CHAPTER THREE
Midgar was the stuff of legends. Of course, now it is but a shadow of what it was when I lived there. Now it is an aging, dying city with no driving force, and even when Cloud was there, the city was in its decline. However, when I first set eyes upon that mystical floating city, it was the capital of the world; everything revolved around Midgar. Yet, many empires have risen and fallen, so what, you ask, was so special about Midgar?
First of all was its location. It sat hundreds of feet in the air, almost as if its residents wanted to transcend the Planet and become gods.
Secondly was its eternal night. Few legends of gods and magicians can beat the engineers who blocked out the night and turned Shinra's capital into its own self-contained universe.
Finally was Midgar's sheer size. In his book, A Brief History of Shinra, Reeve states that there were originally eight separate towns in the valley. It was supposedly a verdant, lush valley with a materia mine owned by a very young George Shinra in the very center. One day an engineer working for Mr. Shinra figured out a way to produce power using mako. Shinra marketed this technology to the eight villages, and each village soon had its own mako reactor. After people had flocked to the cities, Shinra had his engineers design a method to bring these new cities together to form one huge megalopolis. It is said that beneath the central pillar of Midgar is still the entrance to the old mines. So, all in all, Midgar was unbelievable. That is why it was the greatest city ever built.
Anyways, I went to Shinra Headquarters, which was a towering monolith in the center of the city. I went up to the reception desk and asked for Sephiroth. Seriously, I did. The receptionist politely told me that Mr. Sephiroth was unable for an autograph, but that I might catch him at a fundraiser for a local charity or something. I told her that, no, I was planning on joining SOLDIER, and she laughed at me. So I drew my sword and got escorted firmly off of the premises.
And they wouldn't let me back in.
After I sat on the front steps of the Headquarters for a day or so, I decided to go see the city. I was amazed at how lifeless the city was. The only living things were people, dogs, cats, and the occasional rat. There were no parks and very few trees lined the streets. It was almost as if the very city was a wasteland, and the people were thriving in it.
Very soon hunger hit, and very soon after that the realization that I had no means of survival hit. I'm surprised I don't have more bruises. Anyways, I had saved up some Gil from my battles with the wild animals, so I bought a flat in Sector Five. It was a very cozy place, with a living room, a kitchen, separate dining room, two bedrooms (in case I ever had guests), and a large bathroom. All in all, not bad for a monster hunter.
As I was inspecting the flat, I had an epiphany. I could be a professional monster hunter. On top of the Gil I would retrieve from the corpses, I could sell any extra armor they had, and even maybe get commissions. If I worked hard enough, I could even get an appointment with Sephiroth.
The next day I put an ad in the Midgar Times offering my services to anyone who needed them. I remember that my slogan was very corny. It was something like "Who are you gonna call? Monster Hunters!" That was on a Saturday. The following Monday lady named Elmyra appeared at the door to my flat. I showed her into my office (the converted guest room) and asked her what she needed.
"Well," she began, "my daughter grows flowers in this church down on the surface. Trouble is that some nasty creatures have moved in to the rafters, and I don't like her being alone in there. Would you mind clearing the church of its monsters?"
"No problem," I said. "Anything else you need?"
"Just help keep her safe."
"Gotcha. Do you have directions to this church?"
"Actually, it's beneath Sector Five, and it's the only church in the Sector, so…"
"…So I shouldn't have any trouble finding it. Okay, what time would you like me to start?"
"As soon as possible, please."
"Okay," I said as I showed her to the door. "I have a few things to take care of, but I should be there in about an hour."
After she left I pulled on my boots, strapped on the Buster Sword, and went for a stroll to Shinra Headquarters. You see, after they started letting me back in the building, I had started to form a habit of stopping by once a day to ask for Sephiroth. This way I figured that word would eventually get around to him. Good plan, huh?
So, after being told that Sephiroth wasn't taking appointments, I took a train to the train station beneath Sector Seven and walked to Sector Five, or beneath it anyway.
Like Elmyra had said, the church wasn't too hard to find. I nonchalantly strolled in and stopped dead in my tracks at what my eyes had found. Standing amidst the flowers and bathed in an almost holy light was the most beautiful woman I had ever gazed upon in all my days.
To try to describe her in words is impossible because her beauty is too great. However, I'll try to sketch you a mental picture. She had long, velvety, auburn hair, and her eyes were like two precious emeralds set in magnificent diamonds. Her soft, pale skin seemed to glow in the light from the hole in the roof. She carried a basket to fill with flowers, and there was a clear piece of materia in her hair. Many people talk about love at first sight, but I have actually experienced it. I felt like my heart was being shattered and rebuilt, and the world without this mysterious flower girl seemed too bleak and stale and dead to survive in.
"Oh, hello," she said in her soft, mellifluous voice. "Are you Zack Dannflor?"
"Yes, ma'am, that is my name," I said as I bowed. "Are you Aeris?"
She smiled, and that smile made my heart leap. "Yes, sir, that is my name," she said, and did a curtsy. "Look, if you're going to be my bodyguard, we're going to have to drop all these formalities."
"Wait, bodyguard? Look, I'm just supposed to clear the monsters out of this church. Nobody said anything about being anybody's bodyguard!"
"What, you don't like my company?" she asked as she looked downcast. My entire world seemed to go dark.
"No, it's not that. It's just that I have a business to run, and…"
"Great! Then I can be your secretary! That way you can watch over me, and you'll still get your job done! Besides, your terms of employment were to watch over me, and that's what a bodyguard does, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure that I would be too great of a bodyguard; I'm just a monster hunter."
She shyly smiled at me. "Then BE a monster hunter. And…maybe…if you want to…we could go on a date. Then…if you want to…you could be my boyfriend, and then you'd protect me as my boyfriend!"
I was ecstatic. "Wait, YOU want ME to be YOUR boyfriend!?!?"
"Well, yes. Is there a problem?"
"No, it's just that I would never in a million years dream of even meeting a woman as beautiful as you, much less actually dating one."
"Good, then pick me up at about eight tonight at my house."
"How do I get there?"
"Just follow the path to the central pillar. My house is right up against it."
"I will gladly be there at eight."
"I look forward to it, Zack."
"As do I, Aeris."
After she left, I let the monsters in the attic of the church know how excited I was to be going out with Aeris. I doubt that they shared my enthusiasm.