Ignis cocked his head to the side, lips pursed, but he made no actual move to shoot Emily when the game presented the option. "This is far more tempting than it should be, although I positively do not believe she'll turn into one of those daemons just from being bitten."
"Yeah, I think we were all conflicted on this one. Except Gladio. He took that opportunity the second he got it."
"I am… afraid I cannot fault him."
Still, Ignis didn't shoot her, and Mike went to find Josh to get the keys to the cable car, which meant going back through the sanatorium. Ashley used the time to look through the stranger's book, which Ignis, of course, actually took the time to fully read.
"There are wendigos imprisoned in the sanatorium," Ignis said flatly. "That's unfortunate."
And so Sam decided to go try and warn Mike he was heading into a death trap, which meant the entire group was leaving the safety of the basement. The chapter ended with that, and then a new therapy session began, but this time it was just Josh and Dr. Hill in the mines with a very out-of-place desk.
"I do wonder what the true Dr. Hill is like. He seemed perfectly genuine in his messages."
"Messages?"
Ignis gave him an exasperated look. "You really weren't paying attention while I was investigating Josh's base of operations, were you?"
"…I'm gonna say no."
The scene switched over to Mike.
"Ah. Now comes my time to save Gladio, I suppose." Ignis smothered a yawn. "What time is it?"
Noctis clicked a button on his phone, bringing up the screen. "Three-thirty. You wanna call it and finish another time?" Well, that was disappointing, but he wasn't going to force Ignis to–
"And leave Gladio in a den of daemons? I think not."
…Well, okay then.
So Ignis kept on, finding a shotgun for Mike and getting his wolf friend from earlier to join him as he made his way into the depths of the sanatorium. Where every wendigo and their brother were waiting.
Noctis' phone gave a buzz.
Gladio: You two STILL up?
Noctis: Yep.
Gladio: Body count?
Noctis: 0
Gladio: Wth, how?
Gladio: Where is he now?
Noctis: Sanatorium round 2. And idk man.
Gladio: Think he'll lose anyone?
Gladio: Josh maybe?
Noctis: HAHAHA no. Not a chance.
Noctis: He's a super clue finder.
Noctis: I already consider Josh "saved."
Gladio: He read the stranger's whole damn journal didn't he?
Noctis: Yep.
Gladio: Damn. Guess Chris and Ashley are safe, then.
Noctis: Probably.
Gladio: Matt and Jessica?
Noctis: He'll probably do fine with them too.
Noctis: But if he loses Jessica I'm giving him SO much hell for it.
Gladio: You could make sure he loses her. :Game Controller Emoji: :Hand Emoji: :Smirking Emoji:
Noctis: :Shocked Emoji: Gladiolus! And here he is working so hard to save your life at the moment.
Gladio: Pffft. I have plot armor for 99% of the game.
Noctis: He doesn't know that.
Noctis: And I know how to get that 1%, you know.
Noctis: WAIT NO
Gladio: …what?
Noctis: Smiling Imp Emoji I have a better idea.
Gladio: What?
Noctis: If you find my body in here tomorrow, I don't want you to blame yourself for failing as my Shield, okay?
Gladio: …should I be worried?
Noctis: Prompto gets most of my stuff. Ignis can have the kitchen appliances. You can have everything in my workout room.
Gladio: …you don't have a workout room, we use the training room
Noctis: Well idk share the toaster with Ignis.
Noctis: He'll be in prison for my murder anyway.
Gladio: What are you gonna do?
Noctis: Something that is definitely bad enough to pie him off.
Noctis: Piano
Noctis: Pisa
Noctis: PEPPER
Noctis: FICKLE AUTOCORRECT
Gladio: :Crying While Laughing Emoji: Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers?
Noctis: -_- :Middle Finger Emoji:
Gladio: Knowing Ignis, pie fits pretty well.
Noctis: Not when we're talking about murder it doesn't.
Gladio: Really? :Glasses Emoji: :Chef Hat Emoji: :Knife Emoji Screaming Emoji: :Frying Pan Emoji: :Pie Emoji:
Noctis: …
Gladio: Still want to piss him off?
Gladio: Assuming that's the word you were going for originally.
Noctis: …If you don't hear from me in a couple hours, check to see if Ignis has cooked anything with meat in it, okay?
Gladio: Sure thing.
It wouldn't be too long before Ignis got to the last chapter, given that he was already almost done with the sanatorium now–
"Barricade that door!" Noctis yelled, realizing where Ignis was.
Ignis flinched at his outburst. "What–"
"Just do it!"
"I was going to anyway." Ignis complied, having Mike shove something in front of the door. "Why are you yelling at me? You haven't actually helped me all game."
"I make exceptions for Pryna." Noctis put his phone away.
"Ah. I see. The wolf is now safe, then?"
"Uh-huh. Just had to make sure. Carry on."
And so Ignis did. Until he got to the room full of barrels and a wendigo. The game gave him the option of shooting the wendigo or the barrels.
"This is highly unfair," Ignis hissed through pressed-together teeth as he shot the wendigo.
"How so?"
"That Danger Totem showed him dying in an inferno, so igniting an entire room full of explosives doesn't seem particularly promising, but he can't defeat the daemons without fire–"
The game didn't give Ignis another prompt as the wendigo pounced on Mike and the screen went black.
Noctis snickered.
Ignis blinked slowly. "Did I just kill Gladio?"
"…Are there blood and guts everywhere?"
"…Fair point. This game has been hardly subtle in that regard." Ignis' eyebrows shot up as a very brief scene played next. "My word, so you are alive after all… She truly did sleep through most of the game."
"Yeah, yeah…"
The game returned focus to Ashley after that as she, Sam, Emily, and Chris continued on to find Mike. Chris tried to bow out on account of his hurt ankle, but Ignis had Ashley flat-out refuse to leave him behind. Despite that, however, Ashley managed to get separated from the group, and Jessica's voice called out to her.
Ignis scoffed, completely ignoring the voice and choosing to rejoin the others.
"I can't believe you just ignored me!" Noctis protested.
Ignis snorted. "If you're going to try and convince me that wasn't a wendigo, you are not going to succeed. There was a reason I read that journal, and it's paid off."
Noctis sighed. "Fiiiiiine." Well, without Ashley letting the wendigo out down that path, Chris was officially safe. There were no other ways for him to die. One officially down. Prompto lives. Huzza.
Coming to a rock wall that apparently only Sam was capable of climbing, she continued on while the others headed back, and the game shifted control to her.
"Once more into the mines…" Ignis muttered.
"More like out of, but yeah."
Ignis had Sam pick up a large pipe and kept going until she found a door out of the mines, then she continued on to the sanatorium.
"I have a lead pipe. These daemons are bulletproof."
Noctis shrugged. "You're resourceful. I'm sure you'll manage."
And manage Sam did, rescuing Mike by beating the wendigo off of him with the pipe before they both ran, blowing up the sanatorium behind them.
"Hmph. That went better than expected."
"Well, it is you and Gladio doing your normal jobs pretty much."
Ignis gave him a look. "Noct, I'm fairly certain Gladio and I have never faced cannibalistic humans-turned-daemons on a secluded mountain before."
"Oh? You sure?"
"I'm rather confident I'd remember that, yes."
"Yeah, I suppose." Noctis grinned. "One chapter to go, Iggy. Think you can keep everyone alive?"
Ignis tilted his head, clicking his tongue. "We shall see."
"…This man is in some very serious need of some proper medication," Ignis noted as Josh screamed at the twisted mutations his mind was conjuring of his dead sisters.
"Yeaaaah… You sure do have an interesting type, Iggy."
Ignis sighed. He personally still found Josh to be an understandable and interesting character, but if he voiced that now Noctis would never let him hear the end of it. So instead he punched a hallucination of a decapitated pig's head instead. "…Now there's something I'd never thought I'd be able to say I've done."
Back in control of Sam, Ignis continued through the mines in search of Josh. Sam and Mike were no longer armed, and they were now wading through water. Not a good plan, but the game offered Ignis no alternative.
"I say… the waterwheel… That totem was near the beginning of the game." Ignis had been wondering about that for a while. He did as he recalled the totem showing and climbed out of the water next to the wheel.
And thus he discovered the true fate of Hannah from her journal that was left there.
Ignis nodded. "I had my suspicions, but that's rather unfortunate. I'm beginning to think it's the Washingtons themselves that are cursed, not the mountain. So, Hannah herself is one of the daemons."
"Yeah, and she's probably pissed at you for dropping her."
"Nonsense. Beth dropped her, and Hannah clearly already had her revenge on her." Personally, Ignis was fairly confident he'd just let himself starve rather than digging up the corpse of his sibling.
Noct made a face. "Ew. Yeah, guess so."
The next door Sam and Mike opened let out a wave of water that was carrying the stranger's head. The room itself held the body, which was hanging from the ceiling on some chains. Sam and Mike started having minor panic attacks about the 'lots of bodies.'
Ignis tilted his head. There was only one body there.
"What the what?" Noct laughed. "Some dev must have forgotten to change the dialogue or something. That made sense when the rest of us were playing because everyone who'd died so far was in here."
"Ah. I see." Their responses did seem natural for that set of circumstances. Getting over their initial reactions, the two made it to the other side of the room and found Josh, who was yelling at thin air. Mike hit him across the face to snap him out of it.
Noct snorted. "Now there's something Gladio would do – hit the guy having issues."
"As well he should."
"Huh?"
"Hmm. Sometimes a shock such as that is needed to break the mind loose from its own trap."
"…Oh." Noct was quiet for a moment, looking awkward. "So if you…" He gestured to the bathroom. "If… that happens again, should I…"
"Yes," Ignis said firmly.
"…You want me to hit you…"
Seeing how uncomfortable Noct looked, Ignis tried to choose words of reassurance. "Noct, trust me when I tell you it's kinder than the alternative."
Noct swallowed. "Okay."
"…You must be joking." Ignis scowled at the screen. "Stop bloody splitting up! There is no benefit to this!" He pretended not to notice Noct's radiating amusement.
No matter how much he objected, however, Sam still left the others, climbing out to the surface via a way Josh couldn't follow in his condition. Ignis was left in control of Josh.
Mike led the way, retracing Sam and Mike's earlier steps back into the water where Ignis knew there was a wendigo waiting. He tensed, ready for any quick time events that might appear. None did. He had no control as Josh was dragged off by what was confirmed to be his sister. Mike barely escaped, pressed up against a wall he'd somehow made it to.
And the screen went black.
"Well, congrats. You saved your beloved."
Ignis looked at Noct incredulously. "That… is not what I would qualify as being saved, Noct."
"…Just wait, the game will come back to him."
"Fine…"
The screen brightened to reveal… someone Ignis had almost entirely forgotten about.
"Where on Eos has he been?" Ignis wondered as an unharmed Matt lit up a lantern and then was almost hit by a shovel that Jessica was wielding.
"I say, Noct. Turning on your allies?"
"Can't you see I'm having a hard time? I was dragged through the snow in my underwear and thrown down an elevator shaft. At least I'm still alive and swinging."
"Indeed. At the wrong target. At least you found some form of clothes. Aren't you lucky?"
"Shut up and get me out of here, Pelna."
"…Who?"
"He's a Glaive. Make him do his job and protect me."
"As you wish, Princess."
"Shut the hell up, Glaive. Let's go."
"My, you're rather becoming a tyrant, aren't you?"
A wendigo scream echoed around the part of the mines they were in. Ignis sat forwards. "All right, Highness… let's see you safely home."
"I'm holding you to that."
"Of that I have no doubt."
Of course, Ignis chose to hide rather than run. In Noct– Jessica's condition, running would have been a death sentence, even if Matt could have outrun the daemon.
He utterly refused to get Jessica killed. Noct would never let him hear the end of it.
The Don't Move prompt ended, and the two ran, making their way through the mines. The wendigo saw them then, skittering along in pursuit.
"Like hell…" Ignis muttered. Ignis chose to break out of the mines, dragging Jessica along. They hid once more on the other side of the wall, triggering another Don't Move prompt.
Just a few more moments…
Success.
The Wendigo lost them and ran off the opposite direction in search.
"Yes!" Ignis hissed, pleased as the two Wendigo-free characters looked into the distance and saw the lodge.
"Hell yeah! Me and Pelna are safe! Four down, four to go!"
"Four?" By his count it was only three…
"Oh, yeah, there's no way to get Chris killed in the last chapter. He's safe."
Excellent. "I've saved you and Prompto, then?"
"Yeah! We're out of the fire!"
"Splendid. Just as things should be. Now that we've seen you to safety, it's time to make our own escape."
Appropriately, the game switched control to Sam.
"Home stretch!" Noctis cheered.
No room for error whatsoever. Noctis had said the game penalized more for mistakes as the game advanced. This was the last chapter. A single mistake could be fatal to one or even multiple characters. He would not fail the final four. He would… jump into a pond in the middle of a snowstorm.
Ignis tilted his head. "Unless Sam is Shiva, I'm finding this rather improbable."
"Now that would be a plot twist," Noctis said, grabbing the remote and turning up the volume a few clicks before folding his arms behind his head and relaxing leisurely back on the couch.
There was another wendigo scream, and Sam started running, making it all the way to the lodge, where Mike caught up with her. They both entered the lodge, looking rather worse for wear as they headed for the basement.
Ignis' fingers hovered anxiously over the buttons he had become more familiar with the last few hours.
The time…
The conversion on the lodge…
This was it. The final trial.
Chris, Ashley, and Emily burst through the door, yelling at the others to go back from where they came. Ignis reacted as soon as the prompt choices appeared, having Sam shut and lock the door before the multiple wendigos could get through. Sam ran after the others, making it into the main room where everyone was frozen. Sam came to an abrupt halt too.
The creature that Hannah had become was sitting atop the hanging decoration. Its head turned in Sam's direction, and Ignis held his breath before the Don't Move prompt even appeared.
Dear Astrals, this was far more tense with the volume turned up higher. It had been well loud enough before, but the current loudness of the particular sounds that were played during the Don't Move prompts – a strange background noise Ignis couldn't quite place a label on and the playing character's spiked heart rate and rapid breaths – produced a level of anxiety Ignis hadn't expected to feel about a game before tonight.
The prompt vanished as another two wendigos found their way into the room.
Damn. One was bad enough to deal with. How was he to navigate this safely?
Oh. Oh, how fascinating. The wendigos were none too pleased about each other being there and began fighting. Hannah appeared to easily be the strongest and hurled one of the smaller wendigos into the nearby unlit fireplace. …A gas fireplace.
Mike spotted the leaking gas immediately, then zeroed in on a lightbulb that wasn't too far away, and then lastly found the light switch by the door. He and Sam made eye contact, and she nodded very subtly.
How fitting for them to be the ones with the plan.
Mike began to inch towards the lightbulb as Hannah ripped the head off one of the other wendigos. The floorboard beneath Sam's feet creaked as she tried to get to the switch. Hannah whipped around, screeching and then stalking towards Sam.
Again, Ignis was still before the prompt appeared.
Not bloody today, daemon.
Mike succeeded in breaking the lightbulb, but that drew Hannah's attention to him instead.
Chris, being the closest to the door, used the distraction to flee the lodge.
Right. The final four.
He had to delay. Distract. Keep the wendigos busy until the others could escape and then set the entire lodge blaze.
Hannah was right beside Mike, and she most certainly already knew he was there.
A choice appeared: to save Mike or run to the switch.
Leave Gladio behind now? Absurd, even if he didn't care about killing the other two. Which he certainly did, after all this effort.
Sam yelled, drawing Hannah's attention back to her.
Ashley made a break for the door, disappearing into the safety of outside.
Three left.
Still, Ignis stayed motionless. Hannah was incredibly close this time, close enough that if Ignis were as near to her as Sam, he'd be able to smell her breath. Sam was still enough, though. Her voice hadn't been enough for the daemon to go on. Hannah stalked away, still searching.
Run for the switch, or hide.
Emily and Mike were still in danger.
Sam moved according to Ignis' directions, getting closer to the switch and pressing herself against a wall to hide.
Hannah was drawn back yet again.
Emily sprinted out the door.
Just the two of them now.
Down to getting him and Gladio– Mike out.
He had to keep Hannah busy just a bit longer. Mike was so close to the door.
The Don't Move prompt appeared for what Ignis believed would be the last time, and this time Hannah was downright nearly touching Sam she was so close.
The prompt was long. Perhaps it only felt that way, but Ignis was almost certain it was the longest in the game. His knuckles felt cold from the lack of blood flow from how tightly the controller was gripped, but he didn't dare try to adjust his hold now.
Hannah's head turned, getting closer and closer until there was barely an inch between Hannah's teeth and Sam's ear. Hannah screamed directly into Sam's ear, and it was extremely loud even to Ignis, but he managed not to flinch. Hannah pulled back slightly, about to leave–
Ignis gasped as dull pain spread through his arm when Noct's foot hit just above his wrist, making him drop the controller.
Noct... you kind of suck, bro. lol
