A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed: Kisdota, Puggles Master, omegarulesall, Automailjunkie, DJ, Dracorum, koalababay, Feeny, chiharu-tanaka, IH8Abbreviations, and QbertEnhanced.

Well, I'm posting the last two prompts at the same time, since I've had the last one written for a while, and since the last prompt is also extremely short.

Prompt #47 - Creep

Penelo swiftly discovered that she loathed Giruvegan even more than she had loathed Raithwall's Tomb and the Stilshrine of Miriam put together. Those had both been disturbing, full of traps and zombies and awful sounds and smells. Giruvegan was long and exhausting. There were so many strong fiends that it took the party almost a full day to cross through the first part and reach the nearest crystal for rejuvenation. Penelo was drained by the time they finally got there-they all were. They hadn't slept in over twenty hours. It was amazing, not to mention irritating, how it could have taken so long to get such a short distance. All she wanted to do was sleep.

They camped out in the room with the crystal, and when they were all rested, they continued onward. After another huge, exhausting battle, they arrived in the Great Crystal. The Great Crystal soon made the first part of Giruvegan look like a jaunt through the desert in comparison. It was horrible. It was nothing more than a giant maze of pathways, Way Stones to teleport them from one place to another, and strong, magick-casting creatures that would creep up on them out of nowhere. It was equally long and arduous, and they had trouble just finding the next crystal so they could rest. Their supplies of x-potions and phoenix down were running low, and Penelo had only one ether left.

"We must find a crystal soon." Ashe was trying not to show her exhaustion, but she was covered from head to toe in grime, slime, and she was wavering on her feet. "Or we must rest."

"Rest sounds like a great idea," Vaan said, shaking a chunk of something off his foot. Penelo tried not to look at it too closely.

They were all battered, bruised, and filthy, even Balthier, Penelo was mildly gratified to see. She had begun to wonder if he was just dirt-proof, but Giruvegan had left its mark on him, too.

Penelo knew she probably looked the worst. Her braids were smoking and frizzy from the Thunder spells she had been hit with moments earlier and she smelled strongly of sulfur. She was out of magick from all the fresh healing spells she had just been casting, and didn't even think she had the energy to move around and build her magick back up again.

"May I suggest we rest here?" Balthier asked, shaking out his sleeves and sending a glob of slime flying. It hit the side of Ashe's face, and she wiped it off with a tired sigh. "We could take it in turns to keep-"

"Watch out!" Penelo threw herself forward and smacked into Ashe just as the Necrophobe that had appeared out of nowhere attacked.

The next thing she knew, she was waking up because she was swallowing something. Or trying to swallow; she was gagging on the thick liquid in her throat. It took a long moment-far too long-for awareness to seep back into her. Her body screamed to just fall back into whatever state of unconsciousness that she had been in. She came around enough to realize that she was on the ground, propped up only by an arm around her back.

Coughing and choking, she struggled to move, but the arm held her in place. Vaan's arm, she realized, when she heard his voice, frantic and tense. "Don't spit it out, Penelo, swallow it!"

What did he think she was trying to do? But her mouth was full of the taste of ether and potion, a very unpleasant mixture, and she couldn't speak until she had swallowed, especially since Vaan still had the bottle of ether crammed into her mouth and was dumping more in.

Penelo's energy rose a little bit, but she still felt like death warmed over. She finally managed to pry her eyes open. When she did, it was to find Ashe crouched in front of her, face full of concern. Balthier, Basch, and Fran were standing guard in a circle around them.

Relief filled Ashe's eyes when Penelo's gaze met hers. She silently held out an x-potion to Vaan, who took the now-empty ether bottle out of Penelo's mouth and traded it with Ashe for the x-potion.

"I'm okay," Penelo mumbled. "Need to save it."

Not heeding her at all, Vaan popped the stopper off of the x-potion bottle and shoved it into her mouth. Penelo tried to push it away, but Vaan glared at her, his look telling her she had better swallow it. Ashe said firmly, "Drink it, Penelo. That Necrophobe struck you with Death."

Well, that explained why she was she was feeling so drained. Stupid fiends. Stupid Giruvegan. Stupid Great Crystal. What she wouldn't give for a few days to curl up and sleep. And a bath. A bath would be fantastic.

Her eyes were drifting shut again, even as she was drinking the x-potion.

"Penelo, you must stay awake for a while." Ashe's clear voice brought her eyes snapping open again. "I know you are tired, but you must be certain the effects of the spell are gone or-"

"Or I might not wake up again." Penelo shivered and nodded. Or tried to nod. Her head kind of lilted against Vaan when she moved.

"C'mon." Vaan set down the empty potion bottle and dragged her to her feet. He got her walking within the small circle formed by the others keeping watch, hoisting her up when she stumbled. The walking would serve to keep her awake, and also to continue replenishing her magick.

Even in her dazed, leaden state, Penelo could see one thing very clearly on Vaan's face. "You're upset."

Vaan's hold on her tightened. "Really? How'd you figure that one out?"

Penelo pulled on his arm, even though that almost made her lose her balance and fall on her face. "I'm okay, Vaan."

"Yeah. This is really what I call okay." Vaan tugged on her when she stumbled, keeping her feet moving. He was quiet, and his face was pinched when he looked down at her. "You push yourself too hard sometimes, Penelo."

"What-"

"Like yesterday," Vaan continued. "Or the day before. I don't know how long it's been. Whenever we first got to Giruvegan. You kept stepping in and fighting even when you were drained of magick and almost unconscious."

"What was I supposed to do? Just stand back while you and everyone else fought?" Penelo demanded. Her voice was low and not at all forceful. She would have liked to say she was being quiet so the others wouldn't hear, but the truth was, her voice was just as weak as her body.

"You think I don't know why you were doing it? Every time you got hit or hit one of the monsters, you got a little of your magick back, and then you would heal us. Sometimes you need to just stop for a minute and let someone heal you. Or heal yourself first! You spend so much time keeping us safe that you completely drain yourself and then you still jump in front of Death-casting monsters and-and-"

Penelo grabbed Vaan's shoulder, trying to get in front of him and stop him, but all she managed to do was fall over her own feet. Vaan caught her and she grabbed onto his vest for support. Stupid Necrophobe. Stupid Death spell. "Vaan," she began. It was really strange to be having this discussion when she was clinging to him and couldn't even glare at him properly. "I heal the people who need it most. I will stop and heal myself if I have to, but I will not watch you or someone else fall if I can stop that. You would have pushed Ashe out of the way if you had seen the Necrophobe. You can't tell me you wouldn't have. You push yourself even harder than I do sometimes!"

Vaan sighed. Finally, he nodded. "I know."

She understood. She knew that they trusted each other completely. She knew that Vaan didn't question her being there. He knew she could fight and cast magick and he wasn't questioning her competence anymore than she questioned his.

She just knew that sometimes when something like this happened, when one of them came so close to brushing death, the panic and fear that crept up afterward was terrifying and heart-wrenching. She should have been panicked and shaken at her own close call, but she suspected that would come when she could actually stand without needing someone to hold her up. Right now, Vaan was giving her exactly what she needed. He was keeping her talking, keeping her stable. She was giving him what he needed, too, giving him reassurance in the familiarity of them, of this, of their support for each other.

He was just scared for her, and he had every right to be. She would have been equally as terrified if it had been him instead.

Vaan turned her and nudged her forward, getting her moving again, his arm still wrapped firmly around her waist.

Because they both also knew that sometimes all they could do was hold the other person up and keep walking forward, no matter what life threw at them.