Cold Compress - Whumptober day 13
Fandom: Final Fantasy XV
Character: Gladiolus Amicitia
Rating: Teen and up
Warnings: None
Read below the cut or on AO3 here.
Gladio may think he’s being sneaky in hiding his injury, and maybe it would even work on someone less observant, but if Ignis prides himself in one thing, it’s his ability to notice even small things other people wouldn’t bother taking note of.
He didn’t actually see how Gladio got hurt, but he sees the way he’s favouring his right leg a little. He sees the faint sheen of sweat on Gladio’s forehead and the slightly paler-than-usual colour of his face.
The question is just, how badly is he injured?
Ignis doesn’t want to call him out in front of Prompto and Noct - he trusts Gladio, knows the man has got to have a good reason for not mentioning whatever is troubling him to them.
For now, he’d wait and keep a close eye on him while he waits for an opportunity to talk to him in private.
It’s a miserable day. They’ve been running around the Vesperpool for hours and it’s been raining since yesterday evening. They’re all soaked and caked in mud and Ignis would just about sell his soul for a hot cup of coffee right now.
The others aren’t faring much better. Noct hasn’t said a word in nearly an hour, marching around the mud with quiet determination. Under normal circumstances, Ignis feels nothing but pride whenever his charge offers his aid to someone in need, but in this particular instance, well. Sania could probably have lived without her frogs for a little while longer.
Prompto has long stopped singing, now simply trudging after them with his head down to keep the rain from getting in his eyes. He’s shivering quite noticeably, and Ignis is torn between feeling sympathy for him and fighting the urge to point out that he’d told him to perhaps consider putting on a jacket this morning instead of opting for his sleeveless shirt again.
And Gladio, ever the wilderness enthusiast, seemed to be quite content for a considerable while, but at one point between fighting sahagins, an entire family of overgrown poultry, a swarm of angry killer wasps and sahagins again, he was injured and his mood has dropped a good bit since then.
“Noct,” Ignis tries cautiously. “Perhaps we ought to postpone this search for another day. I’m sure the hunters would be willing to rent the caravan to us for another night, and then we can continue looking tomorrow. According to the forecast, the weather should be better tomorrow.”
“But I saw it earlier,” Noct insists. “I swear I saw it hopping around over here! Besides, Sania said they’re more likely to come out during rainy weather.”
With their luck, the damn frog has probably been eaten by a sahagin in the meantime, but Ignis doesn’t say that. Instead, he holds back a sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose, both to keep himself from snapping at Noct and to try and stave off the headache that’s starting to set in. He’s taken off his glasses hours ago, unable to see properly with the rain droplets covering the lenses, and now he’s paying the price for that.
----
After nearly another hour, it’s slowly getting dark and even Noct is forced to admit that they’ll have to continue their frog search some other time.
Prompto is shivering nearly uncontrollably now despite the fact that he’s wearing Ignis' jacket - yes, Ignis may have told him to put on his own jacket this morning, but he still couldn’t stand watching the boy suffer any longer - and Gladio…
Ignis stops, realising he’s no longer hearing Gladio’s heavy footsteps behind him.
He quickly turns and spots Gladio leaning against a tree a few paces behind him, looking more than slightly pale.
“Gladio?” he asks, quietly so as to not alert the other two, but alarmed all the same. “Are you quite alright?”
“Fine,” Gladio grunts, even though Ignis can see that he really isn’t. “Sagahin got me in the leg earlier. Not that bad earlier, but I guess walking around on it didn’t do me any favours.”
“Did you take a potion?” Ignis asks, although he already knows the answer.
Just like he suspected, Gladio shakes his head. “Nah. Like I said, wasn’t that bad and we’re running low as it is. I’ll be fine, just gotta get out of this damn swamp.”
“That we can agree on,” Ignis sighs. “Alright, but you’ll take one if you feel it’s getting worse, no arguments. Are you alright to continue on for now?”
“Sure.” Gladio pushes himself off the tree and goes to catch up with the other two who are still marching on, and Ignis notes with concern that his limp has grown more pronounced.
----
They’ve barely been walking for another five minutes when Gladio suddenly staggers to the side and throws up, supporting himself against a tree so he doesn’t fall face-first into the mud.
Immediately, Ignis is at his side - he’s well aware that he’s been hovering, and now it looks like that wasn’t all that wrong of a thing to do.
“Gladio, you’re taking that potion now.”
He already has it in hand, crushing it against Gladio’s leg before he can protest.
“Thanks.” Gladio’s voice is raspy and his cheeks flushed.
“Change of plan,” Ignis says as soon as Prompto and Noct have joined them, staring wide-eyed at Gladio. “We get back to the car as soon as possible and try to make it back to Meldacio before it grows fully dark.
He’s not sure what’s wrong with Gladio. He doesn’t look all that much better after the potion, but the cut wasn’t bad enough for him to have lost a lot of blood or anything similar. Perhaps it’s just exhaustion catching up with him.
Either way, Gladio doesn’t look like he’s going to get far on his own, so Ignis slips his arm around his waist to support him. They can’t afford to lose any more daylight if they want to make it back to Meldacio for the night.
As they make their way back to the car, Gladio leans on Ignis more and more heavily until Ignis is almost bearing his full weight, and he has never been so glad to see the Regalia than at this moment.
They quickly load Gladio into the backseat, leaving him to lean his head against the window with his eyes closed, and then Ignis floors it towards Meldacio.
Luckily, no one has handed out speeding tickets in the countryside of Lucis for a long time, so they make it to the hunters’ headquarters with a fair share of traffic violations and barely any daylight to spare.
Prompto jumps out of the car to rent the caravan for the night, Noct goes to find a doctor or at least someone with some medical knowledge and the equipment to go with it, and Ignis is left to help Gladio out of the car.
“How are you holding up?” he asks as he lets Gladio lean on him for support again.
“Been better,” Gladio mutters and Ignis is inclined to believe him - even through the thick leather of Gladio’s jacket, he can feel heat radiating off him.
Noct joins them with a face like a storm cloud, announcing that apparently, the only medic at the outpost has recently left for the gas station near Greyshire Glacial Grotto to tend to an employee who has fallen ill. He did however manage to get them to sell some medical supplies to him.
At least Prompto comes bearing better news and the key to the caravan - they’re allowed to stay for as long as they need as long as they pay up before they leave.
----
By the time Gladio is out of his wet clothes and in bed, and Ignis actually gets to take a look him over, Gladio is trembling and burning up with fever.
Ignis checks the leg first, but the skin is smooth and uninjured, knitted back together perfectly by the potion.
There’s nothing else wrong with his legs, so Ignis works his way up to Gladio’s torso and back, and then he spots it - a rather small, shallow wound on the back of his neck. It’s puffy and swollen and while it should have healed with the potion, the fact that it didn’t means that there’s something else causing Gladio’s illness.
Poison.
“Gladio, did the mushussu hit you?” Ignis asks, running his hand over the cut. It’s warm to the touch and likely tender from the way Gladio flinches away from his fingers.
Gladio frowns, but then simply shrugs. “I dunno. If it did, I didn’t notice.”
Ignis eyes him warily for a moment but lets it go. Gladio sounds genuine enough, and he’s not one to hide injuries just for the fun of it. If he says he didn’t notice, Ignis believes him.
He has the boys run back to the shop to buy an antidote, but he knows the poison has already been in Gladio’s system for too long for an antidote to cure him. He’s going to have to ride out the fever on his own.
“I do wish we had noticed this sooner,” Ignis sighs as he gently places the cold compress on Gladio’s forehead.
Gladio blinks up at him and says with a crooked smile, “Yeah, me too.”
His eyes are glassy with fever, his face pale except for his flushed cheeks, and he’s shivering despite the blanket they covered him with. It’s unsettling to see him like that, their physically strongest fighter reduced to a trembling lump of misery by a small cut like that.
He’s clearly fighting to stay awake, and Ignis wants nothing more than to let him sleep, but he wants to at least get some water into him before he does so. But giving him water while he’s still poisoned would be futile, he’d likely throw it back up within minutes.
Soon, the caravan door opens and the other two hurry inside, handing Ignis the antidote. Ignis quickly gives it to Gladio who crushes it in his hand.
“Here, drink this,” Ignis instructs, helping Gladio sit up a bit more so he can sip from the offered bottle. “Slowly, or you’ll make yourself sick.”
“Yes, Mom,” Gladio says, but the teasing effect is somewhat lost due to how weak and pitiful it comes out, so Ignis lets it slide. Instead, he guides Gladio to lie back down, and pulls the blanket up to cover all of him.
“Get some rest,” he says gently, smoothing his hand over Gladio’s hair for a moment before he stands.
“’Kay,” Gladio says, drowsy and not all there, and then he’s out like a light.
----
Read all of my Whumptober prompt fills here.
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Eyes on me. Stop looking down.
he wasn't sure what the hell had hit them, but something had, because he'd gone from sitting inside the rickety little boat to treading water ... he could swim. as long as he could remember, he'd been able to swim, which meant his parents had paid someone to teach him when he was just a kid.
so why was there an ice-cold pang in his chest, making it harder and harder to breath. his head was above water and his head knew what to do; head for the bank, head for the shallows and don't panic because this was an easy situation to get out of.
but his heart hammered and his chest constricted, making it hard to breath and his throat was dry ... hands grabbing fistfuls of water, reno twisted in the water, his feet nowhere near touching the bottom, there'd been halfway across the vesperpool when the boat had been upended ... it was daytime and the water wasn't nearly as cold and yet the teenager's head wasn't there. it was back to a cold night where he'd held on to his little brother as tight as he could, unruly waves tossing their little boat around like toy until leviathan had dumped them into her depths ... he could hear the other people screaming, hear loqi crying, hear his father's last words back in gralea, telling him to look after his little brother...
eyes on me ... stop looking down.
reno snapped out of his daze when a hand clamped on his shoulder, his breathing short and sharp as he tried to get a hold of his nerves. dave. he wanted to shrug his hand off and brush off the concern he could see on the hunter's face with bravado, but he couldn't ... his throat was arid and his heart hammered harder still; they were still treading water and he couldn't feel solid ground beneath his feet.
' i - i can swim ... just lead the way. '
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