So while I am on paid vacation this week, that basically means nothing beyond I don’t have to go to bed early and wake up early. That’s what I consider a good, cheap vacation imo. xD;
Naturally, I’m going to be working on a few projects of my own this week best I am able involving a few art pieces I started but never finished. I am hoping I can complete them in time. c:
When I return I’ll be writing two chapters to As You Wish, My Lady as my OCD will not be sated unless I fix chapter 7 on AO3 where I had to tell people to stop griping about the direction of the story. ^^”” So, maybe with those two out and about it’ll move the story along a bit more speedy like and I can stop dicking around in fluff territory.
I do have commissions that still need doing, and I will be working on them as I can! I thank everyone for their patience in that. The year was rough in regards to a lot of things, so I was sadly slower producing the stories I was paid to write. =/; I know the lot of you are patient but it’s my own inner dialogue of ‘I know I can do better’ so I kinda get on myself about that.
My to-do list is linked on my front page, but here it is again for those uncertain of what I am doing. There are also some art pieces on there that aren’t listed, because my fixation and want to do art comes and goes. C:
A/N: A 10 chapter commission for @martascully! And as a side note: yeah, this is the ‘final chapter’, but we’re working on the thought of doing more perhaps! Much love for your support!
Desc: The Assassins are said to work under the mighty King of Lucis while the Templars throw their lot in with Niflheim. Sent to find out information about King Noctis, his army, and kingdom to reveal his weakness, the Reader encounters an interesting foe in her way. {AU}
By Oreana Galena (blindgeishateahouse.tumblr.com)
Words: 5,253
Rated: NSFW
| Commission Information |
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Y/N tried to shake the doubt from her in regards to what their traveling over to Niflheim would truly do. A part of her wished she could trick Ignis and Prompto in just staying put on Lucis while she gained speed to Gralea, but she knew shaking the two would hardly be as easy as that and tried to find more pleasant things to think about in the obnoxious early morning hours. Y/N was fully aware she’d find a moment or two longer to focus on her plans later as the three of them sat down to eat in the dining area just near the docks, waiting for the ship they would need to board. However, the surrounding families and loved ones talking at the nearby tables did bring her senses to a distracting halt as she paid more attention to the strangers about them then what was at risk.
Two small boys seemed to be interested in playing with their little beach ball on land while their parents continued to eat and enjoy their meal. The resonance of their laughter made Y/N stall in her own eating to merely watch them as Prompto himself seemed to slip out his camera for a quick second to snap a picture of the two in satisfaction. He was always taking a picture of something. This was starting to become apparent to Y/N over time that he was a photo taking maniac.
“At least someone’s having fun,” Y/N commented simply in regards to children in general having such a carefree life. She moved the fork to her mouth, eating the last bit of the breakfast food the dining area was serving given the early hour. “Must be nice to be that young with little to no responsibilities.”
Ignis’ head turned at Y/N’s remark, making sense of the many sounds, vibrations, and speeches happening all at once that morning. There wasn’t much that was distracting to him and when he heard the laughter of the two children he had to guess they were probably no older than six given their mannerisms and how they talked. “You mean the little ones?” the advisor questioned curiously.
“Yeah,” Y/N answered with a hidden sigh in her words. “There’s two kids playing with a ball near the table just one over from us, and I am only being bitter.” She jokingly added the last statement regardless of how true it was.
While Ignis appeared to be looking in the boys’ direction, he wasn’t exactly sure where they were beyond the fact they were indeed not too far away and were tossing a ball about given how the boards underneath his feet would slightly quiver at their movement and how the blown up beach ball would make a hollowing sound whenever hitting the ground (if it did). “Pleasant times do indeed end for all, but what matters is in those times we find salvation in past and present moments of pleasure and aim to make more in the future no matter what is in store.”
“How obnoxiously poetic of you,” chimed in Sal from where she was resting on the table between Ignis and Y/N.
“Sal!” Y/N scolded quietly, unsure why the device was still so aggressive at Ignis.
Ignis merely raised his hand to Y/N’s attempt to keep the machine quiet on his behalf. It was starting to bother him very little with what strength he had in patience. Prompto himself couldn’t help but try to stifle a nervous laugh in the matter as he put his camera away for the time being.
“You, uh…drop her or something, Iggy?”
Ignis shook his head, lips thinning at the thought. “I’ve never handled her improperly, no.”
“Says the man who wanted me disassembled in the beginning,” reminded Sal coldly, but the tone she was mimicking sounded more like she was merely mocking him in a playful manner and not truly as upset about it as before when she was told.
It seemed the joke was lost on the advisor as he raised a single brow at the remark, eyes closing as the sea breeze was starting to agitate his sensitive sight. “I apologized for that before, my dear, and you know I had my reasons.”
Y/N rolled her eyes, scooping Sal into her possession. “She’s just busting your balls, Ignis,” commented the Templar. “She isn’t nearly as angry about it anymore, but her sarcasm chip could use a bit of work.” Tampering with a few buttons, she tried to see if there was any update that Sal might not be telling her of in regards to the Ring of the Lucii, but nothing came to the surface at the present time. Sighing nasally in frustration, she let the machine go into idle sleep before pocketing her.
Prompto watched Y/N closely from across the table, rolling his teeth over his lower lip as if nervous to ask. “Anything in regards to Noct and the ring…?”
“No,” she simply replied in a worrisome way. Y/N never thought she would be so concerned over a king she had little care for other than previously seeing his ultimate destruction when it came to her past rearing under the Empire.
Ignis caught onto the sombering sound of her words, urging his hand to find her own there under the table to comfort her with merely his touch—perhaps, in truth, needing her own in turn.
A lot was on her mind and while Y/N would have found comfort in Ignis’ hold before, it was beginning to feel heavier than normal. She would have to make a tough choice in regards to what she wanted to do when the final battle was over. With her palm touching upon the back of the advisor’s hand, she closed her eyes tightly to fight back the negativity desiring to swallow her whole. Y/N did what she could to find relief in the tender and loving act.
“The one thing I do not miss about being on a boat is how long it takes for us just to get from Niflheim to Lucis and vise versa,” Y/N grumbled aloud when Ignis and herself found a room next door to the one given to Prompto on a cruise ship that had come into port that morning for them to take.
Ignis moved his duffle bag to the foot of the bed he was going to take upon finding it using echolocation by pressing his heel a bit harder into the carpeted flooring of the boat, sending out a small vibration to figure out where everything was. “A week is indeed a long time, but we already were fully aware it was going to take us nearly a month or so to get to the seat of the Empire.” His hands moved to the bed’s covers to feel of them before sitting on the side of it. “You don’t get easily seasick, do you?”
Y/N scrunched up her nose and swatted away the accusation. “Neh, I just hate being stuck in the same location for too long at times. Even a hermit like me wants to get out and move about sometime.” Seeing as Prompto took Sal, Y/N had nothing to truly unpack and merely flopped face first on the bed as she was still tired from the early rise. “This is good.” Her words were practically muffled by the covers as she lay still upon the bed like a dead person with her arms at her sides.
Ignis hardly heard them but paid the simple phrase little mind as he began to remove his boots to get comfortable as he had no reason to truly venture about the boat at current. As his darkened sight gazed in Y/N’s direction, the advisor thought on the best way to ask what he wanted to without being direct. “Those children weren’t bothering you any at breakfast, were they?”
She found the question oddly placed at current, but Y/N moved onto her side and humored him with an answer. “Not at all. I don’t mind kids and they don’t mind me, so it’s perfect harmony there.”
One of his boots was removed and Ignis took care in massaging the middle of his foot to work out the weariness. “Never fancied yourself a mother then, I wager?”
Hearing the title, Y/N scrunched up her nose again as if appalled to even consider it. “Well, I…don’t know.” She moved to where she too now was sitting on the side of her bed. “My mom was never truly around to tell me how to be a woman and there was even a time that…well…an old friend—a different old friend than Sulista, mind you—miscarried to the point I got scared of even wanting to picture it.”
Ignis’ brow wrinkled in dismay at that news. “I am sorry for your friend’s loss. That must have been difficult,” he quietly spoke, turning his attention back to the task at hand in regards to removing his other boot.
“She wasn’t the same since, and I just…” Y/N’s words derailed, hating she fell out of contact with her given the loss her friend suffered. Her hand rubbed the back of her neck to rid herself of the uneasy feeling. “…Maybe she healed.” Y/N tried to smile at the thought, breathing out her anxiety. “I’d like to think she did.”
“Time is merciful as it is cruel,” reminded the royal retainer as he unfastened the last of the buckles on his other boot to loosen it. “I am certain she is far better.”
Y/N shrugged her brow at the pleasant thought wishing her own salvation of coming to terms with losing Sulista would grace her in time. “Anyways—to answer you, I guess I get sort of upset when I see new mothers or mothers-to-be around me because I don’t know what I want, but at the same time, I do not trust myself to be a good mother.”
“You would be a fine mother, Y/N,” Ignis encouraged across from her, finally ridding himself of the other leather boot. “When life grants us such challenges, we stand firm and take on the responsibilities a lot more graciously then we think we will.”
Y/N rolled her eyes playfully at his sentiment, moving her feet back and forth like a child idly. “I am sure if I had the right, responsible adult or something beside me then it would be easier to consider what I wanted to do with a child.”
Ignis opened his left eye to peer in her direction to the best of his ability. “I do not qualify then?” he questioned curiously though a bit dreadful of what Y/N would say after their last talk of what they planned to do after this confrontation was over and Noctis and Gladiolus were saved.
The Templar woman was glad she wasn’t drinking anything but all the same, she nearly choked on her own spit when Ignis came right out to say it. “I-Ignis…! What are you implying!” Y/N demanded to know, clearing her throat and trying to settle her small coughing fit. Her cheeks hued with a bright blush, knowing full well what he was insinuating.
His legs crossed, fingers intertwined upon his knee as though he was about to make some sort of business proposal. “In the future, Y/N, I would like to consider the possibilities of passing on my linage to a child of my own given the position in which I stand before the King of Lucis. His own child requires an advisor as of late to tend to him as he ages, and I would want that responsibility to fall on my line,” Ignis explained, his thumbs tapping together as if to barricade his nervousness in the matter. “And in less business reasons and more selfish…” His words paused as he shifted about on the bed. “…it would be nice to know what it feels like to be a father to a child I love and with a woman I love.”
Y/N went speechless, her mind struggling to even think of the proper thing to say let alone yell at him for first. “Ignis, we just wanted to murder each other nearly a few days ago, and what did I tell you last night about celebrating early!” Her words were risen, frantic and uncertain of where anything could truly end.
Ignis frowned at her choice of words. “And I told you, Y/N, that I would protect you. What you aim to do after this is over will be very much in your hands, but I am offering you something far more pleasant than years of solitude in your past mistakes and servitude to an Order that doesn’t love you like I do.” Ignis pointed at where he could hear her speaking. “I am willing to remove your shackles of shame and guilt you’ve placed upon yourself and bind you to me and the love I have for you.”
Love…
Hearing it from him even now in a more sobering environment was oddly foreign even if welcoming. Hand moved to her rapidly beating heart, Y/N tried to stifle its loud thumping in worry Ignis would hear it. “You cannot speak in my corner when it comes to my punishment at the hands of your Lucian King when we free him.”
“And who says I need to?” Ignis questioned, leaning forward just a bit to where the bed moaned under his movements. “I trust my King will make the proper assessment in this. Should I be requested to stand in your stead, then I will gladly do so.”
Thinking about what she should do, Y/N knew in the climax of the end she’d have to surrender a lot of things at her home as there would be no time to truly grab anything if the Empire found out her betrayal. There were a few items she wanted to keep in terms of memories and the like, but again—the future remained uncertain and horrifying to her. Why couldn’t she just go back home and to bed again? Her palm rubbed her upper arm to be rid of the goose bumps that freckled her. “I just…” Words were failing her. What could she truly say to a future that was uncertain? Y/N’s lips moved inward as a heavy sigh escaped shortly after. “You promise me you won’t get yourself killed?”
Hearing the horror mixed with fear in her tone from across the room, Ignis pulled himself to his feet and ventured towards Y/N to ask for her hands with his palms open to her before taking a seat beside her. When he felt the weight of her touch, the advisor brought it to his chest. “I will do what is necessary to see everyone alive—.”
“—Promise me!” Y/N interrupted, hating that he was thinking of the broader picture than just himself at current. Ignis closed his mouth, preventing the words from continuing at the Templar’s forward demand. “I cannot go onward knowing someone I care for dies before me again! Do not make me go through that pain once more, please!” Her head rested against Ignis’ chest eventually, letting her hands go to his lap with his still cradling them. “The worst of it would be me being pregnant with your child after all of this is over and having to constantly be reminded of my failure in that child’s eyes…”
Ignis’ brow rose ever so at the mere mention, wondering if she was even considering the idea with that statement. “I would not leave you behind, Y/N,” he soothed, his fingers gracing the strands of her hair to try and lure her into a state of peace. “Least of all with my legacy growing inside of you.” His hands moved hers to his lips to kiss her knuckles. “Do you have such a lack in my abilities, my dear?”
“I have a lack of confidence in myself,” Y/N corrected. “You would have killed that daemon without me getting in the damn way…you wouldn’t have been hurt!”
Thinking back on the moment, Ignis’ lips parted as if to expel a quiet sigh at the mention of her being the reason he took the blow. “It was my fault for not gaining my own clarity on the situation,” explained Ignis to try and take the blame from her. “I heard you scream like you were about to die, and I ran in without much thought.” He sensed her breathe as if to dispute him. “Don’t you dare blame yourself, Y/N,” Ignis scolded as his brow furrowed at the thought. “I should have been more focused on the matter at hand and not let my emotions blind me further.”
Y/N knew it would be pointless to fight with him, leaving her to rest against his chest as the subtle beating of his heart calmed her. “Then…if you promise me that you won’t get yourself killed…” The Templar paused as the words fretfully tried to halt her in speaking as she gazed upward at the hunter assassin who was trying to look in her direction with the one misty eye he had open. Gathering her courage, Y/N breathed in and out her strength at the proposal she had been given to think on. “…I will move with you to Lucis after accepting my punishment from King Noctis and start a family with you.”
Ignis quietly gasped in delight as he moved forward to urge Y/N’s lips upon his own. His fingertips caressing her cheek in gratitude, he tilted his head to the side with his tongue in loving want pressing upon her oral barrier to ask for entrance as he hadn’t a time or moment to truly kiss her as this yet again since the last. He knows he could have, but he would have preferred not to make Prompto uncomfortable as he was aware his comrade still had a few doubts in regards to Y/N.
Eyes closed to enjoy in the warming sensation, Y/N wrapped her arms around his neck to urge Ignis onward as it felt like a sort of feeling of going without water for too long—she just knew she needed it to revive herself again and his love was no different. Tongue lovingly stroking his in passing, Y/N found herself drunk on the sweet taste as she drank in her fill with a quiet moan humming in her throat. Fingers digging into the back of his dusty blond tresses upon their movement, Y/N found herself being quietly escorted down to the bed’s covers where she found the linens supporting her not near as in kind as Ignis did. Honestly, she found the mattress a bit too stiff for her liking but paid it no attention. Her palms upon his cheeks when their lips broke free from one another, Y/N released a mocking, delicate laugh that rumbled in her throat. “So now you want to make love with me?”
“I wasn’t about to give my companion nightmares if he walked in on me in a sexual state,” Ignis explained, placing a gentle kiss upon Y/N’s cheek before moving off of her. “Speaking of…” He took to his feet once more and moved to the door to make sure it was at least locked and that nobody would barge in on them before heading back to Y/N’s side to slide back onto the bed with ease. “Now I can begin without concern.”
(EDITED. Find the Unedited version on AO3 under my name Oreana! It’ll be under the same file name!)
The budding warmth inside of her after the intense release was a pleasant treat to her senses. It soothed her weary body, bringing Y/N into a relaxed state of being as she unwound her arms from Ignis and let them rest on either side of her face. As she attempted to get her breathing back under control, she felt Ignis depart from her with a subtle grunt from the tightness leaving his spent manhood, but he didn’t desire for Y/N to be in further discomfort. The blond lightly tapped her side.
“Move for a moment, love,” he insisted breathlessly as his fingers went for the pillows of the bed to move them to the floor.
Y/N did as requested, noting that he was pulling the covers out of place so that they could have an area to rest. “Already? We just woke up not but three hours ago.”
“I am just asking we be more comfortable than resting on top of covers exposed as we are,” insisted Ignis with a small chuckle as he cleared the space, allowing Y/N under the sheets if she wished. “Is it a crime on my behalf to desire a moment in your arms until we find our feet again for the day?”
“I never said either was bad,” Y/N said as a playful retort, moving under the bed sheets before Ignis followed in after her. “I guess I thought you were asking us back to bed again, and I thought that was weird.”
Again, Ignis chortled. “I may very well be blind, but I have a sense of time.” His arms moved about her once more but in a change of pace, Ignis rested his cheek against her chest to allow Y/N a sense of having a bit more power over him in the moment. “Besides, best to relish in the quiet and peaceful moments till our war catches up with us,” he whispered against her body, moving his leg over hers to bring her in close and protectively. “Just promise me…you’ll…never leave me,” Ignis pleaded as if fearing that could be the case in the future.
His words were heavy and almost quivering in a sort of way that showed he could cry at any minute thinking she would. Y/N frowned at the thought but a smile chased it away just as quickly as it came. “I will never leave you…” Her fingers embedded within Ignis’ tresses, she lightly massaged his scalp to the point she could hear him muffling a few pleasing moans against her body. Protected with him so close, Y/N laid her cheek to rest against his messy hair while hoping their laid future plans would come to fruition.
You Say it Best When you Say Nothing at All - Chapter 4
A/N: 10 chapter commission for @blustersquall of her OC, Isla Octavia and Gladiolus Amicitia~. The entire thing will be NSFW but each chapter will be rated accordingly~.
Thanks so much for your commission and patience~.
A transformer blew while I was trying to write this…power went out for a few hours, and I about screamed thinking I lost a good hunk of my progress, but thank god that wasn’t the case. X-x; Can I go one weekend without a power outage? Please, for the love of god…
Desc: A simple touch, a gesture, a breath or a mere glance of the eye, hardly words need to be said much between Isla and Gladiolus when it comes to their budding romance; however, when Insomnia falls and nearly takes Isla with it, it shakes the Shield’s courage in the idea that everything around him—those he loves and cares for—could easily fall even under his protection.
Rated: SFW
Words: 4,933
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In the depth of night, Gladiolus found his nightmares plaguing him of his personal shortcomings. The fall of his City…the death of his King and father with the near loss of those he loved as well as being made a fool before his own personal charge of the young Prince Noctis…Was he truly the Shield of the King he was meant to be? He could hardly fight valiantly for those that needed him, and yet here he stood on a foundation that cracked mightily beneath his feet.
The harsh fires that ensnared the Crown City burned upon the Shield’s features as though he was truly there, and it was in that moment he felt as though the visions were true. “ISLA!” he shouted, but oddly enough, the sound was not heard in the reaches of his mind.
Gladiolus knew he said the name for his heart was beating fretfully in his ears as he looked about the destruction for the woman he left behind.
Buildings collapsing in all directions about him, the warrior hurried forward with his shield raised as he would be damned if anything were to slow him down in trying to find the woman he loved in what felt like the fires of hell.
Darkness consumed everything and when the light fell back upon the foundation before him, Gladiolus saw two figures haloed before him with their bodies bound and their lives very much in his hands. Isla was on the left with an Imperial soldier keeping his blade near her throat and her to her knees with her arms behind her back while Noctis was on the right in the same predicament.
They said not a word to him—merely struggled as if not recognizing his presence.
“Choose wisely, Shield of the King. Even you cannot protect everyone—like us all, you must make choices you will not wish to make.”
The words were a vile upset to Gladiolus as they bellowed in the back of his mind. He refused that to be the truth. He refused to believe that everyone he cared for wasn’t someone he could shield in some form. Teeth clenched, Gladiolus threw his shield with precision at the soldier that dared to restrain Noctis while his sword swung up and over to decapitate the one holding Isla in place all in a hurried manner so that not a single move would result in the end of those he loved.
Isla and Noctis both fell forward, their bodies acting as though they were lifeless and, regardless of Gladiolus’ brave act, it mattered little that he had saved them both in a brave attempt. “Noct!” he exclaimed, touching his friend’s neck with his index and middle finger to be certain he was alive before scooping Isla in his arms to check in haste on her.
Their bodies were lifeless…his actions having little effect as he so hoped. His heart felt heavier than the weight of the world, and it was there his tears of regret blinded him at feeling he did little to aid those he cared for when he had sworn an oath to his people, his King, and his loved ones that he would always be there to protect them. However, seemed the world around him would give the Shield little time to grieve his losses as the ground beneath him began to quiver and crack and threaten to give way.
Amber eyes flashing forward, he noticed a mighty dracozombie threatening to split the world by its enormous and mighty wake from where it loomed in the ongoing fires about Insomnia that chased back the darkness that surrounded Gladiolus earlier. He had never seen one before—merely heard stories of it. The undead dragon roared, spear like talons digging into the cement and cracking it like it were nothing as it readied its wings for a spell of thunder.
Even if he’d be protecting corpses, Gladiolus responded without thought and raised his shield to try and halt the incoming damage only to feel it conduct through the metal weapon and strike him so vividly, he swore he was being attacked beyond the veil of a dream…
“…iolus…Glad…io…Gladio…!”
The loud sound of his name brought the Shield to attention, his head shooting upright from where it was resting there in the chair he had found comfort (somewhat) in for the evening of the Lestallum hospital. Hands to his eyes to wipe away the exhaustion and focus to the dim lighting in the room, he discovered that it was Ignis who was standing nearby with a rather concerned look in his green eyes.
“Are you alright?” Ignis asked, stepping back a bit to let the Shield breathe. “You were appearing as though you were in discomfort of some sort and I was compelled to wake you.”
Gladiolus merely shrugged his brow at the comment, ignoring the question and concern as he felt his comfort should be at the bottom of the list with all things considered. “I’m fine,” he lied, knowing Ignis would see through that fib, but perhaps in his answer the advisor would know when to leave well enough alone. Adjusting to the scene around him, Gladiolus noted it was still night, his curious gaze catching Ignis in the room merely lit by a single lamplight off in the far corner that the advisor must have turned on upon entering. “What are you doing here?”
“Merely stopping by to check in on you both,” answered Ignis, back straightening as he still kept his concerns known in his stance and look alone that only someone such as Gladiolus would see. At the answer, he turned to look over at Isla who remained asleep and in fine condition judging by the heart monitor readout. “What have the doctors said?” He was reluctant to ask as he knew that bullet wound was a worry for them given all it pierced within her and not to mention the burn marks and blood loss she endured as well.
A sigh escaped Gladiolus’ nostrils as he shifted in his seat to get a better look at Isla who was turned in the opposite direction while slumbering, not allowing him a good glance at her features. In truth, all he needed to know was that she was alive and well even if slumbering. “She is going through blood transfusions when possible given how much she lost in that attack.” He massaged his forehead, fighting back the horrible thought of how much she did indeed lose before the members of the Kingsglaive found her. “The bullet didn’t need to be removed since it passed right through her, but it’s really messed up her body given what it hit and where it exited.” Again, a sigh of mixed emotions escaped him as he placed his hand wearily on the armrest of the chair. “I thought for sure she was not going to be able to walk again, but the doctors have said it will merely be a bit of time till she can.”
“The gods are merciful then,” breathed out Ignis in relief, turning to where Isla remained undisturbed. “But this begs the question—will you be setting out with us in a few days to continue onward to Cape Caem?” Ignis noticed the furrowed look of his brow and how he battled with the idea. “You are free to decline, Gladio. We will not leave Lucis without you, but it is wise we remove ourselves from the enemy’s line of sight given all that’s happened in the past week, and I do fear Lestallum will continue to be a target of sorts.”
His eyes closed, fingers curled to the point the sound of leather stretching could be heard given his glove he wore on the one hand. “I can’t leave Isla here if that’s the case…” Gladiolus whispered in the dead silence of the room. “I would have her go with Iris and Talcott to Cape Caem, but I worry the trip would be too long for her given the condition she’s in.”
Ignis frowned fretfully as well. “I…am loathed to inform you that there are no hospitals nearby as well.” He fixed his glasses up the slope of his nose when they began to bother him. “If anything ill were to befall her, I am also burdened to add that it would be impossible to have aid nearby for the occasion.”
“Dammit,” Gladiolus growled against his palms, inwardly wishing he could wake Isla up and just yell at her for a moment for being so careless; however, he inwardly counted his blessings he was seeing her at all. He could have lost more than his father and his chamberlain, Jared, in the past few weeks, but the gods were indeed merciful in his losses. “I’m gonna…ummm…” He paused, cleared his throat as he hated he had to depart from the group. “…I’m gonna sit this one out for a bit, Iggy.” Gladiolus had not the energy to look at the advisor, even if he knew Ignis wouldn’t scold him for the decision. “Give me some time to get Isla at least on her feet, and then I will join you all in Cape Caem for our trip to Altissia.” Thumb and index finger rubbing together in idle thought, he sighed out his disappointment in himself once more. “There’s something else I got to do anyways.”
“As you wish,” responded Ignis with a simple nod, not wanting to add any pressure to the Shield. “If you should require our aid, merely inform us, Gladio.”
“I appreciate it, Iggy, but all of this I have to handle alone,” answered Gladiolus, his fist lightly beating on the armrest as if to divert the unpleasant thoughts and nightmares elsewhere from where they remained in his mind.
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He wouldn’t be deterred. While Ignis’ warning rang in his ears, Gladiolus kept to Lestallum and aided Isla as she so needed when lacking the assistance of the doctors nearby. Inwardly, he hated how confined he felt the two of them were in the hospital. It was as though they had rarely the privacy they so wanted and watching as Isla was moved from the bed to the washroom and then back again was more than he could stand. A part of him ached at the helpless sight of her as she was a tough sort—a woman that even he never thought he’d see the day where she’d end up as this.
His mind a wandering mess, Gladiolus happened to notice the nurse that had just left the room Isla was kept caged within when returning to the hospital one morning when Isla insisted he at least get better sleep at the inn. “Hey, excuse me,” he called to her, hurrying towards the woman in a brisk jog to reach her before she could depart on business elsewhere.
The nurse paused in her steps, bowing in respect to Gladiolus’ presence before moving a stray strand of blond hair back into place behind her ear. “Yes, sir?” she questioned, recognizing his face and the relationship between him and the patient but unaware of what may be troubling him at current given the weight of his steps and the tone of his words.
“I was wondering,” Gladiolus began, pausing right at the door leading into Isla’s room to which caught his eye before gazing back at the nurse before him, “can I take Isla outside of this hospital for a bit?”
The woman struggled for an answer, the clipboard she was carrying seemed to tighten in her hands as she held it before her lap trying to calculate if that were to be reasonable or not. “Well, I…” Her blue eyes turned to the nearby window that allowed her a clear view into Isla’s room. “You could, perhaps, for a little while, Mr. Amicitia, but I wouldn’t advise that you be out for too long given the weather conditions here and the state she is in.”
Gladiolus merely nodded, inwardly grumbling a bit as he just wanted to get her out of the hospital for a moment or two. She’d been stuck there for nearly two weeks now, and even Isla was beginning to find it a bit suffocating given her actions that spoke volumes to him. “Promise,” he said simply so as to bite back the true words he wished to say given the frustration that gnawed at him hungrily.
Isla’s eyes widened ever slightly when Gladiolus moved the wheelchair to her bedside moments later. Her words in the past several days had been minimal at best either to preserve energy or trauma that she refused to speak of that fueled her nightmares as of late. “And where exactly are we going…?” she questioned with a simple raise of her brow as it pained her still to do much else at times.
“Out,” answered Gladiolus simply, again biting back the anger and frustration that was still very much inside of him, demanding to be set loose with every painful glance he had to give the woman he loved. She was suffering…could barely move an inch at times without begging for medicine whenever it had worn off in what felt like a matter of moments to him, and this was all no thanks in kind to his inability to be there for her.
Why didn’t he just ask for her to come with him? Nobody trusted that peace treaty—nobody!
In the firmness of that simple word, Isla glanced away. She could tell Gladiolus was beating himself up about something and given the fact he lost his father and Jared and her now bedridden and acting like she would be incapable of moving again, it was easy to place the missing pieces together. Even raising her arm to rest her fingers upon her forehead in frustration of the plaguing thoughts was arduous as her arm felt heavy as iron.
“Gladio…maybe it’s unwise to—.”
“C’mere,” he ordered, cutting Isla off and ignoring her words he knew would disregard her own inner desire to move out of the hospital’s suffocating walls for a few moments. His arms were open and the embrace that was once always welcoming to Isla was looked upon in fear knowing that even the slightest movement into her once haven would cause her enormous pain even with sedatives. His fingers curled slightly in regret, amber eyes darting away in equal heaviness before taking to Isla’s nearest arm to escort it behind his neck. “It’ll only hurt for a second, I promise.”
“I’ve been through worse,” she insisted playfully but the painful sting that erupted shortly after of the Shield merely moving her just a bit into his arms made her easily retract that comment with a whine of discomfort she tried to barricade behind her lips.
Gladiolus was quick and in that haste, laid Isla to rest upon the wheelchair before taking to a knee beside her. He only held her for half a minute it felt and she was already sweating from the agony that ripped cruelly through her. His hand found hers in time, the other tending to the black strands that dared to fall into her face. “Are you alright?”
Isla forced a smile. “I-I told you I’ve been through worse.”
He spat in annoyance. “Cut the strong bullshit act, Isla, and tell me when you’re not feeling well,” Gladiolus ordered firmly.
Hearing him request such a thing, she turned from him as if to order back her own words she wanted to say in retaliation, not having the strength to quarrel in the moment. “If things get bad, Gladio, I’ll let you know.” She was firm in the answer, not wanting to say much more than that as Isla survived the worst of it—couldn’t Gladiolus see that at least?
He figured that was good enough. To his feet, he took to the grip of the wheelchair and guided Isla out of the hospital at least for a few hours to talk more in private and get her fresh air.
To say privacy was around a group of strangers out in Lestallum’s public eye was probably redundant on Gladiolus’ part, but he figured the walls couldn’t contain their secrets nearly as well there and only small children, for the most part, would find intrigue in the wheelchair being used by Isla to catch their curious gaze for a mere moment in passing. He took to the shade when thinking on sitting down to speak to her. Heat was bad enough in concerns to Lestallum’s climate and he didn’t need Isla fainting from the exhaustion it could bear down upon her.
Isla found comfort in the shadows of the overhang near one of the restaurants of the town as Gladiolus ordered food for them both, her mind elsewhere and nearly drowning him out completely as the cries of the dead haunted her even when she was awake.
“I figured you could use a break from the piss awful food at the hospital,” spoke Gladiolus to try and lighten the heaviness of the atmosphere. He hadn’t noticed Isla was truly elsewhere in the moment. “I’ve tried the stuff in the cafeteria and I’ve known cardboard to be more enjoyable then that.” When the bird-broth rice with curry arrived at the table for the both of them, Gladiolus sighed as he knew Isla just moving into his arms was a challenge. Would she even be able to eat? “Did you need help with your food—?”
Amber eyes flashed with concern as he noticed Isla was hardly even paying attention to him even if she was looking straight ahead. It was haunting, really…like her mind was literally elsewhere or she had just shut down like some machine that had run out of energy in some form. She was staring right through the Shield.
“Isla…?” Gladiolus’ mere saying of her name weighed with concern at how truly lifeless she looked. He reached across the table and grabbed at her hand. “Isla!”
She gasped, her blue eyes springing back to life as she felt the warmth of Gladiolus’ touch upon her. Fingers curling upon his grasp, she found much needed relief in knowing he was there regardless of the inner torment she was putting herself through. “I was…” Isla shook her head, hand threatening to go to her forehead to wipe the worry from her brow, which began to bead with sweat, but she found the simple task too daunting given the heaviness of the pain medication and merely bowed her head as her touch took sanctuary in Gladiolus’. “I…I’m sorry…what did you ask me earlier?”
A sigh of exasperation and fear passed his lips as his grip upon her hand tightened reassuringly. Even if she forced a smile on her lips, her eyes were screaming at him—begging for help in some way or to perhaps ask the right question to set her free. “You can put on that tough girl act all you want to, princess, but I know there’s something haunting you even if you won’t tell me about it.”
Seemed the comment struck the right cord in a sense as Isla felt her foundation crumble as the memories haunting her rose up through the cracks. She hadn’t even realized what a death grip she was putting on Gladiolus’ hand but given all the power in the Shield’s grasp, he hadn’t cared to notice and merely responded in a gentle squeeze now and again to remind her he was there. Isla was too shocked to truly even cry over the horror, making her feel frozen in place again as she struggled to speak. “I…I’ve seen a lot of crap in my time, Gladio,” she murmured between them, her sights locked on his to keep herself grounded. “…I’ve never had to bear witness to innocent people being gunned down like livestock.”
“Isla,” Gladiolus spoke in comforting concern, hearing how traumatized she truly was in that moment. Her eyes went wild again, as though something was calling her and the haunting vision of her looking around and acting abnormal was almost more than the Shield could bear to witness; but he kept his watch close and steady.
“Even now I…” Isla paused, taking in the sounds that felt misplaced given the tranquility of Lestallum. “…It feels like they’re screaming and begging for mercy…” She hadn’t truly realized she was replaying that moment again and again of her customers being horribly gunned down just outside of her bar. Had it not been for the fact she needed to fight to keep her co-workers alive and to see Gladiolus and protect his family…she may have succumbed to delirium in the foreign, cruel act.
Gladiolus moved his hand to her cheek, catching her sights once more and begging her sanity to return. “I was prepared to fight the daemons and the Empire, Isla,” he reminded her as she fell into his touch, acting in thirst for the moment as she nearly buried her face entirely within his palm. “You, on the other hand, weren’t supposed to witness something as awful as that or nearly die trying to protect my family.”
“I can’t release these thoughts,” she whispered in wretched agony. “I’ve not an idea of where my workers went or if they even made it out alive.” Her face contorted into absolute pain—mentally and physically as her injury was starting to act up. “People I saw everyday…they drowned in a pool of their own blood…they just…died…” The word was heavy and nearly tasted of the horrible copper substance when she spoke it as if the dead were truly spiting her for speaking such a thing when she too should have perished. She shook her head, angry at herself. “Why is this so disturbing to me?” She restrained her want to cry but the evidence was very much there in the quivering formation of her words and the somber look to her eyes, which glossed over with tears. “I was trained to be able to handle daemons should they ever pass the Wall or I needed to leave Insomnia, and I could hardly handle that barbaric attack.”
“You cannot be expected to be brave all the time, Isla,” reminded Gladiolus calmly, moving to the other side of the table to be a bit closer to her. “We all react to things differently.”
“And you?” Isla asked, turning to look upon her lover with concern and care, tears freely cascading down her face to mark her appearance in the sunlight. “Gladio, I am not stupid. You look at me with such shame that it pains me sometimes.” A quivering exhale escaped her as her fingers curled in his touch once more. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have been able to protect you, Isla,” Gladiolus expressed firmly through his teeth, jabbing his index finger on the table to express his point. “Or at the very damn least demanded you come along!” His lower lip moved inward with regret, eyes darting about as if refusing to fall prey completely to the negativity that had swallowed him up as of late. “I know the Niffs would betray us, I knew it, and I didn’t do everything in my power to protect you—!”
“That’s not true!” Isla interjected firmly but in her desire to want to hold him or do anything, the painful strike to her abdomen and lower back chastised her for being too vivacious and she flinched from its dreadful bite.
“Isla!” Gladiolus panicked, holding her upper arms in support as she tried to steady herself. He sighed in annoyance for upsetting her injury in the process of accidentally distressing her. “We’ll talk of this later.” In a show of apologetic behavior for what he had done, his fingers took care in ridding Isla of her tears. “Right now, you need to eat something that’s a bit better for you.”
Realizing again what she could have lost completely in her insane actions back in Insomnia, her breath expelled in a shuddering manner as she found relief in the warmth of his touch as her own skin felt so cold sometimes. “I love you, Gladio, and I hate to see you suffer as this,” she spoke softly between them.
Gladiolus jerked his head back at her words, curious how she would think he was the one suffering the most. “I am not the one in the wheelchair, sweetheart… How can you say I am the one suffering?”
“Your eyes tell me everything as does your body when you move across the room in the hospital,” Isla reminded him with a shake of her head. “You won’t look at me for too long, you walk with your head down and the weight of you…I worry that the floor will give out under your steps at any moment.”
He shook his head in return as if denying that to be true. “I said we’ll talk of this later,” he insisted, moving his hand across his mouth as if to deny her the view of his upset. “Did you need help with eating or anything?”
Isla turned to the food before her and cringed at the very idea of eating anyways. It had gotten easier to eat actual foods whereas before it was almost impossible no thanks to her stomach being messed up from the attack and where she was shot, but with emotions weighing on her and now the pain starting to trigger anew, she wasn’t sure what she could handle. “I can try, I guess.”
Gladiolus ignored his food for the time being, taking to the fork that belonged to Isla’s dish and worked on at least getting the rice into her. He would be content with anything sitting in her stomach at the moment that wasn’t hospital cafeteria food. “I’ll help you then,” he insisted, clearing his throat as he was apparently still choked up when Isla called him out on how weary he truly did appear. “After we’re done here I have to contact the Marshal about something important.”
She accepted his gesture, finding her hands weighed all the more from the talk prior and the pain clawing at her from the inside like a wild beast, paralyzing her. “What do you need to talk to him for?” Isla questioned, swallowing the rice with a cringe shortly after as she felt her body threaten to retaliate for a second.
The Shield waved away her question, letting Isla adjust to what she ate before trying again. “Ravus handed my ass to me when I was trying to protect Noct, and I need his help with something.” Again, his words sounded bitter and almost vengeful in a sense.
Isla didn’t like the sound of it. With how emotionally beside himself Gladiolus had become, she didn’t trust where this would truly go. “Can I come with you?”
“Absolutely not,” Gladiolus spoke quickly in a firm quiet manner, detaining his anger and annoyance that was still bubbling up inside of him.
A frown pressed upon her lips as her fingers curled inward at his stubborn behavior (the only action she could truly do as of late). “Gladio, if I have to wheel myself beside you, I am coming with you one way or another!”
Again, he raised his hand to halt her words. Gladiolus stalled. He wanted to tell her firmly ‘no’, but the last time he had done so…he regretted it and now his regret was destroying him ever so slowly as he had to bear witness to what a simple bad choice had brought him. Eyes shut tight and teeth rolling upon his lower lip, he knew the best answer wasn’t the easiest for him given the trials he wanted to take to regain his pride and prove his worth as a Shield to the new King of Lucis. “We will wait for you to get better then, because I will not have you going where I am in a damn wheelchair.”
Isla nodded, accepting that response over the other. “If you can wait, I will gladly follow you this time,” she reminded him lovingly.
Gladiolus continued onward with helping her eat, not wanting to discuss his plans further as he didn’t wish to stress his lover. “And Isla?” he beckoned, calling her attention once more. “I love you too.”
