we all know this:

Gast flees with Aeris' true mother and they eventually get killed by Hojo in Icicle.

right?

but when u 1st meet aeris's step mother she tells you she found her at the train station and that her mother died, right?

so here we have a problem, she dies twice?
or maybe the logical thing is that Hojo only wounded her but she did get away as proffesor Gast tried to hold back Hojo and got himself killed.

ok, so we have a logical answer.

BUT

after u finish the huge materia part, and u get bugenhagen on the highwind , talk to Caith Sit, guess what he says?

" i have just informed Arema ( or whatever her name was) of Aeris's death, she was devestated to hear that "

HUH?

wtf? Aeris's mother is alive?

or perhaps am i making the mixup and he means Aeris;s mother as in The STEP Mother?

then it makes logic and i just got it all mixed up :)

G'day!

he means he step-mother,the one in Sector 6

She was not going to be killed. SHe was going to be captured but she escaped with Aeris. Gast jus got fucked.

Dragoncurry's right. Gast somehow helped Aeris and her biological Mother to escape. Can't remember too well, but that's what happened. Aeris Mother died on the train platform and that lady from the slums raised her and became her Step Mother. Something I always wondered is who her husband. Aeris confirmed he had passed on(died) didn't she?

I agree with safer

Considering Aeris' age when Ifalna died (seven), she and her mother probably did get captured by Hojo and her mother was experimented on, because Aeris was a 20-day old infant when Gast was killed. Then she and Ifalna managed to escape and get to the slums, but by that time, Ifalna was so physically devastated by the torture that she couldn't make it.

Considering Aeris' age when Ifalna died (seven), she and her mother probably did get captured by Hojo and her mother was experimented on, because Aeris was a 20-day old infant when Gast was killed. Then she and Ifalna managed to escape and get to the slums, but by that time, Ifalna was so physically devastated by the torture that she couldn't make it.

Yes, they were captured. Remember, Aeris's step-mother told the party that Aeris had told her the story of excaping from Shinra HQ with her mother.

Hojo obviously experimented on them, he compared Ifalna to Aeris (in regards to their usefulness for research) in the meeting with the ShinRa top brass when the team are trying to infiltrate ShinRa HQ.

When Hojo went and captured Gast in the Icicle Inn flashback, only Gast was killed. Ifalna was taken with baby Aeris to be tested on at Shinra. They escaped and that is why you see Ifalna on the step with a four-year-old Aeris at the Sector 7 Train Station. When Cait Sith says that, he informed Elmyra (Aeris' step-mother, who adopted her) that Aeris had died.

Hope that is clear :)

When Hojo went and captured Gast in the Icicle Inn flashback, only Gast was killed. Ifalna was taken with baby Aeris to be tested on at Shinra. They escaped and that is why you see Ifalna on the step with a four-year-old Aeris at the Sector 7 Train Station. When Cait Sith says that, he informed Elmyra (Aeris' step-mother, who adopted her) that Aeris had died.

Hope that is clear :)

Exactly. Short and clear, there you have it.