NOTE – This chapter contains strong language for PG13.
Disclaimer – I don't own FFVII, its characters, storyline, situations, nada.
Manifestation
=Chapter Two=
Tifa slowly stood up, gripping tightly onto Vincent's hand. Feeling behind herself for the edge of the desk, she grasped it and then shook her hand free of his grip.
"Are you all right?" Vincent asked, looking over her lithe body. He couldn't help but find her attractive, even though he knew it wasn't the time for that kind of thinking. Her brown hair had become tousled, and her cheeks were flush from fear.
"Of course I'm all right," she replied. "I mean, I did use to live in the slums, remember? I'm kind of used to this sort of stuff..." Still, she admitted to herself, it had been awhile since she had lived underneath the Midgar plate. The near-rape experience and then the shooting of the youth in front of her eyes had shocked her. "Was it really necessary to kill him, though?" she added after a moment's hesitation.
Vincent paused, looking down at the body of the boy as though he had forgotten it, which he almost had in the midst of his male thoughts. "Have you heard about Cloud yet?" he questioned, deciding to skip the question she had just asked. He wiped a splotch of blood off his cheek with the back of his hand.
Might as well just get the bad news over with.
Tifa laughed bitterly, crossing her arms and leaning back against the desk. "I haven't seen that bastard for a few months now. We didn't work out the way I thought we would, let's just put it like that."
"Well, I guess that's for the best then, because he's dead."
Short and blunt, to the point. So completely like Vincent himself, Tifa found herself thinking before the stun from his words hit her. She slumped back, her knees going weak. She couldn't take all this; it was just too much. She could feel the blood beginning to rush from her face.
"Damnit Tifa, don't pass out on me. We have to talk." Even though his words were harsh, the hard look in his eyes became concerned, and he supported her body as he helped her stand again.
"Cloud's dead? How and why?" Tifa couldn't ask any more questions. She was just so tired and numb. "Please, at least let me sit down on the bed." Vincent released his arms from around her body to let her do so, and she slumped down on the lumpy mattress with a moan of despair.
"That's the thing, no one is really sure. That's why I came here. There's strong evidence that it was due to some kind of viral infection. Red XIII is doing some research into it." Since Meteor's destruction six months ago, Vincent had found himself wandering from place to place. He had ached to return to his basement coffin underneath the Shinra Mansion, but when he had gone back, all of the furniture had been stolen and presumably sold. Including the coffin where he had slept for so long.
So he had been forced to become a listless wanderer, simply trying to eke out a living from whichever place he happened to find himself. Somehow he had ended up in Cosmo Canyon, where Red XIII had instantly taken him in, and he had been living with the creature for around a month now.
"Red XIII had gone to Costa del Sol to visit Cloud. But when he got there..." Vincent paused, taking a moment to consider his words. "He found Cloud slumped in the bathroom, passed out. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he called me to come quickly, and I did. We couldn't get him to wake up...we tried everything, but it was as if he were dead – he wasn't breathing, yet his heartbeat was still strong. It was a mystery."
Vincent took another pause, taking in Tifa on the bed. She had burrowed her way into the covers, so that only her head were visible. Her eyes were bleary, and her voice emotionless as she said, "Go on."
"He stayed like that for a few hours, while Red XIII continued to check his vital signs, and I flipped through medical textbooks hoping to find information. Then, all of the sudden...he just jumped up. Shot straight out of that bed like a fucking firecracker. I was so surprised that I didn't have time to really react – and the next thing I knew, he had grabbed his sword from the cabinet and was holding it to Red XIII's throat.
"From then on, things got confusing. Red XIII managed to kick Cloud off of him, but the bastard didn't stop there. He began speaking, in a very odd, emotionless voice."
"'I met her again', he said. 'I met her, and she gave me a gift. It was a very special gift.' I yelled that he wasn't making any sense, and that seemed to piss him off. In an instant he had his sword up again and this time he managed to land a pretty deep cut on Red XIII's leg. I didn't want to do it, but he was leaving me with very few options...and he didn't look like he was planning on just cutting Red XIII's leg alone. So I reached for my handgun and was about to give a warning shot."
"But then, the weirdest thing happened. He just fell back and stopped moving again. After a few still moments, Red XIII moved to check his pulse once more. But this time, he didn't have one. He was dead."
Tifa began to quietly sob, shaking the blankets up and down in a silent, rythmetic pattern. Vincent closed his eyes and rubbed them, sitting down in the desk chair. "Red XIII and I figured that he had gone crazy, from the way he had been speaking and acting, but that didn't quite explain his death. However, after we looked into it further, we discovered some kind of virus in his bloodstream. It looks like a type of parasite, possibly. So I figured I should come here and ask you if you knew anything about it, since I thought you two were still close...and I found this bastard, in here, acting the same way Cloud had. Except this motherfucker was trying to rape you."
He took yet another pause, seeming to contemplate something. "Maybe I did overreact when I started shooting him," he began, finally answering her question from earlier. "But I never have been able to stand the sight of a woman in trouble."
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Author's Note – Sorry (again!) to leave all my readers here, but the next chapter will be coming up soon. I plan on updating once a day, if possible. =)