Disclaimer: I do not own FF VII or any of the characters from it. However, I did create the character of John.

Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter and a special thanks to DragonessWarrior for reviewing, I hope you enjoy the second chapter


Testing Fate

Chapter II

When John awoke, he looked around and saw that there was no one else in the room besides him.

Did I oversleep? I better get upstairs.

John got on the elevator and pressed the button to go upstairs. When he got there, he saw that the other members of Avalanche were already eating breakfast (or in Barret's case, already finishing it and asking for seconds.) Everyone looked at him and gave some sort of greeting involving waves and some trying to speak with their mouths full and nearly choking.

"Hi everyone," John greeted back, "Did I oversleep or something?"

"Oh it's okay, don't worry about it," said Tifa, "Come over here to the bar, I made a special welcoming breakfast if you can call it that."

John took his seat in front of Tifa and she put down a plate with a large steak with some mashed potatoes and peas. John looked at the plate and then at everyone else who were looking at the plate with lustful gazes.

"Hey Tifa, how come the new guy gets so much?" asked Biggs with a slight whine.

"I told you, it's a welcoming gift."

"Yeah well, I don't remember getting a gift like that," muttered Wedge before Jessie started laughing.

"Aww, I think someone's jealous of John."

John laughed for a bit with Jessie before diving into his plate, quickly clearing it as he had not had lunch or dinner the previous night.

"Wow, I've never seen anyone enjoy Tifa's cooking like that before, are you okay John? Any ulcers already?" asked Wedge, getting a slightly irritated look from Tifa.

"Nope, it was great Tifa, thank you very much."

"Oh thanks John, I'm glad you enjoyed it," said Tifa as she collected the plates and gave Wedge a look that basically said, 'See?'

After Tifa walked back into the kitchen to wash the plates with Marlene, Jessie walked up to John with a nervous look.

I know I shouldn't ask him for this. I was supposed to do it myself yesterday, but…

"John, have Tifa or Barret told you to do something yet?" she asked kindly.

"Uh no, not yet."

"Oh that's great, then can you do a favor for me?"

"Okay, what is it?"

"Umm well you see, yesterday I was supposed to go to the weapon shop down in Sector Five to get some wires that I ordered which I need to finish making the explosives to destroy the reactor in two days, but I kinda dozed off and by the time I woke up it was too late and today I have to look at the layout of the reactor to plan how we're going to carry out a plan. So umm, can you please go to Sector Five for me?"

"Uh sure, I guess."

"Oh thank you! Thank you so much! Do you how to get to Sector Five?"

"N-no, not quite," John said a bit emberassed.

Well, actually I do know in a way, but I never had to take the trip like THIS before.

"Well, you go out of the slums and through the gate to Sector Six, the guards will let you through if you tell them that you're doing an errand for me. Then you go through the playground and keep going ahead 'till you reach the Sector Five Slums. The weapon shop is to your left afterwards."

"Okay, I'll go get the wires."

"Thanks again, wait here, take this," Jessie said giving him a piece of paper, "you have to give this to the guy at the weapon shop to get the wires. Oh, and can you please not tell Tifa or Barret? They'll give me hell if they found out that I sent you instead of going myself."

"Don't worry about it Jessie, "John said as he headed for the door with his staff.

Jessie gave him a smile and a thumbs up as he headed out.

Whew, I hope he'll be okay. I better get to work and try to avoid Tifa.

John walked out of the Sector Seven Slums and approached the guards.

Maybe I should have asked Tifa to come with me, there might be monsters in Sector Six.

"Jessie asked me to run an errand for her, can I pass?" John asked the guards.

"Ugh, I knew she'd do this, she's so lazy," one guard said.

"Go ahead, but be careful, the monsters are pretty tough," added the other as he pressed a button on the wall to open the gate.

John nodded and passed through to Sector Six. After the gate closed behind him he looked at the playground in front of him.

This is pretty nice, I can see why Aeris would like it. Hey wait, Aeris lives in the Sector Five Slums, maybe I can stop by her church and see if she's there. I'm sure she won't be suspicious if I don't say too much.

John smiled to himself and rushed through the playground to get to Sector Five quicker. He went down the beams as needed and looked around.

No monsters yet

However as he reached the middle of the path to Sector Five, he saw to Whole Eaters emerge and stand in his path, their teeth bared.

Uh-oh, here goes nothing I guess, John thought as he clutched his staff.

One of them lunged at him, but thankfully John managed to get out of the way rather clumsily in time, quickly taking his staff and hitting it as its back was exposed. But then the other one jumped onto John's back and he felt the teeth touch his face. Frantically, he swung the staff upwards and managed to get it off him before it managed to sink it's teeth into him. He then started to push down on the creature with his staff, hearing its bones crack as it died.

Whew, wow I actually killed it. Now, what about-

John didn't have time to complete his thought as the other one got revenge on him by slamming into his back, which John had foolishly left unguarded and as a result he fell down face first into the ground, dropping his staff in the process.

Ugh damn!

As John turned over, the Whole Eater jumped on him and tried to attack his face, but John quickly grabbed by his sides as her belt the putrid breath and razor-sharp teeth in fron of his face. John then brought his knee up to kick the Whole Eater in its stomach and then quickly threw it to his side as it howled in pain, getting up and quickly grabbing his staff afterwards.

Okay then, let's hope that this materia thing works.

John tried to concentrate on the fire materia in his iron bangle which started to glow as a result and then a fireball appeared in his hand, it felt hot, but not unbearably hot. John pointed his hand at the Whole Eater which was regaining its footing and starting to head for John again and launched the fireball, which made a direct impact as the Whole Eater swallowed it. Immediately, he started screeching as he was burned from the inside out, his organs disintegrating and the shell soon dropping dead on the ground, the smoke rising from its mouth.

Whew that was close, I better be more careful from now on.

John quickly ran to the exit and entered the Sector Five Slums. As he looked around he saw bums and thieves around him, all wanting some money apperantly.

I better keep my distance from these guys. Where should I go now? The weapon shop is to the left, but…

John decided to go forwards instead, avoiding all the people until he saw a building which he instantly recognized.

This must be Aeris's church, I wonder if she's inside. Well, only one way to find out for sure.

John knocked on the door and went inside.

"Jessie, where are you?" called Tifa as she walked around the AVALANCHE hideout. She had asked Biggs, Wedge and Barret if they'd seen John who'd been missing for over an hour, but none of them had, although Biggs had said that he saw John talking to Jessie after breakfast and Tifa was sure that Jessie was somehow linked to his disappearance.

"Ah! There you are," said Tifa as she saw Jessie looking over the map of the Sector One reactor.

"Hmm? What is it Tifa? Is something wrong?" asked Jessie, almost innocently avoiding eye contact.

"I'm looking for John, he's been missing for around an hour and a half. Biggs said that you were talking to him, did you ask him to do something?"

Jessie looked at the ground in guilt and replied, "Actually, I kinda did…"

I knew it!, thought Tifa.

"What did you ask him to do Jessie?"

"Well, remember how I was supposed to get wires for the explosives from Sector Five yesterday, umm I kinda fell asleep and forgot, so…"

"Oh Jessie, you didn't"

"He said that he'd do it, I only asked!"

"There are monsters on the way Jessie!"

"Don't worry about him, he's a big guy and he took his staff and materia with him, he can take care of himself."

"I hope you're right, Jessie. But if he's not back soon, I'm gonna look for him."

"Trust me Tifa, he's fine."

Or at least I hope so, thought Jessie to herself.

John quietly entered the church and closed the door behind him. There was nobody here, but he noticed the flowers in the middle. He slowly approached them, put his staff on the ground and knelt down, careful not to crush them.

This place…seems so peaceful; it's hard to believe it's in the middle of the slums.

John used his momentary state of bliss to think about the near future.

Tifa should find Cloud pretty soon. I thought that he would have been with them for a few days by now, but I guess I was wrong. I guess that he's still getting to the Sector Seven train station after surviving the attack. I wish I knew how long it took Cloud to end up at the station after Zack was killed, he was pretty out of it from what I remember so it might have taken a few days. If I'd arrived a few days earlier, I might have been able to meet up with them and warn them beforehand…

John was so deep in his thoughts that he failed to notice the door open and close as another person entered the church and silently approached him, standing above him for a moment before deciding that it was safe to put down their staff and kneel beside him.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" a woman's voice asked softly, quickly bringing John back to the present.

"Huh?" John quickly asked as he looked sideways to meet a pair of emerald eyes.

It's her!

"Y-yeah they are. Are they yours?"

Aeris smiled proudly and replied, "Yes, for some reason they have no problem growing here, although it's impossible anywhere else in Midgar as far as I know."

"Well you've done a great job, they're uh- really pretty."

Aeris smiled and got up, as did John.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"It's John."

"I'm Aeris. It's a pleasure to meet you and thanks for complementing my flowers," she added with a smile which made John blush a bit.

"You're welcome Aeris, you do deserve it, they're really beautiful like you said!"

Aeris looked at the ground with embarrassment for a second before changing the subject so that she wouldn't go completely red.

"Thanks again. So what brings you to my church John?"

"Um, I had to go to the weapon shop here to run an errand for someone, but I kinda lost my way I think."

"Oh, the weapon shop? I can show you there," Aeris said as she picked up her staff started walking towards the exit. Once she reached the door, Aeris turned back and gave a beautiful smile again, "Come on, let's go John" and then she walked out.

John quickly grabbed his staff and ran towards the door, but suddenly a sound stopped him just as he was to step outside. He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was. It was nearly silent, but it sounded like someone whispering, but he couldn't understand anything. It all sounded jumbled and incomprehensible.

"John, are you coming?"

"Y-yeah, I'm coming Aeris," replied John as the whispering stopped and he exited the church.

What the hell was THAT?! Could it have been- no it couldn't have been Sephiroth or Jenova could it? I don't have Jenova cells in me, so how could I have heard them? But then, who or what was it?

"You okay John?" asked Aeris.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for asking."

They started walking to the weapon shop and Aeris started to laugh along the way.

"Hm? What's so funny?"

"You seem to go into your own world of thought here and there. Got a lot to think about then?"

"Well, you could say that I guess."

I guess I do have a lot to think about, like escaping a reactor about to blow up, a journey across the world to stop a madman while actually helping him and – the next thought seemed to suddenly hit John like a ton of bricks – Aeris's death!

John suddenly realized that Aeris had run ahead of him and was standing in front of a building.

"Here's the weapon shop John. Let's go inside, stop being such a slowpoke," she said before disappearing inside.

John silently followed her indoors.

Aeris…

"Here you go, these are the wires which your friend ordered," said the salesman in the weapon shop handing John a box of wires after taking the paper from him while Aeris stood silent, wondering what the wires are for.

Once they got outside she decided to try to find out.

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you need those wires for?"

"Umm, I can't really tell you, sorry…"

"Ah, I see. Classified information," Aeris lightly laughed, "Don't worry about it. What are you going to do now by the way?"

"I have to get back to Sector Seven to give these wires to my friend."

"Sector Seven? That's pretty far. You sure you don't want to rest at my house first?"

"Yeah I'm sure, sorry, thanks for asking though. I really have to head back."

"Hmm, I know. I'll walk you there."

"What? All the way to Sector Seven Aeris?"

"Well, no, not that far I guess. But I'll take you up to the playground by the gate, until you get into Sector Seven."

"But won't you have to come back here all alone then? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Oh don't worry about me. I grew up here, I know how to take care of myself."

John looked at her and finally replied after hesitating, "Okay, you win, you can take me up to the playground."

"Yes! Come on, we should hurry if you have to get those wires back quickly!" exclaimed Aeris as she ran to the entrance to Sector Six.

John stayed silent for a few seconds as he watched her run away.

One day, she's going to run away like that again and never return. If only…

John held his head down for a while before running to catch up to her.

John and Aeris entered Sector Six and started to run up the wreckage to get to the playground when just as they were about to reach their destination, a Hell House seemed to drop in out of nowhere.

"Looks like we have to take care of this first Aeris," said John as they both got their staffs ready.

The Hell House launched a missile at Aeirs, which she managed to dodge before getting close and scoring a hit in before she was joined by John. This went on for about ten minutes before they realized that the Hell House's shell was too powerful for their Guard Staffs to destroy.

"What do we do now John?"

"Hmm, stand back Aeris, I'll try to use materia."

Aeris got behind John as he started to use his Fire materia to summon up a fireball which he threw at the Hell House. It seemed to make a hit, but didn't do much damage.

"Aeris listen; try to get it to fire a missile at you again."

"What!? Are you crazy?"

"Trust me I have a plan."

"O-okay, I hope you know what you're doing."

Aeris ran in front of John and started to run around trying to get the Hell House's attention.

"I'm here! Come on, try to shoot me"

The Hell House seemed to get the plan and released another missile, but before it even left him, it was hit by another fireball from John's materia, Resulting in it exploding in front of the Hell House and causing serious damage.

"Yes, you did it John!" Aeris shouted.

Not quite Aeris, not quite.

Just then, parts of the Hell House flew off and hit both Aeris and John, sending them both flying back. When they got up, the Hell House had sprouted arms, legs and a head from the holes. It then suddenly jumped in front of John and grabbed him before throwing him at Aeris, sending both of them flying yet again. When John got up, he was covered with cuts, as was Aeris.

"Damn, now what Aeris?"

"It's okay; I can take care of the cuts." Aeris said as she clasped her hands together and a blue sphere appeared around them.

This must be her limit break, Healing Wind, John thought as a blue-white breeze appeared around them, healing their cuts until they were non existent and both of them were re-energized.

"Thanks Aeris, now let's finish this," said John as he fired yet another fireball at the Hell House's head, which momentarily blinded him. This gave Aeris the opportunity to run in front of the Hell House and jam her staff where its eyes were supposed to be. As it howled in pain, Aeris hung onto the staff with all her weight until it came out of the Hell House's skull, covered in a brain-like substance. The Hell House ran around screaming for a few seconds before it collapsed dead onto the ground.

Aeris stared at her staff in disgust as she hit it against the ground to make the disgusting substance fall off.

"Wow, that was great Aeris!" exclaimed John as he smiled.

Aeris smiled back and said, "See? I told you can handle myself!"

"Okay, okay, you proved your point."

The two of them laughed as they entered the playground. Before they approached the gate, Aeris spoke.

"Wait John, before you go, I want to show you something."

"Huh? What is it?"

"Well, since you use Materia, I thought I could show you this," Aeris said as she reached into her ribbon.

Oh, this, thought John.

Aeris took out a small white sphere and showed it to John.

"This is a materia that I've had for a really long time, but it doesn't do anything as far as I know. Do you know what it's for?" she asked as she handed it to John.

John took the White Materia in is hand and looked at it.

Wow, I can't believe that such a small thing is supposed to save the planet. It really doesn't look like it can do much, but this is the key to Holy.

"I have no idea what it's supposed to do Aeris. I've never seen it before," John lied as he tried to keep Aeris's death from playing in his mind and handed the materia back to Aeris, who but it back into its place in her ribbon.

"It's ok, thanks for trying John," said Aeris smiling, "Let's go, the gate's just over there."

"Aeris?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for today, I had a nice time."

"Oh you're welcome John, I had a great time too," replied Aeris as they walked up to the front of the gate.

John knocked on it and shouted, "Hey, it's me! I'm back, open the gate!"

The guards on the other side heard this and opened up the gate, revealing a rather worried Tifa on the other side.

"John!" exclaimed Tifa, "Are you okay? Jessie really shouldn't have asked you to make up for her lazyness"

"It's ok Tifa. I got the wires and Aeris here helped me get back."

Tifa walked up to Aeris and smiled, "Hi there, I'm Tifa. Thanks a lot for bringing John back."

Aeris smiled back and replied "Oh, you're welcome Tifa."

"Bringing?" John asked as he walked over to Tifa, "I could have come back by myself, she asked to come along."

"Uh-huh, of course you could," Aeris said in a sarcastic manner before mouthing a 'no way' to Tifa who gave a light chuckle in response.

"Anyway," Aeris said, "You two should be going since those wires were apparently so important."

"Oh okay," said Tifa, "See you around then Aeris"

"Bye Aeris, thanks for everything." Said John as the gate started to close.

"Bye Tifa, Bye John, it was great meeting you," said Aeris as the gate shut in front of her.

Aeris stood silent for about a minute before she started to head back home, smiling to herself.

This was a really nice day, I hope I see him again.

When John and Tifa got back to Seventh Heaven, Jessie gave a big sigh as John handed her the wires.

"Thank you so much John, and uh I'm sorry that I made you go."

"Don't mention it Jessie," John said with a smile, "it wasn't so bad."

Jessie smiled back before heading off to do work on the explosives.

"What should I do now Tifa?" asked John.

"You should rest, you've had quite a day, I'll call you when dinner's ready."

"Okay."

John spent the rest of the day around the AVALANCHE hideout watching what the others were doing and playing with Marlene, who didn't seem so shy anymore. That night after dinner, Tifa came up to him.

"John, you wanna go for a walk? I want to tell you something."

"Sure Tifa," replied John.

They both stepped outside and started walking in the direction of the train station.

"What did you want to tell me Tifa?"

"Oh nothing much, I wanted to thank you again for what you did. You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I guess I feel that I should pull my own weight around here, plus I got some fighting experience."

"Do you plan on staying with us for long?"

"Why? Should I leave?"

"No no, I was just curious," Tifa quickly replied.

"I guess for a while until I figure out what else I can do. Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay, you can stay as long as you want."

"Thanks."

As they walked into the train station, Tifa suddenly stopped, her eyes widening with shock as she whispered the single word that John had been waiting to hear.

"Cloud!"