Hello I have written one (1) thing this entire weekend and I don't even like it. Having a bit of a mid-monthlong-challenge slump. Hopefully I can get over it quickly.

For this one Ignis suffers without his bros, but enjoy special guest Ravus instead (I love him very much).

Prompts:

No. 15: "I don't need you to help me I can handle things myself."
Makeshift Bandages | Suppressed Suffering | "I'm fine."

Warnings: Bullet wounds, removing the bullet without anesthetics.

Ravus grunts when Scientia is harshly shoved into his back. He braces himself against the additional weight.

"Are you alright?"

He expects the weight to disappear as Scientia rights himself, but it doesn't.

"Fine." The reply comes out strained, and he's heavily leaning against Ravus.

Ravus' sword comes up to block another blow. He grits his teeth as it deflects badly and nicks his cheek; the additional weight is throwing him off-balance.

"If we are to be allies, you ought to tell me the truth!" he barks. "Are you hurt?"

A pause. "...Yes."

"How bad?"

"I'm still capable of fighting," comes the cryptic reply. "Although that may not be the case for long."

Better end this quick, then. Ravus himself isn't sure how long he can hold Scientia up and fight properly, but it looks like he'll have to try. Scientia does seem to need his support to remain on his feet, at the very least.

He can still hear Scientia's daggers blocking and stabbing and slashing, at least he wasn't lying about his ability to fight. Still, he'd rather not test their luck.

Quickly, he clears the majority of the foes in front of him, save for the long-ranged ones. Scientia, whom he has seen flinging his daggers around without any effort before, will be more likely to take them out than himself, anyway.

"Let's switch," he hisses, hooking his arms into Scientia's behind him, and whirls them around so their positions are reversed.

He doesn't have time to make sure Scientia manages to keep his balance. Almost right away, he's met with a sword coming at his face that he only barely manages to block.

From now on, the fight is over quickly. Scientia already took out many of their opponents before they switched, and Ravus takes care of the rest. Similarly, Scientia finishes off the shooters with deadly accuracy despite his injury - injuries? Ravus still doesn't know how badly he is hurt.

The moment the last foe falls, Scientia does too, sagging against Ravus' shoulder like a puppet with its strings cut.

Ravus quickly catches him and lowers him to the ground.

"Don't die on me now."

Scientia smiles tightly and lets himself be examined.

"I wouldn't dare."

Though he'd never admit it to the man's face, it's impressive how Scientia managed to secure more than half the city on his own before they even met. Together, it was almost ridiculously easy to clear out the rest of the soldiers occupying the place.

Ravus almost regrets calling him a boy - he may be young, but he is more of a man than many others he has seen in his days in the Imperial Army.

Scientia's wound isn't deadly, with proper care, although it is serious and warrants medical attention. As it is, they've little more to work with than one of Scientia's daggers to dig the bullet out of his hip, sterilized with the fire he is so easily able to conjure, and the torn-up lining of Ravus' coat as a poor substitute for proper bandages.

The dagger is handed to Ravus, naturally. No matter how brave, digging a bullet out of their own flesh is something few people would be able to do.

Ravus tries to get it over with quickly, but he has to dig around the wound for longer than he'd like before he manages to dislodge the bullet. Scientia bears it with admirable stoicism, only the tension in his jaw as he desperately bites down on his rolled-up handkerchief betraying his agony.

Luckily, the bullet hit in a spot that doesn't bleed much, so when Ravus is finished bandaging up the wound, he's confident Scientia isn't going to bleed out anytime soon. He's not so sure about his ability to keep fighting, though.

When he voices his concerns, Scientia brushes him off.

"I'm fine," he says and makes to get up. Ravus braces himself to catch him if he collapses, but impressively, the man remains standing despite the paleness of his face and the sweat beading on his brow.

"Very well," Ravus says, because he doesn't care to argue about this. The sooner they reach the altar, the better, and if Scientia is determined to battle his body in submission with sheer stubbornness, well. Far be it from Ravus to stop him.

He does, however, shadow Scientia more closely than before when they do go on towards the altar. Ravus is familiar enough with Lucian politics to know that Scientia is important to that brat Noctis, which in turn makes him important to Lunafreya.

And that is just enough reason to keep the fool alive.

A little fun fact about me is that I fucking start foaming at the mouth when I think about Ignis and Ravus fighting back to back for a little too long because they are just SO BADASS and I am INTO it so I just had to include something like that at least ONCE in this challenge. I kind of wish I could've expanded on it more because I love these two but alas.
Also I'm very big on platonic stuff in FFXV what with the Chocobro friendships and all, that's my main jam, but the one singular ship I do actively ship (though I don't write for it nearly as much as I should) is Ignis/Ravus, so this was double fun to write. If you're interested in the ship, I wrote a handful of things about them but most are a lil old and therefore a lil more badly written than my newer stuff, BUT. The newest one is called Granola Bars and Berry Tarts (unfortunately FFN won't let me link directly but it is at s/14027969/1/Granola-Bars-and-Berry-Tarts) and I still like it a lot so if you find yourself interested in that underrated Ignis/Ravus ship, I'd be thrilled if you gave it a go.

ANYWAY no more Fleurentia propaganda, more thank yous to you! You all are great, doubly so if you clicked on this one as well even though it has no Chocobros, and I hope to see you along for the rest of the ride 3

Ignis again tomorrow, just kinda happened that way.

Take care!