Chapter One: Two Years Later
Midgar is quiet, gloomy and full of despair. Aerith walks through the streets of section five while carrying a basket full of red roses. At the age of seven, she's more beautiful than ever. Her long brown hair is pulled back into a long braid with her bangs falling over her eyes to her shoulders. Her beauty captivates the people around her as she walks slowly. People, especially the men are all beguiled by her presence as she sells flowers for a few gils. She wears a long sleeve baby pink dress that reaches her black leather boots near her knees. The dress is tight fitting around her waist but loose around her legs as she bends over to hand a flower to a little boy. The boy's face turns bright red as he runs away, giggling. Her smile is enough to make a graveyard full of cheer. Her eyes gleam under the moonlight as she rises to her feet, feeling quite vibrant for a change. Making other people smile and laugh is what she cherishes most in life. Even at the age of seventeen, she still looks fragile and weak, but she isn't.
"You're back early," her beautiful mother Elmyra speaks pleasantly.
Aerith smiles warmly when seeing her mom looking more elegant and graceful every day. "I made good business tonight. I sold four baskets of flowers. That's four hundred gils, so I bought us bread and potatoes," she says kindly, setting down a bag for her mom.
"Oh! Aerith, how splendid. I can finally make beef stew with rice. I will start cutting the vegetables right away," her mom exclaims gleefully.
"Mom! It's nine at night. We can have beef stew with rice tomorrow."
"Nonsense! My little girl is working so hard lately. I will make it tonight," her mom shoves her aside to reach her grocery bag.
Aerith laughs, her face becoming warm and red as she watches her mom take out veggies and beef. She heads upstairs to her room to freshen up. Her nude body is a sight to see. Her body is rather voluptuous, curved and extremely sensual. Her breasts are pale and large as she bathes herself with the scent of roses flooding her room. Once she is done bathing, she slips on a white spaghetti strap gown, allowing her pale skin to show. Her twinkling green eyes stare through the window to look at the night sky as she brushes out her long brown thick hair. Lately, the air has been smelling a bit musky. It always smells unclean, but never musky and chemical smelling. People refer to the slums as the darkness of Midgar. She grew up in sector five and will forever cherish her memories. No matter what condition.
Even with the next couple days passing, she doesn't lose hope. Every day, she stands outside her flower shop and sells exquisite bouquets of flowers. Her little shop makes decent money, but not enough. With night approaching, she starts walking around to sell single roses to people. It's not a good night tonight. She waits at the end of the street when she sees a group of Shinra SOLDIERs running her way. One of them bumps right into her, knocking her on her bottom. He basket of roses fall over the ground as the SOLDIERs run through the night. As she sits up, getting used to being knocked down, she hears a voice that's rather calm and soothing.
"Are you okay?" a man asks.
She looks up to her left to see a man with blond spiky hair and the bluest eyes she has ever seen. The man offers his hand to her with a faint smile. She reluctantly accepts his hand then is helped up off the ground. She picks up her roses and places them back into a basket before meeting his eyes with hers.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me," she says quietly, smiling from his kindness.
The man doesn't say anything when he starts walking away, so she takes a step forward with her mouth opening. "How about you buy a flower. They are only one gil a piece."
The man turns around to face her as she smiles cheerfully. Luck seems to be on her side when he walks to her and hands her one gil in exchange for a flower. "Thank you!" she excitingly says.
The man doesn't say anything to her and turns around to run away. There are quite a few people running around Midgar tonight. I wonder what's going on… It's not every day people see Shinra SOLDIERs running around… Whatever the case, she starts selling flowers again. As she walks around the street, selling her roses, she notices something very peculiar. People, including her watch as a tall man wearing a black hooded cloak walks through crowds of people. His hood is up, so she can't fully see his face that is shadowy. She moves out of his way when he walks past her so seriously. He towers over her. She ignores him to start selling roses again. As she speaks generously to people, the man walking meters away from her stops suddenly. She remains oblivious to him as she kneels in front of a child to give her a free rose. The man turns around to look at the flower girl in silence. People walk around him as he stands still, rigid as a rock. Long platinum hair can be seen moving out of his hood from the strong gusts of winds picking up. Bright greenish blue eyes are exposed as he moves his hood a little to get a better look at the girl. It's Sephiroth. His pale complexion is seen while he watches a girl he feels like he knows. It then hits him when looks at her face full of radiance and beauty.
Aerith…?
Sephiroth turns away from the young girl with a devilish grin as he walks through crowds of people.
"She's in the church again. It's our perfect move," a voice speaks through the darkness.
Two men stand still in the shadows as they watch Aerith tending to her flowerbed in her church. The two men step forward, revealing their faces. The two men smile when they see that she's defenseless and exposed. They both look at each other with wickedness. The two men are revealed to be Reno and Tseng with a group of SOLDIERs following Tseng's orders.
Aerith pours water over her flowers while humming to herself. Her flowerbed is looking lovely and colorful. The sight of it makes her feel happy and whole inside. Her hobby will forever have a special place in her heart. After watering her flowers, she starts picking some to bring home to her mother's kitchen table. She walks around wearing her baby pink longfd sleeve dress that has some dirt on the bottom of her skirt now. She doesn't mind. As she kneels to one knee to pick some white roses, she starts hearing movement outside the church. Her head moves to the right to stare at the doors when hearing lots of movement. The sound of thudding alarms her as she rises to her feet with worry. Her fear comes to life when the two doors fly open. The sound of the doors opening causes her to jump back in reaction. Her eyes fall upon Tseng with SOLDIERs flooding inside the church.
"You're not doing a very good job hiding," Tseng says cockily.
Aerith drops her basket of flowers when she sees Reno appearing behind him. SOLDIERs gather around her, giving her no chance to escape. How did they know I would be in this church…? Unless I was followed… How careless of me!
"Just leave me alone," she says quickly, almost tripping over her two feet when backing away from the SOLDIERs closing in on her from the front.
"Don't make this any hard than it has to be. Just come with us. You eluded us for many years. We are getting sick of your games," Tseng mutters, showing no compassion.
Aerith turns around to see that the SOLDIERs surround her completely. An opening can be seen but if she tries to run, she's not sure she would make it out of the church successfully. Her cunning ideas are running out since she is helpless when surrounded. If she doesn't try, she will beat herself down if she goes without a fight. The SOLDIERs aim their weapons at her when she takes off running through a gap two SOLDIERs left open. Tseng takes off running after her, shouting quickly before tragedy strikes.
"Do not shoot her! You idiots!"
The SOLDIERs chase after her as she climbs up a wooden ladder to reach a window. Honestly, she's never attempted to flee from the Turks when she was surrounded. SOLDIERs either. Before Teng could grab her left foot, she pulls herself through the window. Her head jerks back when her long braid gets snagged on a big shard of glass sticking out from the window. Living with the pain, she grunts in agony when she forces her head to move forward, pulling the shard of glass out with her braid. Tseng misses her arm by inches when she jumps down to the ground. Her body tumbles forward a few times when she makes contact with the soft ground. She gets on her feet and takes off running into the darkness. They pursue her from behind as she runs through an alleyway to reach the streets where people walk on. She comes flying out into the road with a car missing her body just a smidgen. She runs into people as she looks around her. Her eyes catch sight of Shinra SOLDIERs pushing and shoving their way through the people.
Her feet carry her as fast as they can as she runs around people. She turns to the left into another alleyway to escape to where a ladder is. She starts climbing the corroded ladder to the top of a building. SOLDIERs start pursuing her up the ladder too. Once she reaches the top of building, she takes off running, leaping from building to building. With every brave jump, she feels like she is flying. She's used to this. It's a routine for her when being pursued, but she has never been surrounded by so many SOLDIERs before. They start catching up to her as she jumps one last time on a building that sits lower than the ones she was jumping from. She almost loses her footing but catches herself. Thankfully. The SOLDIERs jump after her as she takes off running again. Her eyes widen when she sees it's a dead end, so she skids to a stop on the back of her soles to her boots. Her body jerks forward from how abruptly she slides on her heels.
"There's nowhere else for you to run to."
Aerith turns her body around when Tseng speaks. Her entire body trembles with fear when she sees him walking through the SOLDIERs to face her directly. The sight of him causes her intense disgust, so she turns her head around to see that the jump she is thinking about performing is impossible to survive.
"The president is wasting his time. I am nothing. I am simply ordinary," she tries to stand her ground, but he doesn't listen.
"Do not make this turn violent. Just come with us willingly. We know you are nothing special. Hojo wants his little lab rat back."
Her body moves back when the leader of the Turks takes a step closer to her. Her foot starts to slip over the edge of the rooftop, forcing her to make an impossible decision. Making her mind up, she turns around completely and starts to jump off the rooftop irrationally. As she goes to push off the ledge, she feels pain when a hand grabs her right shoulder. The strength of the man causes her mouth to open as she grunts in agonizing pain. Her body moves forward, her feet inches off the rooftop. Her eyes widen in horror to see the huge drop before her.
"Do you really think you will survive a fall this high?"
Aerith's eyes widen in astonishment when hearing a calm resonating voice creeping down her back. Her entire body becomes immobile as she hangs off the ledge when a man with a familiar voice speaks. She hears the SOLDIERs moving around behind her as the man keeps a strong hold on her arm. Fearing that she may not like what she sees when she turns her head around, she starts dreading for her life now. Building up the courage, she turns her head around to meet familiar eyes. Amazingly long platinum hair blows in the strong wind with a man towering over her. She about faints when seeing cyan eyes impaling hers with intimidation.
"S-Sephiroth?" her voice is full of shock as she stutters his name.
The man grins when she speaks his name. His voice is deep, rational and soothing that she feels terrified when he speaks to her. "You remembered my name, Aerith."
Aerith about collapses until he pulls her violently into his arms. Her head jerks back in reaction when he spins his body around with her. Her eyes catch a glimpse of the SOLDIERs aiming their guns at them both. Tseng is seen backing up as his legs start to quiver from the sight of the SOLDIER who is insane.
"S-Sephiroth? You're supposed to be dead," the Turk speaks, having fear in his voice.
Aerith grunts suddenly when feeling the SOLDIER's arm tightening around her small waist. The warmth of his breath lingers on her neck when he speaks. His face so close to hers, she's afraid to move her head to look up at him. "What's so special about Aerith?"
What the hell!
"You're dead. How are you alive?" Tseng asks, ignoring his question.
She now feels like she's about to be in the middle of a battle that is going to occur any moment.
"Tseng, tell me, what does the president want with a flower girl?" Sephiroth speaks calmly. It's driving her insane how the man is so relaxed and rational when there are SOLDIERs and the leader of the Turks in front of them.
"That is classified. Now, I am going to kill you."
Aerith about loses her cool, so she presses her body back into Sephiroth's. When she does, she only grunts when trying to move him backwards. His body is like steel glued to the ground. She can't even make him move just a smidgen. Everyone watches her attempts to push him away, even Sephiroth himself who looks down at her impassively.
"Do you eat steel for breakfast! How are you so strong!" she becomes exasperated as she gives up. "I demand for you to release me at once!" she exclaims again, causing Tseng to even have a what-the-fuck look on his face.
The SOLDIERs look at each other when she is released from his hold. Just the sight of Tseng looking at her with anger makes her body full of rage. Her bitterness for him is too overpowering when she picks up a rock by her feet. The SOLDIERs aim their weapons at her when she chucks it at his chest. The Turk takes a step back, not amused at all. As for Sephiroth, he watches her the entire time with amusement. So much amusement that he starts grinning wickedly from her balls.
"You will not take me. Just leave me alone. And you guys trampled all over my flowerbed!" Aerith makes the SOLDIERs take a step back as she crosses her arms in infuriation.
"Why are you here? Where have you been all this time?" Tseng asks, looking away from her and at Sephiroth.
She turns her head around to see a sword with a huge blade moving over his face. Her jaw drops into a big 'O' as her eyes widen in flabbergast. The sight of him with his long platinum hair gives her the chills. He wears a black coat with his torso being exposed by two leather straps forming an ex. He's wearing the same clothes he wore years ago when they first met. Who is he…? Is this man dangerous…? If he was dangerous, he would have never stopped me from jumping… What if I…?
"Sephiroth?"
Her voice catches his attention as his eyes meet hers. The sight of his long blade, being bigger than her body is truly petrifying. "Can I hire you to be my bodyguard? You can protect me from these evil men."
Tseng and the SOLDIERs behind her move forward when Sephiroth only grins, stepping forward himself.
"How much are we talking about?" he cleverly asks, enjoying this very much.
Aerith closes her eyes, thinking then opens them, her eyes gleaming as they become lost in his. "I have one hundred gils on me," she admits, knowing it isn't much.
She becomes fearful for her life when he looks away from her offer, as if she offended him. The people behind her move erratically when Sephiroth walks up to her. Tseng gets prepared to fight for his life, but he becomes astonished when witnessing something he thought he would never see. Aerith holds herself when he stops a foot away from her. She feels like he is going to impale her through her chest by his sword. Her eyes become hesitant to looks into his when he leans his face down to her since she's puny compared to him.
"I would have said yes if you offered me nothing," he whispers eerily, sending apprehension all through her body.
What comes next will forever scar her. Never again will she able to fathom the strength the man has. Her body is pushed to the side when he flies forward with so much speed. She falls to her knees as she looks over at the SOLDIERs, watching as he uses his sword in his right hand, delivering deep fatal gashes into the SOLDIERs. Her eyes widen in horror, blood being seen in them as it splatters all over the rooftop. She about faints when witnessing Sephiroth's incredible speed and agility when he plunges his blade right through Tseng's right shoulder. Her heat beats fast, too fast. Tseng's body is lifted off the ground from Sephiroth's blade that pierced him through the back of his shoulder. Like dirt, Sephiroth moves his sword over the side of the building, allowing Tseng's body to dangle in the air. He grunts painfully as he coughs up blood, seeing that he's fucked.
"How a-are you a-a-alive?" he stutters, blood pouring all around Sephiroth's blade as he hangs in the air.
Aerith covers her mouth when she watches Sephiroth kick his body forcefully. Tseng's body slides off his blade then he falls helplessly over the building. She hears his body impact hard into the ground with nothing else being heard from him. SOLDIERs are dead all around her. Blood is seen with their limbs that were cut clean off by Sephiroth's blade. Her eyes become overwhelmed when the SOLDIER turns around to face her. He doesn't smile or blink once when looking at her. She falls forward, her hands trembling violently on the rooftop. For some reason, she can't seem to move her legs when he walks over to her. No matter how much she tries to move, she's frozen from his sight. She raises her head to look up at him when he stops directly in front of her. The man is a wild beat, his legs thick and his torso having blood splattered on it.
"Are you afraid of me?" he asks, kneeling to one knee in front of her.
She manages to find her voice when realizing that he doesn't have any intentions of harming her too. "I want to go home."
"Then I will take you home."
His voice somehow relaxes her. After all, she did hire him as her bodyguard, and he performed his job well. Even with death all around her, she feels safe finally.
"I'm not afraid of you," she admits, pressing her hands together as she lowers her head. She begins to pray for him now. "Maybe we were fated to meet again," she adds, looking up at him again.
To express her gratitude for him saving her life from Shinra's SOLDIERs and the leader of the Turks, she places her hands on his silver gleaming pauldrons and smiles. "Will I not see you again for a while after tonight?"
He looks at her without grinning. His impassiveness is bothersome to her. How will I ever repay him…?
"You just hired me as your bodyguard. Didn't you?"
Aerith sits up on her knees, using his shoulders to pull herself up to him. Does he have no clue what he just did for me…? "I thought I would never see you again," she speaks with genuine words as she feels her heart withering from the memory of first meeting him.
She doesn't know what comes over her when she presses her lips up against his jawbone, the same spot where she first felt his smooth skin against her lips. She moves away from his face, smiling with bliss when seeing the emotions flowing through his stunned eyes. All he could do was just curve his lips into a malevolent grin from her actions
I'm going to take your virginity tonight… Because tonight will be the last time I see you… I'm going to fuck you… Aerith…
Aerith reacts when she feels his lips slamming onto hers. Not being able to react rationally, she allows the mysterious man to kiss her heavily, his mouth covering hers with his tongue slithering right over her hers. She groans from the painful kiss, unaware of his hands grabbing her by her waist. For some reason, she keeps allowing him to steal her first kiss as she is pulled in closer to him. Her breasts push up against his chest as she wraps her arms around his neck, feeling the silkiness of his hair that smells divine and lustful. The taste of his lips against hers, the taste of saliva mixing with hers. I will give myself to you for your incredible service…