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.

Matt and Alistor are original characters.

Part IV: Stigma

Chapter 83, Storm and Stress

April 14th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 11:00 AM Mideel Central Time

Marlene walked next to Alistor as the three older kids hurried along a road lining the channel that led between the docks and the ocean proper. They were headed back from the part of the village where a lot of the fishermen lived, having gone to ask about the men who claimed there was a cure. Over the last couple of hours, they had asked a number of people, but most of them had only heard that they had been seen on one of the farther out docks, speaking to a number of other people.

She looked up at the man who had taken it upon himself to look after them. He had been keeping up with the others for now, but she could tell he'd started moving gingerly. The effects of Aerith's water must have started to wear off. "Are you okay?" she asked after a moment.

"I'm fine," the ex-SOLDIER replied. "But once we've seen what's going on, we're going to go back."

Marlene nodded. "Okay," she said. She walked ahead to catch up with the other kids. They were getting close to the docks now, and though most of the people around were going about their business, she didn't see anything particularly out of the ordinary. There was a familiar lady off in the distance with short blond hair, but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen her before.

She reached Denzel, Matt, and Sasha right as they reached the last ship and there, they could see a kid about their age talking to a few others. "And they say if we go with them, they'll be able to give us a cure. It's more than that doctor's been able to do."

"Really?" one of the other children asked.

"Of course!" the speaker said. "And when we come back, we'll all be good as new!"

"Because that doesn't sound suspicious at all…," She heard Alistor mutter behind him. She noticed he was leaning against a nearby retaining wall for support.

"But what if it's true?" Sasha asked. "What if they can fix us?" she looked at the two boys. "Let's get a closer look." With Denzel and Matt bringing up the rear, they tried to push to the front of the crowd to better see the speaker on the aft deck of the ship as several children began to climb onto the boat. That was when Marlene heard a thump behind her and turned to see that their chaperone had suddenly fallen to his knees. Alistor was gripping his side with one hand, as he supported himself with the other, his face pinched in agony and she could see his wrapped injury starting to bleed black through his shirt. She turned to try and find her friends in the crowd. "Denzel! Matt! Where are you?"

"Well… this is… pretty pathetic of me…" the ex-SOLDIER murmured in between gasping for air. "Tell them… to come back now… we need to go…" Marlene nodded. She was no stranger to moments like this, and so she calmly hurried after Denzel, Matt, and Sasha.

It was difficult to move through the crowd but eventually she made it to the forefront to find them talking to a slightly older kid. She walked up to Denzel and tugged on his shirt. "We need to go back!" she said.

Denzel looked back. "Do we have to?" he asked.

"Al's in trouble!" Marlene said.

At that information, Matt stiffened and then turned to go back towards the swordsman through the crowds. It took a little more pulling on Marlene's part before she could convince the other two to come after her, but soon, they had returned through the crowds to the place where the ex-SOLDIER was. When they returned, they found him leaning back out of the way, against the retaining wall. "Al?" Matt walked up to him and tried to tap him on the shoulder. He was breathing, but his eyes were closed. "Al!?" Matt tried to get his attention again, this time clearly getting worried.

For a moment the other three children watched them, with no idea how to respond to the situation but then Denzel spoke up. "What do we do?" he asked.

"Al!" Matt cried again. "Al, wake up!"

"We need to get help," Marlene decided.

Sasha turned and started towards the boat. "I'm going to go talk to those people. They might be able to do something."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Marlene said. "Al said..."

"We're wasting time!" Matt exclaimed, getting close to hysterics by this point. "Go get Jessie and Doctor Rayleigh!"

Marlene nodded gravely. "Okay." With that, she turned around and ran down the docks as fast as she could, her mind in turmoil. "Please don't take anyone else away…" She threaded through several groups of people like a fish through the narrow cracks in a coral reef until she was almost out of the harbor. But that was when it happened.

She tried to steer around a man in a black cloak when suddenly, he reached out and grabbed her by her arm. She jerked to a stop and looked up at him angrily. "Let me go! Al needs help!" she demanded.

"Oh," the man said with a grin, and Marlene noticed several strands of long white hair drooping out from under his hood. "Aren't you one of the kids who live with big brother?"

It had been a while after the battle of Midgar when travel to the areas GUARDIAN controlled had become a lot easier. Rude had seen Widblain a few times since then. Once he had even gone in to pay a visit to Seventh Heaven. Cloud had been out at the time, but the first few minutes had been rather awkward, even though they had on multiple occasions shared the same side of a battlefield.

He and Elena had been sent here because Rufus had a hunch that the remnants might be here. Most of the morning was spent watching the bar after they had discovered the rumor that the three of them had appeared the previous evening. He had also sent Elena to investigate the rumor of the people who claimed to have a cure, just in case it had anything to do with it, since it had been notable. Shortly after she had left, he watched a SOLDIER sporting several bandages leave the bar with the four children and had decided following them might be the best choice. Now that the long haired remnant; named Yazoo, based on his understanding; had revealed himself, he knew he had hit pay dirt.

He was walking up behind the man, preparing to put him in a disarming hold before he did anything to the girl, when he suddenly found the barrel of a gun pointed at his face. "Don't even," the remnant wasn't even looking at him, and the little girl had gone silent, watching their exchange in fear. "If you make another move," Yazoo continued, "This little one is going to have an unfortunate encounter with a bullet."

Rude looked down at the girl as Yazoo dragged her back towards the docks. As soon as he was out of sight, his PHS rang and he answered it, walking in the direction Yazoo had gone. "Rude! I've found the one who called himself Loz. He got called over to where this guy collapsed on the docks. He's taking him back to the boat along with three kids. One of them is definitely that boy who lives with Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart. I'm following them now."

"Understood. I'm currently pursuing Yazoo. He has Barret Wallace's daughter. We will be at your position soon." He hung up and continued to catch up to the remnant as he made for the docks. He could not allow himself to be seen again until a good moment presented itself, unless he wanted to cause Marlene Wallace's death, which in turn would mean not just facing Barret's wrath, but also the entirety of GUARDIAN's. Not a pleasant prospect regardless of whether that was his job or not.

He had just stepped onto the docks when he spotted Elena standing in an alley and observing her surroundings, her gun in her hand. The ship was a short ways down and the crowds at the far end had dispersed once the enthusiastic young man who had been speaking to them on the remnants' behalf had disappeared, but he was beginning to see evidence as soon as Yazoo stepped aboard that they were preparing to cast off. Rude reached the spot where Elena was hiding. "We should get aboard," he said after a moment, "We need to know where they are going."

Elena nodded and the two of them wordlessly hurried through the fishermen on the docks to get to a pile of lumber that was adequate to keep them from being spotted before jogging the last few yards to climb up onto the port side of the ship. Once they had climbed high enough to reach the deck, they glanced around, taking in the sailors working on board. There was one thing that was obvious right away. All of them seemed to be young. Maybe in their teens at most. It was curious, but he filed it away for reference for now. Once he was sure no one could see them, they climbed the rest of the way aboard and once the two wordlessly divided their investigation with Elena heading to the bridge, Rude made his way towards door to the cargo hold. The engines were already coming to life below them. The ship was leaving port.

As he pulled the door open and felt his eyes adjusting, he could already hear the sound of rustling and nervous whispers inside. It wasn't long after when he looked down below the catwalks and saw a large number of younger children huddled together below. They also all seemed to have the stigma. The only exception to this was the SOLDIER they'd seen with the children from Seventh Heaven. He lay, still unconscious on the other side of the hold. The young girl with the moogle doll and the two boys were sitting next to him, all looking concerned, but Marlene Wallace was nowhere in sight. Nor were the two remnants. After creeping around the catwalks for a minute or so, he was making his way back towards the door when his PHS buzzed and he saw that Elena had just sent him a message. "Found one of them talking to captain. Heading towards port at Bone Village, said something about an Ancient City. No sign of kids yet."

Rude nodded to himself at the new information. The Shinra company had been to the Ancient City on occasion, mostly expeditions flown in by air, but few went there otherwise and no such expeditions had been sent for a very long time. As such, it would be secluded. A perfect place to hide a lot of potential hostages, or people in general for whatever use the remnants had in mind. But if the Turks took them out before they got there, that might be all the better. It would require a careful survey of their resources though. He typed out an answer on his PHS and sent it. "Storage closet below stairs to bridge."

That done, he went back towards the door, being careful not to make too much noise. Once he was out on the deck again, he crept back along the port side of the ship. He was almost to the stairs when suddenly, up ahead of him, he heard a banging sound and he quickened his pace. Reaching the stairs, he spotted Elena sprinting down the stairs, gripping her arm. Blood was dripping out from under her hand. He backed up slightly, looking around him to see what he had on hand, when Elena had just reached him. At that moment, Loz landed on the deck right behind her, punching her from behind.

"You won't be going any further I'm afraid," Yazoo was now aiming his gun at them from the platform leading to the bridge.

"Rude…" Elena gritted out. "Run…"

As he moved to grab her he suddenly saw a grenade in one of her hands and that the pin was pulled. Realizing what she was doing, he grabbed it and pulled it to the side of the boat tossing it overboard. It exploded just seconds after leaving his hand, but by that point, he was too far away from the younger Turk. Pulling himself up from where he had ducked behind the wall of the ship to avoid the blast, he sprinted along the side of the ship, bullets flying around him. One clipped him as he was halfway to the back. With no further recourse, he grabbed a life preserver that hung on a nearby wall and dived over the side into the waves below.

By the time he pulled himself to the surface, the boat was out of sight. He treaded water for a few moments before he finally found the preserver and held onto it for a bit to get his bearings from the sun overhead. At the speed that boat had been going, he had a long way to swim back to shore, and Elena's life depended on him.

April 14th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 2:00 AM West Continent Eastern Time

There was a strong breeze blowing through the evening air when the Highwind and the Gainsborough threw down their mooring lines on the beach. Yuffie, Vincent and Cissnei slid down the lines along with a couple of the rest of the crew to secure them as the ladders dropped, allowing access. Cloud was on the ground shortly after Zack and his friend was already directing their own troops to secure the area. "I want our SOLDIERs leading teams to secure the town as soon as possible! Kunsel, I want you and Cloud headed towards the docks to intercept the subs with team Wolf. We'll be right behind you!"

It was surprising just how easy it was to slide back into following orders again, Cloud reflected as he followed the other ex-SOLDIER up the steps and towards the bridge leading to the port. Around him, he could hear the sounds of clanging swords and gunfire as the insurgents were met and dealt with. It was clear GUARDIAN's forces were matching them quite handily, but that would only remain true so long as they could head off the departure of the submarine with the huge materia in time. There really wasn't much to look at around town in the dark aside from the evidence of their own conflicts. Under the starlight, they hurried past the inn and up the steps to the bridge before sprinting across and out onto the dock.

The water out beyond the port glittered under the sky of early morning and the spotlights centered on what was definitely a team of men in altered Shinra uniforms making preparations for moving a submarine, painted in a deep shade of red. Tifa came up behind him just as he spotted another pair of men attempting to fight their way towards the sub, both in street clothes. He hadn't recognized them at first, but as he got close enough he could see that one of them was also a martial artist and was attempting to spar his way around one of the SOLDIERs, while the other was tossing a series of bombs at several troopers. It was Kemp and Legend. Kunsel jumped into the fray, cutting Kemp's opponent down just as Cloud cast a powerful Fire spell on Legend's opponents. While several of them were killed instantly, a couple fled to dive into the water around the docks.

The two renegade Turks both offered them a wave in thanks and hurried off in another direction to take on another contingent of normal troopers. Kunsel was already sprinting towards the first submarine when a pair of heavy Deepground soldiers appeared in front of him. His blade clanged against the notched sword the other man wielded and he pushed up with a yell before trading a series of blows as they danced across the dock. Cloud went after the regular troopers, though Tifa got there first and a shuriken flew by overhead which he recognized as Cissnei's.

That was when Kunsel and his opponent locked blades and Cloud suddenly heard him shout over the noise of battle. "The sub!" His heart caught in his throat as he saw the red ship sink below the waves. Through the hail of gunfire from several other troopers and Deepground soldiers, he could already see the last of the loading take place on the second submarine a short distance down the way. There was nothing else for it. Reaching for the Neo-Bahamut summon Argento had given him, he slammed it into an open slot on his sword and began to cast. Moments later, the red dragon soared into the air. A destructive beam from the dragon's mouth leveled enemies left and right in front of them as the remainder fled towards the ship, but he was already headed in that direction.

Tifa was ahead of him with Cissnei just behind and the crewmen on the deck reacted to their approach by scattering in a panic, diving overboard as though they were death itself. That was perfectly okay with Cloud. He didn't need any of this right now. Just as Tifa and Cissnei hopped through the main hatch down into the belly of the ship, he heard a cry from below and lifted the First Sword straight above him to avoid scraping it on the side of the entryway as he jumped in after them. As his boots connected with the floor, he looked ahead of him to see they were faced with three renegade troopers.

"You want the Sub? Just try an' take it!" One of them yelled.

Another trooper visibly cringed and backed up a couple of steps. "Um… sir! Maybe we shouldn't piss them off…"

Cissnei sauntered over to the trooper who had just spoken. "So you actually do have some brains. I'm surprised Scarlet and Heidegger managed to recruit anyone who had those."

Cloud took his cue from that and held his sword up threateningly. "Just surrender. Otherwise, you won't last long." On noticing the First Sword, all three of them promptly backed away towards the bridge.

"Now that's what I like to see," Cissnei said approvingly. She walked through the hatch behind the three troopers and after Cloud followed her in with Tifa right behind, they found themselves looking at an army captain and two more troopers.

The captain's eyes bugged out upon seeing them. "Oh Gaia! This is terrible!" The three troopers they hadn't killed backed up behind him, still cowering.

"We don't have much time left! I don't want to die!" One of the two troopers by the pilot's seat said.

"There's still so much more I've got to do! I never got to do my special victory dance in battle!"

"All right!" The captain shouted, "Then make this your first victory! Go on! Show'em!"

"Yes sir!"

"All right, remember your last training! Begin!"

That was when Cloud realized that the voices of these three sounded familiar. His suspicions were confirmed when the two troopers behind the captain shouted "Yes sir!" again and spun their guns around over their heads in a very familiar motion.

The captain turned to face them, clearly ready to charge. "I'm back and ready for action, ATT-AAACK!" He had to at least give them credit for… well… maybe bravery wasn't the right term. He glared in their direction as they prepared to charge, and hiding the urge to wince at the pain from his left arm, he placed the First Sword back in his sword harness and nonchalantly pulled out the two switchblades, spinning both of them around in his hands.

The message was clear. You don't want any of this.

The captain visibly paled and then hurried to the side of the room. He could have sworn he heard a couple of the other troopers audibly whimper as he passed. There was no time left. Cissnei was already calibrating the sub's receiver at one of the com stations. "Could you take the wheel?" she asked.

Wordlessly he sat down in the pilot's chair, trying to fight down the unease of being in this cramped space. Perhaps it was for the best. He generally felt better driving. Upon seeing that he was situated, the younger Turk turned to Tifa as she donned a headset. "You'll need to close the main hatch and then come back here. We need someone to man the torpedoes."

Tifa nodded and hurried back towards the ladder. While they waited, Cissnei asked "Before we start, do you want me to walk you through piloting?"

"Seems like a good idea."

April 14th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 2:30 AM West Continent Eastern Time

It had been about half an hour since Zack had received word that Cloud and the others had taken a sub to chase after the one with the huge materia, and now, he was pacing in the common room at the inn. It had been stupidly easy for them to subdue the rest of the troopers. Now, all they could do was wait.

Zack hated waiting.

He had circled the common area for what felt like the hundredth time when he saw Aerith coming down the stairs, looking a bit drained from the exertions of healing their wounded with limits and cure materia. "Any more news?" she asked when she spotted him.

"Not yet," he answered. "Freya got together with Kemp and they commandeered a local Cessna to check the area for any sign of what's going on under the water, but they haven't spotted anything from the air yet."

Aerith walked to a nearby chair and sat down, leaning on a nearby table and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "At least we'll have several hours in the air to sleep on the way back to Junon," she reflected.

"I'll sleep a lot better once everyone's back above water and that materia's secure," Zack remarked.

"So will we all," Aerith agreed.

Zack was about to say something else when outside they heard a distant and yet very loud thud. The two of them hurried outside to the main thoroughfare and back towards the docks where they could definitely see the evidence of an explosion off in the distance. Several more minutes passed as they waited with baited breath until at last a grey sub came to the surface. At that moment, Zack's PHS buzzed and he answered it. "Good news Zack, we were able to retrieve the materia with minimal issues. We'll be back in port soon," Cissnei reported.

"That's great," Zack replied. "Come on back in. We still need to get back to Junon."

April 14th [ ν ] – εуλ 0009 2:30 PM Mideel Central Time

As the last of the lunch rush left through the door, Jessie found herself becoming more and more concerned. It had been more than five hours since Alistor had gone out with the kids and she had heard nothing. They hadn't even come back to eat, and for Denzel and Marlene this was especially unusual. She finished clearing away the dishes and dried her hands before pulling out her PHS and dialing the number for Alistor's. After about three rings, his voice mail kicked in and after the message she heard the familiar beep. "Hey Al, it's Jessie, I just wanted to make sure everything was all right, since you and the kids have been gone for a while. Call back soon, okay?"

Once she had left the message she hung up and took a moment to think the situation through before flipping the sign on the door to "Closed" and gathering her coat. The docks tended to be busier and more populous than the rest of the village, but she ought to be able to find them.

See you next week!