Work Text:
Noctis didn’t like the Balouve Mines. Something about being closed in, the sky so far away, made his skin crawl and his lungs ache for fresh air. He especially disliked Ignis’ plan for the four of them to split into pairs to clear through the hunt faster. They were just begging for trouble.
However, Noctis’ dislike couldn’t match Gladio’s. A dull thud, followed by a muffled curse, told Noctis that Gladio had hit his head. Again. He bit his lip to keep from laughing, glad he was in the lead so Gladio couldn’t see. Sucked to be so tall in a place like a mine.
“I’m gonna kill Ignis for accepting this hunt,” Gladio groused. “Why didn’t he choose a freaking daemon out in a huge field somewhere?”
“We need the money from this hunt. It was the one with the highest earnings,” Noctis replied. “We’re seriously broke.” They didn’t even have the cash to buy fresh curatives. They barely had enough to put fuel in the car. “This way, we get a huge payday with just one fight.”
“I know that,” Gladio went on. “But there were plenty of options. Deliveries. Outside daemons where I can stand up straight without concussing myself. Hell, we could’ve found Sania more frogs.”
“None of them paid as well as this job,” Noctis replied, taking the right fork of the mine’s long, branching tunnels. “It’s this or nothing.”
“It better be worth it,” Gladio grumbled. “Because I hate Mindflayers.”
“It’s fifteen thousand gil,” Noctis said. “It’s definitely gonna be worth –”
A sickening odour wafted from ahead. Noctis staggered to a halt, a strange feeling in his head. He weaved on his feet, knees unlocking. The mine fizzled around him, ghostly figures of hunters appearing ahead of him. He could see them screaming, saw them tear each other apart.
“Hey!” Gladio’s voice cut through the vision. He grabbed Noctis, shaking hard. “What? What’s wrong?”
Noctis squeezed his eyes shut. “It’s near,” he said. “I can –”
Screams filled his head. He took a few steps back, mind reeling at the onslaught. Gladio steadied him.
“I can smell it too, Noct,” he said. “There are bodies nearby. Looks like we’ve found our target.”
“I can hear them,” Noctis whispered. He knew it was an attack, coming from the daemon they hunted. He also knew how to overcome it. “Just give me a second.”
“You’re not wearing a Ribbon?” Gladio asked.
Noctis shook his head. “Gave it to Prompto.” One run in with a Confused Prompto shooting at them was enough for anyone. It’d happened in the middle of a fight the other week, and it was almost a disaster. Out of the four of them, Prompto had the most range, and it made getting up close and stopping him that much harder because he’d taken up a sniping position high up on a rock near Ravatogh. Even Noctis’ warping ability came with a limit, and they’d barely stopped Prompto before he took them all out. Noctis swore the others to secrecy, given Prompto’s guilt, because they’d barely survived.
So until they had something equally useful, Prompto got the Ribbon.
“Shit,” Gladio breathed.
“I said give me a second,” Noctis whispered. He looked around, grounding himself. He was in the mines, with Gladio. No one screamed. Not anymore. It was too late to save the dead. All he could do was help the living.
A figure oozed into sight. Not Ignis or Prompto, who had taken the upper floor of the mines.
“Is that real?” Noctis asked, pointing.
“Yeah,” Gladio said. “Very real.”
The Mindflayer. The daemon had taken the lives of several hunters lately, and it needed to be killed. Except it had made its den in a narrow tunnel, abandoned mining equipment all around. It wasn’t going to be an easy fight.
“Fuck,” Gladio breathed. “We need to take this bastard down, fast.” He looked at Noctis. “Got your head on straight?”
“Yeah. Just be careful. It’ll attack you too, make you hear the hunters.” Noctis summoned his weapon. “I’ll get behind it, force it your way.”
“Got it.” Gladio’s weapon appeared in his hands. “Let’s do this.”
Noctis warped behind the creature. It had emerged from a doorway, the smell so bad Noctis barely kept from vomiting. A quick glance to his left revealed a pile of bodies.
“Focus!” Gladio barked.
Noctis jolted. The Mindflayer turned on him. He brought up the Engine Blade, blocking the daemon’s attack. “Found the hunters!” he shouted back.
“That’s great, Noct. How about we slaughter this bastard before you think about grabbing dog tags?” Gladio shouted, thundering towards him.
The Mindflayer turned to Gladio, dark magic spilling out. Noctis counteracted it with a lightning flask, stopping the daemon from casting any ice magic. He heard the screams again, the Mindflayer’s attack reaching his head no matter how hard he fought. He saw Gladio stumble back, obviously feeling the effects too now they were so close. Noctis drove his blade through the creature’s tentacles, slicing through them and sending thick, oily blood cascading through the air. The Mindflayer roared, the mine shaking around them. Rocks rained down.
“Not sure pissing it off is the way to go!” Gladio shouted, jumping back to create distance.
He wasn’t wrong, because without warning, the Mindflayer cast a powerful ice spell, freezing the mine around them. Bitterly cold, Noctis struggled to hold onto his weapon. He reached into the Armiger for another lightning flask.
A cry went out.
“Gladio!” Noctis shouted.
The Mindflayer had its hands on him, dark light shining as it ate away at Gladio’s life force. Noctis didn’t hesitate. Switching out his sword for daggers, he warped, one blade stabbing into the Mindflayer’s back while Noctis swung the other at its grasping hands. It released Gladio with a rasping cry. Gladio fell to his knees, breathing hard. Noctis forced the daemon back towards its lair, putting himself between it and Gladio.
“You alive?” Noctis asked.
Gladio managed a grunt.
“Stay that way,” Noctis ordered.
Switching back to his sword, Noctis warped again. His blade stabbed deep into the Mindflayer’s chest, but it wasn’t enough to fell the creature. Noctis grabbed his lightning flask again, dodging backwards and throwing it. The lightning spell exploded violently in such a contained space. It threw Noctis off his feet, the creature’s roar piercing his skull as more rocks rained down. Noctis couldn’t tell its screams apart from the phantom ones. He dodged falling debris, his arms taking a bruising battering as he held them over his head. He heard a cry and turned in time to see Gladio take a blow to the head. He slumped to the ground, clearly unconscious.
And the Mindflayer wasn’t finished yet. Not quite. A white fog emanated from the creature, and Noctis felt it wrap around his muscles and his mind, weakening him. He slumped to his knees, struggling to find the energy to stay and not completely collapse. The Mindflayer was desperate, dying, and this was its only chance of survival. If it absorbed Noctis’ and Gladio’s life forces, it’d survive, and their bodies would be added to the pile.
Desperate for a solution, Noctis looked everywhere. There, overhead. A massive support beam had cracked under the strain of holding up the ceiling. If he broke it, the Mindflayer would be crushed beneath the ensuing rockfall. They needed to be done with this fight, sooner rather than later.
One shot ought to do it. Noctis pulled the Bow of the Clever out of the Armiger. Seemed fitting to use it here, even as its arcane power ate into him too. His body trembled with fatigue and cold. The Mindflayer would win if he didn’t pull off this shot.
Noctis aimed.
Fired.
The crystalline arrow pierced the support beam, bringing the ceiling down. Noctis threw himself over Gladio’s prone form, shielding him from another blow. Rocks pounded Noctis, and he managed to summon a shield to hold off the worst of it. When the ground and ceiling stopped shaking, he coughed and spluttered to clear the dust from his lungs.
“Gladio?” Noctis moved, shining a light at his friend. He saw the blood running down Gladio’s face from a nasty headwound. He instinctively searched the Armiger for a potion.
And came up empty. Because they’d been out of curatives for days. And Noctis already knew if he unleashed one of his wild spells, he’d put himself straight into Stasis. He couldn’t risk that now.
“Shit.” Noctis did the next best thing, cleaning the wound with more traditional medical supplies. “C’mon, big guy, open your eyes.”
Gladio didn’t even stir. The double whammy of the head injury and the now slain Mindflayer’s attack meant Gladio was out for the count. Noctis still felt the Enfeeble spell slowing him down. It’d drained and exhausted him.
But he couldn’t give in.
Carefully standing, Noctis’ bad leg gave out immediately, pain stabbing into his hips and down to his foot. He’d taken too many blows from the various rockfalls. At least the pain pushed back against the exhaustion. He grabbed the mine’s wall to keep himself upright. His vision fuzzed behind static, his head so light he thought it might pop right off his shoulders. He breathed through the worst of the pain and let the dizziness pass, slowly moving his leg until the pain subsided and it agreed to take his weight. Looking down the now collapsed corridor, he spotted enough of a gap to climb through, meaning he could still get the dog tags, complete their mission, and not have this whole day be a complete loss.
Shifting Gladio into the recovery position to keep his airway clear, Noctis hobbled over to the newly formed rock barrier and climbed over it, forcing himself through the gap and down the other side. The bodies of the hunters waited, their dog tags all visible. Trying not to breathe in the stench of their rotting corpses, their screams still echoing in his mind even though he’d never really heard them, Noctis grabbed the tags and made his way back to Gladio.
Noctis gave Gladio another shake. Nothing. He wasn’t coming around anytime soon, and Noctis couldn’t risk them being attacked down here while he wasn’t in a great shape to fight either.
“Okay,” Noctis said, hoping his voice might bring Gladio around. “We’re getting out of here.”
Dragging Gladio wasn’t going to be an option, not with the mine cart tracks getting in the way. Noctis only had one choice.
The ceiling rumbled again, fresh rocks raining down. The quake didn’t let up. Fresh adrenaline burst through Noctis, washing his exhaustion away. He grabbed Gladio and hauled him over his shoulders, the pain hardly registering as he moved. Noctis focused on moving and breathing, refusing to dwell on the muscle pain and strain. He heard the tunnel collapsing behind them, and he kept up his rapid pace, even when the tremors settled. He needed to get Gladio out and find the others. They could’ve been caught up in the cave ins too.
Noctis kept going, Gladio never once stirring. As his adrenaline ebbed, the pain worsened, a screaming fire burning in his back and knee. Every step felt like stepping barefoot on a sharp nail. It didn’t matter. Noctis couldn’t stop. He needed to reach the elevator and take it back to the surface where Gladio would be safe.
But he really wished, just this once, that Gladio wasn’t as huge as he was.
Something stirred in the shadows ahead. Noctis stopped, senses straining, body crying out for relief. He hoped the sound was Ignis and Prompto coming to the unexpected rescue.
It wasn’t.
Goblins.
Of course they couldn’t get out of here without running into those nasty little bastards.
Carefully lowering Gladio to the ground, Noctis struggled back to his feet, back pulsing, fresh pain shooting up and down his spine even with the loss of Gladio’s bulk. He saw the Goblins emerge from the shadows ahead, the pesky bastards racing towards him.
Noctis couldn’t waste energy on being flashy, and he was out of magic flasks, so he settled for cutting them down one by one. They scored some lucky hits, slicing through his shirt with their sharp claws. By the time the pack was dead, Noctis’ shirt was ruined, he was bleeding from more cuts than he could count, and Gladio was still unconscious.
Shouldering his burden again, Noctis staggered onwards. At long, long last, he saw the elevator ahead. The sight gave him hope and strength, and he managed to pick up the pace. Hitting the call button, Noctis leaned himself and Gladio against the wall, hoping to ease the grating pain in his back. It helped, but only enough for him to catch his breath.
“We’re getting out,” he told Gladio. “You’re gonna wake up with a nasty headache, and then you’ll probably make me get up at dawn for some kind of training and right now, so long as it means you’re okay, I won’t complain that much.”
Gladio didn’t wake up to agree with him.
The ancient elevator car lumbered into view and Noctis opened the gates. He got inside with Gladio and sent them back to the surface, resisting the urge to sit down. He knew he wouldn’t get back up again if he gave in now.
Almost there. He could take a little more pain for Gladio.
They reached the surface. Sunlight reached into the mine. Opening the gate, Noctis limped out. His vision tunnelled onto the light. His feet dragged him and Gladio towards it. He stepped into bright, blinding sunshine.
Ignis and Prompto didn’t come running like he’d hoped.
Fine. Keep going. Get to camp.
Drained, Noctis lost track of thought, of time, of space. Nothing mattered except getting Gladio to the safety of the haven. He dragged air into his lungs, struggling when so much of his chest was pinned down by Gladio’s immense size and weight. It didn’t matter. Gladio had been hurt, and he needed to be protected. It was Noctis’ fault for not being better, for not thinking about saving a few curatives for emergencies just like this. Hell, it was his fault his friends were out here anyway, fighting in places like an abandoned mine. No pain he felt could make up for what he was putting them through.
Teeth clenched, sweat pouring down his body, Noctis plodded onwards. His pace might be glacial despite the heat, but he was getting there, slowly but surely. So what if he was so dizzy he couldn’t actually walk in a straight line? So what if deep down he knew this pain would render him immobile for days? None of it mattered when his friends risked their lives for him every day. This was the least he could do and endure.
When the haven was finally in sight, Noctis could hardly see through blurring vision. He made it up the path, stepped onto the light, and headed straight for the tent. Just as he slipped Gladio into a nest of sleeping bags, he felt Gladio stirring.
Noctis slipped onto his good side, facing Gladio. The whole world juddered around him, beating in time with his frenzied pulse. Gladio wasn’t waking up, but he was moving. That had to be a good sign, right?
“Gladio?” Noctis called, his voice choked with the pain tearing around inside him.
Gladio grunted.
“C’mon, open your eyes and talk to me before I tell Iris about that time you totally peed yourself doing weights in the gym,” Noctis cajoled.
Gladio’s eyes cracked open. He squinted in the light. “Noct?”
Tears of relief rushed to Noctis’ eyes. He blinked them back. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m here.”
Wincing, Gladio reached for his head. “What the hell happened?” His voice was slurred, his movements uncoordinated.
“Daemon. Tunnel collapsed.” Noctis had to pause to take a breath, riding out a wave of agony.
Gladio was already fading again. “Oh. Sure.”
Noctis knew they were in trouble. He managed to get his phone out of his pocket. Wherever Ignis and Prompto were, he hoped they both had signal. He sent them a text message.
Back at the Haven. Mission complete. Need help.
Message sent, he dropped his phone in front of him, riding out the pain with visions of dragging himself to the car where he kept his specialised flare up potions. Time lost all meaning as the pain in his back and leg assaulted him without mercy. He heard his phone ringing and vibrating, but he couldn’t spare the energy to answer it. He was exhausted, drained by the escape and the Mindflayer before it, but pain kept him conscious.
He almost wept when he heard the tent opening and the familiar sounds of Ignis and Prompto. Ignis made quick work of sending Prompto to the car for supplies, and Noctis managed to dig the dogtags out of his pocket and hand them over.
“Later, Noct. You need to tell us what happened,” Ignis said as he took them.
Only once Prompto handed over the specialised potion and its mixture of magic and medicine got to work was Noctis able to explain what had happened even as sleep dragged him down.
“Rest now,” Ignis said. “We’re here. Both you and Gladio will be fine.”
Noctis passed out before he could be sure Ignis wasn’t just being nice to him.
Gladio didn’t remember the last time his head hurt this much and his body felt this drained. Possibly that time he’d had the flu… But this headache was unreal.
“Gladio?” It was Ignis, calling softly.
And that was the moment Gladio realised he had his eyes shut. Opening them, wincing against the light, he saw Ignis hovering over him, the sight of him only slightly blurry.
“I have water and painkillers for the headache,” he said, holding out a bottle and two tablets.
“What happened?” Gladio asked. He took the bottle and the pills and downed both.
“You sustained a head injury during our hunt,” Ignis said. “Noct brought you back to the haven.”
The idea slowly percolated through Gladio’s throbbing head. “He carried me?”
“Yes,” Ignis said.
Gratitude and disbelief vied for Gladio’s attention. He shook them both off. “Where is he?”
Concern flashed in Ignis’ eyes. “Haven’t you noticed?”
Gladio frowned. How bad a hit had his head taken? Because as soon as Ignis mentioned it, he did feel a strange weight over his chest. Looking down, he found Noctis, his arm thrown over Gladio’s chest as though to protect him. Noctis was fast asleep, tucked up under numerous sleeping bags. Gladio recognised the boneless quality of Noctis’ sleep. It meant he’d had to use one of his specialist potions. Guilt teased Gladio. Forcing Noctis to drag his sorry ass out of the mines obviously hadn’t done him any favours.
“He’ll be fine with rest and gentle exercise,” Ignis said. “Did you want to stay here for a little while or head into town with Prompto in my stead? We’re going to hand over the dog tags and claim the reward.”
Placing a hand over Noctis’ head and gently brushing his lengthy bangs off his forehead, Gladio shook his head. “I’ll stay. You go. I’ve got him.”
“Call if you need anything,” Ignis said. “We won’t be long.”
Feeling his headache dial down a notch, Gladio settled himself more comfortably. “Don’t rush. We’re fine.”
Ignis slipped out of the tent. Gladio heard him and Prompto speaking quietly before their footsteps walked away. Glancing down at Noctis, Gladio felt a rush of gratitude. “Take all the time you need,” he said, carefully brushing a long lock of hair off Noctis' forehead. “Just this one time.”
Noctis was only too happy to oblige.