Aerith was a small girl, thin and beautiful. She lived in the slums with her adopted mother, Elmyra, and took care of many of the orphaned children. She was sweet and well spoken; a mans dream girl.

But Aerith wasn't interested in men, and the men in the slums didn't seem that interested in her. They thought she was odd, and maybe they were right. Maybe she was a little weird, or at least weird for slum standards. The slums were filled with barely-legal girls who dripped with sex and self-loathing and Aerith was definitely a black sheep with her innocence.

She spent most of her time in an old dilapidated church on the edge of the city limits, tending flowers and watching over children. She was not alone, but at times she felt that way. She didn't have any friends her age that she could confide in. Children wouldn't understand what she was thinking, and her mother would just become worried. Aerith was starting to question her past, and she wanted answers. The only person she could think of would be Tseng, a Turk whom she had known since she was a child. They weren't friends, but he knew things that Aerith thought she deserved to know.

She didn't want to talk to him. She could never decide if he was friend of foe. He would take her, willingly or unwillingly, away from her home in the slums a few times a year, asking her questions about things that she didn't know the answers to. She could ask him questions, but he was never liable to answer them. Every time they spoke he offered her a better life on the plate, all expenses paid. And Aerith would decline, her pride too strong to take such an offer. He would bring her home, apologize, say that it wasn't up to him. Say that she was special. But then he would come back and take her hostage again, bind her, gag her, and force her to answer things that she still did not know.

So that left Aerith pretty much alone in the world. She wasn't sure who she could trust. She wasn't really even sure who she was. Her life was so fucked up that she chose just not to think about it. She would just tend the flowers and watch the children. Go home. Repeat.

She wanted something more out of life, but was afraid of what would happened when she learned the truth about her past. She was torn between wanting desperately to find out and wanting to live in secret forever, hiding behind lies.

It was a sunny, beautiful day, or so she guessed. She had never seen a clear, blue sky before, only the black mess that hung over Midgar like a wet blanket. But that didn't stop her from thinking that maybe the sun shone brightly somewhere. She smiled. You get used to perpetual darkness when you live in Midgar.

She straightened, brushing the dirt from her dress. She was in the garden next her house watering the plants that only seemed to grow where she tended them. The walked down the stone steps, placing the watering can next to the well on her walk down. Her mother was just outside of the house in the doorway, waiting for Aerith as she walked by.

"Are you leaving now Aerith?" Elmyra, a small, older woman handed Aerith a brown package. "Would you mind bringing this to the item shop? Mr. Stonem let me borrow his tools to fix the kitchen table."

Aerith smiled her usual smile. "Of course I'll bring it. I'll leave right now."

She waved goodbye to her mother and headed the short distance to the item shop. She wasn't fond of going to the market, but would do anything for her mom. The slum market was a despicable place, or at least It was in her opinion. It was packed with filthy people, most of them thieves or homeless men. People loitered around and screamed at shopkeepers. There were fights and theft and running children. The people at the market were the scum of Midgar, the dirt of Gaia. It was disgusting.

And today was Sunday, they day that everyone wandered down here to gossip and take advantage of sales. It would be more than packed.

Aerith entered the bazaar and was immediately hit with the stench of despair. She was shoved into the mass of people, pushed and groped every which direction. She held onto the package tightly and tried to wade through the bodies. An old man, greasy and foul smelling reached out lift up her dress, but she quickly slapped him away. She fought through and eventually managed to break free of the crowd, finding a rare open pocket.

And then she looked up.

A handsome. dark haired man turned towards her. He was very tall, so tall in fact that his head stuck out of the crowd. He should have been just another face in the sea of dirty people, but for some reason she could not pull her glance away. Aerith's heart caught in her throat as she looked at the beautiful man. His eyes, his crisp eyes reminded her of the sky that she would never see. He scanned the mob, looking right through her, as if he was searching for something. And that something was definitely not an innocent girl with a long, blue dress and a look of amazement.

And just like that, the dark haired man was gone, and with him went Aerith's heart.

The rest of the day for Aerith seemed like a dream. She delivered the package, tended the flowers and watched the children. But her mind was not there, her mind was on the strange boy that she had seen. She didn't know why she was so caught up on him, or why her heart almost seemed to ache.

But soon, like every small memory, he began to fade from her mind.