Chapter 866 - 865: Arriving in Kalm at Long Last."

Alex sincerely wanted to remember this trek to the town of Kalm as something fun, dynamic, and exciting, but after four hours of continuous forced marching even his iron angelic patience had cracked. Mortal boredom reigned all around without relief.

The surrounding views stubbornly refused to change: the same blinding, merciless sun overhead, the same sandy hell and gray rocky hills stretching to the very horizon. At some point he even grew tired of humming songs—entertaining the company with vocals in conditions of complete isolation from civilization became pointless.

By this moment even hyperactive Yuffie's enthusiasm had run dry. Completely exhausted, she hung listlessly on Alex's chest, wrapping her arms and legs around him like a koala cub and wearily burying her nose in his shoulder.

Her silence, however, was far more welcome than if she had endlessly pestered everyone with whining and questions about when the long-awaited town would appear on the horizon. Supporting the sleeping girl, Alex noticed how Aerith was vainly fanning her face with her palm, trying to protect herself from the stifling haze.

Seeing beads of sweat appear on her forehead, Alex carefully removed his thin black coat and softly draped it over her head, creating a makeshift cool canopy. Aerith first tilted her head in puzzlement, but upon realizing his intention she blossomed into a sincere, grateful smile.

By the fifth hour of hopeless walking across the scorching rocks Yuffie finally switched off in Alex's arms, stopped reacting to the surrounding world, and sank into a deep sleep.

"Hey, Alex… I really hope that besides mountains of gil in your bags there's at least one lousy bottle of water. A little more and I'll just dry up under this damned sun," Barret turned and rasped hoarsely, nodding at the packs hanging from Alex's shoulders.

"Yeah, of course, here. Who else wants to wet their throat?" Alex nodded and, deftly fishing a cool bottle of water from the bag, tossed it to Barret.

"Thanks, kid… Phew. Damn Shinra! The bastards didn't even bother to set up proper bus service between the regions! Greedy bastards…" Barret began his habitual grumbling, greedily pressing the bottle to his lips and once again blaming the corporation for everything.

"I wouldn't say no either. Who would've thought a desert hike would turn out so far from romantic… Tifa, want some?" Aerith sighed, carefully lifting the edge of Alex's coat and taking the next bottle from him.

"Thanks, Aerith… Completely agree with you, the road turned out to be quite the ordeal. Even I'm starting to flag… And the main thing is it's unclear how much farther we still have to walk… Here, Claudia," Tifa admitted, taking a couple of sips and passing the water to Claudia standing nearby.

"We've covered roughly half. If no unforeseen problems arise along the way, we should reach Kalm by sunset," Claudia summed up calmly. Taking a sip, she wet her palm and wiped her dust-covered face.

"Fuck… If I'd known about this forced march in advance I would've at least hijacked some Shinra truck by force," Dean exhaled in frustration and, emptying the bottle to the last drop, carelessly flung the plastic toward the rocks.

"All right, guys, if any shade from the cliffs appears ahead we'll make a proper rest stop," Alex summed up, carefully jostling the Yuffie who had fallen asleep on his chest so that she too would drink a couple of sips of water.

Trying to bring the soundly sleeping Yuffie to her senses, Alex reached into the sports bag and deftly, completely unnoticed by those around him, pulled two more cool bottles from his personal inventory. One he immediately held out to Red XIII, and since the beast's paws were completely unsuited for such manipulations, Tifa readily helped him unscrew the cap.

Draining the container in literally a couple of greedy gulps, Red let out a deep, soul-healing sigh—after long months of confinement in the sterile laboratories of the mad Hojo he had already grown unaccustomed to being in such natural conditions.

By this moment Alex had easily achieved his goal: the moment Yuffie's sleepy ear caught the magic word "water," she instantly opened her eyes, snatched the bottle from his hands, and began drinking greedily without even bothering to climb down from his chest. When the thirst finally receded, Claudia suggested not wasting precious time and moving on—the prospect of spending the night in the middle of the scorching desert appealed to no one.

Fully coming to her senses, Yuffie jumped energetically down to the ground, and to brighten the remaining hours of the trek she suggested a simple word game to the squad, into which everyone else immediately joined.

After another hour of exhausting marching Alex spotted an excellent shelter: massive shady boulders formed a perfect pocket protecting from the scorching heat. Dropping the heavy bags onto the sandy ground, he wearily sank onto a flat protruding stone and began extracting a snack.

Of course, so as not to raise unnecessary questions, Alex skillfully imitated searching the bottoms of the packs while in reality materializing from his inventory perfectly sealed, fresh sandwiches from the supermarket on the Plate in Midgar. Leaning back wearily, he comforted himself only with the thought that the worst half of the journey was behind them.

"Listen… did you know in advance that we were going to get mixed up in this whole story?" Tifa inquired with genuine interest. Breaking off a piece of sandwich, she settled next to him, softly pressing her shoulder against Alex's side.

"Isn't it obvious? From the very beginning I understood: even the most ideal plan for a quiet infiltration of Shinra would inevitably go to shit, and in the end we'd have to flee Midgar at sprinting speeds," Alex answered with a quiet chuckle, in passing poking a finger into Tifa's thigh, causing her to let out an amusing "oy" and giggle from the unexpected tickle.

"Practical approach, kid. That's exactly why you're our chief strategist," Barret threw with a satisfied smirk, easily tearing open the packaging of his ration with his teeth.

"Hmm… Caution is never excessive. Besides, Rufus has probably already shifted the blame for President Shinra's death onto us and put our entire squad on the federal wanted list," Claudia nodded thoughtfully, unfolding a plastic container of sandwiches.

"So upon arrival in Kalm we'll already be met by colorful posters with our mugs, the caption 'Especially Dangerous,' and a neat sum for our heads?" Dean drawled with a sly smile, carelessly sprawling on a neighboring boulder together with Tonberry Steve and chewing his sandwich.

"Don't get your hopes up, your portfolio definitely won't be expanded. They still have no idea who we are. I personally cleaned all the servers and wiped the surveillance camera footage before we left, so you can forget about the glory of a wanted criminal," Alex answered with a lazy shrug, helping Aerith open the sandwich packaging.

"Foresighted. Only those who met us personally will be able to identify us, and that makes the task on the road millions of times easier," Red XIII nodded approvingly after swallowing a portion, gracefully swaying his tail.

"But somehow trudging through this fucking desert on our own feet doesn't get any easier from that…" Yuffie drawled mournfully, laying her head right on Alex's knee and lazily swinging her legs in the air.

"Yuffie, Red meant something completely different… He was talking about the safety of the path, not its physical ease," Aerith shook her head with a soft laugh, looking at the languid Yuffie.

Yuffie merely snorted quietly in reply, categorically refusing to take her words back. She had naively believed that a grand adventure in the circle of loyal friends would consist of epic battles and fun rest stops, but instead they had to drag themselves for hours across the sun-scorched desert where the only attractions were dull rocks and dust. Softly running his fingers through the ninja's tousled hair in an attempt to calm her, Alex finished his sandwich and clicked his lighter, lighting a thin cigar.

He understood perfectly well: unlike himself and Dean, who were used to far harsher conditions, the rest of the guys vitally needed a break before the final push. Leaning his back against the cool stone of the boulder, Alex involuntarily caught himself thinking that this road painfully reminded him of the old days on Pandora—especially that moment when Lilith moved the Sanctuary and he, together with Maya and the others, had to trudge God knows where to activate the beacon.

Recalling the local realities, he chuckled quietly, glad at least that psychos with cries of "Make me boom!" and bundles of dynamite didn't suddenly jump out from around corners. Reflections on the insane madness that had been going on on the planet Pandora made him shake his head and involuntarily smile. Hearing Alex's quiet laughter, everyone turned to him, curious about what had amused him so. But Alex merely waved it off, saying he had simply remembered a funny moment from the past.

"Still… While we're resting here, maybe you could share what amused you so much? Otherwise sitting in this silence is already green melancholy," Aerith drawled with a sly smile, easily throwing her leg over Alex's knee and propping her chin on her hand.

"Sure thing. Once I had to carry out an atypical order—I needed to scare off one overly persistent suitor. Let's just say it was a unique experience in terms of the subject's mental health," Alex began with a smirk, comfortably resting his elbow on Aerith's leg.

"You even dealt with that kind of nonsense?" Claudia inquired, slightly raising an eyebrow, clearly surprised by the kinds of orders Alex had carried out.

"Well, it could be called repayment of an old debt… In short, this guy was a completely frozen-solid psycho. His methods of courtship deserved a life sentence in a mental hospital, and that's putting it mildly," Alex smirked crookedly, mentally shuddering at the memory of the maniac who had tried to hit on Moxxi.

"And how far gone was it? He didn't… manage to do anything illegal, did he?" Tifa clarified with a slight wariness in her voice, nervously swallowing and casting a glance at Alex.

"Everything was far worse. This genius crafted life-sized dolls from household garbage, dressed them in other people's clothes, and set up an entire cult altar in an abandoned hangar. And his love poems… Oh God, they should have been burned in a furnace for the sake of saving humanity," Alex sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to drive away that nightmarish image.

"That bastard is more off his rocker than that dead pig Corneo! I hope you put his brains back in place… Preferably through the back of the head?" Barret spat with disgust, feeling goosebumps run down his spine at the mere thought of such maniacs existing.

"The funniest thing is that I didn't even have to lift a finger. I told you—all his dolls were made of garbage and junk. And inside one of them lay an old detonator with explosives. When this guy charged at me with a knife screaming, he blindly snagged the wires, detonated the charge… And dragged the whole scrap heap with him in a magnificent fireworks display," Alex explained, holding back laughter with all his might, even in such a moment realizing how insane it sounded.

"This is simply beyond absurdity… I don't even feel sorry for that idiot, but damn! And I thought I was the unlucky one," Dean spoke, practically breaking into laughter and covering his face with his hands.

"But wait, that's not the finale. A second later local thugs in masks jumped out of the nearest bushes and started wildly dancing around that fire, shouting serenades in honor of a completely different girl," Alex took a deep breath, trying to suppress the rising wave of laughter.

"Pfff… Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Aerith couldn't hold back and laughed ringingly, clutching her stomach and playfully punching Alex's knee with her little fist.

The moment Aerith burst out laughing, Dean completely lost control of himself and exploded into such loud laughter that he nearly toppled off the boulder on which he had sprawled so nonchalantly. After him Barret belted out a deep bass: the giant heartily pounded his fist on his own knee, mentally picturing all that absurd madness Alex had had to face.

Red XIII demonstratively turned his muzzle aside, yet from his rhythmically trembling body and twitching tail it was clear how hard he was trying to maintain the façade of a wise and serene companion.

Yuffie, still resting on Alex's knee, rounded her eyes in shock, after which she snorted with laughter, burying her face in her palms. Tifa couldn't find words at all to comment on what she had heard: on the one hand the situation was incredibly comical, but on the other she felt sincere feminine sympathy for the unfortunate girls who had become the objects of such mad worship. She of all people knew what that was like, for the vile Don Corneo had never stopped trying to make her his next wife until his very last days.

Only Claudia preferred to turn away, hiding an involuntary warm smile—after all she couldn't even have imagined that such grand absurdity was possible in the world. Having released the accumulated tension in laughter and fully restored their strength, the group unanimously supported Alex's proposal to move on.

Dean carefully seated Tonberry Steve on his shoulders, picked up one of the sports bags, while Alex took the pack with the gil that would clearly not be superfluous in the upcoming travel expenses.

Returning to the dusty road, they walked together significantly faster, whiling away the hours by swapping stories and exchanging funny tales from the past. After a couple of hours of continuous marching the sun began slowly descending toward the horizon, painting the firmament in crimson tones, and the monotonous sandy plain gradually gave way to picturesque rocky ridges.

Passing through one of the narrow gorges, Alex suddenly rose onto his tiptoes and pointed a finger at a nearby cliff that remarkably resembled a plump Moogle head in silhouette.

"Hey, guys, check out this gorgeous rock! It's a Moogle one-to-one! Let's take a photo for the memory?" Alex exclaimed with almost childlike excitement and a wide smile, turning to the group.

"Ooh-ooh-ooh! It really is a Moogle! We simply have to take a shot for the memory!" Yuffie yelled with no less delight, literally bouncing in place from impatience.

"We don't have time for this. We must reach Kalm strictly by sunset," Claudia cut off in a calm tone, habitually setting priorities.

"Come on, Claudia. It's just one photo for the memory. It won't delay us at all," Tifa interceded with a soft smile and affectionately placed her palms on Claudia's shoulders.

"Hmm… Personally I'm not against it. Just don't forget to make me a copy of the photo later, kid! I want to show this shot to my little Marlene," Barret nodded approvingly, heading first toward the unusual boulder.

"Why not? Something to brag about to Sammy when we meet—look, what parts of the world your brother got to visit," Dean supported with a smirk, nonchalantly shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

Seeing that the absolute majority of the squad had voted "yes," Alex turned to Red XIII and Aerith, inviting them to join the photo session at the giant natural monument.

Aerith didn't even let him finish: smiling brightly, she instantly caught fire with the idea, rightly noting that their grand journey shouldn't consist solely of worries about saving the Planet—there must necessarily be room left in it for simple human joys.

Red XIII solidly nodded his massive head, pronouncing the wise thought that after any trials bright beacons of memories should remain in the memory. Realizing that the collective was unyielding, Claudia sighed heavily and stopped resisting. She no longer insisted on an immediate forced march, allowing Tifa with a light victorious smile to nudge her toward the others closer to the rock.

Reaching the needed point from which the ideal angle opened, Alex lightly stamped the toe of his boot on the scree, forming with the help of magic from dense soil and small stones a stable platform for his phone. While he was fiddling with the focus and timer settings on the smartphone, the rest of the group had already lined up in front of the whimsical cliff, impatiently waiting for the photo process to finish.

"Hey, Alex, hurry up! We're already posing full tilt!" Aerith called out ringingly, energetically waving her hand to spur on Alex who was stuck at the improvised tripod.

"Almost done, give me one more second! We need the ideal shot, not a smeared mess for the memory," Alex shouted back, fixing the gadget on the stone pedestal at the proper angle.

"Well, if you're finished, then don't dilly-dally. The sun is setting just perfectly right now, lighting the 'ears' of our Moogle with golden light," Dean hurried him, pointing with his hand at the crest of the rock embraced by the rays of the departing day.

"All right, ready! Freeze for a second, the flash is about to go off!" Alex yelled and, counting the seconds to the auto-shutter in his head, raced headlong toward the group, managing at the last moment to squeeze into the very center of the company.

At that moment Alex thought with light nostalgia about how useful GIR, MIMI, and Stitch would have been here. This restless trio over the entire time of his wanderings through different worlds had already managed to turn into real professional photographers, hauling entire suitcases of optics for the sake of ideal shots on every journey.

Suppressing a fleeting longing for his crazy little ones, Alex raced at full speed to the company and squeezed exactly between Aerith and Tifa. The moment he found himself nearby, Aerith immediately wrapped her arm around his, rose onto her tiptoes, and left a light, tender kiss on his cheek, while Tifa softly hugged his arm, pressing her shoulder against his forearm.

Yuffie with a sly smirk settled into a perfect split right in front of the lens, flashing the peace sign with her fingers. Barret with a guttural growl tensed his massive biceps. Dean nonchalantly shoved his hands into his pockets, proudly holding Tonberry Steve on his shoulder.

Claudia crossed her arms over her chest, allowing herself a barely noticeable warm smile. And Red XIII straightened to his full height, proudly raising his muzzle like a majestic king of beasts. The flash illuminated the setting sun, merging with the dry click of the shutter.

"Stay put, don't scatter! I'll take several takes so we definitely catch the ideal shots, so change poses!" Alex commanded instantly, switching the camera settings with a snap of his fingers.

A minute later, having snapped a series of excellent shots, he picked up the smartphone and sat down on the nearest flat boulder, calling everyone over so they could enjoy viewing the photos together. The moment Alex sat down, everyone immediately surrounded him, peering into the screen of his phone. Alex began slowly flipping through the photographs so that everyone could examine them better.

"Hold on… Why is Claudia standing in the exact same pose and with an absolutely stone face in every single shot? Like this!" Yuffie drawled in puzzlement, poking a finger at the screen and hilariously parodying Claudia's impenetrable expression.

"Unlike some people, I don't need to make faces in front of the camera at all," Claudia retorted lazily, slightly raising an eyebrow and looking down at the offended Yuffie, who immediately wrinkled her nose in resentment.

"Come on, stop this circus. The photos turned out simply amazing! The main thing is that we're all together," Tifa smiled peaceably and immediately cut off the brewing conflict, hugging both friends by the shoulders.

"Oh, and I just love this photo! I'll definitely put it in a frame later in a prominent place," Aerith sighed admiringly, pointing a finger at one of the shots where she and Alex looked especially harmonious.

"And true, the quality is top. Now look at my biceps, they just shine magnificently in the sun!" Barret smirked self-satisfiedly, trying to poke his huge finger at the phone screen.

"Hands off, carbon-fiber musclehead. I know those pound-weight fingers of yours," Alex warned jokingly, resolutely pushing Barret's hand farther from the smartphone screen.

"Hey, take it easy, kid! I just wanted to examine the photos closer," Barret puffed up, lightly shoving Alex in the shoulder.

"Last time when your not-so-'gentle' fingers poked at my smartphone, the entire central security system of the Shinra factory went into total lockdown and we got doused with ice-cold foam from the fire-suppression systems until I hacked them again," Alex reminded in a completely everyday tone, bestowing on Barret an empty, expressive look, because of which the latter coughed embarrassedly into his fist, averted his eyes, and preferred to pretend he was examining the landscape.

"All right, kids, the moment of glory is over. The sun has almost set, and we still have a long way to walk. Let's hope there are still free rooms left in the inns of Kalm, because sleeping under the open sky somehow doesn't appeal to me," Dean reminded in a calm tone, calling on the tired group to set out on the road again and clapping Alex on the shoulder.

No one argued with Dean's words—the prospect of spending the night under the open sky on scorching rocks after a multi-hour march appealed to no one, and no one had any certainty about the availability of free rooms in the provincial town. Nodding his head, Alex first of all forwarded the successful shots to the family chat, then tossed a couple of pictures to Jessie so she could show them to Biggs and Wedge.

He had barely put the smartphone into his pocket when he immediately typed her another message with a request to say hello to Elmyra and little Marlene. The reply from Jessie arrived instantly: she wrote that they had just gathered at Elmyra's in the slums and the whole company was looking at the sent photographs with delight.

Putting the gadget away, Alex turned to Tifa and Aerith, reporting with a calm smile that at home they had already appreciated their photo session at the Moogle rock. The girls exchanged surprised glances with a silent question in their eyes, but Alex merely shook his head, reminding them of the technological communicator left in Jessie's hands.

Hearing this, Barret instantly perked up and with hope in his voice asked whether he could now contact his little Marlene at any moment when he got homesick. Alex smirked and raised a thumb upward, making it clear that Papa Bear could sleep peacefully.

From such an answer Barret's face lit up with the widest smile, and he set off with redoubled eager step into the vanguard of the group. Thanks to the fact that the sun had finally disappeared beyond the horizon and the desert dunes had given way to cool rocky defiles, the further path became significantly easier.

The cool evening breeze pleasantly refreshed skin that had been heated by the day, and after only an hour of continuous walking the group finally emerged onto a cracked asphalt road leading to Kalm.

"Phew, consider us almost there! Just another dozen miles or so and we're on the spot," Dean exhaled, pointing with his hand at a leaning, heavily rusted road sign with nearly peeling paint.

"I really hope that at this hour at least a couple of diners or the tavern at the inn are still open. I wouldn't mind a juicy hot steak and a glass of something with alcohol right now," Alex drawled with a smile, adjusting the tired Tifa more comfortably on his back.

"And I'd jump into a hot bath first or at least under a shower… My legs are simply falling off; tomorrow I'll definitely be walking like on hinges," Tifa whispered with a sigh, tightening her arms around his neck and moving her tired legs.

"I wouldn't mind both! But the main thing is that the rooms have soft, human mattresses, because my lower back is already tying itself into a knot," Aerith stretched wearily, patting herself on the lower back and trying to loosen her stiff muscles.

"As soon as we get to the rooms and tidy ourselves up, I'll give you both an excellent massage to relieve the tension," Alex promised, softly turning his head, because of which Tifa and Aerith nodded with joyful relief, not even thinking of refusing such a tempting offer.

"Since everyone has such grand plans for the evening, we should pick up the pace before the local inn closes for the night. We still have a good hour to walk," Claudia summed up calmly, taking the first step forward after the short rest.

"All right, gang, final push! Ahead are a hot dinner and soft pillows—we're practically at the goal!" Barret thundered with a drawn-out but inspired sigh, heading after Claudia into the twilight.

Lighting a thin cigar, Alex more firmly gripped Tifa's thighs and confidently strode along the road. He himself, thanks to his nature, felt not the slightest fatigue or hunger, but this exhausting trek had still worn him out morally—fortunately the path was brightened by pleasant moments in the company of close people.

Settled on his back, Tifa rested her chin on his shoulder, with pleasure exposing her face to the cool evening breeze after the exhausting daytime heat. Aerith walked beside him, quietly humming a carefree melody and swaying her head to the beat, with undisguised relief realizing that they were finally at the goal.

Yuffie, on the contrary, got a second wind: the awareness of the proximity of civilization instantly triggered a new bout of irrepressible hyperactivity in the girl. After another half-hour of unhurried walking the massive stone walls of Kalm rose on the horizon, behind which cozy tiled roofs of buildings could be discerned.

At the first glance at the town the thought flashed through Alex's mind that in architecture it remarkably resembled a classic fantasy setting. The others experienced colossal, incomparable relief.

Deciding not to take a shortcut through the rocky ravines where the local aggressive fauna became active at night, they continued moving along the safe asphalt. Spending a little more time on the detour, in the twilight they finally emerged at the main city gates. Near the entrance passenger cars and even a couple of tourist buses making regular runs toward Junon were densely parked.

"Well finally… I swear I was already thinking this damned Kalm was a mirage in the desert. Now we just need to find a decent inn," Alex exhaled, carefully lowering Tifa onto the asphalt and stretching with pleasure, loosening his stiff shoulders.

"You said it, dude. I never would have thought I'd have to trudge somewhere on foot again. The last time was maybe many years ago when my beloved Baby ran out of gas in the middle of the wasteland," Dean supported him with a sigh, amicably clapping Alex on the shoulder.

"Maybe we can already go? I'm terribly tired, I want to eat, and most of all—to sit down. And we still have to look for lodging," the exhausted Aerith drawled capriciously, hanging limply on Alex's arm.

"Yes, let's go. I think we can immediately ask the locals at the entrance where the best inns are here," Tifa nodded and confidently headed through the open city gates in the company of Claudia and Yuffie.

"Soft bed, wait for me! Daddy is already coming to save your springs," Barret smirked self-satisfiedly and together with Red XIII hurried after the girls.

Lighting a new thin cigar, Alex unhurriedly took a drag, carefully extinguished the butt, and threw it into the trash bin by the gates. Taking Aerith by the hand, he together with Dean hurried to catch up with the comrades who had gone ahead.

Crossing the threshold of the city walls, Alex began looking around with genuine interest—seeing this picturesque corner of Gaia in real life after the familiar game screens was worth a lot. Dean also nodded approvingly: he liked the local architecture, masterfully combining fairy-tale fantasy motifs with perfectly modern urban elements.

Despite the late hour, the streets of Kalm were bustling with life. Along the neat cobblestone streets forged lanterns burned with soft amber light, local residents strolled unhurriedly, and from the half-open doors of trading shops came muffled laughter and the lively voices of merchants summing up the day.

Tightly squeezing Alex's palm, Aerith shone with happiness: this cozy city breathing freedom seemed the complete opposite of gloomy Midgar with its dead steel sky overhead. They had barely walked a couple of blocks when Tifa returned to meet them at a quick pace.

Beaming with a victorious smile, she reported: the combat reconnaissance had been successful, the needed inn had been found, and it just happened to have free rooms for their entire large company. Experiencing colossal relief that they wouldn't have to waste strength searching for lodging, Alex, Aerith, and Dean hurried after her to the central square. At the entrance to a solid three-story hotel building Claudia, Yuffie, Barret, and Red XIII were already waiting for them.

"Hey, quit yawning, move it! We've found out that the local kitchen works exactly until nine, so if we hurry we'll still manage a normal dinner," Barret declared with affected strictness, tapping a finger on his wrist and nodding at the hotel's main entrance.

"Don't get worked up ahead of time, hero-dad. First we need to sort out the rooms, and only then think about stomachs," Alex smirked with a sigh, coming closer and curiously peeking into the illuminated windows of the lobby.

"You deal with that bureaucracy, and I'll go arrange the strategically important rear. I think they'll have cold beer… and if we're lucky, something stronger for relieving road stress," Dean drawled with an insolent smirk, deftly plunging his hand into the sports bag hanging from Alex's shoulder and fishing out a hefty stack of gil.

"You… bitch," Alex bristled jokingly, lightly shoving Dean in the shoulder, to which the latter merely smirked self-satisfiedly, confidently pushing open the hotel entrance door and inviting the others to follow him.

"Don't be mad at him, let's rather go help sort things out with the administrator," Tifa said with a soft, conciliatory smile, carefully taking Alex under the arm and gently drawing him inside.

"Tifa, you're simply a saint. I love you," Alex sighed playfully and couldn't resist lightly pecking Tifa on her rosy cheek.

"I've already managed to notice that," Tifa laughed quietly, not at all embarrassed by the unexpected display of tenderness, and pulled Alex after her into the warm light of the hotel lobby.

To be continued...

(Phew, finally—the town of Kalm. A place where Alex and the others can take a short break before moving on. I've got a few plans of my own for this town, though they won't take long. And most importantly—as I mentioned before—the stage is being set for the return of Sammy, along with that chaotic trio: GIR, MIMI, and Stitch. Oh, yes. Those three gremlins are coming back to stir up even more mayhem and make someone's life a living nightmare. Besides, how could I just gloss over such an exhausting trek across the desert by simply writing, "They spent the whole day traveling to Kalm and arrived completely worn out"? Meh, that's just boring. So much can happen during a journey like that! Anyway, time to eat. Peace, love, and Alex—he's well on his way to that long-awaited beach vacation, and nothing's going to stop him now.)

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