FINAL FANTASY VII-VIII

TWO WORLDS

AN:This chapters a bit on the short side, but the next one should be longer. Not really much to say other than I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who has reviewed. And even if you haven't left a review, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my fic. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Also as an aside, the D-21 fighters I mention in this chapter are not a real type of jet (As far as I know) and are just something I made up for the sake of it.

Chapter 14

Squall's eyes slowly lifted until he was looking directly at Seifer. The blond sneered angrily as he rushed over to check on his Posse, quickly casting curative magic to heal their wounds, then his own. Squall wanted to know why Seifer, who was considered a traitor by the Balamb government, was right in the middle of Balamb. However his own companions came first. He quickly moved over to Rinoa and Zell respectively. Neither of them had fatal injuries, and a pair of Cura spells sufficed to heal both of them.

That done, Squall went about the process of waking his companions up, while Seifer did the same with Fuijin and Raijin. Neither of them spoke to each other. Squall wasn't exactly sure how he felt about Seifer's presence. On the one hand the man had saved them from Sephiroth, but he had also tried to kill them many times in the past.

Seifer simply didn't speak because he had nothing he really wanted to say to Squall. They had been rivals for the longest time, but Seifer didn't care anymore. That rivalry was one of many things he had left behind, including his almost fanatical devotion to Ultimecia, and his command of Galbadia's armies. None of those things had ever brought him anything but hardship. He wanted nothing more than some peace in his life. Of course that couldn't happen. This damn plague just had to sweep through Balamb.

"Ow, my head hurts." Zell muttered as he sat up.

"You took a hard hit." Squall informed him as he tended Rinoa.

Slowly she sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What happened?"

"We were ambushed by Sephiroth." Squall tilted his head towards Seifer. "We got some backup."

Rinoa blinked as she saw Seifer. "Whats he doing here?"

"Don't know. Why don't you ask him." Squall suggested.

Seifer glanced over after engaging Fuijin and Raiji in a brief conversation. "So Squall, don't suppose you can tell me whats going on?" Seifer walked over calmly.

"A virus, released by the man you just fought." Squall explained briefly.

"One hell of a virus, ya know?" Raijin declared.

"Tell me about it." Zell muttered.

Everyone looked up as a distant ror reached their ears. "Perhaps it would be best to continue this conversation once we reach the train station." Rinoa suggested.

Squall nodded. "Lets get moving."

–

Xu paced the bridge of Balamb Garden, waiting anxiously for Nida to make a report. Nida's fingers flew over his control console as he searched for any information.

"Got it!" He declared, and Xu immediately rushed over. "Looks like a ferry left Balamb this morning. According to the schedule it should be only an hour or two away from Dollet."

"Can you get in contact with it?" Xu asked.

Nida quickly pressed a few buttons, then let out a weary sigh. "No response."

Xu frowned. "Contact the Dollet government and inform them of the situation."

"Understood."

–

Twenty minutes later a pair of D-21 fighter jets departed from a Dollet air base and raced over the ocean towards the Balamb ferry. The ship quickly came into view.

"There she is, over." The first pilot said.

"Run an imaging scan." The other replied. The first pilot complied, running visual and thermal scans. A frown crossed his face as he did.

"I don't see anything human left on that ship, over."

"Then our order are clear." The second pilot sounded resigned. The two planes swung around and fired a pair of missles each. The missles tore into the ferry, which quickly vanished in a series of voilent explosions. Their work done, the two pilots turned their planes back towards Dollet.

–

Nida let out a sigh as he sat back in his seat. "Looks the virus infected everyone on the ferry. Dollet's fighters destroyed it."

Xu nodded. "Send an order to our people around Balamb. See if they can capture one of the creatures alive."

Nida blinked back his suprise and sat up. "Are you sure thats a good idea?"

"We need one for our medical teams to study. We need to see if theres a way to reverse the virus' effects." She explained.

Nida nodded his understanding. "I'll relay the orders."

"Good."

President Caraway stood in his office, trying hard to keep a grimace off his face as he listened to the reports he was hearing.

"Retaking the city is out of the question at the moment. Heavy resistance has been cropping up all over the countryside. Moving our troops through the area won't be possible until the issue is dealt with." Caston's voice drifted from the speakers. Caraway observed Caston's facial expression on his computer screen.

"I see." The president slowly sat back.

"Sir, I would like to request permission to deploy a division of tanks into the countryside." General Caston requested.

Caraway considered this. He knew that the resistance probably lacked the firepower to directly engage a tank division. But he also knew just how determined, and desperate they were. If he gave Caston the go-ahead a lot of people would die in the next couple of days. Of course, even more people could die if he didn't.

"Permission granted General. Do what you need to do." Caraway said.

"Thank you sir." Caston said, then his face vanished from the screen. It was soon replaced by one of Galbadia's chief intelligence officers, Gared.

"Mr President, I have some news regarding Balamb you may be interested to hear." Gared said.

Caraway quirked an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Rather than preparing their defenses as we suspected they would, SeeD has been deploying a number of their people to quarantine Balamb. It seems nobody is allowed in or out." Gared informed him.

Caraway frowned as he considered this information. "I see. Do we have any idea as to why this might be?"

"Details are sketchy at best, but we know the teams blockading Balamb are wearing bio-hazard suits, and are heavily armed. In the last hour Balamb contacted Dollet, and shortly thereafter two Dollet fighter jets attacked and destroyed the Balamb ferry." Gared replied.

Caraway considered the implication's of this news. "Could this be a ploy on SeeDs part? To make us think its to risky to strike?"

"Perhaps, its to early to tell. I've refrained from sending any men in to close, just in case there is a real danger."

Caraway nodded. "Good call. I want you to get some of our surveilance planes into the air over Balamb, see what you can't see."

"Understood, anything else?"

"Not at the moment, but keep me posted."

"Naturally. Over and out."

Caraway took a moment to think once the screen went blank. It seemed that for whatever reason everything that could go wrong had chosen this particular point in time to do so. He put his face in his hands and blew out a long sigh. There were times when he wondered why he had taken this job. How much easier would his life have been if he had chosen a more down to earth profession?

Pushing such thoughts out of his mind, he picked up his phone and dialed the secretary of defense, and ordered the third naval fleet to blockade Balamb's harbor.