Disclaimer: I own no part of Final Fantasy VII. I am not receiving any payment for this story other than self-satisfaction.

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Chapter Two: Terror isn't Through Just Yet

Yuffie looked out to the crowd and did her best to hold her composure as she spoke. A few sessions of training brought her the ability to continue speaking as if she wasn't nervous and hated standing where she stood. Her smile appeared in short moments between sentences. A touch pad slowly inched through the words her father typed up for her to say. Out of kindness for the old man she kept true to his words as she spoke.

"When I take on the leadership of this nation, I do not expect many things to change right away. I will work hard with all of you to make my work successful in your eyes," she said and waved her hand out to signal all the people below the balcony she spoke from. "I will make some changes to our nation as I lead. But these changes will take time and not be able to happen with a simple snap of my fingers. I need to work with other areas across out globe to work out the finer details. We will not forget our original world, but we will continue to grow with the changes permitted by technology and knowledge."

Yuffie looked up so she could eye the camera moving by her face. Deep down, she knew her friends were watching her presentation from Seventh Heaven. The popular bar they used to always spend their time inside.

"The battles I fought alongside my friends taught me a lot about this world. I wish to share all these lessons with you. Is there anyone too afraid to take on this exciting challenge?!" Yuffie yelled her final sentence with a large smile and jumped for joy. All the people of Wutai her cheered her on and joined in her excited act. All except one, unknown person.

A gunshot sounded somewhere outside the crowd of people. Screams were heard below out of fear, but no one could see who had been hit by the shot. Not until they looked up to see Yuffie's body lying on the balcony. The shooter was after the princess and they were successful.

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Vincent jumped off his stool in shock as if he could jump through the television to Yuffie's side. She had been shot and was knocked out. He couldn't say the shot was a fatal wound. On the screen the news station caught clips of people from inside the castle running to Yuffie's aid. Just before the camera went black he saw Godo take out a phone to place a call.

Seconds later the phone to Seventh Heaven rang. Tifa answered with the intention to tell the customer they were now closed until further notice. She told the caller to hold for one second.

"Go ahead, sir," Tifa said putting the call on speaker for all of AVALANCHE to hear.

"I assume you all saw Yuffie get shot," Godo said without skipping a beat. "I do not know where to take it from here. My own team of people will try to do some research, but we cannot set aside the idea it could be an enemy of your team. How soon can you get here?"

"We'll get on my airship in less than fifteen and head straight there as fast as we can," Cid said after he spit out his broken toothpick. He had broken the small piece of wood when the shooting occurred.

"Is she alright?" Tifa asked in a rush before the call could end.

"Her breaths are coming in short gasps," Godo said as scuffling could be heard in the background. "There's a bit of blood, but this was not a shot to kill. My people will run some tests to hopefully have a way to explain the situation upon your arrival. Get here as fast as you can."

"Roger," Cid said quickly before Tifa hung up the phone.

"Everyone get their weapons together and meet at Cid's airship. We'll be leaving in fifteen minutes just as we said," Cloud said taking on his leadership role as if he never left it. "If you aren't there in time we'll leave you behind."

Vincent already had a gun on his hip. He felt naked without a weapon right at his use just in case. A part of him assumed it wouldn't take fifteen minutes for everyone else to gather their own weapons. The fights they went through taught them all to be prepared for the worse.

In less than ten minutes after their departure from Seventh Heaven everyone stood at Cid's airship. There wasn't much to say except get on and shut up. All appeared anxious. Except for Tifa. She carried tears in her eyes and obvious worry in her heart. They had no way to know what they would be facing by the time they reached Wutai.

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Okay, this chapter was short but it was the little bits that needed to happen for my idea to pull through. I have a pretty good idea what I want to happen, but will that pull through? Will the old gang be able to fight through this challenge like they fought through so many before? Let me know what you think!