A/N: Just to warn you, this chapter is incredibly wordy. Not much dialogue since I have soooo many things that I want Marlene to think about. It's fun to write 1st person. (hugs Marlene)

Thankies for reviewing! Hehe, Vincent can be indeed surprising... (hugs him) Aw, I love Marlene... however, I did think that she was annoying before, but I just suddenly had a change of heart one day. She's so adorable! (hugs her more)

Disclaimer: FF7 doesn't belong to moi… only the idea of this story and shtuffs.

My Little Star
Chapter Two

Rainy Days

"One… two… three… four…five… six…"

It took exactly six seconds for thunder to sound off. Papa always told me that after lightning flashes, count how many seconds it takes for thunder to come in. That's how many miles it was away from here. I've been doing this for more than an hour I'm guessing. There was nothing better to do. Unlike the other kids living here, I wasn't scared of storms at all. I always thought it gave Kalm such a peaceful look. Sounds kind of weird, but that's what I always thought. Besides, Papa told me that there's nothing to be scared of. And, I guess from there, I wasn't scared anymore. I sighed and ran my finger on the window.

"One raindrop… two raindrops… three raindrops… plip plop plip plop…" Today was going to be sooooo boring.

Now that I thought of it, it was still ten in the morning. It felt like ten at night because with the storm, everything was really dark. The power went out a while ago but Tifa lit up some candles around the living room. The smell of vanilla always made me sneeze so I decided to go upstairs in my room. They were busy talking about something before, so… I hope they weren't worried about where I was now.

I wrapped myself with my blanket. It was getting kind of cold up here. I just hoped Papa was all right in North Corel. He always told me that whenever there's a storm, it was always horrible there. I had never been there, but I could just imagine. I hope that Papa wasn't working too hard… he could catch a really bad cold. I gripped my blanket tighter. I want him back… I want to feel his warm tight hugs again. Something inside told me that those 'few days' are going to last forever. I closed my eyes tightly. No, Papa told me himself… that he would be back the moment I really miss him. Which was… right now.

I opened my eyes, immediately spotting lightning flashing brightly. I sighed and bowed my head against the window. "One… two… three… four… fi-" A really loud thunder suddenly sounded off. It practically vibrated the whole house as I fell right on my bottom. I laughed it off and stood back on my feet. "Wow! So much closer than before!" How can anyone be scared of storms?

I didn't even realize that Uncle Vincent had been sitting on my bed until I twirled around. I smiled and climbed on the bed next to him. He was wearing his red cape again with that weird-o gold claw on. I kind of liked it when he took off his cape. Was he that cold? I guessed so, because his skin was so pale.

"Uncle Vincent!" I happily exclaimed. "Did you hear that? That was really really loud!"

He nodded his head. "Yes. Are you alright?"

"Yep!"

"Alright then," he lifted me up and set me on his lap. "It's getting cold up here. Let's go downstairs and warm up a little."

"Okay!"

As soon as we made it downstairs, I hopped on the couch and slouched down. The candles surrounding the living room gave it such a nice touch. I felt like I was camping in a log cabin. Now, all I needed were some marshmallows to heat up in the fireplace. I always loved the taste of freshly baked marshmallows. I smiled to myself. Squishy, gooey stuff… Hey, why not?

I jumped out of the couch and ran to the kitchen. I thought Tifa would be in there, but I guess not. Now that I thought of it… I haven't seen her in a while. She was probably getting some blankets in her room or something. I shrugged and pushed a chair against the counter. I climbed on the chair and onto the countertop. I remembered there were some marshmallows in the cabinets. I opened one of them and spotted a bag of big puffy marshmallows. Before I could even grab them, I was lifted off of the countertop and onto the ground. I looked up at Uncle Vincent who seemed a bit disturbed. He looked kind of spooky when I stared up at him in this angle. He crouched down in front of me.

"What were you doing?"

"I-I was just getting something to eat."

"Tifa went out to buy lunch since she can't cook right now. We should wait for her in the other room."

I nodded my head slowly. Wow… he sounded really disturbed. I wondered why? I tugged his red cape as I followed him to the living room. The dimly lit room never ceased to form a smile on my face (and make me sneeze for that matter). 'It's like camp!' I repeated to myself. I watched Uncle Vincent wrap himself with his cape and sit in front of a candle. I tilted my head and sat next to him. He didn't look so good… but that could just be me. He looked pale to begin with anyway.

The front door suddenly burst open. Tifa ran inside and closed the door loudly. She was soaked head to toe! Luckily she had a raincoat on… that belonged to my Papa. It was twice her size and I could barely see her own feet! She took it off and hung it on the coat hanger.

"Tifa!" I called out. "How long were you out?"

"Oh my goodness, I don't know, but the weather is unbelievable. I don't think it's going to end any time soon."

"Aw, okay." As much as I wanted to go to Costa del Sol, now wasn't the time to complain about it. Besides, I was too hungry to complain anyway.

I followed Tifa into the kitchen and helped her unpack the food. It was simple foods like, burgers, hotdogs, and fries. I also spotted some canned soup and bread. Tifa took the soup and bread and brought it to the living room. Since the power was gone, she had to cook the soup in the fireplace. I've never seen Papa use it before. He was waaaay too lazy to do that. He preferred to cook things that didn't involve third degree burns. As Tifa was busy stirring the soup in the pot, I had to ask,

"Tifa? What's wrong with Uncle Vincent? He looks… paler than before."

"Oh, he said he was fine. But, I went out to buy something for him… just in case," she looked up. "He should be alright, though."

I nodded and sat next to Uncle Vincent. "Lookie! We're making soup for you so you can get better!"

He didn't respond. I frowned and scooted away from him. I think he wanted to be alone for a while. He looked like he had a lot in his mind. I sighed to myself and watched as Tifa handed the hot soup to him. He just nodded and slowly ate it. Tifa gestured for me to come into the kitchen. I think she got the idea that he wanted to be alone.

It was already five in the afternoon and it was still raining. Like before, I counted how many raindrops were on the window… and how long it took for thunder to sound off. Actually, the storm was starting to calm down a little bit. But, still not enough for good beach weather. Tifa and Uncle Vincent decided to sleep for the rest of the day. I made a face and turned away from the window.

"I hate rainy days…" I sang. "Rain rain go away… come again another day… or never," I muttered the last word.

Just then, Tifa's cellphone started to ring. No one was around so, I decided to pick it up.

"Hello?" I said in an adult-like tone.

"Damn, Tif! Your voice sure got really squeaky! Going through puberty again?"

I made a face and replied (in my regular voice), "Uncle Cid?"

"…whoa! Marlene! I… ehe… didn't know it was you."

"Hehe, it's alright."

"Is Tifa there?"

"Yeah, but she and Uncle Vincent are sleeping now."

He started to laugh for some reason. "Hah… o-okay. Well, I just wanted to know if she and… I guess Vin, could come to Rocket Town for a while."

"Oh, okay. But… the weather is…"

"The weather looks fine to me."

"Eh?" I turned to the window and, to my amazement, the clouds were disappearing and the rain wasn't as heavy as before. I ran up to the window and smiled. "Wow! That was really fast!"

"Who's on the phone, Marlene?"

"Tifa! It's Uncle Cid!" I handed her the phone.

"Yes, Cid?… oh, I see. What about your 'crew'?… okay! Okay! No need to pop a vessel. So, your crew's going to pick us up via Highwind?… great. We'll get ready," at that, she hung up her phone.

"Are we going?"

"I guess we are. Cid needs help with a few things. I'm just going to make a quick call to your Papa. In the meantime, could you wake up Uncle Vincent for me?"

I nodded. "Okay!"

Now I knew what to do this time. I didn't want him to grab me tightly this time. I walked around the couch he was sleeping on and lightly tapped his shoulder. He didn't move an inch at that. I tried again and ducked for cover. I could hear him moving around now.

"Marlene?" he muttered.

I peeked over the couch and smiled at him. "Guess what! We're going to see Uncle Cid!"

No sooner that Tifa finished talking to Papa, a huge airship suddenly appeared right outside Kalm. By now, the rain had completely stopped and the sun was peeking through the clouds. Tifa, Uncle Vincent, and I made our way to the airship. This was my first time to ever ride on the… Highwind. Papa told me that some day I would, and… I guess today was that day! As soon as we boarded, the ship immediately took off. The small town of Kalm was literally small as we flew higher and higher from the ground. Everything was so pretty from above and… I thought I saw the beach, too!

Surprisingly, we arrived in Rocket Town already! That place seemed much smaller than Kalm. Were towns always this small way out here? As soon as we landed, we climbed down the ladder and spotted Uncle Cid coming out from a house. I smiled and ran up to him.

"Uncle Cid!" I exclaimed.

He picked me up over his head. "Yo, Marlene! S'been a while!"

"Yuh huh!"

"How was the ride?"

"It was neat!"

"Cid," Tifa stepped up. "What is it that you need help with?"

"Ah, right," he set me down and gestured for everyone to follow him inside.

Cid started to talk about plans on building a new airship. I remembered him calling it, The Sierra or something. I wasn't exactly paying attention. Adult-talk was alwaaaays boring. I sat on the couch and slouched down.

"Oh, who is this?"

I turned and spotted a really pretty woman. Her long brown hair was tied to a ponytail and she was wearing a white coat. I sat up and answered,

"My name's Marlene. Marlene Wallace."

"Wallace, hm? So you would be… Barret's daughter?"

I nodded. "Yep. My Papa is out and Tifa and Uncle Vincent are looking after me. Then Uncle Cid called and so… here I am."

She giggled. "I see. Well, you must be a little bored."

I sooo had to agree with that. "Yeeees…" I sighed.

She turned to the window and pointed outside. "Did you know, there used to be a rocket ship right there?"

"Wow! Really? Uhm… whatever happened to it?"

She paused then smiled. "Well, my Cid, the 'Captain', always dreamt of going into space with that rocket. And one day, he did. However, the rocket was destroyed as he… we… barely escaped."

I widened my eyes. "Wow… that's really something. How's it like up there?"

"It was quite a sight."

"Ah, damnit, Shera! You're not telling that story again or ya?"

"Captain! Please watch your language!"

Uncle Cid pinched his lips together at that. "Yeah, okay."

Shera turned to everyone. "Well, since it's so late now, would you like to stay over for the night?"

"Aw, thanks! We'd love to, Shera!" Tifa smiled. "Then, if the weather is good tomorrow, how about we take a little vacation to Costa del Sol?"

"That's a wonderful idea!"

I clapped my hands. "Hooray!"

"Shyeah? A'ight then. I could use a good tan, aye, Vince?" Uncle Cid poked him on his shoulder. He just shrugged and simply replied,

"Alright."

Shera stood up and held my hand. "Let's cook something really good, okay, Marlene?"

"Okay!"

That night, we had a really good dinner around the living room. I was so stuffed that I could barely move another inch. I think everyone else thought so as well. Soon, we found ourselves sleeping there for the rest of the night.

A/N: End of chapter two! I hope you guys weren't really bored with this. Yes. Marlene has a lot of think about. As I was writing this... I kept thinking about when this should take place. Uh... maybe sometime after the Northern Crater battle or something? (shrug) That should work for now. (sweatdrop) Anyways, hope you enjoyed and please tell me how you thought of it!