Lost
by Rena-Chan44
Story Name: Lost
Author: Rena-Chan44
Summary: Larsa and Penelo get seperated from the group in Golmore Jungle. Penelo x Larsa
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XII, or any of its characters. Square Enix, does. So please don't sue. Only the plot of this story is mine.
X-X-X-X
"Wow" was all I could say as we entered Golmore Jungle for the first time. I had never seen anything like this in my entire life. There were huge trees everywhere; so high I could no longer see the sky. Vines where wrapped around the bark and some hung off the branches. I looked around in awe as I followed everyone else into the vast jungle.
I walked under a large 'doorway' of some sorts made of wood and suddenly a large panther jumped at me. I gasped and jumped back, barely avoiding its sharp claws. I pulled out my staff and held it in front of my body defensively. It jumped at me again, this time managing to scratch my cheek. I was glad there was only one panther in front of me. I could handle that on my own. I hit it with my staff and cast blizzard on it while it was stunned and soon enough it fell to the ground, screeching in agony.
I turned around, expecting to find the rest of the group coming towards me, but instead all I saw was and empty jungle path. I felt my heart my heart beat faster. Where did everyone go? They were just there...weren't they?
I ran back up the path and through the 'doorway'...but no avail.
I felt a wave a panic move over me. I looked around, still hoping to find someone. I wouldn't be able to handle myself on my own...or would I?
I lifted my staff in front of me. If the fiends were going to attack, I would be ready at the least.
I felt something touch my arm and without thinking, I turned and cast the first spell that came to mind.
"Water!" I yelled.
I heard a splash and a soft "Oomph"
I looked down, and before me sat a very wet Larsa.
"Oh!" I gasped in surprise.
He looked up, water dripping off his nose and hair. "Penelo." he greeted half-heartedly.
"Oh my!" I babbled, "I'm so sorry, I thought you were--"
"It's quite alright." he interrupted.
I smiled sheepishly and held out a hand to help him up. He grasped it and stood up.
I let go and rummaged through my pack and pulled out a towel.
"Here we go." I said to myself and without thinking, walked over to him and began drying him off. He jumped slightly.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I said, "Do you mind?"
He shook his head and blushed slightly. I smiled and finished drying off his hair. I laughed.
He looked up. "What is it?"
I giggled, "You hair is all messed up now."
He smiled too and I put the towel away, all awkwardness of the previous situation gone.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"I don't know." he admitted, "I just noticed that you were going off by yourself and followed you."
It was my turn to flush. "Oh...do you think we should find them, or stay around here so they can find us?"
"It would be best to stay in one area until they locate us themselves. If they are looking for us, and we keep moving, it will be much more difficult for us to find each other."
I nodded in agreement. "Alright...what do you suppose we should do now?"
"There isn't really anything that we can do except stay put." Larsa replied.
I paused for a second, "I can set up 'camp' then. We'll just have to make sure they're no fiends around here to attack us."
"There should not be very many," he said, "We aren't very deep in the jungle."
"Okay. But we should keep an eye out in case." I took out some blankets and set them on the ground. I sat down cross-legged and motioned for him to sit down. He sat beside me.
"Looks like it's just me and you for a while." I told him.
"It would seem so." He replied.
Larsa and I made small talk for what seemed like hours and hours (no fiends attacked...suspicious), and soon, it was dark. I looked around and noticed that it was so dark that I could barely even see the outline of Larsa's body a few feet in front of me. It was already pretty dark in the day; so obviously, at night it was almost pitch black.
"Penelo?" I heard Larsa ask quietly from where he was seated.
"Hmm, Larsa?"
He stood up and I followed suit. "Do you think perhaps we should head back to the Ozmone Plains? I believe they will not be able to find us in the dark. Maybe they looked for us there?"
I contemplated the idea and said, "Yeah. Besides, this forest is giving me the creeps."
There was a shuffling noise and I felt Larsa put a hand on my arm. "It will be easier if we stay close together to avoid getting lost in the dark."
I nodded, only I was pretty sure he couldn't see it. His hand slid down from my arm to the palm of my hand. I was glad it was dark, nobody could notice the blush.
I quickly grabbed my pack and the blanket, being careful to not bump into Larsa or break the contact of our hands.
"I'm ready." I pointed out.
"Right." I felt him begin to walk forward, so I did the same, adjusting to his pace.
It took several looks at the map, a few fiend encounters, three wrong turns, and a good half an hour to finally find the exit to Golmore Jungle.
Light found its way through the few left over trees, so I could finally see well. I looked over at Larsa, and then at myself and noticed that our trek through the jungle had left us quite a mess. His clothes were mussed and slightly torn in some places. I cringed. His clothes looked quite expensive, him being of royal stature of course. My clothes were pretty dirty, but luckily, the leather material had not torn. I was sure my hair was a mess and probably contained several twigs and leaves by now.
I was right, because suddenly Larsa reached up and pulled a twig out of my hair. He smiled kindly, "You had a twig in your hair, Penelo."
I laughed and glanced over at his hair as well. It had somehow fixed itself from its former state and looked pretty good compared to mine.
"Hmph, no fair, Larsa. How is your hair less messed up than mine?" I teased.
He chuckled, "I do not know. I have been asked the same thing on many occasions."
I giggled and said, "Oh really?"
"Of course,"
I tightened my grip on his hand, the fabric feeling very nice on my own and pulled him towards the exit.
"Let's just get out of here!"
He agreed and we made our way there, when suddenly, I heard the familiar screech of a panther. I turned quickly.
Larsa turned too, mirroring my position, and let out a small gasp at the shocking sight before us.
There was an extremely angry mob of panthers grouped in front of us, teeth bared, tails waving. How had they all gotten there so silently? There was no way Larsa and I could handle all of these, no matter how skilled we were. There was just too many...
So I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed Larsa's hand again and ran towards the exit in hopes of escaping. Unfortunately, he hadn't predicted my action and had trouble keeping up. The panthers were soon to follow. I pushed myself faster, hoping it wasn't too much for Larsa, who was lagging behind me slightly, but still gripping my hand tightly. (I was used to running from things, growing up in the slums of course.) We were almost there when he stumbled forward over a piece of wood and went crashing to the ground. I tried to pull him up, but it was too late. The panthers were here, eyeing us with hungry looks on their faces.
I bent beside him, pulling out my staff and holding it out in front of us the best I could. He stumbled again while quickly pulling out his own weapon.
"Penelo! Run...you'll be safe." He cried, trying to block off the constant lashes from the panthers.
"No...Larsa! Why would I leave you? We'll fight them off, we can do it!"
"There's so many!" He continued.
I pulled him up. "Just fight the ones that lash at us, and I'll cast magicks on the ones farther away!!"
He looked at me with doubt in his grey-blue eyes, but followed my advice nonetheless.
The panthers continued their violent assault. I tried my best to cast blizzard on them and ward a few away from Larsa by hitting them with my staff, but it wasn't going too well. There were tones of them jumping at Larsa and he barely had time to throw a Hi-Potion or X-Potion when our HP got low because he was so busy warding them off. I tried to cast cure, but my Magick Power was getting low and I had no more Ethers.
It was time to switch tactics...
Before I could think of anything, I heard the sound of gunshot, arrow, sword and dagger, and turned quickly to see Fran, Balthier, Vaan and the rest of the group rushing over, and helping us kill the panthers. I had never been so happy to see any of them in my entire life.
With the help of our comrades, the fiends were gone in no time and we were finally safe again in the now quiet jungle. I took the time to sigh in relief.
"Penelo! Larsa!" I heard Vaan yell, "You guys okay? We were looking for you guys everywhere..."
I turned to Larsa, who was currently sheathing his sword. He looked fine, apart from the scratches on his face and arms, which we both had anyway.
"I am fine." Larsa replied, and I nodded in agreement.
"What happened?" Ashe asked.
"Well, I thought I saw something, and then suddenly a huge panther jumped at me. I fought it off, but when I turned around...everyone was gone."
I looked over to Larsa.
"Then...I went looking for you guys when Larsa showed up. He said he had seen me leave and followed me. We decided to stay put hoping you guys would find us, but no one came. So, once it got dark, we tried to get back to the Ozmone Plain, but then they attacked us."
Larsa stepped forwards to me and said, "I suppose we should have stayed, so everyone could have found us. I apologize, Penelo. It was my idea to find them..."
"No, Larsa, it's fine." I said quickly. He couldn't blame himself for this...he couldn't have known.
"But--" He persisted, but I stopped him.
"No. It's okay."
Fran stepped forwards. "We should go back to the Garif Village. Your wounds need to be attended to."
Balthier and Fran started walking to the village, and my comrades followed. Larsa and I were at the back again. I glanced over to see that Larsa was looking at me too.
"Come on, Larsa." I chirped, placing my hand on his shoulder. Only, this time, it was my turn to slide my hand down to his. He looked back at me and smiled a slight blush on his gentle features. I returned the smile and together, we made our way back to the village, hand in hand.
X-X-X-X
a/n: Don't know if I should continue this or leave it as another sweet little one-shot. Opinions would be great. And sorry for the extreme clichéd ending. Couldn't help it. :D
Thanks for reading and please review!
And thanks to Riley for the helpful tips. I know you don't like the Larenelo pairing...so it's awesome that you helped:)
Rena-chan44