Fantasy Royale is a fanfiction Ihave been working on for over a year now. It's been scrapped and restarted once, and gone through a few revamps, and I have never actually finished it yet, but I feel that I am finally on track with what is definetely the best version so far.

It is a story that combines characters from Final Fantasys IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and X-2 into a "Battle Royale" type story with some major differences.

In the story, 43 familiar FF characters, all aged round about 16, are in the same high school together. They are unwillingly inducted into a government program whereby they must fight for survival from each other, and there is but one rule: only one is allowed to leave alive.

So far I have written a total of 6 full chapters, weighing in at over thirty-five-thousand words, and I am currently working on Chapter 7. I know I posted here about my fanfiction before, but that has to be over half a year ago now, and I have completely revamped the story from it's not-so-brilliant former self into something that I and all of my readers feel is far better, and a generally more entertaining read.

For anybody interested in reading the story, it can be found here:
www.fanfiction.net/~windzarko

Constructive criticism or praise are greatly appreaciated!

I will start posting the chapters here soon, however I should make a big warning: this is not completely safe for work!. There is a LOT of violence, swearing, and sexual references. If you think that this could get you in trouble at work/school/wherever, I would wait until you get home.

Chapter 1 - Are We Nearly There Yet?

The city lights flashed by the windows of the airship, blending into a great technicolour blur scrolling past in an endless stream. Squall Leonhart was staring into these lights, through them, past them and into the distance, to the sunset over the sea. He didn’t know how long he had been staring out of the airship’s window, but the seconds had melted into minutes and the minutes had melted into aeons, and it now seemed like an eternity ago when he and his forty one classmates had boarded the airship in Timber. True, the trek to the Tomb of the Unknown King Museum and Theme Park was long, even by air, but it seemed like they hadn’t made any progress over Deiling City.

"Hey, Squall… do you think we’re nearly there yet?"

Squall groaned inwardly. Even though he was his best friend, whom Squall had known since he first came to live at Edea’s orphanage, Zell Dincht always got on his nerves when he got restless. Zell had been asking the same question every five minutes for several hours, and Squall was just barely keeping his temper. His eyes drifted closed and he let a slow breathe out to help lessen his irritation.

"No, Zell. We haven’t even gone past the Presidential Palace yet." He replied calmly, his eyes still closed.

"Aaaw man…" Zell moaned, collapsing back into his seat.

Squall could sympathise with Zell, to a degree. Air traffic over the city had to fly at a reduced speed, and had to follow specific routes, many of which came to a standstill if another airship in the lane suffered engine failure.

The airship gave a slight shudder as it came to a gradual stop, obviously stuck in another congested airway. Several of Squall’s classmates moaned at the delay, others remaining silent either through weary acceptance, or because they were asleep. A few took advantage of the temporary stop to switch seats and talk to other people (moving around whilst the airship was in motion wasn’t allowed). Squall heard someone move down the aisle towards them.

"Hey guys." Came a quiet voice. "Mind if I sit with you here?"

The voice belonged to Rinoa Heartilly, a relatively quiet and mild-mannered girl who was good friends with the two boys. Whenever she wasn’t with her girlfriends Celes or Aerith, she could be found with Squall and Zell. The three of them had been a fairly tight-knit group for a long time, yet in recent weeks, something seemed different; Rinoa had been hesitant to join them, for reasons unknown to either boy.

"Huh? Why do you need to ask? It’s a free airship, pull up a seat!"

Squall rolled his eyes behind closed lids. Typical of Zell to cover his nervousness with attitude.

"Go right ahead," he said, opening his eyes again "unless he objects."

The ‘he’ Squall was referring to was the young man in the seat on the opposite side of the aisle from him. He was swathed in a large red cloak, which hid most of his body from view, apart from a single golden-gauntleted arm, which was resting on his lap. His face was turned away from them, so it was impossible to tell whether he was either gazing out of the window as Squall had been, or was asleep. Taking his silence as passive acceptance, Rinoa sat down sideways on the seat next to him, her legs in the aisle, in much the same way as Zell was reclined next to Squall.

"This trip seems to be taking forever, huh?" she said, with a slight smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"You’re telling me! I feel like I’m gonna drop dead from boredom before we get there!" Zell moaned.

It was Squall’s turn to break into a small smile, something he rarely did.

"Doesn’t make it any easier when you keep getting asked ‘are we nearly there yet’ every few minutes, either."

"Oh." Zell stared sheepishly at the floor "Sorry about that…"

Rinoa giggled. Squall and Zell were often like this, with Zell being slightly hot-headed and rash, and Squall being more quiet and thoughtful, and often Zell ended up looking a bit silly – although Zell didn’t mind this; he was a bit of a joker and show-off by nature.

"How long has it been since we set out?" Zell asked, a slightly whingy tone entering his voice.

"Too long." Squall said, reclining in his seat. "I know that Deiling City is supposed to have atrocious air-traffic problems, but this is ridiculous."

"I heard the driver saying something about an air taxi that had suffered engine failure." Rinoa said.

"Wouldn’t be surprised if this old bucket breaks down as well." Zell muttered.

The airship they were travelling in was one of the school’s oldest. It was a former military vehicle, one of the old ‘Red Wing’ Galbadian Airforce vessels. It was supposed to be the pride of the school, an ex-military vessel that had had a long and distinguished mission record, but all the students hated it; it swayed too much in-flight, and despite attempts to touch the vehicle up, it still looked old enough to be scrapped.

They started chatting as friends do, adding to the quiet murmur of voices from those of the other thirty-nine students who were still awake. Squall could hear the voice of one of his friends, Cid, further back in the airship. Cid was probably chatting with Kain, as the two were always hanging out together (they were often known as ‘The Highwind Duo’ because of their identical surnames and their inseparability). Cloud was sitting behind them, leaning over the top of their chairs to talk to them. The class’ most serious couple, Shuyin (one of the best Sparring Match players) and Lenne (one of the loudest cheerleaders), were sitting a few seats ahead of Squall, and were talking in hushed tones. Somewhere near the back of the airship, Yuffie and Selphie were playing some sort of game with the class teacher, Mr. Kramer. The two girls were making a lot of noise (nothing new there) yet many members of the class still managed to remain asleep through the ruckus the pair was making, including Celes and Aerith who were soundly asleep a few seats ahead of Squall. Paine was sitting alone, as always. Even her ‘friends’, Rosa, Beatrix and LeBlanc, were sitting apart from her (Rosa with her boyfriend Cecil, Beatrix on her own staring absent-mindedly at Quistis' group, and LeBlanc sitting next to Gippal, who was trying to chat her up). Paine had a bad reputation, and even Squall, with his relatively detached attitude, was mildly disturbed by the things he had heard about her.

But more disturbing than Paine, (to Squall at least) was the white haired young man who was sitting right near the front of the airship, just behind the driver. Although he rarely said anything at all, Sephiroth exuded an aura that made everyone stay away. Everyone, that is, except for his gang members, Seifer, Rufus, Baralai and Edwin. Squall had a hunch even they were afraid of him (which would explain why they always strove to please him). Squall hardly knew anything about Sephiroth; in fact, no one knew his surname (or if he even had one), where he lived, and why he had a reputation for being a dangerous individual. He didn’t participate in the Sparring Matches at school (unlike most of his gang members, who had rather violent tendencies), and was usually quiet during class. The only thing anyone knew about him was that he and his gang rarely stayed on the right side of the law. Squall had also heard some of the gossip girls saying that apparently he had been having some sort of trouble with his mother recently, but that was just gossip, and irrelevant to Squall.

Somewhere further down the aisle from Zell and Rinoa, Cait Sith was pratting around as he always did (probably acting out one of his jokes), and Garnet and Jessie were laughing at his performance. Quistis and Lulu were rolling their eyes at the moogle-mounted cat’s antics, thinking them thoroughly immature (although Quistis seemed to be struggling not to smile herself). Terra appeared to be asleep, but was shaking slightly (as if in silent laughter), and her eyes appeared to be fractionally open. Apparently, she found Cait Sith amusing, but didn’t want her friends to know. Reina and Rydia appeared to be trying to get to sleep, but failing on account of Garnet and Jessie’s giggling (and – unsurprisingly enough – looked grumpy).

Yang and Edge were sitting right behind Squall, discussing Sparring Matches. For longer than anyone could remember, the Galbadian national sport had been Sparring Matches; one-on-one fights, where any fighting technique, magic, and weapon was allowed. The majority of the male students played (female students were forbidden from playing, although they were often there cheering their heads off in the audience). Every school had several fighting instructors, so that whatever fighting technique you wanted to learn would be taught, although most people avoided learning too much; the students who did the best in the Matches were often recruited into the army (not always of their own free will, or so the rumours went). Squall often fought in the Matches, using the gunblade he had been given years before. He was rated as one of the top fighters in the Matches, but he was certain that his friends Tidus and Cid were at the very least on a par with him, if not better than him.

Two seats ahead on the other side of the aisle, Squall could see one of his other best friends, Tidus, who was sitting with Rikku. He and Rikku had been friends for what seemed like an eternity, and – according to the girls’ gossip – had become a lot more. Squall personally didn’t think the two were involved; Tidus was a bit too laid-back in attitude, and was a little bit of a show off, and he knew that Rikku didn’t seem impressed by the guys in the class who tried to impress her by showing off. Behind them, Palom and Porrom were the class twins. Palom liked to mess around and be a bit of a show-off as well, but Porrom was quite strict with him, and was even now chastising him for something.

Right at the front of the airship, Relm was sitting next to Seymour, and she was desperately trying to ignore the blue-haired boy’s advances. Squall pitied her, knowing how annoying Seymour could be; exile to the Island Closest to Hell would be kinder than being stuck next to him for a journey as long as this.

Sitting in the seats behind Rinoa and Vincent were Yuna and Irvine. Irvine was sitting next to the window, and had apparently fallen asleep, with his cowboy hat pulled down low, obscuring his face. Yuna was awake, staring at the city lights with a far-off look on her face (she was probably daydreaming again).

Squall refocused on his friends as Rinoa spoke to him (she always cheers the loudest for me and Zell when we Spar, he thought), holding out some sandwiches she had taken from her school satchel.

“Hey Squall, you hungry?” she asked. She pulled her hand back abruptly as Zell tried to make a grab for the sandwich she had been offering to Squall. “Before Zell eats them all, that is.”

“Hey, I’ve only had a little bit, and I’m hungry!” Zell objected, his mouth stuffed with half a sandwich.

“You’ve eaten nearly half of them already, you greedy grat!” she said, shaking her head.

“Guess I should have put something together for the trip as well…” Squall said. “You eat them, Rinoa. I’m not that hungry, and they are yours.”

“Seems like it’s a good thing I prepared provisions for such a long journey, huh?” Rinoa said, looking away from Squall.

Was she blushing? Squall wondered silently, but said nothing.

“I swear that was a god send!” Zell said in a satisfied voice, having swallowed his mouthful. “Rinoa, you are an angel.”

Rinoa kept her face turned away, and now Squall knew she was blushing. She was often modest, and found praise embarrassing.

“You know, I kind of feel guilty eating them…” Zell said.

“What do you mean?” Rinoa said, looking very puzzled.

“He means he feels guilty that the others are being left out. Hardly anyone brought food along.” Squall said.

Rinoa turned to look at Vincent, who she was sitting next to. He had only joined the Year Eleven Timber High School class half a month before, and no-one knew anything about him, except that there had been some violence in his past, or something else bad (and probably on the wrong side of the law). He had come out of hospital and joined the year eleven class despite being a year older than anyone else; his injuries had kept him in hospital long enough for him to have to be put back a year. No one ever talked to him, and he always kept to himself, choosing isolation – not that anybody usually tried to talk to him anyway.

“Um…” she began, holding a sandwich towards him.


"I’ll pass."

The three friends were surprised at first; they didn’t recognise the voice, but since he rarely spoke to anyone it was hardly surprising that the voice wasn’t familiar. Vincent Valentine turned around fractionally, so that they could see the profile of his face, including those dark eyes, which always seemed to be observing everyone.

"But thanks anyway."

That said, he turned back to the window again, resuming his gazing over the cityscape of Deiling that lay sprawled beneath the airship. There was a shudder in the deck-plates, and a slight jolt as the vessel began to move, the stationary view of the city beginning to blur into a stream of colours again.

The three friends looked at each other, shrugged, and then started chatting again

-

Squall groggily opened his right eye. His left wouldn’t open, and was pressed up against a cold surface. It seemed to take an inordinate amount of effort to lift his arm to push himself into an upright position. He had been lying against the window, and the left side of his face felt extremely cold compared to the right side, having been pressed up against the cold glass.

Still barely awake, he looked around. Through the slight haze in his vision, he could see Zell sprawled in an ungainly fashion on the chair next to him. Rinoa was half off her seat, balanced at a precarious angle, with her head tilted back and her limbs splayed in manner that was halfway to spread-eagle. As Squall watched, she fell off her chair and collapsed into the aisle, but the significance of this didn’t penetrate the fog in his mind.

It was then that he noticed Vincent was struggling to standing up. He managed to drag himself to his feet, using the seat in front as a support. Moving out in to the aisle, he moved at an unsteady and almost limping run up the aisle, towards the pilot at the front. Apparently noticing his approach, the pilot shouted something, but Squall couldn’t make sense of the words. A man in a blue uniform leaned in through the hatch to the top deck, and brought a stubby little gun to bear. He squeezed the trigger, and a dart-like projectile flew from the barrel and struck Vincent in the chest.

Whatever the dart was, it stopped Vincent in his tracks. He tried to force himself forwards, towards the pilot, but his knees buckled, and he fell forwards onto his face. After a moment’s struggle, he went still.

Although Vincent’s struggle had lasted only a few desperate seconds, it seemed like it had stretched into hours. Tendrils of mist wove their way across Squall’s vision, and he began to fall asleep again. His last waking thought in his still-clouded mind was:

It was almost like he was trying to attack the pilot… but why? It’s not as if something’s going wrong…

Chapter 2 - Enrich the Planet

For the second time that day, Squall awoke with the side of his face pressed against a cold surface. But this time, his mind wasn�t clouded as it had been before. He noticed the absence of the airship engines� repeated rhythmic rumble, and the slight but perceptible sway of the vessel as it was buffeted by the wind. He realised that he was lying horizontally, and not propped up against the window. It slowly dawned on him that his neck felt sore, as if he had been wearing a too-tightly-knotted tie for hours.

With a growing sense of foreboding, Squall cautiously opened one eye to observe his situation. He was in a dark room that looked suspiciously like one of the classrooms back at Timber High School, complete with computer-terminal equipped desks arranged into rows up and down the length of the room, with a large electronic board at the front of the room where the teacher�s desk would be. In the few dim rays of light that filtered in through the boarded-up windows, Squall could see his classmates sprawled everywhere on the floor around him, apparently asleep, just as he had been.

Propping himself up on one elbow to get a better view, Squall spotted Zell and Rinoa lying nearby. He slowly climbed over the still-sleeping forms of Kain and Aerith to reach Zell. Grabbing his shoulder, he shook him gently until he grumbled and opened his eyes.

"Wha� what is it? I�m so� soooo tired�" he yawned.

Squall didn�t reply, as his gaze had fallen onto Zell�s neck, around which was a fairly unremarkable silver metal band, with a small, embossed lump on the front. Although this collar appeared innocent enough, and looked almost gaudy, something about it made the hairs on the back of Squall�s neck stand up. Reflexively, he reached for his own neck, and his fingertips found the same cold, smooth metal encircling his throat.

Well, that explains the soreness� but raises some worrying questions�

Reaching across to wake Rinoa up, Squall saw that she also wore a metal collar. He looked up, and as he did a quick scan of the room, he could see that all of his now-awakening classmates around him were wearing them. Most were groggily blinking their eyes and trying to work out was going on, obviously still half asleep. Others were feeling the collars and murmuring nervously. A few of the girls were whispering to each other, looking terrified. Rydia nervously tried to make a joke about the collars being a fashion disaster, but the comment wasn�t well received, leaving an embarrassed silence. The air seemed to be charged with the anxiety of the classmates.

Grabbing the edge of a nearby desk, Squall hauled himself to his feet so that he could survey the room more clearly. Everyone in the class was on the floor, scattered about seemingly at random, no longer next to whomever they had been with on the airship. The classroom itself seemed to be quite old, and not particularly well maintained. Colour-faded posters were dangling precariously from the walls, the adhesive that had been holding them having weakened with time. Three of the eight fluorescent bulbs from the overhead lights were missing, whilst a fourth light was dangling by a single thin wire, looking as if it were about to drop to the floor at any second. All of the screens for the computer terminals in the room were covered in a fine layer of dust, and the buttons on the keypads in front of them couldn�t be seen underneath the dirt. Wherever they were, it clearly had not been occupied for quite a while, and had deteriorated over time.

"Huh� all this place is missing is ghosts�" Cait Sith joked nervously. He immediately regretted the comment as several of the girls immediately huddled closer and started looking around nervously.

Everyone was fully awake now, and some were beginning to panic. Sephiroth and his gang were sitting in a corner, muttering something to each other in low voices. Sephiroth was reclining in a chair, looking almost bored by it all, but his gangers had tensed up and were seeking reassurance from their boss.

Yuffie and Selphie looked terrified and were hugging each other, and trembling silently. Shuyin and Lenne sat together quietly, holding hands, trying not to look nervous. Rinoa and Zell had dragged themselves up to sit on the chairs that were in front of each desk. Zell was still trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes (he�s always lazy when it comes to getting up, thought Squall), but Rinoa was wide-awake, and she looked to Squall, her eyes full of incomprehension, but there was little fear in her expression; she was too strong to let that show, especially in front of her friends.

Squall was trying to think of something he could say to comfort them, when a distant sound caught his attention. The noise was steadily becoming louder, and eventually he could tell that it was the sound of heavy footfalls. There was a large sliding door behind and to the left of the teacher�s desk at the front of the room, and a sliver of light was coming around the edges of the door. The footfalls were coming from that direction. Squall nudged Rinoa and Zell back onto the floor, then he crouched down behind a desk. He didn�t have the faintest idea who was approaching, but he had a gut feeling that it wasn�t going to be a pleasant encounter when they arrived.

Let�s just hope that this is one hunch that doesn�t turn out to be right�

The footsteps grew louder still, and it was now clear that there were several people coming. Everyone in the room was now fully awake, and aware of the advancing sound. Most followed Squall�s train of thought, and crouched behind the desks, mentally preparing themselves for danger, while others merely remained in place, fixed to the spot in panic, confusion or despair.

Squall started subconsciously toying with his ring. He wasn�t aware he was doing it, but it was like a reflex; he often did it when he felt anxious.

The footsteps arrived at the door to the classroom, and stopped. There was some muffled speech from the other side of the door, then a series of electronic beeps as somebody keyed in the unlock code on the keypad on the other side of the door. After a brief double-beep sound that confirmed a correct code, the door slid back, flooding the room with light from the corridor outside. Squall strained to see who lay beyond the now open portal, but the sudden light temporarily blinded him, and he was unable to see anything but a large, shadowy blob in the middle of the doorway. He looked away, blinked a few times until his vision cleared again and his eyes adjusted, and then turned back to see who had opened the door.

There were five men in Galbadian Army uniforms standing outside the door, all carrying guns that gleamed with a deadly light. Four of the soldiers, dressed in the standard blue fatigues of the Galbadian Army, filed into the room in a highly disciplined fashion, and stood to attention, two on either side of the door. The fifth soldier, who was wearing the red suit, tech helmet and bulky shoulder pads of a G-Army officer, remained outside, apparently waiting for something. After a few seconds, he snapped to attention, and barked "Atten-shun!" in the way only military people can. The four soldiers flanking the door also snapped their legs together, and saluted smartly.

"Hoo-hoo! At ease, gentlemen, at ease."

The voice that spoke this sounded mildly amused, and was the kind of voice one normally associates as belonging to an aged man. The owner of the voice moved into view outside the doorway. He looked like a small old man, except he didn�t appear to have any discernible legs; his body seemed to end a bit below the chest, but he was floating on thin air, as if supported by the legs he was missing. He was wearing a blue jacket that draped down nearly to where his knees would be if he had legs. He had a long, grey beard, and stubby tufts of hair on the sides of his head. From his appearance, he was a man of some considerable age. Everyone in the room relaxed a little bit at the sight of this man; he seemed almost like a grandfather, kind and gentle, mildly amused at the things going on around him.

The little old man floated into the room, down the line the four soldiers had formed, and moved towards the teacher�s desk. As he floated along, he bobbed up and down slightly. Squall wondered if he had been given some form of anti-grav device to replace his legs.

The fifth soldier � the officer � moved into the room and closed the door behind him, and stood in front of it, crossing his arms across his chest, looking for all the world like the military equivalent of a bouncer at a disco. The four blue-suited grunts moved to take up various positions throughout the room, with two flanking the old man, one standing by the windows, and the other turned on the lights from the switches behind the teacher�s desk. All five soldiers stood completely motionless once they had taken up their positions.

The old man waited patiently for the students to stop blinking from the sudden increase in light, then he spoke to them, in the same mildly amused voice as before.

"Would I be correct in believing that you are Timber High School�s year eleven class, hmm?"

Nobody answered at first, merely staring at each other in puzzlement. After several seconds� hesitation, Palom spoke up.

"Well, yeah, that�s right. So who are you then, gramps?"

"Palom! Don�t be so rude to him!" Porrom chastised him, nudging him sharply with her elbow.

"Hoo-hoo, don�t worry, it�s quite all right, quite all right," laughed the old man. "He does have a right to enquire who I am, after all."

He floated over to the teacher�s computer terminal, and gazed down its keypad. He looked pointedly at the soldier next to him, who moved forwards and smartly wiped the dust away from the terminal. Satisfied, the old man picked up the digital stylus used for electronic note-taking, and wrote something on the screen. Once he finished, he pressed another button, and the e-board on the wall behind him flickered to life. His name was written in fine, looping hand writing on the board.

"My name is Bugenhagen, and I will be your �stand-in� teacher for the next few days, ho-hmm."

"Stand in?" piped up Yang, one of the class jocks. "What happened to Mr. Kramer?"

"I imagine that this would be one of those things that is better explained with visual aids, ho-hoo."

Bugenhagen lifted one arm, and made some sort of gesture to the soldier standing in front of the door. The soldier nodded once, and then marched from the room. The classmates could hear him enter another room somewhere nearby, and then a moment later, he returned, pulling a large bag on a hover-sled behind him.

That bag� it looks like a� please, no�

After manoeuvring the sled to the front of the room, in front of the teacher�s desk, the soldier dutifully located the bag�s zipper, and undid it in one motion.

Everybody backed away several paces. Squall fell back onto the floor, narrowly avoiding smacking his head on the corner of the desk behind. Many screamed, and some of the girls burst into tears. Relm started retching, and then threw up. The of the class were unable to say anything, stunned into disbelief. Only Sephiroth and Vincent remained calm, watching with what almost appeared to be a kind of detached interest.

The cause of the outburst was the contorted and blood-covered remnants of the face of the class�s former teacher, Mr. Kramer. He was obviously dead; no person could lose half their head and expect to survive.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo, you needn�t worry children, his soul is with the Planet now."

Bugenhagen chuckled to himself after he stopped talking, then signalled to the soldier again, who zipped the bag up again.

"He strongly objected to your selection, and he had to be� silenced. Quite forcibly, as well. A pity, as good teachers can be quite rare these days. Hoo-hoo, but my, he did look so surprised when we were forced to shoot him." Bugenhagen began chuckling to himself again.

The class was speechless; their teacher for three years had been murdered, and the man responsible seemed mildly amused by it. Unable to formulate coherent thoughts, let alone speak, everyone sat in place, and said nothing. Everyone, that is, except for Sephiroth.

"So what have we been selected for, then?" he said, his cold voice sending chills down Squall�s spine. He sounded almost bored, as if they were attending one of the frequent compulsory lectures on the �glory� of the Galbadian Empire.

"Why this year�s Program, of course."

Everyone was dead silent now. The silence in the room went beyond a lack of sound, it seemed to be a vortex pulling all noise into it; the sound of peoples� breathing, the noises made by those members of the class who were fidgeting, all were sucked in. Even the sound of the girls who were sobbing couldn�t be heard. They all stared at Bugenhagen, unable to look anywhere else, unable to think because his words were ricocheting around inside their brains, blocking out all other thought. Everyone knew what the Program was. All school children knew, but never actually believed they would be the ones who would be chosen. It was a fate one should never dwell on.

Apparently taking their utter silence as incomprehension, Bugenhagen spoke up again.

"This year�s Program will be like all those that have preceded it; we are situated on a small, deserted island, so there will be no interference from other people. Shortly, you will be sent outside this school building, and you then proceed to kill each other off, one by one, until there is just one victorious winner is left standing. I should think that that is simple enough, no? Hoo-hoo!"

Coherent thought still escaped the members of the class. No one could imagine having to seriously fight to the death with anyone, least of all with their closest friends.

Squall�s mind was as blank as everyone else�s was. He was trying to think, but nothing was coming. There was only a blank void in his mind, which was stopping any possibility of coherent thought.

"To better explain this� this �game� to you, we will have a special guest join us shortly. She will outline the specifics of the game once she arrives. But before that, are there any questions?"

Bugenhagen bounced up and down in the air, looking around the classroom for raised hands.

"Hoo, Yes? You there, behind the far corner desk."

Squall craned his neck round to see who was posing the question. At first, he couldn�t see, but then Gippal pulled himself up over the edge of the desk so he could make eye contact with Bugenhagen.

"Why are you doing this? What is the purpose of the Program!" he said loudly, half hysterical.

"Hoo-hoo, a question they ask frequently. Every time, in fact. Quite simply, it is because you children need to learn a very simple but important lesson, one that school cannot teach you. It is a lesson which you shall learn first-hand, and which the rest of your school shall learn upon hearing of this Program. This is the ultimate lesson that you can learn in life; your true worth. If you are really worth something, then you will fight to survive. Only those who have survival skills with intelligence and strength of will to back them up will win. Of course, there is an element of luck to, ho-hmm."

He was met with silence, and a number of uncomprehending stares.

"For years, the children of the great Galbadian Empire have been getting steadily worse. Their behaviour in and out of the classroom is disgraceful and intolerable, and many are becoming dangerously rebellious. This is naturally completely unacceptable for an Empire as great as ours. We could of course crush this behaviour, but we�d rather teach an important lesson whilst getting you to take care of each other for us. You will essentially teach each other. Teach each other that life is a struggle, and that only the best survive, only those who strive hard survive. And of course, those who strive hardest help further our great Empire�s glory."

He paused, and floated slightly closer to the class, gazing around at the various groupings of friends.

Now, "I�ve heard that this class is quite a bad one, as far as high school classes go. Some of you have �revolutionary� ideas that are dangerous to the Great Dictator, Golbez. Others of you are forming the kind of cliques that will become gangs that drain the economy of this great nation through the Black Market. Many of you girls are openly rejecting your natural roles as well-behaved homemakers. Hoo-hoo, this is no good at all."

He paused for a moment, sweeping his eyes over the room�s occupants.

"Now, before we progress any further, I need to check a few details; are all forty-three of you here?"

Jessie nervously raised her hand.

"Yes, young lady?"

"I� I haven�t seen Red XIII today� sir." She said, adding the �Sir� in an effort to avoid displeasing Bugenhagen. "I�m fairly sure that he didn�t come along."

"Ah, yes� the class� special student. An intelligent tiger-like creature, if I remember correctly?" he said. Jessie nodded silently.

While they were speaking, there came the sound of snickering from the back of the room. The sound prompted a raised eyebrow from Bugenhagen.

"Care to share the source of your mirth, ho-hoo?" he said, his voice slightly disapproving.

Seifer, spoke up, his voice as arrogant as always, despite the situation.

"Yeah; we locked the stupid animal in a cupboard back in school, before we left for the trip." Seifer paused to laugh, and Rufus joined in. "He won�t be able to get out; he can�t open doors with those paws of his!"

With the exception of Sephiroth, the entire gang burst out laughing. Rufus mimed opening a door.

"No opposable thumbs, no grasping the door knob!" he said, cackling with laughter.

"Hoo, I assume you realise that since you have been selected for the Program, use of your classroom at school will be restricted until the game is over? He�ll be stuck in there for several days yet, so you�ve essentially already killed one of your classmates." He paused, then as an afterthought, added "Well done."

The laughter stopped abruptly.

"Moving on� I assume that the other forty-two students are present, though, correct?"

His question was met with nods from everyone.

"Hoo-ho, that is good indeed. The more the merrier."

Abruptly, Zell shot to his feet, glaring at Bugenhagen. He had been silently seething with anger for several minutes, and Squall had been silently praying that his friend would, just for once, learn to control his temper, but Zell, as always, had been unable to hold himself back.

His sudden movement caused the soldiers to tense up, moving their hands to their holstered weapons, flipping the safeties off, but Bugenhagen waved them off.

"How� how can you condone this, you� you b******! You�re condoning murder!"

"It is good for the nation, as I said before. It teaches valuable lessons and helps bring order. And I do not feel sorry for your deaths, if that is what you mean by your outburst. I believe that the souls of the dead return to the Planet to enrich and strengthen it. And an enriched planet is better for Empire, hoo."

Bugenhagen paused, looking at Zell as if trying to divine something from his appearance.

"Ho-hmmm� you are Squall Loire, no?"

Zell, not quite sure how to respond, fell silent. Squall stood up, placing a hand on Zell�s shoulder, and pushing him back to the floor.

"No, I�m Squall. And the name�s Leonhart. The Loire family died over a decade ago. I am no longer a part of it."

"Ho-hoo, very well, Squall Leonhart." Replied Bugenhagen, chuckling. "You know, I was interested when I heard you�d be in this Program. Did you know your older sister was Program contestant eleven years ago? That was what intrigued me about seeing your name on the list, you know, hoo-hoo."

Squall closed his eyes to hide the pain in them. Yes, he did know that Ellone had been chosen for the Program. That was what had torn his family apart.

On the day that her class was abducted whilst on a field trip, government agents had turned up at their house to inform them that Ellone had been �selected to help further the nation�. His father, Laguna, had refused to accept it, and had barely managed to hold his temper in check as the agents gave them the news. Once they had left, he had immediately grabbed his guns and left to try and rescue her, leaving Squall alone with his mother, Raine. Laguna never returned, and Raine died from cancer less than two months after he left. Squall had been entrusted to Edea�s orphanage after that, and had lived there ever since.

"I imagine then that this ruffian with you must be Zell Dincht, then, ho-hoo. Yes, that must be right; the two orphanage boys. You know, your �Matron� Edea didn�t react so well to the news that you�d been selected. In fact, I had to have Major Wedge here," Bugenhagen indicated the red-suited soldier at the door, "rape her to subdue her."

The Major called Wedge snickered behind his helmet. Zell shot up from his crouching position, shaking violently, more enraged than Squall had ever seen him before.

"You� you f*cking b******! How could you touch her! I�ll f*cking kill you!"

Evading Squall�s attempts to stop him, Zell jumped onto the desk in front, and leapt at Major Wedge, murder in his eyes and screamed obscenities pouring from his mouth.

Zell never made it past the front desk.

The scene would be etched into Squall�s mind forever. Although it took a few seconds at most, it would continue to play in slow motion every time his thoughts turned to Zell.

Wedge, with the practised ease of a professional soldier, brought his gun out of its holster and flipped the safety catch off in one fluid motion. Zell was still running towards Wedge when the first hypervelocity round tore through his head, carrying away nearly all of the left side of his face and a substantial portion of his skull. Something warm and liquid sprayed across Squall�s face. A second round stopped the already dead thing that had once been Squall�s closest friend in its tracks, tearing a large chunk from its shoulder, and the third and final round spun it to the floor, leaving a gaping hole in the centre of his torso. Wedge smoothly replaced the gun in its holster, and crossed his arms back across his chest. He had never even left his position, reclining on the door the whole time. There was a look of supreme indifference on his face, as if he had done nothing at all.

Squall was rooted to the spot, paralysed, and unable to even lift an arm to wipe the spray of blood from his face. He barely noticed the irony tang of the blood that had trickled down his face and into his mouth. This man, this faceless soldier, had raped the woman who had been like a mother to him for years, and had now murdered his best friend. Only one thought entered Squall�s mind:

Kill.

If Rinoa hadn�t sensed his intentions grabbed his arm, looking pleadingly into his eyes, begging him not to do it, Squall would have gone to exactly the same fate as Zell. Instead Squall stood, rooted to the spot, blood on his face, Rinoa hanging from his arm, his glare fixed on Bugenhagen. If looks could kill, Bugenhagen would have been reduced to a few trace atoms in the air in an instant.

The rest of the class was pressed up against the rear wall of the classroom, pushing back as if they could pass through the wall and escape from it all. When Wedge had started shooting, they had all huddled together as far away as possible from the danger. They may well have been screaming or crying, but Squall didn�t notice, and didn�t care.

He took a step forwards, prompting Wedge to move one hand back towards the holster. Rinoa, realising that Squall was still intent on revenge, yanked on his arm, unbalancing him. Acting on his instability, she kicked out at his leg, knocking him to the floor. He glared at her, and she flinched under his gaze, but she still met his glare, and replied with a look that meant �not yet�.

Squall slowly turned his glare back on Bugenhagen.

I�m going to tear your head off your f*cking shoulders, little man.

Bugenhagen smiled down at Squall patronisingly, almost as if he had heard Squall�s thoughts.

The building tension was shattered by a knock at the door.

"Ho-hoo, please sit down now. It is time to listen to our special guest explain how to fight in this Program. Come in, Agent Marlene."

Chapter 3 - The Turk girl Marlene

All eyes turned to the sliding door. Major Wedge stepped aside from the door, opened it, and saluted smartly, calling out "atten-shun" again. The four other soldiers saluted as well, standing rigidly to attention.

A young woman stepped in through the doorway, and absent-mindedly gave a slight hand wave to signal the soldiers to stand at ease. The woman appeared to almost as young as the classmates themselves, and couldn’t have been any older than twenty. She was a fairly petite woman, with short black hair, a beaming face, and a mischievous look in her eyes. She wore the classic suit of Galbadian Agents (commonly known as "Turks") – black trousers, white shirt, a black jacket that usually concealed a gun of some sort, a black tie with the Galbadian crest, and black sunglasses – except she was not wearing her jacket or tie. The jacket was hanging from her left shoulder, and her tie appeared to be absent altogether. Her sunglasses were pushed up onto her head, allowing a clear view of her face.

Agent Marlene stepped forward, took a deep breath as if to announce herself, then noticed the corpse on the floor. She gave a little giggle, lightly jumped onto the corpse, and then sprang off it, landing next to Bugenhagen.

"Silly old man! You know you’re not supposed to kill any of them before they leave the building. It makes the most awful mess to clean up; blood doesn’t come out of carpets easily! Hee-hee-hee!"

"Ho-hoo, but he was getting rather uncivilised too early. We had to subdue him, and unfortunately this involved the removal of the greater part of his head, ho-hum. Pity."

Marlene giggled again, and then turned to the class, who had moved away from the wall, and settled back into their previous positions, but somewhat wearily this time. Marlene coughed lightly into her hand, as if she was politely clearing her throat.

"Ahem. Hello, children! My name is Agent Marlene Wallace, and I am as a representative of Emperor Golbez. My purpose here is to explain how to play this game properly, so you can put up a jolly good fight!"

She leaned forward and lowered her voice, as if she were passing on a secret.

"They have to bring me here coz Buggerface over there can’t explain properly without ranting about the ‘Planet’ and ‘Life Stream’ and other crap."

"Ho-hmm, it’s ‘Bugenhagen’," he said, looking mildly amused "try to remember this time."

"Right you are, Buggerhagen." She snickered. Turning back to the class, she continued: "I am also here as an observer to make sure things go as the Emperor wishes. Plus, I love watching these games! Nothing like a good old battle for entertainment!"

It was utterly surreal. Squall was trapped in some nightmare that didn’t make any sense at all. They had been told to kill each other, and his best friend lay dead on the floor, yet this girl was acting as if there was great levity in the situation. He sank back to the floor, feeling lost and confused. Rinoa moved next to him and held his hand in hers, and he could feel from the grip that she was just barely holding it all together. She was trembling slightly, although he could not tell whether this was through anger or fear.

"Ahem," Marlene cleared her throat "now to explain how this year’s battle will work. You will all leave here one at a time, in your normal class order, starting with a randomly selected member of the class."

Marlene raised her left hand, and snapped her fingers loudly. Two of the blue-suited soldiers immediately rushed outside, and came back in a moment later, each pushing a trolley laden with large green military-issue bags. Carefully navigating around Zell’s body, they pushed them to the side of the classroom, and then stood at ease in front of their respective trolleys.

"As you leave this room, each of you will take a bag from those trolleys. Well… it’s not compulsory, but you won’t survive long if you don’t, hee-hee! Anyway… each bag contains some basic provisions to last you a few days, a map and compass to help you navigate your was around this island, a torch, and finally," she paused for effect, grinning at everyone, "your weapon."

A murmur went around the room. Weapons? These people were seriously expecting the classmates to kill each other off in armed battle. It seemed ludicrous, yet it was happening, almost too fast for them to take in.

"Each bag has a randomised weapon in; this helps to eliminate any natural advantages you may have in a fight, like being stronger or more athletic than most other members of the class. The possible weapons in the bags range from various guns, through magical weapons for all varieties of spells, down to knives and other melee weapons," she grinned again "so you can really get stuck in to your enemy! There are a few other weapons, and maybe some items which aren’t necessarily weapons, but could turn out to be useful nonetheless…

"Anyway, onto the rules of engagement! Once you have left this school the game has begun, and you should try to start killing each other."

"Ho-hoo, and don’t think of lingering in the school, or I’m afraid these nice soldiers here will have to shoot anyone without a hall pass." Interjected Bugenhagen.

"I was just getting to that, Buggerface!" Marlene moaned, rolling her eyes at him.

"It’s Bugenhagen."

"Whatever!" She looked back to the class. "Now, I know that many of you think that you can just sit tight and not kill each other…"

She clutched her hands in front of her, put on a happy-go-lucky smile, and spoke in a sickly sweet voice:

"Everyone will get along! We can all be happy and help each other and escape!"

She gave a laugh that sounded almost malicious, and pointed to her neck.

"Well, I’m sure that you’ve all noticed those cool metal collars you’re wearing…"

Everyone in the class instinctively grabbed at their necks. Everyone except Vincent, who gave a slight yawn, and continued to watch Marlene with feigned interest.

"Well, those collars are completely shockproof, waterproof, and won’t come off until we want them to! They contain a tracking device, so we can monitor your location on the island, a pulse monitor, so we tell if you’re still alive and if you’re about to die, and – this bit is my personal favourite – a small explosive charge on the front! Tee-hee!"

There was a sharp intake of breath in the room. Marlene was getting very excited as she explained, practically bouncing up and down, as if the whole idea of wearing a bomb on your neck must be very exciting indeed.

"If there are no deaths in the class for a period of twenty-four hours, then we transmit a small signal to all the collars that are still active, and that little charge goes off…. BOOM!" Marlene shouted, jumping up and spreading her arms and legs in mid air, spread eagle. Her jacket went flying and landed on a desk nearby, but she was so absorbed in explaining the collars that she didn’t seem to notice.

The entire class moved away sharply as she shouted the last word, as if reeling away from something that had burnt them. Many of the girls screamed, other clamping hands to their mouths to prevent themselves from doing the same.

"Hee-hee-hee! I’d say that that’s a pretty good incentive to play, no? Oh, I think you should also know that a person’s collar will also go off if they try to tamper with it in anyway, or tug at it for that matter, or if they attempt to leave the island. Oh, and if they stray into a Forbidden Zone. So I advise you all to be very, very careful, or it might just be time for you to… head off! Hee-hee-hee!"

Marlene jumped up and down a bit more, her enthusiasm growing by the second. Squall wondered if she always acted like this when she explained the Program to people. He also mildly wondered if she was on steroids. Looking to the side, he saw Rinoa shaking her head in disgust, her lip curling slightly, and a dark and worrying look in her eyes. This surprised Squall somewhat; she was normally extremely tolerant of everyone, even Seymour (she was one of the few girls who didn’t want to just slap him).

"Also, there’s a little red LED on the front of each of your collars. It’ll light up when we activate your collars in a few minutes’ time, and the light will only go out when the wearer’s heart has stopped! Good way to tell if someone’s trying to be sneaky by faking death, hee-hee!

"Okay… Now, there’s only one more rule: every six hours, we will announce new Forbidden Zones, where you must never ever go! If you do stupidly go into a Forbidden Zone for any reason, or get caught in one when it becomes active, then your collar goes off, hee-hee!"

Bugenhagen spoke up again, catching Marlene off-guard.

"We also announce the list of those who have died, along with the new danger zones, so you can work out who’s left to take out."

"Buggerface!" Marlene moaned, stamping her feet and shaking her head angrily, "Stop stealing my lines!"

Squall recalled something about mental health problems that could lead to abrupt mood swings, and wondered if Marlene was suffering one.

Great, we have a weird old guy and a loony Turk making us play a death game…

"If I don’t say something, then I’m superfluous to requirements, no? Hoo-hoo-ho!"

Bugenhagen floated forwards a few feet.

"Are there any questions, ho-hmmm?"

At the back of the room, Sephiroth raised his hand lazily.

"Yes, young man?"

"When can we start? I’m getting really quite bored of waiting here."

Sephiroth’s question caused a wave of panic among his classmates. He’s going to play, Squall realised. Bugenhagen raised one eyebrow, regarding the white-haired young man, then he chuckled.

"Ho-ho! A quick learner, hmm? You can start as soon as you have left the school."

Rydia raised her hand, somewhat shakily.

"Ho-hmm, yes?"

"Umm… when do we have to go… and who leaves first?"

"Hoo-hoo, that depends upon who was chosen by the same impartial lottery that selected your class for this year’s Program."

"I have the name here!" Marlene said, beaming. She retrieved her jacket, rummaged around inside one of the pockets, and withdrew a slightly crumpled yellow envelope.

She opened the envelope, and with a flourish, removed a piece of folded paper from inside. Unfolding the paper with deliberate slowness, she read what was written on it. The class waited, everyone unconsciously holding their breath. Marlene looked up at the class and beamed again.

"Hee-hee! It’s none other than male student number one! Who is that?"

Cait Sith raised his hand (as did the huge moogle doll he was riding on), and spoke in a voice that didn’t sound like his normal one.

"That’s me? W… when do I have to… go?"

Bugenhagen span around once on the spot, and raised his arms towards the ceiling.

"Why, right now! Unless you want your collar to go off, that is, ho-hoo! The game starts now, and if you’re still in the school two minutes after your collar is activated, it’ll go off!"

Cait Sith jumped a bit, as if he had just had a static electricity shock. Everyone in the room stared at him. The collar around the small, moogle-mounted black cat’s neck had apparently activated. There was a small, red light glowing ominously in the centre of the stud in the middle of the collar. Not wasting a second, Cait Sith made his moogle run to towards the door.

"Hey, don’t forget your weapon, silly! Hee-hee, stupid moogle-cat!" Marlene giggled.

Attempting to adjust direction too quickly, Cait Sith’s moogle nearly fell over as he tried to spin it around to face the other way. Once he had regained balance, he bounded towards the nearest trolley-mounted bag rack, grabbed the bag on top, and then turned around again and bounded over Zell’s corpse and out through the door.

The class sat in silence. Vincent looked bored, as if it were just a geography lesson, and started inspecting the fingernails of his right hand. Sephiroth seemed equally bored, but then, he never did seem to take an interest in anything. Everyone else sat quietly, waiting for the inevitable. The sound of Cait Sith’s bounding footsteps faded into the distance.

The silence was broken when Relm inhaled sharply. Her collar had activated. She shot to her feet and ran somewhat unsteadily to the bag rack, grabbed a bag, dropped it on Zell, reached down to pick it up again, quivering with fear in such close proximity to the corpse, then ran out.

And so it continued, people leaving one by one, some walking out with some semblance of dignity, others running away, on the verge of tears. Sephiroth calmly walked along, as if strolling through the park on a fine day. He moved slowly enough that Major Wedge told him to hurry up, although the white-haired young man paid no attention to the soldier. Seifer practically strutted as he left the room, leaving no doubt in people’s minds that his arrogance and overconfidence hadn’t been diminished by his situation.

Squall sat calmly, trying to work out what to do. His desire to avenge Zell still lurked in the back of his mind, and he could still see Zell’s corpse every time he closed his eyes, but he would have to wait. Getting himself and Rinoa to safety was his primary concern. He had a nasty feeling that some people would be willing to play this ‘game’ the government had set out for them. Rinoa came after him in class order, so if he waited near the school, she would come out after him, and the two of them could run to somewhere safe and work out what to do. He knew that she wouldn’t believe that others would fight, but Squall knew that all the previous Programs had been successful, one of them killing his sister. Some people would play, he was sure of it.

Eventually, Squall’s turn came. He felt a slight shock as the collar activated, causing his lip to twitch in distaste, but didn’t feel overly panicked. He had always managed to maintain a degree of control over his emotions when under pressure. He leaned across to Rinoa, whispered "I’ll meet you outside," as he gave her hand one last squeeze, then stood up and walked calmly to the bag rack. Giving one final glance to Zell’s body, he took a bag from the rack, and walked to the door.

Stopping on the threshold, he looked over to Bugenhagen. The little old man smiled patronsingily at him, and Marlene giggled.

"Ooooh, I think he’s a bit pissed off at us! Hee-hee!"

Squall didn’t notice what Marlene said, nor did he see Rinoa’s lip curl again at the sound of her voice. He glared at Bugenhagen.

I’ll be seeing you again. And when I do, I’ll take great pleasure in killing you.

--- Start of game ---

41 students remaining.

I haven't read this yet so I'll edit this post in a while to include my thoughts on the actual writing. This is a reply too the idea you have based this on. It seems to me you have essentially took Koushun Takami's Battle Royale, changed the story a little and replaced the characters. It doesn't sound very original to me. Of course the story itself could be a solidly writen piece of work and I'm going to reserve judgement on it until I read it, but in all honesty I think you are wasting your time on this. You have evidently put a lot of effort into this from the size of the posts (it could be a case of quantity of quality for all I know but there is clear signs of effort) but that effort could be better used on something original. I hope this doesn't sound overly harsh, it's just my personal point of view and I'll post some feedback on the actual content later today.

I believe I mentioned before that this story has been revamped several times, and was completely restarted once. This is because originally, yes, the story I was writing was practically a Battle Royale narrative which substituted the BR characters for FF characters, and made a few small changes, but not many.

I got really fed up with this, as I realised that it was too much of a rip-off. The complete restart of the story brought about a new direction main comparissons to BR can only be drawn in the first two chapters, and thats because it is simply unavoidable; the kids HAVE to be abducted, and introduced to the game before being sent out. After that, there are very few comparissons to the original Battle Royale storyline (with one or two exceptions, things that are similar to BR are unintentional coincidences).

OK. You said that the first two chapters were heavily BR based and I'm not going to disagree wth you there. Having read BR and seen the films those chapters were predictable but I'm sure to someone new to Battle Royale it would have provided a good incentive for reading on. Not that I didn't want to read on, but you fucked up your posting of it and went from chapter 2 to 4(I know that you posted a link to for continued reading and I will visit it, but this is based strictly on what is presented to me here).

You obviously have a firm grasp on the English language, avoiding over-using words and instead using alternatives where possible. Also, your grammar was impeccable which is a real plus in fan-fiction. There was one thing that I was particularly impressed with and showed some real flair and originality in your writing; that being Red XIII being locked inside a cabinet. This is something that Koushun Takami couldn't achieve due to his book being strictly human based but it was a nice idea on your part and the most intriguing aspect of those first chapters.

This is an extremely solid piece of writing and in the last few days the bar in the Fiction & Poetry section has been raised by writing such as this (some of the shit churned out in here is unbelievable). It was predictable and a little boring for me as an avid BR fan, but I'm happy to continue reading which surely shows it offers something new and different. Credit has to go to your own touches, especially, as I have already said, Red XIII's death, as it really added a little vibrancy to a (for me personally) well known story. You say that from chapter two onwards the story becomes much more original and although I cannot say whether or not this is so, I am happy to read on to find out. Prak pointed out yesterday that almost anyone can, given enough time, produce a passable story and until I read the rest I can't comment on whether or not this is a worthwhile read, from what I have read you have shown ability in character development and descriptive writing, two of the most important aspects of writing.

In summary, so far this is predictable fare but with just enough originality injected to keep those who are familiar with Battle Royale interested. It show's that you have a good standard of English and a large vocabulary but I can't really shake the feeling that this is a generic Battle Royale clone. I honestly feel that a person of your talent could suceed writing original works but it's entirely up to you how far you want to pursue writing. So, all considered, a fairly good piece of work but if it had have been original it could well have been excellent.

Ooops... thanks for pointing out the accidental lack of chapter 3. I'll fix that as soon as I post this reply.

Thank you for the comments, positive or otherwise; I like it when somebody does a serious critique of my work. I must point out though that the BR-ness in the first 2 chapters is unavoidable; read any BR fanfiction and you will see that there are some similar elements that are simply unavoidable.

And I do promise that it really begins to deviate. I said "after chapter 2" before, but I got a bit confused; chapter 3 bears strong resemblances as well, because its still in the classroom, but it is more different than the two preceeding chapters.

And why am I writing this? Sure, I've got ideas for original stories aplenty, and once I'm through with Fantasy Royale I'll find the time to get around to them, but I don't want to let the FR idea go; I find it too entertaining to let it slip by, and I have immense fun writing the story.

Chapter 4 - Son of Jenova

Cait Sith hurtled through the forest, ignoring the stinging and scraping of branches low-hanging branches he crashed through in his flight through the trees. He screamed and flailed his arms about him, trying to brush them away, imagining them to be the giant tentacles of some great monster closing in on him, trying to snatch him up and devour him.

Everyone� everyone will play!

He had known it the instant his collar had activated. Everything had seemed surreal up until that point, almost like a dream. Sure, he�d seen Zell die, and seen the corpse of their teacher as well, but that could have just been a nightmare brought on from seeing that slasher film the other week. Nothing new at all, people often saw deaths in their dreams.

But then the collar had activated, and the slight static shock had really made him realise that it was all really real, and he wasn�t just having a bad dream. He was in the Program, and they would all have to play or die. When the collar had activated, and made him jump, he had looked around at his classmates as they recoiled away from him in surprise. They had all looked scared, gazing at him with terrified eyes. His mind had snapped in that second, fracturing into a million shards like a shattered mirror. Through this fractured mess of his mind, he had come to believe that they were afraid of him. That they were terrified of him, and he knew that people would strike out against that which they were afraid of.

Just because I�m different�

He couldn�t help being who he was. Nonhumans were entitled the same rites as any other person, but they were scared of him. He was sure of it now. He was mounted on a moogle doll for transport, which brought him nearly up to the height of his classmates, but he believed that they still looked down on him, loathed him, feared him. He believed they thought of him like this just because he was different.

Tears began to streak his eyes, and he pawed them away quickly, angry at himself for showing such weakness. But this temporary lapse in his concentration made the moogle doll trip up, landing in the dirt. He was sent flying, and landed on the damp grass several feet away. He tried to lift himself up, but collapsed straight back into the grass. Overcome with a whirling hurricane of consuming emotion, he started to cry pitifully.

They�ll try to kill me� I know it! They�ll want to kill me just because I�m different!

But� but I want to live!

He lifted his face from the damp grass and gazed over at his moogle doll. Heaving himself to his hind feet, the little black cat padded over to his mount, and righted it. He took a moment to wipe some of the dirt from its face to make it look a little more respectable, then he moved to the green bag that was slung across the doll�s shoulders, and began to rummage around inside. He didn�t know what he hoped to find, but he just wanted something � anything � with which he could defend himself, at least until he could work out a way to escape. He gave himself a paper cut trying to pull the map out of the bag, spilling a few drops of blood onto the bag. He put his paw in his mouth and sucked on it to try and stop the blood flow, whilst continuing to rummage around inside the bag with his free paw.

He pushed his paw in deeper, towards the bottom of the bag before he struck gold. His paw brushed something cold and metallic, roughly cylindrical in shape. Running his hand further up the metal objects with growing excitement and encountered what felt like a handle with a trigger.

It�s a gun!

With effort, the cat managed to prise the weapon from the green military bag. He collapsed to the ground, the weapon landing next to him on the grass. It gleamed in the moonlight, and thing of terrible beauty and wondrous destruction.

The weapon was no normal gun, he was easily sure of that. It was certainly different from the solid-shot weapons that the soldiers had had in the classroom, the gun with which Wedge had shot Zell. The letters down the lengthy barrel read "SonaGun", followed by a complex series of letter and numbers that were probably some sort of manufacturer�s code. The weapon itself was quite large, bigger than any normal rifle-type gun. It was chunky and yellow, apart from the barrel, which was emblazoned with black-and-yellow warning stripes, further enhancing the dangerous look of the weapon.

This� this is a good weapon!

I� could even win with this!

He tried to take back the thought the moment it entered his head, to snatch it back and snuff it out, but it was spreading through his entire consciousness like wildfire, consuming his thoughts.

I could win�

He would be able to get out, to survive. He could win the game and go back to his normal life. People would know that he could be dangerous, and they would respect him, not look down on him. He could transfer to a new school, and people would be too scared of him to not like him.

I can WIN!

Cackling loudly, the black cat danced a little jig, then sprang onto the moogle doll�s forearm, and from there onto its head. With a growing sense of eager anticipation, he activated the doll, made it lumber forwards and lift the gun into its hands, and then set off in search of prey.

-

Yuna Bisaido could run no further. She tried to force herself onwards another few steps, but her protesting knees finally buckled, and she fell forwards onto the floor, her arms shooting out just in time to prevent herself from face planting the grass. Her head bowed and her chest heaving, she slowly lowered herself towards the cool grass, and curled up into a foetal ball. She had run since leaving the school, terrified of what would become of her if someone unfriendly had found her.

I know� I just know that someone will play!

Yuna was a nice girl, she had always been a nice girl, and normally would never have thought anything bad of anyone. It just wasn�t in her nature, under normal circumstances. But she had seen the way that Vincent and Sephiroth reacted to the fact that they were in the Program. Something deep inside her, a quiet and sinister little voice of reason had told her that they were going to do something bad. And what was worse was that no matter how hard she tried to deny it, she just knew it was true.

She lay curled up in the grass for several minutes, taking deep breaths to calm her nerves. When she felt like her heart had started beating at normal speed again, and that her legs would be able to support her, she rose � somewhat shakily � to her feet, and turned around. She had collapsed in a field, and wasn�t far from a small hut. Her first thought was to go and check for something in the hut that could be useful to her, but she thought better of it; someone could easily be lurking there, waiting for someone to unwittingly walk into a trap.

So suspicious of everything already� that�s just the way they want us to be! It�s how this game works� they destroy trust.

But� there must be something I can do� there must be something! But what?

She asked herself the question, yet she already knew the answer. She would do what she always tried to do; to help people in any way she could. To talk to them, calm them, reconcile them. Some of the girls in the class (particularly LeBlanc) said she was a bit of a goody-two-shoes, always trying to help everyone, but she didn�t particularly care anymore. She had tried to change herself over the past few years, to try and fit in with the other girls more, but she just wasn�t that kind of person.

Although... I�m glad I did try to change� it showed me who I really am.

Trying to change had just shown her that she couldn�t be anyone but herself; she couldn�t help but be nice to everyone (except possibly Seymour). But that had made her stronger. Plus it had also resulted in a wardrobe change, for which she was now very grateful, and had decided to keep.

I can�t believe that I actually used to wear those robes�

She smiled to herself, picturing how silly she used to look. Some of her friends, like Quistis, had said that the old look had suited her, but Rinoa had assured her that the new look was better, cooler. Sure there was less clothing in general, but she loved it nonetheless. Plus she couldn�t help but feel good about herself when she occasionally caught the boys staring.

She looked up into the sky, and put on a defiant expression. She certainly wasn�t a fighter by nature, and she didn�t want to hurt anybody. But that didn�t mean that she was helpless, or that she couldn�t do anything. She would try and help people. She didn�t know how, she didn�t know who, but she would try. She would prove she wasn�t powerless.

With a defiant smile firmly in place on her face, she set off, retracing her steps and heading back in the general direction of the school.

-

Seifer Almasy heaved himself up onto the rocky platform, and scrambled to his feet again, brushing himself down. He consulted his compass again in the moonlight, glad that there were no clouds. He would have had to use his torch if the clouds had blocked out the natural light of the moon, and using his torch would have given away his position. Satisfied that he was still heading due south, he continued onwards.

He had known that Sephiroth would come up with a plan. He always came up with a plan. That was why he was the leader. Why he was the boss. Sephiroth had always been able to figure out what to do, and Seifer had known that this would be no exception.

Follow the government�s orders and kill each other? Puh-lease! Sephiroth will know what to do.

He pulled himself up onto the next rocky platform. He had been steadily climbing up what seemed like a giant�s staircase, a series of rocky slabs one on top of the other. He knew that he was heading in the right direction, and the height would give him a good vantage point before he closed in on his final destination.

Better to climb up these b****** rocks and get a good vantage point than get down there and be ambushed by someone I hadn�t seen.

Finally reaching the highest rocky slab, Seifer could see all the way down to the tip of the southern peninsula. He could see three people waiting down there, and the sight caused his mouth to twist into a smile.

I knew it�d all be okay!

As he hopped down the giant�s steps towards the beach, he remembered how, back in the classroom, Sephiroth had murmured "meet me at the southern tip" to them before he stood up to leave the room. Seifer had known that Sephiroth wouldn�t take this game lying down, and now he was gathering his gang together.

Although there�s only three of them down there� looks like someone�s late� at least I�m not going to be the last one there.

He jumped from the final rocky slab, and landed in a crouch on the sand several feet below. Rising, he sprinted down the beach towards his boss and fellow gang members.

"You�re late."

Although he always spoke quietly, Sephiroth�s voice was one of those you just could not ignore or fail to hear.

"Sorry, boss. I was just being cautious." Seifer said, half breathless from his run down the beach.

"I was not condemning you. Indeed, I applaud your caution." The white-haired young man said in his cold, quiet voice.

Sephiroth slowly stood up, and looked at the three gang members that had turned up.

"I assume that none of you have seen Edwin?"

The three shook their heads. Seifer�s lip twitched slightly at the thought that one of the gang members would not obey the boss, and would deliberately not turn up at the designated meeting place. Rufus sneered, and said:

"Bet the ponce chickened out and found a little hole to go hide in."

"It matters not." Sephiroth said shortly, silencing him. "What matters is that you three turned up, and you are the three that will matter in a situation like this."

"Yeah, I guess. Edwin would have been dead weight if we have to fight, huh?" Seifer said, lounging against a palm tree.

"Fight? Who said anything about fighting?" Baralai said nervously. "Boss, you can figure a way out, can�t you?"

"I�ll� think about it. For now, I think we should get moving. Staying in one place for any length of time is pretty dangerous. Let�s get moving."

Seifer pushed himself off from the tree, and moved to stand next to Sephiroth, his customary position as his boss� right-hand man. Rufus stood up quickly, and brushed himself down, trying to get the sand off his trousers, and joined Seifer. Baralai stood up slowly, but remained were he was.

"I don�t know� I never liked the idea of fighting before, back home� drugs, stealing and taking what we please is one thing, but attacking someone is something else�" he said, the unease in his voice deepening.

"Get your ass over here Bevelle!" Seifer barked. "We are NOT going to attack anyone, even if its that doofus Cait Sith or that twat Seymour."

Reluctantly, Baralai joined them, and they headed off up the beach.

-

Cait Sith peered around the broad tree trunk he had hidden behind when he first heard the footsteps approaching. At first he couldn�t make out who was approaching, for he could only see a ghostly white outline, moving hesitantly through the gloom of the forest. But it didn�t take him long to be able to distinguish the sad but beautiful face of Celes.

She will be the first�

Celes was walking along slowly, peering into the pressing darkness around her, terrified that at any moment someone would attack her. She trod carefully, trying not to make any sound, and turned her head from side to side, listening for any sound of a potential enemy. She hugged her arms around her chest, shivering with fear, the movement causing her delicate white clothes to ripple slightly.

Leaping with excitement, he scrambled back onto his moogle, taking his customary position on its head. He raised the gun to the right height to shoot at her, and dialled the power to a medium setting (no sense in using full power yet). Jumping out from behind the tree, the cat snapped off a shot, but misjudged the power of the weapon, even with its reduced power. The shot went wide, and the recoil pushed him off balance.

Dammit! Should�ve dialled it down more�

Celes� eyes went wide with terror. What appeared to be a large white apparition had leapt from the trees and fired at her, sending a pulsing blast wave shooting past her, narrowly missing her head. She may have been terrified, but she was strong-willed enough that the fear didn�t slow her reactions. She dived to the left, rolled to her feet, and sprinted off through the woods, tears streaming down her face.

Cursing foully at the top of his voice, Cait Sith forced the moogle to regain its balance, and then gave chase. Having read in the manual that the SonaGun did not require ammunition, the cat squeezed of shot after shot, blasting trees into flying splinters, but never quite managing to hit the fleeing, screaming girl. The bounding steps of the moogle threw his aim off, always missing no matter how hard he tried.

Celes ran faster, and the moogle-mounted cat was unable to keep up. She was one of the class� fastest runners, being very physically fit, and had no problem outrunning the bounding moogle. As she ducked and weaved between the trees, she gained more and more distance, and eventually Cait Sith was left behind, unable to give chase any longer.

The little black cat screamed with anger, and threw down the gun, jumping up and down on top of his moogle mount, shaking his fists at the sky, getting angrier and angrier, and all the while, his mind grew more and more broken. Through the fractured window of his mind�s eye, images of people trying to kill him played over and over, growing ever more grotesque and horrific.

Eventually, the cat overcame his fit of rage. Breathing deeply to control the red tide of anger, he picked up the gun, brushed the dirt from the barrel, and decided on a new strategy.

It�s only been about quarter of an hour� there should still be some of them coming out of the school! I can kill them as they leave, and they�ll never have a chance to do anything to me! Then I can take care of those who are already out�

Driven onward by the violent images his madness spawned, the cat steered his moogle in the direction of the school, lumbering through bushes and barely avoiding the trees.

-

"What do you mean?" Baralai demanded, stopping dead in his tracks.

"I mean that I can�t see a good way out yet. So we should fight until then." Sephiroth said quietly, resenting the fact that he had to repeat himself.

They had been steadily walking along the beach, heading eastwards, discussing possible courses of action. As the trail of footprints in the sand behind them had stretched out longer and longer, the gang members had come up with more and more ludicrous escape plans whilst Sephiroth had listened silently. And finally he had spoken, stunning them all into silence.

"Boss, I don�t know if that�s such a good idea� I mean, even if we do fight, only one of us can escape." Seifer put in.

"I might be able to figure something out along the way." Their white-haired leader replied, shrugging slightly.

Baralai backed up a few paces, his eyes wide. Sephiroth smiled coldly at him, his eyes gleaming dangerously, although none of the other gang members saw.

"Bevelle, where are you going?" Seifer barked.

"Yeah, don�t chicken on us now, the party is just about to start!" Rufus shouted, excited. "Remember when we trashed those Tantalus Gang idiots? This�ll be just like that, but better!"

"But� but don�t you see!" Baralai yelled, backing up another few steps. "He�ll just use you to get to the top, then he�ll kill you and get out!"

He pointed an accusing finger at Sephiroth, his fear and anger rising.

"He�ll kill us all!"

"How could you say that about the boss!" Seifer shouted. "You�re not going to take lip from him are you, Sephiroth?"

"No."

In one astoundingly fast motion, Sephiroth moved forwards several paces, and swung his arms upwards. There was a wet slicing sound, and Baralai�s head flew into the air, hung suspended for a second, then came back to earth with a sickeningly wet noise.

Seifer stared, uncomprehending. Then he saw the long sword in Sephiroth�s hands. The long, elegant, gleaming katana he clutched, which he had kept hidden under his cloak. Beyond Sephiroth, he saw Baralai�s headless body sway slightly, then tumble backwards.

It was only when Rufus started to retch that Seifer was snapped back to reality that, and he stumbled backwards, his mouth hanging open.

"I should say that that is sufficient disciplining." Sephiroth remarked quietly, re-sheathing the sword.

"But� why� what the f*ck did you do!" Rufus screamed at him, pulling the knife he had been issued with from its small sheath.

"I would think that is pretty obvious. I decapitated him."

Seifer shot to his feet, raising his right arm and pointing it, palm outstretched, at Sephiroth.

"Put the sword down or I�ll blow your f*cking brains out!" he shouted. He pulled the sleeve of his greatcoat up slightly to reveal the Firaga Bangle that was strapped to his forearm. Sephiroth�s left eyebrow lifted slightly, which was an exceptional show of interest for him.

"Now why the hell did you kill him!" Rufus shouted, advancing on his boss with the knife held out in front of him.

"I could say because he was backing out to easily, and wouldn�t be reliable enough to help us get out, and thus was dangerous to us." Sephiroth said quietly, his voice dead neutral. "Or I could tell you the truth�"

Seifer�s eyes went wide as he realised what he was about to say.

"That I�m going to play, and kill everyone. I had hoped that you would be useful, but apparently you will just be targets."

"Rufus, get back!" Seifer shouted, then he started murmuring the incantation to activate the enormous power locked within the Firaga Bangle.

Rufus saw Sephiroth�s hand move towards the hilt of his sheathed sword, and took a step backwards, but he was not fast enough. In a fraction of a heartbeat, Sephiroth was gone. Fireballs belatedly erupted from Seifer�s outstretched palm, hurtling through the empty space where his former leader had stood.

Seifer looked up and saw Sephiroth reach the top of his jump, his sword now unsheathed and held above his shoulder in preparation for a mighty swing.

"Move!" Seifer screamed at Rufus, but before his friend could realise what was going on, Sephiroth descended and swung. The blade entered his body through the right shoulder, and exited through his left side, a little above his hip. There was a slight spray of blood as the blade left his body.

Seifer had seen enough violence and blood in his time to not be overly put off as his friend collapsed into two bloody pieces, but rage built within him. The man he had trusted and served for years, the man he had looked up to and respected and given unflinching loyalty to had just killed his only friends. Sure, Bevelle had been a bit of a wuss at points, but he had still been a friend. And he and Rufus had known each other forever.

He screamed the incantation for his Firaga Bangle again, but Sephiroth whirled to the side and the spell missed him again. Before he could invoke the spell a third time, he felt a sharp pain through his chest. Looking down, he saw nearly two feet of metal protruding from his chest. Two feet of bloodstained metal.

Somehow, Sephiroth was standing behind him, and had buried the sword in Seifer�s back. As Seifer fell to his knees, sliding off the sword, his last thought was:

He�s fast� too fast� he just� can�t�. be human�

-

Sephiroth patiently stood still as the lifeless body of his foremost gang member slid from his Masamune sword. He smiled inwardly, relishing in the three kills he had already racked up. He had known from the start that he would play, but the thrill of the kill had been greater than he had anticipated.

Perhaps the game would provide him with some sport, if nothing else. He could kill all the inferior puppets on the wretched island, descendants of those who had usurped the Planet from Mother. And it would only be the beginning�

He pulled Almasy�s right sleeve up, and removed the Firaga Bangle.

At last, some real firepower.

He had already taken a knife from Shinra and a Blizzard Bangle from Bevelle, two more nice little additions to his already growing armoury. It was just the beginning, he knew, for he would kill all of his classmates, for they were all traitors to Mother. He would take back the Planet one bit at a time. Once he had won, they would take his collar off, and then he could kill all the soldiers. With each kill he would grow in power, moving on and on like an unstoppable juggernaut with a morbid momentum, cleansing the entire Planet of scum. By the time he finished, he would have the power of a God.

But first� I�ll win this game. I�ll kill all of these... puppets.

-

Squall walked down the corridor towards the school�s front hall. The corridor wasn�t exactly a long one, but it seemed to stretch out as he walked, the end always moving further away. As he walked, images of the past few minutes swirled through his mind, filling all his conscious thought.

The anxious faces of his classmates, the crying of the girls, the corpse of Mr. Kramer, the worry in Rinoa�s eyes. And above all, the image of Zell loomed before his eyes no matter where he looked. It hung before him, ethereal as he walked down the corridor, and it was only worse when he tried to close his eyes.

He reached the end of the corridor, and walked through the already-open door and into the main hall. Off to the left, a door leading to what he imagined had once been the staff room was wedged open, and light spilled out into the otherwise dark hall. As he strode towards the front door, Squall looked into the staff room, and caught a glimpse of many computers, a disorganised array of cables, and many blue-suited G-Army soldiers lounging in front of monitors. Before he could look more closely, a soldier moved into the doorway, obscuring his view.

"Get a move on." He said shortly, his tone menacing and his expression hidden behind his helmet.

Squall turned away, sneering, and continued on towards the front door.

So there are loads of soldiers here� the more the merrier, I guess.

He reached the front door, a motion-sensing affair which would open if he moved any closer. He frowned, concerned. The fact that the door was closed meant that anyone waiting outside could easily get the drop on him. There would be no way of knowing about a potential ambush until it was too late.

He glanced around, looking for a window he could climb out of, but the windows were all fastened shut and most probably locked with a key that would be hidden away in some janitor�s office.

Ah well; never was one for the careful approach.

Stepping forwards, he kicked the door mightily with his left foot. The electronic mechanism at the top of the door made a light shrieking noise, and then snapped. The door flew open and slammed against the edge of the wall outside, before closing again, pulled back by its weight and the way the hinges were made.

"Oh thanks a bunch, kid!" the soldier yelled from the door. "Now the friggin� thing is gonna flap in the wind and let a draft in."

"Oh, what a f*cking shame." Squall replied, listening intently for any noise outside.

Satisfied that no-one was waiting outside, he stepped out, leaving the grumbling soldier behind. He stepped out a few paces, then crouched, still inside the shadow of the school building. He swept his gaze around the surrounding area and listened carefully. He looked up at the trees and could see nothing there. He looked back, over his shoulder, to see if anyone could be hiding in the bushes beneath the windows, but saw nothing there either.

Satisfied he was safe, he strode onwards, across the small staff car park, and stepped into the forest just beyond. Hiding amongst a clump of tall willows on the edge of the forest, he crouched down and waited for Rinoa to emerge. He checked his watch, pressing the small button on the side that lit up its digital face. It would only be another minute or so, but each second dragged on slowly. He was in for what would seem to be quite a wait.

Sighing, he settled down closer to the ground, and let his school bag and Program bag fall from his shoulder. He glanced back at the door.

Come on Rinoa� we need to get out of here quickly, before someone else turns up.

No sooner had he thought that then he head a rustling behind him. He looked back and saw a shape approaching through the trees. He heard running footsteps, and heavy breathing. Staying crouched, he reached his hand towards his bag, hoping he had a good weapon. But before he had even started undoing the zipper, someone burst through a bush and ran straight past him, either ignoring him or failing to notice him.

It took a moment to register that it had been Jessie Zolom who had just streaked past him, terror in her expression and tears pouring down her cheeks, sobbing heavily. Squall thought of trying to stop her and ask her what was wrong, but that question answered itself. From the same hedge that she had come from, a white moogle with a gleaming gun in its arms burst, with a screeching black cat on its head, its eyes wide and its mouth twisted into a snarl.

Cait Sith barrelled past Squall and raised the gun, snapping off a shot. A pulse of transparent energy flew from the barrel and hit the ground behind Jessie�s feet, sending a plume of dirt into the air and knocking her to the ground face first. She scrambled to her hands and knees and tried to stand up, but a second blast caught her square in the back of the head.

Squall blinked. He was sure the light was playing tricks on his eyes. One moment, her head had been there, the next it was not. The headless corpse tilted forwards and crashed to the ground again., jetting blood from the neck stump. Lifting his gaze slightly, Squall saw the battered remains of Jessie�s head lying at the base of a large rock several metres away.

Cait Sith bounced up and down on top of his moogle, crying out in jubilation.

"First kill! First of many! I can win win win win win!"

Squall slowly stood up and lifted his bags, desperately trying not to make a sound. If he could move back to the door, he could grab Rinoa as she came out, and run away quickly without the apparently demented cat noticing.

But as soon as he took one step away, a twig cracked beneath his feet. Despite the racket the black cat was making, it�s sharp ears picked up the noise, and wheeled around to glare wild-eyes at Squall.

Damn felines with their good hearing�

The cat worked frantically to bring the moogle around and point the gun at him, but Squall was already moving away. By the time the first blast was fired, Squall had moved several feet away. The pulse from the gun smashed into the ground where he had been, and created a small crater. A second shot, more carefully aimed, slammed into dirt not far behind Squall�s feet.

Shit�

Squall knew what the gun was, having recognised the sinister sleek design from one his old Weapons Monthly magazines. It was a SonaGun, and although it fired compressed air waves, it was extremely deadly, capable of tearing a person apart on its higher power settings.

Just like with Jessie�

He dive-rolled as a third shot passed through the space where he had been a split second before, and came back to his feet with a small rock in his right hand.

If in doubt, improvise.

He took a step back and hurled the rock, praying his aim was true. Cait Sith, finally drawing a bead on Squall, fired another shot from the SonaGun. Squall lifted an arm to shield his eyes as the blast hit the rock in midair, smashing it into flying splinters of stone.

Squall gritted his teeth as he felt one of the splinters graze his arm, and then felt a grim sense of satisfaction as he heard Cait Sith scream. Lowering his arm, he saw the cat staggering on top of his moogle, clutching his hands to his bleeding face, screaming incoherent threats. The moogle had dropped the gun, and was staggering around, out of control. It tripped on a small rock, and came crashing down, landing face first and spilling the wounded black cat from it. Cait Sith moaned and struggled for a few moments, then lay still.

Squall heard a gasp coming from behind him, and he wheeled around to see Rinoa standing near the school entrance, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open in shock. She was clutching her right arm with her left hand, and there was pain in her eyes.

"Don�t worry about him," Squall said, hoisting his bags onto his shoulder. "He must have lost it completely; he killed Jessie." He motioned to the headless corpse as he said this, and immediately wished he hadn�t. Rinoa trembled slightly when she saw the bloody stump that was the girl�s neck.

He saw her lower lip tremble slightly, so he walked over to her and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She immediately pressed herself close to him, resting her head on his chest. He was extremely taken back, but said nothing, not wanting her to move away.

"But� how can people do this?" she whispered. "How can our classmates even think about killing each other?"

She looked up at him, fear in her eyes.

"Squall, what are we going to do?"

He stepped away from her slightly, then took her hand is his, and tried to give a reassuring smile.

"For the moment, all we can do is run. We have to get away from here, fast. I hate to think that our classmates would actually play this game, but if Cait Sith did, then anyone might, and there might be other people around here, waiting."

Rinoa nodded silently, and the two set off, running into the forest without a backward glance at the headless corpse, the toppled moogle doll and the bleeding black cat.

-

Cloud Strife jogged at a steady speed down the beach, following the single line of footprints in the sand.

He was certain that the footprints belonged to her. Something deep inside him just knew it was her. And if nothing else, the footprints did look a lot like those that would be made by her boots.

He had been searching for her since he left the school building, not thinking of anything else. After wondering aimlessly for nearly half an hour, he had finally spotted someone in the distance, a silhouette moving briskly along a hilltop. The person had clearly been her, there was no doubt in his mind about that. But trying to catch up with the distant figure, he had lost her in the woods, where the trees blocked out what little light there was, turning the area into a place of ghostly shapes and imaginary sounds. He had almost given up hope, and staggered along until he found a way out.

But when he had left the forest, he had found himself on a small sandy beach, and a little further along he found the trail of footsteps leading from the edge of the forest, where the tree line met the sandy beach.

Now he was moving quickly down the beach, following the trail of footprints and praying that no-one else had seen them.

She just has to be safe�

He clambered over a cluster of large rocks that were partially submerged in the middle of the beach. He skinned his knee whilst climbing, but he ignored the pain, forcing himself up the treacherously slippery surface to the top.

Finally reaching the summit of the pile, he took advantage of his elevated position to survey the area. At first, he could see nothing, then he spotted the trail of footprints. He followed the trail along, seeing where they changed from boot-marks to feet-marks.

Guess she felt like walking barefoot across the beach�

That seems so typically like her�

Then his heart leapt within his chest when he saw her standing further down the beach. She was standing at the end of a small peninsula, gazing up at the stars. She was wearing what she always wore, her pink dress with a short red jacket over the top. The dress billowed slightly in the breeze, and a few loose strands of her hair danced about as well. Her boots lay discarded a few feet away, next to her bags.

Leaping from the rocks, Cloud charged down the beach as fast as he could, heading for the girl. A smile appeared on his face, a smile of relief that he had found her before something bad could happen.

-

Crouching just inside the tree line, hidden by the deep shadow of a tall sycamore tree, the silver-haired young man observed silently. He had spotted the girl strolling up the beach barefoot a few minutes earlier, whilst he had been walking quietly through the trees, looking for another victim. She was standing out on a small, rocky peninsula, a dozen or so yards directly ahead of him. Her bags were on the ground nearby, next to her sandy boots. She clutched her hands behind her back as she gazed up into the stars. Her brown hair moved gently with the breeze as she stargazed.

Completely unaware�

He smiled wickedly. He felt eager for the kill, he longed to revel in the sensation of ending the life of another puppet.

Slowly, he lifted himself up from his crouching position, drawing himself up to his full height. His black cloak billowed behind him, revealing the long scabbard at his side. He drew the Masamune slowly, making no noise. He held the sword in both hands, reversing his grip so that the blade pointed down, towards the ground. In the blade�s reflective surface, he could see his face. He smiled a twisted smile at his reflection, then turned his attention back to the girl.

He prepared to spring on his unsuspecting prey.

-

The girl looked up at the stars, lost in the infinite depths of the night sky. She reached out with her consciousness, stretching out into the endless whirl of stars and nebulae. She smiled gently when she saw a shooting star streak across the sky. Sighing, she lowered her gaze, so that she could look out across the equally endless sea stretching out before her. There was nothing out there as far as she could see, no ships, no land masses, no lights. Only the endless swells and surf of the ocean waves.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see someone approaching. A young man, with spiky blonde hair and dark blue clothes was running down the beach towards her. Another smile spread across her face.

He came for me�

A sensation of joy overwhelmed her, and for a moment, her entire existence consisted of the joy of knowing that he had come to find her, to be with her.

But then something interrupted the joy, and brought her roughly back to reality. There was someone else nearby.

Someone hostile.

Somewhere behind her.

She knew his intentions, and she somehow knew that there was no way that she could escape, she could feel it. It felt as if it was fated to be so.

She looked again at the blonde-haired young man running towards her, and felt a pang of sadness.

Why now? Why at all?

I� never had the chance to tell him�

She wished with her whole heart that there could be another way.

-

Cloud stopped dead in his tracks. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. He didn�t know how he knew, but he knew for certain.

As he watched, a silhouette detach itself from the dark mass of the forest at the edge of the beach. It was the silhouette of a quite tall young man, moving with purposeful intent. It took three great strides forwards, then leapt, hurling itself impossibly high into the air.

In a moment of pure clarity Cloud knew what was going to happen, and what he should do, but he could not move, could not speak, could not think, could not do anything. He could not even call out to the girl to warn her. He wanted to do something, anything, even if it were to simply hurl himself in the way.

Reaching the top of its jump, the figure raised its hand above its head, and a long blade glinted in its hands, reflecting the light of the moon. It was a wickedly sharp and long sword, a katana of some kind.

As it began to descend, the figure�s hair billowed out behind it, a cascade of silvery-white. Cloud knew who it was. Only one guy in their class had hair like that.

Sephiroth descended, hurtling towards the girl, who stayed where she was, apparently gazing out to sea. The blade reached her first, plunging downwards, into her back. It passed through her and straight out through her chest. Sephiroth landed on the ground, still holding the blade upon which the girl was impaled. The shock of the impact forced her to her knees, and her head tilted forwards, limp. The white-haired young man planted its feet firmly in the ground, and slowly slid the blade from her back, apparently taking some kind of pleasure from what he was doing. When her body slid off the end of the sword, he wiped it clean on her pink dress, leaving a long red steak down the side, across her legs.

Apparently satisfied, he set off back up the peninsula, snatching up her green Program bag as he passed. He continued up the beach, back into the treeline, and out of sight.

She� she can�t be�

No� please�

Only then did Cloud feel his body respond, his knees buckling.

He collapsed, landing in the sand face-first. He tasted the salty taste of residual sea water in the sand, and spat convulsively, and began to cough. Realising he could move again, he exerted all his will power, forcing himself up, staggering forwards as fast as he could drive his body to move. He shrugged his two bags from his shoulder to reduce the weight he was carrying, and he began to move faster, towards the peninsula where the girl lay.

Staggering into an upright position, he forced himself into a hurtling run, moving faster than he ever had in his entire life, trying to get closer to the girl on the peninsula, but the distance between them only seemed to increase as he tried harder to reach her.

After a lifetime, he reached the base of the peninsula, and he could now see the spreading pool beneath her. It looked black in the lack of light, but he knew it was blood. He ran at break-neck speed up the peninsula, collapsing to his knees when he finally reached her.

She lay still, a dark stain spreading across the back of her red jacket, He cautiously rolled her over, and saw an even larger stain on the front of her dress.

Shaking with suppressed sobs, he lifted her gently in his arms, and looked down at her beautiful face. Her eyes were closed, and her face was set in a peaceful expression, serene, like that of a person in a contented sleep.

"Aerith?" he called quietly, shaking her. "Aerith? Please� please wake up. Aerith? Please, don�t leave me!"

He shook her again, slightly harder. Tears were pouring from his eyes now, obscuring his vision, and his hands were becoming slick with the blood pouring from the gaping wound in her back. One of his tears fell from his face and landed on hers, tracing a wet trail down her cheek.

"Aerith! Please, come back!" he cried, shaking her again.

As he shook her, something in her expression changed ever so slightly. He stopped, and remained completely still, trying to work out if his blurry eyes were deceiving him.

"Aerith?" He whispered, hope rising within him.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she managed to focus her gaze on him. She seemed to not recognise him for a moment, and then she smiled.

-

He found me�

"Cloud�" she said, her voice quieter than a whisper.

"I�m here� please, please don�t leave me." He begged, holding her closer.

He really isn�t as rough as he appears� I was right all along.

She gazed adoringly up at his handsome face, normally neutral in expression. His blonde hair framed his head, like a proud lion�s mane. And yet for all his toughness, his face was now filled with anguish and fear, and there was desperation in his eyes, and she knew his heart was breaking for her.

"Oh, Cloud�" she said, her voice growing fainter, her strength leaving her rapidly. Through supreme force of will, she managed to lift her hand up to caress the side of his face. She tried to say something else, but no words came.

Please� don�t tear us apart so soon� not when I haven�t told him�

But then her strength failed her, and her hand fell back down again. Her eyes slowly closed, and a final breath left her body. Aerith Gainsborough was dead.

"Aerith� no, don�t go� I can�t� I can�t live without you� please, Aerith�"

But she did not come back.

Cloud hugged her close to himself, burying his face in her shoulder. He sobbed loudly, his tears soaking her jacket. Her blood stained his clothes as he held her close, but he didn�t care. He couldn�t care about anything now.

He felt as if his heart had died with her, the girl he had secretly loved.

36 students remaining.

Chapter 5 - Game On

Squall rummaged through the two green bags while Rinoa sat silently, leaning against the trunk of one of the trees that formed the border of the tiny clearing where they hid.

�Well?� she asked quietly. �Anything useful?�

Depends what you mean by useful, I suppose�

�Well, if you hoping for good weapons then we are certainly lacking in that respect.� He said grimly, lifting their weapons into view. In his left hand was his weapon, a small version of a wrist-mounted disc-projectile launcher, and in his right hand was her weapon, a novelty miniature gunblade.

�Those are weapons?� she said incredulously.

�I was hoping for something we could defend ourselves with if worst came to worst�� he mumbled. �Still, I suppose it is better than nothing.�

�I�ll have that disc launcher thing�� she said, pointing to the weapon in his left hand.

�Pinwheel.� He corrected, remembering the name from one of his Weapons Monthly magazines.

��Kay� she said, reaching out to take the weapon.

�Wait a second�� he said suddenly, catching her arm. There was a tear in her clothes near the shoulder, surrounded by a slowly spreading dark patch. �You�re injured!�

She looked away, her cheeks burning.

�It�s nothing, really� I can cope.�

�Rinoa, if its bled that much its going to be bad, and out here it could get infected. How did it happen?� he demanded, moving in closer to inspect the wound.

She didn�t resist as he slowly rolled her dress�s sleeve up, revealing a deep cut across her upper arm.

�I� as I left the room, I tried to move Zell into a more� dignified position. You know, with closed eyes and hands crossed across his chest? But� but one of the soldiers, he shouted at me, told me to hurry up�� a few tears sprang to her eyes as she talked, so she closed her eyes and forced herself to stop before she continued to talking.

-

Celes Chere peered around the corner of the building. She could have sworn she saw someone following her, a distant shadow flitting from bush to bush, stalking her. But there was nothing out there that moved, except for the gentle swaying of the trees in the wind.

You�re just seeing things� the game is getting to you� hallucinations.

She took several calming breaths, and let her mind work through the logic of her situation. Of course no one would be following her; if there was anyone who wanted to kill her, they would have pounced by now, they wouldn�t be slinking in the shadows. Cait Sith certainly hadn�t tried to stalk her, he�d just sprung and fired.

The memory of her encounter with Cait Sith caused her to wince, and subconsciously grip her left arm. A flying splinter had torn a shallow gash in her arm, not at all dangerous to her health, but painful.

She took a few more calming breaths, then set off at brisk jog, scanning around for a place to hide. She was moving through the island�s main residential area, so there were houses everywhere. She had hoped that Bugenhagen had been wrong, and that the area might still be inhabited, but this was a vain hope that had been dashed. Now she was merely searching for a place to hide.

But to her dismay, all the buildings appeared to be locked down; windows shuttered or boarded up, storm doors bolted down, garages blocked off or welded closed. The only way she would be able to enter a house was by breaking her way in, and that would be loud and leave obvious signs of entry, defeating the whole point of hiding quietly.

-

A dark figure rose from the bush where it had been hiding from view, and crept to the low wall a few feet away. Ducking behind it, the figure peered over the wall at the girl who was moving from house to house, searching for something.

The figure rose again and ran to the nearest house, and hid on the porch, peering out from behind the porch swing. They shifted their stance, and something in their hand caught the moonlight and reflected it. The object was metallic, and gleamed coldly in the pale white light. Realising the potential this had for giving their position away, the figure stuffed the object back into the green bag that was hanging from their shoulder.

-

Celes continued to search the houses for an unsecured door or window, but her pulse accelerated massively. Something had flashed in the moonlight somewhere off to her left. Something from near one of the houses.

There really is someone following me!

She moved along to check the side door of a large three-tiered house, making sure that her stalker would be unable to see what she was doing with her right hand; reaching into her green bag and withdrawing the small bladed weapon she had been allotted.

She was hardly a weapon expert, but she knew what her weapon was; it was a dirk, a kind of dagger. Her father had an ornamental one at home on the mantelpiece, and she had occasionally played with it when she was younger, pretending to be a fierce warrior woman.

The dirk was essentially useless unless she was right next to her target, and even then, she doubted she had the strength to inflict significant damage with it. Not that she wanted to use it at all, unless she absolutely had to and was left with no other choices. She gripped the dirk more tightly, gaining some security from the feel of the cold steel grip against her palm.

I don�t want to fight� I never was really a fighter, despite what people think, despite the way I used to act.

I� I just don�t want to die�

If I die, I can never find love� I can�t leave this world without having known love�

Movement nearby caught her attention.

-

The dark figure froze and held their breath. This time Celes had definitely seen them, it was obvious from the way she had suddenly tensed up.

So much for approaching without panicking her� guess I�ll just have to let her find me.

After a slight hesitation, the figure sighed, and then walked out into the open and called out to Celes.

-

�Celes? Celes, please, don�t� don�t panic. It�s only me.�

Celes stood rooted to the spot, her pulse going crazy and her brain going into overload. Every instinct told her to run for her life.

It�s� it�s her! Please, God, anyone but her!

The figure standing in the middle of the street was clad entirely in black. She wore a plain black shirt, and black leather trousers and jacket. Her face was framed by a flowing cascade of long, white hair that reached down past her shoulders. Two short bangs hung down in front of her face, moving slightly in the breeze. She was unmistakable, even in the middle of the night and at a distance.

It�s Paine!

She� she�s� she�s come to kill me!

Celes spun on her heel and fled, her mind filled with images of the black-clad b*tch catching up with her and killing her in all manner of gruesome ways. Her fear lent her speed, and the houses began to fly past on either side. She started crying again as she ran, streams of tears running down her face as the images in her mind�s eye grew more and more hideous. She hadn�t been this afraid when Cait Sith was trying to kill her with that terrible gun, but Paine scared her more than the moogle-mounted cat ever could.

�Celes? Celes, please! Come back!� Paine shouted, starting to run after her.

No! She�s coming after me! Help!

I� she�ll catch up, and she�ll kill me� unless�

Celes ran around the corner of the next building she came to, and followed the wall along until she reached a small shed built into the side of the house. The door was hanging open on rusted hinges, revealing a shadowy interior packed full of a plethora of gardening tools. She ran inside, and crouched around the corner, next to the doorway. She accidentally nudged a rake, but she caught it with her foot before it could hit the ground and made any noise that might attract attention. Carefully setting the rake on the floor, she dried her sweaty palms and gripped her dagger tightly in her right hand. If Paine came in, she�d be ready.

I�d have the element of surprise� but I don�t know what weapon she has�

She could hear footsteps coming up the street, then around the corner of the house. Celes prayed desperately that she�d go a different way, but Paine started heading towards the shed. Celes held her breath and crouched down lower, gripping the dirk tightly to prevent it from slipping in her hands which were starting to sweat again.

Celes could hear Paine coming closer to the shed, closer, closer� and then past the door, past the shed, and carrying on a bit further. Celes leaned through the doorway to peer at Paine. She had walked several yards past the shed, and was looking from side to side in confusion, trying to work out where her target had gone.

I� I have to take her down� she�ll kill me otherwise� I have to survive! I� I have to get out and find love!

Celes couldn�t believe what she was about to do. Although she once had a reputation as a tough, feisty girl, that had just been a rumour someone had circulated to make her look stupid. She never wanted to hurt anyone, she was too gentle by nature to genuinely wish anyone harm. But this was different; everyone knew Paine�s reputation, and many people were afraid of her, particularly Celes � she had heard of violence, of drugs, of prostitution, of stealing and murder and blackmail. She had heard so many bad things about Paine that she was always afraid that when Paine looked her way, she was secretly planning a way to bring her into her world. To make her a working girl.

And now� now she�s playing to win! She wouldn�t have any problem with murdering me!

Celes quietly slipped her arms from her bag-straps, and crept from the shed, keeping as silent as she could, the dirk gripped tightly in her hand. She moved painstakingly slowly to avoid giving away her position.

�Celes? Celes, please� I just want to talk!� Paine called out, nearly making Celes jump. Her tone was sincere, but this failed to register in Celes� mind. She was entirely focused on the terrible deed she felt she had to do.

She crept further forward, gripping the dirk in both hands and raising it above her head, preparing to strike. But when she was barely a yard away, her toe hit a rock she had not seen. She stumbled slightly, her foot hitting the ground with enough force to make an audible scraping sound.

Paine wheeled around and saw the silhouette of Celes bearing down on her. She cried out and stumbled backwards, falling over and landing on her back. She tried to scramble backwards, flailing madly as she got caught in her bag-straps.

�No! Please, Celes, don�t!� she wailed. Forcing herself free of the bags, she scrambled backwards, then fell again. She curled up into a foetal ball and raised an arm to shield her face, still crying out �No! Celes, no, please!�

Paine�s reaction stopped Celes. Something about her voice triggered something in her mind.

She� she sounds terrified� so scared�

She looked more closely at Paine. She was still curled up, and was shuddering now. Her face appeared to glisten in the pale moonlight.

She� she�s crying�

She�s afraid like me� she�s no killer�

She dimly remembered Paine calling to her to stop when she had started running. It had sounded like a hunting cry or a death threat then, when her fear had been consuming her. But now she realised it had just been a plea from a scared girl.

She� she didn�t want to attack me� she wanted to talk�

Oh� and I� oh�

Celes let go off the dirk suddenly, as if the metal grip was suddenly scorching her hands. She took a few unsteady steps backwards.

�Oh� I� Paine�� she stuttered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

I� I was going to kill her� I was going to kill a scared girl, just because I was too scared to listen to her�

I� what have I become! What am I doing!

She fell backwards, landing on her rear as if she made to sat down and discovered that there was no chair beneath her. She started to cry, a few small tears at first, but then a flowing stream of sorrow accompanied by great heaving sobs of pain.

�I� Paine, I� I�m so sorry��

I� I�m horrible� how could anyone love me when I� when I� when I could try to kill someone so freely? I�

She reached out for her dirk, finding the cold metal blade sticking out of the ground where she had dropped it.

�I�m so sorry, I� I�m so terrible, I��

She moved the blade to point at her heart, then hesitated. Was this really the way she wanted to die?

�Celes�� Paine whispered. �No� don�t� don�t do it!� she screeched, diving to pull the blade from her hand.

�Paine, I� I was going to� I was so scared�� Celes managed to say between sobs.

Paine threw the dirk to one side, out of reach, then moved in close to her, then after a slight hesitation, put an arm around her and drew her close.

�I know� I was scared too� I thought everyone would be out to get me, because everyone hates me� then I saw you, and I� I thought that� I thought that you�d understand��

There were still tears in Paine�s eyes, and she still looked a bit scared, but there was also hope there.

She� she�s not horrible� everyone was wrong, she�s just� she�s just scared like I am. She only wants to feel safe� and I� I was going to�

Celes wrapped her arm around Paine and buried her face into her leather-clad chest.

�I� I thought you wanted to kill me� I was going to� I was going to kill� I�m so horrible!� she cried.

�No, Celes, you aren�t!� Paine said, shaking her. �You�re a wonderful person, you were just scared!�

�But� but� oh, Paine��

�Look� we shouldn�t stay out here� someone else might come� someone who�s really playing. Shouldn�t we get inside?�

Celes sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes, and nodded.

�I� if we can get in a house we could hide there� together?�

�Together.� Paine agreed, nodding.

The unlikely pair stood up and collected their bags. Celes was slightly hesitant for a moment, but Paine took her hands in hers, and together, they began to search for houses they could get into. Celes felt happy that she had found someone who was like her, but also felt guilty that she had misjudged Paine so badly. The two conflicting emotions roiled within her, threatening to overwhelm her and make her break down again.

�Paine, I� I�m sorry.� She said, looking down at her feet and feeling awful about herself, cursing herself for not knowing a better way to apologise for what she had nearly done.

�Don�t worry about it,� Paine said �Look� I know all those rumours must make me seem bad, so it�s only natural that-�

�No, I mean I�m sorry I judged you like that� by the rumours that everyone spread about you. I�m always saying how you shouldn�t just judge someone by what other people say, and yet� I judged you on gossip, and� I�m sorry� I can see that you�re not like that. I was being such a hypocrite. You�re� you�re too nice to be like what the rumours make you out to be. Not everyone would forgive someone who tried to kill them� that�s indicative of a pure soul.�

�Don�t worry about it.� Paine repeated. �Seriously, don�t- aha!� she shouted, finding a window that wasn�t properly locked. It swung outward, presenting an easy way in.

�Voila!�

-

Celes climbed through the window, struggling slightly as one of her bag-straps snagged on the corner of the window frame, then she fell through and landed on the floor, dazed. Paine was already looking around the house. The window lead into a small kitchen, which contained no trace of food. The residents must have removed the food before being evacuated.

Celes put both of her bags � her schoolbag and her green Program bag � in the centre of the room with Paine�s bags, then she looked around. A kitchen draw containing various sharp knives was open, Paine having removed some sort of carving knife to use as a weapon while she checked the house for any of their classmates who might already be hiding inside.

Sitting down on the floor, she hugged her knees and tried to prevent herself from crying again. The game had already managed to get to her, and she had always thought she was a nice person. She�d wanted to lead a normal life, to be a good woman, to fall in love and get married and have children, to be a loving mother and wife.

But I really am a horrible person� even if I somehow got out of the game alive, no one would want me� I�ll never find love� so what is there to live for?

Paine walked back in, interrupting her thoughts. The leather-clad girl smiled down at her amiably, and said softly:

�You don�t need to worry, we�re alone here.�

She laid the knife down on the kitchen counter, and sat down next to Celes, leaning against the pile of bags.

�You� you think there�s a way we can get out of this?� Celes asked, shaking.

Paine sighed and put her arm around Celes� shoulders.

�You needn�t worry so. I�m sure we can get out. The system can�t be foolproof if it was made by our government, that�s for sure.�

Celes relaxed slightly, comforted by Paine�s words.

�Yeah, we can get out,� she said, trying to sound cheerful. �We can get out of this alive!�

�Alive?� Paine said, her voice suddenly sounding very different. �Well, we can both get out, but��

Something under Celes� chin glinted in the moonlight. Her heart skipped several beats. She glanced across to Paine. The white-haired girl was smiling, but it was no longer the sweet, innocent smile she had been using a few seconds before. It was the smile a devil wears when it collects another soul to torture for eternity, the smile of an evil siren as she lures an unsuspecting victim to their doom.

��only I will get out alive.�

Paine heaved the short sword in her hands backwards, the blade biting deep into Celes� throat. It cut through almost all the way, severing her windpipe, arteries and cutting part of the way through her spine. Blood started to spray everywhere, along the floor, up to the ceiling, onto the far wall, onto Paine�s face.

Paine wrenched the blade free, indifferent to the spray of gore that covered her face. She stared with a detached interest at Celes� face, still bearing its final expression; one of pleading innocence, begging to be spared.

Celes� body tilted backwards onto her bags, and the blood flow from her neck slowed, becoming a steady trickle. The collar around Celes� torn throat emitted a single, quiet beep, its light rapidly fading to black.

Rising to her feet and walking over to a kitchen cupboard, Paine took out a hand towel and wiped the blood off her face and arms. The blood on her black clothes wouldn�t show up once it dried, and its presence didn�t particularly bother her (she was used to being covered in body fluids of one variety or another), so it didn�t matter that much.

Pausing in thought for a moment, she then wiped her sword clean of blood as well; a bloodstain on it would give her away if she was trying to work her way into someone else�s trust, so it was best to be safe.

�Sorry, Celes. You will still make it out, but you�ll be in a body bag. That�s gotta be better than nothing, huh?�

Without looking back at the corpse on the floor, Paine left, brushing her bangs back behind her ears, and wiping her eyes clear of the last traces of the fake tears she had shed. She hated having to play the poor little �fallen angel� girl which, whilst being extremely helpful sometimes, always ruined her makeup, and she resented having to do it because it simply wasn�t who she was. If it didn�t attract so many men, she wouldn�t even have her hair long, or white; she wanted it cut much shorter and spiked up, and to have it grey. But that wasn�t nearly so appealing to men, and appeal was everything in what she did.

Walking to the open window, she looked around outside. Someone may well have heard their crying and the noise the stupid girl had made moaning about �being a horrible person�. She would have to leave immediately, and find somewhere safe to rest for a few hours. The pre-dawn light was already illuminating the area, and she could see that no-one was approaching. It was safe to leave.

She�d made her first kill. Despite her initial hesitation, despite the attempts her conscience had made to stop her, it had still been satisfyingly easy.

She could only hope that it would get easier with time. She couldn�t afford hesitation or attacks of conscience if she wanted to win.

-

Cloud stumbled onwards through the forest. He had stubbed his toes several times, and there were numerous small cuts and scratches on his face from when he had heedlessly ploughed through thorny bushes.

As he stumbled onwards, he did not see anything clearly. He couldn�t see the trees he kept bumping into, or the bushes he ploughed through. All he could see was Aerith�s beautiful face as she closed her eyes for the last time. Her body as he laid her out to rest, crossing her arms across her chest and murmuring a quiet farewell.

But most of all, he could see the figure of Sephiroth leaping into the air and running her through with his katana. A consuming rage built up within him, fuelling his anger, keeping him alive. Had it not been for his rage, he would have killed himself on the beach, so that he could be with Aerith in death.

He tripped over a protruding root, landing face-first into a small bush. He heaved himself to his feet, spitting out leaves. Looking up, he saw a huge hill in the distance, almost as big as a small mountain. The light of dawn crept around its edges, giving it a halo of light.

Mountains have caves� somewhere to curl up and die quietly�

He moved on, looking for some small hole in the haloed mountain face to sleep in.

-

Gippal Djose was the next boy out of the school after Squall. He had no idea what he was going to do. He hadn�t even considered looking in his bag to see what weapon he had. He walked along the tree line that bordered the school car park, looking for someone, anyone, to talk to. The night was rapidly receding, and the heavy darkness that had greeted the other students as they had left the building was gone.

As he was walking along, something caught his eye. He looked over to his right, trying see what it was. Unable to see anything, he took a step backwards, and then saw it again; something shining in the pale pre-dawn light. Curious, he wandered over to it.

It turned out to be some sort of gun, quite large by normal standards, with yellow and black warning stripes down the barrel, and the name �SonaGun� emblazoned on the side in large letters. It was damp from having been dropped in the moist grass, but looked like it hadn�t been lying there long.

Guess someone dropped their gun whilst running away from the school� guess I better return it.

�Hello?� he called out to the forest. �Uh� anyone drop a big gun? Hello?�

He knew it was extremely dangerous to expose himself by shouting out, but he also didn�t believe that many would play, and no one would try to take him on while he was armed with such a large gun. Besides, he could team up with the gun�s owner when he found them.

�Hello?� he called out again, looking around for any sign of the weapon�s owner.

-

Cait Sith groaned into the ground. His face stung badly, the rock splinters having bitten quite deep into his flesh. He rolled over onto his back, and opened his eyes.

I can see properly� must mean I didn�t get any splinters in my eyes� that�s something at least�

He tried to remember exactly how he had ended up on the floor with pieces of stone wedged into his skin, then the fight suddenly snapped back to him, and with it came the dementia.

The b****** Squall� he tricked me!

Heaving himself to his feet, Cait Sith padded over to his moogle. After quickly checking his face to see if it was still bleeding, he mounted the moogle doll, and started looking around for his gun, taking advantage of the height boost he gained from standing on the doll.

�Hello?�

The voice was very close by, and made him jump. He wheeled around, and saw someone approaching through the forest, calling out. He couldn�t see who it was at first, but then he recognised the black eye patch and the clothing he wore; it was Gippal.

And he has MY gun!

Screaming in rage, the little black cat sent the moogle doll into a full-tilt run, charging at the blonde-haired eye-patched boy.

-

Gippal spun to the left and saw the demented cat perched atop the rampaging moogle doll. A basic instinct of self-preservation kicked in, and the index finger on his right hand squeezed the trigger of the SonaGun.

Energy accumulated in the barrel of the gun, building to enormous proportions, being amplified and echoed over and over, until it was launched from the end of the barrel, all in a fraction of a second. The energy blast pulsed through the air, straight at the little black cat atop the moogle doll.

Cait Sith didn�t even have time to register that he was being fired at. The pulse tore straight into him, giving him no time to react.

Gippal blinked. He was sure he wasn�t seeing right. One moment, Cait Sith had been there, screaming from the top of his mount. The next, the moogle doll was slowing to a stop, a red smear on its head, and a slight red cloud hanging in the air around it.

The little black cat had been completely eradicated, leaving only a fine cloud of blood behind to mark his departure. He was dead; there was no possible doubt about it.

Gippal blinked again.

I� but� he�s gone� I killed� I killed someone!

He shuddered slightly at the thought. He had never exactly been soft, but he had never seriously tried to hurt someone so badly that they would perish.

But� I guess I should start now� if I can�t kill, I can�t win.

And if I can�t win, I�ll die!

He shuddered again. He was as terrified of death as anyone else, and he had no qualms about killing people to survive.

It wasn�t even really my fault he died� he shouldn�t have charged at me�

Everyone who knew Gippal would have rolled their eyes and turned away if he had said the thought out loud. He was known for endlessly trying to shift the blame to other people, never taking any responsibility himself. He had been known to get other people in trouble just so he could escape punishment.

I� it�s not my fault. And it won�t be my fault when I kill the others� we have to do it, it�s the rules!

His movements slightly stiff, he set off through the forest, mentally working through how he would try and kill his classmates.

It has to be done� I�ll just try and sneak up on them, kill them straight away, all of them� wait�

He stopped dead in his tracks. A vicious smile slowly spread across his face. The other element of his personality that people hated was emerging again.

I wouldn�t kill her straight away�

His smile grew as he followed the thought through. He started moving again, and pulled out his map.

Where would she run off to? Well, there�s no telling� I�ll just have to find her the old-fashioned way. But I will find her. And when I do�

Visions filled his head, visions of things he had always longed to do but always been denied the opportunity. But now he would be denied no longer. He would take what he wanted, by force if necessary.

He began to laugh, almost maniacally, as he started to run through the forest.

-

�There� there�s no hope for us, is there?�

Lenne Sumner spoke the question quietly, but it rang in Shuyin Vegnun�s ears louder than a sonic boom. He moved his gaze from the sea to Lenne�s head, which was resting on his shoulder.

�I�� he paused, Trying to think of something to say. �There must be a way out. I�ll find one.�

Shuyin felt rage building up inside him. He knew that their chances of survival were next to nothing. He knew that finding a way out was almost impossible. He knew they couldn�t fight their way out, because only one of them could survive that way. Besides, she was no fighter; she was a singer, a dancer, a lover. And even if she could fight, her weapon, a short metal pole, was of no real use. He was an excellent fighter, but he could not defend her without a weapon. Sure, he had been issued with a sword; but it was a plastic toy sword. His anger intensified, swirling in his mind, behind his eyes, in his muscles, in his very soul.

�Shuyin��

The sound of her voice dispelled his anger and drove away the billowing clouds of his hatred.

�I just want you to know��

She sat up, turning to look straight at him. Their eyes locked, and in hers, he could see nothing but adoration. An adoration he felt he didn�t deserve.

�I love you more than I could ever say� even though we can�t survive, my love for you will never go out.�

�But Lenne�� Shuyin felt wretched. They had become caught up in this death trap, and he could think of no way to escape. �There must be a way out. We can escape. We can survive, together. I�ll get you out of this� promise.�

He looked away from her, back to the sea, and felt the anger and hatred building up into a thunderhead inside him, billowing out, expanding, growing to consume his entire being. How could he do it? How could he keep the promise he had just made when he didn�t know where to begin?

�Shuyin�� She said softly �I love you. I love you for being here, with me. For saying what you just said. But you know we can�t get out.�

She reached out, and brought his head back round until their eyes met again.

�I love you. Nothing else matters. I don�t care if we can�t get out, because having been with you makes my life feel complete.�

�Lenne�� his anger faded, and then disappeared entirely. Truly, nothing else mattered. They had shared a love that made his life feel complete. �I love you too� I��

Wish I wasn�t so inarticulate�

Lenne moved her head to the side slightly, glancing at the cliff a few feet in front of them. She could hear the waves crashing onto the rocks far below, and she knew it was easily a hundred-foot drop. Even though she wore a smile on her face, there were still tears in her eyes.

�Shall we?� she asked, motioning to the cliff.

He gazed at the cliff.

There�s a way out for us together� and it lies right before me�

But there must be another way� a way we can live.

�No, Lenne.� He said, standing up. He offered his hand to her, and she took it, pulling herself to her feet. �There must be another way out. I won�t let this game take you. Someone like you can�t just be extinguished so easily� someone with such grace, such passion, such spirit. I can�t let that be extinguished. We will find a way out. I promise you this.�

�Shuyin�� she whispered, her eyes watering. She pressed herself close to him, locking her arms around his muscular body. �Oh, Shuyin��

-

Porrom Mysidia stumbled through the densely wooded forest. The trees were so close together that they seemed to be pressing in on her, trying to bar her path. The branches overhead all seemed to interlock, cutting out almost all of the light from the slowly rising sun, casting twisted shadows in all directions. She moved faster, running now, trying desperately to make her way back to the open fields.

I have to find him� I have to!

She had been trying to find her twin since she had left the school, but to no avail. Palom just seemed to be missing. She had looked at the map and couldn�t see anywhere she thought he might go. She had tried waiting outside the school for him, but the sound of fighting near by had distracted her for long enough that he had slipped away without her noticing.

She was even beginning to fear for her twin�s sanity. She had seen something change in his expression before she left the room. Something about the way his eyes didn�t seem to focus properly on what he was looking at, about the way his movements were quite stiff, almost jerky, as he had looked up at her when she stood to leave.

She was also becoming worried for herself. She was the older one, and acted very differently, but Palom was still her other half. If something happened to him, she believed it would happen to her as well. If he was hurt, she would feel it. If his mind snapped, would she follow him down the road of insanity shortly afterwards?

Her eyes began to water as she ran onwards through the dark forest.

-

This is sooo not good�

Selphie Tilmitt trudged along the small dirt path, her head bowed. She dragged her feet as she moved, absent-mindedly watching the small clouds of dust billow up with each impact of her foot on the ground. The path snaked around the series of low hills, shaded by the occasional large trees and almost completely hidden from view by the hedges on either side.

She had been following this same path since she had first happened upon it the night before. She neither knew nor cared where she was headed, and her mind seemed unable to focus on any one thing, reeling around through thoughts of hope and despair, visions of rescue, and the recurring wish that it was all just a dream from which she would soon wake up. Subconsciously, she brushed the red mark on her right arm, and winced. She had really thought it had all been a dream, and not liking the dream, she had pinched herself to try and wake herself up. She didn�t give up on the pinching until it had really hurt, and the mark acted as a painful reminder that she was indeed in the reality of the waking world.

Some reality�

Tired, she looked around for a place to stop, and saw a large-trunked tree just off the path, shaded by its many branches. She walked over and gratefully collapsed into an ungainly sprawl, leaning against the trunk. The endless walking had made her extremely tired, and light of the new day had made her feel hot as she walked along. Hot and thirsty.

She reached into her green bag to find some of the water she had supposedly been issued with. She rummaged around inside the bag without looking, trying to guess what she was feeling.

That�ll be the compass� that feels like a tub; guess that�ll be the food�

Map� hey, what�s this?

She pulled a large object out of the bag, and focused her eyes on it. It took her tired mind a second to work out what it was, but when she did, she smiled. Her mind focused as she hefted the object in her hands.

How appropriate for me!

She held a large megaphone, the kind that would make her voice carry over great distances. She knew it didn�t have any use as an actual weapon, but she didn�t care. She didn�t want to fight, not even if it meant she would die if she didn�t.

But with this� I can make sure this is no fighting� well, no more fighting at least.

She had heard sounds during the night that had convinced her that people were fighting already. She had heard a distant booming noise from the direction of the school at several points, and at another point, she had heard a noise that made her think of roaring fires. The latter had probably been some kind of spell, and the former she thought was a gunshot.

She hated the idea of her classmates fighting like this. Although she was an energetic and loud girl, and she had been known to be a bit of a scrapper too, getting into fights quite often, she wasn�t really violent, and she certainly never wanted anyone to come to serious harm.

It�s a long shot, but I might be able to stop it all� it�s definitely worth a try!

She had seen a small cluster of trees about quarter of a mile ahead, and at their centre was a particularly tall and big-branched tree. Being something of a tomboy, she had plenty of experience with madly scrabbling up trees, and a plan had been slowly forming in her mind. Now that she had the megaphone, the idea crystallised, and she knew what she had to do.

But� I wish Yuffie was with me.

In all her pranks, adventures and mad games, Yuffie had been with her. The two had been absolutely inseparable since the moment they met, so long ago that they could barely remember it. They were so similar and yet so different, they made perfect friends, covering each other�s weaknesses and boosting each other�s strengths. Like Selphie, Yuffie was energetic, fun-loving, loud and very tomboyish, but whereas Selphie was open, honest, and often a little flirtatious, Yuffie was slightly self-centred, had problems with the truth, and had never really seemed to take an interest in boys the way she had.

Good thing too, I guess� bet she would have fallen for the same guy as me.

Selphie blushed deeply at that thought. She had had strong feelings for one of the boys in the class for a few months, and hadn�t told anyone, not even Yuffie. When she had been wandering along the dirt path, she had been hoping to find him, if only to say how she felt, a confession she would not normally have considered making if not for the pressure of the game.

He�s kinda rough� some of the girls even thinks he�s a little scary� but I just know he wouldn�t play. And if I can find him, then�

She blushed even more. She had been with a guy before, if only because she wanted to know what it was like, and most of the girls were doing it anyway, so she didn�t see what could be wrong with it. But the thought of actually getting together with the guy she liked made her feel a nervous thrill.

I have to find him, and Yuffie. I�ve got to find everyone I can, and stop this game!

She leapt to her feet and headed straight for the path. Then she stopped, giggling, and returned to fetch her bag.

Guess that�s another area where Yuffie�s different from me; she wouldn�t be so silly as to forget!

Making sure she had everything with her this time, she dashed off down the path, heading for the small cluster of trees.

-

Rosa Purheart sat at the top of a cliff, her legs dangling over the edge, her head in her hands, her eyes crying a stream of tears. She had given up all hope of finding Cecil Ordeals when the dawn had come. She had been running around non-stop, her legs screaming in protest as she had run to hilltops to view the surrounding terrain, charged through woods calling his name, and followed the island�s perimeter in the hopes that he might have been waiting for her on one of the beaches.

But she could find him nowhere, and her aching legs had buckled beneath her when she had reached the cliffs. She had sat there, at the top of the cliff, for over half an hour, heaving great sobs and praying that no harm had befallen him.

She had only been together with him for a month, but she was already deeply in love with him. She had confided in her older sister, telling her about the feelings she felt for Cecil, but her sister had just laughed and told her it was puppy love.

It is not just puppy love! I really do love him, more than anything else� oh, but where is he?

She broke into a fresh wave of tears, her sorrow beginning to consume her. She moaned out loud, the fear she felt for Cecil translating into a near-physical pain.

So loud was her crying that she could not hear the footsteps of the person who was approaching her from behind.

-

Squall had watched the sun slowly being to peek over the edge of the horizon, then begin its slow crawl towards the pinnacle of the sky. He checked his watch, wondering whether he and Rinoa had rested for long enough. She had fallen asleep shortly after they had stopped to rest, and whilst asleep, she had snuggled up against him, resting against his shoulder. He had felt slightly embarrassed about it at first, but now he didn�t want to move away or wake her up.

She looks like an angel�

He watched her now as she slept. Her expression was peaceful and contented. He wondered if she was dreaming, and if she was, what she was dreaming about. Then he realised he had been staring at her for several minutes. Worried about how she might react if she woke up to find him staring at her, he looked away.

She�s my friend, but I don�t think she�d appreciate me looking at her like that� she�d realise how I feel, and that could be� embarrassing. Awkward.

He had slowly come to realise over the past few months that the connection he felt with Rinoa was more than just friendship. He had always been the quiet and brooding one in the class, deliberately keeping himself away from the rest of the class apart from Zell, and a select few others such as Cloud, Tidus and the Highwind Duo, because of his past experiences. Because of the pain that lay in his past. But when she had joined their class, he had started to change. Something about her brought out the real him, slowly stripping away the image he had tried to project to hide himself away from the others.

He hadn�t realised what it was he felt for her at first, thinking it was just a different kind of friendship because she was the only girl he was really friends with. But he had found himself always looking forwards to the times when he could near her, when he could spend time with her.

But he had also found that he was not the only one who had feelings for her.

Zell� I�m sorry I never told you how I felt about her�

About a month ago, Zell had confessed to him that he liked Rinoa. They had been in their orphanage�s small gym, Squall practicing with his gunblade whilst Zell had been beating the hell out of one of the punch bags, as usual. Zell had just suddenly stopped and said it, as if he had been building up courage to confide in Squall, and had just decided to get it out before he lost his nerve.

�Squall?� he had begun, uneasily.

�Hmm?� Squall had replied, not stopping his Sparring Match practice.

�I� there�s something I kinda want to tell you�� he had continued, folding his arms behind his back and looking at the ground.

�Well?� Squall had said, still continuing a complex series of swings and thrusts.

�It�s� it�s about Rinoa, man. I think that� I really like her. And this isn�t just some crush either, I don�t think. It seems more than that��

�More than what you felt for Yuffie, then?� Squall had said, smiling to himself.

�Hey, that was just a small crush! And I wasn�t really expecting her to laugh when I asked her out��

�No offence,� Squall had said, finally finishing the complex combination attack and leaning of his sword, �but you were trying to act the �cool big-man� in front of her whilst you were turning bright red.�

�Hey, this isn�t about Yuffie, this is about Rinoa! This is serious. I mean, what do you think I should do?�

Squall had hated himself for what he said then. He knew he should have told Zell the truth, that he also had feelings for Rinoa. A good friend would have stepped aside, or at least tried to work out a solution. But he had just said one thing.

�Dunno. This is me, remember Zell. I�m not the authority on girls.�

�Oh, man��

The two of them had never said another word about it since, but Squall had noticed the change in Zell�s attitude when Rinoa was around, and had prayed that he wasn�t being so obvious as well.

He was abruptly brought back to the present when Rinoa moved beside him, sitting up slightly and yawning.

�Morning.� Squall said quietly.

She stretched and yawned a bit more, then opened her eyes and looked around. She seemed to instantly recognise where she was, and it didn�t put her off at all.

Bloody hell� I�d be put off waking up to the Program�

She looked across at him, concerned.

�You didn�t stay up all night did you?�

�Well, I had to keep watch. I know it sounds wrong, but there are people playing out there. We have to keep alert, or we could end up in serious trouble.�

�My own guardian angel to watch over me.� She said, smiling warmly at him.

Squall smiled back, hoping he wasn�t blushing.

�We best get moving,� he said, standing up and picking up their bags. �not that good an idea to stay in one place for to long.�

�Wait� what time is it?� she asked suddenly, looking worried.

�Um� very nearly six. Why?�

Rinoa opened her mouth to answer, but a loud crackling sound interrupted her. It was the sound a low-quality speaker makes when it switches on, a distorted burst of static. Rinoa closed her mouth again, realising that Squall�s question was about to be answered by the source of the noise.

��working now. Please give me the microphone.� Bugenhagen�s voice replaced the static, making the pair jump slightly. Squall had snapped into an defensive half-crouch, his eyes scanning for the source of the voice, and Rinoa laughed at this.

�Squall, it�s just the report! They�ll have speakers around the island so we can hear them.� she giggled. It took him a few seconds to realise what she meant, and then he stood up straight again and turned away to hide his embarrassed flushing.

�Hoo-ho, good morning my fine little warriors! You have been fighting very well so far, and I apologise if I�ve woken you from your sleep, ho-hmm.�

�They really shouldn�t be sleeping at a time like this anyway!� cam Marlene�s voice, fainter than Bugenhagen�s. She was obviously standing back from the microphone, the reason for which quickly became apparent.

�Marlene, please be quiet. This is my part of the job, we do not need any comments from you, thank you very much, hmm.�

�But Buggerface-�

�Bugenhagen. Now please remain silent.�

Rinoa had a look of incredulity on her face, and was slowly shaking her head. Squall felt disgusted that these people could be so light-hearted when people were killing each other in a killing game.

�Anyway, hoo� onto the list of the deceased��

Squall sighed. He knew that people were killing each other; he had seen Jessie murdered right in front of him. He knew that it had been happening elsewhere on the island as well, but he had been partially in denial about it. Now that Bugenhagen was announcing their names, though, this denial had gone and he felt the full weight of the game bearing down on him.

�First to die last night was Baralai Bevelle. He was very shortly followed by Rufus Shinra and Seifer Almasy. Ho-hmm, very efficient work, I must say.�

Squall closed his eyes and breathed deeply to try and control his anger.

�Jessie Zolom died a little later, in the vicinity of the school, as it happens. Ho-hoo, poor girl didn�t even get a chance to have fun and fight.�

Squall�s hands curled into fists. Try as he might, he could suppress his rising anger.

�Next to go was Aerith Gainsborough.�

�Died with a view of the ocean, tee-hee!� Marlene giggled in the background

Ignoring her, Bugenhagen continued:

�Next is Celes Chere, and finally Cait Sith, who was killed near the school.�

�Guess the moral of this report is stay away from the school.� Marlene put in.

�Indeed, ho-hoo. Not such a wise decision, unless you�re looking to get killed, that is.�

There was a splintering sound, and a small flurry of leaves fell from the canopy above. Rinoa jumped at the sound, then calmed down again when she saw what had caused it. Squall had punched the nearest tree to vent his anger, creating quite a deep hole in its trunk and dislodging many leaves with the force of the blow. He had lost control of his anger and had just lashed out.

�b******s�� Squall muttered under his breath, in control of his temper again now that he had vented his rage on the tree. �So many dead already, and they�re enjoy it��

�Now that we�ve announced the deaths, onto the list of forbidden zones. Remember if you are caught in these zones, your collar shall detonate without any warning. Also remember than now you are all outside, the school building and the area immediately surrounding it are a permanent danger zone, at least until there is only one person left alive, hoo. Now, get ready to note this down: the danger zones are: M7, starting at eight, I13, starting at ten, and F3, starting at noon. I hope you got those all down, as I shan�t repeat them, ho-hoom.�

Squall had hurriedly pulled his map form the green bag he had been issued with, and marked down the locations that had become danger zones, praying that he had heard them all right.

�You should copy the details of danger zones down on your map as well, Rinoa, in case we get separated.� He said, without looking up.

When she didn�t move at all, he looked up, frowning. She tried to look away, and avoid his glance, but he saw the tears in her eyes.

�Rinoa�?�

She whispered something, too quietly for him to hear. Worried, her moved in close to her, and took her in his arms. She tensed up a little for a second, then relaxed into his embrace.

�People� really playing�� she whispered.

�Yeah� but don�t worry, it won�t be everyone. I know that people like Tidus and Cloud won�t play, and neither will-�

�Someone� someone killed�� she interrupted, �someone got Aerith� and Celes as well��

Now Squall understood why she was crying. Celes and Aerith had been some of her best friends, along with himself and Zell. In the first night of the game, she had lost two of the people closest to her, and coupled with Zell�s death, this had proven too much.

�Oh, Squall�� she whispered, burying her face in his chest. �people are really playing��

�Like I said, not everyone will be. I know some people would rather die than play this f*cking game.�

Rinoa looked up at him, her tear-stained face strained with anxiety, and beginning to look a little pale.

�How do you know that? We could have said that no-one in our class would ever do that� even some of the rowdy boys wouldn�t normally think about actually seriously injuring someone. But now� our friends and classmates are fighting, Squall. How do we know that our friends won�t snap under the stress, or just become desperate?�

�If you think that, then why do you trust me?� Squall asked, trying to maintain a neutral expression.

�Squall�� she said, resting her head on him again. �I�d trust you with anything. There�s just something about you� I don�t know. I just know that you aren�t like that at all. Not even in the game.�

She trusts me that much� trusts me with her life� I didn�t know she regarded me that highly.

�I feel the same about a few others in the class, and I�m sure you must as well. I know that Tidus would never hurt anyone unless it was to defend someone else, and pretty much the same with Cloud. In fact, I�m far more prepared to defend myself and my friends than they would be, I reckon. And you know that most of the girls wouldn�t even consider fighting; Aerith and Celes certainly wouldn�t have.�

She nodded slowly, then sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes.

�Thank you.� She whispered.

�For what?�

�For staying with me. If I�d been on my own, I would have fought to defend myself, but I still wouldn�t have been able to survive very long. If it hadn�t been for you, Cait Sith probably would have killed me as soon as I came out of the school. Or someone else would have got me. I can fight, but I�d be too hesitant to hurt a classmate�� she trailed off, then pointed at the miniature gunblade, which Squall had tucked into his belt. �And let�s face it, I wouldn�t have exactly been able to defend myself very well with that, would I?�

Squall chuckled, nodding.

�Not really, I guess. Better that you have the Pinwheel, at least that�ll do more damage than a mini replica like this. I bet the trigger mechanism wouldn�t work on this-�

He stopped abruptly, his hand shooting to the weapon he had just been talking about. His eyes darted around, his muscles tensed, and the adrenaline started flowing. Rinoa didn�t know what had caused the change, but she recognised the fact that he thought they were in danger. She rose into a crouch and looked around as he slowly stood up.

�Over there�� he whispered, indicating the far side of the little clearing. �Someone�s coming.�

�Who?�

�I don�t know yet. Be ready, and cover me.�

She nodded, and lifted the Pinwheel. She gave it a quick check to make sure that it was properly loaded with one of its disc-like projectiles, then she pointed it at the gap in the trees where unknown person was approaching them from.

Squall moved forward silently, seeming to drift noiselessly across the clearing, towards where their bags were piled up. His excessive stealth training for night-time Sparring Matches was now paying off; he didn�t make any noise as he lifted the bags from the ground and slipped their straps around his shoulders, and no noise as he moved to stand behind one of the trees at the edge of the clearing.

He gripped the miniature gunblade in his right hand as he would grip a dagger for a stealthy attack; reverse-grip, so that the blade pointed downwards, towards the floor. Leaning around the edge of tree, he peered out to see who was approaching.

Rinoa almost stopped breathing in anticipation. She held her good arm steady, aiming the Pinwheel strapped to it at the clearing, ready to fire if need be. She wasn�t going to be defenceless; she would fight if she had to. She felt her body tense up, ready to spring in to action. The stabbing pain in her harm subsided to a dull ache as the adrenaline flooded her system. She moved to the side and crouched in the shadows, keeping the Pinwheel aimed at the entrance to their hiding place.

The tension continued to rise as the unknown person got closer, the noise of their approach growing louder with every second, and leaving no doubt as to the fact that he was heading straight for them. After what seemed like many minutes but was in reality a few seconds, a figure appeared in the entrance. It brushed aside a few dangling leaves and stepped into the clearing.

It was Yang Fabul, although he looked different from normal. He wasn�t wearing his normal clothes, and was instead wearing his gi, his karate outfit. He was sweating a lot, the dome of his head shining even more than normal, and his what little hair he had was tied back behind his head. Over his right shoulder, he carried a nasty looking weapon, a sharp blade on the end of a pole.

Naginata thought Squall. Dangerous weapon� he can hurt us whilst staying out of reach� let�s hope that he isn�t an enemy�

Yang spotted Rinoa and swung the Naginata down from his shoulder, holding it steadily in both hands, the butt of the pole touching the ground, the blade a short distance in front of his face; a defensive position.

�Yang�� Rinoa said, now pointing the Pinwheel at his face.

Squall slowly moved towards Yang from behind, ready to strike if he meant trouble.

And he did mean trouble.

He stepped forwards, lowering the Naginata slightly, holding ready so that he could charge forwards and run Rinoa through.

�Yang, I�m not playing!� Rinoa said forcefully. �We don�t need to fight!�

�Then tell me how I�ll survive, hmm?� Yang said sarcastically, his quiet but powerful voice filling the clearing. �I�ll have to kill you if I want to live. Just be grateful that I�m not Seymour; I�d bet he�d want to rape you first.�

�Last warning, back off.� Rinoa said, her voice unwavering. �Now.�

Yang gave a short, derisory snort.

�Fat chance. I�m playing to win. You should be too.�

Rinoa hesitated a second, then her expression hardened. She pulled the trigger on her Pinwheel.

Nothing happened.

Her eyes went wide as she realised that the safety mechanism was still engaged.

Squall knew that he had to act; Rinoa was defenceless, and Yang knew this. He took as step forwards, raising the gunblade, preparing to strike Yang in the arm. He didn�t want to kill him, only injure him enough that he wouldn�t be able to use the naginata.

But then Yang saw Squall�s reflection in the blade of the naginata. He swung around, the blade of his weapon at the height of Squall�s neck. Squall barely ducked in time, the blade sailing over his head.

Yang made use of the momentum from his first swing to bring the naginata into an overhead swing, trying to bring the blade down through Squall�s head. Realising this, Squall sprang forwards, tackling Yang forcefully, knocking the breath out of him and causing him to drop his weapon.

�Rinoa, run!� Squall shouted as he tried to pin the struggling Yang to the ground.

�But-�

�GO!� he shouted.

Giving no further argument, Rinoa fled, grabbing her bags as she ran past them. She quickly left the clearing, running as fast as she could.

�She your b*tch, then?� Yang said as he tried to struggle form Squall�s pinning. �Gonna have her a bit before the end of the game, eh?�

Squall�s face twisted into a mask of fury, and he was very tempted to stick the gunblade through Yang�s hand.

�Don�t talk about Rinoa like that, f*cker!� he hissed.

�Anger is your enemy!� Yang shouted, a malicious grin on his face. He then spat at Squall, hitting him right in the eye. Squall reflexively recoiled.

Taking advantage of this, Yang managed to free his right arm and threw a punch at Squall, catching him square on the jaw and knocking him back further and forcing him to let go of his arms. Yang drove a two-fisted punch at Squall�s gut, winding him and knocking him backwards.

Yang sprang to his feet and grabbed his naginata.

�Think you can catch me before I catch your b*tch?� he said, grinning wickedly. There was a look in his eyes which disturbed Squall; it was the look of a broken mind. Yang had snapped under the pressure of the game, probably from hearing of all the people who had been killed already.

Yang span on his heel and sprinted through the gap in the trees, heading in the same direction that Rinoa had just moments before.

Squall forced himself to his feet, trying ignore the pain in his gut. He staggered towards the bags in the centre of the clearing, knowing it was critical he take them with him, then he went after Yang. He forced himself to move as fast as he could, and he achieved a remarkable speed, considering how badly he had been winded.

He could see Yang quite a bit further ahead, sprinting after a distant, blue-and-black figure that he knew was Rinoa.

I can�t let him reach her� he�ll kill her for sure!

He moved faster, forcing as much speed as he could form his legs, driving himself relentlessly, his heart pumping faster and faster as his system was flooded with adrenaline. He ran onwards, accelerating all the time, his entire being focused on one thing; preventing anyone from getting to Rinoa before he could.

34 Students remaining.

Chapter 6 - A Hopeful Call

The view from the top of the tree was amazing. It was tall enough that she could see over the tops of all the other trees anywhere nearby, and even over many of the hills as well. The surrounding area was all laid out below her, far below. Many people would have been feeling slightly insecure being perched so high up on an unsteady branch, but Selphie was having a great time.

Running about, climbing trees, and shouting as loud as you can… if this wasn’t a killing game I’d say it’s the best fun I’ve had in ages!

Making sure that she was properly balanced on the branch and in no danger of falling off, yet still visible from the ground below, Selphie switched the megaphone on. There was a loud crackling noise as it started up.

Let’s see how much noise I can make with this bad boy!

Grinning from ear to ear, Selphie inhaled deeply, and prepared to start shouting.

-

Everybody within a mile heard Selphie call for peace.

A young man with spiky blonde hair stirred in his pit of despair, briefly brought back to the land of the living by the voice of the spunky little girl who he had often caught staring absent-mindedly at him in class.

A dark-haired young man swathed in a red cloak looked up from inspecting his golden gauntlet, and wondered why anyone would be so foolish as to announce their presence so readily.

Two young men, one blonde and chewing on a toothpick, the other black-haired and leaning against a tree, looked up from something they were working on, and chuckled, each remembering some of their past experiences with Selphie.

A couple who were walking hand-in-hand paused in their wonderings and smiled, their hope reinforced by the fact that they were not the only ones seeking peace.

An innocent girl who was searching for people to aid rejoiced that she was not the only one seeking to help others. She turned and set off towards the source of the distant voice.

A girl with long white hair and a short sword in her hand looked up from her meagre breakfast, wondering if the girl was right; if there truly was another way.

A young man with long white hair and a long sword looked up from the bag he had taken form Aerith, and considered going to take out the foolish little puppet, then decided that others would be heading towards her with the same intentions in mind. More people for him to kill. He set off immediately.

A girl with wild blonde hair and a spring in her step wheeled around on the spot and saw a girl wearing a yellow dress standing in a tree nearby and shouting animatedly. Grinning, she set off at a run towards her, covering a lot of ground very rapidly.

A girl with short black hair and an ornamental shuriken on a chain around her neck smiled to herself, surprised that it had taken her friend this long to start kicking up a racket. She set off towards the distant source of the voice, hoping that nothing bad would happen before she could get there.

-

Squall had completely overcoming his winding, and was running at break-neck speed, pursuing Yang. He could see Yang further ahead, the blade of his naginata randomly reflecting sunlight as it waved around. He couldn’t see Rinoa because Yang was obscuring his view of her, but he was fairly sure she was slowing down, and that they were catching up to her.

With that wound on her arm draining her strength, she wouldn’t be able to keep going for very long.

His legs were beginning to ache from being forced to move so fast. Although he was in good physical shape, Squall was certainly not a distance runner, and he had never run this fast before.

It had never been so important that he move fast before.

He clenched his teeth against the painful protests of his legs as he moved even faster, finally beginning to gain on Yang. But he knew he wasn’t gaining quickly enough; Yang would reach Rinoa first.

Only one thing I can do…

Squall still held the miniature gunblade in his right hand. Without stopping to take aim, he hurled the pathetically small weapon at the gi-clothed figure, praying the weapon would find its mark.

The small blade hurtled towards Yang, heading for his legs.

Please…

The blade passed between his legs and struck the floor ahead of him, embedding itself in the ground.

No!

Yang hadn’t seen the blade however, and his foot caught it. He tripped, his forwards momentum carrying him forwards quite a distance before he ploughed face-first into the ground. Squall reached down and yanked the weapon out of the ground as he rushed past, ready to use it to kill Yang, if necessary.

Yang hauled himself to his feet, spewing a stream of curses. He still clutched the naginata in his hand, refusing to let go of it again. He raised him self to his feet, and prepared to rush off in pursuit of Rinoa again.

But Squall reached him before he could continue running. Squall wanted to restrain himself, to only disable Yang long enough for him to catch up with Rinoa and escape, but his frustration with the Program and desire to protect Rinoa took over.

Not really aiming, he slammed the miniature gunblade into Yang’s back. It missed the spine by mere millimetres, but still bit deep into him. Screaming out in pain, Yang’s grip on the naginata loosened. Seeing an opportunity he could take advantage of, Squall kicked the hand Yang was holding the weapon with. He let go reflexively, and the force of the kick sent the naginata sailing upwards.

Yang wheeled around and hurled a punch at Squall, but it was easily deflected; the blow to his back had weakened the attack considerably. Squall took a step back holding his hands out. Assuming this was a defensive posture, Yang leapt forwards.

The naginata came down, and landed in Squall’s hands, just as he had planned. Thrusting the weapon forwards, it met Yang mid-leap, piercing his skin, passing through his chest, and exiting his body though his shoulder. The momentum of Yang’s body causes Squall to stumble slightly, but he quickly regained his balance.

Squall had been acting on something similar to autopilot; his instincts and Sparring training had taken over, and he had fought to the death with one of his classmates. He stood, holding the naginata in both hands. Yang hung limply on the end of the weapon, his blood running down the edge of the blade and dripping off at the point where it joined with the pole. His head lolled back, revealing that the light on his collar had gone dark.

There was no doubt about it; Yang Fabul was dead, and Squall had killed him.

I… I played the game…

NO! I did it defend Rinoa… I can’t let anything happen to her!

He looked up, but could no longer see Rinoa. She had fled onwards, believing she was still being pursued.

Someone else might try and attack her… or worse.

He wrenched the naginata from Yang’s chest, the blade making a sickening noise as it left the corpse, a combination of bones crunching and flesh tearing. Not even pausing to wipe the blood from the blade, Squall ran onwards, hoping to catch up with Rinoa.

-

Rinoa ran onwards, breathing heavily, desperately trying to ignore the pain in her arm as she continued to run. She didn’t look back, fearing that Yang might almost be upon her.

The trees were flying, fading into one big blur of green and brown. Then the trees slowly began to fade away, until she was running out in the open. The wooden forest walls gave way to a field, the forest canopy gave way to a blue sky with few clouds, and the soft green grass gave way to ploughed earth. She continued to run, nearly tripping on a deep rut in the ground, all the time acutely aware of how rapidly her strength was failing her.

Her legs began shaking as she hurtled onwards, and she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to keep going long enough to escape Yang. She began to slow down, losing momentum rapidly. She slowed to something that was barely faster than walking, but she continued to drive herself onwards nonetheless.

Then her foot caught in another rut, and she plunged downards, slamming face first into the earth. She lay still for a moment, half expecting to feel Yang’s naginata enter her back and plunge her into eternal darkness.

Squall…

She lay still waiting for death to come to her. Nothing happened. She lay still, with her eyes closed, and listened carefully. She could hear footsteps approaching, advancing towards her.

So… this is it…

But… I won’t go so easily!

She rolled over, trying to bring her arm up to point at her assailant. But there was nobody there.

The footsteps were coming from behind her.

She slowly turned her head around, fearful of who it might be. The figure standing behind her was tall and dark, and their cloak billowed out behind them in the wind. There was a large gun in their hand, a gun that was cocked and ready to fire.

-

“Selphie!”

Selphie beamed down at the girl at the base of the tree. She knew someone would come, and there were few people she could have wanted more.

“On my way down!” she shouted back.

Descending the tree was much easier than climbing it, so Selphie was halfway down the tree in a matter of seconds. She reached the bottommost branch a few seconds after that, but then lost her balance, and feel the rest of the way to the ground, landing on her behind, disoriented.

“You all right?” said the blonde-haired girl, who had been waiting for her at the base of the tree, trying to suppress a grin but failing.

Selphie giggled, and jumped to her feet. Dusting herself off, she beamed at the girl.

“Couldn’t be better now you’re here, Rikku!”

She jumped forwards and wrapped Rikku in a hug, taking her completely by surprise. Then Rikku relaxed, and laughed.

“I’m surprised I was the first here; everyone in miles will have heard you shouting!”

“You really think so?” Selphie said excitedly, pulling away from, Rikku.

“Are you kidding? We can hear you from half a mile off most of the time. Giving you that megaphone just makes it ridiculously loud.” Rikku said, playfully punching her on the arm.

Selphie couldn’t help but smile even more. Rikku often had that effect on people, and it was for this that Rikku was one of Selphie’s favourite people. The two of them and Yuffie were similar in many ways, with their infectious energy and enthusiasm, and their complete inability to be quiet or still for any length of time.

I couldn’t have asked for a better person to arrive here first!

“So, what’s the plan?” Rikku asked, rocking back and forth on her heels, her wild blonde hair dancing around on the breeze.

“Gonna do what I do best!” Selphie said, grinning widely.

“You mean being a fidgety nuisance?” Rikku said, failing to suppress another wicked grin.

“Hypocrite!” Selphie laughed, then stuck her tongue out playfully.

The two girls started laughing, Selphie leaning against the tree for support.

“Seriously though,” Rikku managed to say between giggles “what’s the plan? You just gonna shout out to everyone, get them to come here?”

“Pretty much.” Selphie replied, shrugging. “I’m sure if we all put our minds to it, there’ll be any easy way out of this game.”

“Sounds like a plan… so, what do I do?”

Selphie looked around, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“Erm… could you stand on that lower branch, and greet people as they arrive?” she asked eventually. “You’ll be in plain sight, so people will be able to see I’m not alone and that others are listening to me, and it makes it easier to organise people as they arrive.”

“Yeah, I can hardly imagine Quistis or Lulu wanting to scrabble up a tree to talk to you.” Rikku said, her eyes flashing mischievously.

“Let’s get to it!” Selphie shouted, jumping up and down enthusiastically. Wheeling around, she dashed for the tree, tripped up on a lower branch, and giggling, pulled herself to her feet again.

“Lmisco!” Rikku chuckled.

“What?” Selphie asked, looking utterly perplexed.

“Uh… never mind, you get to it, girl!” Rikku said, waving it off.

“’Kay!”

With that, Selphie started to rapidly ascend the tree again.

-

Rinoa stared up at the man standing over her, not entirely sure what to think. His cloak billowing behind him in the wind, Vincent Valentine was staring down at her with utter neutrality on his face.

The two stared at each other, utterly still save for the flapping of Vincent’s cloak in the breeze. Rinoa’s mind flashed through endless scenarios, trying to find a possible way to fire her weapon at the red-clothed figure standing over her before he could fire at her. She could feel every muscle in her body tensing up in preparation for an attack.

Vincent moved slightly, and Rinoa swung her arm up to point at him, preparing to fire, but caught herself at the last second as she realised what he was doing. She froze in position, her pinwheel now pointed at his chest, her eyes fixed on his gun, which he had been holstering until she had moved.

“Let me get this straight…” Vincent said slowly and calmly. “You stare at me when the gun is out, and then point your weapon at me when I holster mine… is there some form of reverse logic in play here?”

Rinoa swallowed nervously, unsure of what to make of the situation. Vincent continued to hold her gaze, then gave the barest of smiles, and shifted his gaze to look the direction she had run from.

“Were you being pursued? You certainly looked like you thought someone was chasing after you with murder on their mind.” He said, in the same quiet, calm voice.

Suddenly remembering why she had ended up in the field, looked behind her, and could see no trace of Yang or Squall.

They must be fighting… unless Squall managed to lead Yang away… or... no, don’t think like that…oh Squall, please be safe!

“Yang was chasing me.” She said simply. “Squall was trying to stop him. I assume he succeeded in some way.”

“Evidently so. So you are in need of a new protector until Squall returns?”

Rinoa whipped her gaze back to Vincent, her eyes narrowing slightly.

What did he mean by that? Is he making some sort of threat, or…

Movement somewhere beyond Vincent caught her eye.

-

Palom Mysidia was a total mess. Since leaving the school, he had had but one objective, and he had pursued it doggedly, allowing nothing to get in his way.

I have to find Porrom!

She’ll never survive without me there!

He had hurtled through hedges, scrambled over rocks and charged through forests looking for his sister, becoming more and more desperate all the while. He had continued to run onwards, never allowing himself to tire, ignoring the sharp rocks and whipping branches that tore at his clothes and face, his mind focused on his “twin sense”, the bond that he shared with Porrom. He would be able to tell if she were near, of if she were in danger, but so far he had felt nothing.

She’s safe for now… but how long will that last?

He had been carefully watching his classmates as they had left the room, studying their faces and trying to discern their intents from their expressions and the look in their eyes. What he had seen on the faces of some had scared him. In Sephiroth he had seen a calmness betrayed only by the joy that had been lurking in his eyes, and in Vincent he had seen only a grim determination. He knew these two would be willing to fight, and the looks of desperation and terror he had seen on the faces of many of his other classmates led him to believe that most would snap under the pressure, and either fight or kill themselves.

And I know that there will be a fair few who would rather live than die…

As he had run, he had heard the tell-tale sounds of fighting starting up around the island; thunderous booms that he imagined to be powerful spells had sounded off not far from him as he had run parallel to the beach. Since then he had seen ghostly images running at him from the shadows, but this had only made him run faster.

As his desperation had grown, his mind had fractured more and more, and in his broken mind, he knew that Porrom would be the only one who would not try to kill him. He knew he would have to fight before the end. He knew that one of his classmates’ minds would snap, and they would force him into a position where he would have to kill.

But I’ll be ready when that happens!

His entire body was sweating from the exertion of constantly running, apart from his right wrist, which felt as if it were being cooled by an icepack. As he ran onwards, his slightly-ripped right sleeve flapped in the wind, revealing a dull golden bracelet beneath it. Palom, being greatly interested and well-read in the topic of the art of magic, had instantly recognised what the bracelet was as he had lifted it from his green bag after leaving the school; a magic bangle, one that contained some form of Blizzard spell within the centre-mounted blue gemstone. He knew how to use it, and he was prepared to defend himself or his sister with it if necessary.

And the situation he was in now was one which he knew was one in which using the bangle would be necessary.

He had burst from one of the island’s many forest, and onto an old field that had obviously not had a good ploughing in several years. At first he had not seen anyone, and had just run on for a few seconds, but then he did a double-take, and realised that he most certainly was not alone.

Two people were in the field with him. One was apparently sitting on the rough ground, but he could not see who it was, because there was another person standing in front of them, as their red cloak blocked his view as it flapped lazily in the wind.

Red cloak…

Palom heard a gasp from the person sitting on the ground, and the red-cloaked figure wheeled around, their hand shooting to a gun holster hidden beneath the cloak.

It’s Vincent!

The hand reappeared from beneath the cloak, but now it was holding a large black gun which gleamed with a deadly and terrifying light.

I knew it! He’s playing!

Palom dived to the side, expecting a shot from the gun to whiz past his head as he moved.

“Stay still or I shall fire!” Vincent barked in a commanding tone, swinging the gun round to point at Palom again.

More like stay still so he can aim at me properly!

I’m not going to let him try and stop me finding Porrom!

He dived to the side again, whipping his right arm up and tearing the remnants on his sleeve back, fully revealing the bangle.

“Stop now or I shall fire!” Vincent’s voice boomed out again, betraying no hint of his intentions, hostile of otherwise.

“Yeah f*cking right!” Palom screamed back, then he whispered the spells words to himself, and felt his arm tingle as the bangle magically created a series of razor-sharp ice shards just beyond his outstretched fingertips, and then flung them words with terrific speed, straight at his red-cloaked opponent.

But Vincent was no longer there, and the ice shards merely tore a few small holes in his cloak as he dived to the side.

Palom cursed loudly, then flinched away from an imaginary blow from Porrom, who would have chastised him for foul language. Then, realising there was no Porrom there to stop him, he cursed again, and fired the Blizzard spell a second time.

This time Vincent didn’t manage to move out of the way quite as quickly, and one of the ice shards tore a shallow gash across his left cheek. Vincent clenched his teeth and reflexively squeezed his trigger.

A huge booming sound tore through the surrounding area, and a small but powerful black bullet tore through Palom’s left shoulder. He screamed in pain and stumbled to the side, compromising the accuracy of his next volley of ice shards, which flew harmlessly into the sky.

-

“He’s lost it!” Vincent muttered as he dove to the side and snapped of another shot, which missed the erratically moving Palom. “There’s no way to get him to stop…”

“Yes there is.” He heard Rinoa say simply. He snapped his head round to look at her, and saw she had her arm raised again, Pinwheel at the ready.

“This isn’t kidding around, you need to get out of here!” Vincent yelled, firing another shot to try and make Palom keep his head down long enough for Rinoa to flee.

“Who’s kidding around?” she said quietly, and fired her weapon.

-

Palom saw something flash in the morning sunlight, and dodged to the side just in time, narrowly avoiding the gracefully projectile.

“Hah!” he sneered contemptuously. “Learn to aim!”

With the words barely out of his mouth, he fired his own weapon at Rinoa, who managed to hurl herself to the ground before any of the ice shards could make contact with her.

Prone on the floor… easy target!

He quickly looked around for Vincent, then rolled to the side out of reflex. Another colossal boom echoed around the area, and a plume of dirt kicked up from the ground where he had bene standing just a second before.

The girl is an easier target…so take her out first, before she becomes trouble again.

He swung his bangle to point at Rinoa again, but stopped dead when he saw her face.

She was looking behind him, and smiling grimly.

Someone behind me!

Wheeling around on his heel, he fired his bangle into the air behind him, but hit nothing, for there was no-one behind him at all.

So why was she looking behind me…

His eyes registered the Pinwheel projectile, hurtling back to Rinoa having done cut a complete arc through the air, a split second before it hit him full in the face.

-

Rinoa’s legs gave way beneath her as the sickening crunch sound reached her ears. She knew that what she had done was necessary to survive, but that didn’t lessen the horror of realising what she had done.

She stared at Palom, unable to tear her eyes away as he staggered about, his movement stiff. His back was facing her, so she couldn’t see where the Pinwheel had struck, or even if it was a fatal wound she had inflicted, but his slow, staggering movement confirmed her fears.

Palom staggered a few steps backwards, moved by the momentum of the projectile, then he stopped, swaying unsteadily for a few seconds before keeling over backwards. He landed in the dirt with a dull thump, kicking up a small cloud of dirt.

She waited tensely as the dirt cloud began to settle, then shuddered as she saw the Pinwheel embedded in the middle of Palom’s forehead. It has sunk in so that barely half of the projectile was visible, and there was no doubt that he was dead. Blood was beginning to flow from the wound, and soon the corpse’s face was coloured crimson.

Rinoa looked down and closed her eyes, trying to still her mind which was racing through alternate scenarios and possibilities, trying to find a way out of what she had done.

I acted on instinct… and look what my instinct was…

To kill a classmate… how could I do such a thing? What kind of person am I?

She opened her eyes again, and saw a shadow on the ground near her. She looked up to see Vincent standing over her, his expression pitying. Her vision started to blur as tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes, and she lowered her gaze, feeling she was undeserving of pity.

“Don’t cry,” Vincent said with surprising gentleness “if you hadn’t done it he would have killed you, maybe me, and other people as well.”

“Yes, but…” she tried to protest.

“He wasn’t Palom anymore.”

She looked up at him, her face now streaked with tears.

“You could see that he’d snapped. That’s what the game does to people; it makes them lose who they are, forget their friends and loved ones, and become something they would never normally be. What you did was really a kindness for him; you stopped him from hurting anyone precious to him.”

Rinoa smiled sadly.

-

Squall crept forwards, his newly acquired naginata held steady in both hands, his knuckles going white from the strength of his grip.

How could this happen? I protect her from one person, and she immediately falls into greater danger!

He had emerged from the dirt path and onto the field, hoping to see Rinoa waiting for him, but instead he had seen her on the floor, crying, with Vincent Valentine standing over her, a gun clutched in his hand.

She’s crying… what has he done to her!

Squall could also see a corpse nearby, and judging from the old-fashioned mage-style robes it was clothed in, he assumed it was one of the Mysidia twins.

Squall was afraid. Not for himself, not because this red-cloaked man standing before him on the field was apparently a cold-blooded killer, but because Rinoa was in danger.

Not something I’ll allow to last for long!

He ran forwards and leapt as high as he could, using the naginata like a pole vault to propel himself even higher into the air.

-

Rinoa looked up at Vincent again, having wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Vincent gave that barest of smiles again.

“You’ve got a strong will, I see.”

Rinoa opened her mouth to reply, then saw a silhouetted figure rise into the sky from behind Vincent, then it began to descend rapidly, towards the two of them.

“Vincent, move!” she shouted, as scrambled backwards, away from the descending shadow. Vincent apparently had very sharp reflexes, for he had already managed to move to a safe distance before the shadow hit ground.

“Hold!” Vincent shouted, his gun raised again.

The figure spun to face Vincent, and raised a weapon that appeared to be a pole with a blade on the end. When Vincent saw the person’s face, he cocked an eyebrow and lowered the gun slightly.

“Squall, don’t!” Rinoa shouted, having finally realised who it was, but Squall either didn’t hear or ignored her.

He leapt into the air again, straight at Vincent, swinging the naginata straight downwards, towards his head. Vincent didn’t move from where he was, he merely raised his golden-gauntleted left arm, and took the entire force of the blow on it. He stumbled backwards slightly from the impact, but seemed otherwise unaffected by the mighty blow Squall had just struck him.

Leaping back from his unsuccessful attack, Squall swung the naginata back behind his head, holding it with both hands, ready for a powerful downwards swing. He took a step forwards to give his attack a bit of extra momentum, then stopped short suddenly as Rinoa moved in front of him with her arms outstretched, barring his path.

“Squall, stop!” she shouted. “Vincent isn’t an enemy!”

Squall took a step backwards, his brows furrowed, the naginata still raised above his head. The morning light reflected off the blade, revealing that it was streaked with blood.

“What do you mean? He just killed Palom, and you would defend him?” Squall said, unsure but still weary of the equally confused red-cloaked figure Rinoa was protecting.

“You say that I’m the dangerous one,” Vincent said calmly, gently brushing Rinoa to the side and standing in front of Squall, gun lowered, “yet you are the one who tried to attack me with the blood-stained blade.”

Rinoa’s eyebrows furrowed in incomprehension for a moment, then she inhaled sharply and took a step backwards when she finally noticed the streaky red stain on the blade of the naginata.

“Squall…” she whispered. “What happened?”

Squall bowed his head and lowered the weapon he was holding in one movement, unsure of how to explain it to her.

“I… Yang had lost it. He was bent on getting you, and there was no way to stop him, but… I didn’t intend to kill him, just to stop him, but…” he trailed off sadly.

“But you acted out of reflex.” Vincent finished, walking over to the corpse of Porrom. “The adrenaline in your system combined with your natural desire to survive made you act before you could think about it.”

Squall stared at Vincent, his mouth open slightly.

He talks as if he’s experienced it before…

“Is that what happened when you killed Palom, then?” he demanded.

“No.” Vincent replied simply. “Because I didn’t kill Palom.”

He knelt down next to the corpse, and lifted the head slightly to reveal the projectile that was still protruding from its face. Squall looked to Rinoa, amazed.

“I…” she trailed off, looking down at the ground. “I had to. I can’t be weak at a time like this…”

There was a sickening slurp sound nearby, and Squall looked back to Vincent in time to see him pull the Pinwheel projectile clear of Palom’s skull. After wiping it on the grass, he offered it to Rinoa.

“Every weapon counts in this game, and seeing as that’s your only weapon at the moment, you’d do well to try and hold on to it.”

Hesitantly, Rinoa took the bladed disc from Vincent’s hand, and started loading it into the launcher again.

“Seems you two can take care of yourselves already, but would you care to join with another able fighter?”

Squall and Rinoa exchanged concerned looks, unsure how to interpret the invitation.

Is he genuinely offering to help us survive?

Or is he just planning to use us in some way?

“Whether or not you choose to join up with me, we need to get away from this place quickly. You ma have noticed that I wasn’t equipped with one of the quieter weapons, and I don’t doubt that others will have heard the noise. For all we know, a serious player could be headed this way as we speak.” Vincent said, gesturing to the woods with his gun.

“We’ll go with you…” Squall said slowly, “provided that you tell us why you want to go with us.”

Vincent gave another small smile, then turned away and started walking off towards the trees.

“I’m not keeping you with me to kill later, or to use as a bullet shield, if that’s what you’re thinking. I have… personal reasons. I need to find someone I can trust, and I get the feeling that you two are definitely worthy candidates.”

Squall and Rinoa exchanged glances again, set off after Vincent.

-

“Wait!”

Shuyin wheeled around, searching for the source of the voice. Lenne moved behind him and clutched at his arm, afraid.

Dammit… should have taken more care… a place like this practically screams “ambush alley”…

In their haste to reach Selphie, he and Lenne had run straight for the source of the voice, and he hadn’t realised the dangers of running down what was practically a small valley; a pathway lying between two steep hills, bushes covering much of the slopes on either side, making it impossible to see if people why lying in wait.

He lowered himself into a defensive crouch, preparing for a fight.

“Who is it?” he barked out.

There was a scrambling sound from his left, and he saw the bushes shake violently as someone passed rapidly down the slope. A second later, a girl burst from the bottommost bush, stumbling a little before regaining her balance.

“Yuna!” Lenne cried out, running past Shuyin straight towards the girl. Shuyin relaxed, and chuckled to himself.

Talk about lucking out… ambush alley and the only person who finds us is Little Miss Innocence…

Lenne reached Yuna and wrapped her in a tight hug, catching Yuna by surprise.

“I’m so glad we found you!” she said, then let Yuna go and stepped back, a bit.

“I’m glad I found you, too. I was a bit worried about moving around on my own…”

“We aren’t going to be alone much longer,” Shuyin interrupted, stepping up behind Lenne “because we’re on our way to join Selphie.”

Yuna looked at him, and he felt a little disconcerted by the two different-coloured eyes that locked gazes with him.

I swear I’ll never get over that… your eyes are supposed to be the same colour, not one blue and one green!

“You were going to Selphie as well?” she said, sounding delighted. “I’ve been hoping people would join her… I thought people would be too afraid of it being a trick to trust anyone.”

“I’d trust Selphie with my life.” Lenne said firmly. “I’d trust many of our classmates with my life. Trusting each other is the only way we can beat this thing without all dying. And we have to try and beat this thing!”

Yuna beamed at the couple, her smile soul-warming.

“I just knew that other people would be trying to help out… I knew that I couldn’t be the only one who would try to do something. I’m so happy that you guys have chosen to help!”

Yuna stepped forwards, and this time she wrapped her arms around Lenne and Shuyin.

“Not that I mind group hugs…” Shuyin said, a little uncomfortably, “but I think we should get a move on and get to Selphie. She might have attracted some unsavoury elements, and we should get there before that can happen, otherwise she might move off somewhere else, and we might not be able to find her again.”

Lenne and Yuna both smiled at him, Lenne with love in her eyes, and Yuna with a look of innocent happiness.

-

He stared intensely at his hands, praying that he had not seen what he thought he had. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then something changed; at first it seemed as if the air around his hands was shimmering, but it quickly became clear that it wasn’t the air – it was his hands that seemed to be shimmering slightly, wavering as if they were as insubstantial as a wisp of smoke.

He clenched his fists and ground the palms of his hands into his eyes, fear and pain streaking through his mind.

No… why now? Why does this have to happen now of all times?

He stood up and paced about, trying to control his emotions.

I will not cry. Not now. I can’t afford to waste any time…

He somehow knew what was happening; he hadn’t even been told about anything like this, and it wasn’t something he had heard about before; he just inherently knew what was happening. But he didn’t know why it was happening.

Not that it matters… I don’t have that long… even if I hold on for as long as I possibly can, there’s no way that I can last more than a few days… ‘Why’ isn’t an issue.

He walked back to where he had dropped his bags when he first felt the strange sensation that something was changing in him. He picked up his green bag, and slung it over his shoulder, then crouched in front of his own bag, a black satchel with a big fiery “J” emblazoned on the side. After a while he brought out his assigned “weapon”; a smooth black box-shaped object. He flipped it open, revealing a LCD screen and a series of buttons with confusing symbols on them.

“On.” He said in a monotone, as the manual had told him he should do.

The screen flickered to life, and after briefly flashing a “loading” message, a Galbadian government logo appeared, with the words “state name” in the top left hand corner.

“Tidus Staraybe.”

Another loading message, then the government logo appeared again, this time with the words “awaiting instructions” in the top corner.

Umm… what did the manual say the commands were for this thing?

“Scanner?” he said, wondering what the little plastic box would do.

The words “up linking” appeared on the screen.

“Wha- up linking to what?” he said out loud. “Why do you need to link to anything to scan me?”

The “up linking” message disappeared, and was replaced with a colour satellite image of the island. There were several small dots positioned around the island, some moving slowly, others stationary, and there was a blinking cross symbol where he apparently was.

Huh… not what I was looking for, but handy…

“Um… scan me?” he said hopefully.

The plastic box made an error noise.

“Bioscanner?” he tried again, and was met with a second error noise.

Um…

“Health scan? Stat scan? Med scan?”

The box omitted the error noise to the first two suggestions, then beeped positively, and the satellite image disappeared, replaced with the loading message.

Progress!

The box made a slight humming noise, and the screen flickered once or twice, and then several lines of text appeared on the screen. Tidus tried to read the text, but it made no sense to him, as it all seemed to be medial jargon. Then a red line appeared at the bottom, and started blinking steadily.

“Subject status normal….” He read aloud. “I thought not…”

If it can’t find anything wrong with me, then its probably something I can’t cure… I really don’t have a way out of this…

I’m going to fade, to disappear as if I was never here in this world in the first place…

He felt tears well up in his eyes, but he blinked furiously to get rid of them, chastising himself.

“I can’t cry now!” he said aloud, trying to steady his emotions. “I can’t be weak now… I have to do something… anything… worthwhile…”

He subconsciously reached for one of the two necklaces he wore. One was the same fiery “J” symbol that was emblazoned on his bag, and the other, the one he took in his hand, was a small locket with “friends forever” inscribed on it in elegant, looping writing. It was something he always did when he wasn’t sure of what to do; inside the locket was a picture of his best friend, who had always been there for him when he needed her, and together they had always made it through hard times and troubles.

But she isn’t here now… I need to decide what to do on my own…

He thought hard, but thinking had never really been his forte; he thought with his heart, not with his head, and try as he might, Tidus could not come up with a plan of action that made sense.

“Awww, man….” He moaned, and sat down roughly on the ground. “What am I going to do…”

His thought began to stray, and as they always did when he wasn’t thinking about anything in particular, they strayed in a particular direction. The image of a face began to form in his mind, the face of someone very precious to him.

The face of the girl he loved. The girl he loved, even though he had never really talked with her much, but who still captivated him with every movement, every gesture, every word.

I could… I could try to do something for her…

There must be more ways off this shit-hole island than “kill your friends”… and I can help her find it.

He held his locket a little tighter, as a plan began to form in his mind.

I’ll find them both… I’ll protect them as long as I can, and I can find a way out for them…

I won’t be able to go with them, but…

It would be a good ending to my story. A good thing to do before I fade completely.

A good thing to do before the dream ends.

-

Rosa walked hand-in-hand with her lover, and could not help but smile. Despite all that was happening, despite the danger, and the rules of the game, he had sought her out. Through all the fear that was clouding her heart and mind, a shining ray of hope shone, illuminating every corner of her being, and giving her the strength to go on. She had doubted him, and for that she had silently cursed herself, but it didn’t seem to matter anymore; now that the two of them were back together, walking together along the cliffs, bathed in the glow of early morning sunlight, it seemed like everything was almost back to normal.

Almost.

“So…” Cecil said, finally breaking the long silence. “We’re not in the best of situations here…”

Rosa lowered her gaze from the rose-tinted clouds to the ground beneath her feet.

I had hoped avoid this… but such a desire is foolish. There is no escaping truth…

“Understatement of the millennium.” She replied, smirking slightly. “You always had such a way with words.”

“Hey, I leave the eloquent speech to Cain, it never was my forte.” He retorted in mock offence, making Rosa smile inwardly.

No… speaking from the heart was your forte. You never make a decision unless your heart is in it. Other saw that as the weakness of indecision, but I could see the truth…

“There’s a difference between speaking eloquently and smooth-talking your way into a girl’s bed.” She said, giggling quietly.

“True…” Cecil conceded. “He does seem to excel at that… guess Cid has been a bad influence.”

They laughed together, but it wasn’t the same as when they normally laughed together. It was slightly strained, not completely natural. The game was getting to them.

“Seriously, though… what are we going to actually do?” Cecil said after the laughter died down. “Do you have a plan, or shall we go with my one?”

Rosa grimaced slightly. She knew him well enough to know that his plan wouldn’t be likely to be very well thought-through.

“Not really… I heard Selphie calling out about something a while ago – she must have a bullhorn or something – but I couldn’t quite hear what she was saying. Knowing her, though, she was probably calling for people to join her. I can’t think of anything else worth calling out for other than ‘I want to die, come and get me’…”

“Not too blunt…” Cecil said quietly. Then his head snapped up. “Calling for people to join her… you mean-“

“Yeah; she doesn’t want to fight. And I know that some others would feel the same way. If not the whole class.”

“Some will fight.” Cecil said this quietly, but with absolute certainty. “You saw the look in Sephiroth’s eyes as he left the room. He’s up to something, and I doubt it’s gathering people for an escape attempt.”

“Sephiroth scared me before… and you know what my past is like, simple thugs shouldn’t scare me…” she murmured.

“Sephiroth is no thug.” Cecil said slowly, carefully trying to articulate what he was thinking. “Neither was Seifer for that matter, but Sephiroth… I don’t know, there was always something a bit… otherworldly about him. Something out of place. I can’t quite put my finger on it…”

“Neither can I.” Rosa said. She looked up again, and smiled. “Best not to dwell on it too much. We should get moving now.”

“Where to though? And what are we going to do?” Cecil asked, shrugging. “You can choose what to do, and I’ll follow you, and protect you.”

Rosa stopped walking, and turned to face him, looking into his eyes.

“Anywhere I go?” she said quietly, her eyes filled with adoration.

“I’ll follow.” He replied, and stepped forward to wrap her in a gentle embrace, his white cloak billowing around them in the wind.

-

Paine crouched in a bush near the small dirt track, listening out for the tell-tale signs of someone stalking her. At first it had just been a gut feeling, but now she knew for certain that someone was moving nearby. You simply couldn’t move through a forest without making at least some noise.

The question is whether or not this person is following me, or if they happen to be in the same area at the same time as me…

She drew her short sword from its sheath as slowly and quietly as she could, holding it tightly in her right hand, whilst using the right hand to gently push a branch aside, allowing her a clearer view of the area in front of her.

What she saw made her freeze.

He was moving from tree to tree rapidly, hiding behind each and glancing around quickly.

He must have realised I was here…

But if he’s moving like that, he doesn’t know I’m hiding here!

He darted forwards to the next tree, his long hair streaming behind him as he moved. He paused for longer than normal at the next tree, looking around intently. He moved his hand up, slowly reaching for the sword hilt that was protruding over his shoulder. The weapon was held in a scabbard strapped to his back, and Paine’s eyes went wide as she saw the end of the scabbard was by his feet.

That is a HUGE sword… and I bet he can wield it well as well…

She tried to suppress the rising fear she felt, but it was too much. She knew she had to fight and kill if she wanted to live through the game, but she didn’t like she could take on Sephiroth under any circumstances.

It’s not a fight I want to be a part of at all…

But she was spared a fight with the white-haired young man, as he suddenly sprinted off into the distance, towards the cliff path that ran parallel to, but a good hundred meters away from, the dirt path through the forest.

Despite his departure, she stayed still, counting a hundred heartbeats before moving.

He could have hidden close by, waiting for me to reveal myself by moving…

She counted another two hundred heartbeats to be sure, and then she moved, slowly at first. She cautiously stood up, and thoroughly looked around the area, trying to be certain that she was alone. She had almost decided to move when she head something that filled her with fear.

But not fear for herself.

“Cecil!”

The shriek echoed through the forests, piercing into Paine’s very soul.

“Rosa…” she murmured quietly.

She could faintly hear the clash of blade on blade somewhere in the distance, ringing out several times.

Sephiroth… he must have found Rosa… she’ll have no chance if I don’t help her!

All thoughts of playing to win forgotten, Paine ran as fast as she could towards the source of the noise.

-

Rosa stood atop the cliff, gazing out across the sea, trying to focus her thoughts. It was so hard to think of what to do when the situation was as complicated as the one they were in. Cecil stood a few feet behind her, waiting patiently for her to decide on what to do.

Normally I would never ask him to do anything that would put him in danger… but we’ll both have to put ourselves in harm’s way regardless of what course of action we choose.

“You’d be willing to come with me no matter how hopeless my plan is?” she asked quietly, not moving her gaze from the rolling waves below.

“I’ll follow you wherever you go, Rosa. Until the end, and beyond.”

That would be so clich� if I didn’t know he truly meant it…

She smiled to herself briefly, then inhaled deeply.

“Well my plan is pretty far-fetched, but it’s all I can think of. And it’s better than nothing I suppose….”

She turned to face him, and opened her mouth to tell him what she had thought up, but something stopped her. Over Cecil’s shoulder, she could see someone rapidly approaching. Someone carrying a long, gleaming sword, held in both hands and poised to strike.

“Cecil!” she screamed, her mind so clouded with terror that she couldn’t say anything else.

Cecil’s eyes hardened, and Rosa knew that he was allowing the darker side of himself to take over. In one smooth motion he spun around and drew a gleaming golden sword from a scabbard that had been hidden beneath his cloak.

By the time the white-haired swordsman had burst from the forest, Cecil was standing ready, his sword held steady in both hands. He sprang forwards and caught the assailant’s blade on his own, with tremendous force. The impact caused both men to fly backwards. Cecil managed to remain upright, steadying himself quickly and preparing to charge back in.

His eyes locked on his opponent, whose flight had been halted by a nearby tree. His white hair blowing around wildly in the wind, Sephiroth locked gazes with Cecil for the briefest of moments before the two young men charged at each other, each utterly silent other than the noise of the footsteps on the ground.

Sephiroth had the advantage of having a longer sword, and attempted to impale Cecil with a thrusting stab, but Cecil averted the blade with his own, and continued to move forwards, trying to drive his blade home, but Sephiroth leapt backwards and brought his sword around in a powerful horizontal swing, which Cecil barely managed to block with his golden blade, the impact jarring his arms so hard he nearly let go out of reflex.

“Rosa, run!” he shouted, knowing that he was unlikely to win the fight. “Get as far away as you can now!”

“No running.” She replied quietly, and something streaked over his left shoulder, and hit Sephiroth in the shoulder, making him recoil backwards.

Cecil chanced a glance over his shoulder and saw Rosa holding a crossbow in one hand, and trying to reload the weapon with her free hand. He looked back at Sephiroth in time to see him rip the bolt from his arm and cast it aside, looking unperturbed by the fact that he had just been shot.

He was still for a single heartbeat, and then he was charging at Cecil again, this time bringing his blade down in an overhead strike that could split a man from head to toe with ease, but Cecil held his sword in two hands and caught the attack on it. But then he realised that Sephiroth hadn’t truly been attacking him, for he used the momentum from his attack to carry himself over Cecil’s head, using the golden blade like a pivot upon which his own sword acted.

Cecil wheeled around, bringing his weapon around for a horizontal strike, but Sephiroth had already moved out of range, charging straight at Rosa.

“Run!” he roared again, hurling himself at Sephiroth, every nerve in his body burning with fear at the thought of any harm befalling Rosa.

Sephiroth swung his blade though an upwards swing, aiming to catch Rosa between the legs, but Rosa nimbly stepped backwards, and held the crossbow in front of her like a shield. Her weapon caught the full force of Sephiroth’s attack, and it splintered into two easily, and knocked her backwards.

Cecil saw it happen all in slow motion, burning into his eyes with a near-physical pain. Rosa slowly keeled over backwards, her arms windmilling in a futile effort to regain the balance she had lost the moment the blade had struck her crossbow. As she fell backwards, he saw her face, and utter hopelessness and confusion that was etched into her features.

His heart felt like it had exploded within his chest.

I failed to protect her! I promised her that I would never let anything happen to her, and now this!

“NO!” Cecil screamed at the top of his lungs. “I’m gonna kill you motherf*cker!”

Letting every nuance of his rage flood his mind, he charged forwards, screaming a battle cry, and brought his sword down with as much strength as he could muster, aiming to cleave Sephiroth in two.

But Sephiroth wasn’t there anymore. Cecil barely managed to stop himself from joining Rosa, catching his balance before he went over the cliff edge. He spun around, expecting Sephiroth to be aiming another horizontal slash from his side, but Sephiroth had somehow managed to move behind him rather than to the side, and Cecil simply couldn’t bring his blade around fast enough to deflect Sephiroth’s thrust.

He gasped as he felt the blade pass through his arm above the elbow, and then pass through his rib cage from the side, narrowly missing his broken heart but puncturing both lungs. The blade lifted him upwards, his feet leaving the ground altogether, and he was unable to do anything. His uninjured right arm couldn’t bring his golden blade to bear, and his left arm was pinned to his side by Sephiroth’s weapon.

His vision rapidly fading to black, Cecil turned his head to the side and glared at Sephiroth.

“You pathetic f*ck… playing their game are you? f*cking coward!”

Sephiroth merely smirked back at him, then took a step towards the edge of the cliff and tilted the blade, dumping Cecil over the edge. Cecil remained utterly silent on the way down, denying the white-haired murderer the pleasure of a scream, and silently rejoicing that he was going to join his beloved Rosa in death.

-

Paine wanted to run forwards to help, but she knew that Sephiroth would only kill her. Cecil, who had a better weapon and was a considerably better fight had lost to Sephiroth in a straight fight, so she would have no hope with her short sword. Instead, she hid in a bush on the edge of the tree line, praying that Sephiroth would think his work done and leave the area.

Sephiroth only stayed a short time, just long enough to take the supplies from Cecil and Rosa’s bags before sprinting down the cliff path at a tremendous turn of speed.

Probably seeking out a new victim…

She shuddered slightly as she realised that she had become so very similar to Sephiroth; she had murdered Celes, and in many ways she had been crueler; she had deceived Celes, giving her hope and then taking it away again with the cold steel of her sword. Sephiroth just blasted in and killed first, asking questions never.

Not kinder, but less cruel… if that makes any sense.

Once she was sure that he had gone far enough away that he would not see her, Paine darted from the cover of the bush, and ran to the cliff edge. She looked over the edge, fearing that she would see two dead bodies floating in the surf below, but she could see nothing. She gazed on for a few moments, her hopes crushed, and then she started to turn away.

“Paine?” came a weak voice.

She jumped and wheeled around, trying to find the source of the voice.

“Paine, is that you?” came the voice again.

“Rosa!” Paine called out, a spark of hope igniting within her again.

“Paine…” the voice was getting weaker, but Paine finally worked out where it was coming from.

She lay down on her front, and crawled forwards, leaning over the edge of the cliff, and sure enough, Rosa was dangling below her, hanging from a rock jutting out from the cliff’s face. She looked up at Paine, her eyes fearful.

“Paine… it is you… help me, please.” She said, her arms shaking slightly, losing strength.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you up!” Paine said. “Hang on!”

She rolled over on to he back, and sat up, reaching for her sword. She lifted it above her head and bought it down again with force, burying it nearly to the hilt in the ground near the cliff edge. Wrapping her legs around the handle, she lowered herself over the edge of the cliff, reaching out to Rosa.

“Take my hand!” Paine called out. “Come on Rosa!”

Rosa looked unsure, as her grip on the rock she was hanging from was weak enough with both hands.

“Come on! If you don’t take my hand, you’ll fall!” Paine said, beginning to get desperate.

Rosa reluctantly lifted one hand from the rock and made a grab for Paine’s hand, but missed, nearly losing her grip with her other hand. She gave a small yelp and returned her hand to the rock again, clinging on tightly, her gaze fixed on the waves far below.

“Rosa! Come on!” Paine said, shouting to hear her own voice over the beating of her heart. “Try again! We can do this!”

Rosa looked up at her again, her gaze steady and sharp.

“What happened to Cecil?”

“Rosa, we don’t have time to chat, grab my hand!”

“What happened to Cecil?”

“Rosa, for f*ck’s sake, grab my hand!”

“Paine! What happened to Cecil?” Rosa said, her voice rising to match Paine’s in volume.

Paine hesitated, not wanting to say, but knowing that they wouldn’t make any progress if she didn’t say something.

“Rosa, he… Sephiroth got him. Now come on, grab my-“

She stopped dead when she saw the look in Rosa’s eyes. Something inside her friend had snapped, something had gone.

Something like the will to live.

“Rosa, don’t you dare!” Paine shrieked.

“I’m sorry, Paine.” Rosa whispered, and moved her left hand from the rock. The fingers of her right hands started to go pure white from the sheer effort of holding on.

“Rosa, don’t! I need you! Please, don’t let go!” Paine, cried, tears coming to her eyes. Real tears.

“Goodbye.”

Rosa let go with her other hand, even as Paine lunged to grab her. Paine felt Rosa’s hand slip through her fingers too quickly to grab hold, and then Rosa was gone, plummeting downwards, her eyes closed and an expression of hope on her face.

“ROSA!”

Paine shrieked her friend’s name over and over, even as Rosa hit a slab-like rock at the base of the cliff with a sickening crunch, even as the sea rose up to take her body into its cold, blue embrace for eternity. She continued to shriek the name until her throat was so raw that she could no longer even whisper it.

Eventually, she managed to get enough of a hold of herself to hoist herself back up onto the cliff top, where she curled up in foetal ball, her body quivering as she cried.

Celes had just been another girl, just somebody who happened to be in the same class, and who had never really meant anything to Paine. But Rosa had been one of the few people who Paine had ever allowed to get close to her, one of the few people who Paine had called friend.

One of the only people she had ever called family.

Why! Why did she have to go! Why did she have to leave me!

She screamed the questions in her mind, over and over and over for what seemed like an eon, before another thought finally slipped in.

She left me… she didn’t want to be with me! Even my closest friends don’t want to be with me in this game, they just want to die or to kill!

Paine raised her head, glaring at her surroundings with bloodshot eyes.

I hate this place! I hate it all! I hate the f*cking island, the f*cking buildings on it, and the f*cking people on it! They all just want to kill me or die on me!

Paine staggered to her feet, so unsteady that she almost went over the cliff to join her departed friend, but she didn’t care. She gulped down several deep breaths, then threw back her head and screamed out to the world:

“I f*cking hate you all! You all want to kill each other and die on me, just to leave me alone? Well fine! I’ll make sure that I’m left alone! I’ll f*cking kill the lot of you!”

She reached down and grabbed her bags, slinging them over her shoulder, and then wrenched her sword from the ground, and then staggered back into the tree line in the direction she had come from, her body still wracked with emotional pain, her sword still covered in streaks of dirt from the ground.

30 students remaining.

Chapter 7 - Demon soars, Angels fall

�Come on everyone! We need to work together if we want to get out of this alive! We need to work as a team, so come over here and we can work out what to do, together!�

Rikku smiled and rolled her eyes as she watched her friends antics in the higher branches of the tree. She was enthusiastically jumping up and down on her branch, punching the air with her free hand to emphasis her words, and generally really getting into what she was doing. With the last word she punched the air a bit over-enthusiastically, and nearly lost her balance, but managed to avoid falling off.

�Ahdriceycs bancuheveat...� she called out, giggling, then realised what she had said and giggled again at her unconscious use of the Al Bhed language.

There came a slight electronic crackle from above that Rikku thought was the megaphone being turned off, and then Selphie called down:

�What was that Rikku?�

�Nothing!� she called up, smiling innocently. �Carry on!�

��Kay!� Selphie said, and lifted the megaphone again, preparing to call out. Then she paused, and called down to Rikku again. �Look! Over there, coming out of the forest!�

Rikku looked in the direction Selphie was indicating, and saw a dark-haired girl running full-tilt from the forest. At first, she couldn�t quite work out who it was, but as the girl got closer, she could see a shining silver pendant swinging from the girl�s neck, a pendant she recognised.

�Yuffie!� Rikku called out, scrambling to her feet and waving madly. �Over here!�

Yuffie Kisigari charged up the hill, never slowing as she ran, a wild grin on her face. Rikku jumped from her low branch to go meet her, and heard the sound of branches shaking behind her as Selphie rapidly descended as well.

Yuffie and Rikku ran straight into each other�s arms, the impact knocking the two of them to the floor, sending both of them into a giggling fit. Then Selphie was there, diving straight at Yuffie wrapping her in a tight embrace which her friend returned in equal measure. The two of them rolled about in the grass, laughing joyously. Rikku lay on her side and watched them, beaming at them.

�I�m so glad you�re safe�� Selphie managed to say once she got her breath back. �I�ve been so scared that something would happen before we could meet up, and I jus-�

�What, someone take me out?� Yuffie said in mock derision. �I�d be more likely to go out with Seymour than let anyone take me down!�

The three girls started giggling again, rolling around in the grass. As Yuffie began to explain what had happened to her since she left the school, Rikku lay back in the grass and looked up into the sky.

It�s so strange� even in the middle of a situation this bad, we can still laugh together�

All it takes are good friends.

�Hey, don�t you think you should get back up the tree, Selphie?� Yuffie asked. �I mean, I�m here now, but I was under the impression that you were calling out to the entire class.�

�Yeah, otherwise people might get suspicious�� Selphie leapt up and dashed back towards the tree, megaphone in hand.

�Hey, wait for me!� Yuffie yelled, and took off after her.

-

Having decided that he was unlikely to encounter any more of his classmates along the cliff path, Sephiroth had taken off back towards the middle of the island. It hadn�t been long after that when he heard a voice in the distance. It sounded slightly tinny, not completely natural, and he had suspected at first that it was a radio somewhere in an abandoned house.

But shortly afterwards he had recognised the voice when he heard it again. And he knew for a fact that Selphie Tilmitt was not a radio presenter. He remembered having heard her earlier, and resolved to stop her annoying noise. As he got closer to the source of Selphie�s voice, he could make out that she was still saying the same thing as before, and he gave a derisive sneer.

Peace? Foolish girl. For you, there is only one way out of this game, and I will guide you to it.

He hurtled onwards at an unnatural speed, heading for a distant tree that he had decided was the source of Selphie�s voice.

-

�She�s started again��

Squall stopped next to Vincent and listened. He too had heard Selphie�s voice somewhere nearby, amplified to an even greater volume than the spunky girl was normally capable of.

�Again?� he asked his red-cloaked companion. �I don�t recall hearing her before��

�I doubt you would have, what with your little incident with Yang.� Vincent replied. �Although you didn�t really miss that much; she�s calling for peace, as she was before. I think it�s a miracle that nobody has taken her out already.�

�Not too harsh, huh?� Rinoa said flatly, moving to stand next to Squall. �You think she�s seriously in that much danger?�

�Quite frankly, yes. You two got into enough trouble without broadcasting your presence or shouting out for the world to here.�

�Can�t we do something to help her?� Rinoa said, looking increasingly worried. �I couldn�t bear for any more of my friends to die��

Vincent turned to face Rinoa, looking like a teacher admonishing a pupil when he really didn�t want to.

�To be blunt, a lot of your friends are going to die before the end of this game. I don�t know how much of the class you�re friends with, but guessing from what little I have seen during my time at Timber, I�m guessing that you get on with most of the girls, so if I were you, I would get ready to hear their names each announcement.�

�But there must be something we can do�� Rinoa said quietly, and looked pleadingly at Squall.

�Vincent�s right.� Squall said slowly. �A lot of our friends are going to die. I don�t want to accept that, but I have to. But that doesn�t mean you aren�t right as well Rinoa. We couldn�t consider ourselves their friends if we didn�t try to help them.�

Rinoa gave a grateful smile, then turned to Vincent again.

�Well?�

�I don�t do suicide.� He said flatly, crossing his arms. �We�d be easy targets if we went to her.�

�Who said we had to go to her?� Squall said quietly. �If we go and scope out the area, and see if she�s in danger. If it looks safe then we go to her, otherwise we� adapt to the situation.�

�And here was me thinking that you didn�t like to think about things too much.� Rinoa said, trying and failing to suppress a smile.

�The game doesn�t leave room for you to think about what you do or don�t like.� Vincent said, turning away. �Okay, I�ll go with Squall�s idea, but if you do anything stupid I�ll leave you to it and find someone else.�

�Someone else for what?� Rinoa asked for the umpteenth time. �You keep saying you need somebody to trust, but for what?�

Vincent smirked slightly at the looking of childish irritation on Rinoa�s face, but said nothing to her.

�Look, let�s just get moving. The sooner we see what situation Selphie�s in, the sooner we can work out what to do.� Squall put in before Rinoa could demand an answer again.

-

�That should do it for the moment.� Selphie said, climbing down a few branches to be closer to her friends. �Now we just keep a look out for people heading our way.�

�Who do you think will come here?� Rikku asked, running through a list of people on her mind. �Who do you want to come here?�

�Well I would hope that everyone would come together to work as one group to try and get out of all of this, but I know that that isn�t going to happen�� Selphie said quietly. �But I know that there are some people I would really like to turn up soon.�

�It would be great if Quistis turned up.� Yuffie said, gazing upwards. �If she came, more people would be willing to trust us and come out of hiding to join us.�

�Yeah!� Rikku said, nodding. �And if people like Squall and Cid turned up, the others would follow soon after! Everyone trust them.�

Selphie smirked at Rikku.

�Can�t help but notice that you didn�t say Tidus as well��

�Hey!� Rikku retorted, blushing. �How many times do I have to tell you that we�re just friends?�

Selphie looked like she was about to press her advantage, but Yuffie interrupted her.

�Well Rikku may be hoping for Tidus to come to her rescue, but I know who Selphie is hoping for�.�

She grinned evilly at her best friend, who was suddenly blushing furiously.

�I don�t know what you�re talking about!� Selphie objected, avoiding Yuffie�s eyes. �There isn�t anybody I like at the moment!�

Rikku started grinning as well, and leaned back against the tree trunk.

�Oh, really? Then why are you turning redder than Fire Flan?�

�It�s because she�s got the hots for a certain special someone in our class�� Yuffie put in, standing up on her branch to bring herself level with Selphie.

�Hey! There isn�t anybody!� Selphie retorted.

�A certain guy with blonde hair, and-�

�Shut up!� Selphie shouted. �At least I don�t drool over him like you drool over Squall when you think nobody�s looking!�

Yuffie�s eyes went wide and her mouth started working wordlessly. She blushed, going even redder than Selphie was.

�How� but I� how did you know!�

It was Selphie�s turn to go wide-eyed in surprise.

�But I didn�t know� I just said it to try and make you shut up.�

Rikku chuckled to herself and muttered something that sounded like �busted� under her breath.

Yuffie went even redder when she realised that she had given herself away, expecting Selphie to make fun of her. But Selphie surprised her by climbing down to her branch and hugging her tightly, laughing happily.

�Oh that�s wonderful Yuffie!� she said, squeezing her friend tightly. �That�s great!�

Yuffie looked completely surprised, even more so when she looked down at Rikku and saw her wink and give a thumbs-up.

�You mean.. you mean you guys aren�t gonna laugh at me?� she said, still disbelieving.

�Of course not! I�d never laugh at you if you said you had a crush on someone! I think it�s great that you�ve found someone you like!�

�Yeah, but it�s not like I have a chance with Squall�� Yuffie muttered.

�Sure you do! I bet the two of you would get on great if you gave it a chance, and then it would be-�

�No, I mean I don�t have a chance because of the competition.� Yuffie said flatly.

�Oh� she�s right, y�know?� Rikku put in. �Not that easy to compete with Rinoa and Quistis.�

�Rinoa as well!� Yuffie moaned. �I thought it was just Quistis and Lenna� but Rinoa too?�

�Uh� yeah. I wasn�t supposed to say that�� Rikku said, annoyed at herself. �She asked me not to tell anyone� bugger.�

�I got no hope�� Yuffie moaned. �Why did I have to fall for the guy all the good girls want!�

�Doesn�t Garnet like Squall as well?� Rikku asked, scratching her head.

�Not helping!� Selphie hissed, and Rikku adopted a sheepish expression and shrugged.

�Look� if he turns up, just tell him how you feel, yeah?� Rikku suggested. �I imagine the game makes things different, and Rinoa always told me that Squall is actually quite caring, underneath that image he tries to project. I reckon he wouldn�t blow you off if you told him.�

�Worst that can happen is that he says no, and then you just dry your eyes and look for someone else.� Selphie, said smiling gently.

�Yeah, like Cain. Oh, wait, you�ve already had a thing for him haven�t you?� Rikku said teasingly. �Well, it was less of a thing for him, and more of a-�

Rikku stopped dead when Yuffie shot her a look of pure venom.

�You don�t want to finish that sentence.� Yuffie said quietly, her eyes darkening.

�Woah� someone needs to stop impersonating Lulu�� Selphie said quietly, her eyebrows raised. �You�re starting to scare me.�

-

Sephiroth crouched at the edge of the tree line, gazing up at the tall tree on the hill before him. Midway up the tree, sitting on different branches were three figures. One of them he knew to be Selphie, and he assumed that one of the others was Yuffie, as the two rarely seemed to be apart. He neither knew nor cared who the third was.

All that mattered to him was that they didn�t seem to have realised that he was there, preparing to pounce and gain three more kills. His hand dropped to the hilt of his Masamune, but then he realised that if he were to draw it early, it might flash in the sunlight, giving him away. If the three in the tree realised that he was there before he got close enough, they would easily be able to run, or to defend themselves, and that would make things substantially more complex for him.

Studying the gap between himself and the tree, he could see several hedges, rocks and even a few saplings that he could use to approach unseen. There was a considerable gap between the last rock and the tree itself, and unless he was extremely lucky, there would be no way that he could avoid detection whilst covering that last bit of ground, but by then it would be too late for them.

Sephiroth smiled coldly, and sprinted towards a nearby bush, the first piece of cover on his way to the tree.

-

�Did you see that?� Rinoa asked quietly, pointing towards a low bush near the base of the small hill.

�See what?� Squall asked, his eyes not moving from the three girls perched on the tree branches. �Is it another member of the class?�

�Maybe,� Rinoa replied, narrowing her eyes and staring intently at the bush �but I�m not completely sure.�

Squall turned to look in the direction Rinoa was pointing, just in time to see something black and white streak from the bush to a small cluster of rocks, behind which it disappeared. He unconsciously tightened his grip on the naginata he was still carrying,

�Vincent, I think we were right to come here.� He murmured. �Look over there.�

�I know.� Their red-cloaked companion said quietly. �I saw him when he first left the tree line. I�m just trying to work out how long it�ll take for him to reach the tree.�

�Why?� Rinoa asked, looking perplexed. �Does it matter? We just need to stop whoever it is, or warn the girls in the tree.�

�We don�t know who it is that�s heading for them.� Vincent said. He paused a second as the mystery figure dashed from the rocks to another bush. �No, still don�t know. We don�t know how the person will react, or what weapon they have. Until then, we have to be careful, because we don�t know how they would react if we were to go ahead with the plan.

�They don�t know we�re here though,� Squall pointed out �and if we dislodge the girls now or give them fair warning, then there�s no way this person can sneak up on them.�

Vincent looked like he was about to protest, but then the dark figure moved again, and came to rest next to a large rock. Whilst the rock prevented the girls in the tree seeing him, it did nothing to hide him from Squall, Rinoa and Vincent.

�Sephiroth�� Rinoa breathed.

�Now, Vincent. No messing around.� Squall said flatly. �We need to do this now.�

�I think you�re right�� Vincent replied quietly, flicking gun�s safety off, and flicked a second switch to the �Death Penalty� setting.

-

A thunderous boom echoed around the surrounding area, deafening in volume. Sephiroth hurled himself back into the bush he had just emerged from, not knowing where the noise had come from. Yuna, Lenne and Shuyin exchanged terrified glances and then began to run towards the tree were their friends were waiting, afraid to see what was happening, but knowing that they would help if there was trouble.

Selphie, Yuffie and Rikku covered their ears, to escape the noise. But then the tree lurched beneath them, and they looked up slowly, afraid to see what was happening. The tree started creaking ominously, and lurched again. A large hole had been blown through the tree trunk further up the tree, and the top part of the tree was now swaying around precariously, threatening to break off and come tumbling down and at any second.

Nothing needed to be said. The three girls knew their chances of survival if the tree collapsed onto them. The three began descending the tree rapidly, moving so fast that they repeatedly bruised and cut themselves in their hurried descent. They did not look up once, not even when the tree gave a terrible shudder as the top finally began its own descent.

Selphie hit ground first and took three steps before stopping to wait for her friends. Rikku hit ground next and immediately began running, too panicked to pay attention to anything else. The moment Yuffie hit ground, Selphie grabbed her hand and the two started running as fast as they possibly could, running after Rikku.

But Rikku was the fastest girl in the class, and her terror lent her even more speed, but deafened her to the cries of her friends as they cried out to her to wait for them. Rikku ran straight for the nearest tree line, knowing she needed to find cover quickly. She reached the trees long before her friends, and by the time she finally managed to get a hold of herself and force herself to stop running, her friends were out of site, and she didn�t even know which direction she had come from.

She was alone again.

-

Sephiroth was extremely angry. Not knowing what had made the noise and caused the tree to fall, he had back to the forest from which he had first emerged. The weapon that had been used was undoubtedly very powerful, something which would not have bothered him if he had known where the bearer of the weapon was. But the sheer volume of the shot had been so loud that he had been unable to work out which direction it had come from, and thus he had been forced to retreat. His prey had fled into another part of forest, and he knew that there was no way that he would be able to pursue them now. He also suspected that whoever had fired the gun had likely fled the scene to avoid detection, as would anyone else nearby.

He glanced back up at the once-might tree up on the hill, and immediately felt a sense of vicious satisfaction. Running up the side of the hill were three figures. He couldn�t make out who it was, but it was irrelevant to him. They didn�t seem to care that he could be around, so they couldn�t be the ones who had fired the weapon that had felled the upper part of the mighty tree.

Springing from the trees, he charged straight towards the foolish trio, his white hair streaming behind him.

-

�I can�t see anyone�� Yuna said softly, growing increasingly worried.

�They must have fled before the tree collapsed, I guess.� Shuyin said, jumping down from the trunk of the felled portion of the tree. �That�s a good thing and a bad thing; they�re alive, and I can�t see any blood, so I don�t think there were any injuries. There are two pairs of bags here, so one of the girls still has their stuff with them. Wherever they are, they�ll be running blind and scared, probably unarmed.�

�Cheerful�� Lenne said sarcastically. �But it is true, I suppose. At least they got away alright.�

�And I think we need to get away as well. Right now.�

Yuna�s tone of voice made the lovers spin around and look at her, suddenly afraid. She was standing straight, but shaking violently. She was staring down the hill, at something that was approaching them at meteoric speed. Something that was black and white, and held a long sword that flashed in the sunlight.

�Sephiroth�� Lenne whispered. �Shuyin-�

�We need to run.� Yuna said, suddenly exploding into action. �We need to get out of here, now.� She grabbed Lenne�s arm, but Lenne stood still and looked at her love.

�I think you�re right�� Shuyin murmured, grabbing Lenne�s other arm and starting to move away.

The three companions started to flee down the side of the hill opposite to the one that Sephiroth was ascending, heading back the way they had came.

Yuna looked back over her shoulder in time to see Sephiroth reach the top of the hill, slicing the fallen tree in two to clear it from his path. One half slammed into the part of the tree that was still standing, and the other half tumbled end-over-end down the hill towards the fleeing trio.

�Don�t look back!� Shuyin yelled, running faster. �You�ll only slow down, and we have to try and get some distance before we can lose him!�

�I don�t think he�s the only problem anymore!� Yuna shrieked, tugging her friends in a different direction.

Shuyin didn�t look back, as he could hear the noise the approaching wooden juggernaut was making each time it slammed into the hill side again. He allowed Yuna to guide him and Lenne towards a path that entered the woods. It would be unfamiliar ground, but the woods would give them cover and if they proceeded on their current course they would likely be crushed.

Yuna glanced over her shoulder one last time, and just before the trees obscured her view, she saw what could only be a daemon with white hair flying down the side of the hill towards them, moving too fast to be any mortal being.

Trees flashed by on both sides so fast that they almost blurred together, and then suddenly the cover of the trees was gone, and the three were back out in the open, still following the same path. Rising to their right was a nearly sheer grass slope that was far too steep to traverse, and to their left was a slightly less steep but very rocky slope. The path was narrow, but the three continued to run along it, knowing they could not afford to slow down and take care.

Hearts hammering, adrenaline flowing, fear rising, the three hurtled onwards at break-neck speed, round several corners on the path, until they saw the path re-enter the trees only fifty meters ahead. They could hear pounding footsteps behind them and new that Sephiroth was gaining, and that their chances of escaping would be slim, even if they reached the cover offered by the trees.

The tried to run faster, but their recklessness would cost them.

Lenne was covered in cold sweat, the fear of being caught by the white haired daemon beginning to consume her entire being. She tightened the grips she had on her companions� hands, taking some assurance from the firm grip of her lover, and the gentle but firm grip of Yuna.

And then she felt her arm jerk, and suddenly she was only holding one person�s hand.

�Yuna!� she screamed, and skidded to a stop to look back.

Yuna was nowhere in site, and the only thing to suggest what had happened to her was a rising cloud of dust at the edge of the path, where a loose piece of ground had given way beneath her and sent her tumbling down the slope.

�Run!�

Yuna�s voice sounded pained and faint, but left no room for argument. Not needing to be told twice, Shuyin pulled his lover onwards, knowing that the precious seconds they had wasted by stopping could well cost them their lives. The pounding of Sephiroth�s feet was getting closer, and they seemed to be coming from right behind the two lovers as they reached the tree line.

-

Yuna lifted her herself from the ground, surprised that she had not been run through by the long katana blade of the white-haired daemon. She couldn�t see him anywhere, but she was not going to just assume that he had followed Lenne and Shuyin instead of her.

She reached beneath her one-leg skirt and drew one of the two pistols she had received as her weapon for the game.

I have to do something to stop him�

Using her free hand, she began to haul herself back up the slope towards the path, keeping the gun pointed upwards. Should Sephiroth appear at the edge of the path, she would be ready for him.

It seemed like painfully slow progress, pulling herself up one arm-reach at a time, but it only took her half a minute to get near the top.

As she reached the edge of the slope, she heaved herself up over the edge, and rolled into a crouch in one swift movement. The pistol never left her hand, but she needn�t have drawn it; there was nobody in sight.

Yuna turned slowly to look into the forest behind her.

Lenne�

Shuyin�

In there with that monster�

She drew the second pistol and ran into the forest. She didn�t know much about combat, and she hated the idea of having to fight anyone, but it had to be done. Sephiroth had become a killing machine, and was going to kill her friends if she didn�t do something fast.

-

The branches of the trees overhead interlocked, the leaves blotting out almost all the sunlight, even though the sun was rising high into the sky. The darkness pressed in on the couple as they ran through the forest. They had quickly left the path, knowing that they would be sitting ducks if they had continued to follow it. They ran through the forest, crashing blindly through hedges, bumping into unseen branches that reached down from the trees like hands trying to slow them down so the daemon would catch up with them.

Lenne thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and risked a glance sideways, and for the barest fraction of a second she thought she saw a shadow moving parallel to them. Terrified, she moved her gaze back to the path before her, only to see the flash off sunlight on metal somewhere ahead. Screaming, she darted to the side, pulling Shuyin after her.

The two ran on, changing direction every time they saw or thought they saw the daemon. They would suddenly run to the side when they saw a flash of white hair, change their direction when they saw or heard someone running near them, and they doubled back entirely when they saw a pair of cold blue eyes shining out of the darkness in front of them.

They ran on, minds numb in terror, unable to do anything but flee. They ran on, moving deeper and deeper into the woods, the light growing weaker as the canopy overhead grew denser.

Suddenly they were alone. No more shadows running with them in the darkness, no flashes from hair or blade, no more eyes in the darkness. They knew they were alone, and after running on a little further, they collapsed together on the damp forest floor. Shuyin was badly shaken, but Lenne was quaking with terror, shaking so violently that Shuyin thought she would completely break down.

�Sh-� Shuyin�� she wept, collapsing onto him, and burying her face in his chest. �What are we going to do?�

�I don�t know�� he said quietly, stroking her hair, trying to calm her. �Don�t worry, I think we lost him, and Yuna should have gotten a safe distance away now.�

�I can�t believe it� Sephiroth�� she said, her strained voice barely a whisper now. �What is he? What kind of creature could possibly be like that?�

Daemon�

The word echoed through Shuyin�s mind, over and over, building into a tumultuous crescendo.

No human can move that fast.

No human can do what he was doing�

Shuyin sure that he and Lenne had been hallucinating because of their terror, but he knew that not all of the glimpses of Sephiroth they had seen whilst running had been products of their minds. He knew that Sephiroth had been racing through the darkness with them, taunting them, goading them onwards, taking some sort of twisted pleasure from driving them to despair.

�Lenne� we need to move. He could still find us, and we need to get back to Yuna.�

He felt Lenne push closer to him, but she said nothing. His fear began to give way to anger, and he felt a terrible pain in his heart as the anger grew.

They force us into this� this game�

They make us fight, make us kill, make us die!

The turned Sephiroth into a monster�

They do this to me and Lenne!

The anger he felt built, and built, consuming his entire being and clouding his very soul. And still the pain in his heart grew.

But the pain was not an emotional pain; it was a physical pain.

He opened his eyes and looked down. Lenne was utterly still, her head against his chest.

Her mouth was open, and emerging from it was a twisted perversion of a tongue, sharp and silver. The tongue had entered his body through the left side of his upper body, and had pierced his heart.

Sword�

He looked up, and saw that it was a long katana blade that was piercing his chest and Lenne�s head. He looked up further, and he saw a dark figure standing over him and Lenne, looking down on the two of them with cold, cruel blue eyes, and smiling a twisted smile. The sword he held in his hand had passed through the back of Lenne�s head and through Shuyin�s chest in a single thrust.

Shuyin knew that Lenne was already dead. It had likely been so quick that she had felt no pain, but there was no room left in his anger-clouded existence to feel gratitude for the fact that she had not had to suffer.

�You�ve taken Lenne from me�� he said in the barest of whispers.

The daemon�s twisted smile broadened and its eyes narrowed. Shuyin felt the blade twist in his chest, and he felt the last of his strength leaving him.

This is not the end!

With those five final words echoing through soul, Shuyin died.

-

Sephiroth watched the life fade from the young man�s eyes, which continued to glare at him even as he became just another corpse. Sephiroth twisted the blade a second time, just to be sure, and then place his foot on the back of Lenne�s head and yanked the blade backwards, pulling it free of both bodies.

�For a puppet,� he said quietly to Shuyin�s corpse, whilst wiping his blade clean of blood and brain matter on Lenne�s arm �that was a remarkable attempt at emotion. If I didn�t know better, I would have said that you were angry��

Spinning on his heel, he sprinted off into the forest, back towards the path, sheathing his sword as he went. He didn�t doubt that the Bisaido girl had fled, but he didn�t mind; he would get her later. In the meantime, he wanted to try and find the foolish Tilmitt girl and her companions.

Just try calling out again� and see who comes to answer!

-

�I think� we�re� safe now�� Selphie panted, leaning against a tree trunk.

�Couldn�t� care� less�� Yuffie panted back. �I can�t� run� anymore��

The two girls let their legs give way beneath them, and fell to a sitting position, breathing heavily. Whilst the two of them were extremely energetic and in good shape, they just didn�t have Rikku�s stamina or speed, so they had grown exhausted after running non-stop for quarter of an hour.

Yuffie lowered her head, fixing her gaze on the ornamental shuriken on her necklace. She rarely needed to use her father�s self-discipline teachings, but now was one of those rare times. By focusing on the shuriken, a family heirloom, she could centre herself; clear her mind of doubt and angst. Not having practiced it very much, she didn�t manage to do very well, but she did manage to calm herself down considerably.

�So what do we do now?� she asked quietly. When no reply came, she turned her head to the side to look at her friend. �Selphie��

Selphie�s body was being shaken by her silent sobs, tears pouring down her anguish-stricken face. Yuffie had never seen her friend this way before, and it actually hurt her to see her like this.

�Selphie�� Yuffie said quietly, moving over to wrap her friend in a fierce hug. �Don�t cry; it doesn�t suit you.�

Selphie continued sobbing, but managed to force a smile.

Everyone thinks that Yuffie is self-centred, but she can�t help but care deeply about her friends.

Selphie surprised Yuffie by returning the hug just as fiercely.

�Yuffie� I don�t know where I�d be without you� and I don�t just mean in the game.� She moved to touch foreheads with her friend, and managed one of her grins. �I can�t imagine facing life without you there.�

Normally Yuffie would have turned away to hide the fact that she was blushing, but she didn�t move. She met Selphie�s gaze, and replied:

�Right back at you� you�re the best friend I could ever hope for.�

�I� there�s something I need to do now, and� I�ll understand if you don�t want to come along.�

Yuffie moved back from her friend a little.

�You�re going to try to call for peace again, aren�t you?�

Selphie nodded, smiling sadly.

�I can�t sit back and let the game happen. I know that we could get attacked again, but I need to do this.� She lowered her gaze to the ground, and took a deep breath before continuing. �I don�t want to risk you though, Yuffie, so I think it�s best if you-�

�Don�t even think about saying that.� Yuffie said sternly, her eyes flashing. �You�re best friend, and I love you like a sister. There is no way I am letting you do anything on your own in this game, and you�re gonna need all the help you can get if your plan is to succeed. So don�t even think about doing this without me.�

�Yuffie�� Selphie looked up again, smiling warmly, crying tears of joy now.

�Besides, someone�s gotta be there to keep you in check when Cloud shows up, or you might make a complete fool of yourself.� Yuffie added, grinning mischievously.

Selphie�s jaw dropped further than Yuffie would have thought possible.

�But� how did� I thought� I thought you were just joking before!� she managed to say.

�I�ve seen the way you look at him sometimes.� The ninja girl replied, smiling kindly. �I can confess to knowing little about the heart, but� I could tell you could really like him. That it�s not just some crush.�

She can read me so well�

�Yeah� I don�t know how long I�ve felt like this, and I would have acted on this feeling but� but I think he liked Aerith.�

Yuffie�s smile disappeared, and she closed her eyes. She had always liked Aerith.

Hell, everyone like Aerith. You couldn�t help but like her, she was just so� so� there isn�t a word for it, really.

�And now� Aerith is gone, but what will that have done to Cloud?� Selphie whispered, beginning to cry again. �Why would he even want to look at me after losing Aerith?�

�Don�t say that.� Yuffie said firmly, taking hold of her arm. �When he sees you standing up, being brave, calling out for peace in spite of all the danger, he won�t be able to refuse you. I wouldn�t if I were him.�

Yuffie stood up, and pulled Selphie to her feet.

�So let�s get moving now. We�re gonna stay together, we�re gonna call for peace together� but when it comes to Cloud, I don�t think I�ll join you, that would just be wrong.�

Selphie stared at Yuffie, wide-eyed.

�How could you-�

�Just kidding, girl.� Yuffie laughed, punching her friend lightly on the arm. �You won�t exactly have time to get it on with him.�

�Yuffie!� Selphie said, trying to look like she was fuming. Yuffie put on a look of innocence, but neither girl could keep up their facades for long, and they started giggling.

�Better get moving, if we want to find a good place to call from before the next report.� Selphie said at last, feeling confident once more. �Let�s go!�

-

�Well� I guess we did all we could. It�s up to the girls now.� Squall said wearily, sitting down on a flat rock.

�We could have done something more, surely?� Rinoa asked, still wishing they had gone to meet up with the girls.

�Any more would have been too dangerous.� Vincent said, leaning back against a tree. �By firing, I was potentially alerting everyone in the area that we were there. We were in enough danger as it was. Players would have attacked us because they want to win, others may have attacked us thinking that by firing we were trying to hurt the girls.�

�We did what we could to help, then we had to help ourselves�� Squall mused quietly.

Rinoa reluctantly accepted their explanations, and crouched to the ground, wrapping her arms around her legs, and began to rock back and forth. Squall smiled to himself, recognising this as her unconscious way of saying that she didn�t want to just hang around.

�So,� Squall said to Vincent �what are we actually waiting here for?�

�I�m just thinking for a bit.� He said quietly. �I told you that I had been hoping to find a couple of people I could trust, but I hadn�t expected to find anybody so soon, nor had I expected anyone to trust me so easily.� He glanced up at Squall and cocked an eyebrow at him. �I am actually quite surprised that you could trust me so easily. You seem rather protective of your girlfriend here.�

�You were protecting Rinoa with your life. How could I not trust you?� Squall said simply.

Then Vincent�s last few words played over again in his head, and his head snapped up. Rinoa was looking away in a failed attempt to hide just how red her face had gone, and Squall felt a warm tinge on his own face.

�Uh� we really aren�t together, you know.� Squall said, a little too fast. �We�ve always been friends, so it seemed natural to stay together��

�Well I would beg to differ, but I�ll keep my opinions to myself, since it apparently makes you uncomfortable.� Vincent said, pushing off from the tree he had been leaning against. �Let�s get moving now. Need to find some place to hole up for a while. Take stock of the situation, see what we have at out disposal, and,� he nodded at Rinoa �take a look at that wound you have on your arm.�

�I don�t think you need to worry about it� it hurts, but I�m sure it�ll pass, and I don�t feel too bad, honestly.�

�Vincent�s right, Rinoa.� Squall said seriously. �It was a nasty slash wound, and it could get infected easily out here.�

�Glad to see I�m not the only one who thinks about things like this.� Vincent said as he picked up his bags. �I don�t know if I would have been able to cope with some over-pacifistic kid who never stops to think things through properly, letting his heart rule his head.�

�Whatever.� Squall said, shrugging.

If I had it my way I wouldn�t think so much about things. You can only have unpleasant thoughts if you think too much� I would prefer to let my heart rule me, but I guess that�s not who I am.

-

She lay back against the kitchen wall, absent-mindedly wiping her blood-stained hands on a kitchen towel she had grabbed. All in all, she felt she had done the best she could. She would have preferred to do a proper respectful burial, but she had no tools to do such a thing, and it would consume far too much time anyway.

Lying on the floor close to her was the body of Celes Chere, although she was no longer in the terrible state she had been left in by her killer.

�I hope you can rest in peace now.� Said the girl. �And I envy you for not having to face the horrors of this game.�

And I hope that I do not join you too soon. I have work to do.

She had found Celes in the building in the way she had been left, sprawling in a pool of blood, her eyes wide and pained, her hands stretching out as if reaching for help. Now, the blood had been mopped up as much as possible, and the body lay on its back, arms crossed across the chest and eyes closed. Although she had never really known Celes well, she knew that she had been a gentle and caring soul, and had not deserved such a horrific death. She had even wrapped her scarf around Celes� neck to hide the gaping wound in her neck.

�Sleep well.� She said, rising to her feet. �I never called you friend, but I would have liked to. I never had the chance to make it so, but� I hope this will count for something.�

She turned to leave, then froze when she heard a noise from outside.

Someone else is coming� could it be her killer returning?

No� the killer would have no reason to. They would need to keep moving to find more prey.

As she remained stationary, her hand drifted towards he green Program bag. She had been issued with a very formidable weapon, but she did not want to use it if she could help it. She may once have been a rowdy little girl, happily picking on others, but she had changed when she realised the pain she was inflicting. She had gone from being the terror of her primary school to being a quiet but friendly girl who only wanted to be friends.

She heard a faint pinging noise come from near the window she had entered through, and realised that whoever was outside had likely figured out that the open window meant that someone was around.

She slowly moved closer to the window in a crouch, hoping that the unknown person was not hostile. A shadow appeared at the window, a shadow which resolved into the silhouette of a head and shoulders, but she could not work out who they belonged to.

�Hello?� came a voice from outside, making her jump slightly. �Who�s in there? I don�t mean any harm, and I�m unarmed.�

Tidus� that sounds like Tidus out there. And the hairstyle kinda looks like his, too�

Can I trust him though? I know he�s not one of the bad boys, but� someone killed Celes, and I never would have thought any of my classmates capable of such a thing�

She remained motionless, hoping that Tidus would make a move that would show her proof of his intentions.

�I know you�re in there, whoever you are.� Tidus said again. �I can see you on my scanner.�

Scanner� dammit. Guess I should reveal myself, he might think I�m hostile otherwise.

�It�s me.� She said quietly, standing up slowly and keeping her hands in plain sight. �I mean no harm either.�

�Beatrix? That is you, isn�t it Beatrix?�

Beatrix Cabrita nodded an affirmative, and took a slow step towards the light.

�What are you doing here, Tidus? And why did you approach me? For all you know I could have been dangerous.�

�I� I dunno, I guess I trusted that I wouldn�t run into a killer.�

Na�ve�

�Look, I�m coming inside, okay?� he said, moving to climb into the window before waiting for a response.

�Okay�� she said, not sure what to make of him. �Oh� I should warn you that I�m not exactly alone in here.�

Tidus paused, midway through climbing through the window. His brows furrowed and he glanced down at the smooth plastic case he held in his hand.

�But the scanner showed only one person in the area��

�It�s Celes. And she� she� she�s dead. I found her corpse here.�

Tidus froze again, and looked at her with a suspicious gaze.

�I swear it. Look, take my weapon, if it�ll make you trust me.� She said, placing her Program bag on the floor by the window. She stepped back and put her hands on her head. �See? Not a threat.�

�I believe you.� Tidus replied, now standing in the room with her. �You can take your hands off your head.�

He moved over to Celes and crouched by her. He quickly looked over her with a sad gaze, then turned back to Beatrix, confusion etched into his features.

�What happened to her? I can�t see any wounds, although there is a lot of blood��

�Her neck.� Beatrix said simply, turning away. She didn�t want to have to see the wound again.

Slowly, unable to suppress his morbid curiosity, Tidus reached out to the scarf that was wrapped around Celes� neck. He moved it aside slowly until he could see the neck wound, then put it back in place.

�Well that�s quite possibly the sickest thing I�ve ever seen�� his voice a bit strained.

�Tell me about it��

�Who killed her? And why is she like this now?�

�I don�t know who killer her, only that it�s somebody armed with a bladed weapon, possibly even a knife taken from in here. And I arranged her like that� it wouldn�t have been right to leave her as she was when I found her� she deserves better. She-� she broke off, trying to suppress the tears the threatened to overcome her.

�We all deserve better than this f*cking game� but we got stuck with it anyway.� Tidus mused.

�Tidus�� Beatrix began, trying to work out how to say what she wanted to. �I� you aren�t playing, I can tell that, otherwise you would have taken my weapon and killed me. So what are you doing? You said you have a scanner, so I assume you can see where people are?�

�That�s right, although apparently it only shows living people��

�So if you can see where people are, then why aren�t you avoid them?�

�I�m looking for someone.�

�So am I� I don�t suppose you would care to help me?�

�I� I�m sorry, but I�m going it alone for the moment. I need to move as fast as possible, and I�m sorry but I think you might slow me down. I�m a fast runner, remember?�

�I know, you nearly gave Rikku a run for money last Sports Day�� Beatrix replied, smiling at the memory. �Wait� is it Rikku you�re looking for?�

�Yeah, and� and someone else as well. I� I�m sorry, but I don�t think I can say who yet. I-�

�I understand.� Beatrix said quietly, smiling at him. �And I know who it is. You kind of gave yourself away by blushing whenever she was near you.�

Tidus� eyes went wide, and he shot to his feet.

�What! You� you mean everyone knows!�

�No, not everyone. In fact, I don�t think many people know at all, and she certainly doesn�t.� she assured him, smiling broadly.

She�s just as na�ve as you� I guess she wouldn�t have noticed your attention unless someone out-and-out told her.

�Look, I� I�m sorry, but like I said, I need to go it alone. But if you tell me who you�re looking for, I can keep a look out for them and tell them you want to find them if I bump into them first.�

�I�m looking for Quistis.� Beatrix said simply. �I know she�ll want to try something with the girls, and I want to help. I know that most of the girls don�t really trust me, but I think Quistis would��

�Hey, I�ll put in a good word for you.� Tidus interrupted, grinning. �I�ll put in a good word for you with anyone I bump into.�

Beatrix blushed slightly, and her smile broadened even further.

I can see why Rikku is friends with him� he�s such a nice guy.

�I need to get going�� Tidus said, looking at his scanner. �I don�t know what the battery life on this thing is, and I want to find certain people quickly, before I�m flying blind. If you bump into Squall, Cloud or Cid, can you tell them I�ll try and find them once I�ve found the girls I�m looking for?�

�Sure thing� although I might have trouble with Cid��

�Let me guess; he talks to your chest rather than your face?�

Both laughed at that, mostly because they knew it to be true.

�Well� it�s more because I�ve felt a bit awkward around him since we broke up��

�Don�t worry, it�s just Cid.� Tidus said, flashing a grin. �You know how he is, he doesn�t mean to hurt anyone, only to spread the happiness a bit.�

�Point.� Beatrix conceded.

This is almost unreal� a friendly chat in the same room as a corpse� I guess it�s a way to avoid the stress of the situation, though�

�Well�� Tidus said, looking down at his scanner. �I should get going� damn.�

�What?� Beatrix said, dropping to a defensive crouch when she heard the tone of voice he used for the last word. �Is someone coming?�

�No� I� two of the signals disappeared�� he said, turning the mini computer around so she could see the map on its display. �I guess that means that someone killed someone� I just� why does this have to happen?�

�Do yourself a favour, Tidus; just ignore it. Just think of it as your search being narrowed down.�

�Not too cold-hearted�� Tidus murmured. �But it is true� and I just know that Rikku will have enough sense to stay out of trouble.�

You mean you hope you do�

�Well� I�m off�� Tidus said, turning to climb out of the window.

�Hope I�ll see you again.� Beatrix said, smiling warmly.

�I know you will.� Tidus replied, returning the smile. �Be careful out there.�

And without a backward glance, he clambered out of the window, consulted his scanner once more, then sprinted off.

-

�It�s time.� Vincent said, without opening his eyes or looking up.

Squall grimaced and Rinoa closed her eyes as the hidden speakers crackled to life again.

�Ho-hoo! Time for the noon report, I do believe. Listen in whilst you eat your lunches, my friends.�

�I�m not your friend, f*cker.� Squall murmured, standing up and pacing around the small clearing.

�A feeling I share with you.� Vincent said, still not moving.

�Well I�m sure you�re all just dying to hear the list of the dearly departed�� Bugenhagen said, then he waited patiently for Marlene to stop giggling behind him. �We have another quite impressive list this report; ho-hmmm, I think this game could end in record time at this rate!�

�f*cker.�

Vincent and Squall stared wide-eyed at Rinoa, who was glaring angrily into the distance, silent again after her single-word outburst.

�First to die was Yang Fabul; I guess his karate didn�t help, hmmm?�

Squall sighed a deep, world-weary sigh, and sat down, the weight of his guilt suddenly too heavy to bear standing up. Rinoa shuffled over to sit next to him, and gripped his hand, smiling sympathetically.

�Next to have an appointment with fate was one half of the Mysidia twin-bond, Palom.�

Rinoa closed her eyes and rested her head against Squall�s shoulder, her eyes moistening.

�Next up were Cecil Ordeals and Rosa Purheart, who were in for a spot of cliff-diving, although I somewhat doubt that it was entirely voluntary, ho-hu!�

�Rosa�� Rinoa whispered, her eyes still closed. �She was a nice girl� I�m sorry I never go to know her.�

�And finally were the couple Lenne Summer and Shuyin Vegnun, rounding off a nice even six deaths!�

Rinoa tensed up a little at the last two names, and pressed herself closer to Squall.

�No� not them as well�� she whispered. �All of my friends are dying on me��

Cecil and Shuyin gone as well� they were good guys. Good fighters� they can�t have gone easily, Squall thought.

�And for the next three danger zones�� Bugenhagen said, sounding a little less enthusiastic now that he had run out of deaths to announce.

�Remember to avoid them if you want to keep your head firmly on your shoulders!� Marlene put in.

�Quite. Anyway� at one pm zone D13, at three pm zone E6, and at five pm C5. Play hard, and you�ll soon be out of it, one way or another, ho-hum!�

The speakers gave another slight crackle, and then silence returned.

�Six down�� Vincent murmured. �That makes twenty-eight of us left. Bugenhagen was right, this is going faster than normal� worryingly so.�

�You speak as if you know of these things�� Rinoa said lifting her tear-stained face from Squall�s shoulder.

�I do. And I think it�s time I told you why.� Vincent said, standing up straight and looking down at his two companions. �I�ve asked you to trust me, and I want to trust you. Before there can be trust, there must be honesty, and that is what I will give you, although you may not like it very much.�

�You�ve been in one of these games before, haven�t you, Vincent?� Squall asked quietly, somehow already knowing that he was right.

Vincent raised a single eyebrow in surprise, and then smiled slightly.

�Indeed I have.�

Rinoa tensed up and gripped Squall�s shoulder slightly. She looked at Vincent with confusion, unsure of whether she should fear him or pity him.

�Much as I with that had died in that game, it was necessary that I survive� for her sake.�

Squall and Rinoa waited quietly, knowing it was best not to interrupt Vincent with questions we was likely to answer in his explanation of what happened.

�My class was chosen near the beginning of last school year� we had only been in Year Eleven for a mere two months when our class�s ferry was taken by G-Army troops while we were on a trip to the Chocobo Reserve Island off the coast of Dollet. We were gassed as they boarded, so there would be no resistance.�

�That�s how you knew something was up when they gassed us back on the airship�� Squall said. �You recognised what was happening because you�d been through it before.�

�Yeah� fat lot of good my knowledge did me though� it just earned me a tranquiliser dart in the chest.

�Anyway� we woke up in one of the buildings on an island near the Chocobo Reserve� an old island where Chocobo breeders had once lived and worked, but it had been evacuated for our game� we woke up in an docks building with collars round our necks and a fat tub of lard called Palmer having a whale of a time telling us that we had to kill each other.�

�No Turk at your game then?� Rinoa said, her lip curling at the mere memory of Marlene.

�There was, but he kept utterly silent, and out of sight. He was an observer like Marlene, but he did nothing more than just that; observe.

�Well� we were sent out one by one, much the same as here. The death toll began to rise, but it wasn�t quite as fast as here, but worryingly fast even so� I guess hearing your friends� deaths being called out is always too fast, huh?�

�Did you have many friends, Vincent?� Rinoa asked quietly.

�A few� not that many, but I treasured the friends I had. And there was one person I treasured above all others, who was far more than a friend to me.

�Lucrecia��

He closed his eyes as he said her name, an image of her dancing before him.

�We had been together for as long as either of us could remember� we had been friends since we could talk, and it changed into something much more as we grew older. We loved each other, and I would have done anything for her. I would have died for her� and I nearly did.

�It took me so long to find her after I left the building. She left a long way before me, I was almost the last person out. The whole time, I searched for her, and I had to kill people who got in my way. It seemed like half of our class went berserk and started killing each other, it was horrific� I ran from fights where I could, but there were some I just couldn�t avoid.

�But it was my willingness to defend myself that drove Lucrecia from me� when I finally found her, she was being attacked Kinoc, a self-righteous prick who I had always hated. I fought him away to defend Lucrecia, and although I tried to use non-lethal force, I ended up killing him to save Lucrecia. But when she saw that, she fled from me� with all the deaths that were being announced, she thought that I had become like so many others in the class, a mindless killer. She ran from me, and I lost her.

�And when I finally found her again��

Vincent closed his eyes, and turned away, but not fast enough to hide the tear that escaped his eye and trailed down his cheek.

�Was she�� Rinoa breathed.

�No. She was alive, but�� he paused, then spat �Hojo�.

�Hojo?�

�He had always wanted Lucrecia, despite the fact that he knew she didn�t want him, despite the fact that she had always been with me. He saw the game as his chance� he attacked Lucrecia, nearly killed her. And then he� he�� Vincent stopped, and forced himself to breathe deeply, trying to clear his anger.

�He violated her. He raped her, my precious Lucrecia��

Squall looked to Rinoa, who was staring wide-eyed in horror at Vincent.

I know how Vincent feels� if anything were to happen to harm Rinoa� let alone someone violate her�

�I tore Hojo away from her and broke his spine with my bare hands.� Vincent continued. �Then I went back to Lucrecia� she was near death, and there was nothing I could do for her� I stayed with her until the end, and she forgave me for the deaths I had inflicted. She said she was sorry for causing me such grief by fleeing from me. She died in my arms� but I vowed that I could not let her truly die. Her memory needed to live on� I sought out a classmate that I could trust to preserve her memory for me, because I felt I could not live without her. But as I searched, I found that all the people I would have trusted had all died or gone mad. I was left with nobody to trust.

�I fought my way out. I killed, and I won the game, because I had to keep Lucrecia�s memory alive. I survived the game as the sole survivor, but at a cost. My body was severely damaged, and I nearly died. It took me eight months of hospital treatment for the doctors to rebuild my body� apparently one of the privileges of the winners is that you get the best treatment possible.�

�Eight months!� Rinoa said incredulously. �But with Curaga spells and Elixirs and such like it should have been nearly instantaneous��

�Indeed� but such treatments don�t work when your body was caught in the blast of a Death spell. The only reasons the spell didn�t kill me outright were that I was wearing a magic ward I took from the corpse of the class comedian and the fact that the person who fired the spell, the last person standing between me and victory, had somehow damaged their Death Magic Staff and the spell wasn�t fully effective. But the damage it did couldn�t simply be undone with potions and magic.�

�A Death spell�� Rinoa said quietly. �I thought they always killed no matter what?�

�Normally, yes. But in my case, all that happened is that my right arm was essentially destroyed. This together with my bullet-wounds nearly finished me off, but I survived.� He raised his gauntleted arm. �They weren�t able to restore my arm properly, so they put in some bionics and covered it with this. Very� gracious of them.�

�So why do you need us then?� Squall asked, partially perplexed, partially suspicious.

�I�m still searching for someone to trust� when I joined this class, everyone was unsure of me and stayed away, so I couldn�t get to know anybody well enough to tell them� and would anyone have wanted to hear if I had told them about the Program I had been in? But this game has accelerated things somewhat, and I cannot afford to wait. I had to choose someone to trust.�

He turned to the two of them and smiled that slight smile of his.

�And I don�t think I could have chosen better. I�ve had my eye on you two for a while. You two and Zell. I thought you three were the perfect people; you seemed like good, caring people who I would be able to talk to and confide in. It was a stroke of luck that the two of you ran into me.�

�You say you want us to preserve Lucrecia�s memory�� Rinoa said slowly. �But we nothing of her. We don�t know what she was like, what made her special.�

�I know, but that is something I can tell you.� Vincent said, smiling a broad smile now. �And I can show you.�

He reached inside his golden gauntlet�s rim and pulled out a sphere. He focused on it, and it rose out of his hand and started spinning.

�This is a video-sphere, an rare technology that Lucrecia�s father had been experimenting with. He gave on to me and Lucrecia to play around with, and we used it to record some of our times together. With this, I will show you what she is like. But� not yet. First things first; we need to have a look at that wound of yours, Rinoa.�

-

Porrom Mysidia rocked back and forth, hugging her knees, and moaning quietly. The hollow area in the centre of the bush she was hiding in seemed almost claustrophobic, pushing in on her, even though there was easily half a meter of free space in every direction around her.

With the walls of her hiding place (or is it a prison?) pushing in on her, one thought repeated in her head, as if bouncing of the surrounding hedge and back into her head in an endless cycle.

Palom is� He�s de-� he�s de-�

She couldn�t even bring herself to so much as think the word �dead�. That would only make it real. If she thought he was still alive, then everything would be okay�

NO! Not gone; Bugenhagen got it wrong� he isn�t de-� he just got hurt� I�ll have to go and boss him around so he doesn�t mess up again�

She slid her left hand down her leg, and onto the floor, where a long wooden pole lay. When she had first found it in her bag, she had felt cheated; she had been given a large stick as a weapon?

But when the dawn had come, she had looked at it again, and realised there were runes carved down the length of the pole. She sensed a magical resonance within these runes, and realised that the staff possessed some form of magical power. What kind of power she didn�t know, but something about runes made her think it was offensive magic� black magic. The runes seemed slightly crude, and seemed to twist slightly beneath her hand as she gripped the staff. The staff itself was warm to the touch, and resonated with its hidden power.

At least I can defend myself� other people will want to kill me� because they tried to kill Palom�

Everyone except Palom is playing�

�You gotta be real careful, Porrom.�

Porrom looked up at her brother. Although she didn�t know it, her fractured mind was conjuring hallucinations, and the image of her brother was one such hallucination. Her now-deceased sibling was kneeling on the sparse grass in front of her. He looked almost hyperactive, even more so than normal.

�They�ll all try to kill us. We gotta fight!�

I got some magic stuff to fight with� what did you get?

�I� lost my weapon, when I got attacked.�

Porrom reached up and swung her hand at the side of his head. The fact that it passed right through him didn�t register in her broken mind.

How could you lose something so important!

Porrom was forever chiding Palom, for his behaviour, for the way he talked to people (not enough respect, she always thought), and the things he did wrong. After all, it was her job as the older sister to keep him in line; she may have only been a minute older, but it still counted.

�Don�t hit me! You should be hitting the others! Before they try to kill us!� the image of her brother had jumped to his feet, and was rocking back and forth on his heels as he said this, punching the air as if to emphasise his point.

Yeah� hit the others�

�We gotta do it! We have to survive! They�ll let the two of us out if we get the others! Twins probably count as one!�

Yeah� we�re like two halves of a whole� we can get out together�

�Let�s go do it! Let�s fight!�

�I�m gonna do it! I�ll kill them all!� she shrieked, jumping to her feet.

28 students remaining.






Note : Yeah, I know that the post with Chapter 6 in is titled "Chapter 7", but I got confused whilst posting, as I was posting Chapter 7 on fanfiction.net whilst posting Chapter 6 here... argh :-\

Okay, I've done a little update to Chapter 1 (dunno if anyone will notice, its really an aesthetic change, so to speak, its not plot-altering).

Chapter 8 is getting there, I'll post it as soon as I get it done, but it's a rather tricky scene to co-ordinate, so it could take a while.