Title: Meeting in the Rain
Fandoms: Final Fantasy VII
Characters: Aerith Gainsborough, Tifa Lockhart
Rating: SFW
Length: 2344 words
Content notes: Pre-game, ignores Crisis Core
Summary: Aeris decides to help a stranger on the way home.


Rain poured down around Aeris Gainsborough as she paused briefly on her way home. The flower girl peered out from under her umbrella and looked up towards the gigantic metal plates suspended above her. She was currently effectively in open air under the gap between sector four and five. On this like so many days there simply wasn't the time to take a train, and so she made sure to at least look up through the breaks in the metal sky of the slums. Aeris craved even just a glimpse of the upper world, a chance to see the sky, even if it was so often dark and thick with rain clouds.

She ducked back under her umbrella and resumed her journey home. Maybe there would be some word from Zack? She tried to suppress the faint stirrings of hope unfolding in her chest. It had been three months since Zack had gone on his mission and she had heard nothing from him since. Aeris had begun reading the paper every day on the slim chance it might contain something about her lover - and not a report of his death. So far there had been no mention of Zack, but when she read about the death of Sephiroth her heart had lurched. The article unexpectedly evasive on precise details, but at least it made no mention of any other SOLDIERs perishing in the same incident.

After the brief moment of panic, Aeris had felt a little silly; she would know if Zack had returned to the Planet. She'd felt more than one soul slip back to the Planet over the years and was certain she would have recognised Zack's if he had suffered the same fate; he was unquestionably still alive. But then where was he? What could or would be taking him so long to return? Questions without answers. There was little she could do except wait as patiently as possible. Well, she could try talking to the Shinra company directly, though such an act felt too much like tempting fate; she had never been entirely clear how she had remained out of their clutches - not least when Tseng knew full well where she was.

Those first few months with Elmyra had been nerve-wracking each and every day as she waited, fearfully, for Hojo to re-enter her life and drag her from the comforting warmth she'd found in the slums. But the moment never arrived, time wore on and Hojo never came for her. Tseng made repeated, cursory attempts to persuade her to return despite her repeated rejection and he always left without further comment. Though the cost of her freedom had been great, it still seemed a little too easy. She was never going to protest her newly gained freedom, though she'd never actually tested its limits; never tried to leave Midgar itself.

A scrabbling noise beside her distracted Aeris from her thoughts; a hunched figure drew away from her in the meagre shelter of a debris pile. Elmyra had spent a long time impressing upon her how dangerous the slums were and how she had to be careful, no matter how desperate someone might look. But there was something different about the hunched, shivering form nearby. Dark hair dangled in messy strands, obscuring a dirt-streaked face just visible above the thin white blanket the figure was hugging around itself. Even from here Aeris could see it was far too thin to be of any use in the damp air.

Indecision tore at her. If she did nothing the stranger would likely either freeze to death, contract something unpleasant or suffer at the hands of one of the gangs down here. If she helped them- well it was a risk. The simplest, easiest thing would be to walk on and pretend she hadn't seen anything. She dithered and then re-appraised the figure. They needed help. The flower girl took a step closer and spoke softly.

"Hey."

The figure stiffened at her voice and then the flower girl saw wine-coloured eyes staring at her through a veil of filthy hair. It was a girl. A pretty girl. She was covered in dirt and more worryingly blood, but she caught Aeris's attention in a curious, unfamiliar way. The other girl said nothing and simply stared at her in defiance.

"Are you okay?" Aeris tried again, now noting the strips of bandages encircling the girl's head, half hidden under her dark hair, and the way her fingers clawed at what she now recognised as a stain-streaked hospital gown. A deep red stain was prominently visible underneath the scratching of the girl's fingers, the girl wincing with each movement of her fingers. The hand reached to tug the sheet around her more, but quickly returned to scratch once again at a lower point. It looked like the girl had fled hospital and very recently. Aeris glanced around; they were pretty much on their own here, most would choose the shelter of the plates during rain.

Aeris crouched down, bringing her face level with the girl's.

"It's okay," she began soothingly reaching out a tentative hand to the huddled form. The girl squirmed away, forcing herself a fraction deeper into the scant shelter the debris provided her. Aeris paused as she regarded the figure in front of her, wondering how best to proceed. Something was stopping her from just walking away from this stranger with the stained clothes and a hospital in her very recent past. She shivered at the thought; what if this girl had experienced something like her past at the hands of someone like Hojo? And unlike her, there was no comforting, kind-hearted stranger to take care of her once away from those whose insidious designs required her to be in near constant pain.

Aeris eyed the rough diagonal of blood stains across the front of the girl's hospital gown. "I want to help you," she tried again, keeping her extended hand still, while the other shifted the pole of the umbrella against her neck. The girl's wounds could very easily become infected in the squalor down here and the flower girl doubted very much that this girl had any gil.

Aeris kept her eyes locked with the suspicious ones in front of her and watched with rising hope as the girl stopped chewing her lip.

"You with Shinra?" she said after a pause as her hands finally let go of the sheet and curled into fists in front of her. Her stance lasted barely a second before her right hand, still clenched, rubbed awkwardly on the front of her shirt.

"No," Aeris replied, ignoring the aggressive stance. "No, I escaped them years ago." She paused for a beat before voicing her suspicion. "Did they do this to you?"

"Not directly," the girl's voice responded, clipped, nervous and alert. "SOLDIER." The word caused a chill to burst inside Aeris's chest. A SOLDIER did this to her? Someone like Zack? Absently the girl scrapped her fist down and across slightly, finding a new point to itch on her flimsy garment. "Can't remember exactly. There was... a fire. He started it. He killed..." She trailed off, eyes downcast and vacant. "He killed my father," she finished at last.

Couldn't be Zack, this couldn't be why he hadn't contacted her. It simply wasn't in his nature to injure or destroy. But then, he was employed by the Shinra company. However much she believed in her boyfriend, this same company funded the actions of a madman like Hojo; a man who had haphazardly poked and prodded for years, searching, ever searching for the fabled 'Promised Land.' Aeris kept her voice level as she spoke again.

"Who? Who did this?"

"Sephiroth."

Relief rushed through mixing with shock and revulsion; it had at least not been Zack's hand in the nightmare of this girl's past, but it was impossible to ignore she had named one of her lover's friends. The silver-haired man always featured somewhere in her partner's conversations and it seemed unlike anyone else, Zack had actually found a human side to the public face of SOLDIER. Most thought him cold, aloof and distant. The man in Zack's stories didn't mesh with his public persona. Then again, neither did the impression painted by this stranger.

"When did this happen?"

The girl shook her head. "Don't know. Not sure how long. Recent."

Which certainly put it plausibly within the time of the man's unexpected demise.

"Where did it happen?"

"Nibelheim," her voice broke in the middle and her head bowed. The name meant little to Aeris, but there was so much outside of the city that she knew almost nothing about. One of the girl's fists uncurled and her fingers scraped rapidly at the gown and the blood encrusted upon it.

"Hey," Aeris said now reaching out again. The girl's eyes widened she didn't draw back. "Are you hurt?"

She nodded before adding "Cut."

Aeris looked at the bloody shirt, wondering just how bad the wound was. Had it been treated at all before the girl had made a break for it? "Can I see?" The girl tensed, arms folding closer to her chest. "It's okay," Aeris tried to assure her, "I can help."

The girl chewed her lip for another moment before nodding, turning her head and looking away from Aeris. The flower girl took that as permission and reached out to pull the gown away as the girl let her arms drop to her sides. The stranger was nude under the flimsy garment, her flight from wherever she had been held had been done at speed and seemingly without forethought. Aeris stared, trying to keep emotion from her face as she saw the wound itself. She had not anticipated anything like the jagged rip that crossed across the girl's chest curling under one breast and down onto her stomach.

Aeris could see the remnants of neat stitches now popped and torn along the length of the wound. The entire injury was surrounded with dark, clotted blood and inflamed, reddened skin. The girl needed help and fast. Aeris glanced nervously around, ensuring that the rain was still encouraging the slum dwellers to remain under the plates. There was no one in sight.

She drew in a deep breath. "Okay, just hold still for a second, and I'll see if I can help at all." She closed her eyes, catching a final glimpse of the girl looking puzzled as she reached out to the voices on the edge of hearing. They responded sluggishly here; it would be so much easier in the church or at home, but hopefully this would be enough. Knowledge filtered into her mind, fragments of incantations, physiology and medicinal practices.

Aeris focused, forming the information into a coherent state. She caught enough medicine to know that the girl's wound needed to be cleaned thoroughly as soon as possible, but moving her in this state was nothing short of risky. She would do what she could to heal her now and then get her home. The final details of the spell coalesced and she opened her eyes, moving her hands deftly in accordance with what she had learned. A soft green glow formed over the girl's wound and dragging her gaze downward as the energy flowed over the cut. It should, from Aeris's own experience, lessen the pain and itching the girl was experiencing.

She focused now, trying to mend the wound a little more, aware it would need cleaning with disinfectant and soon. Her thoughts ran on as she continued the spell; she'd need to get her cleaned up first, get the blood and dirt off before treating the wound further. Then she'd worry about re-bandaging and would hopefully be able to take a look at the head injury. It didn't seem to be causing her any pain, but Aeris worried if the bluntness of the girl's answers was purely out of fear or had a physical cause as well.

The spell faded away and Aeris heaved a sigh of relief. From what she could see the wound would hold a little better. The girl stared down at her own chest in amazement, fingers itching to probe at the improved skin but stopping each time a moment after they twitched to move.

"You should feel better now," Aeris said as she rose to her feet. The girl looked up, now nervous and disappointed. The flower girl reached out her hand and after a moment of confusion the girl took it, face scrunching up in expectation of pain. Her healer pulled her upright as carefully as she could.

"Didn't hurt..." the girl said wonderingly, re-examining herself once more.

"Glad I did it right," Aeris responded with a smile. "It's only temporary though, and we really need to get you cleaned up and into some new clothes. Come on; my house isn't far from here."

The girl dropped her hand with a flinch and stared at her with suspicion. Aeris watched as her patient glanced around the area, gaze drifting over debris and the ambiguous forms of junk that formed the sector. Wine-coloured eyes looked at her once more as the girl licked her lips.

"Are... are you sure it's okay?" She asked.

Aeris nodded. "Of course. I can't just leave my patient here after starting the treatment." The girl actually smiled then, a genuine smile. What had she been like before, and what could she have been had she not crossed Sephiroth? Hopefully there would be time to find out in the future. Aeris held out her hand again. "Shall we?"

"Yes." The girl took her hand as Aeris shifted her umbrella so it covered both of them.

"I'm Aeris Gainsborough by the way," the flower girl said as they walked slowly, conscious of the girl's bare feet.

"Tifa Lockhart," the girl answered, eyes flicking for a moment from the litter coated ground to her companion.

"Nice to meet you Tifa. I'll... I'll keep you safe."