Chapter 812 - 811: A Pleasant Morning, but Not for Everyone."

Having walked along the quiet night streets of the Slums of the Seventh Sector and finally reached the local dormitory, Aerith warmly said goodbye to Barret. He immediately headed toward the room of the proprietress of this establishment to pick up his little Marlene, whom Marla had been looking after all day. Barret slightly nodded his head in farewell and carefully, barely touching, knocked on the door, trying not to accidentally wake his daughter if she had already been asleep for a long time.

Climbing the steps to the second floor after Dean and Claudia, Aerith heard how Marla from the threshold began whispering a scolding at Barret for showing up at such a pitch-black hour of the night instead of calmly picking up Marlene in the morning. Quietly chuckling at this situation, Aerith affectionately stroked Alex in cat form, who continued to sleep soundly in her arms, and stopped right at the doors of her room.

Lowering her gaze onto the sleeping fluffy Alex, Aerith frantically pondered how she could properly and more gently say that she would gladly take care of him while he recovered his strength. Turning her head toward Dean, Aerith saw that he had already approached his door and was just inserting the key into the keyhole. Trying to find the right words so that her offer would not sound somehow ambiguous, Aerith heard the click of the lock opening. Dean slowly stepped into his room without even giving her a chance to properly open her mouth.

"Have fun, kids, and don't make too much noise in there… Oh yeah, one more thing! Don't do anything weird with him, he's still a cat after all. It's nauseating just to imagine! Good luck!" Dean suddenly peeked out from behind the doorframe with the widest smirk on his face, cheerfully declared, and raised a thumbs-up toward the stunned Aerith.

"It's not like that at all! I just sincerely want to help him recover faster!" Aerith shouted embarrassedly, causing her face to instantly flush a deep crimson, and she herself pressed the sleeping Alex even tighter to herself.

"Yeah, been there, done that—we know that 'help' of yours. I've been 'helped' like that more than once in my time too. A couple of times it was even twins… Heh-heh-heh," Dean retorted, chuckling, bestowing upon Aerith the most cheerful gaze possible and demonstratively slowly closing the door without taking his sly eyes off her.

"Pervert!" Aerith cried out with even greater embarrassment, flushing to the tips of her ears and bestowing upon Dean the most offended look.

"It's not me who's planning to press up against a cat who's actually an adult guy all night long. And so who's the real pervert in this situation after that?" Dean responded in a mocking tone from the crack and finally slammed the door behind himself, triumphantly leaving the last word for himself.

Continuing to stand with a face crimson from embarrassment at the doors of her room, Aerith suddenly heard another quiet sound of a door opening and slowly shifted her gaze straight ahead. Her eyes immediately crossed with Claudia's cold eyes, who was looking at her with an incredibly eloquent, expressive gaze. From this heavy, fully understanding look Aerith coughed embarrassedly into her fist and began frantically and very quickly justifying herself.

She tried with all her might to convey that she was not going to do absolutely anything strange while Alex was in a cat's body. However, the more phrases she produced in her defense, the stupider and more suspicious her words sounded. Claudia with an imperturbable, literally stone face listened to this entire chaotic stream of justifications, serenely nodded, and silently stepped into her room, slamming the door.

Left in complete solitude on the balcony of the second floor, Aerith sighed heavily. In the depths of her soul she understood that she simply needed to keep quiet and without extra words go into her room with Alex in her arms, without entering into dialogue with anyone at all. Quietly laughing at the absurd situation in which she had accidentally found herself through Dean's teasing, Aerith finally turned the key, opened the door of her room, and calmly entered inside.

Finding herself in the premises and turning on the soft light, Aerith first of all approached the bed and with maximum caution laid the sleeping Alex on the soft blanket. Finding himself on the featherbed, Alex immediately habitually curled up into a tight fluffy ball and continued to sleep sweetly, completely unconcerned about what was happening around. Standing a little by the headboard, Aerith observed the sleeping cat with a sincere, warm smile.

In the next moment she yawned sweetly, feeling how a powerful surge of accumulated fatigue from the day and irresistible drowsiness was covering her. Taking off her favorite red jacket and carefully hanging it on the chair standing nearby, Aerith carefully climbed onto the bed and lay down next to Alex. After looking a little more at the peacefully snoring fluffy cat, Aerith cunningly narrowed her eyes, stretched out her arms, and tenderly pulled him to herself in tight embraces.

"This way you definitely won't run away from me if you accidentally wake up earlier," Aerith whispered with a cheerful and slightly sly intonation, pressing the sleeping Alex in cat form more tightly to herself.

"I'm just… too lazy…" Alex suddenly muttered in a quiet, pitch-black sleepy voice, burying his nose right into Aerith's palm.

"Oh, so it turns out you're still not asleep?" Aerith asked again in a barely audible, affectionate whisper, smoothly running her fingers through his soft cat fur.

In response Aerith heard only quiet, measured breathing. Slightly leaning forward, she saw that Alex was actually still soundly asleep, and before that had woken up only for one short moment. Softly smiling, Aerith tenderly embraced the fluffy cat body and pulled him closer to herself. Closing her eyelids, she began slowly falling asleep, and already a couple of moments later Aerith was peacefully sleeping, comfortably pressing Alex to her chest.

The room smoothly sank into a deep, peaceful silence in which only the rhythmic breathing of the sleeping Aerith could be heard. And while Aerith was in the realm of dreams, her palms unexpectedly began to glow with a soft, emerald-green light that smoothly enveloped Alex in a shining cocoon. Feeling a strange warmth around himself, Alex slowly peeled open his cat eyes and slightly yawned, looking around. Rubbing his muzzle with a paw, he noticed that his body was completely enveloped in a soft green haze emanating right from Aerith's palms.

Slightly tilting his muzzle to the side, Alex quickly figured out exactly what was happening. Aerith on a subconscious level sincerely wanted to help him heal—and for this her body had automatically activated the ancient power of the Cetra so that his supposedly crippled body would recover as soon as possible. Wearily shaking his muzzle, Alex carefully turned over onto his other side and decided right now to silently transform back into his usual human form.

His body for a short moment flared with a weak light, after which he gently embraced Aerith around the waist and carefully pulled her into his arms, and then again sank into sleep. Alex had no intention of stopping Aerith in her sincere desire to take care of him, even despite the fact that he was in complete and absolute order.

At least her magical impulse provided a flawless and very logical justification for how he had managed to heal so incredibly quickly from his "mortal weakness." Finding herself in strong and warm embraces, Aerith smiled sweetly through her sleep and embraced Alex even more tightly in response, comfortably burying her nose right into his neck.

Morning smoothly arrived, however the members of the group continued to sleep soundly after yesterday's day that had been incredibly saturated with dangerous events. And no one had any intention of waking up in the near future—even Tifa, who was famous for the greatest responsibility in the group and usually got up earlier than everyone. But now she had to involuntarily suffer from the incredibly strong embraces of Yuffie, who in unconscious sleep had wrapped around her exactly like a tenacious octopus.

Barret, for his part, had sweetly fallen asleep in a soft armchair right in the room of his little Marlene. Dean had frankly passed out from boredom, dangling an arm off the bed and still clutching an empty whiskey glass in his fingers. The Tonberry named Steve, unlike his new master, had no intention of sleeping at all: he enthusiastically continued watching a series on the screen of Dean's smartphone, while appetizingly chewing night snacks. Jessie was serenely sleeping in her house, which she shared with the other local girls.

And even when her neighbors began actively getting ready for daytime work, Jessie did not even stir from the noise being raised around. Biggs was catching up on sleep right in his usual work clothes, not even bothering to change before sleep, and now was snoring loudly throughout the house. Wedge, for his part, was peacefully sleeping while being literally buried under the bodies of his own cats, and along the way was suffering from a slight feeling of suffocation because of the weight of the animals piled on his chest.

Claudia likewise continued to sleep deeply, recovering her strength after the crazy events of the previous day and warming herself with the thought that for today she had so far no orders planned at all. Continuing to catch up on sleep, Claudia suddenly saw a rather strange, surreal dream whose meaning she could not grasp at all.

It seemed to her as if she was falling somewhere for a long time until she found herself in an unknown and alien place. Barely feeling her own body and almost having no ability to control it, Claudia with difficulty managed to make out the surrounding environment.

Around stretched a boundless white space in which there existed absolutely nothing and no one except herself—it seemed that even her own thoughts inside her skull had completely fallen silent. Trying somehow to put her mind in order and realize where she was, Claudia suddenly heard the unhurried sound of footsteps slowly approaching her from the side.

"Hey, Chick, are you okay?" an unfamiliar and at the same time painfully familiar voice of a young guy unexpectedly rang out right next to Claudia.

"Yes… I'm fine," Claudia answered, slowly and hesitantly nodding her head.

"So this time we managed to get by without a single scratch…" the guy said in a calm, slightly thoughtful tone, stopping right in front of Claudia.

"This time?" Claudia asked again, barely raising her gaze.

"But now you didn't even have to fall. Everything around really has started to change…" the guy continued in the same deep, reasoned tone, slowly walking around Claudia in a circle.

"What exactly has started to change?" Claudia asked again, straining with all her might to figure out where exactly she was and with whom she was conducting this strange dialogue.

"Right now that's completely unimportant… Just keep confidently walking this same path. And then… You'll definitely be able to change what we in our time could not change," the young guy answered and trustingly placed a warm palm on Claudia's shoulder.

"Who—we?" Claudia continued to probe, desperately trying to make out the interlocutor's face and understand who was talking to her.

"Someday you'll definitely learn the answer to your question… And now wake up, Claudia. And try to change what we failed to rewrite," the young guy summarized in a soft, encouraging tone and lightly patted Claudia on the shoulder.

Tired of hearing only vague hints and unclear answers, Claudia with enormous difficulty managed to restore partial control over her numb body. Slowly turning her head, she saw painfully familiar clothing. Squinting from the blinding white light, Claudia with effort began raising her head, passionately wishing to make out the one who was talking to her. And the moment she directed her gaze higher, she finally managed to examine the outlines of the young guy's face.

Squinting from the bright radiance, Claudia experienced a strange, unlike-anything-else feeling—as if she was looking at herself, but at the same time before her stood a completely different personality. Noticing the extreme degree of surprise on Claudia's face, the young guy slightly smiled.

Seeing this warm smile, Claudia already opened her mouth to ask in direct text why he was so unimaginably similar to her and what his words actually meant. But before she managed to utter even a sound, throughout the snow-white space the piercing sound of cracking glass rang out.

Turning around, the young guy smoothly spun in place, turning his back to Claudia, and she immediately noticed her own Buster Sword resting behind his shoulders. Becoming even more confused about what was happening, Claudia shifted her gaze into the distance and with horror saw how dark cracks were rapidly spreading across the white void. From them a viscous black liquid was abundantly seeping, emitting a dense, deathly fog.

Following that another deafening crack thundered, and the white space partially collapsed. Peering into the formed impenetrable darkness, Claudia heard another dry sound of footsteps coming from the very abyss. Intending to finally figure out this devilry, Claudia saw how the young guy with a deft motion drew the Buster Sword from behind his back and resolutely directed its blade straight toward the advancing darkness.

"Good luck… You'll definitely need it on your further path. Change what we could not change," the young guy said, for a moment turning his head toward Claudia and softly smiling.

The moment the guy turned around, Claudia this time managed to examine his face in all details. From what she saw her eyes widened for a second: before her stood her own features, but only in a male incarnation, and in her consciousness the name clearly surfaced—Cloud. Completely losing the thread of what was happening, Claudia suddenly felt how her body was being forcefully pulled backward.

Trying to break free from the invisible grip, she noticed that White Whisperers had entangled her and were pulling her after them. Feeling how her consciousness was rapidly fading, Claudia managed to see how Cloud with a furious surge rushed at the terrible figure that had emerged from the depths of the darkness. And right before the moment when her eyelids finally closed, Claudia managed to make out Sephira—unlike her usual appearance, this eternal enemy in this strange place appeared in the form of a man.

And following that she heard how Cloud called this man Sephiroth. The last thing Claudia managed to hear before her mind finally sank into darkness was the deafening ring of clashing blades and an arrogant, soul-chilling male laughter.

In the next moment Claudia sharply opened her eyes and instantly jumped off the bed, on autopilot clenching her fingers on the comfortable handle of the Buster Sword. Breathing heavily and gripping the weapon, she suddenly saw two White Whisperers silently hovering right in the middle of her room. The White Whisperers themselves, noticing that Claudia had woken up and pointed the sword at them, slightly shuddered and began frantically flying off in different directions, instantly dissolving into the air.

Only when the uninvited guests had finally left her abode did Claudia heavily sigh and powerlessly sit down on the very edge of the bed. Rubbing her eyes with her palm, she tried with all her might to recall exactly what she had just dreamed. But all she managed to extract from the slipping memories were only fragments of strange phrases about how she needed to necessarily continue walking the same path.

Completely confused about the anomalies happening around her, Claudia shifted her gaze to the small electronic clock standing on the table and with surprise discovered that the dial already showed ten o'clock in the morning.

"I don't understand a damn thing… Fine, I need to at least collect my payment," Claudia muttered in a lost tone, rising from the bed and with a habitual motion putting the Buster Sword behind her back.

Not wanting to clutter her head anymore with unnecessary reflections to which she would still not be able to get clear answers right now, Claudia approached the doors and once again carefully cast a glance over her room, wishing to make sure that everything was in order. The fact that these strange creatures were suddenly materializing in her abode for the second time in a row, after whose appearance something out of the ordinary usually happened, seemed far too suspicious.

Opening the door and going out onto the common balcony of the second floor, Claudia with relief noticed that absolutely nothing was happening on the street: the residents of the slums were peacefully going about their usual everyday affairs. Fully convinced that everything around was calm, Claudia averted her gaze and headed toward the room in which, as far as she remembered, Alex and Dean had stayed.

Approaching the needed door and lightly knocking on the wooden surface with her knuckles, Claudia immediately heard from inside the loud clinking of falling glass bottles. Following that a dull sound rang out, as if something very heavy had crashed onto the floor, after which an immediately followed a rather colorful and juicy tirade from Dean about what exactly he thought of this entire situation and of early guests in particular.

Slightly raising an eyebrow and listening to this impressive stream of curses, Claudia reasonably stepped aside so that she would not accidentally be hit by the opening door. Barely had she taken a step back when the door noisily swung open. On the threshold appeared Dean, looking as if he had been continuously kicked with feet the entire time he had been trying to sleep. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Dean with difficulty managed to make out Claudia. He suspiciously peeked out the door, checking whether anyone else had come with her, but finding no one except Claudia herself, he again shifted his attention to her.

"What did you come for? If you urgently need Alex, then he's not here," Dean muttered, slightly yawning, and lazily pointed a finger at the door of Aerith's room located next door.

"I came exclusively for my payment," Claudia explained in a calm, even tone, habitually folding her arms on her chest and looking at Dean with a strict gaze.

"Ah, that… Fine, come in then. Honestly, right now I don't feel like waking that idiot up for such a trifle for the life of me," Dean nodded understandingly and waved his hand, inviting her to come inside.

Entering the premises after Dean, Claudia from the threshold saw dozens of empty beer bottles chaotically lying on the floor and an entire mountain of crumpled packs from night snacks. Calmly ignoring and in no way commenting on all this picturesque mess, Claudia shifted her gaze to Dean. He unhurriedly approached the bed, unceremoniously lifted Tonberry Steve by the hood and transferred him onto the table.

Steve himself did not react at all to the fact that he had been unceremoniously moved in space and continued to watch the series on the screen of Dean's smartphone with rapture. Dean himself had already thrown the crumpled blanket aside and stuck his head under the bed, pulling out from there two tightly packed bags.

Setting them on the bed and with a crack unzipping the zippers, Dean thoughtfully stared at the neat packs of gil, vainly trying to recall exactly how much Alex had promised to pay Claudia for her services. Having failed to extract the exact sum from his hungover head, Dean simply scooped up a solid stack—clearly more than one hundred fifty thousand gil—and grabbed a plump bag packed to the brim with various Materia.

"Here's your gil. And this is Materia. Hell knows what Alex was actually planning to dump on you, so here, choose yourself what you need, or take the whole thing entirely. I definitely have no need for this shiny crap," Dean said in a completely lazy tone, unceremoniously placing the packs of gil right into Claudia's palm and soullessly tossing the bag with Materia at her feet.

"I don't need such a quantity of Materia," Claudia said, looking at Dean with an absolutely empty, emotionless gaze.

"Then take exactly as much as you need! Want it—take it, don't want it—leave it, I couldn't care less. And if something doesn't suit you, go and settle things directly with Alex. Just keep in mind: his morning look is far from the most pleasant sight in the world if he's cruelly woken up," Dean responded with a mocking smirk, unhurriedly pouring himself whiskey into a glass and taking the first unhurried sip.

Looking at the tightly packed bag with Materia at her feet, Claudia shifted her gaze to Dean, who was heavily sitting on the edge of the bed and wearily rubbing his hungover face. Quietly sighing, Claudia decided to take only a few spheres—exactly as they had originally agreed with Alex. Lifting the heavy bag and setting it on the table, Claudia unzipped the zipper.

Seeing before herself an entire heap of spheres shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, Claudia did not even know whether she should somehow comment on such wealth. Reflecting on which Materia exactly might come in handy for her in the nearest future, Claudia decided to completely trust her own intuition. Stretching a hand toward the contents, she extracted a green Fire Materia and a blue Support Materia.

Putting the valuable spheres into the belt bag behind her back, Claudia carefully fastened the lock and was already about to leave. Heading toward the exit, Claudia thought that the best decision right now would be to take a couple of easy orders from the local residents so as not to sit idle until the evening. And just in time she remembered that the day before a young guy with gray hair had offered her work. As far as she remembered, this task was directly connected with collecting research data on local monsters.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Dean took another unhurried sip of whiskey and looked at the departing Claudia. Thinking about what he could occupy himself with further after such an early awakening, Dean clearly understood: simply sitting in a room littered with bottles and dumbly watching a series had already frankly bored him.

Taking another sip, Dean decided that it was quite possible to go out into the fresh air and intercept a couple of small orders from the locals in order to somehow entertain himself and while away the dragging time. For, as his rich life experience suggested to him, the best way to distract oneself from bad thoughts was to go hunting and with pleasure finish off a couple of creatures. Finishing the remnants of whiskey from the glass in one go, Dean finally determined his plans for the morning.

"Are you going to take an order right now? Or will you still trudge straight to 'Seventh Heaven'?" Dean inquired, with a light knock setting the empty glass back on the table.

"I'm going to take an order. A guy named Chadley offered work just yesterday," Claudia answered, turning her head back and already holding the door handle with her fingers.

"Then I'm going with you. I have absolutely nothing to do anyway, and Alex will sleep for at least several more hours," Dean said enthusiastically, rising from the bed and on the go grabbing his usual jacket.

"Hmm… Fine. Payment for the work we split strictly in half," Claudia said thoughtfully, nodding her head and carefully looking at the unexpected partner.

"Leave all the gil for yourself, we have money coming out of our ears as it is. You can just purely symbolically buy me and Steve a bottle of beer each and a couple of packs of snacks," Dean responded with a wide smirk, deftly lifting Tonberry Steve by the hood and with a habitual motion transferring him right onto his shoulder.

Looking at Dean, Claudia slowly nodded her head, seeing absolutely no reasons to refuse such company. Grabbing his pistol and the holster with Cain's Blade, Dean was fully ready to set off on a small adventure in order to while away the time with pleasure. Going out onto the street together with Claudia, Dean first of all approached the doors of Aerith's room.

Turning the key in the lock and locking his friends tightly from the outside, Dean with a mocking smirk put it deep into his pocket, sincerely considering that Alex would definitely not need any keys in the near future. And before finally leaving, Dean provocatively and loudly slapped his palm on the door of Aerith's room, after which with laughter he ran down the steps. Observing this entire childish prank, Claudia merely shook her head with a sigh and unhurriedly began descending after him.

At the same time the deeply sleeping Alex and Aerith reacted absolutely in no way to the sharp and loud blow on the door—they did not even give the slightest sign of imminent awakening. Aerith merely exhaled sweetly through her nose and pressed even more strongly against Alex, burying her nose right into his chest and shoving her cool palms deep under his T-shirt, lightly running her nails along his firm back.

Alex, for his part, without waking up, buried his nose into Aerith's dark crown, with pleasure inhaling the fresh aroma of flowers with which her hair smelled so pleasantly. After another couple of hours of deep, restorative sleep, Aerith was the first to begin gradually waking up.

Barely opening her eyelids, Aerith first of all saw right in front of her face the dense black fabric of a T-shirt. Trying in her half-asleep state to figure out where she was and what was happening, Aerith slowly rose onto her elbow, carefully extracting her hand from under Alex's clothing, and with light curiosity looked around.

Lowering her gaze lower, she with pleasant surprise discovered that Alex was tightly embracing her around the waist, and her own slender legs were literally intertwined with his legs. Slightly narrowing her eyes, Aerith looked at Alex's peaceful sleeping face, and in her head a genius plan for his immediate awakening instantly matured.

Continuing to smile cunningly, Aerith tenderly placed a warm palm on his cheek and affectionately stroked it. Noticing that from such a tender touch Alex did not even stir, Aerith joyfully smiled and decided to move on to the second stage of her flawless plan. Slowly leaning toward Alex's very face, Aerith slyly narrowed her eyes and tremblingly, tenderly kissed him on the lips. Slightly pulling away and making sure that he was still soundly asleep, Aerith leaned down again and repeated the kiss.

Gradually becoming more and more carried away by this pleasant process, Aerith herself did not notice how her palms began involuntarily wandering over his body until they again found themselves deep under Alex's T-shirt. Alex himself by this moment had already long managed to wake up and was lying with closed eyes, sincerely wondering why absolutely all the girls from his close circle developed a strange habit of harassing him precisely when he was trying to rest.

"And a very good morning to you too…" Alex suddenly said with a smirk right after Aerith for a short moment pulled away from his lips.

"Um… Good morning," Aerith answered in an embarrassed tone, being caught off guard, only now realizing that Alex was not sleeping at all.

"I see you're incredibly cheerful from the very morning," Alex said with a chuckle and a light sigh, adjusting the hiked-up T-shirt and slowly rising on the bed.

"And… how long have you actually not been sleeping?" Aerith asked with densely reddened cheeks, intently and warily observing the expression on his face.

"Roughly from the very moment when you made a cunning attempt to completely pull my T-shirt off me… Something tells me: another couple of minutes, and I would have been left lying before you in nothing but boxers," Alex said, slightly chuckling, adjusting his tousled hair and turning his head toward Aerith.

"I wasn't going to undress you at all! I just… just wanted to carefully adjust your T-shirt! Yes, exactly, I just wanted to adjust it!" Aerith began frantically justifying herself with even greater embarrassment, trying to invent at least some convincing reason for why her hands had begun wandering so shamelessly.

"Yeah, I absolutely believe you. You sincerely wanted to help me. So once again, good morning," Alex answered, still chuckling, tenderly stroking Aerith on her flushed cheek, and then leaned down and kissed her with feeling right on the lips.

Feeling the soft and sincere kiss, Aerith joyfully squinted, impulsively wrapping her arms around Alex's neck. Considering that since Alex had already fully woken up, she no longer had any need to resort to cunning tricks, Aerith moved to decisive actions. Giving Alex not a single chance to free himself, Aerith with a deft motion again toppled him onto his back right onto the bed and completely took the initiative into her own hands.

She had absolutely no intention of refusing such a wonderful and pleasant morning, even despite the fact that already in the evening they would most likely be facing an extremely unpleasant and dangerous event. Sincerely enjoying the prolonged session of tender kisses, Aerith sat on top of Alex, completely depriving him of even the slightest possibility of thinking about escape. She desperately wanted this magical moment to last as long as possible, and she intended to squeeze the maximum pleasure out of it.

Finally finishing kissing Alex, Aerith sweetly smiled and relaxedly lay on top of him, trustingly resting her cheek against his cheek. Feeling how the Alex's warm palm measuredly stroked her along the back, Aerith slightly kicked her legs in the air and quietly began purring a tender, peaceful melody. Listening to this calm motif, Alex tenderly embraced Aerith around the waist, likewise deciding simply to enjoy the moment and not hurry anywhere.

Having lain like that a little more, Aerith slightly pulled away and with a mischievous smile on her face began affectionately stroking Alex's cheeks, with tenderness looking straight into his eyes. Then, cunningly narrowing her eyes, Aerith playfully squeezed Alex's lips with her fingers, making them look like a funny duck's beak. Unable to hold back from such a sight, she loudly and sincerely burst out laughing, after which she again tremblingly kissed him on the lips with the most joyful and happy smile.

"I see you've decided to have a full-program entertainment today?" Alex asked with a wide smirk, observing the shining Aerith from below.

"Of course! I just want with all my heart to enjoy every moment of my life… And you, have you seriously decided to interfere with me, mister?" Aerith answered, comfortably settling on Alex's stomach, and immediately playfully slapped her palms on his chest, pretentiously narrowing her eyes.

"Do I even dare refuse you in anything? I'm afraid if I try to object, you'll immediately cruelly thrash me with your magical battle staff," Alex said, chuckling, and lightly tickled Aerith in the area of the waist.

"Heh-heh-heh! And here you've guessed absolutely correctly, mister! So don't even think of making attempts at escape, or else I completely don't answer for myself. By the way, no one has ever run away from me yet!" Aerith answered, drowning in ringing laughter from the tickling, and leaned even closer to Alex's face.

"No-o-o, I'm catastrophically too lazy to run anywhere. Besides, I don't mind such pleasant hugs at all… Mmm, hugs are definitely very pleasant," Alex said, understandingly nodding his head, and slightly squeezed Aerith's rosy cheeks with his palms.

From such a sincere answer Aerith joyfully smiled and again tightly pressed her cheek against Alex's cheek, wrapping his neck in tight embraces. She was more than ready to gift him exactly as many hugs as he only wished. Burying her nose into his cheek, Aerith relievedly and deeply sighed, feeling how the sticky internal anxieties from the premonition of coming dark events gradually subsided and dissolved without a trace.

Trying not to think about anything bad, Aerith simply wanted to spend a little more time alone with Alex before they would inevitably have to head to "Seventh Heaven" to the rest of the guys. Despite her endless kindness to the surrounding world, Aerith right now sincerely wanted to be a tiny bit selfish—to take all of Alex's attention without remainder only for herself and no longer share it with anyone.

To be continued...

(I simply couldn't do without such a sweet scene before the events to come. And yes, I had to shoehorn an alternate timeline into the plot, since it's literally part of the remake and the next installment. I'll explain why a bit later. It's actually not that complicated; you can figure it out even without playing the video game or waiting for my future explanation. So, let's move on. Now it's time to make some food and get some rest. Peace, love, and—man, am I sleepy.)

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