Author note: I know I haven't been doing Author notes but I figured I'd at least pop in and say hello. I'm toying with some ideas for this fic so eventually I'd love to hear some opinions on them. Also to say thank you for reading, and I hope you're all enjoying.

Chapter start

Of course, life could never be Apple pie, white picket fence easy. I looked into this girl's eyes and knew the truth. Her death had been written in stone before I was even a blip in this world. So too had her mothers. Her Dad was a… scientist I thought. Either way, dead.

Damn you, Hojo. Tiny fists clenched against the metal of the bedframe. I didn't have any strength to me. Even in my last life, I wasn't into fighting or even general exercise.

I berated myself heavily. There wasn't anything I could do… anything I should risk, in order to alter fate. What was one death versus an entire planet? Especially a planet I happened to be squarely on for some unknown twist of hate fueled fate. I couldn't do anything, and I had no clue what to do about it. Except if Hojo had been in front of me… I might have killed him myself. Idiotic.

Pain lanced up untried nerve endings and I heard Aerith gasp in worry. Alarmed myself, I pulled my hand away and saw a bit of blood smeared there. There was more on my palm. I examined the frame and felt bitter bile make a bid for freedom. My heart sank.

The frame was old and in disrepair, little bits of cold coils peeking out from the original shape. I noted the mattress looked lumpy as hell.

"Clumsy me," I joked. Aerith looked gutted and sick. It was the last thing I wanted to see.

"I can, um…" Her voice was soft and weak almost. Like a hesitant deer she crept forward.

I eyed her wearily. Had Aerith had a thing with blood? Despite the sting I curled my hand a little, wondering what she meant to do. Sure, she was a kid. But I couldn't really remember what all the half Ancient could do, and what was doable by her as a kid.

I flinched when she gripped my hand and she gasped, eyes widening. I couldn't place the look at all, despite how old I was. She looked somehow scared and awed. It was natural to try and take a step back. The emotion blasting from her had my skin crawling. My eyes dropped from hers, looking to the side to the childish pictures. Flowers of course. The game was full of hints and teases, if one knew where to look.

I heard her clear her throat and felt a firmer grip on my hand. Then the oddest feeling I'd ever felt in either life. Warmth bloomed and seemed to race up my veins. I could never explain how it felt to be cut open, the way the skin peeled. And I wished I could never explain how the opposite felt. It itched as the skin threaded, and the warmth became a burn the longer it was there.

My skin pulled back together at the center of that warmth, green luminescence drifting through the air. It caught my attention and I yelped. Her grip was too strong for me to tug away and, Jesus, how was a malnourished kid stronger than me? Was it a sign I was lazy in this life? Damn.

"It's okay," she said soothingly. I could completely see traces of the woman she would become already peaking through her features and tone.

The green faded and I blinked warily. She'd yet to let me go. I glanced at her cautiously. Her smile made me weak with something. Maybe dread.

"She wants you to know…" She paused, unfocused. I tensed further. "She understands… and…"

"Who understands what?" I tried to sound confident. But there was something distinctly not normal about a kid suddenly sounding so old and… damn me for saying it, but ANCIENT. I swallowed the little saliva I had and she jumped. My face must have been completely stricken because she jumped back, tucking her hands behind her and looking nervous.

"I-it's nothing! Um… please, don't tell anyone."

Despite the pounding of my heart, I knew what she meant. I hadn't yet seen a materia yet, but I knew they were round. Crystallized Mako, literal life blood of the planet. Human souls, maybe. I curiously wondered if when people died here if they were aware in the lifestream or just energy. I knew Aerith would be somewhat active.

It also explained how she could heal without the materia. Wasn't that also her main thing of the party? Healing. Maybe this was just her limit break. Manifesting at a very young age oddly enough. Or maybe not oddly.

Aerith was now biting her lip hard enough I was half waiting for it to bleed.

If people knew, what would they do? Hojo most likely already knew. Or had enough of a hint that he'd be on the lookout for any of his experiments to act out. THE gods knew what he'd do with it. Aerith had to have already been through so much horror. And apparently already hearing voices. Jesus.

I was terrified to know who "she" was. I didn't know anyone in this world except for the limited people I'd come into contact with here. My brain pulled half formed plans and ideas but shied away from them all like a weakling. "She" wasn't something I remembered Aerith referring to. Was she labeling the planet itself as a she? Maybe talking to a ghost?

Either way I realized contact with the Ancients was dangerous. Aerith was young. I might be able to skirt by. Who knew how much connection she really used to her weird powers. Her Mom on the other hand might know too much from a glance.

I paused. That's… the thinking of an adult, isn't it? I glanced to Aerith again and she looked so small. So breakable. All considered Aerith was the last person I'd ever want to hurt. And at this moment I had all the power to destroy her and ruin the future. Some might call that heady. I called it torment. I pondered the quandary, and debated what a kid would react. Maybe scared?

That would hardly put any ease on the situation. Instead, I clapped. Once, sharp in the silence. The noise startled her and I grinned widely. My upper body leaned forward and I made a show of wriggling by fingers.

"Wow, how cool! You must have materia." I pitched my voice into a higher tone, hoping I sounded excited. "I'm jealous. My Brother won't let me play with it yet."

Aerith looked unsure, but eventually she smiled a little, brows furrowed. "Um, yeah… materia." She played with her fingers and then seemed to rally. "I-it's a secret though. I'm not allowed to have it either."

I pretended to huff. "That's no fun. Stupid adults, telling us what to do."

Aerith giggled a little and I relaxed. She was a kid. Bot the future martyr of the planet, just a kid. Before I could debate how to extricate myself the door opened. Aerith spun and tensed up.

It struck me suddenly that she had moved to put her in front of me. Like I needed protecting. I shifted to get ahead of her. Her small hand grasped mine and I looked back quickly. Her green eyes were wide and I smiled a little.

The lights from the hallway momentarily blinded me. It hadn't been something I noted, but the room Aerith stayed in was dull lit.

"Found you, you little demon."

The irritation in the voice matched perfectly the exasperation that bled into my bodyguard's face. New record though. He hadn't found me for like, maybe twenty minutes. Yay for small victories.

Vergil was stereotypical good looking. Like how all final fantasy characters. His dark hair hung into his eyes and his blue eyes sparked with emotions. For a Turk I had to say I didn't approve. He didn't seem nearly cruel enough. Quick to sound exasperated, and quick to pat me on the head. The others in the building were scared to touch me. Vergil didn't give a damn.

I knew logically that probably meant that he was extremely good at his job. Most likely babysitting me was a punishment. What I knew for fact was he was my ninth bodyguard. And that he'd lasted so much longer than the others. I was difficult, and spoiled. I could run and I could be bratty when the mood suited me, and I would never be scolded. The only time Shinra senior had came close to it was when I wandered outside after slipping my bodyguard.

I guess I understood. It had been the only time I thought I saw a flicker of concern in his eyes before they had glazed over and I'd been Shinra version of grounded. Which was just being consigned to the Shinra Mansion and unable to see Rufus for a week. What Rufus thought of being a dangled carrot to make his baby sister behave I never knew.

"Okay kid. I don't know what game this is… but it's over." He had a slight accent that I couldn't place. The original game didn't give clues on accents, and the remake only had Midgarian people in it so far. Still, if I was still Riley, I'd be swooning. Like a take me now swoon, no alcohol necessary.

"Meet Aerith," I said. I shifted, tugging her close to me by slinging an arm over her shoulder. It was rare I was taller than anyone right now so I had to take advantage of it. If Aerith minded, she didn't show it.

Vergil flicked his gaze to her and I tried to read the feelings there. There wasn't anything. I knew he had to know who she was. Turks knew everything after all. Like spiders they weaved webs everywhere and caught everything they could and gorged until they had all the information they needed or wanted.

I fancied maybe a small twitch to the long fingers of his hands, as though aborting the thought to grab me by force. "Awesome. We're leaving."

The smile Aerith had was strained and somehow understanding. The happy tilting lines of her mouth weren't nearly as high as they'd been though. Her words struck me. She hasn't seen many children lately. Most likely, Hojo kept her here or in some sterile lab somewhere. Perhaps a noose to tie around her mothers neck, ensuring ongoing cooperation.

I imagined it in my mind. A sterile room, similar to this one. Except without the dingy furniture, and childish rebellions scribbled on a wall. Sterile as a hospital, impersonal and unfeeling. Cold and lonely.

Aerith was the sun, shining so brightly. Bright enough that she saved the planet, bonded to the lifestream as though it was the blood in her very veins. For all I knew maybe that really was reality for members of her race. She had and was managing to flower even in such indifferent cruelty.

I could never. Even now a huge part of me wanted to grasp onto the out Vergil unknowingly offered. It was a lifeline and, God, did I want it. I didn't want to be involved in any of the shit show rocketing towards these people or this planet. It was bad enough I had to consciously remind myself to pull back from Rufus.

I looked like a beautiful, well kept flower only because I had money in this life. And an obligation to look it. Deep down I knew the truth. I was, to my core, a coward. Rotten. Hideously diseased, and if all went to plan a banished heiress or a thief of her families ill begotten riches. I knew the path ahead and I actively planned to keep to the safe side.

Yet looking at her… feeling the silent judgement from an adult barely older than I would have been, and the equal understanding from the only real child in the room. Why did the silence have to be, in the end, so damned loud? I was terrified of this "Her" Aerith spoke of. I was more concerned with other things, things I wanted so badly to ignore.

"No, we aren't." Despite my terror and my instincts telling me to bounce right on out of this depressing environment, my voice was strong. Playful even. Filled with the games I had learned to play in my old life, and tried perfecting here.

"That wasn't a request, Princess." Vergil shifted his weight to one leg.

"Totally was. Aerith and I are friends now. And friends of mine simply can't be in such condition!"

Aerith was looking away now and I knew I embarrassed her. But I had a roll to play. A rich girl adopting a puppy. That's what I needed to portray.

My bodyguard was frustrated. His chest expanded and his fingers carded through his thick black mop of hair. Seriously the hairstyles here were off the wall.

"Listen here, if you want a pet there are better places to go."

"Rude! I want Aerith. She's perfectly splendid."

"And she belongs to the-" He bit his tongue. I spoke with a childish lilt, but my words were barbed and too adult. I used this at times, to throw the balance off. It sometimes made people say too much.

Luckily this slip, though not completed, gave me my perfect opening.

"And everyone in Midgar belongs to Daddy."

The look on his face could only be called dirty and irritable now. Mine was probably smug. This was my ultimate card, the move that cemented my roll and got me my way. It worked on everyone except Rufus himself, who would simply scoff and then ignore me.

Then Virgil grinned. "Yeah, you know what? Let's go see the President. He can explain all this to you."

Well, damn.

End chapter.