—
Something was wrong. So very, very wrong…
But what was it?
…Where was he? What was going on? Why couldn't he focus?
Pain.
Cold.
"It's okay, Iggy. It's okay. We're gonna get you help."
…Gladio? No, that couldn't be. He couldn't be seen by Gladio. Everything would… would…
What was wrong with him?
His vision was blurred and spinning.
Bloody hell…
Ignis lurched, vaguely recognizing that the pained noises he could hear were coming from him.
"Shit. Grab his other arm!"
He was so cold. Why was he so cold? Why was his head pounding?
Why did it feel as though he was being held down?
"Stay with me, Iggy. You stay with me…"
This felt like a dream, Gladio thought. Or maybe a nightmare.
Ignis was alive. He'd all but literally dropped out of the sky onto that malboro with his lance – something Gladio hadn't any time to process before Ignis had gone and taken a hit for him. A very bad hit.
Gladio swore under his breath for probably the thirtieth time in five minutes.
Lestallum was a good chunk away. Ignis might not make it.
It was almost inconceivable.
To lose him again immediately after finding out he'd been alive this whole time…
Shit, Gladio would find a way to resurrect him for a second time just to kill him a third. Or something like that.
Gladio gritted his teeth, adding a bit more of his weight onto his arms as he held Ignis down.
Damn that malboro. Damn all malboros.
This was the worst case of their poison Gladio had ever seen, though that wasn't surprising given the sheer amount Ignis had been hit with.
The man was constantly shivering and well beyond disoriented. Gladio doubted he had even the faintest idea of what was going on around him. If only they could knock him out, but Gladio wasn't going to chance that he wouldn't wake up again.
How long was the drive to Lestallum now?
It felt liked they'd been on the road an eternity, holding Ignis down in the bed of this beat-up truck forever.
Ignis lurched again, pained noises crawling out of his throat.
"Hang on, Iggy… Hang on…"
Medical was already on standby. They just had to get there.
For once, Ravus was relieved to hear this particular type of call.
Emergency calls were hardly uncommon. Irritating? Yes. Usually blown out of proportion? Also yes.
Ravus hated them, but at least it had freed him from some asinine woman's pestering about the details of Cortez's demise.
Honestly, who cared how they'd tracked those men so fast or that they'd been killed? Why were those facts still desired after this long? Other than Lunafreya, the only regret any of the leaders seemed to have about the matter was that Ardyn had managed it before them. But what were they supposed to say about it other than the vague cover story they'd setup immediately after?
Ravus was tired of people. So very tired. All the city leaders had been dedicating their every waking moment to bettering their cities – Loqi and Petra especially so now without Fita – and all they ever seemed to get in return was scrutiny.
Why did the population seem determined to find fault?
Ravus shook his head, picking up his pace as he headed for the hospital.
Best he hurry. With Amicitia being the one to signal the call, it was likely no false alarm.
…Blast the obnoxious bracelet thing bobbing around on his arm. Lunafreya had initially insisted that he wear the damned thing as to not distress the youngest Argentum, and now that all the ones made had become a staple item for the leaders of each city – ever since Fita's had been museumed in a glass case in Crestholm – he really couldn't be rid of it. It had been months and it was still annoying him.
Ah, finally… the hospital.
Perhaps a crisis could distract him from being annoyed at everyone.
Prompto reached the door just ahead of him, likely having sprinted from wherever he had been in the city given the way he was huffing.
And there was Cor. And Lunafreya.
Ravus scowled. Amicitia had summoned all of them? This truly had to be serious.
The hospital…
Ravus wracked his mind.
Who was important enough to all of them specifically for Amicitia to do such a thing? Or… had something dire happened that just required all the leadership the city had on hand?
Ravus almost turned right back around at that thought. They were still dealing with the mess of the last crisis.
The others waited for Ravus at the door, Prompto holding it open for him to slip inside.
"Well, did Amicitia give any of you lot more detail than a demand for your presence here?" Ravus asked as they filed themselves into a line and headed for the specified room.
Lunafreya and Cor both shook their heads.
"Nope," Prompto said. "But duuuude, did he sound, like, spazzy to anyone else? Like waaaay distracted and not Gladio-y?"
Well, Ravus wouldn't have put it in terms quite like that, but yes… Amicitia had sounded more discombobulated than normal.
…And he looked it too.
The Shield was ahead of them now – pacing in the hallway.
Amicitia had never been one to pace.
"Gladio," Cor called, in the lead of their group.
Amicitia startled at his voice, apparently somehow not noticing their arrival before then.
"Dude!" Prompto spread his arms wide, almost hitting Ravus in the face with one of his knuckles. "What's going on?"
Amicitia hesitated, looking from the door of the room he'd been pacing in front of to them, and then back to the door again.
The aura of confusion around him was palpable.
After a moment Amicitia just weakly gestured to the room. "I… I found Ignis."
…Oh, damn it all. That was unfortunate. Scientia being discovered and his status being announced was going to cause absolute–
"What?" Prompto shrieked.
"Ignis? Alive?" Cor demanded.
"Are you certain?" Lunafreya pressed.
Ravus stayed silent for a moment, letting the rest of them pepper Amicitia with questions and hoping they would be too focused on the situation to notice his complete lack of surprise.
"Hell yeah, I'm certain–"
"Where did you find him?"
"The Vesper Po–"
"How is he alive? I thought we went over this–"
"Well, obviously we didn't go over it enough–"
"Where has he been all this time?"
"I don't know–
"Why didn't he come back after–"
"I don't know! I barely know more than yo–"
"But how did you find him–"
"Holy shit, will you let me finish one damn sentence?"
The chatter didn't seem to be dying down at all and Amicitia was looking a bit overwhelmed at all the questions being lobbed at him.
Ravus took mercy and raised his voice above the others. "Never mind the details of the past! What's his condition now?"
Everyone fell silent at that.
Amicitia breathed a sigh of relief at the break in conversation, running a hand through is muck-coated hair. "He took a major toxin hit from a malboro. They're trying to stabilize him now, but it was a long trip back with no antidotes and his system took a lot of damage."
Silence fell as all of them digested that.
After a moment, Lunafreya wandered closer to the wall and sank into a chair that was there. She looked rather dazed, and Ravus felt guilt creeping up again about his secret keeping.
"I cannot believe this…" Lunafreya pressed a hand to her mouth. "All this time, he's been out there…"
"Indeed…" Ravus said dryly.
…He definitely should have tried to sound more surprised.
Gladio sent him a sharp look wherein there was definite suspicion.
…Dammit. He had no desire to deal with this right now. Or ever.
He sent a questioning look back.
Gladio shook his head.
Good. He'd added a bit of time to the countdown on that bomb. It was going to go off eventually, he knew, but better later than now. Preferably later as in when Scientia would be taking most of the heat.
…He was a terrible friend. But he was also extremely fed up with dealing with everyone else's drama. Things like this were why he hadn't had time to come up with a way to propose to Sikozu yet.
Well, perhaps not situations just like this. This was fairly unique.
…Except he needed this bomb to explode now if he was going to be able to perform any type of damage control. Prompto would no doubt want to run off and tell everyone who'd ever spoken to Scientia as soon as possible–
"Unhand me!"
Ravus almost rolled his eyes as a ruckus and Scientia's voice spilled out of the room.
He pitied those poor doctors. Scientia was a hellish patient to have under normal circumstances.
"Sir, I need you to get back in bed! You shouldn't be–"
But out Ignis came, crashing into the hallway with an entirely incoherent glaze in his eyes.
Ravus did roll his eyes.
Admirable idiot.
Now they had to get him back in bed before he keeled over and died.
