—
Sleeping in Ignis' currently state was easy. But finding rest in his current state? Less so.
Below lethal levels the poison in his system may have been, but it wasn't fully gone either. His system was still… unbalanced. He was twitchy. Sweating. Dreadfully uncomfortable.
Judging by the overly bright clock in the corner of the room that was hurting his head thanks to his enhanced hearing, he'd been able to keep track of the hours passing by. He'd fallen asleep four times, and he'd been asleep at least nine hours collectively. Yet he felt more exhausted than when he'd first been left alone.
Bloody hell, his head was pounding as well. He needed to stop thinking so bloody much, but his mind wouldn't shut down and leave him be.
He had so many questions.
He'd been living in fear of Ardyn discovering him for so long, but Ardyn's reaction had been so… tame.
The city was still standing. Ardyn hadn't killed anyone or destroyed anything in rage.
And Ignis hadn't been able to find a way to save Noct.
Had he truly been out there this whole time for nothing?
No… not nothing. He'd saved lives. He had to remember that. Just because it hadn't been the main reason for him doing what he'd done didn't make those lives any less important.
But… where was he to go from here?
He hadn't thought about returning to life in the city. He'd tried not to think about it, in fact. It had been painful.
But now here he was…
It was all so abrupt that his mind would have been spinning without poison clouding it.
His relationships with the others… How would they be shifted by his deception? Would things settle, or would they be altered forever?
He couldn't even bloody speak properly to explain himself like he wanted at the moment.
At least… at least he had Ravus' forgiveness. They'd already covered this. If nothing else, Ignis had his support and friendship still.
Ignis coughed softly, wincing.
His throat ached.
He needed more time…
More rest…
…And he needed a pen and paper.
They'd been kicked out of the hospital.
Gladio was pissed. He understood it from a medical point of view, yeah, but he was still pissed.
Hell, he was pretty sure they all were.
I would ask that you hear the full extent of my circumstances before casting judgment.
Easier requested than done.
Six, Gladio couldn't believe it was even possible to be as happy and as angry as he was at the same time.
Ravus was smart for leaving to do whatever he needed to do. Gladio probably would have hit him again if he'd still been close.
But unfortunately for his anger management, there was nobody nearby that Gladio wanted to hit.
Just Aranea and Prompto.
"…When do you think they'll let us back in?" Prompto asked quietly.
Despite the words being barely above a whisper, they still seemed loud in the expanse of the mostly empty meeting room.
It wasn't often there were so few people in here.
Gladio crossed his arms, shaking his head as he leaned his hip against the meeting table. "Honestly, my money is on him breaking out before they let us in."
"Sounds like him…" Prompto snorted weakly, running a hand over the fuzz on his chin that he called a beard. "Someone should tell Evan..."
Oh. Shit. Yeah. Someone did need to fill the kid in before he heard about it via rumors and city chatter.
Aranea startled out of her glassy eyed trance at the mention of Evan's name. "I'll tell him when he gets here. His team is due to arrive with that shipment of antidotes any time."
"He's gonna wanna see Iggy right away…" Prompto muttered.
"Yeah, well he can get in line…" Gladio grumbled. "…I think we need to send one person in to see him first. Someone who won't stress him out further in his current condition."
"Lady Luna," Prompto said instantly. "As much as we all wanna… She's better at calming people down."
"Yeah, that's smart," Gladio agreed.
Aranea hesitated, but then gave a nod. "…Fine."
Prompto forced a little laugh. "I keep trying to be mad, but he looked so awful. I don't even think I would have realized it was him if I bumped into him somewhere."
"Pretty sure that was intentional," Gladio said.
"Oh. Yeah. Probably…" Prompto tilted his head. "I wonder how Ravus found out…"
Gladio felt a grin spreading across his face suddenly. "…Anyone up for ganging up on him to find out."
"Me." Aranea was already out of her chair at that. "I could use someone to punch."
Prompto coughed. "Gladio already beat you to that one."
"Doesn't have to be a one-time event."
She had a good point. Poor Ravus.
"…True," Prompto said with a wince. "Almost gotta feel sorry for the guy."
"Don't," Aranea ordered. "He brought this on himself. Come on."
Ignis lurched upright, the feeling of his head succumbing to gravity having jerked him out of his almost-sleep. He scowled briefly before pressing the keel of his palm into his right eye. His pen had made an annoyingly dark line through the page he'd written out.
He sighed. It was all barely legible anyway. His hands were still too shaky.
How long was this blasted poison going to be in his system?
He bloody hated malboros.
…Perhaps he should be trying to sleep again. He knew that was the third time he'd nodded off in probably about twenty minutes.
Yet another thing he couldn't get bloody done.
It seemed it was his calling to fail every task lately.
He hurled the notepad at the door across the room, instantly regretting the action.
Now he had nothing to write on even if he did wake up feeling more refreshed. The door was so damned far away in his current state.
What the devil was wrong with him? Now he was giving in to childish fits of rage?
Bloody poison.
But he knew he couldn't blame his condition entirely on that. It was just on piece in the greater mess that was currently his life.
His door clicked open. It moved slowly at first, a familiar head peaking in. Only after Lunafreya saw he was awake did she push fully into the room and close the door behind her.
She stood leaning against the door for a moment, a small and sad smile turning up her lips. "…Hello."
"…Hello," he returned as softly as he could.
He was nervous. He couldn't deny that. But the overwhelming sense of pure dread he'd been feeling wasn't currently present, so that was nice.
Lunafreya alone wasn't as terrifying as facing everyone all at once.
"You sound dreadful," she remarked, briefly stooping down to pick up his discarded pen and paper.
As though he needed a reminder other than his throat feeling like he'd swallowed glass.
"You look marvelous," he said, a genuine smile pulled at his cracked lips. It was too good to see her well. He'd known for a while that her health had improved, yes, but actually having her before him was different.
It was… good.
A matter of sheer positivity. He hadn't had much of that as of late.
"Thank you." Lunafreya moved over to the chair beside his bed, setting the note pad and pen aside.
"…I had thought the medical staff had forced you all to leave?" he noted after a moment.
Lunafreya smiled coyly. "Perks of being a healer myself."
"Ah…"
…What more was there to say? She didn't seem as though she was waiting for him to explain himself. She was just… sitting there.
She shifted in her chair, clasping her hands together. "I was going to wait in my room… but I thought perhaps you would like some company? I assume you've been alone quite a lot lately… You don't have to speak or anything…"
…Astrals, she was and always had been a true blessing to mankind. Ignis suspected that the others were ready to break down the hospital walls and throttle him for answers. But not her… She was just patient. And kind.
"I… I do appreciate that. Thank–"
He paused to hack up another piece of his lungs.
Damned coughing.
"Thank you."
She was right. He didn't know how she always seemed to sense what the wounded needed, but he didn't want to be alone. Solitude with only his thoughts in his current state was anything but pleasant, as he'd well established in his last few hours.
…She should have been mad at him. She probably was. She'd always had a good pokerface.
But she wasn't showing any anger. She was simply… being there for him.
Lunafreya gave another small smile, reaching out to sooth a bit of the tangled mess that was his current hairstyle.
"If you'd like… perhaps later I could write some things down for you?"
Ignis sighed in contentment, sinking back into his pillow and closing his eyes.
Yes, that was good… She was calm and not yelling at him. He could take his time and be kind to his throat, and her writing would actually be legible.
He could work with this.
Getting his tale down on paper would make it so the others could better understand.
Don't hate me, he prayed.
Understand.
Please.
—
