Chapter One: Frost-bitten

'Thoughts'

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"Excuse me! Ah… oh, would you like to—? Uh, miss? Would you care to purchase…?" Aeris sighed, wrapping her coat tighter around her body, warding against the bitter November breeze. She hadn't made much of a profit—only about 10 gil total—and her flowers were beginning to wilt in the freezing air.

Yet she persisted. If she could make at least five more gil, she could buy enough food to get herself through the next two days…

…she saw him then. All previous thoughts fled her mind as she looked upon the seemingly-angel across the street. Long, silver hair framed his sharp features, glowing cat-like eyes set inside a face that looked to be made of stone. Never faltering, never giving in. He was clad in a black suit, with metal shoulder pads, which insisted he was a higher member in SOLDIER, if not the highest among ShinRa's elite forces. Fluttering behind him was a long black cloak, swaying in the chilly breeze, yet seeming enough to keep him very warm.

At that moment, Aeris both admired him, and envied him. When he caught her gaze, she quickly looked away, blushing furiously as she tried to continue business as usual.

It seemed to work, as he turned around and walked into the alleys. She sighed in relief. 'I wonder… wasn't that the famous General Sephiroth?' She blinked, and decided it best to carry on. "Flowers, one gil each! Unseasonably beautiful! Miss, would you care to buy some? …ah, Sir, would you like…"

Her vain attempts continued into the night, once the early sun had set, Aeris sighed in defeat, tightened her coat, and started to head home, taking a shortcut through a well-known alleyway.

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'I really want to know why Sephiroth was in Midgar, among the common people…' Aeris mused as she walked through the shadows. 'I guess I'll never know now. I should have talked to him?' She paused, shook her head, and continued, 'Who am I kidding, he'd ignore a peasant like me. If anything I should have asked him to buy a flower…'

Peering down at her basket, full of frozen, near-wilted flowers, she sighed heavily, 'I had barely enough money for dinner… I hope it keeps warm. I put it at the bottom of the basket, maybe the flowers will keep the cold off enough to get home.' She frowned, 'Oh my poor little beauties… I took your blossoming life away for nothing. I'm so sorry…' Aeris brushed her fingertip along a couple of the chilled petals, 'Return to the Planet.'

Sound broke the silence around her, and she stopped in her tracks, listening intently for any signs of life, predator or not.

After a couple minutes of quiet, she continued walking, keeping her steps soft and as quiet as possible. 'Please don't let …whatever that noise was… catch up with me. I'm almost out…'

Suddenly, cold hands gripped her neck like a vice. She started screaming, and dropped her basket, its contents spilling onto the ground. She reached inside her coat and grabbed her staff. The attacker began to choke her, with one hand, as the other squeezed her hand around the staff. Aeris screamed louder; she could feel the small bones break, and when he finally let go, he snatched her staff and flung it into the shadows.

She heard him snicker, and she dared to ask, "What…do you want with me? I have no money, all I had was—"

She saw a shining blade of metal brought up under her nose, and she gasped in horror, as her attacker finally spoke: "I want none of the sort. I've only come for your life."

Her heart raced as the sword glided against the skin of her neck, before the mysterious predator shifted the sword in his grip and sunk it into her stomach, eliciting a choked gasp from Aeris' lips, blood flying forth from her wound and splattering on the dirty ground.

She became weak and her knees buckled, and the moment her murderer released her, she fell forward, eyes wide in numbed pain. She lay there for a moment, unaware of her surroundings now, and frankly, uncaring for that matter. Breath became labored for her, but then, the unexpected occurred. The very man who had dealt her life that fatal blow knelt beside her, and it was then that she saw him for who he was.

Long hair was billowed about his shoulders, and his eyes glowed with an unnatural light. He was clad in complete black, save the shining armor about his shoulders…

"Se…phi…roth…" She uttered a final word, before all words left her, and her last conscious feeling was that of someone picking her up, and cradling her in its arms. She could have sworn it was an angel, ready to sweep her away to her Promised Land…

But oh, how wrong she was…