Disclaimer: FF7's not mine, as much as I'd like it to be :D! This story's just for fun.
Aeris smiled as she waved goodbye to Sephiroth, Sandy's book in her hands. She'd decided it would be best if she kept it and Sephiroth didn't protest. He turned once and nodded politely before taking to the streets and disappearing from her sight. She sighed as she walked back into her house and away from the garden. Setting the book on her kitchen table, she thought to herself.
So Sephiroth was a great general for ShinRA. She didn't know much about the company; or maybe she did, but she couldn't remember. The name, however, left a bitter taste in her mouth for some reason she didn't know. It was a shame the slums were so poor... not even a library. Aeris shrugged the thoughts off and got ready for bed. Another day was ahead of her, and she looked forward to it, as she always did.
Aeris awoke the next morning and immediately her thoughts were drawn to Sephiroth. Keeping herself busy while she thought, she walked to the sink and began scrubbing the dirty dishes. Housekeeping was something that Aeris was good at, and it helped her to think. If Sephiroth was a general... then what was she? And why did Sephiroth's aura feel so strange? While she liked to have a friend to talk to, she somehow felt nervous and unsure around him. It was some sort of... fear. For a moment she wished that the young reporter would return, just for some different company.
As if there was someone listening, a fierce knock disrupted her thoughts, and Aeris looked suspiciously at the door. "Who is it?" A pant, then a deep breath. "Sandy! Let me in Aeris!"
Aeris ran to the door and unlatched it. Sandy, breathless, walked past her and collapsed in a chair at the kitchen table.
"It's crazy out there!" She began, going into a tangent about something unimportant. Aeris had stopped paying attention. She turned, sensing a presence just outside of her door. At the window, Aeris noticed someone. The face was pale, surrounded by wild black hair tied back in a red bandana. Red eyes narrowed and disapeared the moment after she saw him.
Something flashed before her mind, an evening in a forest clearing. Tents up, the rest of the team was sleeping peacefully. She saw herself staring into the dying embers of a fire, chatting quietly with the same man at her window. The image disappeared, and was replaced with another. A dark room in a mansion, a coffin. a spiky-haired blonde man with a gigantic sword. A smiling brunette with a short haired teen-aged girl carrying some sort of odd weapon at her side. Aeris' head pounded and she fell back against the wall, holding her head in her hands as pieces of her forgotten past flooded her mind. Near tears, Sandy's prattling faded away, and Aeris passed out.
Sephiroth turned another corner, expecting to see the pink-clad flower girl at every turn. But she was no where in sight. It was odd for her not to be out and about with her basket of flowers on a bright afternoon such as this. He had been looking forward to another afternoon in her cheerful garden. Aeris always seemed to give his spirits a lift, and he was getting more comfortable with her every day. In fact, he had never liked someone as much as he did Aeris.
He decided to give her a visit.
"...as if THAT weren't bad enough- he asked me what my sign was! My SIGN! Creeps in the slums and their stupid pick-up lines." Sandy paused a moment, "Are you listening, Aeris?" She turned, and nearly fell off of her chair when she saw the brunette passed out on the floor. "I didn't realize I was THAT boring." She stood up and walked over to Aeris. Being fairly weak, it was a surprise that she somehow managed to get her to a sofa and up onto it.
She slapped Aeris' face lightly in an attempt to wake her up, but to no avail. Sandy bit her lip. She should have been watching Aeris and been on strict business, not going on with girl talk. She wondered why Aeris had suddenly passed out.
There was a knock at the door. Sandy looked up, and saw a face framed with silver hair peering through the window. Sandy bit her lip. she didn't want to see the look on Sephiroth's face when he found out that Aeris was out cold and she was the only one there. Especially after remembering the defensive way he had acted when she'd been questioning them sometime before.
Sandy looked from the door to the unconscious Aeris and back again. She COULD sneak out through the back door. but Sephiroth would be sure to hear her- and Aeris was developing a nasty bump on her head, so he would know she wasn't just asleep.
"Aeris? Are you home?" Sephiroth's voice was heard. He looked into the window again, and somehow managed to get a glimpse of Sandy. "You!" He called. Eyebrows together in confusion, he proceeded to open the door.
Sandy made a run for it out the back door; certain Sephiroth would flip the moment he saw Aeris, but she wasn't fast enough. Sephiroth, having nearly broken the door off of its hinges, invited himself inside.
"What are you doing here?" He questioned coldly. He needed Sandy for some information regarding the book, and he wasn't about to let her leave so easily. "Where is Aeris?"
"Hrm.. She passed out." Sandy said quietly, motioning to the sofa.
Sephiroth eyed Sandy with suspicion, remembering the eager way the girl had questioned them. Sandy could almost see the gears turning in his head as he looked back and forth between the two of them. She was itching to ask him a question... but... asking him anything seemed trivial at that moment. Knowing his mannerisms almost as well as he did, she simply stood there and waited for him to say something.
"I need to speak with you." His deep voice echoed. She could barely mask her relief, and her new sense of resolve... maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all.
Vincent Valentine dashed through the woods with grace and stealth, curious and rather confused. His encounter with what appeared to be Aeris burned in his mind. After he noticed her tending her garden in the early morning, he had watched her until she let in a strange flustered young woman. When he had dared to look into the window, she must have sensed it...
Could it have been Aeris? He knew very well that it seemed preposterous... but she looked so similar it was uncanny. And if it wasn't her, then it was someone who had no respect for the dead, otherwise she would not have been living in Aeris' old house and tending to her garden. He sighed. He didn't want to get any of the others' hopes up. His mind could very well be playing tricks on him.
He resolved to visit again soon and perhaps question the girl. He had always liked Aeris, one of the few people that he could talk to, she truly was wiser than her years. But one question lingered in his mind.
If it was her, then why had she stared back at him with such fear in her eyes?
Author Notes: I hope that chapter met your approval. I know it was boring- but there are a lot of places I need to go that I can do without more explanation. Next chapter there just might be a new Character, but maybe not. And of course, more Vincent- him being one of my favorite FF7ers. The rest of the team will eventually show up- but not yet. Aeris and Sephiroth still have to get closer Maybe even some romance next chapter. we shall see! As always- ideas and reviews are welcomed! Don't hesitate to Email me either! I'd love it if you'd keep reading!