Chapter 3

When Cloud woke up, he went into Litta and Danis' room to see if they were up. He was thinking about talking to Litta about her past, but saw that Litta wasn't in the room. He looked to the other bed and saw that Danis wasn't either. Looks like some Turks have been here.

"Squall, Vincent, wake up."

"What's wrong?" Vincent asked.

"Litta and Danis are gone. They were taken in the middle of the night."

"What!" Squall jumped up and ran into their room. Cloud and Vincent followed him.

"So do we go after them, again?" Vincent asked.

"Of course we do," Squall said. "We can't just leave them with the Turks!" Cloud looked to Vincent.

"I think Squall's right. Besides, we're going to need their help if we plan on fighting Sephiroth or Ultimacia."

"Or Jenova," Vincent added. Cloud nodded. They left the hotel and headed to Shin-Ra. They were there in an hour, during which there was no conversation. Squall was especially quiet, thinking about a lot of things.

Why are they still after her? They know she's not a Turk anymore. Would they want her for an experiment? And what about Danis? Are they trying to get her back? Maybe it has something to do our materia, but that can't be it either.

"Squall? You back on earth yet?" Squall jerked out of his thoughts and found both Vincent and Cloud looking at him.

"I'm fine." They made a plan, but were never able to carry it through.

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Litta woke up the next morning in pain. She had fallen off the cot and landed on the floor. Her wrist appeared to be sprained at the least. Oh great, like this makes things any better. Reno chose that moment to enter her cell.

"Having problems staying on the cot?" he asked. Litta didn't reply. "Well, maybe this will make things better. Rufus wants to talk to you in his office." Reno left her when she got there.

"Have a seat Litta," Rufus told her. She did so. "How was your sleep?"

"Besides being interrupted in the middle of the night and injuring myself during the other half, just peachy."

"How did you hurt yourself?"

"What do you want?" she asked instead.

"It seems that you and your friends forgot to turn in your materia and magic."

"And?"

"I said that anyone who did that would be punished. I plan on doing just that by first making you suffer. I hope you aren't too attached to Squall, because you're going to watch him die." Litta thought for a minute.

"But for that to happen you would need to have him." Rufus pressed a button and Reno walked in. He had Squall tied up and threw him into the room.

"Yes I did realize that. And as you can see, I've covered that aspect. But now Reno will take you and you can watch him die the slow and painful death I promised you. When that's done, there are some other things I'd like to discuss with you." Litta didn't know what to say. Reno grabbed her and Squall and brought them to an empty room.

"Stand back and watch," he told her. "Try to stop me and you'll regret it." Litta didn't know what to do. Squall was finally regaining consciousness. Reno punched him in the stomach. Squall looked up at Reno, then to Litta.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Shut up!" Reno punched him in the stomach again. When Squall fell down, Reno kicked him in the stomach repeatedly. Then he pulled Squall up by the hair and rammed him into the wall.

"Stop it Reno!" Litta screamed.

"Oh, so you care about him?"

"No one deserves this."

"No. People like you do," he told her.

"What is she doing in here?" Squall asked.

"I told you to shut up!" Another punch. "When she left the Turks, she put into affect a detail in her contract."

"And that detail would be?"

"She has to watch you die." Reno threw Squall into the wall, then kicked him in the chest. Litta stood for a while, but couldn't stand it any longer. She pulled Reno's electric rod and shocked him with it. "You little-"

"I'm not going to let you kill Squall. Or at least I'm not going to stand by and watch." She shocked him again and he came after her. Squall slumped to the floor.

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Danis woke up with a strange feeling. She sat up and saw Krad sitting on the edge of her bed again.

"What do you want?"

"I'm supposed to bring you to Rufus when you wake up. You seem to be awake to me, so get up." She followed him the see Rufus.

"Nice to see you again Danis."

"Just get to the point."

"I see you haven't changed much. I have come to find out that you and your group of friends haven't turned in your materia or magic."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I have said that I would punish anyone found to have kept any materia or magic for themselves. I don't plan on letting you be the exception."

"And that means?"

"Krad will fill you in while you're leaving." Krad took her from Rufus and led her to another room.

"What's going on?" she asked. At first Krad didn't respond.

"Well," he said eventually, "we're going to find out how much stress and/or pain you can deal with."

"What does that have to do with materia!"

"It's not directly related, but it will happen just the same." Danis turned to the door but she was already locked in. She looked back at Krad who had something in his hands. No, not in his hands, on his hands, Danis thought.

"What are those?" she asked. She thought they looked like spikes.

"These are a little method of persuasion I use every so often. Rufus specifically said that this needed to be one of those times." Danis knew she was in trouble. She slowly backed away, but Krad came after her. He passed his fist across her stomach, leaving four gashes.

"Why are you doing this?"

"It's not what I want, but what Rufus wants. I personally would rather be doing something else, but he's the boss." He came at her again, but Danis saw it coming. She jumped out of the way at the last minute, causing him to get the spikes stuck in the wall. That won't hold him for long.

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Litta and Reno were both breathing hard. She had been using his electric rod against him, but now he had it back. She watched him, waiting for him to make the first move.

"I told you not to interfere or you'd be sorry. Now you're gonna pay!" He lunged at her and knocked her on the floor. She tried to get up but he held her down.

"Get off me!"

"No." He shocked her. She didn't scream, which made him shock her again. I can only take so much. If I don't get away now, I won't be able to save Squall. She used what was left of her strength to kick Reno off. He hit the wall hard but he recovered quickly. Litta dodged when he came after her, hitting the wall head first. She grabbed Squall and locked Reno inside. She heard something in one of the other rooms and decided to check it out. She heard Danis inside. Litta put Squall on the ground and kicked in the door.

Danis was on the ground, bleeding all over. Krad was sitting on her, keeping her from getting up or breathing. He looked at Litta.

"What are you doing here?" He got off Danis.

"I think I should ask you what you're doing to her."

"I'm doing my job. Reno, on the other hand, obviously isn't." Litta moved towards Danis but Krad blocked her path.

"Get out of my way."

"I don't have to listen to you." He stepped towards her. Litta pulled out her gun. Krad grabbed it away from her, which she knew he would. She took that moment to kick him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. She pulled her gun away from him. Instead of shooting him, she just knocked him out.

"Danis, can you walk?"

"I might be able to." Litta helped her up. She was a little unsteady, but she stayed up. "Okay, let's go."

"Let me grab Squall." She put him over her shoulder and then left with Danis. They walked into the forest before stopping to rest.

"So what happened to you and Squall?"

"Just a punishment for not turning in materia and magic, and a small detail from my old Turk contract," Litta said. "Reno was in charge of dealing with us."

"Same here with the materia junk. Krad was put in charge of me." Litta used some of her magic to heal Danis and Squall. Squall woke up a few minutes later.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem." She leaned against a tree. "You wouldn't happen to have a potion on you, would you?" she asked. He shook his head, but Danis threw her one. "Thanks." They got up and started walking again. "So Squall, where are Cloud and Vincent?"

"I'm not sure. When Reno showed up, they disappeared. I'm pretty sure they got away. As to where they are, who knows." Not long after that they heard something.