Hey guys! Before I let you read this chapter which I'm sure you've all been waiting for eagerly, I thought I'd let you know that I drew Davis, Rex and Roy! In case you want to see them, here are the links!

Rex:

h t t p : / / s e p t a s o n I c x x . d e v I a n t a r t . c o m / a r t / R e x - R a n c e - 1 6 6 0 5 2 2 3 8

Davis:

h t t p : / / s e p t a s o n I c x x . d e v I a n t a r t . c o m / a r t / D a v I s - T a I s o n - 1 6 6 0 5 2 6 2 3

Roy:

h t t p : / / s e p t a s o n I c x x . d e v I a n t a r t . c o m / a r t / R o y - P e t e r s - 1 6 6 0 5 2 9 4 4

Lee brought the small group to a halt not too far from the town, close enough so that if anyone else had survived they would be able to find them but far enough so that the ShinRa soldiers wouldn't reach them.

"Have you seen Sergei, yet?" Yakov asked as they rested. Lee was laying Roy down on the ground as he looked up.

"No."

"What about Tarou?" Yakov continued. "I haven't seen him since he was sent around the back."

"He's on his way." one of the twins spoke up, a cigarette in his mouth.

"How do you know?" Yakov folded his arms.

"Turn around."

Yakov narrowed his eyebrows and spun on his heel to see Tarou approaching with a slight limp.

"Hey," Tarou said with a small nod. "How are we for injuries?"

"Nothing too serious," Lee said, his eyes back on Roy again. He didn't know why, but there was something odd about this whole situation. Straightening, he looked over at Tarou. "We'll need more supplies though."

"Will this do?" Tarou asked, a slight glint in his eye as he lifted a bag he was carrying to show his leader. Inside were multiple first-aid kits.

"How did you get that?" Lee snarled.

"Snatched it from one of the houses before the fight started." Tarou shrugged and handed it over. "You can decide what to do with it."

Lee took the bag and searched through it before throwing some bandages at Kuja and Kuta, allowing them to fix their own wounds.

"Yakov, what's your worst injury?" he asked.

"Just slight burns on my arms," Yakov chuckled. "Almost forgot to let go of one of my grenades."

Lee nodded and handed him the bag after taking out what he needed to lessen the pain in his side and stop the bleeding.

"Who's this?" Tarou asked, looking down at Roy.

"My brother."

"Were ShinRa holding him captive?" Tarou bent down beside the boy and moved his head slightly, studying the unconscious face.

"No. He's always wanted to be a SOLDIER." Lee spat.

"Saving him from himself then, are you?" Tarou murmured, eyebrows drawn together in confusion as he wiped something from near the boys' eye. "Wait, are you sure this is your brother?"

"Of course, why?" Lee asked, stepping over and crouching beside the other man.

"It's just... nothing." Tarou shook his head.

"Oh, right," Lee stood up and grinned. "I don't think we look anything alike either."

Tarou chuckled and reached for a bandage that was lying on the ground, using it to wrap around Roy's leg to stop the bleeding there.

"Have you seen Sergei?" Yakov asked curiously.

"They've captured him." Tarou said with a sigh. "Knocked him out cold and then loaded him up into the helicopter."

"Oh, great." Yakov groaned.

"I'm sure he'll find a way out," Lee said, glancing down at Roy again before looking away and telling himself to stop worrying. "For now we should get as far away as possible."

"What about Qurt?" Tarou asked.

"Q was killed." Lee shouldered his pack and glared at Tarou, daring him to speak again.

"That's a shame," Kuja said lightly. "I thought he'd last another week."

"Pay up." Kuta ordered, holding a hand out and waiting as Kuja pulled some gil from his pocket and gave it to him.

"Alright, let's go." Lee bent down and scooped Roy into his arms before walking off through the trees, leading his smaller group away from the town.

Tarou fell into step at the back, vowing to look after the boy Lee had captured as well as he possibly could. Why the boy was wearing make-up he didn't know, but he wouldn't let him die.

Sephiroth ignored Angeal as the man walked along beside him quickly, telling him of the failed mission and just how stupid the whole thing had been in the first place. He didn't have time to hear about 'his' mistake as Angeal called it, but apparently there was nothing he could do just yet.

Rounding a corner, he squared his shoulders. He headed straight for a door to the left and was about to open it when Angeal grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop.

"Don't you even care?" came the accusation. "Don't you even want to know who we lost?"

"I have work to do." Sephiroth said, not looking at his friend.

"That's not good enough! You have to at least come and take one look at the state the infirmary is in. If you just did that I'm sure you'd understand, but right now you're being too stubborn to-"

"Excuse me." Sephiroth snapped, pushing Angeal away from him and quickly opening up the door and walking through, shutting it firmly behind him to ensure he wasn't followed.

The room was dark and a lone table sat in the centre with a two chairs on either side of it. One chair was occupied by a figure slumped over, hiding his face. Sephiroth slowly walked over and sat across from him, placing his hands on the table and interlocking his fingers.

"I didn't expect to be seeing you here again so soon." he said.

"That's something we've got in common." came the murmured reply as the figures head turned ever-so-slightly.

"Why did you become a Wutai soldier?" Sephiroth asked curiously.

"Why not?" The figure suddenly jerked his head up and stared across at Sephiroth, his blue eyes intense. "ShinRa is messed up. It serves you right to send your men on a suicide mission."

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Sergei.

"It was not a suicide mission." he said quietly.

"But you didn't realise I'd be there, right? You didn't count on the fact that I've been training those men since we formed a group and even they rival most 2nd Class SOLDIERs now." Sergei said smugly. "Must have come as a shock to see your men come back covered in their own blood, right? But they're not even really men yet, are they?"

"What are you trying to achieve by being a soldier in Wutai? All you're doing is killing people for absolutely no reason." Sephiroth altered the conversation, not affected by what Sergei had said at all. He'd heard it all from Angeal, anyway.

"Tell ShinRa to withdraw from Wutai and I'll stop killing." Sergei leant back in his chair and folded his arms calmly.

"I'll be back later to ask you more questions," Sephiroth said. "For now, there's only one more I have for you."

"Oh? What's that?" Sergei smirked.

"The leader of your group," Sephiroth began slowly, taking note of the way that Sergei's eyes darkened suddenly. "Who is he?"

Despite his dark eyes, Sergei was still smirking and just shook his head at Sephiroth to let him know he wasn't going to talk.

"Alright, I'll be back later." Sephiroth stood and moved over to the door, exiting the room only to find Angeal standing there waiting for him, arms folded and a scowl set deeply on his face to show just how serious he was.

"You're coming with me right now." Angeal ordered before gripping his friends shoulder and roughly pushing him along the corridor.

When they reached the infirmary, Sephiroth could hear cries of pain even from outside the door. Walking in, he finally saw just what had happened to them. Most people had gunshot wounds to their leg, arm or side, but here and there Sephiroth saw others who had different injuries, such as burns.

"In case you were wondering, Roy was captured by the Wutai soldiers." Angeal muttered darkly from behind his friend, certain Sephiroth wouldn't care anyway since he hadn't asked yet.

But Sephiroth frowned and turned around to face him.

"What?"

"Well isn't this a miracle," Angeal scoffed. "You do actually care, do you?"

"Tell me what happened." Sephiroth demanded, ignoring the jibe.

"There isn't much else to tell except that he was also wounded in the leg." Angeal said honestly.

"Have we heard any more from Tarou?" Sephiroth asked desperately.

"He's gone back with the Wutaians since they haven't uncovered who he really is yet. I guess we can just hope he's able to stop them from killing Peters." Angeal folded his arms.

Sephiroth turned away again and gazed around the room, only now beginning to regret his decision. He wasn't sure who Kayli's brother was or why she had fainted when talking about him, but he was sure it couldn't be a good thing.

Leaving the room quickly, he didn't wait for Angeal.

Fear. A layer of it covered her mind as she slowly came back to consciousness and blinked her eyes open, looking around. It was night-time, which she only knew because she could see stars above her. Was everyone else asleep?

Kayli blinked as she felt tears in her eyes and tried her hardest not to voice her anguish. If there was a possibility that her captors were asleep she wanted to make sure she didn't make a noise which would result in waking them.

Instead, she slowly pushed herself to a sitting position so that she would be able to get a better look at her surroundings and find out exactly where she was in relation to her captors. She blinked again and turned her head, seeing a tent behind her. She wondered why they had left her outside without someone watching her. But then her eyes found the dark shape near her feet and she recoiled slightly, still trying to be quiet.

The light from the stars and moon wasn't enough for Kayli to figure out who it was that was sleeping so close to her, but she didn't want to know anyway. At least for now she could pretend it wasn't Liam, and rather someone who didn't want to hurt her.

Whoever it was must be a light sleeper if they were trusted to watch her.

Turning back to see where to place her hands so that she could lay back down without making a sound, she didn't see the figure lift his head and stare at her.

She easily slipped back to sleep, the weakness of her body due to her injuries being the cause for this, and when she woke again it was morning. Immediately she felt the ache of her leg through her whole body and bit back a groan, squeezing her eyes closed tight to try and block it out.

People were talking.

"You should scout ahead and see which direction is the nearest town."

"No, Kuja-ta will do that."

She knew that voice.

"Ah, Liam?" Leaves crushed underfoot as someone walked and Kayli focused on keeping her eyes closed, wanting to be left alone for as long as possible.

"What is it?" came Liam's voice again.

"We're going to need more provisions tonight. We've almost run out."

"Why are you dawdling then? Move!" The command was snapped and then whoever had spoken to him let out a sigh and walked off until Kayli could no longer hear their footsteps.

"Lee, do you want me to pack up the tent?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. Be quick about it."

Kayli held her breath as someone walked dangerously close to her and then past her, reaching the tent and beginning to pull it down so that it could be folded and packed away. She could hear Liam as he began talking to someone he referred to as Yakov and his footsteps wandered away from her slightly, allowing her to relax somewhat.

"Hey, are you awake?"

The whisper came so close to her that her eyes had flung open before she had time to think and she found herself staring at one of the Wutai soldiers. His dark hair was not unlike her own and she suddenly realised just how well Liam fit in with these people, even looking as if he had Wutai blood in him.

"Shh, it's okay," the man said quietly. "I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Tarou."

Kayli remained silent and wondered whether he was just trying to trick her. If he was anything like Liam, she didn't want anything to do with him either.

"I don't have much time," Tarou said, glancing up again to make sure Liam was still busy talking to Yakov. "But I had to tell you. I'm working for ShinRa."

"What?" Kayli couldn't stop the question as it came out of her mouth.

"I'm going to try and make sure that-"

"Ah! Looks like the prisoner's awake now."

Kayli's heart sank and she heard no more sounds for a few seconds as she watched Tarou stand and step back slightly. Then Liam was above her and she could see his twisted smile looking down at her, jeering.

"Little Roy," he murmured, and Kayli was horrified to find that her ears were working again. She preferred not being able to hear what was being said. "Have you come to seek revenge for what I did to you?"

She didn't speak, not knowing what to say and thinking she was probably safer, anyway.

"I thought I'd finished you," Liam whispered, kneeling beside her and staring down into her eyes. "But here you are. Alive." He barked a laugh. "At least I still have time to end what I started."

Kayli watched, unmoving, as Liam reached out a hand and brushed some of her hair back from her face. The action was so contrasting to the words he had just said that her head reeled, but she fought to keep her outwards appearance composed.

"Do you have the scars?" Liam whispered, his smile making her want to vomit in disgust at his words. "Still not speaking, hm?"

He reached for her shirt but she suddenly pushed him away, her heart thudding at a dangerous speed as she tried to understand what she had just done. Was he going to kill her for it?

"Don't want me to see your scars, do you?" Liam snickered. "Too bad."

"Don't touch me!" Kayli screamed, pushing him away yet again and then twisting over to her stomach so that she could crawl away, but she was stopped by Yakov who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Now, now," Liam said, coming up beside her again and grabbing her arm tightly so she wouldn't be able to get away. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Who's bag do you want me to put the tent in?" Tarou asked, interrupting them and making Liam look over at him.

"Your own. It's about time you had some extra weight to carry." Liam scowled and then turned back to Kayli, smiling again. "You're not afraid, are you?"

"Hey, is that Kuja?"

Liam clenched his teeth together and looked back over at Tarou again, a glare fixed to his face.

"Tarou, if you don't shut up I'm going to make you carry everyone's bags. And if you're so worried about watching me deform a child, go for a walk."

Tarou stood unmoving for a moment before folding his arms and lifting his chin slightly, defiant. Liam ignored him and focused on Kayli once again.

"You know, if it wasn't for you I never would have had to hurt your sister."

"What do you mean?" Kayli asked, confused. What did Roy have to do with Liam hurting her?

"If you hadn't decided to try and become a SOLDIER, I never would have taken my rage out on Kayli." Liam explained, smirking at the uneasy look that covered Kayli's face.

"You would have found some other excuse." Kayli murmured.

"Oh? You think so, do you?" Liam laughed. "Didn't you know... Kayli was my favourite?"

She felt sick. She wanted to throw up in his face and watch him jump back in disgust, but she didn't have the strength. Besides, she tried to tell herself, he was only saying those things to get a reaction. He was trying to make 'Roy' feel bad.

"I've actually been thinking of trying to track her down again, you know," Liam said thoughtfully. "Just so that she can help me take Wutai back from ShinRa."

"...She'd never help you." Kayli forced herself to say, not quite knowing why she was still pretending to be Roy. Perhaps because she felt safer. It was almost as if Roy really was there, protecting her by speaking up and defending her.

"How can you be so sure?" Liam asked with a chuckle.

"Would you help someone who tried to kill you?" Kayli spat at him, drawing her eyebrows together in a disbelieving frown.

"I'm sure she'd help me once I explained everything to her. I never wanted to hurt her." Liam said.

"Liar!" Kayli yelled, looking away from him. His hand clenching around her leg wound brought a scream from her lips and he smirked.

"I'm not lying, you runt. It was her screams that made me hurt her. I would have left her alone if she was quiet, but she sounded so much like you that I... I just couldn't hold it in anymore. Once I start, I find it hard to stop."

Tears burned her eyes and Kayli wished he would let go of her leg, but he showed no signs of moving.

"Now show me your scars."

Before Kayli had time to react, Liam had pushed her down on her stomach and pulled up the back of her shirt, running his eyes over her exposed back and searching for something. His shock was evident as he paused. Then he rolled her over hurriedly and examined her stomach.

"What...?"

His eyes moved back up to her face and his confusion was clear. His mouth was open in surprise and then he slowly shook his head.

"I should have known. As soon as I saw your face I should have known it was you and not Roy," he whispered. "Since Roy would have had scars all over his skin if he'd lived."

Kayli shivered.

"At least now I know he did die," Liam muttered, leaning in closer to her. "And there's nothing holding you back from staying here with me."

She would have retorted, but he stood up and faced Yakov, completely ignoring her for the moment.

"Fetch me the rest of the first aid kit."

Yakov turned and walked off to do so and Liam sat down again, smiling at her still. It seemed less horrifying now, but continued to frighten her.

"Everything will be alright." he said soothingly.

"Once I escape it will be." Kayli managed to say, avoiding his eyes and staring off into the distance.

"Don't you understand? As long as you do what I say I won't ever have a reason to hurt you." Liam said. "You're my sister, why would I want to?"

Kayli didn't have the energy to argue with him and point out that even though Roy had been his brother, he had murdered him without a thought. She lowered her head and didn't move or speak as Liam took the first aid kit from Yakov and then changed the bandage on her leg, making sure it was tight enough to stop the bleeding but not tight enough to hurt too much.

It wasn't long before Kuja and Kuta returned then, telling of which direction the town was so that the group could set out. Kayli was wondering how she would be able to walk the distance when Liam picked her up carefully and began walking, making her shudder and squeeze her eyes shut tightly as the others followed behind.

She didn't understand Liam. Was he deliberately trying to confuse her?

Kayli's head lolled back and she slipped to unconsciousness, questions about why Liam was acting the way he was going through her mind.

"Liam! What have you done?" her mother screamed, running from the car and dropping down beside her.

"I'm so sorry!" Liam exclaimed, eyes wide as he stumbled backwards in horror. "I didn't mean to! I didn't!"

"Don't move, young man!" her father ordered, walking up and pointing angrily at him. "Don't you move a muscle."

Liam remained where he was, staring down at his sister as she lay in a bloody mess on the ground. She was crying so hard and looked so frail. What had he done? What could have possessed him to-

"Drop the knife, Liam." his father demanded in a low growl from where he now stood right beside his son. Liam looked down and saw the blood-stained knife, dropping it from a rush of his own horror which tore through his body.

"I'm so sorry." he whispered.

"Get inside. Now."

Liam turned his head to look up at his father and saw the anger. The disgust.

He didn't move.

"I said now, Liam."

"No." Liam's lips curled up into a smirk.

A clap of sound and pain rang through his head and he was flung sideways as his father hit him. He laughed even as he tasted the blood on his lip.

"There's something wrong with you!" his father roared, grabbing his arms and shoving him roughly towards the house and through the door. Kayli was still crying outside and now her mother was as well.

Liam continued laughing as his father hit him again but soon realised, when he opened his eyes, that he had been passed out for quite a while. He couldn't hear his parents anywhere and after eventually pulling himself off the floor to search the house, came to the conclusion that they were out at the hospital with Kayli.

He knew what he had to do.

His bag was already packed.

He walked out of the front door and didn't look back.