"Lady? Nah." He hummed thoughtfully and crossed his arms over his chest. "Princess, maybe. You wanna be a princess?"

The Spiracorn looked at him with curious eyes. She was still lying, but became more active by the minute and Prompto hoped, she would stand up soon. Right now she was eyeing the blond, who was lying on his back, legs propped up against the trunk of a tree. He looked at her upside-down image, trying to come up with a fitting name for quite a while now. It took his thoughts off of the dark corners in his brain, the memory of the dream.

The mare snorted and started nibbling at some grass, seemingly not interested in Prompto anymore.

"No Princess, I guess." The blond sighed, rolling on his side to sit up and lean against the tree. "How about Cindy, then?"

No reaction from the Spiracorn, but a painful sting in Prompto's chest when the face of Hammerhead's pretty mechanic popped up in his mind.

"Give it up, Argentum." He mumbled, his mood soured again, "She'd probably, hate you too, when she finds out what you are." Unconsciously, his hand wandered to his right wrist. The pain had mostly subsided, but he was already waiting for it to start again, for the next wave of spasms and for his weapon to appear without him calling it. "Cid would possibly try to kill me."

He lifted the bandage up a bit to peek under it. From what he could make out it looked okay enough not to be concerned just yet. He carefully flexed his wrist experimentally, wincing when sharp pain started shooting up his arm. He shouldn't do that just yet, maybe.

A strange noise made him look up and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. The Spiracorn was trying to get up. "Careful there, girl." Prompto said in a low tone so he wouldn't scare her. It was difficult with only three legs to put weight on and he considered stepping over to help her keep the balance to she wouldn't fall to her side, but then again, touching would possibly scare her more than help in that matter. So he waited.

After a few failed tries she seemed to find out a way to do it just right and in a matter of seconds, the mare was up on all four. Well, three. She didn't let her right hind leg touch the ground at all, only stood there, looking around and enjoying her newly acquired view. Turning her head, she sniffed curiously at the thick wrapping.

"Leave the bandages on, girl, those were m last, alright?" Prompto muttered when she pushed her nose against them, "It'll be okay, you'll see. You will heal just fine."

The Spiracorn's head shot up when the blond shifted his weight a little. Looking right at him, she let out a warning snort and lowered her head until the horns pointed directly towards him. Prompto froze, only slowly turned his head away, looking at some lose stones lying near him.

For a moment, neither of them moved, then he heard her, carefully making her way over to him until he felt her presence right in front of him. He could hear her breathing, which was nothing like the frantic huffs she had made the day before. No, this time her breath was deep and even, like it should be. Prompto tried to match her breathing in order to help him stay calm. When he wouldn't panic, she wouldn't attack, right? Spiracorns tend to attack even without provocation but maybe she wouldn't see him as a threat if he didn't act like one.

After endless seconds of not-moving, he dared to turn his head a bit, just so he could look at her, and was surprised how near she actually was. Her spiraled horns were only inches away from his chest, one quick thrust and he would be impaled. His eyes following the characteristic twisted helix form, he found her eyes staring at him through the thick tuft of fur on her forehead. He never realized while the mare was lying down but having her now standing and this near – damn she was huge!

Judging by the little knowledge of animal's body language he had, she was alarmed, but not aggressive. Was she testing him?

He relaxed a bit more against the tree, averting his eyes again. "I won't hurt you." A small movement in the corner of his eye. Her ears had perked up, reacting to his voice.

"Promise." He said, surprising himself with how calm he sounded. "I helped ya, remember? Maybe we could be...friends?" Talking seemed to help loosen the tension. "Only until you're alright again, of course. So you can go back to your family."

Another movement, her whole head this time. Lifting it until her nose leveled with his head. He heard her breathe in deeply, taking in his scent, considering what to do. He started chewing the inside of his cheek and tried to concentrate on keeping his breath even. No need to panic just yet.

"I'm no enemy." He whispered, voice slightly breaking when he realized what he just said. Was he really? Swallowing the dark thought he tried to concentrate on the task at hand again. The Spiracorn still scanned him over, not sure where to put him.

Minutes passed by with neither her nor Prompto moving at all. Then it just passed. The mare turned her head away, looking into another direction as if she had found something more interesting than Prompto, and eventually hobbled away; still on three legs only.

Breathing in and out deeply a few times, Prompto allowed himself to completely relax and stretch out his legs, after sitting cross-legged and barely moving seemingly for way too long. He threw a wary look over to the Spiracorn but she didn't care at all about him moving now. She had lowered her head, grazing peacefully now only a few yards away from him.

Her leg was still hovering above the ground, but every now and then she used the tip of her hoof to balance herself. A smile formed on his face. It would carry her again, soon, he was sure of it. At least one thing he could do right.

Watching the beautiful creature grazing, looking around and testing her leg from time to time turned out to be therapeutic for the blond. He felt like he could watch her the whole day, and apparently he did. When he looked up, the few patches of sky he could see through the trees were already turning orange. How long has he been sitting like this? Moving a bit, he heard his joints crack and gasped slightly at the relieving sensation.

Carefully he stood up, trying not to fall over in the process, his stiff legs not yet fully cooperative. Back on his feet, he stretched every limb until he felt like his muscles were finally getting warm again. Looking to his left, he stopped mid-stretch, when he saw the Spiracorn looking at him again. He flashed a smile at her and continued his workout, slightly more wary.

"I must look weird to you." He said with a light laugh, not able to deal with the silence anymore. "A strange animal walking on two legs and making funny noises, right?"

He turned towards her and stood still, letting her look at him and get used to his figure. After a few minutes of the mare actually looking him up and down in a skeptical but also curious manner, she eventually decided that he was harmless and went back to grazing.

"Guess I'm accepted now?" Slowly he made a few steps toward her, watching every movement of her, and held out a hand. The mare stopped ripping out blades of grass and slightly raised her head to look at Prompto.

"So...does that make us friends?" His voice was slightly shaking in anticipation of what he wanted to do. "We're good now, right? You won't try to kill me. I-I hope."

His hand was only inches away from her neck, still not moving away from him or any other behaviour. She really allowed him to pet her. Swallowing his last insecurities he reached forward, touching the soft fur. Then he felt her muscles twitch.

Her reaction was so fast, he barely realized what was happening before the air was knocked out of him. He was lying on his back, the Spiracorn over him huge and dangerous. With a loud snort she lifted one of her front legs and forcefully brought it down again. Prompto was frozen in place, too shocked to react in time. He turned his head and looked at the hoof right next to his head, swallowing hard when he saw how deep it was burrowed in the ground. If this would have actually hit his head – no, rather not think about it.

Another loud snort, she was still staring at him, nostrils flared.

"Alright. No touchie. I get it." He croaked and carefully scooted away from her. Looking quite satisfied to have made her rules clear to him, the mare turned away from him and hobbled over to some bushes where she began chewing on the twigs like nothing ever happened.

When Prompto felt like his lungs would work on their own again, he got up and walked back over to 'his' spot near the tree. The Spiracorn's ears turned back, making out where he was, before going back to their relaxed position again. Prompto felt like he had lost a fight. Why would he even think she would let him touch her, she was a wild animal and no pet. She was only still there because she couldn't use her hurt leg yet.

Deciding to eat something himself, he dug around in the bag he decided on only a few slices of dried fruit, he had to ration what he had left until he was back to civilization or found something more to eat. "Man I wish I could live off grass and stuff. Would be so much easier to find something to eat." He said, more to himself than anyone else, but saw the Spiracorn's head turn. Looking up, he met eyes with the creature and slightly cocked his head.

"You still mad at me for trying to pet ya?"

The mare turned around, focusing on her previous task again, leaving him with a view of her butt and slowly swinging tail.

"Yup. Still mad."

Prompto wasn't sure when he'd fallen asleep, but when he was jerked awake by commotion nearby, it was pitch black around him. Shrill whinnying and the sound of something slamming into a tree made the hair on his neck stand on edge and he jumped to his feet. He couldn't make out the Spiracorn anywhere near him, but the sound didn't come from too far away. Without thinking further, he grabbed his bag and walked in the direction he heard the noises from, steps becoming faster when the commotion got louder.

"Where are you, girl, what is happening?" He called out, not caring how a Spiracorn could possibly answer this question, it was the adrenaline speaking. Breaking into a run, he stumbled through some shrubs and nearly fell into the water appearing right in front of him. He remembered this place, this was where he had followed the flow and heard the fight.

An aggressive snort made his head whip to his right and he gasped. His eyes had become accustomed to the dark good enough by now to make out the Spiracorn, the bandage on her leg clearly visible. And in front of her something that made his blood run cold.

A Ronin was standing before her, sword drawn and ready to attack. He must have caught them both off guard, because the daemon was looking at him now. The blond swallowed. Even Noctis avoided those foes if possible, their attacks were fast and hard and he often ended with trembling hands from all the blocking. They were hard to fight when the four of them were together, how was he alone supposed to do this?

His eyes wandered over to the Spiracorn. She was slowly walking sideways, stepping away from the enemy, even using her hurt leg.

Ah, fuck it.

Prompto made a few forceful steps toward the daemon, until he was standing next to the Spiracorn. He waved his arm in her direction, successfully scaring her off as she snorted and turned to trot away from them and vanish between the trees.

He summoned his gun, his arm already outstretched, and instantly released three quick shots. Then everything became red, searing pain crawled up his arm and obscured his senses. Through his own agonized scream, he could barely hear the Ronin's growl. Did he hit it? He stumble backwards, forcing himself to extend his throbbing arm again and shook his head to clear his vision. This was only helping to a degree, but he could make out the shape of the daemon again, doubled over as well; it seemed his bullets had all hit their mark.

His hand was shaking violently which made aiming near impossible until he switched hands. Thanking the gods that he was able to shoot with both hands, he released two more bullets towards the Ronin. This time, his enemy was prepared though, dodging the bullets it now sped towards the blond. He only managed to evade the sword strike by throwing himself ungracefully to one side, hurrying to get back on his feet, ready for the next attack. The Ronin's next swing only missed him by a hair and he made a few more steps back to get some distance between them.

This was so much harder without other people distracting the monster so he could attack from afar.

His next few shots his their mark again, he kept shooting while dancing around the daemon, always moving so it wouldn't be able to hit him that easily.

The fight went on with Prompto thinking, he could actually do this, a triumphant smile forming on his lips, until he slammed with his back against a tree. Adrenaline induced euphoria became fear in a matter of seconds when he turned his head, seeing nothing except a thick wall of trees and bushes behind him. If he'd try to flee through there, he would possibly get stuck, there was nowhere to go. While playing his game with the Ronin, the daemon hat played its own game in herding him into a dead end without him knowing. The beast had even taken the hits to let him think his plan was working. Intelligent bastard.

The whizzing of the Ronin's blade turned his attention back on his attacker but it was too late to fully dodge this time. He gasped as the sword's blade grazed his left shoulder, instantly drawing blood. The next swing he evaded by letting himself slip down the trunk, now sitting between big tree roots, not able to go left or right without stumbling or getting caught in a thick net of twigs and branches.

The Ronin pulled his arm back and Prompto's breath hitched as he found himself back in his last nightmare. Was this how it would end?

"Dammit, NO!" He yelled out, dismissing his gun and replacing it with something bigger. He wedged the machinery between some roots and pulled the lever to heat the weapon up, making it emit a red glow from within. He seemed to surprise the daemon with this long enough to make it hesitate, eyes wandering over to the whirring weapon.

"Not today, you hear me?" Prompto growled and braced himself. The next second, he heard a thump, then a loud bursting noise as the overloaded weapon released everything it had on the enemy. Thanks to the roots, the recoil was extremely manageable for the blond and he only had to hold it down, so the barrel would stay fixed on the target.

Said target was sent flying with the explosive attack, nearly landing in the river when it finally hit the ground. Prompto was panting, but kept his position, eyes on the daemon until thin currents of smoke indicated its death as it slowly dissipated. Taking a few deep breaths, he allowed himself to relax and dismiss his weapon, when nothing was left from the daemon and he felt safe to assume that it wouldn't stand up, ready for another round.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree. He felt filthy, blood was running down his arm and his right hand was still trembling. And for what?

He heard a soft snort right next to him and jumped a bit. There she was, looking at him like she was wondering why he was sitting on the ground like this. For a moment, they only looked at each other, the blond still breathing heavily. Finally he lifted his hand to touch the cut on his shoulder, carefully feeling it. It wasn't too deep, so the bleeding should stop on its own after a while.

Pointing a finger at the injury, he looked at the Spiracorn with raised eyebrows. "I took one for you. We good now?"

The mare followed his pointing finger, moving her head a bit closer to sniff at his bloody shoulder and his hand. Prompto didn't dare to move. When she raised her head a bit more, her nose now in front of his face he swallowed, considering backing up for a moment, but didn't.

Warm air was blown against his face and ruffled his hair, when she released another long snort. Right after, she turned and walked a bit away, getting back to grazing and sniffing at some leaves. What in Eos was that about?

Dumbfounded, Prompto stayed where he was, staring at the Spiracorn, peacefully grazing as if nothing ever happened. Suddenly, something came to his mind and he clicked his tongue.

"Hey, Cass."

The Spiracorn lifted her head and looked in his direction, a few long blades of grass hanging out of her mouth. The blond smiled and relaxed fully against the tree with a small laugh.

"Cass it is, then."