Author's Note: And this should be that last of my updates today. I haven't published this much in a long time.

Prompts: halcyon, tepid

Halcyon: denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful

Tepid: only slightly warm or lukewarm; showing little enthusiasm

So Long, Old Halcyon Days

by Lord Divestre Croft

At night, Costa del Sol isn't exactly balmy in the spring. But I'm glad we came here. I'm glad Tifa and I decided to come here. For certain reasons, we thought that going to Wutai…would seriously ruin our quest for total privacy.

Yuffie, bless her heart, didn't understand.

It's barely warm, not warm enough against the chance breeze. It doesn't help that I walked out of the bungalow in nothing but a pair of board shorts. The sand feels unsavory under my feet. The ocean tide bites me every time if flows against my ankles.

Meh, I've always kind of liked the cold.

Tifa's alone, asleep in our bed. By now, the warmth I've left behind is beginning to cool. No doubt, if she notices, if she wakes up to this, she'll likely come out to scold me. She always hates it when I intentionally seek solitude… at her expense.

Well, at the very least, it's the only thing she has to worry over. And I can't ever get enough of her sleeping face, finally free from any trouble.

I can picture right now, her lying on her side. Her cheek is nuzzling the pillow. Her face is getting rosy from sleep. She looks so intoxicating under those orange sheets… and I hate orange.

How long has it been… since I'd last seen such peaceful days?

It's been so long, so long that I'd almost lost sight of what it felt to have them. I almost forgot what it was like, running along the streets of Nibelheim, exploring the forest, looking upon the "haunted "mansion with childish, gothic fear. For years, I couldn't remember the taste of my mom's home cooking, her attempts to make my hair "calm down", nor always comforting warmth of her ample chest.

Had I known the price to pay for going from my hometown behind, going to Shinra, leaving Mom and Tifa behind, perhaps, I might not have gone. But something tells me, in the back of my mind, that it would've turned out even worse. Maybe, someday, I'll understand why.

So much has changed. Too much has changed. After years of nonstop hell, I almost couldn't adjust. I'm no longer the scrawny, foolish boy who wanted to be hero. And Tifa isn't a damsel in distress.

I'd lost everything there was to have, only to get it back a hundred-fold. The fact that I'm standing here, without a care in the world, is proof of that. I have friends to trust, people to annoy me, two little children who count on me… and one woman who's probably dreaming of me right now.

The world is still getting back on its feet, still teeter tottering on weakened legs. But humans are adaptable creatures. We'll boldly erect our cities among the ruins. We'll forge new and better paths. We'll start all over again for as many times as it takes us.

And my quiet, little past? When it was my present, my feelings for it, about it, they were like a hot summer day. It was the only thing that mattered. But now, it's more like a cool autumn afternoon. Only something to muse over.

I guess, that's what it means to grow up.

Ha, it seems I've run out of time to contemplate. From a good distance, I can hear the side door creaking open and swing shut. Her footsteps are tapping on the front porch, only to be muffled as soon as her feet touch the sand. And then, she throws herself on me, slamming into me. Her arms clamp around my body, and I can't help but chuckle.

After giving me a lengthy chew-out for "abandoning" her, after tracing those full lips of hers on my neck, she drags me back inside, insisting that I make amends to her here and now. I let her pull me away, like a ragdoll, to my fate.

So long, old halcyon days. It's time to make some new ones.

Ja ne!