Gladio hadn't expected the air to be cool and a little damp when he emerged from the tent early the next morning—when the sky was light enough to signal dawn, but the sun hadn't poked above the horizon.
He had expected to find Iggy already up, because it was well-known that guy never slept. Now that they were out on the road and hunting and shit, Gladio wasn't gonna be surprised at all if Iggy got injured and ended up exposing wires instead of blood. But instead of finding him at the stove mainlining Ebony and cooking up some elaborate meal, he was passed out in his camp chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him so that his boots were nearly touching the fire ring of gently smoking logs.
What made Gladio freeze in place and cock his head to the side in fascination was that Ignis's neck was craned uncomfortably to the side, his head was resting against Laura's shiny dark hair, and holy fuck, it couldn't've been his imagination that he and Laura were holding hands. Laura was curled up in Noct's chair like a cat, half covered in one of the ugliest blankets he'd ever laid eyes on—looked like a garula with a bad case of mange. Her eyes were closed, too—with her head resting against Iggy's shoulder and her hair spilling down his chest.
So, this shit was finally happening, huh? He couldn't say much for Iggy's taste. The girl was hot, he guessed, but way too weird for him, personally. At least overhearing their discussion last night about her freaky ass energy and how his need to kill her wasn't her fault solved one issue. He could at least give her a chance, now that there was a reason for it besides his instinct. She seemed nice enough—a little dumb—but that didn't really matter to Gladio. He'd make friends with anyone so long as they had a good heart.
After all these years of pushing girls—and guys, just in case—in Iggy's direction, Gladio couldn't help but groan at his timing. All those years of him not taking the bait and making excuses about his duties to the Crown, Gladio'd just figured the guy was asexual or something, which was fine too. Gladio took his responsibilities seriously as well, but that didn't mean he couldn't find some time to have more than a little fun. But now, on the road like this, with another member of the retinue, things could get complicated. He didn't want to put a stop to what was probably Ignis's first time having fun, but he would at the first signs of distraction.
But it was weird seeing Iggy so . . . expressive with someone after knowing them only a day. Hell, he and Noct had known him since they were kids and had never seen him touch anyone beyond a handshake or pat on the shoulder. Not for the first time, he wondered about the girl's origins and loyalties. Ignis had told them last night that she wasn't from Lucis. Could she be trying to seduce him to get to Noct somehow? If those rumors back in Insomnia were true, was that what she'd been trying to do to the King? He wouldn't act on assumptions, but he'd have to keep a close eye on them—on her.
Time to meet the morning after, guys, he thought to himself as he scooped up the last of their firewood next to the tent and dropped it unceremoniously onto the smoking pile. Iggy's and Laura's eyes shot open wide as they leapt from their chairs, summoning daggers and falchions to their hands and taking a step toward Gladio. Fuck, he hadn't thought this all the way through. They may've fallen asleep out here, but everyone's senses were on high alert now that they were out of the city and here in the wilderness for the first time.
Dismissing his blades in mortification, Iggy looked first to Gladio, opening his mouth to speak, then to Laura for a moment before allowing his gaze to shift to some random spot on the haven floor. The bright flush spreading across his cheeks as that inhumanly intelligent mind fumbled for something to say was starting to remind Gladio of his own teenage years.
Poor fucker.
"Runnin' a bit late this morning, Ig?" he asked with a smirk.
"I'd better . . . freshen up a little before starting breakfast," Iggy mumbled before striding off, not making eye contact with either of them.
Shaking his head and chuckling at finally getting to see the great Ignis Scientia in a flustered state, he turned toward the girl, who had her chin raised up at him with a neutral expression.
"Ignis was just helping me acclimatize my energy patterns to yours, so I won't make you all uncomfortable anymore. We must have fallen asleep," she said levelly, but he still took note of the slight blush staining her cheeks.
"Huh," he said thoughtfully, tilting his head, "so that's what the kids are calling it these days."
He decided then and there it was gonna be fun teasing her, if only to see the blush on her face deepen, but maybe this whole thing was as innocent as she was claiming. This was Ice Cold Scientia they were talking about, after all.
"Lemme see what you guys accomplished," he said, holding out a hand to her.
She grasped it as though she were shaking his hand, and even though he still wanted to summon his sword and slash it across her throat, he had to admit the feeling wasn't nearly as overwhelming as it was the day before.
"Well whaddya know," he said, his lips creeping up into a smile. "You feel a little more normal."
"A little," she replied in a business-like tone. "A few more sessions with one of you should do the trick."
He noticed that she didn't name Ignis specifically, and he felt a little guilty for misreading the situation and jumping to conclusions. Of course the guy would only be too eager to help a lady in distress, even if it left him spending the night in an uncomfortable camp chair. It didn't matter if it was hours before dawn, the middle of the day, or in the middle of the night—if it was possible to find the guy, he was willing to help out anyone that needed it, even if that assistance did often come with a free lecture or two.
Iggy had returned and was hastily throwing together a cold breakfast at his precious chef's table he wouldn't let anyone go near. Without so much as glancing in Gladio's direction, he said, "You'd better awaken Prompto and His Highness now, if we're to complete a hunt in addition to Cindy's errands today."
"Yeah, no sweat," he grinned.
Gladio was rarely put in the position to have to wake Noct up; that kinda thing was usually Ignis's job. He'd been allowed the pleasure exactly once when they'd all stayed too late at Noct's place and Ig had had a meeting or some shit to get to. Gladio didn't have the patience Ignis did to let the alarm slowly bring Noct to consciousness, so he'd simply farted on his face. The resulting week-long whine-fest ensured Iggy would never ask for such a favor again, so he must've been really distracted this morning to not notice what he was asking and who he was asking to do it.
Now all he had to do was decide whether he wanted to try the farting trick again or go with something more classic, like a wet willy.
"And that's how we get it done!" Gladio bellowed in triumph as he slashed his sword through the neck of their final sabertusk for the day.
Hot damn, they should've started doing this years ago! They were all getting pretty good at hitting the moving targets—definitely harder to kill than practice dummies. It turned out that Gladio was made for this shit—hunting out on the open plains, finally letting loose and actually getting to use the sharp part of his blade on something that would bite back, being able to dress like a 'heathen' in this gods damn heat—the only bad part about the past several days. But he could stand a little extra sweat in his leather if it meant he could escape his responsibilities for a while. He sure as hell wasn't interested in rushing back to Insomnia anytime soon.
Ig had already processed one of the anaks by the time Gladio had finished with the sabertusks, and they had just met up in front of the anak Gladio had handled when Iggy paused, tilting his head and frowning down at this animal Gladio had seen for the first time today. It looked fat enough to get some decent cuts of meat off of, but he didn't see why Iggy was so upset.
"What's up, Ig?" Gladio asked as he sighed and started working on removing the thing's haunches.
"Sirloin's been sliced to ribbons," Iggy said through gritted teeth as he yanked the leg free and inspected the area on the animal's side where Gladio and Noct had done the most damage.
And here was the part about Ice Cold Scientia that always pissed everyone off back at the Citadel. It wasn't enough that they'd killed everything without needing more than a couple of potions, no. They also needed to get master's degrees in butchery while they were at it. Gods damn, it seemed like he was never satisfied.
"Wait," Noct said, giving him a disbelieving look. "You mean we're s'posed to be considering cuts of meat on this thing? No way, Specs."
"I'm just tryin' not to die, thanks," Prompto added.
Gladio let out a sigh. Yeah, it was annoying, but it was best not to piss off the chef. "Point out the areas you want us to avoid. Can't make any promises though."
Once Iggy had finished lecturing them on which parts of the animal would be turned to ground meat anyway and which were better served as steaks, butchering the animal as he spoke, he stood straight and said, "I believe that was all we had on our list today. The anaks were quite the windfall. Let us collect Laura and return to the haven for supper."
Gladio spared a glance just outside the combat where, predictably, Laura was standing, her face a mask of stoicism as she kept watch. But he was used to this scene, as they had spent the past several days hunting for fun and profit in the area while Cid took his gods damned time fixing the Regalia.
He couldn't understand why the girl insisted on coming but refused to help. At the very least, she'd stayed true to her word and didn't say a damn thing about them killing the wildlife; he would've ripped her a new one if she'd d tried.
She had mentioned something about not being able to protect Noct should something go wrong while she was back at the camp, but then what did she think he was there for? The fact that the King had felt another fighter was necessary on this simple escort mission still rankled. Hadn't he proven himself a capable Shield? The others had their own positions in addition to combat skills that didn't overlap with his—the momma and the best friend. But after hearing about her fight with Cor, Gladio knew that she had been assigned to be an assassin, like him, even if she was apparently a card-carrying member of the SPCA or some shit.
Clearly, he was still trying and failing to take the high road and consider it extra safety for his liege. He'd have to do better about that, or this was gonna be a long trip.
There was one way to work off his frustration with her, and she should have the energy for it, as she hadn't done much today besides some foraging. If what Ignis had said about her combat skill was true, then it was a waste to have her in their group and not take advantage of it. But he had a feeling maybe Cor had been holding back or something. No way could this little girl have taken on Cor the Immortal in a fancy dress. And because of whatever hand holding she and Iggy'd been doing every night, touching her wasn't as much of an issue anymore. He thought he could handle a little of that weird, crawling feeling deep in his bones if it meant he could defeat her and have something to crow about back home.
"Hey, Laura!" he called out to her as the four of them approached. "Wanna spar tonight before dinner? No weapons, just fists. First one pinned has to do the dishes for Iggy."
He thought the wager was more than fair, since she'd done the dishes with Iggy every night so far, anyway. She was almost obsessive about cleanliness, just like Iggy. Gladio'd even gotten up a couple of times in the middle of the night to take a piss to find her awake, polishing Iggy's boots or washing and pressing their clothes with nothing but a bucket and a flat iron pulled from the fire. The first time it happened, she gave a little wave and said something about not needing much sleep.
Six, what a pair they'd make, making sure everyone ate their vegetables and brushed their teeth for at least two minutes before bed before staying up all night scrubbing down the haven with toothbrushes.
Laura's face relaxed into a more natural expression as they got closer. "Sounds interesting, and I'm sure it's the only way Ignis is going to get any of your help in the kitchen," she said accusingly.
"Dayum! We got ourselves a competition going on up in here!" Prompto crowed, jumping up and slapping Gladio on the back. "You're soooo gonna get it!"
"This should be interesting," Noct mused. "Pre-dinner entertainment. I like it."
"Either way, it sounds as though I win," Ignis added with a sly smile. "Would you mind staging the performance where I may watch from the stove?"
"No problem, Iggy. I'll make sure you get front row seats to your new dishwasher getting her ass whooped."
"Ha!" Laura laughed before giving them all a sassy tongue-to-tooth smile, turning her back to them, and sashaying in the direction of their camp. She added an extra sway to her hips that even Gladio could appreciate. Looking over her shoulder flirtatiously, she said, "Remember that cockiness, now, boys. We'll see who receives an ass whooping."
Her attempt at mimicking his colorful phrasing sounded awkward in her posh accent, but he had to give her points for trying. Maybe she wasn't an Iggy clone, after all.
"Looks like Cindy just got a little competition," Noct said smugly, nodding toward Prompto's star-struck expression.
"Dude, I think I'm in love. Seriously!"
"You're in love with everyone," Gladio said, rolling his eyes and giving Prompto's head a little shove.
Gladio had finished clearing out a section of dirt just beyond the haven when Laura emerged from the tent in a pair of black shorts and tank top, her feet bare and her hair pulled back into a tight bun. She walked across the dirt, the tiny rocks dotting the ground apparently not bothering the soles of her feet, and stood at the ready about ten paces from him.
"Kick her ass, Gladio!" Noct cheered.
"Language, Noct!" Iggy called out from the stove as Prompto let out a whoop-whoop.
"What, no ball gown this time, Princess?" Gladio teased, leering at her.
"I had more than ten seconds to prepare for this match," she shot back. "No weapons, no magic. Any other rules I should know about?"
It was probably unfair of him to insist on no weapons, but if Cor couldn't beat her at the sword, there was no way he could—even if he had been holding back that day. If Gladio could win this fight, though, he'd be able to brag about it to all the Glaives and Guards when they got back, even if he would have to add an asterisk to the victory.
"Nope, that about covers it," he said, saluting to Noct and Prompto, who sat watching them from the edge of the haven. "Begin!"
Gladio figured that their almost comical disparity in size would be the deciding factor in this fight. His longer reach would make it easier for him to get a hold of her, and once he did, his superior strength would finish the job. Her size would make her faster, and therefore more difficult to catch, however. Still, he couldn't see how she planned on taking him down. She was almost a full foot shorter than he was, and he could probably lift her one-handed and throw her halfway across the clearing if he wanted to. Still, he wasn't going to underestimate her. It would be best if he could end this quickly.
He approached as fast as he could, bringing up the fist of his non-dominant hand at the last moment to surprise her. He may as well have been moving in slow motion, because she ducked his fist easily with a merry laugh and, as she bent lower, used her momentum to swing her left leg up and around from behind her. As he recovered and reached out to grab her, she jumped, swiping that leg across his cheek with a powerful thwack of skin hitting skin. Gladio stumbled backward for a moment, his head swimming a little, and she spun off to his side.
He'd never seen anyone move like that in his life. She seemed to dance faster than his eyes could follow, using some bizarre cross between ballet and a martial art he'd never heard of. Her body twisted and spun away in counter to every move he'd ever learned, almost the moment he had decided to make that move. He swore he even saw her go up on her toes like a fucking ballerina for a moment before kicking him in the chest, but he was too busy contemplating how he was going to get a hold of her to stop and verify.
And all the while, she was giving him this wide, teasing grin and sparkling eyes—like she wasn't even concentrating on the fight, like she was playing with him.
The moment she took him down was shocking one for Gladio, but he guessed he shouldn't have been too surprised, given what she'd done to Cor. She caught his neck and jaw with one of her thighs, and he felt her other thigh wrap itself around the back of his head and twist in an alarming way. He fell backward, completely at her mercy. When he crashed to the ground with his neck between her knees and her body landing hard on her side above him, he knew a simple jerk of her powerful legs could snap his neck in two. Still too stunned to say anything, he hit the ground next to him twice, tapping out.
"Whoa," he heard Prompto say to Noct in an awestruck voice, but he didn't hear Noct's reply.
On hearing him tap out, Laura immediately let him go, spinning to her feet and bending to grab his hand and pull him up. "Molto bene! And I believe," she said between breaths, "you owe Ignis a load of clean dishes."
"And on that note," Ignis called out to the four of them, "get cleaned up. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes."
Gladio watched his boots shuffling in the dirt as they made their way back to the haven together, determined he was gonna learn whatever he had to learn to kick her ass one of these days. Maybe he could convince her to spar with him in the mornings every now and then.
"Sorry about that," Laura said quietly, "Being the girl, I had to prove myself to you guys, you know?"
He looked over at her in surprise. "I woulda been pissed if you'd thrown it."
When she looked up at him, he swore she almost looked vulnerable—her eyes wide and a little sad. "So we're good?"
He grinned down at her. "Yeah, we're good, Princess."
Her answering smile reminded him of when he'd do something to make Iris happy, so he ignored the weird feeling and put his arm around her shoulder.
After they'd eaten, Gladio felt like he was gonna explode by the time the others pulled up their chairs around the makeshift kitchen so Gladio could still be a part of the conversation as he washed up. He'd probably horked down half an anak's worth of prairie-style skewers . . . how dare such a fucking tasty-ass animal not come to his attention for the first twenty-three years of his life? Why the hell hadn't they been serving these in Insomnia all along?
"If you weren't such a damn genius, you should've opened a skewer stand, I swear, Ig," Gladio grunted as he plunged his hands into the hot water and grabbed one of the plates to wash.
Iggy sat down in his chair with a can of Ebony, immediately reaching out to interlace the fingers of his free hand with Laura's. Huh, this was the first time they'd done that before everyone went to bed—which either meant they were trying to make things public or prove they had nothing to hide. Gladio caught Noct's eyes leaving his phone screen more than once to shoot the two an odd look.
"Well, I would like to set my sights somewhat higher than restauranteur, but I take it you enjoyed the skewers, then?"
"Yeah, perfect meal to follow up a kickass spar," Gladio said with a grin.
Noct let out a laugh, saying, "You mean getting your ass kicked."
As Iggy let out a disapproving tut, Prompto practically vibrated out of his chair to lean toward Laura. "Seriously, that was incredible! I've never seen anything like it!"
"It certainly was quite the performance," Ignis mused.
"What kinda fighting do you call that, anyway?" Prompto asked.
Laura shrugged. "I change my style to fit the opponent I'm fighting. I'll confess to showing off just a little bit this time," she said with grimaced in self-deprecation. "This was mostly a combination of ballet, gymnastics, and a mix of about twenty different martial arts I've picked up over the years."
"Hmm. I did take a couple of years of gymnastics myself to improve my form, but I'd never given any thought to turning to ballet for combat. How creative," Iggy said, tilting his head.
"Oh yes," Laura said, her expression brightening, "I've noticed some of the more acrobatic moves you do, particularly with the polearm. But between the gymnastics and the double-bladed technique, our fighting styles are actually quite similar."
"Well, I wouldn't say that," he mumbled, looking down at his coffee can. "Your style is much more elegant, I believe."
"Nonsense," she scoffed. "You're just lacking my experience is all."
Ahh, this mysterious experience of hers. They'd all speculated on what kind it was. Gladio figured she must've been a Shield to the Crown of this Miriásia place before it fell. Iggy refused to speculate until she'd volunteered the information herself. The most outrageous theory had been concocted by Noct and Prompto, who were convinced that she was some kind of orphan raised by Draconian priests in a secluded mountain town. No matter what, though, she never offered any kinda information, and none of them were sure if they really had the right to ask. But since she'd brought the matter up, Gladio figured he'd walk out on a ledge and get her to elaborate.
"So you do have real-life battle experience?"
Her entire face seemed to fall as her gaze turned inward. "Oh yes, quite a bit," she said in a faraway tone.
Well fuck. He hadn't meant to make her sad. This was why soldiers didn't ask shit like that. He should've listened to his dad's advice and kept his mouth shut.
But that must have meant she was about Iris's age when she went into battle, or even younger. That kinda thing wasn't unheard of, but gods damn, the thought of his sister in a kingdom-ending war made him sick.
"Why are you holding hands like that?" Noct interrupted suddenly, thankfully changing the subject.
Prompto looked up from his phone eagerly. "It's for that energy alignment thing, right? You must be doing better at it if Iggy can stand it for this long," he laughed. "I barely held on for five minutes a few nights ago."
"Indeed. I'm helping Laura with the issue of her incompatible energy signature. With some luck, her aura won't be pushing us out of the Regalia tomorrow as we head for Galdin Quay."
As Gladio set aside another clean plate to dry, he surreptitiously shot a glance to Noct, who leaned back in his chair, seemingly satisfied with the answer. "Huh, guess I've barely noticed . . . whatever that was, lately. Thought it was cause we weren't cooped up in the car."
"I hope to soon reach the point where you no longer notice it at all, even when I touch you," she said to him.
"And your magic?" Noct asked her. "I noticed you're not using the armiger."
She grimaced. "My magic will never be the same here as it is back home, which is frustrating, as your access to the Crystal's magic is so . . . limited, if you'll forgive me. I'll probably continue to store my weapons with my own magic; it doesn't take much energy to pull them out. But I should start storing some other things in the armiger with yours, if only to familiarize myself with the Crystal's magic. The King did give me a, well . . . flash run-through of how to use the powers, but that's no replacement for practice."
"If you don't mind my asking, how is your magic different?" Ignis asked.
"The energy comes directly from my body instead of being channeled through a crystal," she replied. "What it can do is defined by the limits of my imagination and my body's energy." She moved the palm of her free hand in front of Ignis and whispered, "Ithīr, kithairon."
With a whine, a bright silver ball of fire in the shape of a round, ruffled blossom small enough to fit in the palm of her hand leapt to life in front of Ignis. Gladio swore he could even smell a sweet floral scent wafting toward him as the edges of the petals flickered in the flames.
"My word," Ignis breathed, "it's beautiful."
Gladio paused in scrubbing the metal skewer sticks free of carbon to stare openly at the unleashed magic in front of him. Only the King and a few Glaives were able to manipulate the elements raw like that, and never in a specific shape, color, or no freaking way scent—what the hell. She held the flame for a few moments before closing her fist and extinguishing it.
"It takes far more energy here to do my magic than anywhere else I've ever been, and since my body is attempting to create my energy using nourishment from your land, the conversion process is sloppy and inefficient. A powerful enough spell will drain me completely in such a way that I would not recover, and I could die. Clearly, I need to learn not to rely on those skills in battle; I can't be passing out when we're in danger. I'm just not used to operating with all these . . . hindrances," she said, scrunching her nose with distaste. "I'm hoping the longer I'm here, the easier it'll get to use my magic, or at least the faster I'll recover from using complex spells, but I'm not holding out hope."
"Well, you're gonna have to rely on good old-fashioned teamwork then to get you through," Gladio said as he stood to dump out the bucket that was serving as the sink over the edge of the haven.
She nodded, then added, "Which reminds me. Don't use any of your potions on me should I become incapacitated. I'm not sure what such a concentration of that much foreign magic would do to my system, especially in a vulnerable state."
"How do you suggest we care for you then?" Ignis asked.
"Just . . . let me be. Hopefully it won't come to that, but mundane medicine is the best method, in this case."
They had then all settled into what had become their nightly routines—with Noct, Prompto, and Gladio sitting down to a game of King's Knight after Gladio had spent some time counting out pushups. Iggy released Laura's hand for long enough to get himself another can of Ebony, but immediately settled back down to his previous position with one of his wildlife books. Gladio considered pulling out his newest book on tea ceremonies of ancient Lucis, but decided he'd start it another night, cause damn was he worn out.
Before crawling into the tent for the night, Gladio cast Iggy and Laura a glance. It sure as hell looked romantic with the two of them sitting alone by the fire, the orange glow and flickering shadows lighting up the smiles on their faces as they held hands and made comments about whatever they were reading together. No way was this all business. It couldn't be.
"Kinda weird, seeing Specs touching someone like that," Noct said, staring at the pair as Gladio settled in his usual spot.
"More than kinda," Prompto agreed. "I always thought he was a germaphobe or something . . . not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just . . . you know, the cleaning, and since we've been out here, the gloves."
Three pairs of eyes shot back in their direction when Iggy suddenly threw back his head and let out a hearty laugh.
What the fuck? When was the last time he'd heard Iggy laugh like that? Had he ever? What could she have possibly said to make him make that sound?
It seemed that the world immediately recovered, tilting back on its axis as he dropped his head to his lap, and they all clearly heard him mumble, "Apologies."
But it looked like Laura was encouraging that shit . . . and good for her. Her lips pulled as wide as they would go, her tongue poked out to touch the top row of her teeth, and her eyes glittered in delight up at Iggy as she shook her head. It looked to Gladio like she was rejecting his apology for laughing, and Gladio hoped he'd listen to her, because Gladio'd told him at least once a day since they'd left that he should relax a little. This was their one and only chance to let loose before they had to go back and be adults.
"It's cool they're making friends," Gladio muttered. "She's kinda weird, but really not so bad."
"I'll be happy when things get back to normal, though," Noct said, lying back on his pillow with a sigh. "That's kinda freaking me out."
Prompto hesitated like he wanted to say something but seemed to decide against it as he rolled over on his side and closed his eyes. Gladio folded his hands behind his head as he leaned back, staring at the dark tent fabric and thinking about what Altissia was gonna be like, but he didn't fall asleep until he heard Iggy settling into his sleeping bag beside Prompto nearly an hour later.
