Note: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of its characters (which would be rediculously cool), and I do not own Battle Royale.

Note 2: Okay people, this is the brand spanking new version. Sorry the old one was too close to being a BR narrative! This one moves much further away, plus I personally think is better in general.

Note 3: This is written so that you don't have to have any experience of Battle Royale OR Final Fantasy, although knowledge of either proabably makes it more enjoyable!

Chapter 1

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…