Yuffie eagerly scanned the stores for materia shops, but to no avail. She still didn't give up on her search, though. Loren shook her head and stifled a laugh. 'She's hopeless!' Loren stated to herself. Tifa was scanning the place for clothes shops and whenever she found one, she would go inside and browse, and inevitably come out empty-handed. Everyone met at the food court and stopped to express their troubles. Cloud, of course, was the first to speak his mind.

"Uh, Loren, how are we supposed to buy anything if all we have is gil?"

Loren held her head in her chin in thought.

"Let me see a gil if you please."

Cloud handed her a piece of the strange money. Loren studied it in her hands. It was gold in color and felt like it too. She bit it and found that it was soft like gold. She nodded and handed it back.

"It's not pyrite, so it seems that you can go cash a bit of it in and get a few hundred or thousand dollars."

She received several blank stares. She sighed.

"Fool's gold."

Cid snorted and grabbed a cig from the pack he kept in his sleeve.

"Genius."

"Well, I'm not exactly a plane expert like you, but I do have my intelligences, Cid."

Cid's cheeks were tinged a light pink, but he shrugged it off and waved her away.

"Planes and space are my life so what do you expect me to be, a gardener or rock specialist?"

Loren shrugged and gave him a sincere smile. She paused for a minute and thought.

"Hmm…I've been saving money for quite some time for something special, but I think I have some extra to blow. I'll give you all that money and you can spend it on anything you like. BUT…"

Everyone's eyebrows raised a little.

"Don't spend it on anything that won't serve any purpose back in your world or even in this world. I wouldn't like my money to be wasted."

Red XIII nodded his consent.

"I approve of your rules, even though I can't use your money."

Loren smiled.

"Thank you, Red."

Loren fished out a wallet from her pocket and handed a couple of fifties to everyone. Everyone gave her a quizzical look, Barret especially.

"Loren, why you givin' us paper?"

"This is my world's form of money. Take it or leave it. The money I have given you is like 50 gil per paper. Things aren't all that expensive here, so you can get a bit more than you can normally get in your world."

"Loren, if what you say is true, you have a lot of money considering you gave us all 2 '50' papers," Tifa concluded.

Loren laughed awkwardly.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. It's all for something I have to do. Oh! Speaking of which..."

She looked at the clock and gasped lightly.

"I have to go do something. I'll be right back okay?"

Vincent quirked an eyebrow.

"What do you have to do that's so important?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about. Just…I'm going to go now and don't follow me!"

She took off and left the band of heroes full of questions. Yuffie scratched her head.

"I wonder what that was all about. Do you think Sister is doing something bad? I don't think she is. Do you think she's doing something bad Vinnie?"

"I don't know, Yuffie. I plan to find out though."

Vincent straightened his cloak and made sure his gun was hidden from sight.

"Everyone meet back here in half an hour, alright?"

Cloud was taken slightly aback.

"Vince, I've never heard you give out orders before. I suppose we should follow his order though. It makes sense to meet here to check if everyone is okay."

Vincent took off after Loren. Yuffie was tempted to follow him, but decided to stay with Tifa to check if any materia shops popped up.

Vincent saw her rounding a corner and sped up to keep her in sight. Once he rounded the corner, she was gone. He looked at the closest store and saw her in there walking to the register. He sneaked in after her and walked along the wall of the store. He hid behind a shelf and overheard her conversation. He couldn't see her, but hearing her would have to suffice.

"Is it ready?"

"Yes, ma'am. It just got in today. Do you like it?"

"Wow," she breathed, "it has got to have at least 200 years of age on only six inches! Let me check it please."

She sounded like her old self. Vincent thought, 'what could she be buying?'

"Is the back flamed?"

"Yes, ma'am. It is flamed to the highest extent which grants the highest of quality."

"The pegs are smooth to turn?"

Vincent was getting confused now.

"Yes, the pegs are made of mahogany and can be turned very easily."

"Is the bridge aged to a good degree?"

"Yes ma'am. It has had over a decade of aging."

"May I see the bow?"

"Surely."

Vincent heard something turning and something being moved.

"Octagonal stick, pearl eye, silver binding, leather padding, ebony frog, lightweight, and balanced. Do you like it?"

"Yes, I love it. Thank you. Here is the money required to pay for it."

"Thank you, Loren. Come again soon."

"Goodbye, Frank."

Vincent heard Loren's footsteps going down the store back to the exit. He silently followed her and before he had gotten twenty feet, she stopped. He then noticed that she was carrying a case of some sort in her hands.

"I thought I told you not to follow me, Vincent."

"You were acting suspicious. You know I couldn't just leave you at that."

Loren smiled.

"You're right. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Vincent shook his head.

"Don't apologize. But why were you acting so formal with that man?"

"Because that's the way I am when I'm doing business."

"I see….Loren…just out of curiosity, what's in the case?"

Loren shifted her feet.

"You don't have to know that."

"Yes I do, Loren. Tell me…what's in the case?"

"I thought it was just out of curiosity."

"Well, I have to know now."

"Come with me."

Vincent followed her back to the food court. No one had returned at that time, so she sat at an empty table and placed the case on the table. She turned it towards her and slowly opened it. She looked at him slowly. Vincent looked at her expectantly.

"Show me, Loren."

She turned the case towards Vincent and he nearly choked on himself. In front of him was the most beautiful violin he had ever seen. It was deep cherry in color and had her initials carved into the bottom.

"My god…it's so beautiful, Loren. Why would you want to hide this?"

Loren hung her head.

"Nobody really likes violin and it's my most prized possession. I had it custom-made by a renowned violin maker and had it personalized. This is what I've been saving so much money for, Vincent. This violin is my secret life. It's my refuge from the world."

"I see. You shouldn't have to hide this, though. You should be proud that you can play this. I, for one, love the fact that you can play such a complicated instrument."

Loren turned a dark shade of pink and smiled.

"Thanks, Vincent. That makes me feel good about myself."

Vincent turned it back to her and smiled.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes, Vincent?"

"Can you play a song for me? I want to hear the sound of a violin again. I haven't heard one in just about over thirty years."

Loren turned an even darker shade. She shook her head wildly.

"No, I couldn't possibly do that! There're so many people around. I would only embarrass myself!"

"No you won't. Just play something for me. Anything. Don't be afraid of an audience. If they judge you," Vincent accentuated his final words, "you shouldn't give a damn what they think."

"Heh, using my own words against me. I figured one of you would do it at least once."

Loren took the violin, the shoulder rest, and the bow out of the case and fit everything together. Vincent turned the case away from the two of them and out towards the 'audience'. She nervously placed the violin on her shoulders and the bow on the violin. She took a deep breath and began to play. The first few notes were wavy and hesitant, but she eventually fell into a type of trance and began to play smoothly and loudly. Onlookers began to flock to her and fell under her spell. They were swaying with the music, loving every second of it. People began putting money in her violin case and many more were coming to her. The notes were long and soothing; enchanting was the song that she played. A few of the spectators were some of the heroes and they were in shock listening to her marvelous playing. All of a sudden, the noise level of her music dipped extremely low. People edged in to hear what she was playing, but soon stepped back as she soared to a crescendo and awed people with the intensity of the music. And, just as quickly as people had arrived, it was over. Dozens of spectators applauded and cheered for her playing and threw money into her case. Loren was a deep scarlet color with all of the cheering. Vincent gave her a broad smile.

"Loren, I never knew you could play so well!"

Loren laughed at him.

"You never knew I could play in the first place!"

Vincent stood and took Loren in a huge hug. She seemed shocked at first, but quickly warmed up to it and returned it. The heroes that were in the crowd cheered. Vincent's inner conscience fought with him, but he won. 'But what about Lucrecia…?' 'The hell with Lucrecia! This is now, and I am in love with Loren!' He felt lighter on the inside, happier, in a way. He released her and allowed her to put away her violin. She gathered up the money and counted it. She nearly gasped.

"Wow! I got 150 dollars just playing my violin! I could make a career out of this!"

Yuffie bounded up to Loren and gave her a bear hug.

"Oh gawd, that was just beautiful! How did you learn to play so well?"

"I took private lessons when I was really young then took more when I got my job."

Tifa had been with Yuffie, so she also went up to Loren and complimented her. Loren was getting ready to cry. Never had she received this much praise before from one act. She tried sucking up the tears and smiled. She ended up crying anyway. Vincent was by her side instantly.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. I'm just so happy, though."

Vincent smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. Loren reached up and grabbed it in thanks. Vincent's heartbeat accelerated to the point of nearly bursting out of his chest.

"Thank you Vincent, for making me play. I never would've felt this happiness had you not been here."

After a few minutes, everyone was together again. Loren grabbed her violin case and stood.

"All right, you all. Are you ready to go?"

Everyone nodded.

"Oh wait! What did you all buy?"

Everyone brought their bags forward. Tifa had clothes, Yuffie had a good luck charm, Cloud brought forth several cookie bags and a soda, Barret had polish for guns, Cid had cigarettes, Cait Sith had a new pair of large green dice, and someone stupidly smuggled Red XIII cat nip. He had been thoroughly aggravated by this and had threatened to bite that person's innards out. Either way, he kept it tucked behind his ear. Loren okayed everyone's items and began to lead them out the door when thunder stopped them. Yuffie squealed in fright and grabbed Loren's arm.

"I'm afraid of thunderstorms! Let's get to your apartment quickly!"

"Come on, we haven't got much time before the rain starts hitting hard. We've got to get to my apartment as soon as possible which means running as fast as your feet can carry you!"

Everyone nodded and began to run once they got outside. It was already coming softly, so they didn't have much time left. Once they got to the apartment building, they quickly ran inside. They were lucky because once they got inside, it began raining extremely hard.

"Whoa," Cloud breathed, "we would have been caught in that if we had taken longer? Geez, that's pretty bad!"

Loren agreed and she ran upstairs to unlock the door. She heard the telltale click and she opened the door. What she saw though, was enough to stop her dead in her tracks. She held on tightly to the door due to what was in front of her and did the only thing a terrified woman would do in that kind of situation. She screamed.

A/N: Eek! What did Loren see? I bet you know already. Yayness, I love you all for being so nice to me and my chaotic brain. Oh, and before you ask, Red XIII was allowed inside because that mall allows animals. And everyone except Vinnie had left their weapons at home, sorry for forgetting to put that in. Hey, did you like it that Loren is a violin player? I just had to put that in there! Please review or all of Cloud's and everyone's weapons will shatter into a bazilliontrillionfillion pieces. Err…sorry about that. I'm just excited about nothing whatsoever. Please review pweeaaze? Ciao!