The Underworld, First Visit:
Interlude VIII: Aerith
It felt like a dream, but she couldn't have dreamed the scent of flowers that pervaded her only semi-conscious senses. Aerith shifted slightly from her side onto her back, and the heady aroma sharpened around her as she crushed a few flowers.
"Oh-- Sorry," she murmured dizzily, starting to open her eyes. She would try to stay still.
From beneath her lids she could just see a pair of black boots, turning at the sound of her voice. A man with a dark baritone voice told her, "Don't be sorry. These flowers are quite strong, and they enjoy the presence of others."
"Mmm...?" Aerith dropped her gaze slightly. Sure enough, she was resting in a whole bed of flowers -- thin, startlingly bright red with black tips and black markings in the center of the curved, bowl-like shape formed by their petals curled into a bowl-like shape. How pretty, she thought. She was... quite certain that these flowers were not native to Hollow Bastion.
Was she in Hollow Bastion? Hadn't she been...
"What... what flowers are these?" she murmured. It was so hard to think of what she should be doing. It was hard to keep her eyes open.
"Poppy flowers, of course." The man approached her, and knelt beside her; she could see him reach out one hand, gloved in black leather, to cup a poppy tenderly in his hand. "In great numbers, they have been said to have the peculiar property of lulling those who catch their scent into sleep. And, after the poison has taken hold, sleep eternal..."
On some level, Aerith was aware that this was an alarming idea. She only murmured, "It doesn't seem to bother you."
He stood again, observing, "They like you, it seems. Are you, perhaps, a florist of some sort?"
"I just... like to garden." She let her eyes fall shut, smiling. It reminded her of her mother, who had loved to garden as well. More than anything else, Ifalna had loved to tend to her flowers, her bushes, her trees... She had lived in a big house with a beautiful garden and she had never really left, unless the scientists had come to bring her to the labs for the day.
The scientists... Not like Dad, but like Even...
Hadn't she just seen Even? How? They had all died, long ago...
"Hmm. The flowers don't usually react so strongly to humans. Unusual," the man murmured, half to himself.
"You could mention it to one of those researchers. Lexaeus or Zexion," suggested another man she hadn't heard before; his voice was lighter, and didn't possess the compelling timbre of the first man's voice, but it sounded somehow similar, in Aerith's clouded awareness.
The first man sounded farther away when he replied, "If they're interested in investigating a corpse, they're welcome to it, provided they don't move her. My flowers would like for her to stay with them..."
Aerith forced her eyes open again, although it was harder this time. She reached out to a flower, brushing the soil aside, murmuring, "You like me...? How sweet..." She would take just one of them home with her when she left.
After what felt like a massive effort to move each individual muscle, she had uprooted one and wrapped her hand around the roots. She was drifting off again when she heard more footsteps, and forced her eyes open. Another pair of black boots.
This time, the man in them lowered himself to her eye level.
"Hey, gorgeous. How've you been?" he asked.
Aerith stirred a little, lifting her head. "...Zack...?"
Zack waved her back down, grinning. "No need to get up and give me a hug. Just rest easy. Moving might make the poison spread faster."
She settled back down, comfortable. Zack knew what he was doing. He always had -- did. Her head felt so strange and fuzzy. "Sleep with me," she beckoned lazily, holding out a hand to him. It would feel so nice to have him curling next to her again, big and warm and... alive...
"That is a loaded offer," Zack told her, laughing. When she lidded her eyes, in between long, slow blinks, she could almost see a strange, otherworldly-green silhouette surrounding him. Like the electric glow of his blue eyes, enhanced by the drugs she had hated. "I think your rescuer would object."
"...Rescuer...?"
"Yeah. Leon's on his way." Zack ran a hand through his hair, still crouching low next to her, and he chuckled a little. "I was trying to get Cloud's attention. I figured, he's been having a pretty shitty decade, maybe feeling like a little bit of a hero would do him good, but it didn't work. Poor kid's so deep inside himself that he's about as sensitive to his surroundings as a rock."
Aerith smiled faintly. She could hear the old affection in Zack's voice, even though Cloud hadn't--
Hadn't been able to see him?
"I wanted to see you," she managed, frowning slightly. "And -- Mom, and... and Dad. That's why..."
Where was she?
"You'll get to see them. When the time is right. But for right now, you gotta let Leon take care of you, okay?"
Yes, of course. Leon would take care of her. Even though there were people he'd wanted to see as well -- his parents, and his sister, and her... Even though he'd be so disappointed, Leon was dedicated, selfless... He would put her safety above everything. All of their safety. She could trust him.
So she would just... rest here until he came for her, she concluded, and her eyes fell shut.
"Hey, Aerith, try to stay awake-- Stay with me now."
She wanted to, but hadn't he said the time wasn't right...? And she was so tired, her thoughts drifting away, growing more fuzzy and more distant as she let them go...
She thought she heard Zack call her name as her consciousness slipped away, but that was impossible. Zack was dead.
NEXT >>> The Underworld, First Visit (Part 4)