Chapter 7

Cloud hadn't said much more to Danis when Vincent came back to relieve him.

"Where did you go?" he asked.

"You can leave. I'll watch her now." Cloud just shrugged and walked out.

"So where did you go?" Danis questioned.

"I wanted to check out your story, that's all."

"So you talked to Litta?" she asked him. Vincent shook his head.

"Did you talk to Cloud at all?"

"Not really. Just a question and an answer, that's all."

"Is it worth being a Turk?" he asked her suddenly.

"What?"

"Is it worth being a Turk?" Vincent repeated. At first Danis didn't reply. She thought for a minute before she answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you enjoy it?"

"Of course I do!"

"Are you happy taking other people's lives?"

"If they deserve it."

"How do you know if they deserve it or not?"

"Rufus tells us."

"And you trust Rufus?" Again she thought about the question.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"It's not wise to answer a question with a question."

"I don't really care."

"I can tell." Danis couldn't reply to that. Instead, she sat on her bed and faced a different direction. She refused to look at Vincent the rest of the time he was in there.

When everyone had gone to bed, she thought about what Vincent had said. Do I really enjoy this? Always having to be on my guard? Is it worth it? I haven't come any closer to getting Sephiroth. They seem nice, and yet Rufus is after them. But for what? He never said what they did. Well he mentioned Litta. We all know there's something strange about her. She was still thinking when she heard shouts coming from another room. She got up and ran into Cloud's room, followed by Vincent. Cloud was arguing and fighting with Reno.

"I'm warning you Reno. Get out or I'll kill you!"

"Like you did last time? You didn't kill me then and you won't kill me now." Both turned when the door opened, so they knew who was in there. "Danis, get Vincent's guns." She turned right into the barrel of one of her own guns. Vincent still had them.

"That might be a problem," she said.

"Why is-" he stopped when he saw what happened. "You can't do anything right, can you?"

"No, that would be your department."

"What?" They were concentrating on arguing, so Cloud grabbed Reno's gun and put it to his back. "See what you've done Danis! Now Cloud has my gun!"

"Well if you had been paying attention you might have been able to see him coming!"

"So this is my fault!" Danis didn't reply.

"Enough arguing," Cloud told them. "Reno, hand over any other weapons you have."

"I don't feel like it."

"Now," Cloud told him. Reno ignored him. Cloud had had enough, so he rammed the butt of the gun into Reno's back. Reno bent down in what looked like pain. But then he jumped up and grabbed his gun from Cloud.

"Looks like I have some control again."

"Not quite," Vincent told him. "I still have one of your Turks at my mercy." Reno turned and looked at Danis again.

"Kill her. She wasn't a good Turk anyways." Reno took off out of the room, leaving a confused Cloud and a furious Turk.

"We never got along," she offered. Cloud walked into the hallway and saw Litta's door open. He ran in, but he had already given Reno enough time. Squall was on the floor and Litta was gone. The window was wide open.

"We have to get her back." Squall got up from off the floor.

"We'll have to wait until morning," Cloud said quietly.

"If we wait until morning she'll already be with Rufus!"

"We can't leave now. Get some sleep and we'll leave in the morning." Cloud left Squall in the room. He went back to talk to Vincent.

"He took her?" Cloud nodded.

"What do we do with her?" Cloud asked about Danis.

"We'll take her with us."

"We're leaving in the morning, so get some sleep now." Vincent took Danis back to her room. No one got much sleep the rest of the night.

--------

"Let me go!" Litta tried to break free of Reno's grip.

"Stop squirming." Reno was not in a happy mood. He had had a car waiting outside the hotel, which he was now driving.

"Did you fail your driver's test?" He had almost run them off the side of the road.

"I can drive just fine. I'm just not used to having to keep stupid girls in their seats." He again was pushing her back down in her seat. She had been attempting to climb out the window.

"Maybe if you tried asking politely, a certain girl would listen to you."

"All right, fine. Would you please stay in your seat?" he asked sarcastically. Litta looked as though she were considering it.

"No." And with that she opened the door and rolled out. Reno did an about face and pressed the gas. He was coming straight for her. She had just enough time to see the car coming when it hit her.

"You stupid, disrespectful girl!" Litta was lying on the ground, still conscious. He stuffed her into the back seat of the car and drove to Shin-Ra.

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During the night, Danis had been up thinking about things. Vincent could have killed me. He had the gun to my head. Reno had even told him to, but he didn't. Why would he spare me? She fell asleep after a while, thoughts like these floating in her head. In the morning, Vincent woke up early. He had been watching Danis for a while, seeing her emotions run across her face. He got up quietly now and headed to Cloud's room.

"You're up." Cloud let him in. "Did Danis give you any trouble?"

"No. She was thinking about some things before she fell asleep, but she didn't say anything. She's still sleeping."

"Do you ever sleep? Do you need to?"

"I had a very long nap in the middle of my life." Cloud laughed.

"So what brought you to my door?"

"I was wondering if you were up. Seeing that you are, I wanted to know how early you wanted to get started."

"I was just figuring on leaving when everyone was up. Was there any time in particular you were hoping to leave at?"

"I was just wondering. That's all." He walked back into Danis' room. She was awake. "Did you sleep well?"

"You could say that." She sat up and looked around. "It's still early, isn't it?"

"Yes. We're going to head to Shin-Ra when Squall gets up." He watched again as she began thinking.

"I see," was all she said. Vincent left her to her thoughts, positive that she would be there when he came back.

Squall was the last to wake up. I hope Litta's all right. I should have been paying more attention when Reno came in here. He got up and walked straight to Cloud's room. The door opened before he had even knocked.

"I'm surprised at you Squall. You're the last one to wake up." Squall was shocked.

"It's still early. Are you saying everyone is already up?" Cloud nodded.

"We'll leave as soon as you're ready."

"Then let's go." Cloud grabbed Vincent and Danis, while Squall went back for his sword. Once he had it he joined the others. They left at six in the morning.

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Litta sat in the back seat, trying not to move and especially trying not to provoke Reno. He was in a bad enough mood as it was. She moved a little to get her arm out from under her. She was beginning to get comfortable when they arrived at Shin-Ra.

"What did you do to her Reno?" She looked up and saw Rufus looking at Reno.

"I got her here, just like you asked." Reno headed towards the door.

"I'm not through talking to you. For now, take her to her room. And I don't mean a cell. I need to discuss some things with her." Reno threw her over his shoulder. He put her on her bed and left without a word. Rufus wasn't long in following him.

"How are you doing?"

"Besides being beat up and hit by a car, I'm doing just fine."

"I'm sorry about Reno's treatment of you. I really expected-"

"I don't really care what you expected. What matters is what happened. And what happened is I got hit by a car."

"Yes, yes. How exactly did that happen?"

"I opened the door and jumped out, trying to get away. He turned the car around and hit the gas. He came straight at me."

"I see." He began pacing around the room, thinking. He cleared his throat when he turned back to her. "I came up here originally to discuss your job as a Turk."

"What of it?"

"I'm wondering if you are now ready to come back to work after that vacation."

"Vacation! You call being kidnapped part of my vacation?" She couldn't keep from laughing.

"I don't find this amusing," he said dryly.

"No, you wouldn't. So what about my being a Turk? Do you think I'm still your employee?"

"I was under that impression. If you are hoping to get out of working for me, you know what that means."

"Oh yes, I'm going to die. Forgive me if I don't take your threat seriously this time." She tried to control her laughter this time when she saw the look on Rufus' face.

"You might die eventually, yes, but your friends would die first." She lost all desire to laugh.

"You could have killed them when they tried to take me away before, but they lived. You could have had Reno kill them when he was getting me, but he didn't. Your threats don't seem to have anything to back them up." She could tell she was getting to Rufus. "I don't plan on ever working for you again," she continued when he remained silent. "And if you think you can kill me, just wait 'till my father hears what you've done. I'm sure you don't want to deal with him." That was the last straw.

"You will work for me again. But just to make sure of it, I'll kill one of your friends right in front of you. And I'll let you pick him out. Perhaps it'll be your closest friend of all. What was his name again?" He thought for a minute and then answered his own question at her door. "Oh yes, Squall." He shut the door before Litta could tackle him. When she hit the door, she fell to the ground even weaker than before. She lay there for a while. She then slowly began making her way back to her bed. When she reached her bed, she was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

They were trapped. No way out. The entrance to the cave was sealed off, the avalanche having covered it with a very thick layer of snow.

"How are we going to get out of this?" Litta asked.

"How should I know?" Tseng replied.

"You're the reason we're in this mess," Squall said.

"That doesn't matter right now," Litta pointed out. "We need to concentrate on finding a way out."

"Or at least staying warm," Tseng added.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Litta woke up feeling strangely cold. That's strange. It's not actually cold in my room. And yet... Tseng chose that moment to walk in.

"Rufus wants to talk with you." He left. She got up and went to see Rufus.

"I was told you wanted to see me." Rufus was standing by the window.

"Yes. I have your next mission ready for you."

"I told you before. I'm not a Turk anymore."

"And I told you that I would kill Squall if you didn't." Litta stopped to think. He did seem pretty upset when I was talking with him. I wouldn't put it past him to kill Squall. And I don't want Squall to die. Maybe I can just pretend for a while.

"What kind of mission is this?"

"I would like you and Tseng to go to Yultown. Sans has been on vacation there, but I need you to bring him back here."

"Why?"

"I need him for some work. That's all."

"When would I be leaving?"

"Right away. You'll need to wear some warmer clothes; the mountains are covered with snow right now."

"Okay. I'll work for you again." She was almost out when he said one more thing.

"Oh, and if I find out you're lying to me, I will kill Squall." Litta knew she had no choice. She had to become a full-fledged Turk again to keep Squall alive. She continued on her way out and bumped into Tseng.

"Ready for your mission?"

"Like you care." She left him standing in the hall before he decided to follow her.

"When you're ready to leave, meet me downstairs in the auto shop." She nodded and shut her door.

Bring warm clothes he says. He's probably just trying to make me look like an idiot in front of Tseng. She grabbed a knife in addition to her guns. She headed down to meet Tseng. Tseng led the way, and Litta just followed without thinking.

"Where are we heading again?" She was hoping to find out where they were really headed, believing Rufus lied about the mountains.

"Didn't Rufus tell you that?" That would explain why she doesn't have a coat or anything, he thought. "We're heading into the mountains, which are probably covered in snow."

"So Rufus wasn't lying?"

"No." Litta said nothing but began wondering how she was going to stay warm.

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"Where is she Rufus?" Squall demanded.

"Where is who?" This time Cloud answered.

"You know who."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. Nor do I know why you have my Turk," he was referring to Danis.

"You know why we have her," Vincent told him. "You sent her to get Litta, but instead we have her. When Reno took Litta, he didn't care enough about Danis to bother taking her with him."

"Yes. I talked to Reno about that. But since you brought her back to me, I suppose I might be able to give you what little information I have concerning Litta." Squall listened closely. "She's heading to Yultown with Tseng. They left about an hour ago, give or take a few minutes."

"Why is she going there?" Squall asked.

"You'll have to ask Tseng about that." Rufus knew exactly what he was doing. Squall did an about face and marched right out. "I guess she's important to him."

"Shut up Rufus. Since we got what we came for, we'll be going now."

"I don't think so," said Reno. He had his gun in the back of Vincent's head. "Let go of Danis. Good. Danis, get his guns." When Vincent was void of his weapons, he was guarded by Danis while Reno took Cloud away.

"You know what to do with him Danis," Rufus told her. She nodded and took him out.

"I actually thought you were on our side," Vincent told her.

"Ssh. I am on your side. But the less Rufus knows the better. It won't be long before he finds out anyways."

"You can let me-" he stopped himself. If she let him go, Reno would know she wasn't a Turk. "Never mind." She nodded and kept him moving, a little less aggressively.

Yultown: another new city built during Litta's absence, such as Maetar