Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ After the End ❯ Balamb ( Chapter 11 )

After the End

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A/N: Reviewer, thank you!

CelesteSpring: Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, who doesn't hate Cliffhangers? Well, here's your much-wanted chapter!

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Disclaimer: Square owns FF8, I own my original characters.

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Chapter 10: Balamb

Zell was the first one to say something.

"What the hell happened here!"

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Erin stared at the destruction that lay in front of them. She couldn't believe it.

"But… I was just here this morning!"

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Seifer looked down at Erin, her faced wrapped in worry. `She must have family or something living here.'

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"Come on, let's look for any survivors," stated Laguna.

They all headed into Balamb, and Erin started to run out in front of them.

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Erin looked at the houses that lined the main street. Her family had recently moved there, but someone had erased their memories of their last names, so now it was a problem whenever Erin did something for SeeD. With that, new houses had just been put in there, including Erin's.

As she stopped at the first one she gasped in shock.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed, and then ran forward to start clearing out an entrance. "Someone, help me!"

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Zell stared as Seifer started to help out Erin, and then something hit him in his mind.

"Ma! Oh no, she better be safe!"

He ran down the street to where his house was. The entrance wasn't buried as bad as Erin's; someone who was skinny could actually get in if they worked. He dug out more of an entrance so that it would be easier to get in.

Like he had realized before, the entrance wasn't buried as badly, nor was it as deep. He quickly had an opening he could get into.

Zell started to climb in, hoping to find his Ma still alive. When he finally pulled his feet through, he stood up best he could, which ended up being only on his knees, and started to yell.

"Ma! Are you alive? Ma!"

A weak voice replied to him. "Zell, is that you?"

"Yes, I'm coming! Stay where you are!"

He started to work his way through the house, and eventually found himself in a partially destroyed family room. There was Ma Dincht lying on the floor. Zell started to move faster to get to her sooner.

"Ma, can you move?" he asked when he was by her side.

"I don't know. How did you find me?"

"I don't know. The rest of the house is a wreck. Come on, we need to get out of here before this room collapses!" he stated.

Zell helped her up, and together, they crawled out of the destroyed house. He got out of the hole he had made, and then helped his Ma through.

"Everyone! I found one survivor!" he stated, running back to the others.

Ma Dincht followed her adoptive son to the rest of the group.

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Squall looked at Zell and his Ma as they returned. "Good to see your safe. Erin just got in, but she ended up having to leave her weapon behind," Squall stated, pointing to the gunblade that was lying on the ground near a dug out hole.

"I hope she's safe. My house was a wreck," Zell replied, and then looked at the hole Erin and Seifer had made.

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"Hey, Seifer, try and make a bigger hole for me to get out, just in case I finds someone," yelled a female voice from inside the house.

"OK!" he yelled back. "Hey, someone help me here!"

The rest of the group started to help out Seifer.

`Erin, please be safe,' Seifer thought to himself.

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Erin looked at the destruction that was her house. She was still struggling through, having to push something out of her way now and then.

"Mom! Dad! Sis!" Erin yelled into the house.

"Erin! Over here! We're over here!" yelled a female voice from the direction Erin was heading.

She started to speed up her pace. She soon found herself facing her sister.

"Aires! Where's mom and dad?" Erin asked.

"Erin, I'm sorry... They died protecting me…" Aires replied.

"Let's get out of here. I have some friends waiting for me," Erin stated, turning around as quickly as she could in the cramped space.

The two girls headed out of the house as quickly as they could. When they finally made it to the entrance, she pushed everyone away and pulled herself. When Erin got out, she helped out Aires.

"Two survivors in the entire town so far…" Erin stated, noticing a woman standing next to Zell.

She grabbed her weapon from where she had left it before she had gone in, reattaching it to her belt she was wearing.

"Everyone, meet my sister Aires. Aires, these are my friends," Erin introduced, "My parents are dead. Hey Aires, aren't you going to say anything?"

Aires was just standing there with her jaw dropped, then shook her head, and smiled. "Hello, I'm Aires, Erin's sister. I'm a SeeD at Balamb Garden, just like Erin. I was visiting home when this happened."

"What did happen here?" Squall asked.

"I don't really know. I was inside, visiting with my parents, then all of a sudden, the house started to collapse on us. My parents both pulled me down and protected me from the collapse. Doing that, they died protecting me," Aires explained.

"Well, let's go see if the hotel survived. If not, we'll go to the train stop to see how that faired. And hopefully, more people survived," stated Squall.

"Oh, hey Aires, what weapon do you use?" asked Selphie.

"I use nunchaku's. I'm actually quite a master at them, like you are, or so I've heard," explained Aires as they headed in the direction of the hotel.

Selphie blushed at the compliment. When they reached the hotel, everyone was upset that the building was destroyed. No way anyone could have survived that. So, the group headed over to the train station, hoping that it was still in tact.

Irvine finally spoke up, "Hey can't we just use the Ragnarok?"

"No, cause we left it at Esthar, remember?" Quistis stated.

When they finally reached, everyone sighed that it has at least survived whatever had attacked here.

"Come on, let's go see if there's a train available!" piped up Selphie.

They entered the train station to find a train there, a two men standing there, both of them who worked on the train.

"Hello? Yes, we would like to leave here," Erin stated, approaching them.

They both looked at her, "Well, might as well. Come on get on board. Oh yeah, it'll be 3000 gil."

Squall handed them the pay, and the group entered the train.

"Oh yeah, where do you wish to go?" asked one of the men.

Erin thought for a bit, looked at her sister, whispered something in her ear, and then stood up straight.

"East Valley Station, near Galbadia Garden."

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A/N: Yes, I know that they should go back to Balamb Garden, but who wants to after they just left? Yes, I think I do have a plan for this story. Oh yeah, what does everyone think of Aires? I knew I would need a good intro for her, so I thought this would do!