The ruins of Midgar rose like an ugly, jagged scar against the bright summer sky. In the shadow of the abandoned city lay Edge, where the displaced and dazed residents of Shinra's former crown jewel attempted to rebuild their lives in a post-Meteorfall world. Edge was still just a fledgling city, ramshackle and rough around the edges. The first order of business had been shelter for the masses, and most of the buildings had initially been made of salvaged scrap from Midgar. A year in and some of the buildings had started to take shape in to more permanent structures. Wood, brick and stone taking the place of corrugated metal and plastic sheeting.

There was, of course, always beauty to be found even in the least likely of places. For Aerith it was the people. Wherever she looked she could see people helping one another. Sharing a meal, helping to repair a roof before the next storm rolled through, shouldering one another's burdens. She saw the goodness in all those that helped her set up a school for Edge's children, so that they might have some semblance of normality. The inherent kindness of the children themselves; no matter where in the world they were or what circumstances they found themselves in, kids would always be kids. She watched with a smile on her lips as the students of the school laughed as they ran around the small yard on their lunch break. Their teachers, people from the old Midgar schools who had volunteered their time, kept a watchful eye and enjoyed the break themselves.

Aerith returned to her work painting the edging of the roof, enjoying the sounds of the children playing. She liked times like this when the world seemed peaceful and normal . She dipped her brush in the pot of white paint that she had balanced on the top shelf of her ladder, and dragged it across the rim of the tin, allowing the excess to drip off. Straightening slowly, she climbed to the top rung and then reached up for the highest point of the gable. Her ladder was a smidge too short and so she rose on to tiptoes carefully, testing her balance before stretching her arm above her head, brush just making contact with the wood. She pushed herself a fraction too far however, and a sharp pain erupted in her middle.

Gasping, Aerith dropped her brush and reached out to catch herself against the wall of the school, fighting the urge to curl in on herself. She sucked in steadying breaths through her nose, her right hand coming up to fist the material of her dress as though she could catch the ache and pull it away from her. Her nerves were still screaming, and there was nausea burning in her throat when she heard the familiar voice call out to her.

"Aerith?"

She cracked an eye open, spotting Cloud staring up at her in concern. He was holding on to the ladder, one foot on the bottom rung as though to come up after her. She considered trying to placate him, tell him that everything was fine, but she stopped herself. He knew her too well by now.

"Just give me a minute."

Swallowing down the need to wretch, Aerith took a couple more deep breaths before pushing away from the wall gingerly. It was bearable.

She began her careful descent and when she was within reach, Cloud's hands came up to take her carefully around the waist, lifting her from the ladder and placing her on the floor.

He kept steadying hands on her upper arms, rubbing up to her shoulders and back down. "Your scar?"

Aerith nodded, leaning forward until her forehead rested against his collar bone.

The wound she had sustained from Sephiroth had not killed her, but she knew it was a miracle that it hadn't. Healing spells and potions, hurridley administered in the Forgotten City had kept her breathing long enough for her friends to get her back to civilisation, and to a hospital where doctors had fought for a long time to repair the damage that magic had not been able to.

It had still almost not been enough.

Aerith had straddled the line between life and death, had lay in that hospital bed for weeks and weeks. Her friends had reluctantly had to leave her in the care of the doctors while they went off to finish what Sephiroth had started.

It had been a strange time for Aerith. Time seemed arbitrary and pointless; it felt like she spent both a heartbeat and an eternity neither alive nor dead. Sometimes it felt like she was close to waking up. She could hear the soft voices of her friends calling her back. Could feel gentle hands holding hers. Could smell a familiar scent of leather, metal and the outdoors as someone leaned close to press gentle lips to her brow.

Then there were times where the pull of what comes after was strong, and she felt it would have been so easy to just let go . It was peaceful in that place, comforting whispers surrounding her. The Planet, she knew, having heard the voices plenty of times since she was a child. Still, Aerith continued to walk the tightrope between the two worlds, the desire for peaceful relief balanced with the fear of never seeing her special people again, of this being the end of it all.

In the end she supposed it was a blessing that she had one foot in the Lifestream as she had felt the surge of relief from the Planet when Holy was released. Her friends had done it, and Aerith had felt so proud at that moment, her happiness so overwhelming that it had threatened to whisk her away to join the joy of the Planet. The elation had been short lived however, and Aerith had heard clearly when the voices of the Planet had started screaming .

Meteor was too close.

Holy would not be enough.

The Planet and everything on it would perish.

Aerith had always known that there was Cetra in her blood. She had been imprisoned, pursued, and now lay in a hospital bed a whisper away from death because of it. It was not until this moment however that she had felt what that meant, had felt the Cetra in her rising fully to the call of the planet. In a single moment that held all that she was, had been, and would become, Aerith had said goodbye to her friends and to the human life she wished that she could have continued with, and had surrendered herself completely to the Lifestream.

The doctors would tell her afterwards that her heart had stopped. The shrill alarm of the machines had pierced the quiet of the hospital hallways. The medics had fought to bring her back, to get her breathing again, but in the end they had not succeeded. They had felt the bone-aching realisation that came with losing a patient. They knew that her friends would return from saving the world and they would have to tell them, would have to tell the blonde man that had been loathe to leave her side, that she was gone.

Aerith gave her life for the Planet that day, had harnessed the power of the Lifestream to stop Meteor from ripping the world apart and she had saved them all. She gave her life for the Planet: and then the Planet gave it back to her.

The doctors had turned the machines off and the last nurse had been about to leave the room when bright green eyes had fluttered open and pale hands had come up in an attempt to remove the tube from her throat. Aerith had not heard the nurse's shocked cry, or her shouts as she ran for the doctor. She was dazed, ears ringing and heart pounding. Being pushed out of the Lifestream was not pleasant, as it turned out.

Aerith had been given a second chance at life and all it had really cost her in the end was a slice of scar tissue through her middle that occasionally still caused her moments of pain.

"I'm okay." She straightened up and found the pain had faded to a dull ache. "I shouldn't have been stretching like that."

Cloud's eyes continued to search her face and a small frown stretched his lips downwards. In an effort to distract him, Aerith leaned up and kissing the corner of his mouth. An involuntary blush crept across his cheeks, and Aerith smiled, satisfied. It seemed that no matter how much time passed and how many kisses they shared, Cloud would hold on to some inherent bashfulness.

Aerith stepped back but took one of his hands in hers to keep the connection. "Come on, I think it's quitting time for the day." She looked up at the half-painted wood above her. "This can wait until tomorrow I guess."

Cloud considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "Here." He guided her to a nearby crate, turning the wooden box upside down so it could be used as a stool. His hands pressed lightly on Aerith's shoulders until she was seated. "Just take it easy for a moment and I'll finish up."

"You don't have to." Aerith protested but the blonde man was already gathering the discarded paintbrush and heading up the ladder.

"I know."

Aerith watched him while he worked, smiling to herself. She would have suffered Masamune's bite a thousand times over as long as she got to be with Cloud in the end. His walls had fallen since regaining his memories, his sharp edges softened. He was still the man who had tumbled into her flowerbed, he was just all of him now. The one she had been trying to find underneath all the scars that Shinra and Sephiroth had left.

Aerith heard the teachers call the children in for their afternoon lessons and the sounds of laughter and jollity faded as they moved inside. It was just her and Cloud then, left alone with the quiet hum of the city's surrounding streets. She leaned back against her hands slightly, allowing her stomach muscles to stretch a little. The pain was almost completely faded.

"What have you been up to today?" Her voice carried to the man on the ladder easily.

"Some monsters were spotted close to the Eastern borders of the city."

"Did you go by yourself?"

Cloud turned to look at her, eyebrow raised. "Think I can't handle a few toxirats?"

Aerith smiled up at him. "It's never just a 'few' when it comes to you."

Cloud huffed out a small laugh and turned back to his work, covering the last bit of wood with the paint. "Five toxirats and three grassland wolves. Not a problem."

"Of course." Aerith stood and moved back over to the school building, starting to gather up the decorating paraphernalia that she had previously been using. As she crouched to gather the paint splattered cloths, Cloud climbed down the ladder, half empty paint pot in his hand.

"Let me do that. You should rest."

"Don't fuss." Aerith chided. "I'm fine."

Cloud hummed in a way that made it clear just how little he believed her. Instead of arguing further, he simply took the burden from Aerith's arms and added it to his own.

"Stubborn." Aerith shook her head but couldn't fight the smile from her lips. "Okay, how about we head to Seventh Heaven after we've dropped this stuff off?"

Cloud voiced his agreement and the couple headed in to the busy streets of the city.

"Hey guys. Busy day?" Tifa grinned as she spotted the familiar figures walking through the door.

"Not so bad." Aerith slipped on to one of the bar stools. "I just finished painting the new school building. Cloud came and helped after he'd finished playing Mr Merc."

"Old habits die hard." Tifa teased as she reached for a couple of clean glasses. "By the way Cloud, some guy came by earlier looking for you. Something about a motorcycle?"

"Ah." Cloud nodded. "Yeah, figured it would help with getting the delivery service running more efficiently."

"It's a good idea. He said he'll swing back here tonight so maybe you should hang around for a bit?"

Cloud nodded, accepting the cold drink from the woman.

Aerith peered at Cloud. "I should have guessed you'd be in to motorcycles."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aerith and Tifa just shared a look before giggling and Cloud shook his head before changing the subject. "The others been round today?"

"Yep." Tifa pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "Barret is helping me stock check today. He's out back. Yuffie is-"

"Right here." The younger woman appeared from the corridor that lead to the bathrooms. "What's up lovebirds?"

"Hey Yuffie." Aerith smiled. "When did you get back from Wutai?"

"This morning." The girl took the seat next to Aerith. "I'm here on official business for a change. My dad has sent me as an 'ambassador of Wutai's desire to help the people of Midgar and Edge rebuild and foster a beneficial relationship'." She made quotation signs with her fingers. "So basically I'm here to let Reeve know that Wutai will help out, but obviously it's a 'you scratch our back and we'll scratch yours' sort of thing, y'know?"

"It's a good idea." Tifa leaned against the counter. "Edge is growing quickly, getting its feet under it. It's a smart idea for us to start making some trade links now."

"We could probably sell some of this alcohol we've been brewing." Barret appeared from the back of the bar, crate of rattling glass bottles balanced on his shoulder. "This is good stuff."

"Hey Barret." Aerith smiled. "I saw Marlene at the school today. She's growing so quickly."

Barret's face broke into a grin, his favourite topic of conversation instantly brightening his day. "She is. Still cute as a button though, I tell ya."

"Anyway." Yuffie interrupted. "Cid actually gave me a lift from Wutai. He's gone to pick Reeve up, wants to talk to him about this 'woo' thing Reeve is setting up."

"WRO." Tifa corrected but the ninja just waved a dismissive hand.

"Wow it's all go huh? Who would have thought a year ago that it would have all come so far?"

There was a general murmur of agreement at Aerith's words before Cloud's fingers crept over to lightly brush against her own. Aerith looked down at the paint flecked hand before raising her gaze to meet Cloud's. She tightened her fingers around his, knowing he was thinking about the events of a year previously, specifically the period of time when she hadn't been with him.

Barret, Tifa and Yuffie chatted for a while longer, sharing news on what they'd heard Nanaki and Vincent had been up during their respective travels. Aerith listened happily, hand still held in Cloud's.

"I tell ya, it's a wonder anything gets done here with you lot sat 'round nattering like a bunch of old hens." Cid's familiar drawl came from the door of the bar and everyone turned to welcome the newcomer. Behind him stood Reeve Tuesti, former Shinra Director turned World Regenesis Organistion founder.

"Good afternoon all." Reeve bowed his head. "I'm glad to see you again."

Those in the bar offered their welcome to the man and he and Cid moved to join them.

As they all sat together and shared a drink, Reeve shared updates on what the WRO had been working on most recently, including what his military units and scientists had been focusing on. "Of course the big thing will be a sustainable energy source far removed from mako. In fact I want to talk to you about that at some point, Barret."

"Me?"

"Yes." Reeve smiled. "It's something you're passionate about isn't it?"

Barret scratched the back of his neck. "Well sure, but-"

"Passion is what we need at the moment." Reeve interrupted. "In fact, Cid here has agreed to come aboard to lead the air force for us. I know we'll be in good hands with you guys helping."

Barret couldn't seem to come up with a response to that and merely waved Reeve on.

Reeve nodded and looked around at the others. "But that's not why I came to see you. I've got something a lot more straightforward to deal with today fortunately. The central hospital for Edge has been running well since it opened. It seems we're on top of any teething problems now. The only slight issue is that blood supplies are low at the moment, so we're thinking of running local blood drives to encourage people to come and donate. I was hoping that you might allow us to use Seventh Heaven as one of our locations."

"Here?" Tifa straightened and looked around the interior of the bar. "I guess that would be fine. Plenty of space if we move the tables around a bit."

"Great." Reeve clapped his hands together once. "We're hoping that by using local venues it will really help with turnout."

"Not a bad idea." Barrett nodded. "I'm up for donating an armful I guess."

"Won't be hard for them to pick an arm." Yuffie quipped.

"Anyways," Tifa interrupted any potential bickering. "Maybe we could all donate blood? Sets a good example."

Cloud shrugged when her eyes landed on him. "I probably wouldn't be able to. My blood isn't exactly pristine."

Reeve shook his head. "I had thought about that already. I talked to the WRO scientists and they think your blood, while not suitable for transfusions because of the S cells, could still be useful in a testing capacity. At the very least they can separate out your plasma to help develop new immunoglobulin medicines." He looked over at Aerith. "The same thing applies with your blood, Aerith. The scientists would be interested to see how it differs due to the Cetra DNA, they think it could be very useful for research."

Aerith nodded though she was a little delayed in affixing her usual smile to her face and she noticed Cloud eyeing her curiously. She turned away, gaze fixed on the street outside the window and tried to ignore the sound of the others arranging the blood drive for the following day, along with the sudden, heavy weight in her stomach.

The scent of antiseptic tickled Aerith's nose as she sat on the edge of her mother's bed. She didn't like the lights in their room, the low hum from the fluorescent tubes was annoying and the harsh glare made her mother look washed out, like she was fading away.

Aerith patted her mom's hand gently and was happy to get a tired smile sent her way.

"Are you okay, Mommy?"

"I'm fine my sweet. Mommy is just a little sleepy."

Aerith shuffled up the bed, careful to avoid touching the angry red marks on her mother's arms. Her small hand reached out and stroked the hair back from the woman's face.

"You can sleep, Mommy. I'll look after you."

Ifalna smiled at her again, green eyes shining dimly from her drawn face. "My special girl. What would I do without you?"

Aerith continued brushing her fingers through her mother's hair, watching as she fell into a light sleep. She didn't like it when her mom was taken to another room. She missed her terribly, and when she did return she always had more marks on her arms and her colour was a little more faded.

Aerith gently traced her free hand up and down Ifalna's arm. The red dots were slightly raised and faint rings of bruising were starting to show.

Aerith didn't know what happened to her mom when she left their room, but she was sure that it wasn't anything nice.

As she often did, Aerith fell asleep snuggled into her mother's side. Ifalna was warm and her familiar scent was soothing.

The door of their room swishing open and the hands that grabbed Aerith to lift her from the bed were not welcome however.

They'd come for her mother again, Aerith thought, fighting the sleep lingering in her mind. They were going to take away more of her mom's light and bring her back a bit more sad and grey.

"Come on." The woman in the white coat shifted her grip to hold Aerith's hand and began back towards the door. "The Professor needs to see you."

Realising that she was the one being taken this time, Aerith's feet dug in to the ground the way only a stubborn child's can.

"Mommy!" She called, craning her neck to look behind her.

Ifalna was struggling to rise from the bed, arms weakly trying to push herself up and her eyes wide and panicked.

"What are you doing? Don't take her!"

"Come on." The woman in white said again. She tugged on Aerith's hand and the little girl's feet came unstuck from the floor.

Aerith shared a final look with her mother before the door shut between them and she was gently guided down the corridor. She sniffled, tears springing in her eyes. Aerith wasn't used to leaving the room without her mother. She was scared.

"Hey," the woman holding her hand said softly. "Don't worry, this won't take long and I'll bring you back to your Mommy straightaway."

Aerith looked up with tremulous eyes but she found that the woman wasn't looking at her, eyes fixed straight ahead.

They didn't have to go far, just to the end of the hallway. Aerith was guided into a large room which contained lots of blinking screens and tanks of bubbling liquids.

There was a man here and Aerith's feet almost froze in fear again. Professor Hojo. He often came to talk to her mother though Aerith didn't understand a lot of what was said. She did know that her mother didn't like him and that was enough for her to want to run far away.

"Ah you have her, good good. Just sit her on the bed."

Her escort slipped her hands under Aerith's arms and lifted her easily onto the narrow gurney in the centre of the room. Aerith's hands grabbed on to the heavy fabric of the woman's coat.

"It's okay sweetheart." The woman murmured, untangling herself from the child's grip. As the woman moved away, Aerith suddenly felt so alone.

"Now,'" Hojo turned and approached the gurney. "Phase two of my experiment. How much difference is there in a half-blooded Ancient compared with our pure-blooded control?"

Like every time before, Aerith didn't understand much of what the professor was talking about. She had a feeling that she wasn't supposed to.

The man eyed her, unsettling wide smile on his face. "Your arm." He held his left hand out expectantly while his right plucked a syringe from the tray next to the bed.

Aerith eyed the large needle on the syringe and curled in on herself, shaking her head.

She understood a bit better now. They'd taken blood from her in the past though it didn't happen often. It always pinched and her arm would be sore for hours afterwards. Hojo had never been the one to take it before however, always some other nurse or doctor, and Aerith shied away from the scary man.

Hojo tutted impatiently and grabbed her arm, yanking it roughly so it straightened. "Enough of this. I don't have time for your theatrics."

He brought the needle to her arm and punctured the skin. Aerith screamed and pulled away, Hojo's grip slipping from her wrist.

The needle pulled out of her arm roughly, the puncture wound opening up in to a jagged tear.

Aerith gasped, eyes watering as she watched a rivulet of blood creep across her skin.

She was barely aware of Hojo swearing angrily and throwing the syringe aside.

"Hold her down." He barked and the woman that had accompanied Aerith to the lab stepped forward to restrain her.

Aerith sobbed, limbs flailing wildly as she tried to wriggle off the bed and she shouted for her Mommy. Her eyes finally caught the woman in white's gaze and fearful green met sorrowful brown for a second before those eyes looked away again.

Aerith was held down while Hojo looped a strap from under the gurney across her shoulders and then another across her knees. Two smaller leather restraints were affixed to her wrists and soon Aerith found she could do little more than move her head. Once the restraints were in place, Aerith notice that Hojo's assistant scurried across the room and completely out of sight, leaving her alone with the fuming man.

"There," Hojo snarled, grabbing another needle from the tray. "Now maybe I can get some work done."

The lights above Aerith were blinding and the smells here burned her nose more than ever.

As Hojo and his needle loomed over her, Aerith turned her head to the side, tears slipping out silently now. She tried to imagine she was somewhere else, somewhere full of colour and pleasant smells. Perhaps somewhere filled with flowers like those she'd seen in her dreams. She found it hard to make believe this time, and as Hojo slipped the needle into the bend of her elbow all she could see were the tubes of her mother's blood, neatly sitting in a rack on the counter nearby.

Green eyes snapped open and Aerith was back in the present, almost twenty years removed from the Shrina labs and Hojo's twisted experiments.

The stench of the laboratory was still burning her nose, the visceral nature of the dream - the memory - keeping her heart racing.

She tried to focus on the room around her. No sterile walls, no fluorescent lights. Just the plain furnishings of an apartment in Edge and the silver glow of the moon peaking through the cracks in the curtains. Inhaling deeply through her nose, Aerith allowed the scent of the flowers in the vase on her bedside table to chase away the smell of phantom antiseptic.

Strong arms tightened around her waist and Aerith was pulled closer to the warm body behind her.

"Aerith?" Cloud's voice was thick with sleep. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Her answer was automatic.

"Aerith." He sighed and the woman chuckled although it sounded flat.

"Right, that never works does it?"

She shifted in Cloud's embrace, rolling so she was facing him. She brought her arms up between them and traced her fingers across the ridges of his collar bone. She kept her eyes fixed on the hollow of his throat as she spoke.

"I don't think I can go to the blood drive with you guys tomorrow."

"Okay. Why?" There was no reproach in his tone.

She continued to trace his skin. "It will sound silly, especially after everything else we've gone through."

"Try me." Cloud was nothing if not determined.

Aerith chewed on her lower lip for a second before answering. "I'm afraid of needles."

"Oh?" There was no trace of laughter or surprise in Cloud's voice, just genuine curiosity.

"Yeah. Since I was a kid… since the Shinra labs and Hojo."

"Aerith." Cloud held her a bit tighter. "You don't have to explain any further."

"No," she agreed, glancing up at him. "But maybe I should. I always tell you to stop bottling things up after all."

They were quiet for a long while, Cloud's fingers tracing up and down Aerith's spine as she tried to find the words.

"I didn't have it so bad." She said finally, voice soft in the midnight gloom. "Hojo was always more interested in my mom so she took the brunt of it all. Sometimes though he would want a sample of my blood, or to inject me with some chemical or another. He was never gentle about it of course, and I don't know, I've just never got over my fear of needles since." She sighed heavily, shaking her head. "Like I said, it's silly. My mom, you, Zack, so many people had it worse at Hojo's hands."

"You were just a child." Cloud disagreed. "It must have scared you."

She thought about it for a moment. "It did. I always got scared about how much they might take."

"What do you mean?"

"It was never a choice, never really a chance to just allow them to take a vial or blood or give me an injection. Hojo always took what he wanted. Did whatever he wanted. To start with I'd see my mom come back, a bit more of her - I don't how to explain it, her essence maybe? - a bit more of her missing each time. Then when Hojo started taking samples from me I wondered if I'd start to go missing too. The logic of a child, huh?" She offered Cloud her best approximation of a smile but he just looked at her sadly as he listened.

"It makes me angry sometimes that I still have bad dreams about what he did. Even though he's long gone he still has this power over me at times."

"I know." Cloud pressed a kiss against her forehead. And he really did know - Hojo had been an unwelcome visitor in plenty of his nightmares.

"You don't think I'm being silly about the whole blood thing then?"

Cloud levelled her with a mildly incredulous look. "Of course I don't." He gathered her closer to him once more, burying his face in her loose hair. "If you don't want to give blood then that's your choice."

Cloud's breathing evened out as he fell asleep, Aerith still held tight to him. The woman in his arms lay awake for a while longer, Cloud's words playing across her mind.

"Good turn out." Aerith commented as she approached Seventh Heaven. There was a long queue snaking its way around the building and inside to where nurses from Edge's hospital were collecting the donated blood.

"Yeah, everyone really came through." Tifa beamed from her spot by the front steps. She eyed Aerith, concern poorly concealed in her gaze. "Cloud said you weren't coming today."

"He did, did he?" Aerith hummed.

Tifa shrugged. "Well he didn't go into too many details but I put two and two together. I'm sorry Aerith, I never even considered that it might bring back bad memories for you."

Aerith leaned against her friend, bumping her shoulder lightly. "There's nothing to apologise for. This is a good thing you're doing here."

"Aerith?"

She turned, spotting Cloud emerging from the bar, small cotton wall ball taped to the crook of his arm.

"Heya."

"What are you doing here?"

She didn't miss the concern in Cloud's eyes and she shrugged in an exaggeratedly casual manner. "Thought I'd come donate some blood."

Cloud and Tifa looked at her in surprise and she smiled.

"Last night you said it was my choice whether or not to give blood, and I thought about that a lot. Giving blood. Not having it taken. I think that makes a world of difference really."

"Aerith," Tifa began. "You don't have to-"

"I know." Aerith smiled softly. "I want to this time."

When it was her turn to sit in the comfortable seat and have the nurse push the needle in to her arm, Aerith turned her head away, like she had as a child. There was no need to try and imagine a better place this time however. Sitting in the company of the people she cared for, her free hand held by someone she loved, Aerith felt it wasn't so bad.

"Not scary at all." She whispered, and blue eyes smiled back at her.

If you frequent AO3 then you may have seen this story. I've been posting my FFVII fics there for a little while but I very recently managed to get logged back in to this account again after over 10 years!

So I've done a name change to match my AO3 profile, and I'm going to post my stories here too.