—
Ignis wasn't stirring anymore. Hadn't for a long while.
Luna was glad. She'd gotten enough of his story to pass on to the others to hopefully ease the tension for when he awoke, and he very obviously needed the sleep. She'd only agreed to assist him with writing out his story because he hadn't been resting well anyway, but now that he was, it was a good time to take her leave.
That and the nurse was now kicking her out finally.
Luna didn't even mind. She was too relieved at seeing the nurse arriving with potions and that blessed antidote.
"Just because he's getting some magic help doesn't mean he can hop back to his feet and get to work," the nurse warned in a whisper as she tugged back Ignis' sheet to get better access to him. "His body still needs time to recover from the shock."
"Of course," Lunafreya acknowledged, feeling more than a little patronized. She of all people knew about magical healing. What did this nurse assume she'd done with her entire life if not that? "I'll ensure that he's left alone for some while."
"Good," the nurse grumbled. "Hospitals aren't for audiences." She scowled deeper after a moment. "What the hell? Where did this come from?"
Luna startled when she spoted the red marks on Ignis' neck. The nurse was correct – those had not been present before.
But Luna had been at Ignis' side for hours…
…Meaning there was only one person who could have – would have – harmed him.
Luna gritted her teeth. "Another gift from Ardyn, I presume."
This was odd, though. Why would Ardyn have decided to strangle Ignis but then let him live?
She was going to have to coax that information out of Ignis later, because she was fairly certain it was going to be a while before she saw Ardyn again.
The nurse sighed. "I'm not paid enough for this shit."
Luna raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not paid at all."
"Exactly." The nurse broke the vials over Ignis' form, and Luna realized that she hadn't noticed just how pale Ignis had been until the antidote washed over him and restored some color. Although he was still quite colorless in general.
Ironic. He'd be living out in the wilderness every day and ended up paler than the rest of them. Luna hadn't realized their false lights had helped so much.
"Okay. He'll be right as rain in no time. Just give him a few hours." The nurse made a shooing motion. "All of you need to give him a few hours. I will kick out the ones in the lobby again – I don't care if they brought the supplies in."
"Understood." Luna bit her lip as she briefly bowed her head and backed out the door, clasping the paper she'd been scribbling Ignis' story on to her chest.
The others might have been irritated at the staff, but Luna completely got it. Trying to keep souls alive while their loved ones hounded the healer was horrendously stressful.
Luna tapped the notepad on her palm, wondering how to broach the topic with the others. Should she call them all together? Meet with them individually? And how much would Ignis want to handle himself?
Deep in her thoughts as she was, Luna nearly ran into someone rounding the next corner.
"Apologies!"
"Please do not hit me, my face is already under reconstruction."
Luna blinked, having to do a double take to realize who owned the bruised mess of a face she was seeing. "Loqi! My goodness, what happened? A daemon?"
"Well, he's certainly acting like one at the moment…" Loqi was gingerly pressing beneath his nose. He'd clearly had someone at the hospital tend to it, but it still looked dreadfully painful.
Whatever did that statement mean, anyway? Someone had done this rather than just another fight during his usual travels? "Didn't you just bring in some potions you could partake off."
Loqi tried to shake his head, but then it looked like he thought better of it his and kept his head still. "Potions are far too limited to waste on an injury so minor. It'll heal on its own. I'm not trying to win over any fetching young women in the near future with my boyish charm anyway."
Luna giggled. "You scowl far too much to have any sort of boyish charm."
"Well, I'm not scowling right now – it hurts too much," he muttered.
She scowled for him instead. "Who struck you? A Lestallum resident?" If it was, that needed to be taken care of promptly. Even if there was no lasting harm, they needed to keep everyone on as civil terms as possible.
Loqi pressed his lips into a thin line. "…You'll probably hit me too, but what the hell. Might as well get it over with. I knew of Scientia's survival. Evan… did not take kindly to realizing I'd kept him in the dark."
Luna was so shocked over the last part of that information she barely cared about the first half. "Evan hit you?"
"Indeed."
Luna was silent for just a moment, licking her chapped lips as she thought of what to say. "That's so… violent for him. He's never been hurtful to other humans of his own will." There were just the incidents with Ardyn and a case or two of self defense, such as that one bar incident a few years back.
Loqi gave a sudden, bitter chuckle that caught Luna off guard. "My influence, no doubt. Seems to be all they take from their time with me."
Now, that was certainly out of left field. Luna was about to ask where that particular frame of mind had come from when Loqi straightened and pushed past her.
"Good day, my lady."
It was far from a good day, Luna thought. It was very far from a good day.
Everyone and everything was being terribly confusing, and she didn't care for any of it one bit.
It took less than a moment after Luna crossed into the lobby for the three of her friends present to spot her.
"Lady Lunafreya!"
"Hello." Luna smiled at Evan. She hadn't realized he was here at the hospital, but it made sense given that the supplies and Loqi had arrived. He didn't particularly look like he wanted to hit someone at the moment, but perhaps the urge had ended once he'd actually preformed the action. Right now he looked openly distraught.
Aranea and Prompto were naturally less outright emotional, but they were still looking at her expectantly.
Luna clasped her hands in front of her, the notepad folded neatly between them. "You'll all be pleased to hear that Ignis has received all the magical healing he needed and that he'll be cleared to leave the hospital as soon as he rests up a bit more."
"Yes!" Prompto fist pumped.
Aranea briefly closed her eyes, sheer relief passing over her face for a few moments as she tilted her head back.
Evan sucked in a sharp breath, somehow seeming happy and ready to vomit on the floor at the same time. Luna wondered if she should find the nearest bin for him.
"…I'm gonna kick his ass now," Aranea mumbled, but there was no heat behind the words.
"I know this has been painful for all of us…" Luna tapped the notebook against the underside of her palm again. Should she read it out loud? Let them pass it around? She doubted they'd have the patience to wait for each other to finish. "But… Ignis did have some very strong reasoning behind his actions."
"I don't wanna hear that," Aranea said flatly. "I'll make my own judgments after I get the story itself."
"Fair enough." Luna nodded. "If we could gather the others once more, I would be happy to fill in what I've learned in the past few–"
"No." Aranea crossed her arms, moving over to drop into one of the lobby chairs. "No proxies for me either. I'm waiting until I get it straight from him."
"…Very well." Luna doubted the hospital would kick one person out if they were sitting there silently. "Then I shall gather everyone else." She looked to Evan and Prompto in silent question.
Prompto hesitated, but then shook his head. "I don't have that patience. Everyone knows that. Let's get the others."
Evan bobbed his head in agreement.
"To the meeting room it is," Luna agreed. "Perhaps you two cold assist me in ushering the others there?"
"Sure! But we can't find Ravus…" Prompto scratched the back of his neck. "Asshat's been hiding from us…"
Luna thought about it. Ravus didn't often seek solitude from his problems. He was rather keen on facing them head on. But if he did want to go somewhere to actually relax…
"Did you check in the back room of the bar?" Luna wondered.
Prompto opened his mouth. Then closed it. "…No."
Luna smiled. "Then I would check there first." She pointed a finger at Evan. "Do not strike my brother, please. Gladio has already taken care of that for this event."
Prompto snorted. "I'll keep the peace. Come on, Ev."
With that, the two of them were rushing out the door with their normal amount of energy.
Luna glanced at Aranea.
"He'll be just fine, Princess. I won't actually maim him permanently." Aranea crossed one leg over the other.
"I only hope you will both be fine…" Luna said lowly as she walked away.
—
