Here's chapter 2. This chapter should introduce everyone into the story, and should hopefully be long. As always, enjoy and review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII


Aeris could only stare in wonder at the size of the buildings in front of her, towering high above.

'Gods,' she thought, 'This place is massive! How can I find anything?' Moving off towards the largest of the buildings she decided to find someone who could show her around. She looked around her in an attempt to get her bearings, but the sheer scale of the place put her off.

'I hope I don't get lost around here…I don't want to look like an idiot' she thought. She smiled at the image of her running around clueless. 'That would make for a good first impression' she added.

As she approached the largest building she saw a large gathering of people standing around the entrance.

'Hmm…they all look as lost as me' she thought as she made her way over there. Surely enough, the crowd were the first years, all starting university for the first time. Already they had divided themselves into smaller groups in an attempt to create as many friends as they could. A little unnerved at the prospect of breaking into one of the groups, Aeris stayed a little off to the side. As she observed the amiable chattering of the people, she finally noticed another person standing off on their own.

As she looked closer she could see that person was a man. The first thing she noticed was that the man had long, silver hair running all the way down his back. He wore all black which flattered his lean but nice figure, with matching silver bracelets and necklaces. As he turned around she noticed he had the most striking green eyes she had ever seen.

'Oh my, he rather handsome isn't he' she thought, blushing, 'and he's alone. Perhaps I should go over and keep him company'

Aeris moved over to him, through the crowd of people. She was about to open her mouth to talk to him when a figure jumped in front of her. Aeris started and drew a breath in quickly, trying to compose herself.

"Hey there! You look a little lost, don't worry about it! Were all lost too! You can come over and join us!" the girl blurted out, going a mile a minute. Before Aeris had a chance to say anything in return the girl had grabbed her hand and dragged her away through the crowd.

"Come on now! Were all the way over here! Oh, by the way my name is Yuffie!" the girl said breathlessly as she continued to drag Aeris along. Aeris smiled as she allowed Yuffie to drag her to her friends.

'My, she's very excited and upbeat' she though as she was dragged over to a small group of friends. As she approached them she carefully studied each one individually.

The first person she noticed was a huge, dark skinned man. He had a craggily beard that covered the lower half of his face. He wore a dark green waistcoat and a small t-shirt that covered little of his mid-drift. She could already hear his deep rumbling voice from where she was.

The next man was standing to his left. He had spiked blonde hair and he wore all blue. His blue shirt cut off at his shoulders, leaving his wiry arms uncovered. He had bright blue eyes that seemed to match his clothes and he had black bracelets to complete his look. He was smiling and laughing at something a girl was saying in front of her.

The girl in front of her had long dark brown hair with eyes to match her hair colour. She wore a white t-shirt that showed off her stomach and arms, and she had a small skirt that showed off a lot of her legs. Her skirt was attracting a lot of attention from many of the male members of the crowd, but it didn't seem to affect her at all. She laughed along with her blonde friend as she looked at the man standing behind her, trying to join him in the conversation.

Standing next to her was an older man who didn't fit in with the rest of the youngsters that were assembled here. He wore brown trousers with a dark blue jacket which covered a grey shirt. He had a day's hair growth on his face and he had a mess of dirty blonde hair upon his head. He was barking with laughter at what the short blonde man was saying to him and the rest of them. As he laughed he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. As he breathed in a large drag of the cigarette he turned to the woman who standing next him, gesturing to her skirt and laughing. Whatever he said didn't have the same effect on her as it did on the others as she slapped him hard on the back of the head.

Even thought Aeris couldn't hear what the man said, she thought she had some clue about the content. Smiling to herself she thought these were nice people to be around, their care free demeanour was catching and refreshing. As she came closer she could hear their words clearly now above the general noise that the large crowd was making.

"Sorry Tifa" she could hear the older man say "Come on; learn to take a joke or something. Damn, you sure got a hard clip on you" he said a he winced. The brunette laughed in response at the man's words.

"Sorry Cid, but you kinda asked for it" she laughed as she told the man. Aeris realized their names were Cid and Tifa, and both seemed nice people.

As they approached she heard Yuffie call out to them, gaining their attention. Smiling brightly and waving like a banshee she practically jumped over to where they were standing. They grinned and waved back, gesturing them to come join them.

"Hey guys, this is Aeris" she told them. They all smiled politely and said hello in turn. Yuffie turned to the group and introduced them one by one.

"Aeris, this if Tifa!" she squealed happily. She pushed them towards each other as they shook hands. Smiling, Tifa smiled apologetically at her new friend.

"Sorry about this, but she's rather excitable" she told her. They both laughed at Yuffie's expression. However, her sad façade didn't last long and she immediately resumed her hyper-activity.

"Hey, you'll get used to me! Anyway, this is Barret!" she told Aeris. She dragged the frail girl over to the large bear-like man. Smiling, Aeris gently took his hand shook it. Barret laughed heartily at Aeris' as he shook her small hand, engulfing it within his own.

"Hey there, seemed to lose yer hand" he laughed at the size difference between them. The rest of the group laughed along with them. Releasing his hand Aeris turned to the man next to Tifa, the one called Cid. Smiling brightly at him she walked over and took his hand.

"Aeris, this is Cid!" she heard Yuffie say next to her. Cid smiled back at her in a cocky manner. After a brief hello he released her hand and allowed her to be taken away by Yuffie to meet the remaining member of the group.

"Last but not least" Yuffie said quickly "This is Cloud" she spoke as she introduced them. Up close Aeris noticed he was handsome too, and his blonde locks were spiked in every direction. He had boyish good looks and a nice physique which seemed to suit his height. Aeris smiled warmly at him, and what she referred to as 'boyfriend material'.

"Hey Aeris, how are you?" he asked politely. Wow, even his voice suits him, she thought. Still smiling brightly she left her hand linger a little longer in his, trying to get some sort of reaction from him. Aeris wasn't a fast girl, but she loved some harmless flirting.

"I'm fine, and you?" she asked. Cloud smiled back at her and nodded, his locks of blonde hair bouncing around on his hair. Yuffie appeared next to them as she cleared her throat, telling them that there were other's here too.

"So, if you two guys would stop fawning over each other, then we might go join the rest of the crowd?" she shouted as she creased up with laughter. Both blushing furiously, Cloud and Aeris glared at the younger girl as they silently made their way over to the main building.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The group walked into the large stone building that was the main hall. The ceiling stood a massive two hundred feet from the ground and the walls were intricately designed and carved. The ceiling itself was a dirty cream colour showing signs of old age and the occasional statue was starting to crack and crumble. A tour guide pushed her way to the front of the crowd and jumped onto a large platform that had been built.

"Okay Ladies and Gentlemen, listen up" she called out to the group. She had mid length blonde hair that stopped by her neck. She wore a dark blue suit but her figure could still be seen underneath the dark blue fabric. A few of the men in audiences let out some cat calls and wolf whistles to the amusement of the crowd. Some the women were not amused, including the woman and the stage, and sent disapproving glances at the males who made the comments.

"Anyway" the lady continued "My name is Elena and I'm your student representative, so any questions or problems should be brought to me personally" This last remark resulted in more calls from the male portion of the crowd. After more laughter Elena carried on with her speech. She talked about the various services that the university had to offer, causing more audacious comments from the men, and how the university run and so forth. Several minutes later Elena left the students to get acquainted with each other. Another guide came forth and showed them down the long grey corridor towards the exit. The man had long red hair and he introduced himself as Reno, the authority on student affairs. Even though Elena was the student representative it was Reno's job to keep the students in check, but he often failed his job. More often than not he was drinking with the students and generally being a bad influence on them. The only reason he kept his job was because Principal ShinRa thought he was popular with the students.

"Anyway down here is the canteen where most of you will eat your food, but more often than not you may venture out to many of the restaurants nearby" Reno told them as they entered a large hall. Many rows of tabled and chairs filled the room and a large kitchen could be seen at the end of the room.

"If you would all like top sit down you can have something to drink. Not Alcoholic, yet" he added mischievously. A few of the female members giggled and battered their eyelids at him.

"Anyway, today there won't be any lessons so you can stay here for an hour or two then go back to the halls or wherever you live. Then tomorrow the lessons will begin and you'll start the best three years of your lives" he told them. A cheer went up around the canteen as the students heartily agreed with him. With that he said a quick goodbye and left the students to their own devices.

Aeris, Yuffie, Barret, Tifa, Cid and Cloud sat on a table towards the corner of the canteen. They talked about themselves and told various stories about their childhoods and what they were doing here.

Tifa was here doing a course in business management, and harboured a dream of owning her own bar. She loved the sun and wanted to open her own bar in Costa Del Sol, a small but popular tourist haven. Her father was in Nibelheim and had supported her dream of owning her own place, but he didn't support her short dresses.

"One time" Tifa was telling them "he got this woman in to extend my dresses. By the time I came home all of my skirts were down past my knees and nearly by my ankles" she laughed. The rest of them laughed with her, with the boys silently thanking whatever God that spared the skirt she was wearing today.

Cid was a thirty six year old ex-pilot who still worked for the Air Force. Over time the planes had changed, yet Cid was hadn't. He was sent here for retraining in Physics at an expensive cost, but the Air Force recognised him as one of the best pilots in the world and gladly paid for him. He was living with a woman called Shera who lived in Rocket Town, but for the next year he was living in one of the dorms in Midgar.

Barret was twenty five year old ex-miner. After living in Corel Town all his life he worked in the mines that were there. After the company went bankrupt he was forced to find another job. After several failed attempts he decided he needed to retrain to enter the work force. He heard about the mature student programme that Midgar University had to offer and gladly joined up on a Leisure and Tourism course.

Yuffie was eighteen years old and she was from Wutai. After the soveignty in Wutai had collapsed the country went into a recession. Many businesses went bust and the country was in trouble. After a few dark years the country began to pick up and the tourism trade boomed in Wutai. Yuffie decided that she needed to escape the country that she had felt sold out too easily, so she ended up in Midgar University doing a course in Therapy and Psychology. Her choice of course however amused the rest of the friends greatly.

"What's wrong with me doing that course?" she asked. No-one answered her as they laughed heartily, nearly falling off their seats. Wiping her eye's Aeris turned to Cloud and asked what he was doing.

"Well, I'm from the same town Teef is" he said, smiling at Tifa's nickname. Tifa scowled at him before breaking out into a smile at her childhood friend.

"Anyway, I'm only here for one year then I'm off to the Army" he told them. After a supportive nod from Cid and Barret, all three girls looked a little put off.

"But isn't it dangerous in the Army?" Aeris asked him. No-one could miss the interest Aeris was taking in Cloud, with most of questions directed at him. Tifa couldn't help feel a twinge of jealousy every time they talked about something.

"Yeah, but it's what I want to do" he told her. After accepting this everyone turned their eyes to Aeris.

"So, what's you story" Yuffie asked her. Smiling, Aeris told them about her time in Cosmo Canyon and her decision to take an Earth Studies course.

"So, you're a tree hugger?" asked Cid. Scowling furiously Aeris turned to him.

"No I'm not, I just don't want the planet's natural beauty to die" she told him. Smiling at the reaction he got he chuckled quietly to himself.

"Don't worry Aeris, Cid's just a little rough around the edges" Tifa told her. At this Cid threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"Yeah Aeris" he laughed. Soon enough the others joined in his infectious laughter. Soon enough a woman came around holding a tray of orange juice for them. Smiling thankfully they took a cup each and carried on their conversation.

Aeris' eyes followed the woman as she offered the drinks around the canteen. Everyone accepted a drink until she came to man standing in the corner on his own. As she offered him a glass he quickly shook his head and shrugged her off.

'That's the man I saw outside' she thought as she recognised him. He wasn't talking to anyone and everyone pretty much kept their distance from him. Turning to her friends, Aeris gestured to the man in the corner.

"Does anyone know who he is?" she asked them. Everyone shook their heads except for Yuffie.

"I tired to talk to him earlier, but he just shrugged me off" she told them. Nodding at her answer the rest of them resumed their conversation while Aeris stared at the silver-haired man. Deciding to go talk to him, she got up from the table and looked at her friends.

"I'm going to go see if he wants to join us" she explained to them. She quickly made her way over to the other side of the canteen where the man was standing. As she got closer she could see his handsome features. His eyes were closed at the moment but she could still remember the colour, they were bright green. As she approached him she started to feel nervous, but was unsure why.

'Stop it Aeris' she told herself. She wasn't' going to make a fool out of herself on their first meeting. She finally pushed her way through the crowd and stood next to him. He failed to acknowledge her presence until he heard her voice.

"Hello there, my name is Aeris" she told him.


There we go, another chapter done. I hope you all read this and enjoy, and any criticism will be most helpful as long as it's constructive.