#zerithweek2021

zerith week | day six 🌸💙

REUNION

Credit: @marlenadia

Day 1: Church

When Aerith last saw the sky, she was above the plate as Aerith-the-Cetra. The only existence she’d ever known was her imprisonment in the Shinra labs... a life of constant fear and loneliness. When her powers “awakened,” Aerith struggled and failed to control her confusing Cetra powers under threat of her mother’s life--and her attempts to save her mother’s life resulted in the deaths of others. As a young child, Aerith quickly learned that her Cetra identity was isolating, confusing, and dangerous to herself and others. (Source: “Picturing the Past” from the FFVIIR World Preview Book; fan translation here, fan summary here.)

But as soon as Aerith was taken in by Elmyra, she became Aerith-of-the-Sector-5-slums. Under the confines of the plate and sealed away from the sky, Aerith could become a girl who ran freely outside, chattered away with her adoptive mother, and felt safe--finally, Aerith could pretend to be a normal girl. But still, only pretend--Aerith knew that her harsh life before the slums was always nearby, waiting to pull her back. So is it such a surprise that Aerith is afraid of “seeing the sky” and remembering her time before the slums, of being “sucked back in?” Afraid of leaving the safety of the skyless slums and becoming Aerith-the-Cetra once more?

Knowing this, it’s easy to see these sentiments in Aerith and Zack’s full conversation:

Z: It’s kinda stuffy down here. [...] I know what it is! You can’t see the sky. A: Who wants to see the sky? I don’t, that’s for sure. Z: Wouldn’t you normally miss seeing the sky if you lived under a plate all year round? A: I guess I’m not normal. Z: You want to talk about it? A: The sky frightens me. I feel like it’s sucking me in. Weird, huh? Z: Normal is overrated. A: Think so? Z: I have an idea! One day, I’ll take you to see a beautiful sky, the real sky. A: (turns away uncomfortably) Z: It’s not frightening at all. I know you’re gonna love it.

(Source: English CC script, Chapter 5)

(It’s touching how after only a few hours of knowing each other, Zack can already sense her unease and does his best to comfort her.)

The themes of this conversation carry into their date at the playground. While the English script has the line “normal is best,” this popular fan sub uses stronger language:

A: I think being normal is the greatest happiness.

(Source: this popular fan sub)

More than anything, Aerith thinks being normal--not being a Cetra, not being who she truly is--is the key to happiness. So much so that she thinks SOLDIERs are “weird” for choosing to give up normality. She even goes on to confide her true thoughts on SOLDIERs--they love to fight, and that frightens her.

It’s a testament to the depth of Aerith’s and Zack’s bond that she doesn’t run away when Zack confesses that he is a SOLDIER, one of those people that should terrify her.

But Aerith’s willingness to reconsider her long-held beliefs is an even greater testament to her trust in Zack and her own open-heartedness. In just a few short hours, Zack proved himself to be goodhearted, kind, and honorable--someone she would never feel afraid with, nevermind afraid of.

If Aerith was wrong about the aggressiveness of SOLDIER... then what else is she wrong about? Is she wrong about the unnaturalness of choosing to become SOLDIER? Is she wrong to value normalcy so highly? Is she wrong to be afraid of the sky and her own Cetra heritage?

When Aerith looks into Zack’s eyes to face her fears--of SOLDIER, being different, the sky--she is struck by how beautiful they are. She accepts these things and loses her fear of them because they’re part of him. And this helps her accept the corresponding parts of her--being Cetra, being different, the current danger of her heritage presents.

A: So beautiful. Z: My face? A: (giggles) No, your eyes. Z: Do you like 'em? If that's so, then look at them some more. Eyes filled with mako... signs of a SOLDIER. A: Oh, stop it. Z: Haha. If you look into them it looks like you can see the sky, doesn't it?  A: If it's that sky I'm looking at then I'm not scared at all! Z: ...But it's true that there's nothing normal about me. Aerith, you don't have a problem with that, do you? A: (laughs) I wondered if today would be a peaceful one? I didn’t think to myself, "Today a SOLDIER will drop from the sky." Z: It wasn't such a bad thing. A: Yeah.

(Source: the same popular fan sub, with small edits for clarity)

Zack and Aerith’s date is poignant in that it seals their undeniable connection--not even Aerith’s justifiable fears could separate them. But the significance of the scene lies in how Aerith’s bond with Zack forces her to reevaluate the snap judgments she made due to those fears... and as a result, become more accepting of Zack’s and her own true self.

💐 🎀 🌻

"don’t be silly!”

For Day 7: Ever After of @zerith-week

Enjoy ❤

Day 1: Church

Day 3: Letters

Day 6: Reunion

First, there was darkness. 

Quiet. Cold. Like sleep, but heavier.

Aerith felt like she was sinking, further and further down, without end it seemed...until she opened her eyes and a warm, green light shined from above.

Aerith blinked as she stared up at the light. It felt so warm. She reached a hand up for it, wanting to capture it for herself. But as she stared at that light, she saw something come down from within it. A shadow of a man--or no, there was a wing…

“An… angel?” Aerith whispered out.

“That’s my line,” a voice answered.

A voice she knew too well. 

A voice she could identify immediately even though she hadn’t heard it in five years.

A voice she thought she might never hear again in her life--but then, Aerith had to remind herself, she was no longer alive.