Disclaimer: Not mine.

Aerith: Sunshine

The first thing Aerith noticed about the church was the light. It was golden, and totally unlike the harsh fluorescence she was used to. It looked like it rubbed off on the old wood of the building, and that even if the light passed the gold would remain.

Her mother had snuck her out of ShinRa headquarters in the middle of the night. She had seen the sky briefly, just for a few seconds, before Ifalna had practically dragged them beneath the plate. Aerith hadn't seen the stars on that occasion; it had been cloudy that night.

And later that night, when she had felt rain for the first time since she was a very little girl, Ifalna had died. Aerith could remember her mother telling her that the feeling of rain on your face was one of the most beautiful feelings in the world. She hadn't seen or felt rain since, and she was glad of it. Rain would be for her mother, and her mother was with the voices. She couldn't help feeling sad. Elmyra was good to take her in, she knew it, but she was too protective. Aerith could look after herself. Enough to wander the sector.

And today, she had found this church, where there was sunshine. She laughed and ran towards it, pausing at the very edge of the light. Tentatively, she stuck her hand in. The light was warm. The lights set into the underside of the plate were too high to feel heat from. She stepped all the way into the sunshine, and watched her own skin and clothed turn gold.

There must have been a crack in the plate, or a join in the metal, or some such, for the light to be there, she thought, as the light faded to an equally soft white. And in the centre of the light, there was bare ground. Not baked hard under the light, but soft. Like the earth outside Elmyra's house. Scrabbling through the dirt, she had found old seeds.

Maybe she could plant them here. The voices murmured their approval. She hadn't heard them since they said that Elmyra's husband had died, two weeks ago. She could see it now, sunshine and flowers where the centre of worship was supposed to be, the pews facing towards them. A quiet place.

She went home smiling, and wouldn't tell Elmyra why. She wouldn't, until she could bring home the money she got for selling the fully grown flowers. It only made sense to share, and it was a way of repaying Elmyra for her kindness. Her mother would approve, she thought.

The next day, she returned to the church, and laughed as it rained over her newly planted seeds.