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not2ndclass
Progress: Incomplete.
Summary: Set a few hours after Aerith arrived in his world. Zack takes a detour from his travels to Luca to go and pick her up.
Location: The streets of Alexandria.
Date: Dated the day of Aerith's arrival.
Warnings: None~

She had started off all fine and good after her call with Zack. Everything felt so surreal, that the flower girl hadn't given herself the opportunity to entirely realise that he was here and so very much alive. Each time such thoughts circled within her mind, the flower girl would do something to keep her busy and distract her. At first, she investigated the church within. It was quaint, but nothing like the small little church she had back in Midgar.

The church had only kept her distracted for so long before the flower girl had been unable to resist the lure of exploring such an unknown city. Her attempt worked like a charm, and she so easily found herself distracted by everything she saw around her. It was so unlike anything she'd ever encountered before that she couldn't help but dart from shop to shop in excitement. Everything was just so different, and the whole city just felt so alive!

Stepping out into the main shopping area, her gaze fell on the hat stall just off to her right. The owner was busy talking to another customer, but that didn't stop the flower girl from moving over to stare at the odd assortment. She couldn't help but giggle lightly in amusement as she saw the corn-shaped hat, and unable to resist, Aerith plucked it off of the stand before testing it out on her head.

"Not many can pull it off, but you're one of the lucky few," the cart owner said moments before Aerith spun around to face him.

"You think so~?" She asked before laughing lightly, "I'm not sure how well I can pull yellow off though teehee~"

The man seemed to ponder for a moment before reaching up and taking a large pale sun-hat from the display. "Try this one on. A pretty girl like you should't be hiding behind that anyway."

"Well, if you put it that way," Aerith teasingly said with a bright smile. Pulling the corn hat off of her head, she happily exchanged the hats before trying on the new one. "How do I look?" She asked while giving a demonstration of the hat by twirling for her audience.

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"You think so?" She asked while brushing down the pink material. Aerith was certain that even if he didn't, Zack would still say that he thought she did. The thought brought a smile to her face before she inwardly shook her head and took a step passed him.

"Let's go for a walk," Aerith suggested, but she wasn't exactly giving Zack too much of a choice either as she began walking towards one of the side streets. It was easy enough to keep things light between them for now, but she didn't want to discuss the past with him so publicly... or at all at the moment, since it seemed as though that he didn't know the fact that Cloud made it to Midgar, but he never did.

"'Course I do!" he said, sincerely. He sure as heck wouldn't have told her otherwise, but he did like the dress. It matched the ribbon, anyway, didn't it? Everything all together and all.

"H-hey! Wait up!"

It didn't actually take him long to catch up, of course. He was tall, and she wasn't exactly running. But still. She was pretty impulsive. He guessed he was, too, though.

"Where are you going? It's not like you know where anything is, is it?"

She couldn't help but giggle lightly at his call. Even if she'd wanted to, Aerith knew that she couldn't get away from Zack, and it didn't take long for the SOLDIER to catch up and walk alongside her.

"No~ but it's an adventure trying to figure all of that out, right?" Aerith said. She honestly had no idea where she was walking to, but the flower girl got the feeling that she'd just know the right place to stop when it came time to it. "It really is lovely here, and so unlike Midgar."

Zack shrugged. He guessed she had a good point. It wasn't like he knew anything, either. He still had to get to Luca so Tifa wasn't waiting forever. But once they were done exploring, he figured he could take Aerith there, too. She'd probably get along great with Tifa, right?

"Yeah, this place is pretty. I forgot, you've never been out of Midgar, huh? See, the sky here...it's not scary at all." He pointed up, as if to prove his point. He'd always liked the sky just fine. In a way, living someplace like Midgar would suck.

It took all of her willpower not to pause at the mention of never leaving Midgar. That had been true up until the moment that she'd run into Cloud and the others, and since then, Aerith had seen more of the Planet than she ever dreamed of. But that had been after Zack had disappeared, and the reminder of that was a constant weight in her mind.

That didn't stop her from glancing up to the sky he pointed at. Shaking her head lightly, her attention dropped back down to Zack. "No, you definitely showed me that it wasn't," she murmured with a smile. It had been all because of Zack that so many things in her life had changed, and Aerith knew that she owed the SOLDIER so much. "Is it true that Midgar's here? Someone else mentioned that Wutai was as well."

"I...I did?" He tried to think when that was. Had he taken her to see the sky? BOY he'd sure meant to. Damnit, why was everyone but him from the future! That still didn't make any sense!

"Well, I haven't been here very long. I heard Midgar was here, but...it's ruined. It's just...moogles and stuff, now. I don't know why. I haven't heard about Wutai, but it's on the map?"

He pulled out the phone he'd been given, messed with it for a minute, then held it out to her. The map was displayed, and sure enough, Wutai was on it.

Aerith realised her mistake, and she covered up her reaction with a light laugh. "Well you spoke so fondly of it, how could anyone stay afraid?" She said. While he may not have proven it to her personally, it had been his encouragement that had eventually drawn her to the upper plate.

"Mmm~ I did hear that about Midgar," she murmured while her attention drifted down to the map on the display. She hadn't played around with her skyphone much yet, so this was the first time she actually saw what the world looked like.

"That's where we must be," Aerith said as she reached over to point at the dot indicating Alexandria. Trailing her eyes along the map, she felt them widen when she saw just how close to Midgar they were. "We're so close to Midgar!" Glancing back up at him, Aerith put on her sweetest smile as she asked, "Can we quickly go there before heading to Luca?"

Zack sort of frowned at her. It wasn't an angry frown, just a concerned one.

"Well, I dunno. You sure you really want to see your home all messed up?"

Although, if it had been such an important place to him, he'd go anyway. He knew that. She loved her home, and her little church, as far as he knew. So...he could guess what her answer was going to be.

The frown was cute, but it didn't strip away her hopeful expression while he spoke those words. Aerith could understand his concerns, but while it would be hard to see her home and church in such a state, she had other reasons for going to visit the Midgar ruins.

"Mmmhm~ it will always be my home regardless of what it looks like," Aerith cheerfully said before reaching down to tug at his hand. "Besides, there's nothing to worry about if I have you there with me, right?"

Well, if she really insisted...

He took the phone back and put it back in his pocket. "Okay then! Let's go. But...don't be too sad, okay? Just remember that back home, the real deal is there, and it's just the same as ever! And you're right. You'll have me to protect you."

Aerith's expression instantly brightened when Zack gave in. "I promise!" She said without hesitation. Elmyra was safe back in their Midgar, and Zack... Zack had evaded his fate by being here in this world. That was something that would keep the smile on her face.

"I think that all the monsters will run the other way with you there with me," Aerith said with an amused giggle before she turned and began heading off again. Now all they had to do was find their way to Midgar. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?