Zidane was no stranger to waking up in strange places: haystacks, alleys, banquet halls even flowerbeds, although each of those usually had some rational explanation as to why the Genome had woken up there, most of them involving an unreasonable volume of alcohol by either him or his fellow members of Tantulus but this was the exception! Possibly. The blonde hadn't ruled out that someone was behind the large doors, trying not to burst out laughing.

But as time went on, and the confusion increased on both his and Dagger's faces as the young woman tried to explain that she had no idea what the two were talking about when they mentioned who they were or where they were from. Nor did she understand why Zidane had a tail, apparently no-one else in this... Midgar had tails. 'This could be a problem' the blonde thought, scratching the back of his head. They were in a strange place, no money, no place to rest, the important thing to do right now was remain calm and not start freaking out as they sat down on the church benches. It was time to look on the bright side.

They were wearing their old clothes that they'd used on their own adventure through Gaia and Terra so that was one thing they wouldn't have to worry about, Zidane had his steel daggers in their sheaths hung loosely around his waist, Dagger had found her old smooth staff right by the flowers meaning the couple were not defenceless in a strange land, and the local they had met was friendly and didn't seem to be too put off by the two effectively being aliens on the planet.

"...Sometimes I can hear it talking to me, it doesn't always make sense but it's a neat thing to be able to do when it works!" Aerith said to the Queen who was listening with a lot more interest than Zidane had been. He'd been zoning the conversation out and looking at the light falling through the windows. It seemed to him as though the sun was coming from both sides with how brightly lit the church was. Not even the Temple of the Hunt could be this lit up except with a hundred lanterns outside.

"That's really incredible Aerith!" Dagger let out with a bright smile on her face, if she had any worries about what was going on, she was hiding them well "I never thought of the planets themselves being sentient as such. I wonder if ours could speak, of if all the others are sentient and what they could say..."

"Others?" Aerith questioned, cocking her head to the side.

"Well, yes! If this planet can speak to certain people who live on it, I can't see why it wouldn't be the same for any planet in the night sky. Have you never looked up and wondered?" The Summoner continued.

"Oh! Nope, never."

Now it was Dagger's turn to be at a loss. "Surely at some point..." she attempted to reason, trying to piece information together.

"I've never seen the sky... or at least I don't remember ever seeing the sky." Aerith said as though it was the most normal thing possible.

"Wait," Zidane jumped in, catching the tail end of the discussion as he quickly got to his feet. "If you've never seen the sky, how come there's light here?" He asked.

"Ohh right..." Aerith let out, making her own realization "If you two aren't from here then you wouldn't know about the plate."

"Plate?" Came the synchronized response from Zidane and Dagger.

"It'd be quicker to show you, it's just right outside, come on!" the brown hair girl beckoned, walking towards the heavy doors.

Whatever Dagger and Zidane had been expecting from just the word 'Plate'. This was definitely not it. A monstrosity of metal and concrete hanging above houses, shacks made from junked metal half-buried under fallen dirt and debris with only the eerie hum of cold white artificial lights for illumination. The dirt was dried black with broken slabs of dull grey scattered across like patches of cobblestone. Even the air looked foul outside of the church, streams of dust slowly blew back and forth. "What..." was all Zidane could manage as he looked out onto the desolation. He had seen the polluted slums of Lindblum but even they would have gleamed compared to what existed under the Midgar plate.

"What happened here..?" Dagger whispered, her eyes wide in shock as she took in the scenery to the unfazed Aerith.

"This is Midgar, or at least under the plate Midgar." She introduced, gesturing to the corrugated iron roofs, "My mom said that this used to be a town all on it's own before Shinra built on top of it. But now everyone just calls it sector 5," the church girl went on as her boots scuffed the dirt, heading towards a mass of shacks. "I mean it's not all bad, on Fridays there's a market, and the water's clean."

"But... how do you eat? If you can't get any sunlight, how are crops supposed to grow?" Dagger continued, keeping a brisk pace to keep up with Aerith while Zidane hung behind, arms behind his head as he walked down the impromptu street.

"A lot of it is bought from outside the city, but most is sold to the people living on top. Some of the lamps do help the flowers and the plants grow, so there's usually something, even if it tastes bad," She dismissed with a wave of her hand. Pulling the hem of her floral print dress as she stepped into the remains of a giant pipe "My house is just through here. You're welcome to stay for a while, although mom will make you help with the cooking and other things. I'll say you're my bodyguards for a week or so."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Zidane waved frantically, sprinting up back into earshot "We can't just stay for free at your place, we've only just met! And what do you mean by bodyguards? What were we protecting you... from..." The blonde stumbled through just in sight of Aerith's home.

Harshly contrasting from the scrapheap that was the rest of sector 5, Aerith's home was an oasis in the metallic desert. The massive pillar that dominated the landscape was shielded by a rock formation, the ground had been tiered to allow for a large garden to be built under the blue lights as a stream trickled through the artificial islands before disappearing underground. The house itself was grey stone and red slate, something that would not have looked out of place in Alexandria pressing up against the rusting wall connecting it to the rest of the Sector. Noticing the stunned expressions the church girl once again took charge in offering explanations "This river was here before they built the city. It's mostly underwater but they couldn't move this big rock... so this place became the place to grow stuff. My mom manages the garden and everyone only is allowed to take their fair share. Or Else." She finished with a sweet smile.

"Okay..." Zidane let out, not entirely paying attention as he looked on the shocking beauty, staring up to confirm that yes, the ugly plate was still actually above his head. "But seriously, we can't just crash at your place out of the blue. I already crashed through something today."

"Zidane's right, Aerith." Dagger asserted, "I would be glad to meet your mother but I don't think we have any right to impose on her."

"Tell me, do you have any money?" Aerith asked.

"Well... not as such, no."

"Do you have anywhere else to stay?"

"Not yet, but I am sure that-"

"Well then!" The church girl declared, cutting any protest short "There's your reason, you've been helping me out so I'm helping you out now that you have no where else to go!"

"Eh heh..." Zidane chuckled nervously "You do have a point there..."

"Still, I couldn't- not without paying something in return." Dagger said stubbornly.

"Then you'll just have to owe me one~" Aerith replied with a smile that was nothing but sweetness.

Elmyra was less than amused at her daughter's new companions, especially ones with such outrageous taste in clothing. At least she hadn't noticed the tail, which Zidane had done his best to stuff down the back of his trousers despite how much it itched. "We shan't be troubling you for long Miss Gainsborough," Dagger offered diplomatically as Aerith grinned eagerly.

"I can sleep on the floor if you'd like." Zidane added, feeling the pressure to add something to the awkward situation after being told that there was only one spare bed. His prior idea of 'We could share.' being kicked to the mental backlog of things to only be said in private with Dagger before anyone got the wrong idea.

Eventually Elmyra relented in the face of Aerith's endless determined optimism, allowing Dagger to claim the spare room while Zidane would be confined to a bedroll on the top floor. But the break did allow the Genome to return to a topic he wanted elaborated on. "So... you said we were your bodyguards?" He asked, fumbling with the plastic straps on what would be his comfort between skin and floorboards.

"Well... you know how I said you'd have to owe me one?" Aerith asked to the duo's collective groan. "What you said about looking up at the night's sky, I'd like to be able to do that."

"Is it difficult to get on top?" Zidane asked as the bedroll unfolded

"No, but my mom won't let me go on my own, she says it's too dangerous to go out of the sector in case someone follows me. Buuut... if I have two bodyguards with me, there's no harm in that, is there?" She asked, hands clasped together.

Zidane and Garnet glanced at each other with a weak smile before turning back. "Do you mean tonight? Is it even night now? I can't tell."

"It was sunset officially about... thirty minutes from now." Aerith answered "So can we go? Please? Please?"

"Why not?" Zidane asked, cocking his head at Dagger.

"It would be an opportunity to learn more about this world." Dagger agreed.

"Perfect! I'll get a few baskets and we can go!"

A/N: As a brief experiment, I'd like to introduce somewhat of a soundtrack for the various areas. Most of these should be searchable on Youtube for easy streaming with sources given if you want to support the music makers. Most other times, stick to the FFVII OST

Midgar Slums: Subcon Village-Echorobot Remix (A Hat In Time Official Soundtrack)

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