After visiting the café and having a light morning breakfast, Alex, Aerith, and Dean decided to simply take a walk around Sector Eight of the Plate. It was an excellent way to kill time while the other members of Avalanche recovered their strength and slept off the previous crazy day. Thanks to the fact that Aerith fairly often sold fresh flowers on the streets of this sector, she knew every nook and cranny perfectly — from cozy little squares to platforms with a stunning panoramic view of the metropolis.
And although Dean had never harbored any love for such walking excursions, this time he walked alongside without any particular objections. He was sincerely interested in picking out something special for himself. Dean was especially delighted by the local cars — with their vintage design they damnably resembled the classics of the eighties. Continuing their stroll, Alex, Aerith, and Dean looked into various shops that had managed to open by seven in the morning.
Entering yet another little store stuffed to the brim with all kinds of souvenirs, Alex and Aerith began wandering between the counters. Dean, for his part, preferred to set off on a solo walk between the shelves of souvenirs — to pick out a couple of memorable things for himself and, of course, choose a couple of maximally ridiculous souvenirs for Sam.
Stopping at a rack with miniature figurines, Alex unexpectedly froze. Examining the meticulously detailed toys on the shelves, he clearly felt how somewhere deep in his soul the inner collector-gremlin was awakening once again. That little bastard was whispering at full volume that they vitally needed to collect the entire line!
And while Alex was seriously weighing whether it was worth spending the gil honestly stolen from the Turks on figurines of Grunts and Shinra combat robots, Aerith was already sneaking up on him from behind with a gremlin-like, sly smile. In her hands she was clutching a funny white hat with the face of a local mythical creature known as a Moogle. Coming up from behind, Aerith in one instant pulled the hat right onto his head. Feeling the soft fabric, Alex turned to the nearest mirror. From the reflection he noticed that now a cute Moogle hat with the characteristic pom-pom was adorning his head.
"Hmm…" Alex murmured thoughtfully, turning his head evaluatively and looking closely at the new accessory.
"Look, I've got exactly the same one! Let's take both?" Aerith cried out with a radiant smile, bouncing over to Alex and standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the mirror.
Shifting his gaze, Alex looked at the happy Aerith, on whose head a pink Moogle hat was proudly sitting. Noticing how cute and organic this accessory looked on her, Alex immediately nodded, unconditionally agreeing to the purchase. Moreover — he was already fully serious about scooping up the entire collection of these hats, of which there were no fewer than a dozen of the most varied colors on the shelf.
However, before he managed to snatch the remaining eight pieces, Aerith laughed and pulled him back, assuring him that they definitely did not need a whole armful of identical headgear. Having with difficulty suppressed the stubborn voice of the inner collector-gremlin, Alex continued wandering between the racks right in the Moogle hat. Aerith at the same time tightly held his hand — just in case he again developed a spontaneous desire to empty the entire store.
Walking along the rows, Alex and Aerith reached the department with board games and geek merchandise. There they found Dean: he was frozen with a maximally thoughtful face in front of a television screen where a new commercial for the popular tabletop pastime "Queen's Blood" was playing. Approaching closer, Alex patted the frozen Dean on the shoulder, drawing his attention.
Turning around, Dean silently nodded toward the screen. Noticing that gesture, Alex understood everything without extra words and approvingly raised a thumb upward. Smirking contentedly, Dean immediately began scooping all the available sealed boxes, boosters, and individual packs off the shelves, intending to buy up absolutely everything that was in stock.
"You're not seriously going to buy that many sets of Queen's Blood, are you?" Aerith asked with sincere amazement, watching as Dean was literally emptying the rack.
"Oh, we most certainly are! I won't calm down until I've collected the entire deck down to the last rare card," Dean responded with an eager smirk, already heading toward the checkout with an impressive mountain of boxes in his arms.
"But why do you need so many? You don't even know the rules of this game…" Aerith groaned with a smile, trying to protect him from such a spontaneous and immediately ruinous purchase.
"Rules? Hah, I'll figure them out in five minutes! The main thing is that it's a card game. And in card games I have no equals," Dean laughed confidently, dumping the jingling mountain of boxes right in front of the stunned cashier.
Looking at Dean, who with his entire demeanor made it clear that he was going to buy out this gigantic mountain of boxes, boosters, and individual packs of Queen's Blood no matter what, Aerith could only sigh heavily. Hearing her sigh, Alex leaned slightly toward Aerith and quietly whispered the exact sum of gil that he had quietly lifted from the personal accounts of the Turks — Reno, Rude, and Tseng.
In addition he casually noted that in Sector Seven of the Slums they still had almost twenty million in their stash, stolen from Corneo, which they hadn't even properly touched. Hearing the astronomical figures, Aerith quickly ran the calculations in her head and instantly came to the conclusion: they had more than enough money for pocket expenses. In that same second every desire to dissuade Dean from spontaneous spending completely vanished.
Turning to the stunned cashier, Alex nodded understandingly, giving the signal to ring up the entire merchandise. The seller could only frantically swallow and, with a joyful nod, begin scanning the mountain of sets, carefully stacking them into sturdy bags. In his soul the guy at the register was literally rejoicing — thanks to this one purchase he had not only closed the store's daily plan but also guaranteed himself an impressive bonus at the end of the month. Inspired by this thought, the cashier began packing the boosters with even greater enthusiasm.
Watching as the numbers on the display rapidly grew with every beep of the scanner, Alex decided to grab a couple more funny soft toys in the form of green Cactuars — an excellent gift for little Marlene. Aerith, for her part, had picked out several elegant hair ornaments for herself. However, she had no intention of acting like Alex and Dean, buying the entire line of identical hairpins in every possible color.
When the cashier had rung up everything down to the last bag and announced the final total, Alex paid without a single drop of doubt. After all, if the gil suddenly started running out, nothing would stop him from paying another visit to Shinra's accounts — only this time he would clean out someone from the Board of Directors. Having paid for the purchases and taken the hefty bags, Alex, Dean, and Aerith stepped out onto the sunlit street. And the moment Dean found himself in the fresh air, he immediately tore open the first box with a crack and began ripping open boosters right on the go.
"Oh yeah, baby! First pack — and right away a collectible shiny! I can feel it, today is definitely my lucky day!" Dean exclaimed with a satisfied smirk when a rarest Golden Chocobo card glittered from the foil.
"Doesn't luck usually get exhausted on the very first step in such cases?" Alex asked with skepticism, considering that his partner had just blown his entire stock of luck right then and there.
"Oh, get lost! I can feel it in my gut that fortune is on my side today. That's it, buzz off and don't interfere with me opening my packs," Dean waved him off with an eager smirk, taking another sealed wrapper out of the box.
Alex merely silently rolled his eyes, not even wanting to start a conversation about how specific and capricious their luck was — especially at moments like these. And Alex's thoughts were confirmed literally a second later: from the second opened foil pack Dean pulled out an entire stack of completely identical cards depicting some toothy mushroom.
Staring at this identical stack, Dean exhaled heavily through his nose, put one card into the pocket of his jacket, and tossed the rest back into the box with annoyance as useless trash. Shaking his head, Alex squeezed Aerith's palm more tightly, and they continued their walk in their funny Moogle hats, ceasing to pay attention to Dean, who with redoubled, almost frenzied excitement continued ripping open package after package. Having walked a little more, Alex took a pocket watch out of his coat pocket and glanced at the dial.
The hands were approaching nine in the morning, which meant it was high time to return to Sector Seven of the Slums. Aerith was completely not against heading back: she had fully enjoyed this cute mini-date, even if it had taken place under Dean's constant grumbling as he never stopped cursing his fortune because of yet another stack of identical cards.
Reaching the station, Alex and Aerith stood a little to the side while Dean sat on his haunches next to them, pure, undisguised rage written on his face. Having opened yet another pack of cards, Dean even trembled from the approaching anger as he stared at the familiar design. Observing this flash of emotion, Alex merely sadly shook his head. Aerith, for her part, comfortably leaned her back against Alex's chest while the passersby waiting for the train preferred to move farther away so as not to catch the eye of the enraged Dean.
"This damn mushroom is haunting me! This is fucking not funny at all! I've already got a whole hundred of these fucking mushrooms!" Dean cursed irritably, throwing yet another pack of cards onto the pile of duplicates.
"And I warned you it would be like this. And you: 'Today is my lucky day, the luckiest day…'" Alex sang in an exaggeratedly leisurely tone, continuing to stand behind Aerith, gently embracing her by the shoulders and resting his chin on the top of her head.
"Shut up… Just shut your mouth! Because if you say even one more word, I swear by the Creator — I'll shove all these duplicate cards right up your ass!" Dean spat with even greater irritation, jabbing a finger trembling with rage at Alex.
"Maybe you just spent your entire luck limit and I should share mine? Or maybe Aerith will share?" Alex said with a chuckle, completely ignoring the threat and jokingly extending his palm.
"To hell with it all… Here, take it. Just not you — you've got even less luck than me. Let our Flower Girl open it. Her pockets are definitely bursting with good fortune," Dean said with a heavy sigh, swatting Alex's hand away and hopefully extending an unopened pack toward Aerith.
"I don't have that much luck…" Aerith answered with a slight chuckle, carefully taking the pack from his hands.
"We're about to check that right now. Come on, Flower Girl, pull a gold card for me!" Dean exhaled, anticipatorily rubbing his palms, absolutely certain that Aerith's aura would work a miracle.
Chuckling at Dean's frenzy, Aerith carefully and unhurriedly tore open the booster packaging. And the very first card in the stack turned out to be the rarest golden Moogle Trio! Seeing the shiny card, Dean immediately laughed joyfully, unceremoniously snatched the pack from Aerith's hands, and began carefully putting the cards into the inner pocket of his jacket so that God forbid they wouldn't get crumpled or lost. Realizing how quickly her hands had emptied again, Aerith merely sighed and habitually leaned her back against Alex's chest, waiting for the train to arrive.
Looking at the beaming-with-happiness Dean, Alex suggested that he put off opening the remaining packs for now, for which he immediately received a demonstrative middle finger and a short wish to get lost in response. Having with difficulty suppressed the sincere desire to give Dean a light kick in the rear, Alex stretched slightly and once again gently embraced Aerith from behind.
He decided: if Dean was so eager to continue testing fate and spoiling his own mood — there was no longer any sense in interfering with him. Having stood on the platform for another couple of minutes, Alex heard the growing rumble of the approaching train. The moment the train stopped at the platform, Alex picked up the bags with the purchases and entered the car together with Aerith. Taking free seats by the window, Alex comfortably stretched out his legs, continuing to observe Dean.
The latter did not stop grumbling for a second, stamping and opening one booster after another. Assessing the volume of the remaining boxes, Alex was firmly certain: this gambling psycho would not stop until he had ripped open the very last little packet. Completely ceasing to pay attention to Dean's muttering, Alex closed his eyes and simply relaxed while the train carried them back to the Slums of Sector Seven.
Opening his eyes from light pokes in the cheek, Alex turned to Aerith. She whispered with a soft smile that they had almost arrived. Lightly rubbing his eyes, Alex glanced out the car window and noticed how the train was emerging from a dark tunnel right to the platform of Sector Seven of the Slums. Nodding approvingly, Alex shifted the bags with the purchases into one hand and tightly squeezed Aerith's palm with the other. Already about to rise from his seat, Alex cast a glance at Dean sitting opposite.
Around Dean an entire pile of scattered booster wrappers had managed to grow, and his face expressed such bottomless gloom that it seemed he was ready to break the nose of anyone who dared approach with questions. Completely not understanding what had happened during the journey, Alex turned to Aerith and questioningly raised an eyebrow. Aerith rose onto her tiptoes and whispered into his ear that during the ride Dean had been struck by yet another curse — he had drawn literally a hundred identical cards with frogs.
Hearing about such a layout, Alex could only silently empathize with Dean, understanding that lousy feeling all too well. Realizing that approaching Dean right now was a lousy idea, Alex and Aerith headed for the exit the moment the train stopped at the platform. Dean, with a thundercloud instead of a face, scooped up the remaining boxes and exited the car with a heavy step. He refused to the very end to believe that his luck was so pitiful, and still hoped to pull a couple of gold cards from the unopened remnants.
Having left the station, Alex, Aerith, and the discontentedly muttering Dean headed deeper into the Slums. However, already on the approach to the residential blocks they ran into an impressive crowd of people who had gathered as if something out of the ordinary was happening in the center. And among this mass of onlookers Alex instantly picked out with his gaze a very remarkable figure in a worn Moogle cloak, which it was simply impossible to confuse with anyone else.
Approaching closer, Alex also noticed Tifa and Claudia standing right at the entrance to the Seventh Heaven bar. Nodding to them, Alex indicated with his chin the Grunts who had blocked the doors of one of the houses and were not letting anyone closer. In response Tifa only shook her head worriedly, letting him know that she herself did not properly understand what the hell was going on here.
"What do you think is happening there?" Aerith asked with a sigh, worrying because the Grunts had staged a sudden raid right in the middle of broad daylight.
"No idea. Let's just observe for now, and then we'll see," Alex answered, shaking his head, already actively trying to fish memories out of his head and attempting to guess exactly which event was unfolding before his eyes.
Hearing Alex's words, Aerith nodded understandingly and continued observing what was happening. Lightly stroking his chin, Alex finally remembered exactly which event was unfolding before them and whom the Shinra Grunts had come for. Knowing how this scene would ultimately end, Alex gently pushed Aerith toward Seventh Heaven so she would not stand in the middle of the crowd of onlookers. Bestowing an imperturbable gaze upon him, Aerith obediently headed toward the bar, clutching the bags with their morning purchases in her hands.
Remaining in the crowd, Alex and Dean continued to monitor the soldiers, ready to intervene if the situation began to spiral out of control. At that moment Alex felt a light shove when someone crashed into him at full speed. Turning his head, he heard an annoyed female voice and saw right in front of him a hood in the shape of a Moogle. Rubbing her bruised nose, Yuffie raised her eyes, met Alex's rainbow gaze, and involuntarily gasped. Alex himself merely sighed to himself, instantly recognizing her.
Pretending that all of this was an unfortunate accident, Yuffie immediately began actively pushing her way through the crowd, from time to time casting slightly narrowed, suspicious glances at Alex. Shaking his head, Alex shifted his gaze to the residential house — just at the moment when a young guy jumped out of the doors. Tangling in his own legs, he tumbled down the metal steps with a shout and a crash. The Grunts ran out after him; without further ceremony they twisted him, snapped on the handcuffs, and tightly bound his eyes with a dense blindfold.
Listening to the whispering of the crowd, Alex finally remembered this character — his outrageously flashy acquaintance named Johnny. And all that instantly surfaced in his memory about the disturber of the peace was that he was a phenomenal chatterbox and simply a precious find for absolutely any Shinra spy. And while Johnny himself tried to break free, loudly cursing at the top of his lungs, the Grunts remained silent and merely took him under the arms and led him deeper into the alleys.
"Shall we help the guy?" Dean inquired with skepticism, resting his elbow on Alex's shoulder and observing the escort process with lazy curiosity.
"We have to save him!" Tifa's agitated voice unexpectedly rang out right behind their backs.
"Oh, and when did you manage to come up?" Alex asked, turning his head and discovering that Tifa and Claudia were already standing nearby.
"We just came up. If you hadn't been distracted, you would have noticed earlier," Claudia needled with a sarcastic smirk, folding her arms across her chest and standing next to Alex.
"Claudia, not now! We really need to help Johnny," Tifa shook her head, looking with sincere anxiety in the direction where the Grunts had dragged Johnny.
"Is he like one of yours or something?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow, peering out from behind Alex's shoulder and looking at Tifa.
"No. He's not in the loop at all about what we do, but he clearly suspects something… And, let's just say, Johnny is definitely not the type of guy who knows how to keep his mouth shut," Tifa whispered quietly, glancing around so that only Alex, Dean, and Claudia could hear their conversation.
"Fine. Let's go rescue this blabbermouth. But you owe me a cocktail on the house," Alex agreed with a sigh, adjusting the Moogle hat on his head with a habitual motion.
"I'm coming with you," Claudia nodded decisively, taking a step forward.
"Well, since you've got a whole rescue expedition assembling here, I think I'll head to the bar. I'd rather continue opening my packs of cards than waste precious time on some chatterbox," Dean declared in a completely carefree tone and turned toward the Seventh Heaven sign.
Observing as Dean headed toward the bar with a lazy step, Alex merely shook his head, after which he turned to Claudia and Tifa and nodded understandingly to them. Setting off in the direction where the Grunts had dragged the excessively talkative Johnny, Alex waved a hand to Aerith on the move, showing that they would return soon. Following at a quick pace after Tifa, who knew every nook and cranny of this district like the back of her hand, Alex and Claudia tried not to fall behind.
Passing through dark alleys, they caught the whispering of the local residents — who even without extra questions silently pointed with their fingers in the direction where Johnny had been taken. Continuing on their way, Alex out of the corner of his eye noticed that Yuffie in her worn Moogle cloak was stubbornly following them. Deciding not to pay attention to the young ninja who was simply itching with curiosity about everything, Alex drew level with Claudia and continued following Tifa.
Rounding a corner, they came out to a fenced-off closed territory of the Slums, from where Johnny's yelling voice could already be heard from afar — he never stopped complaining that the Grunts would dislocate his joints if they continued dragging him with such force. Tifa carefully opened the rusty gates, trying not to make any extra noise, and was the first to step onto the territory.
Having gone a little farther, Alex, Tifa, and Claudia saw how the Grunts were dragging Johnny ever deeper toward the abandoned warehouses. And the prisoner, true to his repertoire, was already working his tongue at full speed, loudly wondering what the hell his ID card was even registered in that closed wing of the plant where he had never in his life had access.
Hearing that Johnny had already begun leaking information, Tifa sighed heavily and pressed her palm to her forehead. Listening to this continuous chatter, Alex turned his head to Tifa standing next to him and over her shoulder once again noticed how a Moogle hood flashed from around the corner, immediately disappearing into the shadows. Shaking his head, Alex shifted his gaze back to Tifa.
"Where does this blabbermouth even know anything from? Everyone around knows that his tongue has no bones. Or did you relax so much in the bar that you discuss secret plans right in front of him?" Alex asked with light irony, squatting down by an old container next to Tifa.
"Not at all! We never discuss anything in his presence. It's just… he hangs around the bar counter way too often," Tifa answered with a strained smile, shaking her head.
"So, another admirer… Nothing has changed since then," Claudia noted dryly, instantly recalling how guys had always circled around Tifa back in Nibelheim.
"You say that as if in the past a whole line of such suitors was constantly crowding around her," Alex said with a slight chuckle, lighting a thin cigar and casting an expressive glance at Tifa.
"Maybe we can discuss my past some other time? We still actually need to figure out how to pull Johnny out before he blabs absolutely everything to Shinra!" Tifa protested, flushing and clearly not burning with the desire to dissect her personal affairs at such a moment.
Alex quietly laughed at Tifa's obvious embarrassment and decided not to fan the topic of her past any further. Peering out from behind the rusty container that served as their cover, he assessed the situation: the Grunts had managed to drag Johnny quite far already. Waving a hand to his companions, Alex was the first to step out of the shadows and go forward. Claudia and Tifa immediately rushed after him to intercept the convoy before the prisoner laid all his cards on the table for the soldiers.
At the same time, of the entire trio only Tifa was truly nervous — she sincerely worried about what lamentable consequences Johnny's long tongue could lead to for Avalanche. Alex and Claudia, for their part, couldn't care less about Johnny himself — they were walking alongside purely out of friendly solidarity and for company. Reaching yet another turn, Alex crouched, peered around the corner, and saw how Johnny was being shoved inside some dilapidated warehouse.
Nodding to his companions, he suggested they assess the situation themselves. Seeing exactly where the chatterbox had been dragged, Tifa acted without delay: taking a quick run-up, she deftly and gracefully vaulted over the high chain-link fence. Alex, assessing her jump, soared after her without particular effort and easily flew over the barrier without even taking his hands out of his pockets.
Approaching right up to the closed gates of the warehouse, Alex clearly heard how the Grunts were only beginning to ask leading questions, while Johnny, without any beatings at all, was already working his tongue at full speed. Pressing her ear to the metal, Tifa also made out Johnny's chatter and instantly realized: this idiot needed to be pulled out right now, before he blurted out something that absolutely everyone would later regret.
"You two distract the Grunts at the main entrance, and in the meantime I'll sneak in from the rear and quietly pull Johnny out," Tifa proposed in a low voice, throwing together a rescue plan on the fly.
"Let's just skip all this murky stealth part and politely knock on the door right now," Alex interrupted with a cheerful smirk, dropping into a squat and tightly gripping the lower edge of the steel gates with his fingers.
"Works for me. Our task isn't to kiss him on the forehead, but to make sure he doesn't blurt out anything extra," Claudia nodded approvingly, immediately grabbing the edge of the gates together with Alex.
Tifa didn't even manage to open her mouth for an objection before Alex and Claudia sharply pulled the gates upward, instantly and with a crash swinging them open. In that same second two Grunts standing with their backs to the entrance appeared before them. The Shinra guards didn't even manage to orient themselves before the barrier had already disappeared. And before either of them could think to raise his automatic rifle, Alex grabbed the nearest soldier by the collar and with a powerful yank hurled him backward, literally throwing him out of the warehouse.
The second opponent was instantly neutralized by Claudia, clamping his neck in a deadly chokehold. Before the remaining two guards could raise their weapons, Tifa ran like lightning between Alex and Claudia and soared into the air. Spinning in the jump, she delivered a crushing kick right to the heads of both opponents, instantly sending them into a deep knockout.
Having dealt with the convoy in a couple of seconds, Tifa shifted her gaze to Johnny, who from fright had crashed from the chair right onto the concrete floor and was now loudly demanding an explanation of what the hell was going on here. Standing over him, Tifa merely sighed heavily, not properly understanding what to do with this unbearable blabbermouth at all.
While she was thinking, Alex simply grabbed Johnny by the leg and dragged him across the floor out into the street, completely ignoring the prisoner's howls and complaints. Having dragged the poor guy out into the fresh air, Alex released him, returned for the unconscious soldier, and dragged him back inside. After which he jumped up, grabbed the edge of the raised gates, and lightly pulled the leaves downward, closing the warehouse.
"And what are we going to do with this blabbermouth?" Alex asked, unhurriedly brushing off his white gloves.
"You yourself just said: he's a blabbermouth… The choice is obvious," Claudia dropped dryly, drawing her Buster Sword from behind her back and clearly intending to shut the screamer up once and for all.
"Stop! Don't do that!" Tifa immediately cried out, stepping between Claudia and Johnny.
"Exactly, beautiful, let's make a deal! You've got an amazing voice, so you're definitely a beauty! And since you're a beauty, maybe you don't need to kill me?! I didn't do anything at all! I didn't see anything, didn't hear anything, and was completely silent!" Johnny screeched in complete horror, frantically trying to save his hide.
"Since you're singing so nicely… then if you so much as breathe a word about what you saw here…" Alex said with a conspiratorial smirk, squatting down next to Johnny and leaning right up to his ear.
The longer Alex spoke, the paler Johnny's face became. And the moment Alex finished the last phrase, the poor guy instantly lost consciousness, and foam began coming from his mouth. Scratching his cheek, Alex turned to Claudia and Tifa and victoriously raised a thumb upward. They could only guess what exactly he had whispered to the prisoner to make him black out with such an effect.
Putting on the most innocent expression he was capable of, Alex flipped the unconscious Johnny over with the toe of his boot and deftly tore the handcuffs from his hands. Having freed the talkative idiot, Alex decided that their mission was over and considered it time to return to Seventh Heaven. Claudia immediately followed him, putting the Buster Sword back behind her back with a habitual motion — she had absolutely no desire to waste any more time in this warehouse.
Tifa, for her part, merely sighed heavily. The ease with which Claudia had just been prepared to solve the problem with Johnny frankly frightened her. She still could not comprehend what her longtime friend had had to go through for her to become so cold-blooded about human life over these five years.
Casting a pitying glance at the sprawled Johnny, Tifa dragged the screamer over to the wall and lightly patted his cheeks, trying to bring him to. But the moment Johnny opened his eyes and realized what was happening, he leaped up with a howl and raced off in the opposite direction, raising an entire cloud of dust behind him.
"At least this idiot is still just as loud and fast… Hopefully he won't get caught by Shinra again," Tifa said with a sigh, rising from her squat and hurrying after Alex and Claudia.
The moment Tifa left the territory of the warehouse, Yuffie in her usual worn Moogle robe appeared on the very edge of the roof, hands on her hips. Standing at the height, Yuffie looked after the departing Alex with undisguised interest. Squatting down, she propped her cheeks on her palms and began lightly rocking her head from side to side. She was insanely interested in Alex and his unusual rainbow eyes.
In Yuffie's understanding such a rare shade could mean only one thing — possession of some incredibly unique and valuable Materia. And being a passionate hunter of everything rare and shiny, Yuffie was burning with the desire to find out what kind of artifact it was. Squinting, she took a coffee bean out of her pocket and put it into her mouth.
Biting into the coffee bean, Yuffie slightly wrinkled her nose from the tart, bitter aftertaste and lowered her gaze to the place where Johnny had been lying just recently. She was insanely curious to know what Alex had whispered to that blabbermouth to make him first collapse into a faint with foam at the mouth and then leap up and race off with a wild cry, raising an entire cloud of dust behind him.
"Damn, this is so interesting… What did that guy even say to that blabbermouth? Maybe I should just go and ask?.. Shit, no, I've got a mission… But I'm crazy curious! Or can I go ask first and then deal with the mission? Or still the mission first and then the questions?.. And at the same time I could ask why his eyes are like that… Yeah, I'm sure he'll tell me everything! He was wearing a Moogle hat too, which means we'll definitely find common ground! Hehehe, plus he's a hottie. He's got rare Materia, and he's a hottie on top of that… Perfect!" Yuffie began reflecting out loud, actively pacing from side to side across the roof, after which she decisively punched her fist into her palm, arriving at a final conclusion.
To be continued...
(And so Yuffie appears, hehehe. And Dean's love for this kind of thing, I wanted him to get into this card game from the very beginning. And as with all these gacha things, if you're unlucky, then your destiny is to collect gray crap. Now, I might give away spoilers about why Dean needs cards, but you already know. For the tournament on the Shinra-8 cruise ship. In the meantime, let's continue with the story. Peace, love, and I want a Moogle hat too. Damn.)
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