An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter 2: Unexpected Help
“Well, well. Didn’t expect you guys to actually take me up on my offer.”
The wind around the magitek ship that was slowly descending upon the wide open ground made the four shield their eyes as it slowly lowered, their hair whipping around their faces at the massive craft braced itself for landing. The evening light reflected off the shine of the large ship, and it looked rather intimidating set against the background of the burning Disc.
It hadn’t taken much to contact her. Cor had already been in contact with the commodore before they had even thought to ask for her aid.
Their conversation with Cor had been short and clipped - as he had actively explained that they couldn’t be sure where Ignis had been taken, and that it would take someone on the inside to be able to give them more details of what exactly the Empire was planning. All of their thoughts had jumped to Aranea, who had previously offered her help in the past. It was only a day afterwards that they had ventured outside of Lestallum, and now here the four of them stood.
Aranea was standing on the lip of the opened door, her flashy attire a nice compliment to the red of the ship. They could barely make out the shout that she offered to them, but her maskless face made her lips easy to read. Without waiting for the entirety of the craft to land, she had leapt forward, landing on the grassy ground with a soft thud.
Noct watched as she straightened, her silvery hair billowing around her pretty face as she approached the few group of men. She twirled her long lance in her hands before she secured it in its holster. “But here we are.” She finished, her voice lower now that the vehicle had cut its engines.
The prince watched as several of the crew members stepped out from the ship behind her, two taking their place on either side of the opening of the ship while the other scrambled around to take their positions as scouts.
“Surprised you actually followed through.” Gladio had huffed, his massive arms crossed against his bare chest as he eyed the commodore.
Aranea offered him a cool glare. “Think what you want about me, but I was serious when I said the Empire was getting out of hand. Money was good, but I’m not a heartless killer.”
“We know, Aranea.” Prompto said, stepping passed Gladio in a surprising show of confidence. “He’s not really at his best,” the blond explained with a humorless laugh, “we’d really be screwed if you didn’t show up.”
“I see.” The mercenary said flatly, “So what’s so important that you dragged me all the way to the Disc? It’s a bitch to land this thing here, ya know - and I really didn’t expect you to show up, Cor.”
“We appreciate you taking the time to meet us, Commodore. This matter is very urgent.” Cor explained from the side, staring at her coolly.
“We need your help.” Noct finally spoke up, shifting his feet. “We didn’t know who else to turn to.”
“Well, obviously, pretty boy.” Aranea huffed, crossing her arms. Her brow furrowed however, as she looked between them. “Wait, where’s Glasses? He’s usually more articulate.”
Aranea’s face fell, however, after a dreadfully long pause filled the space. Her arms fell to her side before she propped a hand up on her hip, the other coming up to rub two fingers against her forehead. “Oh…”
“We...we don’t know where he is.” Noct said after a minute, “And we don’t know how to track him.”
“You’re our best bet.” Gladio filled in, his voice steady as he explained. “You’ve got more experience huntin’ us down than anyone, we figured you’d know where to start, at least.”
“You lose him in a scuffle, or somethin’? I’m good at tracking, but you’re gonna need to be a bit more detailed than “we lost him”.”
“It’s - it’s hard to explain…we can only guess.” Noct answered, his fist coming up in a gesture, trying to figure how to best detail what had happened.
“Every minute you waste standing there is costing you gil, prince.” Aranea said haughtily, shifting her hips as she stared pointedly at him.
So Noct detailed the account, cringing on every word.
*
“Noct, it would be far more useful if you actually helped me search. Your feet can do more than just idle, you know.”
The prince scoffed at Ignis’s remark, rolling his eyes as he pushed himself off the tree he was leaning against. “You know teaching me these things is useless, Specs. Since I’ll always have you around to do it for me.”
“Never underestimate the value of being able to do things yourself, Noct. This is a useful tool to know. Now come, I think I spotted a nest of sabertusks this way.”
Noct rolled his eyes, a small smirk coming to his face as he followed his retainer deeper into the wooded area. Ignis, lately, had been encroaching his own teachings of how to analyze a creature’s weakness in battle. He deemed it as a “necessary precaution” and “two heads are better than one”. The prince hadn’t totally been against it, but the process was tedious - such as having to find the bloody things first.
So they walked through the area, keeping a close eye and ear out for any sound that would indicate they were near their target.
“Ah, Noct…” Ignis said, glancing over his shoulder as he waved the young prince on. Pulling up beside him, Noct peeked over the slim shoulder to view a small group of sabertusks. He and Ignis were kept safely out of view by the rock that they hid behind, and Noct couldn’t help but smile a bit as he watched as the creatures pawed at each other in play.
If only the damn things didn’t try to kill them as often as they did.
“Alright...have at it.” Ignis commanded from beside him, gesturing with his head towards them.
“Okay…” Noct began with a breath, narrowing his eyes as he looked on at the pack. “I see...the one on the far right as a small limp in its leg. It looks like it's favoring its left side, so that’s its blind spot.”
“Very good.” Ignis commended, his head nodding from Noct’s peripheral vision. “What else?”
“Okay - the alpha is...that one. The one laying beside the beta.” The prince gestured with his hand towards the largest of the sabertusks, its head tucked snugly against another that it lay against.
“Mmmm. There’s more. Quite obvious, actually.” Green eyes flashed up to Noct as he spoke, and Noct narrowed his own as he tried to seek out this “obvious” target. “Uh...hmmm….” the dark-haired royal hummed, his brows furrowing as he sought it out. “I...don’t see it - oh wait.” He pointed towards the end of the pack. “That one. It’s blind.”
The sabertusk in question was laying against the rock, a thick bone of a mutilated creature next to its head. It appeared to be simply laying there, though its head was propped up as it stared, unseeing, into the pack. Its eyes were closed from scar tissue that had grown over it, and the creature looked as though it had seen its fair share of battles as scars covered its body.
“Oh, look. That one’s gonna grab the hide...poor thing.” Noct said quietly, and he shot Ignis a look, but the man had his eyes trained firmly on the beast, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Noct watched, and felt a small pang of guilt stab his chest as he watched another sabertusk near it. The creature reached out carelessly, obviously deducing that its opponent did not see him. It looked as though that that was true, as the blind sabertusk did nothing to stop it. Noct shook his head, a bit angry at the unfairness, but he withheld a gasp when the sabertusk that was reaching for the meat suddenly yelped in fear as the blind one had jumped to its feet, its coordination absolutely perfect as it growled ferociously at its opponent.
Ignis turned to give Noct a look at the same time he did, the smirk still evident on his lips. “Never underestimate your opponent. Though you were correct about the beta, the alpha is actually that one.” Ignis said quietly, gesturing to the lone, blind sabertusk that had settled back near the meat. And Noct watched, in absolute fascination, at the tusk that had previously challenged him slowly brought it a share of its own meat, placing it neatly at its front paws.
“I’m never gonna get this, am I…” Noct huffed to himself. Shaking his head as he turned to Ignis.
“It just takes time - and skilled observation.” Ignis remarked with a smile. “I suppose -” He stopped, however, when the pack of sabertusks suddenly all flew to their feet simultaneously. The alpha let out a sharp bark, and immediately took off in the opposite direction, the entire pack hot on its heels. It wasn’t even seconds later that Noct felt the ground tremble underneath him, and his head shot up to the sky as he watched a magitek ship - no - three magitek ships surround the small area that they were situated in.
“Noct!” Ignis called, ushering him forward towards the clearest escape route, though it could hardly be called such as the ships had managed to completely surround them. Noct felt a hand on his back as Ignis pushed him forward, beckoning him to run as fast as he could. They were certainly no match for the small army that had suddenly descended upon them.
“There!” Ignis called again, turning him towards the small path opening. Large rocks towered on either side of them in the narrow passageway, and Noct was both terrified to be trapped, yet grateful for the cover that they ran under. Weaving his way through the path, Noct spotted the opening outside of the path and his heart pumped faster as he realized that they were only a short distance away from out running the shocking battalion that had surrounded them.
He could hear Ignis’s pounding steps behind him, and he saw him frequently check behind them for the army’s trailing steps.
“It’s just up ahead!” Noct called behind him, dashing towards the exit.
The bright light of the sun greeted them as they finally split through the narrow passage way, and Noct felt a small smile come to his face as he realized how fast that they had outsmarted the troopers -
That was very short lived.
“NOCT!” Ignis shouted, and Noct felt his strong hands wrap around his torso as the prince had almost gone careening off the edge of the cliff that suddenly appeared right before his very eyes. Vertigo overtook his senses as he observed the distant water below him, the shimmering lake reflecting the sun in its depth. His heart leapt from his chest as his body leaned dangerously over the edge, his arms flailing as he regained his balance.
His body was quickly tossed the side, crumpling on the ground as he rolled from the force that Ignis had thrown him.
His breath came in loud pants as he quickly braced his arms on the ground as he leaned up. Looking up, he saw Ignis crouching down beside him, a sharpened look on his face as he looked towards the narrow passageway that they had come from.
“Of course.” Ignis hissed, his lips twitching in a growl as he analyzed their surroundings.
“Wh-what?” Noct stammered, scrambling to his feet, as he too, looked around.
As he looked around, however, he slowly realized what Ignis’s evident fluster came from -
There was no way out. They were completely trapped except for the way that they had come from. The passage always lead to this edge of the cliff.
Continue on Ao3! :D