Idea: Fran gets tired of balthier's carelessness in thinking that he is immune to death and gives him shakespeare to read, wherein he finds that the leading man almost always dies.
Fran glared down at her partner's sleeping face, growling softly in her frustration. 'That idiot…'
"Stay here, Fran, I won't be long."
"Don't be ridiculous, Balthier. It's not safe."
"I need to get help- you just stay here and rest up that leg… Besides, have you forgotten who I am? I'm the leading man, and the leading man never dies!!"
He may, indeed, have lived but Balthier had definitely come far too close for comfort this time and Fran only wished that someone would set him straight… To impose upon him that he was not immune to death and that marks would not go easy on him just because he claimed to be the Hero of some ridiculous fairytale…
At this point, Fran was forced to let it go as Penelo walked into the room with a bowl of water and a damp cloth for Balthier's fever, which had appeared overnight. "How's the patient?" she asked, frowning sympathetically as Fran set the bowl in her lap and leaned over to cool Balthier's forehead carefully.
"Doing better," she eventually replied, dragging her eyes away from her charge. "The infection doesn't seem to have spread as far as I originally thought and he is taking well to the medicine… I should hope that he will have awoken by late this evening."
"That's good," Penelo agreed with a sniffle, causing Fran to glance up in surprise and find the younger girl with eyes red from crying.
"You needn't worry so, Penelo," she assured her calmly. "I'll not let anything happen to Balthier. He'll be quite all right."
Penelo looked surprised by Fran's sudden concern for a moment or two before forcing herself to smile shakily. "Oh, I know that!" she giggled. "It's only that I've just finished reading Romeo and Juliet. It has a rather tragic ending…"
Fran's long white ears perked up at this admission. "Oh?"
"Yes," Penelo went on. "You see, in the end, poor Romeo believed that his love, Juliet, was dead and- Oh, well I won't ruin it for you if you're interested in reading it…"
Fran mulled over this, smilingly. "Penelo?" she queried, looking almost excited for once. "Does this Romeo fellow happen to die, by any chance?"
Penelo blinked in surprise. "Yes, actually. He-"
"Do you mind if I borrow it?"
Still rather confused, Penelo nodded hesitantly. "Sure. If you'd like," she agreed. "Shall I go and get it?"
"Later this evening will be fine, Penelo," Fran replied, waving a hand vaguely. "If you could bring it here after dinner it would be greatly appreciated."
Penelo agreed easily and left.
-
By the time dinner rolled around, Fran had completely forgotten about Penelo and her play and had submersed herself, instead, in the task of attempting to feed and unconscious Balthier- a job done so poorly that it actually served to wake him up.
"Wha- Fran?"
"Good, you're up," Fran replied tonelessly. "Now you can feed yourself."
Balthier blinked and took the spoon she was offering him slowly. "How long have I been out?"
"Long enough," said Fran with a small shrug. "Everyone's worried about you…"
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Fran? I brought that book you wanted!" Penelo called, coming in even though she received no reply. "Oh, Balthier! Nice to see that you're up again!" She smiled brightly, deciding to politely ignore the dinner that Fran had managed to slop all down his front in her feeble attempts to feed him.
"Book?" Balthier repeated, cocking his head to the side slightly.
"Yeah, 'Romeo and Juliet'," Penelo agreed. "Fran wanted to borrow it earlier."
Fran nodded and smiled at that. "Yes, thank you, Penelo," she said, bowing slightly to the younger girl.
A few minutes later, Penelo was gone and the two skypirates were alone again.
"What's the book about?" asked Balthier between mouthfuls of the blended slop that Fran had been feeding him earlier.
"Well, I haven't read it yet, have I?" said Fran, raising an elegant white eyebrow at the obviousness of the statement.
"So you have no clue?"
"I know a little," Fran admitted. "In fact, it was you that I thought might be interested in it. I hear the main character is rather like yourself."
"Oh?" said Balthier, perking up.
"I thought I could read some to you later tonight?"
Balthier considered this and agreed with a smile. "Sounds good! I'll look forward to it."
-
By the time the clock struck midnight Romeo and Juliet had almost come to an end and Balthier refused to let Fran stop, despite his obvious need for rest.
"Come on," he pleaded, sitting up and hugging his knees cutely. "You can't just leave it there- I have to hear the happy ending!"
Fran smiled to herself and nodded before continuing, reciting to the last of the final scene dutifully and ending with the famous line: "For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo", at which point Balthier just sat, dumbstruck and staring at the wall.
"But he's still dead," he stated, nonplussed.
"Hence the woe," Fran agreed, closing the book and setting it aside.
"But…" Balthier was obviously very confused by this, causing Fran to let out an exhausted sigh and shake her head exasperatedly.
"Please don't die, Balthier," she said, climbing to her feet and turning the light off tiredly before leaning down to give him a quick peck on the lips. "I couldn't bear it. Now, get some rest and I'll be in to check on you in the morning."
With that, Fran departed and Balthier was left to lie on his back and stare up at the dark ceiling thoughtfully...
A few minutes later, he sat up again and turned the light back on, picking up Romeo and Juliet and flipping through to the end just to see if she had read it right. She had, obviously. And then she had kissed him.
Falling back onto his pillows, book resting on his chest, Balthier stared up at the fluorescent lights hanging above him and watched the colours dancing before his eyes.
Not only had Romeo died but he had taken his love with him, also. A dark new possibility reared up in Balthier's mind: If something truly awful had happened to him- if he had not been as lucky as he was- what would Fran have done? Would she have taken her own life also? The thought make his head swim and his heart ache.
He leaned over the edge of the bed and turned the light off…
Then he turned it back on and got out of bed, wobbling slightly. Forcing himself to blink the sleep out of his eyes, Balthier stumbled out into the corridor and into Fran's room, beside his own. With some measurement of difficulty, he made his way over to where she slept and lowered himself down beside her.
Even in sleep, Fran's keen senses picked up on the sudden shift of the energy in the room and she jolted awake, startled as Balthier's arms came around her. A few moments passed in tense silence before she relaxed. "Balthier, is something the matter?" she asked quietly, shivering as a result of both the duvet cover that her partner had pulled off of her as he climbed into bed and of his warm, muscular body against hers. His breath was hot and harried against her neck.
"I'm sorry," he told her, burying his face in her loose hair lovingly. "I don't want to die, and I don't want you to be hurt because of me. …I'm sorry."
Fran nodded silently and rested her head on his shoulder, arms coming around his waist.
Balthier mimicked her actions, clasping her tall, slender frame to his chest protectively. "I'll be careful, Fran. I promise: Ours will always be a happy story." Nothing but a soft mewl from Fran now as he kissed her lips gently. "…I love you."