This is up way too soon for you people, but please enjoy the continued suffering of our favorite gunslinger and his fanged boyfriend.
By the time they reached 7th Heaven, Vincent was stumbling and Cloud's shoulder had finally stopped bleeding. Cloud didn't ask why Vincent was so unsteady; he assumed it was from blood loss. In reality, Vincent wasn't sure what it was, only that it wasn't that. He didn't say anything.
-----------------------------------
Tifa threw a fit when they shuffled into the entry.
"What happened?" she hissed, hurrying over to look at them. The entry light was off; she flipped it on as she came, flooding the hall with bright light. Both Cloud and Vincent reeled. Cloud closed his eyes and waited for them to adjust. Vincent grabbed at the wall and tried not to collapse.
"Um…." Cloud fumbled for an answer. "A fight."
"Where?"
"Out in the ruins."
"What were you-Cloud, your shoulder!"
"It'll be okay."
"There's blood everywhere!"
"Yeah, but-"
Vincent shifted uncomfortably. The sudden shock of the light had turned his dizzy, burning, all over nasty feeling into something sharper and definitely worse. He put his claw on his stomach, using the other hand to brace against the wall.
"What did you fight with?"
"Don't you mean who?"
"Something with claws did this, Cloud, there's nothing else that leaves a wound like this one." Tifa prodded the mess Vincent had made of Cloud's shoulder. Cloud hissed. "I hope it wasn't poisonous."
"Really, Teef, it's fine, just-ow!"
"Cloud, your shoulder looks like raw hamburger. If you'd just- Vincent!"
The mention of raw hamburger was more than Vincent could take. He was cold, the side of his neck was a raw mess of blood and flesh, he didn't feel well, he'd been practically blinded, and now Tifa was talking about his turning a human shoulder into something resembling ground meat. He threw up, thus drawing Tifa's attention to him.
Tifa saw Vincent being sick first, but the bloody mess Cloud had made of his neck caught her eye almost immediately after. She hurried to him, avoiding the vomit on the floor.
"What happened?"she asked, putting a hesitant hand on Vincent's shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"I-I-I don't know," Vincent coughed. His head felt too heavy for his neck to support. He grabbed at Tifa, nicking her side with his claws. "It just-glck!"
"Cloud, help me, he's too heavy for me to hold up."
Cloud hesitated, looking at Vincent shivering in Tifa's arms.
"Cloud! Come here!"
"Um…Teef, I don't think I should."
"What?"
"I'm the one who did that to him, so…yeah. It's probably better if I don't."
"You did what?"
Cloud shifted unhappily.
"There's a lot I need to tell you, but…Vincent first, alright? I really tore up his neck."
"Fine, but get over here before I drop him!"
He scuttled over and helped Tifa get Vincent into a chair in the kitchen, then backed off a couple of steps and watched.
"Cloud, how did you do this?" Tifa asked, examining the wound. It shifted with Vincent's convulsive swallowing, gleaming wetly in the light.
"With my….er…teeth."
"With your teeth?"
"That's part of what I need to explain."
"Oh, you'll be doing plenty of that. Go get the big first aid kit from my bathroom. It's under the sink."
Grateful to have something to do, Cloud ran to get it. Tifa stroked Vincent's hair gently.
"We'll get you fixed up, Vincent, alright? You'll be okay."
She's right, you know.
What's happening, Chaos? Why am I sick?
Cloud can't control his instincts. When he bit you like that, he also transferred the virus over to you. I'm killing it before it can get established. Last thing you need is to be a vampire on top of everything else, and it might send your boyfriend on a furious rampage.
That's causing this?
The wonders of the human immune system. I've convinced it that it needs to destroy every trace of the virus in here, and pronto. And I'm juicing it up, to speed up the process. You'll probably develop a fever in the next hour or so.
Thank you.
Can't have you getting killed, now can I? But next time a vampire wants to fight with you, get away from it!
I've learned my lesson.
I should certainly hope so. Cloud will be back soon, but I'll warn you before he gets here: this is going to be nasty and it's going to take awhile. At least twenty four hours, maybe more. Alright?
Vincent accepted this, then felt Chaos abruptly vanish when Cloud came back in with the box. He'd also had the foresight to bring the bathroom trashcan, which Vincent was intensely grateful for.
"Cloud, get me a bowl of water and a washcloth, okay? Warm- here, Vincent, use this- make it warm."
"I think you should try doing something about whatever's making him throw up first," Cloud pointed out, digging a mixing bowl out of a cabinet and running water in the sink, waiting for it to heat up. "That can't be good."
"Nothing I can do to stop it," Tifa countered, unbuckling Vincent's cloak and peeling it off him. One shoulder was soaked through with blood and sticking to his shirt."But this needs to be cleaned, and I can do that now. And then I'll do your shoulder. After that, maybe his stomach will have settled down."
-----------------------------------
Vincent's stomach hadn't settled down by then. Tifa had cleaned, disinfected, and bandaged his neck, all the while scolding Cloud for chewing him up so badly. Then Vincent huddled in his chair, hunched over the trash can, while Tifa treated Cloud's shoulder, trying to focus on Cloud's yelling instead of the rolling, twisting acrobatics it felt like his stomach was doing. When Tifa returned to him, he'd been reduced to dry heaves.
"Your turn again," Tifa said gently. She stroked his hair. "Feeling any better?"
Vincent retched.
"Guess not. I'm going to give you something to drink, alright? You need it, after losing all of that."
Vincent nodded weakly, accepting the glass Tifa pushed into his hand. He sniffed at it.
"Water, with lemon juice, salt, and sugar. Homemade rehydration solution. Drink."
He sipped carefully at it. He hurt all over, deep in his bones and much sharper in his throat, head, and stomach, and just wanted it to be over.
While he drank, Tifa fussed over him, fiddling with his hair, checking the bandage, and finally kissing his forehead. When she did this, she paused, frowned, then did it again. She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead.
"Cloud?"
"Mmm?"
"Come here and tell me if Vincent is as hot as I think he is."
Cloud obediently shuffled over and put his hand to Vincent's skin.
"Yeah, that's…Vincent, why aren't you reacting to it? You're burning up."
Vincent blinked owlishly at him.
"I've been distracted," he said hoarsely. "Very distracted."
Tifa sighed unhappily and took the mostly empty glass from Vincent's hand.
"I can't imagine what's causing this," she admitted. "But it's serious."
"It will be gone in a day or so."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'll have gotten rid of it in a day or so."
"Vincent, even a body like yours can't recover from a fever like this one in a day. You're very sick, and you'll probably be sick for days."
He shook his head. Chaos knew what he was talking about, after all, and if he said a day or so, then that was how long he had.
Tifa eyed him. Then comprehension dawned in her eyes.
"You know what the problem is."
"Yes."
"And?"
Vincent hesitated. His stomach was twisting and rolling again, and he wasn't sure about opening his mouth.
"Vincent."
"The virus Cloud carries," he said thickly. "Chaos is helping to destroy it before it can take hold of my body. It's making me very…..ill."
"Virus?"
"Yes. It's…..Cloud. Explain."
"Why do I have to?"
Vincent made a sick noise and huddled up again, clutching at his stomach. This would be so much easier if it didn't hurt, but it did- the nausea was accompanied by increasingly nasty pains in his lower abdomen, not quite cramps but just as painful.
"Well, Cloud?" Tifa asked icily, kneading Vincent's back in an attempt to comfort him. "What's this about a virus?"
Cloud hesitated, then sighed.
"On my way back from Junon, I….got bitten by a…um…vampire, in my sleep, and it transmitted the virus to me. When I attacked Vincent tonight, I….guess I gave it to him, somehow."
"Vampire?" Tifa repeated.
"Yes."
"Cloud, if you're going to come up with wild stories, at least make them somewhat believable."
"Fangs," Vincent managed. Cloud looked confused for a moment, then figured out what Vincent was telling him and bared his fangs for Tifa to see. He still had traces of Vincent's blood in his mouth and he hadn't fed, keeping his fangs fully extended, roughly an inch below his upper teeth. They would shorten as he matured and gained control, but until then, they were overlarge and dangerous.
Tifa stared.
"I can tell you more later," Cloud said quietly. "But Vincent-"
"I'll just go to bed," Vincent cut in. He stood shakily, grabbing at the back of the chair for support. "I can sleep it off."
"Are you sure?"
He nodded, moving slowly towards the doorway.
"I am. Talk to Tifa."
-----------------------------------
Tifa and Cloud stood silently for a few minutes, listening to Vincent shuffling across the living room, stumbling up the stairs, and finally closing his bedroom door. Then Cloud turned to Tifa.
"We should sit down," he said quietly. "This is going to take awhile."
