Final Fantasy VII: The Truth behind the Party

Slowly opening her eyes, the afterimage of stars was emblazoned upon them; Aeris quickly shut her delicate eyes once more, hoping to experience the same feeling. Inhaling slowly, she glanced down at the open gas pipe which someone had ignited; it was situated in a small alleyway of from the main plaza within central Sector 6. Sighing deeply, she slowly stood up from the pipe, which gave off burning embers from the contrabands she had just been burning there.

"Damn police." Aeris muttered, spitting on the floor beside her in disgust. Only five minutes ago, she had seen some drug dealers on the street get busted by the feds, who had just suddenly sprang up in Aeris' area. Since she didn't want to spend the next few weeks in the slammer which a bunch of dirty lesbians, she was forced to get rid of her stash; after witnessing some kids playing around with a damaged gas pipe, she had found the perfect spot… in an alleyway such as this one, not even the cops dare venture down it. The tall, slim figure of Aeris slowly stepped out from the alleyway clad in a light pink dress and dirty red cardigan, into the near darkness of the plaza; all of the lampposts in this area had been vandalized long ago, so all that was left of the twilight was a dim, strange light and dark bits where you found dead hookers.

Standing up against a lamppost, she gazed up at the sky, only to be met with the sight of the dull, grey plate above. Cold, angry and frustrated that she was forced to peddle cheap drugs on the streets of a slum, a tear formed in Aeris' eye as she attempted to pull a packet of cigarettes from her handbag; she did not bother to wipe it away as she coldly lit a cigarette.

CHAPTER ONE: AVALANCHE

"Just set the bomb, idiot!" the huge guy shouted again. Cloud shook his head and took a deep breath, trying to focus his eyes once more on the huge bomb in front of him. Glancing over to his 'minder', who was a tall, well-built black angry guy, he sighed loudly.

"Sorry, I was a little out of it there." He laughed, weakly.

"Does it look like I give a shit what'cha freakin' out 'bout? Just set the bomb, dickhead!" he shouted again, louder; he said his name was Barret, and he got annoying, fast.

"OK, Fine!" Cloud yelled, "Goddamn!" he muttered, as he randomly hit buttons on the bomb in front of him. Silence followed for a second, then a huge alarm sounded, reminding him that he was still alive. "We got five minutes." He said with a smile.

Standing up from the now-active bomb, Cloud ignored Barrets' muttered insults and walked towards the exit, only to be greeted by a huge robot monster blocking the way.

"Shit." Cloud sighed.

Back at the plaza…

Aeris was not having the best of nights; after burning what was going to be the last of her money, she was now going to have to find a guy that she get a supply from, and fast. Just as she saw a shady looking character, that was a little older than what she usually went for, an explosion rocketed out from within Sector 6's mako reactor, which was situated very close by the slums. Shrieking a little in shock, Aeris turned toward the source of the noise, ignoring the nearly-dead guy in his nineties that had caught her eye earlier. All of the people watched in shock as they saw huge clouds of smoke bellow out from within the beast of the reactor. Some of them ran, but Aeris kept her cool; she knew the place would give out someday, and she was just glad she didn't live in the radioactive part of the slums. Brushing away the dirt and shit from the front of her tattered pink dress, a huge black guy suddenly caught her eye as she saw him run the stairs in front of her. Thinking this was her lucky day, she couldn't help but smile wildly as she approached him, her hand pulling up her dress a little.

"Hey, sailor, in a hurry?" she asked him, in one of her most seductive voices. The huge black guy, which happened to be Barret from earlier, turned to face her. She wasn't that ugly, he thought. Her hair was a bit messy and boy, could she not dress, but her face had something sexy about it.

"What is it, babe?" he replied, showing a huge set of perfect teeth. She laughed, girlishly and pulled her dress up a little higher; her absence of underwear left nothing to the imagination.

"Well, sexlips, what's it gonna take to get me in on the deal?" She said sweetly, yet enunciating the last five words.

"Huh?" Barret replied, face betraying his lack of awareness, "What'ch'you talkin' 'bout, fool?" he replied, turning away and starting to walk away. "Man, you shit crazy girl."

"No, wait!" Aeris called after him, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to turn to face her. People in the street had started to stare, so Aeris, conscious of her audience, pulled him into a darkened corner of the street where no one would look. Being careful not to trip over a dead hooker, she pushed him against a wall violently and folded her arms. "Look, buddy, I want in on the drug ring around here and I'll do anything to get it. Just what do you want, a blowjob, sex-"

"Look, babe." Barret laughed disbelievingly and cutting her off. "I ain't got no clue what'ch'you jibba jiving about, so get off my case, yo!" he pushed her roughly aside onto the floor, where she landed softly in dog shit.

"Oh, you—you fuck!" was all she could scream silently as she collapsed into her arms out of frustration. A few minutes later, she had finished sobbing and really couldn't stand the smell of shit anymore so attempted to stand. As she looked up, she noticed a young man step out in front of her. He was tall, with brilliantly blonde, long hair. He turned to face her, their eyes meeting. His fragile face held the strangest eyes; they were light blue, and almost burned brightly like molten steel. As she saw them, Aeris gave a huge smile and stood up, rapidly.

"He's a user, for sure." She whispered to herself, as she drew near to him. Her plan was to seduce him and use him to find a supplier; she knew it would be easy, as she had done it countless times before. "Oh, excuse me!" she called out to him, smiling sweetly and pulling her dress up above her knee. "Won't you help me?" she asked, rubbing her left breast with her free hand.

"Uh, you better get out of here." The young man replied.

"Wait!" Aeris pleaded, feeling her plan may not work out as she had hoped so soon. "My name is Aeris, and yours?" she held out her hand and smiled again.

"…It's Cloud. Bye." He sighed, turning around and waving goodbye. Aeris didn't bother to stop him as he walked quickly away; she knew people like that were of no use to her.

"Damn homosexuals." She spat, turning around and heading back into the dark alleyway to hunt for some syringes.