Square stuff belongs to Square and the rest belongs to me.
Note: You might want some tissues on hand for this one
The room was nearly silent; the only noise was her laboured breathing. Vincent wiped the sweat from her brow with a damp cloth, his cure materia was of no use, Tifa was too badly injured she would need to fight past death's door herself before the materia would be of any effect. Tifa gasped and writhed as if she were drowning she was feverish and her entire body trembled.
'Please Tifa, fight…I do not know what I would do without you. I love you; you have brought me life again. God how can you of all people so full of life and hope be here dying before my eyes.'
Vincent sobbed as he tried to cool her flesh with the cloth, he had seen her nearly killed a number of times by various monsters and enemies. This time however she was too far gone for even a life spell or phoenix down, for those must be used immediately. The wound was still bleeding, even after all the healing the cure spells had managed. Vincent wrapped his arms around her and wept into her soft dark hair. She seemed completely unaware of her surroundings; she was fighting the last fight, the most gruelling fight.
'Tifa my heart is breaking, please do not return to the lifestream…It may be selfish but I need you here with me. I need you to remind me of who I am, and that I am loved.'
"Tifa you are my soul mate, I love you… I will be lost if you go without me." Vincent started as Tifa moaned, it was the first time she had made a sound since the mountains, she shifted on the covers of their bed her muscles clenched and she cried out weakly. Her body temperature was rising rapidly; if the wound didn't kill her the fever might just do the job. Vincent scooped Tifa up in his arms, trying to disturb the wound as little as possible.
Cloud blinked. The light was hard on his eyes, it was now sunrise. He was still on the cold grey rocks where he had fallen. He cast a cure spell on himself to relieve the pain from the previous night. He breathed in deeply as the Lifestream's warm wisps caressed the soreness away. He looked down at his broken sword, Tifa's blood now dry on its surface. The rush of guilt nearly over powered Cloud as placed his hand around the hilt of the large half.
'By mako what have I done…I killed Tifa...I killed the woman I love…' The thought was barely a whisper in his head but its profound effect was felt to the core of his heart.
'I have to get out of here before Vincent finds me. I'm as good as dead now. I can't believe I did that…did I actually do it. Shit I need to leave fast.'
Cloud scrambled through the mountain trails fleeing the scene of his crime with the greatest of haste. It's seemed like hours had passed when he finally reached an open field. Cloud fumbled with his PHS dialling that familiar number.
"Hey Cid? Yeah it's Cloud, listen I need a favour, I need a lift to Midgar as soon as possible. Actually right away. Thanks I appreciate it; I'll see you in a few." Cloud slipped the PHS back in his pocket.
'I just need to get away. To get my thoughts in order. If she hadn't become a monster, an Esper or whatever they call it, things would have been different. She would have listened to me, she would have sided with me and I wouldn't have tried to get rid of Vincent. I was trying to save her; he had turned her into a monster.'
Cloud paced through the field gripping what was left of his sword until his knuckles where white. His heart leapt for joy when the Highwind finally came into site.
Vincent ran a cold bath for Tifa; he could feel her pulse racing under her skin, her heart struggling to keep her alive. He cast a minor ice spell to further chill the water before he gently set her in it. She gasped and panted as the icy water enveloped her for a moment Vincent feared further shock, yet Tifa seemed to settle after a few seconds. Vincent held her head above the water and waited until her body was at a reasonable temperature before he pulled her from the water and tenderly dried her. He once again rested her on their bed. He brought some medical supplies with him; he could finally stitch the wound. Tifa groaned as he pulled the front of the wound closed, each stitch caused her to cry out faintly. Vincent took a great shaky breath as he turned her onto her stomach to close the wound in her back.
"Tifa I must confess your wounds are so bad that I am beginning to lose hope. I wish that you could comfort me now I want to hear your voice so badly. I want to save you Tifa, please tell me how. I will do anything to rescue you. I want to see your laughing eyes, that sweet smile, the one you only gave to me."
He turned her onto her back once more, her fever seemed to be gone and she no longer trembled. Vincent ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it from her face. He gently kissed her lips, and cheek. He laced his fingers through hers a vain attempt to comfort her; he felt the burning tears streak down his cheek. Tifa's breathing began to slow and she was becoming so still as if the pain no longer bothered her. Her faced relaxed and she almost smiled. Vincent could no longer hear her breathe. He stood for a moment almost unable to comprehend what was happening and suddenly he was devastated by the realization. He threw his heard back howling and sobbing in heartbreak and anguish, it was as if he could not open his mouth wide enough to cry out the agony that wished to escape. He clawed at his head desperately trying to think of what to do, his soul ached in absolute suffering.
It was warm that day, bright and sunny the air was sweet with the scent of flowers and fruit. The city had changed a lot in the past year; everyone now lived on the top plate the city was now a place of dreams for all, thanks to the hero Cloud.
"I would like to present to you, the people of Midgar the future, an eternal fuels source, which has been in front of us the whole time. Materia. You may be sceptical particularly since it sounds similar to Shinra's old idea; however I can cast away all doubts. You see with the help of these machines all you need to do is put a bit of your own power into the materia as if you were casting a simple spell, and the energy of that spell comes out and the machine converts it into a usable energy. As you all know you cannot use up materia in fact the more you use it the stronger it gets. Watch."
Cloud cast a small spell into the machine he stood upon. The materia inside it glowed and the machine slowly rose to life stiffly at first and quickly its movements became smoother and faster, Cloud managed to get it to perform menial tasks for about 15 minutes, such as heavy lifting.
"You see folks, harmless, and best yet that was only one spell."
The crowd roared in approval. An older man approached Cloud and smiled giving him a congratulatory handshake and leading him off stage.
"Cloud my boy, I can't believe it, you actually found a clean everlasting fuel source which won't adversely affect the world. I must say we were luck that you came here, what is it not a year ago today that you came here to help us. Thank you Cloud."
"Mayor Maxwell I assure you it is nothing, I just want what is best for Midgar."
"Cloud, stop calling me 'mayor' it's only a matter of weeks until they vote you in. Personally I'm looking forward to retiring; I think I might do a bit of fishing." His eyes crackled as he laughed.
"The election is not over yet. I don't want to get my hopes up too soon." Cloud smiled back at the man who had become a mentor.
"Really Cloud the people love you, and if you find out what to do with those poor kid with the magic problem you will have no problem with a second term."
"Yeah, those Espers. I have some plans for them." The mayor did not notice the younger man's face darken at the mention of Espers, rather he went to go enjoy the rest of the sun and leave Cloud to his thoughts.
Vincent sighed as he watched the mild breeze dance along the leaves of the trees in front of the mansion. He was deep in thought about a day one year prior.
"Vincent? What's wrong? You are looking far too serious; I don't like it when you go to those dark places." Vincent turned and smiled he felt his heart leap for joy as he saw her. Her hair was a bit messy and she was still in her pyjamas, her eyes where laughing as she smiled at him.
"You should still be in bed, you still aren't fully healed. I don't want you to hurt yourself." Vincent smiled as he met her, drawing her into his arms.
"Well at least come inside and give me some company." Tifa pouted. Vincent scooped her up in his arms and brought her back to the bedroom. He set her on the bed and threw open the large windows so she could enjoy the day. "What were you thinking about earlier, you looked pretty down?"
"I was thinking about this day last year, when I nearly lost you." Vincent lay on top of the bed with Tifa looking out the window on the entire town.
"Well you didn't lose me and I'm almost better." Tifa paused for a moment "I was really scared, I thought I was going to die and I couldn't speak or anything." Tifa looked as if she was about to cry. Vincent pulled her into his arms and kissed her tenderly. Tifa responded by running her hands through his hair and along his chest. Their kiss became deeper and more passionate. He slipped his hand under her shirt and caressed her soft warm flesh; his clawed hand carefully stroked her inner thigh. She tugged at his shirt; her little way of saying she wanted it off. He pulled it off for her and smiled her reaction was always so sweet as if she weren't sure if he was still real of not. He placed her hands on his chest and she giggled realizing her own obvious reaction.
"That is less that fair, it is your turn now." Vincent teased as he pulled at her shirt. Tifa grinned and began to take it off; Vincent helped her so it would not be too awkward. There were two scars now, a faint one between her breasts from Masamune and a larger still pink and tender scar running from just past her solar plexus to a couple of inches from her belly button. Vincent traced the fresh one lightly with one finger.
"How are we feeling today? Are you sure you are able to enjoy such a strenuous exercise." His crimson eyes met her burgundy.
"I'm still tender and the muscles are still a bit sore, but I think they need some exercise." She smiles and pressed her breasts against his chest, he gave in to her warm flesh and ravenously licked, sucked, and massaged her breasts. Tifa moaned her approval and helped him remove the rest of their clothing. Tifa gasped as he entered her, she gripped tightly onto his shoulders and wrapped her legs around him as her flesh enveloped him. He waited a moment before he began to thrust; he gently made love to her. They revelled in each other's bodies; it was as if their hands and lips could not quite touch enough.
Vincent lifted his head to kiss her as they both lay on their sides each just gazing at the other. Her lips met his and they slowly pulled away.
"That was incredible Vincent." She ran her hand through his hair. "I'm sorry if I scared you, and you thought you might lose me. I will never leave you, I swear it. I can't leave you, you are my hero."
Vincent answered in silence pulling her as close to him as possible. They enjoyed they welcoming warmth of each others bodies, it was as if the world only consisted of the two of them. They both drifted off to sleep as the warm sunlight danced in from the open windows.
Thank you every one for reading and for the great reviews. This is the last chapter of this fic so I thought it would be nice to end on a happy note, sorry about all the earlier heart wrenching stuff. The first chapter of the sequel should be up by the end of the week. As always Falkon you are my inspiration and my Vincent.