Noctis:

They lock eyes once, and he’s moving too fast to stop.

“No!”

At the last moment their eyes close and their face relaxes, accepting what was about to happen. But then a scream leaves them and their expression turns to one of pain. The strike goes clean through them, their blood running down it’s blade in slow rivulets. Their had reaches out and grabs a hand full of his shirt. They opens their eyes and offer a shaky smile, trying to reassure their love that they’ll be fine. But then they start to sink to the ground. 

For a moment, he’s too horrified to process what he’d done. But then he snapped out of it and hurriedly grabbed them and guided them to the ground before they could fall. He made sure they were on their side, so the blade wouldn’t shift and hurt them more. Gun shot sound over his head, Prompto finishing their enemy with two guns in hand, overheating them both. Not that it mattered since that was the last MT. They were safe from further attack for now, but…

“Ignis!” He yelled, a touch of panic in his voice. This wasn’t something that he could do alone. Pulling out the blade would hurt them, and he wasn’t sure he could do so without them bleeding out without immediate healing. They were already losing too much blood. 

In the dirt beside him Ignis lands on his knees after running over, eyes quickly looking over the injury. There wasn’t any other choice but to pull it out. And so he places a hand on their side to hold them steady and looked to Noctis, “On three. Ready?”

Noctis nods and grabs the hilt with both hands, waiting for Ignis’ count.

“One, two, three!”

He pulls with all his strength while Ignis, careful not to cut himself, guides the blade in a straight path. Once the blade is free, Noctis drops it to the ground and rushed back to their side, taking their hand in his. It’s ice cold, and they didn’t so much as move when the blade was pulled. Not a good sign. But it’d be fine soon.

Ignis broke the elixir over their wound after shifting them to their back, and they waited for the wound to seal. For a heart stopping moment, nothing happened. He worried they were too late. They didn’t have another phoenix down on them, the last had been used earlier in the fight. But then they breath. The wound closes, and they are whole.

And though they are asleep, Noctis pulls them close and buries his face in their hair. 

Too close. 

That had been too close.  

~

It was his fault and he can’t let it go. 

They had set up camp at a nearby haven, waiting for them to wake and rejoin them. But the blood loss had been extensive, and no one was sure when they’d wake. So they’d settled in, and were now biding their time with training before night fall. Something Gladio had suggested and that Noctis, to everyone’s surprise, had agreed to. 

He should be able to pull out of a warp strike he thinks to himself as he moves. Though he knows that it’s not possible without endangering himself. Stasis is the last thing from his mind as he warps from Gladio, phases through his attack and strikes, warps to Prompto to knock him off balance, then to Ignis. But right as he prepares to attack Ignis, his magic runs out and he ends up full on crashing into Ignis as dead weight. 

The momentum sends him rolling off Ignis, off the haven, and to the ground below. It knocks the wind out of him, but he’s otherwise unharmed. 

“Noct!” “Noctis!” 

His friends call from above him. He opens his eyes and finds the three of them peering down at him in concern. 

“I’m alright.” He raises his hand to them to wave them off of coming down after him and rises.

Though he doesn’t miss the shared glance between Gladio and Ignis. Probably just put together that he was distraught. He’d been trying to hide how upset he was with himself. They were worried about them too. They shouldn’t have to worry about him as well, especially since… 

A sigh escapes him before he finishes that thought, and he begins to walk around the haven to the path that would allow him back up. 

“I should of been keeping an eye on how much warping I was doing earlier.” He says in explanation as soon as he reached the trio. 

“I’ll say.” Ignis pushed his glasses back up and frowns. “If that ever happens in combat,be sure to use an ether right away.” 

“I know specs.” Noctis smiled slightly, but saw Ignis about to launch into a lecture and the smile fell. Before he could start speaking though, he needed to know. “You alright though? I was going pretty fast.”

“Aw he’s fine.” Gladio said slapping Noctis on the back. “He was just about to start dinner, right?” 

A rare display from Gladio, taking it easy on someone. Ignis, when faced with that knowledge, let it go. “Yes, I was actually. I’ll get back to that.”

They all departed for their own areas of the Haven. Ignis to his kitchen, Gladio by the fire, and Noctis with his legs dangling over the edge. Prompto would normally be on the other side of the fire doing maintenance on his guns, but instead went to join Noctis. 

Prompto snickered as he sat and said, “Dude. I got the best picture of Ignis because of you.”

“What?” Noctis raised his eyebrow. 

“Take a look!” Prompto held out his camera for Noctis to see.

On the screen was them from earlier. The light around Noct wasn’t it’s usual blue, but the dark purple of stasis. It was immediately after he’d crashed, as his face was planted into Ignis’ chest, and his arms were trapped between them. That didn’t look comfortable for either of them, and Ignis would at least have a bruise from it. 

Speaking of Ignis, his eyes were widened in an expression of confused terror in the picture. His feet had tangled with each other when he’d tried to step away from the prince, causing him to fall backwards, and the spear that had been in his hand was just out of reach and hovering in midair. He’d clearly let go of it in surprise. Along with everything else, his arms were extended straight out from the force of the impact. His mouth was pressed together in a tight line. He looked almost owlish and all together cartoonish. 

A laugh escaped from Noctis before he could stop it, and Prompto joined in. “See? I told you!” 

“Oh man, we need to get that printed.” He said, a smirk still on his face.

“Oh totally. Blackmail material.” Prompto grinned at him and then they lost themselves to pointless chatter. 

If Prompto could help it, he wouldn’t let his friend dwell on the sleeping person in the tent. They all wouldn’t. It was all too clear that he was blaming himself. If they could all distract his thoughts until they woke up and dissolved his guilt themself, then they’d have done enough.

~

It took them three days to wake. 

It was quiet. No one had noticed that they had shown signs of stirring. And so they were alone when they woke. Which they didn’t mind. It gave them time to get their bearings and recall just what had happened. Once they did remember, a sigh left them and they sat up slowly. A wince crossed their face as they did so, and they had to take a moment to let the pain subside before doing anything else. 

They pushed their hair out of their face and grimaced at how greasy it felt. It’d been a while then. Before anything else, they crawled over to their bag of things and changed out of the dirty ones. After that, grateful for the tent’s height, they stood up. A dizzy spell hit them, but they remained standing. Time to face the day. 

They left the tent quietly, bare feet making no sound as they moved. The boys were all around the camp, Prompto and Noctis sitting at the edge, Ignis was washing dishes, and Gladio was sitting by the fire. It was peaceful, and they were loath to break the peace. But…Noctis. They remembered his face clearly when they’d been hurt. It wouldn’t be fair to make him wait for them any longer.

“Hey guys.” They said softly. They smiled slightly at how startled they all were. But then Noctis’ head whipped around and the sheer look of relief on his face was worth waking up for. 

“You’re awake.” 

He rose from his spot and crossed the distance between them and him, wrapping them into an almost bone crushing hug. They held him gently in return. 

“I’m so sorry.” He muttered into their hair, and they shook their head.

“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault.” 

They didn’t know how long they stood together. Noctis’ embrace spoke volumes about how scared he was. As if he was pressing his fear of losing them into their hug. 

They closed their eyes and pressed their forehead into his shoulder. “I’m here. I’m here.”

Prompto:

“No, no, no!” He was frantic in trying to stop the bleeding. He no longer had any potions on him, and the others were still fighting the daemon he missed. Because he had missed. He knew better than to shoot if someone was near his target. Precisely because this might happen.

He’d been aiming for the joint on the Iron Giant’s arm, one of the few weak points that he could take advantage of. With a piercer bullet, it would have been enough to down it. But, due to bad luck and horrible timing, at the same time as he pulled the trigger the giant had grabbed them. Which put them right in the bullet’s path. 

The cry that tore out of them would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. 

After that things were a blur. The others must have intervened at some point, but he’d only really become aware of his surroundings again when he was by their side, hand pressing down on their chest. 

“Hey, hey, look at me.” He said shakily. 

It was scary seeing how they struggled to focus on him. But they managed it. He thanked the astrals one at a time for that. 

“P-prom?” 

“Shh, you’ll be alright soon, okay?” He glanced up from them when he heard the others begin to run over to them. He kept praying that one of them had, at the very least, a potion. His heart was beating frantically when they passed out, and panic soon followed.

“What happened?” Ignis asked, looking them over and then at Prompto.

“They- I- The giant!” He gestured to them, “Shot in the shoulder.”

Ignis quickly pulled Prompto’s hand away, thankful he still had a potion on hand. However, it was their last one. So whatever this didn’t heal would have to heal naturally. 

He shattered the potion above the wound and watched as the skin knitted back together. Prompto’s hands were shaking as their breathing evened out. Their blood was staining his hands and he felt sick at the sight. He’d caused this. He had shot them and now they had passed out, and thank the six for Ignis having a potion.

“Prompto, we’re near the Longwythe rest area. We’ll get a hotel there until they recover, alright?” Ignis said, standing up and patting his shoulder before going over to the others to explain the situation.

“Right,” he says a half beat too late to be heard, “Okay.”

~

He sighed heavily, looking at their face as they slept. The chair he was sitting on was one of those hard wooden ones, the only one he could pull up to their bed close enough. They were pale and it was startling to see someone who was usually so energetic so still. 

The others thought the same of him honestly. They all in turn were watching him. They’d all taken a bad hit, and all have had to recover for a time. But Prompto was taking this harder than any other time. 

They all were used to the boundless energy that the pair bounced off one another, magnifying it beyond control sometimes. (Often involving Noctis as well.) To see both so quiet was unnerving. To the point where they were all silent. 

Eventually, Ignis caught Noctis’s eye and gesture with his head to the door. He followed the adviser, and stepped out behind him and shut the door.

“Yeah Specs?” 

“I really think we should get Prompto out of the room for now.” 

Noctis glanced at the closed door and then back at Ignis, “Specs, I honestly don’t think anyone would be able to pull him away right now.”

“You have to try.” Ignis replied, “It’s not good for him to dwell on this. When they wake and can help him forgive himself maybe, but right now he’s spiraling. Get him some fresh air. They should wake in a few hours.”

With a resigned sigh, Noctis nodded, and then headed back into the room. He could never stand to be the one waiting for someone to wake up. He’d been on the otherside of this situation, making everyone wait for him when he was a child. So he didn’t know how to handle the feeling of helplessness, even as the sleeping person was healing.

“Hey Prompto? Come here for a sec.” He started, staying by the door.

Prompto glanced away from the person in the bed to Noctis, and then nodded. He got up slowly and crossed the room. Upon reaching Noctis’s side, Noctis threw his arm around Prompto’s shoulders. Quickly he began guiding them out of the room and hurriedly put together a lie to get the blond to stay outside for a bit.

“Sania just called,” he began, “She was wondering if we could help her find a…rare frog around here.” 

His face twisted up at his own lie, but he stuck with it. “Since we’re here we might as well take a look right.” 

“Uh…Noct?” Prompto sounded about as disbelieving as Noctis felt about what he made up.

“Yeah Prom?” 

“We’re in a desert dude.” Prompto deadpanned.

“…did I mention it was rare?”

Prompto stopped in his tracks and Noctis stopped with him. A sigh left him as he looked on the ground. But then, he looked back up at Noctis, the beginnings of a smile on his face. 

“I hate to say it buddy, but your lying skills suck.”

“Hey!” Noctis frowned and looked away from him. “I’m trying here.”

“I know.” Prompto huffed in amusement. He threw his own around around Noctis’s shoulders as well and started leading them to the crowsnest instead. “I know you’re just trying to help, but how about we don’t get all dirty in the desert and just snack on some fries instead?” 

“Sounds good to me.” Noctis smiled, and went along with him.

As long as it helped Prompto, he’d be willing to just chill in the diner for a few hours.

~

When they woke, it was in pain. Not terrible pain, but the pain of stiff muscles and of joints needing to pop. With a groan they sat up and stretched, taking a deep breath. Their chest hurt, but it was mild compared to their memory.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Ignis was nearby, sitting in a chair. It looked like he had been cleaning his daggers. 

“…Where’s Prompto?” They asked, once they found their voice.

“With Noctis I assume. Would you like me to call him?” Ignis had already taken his phone out before they even nodded.

He handed them the phone and they waited for Prompto to pick up.

“Heyas Iggs. What’s up?”

“Prom?” They only said his name and silence fell. 

Suddenly there was clattering, receding foot steps, and a confused prince calling after Prompto. It took only about ten seconds before the room door burst open and a winded Prompto came flying through. He was at their side before Ignis was even on his feet. The surprise on Ignis’s face would have been hilarious, if Prompto wasn’t near tears and holding them tightly against himself.

“I’m so so sorry!” He started. Before long, he’d worked himself into a fit of guilt. But they were working just as hard to calm him down.

“Prom, It’s not your fault.”