Author Note: The beginning of trouble. Also me struggling with the timeline even though I am altering said timeline.
This is why adhering 'stations of canon' is easier than completely rewriting things but I think we're ending the first week of Zack and Cloud safely in Midgar. (Going for a four week 'month')

Oh! I also started adding place names and locations at the beginning of each section.

Gears in Motion

Happy Turtle, Wall Market, Sector Six Slums

Zhijie walked into the Happy Turtle, hopefully this would be where the Wutai agent was. Things were not going well, their leadership had broken apart after the sector 8 attack and half their Sector 7 cell had broken from them in the aftermath.

Making a new deal with Wutai was Avalanche's only chance to fight ShinRa's tyranny.

"Zhijie! Here to help an old man?" The owner asked, tossing an apron at him. "Your friend's not here, I suggested he go and study the people around here, he's made a few friends. And also discovered a couple Soldiers that deserted ShinRa."

"Soldiers don't desert." They were dismissed once weak.

"These have. They're mercenaries now, helping whenever they get hired. Helped me during the security sweep. One of them was Hewley's student."

"Who?"

"Ah, how quickly celebrities are forgotten. Hewley was one of the three famous firsts, talked a lot about honor and promoting ShinRa's Soldier program. Official story is he died fighting on a mission, student inherited the sword… though supposedly the student died five years ago along with The ShinRa demon." Hikaru hummed slightly. "The firsts that exist now are pale imitations, and there we may have a chance."

Leaf House, Sector Five Slums

Sonon had regrets. Many regrets. He couldn't get the paint off his hands. Teaching kids how to fold paper animals had been exhausting, and so had trying to keep them on track.

"Thanks for your help!" Ms. Folia smiled. "I'm sorry to have pushed so much on you today, but with two of us teachers sick …"

"It's fine. Where's the mercs?" Sonon asked.

"Mireille heard of a job for them in Sector 8." Ms. Folia shrugged, wiping down the table. "Now, I think you had questions for me?"

"Well, yes … you know not all Wutaians are evil right? That's ShinRa's propaganda."

"Ah, yes, we're aware of that. Though for the little ones we just say that President ShinRa doesn't like cats. For the older children, we have a special project, where they write their own episodes where the cats are treated better. We have to be careful, there was a man who said we were teaching subversive ideology, and printed it in the Daily Buzz." She looked down. "We lost some donations after that."

"I'm sorry." Sonon was surprised.

"Don't be. Oh! Would you mind writing a story or two? That way they have more accurate information than what we have access to. Especially for the kids with Wutaian descent."

"I'm not much for stories."

"I can help." She pulled out a notebook and flipped to a clean page. "Do you want to do one of your legends or what the cats think of Stamp and his friends disrupting their lives?"

"One of each, I guess. Do we have to be cats?"

"Unfortunately, yes, we don't know who told the daily buzz reporter, so it's better if it's disguised as a creative writing project then actual information. We can't lose anymore donations than we have."

"Okay." Sonon could do this. "So here's the myth about Da-Chao and Leviathan creating our island."

Ms. Folia had to change a few of the sayings, but she also wrote them down and explained why she changed them.

"Now, how does the average cat feel about a dog barging into their home?" Ms. Folia asked. "That may be a good start."

"Dogs are loud and disruptive, so are the clanking metal machines they use." Sonon crossed his arms. "The civilians can only run away."

"Alright. So once upon a time, there was a peaceful town, where cats lived happily." Ms. Folia started the story. "We need a main character name."

"… Melphie."

"Melphie was a …"

"Long furred cat with tortoiseshell coloring." His sister had liked trying to coax the palace cats to her. If Ms. Folia thought it too specific, she didn't say, just nodded and wrote down the description.

"Okay, Melphie was a tortoiseshell cat who loved …"

"Pinwheels."

Ms. Folia wrote that down. "One day as she was playing with the pinwheels…"

"She heard dogs howling and metal clanking." Sonon shook his head. "I can't do this right now."

"Then we can take a break. You can come back when you feel up to it." Ms. Folia put the pen down. "Just come back and finish the story when you can."

"Thank you." Sonon might've fled a little faster than necessary.

He hadn't really had a chance to fully explore Sector 5, so he decided to check out the more abandoned section that appeared to once have been a mining town.

With a giant church. Curiosity won out as Sonon went to check it out.

Aerith was in there tending more flowers.

"This is a special place, the only other place I can grow flowers." Aerith smiled at him. "It's a sacred space."

"Are you a priestess?" That would explain a lot about her temperament.

"No." She giggled, but whatever she was going to say was cut off by a thrum of a helicopter blades. "Hide."

Sonon obeyed, but didn't go far.

A Turk entered. A few had been part of the ceasefire talks.

"Aerith."

"Tseng." She went back to her flowers. "My answer is unchanged."

"I really think you should reconsider." He said evenly.

"Why should I?" Aerith retorted.

"I helped you-"

"You helped yourself, as always. You knew exactly where Zack was and why he couldn't answer me, but you led me on instead. Did you think I would never find out?"

The man flinched as if struck. "You've been in contact with him."

"You're fortunate we've never been the types for revenge."

"I suppose an Ancient's revenge would be, spectacular." Tseng noted.

"Or a slow decay that removes ShinRa's power… My mother had power I don't." Aerith shrugged. "I don't know anything that would help you, if that was the case."

"Aerith, I don't want to alarm you but they could be dangerous to civilians…"

"No. That's you trying to scare me." Aerith sounded completely done with the man. "I think you should leave, Tseng, all you're doing is digging a deep hole when you should drop the shovel."

"I see. Very well. Good day." Tseng left. Sonon waited for the helicopter to leave before dropping down.

"You're an Ancient?" Sonon asked. Wutai had records of them. Wanderers with powerful magic.

"Half. It doesn't matter much, I'm not a weapon." Aerith's tone is just as cool as when speaking with Tseng.

"I don't understand, if you don't like ShinRa, why wouldn't you fight?"

"… Tseng has orders to capture me, but he's been waiting for me to agree to go back to ShinRa willingly. I start fighting ShinRa, he'll just take me by force." Aerith sighed. "My birth mother died getting me away from ShinRa, I don't ever want to go back. Not while that man is there."

"I guess that makes sense."

"I'd hope so. Walk me home?"

"Of course, but if I can ask a question? What did you mean when you said he knew why Zack couldn't receive your letters?" Zack had said prisoners didn't get news, but why would ShinRa imprison a Soldier?

"Not my story to tell. Perhaps you should ask Zack or Cloud."

Sonon wasn't interested in talking to Zack again so soon, no matter that he'd helped him. He'd try Cloud this time.

Seventh Heaven, Sector Seven Slums

"Hey, if it isn't our favorite mercs!" Jessie grinned, moving into flirt with them. Only to be repulsed by a rotten egg smell with a hint of sewage. "Whoa! What did you two fall in?!" Jessie managed.

"Sahagin nest in the sewers. Also a deep swell which isn't normally a fresh or sewer water monster. On the upside, we found the source of the pollution poisoning the water, so Sector eight should be able to get better." Zack sighed. "We rinsed off but there's not much else to be done about the smell."

"Actually, I can help with that!" Jessie grinned. "I made a filter for the water!"

"How much?" Cloud asked. "Sector 8 could use a few."

"Well, if you could do me a favor, I'll give you the first one free. I'll make a trip with Biggs to offer the filters to Sector 8 tomorrow."

"What's the favor?"

"I need a couple people to stand tall and look imposing. Biggs is busy and Wedge … is not imposing." Jessie glanced at Wedge who just smiled at her.

"I'm okay with that!"

"Alright." Cloud sighed.

"Great! And if your looks don't scare anyone, the smell will." Jessie grimaced.

Thankfully the two of them didn't ask questions about why she needed them, or what was in the box she received. Her supplier didn't try to stick around and flirt with her this time.

Jessie just needed a couple more components and things would be ready.

End Note: Celebrities can fade out of public consciousness pretty quickly, I imagine Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth having celebrity status and having that similar fade out- it's almost a decade (at least seven years, I think) for Angeal and Genesis.

So teaching information through a strict censorship is kinda tough but not impossible. The problem is doing so without getting reported by say, an undercover reporter for the Daily Buzz (According to Remake, Damon was snooping around for a while before getting his cover blown, my guess is by the Angel of Slums which is why he was so focused on her identity) For really little kids who might accidentally talk to such a reporter you need to keep it simple, like 'oh, real cats aren't evil, President ShinRa just doesn't like cats which is why his cartoons have them as villains' and then try to explain it more as they get older.

I have mixed feelings regarding Tseng. We're shown in Last Order and Before Crisis that he knows exactly where Zack and Cloud are, and accepts Letters from Aerith, promising to deliver them … except he can't do that because of Hojo and them being prisoners. But he also doesn't tell Aerith the reason why he can't deliver, probably for 'company secrecy' reasons… anyway, I can't see Aerith being happy with him when she finds out why her letters weren't delivered and he knew all along that he couldn't deliver them.