Aeris Gainsborough
Extended Bio: Aeris is the last of a race of Ancients called the Cetra, and she has the unique ability to speak to the Planet and her ancestors. She also possesses innate healing magic. Her father, Professor Gast, was killed not three weeks after her birth, and she spent her early childhood in Professor Hojo's laboratory. She and her mother, Ifalna, escaped fifteen years prior to the game, when Aeris was about seven. They made it to the Sector 7 train station, but Ifalna died there on the steps. Elmyra Gainsborough took Aeris in and raised her as her own.
The Turks sought Aeris out, looking to gain her "cooperation" and lead Shinra to the Promised Land. It's hinted Tseng knew Aeris before joining the Turks, and so under his direction these visits did not involve violence, but as Aeris grew older, the Turks grew more and more persistent.
Six or seven years prior to the game, Aeris got involved with a First Class SOLDIER named Zack. He was her "first love," but he disappeared several years later, and, knowing nothing of the Nibelheim incident, Aeris assumed he had found someone else.
When Aeris met Cloud, she was selling flowers up on the Sector 1 plate. On their second meeting, Cloud crashed through the roof of her church in Sector 5. Reno of the Turks had just arrived, and, reminded of Zack, Aeris asked Cloud to take her home in exchange for one date.
Upon reaching home, Aeris learned that Cloud needed to get back to Sector 7, and in spite of the danger she decided to help him, thus getting herself tangled up in a quest to save the Planet. References in the Script:
First Appearance: After the No. 1 Reactor Mission |