Chapter 9
Suspense
Vincent was becoming desperate, that much was obvious. After he collapsed from his fatigue, he stayed asleep for a substantial amount of time. It was dark out by the time he woke up and he immediately looked at the screen that showed Tifa's vital signs thinking that she had slipped away while he slumbered. Once he was confident that she was fine for the time being, he set out in search of Judith and possible news of the cure.
Nanaki wasn't worried in the least. Judith was a very intelligent woman and would get the new cure for Tifa in enough time. He had seen her work miracles in the past and he was confident that she would pull through for them and for Tifa.
That was before things started to go terribly wrong.
Vincent hadn't been gone long, maybe ten or fifteen minutes at the most. Nanaki was lightly dozing, listening intently for Vincent's return in a chair on the far side of the room, when a strangled gasp brought him to attention. He stared around the room in confusion, wondering where the sound had come from when his gaze fell upon Tifa's quivering form.
She was awake.
The fear that engulfed him froze him to the spot. What in the name of all things holy is going on?! he thought frantically, his mouth hanging open in shock.
She slowly turned her head in his direction, her hand moving feebly towards him. "Nanaki..."
He jumped out of his chair and bounded over to her bed so quickly his inertia almost carried him past her. Nanaki was extremely surprised, that was the quickest he'd moved in a while. He placed his paw into her hand and studied her face, looking for a sign, any sign, that would tell him what was wrong, but it didn't look like she was in any pain and that sign was definitely a bad one.
"Where's Vincent?" she asked, turning to look at the chair that the gunman normally occupied. "He isn't here. Where did he go?" She started becoming panicked at his absence and Nanaki's mind scrambled.
"He left to find Judith. It's okay, he'll be back soon." The red beast was starting to panic himself. Her being awake and in no pain was an extremely bad sign that meant she could be standing right at Death's door and on the verge of walking through it. He risked a glance over his shoulder, hoping to catch a flash of red, but all he saw was white lab coats and different colored scrubs. Tifa's meek voice made his head snap back around.
"I never knew this is what death would feel like." Nanaki starting to whine, his ears already pressed into his bushy mane. "I'm so tired." Tifa's eyelids started to droop, but Nanaki was quick to grab her attention.
"No!" He yelled with such ferocity that Tifa's eyes flew back open and looked at him alarmingly. "No, Tifa, you have to stay awake. You can't go to sleep! You must stay awake!"
"I can't, Nanaki. It's so hard to keep my eyes open. So hard." As she spoke, her eyelids became heavier and heavier and her head began to loll to one side.
Nanaki placed a paw on her chest and shook her. "No, Tifa! Stay awake!" He looked behind him again, but still saw no sign of Vincent or Judith. "Tifa, please stay awake! I'm going to get help!" He turned and bounded over to the door. "Don't fall asleep!" he yelled before sailing out the door.
From the frazzled state that Nanaki was in the hospital staff thought that Meteor was falling again. The red beast, with flaming haunches raised, was getting ready to streak off down a random hallway when a female nurse laid a hand on his shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"I have to find Judith!" He hoped the urgency in his voice and how intimidating he must look would make the nurse understand how severe his situation was. "Tifa Lockhart is awake!"
"What? How?" the nurse stammered. "She's supposed to be asleep still."
"I don't know, but she is and she's not in any pain. I think the virus is claiming her."
The nurse ran back to the nurse's station and lifted a telephone receiver from the cradle, mashing her fingers down on the correct sequence of numbers to activate the intercom. "Dr. Larson, report to ICU. We have an emergency. Dr. Larson, you're needed in ICU."
Nanaki nodded his head in thanks at the nurse before looking down every hallway, searching for the two people that should be here. Figuring they would arrive soon after hearing the announcement, he swiftly ran back into Tifa's room.
He risked a quick glance at the monitor and a chill swept over him when he saw that her life signs were gradually getting weaker, her heart beat becoming slower. He slammed his paws down on the bed and shook it in a feeble attempt to keep her awake and alive for as long as he could.
His attempt, he was relieved to find out, was successful.
He heard a sharp intake of breath and his spirits immediately rose. He breathed a great sigh of relief, but did not relax in the least. Tifa was still in danger.
"Tifa, are you okay?" He realized that he had just asked an extremely stupid question.
Of course she isn't okay, he thought, mentally chastising himself.
She looked at him with a far away gaze in her eyes. "Nanaki? Why did you wake me up? I was so comfortable."
"I had to. You can't go back to sleep. You have to stay awake."
"But why?"she asked again weakly.
"Um...well..." His mind raced trying to find a reason that would keep her awake long enough for Judith to arrive. An idea flashed in his mind and he was surprised he hadn't thought of it sooner. "Because Vincent is going to be here soon. You wouldn't want to be asleep when Vincent gets here, do you?"
"No, of course not." She paused to take a deep breath. "Can I sleep after he gets here, Nanaki?"
"Sure," Nanaki replied hastily, not knowing the magnitude of what he just agreed to. "Sure you can, Tifa."
She smiled at him then nuzzled into her pillow to wait for Vincent. Much to Nanaki's relief, Judith and Vincent bursted through the door a few moments later. Vincent rushed to Tifa's side while Judith stood triumphantly next to Tifa's monitor with a syringe in her hand.
"Didn't think I would do it, huh, Nanaki?" she asked, smiling smugly.
(Vincent)
I was scared out of my mind to see Tifa awake. How or why didn't really matter. As soon as I entered the room, she reached out to me and I gladly took her soft hand in mine.
"Vincent..." She smiled as she said my name. I kissed the back of her hand lovingly.
"I've missed you," I whispered against her hand.
"I missed you too." She smiled even wider and her gaze flitted up to the ceiling. "I can go to sleep now."
I frowned and was confused by what she might mean until I heard the alarms on Tifa's monitor go off.
"Shit!" Judith swore, grabbing Tifa's IV tube and draining the improved cure into it. Once the syringe was empty, she tossed it into a biohazard bin. "It's a waiting game now gentlemen."
"Tifa?" I shook her shoulder feebly. "Teef, wake up."
I let my gaze shift to the monitor that was hovering over her bed like it was just as unsure that she would live. When Judith injected the cure it had stabilized her vital signs, but now they were growing weaker by the second. All three of us watched the screen with bated breath, praying and hoping that she would pull through.
It suddenly became stifling hot in the cool hospital room. Sweat beaded on my brow and the cowl of my cloak had somehow become extremely tight, like a vice, around my neck. My hands, even my claw, began to twitch and shake madly like they had developed a mind of their own.
As her heart beat fell into the danger zone, my own heart was beating so quickly I thought it might burst from my chest and slither over to Tifa like it would replace her own weak, dying heart with itself. Then, without warning, her heart beat flat lined. It happened so fast all three of us were taken by surprise.
I got up so quick that the chair I was sitting in skidded away and fell over. Judith rushed to Tifa's side and flung the blankets away, placing her hands on her chest to perform CPR. "I know this is primitive, but it's the only way to save her life right now," she said as she began to push down on Tifa's chest. Seconds later, some of Judith's medical staff rushed into the room pulling a defibrillator on a cart behind them. One of them flipped on the power switch. Judith continued to perform CPR without stopping or saying a word to her aides.
Once the machine had charged fully, one of the aides pulled the paddles out of the cradles they were resting in while the other squirted a jelly-like substance on them. Rubbing the paddles together the aid came up next to Judith who was ready to receive them.
"Stand back, Vincent! Ready?" she yelled behind her. Once her aides yelled their response, Judith placed the paddles firmly on Tifa's chest. "Clear!
Her aide pushed a large red button on the top of the machine that sent a rough jolt through Tifa's body, making the readings on the screen jump erratically before returning to a flat line. Three more times, Judith tried to start up her heart again with no change. She tried one last time to be sure, but her heart just wouldn't start.
Judith's shoulders fell in shame. "I'm sorry, Vincent." She handed the paddles back to her aide and turned Tifa's monitor off to silence the incessant blare of the alarm. "Death occurred at 10:23 P.M. Another one lost to the Metamora virus." One of her aides marked it down on the chart handing on the wall next to Tifa's bed before helping to wheel the cart out of the room. Judith turned back to me with sadness of the worst kind radiating from her icy blue eyes. "I'll give you time to say good bye before I have the coroner come pick her up."
Once Judith had left the room, my knees no longer had the strength to hold me up. It was like I was a puppet whose strings had been cut. My knees cried out in pain when they struck the cold hard floor, but I welcomed the pain, relished in it. Anything to take my attention away from the white hot pain in my chest that was quickly spreading through my body, becoming the blood that ran through my veins.
I reached out with a shaking hand for Tifa's still warm one. It felt as though I had suddenly turned into a weak, old man for no matter how tightly I gripped her hand her fingers kept slipping out of my grasp, as inconsistent as sand. Even though I still felt Chaos' presence, I truly thought that I had lost my immortality and that time was swiftly catching up with me. I could almost feel the life slowly being siphoned right out of my veins.
I scooted closer to her and gently placed my left arm around her even though she could no longer feel the weight of it. A weak smile tugged at one corner of my mouth as I looked upon her serene face. It seemed like she was only sleeping, blissfully unaware of all that was happening around her. More tears blurred my vision as I played with a strand of her silky hair.
Yes, she's only sleeping, I thought, trying desperately to make my mind believe the lie I was telling it. She'll wake up soon and everything will be fine. All of this is just a bad nightmare.
After holding in my anguish and sorrow for so long, the dam that I built to hold it back could no longer withstand the pressure. At first, it only cracked, but when it seemed as though it would hold, small pieces began falling away. Those small pieces became bigger and bigger until the entire thing shattered like a piece of precious crystal and carried me over the edge.
I trembled and shook, wailed and pounded the bed with my fist. We were so close! So very, very close. The fates had been against me for so long that I was so sure they would allow me this one chance for happiness. Tifa was my chance, my last chance, for pure happiness, but the fates had denied me that chance once again. Just like they had denied me Lucrecia.
Nanaki walked up and sat next to me. Without thinking and even without knowing what I was doing, I flung myself off of Tifa and wrapped my arms around Nanaki's broad shoulders. I shoved my face as far as it would go into inside his large mane and continued to cry. Nanaki said nothing, offered no condolences. He just sat and allowed me to hang onto him for as long as I needed, allowed himself to be my lifeline. After what seemed like hours, I slowly started to calm down. Nanaki patted me on the back with his paw and drew in a deep, shuddering breath. There was no doubt in my mind that the large red lion had been crying as well.
I drew away from him and took no surprise from the dark trails that fell away from his lone eye. I smiled half-heartedly at him, silently thanking him for understanding. I got up from position on the floor and rubbed my aching knees before turning to look at Tifa again.
To say the least, I was hoping for a miracle. Hoping that she would open her eyes and smile at me, but hope had brought me this far and hope couldn't raise the dead. I was just fooling myself.
I breathed in deeply and let it out in a heavy sigh. I caressed her face with my human hand and smoothed out her hair. Leaning down, I placed my forehead against hers and prepared myself to say goodbye.
I'm sorry," I said, my voice breaking. "I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. There were so many things I wanted to tell you. So many things I never got the chance to say and now you'll never hear them. After searching for so long, I know that you were my soul mate, Tifa. You were the missing piece of my soul. I am so thankful that I got to see you one last time. I will be forever grateful for it. I love you, Tifa Lockhart and I will never forget you. I promise you that I will see you again."
I kissed her forehead and turned away from her, intent on leaving. Nanaki would make his own way back to Cosmo Canyon. I had almost reached the door when I heard Nanaki speak.
"Vincent, wait!" he exclaimed, his voice excited. "Don't leave yet!"
I looked back to find Nanaki staring intently down at Tifa's face with a wide animalistic grin spread across his features. "What is it?" I asked, striding back to the bed, my heart in my throat. I examined her and became annoyed when I saw that nothing had changed. "Nanaki, what am I supposed to be looked for?"
"Don't you see it? Don't you see her chest moving?" he exclaimed. "Vincent, she's breathing!"
My eyes widened. He was right. Her chest was rising and falling slowly like she had been sleeping all along. I gasped and once again went crashing to my knees next to her. I grabbed her hand in both of mine and leaned in closer, like a young child would watch the toaster in anticipation of seeing the toast pop up. "You're alive," I said to no one in particular. More tears brimmed around my eyes, but this time they were tears of joy. "Sweet Gia, Tifa, you're alive."
The eyelids that I thought would be closed forever fluttered open slowly. She looked around the room in a sort of daze, confused about where she was. Her gaze fell on Nanaki first. A small twinge of jealousy welled up inside me at Nanaki being the first one she saw, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared. She smiled at him and reached her hand out, softly patting him on the head. I waited patiently for her to turn her head towards me, waited patiently to once again see recognition flashing in her wine colored eyes and hoping with every breath that the recognition would be there. I held my breath as she slowly turned her head to acknowledge the person that was gripping her hand so firmly yet so softly at the same time.
What I was expecting to see in her face was all I had dreamed of and more. When she saw me, a wide grin broke out on her face, tears started to well up in her tired eyes and she softly squeezed my hands before gently wriggling it out of their grip and placing it on my cheek. I sighed softly and reached my own hand up and held it tightly to my face, reveling in the smell and feel of her soft skin once again. In those few moments it was like I had awoken from a horrible dream.
"You're alive," I repeated over and over, sobbing into her hand. "I thought you were dead." I dared to look up at her, to see her reaction to me crying, but to my relief she continued to smile at me and that made me happier than I had ever been in my life.
"For a while, I was."
I opened my mouth to say something else when the doors to Tifa's room opened and Judith, followed by a team from the morgue, filed in. "Did I give you enough time to say your good byes?" Judith asked, still unaware that the woman the people from the morgue were going to pick up was no longer in any condition to go with them.
"Actually, Judith, we were just saying hello." Nanaki grinned as we moved away from Tifa's bedside so she could see for herself.
At the sight of Tifa lying in front of her quite alive I could see that Judith was having a difficult time believing that the girl she had seen die and pronounce dead could be breathing. She looked over at Nanaki, shock and confusion finding a place to call home on her face. I heard Nanaki chuckle under his breath over Judith's confusion. Obviously, it was a rare occasion when this woman was ever confused.
The great red beast only shrugged his broad shoulders and flashed a smile at Judith's unvocalized question. Evidently, Nanaki's curt answer didn't satisfy her for she let out a long exasperated sigh and marched over to Tifa, now intent on finding out the answers for herself since no one was going to cooperate with her.
Once she reached Tifa's bedside, she leaned down and examined her closely, her blue eyes narrowed in concentration. Tifa eyed Judith with a very confused expression, leaning away the closer Judith got.
Then, as if Judith just simply snapped out of her 'doctor's' trance, she shook her head slightly and backed away. "I'm Judith Larson, your doctor." She paused and met Tifa's eyes. "You do know that you were dead, right?"
Tifa sighed and fell back into her pillows. "Yes, I know. I know I was dead."
"Then how are you here? I don't understand."
"I don't really understand myself," Tifa mumbled. Her eyes darkened as she recalled the near death experience she went through. "I was walking through the darkness, trying to find my way, when a blinding light appeared in front of me. I was getting ready to walk into the light when something I can only describe as a presence fell over me. Then I heard a voice telling me to go back, that it wasn't time for me to go. I wanted to go into the light, but I was compelled to listen to the voice. Then the light disappeared and it felt like I had sprouted wings or something because I felt myself floating upward. I closed my eyes because it felt so good to be floating through the air then when I opened my eyes I was here."
I smiled as I sent a silent thanks to whoever or whatever brought her back to me. I was still having trouble believing that she was really alive. A part of me thought that I was only in the middle of a very pleasant dream and that when I finally woke up I would wake to a nightmare. I reached over with my claw arm and scratched the back of my fleshy human hand just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. The metal digits of my claw came back with little droplets of blood. If I was dreaming, I surely would have come out of it then. This is real. Tifa is alive and now we are going to live the life we have wanted for so long. We can finally be together.
After Judith was convinced she wasn't seeing things, she gave Tifa a quick physical exam to make sure the cure had really worked before leaving to get her discharge papers together. Nanaki left, complaining that all the excitement made him hungry enough to eat a full grown chocobo.
I was actually glad that Nanaki left. It would give me ample time to talk to Tifa privately. After the room was empty, I walked slowly over to her bedside.
"How are you feeling?"
"A little stiff."
She tossed the thin hospital blankets away from her legs and slowly swung them over the side of the bed. I reached out to her and helped her stand, ready to catch her if she became too weak. Her shaky legs regained their strength quickly and after a few minutes of me assisting her around the room she no longer needed my support.
She was silent for a long time and I was getting ready to say something when she beat me to it. "Where will we go, Vincent?"
I was surprised by her sudden question. "What do you mean?"
"Well," she started, smiling up at me. "I really wouldn't object to traveling the world with you after we leave. I'd get to see how everything has changed. I've seen so much already and I know there's so much more I haven't seen yet, but we still need a place to call home."
I smiled, admitting to myself that she was absolutely right. As much as I would love to show her all the places she hasn't seen, we needed a place to call home first. "I have actually been thinking about that and Emperor Nozomi has graciously agreed to build us a house in the Wutai country side, away from the now very prosperous city. What do you think?"
Tifa's smile widened. "Wutai sounds lovely."
Even though she was wearing a hospital gown and her hair was disheveled, she was still beautiful. Even if she was wearing a paper bag she would still be beautiful. And, oh, to hear her voice again! It was like a warm fire to my frozen soul, melting the three hundred year frost in a matter of seconds. The intoxicating melody that was her voice I thought I would never hear again.
I could no longer fight the impulse to gather her into my arms and hold her. I gently grabbed her fragile hand with my claw then placed my human one on the base of her back and drew her close to me. She gingerly placed her unoccupied hand on my shoulder and held me tightly as well. And we stood there in the middle of the hospital room, holding one another, content in the silence of each other's presence.
