007 The Future
Title: Mockery (Belle of the Ball, part 5) - Long version of this
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Characters: Penelo, Reks, Balthier
Prompt: 007 The Future
Word Count: 561
Rating: PG
Summary: A rose and a punch help Penelo move on from the painful memories of the past.
The_sandsea table link: http://airelement.livejournal.com/57837.html
Penelo hates herself at the moment. She loved Reks so much, and now she feels as if she’s betraying him. She’s keeping their party tradition alive - not that this is a party, just a tavern that Vaan insisted she visited this evening to meet their friends - and she’s wearing yellow. But she can’t stop herself watching Balthier out of the corner of her eye. It’s as if she’s developed a sixth sense, a Balthier radar, because she can’t stop her attention from drifting towards him.
She can’t bear to think what he’d say if he knew that she harbours secret, unspoken feelings for him. Something scathing and witty, no doubt. She never wanted to fall for anyone ever again, but four years after Reks died and two years after she helped Ashe regain her throne, Penelo can’t believe that of all the people it’s Balthier of all people. Reks was gentle and straightforward and lacked the irritating ego possessed by most men. Balthier, on the other hand, is ego personified, sarcastic, and Penelo thinks she’s more likely to dance naked on the roof of the Royal Palace than ever consider him gentle.
Then he walks up - Penelo hopes he’s not coming over to mock her for watching him - and asks her to dance.
“Would you care to take a spin around the dance floor?” he inquires. And he holds out a single red rose.
The colour drains from Penelo’s face and dear, painful memories rise to the forefront of her mind so fast that she sways, dizzied by the slap in the face that the shock gives her.
Balthier catches her arm before she falls and leads her over to a chair, murmering comments along the lines of he didn’t know he was that wonderful. He turns to leave her - no doubt to find a pretty girl to attract instead - but Penelo stops him.
“Wait,” she says, and staggers to her feet, still half-immersed in flashes of memory - Reks teaching her to dance, Reks giving her a rose, Reks giving her the jacket of his suit because she was cold - and when Balthier turns back to her she punches him in the face.
“A simple no would have sufficed,” Balthier says, his voice thick and his usual arrogant tone muffled by the broken nose Penelo has just given him.
“How dare you?” Penelo says coldly. Part of her - the usual, sensible part - thinks she sounds more like Ashe than herself. “How dare you stand there as if you’ve done nothing wrong, when you’re mocking my most painful memories?” Balthier’s eyebrows raise in a condescending expression of surprise.
“I must admit I have no idea what you are talking about,” he says mockingly. Then the shock and the hurt wash away and Penelo is left to stare at him in fury without the aid of righteous anger. She realises with a stab of guilt that he’s sincere when he’s sincere.
“You weren’t imitating Reks, were you?” she says tiredly.
“Well, I thought it was rather obvious already that don’t know who this Reks boy is,” Balthier says, managing to add a slight sneer to the name. Penelo sighs.
“Maybe a dance with the leading man wouldn’t be so bad after all,” she says, hoping it’ll make him smile. Maybe it’s time to put the past behind her, and look to the future.
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Characters: Penelo, Reks, Balthier
Prompt: 007 The Future
Word Count: 561
Rating: PG
Summary: A rose and a punch help Penelo move on from the painful memories of the past.
The_sandsea table link: http://airelement.livejournal.com/57837.html
Penelo hates herself at the moment. She loved Reks so much, and now she feels as if she’s betraying him. She’s keeping their party tradition alive - not that this is a party, just a tavern that Vaan insisted she visited this evening to meet their friends - and she’s wearing yellow. But she can’t stop herself watching Balthier out of the corner of her eye. It’s as if she’s developed a sixth sense, a Balthier radar, because she can’t stop her attention from drifting towards him.
She can’t bear to think what he’d say if he knew that she harbours secret, unspoken feelings for him. Something scathing and witty, no doubt. She never wanted to fall for anyone ever again, but four years after Reks died and two years after she helped Ashe regain her throne, Penelo can’t believe that of all the people it’s Balthier of all people. Reks was gentle and straightforward and lacked the irritating ego possessed by most men. Balthier, on the other hand, is ego personified, sarcastic, and Penelo thinks she’s more likely to dance naked on the roof of the Royal Palace than ever consider him gentle.
Then he walks up - Penelo hopes he’s not coming over to mock her for watching him - and asks her to dance.
“Would you care to take a spin around the dance floor?” he inquires. And he holds out a single red rose.
The colour drains from Penelo’s face and dear, painful memories rise to the forefront of her mind so fast that she sways, dizzied by the slap in the face that the shock gives her.
Balthier catches her arm before she falls and leads her over to a chair, murmering comments along the lines of he didn’t know he was that wonderful. He turns to leave her - no doubt to find a pretty girl to attract instead - but Penelo stops him.
“Wait,” she says, and staggers to her feet, still half-immersed in flashes of memory - Reks teaching her to dance, Reks giving her a rose, Reks giving her the jacket of his suit because she was cold - and when Balthier turns back to her she punches him in the face.
“A simple no would have sufficed,” Balthier says, his voice thick and his usual arrogant tone muffled by the broken nose Penelo has just given him.
“How dare you?” Penelo says coldly. Part of her - the usual, sensible part - thinks she sounds more like Ashe than herself. “How dare you stand there as if you’ve done nothing wrong, when you’re mocking my most painful memories?” Balthier’s eyebrows raise in a condescending expression of surprise.
“I must admit I have no idea what you are talking about,” he says mockingly. Then the shock and the hurt wash away and Penelo is left to stare at him in fury without the aid of righteous anger. She realises with a stab of guilt that he’s sincere when he’s sincere.
“You weren’t imitating Reks, were you?” she says tiredly.
“Well, I thought it was rather obvious already that don’t know who this Reks boy is,” Balthier says, managing to add a slight sneer to the name. Penelo sighs.
“Maybe a dance with the leading man wouldn’t be so bad after all,” she says, hoping it’ll make him smile. Maybe it’s time to put the past behind her, and look to the future.