It has been years since Y/n had last seen his childhood friends. Now as an adult, he returns to his homeland, only to find that his friends are tangled with megacorpation, Shinra. As Y/n joins in their crusade, things begin to spiral back at his cur...
Y/n was awoken by Cloud lightly shaking him. "Y/n, it's time to go." He whispered. "Right." Y/n extended his arm and Cloud took it, helping his friend to his feet. The two quietly made their way out the room. "Keep it down!" Y/n whispered as Cloud's sword got caught on the door frame. "Sorry." They made it passed down the stairs where Elmyra sat at the table. "Leaving already?" "So, how do we get to Sector 7?" Asked Cloud. "It's simple enough, just cut through Sector 6. It's isn't exactly safe, but you should be okay, seeing as you're a SOLDIER." "Was one." "Promise Mr, you'll never talk to Aerith again, please." "You got it." "Thank you." "Sorry for causing you trouble ma'am." Y/n apologized. "Thank you for dinner." Elmyra simply nodded and watched as the two left.
It was not night and the garden before Aerith's home was beautifully lit up by lampposts. The duo passed through the sleeping town and entered a tunnel. "Well, look who it is." Aerith suddenly appeared, surprising the two friends. "Talk about a coincidence." "What are you doing here?" Asked Cloud. "Waiting." "Why?" Aerith began to walk towards Cloud, causing him to walk backwards. "Because I'm not sick of you yet." Cloud looked at Y/n. "I made a promise not to talk to her." He said. Cloud shook his head. "You made a promise? To who?" "You're mom." Cloud answered. "Oh really? And you're gonna uphold that promise?" Y/n looked at Aerith and remained silent. "I'll make you crack alright." Y/n chuckled. "Lead on then." He spoke. Aerith smiled. "With pleasure." The two headed down the tunnel with Aerith humming a tune. Unbeknownst to them, Cloud had another episode where he clutched his head and a single tear came down his eye. Y/n and Aerith stopped and turned to the blonde. "Cloud?" Aerith called. "Is something wrong?" Cloud turned away from her. "It's nothing." He said, walking passed her.
As the trio exited out of the tunnel, Midgar came into view, however part of a missing plate revealed the night sky. "You could see the sky." Said Cloud. "They're still working on the new plate." Informed Aerith. "I don't like this part of Midgar. Back when they were still building Midgar, there was an accident, and the plate fell. People had only just started moving in, so there weren't a lot living there at the time, but..." Aerith's face dropped as she stopped.
Over the distance, a glowing structure came into view along horizon.
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"What's that?" Asked Cloud. "The underside of Sector 6." Answered Aerith. "Wall Market. A real special place. But I'm sure you already knew that, right?" "I didn't tell you? I enlisted pretty much right after I left home. Dunno much about this place, or any of the slums." "Well, it took a lot of people to build Midgar. And they all needed to blow off steam. So some traders built an entertainment district. Inns, shops, bars, the works. Folks started pouring in from all over. Business was booming, money was flowing. Which attracted the attention of some guys who didn't care much for the law." "As it always goes. Guessing its now a den of ne'er do wells?" Commented Y/n. Aerith nodded. "Right. Instead of trying to solve the problem, the government decided to just wall it in. And that's how Wall Market began. Out of sight, out of mind, as the old saying goes. For the folks in charge, there's no better way to deal with it." "So it's like a giant veil." Said Cloud. "Yeah. You guys wanna see what's behind it." "Yeah/Not really." Answered Y/n and Cloud. The two friend looked at each other and paused. Y/n extended a fist forward which Cloud followed. "What are-" "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Y/n threw paper while Cloud threw scissors. "Dammit!" Y/n crossed his hands while Cloud smirked. "Guess that means no?" Aerith asked. "Okay then, I know a better way to get to Sector 7." Aerith took Cloud's hand and lead them to a tunnel. "One that, tragically, doesn't go through Wall Market." "Don't remind me." Y/n pouted.
