The rain had already begun to pour from the heavens by the time they reached Niebelhiem. Panting, Yuffie shifted Vincent's weight, and carried him into the nearest house.

It was small and dark, with only a few sparsely furnished rooms. Some of the furniture had been knocked over, but that was the extent of the damage. The girl half-carried, half-dragged her friend into a bedroom, and laid him out on the mattress.

Vincent was motionless and silent, his eyes closed. The gaping wound in his chest was still oozing. It was so deep, she could see two ribs. Yuffie nearly threw up, but drove her nausea down by sheer will. Her mind screamed at her to do something, anything, but she felt paralyzed. She wasn't a doctor; she wasn't even very good at first-aid. If only she had a healing Materia...Cloud had let them all choose Materia to keep. Why oh why hadn't she taken a healing Materia?

Forcing herself to calm down, she squeezed her eyes shut. What would Aerith do? She thought desperately, What would she do?

She went with the first thought that came into her mind; cover the wound.

Her eyes snapped open. Bandages. She needed bandages.

The ninja quickly located the bathroom, and raided the medicine cabinet. She returned to his side moments later, her arms filled with supplies, and dumped them onto the nearby desk. Yuffie grabbed a thick roll of gauze and approached the gunman.

As she began to unbutton his shredded shirt, Vincent gurgled weakly. Instinctively, she rolled him onto his side. He choked up a mouthful of blood, and coughed deeply. Yuffie dabbed the crimson from his pale lips, biting her own. She kept him in that position; though it made her job harder, at least she wouldn't risk him drowning in his own blood.

She finished undoing his shirt, and peeled the soaked fabric away to reveal his chest. The blood-red gore looked wrong, almost fake, against his alabaster skin. Yuffie began to bandage it, but no sooner did the gauze touch Vincent's wound, then his back arched, and he let out a pained gasp. He shifted backward, trying to pull away.

"Vincent!" she said, taking his human hand, "I know it hurts, but I'm trying to help you. Just squeeze my hand, okay? Squeeze as hard as you can!"

Yuffie didn't think he heard her, but as she wrapped the gaping hole, the ninja was sure she felt a slight pressure on her hand.

She bound it thickly, dimly hoping that wrapping it more might somehow lessen the pain. When she had finished, the ninja saw that Vincent had begun to shiver violently. Both of them were both soaked to the bone, but he had lost far too much blood to keep himself warm.

Yuffie pulled off his sodden cape. It slid into a disheveled heap on the floor. The remains of his shirt came off next, followed by his one glove. She managed to tug off his boots without impaling herself. All were tossed unceremoniously on top of his cape. Yuffie glanced at his pants and hesitated. They too were sopping wet, but…well, even if she hadn't had a crush on him, she'd still be uncomfortable.

Another convulsive shudder racked Vincent's body. His teeth chattered as he struggled to breathe.

She bit her lip. She hadn't just saved him from that hell-witch to have him die of hypothermia.

Swallowing her embarrassment, Yuffie unfastened his pants and stripped them off of him. They were added to the pile, and the girl sat back, wiping a few drops of rain water from her chin. Vincent lay on the bed, clothed only in boxers and bloody bandages, his skin white as death, his chilled body trembling. He moaned, and was seized by another fit of coughing that stained the sheets scarlet.

Yuffie leaned over, brushing a tangle of dripping black locks out of his face. His skin was like ice. Alarmed, she left the room and returned moments later with towels, and set to work drying him off as best she could. Once he was relatively dry, Yuffie wiggled the bloody sheets and blanket out from under him, and fetched replacements off the other bed. She bundled the comforter around him, and sat back down to dry off his hair. When she finished, she slipped a dry pillow beneath his head, and wedged the old one behind his back to keep him from rolling over.

Noticing that the gunman hadn't stopped shivering, she laid her hand to his cheek. It was still cold. The ninja went to check the thermostat, and found it was no use; the heating system for the house had been wired to run on Mako energy, and hadn't been switched over. Apparently, the occupants had been too lazy, or so cheap they were content to freeze to death.

Yuffie swore, and went back to the room, searching for something that could warm him.

There was a fireplace in the corner, one that had obviously not been used in years. She hunted through the house for firewood, but found none. There was a woodpile outside the house, one that could be clearly seen from the window – but the damn rain had rendered that absolutely freaking worthless.

Finally, she seized one of the wooden kitchen chairs and hacked it apart with her shuriken. She dumped the remains into the fireplace, shredded some paper beneath it, and tried to light a match. But it wouldn't light. The next one didn't either, and neither did the third.

"C'mon, dammit!" Yuffie screamed in angry frustration, slamming a fist into the ground. Tears stung the corners of her eyes; she wiped them away before they could fall. Never in her life had she felt so pitiful, so useless. One of her friends – someone very precious to her – was badly hurt, maybe dying, and she couldn't even light a fire to keep him warm.

Her vision clouded with tears again, and she rubbed them away in disgust. Leviathan, was she pathetic. Going to pieces like this, and now, of all times. She had to pull herself together.

Yuffie slapped herself hard on the cheeks, and renewed her attempts to light the stupid, god-forsaken matches. It took eleven consecutive tries, but she did it. The match lit, and within a few minutes, the wood had caught fire.

The ninja allowed herself a few moments to bask in its warm glow, and to banish the chill from her still-damp skin. Then she pulled herself to her feet, and went to check on Vincent.

He had curled up a little, partly burying his face into the blankets. Hesitantly, Yuffie checked his temperature. His skin had warmed.

Relieved, the girl gave him a small smile, one that quickly disappeared as the gunman let out another hacking cough. Crimson liquid dripped down the corner of his mouth. Yuffie used a corner of the sheet to dab it away as he gasped to regain his breath. The frequency of his choking, and the amount of blood he coughed up was lessening, at least. But she would feel a lot better when it stopped completely.

The girl peeled the blanket back to reveal his torso. The front of the bandages was already completely covered in blood. Yuffie used a kunai knife to carefully cut off the soiled guaze.

The wound seemed more or less the same; only the inflammation had gone down. But what disturbed the ninja were the rings of bruises now forming over his chest and back.

Her shoulders slumped. She had wrapped the bandages too tight.

Even when she was trying to be gentle, she was too rough. And now he was hurt worse.

"I'm sorry, Vincent," Yuffie whispered, "I'm so sorry…I'll…I'll do better this time, okay?"

She re-bandaged the gaping hole, checking to make sure it was loose enough, all the while wishing she was different. Maybe if she was more like Aerith, who had always been so effortlessly kind and compassionate, or even Tifa, who handled Marlene and Denzel with such grace, it wouldn't have happened. Actually, it would've been better if Aerith or Tifa were there instead. They were good at healing; they were good at being gentle. Yuffie wasn't.

Yuffie was good at sneaking into places, stealing stuff, and killing things. And that was about it.

But Tifa was with Cloud, helping Reeve, and Aerith…Aerith was gone.

After she had pulled the blankets back over Vincent, she went into the kitchen and gazed warily out the windows. The rain was still pouring down. A streak of lightening split through the clouds. But there was no sign of the red-clad woman, or any Deepground soldiers. Even the monsters had taken refuge from the storm.

Yuffie pulled out her phone and called Reeve. This time, it rung several times, before going to voicemail. She sighed wearily, running her fingers through her short hair.

"Reeve, it's me, Yuffie. Vincent's hurt…he's hurt really bad. I'll give you the details later, but we're in Niebelhiem right now. Call me back as soon as you can, okay?"

She hung up and put her cell back into her pocket, and slipped noiselessly back into the room.

After a few hours, Vincent stopped coughing up blood. Yuffie sat beside him, watching his chest rise and fall, until his breathing became less labored, and she could barely keep her eyes open. Though there was another bedroom, she was unwilling to leave him, and instead fell asleep at his side, using her arms as a pillow.