The four brothers sit eating breakfast in a diner. Noctis sleepily cuts into his pancakes with a yawn rubbing his eyes. Gladiolus sits with his phone in his hand watching a news broadcast occasionally sipping at his coffee or taking a bite of food.

Prompto was scrolling through his favorite blogging site occasionally laughing at a picture or gif as he eats a breakfast sandwich. As Ignis quietly reads from a newspaper as he drinks a mug of Ebony having finished his french toast.

"Ah man, Noct check out this dog!" Prompto says sliding his phone to the King. The King looks over the video of a white dog with mismatch eyes laying in a tub throwing a tantrum making the other boy smile. "It's Ravus as a dog!" Prompto laughs.

"Ravus would make a terrible dog." Noctis smirks.

"You'd be worst. You're better off being a cat." Gladiolus teases causing Noctis to roll his eyes.

"Well, shall we be going?" Ignis asks curiously as he wipes at his mouth with a napkin. Earning him nods from the others "Yeah we should get going. We need to get that Royal Arm and drop off the dog tags of that one Hunter who was killed outside of Lestallum." Gladiolus says stretching and rolling his shoulder.

"Guess that's the plan for today then." Noctis yawns "Was kinda hoping to just spend today sleeping." He mumbles.

"There will be plenty of time for sleep once we're finished. The sooner we take of this the sooner we can get back to doing things we enjoy." Ignis says taking off his glasses "So, where is this arm?" Ignis asks curiously putting the glasses back on.

"Rock of Ravatogh, the Tomb of the Fierce is there." Gladiolus says. "You think you can handle it Iggy?" Prompto asks worried "I mean, we don't want you to collapse again."

"I'll be fine." Ignis says confidently.

"Well if you say so." Noctis says climbing out of the booth.

It was nearing noon when the boys stood at the base of the volcano. They were waiting for Ignis to switch into a lighter clothes. He changed into gray trousers and into ChocoMog tee that Noctis leant him.

"Right, shall we then?" Ignis asks as he ties his shoes.

"Yeah. Let's get going." Noctis says pushing himself away from the car. "Just remember to take it easy. If you get to hot tell us." Gladiolus says.

Ignis nods and with that the group heads up mountain.

The trek was an easy one for Ignis along with the short battles. It was no problem, however the climb up was a bit taxing for Ignis. Having to pull his own weight up set his muscles on fire reminding him just how weak his sickness had made. He grunts and groans in between heavy pants as he watches the others easily scale the wall. Even Noctis, with his hurt leg had moved faster than him.

'How bothersome...can I keep this up? Can I keep up?'

Ignis could feel his entire body shaking as he reaches the top his fingers dig into the dirt and rock as he struggles to get a grip on the rock. He manages to rest his arms over the top his legs kicking as his feet fail to find a hold. Ignis grunts as he struggles to push himself up, he succeeds in lifting himself enough to put a hand flat down on the rocky earth. He pauses for a moment to catch his breath when the earth beneath him gives and he slips.

He feels himself slid down the jagged rocks cut into his skin as a cry of surprise escapes him causing the others call out to him in surprise. Noctis throws himself foward, slidding on his belly he reaches for Ignis and succeeds in grabbing his arm.

"Noct!"

"Guys, pulls us up! Hang on Iggy we'll get you up here."

Ignis didn't want to admit it but his small fall left him shaking. Prompto grabs Noctis by the shirt along with Gladiolus they both tug Noctis backwards before Prompto rushes towards Ignis and yanks him up and onto the flat land where he collapses into the dirt shaking violently. His heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest leaving him to lay there with his eyes closed and breath coming out in soft pants.

"Hey, you okay Iggy?" Noctis says shaking.

Ignis just shakes his head.

"Well at least you didn't end up like Mufasa." Prompto teases.

"Probably would've ended like Scar..." Gladiolus says as he peers over the cliff face only to see a pack of Wyvern staring up at them with jaws snapping and drool falling from their mouths. Their tails slashing in irritation hating that their meal had gotten away. He looks at Ignis who had moved to sitting on his knees.

"You gonna be okay?" Noctis asks wearily "We can rest if you want."

Ignis shakes his head "I'll be fine. Just hadn't planned on feeling this weak." Ignis lowers his head in shame "I thought I was at one hundred percent. But scaling this wall made my muscles feel like they were on fire." He admits.

"Well what did you expect? You been sick and laying around." Gladiolus explains crossing his arms "You know swing a lance around is different than rock climbing where you're using your entire body."

Ignis nods weakly it was clear that his pride was hurting.

"Well look on the brightside, you're able to keep up. And that's what really matters." Prompto says helping Ignis to his feet.

"You're right. Both of you." Ignis says looking the oldest and then to the youngest. A small brief moment of silence falls over them before Noctis places a hand on Ignis's shoulder "Let's get going. The sooner we get this arm the better. I'm looking forward to flopping into a hotel bed." The King says with a yawn.

Night fell as the boys reach a small clearing which leads to a haven. Being that high up the four noticed a drastic yet welcomed change in the atmosphere. Not only was it incredibly cooler where they stood it was almost chilly, prompting Gladiolus to tear off his jacket throwing it down to the ground with a large grin with Prompto following suit discarding his vest and shirt "Aw man the breeze feels good!" He says lifting his arms up towards the sky.

Noctis joins his friends his glove, shirt, and jacket tossed to the pile "Thought you said you had muscle." Gladiolus jests causing Noctis to side-eye his Shield "I did say you couldn't see it right." He snaps with a smirk on his face.

"C'mon Iggy take your shirt off and cool down." Prompto says inviting the tactician who in turn shakes his head "I rather not."

"You still shy?"

"No. Its just-"

"Dude no need to be embarrassed. We all have embarrassing things about us, like Gladio had a eagle tryin' to eat his nipple and Noct doesn't have abs" this causes the Shield and King to glare at Prompto "And I got stripes." He says spinning around showing off the stretch marks obtained as a child.

Ignis couldn't help the smile that plays on his lips. He knows it may be a bit hard for his friends to understand but he's always been taught to be presentable at all times. It's something that had been instilled into him ever since he was six. He wasn't going to lie either he was jealous of how easy it was for them to just toss their clothes aside without much hesitation. Even Prompto who at first was a little iffy for he feared they would laugh at him for his stretch marks came around and was tossing his shirt off.

"Come on Iggy. Its just us up here. Besides you out of all of us needs cool down. We don't want you having heat exhaustion again." Gladiolus says in that older brother tone. Ignis knows he's right but he didn't say anything as he pulls off festive shirt and folds it neatly. He was about to say something when the wind blows washing coolness over the four.

"That feels amazing." Ignis sighs feeling his hot skin cooling.

"I know right!" Cheers Noctis.

"Well how about we set up camp?" Gladiolus asks summoning the tent and the other supplies from the armiger.

"Wait. You can't be serious!?" Noctis cries out in alarm.

Yet Gladiolus was already unpacking the tent and inserting it's rods.

"Oh no dude you are!?" Cries Prompto.

"Gladiolus, not cool man! Uh Ignis do something!" Noctis wails looking to his advisor who had summoned the grill "No, not you too!" Prompto adds.

"There is no way I'm not looking forward to sleeping on a volcano!" Noctis cries.

"Yet we slept in a swamp." Gladiolus reminds him as he spreads the soft mats out which cushion the ground before spreading out their blankets in their respective spots.

"Yeah well..." Noctis starts to say but fails to come up with an argument.

"We'll be fine." Ignis says as he begins rummage through the ice chest pulling out meats "At this time of year this land isn't very active, it's dubbed 'Sleeping season' and many deem it safe to climb." Ignis says as he pierces the meat with sticks.

"Well if you say so." Noctis frowns as he looks back to the way they came. "Well since we're up here I guess it wouldn't hurt to get a couple of photos. I mean I doubt we'll come back up here anytime soon." Prompto says smiling as he adjusts his camera's settings.

As the others settle into doing their own thing Noctis looks up and over to the tomb illuminated in the moon light "Maybe I run on over there and grab it real fast." Noctis asks "At this time of night? I don't think so."

"Oh come on I'll be real fast."

"That's what I'm worried about. Being reckless up here could be your last." Ignis says seasoning the meat "What would we do without our King?" Noctis frowns "Besides the first rule of rock climbing is-"

"We don't talk about rock climbing!?" Pipes Prompto causing Ignis to sigh.

"Sorry..."

"Like I was saying, the first rule of rock climbing is to not do it in dark. Common knowledge really." Ignis says as he begins to cook the skewers.

"Yeah but I can warp, so it should be fine." Noctis argues back.

"No means no Noct." Ignis says firmly.

"You heard him." Gladiolus says not looking from his book.

"Yeah. No talkin' back to Mama Ignis." Prompto teases.

With dinner eaten and everyone relaxing as the chatter died down Noctis yawns loudly "Well...guess that's enough King's Knight for tonight." Noctis says yawning again before powering down his phone and retreats to the tent.

Ignis was the next one to call it a night. His eyelids were feeling heavy and his muscles were screaming from the trek up. He hadn't expected this to be that hard and taxing on his body. He covers his mouth when he feels a yawn escape him "Apologies..." he says rubbing at his eye. He stands bidding both Gladiolus and Prompto a good night as he climbs into the tent where changes into his pajamas which Gladiolus had laid out in his spot.

Laying down Ignis could feel the fiery ache of his muscles as he relaxes. He closes his eyes and rolls onto his belly with his arms folded underneath the pillow he lets out a soft sigh and relaxes further. His mind fuzzy as he realizes just how exhausted he was he couldn't believe he had the strength to make dinner.

Deciding to not dwell on it further Ignis lets his mind go blank.

The sun was high in the sky as the brothers carefully makes their way along the narrow twisting path which was littered with sharp jagged rocks. Gladiolus leads them as he carefully and slowly picks his way around the stones "Glad you waited for the sun to come this way?" Gladiolus calls from over his shoulder as he helps Prompto step down before reaching for Noctis.

"Still think I could've handled it. This isn't so bad." He says smirking "That's cause I'm helping you." Gladiolus grumbles as he helps Ignis down.

"Look there it is." Prompto calls pointing to the tomb "Please lemme just go up there. It'll be faster and we'll be outta here in no time." Noctis begs.

"Ugh! Fine!" Groans Gladiolus as he wipes at his face. Hearing the approval from his Shield Noctis warps up to the tomb.

As the dark haired King disappears into the tomb to retrieve the arm the others stood waiting for him plotting their next move.

"So what's next?" Prompto asks curiously.

"We must return the dog tags we found that day we retrieved the goods from the truck." Ignis explains.

"You mean the ones we found on the dead Hunter?" The gunmen asks.

"Yes. After that I suppose we could grab lunch and from there the rest is up to Noct." Ignis says as Noctis returns with a rush of air and a trail of after images behind him.

"Got it!" Noctis says summoning the Mace of The Fierce "It looks like something you would use big guy." He says swinging it a bit before sending it away "Let's go get something to eat."

"Yeah let's."

"Mhmm."

"We shall but first let us drop off the dog tags."

That earns Ignis three groans as they make they're way back down.

Dave was more than happy to have received the dogtags belonging to Krish Novak, the Hunter who they found dead. Dave had begin to tell them that Novak was a promising Hunter who used a bow and never missed his shot. He also told them that this will put his family at ease for they fear he was kidnapped.

As they walk away from the Hunter Prompto shudders "I don't think I could live like that. Getting up everyday, venturing to uncharted territories, fighting monsters and daemons not knowing if you'll live to see tomorrow."

"And what exactly are we doing?" Gladiolus asks crossing his arms.

"Dude. This is different than what they are doing!"

"How so?"

"Well for one...uh..."

"Riiiight."

"Gimme a sec!"

"Aaand your second is up."

"How unfortunate."

Prompto frowns as he and the others sit down at the picnic table where the tipster approaches them offering them a basket of chips and a cup of salsa before fetching them the small menu.

"I say we just get sandwiches, chips, and soda." Noctis says half focusing on the menu as he opens up King's Knight "Works for me." Chimes Prompto he too pulls out his phone.

"So it's settled." Ignis says writing down the requests before collecting the menus and walking them to the menu bin and passes the note to the waiter who thanks him.

"So Iggy, how you feeling? We know yesterday must've sucked." Prompto asks.

"It was a bit exhausting. But I do feel better." Ignis says smiling.

"I bet, it sounded like we had two bears in the tent last night." Noctis whines "I could hardly sleep." Noctis complains as their food is brought over to them "Liar! You were snoring just as loud as they were!" Prompto accuses.

"Where's your proof!?" Noctis fires back.

"Dude my eyes are red from the lack of sleep."

"You're eyes are always red!"

"Nuh-uh not like this!"

"Stahp! Noctis hisses.

All the while Gladiolus and Ignis shakes their heads.

Not wanting the younger boys to draw too much attention to themselves Ignis clears his throat successfully getting them to quiet down "So after we eat where shall we be going?" He asks before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"I was kinda hoping we could go fishing. I hadn't been able to do that in a while." Noctis says looking bashful almost as if Igns was going to deny him from doing his favorite hobby.

"Fishing it is then."

"Works for me..might even cast a line myself."

"It's photography for me."

"And maybe I'll catch up on some reading or something."

With their schedule set the four of them finish up lunch and make their way to Cape Caem, a request made by Noctis.