Chapter 811 - 810: Return to the Slums of the Seventh Sector After a Long and Eventful Day."

Alex watched with indescribable amusement in his cat eyes the funny scene unfolding right before him. The moment he had effectively appeared before his friends in the form of a black cat and spoken in a human voice, it caused a turbulent emotional outburst from the entire group. However, the brightest and loudest reaction came from Wedge, who with a deafening squeal crashed onto the concrete together with the chair he had been sitting on.

Rubbing his fluffy muzzle with a paw, Alex tried with all his might to hide a wide smile, for it was precisely such a shocking effect that he had been aiming for. Because of this mishap, no one immediately managed to figure out what was happening. The gazes of those present first sharply shifted to the frightened Wedge lying on the floor with a deathly pale face. And then everyone again synchronously stared at Alex in cat form.

And only when Dean's loud, choked laughter rang out, as he literally drowned in laughter and emphatically pounded his fist on the tabletop, did the rest of the company finally come to their senses. Shifting their gaze to the black cat, the group finally recognized Alex in him. Cheerfully shaking his muzzle, Alex squinted with pleasure when he felt soft touches on his fur.

Turning his head, he met the gaze of Aerith, who with a cute, warm smile was affectionately stroking him between the ears. In the next instant, right in front of his nose appeared Yuffie's curious face, peering with unconcealed excitement straight into his pupils. Rolling his eyes at such an intent gaze, Alex pressed a paw right against Yuffie's nose and gently pushed her back before the young kunoichi got another stupid idea.

"Kid, is that really you?!" Barret asked in astonishment, intently staring at Alex and even raising his sunglasses onto his forehead.

"And who else could it be? A talking cat?.. Although, technically, right now I am a talking cat. Ha-ha-ha," Alex responded in an absolutely calm tone and at the end briefly laughed, comically imitating the mechanical voice of a robot.

"Yeah, it's definitely him. No question. Only explain why you're a cat?" Biggs asked in surprise, shaking his head and slightly leaning his hands on the table to better examine his fluffy friend.

"Well-l-l, that's a rather long story…" Alex drawled thoughtfully, sitting down on his hind paws and sweetly squinting when Aerith began carefully scratching him under the chin with a finger.

"And we're not in a hurry anywhere. And let's start with that very part where you, damn it, turned into a huge fire monster!" Barret snorted, with one motion lifting the fallen chair and calmly sitting back down.

Thoughtfully nodding his muzzle, Alex unhurriedly took the little backpack in the shape of a cat's face off his back and began carefully unzipping it with a claw. Trying to stall for time in order to invent some plausible nonsense on the fly, Alex slowly thrust a fluffy paw inside. The entire company watched with sincere amazement as his paw went into the depths of the bag literally up to the shoulder.

Having absolutely no idea how such a thing was physically possible, all those present instantly switched all their attention to the magical backpack in which Alex continued to enthusiastically rummage. Feeling the needed item, Alex smoothly extracted it outward—it turned out to be an elegant smoking pipe covered in shiny gold.

Setting the pipe aside, Alex again thrust a paw into the backpack. From time to time he pulled out from there the most diverse things: from fresh snacks to exotic items that purely geometrically could not fit into such a tiny bag. Everyone reacted to this trick differently, but the most enthusiasm was shown by Yuffie, who could not wait to personally check the contents.

However, barely had Yuffie stretched a hand toward the unzipped zipper when she immediately received a tangible slap of a paw on the palm and a strict, expressive gaze from Alex. Offendedly pouting her lips, Yuffie demonstratively turned away, but all her childish resentment instantly vanished, and she again began gazing in fascination into the magical backpack.

Finally feeling the coveted lighter, Alex clenched it in his paw and pulled it out. Closing the backpack and putting it back on his back, Alex sat down on his hind paws and brought the golden pipe to his lips, firmly clamping it between his teeth. Those present were so interested in watching this ritual that no one even tried to interrupt Alex, impatiently awaiting the finale.

Clamping the lighter with his front paws, Alex suddenly realized one simple and awkward fact: he was simply incapable of striking a spark because he had little paws. Rubbing the lighter with fluffy pads, Alex with an embarrassed muzzle turned to Aerith, silently asking for help. Noticing this incredibly cute and embarrassed cat gaze, Aerith could not hold back and quietly laughed cheerfully, taking the lighter to help him light up.

Finally taking a drag, Alex exhaled an even ring of smoke and sat more elegantly, casually holding the smoking pipe with a front paw. Looking at Alex in cat form in such an incredibly pompous pose, Dean could no longer hold back his laughter—he again began pounding his fist on the tabletop, drowning in continuous laughter.

"Well then, where should we start?" Alex said in an absolutely calm tone, slightly swinging the golden pipe in his paw.

"How about you first explain what that just was," Tifa said with amusement in her voice, sitting down next to Alex and intently peering into his cat muzzle.

"What exactly interests you? What happened up above, or the events in the Fifth Sector when you left?" Alex inquired, pointing with the smoking pipe first at the night sky and then toward the Fifth Mako Reactor.

"Something else! What kind of cat are you even? And what is that magical little bag on your back?" Jessie asked with sincere curiosity, affectionately scratching with a fingernail between Alex's ears.

"Ah, that… So right now I'm not a cat at all," Alex nodded understandingly and again brought the smoking pipe to his lips.

"And who are you in that case then?" Claudia asked, continuing to lean her back against the metal railings and looking at the cat with a squint.

"I am Cheshire," Alex responded in a cheerful tone, waving the golden pipe in Claudia's direction.

"Who the hell?! What kind of crap is that?!" Barret rumbled in bewilderment. Standing nearby, Biggs and Wedge nodded their heads in unison, clearly sharing his bewilderment.

"Cheshire. I can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time," Alex explained, exhaling a dense cloud of aromatic smoke right toward Barret.

"Didn't understand a damn thing," Barret shook his head in dismay, waving his hands to disperse the smoke screen.

"And you don't need to," Alex's ironic voice suddenly rang out right above Barret's head.

When Alex's ironic voice rang out, the girls instantly realized that the black cat who had been sitting before them on the table literally a second ago had silently evaporated. Barret, for his part, felt a tangible weight on his head—as if someone had unceremoniously planted fluffy paws right on the top of his head. Feeling burning irritation from the fact that someone had turned his head into an observation post, Barret sharply swung his hand, intending to knock Alex off.

But his broad palm only sliced through the air: Alex had disappeared and was already casually sitting on the head of the unsuspecting Yuffie, as if he had been sitting there from the very beginning. Only a moment later did it dawn on Yuffie herself that her head had unexpectedly become much heavier. Yuffie quickly raised her hands upward, hoping to catch Alex, but again missed and began embarrassed looking around until she saw Alex carefully settled on Tifa's shoulder and casually resting a front paw on the top of her head.

From such a teleportation demonstration the eyes of all those present literally widened—especially those of Wedge and Biggs. Feeling that everything happening was simply a dream, Biggs pinched Wedge with all his might on his plump stomach. And only when his friend let out a painful, piercing cry did Biggs finally understand that this was reality. Claudia merely peered inquisitively: she realized with annoyance that she had failed to track Alex's movements when he instantly materialized in new points.

Even with the help of her heightened SOLDIER senses she had not caught absolutely any fluctuations of the air. Understanding that for now this demonstration of spatial magic was quite enough, Alex lazily waved the smoking pipe, intending to jump back onto the table. But before he could push off, he felt that he was being carefully embraced. Embarrassedly blinking, Alex turned his muzzle and met the gaze of Tifa, who carefully transferred him onto her lap.

Not seeing a single reason to refuse such pleasant comfort, Alex relaxed backward, conveniently burying the back of his head into Tifa's large and soft chest. Tifa herself slightly blushed from such a trusting gesture, but quickly reminded herself that Alex was currently in the form of a cat, and therefore there was absolutely nothing strange about it.

Contentedly squinting from the pleasant sensations on the back of his head and from how carefully Tifa was stroking him on the muzzle, Alex suddenly shifted his gaze and collided with Aerith's expressive look. Aerith herself was looking at him with a quite openly offended gaze. Perfectly understanding the meaning of this silent reproach, Alex slightly narrowed his eyes, giving Aerith a clear hint: a little later he would definitely move over to her lap.

"Well, I think for now such a visual explanation is enough to understand what kind of cat I am. Any more questions on this matter?" Alex asked, swinging his muzzle from side to side, and lightly tapped the smoking pipe on the edge of the table.

"Yes! One more! Why do you even look exactly like this? And… can I pet you? I just really love fluffies!" Wedge quickly nodded his head and already enthusiastically stretched out his hands to pet Alex.

"If you touch me, Wedge, I'll bite your arm off up to the elbow," Alex answered in an incredibly sweet, oily tone and widely opened his maw, demonstrating impressive rows of impeccably sharp shark teeth, causing Wedge to recoil backward in fear.

"Wow-w-w! Can I touch them?! Why do you have such teeth?! Are they real?!" Yuffie squealed enthusiastically, practically sticking her fingers right into Alex's maw.

"Yuffie, I think you shouldn't do that. Alex might find it unpleasant," Tifa said in a soft cautionary tone, carefully pushing the too-enthusiastic Yuffie back.

"Please! I'll just carefully touch them!" Yuffie stretched out offendedly, again stubbornly stretching her hands toward the cat muzzle.

"Then let me also stick a paw into your mouth. You don't mind, right?" Alex said with a sigh and with a light, educational motion struck Yuffie on the forehead with the pipe.

"Ouch! Better not…" Yuffie muttered under her breath and began offendedly rubbing a small red spot on her forehead.

"Enough wasting time already! Get to normal explanations, kid! First explain why you became a cat. Then move on to what the hell happened in the Fifth Sector. And at the end explain all this nonsense with the dragon and your transformation into a fire giant!" Barret intervened, loudly cracking his palm on the table, making it clear that it was time to move on to serious matters.

Turning his head toward Barret and meeting his stern, impatient gaze, Alex slightly nodded his muzzle and tapped the smoking pipe on the edge of the tabletop to evenly mix the tobacco. He decided to begin his narrative from the very moment when Tifa, Claudia, and Barret had left the Mako Reactor at his insistent request.

Alex described in full color the appearance of the gigantic robot "Airbuster" and how this new Shinra mech had instantly gone out of control of its creators. About the Gray Whisperers Alex did not breathe a single word—the friends for now had no need to know about the keepers of fate. However, he detailed that the secret source of the colossal energy for the "Airbuster" had turned out to be the most powerful Red Materia of Bahamut.

The more he spoke, the more clearly the others pieced together in their heads the full picture of the catastrophe in the Fifth Sector. Of course, Alex delicately omitted key details—for example, that he could have easily destroyed the robot at the very beginning, and the entire grand battle had started exclusively because of his personal desire to measure strength with the legendary dragon.

Of the entire present company only Dean perfectly understood that Alex was currently enthusiastically pouring absolute, shameless nonsense into the listeners' ears. Snorting, Dean looked at Alex with a silent reproach, asking with his entire appearance whether he wasn't ashamed to lie so brazenly. Alex pretended not to notice Dean's mocking gaze at all and with an imperturbable muzzle continued the story.

While Alex shared his version of events, the entire group unanimously decided to head toward the station in order to catch the last night train—no one had the slightest desire to stay on the upper tier of the Plate for the entire night. While they unhurriedly walked toward the station along the already emptied streets of the Sixth Sector, Alex relocated onto Aerith's arms, who with a shining, happy smile tightly pressed his fluffy body to herself. After half an hour of walking they finally reached the station tracks, and Alex carefully finished telling everything that the friends really needed to know.

"Well, roughly that's how everything was," Alex summarized, lightly tapping the smoking pipe on his own little paw to shake out the burned ash.

"Mmh… Now I can definitely say with certainty that I've seen absolutely everything in Midgar. Starting from the pet Tonberry that Dean took in, and ending with the fact that our buddy turned into a huge fire monster and clashed with an ancient dragon," Biggs said with a choked, strained smile, slightly shaking his head.

"You're telling me! After such a performance nothing in this life will surprise me anymore," Jessie picked up, chuckling, and affectionately stroked Alex on the muzzle, who was still sitting comfortably in Aerith's warm embrace.

"Only one last question remains. Why is he still looking like a cat at all? And how long is he going to walk around in such a ridiculous form?" Barret asked gloomily, practically poking his massive finger right into the cat's nose.

"Because right now I'm too weakened. And if I return to my normal human form right now, then with a high degree of probability I'll simply die. Does that answer suit you?" Alex calmly answered and without ceremony flicked the smoking pipe against Barret's poking finger.

"What do you mean—die?!" Tifa asked again in genuine shock, instantly staring at Alex with unconcealed anxiety and fright in her eyes.

"Exactly that. And you try being in the body of a colossal ancient being whose internal temperature is comparable only to the surface of the sun," Alex responded in an absolutely carefree tone, slightly waving his tail and on the go generating yet another convincing excuse.

"So you're actually seriously injured?" Claudia asked, frowning and lowering an inquisitive gaze onto the black cat.

"Not exactly injured… I'd rather say that it feels like they stuck me into a microwave on full power and forgot to turn it off. But don't worry: a day or two, and I'll be completely fine again," Alex answered, serenely scratching his chin with a paw, and slightly tilted his head to the side.

Thinking that such an explanation would be more than enough, Alex completely failed to take into account that his words would have the exact opposite effect. The moment he finished speaking, Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie, and Jessie in one voice expressed extreme concern for his pitiful condition. Noticing the sympathetic and anxious gazes of the girls, Alex immediately heard in his head Dean's ironic voice, which with a venomous smirk reminded him: since he himself had cooked up this mess with his "mortal weakness," now let him deal with it himself.

Casting a gloomy glance at Dean sitting opposite and smiling broadly, Alex repeated aloud that he would feel better very soon. However, even after repeated assurances the girls continued to look at him with sincere concern. Even Barret, Wedge, and Biggs frowned gloomily, frantically thinking how they could help their comrade.

Disapprovingly shaking his muzzle, Alex decided not to comment on anything at all anymore. He understood perfectly that in the current situation the most reasonable thing was simply to leave everything as it was, and a little later unnoticed return to his normal human form and visually show that he was safe and sound.

To Alex's great fortune, the night train approached the platform very timely, turning out to be absolutely empty. Finding himself in the spacious car, Alex casually sat on Aerith's lap, continuing to absorb her tender strokes with pleasure. In such moments Alex did not even try to deny that caresses were, perhaps, the best privilege for the entire time of his stay in a cat's body.

Joyfully swinging his tail from side to side, Alex brought the smoking pipe to his teeth and again took a deep drag. Very quickly the entire car filled with dense, thick smoke from his magical tobacco, so that from outside it seemed as if a genuine impenetrable fog had risen inside.

"Kid, can you at least not smoke in the car?! Because of you you can't see a damn thing in here already!" Barret grumbled in an irritated tone, furiously waving his massive arm to disperse the dense gray cloud.

"If you don't like something—go and open a window. And in general, shut up," Alex answered with a bold smirk and sniper-like exhaled an even ring of smoke right into Barret's face.

"Damn you, I'll definitely strangle you someday!" Barret began continuously grumbling, heavily rising from his seat to open the nearest window in the car.

"Get in line. And in general, the smoke from my tobacco doesn't stink at all and carries no harm. So stop whining," Alex parried with a caustic smirk and sweetly rubbed his muzzle against Aerith's warm palm.

"And it really doesn't stink at all! And it smells, by the way, very pleasantly… Only there's still too much smoke from it," Jessie intervened, embarrassed chuckling, and also rose to open another window and let the fog out.

"It is what it is," Alex responded in an absolutely carefree tone, exhaling yet another cloud of smoke and slightly tilting his muzzle to the side to finally give the enthusiastic Yuffie the long-awaited opportunity to stroke him behind the ear.

Having received the long-awaited opportunity to stroke Alex, Yuffie did not waste a single second: she immediately picked the cat up into her arms and unceremoniously transferred him onto her lap. Feeling how he was continuously being lifted and lowered, Alex only sighed doomfully. But then followed something that no self-respecting cat loves with all his heart. Yuffie began stroking him too intensely and chaotically, and at the end even began sincerely rubbing her face against his fluffy fur on the head.

Feeling how his skin was time after time tangibly pulled in all directions, Alex could only sigh wearily, suppressing with the last of his strength the boiling irritation. Having endured a couple of minutes of such merciless and not the most tender caress, Alex felt how Yuffie in a surge of feelings pressed him too tightly to her chest.

Sighing heavily once more, the cat completely lost any desire to resist or move. Before finally relaxing, with a quick, practiced motion he hid the gilded smoking pipe back into his magical backpack.

Only after that did Alex allow himself to completely soften and closed his eyes. He had already forgotten that in a cat's body he was overcome by a phenomenal attack of pitch-black laziness the moment he froze in one place a little longer than usual. Not even a couple of seconds passed before Alex was already soundly asleep in Yuffie's arms, which brought her herself into indescribable delight.

Gradually the tension in the car subsided, and everyone else also relaxed, surrendering to the long-awaited rest. Only finding themselves in complete, peaceful silence did the group begin to truly realize how crazy and eventful this day had been, and how much they had had to endure.

Feeling irresistible fatigue, Biggs and Wedge quickly fell asleep, not even noticing that they had fallen asleep leaning their shoulders against each other. Jessie soon also dozed off, and she quietly drifted off to sleep, trustingly laying her head on the shoulder of the already sleeping Tifa. Even the hyperactive Yuffie quieted down in a matter of minutes, tightly and carefully pressing the fluffy body of the sleeping Alex to herself.

Barret did not escape the common fate: he leaned back against the seat, wearily closed his eyes, and sank into a deep sleep. Only Dean and Claudia were not sleeping at this late hour. Dean quietly smirked, looking at funny videos on the screen in the company of his pet Tonberry named Steve.

Claudia, for her part, sat a little aside, thoughtfully peering through the dark window of the car at the rapidly flashing lights of the underground tunnel. Sitting next to Yuffie, Aerith stretched out a hand and very tenderly, barely touching, stroked the sleeping Alex on the fluffy ear, deeply thinking about those inevitable events that awaited their group ahead.

And while all the members of the group rested in their own ways, recovering their strength after the crazy day, the train smoothly approached the Slums of the Seventh Sector. Only when a piercing arrival signal sounded in the car, followed by the loud hissing of the opened doors, did the friends one after another begin to open their eyes. Opening his eyelids, Biggs first of all unceremoniously pushed the sleeping Wedge away from himself, who had managed to leave an impressive puddle of drool right on his shoulder.

Somehow suppressing the feeling of disgust, Biggs carefully wiped the wet spot and a couple of times tangibly patted Wedge on the plump belly, pulling his friend out of the embrace of Morpheus. Wearily peeling open his eyes, Wedge first of all wiped the drool flowing down his chin and only after that looked around, trying to figure out where they were. Tifa and Jessie woke up simultaneously.

Synchronously rubbing their sticky eyes, the girls with relief noticed that the train had already arrived at the final station of the Slums of the Seventh Sector. Rising from her seat, Tifa approached Barret and lightly pushed him on the shoulder. Feeling the light push, Barret immediately sharply jumped up from his seat, instantly folding the fingers of his cyber-arm into the form of a gun.

Seeing before him only the sleepy friends and the empty car, Barret sighed with relief and rubbed his face with his palms, trying to brush off the remnants of drowsiness. The last one who still had not deigned to wake up remained Yuffie, who had comfortably settled on the seat, tightly pressing to herself the still soundly sleeping Alex. Slightly chuckling, Aerith stretched out an index finger and began systematically poking Yuffie right in the side.

After a couple of tangible pokes Yuffie began comically wriggling until she finally came to herself. Opening her eyes, she first of all bestowed upon Aerith a maximally offended, childish gaze. Smiling sweetly in response, Aerith carefully took the sleeping black cat from Yuffie's embrace and rose to her feet. Leaving the car as a friendly company, the squad looked around, with satisfaction noticing that in the slums the bright light was still burning.

"Oh, home sweet home! I didn't even think I'd miss this place so much after just one day of absence," Biggs said, chuckling, and stretched sweetly, stepping onto the platform.

"Couldn't have said it better. And most importantly—we still have light down below, while up above it's better not to look at all at what's left of the Mako Reactor," Biggs added with a cheerful smile, developing the thought and pointing a finger at the monumental Plate towering over their heads.

"And that means only one thing!" Barret responded with a wide smirk in a bass voice, first running down the stairs from the platform.

"What exactly?" Tifa inquired with a sincere smile, unhurriedly walking next to the entire group and folding her hands behind her back.

"This is our next grand victory! And if we continue moving in exactly the same spirit, we'll change all of Midgar!" Barret announced in an enthusiastic tone, emotionally spreading his arms to the sides and casting a gaze over the slums stretching in the distance.

"Right! We've taken yet another step closer to victory!" Biggs picked up enthusiastically, victoriously raising a fist over his head.

"HOORAY-Y-Y!" Jessie and Wedge shouted simultaneously, with delight throwing their fists to the sky after Biggs.

Hearing the enthusiastic cries of her friends, Tifa laughed softly and also victoriously raised a fist over her head, joining the celebration of their common success. Unable to hold back, Yuffie immediately jumped up to Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs and enthusiastically raised her little fist to the sky, not forgetting to loudly boast about how much useful she had done for this victory.

Watching the rejoicing company, Dean slightly smirked, once again becoming convinced of a simple truth: hanging out with this crazy group was far more pleasant than leading his previous life. It seemed sincerely wonderful to him to be part of something like this—where one didn't need to worry every second that the world was about to collide with yet another inevitable apocalypse or that some creature thirsting to destroy everything would crawl out from who knows where again.

Claudia, standing a little aside, observed what was happening with a calm, thoughtful gaze. Even though she was in no hurry to join the turbulent celebration, in the depths of her soul she still already felt herself an integral part of this rather strange but warm company.

Aerith with a warm smile also raised a fist over her head, softly chuckling together with everyone. Knowledge of future tragic events often deprived her of night sleep, forcing her time after time to suffer from the thought that predetermined fate was impossible to change. But seeing how right before her eyes history was beginning to go according to a completely different scenario, Aerith felt an incredible, long-forgotten relief in her chest.

From all this loud noise Alex finally fully woke up. Stretching, he wearily rubbed his fluffy face right against Aerith's chest, for which he immediately received a light but tangible educational flick on the muzzle. Feeling the poke, Alex looked at Aerith with an indignant sleepy gaze while she strictly threatened him with an index finger.

"Don't even think of taking advantage of the moment and your soft status, Mr. Cat," Aerith said with feigned strictness, playfully poking a finger into Alex's cat nose.

"Yeah… Then just don't make so much noise. I, by the way, honestly earned a little rest… And if you're so eager to celebrate the victory, better do it in the morning," Alex muttered, slightly yawning, and again began falling asleep, shamelessly burying his forehead into Aerith's chest.

"Eh, and where has your shame gone, mister?" Aerith asked with a sigh, looking down at Alex in dismay, who again completely unceremoniously nestled against her chest.

"No idea… Maybe I lost it somewhere along the way… As soon as I find it—I'll definitely let you know…" Alex muttered in a sleepy, barely intelligible whisper, finally sinking into a deep sleep.

Looking at Alex, who again carefreely fell asleep burying his fluffy muzzle into her chest, Aerith sighed softly and tenderly ran her fingers through his fur. She knew perfectly how complex, dangerous, and exhausting the ritual of awakening and summoning a guardian spirit was in itself. But she could not even imagine that someone was capable of physically embodying into such a spirit and becoming one with it.

In her deep conviction, this battle had required colossal concentration and colossal strength from Alex, since he preferred to literally sleep without waking just to recover as soon as possible instead of celebrating with the others. Aerith did not want to voice these thoughts aloud, but in the depths of her soul she sincerely hoped that Alex would manage to fully recover by tomorrow. For the events that were destined to unfold tomorrow evening would inevitably set in motion a chain of irreversible consequences.

Sighing quietly once more, Aerith more carefully pressed Alex in cat form to herself and hurried after the others. Walking along the familiar streets of the slums, Aerith turned her face to the night air, raised her gaze to the structure of the Plate towering over them, and slightly frowned.

She clearly felt: the coming catastrophic event would inevitably happen, since the Gray Whisperers had taken a desperate step and set Bahamut on Alex—something that under no circumstances should have happened in the Fifth Sector. Walking nearby, Dean timely noticed Aerith's gloomy, deeply thoughtful gaze. He lightly patted Aerith on the shoulder, attracting her attention. When she turned her head, Dean questioningly raised his chin, wordlessly asking if everything was all right with her.

Aerith merely gifted him a soft, slightly tired smile and shook her head, showing that she was simply overworked. Dean, of course, himself perfectly understood what terrible scenario everything was heading toward. He again encouragingly patted Aerith on the shoulder, wordlessly making her understand: he and Alex would figure everything out together and would never in the world allow death to threaten innocent people. Brightly smiling, Aerith softly nodded her head, showing that she believed in it. Very soon the group finally reached the doors of the "Seventh Heaven" bar and stopped together right on the threshold.

"Well, here we are home! Now let's scatter to our dens to rest, and tomorrow we'll celebrate properly!" Barret announced with a wide smirk, turning to the group and proprietorially resting his hands on his sides.

"You know, Barret, even if you suggested lighting up right now, I would still refuse. I'm mortally tired… Another couple of minutes, and I'll collapse to sleep right here on the threshold," Jessie responded with a sleepy smile, covering her mouth with her palm during yet another yawn.

"Exactly the same! And I still need to urgently feed my fluffy babies. I really hope they didn't take offense too much that their daddy wasn't home for a whole day," Wedge muttered, rubbing his face from the overwhelming drowsiness, thinking at that moment exclusively about his cats.

"We all right now vitally need a full sleep. Especially—someone," Tifa said in a soft tone, looking with warmth at Alex, who continued to serenely sleep in Aerith's arms.

"Then until tomorrow… Another little bit, and I'll definitely pass out on the go," Biggs summarized, yawning sweetly, and first headed toward his house, while Jessie and Wedge unhurriedly followed him to their homes.

"Good night to everyone! Claudia, you definitely come tomorrow too!" Tifa said goodbye with a kind smile, softly waving to the departing friends.

"Of course I'll come. I still haven't even been paid for today's work," Claudia answered, calmly nodding her head, and turned toward the local dormitory.

"I'm with you! I still need to pick up Marlene from Marla," Barret hurriedly spoke, taking several quick steps and hastily attaching himself after Dean, Aerith, and Claudia.

To be continued...

(Well, this marks the final return to the Seventh Sector. What follows is a rather unpleasant chain of events. As I've mentioned before, certain global changes tied to fate are inevitable—there is simply no escaping them. You, as readers, need to understand that minor events rarely have an immediate impact; instead, their effects play out over the long haul. In worlds like this, where everything hinges on destiny, nothing can be changed overnight without drastic intervention—without actually rewriting fate itself. And let's not forget that such actions can easily backfire. But I think you get what I'm driving at. Anyway, the game is written, and I'm off to get something to eat. Peace, love, and—someone has kidnapped my editor; bring them back, and no harm will come to you.)

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