A lot of things made sense now, in Ignis's mind, following the conversation they'd had with Noct. His paranoia, always being on the look-out for soldiers—if Niflheim had truly become as menacing as Noct had described it then that made perfect sense. Not to mention his fear and hatred towards the Chancellor.

Bit by bit the pieces were falling into place—why he'd become so changed after Hammerhead, why he was so skittish and angry and sad all at once—there was little doubt he was probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after all he'd witnessed. It was no wonder he'd become so changed all at once that moment back between Insomnia and Hammerhead—the disorientation would have been shocking to anyone, and considering he'd just died…

Died. Ignis still couldn't quite believe it. It just couldn't be true, could it? The Gods would never be so cruel as to make Noct into naught but a lamb to be sacrificed. It didn't make sense. If the Gods wanted Noct to save the world then why make him die for it? And why, if it had supposedly worked, did Noct come back at all? He claimed he didn't remember why he came back—could it be that something had gone wrong with the prophecy? But the word of Bahamut himself was hard to argue with. Maybe it really was all pointless…

A gruff voice drew him from his thoughts. "You really believe what he said?"

Ignis sighed and turned towards Gladio, who was still leaning against the side of the ship, looking out over the ocean.

"I do," he said. "Though I admit some parts were harder to swallow than others."

"Well he's certainly convinced himself, I'll say that much for him," said Gladio, not turning to look at Ignis.

There was a brief pause. Gladio certainly seemed to have taken the news of Noct's potential suicide very hard.

"The prophecy's got to be wrong, right?" asked Gladio, finally looking at Ignis. "He wouldn't have come back otherwise. There must be some way of doing it without him dying."

"Noct said Bahamut himself told him of the prophecy," said Ignis, unable to stop himself from frowning. "I don't know if we can argue with the word of a God..."

"Maybe it wasn't Bahamut at all," said Gladio, shrugging. "Noct said the world ended up in darkness anyway, didn't he? It can't have worked properly then, can it? Perhaps it was something else, tricking him into thinking it was Bahamut?"

"Perhaps," said Ignis, though truthfully he thought it was doubtful. It would take immense power to imitate a God so accurately. But then, it was also true that Noct said he felt like he'd failed when he came back. Perhaps it really was a possibility...

It wasn't long before Prompto realised Noct really had just fallen straight asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. He'd fallen at a bit of an odd angle, so Prompto edged around the bed to straighten his legs and make sure his neck didn't ache too much when he woke up. He took a step back to examine his handiwork.

Well, Noct might not wake up with a neck-ache at least, but even Prompto couldn't deny he looked pretty awful. His skin was still unnaturally pale, the bandages around his arms making him look more fragile still, and despite the fact he'd spent the last few days unconscious, there was still vivid dark bruising beneath his eyes, making him look sleep-deprived.

He looked almost corpse-like in fact, and Prompto's mind turned back to what Noct had said before. That he was going to die. It couldn't be right. He couldn't lose Noct—not his best friend—and what for? Some stupid prophecy that didn't even work? No—he couldn't let it happen. There must be some way around this.

He turned back to check the slow rise and fall of Noct's chest as he left. He had to talk to the others about this. They had to come up with a plan—otherwise they'd lose everything.

Gladio couldn't pretend he wasn't a bit disappointed that Iggy didn't seem to believe his theory. He hadn't actually said it, but Gladio had learnt to read him well enough by now to guess at what he was thinking.

At the same time though he couldn't quite push the thought from his mind. It had to be a trick of some sort, there was no question about it—Noct wouldn't have come back at all otherwise.

But just as he was thinking this his thoughts were interrupted by Prompto, coming rushing up the stairs.

"He's completely out—looked totally exhausted," he said, a little breathlessly. He'd clearly run back up to meet them. Prompto never could seem to stay still for long—not that Gladio could really complain, given how he'd been feeling ever since Noct fell unconscious.

"Let's hope he sleeps well, for once," said Ignis, looking grimmer than ever.

"So," said Prompto, looking between them, "what are we gonna do about Noct's death?"

Gladio couldn't help but smile. At least he wasn't the only one thinking it then.

"I don't know that there's much we can do," said Ignis, looking gloomily at the floor.

"Oh come on, of course there is!" cried Prompto, not to be deterred. "All we have to do is stop him getting swallowed by the Crystal, right?"

"And how are we going to do that when Noct is insistent that we head towards it?" asked Ignis, frowning.

"We stick with him all the way to the end," said Gladio shrugging. "He said we got separated before—this time we don't let that happen."

Ignis shook his head. Never a good sign. "No, if we're to save his life we need a proper plan of action. Making it up as we go along won't get us anywhere, especially since Noctis knows more of this than we do."

"You're on board with it then, Iggy?" asked Prompto, his eyes lighting up.

Ignis gave a deep sigh. Gladio didn't need him to finish to know he'd come around to the idea, and relief already began running through him. Saving Noct would be hard enough as it was—it'd be doubly hard without Iggy's help.

"I cannot simply accept he has to die," he said, confirming Gladio's suspicions. "Not with how badly wrong things went in this other world of his. There must be another solution, but I believe we will have to dig to find it."

Gladio grinned and Ignis rolled his eyes. Good. This would be that bit easier—and easier was what they damn well needed right now.

"So what's the plan then?" he asked, hoping Iggy might already have something in mind. "How're we gonna find out how to save him?"

"Well, I don't believe he's told us everything about Ardyn, or the Starscourge." Iggy began to pace back and forth, a clear sign that some idea was formulating in his mind. "If we can find out how Ardyn's spreading it then maybe we can find some means of containing him—the Starscourge hasn't been around forever, after all."

"Like, imprisoning him or something?" asked Prompto.

"Something like that," said Iggy. "Or finding some other way to combat the infection."

"If we can make sure Lady Lunafreya doesn't die, that will help a lot," said Gladio, thinking back to what Noct had said. "She can keep the Starscourge at bay for a while at least."

"Yes," said Ignis, nodding, "it will be worthwhile to enquire into the Oracle's powers while we are in Altissia. If she has a means of sharing them like the King did with the Kingsglaive..."

"Okay, sounds like a plan to me!" said Prompto, looking much brighter. "When are we gonna tell Noct?"

Gladio remembered the grim look on Noct's face when he'd told them he had to die. He hadn't seemed to even want to fight it.

Ignis had clearly noticed too, and glanced at Gladio before replying. "Perhaps it would be best not to, for now," he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Noctis seems quite convinced of his fate. He might not take us trying to suggest an alternative very well."

"Yeah," sighed Gladio. "Once you've died for something it's gotta be pretty rough to be told you might not have had to."

"Right," said Prompto, looking a little sheepish. "Keep it on the down-low for now, I've got you."

"We will tell him eventually," said Ignis, trying to look reassuring, "I'm just not sure Noct's in the correct frame of mind for it as it stands. We can push at the idea a little, but we don't want to alarm him or put him on his guard. Certainly, we should prioritise how we're going to deal with Leviathan and Altissia."

A sadness came over Prompto's face at that.

"What do you think's gonna happen at Altissia?" Prompto asked quietly. "I mean, Noct said that Lady Lunafreya… How could it go that badly wrong?"

He was now staring at the floor, seeming unwilling to look either of them in the eye. Gladio had noticed even back at Cauthess that Prompto seemed to be pretty fond of Lady Lunafreya. Perhaps that was just an extension of his friendship with Noct though.

"Not to mention my being blinded," Ignis said—his face had a grim, distant look to it. "He didn't mention any specifics, but I'm willing to bet our friend the Chancellor had a hand in it."

Ardyn. All the shit he'd done, both in this world and the other one—one thing was for sure, even if they couldn't kill him, Gladio wanted him to pay.

"We won't let him touch you, Iggy," he said, though it was more of a promise to himself than to Ignis.

"I don't doubt that," said Ignis, with a smile in his direction, "but we mustn't let hate blind us to his threat. As much as I hate to say it, we are distinctly unprepared for what awaits us in Altissia. I think only Noct will be capable of holding his own, and he will likely still be ill when Lady Lunafreya calls Leviathan. We will need to be on our guard, and we cannot allow ourselves to be tricked as we were in this other world."

Truthfully, that was also the part Gladio was most worried about. Noct hadn't really gone into detail about how Iggy was blinded, which meant they were unprepared for that aspect of the battle with Leviathan. Obviously the priority was keeping Lady Lunafreya alive, but still…Gladio didn't like being unprepared. Especially when it was a major part of Iggy's life at stake.

"He didn't mention how you got blinded. We'll have to ask him more when he wakes up."

"In due time," sighed Iggy, raising his hand. "We don't want to overload him straight away, but I confess I too am anxious to find out how it happened. The more we know the better prepared we'll be."

"And the better chance we have of getting this right," said Prompto, staring at Ignis anxiously. "Don't want it to go like last time."

"Definitely not," said Gladio.

Iggy settled back down in his seat, though he was still clearly on edge. "It would be wise to focus most on the Chancellor as a threat rather than Leviathan herself—Noct appears to have that aspect under control. It only troubles me that he will be weak while in Altissia, even after he's healed from the Starscourge. We shall have to be additionally vigilant."

"We won't let Ardyn get to us this time," said Gladio. He couldn't let himself think about what might happen otherwise.

"Noct said he could make himself look like other people," said Prompto, pensively.

"Then we stay on guard for strangers, and if any of us is acting strangely they should raise the alarm," said Ignis.

Prompto's face went pale. "You think he'd try to impersonate one of us?"

"Why not?" asked Ignis, grimly. "It would be the easiest way to gain our trust. As I said—if any of us seems to be behaving uncharacteristically in any way, the others should be alerted—he can only impersonate one person at a time after all."

Gladio nodded. It was a good plan—even if the thought of Ardyn impersonating any of them made his skin crawl. He forced the thought from his mind. There was no way Ardyn could be on the ship, so there was no need to worry about that for now.

"We can ask Noct more once he wakes up," he said, in an effort to take his mind off Ardyn. "Like you said, he's the one who knows the most about this."

"Indeed," said Iggy, looking tired all of a sudden. Gladio could guess why.

"What a day, huh?" he asked rhetorically. "Gonna be honest, I didn't expect him to spring that on us."

"Yeah," chuckled Prompto. "Can't say time travel was top of my list as to why he was acting so weird."

"That is likely why he delayed so long in telling us," said Ignis, looking no more cheerful. "He was afraid we wouldn't believe him."

"Yeah, but he's told us now, right?" said Prompto. "That means he trusts us."

"That or he knew we wouldn't take it well if he had no explanation," said Gladio, thinking back to how nervous Noctis had looked before telling them. Some of that was his fault. He frowned involuntarily.

"It doesn't matter why he told us," said Ignis, shaking his head. "That we now know why he was acting the way he was—why he's still acting that way, is important. It means we can know more certainly what's coming for us in the future—and, as Prompto said, he ought now to trust us more, given we know his secret."

Gladio still couldn't quite get away from the feeling that some of this was his fault—a result of him blowing up at Noct in the hotel, making him feel like he couldn't trust them, but he made a valiant attempt to ignore the thought. Ignis was right, Noct at least nominally trusted them now, and he ought to focus on that for the time being. But that look on his face when he spoke of Iggy's blindness—the way he refused to meet Gladio's eyes. They'd have to ask him about it. The sooner the better.

"For now all we can do is get Noctis to Altissia safely," said Iggy, drawing Gladio from his thoughts. "Our first priority is to cure the Starscourge. If he dies all this will be pointless."

"Yeah," sighed Gladio. "The quicker we get to Lady Lunafreya the better."

"I hope he'll be okay," said Prompto, a bit more quietly than usual.

"I'm sure he will, Prompto," said Iggy, giving him a reassuring smile. "We'll keep him safe."

"Not far he can run in this ship anyway," said Gladio.

Prompto gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I guess you have a point there. Least we can keep an eye on him."

"We'll be fine," said Gladio, becoming serious once more. He didn't add on what he was thinking in his head. 'We have to be.'

So this is a bit of a breather chapter (though not if you're the bros I guess, haha) and surprise surprise, they're having, um, varyingly difficult times coming to terms with what Noct told them. On the one hand, both Prompto and Ignis have found out they suffered in this alt-world and are kinda nervous because of it (Ignis especially, given his punishment is coming right up unless they find some way to stop it) so you could argue they have it worst. On the other, it is literally Gladio's job to stop Noct dying and well...Noct died. Not great for his psyche. So we have fun all around! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you so much for reading!