[Thread] Who heals the healer downed?

[danceawaypain.livejournal.com]

Characters: Penelo, Edgar, Vaan, cameo by Kain, OPEN to anyone in Figaro once Penelo blacks out.
Progress: In-Progress
Summary: Penelo's playing mother hen to her passed out friend, and hits the ground herself.
Location: Figaro Castle
Date: August 23, 1804 (final day of timeloop)
Warnings: None?

They days blurred into each other to the point Penelo no longer had any idea what day it truly was. Every day, she woke to the same argument, the little black mage children in her care bickering over whose hat was whose. The first time that argument had repeated, she'd simply been exasperated. But day after day of it, and her patience worn thin and her nerves became frazzled. It didn't help that every morning, they'd forgotten it had happened before and began to beg for a visit with the moogles in Edgar's castle. A visit she would concede to and yet the moogles didn't remember it anymore than the children. Then Vaan would arrive once more and need to be fished out of the care of moogles who couldn't remember him being there. It grew to be too much to deal with.

Then there was the issue of Kain and Terra. Penelo still couldn't understand why her friend would go and attack someone for no reason whatsoever. That he would not regain consciousness, despite all her efforts to heal him, worried her deeply. She'd fallen asleep by his side after tending him and his victim both that first evening. When she awoke, it was in her bed, as it had been every morning since. Terra's wounds had vanished completely, as if they'd never happened at all. Kain on the other hand still hadn't revived. Some strange magic or convolution of time had to be the cause. Or maybe she was simply stuck in a nightmare she could not wake from. Either way, she was exhausted from it all.

As she had every other day for the past week, she packed up the children and took them to the moogles, then went to her friend's side. While the little mages giggled and screamed, playing tag with their furry companions, she sat and waited, and fussed. Despite Ellone's assurances he'd wake and be fine, Penelo was no longer convinced. It had been a week, and there were no signs of his return. The piteous sounds of his little dragonet being taken away still rang in her ears, and honestly, she felt much the same. It all felt so hopeless. A tear trickled down her cheek, and this time, she didn't even bother to whisk it away.

She reached over and brushed some stray hair off the sleeping dragoon's face. It didn't escape her that it was a gesture he would have never allowed her, were he awake and aware. Penelo could imagine the stern response it would get and that made her smile just a touch. He was always so reserved, and yet there was no denying he was handsome. She missed the days she could tease him that women found his mysterious nature attractive and watching him react to it. Right now, all she wanted was some response. Even one of his grouchy ones.

She sniffled softly and pleaded, "Please don't die. I can't lose anyone else." Another sniff and she became a little more stern with her unacknowledged mothering. "And I still have to yell at you for being stupid."

Comments

[desert-baby.livejournal.com]

Vaan already knew where to go once he arrived in the desert yet again. It was annoying to have to be out here every day with none of the moogles remembering him and trying to give him the same speech over and over. Even so, there was another matter on his mind.

Penelo.

She had changed so much. She told him it was because two years had passed in her time but it was still hard to believe. If nothing else, she was surpassing him as a sky pirate and he honestly didn't know how to take that. But he couldn't go around being jealous since it was obvious this whole place had been putting a strain on her. He found her where he knew she would be, in the infirmary watching over the guy named Kain.

Vaan felt awkward as he listened to his surrogate sister. He honestly didn't know what to do. All he could do was walk over and sit next to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. When she sniffled, he gently pulled her over to wrap his arm around her, rubbing her back.

[danceawaypain.livejournal.com]

The familiar touch of Vaan's hand on her shoulder was all it took to burst the dam of tears Penelo stored up. They fell, even though she didn't want them to and she found herself leaning on him, depending on him. But for how long? How long until he was taken away again? That was driven home with him arriving day after day with the resetting of time.

Cruelty at its highest. Making her relive something she'd dealt with for months.

She'd always been the strong one, the responsible one. Right now she felt anything but. A little grit and determination got her through what she once thought were the darkest days of her life, losing her parents and her brothers, the occupation of her country, forced to live in a warehouse under the city with the other orphans. But this? Nothing at all in comparison.

"Vaan, I can't keep doing this. I can't."

[desert-baby.livejournal.com]

Both of his arms go around her now, one rubbing her back while the other simply keeps support. "Aw, c'mon, Pen. Sure you can, I know you can. Things will turn out okay, I know they will."

Even so, he squeezed her a bit closer. It was hard to comfort someone that had gone through things in a time frame that wasn't suppose to happen. He didn't know this Kain, he wasn't aware of his own disappearances and reappearances, and he wasn't sure who else was here to help. Where was Larsa, anyway? Vaan sighed softly and shook his head.

No, it was his job to help Penelo. That's what family did, right? "I'll be with you every step of the way. I promise."

[sonoffigaro.livejournal.com]

At that moment, the door opened to admit the king of this realm, less concerned with the man in the bed than the young woman by his side. Seeing Vaan already there made him hang back for a moment, then Edgar strode forward to peer at the now-sleeping dragoon. Small claw marks decorated his hands below his sleeves and armor, souvenirs from Zephyr - not that the little dragon was very fierce, with Reis around, but her claws most definitely were not filed down.

Watching Kain's face with a slight frown, trying to decide why in the world this was the only person in the castle who seemed not to be stuck in this strange time loop... There was no telling what was going on here. He turned to Penelo, then, wearing a serious expression that told more than he was aware of. "Has there been any change, then?"

[danceawaypain.livejournal.com]

What Vaan didn't know was that Larsa was far away and wanted nothing to do with her anymore. That he'd come and gone so often, she was afraid to see him now. That this world toyed with lives and memories and time, hers and her friends' included. The softest whimper came out just before one choked sob, then she forced herself to cease crying. Tears never solved anything in any world.

The sound of Edgar's approach fortified the dancer's attempts to stop weeping. She felt foolish enough already without making a scene in front of a royal. She sniffled then raised her head from Vaan's shoulder to glance over at Kain. "Nothing at all. I just don't understand."

On spotting his hands, she rose to her feet. "You're hurt. What happened?"

[desert-baby.livejournal.com]

Vaan chose to stay quiet for now, he didn't know about Kain's condition all that much other than that he'd passed out during a battle. The battle itself seemed to distress Penelo more than the unconsciousness but Vaan didn't know what was taking place just yet. For now, he would just have to wait and see.

Who knows, maybe things will clear up once this guy woke up. Things just kept getting weirder and he sincerely hoped that tomorrow would actually be the next day.

[sonoffigaro.livejournal.com]

A quick glance at Vaan - who surely had to be the friend Penelo had so recently been upset over losing - and Edgar turned back to the dancer and offered his hands for her inspection. "It's nothing that isn't going to happen when interacting with a dragon. Zephyr's claws are still sharp, I suppose so she can learn to hunt, and she hasn't learned yet that not everyone compulsively wears as much armor as your friend here."

Not that Edgar was really one to talk much, as he tended to walk around at least partially armored most of the time, but that was more from living in a constant state of war since he'd assumed the throne. And most of it was light, more decorative than anything.

"What I don't understand is why he isn't changing his state as the rest of us do - he seems to be the only person in the castle able to escape this insanity."

[danceawaypain.livejournal.com]

"I don't either. Ellone says he should be fine, but I haven't seen any sign of him coming to at all. Whatever's wrong with him, I can't fix it." Couldn't fix it and hated every minute of it.

What she could fix was Edgar's hands, which she began to do without asking. A ball of light formed under her hand, which she released over his injuries. Once that was squared away, she felt it was time to plead with him... again. "Edgar, please don't be too hard on him. It's not like him at all. It's not. He's-"

A loud ringing in her ears cut her off. Unbearably loud, and coupled with a sharp stabbing pain in her head. Her hands went to her temples out of reflex, just as a sudden wave of dizziness and exhaustion struck. "I can't..." Can't think, can't stand up, can't stand this feeling were her last thoughts, jumbled though they were before she collapsed into the floor unconscious.

[desert-baby.livejournal.com]

"Penelo!" Vaan cried, catching her just before she hit the ground. He eased the rest of the way, shaking her lightly. "Penelo, what's wrong? Penelo? Hey, c'mon, wake up!"

But she didn't wake up. She look sick or anything, just knocked out. But why? What was going on? Vaan looked up to Edgar, eyes questioning. He was here longer than Vaan, after all. Was it this world? Penelo hadn't had the chance to explain everything to him and now he wanted the whole story. Just what was going on?

[sonoffigaro.livejournal.com]

"Penelo!" Edgar couldn't offer the sky pirate any comfort as he was clearly just as taken aback by her collapse as her friend was - only not catching her himself because Vaan was closer.

Unlike the young man, though, Edgar wasn't confused - or at least he didn't look it. Anxious, perhaps, but not confused - this was now the second time he'd seen this in a week, even if the day did keep repeating. "Can you carry her? If you can't, give her to me - we're going to get her into bed."

[desert-baby.livejournal.com]

She was a little heavy but Vaan carried her just fine. "I got her. Is there something going that I need to know about? I never really got a chance to ask and now Penelo's like this."

This was all so confusing and distressing. No wonder Penelo was so down before, if this was the kind of thing this world did.

[sonoffigaro.livejournal.com]

Fortunately there was an unoccupied guest room right next door - it would do for the moment, and it was also very luxurious. At the moment he didn't care if Penelo thought luxury was too much for her, Edgar was entirely focused on making her comfortable, and a well done-up room certainly helped that.

"I'm sure you've noticed, but we seem to be caught in something of a loop in time - all the Gaian natives still think of it as Monday, the sixteenth, but Sky People such as you and I have experienced many more days, although each tries to repeat the patterns of the sixteenth. Many of us have simply given up trying to get anything accomplished until whatever caused this is stopped.But people have... been blacking out since this began. Not many, but a few, and no one can understand why. They seem to be the only exception to the days repeating... We'll simply have to wait and see."