Author's Note: First fanfiction, how exciting! This is the first of quite a few "interaction" pieces I have ideas for. This one is really just the first two characters I thought of. There are more to come, most likely.
Lost Kin
Aerith and Nanaki
From the moment they heard each others stories, they understood. Here was someone who had been through the same pain as they, the same aching loneliness and despair. Even within their patched-together group of oddities, outcasts, and misfits, they were connected. They were the same, they knew. Even if they were different in appearance, and personality, they knew that they had the same story. The others never quite noticed the similarities, but even if they had, they wouldn't have understood it anyway. The rest of AVALANCHE couldn't tell that their connection wasn't the friendship and comrade-at-arms and maybe a hope of something more feeling that tied everyone else together into the screwed-up family that they had.
Nanaki was seemingly a hybrid between a wolf and a lion, with rust-red fur and a flaming tail. No one ever really knew what his species was called, but that was partially because Nanaki was, to them, simply Nanaki. They didn't have to know about his species to be his friend. But there was no way one could not understand that he was not remotely human. Even without his appearance, his mind was completely alien. There was no doubt of his intelligence, which put him above many humans, but it was clear that he thought differently than humans. He cared about them, truly, but sometimes being surrounded by so many foreign actions and thoughts was overwhelming.
Aerith's position among the group was slightly different. She was the last Ancient, and everyone knew that. But it was easier to forget. She looked human, and acted human, and didn't really seem all that special at first. It was only when she talked about the Planet that the others remembered that she was different from them. She was never confused by the others, or disgusted, or angry. In fact, she always seemed to know what was wrong, and always knew how to heal it, or begin the healing process. Someone had once said it was like she was an angel, but Aerith only laughed and replied that she wasn't an angel, but she listened to them for guidance.
Aerith and Nanaki knew what it was like to be on the run from Shinra. they still were, truly, but in more ways than one. They did not always run because they were AVALANCHE, because they were terrorists. They knew that Shinra wanted to get them because they were the last, and Shinra couldn't let anything slip out of its grasp. They feared being caught- and Nanaki already had- and dreaded it. The two would be unable to escape if they were in Shinra's clutches again.
But what drew them together the most was that the other knew what it was to be alone. There was a hole that no amount of company could fill, because it wasn't familiar or safe. Nanaki and Aerith knew what it was like to be strangers, and to be utterly alone. There was no one for them to turn to, no family or relatives, only emptiness that made the heart ache. AVALANCHE was like family, but it still wasn't the same. The only thing that helped was the presence of the other, to soothe out the ache. It wasn't that the wounds were healed, but it helped. They held on to each other, because while they had each other it was almost like they had found another of their race. It wasn't true, but it still felt like finding lost kin.