Chapter One: City of the Damned; Songs of Hope

Midgar was a city of the damned. Always had been. Shinra made it that way, for everyone but themselves. Life on top of the plates was decent, where at least you could see the sky. But only people of considerable wealth could afford to live high up like that. Underneath, in the slums, was where most people lived, and it was awful. Disease and famine ran rampant, and Shinra did naught to stop or even slow the deaths. What did it matter to them if a few lowly "slum rats" died? People like that were worth nothing. They had other things worth so much more to control.

Shinra nearly had control over the whole world. Even the distant island country of Wutai had submitted to their unstoppable army. All of Gaia was under Shinra's thumb, and there was no escape. Wutai had been the last fight. They had stood up to Shinra for as long as they could, but to no avail. It was rumored that Wutai's young princess was wandering the lands, looking for weaknesses in Shinra, but no one truly believed she'd find any, if she was even real.

When Shinra burned Corel because of a rebellion there, there had only been three survivors. No one had seen the survivors in years, and it was believed they were in hiding. Cosmo Canyon held stirring whispers of rebellion, but no one dared even dream it was true. Two of Shinra's top mechanical scientists quit, no explanations. Rumors surfaced of a bar where it seemed rebellion was coming, led by an eighteen-year-old girl with more fire than anyone had ever seen. But even with the secrets, the hidden lies, the silent defiance... people in the slums were beginning to lose hope.

The day that he came to the city, it was like every other day. People went on with their lives, trying just to survive in the horrid, sun-deprived world. In their dull, gray lives, he came like a flash of color, a fire, the color of blood and spirit and soul. Long ebony locks trailed over his shoulders as he walked calmly, and his crimson eyes and twin guns dared anyone to stop him. People watched, wondering if he was new to the city, and looked on longingly. They knew that if the bright stranger stayed, Midgar would soon dull his colors and fade him to gray like the rest of them. There was only one who had withstood Midgar's glumness, and she was barely a child. But he was full of life like they had not seen in forever, and it attracted them.

The man looked around at the crowd he had gathered, seeming surprised.

"Where is this place?" he asked.

"Midgar. Midgar. You are in Midgar." voices rose to call back to him.

He seemed more surprised than before. "Back in this hateful place, after so long...? And yet it is worse than before... What have they done...?" he mused to himself. Looking up at the crowd, he asked, "Does anyone here... sing?" The crowd shifted eagerly, parting to push a girl through. She was young, nineteen or so, with long brown hair plaited into a tight braid. She wore a plain pink dress, though the color alone was brighter than anything else in the city.

She looked at him with emerald eyes and said, "I can sing."

He didn't expect the child to know, but asked anyway. "Do you know a song called Aminere?" He was shocked when the girl nodded.

"Walk through the Rain." she said. "My mother taught it to me. She said that it has always been known by people here, passed down, but that the words have been forgotten."

"But you know them? I thought they were lost for good... You are Ifalna's daughter, ai?" He sighed in relief as she nodded again. She began to sing, slowly, verses of the song.

In endless sorrow, dust and gloom,
There shall come the sun and moon.
Born and raised to make things right,
but in the end they both shall fight.

The night shall watch, with greatest fear,
and the star shall fall, with many tears,
But in the end, through lack of greed,
the sun shall see the Black City freed.

Angels and demons, flying high,
They speak of promises and lies,
Walk through the rain, never falter,
Till dreaming under sunlit skies...

The man shushed her as she finished the chorus. "Yes, that's right. Hope is not lost then. Do not forget that song!" He turned, brushing easily through the crowd of people, and was gone as quickly as he had come. The girl smiled, ignoring the murmurs of the crowd. She picked up her fallen toy, and skipped back to the church that she called home. She looked at the toy, shaped like a stuffed cat, and grinned.

"Did I do good, Cait?"

Her toy, which was called Cait Sith, lifted it's robotic paw in a wave. "Certainly, Aeri. You remember the words perfectly." Most people would tease her for still having a stuffed animal, much less talking to it, but Cait was special. He talked back. It was like he was his own person. Even though she was nearly an adult, she still held on to Cait.

"That's not what I meant!" she laughed. "I always know the words. I meant telling him. He seemed trustworthy enough."

"Ah, don't worry, Aeri. Everything's going to be all right." Cait said.

"Aerith?" called another voice.

"Yes, Mother?" Aerith shushed Cait, setting him to the side. "What brings you for a visit?"

"I'm still not sure if you're all right, living in this dusty old church alone." Elmyra Gainsborough fussed. Aerith's adopted mother scanned the surroundings, raising a disapproving eyebrow at the fallen columns along the walls. Aerith came up, hugging her and repeating the I'll-be-fine-I'm-nineteen speech again. Her mother finally consented. "All right. I just worry about you, Aerith."

"I know, Mother." Aerith said. "I'll be fine. It's not like it's Wall Market, or anything."

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In the Shinra building, a dark-haired man laughed at his computer screen, watching the two converse.

"Wall Market? Yeah, I'll admit that would be worse." He turned, flipping the switch that would power down the robotic cat for the night. "She doesn't even realize that the watchers might be in her own home. I've watched her grow up..." He sighed. "She'll be the one, the one to lead us to the sun and moon. And then..." Glancing out the window, he let another sigh escape his lips as he saw nothing but Midgar's towers and skyscrapers and dull, polluted sky. "Either we're free, or Shinra kills them all." He left the control room, letting the door bang behind him, his spying duties done until morning.

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Li: Hi, guys. This came to me in study hall and wouldn't leave me alone. I'm hoping to go all the way through the game with this, so review and tell me what you think. Plushies of Reno to whoever can guess who is who. Except Aerith, because she's obvious. Oh, and the next chapter would have our SOLDIER boys in it. Except, a little different...

EDIT: If you are reading this message, then it means that I have finally gotten off my lazy ass to correct this chapter to match the timeline I created. Chapters One through Last Order will be corrected in this manner. Everything will make more sense now, I promise!

Li