Angelica finished tying her hair up into a ponytail as she followed closely behind the prince. Goose bumps were already covering her arms at the low temperature within the cavern. It was definitely a strange feeling to be warm one second and then cold the next. But as soon as they had entered the cave, the temperature instantly, and drastically, dropped. Each breath she took sent out a visible puff of air.

"Anyone else think we should double back for some coats?" the blond asked, shivering.

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

"Unless you get hypothermia," Angelica added with a straight face.

"Not helpful," Gladio said.

Not far in, the group came to an icy slope. Noctis glanced around before coming to a conclusion. "Only way's down."

He jumped right in with his friends right behind. They slid down the ice, one by one. But Angelica ended up nearly colliding into Gladiolus ahead of her while Prompto was close behind her. It looked as though the entire group were about to crash into one another at any moment, and that's exactly what happened.

At the bottom of the slide, Noctis landed on the hard ground with Gladio right on top of him. Angelica came right after followed by Prompto and Ignis. None of them were able to avoid colliding into one another. Not even Angelica or Ignis could stop themselves from being thrown into their friends. They all ended up as one big pile on the ground. Angelica found herself sandwiched in - someone under her and someone on top of her.

With her legs slung over the shield's back, she found the prince's head right under her. In fact, at the way they were both trapped in place, her chest was nearly pressed against his face. While Noctis was a flustered mess by having nowhere to avert his gaze, Angelica felt way too much movement below her waist.

"Everyone, off!" she finally snapped. "Someone's hand is on my butt!"

Prompto, who had been able to feel but not see where his hands were, immediately realized what the softness under his hand was. As soon as Ignis was off his back, the gunman shot up off the redhead, his face red with embarrassment as he held his hands up defensively.

"Ah, my bad!" he apologized, watching as the girl stood and looked straight at him.

Her expression was mostly neutral aside from the frown on her lips. "Prompto, watch where you put your hands from now on."

He swiftly nodded. "I will! So so sorry, Angel!"

As soon as Gladio was off, Noctis picked himself up, dusting off his clothes. "At least you weren't almost smothered. I nearly had my face smashed into her chest."

Gladio let out a laugh. "Who knew having a girl in the group would shake things up so much."

Angelica placed her hands on her hips, sending a glare at the muscular man. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Ignis pushed up his glasses, seemingly unfazed by the whole thing. "Only that a female's presence can lead to more... embarrassing situations."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "Well sorry for being a girl."

"Don't be," the advisor said. "You make quite an attractive young lady."

Angelica blinked, unable to reply. Did Ignis really just compliment me? She pushed the thought aside when she heard Noctis clear his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"Let's get moving. I don't know about you guys, but I don't wanna hang around here longer than I have to."

His friends all nodded in agreement. They once again followed the prince, passing through the icy cavern. There were multiple branching paths to take, and the gang only hoped that Noctis wasn't just randomly picking one. But as they continued walking, the cold was slowly getting to them. Even Gladio and Ignis were beginning to shiver a bit, their skin covered in goose bumps. And of course, Prompto's incessant whining didn't help any.

"What I wouldn't give for a hot bowl of soup right now... Mmm, soup."

Angelica suddenly paused, her eyes darting around. "What's up, Angel?" Gladio asked.

"Don't you feel that?"

"The freezing cold?" the blond guessed.

"No." She rolled her eyes. "Don't you feel like we're being watched? Like something's tailing us?"

Ignis began scanning his surroundings. "Now that you mention it, there does appear to be a foreboding sensation in the air."

"Let's pick up the pace, then," Noctis said.

The group hurried along, staying on high alert for any possible danger. They finally came to a narrow walkway that passed right by another slope. In a single file line, they carefully began crossing, their backs pressed against the cold wall behind them. But unfortunately, Prompto's clumsiness caused him to slip on the slick ice. He began falling forward toward the slope.

Being right beside him, Angelica reached out and snatched his arm, but instead of stopping him, he only yanked her in with him. The gunman let out a yelp as he went sliding down, dragging the girl with him.

"Prompto! Angel!" their friends cried out, watching the two disappear down the slide.

Before Noctis could jump in after them, Gladio grabbed his arm. "Don't even think about. We can't go jumping in too."

Ignis sighed with frustration. "We'll need to keep moving. We can come back for them after we figure out where that leads. I'm certain they can take care of themselves until then."

Noctis clicked his tongue but nodded. Meanwhile, Angelica and Prompto finally came to the end of the slide. The blond landed on his stomach on the cold, hard stone. Angelica was close to landing on him, but managed to avoid a collision this time. She instead landed on her feet right over Prompto. The girl immediately summoned her daggers, spying a creature waiting in the darkness ahead of them.

Prompto let out a groan and sat up slightly. "Oww. That was one hell of a fall."

The redhead moved out from over him, her eyes never leaving the monster as she leaned down, dismissing a dagger and placing a hand over his mouth. "Shh, we're not alone."

The blond followed her gaze as she aimed the light clipped to her shirt at the creature, illuminating its form. It screeched at the sudden blinding light, causing Prompto to summon his gun. The two both prepared for a fight as the arachne leapt at them. They both dodged to the sides, avoiding the daemon's attempt at crushing them. While the spider-like creature was distracted by Prompto's onslaught of bullets, Angelica rushed in, slicing off several of its legs.

The daemon wailed in pain and shot out electricity as it stumbled around with fewer legs to carry its weight. Prompto hurried out of its range while Angelica jumped over the electric current and landed atop the creature's back. Before the arachne could react, the girl slit its throat. The daemon flopped to the ground. Angelica hopped off of it as its body turned into smoke.

"Way to go, Angel!" Prompto cheered.

She smiled slightly. "You didn't do too bad yourself."

"Really? Well, I'm still glad I didn't fall down here by myself."

The girl casually walked past him. "True. If you were alone, you'd probably get killed."

"Hey!" the blond retorted, taking offense to that.

"At least we know what had been tailing us for a short time," she thought aloud, "and now we've taken care of it."

Angelica looked around. Aside from the slope they'd come down, there was only one other opening in the circular room they were in. There was definitely no way of climbing back up the slide, it was far too slick with no handholds whatsoever. She bent down, peeking through the small opening before looking back at Prompto.

"C'mon, let's see if we can find a way out."

"Um, should we really leave this spot?" the gunman inquired. "Aren't you supposed to stay put when you get separated?"

"Would you rather wait here until you freeze to death or more daemons show up?"

Prompto immediately went over to the opening with her. "What're we waiting for? Lead the way, Angel."

The girl only shook her head. At least she got him to come on. She crouched down and crawled into the opening, standing up straight on the other side. She waited as Prompto followed her lead. Once out of the room, there was a steep, linear path in front of them that led upwards. With no other options, they followed it. It seemed like they were walking for hours on an uphill path that winded around in odd ways.

They were both shivering and their skin was losing its color. But they pushed on, despite Prompto's whining. Along with the cold, they were both beginning to grow hungry. Their legs ached from the constant walking, but they finally came to another slide.

"Oh g-great," Prompto breathed out, his teeth chattering. "We w-walk all this way o-only to go b-back down a-again."

Angelica rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm herself up. "Yeah, but we can't turn back now."

"Geronimo!" Prompto shouted, jumping onto the slope.

Angelica jumped in right after him. The girl was practically against his back as they slid down together. It was a rather short slide down into an ice-covered room. The two dropped down right at the feet of their friends.

"Prompto, Angel," Noctis said.

The two both rose to their feet, shivering. "G-Guys," Prompto said, a smile gracing his lips. "Am I-I glad to s-see you."

"Are you two alright?" Ignis asked. He looked over the two, noticing their paled skin and constant shuddering. "You both look deathly cold."

"Let's get outta here before these two turn into ice cubes," Gladio suggested.

"What about the weapon?" Angelica asked.

"Already got it," Noctis answered. "The tomb's right over there."

Angelica and Prompto both turned their heads, following the prince's pointing finger. Sure enough, the door of a royal tomb sat right off to the side. The group began leaving the cavern.

"Where did you two disappear to anyway?" the shield asked.

"To a very, very cold place!" Prompto replied. The chattering of his teeth died down enough for him to answer. "And with an arachne! I'm so glad I had Angel to help me take it down!"

"We had to fight a mindflayer," Noctis said.

"And you're certain you both are okay?" Ignis interrupted.

"Yes," the girl responded. "Aside from being frozen, we're fine."

Retracing their steps, the five friends made it back outside where it was already dark out. Noctis suddenly clutched his head in pain, mumbling something about a burning meteor. But it quickly passed and they dismissed the sudden headache for the time being. They didn't know what to make of it anyway, plus they needed to report their find to Talcott. For now, they had to focus on one thing at a time.

By the way, if any of you remember, there is a huge slope at the end of the Greyshire Glacial Grotto right next to the tomb. That was the slope that brought Angel and Prompto back to the others. That spot always seemed mysterious to me so I decided to come up with a way to use it in this chapter.