Chapter Text
“And here we are,” Ignis said as he pulled into a vacant parking spot between two lorries. Noctis rubbed at his eyes, tilting his head up to see the overreaching arch of the natural tunnel that Meldacio had been built within. The Hunter headquarters were just as bare-bones as normal with minimal comfort in the form of a small café and a handful of tiny caravans not designed to be more than a place to sleep for a night, but there were a few more people about than was usual.
“Did Cor say what he wanted on the phone?” Prompto asked as he bounced out of the Regalia, spinning around to snap a photo before the others were completely out of the car. Gladiolus smirked and wrapped his hand around the lens pushing back just hard enough for the younger man to stumble slightly and to receive an indignant squawk.
“No,” Ignis answered, shutting the doors behind Noctis and himself. “But I’m sure that whatever the Marshal wanted, it is most likely important.”
Noctis had already started across the road towards the little outdoor café ran out of old Mama Ezma’s kitchen. He could see Cor sitting at one of the tables, idly scrolling through his mobile phone as he waited for them. Gladiolus caught up with him and fell into step just behind his left shoulder as he usually did whenever they were in an outpost or town.
“Important or not, we’ve got nothing better to do until Cid finishes the repairs to the King’s old ship,” the Shield said and Ignis conceded his point.
“Hello, Cor,” Noctis said when they were near the man. He had seen their approach and had dropped his phone back into his pocket. “We’re here. What did you want?”
“Sit down first,” Cor ordered causally and they obeyed, falling into chairs around the table. They didn’t even get to speak before Mama Ezma’s son had already set down plates of skewers before each of them. “Sorry for bringing you all the way up to Meldacio but Dave has asked my help with a problem that he has in the Vesperpool. Otherwise I would have met you at Cape Caem.”
Noctis made a dismissive noise around his mouthful of meat before he swallowed. “Is that why you called us? The ‘problem’?”
“That I can deal with myself. No, I called you for a different reason. Are any of you familiar with the Belouve Mines?”
“I heard about them while we were in Longwythe,” Ignis said. “Mostly that there’ve been people that have gone missing around the mines, particularly in recent times. At the time, it was relatively unimportant and I didn’t inquire further. My apologies.”
Cor nodded. “Well, the reports of people going missing are true. Some hunters were asked to look into it but only two of them survived the expedition. One of them had fallen and badly twisted his ankle in a mineshaft and another had helped him out while the others went on. But they brought back with them some miner’s reports that had been in the mine’s office.”
Ignis accepted the folder that the Marshal handed him and began to flip through it, his lips moving silently as he read.
“The reports,” Cor continued for the other three’s benefit, “say that during the excavation they came across what they thought was a natural cave but had a manmade structure within it. And the guardian of the Lucis Caelum bloodline carved in the lintel above the door.”
“A royal tomb?” Noctis jolted, leaning forward.
“It would appear so,” Ignis commented, flipping one of the papers around. “It seems that one of the miners was a bit of an artist.”
They all crowded around to look closely at the charcoal drawing. It was smudged but what was clearly the door to a royal tomb took up the main part of the drawing. Noctis took it reverently and studied the stonework that the long-ago artist had faithfully copied.
“A royal tomb means a royal arm,” Gladiolus said. “We going to go get it?”
“Hell yeah!” Prompto shouted. “We haven’t anything better to do at the moment and my man Noct needs all the royal arms he can get his hands on.” Noctis was, evidently, in complete agreement.
“Not to rain upon your parade, as it were, Prompto.” Ignis caught the younger man’s arm and forcefully returned him to his seat. “But if many of the things that have been said about the Belouve Mines are true then we are not prepared to undertake the venture. We will need more supplies than we currently have available.”
“Well, then, I guess we need to go shopping,” Noctis said.
“With what money, Highness?” Ignis’ subtle sarcasm and the use of the title gained him nothing but a silent scowl from the prince. Cor stood and looked down at all of them.
“I gave you the information and I’ll leave you to decide what to do with it.” The Marshal gave a hard look at Ignis and Gladiolus. “Just don’t forget what your priority is.”
“Sir,” Gladiolus and Ignis echoed and Cor left after slipping some gil down to pay for their meal.
“Well?” Noctis asked, looking between the two older men.
Ignis sighed. “It is a royal tomb and we were charged with finding the royal arms,” he admitted. “Also, Prompto does have a point. Until Cid can finish the repairs on his Majesty’s ship, we are stranded here and should make use of the time efficiently. Our only issue is the supplies. We are very low on curatives and the money to buy more.”
“So, we need to make some gil,” Gladiolus confirmed and stood to stretch. “I’ll go see what hunts are available. There should be two or three we can handle easily.”
“I’ll come with you.” Prompto leapt up and the two went to investigate the bounties board. Ignis looked to Noctis, who was once again examining the charcoal drawing carefully.
“If you want to keep it, you can,” the older man said and Noctis gave a hesitant nod. “Let’s see what we can find out about the Mines.” And Ignis spread out a slightly-faded and yellowed map of the mines on the table in front of him.
0-o-0-o-0
Gladiolus and Prompto had returned, triumphantly, some ten minutes later with three hunts that were relatively simple. At least they were all creatures that the four had taken on before.
The first of the hunts – in Kelbass Grasslands – had been a herd of Arba watched over by the massive Arbagadol and, while there had been a small inconvenience involving Prompto and his camera at the wrong time, the herd had been wiped out rather easily.
The second hunt was just inside of the Vesperpool. Three Cockatrice and their twenty Chickatrice offspring had taken up residence under the bridge just outside of Meldacio and where attacking all the vehicles that passed – they had already sent two lorries careening off the bridge.
Ignis had set about collecting the meat from the birds following their demise, which was not unusual, but he had gone through the pain of collecting more than they needed. The reason, it turned out, was because the advisor had gone to sell the fresh meat to Mama Ezma’s son when they returned to claim their bounty. It had landed them an extra two thousand gil.
Ignis made them lunch of the Chickatrice meat he hadn’t sold – thinly cut and deep-fried fillet sandwiches with some deliciously homemade salad cream – before they headed out on the third hunt. This one was much further away than the other two; out near the Burbost Souvenir Emporium.
“Back here? Again?” Noctis sighed as they pulled into a parking spot of the Emporium.
“At least we don’t have to go crawling around inside a dark and freezing cave this time,” Prompto said, his chuckle weak. His skin broke into gooseflesh and he shivered, rubbing at his arms.
It wasn’t so much the memory of the cold as it was the memory of the cave itself. The ceiling had been high above them and the tunnels were so wide that he sometimes couldn’t even see the walls but he still felt the weight of earth pressing upon him and he could still smell the musty, wet mould scent of dirt and rock.
Noctis’ hand landed on his shoulder and he jolted with surprise.
The prince considered him silently and his expression was that unreadable one that he gained when he didn’t want anyone to know what he was thinking. Ignis, much to the older man’s chagrin, wasn’t even able to decipher his thoughts when he adopted the expression. But it was a look that would no doubt serve the prince well when he was finally ruling his kingdom. And it was interesting that King Regis’ features were so evident in the look.
Noctis squeezed his shoulder gently before letting his hand drop.
“Indeed,” Ignis agreed. “Luckily our targets are simply at the river’s fork but I am little worried about the hunt’s mention of a mutated Sahagin in the bask.”
“There wasn’t more information about it on the handbill?” Gladiolus asked, leaning over the guardrail to peer down at Ignis already on the steps to Callatein’s Plunge. The advisor paused and titled his head back to look up at the older man, some two feet above him.
“Do you really think I wouldn’t have mentioned it if there was?” The Shield shrugged and Ignis continued down the stairs without another word.
“Iggy?” Prompto said, leaping the last four steps so he landed – slightly crouched – at Ignis’ side. “Can we have a hotel tonight or at least rent the caravan?”
Ignis didn’t say anything for a few seconds but the way his brow furrowed and his eyes darted back and forth across the path made it obvious he was calculating something in his head. “We may be able to swing a night in the caravan but it would be best if we collected scales from the creatures, they sell well in Meldacio.”
“Why?” Noctis asked, his face breaking its normal passivity to flicker with disgust.
“Armour,” Gladiolus said. “Stuff is strong against slashing weapons. So, use your lances, you two.” Ignis and Noctis nodded.
The conversation cut off sharply as they came to the bend of the path leading to the river and they all dropped to a crouch, pausing just at the edge of the rocks. They silently considered the bask of six Sahagin sunning themselves on the rocks at the river’s edge and Ignis indicated to the one almost pure white Sahagin perched on the right-hand side of the bask, its mouth open as it laid there. It was much bigger than the others.
“That must be the mutated one,” Ignis whispered. “I will remind you that these things are dangerous if they get a hold of you.”
“I think that’s true of all creatures,” Noctis whispered back and Ignis gave him a stern look. The prince fell silent.
“Noctis, Prompto. You two will be our distraction. Prompto, can you climb to that cluster of boulders?” Ignis pointed. Prompto gazed at it for a moment and then nodded. “Good. Scatter your attack; we’ll wait until you are positioned to begin. Noct, pick your target; Gladio and myself will join in from here. Understood?”
He received a voiceless confirmation from each of them and they watched silently as Prompto crept to the boulder cluster. He disappeared for a short time and when they saw him again, he was perched on a boulder high enough to see the potential battleground but close enough to be able to leap down at a moment’s notice.
The glittering flash of his pistol as he summoned it was all the signal they needed and Noctis conjured his lance, taking a moment to observe the beasts before he launched the weapon at one heading towards the water and disappeared in blue light a split second later.
The lance buried into the Sahagin’s hard scales alongside its dorsal fin, drawing from it a pained roar, and the prince almost instantly materialized with it. As soon as the prince had appeared alongside the lance, bullets rained down indiscriminately amongst the creatures sending the Sahagin into a panic as they could not locate the source of the lethal hail.
Two of the creatures noticed Noctis, viciously jabbing his spear at the neck joint of his Sahagin, and came running at him. It was always surprising just how fast these creatures could move on their short legs and dragging their bellies against the ground. Noctis warped away as his Sahagin collapsed, dead, and as Gladiolus and Ignis arrived to help.
The Shield was using his broadsword as less of a chopping weapon and more as a giant mace, completely breaking the back of the Sahagin that he had pounced upon. It wouldn’t kill the thing but it would damn well incapacitate it.
Ignis moved with more grace and elegance, aiming at the joints of his Sahagin with precise thrusts of his lance and sliding away as the creature snapped its maw at him. A bullet hit the beast at the base of its tail and the Sahagin reared back, giving the advisor an opening to plunge the lance into its throat. He twisted the weapon and held it there as the beast writhed in its death throes, yanking it out only after the creature fell still at his feet.
“Ignis! All Business!” Came Prompto’s chant as he leapt from his boulder to bound into the fight and Ignis couldn’t help the pleased smirk that crossed his face.
The Sahagin that had been Gladiolus’ first target was writhing on the ground nearby, unable to move with its broken back, and he quickly put the poor beast out of its misery before taking a quick surveying glance of the battle field.
Gladiolus was currently terrorising another of the creatures with a look that was slightly too gleeful and Noctis was dancing away from the snapping jaws of another, glittering with magic as he did so. Prompto was jumping around the edges of the battle and was alternating between firing his gun and firing his camera.
Ignis took a quick count of their foes and frowned. That was only five Sahagin…where was the sixth, the albino?
“Gladio, get them together! Let’s finish with a bang,” Noctis called and fished about before bringing up two flasks, one swirling with intense white-blue and the other red. Gladiolus had swatted his Sahagin over to crash into Noctis’ like he was batting a ball.
Several things happened then nearly all at the same time.
The water behind Noctis exploded up and out and the albino Sahagin came thundering out of the water, charging with a speed unnatural for its normal coloured companions.
Prompto had screamed Noctis’ name in warning too late as the Sahagin bowled into the back of the prince’s legs, tossing its head. Noctis slammed into the creature’s back, his shirt and the skin beneath tearing upon the Sahagin’s sharp dorsal fin, before he slid to the side and collapsed to the ground in a daze.
The thing had the prince’s leg in its jaws before anyone could react – Noctis screaming with the pain– and was dragging the young man into the river while simultaneously shaking the prince’s body back and forth like he was a rag doll. Noctis was disturbingly still and limp in the thing’s maw when it paused its ruthless attack to slip into the water.
Gladiolus roared angrily and he charged at the creature but then all hell broke loose and he was knocked from his feet before he could come to his liege’s rescue.
The two flasks of magic had flown from the prince’s hands as he was struck, curving upwards before they came back down. The blizzaga spell hit the ground first, only a few feet from the river’s edge, and great crests of ice shot up to spiral out from the point of impact and the river froze – Noctis and the Sahagin trapped within the ice.
Ignis was knocked off his feet as well and his lips turned blue and his skin white but Gladiolus caught more of the magic and his skin immediately blistered and tore with the intensity of the cold. Prompto was far enough away to receive little more than an extreme chill but one couldn’t imagine what damage it had done to Noctis, trapped in the river.
The fira spell landed only a second behind it and Gladiolus could manage little more than a pained whine as his skin burned and blistered even more under the heat, still trying desperately to reach his prince. He writhed across the ground only to find that his body refused to move.
The ice from the first spell started melting under the fire from the second and water flooded into the river with amazing force, breaking off bits of the bank and sweeping everything it could grab on the flood.
And Noctis vanished beneath the roiling waves.
“The river! Noctis!” Ignis cried out and shot towards the river but, in his panic, he had forgotten about the two Sahagin they had not finished off.
One was too badly injured to move but the other pounced on the advisor as Ignis got close to it. Ignis lifted his arms in a desperate attempt to defend his face and throat from the snapping jaws, the things claws cutting into his side and legs. He cried out as the beast’s jaws locked around his arm and the creature surely would have ripped his arm off if not for Prompto coming to his rescue.
A few well-placed bullets put paid to it and Ignis stumbled to his feet, ignoring the blood pouring from the torn puncture wounds on his arm and long scratches. The only thing on his mind was the desperate need to find Noctis, to make sure the prince was alive and was safe.
Gladiolus – now back on his feet, though still looking as if he had been pushed through a meat grinder, after a potion – had caught the collar of his jacket and yanked him back before the younger man could do something foolish like fling himself into the roiling water.
“Don’t,” the Shield said. “He won’t be there and we can’t afford to have you swept off to. We need to search the banks going downstream.”
Prompto had already taken off down the bank and was casting his eyes from rushing water to the bank as he went and Gladiolus began wading through the other river leading back to the waterfall to follow him. The Shield kept his hand locked firmly around Ignis’ wrist.
Ignis used the hand around his wrist and his pain to anchor himself, trying to regulate his panicked breathing. He had helped Prompto and even Noctis through enough panic attacks to know that he needed to breath regularly or he would pass out. Mentally, Ignis began charting out the river’s course as he had seen it on the map – the focus helped.
Gladiolus grunted as Ignis yanked backwards suddenly and turned to look at the advisor’s widened, horrified eyes.
“Gladio,” Ignis gasped, “the river splits. If he’s swept into the canal…”
Gladiolus cursed. If Noctis was swept into the canal, then he would be shredded and tossed into the sea with no chance of helping him. Gladiolus took off after Prompto’s rapidly shrinking figure, Ignis only a second behind him, and prayed to any and all of the Six that Noctis was sent into the river channel and not the canal.
They could not fail their prince.