Alex Perez has always been a lover of food. Raised by his Grandmother in the Midgar slums, he would fight anyone who said that his Abuella didn't have the best cooking in the world. Many were inclined to agree and there wasn't a person in their sector that didn't know Abuella Perez. She would take food to sick neighbors and struggling families, no matter how little she had, she would always share. Alex's younger brother, Miguel, would often ask why they always had to share what they had, to which Abuella would say "Food tastes better when you share it.

Alex dreamed of opening his own bakery someday. He had hoped that Abuella would stay strong enough to see it for her own eyes. But she got old, and sick and eventually succumbed to illness. Alex took care of her religiously until the final moments, Miguel was in denial and would disappear for days on end. It happened finally that she passed and Miguel wasn't home. He turned up at the funeral and Alex gave him an earful.

His hopes of opening a bakery dashed and his brother constantly running off, he was desperate for work. He overheard about Avalanche at a local bar. They needed guards, the pay sounded decent enough. So Alex joined the newly formed group mostly out of necessity. Not long after, his comrades learned of his love for food and he earned the nickname Wedge.