Where I Wanted Us to Stay

Gabreilla Moushigo

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It was night inside the town of Kalm, it had taken them two days to travel by foot. The morning they left, the night they slept on the ground and it was night again before their journey had finally ended.

She could tell that the people here were still working on rebuilding their lives from what the Deepground soldiers had ruined. People had to once again, pick up the pieces that were left behind by evil forces beyond their control. For now, everyone was asleep and almost all lights were extinguished except for the occasional street lamp that hadn't been destroyed.

Tifa silently walked beside Vincent on the cobblestone streets. The soft footfalls of her shoes were drowned out by the incessant clanking of Vincent's boots as they made their way through town. With all the destruction around her, it was hard not to think of what had happened here. Tifa knew that he had been here just as Deepground attacked. She wondered how many of these people wouldn't be here now if it weren't for Vincent. "Are we almost there?"

"Mm." He grumbled, he didn't sound too pleased.

"What is it?" Tifa inquired.

"You'll see soon enough." Vincent trekked along quickly now as they neared the edge of town. Just as they passed the last building and the cobblestone turned into a dirt path she looked up.

Just outside the town, there were a few scattered houses. In the darkness it was hard to see them. Vincent kept up the pace until he finally stopped next to a ruined structure. "Here."

And she looked. "Oh dear," Tifa placed a hand over her mouth.

"That's what I said, only with a few more expletives." Vincent glared at the structure; obviously a large helicopter had landed on it. "Damn it all."

Tifa's hand finally fell from her mouth as she asked, "I am I correct in guessing that you took that down?" She pointed at what once was a Dragonfly.

"Yes." He grumbled sheepishly.

She looked back at the house, letting it sink in all the way. "On your new house?" Her eyes rounded a bit.

"Yes." He couldn't take his eyes away from the pile of wood, ash and a few tons of steel.

Tifa shook her head, almost feeling dazed. "Damn," Slipped through her teeth.

Neither of them had to speak a word, if he had gotten the owners to leave when he wanted them to about a month and a half ago…

"Yes," He agreed. "I have some good news…"

With the tension in the air she decided to try to make some light of it. "You had insurance?"

"No." He wished she would let him finish. "The day before I was supposed to sign the contracts and hand over the money - the town was attacked." That wasn't really good news, no one deserved what happened and the owners didn't deserve a ruined home either. However, it was good that he hadn't handed over all that money over just so his new home could be destroyed. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself if Tifa had been in there either. "And the elderly couple that lived here weren't in there for the night." He thought he would add, just in case she wondered. "They had insurance."

"Are they going to rebuild?" She finally looked at him, finding it hard to keep her eyes from the fallen structure.

"Of course not," He huffed, "Why would they?" Really, after what happened they would definitely leave and use the money to rebuild somewhere else. He noticed she turned her attention back to the house. He frowned at the face she was making, she looked a bit sad. "I just wanted to show you it I guess." I wanted to show you where I wanted us to stay.

"I know." Even though it was broken, she thought it might have looked very nice. "It must have been beautiful."

Vincent decided that that was enough and took her by the hand and began walking. She seemed a little confused, but took his lead. "I decided to find somewhere else. It's a little further out than this one but it's still nice… and a little larger as well." He definitely didn't like it as much, but he thought she might enjoy it. It didn't take long for them to walk to the next home, the house the he had picked was within eyeshot as he pointed it out.

Tifa looked up at this different home as they made their way to it. She decided to get a good look at it before she said anything. It was nice, a two story with a porch. The top floor even had a balcony that rested just over the deck. Tifa guessed it was the master bedroom on top floor with the balcony, it was wonderful. "It is nice." she cooed, before giving him a jibe. "I hope you don't drop a helicopter on this one."

He gave her a startled look before patting the Cerberus attached to his hip. "I'll try not to, dear Tifa." He laughed.

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This is just a bit of fluff really… not to mention a very short chapter. This part was supposed to be just a small section – just like the last chapter, but I managed to stretch it out again. Remember that Helicopter in Kalm? Of course you do! I thought it was funny how the stupid things always seemed to land outside of town or somewhere where no one would get hurt. I thought it would be a fun idea that Vincent might have destroyed his own home trying to save others. Not very nice of me I know, but it's a thought.

I'm working on the next few chapters and the lemony twist is in sight! Yes, I was finally inspired to write something a bit more romantic. I hope you all enjoy it… but don't expect to see it for a while. No need to rush right? I know … I am evil for making you wait hehe.

In other news – I just got one of those Vincent dolls that you can pose and stuff. Its soooo cool! I also have a wall scroll of him from Advent Children… (squee!) I'm very happy! I wanted to get a Tifa doll too – but I don't think they have any at the store right now.

I cannot wait to find my Seymour Guado action figure as well. He'll be standing right next to Vincent. Did I mention Seymour was my favorite guy character from X? He might have been the bad guy but… ooooh! (Slaps herself a few times to stop from being such a drooling fan girl). Ok! I'm ready to write again! I might get another chapter out by the end of the day since this one is so short. No promises but we'll see! Read and Review!

On to the reviews!

Vinny the Vampire – The grass eating was from when I was a child. My family used to go camping and I remembered laying on the grass a lot like Tifa is right now. My mother was talking to a few of her friends and of course my brothers and I were starving. I think I might have sampled a few blades to see how good they were. As horrible as it was – the grass wasn't too bad. I guess anything tastes good when you're hungry.

I'm not sure yet when Cloud will make his appearance, but I have already done something with him for the next few chapters that you might find fun – mwa ha ha ha.

Lady Shiva – Yes, I am very glad to have written that chapter. It was a lot of fun and it was nice writing a tender moment between the two of them. (Squeezes Vincent doll).

Jen – Good to know someone else has read Candy Wrapper – it really is awesome! I didn't use the Griffin too much – it was always more of a bother than anything. It was never as strong as the Cerberus. I think I only used it when I was running low on handgun bullets. The Hydra wasn't so bad though, I could see him using that a lot.

I couldn't figure out the guns thing either – that's a lot of junk to be toting around on your person. The guns he had (even the machine gun) seemed to be pretty sleek and not too bulky, so I guess he just put them on his back underneath that cape of his. I guess he might have had a dimensional pocket for all of those bullets though… good lord.

I took note of Vincent's height while looking at the other characters sheets. Growing up around people who are 6' – his height is around average to me (as far as men goes). My husband is 6' 4" and he is huge too. Its so weird having to look up to him all the time, not to mention it can be very intimidating when we fight haha.

I'll agree and say it's probably the way he holds himself and the way he acts that really gives him an intimidation factor. He's got a cool - get things done attitude. I thought it was hilarious when a few of the WRO grunts would talk to him – the way their voice would almost whine and tremble in fear. It was great – haha.

I'm glad I managed to get more of Vincent back on that last one. I'm starting to really look at him a bit more and trying to be aware of what he is doing while he does it. While he might lapse a few times, I'm going to try to keep him into character for the most part.

Thanks for the reviews everyone!