At the end of the day after having another lesson with Kunsel and learning absolutely nothing – only according to Davis – Kayli found out that she and all of her room-mates had all gotten the message on their PHS. That was why, early the next morning, they all got up at the same time and left to eat breakfast before going to the general meeting room.

A couple other Infantrymen who they didn't know were also in there, along with Jinx and Jensen. At the front of the room stood Angeal and Lazard, quietly marking off everyone's names to see who they were still waiting for.

Then Lazard cleared his throat and everyone fell silent.

"The mission which you will be embarking on, should you choose to, is a dangerous one. Angeal Hewley, 1st Class SOLDIER, will be going with you to Wutai along with a few other SOLDIERs yet to be decided. I called this meeting to make sure that you understood exactly what would be expected of you if you went."

Picking up his clipboard, Lazard stepped back and allowed Angeal to step forward so that he could address them. The SOLDIER's dark expression as he gazed around the room at each and every one made them wonder just what could be so terrible. They were about to find out.

"People die. In the past week, five infantrymen stationed in Wutai have been killed despite the fact that a 1st Class SOLDIER was with them and they've had a lot of training. Three regular army soldiers were also killed. Wutai is not a playground. If you go there, I can assure that there is an incredibly high chance one of you will die. If you do not want to go, you don't have to. The choice is up to you. We are not forcing anyone."

Angeal glanced back at Lazard before turning again to the intimidated faces.

"There is a group of Wutai rebellion soldiers who have recently been raiding towns and killing everyone who gets in their way. If you choose to go on this mission, you will most probably have an encounter with them. It will require you to think quickly, trust your team mates and follow orders precisely. There will be no room for error."

Kayli lowered her head slightly, allowing her hair to fall in front of her eyes and hopefully block her face from Angeal. She didn't want him to see the look in her eyes. The anger.

She wasn't stupid. She'd connected it together and knew Liam was part of that dangerous group they were being warned about.

She wanted him dead and, as much as she hated to admit it, she'd have to go to Wutai. If she didn't she would forever be disappointed in herself. She had to face her fear or she never would and Liam would get away with all the wrong things he'd ever done in his life.

"If you don't want to go on this mission just yet, perhaps you'd like to consider trying out for SOLDIER instead. The exams required will give you excellent training and should help you to feel more confident, even if you don't get in on your first try. Also, if you've decided that being a Turk is something you'd prefer, you can take an exam for that as well. But if you want to go on this mission I suggest you put those off until you get back."

Angeal gave a sharp nod of his head and stepped back, having finished everything he was going to say to them.

"You have to make your decision by this afternoon and only if you decide that you're not going are you to tell us. For now, we're assuming you all are. Dismissed." Lazard said, and everyone slowly left the room.

When they were back in their room, Alec spoke.

"I'm not going. I've only just joined so I'm nowhere near ready yet." he admitted, sitting on his bed.

"I'm gonna try out for SOLDIER." Cloud said firmly, folding his arms and lifting his chin slightly.

"I'm going." Rex said, grinning slightly and turning to look at Davis.

As soon as Kayli noticed Davis' hesitation that was directed at her, she decided to voice her decision as well. She didn't need Davis to worry about her.

"I'm going as well." she said with a nod at Davis, who seemed confused as to her decision but then shrugged.

"Okay, I will too."

The door flung open.

"Hey! You guys going? I'm going!" Jinx announced excitedly. "Jensen isn't going – the wuss."

"Get out, Jinx!" Kayli groaned.

"Okay fine! I'll leave you to your private discussion." Jinx chuckled and ran off, apparently unperturbed by their reluctance to have him around.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Rex asked Kayli as their door shut again.

"Yes." she said.

"But... you're a girl. It's Wutai. Fighting. Killing. Sure you can do it?" Rex raised one eyebrow and Kayli punched him lightly on the arm.

"I'm not a baby." she laughed.

"Sure you aren't!" Rex grinned.

"I'm gonna go tell Lazard I'm not going." Cloud said, slowly walking towards the door but pausing as Alec stood up.

"I'll come too," Alec said. "May as well get it over and done with."

When they left the room there was silence for a moment before Rex let out a loud sigh and also moved towards the door.

"I'm gonna go find Jinx and tell him which of us are going."

Kayli and Davis glanced at each other and then looked away again awkwardly, finding themselves alone in the room. Kayli knew he was probably going to ask her if she was sure that she wanted to go to Wutai, and truthfully she was dreading it. She didn't want to be asked because then she would doubt her decision.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Davis asked quietly, as expected.

"I have to." she answered.

"No you don't."

"Yes I do, Davis," Kayli looked up at him again. "How else am I going to overcome my fear of him?"

"You might die." Davis murmured.

"So might you." Kayli pointed out.

"I won't go if you don't want to." Davis said and Kayli laughed.

"Davis, stop being stupid. I want to go and you do as well, I know it. So we're going and that's that. Okay?"

Davis rolled his eyes but smiled slightly, giving her a side-hug.

"At least I'll be able to keep an eye on you to make sure that you don't do anything too stupid." he said teasingly.

"Gee, thanks." Kayli poked her tongue out.

Gemma stood in front of her own as well as Kayli's parents, staring at the carpet and wishing she was somewhere else. She didn't want to lie to anyone but she knew that she couldn't tell on Kayli. At the same time, seeing Kayli's parents so upset was heartbreaking.

"Gemma please," Mrs Peters begged. "If you know anything about where she is, then tell us! We don't want to see her get hurt!"

"We don't want to lose our last child." Mr Peters murmured, making Gemma feel twice as horrible.

"She wants to be alone." she said quietly.

"Gemma," her mother said sternly. "If you know where she is then it's your responsibility to tell us."

"No it's not! It's her decision and she doesn't want anyone to know!" Gemma protested, finally looking up from the carpet.

"This is for the best," her mother said. "Imagine if Alec hadn't called you to tell you he was at ShinRa. What would you have done?"

Gemma looked down again, knowing exactly how worried she had been when Alec had disappeared without telling anyone where he was going.

"Kayli is safe. She doesn't want anyone to look for her."

"Please Gemma, just tell us where she is!" Mrs Peters said again, biting her lower lip nervously.

"I can't! Please stop asking me! I'm sorry, but you have to trust me that she's safe and know that I'm not going to break my promise!" Gemma said, turning and walking towards the door, hoping to get away.

"Does this have anything to do with Liam?" her father asked quietly, making her freeze and wonder how on earth he had discovered that.

But of course, he had been the one who saw Liam in Wutai while he was on a business trip not too long ago.

"Oh please Gemma," Mrs Peters gasped. "Tell me she hasn't gone to find him!"

"She hasn't gone to find him." Gemma said, turning back around. "I promise you that."

"But it has something to do with Liam?" Mr Peters asked hesitantly.

"I can't say any more."

"Gemma!" her father snapped.

"No! That's it. I'm not telling you any more and I'm going to go visit Alec at ShinRa to see how he's doing. I'm sorry if you don't want me to go-"

"How exactly are you going to find the money to make a trip to Midgar?" her mother asked, folding her arms.

"It's not that far away! But who knows, maybe I'll hitch-hike." Gemma spun on her heel and stormed out of the room.

Pulling out her phone, she sent a quick text to Kayli.

Your parents keep asking me where you are but I haven't told them. Are you still okay?

Going into her room and shutting the door, she hoped that Kayli wouldn't take too long to reply. To be honest, Kayli was actually pretty worried about her as well.

Thankfully, a response came in the next five minutes.

Thanks so much. Yes, I'm okay. But like I thought I'm being sent to Wutai. Please don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I just might be out of range for a while.

Gemma didn't know what to say in reply to that. Please don't worry? She was already panicking! If something happened to Kayli in Wutai, how would Gemma be able to rationalise not speaking up to their parents?

Closing her eyes and groaning, Gemma asked herself why she had ever agreed not to tell on Kayli.

To take her mind of the matter, she pulled out her make-up and began applying it to her face, trying different things to try and uncover a new look.

"They've decided on which SOLDIERs are going with us," Rex said as he walked back into the room a little while later. "You know Camon and Nareau? Well it's them plus Zack and Angeal."

"Zack's coming?" Kayli asked.

"Yeah."

"It definitely won't be boring, then." Davis pointed out humorously, to which Kayli and Rex nodded in agreement.

It wasn't long before Alec and Cloud got back and entered the room.

"You know, I've never seen Angeal look so happy to hear that we've decided not to go on a mission. I mean, sure, I hardly see him around much at all, but he looked abnormally happy when we told him we weren't going." Cloud said, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Really?" Kayli asked, glancing over at Davis before looking back at Cloud.

"Yeah, and he asked about you." Alec said.

That got her attention.

"What about me?" she asked.

"He just wanted to know if you had decided yet." Alec said.

"It was weird," Cloud said. "When we told him you were going to go he looked really worried about something."

Turning to Davis slightly and lowering her voice, Kayli muttered, "It would help if Sephiroth told me exactly who he's told about me."

"Maybe he finds it more fun not to." Davis whispered with a slight laugh.

"Wow thanks for that, not!" Kayli grinned.

"Oh, and Angeal told me that he thinks I'll make a great SOLDIER!" Cloud said, beaming suddenly.

"You told him you wanna try out?" Rex asked.

"Yeah." Cloud confirmed.

"That's so awesome! He's right though, you will make a great SOLDIER. I mean just think about it, you're great at following orders, you're an excellent listener, you love helping people and you have a really great sense of honour!"

"...I do?" Cloud asked quietly.

"Yep!"

The five friends continued to talk about things which would be happening soon and eventually they had to leave for another lesson with Kunsel. Amazingly, Davis didn't say anything bad about it on their way there that time.

Sephiroth pulled his PHS from his pocket and quickly dialled a number, holding the phone to his ear and then waiting for the connection to be made. He was glad he had such a good phone which was able to reach people who were all the way over in Wutai.

"Yes?" came Genesis' voice.

"I just got word from our double agent," Sephiroth said. "He said he's managed to join another rebellion group."

"Could this possibly be the group we've been tracking for a while?" Genesis asked.

"Yes. He said he's been with them for a while now and just had no chance to contact us."

"Right, thanks for letting me know. I'm in the town with some regular soldiers right now and we saw some of them a moment ago but they threw a bomb at us and got away." Genesis explained, moving to look out a window he was standing near.

"If they attack, try not to kill any of them. We want them alive." Sephiroth said.

"Are you crazy? These guys might not be good at what they do, but if I don't fight to kill they'll manage to take out a lot of my men." Genesis complained.

"Then at least do your best not to kill their two leaders." Sephiroth said.

"Both?" Genesis asked.

"Yes." Sephiroth nodded even thought his friend couldn't see him.

"Alright," Genesis sighed. "I'm thinking of trying to get a message to our lovely little double agent soon as well. Do you have his number?"

"Wait until they attack," Sephiroth said. "Then you'll be able to get him into safety without any of the others noticing. If you send him a message now, while they're most probably planning how to approach next, they'll be more likely to discover him."

"Alright, alright," Genesis chuckled. "Any more advice before I go back to watching the trees?"

"If you can capture Peters it would be great. Since Kayli has decided she is actually going to go to Wutai I won't be able to ask her more about him just yet. But if you caught him maybe we'd be able to get him to talk." Sephiroth said.

"What? She's coming to Wutai? You can't allow that!" Genesis snapped.

"I can't do anything anymore. If I tell her she can't go she'll complain and everyone else will start asking questions. It's up to her now." Sephiroth said.

"But he's seen the photo-"

"I know."

"He'll see her-"

"I know, Genesis! Get back to work."

Sephiroth hung up and slammed his PHS down on his desk, scowling. He had been incredibly frustrated when he heard from Angeal that Kayli had decided to go because it meant he needed a plan B. Also, since Genesis had planted a photo to aggravate Liam, the Wutai soldier would be prepared to see Kayli in the flesh.

But the one thing which Sephiroth couldn't understand yet and kept running through his mind was this: who was Roy, really? How did Liam know him and why did he think he'd killed him before?

With a groan, Sephiroth rubbed his head to try and battle an oncoming headache.

Standing up, he left his office and began making his way to Hojo's lab, having a feeling that he'd missed his last mako dosage for one reason or another. Hojo would probably be really angry.