Beta read by: SinikkavonWolperting
A little shorter than my normal chapters for this story, but I wanted to keep it short and sweet for this moment. C:
Ignis was the first to climb down, landing with ease only one building away from their hotel. Upon landing, he gazed up, motioning his hands in a lowering gesture, "Steady, Gladio," he needlessly reminded, fear of causing Prompto further harm forever bearing painfully on his conscience. His eyes remained fastened to the painting as it slowly but surely made it way down into his awaiting and gentle hands. "There we are," he spoke softly to himself, gripping the frame tentatively as the rest of the rope spiraled down into a small pile next to his foot. In a matter of a couple minutes, the shield made his way next to him, brushing his hands off unnecessarily.
"Well, I guess that takes care of that," he stretched from side to side, his heart finally slowing down now that the worst of it was over. Carefully, Gladio peeled back the sheet to peer underneath, checking it over quickly for any potential damages, "Everything looks intact," he sighed out, relieved. Dropping it back down, he swiped a hand across his brow, wiping away the nervous sweat, "You know he's not gonna appreciate this being there, right?"
"I wouldn't expect him to," Ignis readjusted the painting to hold it more securely, "That's why we're gonna keep it out of sight." He spoke as if it had already been discussed, like it was something that should have already been known and common sense. "We can leave it out side until he's either asleep, or distracted." The adviser held the frame so Gladio could grip the other side, and together they hauled it the last few yards; the former taking the whole of it to hide it away behind some wooden pallets, effectively storing it away from view.
With a nod in the brute's direction, he stood before the door and turned the handle, pushing it open slowly and quietly when he noticed no light was spilling out. Door half open, he paused and turned his head to the side at the sound, it was running water. It was the middle of the night, the fact that they were still awake struck him as rather odd; and taking a shower no less. He gave the other a quizzical glance, who shrugged in return, and pressed his way the rest of the way in. "Noct, we're back," he kept his voice fairly low and calm, not knowing what to expect. Cautiously, he took one curious step at a time, each one barely making a sound. "Noc-" he faltered on the name, eyes falling on a slight distortion in the dark. Squinting, he inched his way to the light and flicked it on.
"What the hell happened here?" Gladio spoke up, shoving by the other man to take a closer look. The shield stopped dead in his tracks, a small sound of shock slipping out as he realized what it was he was looking at. "Dammit," he muttered, turning away from the bloodied and marred wall, "Noct!" he called.
Both of their heads snapped onto the bathroom door as the returning voice filtered through, "H-hang on," he sounded more than a little distressed, almost panicked even. "Gladio, can you, uh, can you bring some more towels?" he asked anxiously against the wood, "Paper towels, anything will do."
"Noct, I'm coming in," Ignis was there in an instant, his caring and helpful impulses taking over; and, without waiting for approval, he pushed his way in. For a moment, he stayed stationary over the threshold, mouth subtly agape as he looked around the room, "What happened?" he deadpanned, the simple and plain tone demanding answers.
"I think it's obvious?" Noctis cut his eyes back, clearly refusing to go into details. He tucked his arm away the moment the adviser's eyes flicked to it, "But it's over with now, and that's all that matters, alright?" He turned back to Prompto, who the brunet had just realized was sitting in the tub, knees drawn up and stripped down to nothing but his underwear, and that wristband that seemed to be a permanent part of his body. His hair was plastered to the side of his face, but there was some contrasting bruising peeking out from underneath. The next thing he noticed were his hands, hanging there over his legs; the fingers tainted with crimson and trembling the slightest amount. "Gladio, those towels," the king snappily reminded.
He didn't even protest against it, the sheer amount of alarm and hysteria struggling to stay subdued driving him to comply. "Right," he said through clenched teeth, spinning on the spot to carry out that task.
"I'll get the first aid kit," Ignis offered after seeing the bite, the maimed finger tips, and lastly, the blond's near butchered chest; all of which was littered with dried blood. He was responded to with the small bob of the back of that raven-covered head before he hurried over to his things, his own hands fumbling with his possessions. Though, his nerves weren't flared up due to the obvious struggles that took place, but mostly earned from His Highness' distraught reaction to whatever it had been. He'd known him long enough to know the amount it took to shake him to this extent.
Finding the small container, he rushed back to Noctis' side, "Why don't you go clean that off," he nodded towards where he still had his arm tucked away, "I'll take care of things from here, but you need to get that sterilized." The seriousness in his tone caught the younger off guard, and catching the bewildered expression, he swiftly clarified, whispering though in hopes that Prompto couldn't catch it, "Human bites aren't exactly the most hygienic and are quite prone to infection." At that moment, Gladio returned with a few clean towels and tossed them over.
"Thanks," he took one for himself and handed the rest to Ignis. Wrapping the one around his arm, he stepped over to the sink, "I'm staying right here," he muttered, making his resolution clear and unwavering, but he still took the other's words to heart and began running water over the wound with a hiss.
"Prom," the strategist spoke softly, not at all oblivious to the terror still gripping him fully, "I need to take a look at you, alright?" He slowly reached out to cup his hand around the left side of the blond's face and gently turned it to face him. Meeting wide and shallow blues, he called him again, "Prompto," he gave a light tap.
He took a deep and shuddering breath, recognition flowing back into his dead stare, "Iggy," he breathed, the single word cracking, "I-I didn't mean to." His head moved subtly back and forth, "I didn't want to hurt anyone, I p-promise."
"No one is blaming you, no one is holding you accountable," Ignis reassured, moving his hand from his face to one of his wrists to lift his fingers into view and had to fight of a chilling cringe at the sight of them. Most of the nails had been torn completely away, and the bit that remained, it was jagged and ripped. Chewing the inside of his cheek, he reached over and turned the water off; in the moment, he had almost totally forgotten it was pelting the both of them. "I'm not going to sugar coat it, this is not going to feel good," Ignis muttered apologetically, opening the kit to reveal the antibacterials within.
He released that hand only long enough to pour a decent amount onto one of the cloths, and before it had time to soak in, he dabbed it down over Prompto's fingers. "There was so much...rage," he whispered, paying no mind to Ignis' tending, "I could feel it, Iggy, I could feel every last bit of it," his voice stiffened with the tightening of his throat at the recent memory of it. "She was suffering, and was so betrayed. She pleaded for help, but none ever came," he absentmindedly rambled on, gaze fixated on the hands that mended his own. His shoulders jolted as he bit back another sob, "And there was n-nothing I could do."
"What are you talking about?" Gladio asked from the doorway, leaning against its frame while he watched on, waiting for when he was needed, if he was needed.
"I can't explain it," Prompto looked away, "I don't know, but it was there." Out of nowhere, he yanked his hand away with a gasp and held it to his chest protectively, as if he just now felt the stinging. "Hmmmmm," he hummed, supposedly trying to block out the throbs that pulled through them.
"I'm almost done with that hand," Ignis waved it back over, and reluctantly, it was returned to his care. As he was finishing up with that set, he glanced up a few times at his chest, finally putting the pieces together now that his brain wasn't frazzled to hell and back. Then he scanned up back to the bruise that decorated his left temple, the dark shades of it showing evidence of quite a hard blow. And lastly, he did a quick search over the rest of him, thankful there was nothing else that stuck out to him, other than the odd bruise here and there; and, he remembered with regret that those were most likely his and Gladio's doing.
The entire time he was treating Prompto, the man noticed each and every glance that was thrown in Noctis' direction; sometimes nervous, and other times guilty, but every one of them emanated fault. "Alright, I need to take a look at your chest now, so I'm going to need to to get out of there," he cocked his head towards the tub.
It seemed to take longer than it should have for the instructions to register, but when they did, he was quick to react; bundled up fingers clumsily supported the rest of him along the edge while he pushed himself up. With one foot under him, the unexpected shakiness in his limbs threw him off, and he let out a stifled gasp when he felt himself falter. The brunet's reflexes saved him from receiving anymore bruises, and he went as far as to assist him in the actual action of stepping out, much to his embarrassment.
Ignis could feel the steady stream of tremors the exertion caused; the meaning of it weighing painfully heavy on his mind. Already this phantom, this bitch of a parasite, was bleeding him of his waning strength, and at a fairly terrifying rate. And if his efforts weren't anything to go by, then his appearance sure as hell was. He looked absolutely worn, sickly almost from the pallidness in his features. "We should move somewhere where you are able to lie down for this," Ignis suggested, the unspoken part warning him that this was going to be worse than the fingers had been. "Gladio, could you lay a few blankets on the floor, I think it will be easiest to do it there."
The shield gave a grunt of consent and set right to it. "I think this is good enough," Noctis finally spoke again, patting at his bite wound to clear it of any remaining blood. Prompto less than subtly turned away as he began wrapping a few gauze around it. "I guess I'll, um, start cleaning up," he said, not needing to spell out exactly what he meant by that as he scooped up some of the already soiled materials and headed towards the kitchen sink to fetch a pot of water.
"Prom, you ready?" the adviser asked quietly, not wanting to move an inch until he was certain he wouldn't lose his footing. And, with a solid and verifying nod, they diligently made it to Gladio's makeshift bed on the floor. Ignis eased him down to his back, getting a slight whimper when lying straight like that had pulled at the tears slightly. Now that he had a better look at it, it became agonizingly clear that this was self-inflicted, and whether it was on purpose or not didn't take the dread from that confirmation away.
With him settled in place and relatively still and relaxed, Ignis went back for the medical supplies and got started on that part. "Alright, this may be a bit worse, so just try to refrain from moving too much if you are able." He placed a comforting hand on the younger's shoulder, a firm, yet encouraging gesture of trust. Grabbing the antiseptic again, he slowly opened it back up and gave the blond a remorseful look and gingerly poured a small amount over the scratches, the immediate response being a stifled cry against the searing sting that assaulted the area. "I'll try to make this as quick as possible," he whispered, setting the bottle aside.
"It's fine," he shakily replied, gazing up at the man through squinted lids, "It's not that bad." Ignis said nothing and started to lightly pat the area with the last remaining clean rag, internally cringing with every gasp and flinch it caused. "So, where have you t-wo been?" he breathed in, trying to start idle conversation to distract him from his current agony. "Were gone for a while." His eyes were closed and it was unclear whether or not he was really paying attention or not.
"We just had to get out for a bit to think and discuss things," he drawled out, humoring the kid with basic conversation while he worked. "About what to do from here and things like that," he vaguely continued, pulling the rag away from the wounds and grabbing a roll of bandages.
Prompto nodded, licking his lips, "Oh, right, must have not been important enough for it to be said here," he sounded slightly bitter, which was quickly washed away with his next statement, "Where is it?" he asked with genuine curiosity, cracking one eye open to stare at the adviser.
Ignis' hands froze mid-unravel, "Where's what?" he simulated innocence, hiding his crumbling confidence.
The blond turned back to gaze at the ceiling, "That damn painting. I'm not stupid, I know that's what you two were doing." Surprisingly, he didn't sound upset, angry, or anything for that matter. Just as if he were stating the obvious, "So, where'd you put it?"
He debated whether or not he should continue to try and play it off, but realized that wasn't a viable option anymore, he already knew the truth and denying it now was bound to cause some disorder, "It's just outside," he sighed, "Behind some pallets. We're bringing it in later to keep it safe." He kept his eyes down, avoiding meeting the other's face.
"Did it for your own good," Gladio butted in, not wanting all the heat to be on Ignis; he did agree to help out in the end, so this was on both of them, "Leaving it there was too risky, so we brought it here," he strolled over at sat himself on the edge of the bed to watch the both of them. "But, don't worry, it's not like we're gonna hang it up on the wall or anything." He switched his attention over to the new sound entering the room; the sound of scrubbing chillingly met his ears as Noctis began washing the wall. "Need help with that?" he offered, pushing himself to his feet.
"Only if you want to," the raven answered flatly, lingering panic coating it, "I doubt it's all gonna come off thought," he nearly growled, battling the frustration that wanted to breach his somewhat collected fortress. Digging in particularly deep with his steel wool pad, he breathed deeply, "Don't know what we're gonna do about the damages either."
From his spot on the floor, Prompto felt a small pang of guilt, knowing it wasn't anything against him, and knew that no one was holding him accountable, but it still felt as though the blame were solely on his shoulders. "I guess that's going to burn a hole in our pockets," he weakly laughed, coming out as forced and unnatural, "Yeah, sorry again about that." He glanced down at his heavily cloaked fingers, every throb sending a chill down his spine at knowing they were the culprits.
"How many times do have to tell you," Noctis said over his shoulder, "None of this is on you, so stop feeling guilty about it."
"If we even remotely thought you were doing any of this on purpose, trust me, you'd be outta here by now," Gladio agreed, "But, as far as I'm concerned, you aren't, so there's nothing to feel sorry for." He joined Noctis, taking the offered steel wool while he picked up one for of rags and began swiping at the stains that were more easily removed. "We don't happen to have any bleach, do we?" he asked after the first couple of wipes did little to cleanse the red away.
"Hotels aren't typically stocked with cleaning supplies, unfortunately," Ignis pressed some folded gauze onto the scratches and held them securely in place as he taped them down. "And, I fear most shops are closed at this time, so that will probably have to wait until tomorrow. For now, just get what you can cleaned up." Making sure the wounds weren't bleeding through, he finished up, "Alright, that's it unless there's anything else that needs taking care of."
Prompto shook his head slowly and carefully sat up, wincing with the movement, "I think that's all of it...thanks," he subtly bowed his head as he used the bed to help him get to his feet, "I think, uh, I need clothes now," he blushed slightly, remembering that he was basically naked and just now felt self-conscious about it. "If I can find any clean ones," he muttered, recalling that one pair was completely ruined from blood, and the others were the same ones he had worn for days on end. But, he came to the conclusion that he'd rather wear the latter.
Getting dressed was something he had never imagined requiring as much effort as it did, and the searing throbs and aches throughout didn't help any. Almost every small movement was painful, and it felt like it wasn't just the injuries bringing it on. The moment he was decent enough, only throwing on the pants and shirt, he dropped himself on the bed, the simple everyday act wearing him out and leaving him breathless. He could actually feel the strain and weakness invading his limbs. The others were going about their own thing now, most likely cleaning up the mess as they talked among one another; the exact words and subjects lost to him as he wanted nothing but sleep.
His eyes eased shut, the temptation pulling him despite the terror and shame that still chided him with hostility. He was only like this for a moment before he jolted back up, the sensation of lulling off sending fresh waves of determination and warning through his veins. He couldn't sleep, not yet. Not after it has brought on nothing but suffering for the others and horror for himself; it was just something he would have to fight off for the time being. Coffee. He needed coffee, anything to stimulate him.
"Need something?" Gladio asked in passing to get some more warm water when he noticed the blond attempting to climb his way off the bed.
"Just need something to drink," he answered simply.
"All you have to do is ask, I mean I'm on my way over there, so it's no problem to just grab a glass of water," Gladio shrugged, turning back around.
Prompto held up a hand in protest, the signal going unnoticed to the other man, "Wait, what I meant was...well, I could really go for something a bit stronger."
"Never took ya for someone who enjoyed that kind of stuff," the shield smirked, "But, I highly doubt that's such a good idea right now."
"Wha-," the blond was confused until he was aware what it was Gladio thought he meant, "No, no, not that." He cleared his throat, "I mean something with caffeine, you know, like coffee or something like that." Looking away, he went to finish getting up.
"No," Ignis was quick to intervene, "That is far from what you need; what you need is water and rest. So, I suggest you have some of that, then going to sleep." His words weren't harsh, but they were certainly final and set in stone; his face unbudging from its authoritative appearance. "I understand you not wanting to do so, but it's the best you can do for yourself right now, alright?" His face softened slightly, not wanting to come off as too harsh for the time being.
The younger seemed hesitant, but after a few seconds of debating the notion, he slowly caved, knowing full well there was no objecting to Ignis when he was like this. He did usually know what was best, so if he said so, then he'd trust him. "Right," he leaned back, trying his best to relax into the sheets, but that small and nagging voice was forever present in the back of his head.
Then the thought hit him, 'why do I have to listen to him? Who is he to decide what's best for me?' He blinked a few times when those inner voices came off almost venomously. 'No, he's right, he only wants to help,' he argued with himself, 'Just trust him.' Mixed feelings swirled around, ranging from thankful to spite, all of them directed at the same target, "Shut up, just shut the hell up already," he turned to his side and gripped at his head as they voices only spoke louder, 'I don't have to listen to him,' 'I can decide things for myself,' 'He's only keeping my best interest in mind,' "Stop," his hands tightened, drifting to cover his ears; but, it didn't help, they only shouted louder, "Shut up already!"
The deafening silence that followed his unforeseen outburst alerted him to the fact that he had just shouted that. He forced his hands away from his head and stared blankly ahead, the feelings still running rampant within. "Sorry," he muttered, hands gripping at his upper arms now instead. The air was stale and uncomfortable for a moment longer, only being broken when Prompto felt the weight sit next to him and the accompanying hand of its owner lying over his own, but gentle enough so as not to jostle it too much.
"Look, we're right here," Noctis said softly, hoping his tone wasn't offending the blond with how gentle and catering it may have come off, "I don't know how this must be for you, but just know that we won't let this get too out of hand."
The other involuntarily scoffed at that, "Little late for that," he sourly muttered, curling up a little more under the touch. For some reason it felt wrong, like it didn't belong. He turned his face to be pressed into his pillow, "This is too much," his words came out muffled. "I think I wanna be alone," he whimpered, shrugging Noctis' hand away. But, as he felt the shift, he twisted around, and had to use both hands in order to get a proper hold on the other's arm, "Wait."
He stopped immediately, "Hmm?"
"I-I changed my mind," the gunner whispered shyly, "I'd prefer if you...stayed." He released his hold to turn back around to his side and face away until the heat left his face. He didn't know why that embarrassed him so much, but he supposed it just made him look weak and vulnerable...just like he felt. "Please, don't go," he added under his breath once he could no longer be seen.
Noctis sighed in content and went ahead and made himself comfortable, expecting to have to be there for some time, or at least until he fell asleep, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," he promised, propping his own pillow up so he could lean against the headrest. "Try to get some sleep, I'm pretty sure you didn't get a whole lot these last couple days." He glanced over and saw the steady rise and fall from his evened out breathing. "Well, that didn't take long," he breathed out, but remained where he was; it wouldn't kill him to stay by his side for at least a few minutes.
Bagpipes5K2: D: Jesus, I always heard those were some of the worst things, and I am so thankful I've never had to experience them. XD And I do hope you weren't, that would have probably caused a bit more problems, but hey, then the demon have have to deal with it instead. ;D
twaxer: That's actually one thing I think about him, like I genuinely think he has a guilty pleasure when it comes to breaking the law (For a good cause, of course). And happy late birthday. :D Glad I could have contributed to it, even unintentionally. lol And yeah, Google makes a lot of this stuff sound a bit awkward and ridiculous, but hopefully it gives the gist of it. XD And thank ya very much. :D And, I was about to say more to come soon...but this isn't Archive, and I reply via next chapter...
Websky: Omg, so glad that so many people are really translating this stuff, when I first started I was afraid it would be details that wouldn't be looked into. ;w; Indeed he does have his buddies, he's gonna need all their love. T^T