Children of Prophecy
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7. The storyline and original characters of this fic I do how ever.
Ch.1- Run out of town
The young herb seller in a faded blue dress was packing up for the day. Her medicines that she made herself from herbs collected in the wild ranged from simple salves and teas for cuts, bruises and the yearly colds and flues that always seem to come around this time of year, to complex potions help stop internal bleeding and speed the mending of broken bones. She shivered as a cold wind brushed down the streets of Couldren, causing the frayed hem of her dress to lift up a few inches. Winter was coming soon and she knew that she needed to sell enough of her medicines so that she could pay for food and lodging in the town she was staying in.
For the last five years she had been wandering from town to town selling her wares, never staying in one place for more than a few months. The current town she was staying in had no special attributes that appealed to her other than it was there and had cheap housing. The market for her medicines was rather moderate, seeing as there were not many elderly, pregnant women, or children that easily got sick in this town. It was a military town made up of mostly common off-duty soldiers and stout, sturdy women who could usually hold their own with any of the soldiers. The most common of her wares that she had sold in this town were teas with herbs reduce inflammation and slaves to reduce bruising, typical results of bar brawls.
As the wind picked up again young woman pulled her shawl closer and starting walking faster to the boarding house that she had rented a room in. While she was walking by a short, narrow alley between a blacksmith and a carpenter's workshop, she heard the muffled sounds of a young child crying. Being a compassionate and caring person at heart she naturally followed the quiet sobs of the child in need. Squinting her eyes to try to see in the semi-darkness the as she entered the alley, the herbalist almost missed the small form huddled between two wooden crates. Approaching the small child she wrinkled her nose as she caught the smell of blood, both fresh and dried. She stooped down so she could get a better look at the injured child. Her eyes widened as she saw the four inch long gash on the young girl's arm, it was so deep that it almost hit the bone.
Quickly she glanced around, to make sure that no one would notice what she was doing, she held her hands over the girl's injured arm and started humming softly. Soon a soft green glow began to come out of the young lady's hands and the deep cut on the girl's arm slowly closed up, leaving a thin brown scab in its place. Astonished pale green eyes looked up into worried emerald green ones. As they gazed into each other's eyes the little girl started to relax, a shy tentative smile forming on her face.
"Thank you," she quietly murmured, her gaze dropping to the ground. She started fidgeting as the young herb seller was examining her wound to make sure that it was properly healed.
"So what is such a nice girl like you doing huddling between two crates in an alley?" the herbalist asked.
"When me and my Mommy were buying food at the market today, a group of no good, noisy boys came up and were causing trouble for the man that Mommy was buying carrots from," she said with a small frown, "while they were harassing the nice veggie seller, one of them bumped into Mommy. They got all rude and demanded that she apologize and when she did they said, 'not that way, that's not good enough. You must grovel on the ground like a dog to earn our forgiveness.' Then they laughed as one of those meanies shoved Mommy onto her knees, calling her mean things."
The girl paused, the herbalist could see tears forming in the girl's eyes. She thought, she can't be more than five years old, how can people be so mean to the mother of such a young girl! She was outraged, but stopped to listen to the rest of the young girl's tale.
She continued, "They only laughed harder when Mommy started to cry, and then they knocked her basket of food to the ground and started to trample on them. That food was all we would have for the next two weeks and Mommy had had so little money to spend on it to start with. When Mommy got up again, she was crying"
"Then one of the boys got mad and slapped Mommy, and she fell back onto the ground. As he tired to hit her again, I stepped in front of Mommy, I would protect her no matter what!" she exclaimed vehemently, but soon she grew sad again, "the bad boys just laughed at me and hit me away. Angry at the boy for hurting me and Mommy, I ran up to him and bit his leg. He got really scary then, he pulled out a knife and started coming after me. Mommy screamed at me to run, but I couldn't leave her with those bad men. Bit when she told me to run again she was so scared that I ran away fast."
By now both the little girl and the herbalist had tears running down their cheeks, one out of remembrance of the previous events, the other because she was feeling so bad for what had happened to the little girl. The young lady gently urged the girl to continue her story.
"And then all those evil men started running after me, I was running as fast as I could and they were still catching up to me," the tears were liberally flowing down the girl's cheeks by now, and she continued to tell her story between sobs. "I was so scared, sob I didn't know what to do, when I tripped over a rock and fell on my face. One of the men sob cut at me with his knife in my arm before I could get up and kick up the dust into their faces. sob While they were trying to find me I ran into this alley and hid between the crates. They thought I went a different direction, but even after I couldn't hear them any more, I stayed here because I was scared that they would come back and hurt me again."
The herb maiden wordlessly took the tearful girl into her arms and murmured quiet nothings into her ear until the shuddering stopped. While stroking her back, the girl looked up into the face of the nice lady who had saved her, taking in her heart-shaped face slightly pinched from hunger, worried caring green eyes with shadows beneath them, and long soft golden brown hair that was matted and tangled tied into a low braid. Seeing that the girl was calm again, the herbalist asked the girl what her name was and where she lived with her mother.
She answered, with a bright smile, tears still in the corner of her eyes, "My name is Tina. Thank you so much for helping me; you're a really nice and pretty lady."
"That's a lovely name Tina, my name is Aeris. Pleased to meet you," the herb seller now known as Aeris replied, "can you tell me where your mother is so I can get you back to her, she is probably worried to death about you."
Tina beamed, "Me and Mommy live on the west side of town in the Juniper Flats tenant house. You should come and have dinner with us and spend the night, I'm sure that Mommy won't mind." She said in the offhand manner that many children use.
"Follow me it's right this way," Tina said as she took Aeris' hand and started excitedly walking northwest. People shot the pair amused looks as the little girl lead Aeris by the hand so fast that she was stumbling to catch up.
"Slow down!" Aeris laughed, "if you don't you'll make me fall."
"Sorry," Tina sheepishly replied, she slowed down her speed a little, just enough so that Aeris could walk without tripping. While the duo walked through town, Tina happily chattered away about her experiences, her Mommy, and the town as Aeris listened attentively. Turing a corner onto the next street, Aeris and Tina bumped into an anxious woman in her thirties with thin blond hair and pale green eyes.
Looking up, the woman cried, "Tina! Thank goodness that you are alright and uninjured. How did you ever get away from those ruffians?"
Tina, happy to see her mother again, told her mom what happened after she had run away, "and then while I was crying in the alley, wondering if I would ever see you again, this angel found me and helped me. She saved my life Mommy. She sells herbs, isn't that neat? I want to be an herbalist when I grow up! Especially after the neat way she healed me. It was funny, all she did was hum and hold her hands over my arm, and then a pretty green light came from her hands and healed my cut up right away. It was so cool!"
As the woman heard the words "pretty green light" come from her daughter's mouth a horrified look crossed her face.
"Cetra!" she screamed in the middle of the road, "get away from my baby you monster! How dare you pollute her with your dark magick!"
As the frenzied woman was screaming, dragging her confused daughter away, the people around them looked up, hatred in their eyes.
"Cetra!" The shout went up and rapidly carried over several streets. By now Aeris had dropped her herb basket and was running for her life. Running out of breath as people gave chase, she ran into the same alley that she had found Tina and hid in the same place that Tina had. Softly hyperventilating, Aeris curled into a ball, making herself as small as possible. Listening to the sounds of the mob recede as they got farther from her, she cursed her self for her carelessness.
Stupid! You know better than to use your powers, even if it is to help. Everyone always reacts the same. Cetra, what a cursed word! Every time someone hears it, they go into a killing frenzy trying to "kill the Cetra". It's all because of that stupid Prophecy! I wish that the person who uttered it was never born! Horrified by her own thoughts she scolded her self, don't blame others for being scared of the Cetra because a prophecy, especially such an ominous one. If I were in their shoes, I would fell the same way, wouldn't I? Anyways, I'm the last one, if I die, the prophecy won't come to pass and what they fear will not occur. Maybe it would just be best for everyone if I just disappeared.
Shaking herself out of her morbid thoughts she instead concentrated on how she was going to escape town without being noticed. By now her description had spread across the town. The reason that Aeris had chosen this town in the first place was because no one here had known who she was or the description of the "Cetra". Now, the whole town knew what she was, and she would have to leave without anything but what was on her back, again. What was worse was that this was a military recreation town. There were off-duty soldiers everywhere, her chances of getting out unscathed were minimal, if at all. As these thoughts and similar ones went through her head she drifted off into a exhausted slumber.
She woke up to darkness and silence, frightened that she had fallen asleep at such a dangerous time. Noiselessly she got up and took stock of what she had left: a few packets of herbs, a piece of flint and a striker, a small wedge of cheese, a few dried fruits and a little money. There was not even enough money to pay for a room in the cheapest tavern. Not that she would go to one unless she had a death wish, and she didn't. On what she had, she could probably feed herself for a few days if she rationed her food very carefully. By then she would have to be out of the town with a fairly good distance between her and it. Frowning, she knew that her chances of actually accomplishing that in a few days were practically impossible. With the town on full alert and filled with soldiers, it would be very hard to sneak out without being caught.
Peering out into the street, Aeris saw that all was clear. She cautiously crept out into the street and tried to look as she was out doing a nightly chore, minding her own business. After walking towards what she thought was the exit, she heard the distant sound of a crowd. Her curiosity getting the better of her, especially since the sound was coming from a part of town far from her and that no one was around here, she followed the noise. Eventually she came up to the main square. What she saw there made her nauseous, but she held it in, knowing that if she vomited she would give herself away.
In the middle of the square, a hangman's platform had hastily been erected, and hanging from the noose was a girl only a few years younger than herself in a faded blue dress similar to her own and long ragged mousey brown hair. Aeris held back a sob, realizing that the mob had thought that this girl was her and for that this innocent girl had lost her life. Everything I come across is truly cursed she thought.
While the crowd was roaring at the swaying figure, several men near by were having a conversation about what was going on.
"Glad that that Cetra bitch is dead. Who did she think she was trying to pass herself as human?" one stated.
"Yeah, pity that this one was so pretty, would have been a good lay before she became the hangman's best friend," another callously remarked.
"How many do you think are left after this one? The more that are killed the better. You know the saying, 'the only good Cetra is a dead one!'"
At that both men guffawed loudly, while Aeris having heard enough, walked away from the vile and base crowd. Wandering around the town in a daze, Aeris came to when she realized that she had come to one of the town's few ungated entrances. What caught her attention was that this one was unguarded. Not even marveling at her great luck, the herbalist left the town with a heavy heart and a troubled soul.
Almost every town I go to, this sort of thing eventually happens Aeris thought, but this is the first time someone else has died because of what I am. Why is fate so cruel? More depressed than ever, she rhythmically put one foot in front of another and soon the town was out of sight. All this happened because of that stupid prophecy that was made 1000 years ago.
"The Cetra maiden will tame the spawn of Jenova, and in the process both shall fall in love. Then the planet will know great sorrow."
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