Character Information
Aerith is a slender young woman, standing about 5'4", with long chestnut-colored hair that, save for two curls she can never really control, is usually pulled back into a braid secured with a red bow. The dominant features on her face are her large green eyes and her ever-present gentle smile. Clothing wise, she generally prefers a pink sleeveless dress with a purple belt slung low around her hips, a string tied twice tied around her throat with a bow, clunky brown boots (lovingly referred to as her "butt-kickin' boots," though she prefers not to kick butt unless she has to), and a stack of silver bangles on her left wrist.
Aerith is generally cheerful and always has a smile at the ready for anyone who comes near. She's hard to rile up, but when she is pushed beyond that point, she's a good fighter, and will do whatever is necessary to protect her home and those she loves. Having lost her home once, she's sensitive about any kind of loss, and losing friends or love is devastating to her. Aerith can also be a flirt and a bit of a tease, and she has a sly, teasing sense of humor. When she gets nervous, she tends to ramble, but she's always quick to cut herself off when she realizes she's doing it. Though her work is the main focus of her life, she also loves fashion and beautiful things, and tries to surround herself with beauty whenever possible.
Aerith was born in Radiant Garden, and it seems her childhood was generally peaceful and happy - spending time playing with her friends Leon and Yuffie, exploring her beautiful world, and being spoiled silly by her parents.
Then, when she was twelve, everything went wrong. Heartless overran Radiant Garden, destroying its beauty and sucking the light out of everything they laid their hands on. She and her friends ran to Cid's home, the nearest safe spot, and found him preparing to take off and escape the darkness enveloping the world. The last memory she has of her childhood home is of seeing her parents overcome by Heartless as Cid's gummi ship took off.
The four set up a home of sorts in Traverse Town, and began learning as much as they could about the Heartless and some kind of mysterious "key," to keep what happened to Radiant Garden from ever happening anywhere ever again. In their downtime, Cid would sometimes take Aerith to the nearby Colosseum world, where she saw a mysterious warrior with a single wing fighting, and she felt connected to him in a way she couldn't explain. Nine years later, when Aerith was twenty-one, Sora appeared with the Keyblade, Aerith wondered if that was the key she and the others had been searching for for so long, and swore to aid him in any way she could.
When Sora's quest against the Heartless and search for Ansem was successful, it was revealed that the world now called Hollow Bastion had once been her home world: Radiant Garden. Now, she works on the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee and can usually be found in the library, trying to figure out how to return her beloved home to its former glory.