The room was silent save for the soft beeps being emitted from the monitor beside the bed and the occasional creaks which told of the patient shifting his weight. He'd been by himself for a few days now, although he'd only woken up yesterday night to find the frightening reality of his life. It was something he couldn't escape no matter how hard he tried.

The door to the room slowly opened and Davis slipped inside, a cautious expression on his face as he came over and sat on the chair which was beside the bed.

"Hey, Rex," he said quietly. "How are you?"

Rex sighed deeply and turned his head to face his friend, allowing a small grin to show on his face.

"A'right. Tired." he said.

Davis nodded in understanding and leant back in the chair slightly, feeling a bit more relaxed now that he'd seen his friend smile and heard him speak.

"Camon's funeral is today," he informed him. "I would've asked if you could come, but you're gonna need a lot more time to recover and it wouldn't do you any good."

"Yeah," Rex nodded drowsily. "They've got me on lots'a painkillers."

Davis looked down at his lap, trying to take his mind off the bulk of bandages around Rex's left shoulder that were visible under his shirt. He couldn't imagine what it would be like having to suddenly adapt to only having one arm.

And Rex was left-handed.

"So, uh," Davis looked up again. "Get some rest while I'm gone because I'll be coming to see you again afterwards."

"Yes, Sir." Rex chuckled lightly. "Who else is goin' to Camon's funeral?"

"Alec, Jensen and Jinx." Davis said quietly, knowing Rex would want to know why some weren't going.

Rex could sense Davis' hesitance and slowly pushed himself further into a sitting position, leaning to his right more than normal. They didn't speak for a moment before Rex decided to finally ask.

"What happened to everyone else while in Wutai?"

"Jensen got hit by shrapnel in the eye," Davis took a deep breath and sat up straighter. "He'll never be able to see out of it again."

"Jinx?" Rex asked, wincing slightly as he moved a particular way and his stomach twinged in pain.

"He's fine. Only got a few scratches." Davis said, pausing for a moment until he saw Rex's probing look. "Nareau got shot in the arm, I only got a bit of a concussion and... you know about Camon. The other SOLDIERs are fine."

"Cloud didn't go..." Rex said slowly and Davis nodded. "Why isn't he going to the funeral? Doesn't he want to?"

"I- I haven't actually spoken to him since we got back. But he's in the infirmary with mako poisoning."

Rex barked a laugh before groaning in agony at the pain it produced, and Davis couldn't help but grin at his friend.

"It's so like Cloud," Rex gasped. "To not go on a mission... and still manage to get himself in bad shape."

"Ha, I know." Davis laughed.

"So when does the funeral start?" Rex asked.

"Uh, pretty soon. I just wanted to come see you since I found out you'd woken up." Davis admitted.

"Thanks..." Rex rested against the headboard of his bed quietly for a minute before gasping and turning to face Davis with his mouth open. "What happened to Kayli?"

"Hm? Oh..." Davis trailed off, realising he'd forgotten to mention her when telling Rex about all the others. "She was captured by the Wutai soldiers."

"What? And? Is there a rescue team or a-"

"Sephiroth took a team out yesterday. They picked up on the signal from her tracker so they may have already found her! It's just a matter of rescue now, I guess." Davis shrugged.

"Oh my gosh, she must be terrified." Rex sighed. "How've you been dealing with it? I mean, you know, being her boyfriend."

"I just wish I'd stayed next to her the whole time." Davis admitted quietly, fiddling with his fingers and watching them as if he was fascinated.

"I'm sure Sephiroth will find her and bring her back safely." Rex said.

"Yeah, thanks." Davis nodded.

Glancing over at the door, Davis stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Gotta go?" Rex asked.

"Yeah, prob'ly." he said with a quiet sigh. "Get some rest."

"Will do. Thanks for coming to see me, Davis, really." Rex said, beginning to slide himself carefully down to a lying position again.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Davis murmured. "At first... we didn't know if you'd make it or not."

Rex flashed a grin at his friend again and winked. "You won't be able to get rid of me that easy."

"Good." Davis said, smiling back before heading to the door and finally leaving.

You'll be safe soon. You'll never have to see him ever again.

But she couldn't go just yet. Lying there on the hard bed that Liam had placed her on earlier that night, Kayli was wide awake. She had pressed the button on her tracker yesterday and ever since then she hadn't been able to stop thinking about Liam.

She wanted to kill him.

It was so simple and plain, but could she do it? She was trembling just thinking about it... would she have the strength? Would she be able to go through with it once she started?

Taking a deep breath and swallowing, she slowly sat up. The wooden post in the middle of the room which went from the roof to the ground was where Liam had tied the rope to and Kayli carefully got out of bed to walk over to it, doing her best not to make a sound. When they were all going to bed, Liam had mentioned he wanted to prove how much he loved her by letting her have a room to herself for privacy.

Clutching at the knot around the wood, Kayli forced herself to be calm as she tried to undo it. Her fingers kept slipping as she fumbled with the rope, but finally she felt it come free and the end of the rope fell to the ground.

I can do this. I can do this.

She took slow, deliberate limps towards the door and made her way out, ignoring the throbbing pain in her leg which begged for her to sit down and rest. She went down the hallway of the small house they had taken up residence in and suddenly found herself at the door of Liam's room. She knew it was his because when they had first entered he had taken her there to dump his bag before leading her to her own room.

Opening the door with both hands since they were still tied together, Kayli froze as soon as she saw the peaceful, sleeping form of her brother. In the dim light she could almost pretend it was Roy...

Stop it! He murdered Roy and would have murdered you too if your parents didn't come and rescue you!

Kayli trembled and stepped further into the room, feeling hot tears roll down her cheeks. She was so desperate! She had to kill him to finally have revenge for Roy's death!

Tucked neatly under the bed were the majority of Liam's weapons, although Kayli could see the handle of a knife sticking out from under his pillow. One wrong move and he would wake up and kill her.

Slowly dropping to her knees, Kayli reached out with her hands towards a knife she could see lying under the bed. With it, she would kill Liam and be rid of all her problems. She just had to move carefully and not make any noise so that he wouldn't wake up.

She held it in her hands. Pulling back swiftly, she held her breath and stared into the face of Liam, who still hadn't moved.

She lifted the knife, her heart hammering fearfully in her chest and begging for her to just return to her bed and forget about everything. What if he woke up? He'd kill her.

Biting her lip so hard it began to bleed, Kayli tightened her grip on the knife and focused on Liam's neck, waiting a few more moments before making a split-second decision and bringing it down as fast as she could so that she wouldn't be able to change her mind.

There was no momentary shriek of pain from Liam that would signify his last moment before he died. There was no sudden pain erupting in her own body somewhere which would signify his waking up, moving, and killing her in defence.

There was only the sudden jerk as her arms stopped moving inches above Liam's neck, the knife glinting in the moonlight gleefully, rejoicing that it hadn't been forced to murder it's owner.

Someone had grabbed her arms. She could see their hands holding her.

How stupid of her to forget that someone would have been on watch.

The hands slowly pulled her to stand up and then removed the knife. She closed her eyes in terror, thinking she would be killed, but when she opened them again she saw a figure standing up from where he had placed the knife in its spot under the bed.

It was Tarou.

Putting a finger to his lips, he gestured for her to follow him out of the room and closed the door behind her, slowly leading her towards the front door of the house and taking her outside.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I couldn't allow you to kill him."

Kayli remained silent.

"Listen, I've been in touch with ShinRa and any minute now they'll be here to collect you and take you back. You're going to be fine." he continued, looking at her with genuine concern in his eyes.

She still couldn't find words to say. Feeling Tarou's fingers softly wiping her cheeks, she became aware of the fact that she was crying harder than she had been before. A sob caught in her throat and she squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly grabbing onto Tarou and burying her face in his chest.

"It's okay, everything's gonna be fine." he murmured comfortingly, stroking her hair.

Only a few moments later Kayli felt herself being gently pushed away and a new set of arms surrounded her, lifting her off the ground and beginning to carry her away. Opening her eyes slightly, she caught a glimpse of silver hair before establishing it had to be Sephiroth. She was going to be safe.

Again she was handed to someone else, this time with words along with it, "Take her back to the truck. I'll be there in-"

A strangled cry interrupted Sephiroth and Kayli's eyes flung open in horror. She twisted her head to look past the 1st Class SOLDIER and her breath left her lungs as she saw Tarou stumble forward a few steps before collapsing to the ground with a knife sticking out of his back.

Kuja and Kuta emerged from the darkness of the house, guns and knives in their hands and sick smiles twisting on their faces.

"Always thought he was a traitor," one of them muttered to the other. "You owe me."

Kayli found herself being carried away quickly and she could hear the shouts of various other soldiers giving directions to each other. She caught a glimpse of Sephiroth running towards the house with his sword raised and then her eyes closed again. She was so exhausted. Her leg was throbbing more than before. She wanted to sleep.

"Mummy!"

Roy darted into the kitchen and squealed as he almost ran headlong into his mother. She gasped and grabbed his shoulders to steady him, narrowing her eyes slightly as she prepared to scold him for his behaviour.

"Roy Dean Peters," she said firmly. "If you ever run in the kitchen like that again I-"

"Can I smell something cooking?"

Mrs Peters was interrupted as her husband entered and her grip on Roy slackened, allowing him to slip past and secretly take one of the choc-chips which were on the bench waiting to eventually be added to the cookie dough.

"We haven't really started yet," she said with a sigh. "Roy and Kayli wanted to help me with it so I've said they can."

"Great!" Mr Peters smiled, chuckling as he saw Roy's 'innocent' face. "Is there room for another in here?"

"Of course!"

So, once Kayli finally appeared in the kitchen as well, the four family members set to work preparing choc-chip cookies. Roy and Kayli quite happily mixed the dough together once it was time, laughing and flicking it at each other when their parents weren't watching.

Unfortunately, it was one such time as this when Kayli missed her brother and managed to get a dob of cookie dough straight on her mother's nose.

"Mummy!" She exclaimed before freezing in horror and amazement, her mouth open. She wasn't sure whether she should laugh or start apologising.

"Oh Kayli," her mother sighed with a smile. "Try to keep it in the bowl next time, alright?"

Kayli went red and nodded, beginning to giggle. Roy was already laughing his head off and she trod on his foot to try and make him shut up, but he only laughed harder.

"Let's just try and get as far as putting it in the oven, okay kids?" their father asked with a laugh, moving over to take the bowl from them. Also picking up a wooden spoon, he began tipping the dough into the cookie tray.

"Let me do that!" Roy said, ducking under his fathers' arm so that he was standing between him and the bench, his arms reaching out.

"Okay, here," his father handed him the wooden spoon but still held the bowl himself, smiling as he watched Roy scrape harshly at the dough. "Don't strain yourself."

"I won't!' Roy laughed.

"Come on Kayli," their mother said, motioning to her daughter. "You need to wash your hands now."

"Wait!" Kayli protested, dodging her mothers arms and beginning to lick her fingers. "I don't want this to go down the drain, it tastes too good!" she explained with a wide smile.

"Well I can't argue with that!" Mrs Peters shook her head in amusement.

Once everything was finally done and the cookies were beginning to cook in the oven, they all washed their hands. While the parents then moved to the family room, Roy and Kayli tore off to their room.

"They're gonna taste so good when they're done." Roy sighed, flopping down onto his bed.

"I know! I hope they don't take too long," Kayli sat down on her bed and looked over at her twin brother. "After all that work I'm totally ready to eat one. Or two. Or three."

She giggled when Roy raised an eyebrow at her and soon they were giggling again.

"I could eat ten!" Roy said between giggles.

"Oh yeah? I bet I could eat twenty!" Kayli challenged.

"Uh, how about without throwing up?" Roy teased, throwing a pillow at her. She caught it and glared at him, poking her tongue out.

"You're just jealous."

Lee had woken quickly after the battle began and gathered his things in an instant. Then, as soon as Kuja-ta and Yakov fled to his room with the bags of supplies they all escaped through the window and just kept running. They had to put as much distance between themselves and the SOLDIERs as possible, especially since Sephiroth was with them.

Lee was furious that Kayli had escaped. He had been tempted to turn and run back to try and snatch her again, but he knew his men wouldn't survive without him. So instead he fuelled his anger into running and fighting. He had pulled out his gun and was concentrating intensely on hearing their followers footsteps before whipping his arm back to fire. Yakov was constantly pulling pins out of grenades and hurling them over his shoulder, smiling in satisfaction every time an explosion was heard. Along with Kuja-ta shooting as well, they were only just managing to stay ahead and alive.

It came as a great surprise when Lee could no longer hear pursuing feet or enemy gunshots. The group did not slow, not knowing whether it was a trick or not, but after another hour they came across a well hidden, hollowed-out hill which they stopped in to get their breath back and wait.

Nothing was said for another two hours, but then when no SOLDIERs had attacked them and they hadn't heard anything at all, Lee allowed Yakov to venture out and take a look.

He returned to them shaking his head and shrugging.

"Nothing. It's safe." he said.

So they left their supplies in the hide-out and crept out to make a fire for their food, but Lee left them with that job as he wandered off through the trees, still simmering with anger.

He clenched his fists as he walked, his vision swimming and his heart pounding painfully in his chest. They had taken her. He had been going to make her understand everything but they took her away! How was he supposed to retrieve her now? The others wouldn't care at all.

In an instant he had frozen and closed his eyes. Of course. He would tell them they were going to rescue Sergei and then while there, he would find Kayli. Then she would see just how much he cared about her and she would come back willingly.

Heading back to the fire, Lee sat down on the ground and was quiet for a while, deciding not to bring up his plan just yet. Yakov had begun cooking their food and Kuja-ta were keeping a lookout in case the ShinRa SOLDIERs were still searching for them.

"So," Yakov started. "Should we find another group and join with them? You know we won't have much of a chance against anyone if there's only four of us."

"That's a good idea." Lee nodded in agreement.

"What are you thinking?" Kuja asked him curiously, eyes narrowed. He could tell by the look in Lee's eyes that he had something on his mind and didn't want to be kept in the dark.

"All in good time," Lee smirked, lowering his head. "But I'm sure you'll like the idea."

Kuja and Kuta exchanged a frustrated glance but didn't say anything else, knowing Lee could get very angry very quickly.

"When do we start looking for another group, then?" Yakov asked, deciding not to pursue that topic since he saw the unnerving expression on his leader's face.

Lifting his head slowly, Lee looked around at his three companions and then stood up, dusting his pants off.

"Whenever we are ready we should head out. I know where the closest group should be and it will only take two days to reach them from here. They will help us..." he paused and allowed the others to fully see the smirk on his face, hoping to strike fear into them. "We should eat first. Then we'll head out."

Yakov whistled lowly, shaking his head slightly as he continued to cook their food. He never had imagined what it would be like when he had first joined Lee's group, and now he was definitely looking forward to having some others around who might be able to drum some sense into the man.

Kuja pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one up, raising an eyebrow when Lee walked over and took one as well, not meeting his eyes as he acted as if the cigarettes were his own and lit it before shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

The twins had been with Lee for the longest amount of time. When 'Liam' had first arrived in Wutai at the age of seventeen they had only been fifteen and hurriedly latched onto him when he spoke of his dream to free Wutai from the oppression of ShinRa. They had become inseparable, being their own small group of unofficial soldiers until Sergei had come along – twenty-two, since it was a year after Liam's first arrival – and transformed them into real soldiers fighting for the cause.

It hadn't been long before Liam took control of the group, pushing Sergei back from an authorial position to ensure he himself had full control over the group. Yakov and Tarou had shown up consecutively after that and it was only much more recently when Qurt had joined them.

Kuja and Kuta were perhaps the only ones who knew that since the moment Sergei stepped into their group, he had been in control. On every mission they undertook, Liam would give orders and then Sergei would whisper alterations into individual ears, making sure the plan worked and effectively having the last say.

Glancing at each other instinctively, knowing they were thinking the same thing, they both smirked. Liam was going to take them to ShinRa on the pretence of rescuing Sergei and would then search for Kayli to get her out. Sergei would once again take control of their group in the background and Liam would be too preoccupied with his sister to realise.

Chuckling quietly to themselves, Kuja and Kuta looked away from each other again, hoping Lee wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary and question them.