#gladio turns first — he has a duty to uphold to the end no matter what

[tarotdeckshuffle]

IgNyx Day Five!

Super late, but it’s been a roller coaster of a week. Hope you enjoy!

All is revealed, including the feelings that have been suppressed for so long. 

Rating: T

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Taglist: @idiotflowerex, @laststory1013, @sayaoqueen, @jophinabean, @mysme-already,  @ffxvignyxzine

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Spectral: Chapter 5

For so long, memories are all they had of each other. It felt so surreal to be here. 

The men had camped at the crystal for days, hoping that Noctis would soon be released. It was the seventh day when even Prompto admitted that he wasn’t returning anytime soon. 

So began the long trek out of Gralea. Dameons and MTs still patrolled the abandoned halls, stressing the need for calculated steps and quiet movements.

Nearly lost in the maze of concrete tunnels, the men walked single file, stopping briefly only to rest. 

“We’re lost…” Gladio grumbled, looking down at the shoddy beds of their current bunk room. Prompto peeked around the great shield to see what he was staring at. As it was, the bed just looked horribly unmade, with the sheets balled up at the foot of the mattress. But Ignis stood in the corner of the room, quickly realising what was going on. 

Nyx walked to the opposite side of the bed. “Leaving a breadcrumb, eh?” The Glaive stared down at the bed. 

“So, I’m guessing that’s your signature ‘messy bed’ style?” Propto piped up, finally realizing what was going on. 

Gladio didn’t find humor in the moment, though. He roared and flipped over the bunk beds. The metal frame toppled over onto the terrified Glaive staring up at it!

“NO!” Ignis yelled, reaching out for Nyx, but he needn’t have worried. Where man and metal should have collided, there stood only mist. The bed had passed straight through Nyx and clattered to the floor. 

Both Gladio and Prompto turned to Ignis, alarmed. It took a moment for the stratigan’s nerves to catch up to his mind as he realized what was going on. 

His outstretched hand came to his mouth as he cleared his throat. “We are lost if we lose our wits now. We must remain calm and figure our way out of this. One mistake is not the end of us...not yet.” Ignis paused to take a deep breath. “Now, I suggest both of you rest and collect yourselves. I’ll take first watch.” 

Gladio grumbled as he and Prompto slinked away to find beds. Ignis made for the bench just outside of the bunkroom. 

As he sat down, the normally composed man stared down at his hands. So much had happened and so much was still happening. But everything felt...numb. 

“I think you’re going to need a manicure after this,” a voice chimed next to him. 

Turning, Ignis saw him: the Glaive that walked in his dreams. 

“This must all be some sort of dream. Some final illusion the gods have bestowed upon me. You’re not actually here…” he lamented, running his hands over his face. Ignis let his racing thoughts run away with him. 

This couldn’t be real.

It wasn’t real.

Why was this happening?

Until he was brought back by the feeling of a warm hand over his. 

“I promise you, it’s real. But only for you.” 

“But...how?” Ignis was on the verge of breaking down from all of the days of stress. 

“That’s...a long story…” 

A frazzled stratigen looked up to meet Nyx’s gaze, daring him to see if this story even compared to what had already happened. 

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For years, everything Nyx had done had been in the hopes of saving Ignis. From reconnaissance and sabotage on the Empire, to personally outfitting the Prince’s regime. 

But sacrifices must be made in war. Nyx knew he was the only one who could save the people of Insomnia. The only one who could give the world a fighting chance to see tomorrow. In a moment of truth, he made the decision: he had to save the city, even if it meant his own life. This was his small part in saving all of Eos. If he didn’t help save the planet, his love would be lost as well. 

As the sun rose on that fateful morning, Nyx’s world turned to black. He didn’t know what the afterlife would look like, but he expected something bright. A place like old Galahd where his family was waiting on him. 

The Glaive opened his eyes, only to find darkness. Silence echoed throughout the space. Nyx called out, but no sound left his lips. 

Click...click...click…

Footsteps rang through the nothingness.

Click..click...click…

They grew louder. 

Soon, there was a light on the horizon. 

Nyx squinted as a figure came into view. It was Shiva in full icey beauty. 

“Do not forget your vow,young Guardian.” Her cool voice rang but her lips did not move. 

“I haven’t, but I thought…” Nyx thought more than he said. 

“Now is when your duty begins…” Shiva turned, gesturing with her hand to a scene playing out on Eos. 

The astral plane could weave through time as the user saw fit. Nyx was seeing Ignis’s sacrifice play out before him, long after his own death. 

In a matter of seconds, the Glaive watched as his love was struck down by the Usurper, even with the power of the Lucii. A silent scream left his lungs.

“Do you uphold your vow?” The cool voice asked again. 

“YES!” Every fiber of Nyx’s being screamed his answer as soon as the question left Shiva.

“Then you have my blessing. Go…” The icy goddess snapped her fingers with a smile.

Instantly, Nyx was at his love’s side. “Not him…” he cried to himself as he ran to hold Ignis. 

The young advisor was on the cusp of death, his body unfit to hold life. Tears ran from Nyx’s eyes as he saw what his sacrifice had amounted to.

“You’re still needed,” he plead, holding onto the man he had dreamed of for so long. 

From his place on the edge of the beyond, the Glaive saw both the physical and the astral. The late monarchs of Lucis stared down at the men from the astral plane. 

“I have been warned that you wish to bargain for this man’s life…” a great voice boomed. 

Nyx definitely looked up at the Old Wall. “Yes! I will give whatever I must to save his life.” 

“You cannot,” a woman’s voice rang out. “For he has bargained with his life, of which you can not substitute.” 

“I don’t care if he made a deal, let me make another one!” Nyx cried out. He stared down at the dying face in his arms, trying his best to think of what he had to bargain with. 

“Take my death in exchange for not taking this man’s life! Let him live and in exchange, I shall never leave this plain!” 

For a moment, the late monarchs were silent. Simply turning to one another for guidance. 

A familiar voice spoke up. “Young Glaive, you would have a place on this wall should you wish to join us, for you died under the Ring of the Lucii. Are you truly willing to give this up?” It was King Regis, ever kind, even in death. 

Without hesitation, Nyx spoke up. “Yes.” 

“And the gods vouch for him,” Shiva’s voice added, ringing out from all directions. 

The Founder King’s figure looked down at the new Guardian. “Then it is so.”

The Old Wall disappeared into a blinding light as Nyx felt a heavy weight fall over his features. But he smiled, as his love began to heal before his very eyes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The clock overhead ticked the hours away as Ignis listened to Nyx’s story. The whole while, he sat in silence. 

Finally, the advisor spoke, “Then I assume I’m the only one who can see you…” 

“I would agree with your assumption.” Nyx replied, trying to match Ignis’s tone. “I signed up to be your Guardian, so I guess I only exist for you.” 

But the advisor scoffed. “Signed up? That’s what you make of all this? You simply ‘volunteered’ to become the guardian for a stranger?!” His voice rose as he became more irate. “You sacrificed DEATH for me?! Do you even begin to comprehend the gravity of the situation?!” 

Just as Ignis finished, the door to the bunkroom creaked open. A sleepy Prompto rubbed his eyes. “Iggy? You okay?”

Quickly, Ignis pulled on a mask of serenity. “Yes, Prompto. I’m fine. Go back to bed, I’ll come get you when it’s your shift.” 

The gunslinger mumbled and stumbled back to his bunk. 

As Ignis turned his attention back to the specter before him, he was met with a determined gaze. Nyx had stood up to his full height, inches above him. 

“I know what I gave up. And I didn’t do it for a stranger.”

Ignis stared up into the dark sky of Nyx’s eyes. His body couldn’t comprehend what was before it, for his eyes saw the man in front of him, but his body could feel no warmth, his ears no breathing, and his nose no scent. It was like the stratigan was still dreaming and this fantasy would soon disappear before his eyes. 

Ignis swallowed, trying not to show how flustered he was. “If not for a stranger, they why did you do this?” 

The Glaive’s eyes softened. “I did it for a man I couldn’t get over. For a man who deserves more than this world has granted him. The one who deserves his happy ending. The one I needed to help.”

Ignis blushed as he turned away. “I didn’t ask for whom you did this, I asked why…”

A gentle smile crossed Nyx’s face as he gently turned Ignis’s head back towards him. “I did this because I love you.” 

Although he heard them, Ignis wasn’t sure how to comprehend those words. He felt shocked but so joyful. Questions began to race through his mind before Nyx silenced them. 

And in that moment, the greatest desire both men had gently carried with them for so long, was fulfilled. 

Ignis had never imagined he would kiss a ghost, but in this moment, Nyx felt more real to him than anything else in the world. He could feel warmth against his lips and magic against his body. Every thought vanished from his mind as his whole body gave in to the touch he had wanted for so long. But new sensations, sensations he had experienced with no other lover, also came to greet him. 

These foreign sensations flowed like a river through his own senses. He felt warmth throughout his body and a glowing happiness in his soul. But he also felt something strange: a weight on the very fiber of his soul that wasn’t meant to be there, like he was being weighed down in deep water. 

Just as Ignis thought his consciousness would be overwhelmed by the contradictory sensations, they ended. He opened his eyes and gazed upon the sight of his Glaive.

Nyx leaned his forehead against Ignis’s. “Did you feel it too?” 

The advisor nodded lightly. “Everything felt...heavy. Was that what you feel?” 

The Glaive smiled. “Yes, that is the weight of duty. That is the weight of what I would do for you.” Ignis started to pull away. “Shhh, don’t worry. It’s not so bad. Through you, I felt...real...again.” 

The advisor pulled his love close. “Than that is how I shall repay you, my Guardian.”

#ffxv #ignyx week #ignyx #ignis x nyx #ignis #ignis scientia #nyx #nyx ulric #final fantasy #final fantasy xv #final fantasy 15