Final Fantasy Frontier 90 (Patreon)

"Ha! A fine sword...!" exclaimed Basch, no longer worried about buying time as he went on the offensive, causing the Mimic Queen to rear up on its hind legs and issue a high-pitched screech.

Drawing Mist from his surroundings, Basch took advantage of the fact the Mimic Queen had exposed its abdomen to unleash a slash that produced a wave of icy energy. The force behind the blow was enough to send the Mimic Queen crashing into the wall behind it, pinning it in place behind a thick veil of bluish-white ice. Then, in the blink of an eye, Basch was upon it, bifurcating the metallic creature at its 'waist.'

"Well, that was easy," remarked Basch, casually side-stepping the charge of a lesser Mimic before firing a slug into its back, fragmenting it into tiny pieces. The recoil from the gun was enough to propel him through the air, but while he wasn't as agile as Vaan, he managed to flip over, standing on the wall as if it were flat ground to take out five more Mimics.

"Hey, leave some for me...!" shouted Vaan, zipping around and bounding off the walls, floor, and ceiling at high speed. He wasn't contributing much to diminishing the number of Mimics present, but his athleticism was fairly impressive.

Demonstrating even greater finesse, Fran leaped and spun gracefully through the air as she skillfully targeted the cores of various Mimics with her arrows. She could hop around at high speeds even before receiving Andrew's blessings/buffs, so she was completely in her element, nocking arrows formed from Mist that froze enemies on contact. She wasn't as skilled as Renda-Rae, Ardbert's Miqo'te companion, but Andrew was still impressed.

With Basch joining in the slaughter, it wasn't long before the sixty or so lesser Mimics were vanquished, leaving the room looking more like the interior of a glacier than the lobby/staging area of an underground train station. 

"Do you think you may have gone a tad overboard, Captain?" asked Balthier, shouldering his long-barreled revolver while looking around at the devastation wrought almost entirely by Basch.

"I've spent the last two years trapped in a cage," replied Basch. "It was high time that I stretched my limbs."

"Just do me a favor and keep to the ice," said Balthier. "The last thing we need is you swinging around a flaming sword, burning up all the oxygen."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Basch, adopting a smile as he directed his gaze to the tunnel opposite the one they had entered from. Due to the ice pervading the chamber, a thick layer of Mist-rich fog covered the ground, flowing toward the outside.

Taking the initiative to lead the way, Basch's steps became progressively quicker until they reached the end of a long hallway and ascended the stairs connecting to the outside. What awaited them was an overbearing sun and a desert landscape, complete with stove-hot stone outcrops and wavy dunes, but Basch seemed completely in his element as he closed his eyes, inhaled a deep breath, and basked in the sweltering heat for several seconds before contentedly remarking, "To think Dalmascan air could taste so sweet..."

"Best not to celebrate too soon," said Balthier. "There's still a ways to go before Rabanastre, and I would prefer we get there before sunset. These sands become considerably more treacherous at night."

"Where even are we?" asked Vaan, peering out from their position atop a short cliff with his hand over his eyes, shielding them from the sun as he observed a pack of wolves surround and attack a flightless, spherical bird known as a Cockatrice.

"The Estersand, by the looks of it," said Balthier, joining Vaan and Basch at the cliff's edge, pointing toward a blue and white structure towering in the distance as he added, "There's Nalbina Fortress. That subterranean river we passed most likely feeds or stems from the Nebra River. Our dear city ought to be around four hours due southwest."

"Then let us away," said Basch, adding, "The hour of my return is already overlate," before taking the initiative to leap from the cliff, plunging around five meters to the rocky terrain below. The effects of Andrew's Float spell had already disappeared, but since he could cover greater distances in a single bound, Basch had no trouble plummeting from such heights, even in full plate armor.

"By your leave..." muttered Balthier, shifting his gaze to Andrew to find the latter staring at something only he could see.

"Will you be joining us, or is this where we go our separate ways?" asked Balthier, causing Andrew to raise his gaze and reply, "I'm not particularly fond of the heat, so I'm gonna fly ahead."

Punctuating his words, Andrew began to rise into the air, offering a curt "See ya" and a two-fingered salute before flying off. Vaan tried calling out to him, but Andrew pretended not to hear him as he zipped off faster than most larger airships could fly...

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Though she doubted Andrew would settle down with her, the first thing Penelo did upon reaching Rabanastre was lease out a small place from Migelo. It only had a single room with a bed, a desk, a stool, a wardrobe, a brass mirror, and a small chest for securing personal effects, but it was much better than the storage room she had been staying in previously.

As she hadn't had time to go out and purchase an Ice Crystal to cool the interior of her predominately stone apartment, Penelo had stripped down into her underwear, let her hair down, and sat at the desk, resting with her forehead atop her forearms. She would ordinarily be hard at work at such a time, but now that she had more money than she knew what to do with, Penelo felt paradoxically restless and exhausted.

"Should I message him...?" muttered the youthful blonde, eager to know how things were going but not wanting to trouble Andrew too much. She still knew very little about him, so she was fearful of coming on too strong or doing something that might offend or cause him to abandon her...

Fortunately, less than three minutes after Penelo had set her head down, a cool breeze filled the room as a familiar voice asked, "Are you worried?"

Raising her head, Penelo was going to rise and turn around but stopped when Andrew placed his hands on her shoulders, massaging the muscles of her neck with his thumbs as he stated, "Vaan will be returning through the east gate before sunset. He's traveling with three capable people, so there's no need to worry..."

Though she was certainly worried about Vaan, Penelo bumped Andrew's diaphragm with her head, staring up at him as she asked, "He didn't cause you any trouble, did he...?"

"Nothing that I took to heart..." remarked Andrew, bending down to plant a reassuring kiss on Penelo's lips. It was a little awkward, but she didn't seem to mind as she reached up, hooking her right hand around his head to prolong the exchange for several seconds...

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"They should be getting back around now..." stated Andrew, running his fingers through Penelo's hair as she lay naked beside him, caked in sweat despite the temperature within the room having decreased to around 22 degrees.

"I can always lecture him tomorrow..." muttered Penelo, rubbing her cheek against Andrew's chest and nestling closer to him. She was keen to check on Vaan, but she knew he would likely spend the afternoon bragging to all the other orphaned children about his escapades and 'grand escape' from the Nalbina Dungeon. In the past, she would enjoy hearing such tales, but ever since the death of his brother, Vaan just hadn't been the same...

Sensing that Penelo was about to fall asleep, Andrew placed a tiny pink pill up to her mouth and said, "Here, swallow this before you go to bed. It's a nutritional supplement and contraceptive. I wouldn't mind knocking you up at some point, but now is neither the time nor the place."

Though she ordinarily wouldn't accept strange medicine from someone, Penelo opened her mouth and obediently swallowed the contraceptive. She reasoned that having Andrew's child would bind them together, but she didn't have the leverage to force the matter. It was also a bit early in their relationship to make such an important decision, so she didn't mind taking medicine to ensure they could enjoy themselves without worry.

Seeing Penelo swallow the pill, Andrew's expression softened as he said, "Good girl..." before kissing her forehead. He honestly didn't mind if she became pregnant, but since there was a decent chance he would end up with Ashe, he figured it was better to wait until he vested the Kingdom of Dalmasca an heir before spreading his seed elsewhere...

'Now I just need to wait for Basch to beseech my aid...' thought Andrew, closing his eyes with the intent of joining Penelo in her slumber. However, as he wasn't even remotely tired, he eventually opened his eyes to utilize one of the more broken aspects of his system.

Though Penelo was slumbering next to him, Andrew selected her within his Correspondence Menu and activated the camera function. Then, he navigated the camera outside the room, passing through its walls as if they didn't exist before telepathically piloting it to Migelo's a few blocks away. This was the method he had used to keep an eye on Squall and his party in the past, sparing him the need of having to befriend and tail the group directly.

Failing to find Vaan within Migelo's, Andrew checked the nearby tavern to see if Balthier and Fran were present. When that again turned up nothing, he directed the camera to the Aerodrome to ensure that Balthier's airship, the Strahl, was still docked in a private hangar. Since it was, he navigated over to the eastern gate, intending to lurk around and observe the people passing through until the party of four arrived.

What Andrew had failed to consider was that reality was different from a video game. In the latter, entering Rabanastre was as simple as passing through a loading screen. There were no security checks and the like, so once you made it back to the city, you were in the clear. In reality, Basch might be considered dead, but he was one of the most infamous people in all of Dalmasca. He couldn't simply roam around with his face uncovered or enter the city like a normal person, so while Andrew kept an eye on the gate until its closing, the former Knight Captain led Vaan, Balthier, and Fran through a secret passage connecting to the underground waterways and the 'Lowtown' district of Rabanastre...

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*tok* *tok* *tok*

Hearing the sound of someone knocking on her door, Penelo opened her eyes and raised her body sluggishly, stretching as she sleepily remarked, "That's probably Vaan..." in a yawning voice.

"It's 1:38 AM, so I doubt it," said Andrew, rising to a seated position and floating from the bed as he added, "Cover yourself. I'll see who it is and send them away."

Nodding her head, Penelo grabbed the blanket, covered her body, and lay back down, curling up in a ball to retain warmth. Dalmasca and the city of Rabanastre were hot during the day, but it was contrastingly cold at night. The temperature frequently exceeded 42 degrees in the early afternoon, but once night fell, it plummeted to around 23. With Andrew installing an Ice Crystal in the room, reducing the temperature even further, Penelo's breaths caused faint wisps of condensation to emanate from her nostrils.

Opening the reinforced wooden door separating the room's interior from the exterior alleyway, Andrew enjoyed the rush of warm and arid air as he poked his head outside, looking left to right for any sign of the person that had knocked on the door. The alleyway appeared empty at a glance, but in Andrew's eyes, he could see a trio of Baanga lurking in the shadow of a hung blanket, veiled beneath the effects of the Vanish spell...

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