, you seem to be doing better already."
Noct noticed a muscle twitch in Ignis' jaw, a small telltale sign that the man was holding back on saying something. A lifetime around an arrogant prince no doubt made the man a master of biting his tongue, Noct mused.
"It is a struggle...but I believe I may be getting the hang of it, yes."
"A human without royal blood who is such a natural at controlling elemental magic. How unusual."
The suspicion in Gentiana's voice floated lightly, and Ignis saw best to ignore it.
"Indeed. And yet, hardly the most pressing matter." He set his Ebony down, red eyes gleaming at Gentiana. "What comes of this? Does Ifrit seek control of me? I can only assume he will not be content with me deciding for him what happens."
"He will try to pry your mind away, yes...and settle his own consciousness in its stead."
Prompto leapt to his feet, looking a cross between fearful and angry. He rounded on Gentiana, hands out.
"Woah woah, time out! You saying Ifrit's gonna like...possess Iggy?"
Before she could respond, Gladio's voice overrode the whole conversation in one, simple question:
"Is he a threat?"
There was more behind this, that was certain. He wasn't simply asking out of Ignis' best interested, or curiosity. Gladio was asking what needed to be done. Noctis knew damn well the implications of that, and finally spoke.
"Out of the question, Gladio."
"With all due respect, it's very much in the question. Iggy's a friend, but if he's going to turn into a threat to us all, then—"
With slightly less strength than perhaps he would have liked, Ignis was on his feet.
"And once more, you all seem quite content to speak of me as if I were not in the room. I assure you, the Infernian may be housed within me, but he hasn't rid me of my senses just yet! Perhaps you may wish to ask me my thoughts on this?"
His hands were shaking, the nailbeds blotted a light bluish hue, and Noct realised the man was still struggling to regulate his own temperature, tipping back into cold once again. The prince rose, picking the quilt up off the floor where it had been knocked by Ignis' outburst, and wrapped it over his shoulders again.
Red eyes shot across to lock with blue, and for a moment, Noct wondered if the man was going to argue. But he felt his shoulders relax under his hands and, wordlessly, he sat back down. Ignis could fight his own fights, they both knew that. But for now, Noct would stand his ground for him, given his current condition.
"Gentiana...what do we do from here? Leviathan was our next call, but I can't do that if Ignis is in danger. How do we help him?"
The woman smiled softly at the prince, stepping back into the shadows where she had arrived.
"The bloodline of Lucis is uniquely tied to the elements. If anyone can help shoulder his burden, it's you."
With that, she was gone. Before silence could fully settle between the four of them again, Prompto groaned.
"C'mon! She's meant to be on our side, right? Couldn't she just...tell us?"
"It's hardly a complex riddle" Ignis said from where he was now huddled in his quilt again. Seeing the three of them turn eyes to him, he explained: "Noct draws elemental power from deposits around the land. From this, he is able to cast spells. This is not a skill other people have, it is unique to the royal bloodline."
He looked at the prince, wondering if he had figured it out yet. With the light shrug he gave, he realised not.
"Ifrit is the embodiment of elemental energy. The sheer amount of it is overwhelming me...as Gentiana says, as a mere human, I am ashamed to admit I am struggling. But perhaps I could bequeath some of this elemental energy to you, Noct. With it, you can craft spells safely, rather than having it burning me from the inside out..."
"Y'mean you're gonna be a walking energy deposit? Sweet, we're gonna have Noct throwing Figara for days between camps!" Prompto grinned, clapping the prince on the shoulder. "Just err...try not to catch me on fire again, yeah?"
"Are you ready?"
"Man, when you say it like that then no, I'm not."
"Well, prepare yourself! I'm not simply going to conjure the flames of Ifrit on a hopes you might be ready!"
"It's not like I've done this before!"
"Oh come now, you've absorbed fire energy from countless sources on our travels."
"Yeah, but they were like...rocks. Not crazy fire gods hiding in my friends."
Ignis sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. The pair were outside in the barely-morning light, having decided to attempt this far away from anything that might catch fire. A combination of self-pressure and hatred for mornings was serving Noctis ill, it seemed. But he could already feel his skin prickling with overheat again, and he was anxious to try and settle the pressurised ache in his head and joints that seemed to settle in when Ifrit did.
"I'm not asking you to absorb the entirety of Ifrit's wrath, Your Highness. Just enough for me to think clearly." As it was, he was already struggling between his own thoughts and the rumbling growls of the Infernian. He did not wish to leave it to chance much longer that his own wits would triumph over the god's will.
Ignis held his hands out, gloves having been discarded in precaution.
"Ready?"
"Yes, fine, just do it."
Noct mirrored his stance, ready to absorb the energy. He figured his best approach would be to simply picture it as one of the rock deposits that usually framed their campsites. It was a little difficult knowing his friend's sanity was on the line.
An ember caught in Ignis' palm and bloomed into a flame. It seemed controlled enough and so Noct began to draw the energy in.
For a few seconds, everything seemed fine—that was, until the fire sparked and suddenly roared upwards in a pillar of flames. Noct leapt back, avoiding being scorched, and heard Ignis give a cry of unbridled frustration. As the flames cleared, he saw the man curled in a little on himself, holding his hands in a clamped grip at his torso. Flames had ignited around his body, licking and flickering across his form, but Noct somehow knew without asking that Ignis was in no danger of them. It was the closest he'd been yet to looking like the fire god that was housed within him, despite his cowering stance.
"A...Are you okay?" Noct asked hedging, stepping forward.
"...Are you?" Ignis reflected the question back, apparently far more worried that he had injured the prince than himself.
"I'm fine...you missed." He shrugged, trying to make light of the situation to ease his friend's no-doubt wounded pride. "Guess it's not like casting the spells I make you guys, huh?"
"Apparently not."
His advisor straightened up again, the fire flickering to nothingness around him, though he did not make any move to try and ask again. Noct broached the subject in his stead.
"You wanna give it another go?"
Briskly, Ignis shook his head.
"Perhaps we ought not risk it...truth be told, I feel a little better as it is." It was true; his head had cleared a little, his temperature felt something akin to normal, and the sound of Ifrit had simmered. Though, whether this was due to Noct's actions or simply the act of wrath in his wayward spell was anyone's guess.
"Mmkay, if you say so. But if you need help...you know we're here, right? All of us."
This earned a half-smile from Ignis as he looked at Noct.
"Well well, listen to you. Perhaps you'll start following your own advice, hm?"
"Knock it off..."
It took a few more days for both Noct and Ignis to master how to safely have the prince channel some of the excess fire energy from the other, and in those days, Ignis' health swayed to various degrees – on the days they were successful, he was nearly his old self again. On the days they were not, he ended up in the throes of fever, bedridden, or shivering in the corner.
And yet, as much as Noct was mastering channelling the energy, Ignis seemed to be slowly mastering the energy himself. It was a metaphorical meeting in the middle that saw Ignis stable enough for the group to finally move on from the hotel and head back onto the road.
"So, if Specs gets road rage, is he gonna like, spark up and torch the whole car?" Prompto asked as he jumped into the front seat.
"When have I ever had road rage?" Ignis sighed, getting into the driver's seat.
"...I dunno, but banking on you not doing it isn't exactly reassuring me."
"I'll make certain to throw you out of the car before I do so then."
"Nooooct, he's threatening to chuck me out of moving vehicles again!"
Noct smirked into the rear view mirror for his friend to see.
"He only promised not to do it about the photo. Anything else is fair game."
It felt nice to be moving along again, the prince noted as he looked out over the roadside flying along beside them as they drove. In fact, besides the burning red eyes he could see angled in the rear view mirror, everything was almost back to their strange sense of normal.
"So, we getting Leviathan's blessing first?"
Noct nodded to Gladio's question.
"Yeah...figure we meet up with Luna there, get Leviathan's blessing, then ask her how to get Ifrit's from Ignis."
Prompto knelt up in his chair to look back at Noct.
"You guys didn't figure it out then?"
"Apparently, Ignis just saying it isn't enough, no."
"Wow...bet that was awkward."
A gloved hand came out to push lightly on Prompto's waist, nudging him closer to the car door. The blond pushed back, scowling down at Ignis.
"Hey!"
Noct allowed a little chuckle to escape his lips. It had been something of a sore spot for Ignis when they realised he didn't seem to have any more command over the blessing of the Infernian than his fire at the moment, despite technically being the Infernian now.
"We'll figure it out."
"Well...we had to fight Titan for his. Maybe you gotta fight Iggy?" Gladio offered, deep in thought as he considered the situation at hand. "After all, the blessings come from your proving yourself as the True King to the Six."
Noct looked away, tugging on his bottom lip a little at the idea. It wasn't that he doubted he could be victorious against Ignis; as of right now, he had the advantage, with the Royal Arms and Power of Kings at his disposal, and Ignis nearly slowed at the moment with his curse. It was precisely that that put the prince off from the idea. He'd not wish to fight any of his friends, much less on an uneven battleground.
Meanwhile, Prompto feigned shock at Gladio's words, a hand coming to his heart and mouth agape as he looked at Ignis.
"You mean Ignis doesn't consider Noct king? Treason!"
"I can and will push you out of this car, Prompto. And as of now, I may even light you on fire as I do so."
Prompto began laughing, before suddenly becoming serious and looking to Noct for support.
"He can't do that yet, right? Like, flame on whenever he wants? Right?"