 Aerith Gainsborough is first introduced as a flower seller , when she briefly <unk> with Cloud Strife , a mercenary working for the anti @-@ government group AVALANCHE , who are fleeing from the bombing of a Mako reactor . The two later meet in Aerith 's church in the Sector 5 slums , where she is faced with the possibility of capture by the Turks . Aerith asks Cloud to be her bodyguard for the cost of one date . She is eventually <unk> , but is ultimately rescued by Cloud and his allies . Aerith then joins them in the pursuit of Sephiroth , while also embarking on her own journey of self @-@ discovery . 
