Not the Fighting Type [Lightning]

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Aerith wasn't quite used to seeing so many different shades of brown. It looked like whoever had designed Bhujerba wanted to conjure a desert theme... despite it flying in the sky. There were a few lush gardens, and a large blue structure she hadn't inquired about, but overall the city was simply brown. The slums had been brown as well, but that was more an effect of being dirty than having been designed that way. But she might have simply been in a bad mood. The odd hovering chair her new friend Cid Raines had given her was taking a lot of getting used to. She was used to walking around and doing things; now she had to push a little stick to steer it. She'd rammed in to things and people a few times, but she felt like she was getting the hang of it.

Aerith had decided to stop by one of the lush areas of the city, and had begun picking (With some difficulty) the oddly colored flowers she found there. It was nice; she hadn't done this in a long time, and the flowers here seemed much more vibrant than any she remembered seeing; their coloration was unusual to her as well. Despite her frustration with everything, being so close to nature again brought a smile to her face. It was like a little piece of home; she could almost feel the energy in the plants around her. This didn't stop her from bumping the chair's control and moving backwards however, almost plowing over a woman with bright pink hair and an outfit that reminded her of Raines'.

"Oh! Excuse me; I'm not used to this thing yet. It's a new thing... I didn't think wheelchairs could float." Aerith said casually, smiling brightly at the rather grave looking woman. "I'm Aerith, Aerith Gainsborough. It's nice to meet you, miss. Please don't ask me for directions; I'm new here myself."

[admin]

[style=color: #666666; font-family: georgia; font-size: 18px; font-style:italic; text-align: center; text-shadow: 1px 1px #FFFFFF; margin: -5px;]         take a look at me now, it's just an empty space[/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #336699;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; line-height: 8px;] [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #003366;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #333333; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: verdana;]She still wasn't quite sure where she was, even after all this time; at least a day of wandering around the city called "Bhujerba", a night at the inn, and an odd conversation with a young woman that had exploded had yielded barely any information. Such as, in what world she had ended up in - as this had to be another world. Cocoon was nowhere to be seen, but then again, sight beyond the outcropping of rock on which she stood was somewhat hampered by the dark fog that resembled thunderheads gathering in the atmosphere. The city, clad in earthy tones, was in shadow as well; even colors that should have been vibrant appeared dull. Especially the flowers. Away from the hustle and bustle of city-folk that stared at her (she had noticed how their clothes resembled Pulsian garb, or at least antiquated clothing), openly gaping at her uniform, gunblade, and locks of their particular blush hue, there was a small garden of untouched greenery, half-hidden in the shade of a nearby building. Staring intently at the way the stalks and leaves curled around her dual-toned boots, observing the even rhythm of her footsteps as she thought about everything she remembered, trying to tie it together - Orphan, floating above Eden looking down at two specks that burst into light, darkness - she failed to see the shape of someone before her, aloft on a hovering device and shooting suddenly toward her. Lightning's instincts acted before she could process fully; she hopped backward a step, going for her gunblade, but stayed her hand as she realized what she was seeing. A young woman, presumably lacking the function of her legs and perched on a floating handicap platform, spoke in a gentle voice as her lap framed a few plucked flowers. "Oh! Excuse me; I'm not used to this thing yet. It's a new thing... I didn't think wheelchairs could float." Still somewhat shaken, if only because the suddenness of the adrenaline rush coursing through her veins, Lightning did naught but quirk a rose-colored eyebrow. That doesn't look like it's from around here. "I'm Aerith, Aerith Gainsborough. It's nice to meet you, miss. Please don't ask me for directions; I'm new here myself." "I won't," Lightning deadpanned, visage unchanging even as she sank further into thought. "Lightning. Pleasure.." She folded her arms. "Mind telling me where the chair's from? Out of curiosity." [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style,border-left: 20px solid #CCCCCC;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 8px;]WORD COUNT: 422 MUSIC: strange things will happen by the radio dept. TAGS: aerith CREDIT: aerie @ ote and ftb[/style]

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Aerith couldn't help but chuckle a bit when the woman mentioned that her name was Lightning. Now she knew a Cloud and a Lightning. She couldn't help but wonder if she would meet a Squall or Snow next. The woman looked like she was a soldier, but something about her struck Aerith as being kind. Something in her eyes, perhaps; her expression was a little frightening in that way a soldier's pre-programmed glare usually was. Aerith offered a flower to Lightning with a sheepish smile on her face, a little nervous under the look.

When she asked where the hovering device she was sitting on was from, Aerith could do nothing but shrug. "The same place you did, I'd guess. The man who gave it to me had a uniform a lot like yours. Where was it he said he was from... Cocoon? Hm, I think that was it. I was still a little out of it when he told me," she replied, sticking a finger on her chin and making a fairly silly expression while she thought about it. She shrugged again and offered a smile to the woman, despite the fact that she didn't seem to have any desire to do anything but stare in to her soul.

"U-um... You know, I bet you'd look even prettier if you smiled a little. and... uh... you're... you're scaring me a little with that expression. Trust me, I'm the last person who would want to mess with someone else; I can't even move my legs any more," Aerith said nervously, her smile broken for a few moments by a nervous frown. She almost immediately regretted saying it, and attempted to change the topic back to the hovering wheelchair she was in. "You're from Cocoon, right? Your uniform looks a lot like Mr. Raines' uniform. He's the one who found me here, and the one who gave me this thing. He's a very nice man; you should meet him if you haven't already. He's here in town somewhere, I think..."

[admin]

[style=color: #666666; font-family: georgia; font-size: 18px; font-style:italic; text-align: center; text-shadow: 1px 1px #FFFFFF; margin: -5px;]         take a look at me now, it's just an empty space[/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #336699;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; line-height: 8px;] [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #003366;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #333333; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: verdana;]The flower drooped into Lightning's face, just below her nose, and said attribute of her face wrinkled as one of the petals of the pink tulip brushed against it. She took the proffered flower gently; could almost hear Serah in the back of her mind, as she wrapped her bare fingers around the verdant stem. "You have to be gentle with them, Claire. They're flowers, not big hunks of metal that you swing at monsters, remember?" She has a bluebell in hand, trimming the phalanges of leaves from its stem. And she sees the vague discontent in Lightning's face with a small smile. "I know what you're going to say, Claire - they're beautiful because they're fragile, because you realize that beauty might be gone in the next moment." Serah frowns, and her face sinks into the bluebell, as if she speaks to it only. "It takes a lot of time and love to nurture a flower, but only a second to destroy it." Lightning's expression softened as the memory rushed through her being, and she was filled with conflicting contentment and a renewed anxiety. Where's Serah? Barthandelus didn't - "The same place you did, I'd guess. The man who gave it to me had a uniform a lot like yours. Where was it he said he was from... Cocoon? Hm, I think that was it. I was still a little out of it when he told me." Her guess confirmed to be true, the soldier was still not entirely expecting that someone from Cocoon had made it here. To be more specific, a member of the Guardian Corps was wandering around the city... she would be eager to find him, but he would most likely be less than comforting, given her status as a - Lightning froze. Our Focus. Did we...? I did become a Cie'th, for a moment there. But does that mean-? She couldn't check her brand now, not without raising a few questions from her newfound flower-picking companion. So she shoved the thought to the back of her mind for later analysis and refocused on Aerith's tale, twirling the tulip idly between her thumb and forefinger. "U-um... You know, I bet you'd look even prettier if you smiled a little. and... uh... you're... you're scaring me a little with that expression. Trust me, I'm the last person who would want to mess with someone else; I can't even move my legs any more." The young woman's statement was met with a softly blank stare, with widened eyes that glinted blue-green in the scant light. Lightning had not expected the remark whatsoever, and her usual instinct to glare at the speaker was overwhelmed by something that might, in weaker individuals, be called tenderness. Perhaps it was because Aerith so reminded Lightning of her sister that she couldn't snap at the flower girl; after all, she was vaguely irritated at the fact that her most impressive narrowed eyes had been replaced by something so vulnerable. Deciding firmly to not think about it for a long while, she buried the incident in a corner of her mind. "You're from Cocoon, right? Your uniform looks a lot like Mr. Raines' uniform. He's the one who found me here, and the one who gave me this thing. He's a very nice man; you should meet him if you haven't already. He's here in town somewhere, I think..." "Raines?" Lightning burst out, then clamped her mouth shut, inwardly kicking herself. What's wrong with you? Stay under control. But that had been the name she was least expecting to hear. The least. Raines... once a Brigadier General, once a Cocoon l'Cie, now a visitor in Bhujerba? Lightning would find him. There were things she hadn't gotten a chance to say to the man before he had... before he had crystallized, so how is he here now? What's going on? "Can you tell me where you last saw him?" Lightning asked Aerith, folding her arms with the tulip still in hand. She smiled slightly when her gaze fell upon the bloom once more. "And thank you for the flower... it's quite pretty." [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style,border-left: 20px solid #CCCCCC;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 8px;]WORD COUNT: 719 MUSIC: it's good to be in love by imogen heap TAGS: aerith CREDIT: aerie @ ote and ftb[/style]

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Aerith was a bit surprised when the woman reacted to Cid's name the way she did. Maybe he was supposed to be dead like she was. Aerith raised her eyebrows a little when the woman looked away with a look like she was going to murder the patch of ground she was glaring at. It reminded her of Tseng's looks when he let something slip he wasn't supposed to. Zack had done that a time or two himself, and so had Cloud. For some reason, that made her think the two could possibly have been cross-world cousins or something. Aerith had to keep herself from laughing at the thought, and thankfully the woman spoke back up before she could laugh.

"Well... I don't actually know. We've been staying at the same inn and he found me, but... I don't know where he's gone. I wish I could be more helpful," she replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "You could try asking around though; I don't think anyone else that tall in that kind of uniform would be a common sight around here. But then... I guess a girl with pink hair and a lady in a hoverchair aren't everyday sights either, are they?"

Aerith smiled at Lightning when she thanked her for the flower, picking up on the light smile the woman gave. She was clammed up more than Cloud had been, for sure, but she still caught the look. "You're welcome. The flowers here are a lot more vibrant than where I come from. The people in charge, Shin-Ra, were sucking energy straight from the planet's own, so things didn't usually grow there. I think I was the only person who was able to get anything to grow there, or that's what everyone told me. It was always dark there; either there were clouds or the upper city was blocking out the sunlight. I like it out here, even if it is foggy; the air is so much cleaner.

O-oh, sorry, I'm from Midgar. You... probably haven't heard of it; Mr. Raines hadn't either. I've never heard of Cocoon or Gran Pulse or Ivalice before just the other day myself. So what do you think's happened, Lightning? To the world, I mean. Or, um, worlds... I don't know what to call it." Aerith asked, tilting her head to the side and peering at the soldier inquisitively.

[admin]

[style=color: #666666; font-family: georgia; font-size: 18px; font-style:italic; text-align: center; text-shadow: 1px 1px #FFFFFF; margin: -5px;]         take a look at me now, it's just an empty space[/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #336699;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; line-height: 8px;] [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #003366;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #333333; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: verdana;]Lightning nodded absently in response to Aerith's half-rhetorical question, more occupied in mentally summarizing everything she did and didn't know. I'm in a place that isn't Cocoon or Gran Pulse, with technology that is definitely below Cocoonian level. Raines is alive and around here somewhere, and apparently well enough to gift a hoverchair to a crippled flower girl. Everyone else is missing, Serah might still be trapped in crystal, and I don't know whether or not I'm a l'Cie anymore. Aerith isn't from this city either, which means something has happened to dump residents of multiple locations in one place. The only solutions she could come up with were to a) actively seek out other people from other places that had ended up here, or b) find Raines directly and figure out what he knew. To Lightning, the second option was a sight dodgier than the first, even with the awkwardness of possibly being considered insane by the general populace - the last time she had seen Raines, he had fought the group for the sake of his own freedom. Not only that, he had touched her gunblade. For that reason alone, she had a little bit of a bone to pick with him, but still... Then again, Raines might not be a l'Cie. If he was here now, perhaps he was human again. And perhaps she was too. "So what do you think's happened, Lightning? To the world, I mean. Or, um, worlds... I don't know what to call it." She had been staying somewhat engaged with Aerith's explanation and tale as she thought; it was a useful talent to have, being able to think and listen at the same time. The question, however, pulled her firmly from her thoughts, as she sensed she was honestly expected to answer. "From what I understand, something or someone caused different people from different worlds to be dumped in the same place." This she said matter-of-factly, beginning to pace with her arms folded across her midriff. Out of habit, she avoided the flowers and their stems, opting to step on the grass instead as she walked. Turning on her inside foot, the wine-red fabric of her cape snapped out behind her as she retraced her route. "It didn't happen to everyone; only to some." She and Raines, both l'Cie... and Aerith. "Are you considered different in any way?" Lightning asked suddenly. "To the people of your world, are you anything besides an average human?" Maybe Midgar's version of l'Cie is whatever Aerith might be... or, could the displacement have happened at what would have been the moment of death? Lightning had, if she remembered correctly, been about to turn to crystal; Raines had already before he had arrived here - she had seen it happen. And come to think of it, hadn't the flower girl mentioned she wasn't yet used to the hoverchair? Was that because it was a new invention to her, or because she hadn't had to use any sort of device to get around? Had something that should have caused her death instead left her crippled, but sent her careening through spacetime anyway? There were so many possibilities, but without proof, Lightning was no closer to understanding what had befallen them. [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style,border-left: 20px solid #CCCCCC;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 8px;]WORD COUNT: 568 MUSIC: starting over - ffxiii-2 ost TAGS: the flower girl! CREDIT: aerie @ ote and ftb[/style]

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Aerith watched Lightning begin to pace, about to pipe up about the flowers... but the pink haired woman avoided stepping on them anyways. She noticed the woman was more observing what had happened than jumping to conjectures. It reminded her of Nanaki and his demeanor. When the pink haired woman asked her if she was different, Aerith raised her eyebrows and pointed at herself. "Me? Well... kind of..." she said, the reminder that she was the last Cetra alive hitting her like a sack of bricks. She frowned and sighed. "My people were the first ones on our planet. We knew how to communicate with the planet's life force directly; we called it the Lifestream. When people on my world die, their souls rejoin the Lifestream. the Cetra were the only people who could... hm... speak with it, I guess. But..."

Aerith shook her head sadly, not really wanting to talk about her predicament. "Then a monster from another world came to our planet. the Cetra were able to defeat it and seal it away... but a lot of them died. Less and less of them were born, and normal humans populated the planet in our place. By the time I was born... it was just me and my mother. She died when I was still little. So that makes me the very last one in the world. I can't feel the Lifestream here... but I can feel this planet's life force in the plants here. It's different than what I know, but I can still understand it. It's not in words or real thoughts, but I can still feel it there. It's very weak... like this part of the world was dragged away from the rest of it, if that makes any sense. Your life energy is different too."

Aerith cleared her throat and tilted her head inquisitively at Lightning. She couldn't say she was mad at the woman. She had to talk about it some time... she even felt a little better. She pushed the thoughts of just how utterly alone she was in the world out of her head and focused on Lightning instead. "Ah... so.. yeah, I guess I am different. How come?"

[admin]

[style=color: #666666; font-family: georgia; font-size: 18px; font-style:italic; text-align: center; text-shadow: 1px 1px #FFFFFF; margin: -5px;]         take a look at me now, it's just an empty space[/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #336699;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; line-height: 8px;] [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #003366;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #333333; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: verdana;]Silently, Lightning paused in her deliberate steps, folding her arms and cocking one hip comfortably to the side as she listened to Aerith's soft voice narrating. The sympathy wasn't a sudden and overpowering force; more like a basin being slowly filled, or a font at the core of herself that allowed her to empathize. Absently, she thought again of her sister, and how alike the two of them seemed to her... she would have faith that the crystal sleep would protect her sister until Lightning could find her again. Perhaps, in that time... she might do what she could to protect Aerith, instead. As somewhat of a tribute to Serah, for one thing, but also because the woman's story had stirred empathy in the young ex-soldier. It's a difficult thing, to be the only different being in a land of those who aren't like you. The sound of the flower girl clearing her throat caught Light's attention, and she shook herself slightly. Stay focused. It wouldn't do for her attention to keep wandering, not while she still couldn't account for the feelings of ninety percent of the population of this city. Aerith's statements describing the Lifestream, or the general life force of everything around them, themselves included, caught Lightning's interest... privately, she wondered if that ability would make it any easier to discern what had happened. Perhaps those strands of energy had been tangled, somehow, like circuits connected incorrectly. She wasn't altogether sure. But in response to the woman's question, Lightning turned away and began to pace again. "Raines and I," she began, "are, or were, both l'Cie. Humans cursed by fal'Cie, beings akin to lesser gods, to accomplish a given task." The statement was blunt, treated with detachment; facts were facts, to remain uncolored by feelings or bias. "L'Cie are given special abilities to carry out their Focus, though are faced with only two options; fail, and become a Cie'th, a fate worse than death - or succeed," she paused, "and be crystallised for eternity. "In action, the Cetra and the l'Cie might not be so different," Lightning explained, turning to face Aerith again. The sway of her maroon cape expended its momentum, dangling loosely at her calves. "Maybe it's because of these differences, these special abilities, that we were moved - that we ended up here." Flimsy conjecture didn't match with Lightning's personality. She preferred to shoot first and ask questions later, though in a situation like this, there were no targets to apprehend. She would have to find her own answers. "What do you think?" she bequeathed of the flower girl softly, toying with the tulip still in her grip. [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style,border-left: 20px solid #CCCCCC;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 8px;]WORD COUNT: 465 MUSIC: hope_pfner3 - ffxiii ost plus TAGS: aerith NOTES: i don't like this one so much; finished CREDIT: aerie @ ote and ftb[/style]

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Aerith quirked her head to the side at Light's suggestion of what had happened. It was possible, but... the flower girl shook her head and frowned. "It's possible... but everyone else here seems to be pretty normal. I mean, yeah, there's that walrus guy and those lizard things... and I've seen Moogles-- I thought they were just story characters-- but they've all seemed like normal people. I've seen some people from Midgar here, but they weren't anything really different from normal people..." she said, feeling bad for shooting a hole in Light's plan. The young woman leaned her head on her hand for a moment, thinking of something to say.... but she couldn't think of any reasonable idea for how they got there.

"Hah, maybe we've all just been pulled here at random because we're in some game the gods are playing. Wouldn't that be crazy? ... Oh... I really hope that's not what it is," Aerith said, laughing at first then covering her mouth with her hand and looking a bit nervous. She recovered quickly and smiled at Light brightly. "You know... you remind me of someone who helped me out once. He was all serious like you, and I think he was a soldier too. I kinda miss everyone from home... but hey, maybe we can travel together some and find your friends too? I'm not a good fighter, but I know a lot of healing magic."

Aerith shook her head again and frowned a bit. She hated bringing up depressing topics. "Being a L'Cie sounds terrible. Imagine if you were made one by a fal'Cie that wanted to destroy the world... and having no choice but to do it. I don't think I'd know what to do. So ah... I can't think of anything else to say really. I'm too confused about everything to be able to make sense of it all myself..."

((This post is blah.))

[admin]

[style=color: #666666; font-family: georgia; font-size: 18px; font-style:italic; text-align: center; text-shadow: 1px 1px #FFFFFF; margin: -5px;]         take a look at me now, it's just an empty space[/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #336699;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; line-height: 8px;] [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style, border-left: 20px solid #003366;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #333333; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: verdana;]Listening to the holes being blown in her idea with barely a reaction, Lightning could not, however, hold back the tiniest fragment of a quirk to her lips at Aerith's animated reverse-theorizing. (Walrus guy? She didn't know whether to ask about the phrase or not.) Even as the flower girl spoke the statement, the nagging feeling that they were going about this the wrong way tugged at Lightning; she thought on this until Aerith's million-watt-intensity smile distracted her from her musings. Taking in her companion's words objectively, albeit for a moment during which the young woman was instead a fourteen-year-old boy casting his first spell (the Farron woman's eyes softened at the memory, as she found another connection to those she had known), she nevertheless found herself tentatively nodding along with the idea. Cautiously, and with concern, but willing to act on the notion... not just for her l'Cie family, but for Aerith's precious people as well. Whatever had brought them here... ... the flower girl meant well, by her next few voiced thoughts, but something in Lightning's throat caught anyway. She masked it by turning away, slightly, not facing Aerith as she spoke. "The fal'Cie do whatever they want with their servants," she said, in an uncharacteristically small voice. The behavior was dispelled quickly, but the moment of vulnerability had been there nonetheless. "So your soldier boyfriend," she said at last, turning back to face Aerith with scarcely a difference to her demeanor - besides, if one would notice, an only barely-visible fading redness to her eyes. "Tell me about him." [/style]

[atrb=width,460,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=FFFFFF][atrb=style,border-left: 20px solid #CCCCCC;][style=background-color: #FFFFFF; font-size:10px; line-height: 12px; color: #666666; text-align: justify; padding: 10px; font-family: courier new; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 8px;]WORD COUNT: 262 MUSIC: earthgirl - two steps from hell TAGS: aerith NOTES: worst post e-v-e-r CREDIT: aerie @ ote and ftb[/style]

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Aerith was a bit surprised when Lightning asked about her 'soldier boyfriend'. It brought back a lot of painful memories, and she couldn't help but wince a bit. She twiddled her thumbs nervously and looked away. Th-there were two actually... Zack, the older one, was really energetic and upbeat. He acted like a womanizer sometimes but he was just really sweet. He... was killed on duty. The second one was seven years later..."

It was a bit of a shock the memory that came to her mind when she thought of Cloud. She could see, from his perspective, her lightly breathing body being dropped in to the small pond in the City of the Ancients. Aerith jolted up straight at the sight, temporary sadness over Zack replaced with anger and shock. She shook it off, shaking her head and rubbing her temples. "Personality wise he was a lot like you. He was quiet, but I don't think it was for the same reason. He had a lot of negativity and self doubts all the time about some of the stupidest stuff.... Oh, and he dropped me in to a lake while I was unconscious and drowned me. Funny, I only just remembered that when you brought it up but now I'm just... Ugh, that idiot! I-I was still breathing! I even sunk like living people do when you dump them in water! Did NO ONE notice I was still alive? I thought I died because Sephiroth stabbed me but..."

Aerith noticed then that she was starting to shout, and cleared her throat, looking down at her lap and twisting the stem of one of the flowers she'd picked back and forth. "I... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to start yelling. It's just... I never expected to remember something horrible like that... a-and I never thought they'd just let me drown like that; I was still alive.... ohhhh, god, I'm going to sound like I'm insane...."