Following Aerith to her house, Alex and Dean were quite surprised when they saw exactly where her dwelling was located. Alex had seen this house in the game before, but seeing it in real life evoked completely different, tangible sensations. He couldn't help but admit that this oasis looked truly mesmerizing. The area around Aerith's house was densely surrounded by a high rocky wall, creating a natural barrier from the outside world.
Behind the three-story building was a small waterfall that smoothly turned into a narrow stream of clean water flowing right through a well-kept flower garden. And completing this beautiful picture was a neat, cozy wooden house that was radically different from all the other half-destroyed buildings in the slum quarters.
Dean, looking at all this splendor, also experienced a slight shock. The first thing he thought was that this was truly a cozy and quiet place where one could live a peaceful life, if not for the shit happening on the other side of the rocks.
"So you really are something like a local princess here? Or what?" Dean couldn't help but ask, lowering his gaze to Aerith, who was already waiting for them below at the steps of the bridge.
"Don't exaggerate, what kind of princess! Heh-heh-heh… But thanks for the compliment anyway," Aerith waved it off shyly, hurriedly turning her back to Alex and Dean.
"It really is a nice place… And it smells good here," Alex nodded in agreement, taking a deep breath and distinctly feeling the pleasant, thick smell of flowers.
"I'm so glad you like it here! Let's go quickly, Mom is probably already waiting," Aerith responded in a cheerful tone, cheerfully beckoning Alex and Dean toward the front door.
Descending from the bridge, Alex and Dean followed Aerith to her house, but continued to warily look around, continuing to study the local landscape. Despite the fact that Dean didn't particularly like such flowery places, which seemed to him like pictures from some crappy fairy tale, he mentally admitted that this hidden corner was really good.
While they were examining the garden landscapes, Aerith had already reached the door of her house and insistently waved her hand at them, demanding that they hurry up. Seeing how persistently the girl was calling them, the guys stopped staring around and quickly approached her.
Grabbing the metal handle, Aerith turned to Alex and Dean, slightly narrowing her green eyes and clearly thinking about something. Alex tilted his head to the side in surprise, noticing her attentive, studying gaze. Nodding her head briefly to indicate that everything was fine, Aerith opened the door and grabbed Alex's hand again, literally dragging him inside the house.
"Mom, I'm home!" Aerith shouted ringingly, pulling Alex into the hallway.
"Welcome back, dear. You didn't get into any trouble? Tseng stopped by…" Elmyra responded, coming out of the kitchen and immediately stopping mid-sentence the moment she noticed that her daughter had brought two men with her.
Coming out of the kitchen, Elmyra saw her daughter bringing two guys, and this sight made her sincerely surprised. Slightly narrowing her eyes, she immediately began carefully examining the guests. Elmyra's gaze first fell on Dean, who was standing at the threshold with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket, with the face of a person who had been forcibly dragged to this place.
The next person on whom the mistress of the house focused was Alex. Looking at him, Elmyra narrowed her eyes even more, noticing how possessively Aerith was holding his arm. Seeing how close her daughter was to the young man, the woman raised an eyebrow in surprise. Knowing Aerith's character very well, Elmyra was completely sure that she would not let anyone near her without absolute, one hundred percent trust, and certainly would not hold someone's hand in such a way.
At that moment Elmyra really felt a lively interest in her daughter's companions, especially in Alex. And while she was studying them, the guys felt rather awkward under such an attentive, X-ray gaze. Dean felt as if he had come as a friend to his buddy's girlfriend's place and they had suddenly been caught by the strict mother.
Not knowing what to say, Alex lightly twitched his finger and imperceptibly poked Aerith in the side, demanding that she finally say something to break this silence. After all, despite the fact that he had many wives, he still felt rather strange during such a family acquaintance. Feeling the poke in her ribs, Aerith coughed slightly and jumped up to Elmyra with a wide smile.
"Meet them! This is my mom, Elmyra… And this is Alex and Dean, they're my bodyguards… And they're a little special," Aerith cheerfully spoke, introducing everyone to each other, after which she conspiratorially whispered the last words in her mother's ear.
"Good day, ma'am," Alex said with a smile, politely nodding his head, and Dean immediately nodded his head in greeting.
"So you were looking after her? I hope she didn't cause you any serious trouble?" Elmyra asked with a smile, clearly interested in what exactly her daughter had meant by her mysterious words.
"What trouble?! Am I trouble?! I've never caused any trouble in my life!" Aerith cried indignantly, resentfully beginning to tug at Elmyra's hand.
"Oh, you say, young lady. Shall I remind you what happened last time? How you played hide and seek with the children at the orphanage…" Elmyra began to list with a smile, turning her head to her daughter.
"Don't say that! That was a pure accident!" Aerith cried in panic, jumping to cover her mother's mouth with her palms.
Feeling her daughter's palms on her face, Elmyra looked at Aerith with a warm, cheerful gaze. In recent days she had been walking around completely without mood and even smiled only through force, but the sight of her revived daughter instantly lifted her mood as well. Shaking her head, Elmyra gave Aerith a stern look, making it clear that it was time for her to change out of her dusty clothes instead of stomping around in the hallway.
From the state of the dress alone, she perfectly understood that something serious had happened in the Slums. And knowing her daughter's secretive nature, Elmyra firmly decided to interrogate Alex and Dean while Aerith was busy in her room. Hearing her mother's words, Aerith lowered her gaze to her hem, covered with a layer of dust and dirt from the dump.
"Don't go anywhere… Especially you, Mister. You haven't forgotten about your valuable payment for your labors, have you?" Aerith said with a smile, briskly jumping up to Alex and demandingly poking him in the chest with her finger.
"If you mean the promised food and hot tea… Then I'll probably stay and not go anywhere," Alex replied with a chuckle, lazily nodding his head.
"I mean something else… But that too! And watch out, if you're not here when I return, I'll beat you with my stick," Aerith declared, narrowing her green eyes and on parting carefully poking Alex right in the nose with her finger.
"Don't worry, dear. I won't chase away your bodyguards, at least not until I feed them to their fill… And now run and change," Elmyra said with a smile, gently pushing her daughter toward the stairs.
Feeling herself being gently pushed toward the steps, Aerith pouted resentfully, slightly resisting her mother's actions. However, after resisting a bit for show, she smiled and quickly ran up the stairs to the second floor. Leaning out from behind the wooden railings, Aerith made a playful gesture with her fingers, making it clear that she was vigilantly watching Alex and that if he dared to leave, he would regret it.
Seeing this childish warning, Alex chuckled slightly and waved his hand at her, showing that he wasn't going anywhere. Squinting her eyes cutely one last time, Aerith began to go deeper into the corridor, continuing to look back at him until she finally disappeared around the corner. Elmyra, who had been carefully watching this scene, couldn't help but wonder what exactly extraordinary had happened in the Slums for her daughter to unconditionally trust two strangers she had met quite recently.
Shaking her head, she shifted her gaze to Alex and Dean, then smiled and suggested they sit at the table to calmly talk heart to heart. Not thinking of refusing such a timely offer, Alex and Dean obediently sat down on the chairs right opposite Elmyra.
Folding her hands in front of her, Elmyra looked at the guests attentively again and this time clearly noticed Alex's unique rainbow eyes, which she had simply ignored before because all her attention had been focused on her daughter's behavior. Looking into the guy's unusual pupils, Elmyra seriously thought about why Aerith had called these two special. Sighing heavily, she wearily rubbed her forehead with her fingers, considering where exactly she should start this difficult conversation.
"I think we should start by thanking you both for looking after my daughter. Despite her cheerful nature, Aerith's life is quite difficult… And as I already understand, it was because of you that Shinra arranged another raid," Elmyra began with a heavy sigh, lowering her hands onto the tablecloth and looking attentively at Alex and Dean.
"No need to thank us. We were promised that we would be fed to our fill, and it's not the first time we've done something for food," Dean replied in a carefree tone, slightly shrugging his shoulders and showing that he saw no problems in the current situation.
"I've never seen mercenaries who are willing to work for a bowl of soup. And judging by your clothes, and by the way you behave… I'm almost sure that your services usually don't come cheap," Elmyra noted with a slight smile, closely watching the reaction of Alex and Dean.
"It all depends on the nature of the work… And we simply had no choice but to help Aerith," Alex said, slightly shaking his head and lazily leaning back against the chair.
"No choice? May I ask why that is? Perhaps my daughter accidentally dragged you two into our problems? If so, then I apologize. No matter how grateful I am for your help, and no matter how much I would like someone capable of protecting her to be by her side, I would prefer that random people not get involved in our affairs," Elmyra said in a tired tone, showing how difficult such a life on the run was for her herself.
"I'm afraid that's already impossible… Ma'am, you're probably afraid that we'll find out your daughter's secret — that she can hear the voice of the planet. Only we can hear it too," Alex said with a soft smile, immediately making it clear what exactly had become the true reason for such quick friendliness on Aerith's part.
The moment Alex's words sounded, Elmyra's eyes immediately widened in shock. She simply couldn't believe that in this world there were two more people capable of hearing the Lifestream. The first thing she thought was that this was a complete lie, and Alex and Dean were simply trying to worm their way into her daughter's trust.
But Elmyra immediately dismissed these suspicions, because she knew perfectly well: Aerith would never let anyone near her who had such hidden intentions. And that meant there was only one, completely insane option — the two men in front of her really could hear the voice of the Lifestream, just like Aerith.
Feeling the entire surrealism of the situation, Elmyra covered her face with her hands, trying to feverishly gather her thoughts. Dean, sitting next to Alex, lightly nudged him with his elbow in the side. Feeling the nudge, Alex turned his head toward him and nodded briefly, asking what he needed.
Dean imperceptibly jerked his chin toward Elmyra, silently asking why Aerith's mother had reacted so violently to the fact that they could hear the Lifestream. Hearing this silent question, Alex once again looked at Dean as if he were a complete idiot, because he had recently explained in detail that no one on Gaia except Aerith had access to this voice of the planet.
Facing this reminder, Dean only lazily shrugged, showing with his whole appearance that he was not obligated to keep such nonsense in his head. While they continued to quietly whisper to each other, Elmyra finally removed her palms from her face and raised a heavy gaze at them. Now everything fell into place for her: both why her daughter had so easily let strangers near her, and why she behaved with Alex so freely.
"So you both really can hear the same thing as Aerith?" Elmyra asked quietly, wanting to finally make sure his words were true.
"Something like that. It's like this irritating hum constantly sounding in your own head. And it pisses you off terribly," Dean nodded, not missing the opportunity to complain again about the unpleasant noise that had woken him up that morning.
"And this hum kept stubbornly repeating to us that we had to protect Aerith from some impending disaster," Alex added, smoothly explaining why it was so necessary for them to be near the girl.
"Eh… Alright. If my daughter unconditionally believes you, then I'll try to trust you too… At least for now," Elmyra said with a sigh, shifting her thoughtful gaze toward the stairs to the second floor.
Looking toward the second floor, Elmyra decided to accept Aerith's choice and trust Alex and Dean. She didn't know what exactly they were capable of, but from the snippets of phrases that Tseng, who had stopped by before Aerith's return, had dropped, she was able to understand that Reno and Rude had been badly hurt by her new acquaintances' hands. Knowing this, Elmyra figured she could quite trust Alex and Dean to protect Aerith from future problems.
After all, she sincerely thought that the Lifestream was asking these two to protect her daughter specifically from Shinra, and not from something that desperately tried to return Aerith to the path she was originally supposed to follow according to the laws of this world. Sighing, Elmyra lowered her gaze and looked at Alex and Dean again, about to ask them a few more questions about what they planned to do next.
But she didn't have time to voice her thoughts, as the sound of a closing door and Aerith's hurried footsteps came from the corridor. The girl quickly ran down the stairs and immediately narrowed her green eyes suspiciously, instantly noticing the strange, tense atmosphere at the table.
"What were you talking about?" Aerith asked with narrowed eyes, walking behind Alex and proprietarily placing her hands on his shoulders.
"We were just having a nice chat, dear. It's not every day you bring someone home, so I wanted to get to know your new friends better," Elmyra replied with a soft smile, skillfully hiding her true worries behind a calm tone.
"Really?" Aerith asked, narrowing her green eyes even more and smoothly leaning forward, looking over Alex's shoulder to look him straight in the face.
"Yes, really. Your mom was just complaining that you have no friends your age at all," Alex replied with a chuckle, lazily poking Aerith in the cheek with his finger, lightly teasing her.
"Hmph! I have friends. And lots of them!" Aerith stubbornly grumbled, lightly patting Alex on the shoulder to confirm her words.
"The children from the orphanage don't count, dear. I was talking about someone your age… And since you've changed into a clean dress, maybe you can show them around our neighborhood? And I'll go to the kitchen and cook something," Elmyra said with a smile, smoothly getting up from the table.
"No problem! Alex and Dean wanted to do a couple of local jobs anyway to earn some Gil," Aerith responded with a wide smile, continuing to stand behind Alex and lazily rocking him from side to side.
"That makes sense. And, dear… Let's do without your usual tricks this time," Elmyra reminded with a smile, slightly narrowing her eyes at her daughter.
Aerith looked at her mother with an offended gaze, making it clear that she didn't always get into trouble, and that all today's events were just absurd accidents. Elmyra only kindly laughed at her daughter's offended look and went to the kitchen to finally start cooking.
Humming resentfully, Aerith firmly grabbed Alex's hand and stubbornly dragged him outside. Dean, who had been silently standing aside until then, only sincerely enjoyed the picture of his friend being dragged somewhere again without any asking. Before following them, Dean politely addressed Elmyra, asking if he could leave their bag with things here.
Elmyra turned around and pointed her hand at a free spot by the wall where the luggage could be calmly thrown. Leaving the bag in the hallway, Dean lazily shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and went out after them onto the street.
"So-o-o, where do we start? After all, you know every dog here, little flower girl," Dean said when they left the garden territory and he fell into step next to Alex and Aerith.
"Hmm… Let me think… We can start by asking if help is needed at the orphanage. It seems Edgar said yesterday that something strange is happening again at our dump… And that's probably all," Aerith said thoughtfully, lightly tapping her finger on her chin as she walked.
"Well, that's something at least. We can also ask the locals along the way, maybe someone else needs help," Alex responded, habitually reaching into his coat pocket for a cigarette.
"That's a great idea! Then first let's stop by the orphanage," Aerith said cheerfully, clapping her hands and beginning to skip next to Alex.
Following Aerith, Alex and Dean didn't yet know that this would be a rather boring activity when they had to fulfill the requests of the Slum residents. And it all started with a visit to the children's orphanage and a conversation with the teacher Folia, who said that some children had not returned for lunch after playing.
Aerith didn't even give Alex and Dean a choice, immediately volunteering to look for the kids who might have gotten into trouble. To not waste time on long searches, Alex resorted to a small trick — he used a search spell. They were able to find the lost children in the northern part of the dump: they were hiding on a trash heap while Pie Hedgehogs were circling below them.
Escorting the kids back to the city and receiving the first payment in the form of a couple hundred Gil, Alex and Dean didn't even have time to catch their breath before Aerith dragged them further. Just a couple of minutes later she brought them to an elderly man named Edgar, who began complaining that another Shinra robot thrown on the dump had frozen again in working mode.
Sighing heavily, Alex and Dean went to catch the robot that had gone berserk in the eastern part of the dump. Reaching the place, Alex and Dean saw a garbage robot: it was spinning in place, swinging a rusty steel beam and smashing everything around itself.
"You or me?" Dean asked, looking at the berserk robot that had switched to using the beam as a ram.
"Alright, I'll do it. I'll break it quickly, and we can go back," Alex replied lazily, adjusting Murasame on his belt and taking a step toward the berserk robot.
"Good luck!" Aerith cheered with a chuckle, lightly pushing Alex in the back.
Feeling the push in his back, Alex turned to Aerith, who immediately blinked cutely with her green eyes and clenched her little fists, showing that she was cheering for him. Exhaling through his nose, Alex shook his head, thinking that he had never had to catch berserk robots on a dump before.
Deciding to finish everything quickly, Alex approached the broken machine and immediately activated the mechanism on Murasame's sheath. The blade shot out at enormous speed directly into Alex's palm, and he immediately delivered several lightning-fast strikes, neatly chopping the robot into pieces. In that same instant the robot was neatly sliced, and Aerith, standing nearby, cheerfully clapped her hands and began praising Alex.
Putting the blade back into the sheath, Alex raised his thumb, making it clear that they could return. However, before leaving, Aerith jumped up to the broken robot and began rummaging through what was left of it. A moment later she triumphantly pulled out the robot's energy core.
"And why do you need this junk?" Dean asked, slightly narrowing his eyes and watching the joyful Aerith, who was pleased that the robot's energy core had remained intact.
"This can be sold. You said you needed money. And this can be sold for a couple hundred Gil," Aerith said with a smile, casually tossing the robot's core to Alex.
"I didn't think about that. Well, time to go back to Edgar," Alex said, catching the core and putting it in the pocket of his coat.
Aerith quickly nodded her head and, wrapping her arm around Alex's, dragged him back to the city. Returning to Edgar, Alex and Dean received another couple hundred Gil into their small piggy bank. And while they were talking with the elderly man, Aerith went to sell the robot's core. The guys were able to find Aerith at the moment when she was already arguing animatedly with the local trader, while he was trying to lower the price for the core.
But the moment Alex and Dean silently approached closer, the trader, evaluating their appearance, immediately agreed to the price that Aerith had originally offered. Taking one hundred fifty Gil for the sold core, Aerith turned to Alex with a victorious smile, immediately shoved the money into his pocket and cheerfully hugged his arm.
Alex and Dean already thought that they wouldn't find any more work in this place, and figured they could calmly return to Aerith's house. Aerith herself immediately agreed, showing with her whole appearance that she was already quite hungry. However, on the way to Aerith's house, Alex and Dean sighed heavily: right in their path stood Reno and Rude, showing with their whole appearance that they had come here specifically for them and Aerith.
"We meet again, SOLDIERs. What luck," Reno said with a smirk, casually swinging his electric baton in his hand.
"How are you even still on your feet, redhead? If memory serves me right, a couple of hours ago I broke a couple of your limbs and a couple of ribs," Alex asked with interest, looking at the two completely intact Turks and carefully moving Aerith behind himself.
"Shinra medicine works wonders. A couple of minutes on the cot — and we're like new. Isn't that right, Rude?" Reno responded with a smile, pointing his electric baton at his partner.
"Shut up, Reno. If it weren't for the order, I wouldn't have come here. I have no desire to lie with a concussion again," Rude said in a cold tone, gloomily looking at Dean.
"And I thought all bald guys had stronger foreheads. Especially ones like you, when the bald spot reaches all the way to the back of your head," Dean chuckled, shrugging his shoulders and not even taking his hands out of his jacket pockets.
When his bald head was mentioned again, Rude mechanically raised his hand and touched his smooth head. Over the past few hours his bald head had been mentioned so many times that it was starting to genuinely irritate him. Frowning behind his dark glasses, Rude lowered his hand and pulled toward himself the section of the fence that Reno was leaning on.
Opening the passage, Rude stepped out first onto the spacious open area. Watching his partner, Reno whistled slightly and walked after him with a lounging gait, swinging his electric baton as he went. Watching all this, Alex and Dean exchanged glances and decided to simply continue walking.
Taking Aerith by the hand, Alex stepped forward, preferring to ignore the two Turks who were once again asking for a fight. But the moment Alex took just a few steps, an electric grenade thrown by Reno flew at him. Before the projectile could go off, Alex crushed it in his fist right in mid-air, then calmly turned his head toward the attackers.
"Where do you think you're going? Round two, SOLDIERs! Or you can hand over Aerith to us and get lost somewhere far away," Reno said with a smirk, pulling a couple more electric grenades from his pocket.
"I'm not going anywhere with you! And anyway, you need to leave. So shoo-shoo!" Aerith declared, peeking out from behind Alex's back and waving her hand disdainfully to chase away the persistent Turks.
"You know we can't. We need to dot all the i's. That's all," Rude responded in a calm tone, adjusting his black leather gloves on his hands.
Aerith looked at Alex, silently asking his opinion on this matter. Alex and Dean exchanged glances, and then looked at Reno and Rude, simultaneously thinking that these two should be beaten up harder — so that this time they would definitely lie in the hospital for several days. Slightly cracking his neck, Alex took off his blue coat and carelessly hung it on the fence.
Dean grinned, cracked his knuckles and also slightly stretched his neck. Stepping out onto the open area, Alex and Dean quickly discussed on the way who would fight whom this time. Alex immediately silently pointed his finger at Rude, leaving Dean to deal with Reno. Having decided on the opponents, Alex stepped aside and stood opposite Rude. He lightly beckoned him with his hand, making it clear that he could attack.
Rude slightly narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and raised his hands into a combat stance. He began slowly approaching Alex, not taking his attentive gaze off him. Alex, lounging with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, calmly watched as Rude closed the distance. Getting close enough, Rude sharply rushed forward, pushed off the ground and delivered a powerful circular kick.
Seeing the approaching boot, Alex pulled one hand out of his pocket and effortlessly deflected this kick to the side. Landing, Rude quickly spun around and immediately unleashed a series of fast fist strikes on Alex. Lazily parrying each attack with one hand, Alex smirked slightly and barely noticeably flicked his wrist. Preparing to deliver another strike, Rude suddenly felt a light but precise jolt to his jaw, immediately followed by strong dizziness.
Feeling the world around him spinning and whirling, Rude heavily dropped to one knee. Looking down, he saw the first drop of blood fall in front of him. Raising his hand, Rude touched his nose with his fingers and saw with surprise several more scarlet drops on his black glove.
"Listen, just quit it already. Neither I nor Dean have time for you or your redheaded friend. We didn't kill you then. You seem like a pretty decent guy. So I'll pretend you weren't here, and let's just part ways peacefully. Okay?" Alex asked with a smile, squatting down in front of Rude and lighting a cigarette.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm a pretty decent guy… But whether I like it or not… Work is work. And during this work you have to do bad things," Rude said with difficulty, trying to cope with the strong dizziness.
"Actually, all the bad guys say that. It's not me, it's my job. I didn't want to do this, but they made me. You know how many of those I've met? Oh, there were a lot. And they all say the same thing," Alex began to reason, slightly waving the cigarette in front of Rude's face.
"They probably also say there's nothing personal. Heh," Rude chuckled, raising his gaze to Alex.
"Exactly. So nothing personal, Rude. And good night," Alex said with a smile, raising his thumb toward Rude.
Frowning, Rude noticed a shadow fall on him. But before he could turn his head, he felt a rather heavy blow to the back of his head. Receiving the hit to the head, Rude fell face-first to the ground. Scratching his cheek, Alex looked at the unconscious Rude, then raised his gaze to Aerith, who was firmly clutching a magical staff in her hands.
Propping her cheek with her palm, Alex couldn't help but smile at the warlike appearance with which Aerith stood over the defeated Turk — like an angry hamster clutching its weapon in its paws.
Noticing Alex's gaze, Aerith immediately smiled cutely and hastily hid the staff behind her back, trying with all her might to look innocent — as if it wasn't her who had just laid the pursuer on the ground. Barely holding back his laughter, Alex raised his thumb toward her again. In response, Aerith cutely wrinkled her nose and showed a peace sign with her fingers, making it clear that she could stand up for herself too.
"You hit that bald guy on the head pretty hard. There's even a mark left. Now he looks like a bald dick," Dean laughed, dragging Reno behind him, who had a broken nose and a fresh bruise under his eye.
"Ugh, how vulgar you are! I just wanted to help. After all, they're not bad, and I didn't want them to get badly hurt," Aerith said, pouting, and resentfully poked her staff toward Dean.
"Yeah, hitting someone on the head with an iron staff is so merciful. You're just Mother Teresa. I'm afraid your bald friend will definitely stay in the hospital for a long time now," Dean chuckled, casually throwing Reno next to Rude.
Aerith narrowed her eyes, looking at Dean, and then hummed, turning away and making it clear that she no longer intended to talk to him. Dean only quietly laughed and lounged forward. Rising from his haunches, Alex stroked his chin and decided to leave the Turks a small reminder note — so that when Reno and Rude woke up, they wouldn't have the desire to return anytime soon.
Quickly scribbling a couple of lines, Alex neatly folded the sheet and placed it in Rude's motionless palm. Aerith, standing nearby, tried with all her might to peek and see what was written there, but Alex deftly shielded the paper with his back while writing. Pouting resentfully, Aerith began persistently arguing with Alex, proving that she was also terribly interested in knowing the content of the note.
Lightly poking her in the nose with his finger, Alex with the most innocent look pretended that he didn't understand what note she was talking about at all, and, cheerfully humming a cheerful melody under his breath, went after his coat.
Resentfully stomping her foot, Aerith chased after him, jumped up from behind and immediately jumped onto Alex's back, continuing to loudly demand an answer. Sighing heavily but not hiding a slight smile, Alex continued to ignore her playful complaints and simply walked on, thinking about the delicious food that Elmyra should have prepared by their arrival.
To be continued...
(Here's another chapter. And I think we can start moving towards Sector 7. Well, after Sector 6, of course. After all, Cloud, or rather Claudia, is supposed to appear on the scene, piercing Alex's back with a cold gaze. And of course, how could I miss the chance to spectacularly blow up the first Mako Reactor? And a few other things that I'm still planning for this world. Hmm... Well, if anyone has any questions, well, I'll be happy to answer them. It's not hard for me. I always reply to messages and comments. Now I'm going to go eat. Peace, love, and heh, bald dick.)
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