“W…what happened…?”
You live.
“Wha?! Who are you?”
Don’t you remember?
“Oh…yeah.”
Back then…you could get by with just skinned knees.
“Huh…?”
Hey, shouldn’t you be getting up?
“Ah…right!”
The flower girl frowned again, staring in quite some disbelief at the spiky headed kid who’d fallen through the roof of “her” church and destroyed most of her flowerbed. She’d been quite frightened when she heard the explosions. AVALANCHE had promised more attacks, and she’d prayed that the reactor above her little niche wouldn’t explode and kill her. She’d nearly had a heart attack when the roof shattered and a human being fell down towards her. At first, she’d taken him for the dead, but upon closer examination, he was very much alive. How, Aeris Gainsborough asked herself, was that possible?
“Oh, it moved…” she said quietly as the young man began to stir.
He sat up slowly, rubbing his head. He had to ache a good deal, Aeris thought, and the look on his face was indeed not one of pleasure. He opened his eyes. Aeris reeled; his eyes blazed green, Mako Green. A SOLDIER. Aeris was immediately on guard. Had this one been sent to stop the terrorists above? If so, would he recognize her? Aeris prepared to run if necessary.
But when the young man saw her, she detected no recognition in his eyes. She knew, however, very suddenly, who he was. The one from the other night, he’d crashed into her. He was running from the bombed reactor, not to it. So, now she was dealing with one of AVALANCHE. How fun.
“Um,” she spoke, “Are you OK?”
The young man looked around. “I…guess. Who are you?”
She helped him to his feet. “You don’t remember me?”
“You’re the slum drunk,” he did not dare say. How did he know her? Maybe they saw each other on the street one day? How could she expect him to remember?
OH. He realized it all as he saw the flowers beneath his feet. The flower girl!
“I remember,” he finished quickly.
She laughed quietly. “I think my flowers broke your fall.”
“They did…?” The man, suddenly aware of himself, leaped back and off the crushed bed of color. “Oh, I’m sorry!” he apologized, “I, well…it’s been a little hectic.”
“Well, I guess!” She tended to the surviving flowers. “Don’t worry about it. No one died.”
The blonde puzzled over the whole area. The girl before him was about his height, with a pretty face and eyes full of emotion. She was wearing a pink dress with a rose colored vest. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a large ponytail held in place by a bow surrounding
an orb of…
“You have Materia?” the man asked her.
“Yep.”
“What does it do?”
Aeris looked right at him and said flatly, “Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Yep.”
He frowned. “You probably just don’t know how to use it.”
“Oh, I know how,” she grinned, “But this one just doesn’t do anything. It’s been passed down my family. Some kind of heirloom.”
The young man nodded, the looked at the flowers. “I didn’t know flowers could grow in the slums.”
She paused, thinking. “They shouldn’t be able to, but here…in this church, I never have a problem. She stood. “So, what’s your name?”
He paused before answering. “It’s Cloud.”
“Cloud, huh? I’m Aeris. Nice to meet you.”
Cloud nodded. “You sell flowers?”
Aeris nodded in turn. “I make more money off it than you may think. What do you do?”
Again, he paused. “I do a little of everything.”
“Oooh, a Jack-of-all-Trades!” she got to her feet. Conversation ran dry as they both began to notice a third presence in the church.
Cloud and Aeris both turned to face a man dressed in dark clothing at the entrance to the Church. Recognition hit Cloud like a brick, but it made no sense. Why would THEY be here?
“So, Cloud…” Aeris sounded less energetic all of a sudden, “Have you ever been a bodyguard before? You DO do everything, don’t you?”
Cloud smirked. “Maybe.”
She got serious all of a sudden. “Then get me out of here. Take me home!”
“It’s gonna cost you.”
“How bout…” she giggled coyly, “Hmm. What if I go out with you once?”
“Sounds fair,” Cloud grinned inwardly before moving towards the man, who was soon joined by three of the Shinra Military Police. The MPs watched Cloud carefully, smirking as he approached. To them, this was just another pawn Aeris had turned up. The leader of the pack, a man in a midnight blue suit-coat around a white T-shirt he’d failed to tuck in, did not appear so cocky. He had seen Cloud’s eyes.
“I know who you are,” Cloud said to the man, “You’re with Shinra’s Intelligence Agency, the Turks.”
“Heh heh,” one of the MPs snickered, “Smart boy. Hey, Reno! You want him taken out?”
The Turk smiled a thin smile, gazing at Cloud with ebony eyes. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“No!” Aeris called from the back of the church, “Not here, you’ll screw up the flowers!”
Cloud took the opportunity to follow Aeris through the door in the back. Reno watched him leave, than ran a hand through his ruby colored hair. “They were…Mako eyes.”
The MPs stiffened at that. Reno moved forward to the patch of flowers Cloud had upset earlier, crossing them carefully, giving orders.
“Come on. Catch ‘em this time, got it?!” He stopped when he had passed over the flowers, but then ran back. “Oh, yeah! And don’t step on the flowers!”
“Heh heh heh,” all three snickered in unison. Reno cursed quietly and moved through the door as his three lackeys chided.
“Hey, Reno!”
“You just stepped in them!”
“You’re gonna catch holy hell!”
Cloud and Aeris moved through the back of the church swiftly, hoping to ditch the Turk and his gang before they had to do any real fighting. Cloud had given Aeris the Lightning Materia he carried for her Guard Stick, a long metal pole, but the All was useless, since only Cloud’s weapon had joined Materia slots.
They ran up stairs to the upper floor, where Aeris claimed she knew of an exit. Cloud hopped across a gap in the floor, over a large pipe.
“The Ancient is getting away!” Reno’s voice filled the area, “Stop them!”
“Come on!” he called to Aeris. The flower girl suddenly looked nervous. She stepped back
and got ready, but her concentration and footing were both ruined when a hail of bullets crashed into the floor in front of her. Aeris let out a startled cry and tumbled off the side of the broken floor, landing on the pipe and rolling down to the basement of the church.
“Think we killed ‘em?” Reno said with a bit of nervousness, “They shouldn’t have put up a fight, I say!”
Ancient? Cloud was confused, and growing angry. The Turks did not usually specialize in sparing lives. Why did Reno want Aeris alive? Was this some kind of game?
In either case, Aeris was calling up for help. The three MPs were closing in on her. Above Cloud were three barrels sitting on precariously thin planks of wood. He might be able, with some great luck, to send them down on the MPs, but he’d have to be careful.
His thoughts were broken off by the sound of electricity below. He looked down, alarmed, to see one of the MPs shaking like a baby rattle, sparks still flying from his body, and Aeris running to a ladder. Promptly, another MP leaped down to confront her. Aeris leaped away from the man’s machine gun, which he was wielding like a club.
“Come on, sweetie,” the MP said sickeningly, “Give it up! You wouldn’t want me to put a bullet in that pretty little head of yours, would ya?”
“You wouldn’t kill me,” Aeris said flatly.
“Would I…?” the MP licked his lips. Aeris narrowed her bright green eyes and leaped towards the MP, stopping at the last minute as the officer held up his gun in defense. She fell and lashed out with her staff, catching the MP in a very vital area. He cried out and doubled over, Aeris bringing her rod down on his head. He crumpled up and Aeris started up a ladder. Both Cloud and Reno observed this, more than a little impressed.
The third MP hopped down from his perch onto a broken staircase and started moving up to where Aeris had climbed.
Cloud was quite ready, though. He had scaled the church and was now aiming one of the barrels down towards the landing where Aeris stood.
“Incoming!” he called down. Aeris pressed herself against the wall, just in time. The barrel slammed into the ground in front of her and rolled the opposite direction…down the staircase and into the horrified MP. Both tumbled down to the basement with a great crash.
Aeris raced up the stairs back to the gap she’d fallen through earlier and hopped across quickly this time. Reno himself was finally moving, climbing the stairs as Aeris started on another set, meeting Cloud at the top. The two inched across more thin planks of wood that hung below the roof of the church.
“There!” Aeris pointed to a large hole on the roof, a plank of wood leading up to it. Cloud nodded and waited for Aeris to scale the wood and hop out of the church to safety before turning and bringing his sword down into the wood he stood on. He sliced clear through it, meeting Reno’s eyes as the Turk appeared at the far end of the wood. Cloud moved up the plank of wood through the hole, then turned and slammed the wood again, destroying the remaining support. A section of the wood path fell down to the floor of the church into Aeris’ flowerbed. The gap was too wide for Reno to jump. Cloud smirked at the man before turning and exiting the church. Reno said nothing, but the look in his eyes had promised Cloud they’d meet again.
Cloud and Aeris caught their breath atop the church. The explosions at the reactor, the fall from the skies, and the attack in the church had cluttered up Cloud’s mind. Now that he was able to stop and think for a bit, old worries returned. Where were Barret and Tifa? Were they all right? What about Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie? Had they escaped?
Then came the present worries. Cloud knew very well who Reno of the Turks was, and he was not a very nice man. The Turks were a brutal band, involved in all kinds of black ops for Shinra. Why did they want Aeris? Time for some questioning.
“That was close,” Aeris breathed, “Thanks Cloud!”
“Yeah…” He stared back through the hole in the roof. “They were from Shinra’s Intelligence Agency. They call themselves the Turks.”
“What kind of a name is that?”
“I don’t know.” He looked her over. “The Turks scout for possible candidates for SOLDIER. They’re also involved in a lot of dirty stuff on the side.”
“Like…?” Aeris was suddenly on edge.
“Kidnapping, murder, theft and the like.”
“Nice bunch.”
“So…why were they after you?”
Aeris sighed. “I don’t rightly know. Maybe they think I have what it takes to be in
SOLDIER.”
Cloud gave her a thin smile. “Would you join?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t want to get caught by THOSE people.”
“…This has happened before.”
“Oh, many times. But I’m used to it. Can we get out of here now? Before he comes?” Cloud nodded and they both moved to the edge of the roof. The Sector 5 Slums were easily navigated from the roofs, since they were all level to one another. Cloud hopped easily along the roofs but as he caught sight of a residential area, he heard Aeris call out. “Hold on!” She caught up, breathing heavily.
“I thought you had what it takes to be in SOLDIER.”
“Oh! You’re terrible.” Aeris shook her head, but laughed. “My house is over there,” she motioned to the area Cloud was headed, “Let’s go!” The hopped off the roofs onto dirty Midgar soil.
Cloud found himself in a circular area full of trashy trailers that served as homes and a large building at the center of the area.
“Shops,” Aeris explained. Cloud made a mental note to return there after he got Aeris home. He continued around the area, stopping by a large TV screen that hovered above the rooftops, broadcasting Shinra’s low-grade television. Nearby there was a pipe leading into a small nook in the massive walls that formed the “circle”.
“What’s in there?”
Aeris paused. “The man who lives there is very sick. He was found in the Sector 6 slums. All he says is ‘Ugh, ahhh, urk’.” She shook her head. “It’s sad.”
Cloud nodded and pulled away from the area, moving towards a lighted path. “You live in this place?”
“No,” she pointed down a lit path. “I live down there.”
Cloud nodded and they started that way. Once through the small tunnel, Cloud froze in his tracks.
He was standing outside a nice house with a huge garden behind it, full of flowers of all sorts of colors and types. The place was beautiful, the best thing Cloud had seen in years, and in Midgar period.
Aeris smiled. “You like it?”
Cloud just nodded. “Can I see the garden?”
“Sure!” Aeris replied happily, leading him behind her house into the colorful maze. Aeris explained to Cloud what each of the flowers were, though she didn’t know much herself, and where she had found them. Gardening was a hobby of hers, something she took up to pass time, and had eventually become addicted to the colors they produced. Indeed, this small area seemed to glow with more light and warmth than anywhere else in Midgar.
“This place is…amazing!” Cloud said when they had finished, “I had no idea flowers could survive in Midgar, but…the church, here…it’s beautiful.”
“Thank you, kind sir,” Aeris bowed dramatically. “Come on inside.”
Cloud took up the invitation and followed her inside. He stood in a large room that served as a kitchen and family room, though he detected no signs of family. A long set of stairs led upward. Cloud guessed that it was only a two-story structure.
“Mom!” Aeris called out, “Mom, I’m home!”
A woman dressed in yellow garments and a green apron came descended the staircase. She looked fortyish, with a dark head of hair in contrast to Aeris’ much lighter brown. Her eyes were brown, whereas Aeris’ were green. Put simply, Cloud did not detect much resemblance between what he took for mother and daughter.
“Good to see you, dear,” she said to Aeris, “And who is this young man?”
“This is Cloud!” Aeris let her guardian get a look at him, “He’s my bodyguard. He got me home.”
“Did you, now?” the woman smiled gratefully, “I appreciate you looking after her, Cloud.” She stopped, catching his eyes. She quickly dismissed it. “My name is Elmyra.”
“Nice to meet you,” Cloud nodded politely. He wasn’t much used to this, but thought he was doing all right.
“I’m going take care of some things upstairs,” Elmyra announced, “Thanks again, Cloud.” The woman made her way back up, leaving Cloud and Aeris alone.
“So, Cloud, where will you go now?”
Cloud was jolted a bit. He’d almost forgotten about AVALANCHE. “I have to get back to Sector 7.”
“Sector 7? From here, you can get there rather quickly, but you’ll have to cut through the Sector 6 slums.”
“Where are they?”
“I’ll take you. It’s a confusing place, and a bit dangerous.”
“Dangerous? Aeris, I appreciate it, but I really don’t want you in any…”
“Danger?” she finished. “It’s okay. I grew up in the slums running from Turks. I’m used to danger.” She moved to the stairs while Cloud grimaced. “Mom! I’m taking Cloud to Sector 7! I’ll be back later!”
“Whoa, hold it,” Elmyra called back, coming halfway down the stairs to face the two. “You just got back! And don’t you have to go through Sector 6?”
“Yes,” Cloud spoke before Aeris.
“I’ll be FINE!” the flower girl protested.
Elmyra sighed. “There’s no arguing with you, dear. All right, but can you at least get some sleep first?”
“Okay.” Aeris conceded. She glanced at Cloud. “Um…mom?”
“Yes,” Elmyra nodded, “Go make Cloud’s bed.”
Aeris went upstairs after rolling her eyes. Cloud frowned. He hadn’t thought it would go this far. He really didn’t want Aeris to come with him; he didn’t want that responsibility. Her mother solved that problem quickly.
“Excuse me, but…” Elmyra said, sheepishly, “Your eyes, they glow…were you from…SOLDIER?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cloud replied, uneasy.
“I…I really don’t know how to say this but…could you please leave here? Tonight? Without telling Aeris?” she added quietly. Then, quickly, “I really appreciate what you did for her, but she doesn’t need her feelings hurt again.”
“I understand,” Cloud nodded.
“Thank you,” Elmyra turned away.
A few hours later, Cloud opened his eyes. He was in the small room adjoining Aeris’s, where he’d laid down to rest…
Must have dozed off, he realized. He started to turn over, more sleep on his mind, but Elmyra’s request popped back into his head. Oh, yeah. He had to get to Sector Seven, back to the bar.
Cloud carefully sat up. Slight noises caught his attention, coming from the next room. Aeris was still awake. He’d have to be quiet, here. Cloud stood and grabbed his Buster Sword. He strapped it to his back and crept out of the room, taking care to make sure he didn’t make the floor creak. He reached the stairs and quickened his pace until he was out of the house and back in Sector 5.
Cloud found himself in the ring of shops again, but he passed them all by. He didn’t have much money on him, and he might need that later. Something, however, drew him to the large pipe in which a sick man lived. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was sympathy, Cloud didn’t know.
He was there, a tough looking man, yet so weak. His breaths were wheezes and his eyes were glazed over. Upon seeing Cloud, he muttered words that could be taken for a greeting, though Cloud could not comprehend them. Shaking his head, the mercenary turned to leave, but caught sight of a tattoo on the man’s hand. “15” was embedded into his skin in a color dark as night. Cloud shuddered; something about it was eerily familiar. He turned tail and left before anything else caught his attention.
The path to Sector 6 was short, and Cloud easily remembered it. However, still somewhat asleep, he did not notice some short, maroon insect/beasts lurking around the trash. Two leaped out at him, slashing at his side. Cloud let out a yelp and brought out his sword while yanking out an insect whose claws were stuck in his armor. He removed the violent thing-about as big as his arm!-and swatted it with the broadside of his weapon. He swung his sword in a complete circle, taking out the rest of the swarm. Vicious little buggers.
He had been delayed. Cloud continued down the path to the tunnel that would lead him to Sector 6, the gateway to Sector 7 and his new home. When he got there, however, he saw something that in his mind was quite inconceivable waiting for him. Aeris.
How could she have gotten there sooner? How had she evaded him?
“You’re up bright and early,” Aeris smiled.
“How could I ask you to come along when I knew it would be dangerous?”
“Don’t worry about me!” Aeris insisted, “I can take care of myself! Her metal staff appeared as if to testify to that fact. “I know the way to Sector 7 better than anyone here. Come on!”
Before Cloud could protest, Aeris hurried through the tunnel into Sector 6, the Ruined Land. Cloud shook his head and followed. He had a feeling Aeris would be more of a help than anything. Besides, she was kind of cute.