Chapter 1

A Healing Touch

It hurt. She hurt, everywhere. Although she can tell that she's lying down on a bed with a sheet over her it paled in comparison to the pain she could feel on her body. Numerous wounds burned and bled, bruises that felt like they still hadn't healed and broken bones that make moving an extremely bad (as well as extremely painful) idea. Underneath the sheet she could tell that someone had dressed her wounds because she could feel bandages covering the more fatal wounds and she can feel someone cleaning the smaller and less lethal cuts that mar her skin, someone with small and precise hands who was trying to be as gentle as they possibly could on her still very much aching body.

Whoever it was that was fixing her up obviously has had a lot of experience with bandaging someone up, but is most likely not a trained doctor from a hospital because she can still feel a number of wounds that had been glossed over or downright ignored that really shouldn't have been. She'll have to see if she can find a Cure Materia somewhere so that she can patch herself up better but for now she can barely keep herself awake as it is.

So she lets herself fall into the comforting dark abyss of unconsciousness still feeling soft and warm hands healing her with care.

The next time she wakes she doesn't hurt as much and so manages to actually open her eyes this time only to come in contact with bright white light that sears her irises and makes her blink a few times before finally being able to see something more than just blurs of color.

"Good morning. It seems you've finally woken up. How are you?"

Tifa turned her head, slowly to make sure she didn't accidentally trigger another ache in her neck, to look at the person who had spoken. It was a man with dark brown and messy hair wearing glasses. Though he seemed normal she could feel something strange emanating from him, not a killing intent, no, but it almost felt like he had another side to him, a side that he's trying oh so desperately to hide. It felt a bit like how Cecil would try to hide his Dark Knight persona so that he doesn't accidentally hurt anyone with his powers. With Cecil though he could change into his Paladin form whenever he wished but this man didn't seem to have the same control over his power, in fact she could feel a bit of fear from him though only Cosmos knew why.

"What? Is there something on my face? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Or it could be that he's feeling nervous because she's been staring at him for so long without saying anything. Tifa can't help but smile a bit at his anxious questioning.

"No, there's nothing on your face. You just…feel a bit…strange. *cough*"

The man whose name she still doesn't know looked a bit panicked as he helped Tifa sit up on the bed and gave her a glass of water to drink. She gave him as comforting a smile as she could muster before gulping down the water.

"Don't force yourself to talk, you're still healing. Just rest for now, we can talk later."

"Thank you…"

The last thing that Tifa saw before falling back into unconsciousness was the worried look on his face. It made her smile to see how much he cared for a stranger like her.