Rayne Drops (FFXV)

VII) Dino

"Whew!" Prompto breathes. "He's really got your number, Noct."

"Not like we made much effort to keep it secret," Gladio points out.

"Even if we had, the press always finds a way. We needn't befriend him, but we'd best not make him our enemy," Ignis adds, reminding us that we're in the real world now.

"Maybe it was the outfits?" I suggest flatly, tugging at the hem of my blue t-shirt.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Prompto shakes his head. "Hey, what's that necklace? I never really noticed before."

"This?" I reach up at lift the thin chain, grasping the small blue pendant on the end. "It was my father's and his father's and his mother's and so on."

"A family heirloom," Ignis nods, touching the frames of his glasses. "I never thought to ask."

"The breeze feels so nice!" Prompto sighs contentedly, letting the warm wind play with his styled hair.

"I wasn't expecting the seaside to be this good," Noctis admits, looking out toward the blue waves.

"Sounds like it's made a good first impression," Gladio muses. He opens the door as always, waiting for me and Noct to get in before sitting down and closing the door. Noctis hands the map to Prompto and Ignis gets in the driver's seat.

"Everything in order?"

"Yep," Noctis nods, already curling up.

"This will be a short ride," the advisor warns after looking at the map. He turns his sharp gaze to me in the rearview mirror. "No need for naps this time."

"Yeah, let me use my arm," Gladio huffs. I roll my eyes.

"You could've moved me, ya know."

"I thought you get motion sickness."

"That's not funny," I huff as Prompto snickers.

Ignis wasn't kidding. The destination marked for us is hardly two minutes away. Why couldn't Dino do this himself? We climb out of the car after Ignis pulls over on the shoulder. "Are we sure this is the right spot?" Noctis frowns, looking around.

"No harm in looking," I sigh, climbing out after him. He frowns down at the map, looking up at a natural rock bridge that hangs over us.

"This way."

He leads us up the formation, carefully balancing across the narrow walkway. I watch Prompto nervously as he sloppily follows his friend, kicking at stones and nearly tripping twice. Once we're on the other side, we walk through a short tunnel, turning a corner. I skid to a stop. Holy...

"Oh em gee," Prompto whimpers, backing into me by accident. "We're supposed to go near that thing?"

"Pipe down before you wake it up," Gladio mutters. I take a deep breath, following Noct's careful walk around the enormous beast. It's the same creature that passed over our heads yesterday when we returned to Cindy. Half-bird, half-storm, half-airship.

It suddenly stirs in its sleep, Prompto gasping and pressing himself close to the wall as he walks. "Shh," I hush him, holding my breath as we inch around the side of the beast. I spot the red ore nearby, nestled close by the giant bird's leg. Now I see why Dino didn't want to get this himself.

"Got it," Noct whispers, gripping the chunk of stone in his hand. "Let's go back, c'mon." We don't waste time, hurrying to get past the beast. "I think we..."