8 years ago

Chapter Summary: Gladio meets a new sparring partner.

Notes: This was my first ever attempt at Gladio's POV and I'm so pumped to finally post it. Hopefully it's as enjoyable to read as it was to write!

Despite his initial reservations in training a spoilt prince, Gladio was actually looking forward to meeting the dragon that shadowed the boy. He'd heard stories about the creatures, heck, everyone had. Said to be powerful on their own but truly devastating when bonded to a king. Gladio didn't think Noctis could possibly count for much at this stage. The brat was pretty weak and whiny, but the dragon should still prove to be quite the challenge.

His sparring partner for the afternoon swept into the reserved training hall at two o'clock sharp, the heels of his polished shoes clicking loudly on the marble floors. To say the kid was not what Gladio had been expecting would have been a gross understatement. The boy appeared to be about a head shorter than the future shield and skinny as a beanstalk with large, nerdy glasses perched on his thin nose, in other words, exactly like a stereotypical bookworm, complete with a pressed vest over a fancy button up shirt and dress shorts. How was the kid even supposed to spar dressed like that?

"Pardon me, would you happen to be Gladiolus Amicitia?" The bookworm spoke with a distinct court accent that didn't instill much confidence in the kid's combat prowess.

"Yeah, that's me. Let me guess, you're Scientia, right?" Gladio endeavored to keep the skepticism out of his tone.

"You are correct, though please feel free to address me as Ignis. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. His Highness has told me a great deal about you," Ignis replied with well-practiced civility.

Gladio scoffed. If Prince Charmless had anything to say about him, it wouldn't be anything good. "Yeah, I'm sure His Highness has only the highest regard for our time together."

"Noctis does have a way with voicing complaints, I'll grant you that." Ignis kept his tone dry and unassuming but Gladio didn't think he was imagining the beginnings of a smirk tugging at the smaller boy's lips.

Gladio was a little bewildered to be honest. This guy was nothing like he expected. "Anyway, you should probably change before we get started. I doubt those clothes are exactly combat ready."

Ignis glanced down at his uniform a moment before peering up with a look on his face that seemed to imply Gladio had just said something rather lacking in intelligence. "I assure you these will not hinder me."

Well then. "If you say so." Gladio summoned his practice sword, the familiar weight settling in his hand with a flash of crystal light. "Let me know when you're ready to go."

Ignis eyed the wooden blade doubtfully. "I can only assume you've been made aware of my unique heritage." The kid waited for Gladio to confirm his suspicions with a simple nod before continuing. "In that case, let's begin. And please, don't hold back."

Gladio had to shield his eyes a moment as Ignis surrounded himself in a brilliant white light, vaguely resembling that of the king's armiger magic. And somehow, now that Ignis was an actual dragon, he's even less what Gladio was expecting. In this form Ignis was all graceful, long limbs and plush feathers – and he's still small. Gladio didn't get long to stare. This dragon could fly and he was in the air raining hellfire down on the Amicitia almost faster than he could summon a shield, a real one this time.

The metal was still glowing hot when a heavy weight rammed against his shield, sharp claws grasping the edges before Gladio felt his feet leave the ground. The heck was this thing so strong?

Gladio didn't panic though; the ceiling was only so high for this room. If he was dropped it was probably going to hurt but he'd live. Releasing his connection to the shield, he slashed upwards with his greatsword. Ignis batted away the blade easily but Gladio fell before he could retaliate with those gnarly looking claws of his. The tail, not so much.

The floor came up to meet him much faster than he'd anticipated and Gladio tried to roll with the fall. It worked, somewhat. He'd just bruised his entire left side, and probably his pride, but he was able to climb dazedly back to his feet and just in time. Ignis wasn't messing around. Instead of the flames Gladio expected, it's suddenly freezing. Ice was creeping along his skin, making his teeth chatter and slowing his movements. The future shield looked up to see white tendrils of frosty air altering the temperature of the room and coiling around the dragon — the very same dragon that was now dive-bombing him like an enraged phantom of the Glacian. Gladio's pretty sure lesser men would have screamed.

With his muscles freezing up, Gladio was just able to bring up his sword in time to catch the dragon's horns against the blade. They each pushed against the other. Despite being smaller, Ignis was clearly stronger, forcing Gladio back several feet — but Gladio's weight was too centered to topple. He kept his feet firmly planted and far apart, hoping to disperse some of the dragon's momentum and take some of the pressure off the throbbing muscles in his arms.

For a moment it looked as though they might have reached an impasse. Then Gladio made the horrific mistake of trying to pull the dragon to the ground in a headlock. If he thought it had been cold before, it had nothing on direct contact with the dragon's surprisingly scale-like feathers. Gladio was reasonably certain he had frostbite now.

Oh, and Ignis bites. Wounded pride or not, Gladio was going to need a potion after this.

When Ignis stilled some of his writhing, Gladio thought the fight was almost over. That's until electric energy snaked up and down the dragon's form, zapping Gladio's arms and sending a prickly pins and needles sensation all down his abused flesh. The Amicitia wasn't really sure if he released the dragon or not, but the creature practically warped across the room, leaving behind a yellow afterimage reminiscent of the glaive's signature blue warp trail, before zipping back like a freight train.

Gladio barely managed to roll aside and bring up his shield, but he missed the long tail swiping out to knock his feet out from under him. He really needed to stop forgetting about that tail.

The next instant there's an open maw of sharp, pointy teeth poised just over his jugular and an uncomfortable weight pressed against his chest. "Do you yield?"

Huh. Gladio hadn't been expecting Ignis to be able to talk while he was a dragon. "Looks like ya got me, I yield."

Ignis quickly pulled away and gave Gladio some space, sitting back on his haunches and watching the Amicitia push himself up on shaky limbs with a critical eye.

Gladio found the attention a bit unnerving. But he barely made it to his feet before the dragon was back, pushing against his back to remedy his wobbling and sniffing at the mingled electric and frost burns decorating his hands. "Are you certain you're alright? Those look a touch serious. Why not allow me to fetch you a curative?"

Leaning awkwardly on the dragon at his side that moments ago had seemingly been trying to kill him, Gladio couldn't help losing it a little. His sudden laughter startled Ignis. "Guess I must really look like you put me through the ringer if you're getting this fussy. Tell me, you often help scrape your victims up off the pavement?"

Ignis ducked his head. "Apologies, I'm afraid I don't quite know my own strength as of yet. My magic is proving difficult to temper."

The embarrassment was so foreign on the thus far confident and near deadly creature that Gladio was shocked into another round of guffaws that continued until Ignis helped settle him on the mat against the wall. "I don't really know how it works for dragons, but we humans generally shove our victories in each other's faces and laugh at the loser's expense."

"I see; I'll try to remember the proper etiquette for our next bout then." Ignis changed back into a human and went to grab a hi potion from the stores at the far wall. Maybe it was Gladio's imagination but the transformation seemed less flashy this time around.

"Don't sweat it; I'll give you a demonstration next time." Ignis returned swiftly and the potion offered sweet relief to Gladio's aches and pains. He was able to jump to his feet with much greater ease. "Thanks."

"Think nothing of it." Ignis was still examining him closely, as though he thought Gladio was such an invalid he might collapse at any moment. The dragon's behavior drug forth memories of little Iris hovering over him anytime he came home after any sort of training accident. It was kind of endearing. "Are you certain you require no further assistance?"

Gladio shook his head but couldn't keep the grin off his face. "All dragons such worrywarts?"

Ignis blinked up at the larger teen. "I'm afraid I've none to compare myself to."

"Ah, guess you're right." The idea hadn't really occurred to Gladio before, but he definitely hadn't seen any other dragons waltzing around. Probably made sense Ignis was the only one left. "Well, if you ever feel like a rematch look me up. I'll be in the training halls most days but we can spar anytime you want so long as I'm not on assignment from Cor or tailing Prince Noctis."

His offer must not have been what Ignis expected because his eyes got real wide and it took him a moment to compose one of his prim and proper replies. "Certainly, I would look forward to it."

Gladio later came to realize that he was one of the very few people authorized to know about Ignis' true identity and one of the even fewer people that the dragon could be completely himself around. As it turned out, they ended up sparing quite often.