------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: ---------------------------------------------

To the Reader and the Lawyers:

Final Fantasy VII, and all the characters, including Aeris and Sephiroth, are property of Square Enix Co, formerly Squaresoft LLC. Tell me if my disclaimer ain't good enough.

To other Fanfic Writers (This is more important!) Plagiarism Note:

There are a lot of Aeriseph fanfics around here. I've tried my best to stay as original as possible, but it's a bit hard to write this type of story without treading on someone's toes by accident along the line. Please, if you feel that I may have 'borrowed' some of your concepts or ideas by mistake, notify me immediately. Email a "cease and desist" message to me, point out where I have gone wrong, and I will act immediately to remove or modify the offending section(s). Thank you very, very much for your understanding and tolerance.

OK, enough of this @#*%&^ already, on with the story!

--------------------------------------- End of Disclaimer: ---------------------------------------

AERIS IN WONDERLAND

The majestic light faded, and Aeris found herself in a field of flowers. The garden spread out for acres in all directions, further than the eye could see. Every single type of flower she had ever known in her short life, and many more, was growing in that field, even those that thrived only in the warmest or coldest climates. She bent down, picking a small flower with white wooly leaves, a cluster of yellow buds in the centre. The fragrance of that bloom was intoxicating, making her want to dance around and sing out with joy. A light breeze blew, but unlike the biting chill winds of the Midgar slums, it was warm and refreshing, sending an entire cloud of petals and pollen into the air. She smiled, taking one small blossom in her hand, watching it fly again out of reach. She felt totally relaxed and thrilled at the same time. She lay down on the grass – covered ground, the green carpet more comfortable that the softest bed she had ever slept on.

And the fauna that inhabited this wondrous place was no less exquisite. She saw of all creatures – a sheep sailing in the clear blue skies, adorned with huge butterfly wings, bleating happily. Strange pink rabbits hopped around in the field, and she could not resist patting one of them. Like a dog, the little bunny licked her knuckles, and Aeris could not resist giggling at this cute sight. Chocobo – like creatures the size of a cat warked softly, and a flock of rainbow – coloured doves fluttered overhead.

She was drowning with complete pleasure and satisfaction. This was indeed the Promised Land, the haven of blessed release her mother had always promised that she would see once her life was over. Before she had died at the train station sixteen years ago, she had told Aeris not to grieve, for she would be going to a far happier place, and she would meet her daughter again someday here.

She was suddenly aware of someone behind her, but she turned slowly, as there would surely be no monsters or villains in paradise.

She saw a couple sitting down on a long checked cloth, a picnic basket beside them. The man was reading from a thick book written in an unrecognisable script, while the woman was lying down in his lap, whispering sweet nothings to him. He raised his head to look at her. His unruly mop of black hair, his huge round glasses and his thick moustache made him look slightly comical, especially since he was barely in his mid – twenties, and already he was trying to look fifty years older than he was. His mouth dropped open upon seeing her, and for a moment he could not speak.

Aeris came forward, noticing the look of shocked surprise on his face.

"Is there something wrong? Do I resemble someone?" she asked, wondering why the man was looking at her like that.

The young woman got up, and Aeris thought that she had looked into a mirror. The woman's hair, like hers, was chestnut – brown, but far longer. While the flower girl's braid only reached her hips, the lady's curls and tresses, which were unbound, spilling all over her back, were long enough to touch her feet. The woman's eyes too were a shade of deepest green, giving her the impression that she was looking into the Lifestream itself. To complete the picture, two long cowlick bangs framed her face on both sides, the ends barely touching her cheeks.

Aeris broke out into a run, embracing the woman with all her strength.

"MOTHER!" She screamed.

"My daughter," Ifalna began, her face shining with tears, "I knew you'd come back to me someday. It's about time!"

"She's grown so much… and she looks exactly like you," the man remarked, reaching for a handkerchief, sniffling noisily.

"Aeris… meet Professor Gast, your father."

She broke off from her mother's embrace, hugging her father now.

"Father… I'm sorry I didn't notice you earlier… I'm so glad to meet you, but… this is so unexpected… I didn't think you'd be here too to welcome me…"

She had seen Avalanche enter the Professor's house in Icicle Inn, watching the video interviews between Ifalna and himself, but the man featured in the tapes was far older. Then, he had been a man over forty years old, and that was why she didn't recognise him earlier. Perhaps that was one more wondrous quality of the Promised Land. But her father was a human being, and he couldn't possibly be here…

The Professor smiled, his electric blue eyes twinkling. "Aeris, the Cetra call this place the Promised Land. The rest of us simply call it 'Heaven'. Don't worry about your friends. So long as they continue to be men and women of virtue, and protect the Planet with their lives, they will join us here someday. You need only wait…

"Oh, goodness knows how long we've waited for you. We could never enjoy this life knowing that you were still suffering down there… we were your parents, yet we couldn't do a thing to help you out. But oh, thank God it's all over now!" Gast could not control his joy and he blew his nose again, the tears running down his glasses.

Ifalna looked over her daughter, shaking her head. "You're so thin, Aeris. You haven't being eating well, have you?" she asked.

Aeris shook her head. All the way to the City of the Ancients she had journeyed alone, ignoring the need for food and sleep, the fear that she wouldn't be able to summon Holy in time driving her along at a furious pace, allowing her to make it there long before her friends.

After several weeks of frantic journeying, she had arrived at the ancient city a physical and nervous wreck, every muscle screaming for rest, the pain of hunger gnawing away at her will every minute. She had not been in good shape at the start of her mission, and she had been attacked many times along the way by monsters, suffering several injuries. She had managed to heal them, but using her powers had drained almost all of what meagre strength she had.

Aeris had not known how she had managed to find her way to the water altar, but in her famished and exhausted state, she had slipped easily into the deep trance that had allowed her to warn the Planet of the impending disaster. Mercifully, she had been so weak by the time Sephiroth had stabbed her that she had slipped painlessly into death within seconds. She wondered exactly how she looked like now, but she guessed it wasn't a pleasant sight.

The Professor motioned for the flower girl to sit down on the picnic mat, and she gratefully accepted his offer. He opened the basket, taking out a thermos flask and a large china mug. He filled the cup with what appeared to be some fruit punch, and passed it to her.

"Even though we don't need to eat or drink anymore, your mother still insists on making me have three proper meals a day," Gast quipped, smiling at Ifalna, "But there's really no excuse why I shouldn't. Drink it, it's delicious."

Aeris looked at the mug in her hands for just a moment. It looked exactly… like fruit punch, but the wind blew again, and she picked up the wonderful aroma wafting from the beverage. She did not know how her mother had managed to squeeze so many delicious things into that one cup of pure goodness. The heady scent of cinnamon, the sharp and sour tang of lemon, the juicy sweetness of glace cherries and the cloying yet irresistible fragrance of rose syrup were but only a few of the delectable delights that made her head swim.

She took a small, tentative sip and all her senses were immediately overwhelmed and satisfied at the same time. The drink tasted many, many times better than it had smelled. She felt as if she was drinking from a river of warm life itself, the tasty liquid sliding down her throat, smoother than water. The fruity fragrance assaulted her again with a playful vengeance, and she could smell and taste nothing except those succulent treats from the earth.

Warmth was now spreading rapidly throughout every fibre of her being, starting from the tips of her toes, going straight up to the roots of her hair. Her cheeks tingled, and her ears burned. Aeris had never taken alcohol before, but she knew immediately that she was enjoying the very same sensation that made people go over the moon. Now she understood why Cloud and her friends would go to the bar whenever they entered a town. Even professional killers like Tseng and the Turks would celebrate their victories and their continued survival over a frosty mug, and she wistfully recalled the time when they had refused to fight Avalanche because they were on holiday and wanted only to finish their drinks in peace.

It had only been less than a mouthful she had partaken of, but she felt as if she had eaten enough to sustain her for an entire year. She was instantly refreshed and rejuvenated, as if she had just taken a megalixir. But even that miraculous potion was only able to heal a person's wounds, not fill one's stomach. She felt extremely contented and relaxed, as if she had just finished a feast meant for a queen. Aeris could literally feel her cheeks filling out, the dark ringed eyebags caused by lack of sleep quickly receding, her thin and wasted limbs regaining strength. Another gust of wind blew, tossing her braids in front of her, and she saw that her hair, rough, ruffled and full of split ends and snarls, had become silky and glossy and vibrant, looking exactly like the lovely locks the models advertising hair care products on television always boasted about.

Ifalna smiled as she saw the years disappear from her daughter. Aeris had merely been twenty – two years old, but she had gone through a lot during her journey with Avalanche, and while her foster mother and her friends had done everything to make sure that she had been well taken care of, she had been subjected to trials and made to endure agonies that no parent would ever want their child to undergo. The young Ancient had succeeded beyond all imagining, but the stress had taken its toll on her. She had been forced to grow up far before her time. At last Aeris appeared like what she had always supposed to have been had she only been given another chance and a better life; she was now an extraordinarily beautiful girl who had just reached her sweet sixteenth year.

She watched with amusement as Aeris slowly finished her drink, savouring every last drop, her large, sea – green eyes dancing with pleasure, her cheeks rosy and supple, glowing with delight. Finally she was able to give her long – lost daughter the happiness she had never enjoyed.

She stood up, wrapping her arm around her husband's waist.

"Come, let us show you where we live."

And Aeris placed her hands over her mouth, gawking with pure wonder and excitement as she saw two large, white – feathered wings emerge from her mother's back. Was there no end to the wonders of the Promised Land? But still Ifalna smiled gently, placing her free hand on the younger Cetra's shoulder. Unable to contain her feelings any longer, Aeris whooped with joy as she saw one angel wing sprout from her left shoulder, flapping gently in the breeze. She turned to her other side, but there was no wing. The look on her face changed to one of dismay and puzzlement.

Ifalna tried to stifle a laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear," she began to explain, "That's because you're a half Cetra, but don't worry, you'll be able to fly very well even with one wing."

She began to rise above the ground, clutching the Professor tightly.

"Let us go, my dear."

Not knowing what to do next, Aeris did the only thing that she could possibly think of – she jumped, and immediately she was floating above the field, lighter than air itself. She was giggling all the way as she did somersaults in the sky, gliding in every direction, shooting from one place to the next as quickly as a star. She had always bugged Cloud to take her on a ride in the Highwind, hoping to see the world from high, high above, to take in its magnificence all at once, and now her wish to take to the skies had come true.

She followed Ifalna, soaring higher and higher still, until the never – ending garden became one gigantic multicoloured green starscape beneath her. And before her eyes was the most wondrous city she had ever seen. Many times larger than Midgar, the capital of the Planet, the city was filled with millions of large, well – spaced houses, each with its own garden, each as large as a mansion. Many castles, every stone made of gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals, floated slowly on clouds. She saw huge and ancient mountains, deep gorges and large lakes, waterfalls of pure Mako, all brimming with life. Such finery was unknown even to the richest of the rich who believed that they had everything they wanted in life, dwelling in the Upper Plate of Midgar. Even President Shinra, the wealthiest man on the Planet, would have given his soul to even stay in the lowliest hovel here (but there were none to speak of).

The endless streets, plazas and boulevards were crowded with an uncountable number of people. She saw a few winged angels whom she knew were the spirits of the Cetra. There were many more inhabitants without wings, human beings who had done enough good in their lives to transcend the cycle of reincarnation to be invited to the Promised Land. Throughout most of her life, she had seen only the poverty and deprivation of the run – down slums of Midgar, and it gladdened her heart to know that she and her friends would be living here forever one day in paradise.

"Behold, Aeris, your new home."

The Cetra girl smiled beatifically, delirious with absolute felicity. She was truly living in wonderland now.

A/N: Ha ha ha ha.

Don't you like the famous "flower field" scene that appears in every Aeriseph fic?

So, this is my take on what Heaven is like, though I'd think that I'm bad enough to go to Hell instead (see the next chapter!) Don't you love teary reunion scenes? Which probably shows how sad a person I am.

Hmm… what do you think of Aeris as a one – winged angel… mwahahahaha!