Chapter 8

Tseng and Litta had been walking for almost an hour when they hit the mountains. Litta found out that Rufus had been telling her the truth. The mountains were covered in snow, and it was cold.

"So how far is Yultown?"

"We're about forty minutes away. We might have to stop every so often to warm up or let a storm pass."

"Oh." They had only walked for a few minutes when someone came up behind Tseng and hit him on the back of the head.

"How nice to see you Squall."

"Come on Litta, we're going," Squall said. Litta looked from Squall to Tseng. From the look on Tseng's face she knew Rufus had told him what to do if she wasn't a Turk.

"No."

"What?"

"I said no, I'm not going with you." Instead of arguing, he picked her up and put her over his shoulder. "Put me down!" She hit his back with her hands.

"No."

"Do not mess with the Turks Squall," Tseng warned.

"She's not one of you."

"Yes I am, now put me down!" He didn't listen to her or Tseng. He just ran. She could see Tseng running after them. Squall turned around for one second then continued running. He wasn't looking where he was running and he ran into a cave.

"Your trapped Squall, so put me down!" She continued hitting him, but he just shifted her to his other shoulder. She gave up.

"You can't get away from me now Squall." Tseng had followed him in and was now blocking the entrance.

"Move away Tseng."

"You're not in a position to threaten me Squall. Put her down and I won't kill you."

"Listen to me Tseng. I'm not putting her down so you'll just have to deal with it."

"Fine." Tseng pulled out his gun and fired at Squall. He dodged the bullet and jumped to the side. Litta fell off his shoulder and hit the ground, Squall landed on top of her. Then Litta heard something outside the cave entrance. It was a rumbling sound. She looked over and saw a sheet of white outside.

"Tseng you idiot! You caused an avalanche!" Litta screamed. Squall and Tseng both looked outside. Squall glared at him. Tseng said nothing.

"Didn't you realize you could cause an avalanche?" Squall asked. "Who knows how thick that layer of snow is!"

"Squall," Tseng said calmly, "please get off of Litta." Squall looked down.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's fine," she snapped at him. When he started to get up, she pushed him off the rest of the way. "Why did you have to come after me Squall?"

"You'd rather be with him?"

"Answer my question."

"I heard that you were going to Yultown with Tseng."

"Who told you that?"

"Rufus."

"What else did he tell you?"

"Nothing. It wouldn't have mattered though. I was coming after you because I thought you'd be happy to be away from Tseng."

"Well you shouldn't have come." Squall was shocked.

"You heard it from her Squall. She wants to be with people that are like her: Turks."

"She's not a Turk! She can't be!"

"I am Squall. You're just going to have to deal with it."

"But why? They don't care about you. They just care that you get your work done."

"Well because of you Squall," Tseng interrupted, "we're not going to get our job done."

"Who cares about your stupid job. We're stuck in a cave right now, behind a wall of snow because of the bullet you fired."

"I wouldn't have fired my bullet at you and caused the avalanche if you hadn't taken Litta."

"I wouldn't have had to take Litta if Reno hadn't kidnapped her!"

"We wouldn't have had to kidnap her if you hadn't interfered with Turk business and kidnapped her from us."

"I wouldn't have had to kidnap her if you hadn't forced her to become a Turk!"

"ENOUGH!" Litta put herself between Squall and Tseng. "Stop arguing. It's not getting us anywhere. We need to concentrate on getting out of here." Squall headed to the back of the cave, while Tseng headed to the entrance. Squall searched for a way out besides the way in. Tseng tried to find out how thick the layer of snow was.

"There isn't a way out in the back," Squall announced.

"I think we are going to have to wait until this snow melts. I doubt anyone is going to find us, and this snow is pretty thick from what I can tell," Tseng told them.

"How long is that going to take?" Litta asked.

"I'm not sure," Tseng said honestly.

"We can't just sit here and wait," Squall said. He looked to where Litta had been standing, but she had moved to the entrance of the cave. "Litta, what are you doing?"

"I have a knife with me. I'm going to use it to try to dig through this snow."

"Litta, that is going to take you forever," Tseng reasoned.

"Then stop distracting me!" She continued chipping away at the snow, which had now hardened into ice. Squall pulled Tseng over to the side to talk. He lowered his voice so Litta wouldn't be able to hear.

"Why were you bringing her up here?"

"We were assigned to bring someone from Yultown back to Rufus."

"So you expect me to believe that you're up here just because of a job?"

"Whatever you choose to believe is up to you. But I want to ask you something. Why did you think I was bringing Litta up here?" Tseng headed over to where Litta was sitting. Squall stayed where he was. What did I think? She obviously gets along with him just fine, but she gets along with me too. She can't really like him. Rufus must have told me what he did so I'd get worked up and come after her. I'm such a fool!

"Litta, aren't you cold yet?" Tseng asked.

"No. Working on the ice is keeping me warm." That didn't make a whole lot of sense. "If that makes any sense to you," she added. He just smiled.

"It seems that the doubts Rufus had about you were unnecessary."

"What doubts?" Just keep it up. With Squall here now, I can't let either know that I'm not a Turk. Squall will die if I let it slip.

"He thought you might be lying about working for him again. Becoming a Turk after your vacation."

"He mentioned that to me too."

"Did he? What did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything. I was already leaving when he said it. What did he tell you?"

"I already told you." Just not the part when he told me to kill Squall if I found out you were lying about being a Turk, he thought.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." She went back to work on the ice for a minute. "I'm gonna stretch my legs a little. I'll leave my knife in case you want to work on the ice." Tseng merely nodded. She headed past Squall, who was sitting against the wall, deeper into the cave. I wonder how deep it goes. It didn't take Squall long to find there was no way out. Maybe he overlooked something...or maybe he's hoping I'll go with him in the middle of the night when Tseng's asleep.

As she walked, she loaded a gun and put it back. Just in case. She reached the back of the cave quickly. She kicked a rock in disgust. She waited, but soon realized she never heard the rock hit the wall. She ran her hand over the bottom of the wall where she thought the rock should have hit.

"There you are," she mumbled to herself. She found a small whole in the wall. Before she could do anything else, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around swiftly and grabbed the person around the neck. She then put her gun to his head.

"Calm down Litta, it's me, Squall." She released him. "What were you thinking or planning?"

"Nothing. What are you doing down here?"

"Just wondering why you were still gone. You had said you wanted to stretch your legs, but there's not much room for that."

"Yes, I see that. Well actually, I can't really see much of anything down here."

"It is pretty dark." For a moment neither said anything. "So, why did you rejoin the Turks?" I can't risk telling him. Tseng might be nearby.

"That's none of your business." She turned and walked back to the wall of ice. Tseng had begun using her knife to chip away at the ice. He hadn't made much progress. "You haven't made a lot of progress since I left."

"I guess I just don't know how to do it properly. Would you mind teaching me?"

"Not at all. You take your knife or tool in your hand, and hold it like this." She took the knife from his hands and placed it differently. "Now think of the thing that makes you so angry you could kill someone, the thing that makes you angriest."

"Okay."

"Now think about whatever that is and pretend that this ice is what's making you angry. That if you get through and destroy this ice, your problem will be gone." She watched him turn to the ice again. He chipped away at it like she had been before. She left him to work at it for a while. She sat down a little ways away from Tseng, but still farther away from Squall.

"Are you trying to avoid me now?" Squall came over and sat by her.

"No. I'm just sitting here, that's all."

"How did you get Tseng to work like that?"

"I just told him to pretend that the ice was the memory that made him the angriest."

"Oh. What memory was that for you?"

"I have plenty of memories to choose from that make me angry. You know, Sephiroth, Reno, you," Squall couldn't resist.

"Me? Why me?"

"Oh please. You know we didn't get along when we first met."

"We got along okay."

"Right. When I asked you for directions the very first time I met you, you would have rather let me find it on my own. Then," she kept going when Squall began to interrupt, "you never let me defend myself when we were with Zell and Irvine."

"There's more to it than that."

"You never told me what, mind telling me now?"

"No. It's that Irvine obviously liked you and he's a notorious ladies' man. I didn't think you would want to get to know him if you really knew who he was. I just didn't want to see another girl get hurt by him."

"Oh, how sweet," Tseng commented. He continued to work at the ice. He was definitely making progress. Squall ignored him.

"You could have told me that then, so I didn't think you were just being plain rude."

"You thought I was being rude for no reason?"

"I might have..." She let the thought linger, wanting to see Squall's reaction.

"What else have you ever thought about me?"

"I thought you'd never ask. Over the time I've spent with you, and under careful consideration, I find you to be the most rude, obnoxious, self-centered, introverted, chauvinistic example of the male species that I have ever met." She was able to keep her face straight while saying all this.

"Oh really!" He acted offended. Tseng laughed silently.

"Would you like to tell me what you thought of me when we first met?"

"I would indeed. As I have reflected upon the time when we met, I consider you to be an immature, childish, brown-nosing, lying, self-righteous, self-seeking, ignorant girl with no original ideas of her own."

"How dare you," she said indignantly. She made to slap him across the face, and he pretended to cower in fear. As she looked over the see Tseng's reaction, she noticed he seemed, if at all possible, to be working on the ice even more intensely.

"I see you decided not to slap me." Litta turned back around to look into Squall's mocking face.

"You have seen unwisely." She slapped him across the cheek, a little harder than she had meant. I can't say I'm sorry. Tseng will start catching on.

"When you want to slap someone, you really slap them."

"I didn't mean to slap you that hard. I had only meant to barely hit you."

"That's it. I've had enough." Tseng came over to where they were sitting.

"Tseng, what's wrong?" Litta asked.

"He's just trying to get close to you, and you can't see it. So I'll show it to you." He pulled out his gun. Litta jumped up.

"Don't even think about using that thing Tseng. You'll start another avalanche," Litta told him.

"At this point I don't care how long we're stuck in here. If I can get rid of him, I'll be happy to die in here with you."

"Tseng, you don't want to die in here," Squall told him. "None of us do."

"Shut up or I'll shoot. If you can survive this, then stay away from Litta or you won't survive the next time you meet my gun."

"Tseng, he's not worth it," Litta tried again.

"Oh yes he is." Tseng fired one shot. Litta jerked his gun away while Squall jumped to the side. It was only a few seconds before they heard the rumbling again.

"Tseng!" Litta screamed. There were rocks falling above him. He didn't respond. Instead, he lunged at her and pushed her down. He covered her head. It last about ten minutes, but then it stopped. Tseng slowly got up, then helped her up. She looked around and saw that they were cut off from the entrance to the cave. Her knife was wedged under a rock, but that wasn't the only thing under the debris.

"Squall!" His left leg was under a huge rock. He was still conscious, and in a lot of pain. "Squall, can you hear me?"

"Yea," he said weakly.

"When I lift up this rock, I want you to try to move your leg." She lifted the rock a few inches from the ground. She saw his leg move a little, but not out of the way.

"I can't...move it."

"Tseng, help me."

"No."

"Tseng!"

"You heard me." He moved off to the other end of the cave.

"Fine," she hissed. This time, she scooted the rock instead of lifting it. Squall could still feel the pain, because he yelled out. "Sorry Squall, but I have to get this rock off your leg. This is the only way I can move it."

"Just...do it." They each took a deep breath. She moved the rock the final few inches and it was off his leg. Squall was trying to keep from screaming.

"It's okay. The rock's off your leg. Hopefully we can make you a brace or something to keep it still." Squall only nodded.

"Litta, why are you bothering with him?" Tseng asked her. She ignored him.

"Here," she told Squall. She took off her jean jacket. "Scream into this." He did. The sound was muffled enough that Tseng said nothing. Litta looked around for something to make a brace with.

"Tseng, is there any wood over there?" Tseng was now ignoring her. "And Squall called me childish," she said under her breath. She found one piece of wood, then another. They were a little wet, but they would work. She made her way back to Squall. She formed the wood around his leg, careful not to move it to much. "Can I see my jacket?" she asked. When he handed it to her, she used it to tie the brace together.

"Litta, keep your jacket."

"No. I know you don't have any magic, nor do I. And I won't bother asking Tseng to use his if he has any. This is more important."

"You need to stay warm."

"I am warm. And if I do start getting cold I'll work at getting through this rubble." Squall seemed somewhat satisfied. She carefully moved him away from the fallen rocks. When he was comfortable, she went over to Tseng.

"Is he so important to you that you can't stand to see him hurt?"

"I would do the same for you Tseng, you know that."

"Because it's part of your job."

"No, because I hate seeing people in pain. No matter who they are, I'm going to do what I can to help them."

"You're too good of a person, you know that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're too nice. People will try to take advantage of you for that."

"I won't let people take advantage of me."

"You won't always know when they are." Litta shrugged.

"Oh," she turned back to him. "Thanks for pushing me out of the way earlier."

"Your welcome. Just guaranteeing that the next time I'm hurt you'll return the favor." Litta went back to check on Squall, but he had fallen asleep.

"I wonder what time it is. I forgot my watch when we left," Litta remembered.

"I don't know. I think I'll try to sleep a little though. When you start falling asleep, wake me up and I'll stay up." He leaned back against the wall and was asleep in a few minutes.

"And while you're sleeping, I'll see where that hole leads to." She got up and went back. The avalanche had widened it some, but she still had to squeeze through. When she was on the other side, it was pitch black. She pulled out her knife. It had a hidden flashlight on the end of it.

She looked in all directions, then down. If she had taken one more step forward, it was a long fall. I'll have to watch where I'm going. She walked along the edge until she came to a sort of catwalk. It was about two feet wide, so she walked slowly. On the other side she found another cave. The cave only led deeper into the mountain. After taking every passage she found, she knew there was no way out from down here. She quickly made her way back, careful to shut off the light before going back through the hole. When she was back through, Tseng woke up.

"What are you doing over there?"

"Just walking around. Don't worry, I'm fine. Go ahead and go back to sleep." Tseng did as she suggested. She sat back down, but she could feel sleep overwhelming her. She fell asleep ten minutes after Tseng.

Litta woke up somewhat warmer than she had expected. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She noticed Tseng's jacket on her, then an arm around her. She stood up quickly and saw Tseng. He was still sleeping.

"Did you sleep well?" Squall on the other hand was not sleeping. Litta turned towards him.

"It's not what it looks like."

"Oh really. How about you tell me what it is then, and we'll see if it's not what it looks like."

"I don't know why he was next to me. The last thing I remember is telling him to go to sleep. I guess I fell asleep too. But he was sitting over there." She pointed across from her.

"So you have no idea why Tseng had his arm around you and you have his jacket on?" She quickly threw Tseng's jacket on the ground.

"No. I woke up as surprised as you."

"You didn't look surprised when you woke up."

"Why were you up so early?"

"I wake up early everyday. It's a habit."

"Why were you watching me?"

"There isn't much else to look at, is there?" She stopped herself from asking him about it further. "How's your leg doing?"

"It's okay, I guess. Still hurts, but not so bad."

"Hopefully it's not broken then."

"Hopefully." They fell silent, each thinking. Litta looked back over at Tseng, who was now awake.

"You're up," he commented.

"Yes. What happened last night?"

"I woke up and you were shivering. I put my jacket on you and sat next to you to try to keep you warm." Like that's all you were doing, Squall thought. We need to get out of here soon or we're all going to kill each other.