Cherished

prompt : familiar
Vaan & Penelo

Disclaimer: I do not own FF12, its characters, settings, etc. These words, however, are mine.

Everywhere he went, everything he did, she could mirror happily and know that everything would be fine; so long as he was there, by her side, always. Best friends bordering on something more, she was blissful, happy. For once in the last few years, she was feeling like she really belonged.

But now...?

It had all changed so fast. How did he expect her to pick herself up and move forward? His last words had been utterly ridiculous!

'Don't wait for me.'

"How can I not?" Penelo whispered into the cold air, watching as a puff of warmed air became visible in the startlingly clear night. The stars gave her no solace like they might've before. The heavens were not something she felt like believing in right now.

"What if you're up there?" She cried, feeling the familiar prick of tears sting her eyes. She blinked several times, but it only made her cheeks wet as the tears started to trail blindly down her cheeks.

They'd been followed. Followed when they were supposed to go undercover on a mission for the Lord Larsa. She remembered him saying to them, just before they'd left, to choose their lives over his errand. He expected them to make it back in a single piece. Vaan had insisted, when they'd been confronted by one too many for them to think of being able to take care of, for her to run and leave it to him.

'What's a sky pirate if he can't even make a simple delivery? But I won't risk you, so go. Now.'

"Vaan, you're so stupid!" She screamed, falling to a crouch and covering her face with her hands. Sobbing, she thought back to everything they'd shared over the years. How could she have left? He'd been pleading with her as she insisted on staying and he'd broken her resolve. She should've stayed.

Maybe things would be different now if she had.

Maybe he'd still be...

"Don't think like that." She whispered to herself, breaking the silence of the night. Sitting down, she rubbed her eyes furiously, completely intending to bury her sorrow. She had better things to do than cry her heart out. Deep down, she knew she was trying to stay strong because Vaan would've told her to stop crying over him, to take care of herself and not to worry. He would want her to be, and stay, happy.

Laying herself out completely, she started to hum and tune Reks used to play for herself and Vaan when they'd been children.

Eventually, she fell asleep.

When she woke, he was there, laying right beside her, looking as though he'd never been gone.

Maybe he hadn't been.