Prompto's knees hurt. This crouching position was getting increasingly uncomfortable, but he didn't want to change it just yet. She was so close to him.

He only slightly adjusted his outstretched arm so he wouldn't lose feeling in it, the branch he held still steady in his hand. Cass was in front of him, shyly nibbling at the leaves, but stopping every time Prompto moved too much.

They were playing this game for a solid two days now. After the daemon attack, Prompto decided that it might be healthier to move again. And Cass...she followed. He couldn't be more overjoyed when he heard the soft thudding of hooves behind him, when he was just about to mentally prepare himself for a short goodbye and more loneliness.

She always kept her distance, sidestepped away from the blond when he came too close, but never left. The limp was still there but she tried using the leg already when walking. Memories of his old life came up, when he found the tiny white puppy in the streets, hurt and hungry. Though Pryna was a lot more easy to handle than a giant horned horse. But he was still happy Cass was somewhat interested in his company.

When the branch was suddenly snapped from his hand, he woke up from his wandering thoughts, looking at his now empty hand, then at Cass, who was happily munching on her treat.

"That's not fair." He whined, letting himself fall back to finally stretch his legs again. Cass shook her head with a neigh and turned away from him, walking over to something more interesting than the blond.

"Oh c'mon, don't be so rude."

He chuckled lightly while Cass kept ignoring him and got to his feet.

"You know...I don't really care, sulk all you want." Walking past her and in the direction they were walking the last days, he observed her reaction. "Wanna know why? It's your ears." Right on cue, Cass' ears turned, following his voice.

"See, that's what I meant. They reveal everything. You like my voice, admit it."

Of course she didn't, but the flicking ears were answer enough for Prompto to ramble on while he was walking. A soft smile appeared when he heard her start walking behind him.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, only to wince and pull the right one out again, the movement setting free a sharp sting. For a moment he looked at his bandaged wrist, pondering, then he pulled the dirty cloth off. It looked ugly, still not fully healed and the patches of code made him cringe. But it looked clean enough, so he did an okay job with keeping dirt away from the wound at least. Not wanting to look at it, he pulled the bandanna off his arm and wrapped it around his wrist.

Holding it up he turned to Cass to show it to her. "Does it look pretty?" Cass had stopped when he did, watching what he was doing and sniffing the air. "Well, I think it makes me look mysterious. 'Ouh, what's he hiding under there? There has to be something.' Guess what, you'll never know."

He laughed and turned to continue on his way. The scenery had started to change, less trees and more rocks, but still green. Small white and purple flowers were growing from crevices in the rocks, it was actually quite beautiful.

"Man I sure miss my camera." He looked over his shoulder to see what Cass was doing. Her head was hanging low but one ear was pointing in his direction. "Ya know, I had a camera," he went on, "Pretty neat thing. But I left it at the...left it somewhere. And I can't go back there. Sad though, I'm missing so many nice opportunities to take some pics. Could have taken some really nice pictures of you as well."

He kicked a stone in front of him and looked as it vanished in the higher grass. "I miss my friends."

Behind him, he heard Cass rip out some grass. He couldn't help but envy her a little. Her biggest sorrow was to get healthy and find her herd again, while the blond didn't even know what to do at all. He wasn't even sure where he as walking to, just trying to follow one direction.

"Pathetic, isn't it?" He scoffed, kicking another stone, "I'm acting like the biggest crybaby about it, but I should have seen it coming. I'm possibly closer to a daemon than a human, something in-between." He waved his right arm to show the wrapped wrist. "That's why I have this thing here. A code identifying me as the freak of nature I am."

Realizing how aggressive his voice became, he took a few deep breaths before going on. "I...had the greatest friends, you know. Up until they kinda...found out. And now they hate me because I am what killed their families and my arm does strange things and...now I'm alone." He stopped when he heard his voice crack and looked down.

"But you couldn't care less, right? To you I'm just a weird animal making way too much noise."

With a long drawn snort, Cass threw her head up a few times. It looked so much like she was nodding, Prompto couldn't help but burst out laughing, startling the animal as he doubled over. The mare made a few steps away from him, observant eyes still on the giggling blond, but she seemed curious enough as to not back away too far.

He rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes to wipe away gathering tears and straightened his back again. "Alright, I'm better now. Let's keep going, alright? Cass?"

Cass had stopped moving and was intently staring at something behind Prompto. Soft nickering made him slowly turn around and he gasped upon seeing what was there. Up the steep hill they were walking alongside were Spiracorns. A whole herd was standing there, looking down at them. Prompto guessed there were about fifteen or twenty of them as far as he could see. Cass started moving, walking past him and tried to climb the hill, which only resulted in her still not fully healed leg not accepting the strain and giving in. She made a pain filled noise when she stumbled and fought to keep standing on her healthy legs.

Startled by the sudden and unusual moves and the noise, the herd turned and took off, leaving back the limping Cass. Whinnying, she was about to give the climb another try, but Prompto pulled himself out of his stupor and swiftly walked over, standing in front of her to stop her from hurting herself even more.

"Calm down, girl, you'll hurt yourself," he said, his arms outstretched to shoo her away from the hill while still keeping enough distance. Which was apparently a good idea because suddenly Cass lowered her head and charged forward, the blond only narrowly dodged her horns and counted himself lucky that she wasn't using her injured leg.

"I'm sorry, but that won't help," he said, walking sideways with his eyes still on her, "Let's try to find another way, huh? What do you say?" It broke his heart when the Spiracorn turned again towards the hill, neighing loudly to call out to the herd.

"Cass." Prompto tried to get her attention, clicked his tongue and called out to her to lure her along. "C'mon girl, we'll just go around here, okay? We will find them, I'll take you to them."

It took a lot of coaxing, but somehow he managed to motivate Cass to follow him again. Following the hill, they kept catching glimpses of the other Spiracorns that seemed to follow the duo as well, curious but wary.

The hill became steeper the longer they walked and the blond began to worry the herd would turn around but for some reason they kept following. The day turned into night, as did the next and the one after. He fell asleep with Cass calling out for the herd and upon waking up, both of them listened intently for a few minutes for the obvious noises that indicated the herd still being there. Every now and then Cass tried to climb the hill again, and every time she god further. With the passing time her steps grew more confident, her leg became better and carried her safer every day. She became noticeable more agile, walking around swaying head and tail while she looked for a nice place to graze only to suddenly squeal and make some coltish leaps to release some overflowing energy. She limped again the first few times she did that.

Prompto couldn't remember when was the last time he laughed that much. Cass was excited every time they saw members of the herd looking down the hill and with her growing spirits, his mood lightened up as well. She accepted him walking close to her, as long as he kept his arms by himself and wouldn't make any too spacious moves, and took offered leafy branches or bunches of grass without hesitating any more, the better she got.

The day came when she was trotting around him in wide circles, playfully nickering towards the blond before turning and speeding away to call out towards the hill. By now she always received an answer and every now and then some heads popped up to see if she was still there. When the hill became an almost vertical wall, Prompto grew worried again. Were they going the right way or was this the biggest mistake they could have made and they would be separated soon?

His worries ceased when he was woken up by an earthquake one morning. He was on his feet before his brain could process what was happening and he had to blink a few times before the dark shapes coming towards him made sense. Cass was walking towards the herd, neighing excitedly while the whole herd was coming down the hill now. Without any issues they slid down the steep hill, falling into a gallop as soon as they hit even ground again.

Cass joined and Prompto could only stare in awe. She still wasn't as fast as the others, still favoring her leg a little after learning that this actually helped it to get better. The herd galloped around Prompto in a wide berth, not trusting the blond enough to get as close to him as Cass did. But Prompto laughed joyously anyway. They came down. After all these days of walking alongside each other with a border between them they wouldn't come down and Cass couldn't get up, they finally decided to come and visit their missing member.

After a while they distanced themselves a bit more again, everyone calming down until they finally scattered over the soft hills to graze. Cass stood there for a moment, still a bit away from the herd, observing everything, before she lowered her head as well.

She would get there. Prompto was sure of it.

He sat down in the shadow of some trees and enjoyed the view. It was then that the thought set in. They were here now. They came to pick her up and take her with them so she wasn't alone anymore. Unconsciously he started chewing on his lower lip. Right. That's what would happen if you take an animal to their own kind. They'd stick together, understand each other. They'd be where they belong.

Their pace had slowed considerably now that they all were on the same side of the hills and Cass and Prompto now followed the herd wherever they planned to go. That night the blond couldn't sleep. He heard the noises of the animals, heard Cass near him walking around, the sound of her hooves fading away before becoming louder again when she came back to him. He curled up a bit more and drew in a shaky breath as he made a mental decision.

Tomorrow.

He wasn't sure when he managed to find sleep but at some point during the night he must have. When he sat up and looked around he found the herd quite a bit away from them. They must have moved during the night. Cass was still near him, but looking towards the herd, ears perked up and nostrils flared.

Prompto got up, taking his time patting dirt from his pants, though it didn't make any difference by now, after walking around and sleeping in the same clothes for days after days. But it helped to buy him some time before the inevitable.

"So...it's time," he said with a sigh after he walked up next to Cass. He looked at her and couldn't hide a smile. She looked beautiful and healthy again. The leg had healed, she used it without the slightest trace of a limp now and at some point she had managed to rip the bandages off. There were scars clearly visible but it it didn't even look slightly as bad as what he did to his wrist. Speaking of which, he hadn't looked at it for a good while now. He possibly would when there was nothing else to observe anymore.

His gaze wandered over to the herd, some of the Spiracorns were already looking in their direction. It looked so peaceful. The thought that he used to fight these beautiful animals made him swallow hard.

"Look, they're waiting for you," he said and looked over to Cass, who was still watching the herd, but not moving. "C'mon now, go," he said, his voice starting to crack, "Back to your family. Move"

He threw his arms in the air for the Spiracorn to finally move. After all this time with her following him around it hurt so much to let her go, even when she never had trusted him completely, but still. He had someone to talk to, wasn't alone anymore. For a while.

Cass made a startled jump forward and fell into a trot towards the herd where she was greeted with soft neighs and some of the animals gathering around her.

"See, they want you to be with them." Prompto whispered. He watched her a few more minutes, being welcomed in the herd as if she'd always been there. They had waited for her the whole time.

Would he be greeted like this too? His gaze wandered down to his shoes. Dirty. As was the rest of him after living in the wilderness for quite the while now.

"Don't be silly, they wouldn't." he told himself and took a deep shaky breath, remembering Ardyn's words. "They'd probably already forgotten me."

He threw a last glance at the herd before he turned around, picking a random direction he would go from now on. He would see if that was the right decision when he reached something, anything really. As long as he kept walking. As the world in front of him became blurry, he frantically rubbed his eyes. "Stop it, Prompto, what's the deal?" he scolded himself, "You're used to being alone, so come on, stop being so pathetic."

He didn't believe his own words. He wanted to go back so badly, wanted to see his friends again. But then again, what for? They knew who he was, Ardyn told them everything. And he told him everything. They hated him. Now that they knew it, he saw them pulling out their weapons as soon as he was in their sight. And he couldn't even be mad at them, he had lied, he hid what he was and when his arm started acting up he knew it would have been only a matter of time for them to find out. He didn't belong to that group anymore as much as he still wished to be.

Forcing himself to look forward again, Prompto tried to walk faster, tire himself out. Maybe he should run? Run until he would collapse, didn't sound too nice but it would distract him from his dark thoughts.

Something warm and soft touching the back of his neck caused him to freeze. Cold fear gripped his heart as he waited for something to happen. He winced when he heard a loud snort and felt warm air being blown against his neck, but then he realized. Turning around he was greeted by the push of a soft nose against his face before the Spiracorn took a few steps backwards.

It was just her. He could see the herd in the distance moving slowly mowing away from them.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Prompto stammered, rubbing his tingling neck. "Go back, before you lose them. You belong to your herd." He tried to shoo her away again but Cass just threw her head up and started dancing around him, nickering softly.

"What's wrong with you? Stop it and get lost." He wiped his wet face. "This isn't fair, you know?"

Suddenly Cass jumped forward and Prompto, already seeing himself being impaled by the helixhorns, closed his eyes and awaited the pain.

Noting happened.

Just a warm waft of air on his face. Carefully, he opened one eye but saw only something dark right in frond of his face. He recognized the Spiracorn's nostrils when he opened both eyes and didn't dare to move with her that close to him. The soft muzzle eventually pressed against his forehead, a soft snort ruffling his hair. Then it started wandering over his head, sniffing his hair, even nibbling on a longer strand for a moment before wandering down again, rubbing on his cheek for a moment and ultimately resting on his right.

Goosebumps were running up and down Prompto's arms and back. This never happened, not even once! The closest he got to her was when he cared for her wound but even then she had tried to attack him, never allowed him to touch her until this day.

"Why?" he croaked. Slowly he lifted his hand until it was just inches away from her head. No reaction, no flinching or any other warning sign. Giving himself one last push he put his hand against her head. Still nothing.

"Do you mean it?" Carefully, only waiting for her to pull away, he started to stroke her head and after a moment of hesitation he lifted his other hand as well to let it glide down her neck. Cass just stood there, eyes half closed and her head still resting heavily on his trembling shoulder.

Leaning his head against hers, Prompto closed his eyes. "You sure you wanna do this? Make time for a loser like me?" Another soft snort. Prompto chuckled lightly and put his arms around her neck.

"Take this as a 'Yes', okay?" he mumbled against her head.

A few seconds Cass accepted the hug before she pulled away and shook her head. "Too much?" Prompto laughed. Some remaining tears were still making trails in the dirt on his face, but he didn't care. "Alright. But be warned, I don't really know where to. Just walking...somewhere. You coming?"

Fear showed its ugly face again when he turned around and started walking. Would she follow? Or was this just her way of saying farewell? The relief came fast as he heard her starting to walk, catching up to the blond until her head was next to his shoulder again. She was still so close. His steps became lighter, suddenly everything seemed so much nicer and brighter. At this very moment he couldn't be happier.