Midgar was one fucked up place to live. The place was like a living black hole. Once you got sucked into its jaws, there was no escape. There was no hope. It turned people into bitter, heartless creatures, slaving away to make it through another day. But on top of the plate, the corporate assholes and their families lived in luxury while shitting on the people stuck beneath the plate. Underneath the plate, people were prisoners - starved and diseased prisoners. And Aeris hated it with fiber of her existence. She wanted to see Midgar destroyed. No, she wanted to see Shinra destroyed.
The state of destitution Midgar fell into was because of Shinra. The President of Shinra Inc. didn't care about the Planet. But she was sure that if the President heard the Planet screaming in agony every fucking day in his head, he'd have a change of heart. Aeris hated Shinra - she hated having to always be fearful of being snatched away. She hated the way the world was slowly dying. But most of all, she hated being alone. She was the last of her kind. There was no one left to understand the ways of the Planet. There was no one but her to protect the Planet. And she was going to die. Aeris had pleaded and begged with the Planet for a different way but it showed her no other alternatives.
Her death was inevitable. She would never get a chance to fall in love. Never get married. Never make real friends. Never have kids. Aeris had no hope but yet hope resided in her. She was this Planet's last hope and Aeris understood it was her duty to protect the Planet. By God, she would not let her mother's death be in vain. Though Aeris tried so hard to remain hopeful, each passing day proved to be more difficult than the last.
Aeris sighed, trudging along the sidewalk. People pushed and shoved her as they moved hurriedly to their destination. No one ever smiled in Midgar. She didn't count the lecherous smiles. But that was the kind of place Midgar had become. No one smiled. Was there to smile about, really? She stopped at the corner of the street, looking both ways before crossing. As she walked, she noticed someone who was completely out of place in the dirty, filthy rat hole of Midgar.
He was tall, so very tall, with a gorgeous mane of silver hair trailing down his back. No, his hair was not gray, like that of the old, but an intriguing color of pale silver, almost white. The stranger was dressed in a black trench coat and baggy trousers held up by crisscross straps. Aeris noticed that he was shirtless, not that she minded, because his chest was finely sculpted. And his boots went up to almost his thighs. Aeris tilted her head as she watched him making his way down the street. He must have felt her staring at him because suddenly she found herself staring up into the most haunting, emerald eyes she'd ever seen, eyes that looked so much like her own.
'Is he like me?' she wondered, as she quickly made her way over to him. The Planet went eerily quiet as she neared him, as if it too was curious of the new encounter. The man watched as she neared him, moving swiftly through the crowded streets with a look near desperation on her face. It made him, if only for a second, wonder at the strange girl who sought his attention.
"Sir! Excuse me! Sir!"
The sound of her voice snapped him back into reality and he frowned, annoyed by the girl who dared stop him… stop him from what? From returning to his empty quarters; but it was better to be alone than with people who would inevitably hurt him. The man turned on his heel and continued walking away from the girl in the pink dress with desperate eyes.
Aeris moved quicker in order to catch up to him. She noticed that he never faltered in his steps. He never slowed down. He never sped up. He just walked, disregarding everything around as if it were beneath him. "Sir!" Aeris yelled, finally reaching out to touch his arm.
He stopped finally, snatching his arm away from her, and gave her a very annoyed glare. "What is it you want?"
"Ah, nothing." She found herself struggling for air one hand on knee as she tried to give her body time to recoup. Aeris wasn't out of shape but she definitely wasn't in shape.
"I see," the man replied, his voice deep and seductive and arrogant. It crawled along Aeris' skin and she couldn't help the tiny gasp that escaped her lips. "You wasted my time for nothing."
"Would you care to buy a flower? It's only a gil. For you, one gil."
The man regarded her for a moment. Flowers in Midgar were a rarity, perhaps as rare as the girl that dared stop him. The man thought of crushing her hopeful face, of saying some cruel words to cut her down, but he couldn't. It wasn't that he cared; of course not, it was just that he appreciated the Planet and the gifts it gave even if the rest of the populace were to ignorant to do so.
"Flowers in Midgar…" he whispered, reaching into his pocket and dropping his money into the basket she'd dropped near her feet. He reached down and picked up a white flower, a lily if he recalled correctly. It was a real flower... and he crushed in his hand, throwing the petals at the flower girl. "Flowers are only meaningful if you have someone to give them too."
The girl was a peculiar one, the man thought, because she did not become enraged at his actions. She just simply smiled. And not just a regular smile but a knowing smile, an understanding smile. Aeris was the only one in Midgar that still smiled such a genuine smile.
And so he left her there, smiling even though that cheerfulness never seemed to quite reach her eyes.
A/N: I am not writing this because I think I have a cool plot idea.
I am not writing this because I think I am talented writer.
I am not writing this for reviews (though they are always nice).
I am, however, writing this fic for my own sheer amusement. I can not guarantee you that I will finish it but I will try my hardest. It's something that has been floating around in my head for awhile and inspiration comes in short bursts these days because I'm so busy with real life stuff. I try to keep this fic updated in my LJ and I only uploaded this particular fic here because I usually like to have my stuff in more than one place on the Internet.
The first chapter in my LJ is the unedited version and is only slightly different than this. I hadn't planned on editing but I figured if I was going to put it on then I might as well make some attempt. Like I said, this fic is for my own personal amusement and if you like it too, then great.
Oh, and my purpose, for those who may wonder, is to explore a darker side of Aeris while still trying to keep her relatively IC.