Forgiveness

Purely fan made all rights to Square Enix for the characters. This was originally going to be a one shot but got pretty long so I'm breaking it down to chapters. Please enjoy!

The Flower Girl

Aerith knelt in her church in the Slums, clutching the small white materia her mother had left her. Cloud stood stoic not far away as she chanted the spell of Holy to counteract the dark angel who she knew would be on his way this very moment. Her hands were clasped before her in prayer as she went through the spell. She could feel her ancestor's energies thrum around her, through her, empowering her to do what she was born to do. But her heart, although bursting with pride and hope for her friends to be able to continue on and complete their mission after what was going to happen, ached with sadness. Not for her own fate that had to happen but for him.

Her heart belonged to few men, two of them SOLDIER that she knew personally. One had passed a long time ago at the hands of the company that trained him and the other was bound to a destiny of darkness and demise. She looked over at the stoic 'SOLDIER' standing in front of her and she wished she could tell him that everything would be alright, he had been her body guard for a while now and the next moments would pain him although he would be powerless to stop it. He hated the man she loved while he had adored her first love. He had adored the dark angel at one point along with her first love as well, but that was history when her love was consumed with hatred for ShinRa at his creation. If only she could have made things turn out differently, but she couldn't. A single tear glided down her cheek as the distant memories she had kept in the back of her thoughts and the bottom of her heart began to emerge.

Sephiroth arrived at the church of the Slums and looked down at the pretty flower girl in pink as she knelt directly below him. Masamune sang in his hand for her blood. It knew as well as he did that for him to lead the Planet to Paradise that she had to be stopped before her special Holy spell could be cast. Her blood, her precious innocent blood, had to be spilled by his hand and his hand alone. His pathetic 'Mother' wasn't worthy enough if her 'son' could easily over power her with sheer will power alone. His mint green Mako eyes clouded in pain that his heart felt as he remembered her. At the time she was young and naïve, she hadn't even left the clustered confines of Sector 7 aka the Slums. She had been watched over by the Turks and had met that Zack Fair after his confrontation with Angeal and Genesis that revealed that Angeal was an experiment as well as the other First Class SOLDIERs. She had found him when he fell from above after his beating and they had instantly made a connection. Sephiroth himself didn't officially meet the flower girl till much later when Zack was talking about how special she was when he had returned after buying her that pink ribbon and started building flower wagons for the girl. That had piqued the general's interest. Nothing grew in Midgar anymore, especially flowers, it was too polluted. She was special, he had known that she was a half-Cetra, a creature his 'Mother' was claimed to be although it was clear that she was another sort of alien. He had read about it in her files that the slothful President had kept on her as he tried to discover a way to use the kind and caring flower girl as a powerful weapon like Sephiroth, thinking them cut from the same cloth. Sephiroth knew he was something else entirely while they were still offspring from powerful alien life forms although the girl wasn't a killing machine. A faint smile graced his features as he remembered their encounter.

Aerith was tending her flowers when Zack showed up at the church. She heard his heavy leather combat boots as they echoed across the wooden floor of the building and she turned to smile at him over her shoulder. He had his usual grin etched across his face and his sky blue eyes sparkled with his normal happy mood. She finished pulling the last of the weeds and stood to face him. He wrapped her small body in his big muscular arms in a hug that made her laugh.

"Zack! Not so tight! What are you doing here? I thought you had a mission down in the Mines."

He let her down and walked over to look at the beautiful lilies that she grew in the church. "That mission was easy, and we only suffered minor injuries. We got back around noon and filled out the reports. I had the rest of my schedule open and decided to spend it on you!"

She giggled behind her hand. "How sweet of you. Can we go to the Market today? They have a new selection of dresses and I wanted to check them out. You showed up just in time to join me."

The SOLDIER turned back to her and leaned down close to her face. "Maybe…for one kiss. We can make it a date!"

The flower girl turned away from him with a smile and headed out of the church. "It can be a date, but whether you come or not I'm going to look anyway." She sang.

Zack ran after her and matched her pace. "Alright, the kiss can come later."

She giggled and twined her fingers with his gloved ones. "It's a date."

Sephiroth had been monitoring the area in search of any disguised Wutainese spies and just happened to be in Market at that time. He scanned the area behind blue contacts that gave his eyes a pale blue-green hue and under a long rough cotton cloak that hid his unique long silver hair and leather coat. His extra sensitive hearing picked up on all the conversations and so far mostly it was of the local Don's illegal activity. He would deal with the ball of lard later, now was the time for smothering Wutai once and for all to end any chance of another war with the nation. He walked over towards the entrance into the Slums and stopped when he spotted his young friend.

"What's the pup doing here?" he muttered to himself. Then he saw his female companion in a white and blue sun dress.

She was slender and beautiful with dark emerald green eyes and a long dark brown braid down her back. She let go of the puppy's hand and skipped over to one of the stands to a rack of dresses. Her light pink ribbon he remembered Zack had talked about getting her bouncing as she skipped. She admired one of the long pink dresses as well as a light green one the length of the one she was wearing now. He stood there as Zack joined her and they said something about the green dress and ended up getting the long pink one. He crept closer as the girl buried her head in a rack of other garments and pretended to be interested in cotton fiber jacket. He wouldn't put himself through the torture of the itchy fabric but mostly just wanted to get closer to the couple.

"Zack, do you think this jacket would match that dress? It's only ten gil so the total would be twenty-three gil with the dress." She resurfaced with a darker shade of pink jacket with short sleeves.

Zack grabbed the jacket and held it up to her with the dress as she stood with her arms spread beside her. He cocked his head as if deep in thought for a few minutes which drove the tiny brunette insane.

"Come on, Zack! Does it look good on me together or not?" she complained.

He smiled and nodded. "It's just your sandals don't match."

Aerith looked down wide-eyed at her little white and blue wedges. It was true! The wedges matched her current sun dress but not the new dress. "Then if it isn't much trouble…"

"Pick out a new pair." Zack laughed. "I have more than enough gil I'm not spending. I might as well use it for my girlfriend."

"Oh Zack, you don't have to spend in on me." She blushed as she rummaged through the shelf of shoes while comparing them with the pink outfit.

"I want to." Zack replied simply.

Sephiroth frowned at their idle banter. The girl obviously didn't want to be a burden to anyone and the pup was trying to tell her she wasn't at all. How could she be? The poor girl lived in the Slums and gave all she had to those who needed it more. The general had accompanied Tseng or one of the other Turks on enough occasions to see that the girl cared more about her neighbors than herself, even the bad ones.

She pulled out some thick brown leather boots and showed them to the spikey haired SOLDIER. "Here! These match and if I go out to the surface with you I'll be prepared for the dangers up there as well as the ones down here."

Zack smiled and took them and the bundle of clothes to the stands keeper and pulled out his wallet. "How much?"

"Thirty-five gil for the lot." The filthy man replied behind a half burnt cheap cigarette.

Zack pulled own the exact amount and handed it to the man and took the bag he had placed the garments and boots in. "Now you have a whole new outfit, Aerith. Maybe you can where it on our next date."

Aerith giggled and pushed the young SOLDIER lightly. "Oh Zack! That can wait till next time, I'll have to see but right now though I need to get back to the church and my flowers."

Sephiroth slipped back into the sparse crowd and headed towards the large metal door that led to the Slums. He heard Zack as he begged Aerith for that kiss and he looked over his shoulder to see her peck him on the cheek when he leaned down for what he hoped would be on the lips. The girl giggled and began to skip through the crowd. The silver haired SOLDIER flitted across the open paths of the junk heaps of the Slums and slipped into the white church ahead of the two. He sniffed at the potent sweet aroma that he had noticed on the girl, delicate lily. It overwhelmed his senses and his eyes half closed in pleasure as her smiling face popped into his mind's eyes. He stuck to the side of the building and slunk towards the back where the ruined pulpit still stood and crouched in the dark shadows of the corner. When he found that it was still light enough that he would be seen by the enhanced Mako eyes of the younger SOLDIER while not being seen by the flower girl he looked up to the rafters. He jumped with his superior strength that only he possessed and hopped lightly from rafter to rafter until he was near the hole that Zack had fallen through a while back and out of sight of the couple as they walked through the large oak doors of the church.

"Zack, I already gave you a kiss." She sang as she skipped down to her flower patch. She knelt down to tend to the lilies and the young disappointed SOLDIER sat down on a nearby pew.

"That was only a peck on the cheek!" he complained again.

Aerith sighed dramatically and stood to walk over to him. She crossed her arms and pouted at him. "It's still a kiss. You'll just have to wait for another next time." She smiled then and spun away to return to the blossoms.

Zack sighed with a grin and nodded. "Okay, but next time no pecks, got me?" he then started as his phone rang from his pocket. He pulled it out and flipped it open. "It's Tseng…Hello?" he answered.

"I already took care of the Mines…there are more in the deeper levels? Why can't ShinRa just develop the higher levels first? ...Alright, I'm on my way, have the group ready by the time I get there." He pocketed his phone and stood with his hands on his hips. "Sorry Aerith, I have to go on another mission in the Mines. The President wants to go deeper and deeper after every mission, despite the dangers to his men."

The flower girl rose with a worried face and ran up to hug Zack. "Be careful, I worry about you."

He kissed the top of her head and returned her hug. "I can handle myself. It's just the other guys I have to stress to get home alive. Pray for us?"

She nodded and smiled weakly as he turned and left to return back to base. She wrapped her arms around her waist and sat on the pew where the SOLDIER sat seconds before, her eyes focusing on her toes. She didn't hear the silent descent of the inhuman general as he softly jumped from his perch to land quietly beside the flowers. He shed his cloak and the movement caught the flower girl's eye.

She looked up and froze as the tall SOLDIER smiled down at her. Her insides flip-flopped and her cheeks blushed a rosy color. "H…Hello?"

"You're Aerith I presume? I'm Sephiroth."

"The general of ShinRa's Army? What are you doing in the Slums?" she asked both confused and flustered that the mighty and scary general was in her church.

"I heard you can make flowers grow and had to see them for myself. I've only seen you when on surveillance in this Sector and wanted to know if it was true and had to meet you personally." He held out a gloved hand to help her up from the pew. He smiled warmly as the scared girl slowly took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled back into a standing position.

She walked past him while keeping her big eyes on him and knelt back down in front of her flowers. The big SOLDIER knelt beside her and studied her as she tended the flowers delicately. He started when he felt an unknown power thrum through the earth through the girl and to the plants. She was using some kind of power of the Ancients he had heard about from that insane scientist Hojo and she was completely unaware of it. He reached for the same power and could only barely sense it. He gently touched her arm causing her to pause but he felt the power and could now recognize it. He let her go and felt her questioning eyes on him as he softly stroked one of the lilies and summoned the ancient power of the Planet. The flower swayed softly in response and the girl gasped.

"How did you do that? The flowers only like it when I tend them!" she wasn't jealous or angry, only mystified and curious.

He thought back to how Hojo had raised him within SOLDIER to be the perfect weapon and how they believed he possessed some of the amazing abilities of the Ancient Cetra. He could only barely grasp what they meant and he just figured it was what made SOLDIERs special with the Mako, just another added affect that some picked up.

"I'm not sure…I know that I sensed you using some kind of power unconsciously from the Planet. It was a warm and pleasant energy that the Planet readily responded to. I couldn't quite grab hold of it until I touched you and could recognize the energies directly then try again for myself. Apparently it worked." He smiled down at the still flustered girl.

"I was using a power from the Planet? How could I use a power without knowing it?" she asked him, looking down at the earth between the flowers with new interest.

"You know what you are." He stated.

She nodded. "Is that why they kept me in ShinRa with my mother a while ago?"

So she remembered. She had been so young when she was raised in a lab in the lower levels of the ShinRa building. But her mother had gotten her out and to the home she was at in the Slums. Of course that traumatic experience would stay with her, her mother had died after all in the effort.

He nodded. "And why they still watch over you. So your gift doesn't get harmed by the filth of their world. Kinda ironic in my opinion."

The small girl nodded. "Is that why you're here?"

He looked down in surprise into her large green eyes. She was serious. She thought he was spying on her for the slobs of Shinra. He quickly shook his head, sending his long sliver bangs flying across his face so that he had to straighten them with his gloved fingers. The girl laughed and helped comb through his silver locks.

"I wasn't accusing you, silly, just curious. I occasionally see guys in nice suits or girls in nice suits when I go out and they sometimes see I spotted them and they quickly act like they were just looking at merchandise in that store but sometimes the girls end up looking through a window at a shop for men only." She giggled. "They don't even realize it until they realize there's nothing there but men clothes and their faces get all red. But I look like I didn't notice a thing so they don't feel that bad hopefully."

"You don't like others to feel bad, do you?" Sephiroth asked as she finished combing his bangs and folded her hands in her lap.

She shook her head, her own bangs shaking across her face. "No, I don't, and usually people from SOLDIER scare me because they love fighting and hurting people. I know that they're told to for the war and to protect the city from monsters, but they love it too much."

Sephiroth blushed slightly as he remembered that he himself relished in battle, his blood hungry sword an extension of death of his own body. He had been raised to kill and kill alone so that fewer lives were lost and morale raised for the ShinRa company.

The flower girl placed her small hands on his and smiled up at him. "I know you and Zack are in SOLDIER and I know that's why they have those pretty blue eyes, and that it's why you have your beautiful green eyes. Is it also why you have silver hair?"

He shook his head. "I was born with silver hair, I don't know why it's this color but I assume it has something to do with my mother. I never knew her. I only know she died while giving birth to me."

She wrapped her arms around him comfortingly. He then realized that he had needed that comfort for a long time and for some reason he had never wanted from other people, but he wanted it from her. She nestled her head against his bare chest and whispered, her breath tickling his skin. "She loved you though, even though she knew what you were to become by your father's hand. She still cares for you."

Aerith left out the part of Lucrecia, who she would sometimes talk to during the twilight hours in the church, being sad for the Planet too for what she would hint at to the young flower girl. She didn't know exactly what the scientist had meant by the riddles she sometimes spoke so why worry the giant general about what might me just a mother's worries? She felt him wrap his strong arms around her and she gasped when she realized they were stronger and more muscular than Zack's. She didn't think they could get any bigger for any man.

The next day he visited her again as she neared the church. She looked up from her feet and was surprised to see the long haired man leaning against the church's outer wall.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a mission? Zack's always being called away on missions." She asked as she climbed the steps up to him.

He opened the door for her and grinned. "I kinda want to tend the flowers again. Their smell is intoxicating."

She smiled and walked through the door and down the aisle of pews to the patch of yellow and white plants. "I guess I can use the extra muscle for such a daunting chore." She joked.

He followed her and they knelt amongst the delicate plants. Aerith began to cup the buds of the blossoms in her hand and watched as he stroked another's petals. She giggled and stopped him.

"Here, they like it better when you touch them directly." She took his hands in hers and gently removed his black leather gloves. She looked up at his face and studied his reaction as his eyes widened slightly then clouded over at her touch of skin on skin. She guided his bare, long fingers to the same flower and he did notice a stronger reaction from the plant. "See! It likes you. Hehehe."

She giggled at her little small joke behind her hand and continued to tend the other flowers, all the while watching the tall handsome man beside her tend the others. He was careful with them, and she could sense their strong acceptance of him. She recognized that now as her Cetra power that he had mentioned the previous evening and marveled at how they welcomed his gentle touch. They were usually nonchalant, if plants could be nonchalant, about other people besides Aerith. She smiled as she saw a happy smile spread across his elegant features. His straight nose and defined cheekbones cast a beauty about his face that his unique cat-like eyes tied his angelic features together.

Sephiroth smiled down at the fragile plants he caressed with his bare fingers. They thrummed under his touch and he responded equally to their feel. The petals were soft and the leaves like soft leather. He couldn't help but feel happy, a feeling he rarely felt anymore since Genesis had been acting weird before his abandonment of SOLDIER and Angeal joining him. He missed the brief good times he had shared with the two country boys before the war slowly tore them apart. Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned slightly to see the small girl smile up at him before looking back at the flowers beneath her. He noticed that she was not unlike the flowers she took so much care of, slim and delicate with a unique beauty that radiated a feeling of calm happiness to the surrounding area. They were like a tiny ray of brilliant light that refused to be snuffed out by the gloom and darkness of ShinRa's presence.

They continued to meet day after day, Zack still in action in the Mines, continuing his descent deeper and deeper to the President's greedy intentions. Sephiroth didn't mind although Aerith worried about his welfare.

"I just can't help but worry about him, Sephiroth. He's not as big and strong as you." She told the general as they watched some Slum children play on the play equipment in the park.

He raised a thin silvery eyebrow at her. "I know he's strong, and a First Class, but he told me the monsters are getting much stronger than before every time he goes deeper some places. I guess I'm just scared that he won't come back and…that I'll never know about it."

"Aerith, you're a Cetra. You have already heard the dead haven't you? Your Ancient ancestors will tell you if Zack were to pass in action." He assured her.

She frowned still and studied a young boy who chased another shouting how he was the mighty General Sephiroth. She smiled slightly at this and looked over at the general. "That boy is pretending to be you. He even has a stick in place of your Masamune."

He looked over at the group of boys and picked up on their conversations. They were pretending to be all the famous SOLDIERs: himself, Genesis, Angeal and even Zack. They fought over who got to be the SOLDIERs and who had to be Wutai spies or Dons. He smiled and laughed at the children. "They have high hopes for their future. The President would no doubt be ecstatic for their devotion for his means in the future."

Aerith nodded thoughtfully. "Do you think that if they do join ShinRa that they'd be good at what they did? Would they have a chance at living through it?"

Sephiroth glanced down at her eyes darkened with worry and nodded. "With that kind of enthusiasm they'd do great. Most of our current men die because they choose to no longer live. Most of them commit suicide because they were drafted or forced in by their parents and they can't handle the responsibility or stress that comes with the job. We revive some with the Revive materia but if they're dead for too long then it has no effect sadly. But they don't have the drive like those children apparently have." This seemed to please the flower girl greatly.

"You'd protect them though, as their mentor, wouldn't you?" she looked up at him with those large innocent eyes and he couldn't even think of saying no. He nodded his head and laughed softly as she jumped up and down and clapped her hands once in front of her with a huge grin on her face. "Yay!"

In truth, Sephiroth would always try and do his best in watching over new recruits in to the ShinRa Army whether they join SOLDIER or the Infantry. He had the ability to save lives so he did everything in his power to do so.

They headed back to the church and Aerith turned abruptly to him as he was about to leave her to her nightly checking of the plants before she headed home. He knew a Turk was somewhere like always to guide her home safely, tonight in particular the ever silent Rude although he was currently waiting behind a heap of rubble since the general was with her. She climbed a few more steps so she was eye to eye level with him and leaned down to quickly brush her lips against his. His eyes widened in surprise at the sudden action, not that he hadn't thought about doing that very thing to the pretty girl on more than one occasion.

She giggled with her hands clasped behind her back nervously. "I've wanted to do that for some time now."

He smiled at her. "Me too."

She unclasped her hands to raise them joyfully. "Then you aren't angry!" she simply radiated with joy only to dim in worry. "But what about Zack? When he gets back…"

He waved his hand. "Don't worry, it will be our little secret. I hear you're going to start selling the flowers once he makes you a wagon to carry them?"

"Yes. He says, 'Midgar full of flowers, wallet full of money.' I can't wait for him to get back and start making it, I'm sure it will be amazing." She grinned then waved goodbye. "I'll see you around." She sang as she skipped into the church.

Sephiroth walked down the stairs with a lazy smile and waved in greeting to Rude who nodded in acknowledgement. He had met the woman of his dreams, the only one who had ever grabbed and held his attention. He returned to base and retired to bed with a content smile on his face as he relived the moment her lips brushed against his over and over and saw her shining emerald eyes shining up at him as he made her laugh and smile in happiness. He wanted to always make her laugh and smile like that forever. The only thing that stood in his way was a certain spikey haired SOLDIER First Class.

Zack arrived back from his missions in the Mines after finally clearing them of all possible threats. Sephiroth restrained himself from his usual daily visits with Aerith to every other day for the evening when Zack would head back to base so that he could help tend the flowers. He found enjoyment in watching Zack run all around the Slums then the base and Sector 5 for parts and building materials until he had made a poor looking (yet cute) flower wagon, a machine looking wagon and finally a high grade adorable flower wagon that Aerith fell in love with. He especially enjoyed the part when the scientist tried to buy the machine looking wagon to use to develop a new weapon for ShinRa. Aerith had thought about it but only to peeve Zack saying, "Maybe we should fill our pocket with money before we fill Midgar with flowers." Zack had looked rather beaten up until she reassured him she was only kidding. The leather clad warrior had slipped into the park when Zack was advertising her flowers and he smiled down at her.

"Hello Aerith, the flowers look exceptional today."

She grinned up at him and nodded. "They're happy that you're here too, you know. They've been missing your daily tending. I guess I just don't cut it anymore alone."

Sephiroth leaned down to inhale the sweet aroma of the blossoms and smiled at the welcoming energies they emitted. "Why don't I buy a few and take them back to my apartment to brighten things up a little, how about two dozen?"

The flower girl smiled and clapped her hands in approval. "Of course! That would be 5 gill a piece so…120 gil total."

Sephiroth grinned as he accepted the flowers she had tied together with a thin pink ribbon and handed her 200 gil. "Keep the change." He winked at her as she pocketed the money happily and waved at him.

He slipped away just as Zack returned with three new customers who decided they'd buy a few flowers for the asking price and heard Aerith complaining to him after the customers had made their purchase.

"Zack, I really don't mind how much money we make, I'm just happy to spread the joy the flowers give. Can't we lower the price a little? We might get more customers that way."

Zack sighed. "Aerith, we already had this discussion. We can sell them for whatever you want though, as long as you're happy."

Aerith looked up at Zack then shifted her gaze past his shoulder to see Sephiroth just outside the park. She clasped her hands in front of her and smiled. "I'm happy as long as I'm spending time with you."

Please R/R =)