The next few scenes involve quite a lot of talking between the flower girl and Cloud in the Church of the Sector 5 Slums. Continue talking to her until you are given the option of choosing a name for her. As with other characters, this strategy guide will continue to refer to her as Aeris.
Jump onto the wooden walkway and make your way up the staircase. Cloud will jump across a missing piece of the catwalk while Aeris will fall to the bottom.
While Aeris is on the ground floor of the church Cloud will be given the option to tell Aeris to “Hold on a minute!”, “Fight ‘em!” or “RUN!”.
Select the “Hold on a minute!” option and run to the upper rafters of the church. Run over to each of the barrels in the order indicated in the screenshot below to prevent Aeris from having to fight on her own.
Aeris is not a strong combat character so avoiding as many fights as you can is definitely the preferred option unless you are going for the Best Bromance trophy. Read the information below for more details on how to navigate this sequence.
After pushing the third barrel Aeris will rejoin Cloud in the rafters. Take the pathway to the left and out of the roof of the church. Continue along the rooftops with Aeris in tow.
Best Bromance
Actions taken during this section of the game will influence the Gold Saucer Date side quest and obtaining the Best Bromance Trophy.
While Aeris is fleeing the guards and Cloud is dropping barrels from the rafters:
| Push a wrong barrel | - 3 to Aeris |
| Ask her to fight them | - 1 to Aeris |
| Ask her to run | No change |
| Ask her to run and she ends up fighting | - 1 to Aeris |
| Push the correct barrel | + 1 to Aeris |
Note: The best strategy for this sequence if you are planning to obtain the Best Bromance Trophy is to select “Hold on a minute!” and push the wrong barrel off the rafters.
Aeris will join your party once you reach the Sector 5 Slums area. She starts off in the back row by default and, unlike Barret, her damage output will suffer from her being in the back row. She will take less damage back there, but it is recommended that you move her to the front row and heal her as required so that she isn’t as useless.
Check out the Tips and Tricks section for more information about the front and back row formations as well as a number of other helpful tips that will improve your play.
Go northwest and use the 
Save Point as you pass (to make sure that you don’t have to fight Air Buster again). Go northeast in the next section to enter a small town-like area.
There is a Materia Store and an Item Store so buy up anything you need before moving into the next area which is to the east (right side of the screen).
Head up into the garden before you enter Aeris’ House. There is a 
Cover Materia and an 
Ether lying on the ground that you can obtain. Save your game at the Save Point if you did not save at the previous one.
Enter the house to begin another conversation with Aeris’ Mother. Cloud will decide it best to leave Aeris behind at her house. The game continues on the second floor of her house.
Best Bromance
Actions taken during this section of the game will influence the Gold Saucer Date side quest and obtaining the Best Bromance Trophy.
Aeris asks Cloud if Tifa is Cloud’s girlfriend:
| “Yeah, that’s right” | - 5 to Aeris |
After you get through Sector 6 to the playground:
| “Take her home.” | No change |
| “Go on to Sector 7.” | + 1 to Aeris |
Turn around and grab the item bag on the ground that contains both a Potion and a Phoenix Down. In order to get past Aeris you have to make sure not to run or the floor boards will creak. Walk past her room and exit out the front door.
Note: The default movement in the PlayStation 4 version of the game is to run. You will need to use the 
Directional Pad Buttons in order to make Cloud walk.
Once you reach the town outside of Aeris’ House go into the shack located at the bottom-right side of the screen. Go upstairs to find a young boy sleeping in a bed. On the wall you will find ‘Turtle’s Paradise News No. 1’.
There are 5 flyers located throughout the game. Finding them all will net you a very nice reward at the end. Check out the Turtle’s Paradise side quest section for more information.
The boy in the bed talks about hiding something. If you search through the drawers in the small night stand you can find 5 gil. If you choose not to steal the gil from him you can come back later on to find a Turbo Ether.
Continue through the town and back on to the pathway to find Aeris standing there waiting.
This area is famous for being one of the most frustrating sections of the game, especially for new players. The background graphics that guide you through this small maze are not very helpful so it can be very difficult to tell where the correct path is.
Many gamers have wasted hours in this section trying to find out how to get through. Use the map below to help guide you:
There are a few more conversations with Aeris in the next area and then you can move on to the Wall Market.
