Author's Note:
I'm receiving a lot of questions and this makes me very happy. However, I don't reply due to 1. Spoilers and 2. I…actually tend to forget to reply to people sometimes. ^^; But please don't think I do this because I am ignoring you, I love that you all take the time to create theories, ask questions, and comment, I truly do! Also sorry this chapter took a while, I had to go somewhere for an 'emergency' family trip. Enjoy.

007: Shadow

Her arms folded across her mismatched eyes to block the view of the inn's ceiling. Why wouldn't he just speak to her? Then again, she wondered if she was just being too pushy at this point. But she needed to find answers; she came here for them in the first place! Right? Something drew her to here, she felt it, and she still could. It wasn't something Yuna could explain with words, it was just a feeling of certainty, as if she were greeting an old friend from her childhood. This feeling only increased in strength the moment she stepped inside that church.

She resisted, and they failed to pursue her. The game of cat and mouse had grown so tiresome when Reno truly didn't intend on hurting anyone—not anymore. They failed and had no choice but to report this to their boss; that was that. But Rufus knew well enough to predict things wouldn't have been that easy, especially with Cloud involved. Rufus wasn't hard on the two Turks but he still remained disappointed. "But they exist, right?" Through the two men's story, they noted that the girl didn't deny the existence of the summoners, she actually confirmed it. It wasn't anything big but it was definitely something, because now they knew the rumors were true all along.

Now, to convince that same girl that they were not the enemy.
"That's not all," Reno commented. "She knew her—the Ancient that got killed by Sephiroth." Now that was unexpected.
"The flower girl from the slums?" Ifalna's child, Aerith.
"Yeah, I think they were friends or something."
"Small world." If the girl knew the Ancient so personally, their task certainly wouldn't be any easier, but somehow Rufus expected them to be connected in some way.

From outside the office, Kinzo silently waited as he eavesdropped again, the tie fasted around his neck seemed strangely tight with the lump in his throat, but the butterflies in his belly distracted him from that. With every word he heard, his excitement grew. Ancients! The Ancients were back and they could continue with their projects, even with Hojo gone, they can rebuild, they can find new scientists. Maybe he can even earn a promotion and get to work closely with these subjects.

His mind bubbled over his daydreams, and he found himself wandering and lost…
"Kinzo, the coffee!" The voice of Reeve caught the young man's attention, and he didn't realize that he had accidentally tilted the coffee mug at hand, pouring scorching coffee on his own shoes; he felt the violent heat through the leather. Ouch.

"Cloud?" The blond man was interrupted from his morning break at 7th Heaven before his departure to deliver some packages to Kalm, he sat at the bar, and to his left Yuna had taken a seat right alongside him; she searched for his face as he kept his head down. "How is your arm doing?"
"My arm's fine." The bite marks left some scarring; even Tifa took notice when he came back ("What's that? Were you hurt?! You're alright now, right?") "Don't worry about it."
The brunette smiled, neatly holding her hands on her lap, gently smiling to herself. It was then that the faces of Tifa and Marlene approached from upstairs, along them had been the new face of a young boy with brown hair and blue eyes; right away, he noticed Yuna.
"That's her, the woman I was telling you about," Marlene told him. "The one with the scraped knees and funny clothes." She seemed even odder up close.
"I'm fine now," Yuna responded. "Thanks to Tifa, of course." The older woman smiled at her comment, even if the both of them knew scraped knees were hardly a problem. Tifa resumed her position behind the bar, wiping away at the counter, readying for the customers that evening.
"Are you going to help this time?" Yuna shook her head.
"Actually, I have a job! Kind of…" The problem was getting started; where would she find the gardening materials she needed to plant, water, and trim the flowers? Where will she find a basket to hold them in as she took them out? Where will she find any costumers in the ruins of Midgar? She should've thought this through better. "I just need help getting the proper tools." And possibly someone to help her through the ruins of Sector 5 to Edge, on foot it would truly be a difficult task, especially with those fiends wandering around. And again, she couldn't help but to turn to Cloud, smiling sweetly to him, through that smile and her eyes he knew what she already wanted.
"You can find someone else."
"Oh please? I'm not asking you to deliver them, I'm just asking you to help me get started." She wasn't completely helpless, she knew how to fend for herself, and when she eventually adjusted to this new lifestyle she knew she would have a better handle at things. "I just need gardening tools and maybe someone to take me to the church every once and a while."

Cloud didn't know what to say, he never really expressed how he truly felt about the restart of Aerith's 'flower business', and somehow, he couldn't find the energy to say no…maybe he still felt guilty.
"I can help you when I'm not busy," he said. "But I have my own business; I won't be there all the time. Remember that."

It was broken, the carriage he found had been missing a wheel and looked worn out. A tune up and paint job might do it good; otherwise it wouldn't work as well. "I can fix it…" Cloud told himself as he grasped the carriage's wobbly handle—another thing he would have to repair. He was doing this for her; with this she would develop her head start and gain all the gil she needed to go back. Cloud just promised her with this boost, even offered to help her get started for today, but beyond that…he couldn't help her. No, no, he was a busy man himself, and even when he often got roped to help out others anyway. Especially now, right? Right…

Now, to find an extra wheel.

"This is for me?!" Hands clasped at her mouth in disbelief, in front of her had been a used yet well repaired wooden carriage.
"You can use this for all the flowers you pick, besides your basket." Among the rubble which acted as a junk yard for most civilians at the city, it was there that Yuna managed to find a sturdy basket big enough to hold a handful of flowers in. Some of the tools were borrowed. She had everything she needed.
"This is great, you didn't need to…I…" The young woman couldn't help but to feel herself pump with excitement and gratefulness, she didn't even ask for this 'gift' to her, for that was what it exactly was—a gift. "I appreciate this so much. Thank you!" She clasped her hands together, beaming brightly at the blond man. She wanted to hug him, shake his hand, anything to show her gratitude, but instead she kept her distance. She knew he probably wouldn't appreciate something like that. Yuna nervously cleared her throat as she simply stood there, accidentally creating an awkward silence. "Um, thank you, again…"
"It's fine, you don't need to keep thanking me." Cloud nodded though his face remained stern. "I just thought it might help you a little."
"This will help me plenty!" Now it was time to finally get down to work. Yuna knelt down, grasping the gardening tools, she carefully leaned over the flowerbed and began trimming at the stems. She started with the white and yellow flowers, of course, the most common flowers in that church, and the ones she considered to be the most beautiful.

"Do you come here a lot?" Idle conversation was a good attempt, especially since Yuna hadn't wanted for Cloud to stand around doing nothing, luckily he had finished the last of his deliveries and he served to be free for the rest of the afternoon, he could even give a ride back to Edge. "I mean, this church."
"I knew what you meant." Cloud chose to rest long a broken pillar, with his arms crossed to his chest, his focus on the younger woman as she arranged the flowers in her basket. "I used to live here."
"Really?" The woman paused from her work and scanned the ruins and sunshine surrounding them, it was an alluring place and somehow it felt calm enough to be considered a home. But despite all the flowers and sun that livened the area, it was still abandoned and in poor condition. "Why here?"

This was the tricky part, the part in which he hardly felt secure enough to talk about his personal issues, especially toward something like this. He ran away from his problem instead of choosing to stay behind and embrace the love and support of his friends, he chose to deal with it alone. That was a mistake. "I was sick," Cloud simply said and he avoided eye contact. There was a small gasp that escaped the girl, and then Cloud finally looked right back up to Yuna, shaking his head. "I was. I'm not anymore; you don't need to look so scared." Or feel so scared for that matter.
"I'm sorry; I just hope it wasn't anything too serious." It was a terrible disease that made him feel weak, that forced him out of his own home because he grew afraid, so afraid that he wouldn't be strong enough.
"It's gone now, you should worry about yourself."
"Right…" Yuna rubbed at her arm, proceeding with the flowers. But even if she should focus on fixing her situation, it wouldn't mean she wouldn't grow worried over her new friends. "I just wanted to make sure."

After she was finished, she had a basket full of yellow and white bright flowers, radiant with such energy—they were perfect! And they would be even better in the gray city of Edge. "I'm ready." She would start by traveling light first, then once business started to pick up, she wanted to fill the carriage with many types of flowers, as many as she could find. Yuna just hoped that the citizens would warm up to the idea of plants surrounding them. But who wouldn't, right?
"Alright, I'll wait for you outside." Cloud informed, turning away and heading out, leaving Yuna alone in the silence.

It didn't take her long, she just cleaned off her skirt of any dirt that got on it, placed the gardening tools away, and fetched her basket—she was ready to go. With one final fluff to her skirt, she noticed how the sunshine reflected her shadow…along with another that reflected beside her. Cloud flashed in her mind but then she remembered that he was outside, waiting for her, and the presence behind her burned at her skin causing her to jump, gasp, and turn back. There was no one there. "H-huh…?" Shivers ran down her spine and her legs pumped as she ran out without a moment to spare. Halfway down the church's stairs, she halted; what had she just seen? Normally the only ghosts she was ever familiar with were unsents but this was something different, something she couldn't quite describe.

"What's wrong?" Cloud was right outside, waiting beside his vehicle; Yuna shook her head.
She knew she hadn't been alone in there.

Shinra worked so hard to pursue the Ancients and search for the Promised Land, what they found only lead them down the path of their downfall. Did they have the best chance for opportunity? All his life Kinzo was put down for the unfortunate klutz he came to be, his foot suffered only a small amount of damage done by the boiling coffee. But the excitement pumped in his veins as he saw this golden opportunity to climb the ladder of success. No more being the lonely underdog who constantly fetches drinks and lunches, nor that poor sap that others constantly pick on and make fun of, and even went as far as to shove to the ground sometimes. People were cruel, and it wasn't just the school bullies from the past. With very little family and friends who all grew distantly from him since Shinra's downfall, or even bluntly left him, he felt this was his only thing and his only moment to do something he needed her, he needed to find this mysterious woman if he were to ever seek out to rebuild their beloved company, and what better way with a human capable of doing what the Ancients could do? Including so much more; they could rule the entire summons.

Nightfall fell soon, Yuna stood at the concrete with a basket in her arms, watching civilians pass by, noticing a poster for some play plastered all over the brick walls of buildings—Loveless, it seems to be called. She gone through many people, plenty of them seemed peeked by the sight of the flowers being sold. A lot of the children seemed to have recognized them, pointed them out as the flowers from the old church, and she sold them for a gil each. She wasn't rolling with income but she was getting somewhere. By the end of the day, a handful of flowers remained in her basket and she thought about calling it quits. "I wonder if I can make a bouquet," Yuna said to herself, already pondering if she should keep the remaining flowers for herself.

She trudged along, watching ahead as the streets and sidewalks decreased in the number of people, each person returning to their homes and shops for the evening, the soft orange glows of their lights coming from inside; it was time for her to return to her inn room.

All in all, she felt good, she felt like she had gotten some progress going and she would soon have enough gil to get back in no time, she even had some fun despite all the hardship leading up to it. "Maybe I'll visit Tifa tonight." In a sea of quiet crowds, she was shown kindness which she reflected with gratitude, and when her time eventually came she would have to repay them back. Of course, sharing her profits didn't feel like enough. So how could she ever repay the woman who offered her a tab? How could she repay the man who fixed up a broken carriage, who helped her get around, who stood by her despite his cold exterior? Yuna fell deeply to her thoughts that she hadn't realized she had stopped at her tracks, that there was the familiar rasp of an elderly man's voice approaching her, the black cloak hiding his face as his shaking, frail hand extended to grasp her shoulder. Yuna immediately spun around, gasping in shock and fright.
"I-it's you!" The woman recognized the dark cloak from the first day she arrived; it was the old man she gave gil to. "Are you alright?"
The man simply rasped and breathed deeply rather than respond to her question and he mumbled something, but with his voice so low Yuna barely made out what he said.
"…hir…th…"
"What was that?"
"…eph…" Yuna leaned down, focusing all her hearing to the elderly man.
"S…Seph. Sephir…oth."
"Sephiroth?"

The word was incredibly unfamiliar to her, it even sounded weird upon her tongue. However, as soon as she repeated it, the man gasped, just as he had done the moment he saw Yuna's face for the first time. The confusion in her quickly melted away as a sinister aura clouded around her. She felt a presence towering behind her, burning through her body. It was just like how she felt in the church, only much darker. She turned around once again only to be greeted by an empty street with no one in sight. "That was…" She looked back to the elderly man only to find that he, too, was nowhere in sight. "…strange."

The area around her was nothing but darkness and silence, leaving just her and her basket. She didn't like the feeling her gut gave so she quickly whisked away, not daring to look back as she returned to the inn.