A/N: I cleaned this chapter a little, but the major changes are towards the end. The apparition's prophecy is reworked into more of a prayer, and the penultimate chapter has a better description of Elmyra. Enjoy!
On clear summer nights, a breeze sometimes crossed the plate from east to west, carrying with it the clean earthy smell of the grasslands and gently lifting away the man-made stench of hot metal and fuming machines. Aeris didn't usually stay above the plate past dark, but on warm nights when the air smelled like the countryside she couldn't bring herself to leave her flower stand in Sector 1 until the early hours of the morning. Her garments were plain: a simple pink dress covered by a worn maroon vest, both marked by the filth of the slums. Tarnished bracelets adorned her wrists and a beat-up metal pendant featuring a shining white marble hung around her neck on a thin steel chain. Hiking boots protected her feet, but she wore them only at her mother's insistence. Aeris preferred to walk barefoot; few pleasures compared to feeling the thrum of life in the earth beneath her toes. But her mother said it was too dangerous to go around without shoes, so Aeris wore them for no other reason than to ease her mother's fears. The poor woman worried about enough already.
Since Aeris could remember, her mother had been protective of her. Everything was too dangerous and Aeris' childhood had been a fearful one. But her curiosity about the outside world had grown until her sense of adventure finally overcame her fear at age thirteen. Even then, Aeris had limited her expeditions only to the nearby church. But the first step had been taken. Her world had expanded from the small house and garden in a corner of the Sector 5 slums. Two years later she met Zack, and he brought her up to the plate for the first time. Aeris touched the ribbon in her braided auburn hair and remembered how terrified she had been when he first suggested the trip. Everything her mother had warned her about came flooding to the front of her mind: bandits and robbers, murderers and rapists, and Shinra worst of all. But Zack only laughed at that. It wasn't until she saw his name in the news that Aeris realized that the handsome young man who laughed easily and often was SOLDIER 2nd Class Zack Fair, a hero of the Wutai War. The two years she spent dating a SOLDIER member opened her eyes to a fresh perspective. Her mother was pleased at Aeris' change from a quiet and timid teenager into a strong and confident young woman, but she wouldn't have been so pleased had she known the cause. Zack made all her fears seem small and silly. When he was promoted to 1st Class she wanted to celebrate, but his promotion had come with a top secret mission. He promised he'd be back in a month and she believed him. Zack was tall and strong, the youngest SOLDIER 1st Class since Sephiroth, and he never lied to her. He never came home.
It was getting late, and Aeris decided that she should be getting back home. Her mother might be nervous, but no more than usual and it had been years since she had enforced a curfew. No, Aeris was worried less about her mother and more about the slum streets late at night. It was a rough world beneath the plate, and even though Aeris kept a telescopic nightstick on her at all times she would also be carrying the days' proceeds. Even a good beating could not always deter the truly desperate slum-dwellers that wandered the streets at night. Aeris looked up into the sky for one last glimpse of the stars, then gathered up her flowers from the stand and stowed them carefully in her cart. She turned the cart towards the road and gave a small gasp. A woman was standing in front of her with a sad smile on her face. She looked to be in her mid-thirties and was quite beautiful, with wide blue eyes and shining brown hair that cascaded freely down her back. She was dressed in a robe of some strange material that shimmered and changed color as it caught the light.
"I'm sorry," said Aeris, "I didn't see you there." The woman made no response, but a tear slid from one eye to run slowly down her cheek. In the yellow light of the streetlamps it looked like a drop of molten gold. Aeris was taken aback. "Are you all right, ma'am?" she asked, soft concern filling her voice. "Do you need help?" The woman remained silent. Aeris looked closer and saw that the woman wore no shoes. That explained how she had managed to approach without Aeris hearing her, but where had she come from? Five minutes ago the street had been deserted. Aeris frowned. There was something strangely familiar about this woman. Then the woman started to speak and Aeris lost her train of thought.
Although Aeris had never been outside the walls of Midgar, she recognized all the music of the natural world in the woman's voice. Behind each syllable was the roar of the ocean and the rolling boom of thunder. Every breath held the hiss of falling rain and the whisper of the wind in the leaves.
"Mother," the woman sang in that half-remembered song, "I'm so sorry."
"Sorry for what?" said Aeris in hushed tones. The woman's smile broadened, but the sadness in her eyes deepened. Her face reminded Aeris of the pale light of the sun streaming through a cloudy sky.
"The world is changing, Mother," the woman intoned. "The planet stirs, the promised land is near, but you have never been in greater danger. The world's enemy has returned, and in him lies the strength and will of the evil that fell from the skies."
A chill ran down Aeris' spine but she ignored it; she'd left behind the chains of fear long ago. Aeris' hand went to the pendant around her neck and the white marble that had been her good luck charm for her whole life. She longed to turn and run, but instead she gathered her courage and stepped forward boldly.
"I don't understand. Ma'am, can you hear me?" The woman's words had the ring of recited prayer, and Aeris wondered if she was trapped in a religious delusion. Her eyes looked at Aeris, but they were unfocused. Aeris had the distinct impression that the woman was looking through her at something behind. She suppressed a shudder and tried again. "Please, if you just tell me who you are, maybe I can help you."
"I am not the one who needs help," the woman said, her voice heavy with sorrow…and something else Aeris couldn't pin down. "Mother, listen to your heart and the stream of life that flows through it. Do not turn your back on your children, even those who turn their backs on you. They all have a part to play in the struggle to come. And when the time comes, when understanding wakes like the grey light of dawn, you must bring him home. And there at the end, Mother, remember one thing more."
"What?" Aeris asked, in spite of herself. "What does the Mother remember?"
"Remember to forgive."
Aeris opened her mouth to voice her confusion, but before she could speak, the streetlights went out and the world brightened. For a foolish moment, Aeris wondered how the sun could have risen four hours early. She had just enough time to turn and see a colossal ball of fire rising over the outskirts of the city before a loud low thud pressed on her eardrums and shattered all the windows around her. Aeris barely noticed the sudden wind that lifted and spun her hair as she stood transfixed by the sight of multi-colored flames clawing desperately at the sky. Suddenly the street around her was packed with people. A few just stood in shocked silence, but most were screaming. Aeris knew the explosion couldn't have been a result of a mechanical failure, not one that severe and not without any warning. It must have been a terrorist attack. Lately the terrorist group Avalanche had been stepping up their attacks, but Aeris had never imagined that they could do anything on this scale.
Aeris realized with a start that an explosion that large must have woken her mother. She couldn't see the fires from below the plate, but all she had to do was find a television and she would know that the Sector 1 reactor had suffered a catastrophic meltdown. Aeris needed to get home before panic set in. She grabbed the handles of her flower cart, but quickly realized that she couldn't possibly drive it through the throng of people milling about in the street. Instead she snatched her money pouch and a selection of her more valuable specimens and pushed her way through the crowd to the back alleys. The cart would still be there in the morning.
The streets might have been packed, but the alleys were relatively clear, and Aeris was able to move quickly towards the train station. She hoped the rails came equipped with a backup power system, otherwise she would be stuck on the plate until power was re-routed from one of the other reactors, and that could take days.
She was maybe a half-mile from the station when she heard raised voices coming from nearby. She rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a ghost. He was standing in the middle of the street, surrounded by six Shinra troops. Some things were the same: his build, his clothes, his sword. Most of all, Aeris recognized the way he stood: like nothing in the world could hurt him, even when he was confronted with a team of well-armed, well-trained men with guns raised. But Zack was dead. This man had blond hair, not black, and when she heard him speak his voice held none of the bubbling laughter that had characterized her boyfriend. This man's voice was cold, flat and lifeless.
"I'll give you one chance," he said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "Drop your weapons and let me pass. If you do not step aside, you will die facedown in this street and no one will remember your names." The troops glanced nervously at one another, but none of them gave an inch. A tense silence hung heavy in the air as each man waited for another to make the first move. After what seemed like an eternity, one of the men barked an order to engage. No sooner had the words left his lips then a deafening crack split the air, accompanied by a blinding flash. By the time the blueskull's convulsing body hit the ground, his fellows had indiscriminately opened fire, but Aeris paid no mind. Her eyes remained glued to the dying man, even as a stray bullet pulled at her hair like a playful summer breeze. Aeris took a step forward, then another step, then another until she was close enough to smell burning hair and crackling ozone. The grunt's mask had been knocked askew, and Aeris saw a shockingly young face contorted in agony. His hands clenched and unclenched on the pavement, and his boot gave the occasional kick, but the man was already dead; Aeris could see it in his eyes.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the noise stopped, leaving only a faint ringing in Aeris' ears. She looked up to see the strange man standing over the last blueskull. He was kneeling in front of the stranger in abject surrender, gun cast aside and hands clasped together. The stranger raised his sword as the soldier pleaded desperately for mercy. As the blond man lifted his sword above his head for the killing blow, Aeris' numbness was washed away in a tide of fury.
"Stop!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her nightstick was in her hand, though she couldn't remember reaching for it. The man hesitated for a second and looked at Aeris with an inscrutable expression before bringing his weapon down with a sickening squelch. Aeris crossed the distance between them with a few strides and swung her weapon at the man's head. As she did, the warrior pivoted and the stick swished harmlessly through the air. As it passed by, the man's arm shot out quick as a viper and grabbed her wrist. Aeris tried to twist out of his grip, but he was strong. Too strong. SOLDIER.
The thought frightened her, but she stood her ground. "Let go of me!" she shouted defiantly.
"Drop the weapon," he replied. His hand seemed small, barely larger than Aeris' own, but his fingers were iron digging into her arm. She realized with a start that his eyes were locked onto hers. He's watching what I'm watching, she thought suddenly, and a chill slipped down her spine.
"I won't," she said stubbornly, tearing her eyes away from the man's insistent glare to stare at her feet. For a single absurd moment, she cursed her boots. If her feet had been bare she would have been quicker, and she could have bashed in his stupid smug face. She looked up again to see the man's head raised in the air and cocked slightly to one side, like a wolf listening to a distant howl.
"I don't have time for this," he said. "I don't want to hurt you—"
"Bullshit!" Aeris screamed in his face. "You're just another mindless Shinra thug! All you know how to do is hurt people! What kind of monster kills an unarmed man pleading for his life!?"
The man released her so suddenly she stumbled and almost fell. When she looked up, she found the man's stare intense, but somehow different. Beneath his impassive mask of a face, Aeris saw pain, guilt, anger…and something else. The man turned to walk down a dimly lit alley, but stopped on the edge of the street.
"Every action we take has consequences," he said, and to Aeris his voice sounded like that of an old and weary man. "I told them what would happen if they chose to attack. I won't bear the responsibility for their mistakes."
"But he surrendered," said Aeris. She wasn't angry, not anymore. In its place was a deep sadness, so heavy she felt as though her soul was being crushed beneath its weight. She didn't know why her anger had left her, any more than she could name the source of her sadness. All she knew was that it was crucial that he understand. "He surrendered," Aeris said again, struggling to find the right words. "He put his life in your hands, and you failed him."
For a second, Aeris dared to hope that she had made herself clear. But the man just shook his head.
"No," he said flatly, "I gave him a chance to surrender." He stepped quietly into the dark alley.
"One chance!" Aeris shouted into the gloom, "It's not enough! Everyone deserves a second chance."
"Not everyone," said the dead voice. Then the man was gone.
Aeris stood among the bodies for another second, then gathered up her belongings and continued her journey to the train station. The Mother was merciful that night and the train hadn't lost power. Aeris took the long, winding ride down to the Sector 5 slums and disembarked to find her mother waiting anxiously on the platform in a pair of mismatched slippers and a filthy nightgown. Elmyra Gainsborough was not yet forty, but she had the worn-down, ragged look of every other woman who'd grown up in the slums. Still, she had a kind of wiry toughness about her, and she gripped a crooked tire iron with two white-knuckled hands. She calmed down some once Aeris had assured her that yes, she was fine and no, she hadn't been attacked and yes, she had seen the explosion and no, she hadn't been hurt by it. But she never let go of the tire iron, and the whole way back to the house she brandished it menacingly at anyone who came within striking distance.
At her mother's insistence, Aeris went straight to bed, but she remained awake long after Elmyra's snores echoed through the walls. She remembered the look on the killer's face, and wondered what she had said to provoke such a reaction. Guilt and anger were understandable, and there had never been a SOLDIER member unfamiliar with pain. But what else had she seen? Whatever it was, it had seemed jarring and out of place in the mind of so deadly a warrior. Still, she'd seen it before, and often. The realization came all at once, without warning. She had seen the same emotion in her own reflection, time and time again. She had seen it in her mother, in her friends, in the faces of every slum dweller she passed after dark. What had she done to make a SOLDIER operative so afraid?