When Penny encountered Hyper Beam too closely, an animal part of her locked up her knees. Gray eyes went sightless save for the blinding light gathering in a wild Alpha Dragonite’s mouth aimed right at her. Almost point blank. Her heart went into overdrive and she shook all over. Even her ears popped as the air pressure ramped up from the power of the priming move.

Yet all she could actually see was frightening memories of death coming. It wasn’t a Dragonite but Shinryu. Shinryu gathering aether in its mouth, jaws popping wider and more prominent. Zenos piloting Shinryu atop the Ala Mhigan Palace. Shinryu looming, dragonic and deadly. Fear, fear, fear and she was unable to bring herself to fight it for once! The memories were too overwhelming. How had she defeated it before? Perhaps it was a different sort of desperation that she was lacking now.

A scream built up but got stuck in her throat. Penny didn’t hear someone yelling for her to move. She only stood there. Resigned because she couldn’t force herself to run. Flight or fight not even there. Just her frozen like some prey animal in the sights of a vicious predator.

Death had finally caught her after years of dodging its grasp as the Warrior of Light.

And then Penelope was tackled down, sailing through the air. A strong hand cradled her head as she hit the dirt of Wild Zone 20. Some distant part of her was aware of her Gardevoir blocking the Hyper Beam and decimating the Alpha Dragonite with a blast of Fairy moonlight. Penny sobbed as her fear finally let her loose enough to become aware. She clung to Corbeau’s suit jacket, shaking apart in his arms as she wailed. And he held her tight, murmuring soft words into her golden hair. Lilting Kalosian in his familiar voice, both comfort and affirmation of being in the present again. He carried her past the zone holotech barriers before collapsing on a bench out of the way. One of the few hidden ones without the seat barriers that prevented anyone from laying down. He cradled Penny in his lap.

“…the palace!”

“Shh, cherie, there is no palace. You’re in Lumiose City. Breathe for me, sunshine.” Corbeau breathed slow and deep and she matched him. “That’s it, Penelope, good girl.” He pressed his lips to her temple, taking a shaky inhale of her scent that was still tinged with her fear. “You’re alright. I’ve got you.” He exchanged a nod with her Gardevoir before she gave him the last of the reins to take care of her trainer before going back into her Pokeball.

A part of Corbeau wanted to lambast the woman in his arms for not even trying to dodge but he recognized the fact Penny had a flashback that prevented her from reacting like she normally would. A war veteran, he reminded himself. She was a war veteran who fought gods and monsters beyond his imagining. Of course she had bad memories and reactions to certain things. No wonder she hated Pokemon battling despite his own enjoyment of it.

“Safe?” Penny whispered against his dress shirt, face tucked into the curve of his neck. “Everyone?”

“Safe, everyone’s safe, cherie. I’ve got it from here.” The way she immediately relaxed in his hold and dropped off into an exhausted doze made something in his chest swell. That implicit trust was going to be his downfall and his saving grace. Corbeau cupped her nape. He took a deep breath before he summoned up his Rotom phone to call Philippe for a pickup. His afternoon stroll had turned a little too exciting.

Philippe was silent and solemn when he arrived. He helped his boss put Penny into the car with its darkly tinted windows. It wasn’t a kidnapping but no need for anyone to see the savior of the city so vulnerable. She had trusted Corbeau to take care of things and he would.

Penny woke up later laying down on one of the super comfortable couches in Corbeau’s office. The pillow beneath her head was firm yet soft. His stylized black and magenta suit jacket had been draped over her torso like a blanket. The boss of Rust’s scent of expensive woodsy cologne and almond sweet poison surrounded her from the silky fabric. She sat up, the jacket pooling into her lap. Oh…

Someone had braided her hair so she could sleep more comfortably.

“Good afternoon, sunshine,” Corbeau called out from behind his desk. And there he sat, his broad (for his stature) shoulders highlighted by the purple of his dress shirt. His sleeves were rolled up which exposed the thick lines of his Kanto style tattoos on his muscled forearms, the ink disappearing further up under that finely woven purple cotton. Without his suit jacket, he looked both rougher, half undone yet soft. Or perhaps it was his expression aimed her way, those golden eyes from behind round tinted glasses looking at her with such gentle emotion.

“Hello,” Penny croaked. She clung to the jacket on her lap. “How did I…?”

“Philippe picked us up. Don’t worry, we were discrete on bringing you inside.”

“Shady.”

Corbeau barked a laugh. He ran his hands through his purple hair. “You know what I meant, cherie. Anyway, Philippe is out taking care of a few things for me regarding Wild Zone 20. So don’t sweat about that either.” Leaning back into his chair, she saw the way he shifted that indicated he had crossed his legs, likely an ankle resting on the opposite leg’s knee. “Do you want to talk about what happened, Penny?”

“Not particularly,” Penny replied. Her fingers twisted into the fabric of the suit jacket. “It’s irrelevant.” Her gaze darted away to the side.

“That I doubt.” Corbeau looked at her patiently until she glanced back up at him. “Whenever you want to tell me, I’ll listen.” His sharp gaze noted the way her breath hitched. Which wasn’t in the way he had ever wanted it. “But perhaps not now, hm.”

“You’re not yelling at me…”

“Why would I?”

Penelope squirmed. “I should have dodged,” she said.

“No use dwelling on should-haves, sunshine. I saw how scared you were. It’s okay.” Corbeau made a punched out noise when he saw her mouth tremble and tears gather in her pale gray eyes. “Oh darling, no. Don’t cry.” He got up and hurried over to the couch to cup her face with both hands.

“Why didn’t I dodge?!”

The Poison-type trainer clicked his tongue. “Because your brain decided to be a bastard,” he said so bluntly that it startled a laugh out of her. “But hey, I got to you in time, didn’t I? And Divina sent that Dragonite straight to hell.”

“She did?” Penny said in a high-pitched tone. “Of course she did, that’s my baby.” Her giggle was a little wet sounding from unshed tears. She leaned into his touch, eyes fluttering closed. “I’m tired.”

“Then sleep some more, sunshine. Told you these couches are comfy.” Corbeau gently guided her back down to lay. He tucked his jacket over her and brushed his fingers through her bangs. “I’ve got the watch.” He stayed seated on the edge of the couch next to Penny until she drifted back to sleep. Curling forward, he kissed her cheek, lingering just a moment before tearing himself away. He still had work to do after all.

But a part of Corbeau preened about the fact that Penny was relying on him so sweetly in this moment. Maybe someday, she’d always would for everything. How he enjoyed taking care of her, especially since she needed it so rarely. The Rust Syndicate Leader sat back down, loosened his tie, and got back to work.

And if he daydreamed about Penelope cradled in his arms for completely different reasons, that was just business between Corbeau and his brain.

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· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Being unable to see the stars was one of the worst parts of her stay in Lumiose City. The lights of the city were too bright and the bit of smog didn’t help. Still… Penelope liked to pretend she could see them on the highest rooftop she felt like climbing to on random nights. The sad, lonely ones when not even her Pokemon were able to dispel the miasma of homesickness. Because she would also pretend that the stars here were exactly like at home. That she was able to see the constellations associated with her now dead gods shining above her head.

Alas…

“I wasn’t expecting you on this particular rooftop tonight, sunshine,” said a familiar voice coming up behind her. “Behind my headquarters, hm?” The voice’s owner drew to a stop next to Penny. She smelled his expensive cologne mingling with the scent of a lit cigarette, that’s how close he was standing. Nearly shoulder against shoulder. This guy really was bad about personal space when it came to her. He exhaled a cloud of smoke from the corner of her vision.

“Don’t worry, your decorative roof bamboo across the way is safe from me,” Penny drawled, not bothering to look at him fully. Just allowing herself subtle glances through the shorter blonde locks framing her face. The rest was braided down her back. For once she wasn’t smoking on this melancholic night. (Her last specialty cigarette from Etheirys was already half gone even though she had been savoring them slowly and desperately this past year and a half since her arrival to this world…)

“Oh, I know,” Corbeau murmured around the lit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. Beneath the scant glare of the rooftop lights he was wreathed in half shadows. It suited him. Dark hair, dark clothes, yet gleaming golden eyes. The low intermittent glow of his cancer stick. What a picture he painted. The head honcho of Rust was a pretty patterned poison serpent in this garden of steel and glass that he loved.

Penelope didn’t want to dwell on how beautiful she found Corbeau to be ever since they met.

One shouldn’t find one’s past debtor attractive when he’s threatening you. Gods, you’d think she would hate him just for that as a former refugee in the cutthroat nation of Ul’dah. But unlike Lolorito or Teledj, Corbeau was not the sort to sell a loved one to a voidsent for a single cornchip. He had standards. He’d squeeze the voidsent for ten cornchips, maybe even a whole bag.

Okay, the metaphor was getting ridiculous in her head. Perhaps Penny ought to call it a night…

“Come in a night cap, sunshine,” Corbeau said, interrupting their companionable silence and her nonsensical thoughts. “I’ve got a new bottle of whiskey to crack open if you like.”

Penny turned her head to actually look at him. “You think I’m a whiskey kind of girl, huh?” she asked, morbidly amused at the way his ears turned a little pink in the warm night air. No, stop being so charming to behold, dammit! She was a weak, weak fool!

“I’ve got other drinks if that’s what you prefer.” He snuffed out his cigarette and tossed the butt into a trash bin meant just for such things. Corbeau blew out one last wisp of smoke. His golden eyes gleamed through the fading haze. They became hooded as heat jolted through his expression. “Or we can indulge in something else, cherie.” His grin was just short of filthy.

Aw fuck, of course he noticed! Actually…

Corbeau tilted his head when she shuffled closer. The stylized poison drips of his glasses chain brushed against his cheek with the motion. It was easy to see eye to eye when she was his same height. Gold clashed with pale gray as they stared at one another. He exhaled softly when she leaned over to slant her lips against his mouth. Corbeau slipped his hands to her hips, palms cupping the sweet curves of them. But though it was Penny who kissed him first, Corbeau was the one to deepen it. Her taste of coffee and chocolate bloomed across his tongue. He groaned at the feel of her hands stroking his chest through the silk of his shirt.

Thankfully because he owned this building and the top floors were his, it was the work of a somewhat distracted moment to walk Penny backwards to the private elevator while still exchanging heated kisses. Corbeau huffed a little laugh against her mouth when she hopped up to wrap her long legs around his waist as he pinned her to the elevator wall. The half tumble into his penthouse was comical. They left a trail of clothing from the front door to the bedroom.

Corbeau and Penny did not share a night cap that night. Or the next. Instead what they shared was the start of something quite permanent. All because Penny decided to brood on his rooftop in particular for once. Corbeau certainly wasn’t going to let her go now that he had her. He was a greedy man after all. And his patience had paid off exponentially.

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End