So uh, I was in between jobs when I started uploading this story, and I suddenly got a good job offer in my field so I had to take it. I've been trying to learn the ropes and such all week so it's been kinda stressful lately, I haven't had a chance to upload. Anyway, here's chapter 11 finally.

FF7 isn't mine.


Vincent pushed through the gaping hole in the monster's stomach. He had assumed he would be looking through a mess of flesh and blood for the Materia, but he was surprised. He felt like he was floating, yet he could walk. Everything was dark, save for a white glowing a few steps ahead. He moved forward, noticing immediately that it was 'Tifa'. He looked back, the way he had come in was no longer there. He glanced back at 'her'.

"Tifa…" He muttered. She opened her eyes, white as ever and spoke, "No. Must we remind you once more that that person is no longer existing here?" Vincent studied the presence, glancing it over quickly, he spotted the Materia glowing in the center of it. It was quite obvious where it was, but he didn't want to give any indication as what he was planning on doing. He looked back up quickly to the being's eyes.

"You're lying." He said, not stepping any closer.

"Think what you want. Soon you will all join her." It smirked, Tifa's smirk. Vincent frowned, instinctively taking a step forward. 'Tifa' looked up, holding her head higher.

"You've come for her. We sense it. You … love her is it?" Vincent felt his heart rate speed up. His brows furrowed deeper. He didn't want to show that he had any feelings toward the beings' host, but if that was what it took to get closer…

He took a few more steps forward. "I just want to be with her, that's all." He was at arms length from her now. He wanted to laugh at how silly that sounded now.

"Very well." She grinned this time, "If that is your wish…" He knew that her defenses were up, and he had to do something quick, he didn't want to join the lifestream anytime soon. 'Tifa' was bound to attack him any second. He put his hand gently onto her face, her eyes suddenly changed from white, to the dark red he remembered, realization dawning on her. It had worked.

...

Tifa heard 'them' talking to someone. She looked up and tried to take in the sight in front of her. It was too dark to notice anything, it had been dark for a while, though she still felt agonizing pain from time to time. 'Soon you will all join her' She heard 'herself' say. Then, 'they' were muttering something about love. Her heart raced, who was there? Cloud or….? No, why would they do this. Why would anyone she loved risk themselves this much for her. They knew she'd be furious, if she ever got out. She expected them to get rid of her, to do the best for Gaia, and not let anyone else suffer just for one person. Then she heard his voice. Her fears only grew as she saw him approach, finally visible to her from her own glowing. She saw those bright red eyes she had come to miss. 'Vince…' she was so happy, yet the most anguishing sadness washed over her. She was overwhelmed once more with her feelings, and it doubled when she felt his hand go up to her face.

...

He nodded to himself inwardly, gaining courage from her soft and gentle eyes. They were surprised, just what he wanted. He took them both in quickly, one at a time, before finally leaning in and kissing her. He kissed her like he had always wanted to, he put all his emotion that he never let anyone see into her, while he put his rage somewhere else. Her lips felt cold, transparent, almost ghost like. He knew this wasn't the way either would have wanted this, but it was the quickest option he had. He felt her walls fall around her. 'I'm sorry…' He thought to himself as he thrust his clawed hand into her chest, mirroring what Rosso the Crimson had once done to him not too long ago. He felt her lips part against his mouth, a slight sigh. He opened his eyes as he flinched, feeling her dulled aim strike through the left side of his own chest. He saw her red eyes haze over back to a softer glowing white. "Vin…cent…" She whispered as he pulled his claw out along with the offending materia. He still sensed her arm ripping through his chest in the most blinding pain he had ever felt. He recognized his surroundings had changed, they were back in the city, bright sunny light around them. He managed to catch a falling Tifa with his other arm before blackness consumed him as well.

...

Tifa saw those eyes get nearer. 'What are you doing?' She wanted to yell. She didn't think she'd feel what was happening next, but she felt it, she felt his warm lips upon hers, ever so faintly, his eyes had closed. She wanted to relish in it, enjoy it, why was he doing this? Then she felt it. She knew now what he had been up to. Of course, it was quite simple. When her emotions got the best of her, she could overpower the 'demons' as she had dubbed them, residing inside of her. She had been vulnerable to the man in front of her. Floods of emotions washing over her body, it was obvious who would win now. She said his name, she was glad, he had set her free. He had gotten his hands on what was his goal all along.

Now feeling the pain, the spirits countered, taking control of her once more, just for a second, before she felt all their power diminishing from her as she felt his hand retreat from her body. 'Oh no…' She saw his face contort in pain, before her world blacked out.

...

Cloud ran up to the fallen pair and noticed the glowing cracked orb in Vincent's blood stained gauntlet. He took the point of his sword to remove it and impaled it with full force. It cracked even more and finally erupted into little shards of dust, small wisps of Lifestream flowing out into the air. For a second he thought he sensed gratitude emitting from it. He felt the others come up behind him.

"Oh no.." He heard Yuffie gasp as she neared their fallen friend's bodies.

"Don't touch em!" Cid yelled as he heaved from the sprint he had just done.

"Quickly Reeve, call for some emergency units. I'll preform some healing to stop the bleeding." Red stuttered out.

"Damn you Shinra, can't ever stop this bullshit." Barret said with gritted teeth.

Cloud wanted to get nearer and check out Tifa's wounds, but he knew he couldn't, so he just shifted on his feet restlessly as help arrived. His eyes wandered to their surroundings and he took in the damage. From a few feet away he cold see a limping figure walking in their direction. His body tensed. Genesis was walking towards them, dragging his sword behind him. They all brought up their guard as he neared them. He looked down to their fallen friends and looked over to Cloud directly. He saw the pain in their eyes and simply said, "I'm sorry."

Cloud took it he meant well. He didn't mean harm all along. Yet his way of doing it was all wrong. He just nodded toward the man clad in red.

"I'll tell them personally." Genesis muttered as he looked down at the floor, somewhat in shame, and in contemplation.

"Yeah, that's if they wake up!" Yuffie shouted angrily at the man. He still didn't look up. Yuffie's eyes were brimming with tears, but instead of letting them see her, she sprinted away.

The emergency vehicles finally arrived, carrying many bodies away. They all followed them to the hospital and waited in the waiting room for news. The head surgeon and healer finally came out.

"Your friends suffered heavy physical damage and stress. Especially Miss. Lockhart. Psychological as well. But they are alive, and healing. Now all there is to do is wait. I'm sorry." Sorry? Sorry for what? They were alive and healing. What could be the problem?

That day they didn't wake. 3 days went by with out either of them rousing from slumber. Then a week.

...

Tifa woke to the sound of murmuring voices. She didn't open her eyes and instead opted to listen in. She wasn't sure where she was or how long she had been out. She was on something soft, most likely a bed.

"..we'll pull through again." That was Cloud's voice. "That's great. It's good to hear that kind of enthusiasm." That sounded like Dr. Runa's voice.

What had happened? The last thing she remembered… Vincent! She sat straight up, and quickly regretted it. Her whole body ached like she had been exercising non stop for the last 20 years. Her sudden outburst surprised her visitors. They got up from the chairs they were on.

"Tifa, calm down, everything is fine." Cloud said as he neared her. The doctor coming up on the other side. "You need to rest." She said as she got closer as well.

"No, I don't." Tifa said as she pulled the covers up off her. She looked around as she did so, and she noticed she was back in her room in the 7th heaven. "How long has it been?" She said as she looked around the floor for her shoes. She knew that Cloud was looking at the doctor worriedly. "It's been around a week." Cloud said as he looked down at her actions. She pulled them on and tied them, noticing at the same time the bandage around her chest and several needles that hooked her up to some machines and IV drips. Besides this, it was the only thing she was wearing on top. She looked up at Cloud, since he was nearer. "Can I take all this off now?" She asked him.

He looked at her in confusion, then at the doctor.. "Uh.."

"You can. You'll have some scaring though, so don't be surprised…" "-I won't. I've probably had worse." Tifa said as she reached around to take the bandages off and the needles out. As she started to do so she looked over at Cloud who had not yet caught on to what she was doing. She waited patiently until he noticed that he was staring. A light blush creeped on his face, "Oh.. I'll just…" He pointed to the door and walked in a small circle until he got his bearings and bee lined his way out. Tifa continued to remove the bandages and looked down at the medium sized pink scar that the Materia had made. It wasn't as bad as she thought. "How's Vincent?" She asked as she hurriedly looked through a drawer for a sports bra and a shirt.

"Tifa, you need to calm down first…" The doctor said hesitantly. That sent chills down Tifa's spine. She feared the worst, not that she hadn't already, but that seemed to confirm it. She looked at Runa from her kneeling position by her bed, wide eyed and shocked, "Why? What happened?" This wasn't happening. If she wasn't already kneeling, she was sure her knees would have given in. Runa saw Tifa's face drain from the already pale to paper white. That wasn't probably the right word choice.

"He's recovering. You need to eat, go to the restroom, shower…" Was all she gave the other girl to re assure her that he was indeed alive. This seemed to calm Tifa's actions down and she proceed to dress herself. "Where is he? …Can I see him?" She pulled the shirt over her head and took out her hair.

"M-miss Lockhart, we need to see if you are fully yourself now. What happened wasn't-" Tifa rose from her position. She hadn't meant to hurt him, and she was fully aware that she was herself now.

"I am myself." Her voice rose to such extents that she surprised even herself. Her hands were in fists and she wore a scowl. Runa's eyes were wide. Tifa blinked in realization and relaxed her posture. Her hand flew to her mouth. She turned and plopped onto her bed. "I'm sorry. I just… I didn't mean for any of that to happen. Now everyone is going to think I'm horrific. I'll eat and those things after I just.. I just have to see…" She sighed as she looked down at her knees. She wondered if this is how Vincent felt all the time. But his demons were controllable, and they had fought for good, and not total destruction like she just had.

She wondered how the city was fairing in repairs and damage. She wondered who's fault it really was. If it was her for catching it, Reno for dropping and breaking it, Cloud for telling her to go, Genesis and Weiss for telling them to retrieve it, or Shinra for making it. Though that was a long time ago and there would be no one alive to blame. She guessed she could blame fate.

"No one will think that. The atrocities Shinra did in the past, well, they are no ones fault but their own. Rest assured, everything will slowly go back to normal." Tifa looked back at Runa and smiled. She wasn't a bad person. She could easily see Vince falling for this woman, any man really. And she wondered if she really did resemble Lucrecia all that much. "If you want to see him…" Runa figured Tifa was as much in her senses as she would be. "He's next door, using your guest room. No one knew where he was staying and your friends didn't want to leave him in the hospital." Tifa brightened at this commentary. Runa felt guilt once more.

"Though… he hasn't woken up yet." Runa added in all seriousness.

"He'll wake up soon though, right?" Runa didn't give her a reply. Tifa straightened.

"Oh no…" she looked over to the doctor.

"I'm sorry. Both of you were comatose after the initial surgeries and healing processes were over. We didn't know when or if you'd wake up. This by far could be a miracle Tifa. I'm sorry again." Runa didn't know if this was too much information for the bartender to process, and she feared that she would relapse. The hardened look on the martial artist's face proved otherwise.

"We'll be there when he wakes then." Tifa said as she nodded over to the doctor and went out her door. Dr. Runa picked up on something just then. If Mr. Valentine felt the same towards the bartender, then she'd have to keep her business with him strictly professional. She shrugged, that came first anyway.

...

Tifa creaked the door open gently, she heard soft voices from the other side. She spotted Yuffie and Shelke conversing lightly on the other side of the bed. They looked up to see who it was, and were shocked when they saw her standing there.

"Tifa!" Yuffie yelled as she jumped from her chair. She ran to the older woman and wrapped her arms around her waist and arms tightly.

"I… I…" The younger girl was sobbing into her shirt. Tifa pulled her arm out from under her grip and put her hand on the ninja's head. Shelke neared them and grinned widely. Always a girl of few words. Tifa knew she was glad to see her for she rarely smiled at all. She felt Yuffie tense and gasp. The ninja pulled away, still having her arms wrapped around her and she looked intently into the other woman's eyes.

"It is you, right Teef?" She tried to lighten the mood.

Tifa forced a laugh, "Yes it is me, Yuffie."

"Fine then, tell me something only Tifa would know." Yuffie grinned and let go, wiping her tear strained face with the back of her hands.

"You do know that they probably could read my thoughts, right?" Tifa crossed her arms.

"Mm.. close enough then. Come wake Vinny up." Yuffie's face saddened as she took one of Tifa's hands and pulled her over to where they had been. Tifa took in the slumbering man before her. If he had been pale and thin before… it was striking now. Especially since his skin contrasted with his raven locks that fell and framed his face. Tifa's hand was reaching out on it's own, touching his hair lightly.

"Oh Vincent, what did I do?" She whispered under her breath, her fingers curling around some strands of ebony. Tifa felt Yuffie pull up a chair behind her. The warrior sat down and she saw Yuffie lean into her side view, hands held up to her chest, reminding her of a certain flower girl.

"By the way, Teef, what did happen? No one knows, and everyone's been curious. I mean, if you want to tell us…" She pulled away, fidgeting slightly. Tifa turned moderately to address her. "I.. I haven't even recalled it myself." She closed her eyes to draw back on the moment. She felt Shelke's stare from the other side of the bed, where the girl had taken a seat.

"I felt this powerful being take control of my body. I really don't remember what happened after I caught the Materia, after that I remember seeing myself flying over some place and destroying monsters, with strength that I didn't possess before. I tried to stop it… but they were overpowering me."

"Who?" Yuffie leaned into the bed to look closer upon Tifa's features.

"I'm not sure. I think they were lifestream souls, being controlled by the Materia. Anyway, I felt they were really angry and wanted vengeance on Shinra.. you know the same old story. I kept trying to stop it..them, especially since they were nearing Edge. But they laughed in my face. Weiss came and wanted to join them. I got scared and regained control for a little. So I drew back, hoping that they'd let their guard down and I could take over somehow, maybe destroying myself or having someone else destroy me in the process. I don't know, all I thought was that I was a goner for sure. I didn't want to hurt anyone…"

"We know that Teef, you wouldn't hurt a fly unless they deserved it." Yuffie assured her.

"haha, yeah well… I ended up hurting a lot of people. She looked down. Yuffie instinctively looked at Vincent then at her.

"No, it wasn't you. You know it wasn't!"

"Right, just like how the plate falling wasn't my fault either." Tifa needed to stop blaming herself for everything, she felt that Cloud was rubbing off on her. She couldn't help it. It was the only way she could cope now and it made her feel a little better. If only for a a litle.

"No. Anyway… let's not play the blame game now. What else do you remember?" Yuffie said as she touched Tifa's shoulder gently.

"I remember being in a lot of pain. Reaching Edge, everyone attacking me.. me attacking them. Hoping someone would stop me. Then I was in front of Cloud and Vincent. Even though Vince had his gun pulled, I was really scared because I was faster than him. I thought I would… " She bit her lip, she had hurt him. Intentional or not. She continued, "Anyway, I felt a lot of pain then. Then I saw total darkness. I sat around and waited. Maybe someone had finally defeated me."

"That's probably when you turned into that giant deformity." Shelke deadpanned.

"W-what giant deformity?" Tifa looked up at the Tsviet.

"Oh, what Shelke meant to say is that," Yuffie squirmed in her seat as she looked incredulously at Shelke as well, "Genesis triggered the materia's defense or something. He stabbed right through you. None of us wanted to hurt you like that, Cloud said so too. To just try and restrain you and see if we could help you. But, Genesis just wanted to stop you at all costs. So he like.. I dunno, impaled you. Tifa it looked horrible. It looked just like…." She didn't need to say it. She paused, sighed, and continued, "Anyway, we were all pretty shocked, Vinnie was right in front of you so he tried to catch you, but you started to transform into this … no offense, ugly gross beast made out of a lot of corpses or something. Then you started attacking everything again. The WRO came to help, but Cloud insisted we only defend ourselves and not hurt you. People were dropping like flies around you…" Tifa frowned even further at that, "Sorry, just stating facts here Teef, around that thing anyway. Not you… Eventually, Cloud or Vincent, I'm not sure.., found it's weak spot. So he, Cloud I mean, opened the brute up, and in went Vinnie! I was like repulsed by that, but he was all brave and stuff. So we all waited a little bit, it didn't take long before that thing started to glow, and it just consumed itself up. And in the middle of it, on the floor, were you and Vince. It was horrible Teef, we feared the worst. There was blood everywhere, it looked like you had destroyed each other, and Vince was grabbing onto that cursed thing. Cloudy destroyed it. That's when the ambulance came and picked you up. And now you are here, thank gods."

"Oh." Tifa was taking in the information, for she didn't know that she had turned.. well that they had turned into something so sinister.

Tifa recalled, "Anyway… I think that when I was floating in 'darkness' is when 'they' had transformed. I waited around in the dark, thinking the worst had happened, then I heard 'them' talking to someone. I looked up and saw Vincent coming towards me. I was really shocked. I thought he had died too or something, but 'they' were still present in and around me. Vincent managed to confuse 'them' and pull the Materia out of me, I am sure 'they' counter attacked him in that moment, and that's how you found us all messed up on the floor." Tifa shrugged, omitting that one tiny detail of how he managed to distract said enemy to get the Materia. She felt herself blush at that.

"What is it? How did he confuse them?" Shelke asked sensing something was wrong.

"What?" Tifa asked in confusion trying to deflect the question. She got her bearings quickly and answered before things got more difficult, "Uh, Some blind spot or something..I don't remember that well, it happened so quickly." Tifa murmured as she looked down.

"Wow, he's good at close combat then? Wouldn't have guessed, never seen him. He was a Turk so…" Yuffie said as she poked Vincent's leg through the sheets.

"W-well I don't know if he is good at close combat…" Tifa said as her head shot up much too quickly.

"Why do you say that? Was he awful at it?" Yuffie rested her head on her palms. Tifa's eyebrows furrowed, about to yell once more that it happened too quickly. "Never mind, don't answer that. We can clearly see the answer for ourselves." Yuffie sighed. Tifa side glanced her.

"How is Reno?" Tifa then asked, trying to change the topic.

"He's doing way better. He is in a wheelchair but I've been helping with his therapy, he will be up and about in no time. He's been coming every day to check up on you guys. Everyone has." Yuffie leaned back, "And someone has been waiting the whole time downstairs to apologize to you."

"Wheelchair? Apologize? For what?" She suddenly felt dread.

"Well, uh some accident back at the reactor hit Reno pretty hard..don't worry about it now. And as for the apology well, Genesis did impale you…"

"Right…" She lifted her shirt slowly to where she had remembered feeling blinding pain before. And there above her navel, near where Vincent had 'crushed' her ribs when he gave her CPR, and next to the Masamune's long faded scar, was another medium fresh scar from the Rapier.

"Ugh." Was all Tifa had to say. She couldn't say she was angry at him. Maybe for siding with Weiss, but for trying to kill her… who could blame him? Why would he want to apologize though?

"I'll be back then. I think Cloud has probably told the others that I woke up.. maybe the'll be here soon?" She said as she stood, not wanting to leave his side, but knowing she had to eventually. She entered her room, washed herself up and ate a quick meal Shelke had brought her.

She wanted to thank the nurses for tending to her wounds and body while she was gone but that would have to wait. She walked down the hall and into her bar. Cloud was there making light chit chat with Runa, drinking something or other from the bar. Far off in one of the booths, was none other than Genesis. He looked up from staring intently at a spot on the table, arms crossed before his chest. Runa smiled at her apologetically, feeling empathetic towards the monk. Cloud slightly smiled at her, and that was enough for her. It was hard enough getting him to even look at her sometimes. His small smiles were always worth a thousand words. She slowly walked over to Genesis, who unfolded his arms and stood up before her, expressionless. She quickly got tired of standing and slid into the other side of the booth. He followed suit.

"Miss-"

"Gen-" She smiled. She paused before she continued, "Everyone has their reasons for doing …things…" She said as she looked away further into the booth.

"That's quite true. Nevertheless, There are better ways to … get certain points across." He muttered.

"Also true. Though the past is the past. As long as we learn from our mistakes and are better people because of it, then that's what matters in the end. Things happen for reasons…" She shrugged and finally looked at him. Yes, this man deserved another shot at life in general. From what little Cloud had told her, before, he wasn't really an evil person. He was just trying to find his way, like the rest of them. He could have turned into another Sepiroth, but he hadn't, and that alone spoke volumes to Tifa. Sure he had been hot headed and demanding a few times, like when he appeared this time around. If the planet had been telling Tifa that it was in pain and dying again, she didn't know how she would react. Well she did know, and the planet hadn't even spoken to her then. She had become an eco-terrorist...

"Do you want something to drink? Perhaps some tea?" She offered him, stating that everything had been settled between them.

"I at least want to apologize for my brother's behavior." He suddenly said.

He got what was coming to him, she wanted to say, yet she wasn't that cold. "I see. May he find peace with himself wherever he is." Is all she had to comment on him.

"As for the offer… I would enjoy some tea, thank you." He said as he took out a book from his coat.

"Loveless?" Tifa inquired as she raised an eyebrow.

"You know it?" He looked up, eyes sparkled.

"I… yeah." She smiled as she got up to get his tea. She brought it back promptly and set it down before him.

"What will you do now?" She asked. She couldn't believe that just days before he had come in her town as a menacing threat, and now he was enjoying a cup of tea in her company. She inwardly sighed, better to make friends than enemies.

"I think I will go around the planet clearing it of monsters, then possibly come back and help the WRO in any thing they need." He said as he took a sip.

"That's great. Everyone knows they could use more hands. The pay isn't bad either. And it's for a good cause. Anyway, you are welcome back here any time." She winked at him and he smiled. He nodded "Sounds good." and opened his book.


A little recap after things have happened. Now I am not sure Genesis is in character! Hope you're enjoying it so far. Next weekend is my birthday, my brother's, my dad's and Independence day so I am not sure if I will be able to upload on time. The chapter is finished but I have to re-read it for editing and proofing purposes. Plus I have to write a little snippet that was missing for full closure. BTW it will be the last chapter, yay! Thank you for reading this far :)