"Hold on… You will get through this…"

It was hard to speak, my voice was trembling so severely that I could barely make my words audible.

"Come on… Breathe with me…"

The blood on my hands was fresh. It was still warm and as it trickled its way down to the cold concrete, it mixed with the tears I did not know I could cry. It was not meant to end like this, Gaia had no logical reason to take a life so valuable. The Lifestream had no right to take people before their time was out.

"Don't leave… Please…"

I grasped for the life that still lingered and held it as tight as I possibly could. It was not time to leave yet. Too many things undone. Unsaid.

"It's too soon for this…"

I was no stranger to death, it had been what my life circled around in my days of youth, and I had never been afraid of it, but this was too close. My life had finally become the way I wanted it to be, the way I dreamt of so many nights. I could not let that slip away.

I had just come to understand the meaning of life, the happiness, joy, laughter and brightness that made it worth living. All the things that made me stay where I once had nothing but darkness. I had no desire to join that darkness once again.

"Let your heart work… You're stronger than this…"

If it was not for the life I clung to so desperately, I would have secluded myself from the surroundings. I would have succumbed to the pain that threatened to drive me into madness and let all sanity wash away from my tattered heart. But the remains of the slowly weakening heart outweighed all insanity. A heart was meant to beat. I had to concentrate on that part.

But as much as it struggled to survive this fight, it was fading. It had too little blood to reach the whole body.

"You can't leave me…"

I cursed Gaia and the Lifestream, they took the wrong life. I cursed everyone and everything. It was all wrong. It was not supposed to be this way. I was supposed to be strong. I was supposed to have hope in a better future. I was supposed to give life, not have it taken away.

The blood stopped flowing freely through my hands. During the time I had fought the inescapable, during the time I had waited for someone, anyone, to come and tell me that it was going to be okay, coldness had taken over the body I tried so hard to force into life.

But no one came to assure me of anything. They already knew it was too late.

"Vincent. You have to let her go…"

They asked me to do something I could not. I brushed off whoever's hand touching my shoulder.

"No."

I searched her unmoving body for a glimpse of what should be there, the glow of her skin, the ever-present smile, anything that could give me hope. She could not die, she had no right to leave me. But I found nothing.

My hold on her tightened as sobs shook my body. I did no longer care if anyone saw me, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

"Yuffie… Please… Come back… I can't live without you…"

She didn't heed my call for her. She made no sign of returning to me.

"Vincent… We're too late to save her…"

That was wrong. They weren't too late. I was.

"We have to take her to Aerith's church, Vince… It's time for her to join the Lifestream now…"

Her cheek was cold. No matter how frosty the weather would be, her cheeks had always been warm, they had always glowed. But not anymore.

I am no saviour. How could I be? I could not even save her, the one I found a reason to live for. The one I need like oxygen to survive. The one who could always make me smile.

What kind of saviour am I, if I could not even save the woman I love?

"I'm sorry… Yuffie… I'm…so…sorry…"