Iris was having none of it.
None. Of. It.
She'd only just missed getting swiped by a car herself as she rushed to help her brother when he landed on the ground. A cab driver had hit him full-on, and now had a nice sized dent and a shattered windshield to show for it.
Gladiolus lay on the pavement, one leg twisted at an odd angle and his eyes firmly shut. He was breathing, and his pulse was strong, but he didn't react to her at all. It really scared her. Luckily, by the time the emergency workers arrived, he had come around…though he wasn't quite coherent for several more minutes after that. In fact, he didn't start really making any sense until Cor Leonis arrived.
Personally, Iris thought the marshal scared her brother's wits back in his head. Because the marshal was maaaaad
He first made sure Gladiolus was actually ok, but then set in with that tone of his; the one that immediately let the person he was talking to know they'd messed up with their own stupidity. It wasn't long before her brother had babbled out most of the story of what lead up to his mild concussion, two busted ribs and a leg that was broken in not one but three places. With every sentence Cor's demeanor grew darker and at the end he yelled several expletives loud enough to draw the attention of onlookers.
He'd waived her up on the ambulance as well when they went to take her brother away; a break that bad was going to require more than magic to make sure it healed properly, especially considering Gladiolus' future as the prince's shield.
She could hear Cor yelling at Ignis on the phone over the sirens as they pulled away.
They were at the hospital by the time Gladiolus got some video that he refused to let her watch and he contacted their butler Jared to come get her. He'd made her promise that she was going to stay out trouble and not give Jared a hard time, since he wasn't going to be home for several hours at least.
It was starting to get dark by the time they'd returned to the manor and Iris excused herself up to her room. Once there, she quickly changed into black leggings and a black sweater and then excused herself right out the window, down the trellis, across the back yard, and over the fence. She was well on her way back to the scene of the accident before Jared had settled himself in his quarters with his evening shows.
XVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXV
Crepitus watched Lentium dole out his punishment on the smart mouthed boy. He could tell the man was close to snapping and needed to release his frustrations, so he let him go on for longer than he normally would.
When he'd finally wore himself out and discarded the bloodied belt on the ground, Lentium muttered something about getting the truck prepared and Crepitus waved him off. As he left the room, glancing back at the downed boy, something uneasy settled in his gut.
Crepitus gently nudged the prone figure with his boot. A low moan let him know the boy was not unconscious, which pleased him.
There was nothing inside of Crepitus that told him any of this was wrong. Their benefactor had provided quite a bit of information on their (his) captive. The most interesting tidbit being that he was a Niff. When Crepitus first saw him, it was confirmed; that pale complexion built for winter climates and the particular jaw line were dead giveaways.
It didn't matter that the boy was adopted at a young age and had lived in Lucis for the vast majority of his life. It didn't matter that he had nothing to do with the war or what had happened to the Mael family or Crepitus himself when he was young.
A Niff was a Niff was a Niff was a Niff.
He'd decided long ago that he would do his best to kill any of the rat bastards he could in the most slow and creative ways possible. He was up to twenty nine. (Lentium was only aware of three, as Crepitus had quite the history before they began their association)
He'd figured out a method; a rhythm, a particular way he liked to do things. He'd found driving them to madness before ending it all was satisfying in a way that simply slitting throats in back alleys was not. It was especially nice when they ended it themselves.
However, in this case, he didn't have the time. He'd been given a specific set of directions separately from Lentium, and it was time to move on to the next phase.
He wondered if their benefactor would let him keep the boy once his purpose was served.
Assuming he lived, of course.
Crepitus stretched out his shoulders and back for a moment before he bent down to pick up the boy.
He struggled a little, flailing his arms and attempting to wrench free. But his fever, concussion, and various other wounds had finally caught up with him and he was weak as a kitten; easily quelled. He held the boy bridal style and walked him over to the crate.
"Please don't p-put me back in…ple-please."
Oh, how he loved it when they begged.
"Come now, a brave boy like you who has such smart words and clever plans and can withstand horrid abuses…surely this little box is nothing to you."
This time, the boy reached a tremulous hand and placed it against Crepitus' chest. Almost too low for him to hear, the boy whispered "I can be good again. Please don't….don't put me back in there."
The smile that crept across his face was slow and sinister. "That is a tempting offer, but you've ruined all your chances with me. Your smart mouth will no longer grant even the smallest of favors, no matter how talented it is."
Crepitus kicked open the lid of the crate and grinned again. "Well what do we have here? It looks like you still have plenty of friends waiting for you! Here and I thought some of them would run away."
The larger man then dropped the arm that was holding up the boy's legs and let his feet hit the floor, supporting Prompto by the shoulders.
Crepitus drew his eyebrows together in mock concern. "Do try to keep from killing any more of your friends, yes?" He then clapped his hand over the boy's mouth and nose much like that first day and watched as those blue violet depths slowly dimmed and finally rolled back.
He quickly released the hold and checked to ensure he started breathing again properly, then set about wedging Prompto back into the crate and locking it securely.
XVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXV
Somewhere in the back of his head, some princely part of Noctis knew he was not handling things well. He could see it on Ignis' face and in the way what's his name kept his distance. The Crownsguard were all occupying themselves otherwise as well as their charge seethed and paced and threatened and screamed.
Against his better judgment and very much against Ignis' advisory, Noctis had watched all three videos in full. Not even his usually stoic advisor could sit through all the footage, though he tried. Ignis got up and excused himself from the room about the time Crepitus was pouring a bag full of bugs into the crate he'd just shoved Prompto into.
Luckily the walls to the bathroom blocked out the sounds of him retching, as Noctis knew Ignis would be mortified if they heard him losing his lunch.
Noctis watched them all, partly looking for any clues as to where his friend was being held, but mostly just trying to be there for Prompto in some strange fashion. So that he wasn't alone in his suffering.
He was absolutely ready to kill and was being quite vocal about it.
"Noct—" Ignis tried for the third time to calm him, and the prince lost it.
"What, Iggy? Are you going to fucking tell me to calm down?! You didn't even see everything they did to him! Hell, I didn't even see everything they'd done to him since he's been there much longer than twenty three minutes worth of fucking video! They raped him, Ignis! They fucking raped my best friend!"
"We'll get him the best therapies—" Ignis tried again, but was immediately cut off.
"Therapy?! Yeah, therapy will unfuck him, alright. Therapy isn't going to do shit, Iggy." Noctis glared at his adviser for a moment, his eyes daring him to say something.
But, it was Adam who next spoke up. He placed a comforting hand on the adviser's shoulder and glared right back at the prince. "What is happening to your friend is a terrible thing, but that's no reason to take it out on Ignis."
The entire cabin went silent save for the steady hum of the engines ever present in the background.
Noctis' eyes went that bright maroon it did when he was accessing his magic. His immediate surroundings grew hazy as his anger literally began to burn off him. He cocked his head to the side and spoke with exaggerated politeness. "Oh, I'm sorrrryyy, new guy! Did I yell at your boyfriend? That stir up your super manly protective instincts? Huh?"
No one spoke and Adam may or may not have shrunk back a little as that untamed power was directed at him.
Noctis threw both his arms up and heat came off him in a wave, washing over Ignis, Adam and the two Crownsguard brave enough to stand in the vicinity. "Oh, I'm sorry I raised my voice! Meanwhile Prompto is six knows where getting godsdamned tortured…for no other reason than he fucking knows me!" Noctis thumped himself in the chest with a closed fist. "But yes, let's all use our inside voices so no one's feelings get hurt!"
Noctis stood heaving, glaring at each man in turn until they each shifted their gazes away. "Yeah, that's what I thought." He said lowly before he stalked to the back of the cabin and threw himself onto the unoccupied couch.
Ignis sighed quietly and pulled Adam back towards the kitchenette. "My apologies; he's under a great deal of stress. Prompto means the world to his highness."
"Yes, I'm beginning to see that." Adam watched the young prince for a few moments before offering Ignis a wan smile. "It still doesn't give him the right to speak to you that way."
Ignis felt his cheeks flush despite himself. "Yes, well…he's not usually like this. Noctis tends to be much more reserved. Bored, even."
Adam glanced back over to the raven haired teen, who had taken to staring down a his phone. "Well, let us help him get his happy ending, shall we?"
Ignis and Adam sat back at the table, going back over the data from the search programs they were still running.
XVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXV
He was floating. Was that right? Everything felt pretty solid around him, but he had the distinct impression he was floating…drifting…gently swaying back and forth back and forth back and forth…
That was, of course, until he wasn't. Not floating was jarring and loud and he's pretty sure it caused his shoulder blade to press into his spleen…wait, were those even close together?
The sudden stillness sent the crawling things into a flurry of action and Prompto hated himself as he whimpered quietly. Above him, in the darkness, Crepitus chuckled meanly, reminding him of his weakness.
"Such a stupid pathetic thing…afraid of a few spiders…."
He supposed nothing really mattered, now. Gladio was dead. Dead because of him.
Prompto knew he himself wouldn't last much longer, so he felt that the sacrifice was rather pointless on the shield's behalf. He was only supposed to die protecting Noctis. Not someone like Prompto.
"..such a waste, really…if only you were a little brighter, you wouldn't be in this mess…."
This time, when the larger man had shoved him in the crate, he trapped Prompto's arms awkwardly beneath his knees, and he had no recourse when the curious spiders and other bugs began crawling across his face, dipping their long legs into the crease of his lips and tickling at the edges of his flared nostrils. His eyes were squeezed shut so tight that tiny colorful cloudbursts sparked in the darkness there, drifting…
"…don't worry, boy, it will all end soon..."
Prompto hoped he was right.
XVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXV
Once she had returned to the area where the accident had taken place, Iris had to take to the back alleys. The place was crawling with Citadel officials.
In the few hours since they had left the scene, Cor had organized a door to door canvas of the area. Crownsguard and even a few Glaive were approaching everyone in the streets with photos of Prompto, Crepitus Mael, and Lentium Swal.
She shadowed Crowe Altius for a while, since she always seemed to know what she was doing. (Iris definitely wanted to be Crowe when she grew up) She especially perked up when Crowe suddenly stopped, putting a hand to her ear and talked to another Glaive over the comm.
Though she couldn't tell exactly what was being said, she knew it had to be important because Crowe immediately set off down the alley that Lentium had ducked into earlier. Iris scrambled up a drainpipe and onto the roof of the small office building across from the homeless center and began to follow Crowe down a series of back alleys and side streets via the rooftops. They had gone perhaps half a mile when Crowe left the alleyways and strode towards a squat building on its very own piece of land.
Like most buildings in the area, it looked more or less abandoned. Iris was preparing to shimmy down the fire escape to follow when she was abruptly grabbed from behind, a rough hand clapping over her mouth. "Don't scream." A gruff voice intoned in her ear; hot breath blowing across her face.
Fuck.
Gladio was going to be so pissed.