Chapter 8

Midgar

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Dark and polluted air hovered over the group as they neared a large city. The sky began to

turn gray as if it were to rain. The air smelt awful and at first sniff would lead you to cough.

The group reached a large, black gate with many posters saying: 'Loveless' or 'Shinra' with strange

designs. A poster with a woman in a bathing suit was ripped down by Ray at that moment.

When the others asked why they couldn't see it, he responded, "For your own virginity...."

The gates had lead them into a large, run down city with house made from metal scraps and

hardly anything coming out of the chimmenies. The people seemed to be easy-going and friendly. "What

time is it?" asked Bill to Ray.

Ray looked at his silver wrist watch. "Three o'clock p.m.." said Ray.

Everyone except for Wolf were surprised. The sky was pitch black like night. No one could see

the blue sky as Ray had said. The ground was just plain dirt with some random patches of brick trails.

Some street lamps were present in front of some buildings showing small amounts of light.

The group kept walking until they reached a pub labeled 'Heaven's Turmoil.' Ray walked into the

tavern as did the others. The inside of the bar had tan, dirty walpaper with an arcade console at

the edge of the room. There were about six tables with their chairs knocked over or still seated in.

The bar was the only clean part of the area.

But behind the bar, was a woman. She was in her early twenties, dressed with a white tanktop,

long brown hair, and elegant beauty immediately caught the boy's eyes. The woman looked at Ray and

smiled. "Where have you been, Ray?" she asked coming out of the counter.

Ray grinned. "I've been killing off some Geist, Tifa." he said to the woman.

The woman, Tifa, was shorter than Ray very greatly. Tifa's eye caught Fox and the others. "Oh!"

she said. "And who might you four be?"

Ray gave the introductions and the reason why the were going off on this mission. "Really?" Tifa

asked in astonishment. "You four have really came a long way here. We don't get much anthro visitors

in Midgar, with the exception of Red."

Ray turned his head to the group. "Why don't you four look around Midgar for a second?" suggested

Ray.

"Sure!" said Falco. "We'll be around!"

The boys walked out leaving Ray and Tifa alone.

"Is Cloud around?" asked Ray.

"Yeah," said Tifa, "but he's doing an errant for me."

"We got a lead on who might be letting the Geist in." said Ray.

Tifa's expression was still. "You want Cloud to go, right?" she asked.

Ray nodded.

Tifa went back behind the bar and began fixing up a drink. "The usual Bubble?" she asked still

making the drink.

"You bet." said Ray.

A 'Bubble' was a non-alchoholic drink that had a silver look to it and had a lot of foam to

it, which gave it its famous name. Tifa finished making the drink and gave it to Ray. "Thanks." said

Ray taking a small sip from the silver cup.

"So who do you think it is?" Tifa asked picking up the fallen over chairs and placing them on

top of the tables.

"The Partisans of Dram." said Ray.

Tifa paused at that moment. "You had better not be playing around, Ray!" she said in a serious

tone.

"I'm not kidding." said Ray with the same voice.

Tifa looked up at Ray. "Do you think that our government would actually bring monsters to kill

us all?"

"Tifa, greed is within the air at this moment."

There was silence.

"Cloud can go, but it's suicide if you ask me." said Tifa. "Nobody has even seen the Partisans."

"I know for a fact the Exile Forces wouldn't do anything like that." said Ray finishing his

drink.

"You believe what you want, I don't care anymore.... I'm sick of all this fighting and war."

"Tifa...so am I. That's why I weilded this Weapon that's with me! That's why I'm doing this!

I'm trying to look for a better future for the next generations to come. Why do you think I killed my

father?"

Tifa was silent.

Then, a man with spikey blonde hair in a purple outfit came into the bar with a bag in his

left hand. "Um...Tifa?" he asked in his deep voice.

The man glanced at Ray and then dropped the bag. "You bastard." he said in an excited tone.

Ray smiled and held out a hand. "Cloud!" he said. "How's it been?"

The man, Cloud, came up to Ray and shoke his hand immediately. "It's been the same." he said.

Tifa smiled. "Did you get what I needed, Cloud?" she asked.

Cloud went up to Tifa and handed her a bag. "Got everything on the list." Cloud said. "I saw

some anthros walk through town just a while ago."

"They're with me then." said Ray. "You remember Wolf, don't you?"

"Hell yeah! I remember him since he was six! Where is he?"

"You didn't see him?"

"No...."

Then, Fox, Bill, and Falco walked in. "Have you guys seen Wolf?" asked Ray.

Bill shook his head. "Nope," said Bill. "we thought he was still here."

"I think I might know...." said Cloud walking out of the bar.

Ray and the others followed Cloud into a large alleyway where they heard someone cry. "Is

somebody crying?" asked Fox.

"Yep," said Ray understanding what was going on. "We definately know who it is too."

They continued down the alley until they reached an opening that was once a door. They looked

inside and saw an outline of a small figure. It was Wolf! He was on the floor with his face in his

hands. In front of him, was a picture frame with a photo that was not easily seen from a distance.

The group walked in and were noticed by Wolf. His eye patch was missing revealing a long mark

that went down his left eye. Only his right eye shed tears. "Wh-what are you doing here?" asked Wolf

between gasps.

Before Fox or Bill could speak, Ray crouched next to Wolf and put an arm around him. "Wolf...."

said Ray. "Why do you continue to torcher yourself like this?"

Wolf shed more tears. "I miss them, Ray!" said Wolf sobbingly.

Ray looked at the picture. It was a picture of Wolf as a child, an older male wolf, and a female

wolf with long brown hair. Wolf's family. Ray bit his lip and looked at Wolf who was sobbing greatly.

Ray patted Wolf's back.

"He still loved you Wolf, you have to remember that." said Ray softly.

Wolf still sobbed.

Fox looked in surprise. This was the first time, excluding when they first met, had he seen

Wolf cry before, especially at an older age. Fox sat down by Wolf. "Maybe he does love you still,

Wolf." said Fox looking at the picture.

Wolf calmed and looked at Fox. "Wh-what do y-you mean?" he said.

"I never knew my parents," started Fox, "but I know that even though that they abandoned me,

that they still love me. Some people don't like to admit it, but I can see it in their eyes. You

can tell that someone has a feeling for you. You shouldn't think that someone can just hate you for

nothing. That would be pointless....

"What I'm saying, Wolf, is that there's a meaning for everyone to act in certain ways that not

even they can explain. Maybe my parents abandoned me because they thought I wouldn't have been raised

right with them. I don't know, and I probably will never. But, I want to try and find out. That's why

we all came here.

"We agreed to search for our meaning in our lives, to find our fates. Destiny calls, Wolf. It

calls for us to find ourselves within the world we live. I want to know what I will become and what

I was put on this world for."

Wolf, moved, dried his eyes and smiled. "M-maybe you're right, Fox...." said Wolf between small

gasps. "Perhaps there's more to my life then I already know. I won't stop here now. I'll just keep going

and never stop!"

Fox smiled and helpped Wolf up. Ray grabbed the picture of Wolf's family, cleaned it, and handed

it over to Wolf who gladly accepted it. "Why don't we rest back at the tavern though?" suggested

Cloud.