I hope your tea was good.

Chapter 55

Jaras sat in his small room, restrained as usual in a straight jacket. Honestly, it was more of a cell than a proper room. His madness seemed unwilling to break. Various medications had been pumped into him to try and help, but he seemed to have some freakishly high tolerance for drugs, making them all ineffectual. He presently was leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed, exhausted and desperate for any sort of restful sleep. Every time he managed to slip out of consciousness, though, he was thrown into long and complex nightmares. In each of these horrid dreams, the lives of those he loved were ripped apart and ultimately, they ended with the onset of his madness. His most recent attempt at sleep had just been shattered by the image of his father committing suicide.

Jeanine was watching him through the small window in his room's door. She came every day to see him, trying to make some sort of progress, but nothing seemed to get through. He had done so well to live a normal life, even after finding out who he had been, but then things had started to change shortly after the birth of his little brother, Aaron. He sunk deeper and deeper into some sort of depression, until he ceased being able to function at all. Eventually, he refused to even speak anymore and after having tried repeatedly to kill or hurt himself, Jeanine had been presented with no other choice than to commit him. It had been the worst thing she'd had to do in her life, but at least here, Jaras couldn't harm himself or, God forbid, anyone else.

Being the only honest mental health professional in Mideel was trying enough, but having to see her husband locked away like some feral animal made it damn near unbearable. In light of this, she had moved and had Jaras transferred to a facility in Junon, so that other doctors could help out with his care.

She spent hours everyday sitting with him, trying to break through some sort of barrier with him, but the result was always the same. Jaras would sit before her, arms strapped across his chest, rocking back and forth nervously, his eyes blank and fixed on the floor. There was never any acknowledgement on his part that she was even there.

Heartsick after yet another day of failure, Jeanine eventually turned from the scene and pulled out her phone.

Someone answered on the third ring. He always did. "Hello?"

She smiled to herself to hear his voice. It reminded her of what Jaras' had been like. "Hi, Vincent."

Upon realizing that it was Jeanine, Vincent went over and sat at a chair before his kitchen table. She called everyday to give him an update. "Has there been any change?"

"No, there hasn't." Jeanine stepped out of the building and into the afternoon air. Tears burned in her eyes.

Vincent sighed heavily and then turned when he heard someone enter through the kitchen's door. It was Tifa. "That's too bad."

"I know." Jeanine strode across the hospital parking lot and to her car. "So, how are things with you?"

Vincent looked back over his shoulder at his heavily pregnant wife. "Good, just a few more weeks."

"Thirty four weeks now, right?" Jeanine asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah." Vincent got up and went over to inspect what was in the shopping bags that Tifa had just set on the counter. "Tifa spoke with Cid the other day and I guess he's going to pick up Reno and Angel once Tifa has the baby and they'll all come to visit. Porter and Rayna might even come by with their little girl, too."

Jeanine produced a sad smile as she pulled her car keys from her pocket. "I wish I could come, too, but you know…"

Vincent appreciated her dedication to his son, even though he knew that honestly, it was slowly killing her. "We understand, and I'm grateful that you're there for Jaras."

Opting to turn the conversation away from her plight, Jeanine went on, "So, what does Aaron think about this new baby that's on the way?"

"He's excited." Vincent spotted a pudding cup in the shopping bag and pulled it out. "He's anxious to finally have a brother or sister, whatever the case may be."

She could hear him digging through a silverware drawer for a spoon. "That's good."

Vincent landed back at the kitchen table. "Yeah, and I know Tifa's getting ready to be done with pregnancy, too."

Never having been pregnant, Jeanine couldn't honestly relate. "I bet."

Vincent carried on talking with his daughter-in-law for several more minutes until he'd finished his snack. "Well, I better go. Tifa has a doctor's appointment this afternoon that she wants me to go to with her."

"All right." Jeanine was still sitting in her car in the parking lot. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay, good bye." Vincent got back up.

"Bye." Jeanine flipped closed her phone and let her head fall back and hit the headrest of the seat. It was just too much. She feared that Jaras would never be all right. It seemed to her that he was going to be forever locked into his mind, silently suffering through whatever visions were constantly marching through his mind. She wished she knew, she really did.

Maybe tomorrow there would be some change.

She hoped that every day.

The End

A/N-- Well loves, that's it. I actually wrote this last chapter about two months ago, knowing how it was going to end, but needing still to fill in the middle. I hope none of you are too disappointed, and in fact, I want most of you to walk away from this with some sense of relief, knowing that all of our other beloved characters are still very much alive and kicking. Yes, we lost Jaras to madness, but he is the only actual casualty. Perhaps this story was, all in all, too cliché, but…again, I wrote this mainly as a means of expressing some things in my own life that I was going through. This story turned out very personal and…well, I'm glad that I got to share it with those of you who stuck with me.

I will continue writing, have no fear. I will post more here in the future, as well as original works over at Fictionpress, and Adultfanfiction (That's where I keep the smut...and there's a lot of it). I'll be seeing you around.

Thank you all,

Kristen