Chapter 11: Obsession (Part 1)
When Aerith awoke, it was with what felt like the worst hangover of her life. A sharp spiking pain behind her eyes, her magic reserves completely spent, and she even felt physically drained. Praying for and casting Holy took so much more out of her than she realized. Would it always be like this?
YOUNG. UNTESTED BODY. UNENDURING.
Aerith jolted upright in her bed at the Planets obnoxiously and painfully loud voice, clutching her head. "Hng..."
Well... she had her answer. Mako or not, her body was far to weak to properly handle Holy and keep on going. If she had been in danger after using Holy, she would have been defenseless. Weak, weak weak weak! She rubbed her forehead and grumbled to herself. She was so tired of this, of being unable to do anything on her own. Goddess, one of the others probably had to carry her back to the helicopter and to her room. She hoped no one outside of the group had seen it, she didn't need to be seen as a damsel in distress in SOLDIER, she'd never be taken seriously.
She sighed and swung her legs off the bed, pausing to see two bottles of Ether and a note from Zack left for her.
Thought you might need a pick-me-up after how wiped you were yesterday, cheers!
-Zack
P.S. Genesis is all over the place, he's been training (terrorizing) cadets even! Angeal's calling him Puppy 2.0! He's stealing my nickname! :(
Aerith smiled softly, a gentle giggle escaping her lips. "Leave it to Zack to uplift the mood."
She sighed, downed the two bottles of Ether, and rose from the bed, headache lessening slightly. She grabbed a spare uniform, hopped in the shower, and was done in a quick five minutes (which she was proud of! Not including the times when Avalanche went stretches without a place to bathe, she had always taken way to long in her opinion in her original life, SOLDIERs couldn't take all day in one.). She glanced at a clock above the door and froze.
"Noon?!" she exclaimed, "Why didn't anyone wake me?"
Oh man... Crawford was going to give her hell for missing his training!
She was scrambling out the door and ran face first into Zack, both of them colliding and flopping down to the ground. "Woah! Morning there Aerith!"
"Sorry Zack," she said, scrambling to her feet, "I'm way way to late for training!"
"Erm," said Zack, scratching his head, "It's Saturday. No classes or training on the weekend unless you want to hit a gym or a training room something."
She paused mid-step, face turning red, "Oh... right..."
Zack pushed himself off the ground and gave her a cheeky grin. "Hey it's cool. I loose track of time, and the day, tons of times. Angeal always gives me crap about it."
Aerith gave him a small smile before frowning. "So... we don't have any duties or anything on the weekend?"
"Generally not when we're home and not out at Wutai. We can sometimes get assigned missions if they are critical, but we're given comp time for it," said Zack, "Just keep your PHS on you."
"Erm... I don't have a PHS," she said.
Zack cocked his head, baffled, "Huh? Did you not get one in orientation... oh right."
He grinned. "You didn't get one. So you probably don't have any of the stuff set up."
"Stuff...?" she asked.
"PHS, bank account, SOLDIER benefits, all that crap," said Zack with a wave of his hand, "They set you up pretty good when you enter SOLDIER, only gets better when you rise through the ranks."
Aerith didn't particularly care about money or benefits, but... who knows if they'd come in handy. "So... how would I get all that set up?"
Zack turned and started down the hall. "C'mon, I'll take you to Employee Services. Not a lot of people there today, but they have weekend coverage, I know the secretary."
Know apparently turned into having flirted with the young woman before. Aerith watched, a bit stunned, as Zack shamelessly used his adorable puppy eyes and irresistible charm to woo the secretary into helping Aerith out as a favor. Gosh... had Zack really been such a flirt? He better not have flirted with other girls when they had been dating in her previous life. Couldn't of course ask her Zack that question. It was still a bit... jarring... to see how much her first love had been such a ladies man. Perhaps she had just been naive when she was younger, but Zack had made her feel so special... how long had it taken she wondered, for her to become someone he loved rather than just another interest...
She left the office about an hour later a lot less happy than she had been going in, with her new PHS in her pocket and a folder containing her bank and benefits information under her arm. She kept silent as Zack happily chatted alongside her as they walked, slightly tuning him out. She had experience with that after all, even as a spirit in the lifestream, her Zack had talked, a lot, and since they were dead, there wasn't exactly a lot to do but talk and watch the living world.
"You okay Aerith?" asked Zack, "Awfully quiet."
"Just a bit tired from yesterday," she half-lied.
"Yeah, that lightshow sure was something," he said cheekily, "Wanna go get something to eat then? Growing SOLDIERs gotta eat."
She gave a small smile and lied. "Not really hungry right now, I'm going to go back to bed."
Zack pouted. "Awww, okay. Well, see ya later!"
Of course, once he was out of sight, she huffed and scowled a little bit. "Jezz Zack... doing that in front of me..."
She trailed off, frowning. Why wouldn't he though? He wasn't her Zack. He wasn't dating her, she wasn't his girlfriend, and he had even said when they first met that he wouldn't pursue her when the past hurt so much. Even if it did hurt to see it, she had no right to get all bent out of shape with this Zack looking at other women. Hell, she wasn't even as old as she had been before, it was almost two years before they had met originally. She was at most thirteen years old, while mentally she was older, it was way to early physically to be going on a tilt over a boy...
Oh wait, thirteen...
She wanted to walk to the nearest wall and smash her head against it over and over again. Puberty again... oh great...
Mood sufficiently fouled, she moved to lean against the wall, pulling out her PHS and fiddling with it. It was... a bit better than the one they shared in AVALANCHE, but easy enough to figure out. She looked up a map of the building, found a gym, and then made for it after dropping off the folder and hiding it between her bed's mattresses. She figured that burning her mood away with working out might be a good idea, Goddess knows she needed to get stronger regardless. She walked in, eyes flickering to see a few people, some SOLDIERs and a few regular employees, there. Figured it wouldn't be empty, she didn't really want anyone to see her bumbling through the gym. She glanced around, a little uncertain. She had never hit a gym once in her previous life. She really had no idea where to start...
"Oh? What does the fair maiden seek in such a place as this?" came a smooth eloquent voice, "I didn't think you'd be one to ogle training men."
Aerith turned and shot a glare at a rather gleeful looking Genesis who passed her and strode into the gym. "I'm not! I wanted to exercise. I kind of need it."
Genesis glanced back, eyebrow raised. "Why are you just standing there then?"
Her face turned a little red. "Well... I've never been in a gym before."
Genesis rolled his eyes. "Ah. Well, I suppose I can be bothered to help you out."
"Someones a little ungrateful," she muttered under her breath.
Genesis flashed her a grin. "I have appearances to keep, I am the terror of third classes and cadets after all."
He turned and glanced around the gym for a moment. "Mmm, it has been some time since I've been here myself. Coming to stretch out and test my restored body out before the pillow fight later today will do me good."
"Pillow fight...?" she asked.
He turned his head, grin widening. "Three way fight between myself, Angeal, and Sephiroth."
Which would thankfully not turn out the way the original fight that started the Copy War had.
"Anyway," he said, flapping his hand, "What do you want to work on? Lower body strength? Upper body strength?"
She frowned for a moment, before remembering the Planet's words when she woke up. "Endurance."
"Ah cardio training, treadmill then," he said, pointing to one side of the gym, "Though, to be frank, the stairs would be better. Goddess, I remember my endurance training. I had to run up the stairs of the Shinra building, take the elevator back down, and then run them again over and over again. Leaves you a dreadful sweaty mess."
He gave her an appraising glance. "Treadmill first however, you are not ready for the stairs. You'd get a quarter way up at best, even with the Mako, before collapsing."
She huffed a little bit, shooting him a glare, before walking over to the... treadmill he called it? She stepped on it, glanced over the controls for a moment, and then pressed the 'On' button. She yelped as the machine started moving under her at a rapid pace. She grabbed the handles of the machine in a brief panic before she started running along. Whoever had been using it prior definitely did NOT leave it on a low setting. She didn't change it though, she needed it.
She ran for about an hour, and figured the only reason she had been able to was because of the Mako in her. Goddess... was working out supposed to really burn so much? Her legs were jello at the moment. It didn't exactly hurt, felt a little sore, but that feeling... actually didn't feel to bad, kind of good actually, as odd as a burning sensation feeling good sounded. She turned off the machine, huffing and puffing, before briefly going to a water fountain down the hall and then returning for another run. She honestly had nothing else to do on a weekend. She had no other responsibilities aside from getting strong enough to deal with Jenova if it came down to it. She had hopes that they would find Jenova sleeping and simply deal with it...
But relying solely on hoping was foolish, and potentially deadly.
She was so drastically far behind even just the 3rd Class SOLDIERs. If Jenova woke up and she met the Calamity anytime soon, Aerith would either be a stain on the ground, or infected and turned into a slave to the Calamity's will. She HAD to get stronger as quickly as possible.
So she ran, and ran, and ran hour by hour...
...Until she suddenly woke up in the infirmary, just a tad confused.
"So... going back to sleep?" came Zack's voice, "Not sure this is what you meant."
She turned her head, sighting Zack staring at her from his perch leaning against the wall next to her cot.
"Genesis dumped you here and left me a text, said something about you not knowing your limits and that you're my mess to deal with," said Zack, eyebrow raised.
Aerith shrugged and looked away. "Just wanted to do some training."
"Well, having a spotter, or just going to the gym with a friend, is a lot better, sometimes you don't realize how long you've been going for and let things go to long," said Zack, "Because Genesis sure as heck doesn't fit that bill."
"Just wasn't paying attention," she mumbled.
Zack gave her a skeptical look. "If you say so, now, how about we put some food in your belly. Cuz I'm pretty sure you haven't eaten something since before we took that field trip last night. Mako helps a bit, but, you really need something for the Mako to build on. The Cadet Program whipped me into shape before I even went in for my shots. Mako amplified that."
Aerith made a brief attempt to divert attention, giving out an attempt at a teasing tone, "Amplified is a big word for you Zack."
Zack grinned. "Owch, not nice. I do have a vo-cab-ulary you know!"
"Really?" she teased.
Zack nodded before giving her a knowing look and offering a hand. "Ahuh, now, back on topic... let's get you something to eat."
Aerith scowled, but took the hand and let him haul her up. She wobbled a bit, he legs still feeling
like jello, but followed him out of the room after a quick check in with the on-duty nurse. She noted a few SOLDIERs snickering in her direction when they walked in, one of them calling out, "Nice face-plant on the treadmill earlier girly!"
"No need to be rude, was her first time," scolded Zack, earning more snickers from the SOLDIERs.
Aerith's face burned, but she ignored them, striding to get in line and grab a late lunch... or an early dinner, whatever time it was. This was just what she had wanted to avoid, gossip was obviously a thing in SOLDIER, none of them were going to take her seriously anytime soon. Not that they would a thirteen year old girl anyway...
This day was steadily getting worse and worse.
When they finished and left, Zack made an offer, "So, want me to coach you through some of the stuff Angeal had me do early on?"
Might as well let someone who knows what they were doing guide her...
"Alright," she said.
He led her to the elevator, down to the bottom, out the lobby, and to the side entrance. She glanced up a seemingly endless flight of stairs. She vaguely remember Tifa and Barret complaining about having to climb that. Oh boy...
"First things first, before any exercising, is warm ups," he said, holding up two fingers, "Either stretching for range of motion if you need it, or just light warm up exercises to get your blood pumping and muscles ready for use."
"For this specifically, a bit of both, first, get those legs up!" he said, putting his own leg up on a step, stretching it out, and then switching it out.
Aerith followed suit, and did so quietly for a few minutes.
"Alright, now, a quick warm up," he said, walking up the first set of stairs then turning and walking down at an even pace, "Light version of the real climb for five minutes. That'll get you ready."
She found it kind of awkward to do this repeatedly for five minutes, but she trusted he knew what he was doing.
When their time was done, he motioned upwards. "Alright, first goal, ten flights of stairs then a few minute break, rinse repeat till we reach the top."
Aerith made a face.
He grinned. "Hey, at least I'm not making you do the entire thing without rest. Now up you go!"
With that, Aerith began her ascent. Zack moved up at her side, keeping his pace exact to her. He thankfully didn't talk much, because after the first few sets of ten, even with the breaks, it was rough. Mostly, he gave advice. Pace herself. Control her breathing, don't over exert. If need be, take a quick moment for a breather even before they reached the rest point. In his own words, "We gotta figure out your limits, and then slowly increase them from there."
Which really weren't that high as a thirteen year old girl. Goddess... the Mako didn't do nearly as much as she thought it would on its own. SOLDIERs were a lot more than just people pumped full of the planet's lifeblood. A real, true SOLDIER built from cadet onward was something potentially years in the making. She was so far behind...
Aerith put a more determined step into her pace, taking shorter breaks at the rest stops. And when they finally reached the top, she went back down the elevator to do it again. Zack stayed with her the 2nd time, but left the 3rd, saying something about having promised a date with the secretary from earlier.
"Remember," he said before he left, "Know your limits, if it starts to hurt, or you feel like you can't really go on, stop. I'll text you later to see how it went."
More like to see if she had collapsed again. Aerith huffed at that but resumed her climb. She was tempted to call it quits, she had been at it most of the day since she woke up. But she HAD to get stronger, she had to! So up she went again, sweating like crazy by the time Zack texted her about two hours later. She took that as her cue to stop for the day. She went for diner, and flopped on her bed when she got back to her room, passing out out of exhaustion in minutes...
Aerith found herself repeating the previous day the next day after breakfast for her last day of the weekend. One good thing she did get from Mako, was the recovery. Simple night's rest and most of the soreness from yesterday was gone. Shame it hadn't done much against the Holy headache yesterday. Regardless, she was up and at it to go climb stairs again. On the way to the side entrance, she overhead someone mentioning the trio absolutely destroyed one of the training rooms. Guess they had 'fun' in their pillow fight.
What she was doing sure wasn't fun, but unfortunately necessary. So she did it, for the next few hours, until she ran into Zack at the top of the stairs, watching her ascend. "You're from Sector 5, right? Why don't you go visit your friends there rather than waste the weekend away?"
Aerith ascended the last few steps, wiping sweat from her brow, eyes furrowed in thought. Friends? She couldn't honestly remember any specific person... aside from her Zack, that had really been her friend. Sure she was acquainted with a lot of the people... but... she had been just 'the Flower Girl'. No one really interacted with her, especially with her not-so-subtle Turk guards watching her every move and anyone she interacted with. It scared people away, along with her general 'oddness' of listening to flowers. Made people think she wasn't right in the head.
Her flowers, both at the church and at home, hadn't grown so well just because she was an Ancient. But because she spent hours every single day painstakingly tending to them... because she had no other real way to spend her time... she occasionally helped out at the Sector 7 Orphanage, and sometimes interacted with the homeless who slept in the back of her church if the Turks didn't chase them away. People in generally were just to busy for her; she could recall trying to sell her flowers, and most people brushing her off. So aside from her adoptive mother...
It had been a rather lonely existence. It's why she had treasured her Zack's focus so much... and without Avalanche... she really had no one at the moment.
"Don't have any," was all she said, striding past him.
"Huh," said Zack, following, "Odd. I mean aside from yesterday you seem pretty nice and caring. Kind of surprised you don't."
Aerith was slow to respond, not liking the memories that came back. "Being nice and naive gets you taken advantage of in the Slums, and I was both those in spades when I was younger. I'm merely fortunate I had Turks watching out for me, otherwise..."
She could recall times she would have been killed and left dead in a pile of scrap for what few coins of gil in her pocket.
Lured into a back alley and almost raped.
Offered a 'quick fix', an attempt to deceive her into drugs, becoming an ever paying addict.
Stolen once or twice when times were hard, contemplating a criminal life if only to make it easier for her poor adoptive mother.
Each time the Turks had interjected. Goddess, she didn't want to think where she'd have been in her original life if not for them.
"...otherwise things could have been much worse," was all she said aloud.
Each lesson had made her withdraw from the potential of getting to personally know and befriend her fellow slum dwellers. Because there were so few who wouldn't sell her out or betray her for a quick gil.
"Mmmm," mused Zack before thumbing the door, "Wanna go drink with me an the guys?"
She blinked. "I'm like, thirteen."
Zack grinned. "SOLDIER. Mako makes it almost impossible to get drunk."
"I was referring to the age limit," she said.
"Again, SOLDIER," he said cheekily, "We get around like, half the damn rules."
Aerith strode past him sourly. "That's not necessarily a good thing."
"Aww c'mon," said Zack, following, "You don't have to drink, but come and hang out a bit."
"No thanks Zack," she answered firmly, "I have to much catching up to do."
"You only get to be young and have fun once Aerith," said Zack.
She paused and turned to look at him steadily, whispering a quiet, "I know."
Whatever he saw in her eyes made him pale slightly and take a step back, looking unsettled. With that, Aerith turned and strode away, ready to resume her endurance training again. She had her chance at youth once. There was to much at stake to greedily take a second chance on something unnecessary. It would take to long to catch up, and she had absolutely no clue when things would go south (and they most certainly would if she had to guess). So she'd train for a few years, and damn it, if nothing had happened by the time she WAS ready, she'd go hunt down Jenova on her own!
Review Responses:
Azure Shrine: Relax, I don't abandon my fics. I just have so many of them it takes time to progress through them.
GreatAzureDragon: Thanks. Once More With Feeling is my fav FF7 Time Travel Fic at the moment, but there was a Tifa one that looked promising to...
Ultimolu: Might take you up on beta'ing the chapters once they get there if you are still interested.
Shivii-Chan: Thanks. Cloud (and Tifa!) won't be for a little bit (roughly a year timeline wise).
NocturneX: Mmmm, not quite Behemoth level yet. Getting there slowly but surely. The Sephiroth support wont be for a little bit, but they DO actually have a good chunk of things in common, especially one thing in particular: They were both in Hojo's labs for their early life (Aerith till 7~, Sephiroth till whenever), that is a major point that will eventually come up.
Guest: It will be Aerith/Sephiroth eventually. Cloud/Tifa is an obvious, but most likely won't be a spotlight thing. IDK if Zack will end up with anyone, Romance won't be a SUPER heavy part of the story. It will have its place, but it's not the main focus.
Guest2: Aerith coping with her past really hasn't hit yet. It will have its place eventually. Some of it occurring towards the end of next chapter.
Guest3: Good analogy there. Wonder who would win, a Spartan or a SOLDIER? (Not counting SOLDIER 1sts, because they are way to strong for comparison). Aerith won't be stronger than Sephiroth in terms of pure raw physical power. Magic she will be a bit better (maybe Genesis tier or better). Cetra SOLDIERs is a thing I'm not sure how much they will change from JENOVA SOLDIERs, aside from being more stable and less can-be-possessed-by-evil-alien-parasite.
Lady Yomi: Hello again. And yeah, Aerith got a dressing down from Sephiroth there ^_^. And yeah, Superhuman strength can be a pain, I always think of the Superman quote "living in a world made of cardboard.'. Can't spoil the ending yet :P, way to soon.
Guest4: Zack will always be a puppy.