At the end of Chapter 1, Aeris had decided that if she was going to find out more about Jenova to help Cloud and the others, then she'd have to actually get into the Shin-Ra HQ...

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Since Icicle Inn was now under martial law now, it would be easy to get to the Shin-Ra HQ, Aeris figured. She already had it all planned out. After about another hour's rest and some lunch, Aeris decided that she would carry out her plan right then.

She targetted a lone Shin-Ra soldier on the edge of town, and approached him.

"Good day, sir, how are you?" asked Aeris inncently.

"I'm just fine, ma'am. Why do you ask?"

"It's cold here, isn't it?"

"Not really," said the soldier, obviously showing off, "I can handle the cold just fine! I can't feel it at all!"

"Not even in everyday wear?" asked Aeris.

"Nope! My skin is as strong as-aah-!"

Aeris had smacked him round the head with her Princess Guard, and shoved him into the bushes. Then she grabbed the outer part of his Shin-Ra uniform and put it on top of her everyday wear. The poor soldier was left with a t-shirt and shorts.

"Glad to hear you can handle the cold!" ^^ said Aeris happily, and left.

"Why you-!" started the soldier, but fainted instead, shivering with cold.

Now Aeris was dressed just like a soldier. No one would know it was her.

A few days later Aeris caught the next air-carrier back to the Shin-Ra HQ, but it was the Junon HQ to Aeris' annoyance. She had a hard time getting through, and eventually learned that her name in the soldier uniform was Aaron. Very easy to remember seeing as her name was similar to that. She decided that she'd better leave there and head for Midgar.

Across plains and through a tunnel. All the way to the Midgar swamp. All Aeris needed to do was cast Ultima on the Midgar Zolom there and it was done. Then on the other side she caught a Chocobo and finally reached the city of Midgar.

She dismounted the Chocobo which immediately ran off. She took a deep breath of probably the last fresh air she was going to breathe in a while and made for Midgar entrance. She was sick to death of this soldier uniform already; it was smelly, sticky and several other things all mixed in together that Aeris didn't want to think about.

A few minutes later she made it the the steel entrance door, but there was no way of getting in! She decided to walk around the outside to look for another way in, when... "Hey, soldier! What are you doing there? I thought I told you to follow me this way!" It was one of the red Shin-Ra commanders, but to Aeris it was a ticket into Midgar. "Oh, sorry," Aeris put on a deep voice, "I sort of got lost." The commander looked like he wasn't going to take any shit now. "Just get your ass over here already, will ya?" So Aeris jogged all the way there.

The commander didn't say anything on the way into Midgar. Aeris suddenly realised with guilt that anyother soldier was probably locked outside of Midgar now, and the commander must have thought that Aeris was that soldier.

He led Aeris right to the base of the Sector 3 Slums. Aeris had never been here before. It was partcularly grotty in comparison to Sector 5, 6 and what used to be Sector 7.

They stepped into the small elevator that was there. "Well soldier, do you know where we're going then?" asked the Commander.

"Umm...uhh..," Aeris had absolutely no idea. Then she foresaw it; they went to the Shin-Ra HQ and Aeris was now stationed on floor 68, guarding Hojo's samples. "You're resigning me to Shin-Ra HQ floor 68, sir!" Aeris put on the masculine voice again.

"Correct! But how did you know? I never said anything."

"I overheard you discussing soldier repositioning, sir." Aeris lied.

"I'll tell you something, never eavesdrop on a Shin-Ra commander, I give you that, because if you're discovered you'll live to regret it. But since you're a Level 4 soldier, I'll let you off."

'Level 4? How does he make of that?' then Aeris saw Level 4 written on the shoulder of her jacket. "Yes, sir."

"When we get there, I'll give you your position. Do not move from there as the consequences will be severe, even for someone like you. They don't go lightly on ordinary soldiers, even if you are the highest level it gets. They don't let any lower-level soldiers than Level 4 up there, and even then, Level 4 is when we're desperate. Most of the other high-class soldiers were placed with President Rufus at the place he likes to call 'The Promised Land'. There is supposed to be a huge amount of Mako there..."

'Man this guy likes to talk. And when does this elevator reach the top?' Aeris' question was answered right then.

"Alright! We've made it to floor 68! Took the Executive elevator that can reach any part of the Shin-Ra building plus the Slums. Don't tell them we did that. Behind schedule. Anyway, you can go right here." The commander showed her to the spot next to the door, where she got a good view of the other door and anywhere else someone might want to sneak in. "Anyway I'll leave you here. You'll be fine on your own for now. I'll give you this radio so you can contact me if there are any problems. Oh yeah, I've gotta write your name down for future reference."

"It's Aer-sorry-Aaron," she had almost stuffed that one up.

"And your last name? Wait, Aaron...yep. I've heard about you. Aaron Blayze right?"

"Yes, sir," 'this is getting too easy. Heh heh,' thought Aeris.

"Yep, you'll be fine! And if any specimins break out and are vicious, feel free to kill them. Hate to say. There's been some problems with Hojo's specimens since Jenova broke loose and that Ancient-what was her name again...? Oh yeah, it was Aeris. She escaped anyway."

"What was she like? Hojo was experimenting?"

"Yep. Can't believe he actually modifies humans as well. Quite disgusting really. Yes, Aeris was a pretty girl. Long brown hair, pink dress. Saw her when I was picking Rufus up in the helicopter. I could never score a chick like that, anyway."

Aeris blushed underneath the soldier helmet.

"Oh damn, I'm a bit late to reschedule the next soldier. If there is a huge problem, the floor lockdown code is 7524653 and the security shutdown is 2195735. Here, I'll write them down. ... ... ... ... There you go, don't lose them, they could save your life. Look, I'll see you later. Your shift ends at 2200 hours and it is currenty 1200 hours now," he handed her a pocketwatch as well. "Floor 68 souvineir. Look, gotta run. No slacking," and with that he took the Executive elevator back down again and was gone.

Aeris just tried to rethink over what just went on. She is now stationed here; the one place she was trying to reach. What kind of dumb luck was that? Well, lucky for her part. Now was her chance to investigate, but at the same time, it wasn't. The hardest part was yet to come; and keeping her cover would be difficult. She figured that if Rufus was at this 'Promised Land', which Aeris knew probably wasn't THE Promised Land, then Hojo would most definately be with him there.

The security was extremely lax at the Shin-Ra HQ, which Aeris found was particularly odd, because they were desperate enough to sign a common soldier onto a floor where even the highest ranked Shin-Ra employees had a hard time getting to. Surely they could've spared one SOLDIER? Nope, but Aeris' gain. It would be just a matter of time until Hojo returned, and how long would she stationed here for? Hopefully long enough to learn information sufficient enough to help Cloud and the others, but without actually letting them know she was alive, which would still come to as a shock and a bit of confusion and then leading onto many other things therefore Aeris could not let them know she still walks the planet.

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Well that is chapter two. Kind of long and descriptive, and possibly even boring if you're not interested in the Shin-Ra/Hojo plot in Final Fantasy VII. For those who really wanted to know -

In the upcoming chapters:

Aeris meets somebody she never would've guessed existed.

Hojo returns to Shin-Ra HQ. What horrifying events could be in store for Aeris now?

Scientists, and more scientists. What's this? Hojo runs a science class? Oh no! More evil scientists!

Tifa shows up?! Wait, that wasn't part of the FFVII storyline!