Disclaimer-- As always, Aeris, Zack and other Final Fantasy 7 characters are not mine.

Author's notes-- It's a short story about Aeris and Zack, my current favorite FF7 couple! Weird title, ne? O.o...Ooooh! This might be my first chapter story! I'm so proud!

Flower girl and Soldier boy
By: Aegis

Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Aeris. She lived with her kind stepmother in Midgar. Midgar was a very industrial city and was run by Shinra Inc. To support her mother, Aeris grew and sold flowers. There was only one place the flowers would grow and that was inside an abandoned church. Since no one was very religious in Midgar, Aeris had the freedom to grow any kind of flower in the church.

Now one very peculiar day, an announcement traveled throughout the city of Midgar. It was declared that Shinra was hiring young men to join SOLDIER, their current army. Also on that day, a person visited the church. This person was Zack.

Zack grew up in the town of Gonganga with his parents. Tired of living in a farming town, Zack traveled to Midgar to join SOLDIER. Zack was very religious and had to stop at every church he saw.

Inside the church, Zack was busy praying for luck in joining SOLDIER. After his prayer, Zack inspected the church.

"Odd. It seems like no one has prayed here for a while." Then, Zack saw Aeris' flowers. "Wow! Those are very beautiful. I wonder who grows them."

"I do. Would you like to buy one?" A sweet voice caught Zack's attention. He turned around and saw a girl dressed in pink and red, with a silk cloth tied around her brown hair. At the sight, he blushed.

"She's so pretty," Zack mumbled to himself.

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"Ack! No! I mean, yes! No! Ack!" Zack was tangled up with his words and forgot about Aeris' first question.

"Well, will you buy a flower or not? I don't have all day, you know!"

"Uhh...sorry! I mean, yes! I mean...umm...how much?!?!"

Aeris giggled. "You're a funny fellow." Aeris walked over to the flower patch and picked out a lavender flower with blue spots. "Here. Have it." Aeris handed the flower to Zack.

"You mean I could have it? No charge? Really?"

"No. 'Here. Have it.' means that you have to give me something in return for the flower" Aeris sarcastically commented.

"Oh. Sorry. Umm...I have 5 gil."

"Silly, I was just kidding. Hey, you're new here aren't you?"

"Oh, yea. I came here to join SOLDIER"

"Ok! I know! I'll give you a tour of the city!"

"Thanks. You're so nice!"

"No problem! I have nothing to do, anyway."

All through that day, Aeris showed Zack different aspects of the city. She also explained different customs and ways to live in Midgar. They had fun together. Aeris was highly amused by Zack's silliness and Zack was thankful of Aeris' kindness. Once they were finished with the tour, Aeris took Zack to an old playground.

"I use to play here all the time when I was little" She climbed on the slide and invited Zack to sit next to her.

"Oh really? I think that you still play here now!" Zack joked.

"Well, you seem more confident now than you were...heh...wait, what do you mean by that?" Aeris jumped down and picked up a handful of sand and smirked. She threw it at Zack, but Zack dodged it.

"Hey! What're ya doing? Trying to get me blind before I join SOLDIER?!?! Well, we'll see about that!" Zack jumped down from the slide and also picked up a handful of sand.

"Ah! Don't you dare throw that at me!" Aeris begged, then suddenly ducked, trying to avoid the sand that was coming at her. "Ack! You meanie!" She threw another handful of sand at Zack.

Aeris and Zack played in the playground for two hours. By the time they stopped, both of their clothes and hair where covered with sand. It was getting late.

"Hey, do you have anywhere to stay in during the night?"

"Actually, no. I just got here today and I was forced to spend the day with a girl." It was Zack's turn to joke around.

"Well, that girl *was* going to ask you to stay at her house for a while, until you find a place to stay in, but because you didn't like spending the day with the girl, she won't anymore."

"Actually, I really liked spending the day with her."

"Oh really, why??"

"First of all, she's very beautiful. She's also very funny and kind and even though she's mean at times, she does a very good job of welcoming people. So can I stay at your place for a while, Air?"

"Air?" Zack laughed at Aeris' reply.

"Air. That's a perfect nickname for you. Just like the wind, you could be calm at times and very wild at others."

"That's the first time someone gave a nickname to me. Since you were oh-so-nice to the girl that welcomed you and gave you a flower, which I hope you didn't loose, I guess you can stay over at her place for a while."

Aeris and Zack went over to Aeris' hidden house in Sector 5. When they entered the house, Aeris' stepmother welcomed them. Aeris introduced Zack to Elmyra, her stepmother and asked for permission to have Zack stay over.

"Darn. I didn't know that she stayed with her mother..." Zack thought to himself.

"Would you stop talking to yourself? My mother will think you're crazy!" Aeris was mocking Zack, when Elmyra proclaimed that it was dinnertime. After the delicious dinner the family had, it was time to rest.

"You can take the bedroom next to Aeris' bedroom," Elmyra offered. "I'll sleep in the room downstairs. Don't you dare do anything to my little, sweet Aeris, or I'll slice your throat myself!"

"Umm... Don't worry I won't!" Zack was terrified of Elmyra and her warning.

"Yea, don't you dare to anything to little, sweet me!" Aeris laughed.

"Little...she got right, but sweet, she got that part way wrong!" Zack teased Aeris.

Aeris shoved Zack inside his room and remarked, "Go to sleep!"

-->>End of Chapter One