7

Prompto awoke slowly as he felt his body being dragged across the cold, hard metal ground. His whole body felt like he was floating in a body of water, and his head still spinning from before. Dark bruises had formed on the blonde's neck where Ardyn had tightly squeezed, and the electrocution device had been removed, revealing burn marks that also circled his throat, though his wrists were still bound together.

The entire world swirled around him in a jumbled mess of disembodied sounds and blurs, even his own thoughts didn't make any sense to him. Allowing a small moan to escape his lips his head listed to the side as the world began to slowly come back into focus around him. As his senses reactivated themselves, the burning, searing pains in Prompto's leg, shoulder, and neck became noticeable to the young blonde, causing him to squirm in the grasp of the hands encircling his ankles. A light trail of blood oozing from the fresh stab wound in his leg while they dragged him down the corridors.

"Ah, the sleeping beauty wakes."

Prompto looked around, his eyes focusing on the mauve-haired man dragging him down the corridors, a small smirk having crawled across his face as he looked down at the injured blonde. The cliché expression paired with his menacing yet cheeky grin only made the aura around the two even more unsettling for Prompto.

"All he's missing is a cat and a revolving chair." Prompto thought, slowly shifting his head from right to left to try and wake himself up quicker. Though he did note his regained ability to construct coherent banter, even if just in his own head.

Though he knew it probably wouldn't last much longer...

"Oh I'm sure you're really feeling those wounds now, since they've had time to fester." Ardyn chuckled to himself as he yanked hard on Prompto's injured leg, rewarding himself with the sound of the blonde's cry of pain as they continued forwards, entering a corridor lined with barred cells. "Don't worry, dear boy. We're going to... distract you from those wounds."

The fear returned to Prompto's soul during that moment of silence after Ardyn spoke.

Reaching the end of the corridor, he heard the scraping of a metal door swinging open against the ground, grinding into his left ear which was resting on the floor with his head turned left to look around more. Unable to move enough to try and fight against his captor, the strength in his body too slow on the return to grant him the luxury of a struggle.

As the older man dragged Prompto along the ground, he was pulled into the cell and his wounded leg landed with a small bang onto the hard ground, dropped swiftly by Ardyn, who merely stood overhead looking down at the young gunman. Frowning deeply before driving his foot into Prompto's side, the force of the blow reverberating in his rib cage, which was promptly stomped on, knocking the breath completely from the young man's chest as he cried out, his eyes screwing shut along with his pained wails. Ardyn's frown deepened as he continued beating the poor boy. Swiftly kicking his sides and stamping down on his chest, Prompto cried out, feeling his ribs bruise and crack under the weight of Ardyn's heavy blows and swift jabs.

Unsatisfied with his current work, Ardyn kneeled down beside the boy, brandishing his blade, slowly cutting into the stab wound in his shoulder, severing the slightly healed flesh from the wound drawing more blood which flowed out of the incision along with a symphony of wails from the gunner.

"Oh, what a marvelous sound." Ardyn sighed, reveling in the screams of his enemy's most cherished companion, gazing at the younger man's wounds with a sense of wonder in his eyes. "If only his majesty could hear it too. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

The chancellor chuckled darkly, moving his hand down to the boy's leg, inserting the silver colored steel blade into the newest stab wound, cutting a deeper and longer wound over the current one. Despite every ounce of his being trying to fight it, Prompto let out an agonizing, heart wrenching cry, the pain shooting up and down his leg, burning with the hot flames of discomfort as he endured the torture inflicted upon him unable to fight.

"S-Stop!" Prompto cried, giving in to the weakness of his desire to end the pain. His want to be delivered from his suffering. Tears began forming in his tightly closed eyes as his hope began to slowly flicker out. Every part of his body hurt, his thoughts were jumbled and unintelligible even to him. He opened his eyes slowly hoping in vain that Ardyn would show him mercy in this pitiful moment of behest.

Ardyn halted his movement, kneeling down next to the blonde he took his face in his hand, squeezing it in his grasp as he had done before, growling deeply and softly between his breaths.

"Such a pitiful, pathetic weakling." Ardyn's eyes narrowed in contrast to Prompto's widened blue eyes, swiftly raising his opposite arm Prompto had only a second to brace himself as just as quickly as it went up, Ardyn's arm came crashing down plunging his blade into the blonde's previously undamaged leg.

A pained cry busted out of the photographer before he could even begin to fight the urge, his back arched and his eyes screwed shut once again as the cries ripped themselves out of Prompto's charred and already sore throat only causing him even more hurt.

"I'm sure his majesty and the rest of his entourage are quite pleased you're finally out of their way. Always needing them around to protect you, needing them to hold your hand." Staring at the blood flowing from the gunner's newly opened and savage wounds, Ardyn smiled. The subtle smell of iron filled the already metal scented room. But it was a different metal smell. It was the smell of both old and fresh blood. "Well, I'll be sure to put you out of their misery. You can count on that."

Prompto hardly listened as he spoke, focusing all of his strength on working through the pain that was constantly assailing on him. He tried to stop the tears but it was all in vain, feeling the wet salty droplets fall out of his now faded eyes and down his unhealthily pale cheeks. His strength began to fail him again, the pain growing now that he was losing the ability to distract himself from its sting. His entire body burned, and yet he still felt cold.

And that wasn't normally a good sign...

"Is this... what dying feels like...?" Prompto thought before Ardyn administered another knife wound to his only remaining good limb, crying out without even realizing it. "It's gotta be, I've lost so much blood...too much, really..."

Ardyn only smiled as he continued mutilating the younger man's fragile, broken body. He had already electrocuted and stabbed him, broken his nose, cracked a few ribs, toyed with his emotions and even preyed upon his claustrophobia. What more could he inflict upon the poor boy?

Walking over to a covered object in the center of the back of the cell, Ardyn grabbed the large tarp and gracefully tossed it aside, revealing a large machine in the rough shape of a crucifix. He smiled devilishly as he took long elegant strides back to the blonde bleeding all over the ground, grabbing his newly stabbed arm and dragging him over to the device, setting him down for a moment on the ground he grabbed Prompto from under his arms and hoisted him up off of the floor.

Prompto squirmed and shifted a bit but there was little resistance as Ardyn shoved him up against the mechanism, holding him in place by pressing his forearm onto the gunner, digging his elbow into his chest as he activated the machine. Metal tendrils wrapping tightly around Prompto's chest holding him in place, iron cuffs were locked in place around his wrists and ankles. Keeping him in place, mounted like a hunting trophy on the steel makeshift crucifix of what was most likely a torture device.

"Let me g-go..." Prompto whimpered, wiggling weakly in the restraints, the iron coils around his body digging into his soft silky flesh as he wiggled and shifted in discomfort while the manacles around his chest felt like they were only getting tighter, closing in on him and there was nothing he could do to resist.

"Now, now, my boy." Ardyn sighed, shaking his head and wagging his index finger as if he were speaking to a child who needed a scolding. "You know I can't do that. That wouldn't be advantageous for me you see. I can't have you trying to escape, now can I?"

Ardyn chuckled deeply and darkly to himself as he turned away, walking over to the barred cell door with a grim expression on his face, not about to leave the boy peacefully to his thoughts. Raising his left arm slowly, he pressed the small button he held in his hand.

In that moment the soft humming of the machine entrapping Prompto became more prominent in his ears before the smell of burning flesh reentered his nose as his body heated up with the hot burning fire of electricity coursing through his veins. Prompto's screams filled the room, his body convulsing in the restraints pinning him in place, mangling his wrists and angles as he pulled at the restraints, trying desperately to free himself from his captivity.

But it was no use, his body was simply too weak from the torture he had been put through.

"Noct!" Prompto thought, unable to make a coherent word form through the blood curdling screams expelling themselves from his mouth, his eyes screwed shut as he struggled and contorted his body, though restrained as he was he could hardly move at all, only serving to harm him more as his body pushed and pulled against the tightly wrapped metal trapping his fragile body. "Please, help me...! I don't wanna die... not like this..."

Tears ran down Prompto's soft, blood stained cheeks as the pain persisted, the burning volts surging through him, sapping his remaining and previously regained strength away quicker than before. Cracking his dulled blue eyes open, he noticed edges of his vision had blurred and darkened, and his eyelids became heavy. Before he lost all feeling in his body and his senses failed him, Prompto heard the soft hum of the makeshift crucifix die down, the burning sensation permeating his entire lifeless husk of a body stopped. Coughing wildly from the trauma newly afflicted on the poor boy's body, and without any food in his stomach from not eating in days, his powerful and painful coughs expelled a great deal of blood from his mouth, tainting his mouth again with the slight taste of iron and left him feeling rather nauseous in conjunction.

"Noct…" Prompto's vision faded and his eyelids became too heavy to hold up any longer. His head dropped down swiftly, his chin smacking into his chest unable to support himself anymore. Everything felt like it was closing in around him, encapsulating him in a secluded prison of pain, suffering, and fear. "Please, don't... don't leave me here..."

"Where are we now, Gladio?" Ignis asked, poking around with his cane before moving forward, now positive the way before him was clear.

They had been wandering for what felt like hours in the quiet, empty halls of the fortress. There had been no sign of either Noctis or Prompto the entire time they had been there, which wasn't helping one bit as far as Iggy was concerned.

"On the lower end of the mid-levels." Gladio said, keeping his eyes open for the both of them, his sadly being the only pair of functioning eyes among the two of them. "Sorry we're making such slow time. I know we need to be fast, but we can't be too careful."

He hated seeing Ignis this way, more fragile and vulnerable than he had always been before. And knowing what Ignis had gone through to lose his sight, voluntary it may have been in a way, putting on the ring to defend Noct. But as far as Gladio was concerned, it was still Ardyn's fault that Ignis's eyes were damaged. And he still harbored a deep cutting guilt for what happened.

When he and Prompto had been separated from Ignis, they had honestly had it easy, but Ignis was alone in a swarm of imperials. And on top of that, he had to face Ardyn alone. He and Prompto had arrived too late... when they found him, his eyes had already been irrevocably damaged. Ignis had suffered greatly in their absence, and that was something Gladio would never forgive himself for. He was trying to make up for it now, by protecting him every step of the way since then, but it didn't help the staggering guilt weighing heavily on his heart.

"I guess I understand how Noct feels..." The shield thought, peeking around the corner quickly before ducking back, out of the sight of a small group of deamons that had manifested in the room in front of them. Extending his arm back, he grabbed Ignis's arm, signaling for him to stop before he walked straight into the danger. "Guy blames himself for Prompto getting kidnapped. And I guess I can't keep denying I feel responsible for Iggy in my own way too, huh?"

"What's going on, Gladio?" Ignis inquired softly, unaware of the deamons ahead. "Is there something there?"

"Deamons." Gladio informed quickly and quietly, moving Ignis so that his back was up against the wall with his own. "You stay here, I'll take care of them."

Ignis sighed, lowering his head slightly as a small frown came over his face. His eyes were covered and closed but they were downcast and disappointed all the same.

"Yes, of course..."

"Iggy, I'm not trying to derogate you, but it's too dangerous for you to fight while we're men short." Gladio explained, feeling bad about what he was doing to Ignis. He knew how he felt about being left out of things because of his eyes. But like he said, with Noctis and Prompto gone he couldn't risk letting Ignis enter a fray without someone to look out for him and keep him from getting hurt when Gladio couldn't.

"Now's not the time for this, Gladio." Ignis countered, shaking his head at the larger man's claim. "We must make haste and reunite with Noct. We can't waste time."

Gladio nodded, giving Ignis's shoulder a comforting squeeze. He understood completely how he felt, and what they needed to do. But he couldn't help trying to console his partner anyway. He lingered there for a short moment before turning back to face the foes before them.

"I understand, Gladio. I do. But I can't help but worry I'm becoming a hindrance to you like this." Iggy thought, listening to the battle taking place just around the bend from where he was safely hidden.

He could very well go out and help if he wanted - which he did - but what could he do? He was out of spells and he couldn't exactly use proper weapons anymore, at least not with ease. There was nothing he could do but sit and wait for Gladio to deal with the mess for him this time.

"Please, Gladio... don't push yourself too hard for my sake... if you were to come to harm because of me, I..." Iggy sighed, shaking his head before wiping away the involuntarily forming tears from his eyes and chuckling quietly under his breath. "I believe I understand, Noct."

The battle droned on for poor Ignis, lying in wait for Gladio to dispatch their foes so they could continue on in safety. After what seemed like forever, the sounds of combat subsided. Ignis turned his head instinctively towards the direction the sounds had previously been coming from hoping Gladio was alright.

"Gladio?" He called cautiously, taking a small step closer to the corner of the corridor, feeling for the edge of the wall with his free hand, poking his head around the corner even though he was unable to see what was before him. "Are you alright? Are the deamons gone?"

"Yeah, Iggy, I'm fine." Gladio's rough and gruff baritone cut through the quiet air around them. His footsteps increased in volume as he made his way over to the blind man, placing a gentle hand behind him back, guiding him forward into the chamber. "Come on. Let's get moving."

Gladio guided him further into the depths of Zegnautus, making their way as quickly and cautiously as they could. After all, there was no time to dawdle now. The thought of Noctis and Prompto had haunted both Ignis and Gladio ever since they had been separated from Noct. And they had all been overly concerned about poor Prompto since Noct had told them what happened that day. How he had been tricked into pushing Prompto off of the train to Tenebrae by Ardyn.

The guilt looming over their hearts was like nothing they'd ever felt before.

"Gladio..."

"Yeah? What's up, Iggy?" Gladio asked, turning his head to his dear companion, stopping them in their tracks before worriedly looking him over. "You alright? Need a breather?"

"No, no, nothing like that." Ignis dismissed, shaking his head as a soft sigh escaped from his lips. "Tell me... that there was nothing we could have done."

"What?"

"Please." Iggy asserted, keeping his eyes downcast and away from the elder. "Tell me that there was nothing we could have done to prevent Ardyn from abducting Prompto."

Gladio's eyes widened slightly as he looked down at his counterpart, he never imagined Ignis would be so shaken by the events of the passed few days. Or that he would be shaken by anything at all, in all honesty. He just wasn't the type of man. He was always calm and collected, composed and rational. He'd never seen him like this before in all the years they'd known each other. At least not until they came to this forsaken fortress.

"Iggy... it's not our fault. It's not your fault." Gladio reassured. "You're the one who's been telling Noct that this whole time, aren't you? Why do you suddenly feel like it is?"

"Not suddenly, Gladio." Ignis answered, keeping his gaze away from Gladio, unable to look upon the shield. "There's nothing sudden about it. I've been thinking about it ever since Noct told me what happened on that train. I had to stay calm for him. We all did. But I can't lie and tell you I haven't harbored a responsibility of my own regarding this incident from the beginning."

The advisor sighed, shaking his head slightly before taking a few steps forwards to put some distance between the two.

"We should have stayed together. We shouldn't have left the two of them alone."

"Iggy, there's no way we could've known-"

"-That's not the point, Gladio!" Ignis shouted, his emotions bubbling over the surface of his slowly fracturing heart. He'd had to bear so much on his own over the years, forcing himself to become a pillar of strength for the young king and the others, to shoulder his burdens for him as well as his own. But his heart was carrying too much to withstand Zegnautus. "By going on this journey, we've all accepted the task of protecting each other as well as Noct. You said so yourself, didn't you? We're family now, and we shouldn't have let the chancellor take Prompto away! We failed, Gladio, do you not understand that!?"

"You know there's nothing we could've done to change what happened, Ignis!" Gladio asserted, trying his best to keep his temper from boiling over. "That's what you've been wanting me to tell you and I've said it! Now calm down."

The shield placed his hands firmly on the advisor's shoulders, gripping them just tight enough for Ignis to be unable to shake him off, but not tight enough to cause him any discomfort.

"What's gotten into you anyway?" He asked calmly. "I've never seen you all worked up like this before."

"You can't tell me you don't feel even a shred of guilt for what has happened, Gladio. I know you do." Ignis answered quietly, his tone becoming darker than it had been in a very long time, or maybe even ever. "That boy looks up to us. You remember his adoptive parents, Gladio, how neglectful they were. We're the only family he truly has. And because we were sloppy enough to let this happen, he's paying to prince for our collective incompetence!"

Gladio sighed deeply, pulling Ignis back into a warm embrace. He was furious at what seemed to him to be the fortress itself putting these thoughts in Iggy's head, making him act so strange. It was irritating to say the least, but at the same time, he couldn't blame Ignis for what he'd been saying this whole time. Gladio had to admit that he'd had the thought cross his mind that maybe there was something they could have done to stop what had happened on the train that day. But he knew better than that. Both of them did, and they knew it.

It wasn't like Ignis to be so guilt ridden about something so far out of the realm of his control...

"Come on Iggy, whatever's going on with you, snap out of it!" Gladio commanded, keeping his gentle but firm grip on his dear friend. "You haven't been acting like yourself since we got here, and I don't like it! This place is messing with you, isn't it? Putting ideas in your head, telling you things that aren't true!"

"I'm fine, Gladio, now let go of me!" Ignis asserted, pushing himself out of the shield's grasp, straightening out his shirt and jacket, taking a step back from the shield, poking at the ground around him with his cane before taking a few strides forward. "We have a pace to keep."

"Oh no we don't." Gladio disagreed, reaching out and grabbing Ignis's arm to stop him from going any further. "Not until you tell me what the hell's going on with you!"

"Gladio, let go." Ignis repeated, his voice lowering in pitch as his head turned slightly to the elder.

"Not until you come clean, Iggy."

"I mean it Gladio! Let go of my arm!" His free arm raised, Ignis turned as best he could, his cane in the air as if he were going to hit the shield.

But before any action could be taken on either side, the two adults were interrupted by something they really didn't want to hear.

"Are you both quite done?"

Ignis's arm lowered slowly and Gladio's expression hardened as the condescending tone of Ardyn's melodious baritone sounded over the fortress's intercom system. Drawing his greatsword on instinct, a very audible snarl escaped from Gladio's lips as he released the advisor, focusing only on the madman addressing them.

"Come now, Gladio, there's no need for that."

"What do you want, you no good son of a bitch!?" Gladio growled, moving to stand in front of Ignis, backing them both up so that Ignis was up against the wall where there was no chance of a surprise ambush just in case that's what Ardyn had planned.

"My, my, my... that's no way to speak to the man holding your dear Prompto hostage, now is it?"

Both men frowned at that remark, hatred welling up inside them listening to Ardyn's smug laughter hung in the air around them, taunting them as it echoed through the cold empty halls.

"Now, if you two are quite finished squabbling... I think it would be best for you to hurry along."

All of the color drained from their faces after what they heard next.

"Prompto!" Ignis called out, his voice strained with nothing but pure worry and concern before his heart wavered at the sound of Prompto's soul shattering screams of pain sounded through the intercom speakers, echoing unrelentingly through the empty halls of the keep.

No doubt Ardyn was broadcasting this atrocity all over the fortress...

"You sick fuck!" Gladio roared, hurling his sword at the closest speaker he could find in the corridor, but it was to no avail. Just as Ignis had thought, the sound of Prompto's agonized and tormented sounded through every single speaker in the whole of Zegnautus. There was no escaping the sounds of their precious friend's torture.

"Poor Prompto isn't feeling too well. You three may want to... speed it up a little, don't you think?"

Ardyn laughed over the sounds of Prompto's screams and cries, only serving to somehow anger the two guardians even more than than he already had since the very first time they had met him. There was no time to lose, they needed to find Prompto now.

"C'mon we've gotta go!" Gladio commanded, turning around and hoisting the blind man back into his arms before he even a chance to object. "I'll deal with you later!"

Directing himself in the direction of the nearest elevator, Gladio sprinted down the corridor doing his best to block out the screams of their precious little chocobo from his ears. But with it being played through every speaker, it was quite a difficult task. And as well, he had to support Ignis and keep him from slipping from his grasp while he squirmed and shifted since Gladio hadn't taken the time to even try and make sure he was comfortable and just threw the man over his shoulder. After all, he needed at least one free hand so carrying him bridal style again was out of the question.

"Hopefully Noct can get to him sooner than we can. He's gotta be closer than we are by now, but don't you worry, Prompto." He thought, supporting Ignis as best he could as he ran, feasting his eyes on he hoped was the central elevator at the end of the corridor he turned down. "Help is on the way!"

Noct's entire body froze at the sound of Prompto's screams.

He felt his heart stop for a moment before it continued pounding in his chest. His fears had begun coming to life, the sound of his best friend screaming and crying out in pain had sounding inside his mind since he was taken, and now he was actually hearing it.

Prompto was screaming.

Really screaming.

His best friend in the entire world was being tortured and he could hear every ounce of his pain and anguish. Each fit of tears discernible through the symphony of screams deafening Noctis in those frozen moments, unable to move until Prompto called out once again.

"N-NO-OCT...!"

"I'm here, Prom!" Noct called back desperately, his eyes filling with tears of his own listening to his best friend choke and gag through his screams and cries.

He never thought he could ever hear the peppy and lively photographer sound so bad... the fear creeping into Noct's heart of the possibility that his best friend could be dying sprang his legs into action before his brain. Noctis raced as fast as he could down the halls, not taking into account that all the noise he had just made had attracted a group of decaying MT's who followed suit, closing in on him fast.

"Dammit, not now!" He thought, doing his best to outrun them he failed to process the slight dip in the floor, the momentum of his misplaced footing sending him down onto his face, smacking his forehead into the hard metal ground after quickly throwing out his arms to slow his fall.

Shaking his head quickly before he scrambled back to his feet, Noct was sent back to the ground by a broken down MT grabbing his ankle from it's place on the ground, giving the small group of them time to catch up and pile up on the young king. Noct clawed and scratched at the metal plating below him in a desperate attempt to free himself, kicking at the MT's at his feet, his eyes screwing shut as he let out a frustrated cry of his own, almost harmonizing with the broken, agonized shouts of his best friend.

"PROMPTO!"