Author's Note: hi, everyone. Thanks for continuing to read my story, I really appreciate it. This is the last chapter of Rufus' visit to the Wall Market. Things were going well for him there but will they continue to do so. Well that was before Rude, Reno and Elena all pointed guns at him. Anyway, enough of my babbling…onto the story. I hope you enjoy it…..

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They pointed their guns right at me.

I froze.

"What do you want, Mr Strife?" said Reno.

I wasn't Cloud Strife though, I had to convince these guys that I wasn't Cloud before they blew my head off.

"Guys" I said. I reached down towards my wig to take it off.

Reno stepped closer towards me.

"Freeze" he said. "Don't move!"

I raised my hands again. I tried looking Reno in the eye, surely he would remember his old buddy, but he didn't and continued to point the gun at me.

"Reno, it's me" I said. "It's Rufus Shinra."

"Rufus Shinra?" asked Elena. She shook her head and puffed. I had no idea what she meant be that, we had always been so close, all of us. Elena continued, she held down her gun for a moment, perhaps she believed me, but the others held theirs firm. "Rufus Shinra would never come into a skanky bar like this. He'd just be the executives laptop, doing crappy errands and having no time for his friends. There's no way you can convince me that you're Rufus Shinra. You're that bastard Cloud, you're even worse. Cloud killed hundreds of our men and didn't think twice, the man has no heart."

"I'm not Cloud Strife though, really!"

I quickly snatched the wig off my head to reveal my short, combed back blonde hair underneath. It was surprisingly all in place considering it had been under a sweaty wig.

"It's me, Rufus!"

They all looked at me in shock. They held down their guns and put them away.

"Oh my god, Rufus" said Reno. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, but it's a long story. You first."

"Ok, come on, have a seat."

They offered me a spare seat around a small table just opposite the drinks bar. They liked to be as close as possible so they could just shout their orders instead of having to get up every time. The three of them stared at me, their faces glowing. Only about twenty seconds ago, they were wanting to blow my head off and now they were acting like I was their best friend. The Turks sure were a strange bunch.

I looked around the bar for a moment. There were the usual drunks here, not many others, this was considered the dodgy end of town and I wasn't surprised with the Turks frequenting it. There were three drunks at the bar, all slumped over an empty pint glass, probably wishing that they were dead. There were flies all around and it was definitely didn't have a friendly atmosphere. A small, gentle hum of a music box could be heard coming from the corner. It wasn't playing anything great and sounded like an old

scratchy record player, or rather, a broken old scratchy record player.

I looked back at the Turks.

"So" I said. "Why are you guys here? You have important duties to do for Shinra. I know that Hojo, Scarlett and Heidegger are very angry with you."

"Well, you see" Reno said. "We need some time off, we can't work all the time, or we'll get burnt out. That's why we've come in here to relax."

"Yeah, but the executives said you haven't reported back to them in weeks. They also said that you lot are a bad influence on me and said that if I wanted to get ahead, I would have to ditch you guys."

"I hate those nasty executives" said Elena. "They cause us nothing but grief."

"We're supposed to be on some investigation in mineshafts of North Corel." Rude said, interrupting. "Something about gathering Mako underground and digging up materials so they can do tests on it. I don't know why they are wanting to use all this Mako, but I bet it can't be for anything good."

"Yeah" said Elena. "But that was so boring and there's nothing down there so we came back up here. There's no decent places to drink or hang out in North Corel."

"There's the Gold Saucer." Reno said.

"Yeah, but that's kiddies stuff, Reno." Elena replied. "It's too noisy and too expensive too. This place is the best place on the whole continent, without doubt."

"So, why are you here?" Rude asked.

"Well, I'm here on a very special assignment given to me by the executives." I said.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, I'm here to kidnap Tifa Lockheart."

Elena giggled. "Oh my goodness" she said. "Why on earth do you need to kidnap her?"

"They didn't tell me, they just said that I had to do it without fail. I have no idea what they're planning."

"How long do have to complete your mission?" Rude asked.

"Well, I was supposed to have got her by last night but there were complications."

"Complications?" said Reno.

"Don't tell me" said Elena. "She kicked your ass?"

"Well kinda" I said. "But it wasn't just her. Cloud and Barrett were there too. But I will go back to the Seventh Heaven tomorrow. That's why I bought this Cloud disguise."

"Well, let's hope she won't kick your ass again." Rude said. "She's pretty tough for a girl."

Elena slapped his hand.

"What are you trying to say, Rude?" she asked.

"Oh nothing, nothing" he replied.

"I know all about her." I said. "She's got quite a stiff kick on her. She caught me right in the jaw, still hurts a bit, but the worst of it is over. I'll get my revenge tomorrow, don't you worry. She won't get me again."

"Good luck with that" said Reno. "Because you'll need it."

"Can I get you a drink, Rufus?" Rude asked.

"No, thanks, I don't thin I should stay that long."

"Fair enough. Hey, barkeep. Get us three beers will ya?"

The barkeeper poured them three pints of beer and brought them round to the table. They started drinking immediately. I got up from my chair.

"I'll be seeing you guys then."

"Yeah, see ya."

"Take care, man" said Reno. "Oh man, I still can't believe you got beaten up by little Tifa Lockheart."

He laughed and the others joined in the laughing with him. They guzzled down their beers and I turned away a little embarrassed. I couldn't believe these guys would laugh at me. Well, that was just going to spur me on towards my goal. I left the bar.

I didn't know where I was headed now. I looked up at the sky and dusk was setting in soon. If I was going to put my plan into action, I had to do it soon. Just opposite me I saw the gym and suddenly had a great idea. I thought that if I was going to kidnap Tifa, I'd need to buff up a bit. That would be perfect and it would stop her beating the crap out of me again.

Yeah, I thought. A little bit of muscle was all I needed to complete my mission. I then walked into the gym with a smile on my face.

Inside the gym I saw three muscle-bound men. One was doing push-ups, one doing bench press and the other skipping rope. I approached them tentatively and as soon as they heard my footsteps they all stopped what they were doing and stared at me.

I stopped in my tracks. The largest man, who was doing bench press, wiped himself off with a towel and walked towards me.

"What do you want, skinny boy?" he said.

He threw his sweat-drenched towel on my SOLDIER uniform It felt horrible and completely ruined the uniform. He got right in my face and his face was a lot bigger than mine and he had huge eyes which terrified me. I couldn't look at him for long.

"I just want to try out some of the facilities." I said.

"Well look what we've got here. This skinny punk wants to use the facilities. What do we say?"

One of the other large men then came over.

"Why do you want to use this gym?" he asked.

"I'm just looking to gain a bit of muscle you know, a bit of upper body mass."

"Yeah, we know what muscle is kid, look at these arms."

The man flexed his arms and an enormous bulge appeared that was bigger than my head. It was awe-inspiring, it really was.

"Ok, kid. You wanna gain some muscle, we'll show you the ropes. The first step is push ups. Now what you have to do is get down on all fours."

I was ready to get down on all fours when suddenly I felt the man shove me down to the floor. He was incredibly strong and he pushed me down so hard that my face hit the floor. I held my head and got back into the push up position quickly before they did anything else to me.

"Now give us twenty."

Twenty push ups didn't sound that hard. I considered myself quite a tough guy, this was a nice way to warm up. I lowered myself to the ground and then pushed back up again slowly in perfect form. Everyone shouted 'one' and continued to shout with each push up I did.

I had done ten very easily and I knew I was going to be able to make twenty when I felt one of the men grab my top and yank me up. He shoved me back down to the floor. He continued to yank me up and shove me down for the next ten push ups at rapid speed, each one getting faster and faster.

Finally when I reached twenty, the man pulled me up with one arm completely off my feet and set me back down again on the ground. I was out of breath and tried to dust off my beautiful white suit which had been ruined with all the sweat. The sweat stains were clearly visible.

"Ok, nice warm up" said one of the men. "Now onto the bench press. This is where we make a real man out of you. Only the real men do this exercise."

The muscular man grabbed me by my collar and dragged me towards the bench press. He pushed me onto the bench and immediately started adding weights to the bar.

"Ok, this is a light weight which is perfect for beginners."

"How much is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"Only around 450 lbs."

"450 lbs? That sounds quite a lot for a beginner."

"Are you kidding me? I do that as a warm up and then go on to bench press more than a 1000 lbs. 450 is nothing, believe me. I was doing that when I was 8 years old."

"Ok, if you say so."

I took my grip on the bar. I wasn't going to let this beat me and I wasn't going to be embarrassed, not again. I inhaled deeply and then tried to push the bar upwards with all my might but it didn't even budge. The men were all shouting and screaming at me, but it was more distracting than motivating, especially with all the sweat that was dripping off their faces and the saliva they were spitting out of their mouths. All of it falling on me, of course.

I had another go at the weight. This time I managed to get it off the rack and held it above me. I couldn't believe it, this was incredibly impressive. I had never lifted this much before and I gently lowered it down to my chest. However suddenly my elbow buckled and the bar came crashing down onto my sternum.

All of the 450 lbs was now across my chest and I couldn't breathe. Thankfully the men were spotting me and lifted the weight off my chest and put it back on the rack.

"Ok, perhaps that was too much too soon."

The men pulled me to my feet.

"Ok, now for your final test. The skipping rope, this is to warm your body down which is very important when doing strenuous exercise."

I nodded but I didn't really hear what he said. I was so tired and my legs were all wobbly. One of the men had to hold me upright to make sure that I didn't fall over.

"Are you ready for this?"

I nodded again but again I didn't really hear. I was a million miles away.

"Ok, let's begin."

Two of the men held the rope at each end and they spun it round once and I managed to jump over it even in my punch-drunk state. They did it again quite slowly and again I managed to jump over it.

"Hey, this kid's got some skill. Let's see if he can handle more speed."

The two men holding the rope then proceeded to spin the rope round faster and faster and I kept jumping, mostly at random, I could no longer even see the rope it was going so fast. But I was still jumping successfully each time but I was beginning to tire quickly. I paused for a split second to get my breath back. Then the rope hit me right in the knee caps and this rope was coming round at a hundred miles per hour and it hurt severely, so much so that I fell to my knees.

I felt the two men then tie the skipping rope around me until I could no longer move my arms.

"Who does this skinny punk think he is? He has no right to hang out with us. Get lost kid, go back to momma. You have no will or drive to get strong and to gain muscle."

I tried to squirm out of the rope, but it was no good, they had tied it pretty tight. They then pulled me to my feet and led me towards the door. I then felt a massive pain in my ass as one of them booted me right out of the gym.

"And don't ever come back." One of the large, muscular men said.

Luckily as they had thrown me out, the rope had come loose. I untied myself and swallowed hard. My pride had taken a huge fall there and I was more determined than ever not to let it happen again. I thought seeing the Turks in the bar again was probably the best idea. They all seemed happy to see me last time and I thought I could get some self-confidence back.

I tried to walk but my legs had turned to jelly from all the skipping they made me do. If this is what it took to kidnap Tifa Lockheart, it had better be worth it. It had better work too, I thought. I shook off the pain in my legs and entered the bar.

There I saw Reno, Rude and Elena all slouched over the table with about twenty empty glasses surrounding them. They all looked to be asleep. I walked over to them.

"Hey guys" I said.

They all suddenly woke up.

"Hey, hey, it's Rufus, Ruffie-baby! C'mon sit and talk. We love you. Have a seat, have a beer. C'mon."

"You guys are seriously drunk."

"N-No, we are not." Elena said. She was putting all her concentration into that sentence, trying desperately not to slur her words.

"I think you guys have had enough."

"Rubbish!" Rude shouted. "There can never be enough. And look there's more people here now."

I looked across the bar and saw the doctor and Doris with several empty glasses beside them. They both looked a bit out of it and a bit glassy eyed too.

"Doctor" I said. "Who is minding the clinic if you're here?"

"Oh it'll be alright" he said. "I'm sure no one will be sick if I'm just taking a break for ten minutes."

"Yeah and nobody wants clothes either." Doris said. "Except you, darling, you buy lots. You're my extra special customer. I love you, Rufus."

She got up off her chair and stumbled, falling into me. I had had enough of exercise for the time being, I didn't need any more. I held her for support and tried to lead her out of the bar.

"C'mon, I think you've had enough Doris."

"Nonsense" she said. "These nice people here, the Turks or whatever said I needed to drink at least 5 pints to prove myself as a human being. And I am a good person, I always do my best."

I turned angrily at the Turks.

"Have you been teaching people to drink in excess? What the hell is wrong with you? The Shinra are supposed to be setting an example for the rest of the population."

"Oh come on, Rufus, you boring bastard" said the doctor. "It's just a little bit of fun."

"I think you've had enough too."

"Ah, I can handle my drink, I'm a real man."

He took another mouthful of beer and then collapsed to the floor completely unconscious. Oh dear, I thought, I really didn't need this now.

"Hey, can someone make sure this guy gets to the clinic safely."

"Sure thing" said the barkeeper.

Doris was clinging to me and despite my best efforts to shake her off, she held onto my arm like a leech. I thought I could just drop her off at the clinic as well and then I could get on with my task.

I waved at the Turks.

"I'll see you guys, later." I said.

"Yeah, see ya, Rufus. Come back, anytime."

I left the bar with Doris clinging to my arm. It wasn't exactly the way I had envision my little trip to the Wall Market going but it didn't matter, everything was in place now. I made my way back to the clinic with Doris and when we made it I laid her down on the table.

"Thank you, Rufus" she said. "I think I'm in love with you."

I smiled. This poor, innocent girl. I was sure she would find happiness somewhere in life. She deserved a lot better than what she had. I bent down and kissed her lightly on the cheek as I had done before. She smiled back at me and then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief as all of this was finally over. I walked towards the door but then I saw something lying on the counter, it was a bottle of liquid of some kind. I read the bottle and it read 'chloroform'. My eyes beamed, this was perfect, this is what I needed to kidnap Tifa without giving her a chance to beat me up or anyone else for that matter. This had definitely been a profitable trip.

I looked next to the bottle of chloroform and there were some cloths, perfect for smothering the chloroform onto someone to render them unconscious. I had a good feeling inside, for the first time in a long time things were looking up. I would have Tifa Lockheart in my possession by tomorrow nightfall. There would be no failing now.

I left the clinic laughing, I just couldn't stop laughing.

The doctor wasn't here right now, so I pocked the bottle of chloroform and the cloths, obviously he had been using it on his patients but not anymore. Now it was mine.

Everything had been handed to me and it was all far too easy.

Even I couldn't mess this one up, not again.

Tifa was mine.