Aerith looked around.

She was standing in a vast garden full of flowers, of every kind and every color. Each of them glowed gently underneath the warm light of the sun. Each and every one of them was beautiful. She knelt down beside a white rose and smelled it; the scent soothed her soul, and right now she felt like she was at eternal peace.

But where was this place?

Then she heard a sudden loud ringing, one that pierced her ears so badly she covered her hands over her ears to block out the noise. The flower garden gradually disappeared. Soon after, as if to accompany the ringing, Aerith heard a talking voice.

Aerith… She turned. Nobody was there.

rith… Up…

"AERITH, WAKE UP!"

Aerith opened her eyes abruptly. The alarm clock on the table beside her bed was still ringing rather annoyingly. Her hand swiftly banged the clock, which ceased the ringing. She rubbed her eyes and saw her cousin, Cissnei, by the door of her room. Groaning loudly, she took the pillow and buried her head in it.

"Aerith, today's the first day of school! We don't want to be late." Cissnei scanned her half-dead cousin. She concluded that she would not wake up even if there was a huge storm destroying the house. She scratched her head frustratingly and grabbed her blanket. With a yank, she threw the blanket off Aerith's bed.

"WAKE. UP. NOW." Cissnei slapped her cousin's back, intending to wake her up by force.

With an exceptionally loud groan from Aerith, she threw her pillow at Cissnei. Apparently her eyes weren't well adjusted yet after waking up, since it missed. Giving up, she sat on the edge of her bed, eyes still sore from sleeping. She stifled a yawn.

"What… time is it?" Aerith asked through weary eyes.

"It's 6:30, and you've got around half an hour to get dressed. Your uniform is in your closet." Cissnei pointed to the dark brown wardrobe beside the bed. Aerith yawned again. Cissnei threw her an ugly look. "What time did you sleep last night?"

Aerith scrambled out of her bed and went towards the closet. "Around… 3 to 4 in the morning?"

Cissnei slapped her forehead. "Again? You know, Aerith, since today's your first day in school, I was half-expecting you to be a bit excited. Instead, you go to our greenhouse and tend your flowers until dawn! These past two weeks, that's all you ever did." She grunted.

Aerith scowled at her cousin. It was true; ever since Aerith moved to her cousin's house for school in Midgar Sector 8, she's been doing nothing but to visit Cissnei's family's greenhouse. She can't help it though – she loves flowers. A lot of them grew near where she previously lived, Sector 5 slums, and she's not used to not having them around her anymore. It irritates her, although she's pretty glad to have escaped the slums and is able to attend a proper school.

"Well, it's not like I know anything about Sector 8. This place is like a maze to me," Aerith remarked as she took out her school uniform: a white short-sleeved tuxedo shirt with a black U-neck vest, and a black necktie to go with it. Her checkered black-and-white skirt hung just above her knees. She noticed that the logo of the school is embroidered on the tie.

Surprisingly, she quite liked her new school uniform. At least it was better than the one in her old school - if you could call it one.

"We'll need to hurry or else we'll have to sprint to school," Cissnei said impatiently, tapping her foot while looking at the watch in her hand. Aerith realized that her cousin was already wearing her uniform. Knowing that, she quickly slipped into hers – only to find out that she had no shoes.

"Um, Cissnei?"

"What?" Her cousin eyed her questioningly.

"Is there a dress code for shoes?"

"Ah," Cissnei observed the brunette, "No, there isn't. You can borrow my socks and sneakers." With that, she dashed out and rummaged through her room.

Aerith rushed to the bathroom, only to wash her face and brush her teeth; she's bathed already before she slept, since she was gardening. By the time she went out, Cissnei handed her dark blue converse sneakers and white leg warmers.

"They should fit with you, since you're small and all," Cissnei laughed at her cousin as she examined the shoes.

Aerith pointed out the leg warmers. "I thought we were supposed to wear socks?"

The redhead laughed heartily as she dragged her cousin back to her room. "Sorry, I'm a bit fresh out of socks," she explained, "And you didn't want to do any shopping for the past two weeks. Not that I could do anything about it." Cissnei gestured Aerith to wear her shoes, while she braided her long brown hair. "You've been in the slums so long you've never seen anything above the plate. Except for this house, of course."

Aerith grimaced at her cousin, but nonetheless she couldn't help thinking she was right. The world below the plate is an entirely different world compared to the one above; you go to the same class with elementary kids, there are lots of loose vendors, and also many junk thrown from above that litter the floor of the slums. The only reason she was lucky enough to escape all that is because her Aunt Naia – her mother, Elmyra Gainsborough's sister and Cissnei's mother – took her in due to Elmyra's early death. Aerith was pretty aware that her mother was close with her sister, but they rarely meet.

Although there's the fact that she hardly ever met her mother's family, she's extremely thankful for them letting her to stay with them. They're all very nice – she became fast friends with Cissnei in just a few days – and they treat her like a genuine family. It really made her feel right at home. But, the world above the plate is still extremely foreign for Aerith to get used to.

And now, the fact that she is going to a proper high school still frightens her.

Cissnei finished braiding her hair. Seeing that Aerith did not talk, she guessed what was on her mind.

"Are you scared, Aerith?"

Said person turned so abruptly by her statement that the braided part of her hair accidentally slapped Cissnei's face. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean that." Cissnei laughed instead, leaving Aerith in doubt. She then paused laughing for Aerith to answer her question.

"… In truth, yes, I am. But, you'll be right beside me, right, Cissnei?" Aerith wished, very deep in her heart, that her cousin would be by her side for the duration of the school year. Cissnei sighed.

"Of course I will. I wouldn't leave you alone!" She rushed to the door and tugged on the doorknob. "Let's go. We're running quite late from schedule – we'll have to eat while we run to school."

Cissnei yanked Aerith's hand outside her room and the two dashed downstairs to the kitchen, to find two toasts and their schoolbags sitting on the table. They both grabbed their bags, popped the toast in their mouths, and hurriedly scrambled out the door of Cissnei's house. The redhead bolted the gate of their front yard open, and they dashed out towards school.

"What about Aunt and Uncle?" Aerith wondered aloud as she kept pace with her fast cousin.

"They're probably already at work. Today's the first day of work as well," Cissnei said as she ate her toast furiously while checking her watch. "Dear god, it's already 7? Aerith, we'll have to run faster. Careful not to drop your toast – or your bag." While saying that, she had already run ahead of Aerith for about 2 meters. Aerith quickly finished her toast and ran towards her cousin. She was surprised that she could catch up with Cissnei, her being fast with her feet and all.

"Over here!" Both took a turn to the right, and Aerith caught a glimpse of a large building on the left road before running up to her cousin. She concluded that that place is where Cissnei's parents work.

After sprinting through a long, straight road, they took a turn to the left, and Aerith started to see a few students from her school. They were all jogging, although not as fast as the two cousins, all desperately trying to reach school before the bell rings. A small turn to the right showed Aerith their school.

It was a large, three-story building encircling a wide, rectangular yard with a fountain in the middle. The water streaming from the fountain gleamed in the sunlight. The yard had numerous flower beds, and also benches lining in front of them. The buildings that lined each four sides of the yard all had windows. To the left and right there were courts for sports. Aerith could see a tennis and basketball court. Most of the students were sitting on the benches in the yard; some were entering the building surrounding it. The whole place looked like a Parthenon, except there's no roof in the middle and it's much more modern.

Cissnei paused for breath just on the front lawn of the school; Aerith followed suit. Both of them gasped for air, as they both walked towards the arch of the building. Cissnei moved towards a water fountain, Aerith following closely by, and started to drink. The brunette did the same shortly afterwards.

After both slumped onto a nearby bench, Cissnei laughed. "That was the best run I have had in days. I never knew you were the athletic type, Aerith." She rummaged her schoolbag and checked a yellow paper – Aerith was still a bit out of breath.

"I didn't know, either," she breathed, "It came as a surprise for me." Aerith leaned towards her cousin, while looking at the curious yellow sheet she just took out. It was a schedule. After scanning it, she slumped back onto her seat and was completely amazed by the size of the school. It really looked like a huge university campus than a normal school; the yard itself should be at least 30-50 meters wide, Aerith estimated.

"This place is huge," She said in awe. "Enough to fit 100 families that can live in luxury." Turning to Cissnei, who finished examining her schedule, Aerith tugged on her shirt. "You must've gotten lost on your first day."

Cissnei scoffed at her cousin's comment. "Well, it was pretty hard for me to know places and to get around easily – this place is pretty big-" Aerith rolled her eyes sarcastically at the understatement, "-but there are some useful tips to know the school better."

"And what is that?"

"One: there's always shortcuts." Cissnei winked at the braided brunette, which left her raise one eyebrow in confusion.

"Giving me cryptic answers won't make me feel any be-"before Aerith could finish her sentence, a loud burst of laughter came from the direction of the fountain that stood in the middle of the yard.

Both girls turned to the noise, and Aerith could see a group of people sitting on the edge of the fountain, centered on four of the most handsome people she has ever seen.

One of them had short brown hair – he was standing over a sitting silver long-haired man who crossed his arms and was giving him a derisive look as the former was patting a normal male student's back. The other two, both black-haired, were apparently the ones laughing as they peered at their other two friends. One of the black-haired people had his hair fall just on top of his shoulder – the other had spiky hair that defied gravity. All four were extremely fine men.

Aerith looked at them in awe, and turned to Cissnei for an explanation – only to see that she was frowning hard. Her forehead scrunched itself together, and she was no longer smiling. Aerith was pretty surprised to see her this way; she has never seen Cissnei so upset before.

Before Aerith had the chance to ask what was wrong, Cissnei walked indignantly towards the four and their group of people. Aerith scrambled behind her, but was careful to keep a distance. The redhead then stopped in front of the group, arms crossed.

"Ehem." The small but lively group turned to Cissnei, and the handsome men looked surprised seeing her, sans the long silver-haired one, standing in front of them. Aerith hid behind a nearby flower bed, scared of what is going to happen.

"Start of the year, and you guys are causing a ruckus already?" Cissnei tapped her feet in annoyance.

The brown short-haired man took a step forward. "Well well well, if it isn't miss Student Council." Aerith gapped at the words 'Student Council' but did not make a noise. The man continued, "We're just having a bit of fun, is that so wrong? Madame Cissnei." The black straight-haired man behind him chuckled slightly, apparently amused.

"Very funny, Genesis." Cissnei tapped her foot more furiously now, and Aerith would hate to see what her expression is right now. "Let go of that kid. He's a first-year, isn't he? You SOLDIERs are already harassing new students?"

"Hey, chill, Cissnei. I was just showing him the gang." The man, now named Genesis, as Aerith knew, put his arm around the first-year male. "Doesn't he look happy? Aren't ya, kid?" Genesis gave a smile to him, and the student smiled crookedly in return. The two black-haired men laughed once again.

"Let go of him," Cissnei said through gritted teeth. She grabbed the male student out of Genesis' hands, who blushed furiously as she got hold of his wrist. Genesis chuckled at the student's face.

"Oh look, he likes you already. As expected from the Primadona of the school. And since that's true, would you like to go out with me?"

"No way in hell, Genesis." Cissnei gave him a glare that even Aerith was scared of.

Suddenly, the silver-haired man stood up and patted Genesis' shoulder. Cissnei glared at him as well. "And you, Sephiroth. Honestly, can't you control your petty gang? You're an honor student. At least let the new kids settle before they become toys for your precious SOLDIER." The man named Sephiroth gave Cissnei a stare, but quickly ignored her. He turned his attention to Genesis.

"Let's go. The bell's about to ring; there's no point in staying here any longer." And with that, he walked away – the group that surrounded him gave way while sighing dreamily. Genesis scoffed.

Cissnei looked at her watch. "Oh damn! It's this time already?" She turned to Aerith. "Aerith, let's go! You need to go to the reception." Cissnei grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the left; Aerith could feel Genesis' stare on her as they passed. But when she turned towards the remaining black-haired people, the spiky one had his eyes locked onto hers for a brief while. She blushed before turning away and followed Cissnei.

She couldn't help but think that those eyes were the most beautiful things she has ever seen.

A/N: AAAAAH! Finally, my first fanfic! Well, one that I actually have the courage to post, but anyway. I decided that it's time for my trolling days in to be over, and since recently I just played Crisis Core… ;D
I really love Zerith, I really do. My ultimate OTP for Final Fantasy! And I'd like to admit that Cissnei was a last-minute addition to my idea list.
Please Rate and Comment! Be as brutal as you can, I need all the feedback I can get.