A flower in the swamp

by Kal

The girl walked down the dirty street,trying to avoid thieves.Her brown boots stepped trough the dirt and garbage found in the slums. Some would call this pleace "hell","war zone","dump".But for her,it was her home.

It didn´t mattered to her that all the garbage from up the plates was trow there,because it was cheaper than just taking it to outside the city.And it didn´t mattered to her that the streets always were full of people who could kill her just because the way she looked at them.
Aeris heard a moan coming from an alley,and went towards it.She didn´t tought it could be dangerous,just that someone needed help.

She was right.

The man seemed to be very ill,bent by the pain,he was grabbing his stomach.He obviously had been searching in the garbage,as the stench of his clothes told.The poor devil may have eated something he shouldn´t had.Aeris struggled between the feeling of helping him and the feeling of protecting herself.The Shinra was always behind her,and she didn´t wanted to attract the attention to her.She knew she couldn´t help all but it was difficult to just ignore this kind of suffering,knowing she could stop it.

She had promised.

She looked around her.There was nobody near,and the man didn´t noticed her.She got close to him,kneeled at his side and put her hands over him. She felt how the energy went from her arms to the man,stopping the pain, and making him feel better.He stopped his moaning and then sat.He seemed confused,and his eyes went towards Aeris,questioning her.

She put his finger against her lips and smiled.The man understood,and quickly got away,getting lost in the shadows.
Aeris then got out the alley.She was quite a sight,with her bright pink dress and her basket of flowers,walking in streets not even the most hard Shinra cops dared to set foot on.At one side of the street. an old poor woman was sitted,with her hand extended,hoping to receive anything that would help her get alive to the next day.A group of half naked kids ran trough the dirty streets,happy and dirty.A drunken man was laying in the floor,his shoes being stole by a young man.A woman was carrying in her left arm a baby,pulling with her rigth hand a cart full of things that could or couldn´t be sold at the Wall Market for a couple of gil.

Aeris entered an alley and then saw her house.Like an oasis in the middle of the desert,the little house seemed like it greeted the tired to come and rest,away from the despair of the slums.

"Aeris,you´re late! You know it´s dangerous out there.Are you okay?"

"Mom,don´t worry,I´ve lived here all my life.There´s nothing to be afraid of.This is my home."

"I wish you didn´t had to go to the plates to sell your flowers.What if those Shinra suits find you?"

"Don´t worry.They haven´t found me in all this years,and I´m always careful."

She sat at the table and eated the cold dinner,while listening to her mother talking about the dangers that were out there for a lone young lady like her.

"Mom,you know somebody has to bring money to the house.And if someone wants to try something on me,I´ll just smack him in the head with my rod."

"I know dear.It´s just that I can´t stand the thought of something happening to you.You´re my angel,and wouldn´t stand that something bad happened to you."

Aeris hugged her mom.

"Mom,you worry to much.I´ll be okay.I gotta go sleep now,if I want to get up to catch the 5:30 train to the upper plates.Good night."

"Good night."

At the next night,Aeris was in the train.Her flower basket was nearly empty. People in Midgar didn´t liked to pay expensive prices for flowers at flowershops and Aeris flowers were so full of life,of beauty,it was difficult to resist them. The train stopped,and Aeris got out.The station was lighted by a weak street light, and leaned against a it,a man in a blue suit was smoking a cigar.In the floor next to him there were many ashes,telling he had waited a long time.

"Hello Aeris."

"Tseng."

The leader of the Turks,Shinra´s little hitmen group,who did "secret operations". He walked to where Aeris was standing and smiled.

"What do you want?"

"Hey,don´t be so rude.I just wanted to say hi and se how you were."

"Well,I´m fine,so now you can go."

She started to walk out of the station.Tseng followed her.

"Wait,what have I done to be treated so badly?"

"You and your company want to use me to gain more money.Isn´t that enough to you? Now get lost before I have to hurt you."

"I haven´t told them were you are.You could at least thank me for that."

"Thanks.Now get lost!"

"Don´t you wonder why haven´t I told them?"

"I don´t care.I don´t want to know.It´s your business if you don´t want to tell them."

"It´s because I want to be your friend."

Aeris stopped right in her tracks.She turned around with a look of disbelief in her eyes.

"It´s true.Lately,there have happened things that have caused me to start thinking if what I do is right."

"Are you trying to tell me you had an attack of conscience?"

"Yes."

"And do you want me to believe that after years of being an assasin,you have decided you have been wrong and now you want to be my friend?"

"It´s hard to believe,but...yes."

Aeris then began to walk again,this time faster.Tseng walked at her side.

"Wait! Aeris,they´re going to capture you!"

"How do you know that?"

"I heard how Hojo complained to President Shinra about how we weren´t able to locate you after all this time.It seems they are doubting of me,and will send Reno after you."

"So what? I´ve been hiding from the Shinra for years,I can still do it."

"Aeris,Reno it´s nothing like me.He will not stop until he founds you,and if he has to kill to get to you,he won´t doubt of doing it.You must be careful."

"Thanks for the advice."

Tseng then stopped walking and saw how Aeris got away from him.He turned around and started to go back to the station.He at least had tried,he tought.

Aeris went to the church.Since she was little,this was the only site she could be at peace.Here she didn´t heard the cries of the Planet,demanding from help.She then went to where the flower were growing.She then began to remember of what happened a year ago.

It was late at night.She was walking fast,trying to get to her house,when she saw something moving on a pile of garbage.She got close to it,and saw a little girl.She was about five years old,dressed in rags,her cute face covered of dirt,her blond hair revolted.She was coughing,and with every cough she spitted blood.She remembered how hard she tried to heal her,but even her power had a limit.She carried the little body to the church and buried it there,between her flowers.Since then,she had promised herself not to fail again to nobody.It wouldn´t matter what it took,she wouldn´t let down again anybody who counted on her.Even if that meaned she had to make sacrifices.She wouldn´t fail again on helping someone who needed her.She owed it to her.She went out of the church and walked towards her house.

Tomorrow would be another day.