Chapter 2
Nice to Meet You

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"Aerith, huh? Wonder if I'll ever see her again..."

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"Cloud!"

Little Cloud was at it yet again, except this time his mother wasn't chasing after him but instead, calling out to him.
The young boy, clad in a white tee and blue shorts, stopped in his tracks and turned around to see what his mother wanted though he had a slight idea of what it was.

"Be careful Cloud! Don't talk to strangers! And come back by 8 o clock. . ."

He rolled his sapphire blue eyes.

"Sharp."

"SHARP!"

Knew it.
Cloud nodded with a smile and waved goodbye to his over-protective mom before turning around and running off to explore the somber slums of Midgar.

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Cloud walked through the slums of Midgar with no fear in his heart. He had always been used to the junkies around here and was a bit of a daredevil himself. He had no idea where he was going, he just simply let his feet bring him to wherever they were going. The boy noticed that everything around him was somber and dull. Nothing had color to it, the sky barely held its beautiful blue but instead obtained a slate-blue that was nothing short of admirable.

He walked past a playground – gray, everything was gray, except for this one red bar though it held no importance to him. He continued walking, noticing a building with a broken cross on it. He stopped and examined it carefully, noticing something that was shiny and… golden on the roof.

"Hey.. What's that?" He took a few steps forward and excitement began to bubble in his blood."I bet it's something really cool!" A smile appeared on his face and the young boy charged towards the building, hoping to find something really cool on top of the roof. Cloud reached the building, he stopped before a bunch of boxes stacked on top of each other and realized that he was in the back of some run-down building. He kept his eyes on the golden shine on the roof and was determined to reach it. "How can I get up there...?"

The boy thought while his eyes scanned the area for a way to get up there. He noticed that the stack of boxes lead to a plank that extended to another building which wasn't too far from the one with the golden shine. "Hmm..." A mischievous look crossed his face and he began climbing the boxes.

His tiny hands fit perfectly into the cracks of the wooden boxes and he easily hoisted himself up each of the boxes.A small bead of sweat trickled down the side of his cheek and his face was scrunched with concentration and slight fatigue. "Come on, Cloud... You can do it... Just one... more!" He finally reached the top! He slumped on the box as he caught his breath and looked at the plank that lead to the other building. "Okay Cloud, you can do this! You're almost there, just gotta get to that building then jump across to get to the golden light..."

Drawing in a deep breath, Cloud stood up and balled his hands. The distance between the box and the building wasn't far, it was pretty short, all he had to do was run across it. He took in another deep breath and planned. "Okay... I'll just run across this plank and then once I reach that building I'll jump across! ... And pray that I don't fall and die." He closed his eyes, his hands were shaking but he tightened them, and drawing in one last breath, he took off.

The plank was vibrating underneath his heavy footsteps, the moment he reached the roof of the building it had broken in half and fallen to the ground with a thump. He didn't care though, he stuck to his plan and leapt towards the roof of the other building the moment he set his foot on the solid concrete.

Everything felt like slow motion when he was no longer on something solid. The wind blew between his golden spikes and lightly tickled the skin of his face. His eyes were set on the roof and he flung his hands up as his feet made contact with the loose shingles of the building. His lips stretched into a small smile as he successfully landed on the roof but then, all of a sudden, the shingles beneath his feet began to crumble. They creaked underneath the weight and drooped then, lacking the strength to keep Cloud on, they broke. Once again, everything was in slow motion but this time, his life passed through his eyes.

"Whoooooaaa!"

--

Hello...

"What...?"

Are... you... okay?

"Huh?"

"Oh! He moved..."

"What?"

He began to stir awake, the darkness was slowly being replaced by light – a nice, golden light. "Yess, I finally found it..." He felt his eyes begin to widen and the golden light was getting brighter, his lips began to curve up and everything around him was becoming clearer. That was when he noticed a sweet smell was in the air and a pair of green eyes were staring right at him. "An angel?"

"Hello-o, are you okay?" That voice sounded so familiar, yet he couldn't pinpoint it. He felt his head move and forced his lips to make a sound. "A-am I dead...?" A familiar sounding giggle filled the air and a girl with beautiful green eyes flashed before his mind."Aerith..."

He felt something tug at his shoulders and he finally regained conscience.

"No, you're not dead." Her voice was amused with slight laughter to it. Cloud opened his eyes wide and noticed that he was surrounded by a golden light and... flowers? "Ugh..."He forced himself to sit up and his head began to pound. "Ow..." He groaned softly but Aerith heard him and giggled again.

"Are you okay?" He looked at her and knew that it was the same Aerith he had met the other day. Her friendly green eyes looked at him with concern and her finger was pointing at a ginormous hole in the roof. "You fell through the roof. It surprised me!" Her gentle smile replaced the thin line of her lips and Cloud could only stare. He rubbed the back of his head and looked at her with confusion. "Um... Sorry?" She giggled again and shook her head from side-to-side. "It's okay." Her small figure then walked closer to Cloud and she placed her hands on her hips, leaning towards him a bit. "Well, are you okay or not?" Her eyebrow raised and Cloud immediately shook his head, stammering as he answered her.

"Uh... Um... Y-yeah, I'm okay." She tilted her head to the side again, and nodded her head. "Good." She turned around and crouched into the green that was all around them. "Flowers...?"Cloud had just noticed them but was more concerned of the giant hole in the roof. He stood up, brushing the dirt off his blue shorts and rubbed his head while looking down at Aerith. "I... Did that?" Aerith nodded her head without looking at Cloud and as he looked at the hole, he couldn't help but gasp in awe.

"You're... Cloud, right?" Cloud widened his eyes at the sound of his name. He turned around and saw that Aerith was now looking at him, her head was tilted to the side slightly. He shyly nodded and answered her. "Yeah... How did you kn—" That giggled interrupted him and her soft voice was heard again. "I remember, your mom had called you that." She smiled again and placed her hand on her chest.

"My name is—"

"Aerith." Her eyes widened in shock at the sound of her name. She watched the young, blonde boy closely and her brows knitted together in confusion. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Cloud.

"I remember, your mom had called you that." Cloud felt his cheeks heat up slightly but paid no attention to them. He shyly smiled at her and gained a smile back. Aerith clasped her hand in delight and approached Cloud. As she got closer, she extended her arm to him and held out her small hand. She looked at him with kindness, and with the glow of the sun engulfing her body, Cloud realized that Aerith was quite the pretty girl, almost like an... angel.

He smiled at her in bliss and grabbed her hand, holding it firmly.

"It's nice to meet you, Cloud."

"Yeah... You too... Aerith."

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a/n: yay, another chapter Sorry if it was boring again. xD; You must know what this resembles! The first one was supposed to resemble their first meeting, you know when Cloud asked to buy the flower, or rather Aerith did but I'm sure all you CxA fans made him buy it. :3
Anyways, yes. I'm running out of cute-sy ideas, preach them to me:D

trankwil- out. Stay tuned for the next chappie!
(RnR, if you want :3)