AN: Oh my gosh, I've been so excited to get to see the content of the Gladio DLC. And after playing that, I understand even better why Gladio's so frustrated with Noct in this part of the game. Gladio be like, "I didn't go through that s-h-i-t only to deal with this one!" :D 'Cause yeah. Let's be honest, I really wanted to smack both of them at that point of the game.

Alright, that said, let's go! A few people have told me they've been looking forward to this. This chewing, lol. I hope I delivered. I'm planning on this to be the second-to-last chapter of Collision; I'm currently writing the ending. It's the part I've been waiting to get to write since Ignis' injury. Thanks for your response to Collision! I've been overwhelmed by your love for it. :3

Have you listened to that Dynazty song? If not, I suggest you give it a go. It's pretty much an ear-gasm, anyway. Plus, the vocalist is super-cute!

Welcome to my attraction

One step in the wrong direction

One choice is all you have to make

One ride and the world is ours to take

You're treading a thin red line

When you're trying to read my mind

In here the world ain't black or white

No rules apply, no wrongs or rights

. . .

Can you really tell me what is right or wrong

When they're two sides of the same coin

Viewed in different ways

The human paradox

Step right into pandemonium

Welcome to my delirium

My human paradox

The human paradox

. . .

Dynazty – Human Paradox

Hasty footfalls struggled to maintain their balance on the unknown terrain. He couldn't help fumbling, though, much to his displeasure. The adviser winced as a jolt of pain coursed through his chest when an invisible hand grabbed a sturdy hold of his injured arm. Ignis inwardly frowned; he acknowledged the other with a stiff nod that was supposed to assure him that he was managing.

"You holdin' up ok?" Ignis' brows furrowed; he had picked up the doubt the other had probably tried to keep in check.

To accentuate his spat words, Ignis jerked his arm free, gasping a little but mostly ignoring the stab of pain it brought. "I would appreciate it if you stopped pestering me. As you can see, I'm not dead and I can assure you I have no intention of becoming so!"

"Drop it, Iggy. You're injured pretty bad. Tryin' to downplay it is beneath you." The older man didn't seem phased. In fact, he sounded almost amused. The strategist looked like he wanted to counter, and he probably would have if his stick hadn't chosen that exact moment to stick itself into a hole. He lost his footing; an agonized yelp he couldn't quite stop sounded as he stumbled injury first against Gladio. "Hmph. See?"

"We don't have time for this," he spat as he fought himself to stand on his own again, but fumbled at a sudden feeling of light-headedness. He subconsciously placed a hand on Gladio's chest for support as his dark world spun.

"Shut up."

"Uh?"

"Don't give me that 'uh'. You hurtin' yourself more ain't gonna help Noct." The hazel blond was about to protest, but Gladio beat him to it. "Prompto's out there. Have a little faith in the kid."

Ignis looked like he had been slapped. Getting scolded like this didn't sit well with him. And neither did the dark knot twisting his insides. Ignis had a very bad feeling about this.

"... Do you think he's alright?" Unbeknownst to the strategist, the other made a face that quite clearly read 'bitch, please'.

"This's Noct we're talkin' about. It's not like this'd be the first time he gets himself into trouble." Brave words, but overshadowed by anticipation. Now it was Ignis' turn to smirk.

"I'm glad to know you realize the implications of that statement yourself." Gladio snorted.

"Yeah… What a hothead." He had been walking Ignis all the time, supporting him but only lightly. Only as much as Ignis allowed. He let the man have his space, although he would've wanted to pick up the pace. They were now nearing the place where they had found the control panel, and something just told Gladio they weren't far off.

He just hoped they wouldn't be too late.

"Noct's not too bad with the sword, you know. Besides, the Fulgurian just blasted half the valley into ashes, so I bet he's doin' fine."

He just hoped he was right.

Ignis looked tense. "Exactly."

"Huh?"

"I'm afraid it is the Fulgurian that troubles me. The Six usually never make an appearance unless it is a dire emergency." The large jaw tightened. He understood exactly what Ignis wasn't saying.

He just hoped it hadn't been too dire.

The mud under their feet squished with excess moisture as their boots stuck a little on every step. Ignis' moving was even slower, and Gladio had to bite his lip to not make a comment about it. He could see the other was already trying his best: the focused look was laced with exhaustion, pain and desperation as the man tried to pick up his pace; there was no way Gladio could ask any more of him. The large man huffed irritably as he pulled a hand through his hair, all the way down to his neck where he held onto it, just tightly enough to send tantalizing tingles over his scalp. The sole outlet for his frustration for the time being.

Gladio didn't bother stopping to discuss which way they should head from the control panel. He had a pretty good hunch where the young man had gone, and another surge of immediate rage clenched his teeth. Damn, the kid was a handful at times!

After a way too long time for his liking, Gladio's phone rang. His heart leaped. "'S'up?"

Prompto's tone was urgent but relieved, and he spoke a hundred miles a minute. "Dude, listen, I'm literally wastin' the last of my battery here so keep up with me?! I found him! He's down here, down that path we opened. There's this huge lake–" The words disappeared under a hitch of breath. "It's dyin'! He's go–!" The line went dead.

"Prompto?!" All the reply he got was the busy beeping. The man let out a frustrated grunt as he nearly crushed his phone, that's how tightly he grabbed it to stuff it back into his jacket pocket.

"What did he say?!" Ignis' worry and urgency shone through his usual collected demeanor.

"He found him. I think I know where."

"How is he?"

The good news was, the gun-slinging scout had told him enough. What did leave him a little bit on the edge was the ending of their small conversation. It had sounded like the young one was about to say "good", but he couldn't say for sure.

"I dunno. It died before Prom got to it." The serious expression did implicate he wasn't satisfied with that answer. The survivalist eyed him for a moment, biting his teeth in indecisiveness. "Iggy. Where we're headed, the path gets pretty tricky. It's gonna be steep and probably bad footing." Gladio's hedging question didn't escape the strategist. He snorted, the sound making evident the inward battle of pride over reason.

"… I guess I could use the help." The tone told exactly how pleased Ignis was with the situation.

"Alright." He changed to Ignis' right – his good arm – and gently prompted the stick from his hand; then he raised the arm over his own shoulder and grabbed his waist to support him. "I've gotcha." The mutter was so quiet the other wasn't quite sure if he was supposed to hear it or not, and he chose not to reply. Instead he let himself be guided, a serious look on his face as his feet fumbled around the ground.

Noctis slowly came to as he felt a jerking motion that grew more and more vigorous the more he tried to ignore it. First to wake up was his throat, unintelligent mumbling sounds leaving him. Then came the body, and he recognized a weight and warmth next to him. The next was the hearing.

"-oct?!"

It was muffled and quiet, morphed as if he had heard it through a thick glass. Ok, so maybe not the hearing after all. As the numbness of his limbs begun to register, and as the jerking motions – shakes, he gathered, shakes of his shoulder – became near frantic, his vision caught up. Cracking his lids a little the haze slowly formed colors, shapes, figures.

"-you hear me, man?"

Nope. Still the glass bottle. His ears were really taking their sweet time. That voice sounded familiar, though. And that yellow color…

"-mpto?" Wow, his own voice sounded weird to him right now. He coughed to force his trachea to co-operate with him as he made a move to lift himself. He found he couldn't. Something was holding him down. Blinking his eyes back into focus, he traced the source to find Prompto's hand on his chest. He cast a questioning look at the other, finding him grinning sheepishly as he pushed him back with a little more force.

"Better not, dude. By the looks of it, you should pro'ly stay down." Shaking his head with a little snort, Noctis pushed past it and sat up, bending his knee to lean against it.

"I'm fine."

"You sure? You look like the wrong end of a something we would usually kill for the big gil." Noctis couldn't help a raspy laugh.

"That bad?"

"Let's just say I'm pretty glad it's this dark around." The lighter blue eyes shifted to something on his left, and narrowed. Noctis gulped as he caught onto what he was watching and shifted nervously to hide his arm.

"Just a scratch," he muttered, looking at his lap. Prompto's eyes had a hard glint.

"Don't lie to me, Noct. Lemme see it." He ignored the gasp and the shocked look as he grabbed a stern hold of the arm and forced it into light. He felt shudders run along the limb as he prodded the gash gently. It wasn't a clean cut, more like a tear or a rugged scrape, but luckily it wasn't that deep. Some crust had already formed on it; Prompto's lips curved into a small, shy, satisfied smile.

"You happy now?" Noctis chuckled as he took his hand back. "I think I'll live."

The smile widened into smirk. "Well, enjoy it while you can because I'm pretty sure Gladio's gonna kill you! The hell were you thinking, man? You scared us out of our wits!"

Suddenly embarrassed, Noctis averted his eyes. "I, uh…"

"Hey!" Both heads snapped at the direction of the gruff voice.

"Speak of the devil." Noctis shot his friend with a flabbergasted ogle, exasperating. There had been something eager, something impish in Prompto's tone, and Noctis understood his friend was actually looking forward to this.

'You son of a…' He knew he was gaping. It was as much inconceivable as it was darkly hilarious that Prompto was throwing him to the wolves while preparing the popcorn. And simultaneously he knew he deserved this.

Down the path was coming Gladiolus, half-supporting, half-dragging a clumsily stumbling Ignis. The lither looked like some ragdoll, dragged around like that, given up trying to feel for the ground himself and just trusting the other to lead them. There was a jab in his heart, and Noctis felt the heat rising onto his face.

"Specs…" He couldn't look at him. He simply couldn't.

"You guys OK?!"

Prompto raised a casual hand. "All cool." If that was supposed to calm the older men down, it did quite the opposite. The large man almost lifted Ignis off the ground as they struggled to rush to the others. He sat the strategist down, the man offering a court nod as a thank you, before turning his attention to Noct. The amber eyes narrowed as he scanned the young man over, settling onto the long gash running along the prince's arm. He huffed in irritation, but that, along with the hardening look in the amber, was the only indication of Gladiolus' carefully contained fury.

"Noct, are you alright?" Ignis' controlled composure was firmly back in place as he felt around the ground around him, searching for his physical position. Noctis snorted quietly before snapping his fingers as a sign and reaching over to touch the man's hand to guide him to the right direction.

Sparing a glance at Gladio's hard expression, the prince muttered, "It's nothing…" It trailed into silence as the bodyguard snorted incredulously, and Ignis' brows furrowed. It was an inquisitive look that told him Noct's answer couldn't have been formulated in a worse way.

"Gladio." Noctis blinked at the adviser's tone. It wasn't conversational, and it wasn't a question. It was an order. A single-word order.

With only a grunt, the tall man stuck a hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a Potion. Noctis jumped a little as his injured hand was grabbed, not gently, and the vial was pushed into his palm. One glance up, at the storm's eye, and decided it was best to go along with it.

"Thanks…"

He huffed quietly at Gladio's tone when he next spoke. It was pure venom. "You're welcome."

Pushing the man aside, he crushed the curative. The tantalizing pump of energy rushed up his arm and spread throughout his upper body. He could feel the slight tingle as the Potion mended his wound, skin rejuvenating and his strength and energy returning to him. He drew deep breaths to savor the feeling, eyes closed and head leaning back in a relaxed way. He stayed like that for a while even after the effects had evaporated.

It was the creak of leather that brought his chin down and piqued his curiosity. He had rather expected that already, anyway.

Gladiolus' leather jacket rubbed against skin tightly; the man had his arms crossed so tightly it looked like he'd have trouble breathing behind that cage of flesh. But the bodyguard didn't seem to mind. His mind was on one thing, one person, and one person only.

"You care to explain?" It was a hiss from behind clenched teeth, and it seemed that was the limit of his patience. One more word, and it would have snapped.

The prince snorted. "What's there left to explain?" He felt sorrier than he sounded, and he only hoped it carried over. He wasn't good with words. He wasn't good with this kind of stuff. He was good at acting, not at expressing.

"How 'bout you start with the why?! What the hell gave you the idea of sneaking down here on your own?!" Gladio's voice rose; his hands came down by his sides, twitching a little as if he had resisted the urge to punch him.

"I…" 'Dammit!' "I didn't wanna end up wasting time. I wanted to get it over with." He gasped as a rough hand pulled him up by his jacket collar.

"What is wrong with you?! I thought we agreed to wait for the morning. Why didn't you wake us?"

The prince seemed to waver under the scrutiny. Suddenly he felt insecure. Why had he gone alone? Why hadn't he said anything? The truth felt immature and idiotic already before it left his lips. "You wouldn't have agreed."

"Damn right! What the hell were you thinking? You could've–"

"Enough, Gladio." Ignis had gotten up. The tone like a frost blade seemed to cut through his rage, his voice, the very world. With a grunt, the shield let go. "That's right, Noct. We wouldn't have. No matter how you justify this, it was highly irresponsible and rash of you, and frankly, you can do better. You could have been hurt." He breathed a heavy exhale and shook his head. "Please remember your position, Noct. The royal armament are meaningless if there's no-one to wield them."

At those words, all the reasons, all the excuses he had on the tip of his tongue were gone. His heart like a pressure cooker, he felt his mouth open and close, but the words were gone. His voice lost to him, he had his eyes in the ground, embarrassed of the whole thing. "I'm… sorry." He had tried to help.

"Damn right you should be. You almost gave us a heart attack," Gladio grumbled, but the most intense rage of it was gone. It had dulled into something that stung deeper. The most prominent feeling Noct recognized in that tone was disappointment. "What did that, anyway?"

"Huh?" He glanced at the shield, motioning towards his arm with a look that made it clear he wanted the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. "Uh. It was a, uh… a gurangatch."

The bodyguard looked like he'd choke on his own temper. Unable to speak, the rest of it faded into a stifled hiss as he tore the hand through his hair.

"I had it under control."

"Oh, yeah? So, the Fulgurian just dropped by to say 'hi'?" The amber was again aflame with the frustrated fury.

"Tch!"

"Listen, 'hero'! In case you haven't figured it out yet, there's a war going on, and you have a part to play in it. Risking your life for glory isn't what this is about, Noct. It's high time for you to start thinking about others before yourself, like a real king would. You think you have the right to bear the power of your ancestors if you're not taking this seriously?"

Noctis was struck speechless. It was like Gladio's words were arrows and every single one found its mark. Guilt and embarrassment engulfed him like a high tide. He hadn't considered the consequences, he hadn't thought about the 'what ifs', not really. He had dismissed them, and for what?

So that he could protect them.

He had done this because he wanted to make sure they would get to safety as soon as possible once this was done. He hadn't wanted to put them into any greater risk they were already in, so he had risked himself. "You think I'm not?" It wasn't far from a growl. It was low, filled with determination. He wanted them to understand: if not why he had done what he had done, then at least that he meant business.

"You'd better be. Or you won't be worthy of the relic of your kin." Without another word, Gladio turned to stomp away from them. Noctis let out a frustrated breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding. Ignis gave his shoulder a firm squeeze and nodded encouragingly.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he sighed, shaking his head. "It's just that…" His voice faded into silence. Ignis understood, though.

"You gave us all quite the scare with that little ruse of yours, Noct. You'll have to excuse Gladio. He is just worried."

The prince honestly snorted. "Oh, that's what it is? Funny how it looks like bloody vengeance to me."

"It certainly seems that way, but it is understandable. Make no mistake, Noct: your stunt was by no means acceptable."

"You're mad, too?"

"Livid, as a matter of fact. But unlike him, I can keep mine under control." A self-satisfied smirk spread his lips. "I believe you, once again, acted in the best interest of doing what you think is right. But this was neither the time nor the place. On an unfamiliar territory and alone at night–"

"I get it already," Noct spat as he shook Ignis' hand off his shoulder and went to go after the shield. As he brushed past Prompto, he gave the blond a dirty glare. The gunslinger's serious expression didn't falter. In fact, it seemed to say "you had it coming".

"So, are we going then or what?" came Gladio's bark from the waterfront. He had sloshed ankle-deep into the water, peering around the swamp.

"Aren't we eager, suddenly," the prince sniped his remark as he waded further across the murky waters. Gladio gave him a scowl.

"Now that we're here, thanks to a certain someone, we might as well go through with this."

Noctis couldn't help his jaw clenching. "You're free to turn back if you'd rather." Then something caught his eye at the almost overgrown hillside: a cavern-like entrance way and behind it, shaded by the plantation and dirtied by the nature, the light marble doors of a royal tomb. Excitement fluttered in his chest as he sprinted, trusting the others to follow him. He smirked a little as he heard two sets of running steps splashing behind him.

But when they got closer, however, and as the light graced over what he had thought to be vegetation, he couldn't help a shiver running down his spine.

"What is this?"

"I hate eggs."

Prompto's voice shook a little. "Do we really wanna know what's back there?"

"What choice do we have? This's it." He went to step forward, but was interrupted by a blood-curdling screech.