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Your breath was shallow and uneven, your body straining to stay stood straight as you tried to drag both you and Ignis to safety and away from the Magitek soldiers. Guns and yelling could be heard in the distance, presumably from Noctis and the others, but they were too far for you to reach safely.
You faltered under Ignis’ weight for a moment, but you quickly stood up straight, adjusting his arm around your shoulder so you could grip it better and keep him from collapsing.
“[Name], do not push yourself. I’m capable of walking by myself if you cannot-”
“You’re injured, Iggy, and we both know there’s no way in hell you can walk on your own, so until we find somewhere safe, I’m carrying you.” You cut Ignis off before he can finish.
“Very well then.” The advisor sighed.
You continued to walk in silence, narrowly avoiding more Magitek soldiers by hiding behind large debris. You crouched behind one and rest Ignis against it as another ship arrived, too close to the area for comfort, and deployed more soldiers.
“Where the hell are the others?” You muttered to yourself, scowling at the ship
“Look, [Name],” Ignis spoke up to catch your attention and motioned to a small area formed in the debris. “It looks like it could fit the both of us.”
You nodded and checked that the coast was clear before pulling Ignis’ arm back around your shoulders gently, grunting as you stood up with him. You hurried as best as you could to the space.
As you set Ignis down near the entrance, he looked at you for a moment.
“Perhaps it would be best if you went in before me?” He questioned.
“Not a chance. Get in there, dummy. You’re in worse condition that I am.” You waved your hands at him to usher him in and he reluctantly obliged. You know Ignis would rather put himself at the front to prevent you from getting attacked if the MT’s found you, but there was no way in hell you’re going to let him do that.
You crawled in after him. It was a bit of a tight fit, but if it kept you safe, then a little claustrophobia was worth it. You summoned a gun from the arsenal and kept your fore finger near the trigger. Just in case.
The two of you waited in silence, listening out for any nearby MT’s, and listening to the destruction from somewhere (It’s hard to tell when you’re in the worlds smallest debris hut) in the MT base that was most definitely the three of your friends.
Nearby footsteps. Armoured ones. You froze, instinctively holding your breath.
They got closer, and closer, and closer. Eight sets of footsteps. Outnumbered.
“Shit.” You hissed to yourself. You can’t take eight MT’s by yourself. Well, you can, but not when every inch of your body feels like it’s on fire.
You flicked your wrist, sending the firearm back to the arsenal, and summoned your sword. You’re about to exit your shelter, but your forearm is grabbed by stronger hands and pulled back.
“Don’t. You can’t take them.” Ignis whispered to you, his brows furrowed in concern.
“If I can keep you safe long enough for Noct, Prompto and Gladio to reach us, then I have to do it.” You replied, frowning.
“You willdie.” He whispers harshly.
You smile at him weakly. “I would die for you, Iggy. It’s better if at least one of us is able to make it out of here than neither of us.”
Ignis pauses, staring at you with an expression of what you can only assume is a combination of worry and sadness. Maybe you shouldn’t have said the whole ‘I’ll die for you’ part, but it’s too late now. Oh well.
“And I would die for you. I won’t let you go out there just to buy me some time.”
“If it means you have a bigger chance of leaving here alive, then I have to.” His grip on your arm falters, and you pull your it away, but you put your free hand in his own and squeeze gently.
Ignis looks into your eyes with a sad expression. “[Name]... Do not throw away your life for me. Please…”
Just seeing him like this makes your heart hurt. A lot. You lean towards him and lightly press your forehead against his. “...I’ll only distract them. Launch a flare for the others to find us. We can both get out of this, okay?”
Before Ignis can protest, your hand leaves his, and you rush out of the hiding space and towards the Magitek soldiers. Ignis yells out to you, but your adrenaline tunes him out. You summon a flare gun from the crystal’s arsenal with your swordless hand and aim it up.
“HEY, YOU METAL SLUTS!” Your voice cracks as you yell. Your body protests against everything you’re doing. “COME GET SOME.” You fire the flare into the air, hoping it’ll be noticed by friend, and not foe.
You launch the now useless flare gun at one of the MT’s and it hits its helmet, knocking it off balance. You use your borrowed crystal magic to charge towards the soldiers, crashing your sword into one of their chests and pulling it back out to slice its head off.
You barely dodge an Axeman’s axe, but in doing so your arm gets cut by one of the soldiers. You parry one of their swords, your arms burning with pain. Your sword slams into an axe and you grunt with strained effort as you push it back. As you do so, you’re knocked a few feet away onto the ground by one of the Axemen. Shit.
You weakly look towards the approaching MT’s. Your body refuses to move, so you have to resort to pathetically and slowly crawling away. Your hand lands on a particularly sharp piece of glass and you yell out in pain and roll onto your back, huffing through gritted, pained teeth as you pull the glass out and cradle your hand to your chest. An Axeman raises it’s axe above you, and brings it down. You screw your eyes shut in anticipation.
CLANG!
Your eyes fly back open at the sudden sound of metal-on-metal.
Noctis stands above you, wielding a broadsword, pushing back against the axe. He kicks the Axeman in its knee, bringing it down and slicing his broadsword through its body. Gladio and Prompto quickly join him, shooting and stabbing the MT’s. Noctis looks down to you and holds out his hand. “You’re reckless sometimes, y’know that?”
“Like you can talk.” You retort. Your body finally cooperates and you take his hand with your non-injured one, letting him pull you back onto your feet. You grimace as you look at your blood covered hand. Stupid glass.
“Where’s Iggy?” Noctis asked, concerned. Gladio sliced through the last MT in the area.
“He should be safe. We ran out of potions and elixirs when clearing out side of the base and got messed up pretty bad, so we found some small shelter in some debris. I left him to draw the MT’s away from our position.” You explained to the prince and he nodded.
Prompto and Gladio ran over to you.
“Dude, are you okay? You look horrible!” Prompto exclaimed as he noticed your wounds.
“I’m fine, Prom. Nothing that can’t be fixed by a potion or two.” A little white lie about your condition wouldn’t hurt anybody. “Besides, Iggy’s the one who needs help. MT’s got him pretty bad.”
Gladio put a hand on your head, ruffling your hair. “Then what are we waiting for? Lead the way.”
“Right.”
You looked around shortly, remembering your surroundings and the direction you came from. You quickly broke out into a run to where you remembered the makeshift shelter being. The familiar debris comes into view and you call out. “Iggy?! Are you okay?!”
You spot the dirty blonde shift out of the shelter at the sound of your voice. You slow down into a jog and shortly collapse onto your knees in front of him, panting and smiling in relief. “Told you we’d get out of this.” You grinned at him.
Ignis just shook his head and pulled you into a hug, which you returned without hesitation. “Thank the gods you’re safe…” He muttered next to your ear.
“Specs!” Noctis called out as he, Gladio and Prompto caught up. “You alright?”
Ignis pulled away from the hug, but kept his hands on your arms. “Never better, now that I know you are all okay. Especially you.” He glared at you accusingly, to which you grinned sheepishly in response. He sighed. “You and Noctis are going to be the death of me with your impromptu plans, I swear.”
Your adrenaline officially runs out, and now you can feel every sting of your individual cuts. You hiss quietly and huff. “Can we get out of this place now? I desperately need a bath...” You whine.
Noctis nods. “Agreed. Can you walk, specs?”
“I’m afraid not. [Name] had to carry me, despite my protests.”
Noctis kneels down and puts Ignis’ arm around his shoulder to help him up. Prompto quickly assists him.
Your body, unsurprisingly, refuses to cooperate once more.
Gladio nudges your leg with his foot. “Get up, squirt. We’re going.”
You try to move your body and groan. “Can’t. Everything hurts and I can’t move an inch.”
Gladio chuckles and bends down to pick you up. “This is why you should’ve trained with me more when you were in school with Noct.”
You stick your tongue out at him. “Gimme a break, not everyone can be a beefy powerhouse like you.”
“Thanks for the compliment.” He chuckles again and follows Noctis, Ignis and Prompto to the exit and to the car.
Gladio places you into the back seat of the car and your body instantly relaxes in the familiar comfort of the Regalia. Prompto takes the other side in the back, and Noctis lightly places Ignis across both of your laps. Prompto grabs a first aid kit from the arsenal to help yours and Ignis’ injuries. Noctis jumps into the driver's seat and Gladio takes the passenger's seat.
Ignis’ head lay on your lap and you gently stroked his hair. “Get some rest, Iggy.” He nods, too weak to protest or say anything else.
Shortly into the drive to the nearest hotel, you fell asleep while Prompto was fixing you up. Some well deserved rest after pulling a dumb suicide stunt.