Rayne Drops (FFXV)

XXXI) Quetzalcoatl

"Oh gods," I breathe, leaning forward to rest my hands on my knees and breathe a sigh of relief. "Bless you." Around us are several element deposits, each bursting at the seams with magical possibilities.

"How're we dividing this up?" Noctis asks, resting his hands on his hips and surveying the room.

"Have at it," I reply, sweeping my arm out around the room.

"I haven't used much," the prince shakes his head, trying to absorb from the nearest lightning deposit. The process hardly lasts a second. "See?"

"Alright, well, don't mind if I do then," I tease, taking up the magic as we trace through the wide room. Aranea watches me with a frown.

"I thought only people from the line of Lucis could do that."

"And what do all those people share?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "Their blood." I motion to my necklace. "This thing's hollow- connected directly to my family line. Inside, it holds the blood of the kings. With that direct connection, I can do..." I absorb the remnants of the ice deposit. "That."

"Huh. I never knew that," Prompto hums, cocking his head to the side. "I just thought you could do it because your dad could."

"Well, then there's the question of how her father did it," Ignis points out. "We might as well leave the understanding to her and her family."

"There we go," I laugh, nudging Noctis. "See? Tallin taught me some good stuff."

"He still taught you that babies came from chocobos."

"What?" Aranea cackles, throwing her head back. "Oh, that's too good."

"Yeah, yeah," I scoff. "I thought we dealt with that a long time ago."

"Yeah, back at Lestallum," Prompto nods, pausing. "Man, that was a long time ago. Weeks!" There's a heavy silence throughout the room as we all share a quick, knowing look. "And now... is it finally coming to an end?"

"I'd like to say I hope not," I admit, shaking my head. "But... that'd be selfish of me."

"As long as you're thinking it, it makes no difference," Ignis sighs, motioning toward the open, clear room ahead of us. "Shall we?"

"Oh, spacious!" Prompto remarks, his voice thick with sarcasm as we step into the room. It's too perfect, too serene with the shadows of the water reflecting down onto the ground before us. "There's so gonna be a big nasty here."

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Aranea mumbles, nodding ahead toward a bridge above us.

A massive figure stands, growing larger and larger as it stretches, expanding its wings in the light beams from the water above. Suddenly, it takes to the skies, striking colors starkly contrasting the drab stone of the arena-like room. Its enormous tail waves out behind it, knocking out a group of stone pillars carelessly. Without warning, it dives straight down toward us, crashing right into the wall behind us. As we back away from its recovering form, I recognize this beast of legends.

"Quetzalcoatl," I mutter, Ignis glancing at me and nodding.

"This doesn't look too good," Prompto announces, turning to Noctis as the creature stands on its webbed, clawed bird feet, screeching at us. From its beak erupts an enormous streak of cyan lightning, effectively scattering us as we dodge the attack.

"Quite the formidable foe indeed," Ignis agrees. The daemon swoops back and forth over our heads wildly, shooting lightning bolts at the ground at random and clawing with its feet every time it dives overhead. Several colorful, human-sized feathers flutter down from the sky. Down comes the ancient creature, crashing to the floor. The entire temple seems to shake, rubble tumbling down from the higher floors.