Ryella hugged her arms tightly. The Greyshire Glacial Grotto was a fitting name. The walls of the cavern were covered in ice, and the temperature was drastically lower than outside. The girl's skin paled and broke out in goosebumps, and her whole body trembled from the cold. Each time she exhaled, her warm breath became fog in front of her face. Unfortunately, her short dress and sandals did little to keep her insulated.

"This. Place. Is. Freezing!" Prompto shuddered, rubbing his hands together to try and warm up. "Think we should double back for some coats?"

"What's the point?" Gladio replied. "A little chill won't kill ya."

Ignis took notice of the shivering girl. "Though I believe Ryella's faring far worse than any of us."

Noctis turned back to face her. "Ryella, you okay? If it gets to be too much, you can always turn back and wait for us outside."

The brunette swiftly shook her head. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I can...push through it."

The shield smirked slightly. "If you get too cold, I'd be happy to keep you warm." Prompto shot Gladio a quick glare, gritting his teeth together.

Ryella blushed at what the tattooed man was implying. "N-no thank you. I-I'm okay...really."

"If you say so," Noctis said. "Let's get moving."

The gang began their trek deeper into the cave. They remained on high alert, knowing there were daemons lurking about. Not far in, they came to a slope made completely out of ice. It was the only way to go, so Noctis steadily stepped onto it only to find his feet slipping out from under him. He imediately fell onto his butt and slid down the slope. Gladio was the first to follow, then Ignis, then Prompto. Ryella tried her best to keep her balance as she carefully took a step onto the slope.

But like the others, her feet slipped and she found herself slididing down. She yelped in surprise as her butt made contact with the cold ice. She tugged the bottom of her dress down, keeping it from flying up. She soon saw the end of the slope that had emptied the boys into a new portion of cavern. As soon as Ryella reached the end of the slide, she was thrown forward. Before hitting the ground though, she flipped around midair, landing gracefully on her feet amidst her friends. She sighed with relief, smoothing out the bottom of her dress while the boys stared in astonishment.

"Whoa," the blond breathed out. "That was awesome! You've got the reflexes of a cat!"

Ryella tiled her head to the side in slight confusion. "Hmm?" She suddenly understood what he meant. "Oh, y-you mean my landing?" She giggled. "I guess I kind of have pretty good reflexes...much like my heightened senses."

"I have a hard time believing you can't fight at all," Gladio said. "With the way you move and react, combat should be second nature."

Ryella remained silent, rubbing her arms for some source of warmth. "I'm afraid we have bigger things to concern ourselves with," Ignis interrupted. "We appear to have multiple paths ahead."

Looking around, there were three paths that went in different directions. Not only that, the entire cave had opened up a bit and there were walkways and paths above them as well. It would be difficult to navigate the area with so many different paths.

Prompto shuddered, the cold creeping over him again. "Noct, do us a favor and pick the right way."

The prince looked at Prompto with slight annoyance. "And how am I supposed to know which way's the right way?"

Prompto shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, you're our fearless leader."

Noctis rolled his eyes and picked a path, leading his friends along. Fortunately, the path he chose led up toward the walkways above, and straight to an elemental deposit. The stones glowed a fiery red, differentiating which element of magic it was. Ryella gasped, grinning as she rushed over to one of the large shards of energy.

"Thank goodness, fire energy."

She held her hands out with her palms facing the stones. The magic energy flowed like dust from the ore and into the girl. After a moment, the minerals lost their glow, and instead, Ryella's eyes glowed a crimson red. Turning back around toward her friends, she summoned a ball of fire in her palms. She hummed in content at the heat against her skin, warming her body.

"Warmth at last," she breathed out.

The gunman instantly moved closer, holding his hands up to feel the fire. "Ahhh, that feels so good."

"Your eyes always change color when you absorb magic," Noctis pointed out, remembering what Sania had explained to them. "That's a unique feature."

"Yeah," Prompto agreed with a smile. "It's really cool to look at."

The way Prompto stood close and stared straight into her eyes made Ryella a bit uncomfortable. "U-um, thank you."

Ignis cleared his throat to grab everyone's attention. "I suggest we keep moving."

With Ryella's fire providing a little warmth and light, the group continued onward. Upon reaching another slippery ice slope, the girl temporarily extinguished her fire for the coming slide down. One by one, the group stepped on, prepared for another ride down. The only problem was that this one branched into two separate tunnels. Ryella saw Prompto ahead of her slide into the left path. She scrambled to follow him, but the ice caused her to slip about uncontrollably. Much to her dismay, she ended up on the right path instead. She immediately began to panic, thinking she'd be on her own and separated from her friends. But upon reaching the bottom, she was surprised to see a familiar black-haired boy.

"Noctis..." She couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad to see you. I thought I was the only one to end up here."

The two were in a large, empty area of cavern. The only way out appeared to be small cracks in the icy walls. "Looks like it's just the two us for now," Noctis told her. "We'll find a way to meet back up with the others."

Ryella nodded, determined to keep going and aid the prince. "Don't worry, it'll be fine." She turned and began heading for one of the crevices in the wall. "I'll help in any way I can."

Noctis crossed his arms, seeing through the young Guardian. "Why are you doing this?" His question halted the girl. "Ever since we entered the cave, you've been putting on a brave face. If you're trying to impress me, there's really no need to."

Ryella slowly turned her head to look at him. "It's not that..."

"Then what is it?" He approached the girl, locking onto her crimson eyes. "Ryella, just talk to me. Help me understand."

The girl averted her gaze. "It's just... You guys have shown such strength and courage. When I watched you fight those monsters outside, I was in awe." Noctis blinked at her, flattered by her compliments. "You're all so amazing. That's why..." When she met his gaze, her eyes showed a fiery determination. "I have to move forward, even if it's tough. I'm a Guardian, I need to prove to myself that I can do this. If I can't keep up with all of you, then..." Tears welled up in her eyes. "Th-then I have no right to hinder you with my presence."

Ryella hung her head down and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't always want to be a weak little girl. All her life, others had protected her when she was the one who was supposed to be the protector. Now that she was tasked with helping Prince Noctis, she needed to find a way to make herself useful, otherwise she'd only feel like a burden. She may not be able to do much in her human form, but she'd certainly try her best. She owed it to herself, and to everyone who'd kept her safe in the past, to be brave and face whatever's thrown at her.

She was surprised to hear the prince chuckle. "So, that's what this is about." Ryella looked up at him. "Wanna earn your place, huh?"

The girl nodded. "I do. All my life, I've done very little to earn the title of 'Guardian'. Everyone else has always watched over me, my father, Reynard, Lunafreya, Clement. Now that I'm the only one left, I have to live up to my name...for my family and friends...and for you as well."

Noctis smiled lightly. "I get it. I feel that same kind of pressure. I've got a lotta expectations to live up to, y'know." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "But don't think you have to go beyond your capabilities. I don't expect you to endanger yourself for my sake. Now c'mon, whaddya say we go find the others?"

He walked past her toward the gap in the wall. She finally turned to follow him and answered, "Right."

Right before Noctis could squeeze into the crevice, he saw multiple imps crawling through the narrow space. "Get back!" he shouted, throwing his arm out and urging Ryella back. The small group of imps popped out of the fissure, cackling and swiping their claws. "Just stay back, Ryella. I've got this."

He summoned his weapon, standing in front of the girl protectively. Ryella remembered that she had magic at the moment. She glanced down at her palm, summoning a small flame. "No," she replied to Noctis. She stepped forward to stand alongside him, the fire spreading across her hands and arms. "I can help."

Noctis smirked, seeing her resolve. "Alright, let's see what you can do."

Noctis warped to an imp, slashing it with his sword. The others began scrambling around to avoid being hit. One imp darted toward Noctis, but before it could get close enough to attack, Ryella shot forth a small wall of flame that blocked its path. She swiped her hand horizontally, causing the flames to appear as claws that raked over the daemon, leaving it screeching in pain as its flesh was seared. The prince took notice of the way the fire had moved, and it gave him an idea.

"Ryella! You can fight! Pretend your a dragon and the fire is your claw!"

Ryella stared at her hands in confusion for a moment. I'm a dragon? The fire is my claw? She suddenly pieced it together. I just have to fight as if I were in dragon form. She concentrated, morphing the flames until they resembled large claws that hovered in front of her hands. Her instincts as a Guardian kicked in and she leapt into action. Using her flame claws, she swiped at the imps, scorching their flesh. The daemons shrieked and scattered in fear. Ryella extended her fiery claws, trapping and encircling a majority of the imps in a ring of fire. Flames then rose up under the daemons, engulfing them in an inferno and turning them to ash. Noctis warped around the fire, finishing off the remaining imps. With the monsters taken care of, Ryella extinguished the flames.

"Nice!" Noctis exclaimed. "Now that's the power of a Guardian! And you said you had no experience in combat."

Ryella smiled sheepishly. "All thanks to you. I did just as you instructed, I envisioned myself as my dragon form."

"You did great," the prince told her. "Think you can keep it up?"

Ryella nodded, still feeling fire magic within her body. "Of course. That elemental deposit provided a lot of magic. I still have some fire left."

"Good. Now let's go find the others."

The pair squeezed through the crevice and to the other side. They were once again faced with multiple paths. Noctis sighed in annoyance, pondering over which way they should go. Ryella suddenly heard the faint echo of voices. She froze, listening closely.

"Noctis..." she said in a hushed tone, earning his attention. "I hear them...I hear the others." She pinpointed the direction of the voices and faced the leftern most path. "That way."

Noctis hurried ahead of her, leading the way as the two picked up the pace. They sprinted onward, following the trail that led up to the upper walkways in the main cavern once more. They caught sight of their friends in an area below fighting against a group of flan daemons. The boys were being cornered by the slime creatures, their attacks doing little to damage the sludge that made up a flan's body.

"Our attacks aren't working!" Prompto cried in a panic, pelting the daemons with bullets.

"Daemons of this variety appear to be resistent to physical attacks!" Ignis informed his comrades.

"Just keep it up!" Gladio commanded. "We can push them back!"

Noctis looked to the girl at his side, holding a flask of fire magic in his hand. "Whaddya say we give those mushy desserts a double dose of fire?"

Ryella nodded, summoning her fiery claws once more. The duo hopped to the floor below and darted toward the flans from behind. Noctis threw the flask of fire, and at the same time, Ryella summoned an inferno under the daemons. The combined fire power scorched the flans into mush that disintegrated into smoke. The flames steadily died down, allowing Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto to rejoin with the prince and the Guardian.

"Noct, Ryella!" Prompto cried with joy.

"Glad to see you both are safe," Ignis said.

"You sure saved our asses." Gladio's gaze fell on the girl and her fiery claws. "Looks like you learned to fight after all, huh?"

The brunette smiled. "Thanks to Noctis, I've found a way to make use of the magic I obtain."

"Sweet!" The gunman was quick to snap a picture of the girl. "You're like I dragon again with all that fire! And you are really warming up this place too!"

Ignis abruptly summoned his daggers. "Behind you!" he warned.

A single flan had survived the blaze. It rose up from a puddle of ooze on the ground behind Noctis and Ryella. The girl sensed it along with the tactician's warning, and swiftly twisted around. She threw her hands out and upwards, causing her claws to extend outwards and lift the daemon up off the ground. She then clapped her hands together, making the fiery claws swallow the flan between them. After a moment, smoke sizzled from between the flames, meaning the flan was dead. Ryella's fire suddenly went out like a light and her glowing red eyes faded back to green. She panted, exhausted by how much energy she had used.

"Ryella, you alright?" Noctis inquired, concerned by her sudden weariness.

She slowly nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay...just tired. It seems I've depleted all my magic."

Ryella shuddered, the chill of the cave creeping over her once more. Her body had been warm and radiated with heat when she had the fire magic. But now that it was used up, she was back to having no magic and feeling the intensely low temperature of the grotto.

"We should keep moving," Ignis suggested. "We must be close to the tomb by now."

Reunited, the five continued forward. They were careful to stick closely together so as not to get split up again. The group took a path that winded up and around to the upper level again. After walking quite a ways, they eventually came to a narrow walkway that would take them across to a tunnel. They could see one of the familiar areas below on the lower level, meaning a slip up could cause one to fall, possibly get hurt, and then have to find their way back around to the current spot.

"Proceed with caution," Ignis advised.

Gladio grunted in displeasure at the narrow bridge. "This ice looks like it could crack with just a few pounds on it."

"Just make sure you don't slip off, big guy," the blond joked.

"I'm pretty sure you're the klutz," the shield retorted.

"Any volunteers to go first?" the prince asked.

"I can go...if you want," Ryella said.

She approached the edge of the bridge. She slowly, but calmly, walked across to the other side without a problem. Her excellent balance aided her immensely. Her feet didn't slip even a single time. Once on the other side, she waved to the boys.

"She makes it look easy," Noctis muttered before sighing. "Here goes nothing."

One by one, each of the boys made it across without incident. The group then went through the tunnel ahead. They came to a dead end where the door of the royal tomb was located. They had finally reached the end. Noctis unlocked the doors and everyone piled inside behind him. It was Ryella's second time watching Noctis claim a magical weapon from his ancestors. The soul crystals that floated around added to the wondrous sight. They acquired what they'd come for, which meant they could finally leave that frozen cavern behind.