Noctis Lucis Caelum (veggiehater) wrote in valloic, @ 2022-09-15 11:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: gladio amicitia, ₴ inactive: noctis lucis caelum (2) |
Log: Noctis & Gladio
Fighting off daemons though it had seemed was like riding a bike. While Vallo was never quiet, it was still a hell of a lot better - most of the time - than the Eos he'd left behind. But he'd slipped back into it quickly enough, even if he hated every minute of it. And so had the others. Enough that they'd made the dumb move of splitting up.
Though in his defense when they'd come across the thing eating corpses - Iseultalon his brain would provide later when not needed - Gladio had tried to call back to Ignis and Prompto, they just didn't get the chance to quite do it before a fight was on hand.
Between the tail, claws, lasers and the beam thing that showed up once or twice it was a lot more running and dodging than Gladio liked in his fights. But the two of them had managed to get in quite a few hits and it seemed as though the creature was showing signs of slowing. Or at least the lasers hadn't come out in a while.
"Nice one!" Gladio shouted out as a flare of fire from Noct had the Iseultalon stumbling back. A short lived victory though as it was only a moment before Gladio noticed the thing shooting it's claws at them, well, at Noctis - stuck in stasis. Gladio moved quickly, unceremoniously shoving Noctis out of the way of the sharp appendage as he called on his shield and tried to block. He wasn't quite quick enough though and he gritted his teeth against the sudden sharp pain as the claws dug into his shoulder, tearing the skin there before retreating back.
Noctis would have gladly faced anything but daily reminders of the horrors people were facing at home. He’d made a promise months ago that he wouldn’t jump right to anything self-sacrificing if this exact situation arose. He’d repeated that promise when Ignis had started having flashes of prophecy visions again recently. And he was trying.
But the darkness and the daemons at every turn were wearing him down. What if this was punishment for trying to live a life here without trying everything he possibly could to get home? So many people had died in Eos. People were still dying. His whole world was dying. His thoughts were an exhausting cage as he went through the motions of another fight. Maybe that’s why he overdrew and ended up gasping in stasis as the creature swiped its claws at him. He had to watch his boyfriend take the damage for him.
“Gladio!” Noct fell into a glowing-eyed, protective rage with ease, pushing the daemon back with sword attacks and fire until his ability to warp returned. “Just. Die. Already,” he commanded between teleporting flash attacks. As the creature gave a death wail, Noct was already warping back to Gladio’s side with wide eyes. There was so much blood. “Six, I don’t—I think we used the last of the potions.”
Despite bleeding and the pain that came with it, Gladio swapped back to a sword. A lighter one he could swing one handed and tried to steady himself to jump back in as Noctis blurred in his flurry of attacks. He knew Noct capable but sitting back, even for the brief moments it took Noct to take down the creature finally, wasn't something Gladio liked to do. But it seemed rallying wasn't going to be needed and there was a flash of pride as Noctis finished the daemon off.
He used the sword in hand to help him sink gingerly to the ground as Noctis warped back. He knew for a fact Noct was right on the potion front. He caught Noctis' gaze and tried to put as much resolve behind his own as he could. "Hey, I ain't dying," he pointed out. At least he hoped he wasn't, blood loss was a bitch though.
The sword vanished and he started to try to pull off his shirt - both so Noct could get a better look and to use to put pressure on the wound. But it proved to be more of a challenge than he planned and he glanced up at Noct. "Little help?" he asked and despite it all he added a little suggestive raise of his brows. Because apparently his mind constantly lived in the gutter.
Noct's hands shook as he flung his sword back into the armiger with a flash of sparks. He pulled out a first aid kit that Ignis had insisted on. It was well stocked but Noct was no field medic. They needed to get somewhere with a real healer but he couldn't warp Gladio back to a waypoint without bringing a lot of attention to them and leaving a trail of Gladio's blood along the way.
He dropped to his knees, set the kit aside, and helped Gladio out of his shirt.
"Put your eyebrows back where they belong, this is serious." Noct sounded shaken. The wounds were ragged and a little deep. He moved things around inside the kit with jerking motions. Helpless frustration was starting to build inside of him, like a wave ready to crest. "We can't keep doing this." He pulled out fresh gauze and press it to the wounds to stem the flow of blood. "I can't keep doing this. It's stupid. It's selfish! You were the one that always told me I needed to get my head out of my ass and care about everyone else."
Gladio sobered quickly as Noctis started to speak, clearly going down a spiral to places Gladio had really hoped things wouldn't go. Even if he knew that was pretty impossible. Darkness had fallen on Vallo, their crystal from home had been found, daemons were numerous and it was all too easy to see where Noct's brain was going. Where it had been going for a couple days now.
"Yeah, well that was a pretty dick move of me. You care about everyone else, Noct." He reached his hand on the non injured side up to take over for Noct holding the gauze so he could grab the tape from the kit.
"And if you think we're gonna let you just crawl into some crystal for gods' knows how long when we don't even know if it'll do anything..." the end of the thought was trailed of as he pressed a little to hard with his own damn hand and his mouth pressed into a tight line. "We're going to figure it out, without going down the same path we did back home," he added instead, gaze intent on Noct.
Noct frowned, but let Gladio take over. His hands had Gladio's blood on them now and he dug around in the kit for more gauze.
"What if we don't have time to figure it out?" He spoke louder, even if he was more worried than angry. "I'm just supposed to let people get hurt, let people die because I don't want to leave you guys? It took too long for me to come back last time, but maybe knowing that, I could do it faster! Maybe I don't have as far to go now, to be the man I need to be."
It sounded like grasping at straws even to him. But he squared his shoulders anyway. "Gladio. What if it gets a lot worse because I'm avoiding it?"
Gladio hated this. More than he hated just about anything. And the absolutely worst was knowing Noct was right, that maybe they were pushing past a line of wait and see and were just being selfish, blindsided by wanting desperately to rewrite their story. But he wasn't ready yet to give up. To go down the same path they had at home simply because they didn't have any other ideas right then. Noctis deserved more than that.
"And what if you giving yourself up doesn't even do anything?" he retorted back, more curt than he wanted it to be. "We have no idea what the rules are here compared to home. What if you go into that crystal and it does nothing? Or what if you go in and you don't -" he cut himself off, realizing he was all but yelling at that point and took a breath.
"What if you go in and you don't come back out?" He finished after a moment. The thought that had been playing on repeat since the crystal had been found. "I'm not okay with that, Noct. Ignis and Prom sure as hell aren't okay with that and you? You shouldn't have to be okay with that."
"I don't know, okay! I don't--" Their voices raising reminded Noct of the old days, when they'd channeled their too big emotions into fighting more than flirting. And Gladio's fear made his heart twist in his chest. The last thing he wanted was for Gladio - his Shield, the strongest person he knew - to be afraid. But he was afraid too. Failing the people he loved was and always would be his biggest fear. Noct pushed to his feet and pulled at his hair in frustration.
"Do you know how much energy I put into accepting that life isn't fair? We joke about my moody teenage years but half of that was just me coming to grips with the fact that I had responsibilities and I wasn't going to get to choose a life for just me." He crouched back down to press his hands to either side of Gladio's wounds, trying to channel some of his healing into Gladio's blood rather than the usual liquid of choice. He just hated watching him bleed. Let alone watching him bleed from a daemon while they argued. "I'm not okay with it. I just--I wonder if maybe fighting fate will make it all worse."
Vallo was supposed to be different. It was supposed to be their chance to leave all that fate and duty and all the crap that came with it behind. It was supposed to be their chance at exactly what Noctis hadn't gotten. Choosing a life for themselves.
But yet here they were. Running up against the same wall and as much as everything had changed right then it felt like nothing had changed. He didn't want Noctis to have to sacrifice himself. He didn't even want that thought going through Noct's mind. Gladio knew though, what it meant to be born into something bigger than you. And for all he wanted to hide Noctis away from the world, to say fuck it and just let someone else figure it out, run off and hope for the best - he knew Noctis would never be okay with it.
He started to reach for Noct's chin with his hand but hesitated, his fingers covered in blood and opted instead to let his forehead rest against Noctis'. "I love you," he said and exhaled softly. Trying to ebb the whole yell about shit impulse. "And I've got your back, always. No matter what. You want to go crawl into that thing I'll crawl in right after you," and he would. If this absolutely blew up in their faces and that was all they had? Like hell he'd let Noct go do that alone again.
"But you're worth fighting fate for," he added after a moment. "You always have been. Just - let us try that? Just give us a little time, that's all I'm asking."
Emotion stole Noct's breath and his eyes fluttered shut. His grip on Gladio tightened before he realized it might actually hurt. He softened his touch and shifted his hands to the sides of Gladio's face. He was definitely leaving bloody prints behind. But he needed this. He needed the touch and the closeness and to be able to push up on his knees to press a kiss to Gladio's mouth. His eyes stung.
The thought of the guys following him into the crystal was both haunting and comforting somehow. He'd never allow it without a fight, but it helped push back the anxiety.
"I love you too. I…Six, Gladio. I'm sorry. I'm so stupid. I promised Ignis and I just--I hate seeing you guys hurt for me all over again. It makes me want to do anything to make it stop. But I know we have to do things differently this time." He kissed Gladio again, then he pulled back to focus on wrapping gauze around Gladio's shoulder and up under his arm. His mouth set into a stubborn line but this time it was less ruled by fear. This time it was the stubborn face of a king. "We've always been stronger together. It's more true than ever. We'll fight fate together."
Gladio gave up on trying to keep Noct clean, or cleanish at least, when their lips pressed together, his hand sliding behind Noct's neck to pull him in closer. His kiss back was a little desperate, the high emotions of the past few days catching up with him.
"You're not stupid," he said when he pulled back, eyes moving to watch Noct wrap up his shoulder. It'd be another set of scars to add to the collection he figured. He glanced back up to Noct. "And I'm proud of you for thinking of helping everyone else," he said, and he was. Even if he hated where Noctis' mind when to to the how of it all. "But we're going to find a better way." Gods he hoped they could. It felt like such a cruel twist if after all this they still lost Noct.
He glanced back down to the quick first aid job. "That should hold until we get indoors somewhere," he said with a bit of a nod and then started to get to his feet. "And we probably shouldn't linger in the dark too long, let's head back."
"We have to figure it out. I can't take years of this." Noct wasn't sure he got to take credit for thinking to do exactly what he'd already done at home. If he didn't have Iris and Talcott's testimony that it worked, even if it did take ages, he wasn't sure he'd have made the same call.
Okay, probably, but still. He ducked up under Gladio's uninjured side and wrapped an arm around his back.
"Keep your ears open. I'll get us where we're going. My sense of direction is awesome," he said, as if Gladio wasn't the man who had once had to fetch him out of a shopping mall when he'd gotten lost.
Twice.