Noctis had been through a lot lately. He'd been hunted by the Empire, fought bloodthirsty monsters daily for months, had daemons five times the size of Gladio start to spawn under his very feet, and been an inch from death on several occasions.
That said, Noctis had never been as absolutely scared out of his wits as he was right now. Not since the attack that had led him to Luna, at least.
Maybe scared was even too generous. Terrified, paranoid… those worked a little better.
"Ignis?" Noctis called, his fingers twitching around Luna's trident as he jogged forwards as quietly as he could. His dad's sword was still in his other hand, making things awkward. If only his stupid breathing wasn't so loud, maybe he could hear better.
Yeah. Hear if his oldest and most caring friend was about to leap out of the shadows with a brand-new pair of claws and rip him apart.
It really wasn't helping his nerves that Ignis could also apparently see in the dark.
…Oh, Six. If Ignis had really gone berserk, Noctis was so screwed.
Though, honestly, Ignis being berserk and shadowing him was preferable to the alternative. If Ignis wasn't close… even if Noctis managed to find Luna, they'd never get Ignis healed in time.
His fear of being attacked was suddenly replaced by something much worse. Astrals, they'd already lost Ignis so many times lately. This couldn't be how it ended.
Noctis wouldn't let it.
"Ignis!" Noctis called, looking around the strange, massive room he'd just entered. "Ignis!"
No sign of him. Where the hell had he gone?
Noct heaved out a few breaths, wiping his forehead as he trudged off the… elevator? Was it still technically an elevator if it was a room the size of, like, the throne room that just happened to go up? Ugh, who cared? He really didn't care if the elevator-room was called an elevator or not – he just hoped there were no more MTs around.
Still no sign of Ignis.
Well, there were only so many paths to take in this place, and if Ignis was still… Ignis, then he'd be heading in the same direction Noctis was.
There was nothing to do but keep going. And so he did, heading for a door that he suspected would lead to another hallway. He'd actually be thankful to get the hallways back right now. At least hallways limited where Ignis could have gone–
Wait. Had he heard… a cough?
Noctis whipped around. "Ignis?"
Ignis was sitting awkwardly against a railing, clinging to it as though his very life depended on it. His shoulders lurched weakly with the coughs that he buried in his shoulder.
"Dammit, Iggy!" Noctis rushed to his side, setting his father's sword and Luna's trident down on the floor as he checked on him. "That was seriously not cool."
"Noct…" Ignis' voice sounded pained, and his shoulders were shaking, but he kept his face turned away from Noctis. "Don't…"
Noctis ignored him, pulling the last vitality enhancer out of his pocket. "Here, come on, take this."
Ignis refused to let go of the railing. "Noct… you need to… go on."
"Like hell." Noctis cracked the vial over him. "C'mon, Iggy. Just a little further. You can do this. You're gonna make this."
The trembling in Ignis' shoulders died down instantly, and his fingers slowly slacked their grip. His head finally raised a bit.
"There, see? That's a little better, isn't it?" Noctis reached down to put a helping hand on Ignis' shoulder. "You still got some fight left in you. We've got time to find the others–"
Noctis was too shocked to even try to smother the scream that tore from his mouth as Ignis snapped his head around and buried sharp teeth into the arm he'd placed on his shoulder.
Had Noctis thought about it, he would have known not to pull away and make the damage worse, but instinct had him yanking his arm back, causing Ignis' teeth to further shred the flesh. He clapped his other hand over the gaping wound, and between the hot blood gushing between his fingers and the matching amount on Ignis' lower face, he couldn't keep from gagging slightly.
Ignis had bit him. He had bitten an entire damn chunk out of his arm. And he'd swallowed it.
Vaguely, Noctis realized he should probably be in more pain, but he was chalking that up to shock.
Ignis pulled himself into a crouched position and growled. Growled as he observed Noctis in a very inhuman manner, cocking his head in a snappy motion. Noctis had been trying not to look at his eyes earlier, but now he couldn't look anywhere but as Ignis' yellow gaze bored into him, a purple goo of some sort pulsating on the left side of his neck.
"Ignis…?" Noctis choked out, dearly hoping for some spark of recognition to make an appearance. There wasn't one.
"Oh dear… Well, I did try to warn you. Best you start running or fighting, Your Majesty."
Noctis had never hated someone more in his entire life than he hated Ardyn in that moment.
Run or fight, but… he'd dropped his weapons, and now Ignis was standing over them. All he had was the Ring.
Screw that. He wasn't using any of the Ring's dirty tricks on Ignis – there was no way to do that without really hurting him. Which… which was exactly what he'd promised Ignis he would do if he got out of control.
Ignis' tongue flicked out to lick his crimson-doused lips. Noctis' breathing hitched as the Ring on his finger suddenly felt heavier than ever before.
Ignis stood up partially, still keeping his stance somewhat animalistic. He took a step forwards. Then another. And another.
Noctis found himself matching those steps, backing up but not making any sudden movements.
Could he syphon Ignis' life away, watch him wither away into a form more grotesque than he already was now? Could he blast him across the room with violent magic until he stopped coming and lay on the floor, ready to be finished off? Could he watch him get pulled away, not truly knowing what end he'd subjected him to?
No. No, he couldn't. The only option he would consider was the Ring's Holy ability if he needed to defend himself and didn't have another option.
That promise…
"I'm sorry, Iggy… I-I can't… Not like this."
Ignis gave no sign that he understood him. He just kept creeping forwards, as if daring Noct to make a move.
Noct spotted the door he'd been about to enter a little while ago.
He bolted, sprinting towards the door.
Ignis had always been a faster runner than he was, and even with the head start Noct had, Ignis was right on his heels only a moment later. Noct slipped out of his grasp by warping, reaching the door first and shooting down the hallway.
Where could he go? What could he do?
"You chose to run? Oh, now that won't do at all… A King doesn't run!"
Noct's shoes made him slide as he rounded a corner and kept running. He really wanted to scream at Ardyn, but he had to save his breath.
Keep going, keep going…
He could still hear Ignis' footsteps behind him, but he hadn't rounded the corner yet. Noctis turned sideways, sliding through some dormitory doors before they were even fully open.
Close, close, close!
He all but fell on the floor in order to stop before he hit the lockers at the end of the room.
His chest heaved, his arm throbbed, and he, frankly, wanted to cry. He probably would have if he hadn't known Ardyn was somehow watching his every move. As things were, he tried to blink the tears back.
This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair!
Why Ignis? Hadn't he been through enough?
Ardyn chuckled deeply. "Remarkable creatures, daemons. Some of them have an excellent sense of smell, particularly when they're tracking the blood of escaped prey…"
Noct looked at his arm, then at the drops of blood he left a trail of on his way.
"Dammit!"
The door slid open again, and Ignis pounced with an inhuman, raspy howl.
Noctis barely rolled out of the way in time, getting to his feet and trying to get back out the door. He yelped, staggering as the talons on Ignis' left hand – oh great, so he had gotten those – left three gashes in his shoulder. Ignis didn't waste any time in striking again while Noct was off balance.
White magic flared, throwing Ignis back to the lockers as Noctis unsteadily lurched out the door and took a right into a shorter hallway, following it until it led to another room with more damn hallways leading out of it.
Six, he was never going to lose Ignis in a place like this–
"Oof." Noctis face-planted onto the ground, smashing his nose in the process. The iron grip on his ankle told him his leg had been snagged by an MT, and he yanked against its hold on him. He spotted Ignis just down the hallway as he managed to kick the MT off.
And then some type of partial doors slammed shut, an electric field sparking from them, cutting Ignis off from him, but also trapping him in the corridor from both ends.
Shit, dammit, son of a bitch, why?
The field began coming towards him, shrinking the amount of room he had. Ignis stalked forwards as it shrank, staying as close as he could without touching the field.
And now there were more MTs on the floor that were beginning to wake up.
Noct hissed in pain as he began destroying them one after the other.
He couldn't… Six, he was tired… How much blood had he lost?
He was so tired.
"Noctis?"
…Luna?
"Hey! Noct! Can you hear us?"
Oh, thank the Astrals.
Noct moved as far away from Ignis as possible, almost touching the other electrified door. "Luna! Gladio! I'm here– we're here!"
He could see them. They were right there, on the other side of the door.
"Over here!" Luna beckoned Gladio over frantically. "I believe this is a kill switch!"
Sure enough, a few seconds later and the fields dropped, opening the doors.
Noct stumbled through the door, almost falling again as he clutched his arm to his chest.
Gladio and Luna were both at his side instantly.
"Noct, what the hell happened to you–"
"Behind me!" Noctis yelled.
He had his back to Ignis and couldn't see him, but he could see Gladio and Luna's expressions as they took in their friend's condition.
There was only one word to describe it: horror.
And then Ignis let out a shriek that could have cracked glass.
Noctis craned his neck to look over his shoulder just in time to see Ignis charge them.
What's the most terrifying thing ever? I know! I know! DAEMON IGNIS!
