Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Ever.
He had retired earlier than the rest of the guests. Basch had never become accustom to the Emperor large and rather… often parties. Maybe that attributed to why he felt so old. He slept too much; in younger days he could last on only a few hours.
Things never stayed the same.
Sleep was golden and he did nothing better.
"Basch?"
There wasn't a knock at the door, but Penelo already hiding in his room. He rolled his head to the left, watching her for a moment. "What brings you sneaking into my room?"
He wasn't mad, just curious.
Basch sat up, leaning up against the headboard of his bed. He looked over to Penelo, studying her for a moment longer. She sat in the corner, knees tucked up high enough so her head could rest. Most of her weight was leaned up against the frame and her arms were tucked tightly around herself.
"Do you know how long I've been talking to Larsa? And to find out all this last night! Basch, you must have known."
Basch trusted his instincts screaming at him to lie. "Penelo, I don't know of what you speak."
"His intentions to marry Ashe." She threw her hands up in the air but it didn't hide the tears falling down her face. "You must know how I feel."
Basch turned his head to the right, frightfully unaware that his hand traced the ever present scar on his face. In his mind, he was trying to know what to do with Ashe. He did not want this marriage. Penelo had interests in Larsa, rightly so. Neither Ashe nor Larsa seemed to excited about the union, so why was it not his charge to end something that would not be good for either of his friends?
Because it was good for Dalmasca.
Peace would be long-standing.
"It is of no good to tell me. I can not change who the Emperor marries. Speak with him yourself." Basch rolled over, away from Penelo. He couldn't look at her anymore. She looked so miserable; he didn't want to have to act like this to her.
"I don't understand why you act like this, Basch. You used--" She stopped and she looked at the door in fear as the knocking started.
"Gabranth!"
This gave Basch only nearly thirty seconds to hide Penelo or dress. He did not think the situation be appropriate if he was seen in what he slept in. Who knew if the Emperor would find it amusing, but he doubted that Penelo would laugh.
So, where to hide her?
He quickly rolled off the bed and looked into the bathroom. It was not like Larsa to wander around; she would probably be safe in here. "Penelo, quickly."
Basch had to wonder if fate was toying with him. As soon as he shut the door, the main one popped open and Larsa's grand entrance began.
"Emperor," Basch leaned forward just a tiny bit.
"Gabranth, no need, really now." Larsa closed the door. "Aren't you being just a bit silly after so long?"
He shrugged, leaning close to the frame of the bathroom door. "You are up early, Larsa. Your night wasn't as late as usual?"
"No, no, it was." Larsa perked up, still smiling hungover. "Though, I did notice the lack of your prescene last night. Was something wrong?"
If Larsa wanted to know if the marriage proposel upset him, Basch would not fall for the trap. "It would--"
Crashing came from the bathroom in what sounded like Penelo falling. Basch felt Larsa's eyes burning on his back.
"So, Gabranth, who is hiding in your bathroom this morning?" Larsa's grin split his face in half and he walked around to the door.
Basch couldn't stop Larsa from opening the door. This would not help his quest or Penelo's; her being in his room only skewed views further from the truth. Would Penelo be sitting on the floor, in a heap of ceramic? He could only hold his breath and see.
Larsa opened the door but was not amused at the sight.
Only a vase of flowers lay broken in the middle of the floor.
No one else was around.
"Odd, isn't it Gabranth?" Larsa stepped around the small wash room. "It would looks like we have ghosts."
"Ghosts, my Lord?"
"Either that or you have a vanishing friend." Larsa peeked behind the shower curtain.
None hiding there.
Basch was confused, but he would figure out Penelo's trick soon enough. For now, his crisis with Emperor Larsa had been averted. His conversation with Penelo was cut short but he would make time to finish that later this day.
"Well, Gabranth, we do have a lot to attend to today. We'll be entertaing Queen Ashe and a few other guests. Please arrive in the courtyard shortly."
"Aye." Basch leaned back against the wall. He didn't like this. Two days in a row the sick feeling had not left his stomach. Today, he was sure that Larsa would position him inbetween himself and Ashe. Larsa's fun in life included watch Basch squirm under the light of the woman he wouldn't admit to loving.
Basch took another look in the bathroom, this time taking an extra moment to look at the vent in the ceiling. "Ah, Penelo… learned from Vaan well…" He supposed she was already out of the vent shafts and in her room by this point.
It seemed when Larsa had said Queen Ashe and a few guests, Larsa had meant the the Queen only.
Another test.
Just what was Larsa trying to prove?
While it had only been five years since they fought side by side, her hearing had betrayed her. Basch did not have to strain to be too quiet as he stood behind his sitting princess. Even if he could, he did not scare her.
"My Queen."
She leaned her head back, smiling at him. "I thought you may never arrive."
Why did it always seem that the moments they spent with each other, time never mattered and Basch was always lost in her smile. However, just like every other time, someone always came along to ruin the farce.
"Wait for me!" Penelo bounded down the stairs, leaving Larsa to his slow, steady, almost kingly pace.
"You did not think--?" Larsa stopped when he saw's Basch head turn towards the ground. He would embaress Basch in private when they returned.
Basch knew the trip from the palace courtyard to the theater house was long, long enough for another private session in his head. He took his spot in th back, Penelo hanging off Larsa's left arm and Ashe, standing maybe only a foot to the right, but limbs all her own. She looked back to Basch every few minutes, but he never returned the sweet smile.
Why was that? Was Basch such a bastard that he couldn't even be nice to the one he loved so dearly?
No, it was the mask.
Of that he was sure.
Unfortantly, on this day, Basch could not sit and decipher his problems. He felt something else in the air.The smell of the changes of season; it was coming. It seduced him; it forced him to remember the games they used to play. Noah and him. They had done terrible things as teenagers.
Mostly to their girlfriends.
Basch always went along, if not happily. He hadn't always been the one to instigate the events, but stopping them was the furthest thought from his mind
He had been a mere boy.He wouldn't deny that he had his lusts and not always one girl was enough.
He was different now, or he tried to be. Noah, even as a Gabranth, hadn't left his womanizing ways in the past. Of course, Basch was not prepared for the consequences of his brothers' actions. In the beginning, the Archadian woman who threw their naked bodies at his feet gave him such an odd feeling of power. A short-lived lust that often left the woman outside his door. Even so, Basch had faltered in letting a few women into his bed.
"Gabranth?"
Larsa and the company was waiting for him to enter the small hover car. He needed to get back on track. He berated himself for being so forgetful as he sat down next to Larsa.
In some ways, he just wished it was all over. He couldn't stand Penelo's death stares and Ashe's sheepish smiles. Larsa never stopped talked, yet Basch's streaming conscious never quieted.
It was always too loud.
Basch truly wished for some peace.
During the time the King and his guests left the castle, Balthier & Fran still remained.
Balthier wasn't too content on not being privy to the trip. In fact, he ought to crash the play. Make a nice dashing entrance.
"Do not even think I will help you this time, Balthier."
"Fran, Fran," He tsked at her. "Why must you always insist on ruining my fun?"
Fran only cocked her hip. It was her one sign to Balthier that she was not having any fun with him today. Sometimes, most of the time, Fran was as typical as a hume woman. She narrowed her eyes, her lips pulled back in a scowl.
"Do not say another word, Fran, I get it." Balthier had to get away from her.
If he had just enough time away, he could find a way. The Theater House couldn't have been that hard to break into. And the grand entrance? Well, that just came naturally.
Maybe he didn't need Fran after all.
To be continued…
Note: Okay. So, this took me longer than I planned and yeah. This thing is giving me a headache, but it'll get good. Next chapter is going to be hilarious, at least by my standards. Trust me. Balthier and Basch are going to SHINE! To my reviewers, THANK YOU! To everyone else… go review: D
-Saphi
