Variation #5 - The Four Seasons
Title: Mockery (Belle of the Ball, part 5) - Short version of this
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Characters: Penelo, Reks, Balthier
Fic_variations theme: The four seasons
Word Count: 492
Rating: PG
Summary: A rose and a punch help Penelo move on from the painful memories of the past.
Fic_variations table: http://airelement.livejournal.com/58078.html
Penelo hates herself sometimes. She loved Reks so much, and now she feels as if she’s betraying him. She’s at a party - Vaan dragged her along to the summer solstice celebrations - and she’s wearing yellow, so even though he’s not here in a way she’s keeping his memory alive. 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 what she thinks of him. Something scathing and witty, no doubt. She never thought she’d 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. Reks was gentle and soft-spoken and lacked the irritating ego that most men have. Balthier, on the other hand, is all ego and Penelo thinks she’d be more likely to dance naked in the middle of Rabanastre’s centre square than ever consider him gentle.
So it’s a shock when he approaches her and offers her a flower, a gentlemanly action very much in contrast to his usual attitude towards women.
“Would you care to take a spin around the dance floor?” he inquires. Penelo takes a second look at the flower he’s just handed her, and the colour drains from her face. It’s a red rose. A single red rose.
Why is he doing this to her? Why is he imitating Reks? Why?
Penelo stares at him, hurt shining in her eyes. What has she done to him, for him to pull up some of her most dear, yet most painful memories, and mock them in such a sincere tone?
“I’ll take that as a no,” Balthier says, and turns to go - no doubt to swagger off to laugh at her, Penelo thinks bitterly. And a moment later she’s dragged him back to face her by means of grabbing his shirt collar, and she punches him in the face, a punch fuelled by all the rage and sorrow and anger that’s built up inside her over the last four years.
“I don’t think that was entirely deserved, myself,” Balthier comments, his usual arrogant tone masked by the thickness of a broken nose.
“You - how dare you? How can you just stand there and pretend you just wanted a dance, not to mock me by imitating Reks?” Penelo whispered.
“Who is Reks?” Balthier asked, managing to add a slight sneer to the name. Penelo realised, with a flood of guilt, that she’d broken his nose for nothing; that for once the great sky pirate had been sincere.
“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
Fic_variations theme: The four seasons
Word Count: 492
Rating: PG
Summary: A rose and a punch help Penelo move on from the painful memories of the past.
Fic_variations table: http://airelement.livejournal.com/58078.html
Penelo hates herself sometimes. She loved Reks so much, and now she feels as if she’s betraying him. She’s at a party - Vaan dragged her along to the summer solstice celebrations - and she’s wearing yellow, so even though he’s not here in a way she’s keeping his memory alive. 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 what she thinks of him. Something scathing and witty, no doubt. She never thought she’d 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. Reks was gentle and soft-spoken and lacked the irritating ego that most men have. Balthier, on the other hand, is all ego and Penelo thinks she’d be more likely to dance naked in the middle of Rabanastre’s centre square than ever consider him gentle.
So it’s a shock when he approaches her and offers her a flower, a gentlemanly action very much in contrast to his usual attitude towards women.
“Would you care to take a spin around the dance floor?” he inquires. Penelo takes a second look at the flower he’s just handed her, and the colour drains from her face. It’s a red rose. A single red rose.
Why is he doing this to her? Why is he imitating Reks? Why?
Penelo stares at him, hurt shining in her eyes. What has she done to him, for him to pull up some of her most dear, yet most painful memories, and mock them in such a sincere tone?
“I’ll take that as a no,” Balthier says, and turns to go - no doubt to swagger off to laugh at her, Penelo thinks bitterly. And a moment later she’s dragged him back to face her by means of grabbing his shirt collar, and she punches him in the face, a punch fuelled by all the rage and sorrow and anger that’s built up inside her over the last four years.
“I don’t think that was entirely deserved, myself,” Balthier comments, his usual arrogant tone masked by the thickness of a broken nose.
“You - how dare you? How can you just stand there and pretend you just wanted a dance, not to mock me by imitating Reks?” Penelo whispered.
“Who is Reks?” Balthier asked, managing to add a slight sneer to the name. Penelo realised, with a flood of guilt, that she’d broken his nose for nothing; that for once the great sky pirate had been sincere.
“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.