All characters and all settings taken from Final Fantasy 7 are property of Squaresoft, I'm just toying with their lives to make me happy. Olivia, however, is mine... And if you want her, Squaresoft, you're gona have to pay me for her... Enjoy :-)

Life leads to love -Chapter 3-

She woke from her slumber but did not open her eyes. She must have fallen asleep reading again as her rear was surprisingly numb and her arm was totally dead from the weight she had put on it.

It had been about a week since Olivia first got there, she had still not told Vincent of her skills and still had no luck in finding a book about her. Olivia and Vincent had managed to have a few good conversations, but Vincent was not one to open up. Olivia had tried flurting with him, but still to no avail, Vincent just shunned her or a quick smile had crossed his face and had left it at that.

She opened her eyes just a slither and quickly darted her eyes round the room, surprised when she spotted Vincent staring at her with a puzzled look on his face.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Olivia said before opening her eyes and letting them rest on Vincent's face. If she could believe it she swore she saw Vincent turn a slight shade of crimson before abruptly turning away. How long had he been there staring at her?

"I didn't want to wake you." Wow, the guy could even keep a straight voice when unnerved. "What were you reading?"\

"This? Uh..." She quickly looked at the cover, she couldn't even remember what book she was bloody well reading. "'Reports on materia. Where it's from and how it's made'. Just a load of rubbish about things I already know."

"Well if you care to join me I have prepared breakfast upstairs. I hope you like croissants. It's all they really had at the store."

"Like croissants? I love 'em!" Olivia exclaimed while jumping up and running over to Vincent. "I hope you brought jam"

"Of course. What would croissants be with out jam, or butter either." Vincent said while Olivia hooked her arm round his and started dragging him towards the stairs of the basement. Vincent seemed to have no problem with this and just let himself be pulled.

"Come on Vincent! More effort! I'm hungry and the crossants are probably getting cold!"

Vincent enjoyed their little games, although he never showed it. But Olivia seemed determed to make him laugh, and smile. And maybe one day, if she was willing to stay with him, he might just do that.

* * * * *

After eating her breakfast Olivia decided to take a tour of the Mansion. Being cooped up in the basement libary for a week had made her bored, and she had only got through half of the books there. She had decided to leave Vincent on his own to do what he would normally do. That is if you could call anything Vincent did 'normal'.

Olivia was greatly pleased with the fact that not only had Vincent let her stay at the mansion, he was talking to her in a friendly fashon and was also cooking all her meals. Surprisingly they we all meals she either liked or loved. Maybe they had more than one thing in common.

She had told Vincent that she was going to have a look around the mansion and Vincent had offered to show her around, but she had firmly told him that she would be fine on her own, and that if she got lost she would most probably just call his name.

Olivia hadn't really had the chance to use her magic on monsters and, seeing the few that were still around in the basement, she had guessed that there would be a few still walking around in the main building. Olivia wanted to be on her own so she could try her magic in secret.

While she was pondering all this, and walking up the stairs to the upper floor, she did not notice the bats that were hanging upside down from the ceiling, looking at her as their next meal. One of them decided to take her by surprise and swooped down, flying just past her right side cutting three deep gashes on her arm. That made her look up and see a swarm of five black bats fluttering around in front of her.

She looked at the gash and assessed it thinking that it could wait and be healed later. She looked back at the bats and smiled. Time for her to try her powers. She concentrated on the bat that was nearest the front and let it fall subject to a very powerful fire attack. This attack killed it instantly and also shocked Olivia in the process. She would have to think about other things later, her mind needed to be clear for the remainder of the battle.

The next bat decided to attack her but she dodged easily and attacked with an ice spell. This attack too was more powerful that what it used to be and with her curiosity getting the better of her she decided to let the last three bats eat an ultima attack. She was not surprised to find the bats more than dead as a result of a very powerful attack.

When she used to do magic for show the spells were never that strong. Maybe it had something to do with the lack of her using her magic, it had been a while. She walked off to find Vincent while healing her arm in the proses.

Vincent moved further back into the shadows in which he was hiding while Olivia walked past him, oblivious to the fact that he was there and that he had just seen what she had done. He had thought she had handled herself really well with the materia she used but then it had dawned on him that she had none, she had nowhere to put it. The outfit she wore would defiantly show if she was carrying any, but there was no sign of materia on her body. She knew of her powers, but he guessed she didn't know how she got them. Maybe it was time for him to do some research of his own.

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