"Hmm. Not quite...what I expected," commented Aerith as she looked at the tiny cart that stood in front of her.
It was small height, made of normal materials, and was painted with average colors of acrylic paint. The only aspect of the cart that was unique was the bundle of ivory and sunshine yellow colored flowers that sat in it.
"Really? I think it looks great," was the reply Soldier 1st class Zack Fair gave to the girl with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. "It's all about the flowers, anyway." He had already spent three hours running around three sectors of Midgar and had talked to dozens of people just to find the materials for the thing. Yes, the cart wasn't the most impressive thing he had seen, but it was simple and seemed to do the job the flower-girl had wanted. Besides that, the object suited Aerith's nature: a simplistic look but with a dazzling inner soul.
Yet she had to disagree. "I want a nicer one."
"Stop being so picky," Zack groaned.
"A tiny little wish, that's all."
"They're tiny, but you have lots, right?"
At that, the flower girl perked up. "That's right! Wanna hear?"
"Okay, how many?"
Aerith turned around and began to count on her fingers. "Umm…twenty…three?" She ended the statement with a kind smile.
Zack's response was to slump his whole body forward in shock. Is she serious? I can't possibly remember that many things. "Write them down," Zack said, finally breaking the silence, "so I don't forget."
The flower-girl nodded her head. She then ran to the side of the dilapidating church to a small bag she kept with her. Out of it, she pulled a pen and a crinkled piece of paper and began to write down a list, making sure all of her wishes were clear and easy to about a minute, the list was complete. Aerith then walked back to Zack, who was now finishing a phone-call with someone, most likely a Shinra official which always meant business for the 1st Class Soldier.
"Business?" she asked as he put away the phone.
"Sadly."
"Here."Aerith passed the little list. The two smiled.
Until that day, no one else but her knew what those tiny wishes were. And from that day, those twenty-three wishes changed the world.
Author's Note: I always wondered what Aerith's wishes were, so I decided to write this. As expected, there will be twenty-three chapters, one for each wish. Each wish will be a one-shot, but they are all connected by this list. I've never written an Aerith centered fic, so I'll do my best to keep her in character. - secret