I can see that people enjoyed the revised version of chapter 1. I'm glad that my fanfic's being enjoyed. Now let's give chapter 2 a whirl.

NOTE: I do not own Final Fantasy VII. In this chapter, I own Aerith Strife and the mysterious silver-haired guy.

AERITH...THE REINCARNATION OF AERIS?

PART II

SHINRA'S PLAN AND...SEPHIROTH?

10 years have passed since Cloud have found the little girl at the Forgotten City...Now 15 years old, the girl has spent her days living with Cloud and Tifa in the 7th Heaven, under the name "Aerith Strife". She has helped Cloud take care of the chocobos and with the delivery work. For the past 13 years, Cloud was no longer a mercenary, but now working with Tifa for a delivery service. Aerith, being so attached to her adopted father, sometimes tag along with him. She loves to help him out in any way possible, however she was told never to go outdoors after sunset due to not risking Aerith's lycan curse to take effect. Every now and then, Aerith would come home with some flowers to decorate the 7th Heaven whenever she stayed at the bar to help Tifa around. Since the bar was also an orphanage, she tried to help take care of some the orphans that stayed at the bar. She also made friends with Barret's daughter, Marlene, and the orphan boy, Denzel. For some strange reason, Cloud keeps thinking about Aeris every time he looks at Aerith. To him, almost everything about her resembles that of Aeris, but he and Tifa decided to take Aerith in since she didn't have a home.

For years, Cloud has been searching for the girl's parents, but no luck at all. He won't give up until he at least found some info on who could her parents be, and as of now, he continues to search every chance he gets. Although he knew Aerith's lycan curse would pose a problem in the future, he tries his hardest with Tifa's help to help Aerith live her life like any average girl. And for some other strange reason, we're about to see what the Turks are up to at ShinRa HQ. A phone rings at the President's desk and Reno, who's sitting on the President's chair, answers it. Though he has a tired look on his face, he keeps an enthusiastic tone in his voice as he answers the phone, "Welcome to the ShinRa Building! Home of the Turks! Can I take your order?"

"RENO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" A man's voice yelled out through the phone. The voice was the voice of President Rufus Shinra himself.

"Awww, Rufus...Whycha haveta do that, you party pooper?"

"This is coming out of your paycheck, Reno. You and Rude were supposed to follow Cloud."

"For 10 stinkin' years, me and Rude had followed Cloud. I need a vacation and I almost got the werewolf disease."

"Werewolf? What werewolf?"

Reno smacks his forehead as Rude walks into the office when Rufus asked about the werewolf. "I thought I already told you about it on the report 10 years ago," Reno responds with an irritated tone in his voice then gives a sigh. He couldn't believe that the President had forgotten about the report regarding Cloud and the lycan. "We encountered one while we were following Cloud, and it was a BIGGIN' and it looked like Rude." Rude suddenly gives Reno an evil look then speaks, "I heard that, Reno."

Rufus has the sound of annoyance in his voice, "Excuse me for not remembering reports. You can't expect me to remember every single report I receive from you guys, and maybe this werewolf you encountered might be just one of Hojo's experiments."

Reno's mouth slightly dropped then yells out, "WHHAATT? I ALMOST BECAME A RENO-BURGER AND YOU SAY 'IT'S JUST ONE OF HOJO'S EXPERIMENTS'!?"

"Uhh yeah...So what are your reports so far?"

"Like I wanna talk to you after all that mean stuff," Reno answers, now irritated by Rufus, and gives the phone to Rude then leaves the office after Rude takes the phone. Rude answers, "Hello?"

"What had happened so far with Cloud, Rude?"

"Well, 10 years ago, Cloud was at the forgotten city of the Ancients and when he was leaving the city, he had a little girl with him."

"WHAT? What's a little girl doing in a place like that?"

Reno comes back into the office with a can of Coca-Cola in his hand while Rude speaks with Rufus on the phone. "I don't know, but for some reason, she reminds of that Ancient, Aeris."

"Come on, we all know that Aeris is dead. Sephiroth stabbed her in the back."

All of a sudden, a weird hippy-looking guy with a white coat comes waltzing into the office with his hippy self and sets the phone on the speakers so everyone in the office could hear Rufus. Reno watches as he takes a sip of his cool refreshing Coca-Cola. The weird guy begins to speak to Rufus, "I might have the answer to that. This girl might be Aeris's reincarnation." At hearing this, Reno suddenly spits out his drink by surprise before facing the man with a "time out" handsign held up. "TIME OUT, HOJO! Aeris has a reincarnation? When did this happen?"

Hojo pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose then rubs his chin, "Let's see..." Reno and Rude looks at the scientist with wonder as Rufus waits for an explanation, all waiting for Hojo's response. The lens on Hojo's glasses glare from the light in the office as he grins, "I don't really know!" Reno and Rude fall to the ground anime style while a sigh is heard from the speakers. Reno gets up on his feet then looks at Hojo with his eye twitching, "How could you not know!? You're a scientist for crying out loud!"

"Well, I don't know everything. You're just gonna have to bring the girl here to see if my guess is true," Hojo responded, seeming to become interested on studying Aerith. To him, it was a long time since he found something interesting to study or do research on. Though he knew if they brought him the girl, it would mean that Cloud and company would show up to rescue her like they did with Aeris years ago. It doesn't bother him too much though, since he's used to having many experiments escape him before. Reno gives a funny look at Hojo then finishes his Coca-Cola. "Are you crazy?" Reno asks as he throws the Coke can at Hojo's head. "What about them werewolves? Are they your experiments?"

The can hits Hojo on the side of his head then he looks at Reno and answers, "No, I wouldn't dare to keep a werewolf. If I did, my lab would've been destroyed." Hojo puts his hands behind his back, as if he knows something that no one else in the room didn't. Reno shrugs as he walks back over to the President's chair and sits down on it. Rude, out of curiousity, glances over at Hojo, "Is it true that you can become a werewolf just by getting bit?"

Hojo responds to Rude sarcastically, "Uhh, yeah. They don't come in pretty colors, ya know."

Rude, not liking the sarcastic tone in Hojo's voice, raises an eyebrow, but he remains calm. "Like that black one with the bloody red eyes? That thing was scary."

"Hm?" Hojo responds as he starts to take interest on the werewolf that Rude mentioned. A black lycan with bloody red eyes, eh? He thought to himself as he rubs his chin. Could it be the same lycan that escaped my lab years ago? Hojo suddenly snaps out of his thoughts when he hears Reno whistling while leaning back against the President's chair, which seems the only thing that's breaking the silence in the room. Rufus gives a sigh through the phone, sounding a bit annoyed with Reno's whistling and bored with the recent conversation. He then speaks, "If this girl is so important, then we should bring her here. You guys do what you want, I have other business attend to." With that said, Rufus hangs up. Hojo gives a chuckle then turns his glance over to Reno, "Reno, you and Rude will bring the girl to me, got it?"

Reno drops his mouth as he looks at Hojo and pouts, "Awww, why do we have to do it?"

Hojo grins evilly, "Because if you don't, I could use you two as my guinea pigs on my most recent research."

Reno gets up from the chair and walks off, grumbling about how he hates how Hojo would threaten to use him as a guinea pig and often wonders why the President even bothered on letting Hojo rejoin ShinRa. He even has wondered how in the world did he get revived. Rude then follows after his partner out of the office, leaving Hojo alone in the room. Hojo watches the two Turks leave with an evil grin on his face before he walks over towards a window. "So you've been seen recently, my specimen," He said to himself. "Now the question remains, where are you hiding yourself? I will find you." He then laughs like a hyena, not caring if anyone else could hear his annoying laughter.

At the 7th Heaven, Aerith was walking downstairs to the bar from her room, carrying a basket. She wore a nice pink green and white dress with a pink hair ribbon tied to her ponytail, and she also wore white shoes. Part of her bangs no longer covered her right eye, which reveals that the color of the eye was blue and her left eye was green. She walks over towards the doorway of the bar with a smile on her face, wanting to go outside. It was one of those days where Cloud didn't need her help with the delivery work and every now and then she would go pick flowers to either decorate the bar or try to sell some to make a bit of money. She looks at Tifa, who was cleaning the bar counter, and asks as she stops at the doorway, "Tifa, can I go pick some flowers?"

Tifa stops wiping the counter and looks at Aerith with a smile then answers, "Sure, you can."

Aerith gives a nod, "Okay. I just thought since Marlene and Denzel are visiting Uncle Barrett for a month, I thought it would be nice to have some flowers for them when they come back."

"Sounds like a great idea. Just don't get hurt and watch out for monsters."

Aerith smiles and gives a nod before skipping out of the bar. Tifa watches her leave and thinks to herself, She's just like Aeris. She sure likes to be the flower girl. She smiles to herself then continues to wipe the bar counter. Memories start to play through her mind, like the first she met Aeris. She giggles to herself when she remembers during that time, Cloud dressed up like a girl just to get into Don Corneo's place. She soon snaps out of her daze then goes back to cleaning the counter.

As Aerith stands outside the bar, she stretches as she thinks to herself, maybe I should bring Boco this time. I know he'll like to tag along. She smiles to herself then walks along, heading towards the stables as she watches the people do their own thing. Upon reaching the stables, she can hear some teens, about her age, talk to each other. They seem to be telling each other gossips. "Hey, have you heard that Cloud encountered a werewolf 10 years ago?" One asked to the other.

"Yeah. It's rare to encounter one nowadays, especially around these parts." Responded the other.

"It's surprising that he didn't get bit."

"He does have his trusty Buster sword afterall."

Aerith stops walking as she listened to the teens, then decides to walk towards them since they're near the stable entrance. She thought a simple greeting would be polite as she gives a smile when she looks at them. "Hello there," She said. One of the teens blinks then looks at Aerith before answering, "Uh...Hi."

"Nice weather we're having today."

"Yeah, very nice weather," said the other teen after looking at the one teen then at Aerith. Aerith walks over to the entrance of the stables and opens the door. She then looks back at the teens and gives a smile as she walks inside and slightly closes the door. The teens watch Aerith go into the stables then they look at each other, as if they've been wanting for her to leave and not wanting to have a conversation with her.

"Hey, wasn't that the girl that stays with Cloud?" asks one of the teens.

The other nods then answers, "Yeah, she follows him around like a baby duck following a cat."

"She's been running errands for him and Tifa, and even helps Tifa around the 7th Heaven Bar and decorates it with flowers."

"It makes her the flower girl."

"But what I found strange though was that she doesn't come out on nights during a full moon."

"That is strange. Do you think she could be a werewolf?"

"If she is, Cloud can't keep her. Having a werewolf around could endanger the lives of innocent people here."

"Yeah, but it makes me feel sorry for her though..."

Aerith listens to the whole conversation with her back against the door, having a bit of a sadden look on her face. It is true that she is now a lycan due to getting bit by one before Cloud found her. She knew that Cloud's trying his best to prevent the curse from taking effect, even though it was hard on her on not being able to go out at night at all. She wanted to be able to for once see the night sky, but she didn't want to get into any trouble with her adoptive father. She knew he wanted for her to be like any other typical girl, and she tries her best to fit in and be happy for Cloud's sake. After she finished listening to the teens' conversation, Aerith then closes the door all the way slowly and heads over to one of the stalls. She finds a baby chocobo eating some greens and smiles. "Hello, Boco. Wanna come with me this time?" she asks to the chocobo as she opens the door to the stall. Boco runs around the stall in excitement then responds by making a strange cute sound, "Kweh! Kweh!" He walks out of the stall and flaps his wings. Aerith gives a smile as she watches the baby chocobo and picks him up then speaks, "We're going to pick some flowers in the forest today. It's a long walk, but I could use some company."

She closes the stall door and walks towards the stable door with Boco. This time as she walked, she could hear a different group of people talking outside, but telling rumors about Sephiroth making his appearance after all these years. Sephiroth...Daddy told me about him. He did tell me that he's dead. How could he be alive? She thought to herself. Cloud has told her many things about his life, but she never thought that someone like Sephiroth would show himself. She walks out of the stables with Boco and looks around, watching everyone do their own thing. She then makes her way out of Midgar with Boco "kweh-ing" happily. He was given to Aerith from Cloud as a birthday gift. Other than Marlene and Denzel, Boco was the closest thing to a friend Aerith could make.

Back at the 7th Heaven, Tifa was cleaning the tables, thinking to herself, I bet Aerith decided to take Boco this time. I hope she doesn't run into any danger, especially with the rumors about Sephiroth. I certainly don't want to see her die the same way Aeris did a long ago. Yet, strange things have been appearing lately. What's next? She shakes her head slightly then looks out through the window, watching Aerith and Boco leave from the stables. She figured that Aerith would take Boco with her since she did need a pet to keep her company. However, Aerith's safety fills Tifa with concern. Ever since Cloud brought Aerith home 10 years ago, she helped him keep the curse a secret, though only a few knew about it. Although she's worried about the possibility of Aerith's curse taking effect, she was more concerned about Aerith's health more than anything. Recently Aerith's overexposure to mako has gotten worse due to an incident that happened 3 years ago and she was hospitalized for weeks after the incident occurred.

Deep in the forest, Aerith was picking flowers along with Boco, who was eating some greens nearby. She holds a handful of flowers to her nose, sniffing the flowers. She closes her eyes, enjoying taking in the nice scent the flowers gave and sighs contently. She opens her eyes and places the flowers into the basket then starts humming to herself. Unknown to her, a figure watches her from a distance then slowly walks toward Aerith's and Boco's direction. Boco perks up from hearing the sound of someone coming, feeling a bit startled. "Kweh!" Boco cried out. Aerith stops humming when she heard Boco and looks at the baby chocobo as she heard the sound as well. "I know, Boco. I heard it too." She looks toward the direction where she thought the sound was coming from. As the figure got closer, he appears to be a man with silver hair, wearing a black outfit. He walks by Aerith, looking at her with his blood red eyes as she looks at him in the eyes, showing a bit of fear in her own eyes. They stared at each other for a long while as Boco hides behind Aerith, not seeming to trust the man.

The man stops as he sees the fear in the girl's eyes and gives a slight grin then speaks with a soft tone in his voice, "Don't worry...I have no intention of killing anyone if you seem to think I'm a type who would kill." He then notices Aerith's left arm as Aerith didn't give him a response, noting a scar that was left from the bite wound she got from the lycan she encountered a long time ago. He speaks again, "I see you've become a lycan as well...but you haven't seen your first full moonlight."

Aerith blinks a bit in wonder. How does he know that I have this curse? She thought as she looks at the man. She has the feeling that he could be someone evil, but out of curiousity, asks, "Who...are you?" She has the feeling that something about the man was off, but how could she judge before she got to know him? She suddenly snaps out of those thoughts when the man answers her question, "My identity will be revealed in due time..." He grins softly as he turns to look towards the distance. "We shall meet again, young lycan," he says as he began to walk off. Though as he was walking, Aerith calls out to him, "Wait! Are you human, sir?" The man stops when he heard Aerith and closes his eyes, doesn't turn around to face her as he answers, "I've lost my humanity years ago..." With that said, he continues to walk off until he was out of sight.