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Aerith was born as the last of the Cetra, an ancient race of humans on the planet of Gaia, who worshipped the earth and were thought to speak with the dead. Her mother Ifalna was the last full-blooded Cetra, and although Aerith is only half, she still carries on her mothers abilities. When she was only a few months old, her father was killed by the company ShinRa whom he used to be a scientist for, since he had run away with Aerith's mother while being assigned to study her as though she were a scientific specimen, and bore the child in secret. Both women were eventually captured by ShinRa, after Ifalna tried to run away with Aerith and tests were run on them presumably for years (no specific timeline is given), yet they somehow escaped -- Aerith was unharmed, but Ifalna was mortally injured. Finally arriving at a train station in the Sector 5 Slums of Midgar, she met a woman named Elmyra who was waiting for her husband -- a member of ShinRa's SOLDIER -- to come home. Knowing she had little time left, she begged Elmyra to take Aerith in, and raise the child as her own, asking only that she keep the childs' name as Aerith. Elmyra agreed, and the woman died soon after.
Not long after Elmyra took her in, Aerith began to show her...unusual abilities to her adoptive mother. Elmyra's husband was employed by the military division of ShinRa, the Electric Power Company. Unbeknownst to Elmyra, her husband was killed in combat during the ongoing Wutai War, not long before that fateful night that she was waiting for him at the train station. Aerith notices how she is growing worried after not hearing from him for some time, and comforts her, saying that her husband asked Aerith to give Elmyra a message; that although he is dead, he loves her and does not want her to grieve for him. Elmyra is shocked to hear this, and asks Aerith how she knew her husband was dead, when ShinRa had not even contacted her to notify her of his death. Aerith then explains that he spoke to her before his soul joined the LifeStream, as though it were normal for anyone to have this ability. Within two days, employees of ShinRa arrive at Elmyra's door to notify her of her husbands death, and Elmyra realizes that Aerith truly is a descendent of the Ancients, or Cetra. She doesn't mention to Aerith that this isn't normal, since she doesn't want to alarm the young girl, nor does she encourage her to tell other people about this ability, afraid that it will draw attention.
After this, Aerith grew up fairly peacefully with Elmyra, even though they were in the slums of Midgar, and ShinRa eventually found her again. After finding her, ShinRa sends a Turk named Tseng to watch over Aerith, whom she eventually considers a friend. He tries to convince her that ShinRa isn't all that bad and that she should accept her destiny as an Ancient and help them to find the Promised Land for the good of the planet, yet Aerith is reluctant to see herself in such a role during this time. She repeatedly denies that its her destiny, expressing a wish that she only wants to be normal, like everyone else.
Around the age of thirteen, Aerith discovers that she can grow flowers in a rundown church near to her home in the Sector 5 slums, as well as near her home itself, because of the presence of the Lifestream there. This is ironic, considering the common knowledge that Mako Reactors have drained the Lifestream out of Midgar and all other immediate surrounding areas. At around this time, the rebel group AVALANCHE emerges to rise against ShinRa and try to prevent them from finding the Promised Land they so desperately seek. Sending a member to persuade Aerith to join them, they also try to force her destiny on her, which she again denies wanting any part of.
Fast forwarding to when she is 16, on a seemingly normal day, Aerith was tending the flowers in a church, when a strange young man fell through the ceiling, right into the middle of her flowers. Upon his waking up and thinking Aerith is an angel, she corrects him, and learns his name is Zack Fair. He asks how he got there, and she explains that he fell through the roof, and points up at the ceiling of the church (which now has a large hole), stating that the flowers broke his fall. Zack asks her out on a date as a 'thank you', but Aerith is hesitant and turns him down, although soon after when she shows him around the Sector 5 slums, he buys her what becomes her trademark pink hair ribbon, to 'commemorate the one day anniversary' of their friendship.
They wander over into the park soon after, and Aerith mentions that SOLDIER members aren't normal and therefore are scary to her (she also states that 'normal is best', hinting to the fact that she herself wants to be normal, yet isn't in some way), because they love the thrill of the fight and the experiments with mako that are performed on them. At this time, Zack reveals to her that he is a member of SOLDIER and she quickly apologizes, and leans in to compliment his eyes -- mako blue eyes -- in order to change the subject. Zack mentions that they're the color of the sky, and Aerith states that if his eyes are the sky she's looking at then its not so scary. She then realizes how close they are standing and pushes him away jokingly, accusing him of teasing her. A couple of minutes later they are interrupted by Tseng calling Zack on his cell phone, ordering him to return to headquarters immediately.
After that, Aerith doesn't see Zack much, but she talks to him on the phone frequently, indicating that they may be moving closer to being more than friends. Zack returns to Aerith in the church after his mentor and friend Angeal's death, and Aerith holds him to comfort him as he cries. Soon after that, he visits her again, and this time helps her to build carts for her flowers -- Aerith requests a total of three carts, since she is very particular about what the cart is going to look like. During this visit, Aerith mentions that she has twenty-three little wishes, and when Zack suggests that she write them down, she tells him no, they can be summed up into one wish; she wants to spend more time with him. Zack then tries to help her sell the flowers in the Slums, but it doesn't go very well.
Unfortunately, this is the last time that he will see Aerith, since soon after he is sent to Nibelheim, and while he is there they speak briefly on the phone one last time. During this conversation, Zack suggests an idea to Aerith; that the next time they see each other, she wear something that will have a special meaning between the two of them, like a pink dress. Aerith laughs at him, and says she thinks the idea is silly. She does indeed listen to him though, even if he never realizes it, since soon after she is seen wearing her trademark pink dress and red jacket.
After this, during the next four years, Aerith writes Zack a series of 89 letters, none of which receive a response, and only the contents of the last letter are known. In this final letter, Aerith tells Zack that the flowers are selling very well now (despite the earlier failure when he initially made the carts for her), and its all thanks to him and his idea. She also wonders where he has been for the past four years, and tells him this is the last letter she will send. Presumably, both Aerith and Zack expected him to return to her in the Slums after his mission in Nibelheim was finished, yet that obviously was not the fate that awaited them. Unfortunately, it is the only letter Zack receives, and this is just before he is gunned down by ShinRa troops, ironically not far outside of Midgar. Just before this, Tseng is shown holding the other 88 letters Aerith had tried to send Zack, stating that he hopes to reach him in time, so that he can give them all to him.
Although it is implied that Aerith knew something happened to Zack in the end when he did not reply to any of her letters, it is commonly believed Aerith did not know that he had actually died, and she later mentions that she believes he left her for someone else, knowing of his flirtatious nature. Her mother also believes this to be true, echoing these sentiments later on to Cloud without Aerith knowing, stating that Aerith had been hurt once before by a member of SOLDIER, and she did not wish to see it happen again.