You're The Only Place – Chapter 7

Pain and Joy


I sat in my hut in Besaid, listening to the new singer that emerged to shock Spira. She secretly loved his voice, just like every other girl in Spira. As the song ended, another one of his songs came up. Paine smiled. This was her favorite one… because it reminded her of Baralai.

And so I'm calling now, I'm calling now
You're the only one
Who can say words from what we've done
That don't leave me hanging up
I'm reaching out and praying you'd come back again
It's just darkness of evening
And you're the only place my heart has ever been

Yuna came into my tent, followed by Rikku.

"Rikku!" I smiled, "When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. But guess what?" Rikku giggled.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What?"

"You know that singer guy… oh geez… what's his name…"

"River." (A/N: Cheezy, I know.)

Rikku nodded, "Right. But, Auron managed to snag three tickets!"

"Huh?"

Yuna smiled at me, jumping in her seat. "We're going to have a girl's night! Just the three of us!"

"And we're going to go see River LIVE in concert!" Rikku squealed.

For the first time in months, I smiled. This was to good to be true.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

We arrived in Luca the next day, and I smiled as we rented our rooms in the hotel.

"River live in concert here we COME!" Rikku screamed, punching the air.

I shook my head, "You're going to have to contain yourself. It's not until tonight."

"Aw…"

Yuna giggled. "Well, we have to go shopping! Let's go!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

We entered a cute botique and Rikku immediately flew to the racks upon racks of clothes. Yuna followed, and I reluctantly joined my friends. Shopping was not my forte.

"Oh, look at this!" Rikku cooed, lifting up a glittering red mini dress. She looked at me, then shoved it into my hands. "Try it on."

"But-"

Yuna rolled her eyes, "We both know that you're hopeless when it comes to shopping. Just try it on."

I scowled, but tried it on. Honestly, I was surprised, I didn't think that it would look this GOOD. I went out of the dressing room to flash of the dress.

"Whoa! Paine just broke the hottie radar!" Rikku clapped her hands together.

"Paine, you really need to get that, it looks beautiful on you…" Yuna told me with a smile.

I blushed slightly, "Thanks."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I bought the red mini dress, while Yuna bought a pair of flowing navy blue pants with a pale blue halter top. Rikku settled for a black mini skirt and a deep green tube top.

"Oh my! We only have an hour before the concert starts!" Yuna cried, looking at her watch. The three of us sprinted back to the hotel to get changed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The three of us flashed the guard our tickets, and we were taken to the top box of the Luca Stadium.

"Woah, Auron snagged some pretty good seats Rikku." I said, looking out over the stadium.

"Hell yeah! Auron is the best!"

I rolled my eyes. "Keep the romance to yourself."

The three of us busted out in a fit of giggles.

"Look! It's starting!" Yuna called, pointing towards the stage.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I looked on as River came out onto the stage. The roar of the crowd was deafening. The light flashed, and he was standing in the spotlight, his silver mask and sliver gloves dancing in the light. I was intrigued. I wanted to see the face behind the mask, just like every other woman in Spira. My thoughts ended when I heard his beautiful tenor hush the crowd. I smiled when I heard the notes of Have A Nice Day start playing.

Why, you wanna tell me how to live my life?
Who, are you to tell me if it's black or white?
Mama, can you hear me try to understand.
Is innocence the difference between a boy and a man.
My daddy lived the lie, it's just the price that he paid.
Sacrificed his life, just slavin' away.

Ohhh, if there's one thing I hang onto,
That gets me through the night.
I ain't gonna do what I don't want to,
I'm gonna live my life.
Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice,
Standing on the ledge, I show the wind how to fly.
When the world gets in my face,
I say, have a nice day
Have a nice day

Take a look around you; nothing's what it seems
We're living in the broken home of hopes and dreams,
Let me be the first to shake a helping hand,
Anybody brave enough to take a stand,
I've knocked on every door, on every dead end street,
Looking for forgiveness,
What's left to believe?

Ohhh, if there's one thing I hang onto,
That gets me through the night.
I ain't gonna do what I don't want to,
I'm gonna live my life.
Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice,
Standing on the ledge, I show the wind how to fly.
When the world gets in my face,
I say, have a nice day,
Have a nice day

Now this is where the guitars pumped out their melody. It was fasinating to watch. A guitar materialized out of nowhere, and River grabbed it, and then began to play.

Ohhh, if there's one thing I hang onto,
That gets me through the night.
I ain't gonna do what I don't want to,
I'm gonna live my life.
Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice,
Standing on the ledge, I show the wind how to fly.
When the world gets in my face,
I say, have a nice day,
Have a nice day
Have a nice day.
Have a nice day
Have a nice day.

When The world keeps trying, to drag me down,
I've gotta raise my hands, gonna stand my ground.
Well I say, have a nice day
Have a nice day
Have a nice day

The crowd busted out in enthusiastic applause as the next song started up. I smiled when I heard the first chords. This was one of my favorites. It was called No Strings Attached, which reminded me somewhat of Baralai, as always.

Baby you're not the only one...
Oh oh oh yeah
Hey yeah

I see the things he does to you
All the pain that he puts you through
And I see what's really going on
Staying out at night while you're by the phone

Take it from me
It's a lesson to be learned
Even the good guys get burned
Take it from me
See I would give you love
The kind of love that you've only dreamed of
Baby you're not the only one
You don't have to be afraid to fall in love
And I know that you've hurt in the past
But if you want it, here's my heart
No strings attached

River's guitar disappered, and his mic appeared in his left, silver hand.

He doesn't give you the kind of attention
That a girl like you needs (that a girl like you needs)
Cause he always looks around
His eyes wander 'round
He doesn't see you like I see

Take it from me
It's a lesson to be learned
Even the good guys get burned
Take it from me
Baby I would give you love
The kind of love that you've only dreamed of yeah
Baby you're not the only one (baby you're not the only one)
You don't have to be afraid to fall in love (to fall in love)
And I know that you've hurt in the past (hurt in the past)
But if you want it, here's my heart (here's my heart)
No strings attached

This was my favorite part of the piece. I saw the music videos, and that's what made me fall in love with this song in the first place.

Take it from me
It's a lesson to be learned
Even the good guys get burned
Take it from me
See I would give you love
The kind of love that you've only dreamed of
So if you want to take a chance with me (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)

If you (baby) take a chance with me
I'll be everything you need (everything you need)
Because it's our destiny

((Mixing of chorus and "If you...take a chance with me"))

Baby you're not the only one (baby you're not the only one)
You don't have to be afraid to fall in love (you don't have to be afraid)
And I know that you've hurt in the past (know that you're hurting)
But if you want it, here's my heart (if you want here's my heart)
No strings attached

As the music faded out, the crowd screamed even louder. River waved to the crowd, seeing as we couldn't see a smile.

"Hello Luca! How are you tonight?" He called out, and watched as the crowd cheered. "Well, sounds to me that you like what you're hearing-" River was cut off by the crowd cheering even louder. He shook his head. "Well, this isn't a long concert, I'm sorry… so sorry." He shook his head again when the crowd booed.

"Well, it's intermition right now, so, from there on in, you guys call the songs that I sing." The crowd lost it when they heard River's statement. "Yeah… for some reason, I knew that you guys wouldn't object…" he rubbed the back of his head when the crowd burst out laughing.

"Well, I would like to direct the spotlight off of my for a second, and direct it to the top box…"

The spotlight shifted to the top box, illuminating the three of us. The crowd cheered when they saw the High Summoner.

"Hello ladies! Glad you three grace me with your presence!" River called, and gave the three of us a bow. When he straighted, he addressed us with ammusemnet in his voice.

"Alright, during intermission, I'm going to come up there and see what song you guys want to hear. Pick wisely, cause you only have one vote! I'm on my way!"

The crowd cheered as River left the stage.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"What song Paine? You're the one that knows them all!" Rikku bounced in front of me. "What song is good Panie, huh huh?"

"I think I want to here You're The Only Place. It's a good one… reminds me of Baralai."


A/N: See where I got the title now? Yeah, don't you guys love me? Okay, you still may hate me, but I know that I didn't hide the clues to who River is very well. To be honest, I didn't even try. Read and Review and make me a happy person!

-Vincent's Angel of Chaos-

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine… haven't we heard all of this before?

Have A Nice Day – Bon Jovi
No Strings Attached – 'N SYNC