By a Fraction of a Degree

A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129

Rated T for Violence and Language.

I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spin-offs That honor goes to Square-Enix.

SOLDIER 3rd Class Alistor, Mat, and Bri are original characters.

On the Way to a New Future (Interlude)

Chapter 49, That Which Touches Everyone (Case of Barret)

March 28th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

Several miles from Rocket Town, the Highwind made landfall in the dead of night and several figures disembarked. Among them, were Cid and Shera. Barret stood under the ship with Vincent and the remaining contingent of riflemen they'd brought with them. They would move in once Cid had established where the will of Rocket Town lay. If they still wished to follow the captain over Rufus, then he'd call everyone else in. Shera waited next to him as Cid disappeared into the dark. Vincent had already vanished to run recon, but Reeve had come himself. His part would take place after the operation was over.

Under the ghostly light filtering down to the ground from the bridge, Barret stood on the grassy plain, looking out on the Rocket as it was lit up by searchlights. Even this far away, it was still visible as a bright, if crookedly leaning pillar over the trees in the distance.

Shera adjusted her glasses as she waited next to him. The rifle slung over her shoulder. She wasn't going into the fight herself, but she had volunteered to watch the Highwind as soon as the main force commenced Operation Comeback. All they were waiting for now, was for Cid to give the signal…

Several hours later, it was over. Cid had given the command, and with the combined strength of their own force along with almost the entire population of Rocket Town (minus children and the elderly), the vast majority of Rufus's remaining forces in the area had either been subdued, chased off, or killed. There had been a couple of exceptions, like this one for instance. A SOLDIER stood shirtless in front of Barret now in the infirmary, his sword held weakly in one hand while the other protected a what appeared to be a bandaged wound on his side, though even from here, Barret could see it seemed to be infected, and exuding a black oozing puss into the bandages.

"If you've come to kill us…" the man panted, his eyes glowing intensely, "I don't intend to make it easy for you…" As Barret looked, he saw a couple of kids behind him, also sporting bandages, and they were obviously afraid.

"Depends," he said. "Are you gonna lower that sword and siddown? Ya ain't gonna get far like that."

After a moment, the man decided to do what he was told, laying his weapon on the floor next to the bed. The two children stayed behind him as Barret lowered his gunarm. The two regarded each other suspiciously, and then the SOLDIER sighed. "I guess you chased everyone out, huh?"

"That's right. What're ya doin' here?" Barret said gruffly.

"I was sent here to help the troops. It's our job to protect Shinra's people from terrorists like you," The man glared in his direction.

Barret scowled as he took a moment to take the measure of the man in front of him. "So why ain't'cha out there fightin' us?" he asked.

"Some Nibel Wolves came out of the mountains and attacked these kids a couple of weeks ago," he indicated the young children standing next to him. "After I stepped in, one of the wolves bit me." He gestured to the wound and winced. "Turns out that wasn't the only thing I should have been concerned about."

The SOLDIER, whom he now saw couldn't have been much older than his late teens, looked over the two younger kids. "I'd been taken off duty since it started getting worse, while the medics tried to figure out what was going on" he added as an afterthought. No one's been able to figure out why their Restore materia aren't working. Not even Esuna seems to help."

Barret was quiet for a few minutes as he considered this. Finally he made a decision. He wasn't about to kill a sick man just for protecting a couple of kids. He had enough innocent blood on his hands, already. "Ya got a name?"

"SOLDIER 3rd Class, Alistor."

Barret nodded gruffly. "All right then. Stay outta trouble, and we won't bother ya." With that, he walked out of the infirmary to rejoin the others so they could compare notes on what they'd found.

March 30th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

It took Reeve a couple of days to complete his assessment of the fields near Rocket Town that pre-mako surveyors had marked as being heavy with crude oil. The team of surveyors he'd brought with him had brought in their reports, just in time to take cover for another assault. With the loss of one of Shinra's air force bases, Rufus had been determined to gain it back. But with the firepower provided by the Highwind as well as the equipment liberated when the initial installation of troops had fled, they were able to repel it. The Gelnika especially took heavy damage before it withdrew towards Junon, leaving the townspeople celebrating its departure.

It was that night, over the Highwind's encrypted communications, that Reeve reported the good news to Zack and the others in Mideel. The crude oil here could be drilled out and refined once the preexisting equipment they'd discovered on-site could be repaired. With enough manpower, he estimated the first shipment could be expected probably sometime next year. It was the best that could be done for the time being. Even so, Barret couldn't help but be impatient. Every moment they spent not drilling oil in favor of repairing old construction was spent using mako reserves that were running lower with every day, not to mention, draining the Planet's resources dry.

"Are ya sure there's no way we can do this quicker?" he asked.

"I'm afraid there isn't," Reeve said. "We can't drill for the oil unless we have somewhere to put it, and we can't have that until we have somewhere to properly refine it, otherwise, we've just got vats of… how did you put it? Useless goop?"

"Well, it's somthin' we gotta do faster," Barret growled, and then stalked off the bridge, leaving the two of them to work out their plans. He soon found himself on the weather deck, looking out over the open plains around the rocket and suddenly his eyes landed on a small house near the infirmary. Alistor was sitting on the porch, watching the two children play a board game next to him. If he didn't know any better, the young man seemed to have adopted them. It reminded him a little of Marlene.

After a moment, he stepped onto the launching platform that the Highwind was tied to and walked down into the settlement, approaching the house. As he drew closer, the two children, a boy and a girl looked up and then quickly retreated behind Alistor's chair. "What's the matter you two?" the SOLDIER asked. Then he looked up and saw Barret coming and his eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Oh."

Barret paused, realizing the two little ones were hiding from him and he spoke across the way from where he was standing. "Hey now, I ain't gonna shoot no one!" He looked at Alistor as he walked a couple of steps closer, making it clear his business was with the swordsman and not the children behind him.

"You look pretty scary to them anyway," Alistor said calmly.

"I was curious. How'd they come to ya anyway?" Barret asked gruffly.

"No real reason," Alistor replied, glancing at the two children behind him. "I'm not sure how they got here, but apparently they wandered up after Highwind had his little showdown with our troops at the rocket. The man who owns this house here's been letting them stay, though he'd been looking to find them a real home eventually. Of course, then the wolves attacked and they just started sticking close to me. Bri doesn't talk much, but Mat told me they used to live in the mountains with their parents near Nibelheim and they'd come down to trade with the other villages around here."

"I see," Barret said. "How'd they die?"

Alistor gave the boy another worried look and then spoke again. "Apparently there was this pond close to Nibelheim that suddenly turned black. Bri said a monster came out and pulled them into it. I don't know if that's just what it looked like or what, but we didn't have the resources to investigate."

The little boy nodded behind him, his brown eyes wide with fear at the memory of it.

"Though at this rate, I'm not entirely sure there's anything I can do about it anyway," he pulled himself to his feet as Mat suddenly called his name and Barret saw that Bri was swaying as though she was having trouble standing up. "We'll have to talk some other time, she's not feeling good," the SOLDIER said and lifted the girl to carry her inside.

Barret suddenly had a thought. "I actually know a doctor who's seen stuff like this, maybe you can talk to her," he suggested.

But Alistor was too busy with the little girl to hear him.

When Barret arrived at Cid's house that evening, the man was sitting with Shera and Reeve, talking about the various logistics of repairing the equipment while looking over a set of blueprints Reeve had produced. Cid looked up as he walked in from the darkening twilight. "Where've you been?"

"Lookin' for somethin'" Barret said.

"What?"

Barret proceeded to tell the story of what had happened earlier that afternoon.

"And what are we supposed to do about it?" Cid asked. "Sure it's sad, but we've got #$%^ to do around here too."

"I don' know!" Barret said. "That's why I'm askin' you! We been seein' this thing a lot more lately, and I know there's no cure, but maybe the doc could help."

Shera gave him a sympathetic look as she adjusted her glasses. "Unfortunately we can't spare the Highwind to take them with Rufus's blockade at the southern strait. But I know one of our blockade runners is going that way tomorrow. Perhaps they could hitch a ride with them."

"It'll be dangerous though," Reeve commented. "There won't be any guarantee they'll make it."

"Then I'll make sure they do!" Barret growled.

"You're going with them?" Shera asked.

"I'll come back on another boat, but if there's somethin' we can do, we better $%*&#% do it!" He stalked out of the house again leaving all three of them temporarily at a loss for words. A few moments later, Cid took the stub of his cigarette out of his mouth.

"Well $%&#."

Barret walked back to the house and knocked on the door. An older woman answered it and he spoke, "Where's the SOLDIER? I wanna talk to 'im," he said gruffly.

The woman seemed a little taken aback but looked behind her towards her kitchen table. After a moment, Barret saw Alistor come to the door, though he was still walking gingerly to protect his injury.

"What is it?" he asked, his glowing eyes narrowed, creating an almost eerie visage in the light coming from inside the house.

Barret didn't allow himself to be intimidated. Instead he simply said "There's a boat headed south to Mideel, and we've got doctors there who might be able to help. If ya want ta go, I'll be waitin' with a ride to the nearest village on the coast tomorrow morning."

Alistor blinked, temporarily obscuring his eyes for a moment in the dark, and then he asked "Why would you do that?"

Barret scowled at him. "Don't bother askin'." With that, he walked away from the house and prepared to turn in for the night.

April 3rd [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

The sea air was cool as it blew across the small retrofitted cargo ship. Barret worked hard with the rest of the crew, determined to keep the rigging in place and make sure things were ready in case they encountered any of Rufus's patrol vessels. Several turrets had been erected along the sides in case combat became necessary, but the boat had been refitted for speed, in hopes of outrunning the enemy rather than fighting them.

Early yesterday morning, Alistor had arrived at the place where supplies were loaded, the two children behind him, and a small rucksack over his shoulder, though his sword was absent, since the villagers had divested him of it after Cid's forces had retaken the town. The villagers hadn't really known what to do with him until Barret had apparently taken an interest. After that, it had been a short drive to the nearest village on the coast, where they had boarded a blockade runner headed for Mideel, and over the next day or so, they had been sailing at top speed down the coast of the Western Continent and through the Wutai strait. The Wutai coast would have been safer, probably, but Yuffie still had yet to convince her father to allow vessels friendly to GUARDIAN's cause to travel along their shores. If there was one thing her efforts had convinced Barret of, it was that diplomacy was a joke, and it took forever.

Now though, they were sailing towards the most dangerous part of the journey. The Shinra Navy patrolled the waters around the land mass where the Temple of the Ancients used to be, and the entire stretch of those waters wouldn't be safe until they reached Mideel's coast and fell under the protection of the land-based installations that had been constructed on the south east Islands of the Mideel region. That could not happen soon enough.

As he looped some rope over his gunarm with his real hand, he saw Alistor walk gingerly out onto the deck. The two children had mostly stayed in the small cabin they'd been allotted, in order to rest. Alistor had brought Mat out once, and he'd seemed really interested in the gun turrets but he'd quickly gotten tired and asked to rejoin his sister. Right now, Alistor was alone, and he looked troubled.

"Bri's getting worse," he said as he neared where Barret was working.

"It shouldn' be that much longer," Barret said gruffly. "We just need ta get pas' the navy and then we're home free."

Alistair grunted thoughtfully and Barret gave him a suspicious look. "Ya ain't thinkin' a doin' anythin' stupid are ya, like tryin' ta go back to'em?"

The SOLDIER simply watched the waves, leaning on the railing, and putting his weight on the opposite side from his wound. After a moment, he said "You know, I wonder that myself. I guess we'll see about that, won't we."

Barret simply scowled.

Sometime later that evening, Barret was in his own cabin, cleaning his gunarm when he heard something that sounded distinctly like an explosion. He raced out of his cabin and up on deck to see that his worst fears had been confirmed. It looked like one of Shinra's battle cruisers had spotted them and was giving chase. He could already see a couple of heligunners flying in to shoot at them in the glow from a pair of rockets flying by overhead. With a speed that was uncanny for a man his size (not to mention hampered by only have a machine gun for one hand), Barret scaled to one of the highest crow's nests on the ship and took aim. As the Heligunners approached, he opened fire.

Another rocket fired overhead through the darkened skies, landing too close to the hull for comfort, and in its glow, Barret noticed Alistor standing on the the deck, watching the onslaught. Around him the sailors worked furiously to man the gun turrets, and speed the ship along its way, though in the brief moment the gunman spared for the swordsman, Barret could see him looking towards the oncoming ships. Whether it was with hope, or concern, he couldn't tell, but it didn't matter.

With another battle cry Barret let loose another barrage from his perch. Shinra didn't care if the SOLDIER was on this ship. The only thing they cared about was stopping the supplies going to Mideel. Bullet casings rained down on the deck below him when another Heligunner zoomed by and he channeled a limit break, calling a beam of energy down from the sky to destroy his enemy just as several Aero Combatants started flying in.

Barret leapt to the ground as he continued his barrage, knocking one enemy into the water, but just then, he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. The next time he looked, he saw that Alistor had picked up a rifle, and though he was grimacing from the pain of wielding it in his injured state, he'd just stopped one of their opponents from attempting to pass him to get the cabin. The weapon trembled in his hands before he let himself crouch to the ground, but by that point, one of their turrets launched a projectile of its own, and smoke started permeating across the water. Several more smoke bombs hit the surface, and before long, the blockade runner had left the Shinra cruiser far behind.

As the action died down, Barret walked over to where the man clutched his side and murmured "Thanks. Guess I owe ya one."

Alistor sat down the whole way, and nodded, still grimacing. "No problem," he gritted out.

At that moment, Mat hurried out of the hold. "Al! It's Bri. Something's wrong!"

At that, Alistor pulled himself up and even though he refused Barrets arm, he moved down the stairs after the boy. Barret followed and soon found himself at the door to their cabin, and inside, he heard Bri whimper softly. Alistor was now sitting next to her, holding her hand. "Just hold on a little more," he said. "We'll be safe soon, and they say there'll be help…"

The little girl did not let go of his hand even as Barret walked in. Once again, Mat hid behind the swordsman at his approach. "He's right," Barret offered gruffly. "It won' be long now."

Bri looked up at him, and he couldn't help but think how small she looked, like Marlene, yet so fragile, and finally, he saw a brave smile on her face and unlike all the other times she'd looked at him, there wasn't a trace of fear. In its place was gratitude…

She passed away in the early morning hours, just like that. The other sailors were reluctant to touch her body because she was diseased, but it wasn't long after that she disappeared into the Lifestream. Alistor and Mat spent a while alone in the cabin until the boy had cried himself to sleep. It wasn't until near dawn, when Alistor walked out on the deck alone to find Barret on watch. It would be another day before they reached Mideel and then a little longer after that to hitch a ride on a fishing boat up the coast to Widblain.

"You know, when I first met them," Alistor began softly, "they were just as scared of me." He sat down on the deck and leaned against the cabin wall. "They thought I'd come to hurt them. After our troops came in, maybe it's not so hard to understand… but you know, that smile she had when you walked in. That was how she looked at me, when she realized I was just like her. Just as breakable, and just as afraid… and she tried to tell me it was all right… even though it's not. There's nothing right about it at all." he muttered bitterly, looking down at his wound.

Barret scowled. "Don't be so hard on yerself. Ye didn' have ta do what ya did, but ya chose to anyway. Like some other people I know... Can't fault ya for that. It's better'n I did on more'n one occassion."

"You mean at Reactor 1?" Alistor asked.

"So ya know 'bout that?"

"I was on the emergency team that ran damage control in the aftermath."

Barret walked away towards the port side, but still within talking distance. "It's somethin' I can't forget."

April 4th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

When the fishing boat finally pulled into Widblain's harbor, Barret showed Alistor and his charge the way to Rayleigh's clinic. Once that was completed he walked down the dirt path towards a new building that had been erected in the last couple of months. Though the sign was unlit, and the inside was only illuminated by sunlight due to Shinra having cut the lines, he saw through the window that Tifa stood at the bar cleaning it with a cloth while a few of their own off duty troops were hanging around.

Rebuilding Seventh Heaven this early had not been part of the plan, until it had been discovered that their troops had a healthy demand for alcohol. She and Jessie were already making a modest profit off of the local brews, and now that GUARDIAN's area of influence had begun expanding her stock incorporated even more variety. Cloud had been helping significantly with that, following his turning control of Tanis Island over to his second in command, and Zack beginning to send him on other assignments.

Barret walked through the door, and Marlene, who had been sitting with a familiar group of Ex-SOLDIERs, as well as a renegade, and a flower girl, suddenly looked up and ran to meet him. "Daddy!" She threw her arms around him and he knelt to give her a hug.

It took a little while for her to look up at his face, but when she did, she gave him a worried look. "What's wrong daddy? You look sad?"

He smiled for her, ruffling her hair affectionately. "It's all right. A lot's happened, is all." That was when he looked up to see Zack, Cloud, Kunsel, and Freya watching him. "We got some things ta talk about."

"About the SOLDIER and the kids?" Zack asked. "I heard most of it from Cid." He sighed and stood up. "I won't deny it was the right thing to do, but what's next for you?"

"I don' know," Barret answered. "On the one hand, we need power, but on the other, what's goin' on with this sickness we been seein'?" he asked.

Freya looked up from her drink. "We've been hearing reports of it cropping up in various places. Some of them are saying things about coming in contact with this strange black water that seems to appear in places."

Barret's eyes widened. "Ya mean, like what Al… that SOLDIER said those kids talked about…"

Zack nodded. "Cissnei went to check out the location Cid gave us. We're still waiting to hear back from her on that, but Rayleigh tells me even with the cases she's seen, she has no idea what's going on."

"We've also gotten reports from the other renegades," Freya added. "Some isolated cases have appeared among the SOLDIER ranks back in Midgar. In fact, they seem to be more susceptible to it along with children and the elderly. Though there was one fellow Tanjuu spotted in the slums who wasn't among those groups who had also contracted it. Some people are calling it the SOLDIER sickness, but most of those who contract it, have usually had a lot of exposure to the Lifestream in some capacity, either that or they'd had run-ins with the black water. From that vein the official name they've started calling it has become Geostigma."

"I see," Barret murmured, uncharacteristically worried. He sat down on one of the barstools and pulled Marlene into his lap. "But we're tryin' ta figure out what's goin' on, right?"

"Yeah," Kunsel said. "Rayleigh's on the job and the renegades are all over, looking for more clues."

"Speakin' a that," Barret said. "Has there been any other news?"

"Apart from the little we were able to get from Mao, Midgar's been fairly quiet," Freya said. "No sign of the scientist, or Hojo, or anything else. Perhaps it's a little too quiet.

Zack rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I know what you mean, but on the other hand, maybe a little quiet isn't so bad. Sure we can be ready in case Rufus is planning something, but at the same time, it can let us press the offensive a little, and maybe take care of some other important things besides."

The Case of…?: Fragmented File #2

April 4th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008

Cissnei walked alone through the Nibel Mountains, holding her rekka at the ready. She was miles from Nibelheim, but the footprints she was tracking were definitely worrisome. She'd found the cottage easily enough and from there, it hadn't been too hard to locate the pool of dark water, but upon approaching it, she'd realized the local fauna had become decidedly much more hostile than usual. While she'd managed to avoid being bitten or injured by anything, thanks to her materia and her skill at fighting at a distance, it had been especially disquieting to see the worst of the monsters infected by the water. Soon after, she'd found a path leading away from the pool, and avoiding combat where she could, she followed it a ways before coming to a new trail leading higher into the mountains.

As she climbed the crest of a hill, she looked out over the valley before her to find herself looking down at a gash in the ground that cut deep, revealing the Lifestream flowing in the depths below. The other thing that got her attention however, was the man in black who was following it in the direction of the Nibelheim reactor. She took in the details of this man and realized he looked more like a young teenager, except his hair was shoulder length and silver. He also apparently favored black leather, and wore a double-bladed katana on his back.

Could he have anything to do with what had happened to those children's parents?

She followed him for some time along the path before he walked into a cave, and it appeared he was looking for something. "Mother?" he called. "Where are you?!"

Mother? Cissnei frowned. What was that about? The last person she'd heard of who talked like that was… In her distraction, she heard something crumble under her shoe and realized the man she was following had stiffened, drawing his weapon.

"Come out! I know you're there," the man commanded and Cissnei suddenly realized his glowing reptilian green eyes looked exactly like Sephiroth's. She swallowed hard. Maybe in the dark, she could still ambush him.

Silently, she crept through the shadows around the man, her rekka at the ready.

"You can't hide from me!" The double bladed katana glowed green in the reflected light from the Lifestream below and Cissnei knelt, considering her chances. After a moment, she readied her weapon, and flicked it through the air with a practiced swing. Seeing it fly out of the shadows in an arc, the man brought up his sword to catch it, but Cissnei was already prepared and cast a Bolt 3 at the ground below him. Something about this man screamed of a fight they hadn't had that long ago on the floor of a frozen crater; something she had no desire to repeat alone. The quickest way around it was to catch him off guard. The ground exploded beneath him and he missed hitting her rekka with his sword as he became distracted by the unexpected fall. Instead, he clawed at the side of the precipice as Cissnei hurried closer, grabbing the rekka out of the air as she ran in for the kill.

The man looked up at her with those eerie green eyes, his expression predatorial, and Cissnei felt a stab of fear that caused her to bring her rekka down as he attempted to climb back up, slicing his arm from his body. Holding on with his other, his eyes flashed with rage. "That hurt, you b…"

Cissnei didn't wait for him to finish, but instead cast another Bolt 3 directly at his heart. He finally let go, too stunned to save himself as he plummeted into the Lifestream below.

Allowing herself to drop to the ground, Cissnei sat back to catch her breath. She didn't know what was going on here, but the anomaly had been dealt with. After a few moments, she walked out into the open and made her way back to the helicopter. She didn't know how to explain what had just happened, but she hoped this was the end of it, because if she hadn't taken him by surprise, she was sure he would have killed her.

Only three chapters left before we begin part III. Hard to believe it. ^^

Tune in next week as we check in with Tifa! See ya soon!