Okay, I said I was busy, but I was also bored out of my freaking mind and so here is my new chapter. I wrote more than half of it previously (same time I wrote the first few chapters) so there wasn't too much to add. Did some brushing up and voila! New update.

And yeah, I should probably get back to studying, but I'm so freaking boooorrrreeeeddddd.


I have a habit of over-thinking.

Yes, I am aware of it. No, it is not deliberate. No, I can't help myself. Yes, I am aware that talking to myself even in my mind is a sign of lunacy. And NO, I do not need counselling thank you very much.

There were times when I was so deep in thought that I became completely oblivious to what was happening around me. It had happened a lot in the past (life) and it was happening again at the moment. I hadn't been able to have a moment's rest since I came to FFVII and this was the first time I had finally allowed myself to slow down and let all the thoughts that I had pushed and boxed away to emerge and trickle into my brain.

Truthfully, I'd expected it to happen a long long time ago. I'd surprised myself at the depths of denial I could go into to distract myself from lingering too long on certain…disturbing thoughts.

Sure, I'd dealt with the breakdown over my identity crisis, the mini angst-fest over my ineptitude at fighting, the small (tiny, really, miniscule) epiphany over the fact that the people around me were, in actual fact, people-with background stories of their own and pasts and names and everything-instead of just nameless characters in a video game… and now my… lack… of present information.

On second thought, just ignore all the previous examples. They weren't that important anyway. (Deny, deny, deny!)

I stared at the (outrageously, incredibly, very very very expensive) Heal materia in my hand. I took in the 2 (comparatively, very very cheap) Mythril Armlets around each wrist. I stared back at the (10000 gil!) Heal materia again. I looked at my (very very empty) purse.

Thank you. I also just realized that I'm in pre-Shinra times and thus all available materia are natural ones.

Ergo, materia is not as common as in FFVII.

Ergo, it is much more expensive.

Er-fucking-go, I have to pay through the fucking nose to buy one Heal materia even though Kalm has a fucking Heal materia cave.

Distantly, I wondered how much Daddy had paid for my other materia, and remembered how he'd been so confident in getting the (probably) rarer ones despite the apparent difficulty.

Holy shit. I have so much respect and appreciation for him now.

Oh, by the way, my armlets cost only 50 gil each. The mythril mines over here are still full to bursting, and inflation hasn't even begun yet. Also, because equipment crafting is still in something like the prehistoric stages, they only have 2 separate slots instead of linked ones.

Oh, and most people don't know what support materia does yet. (The shop owner looked at me like I was smoking weed when I asked.) Have to wonder what kind of rare book Daddy had picked up to even have the little bitty detail it did.

I went back to staring at my (preeeeccccciiioooouuuuusssssss) materia.

Okay, girl, chill. Just because your current knowledge didn't factor in the fact that materia itself is a recent discovery is not your fault. Let's list out the facts shall we?

1) Shinra has just been founded. (Holy shit! Young President Shinra!)

2) Materia is new, so is Mako. (Research department has just been founded. Omfg, is the head Gast? Or was there someone before him? Asdfghjkl-stop. Later.)

3) Materia is expensive (almost 10 times more than FFVII prices) and rare. (That fucking Sense materia was even more expensive than the Heal because the local materia cave doesn't spawn that many of them. (15000 gil) And don't even bother looking at the Earth, it was nearly a collector's item.)

4) Support Materia is not common knowledge. (Kind of explains Miranda's weird look before…)

5) Equipment is damn cheap (Or maybe it's because the raw materials are available nearby) and also damn pathetic. (They only had the Staff and Saber. The fucking cannon ball and claw haven't been created yet.) And standard weapons only have one slot. (Miranda's staff must be a fucking masterpiece.)

6) I am currently broke from buying one Heal materia. And 2 Mythril (un-linked slots!) Armlets.

7) That fucking shop owner didn't even give me a fucking discount. (Douchebag)

8) I am so not buying from him again. (Money-grubbing, stupid, greedy asshole)

9) …Do natural materia spawn when mastered?

On another note:

10) I still have to deal with the fucking Master of the House problem Baladry revealed to me this morning. And the butler-successor thing. And maybe even the mayor of Kalm thing.

11) My life sucks.

12) I hate you, life. What did I ever do to you?

13) The gods are laughing at me. Minerva's probably rolling around in the Lifestream.

14) In fact, why am I here anyway? Was there a purpose in bringing me here? In putting me in the place of Sephiroth's mother?

15) … Do I really have to sleep with Hojo? (Ohgawdwhybrainbleach! Pleasepleaseplease let Vincent be the Dad…)

16) ...Should I even let Sephiroth be born? (Nooooooooooooooo! Blasphemy! DELETE THAT THOUGHT! DELETE-shut the hell up you fangirl this is about reality! He's a psycho! …Is it hereditary? …Silence!)

17) Maybe I could rename the baby? (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

18) Do I have to go into the 30 year crystallized-mode-thingy in order to prevent myself from ageing? (Hellz no am I going to do that willingly!But it's canon! We should follow the story! Like we're following it now?You never know! Lucrecia's past wasn't revealed! Our personality is already too different from hers.…I notice the fact you said our personality. …Shut up.)

19) I'm going crazy aren't I? (Yes. Duh, you were already cracked.)

20) …Just…leave me alone right now…

I bravely ignored the urge to huddle in a corner and draw circles. Or grow mushrooms. What kind of mushroom varieties existed on Gaia anyway? That didn't attack people.

And if you're asking why I haven't run into anything yet, or tripped over the uneven pavement, or even just walked into somebody, it's because Baladry's leading me back home by the hand. I still hadn't let go, even after the shop owner gave me a near heart attack when he named the price of the Heal. And even after I got over that and got another shock when I found that I actually had enough in my purse. (Thank you Daddy, I am so glad you spoil me so. If I had to walk all the way here just to find out I didn't have enough to buy a Heal I'd have bashed my head on one of those sooty walls-maybe even The Purple Tower's walls.)

I returned partially to my senses, and continued to trudge slightly behind Baladry in sullen silence. He must have been using his ninja psychic abilities, because he immediately picked it up and addressed me.

"Miss, are you not satisfied with today's outing?"

I raised my eyes to his a little dazedly and opened my mouth. And closed it. To my horror, I could feel my eyes begin to heat up.

I squeezed his hand and blinked furiously. Damnit, I am not a crybaby!

"It's nothing!" I squeaked out. Okay, thank you so much. Like he's gonna believe that now.

Well, I was a little busy here! Like it's my fault our eyes decided to leak now!

Well it's not mine.

Shut up! Baldy's talking to us!

Briefly wondering when I started having two voices in my head, I hummed questioningly, "Sorry, repeat that again?"

"I was just inquiring if you needed to take a rest from walking, miss." Baladry peered down at me with slight concern.

I blinked a little before looking at my feet. Huh. When did we stop walking?

I shrugged and took a step, before wincing as the leg I stood on decided to turn to jelly and wobble dangerously. Biting my lips, I carefully straightened my legs.

Well… this is pathetic. We just took a little walk to town! And we even got to rest at Mara and Angela's.

We're only 4. It's kinda understandable. Especially if you took into account that we had Insanity-level training with Miranda just this morning.

Shivering at the memories conjured by the thought, and resisting the urge to look over my shoulder, I coughed.

"Erm… I think I'm going to need to take a break. Yes."

Twiddling my thumbs, I looked around for a place to sit down and—

"What the fuck!"

I slapped a hand over my mouth again.

After my head stopped spinning and the contents of my stomach stopped threatening to escape.

It's not every day you suddenly find yourself 2 feet higher than you ought to be, especially after spending a few days getting used to the ground being so close again…

Ahem. I'm rambling.

As you can guess, Baladry had, in my moment of preoccupation, picked me up.

Woah. He's pretty strong for a 62-year-old geezer…

Ahem. Note to brain: FOCUS ON THE PRESENT.

Now where was I?

Oh yes, I was slapping myself for cursing in front of Baldy. I had specifically refrained from cuss words in front of the staff (Wutaian ones excluded) so as not to deal with the question of where I'd learned them from. (Or get scolded by Nurse…)

I groaned.

Well… I could blame them on Miranda… Lord knows she curses enough in front of me… When Nurse—er Irena can't hear of course.

I nodded to myself. Yes. That would do nicely.

Then I realized that Baladry had been rather quiet. And that we were already moving.

"Um…"

Somehow I couldn't get the words to come unstuck from my throat. Baladry leveled a disapproving look at me that made me want to duck my head and hide.

"Please do refrain from cursing, young miss. Even if Irena does not understand Wutaian."

My jaw dropped.

How… What… Whaaa?

"And please do close your mouth. It is unsightly for a young lady to show such an expression."

My mouth clicked shut as I continued to boggle. Then, I caught sight of a teeny tilt of his lips.

I marveled and cursed (inwardly).

That magnificent bastard! And here I was thinking he had no sense of humor!

"So all this time…?" I squeaked.

The sly old coot spoke with a face that could have been carved from stone.

"It is not a well-known fact, which is intentional, that some families in Kalm are of Wutaian descent. Irena, of course, is not one of them, however the other servants…"

My jaw dropped again.

He hmmed, adjusted his grip on me and continued.

"… Well, most of the younger generations do not speak Wutaian. To my knowledge, I am the only one left in Kalm Mansion who speaks it. As I've said, all the older servants had been let go by the second master, and Master Crescent did not rehire them."

And with that, he walked on in the ensuing silence without so much as a glance at me.

That magnificent bastard.

xXXXx

After that 'eventful' and 'educational' outing, I was back to the normal routine of swimming up to my eyebrows in training, studying and now, administration work. Apparently my 'wonderful sense of responsibility and pragmatism' had convinced Baladry that I was, planet-damn-it, ready to accept some of the burden of being Master of the House.

Which, okay, might have been acceptable if I wasn't already half-dead from my existing workload.

Do you know how irritating it is to stumble upstairs to shower after Miranda or Sensei running my ass into the ground only to 'bump' into half a dozen bowing and scraping servants who want to know where does Miss want this carpet, what does Miss want to have for lunch/dinner, should we clean this room, what is this thing for and should we keep it or throw it out, the toilet in the servants' quarters (2nd one to the right) has clogged what do we do?

What the fuck, what else are you going to do when the toilet is clogged? Call the fucking plumber. Or get a plunger and start pumping the damned thing. The fuck do you need a kid to tell you how to fix your own goddamn toilet?!

Seriously, it's like they have no brains of their own.

I am losing faith in humanity.

And chasing Baldy to just fucking pick a successor to train already is just ridiculously hard. It's not that I don't see where he's coming from—most of the servants are idiots—but I seriously don't want to be the only person in this house with a functional brain when he goes. Not that I want him to go, but age catches up with you no matter what. Even if you're a magnificent bastard.

So yeah, time flew by like this and before I knew it, my parents were back again from their trip.

With presents.

Boo Yah.

xXXx

Holy-shizz-god-planet-damnnnnnnnn…

I took in the shiny shiny Seal Materia and nearly squealed in delight.

Sleepel (or just plain Sleep) took 8 mp to cast, but I was working up to the point that I had something like approximately 10 mp and so casting one didn't leave me needing to find a flat surface.

That said, it wasn't why I was so ecstatic. Or well, it was, but it wasn't just because I could cast Sleep. It was because I could cast Sleep at my annoying servants.

Because let me tell you, when you're being pummeled every day and chased by people and surrounded by talking, yapping, complaining, whining, Miss-how-to-fix-the-friggin-toilet people, you get very very close and in touch with your evil side. Your violent evil side.

Which I still couldn't channel fully, but having people crash to the ground and waking up with sore asses was good enough that I didn't feel like strangling people any more.

Baldy complained. I told him it was either that or fried crispy servants, given the Materia I had at hand. The complaints stopped.

The other present on the other hand…

Ugh.

Mother had gotten me a freaking doll. Like, the type with big glass blue eyes and curly golden hair and porcelain skin. The type that should belong on the shelf as some old guy's collectible or something.

It was creepy. I shoved it in a corner and just about buried it under a pile of Teddies.

No, I do not have a phobia of dolls. That thing is seriously eerie looking.

In fact, the moment I can get away with it, I'm burning the damned thing.

xXXx

So yeah, life was normal. Or well, it was as normal as it can be. And sometimes it was good, which was kind of a surprise to me. I can honestly say that I was happy with my life and proud of my achievements (+14 mp in a month! Whoo~), which was more than I could say previously.

Mother and Daddy flitted in and out of my life frequently, and I can't say that they were great parents (overly-compensating material wealth otherwise) but they weren't horrible. And as I was, I didn't really need a parental figure any more.

Yes, I did miss my family, but it seems that time does heal all wounds. I wrote a farewell letter to them and burnt it, said a quiet prayer to both God and Minerva, and that was it. I was Lucrecia Crescent from Kalm now, for better or worse.


And that's it. Well, I'm working on the next chapter because I got bitten by the bug again. (The FFVII one) And yeeeeaaaaah, to my faithful readers and ever patient audience, I have to say thanks. FFVII is kind of hard to write for me because I'm seriously unclear on the storyline. Doing research is NOT my forte or even my interest and I didn't even play the games. :/

So if anyone would like to give me some tips or a general outline/summary whatever piece of trivia, please. Do so.

And we shall be time-skipping now, because at last, I have lost interest in describing my torturous training and the abuse heaped on little Lucey-dearest. Any suggestions for future scenarios? Or more background info?

Going off to write that next chappie~

Memory25