Chapter 853 - 852: The Miraculous Light Grazing Another Timeline."

They heard the loud, full-blooded roar of Heidegger, furiously ordering the surviving soldiers to capture the fugitives at any cost. In the wake of the general's angry shout, the grunts stationed on the third floor immediately opened dense, withering fire on the black motorcycle "Fenrir," on which Alex and Claudia were racing. Standing up on the rear wheel, Alex shot forward, using the upper steps of the escalator as an improvised ramp, at the same time smashing several gaping grunts off their feet with a crushing blow of the rear wheel.

Landing on the third floor, Alex skidded with a screech across the smooth marble floor. Yanking the throttle all the way open, Alex gunned it again, forced the motorcycle up onto its hind wheel, and tore at breakneck speed toward the deafening noise and screech of tires coming from ahead. Sitting behind him, Claudia held tightly to Alex's shoulder with one hand while with the other she swung the massive Buster Sword in wide arcs, scattering like chips any grunts who got too close.

Using a massive broken table as a ramp to leap over another rank of grunts, Alex on the motorcycle literally flew into the spacious exhibition hall. Spinning the bike right in mid-air and spectacularly sliding across the marble floor, Alex loudly honked at Dean, who, together with everyone else, was sitting inside the silver pickup. Putting on a real crazy drift show in the spacious hall on the third floor and ramming grunts at full speed in order to break out of the encirclement and find a way to escape, Dean clearly heard the sharp car horn.

During yet another sharp drift around a massive support column, Dean for a moment locked eyes with Alex, who was expressively pointing a finger at the huge panoramic window behind them. Quickly glancing in the rear-view mirror, Dean instantly understood exactly what Alex had in mind and immediately yanked the handbrake hard, forcing the pickup to spin precisely toward the panoramic glazing.

"All right, kids, settle in comfortably and hold on tight! We're about to get shaken up a little more!" Dean said with an excited grin, demonstratively cracking his neck and revving in place, preparing to ram.

"Are we… Are we still not done?! I'm going to be completely carsick, please stop the car!" Yuffie cried with a completely pale, greenish face, desperately covering her mouth with both hands and physically feeling the lump rising in her throat.

"Dean… Don't tell me you're really going to smash through that window at full speed?" Aerith asked in a nervous, trembling tone, gripping the seatbelt in a death hold.

"You guessed it on the first try, Aerith! And now… To infinity and beyond!" Dean shouted loudly, abruptly releasing the handbrake and slamming the gas pedal into the floor with all his might.

"Barret, shoot the window right now! Faster!" Tifa yelled at the top of her lungs, bracing her feet hard against the front seat and preparing in advance for the hard launch and impact.

Hearing Tifa's battle cry, Barret was already about to climb out dramatically through the sunroof of the pickup to shred the thick panoramic glass to pieces with his massive guns. But at that very same second a series of sharp shots rang out, the façade glass instantly became covered with a dense web of deep cracks, and the black motorcycle raced past the pickup at wild speed. Alex sat in front, confidently gripping his signature "Jackal" pistol in his hand, while Claudia held on tightly behind him.

Passing the racing pickup, Alex gave Dean a short honk, gesturing that he was taking the lead and riding ahead to clear the way. Gaining enough speed, Alex quickly holstered the "Jackal" pistol again, sharply yanked the handlebars toward himself, and rose up onto the rear wheel. Twisting the throttle all the way open, Alex at full, unstoppable speed slammed straight into the cracked panoramic window. Spectacularly flying out of the collapsing Shinra headquarters building on the motorcycle, Alex and Claudia made a perfect landing right onto the multi-level highway running below.

Softly touching the asphalt, Alex gently swayed the handlebars, not allowing the powerful bike to skid dangerously, and immediately looked back, smiling as he noticed the silver pickup flying out after them from the breach in the building. While the heavy vehicle was still falling along its ballistic trajectory, Alex and Claudia managed to make out the broad, reckless grin of Dean behind the wheel, the extremely tense face of Barret who was clutching the frightened Red in a death grip, as well as the pale, fear-distorted faces of Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie, clinging with all their strength to the tight seatbelts.

With a terrible crash landing on the highway, Dean deftly yanked the wheel, regaining full control of the vehicle, and immediately slammed the gas pedal to the floor again, rapidly catching up to the pulling-ahead Alex and Claudia. Drawing level with the roaring "Fenrir," Dean lowered the side window, stuck his hand out, and tapped on the door, drawing Alex's attention.

"So where are we headed, man? Are we finally bailing out of Midgar for good or what?" Dean shouted with lively interest, turning his head toward Alex through the open window and wanting to clarify their further route.

"Far away from this cursed place. Once we put some safe distance between us, I'll explain everything in detail," Alex answered with deep thoughtfulness in his voice, pulling a thin cigar from his breast pocket and confidently clamping it between his teeth.

"Got it, fellow, then don't fall behind!" Dean shouted loudly, nodding in agreement, waving a finger forward and urging Alex to squeeze maximum from the engines.

Nodding understandingly, Alex waved a finger forward and with his free hand twisted the throttle all the way open, forcing the powerful motorcycle to accelerate even harder. Sitting behind him, Claudia, who had heard the entire recent conversation between Alex and Dean, gave a slight nod, perfectly aware that they really needed to leave Midgar as soon as possible.

She understood perfectly well without anyone else's hints that Rufus, who had just assumed power, would definitely pin the brutal murder of his father—President Shinra—on all of them, and now hiding anywhere within Midgar would simply become impossible. The passengers sitting in the cabin of the racing pickup also offered no comment on this conversation, silently accepting the obvious state of affairs.

Continuing to race confidently along the nighttime expressway, Alex slightly reduced the speed of the "Fenrir" in order to light the thin cigar. Exhaling gray cigar smoke with deep relief, Alex closed his eyes for a brief moment, feverishly thinking over everything that was supposed to happen next. Feeling the cool night wind brush his face, Alex came to a clear realization: only one single step remained to finally snap the already stretched-to-the-limit bowstring of the former fate.

A step that would finally allow the creation of an entirely new current of history—the very one for which he had made incredible sacrifices and done so much. Smiling slightly at his thoughts, Alex opened his eyes and immediately met the gaze of Aerith, who was watching him carefully from the open window of the pickup, slightly wrinkling her nose in sincere indignation. Even though Aerith had not yet spoken a single word, Alex understood without difficulty exactly what was going on in her cute little head: she was outraged to the depths of her soul that Dean had once again staged a crazy drift show that had made her violently carsick again.

"Next time you'll ride with me on the motorcycle," Alex said with a light, good-natured smile when Aerith opened the window a little wider, preparing to complain.

"You said exactly the same thing last time, mister!" Aerith shouted with a playfully offended face, demonstratively expressing all her dissatisfaction.

"Hey, you sat in the car voluntarily yourself, knowing perfectly well who was behind the wheel!" Alex answered, barely holding back laughter, expressively pointing the smoking cigar at Dean, who continued driving with the most carefree and contented look in the world.

At these teasing words Aerith pouted her lips in exaggerated offense, then slammed the window shut with a crushing click, demonstrating with her entire demeanor just how angry she was with Alex. At such a cute demonstration Alex could no longer hold back and burst into ringing laughter.

Sitting behind him, Claudia only shook her head with a sigh, smiling as she peeked over his shoulder at the road rapidly receding into the distance. At the same time, inside the silver pickup everyone else gradually began to come to their senses after this continuous series of insane events, where one dangerous incident followed another, as if in a single day every single trouble of Midgar had decided to dump itself on them.

Yuffie, with a completely pale face, weakly pressed her forehead against the cool glass, trying with all her might to suppress the heavy nausea rising in her throat. Tifa, on the contrary, calmly leaned back against the soft seatback and closed her eyes, trying at last to catch her breath and process what had happened.

Barret, unlike the girls, was in an exceptionally good and elevated mood: it was gradually dawning on him what a grandiose realization it was that their group could now officially be considered living legends of Midgar for such a daring penetration into the very heart of Shinra headquarters.

Sitting on the console between Dean and Barret, Red was deeply contemplating the fact that he was now finally free and would never again find himself locked in Hojo's horrible laboratories. And this feeling gave him an incredibly pleasant sense of calm, as well as thoughts about what they should all do next. For Nanaki clearly felt that with their escape absolutely nothing had ended yet, and this deep sensation was only reinforced by the secret knowledge that Aerith had shared with him not so long ago.

"Well then, Red, man! Now you're finally completely free!" Barret said with a broad grin, heartily clapping Red on his furry back and distracting him from his deep reflections.

"I would categorically not start celebrating too early, Barret. At least not until we've completely escaped from here," Red answered in a restrained tone, turning his wise gaze toward the enthusiastic giant.

"Come on, dude, you just need to know how to relax! Just think about it: we're now, damn it, the freaking legends of Midgar! Who else but us could just waltz into the holy of holies of Shinra and kick everyone's asses without exception?" Barret shouted with even greater enthusiasm and inspiration, laughing loudly and joyfully thumping his powerful fist against his chest from the excess of overflowing emotions.

"Yeah, right… And tomorrow morning our lovely faces will be plastered on every single poster and in every news broadcast with the poisonous caption 'Brutal Murderers of President Shinra,'" Dean answered with deep sarcasm in his voice, lazily turning his head toward Barret and Red.

"But it wasn't us at all! That terrifying woman finished him off! Aerith, Tifa, tell him! We had nothing to do with it at all… I categorically refuse to take the blame for something I didn't even do!" Yuffie cried desperately, indignantly pounding her little fists on the front seat and looking hopefully at Tifa.

"Sorry, Yuffie… But Shinra will arrange everything so that absolutely no one will believe us. That's exactly why we really need to leave Midgar at least for a while," Tifa said with a strained smile, and Aerith silently nodded her head, fully confirming her words.

"Come on, don't get down, guys! We just need to relax and finally smile. We'll definitely think of something, like always!" Barret said with a cheerful smile, sincerely wanting to cheer up his downcast friends.

"Dean, stop!" Red suddenly roared at the top of his lungs, digging his sharp claws into the console he was sitting on and stretching out like a string.

The moment Red's warning cry rang out, Dean saw right in front of him an impassable barrier in the form of Black Whispers flying up from under the overpass. Instantly reacting to the danger, Dean slammed both feet with all his might onto the brake pedal, twisting the wheel aside so as not to crash at full speed into the living wall of these creatures.

Alex also noticed the swarm in time and braked sharply, sliding the rear wheel across the wet asphalt and stopping mere meters from the circling Whispers. Sitting behind him, Claudia squeezed Alex's shoulder in a death grip, frowning even more deeply at the sight of this dense barrier.

Aerith noticed it too—she was the first to jump out of the stopped pickup right onto the roadway and stared with a completely stunned gaze at the Shinra building rising in the distance. The rest of the party quickly climbed out after her and also froze in deep shock, unable to tear their eyes away from the corporate skyscraper.

Around Shinra headquarters an enormous, endless gigantic stream of billions of Black Whispers was circling. There were so many of these mystical creatures that the 70-story building itself had become practically invisible behind their dense mass, except for the very top of the helipad.

Climbing off the motorcycle together with Claudia, Alex let out a long, heavy sigh when he saw this grandiose spectacle with his own eyes. For it was precisely for this moment that he had been waiting, wanting to force the true Guardian of Fate to finally make its move and crawl out of its dark hole. Approaching the others, Alex unhurriedly lit another thin cigar and exhaled bluish smoke through his nose, raising a thoughtful gaze upward. Yet deep down Alex still felt a small surprise at just how many Whispers had poured out onto the streets—this was not just a couple of thousand creatures; there were countless numbers of them, since they had managed to form such an impenetrable dome around the entire gigantic building. And of one thing he was absolutely certain—everything happening was the direct handiwork of Sephira, who was desperately striving to rewrite Fate in the direction she needed.

"Oh, just great! These damned creatures crawled out again… What other insanity has Shinra decided to pull this time?! Are they really planning to destroy the whole of Midgar to hell?" Barrett said, frowning heavily, anxiously looking around and watching entire flocks of Whispers fly right over their heads, heading toward the Tower.

"The Whisperers… Or rather, it would be more correct to call them the Executors of Fate. They are always invisibly nearby and watching each of us. And they appear only when someone tries to forcibly change what is predestined—to prevent it and return everything to its place," Red spoke in a calm, deep voice, not taking his wise gaze from the dense wall of Whispers hovering around the Shinra building.

"In what sense… They control what is predestined?" Tifa said with sincere thoughtfulness, struggling to find the right words to correctly express the thoughts that had surfaced.

"The flow of the great river… Through it flows the life of the Planet from the very moment of its birth all the way to complete oblivion," Red recited poetically, smoothly settling onto his hind legs and raising his gaze to the darkening sky.

"Can you explain it somehow more understandably? Personally I didn't understand a single thing from that! How can some river know where it's supposed to flow, and what do all these creepy flying things have to do with it?" Yuffie said in a confused tone, completely lost after Nanaki's explanations.

"What is meant to happen will inevitably happen. Those who are meant to die must die. And so that everything happens exactly that way and no other, the Whispers tirelessly watch every key event," Alex answered, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers and casting an attentive glance over the entire frozen group.

"But for what exactly are they doing all this?" Claudia asked, frowning heavily, when memories of the recent strange dream flashed brightly through her mind again—the one where she had seen the mysterious silhouette of a man who resembled her to the point of pain.

"Such is the true will of the Planet itself. For it has already chosen in advance the single path along which it must go," Aerith answered, crossing her palms in front of herself, and gently looked away from the swarming Whispers, gazing straight at Claudia.

"So… You're telling us that if some horrific future awaits us all ahead, then these damned Whispers simply won't allow us to deviate from the intended path?! Wait a minute, kid… And where the hell do you even know all this crap from?! Come on, spill it!" Barrett said in an irritated and demanding tone, emotionally shaking Alex by the shoulder and urging him to lay out everything he knew.

"Because we've already changed this cursed fate far more than once. Everything we've done up to this moment—these are the direct consequences of altering the predestined course of history. And all of this… This is their last attempt to return everything to its original places," Alex answered in a calm tone, expressively pointing a finger at the gigantic swarm of Whispers circling around the Shinra building.

"And… And what are we supposed to do now? Can we even fight on equal terms against something as powerful as Fate itself?" Tifa said with deep anxiety in her voice, perfectly aware of what would happen to them and to the world if everything returned to the way it was.

"Yes. We just need to lay our own, completely new path… Ugh, damn it, I'll show you how right now!" Alex answered with a cheerful, predatory smile, stretching slightly and confidently stepping out into the middle of the road ahead of the others.

Barrett, Tifa, Claudia, Yuffie, and Red stared at Alex, completely failing to understand what exactly he meant by his last mysterious words. Aerith, although she knew perfectly well what Alex had been doing up to this moment and how exactly he had been trying to change the predestined fate, was still insanely curious about what he was going to do right now and how exactly he planned to create an entirely new current for history. Softly smiling at his thoughts, Alex more comfortably clamped the thin cigar between his teeth and calmly said that in this harsh world everyone is free to fight for their own fate, and right now he would demonstrate exactly how it is done.

Slightly rocking his head from side to side, Alex confidently stepped forward and took an extremely deep breath. He needed to concentrate to the absolute maximum so as not to overdo it by accident and make everything even worse—for his original plan was to shatter the stretched-to-the-limit bowstring of the old Fate and create a new channel, not to chaotically destroy the entire world order down to its foundations. Tightly closing his eyes and tuning himself to the necessary mental wavelength, Alex took several more deep breaths.

After that he flung his eyelids wide open, and his lips spread into a broad, anticipatory grin—the upcoming process for some reason filled him with genuine childlike delight. Slowly raising his hands to chest level, Alex positioned his palms opposite each other: one of them facing downward, the other upward.

And gradually, right in the empty space between them, a small but blindingly bright sphere of pure light began to form. Slightly squinting at the familiar sight, Dean instantly realized exactly what powerful magic Alex intended to use and, without wasting a second, quickly covered his own eyes and those of the quietly sitting Tonberry Steve under his shirt with his palms.

Aerith, for her part, clearly felt the pleasant, warming heat that the intensifying clump of energy between Alex's palms was gently radiating. Taking another breath, Alex began slowly and smoothly spreading his palms apart, causing the glowing sphere in his hands to grow right before their eyes.

"What the hell is he even planning to do?" Tifa asked with genuine bewilderment, not tearing her frightened gaze from Alex's broad back.

"Maybe it's some super-secret and insanely cool technique?!" Yuffie added with delight, trying with all her might to bend and crouch so she could finally make out what Alex was holding in his hands.

"You'll see for yourselves soon… And my good advice to all of you: better cover your eyes right now, because it's about to get very bright here," Dean tossed out with a predatory grin, reliably covering his face and Steve's with his palms and raising his gaze with childlike delight to the cloud-covered sky.

"In what the hell sense is it going to be bright?!" Barrett asked irritably, frowning heavily and twisting his face, sharply turning his head toward Dean and suspiciously noticing what exactly the latter had turned his cover into.

Dean did not answer Barrett's irritated question at all, but only looked with anticipation and excitement at the sky covered by black clouds, waiting for the upcoming—in the most literal sense of the word—bright spectacle. Not receiving the desired answer, Barrett already opened his mouth again to deliver another caustic question, when suddenly a ringing clap of joined palms echoed loudly throughout the surroundings.

The moment that pure sound rang out, absolutely everyone reflexively looked at Alex again—and in that same second high in the heavens above Midgar a colossal golden magic circle flared brightly, decorated with ancient runic inscriptions along the edges and the recognizable emblem of a fairy right in the center.

Seeing such a gigantic and majestic magic circle covering the entire space above the megacity, everyone present literally dropped their jaws in absolute shock, staring upward with widely opened eyes. Even Aerith, familiar since childhood with the sacred spells of the Cetra, simply could not help feeling deep numbness from the mere astronomical scale of this unknown magic. At the same time, on a completely different highway, an armored APC stood, on whose roof Valerie, Angel, and Heather were located, not tearing their enchanted gazes from the burning sky.

Slightly whistling at the spectacle in the sky, Valerie with a light, practiced motion pulled a pair of sunglasses from her inventory and quickly put them on. Noticing Valerie's actions, Heather and Angel without extra words immediately pulled out their own sunglasses and instantly lowered them over their eyes. Falco, with a barely noticeable approving smile, looked out from the driver's side window with his usual cigarette between his teeth, not doubting for a second whose hands this grandiose deed belonged to.

Sitting right on the edge of the APC's roof, Nobukatsu completely dissolved into loud, sincere laughter, shouting across the entire expressway that the Flame of Youth of Alex was blazing for the whole world today. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, standing beside the armored vehicle, even without Nobukatsu's crazy shouts instantly came to the single conclusion: only Alex could pull something like this.

The thought never even crossed their minds that anyone else in the entire world was capable of such a thing. Even Rufus Shinra himself, thoughtfully standing by the huge panoramic window on the sixty-ninth floor, slowly looked away from the raging swarm of Whispers and raised his eyes to the blazing sky. And on his usually cold lips an intriguing, predatory smile appeared.

Absolutely every ordinary resident of Midgar was now staring with complete incomprehension and fear at the golden magic circle in the heavens, completely failing to grasp what was happening and what catastrophic consequences it might lead to. And as if sensing the deadly danger emanating from this shining symbol, the Black Whispers rushed upward in a foaming swarm, like an endless dark geyser, desperately striving at any cost to stop the coming cataclysm. Watching this futile bustle, Alex spread into an even wider, triumphant grin.

"Too late, you bastards! I've already finished everything… Let Fairy Law arrive in this world!" Alex shouted at the top of his lungs, activating his prepared spell with wild excitement.

The moment Alex's loud cry rang out, the rotating golden magic circle above Midgar suddenly froze for an instant. And along with it, it seemed to absolutely everyone present that at that very moment everything around them simply stopped. Even the enormous, boiling swarm of Black Whispers that had been streaming solidly toward the shining magic circle froze in the air in the blink of an eye. But this surreal pause lasted only one short moment—and then the world sharply returned to its ordinary motion again.

And in that same second, right from the center of the celestial circle, with a deafening roar, a blinding pillar of pure golden light struck, which instantly swallowed all of Midgar down to the last corner. The Black Whispers, desperately trying to hinder Alex, did not even have time to properly realize what was happening—their ghostly bodies were in an instant split into the tiniest atoms, as if these creatures had never existed in the world at all. The residents of Midgar screamed in primal horror and panic when this colossal torch of light crashed down from the heavens, seriously thinking that their earthly lives had come to a final end.

But the arising panic instantly dissipated when, in place of the sticky fear, an entirely different, unprecedented feeling arrived. Every person who was in Midgar at that moment felt a deep, pleasantly warming heat and an incredible sense of peace that this divine light carried within itself. As if absolutely all the anxieties, pain, and fatigue that had accumulated over this incredibly hard and terrifying week suddenly evaporated without a trace—as if nothing bad had happened to them or the city at all.

Even Rufus Shinra, standing motionless on the sixty-ninth floor of the headquarters, was sincerely intrigued by this indescribable feeling when soft golden waves washed over his body. And along with this realization, he wanted even more strongly to get his hands on Alex and Aerith by any means. For Rufus was ironclad certain: everything he was now observing with his own eyes was a direct manifestation of the legendary, hidden power of the Ancients. At the same time Aerith, Claudia, Yuffie, Barrett, and Red were feeling exactly the same amazing sense of warmth and complete calm, fully enjoying it with eyes closed in pleasure.

Standing next to them, Dean was in absolute, childlike delight—for previously he had seen such grandiose magic exclusively on screens in his favorite anime. The only thing he sincerely regretted right now was that he had ended up too close to the epicenter. Dean knew perfectly well: the best and most impressive view of such large-scale spells always opens from a distance, from where one can fully enjoy such an epic spectacle. But absolutely no one around, except Alex himself, even suspected that at this fateful moment the powerful impulse of the "Law of the Fairy" had touched not only their specific timeline.

Because of the chaotic actions of the Black Whispers, who had been desperately trying to restore the canonical course of history, two parallel realities briefly touched their boundaries. And at that same moment, far beyond Midgar but in a completely different timeline, one legendary SOLDIER 1st Class, painfully familiar to Aerith and Claudia, who by all the laws of Fate was supposed to have died without ever reaching the cherished city, suddenly opened his eyes.

That SOLDIER was Zack Fair—the man who was destined to die from countless mortal wounds in an unequal battle against an entire garrison of Shinra infantry on the approaches to Midgar. Opening his eyes and exhaling heavily, Zack with astonishment felt a pleasant, healing warmth rapidly spreading throughout his wounded body, closing the terrible injuries.

"Am… Am I still not dead?" Zack whispered in shock, clearly remembering how he had just been fading away on the cold sand from the mortal wounds he had received.

Still clearly feeling the pleasant residual warmth that had rapidly spread throughout his wounded body, Zack stared with deep surprise at the transparent blue sky, across which rare white clouds were peacefully and unhurriedly drifting. No matter how much he racked his brain over how such a thing was even possible after that deadly slaughter, Zack could only produce a quiet, tired smile, groping around to find his massive Buster Sword, which should have been lying somewhere right next to him on the blood-soaked ground.

With great difficulty rising to his feet and leaning firmly on his faithful sword, Zack slowly ran his hand over his own chest and stomach, noticing in shock that there was no longer a single mortal wound from the numerous bullet hits on his body. Completely failing to understand what the hell was going on around him, he raised his clouded gaze toward the majestic Midgar. And despite it being the middle of the day, when the scorching sun was still shining brightly right overhead, he clearly saw in the distance the slowly fading colossal pillar of golden light covering the entire megacity.

Completely lost from what was happening, Zack, gripping the hilt of the Buster Sword in a death hold, tried with all his strength to stay on his buckling legs against the sudden strong weakness that had washed over him, convulsively trying to comprehend the true miracle that had appeared before him. But no matter how long he peered at the horizon, not a single rational explanation appeared in his head for what he had just seen with his own eyes. Of one thing, however, he was absolutely certain—this amazing light carried not a single drop of harm or threat.

"Eh, Midgar never changes at all… In this city some wild shit is always happening… Heh. But the most important thing is that we finally made it. Do you hear me, Cloud, buddy? We made it! You and I are finally in Midgar," Zack said, laughing with relief, leaning firmly on the Buster Sword and carefully looking around in search of his unconscious friend.

Hearing not a single sound in reply, Zack felt a sharp note of deep sadness flash instantly in his eyes, which, however, quickly faded. Sincerely trying not to show the slightest signs of despair, Zack once again pulled onto his face his usual, cheerful and lively smile, after which, leaning heavily on the massive Buster Sword, he trudged toward the piled stone boulders nearby. Reaching the needed place, Zack carefully looked into the improvised shelter where he had earlier left his helpless friend.

Squatting down next to him, Zack sincerely hoped that the amazing golden light that had saviorously healed his own mortal wounds would likewise instantly heal Cloud as well. But, once again meeting the same empty, glassy, and completely lifeless gaze, Zack with a heavy heart looked away, categorically not wanting his friend to see him in such a depressed state. Zack understood all too well: after those nightmarish four years that they had both spent helplessly in Hojo's horrible laboratory under continuous experiments, only a true miracle could heal such a severe disorder of the mind.

He only sacredly hoped that his old good acquaintance from Midgar would definitely be able to return Cloud's reason, performing exactly the miracle he had been so tremblingly waiting for. Shaking off the sticky remnants of sad thoughts, Zack turned to his friend again—and literally froze in place in astonishment when with his own eyes he saw Cloud barely noticeably blink. Still not believing the miracle that had occurred, Zack smiled widely and enthusiastically, impulsively grabbing Cloud by his strong shoulders.

"Hey, buddy! You just blinked! I knew it, damn it, you're still in there, inside! Just hang on, little brother, very soon we'll definitely help you!" Zack shouted in a hugely inspired and joyful tone, gripping Cloud's shoulders tightly and, from the uncontrollable excess of emotions, beginning to gently shake him from side to side.

Even though Cloud again answered him with nothing, for Zack it was more than enough that his faithful friend had at least somehow reacted to what was happening. Deeply feeling that all the nightmares and deadly battles they had endured had not been in vain, Zack carefully raised Cloud to his feet and gently draped his heavy arm over his own shoulder. This one small movement already brought him colossal hope that very soon Cloud would finally recover and they would again be able to chat like normal people.

Securing the massive Buster Sword on the mounts behind his back, Zack, firmly supporting Cloud by the waist, began slowly walking along the road in the direction of Midgar. He had always sincerely believed that if one never loses hope, then absolutely any, even the most impossible dream, will definitely become reality.

Being in an exceptionally excellent and fighting mood, Zack again began chattering nonstop with Cloud, describing in detail the most various amazing places they simply had to visit together in order to properly drink and eat deliciously when the latter finally thawed out and came to himself. From the surge of a bouquet of bright feelings and emotions, Zack completely forgot about his own wild fatigue and began walking even faster toward the rising metal constructions of Midgar, completely unaware of what exactly awaited him there and where ultimately this newly laid path would lead.

To be continued...

(To be honest, I had planned for Zack to appear like this from the very beginning. And perhaps—let me repeat that, *perhaps*—he might show up again in the future. For the record, this is an entirely different Zack. As I've mentioned in previous chapters—and I'll remind you, in case you've forgotten—some truly wild things are happening with the timelines in this world; they intersect in certain places. That's why I think it might be worth having Zack pop up at these points of intersection, while he's in the midst of trying to save his own world by reaching the very end. Heh, the ascent of yet another hero. That is, if I don't forget about it, of course. I should probably jot it down on a sticky note—you never know when it might come in handy. Now, time to eat and pretend I'm actually happy about it. Peace, love, and... wait, did Alex not notice that he'd stopped, or was that part of his plan all along? Hmm.)

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