We fall, crashing into something and the lights above us explode one after another. Vincent! The cars of the sky ride begin to fall like pearls from a broken necklace. I lay stunned as Cloud bursts into motion, slashing at the cars as they fall and rescuing everyone in the oncoming path. I lay there watching the world burn and crumble about me and I realize… Vincent! ...I don't give a shit about anything else.
I should move – I know that in my bones, that Vincent would be furious at me for not moving – but I see the car plunging toward me and I close my eyes and stretch out my arms, welcoming it. The Lifestream was nice that time I was there and this time it would be my choice to stay… Vincent!
Nanaki springs over me and casts Wall as the flaming wreckage hits from above us. It doesn't stop everything and my new Limit Break sparkles as a possibility. It's called 'Turk's Burden' and that would be funny if I had anything left. Idly I activate it, hoping that it is something spectacular I can kill myself with, but it automatically targets me and the closest two people. Vincent! Fuck, it's defensive; I stop the process.
I'm hyperventilating as Nanaki licks my face, trying to rouse me. I can't breathe; Vincent is the only reason I'd taken each breath and suffered through the last two years, the only reason I filled my lung. Vincent! I curl onto my side and sometime later, Nanaki grabs me by the back of my shirt and drags me toward the hub. I don't have the energy to fight him and Truncheon drags along, still attached to my wrist.
There is a third explosion and Shera cradles my head on her lap. She's crying and I think it is my fault, but I have no comfort to give her, not even lies.
Marlene kneels by our sides. "Is he hurt physically? she asks.
"I don't know," Shera responds. I'm bathed in a green glow and my HP soars.
"Leave me the fuck alone," I mutter. Marlene shakes her head and continues to look me over for wounds. Vincent!
Cloud begins issuing evacuation plans and Cid, Barrett, and Cloud clear the way, destroying the remaining Malboros with a single attack of the Fusion Sword.
As the floor cracks and breaks loose, smoke billows into the hub. What is left of the Battle Arena crashes down to the land below, leaving only an open maw of pain into the early morning sunlight. Vincent! A projectile crashes into the floor tossed from the falling debris and something else black swoops down after it. Nanaki growls, standing between us and whatever is coming, but it doesn't matter anymore. Vincent! The heat is so intense I roll onto my back to escape it.
"What the hell?" Cloud asks, and I turn my head to see. A figure emerges from the smoke, it is black from head to foot with patches of white underneath and it is dragging something behind it. My eyes open a little wider, and I sit bolt upright. Vincent! I stumble over Nanaki in my hurry to get there.
"Vincent!" He lurches to a halt as he sees me pushing past the others and hurtling over the debris. Others rush in my wake. Vincent's left arm is mangled and lame at his side; below the elbow the bone, sinews, and muscle are clearly visible. His left eye is scrunched shut and blood leaks down his face. He's covered in sot and ash.
"Rude," he says, gasping. He points with a nod of his head to the thing he's dragging behind him. "Say goodbye before it is too late."
I'm torn, but I do as he says and fall to my knees in front of the first person to recognize anything good within me. "Hey partner," I say, keeping it light. "And you say I like to have all the attention. That was bullshit man, I coulda helped ya defuse that thing in time."
"When you touched the other door, the timer sped up. There was no time and really –" he coughs. "You're shit when it comes to making bombs."
"I made the one that dropped Sector Seven," I argue.
"No you didn't. That one was rigged so badly I replaced it with one I made."
"You should have told me. You're such an asshole."
"I know, but you love it," he says, smirking. His hazel eyes, so soft and soulful, dim, and then he's gone, just a moment of green light and it lifts up into the breeze and disappears. All that's left are his sunglasses, which fall to the ground, unbroken. I pocket them.
When I turn back, Marlene is directing as Cid and Barret carry Vincent's prone form on a makeshift stretcher toward the door. I'm still dazed and confused, but I catch up to them.
"How is he?" I ask Marlene.
"I'm not sure. He's… different than any normal patient. His HP is seriously low, he's in shock, and even Cure Three isn't working. If it hadn't been for his Limit Break…" I don't hear anything else, but suddenly I remember my own new Limit Break. I access Truncheon and activate it. Green Healing light spreads over me and Vincent and Marlene. I stumble as my HP drains by ninety percent and Vincent and Marlene split the remainder of what I've lost. Tseng runs up as I crumple and half-carries, half-drags me out of the Gold Saucer and into the same ambulance they've just placed Vincent into.
It's my turn to make all the hard decisions, as I wait for Vincent to regain consciousness in the WRO hospital run by the Golden Chocobo.
"The damage to the arm is extensive," Marlene explains to me. "We can't save it. I recommend amputating it, and the sooner the better; I think his body is… hibernating, for a lack of a better term, in order to cope with the loss and pain. There's so much damage, we might be able to save some of the upper arm and shoulder."
His right hand is clutched in my hands and I worry at the wedding ring he's always worn on the wrong hand. I didn't like it at first, but now I'm grateful it isn't on his left hand – it would be gone, like the two fingers he's missing.
The wound isn't as bad as she thinks it is. Marlene incorrectly classifies the black skin as new damage, but everything below the elbow is unsalvageable anyway. The gauntlet – which undoubtedly saved his face when he put it up in front of the worst of the explosion – is melted into his shredded flesh. Every once and a while, the fingers on his left hand spasm.
"You know him better than anyone, Reno. What would he want us to do?" she asks.
"Take it all," I whisper. "He'd rather have a clean start."
"Ok," she says, going off to make the arrangements.
"I hope that's right, Vincent. I pray I'm right." I stand and go over to the left side of the bed and I touch the fingers I've just doomed. "Gaia, help me. I'd better be right."
We don't have to wait long and Nanaki and Tseng sit with me once they take Vincent into surgery.
"Was this how it was when I had my surgery?" I ask them.
"No, we were in a theatre overlooking the operation. We actually watched them cut you; we watched you die," Nanki answers. "It was hard to see, but I think it is harder not know what's going on."
"I'm not sure which is worse," Tseng says. The lighted clock on the wall turns green, meaning the surgery has begun. He gets up and begins to pace. Nanaki puts a paw on my leg.
About fifteen minutes into the surgery, the light changes to yellow and Marlene comes out. She's pale and her eyes are wide.
"I'm not sure we'll be able to do the surgery," she tells me, taking a seat beside me. "He just transformed into Death Gigas; thank Holy we had him restrained. He regressed only after we gave him three tranquilizers, but he scared the hell out of the entire surgical team. Can you think of anything we can do…?"
Nanaki and Tseng exchange glances. I stand up and stretch.
"Let me – what is it called? – scrub in? Let me hold his hand and talk to him while you operate. It's not guaranteed to work, but if he knows I'm there, he might relax, even subconsciously."
"It's worth a try, come on."