The rest of the group had finished eating lunch, and Nanaki was eagerly awaiting the return of their hostess. He still wished for her to shed some light on the situation. Just as Ayanna entered, Aeris scream could be heard.

Everyone jumped up and rushed outside to see some sort of black dog attacking Aeris. The only thing keeping her from being mauled, was Victor. He had grabbed the dog, throwing it off Aeris, and kept himself between it and his friend. Apparently the dog didn't want to get at Victor or have a confrontation with him. The dog was trying to avoid the boy completely.

"Thunder, stop!" Alan yelled. The dog stopped, and went to Alan's side. It looked up at him with a pathetic puppy dogface. Alan frowned down at the dog. "Sorry," he apologised. "This is my guard dog, Thunder. He was trained to guard our gold chocobo's."

Ayanna smiled. "He does a very good job too. He keeps out everyone, and anyone."

Alan frowned again. "But he has never avoided anyone before. Well, not the way he did just now. When guarding, he usually goes after the nearest threat. Not the further one." Alan looked at Victor. "He seemed almost afraid of you. Why?"

Victor just shrugged. But Aeris thought that it was probably because of Chaos. Apparently this animal could tell Victor had Chaos. And from the looks that Victor and the dog were getting, the others had probably guessed the same thing.

"Well, now that this little disturbance is over, I think that we should all have a nice talk," Nanaki urged.

Ayanna sighed. "Of course. Why don't we stay outside though? It's a beautiful afternoon." Nobody disagreed. "Well, I know that my husband, Dez, is probably more then he is right now. He lost all memory of his past. He couldn't even remember his name. So I took him into my house and helped him create a new life, and a new identity. But I never found out who he really was."

Nanaki nodded. "I suppose that sounds plausible enough. But tell me, did you know what the president of ShinRa looked like?"

Ayanna shook her head. "No. I know you probably don't believe me, but I have lived in this house my whole life, and my family hasn't had any use for the news or TV, so I never got to know anything that was happening around the Planet. The only time I left the Mideel forest, was to deviler some of our gold chocobo's the chocobo farm near Midgar. It was on my way back that I saw Dez. He was badly hurt, and I decided to bring him back home with me."

Nanaki looked at Dez. "I'm sorry, Dez. You are not the cold-blooded Rufus ShinRa. You are Dez now. A kind man who has a forgotten past. I believe that it is best if it remains forgotten."

"Thank you, my furry friend," Dez said smiling. "And I am sorry for things I probably did in the past. And although it might not help you and your friends, I may be able to help you."

Everyone looked at Dez. "What do you mean," Victor asked.

"Well, I do remember a bit. But only flashes, and only in dreams." Ayanna looked at her husband. "You told me at lunch that you were looking for a specially fabricated materia. Well I think that I know where it is."

"Where is it?" Victor urged. Aeris thought that he sounded as if he was almost pleading.

Dez shut his eyes in concentration. "It's is one of the basement labs of the ShinRa building. And I think its called 'Chaos Materia'."

Aeris' eyes went to the boy that was standing next to her. "I wish that I could help you, but all I can offer is some chocobo's for your trip to Midgar, and my good wishes," Dez continued.

Alan stepped up to his father. "I want to go with them," he stated in a 'matter-o-fact' voice.

"But you might get hurt," his mother said.

Alan shrugged. "I'm not helpless, you know. I can fight, and I have Thunder."

Dez, seeing the determination in his son's eyes gave in relatively quickly. "Alright, you can go. But take your best rod. Okay?"

Alan nodded and ran to the barn to prep the chocobo's for the journey. Ayanna eyed her husband. "He takes after you, ya know."

The trip to Midgar didn't take very long. The chocobo's that they were using were very fast. So fast, in fact, that even Jet reluctantly admitted that the birds were faster then the Highwind.

Alan just smiled. "They were raised by one of the best," he said in regards to the birds.

The birds were very energetic, and they crossed over to Midgar in under a day. Actually, it took half of the day, because when they arrived at the outskirts of Midgar, it was just past dark. So they decided to rest before entering Midgar.

Aeris looked around. "Shouldn't someone stay up and guard the camp?"

Nanaki nodded. "There are probably a few monsters still left from when Meteor struck. So we should be careful while we're here." Everybody nodded in agreement. "It's settled. There will be shifts taken for guard. I will go first with Aeris. Then Alan and Victor. The last shift will be taken by Jet and Ash."

Alan sighed. He wanted to do his shift with Aeris. But he was stuck with this freaky kid. Anyway, there was no arguing now, so he went into his tent and tried to sleep.

"Good night Thunder," he told his faithful dog. Then he rolled over and closed his eyes. That was when it started; the earthshaking, incessantly annoying, snoring. It was coming from the sleeping form next to him. It was Ash.

Alan leaned over and poked the dark hared boy in the side. Ash just grunted and rolled over. Then Alan tried shaking him. That wasn't very effective either.

Too tired to try anything else, he flopped back down, and covered his head with a pillow. At his side, Thunder whined. Alan reached his hand down to pet the animal's head. "I know, I know," he soothed. "It's going to be a long night."

Eventually Alan did drift off to sleep. But it was a black, dreamless sleep. It was cut short when shaken awake. He was about to protest when he open his eyes, and saw the lovely face of Aeris. He smiled at her.

"Come on," Aeris urged with a smile as Alan sat up. "It's your shift. Victor is already waiting for you."

Then Alan frowned. That was right. He had to take his shift with the freak kid. Aeris left the tent, and Alan fully woke up. He rubbed his eyes, grabbed his rod, and went out to take his watch.

As he sat down by a tree, he saw Victor sitting by one just a few tree's away. Thunder had followed Alan out of the tent, and sat beside him. Alan noted that it was the side that Victor wasn't on. He still wanted to know why his dog was afraid of the kid next to him.

Alan looked at Victor. "What's with you anyway?" he asked, not being the slightest bit subtle. But Victor didn't answer. He only gave Alan the evil eye. Alan sighed. "Ok. Let's try this again, shall we? Why are you a freak?"

Alan noticed a small hint of anger flicker in the boy's eyes, but it was quickly hidden away. "Would you like to find out what sort of freak I am," Victor calmly said with something flickering deep within his red eyes.

Although Alan couldn't place it, there was something very unsettling and frightening in the boy's cold gaze; so he quickly turned his eyes elsewhere. Alan's mind began racing, trying to think of something else to say to the boy. "What happened to your father, anyway?" he asked.

Victor lowered his gaze to the ground. "He was murdered." Alan sighed silently. No wonder the boy was always sulking. Then a thought occurred to him. A very puzzling thought. "We're trying to bring that Cetra to life back to life, right?" The boy nodded. "But, your father is dead too. So what's gonna stop you from taking the materia and leaving us screwed, while you get your father, instead of a chance that your friends could get their parents back."

Victor didn't say anything, didn't look at Alan, or even move for the rest of the shift. Alan had new worries, but he wasn't sure if they were validated. After all, kids could change their mind at the drop of a hat.

For the rest of the night, the two sat in silence, as Alan wrestled with the conflicts that has arisen. He thought for most of the night, but he still wasn't sure what he would do the next day. After all, Aeris seemed to trust the boy. Didn't she . . .

Marlene sat on the lumpy cot, kicking the wall. God was she bored. And her toe hurt. It had been about a week since she had been brought to this place. After two failed attempts to escape, she was put into a different cell. This one was chained shut, and had double locks.

She frowned. If she had her Dragon Claw, she could get through the locks and chains easily. But the men HAD taken it away. Marlene sighed as she flopped down on the cot. Her foot hurt too much now, so she couldn't kick the wall now.

But then a jangling could be heard at the door. She turned her head to look. It was a guard coming to give her some food. The door of this cell was too large to push the plate under, so it had to be taken in by a guard.

Normally this would be a perfect time to try and escape, but following the man with the plate, was a man with a gun. And Marlene didn't want to take the chance of getting shot.

She looked at the man bringing her food. It wasn't the regular guy. "Hey," she called to the man. "Where's buddy today?"

Although she didn't expect a response, she got one. "He's got a break today." Marlene smiled to herself. This guy was new, and probably could be pumped for information. She decided to try her luck. "So, nice weather we're having today, huh?"

"I guess. Well, it did seem a bit warmer then usual." Just then the guard with the gun tapped the other guard on the shoulder. And what he whispered into his ear, didn't sound all that friendly.

Marlene guessed that he was being told to keep his mouth shut. It didn't matter though, she probably wouldn't have got anything else out of him.

As they walked out she began eating. It was an overly cooked piece of small meat, and some vegetables that were so soggy, they had turned to mush on the plate.

Somehow, Marlene managed to keep the food down. And when she finished, she realised that her foot no longer hurt. So she decided to resume kicking the wall. It was going to be another long boring day.

Chapter 7