I Never Let Her Die! (Aerith x Male Gamer Reader)

Disk 01: Chapter 02: The Road Goes Ever On and On

Aerith sat down to my left, facing me. "I'm glad to see you up and about." She said. "That was really quite a knock you took."

"The... um, whatever he is... tells me my recovery is all your doing. Thanks."

"We call him Red, if he didn't tell you. I'm not sure what he is either. And you're welcome..." she leaned forward. "But, after all, I couldn't just let a guy who's professed his love die now could I?"

"Look, about that..."

"It's okay." She giggled lightly. "Do you know, you're the third man to fall from the sky on top of me? The way I see it, the world's trying to tell me something maybe."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Beats me. But my mother... my real mother and my adopted mother both, always said 'third time's a charm.' It makes me wonder..." She fell silent for several seconds, then said "There's something different about you."

"Oh?" I asked dumbly. "Different how, exactly?"

"I can't tell."

Curious, wanting to draw out whatever she was feeling, and eager to keep the conversation going, I took a small risk. "Red said you were Cetra. I've always heard that Cetra have some special powers or senses or something... Is what you feel different coming from that?"

"It might be. Honestly, I'm only half Cetra, my father was human. And since mother... I mean my real mother here... was killed when I was very young, I don't really know for sure how many of the old Cetra abilities I've inherited. Or how to use most of them."

I was surprised that she was opening up this readily. I said "Well... You seem to be on a journey somewhere. Maybe you'll find some of your answers."

She smiled warmly. "Thanks. I hope so. So... What are you planning to do? Are you gonna go to Midgar, or...?"

"Actually, I've got no idea. I'm not even sure where 'here' is compared to home." I decided this was technically true. After all, I really didn't know how to get from Gaia to Earth.

"Why don't you come with us then? I mean, at least until we reach Kalm."

"Sure." I agreed. We talked for the rest of the night, about this and that and nothing of great importance. I was surprising myself. After all, I had always been a quiet person, and if anything I would have expected to do even worse than normal with such a beautiful girl who I had wanted to meet for so long. But, there was something about her that made conversation effortless. As we talked, it dawned on me that Ganthet hadn't made a mistake by dropping me in from above in the same way Zack and Cloud had entered her life. He must have done it on purpose, and it had opened things up in a way that might not have happened otherwise. "Thank you Ganthet." I thought once again, though with a totally different sentiment this time.

As dawn began to peak over the eastern horizon, we walked back to the campsite and woke the others. Aerith and Tifa packed up their belongings (I was surprised to see an obvious detail the game left out, that each of them carried a backpack satchel,) and I helped by rolling up the bedroll Red had slept on. We ate a small breakfast of ration bars and water, and made ready to leave. Neither Tifa nor Red gave any indication of surprise that I would be coming along; either they had discussed it while I was out, or they just already knew Aerith well enough to expect her to invite me along.

Then Tifa said "Oh, by the way new guy, your stuff's over there." She pointed to a pile of items I didn't recognize. "When you came dropping out of the blue your satchel tore open and all your stuff fell out. Took us forever to find it all."

I walked over and looked down at what Tifa had indicated. There was a satchel similar to the ones she and Aerith were carrying, and propped up against it was a sword similar in style to a katana. I opened up the satchel and peaked inside: There were more ration bars, a canteen, a belt with a scabbard for the sword, several green materia crystals, and a change of clothes which I didn't recognize. It dawned on me for the first time to look myself over. The clothing I had on was not what I had been wearing when I fell into bed. Instead, I was dressed in a heavy long-sleeved light-grey jacket with a dark-grey undershirt. Grey denim cargo pants covered my legs, and rugged hiking boots were laced firmly over my feet.