"Who..."
When Barret and Jessie came in, they had no idea of the situation inside the Seventh Heaven bar. After being stunned for a moment, they noticed Marlene sitting next to Aerith.
"Daddy, Sister Jessie." Marlene greeted them.
"Marlene!" Jessie cried out in surprise.
But before her voice had even fallen, Barret, with a speed that amazed her, rushed over.
Carefully hugging Marlene in his arms, Barret, this absurdly strong man, spoke with a choked voice, "Marlene, my daughter, you finally came back."
Then he looked at Tifa and asked, "How did she come back?"
"It was Uncle Aiden and Sister Aerith who brought me back." Marlene rubbed against her father's chest and answered on behalf of Tifa.
"It's them." Tifa pointed with her hand at Aiden and Aerith sitting nearby.
"Hello." Aiden raised his glass and gave a slight air toast toward him, while Aerith lazily raised her hand. The alcohol was kicking in, and she was somewhat drunk.
Barret put his daughter back onto the chair, tidied up his clothes, and solemnly bowed to Aiden and Aerith, "Thank you for bringing my daughter back."
"No need to be so polite. Tifa has already thanked us." Aiden sipped his wine and shook his head.
"That's different, because Marlene is my daughter." Barret said seriously, then he pulled over a chair, sat next to Marlene, and quietly asked about what she had experienced these days.
"Tifa, a glass of fruit wine." Jessie also pulled over a chair, but she sat next to Aiden. After asking Tifa for a glass of fruit wine, she began to size up Aiden.
As a loyal member of the "Appearance Association", Jessie was usually only interested in handsome men. But for some reason, although Aiden did not fall into the "handsome men" category, he unexpectedly felt very pleasing to her eyes.
"Jessie, mind your manners." Seeing Jessie staring intently at Aiden, Tifa couldn't help but remind her, "He's a guest."
"I know." Jessie replied indifferently, but she still withdrew her gaze.
"You're really popular, huh." Next to Aiden, Aerith shifted closer to him, poked his waist with her finger, and said softly.
"Don't talk nonsense." Aiden slapped her hand away, but she immediately started poking his arm again.
"Aerith, stop fooling around." Aiden grabbed her hand, dissatisfied. "If you can't handle drinking, don't force yourself."
"I'm not!" Aerith pouted, but didn't pull her hand back. Then she froze for a moment, as if she saw something.
"Tifa, please get her a glass of ice water." Seeing Aerith in a daze, Aiden asked Tifa for a glass of ice water.
"No need." Coming back to herself, Aerith shook her head, withdrew her hand, and said, "I'll be fine after resting for a bit."
After speaking, she ignored Aiden, crossed her arms to cushion her chin, and slowly closed her eyes.
Looking at Aerith in this state, Aiden shrugged helplessly. "Alright then. I'm going out for a smoke."
After chatting with Tifa for a while and finishing the wine in his glass, Aiden got up and said to Tifa, then walked outside.
Outside the bar, Aiden sat on the steps, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag. However, he hadn't smoked much yet when he saw a car with the Shinra Company logo suddenly driving down the street.
Seeing that car, Aiden instinctively prepared to draw his gun, but thinking it might just be passing by, he laughed at himself for being too nervous.
But unexpectedly, the car stopped on the street directly across from him.
Aiden immediately felt uneasy. With a thought, a revolver appeared in his hand.
Kaili's Phantom Revolver.
This was an epic weapon with special effects. When shooting, it could consume psychic energy to unleash a special ability, Psychic Wave.
"You guys better not act rashly. I haven't used this gun for real yet." Holding the epic revolver in hand, Aiden felt full of confidence, muttering expectantly.
However, the car just stayed there quietly, without any movement.
———
[Inside the car.]
A man who could be described as beautiful sat in the back seat. He was the head of Shinra Company's General Affairs Department, Investigation Section, Turks' Director, Tseng.
At this moment, he was listening to his subordinates reporting.
[Director, I'm sorry, we didn't gather any useful information on that person.]
In the earpiece, the subordinate's voice sounded uneasy. Although he knew that his director was usually a very easy-going person, this time was different, because they hadn't collected any useful information.
"No information at all?" Tseng frowned, somewhat incredulous.
Shinra's intelligence network was immensely powerful, even stronger than the already surrendered Wutai. Yet this time, they couldn't even gather information on a single person. This was completely beyond his expectations.
[Yes, Director. Including entry records into the city, we couldn't find anything. He should be an unregistered citizen.] The subordinate continued, [He seemed to have just appeared in Midgar out of nowhere.]
"Interesting." Tseng nodded, a curious look appearing on his face.
However, no one can leave no traces. Keep investigating."
He added.
[Yes, Director.] The subordinate answered.
Turning off the communicator, Tseng looked at Aiden sitting on the steps. After thinking for a moment, he gave up the idea of getting out of the car and ordered the driver to leave.
Watching the car slowly drive away, Aiden breathed a sigh of relief and put the revolver back into the system space.
But at this moment, he was pondering, what was the person in that car here for?
'Could it be for Aerith?' Aiden thought, but quickly denied it himself.
As the last remaining Ancient in the world, Aerith was always under Shinra's surveillance. However, for various reasons, Shinra hadn't taken action against Aerith for now.
'So, they came for Avalanche?' Aiden thought of another possibility, but quickly dismissed it too.
The current storyline was still far from the Mako Reactor bombing, and Avalanche's minor activities wouldn't attract Shinra's attention yet.
'It's really hard to guess.'
After thinking for a while, Aiden sighed helplessly, threw away his cigarette, and returned to the bar.
———
In the short time he was outside, Barret and Marlene had already finished their emotional father-daughter reunion. At this moment, Barret was holding a glass of wine, drinking slowly.
Seeing Aiden come in, Barret raised his glass slightly at him. "Aiden, want another drink?"
Aiden was about to nod, but seeing Aerith still lying on the counter, he shook his head.
"Next time. I want to take her home first; she needs to rest." As he spoke, he pointed at Aerith.
"Alright then." Although a bit disappointed, Barret understood.
"Aerith, let's go home." Aiden walked to Aerith's side and lightly patted her shoulder.
Although somewhat drunk, Aerith was still conscious. Hearing him, she nodded slightly and supported herself on the counter to stand up.
"Uncle, Sister Aerith," Seeing them about to leave, Marlene looked a little reluctant, "Will you come back to play with Marlene again?"
"Of course, little Marlene." Aerith bent down, pinched Marlene's cheek, and said with a smile.
"It's not far anyway, just a short ride." Aiden added on the side.
"Then you must come! Otherwise, Marlene will come find you!" Marlene hugged Aerith's hand.
"We definitely will." Aerith nodded slightly, then bent down and kissed Marlene's forehead before walking toward the bar's exit.
"See you then. Also, Tifa, thanks for your hospitality. The wine was very good." Aiden bid farewell to Tifa and the others, then followed behind Aerith.
"Come again anytime, Aiden. I still have a lot of varieties you haven't tried yet!" Tifa said behind him.
Without looking back, Aiden just waved his hand forcefully to reassure her that he would definitely come again.
Following Aerith out the door, the two walked side by side as before, but now, without the little one between them, their shoulders almost touched.
Maybe because of the breeze, by the time they were still some distance from the station, Aerith felt her legs weren't listening to her anymore. After just a few more steps, her body went soft and she fell backward.
Luckily, Aiden had been paying attention to her the whole time. As she fell back, he swiftly moved behind her, catching her in his arms.
"My head is so dizzy." Such close contact made Aerith a little embarrassed, but she really had no strength. So she gave up resisting and simply leaned her head against Aiden's shoulder, murmuring.
"Next time, I definitely won't let you drink again." Aiden said.
"Mm." Aerith nodded. "Won't drink next time."
"Can you still walk by yourself?" Aiden asked again.
Aerith shook her head.
Aiden sighed, then directly picked her up in his arms and strode toward the station.
Lying in Aiden's embrace, although Aerith's head grew heavier, she still felt a bit shy. As if not wanting to be seen by passersby, she covered her face.
At the same time, she was a little scared, realizing she didn't resist at all. On the contrary, she felt inexplicably relieved.
As the planet's only remaining Ancient, she had been carrying too much on her shoulders.
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