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I do NOT own Final Fantasy 12 or any of it's characters. They all belong to Square Enix. Don't sue me! ^_^
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Why..? Why would something like this happen..? And why would it happen to him..?
Vaan was biting back the urge to cry as he sat in the rain with a breathless Penelo in his arms. Vaan nudged her again, in hope that maybe she was just joking.
" Haha! Gotcha, Vaan!" Vaan wished Penelo would say. She gave up her own life to preserve his own. As much as Vaan knew that to be true, he refused to believe it. She shouldn't have died this way! Not even a Phoenix Down could heal Penelo. She was dead; beyond the point of being treated. This didn't stop Vaan from using up all of his Phoenix Downs in a vain attempt to awake Penelo.
They were captured by Ba'Gamnan and his henchmen. Vaan and Penelo were starved and torched in their imprisonment. They were getting token to Ba'Gamnan's execution chamber, and Ba'Gamnan was just about to dig the razor-sharp edges of his Ba'Gamsaw into Vaan until he bled to death, but before Ba'Gamnan could do more that scar Vaan, Penelo broke from the clutches of Rinok and Bwagi and tackled Ba'Gamnan. This made Ba'Gamnan lose his balance, and tumble to the ground, dropping his Ba'Gamsaw. Penelo picked up the Ba'Gamsaw, and slashed Ba'Gamnan's eye's with it; blinding the bangaa.
" Run!" Penelo looked up at Vaan as she dropped the saw. Vaan flew to his feet, grabbed Penelo's hand, and lead her the the exit of the hideout, but the bangaa headhunters were prepared. Gijuk was guarding the exit, and when he saw Vaan and Penelo, he drew out a butchers knife and a sword. Before Vaan realized what Gijuk held in his hands, Gijuk hurled the knife at Vaan. Vaan shielded his self from the knife once he realized that it was about to hit him, but it never hit. Vaan quickly opened his eyes when he heard the painful cry from his partner as she fell to her knees. The knife dug deep into Penelo's chest, just missing her heart. Gijuk dashed almost at lightning speed to the two Sky Pirates, and was about to stab Vaan, but Penelo quickly stood up; intercepting Gijuk's fatal attack that was meant for Vaan into her stomach. Before Penelo could fall to the ground, Vaan caught her in his arms, and fled the two of them off.
Although Vaan's lungs were burning and couldn't get enough air, he endured the pain and kept running. He ran until he was sure Ba'Gamnan and his henchmen couldn't get them. Vaan fell to the ground, Penelo still in his arms. She looked up at him and smiled weakly.
" That was close, huh?" Penelo's voice was faint and barely auto able. Vaan nodded.
" Yeah..! We gotta get you fixed up..!" Vaan chuckled, his own voice not much louder than Penelo's. Penelo shook her head.
" No, you just go." Penelo read Vaan's, ' are you crazy' expression and quickly added, " I'll catch up with you..!"
" You know just as well as I do that there's no way that you can even walk! We'd better hurry, or-!"
" I'm going to die, Vaan." Penelo's words sank deep into Vaan.
" What are you talking about!?!" Vaan glared at Penelo. There were tears filling her eyes.
" I can feel it.... Time... Time is over for me... You need to get to a hospital and get yourself taken care of, before Ba'Gamnan catches up..!" Penelo tried to roll out of Vaan's arms, but she was far to weak. " Vaan..!"
" I'm not letting you go..!" Vaan turned Penelo to look up at him. " You're not going to die on me..!" Somewhere deep inside Vaan, he knew it was already to late. Penelo wrapped her arms around Vaan.
" I love you Vaan."
" What?" Vaan was utterly shocked.
" I just.... I had to tell you before I died..." Penelo looked up at Vaan. " I was going to tell you earlier, but I just.... I didn't think it would do much good..." Penelo's voice drifted off. She used the last of her strength to pull herself up and kiss Vaan. She then laid back down, and shut her eyes.
" Bye."
" No, wait!" But it was to late. Penelo's skin almost instantly became cold and stiff. Vaan shook he gently, and then violently.
" Common, wake up..!" A tear fell from Vaan as he continued to attempt to wake Penelo up.
This is were Vaan was now. Alone and empty, with his best friend, navigator, partner-in-crime, and possibly, something more in his arms. No, not possibly. Vaan loved Penelo. He loved her for a long time now, he just never saw it. It had to take dramatic changes to finally have Vaan to realize this hidden feeling, but now he knew, and he hated it. Why couldn't he live life without knowing? It would be so much more easier to let her go if he didn't know that his only love was laying in his arms; dead.
Or if she would have survived. What if Vaan could have got Penelo help in time, even though her fate was decided with the fight between her and Gijuk? Vaan would have married Penelo... They would have had children of their own, and lived a long, happy life.
But in fact, Penelo was dead, and she would have died eventually anyways, but why now and why like this!?! She was everything to him...
Vaan once heard that a Sky Pirate's first love is the sky, but now, Vaan knew that that was wrong. Although sometimes Vaan would ignore Penelo as a person and pay attention to her as his navigator, she was always his number one. She was, in fact, everything he had all along. She was his sky, and without her, Vaan doubted that he could ever fly the skies of Ivalice again. After all, you cannot fly without a sky..!
So Vaan waited. He knew that if he didn't get going soon, Ba'Gamnan and his henchmen would catch up. They would kill him, but Vaan didn't care, so he waited. Waiting for his fate. There was nothing left for Vaan now...
" Gah! We found 'ya!" Ba'Gamnan snarled. Gijuk, Rinok, and Bwagi's crackling laughter behind him. Vaan didn't even turn around as the bangaa's ruthlessly ripped off Vaan's skin and literally tore him apart. Tearing Vaan's eye's out and cutting his limbs until only a strand of skin connected it to his body. Digging at his skin until they broke through, only to rip out the vital organs keeping Vaan alive. Vaan never let out a cry, knowing that it would only give the bangaa pleasure. Within seconds, Vaan was nothing more than a pile of flesh, bones, blood, and unorganized organs. The bangaa's left Vaan's corpse as they walked off, cackling. Leaving behind the breathless Vaan and Penelo. The rain washed away their blood that was to be eternally forgotten.
Fin