Videl: Warrior Princess: Hey guys! ::smiles at audience::
The Author: ::sits in audience and waves:: Hey Bonnie!
Videl: WP: ::blinks in shock:: Aaron?
The Author: Hiya!
Videl: WP: What are you doing here? ::walks to him, seeing him eat popcorn and drinking soda:: Aren't *you* supposed to be working on *your* fic, "Final Fantasy Soaps"?
The Author: I am! Besides, I update more than *you*!
Audience: Oooooo!!!…
Videl: WP: ::glares at audience:: SHUT UP OR I'LL TURN YOU INTO A HEAP OF ASH!!!
Audience: … ::goes silent for fear of life::
Videl: WP: ::smirks:: That's better.
The Author: Actually, I wanted to read the fic and make my now usual appearance in your author notes. That reminds me, where's Gohan? And why was he mad at me earlier?
Videl: WP: Oh don't worry. Gohan is sometimes protective of me because I've been in a couple of sticky situations with guys before. And Gohan won't be on for awhile.
The Author: Why not?
Videl: WP: He's busy studying for his finals. ::cell phone rings:: Hold on a sec Aaron. ::answers phone:: Hello?
Great Super Gohan: ::is on the other line:: Just like you should be Videl! Especially your Algebra 2 one! I don't want you failing that class!
Videl: WP: ::gulps:: Uh… IloveyouverymuchGohan-kunandI'lltalktoyoulaterbye!!
Great Super Gohan: Videl!
Videl: WP: ::hangs up, breathes a sigh of relief, then clears throat:: Well now…
The Author: Looks like he left his mark on this chapter anyway.
Videl: WP: ::nods:: He sure did.
Luke Skywalker: ::walks in:: Hello, may I speak to Videl? I am Jedi Master Luke Skywalker.
Videl: WP: I…I'm Videl… ::is in awe at Luke::
Luke Skywalker: Good. ::waves hand in front of her:: You do not own SquareSoft.
Videl: WP: I do not own SquareSoft.
Luke Skywalker: You do not own Disney.
Videl: WP: I do not own Disney.
Luke Skywalker: You do not own Star Wars.
Videl: WP: I do not own Star Wars.
Luke Skywalker: ::smiles:: Good. The Force will be with you. ::vanishes::
Videl: WP: ::snaps out of daze:: Huh? What happened?
The Author: Nothing…On with the fic!
Chapter Four: Funny Girl That "Belle"
A young woman smiled up at the sky as she closed the door to her humble home and began to walk down the lane to the village square of Midgar, holding a basket of brightly colored flowers and a blue covered book.
"Little town, it's a quiet village," she sang softly. "Everyday, like the one before." She walked over the small stone bridge, entering the square. "Little town, full of little people, waking up to say…"
"Bonjour!" a woman called.
"Bonjour!" a man yelled.
"Bonjour!" cried another random villager.
"Bonjour!"
"Bonjour!"
She shook her head slightly as she smiled and continued walking. "There goes the baker with his tray like always. The same old bread and rolls to sell," she sang as she saw the baker. "Every morning's just the same, since the morning that we came to this poor provincial town."
"Good morning Aeris!" he replied cheerfully as he placed a tray of rolls on the counter. She smiled and walked over to him.
"Morning Sir!" she answered in a kind voice.
"Where are you off to?" he asked, looking over his tray. Aeris smiled and picked up the book in her basket to show him.
"To the library! I've just finished a great story about a mermaid, a sea witch and-," she began, but he cut her off.
"Uh huh, that's nice," he said, not paying any attention to her. He turned to the back of the shop with a scowl on his face. "George! The biscuits! Hurry up!"
Aeris only shrugged slightly, placed her book back, and walked off.
"Don't look, that girl is strange, no question," two women whispered to each other. "Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?"
"Never a part of any crowd," another woman added.
"Because her head's always up in some cloud," a man joined in. ((X:WP: Hey that's funny! (in a sick kind of way…) No pun was intended!))
"No denying she's a funny girl that Aeris," they all agreed.
Aeris kept walking until she came upon a young couple. "Oh! What pretty flowers!" the girl exclaimed.
"Would you like to buy one? It's only one gil per flower," Aeris offered with a nice smile.
"I'll take five," the man replied and handed her the money. Aeris smiled and let the girl pick out the flowers.
"Thank you very much!" Aeris chimed and resumed her walk to the library. "There must be something more than this life!" she thought as she stepped in.
"Ah, Aeris!" Seto replied, looking up from his stack of books.
"Good morning! Here's the book I borrowed!" she said, placing the book down on a shelf. Seto stifled a laugh.
"Finished already?" he asked with a smiled. She smiled back and walked to the bookshelf behind him.
"Oh, I couldn't put it down. Do you have anything new?" she asked, looking at the books.
"No, not since yesterday I'm afraid," he answered as he put away the books.
"Oh, that's alright. I'll borrow…" She paused for a moment as her eyes scanned for a book, and then, she grabbed a familiar book with a faded red cover and pale gold trim and turned around to show him. "This one!"
Seto took it and looked at it closely. "That one?" he laughed. "But you've read it three times!" Aeris laughed and nodded.
"I know, but it's my favorite! Far off places, magic spells, daring sword fights, a prince in disguise!" she explained, full of energy, as she twirled around on the last part.
He continued to laugh. "If you really like it that much, it's yours," he chuckled. Aeris gasped in shock.
"Are…are you sure?" she asked, and he nodded.
"You've been my best customer, and you're good company," he replied.
"But Mr. Seto," she began to protest as he handed her the book.
"I insist," he continued, and Aeris hugged him.
"Thank you! Thank you very much!" she exclaimed and left.
Three men watched her as she left the library and snickered, "That there girl is so pediculiar. I wonder if she's feeling well!"
"With a dreamy, far off look," a woman commented, watching as Aeris walked on, reading her new book.
"And her nose stuck in a book," two men sighed.
"What a puzzle to the rest of us is Aeris!" a group said, shaking their heads.
Aeris sat down by the fountain, where a bunch of kids were there playing for recess, still reading. "Oh, isn't this fantastic?" she asked to none in particular and lowered the book for a little girl to see a picture. "Here's where she meets Prince Charming, but she doesn't find out it's him 'til chapter three!" Then the schoolteacher came running to them, and the kids got up and ran off, laughing.
"Hey! Hey, come back!" the teacher cried, chasing after them. Aeris stifled a giggle from watching them and skipped a couple of pages and began reading chapter three. Soon, she got to her feet and began walking around the square some more, hoping to sell more flowers. However, she couldn't help but read a couple of pages every now and then.
"It's no wonder they say she's a beauty; her looks have got no parallel," a woman whispered to her husband as Aeris walked past them.
"But behind that fair and lovely face, I'm afraid she's out in space, very different from the rest of us," he responded.
"She's nothing like the rest of us! Yes, very different from the rest of us is Aeris!" people in the square whispered to each other.
A young man with sunshine hair and azure eyes lifted up his shotgun and shot the head goose of a gaggle flying overhead. The bird fell, and its dead body fell right in front of a short, fat man with black hair.
"Wow! That makes six today Rufus! You're the best hunter in the world!" Hiegdarr exclaimed.
Rufus smirked. "I know," he said smugly, walking to him as Hiegdarr put the bird in the bag with the others.
"No beast stands a chance against you and no girl for that matter!" he chuckled before he began his vexing, loud laugh. Rufus scowled and punched him on the head. "Ow…" he moaned, rubbing his head.
"I thought we agreed you weren't going to do that laugh anymore," Rufus grumbled.
"Right, sorry Rufus!"
"But you are right though, and I've got my eyes set on that one." He pointed over to their left, and Hiegdarr gasped in shock when he saw Aeris selling another flower.
"What?! The inventor's sister?!" Rufus smiled and nodded.
"That's right! She's the most beautiful girl in town!"
"Well, maybe but-"
"That makes her the best!" He lifted him up with one arm, still holding his shot gun in his other hand, and looked him coldly in the eye. "And don't I deserve the best?" Hiegdarr gulped.
"But of course! I-I mean you do but-" Rufus dropped him.
"Right there the moment when I met her, saw her, I said she's gorgeous and I fell. In this town there's only she who is as beautiful as me, so I'm making plans to woo and marry Aeris," he sang in his deep voice and chased after Aeris when he saw her walk on.
Aeris walked through the town, reading her book. People were about in the square, yelling, buying, trading, selling, walking, talking, and living life with each other. And in the midst of this mass, Rufus was trying to get through to Aeris. Two women in skimpy-clad clothing sighed as he walked by.
"Look, there he goes! Isn't he dreamy? Rufus Shinra, oh he's so cute! Be still, my heart! I'm hardly breathing! He's such a tall, light haired, handsome man!" they said lovingly.
"Let me through!" Rufus snapped, still trying to push through the crowd. However, even though some people moved aside for him, he was still lagging behind.
"There must be more than this provincial life!" Aeris cried.
"Just watch, I'm going to make Aeris my wife!" Rufus declared, but no one paid him any mind.
"Now that girl right there is strange, but special! A most pediculiar mademoiselle! It's a pity and a sin! She doesn't quite fit in, but she really is a funny girl; but she really is a funny girl, that Aeris!" the whole town exclaimed.
Snapping out of her daze from reading her book, Aeris blinked and turned around. However, all the townspeople were back going on with their lives, pretending that they had nothing to do with her at all. She gave a simple shrug and turned back to her book and kept walking.
"Morning there Aeris," Rufus replied smugly, standing in front of her. Aeris nodded and kept reading.
"Good morning Rufus," she responded and walked by, on her way home. However, Rufus took away her book, and she turned around and glared at him, obviously annoyed with him. "Rufus, can I have my book back?" He didn't answer her and thumbed through some pages.
"How can you read this? There's hardly any pictures in here?" he asked. Aeris folded her arms and smirked.
"Well, some people just use their imagination," she answered coolly. He let out a "tsk" and dropped the book into a mud puddle. "Oh no!"
"Aeris, it's time you got your head out of those books and paid more attention to more vital, important things…like me," he replied as Aeris dropped to her knees and picked up her book and used the sleeve of her magenta jacket to get the mud off of it and ignored the two women standing behind him that were swooning over him.
"The whole town's talking about it. It's not right for a woman to read so much. Soon she starts getting ideas and thinking things and taking over jobs that are only meant for men, like public office!" he continued. Aeris smirked and got up.
"Rufus, you are positively boorish," she said, placing her book back in her basket. Rufus, who wasn't paying attention to anything she was saying, chuckled.
"Why thank you Aeris," he laughed. Aeris blinked in shock; surely he knew that she just said that he was rude and uncivilized, right? He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began to guide her back to the village. "Why don't you say we go over to the tavern and look at my trophies, hm?" Aeris slid out of his arm.
"Maybe some other time," she replied, trying to keep her cool and be polite.
The two women scoffed. One of them had long, dark brown hair and a chest like Pamela Anderson; the other was a blond and had a chest only slightly smaller than the others. "What's wrong with her?! She's crazy!" the brunette hissed.
"He's gorgeous!" the blond sighed, and immediately, the brunette began swooning over Rufus again.
"Come on, it'll just be a few minutes," Rufus cooed.
"Rufus, I can't. I got to go home to help my brother, bye!" she chimed and turned to leave. Hiegdarr laughed as he stood next to Rufus.
"That crazy, old bat! He needs all the help he can get!" Hiegdarr chuckled, and Rufus and him began to laugh. Aeris turned on her heel and glared at them coldly.
"Don't talk about Vincent that way!" she snapped. Rufus cleared his throat and stopped laughing.
"Yeah, don't talk about her brother that way you jerk!" he yelled at Hiegdarr, punching him on the head again.
Aeris clutched her basket close to her as she continued to glare at them. "My brother isn't crazy; he's a genius!" she corrected them.
Suddenly, some weird sounds came from Aeris' basement, which could be heard clearly out in the village. "DAMNIT!!!" a deep voice yelled, and a couple of shots from a revolver were heard. Aeris looked back at her house and gasped in horror.
"Oh no! Vincent!" she cried and ran back home, ignoring the laughter from the villagers.