—

This was… odd.

Prompto had never been one for mystery. Honestly, Ignis had always considered him incapable of keeping a secret well enough to even try being mysterious. Really, in hindsight it was no less than a miracle that he'd been able to sit on the turret about his origins for so many years.

So, why the strange secrecy now? If he had an idea, why not excitedly blurt it out for them to hear? And why had he told them to come to an old storage building of all places? There wasn't even anything in it – it had just been emptied of his housed supplies the day prior according to Ravus.

Except… Well, perhaps it wasn't completely empty.

There were chairs. Many of them. Facing one wall.

Ravus, Aranea, and Ignis all shared a look.

"I take it that's a hint?" Aranea guessed.

"I can't imagine it would be anything else." Ignis headed for the chairs. "Prompto is not known for creating complex situations."

"Indeed," Ravus agreed. "I still believe a more standard meeting would be a better idea."

Ignis honestly didn't agree or disagree. Maybe their normal meeting would have yielded better results, but given the high tensions, past meetings that had been so unpleasant, and the personal stakes Ignis had in this, he was willing to place his faith in a friend rather than a gathering that he knew would be a disaster.

The only question was if Prompto's method would be more or less of a disaster.

At the very least, perhaps he could bridge his gap with Prompto a tad by going along.

Ignis took a seat in the furthest chair from the door. He knew he wasn't going to be able to stop himself from being the center of attention, but not being in the physical middle as well made him feel better.

Besides. Now he had Aranea as a shield. And Ravus.

The door to the room opened again before the three of them had truly had time to get settled, and Ignis felt his pulse spike even before he saw who it was.

.

Ignis offered them a weak smile. Lunafreya returned it with one that was far more enthusiast, and even the corner of Cor's lip curled up upon seeing him.

Right. Good. No anger yet. Everyone so far was taking this much better than he ever anticipated they would.

The two of them spared a moment to glance around – much like Ignis, Ravus, and Aranea had already done only moments ago – before taking their own seats.

Lunafreya settled into the chair farthest on the second row, directly behind his.

She briefly laid a hand on his shoulder. "You're looking better."

He was about to reply when the door opened yet again.

Loqi.

…Goodness, he looked terrible. He didn't walk in so much as drag himself across the room with what looked like sheer willpower and stubbornness. The look on his face was anything but pleasant, but Ignis wasn't certain if that was anger or just pain due to his very obvious injury.

And Ignis had thought Ravus' face was the most colorful around. Loqi definitely had some richer shades going on.

He all but collapsed next to Cor.

"I was promised more hours of sleep," he groused. "All but ordered to get them, if I recall correctly."

"This wasn't my plan." Ravus folded his arms, frowning. He was definitely studying Loqi.

Loqi snorted, then winced at the action before speaking again. "Obviously. Unless you've suddenly upped your emoji usage by a considerable percentage."

Ignis wondered if Ravus even knew what an emoji was. He could picture Loqi using several rows of eye-rolling emojis at once, though.

…And there was the door again. The safe intros were over.

Gladio. Who sought Ignis out almost instantly.

…Oh, hell. So much for using Aranea as a shield. He didn't have in him to treat his friends like that after all he'd put them through already.

Ignis stood. "Gladio."

Gladio's expression was… pinched. Was he angry? Probably. This was Gladio, after all. But it wasn't just anger. There was relief there too.

Of course. Ignis expected that to some degree. It was one thing for some of them to be angry with him, but no matter how angry they were, none of them would actually want to see him as Gladio had back in the Vesperpool.

Rather ironically, Ignis being on death's door when he'd reentered the city had done him a world of favors. He was all too aware that there would be a lot more anger had he just walked back into the city unharmed.

Gladio looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. His lips were pressed firmly together as he circled around to meet Ignis in front of the first row of chairs.

Well, it appeared the task had been left to Ignis, then.

"Thank you, Gladio," Ignis said earnestly. "You saved my life, and not for the first time."

Gladio gave a half shrug. "Eh. Well. You took that hit for me. Least I could do." He cleared his throat. "You're lookin' better. Didn't stay long in the facial hair club."

"Ah." Ignis subconsciously rubbed his jaw. "Not my preference. I shall leave that to you."

They both fell silent again. For several moments.

Ignis supposed now was likely the proper time for an apology. He was just going to have to start all over again later since not everyone was here, he knew, but wasn't going to deny Gladio at the moment.

"Gladio… I am so terribly sorry for all I must have put you through–"

Loqi sighed loudly. "Do I need to be here for this?"

Glares were tossed from several directions. Ravus just rolled his eyes.

"Loqi, have some tact," Aranea said. "I know it's difficult, but I think you can manage if you try really hard."

"Look, I didn't ask to be dragged into this entire affair," Loqi groused, crossing his arms. "All I did was hold my tongue when asked to about a situation–"

"Are you lookin' to get hit again?" Gladio snapped, but then he winced. Was that… regret?

Loqi just slumped back into his chair, looking rather pathetic. "There are many things I probably deserve to be hit for in my life, Amicitia, but this wasn't one of them. I wasn't involved with next to any of this, I shouldn't be needed–"

"You just don't want to be here when Evan arrives," Ravus said factually.

Loqi was silent.

Well, Ignis and Loqi had that in common, at least. Of everyone, Evan was the one Ignis wanted to face the least.

How much had Ignis missed? Evan had been growing so fast emotionally. Would he be anything like he was before? Would he have grown enough to understand why Ignis had done what he had? Would he forgive him even if he did understand?

"Can you all just can it for a minute?" Gladio said, sighing before he focused on Ignis again. "Look, I–"

Ignis flinched as Gladio sharply brought his hand up, and Gladio paused with his arm in mid-air. He raised an eyebrow at Ignis before slowly setting his hand down on his shoulder.

Ignis relaxed, dropped his eyes for a moment as he felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment. "…Apologies. I've been expecting someone to hit me all day."

Gladio snorted. "I hit someone else and got it out of my system."

"You're welcome," Ravus told Ignis dryly.

Ignis felt the corner of his lips twitch upward. He shouldn't have found that amusing. Ravus had been physically harmed on his account. But Ravus didn't sound injured. Just mildly irritated. So maybe it was all right to be a little amused.

"Anyway, look…" Gladio sighed. "I'm pissed. I really am. And I'm gonna be for a while. But I get it. You were in a tough spot, and after what happened with Dino, I can see how you would take whatever drastic action you could to get away from Ardyn. I still wanna yell at you about it, but after seeing you actually on death's door…" Gladio made a face.

Ignis gave a weak chuckle. "Aranea said much the same."

Aranea kicked his calf lightly from her chair. "You got lucky."

As he'd just been thinking a few minutes before…

"I am fortunate. Fortunate to be back among friends again." Ignis placed a hand atop the one Gladio had on his shoulder. "I only fear what this might mean in terms of Ardyn's actions in the future."

Everyone else shifted their gazes to Lunafreya.

A frown pulled at her brow, and she shook her head. "I can say nothing with any true assurance."

"You can do nothing about that at this time," Cor spoke up finally. "Focus on yourself for now. Stop dying."

"Is that an order, Marshal?" Ignis asked.

"Yes."

Ignis was about to make another retort when the door opened yet again.

And there the boy was. Or boys, rather.

Evan, Echo, and… Dino.

That last one hurt even now, but it was a kind tribute. Ignis would have to introduce himself to the boy properly later.

Ignis couldn't help but notice that Loqi shrank further into his chair. Echo, however, honed in on that slight movement and darted over to that row of chairs, practically leaping over Cor to get to Loqi's side.

Evan didn't even seem to notice. His eyes were full of unshed tears as he slowly headed for Ignis. Gladio retreated immediately, clearing the way for the boy.

Ignis forced a smile. "Hello, Evan–"

Ignis flinched once more as Evan flew at him, but he was surprised when yet again he wasn't hit.

Evan's arms locked around Ignis' mid-section, and Ignis was instinctively hugging him back even before he felt the dampness of Evan's tears on his shoulder.

Ignis tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

They were all… glad to see him. Everyone here had leaned further on their relief than anger.

…Except there was one particular person still absent.

Where was Prompto?

—