Welp, here it is, the last chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed it. I'll be writing more in the future, so if anyone has any suggestions on ideas feel free to send a message. ^-^

There was a small tapping on his shoulder. Being the light sleeper he was Ignis awoke at once, automatically fully alert and aware of his surroundings. As soon as he showed signs of being awake and hand was placed over his mouth and there was a soft, "Shhh." He gazed up into Noctis' face, who was looking off into the distance, off into the trees somewhere. He glanced back down at Ignis before removing his hand and pointing in the direction he was just looking. "Something is out there." He softly whispered, barely audible to the point where even Ignis had a hard time catching it.

Ignis slipped his glasses on and stealthy got into a crouching position. It didn't take long for him to hear what Noctis was talking about. Shuffling leaves and a soft growl...soft growls. Whatever it was there were multiple and they seemed to be of descent size. So far it didn't feel like anything they couldn't handle, but they knew from experience how deceiving some of these daemons could be. Ignis crawled over to Gladio and woke him in the same manner that Noctis did to him. At first he swatted his hand away in his half-asleep state, but the second time he he could sense the urgency of the disturbance.

"What should we do? We could probably take them whatever they are." Noctis was preparing to draw his weapon.

Ignis grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Though it is true we could take them out, this is not the time nor place to do so. Not when we don't even know what it is, or how many."

"Iggy's right." Gladio agreed. "You can't charge into fights. You need to learn patience."

"We should try to slip out unnoticed if we haven't been spotted already." Ignis said, still listening to the shuffling for any indication of them getting closer. At the moment it sounded like there was still a bit of distance. "But whatever we do, we need to do it quick while we still have an advantage." He looked over to their fourth member to see him still asleep. "Gladio, you should wake Prompto up. Don't want him waking up when we move."

Gladio leaned over and tapped him on the cheek, "Hey." He whispered as quietly as possible. He got no reaction, so he tapped a bit harder. "Wake up, will ya?" He stirred a little before opening his eyes halfway. Gladio held a finger to his own lips when he saw the other about to speak. Catching on to the severity of the situation, he nodded in understanding and looked to the other two who were gazing off into the trees and followed there eyes.

He looked back up to Gladio, "What is that?"

Gladio shrugged in response. "I have no idea, but you better get ready to get out of here fast regardless. Which means I'm going to have to carry you."

Even though he hated the idea of it, he knew there was no way he would be able to move fast enough with support alone and that this would have probably been their only choice if they didn't want to fight.

"Nod when you're ready."

Prompto took a moment to mentally prepare himself, knowing it was going to suck. He closed his eyes tightly and quickly nodded once. Gladio slid his arms underneath him, and as carefully as he could, lifted him up. The blonde bit his lip to keep from making any sound, not trusting himself to hold anything back. Once Gladio had him securely in his arms he gave him a second to recover. Prompto took a couple deep and shaky breaths and opened his eyes. The other took that as the queue that he was good to go now.

Gladio turned back to the other two who were busy softly discussing their best route of escape. Prompto had his hands clasped together around Gladio's neck. It may have looked a little awkward, but he honestly wasn't concerned with that, only with the fact that it helped to bare the pain at least a little bit easier. Gladio didn't seem to mind either, or if he did he didn't show it.

"So, what's the plan?" Gladio whispered.

"We'll have to go around." Ignis pointed towards the direction he was talking about. "We'll have to move slowly and make a wide arch around them." He began moving, taking the lead. Noctis gestured for Gladio to go next, wanting to have the two currently capable ones on the ends. Then he took up the rear, making sure to take frequent glances behind him to make certain they weren't being followed by anyone or anything.

They kept low to the ground, only Ignis raised his head occasionally to get a good look around to make sure they stayed on course and weren't running into any others dangers. He was also trying to find the smoothest and easiest path for the sake of the two behind him. Even going as far as to hold branches back until Gladio was past it far enough.

He came to an abrupt stop when the shuffling settled down to silence. The others stopped behind him after almost running into him. For a moment they were slightly confused as to why he ceased until the dead air was filled with a bloodcurdling screech. This was much closer than before, and something completely different from what they were hearing earlier. Ignis assumed this new visitor must have scared off their previous ones, and now he much preferred the others.

He started to get worried when the shuffling picked up again, only much louder and faster this time. Not to mention getting very close very fast. They wouldn't have been able to outrun this now. Ignis grabbed Gladio on the shoulder, "You need to run. As fast as you can, just keep going forward. Noct and I will take care of this thing." When Prompto went to protest he quickly cut him off, "No time for arguing, just do what I say. I won't be having any unnecessary risks."

Prompto swallowed whatever it was he was about to say and decided to give in without complaint this once. He hated being useless, but even more than that, he hated getting in the way when he didn't have to. Instead he just held on tighter as Gladio got to his feet and continued forward at a sprinting speed, burying his face into the man's shoulder as he was forcefully jarred around.

Once they were far enough for Ignis to consider them safe from harm, he stood as well, and Noctis followed suit. By this time the creature was maybe only a few yards away. "I hope you're ready for a fight, Noct."

"Ready as ever." He replied, drawing his sword and warping into one of the trees overhead.

Ignis pushed up his glasses and readied his daggers. He waited until the target was in his sights before making his move. "Can you see it, Noct?"

Noctis kept his eyes on the silhouette he now saw prowling not far away. It was no longer charging for them, it seemed to be trying to track them now, but it wasn't moving towards them. "Dammit." He mumbled to himself, then continued a bit louder, "It's trying to hunt down the others. We have to attack it now." Without waiting for approval from the older man, he warp-striked it from behind, earning himself a pained screech from the creature.

"Rash as always, I see." Ignis said impatiently as he ran towards the fray. In the midst of all the blue lights it was rather difficult to make out what the creature was, but he was able to make out feathers if nothing else. He made to working out where the face was. Once he found it, he quickly stabbed one of his daggers into what he assumed was one of its beady eyes, and just hoped he was right.

By the way it screamed, he was guessing that he was correct in his assumption. It reeled in retaliation to the intruding blade, swinging around and bucking Noctis off in the process. Lucky for the prince he was able to warp before he was in any real danger.

"You ok specs?" He called from his position on the other side, unable to see the other man.

There was a few seconds of silence before he got any response. "Everything's good on my end. Wish visibility was better, but other than that, no problems."

"Glad to hear." Noctis warped towards the creature again, this time taking out its other eye and returned back to his original spot in the tree, right above Ignis. "At this rate it's gonna draw everything in with all the noise it's making."

"If that's the case then we better finish it off fast." Ignis replied, charging back in.

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Gladio and Prompto could hear the screeching and commotion from where they were, though Gladio never hesitated nor slowed down his pace. He kept moving and ignored everything else. He looked down and saw the other's face still buried and felt his hands tighten a bit more around his neck. He knew all the running had to be rough on his knee, but he wouldn't take any chances by slowing down.

Prompto pulled his face away long enough to voice his concerns, "Do you think they'll be ok back there? I mean we don't know what that thing was and it's just the two of them."

"You don't need to worry about them." He tried to reassure him, "They are strong after all. Iggy won't take any risky measures, and you have to remember that I trained Noctis myself. He may be a bit reckless, but that's what Iggy is for, to keep him in check."

"I'm not doubting they're strong, I just don't like leaving them behind like this." He looked past Gladio's shoulder, "Look, I can't do much, but if you just leave me in a spot that's well enough hidden, you can go back and help, and I promise I won't give away where I am this ti-"

"Shut up!" Gladio yelled a little harsher than he meant to. "That's enough, I'm not doing that. I said I was going to keep running, and that's what I'm going to do dammit. You can bitch and moan all you want, but it's not going to change a thing." Prompto did nothing but stare up at him. "I promise you, they'll come out of this fine." He added in a softer tone.

Prompto's breath hitched, though he wasn't sure if it was from pain or pure gratitude, or a mixture of both, but it was a new feeling to him that he wasn't used to. "Ok." Was all he responded with, he wasn't sure what else he could say to that. Instead he returned his head to where it was and just let Gladio do what he thought was best for everyone.

Gladio slowed down a considerable amount when he deemed it safe. It was obvious the younger of the two was really feeling the effects of the trip now. Even if he didn't voice it, he couldn't keep the occasional gasp and whimper from escaping. "How're you holding up?" He asked, glancing down at him.

"A little uncomfortable, but I'll live." He assured with a small smile ghosting his face.

"Hmm, just what I like to hear. Just hold in there a little longer, it shouldn't be too long now."

He felt him move his head slightly, "I trust you, Gladdy." He whispered before going limp in his arms, finally giving in.

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Ignis retrieved his dagger from the fallen creature's eye and wiped it off before dismissing it. Noctis was next to him, breathing heavily from the fight. He wiped off his brow and dismissed his own weapon. Ignis placed a hand on Noctis' shoulder, "Come on, we better find the others before either of us run into more trouble." He took off towards the ranch, wasting no time to get to their friends.

"Right." He replied, following right after. He was just as anxious to verify the others' safety as Ignis was.

They ran for almost an hour with still no trace of the others. But on the bright side they came across no enemies, and more importantly came across no bodies. Noctis didn't know if he should be worried or relieved by this, but he felt as though no sign was better than bad signs. "I hope they didn't get off course." He said mainly to himself than anything.

"I don't think you need to worry about that." Ignis said from ahead. "Gladio is quite capable when it comes to this stuff, if anyone can head in the right direction in the outdoors, it's him." He scanned the area to make sure they were still in the clear. "We'll keep moving forward until we run into them, even if we have to go all the way to the ranch."

"No arguments here."

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There was light chirping outside, a chirping Prompto knew all too well. It was that sweet sound the pulled him into the world of the living. The first thing he became aware of was how stiff he felt, like he hadn't moved in weeks. His right leg being the worse. With that feeling though came all the memories with it, and the last thing he remembered was running away and leaving Ignis and Noctis behind. As if he had just been splashed with cold water he immediately shot up, looking around frantically.

Just as quickly there was a pair of hands on his shoulders pushing him back down. "Whoa there, take it easy." He didn't realize how fast he was breathing and how fast his heart was beating until he took a moment to try and compose himself.

He looked to his left where the voice was coming from and came face to face with Gladio. "Gladdy?" He whispered out.

"Yeah I'm here, everything is fine now." He said as calmly as he could, not sure of the younger was still in panic mode or not.

"Noct, Iggy, are they... are they alright? Did they make it back?" He asked quickly, not pausing between questions.

"Relax kid, they're fine. They went to pick up somethings, they'll be back soon, so just lie there until they get back." He pulled the sheet back up. It wasn't until he did that that Prompto realized they were in a room. Gladio saw the confusion on his face. "We're at the ranch, took nearly all night to get here, but we got here somehow. Really lucked out if you ask me."

"Well, you kept your word to Iggy at least, maybe a little too well." He laughed to himself. He placed a hand on his leg over the sheet when he felt the dull throb slowly start to return.

"Does it hurt?" Gladio asked, not missing the motion.

Prompto's eyes widened a little, a little uncomfortable with genuine concern. "Hm? Oh, just a little, but it's not nearly as bad as it was."

Gladio leaned back in his chair, "We gave you what we could for it, well what Wiz could spare anyway, but with that kind of damage it'll still need a little bit of time to mend itself." He saw the small drop of his expression. "But don't worry too much, it will heal completely as long as you don't push it. That means no fussing when we tell you not to do stuff."

"Yeah yeah, I got it." Though there was no sign of annoyance in his voice. He was about to say something else when he heard footsteps coming towards the room. His eyes moved on their own accord as the door opened and he was greeted with two familiar faces. His own lit up at the sight. If it wasn't for Gladio's previous words, he would have been up in an instant, throwing his arms around the two of them.

"Good to see you awake this time." Ignis said, walking in first.

"Good to see you two alive and unharmed." Prompto replied, pulling himself up so he was sitting, wincing slightly.

"Did you really think we wouldn't be able to handle something as easy as a little daemon?" Noctis said, coming in next.

"Little? That thing sounded like it was at least the size of a dual horn." He noticed Noctis was holding something in his hand, but it was obscured by the door enough that he couldn't make it out. "Watcha got there, Noct?" He asked curiously.

"Oh right." He held it up into view and handed it over to him. It was a camera, it wasn't his, but it looked new. "We never got the chance to go back for yours, so I picked one up while we were gone. I know nothing about those things, so I hope I picked out a decent one."

Prompto gingerly took the offered gift, unable to contain his gratitude. "Are you kidding? You didn't have to." He turned it over in his hands, running his fingers over it. "This is incredible, it's actually better than my other." He lowered it down to his lap. "I-I don't know how to thank you guys, for any of this. I don't deserve friends like you guys."

Gladio got to his feet and ruffled the blonde's hair roughly, "Hey, shut up."

Noctis painted a thumb at Gladio, "Do what he says and shut up and deal with it."

Ignis joined in, "You'll have no choice but to accept it as it is. If we see you as worth our time and effort, then you are. Whether you see it that way or not, it's true."