Author's Note: Damn, I must be on crack to actually post two chapters within the same week! It's a miracle, but don't get your hopes to high. Right now, I think it's time we checked up on a certain wolfish character.

Disclaimer: I don't own FF7, just anything outside of the game I own…Now if only this was all real…hmmm…

Part 13

"Selena, a Summon may serve a god or goddess, but they are forbidden from having any sort of sentimental attachments to anyone. They are a spirit bound to very little in both mortal and immortal worlds. The only thing we can do is serve, not love."

"You…you love me…"

"Ever since the day you came into this world. I would gladly sacrifice my very soul for you without thinking twice, regardless as to whether or not it's wrong or right."

That conversation played through his mind over and over again, the monotony dulling the once fresh wound. Now it had become a lulling torture.

His large lupine paws dragged on over the barren earth and his sky blue eyes had lost their usual light. Even they sky seemed to mock him with its bright, cheerful hue.

Had it been a mistake to bare his heart to the world?

Some would say no, but he was unsure. If he had been born a human, he would probably would have had a 50/50 chance of gaining Selena's love. However, that was not Sigmund's case.

After he had died and his human body became one with the earth, his spirit had been transformed into his present day state. Sure he was quite powerful and dangerous as they come, but what was the point of being an all powerful being if he really couldn't protect something he had been attached to?

Wasn't that the point of protecting someone? Because you love them?

He looked to the sky and gave a soft groan. He was tired, oh so tired.

His body collapsed to the ground unceremoniously and let his head lull to the side. His thoughts wandered over the object of his affection that he had abandoned in the end. The gods would surely punish him for ditching his duties, but he would happily endure it. As long as something could take away his pain.

As his thoughts wandered, he began to think back to when he and the others first came to the human world…

At the time, he was nothing more than the pet of the strange family as they entered the little town. Shibuki and Faera had stayed in their human forms to assume their roles as 'father' and 'mother' to the sweet child of sunshine. However, he had chose to remain a wolf.

At first glance, the people had looked at the band oddly, as if they were some sort of demons or band of magical misfits (which was only half true). Very few people had visited after they had moved in, but there was one visit he would not forget.

His first encounter with Cloud Strife.

The boy had knocked on the door and instantly, Sigmund had went into an excited frenzy; barking and whining as if he were a dog. However, a swift clock on the head from Shibuki shut him up pretty quick.

"Behave!" his mentor snapped as he answered the door. From behind Shibuki, Sigmund could see a scrawny, wide eyed child with blond locks sticking up this way and that. The only tame part of the boy's hair was his pony tail.

Sigmund twitched slightly when he felt Shibuki shift slightly before asking "Oh, you're one of our neighbors aren't you? Would you like to come in?"

The child looked unsure at first, but mumbled "I don't know…My mom says I'm not supposed to enter a stranger's houses unless she knows them."

Shibuki shrugged before saying "Alright suit yourself little one…By the way, you haven't by any chance seen a little girl with long curled blonde hair have you?"

"Sure, there's a quite few in the town, but I don't know them too well."

"Well, this girl is about ye big, bluish-green eyes and goes by the name of Selena. If you should see her along your trip, tell her that she's wanted at home." Shibuki finished and was about to shut the door, but Sigmund darted out past him. For a split second, the Wolf summon thought young Cloud had wet himself and sensed Shibuki was about to go on a day long rant about why he shouldn't run outside like that.

However, all that was heard was a small gasp.

Cloud gave an audible gulp and his eyes were wide as saucers as his eyes collided with Sigmund's ice blue.

That's when Shibuki decided to interject and perform damage control.

"Would you like to pet…er…Fenrir?"

Sigmund's ears snapped up in surprise. That wasn't his name!

Cloud looked unsure again, but Shibuki knelt next to him and pulled Sigmund close.

"See, he's perfectly harmless as long as you don't make any sudden moves." He soothed as he petted Sigmund. Cloud's small hand reached shakily out to Sigmund and just to humor himself, Sigmund's tongue flicked out, startling Cloud.

Shibuki laughed and shook his head.

"Aww, it's okay. Maybe some other time if you want." Shibuki finally concluded and patted Sigmund on the side, then went inside.

Cloud tilted his head warily and started walking away. Then a devilish thought leapt into Sigmund's mind and he decided to have some fun with the terrified boy.

As soon as Cloud started walking away, he started trotting after him. Cloud stopped and started at him out of fright.

He pointed a shaky finger back to the house and ordered "g-go home Fenrir. Go on!"

Sigmund tilted his head, plopped right down on his haunches and let his tongue innocently loll out as he panted. Sensing no immediate danger from this act, Cloud started walking away again. When the boy was feet away, Sigmund got up and started trotting after him, thus the game of trotting and ordering to go home continued until Cloud took off running.

Sigmund mentally laughed as he watched the small boy futily run from him, while he just kept trotting lightly after him. For a boy of Cloud's age and nimble frame, he was quite a runner!

Sigmund kept up the playful chase until Cloud turned the corner and ran right smack into a group of boys two times his size. Sigmund stopped and watched from behind the corner as the bullying began.

*C'mon kid…Grow a pair and knock his ass out!* Sigmund mentally snarled as he watched them push Cloud to the ground and proceeded to kick him in the sides.

Sigmund's hackles raised immediately, but someone else unexpected finally stepped in.

From out of nowhere, a young girl no older than four years of age, dashed forth and viciously slapped the oldest of the boys, sending him sprawling to the ground with a bloody nose.

She towered over him, her fists doubled as she snarled "Pick on someone your own size!"

Sigmund snorted discreetly as he mentally doubled over in a laughing fit! A little girl half their age just laid the smack down on their asses! Priceless!

The boys were alight with fear and took off after shouting something about revenge, but Selena paid them no heed. Her attention was focused on Cloud, who just sat up.

She extended her hand to him to help him up and asked "hey are you alright?"

Cloud did not immediately answer as he scuffed his shoe against the rough mountain soil. Utterly transfixed by his hair, she reached out and petted him, which resulted in surprise from the victim party. Cloud immediately pulled away.

"What are you doing?"

Selena now looked at him out of surprise. She tilted her head and chimed back "You don't like being petted? I would think it would feel nice compared to getting kicked and punched."

Cloud was caught off guard again by her gentle and sincere nature. She held her hand out to him again and piped "Oh, by the way, my name's Selena. Who are you?"

Cloud shyly took her hand in his and piped back "I'm Cloud."

"Cloud…" Young Selena repeated softly to herself and blushed. "Let's be friends, 'kay?"

And that was how it was for as long as Sigmund could remember them.

Day in and day out, those two were practically inseparable. Seasons came and past as they grew older, but their friendship remained undaunted as that grew as well. And speaking of inseparable, Sigmund remembered well when Faera or Shibuki would go to check up upon the supposedly slumbering goddess in the middle of the night and find her bed empty.

At first, they had panicked, thinking someone had kidnapped her, but after searching, they had found that she had snuck off to none other than Cloud's home and snuggled close to him. However, these nightly outings did not cease until that awful day.

The day that Cloud had left the village in hope of becoming a SOLDIER.

Sigmund gave a loud sigh and closed his eyes, his ears lying flat. He can still remember the nasty spat between them. How long and hard Selena had cried once he left…

"SOLDIER?! No Cloud, no!"

By then, Selena had just turned 13 and Cloud 15. It was the middle of the day and the two of them were off in their so called 'Secret Place' just outside of the town. They sat in the tall wild grass under the bright summer sky and were currently watching the clouds roll by…that was until Cloud spilled the news to Selena.

"Selena, listen to me…"

"Cloud, why do you think they're recruiting boys as young as you? Something's wrong, Cloud. Something's really wrong." She pleaded as she sat up to glance over at him. She watched his brows furrow while he closed his eyes. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew Cloud was practically obsessed with SOLDIER ever since he deemed General Sephiroth his idol years ago, but not once did she ever consider the possibility that he would join. She couldn't bring herself to let him go.

"Selena…"

"No! Absolutely not!" she yelled and finally, Cloud sat up and put his arms about her in a gentle embrace. An embrace that Sigmund knew that only Selena would receive, regardless as to whether or not, he was currently friends with that Tifa girl.

To tell the honest truth, Sigmund's heart sang with fury any time he put his arms about the young goddess. It was the fear that her innocence would be tainted by a potentially hormonal boy and that was something Sigmund refused to allow.

"Selena…I know you don't like it, but…In Nibelheim, I'm nothing…Nobody…If I make it to SOLDIER, I'll have a chance to be somebody. Somebody like Sephiroth."

Selena abruptly pulled away at that name and she looked at him oddly.

"…Sephiroth? Why Sephiroth?"

"Because everybody looks up to him. He's a hero, Selena."

"Cloud, as far as I can see, I do not look up to him at all. Sure he may be a powerful warrior, but you don't need to be one to be a hero."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. People who help others aren't always derived from the battlefields. I mean, look at the people who do charity, or people who unselfishly give back to the community."

"But-" he began but she placed a finger to his lips and he fell silent.

"Cloud…the bottom line is…I don't want you to go…I love you to pieces and if you go…I'll be heartbroken." She whispered to him and kissed the tip of his nose.

From the nearby trees, Sigmund's hackles raised, but he kept silent. The last thing he wanted was to upset Selena even further, but he doubted he could do anything that hurt as much as to what Cloud was doing. Or going to do.

Cloud gently took her face in his hands and pressed his forehead against her own.

"Selena…Everything's going to be alright. As long as you hold me here…" he said and pointed to her heart "I won't be that far away. I'll come back and when I do, everyone will be happy."

"Cloud…Please…Don't do this…"

With a sigh, Cloud pulled away and turned his gaze away from her. It was no use trying to sway her. What was done, was done.

"I'm sorry…but next week, I'll be going. I can't stop it now…"

"What?! Why didn't you come to me sooner?! I thought we were friends, Cloud!" she yelled and shook her head wildly. Suddenly, he rounded on her, his eyes narrowed and teeth bared.

"If we're friends, then you would accept the fact that I decided to take this route! The least you could do is be supportive! At least mom and Tifa are!" he snapped back.

"Tifa?! Tifa?! Since when did she start supporting anything you did? Did she put you up to this?"

"Now you wait just a minute! You're going too far, Talos!" he snarled, but she shook her head.

"No, you've went too far! First, you tell me you're leaving, then you tell me you've already made out the paper work without even talking to me about it and lastly, you bring Tifa into the whole mix of things! I wouldn't even be surprised if you told her first that you were leaving!" she screamed at him. She waited for him to defend himself on the last accusation, but nothing came.

By his silence, he had told her all she needed to know.

"…You did tell her before you told me, didn't you?" she said quietly, but he kept his eyes adverted from her the whole time. So it was true.

With nothing more to say, she got up, her body quivering and she ran from him. Cloud watched her go with a sad and confused look on his face. He hadn't meant to make her cry, not at all. Just as Selena ran past Sigmund's hiding place, Sigmund finally came out from the bushes.

With a sigh, Cloud called him over and grudgingly, Sigmund obeyed. On a normal basis, he would have went to comfort Selena, but now was not the time. Her wounds were too fresh to comfort at the moment, so he opted for Cloud this time.

He padded over to him and Cloud petted him.

"I don't understand it, Fenrir…I would have thought she would've been happy for me…I never meant to hurt her like that."

*Well, ya did dumbass…* Sigmund mentally fumed, but merely grunted and his tail twitched.

"…Ya know…I never did get to tell Selena, but…I want to better myself for her sake…Someday, maybe when I come back, I think I want to marry her." He said quietly and Sigmund's ears pricked.

*M-m-marry?! No! No, no, no!!!!!!* his mind sang out, but instead he only howled pitifully and continued until Cloud clamped his mouth shut.

"Cut it out! Honestly, what the hell's the matter with you, you crazy wolf?...Anyways…Yeah…I want to marry Selena, but…I can't marry her like I am now. She's been there for me a lot, and I want to return the favor. I want to make sure she has everything she deserves…"

While Cloud continued spilling his guts unknowingly to the Wolf Summon, Sigmund's heart began to sink and burn.

This boy, this young man that he knew since the lad was about 6 or 7, was madly in love with his goddess! If only he could intervene, but how?

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

Sigmund would persuade Selena into letting him tag along after Cloud for 'protection' and in the end, he would make it so Cloud would not make it to the esteemed ranks of SOLDIER! It was perfect! And it would be a decent excuse to get out of his wolf form. God, the fleas were killing him!

And that plan was successful in the end...years later. Sadly, the sneaky Wolf Summon had not expected the web of fate to return Cloud home, even if he was disheartened.

Author Note #2: I guess you considered this as sort of a filler, but at the same time, Sigmund's view on this is quite important (or at least I think it is). Don't worry, this will be extended further in the next chapter and then hopefully, things will pick up from there. Read and Review, dearies!