"SO why were you running around like that?" Noctis asked as he gave you a confused look as you were lined back up as you sat astride your birds, waiting for instructions from your dad.

"Couldn't you tell?  We were playing." You said with a smile before you started to scratch Prince's neck, who immediately gave you a deep coo.  "He was acting like he wanted to play. So we did."

"Isn't that right boy?" You asked Prince as you started to scratch him with both hands.

Kewh!  Prince replied as he stretched his neck out and closed his eyes.

Then he resuming an even deeper coo as you continued to scratch him. You glanced at your dad and smiled as he once again stood in front of everyone. His bird looked bored as she stood right next to him as she searched the ground for worms to snack on. Your dad beamed at you before he turned his attention back to the group, which made you sit back, much to Prince's dismay.

"Now that you have figured out your bird's whistle. Well most of you anyway." Your dad said as he glanced at you for the last part before addressing everyone again.  "Now we can begin the next phase of the training. And that is hopping into the saddle without the use of the stirrups."

"And just how are we suppose to do that?" Noctis asked as he shifted in his saddle.

"That would be as simple as a jump, or vault it you will." Your dad said as he smiled back.  "It should look something like this."

Then he turned around and placed one hand on the saddle horn and the other on the back of the saddle. He quickly crouched down before he pushed himself up as he pulled himself into the air.  Your jaw dropped as he easily swung his leg over as he moved his back hand to the front of the saddle and easily slid onto the seat.  After which he simply sat back and relaxed as his bird just stood there calmly looking around.

"Uh...."  Prompto started to say but couldn't seem to finish what you knew you were all thinking.  Wow.

"Now, I want each of you to spread out and try doing just that part.  Then we'll get into doing that while your bird is actually moving."  Your dad said as he grabbed his reins and started to walk in front of the four of you.  "Let's get started."

"Right."  You heard Noctis say as he started to walk away from the group and back over to his spot from before.

You smiled after him before you did the same.  Only this time, Prince stood very still and watched as you climbed back off of him. Then you stood beside him as you held onto the saddle the same way your dad had.  It seemed as if Prince was trying to figure out what you were doing.  But he made no indication of moving as he watched you.

"Okay.  Let's give this a try."  You said out loud as you tightened up your grip on your saddle as you crouched down enough that your arms were stretched out completely above you.

Then you pushed off hard from the ground as you jumped into the air.  But when you jumped up, you were nowhere near high enough.  So after just jumping beside him, you crouched down again to try it while pulling yourself up at the same time.  That time you were a bit higher, but it still wasn't high enough.

Kwek!  Prince yelled at you as you crouched down yet again.

"I know. I know.  I'm trying."  You said back before you tried it again as you pushed harder and pulled more.

Which this time you were at least able to get your stomach lined up with the saddle.  But you still weren't high enough to swing your leg over.  Which made you lower yourself back down to the ground.  Then you got ready to do it again.  

Little did you know that someone had walking up behind you as you tried again and got the same result.  You were too frustrated with yourself that you didn't even realized that they stopped right behind you as you tried one more time with a lot more force.  Only this time, you felt something push up on your lower foot.  Which was enough for you to get high enough to finally swing your leg over.

And with a smile, you sat down in your saddle. Then you looked over at who had helped you.  And standing there with his dazzling pair of sapphire eyes and a big smile, was Noctis himself.  You shook your head as you slightly smiled at him.  He certainly had a way of showing up whenever you needed him.  And his smirk at you told you that your look was exactly what he was going for as you sat back in your saddle and smiled down at him.

"Thanks."  You said to him.

"No problem Princess."  Noctis replied as he beamed at you.

"But you know that I was suppose to do that on my own."

"I know."  Noctis said as he placed his hand on your leg as he stepped up to you.  "But you looked frustrated."

"Yes..."  You said as you rolled your eyes as you tried to shake off the tingling sensation in your leg from his fingers slowly sliding down your pant leg.  "....but I'm suppose to do this on my own."

"In due time."  Noctis said as he wrapped his fingers around your calf and slightly squeezed.  "But for now, I don't mind helping you."

You slightly smiled back at him.  But as you did, you could see that his eyes were starting to get dark again as he looked at you with a slight smirk.  Which made your heart start to race as you felt his eyes starting to pull you deeper into them.  And soon you were becoming lost in them as he slid his hand further down your leg.

"Would you like to try it again?"  You barely heard him ask as his fingers slid down to your ankle, leaving your skin tingling in its wake.

"Sure."  You quietly said as tore your eyes away from his as you slowly turned towards him and started to get back down.

But right as you got both legs on one side, Prince shifted under you as he stepped away from Noctis.  You weren't expecting this as you started to fall off of him.  Which made you close your eyes as you anticipated hitting the ground in front of you.  But before you could even think of what to do, you felt two strong arms grab you.  

They held you steady for a moment before they slowly sat your feet safely down on the ground.  Then they pulled you closer as they wrapped around you.  You didn't open your eyes to see who it was.  But you didn't have to.  I recognized that smooth musky scent anywhere as your head rested against his chest.

"I got you."  Noctis said as he slid one hand up to the back of your neck while the other wrapped around your waist and held you close.  "I won't let you get hurt."

You couldn't help but to smile as you wrapped your arms around him and gave him a firm hug.  "Thank you."

"Anytime Princess."  He said before he gave you a kiss on the head.

 Then he held you close for a moment as his hand slowly moved up and down your back.  You smiled as you enjoyed his comforting embrace.  It never seemed to matter how stressed you were.  Noctis could always make you feel better.

"Would you like to try it again?"  You heard him ask as he slightly loosened up his grip as he moved your hair behind your ear.

"Sure."  You said and slowly released Noctis.

He smiled back at you as he dropped his hands completely as you turned back around and faced Prince again.  Then you nervously put your hands back on your saddle again.  Prince turned his head to watch you.  You smiled at him.

"Looks like he's ready."  Noctis said with a smile.

"Yes he does."  You replied as you smiled back at Prince

"Well then.  Let's not keep him waiting."  Noctis said as he placed his hands on your sides.  "Right?"

"Right."  You said as you got ready to try it again.

Then for the next few minutes, the two of you worked on you getting up into your saddle without ever touching your stirrups.  Which was a huge help to you since after a few tries, you were able to finally understand how to do it without him lifting you up enough to get onto Prince.  It turned out to be a bit more than just a bounce.  It was actually a jump and a bounce as you yanked yourself up into the saddle.

And you couldn't help but to grin broadly at him after you did the last one before your dad walked up to the two of you.  "I see that you two are working hard over here."

"Hey dad."  You said as you slightly laughed as you beamed at Noctis who was standing there with a smile on his face.

"Did you need to work on your mount, your highness?"  Your dad asked as he looked at Noctis.

"Nope."  Noctis said as he turned to his bird and practically vaulted onto the back of his bird with one smooth move.  "And no offense.  But I had learned this when I was a kid."

"Well alright then."  Your dad said as he walked away leading his bird.  "Let's go ahead and put it all together."

"Are you ready?"  Noctis asked you as he gathered up his reins as he watched you.

"Yeah."  You said as you did the same as you grinned back at him.

Then the two of you rode over to where the others were sitting astride their birds.  Your dad once again walked over to everyone as he left his bird at a distance.  Prompto gave both of you a huge smile.  While Gladio looked at Noctis and give him a firm look as if he had broken some silent code that you didn't know about.  But then again, that could have just been his face.  He hadn't slept very well the night before with everyone in his tent nudging him to stop snoring.  

"Alright.  It looks like everyone is ready to put it all together."  Your dad said as you and Noctis turned your birds around so that you were all looking at him.  "First your going to call your bird.  Then as their run up towards you, your going to start moving with them.  Then your going to grab your saddle like you just practiced.  And finally I want you to jump up and pull yourself into your saddle. Now fair warning, I expect each of you to fall a few times before you get it.  But I don't want you to stop trying.  Again this maneuver could very well save your life.  I know it has mine a time or two."

You felt your heart practically stop as he finished and glanced at you.  The look on his face told you that he wasn't joking about any of it.  Which now made you wonder just how many times he had had a brush with death that he hadn't told you about.  At the same time though, you were afraid to ask.

"Alright.  I'll start off and show you what it should look like."  Your dad said before he put his whistle to his lips and gave one long blow and two short.

His bird quickly turned towards him and started running to him.  Your dad watched her running up towards him and slowly started to run himself.  When she reached him, he kept running as he reached up and grabbed onto the saddle.  Then he did one hard jump and pulled himself up into the saddle as his bird continued to run.  You felt your jaw drop as he kept going as he grabbed the reins and quickly turned her around so that they were racing past you.  

You had long ago learned that your dad was full of hidden skills and talents.  But never did you picture him as some type of trick rider on a chocobo.  Because that was how he made it look.  And it seemed to be as natural to him as swimming was to you.  Not once did he bat an eye or second guess any of it.  He just did it.

"Whoa."  You heard Prompto say as he stared as your dad with awe.   "Did you know that he could do that?"

"No."  You replied as your dad turned his bird one last time and came slowly jogging up to everyone.  "But then again, it's my dad.  There doesn't seem to be anything that he can't do."

"So true on that."  Prompto said softly as your dad stopped in front of everyone.

"Any questions?"  Your dad asked as he looked at each of you.

"When do we start?"  Noctis asked with conviction.

"Right now."  Your dad replied with a smile.  "But for this exercise we will be doing it one at a time at first until you are able to get up onto your bird.  Prince Noctis?  Why don't you start us off."

"You got it."  Noctis said as he gather up his reins and looked at you with a slight smile before he kicked his bird forward and trotted over to where your dad had left his.

"Let's see if he still remembers what to do."  You heard Gladio say as he nudged Prompto.

Noctis got off of his bird and walked out to about where your dad had been.  Then he put his whistle to his lips and simple gave one long blow.  His bird quickly turned and faced Noctis before she started running towards him.  Noctis watched her carefully as she came running up towards him.  Then just like your dad, he started running as she approached.

You then watched as Noctis seemed to effortlessly vault off of the ground and fly up into the air before he landed smoothly onto his saddle.  It was obvious that he had been doing that for a very long time.  Which didn't surprise you, as much as it made you nervous.  Would you be able to do that same?

Sure Noctis and your dad hadn't had any issues.  In fact they had done it with what appeared to be little, to no effort at all.  Which made you wonder if any of the others would struggle like you had with just getting up to begin with. But after watching Gladio and Prompto do the exact same thing right after Noctis, you weren't so sure of yourself anymore.

They can't all have beginners luck.  Can they?  You asked as you watched Prompto come trotting back over to everyone.

"That was awesome."  Prompto said as he beamed at the group.  "Can we do that again?"

"After (y/n)'s turn."  Your dad responded before he looked at you. "Alright kiddo.  You're up."

"Right."  You nervously said as you slightly squeezed your legs and urged Prince to move.

He quickly responded and almost seemed to strut as he jogged out in front of everyone.  You couldn't help but to think that perhaps he was enjoying this more than you were.  But then when you walked him a ways from everyone and got off, he seemed to be confused.  And when you started to walk away from you, he once again started to follow.  You quickly turned around and looked at him. 

"No Prince."  You said to him as you held out both hands.  "Stay there.  Okay?  I'll call you to me."

Kwek!  Prince said as he stood still and cocked his head to the side as he watched you slowly start to walk backwards from him.

"No."  You said again as you kept your eyes on him this time as you kept backing up.  "I need you to stay."

Prince dropped his head and slowly inched one foot forward as if he was trying to sneak up on you.

"Prince."  You said with a warning tone as you kept moving.

But Prince took another step forward as he gave a low grumble in his throat.

"I mean it."  You said as you walked a few more feet before you stopped as you kept your eyes on him.

Prince took another step.  But this time he seemed to tense up as he dug his talons into the ground as he grumbled again.  That was when you realized that he wasn't playing as he looked at you.  Although he wasn't actually looking at you.  Instead he was looking past you.

Which made you slowly turn around and look in the direction that he was facing.  And that was when you saw the long tail again with the hint of a deep purple in the fin that was on the tip.  But this time it wasn't just the tail.  Instead you were looking right at a behemoth.  But this one looked like a miniature version of the much larger, and way more aggressive adults.  It stood just out a view of the others as it hid in between two very large boulders that separated that field from the adjacent one.

You couldn't seem to move as you stared in shock at the real live behemoth.  It stood there with its broad shoulders practically touching the rocks on either side of it.  The long horns in its head stretched out about 6 inches in front of its face as they seemed to hold the mane in place on its head.  The long claws dug into the ground as it crouched down low to the ground and glared at you with his red eyes.

Sure you knew that behemoths were real. But you had only heard of them in stories and had read about them through your research.  You never expected to see one in person.  And especially there on that field.  Let alone one so young.

Your heart stopped as you once again heard a low growl.  But this time you didn't need to look around to see what had made the sound.  For the baby behemoth crouched low to the ground and was now baring its teeth at you.  The sound made the hair raise on the back of your neck.

And that was when for the first time since you arrived, you got really scared.  You knew that behemoths were strong.  And that they were also fast.  Especially as adolescents. That was how they could escape from danger themselves, or for hunting for their food.  And unfortunately, this one certainly looked hungry and super fast.  At least based on the muscles on its legs that seemed to tremble as you stood there looking at it.

"Fuck."  You quietly said as you took a step back and placed the whistle slowly to your lips.

Then after trying a few different rhythms, you tried a long whistle that started out at a medium pitch before it dropped down in pitch and ended with a quick high pitch.  And instantly you heard Prince start to race towards you.  But you didn't take your eyes off of the behemoth as you heard Prince quickly approaching you.  And as he got closer, you didn't run in the same direction as the guys.

Instead you quickly started to run in the exact opposite direction, and away from the behemoth.  Prince quickly corrected his direction and was soon by your side.  You looked at him and quickly grabbed his saddle and did one hard jump before you pulled yourself up into the saddle.  You would have been impressed that you had gotten it the first time, if it wasn't for the fact that you could hear a very large animal come thundering after you.

But you didn't look back to see if it was the behemoth.  Instead, you grabbed your reins and started to push Prince forward even faster.  Which he quickly did as he crouched down lower and stretched out his neck and legs.  And soon he was flying across the ground as he raced past the others, who were all standing there in shock.  You were going so fast that you couldn't make out what they were yelling after you as the two of you raced across the field. 

 Soon you reached the woods and the trees were flying past you as you raced down the dirt road  through the woods.  It wasn't until you were running out of the forest that you took a chance to glanced back.  And that was when you saw that the animal that had been chasing you, was your dad chasing after you on his bird.  You couldn't help but to feel relieved as you looked at him  

But before you could slow down.  You heard a low bellow of a bull garula coming from in front of you.  Which made you quickly turn around.  Right as you turned around was when you realized that you had just run right into the middle of his herd.  Which would explain why bull was upset.  And when you caught sight of him, you realized that he was now charging right at you.

"Shit!"  You said as you quickly turned your bird around and started to head back towards camp.

But the bull was catching up to you very quickly as he thunder after you.  Then before you knew what was going on, you watched your dad race past you and summon his machine gun right before he whipped by.  For the next few minutes, all you heard was bullets being fired and the distinct sounds of the garula calling out their destress.  Which was quickly followed by the thundering of hooves as the herd ran off towards the other pier.

You quickly brought your bird to stop and turned back around as you heard the herd retreating.  You turned in time to see your dad bringing his bird to a stop as he held the barrel of his gun straight up in the air.  You could see the smoke rising from the barrel.  You both watched the entire herd race off in a trail of dust, with the bull pushing them from behind.  

Your dad then turned back towards you and released his gun into a blue mist.  But you could tell by the look on his face that he was anything but please as he rode up to you.  In fact, he looked to be straight up pissed.  Which was now making you very nervous as he stopped right in front of you.

"Would you mind telling me what the hell that was about?!"  Your dad shouted at you as he rode up to you.  

"I'm sorry dad.  I saw something and got nervous."  You quickly said as you looked at him.

"Nervous?  You call that nervous?"  He yelled back.  "It looked like you were trying to get yourself killed!"

You were taken back by his tone.  You hadn't expected him to fly off the handle at you like this.  But when you thought about how it must have looked, you realized that he did have a point.  You could have said something before you raced off like that.  But how were you suppose to know that that would happen?

"I'm sorry dad.  I didn't..."  You started to apologize.

"You know what.  I don't want to hear it!"  He shouted at you.  "Get back to camp.  Your done training for today."

"But dad!"  You shouted back.

 "No! (Y/n)!"  He shouted again.  "I'm tired of you getting into trouble everytime we turn around."

"But dad.  It's not my fault."  You tried to argue as he moved closer to you.

"Not your fault?!" Your dad asked with exasperation.  "Being chased by a crazy chocobo, I'll by. Even getting attacked by wild sabertooth might have caught even me off guard. But you just ran head-first straight into a herd of garula!  And don't even get me started on you warping into the middle of the lake for no reason.  No (y/n), I've had enough!"

"I know. And I'm sorry.  But dad..."

"I already told you. I don't want to hear it."  He growled back at you as he moved up right next to you.  "Now go back to camp before you cause any more trouble."

"If you would just listen..."

"Enough!"  He shouted back.  "Back to camp!  Now!"

You quickly jumped and dropped your gaze as he glared at you.  The tone was all too familiar to you.  It meant that he wasn't going to listen to anything that you said. No matter how much you pressed. Which meant that it was best to just let it go. 

So you did, as you gathered up your reins again.  You then turned Prince back towards camp and kicked him so that you could get away from your dad before he yelled at you again.  That was something that you'd never enjoyed. And what you had tried to prevent as much as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

"But I don't understand."  You heard Noctis say as he stood beside you as you cooked up lunch.  "What in the world made you run like that?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now. Okay?" You said without looking at him as you flipped over the four grilled cheese sandwiches that you were cooking.

"But...?" Noctis started to say before you sighed as you looked at him.

"Not right now. Alright?"

Noctis dropped his gaze as he shoved his hands in his pockets.  You could tell that he was upset.  But you were simply too upset and embarrassed to talk about it at the moment.  Your dad had never yelled at you in front of everyone before.  And you weren't quite sure how to handle any of it at the moment.

"Later.  I promise."  You said as you tried to reassure him as you put two sandwiches on a plate.

"Tst.  I've heard that before." He quietly replied as he reached up and practically yanked the plate out of your hand as he turned and walked away.

"We'll talk later. I promise." You called after him as he walked over to his chair.

But when Noctis didn't even so much as wave at you, you knew that he was more upset with you then you ever wanted.  You looked back at the stove as you placed the next two sandwiches on a plate and handed it to Prompto who was standing by you.

"He's only worried about you, you know.  We all are."  Prompto said as he took the plate from you and gave you a concerned look.  

"I know.  It's just....." You started to say as you started to get your bread ready.

"And if you keep pushing him away like this, he might not be there later on."

"But I'm not."  You replied as you searched Prompto's face as he turned and walked away.  

"Are you sure about that?"  Prompto called back as he walked away.

You stood there for a bit as you felt your heart drop as you watched Prompto walk over and join Noctis by the fire as everyone else sat there eating.  Your couldn't help the fact that everything had happened to you during the trip.  Hell, if you had your choice, it never would have happened.  But it still didn't make you feel any better as you looked at each of them in turn as they talked and ate their lunch. 

You didn't want them to be worried about you all the time. So you made a silent promise to them to not cause any trouble. For any of them. Or you would at least try not to.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

That afternoon, the guys went fishing while you stayed back to work on your assignments. Which your dad was surprised that you agreed to without any hassle.  And the whole time you worked, Prince stayed right beside you as if he was protecting you. Which you were grateful for.  Considering neither your dad nor Noctis said goodbye before they left.

But who could blame them. The trip had had more excitement than it should have been. And it all seemed to be because of you. Which of course didn't make you feel any better.

In fact it made you feel worse. And even to the point that you wish that you had never mentioned the idea to your dad in the first place. Then none of that crap would have happened. And no one would be upset with you.

But right as you thought that, you felt a gentle nudge on your arm. You looked back and saw Prince giving you his curious look as he cocked his head at you. He almost seemed to understand what you were thinking as he looked at you. Which made you slightly smile as you reached back and started to scratch his chin.

"So far, the best part of the whole trip, has been you." You said to Prince as he gave you a deep grumble as he closed his eyes again. 

"And for me, that is more than enough reason for me to try harder to stay out of trouble." You said as you put your head to his as you continued to scratch his neck.

Prince deeply cooed at you as the two of you stayed there for a few moments in silence.  Then you went back to typing up your paper for Korn as Prince settled down behind you and fell asleep. You were then lost in thought as you worked. And you didn't look up once as you worked. But then again, you didn't have to. Prince would hear anything approaching long before you did anyway. 

******Author Note******

I had been fighting to get this out a couple days ago. But I'm not going to lie, I got distracted with putting my books out there for some possible awards and also to further expose them to a larger audience. Which I recommend this to each of you to do. It helps us to get some good feedback.  And it allows us to reach a totally different audience than just the usual Wattpader who searches for books to read at random. (Which had been me when I first started.  And now look.)   :)

And speaking of a shout out.  What keeps waking us up?  Is that?  Oh dear god.  It's you again.

Thanks for reading.  :)

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