Eddie Valiant is the private investigator and top notch detective for his world, a little past his prime yes, but everyone gets there eventually. Now all he saw was black around him. He had been hired by a woman from another world for a sole purpose of finding someone she knew. While he was fine with that he was a little shocked when an old man with blue robes, a long white beard claiming to be "the world's most powerful wizard" came to pick him up at the train station. He was glad that he had said goodbye to everyone before leaving and they didn't see him in such strange company (although he strained the word strange). So after saying some magic words darkness overtook the two of them.

Eddie clung tightly onto his bag as it was the only thing he could feel. Then suddenly he felt nothing below his feet and he fell down to street below dropping his things all over the place.

"Oh well I apologize for that" Merlin said looking down at him "You must not be used to traveling"

Eddie picked his head up "Not exactly" he said gruffly. He picked himself up wiped off his coat and hat before picking up his suitcase. He then picked his head up and finally looked around in awe.

"Welcome to Radiant Garden" Merlin said

"Wow" Eddie said in awe softly

"I hope this experience isnt too strange for you"

"Nah, trust me I've seen worse" Eddie shuddered at the thought of Toontown and it's logic(or lack of it)

"Well shall we be off?" Merlin asked

"Yeah, take me to this girl" Eddie said nodding off down the street. Merlin then turned his back to him and walked through the marketplace with Eddie close behind him. He then heard some shouting coming from one of the stands and he looked over to investigate while Merlin kept walking on.

"You can't raise the prices like that! What kind of business are you running here?!" said a man in front of a shop

"It's the boss's orders" said Louie "If you have a problem with it, take it up with Huey"

"I'm gonna take it up with you!"

Scowling at the sight of a grown man raising his voice to a child Eddie stormed over there.

"I'm not gonna deal with this!" the man shouted "I'm gonna-"

"Hey" Eddie grabbed ahold of his shoulder and yanked him back "You like yelling at kids?! Why don't you yell at me instead!" he scowled

The man then shrugged him off "And who are you?"

"The guy who's gonna shove that toothpick up your nose if you don't clean up your act"

The two then exchanged glares before a voice called out

"Cid!" Merlin called. The man then looked over as Merlin walked over and joined them.

"Merlin" Cid said easing up "This guy with you?" he pointed to Eddie

"Yes, he's new" Merlin then turned to Eddie "Pay no mind to this banter, they go at it like this all the time, it's a common thing" Eddie looked over the young duck behind the counter who nodded

"But I always win" Louie said.

Shrugging Eddie looked back to Cid "But that doesn't make it right" he then turned to Merlin "Shall we continue?" he asked

"Sure follow me" Merlin said as he walked off and Eddie followed him but not without exchanging last second glares with Cid.

"I'll cut ya some slack because youre with the old loon today"

"I've seen loonier" Eddie shot back before walking off.

Eddie then continued to follow Merlin through and out of town. They then came to a mountainous terrain and began walking through them as a castle began to appear in the distance.

"This walk better be worth it" Eddie said to him

"Of course it will" Merlin said back to him

"So how'd you get caught up in all this?"

"Well she asked me to find someone with exceptional skill and I found about you. Then I said I would make sure you got here if you took the case, which you did" he pointed out

"Yeah, I did" They continued to walk on towards the castle and when they made it through the doors. She must like to keep to herself" Eddie said as they walked through the hallways

"Oh she just wanted a spot to meet in private" Merlin said defending her decisions

"A dark, murky castle in the middle of the mountains..Sounds like a dream vacation to me" Eddie shrugged

"She's in the study" Merlin said as they came to the door that led into it. Merlin then opened the door. "Hello" he called out as he opened the door and they both entered. Sitting at the table a young woman looked to them and then stood up. "Ah here she is, just like I said" Merlin said as he leaned on his cane and made way for Eddie to get through.

Nodding to him Eddie then walked up to the woman. "Tifa?" he asked

"Yes" she nodded

"Eddie Valiant" he reached his hand out

"Thank you for coming all this way" she said shaking his hand "You came so highly recommended"

"So I keep hearing"

Tifa then looked over to Merlin "Thank you Merlin"

"Your quite welcome my dear" Merlin said "Now I must be off. The Wart and I have a trip that will take us across many worlds. We should be back soon"

"Have a nice time" Tifa said

"Take care" Merlin said before leaving and closing the door behind him.

After they both watched him leave they both looked to eachother.

"So" Eddie said

"So" Tifa repeared

"Let's get started" Eddie said. He then looked over to the table behind them.

"Do you wanna sit?" Tifa asked

"It'd make the transition much more comfortable. I've been on my feet for too long today" Eddie said as he walked over to the table and Tifa followed and sat across from him. "So" Eddie said again "you want me to find somebody"

"That's right" Tifa nodded "He's a man, His name is Cl-"

"Hold on doll" Eddie said with his hand up "Let me write all this down".

Eddie sat down at the table with her took out his notebook and pen and began writing down information but when no ink went onto the paper he inspected his pen "Roger" he grumbled and then continued writing.

"You know nothing's coming out?" Tifa told him

"It'll show up" Eddie responded "Now tell me about this guy"

"Well his name is Cloud. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. He wears black and carries a big sword. He very serious and" Tifa rambled on about every petty detail about this guy as Eddie copied it all down but eventually his thoughts wavered as more and more excess information came his way. He then started to wonder how a private investigator needed up on another world to track down some guy he didn't even know who on top of that didn't even know he existed "He's very…Are you listening?" Tifa asked

"Huh? Oh yeah. Sounds dreamy" Eddie responded gruffly "When'd you last see him?"

"Well it must've been about a week ago. Yeah that's it" Tifa confirmed

"Alright" he said as he closed his notebook "I think that'll do" he then stood up from the table "I'll go question anyone in town who might've seen him" he said stuffing it into his pocket.

"You could ask the restoration committee" Tifa proposed

"I planned on it. Also" he paused "I'm gonna need a place to stay. You know where I can hold up?"

"The committee members will take care of that" Tifa said getting up "They might even lend you a room in their building"

Eddie shrugged "It'll have to do"

"You know I work at a bar in town" Tifa said "I'll get you free drinks when you want"

Eddie looked her over sternly "I don't use those things anymore besides.." he shivered and shrugged "the moneys good enough"

"Oh here" she said passing it off to him and he took it.

"Thanks" he said looking it over "You must be very trusting to give all your cash away to a guy you just met" Eddie joked as she seemed to look nervously around the room and then to the floor "Sorry" he apologized. "Well" Eddie picked up his hat and walked out of the room "I'll keep you updated on anything I find but first, I'm gonna need to find a base of operations. Maybe those committee guys might help me out some, who knows" he said opening the door to leave

"Eddie" Tifa called to him and he turned around to her "Thank you"

Eddie looked her over "No problem" he said before walking out. He then made his way to the Restoration Committee headquarters. Knocking on the door it was answered by a young woman in pink.

"Hello" she said cheerfully

"Hi" he said gruffly

"Come in, please how can we help you?"

"Well I could really-" he looked over the people in the room. He saw Cid standing there nibbling on a toothpick and he starred down Eddie just as he did before "You!"

"You!" Cid called back "Whadda you doing here?"

"My job what's it to you?" Eddie snapped "I'm looking for the restoration committee"

"Well welcome to the party although we have the right to refuse service"

"We absolutely do not!" Yuffie pointed at him

Another man then walked up to Eddie "Leon" he introduced himself

"Eddie" he shook his hand

"How can we help you?"

"Well there's two things actually" Eddie admitted "One; I got work to do in this town and I'm gonna need a place to stay. I was told to come to you"

"And who told you that?" Cid asked

"Same person who hired me"

"Who is?"" Cid rolled his hand

"Young girl named Tifa. Black hair, black clothes, runs a bar apparently. Someone she knows is lost and she wants me to find him, or where he went"

"Same old notes" Cid smirked

"I hear that tone" Eddie said

"So?"

"So I don't like it and you'll watch what you'll say" Eddie threatened

"Yikes so tense" Yuffie commented

"Easy, nothings gonna happen" Leon said putting his arm between them. "We have a spare room here. I don't see anything wrong with letting you use it for the time being"

"Much obliged" Eddie nodded to him. He then looked around the room at the four other people "Well it looks like we're gonna be living together" he said to them.

"Yep looks like it, were gonna have so much fun!" Yuffie cheered. They all then introduced themselves to Eddie and he to them.

"Yeah, yeah I know who you are" Eddie waved off Cid. "Well I guess I better get to work" he said as he walked over and put his briefcase on the table.

"And how are you gonna do that?" Yuffie asked

"I'll start with you all" Eddie said turning to them with a pen and paper "What can you tell me about this Cloud guy?"

They all then told then what they knew about Cloud but in all honesty it was no new information or anything useful to Eddie. He then wiped his face "Well this won't do" he said looking over the little he wrote down.

"Whadda ya gonna do now?" Yuffie asked

Eddie wiped his forehead "I'll head into town, get my bearings and ask anyone if they've seen him or know anything about him" Eddie said as he walked towards the door.

"Do you want us to move your stuff into your room?" Aerith asked "its right at the top of the stairs"

"What? No" Eddie said turning back to them "I'll do it myself when I get back." He said closing the door behind him.

"Well, he seems nice" Aerith said

"Besides that temper" Cid commented

"I think he'll make a great edition to the team! We should give him his own membership badge!" Yuffie proposed

"I am against that" Cid said "He won't even be here that long". Yuffie and Cid then got into an argument over Eddie's membership while Leon stood solemnly in the corner.

"Are you ok?" Aerith asked

"Hmph. Yeah fine" Leon responded

"I didn't know Tifa hired a private investigator. I didn't know she had so much money"

Leon then recalled to when he bumped into her the other day and helped her pick up all the money. She said something about a loan shark "She doesn't" Leon mumbled

"Huh? What was that?" Aerith turned to him

"It's nothing" Leon said turning and walking towards the door

"Where are you going?" Aerith asked

"Patrol" Leon snapped back

"But there's not one scheduled"

"Is now" he said as he slammed the door.

Leon walked throughout the town to find Tifa. He walked through the marketplace and the boroughs but found no sign of the woman. The sun had slowly started to go down and now it was sunset. But the approaching night didn't do much to stop Leon as he continued to search.

He stood before a bar, in fact it was the one where Tifa worked but as it read clearly on the door "Closed". Leon sighed at the sight of it.

"Forget it, I've been down that road before" a gruff voice called to him from behind. Leon turned around to see Eddie looking at him with his hands in his pockets.

"I wasn't looking for a drink I was uh..' Leon paused with shifty eyes "I was looking for something else"

"Ain't we all" Eddie responded sarcastically before silence passed over them "Well come on" he nodded his head down the street "You can walk me home" he said as he began walking.

Leon looked at Eddie back to the bar, sighed and then walked up to catch up with him.

As for who Leon was looking for, Tifa walked through the town at night until she came upon a building on the edge of town. A light illuminated the door which read "No trespassing" and a security camera watched it. Mustering the strength she walked up to the door and although hesitant at first she knocked on it.

"Yeah who is it?" an eerie voice asked angrily through the monitor "Ahh" he let out becoming more relaxed "My favorite girl, come on in". Tifa then pushed the door open "I hope you have something for me" he chuckled as his voice echoed down the hallways.

Tifa then shut the door behind her.