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They would remain at Cape Caem for only a few days, while they waited for the Marshal to bring any news and allowed the Lady Lunafreya to recover from her injuries. Only a few days for Ignis to learn to navigate in the darkness before his ability to keep pace with the others would truly be put to the test.

That thought urged him on, dragging him out of bed in the morning after all but Noct were already awake and moving about, driving him to get dressed, to get moving, to map the room and then the rest of the house by touch, politely fending the others off when they offered to help.

The challenge was in being confident but not reckless. If he moved too slowly, the others would leap to his aid. Too quickly, and he risked a fall that would at best humiliate him and at worst convince them he was a liability.

He spent a great deal of time and energy avoiding the others, and told himself it was good training for the field.

Having circumnavigated the house several times without incident, he went back indoors to practice the stairs, making his way up one step at a time, moving at a blind snail's pace. He'd successfully reached the second floor when he heard Gladio raising his voice. And knew, without much thought, that he and Noct were arguing about Ignis.

"This is war," Gladio was growling, his voice muffled through the closed door. "Life or death. A little more important than hurt feelings."

"You think I don't know that?" Noct argued.

"Then start acting like it. He needs to stay here, where it's safe."

"Do you want to tell him that?" Noct snapped.

"You know damn well he ain't gonna listen unless it comes from you."

Silence.

"He knows the score, Noct. But there's no way in hell he'll ever give up his duty unless you order him to."

Well. That was more than enough. Ignis swallowed past the tightness in his throat, the hollow nausea rising in his stomach, and went in. "Pardon me for interrupting," he said sharply, making his way across the room as confidently as he could, "but if you're discussing my part in this endeavour, then I think I have a right to be here."

"God damn it, Iggy," Gladio muttered, angry and apologetic. "If it were me you'd be sayin' the same thing."

"I would be thinking it," Ignis snapped. "There is a difference."

"You're his advisor," Gladio growled. "So let's hear your advice."

Ignis drew a steadying breath. Felt for the bed behind him and sat, crossing his legs, trying to force himself into a logical frame of mind. For once he was grateful not to see Noct's expression. "I would be thinking it," he repeated. "But I would not presume to make your choice for you." It was a relief to realize it was true. "All of us are in danger, every day that we walk this path. Some of us more than others. But if our only concern is avoiding risk, then I must advise that we abandon the journey altogether."

He let that sink in.

"Adopt new identities. Accept Imperial rule. Perhaps take up farming. Or fishing, as the case may be."

"You think this is funny?" Gladio demanded.

"Each of us has made our choice to follow Noct," Ignis argued. Did not point out that he'd made his many years ago. "I intend to follow him as far as my legs will carry me. If I cannot keep up, then I will bow out. That is my choice." He turned his head, in what he felt was Noct's direction. "And if you order me to stay behind, I will be forced to disobey."

When Gladio spoke again, it was clear he'd turned away. "If anything happens to him," he growled, "it'll be on your head, Your Majesty."

"I know!" Noct snapped.

Gladio stormed off, slamming the door. His stomping down the stairs was briefly interrupted by a "'scuse me," followed by more stomping. The front door slammed hard enough to rattle the window panes.

Some part of Ignis felt significantly better, even while another part of him whispered steadily that Gladio was right. That his condition placed the others in greater danger, and that if anything happened to them as a result it would be his fault.

He heard a soft, sliding rustle and imagined Noct running his hands through his own hair, overwhelmed. "Thanks," Noct said softly.

Ignis took a moment, steadying himself. Then, attempting to keep his voice even, "If you would prefer that I... remain here—"

"No!" Noct said sharply. "No."

Ignis breathed through the relief, for a moment, before he managed to say, "Good. You have my word that I will do my best to remain useful."

Noct let out a breath, annoyed. "I don't need you to be useful, Ignis. I just need you to be here."

Noctis.

"But what k— what kind of asshole would I be, to ask you to stay with me when you're —" He broke off, voice wavering. "You're hurt."

There were footsteps coming up the stairs, robbing Ignis of the chance to choose his words more carefully. "Noct," he said. "There is nothing I want more than to stay by your side. To the very end."

Ignis was spared Noct's reply, if he had one, by the sound of steady, measured footsteps that could only be the Lady Lunafreya making her way into the room. The mix of warmth and reverence in Noct's, "Hi," confirmed it.

"My apologies if I'm interrupting," she offered.

Noct cleared his throat. "'s fine."

She made her way past Noct, her steps finally pausing before Ignis. "Master Scientia," she greeted him graciously.

"Please call me Ignis," he said, as patiently as he could manage. And, in an attempt to forestall the kindness to come, "New shoes?"

She laughed lightly. "I asked if Secretary Claustra could provide me with a new dress, and she delivered an entire wardrobe. Including sensible clothes for camping. I've never owned hiking boots," she went on, "but I think I like them."

Ignis imagined the effect was quite striking.

"You look good," Noct said simply.

"You're too kind," she murmured, suddenly shy.

"Perhaps it will help you blend in," Ignis suggested, though he had his doubts. He suspected that Lunafreya would somehow radiate strength and quiet dignity even dressed in Noct's atrocious fishing outfit.

She sighed. "I know it's best for all of us if Noctis and I are thought to have passed on," she said. "But it feels like a betrayal to let my people believe I've abandoned them."

Noct made a small sound, perhaps thinking how badly he wished he could abandon his people. "It's just for now," he tried. "And... we'll still be helping people. Just not as, uh, publicly." A brief silence, long enough to consider that feeding stray cats and fixing flat tires might not be entirely on par with the Oracle's calling. He cleared his throat. "Maybe it'll even be fun."

"I'm sure it will," she said, warm and genuine.

Ignis should perhaps give them some privacy. He rose to his feet, already exhausted by the thought of making his way back down the stairs, but Lunafreya placed a hand on his arm, light but firm. "Do you have time for another healing?" she asked.

Did he have time. He swallowed the instinctive, sarcastic urge to point out that had little else, and sat back down. "Of course, Your Highness."

"Please," she said, a smile in her voice. "Call me Lunafreya."

"Of course, Lady Lunafreya."

"Uh, here," Noct said, coming closer. "You can use this chair."

A clatter, a "Thank you, Noctis," and then a dip in the bed as Noct sat next to him, one knee barely pressing into Ignis's leg.

Thus outflanked, Ignis pulled his spectacles off, setting them in arm's reach on the bedspread, and leaned forward to let Lunafreya rest her hands at his temples. Held himself still and endured her healing, her prayers, her warmth.

When she'd pulled away, finally, Noct asked, "Does it... does it help?"

"It eases some of the pain," Ignis said, as graciously as he could manage. He felt for his spectacles, finding familiar comfort in the act of pulling them on.

"It's still too early to tell how much can be healed," Lunafreya explained. If she was weary, or offended, there was no trace of it in her voice. "I cannot be sure that your sight will return, even if the damage wrought by the Ring is undone. But I have hope."

Noct's sudden tension was palpable.

"I'm hopeful as well," Ignis tried, standing. He wasn't sure enough of her proximity to let himself bow. "You have my thanks, Lady Lunafreya."

Noct's voice was low and dangerous when he asked, "...What did you say?"

Bloody hell.

Lunafreya faltered. "I have hope that his sight can be restored."

"You said... the ring," Noct insisted, his voice fraying. "The damage... from the ring. What are you talking about?"

Silence.

Finally Lunafreya said, "He borrowed its power on the altar. To protect you." You. No mention of her or her wayward brother this time. Ignis felt unmasked. "The Kings deemed him worthy."

"Worthy?" Noct snarled. "So they took his eyes?" Then, his voice suddenly close, "What the hell were you thinking, Ignis?"

Again, any number of answers presented themselves, of varying degrees of honesty and accuracy, none of them helpful. Nothing Noct wanted to hear. Finally he said, "That without a miracle, we were all going to die."

"So you thought you'd get there first?"

"Noct," he tried.

Noct grabbed at his arm, roughly. "You could have put it on me!"

The thought had never once occurred. "You were unconscious," he argued.

"Pretty sure it would have woken me up," Noct snapped.

"You don't know that," Ignis pointed out.

Noct's voice broke. "How — how could you?"

Ignis had not fully realized, until now, what an act of sacrilege it was. Without meaning to, he had debased Noctis's birthright. "I don't regret it," he said. "But I assure you I meant no disrespect."

"Disrespect?!" Noct's fingers were digging in hard enough to bruise. "Are you kidding me?"

Ignis breathed.

"Don't you ever do something so stupid for me! Not ever again, you understand?" And when Ignis could not answer, "That's an order!"

Ignis wet his lips. "Duly noted, Your Majesty."

Noct let go, disgusted. There was a heavy thump, the creak of the bedsprings.

Lunafreya spoke, infinitely kind. "Noctis."

"I'm so sick of people getting hurt for me!" He sucked in a shaky breath. "First my d — my dad, and now you. Both of you!"

Something brushed Ignis's fingers, startling him. Lunafreya took his hand, tugged him down to sit with Noct. That done, he heard her sit on Noct's other side, the weight on the bed shifting. "You would do the same for us," she said softly.

Noct's shoulder shuddered against Ignis's. He sniffled, elbowing Ignis as he wiped at his face. "You won't let me."

Ignis forced the words out past the ache in his chest. "Leviathan would have drowned us all." An absurd and staggering understatement. A fraction of a fraction of the thousand ways Noct had saved him, but one that Ignis could articulate.

Noct took a deep, gulping breath. "God, she was pissed."

"We did wake her from a nap," Ignis pointed out.

Noct choked out a laugh. And then, his voice almost a whisper, "I was supposed to save you."

"You already have," Lunafreya said, with a rustle of fabric. Perhaps she was taking Noct's hand. "Your friendship and the memories we shared have been a light to me in dark times. And the knowledge that we would meet again, to dispel this darkness together, gave me hope and lent me strength."

Ignis held himself still, feeling Noct tremble beside him. "Yeah," Noct said thickly. "Knowing I was gonna see you again, soon, made everything... suck less." Noct shifted, his voice suddenly muffled as if he'd put his head in his hands. "Ugh. I mean it — it made everything brighter."

"I'm glad," Lunafreya said.

Ignis imagined them gazing lovingly at each other, and briefly considered jumping out of the nearest window to make his escape.

Eventually Noct took a breath, running a hand through his hair. "So what next?"

This, Ignis could help with. "According to Monica, the Marshal should be arriving in the next few days with the results of his reconnaissance."

"Right. And in the meantime?"

"We rest and recover."

"Some us are better at that than others," Noct pointed out. Lunafreya laughed.

Ignis finally stood, straightening his cuffs. "Perhaps you can lead by example."

—

Ignis left the two of them to each other's company, making his way across the room and down the rickety wooden stairs. He'd reached the bottom and was debating about where to start his search for Gladio when he heard a chair being pushed out from the table.

"Master Ignis!" Talcott. The boy was remarkably quiet on occasion. "Good afternoon. Is there anything I can help you with?"

There was a refreshing absence of pity in his tone. "Do you know where I can find Gladiolus?" Ignis asked.

"I think he went out to practice his swordsmanship," Talcott said cheerfully, making his way over and slipping his hand into Ignis's without warning. "Right this way."

Ignis sighed, silently, and let himself be led out the front door and down the steps.

It was a beautiful day, as far as Ignis was able to tell. The sun felt warm, the breeze cool and smelling of the sea. Prompto and Iris were somewhere nearby, chatting, but the wind made it difficult to discern their direction and distance.

He and Talcott made their way across the grounds at a leisurely pace, in comfortable silence, until the boy spontaneously said, "Did you know that Princess Lunafreya is the youngest Oracle ever?"

"Indeed," Ignis agreed. "She's a very accomplished young woman."

"Are you older than her?"

"No," Ignis admitted.

"Do you think she likes flowers?"

Ignis felt himself smiling. "I'm certain she does. She's quite fond of stickers, as well."

There was a sudden, excessively overdramatic gasp somewhere to Ignis's right. Ah. There was Prompto.

"Oh. Em. Gee. This is adorable," Prompto gushed. "Iggy made a friend!"

"You guys are so sweet," Iris laughed.

Ignis discovered one more thing he had not fully appreciated about sight while he still had it: the ability to properly glare.

"Say cheese, fellas!" Prompto prompted. "Come on, Ignis, let's see that smile!"

"Cheeeeeese!" Talcott said, entirely in earnest. Ignis sighed and offered a smile for precisely one click of the shutter.

"Awesome," Prompto said. "Noct's gonna love it."

It occurred to Ignis that it would be difficult to locate and delete the photograph in question without the aid of his sight. He might be forced to resort to extortion.

"Where are you two headed?" Iris asked.

"We're looking for Master Gladiolus," Talcott declared.

"Good luck," Iris snorted. "He went storming by here a while ago with his Angry Gladdy face on. You know the one. It looks like his eyebrows are trying to trade places."

Ignis snorted, startled.

"I know exactly what you mean," Prompto said, wholly sincere.

"He went thataway," Iris told them, and Talcott tugged at his hand.

The terrain at Cape Caem was distinctly more treacherous than Ignis remembered, but the boy was unfailingly patient. It was excruciating.

"Is it true," Talcott asked, while Ignis felt his way down the uneven stone steps, "that Prince Noctis and Princess Lunafreya are in love?"

An excellent question. "You'll have to ask them," Ignis said, hoping that if Talcott did, Ignis would be there to hear it. He was fairly certain Noct wouldn't know the answer either.

"Do you think they'll get married?"

"I hope that they do," Ignis said honestly.

"Why?"

"Because they deserve a great deal of happiness, and thus far have had remarkably little," Ignis explained. He heard grunting somewhere up ahead. Either they had found Gladio, or a beast of some sort had wandered onto the property.

"Oh," Talcott said thoughtfully. "I hope they get married, too, if it makes them happy. There's Master Gladiolus! We're almost there."

The grunting was getting louder. "Very good, thank you."

"Are you married, Master Ignis?"

"No," Ignis said emphatically.

Gladio laughed breathlessly. His voice seemed to be close to the ground; push-ups or sit-ups, then. "He's married to his job."

Talcott took that in. "What is your job, Master Ignis?"

"He's supposed to keep Noct out of trouble," Gladio said, before Ignis could begin to explain. "He's pretty bad at it."

"I beg your pardon?" Ignis asked.

"That's okay," Talcott said, patting Ignis's hand. "I'm sure you'll get better with practice."

"It is considerably harder than it sounds," Ignis informed him. Gladio laughed, a bit cruelly. "Thank you for the escort, Master Talcott."

"You're welcome!" His footsteps retreated.

"That kid remind you of anyone?" Gladio asked, between breaths.

"Certainly not," Ignis insisted.

"If you say so."

Ignis chose to ignore his tone and get to the point. "I'd like your help doing some training."

Gladio paused whatever he was doing and let out a heavy breath. "You're serious."

"Quite."

"Ignis."

"I am not staying here," Ignis told him. "And at the very least, I must be able to protect myself."

"You seriously want me to fight you right now?"

Ignis smiled. "Concerned you might lose?"

"No," Gladio said flatly. "Concerned I might seriously hurt you. Startin' to be concerned you have a death wish."

Ignis pushed his spectacles up, sighing. "I assure you I don't. My continued interest in being alive is precisely what's brought me here. We can start with some basic drills to assess my abilities, and go from there."

Gladio went stubbornly silent.

Ignis took a slow breath, let it out. Finally he said, "Please, Gladio."

"God damn it, Iggy," Gladio said, giving in.

—

The session went... if not better than expected, then at the very least better than he'd feared. He was far, far below his previous level of ability, but he was by no means helpless.

It helped that Gladio was a very large, very loud opponent. Training with Noct would be altogether more challenging.

Ignis was left profoundly frustrated, of course, but also refreshingly sore and pleasantly exhausted. He felt less... hollowed-out than he had for some time. Since he'd torn off the Ring, he supposed.

There were, however, some injuries sustained. Nothing serious, as far as Ignis was able to tell, but certainly more than was usual for a sparring session.

The two of them limped back to the house in surprisingly easy silence. Making his way up the steps ahead of Gladio, Ignis could hear the others inside: Noct laughing quietly and Prompto recounting some mishap while Iris protested that it couldn't possibly have happened like that.

As soon as they stepped into the room, however, the laughter trailed off.

"Whoa," Iris said.

"Ignis?" Noct sounded slightly unsteady. And then abruptly, entirely furious. "What the hell did you do to him?"

"Training," Gladio sneered. "Maybe if you did more of it, we wouldn't be here."

"Gladio!" Ignis snapped.

What happened next was impossible to follow. Noct growled, Gladio grunted. There was the sound of an impact, and then pandemonium erupted. The prince and his shield were scuffling and swearing. One or both of them knocked Ignis off-balance, sending his cane clattering to the floor. Prompto was begging, "Guys! Guys!" While Iris yelled, "Stop it, Gladdy!"

"Enough!" Ignis shouted.

All went still.

"Gladio," Ignis snapped. "There is only one person to blame for my current condition, and that is Chancellor Izunia."

Gladio muttered something incomprehensible but apologetic. From the sound of it, he was on the floor.

"Noctis," Ignis went on. "I am blind, not defenseless. Physically or verbally. I can and will fight my own battles." He took a breath, searching for some semblance of calm and finding only exhaustion. "I have a great deal to learn and relearn if I intend to keep up, and I assure you that I do. But if I'm to succeed, I need all of you to stop giving me help unless I ask for it."

Gladio snorted. "You want us to do that, you're gonna have to start actually asking for help when you need it."

"I don't need —" Ignis snapped, before he could stop himself.

He knew precisely which look Gladio was giving him. "You want to run that by me again?"

Ignis forced it out. "Fine."

"Fine what?"

Damn the man. "I will endeavour to ask for help when I need it," Ignis recited.

"While you're at it," Gladio drawled, "how 'bout you endeavour to be less pissy about accepting it?"

"Now you're just being unreasonable," Ignis bit out.

Noct laughed breathlessly. It seemed that he was also on the floor.

Gladio sighed.

"Now." Ignis pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, aware of a building headache. "Please tell me the Lady Lunafreya witnessed none of that."

There was a delicate snort from the direction of the stairs.

Noct groaned.

Lunafreya laughed. "I do have a brother, you know," she said, amused. Iris cackled.

There seemed to be little point in trying to assure her that this was unusual. At any rate, his explanation would have been drowned out by Gladio's groaning as he got to his feet. "God damn, Iris," he muttered.

"Sorry," Iris said, embarrassed. "Did I kick you in the kidney?"

Gladio grunted an affirmative.

"Well, you were hurting Noct!"

Ignis turned to the prince's last known location. "Are you alright, Noct?"

Noct's answering groan suggested more frustration than pain. "Yeah," he breathed.

Prompto seemed to be helping him up. "You okay, bud?"

"Thanks." A sweeping sound of hands on fabric. He was brushing himself off.

"Man." Prompto's laugh sounded slightly forced. "I think you and Iris just came up with a new link strike."

Noct let out a breath that was half laugh and half scoff. Ignis's cane found its way back into his hand. "You okay, Specky?"

"Fine," Ignis said, unaccountably flustered.

"You don't look fine," Noct said impatiently.

It took a moment to realize what he meant. "The training went... better than expected, but dodging attacks has become considerably more challenging."

"No kidding," Noct said wearily. "Just... promise me you'll be careful, alright?"

"I've lost my sight," Ignis reminded him. "Not my common sense."

Silence. He was not amused.

"I'll... try to keep the recklessness to a minimum," Ignis told him.

Noct snorted. "Do that."