Chapter 12
When they reached Nibelheim, they headed straight for Vincent's house. He wasn't home. Squall tried to leave Litta there, but she wouldn't be left behind. Once he thought about it, Squall was glad he hadn't left her alone again. Last time he had done that Litta had been carried off by Tseng.
"So where will Vincent be?" Squall didn't know, so he didn't answer her question. "Do you know where to look?" No answer. "Are you just going to ignore me?" Still no answer. "Fine then." She asked no more questions.
They walked into different areas of the town, but after a few hours, they had searched just about everywhere. "Are you going to talk to me now?"
Squall couldn't avoid not talking forever. "It's not that I didn't want to talk to you earlier, I just didn't have anything to say. I couldn't answer your questions so I said nothing."
"Well next time just say that."
"I'll try to remember that."
"So where do you think Vincent is?"
"I'm not sure. He never said where to find him, just where he would look for us."
"Where would he go to find out information?"
"I don't know that either. He doesn't talk much, and when he does he doesn't give a lot away about himself."
"So I've noticed." But he's not the only one who keeps things to himself. You don't share much either. "So where do you plan on going from here?"
"I thought we would head to Wutai and see if Yuffie's seen him. We'll decide where to go from there once we've talked to her." Litta nodded, and they headed out of Nibelheim. They walked until they reached the city and then picked up the pace a little. They reached Yuffie's just before dark.
"What are you guys doing here? Come in," she said after opening the door. They stepped inside, and Litta looked around but didn't see Vincent. "So what brings you to my home?"
"We were wondering if you had seen Vincent lately. He hasn't stopped by here recently has he?"
Yuffie thought for a moment, then said, "Nope. Haven't seen him since we split up the last time I saw you guys. Why?" She obviously isn't that worried, or else she's really good at hiding it, thought Litta.
"Nothing has happened as far as we know; we're just trying to find Vincent. I thought he might have come to see you."
"Why did you guys split up?"
"Vincent was going to search for information about Sephiroth, and I was going to see an old friend about Litta."
"Did he tell you where he was going? Never mind, he doesn't say much and least of all what he's going to do. Well, are you hungry?" Squall stared at her for a minute, unsure if he'd heard her right.
"We need to find Vincent," he said after he was sure of what he'd heard.
"But you need some food for the journey. Surely you won't deny being even a little hungry?" He couldn't deny it, so they had some supper. He also gave in when Litta begged to be allowed one good night sleep before they started off again. They went to bed, planning on an early start the next morning.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
He lay on the table, not moving or showing any signs of life. Only the screens on the monitors proved he was still alive. Another man walked into the room, and went to the man on the table.
"Still unconscious I see. Well you'll be awake in a few moments." He pulled a lever, and one of the bars on the monitor began moving. The man on the table stirred, and slowly opened his eyes.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"You know what I want. It's the means of getting what I want that you don't know." He pushed a button and a needle began injecting fluid into the man's arm.
"I won't tell you anything Rufus. You know me better than that."
"You won't tell me anything willingly, but there are ways of forcing you to talk. And one of them is being pumped into your blood right now. So tell me Vincent, where is Litta?"
"I don't know."
"Come now, you'll tell me soon enough. Where did you send her with Squall? Where did you tell them to hide?"
"I didn't tell them anything. I have no idea where they are, nor would I tell you if I did."
"Hmmm, maybe this drug isn't as strong as I thought. Perhaps I need to resort to some older methods of persuasion." Rufus left the room, but the door didn't close all the way behind him. He was talking to someone right outside the door. "...any news?" asked Rufus.
"Nothing...disappeared again...couldn't find them..." said the other voice.
"Find them...at all costs..."
"But we don't know..."
"I don't care...just do it..." Rufus came back in. "It seems that your friends know not to leave any clues as to where they are. Or where they're going. I will ask you one more time, where-", but before he could finish his question, another Turk came into the room.
"Sir, we know where they are."
"Good. Take Rude with you, and go after them. You know what to do with them." Another man walked in as the Turk left. Rufus whispered something to the man, who only nodded as Rufus left the room.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Litta woke up suddenly, but did not move. She had a strange feeling that something was wrong. As her eyes began to adjust to the dark, she saw someone standing in the corner. Squall would have just woken me up. But who else could it be? Wait, maybe it's, no. That's not possible. It was just a dream.
She lay there quietly, trying hard to make sure her breathing remained regular. Eventually, another man came into the room and motioned for the man in her room to talk outside. Once he was out and the door was closed, Litta jumped out of bed. She quickly got her guns and loaded them. She quietly climbed out her window and closed it when she was outside.
She crawled along the wall until she came to Yuffie's room. She looked inside the room, but didn't see her anywhere. Her bed was empty and things had been thrown everywhere. She crawled past the window quickly and came to Squall's room. Squall was pacing on the inside, but did not appear to know that the house had visitors. As she tried to open the window, Squall came over and unlocked it for her.
"What are you doing out there?" he asked her.
"Have long have you been awake?" she asked him instead of answering.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Do you know about the men in the house, or where Yuffie is?" He obviously didn't know, because he took a step back in shock.
"What men? And what were you doing outside on the wall?"
"I woke up from a dream and there was a man in my room. He was called out by another man, so I took that chance to leave. I crawled out my window and came to Yuffie's room. She wasn't in there, and the things in her room had been thrown everywhere. That's when I came to your window. What were you doing up?"
"It's nothing to worry about. What was your dream about?" She hesitated. Should I tell him? What if it's true? What if Vincent is dead or being tortured? Will he even know what to do?
"It was a bit of a longer dream, but I'm not sure about it. I saw Vincent talking with Rufus, but Vincent was strapped to a table. The Turks found out where we were. Rufus told something to a man, something that had to do with Vincent, but I couldn't tell what he said. Do you think it's-" but Squall held up his hand to silence her. There were voices coming from outside Squall's door.
"I want you to stay down and out of sight," he whispered. "Do you understand?" She nodded. He pushed her back into the closet, and he crept behind the bed. The door opened, and the light came on.
The two men Litta had seen were now standing in Squall's room. From the clothes they were wearing, they were Turks. They looked around, then turned to leave. Before they could both get out of the door, Squall had jumped up from behind the bed and grabbed one around the neck from behind. He slammed the door on the other one and locked it.
"What are you doing here?" Squall asked him.
"Don't tell me you don't know what we're doing here. And I thought you were smarter than that."
"Tell me why Rufus sent you here Tseng."
"Where is she Squall?"
"Who?"
"Litta. That's all we want."
"That's never been all you want. Where is Yuffie? And Vincent?"
"Your friend Yuffie has been taken to Shin-Ra already. As for Vincent, Rufus is dealing with him."
"What does Rufus want with Vincent?" The door was knocked down before Tseng could answer. Rude charged at Squall without giving him enough time to get his blade out. Squall was knocked into the wall. He slumped to the floor, but Litta couldn't tell if he was unconscious or not.
"Leave him Rude. We have to find that girl." But Litta had come out of the closet, remembering her resolve to fight by Squall's side.
"You want to find me?" She asked. They both turned towards her.
"Well, that makes our job a lot easier. If you will come quietly, things will go much smoother."
"You know I won't go anywhere with you, especially back to see Rufus." She pulled out her gun, but Tseng was a few seconds faster. He fired, and she dodged.
"It seems you know how to dodge, yet unable to defend yourself. How sad."
"I can defend myself just fine." She fired a shot at Tseng. Then she fired a few more shots at Rude, who had been inching his way towards her.
"You hit Rude, very nice. But you still missed me." He fired, and instead of hitting Litta, hit Squall. "If you come with us, I'll heal him. If you try to heal him yourself, I'll stop you. If you don't come with us, I'll personally make sure he dies. It's your choice." She stood for only a moment before acting.
She shot Tseng, who had unwisely lowered his gun. She then quickly healed Squall, who still had not regained consciousness. She looked back at Tseng. He had healed himself and had finished healing Rude. He looked back at her.
"Nice try, but I can still kill Squall. At the moment though, my job it to collect you. So if you won't come quietly-"
"You know I won't come at all."
"- then I'll take you by force."
"That's not going to work. I won't come with you."
"It'll work just fine. Hold on." His phone was ringing and he picked it up. "I'm just about to bring her...yes, I know...we ran into...but I was able to..." He hung up the phone a little disgusted.
"Rufus?" Litta asked.
"I'm afraid we'll have to continue this discussion some other time. Rude." They left without another word. Litta ran to see if Squall was conscious. He was coming around when she heard an explosion outside. Then another followed.
"Squall, I have to get you out of here. Can you walk yet?" He didn't respond, so she dragged him behind her as she made her way down the stairs. When they reached the first floor, she saw what the explosions were. Tseng had set the house on fire, or at least she thought it was Tseng.
Why would they set the house on fire? Squall wondered. Litta's too important for them to try to kill her. They might be trying to kill me, only they know she won't leave without me.
As Litta was heading towards the back door, she heard something that made her blood stand still.
"How nice to see you again Litta." Sephiroth.
"What do you want?" Litta asked.
"I'm not allowed to pay a visit to my only daughter?"
"I asked you what you want."
"And I told you. I want to see my daughter. Not that I'm happy about the company she's with." He was looking at Squall.
"Squall has nothing to do with this. Why are you here? If you had wanted to see me, you would have been here sooner."
"True, I could have come to get you any time. But I had to see to some things first."
"Did you set the house on fire?"
"Yes," he said simply.
"Why?"
"I'm afraid I made a mistake, but that doesn't matter right now."
"Well unless you're going to tell me, I'm leaving."
"Why don't we continue this conversation elsewhere, away from fire and smoke. And," he added, "unwanted company."
"I'm not leaving Squall."
"If he were in your position, he wouldn't hesitate to save his own skin. Don't you realize that?"
"You don't know anything about Squall then. Now if we're finished," but Sephiroth had grabbed her wrist before she could leave.
"I said we would continue this conversation elsewhere, which is what I plan to do." He dragged her out the door and continued to walk into the forest. He stopped after they had walked a safe distance from the house. Litta noticed that there was smoke in a different direction than Yuffie's house.
"Where else have you been?" she asked Sephiroth.
"Just around the city."
"Did you happen to set the rest of the city on fire?"
"I may have destroyed a few other worthless homes, but nothing to worry about my dear."
"Did you kill anyone?" she asked with forced calmness. She was close to killing Sephiroth herself.
"A few nameless persons may have been fatally wounded, but that's not important."
"NOT IMPORTANT!" She was beyond furious now. She laid Squall a little ways away, so she'd be able to get to him first should she need to.
"Yes child, not im-"
"Do NOT call me child. I have been perfectly fine without you and will continue to do so. And those people you killed were very important! How can you even say otherwise?" She paused to try to calm her anger. Sephiroth seized this moment to play off her anger.
"You do not know these people though. You do not know what kind of people they were. They could have been thieves or worse. So to stand up for them is a waste of your time and energy."
"There is no way," Litta said in an icy voice, "that you can possibly be my father. We have absolutely nothing in common."
"I'm afraid you're wrong there. You are a quick learner concerning magic and weapons, as was I when I was younger."
"I don't want to hear anything else from you. Everything you say is a lie."
"Not true. I have spoken nothing but the truth about Squall. Can you prove me wrong?" She thought for a moment. She couldn't think of anything he had said about Squall.
"What have you said about Squall before now?" Hopefully he'll say something I can prove wrong.
"Back when I was training you, I told you he would abandon you. What happened in Balamb?"
He left me and I was kidnapped. But he went to talk to a friend, he didn't abandon me. And he came after me when he found out I was gone. "He had to talk to a friend and didn't want me there," she told Sephiroth. "When he found out that I was gone he came after me. Anything else?"
"Also during your training I told you he wouldn't care if you were injured. He would just put on a show so he wouldn't look heartless. What happened when these so-called 'friends' of yours tried to train you?"
Irvine shot me, and was out of magic. He didn't know that, and he took me to Squall who healed me. It did seem to take a long time. "I got shot, but Squall healed me."
"Didn't it seem to take a long time?"
"Yes, but they were trying to find someone who could heal me. Is that all you have?"
"No, but I think that's all I need. I know you are beginning to doubt your friends. I can read the expression on your face."
As Litta and Sephiroth had been talking, Squall had slowly become aware of things. He had stood up slowly, and had ended up behind Sephiroth. He was about ready to charge, when Sephiroth had said that last sentence. The last thing he wanted was to lose Litta's trust, so he charged with his blade out.
"I only have one thing left to do now." He turned from the confused Litta to Squall. He quickly drew all Squall's magic and flew off in the direction of Shin-Ra. Squall had been so surprised, and Litta was still confused, that neither of them was able to avoid the collision.
Squall quickly realized why Sephiroth had drawn all his magic, for now he was unable to heal Litta. The gash he had given her was long and deep. It was bleeding badly, and she needed help.
"Litta, I'm so sorry." He didn't know what else to say.
"I know. It's all right." She slowly raised her hand, which took a great amount of effort. She used her own magic and healed herself up. She sat up very quickly, and for a brief moment her lips were locked with Squall's. He pulled away quickly, which caused Litta to come back to reality. "I know you couldn't stop yourself from hitting me."
"Those things that Sephiroth told you, about me, they're not true. You know that, don't you?" Litta wasn't sure how to answer. She didn't know if she believed Squall, or Sephiroth.
I need some time to sort things out. To figure out for myself what's going on. I can't keep taking everyone's word for things. I'll go crazy if I do. And if Squall doesn't feel the same way I do, then maybe Sephiroth is right.
"Litta?" She still hadn't answered him.
"I...need some time to, I mean," she paused. "Goodbye Squall." She took off running before he had time to register what she had said.
End of Part 1