March 29th, 1820, Lebender Forest, Gunitas Basin, Alexandria.
17:45
"This isn't good..." Steiner said, staring at the forest from inside the cave. "There are too many of them..."
"What are they waiting for?" Eiko whispered, unsettled by the creatures' insectoid traits. They had been watching their hideout for a while now, and their numbers just wouldn't stop growing.
"They're waiting for an attack order," the Pluto knight replied. "They're drones, controlled by a Plant Brain. They won't stop hunting us until we leave their master's domain."
"Are you serious? A real Plant Brain?" Major Dionne asked, strengthening her grip on her war hammer. "Didn't they go extinct when Evil Forest was petrified?"
"Drat... it's starting to rain. This is going to get rough." Steiner commented, staring at the overcast sky. Thunder echoed across the woods as the weather quickly deteriorated to a downpour. The rain was so intense that it severely restricted visibility, concealing the creatures' movements. Loud screeching could be heard coming from every direction, punctuated by the occasional lightning strike; it was as if the forest itself was coming for them.
"Shit... can't see 'em!" Eiko exclaimed, squinting futilely. "What are we supposed to do now?!"
"Can't Phoenix carry us away?" Steiner asked. "Because I see no way outta here other than up!"
"Oh, yeah! Let's hitch a ride on a fucking fireball! How could that possibly go wrong?!" the summoner hissed.
A monstrous roar suddenly drowned their discussion. It was a dissonant, almost alien sound, and it filled the survivors with dread.
"What. The hell. Was that..?" Eiko muttered, clutching her mystical flute.
"It's the attack order!" Steiner yelled as the horde of Plant Spiders began charging at the cavern.
"We must retreat, now!" Major Dionne exclaimed, yanking Eiko by the arm.
"No need to tell us twice!" the soldiers exclaimed in unison, fleeing back into the cave as if Odin himself was chasing them.
"Whoa! Wait, Dionne! Let go!" the summoner shrieked as the Master-at-arms dragged her away from the entrance. Much to her horror, the Pluto Knight had decided to stand his ground instead of following them. "Steiner! What are you doing?! C'mere!" she yelled.
"If they get into the cave, we're toast!" Steiner shouted, channeling his spiritual power into the Ragnarok. "Go! I'll catch up with you in a moment!"
"What? You're gonna bring the whole place down on our heads!" Eiko squawked as her team turned left at a bifurcation. "Dionne, for fuck's sake, leggo or I'll..!"
BOOOM!
A tremendous explosion reverberated across the tunnel, followed by a deafening rumble and then complete silence.
"Steineeer!" the summoner screamed, but only the echo answered her call.
Major Dionne stopped dead on her tracks. She didn't let go of the princess out of fear of another cave-in, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the knight behind either.
"What have we done..?" Eiko mumbled, suddenly devoid of strength. She seemed ready to fall on her knees. "We've abandoned him... that jerk..! How dare he..?"
"... Die on you?" Steiner asked, appearing out of nowhere with a smug grin.
"W-wha..?! W-where..?" the summoner stuttered, blinking stupidly at the apparition.
"This cave is actually part of a larger system," he explained. "I just took another route to avoid getting flattened."
"Huh..?! YOU BASTARD! How dare you scare me like that?! Are you insane?!" the summoner yelled at the top of her lungs, pounding on Steiner's armor until she got tired and then retired to a corner, cradling her sore fist. "Anyway... how are we supposed to get outta this shithole now?
"Manners!" the demi-hippo mouthed at her, a little scandalized by her unprincesslike behavior.
"Come on, I wouldn't have sealed the front entrance if I didn't have a backup plan," the knight retorted.
"Front entrance?" Eiko said, arching an eyebrow. "There's another one?"
Steiner flashed a proud smile and held out his torch as steadily as possible. "What do you see?" he asked, gesturing at the flame.
"Steiner, where is this going?"
"No way..." the oldest Lindblumese soldier said, staring at the fire with a big grin on his face. "Lord Steiner, you're a genius!"
Eiko craned a flabbergasted look at him, surprised by hearing 'Steiner' and 'genius' in the same sentence.
"Mind explaining, Vega?" the master-at-arms said, cocking her head.
"The flame flickers! See?" the soldier piped up. "It's very subtle, but it's definitely pointing in a direction!"
"A draft... that can only mean one thing!" Dionne exclaimed.
"Um... actually, it can mean more than one thing," Vega added. "An underground river, for example..."
"So... we're stuck in an unexplored, pitch-dark maze with a dying friend, and our only hope to ever get out is venturing even deeper without tools or supplies of any kind..." Eiko stated in a deadpan tone.
Everybody stared blankly at her.
"... Sounds about right," she said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Come on, let's fetch Garnet."
"Um... are you sure that this won't worsen Her Majesty's condition, Eiko? Because it looks awfully uncomfortable to me."
"Would you prefer to break her spine instead?"
"Um... n-no..."
"Then shut up and keep her back as straight as possible, geez!"
Steiner grumbled a rather long tirade in response. He had begrudgingly accepted to carry Garnet across his shoulders at Eiko's request, even if he felt that the whole ordeal was way too undignified for a queen. The youngest summoner periodically asked the group to stop, checked on her friend for signs of bleeding and applied white magic to keep her alive.
"Ewww... what's that smell?" the youngest trooper squawked after the group turned left at a junction.
"Wasn't me, I swear," Vega quipped, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Rotting flesh..." Major Dionne stated, drawing her weapon. "That can't be a good sign."
Steiner sniffed the putrid air a few times; for reasons he could not yet understand, it stirred something in the back of his mind, a memory from the Mist War.
"Wait... I know this stench," he said, taking a few more whiffs. He glimpsed a creature scuttling near his right foot and stomped on it reflexively. Eiko noticed his reaction and turned around to see what was going on.
"You okay?" she asked, cocking her head a little.
"I'm better now, thank you," he answered, lifting his armored foot to reveal a dead Crawler larva... or at least what was left of it.
"Man, that's gross as hell..." Eiko commented, crouching to take a better look at the sticky mess. "What kind of bug is this?"
"It's a baby Crawler. Very dangerous when in numbers," the knight stated. "There must be a nest ahead, that would explain the stench."
"Wait, this is a baby?!" the summoner squawked, pointing at the goop puddle. "How big can these things get?!"
"Huge," Steiner replied. "An adult can block this tunnel all by itself. Oh! And they can pull out their own stomachs and use them like clu-"
"Okay, okay, okay, I get the idea!" the princess exclaimed, pale as a ghost. "I think I'm gonna throw up..."
"Seems like we're out of luck today," Major Dionne commented, folding her arms. "What now? I assume that charging straight into that nest amounts to suicide."
"Well, I happen to have a friend who dislikes bugs as much as I do," Eiko said, drawing her mystical instrument. She murmured a prayer and then played a melody on her flute. A shimmering whirlwind heralded Fenrir's arrival.
"What now?" the Eidolon boomed as his physical form emerged from the aether.
"Are you in the mood to kick some ass?" the summoner asked him via telepathic link.
"Always," the wolf answered, flashing a murderous grin.
With Fenrir leading the march, the survivors continued their advance through the winding labyrinth until they found the entrance to a vast natural chamber. An acrid smell came from inside, marking the location of the Crawler colony.
"It's worse than I expected..." Steiner whispered, carefully peering into the hive. Dozens of gigantic arthropods twitched and scuttled in the dark, and a particularly large one guarded a fresh batch of eggs, surrounded by a writhing ocean of larvae.
"Oh gods... my throat is burning..!" Pip, the youngest Lindblumese soldier hissed, futilely covering his mouth.
"Care to trade noses, human?" Fenrir snarked, and Eiko chuckled at his retort. "All right, what's the plan? Should I charge in and blast them with a wind spell?"
"Exactly. Be careful, though; we don't want to bring the ceiling down on us!" the summoner said.
"I'll do my best..." the Eidolon replied before barging into the nest, fangs bared.
"That's not a yes!" Eiko yelled.
"That's not a no, either!" Fenrir retorted, his body transmuted into the very essence of destruction. "Have at ye, bitches!"
Searing light flooded the cavern as the Eidolon turned into a gigantic tornado. The monsters screeched and flailed helplessly as they were sucked into the cyclone and ground into mincemeat by the roaring winds.
"It's a worm-nado! Woo-hooo!" Vega cheered, pumping his fist into the air.
"More like a stink-nado! Urk..!" Pip uttered, struggling not to lose his lunch.
"This isn't over yet! Look!" Steiner shouted, pointing at the giant Crawler; it had anchored itself to the floor to protect its brood, and despite the grievous wounds that Fenrir had inflicted on it, the mastodon adamantly refused to die.
"Uh, g-guys..?" Eiko stammered, sweating profusely. "I-I can't keep this up much longer!"
Steiner and Dionne exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
"Save your strength, ma'am! We'll finish the job!" the demi-hippo exclaimed.
"W-we?!" Mark, the third soldier, squeaked.
"Yes, private! We!" Dionne barked back.
Aided by the Lindblumese soldiers, Steiner lowered Garnet to the ground as delicately as he could. The master-at-arms handed him the Ragnarok, and its jagged edge gleamed in the torchlight as he steeled himself for combat. "Ready when you are, Eiko."
"All right... dispelling in three, two, one!" the summoner said. The storm waned and Fenrir returned to his realm. "Go!"
Roaring in unison, the five soldiers rushed into the hive. The giant Crawler let out a deafening screech and uncoiled itself, siccing what remained of its children on them.
"Stay back!" Steiner ordered as he gained speed, his weapon brimming with magic. He leaped straight into the incoming horde, and with a swing of the Ragnarok everything around him burst into flames.
"The Climhazzard... I never thought I'd live to see it!" Dionne thought, staring in awe at the fiery blast. The Broodmother's mournful shrieks made her snap back to reality. "This is our chance! Attack!" she ordered, brandishing her hammer.
The Lindblumese squadron rushed past the Pluto Knight and charged straight at the abomination, blades reflecting Steiner's miniature sun. The creature opened its maw and out came its own innards, coiled into a long, slimy appendage.
"Watch out!" the demi-hippo shouted.
With a violent flick of its head, the monster swung its exposed stomach at the soldiers like a gigantic flail. Dionne, Vega and Mark slid right under the attack and resumed their charge without missing a beat, but Pip panicked and stood still, paralyzed by fear.
SLASH!
The Broodmother howled in agony; Steiner had intercepted its 'tongue' at the last second and chopped it in half, saving Pip from an early grave.
"You okay, private?"
"T-t-thank you, s-sir..." Pip stuttered, looking ready to faint.
"Begone, foul beast!" Major Dionne barked, using one of the creature's claws as a stepping stone to jump onto its back. The Crawler thrashed and flailed around in a desperate attempt to get rid of her, sending both Mark and Vega flying, but she sank her hammer deep into its hide and held onto it, tenacious as a flea. After a particularly brutal shake, she was sent hurtling upward. The monster saw this as an opportunity to swallow her, so it opened its maw and waited for her to fall.
"You want a piece of me?!" the master-at-arms yelled, infusing her hammer with volatile magic until it started glowing. "Then eat this!"
With a mighty swing of her arm, she hurled the charged weapon straight into the creature's mouth; the poor thing couldn't even scream before an explosion tore its body asunder - SPLORK! - showering the chamber and everyone inside with gore.
"Eeeww!" Vega and Mark whined in unison, still splayed on the ground as the acrid gunge rained on them.
"Wooohooo! Hell yeah!" Major Dionne cheered, bursting out of the Crawler's smoking carcass with an ecstatic grin on her face. "Lord Steiner, did you see that? It's my version of your mythic spell... blade..?"
Everybody glared daggers at her.
"Oh... sorry, guys."
"Is it safe? Can we come in?" Eiko asked, peering into the chamber. "Ew... what the hell just happened?"
"I believe we have... secured the area," Steiner answered, wiping a generous serving of monster mush off his face.
"Okay sis, here we go," the young summoner muttered, empowering herself with a Might spell. She then effortlessly lifted Garnet and started carrying her into the murky chamber.
"Wouldn't it be best if I carried her, Eiko?" the Pluto Knight asked, shooting a worried look at her lithe frame.
"I'm stronger than I look, y'know? Besides, I don't want that crap you're drenched in anywhere near her wounds," she retorted, immediately taking an interest in the room itself. "Whoa, what is this place? This isn't just some random hole in the earth!"
"I think it's some kind of depot..." Lloyd ventured, pointing at a nearby stack of wooden boxes. "Or at least it was one, before Mother Nature reclaimed her turf."
"A depot..? In the middle of this gods-forsaken forest?" Steiner exclaimed, approaching a metallic container caked with goo.
"Looks like a smuggler's den to me," Major Dionne stated. "And given the proximity to North Gate, it ain't hard to figure out where are these crates coming from."
"I-impossible! We've greatly reinforced our customs controls!" Steiner squawked, extremely embarrassed. "How could they smuggle this much stuff across the border?!"
"Any idea about what were they trafficking? Maybe we can salvage some supplies," Eiko said.
"Hey guys! I've found something cool!" Mark yelled from across the room. He had opened one of the boxes and was staring at its content in awe.
"What is it, Mark?" the demi-hippo asked, walking up to him.
"It's a fortune worth of magic stones!" the trooper piped up, showing her a clear case filled with glowing jewels. "Think of all the magitek you could power with these babies! It's insane!"
"Dammit, soldier, you're right!" Major Dionne exclaimed, grabbing a handful of gems and inspecting them. "Wait a minute, these things are defective!"
"What do you mean, ma'am?"
"Just look at it! The cut is terrible and its facets are riddled with flaws!" she said, holding out one of the crystals. "Who in their right mind would buy this?"
Steiner opened his eyes so wide that Dionne thought they would pop out of their sockets.
"R-riddled with flaws, you said?" he stammered, taking a better look at the stone in her hand. "N-no..! It can't be..!"
"What? What can't be?" Eiko asked. "Steiner, answer me!"
The Pluto Knight clenched his fist around the gem and shot her the most somber stare one could imagine. "This... is a forbidden instrument of war, Eiko."
The princess raised her eyebrows. "Please don't tell me that's a summoning stone..."
"No. It's a crude soulstone, meant to power a mass-produced golem army," the knight explained. "Sir Wulfweard was right... we've grown suicidally complacent."
Eiko's expression went bleak. Soulstones. She had hoped never to see one again.
"Soulstone? I don't like the sound of that..." Dionne commented.
"You're holding the crystallized remains of a soul... a sentient soul," the summoner stated, trembling with hatred. "That thing is an affront to life itself, and whoever made it needs to be destroyed."
Mark stared at the case in his hands, pure, undiluted horror creeping through him. Were those souls still conscious? Could they hear them? What if -what if they were in a state of perpetual agony? He felt a desperate urge to let the box fall and shatter into a million pieces; maybe he could put an end to their misery that way.
"Y-your Highness..." Vega stuttered, taking another jewel pack from the crate. "There's more of them... dozens and dozens of them!"
Genocide. There was no other word for it.
"Eiko..." Steiner muttered, carefully approaching her; soul manipulation and anything black mage-related were highly sensitive topics for the young summoner. "Do you wish to take a little break..?"
The summoner blinked back her tears.
"Of course not. Thanks, Adelbert," she answered, pulling herself together. "I think we should split up and gather as much intel as we can before leaving. This place is a goldmine of evidence, and it won't be long before Ulrich sends a cleanup crew."
"I agree, but... what about Her Majesty?" Steiner stammered. "W-what if we linger too long and she..?"
"Let me worry about that. Doctor's orders," she retorted.
"Hmph... in that case, I'll scout ahead, see if I can find an exit," he said, pointing at a nearby passageway. "Make haste, though, we're running out of light sources."
"Got it. Please be careful out there, Steiner," the summoner answered. "All right, guys! Let's dig up some dirt!"
March 29th, 1820, ?
?
"W-what?! Is Freya okay?!" Garnet squeaked.
"No... but she's alive at least..." Frigg answered, lowering her eyes. "When that... abomination hurt her, I felt her pain as if it was my own."
The queen found herself at a loss for words. Frigg's knowledge of what had happened in Alexandria had been pieced together from vague visions, but it was more than enough to understand that a catastrophe had befallen the kingdom and that her loved ones were in great danger.
"To feel the pain of one's child... I can't imagine how horrible that must have been for you. I'm sorry," she said.
"Thank you... as her mother and guardian spirit, I was granted the ability to sense her overall status by Father Berlioz himself," the Burmecian stated. "Well... that until he excommunicated her and severed all ties between Folkvangr and her soul."
The summoner's train of thought ground to a halt.
"Excommunicated? What do you mean?" she inquired, wondering how much worse their situation could get.
"I know it's hard to believe, but... he has decided to harvest her Dragon's Crest," Frigg sighed. "That means permanent banishment from our community and..."
"... and?"
The Burmecian blinked back her tears.
"... and from the afterlife too."
Garnet gaped at Frigg in disbelief.
"No way! She almost died saving Alexandria!" she exploded. "Does he even know how many Burmecians live there?!"
"Father has never been a reasonable man, alas..."
"What the..?!" Garnet exclaimed, turning around so fast that she almost fell on her backside; A tall, silver haired Burmecian dressed in a humble Cleyran tunic was smiling at her apologetically.
"Lord Gizamaluke..." Frigg said, bowing to him.
"Huh..?! Wait, you're that Gizamaluke?!" the summoner squeaked.
"Indeed. I'm glad to finally meet you, Queen Garnet," he answered, politely nodding his head. His voice had an otherworldly echo to it, making him far more unsettling than he intended to be. "I've got no hard feelings, if that's what's worrying you," he added, letting out a chuckle.
"Oh, sorry! Where are my manners?" the monarch apologized, imitating his gesture much to Frigg's amusement.
"Lord Gizamaluke is in charge of training those who Berlioz deems worthy of being Spear candidates," the Burmecian explained. "He has generously offered to take Freya's case in his hands."
"I'll make sure she earns Father's blessing and restores peace between our nations," the god declared.
"Sorry, I'm afraid I'm not following you," Garnet interrupted him, raising an eyebrow. "With all due respect, didn't your father just banish her from his church? Besides, why would she want to work for him after that?"
Gizamaluke cracked a lopped smile.
"I've never said she would work for him," he stated. "We'll make him work for us."
18:20
With a faltering torch as his only companion, Steiner walked down a series of fetid tunnels, searching for a way out of the cavern. The floor was covered with human and Burmecian footsteps, coming and going in both senses, and the walls were outfitted with a powerstone-based lighting system, but it didn't work anymore.
As his own light grew dimmer, he started dragging his hand along the wall to avoid getting lost, and got quite startled when the monotonous, damp rock suddenly changed its texture to something more... organic.
"Huh..? What's this?" he uttered, pausing to examine the strange object protruding from the stone. Dark, knotty bark covered its surface, and there was something all too familiar about it.
Steiner gasped.
"Oh my..! This is an Iifa root!" he thought, smiling as if he had just met a long-lost friend. He closed his eyes and listened carefully, straining to detect one particular sound.
"... and where there are roots, there must be..."
KLAK KLAK KLAK KLAK
"Gargans!" he exclaimed out of sheer joy, noticing the distinctive noise the colossal insects made as they crawled across Iifa's roots.
"So this is how those bastards bypassed North Gate..." Eiko said, looking at the abandoned Gargan station that Steiner had just discovered. "Gotta give 'em credit, wouldn't have guessed it in a million years."
"I don't get it... if this tunnel links Alexandria and Burmecia, why hasn't Ulrich sent his soldiers to reclaim this place?" Major Dionne asked.
"That's the best part!" Steiner chimed in, grinning from ear to ear. "Last week an earthquake struck the northwest of Alexandria and did a number on the Melda Arch. Nothing really serious as no lives were lost, but I'm guessing that things played out differently down here."
"The tunnel caved in..." Dionne said. "Wait! The Burmecians in the woods! They weren't looking for Garnet! They were trying to access the cavern from the surface!"
"Bingo!" the Pluto Knight replied. "And guess what! There are still Gargans on this side! If we managed to call one, I bet it would get us out of this wretched forest!"
"I doubt it..." Eiko intervened. "Why then would he send his troops into Plant Brain territory? I bet my ass the real exit also got blocked by the quake."
She could almost hear the group's morale deflate like a balloon.
"So... what do we do now, ma'am?" Pip asked, the certainty of death becoming apparent on his tone.
"Steiner's torch was flickering, right?" the summoner said, beginning to feel Garnet's weight on her shoulders. "I propose we keep following the wind until we find a way out... and pray it isn't guarded by monsters."
Dionne's torch went out, as if to emphasize how desperate their situation was.
"Mark, how many torches do we have left?" she asked.
"Four, ma'am, counting the murky ones we found in the storeroom..." the trooper answered, lighting a fresh one and handing it to her.
"Four... heh... all right," the master-at-arms said, raising their meager light source. "Keep that sword handy, General... I'll take point."
None too convinced, the group ventured deeper into the dark.
March 29th, 1820, Lebender Forest, Gunitas Basin, Alexandria.
18:50
Viciously rocked by the storm, the HSC Madeen had been flying above Lebender Forest for the better part of an hour, looking for the princess and her team with a large, hull-mounted spotlight.
"The winds are too violent, sir! We need to go back!" the pilot yelled, struggling to keep the ship aloft.
"If we do that, we'll all hang from nooses! Keep searching!" Flynn, the second mate, ordered.
The aircraft shook from side to side.
"That's it, I'm not not gonna die here," the pilot said, brusquely steering the ship toward the east.
The feel of cold steel against his neck almost gave him a heart attack.
"Pull another stunt like that, and I'll have you drawn and quartered. Am I clear, Errol?" the second mate snarled, holding him at swordpoint.
"Y-yes s-sir..."
"Good. Now keep search-"
A blinding flash of light coming from the forest interrupted him.
"What the hell is that?!" the pilot shrieked, as the radiance took the form of a majestic, fiery bird, soaring high above the treetops.
"T-that's Phoenix!" Flynn exclaimed. "Lady Eiko must have summoned him to signal her location!"
"Holy shit..." the pilot uttered, steering the ship toward the Eidolon.
"All right, crew! We've found them! Flank speed ahead!" the second mate ordered.
The Madeen accelerated to its top speed, guided by Phoenix's flames.
"There they are! I can see them!" a crewmember yelled, pointing the spotlight at a clearing below; Eiko was waving a torch at the ship while Steiner, Dionne and the Lindblumese soldiers desperately fought off wave after wave of Plant Spiders coming from every direction.
"They're under attack!" Flynn shouted. "Gunners! Lay down cover fire! Errol, get us as close to the ground as possible! Biggs, Wedge, get the basket ready!"
"Yessir!"
Like a dragon, the Madeen spat a volley of fireballs from its twin magitek chain guns, creating a blazing ring around the survivors. With the airship hovering barely above the treetops, Biggs and Wedge lowered Flynn to the ground in a large basket-like structure attached to a steel cable.
"Flynn! I'm so glad to see you!" Eiko yelled, carrying Garnet to the rescue platform with the last of her strength. "Guys, c'mon! Let's get the hell outta here!"
While the second mate secured the queen to a special litter, the rest of Eiko's team stopped fighting and rushed to the basket with the surviving monsters hot on their trail.
"Go! I'll hold them off!" Steiner yelled, turning around and standing his ground against the incoming horde.
"Oh no, you're not doing that again!" Major Dionne exclaimed, using her superior size to forcibly hoist him over her shoulder and carry him away.
"Whoa! Put me down!" the Pluto Knight shrieked.
"Yes, sir!" the demi-hippo replied, dropping him right next to Eiko with a loud CLANG. "Is everyone here? Good, let's go!"
Flynn waved at the airship and the Madeen started gaining altitude. Biggs immediately activated the hydraulic winch and it began to slowly reel the cable in.
CHINK!
"What was that noise?!" Mark yelled, and then a bladed limb pierced the floor beneath him, missing his leg by mere inches. He panicked, stepped back and almost fell off the platform. "Plant Spider!" he yelled.
Without missing a beat, Eiko stole Dionne's dagger from its sheath and plunged it right between the creature's eyes; it twitched a little and let go of the structure, plummeting to its death.
Everybody gaped at the summoner in stunned silence.
"What? I wasn't born a princess, y'know?" she justified herself, extending the dagger to the master-at-arms.
KRA-KOOM!
A huge lightning bolt hit Phoenix on the head, reminding everyone that they were still hanging from an airship in the middle of a thunderstorm.
"Hmph... pathetic," the Eidolon sneered, his voice reverberating in Eiko's mind. "Send Sarah my regards."
"I will! Thanks, buddy!"
As his parting gift, the spirit dissipated into a glowing shower of healing magic.
19:30
Exhausted, hungry and with his armor caked with filth, Steiner waited outside the ship's operating room. He had stubbornly refused to even eat until he knew how Garnet was, and was about to fall asleep against the wall when Eiko walked out the door with a worried look on her face.
"How's Her Majesty?" the Pluto Knight asked.
"... I'm not gonna lie, I've seen healthier people on the slab, but I think she'll make it," the summoner answered.
Steiner's eyes reddened. He sniffed, wiped his nose on the back of his arm, and pulled the princess into an awkward, but heartfelt hug.
"Thank you. I shall be forever in your debt for what you've done today," he said.
Eiko smiled and patted him on the back.
"That's what friends are for," she muttered.
"Lady Eiko, we need your presence on the bridge!" Major Dionne said over the PA system, ruining the moment.
"What now..?" she whined, breaking the embrace. "Sorry, pal... why don't you go catch some z's? And for Ramuh's sake, throw that armor into the fire! It reeks!"
Steiner chuckled.
"Will do. Good luck, Eiko," he said as the summoner disappeared upstairs.
"It better be good, Dionne," the princess said as she entered the command bridge.
"I sure hope it is, ma'am! Look!" Major Dionne answered, pointing at the horizon.
"Holy shit..." Eiko mumbled, gaping at the fleet of Lindblumese airships coming straight at them, led by none other than the Hilda Garde IV itself.
"Dad..?"
Author's note:
Aaaand so concludes part 2 (of 3)! Thanks for waiting, life hasn't been keen on, well, letting me breathe lately, hahaha!
I want to thank everybody who's still following this fic; I hope you're having a great time, and stay tuned for more!