Being in the "Seventh Heaven" bar, Aerith and Tifa experienced colossal relief from the fact that at the most necessary moment Alex had appeared, timely stopping Tseng. Aerith understood perfectly: it would have been extremely difficult for her and Tifa to restrain the head of the Turks together—especially when little Marlene was nearby, and a group of Grunts was standing guard outside.
And even though the Tonberry Steve was next to them as a loyal protector, Aerith least of all wanted senseless bloody deaths that could have occurred right before the eyes of a child. Tseng himself at that moment with growing horror felt how the bones in his shoulder were literally cracking under Alex's palm, which was squeezing harder and harder.
Ignoring the flaring pain, Tseng tried unnoticed to step back in order to instantly break the dangerous distance. But the moment this thought merely flashed through his head, Alex's grip became even harsher: the old wooden floor under the feet of the head of the Turks cracked and sagged, and his shoes slightly sank into the broken wood.
Bestowing upon Tseng a heavy, absolutely empty gaze, Alex slightly turned his head to Aerith, Tifa, and Marlene and softly smiled, showing that everything was under his full control. Tifa and Aerith nodded with relief, still covering Marlene with themselves just in case if Tseng suddenly decided to pull some desperate stupidity. And while Alex was distracted for a second, Tseng sharply narrowed his eyes and rapidly squatted, breaking free from the iron grip.
Jumping back, Tseng slightly leaned and immediately made a lightning-fast surge forward. Finding himself close again, Tseng deliberately swung in order to deliver a crushing elbow blow to Alex right in the chest. However, at the very last moment before contact Tseng managed to make out only a mocking smirk on Alex's face, after which the entire world before his eyes instantly turned upside down.
Realizing that he was already in the air upside down, Tseng reacted instantly and threw a sharp kick with his leg, aiming at Alex's head. But before the sole of his shoe managed to touch the target, Alex easily intercepted the rushing leg and with a powerful swing threw the head of the Turks right out onto the street through the doorway. Feeling the repeated acceleration, Tseng deftly turned in the air and incredibly elegantly landed on both feet.
Straightening up after the soft landing, Tseng carefully adjusted his disheveled tie and with unconcealed professional interest looked at the exiting opponent. Elena, who this entire time had been tensely observing what was happening from the helicopter cabin, immediately flew out onto the street like a bullet and stood in a combat stance next to her leader, intending to cover him at any cost.
"Boss, are you okay?!" Elena inquired with anxiety, on the go taking two combat grenades out of her pockets.
"Fine. A small crack in the shoulder will in no way hinder me from moving," Tseng answered restrainedly, barely noticeably touching the damaged place with a glove, on which Alex had just pressed.
"That's exactly why I only slightly pressed on your shoulder. For you both will very soon strongly need strong legs," Alex said in a calm, weighty tone, unhurriedly exiting the doors of the bar together with Aerith, Tifa, and Marlene.
Removing his hand from the damaged shoulder, Tseng once more carefully looked at Alex, re-evaluating his real condition. Still yesterday evening he had personally received a detailed report and a fresh video recording from one of the numerous surveillance cameras with which all of Midgar was dotted. On that recording it was clearly visible how Alex tumbled out of a dark alley and wandered among random passersby, heavily leaning on the wall.
And at the very end of the video material the camera recorded how Alex vomited scarlet blood that upon contact with the air instantly ignited. That was precisely why the higher leadership of Shinra had recklessly considered that in such a pitiful condition capturing both priority targets—Alex and Aerith—would not present the slightest difficulty.
However, casting a careful glance over Alex from head to toe, Tseng with annoyance understood that the latter was in complete order, and all the thick blood on his clothing belonged exclusively to his enemies. Slightly snorting, Tseng shifted his gaze to Aerith and suddenly noticed a little Tonberry in her arms—and his eyes for a short moment shockedly widened. What he definitely had not expected to see next to the last Cetra was a creature from which absolutely all reasonable people should keep as far as possible.
Even in the secret laboratories of Shinra these creatures were bred artificially exclusively for the protection of special objects, but even there the artificial Tonberries from time to time went out of control and inevitably did what they were born for—mercilessly killed everything living. And now, seeing the calm Alex and Aerith nearby, Tseng finally put this puzzle together in his head.
Elena, standing next to her leader, experienced colossal internal tension from the current situation. The sight of Alex solidly covered in blood and the Tonberry peaceably sitting in Aerith's arms caused her a persistent, prolonged feeling of anxiety. Swallowing the lump stuck in her throat, Elena briefly shifted an uneasy gaze toward the technical service zone of the Main Support, hoping with all her might that everything was in complete order with Reno and Rude at the top.
"I see you're in complete order… Apparently a rather serious miscalculation occurred on our side. Apparently we still do not fully understand the true power of the Ancients," Tseng calmly answered, shifting a heavy gaze from Alex to Aerith standing nearby.
"Everything is far simpler: warm hugs are the best medicine for healing," Alex answered in an absolutely carefree tone, deciding with sincere pleasure to play along with Tseng's guesses.
"Hugs, you say?.. I think Professor Hojo will be insanely interested in thoroughly researching this phenomenon," Tseng began speaking in a restrained tone, shifting his gaze back to Alex.
"Perhaps I am forced to renounce such a tempting offer. I have a rather tight schedule, and my time is too expensive. I already had to completely empty your personal bank account so that I, so be it, deigned to allocate a little of my precious time for this conversation," Alex answered in a cheerful tone, demonstratively taking out a simple-looking black notebook from the inner pocket of his coat.
"So that means it's your doing?!" Elena shouted loudly, sharply pointing a finger at Alex when it finally dawned on her who exactly had unpunishedly stolen all the gil from the accounts of Tseng, Rude, and Reno.
"And hello to you, Elena. To my enormous regret, your current salary as a trainee is rather meager… And I so strongly did not want to take the last from you. That is precisely why your deeply respected boss and two of your colleagues fully paid for all my carefree residence in Midgar," Alex answered with light, feigned sadness, shifting his gaze to Elena and looking at her with extremely sad eyes.
From such an answer Elena finally lost the gift of speech, absolutely not understanding how she should even react to such insolence. On the one hand, should she sincerely rejoice that her modest trainee salary had not attracted the attention of the robber, or should she still seriously get angry because her senior colleagues had been unpunishedly cleaned out to the last? Tseng himself was not in the least surprised by this admission—he had already perfectly guessed that behind the filigree theft of gil stood precisely Alex.
Paying absolutely no attention to the two hesitated Turks, Alex continued calmly holding the worn notebook in his hands. With rapid, precise motions he sketched several words on a clean page. Raising the notebook so that only Tifa would see the text, Alex left her a short instruction: it was necessary to move as quickly as possible toward the gates leading into the neighboring Sector.
Having read the message, Tifa anxiously raised her gaze to the gigantic Plate hanging right above them, after which she shifted worried eyes toward the technical service zone of the Main Support, where on the upper tiers the others were still located. Having made sure that Tifa had understood everything, Alex put the notebook back into the inner pocket of the coat and looked at Tseng and Elena, who had still not moved from their places from the very beginning of their conversation.
Alex reasoned that the best decision right now would be simply to ignore the two Turks and casually walk past them. Tseng at the same time continued to intently observe Alex and Aerith, simultaneously awaiting at least some report from Reno and Rude. He until the last hoped that at the top of the Support everything would go far more smoothly than for him below.
"Boss… over," the extremely tired and dejected voice of Reno suddenly rang out from the miniature earpiece in Tseng's ear.
"Report the situation, Reno, Rude," Tseng said curtly, bringing his fingers to his ear and not for a second taking an intent gaze from Alex, Aerith, and Tifa.
"Mission completely failed, Boss," Rude's voice came, speaking in no less exhausted and hoarse tone.
"We screwed up big time, and they simply beat us up… Hey! Take your hands off! That's not yours, you hear?!" Reno first began reporting tiredly, but in the next second sharply broke into an indignant shout.
"Hey, and what is this cool little thing in your ear?! Let me look! Stop being greedy, redhead!.. Oh. Seems you broke it," the ringing, unrestrainedly cheerful female voice of Yuffie suddenly rang out right from Tseng's speaker, after which dead silence reigned on the air.
Hearing this entire chaotic conversation in his earpiece, Elena shockedly looked at Tseng, who continued to maintain icy external calm. Perfectly understanding that their operation was completely failed, and the two of them were guaranteed not to have enough strength to cope with Alex and the deadly Tonberry, Tseng decided to make the only rational decision in the current situation—to immediately retreat. Perhaps they had a clear order to capture the priority targets at any cost, but without full force support this had become absolutely unrealizable.
Not removing his fingers from the headset, Tseng tried to directly contact the Headquarters of Shinra and curtly reported the failure of the mission. However, in response from the speaker rang out only dead silence and not a single subsequent order. Having waited several agonizing seconds and still not receiving any further instructions from the leadership, Tseng merely dejectedly lowered his hand.
Looking at Alex, the head of the Turks barely noticeably smiled and slightly stepped aside, expressively extending a hand and showing that they could unhinderedly pass further. Seeing that they were so easily and without a fight being released, Tifa sighed with relief, continuing to tightly press the frightened Marlene to herself. More than anything in the world she wanted to take the little one to a safe place as quickly as possible, where the world would no longer be collapsing around them and there would be no burning houses.
Slightly nodding his head, Alex took only one step forward—and sharply raised his head upward. Narrowing his eyes and peering into the metal belly of the Plate, Alex clearly saw how dense flocks of Black Whisperers were already circling in a tight ring around the supporting joints. And following that throughout the entire Sector of the Slums an deafening siren howled at the top of its lungs, echoing throughout the entire area. As soon as this terrible sound rang out, absolutely all those present enchantedly raised their gazes to the hanging ceiling.
"Plate detachment initiated. Automatic detachment procedure initiated. Detachment of Section 1. Everyone immediately evacuate from the Sector!.." the impassive metallic voice thundered from all available speakers and announcement columns.
Hearing this fatal message, everyone literally froze in their places, unable to tear an intent gaze from the gigantic constructions above them. Listening to the monotonously repeating recording, Tseng instantly understood why he had never received response commands from the higher leadership: Shinra had simply decided to abandon its agents to be slaughtered because of the failure of the operation.
Tifa in growing panic pressed Marlene to herself even more strongly, simply not knowing what to undertake in this doomed situation. She understood too well that on foot none of them would simply manage to run to a safe place. Looking at the huge Plate ready to break away downward at any moment, Aerith acutely felt the presence of the Black Whisperers scurrying near the key fastenings.
Quickly lowering his gaze, Alex in fractions of a second evaluated the situation and shifted his gaze to the massive Gates located at the junction between the Sectors. Instantly formulating a rescue plan, Alex resolutely turned to Aerith and Tifa and softly placed heavy palms on their shoulders in order to bring them out of the stupor.
"Quickly get on my motorcycle!" Alex said loudly, tearing both girls out of the numbness a second before the catastrophic fall began.
"But we still won't make it!.." Tifa tried to object with despair, perfectly realizing that the distance to the exit was too great.
"Get on the motorcycle right now! I'll try to win you enough time until the full fall. Don't waste precious seconds in vain and just get out of here!" Alex barked, on the go starting the powerful engine of the motorcycle with the help of a portable remote.
"But Alex, I…" Aerith began speaking anxiously, intently and with pleading peering into his face.
"Faster! Everything will be completely fine with me. And you two—also get the hell out of here! Maybe you'll still manage to climb onto the helicopter and pick up your colleagues," Alex roughly pushed Aerith toward the roaring bike and with a sharp motion turned to Tseng and Elena who had finally frozen from the unexpectedness.
Hearing these words, Tseng and Elena instantly exited the numbness and quickly evaluated the catastrophic nature of the situation. They clearly understood that they had literally a couple of minutes left to leave the Sector forever before the gigantic Plate collapsed downward. Tseng cast a short glance at Alex and slightly respectfully nodded his head.
Climbing into the helicopter cabin, Tseng and Elena began urgently starting the engines in order to spin the blades and take off as soon as possible. However, before the machine tore off from the ground, Alex jumped up to the unconscious Grunts whom he had knocked out not long ago and began deftly throwing them one after another right into the open cabin of the helicopter.
Seeing what exactly Alex was doing, Tseng raised a hand, giving Elena the order to wait a few more seconds. As soon as the last Grunt found himself on board, Tseng sharply pulled the control stick toward himself and began gaining altitude at top speed.
Having finished with the evacuation of the wounded enemies, Alex turned to his motorcycle, at the wheel of which Tifa was already resolutely sitting. Behind her Marlene had settled, tightly pressing Tonberry Steve to herself, whom Aerith was embracing with all her strength. Nodding to both girls, Alex confidently raised a thumbs-up, making it clear that he had everything under control and would bring the matter to the end.
Aerith and Tifa already opened their mouths to shout to him that they were quite capable of fitting on the motorcycle all together, but at that very moment right above their heads a deafening, rolling roar rang out. In the same second from the hanging ceiling with a deafening ring the first gigantic pieces of metal and beams began pouring down.
Raising his gaze and seeing the massive fragments falling right on them, Alex without delay pressed the button on the control remote, forcing the powerful engine of the motorcycle to instantly tear off from the spot at maximum revolutions. From this sharp surge Tifa grabbed the handlebars in a death grip, and Aerith pressed even more strongly against Marlene and Steve, protecting them with her body.
"Hey, you!.. Don't you dare die here, mister!" Aerith shouted at the top of her lungs, rapidly distancing herself from Alex's figure in clouds of dust.
Hearing Aerith's farewell cry, Alex slightly smiled and took a short calm breath. And in the same moment the entire surrounding world around him slowed down so strongly that it practically completely stopped. Casting a cursory glance over the beams hanging in the air, Alex raised his eyes to the frozen Plate. He could at any moment leave this doomed place and without difficulty pull out absolutely everyone.
However, in this situation he preferred a completely different approach—the one that would cause the residents of Midgar an unprecedented previously shock. For from the very beginning this had been his real plan for today's evening: to stage yet another grand performance that the townspeople would definitely remember forever. Smirking, Alex shifted his gaze toward the technical service zone of the Main Support.
On the edge of the platform of the upper tier he saw Dean, solidly enveloped in dense dark fog and peering upward. Behind Dean was a tightly stretched cable stretching to the very Gates separating the Seventh and Sixth Sector. Looking more closely, Alex noticed that Barret, Claudia, and Yuffie had already fully prepared for a rapid descent along this crossing in order to reach the safe gates a moment before the collapse of the construction.
Having observed the metal sky frozen in the air, Dean smoothly lowered his gaze and looked right at Alex standing at the entrance to "Seventh Heaven." Meeting his eyes, Dean barely noticeably tilted his chin, silently inquiring what their further plan of actions was—for while the world was in such deep stasis, they had more than enough time to discuss everything. Perfectly understanding this wordless gesture, Alex raised an index finger.
In the same second behind his back with a quiet hum a spatial portal gaped, from which the spear of Chastifol gracefully flew out. Seeing the legendary weapon again, Dean for a second thought that Alex was going to banally knock down all the falling pieces of metal constructions with the help of the multiplication form. Evaluating the skeptical gaze of his friend, Alex merely snorted, making it clear that his design was far more large-scale.
"Fine, dude. Do whatever you feel like, and I'll meanwhile help the others safely get out," Dean began speaking through the mental link with a bold smirk, continuing to look at Alex from above.
"That's exactly what I was counting on. Or maybe you suddenly want to showily boast before the public of the strength of your girlfriend?" Alex responded with a mocking smirk, barely noticeably moving a finger and casually controlling Chastifol.
"And why not? Except just a tiny bit. I think it will be damn cool to effectively chop a couple of huge falling fragments… Like, for example, those two over there," Dean answered with a predatory smirk, pointing a finger at two gigantic pieces of the Plate that were barely perceptibly shifting downward.
"Just don't overdo it too much. Or else we still don't need you to accidentally destroy the entire Plate to atoms," Alex answered, smoothly stopping the direct manipulations of Chastifol and focusing his gaze on Dean standing on the edge of the technical zone.
"I know without you, idiot… Fine, let's go! We'll stage an unforgettable show for Shinra and delight our guys with a couple of spectacular tricks," Dean summarized with an excited smirk, unhurriedly taking the massive Blade of Cain from behind his back.
Hearing Dean's bold comment, Alex could not hide an approving smile and jumped up, raising a thumbs-up over his head and showing that he was fully ready for the performance. Together with this motion the spear of Chastifol, hovering right behind his back, flared with bright light and began rapidly changing, taking its original form.
As soon as the first transformation finished, Alex barely noticeably moved a finger, and Chastifol again changed configuration, scattering into an entire swarm of shining blades that painfully resembled elegant swords. Following the smooth gesture of Alex's hand, this crushing swarm instantly flew off in different directions, evenly hovering over the entire territory of the slums.
Alex sharply waved an index finger downward—and following his command hundreds of blinding blades rushed toward the ground. However, a moment before the catastrophic collision with the surface they tightly froze, only with their tips barely thrusting into the dry soil and freezing in deep stasis together with the entire surrounding world.
Having finished the preliminary preparations before using the most complex combined form of Chastifol from hundreds of gigantic sunflowers, Alex again raised his gaze to Dean. Meeting his eyes again, Dean barely noticeably nodded and unhurriedly approached the barely alive Reno and Rude, who still could not jump into the hovering helicopter.
Carefreely whistling a cheerful melody, Dean with one hand grabbed both guys by the scruff and with one sharp, powerful motion threw them right into the open doors of the cabin of the descending helicopter. Having dealt with his part of the work, Dean confidently raised a thumbs-up over his head, giving the signal that he was also fully ready.
Nodding in response, Alex again deeply inhaled and prayerfully folded his hands in front of himself, intending to pull off his most crazy trick. In the same moment the frozen world resumed its furious movement, and hundreds of glowing swords with a ring thrust deeply into the ground. Already a second later right from under the dry soil with a deafening crack grew huge, colossal sunflowers, instantly rising above absolutely all the slums.
"And now—one more thing! Wood Element: Buddha's Relic!" Alex shouted loudly throughout the entire Sector, instantly folding a complex combination of hand seals with interwoven fingers and with all his strength striking the cracked ground with his foot.
Following Alex's deafening cry the ground under his feet began to tremble, and a dense web of deep cracks began rapidly spreading in all directions. Aerith, Tifa, and Marlene, racing at top speed on the motorcycle, managed on the go to notice how from the cracked soil one after another gigantic sunflowers were sprouting, rising above all the slums.
However, the girls had absolutely no time left to fully enjoy this wonderful and surreal spectacle: right in front of them with a dull roar crashed a huge steel beam that tightly blocked the further path. Tightly holding onto the vibrating handlebars, Tifa was already preparing to sharply tip the bike onto its side and lay a sharp turn.
But at the same moment right from under the ground with a crack a gigantic wooden hand tore out, which with surprising ease caught the fallen metal construction and tossed it upward. Following the first limb throughout the entire Sector from the dry soil began crushingly rising hundreds of analogous wooden hands. They on the fly caught the fragments falling from the height of the Plate and deftly scattered them in different directions, not allowing them to crush the residential houses.
From this phenomenal spectacle the eyes of Aerith and Tifa shockedly widened. Aerith, with the last of her strength embracing Marlene so that the little one would not fly off the seat at high speed, could not hide sincere amazement from the happening madness. She was absolutely sure that all of this was the work of Alex. She knew perfectly well that he, like herself, was a Cetra, but it could not even enter her head that the power of the Planet itself could be used in such a grand and destructively creative way!
"Aerith, hold on tighter! We're already almost at the Gates!" Tifa shouted over the roar of the engine, deftly and filigree maneuvering on the motorcycle between the wooden fingers sticking right out from under the asphalt.
"Be careful, there's an obstacle right ahead!" Aerith shouted back in fright, pressing Marlene to herself even more strongly and pointing a thin finger at a huge piece of burning concrete that had suddenly crashed in front of them.
Seeing the fallen huge piece of concrete, Tifa was already preparing to sharply stand on the rear wheel in order to try to leap over the deadly obstacle. And at the same moment right from under the ground with a deafening roar a gigantic wooden serpent-like dragon tore out, which with one blow smashed the concrete barrier to smithereens. Noticing the wooden serpent, Tifa did not slow down, but only more strongly twisted the accelerator handle.
Gaining top speed, she sharply jerked the front part of the motorcycle and stood on the rear wheel, literally jumping onto the scaled back of the wooden dragon. With all her strength holding the bucking handlebars so as not to fly downward, Tifa saw how the wooden dragon smoothly raised its massive head, as if building an ideal springboard for them. Loudly shouting to Aerith with Marlene to hold on as tightly as possible, Tifa leaned her body forward, continuing to squeeze the gas to the very limit. Using the head of the serpent as a springboard, the roaring motorcycle flew far forward, managing to slip through the already almost closed huge gates of the Sixth Sector.
At the same time at crazy speed along the stretched cable were descending Barret, Claudia, and Yuffie, observing the happening madness from an enormous height. They simply could not believe their own eyes—especially the gigantic wooden hands that with ease caught the heaviest falling fragments. But the most shocking spectacle became the hundreds of huge sunflowers of Chastifol: they continuously fired bright yellow beams that literally atomized the falling pieces of the Plate into fine atomic sand.
Already sincerely believing that they would definitely see nothing more surprising today, they suddenly noticed how right above their heads along the swaying cable Dean rapidly ran, who with one powerful, surging jump soared high into the air. Being in free flight, Dean with a full swing swung the broad Blade of Cain, in the blink of an eye slicing into small pieces a huge metal fragment that was flying right at their crossing. Having cleared the path, Dean deftly landed on the ground and immediately as a whirlwind rushed further, toward the saving exit.
Seeing how the entire world around was literally collapsing and exploding right before their eyes, Claudia, Yuffie, and Barret did not tear anxious gazes from the closing leaves, spurred only by one simple thought—to make it. Understanding that the gates had practically closed and they simply were not managing to slip through, they suddenly saw how that very same huge wooden dragon squeezed between the powerful leaves, not allowing them to fully close.
At the very last moment before the catastrophic collapse Claudia, Barret, and Yuffie managed to dart into the remaining narrow gap. And at the same moment behind their backs a deafening explosion thundered, followed by a crazy shockwave carrying with itself fragments of metal constructions and an entire impenetrable wall of sulfuric dust trail.
Feeling how the cable cracked and broke and they began to fall, Barret reacted instantly: he quickly grouped, covering his head with massive arms in order to hard meet the ground. Yuffie and Claudia reacted no less operatively—falling onto the dry soil, they began a series of rapid rolls in order to dampen the inertia, after which they tightly pressed to the ground, saving themselves from the rushing squall of dust.
When the first consequences of the destructive shockwave finally settled, everyone began carefully raising their heads—and immediately froze in the deepest shock. The wooden dragon that had held the leaves to the death right before their eyes turned into a colossal flowering tree whose spreading branches covered with bright buds tightly entangled the massive gates and part of the protective wall.
"I'm the only one seeing this, right?.." Barret asked in an absolutely stunned tone, with an unblinking gaze looking at the gigantic flowering tree that had become an unbreakable shield between the Sectors.
"No… Not only you," Tifa quietly answered, unhurriedly approaching Barret with the frightened Marlene in her arms.
"Daddy, is this a real tree?.. Right? It's so insanely beautiful…" Marlene uttered, trustingly transferring onto her father's broad arms.
"Yes, little one. This is just a damn huge tree… I didn't even in my wildest dreams think that I would ever see such a miracle within the limits of Midgar," Barret answered in a surprisingly soft tone, tenderly running a roughened finger across his daughter's cheeks in order to carefully wipe the remnants of the embedded dust.
Not only Barret and Tifa were completely stunned by such an incredible spectacle—the other residents of the Seventh Sector of the slums who had managed to leave their homes seconds before the catastrophe likewise enchantedly stared at the colossal flowering tree. All those present froze with amazed gazes, for a moment completely forgetting about the horror that had just occurred on the other side of the wall.
Rising from the dry ground, Yuffie brightly smiled and sincerely admired the mesmerizing landscape that had appeared before her eyes. Aerith, for her part, stood next to the motorcycle and with deep anxiety peered into the interwoven branches: she knew too well that Alex himself was still there, in the epicenter of the destroyed Seventh Sector. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge quickly came to their senses after contemplating the incredible tree and began frantically searching with their gazes for the remaining members of the squad.
Having quickly found the friends in the bustling crowd of survivors, they immediately rushed to them, wishing to personally make sure that no one had been hurt. Pushing through the human stream, Jessie continuously shouted, trying to attract the attention of the friends. Having reached the group, she with sincere relief noticed that everyone was safe and sound. However, already a second later the girl realized that among them there was no Alex.
"And where is Alex?! Why isn't he with you?! Where is he?!" Jessie cried out in a nervous, trembling tone, beginning to panickedly look around in the hope of seeing the familiar figure.
"He's still there… It was precisely he who helped all of us safely leave the Seventh Sector," Aerith answered quietly, shaking her head and nervously folding her palms on her chest, not tearing her gaze from the flowering crown.
"If not for his intervention, we would all have long been buried under the fragments of the Plate," Claudia added, heavily rising from the ground and with a habitual motion putting the massive Buster Sword behind her back.
"What does it mean—he's there?!" Jessie practically screamed, finally yielding to panic from the realization that Alex had taken upon himself the entire blow of the falling Sector.
"We must immediately pull him out of there, and it doesn't matter at all whether he ended up under the rubble or not! He's our friend, and we simply are obliged to help him!" Biggs resolutely intervened, ready right now to go back into the destroyed Seventh Sector even alone.
"Who the hell even said that we'll abandon him?! This kid is one of us, and we never abandon our own. Even if I have to dig through this entire fucking rubble with my own teeth, I'll still pull him out of there!" Barret thundered with a fierce smirk, carefully lowering Marlene to the ground and already turning toward the blocked gates.
After Barret's heated words Tifa, Claudia, Aerith, and Yuffie likewise unanimously expressed full readiness to immediately return to the destroyed Seventh Sector in order to crush any rubble and pull Alex out. Alex himself did not even remotely suspect that for the sake of his "rescue" the friends were right now organizing an entire search-and-rescue operation in order to free him from under the ruins under which he, of course, had never been.
Calmly looking around, Alex smoothly folded yet another series of hand seals. In the same moment hundreds of gigantic wooden hands sticking out from under the ground began rapidly sprouting lush foliage and covering with buds, before their eyes turning into an endless flowering forest.
Lowering his hands, Alex once more satisfiedly cast a glance over the destroyed Seventh Sector, which now resembled a fairy-tale oasis. In the current situation he had managed to fully protect a key section from catastrophic destruction—and now after a small cleanup of minor debris the slums would again be able to become an excellent residential place.
Sighing with relief, Alex raised his gaze to the night sky, which now could be freely observed thanks to the fact that the multi-ton Plate hanging over their heads no longer blocked the horizon. Quietly chuckling, Alex casually sat down on the wooden steps of the "Seventh Heaven" bar and took out a thin aromatic cigar from his pocket.
He had purposefully and with all his might saved precisely this little patch—for how could he allow the destruction of the bar that he already partially considered his own home? Besides, in the basement of the building was located the Arc Reactor, which he would definitely not allow anyone to break. Exhaling a dense stream of bluish smoke, Alex leaned back, laying the back of his head on the steps, and continued unhurriedly smoking, enjoying the enchanting view of the opened night sky.
While Alex was admiring the stars, Zhang Ya silently slipped out of his dense shadow. She softly sat down on the wooden steps right next to his head and tenderly placed her cool palm on his forehead.
"Eh, now one can finally relax a little, lie down, be lazy, and with pleasure drink… Don't you think so, my love?" Alex said with a quiet chuckle, with a deft motion taking out a plump bottle of collectible whiskey from his personal inventory.
"… " Lowering a deep, expressive gaze onto her husband, Zhang Ya answered nothing, merely softly running cool fingers through his tousled hair.
"Yes, I think so too. Of course, I could without problems have saved the entire Sector entirely… But in the current situation the Seventh Sector will be far easier to rebuild anew," Alex answered, chuckling, to himself and took an unhurried sip of whiskey from the materialized glass.
"Hmm…" Zhang Ya nodded with a barely perceptible soft sigh and carefully placed a palm right over Alex's eyes, allowing him to be lazy and stay in the pleasant darkness a little longer.
To be continued...
(Man, I tried my absolute best to condense the whole "plate-falling" sequence while still squeezing in everything I had planned. But now that the plate has fallen, it means just one thing: there's only one step left before leaving Midgar. I just hope my headache clears up by tomorrow. I'm getting so old that changes in the weather actually give me a headache. It's suddenly turned cold here, and it's been raining for two days straight. It's so annoying. Anyway, time to eat and rest. Peace, love, and—seriously—when can I just do absolutely nothing?)
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