Midgar undercity was on another level in scale and population compared to the other settlements they'd visited, with each sector being a sizable town on its own. They had yet to reach the uppercity on the plate, a land of steel high up supported by pillars. Cloud suspected they would be lucky to finish their search throughout both levels within a year. Not to mention that there were constantly people trickling in and out of Midgar that increased their workload significantly.
Luckily, he and Nanaki had mastered several materia on the road and had already sold two of them at a high price, so they weren't worried about money for now.
They passed by junkyards piled with rusty metal and dead machines. Sometimes, they found the ground muddy, with pools of dirty water that they had to step across carefully.
"The smell! How could people stand living here!?" Nanaki wrinkled his sensitive nose in disgust. Cloud couldn't help feeling the same. At least they found a clean hotel in a less slummy part of Sector 7 later in the evening.
Nanaki closed his eyes and stretched on the bed after cleaning his paws carefully. "I doubt a Cetra would want to live in the undercity."
"I don't know, aren't the slums a good hiding place?" replied Cloud.
Anyone could enter the undercity of Midgar without trouble, but moving from there to the topside was another matter. They needed IDs to board the train that goes up to the plate, and getting an ID meant going through a general check-up and a background check by Shinra, neither of which they were inclined to do.
The clean hotels weren't exactly cheap, so they scouted the slums for a place to build their own house. The clearing on the top of an abandoned factory seemed like a good place to settle down. It won't be too damp during rainy seasons and was far enough away from the dumping grounds. A couple of other slum dwellers had just finished making their shanty houses there and were hanging their laundry on the line near their huts.
The rugged terrain in this part of the slums made it impossible for him to use a cart to transport the necessary material. Cloud was dragging chunks of wood across the streets in Sector 7 when he heard someone calling out to him.
"Hey! Those look heavy. Need a hand?" It was a dark-haired boy with a lean build who looked a few years older than him. Another two children around Cloud's age were on his tail. All three wore red headbands and looked friendly.
"Thank you," said Cloud as he let them each take a piece of wood from him to carry on their shoulders.
"Are you building a house?" asked the heavyset boy.
"Yeah, can't stay in the hotel forever."
"You're staying in Sector 7?" asked the girl with reddish-brown hair.
"I am. You live here as well?"
"We do. But Jessie's parents are topsiders." The younger boy motioned towards the slender girl. "I'm Wedge. You came with your parents?"
Cloud shook his head. "I came with a friend."
"If you need any help with the house, come to ask me at the weapon shop. I work there on weekends," said the older boy, who introduced himself as Biggs.
"Where were you going?" asked Cloud.
"To the upper city. Jessie's parents invited us to dinner. Ever been up there?" asked Biggs.
"No. I don't have an ID... Do you know how I can go to the top without it?"
"Hmm... You could ask around in the wall market. They might have that kind of information," replied Wedge.
"And if you have any appliance that needs to be fixed, call me. I learned from the best." The girl winked as she passed him her business card.
"Thanks. I appreciate your help."
With the hired workers that Biggs had later introduced them to, the construction of the house went smoothly. After it was completed, Cloud and Nanaki took a break by hanging around in the wall market. They paid for the information regarding a way onto the plate and followed a hand-painted map given to them, passing along the streets in Sector 6 and entering an old warehouse. They went upstairs and climbed out of a window to land on a platform with a graffiti wall on the left side. A thick bundle of wires was hanging close to the wall.
"Everyone climbed up this wire looks scary... Brrr," the person who leaned against the wall said.
"Is this safe to climb?" asked Cloud.
"I doubt it's safe for you," The man drawled lazily. "The wire is robust. The last person pulled himself up to the city above returned hours ago."
Cloud nodded. He and Nanaki ascended the wire hanging close to a pillar and landed on a scaffold. They climbed further up and entered the plate's interior through a metal tube before crawling out of it, finding themselves in the upper city. An overcast sky obscured the buildings that dwarfed those in the slums. Gigantic mako reactors standing in a circle cast a sickly green light over the entire structure. One section was still under construction, making the plate look like a pizza missing a slice.
"The city looks familiar," said Cloud.
"It's the abandoned settlement we saw on the water screen," Nanaki replied.
They walked down Loveless avenue in sector 8, dirt and grime from crawling in the tube clouding their faces. People barely paid them attention, too busy minding their own business. They each picked up a PHS in the shop. Nanaki selected a belt and a small pouch so he could wear the PHS around his neck.
One of the most famous landmarks of the avenue was the theater, with huge banners hung from its roof advertising ongoing stage works. Next to which stood a flashily decorated bar. As they passed through a stone arch with a colossal clock and walked near a grand fountain square, Cloud felt a sudden coldness wash over him that made him shudder, which was unexpected as it was not that cold in spring.
"Let's turn around. I don't feel like getting any closer to the headquarters," said Cloud and Nanaki had no quarrel with that. They continue their tour in another direction.
The duo climbed below the plate in the afternoon, passing by a park in Sector 6 slums on their way back. Several young children were playing noisily on the slide.
"You are the kid with a monster?" asked a boy who jumped off the swing when he saw them. The boy had...orange hair that couldn't be natural. He tried to sneak up on Nanaki, obviously wanting to pet him. Nanaki's tail batted his hand away when the child got too close.
"Whew, it's hot!" exclaimed the boy.
"I told you that's a hot dog! Not a monster," a girl on the slide exclaimed.
"..." Nanaki ignored the bumbling kids as he and Cloud continued to walk through the park. Before they were out of hearing range, one of the kids said, "Let's head back to the chapel. She should have finished with the flowers by now."
A chapel? He'd never thought people in the slums had the resources and will to build one. Maybe they should go and check it out some time.
They did find the chapel days later. It stood in an area surrounded by rubble and construction material in Sector 5. There was a large patch of flowers blooming under the broken floorboards in its center. Fresh yellow and white flowers were bathing in the sunlight that broke through a hole in the ceiling.
"Incredible," Nanaki murmured. The flowerbed was a rare sight in a city with multiple mako reactors draining the lifestream out of the land.
Footsteps interrupted Nanaki's reverence. He turned towards the door and saw a young girl in a white dress walking down the aisle. A few pieces of light brown hair framed her face, and she bore a striking resemblance to the girl they'd seen in the water screen. Her steps faltered for a moment upon seeing them before she continued and joined the newcomers at the center.
"Hello. Are you the one who planted the flowers?" asked Nanaki.
"I am. Who are you?" Her emerald eyes were exceptionally bright as she stared at Nanaki in wonderment.
"I am Nanaki. This is my friend Cloud," Nanaki introduced themselves after he saw that Cloud was staring at the girl incredulously.
"Hello to you, too. I'm Aerith," the girl said. "What brings you here?"
"We heard about a chapel and came to visit. It's beautiful," answered Cloud as he seemed to have come out of his shock.
"The church must had been built before the upper city," said Nanaki, noticing its disrepair.
"I suppose. It has a name, but no one remembers it anymore," replied Aerith. Probably noticing their foreign accents, she asked, "How long have you been here? In the slums, I mean."
"We arrived several months ago," said Cloud. "Ever heard of Cosmo Canyon? That's where we are from."
"Heh, let me see... You have an observatory on the mountains, right?"
"We do. How did you know that?" asked Nanaki questioningly, as the Midgarians often found their study of the lifestream superstitious and ignored the valleys in general.
"Uh... I saw it in a magazine? It's a place where people study the planet life, right?"
"Yes. People around the world come to the valleys to seek our knowledge," answered Nanaki. "The presence of the planet in this church is strong, too."
"It's one of the few places I can grow flowers," replied the girl as she moved closer to the flowerbed.
"How do you do that in Midgar?" asked Cloud.
"By talking with them and offering my care, and sunlight and water, of course."
"Do you mean...the flowers speak to you?" Nanaki inquired.
The girl looked at him as if wanting to say something, before she looked away and shook her head. "...You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She knelt and dug her fingers into the soil, slowly churning it.
"Please do tell us. We grew up in a valley that has been recording the studies of planet life for centuries. You may find us more understanding than people in Midgar," Nanaki explained.
She pulled out a bucket and started plucking out the dead leaves and flowers. "They are emotional, just like us. They get scared before rainstorms and overflow with joy when I care for them." She paused, looking surprised. "And they have a message for you." She turned to Nanaki and looked into his eyes. "Stay safe. Uh...spill your blood?"
"Can they...elaborate?" asked Nanaki. Those flowers sounded rather bloodthirsty to him. Maybe they were of a similar breed to those carnivorous plants in the Ancient Forest.
Aerith shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell. They can be really cryptic at times."
"I understand. My grandfather has been trying to understand the planet's voice for decades, but he still has trouble deciphering it most of the time."
"Really? Your grandfather can understand the planet?"
"Yes. He's amazing! He developed a machine to receive and amplify the voice of the planet."
"You can come with us to the Canyon if you like. People across the valleys love to share their knowledge with travelers," Cloud added.
"Thank you, but I'm...kinda afraid of seeing the sky." She stood up and looked up at the hole in the ceiling. "A whole world, bursting with life... I don't know if I could handle it."
"You've never left the slums before?" asked Cloud.
She walked to a pillar and picked up a watering can from the floor. "No, I never considered it. Some may hate the steel sky, the slum life...but I don't. How could I?" said Aerith before she bent to water the flowers. "All that passion, all those dreams...flowing and blending together into something greater..."
"Sounds like the lifestream," Nanaki said.
She nodded, smiling fondly. "There are currents in our bodies too, just like the lifestream of the planet..." She turned the can upside down and poured the last drops of water onto the soil. "Well, I'm going to refill the can by the river. Why not come with me? I can take you on a tour of Sector 5," she said, looking at them expectantly.
"All right," replied Cloud.
"Which sector do you live in?" asked Aerith as she led them out of the chapel with a spring in her steps.
"Sector 7. Our hut is there," answered Nanaki.
"Why not use tap water?" Cloud asked the girl.
"The lifestream passes through the river. It's one of the reasons I can grow flowers in the slums. Not that others believed it when I told them." She turned around to face the duo, walking backward in the process. "So...how did you two meet?"
"We met in a lab," said Cloud.
"As specimens," added Nanaki. "Please don't tell anyone from Shinra. I'd rather not be captured again."
"No worries, your secret's safe with me," said Aerith putting the finger on her mouth. "How did you get out?" she asked while conducting them down a narrow path among stacked shanty houses.
"We broke out after the staff fell asleep. And they just assumed us dead and let go..." Cloud shrugged. "That's what we'd like to believe." He didn't think Shinra would still be searching for him after all these years.
"My mother and I escaped a facility too. But she returned to the planet shortly after we got out," said Aerith as she turned back around to walk ahead of them.
"I'm sorry to hear that," replied Cloud.
In a voice breaking free of sorrow, she said. "I have another mother who's been caring for me ever since. She's great, and I love her."
As they walked close to the train station, a man called out to her, asking if she could pick some medicinal herbs for him another day. They soon passed the station and were moving among piles of abandoned construction material in a Shinra dumpsite. At last, stepping up a boardwalk, they turned and saw a fountain tumbling down the side of a hill towards a river. Large gardens lined the riverbanks. Cloud even heard the singing of birds somewhere in the distance.
"The place is amazing," said Cloud.
A lovely quaint house stood not far from the river. "That's my house." She ran towards it down a stone path bordered by flowers. "Stay for dinner? I'm feeling a little hungry now."
"Aren't you going to collect the water?" asked Nanaki.
"I'll do it when I go to the church next time." She pulled open the door and revealed the cozy internal space. "C'mon. You are going to sit at the table and eat yourselves silly!"
They hesitated before walking in. "Is your mother home?" asked Cloud.
"She's on the night shift," the girl said before she walked into the kitchen and began taking the dishes out of the fridge. "Err... I may not have enough food for three." Her shoulders sagged a little before perking up again. "Don't worry! I'll pick something for us in the garden. Just wait! You aren't going to leave without a full stomach!"
"Are you sure this isn't poisonous?" asked Cloud as he stared suspiciously at the mushrooms on his plate. It looked similar to a poisonous species that he'd learned to avoid.
"You'll be fine. We pluck this for food from time to time," replied Aerith as she pulled out a chair and sat down. Seeing the concerned expression on Cloud's face, she added, "Who's the plant expert here, you or me?"
Cloud gave in and took a bite. "Oh, it's sweet."
"The fish has exceptional delicacy, too," Nanaki said after consuming the food he'd caught in the clear river. "Thank you. I haven't had any fresh fish since coming to Midgar."
While cleaning up the dishes after the meal, Cloud and Nanaki told Aerith about the Capital of Ancients and the girl they saw on the screen who looked a lot like her.
"I do have a white materia. It's from my mother." Aerith pointed to her ponytail, but Nanaki couldn't see any materia there. He heard Cloud confirm that it was the one they saw in the Capital, though, so perhaps it was tied into the bow?
"But why would it show you that? It's of no use, no use at all," Aerith said, shaking her head with incomprehension.
Once they finished tidying up, Nanaki yawned. "I think it's time we left."
"You can stay for the night. I'll talk to mom in the morning. It's a long way back to Sector 7 and it's too late to be safe."
They agreed and were led upstairs to the guestroom. Aerith started pulling out clean sheets from the wardrobe. Cloud took off his bandana and put it on the nightstand. His blond spikes immediately bounced back in the crest that can't be tamed.
"Oh, your hair looks..." Aerith coughed into her hand. "Interesting."
"Thanks. Your bangs are anti-gravity, too," Cloud reminded her.
"They are." Aerith ran her fingers through her bangs with pride. "But half of your hair stand on end, Cloud."
"All of Nanaki's manes defy gravity..."
Nanaki mumbled incoherently, which sounded suspiciously like "idiot humans" to Cloud's ears, before the red ball of fur continued to doze off in the armchair.
AN: Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment or leave criticism!