Okay, this didn't go as planned, but it seems to be the better for it. Surprisingly, it came easily and ran smoothly, even writing itself in the end. Hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I don't own FFVII.

xXXXx

Well, there goes that plan…

I sighed in frustration, resisting the urge to pull my pony-tailed hair. The god/gods/deities/whatever that resides on the higher plane on Gaia must be laughing their asses off at me now.

First with the stupid measly 5MP, then the lousy stamina, and now I can't even go outside? FML.

I twisted my shirt in my hands under Baladry's nervous stare. Nurse was somewhere else after I wanted to talk to him privately.

Just, just ARGH! Can't I catch a break or something?

I sucked in a deep breath and held it, refusing to pinch my nose bridge, glare at the innocent too-hardworking man, or throw a tantrum. Instead, I crossed my arms so I wouldn't punch him.

I will not scream, I will not scream. I am NOT 4 years old and I am mature enough to be calm about this.

"Baladry", my voice came out evenly enough, "Are you saying that you have never taken a day off in the entire length of your service?"

The silver-haired man looked surprised at my question, probably because I was reacting calmly instead of screaming my head off. His reply was hesitant. How am I, a 4 year old by all rights, making this man, who has more experience than both my lives combined, nervous?

"Yes, miss."

I have no idea what to say to that. Is this normal? I thought he has family here?

"What about your family? Do you never meet them?" I said out loud, suddenly feeling both tired and exasperated. I had just finished training with Miranda and I was not in the mood for crap. I was sore, had been dealing with the verbal abuse that she'd hurled at me and any progress in increasing my MP capacity was nowhere in sight.

And now I was finding that the outing that I had been looking forward to was suddenly canceled because this house didn't have proper management.

FML.

The tall man was too disciplined to fidget, but I could tell he was tempted to.

"I do not have a wife, Miss." He said, and continued before I could say anything, "My sisters visit me every few weeks but I have not returned to the house of my birth since I started working here 50 years ago."

I was floored. Literally. It was too ridiculous to think about. The house was set apart from the village, yes, but it wasn't like it took half a day to walk over!

"Wait," I blurted out, "Is that the same for all the other servants too? For Janice and Solma and the others?"

What the hell, that's just too unfair! That's worse than a maid! It's practically slavery!

Thankfully, he shook his head, "No. Most of the servants take days off every other weekend, in alternating shifts. The only person who doesn't is Irena as she is in charge of your welfare. She takes 2 weeks leave every year to visit her family."

Well, guess I know Nurse's name now. And the others are being treated alright. But still, what the hell? 50 years?

"Who's in charge after you then?" I demanded, "Who's the next authority in line after you?" I ignored the fact that I was not sounding my age at all at the moment.

Baladry looked even more uncomfortable and stood so stiffly he made me twitch. I was getting a crick in my neck looking up and I could feel my bad mood looming. Oh wait, don't tell me…

"There isn't anyone, Miss."

And I can already see a whole shitload of problems from that. Fuck. My. Life.

"Baladry," my voice wavered a little- it was becoming really difficult to keep it low and even- "What is going to happen if you leave, for some reason, or if you die? Who is going to be taking over management if there's a crisis? Even if you're still around, you're old, so how are you going to be running around solving things?"

Have these people never heard of the thing called foresight? Or like, planning for the future? Or even a back-up plan? If Baldy dies before I'm even old enough to understand how to manage the place, what the fuck is going to happen to all this? If Daddy's not around when that happens-and doesn't return for a long time- what the fuck's gonna happen to me? Or the servants? Or just…just…Gah.

Meanwhile, the grown man's grey eyes were looking even more morose than those of a funeral attendee. He cleared his throat, coughing twice into his hand, "I have not broached the subject with the Master yet, though I have thought of it. I have kept a few people in mind as to who would succeed me as butler."

My eyes narrowed, Sorry, but that's not gonna fly buddy.

"Look, if you're going to prep whoever you have in mind for leadership, you're going to have to let them practice managing things anyway. Especially while you can control it. If we go to town right now, you'll still be only a walk away if things go awry and so it won't be the huge disaster it'd be if whoever it is gets thrown into the position for the first time when you go."

I paused mid-argument, "How old are you anyway?"

"62, miss."

And most likely one foot in the grave already, I thought acerbically.

"Right, and with you being 62 years old, who knows when you'll die? If you go without having trained a replacement, the whole house will be in chaos, Dad and Mother will probably not be around, and I'll have to deal with it." I snarled the last words, getting in his face and showing him exactly how I felt to be put in such a position, "Do I look like I can deal with it?"

This is so not what I signed up for. The fuck does a 4 year old kid have to do household management of all things? I thought you weren't supposed to worry about these during childhood! Where's the responsible adult? The in-charge person? Other than Baladry. Who is obviously useless.

A vein in his cheek twitched. I could see that he didn't appreciate getting told off by a girl not even a quarter his age. His jaw was also clenched.

Seeing that he wasn't going to reply, I decided to take matters into my own hands. "Go and find whoever and tell him to take over for the rest of the day. We're going."

He loosened his jaw enough to give a terse "yes, miss" before bowing and whirling around, striding away.

I released a sigh and turned towards my room to prepare.

xXXXx

It took me 30 minutes before I lost patience and went to find Baladry instead. Servants were scurrying out of my path as I stormed around, occasionally barking out at an unfortunate person to give me directions.

I found him giving instructions to an overwhelmed-looking middle-aged servant. I hadn't heard more than "And if the cooks…" before cutting in.

"You," I pointed at the man, "are in charge of the house while Baladry and I are out. If there is any issue, you will ask the servant who approaches you if there had been a previous solution. If there is. Use it. If there isn't and it is not urgent, you will keep it in mind and report it when we return. If it is urgent, and it better be, you will send someone to look for us in town. Understood?"

Contrary to my expectations, or maybe a 4 year old girl just wasn't that scary, he nodded vigorously, looking more relieved than terrified. Beside him, Baldy looked caught between impressed and annoyed.

"Good… what is your name anyway?" I demanded, thoroughly sick of having to deal with all this crap when I was supposed to be focusing on training up and acquainting myself with this world.

"Amos, ma'am," he answered, bowing and scraping all the while. I was disappointed. This is the best Baldy could come up with?

"Amos, then. I'll up your pay for the extra work today but I want a clear report on what happened, understood?" I shot Baldy a quelling look when he tried to protest.

Amos beamed and nodded again like a bobble-head. No way is this guy replacing Baldy. I nodded, turned to Nurse who had followed me, and barked out, "Tell everyone that Amos is in charge today and that all problems are to go to him. Baladry and I are going to town and will not be around until evening."

With that, I whirled around and strode out the door, ignoring Nurse's protests and not caring if Baladry had followed or not.

Seriously, what's a girl gotta put up with to have a day off?

xXXXx

In truth I wasn't expecting to enjoy myself on the trip after what I'd been through, I'd only gone because it would have been such a waste to deal with all that crap and still end up not getting my way. Furthermore, after mouthing off to Baldy, I'd expected him to sulk and be a complete wet blanket. Not exactly fun and games.

Well, I was could at least confirm one point: Baldy obviously didn't appreciate being given what was essentially a day-off. He loomed and lurked behind me as I trudged down the well-beaten path towards the town center with all the cheer of the grim reaper.

Both of us were empty-handed, though I had grabbed my purse as well as my materia pouch and bangle when I was getting ready. (On hindsight, I should have brought along something to carry stuff with, but I was too pissed to think straight and I hadn't let Baldy prepare because he had taken so long with the hand-over issue.)

From my memories of in-game Kalm, it had been a tiny village (not really a town) with only the mythril mines as a point of interest. There had been a grand total of one shop (with 3 vendors), one inn and a pub that I hadn't bothered to enter.

In addition, with the poor quality of FFVII graphics (awesome game, sucky graphics), I couldn't give an accurate description of what Kalm really looked like. I remembered a lot of purple and blue and pink though, and thinking that it all felt very gay. I wondered if it would inspire the same sentiment now.

In any case, I was still sore from the workout that Miranda had put me through, so my little walk to town was a great deal slower than anticipated. Baladry didn't comment, ambling precisely a step behind my right as I limped on.

Gradually, I got tired of the silence, and tried to strike up conversation with him. Fat lot of good it did.

"Baladry, what's Kalm like?"

"It is very small, miss."

"Baladry, what's Kalm's speciality?"

"We mine mythril ore, miss."

"Baladry, are there shops in Kalm?"

"I have not left Kalm Mansion in 50 years, miss, I would not be able to tell you."

"…"

And to think I had specially gone to the trouble of dragging Baladry along so that he could be my guide when I would have been better off with anyone else!

That feeling? The one about the gods laughing at me? Yeah. Back.

Gritting my teeth in aggravation did nothing but give me jaw-ache.

Which the rest of my body oh-so-considerately decided to exacerbate into headache.

I loosened it and rubbed my temples, sighing. Why was I so excited to go out again? Kalm's like the tiniest village in the whole of Eastern Continent that still has an inn and shop. There's probably nothing much to see…

In considerably lower spirits, I continued the rest of the journey silently.

xXXXx

It was with sour mood and dour disposition that I arrived in Kalm. Not exactly the most welcoming look to other people. Several strange looks were shot in my direction, and a few more accusing ones at Baladry.

I was partly correct in my description of Kalm's colour scheme. The architecture was reminiscent of Victorian Era and the roofs and brick street were blue. However, the pink I had remembered actually belonged to the rust-covered pipes that were attached to every house. The purple was a result of the soot covering the blue.

Everything was covered in a thick layer of soot that probably came from the mines. Everything.

From the roofs to the walls to the streets to the large machine (probably something related to mining) smack-dab in the middle of town like an ugly representation of the villagers' main occupation. Even the air was thick with it, making it hard to breathe without choking or coughing.

I resorted to tying a handkerchief that I had (thankfully) found in my pocket around my face. So far, the village was not giving me the best impression.

And then I had to look up further and see The Purple Tower. My eyes, already watering from the dust, bugged out and streamed further.

Holy god.

I blinked rapidly.

That is so gay.

I wanted to rub my eyes and erase the sight of the monstrosity. Or rub out my eyes. Either way was good. I wasn't feeling picky at the moment.

Oh my gawd.

It wasn't neon-blinding , thank god, due to the soot, but it was still bright enough to make the colour scheme obnoxiously obvious.

That it vaguely resembled a Disney Castle Tower didn't help things.

The worst part? I couldn't look away.

So there I was, a little midget not even 4 feet tall with a white handkerchief wrapped around the bottom half of her face, staring up in horrified stupefaction at the awful massacre of architecture situated at the edge of the town.

Holy Shit.

I didn't even notice the tap on my shoulder.

xXXXx

Kalm being such a small village, it seemed that everyone and anyone who knew at least someone else were immediately notified of the appearance of the pair of strangers. Especially the kid who had half her face covered and stared at the village tower like it was some kind of unusual artifact.

(It's kind of sad when it's the innocent-looking girl who catches more attention than the obviously out-of-place old butler-dude.)

Strangers weren't often seen in Kalm, much less well-dressed people like the two, so obviously they aroused some kind of curiosity. The womenfolk huddled together at the corners of houses to point and whisper, while the menfolk cast surreptitious glances as they passed. A few of the children dared each other to approach them.

Eventually, 2 of the more elderly women recognized the adult as Baladry, their brother who worked in Kalm Mansion. Word was spread and the cautious atmosphere relaxed as at least one of the strangers was identified as one of their own. A few more looks were given, and some still stared, but almost everyone went back to doing their own thing.

The 2 women approached their brother cheerfully, curious as to the reason for his sudden departure from the mansion. Surely, it was something unusual and definitely gossip-worthy.

If Baladry hadn't been cooped up in Kalm mansion with only the deferential servants to communicate with, he would have recognized the look in his sisters' eyes and fled as fast as he could. As things were, he was oblivious, and I, who knew that expression and would have ran, was preoccupied.

So the both of us ended up visiting his sisters and staying over for tea.

xXXXx

"Would you like another biscuit, dear?" Mara, the oldest of the three siblings, asked me as I sipped my cup of sugar-laden tea. I had added 4 teaspoons to assist my recovery from The Purple Tower and eaten one of the lemon-cream biscuits as well.

"No, thank you," I smiled weakly as I stirred my tea, inwardly cursing at the situation I had landed in.

"Oh, sweetie, don't be shy," she reached over and slid 3 biscuits on my plate, "A young'un like you should eat more!"

Then she turned to Baladry, who was stoically nursing his cup of tea (no milk, no sugar) like a glass of brandy, "Really now, brother! You ought to take better care of her! Look at her!" a hand waved in my direction "She's all skin and bones! Wasting away she is!"

As the elderly lady scolded her brother, Angela, the youngest sister, took the chance to ply me for answers.

"So then, Lucrecia," She beamed at me, looking in the manner people looked at small children, "How old are you? Where do you stay?"

It was obvious she was just trying to start conversation with me, it was impossible for her not to know where Baladry worked, or who I was.

"I'm four this year," I struggled to keep smiling at her, "I stay at Kalm Mansion."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful, dear!" she continued smiling at me encouragingly, probably thinking I was shy, "So then, who are your Mummy and Daddy? Where are they?"

My eyes were threatening to flatten at her and the smile was becoming really hard to keep up, "Daddy is Daddy and Mother is Mother. They went to Midgar awhile ago."

Chill, it's not her fault she doesn't know what I call them. She's just trying to be friendly.

Obviously, I had startled her but she pressed on, "And what do they do? How did you get to know Baladry?" And then, to the main question that they wanted to ask "Why did you 2 come down to the village?"

I ducked my head and stared at my now empty cup as I tried not to explode. This morning had been shit, the episode after that had been shit, coming to town had been shit and now, with this woman eyeing me like I was a side of beef to be served up, the whole day was looking to be total shit.

It was probably a bad idea to equip the Fire into the bangle today.

I took a deep breath and held it, silently counting to 10, focusing on the cool metal under my sleeve. Probably not the best idea, since it was tempting to shoot a fireball (I was roughly certain I had regained enough MP by then), but it was all I had at the moment.

Just answer the woman, Luce. Just open your mouth, say what you have to say and nothing more.

I opened my mouth and closed it, feeling the danger of blurting out something a little too near. I swallowed and tried again, keeping my voice as even as possible.

"Dad is a businessman and Mother doesn't work. I know Baladry because he's the butler. We came to town because I wanted to look around."

At the word "around", I bit my tongue to stop the rest from pouring out. Which was "Are you satisfied now you overly familiar, gossip-scavenging hyena?!"

Apparently not, because what followed was a flood of questions about what living in the mansion was like, what I ate everyday, what I did, what sort of clothes I wore... I gripped the bangle on my arm until my fingers were white.

Baladry must have seen it, and probably guessed what I had on my arm, and so quickly cut in, "Sister, Miss. Lucrecia has had a very trying day and it is best that you save your questions for another day. She came to visit the town, so we should be going now before it gets too late. It was wonderful to see you again but we must be going."

I sat up from my seat and walked (slowly, calmly) to the door, finding it easier to shoot them a smile now that we were leaving. The 2 women clucked and tsked, but relented when it became apparent that their brother would not change his mind. They saw us to the door, gave a brief description of the village layout, before watching us hurry away.

When we were out of earshot, I gripped Baladry's sleeve in a vice and hissed, "Please, never let them near me again."

The look on his face was of grudging agreement. "My sisters can be rather… forward. I had forgotten after so many years apart."

My glare did not abate. He may not be at fault, but I was still having a shitty day and I was tired of having to control myself so much. I briskly thrust my left sleeve up, showing the Fire-slotted Iron Bangle to him. His face immediately turned white. Obviously, he had not expected me to have had my only attack materia equipped.

Popping the red orb out with a violent twist, I dug around in my pouch for my Heal instead. (I had been trying to get it to level 2 for Esuna) Equipping it, I swiftly cast Poisona. When I only felt a little drained instead of the usual fatigue, I tried casting again. To my surprise, another spell shot out.

Guess my MP capacity did expand after all. At least that's some good news.

Trying my luck, though not getting my hopes up, I cast again.

Nothing.

A little peeved, but having expected it, I shrugged and dropped my sleeve. Turning to Baladry, I crossed my arms. The look of terror had turned into one of impressed acknowledgement. After all, I had shown that I had kept myself under control despite being tempted to violence and having the means to do so so close at hand.

I ran a hand through my hair, ignoring the fact that it mussed up my ponytail, "Lets go, I wanna see the shops before we're leave." My posture sagged a little wearily, and I sighed again.

He stepped forward, speaking quietly, "I know the way, it seems that the village hasn't changed much in the last 50 years." Then he offered his hand to me.

I stared in surprised. I would have thought with all the pissing I had done at him and the previous diatribe, that he would sooner touch a snake than me. A little confused and maybe somewhat relived I hadn't burnt that bridge with my horrible temper and behavior, I grasped it gratefully.

It felt a little strange, holding Baladry's hand. I'd long forgotten what it was like to hold my parents hands when I was young. I hadn't been the type to cling to them, preferring to run freely, so even in my childhood those had been few and far between.

The hand, at least twice as large as mine, was cool and callused. It was slightly wrinkled, but there was strength in it. I idly thought of the common adage of people with cool hands having warm hearts. This here was at least an example of that.

Of course, after all that effort curbing my tongue, my mouth then chose to run itself.

"Is that why you haven't visited your home for 50 years?"

Almost instantly after that, I slapped a hand over it. I looked up at my butler apprehensively.

There was a small smile on his face that he quickly masked with a cough, "Not at all, miss. I was simply too busy at Kalm Mansion and my sisters had their own lives to attend to."

There were a hundred and one things I could say to that, but this time I clamped down on any smartass retorts.

"Do you miss them?"

He looked at me, a little startled, before smiling a little wider, "Of course I do. We were very close as children. It is why even after all these years they still take the time and effort to visit me in Kalm Mansion. While there have been times that I have wanted to return to the home of my birth, there were simply too many issues and things to do."

He suddenly looked wistful, "When my first master died, there was a very big commotion and many disputes over inheritance. The heir to the house was not named and there were arguments on who should inherit it. Of course, the heir was later decided upon, but not until every single article had been scrutinized and divided amongst all of them."

Looking at my enraptured face, he continued, "The next master had received most of the items in the house, although several had gone to others, and thus there was relatively little difference. A few paintings had been removed, and a vase or two taken as well, but most of the rooms were left the way they were."

"In the beginning, the new master went about his days just as the previous did, riding the horses and taking walks around the village to oversee the mining. You see, the family who lived in Kalm Mansion was previously the landowners of Kalm, and thus were possibly the equivalent of mayors. It was the 5th master of Kalm Mansion who built the walls surrounding the village to keep monsters out. So, the second master saw to his responsibilities dutifully and things were peaceful for a while."

"I had," he spoke regretfully, "made plans to visit my family then. I was going to wait a few more months for things to settle, before leaving things in the master's hands for a week or two."

"However," he sighed, "It was not to be. The master had come from the city, and life in Kalm bored him. He had borne it for the first few weeks, however the… monotony wore on him and he began to miss city life. He made plans to visit Midgar, and so I was left in charge."

"The visits began to increase in frequency, with the master coming and going every week. He still carried out his duties, however even they began to become rarer and rarer. And so the people of Kalm became more and more estranged from him, seeing him as an occasional visitor rather than the constant presence he should have been."

Baladry was quiet for a long time as we walked slowly on. His hand tightened around mine briefly before he continued softly.

"It was the gambling that finally did it. Even with the frequent visits to Midgar, as long as he occasionally returned, there were no glaring problems. As a mayor, he was friendly and kind. He was the sort of person who attracted other people, you see. The people of Kalm felt neglected, but it was also obvious that he missed his old life, and so they sympathized with him."

"But he met some… unsavory people, and ended up pulled into the gambling. He was a rather sheltered soul, and unable to refuse those he considered friends. It was… a pity that it ended the way he did."

"Eventually, some of the servants had to be let go. He could not afford to maintain them and thus many left to find other jobs. It was a hard time, as many of them had worked in Kalm Mansion for their whole lives." Baladry pursed his lips and carried on, "Finally only I was left. And I was unable to maintain the mansion as it once was. It was then that your father, Master Cayden Crescent, bought over the house and everything in it."

"That was 6 years ago, when he and Mistress Maricia had just been newly wed."

xXXXx

I blinked slowly as I digested everything. We had actually already reached the shop but I needed a moment. Baladry stood silently beside the door, his hand still clasped firmly around mine.

I have to admit, it was a little overwhelming, suddenly learning so much about Lucrecia's past. I felt a little separated from everyone then, knowing that Baladry had stopped where he did because he had assumed I knew my own history.

I wondered why I felt like sniffing a little. The delivery had been even and smooth, in a soft but unemotional voice. Baladry obviously didn't find it that big a deal, even though he obviously regretted not having been able to spend more time with his family.

This was a man who had dedicated 50 years of his life in service to the masters of Kalm Mansion, I realized.

And his sisters, Mara and Angela obviously still cared very much for him, to still visit him so often even after 50 years of living apart.

My face burned a little as I realized I had just cut short the time he could have spent with his sisters simply because I could not endure a little curiosity and had been cranky. I swallowed and squeezed his hand as I blinked hard. Recalling the scathing lecture I had so condescendingly given him earlier made me wince.

"C'mon, let's go in," I said brightly, "I want to see what materia they have."

The elderly man straightened from the wall he had been leaning on and nodded. We went inside.

I didn't let go of his hand.

xXXXx

In any case, I'd like to thank my readers and reviewers for their continuous support. It's been fun writing this story so far and I'm definitely going to try and complete it. The FFVII fanbase isn't as big as say, Naruto or Bleach or Harry Potter, but I picked it anyway because it spoke to me. That and I couldn't resist materia. Hahahaha.